: , , , , - 28 . By Press Trust of India: 2015: WHO New Delhi, Apr 19 (PTI) India eliminated visceral leishmaniasis, also known as kala azar, in over 80 per cent of its sub-districts in 2015, the WHO today said while noting that remarkable achievements have been made by nations in tackling neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) since 2007. The global health body said that an estimated 1 billion people received treatment in 2015 alone for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). advertisement The report said that the largest number of people needing treatment and care ? in excess of 100 million ? are found in India, Indonesia and Nigeria, which together account for 47 per cent of the total. "In 2015, the target for the elimination of visceral leishmaniasis was achieved in 82 per cent of sub-districts in India, in 97 per cent of sub-districts in Bangladesh, and in 100 per cent of districts in Nepal," WHO in its new report Integrating Neglected Tropical Diseases in Global Health and Development said. The report noted that protection from financial risk is particularly important for the populations bearing the main burden of NTDs because they tend to be least able to afford to support care. "The medical poverty trap affects people worldwide, including in Cambodia and Vietnam, where 50?67 per cent of households have incurred debt as a result of dengue, or in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sudan, where 25?75 per cent of households in which someone is affected by visceral leishmaniasis have had some type of financial difficulty in obtaining diagnosis and treatment, even when tests and medicines are provided free of charge," it said. The report said that in 2015, yaws was confirmed as having been eliminated in India by a WHO-led international verification team. The effects of discontinuing Mass Drug Administration (MDA) for lymphatic filariasis must be carefully analysed, and remedial action must be taken to ensure that deworming coverage is maintained, the report said, while noting that India has made significant progress and stopped MDA in 72 districts. The report said that in 2015, 960 million of the 1.59 billion people requiring mass or individual treatment and care for NTDs were living in lower-middle rather than low-income countries. "Many of the NTDs that cause the highest burden of disease (just five NTDs represent 71 per cent of the total NTD burden) occur predominantly in the largest emerging-market economies in the Group of 20 nations (G20) plus Nigeria, which also has one of the worlds largest economies. "Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and Nigeria have the highest prevalence of NTDs, but even very wealthy nations have a hidden burden of NTDs, such as the United States, where it is mostly concentrated in the southern states, and Australia, where blinding trachoma and scabies remain major public health problems in many Aboriginal communities," the report said. PTI TDS IKA --- ENDS --- advertisement Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Rifka Sibarani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 19 2017 Jakartas gubernatorial election candidates have promised to unite Jakarta after the election. This statement sounds familiar to anyone who followed the United States presidential election in 2016. President Donald Trump made the same promise that he would unite all Americans despite the anxiety caused in his campaign. 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 Wed, April 19, 2017 17:33 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9d6628 1 Politics JakartaGubernatorialElection,anies-baswedan,basuki-tjahaja-purnama,Sandiaga-Uno,Djarot-Saiful-Hidayat,quick-count,Prabowo-Subianto,Gerindra-Party,PDI-P Free Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto was brimming with confidence on Wednesday afternoon after several quick-count results indicated that Anies Baswedan would emerge victorious in the Jakarta gubernatorial race. As of 4:45 p.m., with 98 percent of votes counted, Anies and his running mate, Sandiaga Uno, had garnered 58 percent of the vote, while Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama and his running mate, Djarot Saiful Hidayat, trailed with 42 percent, according to a quick count conducted by Kompas. Quick counts by other pollstersthe Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), the Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC) and Polmarkhave produced similar results, with the votes gained by Ahok hovering between 42 and 44 percent. We just got the news that 90 percent of the votes had been covered by quick counts, indicating that Jakarta will get a new governor and deputy governor, Prabowo said at his residence on Jl. Kertanegara in South Jakarta. Alhamdulillah [thank God] this victory is the result of our fight. This is a blessing from God, the coordinator of Anies volunteers, M. Chozin Amirullah, said in a statement. Upbeat -- Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto (second from right) gives an oration to support Jakarta candidate pair Anies Baswedan-Sandiaga Uno in a mass campaign in South Jakarta on Jan.29. Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) president Sohibul Iman (center) and deputy governor candidate Sandiaga (second from left) attended the event.(Antara/Hafidz Mubarak A.) (Read also: Jakarta election proceeds smoothly, peacefully) Prabowo has many reasons to cheer Anies victory. The Jakarta election is seen as a prelude to the 2019 presidential election, where President Joko Jokowi Widodo will likely face off against Prabowo, whom he defeated in 2014. After winning Jakarta, Prabowos Gerindra and its fellow opposition party, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), have now set their eyes on West Java, Central Java and East Javathe nations largest constituencieswhich will elect their new leaders in 2018. After voting in Gambir, Central Jakarta, President Jokowi, whose Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) backs Ahok, called on Jakartans to unite and cast aside their differences after voting day. "Don't let differences in politics divide us because we are all brothers, he said. The President, while claiming to be neutral in the election, has expressed his concern over the political heat surrounding the Jakarta election. Jokowi has in the past few months struggled to maintain political stability and contain rising sectarianism fomented by hard-line groups and used by his political rivals to undermine his government. Anies was confident he would win the election and seemed to have delivered a victory speech an hour after polling stations across the capital officially closed and quick-count results were still far from conclusive. The Muslim scholar expressed his appreciation for his rival, Ahok, for participating in the democratic election, saying that while they were competitors in the race, they were actually working together in the democratic process. "Now we start a new chapter and we should work together to improve this city," he said. Previously, the PDI-P said it was certain Ahok would win the election. We are optimistic that at least our target of 52 percent of the vote can be achieved, said PDI-P secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto as quoted by tribunnews.com. He was speaking at the residence of PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri in Kebagusan, South Jakarta, on Wednesday. Commenting on several surveys that had placed candidate pair Anies Baswedan and Sandiaga Uno in the lead, Hasto said some pollsters were being used as campaign tools. At the time this article was written, Ahok had yet to concede defeat to Anies. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 19, 2017 11:32 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9c195e 1 Politics ahok,basuki-tjahaja-purnama,JakartaGubernatorialElection Free Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama, his wife, Veronica Tan, and son, Nicholas Sean, went early to their polling station to vote in the citys gubernatorial runoff election on Wednesday. Ahok and his family arrived at Polling Station 54 near his residence in the Pantai Mutiara housing complex in North Jakarta at about 8 a.m. Ahok wore a blue shirt while Veronica donned a white kebaya and Nicholas a white T-shirt. In the Feb. 15 election, Ahok and his family wore the signature red-and-blue plaid shirts that were the candidates official campaign outfits. They did not wear the iconic shirts today because the election would be over soon, Ahok said. After exercising his political rights, Ahok called on Jakartans to do the same. I call on Jakartans to not be afraid to come to polling stations because each vote could determine the fate of Jakarta's development," Ahok said. "Whatever your choice is, you should come to the polling stations. If you find challenges while voting, please report them to the officers." (ary) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Haeril Halim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 19, 2017 14:26 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9cd134 1 Politics Jokowi,Jokowi-administration,JakartaGubernatorialElection Free President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and First Lady Iriana cast their ballots in Gambir, Central Jakarta, on Wednesday, in a tense gubernatorial election that appears to have divided the nation. The President arrived at the polling station at 10.40 a.m., along with dozens of other Jakartans, to elect the Jakarta governor for the next five years. After casting his vote, Jokowi said he was optimistic the election would run smoothly. "I am sure this election will produce the best leader for Jakarta. Whatever the result and whoever is elected it needs to be accepted by all," Jokowi told reporters. Two candidatesJakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama and former education and culture minister Anies Baswedanface off in the second round of the citys gubernatorial race. Ahok was Jokowis deputy when Jokowi was Jakarta governor and is backed by most members of Jokowis ruling coalition. Anies, meanwhile, is backed by the opposition parties. Analysts have said the Jakarta election is a prelude to the 2019 presidential election where Jokowi will likely face off against his former rival from the 2014 election: Prabowo Subianto, the Gerindra Party leader, who is backing Anies. The election has also been seen as a battleground between conservative and liberal forces in the country, with the latter pinning their hopes on Ahok, the first Christian to lead the capital in more than two decades. Anies has long been known as a moderate and progressive Muslim, but his campaign team seems to have capitalized on the rising religious sentiment against Ahok. The President said Jakartans must unite and cast aside their differences after voting day. "Don't let differences in politics divide us because we are all brothers, he said. Jokowi and Iriana returned directly to the State Palace after casting their ballots. (ary) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Margareth S. Aritonang (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 19 2017 The House of Representatives decision to revise the 2014 Law on legislative institutions, known as the MD3 law, has provided an opportunity for the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) to expand its legislative powers. The council, which is now controlled by politicians from the Hanura Party, has sent a proposal to the Houses legislative body (Baleg) asking lawmakers to consider granting the council an additional seat for it on the Peoples Consultative Council (MPR) and a greater role in lawmaking. The 1945 Constitution stipulates that the council can only initiate and deliberate bills related to regional autonomy and relations between the central government and local governments. It does not specifically grant it the power to pass legislation. 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 Wed, April 19 2017 The Tangerang Court in Banten rejected on Tuesday a lawsuit filed by minimart company Alfamart against the Public Information Commission (KIP) and Mustolih Siradj, a customer who previously demanded access to a report of the companys customer donations collected from small change. Mustolih filed a complaint to the KIP last year after learning that PT Sumber Alfaria Trijaya, through its minimart chains, often asked customers to donate small change ranging from Rp 100 (0.01 US cent) to Rp 500 without elaborating on where the money would be channeled to. According to Tangerang Courts panel of judges, an institution like the KIP cannot be involved in such a lawsuit. Furthermore, they did not discuss the KIPs demand toward PT Sumber Alfaria Trijaya to disclose Alfamart customer donation records. In addition to rejecting the lawsuit, the judges also ordered the plaintiff to cover the case fee of Rp 506,000. 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 Wed, April 19, 2017 11:38 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9c2398 1 City polling-booths,polling-stations,BJ-Habibie,Nila-Moeloek,Rini-Soemarno,ahok,anies-baswedan,Anies-Baswedan-Sandiaga-Uno Free A group of people was thrown out of polling station Patra Kuningan 5 in Setiabudi, South Jakarta, by the Setiabudi Police on Wednesday. The polling station is where the country's third president, BJ Habibie, and State-Owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno are scheduled to vote. "We told this group of people to stay away after they claimed they had been appointed by a supporter of one of the two candidate pairs to guard the polling station. They had no other purpose at the polling station," Setiabudi Police deputy chief Comr. Fahri Siregar said as quoted by Antara news agency. (Read also: Intimidation, vote-buying reported in Jakarta election runoff) The group of people wore white shirts emblazoned with a statement calling for society to not be divided. Fahri asserted that the National Police and the Indonesian Military (TNI) had been assigned to guard every polling station and no one else could claim to provide security during the poll. "Fortunately, they understood and agreed to leave. However, since one of the people was able to show a letter of deployment as a witness at this polling station, we let that person remain," Fahri said. Health Minister Nila F. Moeloek also voted at the polling station on Wednesday. After she voted, the minister said she hoped the capital would get a responsible leader who could maintain unity. Jakartans are heading to polling stations on Wednesday in the runoff election. The race between incumbent ticket Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama-Djarot Syaiful Hidayat and rival Anies Baswedan is very tight, according to pollsters. (afr) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 19, 2017 11:38 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9c32c7 1 Politics Rizieq-Shihab,voting-day,Election-day Free Islam Defenders Front (FPI) leader Rizieq Shihab cast his vote with his family at polling station 17 in the Bethel Church parking lot in Petamburan, Central Jakarta. As the leader of FPI, a hard-line group with a track record of religious-related violence, Rizieq has long been voicing his opposition to Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama, lately accusing him of blasphemy. After voting, Rizieq said that he hoped the election would be held fairly and transparently so that the results did not lead to problems. If the election is just and fair, God willing, the outcome will not cause problems, he said as quoted by kompas.com on Wednesday. But if it is not held in a fair manner, there will be problems in the future, Rizieq added. But if it is held without honesty and fairness, even with real fraud, it could create problems, he said. While casting his vote, Rizieq was guarded by several members of the Laskar FPI. He immediately left the voting station afterwards. (dis) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Tobias Basuki (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 19 2017 The Jakarta gubernatorial election has certainly gained nationwide and even international interest. And rightly so, given its national, and potentially global, implications. It might be a bit of a stretch to say the Jakarta election may have a potential global impact. However, with Islamophobia and the victory of right-wing politicians in the West, a positive case, especially in the country with the largest Muslim population in the world, is badly needed. 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 Nurul Fitri Ramadhani, Indra Budiari and Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 19, 2017 09:33 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9ba8fd 2 City #2017JakartaElection,jakarta,JakartaElection Free Voters are expected to head to the polls on Wednesday in the second round of the gubernatorial election amid heightened sectarian tension that has been simmering since campaigning started late last year. Analysts have predicted voter turnout will likely be much higher than the 77.1 percent reported by the Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPU Jakarta) in the first round of the election in February. With pollsters showing that incumbent Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Thahaja Purnama and former culture and education minister Anies Baswedan are in a statistical dead heat, supporters from both candidates are expected to show up in droves at polling stations, hoping to deliver a win for their preferred ticket. The final result from the first round of the election on Feb. 15 showed that Ahok got 42.91 percent of the vote, while Anies received 40.05 percent. Third candidate Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono got 17.05 percent of the vote. Anies appeared to have gained momentum and seemed likely to catch up with Ahok over the last few weeks. Four out of five surveys released last week showed Anies was in the lead, albeit by a small margin. With a message tailored to woo voters from Muslim groups, Anies attracted voters who in the first round of the election voted for Agus, who also reached out to Muslim voters. (Read also: State security institutions put full attention on Jakarta gubernatorial election) Those who support Ahok, meanwhile, have diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds as well as social status, mostly the middle-income segment, said Sirajuddin Abbas, program director of the Jakartabased pollster, Sjaiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC). In terms of social class, Ahok [and his running mate Djarot Sjaiful Hidayat] have won support from people with at least a senior high school diploma with an income above the UMR [regional minimum wage], Sirajuddin told The Jakarta Post. Jakartas minimum wage is Rp 3.35 million (US$251.8) per month. Ahoks reputation has taken a hit on account of policies deemed as not pro-people, such as evictions and the reclamation projects, which activists said benefitted only the business community. Anies and his running mate Sandiaga Uno have attacked Ahok by capitalizing on the poors frustration over Ahoks eviction policy, with efforts including the former minister touring areas targeted by Ahoks eviction policy. Other than the eviction issue, sectarianism has also taken center stage in the election, especially after Ahok was filmed making a statement that some Muslim organizations deemed as blasphemous. Following protests from conservative Muslim groups, prosecutors charged Ahok with blasphemy and he is standing trial for allegedly violating articles 156 and 156a of the Criminal Code (KUHP) on blasphemy, which carry a maximum prison sentence of four and five years. The attacks on Ahok, who is a Christian of Chinese descent, intensified as the city headed toward the first round of election in February, with members of conservative Muslim groups attacking his supporters. In recent weeks, banners popped up in dozens of mosques in Jakarta, calling for Muslims not to facilitate the proper burial of fellow Muslims who supported Ahok in the election. The campaign against Ahok reached a new height with conservative Muslim groups planning to deploy their members to descend on polling stations on election day in a movement called Tamasya Al-Maidah (Al-Maidah Tour), prompting the National Police to dispatch more than 60,000 personnel to secure voting. On Tuesday, Anies camp called on his supporters to refrain from resorting to violence and urged them not to submit to provocation or intimidation. Spokesperson for Anies camp, former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) commissioner Bambang Widjojanto, called on Anies supporters to pray for a victory for their candidate, especially amid rumors of vote-buying. Bambang also said Anies supporters should keep a close eye on polling stations in their neighborhoods and move to file a report and collect evidence if they suspected foul play had taken place. Collect evidence before you take these violators to the law enforcement agencies he said on Wednesday. Ahoks campaign team said it expected a fair and peaceful election despite plans from the Al Maidah Tour and suspicions that KPU Jakarta would not remain neutral. Hasto Kristiyanto, secretarygeneral of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said his camp would rely on the police to safeguard voting. We fully support what has been done by the authorities to safeguard the election process and prevent any form of intimidation. Therefore, we hope residents can exercise their voting rights, Hasto said. Meanwhile, Muhammad Qodari, executive director of Jakarta pollster Indo Barometer, said the election could foretell the countrys future. [If things go wrong] what happens in Jakarta can serve as an ugly precedent for the simultaneous regional elections in 2018 and the presidential election in 2019, he said. Polling day in the fierce and noisy Jakarta gubernatorial election has arrived and the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) has warned voters and election organizers to be very careful about potential violations, given the growing number of reports of smear campaigns and vote-buying attempts. Since last week, Bawaslu has received 41 reports of violations, nine of which are still under investigation by the election integrated law enforcement center (Sentra Gakkumdu). The violations related to both incumbent candidate pair Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama-Djarot Syaiful Hidayat and the rival Anies Baswedan-Sandiaga Uno ticket. Bawaslu commissioner Fritz Edward Siregar claimed a Bawaslu team caught red-handed several groups of people attempting to distribute sembako (staple foods), which the agency believed was part of efforts to woo voters to vote for a certain ticket. But the agency has indicated violations could still be rampant on voting day, as a result of Polling Station Working Committees (KPPS) officials lack of professionalism and partisanship, as well as poorly informed voters. Election watchdogs are vigilant over potential vote-buying in the form of bribery prior to voting, locally known as serangan fajar, or dawn attacks. Intimidation by certain groups could also occur, he added. If voters feel intimidated, feel free to report to Bawaslu or the police immediately, he added. Information regarding the C6 form, which sets out where and when a voter should vote, for example, can be manipulated to bar voters from exercising their voting rights. The forms are not a requirement for a person to be able to vote. As long as the voters are listed on the DPT [final voter list], they only need to show their IDs to the KPPS, Fritz said. In the first round, KPPS officials in many polling stations did not allow voters to vote because they did not bring their C6 forms, while voters complained they did not receive the forms beforehand. The 2016 Regional Election Law stipulates that election violations carry between 12 and 72 months in prison. Indonesia Corruption Watch researcher Donal Fariz said many people still regard the sembako as sedekah (alms-giving). Votebuying is not sedekah, its a crime. People should understand that they can be sanctioned [for accepting bribes], he said. The General Elections Commission (KPU), meanwhile, has warned all KPPS officials to fully understand the voting mechanism. For example, it is only those who come after 1 p.m. that are not allowed to vote. This is crucial because it can cause misunderstandings, KPU commissioner Ilham Saputra said. Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) director Titi Anggraini said members of civil society groups would help monitor the voting. The organizers have limitations in terms of human resources and information, thus [independent observers] can help monitor and report violations. Well also continue monitoring after voting finishes, Titi said. Around 13,034 polling stations will operate across the city for the runoff election, 11 more than the first round given the increase in the number of voters according to the latest DPT. Both camps have reported violations. The Anies-Sandiaga camp described the vote-buying phenomenon as staple food politicization, requesting Bawaslu take firm measures. We share a similar opinion with [Ahoks camp] that vote buying could severely damage our democracy, Yupen Hadi from Anies-Sandiaga team said. The team claimed they had found a large number of illegal voters in the first round and warned that similar instances could reoccur. The Ahok-Djarot camp have said they will deploy 78,000 witnesses to all polling stations in a bid to prevent fraud and intimidation. Team spokesman I Gusti Putu Artha said some would observe the balloting process inside the stations while others would stand by outside. The witnesses, who are members of political parties backing Ahok-Djarot, will be facilitated by 20 hotline numbers and two mobile applications called Mata Saksi and Ninja Badja to report their findings. By Press Trust of India: New Delhi, Apr 19 (PTI) India and Nepal will further deepen cooperation in key areas like security, trade, investments and energy, the Ministry of External Affairs said today. Talks on a range of issues were held between the two neighbouring countries during the ongoing visit of Nepalese President Bidya Devi Bhandari. Bhandari, who is on a visit to India from April 17-21, held talks with her Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Minister for Home Affairs Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Finance and Defence Minister Arun Jaitley. advertisement A statement by the MEA said, the Indian leadership reiterated its support to ongoing efforts of the Nepal government in moving constitution implementation process forward through dialogue and taking all sections of its society on board. Both the sides, the MEA said, noted that Indo-Nepal relations derive their strength and salience from shared history, common cultural ethos, and long years of close and intense people-to-people contacts facilitated by open borders. "The Indian leadership reiterated the importance of its neighbourhood first policy, and the high priority India attaches to strengthening relations with Nepal in every sphere," the MEA said. Bhandari also conveyed Nepals commitment to take forward the relationship between the two countries on the basis of goodwill, understanding and mutual benefit. "She thanked India for its continued support for Nepals socio-economic development, in particular, Indias support for post-earthquake reconstruction process," the statement added. The two sides expressed satisfaction at the "intensive bilateral exchanges" in recent months at all levels between the two countries to deepen and strengthen ongoing cooperation in areas like trade, economic, investments, water resources, energy cooperation, security, post-earthquake reconstruction efforts, culture, education and people-to-people ties. They also assessed the implementation of ongoing connectivity and development projects, and expressed satisfaction at the recent initiatives taken towards expediting implementation of various projects. These projects include the cross-border connectivity works such as the development of Terai roads, cross-border rail links, integrated check posts, and cross-border petroleum products pipeline. Nepalese Minister for Foreign Affairs Prakash Sharan Mahat, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sita Devi Yadav, Minister for Peace and Reconstruction, Members of Nepalese Parliament, and other senior government officials also accompanied Bhandari during his visit. In Kathmandu today, Mahat said Bhandaris visit has been "fruitful" in enhancing the bilateral relations and goodwill between the two neighbours. The two countries reviewed bilateral energy cooperation, including development of hydropower projects in Nepal, power trade and development of high-capacity cross-border transmission lines. "The State visit of the President of Nepal provided the opportunity to the two sides to review all aspects of bilateral relations and to reiterate their commitments to take India-Nepal partnership to a new level across diverse sectors for mutual benefit," the MEA added. advertisement During her stay in India, she will travel to Gujarat and Odisha. PTI PR IKA --- ENDS --- Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Yogyakarta Wed, April 19 2017 Twenty-five activists from the Jogja Solidarity Against Cement Factory rights movement staged a rally on Tuesday to protest the visit of Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo to Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta. Learning from the fighting spirit of the mother of Kendeng, Yu Padmi, who died in her struggle against the construction of the cement factory in Kendeng, we are here to reject the visit of Ganjar, the cement governor, rally coordinator Ahmad Haedar said on Tuesday. Padmi passed away on March 21 after a week-long rally against the construction of the Rembang cement factory in front of the State Palace in Jakarta. During the rally, Padmi and several other female farmers from Kendeng encased their feet in concrete blocks to demonstrate their rejection of the project. 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 Callistasia Anggun Wijaya and Indra Budiari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 19, 2017 14:01 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9c997a 1 National JakartaGubernatorialElection,Anies-Baswedan-Sandiaga-Uno,ahok,basuki-tjahaja-purnama,jakarta Free After weeks of anxiety that partisan clashes or intimidation may mar the second round in Jakartas gubernatorial race, millions of Jakartans went to the polls on Wednesday without experiencing any serious problems. As of 1 p.m., the official closing time for voting, no major incidents had been reported to the Jakarta Police or the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu). Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama voted at Polling Station 54 near his residence in the Pantai Mutiara housing complex in North Jakarta at about 8 a.m., along with his wife Veronica Tan and son Nicholas Sean. Ahok wore a blue shirt, while Veronica donned a white kebaya and Nicholas a white T-shirt. In the first round of the election on Feb. 15, Ahok and his family had worn his campaigns signature red-and-blue plaid shirts. After exercising his political right, Ahok called on Jakartans to do the same. I call on Jakartans to not be afraid to go to polling stations, because each vote could determine the fate of Jakarta's development," Ahok said. "Whatever your choice is, you should go to the polling stations. If you encounter hurdles while voting, please report them to the officials." Incumbent Basuki Tjahaja Purnama and his family cast vote for the Gubernatorial Election phase 2 at TPS 54, Pantai Mutiara, Pluit, Wednesday, April 19, 2017.(JP/Seto Wardhana) (Read also: Jakarta runoff election 101) Ahoks rival, Anies Baswedan, meanwhile, voted in Lebak Bulus in South Jakarta. The former education and culture minister and his family arrived at the polling station at 11:00 a.m., three hours later than scheduled. They were welcomed by dozens of volunteers and residents, who recited prayers as well as salawat (religious chants) for him. Whatever the result is, we leave it to God. We are ready to win and to lose, Anies said. Hard-line Islamic groups have fomented sectarian sentiment against Ahok, a Christian of Chinese descent, since last year through a series of major rallies in the capital. Many of those who took part in the rallies are not from Jakarta. The groups have announced to mobilize thousands of Muslims through a mobile application called Tamasya Al-Maidah (Al-Maidah Tour) to come to Jakarta and guard the citys 13,032 polling booths against fraudulent activities. Al-Maidah is a chapter in the Quran that contains a verse often used by conservative Muslims to urge Muslims not to vote for political leaders of another faith. The National Police, however, have banned citizens from participating in the Al-Maidah Tour, saying it could trigger public unrest. Al-Maidah Tour participants reportedly planned to gather at Istiqlal Mosque, but an official at the mosque, Abu Hurairah, told kompas.com that as of Wednesday afternoon, there had been no request for a permit from the organizers or the tour. Islam Defenders Front (FPI) leader Rizieq Shihab, a leading figure behind the anti-Ahok movement, said the election would be held fairly and transparently, so that the results did not lead to problems. If the election is just and fair, God willing, the outcome will not cause problems, he said, as quoted by kompas.com on Wednesday. Police deployed 66,000 officers to secure the election. As many as 2,400 Indonesian Military personnel from the Jakarta Military District Command (Kodam Jaya) and the West Java and Banten Military District Command (Kodam Siliwangi) are also set to be deployed in the event of an emergency. (dis/ary) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 19, 2017 07:36 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9b6fb0 2 National #2017JakartaElection,#Jakartaelection Free Jakarta citizens will once again have the chance to cast their vote for the capitals next governor and vice governor in the runoff election today. In this round, the candidates are incumbents Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama and Djarot Saiful Hidayat, and their sole competitors Anies Baswedan and Sandiaga Uno. More than 7.2 million eligible voters are encouraged to come to one of 13,034 polling stations spread across Jakarta to cast their votes. Citizens can confirm their place in the final voter list (DPT) by visiting the Jakarta General Elections Committee (KPU Jakarta) website, kpu.go.id, and enter the 16 digits of their citizen identification numbers (NIK) on the Voters tab. On election day, Jakartans listed on the voter list will be able to cast their ballot at their assigned polling stations from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. by showing their C6 (voting invitation) form or their ID cards. Voters will also be allowed to vote at polling stations other than those assigned to them by showing an A5 form or an ID card. (Read also: State security institutions put full attention on Jakarta gubernatorial election) Meanwhile, those who are not listed on the voter list are allowed to cast their vote after 12 a.m. by showing their KPU Jakarta-issued letter of recommendation (suket). Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 19, 2017 13:26 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9c6fb1 1 City Jakmart,convenience-store Free The Jakarta administration's plan to open another 42 convenience stores under the Jakmart brand by the end of 2017 has been given the green light by the city council, which considers them important for food supply. "Councilors have been familiarized with the Jakmart business model currently developed by PD Pasar Jaya. It is in line with our goal to ensure food security for the public," city councilor Prabowo Soenirman of Commission B, which oversees the economy, said on Tuesday. He added that the prices of goods sold at the market should be lower than at similar stores and adjusted with people's purchasing power. Currently, there are two Jakmart stores in the capital. PD Pasar Jaya president director Arief Nasrudin has said that the stores have begun selling more than 600 products. He claimed the prices were slightly lower than at any other convenience store in the city. Arief said he planned to build the stores in many promising spots of the city, including near governmental offices and Mass Rapid Transit stations. (fac) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 19, 2017 15:43 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9d1042 1 National Luhut-Binsar-Pandjaitan,US,Mike-Pence,democracy,2017JakartaElection,#2017JakartaElection,#JakartaGubernatorialElection Free Through a safe and peaceful runoff election, Jakarta voters can show the US that democracy is well maintained in Indonesia, a senior minister has said. The US Vice President [Mike Pence] will arrive in Jakarta. Lets show that our democracy is running well whatever the result will be, said Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan as quoted by tribunnews.com in Jakarta on Wednesday. The minister was speaking after he cast his ballot in the Jakarta gubernatorial runoff election at polling station TPS 03 in East Kuningan, Setiabudi, South Jakarta. Pences visit, slated for April 20 to 21, is expected to boost strategic ties between Indonesia and the US. (Read also: VP Pence to visit Indonesia, meet Jokowi) Luhut said that during his visit to Indonesia Vice President Pence aimed to discuss bilateral cooperation between the two countries, including in the field of politics. Several other issues such as the South China Sea territorial disputes, Indonesias democratic maturity and economic issues would also be discussed. Matters related to [US-based gold and copper mining] Freeport certainly will be discussed but I think thats just a minor issue. This is because Indonesias position on Freeport is clear, we will adhere to existing rules. We will not disregard any agreement that we have signed, said Luhut. (dis/ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Safrin La Batu, Callistasia Anggun Wijaya and Indra Budiari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 19, 2017 08:12 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9b8f17 2 National #2017JakartaElection,jakarta,election-runoff Free Voters are expected to head to the polls on Wednesday in the second round of the gubernatorial election amid heightened sectarian tension that has been simmering since campaigning started late last year. Analysts have predicted voter turnout will likely be much higher than the 77.1 percent reported by the Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPU Jakarta) in the first round of the election in February. With pollsters showing that incumbent Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Thahaja Purnama and former culture and education minister Anies Baswedan are in a statistical dead heat, supporters from both candidates are expected to show up in droves at polling stations, hoping to deliver a win for their preferred ticket. The final result from the first round of the election on Feb. 15 showed that Ahok got 42.91 percent of the vote, while Anies received 40.05 percent. Third candidate Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono got 17.05 percent of the vote. Anies appeared to have gained momentum and seemed likely to catch up with Ahok over the last few weeks. Four out of five surveys released last week showed Anies was in the lead, albeit by a small margin. With a message tailored to woo voters from Muslim groups, Anies attracted voters who in the first round of the election voted for Agus, who also reached out to Muslim voters. Those who support Ahok, meanwhile, have diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds as well as social status, mostly the middle-income segment, said Sirajuddin Abbas, program director of the Jakartabased pollster, Sjaiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC). In terms of social class, Ahok [and his running mate Djarot Sjaiful Hidayat] have won support from people with at least a senior high school diploma with an income above the UMR [regional minimum wage], Sirajuddin told The Jakarta Post. Jakartas minimum wage is Rp 3.35 million (US$251.8) per month. Ahoks reputation has taken a hit on account of policies deemed as not pro-people, such as evictions and the reclamation projects, which activists said benefitted only the business community. Anies and his running mate Sandiaga Uno have attacked Ahok by capitalizing on the poors frustration over Ahoks eviction policy, with efforts including the former minister touring areas targeted by Ahoks eviction policy. Other than the eviction issue, sectarianism has also taken center stage in the election, especially after Ahok was filmed making a statement that some Muslim organizations deemed as blasphemous. Following protests from conservative Muslim groups, prosecutors charged Ahok with blasphemy and he is standing trial for allegedly violating articles 156 and 156a of the Criminal Code (KUHP) on blasphemy, which carry a maximum prison sentence of four and five years. The attacks on Ahok, who is a Christian of Chinese descent, intensified as the city headed toward the first round of election in February, with members of conservative Muslim groups attacking his supporters. In recent weeks, banners popped up in dozens of mosques in Jakarta, calling for Muslims not to facilitate the proper burial of fellow Muslims who supported Ahok in the election. The campaign against Ahok reached a new height with conservative Muslim groups planning to deploy their members to descend on polling stations on election day in a movement called Tamasya Al-Maidah (Al-Maidah Tour), prompting the National Police to dispatch more than 60,000 personnel to secure voting. On Tuesday, Anies camp called on his supporters to refrain from resorting to violence and urged them not to submit to provocation or intimidation. Spokesperson for Anies camp, former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) commissioner Bambang Widjojanto, called on Anies supporters to pray for a victory for their candidate, especially amid rumors of vote-buying. Bambang also said Anies supporters should keep a close eye on polling stations in their neighborhoods and move to file a report and collect evidence if they suspected foul play had taken place. Collect evidence before you take these violators to the law enforcement agencies he said on Wednesday. (Read also: 2,400 military personnel readied to secure Jakarta runoff election) Ahoks campaign team said it expected a fair and peaceful election despite plans from the Al Maidah Tour and suspicions that KPU Jakarta would not remain neutral. Hasto Kristiyanto, secretarygeneral of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said his camp would rely on the police to safeguard voting. We fully support what has been done by the authorities to safeguard the election process and prevent any form of intimidation. Therefore, we hope residents can exercise their voting rights, Hasto said. Meanwhile, Muhammad Qodari, executive director of Jakarta pollster Indo Barometer, said the election could foretell the countrys future. [If things go wrong] what happens in Jakarta can serve as an ugly precedent for the simultaneous regional elections in 2018 and the presidential election in 2019, he said. Polling day in the fierce and noisy Jakarta gubernatorial election has arrived and the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) has warned voters and election organizers to be very careful about potential violations, given the growing number of reports of smear campaigns and vote-buying attempts. Since last week, Bawaslu has received 41 reports of violations, nine of which are still under investigation by the election integrated law enforcement center (Sentra Gakkumdu). The violations related to both incumbent candidate pair Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama-Djarot Syaiful Hidayat and the rival Anies Baswedan-Sandiaga Uno ticket. With less than a week left until the second round of Jakartas elections, tensions are simmering, while the political winds begin to blow in many different directions.(JP/Budhi Button) Bawaslu commissioner Fritz Edward Siregar claimed a Bawaslu team caught red-handed several groups of people attempting to distribute sembako (staple foods), which the agency believed was part of efforts to woo voters to vote for a certain ticket. But the agency has indicated violations could still be rampant on voting day, as a result of Polling Station Working Committees (KPPS) officials lack of professionalism and partisanship, as well as poorly informed voters. Election watchdogs are vigilant over potential vote-buying in the form of bribery prior to voting, locally known as serangan fajar, or dawn attacks. Intimidation by certain groups could also occur, he added. If voters feel intimidated, feel free to report to Bawaslu or the police immediately, he added. Information regarding the C6 form, which sets out where and when a voter should vote, for example, can be manipulated to bar voters from exercising their voting rights. The forms are not a requirement for a person to be able to vote. As long as the voters are listed on the DPT [final voter list], they only need to show their IDs to the KPPS, Fritz said. In the first round, KPPS officials in many polling stations did not allow voters to vote because they did not bring their C6 forms, while voters complained they did not receive the forms beforehand. The 2016 Regional Election Law stipulates that election violations carry between 12 and 72 months in prison. Indonesia Corruption Watch researcher Donal Fariz said many people still regard the sembako as sedekah (alms-giving). Votebuying is not sedekah, its a crime. People should understand that they can be sanctioned [for accepting bribes], he said. The General Elections Commission (KPU), meanwhile, has warned all KPPS officials to fully understand the voting mechanism. For example, it is only those who come after 1 p.m. that are not allowed to vote. This is crucial because it can cause misunderstandings, KPU commissioner Ilham Saputra said. Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) director Titi Anggraini said members of civil society groups would help monitor the voting. The organizers have limitations in terms of human resources and information, thus [independent observers] can help monitor and report violations. Well also continue monitoring after voting finishes, Titi said. Around 13,034 polling stations will operate across the city for the runoff election, 11 more than the first round given the increase in the number of voters according to the latest DPT. Both camps have reported violations. The Anies-Sandiaga camp described the vote-buying phenomenon as staple food politicization, requesting Bawaslu take firm measures. We share a similar opinion with [Ahoks camp] that vote buying could severely damage our democracy, Yupen Hadi from Anies-Sandiaga team said. (Read also: Jakarta runoff election 101) The team claimed they had found a large number of illegal voters in the first round and warned that similar instances could reoccur. The Ahok-Djarot camp have said they will deploy 78,000 witnesses to all polling stations in a bid to prevent fraud and intimidation. Team spokesman I Gusti Putu Artha said some would observe the balloting process inside the stations while others would stand by outside. The witnesses, who are members of political parties backing Ahok-Djarot, will be facilitated by 20 hotline numbers and two mobile applications called Mata Saksi and Ninja Badja to report their findings. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 19, 2017 17:55 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9d7644 1 City election,voting-booths,voting-day,Madura,Sumenep Free Several people from Sumenep, Madura, East Java, were reportedly arrested after attempting to check the situation at a polling station in Kebon Singkong, Klender, East Jakarta, on Wednesday. 15 people are currently being detained in Kebon Singkong, Klender. Their IDs state that they are Madura residents," Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Argo Yuwono said on Wednesday. According to some members of the group, 20 of them arrived in Jakarta on Sunday from Sumenep using a tourist bus. They were accommodated in Kampung Sumur, Klender, East Jakarta. During their stay, they were each given Rp 100,000 (US$7.50) and a white uniform by an unknown person they described as a field coordinator. The same coordinator also instructed them to oversee and monitor vote counting at the polling station. (dea) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 19, 2017 16:04 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9d3aea 1 Business #JakartaGubernatorialElection,business,market Free Pasar Pagi Mangga Dua, a North Jakarta shopping center that sells affordable clothes, was quiet on Wednesday as owners of the shops and their customers went to cast their votes. Many owners closed their shops. Not like during the first round election day [in February], Slamet Riyanto, a security guard at the Pasar Pagi Mangga Dua building, told The Jakarta Post. Wednesday was Jakarta gubernatorial runoff election polling day, during which some 7.2 million residents of Jakarta were eligible to vote. Incumbent pair Basuki Tjahaja Purnama-Djarot Saiful Hidayat competed against Anies Baswedan-Sandiaga Uno after they won through to the second round. Slamet said business started at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, two hours later than usual. Jenny, 35, a seller of kebaya, traditional Indonesian attire, opened her shop on Wednesday. She said she decided to open her business after she was informed by her neighbors that the market was quite busy in February. My neighbors said the market was crowded during the previous election day. Therefore, I decided to open the shop, she said. She said she did not see any impact of the election on her business. Flori Lao, 57, a resident of Manado and religious activist, said she visited the market because she wanted to see the election situation in Jakarta. The situation is completely safe. It is not as bad as I had thought, she said Flori said she flew to Jakarta on Tuesday to see the situation and to pray for the capital city. (ecn/bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 19, 2017 18:35 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9d8c09 1 Politics megawati-soekarnoputri,PDI-P,#Megawati,#PDIP,ahok,#ahok,#Ahok-Djarot,basuki-tjahaja-purnama,anies-baswedan,Anies-Baswedan-Sandiaga-Uno,2017JakartaElection,#2017JakartaElection,#JakartaGubernatorialElection Free Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri has drawn attention to surveys commissioned by several pollsters, which she claimed had always placed the electability of incumbent candidate pair Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama and Djarot Saiful Hidayat below that of their rivals, Anies Baswedan and Sandiaga Uno in the runoff Jakarta gubernatorial election. Megawati insisted surveys did not determine a candidates performance. I think a survey is only a reference. It cannot determine the result of an election, the party chairperson said as quoted by kompas.com after she cast her ballot at polling station TPS 27 in Kebagusan, South Jakarta, on Wednesday. It is Jakartas voters who will decide the result of this election, she went on. (Read also: Anies beats Ahok in runoff vote: Quick counts) Megawati further said it was really important for Jakarta voters to be able to exercise their right to vote without any interference or intimidation from any parties. So, go ahead. Just choose any candidate you want to choose but there should be no intimidation, no terror, she said. The PDI-P led a coalition, which included the Golkar Party, the Hanura Party and the NasDem Party, that backed the Ahok-Djarot ticket. Meanwhile, Anies-Sandiaga was supported by a coalition led by Gerindra Party patron Prabowo Subianto. Megawati said Jakarta should be a role model for other provinces on how democracy should work. She would continue to monitor all stages of the election until fully complete. However, quick counts appear to show that Anies-Sandiaga won the election. Lets see the results. I will wait them. Of course because I support Ahok, I want him to lead Jakarta again, said Megawati. (afr/ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 19, 2017 13:03 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9c6671 1 Business foreign-workers,Manpower-Ministry,employees,monitoring-watchdogs Free The Manpower Ministry has too few personnel to monitor foreigners who are working without the appropriate permits in many parts of the country, the ministrys foreign labor control director Wisnu Pramono said on Monday. We have only 1,923 inspectors out of the ideal number of 4,200 inspectors, Wisnu told The Jakarta Post after a hearing with the House of Representatives in Jakarta. Foreigners who are to be employed in Indonesia are required to obtain expatriate employment permits (IMTA) and stay permits (ITAS), Wisnu said, adding that those permits should be obtained before they enter Indonesian territory. (Read also: Seven foreign workers deported from Bali) From about 74,000 foreign workers who were employed in Indonesia in 2016, the ministry found 1,324 problem cases: 794 people working without an IMTA and 530 people who had misused their working permits, the official said on Tuesday. He said he believed the number of foreign employment cases was higher than the data held by the ministry because of the shortage of personnel to monitor the foreigners. Wisnu said his office had issued recommendations to the immigration offices to deport foreign workers who were not equipped with complete documents. Since 2015, the foreign workers are required to have an IMTA before they get an ITAS, said Wisnu, adding that the potential workers could use Skype to interact with employers before deciding to work in Indonesia and so reduce the numbers of various violations against the regulations. (dra/bbn) Himanshu Bhatia, CEO of Rose International and IT Staffing, will have to pay her former live-in domestic service worker USD 135,000 for mistreating her. By Press Trust of India: An Indian-American CEO has been ordered to pay USD 135,000 to her former domestic worker after a Labour Department investigation found she underpaid and mistreated her. Himanshu Bhatia, CEO of Rose International and IT Staffing, will have to pay her former live-in domestic service worker back wages and damages under the terms of a consent judgement entered into the US District Court for the Central District of California. advertisement The judgement, entered on April 11, resolves a complaint filed by the US Department of Labour in August last year. An investigation by the departments Wage and Hour Division found that Bhatia willfully and repeatedly violated federal labour laws minimum wage and record keeping provisions from July 2012 to December 2014. The complaint alleged that Bhatia paid her domestic service worker, who had been identified in an earlier complaint as Sheela Ningwal, a fixed monthly salary of USD 400 plus food and housing at Bhatias home in San Juan Capistrano and other residences in Miami, Las Vegas and Long Beach. Investigators found that the employee suffered "callous abuse" and retaliation, including being forced to sleep on a piece of carpet in the garage when ill, while Bhatias' dogs slept on a mattress nearby. The complaint also alleged that Bhatia confiscated Ningwal's passport. Bhatia terminated the worker in December 2014 after she allegedly found her employee researching labour laws online, and after the worker refused to sign a document stating she was being paid an adequate salary and had no employment dispute with Bhatia. "This consent judgement underlines the departments commitment to protecting workers from exploitation," said Janet Herold, solicitor for the Department of Labours Western Region. "The department will take strong and immediate action to ensure that workers are protected against retaliation." Also read Airlines "ban" Gaikwad, but Sena MP remains unrepentent --- ENDS --- Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 19, 2017 12:19 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9c6009 1 City Al-Maidah,tour,Istiqlal-Mosque,#JakartaElection2017 Free The caretakers of the Istiqlal Mosque in Central Jakarta are claiming they have not received any information about any activities planned for Wednesday by Tamasya Al Maidah, a pressure group that opposes incumbent candidate Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama. The group, named after a controversial Quranic verse some Muslims claim bars non-Muslims from being their political leaders, had not confirmed it would use the mosque as their base camp. The group coordinators have yet to give us any spoken or written confirmation [on using the mosque], said the Istiqlal Mosque's head of protocol, Abu Hurairah, on Wednesday, as quoted by kompas.com. Tamasya Al Maidah (Al Maidah Tour), which is being facilitated through an Android application, is urging Indonesians, even from outside Jakarta, to monitor the voting at each of the 13,032 polling stations in the capital. A group organizer previously said that participants would gather at Istiqlal Mosque in the afternoon after the voting is finished. Abu added that he previously heard about the participants intention to gather in the mosque from social media. We would have to coordinate with security officers for any activities that have certain interests and agendas, Abu said. (kuk) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Dino Patti Djalal (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 19 2017 Did you know that this year ASEAN is half-century old? Yes, the big 50! I am sure there will be tons of articles about Southeast Asias regional transformation, changing geopolitics, the ASEAN Community and all that good stuff. To dig deeper, the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI) convened a hunting session where we tasked a group of researchers to hunt for eye-opening facts and statistics about ASEAN. This hunting squad included Indonesians as well as Colombo-Plan Australian students who ate most of our food in the fridge. 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 Wed, April 19, 2017 08:08 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9b8ee2 1 National police,shooting,Lubuklinggau,SouthSumatra Free Police fired multiple shots at a car carrying a family of seven in Lubuklinggau, South Sumatra, on Monday, after the driver allegedly refused to pull over and sped up during a traffic operation. A witness said the car was surrounded by police officers when it stopped near a Bank Mandiri office on Jl. Yos Sudarso after a 2-kilometer car chase. The officers who chased them shot at the car twice. We did not know who was inside the car, local resident Iqbal told kompas.com. Police, he said, had then asked the driver to get out of the car and were surprised to find that many people were inside the car, including children. A woman identified as Surini, 55, was killed in the incident. Numerous gunshot wounds were seen on her body. Her children, Diki, 29, Indra, 32, Novianti, 31, and Dewi Arlina, 35, also sustained gunshot wounds. Surinis three-year-old grandson, Genta Wicaksono, suffered injuries on his ear, while another child, identified as Galih, 6, was unharmed. The family was traveling from Blitar village, Rejang Lebong, Bengkulu. The North Sumatra Police said the driver, Indra, had sped up the vehicle when police officers asked him to pull over during a traffic operation. The car had almost hit the officers and some pedestrians, police said. A warning shot was reportedly fired during the car chase, but it remains unclear why the officers decided to shoot at the car. A team of investigators has been deployed to probe the incident, North Sumatra Police chief Agung Budi Maryoto said, adding that he would not hesitate to prosecute his men if they were proven guilty. (ary) Topics : police shooting Lubuklinggau SouthSumatra Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 19 2017 As the country witnesses one of its most polarizing elections in Jakarta that has turned social media into a battleground for support from voters and source of disharmony, the Press Council called on Tuesday for online media restraint. In a move critics say is a way to cage freedom of speech, the council and the recently established Indonesian Cyber Media Association (AMSI) have demanded standardization and verification for news media companies operating online. With about half of the countrys population wired to the internet, the council said unverified online media had spread fake news, causing disputes in society and raising political tension. 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 Wed, April 19, 2017 12:17 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9c559f 1 Business Prudential-Indonesia,life-insurance,income Free PT Prudential Life Assurance (Prudential Indonesia) has generated total premium income of about Rp 26.5 trillion (US$1.99 billion) from 3.4 million active customers in 2016, according to unaudited financial results. The figure is slightly higher than the previous years Rp 26.02 trillion, while total claims rose by 8.1 percent to Rp 9.9 trillion from Rp 9.1 trillion in 2015. The companys premium income in 2016 accounted for 16 percent of the total premium income of the countrys life insurance industry, the companys chief investment officer, John Oehmke, said in Jakarta on Monday. He did not disclose the net profit, arguing that it was being audited. In 2015, the company booked Rp 5.44 trillion in after-tax profits. The companys total asset under management rose by 20.5 percent to Rp 54.5 trillion in 2016, while its income from investment reached Rp 5.2 trillion in the same year. Company president director Jens Reisch said the growing awareness about the importance of life insurance in society made him confident about the industrys prospects. We will continue to make product innovation, one of which was launched in February: PRUprime Healthcare, he said during a press briefing in Jakarta on Monday. (ecn/bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 19, 2017 21:29 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9dcf1b 1 Politics KPU,Arief-Budiman,2017JakartaElection,#2017JakartaElection,#JakartaGubernatorialElection,runoff,#ahok,ahok,basuki-tjahaja-purnama,anies-baswedan,Anies-Baswedan-Sandiaga-Uno,#Ahok-Djarot Free General Elections Commission (KPU) chairman Arief Budiman reminded the public that the results of quick counts of the Jakarta gubernatorial runoff election are not yet official. People must understand quick count results are not the official results. The official results will be determined by the KPU, he said as quoted by kompas.com on Wednesday. Arief further explained quick counts were a scientific activity conducted by a survey institution. Each institution had its own technique or method in carrying out a quick count. However, the method would remain measurable, he added. Its okay to use quick count results purely as information, said Arief. (Read also: Jakarta praised for peaceful voting day) He hoped there would be no polemics in response to quick count results. Jakarta residents must wait for the official announcement from KPU Jakarta as the sole institution with authority to recapitulate votes. Zainuddin Amali, the head of the House of Representatives Commission II, which oversees home affairs, asked all Jakarta residents to maintain the safe and peaceful situation in Jakarta. Quick counts appear to show candidate pair Anies Baswedan-Sandiaga Uno winning over rival Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama-Djarot Saiful Hidayat in the election. (dis/ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Moses Ompusunggu (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 19 2017 Home to the worlds third largest rainforest, Indonesia, notorious for poor forest management, has experienced decades of illegal logging and annual haze. However, President Joko Jokowi Widodos administration made strides last year in mitigating forest fires by conducting joint efforts with the private sector while also tapping into green potentials in an effort to address the countrys power deficiency. The harnessing of renewable energy resources in forests, such as sawdust from the timber business, for electricity is currently being promoted by the government in its bid to have 23 percent of its total energy supply come from renewable energy by 2025. 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 Agus Maryono (The Jakarta Post) Purwokerto, Central Java Wed, April 19, 2017 21:56 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9dea9b 1 National SusiPudjiastuti,Susi-Pujiastuti,#SusiPudjiastuti,maritime-affairs-and-fisheries-ministry,Maritime-and-fisheries-ministry,Caledonian-Sky,raja-ampat,West-Papua Free Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti explained to the Japanese government that her ministry needed ocean radars, which were important for shipping safety at sea, and hoped it could give its used radars to be used in Indonesian seas. I conveyed our need to the Japanese government during my recent visit to the country. I asked for six more sea radars from Japan. I hope they can fulfill our demand, Susi told journalists during her working visit in Purwokerto on Wednesday. The minister further said a radar granted by the Japanese government had been installed in Wakatobi, Southeast Sulawesi, and it was very helpful in detecting sea objects. The Indonesian government would no longer needed to allocate budgets to procure the six radars if Japan agreed to give its used radars to Indonesia, she explained. Susi further said she had invited Japan businesspeople to invest in Indonesia, including on sophisticated radars to detect sea objects. She said sophisticated radars could prevent sea accidents, like the one that occurred in Raja Ampat, West Papua, during which a cruise ship, MV Caledonian Sky, was stranded in Raja Ampat waters and damaged corals in the area. With a radar, Susi said, a ship located 250 kilometers away could be detected. Such detection capacity was important to know the presence of foreign ships in Indonesian waters. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Tanjung Pandan, Bangka Belitung Wed, April 19, 2017 11:57 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9c3ebe 1 Business Tax-office-Kartini1-cards,payment-system,central-bank,approval Free The Directorate General of Taxation is waiting for approval from Bank Indonesia (BI) for the integration of its Kartin1 smart card system with banking payment cards, including credit and debit cards. Kartin1 cards could hold 80 kilobytes of information and had been injected with taxpayer data, such as the holders tax identification number (NPWP), address and biometrics, said the tax offices director of information and communication technology transformation, Iwan Djuniardi. More information could be added in line with the increasing number of institutions joining the system, he added. "Bank Mandiri and BNI are already interested in Kartin1 and have sent official letters to BI; however BI still wants to make a study, taking into account security aspects," Iwan said at a media briefing in Tanjung Pandan, Bangka Belitung Islands, on Monday. The Health Care and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) and the Workers Social Security Agency (BPJS Ketenagakerjaan) have agreed to join the system. A portmanteau from 'Kartin1', the system is part of the tax offices efforts to streamline taxpayer data. Iwan said one of the main problems at the tax office was a lack of personal data on taxpayers, but added that the tax office could not inject the data contained on Kartin1 into national electronic IDs (e-IDs). "The capacity of the e-ID is too low at only 8 kB, leaving no space for additional data. Second, if you lose your e-ID, it takes a long time and complicated bureaucracy to get a new one, and third is the [aspect of] quality," he said. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Prima Wirayani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, April 20 2017 Business players in the insurance industry have thrown their weight behind the governments proposal to cap foreign ownership of insurers amid mounting criticism from lawmakers. In a working meeting between lawmakers from Commission XI overseeing financial affairs at the House of Representatives and the government on Monday, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati submitted a government regulation (PP) draft as a derivative rule of the 2014 Insurance Law. 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 According to the sources, the matter came to light when the officer was intercepted at the Kabul airport by the local agencies there with the two pistols a few months ago while he was returning to India on leave. By Ajit Kumar Dubey: In an embarrassing development, a colonel has been dismissed from the Indian embassy in Afghanistan after he was found to be in possession of unauthorised weapons. Allegations of other serious kind of misconduct have also surfaced in the investigation after which the officer was made to return mid-way through his tenure there as the deputy military attache. advertisement "The colonel was expelled from the embassy in Kabul and his tenure was cut short after he was found to be in unauthorised possession of two sophisticated pistols which could not be accounted for in a probe conducted by a senior Indian Police Service officer," government sources told Mail Today here. Multiple queries sent to the ministry for external affairs spokesperson were not answered by the authorities concerned. However, senior army sources confirmed that the officer had been sent back to India mid-way through his tenure and has now been attached to the Delhi area headquarters for an internal probe. OFFICER DENIES CHARGES According to the sources, the matter came to light when the officer was intercepted at the Kabul airport by the local agencies there with the two pistols a few months ago while he was returning to India on leave. When the matter was brought to the notice of Indian authorities, a probe was ordered into the incident as they wanted to establish the facts in the development happening in a country considered to be a strategic partner of India. Sources said the high-level inquiry into the case was ordered at the level of foreign secretary office. During the inquiry conducted by the joint secretary-level police officer in the ministry of external affairs, the Indian Army officer could not establish the source of the weapons which were not on record of the embassy in Kabul. All weapons and equipment in an Indian embassy have to be accounted for in any country where own troops are deployed. After the report was submitted by the investigating officer to the ministry of external affairs in New Delhi, it asked the defence ministry to call back the colonel and carry out an investigation into the matter, they said. The officer was removed from his post as the foreign affairs ministry did not find him to be suitable for Indian interests there, the sources said. In his defence, the officer has denied the charges against him, claiming the weapons carried by him were due to an "inadvertent error". advertisement A couple of years ago also, a senior Indian Army officer was mired in controversy over allegations in media that he was involved in misbehaviour with a local Afghan woman. India and Afghanistan have been coming together closely as New Delhi has been supplying weapons and humanitarian aid to Kabul for its rebuilding process hindered by Pakistan spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence and its terror groups there. Also read: Disabled people need not stand for national anthem, says Supreme Court Also read: If you study in a CBSE school then studying Hindi may soon be compulsory Also read: Petrol pumps in 8 states to remain closed on Sundays from May 14 --- ENDS --- Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, April 20 2017 A tunnel at the Manggarai railway station in South Jakarta opened on Dec. 8, 2016, was constructed to make it easier for passengers to cross the tracks in the largest station in the capital. In the past, passengers had to wait for the tracks to be free of trains before they could cross, which resulted in parts of the station being overcrowded with commuters, especially during peak hours. However, the tunnel turned out to sometimes be more of a nuisance than a blessing for passengers as puddles of water often made it difficult to use. 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 Wed, April 19, 2017 15:49 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9d13a8 1 News Banten,Tourism-Ministry-Pesona-Indonesia,tourism-ministry-wonderful-Indonesia,food,food-festival Free If youre still undecided on how to spend your weekend later this month, one exciting event to attend is the Pandeglang Food Festival 2017, which runs from April 28 30. The three-day event takes place in Pandeglang Bay, Banten province. A row of tables will be set up on the dock of the bay, while fishing boats will be available for visitors who prefer to enjoy their food on the water. Read also: Automotive club promotes tourism in Tanjung Lesung Theres also the Angeun Lada cooking festival of a traditional dish made of buffalo meat. This festival has its own attractiveness for visitors, and it will surely improve the places economy, says the Tourism Ministry's archipelago tourism marketing development deputy, Esthy Reko Astuti. There will also be a music performance and traditional dance performances, such as ronggeng pesisir, jaipong and the saman beluk, performed by elderly artists hailing from Carita district. (asw) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 19, 2017 17:30 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9d5d28 1 News Tourism-Ministry-Pesona-Indonesia,tourism-ministry-wonderful-Indonesia,East-Nusa-Tenggara,travel Free Apart from hosting the Atambua Adventure Off-Road 2017 event in Belu regency, Atambua is home to plenty of beautiful tourist attractions. Read also: Atambua Adventure Off-Road 2017 to promote cross-border tourism Atapupu beach in Motaain village, close to the border with Timor Leste, is the mainstay of tourism in Atambua. The white-sand beach is a favorite holiday spot for people from Timor Leste, says the head of tourism and culture of Belu, Johanes Andes Prihatin. Theres also the Mauhalek waterfall, located in Raiulun village, an hour away from Atambua. This waterfall is not far from the border between the Republic of Indonesia and Timor Leste and an important water source for the local people, adds Prihatin. Read also: Visiting Lapopu, the highest waterfall in East Nusa Tenggara When it comes to historic sites, there is Makes fort, also known as Ranu Hitu fort or Benteng Lapis Tujuh (Seven Layers Fort) at the top of Makes hill. Meanwhile on the hill of Batu Maudemu, precisely at Maudemu village, theres a cemetery of the Melus people, the indigenous tribe of the island. For accommodation, you can opt for homestays in Atambua or hotels, such as the Intan Hotel, Matahari Hotel or Paradiso Hotel. (asw) Read the digital edition 2020-09-25 E-Edition The Jewish Advocate is a not-for-profit reader-supported 501(c)3 organization. We rely on your donations which are tax-deductible. An Afghanistan-based news agency reported that 13 Indian Islamic State fighters were among those killed in the aftermath of the United States hitting an area in the country with its 'Mother Of All Bombs'. The US dropped its Mother of All Bombs in Afghanistan last week (AP photo) By India Today Web Desk: 13 Indian Islamic State militants were among those killed when the United States dropped its Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb in Afghanistan last week, an Afghan news agency said. US President Donald Trump ordered the strike targeting a complex of caves and tunnels believed to be used by Islamic State fighters in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province. advertisement Quoting unnamed local officials, Pajhowk Afghan News reported that a total of 96 ISIS militants were killed in the bomb attack, including 13 Indians. Among the Indians killed were two commanders - Mohammad and Allah Gupta - the report said. Notably, the report said that locals were evacuated from the area before the bomb was dropped, indicating that the US may have coordinated with the Afghanistan government before the bombing. Meanwhile, Islamic State has maintained that none of its fighters were killed in the bombing. ABOUT THE BOMBING The United States dropped what its military calls the 'Mother Of All Bombs' (MOAB), the largest non-nuclear bomb that the US has in its arsenal, on an area in Nangarhar, Afghanistan on April 12. The bomb - officially called the GBU-43B Massive Ordnance Air Blast - targeted caves and bunkers that were believed to have been used by ISIS fighters to move around in Afghanistan. The bombing came on the heels of the United States firing 59 missiles at a Syrian airbase in response to a gas attack allegedly perpetrated by the Bashar al-Assad regime that killed scores of people. ALSO READ | US drops 'Mother Of All Bombs' on Afghanistan but Russia has a deadlier one ALSO READ | Russian senator warns of new arms race after US uses MOAB in Afghanistan ALSO WATCH | Mother of All Bombs dropped to deny operative space to ISIS: US --- ENDS --- From a T-Mobile Sales Advisor to running to be Arizonas next Governor, nominee Noah Dyer says the UK is a sovereign place and was right to issue the UK government with a petition which would prevent President Donald Trump from making a state visit later this year. Noah Dyer The petition, which gained over 1.5 million signatures and has since been debated in parliament, read: Donald Trump should be allowed to enter the UK in his capacity as head of the US Government, but he should not be invited to make an official State Visit because it would cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the Queen. The Government dismissed the petition stating: HM Government believes the President of the United States should be extended the full courtesy of a State Visit. We look forward to welcoming President Trump once dates and arrangements are finalised. A state visit is a formal visit in which the head of the state, Her Majesty the Queen, invites a government official on the advice of the government, for a formal visit in which guests can enjoy a grand occasion of being hosted at Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle, attending a state banquet, and visiting the Houses of Parliament. Noah believes that, whilst he would rather see other strategies being used, cutting diplomatic ties is perfectly acceptable, stating the UK and other countries should censure the actions of the President of the U.S and notionally there should be punishment, in which he conceded with the UK petition to ban Trump from having a state visit. Put him in the Holiday Inn, he said, stating the UK is a sovereign place and not allowing him to stay at the Palace is a reasonable penalty. And whilst many would like to see this happen, Noah, contrary to his comment, added: Consequences should be meaningful and hurt. By allowing a state visit to Birmingham rather than London, or not allowing him to stay at Buckingham Palace probably wont be much of a consequence to Donald Trump. Holiday Inn, Birmingham city centre Discussing his stance on the UK breaking away from the European Union, Noah, who admittedly, claims not to be an expert in UK politics, told me he does pay close attention to world events, and has a sense of understanding of what is happening here across the pond. His interpretation of the current political climate in the UK is one of which he believes is of similarity to the US adding fears of protectionism and the insurgency of immigrants due to middle-eastern and other political pressures are issues both countries are concerned about. Speaking of how Brexit was portrayed in US media, Noah stated: I got the impression that the UK was feeling dragged down by its European counter parts, adding that the US media portrayed Brexit as being an issue in which the UK was concerned about immigrants and refugees. honesty about his personal life Known for his, Noah holds strong policy values, one of which is immigration. Noah is in pro-support of immigration and believes citizens should the right to live where they want to live, in which he says policies which recognise the motivations of those fleeing countries in cases such as despair and terror are the right kind of policies. As a democratic candidate in a traditionally Republican state, Noah hopes the initial fears of the Presidency of Donald Trump and Britain exiting the European Union will pass, in which believes those fears wont win and each country will realise its deeper values as times go on. Amid recent GCHQ wiretap claims, I asked Noah whether he believes the sustained pro-allied relationship between the UK and the US will be able to be sustained: Good relationships have to be based on fact and reality he stated, adding: No nation can have a great relationship with the U.S for as long as the current commander in chief is in place. He continued to add that he doesnt hold any hopes despite a recent White House apology, regarding the wiretap claims, and a visit earlier in the year from Prime Minister Theresa May, that the relationship between the both countries will grow in strength, in which said America made a mistake and many havent yet realised that but once they have realised the mistake I hope the world will forgive us as he wont do anything for international relations. The 2018 Arizona gubernational election will tale place on November 6th, 2018. Sitting Republican Governor, Doug Ducey, also expected re-run for another term in office. The sexual health and safety of women is something that isnt spoken about enough, filled with misconceptions and ignorant ideas. recent study The issue was highlighted in aconducted by husband and wife team, Dr David Delvin and Harley Street psychotherapist Christine Webber. Christine is very open about why she and Delvin undertook the study in the first place. Both [of us feel] very strongly about giving people information that will help them to have good and happy sex lives," she says, "and which will also enable them to understand what is really normal and whats not. Despite being aware of the myths and mistruths around female sexual health, there were still some surprises when the results came in. Christine said that what she found most surprising was to do with the amount of female orgasms that were claimed to be experienced (almost 40%) and the number of women that suffer pain when they climax This is rarely talked about and yet, as youll see from the results, about one in seven have this problem. One of the reasons for the study was to determine how we can make a difference and raise awareness. So, d oes all this misinformation just come from a lack of education? Christine is " could not be more delighted" at the subject of Sex and Relationship Education becoming compulsory. Education gives us choice and accurate information about conception and infection," she says. "In countries where there is good sex education such as the Netherlands the age of first intercourse tends to be higher and the rate of unwanted pregnancy lower than in countries where sex education is poor or non-existent. Despite the lack of talk about woman and their sexual habits, Christine doesnt believe this is because of a cultural taboo and instead argues that womens sexual pleasure and response might be something that men find difficult to understand, due to numerous reasons. A womans sexual urge tends not to be as constant as a mans sex drive," she says. "Our sex organs are more hidden away than mens are. We have menstrual cycles, which generate fluctuations in mood and hormones. Women have more medical interventions below the waist than men So our intimate parts are not reserved solely for pleasure. "Nature has seen to it that men have a surge of pleasure when they ejaculate in order to ensure the continuation of our species. Sadly, a womans orgasm is not required for her to get pregnant. Whilst there will be no easy answers to these issues, Christine does believe that education should start early and encompass all aspects of the body, regardless of gender: I believe that all children should be taught that love and desire come in many different forms," she says. "I think its also helpful that boys and girls should be taught together. A lot of schools are also discussing gender dysphoria these days and I think that is a good thing and helps children from a very early age to learn respect for other people and their feelings. Sometimes the issue of communication can be to do with our own acceptance of our bodies, and as a young girl, this means that everything to do with your own body might be avoided. Christine speaks of a study she conducted previously, specifically focusing on the Baby Boomer generation. "Practically every respondent made the point that she was much more confident now she was older, and also how much she valued that fact," Christine says. Todays young woman have more pressure than ever before to look great and to act in a sexy way. Its tough. So, if this survey of ours helps put the record straight for just some young women, and enables them to understand that their needs and behaviour are normal, then I will be very happy. But what is bringing such insecurity to young people? The answer is well understood and researched: The internet. But, conversely, it is also a brilliant resource in terms of garnering reliable information about sex. Christine gave a good example of how the internet and specifically porn sites has changed how both men and women approach the act of sex: I saw a young woman who was astonished when she was having first-time sex with her boyfriend and at the critical moment, he withdrew his penis and ejaculated all over her face, Christine says. She found it insulting and unpleasant, but he was completely bewildered by her response because all his sexual knowledge had been gleaned from porn videos[this] gives a very false impression of normal, loving and pleasurable sex. There are a lot of takeaways from this study, particularly to do with the function of the female body during sex and what exactly were being taught about how sex works. But there was more that Christine hoped the public became aware of in the aftermath of the results. She says: We want women to feel that however best they get reliable pleasure, then that is right for them and they should enjoy it without feeling that they are inferior in any way to the kind of cavorting they can access on their screens. Even great dramatists fall short sometimes, and there was always a possibility that the show would be dismissed by the critics as absurd, overly-complicated or melodramatic (as it has been at times), and that the audiences would not stay with it long enough for the TV bosses to commission a second series. Yet when the show first aired in 2013 it was an immediate hit, with the whole nation seemingly gripped by the highly traditional murder mystery plot.Fortunately for the show's many fans, Chibnall had prepared for success as well as failure, and had written the show with the intention of developing it into a trilogy. This third and final series has made up for the weakness of the second, which needlessly extended the plot of the first while bringing into the mix a whacky cold case from outside. This time we were told it would be back to basics, and that was what we got. Nevertheless, a show that has spent the last seven weeks slowly building up cliff-sharp tension was inevitably going to reach something of an anti-climax, as this last episode was. Some viewers may have been shocked by the revelation that the rape was conducted by the unhappy teen Michael Lucas (Deon Lee-Williams), egged on by local shop-keeper and serial bastard Leo Humphries (Chris Mason).I cannot actually recall the last time the two characters were in the show, or the slightest suggestion that one of them was a serial rapist and that the other was being groomed. So much - perhaps too much - time was spent on big, fat red herrings such as the sad obsessions of Ed Burnett (Lenny Henry) and the sexual misadventures of Jim Atwood (Mark Bazeley). And in this last episode Trish herself only appeared at the very end, having now partially recovered from the nightmare that befell her. Trish, it transpired, was merely unlucky to walk into the eye-line of a serial rapist at that birthday party. The careful handling of her trauma, and the exploration of the subsequent intrusiveness of the police investigation, as well as the way the incident rebounded on the rest of the community, was a strong counterbalance to the absurdity of the suspect line-up. As this was the last episode of the entire series, there was, besides the denouement, a good deal of corny loose-end tying up to get through. Fans of the show who hoped Hardy and Miller would finally get naked had their hopes dashed - although to be quite honest it was probably best for all concerned that they did not get together. Hardy did however manage to patch things up with his recalcitrant daughter Daisy, who was proud that her gruff old Dad managed to win the day and ensure a serial sex-maniac was nicked long enough for his libido to wane. The Latimers also seem to have worked through another stage of grief, although it seems doubtful they could - or would want to - return to a normal family unit. Elsewhere in the town, the two most pointless characters in this series, journalist Maggie Radcliffe and the Reverend Paul Coates, decided to give up their respective careers and head for pastures new... the odd healing power of those sandy cliffs evidently doesn't work for everyone. Broadchurch certainly won't be the last murder mystery to pop up on ITV. There will be other, even more ludicrous dramas to come in the future. But with its complex writing and compelling acting, Broadchurch will surely be remembered for quite some time as one of the best shows to have graced our screens. Tentang Situs Slot Online Resmi MGS88 Nama Situs MGS88 Minimal Deposit Rp. 10.000,- (Sepuluh Ribu Rupiah) Proses Deposit 2 Menit Metode Deposit Bank Transfer, Pulsa, E-Wallet Judi Online Terbaik Slot Online, Judi Bola, Casino Online, Togel Online, Tembak Ikan Provider Slot Gacor Mudah Maxwin Pragmatic Play, PGSoft, MicroGaming, Habanero Slot Gacor Gampang Menang Gates of Olympus, Sweet Bonanza, Wild West Gold, Starlight Princess Win Rate 98% RTP Live Slot Gacor Tertinggi Hari Ini Terbaru Terlengkap Selamat datang di halaman RTP live dan informasi soal slot gacor hari ini dari situs MGS88 yang setiap hari selalu update. Berdasarkan RTP Live MGS88, Anda bisa mendapatkan informasi tentang slot online yang saat ini yang sedang Gacor atau onfire dengan persentase yang terbukti akurat, ini bisa menjadi rekomendasi anda sebelum memilih permainan slot online di situs MGS88. Cek RTP Slot sekarang juga bosku Klik Provider Slot Untuk Mengetahui RTP Slot Secara Real Time Selamat datang bagi kalian yang sedang mencari situs RTP Live terlengkap dan terkini hari ini. Sangat sesuai jika Anda mengunjungi website MGS88 RTP live untuk informasi tentang permainan slot yang lagi gacor dengan slot RTP yang terupdate. Persentase kemenangan yang kami berikan tentunya diambil dengan data yang sangat valid dan hanya untuk permainan slot yang tersedia di situs MGS88. RTP yang tersedia juga akan selalu diperbarui setiap hari berdasarkan level kemenangan yang diberikan kepada member kami. Memang sih untuk bermain slot itu tergantung hoki dari setiap pemain, Namun RTP live atau bocoran slot dari yang kami sediakan ini adalah data autentik dari banyaknya pemain yang telah bermain dan mencapai kemenangan tinggi. Sederhananya, kalau banyak pemain yang menang di dalam 1 permainan slot, karena itu permainan slot tersebut akan mempunyai persentase RTP yang sangat tinggi. Namun kami tegaskan sekali lagi, ini bukan sebuah paksaan kami situs MGS88 untuk anda bermain di game slot yang mana. Ini bisa dijadikan sebagai referensi atau tolok ukur, boleh dicoba kalau anda mempunyai feel yang kuat dalam memainkan permainan game slot. Anda dapat mengakses kapan saja dan di mana saja selama anda siap bermain. Jangan ragu untuk bertanya ya seputar pola putaran terhadap kami, sebab kami juga menyediakannya loh. Apa itu RTP Live? RTP Live ialah informasi mengenai persentase tertinggi saat ini dari hasil RTP Live dengan bocoran kemenangan pemain saat ini. RTP Live merupakan singkatan dari Return To Play atau bisa juga diartikan sebagai Return to Player. Karena itu, para pemain slot sekarang jika ingin mengetahui seberapa besar kemenangannya, bisa dengan memainkan permainan yang akan dimainkannya dan bisa untung dengan mudah dan tentunya maksimal. Apa itu RTP Slot? RTP Slot juga dikenal sebagai return to player atau pengembalian ke Pemain. RTP slot ialah persentase dari nilai pengembalian semua uang yang dipertaruhkan pemain dari waktu ke waktu. Dengan kata lain, RTP juga dianggap sebagai salah satu fitur slot yang mengembalikan uang pemain saat pemain kalah. Persentase digunakan untuk menghitung RTP dalam permainan slot. Misalnya, jika slot memiliki RTP 97%, itu berarti untuk setiap 100.000 koin yang hilang di slot, slot dapat mengembalikan 97.000. Jika Anda mengetahui RTP sebuah permainan slot, Anda dapat memutuskan permainan slot mana yang akan dimainkan tanpa kerugian besar. Apakah Angka Persentase RTP Slot Itu Penting? Biasanya pemain slot itu tidak memperhatikan RTP dalam permainan yang akan dimainkan, biasanya setelah anda mengisi saldo utama anda akan langsung buru-buru memainkannya. Yang terakhir 90-96% mempengaruhi jumlah kemenangan. Semakin tinggi jumlah RTP yang digunakan, semakin luas peluang untuk mendapatkan keuntungan. Akan namun itu segala tak secara 100% menjamin kemenangan kau dalam bermain, RTP itu cuma sebagai kalkulasi pengeluaran anda saja selama bermain slot.Dengan adanya RTP, kau dapat mengerjakan pengaturan atas uang yang akan kau pertaruhkan nanti pada ketika bermain.Untuk itu pada ketika kau bermain slot dan telah mengalami banyak kekalahan di satu permainan, direkomendasikan kau pindah ke permainan slot lainnya yang RTP nya lebih tinggi dari permainan yang tadi kau mainkan. Keuntungan Menggunakan Bocoran RTP Slot Hari Ini Situs MGS88 Akan dengan senang hati akan beberapa keuntungan yang didapatkan jika anda bermain slot dengan menggunakan RTP Live yang telah disediakan. Berikut Keuntungannya : Peluang Kemenangan Meningkat Tentu saja, saat bermain slot online, menang adalah hal yang paling penting. Di sinilah RTP berperan sebagai metode atau metode baru yang akan membantu Anda memilih permainan slot persentase tinggi. Mendapat variasi dalam Memainkan Game Slot Pastinya banyak pemain slot online yang hanya memainkan 3-5 permainan slot saja. Namun dengan RTP Live slot akan memberikan banyak game slot lain yang bisa anda coba. Tentunya semua permainan slot memiliki potensi kemenangan yang besar, jadi jangan hanya mengandalkan beberapa permainan saja. Menambah Pengalaman Dalam Bermain Slot Keuntungan terakhir adalah Anda tentu saja menambah pengalaman dan keahlian dalam permainan slot online. Dengan berbagai macam permainan slot yang dimainkan, Anda pasti mengetahui karakteristik dari setiap permainan slot yang Anda mainkan. Akibatnya, Anda pasti bisa dianggap sebagai pemain slot yang andal, yang pasti akan meningkatkan peluang Anda untuk menang besar menggunakan RTP. Daftar 8 Situs Dengan RTP Slot Live Tertinggi Hari Ini Ada banyak penyedia mesin slot online di internet. Tetapi tidak semuanya memiliki peluang tinggi atau RTP Live Slot yang sangat tinggi. Tapi jangan khawatir, berikut ini adalah situs slot gacor yang akan memberikan bocoran slot dengan RTP Live Tertinggi: RTP Live Slot Pragmatic Play (RTP Slot 97.85%) RTP Live Slot PG Soft (RTP Live 96.15%) RTP Live Slot Habanero (RTP Slot 95.89%) RTP Live Slot CQ9 (RTP Live 98.83%) RTP Live Slot Spade Gaming (RTP Live 94.99%) RTP Live Slot Micro Gaming (RTP Slot 95.39%) RTP Slot Live Top Trend Gaming (RTP Live 96.14%) RTP Slot Live JOKER123 (RTP Live 97.45%) Itulah Daftar 8 Provider Slot Gacor dengan RTP Live teratas diatas tentunya kami analisa terlebih dahulu. Anda bisa membuktikannya langsung dengan mengklik banner atau meprovider game slot yang sudah tersedia di atas. Saran kami yaitu Anda harus memainkan semua penyedia slot di atas untuk mencapai peluang kemenangan terbaik. Daftar Slot RTP Live Tertinggi Sering Kasih Jackpot Selain mempertimbangkan RTP Slot Gacor yang ada, sebenarnya ada banyak faktor penting untuk menang dalam permainan judi online. Sebab ada banyak game yang memiliki fitur dan mekanisme unik dan bisa membantu anda meraih Jackpot yang sangat besar. Berikut ini akan kami ulas daftar 5 game slot paling populer karena sering memberikan jackpot: RTP Live Gates of Olympus Gates of Olympus adalah game slot teraneh dan terbaik di Indonesia. Karena permainan mesin slot ini paling populer karena kakek Zeus dapat mengizinkan pengganda x500. Selain itu, fitur dan mekanik Gates of Olympus juga sangat menguntungkan untuk memenangkan Grand Jackpot. Secara teoritis, RTP slot langsung Gates of Olympus bernilai 96,50%, yang berarti peluang Anda untuk memenangkan MaxWin cukup tinggi. RTP live Sweet Bonanza Sweet Bonanza adalah permainan slot terpopuler kedua. Game slot bertema buah dan permen yang lezat ini sepertinya akan menarik banyak perhatian karena tergolong slot gacor yang mudah menang. Secara teoritis, slot Sweet Bonanza RTP bernilai 96,48%, yang berarti peluang Anda cukup tinggi untuk memenangkan jackpot. RTP Live Wild West Gold Wild West Gold adalah permainan slot bertema koboi yang juga populer di kalangan penggemar konspirasi. Permainan slot Wild West Gold sendiri kerap menawarkan kejutan jackpot bagi para pemainnya. Selain itu, nilai RTP Live Slot menunjukkan indeks tertinggi hari ini, yang berarti sangat layak dan sangat direkomendasikan. RTP Live Starlight Princess Slot Starlight Princess ini memiliki gaya dan fitur yang mirip dengan Gates of Olympus. Perbedaannya hanya pada desain dan karakter gamenya saja, karena memiliki fitur dan mekanik yang sama tentunya RTP slot teoritis pada game slot ini sama yaitu 96,50%. RTP Live Cash Elevator Mungkin sebagian dari Anda baru mengenal slot Cash Elevator. Namun dari data benchmark yang diungkap, ternyata banyak sekali yang menikmati permainan slot ini. Dengan fitur dan mekanisme unik seperti Lift up and down asli, slot ini juga memiliki slot RTP Live dasar 96,64% yang juga memiliki mekanisme yang sangat menguntungkan untuk memperlancar tingkat kemenangan besar. Bocoran Jam Main Slot Gacor Hari Ini Dalam bermain permainan slot online itu tidak bisa dilakukan dengan sembarangan yah. Jadi, Jika anda bermain pada waktu tertentu seperti yang akan kita bahas sesaat lagi, ada kemungkinan anda untuk mendapatkan kemenangan lebih tinggi. Jam RTP Slot Gacor merupakan bocoran jam main slot yang akan memberikan anda kapan waktu yang pas dalam bermain game slot. Tentu saja seluruh provider slot online memiliki jam tertentu dalam memberikan peluang kepada para pemainnya untuk mendapatkan kemenangan. Disini kami akan memberikan anda Bocoran Jam Slot Gacor yang Paling Akurat Hari ini: Jam Slot Gacor Pragmatic Play 02:30 WIB - Jam 05:25 WIB Jam Slot Gacor Habanero 14:26 WIB - Jam 17:38 WIB Jam Slot Gacor CQ9 00:45 WIB - Jam 05:53 WIB Jam Slot Gacor PG SOFT 14:25 WIB - Jam 17:35 WIB Jam Slot Gacor Joker123 17:41 WIB - Jam 20:42 WIB Jam Slot Gacor Microgaming 22:30 WIB - Jam 00:35 WIB MGS88: Situs Judi Slot Online Gacor Pay4D Resmi dan Terpercaya MGS88 adalah situs game slot online Gacor terbaru yang bermitra dengan Pay4D, Pay4D sendiri merupakan daftar situs game slot online terpercaya dengan berbagai macam permainan judi yang mudah dimenangkan seperti Game Bola, Casino Online, Slot Pay4D, Tembak Ikan dan Pay4D Online Permainan togel seperti Singapura, Hongkong, Sydney dan lain-lain. Tujuan utama kami adalah menjadi situs judi online Pay4D yang menyediakan layanan judi online terbaik di Indonesia. Kami juga salah satu situs resmi PAY4D di Indonesia yang pasti akan membayarkan semua kemenangan kepada semua member kami, karena kepercayaan dari semua member kami adalah prioritas utama kami sebagai mesin slot 4d Asia terbaik di Asia, khususnya di Indonesia. Dalam melakukan sistem transaksi sistem simpanan dapat dilakukan dengan mudah melalui mobile banking dan electronic banking berupa bank BCA, BSI, BRI, BNI, Cimb Niaga, Permata dan Mandiri. Selain itu, transaksi e-wallet juga tersedia melalui Dana, Gopay, LinkAja dan Ovo serta dapat digunakan untuk pulsa tanpa dipotong. Untuk mempermudah dan kenyamanan dalam melakukan registrasi atau melakukan setiap transaksi, MGS88 menyediakan layanan live chat dan Whatsapp terhubung langsung dengan customer service online 24 jam. Mengenal Istilah Dalam RTP SLOT Di slot RTP Live Anda akan melihat berbagai fitur yang mungkin tidak Anda pahami masing-masing. Namun jangan khawatir, disini sebagai situs slot gacor MGS88 kami akan memberikan penjelasan lengkap mengenai tentang istilah yang ada di RTP SLOT dibawah ini. Sara Khan, who's currently starring in Pakistani serial Bay Khudi, is said to be dating her co-star Noor Hassan. By India Today Web Desk: Sara Khan is in love again, if rumours are to be believed. The Bidaai star, who married Ali Merchant on Bigg Boss 4, and went through a messy divorce, is reportedly dating her Pakistani co-star Noor Hassan. The actress is currently makes waves with her Pak show Bay Khudi and her chemistry with Noor has been getting a lot of appreciation. advertisement Sara and Noor get along really well on the sets and often post pictures and videos of each other on Instagram. All this has led to the speculation that the two are dating. Also read: Sara Khan to Shweta Tiwari: 18 Indian artists who have worked in Pakistani soaps and movies However, when contacted Sara had this to say: "Hahahaha...as they say we are best friends." Apart from Ali, Sara has also dated Paras Chhabra in the past, but their relationship lasted for two years. So is Sara really in love, or is it just another rumour? --- ENDS --- By Press Trust of India: From Youssra El-Sharkawy Cairo, Apr 19 (PTI) A policeman was killed and three others were injured after suspected Islamic State terrorists opened fire on a security checkpoint near Saint Catharine monastery in Egypts South Sinai, the Ministry of Interior has said. According to the SITE Intelligence Group, the IS- affiliated Amaq news agency announced that the groups militants carried out the attack yesterday. advertisement The gunmen targeted a security checkpoint outside the monastery where they exchanged fire with police forces, a statement by the ministry said. In retaliatory firing by police, some attackers were injured which forced them to flee, the statement added. The injured have been transferred to Sharm El-Shiekh International Hospital for treatment, security officials said. PTI YES BSA --- ENDS --- The interrogation report, reveals Atif made several attempts to reach ISIS camps in the Nangarhar in Afghanistan via Kashmir. By Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu: It was a serendipitous turn of events for 23-year-old ISIS recruit Atif Muzzafar alias Abu Ibrahim, when he was picked up by security agencies for his alleged role in the Ujjain-Bhopal train blasts. The interrogation report, accessed by Mail Today, reveals Atif made several attempts to reach ISIS camps in the Nangarhar in Afghanistan via Kashmir. The ISIS base was blown to bits by 'Mother of All Bombs' last week, leaving at least 90 militants dead. advertisement The interrogation report reveals that the arrested recruit could have met the same fate as Mohammed Murshid from Padna, Kerela who was killed on April 11 in the US airstrike. Saifullah - the terrorist killed in by UP ATS on March 8 - was also among the module who attempted to flee India to reach Afghanistan. In March 2016, Atif along with Saifullah and Faisal went to Kashmir to reach ISIS camp near Kabul. Their journey began from Kanpur. THE FAILED JOURNEY THAT ENDED IN PRISON In Srinagar however they were discouraged for illegal cross-over. They next decided to enter Pakistan via Amritsar but they failed. Rajasthan border was next on their mind which according to them had less army deployment. They then reached Jaisalmer but couldn't cross the border due to army deployment. Saudi Arabia was next on their list via Mumbai. Atif went alone but could not get a visa. His plan was to reach Saudi Arabia for a job and find a way to Syria. Meanwhile, Atif had become active on Twitter, Facebook and Telegram. Atif managed to get the telegram id of Abu Hishaam, a suspected Syria-based IS handler. Hishaam told Atif he was originally a Pakistani and had recently shifted to Iraq. He added that he worked for Abu Bakar al Bagdadi and handled IS publicity through channel Ahwal-e-Ummat. But the NIA intercepted "chat-messages exchanged between Atif and Abu Hishaam". This messages included picture of bomb later to be planted in Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train. Three accused, including Atif, were arrested in Pipariya. Based on tip-off, Saifullah was then trapped, and killed after he refused to surrender. The NIA is all set to to file its chargesheet next month in the Bhopal-Ujjain and Lucknow terror cases. "We put our best officers on the job and the probe has been completed in a record time. We will be filing the chargesheet by next month," DG NIA told Mail Today. Also read: NIA files chargesheet in Mumbai court against four for ISIS recruitment Also read: How BJP is making in-roads in Tamil Nadu while AIADMK factions talk of merger --- ENDS --- Flight No. 9W 2882 with 60 passengers and 5 crew members on board had a nose wheel malfunction today when it landed at the IGI Airport in Delhi. By Anindya Banerjee: A Delhi-bound Jet Airways flight with 60 passengers and 5 crew members on board had a nose wheel malfunction today when it landed at the IGI Airport in Delhi. All passengers have been safely deplaned. The Dehradun-Delhi flight No. 9W 2882 is an ATR aircraft used for regional operations. A Jet Airways spokesperson statement said, " Jet Airways flight 9W 2882, an ATR 72-500, from Dehradun to Delhi of April 19, 2017 experienced a nose-wheel malfunction after landing, resulting in a steering problem. All 60 guests and 5 crew members have been safely deplaned. Guests are being looked after by the airline's guest service teams and the aircraft is being towed away for maintenance." advertisement It further stated, "Jet Airways regrets the inconvenience caused to guests and is making alternate travel arrangements for the affected guests." Also read: Air India flight makes emergency landing at Delhi's IGI airport after engineers forgot basic step Delhi: Mid-air fire forces GoAir flight to make emergency landing, no casualties reported --- ENDS --- Country United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe The Jammu and Kashmir government is thinking of blocking social media including Facebook, Whatsapp and YouTube in the Valley. By Ashraf Wani: The authorities in Kashmir have decided to block social media (Facebook, Whatsapp and YouTube after the recent circulation of videos showing security forces beating up civilians, which are believed to lead to widespread protests in the volatile Valley. Sources said that the "decision will be taken soon" to ban the social media in Kashmir, rather than shutting down the internet repeatedly after any volatile situation arises. advertisement The authorities have been shutting down internet in the Valley off and on after last year's unrest after killing of Hizbul Commander Burhan Wani and recently during bypolls for Srinagar Parliamentary seat in which 8 people were killed on election day. The internet bandwidth of the internet has been already reduced to 2G after the recent student protests across the Valley. "The decision to block social media will be taken soon. The government is, principally, of the view that social media has been creating volatile situation in Kashmir. To avoid the spread of rumours, fake news and develop a panicky situation that leads to violence, we are forced to take the decision," a senior minister in the government said. "We are forced to take this decision as any action or medium that is deteriorating peace and security, and proving fatal for the people requires to be acted upon," the minister added. An official said that the security agencies have been mulling from some time to block access to social media like Facebook, Whatsapp and other sites. Tensions have been escalating after students clashed with security forces at several places in Kashmir Valley on Monday during protests against the alleged "high-handedness" of security forces at a college in Pulwama in south Kashmir. The authorities have also ordered all the colleges to remain closed in the state for the next two days in view of the protests. Also read: Kashmir: Colleges to remain shut in Valley for 2 more days Also read: Jammu and Kashmir: Another bank looted in Shopian district by armed men, gunmen believed to be militants --- ENDS --- 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. According to the Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, teaching work in all colleges of Kashmir division shall remain suspended on April 20 and 21. By Ashraf Wani: The Jammu and Kashmir government today ordered all the colleges to remain shut in the state for the next two days. According to the Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Baseer Khan, teaching work in all colleges of Kashmir division shall remain suspended on April 20 and 21, as a precautionary measure. Colleges across the Valley remained closed today for the second consecutive day following protests by students in difference colleges. advertisement Tensions have been escalating after students clashed with security forces at several places in Kashmir Valley on Monday during protests against the alleged "high-handedness" of security forces at a college in Pulwama in south Kashmir. On Wednesday, college students in Kangan and Pattan towns of Valley also protested against the high-handedness of police with the students of Pulwama Degree College on April 15. 50 students were injured during the clashes in Pulwama. Meanwhile, education authorities have attached the principal of Degree College Pulwama and given the responsibility of the college to another senior faculty member. Also read: Plastic bullets to replace pellet guns for stone-pelters in Kashmir Also read: Srinagar bypoll: Kulgam youth killed in clashes with security forces --- ENDS --- By Press Trust of India: Chandigarh, Apr 19 (PTI) BJP MLA from Gurugram Umesh Aggarwal today hit out at his own ruling Khattar government for not acting tough against those "involved in scams" and sought intervention of the party president to resolve the issues raised by the partys disgruntled legislators. "I hope that I will get a reply on the issues raised by me and that the government will take action against those who are involved in scams," Aggarwal, who held a meeting with some of the disgruntled MLAs mostly from south Haryana, told reporters in Gurugram. advertisement Among about five to six legislators who attended the meeting at Gurugram office of Aggarwal included BJPs Rewari MLA Randhir Kapriwas and partys legislator from Mullana segment Santosh Sarwan. Aggarwal said he was eagerly waiting for the State BJP President to seek a reply on the issues raised by him. "It is his responsibility that he should call me and ask what are the issues. Unfortunately, he never called or sought any reply from me so far," he said. Last month, some of the sulking MLAs of ruling BJP had lashed out at alleged step-motherly treatment to them by the Khattar government vis-a-vis the rival group within the party. "We have full faith in policies and programmes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which are taking the nation forward," Aggarwal said. "However, the issues I have raised with regards to Haryana, I have so far not got any reply and I do hope that the State BJP President will call us and hear us soon," Aggarwal said. Aggarwal recently attacked the state government and raised questions about the ownership of the Gwal Pahari land in Gurugram. Haryanas main opposition party INLD and the Congress had also demanded a CBI probe into the Gwal Pahari "land scam" in Gurugram district. While BJP has strength of 47 in the 90-member House, 12 party MLAs had recently met Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar here to vent their frustration "of being treated like Opposition MLAs". Aggarwal also hit out at his own government after the Gannaur police in Sonepat yesterday booked his brother Rakesh and nephew Deepak along with 6 to 7 others allegedly for fraud with a property dealer of Gurugram. The complainant property dealer has alleged that MLAs brother Rakesh Aggarwal had grabbed his land. "My brothers purchased land in Gannaur and someone tried to grab the land and carve out colonies on it. Three FIRs have already been registered against that person 8-9 months back. The matter is before court. advertisement "Despite all this, a case has been registered against my close relatives. This case has been registered purely due to political considerations and out of vindictiveness, which is beyond comprehension," Aggarwal alleged. "However, there is one thing which I want to state and that is I will not give in to any kind of pressure. Whatever government wants to do, no matter how much they torture let them do, I have no problem. Nobody can muzzle my voice," he said. Meanwhile, reacting to Aggarwals outbursts, Haryana Cabinet Minister Vipul Goel said the Chief Minister was ensuring equitable development. "The Chief Minister has already toured all 90 assembly constituencies which includes that of the opposition MLAs. The CM is ensuring equitable development in entire State," Goel said. Recently, BJP MLA Santosh Sarwan, who is part of the group of legislators who support Aggarwal, had accused some legislators of the ruling outfit of thinking themselves as "avtars (reincarnations) of Lord Vishnu." "Every MLA wants that he/she be heard. But there is one set of MLAs who are trying to run the show and throw their weight around. They are not Avatars of Lord Vishnu. We only want that we too should be heard," Sarwan had said. advertisement Chief Minister Khattar, however, had earlier denied existence of any discontent or groupism among the party MLAs saying "none of our party MLAs is dissatisfied or unhappy. All of them stand united." Asked if some of his MLAs were lobbying against him, Khattar said, "No lobbying of any kind occurs in the party. We take all decisions by consensus. I will stay as CM only on consensual decision, so will any one else replacing me." PTI SUN MRJ --- ENDS --- "Im a firm believer in not being greedy and giving what you can when you can." A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Anu Malhotra said the government was best placed to take a decision and safeguard the life and liberty of its citizens. By Press Trust of India: The Delhi High Court today refused to direct the government to approach the International Court of Justice for the release of death row convict Kulbhushan Jadhav from jail in Pakistan, saying the government was taking necessary steps. A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Anu Malhotra said the government was best placed to take a decision and safeguard the life and liberty of its citizens. advertisement "All steps are being taken by the government. There cannot be any intervention by this court," the bench said, adding that it does not want to interfere in the government's measures to secure the release of 46-year-old Jadhav from the Pakistani prison. The court accepted the stand of Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Sanjay Jain that Union of India was making every possible endeavour to get Jadhav back. Observing that it would be "inappropriate" to openly discuss the "sensitive issue", the bench said "revelation in open court about steps being taken by the government may jeopardise the sensitive efforts to secure his release." NO PROTOCOL IN SUCH CASES The high court also rejected the petitioner's prayer for issuance of protocol to release Indians abducted/kidnapped in other countries, saying "there cannot be a straight-jacket formula that may be adopted for different situations." The court had reserved its verdict after the ASG said it was "not a public interest litigation". The ASG had also said the issue should be left to Parliament and its members as it was a rare occasion that members of both the Houses, cutting across party lines, have condemned the act of the Pakistan military court. The court was hearing a petition filed by social activist Rahul Sharma who sought direction to the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Home Affairs to approach the Hague-based ICJ to provide consular access to Jadhav, saying the former Naval officer has not only been illegally detained but also wrongly awarded capital punishment. The Pakistan army chief had on April 10 confirmed the death sentence awarded to Jadhav, a former Naval officer, by a Pakistani military court after he was convicted of "espionage". Also read: Hope for Kulbhushan Jadhav: India to ask for defence lawyer in Pakistan Kulbhushan Jadhav death sentence: What Pakistani media said Also watch: India cancels maritime talks with Pakistan over Kulbhushan Jadhav case --- ENDS --- India also wants assistance with a lawyer to defend Jadhav in appeal, visas for family members to visit Pakistan for legal process, consular access as provided in Vienna Convention on consular matters. By Manjeet Negi: Upping the ante on Kulbhushan Jadhav issue, Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale will meet Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua later today to build pressure on his release and demand a lawyer to represent him in court. Sources in the Foreign Office said Bambawale has sought the meeting with the Foreign Secretary. "The meeting is expected in the evening," they said. advertisement They said that the issue of Jadhav is likely to be the focus of the meeting as India has been seeking consular access to its citizen convicted to death in spying and espionage case. India will seek certified copies of proceedings of Court of Inquiry, summary of evidence and medical report on Jadhav case. India also wants assistance with a lawyer to defend Jadhav in appeal, visas for family members to visit Pakistan for legal process, consular access as provided in Vienna Convention on consular matters. Pakistan has denied India's request for consular access to Jadhav over a dozen times in the last one year. Pakistan army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor has already rejected any chance of granting consular access to Jadhav who was sentenced to death for espionage and subversive activities. It would be Bambawale's second meeting in less than week with the foreign secretary, showing increasing concern of India about the fate of Jadhav. He told media after his previous meeting on April 14 that he had asked for list of charges and authentic copy of verdict of military tribunal against Jadhav to launch appeal against his conviction. He also said that India was seeking consular access on the basis on international law humanitarian grounds. Also read: India still to receive copy of Kulbhushan Jadhav judgment from Pak India-Pak ties at new low over Kulbhushan Jadhav, but Pakistan media claims Modi, Sharif meet in June --- ENDS --- The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved signing of the protocol amending the convention between India and Portugal for avoidance of double taxation. The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval for signing of a Protocol amending the convention between India and Portugal for avoidance of double taxation. The Protocol will also ensure prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income, an official statement said. It further said that once the protocol enters into force, both India and Portugal would be able to exchange tax related information, which will help tax authorities of both countries to curb tax evasion. Tata Housing on April 18 announced plans to expand to the African property market and will invest Rs.1,000 crore to develop two projects in Kenya and Tanzania. The real estate arm of the Tata group plans to raise $200 million through private equity to fund the overseas operations. It recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Housing Bank and a private real estate firm to develop more than 4.5 million sq ft of mixed used townships in Kenya and Tanzania. The two mixed use development projects are expected to be launched by January 2018 in a price range of $75,000 1,00,000 per unit catering to the mid-income segment. The investment in both projects is expected to be more than Rs.1,000 crores across both the phases over the next 3-4 years, the company said in a statement. Tata Housing MD & CEO Brotin Banerjee said, Our early success in Sri Lanka and the Maldives gave us the impetus to further expand our international footprint. Starting with Kenya and Tanzania, we will cater to the mid-income segments and fulfil their demand for superior quality housing. With 60 per cent of urban population living in informal housing, there is consistent growth in demand for housing across both Kenya and Tanzania. Tata Housing has recently handed over the government housing project to the Government of Maldives and launched two high-end project at Odeon and Nadhee in the capital city-Male. In a major move to free state-owned land from illegal occupants, Yogi Adityanath government has decided to set up an anti-land mafia task force at the earliest. "The chief minister has given a clear directive to start a campaign for vacating properties which have been under illegal occupation after identifying them in a month's time," an official spokesman said here on Wednesday. "The chief minister during the presentation of the finance department late last night asked the officials concerned to set up the task force at the earliest to free government land from illegal occupants and encroachers," he said. Adityanath has also ordered department-wise identification of properties under illegal occupation and make them useful for people on a priority basis, he said. The seriousness of the problem of illegal occupation on government land was highlighted last year when two police officers and 22 squatters were killed in a bloody conflict at Jawahar Bagh public park in Mathura in June. The squatters, an armed group led by a Ram Vriksh Yadav, once a follower of Jai Gurudev, had been occupying the site since 2014. Following a court order on their eviction in 2016, the police tried to forcibly evict them, triggering violence, that claimed the lives of two senior police officers, including a superintendent of police. The police then returned fire, killing several squatters. During the presentation, the chief minister said though local bodies will be allowed a free hand in taking up welfare works, useless expenditure will not be allowed and they (local bodies) will have to take effective measures for improving basic amenities to people. He also instructed that in case of parallel schemes of the state and central government being run on the same subject, they will be implemented only through the central schemes, the spokesman added. Come May 1, 'lal batti' cars or vehicles with red beacons will be a thing of the past as the government has barred their use by VVIPs, including the President, the Prime Minister and chief ministers. By India Today Web Desk: After banning the use of 'lal batti' cars or vehicles with red beacons by VVIPs, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said every Indian is a VIP. "Every Indian is special. Every Indian is a VIP," he said on Twitter adding that these symbols are out of touch with the spirit of new India. Every Indian is special. Every Indian is a VIP. https://t.co/epXuRdaSmY- Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 19, 2017 It should have gone long ago. Glad that today a strong beginning has been made. https://t.co/25BxLdlDpp- Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 19, 2017 Thank you. These symbols are out of touch with the spirit of new India. https://t.co/xCMaSn48mc- Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 19, 2017 advertisement Seeking to end the VIP culture, the Union Cabinet today decided that beacon lights will be removed from all vehicles, except emergency vehicles, like ambulances and fire brigade. After a Cabinet meeting, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the use of red beacons atop vehicles has been a matter of discussion and debates for long as to why certain people have special privileges on road. The matter was under discussion for some time and "the Prime Minister took the decision and informed the Cabinet," Jaitley said, adding amendments will be made soon in the Central Motor Vehicles Rules to give effect to the decision. A rule that empowers the Centre or state governments to allow use of red beacon lights to dignitaries will be altogether removed from the statute books, the minister said. "There will be no exception for anyone. The reason is very clear that the rule itself is being removed from the rule book," he added. Also read: PM Modi ends 'lal batti' culture for VVIPs, only emergency vehicles allowed from May 1 Red beacons: Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis also removes lal batti from his car Also watch: Babri verdict is Modi's conspiracy to eliminate Advani from presidential race: Lalu Yadav --- ENDS --- The Madhya Pradesh government has decided to gift a smartphone to newly married women under its flagship scheme Mukhyamantri Kanyadan Yojana. The move is aimed at encouraging women to undertake cashless transactions using smartphones. The decision was taken during the cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday. The Cabinet has given its nod to the proposal to gift a smartphone to newly-wed women under the Mukhyamantri Kanyadan Yojana, Minister for Public Relations Narottam Mishra told journalists after the meeting. He added, This will facilitate them to use the smartphones for cashless transactions and other online works using the mobile applications. Mukhyamantri Kanyadan Yojana was launched in April, 2006 with an objective to provide financial help to poor, needy or destitute families for marrying off their daughters. Mishra informed that several other proposals were also approved in today's cabinet meeting including the launch of 'Kaushalya Yojana' to offer vocational training to women. Cabinet has accorded administrative approval to 'Kaushalya Yojana' to provide vocational training to women. A short-term training would be imparted to two lakh women every year under this scheme, Mishra said. He informed that an amount of Rs 254.78-crore would be spent for the implementation of 'Kaushalya Yojana' during the current financial year. Beleaguered AIADMK (Amma) Deputy General Secretary TTV Dhinakaran on Wednesday said none in the party were against him, asserting that all party MLAs stood behind him. "There is no opposition to me in the party," he said, breaking his silence since influential section of Ministers revolted against him last night and decided to keep General Secretary V K Sasikala and him out of the party. According to 'Jaya Plus' Tamil TV channel, Dhinakaran said a "good decision" will be taken in the interest of the party. Party sources indicated that he was expected to appear at the Economic Offences court here later in the day on a case against him for alleged violation of FERA regulations. Dhinakaran has called a meeting of party MLAs and District Secretaries at 3 pm on Wednesday. While people are making optimum use of communication technology, the inhabitants of Ropa valley in tribal belt of Kinnaur district are struggling hard to stay connected with the rest of the world. The valley often suffers power cuts during winters. The summers are no better. Hit with power cuts, the major casualty is the solitary telecom company Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) mobile tower, which severs the valley from the outside world. The recent snowfall in the first week of this month has thrown the valley out of gear. The power crises, doubled with the technical snag having cropped up in the tower have silenced the mobile phones, which were the only means to stay in touch. The land lines have since long, almost more than a decade ago winded up, after damages to optical fibre cables due to widening of the link road leading to the valley from NH 5. The residents have almost given up hope on the restoration of the land lines and the landline devices are lying useless. There are five villages falling in Ropa valley, with a population of more than 3,000 people who are repeatedly forced to suffer. In case of any emergency, to get connected with their relatives located in the other parts of the state and country, the residents often have to travel more than 30 kms to Spillo or Pooh. The Spillo village has BSNL as well as Airtel towers that offer more scope to remain connected to the residents who have subscribed to both telecom players. While, the remaining back in their native place pin hope and wait for restoration of power supply and also check on signals of their mobile to be able to get connected with their near and dear ones. Laxmi Negi a residing in Shimla said, To talk to my parents as not at my own will, it is all dependent on the signal of the BSNL tower. When ever, I had tried calling my father or my relatives back home, the only response I get is that the mobile are switched off since last one month. It was last Sunday that I got to talk to my father who travelled to Spillo just to make a call. This is not a solitary case, many like her face the similar problem. When contacted over phone, BSNL Reckong Peo Divisional Engineer Gurdiyal Negi said, The connectivity mobile tower had suffered owing to power. Efforts are on replace the three phase- power plant of the mobile town that had burnt down. To tide over the power crisis we will be supplying diesel to run the generator, which however we were unable to after the road connectivity was also snapped. The reason we have such brightness when the sun is shining on the earth is that the atmosphere scatters light at us from different directions. If we did not have an atmosphere, everything in direct sunlight would be very well lit but we could not say the same about things in the shade. The sky overhead would be dark, and there would be stars, even more clearly than usually at night. However, as we do have an atmosphere, we can see very little of the real blackness of outer space while we are on Earth. This is so even when we are above the atmosphere, because there is still scattering by interplanetary dust in the near solar system. Michael Zemcov, Poppy Immel, Chi Nguyen, Asantha Cooray, Carey M Lisse and Andrew R Poppe, from Rochester Institute of Technology, University of California, John Hopkins University and Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California describe in the journal, Nature Communications, the study of interstellar illumination conducted at a great distance from the earth. The study used instruments on Nasas spacecraft, Deep Horizon, beyond the orbit of Jupiter, on its way to Pluto, precisely to escape the glare that persists at shorter distances. The faint light that is there in the blackness of deep space, the so-called Cosmic Optical Background (abbreviated as COB), is the sum total of the radiation from all the light emitting objects in the universe, after taking away the contribution from the solar system and our own galaxy. Although there are a great many of such external objects, they are distributed at such large distances that their effect in the spaces between them is extremely faint. It is this extreme faintness that makes the light so difficult to isolate and detect. An accurate measurement of this faint glow, however, is of great interest, to test our current theories about the nature of the universe. We have a certain estimate of the number of luminous objects, and their distances apart, which lead to a certain level of illumination. If what we measure turns out to be different, then we may need to change our ideas of where the light comes from. On the other hand, it is with the help of the faint background light that we make some of the estimates of the count of luminous objects in the heavens. If we have confidence in the amount of light from known objects, or the foreground light in some direction we could estimate the background light. We could then use this to work out the foreground light, from the total light coming in from another direction. The whole exercise, however, depends on measurement of the illumination itself, which is difficult in the level of glare in near-Earth locations makes. The background illumination is believed to arise from different processes in the universe. These processes include the star formation process and, after the stars are formed, the nuclear fires in stars, where atoms of elements are generated by fusion of the nuclei of atoms of lighter elements. Another source of radiation is the matter near black holes, which accelerate to near the speed of light as they crash into the black holes. Yet another source is emission, as the nuclear fuel in the larger stars runs out and the stars collapse, because of their own gravity. And then there is the emission from events like the decay of elementary particles, or the effect of particle annihilation or acceleration. Most of the early deep space missions sent out, the paper says, had rudimentary optical range cameras and did not make useful observation of the intensity of the COB. The probes, Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 (1972-73), however, had specialised equipment but the results were still uncertain as the foreground components to be subtracted were themselves uncertain. It was Nasas New Horizons, the craft (launched in 2006) that flew by Pluto in 2015, which sent far superior data that the present researchers have analysed. New Horizons was equipped with Lorri, the Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager, a camera primarily meant to analyse geological features of Pluto. The high sensitivity and ability to resolve narrow angles, however, could eliminate much of the starlight foreground that had confused earlier measurements and the mission collected relatively undisturbed data about the diffuse astrophysical emission or COB. The authors of the paper bring out that over the cruise of the spacecraft beyond the orbit of Jupiter, at 779 km from the sun, on its way to Pluto at 5.9 billion km there was data about COB measured from a range of vantage points. Ninety days after the craft was launched, the Lorri camera recorded a series of measurements, with the camera shutter on or in total darkness. The shutter was removed about six months after the launch and a known open star cluster was imaged. The image that was acquired enabled the camera to calibrate, so corrections could be applied to faint measurements to be made later. Data was then recorded till July 2014, about a year before the encounter with Pluto. The paper explains that the brightness of an image of the sky outside the atmosphere consists of several components. It arises because of interplanetary dust, with clearly visible stars; starlight from sources that cannot be made out, a component of diffuse galactic light and then the COB. With the help of the different sets of data acquired, the team could correct for dark current in the detectors, mask bright stars from the images, assess the amplitude of residual starlight, sunlight from interplanetary dust and diffuse galactic light, and correct for galactic extinction, the paper says, to arrive at a statistical upper limit of the value of COB. The results show the effectiveness of the Lorri arrangement to make precise, low foreground measurements of the COB, the paper says. A future mission could hence be designed to yield a much more accurate upper limit of the COB, which could help us complete our understanding of the history of stars and galaxies in the universe, the paper says, While we have estimates of these processes and of how intense the COB should be, finding the COB to be different may reveal the presence of exotic forms of matter or of decay of particles other than those that fit into the Standard Model. The writer can be contacted at [email protected] Right to speedy trial is a part of the fundamental right and an undertrial cannot be kept in jail for long, ruled the Supreme Court (SC) recently while directing trial courts to decide bail applications within a week of their filing. A bench headed by Justice AK Goel also fixed a two-week time-frame for all high courts to dispose of such matters. The apex court issued a series of directions to speed up the criminal justice delivery system saying, Deprivation of personal liberty without ensuring speedy trial is not in sync with Article 21 of the Constitution (right to life and personal liberty). Adherence to time-frame should be a criterion while high courts prepare annual confidential reports of trial court judges, the SC observed. Magistrates should conclude cases where accused are in custody in six months, while a sessions court should do so in two years. Simultaneously, it asked the lower judiciary to dispose of all five-year-old criminal cases by the year-end. Judges often say that bail is the rule and jail is an exception. This may be true in theoretical parlance but not in the practical sense. Those who are affluent and have both money and muscle power can afford bail easily, whereas the weak, poor and vulnerable rot in overcrowded jails for long. How did film star Salman Khan in the high profile Mumbai hitand-run case, Satyam convict Ramalinga Raju and many top politicians from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu manage to secure bail without any problem. Such instances strengthen the public perception that our judicial system is pro-rich and anti-poor. Jail and not bail still continue to be the norm in respect of the poor. Needless to say that out of an estimated 4.18 lakh prisoners in the country, 67 per cent are undertrials. About 65 per cent of them spend three months to five years in jail before securing bail. Those who are finally acquitted end up paying for a crime they had never committed. This dismal state of justice is usually attributed to the shortage of judges and infrastructure. Even the amended provision of Section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which entitles those undertrial prisoners who have completed half of their likely jail term to bail on personal bond, could not be of much help to them for want of its proper enforcement. As a result jails are getting more and more overcrowded across the country. At the same time, overcrowding has its adverse effects. Housing petty offenders with hardened criminals due to space problem can even turn them into hardened criminals in a short span. Many gangsters recruit members of their criminal gangs out of these redeemable offenders. Overcrowding hampers efforts to check the inflow of drugs inside jails, maintain discipline and provide food, clothing and health-care to inmates. As far back as 6 September 2014, a Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice RM Lodha and Justices Kurian and RF Nariman had asked the Centre for a roadmap for fast-tracking the criminal justice system as well as directed the lower judiciary to depute judges and magistrates to hold court in jails and release undertrials. But its directions have not been complied with. While an overburdened judiciary is a major cause for the delay in justice, other shortcomings in the criminal justice system too require urgent attention. Police and prison officials, for example, often fail to fulfill their roles leading to long delays in trials. That most of the undertrials come from disadvantaged social groups like minority communities and Dalits is common knowledge. Illiteracy, lack of resources and awareness are some other problems and constraints. Hostile police and prison authorities are rarely of any help to them despite the SCs several rulings for a quick bail and fair trial in their case. The bail norms in our country are often violated as there is no uniform, object and clear set of rules to guide judges in taking decisions. It is the sole discretionary power of the judge to grant bail. The Law Ministry has now approached the Law Commission to review the existing bail provisions on the lines of the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) to cut down judicial discretion. In the UK if a court withholds bail, it is required to give reasons for doing so. Likewise, in the US, an accused has the right to bail unless there are sufficient reasons for not granting it. The overall aim should be to bring parity between the rich and the poor so far as the right to bail is concerned. All should be equal before law as per Article 14 of the Constitution (Equality before law). The government ought to be committed to ensure that every accused gets a fair trial and speedy justice. A law should always be based on logic and common sense. Any arbitrariness in executing it is undesirable. It goes without saying that tackling the problem of undertrials is the joint responsibility of the Centre, state governments and the judiciary. They too have fundamental rights to life and speedy trial of their cases like other citizens. The judiciary must now dispose of their cases expeditiously. Police must file their case papers in courts well in time to avoid any delay in their release. Free legal aid should be made available to them to meet the ends of justice. The sooner this is done, the better it will be for administration of the criminal justice system. It is not as if these measures have not been suggested before. However, the callous attitude of authorities and contempt for the law have hampered justice being meted out to this class of prisoners. If there is one area where judicial activism must find strong expression, it would be in ordering exemplary punishment and heavy fines on those officials who come to violate the human rights of undertrials and disobey the apex courts order on setting them free. Their release would not only help ease pressure on our correctional homes but also help in creating better conditions there. The writer is an Advocate, Supreme Court of India and Delhi High Court. Enceladus is, to many, just an icy snowball floating around in space. But its just become a lot more important its perhaps the greatest hope for life in our own solar system. The small moon of Saturn, which has a 502km diameter, has been revealed to have hydrothermal processes going on underneath its crust. That, in turn, means that it may have all the requirements for life and that microbial life might be found there. What started out as an afterthought or side project for the Cassini mission to Saturn has turned out to be perhaps its crowning glory. Enceladus is made up of an icy surface shell and a rocky interior inside, with a warm ocean sandwiched between the two. Its in that ocean that any life is likely to live apparently given fuel by the processes discovered in the new research. It was first found by British astronomer William Herschel, in 1789. It got its name in 1847, from Herschels astronomer son John. Since then, it languished mostly in obscurity one of a full 53 moons around Saturn and not looking to be even one of the more interesting ones. But that all changed when the Cassini orbiter arrived at Saturn in 2005. It found plumes of water shooting out of cracks in Enceladuss surface, leading scientists to wonder whether it might be geologically alive after all. That led scientists to fly Cassini through the plumes, using all of the various sensing mechanisms on board to try and understand what the plumes were made of. It found mostly water, or tiny ice particles, with traces of other things like methane, ammonia, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and various salts and simple organic molecules. Later it found silica nano-particles, suggesting that something was going on between the hot rocky interior and the alkaline water. That led scientists to expect and hope that hydrogen might be found inside, making the world habitable. Thats what the latest flyby in 2015, when Cassini was shot through the plumes was looking out for, and what it found. What we knew already from Cassini is that Enceladus has these fountains of water jetting out from its surface, said Lewis Dartnell, an astrobiologist from the University of Leicester. That in itself was a hugely exciting and totally unexpected discovery it tells us this tiny snowball of a world, smaller than the UK from side to side, is geologically active. Its warm on the inside, where theres a large body of liquid water. We knew there was an environment, which was potentially habitable, in Enceladus. But Cassini has essentially tasted whats in that water. Its what it tasted there that has got scientists so excited molecular hydrogen, suggesting that the moon has fuel for life. With that, it completes the three things alongside water and organic molecules that are required to support living things. But its just the latest surprise from the little moon, which was never intended to be a significant object of study for the Cassini mission. When Cassini got there it was not a major target of the mission, says Caitriona Jackman from the University of Southampton. It was thought just to be a rocky or icy moon. It was at the beginning of the mission in 2005 when it had a flyby and realised there was more than meets the eyes. Gradually, the truth about the moon was revealed strange magnetic effects were pinned down to tiger stripes on the crust, and water vapour and other organic material was shooting out of its vents. Enceladus has been the biggest bonus ever, says Professor Jackman, who worked on the Cassini mission. It was an incredible discovery to even know that it was interesting. It wasnt a highlight or a major target, but it turns out to be one of the most interesting of Saturns moons. The Independent Actor Kevin Spacey has been announced as the host of the 2017 Tony Awards. "I was their second choice for Usual Suspects, fourth choice for American Beauty and 15th choice to host this year's Tony Awards," Spacey, the former artistic director of the Old Vic theatre in London, said in a press release, reports eonline.com. "I think my career is definitely going in the right direction." The actor, who won a 1991 Tony for his performance in Lost in Yonkers, also tweeted: "Honoured to host the Tony Awards 2017fingers crossed all the envelopes are in order." The nominations for this year's award ceremony will be announced on May 2. The final event will take place on June 11 at Radio City Music Hall here. The Army said on Wednesday a soldier was killed in accidental fire on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district late on Tuesday night. One soldier had died on Monday in 'accidental fire' on the LoC in Mendhar sector of the same district. Defence Ministry Spokesman, Lt. Col. Manish Mehta told IANS: "A soldier was killed in accidental fire in Bhimber Gali (BG) sector late last night." The spokesman had on Tuesday denied the media reports that said the soldier's death in Mendhar had resulted from a sniper shot from across the LoC. The Supreme Court Wednesday ruled that LK Advani and other top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party, including Union Minister Uma Bharti, will be tried for criminal conspiracy in the demolition of the 16th-century Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on 6 December 1992. The mosque razing incited nationwide riots, leaving around 2,000 people dead. The apex court also ordered daily hearings to ensure a verdict is delivered within two years. BJP leaders Advani, MM Joshi and Uma Bharti will face trial in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case as the apex court has allowed the CBI plea and restored criminal conspiracy charges against them. The court also clubbed the trial in the matter pending against the leaders and 'karsevaks' and said the proceedings should be completed in two years. "We have allowed the CBI appeal against the Allahabad High Court judgement with certain directions," said a bench of Justices P C Ghose and R F Nariman. The apex court, however, said as Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh enjoys Constitutional immunity he can be tried only after he ceases to hold office. Kalyan Singh was UP Chief minister at the time of the demolition. Making it clear that there would be no de novo (fresh) trial in the matter, the bench also directed that its order should be followed in letter and spirit and granted liberty to the parties to approach it if its directions are not followed. The court said no party shall be granted adjournment without the sessions judge being satisfied of the reasons for it. It directed the CBI to ensure that prosecution witnesses appear on each and every date for recording of evidence in the case. It directed that the trial court should start the proceedings within four weeks from today. The court also gave significant directions that separate trials being conducted in trial courts at Rae Bareli and Lucknow will be clubbed together and conducted in the capital of Uttar Pradesh only. It also said that the trial judge of Lucknow "shall not be transferred" till conclusion and delivery of judgement in the sensational case. There were two sets of cases relating to the demolition of the disputed structure. The first involved unnamed 'karsevaks', the trial of which is taking place in a Lucknow court, while the second set of cases relate to the leaders in a Rae Bareli court. Advani, 89, along with party colleagues like Joshi, is charged with making inflammatory speeches that allegedly motivated lakhs of right-wing volunteers or karsevaks to pull down the mosque in 1992. That trial was being held in Rae Bareli. Now, the BJP leaders will be tried for more serious charges in Lucknow, where, so far, a separate case is dealing with about 20 people accused of the actual demolition of the mosque. By combining the two trials, the judges want to ensure that a verdict is delivered within two years. The CBI says that it has evidence that the BJP leaders, who made their speeches on a stage near the mosque on the day it was razed, were part of the plan to bring down the mosque. The agency says that Advani and other BJP leaders met the night before the mosque was brought down and decided that it would be razed, which makes the demolition a premeditated, deliberate event. The demolition of the mosque came after a movement led in part by Advani for a temple to be built on the same spot where the masjid was constructed by the Mughals. Many Hindus believe that the mosque was built over the birthplace of Lord Ram and want a temple to be built there. At its last hearing about 10 days ago, the Supreme Court indicated it was likely to club the two cases ~ that means Advani and his party colleagues would be tried in Lucknow as part of one comprehensive case. Judges also expressed their frustration with the (so-far) twin trials moving slowly over 25 years, and said they could order daily hearings with a two-year deadline for a verdict. The ruling BJP camp ruled out resignation of the Union minister Uma Bharti following the Supreme Court's order Wednesday allowing the CBI's plea for restoration of criminal conspiracy charge in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case against Bharti and top BJP leaders including L K Advani, M M Joshi and Kalyan Singh. The apex court's order might have political implications for these leaders, especially Advani considered to be among the BJP's possible candidates for the upcoming election to the post of the President of India. Replying to reporters' questions on Bharti's resignation in the wake of the apex court's order, the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, "This case is going on since 1993and no new situation has arisen. So the situation which was prevailing will continue." Indicating that Bharti and Joshi had been Union ministers and Advani been the Deputy Prime Minister during the trial in this case earlier, Jaitley said, "There have been Ministers, there have been Deputy Prime Minister," thereby making it clear that the earlier situation will continue. On whether the Supreme Court's verdict will have a bearing on selection of the BJP's candidates for the posts of the President and the Vice President in upcoming elections, Jaitley merely said, "It is hypothetical". To a question, Jaitley shot back, saying "If charge sheet is the rule (to resign), then just calculate, how many Congress chief ministers will (have to step down)". Regarding the Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh, Jaitley referred to the apex court order which noted that the former enjoys constitutional immunity and could be tried only after he ceases to hold his office. Separately, the BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya said, "We dont think there can be any action against anyone from party against these leaders because all of them were involved in Ram Mandir movement." On her part, an unfazed Bharti rejected the demand for her resignation, slamming the main Opposition Congress. There was "no conspiracy and everything was in open" in the Babri demolition matter, she told reporters. Bharti said she was "proud, unapologetic and unrepentant" about her association with the Ram Janmabhoomi movement and was prepared to get "hanged or be jailed" over construction of a Ram Temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya. She claimed she will leave for Ayodhya tonight to seek Lord Ram's blessings, but later reportedly cancelled her visit. Holding that she had quit the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister's post over a decade ago after a court had convicted her in a case involving the national flag, Bharti said : "In this (Ayodhya) case, the charges are yet to be provedthe post of a minister is too small for me.This is the country of cow, Ganga, Ram, tricolour. I will sacrifice life if I see insult of any of them." Following the apex court's order, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with the BJP president Amit Shah and his senior Ministers including Rajnath Singh, Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari and M Venkaiah Naidu. They might have discussed the legal and political ramifications of this order, although there was no official word about it. The Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the BJP will study in detail the apex court's verdict and that the party highly respected its leaders like Advani and Joshi. In its subdued reaction, the Congress said the guilty in the Babri demolition case should be punished. The senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal rued that it had taken 25 years for the cause of justice to take this step forward. The Congress spokesman Manish Tewari refrained from making comments on Bharti's charges against the Congress top brass, saying that she was "rattled" by the apex court's order. Regarding Bharti's resignation, he said the Congress would leave it to PM Modi's conscience and morality. Sudheendra Kulkarni, former aide of LK Advani coming to his rescue said that the senior BJP leader was not part of any Babri demolition conspiracy. By Kamlesh Damodar Sutar: After the Supreme court revived the conspiracy charge in Babri Masjid demolition case against senior BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani, his former aide Sudheendra Kulkarni has come out in his defence. Speaking to India Today, Kulkarni said that contrary to the perception, Advani tried to stop the demolition. "Advani was not at all part of any conspiracy. In fact, he condemned the incident (Babri Mosque demolition). Advani had then said that it was the saddest day of his life," said Kulkarni. advertisement "There is evidence before the (Liberhan) commission that he had appealed to the karsevaks to stop," added Kulkarni. Kulkarni, who has worked closely with Advani and also as a party secretary, dismissed connections between his Rath Yatra and the Babri incident. "It is true that he was leading the Rath Yatra but he took out the yatra to create awareness about the Ram temple. Creating such awareness is completely different from criminally demolishing it..." said Kulkarni. "He wanted the Babri masjid to be relocated not demolished, that was his stand. He cannot be held responsible for the demolition," the former aide of Advani added. On asked about the timing of the verdict while Advani's name was doing rounds for the President's post, Kulkarni said he would not like to interconnect the trial order with presidential elections. Also read: Union Minister Uma Bharti cancels Ayodhya visit after Babri Masjid order but remains unapologetic Also read: Modi's conspiracy to remove Advani from President race: Lalu Prasad on Babri verdict --- ENDS --- Upset with India for allowing the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh recently despite its protestations, China has sought to add a new dimension to its claim over the Indian state by renaming six places in the North-eastern state that it calls South Tibet. Significantly, the standardisation of the names in Chinese characters was made by the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs and not by the Foreign Ministry as is the practice being followed by Beijing while making such critical announcements. New Delhi is expected to react to the development. Chinese daily Global Times, which is considered close to the Communist Party leadership, reported Wednesday that the move was aimed at reaffirming Chinas claim over the state. It said the Ministry of Civil Affairs announced on 14 April on its website that it had standardised the names of six places in South Tibet in accordance with the regulations of the State Council. The official names of the six places are Wo'gyainling, Mila Ri, Qoidengarbo Ri, Mainquka, Bumo La and Namkapub Ri. "These names have existed since ancient times, but had never been standardised before. Therefore, announcing the names is like a remediation," Mr Guo Kefan, a research fellow at the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences, was quoted as saying. Standardising the names from the angles of culture and geography could serve as a reference or leverage when China and India negotiate border issues in future, he added. The move by Beijing is being seen in retaliation to the Dalai Lamas visit to Arunachal Pradesh earlier this month. At least on three occasions, China went on record to say that his visit to Arunachal would severely damage bilateral ties. However, India refused to buckle under pressure, saying the Dalai Lama was an honoured guest of India who was free to travel anywhere. Chinas contention has been that the Dalai Lama was more interested in politics than religious affairs and has been instigating his followers in Tibet to revolt against the Communist Party leadership. India too has played the name-game as far as Arunachal Pradesh is concerned. It became an Indian state 30 years ago on 20 February 1987. It was initially a Union Territory which was carved out of Assam. The state was known as the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA) until 1972. Social activist Medha Patkar has said the Smart City-related evictions in India were brutal and alleged that the demolition of the habitats in the name of development was undermining the very existence of people living there. In India there are hundred smart cities that are going to be developed. The (World) Bank is in it as it is said in one of the research documents of the 'Ambanis' the name is known because they are Indian multinationals, Patkar said during a panel discussion on 'Emerging Lessons on Environmental Assessment' being held on the sidelines of the Spring Meeting of the World Bank. The Smart City related evictions which is so brutal without paying one rupee compensation and which may initially be seen as an eviction just for the road widening, she said. Patkar said it was not just road widening, it was demolishing the cultures, demolishing the habitats and undermining the very existence, rights and role of the hundred years old community who were not only not consulted but were just written off. The World Bank is involved in India's ambitious Smart City projects in multiple ways including funding and sharing of technological expertise. In her remarks, the well-known Indian social activist rued about the dangers of development being carried in the name of Smart City projects in India. Opposing such demolition or uprooting is dismissed at times as foolish, she said. So, delineating that context the largest of the map which would include not just the various categories of people but the various projects and the sub projects which would have the impacts rolling out, 62-year-old social activist said. That may happen after five years or ten years where if you raise a question, you are considered as a fool or just an opponent or the Maoist as the Vedanta opposing tribal communities were just called yesterday in one of the reports for the Ministry of Home Affairs in India, she said. This has become a big issue because the Supreme Court asked the communities to decide. The communities decided not to allow the corporate to mine their lands. It is not something like the Old Seattle experiment, it is the present time experience that the communities are going through, the Narmada Bachao Andolan leader said. Patkar said the screening and scoping is always the inappropriate and unacceptable sequence at this point. It has to be scoping first and screening later. How can one decide the category A, B or C without really drawing the full scope of impacts and also the feasibility of solutions at least at the primary or the preliminary level, she said. If that is not done then we have an umpteen number of experiences where these illegal sand mining for example was till yesterday a minor mineral mining and would not have a major impact and now the country recognises and they have green tribunals to the Supreme Court have passed orders calling them as the major impact projects, she added. So it's just changing of laws, changing of definitions or making it more inclusive that can bring certain impacts and certain kind of projects in a different category, the environmentalist said. It is necessary that the first and foremost scoping exercise needs to be taken very seriously otherwise the downstream impact of the dams for example, generally when the downstream people raise an issue related to the environmental flows of the sea ingress, she said. Yesterday I was talking to someone and the senior person in the bank asked us too how can the sea come inside? The sea does come in, when you stop the major river from flowing 1,300 kilometres long to have each reservoir as much in length as 200 and more kilometres, imagine the scale of impact it has not only to people but nature including the river and the sea itself, Patkar said. The sea coming in and salinising the ground water and surface water is something that becomes a faint after 20 or 30 years as it is happening in Narmada today, she said. Patkar said now no one is going to take up any issue, it is the final settlement to be the final order of the Supreme Court as in the case of Sardar Sarovar bridge where now no questioning is permitted. We would find a way out very soon, she said. When the catchment area treatment remains on paper, in the case of a dam, one cannot even say that it is compensating or mitigating the acceptation risks and related impact on the lifespan of the project itself, she said. It is therefore necessary that the options assessment is taken with much more depth and much more understanding to be able to make the right kind of technological choice. It's not technological in that sense, it has the social and environmental impacts which differ a lot and that is rarely happening, Patkar added. Why can't you start from the beginning and say that okay, if such large reservoirs or large mega cities or the smart cities is really treating the people like commodities and not even considering them as the units in the alive democracy then leave it out. Let the people decide. So it has to be not just consultation but consent that we would like to underline, she said. BJP leader Uma Bharti on Wednesday said she would not resign as Union Minister and that the charges of conspiracy in the Babri Masjid demolition case have not yet been proven against her. Her remarks came after the Supreme Court revived the conspiracy charge in the Babri Masjid demolition case against her and senior BJP leaders LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, and Kalyan Singh, who is Rajasthan Governor, among others. "I am not one of those who is greedy for power. I resigned as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh after a case was registered against me in the Tiranga (national flag) case," Bharti, Union Water Resources Minister, told reporters. Asked whether she would resign as Union Minister as the Congress party has demanded her resignation, Bharti said, "The charge has not been proved." Restoring the conspiracy charge in the demolition case, a bench of Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman also transferred the trial from Rae Bareli to Lucknow. She also refuted any conspiracy behind the 1992 demolition of the Babri mosque. "There was no conspiracy. Everything was open. The question of conspiracy does not arise," she said. In the fair is foul, foul is fair world of Indian politics, the good does not always prevail over the bad and the ugly. Instead, it is often just the opposite, as can be seen from the relative ease with which a Shiv Sena M.P. has been able to shrug off his assault on an Air India staffer and return to Parliament to serve the people. He is not the only honourable representative of hoipolloi who faces a criminal charge. There are quite a few others in the august House because unlike other democracies, the Indian version has the dubious distinction of openly harbouring disreputable elements. When the Lok Sabha Speaker, Sumitra Mahajan, was told about the misconduct of the Shiv Sena MP, she refused to take suo motu cognizance of the incident since it occurred outside the House. Perhaps this technicality explains why no action can be taken against a third of the MPs ~ 186 out of 541 ~ who have a criminal past, according to the Association for Democratic Reforms. The MLAs, too, do not lag behind, as is evident from the case of Keralas power minister, MM Mani, who boasted in a public speech in 2012 that his party ~ the CPI-M ~ had killed many of its opponents. We made a list of 13 people, he said, and one, two, three we killed the first three of them. One was killed by the bullet, another one was stabbed. The third was beaten to death. In next door Tamil Nadu, the person who aspired for the chief ministers chair after Jayalalithas death is now in prison for amassing wealth beyond her known sources of income. Jayalalitha, too, would have suffered the same fate if the Supreme Court had delivered its verdict earlier. In the event, death saved her from the ignominy. What the track record of these luminaries shows is that politics has become the playground of a sizeable number of unsavoury VIPs. It is not only isolated individuals who have a murky past. Even entire parties are seen as the home of rowdies. The Shiv Sena, for instance, has had this reputation virtually from the time of inception. In UP, the Samajwadi Party has long been known as a party of toughies. Now, chief minister Yogi Adityanaths Hindu Yuva Vahini has taken off from where the Samajwadi Yadavs had left off in the matter of assault and intimidation. The Congress, too, has faced this charge as when a Marxist theatre personality, Safdar Hashmi, was killed in 1989 in a case which the judge, who sentenced the nine accused to life imprisonment, said symbolized criminalization of politics. At the root of this infiltration of villainous felons into politics is the virtually complete sway which the criminals enjoyed over politics, particularly at the time of elections till the Harvard-educated Chief Election Commissioner, TN Seshan, cleansed the electoral process during his tenure (1990-96). Till then, the phenomenon of the so-called booth-capturing was a disgraceful feature of elections, especially in the Hindi belt, when crooks masquerading as party workers muscled their way into polling booths, chased away the voters and polling officials and cast votes for their favourite candidates. Electoral malpractices under political patronage are not the only reason for the criminalization of politics. Another is the violence which accompanied political agitations. One of the most well-known historical instances was the burning down of a police station by a mob in Chauri Chaura in U.P. in 1922, killing more than 20 policemen, which made Mahatma Gandhi call off his non-cooperation movement. There have been innumerable such cases of violence both before and after independence which have enabled rowdy elements to become a part of the political scene. Allied to their role is the fact that some of these elements rose from being the political musclemen of top political leaders ~ as Gopal Pantha Mukherjee was to BC Roy when the latter was the West Bengal chief minister ~ to being politicians themselves. In the latter category can be placed the former Rashtriya Janata Dal MP from Bihar, Mohammed Shahabuddin, who is now in jail. Notwithstanding the known links between the political class and the underworld, politicians have occasionally tried to address the problem, presumably because of the tainting of their reputation. As is their habit, the answer was to set up a committee to assess the festering malaise in the system. The committee, headed by a former Union home secretary, NN Vohra, stated, inter alia, that the various crime syndicate/mafia organizations have developed significant muscle and money power and established linkages with government functionaries, political leaders and others to be able to operate with impunity. That little has changed since 1993 when the report was submitted is evident from the increase in the number of M.P. with criminal records from 158 after the 2009 general election to 186 after 2014. Evidently, no serious attempt has been made by the political class to even address the problem, let alone trying to eradicate it. Their disinterest and even defiance of sober behavioural norms could be seen from the response of a Shiv Sena spokesman to a question on the beating up of the Air India official by his partys MP that the Shiv Sena was not against the raising of a hand against those it disapproved of. There is a long way to go, therefore, before politicians arouse respect and admiration in India. The writer is a former Assistant Editor, The Statesman. Diasporas have emerged as an important component in the process of globalisation, which has created a global village connecting people of various regions, socio-economic, political and cultural backgrounds. Today, international relations denote inter-connectedness among populations of different countries. In recent years where governments are becoming increasingly people-centric, it is the people who represent one of the crucial agents of diplomacy. This has made the diaspora an important agent of diplomacy. The Indian diaspora has emerged as an important factor in foreign policy, economic development and knowledge transfer. With over $ 60 billion worth of remittances, overseas Indians play an important role in the countrys economy and management of its foreign exchange. The success of Indians in the developed world, particularly in knowledge industries and professions like medicine and academia, have also helped transform the countrys image. Indians were initially brought in as indentured labourers to develop plantation economies, construct railway networks and to serve as soldiers in the imperial military establishments in far-flung parts of the empire in the nineteenth century. More than two million Indians fought on behalf of the empire in several wars, including the Boer War and the two World Wars, and some remained behind to claim the land on which they had fought as their own. These workers and soldiers were often accompanied and followed by a large number of Indian traders and professionals under the free passage system. Presently, there are about five million Indians in the Gulf countries. Meanwhile, in countries such as the United States, Canada, and Australia, Indians have made their presence felt in different professions. The migration of Indians as professionals, labourers and traders to various countries is a continuing saga. Rapid economic growth and expansion of technical education, particularly in IT, have accentuated the process. The USA and Australia have received a large number of Indian students, many of whom settle down after completing their studies. If there is one issue on which all political parties agree, it is the imperative to include overseas Indians in the countrys economic development and to take care of their needs and aspirations. Successive governments have given more and more concessions to them as an acknowledgment of their contribution by way of remittances, investment, lobbying for India, promoting Indian culture abroad and for building a good image of their country through intelligence and industry. The Indian diaspora constitutes an important, and in some respects a unique force in world culture. The Government of India has formulated multiple schemes to cater to the cognitive needs of this segment by acquainting them with the schemes and incentives that are offered to them. After India and the overseas Indians rediscovered each other under Rajiv Gandhi, there came a host of measures such as a separate Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, the Person of Indian Origin (PIO) Card, Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award, Overseas Citizen of India Card, NRI funds and voting rights for Indian citizens abroad. While some were introduced by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, others were unveiled by the National Democratic Alliance dipensations. The response of the diaspora was varied as these affected different categories of Indians in different ways. India carried out a major reorientation of its economic and foreign policy in the wake of the major foreign exchange crisis, the end of the Cold War, and the disintegration of the Soviet Union. The technology-driven growth of the 1980s and Nineties and the achievements of professionals have catapulted the Indian diaspora to a very prominent position in the USA. Gujarati migrants from Africa have become major players in the UK. India was initially sensitive to the possibility that promoting the cause of overseas Indians might offend the host countries, which ought to be fully responsible for their welfare and security. The Indian community and our diplomatic missions interacted on national occasions, but diaspora diplomacy was important. However, it started yielding dividend with increasing engagements with the Indian diaspora across the world. Several parliamentarians from the UK, the US and Canada take considerable interest in Indian politics because of the large presence of Indians in their constituencies. Various groups in India also make use of the diaspora for promoting their interests. The domestic reaction to the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka highlights the implications of the diaspora as an important factor in our external relations. The LTTE and the separatist movement in Punjab illustrate the impact of the diaspora on national security. For the Indian nationals in the Gulf and elsewhere, welfare measures and resettlement facilities were more important, while the prosperous communities in the West, who were clamouring for dual citizenship, felt short-changed. But, on the whole, they were energised into espousing Indian causes in the US. Of course, their support for Indian interests was not automatic and they often urged the Government here to modify its policies to suit American sensitivities. Indian-Americans contributed little by way of remittances or investments, but the establishment of the India Caucus in the House of Representatives and the turning around of hesitant legislators into voting for the India-US nuclear deal were major accomplishments. The achievements of the diaspora and Indias policy of economic liberalization and globalization have created the ideal environment for a mutually beneficial engagement. In the wake of the foreign exchange crisis of 1991, the government leveraged the financial resources of the diaspora who contributed substantially contributed to the India Development Bond and Millennium Bond. The exodus of highly-skilled talent creates a very real brain drain in the economy, particularly in such sectors as engineering and bio-technology. A poor education system with insufficient capacity combined with the outflow of skilled professionals creates a shortage of skilled labour and inflates wages relative to other low-cost countries thereby making India less competitive in these spheres. Poor governance and other systemic issues impact the business environment and drive away business, investment and high-quality jobs, thereby creating a vicious cycle which India cannot afford. The challenge for India goes beyond just determining how to leverage the many successful Indians abroad. It needs to provide an attractive ecosystem to study and work in if it wants to retain its best and brightest, and in order to ensure that Indian businesses and foreign investors continue to invest in India. Further, Indian banks offer a high rate of interest on deposit accounts overseas whenever there is a financial crisis, but there is no systematic programme in place to attract investment from the diaspora. In order to attract its diaspora, its capital and know-how back to its shores on the scale required and to retain its current pool of talent, it will need to develop a comprehensive strategy that provides sufficient incentives to make the move attractive, given the opportunities the diaspora has abroad. The nature of engagement with the diaspora has changed according to the needs of the time. Because of extraordinary diversity and geographical spread, the policy of engagement has to be flexible and tailor-made to suit every segment of the diaspora. The approach towards the workers in the Gulf is primarily oriented towards welfare and remittance. Engagement with the diaspora in the developed world has to be multifaceted and aimed at making India a knowledge-power. Their strengths have to be leveraged for political lobbying, image projection and economic development. The communication and transportation revolution and the global reach of the media have brought about a major change in the nature of the relationship between the diaspora and their country of origin. India must follow a robust and flexible policy in order to leverage the strengths of the diaspora and minimise the possibility of a negative fallout. The diaspora can play an important role in Indias quest to be a knowledge-power and a developed country. The writer is Additional Secretary, Dept of Health and Family Welfare, West Bengal. The views expressed are personal and not the Governments. According to the World Bank, about 15 per cent of the world's population which amounts to one billion people, suffers from some form of disability. Developing countries or low and middle income countries (LMIC) have higher occurrence of disability. Usually developing countries fail to provide proper infrastructure to people living with disabilities in the form of accessibility to public places, public transport, work place, educational institutions and information and communication technology. According to Census 2011, about 26.8 million people in India are living with disabilities and this, according to some prominent disability rights activists, is a huge underestimation. India also fails to address the issue of disability inclusive space due to lack of efficient and effective policies in place. India is one of the 173 countries which ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). In this convention, people with disabilities were for the first time, recognised as capable beings with rights, who can claim their own rights and take appropriate decisions for themselves based on free and informed consent. Since ratifying CRPD in October 2007, India is obliged to enforce it in its national laws and policies. We present some points related to access to employment and education for people suffering with disabilities, based on the data from Census 2011 and the steps taken by the government so far. In the HRD Ministry's All India Survey of Higher Education (2014-15), it was found that 64,289 persons with disability (PWD) are enrolled for higher education. Even though the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act promises inclusive education, it fails to provide children with disabilities access to education majorly due to absence of infrastructure of schools and universities for providing better access to people with disabilities, lack of strong interest from the government and administration and due to closed mind-set. The Rights of Persons with Disability Act 2016 recognised the need for sign language and Braille in schools and universities but in order to excel and make education inclusive for PWD students, it is important to also compulsorily introduce other modern technologies for learning in the school. More resources are required for spreading awareness about new provisions under this Act, especially the clause which says that books, learning materials and assistive devices will be provided to students who are dealing with benchmark disabilities, free of cost up to the age of 18 years. In the same Act, reservation for PWD students in higher educational institutions was raised from 3 to 5 per cent. Yet in reality, in spite of a number of PILs, very few institutions have been able to make their campus inclusive for the PWDs. In the age group of 5-19 years, there are 6.5 million children with different types of disabilities. Fifty-four per cent children with multiple disabilities have never attended educational institutions. 797,000 children with different types of disabilities attended educational institutions but dropped off eventually while 1.75 million differently abled children never attended schools. Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of children (1.2 million) in the age range of 5- 19 years who have some form of disability. Of these, 40 per cent are not attending any educational institution. Maharashtra has 684,000 disabled children, the second highest number in the country, and 30 per cent are not attending schools. Daman and Diu has less than 500 disabled children in the age range of 5-19 years but 55 per cent do not attend school. Apart from Goa and Kerala, all states and UTs have more than 30 per cent disabled children who are not attending any educational institutions. According to Census 2011, there are 15 million people with disabilities who are in the working age group of 15-59 years. Out of this 58 per cent are male and 42 per cent female. There are 20 states/UTs where more than half the disabled population of working age is unemployed. Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of people with disablities in the age group of 15-59 years, at 2.3 million and 52 per cent of these people are unemployed. In rural areas, out of all the disabled men who are employed, 74 per cent are main employees as opposed to 54 per cent of disabled women. In urban areas, 87 per cent of employed disabled men are main employees while 72 per cent of disabled women are employed as main workers. Disabled women are employed more than men for marginal jobs that last for a duration of 3-6 months or less than 3 months, in both rural and urban areas. The state-wise distribution of employed disabled men and women shows that in all the states and UTs in India, the percentage of employed women with disablities is less than that of men with disabilities. Delhi has the highest disparity with the percentage of employed disabled men being higher than that of women by 43 per cent. Nagaland is the only state to have a difference of less than 10 per cent between the percentage of employed men and that of employed women with disabilities. Previously only seven types of disabilities were recognised by institutions but under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 21 different kinds of disabilities are recognised. This would instantly increase the number of people to be considered as living with disability by the government. In the past decade, some well intended legislations and judgements came out to improve the situation for PWDs. Firstly, under the Rights of Persons with disability Act, government job reservation for people with disabilities was increased from 3 to 4 percent and in another instance last year, the Supreme Court of India, in one of its progressive judgements, declared that the disability quota can be used for promotions in government jobs. Yet we are not very optimistic about the implementation due to the deep-seated apathetic approach towards bringing in change within the system for PWDs. According to reports from Economic Times Intelligence Group (ETIG) in 2015, most of the public sector entities failed to meet the 3 per cent required work force reservation for PWDs and very few private sector entities in their survey were eager to include PWDs in their workforce. The only way to reverse the situation, along with progressive judgements, is vigilant citizen's groups and civil societies. Proper implementation, usage of funds and filling up of quotas reserved for the PWDs can be possible only if proper awareness is raised by the groups and coalition working for disability rights. The writers work on data engagement for a platform called Be- Informed. Winning the upcoming municipal election in Delhi has become a matter of survival for Arvind Kejriwal and his AAP government in the capital. If he loses, the defeat could well pave the way for the demise of his two year old government. The ground has already been prepared for the death sentence. A case is pending with the Election Commission for the disqualification of 21 AAP MLAs who were appointed parliamentary secretaries. The charge is that the appointment violated the provisions of the Office of Profit Act. The AAP governments health minister Satyendra Jain is being investigated by the CBI on charges of corruption and could soon be arrested. Chief Minister Kejriwal himself is facing a jail term if he loses the criminal defamation case filed against him by Arun Jaitley. And if BJP sources are to be believed, several AAP MLAs are ready to jump ship and join the saffron side. The BJP and Congress agree on one thing. Both want to finish off Kejriwal and his AAP. They feel threatened by their brand of politics. Kejriwal is surviving so far because both the BJP and Congress are scared to touch him. They fear his popularity. They think any move to dislodge him could backfire by turning Kejriwal into a hero. This is why the MCD election has become so important. It is being seen as a referendum on Kejriwal and his AAP government, a test of their popularity among the people of Delhi. A defeat for AAP will give the BJP and Congress the courage to strike. All the pending cases are likely to be activated and the noose could slowly tighten around the necks of AAP leaders including Kejriwal. Be prepared for the strange spectacle of the BJP and Congress joining hands to celebrate the murder of democracy in Delhi. Change in Gujarat? The BJP grapevine is buzzing with speculation that there could be a change of chief minister in Gujarat after Modis recent visit to his home state where he sounded the bugle for the assembly polls at the end of the year. According to saffron circles, there is a move to put a Patel leader as CM with the aim of winning back the support of the community. The name doing the rounds is that of Parsottambhai Rupala, currently minister of state for agriculture in the Modi government and a member of the Rajya Sabha. Consider his qualifications. He is a Kadva Patel and is considered an influential member of the community. He is a Modi-Shah loyalist. He was part of the campaign team for Modi in Varanasi for the 2014 election. The current CM, Vijay Rupani, belongs to the Jain community and was always seen as a stop gap arrangement when Anandiben Patel had to be removed for administrative incompetence. BJP circles say that Modi and Shah planned to assess the mood of the Patel community during his two-day visit over the weekend and then take a call on whether or not to change the CM. Surprise visitor Jaya Bachchan had a surprise visitor on her birthday last Sunday: Mamata Banerjee. The West Bengal chief minister was in Delhi to attend the Inter-State Council meeting. She decided to drop into Jayas recently acquired and newly renovated bungalow in Lodi Estate to wish her a happy birthday. Mamata is very close to the Bachchans and holds both Amitabh and Jaya in high regard. Amitabh has inaugurated the Kolkata International Film Festival five times in a row. Hes clearly a favourite with Mamata. The fiery Trinamool chief confided that she often exchanges SMS messages with the Bollywood actor and he responds immediately. So it was no surprise that Mamata took time off from a busy political schedule to touch base with Jaya on her birthday. They spent nearly an hour together and Mamata was impressed by the elegant interiors of Jayas bungalow. Jaya Bachchan no longer travels back to Mumbai for the weekends when Parliament is in session. She says she finds it too fatiguing. Sadly, her family in Mumbai had work commitments so couldnt fly to Delhi to be with her on her birthday. Alliance bonhomie Modi has finally proved that he can outstrip Vajpayee when it comes to winning friends and influencing people. The Modi-led NDA has as many as 33 parties including the BJP. The Vajpayee-led alliance had just 24. Modis allies come from far and wide, from Meghalaya in the Northeast to Kerala in the deep south. Most of them are tiny parties but so what? The numbers add up to an impressive 33. It was interesting that Modi chose to host a dinner for his alliance partners just before the budget session of Parliament ended. It was the first such dinner in his three years as prime minister. The motive was clear. Hes looking at the upcoming election to choose the next President of India and is trying to keep his flock together through good will gestures like dinner parties. The BJP on its own is short of numbers and will need the help of all NDA partners plus a few others like BJD and AIADMK to elect a person of its choice as President. With the Opposition toying with the idea of nominating a joint candidate to force a contest, numbers have become crucial. Modi is already looking ahead. He was particularly convivial at the NDA dinner-cum-meeting and gave full play to each and every NDA partner to speak. As a result the dinner went on well beyond midnight! Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs hollow claims (March 14) that in Pakistan all faiths enjoy equal rights under the Constitution fell flat when a 23-yearold student, Mashal, a member of the minority Ahmediya sect was lynched to death by a frenzied mob inside the campus of Abdul Wali Khan University in Khyber Pakhtunwa (KP) province last week on mere suspicion that he had championed the cause of Ahmediyas. The attack was most inhuman as the perpetrators kept kicking the lifeless body displaying high level of intolerance and brutality. Before he was lynched and shot, Mashal was forced to recite Quranic verses and made to hurl abuses on the Ahmediya sect. This sensational killing and its ripple effects have exposed Pakistani claims of protecting their minorities. Its also evident that there are visible signs of state complicity in such hate killings. Earlier, a new wave of persecution and killings of Ahmediyas came to the fore after an Islamabad High Court Judge, Shaukat Siddiqui, described by many as a bigot and hate monger, took a position on religious matters of an individual. Religious extremism penetrating the judiciary is a very disturbing development and diminishes chances of ensuring minority security. Siddiqui was the judge who had described Constable Mumtaz Qadri as Ghazi (hero and holy warrior for upholding the teachings of Islam). Qadri had assassinated his minister Salman Taseer whom as a bodyguard he was supposed to protect. Its unthinkable that a sitting judge would label a killer a hero and a martyr (Qadri was later executed). Sadly, the judiciary in Pakistan has not been able to keep itself away from the profound impact of growing extremism. Human rights watchers recommend a foolproof system be set in place to check and occasionally scrutinise the fairness of the justice system so that it does not stay unbridled and awards sentences with fairness and without bias. In the absence of any monitoring, Siddiqui continues to try cases of alleged blasphemy and he is directing the authorities to ban accused persons accounts on Facebook, Twitter and the internet confirming the extent of intolerance Pakistan is reeling under. Ahmediyas remain harassed and ostracised in Pakistani society and continue to suffer humiliation and intimidation at the hands of the religious extremists. Emboldened by the indifference of the establishment and the apathy of the majority, several members of the Ahmediya community have been gunned down in the recent past. A prominent member of the sect and lawyer of renown, Malik Saleem Latif was shot dead in Nankana Sahib and soon after a 68-year-old social activist Ashfaq Ahmed was shot dead in cold blood in Lahore on April 7. The atrocities dont end here. Minorities are gripped by fear and uncertainty and there are no evident signs of any let up at least in the foreseeable future. Against this backdrop, it does not augur well for the Pakistani polity or its intelligence and security agencies to point fingers at India for its alleged highhandedness in Kashmir. Its sustained propaganda blitz against India merits a natural death as atrocities in Pakistans own backyard deserve to be highlighted and exposed before the international community and human rights groups. The writer is a retired IPS officer and a security analyst and writes on security-related issues. The views expressed are personal. Close to three years have not sufficed to enlighten the Modi-Shah edition of the NDA government that holding high office requires rising above petty politicking, electoral manipulation, seeking confrontation at every possible opportunity and convincing the people at large that truly national interests (not a narrow interpretation of what is perceived as patriotism) are at the top of the agenda. The NDA leaderships boycotting of a function to mark the centenary of Gandhijis Champaran satyagraha suggests that it retains the smallminded approach of an entity still unsure of its own credentials. The explanation offered by the BJPs former deputy chief minister of Bihar only confirms that the largeness expected of a ruling party at the Centre eludes its leadership. It was a state government-organised event, so no requirement for the BJP president to be invited. Objections to invitations to political parties opposed to the BJP were downright childish. And utterly ridiculous was the argument that home minister Rajnath Singh should not share a platform with persons as allegedly tainted as Lalu Prasad and Rahul Gandhi: will the Congress vice-president be denied entry to an all-party meet, or to a parliamentary leaders conference that the government may call in future? If the (National Herald) case against Rahul serves as a disqualification, what about the several cases (on some vicious charges) against the new nawab of Lucknow and some NDA ministers at the Centre? None of the persons who reportedly triggered the boycott would be impacted by the NDA staying away, not even chief minister Nitish Kumar who hosted the event. The visible casualty was the honour and memory of the Father of the Nation and those who had participated in the freedom struggle. Are they and the Mahatma now being appended to the BJPs black list that includes Nehru, Indira and others? Mr Pranab Mukherjee is not prone to letting himself be insulted, but there is reason to suspect that the BJP deliberately stayed away to protect its ears from having to hear yet another Presidential plea for plurality, inclusiveness, tolerance and all the rest that should elevate sabka saath sabka vikas above ritual rhetoric. Mr Mukherjee has displayed the gumption to make everyone aware of his disgust with the divisive politics so favoured by the present leadership of the BJP and its government. Some of his speeches have been hard-hitting, particularly when flaying the cancerous culture of violence now spreading across university campuses all over the country. The BJP leadership initially made a few noises appreciating Mr Mukherjees line of thinking, then it switched tactics to extending the silent treatment to him. And now it would appear that a boycott is its latest weapon. It is with ominous apprehension that the nation looks towards the curtain dropping on Pranabdas days in Rashtrapati Bhawan. Turkey has reached a crucial stage in its political history, of a kind that is bound to have an impact on its handling of sub-regional jingoism and its dealings with Europe in the wider canvas. Sundays historic referendum will lend more power to President Recep Tayyip Erdogans elbow and this must be deemed to be a critical achievement for a leader who contends with crises on several fronts, not least the migrants issue. Chiefly, he has been given a free hand to go ahead with a cache of constitutional amendments that will grant him sweeping new powers. The people ~ even children boast the right to vote ~ have approved the expanded presidential powers though the margin of victory does seem to be marginal ~ 51.3 per cent (Yes) and 48.7 per cent (No), almost recalling the Brexit result last June. The narrow victory will doubtless come as a disappointment for the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP), which had hoped for a decisive mandate. Nonetheless, Erdogan will very probably remain in power until 2029 if he wins successive elections. In the immediate perspective, the result of the referendum sets the stage for a dramatic transformation of the structure of governance. Crucially, this will entail a watershed transition from a parliamentary democracy to a presidential republic, arguably the most important development in the countrys history since Kemal Ataturks westernisation of Turkey after the country was founded following the collapse of the Ottoman Republic. A hundred years later, the country like certain parts of Europe is confronted with the challenge of militant Islam. Not that the presidential system will ipso facto denude the democratic engagement; both America and France have an executive presidency, the first being the worlds largest democracy. Having said that, the referendum has exposed divisions within Turkish politics and the Opposition has signalled its intent to contest the result. Turkeys allies in Europe have already expressed fears that the country might slide towards autocracy. Much will of course hinge on Erdogans exercise of his powers. Given the sweeping authority that he is now poised to wield, the European Commission has greeted the result of the referendum with a caveat that Turkey should seek the broadest possible national consensus in its constitutional amendments, given the Yes campaigns slender margin of victory. Unmistakable is the inherent paradox ~ Erdogans enormous powers are embedded in a rather weak mandate, one that doesnt quite inspire confidence. His decision to revive the death penalty can be contextualised with the recent purge in the military and the festering restiveness of the Kurds. To distinguish between an event and a process in history, Sunday witnessed an event; the fresh wave of evolution in Mustafa Kemals Turkey has only just begun. Shows like Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat and Princess Dollie aur Uska Magic Bag were a huge hit with the viewers. By India Today Web Desk: A new show called Love Ka Hai Intezaar starring Keith Sequeira and Sanjeeda Sheikh will premiere on Star Plus soon. The show will see Keith in a completely royal avatar, while Sanjeeda will be essaying the role of a Bollywood actress. Now this is not a new concept. We have had all kinds of princesses and kings grace the small screen before. While a few of them were able to pull it off, others failed miserably in terms of TRPs. advertisement Watch: Sanjeeda-Keith's Love Ka Hai Intezaar trailer out; and they make a beautiful on-screen couple Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat The show which premiered in 2008 on Star Plus was quite popular with the viewers. The show's main plot was about a girl and her journey to become a queen. It starred Anjali Abrol as Rani, and Kapil Nirmal as Rajkumar Yudhishtir. Hello Dollie/Princess Dollie aur Uska Magic Bag Inspired by the The Princess Diaries series, the show starred Karishma Randhawa as the main female protagonist. The show was quite a hit with the viewers. Ek Tha Raja Ek Thi Rani The show initially starred Siddhant Karnick and Drashti Dhami as the lead pair, and was decently received. However, after a leap, the main leads were changed (Eisha Singh and Sartaj Gill). The show is supposed to go off air later this month. Dekha Ek Khwaab The series had premiered on Sony TV in 2011, but had failed to retain the interest of the audience. The show's plot followed the dream of Moniya (Priyal Gor), who wanted to become a princess. Saat Phere The show revolved around Saloni, who was married to Nahar, who belonged to a royal family of Rajasthan. Saat Phere was a great hit with TV buffs, and brought instant fame to its lead actors Sharad Kelkar and Rajshree Thakur. Well, we hope that Love Ka Hai Intezaar also manages to woo the audience with its royal charm. --- ENDS --- The Supreme Court by dismissing the Karnataka governments review petition in J Jayalalithas Disproportionate Assets case without giving an opportunity to the parties to argue their points of view has unintentionally contributed to the ongoing moves to unite the two factions of the AIADMK and retrieve the partys two leaves symbol frozen by the Election Commission of India. Besides setting a bad precedent in helping corrupt public servants by iterating that the case against Jayalalitha abated on her death even though arguments concluded six months earlier, it paved the way for the faction headed by general secretary of the AIADMK VN Sasikala, keeper of the keys to Jayalalithas ill-gotten wealth, to grab it. According to the trial court judgment, which was restored by the Supreme Court, her wealth should have been attached and fine of Rs 100 crore collected from the vast estate she had left behind. Only her imprisonment for four years became infructuous. Order XXII Rule 6 of the Code of Civil Procedure makes it clear that there will be no abatement of an appeal if the death is after judgment is reserved. This rule had been observed by the Supreme Court in a number of civil appeals. Neither the Constitution nor Supreme Court Rules, 2013, provide for such abatement of appeal. A fraction of Jayalalithas wealth was on display in the aborted RK Nagar byelection to the Tamil Nadu Assembly where EC officials detected disbursal of Rs 89 crore for votes by TTV Dinakaran, the Sasikala faction candidate who is her nephew and deputy general secretary of the party, and it turned out to be his and his partys undoing. His alleged attempt to bribe the EC with Rs 50 crore to defreeze the two leaves symbol and allot it to him got him and his party in deep trouble and spurred both the factions of the AIADMK to initiate merger talks. Within hours of the Delhi police uncovering Dinakarans plot to snatch the two leaves symbol by bribing the EC and booking a case against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act, tremors were felt in Fort St George in Chennai held by the Sasikala faction. Realisation has dawned on the ministers, including Chief Minister K Paliniswami, and MLAs, that their political survival depends on dumping Sasikala and her extended Mannargudi family from the party. Reciprocating the sentiments, the rival faction led by O Panneerselvam, chosen by Jayalalitha twice and the Governor once to officiate as Chief Minister, expressed willingness to merge with the rival faction and reclaim the two leaves symbol, key to AIADMKs electoral success. Fishing in troubled waters, the BJP leadership is trying to rope into the NDA the merged AIADMK by offering one or two berths in the Union Council of Ministers. Such a move will bring the support of 132 MLAs and 49 MPs to the NDA in the coming presidential election and help BJP extend its footprint in Tamil Nadu. But as long as Sasikala holds the key to Jayalalithas private treasury, she can upset the apple cart. In human history self-portraits are nothing new as people have been producing them for centuries. Earlier it was on canvas which gave way to celluloid and then to photographic film and digital media. Now it is the selfie, a term which was earlier confined to social media and photo-sharing sites and has now become so widespread that in 2013 the Oxford Dictionary declared it as the word of the year. The proliferation of smartphones has made selfies easier to create and share. The age of the selfie may be the result of unprecedented changes in technology and the rise of social media but it owes a lot to the age-old genre of self-portrait. The history of selfportraiture seems to have begun during the middle ages with painting. For some, it was meant to symbolise the primacy of authorship, for others it represented a case of self-consciousness and personal scrutiny, perhaps also a way to document their lives. In this era there are cameras in phones which click beautiful pictures but people lament the lack of time to see them again. In our busy lives we enjoy things for a moment and then forget about them. People these days take selfies mostly to show off, get noticed and make people realise their presence on social media. We want to project ourselves before others and that is where the selfie comes in. Those familiar with the Triple Self-Portrait by Norman Rockwell, who is celebrated as the Dickens of the paintbrush, might say that it is noteworthy not only for the fact that it contains three self-portraits, but also because it even features a mirror selfie. And of course, any discussion on self-portraits would be incomplete without mentioning Van Gogh. He had over 30 and they are some of his bestknown works. So perhaps what we are witnessing today with the socalled selfie craze is not a new phenomenon, but an old one that has just been given a new lease of life. Its rise in popularity may in part be due to the modern medium used and the minimal demands this medium makes on the individual (you dont need the tools or the skills of a Post-Impressionist painter to take a competent selfie on your phone). If there were any doubts about selfies being just another passing Internet fad, they would be dispelled by the fact that selfies can now be monetised. The USP of many phones in the market today is not only the presence of a front-facing camera, but also the cameras quality and resolution; in other words, how selfie-friendly it is. Studies began linking the photo-taking habit to narcissism, addiction and other mental health issues. A poll by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery indicated that one in three facial plastic surgeons surveyed saw an increase in requests for procedures due to patients being more aware of their looks in social media. The selfie habit has picked up to a great extent and has almost gathered epidemic proportions as a worldwide phenomenon. It is a manifestation of our societys gradual drift towards individualisation with a paradoxically co-existent need to be constantly connected to as many people as possible. This streak of self-obsession has become prominent ever since social networking sites like Facebook and Instagram allowed people to remain in touch with each other. These platforms also provided an opportunity to people to share their pictures, little knowing it would give rise to a generation that is quick to update status and calculate popularity by the number of likes they get. Being self obsessed might be a part of ones personality. But excess of anything is harmful and so is the case with selfies. Too much of clicking may end up as addiction. The selfie bug is catching on with adverse effects on mental health. It is not just the youth, even middle-aged men and women have fallen prey to the obsession. Mental health experts say selfie addiction can be linked to narcissism, low self-esteem and poor body image. Symptoms include irritability, drop in academic performance, and excessive grooming. A youth survey called Millennial Paradox conducted by Titan Industries found that despite the unprecedented levels of selfobsession and independence, Indias millennnials (21-35 year old) do not operate in isolation they have a strong desire to share and belong to a community. Sharing has become the principle form of validation.everything requires endorsement whether that takes the form of a friend a like or even a retweet, concludes the survey, describing the new trend as collective individualism. For the current generation of digital natives, endorsements in the virtual world matter more than the feedback they get from the real world. Selfitis is a newly termed mental disorder by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Doctors say that Selfitis is a form of obsessive compulsive disorder to take ones own pictures and post them on social media. It is broadly divided into three types: Borderline (taking at least three pictures of self but not posting them on social media), Acute (taking at least three photos of oneself every day and posting them on social media) and Chronic severe (taking at least six photos of self every day and posting them on social media). The main cause of clicking a number of selfies is low selfesteem because of which people are trying to find a way to boost themselves. Once a person starts getting addicted to it, he becomes irritable and impatient if somebody deters him from doing so. People clicking too many selfies could be doing so because of the neglect they face from family members. It is a mechanism to gain attention from the community. The writer is with the Eastern Institute for Integrated Learning in Management (EIILM), Kolkata. Space missions are likely to encounter a growing threat of more debris, scientists warned on Tuesday at the 7th European Conference on Space Debris. The four-day meeting was held in the southern German city of Darmstadt, where the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) is located. Since 1957, over 4,900 space launches have led to an on-orbit population of more than 18,000 tracked objects, Xinhua news agency reported. Of those, only 1,100 are functional spacecraft and the remaining are space debris, according to European Space Agency (ESA), an intergovernmental organisation consisting of 22 European member states. As regards tiny objects larger than one millimetre, which are hard to be tracked but able to harm spacecraft in a collision, the amount of those objects has risen to ca. 150 million. In addition, around 20,000 orbiting fragments with sizes over 10 centimetres have been found nowadays, 12,000 more than the total amount in 1993. "We are very much concerned," said Rolf Densing, director of operations at the ESA. In the coming days, experts will further discuss different aspects of space debris research including measurement techniques, environment modelling theories, risk analysis techniques, and protection designs. The death toll from a garbage dump collapse in Sri Lanka on Wednesday rose to 32. Eight persons remain missing. The Sri Lankan Disaster Management Centre said search and rescue work was on at the Meethotamulla garbage dumping site, Xinhua news agency reported. Several houses were buried after the massive garbage mountain collapsed on April 14. A fire also broke out at the site and the Air Force was deployed to douse the flame. Residents have been protesting over the months, urging the authorities to move the garbage to another location. The government said there would be no more dumping of garbage at Meethotamulla. President Maithripala Sirisena has told officials to give maximum relief to the affected people. Two US drone strikes have killed at least seven suspected Al Qaida operatives in Yemen's northeastern province of Marib, a security official said on Wednesday. "Two Al Qaida leaders, Saleh al-Awlaki and Saeed Ba-Kadir, were targeted and killed along with five others in two separate airstrikes late on Tuesday night," the official told Xinhua news agency on condition of anonymity. The airstrikes were on two cars in different locations east of Marib, which has long been a hub of Al Qaida activities. The first car was hit on a road in Atran area, while the other was hit at the same time at a junction linking the areas of Al-Shabwan and Hoson Al-Jalal, said the official. The attacks were the latest in a series of airstrikes carried out by the US drones against the terror group in Yemen. On April 5, a US drone killed two militants of the Yemen-based Al Qaida branch, including Khattab Wuhayshi, the nephew of Nasir al-Wuhayshi, the slain founder of the terror group in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), according to a security official. Yemen, an impoverished Arab country, has been gripped by one of the most active regional Al Qaida insurgents in the Middle East. The Yemen-based AQAP, also known locally as Ansar al-Sharia, has claimed responsibility for a number of terrorist attacks against Yemen's army and government institutions. So far, the AQAP and other terrorists have taken advantage of the security vacuum and ongoing civil war to expand their influence and seize more territories in the south of the country. Security in Yemen has deteriorated since March 2015, when a war broke out between the Shiite Houthi group supported by former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and the government forces backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition. The US has seen a steep decline in the number of applications for the H-1B visas, the most sought-after by Indian IT firms and professionals, with the country's immigration agency receiving 37,000 less petitions for the 2018 fiscal year, according to new data. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the federal agency which receives and determines the successful applications for H-1B visas, said yesterday that it received 199,000 H-1B applications for the 2018 fiscal year. As per the USCIS figures, it received 37,000 less H-1B petitions for the fiscal year 2018 beginning October 1 this year than the 236,000 it received in 2017. These applications were received in the first five days before USCIS stopped receiving the H-1B petitions. The successful applicants have been decided on the basis of a computerised draw of lots. USCIS, as per Congressional mandate can issue a maximum of 65,000 H-1B visas every year. In addition, it can issue another 20,000 to those who have completed their higher education at a US university. In 2017, USCIS had received 233,000 applications. In 2015 it had received 172,500 H-1B applications and 124,000 in 2014. The USCIS gave no reason for the drop in H-1B visas this year as compared to the previous two years, but experts attributed this to the current rhetoric against it. This years applications are surprisingly low, William Stock, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association told 'San Francisco Chronicle'. Stock said a reason behind the drop could be that companies that hire engineers to handle other businesses' programming needs may have filed fewer applications. India's Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro accounted for the majority of H-1B applications filed in California last year, the daily reported. Frustration behind the lottery system could be another reason for the drop in the applications, said Martin Lawler, a Bay Area immigration attorney. We need more math-based professionals, and it is quite depressing that we can't go out and get the best and brightest, he told the daily. He said the demand is going to continue so long as Silicon Valley is doing well. US President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order that would tighten the process of issuing the H-1B visas and seek a review of the system for creating an entirely new structure for awarding these visas. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. 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. By Press Trust of India: Mumbai, Apr 19 (PTI) The Indian Consulate in Germany will organise several events in two cities in Germany, to celebrate the Maharashtra Foundation Day on May 1, an official said today. The events will be held in Munich and Stuttgart cities for two days with the assistance of the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC). advertisement MTDC General Manager Swati Kale gave this information to reporters here today. The MTDC will lend financial support to the tune of Rs 7 lakh for the programme. It will also provide the publicity material, audio-visual presentation, organise cultural events and audio-visual presentation on investment potential in Maharashtra. The events will be organised on the Indian Consulate premises. "The idea of holding the Maharashtra Day celebrations in the two cities in Germany was conceptualised at the recent ITB Travel and Tourism Trade Fair in Berlin last month by Indian Consul General Sugandh Rajaram," she said. During the ITB Berlin event, the authorities were pleasantly surprised to find the Maharashtrian community in Berlin staging traditional Maharashtrian cultural events and folk art, she said. Stuttgart is already designated as the sister city of Mumbai. According to Kale, on the first day of the two-day events, a festival showing select Marathi films will be organised. "Traditional Maharashtrian cultural events, folk arts, festivals and photo exhibition of scenic tourist spots in Maharashtra will be held," she said. "On the second day, an audio-visual presentation will be made on the business opportunities in the state," she added. Besides this, there will be stalls put up displaying variety of traditional art forms of Maharashtra, food festival, Kale said. "The photo exhibition which will continue on the second day also, will showcase the progress made by Maharashtra and its tourism potential," she said. PTI MM NP --- ENDS --- 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. What makes the callousness even more glaring on the part of the Assam government is that Majuli happens to be chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal's constituency. By Manogya Loiwal : The shocking news of a man having to carry his brother's body on cycle for lack of an ambulance in Majuli island in Brahmaputra has exposed the basic lack of medical facilities in Assam. What makes the callousness even more glaring on the part of the Assam government is that Majuli happens to be chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal's constituency. advertisement A video footage recently surfaced showing a man using a cycle to carry his brother's body for crossing a bamboo bridge, the only link that connects his village Luit Khabalu and the mainland. The boy was taking his brother's body back home from the hospital to perform his last rites, officials said. According to officials, the absence of a concrete bridge in the area has made it impossible for ambulances to ferry patients or victims in this part of the state. Photo credit: Vikash Sharma The chief minister has directed the Director of Health Services to rush to the village and conduct an inquiry into the incident. BJP's DEVELOPMENT CLAIM EXPOSED The news debunks the BJP's development claim, exposing its failure to provide basic healthcare facilities even though the Sonowal government plans to make Majuli the first Wi-Fi district of the state. When asked whether an ambulance never comes to his place, the relative of the deceased said, "No, not at all. There are no proper roads here. The bridge is in a bad condition." While the BJP government came to power on the promise of 'paribartan' or change, little has changed or bettered in terms of improvement in healthcare and medical facilities, a much more fundamental and pressing need than providing WiFi services. A local from Majuli was quoted as saying, "A man is forced to carry his brother's body on a cycle. The BJP government has been in power for over a year now. People are talking about paribartan (change), but no paribartan has actually happened. This talk of paribartan is all sham. We don't want such cities, our Majuli is going to be a Wi-Fi district now, we want changes in the health sector and we request the government to bring us to the new age from the old times. No change has happened here in Majuli. If you come here, you will see the same old roads and the same education system. And what does one say about the health sector. You will see for yourself in the video how a body is being carried in a bicycle for lack of proper facilities." advertisement Last year, a similar case of medical apathy had been reported from Odisha's Kalahandi, where a tribal farmer Dana Majhi had to carry his wife's body on his shoulders as there was no hearse facility to carry the corpse to Majhi's native village. Also read | Odisha's Dana Majhi, who carried his dead wife on his shoulder, receives Rs 9 lakh from King of Bahrain Also read | Dana Majhi horror revisited: Another Odisha tribal carries kin's body on shoulder from hospital to village (WITH INPUTS FROM PTI) WATCH VIDEO --- ENDS --- Promoting the best of fashion, Mallika Jain has come a long way. This is what she feels about her growth, challenges and successes. By Srijani Ganguly/Mail Today: Fashion pop-ups and exhibitions have become second nature in the larger scheme of all things stylish, so to stand out and even go international is something creditable. Entrepreneur Mallika Jain has made a mark with her fashion and lifestyle shopping exhibition, Fashion Capsule, in less than three years. With an upcoming exhibit in London next month, FEMAIL spoke to her about her growth, challenges and successes. "The idea to promote established and emerging designers came up over a conversation with friends on how we needed to promote young designers. It started off very small three years ago - more on the lines of a pop-up - and we did small shows at an exhibition space in GK-I, to see the feel and look of it," shares Jain. advertisement Also Read: 3 Raveena Tandon outfits you can recreate within your budget Having worked for three and a half as boutique director at Jot Impex Private Limited, which represents international luxury brand Harry Winston, Jain gained a lot of first-hand experience of the corporate world. However, the will to be her own boss was always strong, and she took the opportunity when it arose. Today, Fashion Capsule has between 70 to 80 designers under one roof, and it is held at five star properties like Hyatt Regency, The Grand and The Lodhi in the Capital and in Chandigarh. The exhibit will travel to London at Grosvenor House on May 19 and 20, where 20 desi designers like Nikhita Tandon, Gypsy Mahajan and Ssevo by Sumita will showcase their latest collections. "There is a big demand for Indian fashion in London and New York, which is where I will be focusing in the coming years. In contrast, I think that Dubai and the Far-East are over-saturated," she says, explaining the choice of venue. In order to keep the niche USP of the exhibit, no Western wear will be showcased, and only a marginal price increase will be kept on the garments. Also Read: Alia or Anushka? We can't decide who looked better in Masaba Gupta's denim outfits However glamourous the job looks from the outside, there is a fair amount of tough calls and bullet-biting to do. "I have to deal with all kinds of people, and since I am the face of the brand I have to be positive and smile through any complaints or adjustments. Dealing with exhibitors and shoppers, you can't show your weak side - you have to be positive," she reveals. The mother of two boys, both of whom are in middle school, balances her work and family time with that fact that "I pretty much excelled in time management", and encourages women to chase their dreams to fulfill their dreams. "You must live the life you imagined. Have the confidence that you have the capability to pull it off, and do it in a positive and healthy manner," she says, adding, "Sky is the limit; every woman can do something in today's time." --- ENDS --- Vijay Kumar, a resident of Bawana in Delhi, committed suicide in Haryana. In a video which he recorded before committing suicide, Kumar claimed he was facing harassment as he belongs to a lower caste. By Press Trust of India: A Delhi-based man allegedly committed suicide in Haryana after being subjected to casteist remarks. Before dying, he also made a video on his cellphone specifying the reason for taking the extreme step. The body of 35-year-old Vijay Kumar was found in Haryana today with his family alleging that he was subjected to casteist remarks. advertisement He was a resident of Bawana and belonged to a lower caste. He was allegedly subjected to abuse and ridicule by his neighbours. Kumar's family claimed that he was disturbed due to the constant harassment by some locals. They used to abuse him because of his caste. They also claimed that a few days back they had made PCR calls about the matter, but the police ignored complaint and infact warned Kumar against creating an issue. However, a senior police officer said that the matter was settled between the two parties. "We had received a call about the fight between Kumar's family and their neighbours. Our teams also went there but they reached a compromise," said a senior police officer. ALSO READ: Mumbai: Man uploads video on suicide tutorial before jumping to death from Bandra hotel Hyderabad: Wife of Telangana techie, found dead in Seattle 10 days ago, attempts suicide --- ENDS --- Job Title: Water and Sanitation Field Engineer Organisation: Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Duty Station: Uganda Reports to: Water and Sanitation Team Leader About US: Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in an international non-profit organization that carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. We welcome as a part of our staff and as partners people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need. Job Summary: The Water and Sanitation Field Engineer will overview and monitor all Water and Sanitation Construction activities. The incumbent will oversee all community teams constructing latrine slabs, digging drainages and monitoring contractors in water supply repair/constructions. Responsibilities: Key Duties andResponsibilities: Work in liaison with WASH TLs and Operation staff ensure that materials are delivered in time and according to specified quantities. As indicated by the WASH TLs conduct assessments and/or surveys. Undergo together with Community Latrine Slab construction team a training given by Oxfam on production and construction of dome shaped latrine slabs The incumbent will manage on a daily basis all construction activities ensuring that high quality of works are achieved Work in close coordination with Hygiene Promotion Officers to ensure that all daily workers sign attendance sheets in order to be paid Repair or supervise repairs of hand pumps Ensure together with the HPTL that Field Engineers and Hygiene Promotion Officers engages both refugee and hosts communities in consultation, mobilization and construction activities where these are community based. The incumbent will encourage contractors to employ skilled and unskilled workers from the refugees and host communities Assist the PM to prepare plans, proposals, and budgets for project extensions and new construction projects. Ensure that Field Engineers monitor that community workers and contractors adheres to Health and Safety standards during construction activities. Ensures that use of appropriate project management tools to plan, review and track progress on projects implementation as well as on the utilization of project resources. Ensure the development and implementation of a strong M&E system using appropriate CRS tools and resources to maximize project impact on beneficiaries. Regularly monitor project development and identify deviation from approved project plans and implement corrective measures when necessary to ensure that the partners meet the project objectives. Supervise all skilled and unskilled workers as well of CRS Teams producing latrine slabs and digging pits Act as the technical focal point: Water and Sanitation Team Leader Experience: Qualifications, Skills andExperience: The ideal candidate for the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Water and Sanitation Field Engineer job opportunity should a Bachelors or Masters Degree in Civil Engineering, Hydraulic Engineering, Hydrogeology or Construction Engineering At least two years experience working with INGOs in the field of Emergency WASH or other infrastructure WASH programs. Prior implementation experience of water supply: gravity fed systems and distribution networks, experience in repairing India Mark II, III & AfriDev hand pumps Previous implementation experience in sanitation: construction experience especially different types of latrine and toilet technologies Exceptional interpersonal and team skills and proven ability to be flexible in demanding situation Good assessment, analytical and planning skills Communicates strategically under pressure Manages stress and complexity Actively promotes safety and security Proven organizational skills and ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously. Excellent verbal and written English communication skills as well as local languages. Excellent interpersonal communication skills. Highly proficient in the use of AutoCAD and MS Office programs. Ability to work independently and creatively. High degree of enthusiasm in working as a member of a team and willingness to learn. Ability to embrace the challenge of working under pressure. Show capacity and desire to pass on skills and information, a confident communicator and willing to work in a collaborative and respectful way with the beneficiaries. Knowledge of and commitment to humanitarian principles (NGO / Red Cross code of conduct) and with Sphere humanitarian charter and minimum standards Fluent English language (speaking and writing) and knowledge of the local language in Yumbe district, Arabic is an added advantage. Previous exposure and experience of working with local partners including local authorities/settlement leadership Prior experience in gender analysis and integrating gender & diversity into the emergency program Flexibility and ability to work under pressure and meeting deadlines in changing situations Willingness to be based in Yumbe Agency-Wide Competences (for all CRS Staff): Serves with Integrity, Models Stewardship, Cultivates Constructive Relationships, Promotes Learning How to Apply: All suitably qualified and interested candidates are encouraged to send a cover letter, updated CV and three work references (names and contact information only) to ug_recruitment@crs.org th April 2017 Deadline: 25April 2017 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 ... Eighty nine year-old Lal Krishna Advani spent almost all of his post-adolescent life working and helping the Bharatiya Janata Party grow. And the party has come a long way from the little known Jan Sangh party that hardly had a presence worth noting in the political domain. However, history likes to associate him with the demolition of the medieval mosque Babri Masjid, which was brought down by karsevaks on the afternoon of December 6, 1992. Advani was in Ayodhya on the fateful day. The fall of Babri Masjid was and continues to be a significant chapter in the history and growth of the BJP in India. But with Narendra Modi's shift to the national scene and him becoming the prime minister backed by a never-before strength in the Lok Sabha, Advani was sidelined. Along with his contemporary Murli Manohar Joshi, Advani was 'elevated' to the newly formed 'margdarshak mandal'a committee that is meant to guide the party. But the committee has been a joke since its inception. However, with the Supreme Court verdict on Wednesday to restore trial in the Babri Masjid demolition case, the spotlight is back on Advani and Joshi, along with Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh and Union Water Resources minister Uma Bharti, among others. The verdict effectively revives the criminal conspiracy charges against them. And, the old soldiers of the saffron brigade will now attend daily trials in the case. The Supreme Court has ordered it to be completed in the next two years. Meanwhile, the Congress hailed the verdict, which they think will haunt the BJP. The BJP, on the other hand, appears hardly shaken, though MP Vinay Katyar smells a CBI conspiracy since it was the investigating agency that had appealed to the Supreme Court after the trial was set aside. However, he has made it clear that he will not quit. Kalyan Singh, who was the then chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and the current Rajasthan Governor, enjoys constitutional immunity, and will face trial once he steps down. Interestingly, the RSS is taking the verdict in stride and does not see it as a setback. In fact, the verdict has come as a shot in the arm not only for the old soldiers who did not want to fade away, but also for the party, which faced flak as it pursued its Hindutva agenda in an increasingly connected world where their acts evoked rabid criticism. From 'kabristan' (Modi's speech in the UP campaign) to beef ban, the going was not easy. Now, the Ram Mandir issue is out in the open and the party will be well within its rights to say they are still committed to it, with their senior leaders, in their old age, fighting it out in the courts. Unable to do much, the party had even stopped talking about its commitment to the Ram temple in Ayodhya. For instance, Ram temple was featured in page number 41 of the total 42 pages under the heading 'cultural heritage' in the party's election manifesto of Lok Sabha 2014 elections. In the manifesto, it reiterated its stand to explore all possibilities within the framework of the constitution to facilitate the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. And with the latest developments, the supporters will find their voice and strength back. The party can also afford to be not overly concerned about the trial that Advani, Joshi and others will face because the verdict is not a punishment of any kind. They also have a long legal recourse available to them in the form of going to the high court in case of an adverse judgement from the trial court. Also, they can later knock at the doors of the apex court and even appeal. The case that has been going on for more than 25 years will, interestingly enough, see the trial court verdict delivered in April 2019, just in time for the next Lok Sabha polls, as the BJP and Modi get ready to fight for another term. The ruling AIADMK Amma faction leader T.T.V.Dinakaran convened a meeting of party MLAs on Wednesday, a move which comes hours after the Tamil Nadu cabinet led by Chief Minister E.K.Palaniswami revolted against him. The rival O.Panneerselvam camp is also meeting separately to discuss the future course of action, sources in the faction said. An influential section of Sasikala loyalists led by Palaniswami, late last night, made the dramatic announcement to keep the general secretary and deputy general secretary from party and affairs of government, saying people and party workers were against them. This is the second revolt in AIADMK since party supremo Jayalalithaa's death in December last. Panneerselvam broke ranks with Sasikala in February, alleging he was forced to resign. Now there are three factions in Tamil Nadu headed by Palaniswami, Panneerselvam and Diinakaran, who is filling in for Sasikala, jailed in connection with the DA case in which Jayalalithaa was the main accused. Though Finance Minister D.Jayakumar, who announced the revolt after the meeting at Palaniswami's house, claimed the decision to keep away Sasikala family was "unanimous", some MLAs vowing allegiance to Dinakaran questioned the ministers' action. Dinakaran, also facing Delhi Police heat in an alleged bribery case, called a meeting of the party MLAs and district secretaries later on Wednesday. He is scheduled to discuss the situation arising out of revolt by the ministers, party sources said. Six MLAs including P.Vetrivel and Thanga Tamilselvan, have extended their open support to Dinakaran, whose house witnessed hectic activity. His supporters, including senior leaders such as Nanjil Sampath and Tamil Magan Hussein, held discussions with him, though Dinakaran chose not to meet waiting mediapersons despite initial indications that he would address them. The Panneerselvam camp will also be meeting to discuss the present political situation. The latest revolt came on a day when the Panneerselvam camp made merger talks between the two camps conditional to the ouster of Sasikala and Dinakaran. Exactly a month ago when AIADMK deputy general secretary T.T.V. Dhinakaran chose to contest the RK Nagar bypolls and assert his leadership in the party, it was dubbed as the political messaging of the bold kind. Dhinakaran and his men were ready to risk it all and face whatever hurdles come in their way to victory. But now, the risking boldness seems to have taken a back step. An all powerful Dhinakaran has decided to step aside and subsequently resign from his post after consulting his aunt V.K. Sasikala, who is now in Bengaluru prison. Dhinakarans decision was of course influenced by the fresh mutiny within the AIADMK, the summons from Delhi police in a bribe case and the FERA cases which came back to life after almost a decade. A stubborn Dhinakaran suddenly changed his mind after coming back to his Besant Nagar house from the Egmore court, where he had gone to appear in the FERA case. Dhinakaran was sent back by Magistrate Malarmathi asking him to appear in the afternoon. Within hours, Dhinakaran conceded; his words were measured and statements sounded like that of a seasoned politician. I dont want to be the reason for the weakening of the party or the government. I have kept myself away from party affairs since yesterday. The ministers have taken the decision to keep me out of party affairs. I think they have taken this decision out of some fear. My only request is not to malign our party, Dhinakaran told the media outside his residence as he came back from the court. But sources say Dhinakaran decided to step aside not because of the rebellion within the party, but he was persuaded to stay away by his family members on Saturday when all of them were present at the funeral of T.V. Mahadevan. Mahadevan is the son of Vinodhagan, Sasikalas elder brother. Though the family feud was much visibleSasikalas younger brother V. Dhiwakaran and his son Jai Anand were not seen interacting with Dhinakaran or Sasikalas husband Natarajansources say the family had informed Dhinakaran as how trouble is brewing against him. Sources confirm that the family advised Dhinakaran to allow Edappadi K. Palanisamy to continue to run the government and step aside for a while, to save the party and the family. Besides, Dhinakarans decision was a result of the IT raids at the premises of health minister C. Vijaya Bhaskar, which could soon turn towards the other ministers also. It remains a big question as to how the nine member team formed by the EPS faction will move forward and who will demand what in the government. Sources say Dhinakaran decided to step aside only with an assurance that the current cabinet and the party will continue to be strong as it was during Jayalalithaas regime. But more than this, the increasing pressure from the Centre-ruling BJP and various agencies too has pushed Dhianakaran to take the decision. They were all my friends, you have seen them here with me. They campaigned for me, stood by me. Suddenly, after April 14, I dont know what happened, but something changed, said Dhinakaran, indicating that there was pressure from the BJP to set him and Sasikala out of the race. However Panneerselvam was all in smiles. His body language was that of victory. Beaming OPS said, this is our first victory. For OPS, the final victory would be to take over the party and the government. But sources in the party say, EPS is not ready to give up and the talks between the nine member team and OPS would witness several ups and downs in the coming days. Apparently, Dhinakarans stepping aside is only a temporary arrangement to save his family, familys empire and also to escape from the legal clutches as of now. There are mixed reactions in the sacred city of Ayodhya about the momentous Supreme Court verdict in Babri mosque demolition case. The court, on Wedensday, had allowed hearing in the criminal conspiracy case registered against prominent BJP leaders like L.K.Advani, Uma Bharti, Murli Manohar Joshi and others. Reacting to the verdict, VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad) media-in-charge of Ayodhya, Sharad Sharma, told THE WEEK that the matter can not be described as a criminal conspiracy. "None of these leaders instigated the mob to pull down the mosque. Rather, they were trying to prevent them." Iqbal Ansari, son of deceased Hashim Ansari, the oldest plaintiff in the case who passed away recently, told THE WEEK, Muslims of Ayodhya welcome the courts verdict. The whole world watched what happened on December 6, 1992, when the mosque was razed. Everyone knows who were involved and who were provoking the crowd. If the guilty were not punished according to law , it will shake the faith of Muslims in law and justice. Khaliq Ahamed Khan, who is convener of hilal committee , Faizabad, and a nominee of Maulana Mehfooz-ur Rehman, who is an applicant in the case, told THE WEEK, We wanted justice. In this case, justice was denied. It is a clear case of criminal conspiracy and it is quite obvious as to who were involved in it. They had assured parliament , assembly and the nation that nothing will happen to the structure. They betrayed the whole country. SC has ordered that the trial be concluded in two years. Since Kalyan Singh is presently governor, he enjoys immunity. The Lucknow court has been asked by the apex cout to initiate the proceedings in the case in coming four weeks. Vijay Mallya was arrested in London on Tuesday by the Scotland Yard, only to be let off on bail within three hours. Sources close to the tycoon asserted that it was a voluntary arrest and revealed that he was granted conditional bail pending a deposit of 650,000. An unfazed Mallya tweeted, Usual Indian media hype. Extradition hearing in court started today as expected. As brief as Mallya's arrest was, it was seen as a major political victory and a boost to the India-UK relations, in the wake of Brexit. By the time news of his arrest began to gain momentum in Britain, Mallya had already managed to secure bail. Media reports suggested that he would next appear before a London court on May 17 and that the judiciary would then decide on the merits of India's request for extradition. Sources revealed that the home department was in discussion about this extradition with the Indian High Commission for some time now, though it was only a couple of months before that it looked like Mallya's arrest would materialise. There are several stages in an extradition process. First, a request has to be made to the home secretary. If the secretary certifies it, then it goes to a judge who issues a warrant for arrest. Once arrested, the alleged perpetrator is brought to court for preliminary hearing, followed by an extradition hearing. Depending on the result, the home secretary decides whether to order the extradition or not. In case of Mallya, the first few steps are now complete. Until UK exits EU, the person being extradited can also approach the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), if he feels the extradition violates his rights as a human or his return somehow proves life-threatening. Given the situation, it has become abundantly clear that Mallya will fight tooth and nail against the extradition. His arrest can be celebrated as a great achievement for the Narendra Modi government, but there is no denial that the entire legal process is going to be quite lengthy and hard. The controversial tycoon has time and again proved himself to be difficult to pin down. If the extradition is successful in the end, this case will set a strong precedent. It will help close some of the other pending cases. Politically, Modi and May governments have been close to each other in many ways. With Brexit worries looming large, Britain is trying its best to forge a trade relationship with India before the exit is finalised. Immigration has always been a sore point of discussion, although over the last one year it has been mostly about Mallya's extraditionespecially after he was spotted in a London event where the former high commissioner of India to UK, Navtej Sarna, was a guest. Politically, this extradition strengthens the mutual feeling of trust and reciprocity. When India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley visited the UK in February 2017 to launch the UK-India Year of Culture, his disappointment with UK's system was very apparent. He subtly blamed the government for giving room to Vijay Mallya, while he defaulted on loans in India worth over 900 million. But Mallya is not the only case. There are allegedly several high-profile foreign offenders living in the UK, including from countries like Russia. This extradition will open up doors for negotiations, especially in cases of Lalit Modi, Ravi Sankaran, Nadeem Saifi and Tiger Hanif. Nobody knows why these extraditions were not successful, though some suspect they failed because of poor paperwork and lack of evidence presented in UK courts. There has been only one other case where an Indian was successful extradited from the UK. It was Samirbhai Patel, wanted for the 2002 Gujarat riots. But it was possible only because Patel did not oppose his extradition, and gave his 'consent'. He was arrested on August 9, 2016, and his extradition order was signed by home secretary Amber Rudd on September 22, 2016. But Mallya is unlikely to consent to extradition, and is expected to fight it legally, a process that could take months, if not years. India is included in Type B of the Category 2 list of countries in Britain's Extradition Act of 2003. The treaty was signed was signed between India and the UK in 1992. Article 5 of the treaty specifically cites that extradition may be refused if the offence is of a political hue. No one knows how rich, serial law-breakers have reached so far, but Mallya's extradition hopes to break that chain, establishing a transparent and just system of dependancy between the two nations. British Prime Minister Theresa Mays volte-face in summoning a snap general election has very little to do with some of the reasons publicly outlined by her, namely that the main opposition Labour party has threatened to vote against the final agreement with the European Union, the Liberal Democrats have said they want to grind the business of government to a standstill, the Scottish National Party say they will vote against the legislation that formally repeals Britains membership of the European Union and un-elected members of the House of Lords have vowed to fight us every step of the way. Labour MPs are, in fact, deeply divided, SNPs strength is restricted to Scotland and the Lib Dems simply do not possess the numbers. In other words, if Mays Conservative party is unitedit is enjoying an absolute majorityit can easily see off the challenges. Fundamentally, the British electorate voted to exit the EU to clamp down on immigration and recapture sovereignty. Therefore, it would be a travesty of democracy, if the mother of parliaments was to dishonour this verdict. The truth is, Mays party is split three ways on what kind of Brexit it wants, thereby lending her an awkward mixed mandate to negotiate with Brussels. The ultra-nationalist rump of MPs on the right is insistent on severing all links with the EU regardless of the consequences. Mays position is to secure the best possible deal in the circumstances, including continuing free trade with the remaining 27 member countries of the union, even if this means compromising in certain areas. Models adopted by Norway and Switzerland give them tariff-less access to the common market without being a member of the EU. Whichever way it evolves, Britains immigration policy will harden. A recent survey conducted by YouGov put the Conservatives 21 percentage points ahead of the Labour. Under left-wing leader Jeremy Corbyn, the party is in utter disarray. Even if viewpoints narrowand Labour will fight the elections on working class issues like continuing austerity, low salaries and the cash crunch in the health serviceand Europhiles flock to the Lib Dems, as of now, May could significantly increase her majority in the House of Commons. This would minimise the bargaining power of her colleagues who demand a potentially damaging hard Brexit. Needless to mention, Labour could be reduced to its worst performance in nearly a century. Even if it thereafter reunifies under a new leader, its numbers are unlikely to bother May. She would be guaranteed an easy ride for the next five years. David Cameron was the most pro-India British prime minister ever. May continues more or less in the same vein for practical reasons. The United Kingdom desires an expansion on trade and investment with India to off-set any future diminution in turnover with the EU. In the past six months, May and every senior British cabinet minister have made Delhi a port of call. At the same time, Indias expectation of freer entry of Indian workers into the UK is unlikely to be met. There are presently 10 sitting MPs of Indian descent in the Commons. None of these seem to be in any great danger of losing their seats. Only the Labour candidates have anything to worry about, given Corbyns unpopularity. But Virendra Sharma, Keith Vaz, Seema Malhotra and Lisa Nandy enjoy comfortable majorities. Only Vazs sister Valerie may have a fight on her hands. Politicians of Indian extraction in Britain have noticeably progressed of late. Priti Patel commands cabinet rank. She and other Conservative MPs of Indian origin shouldnt face much difficulty in retaining their seats. Ashis Ray is the longest serving Indian foreign correspondent, having worked uninterruptedly in this capacity for 40 years, mainly for BBC and CNN. He is president of Indian Journalists' Association in Europe. (Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the publication.) In a major setback for the Congress ahead of the Delhi MCD election, one of its most popular faces--Arvinder Singh Lovely--joined the BJP. By India Today Web Desk: A day after joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Arvinder Singh Lovely did not mince any words while launching a sharp attack on the Congress, a party he was associated with for more than 30 years. "This is not the same Congress that I had joined 31 years ago," Lovely said, who was also a senior minister in the cabinet of Sheila Dikshit. advertisement Lovely's exit from the Congress just before the keenly-fought MCD election in Delhi is a big blow to the party, and raises questions on its leadership. Along with Arvinder Singh Lovely, Delhi Youth Congress President Amit Malik also joined the BJP on Tuesday. QUESTIONS ON LEADERSHIP In a direct attack on Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken, Arvinder Singh Lovely said that he was neglected by the party in the last two years. "Today, he (Ajay Maken) is crying, but had he thought about me before, this situation could have been prevented. I was sitting at home for two years; Maken did not care about our friendship," Lovely said. Ajay Maken reportedly broke down when asked about Lovely's exit from the party during an interview with a television news channel. Arvinder Singh Lovely said that he did not wish to become a liability like Sheila Dikshit. Like Lovely, Dikshit, a former chief minister of Delhi, too blamed the leadership's inability to reach out to everyone for people leaving the party. "The current Delhi Congress chief is not able to reach out to leaders as is needed and that is a reason for people leaving," Dikshit was quoted by ANI. Amit Malik too pointed fingers at the Congress leadership for his exit. Malik was quoted by ANI as saying: "We took part in every protest, held dharnas to keep the Congress relevant, but when we asked tickets for 20 people from the Youth Congress, they refused". NO LESSONS LEARNT FROM GOA? The signs are ominous for the Congress. In the recently concluded Assembly election in Goa, the Congress despite winning more seats than the BJP failed to form the government. Its MLA Vishwajit Rane skipped the crucial floor test in the Assembly, thereby reducing the Congress' strength and paving way for the BJP to prove its majority in the House. Soon, Vishwajit Rane, who is the son of senior Congressman Pratapsingh Rane, left the party and joined the BJP. advertisement "Leaders like me will start leaving Congress all over the country because people who come as observers are unable to assess situation," Rane had told The Indian Express, hitting out at Digvijaya Singh, who was Congress' in-charge in Goa. WHEN BJP BAGGED HIMANTA BISWA SARMA Nearly a year-and-a-half back, the Congress saw another of its top leader quitting the party and joining the BJP. In September 2015, a few months before the Assam Assembly election, Himanta Biswa Sarma joined the BJP following a tug-of-war with then chief minister Tarun Gogoi over the top post. In a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Sarma had reportedly written that "family-centric politics" and "lack of democracy" in the party forced him to quit. In 2016, the Bhartiya Janata Party won the Assembly election in Assam and formed the government--a victory that was believed to be engineered by Himanta Biswa Sarma. With senior Congress leaders quitting the party just ahead of the MCD election, the party must hope that history doesn't repeat itself this time. (inputs from Kapil Sharma) ALSO READ: Congress leader and former Delhi minister Arvinder Singh Lovely joins BJP ahead of MCD polls advertisement Rahul's leadership comes under attack from Congress rebels Rahul won't be able to find Manipur on map of India: Assam BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma How Parrikar and BJP snatched Goa from under Congress' nose: All you need to know ALSO WATCH --- ENDS --- An arrest has been made in the assault and robbery of a Chabad Shul caretaker in Flatbush. Sources tell YWN that a suspect was taken into custody early Wednesday morning in connection with the violent attack. As YWN had reported on Sunday, the NYPD was looking for two men who broke into the Chabad Shul on Avenue J and East 17 Street and proceeded to the third floor apartment. They broke the door down and assaulted a 45 year old victim who is the caretaker of the Shul. He was hit with a broom stick and suffered a laceration to his head. His cell phone, computer and $300 in cash was taken. Flatbush Hatzolah transported him to a local hospital where he was treated for his injuries. The NYPD took the incident very seriously and utilized all resources in the case. Thanks to the diligent work of the Detective Squad as well as the Commanding Officer of the 70 precinct, Deputy Inspector James Palumbo, an arrest was made on Wednesday morning. The identity of the suspect as well as charges have not been announced as of this time. A second suspect is being sought. Flatbush Shomrim assisted the NYPD is retrieving lots of security camera footage in the vicinity of the Shul. Police told YWN at the time of the incident that it did not appear that this was in anyway a hate crime, and believed this was an isolated incident. (Yehuda Eckstein YWN) A man who shot and killed three people at random on the streets of downtown Fresno shouted Allahu akbar during his arrest Tuesday and had posted on social media that he disliked white people, authorities said. Kori Ali Muhammad, 39, was arrested shortly after the morning rampage that left three white men dead, police said. Muhammad, who is black, fired 16 rounds in one minute at four places within a block. He walked up to a utility truck and shot a Pacific Gas & Electric Co. employee sitting in the passenger seat, authorities say. The driver of the truck sped off to the police department for help, but the man died. Muhammad then shot at another person and missed. He aimed at a third, killing him on the sidewalk of a neighborhood lined with tall trees. The final victim was gunned down in the parking lot of a charity building. These individuals who were chosen today did not do anything to deserve what they got, Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said. These were unprovoked attacks by an individual that was intent on carrying out homicides today. He did that. Its too soon to say whether Muhammad, who was homeless and filled his social media feeds with racially charged posts, had ties to any militant groups or causes, Dyer said. Stephen Hughes, 66, said he and his wife rushed home Tuesday after receiving a frantic call from a neighbor. Hughes came home to see a body draped in a blanket on the sidewalk leading to his front door. He first thought the shooting was gang-related, but then he noticed the bag of groceries near the body. This guy doesnt look like a drug guy. It looks like a guy carrying his groceries home from the store, Hughes said. Muhammad had a criminal past and was wanted in connection with a shooting last week that killed a security guard at a Fresno motel who had responded to a disturbance. The security guard also was a white man. On what appeared to be Muhammads Facebook page, he repeatedly posted #LetBlackPeopleGo and encouraged black warriors to mount up. A flurry of posts emerged in the past day. He wrote that his kill rate increases tremendously on the other side and also posted about white devils. On several occasions, he wrote updates that included the phrase Allahu Akbar, meaning God is great in Arabic. Muhammad has a criminal history that includes arrests on weapons, drugs and false imprisonment charges and making terrorist threats. He had been associated with gangs but was not a confirmed member, police say. Muhammad was charged in 2005 with possessing cocaine with intent to distribute, court records show. Federal prosecutors said at the time that he was also in possession of a 9mm semi-automatic handgun and two rifles after being convicted of a felony. He claimed insanity, and his attorney requested a psychiatric examination for his client, saying Muhammad appeared eccentric with some bizarre beliefs. A psychiatrist who examined Muhammad believed he had psychosis, Muhammads attorney said in the court filing. He also suffered auditory hallucinations and had at least two prior mental health hospitalizations, according to court documents. His attorney said that Muhammad had paranoia and thought the justice system and his defense attorney were conspiring against him, court papers said. The attorney who represented Muhammad in that case did not return a call for comment Tuesday. Public records list Muhammad as Cory Taylor and other aliases with addresses in Fresno and Sacramento. A woman who identified herself as Taylors grandmother said Tuesday that the family last saw him on Easter Sunday. She hung up the phone before giving her name. Authorities spotted Muhammad running and took him into custody. Police are looking for the revolver. Police say two of the victims may have been clients of Catholic Charities, which provides a variety of services for refugees, the homeless and those for disabilities. Catholic Charities doesnt believe Muhammad has ties to the nonprofit, spokeswoman Teresa Dominguez said. Seyed Ali Ghazvini, imam of the Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno, said Muhammad was not a member of his congregation and he did not recognize him. The imam said he is consulting with other faith leaders. We are very sorry for this to happen, Ghazvini said. We offer condolences for the victims, we pray for the victims and their families. (AP) The U.S. will not relent until it achieves its objective of ensuring the Korean Peninsula is free of nuclear weapons, Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday while visiting Japan. After meetings with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other leaders, Pence told reporters that President Donald Trump was confident that economic and diplomatic pressure has a chance of compelling North Korea to cooperate. It is our belief by bringing together the family of nations with diplomatic and economic pressure we have a chance of achieving a freeze on the Korean Peninsula, Pence said. We will not rest and will not relent until we obtain the objective of a denuclearized Korean Peninsula, he said. The Trump administration has signaled a more forceful U.S. stance toward North Koreas recent missile tests and threats, including a warning from Trump that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has gotta behave. So Pence struck a stern tone after arriving at a U.S. naval base from South Korea. We appreciate the challenging times in which the people of Japan live with increasing provocations from across the Sea of Japan, he said. We are with you 100 percent. On Monday, Pence traveled to the tense Demilitarized Zone dividing North and South Korea, where he warned North Koreas leaders that after years of testing the U.S. and South Korea with its nuclear ambitions, the era of strategic patience is over. A senior North Korean official then accused the United States of bringing the countries to the brink of thermonuclear war. Pence, on a 10-day Asia trip that will also take him to Indonesia and Australia, said Trump hopes China will use its leverage to get its longtime ally North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program and ballistic missiles. In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made a fresh appeal for calm. Wang told reporters that although U.S. officials have made clear that a military strike remains a possibility, he believes that Washington would still prefer to de-escalate tensions through multi-sided talks. Abe said Japan likewise hopes for peaceful dialogue with Pyongyang, but at the same time, dialogue for the sake of dialogue is valueless. Pressure on North Korea is crucial, the prime minister said. After meeting with Abe, Pence held talks with Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso on a new U.S.-Japan economic dialogue to be led by the two. The new forum for trade talks was launched by Trump and Abe during the Japanese leaders visit to the U.S. in February. In part, it is meant to take the place of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the regional trade pact that Trump withdrew from shortly after taking office. Pence and Aso said they believed the dialogue could yield opportunities to create new jobs on both sides and to fortify the economic aspects of the alliance. We would like to seek the best shape and forum for our bilateral relationship, Pence said. The TPP is a thing of the past for the United States of America. He said Trump is certain that negotiating trade deals with individual countries was the best way to ensure they yield win-win situations for both sides. The talks Tuesday did not delve into sector-by-sector issues such as auto exports. With no U.S. trade representative yet in office and other key positions still unfilled, such nitty-gritty discussions will have to come later. The loss of U.S. participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership was a blow to Japan following strenuous negotiations, especially over opening its long-protected farm sector to more imports, especially of dairy and meat products. For now, both sides seem eager to downplay potential for conflict, with Aso repeatedly saying that trade friction has been vanquished in a new era of cooperation. As Indiana governor, Pence saw firsthand the impact of Japanese automakers Toyota, Honda and Subaru, whose factories employ thousands of people in his home state. U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who met with Japans trade minister, Hiroshige Seko, earlier Tuesday, said he hopes to soon begin talks on a free trade agreement with Japan. (AP) Hinting at the end of the Rane story, senior BJP leader and state Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil said that since there were no immediate elections in the state, there will be no big entries into the party any time soon. By Kamlesh Damodar Sutar: A week after Narayan Rane reportedly met BJP national president Amit Shah in Ahemedabad, it seems that things have only become difficult for the former Chief Minister of Maharashtra. The state BJP is clearly divided over Rane's entry. Hinting at the end of the Rane story, senior BJP leader and state Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil said that since there were no immediate elections in the state, there will be no big entries into the party any time soon. Patil's statement comes on the backdrop of the talks of Narayan Rane inching towards the BJP. advertisement Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, Chandrakant Patil said, "There are no big elections in the state pending now. So there is no question of inducting anyone big in the party at this point of time." But, what has raised eyebrows is the statement of Patil questioning Rane's image. "We want to keep our room clean," added Patil hinting that the party wasn't keen on taking someone like Rane into the party fold, who is under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Even the BJP is divided over Rane's entry. While Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and state president Raosaheb Danwe are keen on inducting Rane into the party fold, sources say Devendra Fadnavis himself is against the idea. Those favouring Rane believe that he will help the party to grow its base in Mumbai and Konkan, those opposing say that Rane is no more the strongman and has lost all the sheen in his stronghold. Rane lost the assembly elections in 2014. He contested the Kherwadi bypolls in Mumbai and lost again. He finally made it to the upper house in the state legislature. Rane's son Nilesh too has lost the Lok Sabha polls. Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil is considered close to BJP national president Amit Shah. His latest statement on Narayan Rane is considered as hint by many. This could well mean that the road for Rane's entry into BJP may not be easy. Also read: Congress moves to mollify Narayan Rane --- ENDS --- [PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE] Border police in the area of Maaras HaMachpelah on motzei Pesach arrested two Arab males armed with a knife and brass knuckles, one being a minor. The objects they were concealing were detected by a metal detector near the holy site. Both suspects are residents of PA (Palestinian Authority) occupied areas of Hebron. Bchasdei Hashem no injuries are reported. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photo Credit: Police Spokesman Unit) Menachem Carmel of the Peleg Yerushalmi faction spoke with Kol Berama Radios Noam Zeigman on Tuesday morning isru chag in Eretz Yisrael. He explained the arrests are directed at the commercial end of HaPeles and Peleg, alleging efforts to extort companies to advertise in affiliated forums. He insists there is no basis for the accusations. He added that management of his Bar Kol supermarket chain has also been taken into custody. Carmel added We are not a faction but represent the majority of chareidi Jewry and if elections were held today we would emerge the largest party. Regarding the arrests, Carmel calls the actions of police a dictatorship, explaining we have been there before and we will not be silenced for the truth cannot be silenced. They will not silence us. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) In a usual New York Times distortion of facts, an Op-ed on convicted terrorist Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life sentences for his actions, neglected to site his terrorist past. The opinion piece spoke of the hunger strike being led by Barghouti in prison, and only after an international outcry did the newspapers editor feel the need to apologize for neglecting to mention he was convicted of acts of terror and serving life sentences. In his comment on the Times Op-ed, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu stated, I read, on Sunday, the article in the New York Times that presents arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti as a parliamentarian and leader. The paper recanted after we pointed it out to them. Calling Barghouti a political leader is like calling Assad a pediatrician. They are murderers and terrorists. We will never lose our sense of clarity because we are on the side of justice and they are on the side that is neither just nor moral. This moral clarity, the readiness to defend our country, the readiness to fight those who would destroy us, is one of our greatest strengths, alongside love of Israel. Love of Israel is expressed in this abundance, this beauty and this heat. We will continue to develop our country and we will continue to safeguard it. I would like to wish you all a happy holiday. Enjoy! (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) [PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE] The body of the third person who went missing in the Kinneret on Chol Hamoed Pesach, Itamar Ochana zl, 19, was recovered later on Tuesday, 22 Nissan and positively identified. The bodies of the other two, Kiron Karadi zl, 17, and Nachman Itach zl, 21, were found earlier and they were buried on Tuesday. The levaya for Ochana was announced for Wednesday, Zaka provided divers and other specialized units, which played a major role in the search which began on the second day of Chol Hamoed Pesach and continue through the last day of yomtov. The three young men were swept away by strong winds while lounging on air mattresses on the Kineret. Dozens of Zaka volunteers from the Divers Unit and the Sapir Jet Ski unit were enlisted to assist in the search, working in full cooperation and coordination with the police and other emergency services. Zaka also set up its own command center at the shores of the lake, at Ein Gev, which coordinated and directed the activities of dozens of volunteer divers and jet-ski units. According to Haim Weingarten, the commander of Zakas special units, All the divers are professionals, who volunteer and train regularly with Zaka for this type of emergency. Sadly, we have much experience in similar situations. On Sunday, 20 Nissan, a naval crew with state-of-the-art sonar equipment was called into the scene and, on the following day day 6 of the search two of the three bodies were located and finally recovered. At the end of Pesach, Zaka North volunteers were called to the sea police command center to deal with the two bodies, identified as Nachman Itach, 21 and Liron Karadi, 17. Following the final identification of the bodies, Zaka ambulances brought the two bodies to their homes in Jerusalem and Netanya. It was not until Tuesday, a week after the men went missing, that the third body was located and retrieved from the depths of the Kinneret. Zaka North volunteers were again called in to deal with the body, identified as Itamar Ochana, and transport the deceased to Kiryat Shmona. Summarizing the week, Zaka commander special units Haim Weingarten noted With the locating of the third body, we stopped searching after six intensive days and nights, with countless dives, jet ski and drone searches. More than 130 ZAKA volunteers participated in the search. Zaka North Commander Anshel Friedman: The Zaka volunteers carried out their sacred work in the most professional manner, working alongside the Sea Police and all the other search and rescue forces. During the search, the Chief of Police Roni Alsheich came to the area and asked to send his esteem and appreciation to all the volunteers participating in the search. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photo Credit: Zaka) [PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE] Border police on Tuesday, 22 Nissan arrested two Arabs for firebomb attacks on the Tunnel Highway which connects southern Jerusalem to Gush Etzion. The two threw firebombs at a border police jeep from a village overlooking the highway. The firebombs missed the intended target. Later that day, towards evening, border police entered the PA (Palestinian Authority) village and apprehended the two, who had the other firebombs in their possession, ready for use. The suspects are minors, residents of the PA. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photo Credit: Border Police spokesman unit) An IDF court has acquitted PA (Palestinian Authority) resident Nawaf Fad of murder on Tuesday, 22 Nissan 5777. The suspect was charged with the murder of Ben-Yosef Livnat at Kever Yosef in Shechem in 2011, but the court ruled there was reasonable doubt of his guilt, finding him guilty only of obstructing justice and tampering with evidence. A number of others were wounded in the fatal attack. PA (Palestinian Authority) police fired at a Jewish vehicle heading to the kever in the PA-occupied city. Four PA police were later arrested following the fatal attack. They explained the occupants of the vehicle were instructed not to proceed and that is why they opened fire, since they did not adhere the warning. In 2013, the Shin Bet apprehended three of the policemen, after the PA released them. The Shin Bet reported the three had already coordinated their stories, explaining they were firing in response to being under attack. Attorney Caim Bleicher of Honenu feels there was absolutely no basis to acquit the defendant based on the evidence presented in the case. The defendant explicitly admitted that he had shot at the victims car and even admitted that he had hit him, Bleicher explains. In addition, a bullet was found in the victims vehicle that matched the shooting described by the defendant in his own confession. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) Health Minister Yaakov Litzman is under fire from some after visiting with Rabbi Eliezer Berland, 79, with the latter released from prison in time for Pesach. Berland was serving a prison term after signing a plea bargain agreement in which he admitted to assaulting women. He was released early from prison due to his deteriorating health. For the time being, Rabbi Berland is staying in a convalescent facility in Hadassah Mt. Scopus Hospital under house arrest as per the terms of his early release. Deputy Education Minister Meir Porush also visited Rabbi Berland and he too, came under fire from critics for visiting a convicted offender. It is noted that Litzman had refused to visit with Rabbi Berland in the past. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) Britains delegation to the chemical weapons watchdog says its director has told a meeting that tests indicate that sarin or a similar toxin was used in an April 4 attack in Syria that killed nearly 90 people. In a tweet Wednesday, the UK delegation said Ahmet Uzumcu, the director-general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, made the statement at the opening of a closed-door meeting of the OPCWs executive council, which was discussing the attack. Turkish and British tests also have concluded that sarin or a substance similar to the deadly nerve agent was used. The United States blamed the chemical attack on the opposition-held town of Khan Sheikhoun on the government and fired nearly 60 missiles at a Syrian air base in response. Syrias government denies the allegations. (AP) British voters will be heading to polling stations for the third time since 2015, after lawmakers overwhelmingly backed Prime Minister Theresa Mays call for a snap election on June 8. The parliamentary election comes less than a year after Britain voted to leave the European Union, and will likely be dominated by the political and economic upheaval spawned by Brexit. May, who took office in July after an internal Conservative Party leadership race, wants the election to increase her majority in Parliament and consolidate her power as she faces both pro-EU opposition politicians and hard-core Brexit-backers inside her own party. Lawmakers voted Wednesday by a resounding 522 to 13 to back Mays call for an election, easily surpassing the two-thirds majority in the 650-seat House of Commons needed to trigger an early vote. May said holding an election in June, rather than as scheduled in 2020, would deliver a more secure future for our country as it negotiates its departure from the EU. She said that waiting until 2020 would mean the most sensitive part of the two-year Brexit negotiations would come during the run-up to an election. That would be in nobodys interest, May said. Now that lawmakers have approved the election, Parliament will be dissolved at midnight on May 2, 25 working days before election day. The opposition Labour Party and Liberal Democrats welcomed the chance to put their policies to voters, though the Scottish National Party called the election a cynical political ploy. Its lawmakers abstained during Wednesdays vote. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the election gives the British people the chance to vote for a Labour government that will put the interests of the majority first. Despite Corbyns bravado, his party is demoralized and divided under his left-wing leadership and is expected to fare badly. Polls give the Conservatives a double-digit lead over Labour, and May is gambling that an election will deliver her a personal mandate from voters and produce a bigger Conservative majority. Mays Conservatives currently hold 330 House of Commons seats and Labour 229. Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said that, for May, calling the election is the political equivalent of taking candy from a baby. She expects a coronation and not a contest, Farron said, urging voters to back his strongly pro-EU party to stop a Conservative landslide. The Lib Dems currently have just nine seats in Parliament. May dismissed criticism of her decision to call voters back to polling booths for the third time in just over 24 months. A national election in May 2015 was followed by the June 2016 referendum on EU membership. She said the early ballot would strengthen Britains negotiating hand with the 27-member EU. Brexit isnt just about the letter that says we want to leave. Its about getting the right deal from Europe, May said. EU officials say Britains surprise election will not interrupt the blocs preparations for Brexit talks though they will slightly delay the start of negotiations. Leaders of EU states are due to adopt negotiating guidelines at an April 29 summit, and the bloc will prepare detailed plans for the talks with Britain by late May. It had been hoped talks could start by the end of that month, but EU Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said Wednesday that the real political negotiations with Britain would not start till after the June 8 election. May ruled out participating in televised debates with other leaders. TV debates dont have a long history in British politics, but were a feature of the last two elections, in 2010 and 2015. We wont be doing television debates, May said, adding that politicians should spend election campaigns out and about meeting voters. One broadcaster, ITV, said it planned to hold a debate with or without the prime minister. Liberal Democrat leader Farron said that broadcasters should hold debates anyway, with an empty chair in Mays place. The prime ministers attempt to dodge scrutiny shows how she holds the public in contempt, he said. (AP) [COMMUNICATED CONTENT] Passover and Sukkos have become the major times for businesses and non-profits to advertise in Jewish publications. These times during the year, Jewish publications are filled with hundreds of ads and over 1000 pages of print. We see gatefolds, inserts, double page spreads and of course your standard size ads, but does it pay to spend so much money? The first 30 pages of most publications are all advertising with very little content. Are your ads getting lost or buried? The average full page ad in three of the major Jewish publications is around $6000. That $6,000 ad will be seen by roughly 30,000-40,000 households. For the typical Jewish business looking to produce sales, or a nonprofit looking for donations, advertising in these magazines might seem enticing to compete with the big boys, but it is not the best way to spend your money. Have you considered digital advertising? At Brand-Right Marketing Group, we have built an amazing digital marketing team that has produced remarkable results for our e-commerce clients. Digital media is very different than print advertising. It is not about producing a beautiful ad and hoping people see it and walk through your doors. It is targeted advertising. The message can reach anyone in any area, delivering advertising that is very hyper focused. For example, you can target a religious Jew living in the Tri-State area that just bought a new cell phone, or a truck owner in Texas that just bought a new pair of jeans. In addition, the effect is immediate; someone clicks and comes right to your website where the purchase can be immediately executed. An ad in a publication cannot deliver someone instantly walking into your store. Lets look, for example, at a client of ours that ran a campaign over this past Passover. They spent roughly the same $6000 they would have spent in print, but put into digital advertising. They ran ads on Google, Facebook, Instagram specifically targeting the Jewish community. This campaign reached 250,000 unique people delivering 835,000 impressions. This produced 18,500 visits to their website in a 10 day span! An average ecommerce conversion rate is around 1%, meaning 185 people purchased on their website in 10 days. If their average sale is $100, thats $18,500 in sales more than triple their initial $6000 investment. Obviously, if you are selling toys, paper goods or cheaper products, the conversion rate is between 3-5% and more expensive items like jewelry or silver is %. The beauty of digital marketing doesnt stop there. Every person that comes to your site is now tagged by Facebook or Google and stored for future usage! If you run a summer sale campaign, you can retarget all those people who visited your site within the past 6 months at an incredibly low conversion rate. In addition, you can also offer discounts to sign up for your email list and capture their information to target at a later time for free. The next time you are ready reconsider your advertising approach and look towards the future where so many companies have been investing online. This is not limited to e-commerce, but non-for- profits have thrived with proper digital marketing plans. Brand-Right Marketing wants to help grow your business. If you dont have a website, but have been considering expanding online, we can help create a beautiful website, at a very reasonable rate, that is strategically designed to capture your target customer. Give us a call today to discuss your digital marketing needs. 732-372- 0404 or [email protected] Wishing you a Happy and Prosperous Summer! Shimon Weinberg is the Vice President of Marketing and Development for Brand-Right Marketing. Shimon has over 10 years experience working in the Jewish market in advertising and sales. He has worked with companies like Kedem, Gefen, Hazorfim Silver, Hostess International and Paskesz just to name a few. He is available for marketing and consulting and can be reached via email [email protected] The cabinet today decided to amend the Motor Vehicles Act to bar officials from using red or blue beacons. Only emergency vehicles will be allowed to use blue beacons under the new rule. The Modi cabinet has decided to ban the use of red beacons for government officials By India Today Web Desk: The cabinet today decided to bar officials, from both Centre and state, from using red beacons atop their vehicles. The decision was announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley at a press conference today afternoon. Sources told India Today that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, though exempt from the new rule, plans on giving up the beacon atop his car. advertisement DETAILS OF THE NEW RULE: The Centre is amending the Motor Vehicles Act to remove Rule 108 (1) (3). The amendment will take effect from May 1. Once the new rule goes into effect, no officials, whether from the Centre or a state, will be allowed to use red beacons atop their cars. Five categories of people will be exempt from the new rule - the President of India, the Vice President of India, the Prime Minister of India, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India. While PM Modi is exempt from the new rule, sources have told India Today that he plans to shunning red lights atop his cars. Union minister for transport Nitin Gadkari has also said that he will give up using red beacons. Officials will not be allowed to use blue beacons either, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said during his press conference. "There will be no exceptions," he also said, adding, "Emergency services like fire tenders, ambulances and police will be exempted and can use blue beacons." The new rule was mooted by PM Modi himself, Jaitley said, adding, the proposal was then sent to the cabinet, which approved it today. ALSO READ | UP cars take off beacons, party flags amid Yogi's crackdown on VIP culture in state ALSO READ | Red beacon fiasco: Captain Amarinder Singh fires transport department official WATCH | Modi government bans use of red beacons for VIPs from May 1 --- ENDS --- [PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE] An extensive search is underway At Nachal Oz in Israel for a missing Avreich. According to multiple reports, a group of 5 Yeshiva students from Yerushalayim went on a hike on Wednesday morning at the Nachal located North of Yam Hamelach in the Judean Desert. One of the hikers reportedly ran ahead to inform police that the remainder of their group wasnt feeling well possibly dehydrated. Police managed to located 3 of them, but the final hiker has gone missing. He is a young married man, and authorities are concerned for his safety due to the elements as well as the darkness. Please be Mispallel for Yisroel ben Miriam Ita Malka. (Dov Gefen YWN) By Press Trust of India: From Shirish B Pradhan Kathmandu, Apr 19 (PTI) Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandaris ongoing state visit to India has been "fruitful" in enhancing the bilateral relations and goodwill between the two neighbours, Foreign Affairs Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat said here today. Indias President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and various political parties highlighted the significance of the Nepal-India ties during their meetings with Bhandari and extended best wishes to Nepal in its efforts towards implementing the Constitution and holding the local- level elections, he said. advertisement "This visit has been fruitful in enhancing the relations and goodwill between the two countries," Mahat, who was a member of the high-level delegation accompanying Bhandari to India, told reporters upon his arrival at the Tribhuvan International Airport. "They have also expressed the commitment to support Nepal in its development endeavours," the Minister was quoted as saying by The Kathmandu Post. Responding to questions that Bhandari was received at the airport by Indias Minister of State, Mahat said there was nothing lacking in the honour India accorded to Nepals President. "The guard of honour that India gave to Nepals President at the Rashtrapati Bhawan is an important thing. The Indian President, Prime Minister and distinguished personalities were present on the occasion," he said. Mahat said Bhandari went to the airport when Mukherjee arrived on a state visit to Nepal as Nepal has the tradition of presenting the guard of honour at the airport itself. Bhandari, who arrived in New Delhi on Monday on a five- day visit, was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. This is Bhandaris first visit abroad after assuming office in 2015. She was scheduled to have visited India last May, but the trip was cancelled after the then cabinet in Nepal said it was not adequately prepared for it. During her stay in India, she is also expected to travel to Gujarat and Odisha. PTI CPS AKJ CPS --- ENDS --- Santander has fixed a flaw in its online banking after it was exposed by Money Mail. As we went to press last night, the bank confirmed it has changed its systems to protect customers following our investigation. A week ago, we revealed con artists were exploiting a weakness in Santander's payment systems to raid customers' accounts without arousing suspicion. We uncovered dozens of cases where customers had lost their their life savings to crooks who pretended on the phone to work for reputable companies such as BT and even Santander itself. Loophole: We uncovered dozens of cases where customers had lost their their life savings to crooks who pretended on the phone to work for reputable companies Some were duped into giving the criminals remote access to their computers. In other cases customers' PCs were hacked. When money is transferred out of a Santander account to a new payee such as a fraudster a security code is sent by text to the customer's mobile phone. The message displays the amount of money due to leave the account. However, fraudsters have also been able to change the sort code and account number of someone their victims have previously paid. That also triggers a text message code to the victim's mobile phone but does not display the amount leaving the account. Once they have obtained this code, crooks can transfer out huge amounts of money without the customer being alerted to the payments. No other bank allows you to change the sort code and account number of an existing payee. Instead, you have to set up a new payee, which is more secure. Santander has removed the option to change these details for existing payees on its online accounts. A spokesman says: 'Santander constantly refines its online banking systems to reflect changes in how fraudsters target customers. 'These enhancements reinforce our position that customers should not share their One Time Passcode with anyone and that if they do so, Santander cannot accept responsibility for losses. 'We hope Money Mail's coverage will help prevent others from falling victim to these scams.' l.milner@dailymail.co.uk Victory: Sam managed to get TalkTalk to cough up 1,500 My David and Goliath battle with TalkTalk started innocuously enough two-and-a-half years ago when I picked up the phone to another cold call. On the end of the line was a TalkTalk saleswoman who offered an upgrade to our home broadband. We would pay 10 a month extra and receive a faster 'fibre' internet service. We agreed, and the saleswoman arranged what she said would be a 'quick and easy' visit by an engineer. If only. He made our internet whizz faster all right. We were delighted until we found out what he had done to achieve this feat. It was only after he was long gone that we realised he'd cut off all of the telephone extensions in our house. We discovered this a few days later when my wife tried to dial 999 to summon an ambulance for our young son, and found all the phones were dead. (Our boy had fallen and bumped his head, and was vomiting. A paramedic was called eventually, and our son was fine.) My efforts to alert TalkTalk to this telephone fault descended into farce. It was like Groundhog Day. I spoke to a different person in its Far Eastern call centre each time, none of whom knew anything about my previous calls. Few seemed remotely bothered about our problem. One cheerfully tried to steer the conversation towards selling me a television package. Another asked the same security question three times. Eventually it was established that our 'master socket' still worked, meaning we could use that to make and receive calls, but all the phone extensions around the house remained broken. TalkTalk kept blaming Openreach the BT firm that installs broadband for TalkTalk and saying I should take it up with BT. Yet our contract is with TalkTalk, not BT, and it was TalkTalk that sent the Openreach engineer to our home. TalkTalk's call centre offered me a desultory 5 discount to make up for the problems. We said they should come and fix the damage. During December 2014, TalkTalk sent a further three engineers. Engineer number two blamed the BT Openreach engineer before him. The third one simply rolled his eyes and made a derogatory comment about TalkTalk's foreign call centre. The fourth engineer, from BT, blamed his predecessors. None of them fixed the damage. When I called the hopeless call centre yet again, they thought I was a man called 'Mr Michael Derbyshire'. I gave up. I wrote a polite letter of complaint to TalkTalk's chief executive, Baroness Harding. Her office refused to fix the damage, but eventually offered a 10 discount off each of our next six phone bills by way of a 'goodwill gesture'. I was nearly ready to throw in the towel. I suggested to TalkTalk that I would settle for 300 and an apology so we could all move on. Defence: On the day of the hearing, TalkTalk's in-house solicitor said he would be urging the judge to dismiss Sam's claim But TalkTalk stuck to its guns, saying the 60 discount was its 'full and final' offer. And then it added insult to injury. It sent a letter accusing us of 'only noticing' after two months that our phones were not working. The reality was we had 'noticed' when we desperately needed the emergency services, but TalkTalk only took notice of our complaint after two months of phoning its call centre. That was the moment I resolved not to let it drop. It had become a matter of principle. First, I lodged a case with the Communications Ombudsman, which spent eight months investigating. Its conclusion was to suggest TalkTalk increase its overall offer by a paltry 50. Rejecting this, I then paid 115 to lodge a case with the small claims court, asking TalkTalk to pay to fix the damage. Anyone can do this you don't have to be a trained lawyer. SAM'S FIVE COURT BATTLE TIPS Always communicate in writing. TalkTalk kept suggesting we chat about the situation on the phone, but I am glad I refused. Some of the things they said in emails were useful to my case and I submitted them as evidence. Don't give up. The firm did not give an inch until the last minute. When they insist there is 'no merit at all' in a claim, it is often just a negotiating tactic. Do not show your hand until you need to. One of my errors was presenting my whole case at the first stage. Find out what the 'pre-action protocol' is and follow it. The court will ask you to confirm you have done so. It is things such as warning the firm before launching legal action. Seek advice from the Consumer Action Group at: consumeractiongroup.co.uk. There is a saying that a man who represents himself in court has a fool for a client, and at one point it seemed my small quest for justice would cost my wife and I dearly. I had prepared the case myself and it got off to a bumpy start. In their wisdom, the people who run the courts decided for unknown reasons to allocate my case to something called the 'fast track of the High Court'. At first, I thought this sounded great as it would pile the pressure on TalkTalk. But then I got some advice from Marc Gander, an ex-university law lecturer who set up the Consumer Action Group, which campaigns for consumer rights. He said the fast track was where corporate giants clash in titanic courtroom battles with armies of barristers, costing both sides a fortune. And unlike the small claims court, where if you lose you usually do not have to pay the other side's costs, I would be exposed to potentially gargantuan bills. After studying the paperwork I'd submitted to the court, Marc sent me an email. I read it aloud to my wife over dinner that night. It went: 'Dear Sam, I hope that it won't depress you too much to say you are not dealing with it in a very effective way. I am afraid that you have demonstrated very clearly that you are not altogether sure of what you are doing.' He listed all the things I had done wrong, such as presenting my whole case rather than a summary when first lodging my claim. 'You have disclosed far too much information at this early stage,' he told me. 'Documents such as exhibits, and so on, would not normally be presented to the other side at this point. You would begin simply with your 'particulars of claim' a short list of points.' I had also failed to mention 'the legal basis' for my claim in other words I hadn't named what law had been breached. At the end of his note Marc said: 'I'm sure it doesn't make very happy reading for you. I'm sorry. I think it is rather a mess at the moment.' My wife thought this was all quite funny, until I told her the bit about us being exposed to massive costs if, for any reason, I was not capable of defeating TalkTalk's battle-hardened barristers. Thankfully, to TalkTalk's credit, they did not think the case was worthy of being fast-tracked in the High Court any more than we did. The court people were eventually persuaded to send it to the 'small claims track' of the county court. But it was clear TalkTalk's legal department could sense it was dealing with an idiot when it came to matters of the law. Flawed: TalkTalk blamed Openreach, the BT firm that installs broadband for TalkTalk for the problems. But Sam's contract is with TalkTalk and it was TalkTalk that sent the engineer They lodged a detailed defence to my case, full of legal jargon and references to the Civil Procedure Rules. They outsourced the case to a private solicitors, Mason Hayes. This firm's 52-year-old managing director, Marcus Hayes, was in charge of preparing TalkTalk's case. He charges an eye-watering 330 an hour and, according to his profile, specialises in 'the most complex and high-value commercial work'. On the eve of the court hearing, I was served with a statement of costs totalling 2,824, representing about six hours' work by Mr Hayes, plus VAT. TalkTalk also served me with a similar 610 statement for its in-house lawyer. Although such sums are a drop in the ocean to a big company, the suggestion was clear: this was what I risked having to pay if I lost. It felt like a bullying attempt to frighten me off, as Marc had said these costs were not recoverable in a small claims case. On the day of the hearing, TalkTalk's in-house solicitor said he would be urging the judge to dismiss my claim on the basis that Openreach was to blame. My contract with TalkTalk only covered the supply of telecommunications services, he said, and physically upgrading broadband did not fall under this description. I had 'failed to identify any grounds' on which I was entitled to claim losses and the company would demand the claim be struck out 'as an abuse of the Court's process', as I had not specified the law I was accusing it of breaching. Other planks of TalkTalk's defence included arguing it had been 'necessary' to cut off our phone extensions. It insisted we 'always had a working phone line' as the master socket had worked all along. But by now, with enormous thanks to Marc and the Consumer Action Group's guidance, I had repaired the glaring holes in my case. In my witness statement, I set out my claim that TalkTalk had breached The Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982, which states that suppliers must 'carry out the service with reasonable care and skill'. Marc did not think the judge would allow TalkTalk to shift the blame to Openreach, but this was never tested because TalkTalk settled the case minutes before the hearing. As we waited to be called at the County Court of Shoreditch and Clerkenwell in London, the firm's in-house solicitor offered me 1,000 to walk away. He warned me this was the highest amount they were prepared to pay, and I could take it or leave it. I phoned the Consumer Action Group for advice. How about 1,500? I asked the man from TalkTalk. He made a brief phone call and accepted the offer. In exchange, I agreed to sign a piece of paper stating TalkTalk was not liable for any damage. The pair of us were called in to see a judge, who hand-wrote a court order giving TalkTalk 21 days to send me a cheque. He peered over his glasses at the TalkTalk solicitor and said: 'I'm sure 21 days won't be necessary?' The company posted the cheque the next day. It took a lot more effort and stress than I expected, but taking TalkTalk to court had worked wonders. In all, including its own legal costs, TalkTalk's decision to reject my 300 settlement offer two years ago has cost it around 6,000. Given what it put us through to resolve a straightforward complaint, I cannot say that upsets me. money.mail@dailymail.co.uk You have to admire Paul Pester, the boss of TSB. It takes a brave man to attack his own industry. He's spot on to call for an overhaul of the personal loans market, where customers face a 400 million rip-off. As a consumer champion that has always fought for its readers' interests, Money Mail can only praise his efforts. But it does leave a nagging question: where is Nationwide Building Society? Until the credit crunch, Nationwide was the great campaigning organisation in banking. It stood for transparency, fair charges and top customer service. Quiet: Until the credit crunch, Nationwide was the great campaigning organisation in banking Understandably, it needed a new chief executive to steady the ship in the crisis and no-nonsense Graham Beale fitted the bill. But did you realise Nationwide got a new chief executive, Joe Garner, a year ago this month? Probably not, given that he's yet to give a public interview. It's time Mr Garner told us, the loyal savers and borrowers who pay his wages, about his plans for Britain's biggest building society. To tide you over, I can reveal a sneak preview. In a candid discussion at his London office, Mr Garner told me he accepted that Nationwide could and should be doing more to challenge the industry. While giant, shareholder-owned firms have traditionally coined it in by leaving long-standing mortgage, savings and loan customers languishing on poor deals, he wants Nationwide to reward loyalty far more often. 'If you look after customers, it pays dividends for everyone in the long term,' says Mr Garner. It's the first time I've heard a banking chief use those words without parroting my own back at me. One of Mr Garner's first acts last year was to analyse 22,000 feedback forms on what staff liked and disliked about Nationwide. He's concluded branches must play a key role in the society's future. It's terrific news and goes against the trend of banks ditching rural branches. Nationwide plans to open branches in some areas where the last bank in town has closed. The first will be Glastonbury this summer, filling the void left by Lloyds and Barclays. Then it's about making better use of staff expertise. Plans are afoot to re-route customer calls to branches when the call centre is busy. Technology will be used to 'enhance' branches rather than replace humans. You can use video links in some branches to speak to a mortgage adviser or discuss savings, loans and credit cards. Now the plan is to let customers set up calls on a PC or phone camera bringing the branch to your living room. Nationwide ditched its early repayment charge on personal loans last month. Why did it take so long? We need it to make more of customer-friendly changes and set the bar higher for the industry. Behind closed doors, Mr Garner is making all the right noises. Now we need him to get on his megaphone, put those grand plans into action and throw down the gauntlet to big banks that put profit before everything else. Savvy savings This week I read that instead of paying for dental floss, which is soaring in price, you can use fine synthetic knitting wool for gaps between your teeth. It sounds bonkers, but a ball of wool is relatively cheap and lasts for years. I haven't tried it yet but I do enjoy zany money-saving ideas. If you have any everyday tips up your sleeve, let me know and I'll print the best. Fraud victory As Money Mail was going to press last night, we got wind of a vital improvement to Santander's online fraud security. After weeks of investigations, we uncovered a flaw that allowed con artists to steal tens of thousands of pounds from customer accounts without arousing their suspicion. Thankfully, the loophole has been closed. You can understand why Santander might have wanted to keep the changes quiet it's effectively admitted the old system was broken. The bank should now be forced to compensate anyone who lost money to crooks who exploited the flaw. d.hyde@dailymail.co.uk Burberry has told up to 200 staff that their jobs could be axed as it sells its perfume division to a US cosmetics group, the Mail can reveal. The luxury brand is licensing its beauty operations to Rimmel-maker Coty, which is paying 130million for the global licence and a one-off fee of 50million for the assets. But it means Burberry's UK staff who were working on its fragrances and cosmetics ranges will no longer be required. The Mail understands that between 150 and 200 staff, including some in other departments such as packaging and accounts, have been told their jobs are under threat. Burberry is licensing its beauty operations to Rimmel-maker Coty, which is paying 130m for the global licence and a one-off fee of 50m for the assets A consultation period will run until October when Coty takes over the beauty business, and staff have been offered extra money to stay on until then. Burberry declined to comment, but it is understood that chief executive Christopher Bailey delivered the news to the affected staff himself. Burberry brought its beauty division in-house four years ago when it paid 144million to take back the licence from previous supplier Inter Parfums. In that time it has launched fragrances including My Burberry and Mr Burberry and relaunched its make-up range with a campaign featuring Jude Law's and Sadie Frost's daughter Iris Law. But management of the business has weighed on costs and held back growth, and the new arrangement allows Burberry to retain creative control with minimal financial output. As part of the Coty deal, Burberry will take a 30million one-off cash cost, thought to include the effect of redundancy payments. Analysts at Exane BNP Paribas said at the time the Coty deal was announced: 'We never liked the idea of Burberry managing its beauty business directory. 'Burberry was a dwarf in the land of giants in this industry, and never had sufficient scale to run this business effectively.' Burberry is in the first stage of a three-year plan to cut costs, stem declining US sales and revamp its tired-looking designs. It has committed to saving 100million a year by slimming down its range of products, cutting jobs and simplifying its processes. While Burberry would not break-out the number of workers it employs in the UK, the figure is thought to be about 4,000. It has also brought in new blood to revitalise the business, with Marco Gobbetti, from French brand Celine, due to take over as chief executive from Bailey. Although Bailey, 45, is relinquishing the senior role, he will remain chief creative officer but he is likely to bring in fresh designers. The latest blow to staff follows disappointing results in November when the company reported that first-half revenues had slipped 4 per cent, while it has also been grappling with a decline in luxury spending, and a slowdown in US department store spending. Fraud allegations: Vijay Mallya has been arrested FRAUD ARREST Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya has been arrested in the UK over fraud allegations in his home country. Mallya, 61, co-owner of the Force India Formula One team, faces fraud charges linked to the collapse of his airline, Kingfisher. At a preliminary hearing, Mallya was granted conditional bail and the case was adjourned until May 17. FALKLANDS RELIEF Argentine billionaire Eduardo Elsztain has dropped a bid to take control of key industries in the Falklands after its local government intervened. He was interested in FIH Group, the islands largest retailer and a significant landowner. But he changed his mind after the Falkland Islands Government warned it could strip the firm of its special permission to buy land without a licence. CASH CALL Shareholders in Cobham have authorised a rights issue to help get the manufacturer out of debt. More than 80 per cent voted yesterday in favour of the 512million fundraising its second in a year. GEM JOB Diamond producer Gem has appointed Rio Tintos former energy chief Harry Kenyon-Slaney as chairman. The 56-year-old will replace Roger Davis, who is stepping down on June 6. RIVAL DEAL UK-based electronics manufacturer STI Enterprises Limited has been bought by a rival in the Philippines. Integrated Micro-Electronics is buying an 80 per cent stake. WELL PRODUCTION Trinidad-focused oil and gas firm LGO Energy has started producing from its second well in the Goudron Field. Shares rose 3.9 per cent, or 0.08p, to 2p. SITE SALE The owner of the Daily Mail has sold its American news website Elite Daily to Bustle Digital Group. The sale is aimed to enable DMGT to focus on Mail Online, which grew its revenues by about 20 per cent in the six months to March. Shares fell 1.4 per cent, or 10p, to 706.5p. CLASS ACT Schools provider Wey Education reported its first ever profit. It revealed a maiden profit of 11,224 in the six months to February 28 from a loss of 466,582 in the same period the year before. PROFIT BOOST Growth at its core VW brand helped Volkswagen to a 28 per cent jump in profits in the first three months of the year. Group operating profit came to 3.7billion, compared with 2.9billion a year earlier. Fears that China is producing too much steel sent the UK's miners into freefall, helping to push the FTSE 100 to its biggest drop since the Brexit vote. According to Chinese media reports, its steel output for March hit a record 72m tons in anticipation of increasing demand later in the year. The price of iron ore, a key ingredient of steel-making which is already in global oversupply was hit badly, dropping nearly 5 per cent to under $69 (per ton). As a result, large miners dominated the list of the FTSE's biggest fallers, led by BHP Billiton, which sank 5.6 per cent, or 71p, to 1198p, and Glencore, which fell 5.6 per cent, or 17.25p, to 291.8p. Mining crisis: The price of iron ore, a key ingredient of steel-making which is already in global oversupply was hit badly, dropping nearly 5 per cent to under $69 (per ton) Anglo American also tanked, down 5.1 per cent, or 60p, to 1110p. But the FTSE 250 held the mining sector's biggest losses. Iron ore pellet producer Ferrexpo fell 11.5 per cent, or 17.8p, to 137.2p, to become the index's biggest loser. Meanwhile, metal producer Vedanta Resources was down 8 per cent, or 61p, to 699.5p, with losses compounded by broker Jefferies' decision to cut its target price to 850p. The FTSE 100 finished down 2.5 per cent, or 180.09, at 7147.5 its biggest one-day fall since the immediate aftermath of last year's EU referendum. Aside from the mining rout, the index was hit by Prime Minister Theresa May's surprise decision to call a General Election on June 8. GlaxoSmithKline slipped after launching a bid to introduce a shingles vaccination in Japan. Shingles, a painful rash caused by the chickenpox virus, can cause scarring and lasting pain and becomes more frequent in old age. GSK said the vaccine, called Shingrix, reduced the symptoms and occurrence of shingles in a clinical trial of more than 37,000 patients across 18 countries. STOCK WATCH - MOTIF BIO Motif Bio shot up following a breakthrough in its development of an antibiotic which could be used to treat superbugs such as MRSA. Iclaprim achieved positive results in the latest stage of its clinical trial on patients with bacterial and skin infections. It has been effective against bugs that are becoming resistant to other antibiotics. The company is waiting for the results of the next stage of the trial, which are due later this year. Shares soared 12.1 per cent, or 3.5p, to 32.5p. The firm submitted a drug application through Japan Vaccine Company, its joint venture with Japanese firm Daiichi Sankyo. But the pharma giant, a favourite of fund manager Neil Woodford, slid 3.7 per cent, or 60.5p, to 1586.5p. Circassia Pharmaceuticals also edged down after it pulled the plug on allergy funding. The firm's decision came after it revealed its treatment for dust mite allergies had failed in a clinical trial. It marked the second high-profile botch in the respiratory disease specialist's allergy operation. Last June, it lost two-thirds of its value after a treatment for cat allergies also misfired. Shares were down 1.7 per cent, or 1.75p, to 101.25p. Amid the gloom, betting group Ladbrokes Coral emerged as one of the day's favourites. The firm edged up 0.6 per cent, or 0.8p, to 129.3p after its odds improved on the back of a sunny outlook from stockbroker Davy. It raised the firm's price target to 156p from 128p, and increased its rating to 'outperform' from 'neutral'. The broker said Ladbrokes looks strongly positioned as regulators continue to tighten their grip on the gaming sector. Likewise, Bovis Homes inched up after being upgraded to 'buy' by analysts at Jefferies. Earlier this month, the housebuilder's shares soared when it rejected a 1.2bn takeover bid from rival Galliford Try. Rather than be acquired by Galliford, Bovis appointed its rival's former boss Greg Fitzgerald as chief executive and launched a turnaround bid. Shares yesterday rose 1.7pc, or 15p, to 926.5p. Security company Westminster Group saw 1.8million wiped off its value after issuing 10m shares to raise 1million of capital. Half will be used to pay off the remainder of a loan made to the firm by Darwin Private Equity. The rest will be invested in business development. Shares fell 15.3 per cent, or 1.9p, to 10.4p. Weetabix has been sold to the Americans for 1.4billion after the British brand struggled to break the Chinese market. Shanghai-based owners Bright Food Group bought a majority stake in the firm in 2012, but hung the 'for sale' sign over the cereal-maker in January. Now US consumer giant Post Holdings has snapped it up, also buying out an investment fund advised by Baring Private Equity Asia. Unions have called for urgent talks to secure the future of jobs at Weetabix's Northamptonshire base where it sources grain from farms within a 50-mile radius. Sally Mortimer, Unite regional officer, said: 'We want to work constructively with the new management team to ensure the success of the iconic Weetabix brand and to safeguard the future employment for our hard-working and dedicated members.' Weetabix, which has been manufacturing in Britain since 1932, exports to more than 90 countries but the UK remains its key market and it holds a royal warrant. It was family-owned until 2004 when it was bought by a Texas private equity firm, before later being sold to another private equity firm, Lion Capital. When Bright Food Group announced its intention to sell, potential suitors were thought to have included Primark-owner Associated British Foods, Cereal Partners Worldwide and Italian pasta maker Barilla. Now Post, whose brands include Honey Bunches Of Oats and Pebbles, will be charged with driving sales in China which Weetabix says is its most lucrative growth opportunity. Post has agreed in principle to establish a joint venture with Bright Food Group, and an investment firm advised by Baring Private Equity, to manage the China business. As part of the deal, Weetabix chief executive Giles Turrell, 50, is becoming chairman, and will oversee the integration. He has sought to reassure staff, saying no job cuts were planned. He added: 'As long as we remain successful in the marketplace, we will continue to manufacture at our plants in Northamptonshire.' Analysts questioned Weetabix's ability to win over Chinese consumers, but Mr Turrell said 'things take time to establish'. However, Rob Wade, consumer insight director at Europanel, said: 'What Weetabix came up against in China was a very different breakfast experience. 'Chinese people tend to favour hot, rice-based dishes for breakfast, and the brand didn't manage to persuade enough of them that cold cereal was a better option.' Jailed: Annmarie Norris stole more than 200,000 from the London Metal Exchange An accountant has been jailed for stealing more than 200,000 from one of the City's most venerable institutions. Annmarie Norris used the cash she pilfered from the 140-year-old London Metal Exchange to pay for home renovations, family holidays and dental treatment for her daughter. Norris, 40, became company accountant in 2011, despite having no formal qualifications. She stole 204,405 between March 2013 and July 2015, and altered internal records to hide what she had done. She spent 16,000 on a kitchen at her home in Bexley, London, and 8,530 on decorating. She paid 9,596 for a Caribbean cruise, and 3,000 in dental treatment for her daughter was put on an LME credit card. Norris was jailed for 32 months at Inner London Crown Court after admitting two counts of fraud by abuse of position. Her husband Michael, 41, was cleared of controlling criminal property after no evidence was offered. Ministers pledged to double free care for three and four-year-old A fifth of all nurseries plan to opt out of a Government scheme to offer 30 hours of free childcare. About 51,000 children will be unable to get a free nursery place as a result, says the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA). Ministers pledged to double free care for three and four-year-olds from 15 to 30 hours a week to encourage parents back to work. But many will lose out when it begins in autumn. The NDNA says Government funding is insufficient, prompting nurseries to refuse to join the scheme. Purnima Tanuku OBE, NDNA chief executive, says: 'It is time the Government stopped promising parents 'free' childcare hours unless they are prepared to invest the money needed. 'This manifesto promise is in real danger of failure. 'If the Government cannot afford to do this, we ask them to seriously rethink this policy or delay the full roll-out for in-depth analysis of pilot schemes.' l.eccles@dailymail.co.uk Noor will be Bollywood's latest endeavour to explore the world of journalists. Before Sonakshi Sinha shows up on the big screen with her latest, here are five other Bollywood films that dealt with the life of journos prior to Noor. By India Today Web Desk: Sonakshi Sinha stars as a journalist in her upcoming film Noor. Based on the novel Karachi, You're Killing Me!, Noor, set in Mumbai will throw light on the everyday trials and tribulations of a journalist. Journalism is, well, a thankless job. Whether or not you do your job well is ultimately decided by people not on the basis of how objective you are but in the context of which political or religious belief a journalist's story seems to favour. Hence, the term 'presstitute', which gets bandied about 24x7 against journos who toil day and hard to bring to people the most exciting and interesting stories. advertisement Noor will be Bollywood's latest endeavour to explore the world of journalists. Before Sonakshi Sinha shows up on the big screen with her latest, here are five other Bollywood films that dealt with the life of journos prior to Noor. Peepli Live (2010) Peepli Live shows the dichotomy between local news channels and publications and Delhi-based English news outlets. Besides that, it realistically portrays the pressure on journalists to get exclusive stories at the cost of eschewing empathy and disregarding human sentiments. No One Killed Jessica (2011) Rani Mukerji plays Meera Gaity, a no-nonsense TV journalist who breaks the biggest stories and gets the most important exclusives for her channel. Through the eyes of Meera, we see how journalists forget food, sleep and a normal life in the rush of getting stories. Rann (2010) Directed by Ram Gopal Varma, Rann shows how often news media houses collude with politicians to do stories that favour a particular political party and help take down another. The Amitabh Bachchan-starrer is a first-rate expose on the hypocrisy of the news media-politicians-industrialist nexus. Guru (2006) Guru, based on the famous fight between founder of the Indian Express group Ramnath Goenka and Dhirubhai Ambani, shows how real journalism does not shy away from or is afraid of exposing the corrupt tactics of big industrialists. Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani (2000) The Shah Rukh Khan-Juhi Chawla-starrer show how television journalists operate, their inter-company rivalry and how, if needed be, they can go the extra mile to deliver justice to the aggrieved. ALSO READ: A man can be a feminist too, it isn't about male-bashing, says Sonakshi Sinha WATCH: Alone with Arjun Kapoor on a deserted island? Sonakshi says NO! --- ENDS --- THE 25th Session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), which took place in May 2016, saw Swaziland appearing for its peer review. Some recommendations were put to the country and Swaziland accepted them. Some of the recommendations related to the Commission on Human Rights and Public Administration. Most of the recommendations show a biasness towards human rights. One recommendation was that the State should pursue efforts to ensure the smooth functioning and full independence of the Human Rights Commission. Another was that the institution should be strengthened in order to bring it into full compliance with the Paris Principles. The Paris Principles were adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 20, 1993 under Resolution 48/134. I mention this because our country is a member of the United Nations and is expected to follow this resolution. The Human Rights Commission in Swaziland was formed through the provisions of the Constitution. That means before we passed the Constitution we were already aware of the Paris Principles and therefore should have adhered to them when setting up the commission. It is, however, disappointing that in 2017 we are still being encouraged to adhere to the same Principles and we seem to be failing. Swaziland accepted the recommendation of the UPR without any problems but up to date nothing has been done or there is no overt move to implement it. The Paris Principles provide that the Human Rights Commission is supposed to assist in the formulation of programmes for teaching and research of human rights. It is to take part in the execution of such programmes in schools, universities and professional circles. Human rights are considered taboo in our societies and they are perceived as foreign and the commission is not educating the nation. The Paris Principles require the Human Rights Commission to publicise human rights and increase public awareness through information and education. The commission has a duty to reach out to communities and educate them on human rights and concerns from parents that it will corrupt their children would not be there as they themselves would be aware of their rights. The commission is supposed to prepare reports on the national situation when it comes to human rights. It is to contribute to the reports which the State will submit to the United Nations bodies and committees. Is that what is happening in the country? Is the Human Rights Commission compiling reports on the human rights situation in this country? If yes, where is the report kept and why is it not publicised because the nation has to know where the country is in terms of human rights? I want to know whether the Human Rights Commission thinks we are protecting and promoting human rights as a country. The country has still not ratified the 2nd Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It is the duty of the Human Rights Commission to encourage the State to ratify and accession of such instruments as they help the promotion of human rights. It is also the duty of the commission to insure the implementation of such instruments after the ratification. So they have to make sure the people of Swaziland do enjoy the benefits of the international instruments and they do not only remain on paper. But the Human Rights Commission seems to be failing in this regard. I am basing this on the recommendations of the UPR which Swaziland agreed to implement but up to date there is no move on the ground. I think this is one instrument that the commission should be using as our country commits to implement the recommendations without being forced but they volunteered. Then the commission has to make sure that there is implementation of same. I sympathise with the commission because in the Constitution, its duty is reactionary than proactive. It has to investigate and remedy, correct and reverse what has already happened. There is nowhere in the Constitution where it is given a mandate to educate and inform the people on their rights. This to me is a contradiction because we are to follow the Paris Principles and when the commission was established we already knew of these Principles. Even the composition of the Commission is a problem because according to the Principles it must be established through a procedure that affords pluralist representation of the social forces involved in the protection and promotion of human rights. The Constitution provides that the King shall appoint the commission on advice of the Judicial Service Commission. There are concerns on the Judicial Service Commission itself and your guess on the people they will recommend is as good as mine. Therefore I conclude that the commission on Human Rights and Public Administration cannot function properly. NGABEZWENI His Majesty King Mswati III has advised the Swazi nation to hunger for prayer and give God time. The King said it was high time that people likened prayer with hunger because if you are hungry nobody tells you to eat, so it must be the same with prayer. He was bidding the pastors farewell, following the Easter Services that were held over the weekend. His Majesty said people remembered to pray during the most difficult times and tend to focus on those problems. He said God does not want people to focus and pray to problems but should go beyond and put their faith in Him. The nation should hunger for prayer and do it every day reporting everything to him. God loves confessing people so that He may realise that we give Him priority and put all faith in him then he will reward us with his peace and stand by us. His Majesty said what was important when you have received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour you should not live the way you had done before but need to change. As you are going back home today, you must depict a changed behaviour from how you did things before because God has reached to our lives and changed us. He said it was good to note the Swazi nation had made a choice to choose Christianity and make Jesus become ruler of their lives. The King said God wanted faithful people who will always put their trust in him without any hesitation. Those people, the King likened them to a rock which never moves because where you have placed it you will find it where you have placed it. If you are born again you show by your action and leaving everything behind you to follow in the footsteps of Christ. He noted that if you were a drunkard, it was wise to depart from the bad habit and follow in Jesus footsteps. What will help us pastors is prayer and as we depart today it does not mean we have finished praying but we are about to start. I have heard the nation saying that the prayers conducted by the country are great which is why we overcame in very difficult times. It is because God has shown that He loves this nation, which is why we should depart from prayer as that would mean that we have cursed ourselves. He said the Easter services had been great in the country, as many people saw an opportunity to visit and explore but as a nation we had seen it important to stay in the presence of the most high God. PIGGS PEAK Fundukuwela High School is faced with a serious problem of a high dropout of female pupils after being traditionally wed (kutekwa). Early marriage of pupils at the school has become the major reason for many female pupils to drop out as many of them are being traditionally wed on weekends. Richard Matsenjwa, the Head teacher at Fundukuwela High School revealed this during the Siswati Day celebrations, which were held at the school yesterday. He expressed concern that many young girls were no longer returning to school because they were now married women. When we hear that a certain girl was crying on the weekend, we know that she is now married, said Matsenjwa, much to the surprise of the guests who had attended the event. He warned that communities should watch against this so that young people could continue attending class as they were the future of the country. Matsenjwa also urged parents to shun this behaviour so their children could continue with school. Ironically, pupils also performed a play depicting a woman being traditionally wed. This was one of the performances to commemorate Siswati Day. The head teacher also lamented the state of the school, saying there were no houses for teachers. He said this was one of the reasons teachers ended up leaving the school and found positions in other schools which end up performing better than Fundukuwela High School. We are failing because they are taking away our teachers, said Matsenjwa. He further lamented that the school was in a dilapidated state, particularly that the fencing was damaged and that the school did not have running water. Throngs of pupils were present at the school during the Siswati Day celebrations, which was also attended by outspoken businessman Walter Bennett. HLATHIKULU In a rather disturbing incident, a herds man allegedly tied a nine-year-old boys hands, gagged him before proceeding to sodomise him in a forest. The crime was committed at KaMbhebha area, in the outskirts of Hlathikhulu in the Shiselweni region. The beastly act by the man, who was identified as a familiar figure who looked after donkeys for a certain family in the area, was witnessed by a 14-year-old teenager. The teenager apparently saw the 34-year-old Velile Mbuli carrying the boy into the forest last Thursday. Witness Then the witness reportedly followed the pair into the forest, where he found the young lad tied onto a tree stump while Mbuli sexually assaulted him. Terrified by what he saw, the teenager ran back home where he alerted his parents, together with those of the survivor about the incident, who went out searching for the young boy. Residents who were notified about the act also joined in and rushed to the spot. Seeing the people, Mbuli fled the scene, leaving the helpless young boy in tears. The survivor then narrated the ordeal to his parents and identified a well-known man in the area as the perpetrator. He told them that he was coerced into the forest by the man who used a flip knife to scare him. He said before taking him to the forest, the culprit tied his hands and used his jersey to gag his mouth. Upon reaching the forest, he said the man removed his pair of trousers and proceeded to sexually assault him. The parents then took the boy to a nearby health facility, where he was examined by a medical practitioner. The doctor confirmed the crime took place. A manhunt was sent out for Mbuli. Velile was eventually arrested on Monday at his homestead which is situated at KaLaSihlahla area, about 20km from where the crime was committed. MBABANE They usually robe their black gowns to argue on behalf of clients in court but tables have been turned. This is the story of about 20 government lawyers who have been taken to court by the Law Society of Swaziland (LSS) for allegedly failing to pay their subscriptions. Most of the lawyers who are reportedly failing to comply are from the chambers of the Attorney General and that of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). In the summons issued by LSS lawyers from Howe Masuku Sibandze Attorneys, the implicated lawyers had been given three days to respond. The total amount owed by the learned friends is over E175 000. The highest amount owed by one of the senior government lawyers is E24 000. The LSS has since issued summons against the lawyers, calling upon them to pay. The society is further seeking an order directing that the implicated attorneys be disallowed from appearing in court or charging fees as per the Legal Practitioners Act. Of note is that in the summons issued there are also few names of lawyers in private practice. In its particulars of claim, the society argued that the lawyers were in breach of Law Society Bye- Laws in that they had not paid the members subscriptions as per the requirements of the law and as such, they could not practice nor charge a fee for services as per the Act. Despite the lapse of a period upon which the defendants were to pay subscriptions and despite demand, defendants have failed and or refused to make forthwith payment to the plaintiff (LSS), reads part of the summons. The names of the implicated lawyers are known to this publication but would not be revealed for now pending determination of the application against them by the court. Section 24 (2) of the Legal Practitioners Act provides that: every practising legal practitioner other than an advocate, shall cause his books of accounts to be examined at his own expense at least once a year by an auditor registered under the Accountants Act, 1985 and for the purposes of this Act, any reference to a public accountant shall be construed as a reference to a chartered accountant registered under that Act. Section 35 (1) of the Act further states that; every person admitted and enrolled as a legal practitioner shall be a member of the Law Society and that any member whose name has been removed from the roll or the register shall cease to be a member of the Law Society. MANZINI The aftermath of the kidnapping of Matsapha businessman Almor Oliveira has caused fury and fear among his counterparts. However, for well-known business mogul Tommy Kirk, who is also a friend to the kidnapped Oliveira, he did not fear anyone who would come after him. Mawungakangibulali itawuhlala enyameni - (loosely translated, If you fail to kill me, I shoot to kill, and that is my attitude). However, everything happens according to the Almighty God. If my time has come to leave this world, so be it, Kirk said in an interview last night. His comments come after Oliveira was kidnapped on Sunday at around 11am, while at one of his business sites in Matsapha. My friends story is so sad. I was the last person to talk to him on Sunday after the 9 to 11am church service we attended before he headed to his business premises. We even spoke after the service and I walked him out of the gate as he had parked his vehicle outside, Kirk said. The businessman added that Oliveira had bought all the children at the Cathedral Church easter eggs on the day and they were all excited and kept on coming to thank him for his kind gesture. The incident is painful and really traumatising. It is very disturbing. Oliveira has made Matsapha what it is today. So many businesspeople are renting his warehouses and properties for different businesses and employing a lot of Swazis who were previously without work. The people who are behind his kidnapping have destroyed every businessmans soul, especially because Oliveira was a kind-hearted person and has helped a lot of people. We just hope the police are doing their best in investigating this case and taking it seriously, Kirk said. Other businesspeople, on the other hand, are living under the enormous shadow of fear and threat after Oliveiras kidnapping on Sunday. Other entrepreneurs who were interviewed following the kidnapping said they feared for their lives. They were even sceptical in commenting about the whole incident. Yeyi, this one is a hot potato, bangaze bangilandze kami endlini angeke sisi angifuni nje kusho lutfo - (loosely translated, this incident is a sensitive one and I cannot comment as I have fears that the same kidnappers would come and get me from my home) a well know businessman said yesterday. Another Matsapha business guru said it was obvious that they were now living in great fear and the incident haunted them a lot as businesspeople. I do not want my name in the paper because it is now clear that these people, who are known to us, are targeting people with a lot of money. I have my own security both at my home and business premises and everyone is always armed, including myself. In spite of this, I would not like my name to appear in the newspapers, the businessman said. In a scathing attack on the BJP for opposing her visit to the Jagannath Temple in Puri, Mamata Banerjee said that she was a born Hindu but she didn't indulge in a form of Hindutva that maligned the Hindu community, unlike the BJP. By Indrajit Kundu: In the wake of opposition from a section of sevaits at Puri's Lord Jagannath Temple over her visit to the shrine, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for creating "nuisance". When asked to comment on the issue, the Trinamool Congress chief said, "BJP cadres can do what they want. I have full faith in Lord Jagannath." advertisement "We worship Lord Jagannath back home in Bengal. In fact, priests from Puri come and perform puja there. People from Bengal visit Lord Jagannath several times in a year", she told journalists at the circuit house in Puri. HERE IS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW Mamata, who landed in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday evening, left for Puri after meeting her party MPs Sudip Bandodhyay and Tapas Pal at a city hospital. On a personal visit to the temple town, she is scheduled to reach the shrine on Wednesday evening amid protests. On Tuesday, BJP Yuva Morcha supporters burnt Mamata's effigy and demonstrated outside the Puri Town police station. Police had to detain the sevait, indentified as Somnath Khuntia, who first opposed the Bengal chief minister's visit to the temple. The Naveen Patnaik government has accorded state guest honour to the visiting chief minister of West Bengal and security has been heightened in Puri. In a scathing attack on the BJP, a defiant Mamata said, "I am a born Hindu but I don't indulge in such Hindutva that maligns the Hindu community. I love Hindus but they defame them." "Hindu religion is a great religion that takes everyone along", she told reporters while reminding people of the teachings of great Hindu philosophers like Shri Ramakrishna Paramhansa and his disciple Swami Vivekananda. Reacting to the controversy that erupted over her alleged remarks about Hindus eating beef too, Mamata clarified, "I was asked a question (during an interview) and I had responded then. Remember, one's choice of food is personal and I believe in secular politics." Reiterating her wish to meet Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik during her stay in the state, she said "All regional parites should grow and there should be a strong bond between them. It will be my endeavour to ensure that all regional parties work together for the sake of federalism." Also read | Sevaits at Puri's Jagannath Temple protest against Mamata's visit to shrine for standing by meat-eaters Also read | BJP can't decide on food habits nor can they question my visit to dargah or temple: Mamata Banerjee --- ENDS --- A Pakistani news channel shared a CCTV footage claiming that man seen in it is the spirit of Om Puri looking for his killers, such as Indian National Security Adviser, Ajit Doval and Om's ex-wife Nandita. By India Today Web Desk: A Pakistani news channel has caught hold of a CCTV video in which a man wearing a kurta can be seen wandering around a flat at night. The video was uploaded to YouTube by a channel called Daily Pak News and according to the video, the kurta-wearing man is a ghost and that too of late actor Om Puri. advertisement The video has been taken from a news bulletin by the Pakistani news channel Bol News. In it, the anchor, Aamir Liaqat, starts off by saying for the 'shanti' of Om Puri's 'aatma', they are going to show a video where Om Puri's spirit is shown looking for his killers. Soon enough, a CCTV video footage follows where a man wearing a white kurta is seen standing outside a house. For the convenience of the viewers, the channel puts a red circle around the man just in case anybody misses the big story! Aamir Liaqat goes on to add that the ghost is looking for revenge from his killers such as Indian National Security Adviser, Ajit Doval and Om's ex-wife Nandita. Watch the video here: Om Puri, 66, passed away after suffering a heart attack on January 6 this year. In a career spanning four decades, Om Puri acted in several Hindi, Punjabi, Malayalam, Kannada, Hollywood and British films. He won the Padma Shri award in 1990. ALSO READ: Om Puri died a lonely death, he was a wonderful human being, says Anupam Kher WATCH: Om Puri passes away at 66 after a massive heart attack --- ENDS --- Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams By Gina Martinez RICHMOND HILL Police are searching for a man suspected of criminal mischief outside the Bosnian Cultural Center in Richmond Hill. According to police, on Thursday, April 6 at midnight, the suspect approached the center, located at 114-07 91st Ave., and spray painted the letter X on multiple doors. Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPDs Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). By Press Trust of India: (EDs: Adding inputs and quotes) Amritsar, Apr 19 (PTI) The Punjab government today decided against the setting up of controversial Khalsa University here, saying it would "destroy" the rich heritage of the 125-year-old Khalsa College. The Khalsa College Governing Council (KCGC), however, was not impressed with the decision which it called "most unfortunate" and accused the state government of playing to the gallery. advertisement The decision was taken by the state cabinet at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh here. "The Cabinet termed as appalling the move by the Khalsa College Society to destroy its rich heritage status by converting the prestigious institution into the university," an official spokesperson said. "It also noted that taking away a chunk of land from Khalsa College to make a university would adversely affect the existence of Khalsa College," he said. The Cabinet also opined that all the properties attached to the Khalsa College should be kept intact, thus also preserving its architectural grandeur and marvel. The decision to set-up Khalsa University was taken by the previous SAD-BJP alliance government in 2016. The move was however widely criticised. Among its critics were the residents of Amritsar, the colleges alumni and the intellectuals of the state. Amarinder Singh had promised to protect the legacy of Khalsa College, which is one of the oldest educational institutions in the country with a heritage status. "In rejecting the establishment of the university, the Cabinet also felt that there was no point in establishing an additional university in Amritsar, which already has several reputed institutions of higher learning," the spokesperson said. The top functionaries of the varsity however expressed disappointment over the decision and said they were seeking legal opinion to save the University which has already registered more than 300 students in various classes from graduate to PhD courses following governments nod to the varsity in August 2016. KU Chancellor Satayjit Singh Majithia and Pro-Chancellor Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina, in a joint statement today, said a false propaganga has been unleashed that Khalsa University threatens the existence of the historic Khalsa College. "The petty and vendetta politics is being played to kill the educational project which is boon for the education sector in the border region," said Majithia. "There is not even an iota of truth in the argument that varsity hampers the heritage building. The College is functioning as an autonomous institution and University is coming up in separate buildings," he added. advertisement He also discredited the claim that chunk of land has been taken away from Khalsa College for the University and said the land is already earmarked to the already established colleges which are part of the University and no more land is being taken. The KCGC, set up in 1890, is a democratically-elected body which runs Khalsa College and Khalsa University separately. PTI VJ CHT DIP --- ENDS --- Thousands of Syrians were evacuated from besieged towns on Wednesday with tight security in place after a weekend bombing against those leaving government-held areas killed dozens, including nearly 70 children. The evacuations are part of a deal between government and opposition representatives to relieve thousands from suffocating sieges imposed by the regime and rebels. A large convoy of buses set out from the government-held towns of Fuaa and Kafraya in Idlib province on Wednesday morning, carrying 3,000 people to the rebel-held transit point of Rashidin near Aleppo, an AFP correspondent said. At the same time, 11 buses carrying around 300 people left rebel-held Zabadani, Serghaya and Jabal Sharqi in Damascus province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said. Evacuees finally reached the government-controlled district of Ramussa south of Aleppo on Wednesday evening, the Observatory said. Security was tight throughout the day, AFP\s correspondent said, after a devastating bomb attack on evacuees in Rashidin on Saturday that according to the Observatory killed 126 people, including 68 children. Most of the dead were from the two Shiite-majority towns, with a handful of aid workers and rebels guarding the convoy also killed. Dozens of wounded were taken to hospitals in nearby rebel-held territory, while others were taken to Aleppo, which government forces regained full control of late last year. When the exchange is complete, a total of 8,000 people should have left Fuaa and Kafraya, with another 2,500 civilians and rebels leaving opposition areas. Armed rebels were standing guard at Rashidin on Wednesday and carefully inspecting vehicles arriving in the area. "We chose a different location as the gathering point for fighters from Fuaa and Kafraya with their families, because we are obliged to protect them until they leave here," said rebel fighter Abu Obeida al-Shami. Buses were parked in a semi-circle, forming a makeshift barrier around an area in the centre of a lot where evacuees including dozens of children milled. "Where do I even start? It would have been easier if we had just died. Death is so much easier than this humiliation," said elderly evacuee Abu Ahmad. He told AFP he was preparing himself never to see his hometown of Fuaa again. "Someone like me, who is already 85 years old I\m going to die tomorrow or the day after." Pro-government militiamen among those being evacuated from Fuaa and Kafraya squatted next to one bus, smoking cigarettes. Standing nearby, 55-year-old Um Joud from Fuaa said it was difficult to describe how she felt. "I\m not afraid, because everything is in God\s hands," she told AFP. "Of course I would have preferred to stay in my home, but I left for the sake of my children and their lives and futures." The deal was brokered late last month by Qatar, a longtime opposition supporter, and Iran, a key regime ally, but its implementation had been repeatedly delayed. Zabadani and neighbouring Madaya "are now empty of any rebel presence," said Mayyada al-Aswad, a member of the coordinating committee for the operation on the government side. Wednesday\s evacuations mark the end of the first stage of the deal, with a second phase due to begin in June. Fuaa and Kafraya will be emptied entirely, with residents and fighters heading to Aleppo and then on to government-held Latakia or Damascus. All rebels are expected to leave Madaya, Zabadani, and other nearby oppositions-held areas, but civilians who want to remain may do so. Those leaving rebel-held areas will head to Idlib province, which is held by an opposition alliance. In all, up to 30,000 people are expected to leave under the deal. President Bashar al-Assad says evacuation deals are the best way to end the six-year war, but the opposition says they amount to forced relocation after years of bombardment and siege. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Saturday\s bombing, which was condemned by Syria\s opposition, including the powerful Ahrar al-Sham rebel group. The government blamed "terrorists" a catch-all term for its opponents. Syrian state television on Wednesday reported another bomb blast in Aleppo that killed six people. A local medic told AFP that 32 people were wounded in the blast. The United Nations says 600,000 Syrians live under siege, mostly by the Syrian army, but also by rebels or the Islamic State group. The war has killed more than 320,000 people since it began with anti-government protests in March 2011. More than half of the population have been forced from their homes. SOURCE: AFP A meningitis outbreak in Nigeria has killed 745 people, an increase of more than 50 percent in barely a week, officials said Wednesday, sounding the alarm over the feared epidemic. "We need all hands on deck," said Chikwe Ihekweazu, head of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) as the federal government announced the latest toll from the outbreak, which has mostly affected children. The flare-up of Cerebrospinal Meningitis (CSM) serotype C cases is concentrated in northern Nigeria, where authorities convened a meeting of governors and traditional leaders from all states in the region, said a government statement. "State governors reaffirmed their commitment to immediate and concrete actions towards halting the outbreak," said the statement after the meeting, held in collaboration with the federal health ministry and national agencies. Over 8,000 suspected cases of the disease have been reported across the country over the past five months, some 93 percent of which occurred in five northern states, a statement said. The new death toll was a rise of 52 percent on last week\s total of 489 dead. The mass outbreak has mostly affected children, prompting a large-scale vaccination programme. Meningitis is caused by different types of bacteria, six of which can cause epidemics. It is transmitted between people through coughs and sneezes and facilitated by cramped living conditions and close contact. The illness causes acute inflammation of the outer layers of the brain and spinal cord, with the most common symptoms being fever, headache and neck stiffness. Nigeria lies in the so-called "meningitis belt" of sub-Saharan Africa, stretching from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east, where outbreaks of the disease are a regular occurrence. The five northern states hit are Zamfara, Sokoto, Katsina, Kebbi and Niger. The federal government said raising awareness of the disease among ordinary people was crucial. "The traditional leaders also committed to continued awareness-raising in their communities and jurisdictions," it said. "At national level and in affected states, activities aimed at driving information into grassroots .. continue," it said. Action to counter the outbreak is being coordinated by the CSM National Emergency Operations Centre at the NCDC, and involves rapid response teams across the region. "We are grateful to all rapid response team members, including government agency and partner staff who have remained at their different field posts, through the Easter period working on this outbreak response and control," said incident manager John Oladejo. 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. By Press Trust of India: Amarinder Chandigarh, Apr 19 (PTI) The Captain Amarinder Singh led government in Punjab today said that it will find ways and means to clear debts of the states farmers and would soon approach the Centre in this regard. Chief Minister Singh told a meeting of the states Administrative Secretaries that he would soon take up the debt waiver issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had announced a special package for Uttar Pradesh in the run-up to the Assembly elections there. advertisement He, however, made it clear that his government would find ways and means to waive off all farm debts with or without the Centres support, said an official spokesman. Amarinder lauded the efforts of the various government departments in ensuring the smooth procurement of wheat. His government was committed to alleviating the sufferings of the states beleaguered peasantry, he added. The Chief Minister asked the officials to make all-out efforts to introduce comprehensive job creation schemes, including "Apni Gaddi Apna Rozgar", "Hara Tractor Scheme" and "YAARI Enterprises". He also ordered steps to set up Employment Bureaus in all the districts of the state, to be headed by Deputy Commissioners and to function as Enterprise Bureaus to facilitate self-employment and start-ups with a focus on Micro Enterprise. Amarinder asked the Secretaries to prepare a comprehensive action plan to implement poll promises in their respective departments in right earnest, with special focus on the governments main programmes such as employment generation, houses for homeless and 30 per cent reservation for women in jobs. The Chief Minister also asked the officials to ensure rehabilitation of all drug abuse victims within one year through the Navjivan rehabilitation campaign. Disclosing details of the decisions taken during the meeting, an official spokesperson said the CM had reiterated his governments zero tolerance policy towards corruption and had asked the Secretaries to ensure that all statutory procedures, rules, regulations and laws are followed and all cases are decided on merit. He directed them to make all the services pertaining to their departments online within a maximum of six months, with the services also made available on mobile apps. Underlining his governments anti-drugs focus, the Chief Minister asked the officials to take up the launch of the rehabilitation campaign Navjivan in mission mode to rehabilitate all affected persons in one year. The Departments of Health and family welfare, Social Security, Rural Development, Medical Education, and NGOs will collectively launch the campaign, which will be led by the Deputy Commissioners. advertisement As part of the campaign, rehabilitation centres, namely "Navjivan Centres", will be set up in each district and will be manned by professionals, to be supported by voluntary organisations. The Chief Minister also directed the formation of village or town level committees comprising people from the general public and local level government officials to vigorously campaign for the rehabilitation of the affected persons and to closely monitor their progress and give feedback to the department concerned. It was also decided to extend the facility of the toll free ambulance service number 108 to victims of drug abuse, the spokesperson said. To minimise the consumer transaction costs of availing government services, the Secretaries have been asked to ensure that all services are made available online within six months in such a way that there is a single point of contact and single application for a particular service. Online application forms and legacy verification were discussed to make the process less cumbersome and augment the viability of the Sewa Kendras, which are already in the process of being revamped, the spokesperson revealed. Reiterating his governments commitment to ensuring transparency in governance, the CM further directed the various departments engaged in public dealing to ensure that all public grievances/issues are addressed in a hassle-free and time-bound manner, with strict compliance to the Right to Service Act time limits. advertisement Information under the Right to Information Act should be provided in 30 days as prescribed, and the Administrative Secretaries should direct all officers in districts and state headquarters to meet members of the public from 11 am to 1 pm every day. PTI CHS ADS --- ENDS --- For Michael Green, the fight against gun violence has become a personal one. An abstract, colorful painting hangs in his office. An 8-year-old boy in Rochester made it -- weeks before he was shot in the head and killed by a drug dealer's stray bullet. The family framed the painting and gave it to Green years ago, after he helped put the killer behind bars as Monroe County District Attorney. Now, Green, who leads the state Division of Criminal Justice Services, is helping fight gun violence in the 17 counties that experience 83 percent of the state's violent crime, excluding New York City. "We're not just giving out money to agencies," Green said in a recent interview. "We're also trying to help partner with the people we're giving money to and saying, 'How can we use our abilities and leverage our resources to make the best training and technical assistance available?' so our money is spent in the way that will have the biggest impact and also helps all our partner agencies." Capital Region law enforcement agencies will receive more than $2 million this year to combat gun violence, the governor's office announced Tuesday. Statewide, the 17 upstate counties with the highest crime rates will share $13.3 million to participate in the state's Gun Involved Violence Elimination initiative. GIVE, which is entering its fourth year, provides technical assistance, training, equipment and personnel such as prosecutors and crime analysts to help communities reduce violent crime. The 20 police departments that participate in the initiative will use the funds to analyze data from crime-ridden neighborhoods and refocus resources; redesign vacant lots, dimly lit streets and traffic patterns believed to breed criminal activity; employ formerly incarcerated community members to steer youth away from gun violence and retaliation; and enhance community policing initiatives. The Albany County District Attorney's Office, Sheriff's Office and Probation Department as well as the Albany Police Department will share $765,513. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. The Schenectady County District Attorney's Office, Sheriff's Office and Probation Department as well as the Schenectady Police Department will share $800,000. And the Rensselaer County District Attorney's Office, Sheriff's Office and Probation Department as well as the Troy Police Department will share $476,703. "This is a long-term strategy that is starting to show results in areas of the state that are hardest hit by violent crime," Green said in an April 18 statement. GIVE is one of four major initiatives DCJS officials identified as top priorities in their 2014 and 2015 Annual Performance Report. GIVE has been recognized by the federal Bureau of Justice Assistance and the National Network for Safe Communities. The state granted $13.3 million in GIVE funding every year since the initiative's July 1, 2014 launch. Albany The Capital District Transportation Authority was awarded $2 million in Federal Highway Administration funds to help implement its bike-share program, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday. The award was among $13.1 million in grants to projects in the Capital Region, and $112.2 million awarded statewide. The Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality program funds are administered through the state Department of Transportation. The funds will allow the CDTA program, set to launch in late July with 160 bicycles and 20 bike "stations," to move beyond the pilot stage, expanding to more than 300 bicycles next year, CDTA officials said. "This is amazing news," said Lauren Bailey, mobility manager for CDTA. The transit authority is in the midst of a series of public meetings being held to determine optimal locations for the new stations, where customers can rent bicycles. Upcoming meetings will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at Saratoga Springs Recreation Center; and at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Washington Avenue Branch, Albany Public Library. CDPHP is the bike-share program's sponsor. Each bicycle will have a GPS unit on the back and a small computer keypad that will be used by customers to unlock and pay for using it. Rental rates haven't been determined, CDTA spokeswoman Jaime Watson said. Customers will set up their accounts online or through a smartphone app, tying it to a credit card or debit card for payment. They'll type in their account number and personal identification number, or PIN, to unlock the bicycle for use. Customers can also reserve bicycles on the website or app. Apps will be available for download about a month before the program launches, Bailey said. Other projects receiving federal grants include new sidewalks or paths that comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act in Guilderland, Bethlehem and Clifton Park. Saratoga Springs will receive $1,531,626 to help it complete the Greenbelt Trail Downtown Connector, while Schenectady County will receive $1,556,000 to construct the River/Rosendale Road roundabout. The city of Rensselaer will receive $1,280,000 to build the Riverfront multiuse trail, while Bethlehem will receive $2,903,760 to build a roundabout and sidewalk. Greenville will receive $760,000 for new sidewalks. Cairo will receive $551,000 for a multiuse pathway. In each case, funding is intended to cover up to 80 percent of the project's cost. eanderson@timesunion.com 518-454-5323 This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Schenectady Schenectady-based Price Chopper has agreed to settle an overtime pay dispute that involved workers and former employees at its stores in New York, Pennsylvania and New England. Attorneys involved in a federal lawsuit brought against Price Chopper back in 2014 in U.S. District Court in Springfield, Mass., informed the judge overseeing the case on Monday that an agreement has been reached. "The parties have reached an agreement in principal to resolve this matter," William Anthony, an Albany-based attorney for Price Chopper, wrote to U.S. District Judge Mark Mastroianni. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. "The parties were able to reach a mutually acceptable resolution of this matter, and Price Chopper denies any wrongdoing," Price Chopper spokeswoman Mona Golub said. Price Chopper and its next-generation brand, Market 32, are part of Schenectady-based Golub Corp., which operates more than 130 stores in New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire. Industry estimates are that Golub Corp. has roughly $3.5 billion in annual revenue, making it the largest company headquartered in the Capital Region. The suit had been initiated by Shelly Davine, who worked at Price Chopper's now-closed North Adams, Mass., location from 1983 to 2014. Davine claimed she and others were classified as "team leaders" and "department managers" to evade government regulations that protect non-management workers from working more than 40 hours a week without overtime pay. Davine's lawsuit, which was joined by other workers, claimed that she and hundreds of others like herself would work 45 to 50 hours a week while only being paid for 40 hours and no overtime from 2011 to 2014. The North Adams, Mass., store where she worked has since been closed. Davine could not be reached for comment. Her attorney, Justin Swartz of Outten & Golden of New York City, declined to comment as well. lrulison@timesunion.com 518-454-5504 @larryrulison OPENING FRIDAY BORN IN CHINA: Disney's latest nature documentary, narrated by John Krasinski, follows families of pandas, golden monkeys and snow leopards, oh my! (G) http://nature.disney.com/born-in-china FREE FIRE: In 1978, members of two rival gangs (played by Brie Larson, Cillian Murphy, Armie Hammer and Sharlto Copley, among others) meet in a deserted warehouse, leading to possibly the biggest movie shootout ever, in this crime thriller. (R for strong violence, pervasive language, sexual references and drug use) http://freefire-movie.com THE LOST CITY OF Z: Despite a much-delayed release, James Gray's action biopic of real-life 1920s Amazon explorer Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam) is coming out to some seriously solid reviews. Robert Pattison and Sienna Miller co-star. (PG-13 for violence, disturbing images, brief strong language and some nudity) http://www.lostcityofz.com THE PROMISE: Director Terry George ("Hotel Rwanda," "Some Mother's Son") takes on another historical crisis point, this time it's the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Armenian genocide during World War I, all as a backdrop for a love triangle between Oscar Isaac, Charlotte le Bon and Christian Bale. (PG-13 for thematic material including war atrocities, violence and disturbing images, and for some sexuality) http://www.survivalpictures.org/the-promise UNFORGETTABLE: Veteran producer Denise Di Novi (Tim Burton movies, "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," "Crazy, Stupid, Love.") chooses to advance the cause of feminism with her directorial debut, a thriller about an unhinged woman (Katherine Heigl) who sets out to make life hell for her ex-husband's new wife (Rosario Dawson). (R for sexual content, violence, some language, and brief partial nudity) https://www.warnerbros.com/unforgettable Love movies? Love talking about them? Love reading about them? Go to Times Union Movies blog, moderated by film fanatic C.J. Lais Jr. and join in the conversation. http://blog.timesunion.com/movies This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Aaron Hernandez committed suicide in prison Wednesday morning, the Department of Correction told the Boston Globe. According to a statement for the DOC, the former New England Patriot star was discovered hanging in his cell at the Souza Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley Massachusetts at approximately 3:05 a.m. READ THE BOSTON GLOBE STORY HERE. "Mr. Hernandez was in a single cell in a general population unit," the statement said. "Mr. Hernandez hanged himself utilizing a bedsheet that he attached to his cell window. Mr. Hernandez also attempted to block his door from the inside by jamming the door with various items." State Police are investigating and his family has been notified. Hernandez's suicide comes five days after he was acquitted of murdering two men in Boston in 2012. However, he was still serving a life without parole sentence for murdering Odin L. Lloyd in North Attleborough in 2013. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate COLONIE -- Sanctuary groups plan to accompany a Hudson woman to her meeting Wednesday morning with U.S. immigration officials. The Columbia County Sanctuary Movement and the New Sanctuary Movement for Immigrants will rally outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office on Route 7 in Latham to support Maria de Jesus Canterero Mercado. They will be joined by her family and local clergy members in hopes of preventing her detention and deportation, organizers said. De Jesus' husband, Ramiro Martinez-Chacon was one of about 600 undocumented immigrants detained across the country during sweeping raids conducted by ICE in early February. Several immigrants were detained in the Hudson Valley, federal officials confirmed. De Jesus has been in the U.S. since 2002 and is now under an order of deportation. She must meet with ICE officials every month to verify her whereabouts and activity. She and her husband, who are from El Salvador, have two children, ages 6 and 12, who were born in the U.S. EARLIER: Hudson parents threatened with deportation Demonstrators from the group Oil Region Rising, part of Indivisible We Rise, surround the entrance area to the office of Congressman Glenn Thompson, in Titusville, asking Thompson to listen to his constituents concerns, as well as requesting President Donald Trump release his tax returns and support an independent investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US election. [April 19, 2017] National Planning Holdings, Inc. Announces 2016 Financial Results, Bolstered by Recent Platform and Service Enhancements National Planning Holdings, Inc. (NPH), the nation's fourth-largest independent broker-dealer network1, today announced full-year 2016 revenue of $909.4 million and gross product sales of $19.4 billion. Scott Romine, president and chief executive officer of NPH, said the company's unique shared services model continues to strengthen its financial performance, and investments designed to further bolster technology and service offerings reinforce the firm's commitment to best serve advisors and their clients. "Our full-year 2016 results clearly demonstrate the power of NPH's business model, which focuses on optimizing our resources, processes and service offerings at the network level while thoughtfully maintaining the culture and personality that makes each of our broker-dealers a truly distinctive community for the advisors they serve," said Romine. "Our commitment to creating an exceptional client experience was the driving force behind the numerous service and platform enhancements we delivered in 2016. Collectively, these enhancements have elevated NPH's leadership position in the independent retail financial advice space." Operational highlights for NPH in 2016 include: Advisory Platform Enhancements: NPH initiated a broad-reaching effort to leverage its people, technology and solutions to re-engineer its flagship WealthONE fee-based advisory platform as a single, fully-integrated resource to help advisors prepare more effectively for regulatory shifts and enable them to offer a wider range of product offerings at a reduced cost for clients. NPH initiated a broad-reaching effort to leverage its people, technology and solutions to re-engineer its flagship WealthONE fee-based advisory platform as a single, fully-integrated resource to help advisors prepare more effectively for regulatory shifts and enable them to offer a wider range of product offerings at a reduced cost for clients. Launch of Technology Solutions (News - Alert) Team: In June, NPH introduced the Technology Solutions Team, making it the first broker-dealer network to offer advisors in person access to dedicated technology specialists at no cost. The team conducted almost 1,000 meetings and spent over 2,000 hours in field offices training advisors and their staff on ways to optimize technology platforms to best support their clients. In June, NPH introduced the Technology Solutions Team, making it the first broker-dealer network to offer advisors in person access to dedicated technology specialists at no cost. The team conducted almost 1,000 meetings and spent over 2,000 hours in field offices training advisors and their staff on ways to optimize technology platforms to best support their clients. Practice Management Expansion: NPH enhanced and centralized its advisor-centric practice management resources, the Advisor Growth Team, to provide more extensive, personalized practice management support uniquely tailored to each advisor's business. For more information about the four independent broker-dealers in the NPH network, please visit: nationalplanningholdings.com. About National Planning Holdings, Inc. National Planning Holdings, Inc. (NPH) is a broker-dealer holding company and an affiliate of Lansing, Mich.-based Jackson National Life Insurance Company (Jackson). NPH serves as the holding company for the independent broker-dealers INVEST Financial Corporation, Investment Centers of America, Inc., National Planning Corporation and SII Investments, Inc. Collectively, the NPH broker-dealer network currently has 3,307 registered representatives (as of December 31, 2016). NPH and Jackson are wholly owned by Prudential plc (NYSE: PUK), a company incorporated in England and Wales. Prudential plc is not affiliated in any manner with Prudential Financial, Inc., a company whose principal place of business is in the United States of America. This press release may contain certain statements that constitute "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements which are other than statements of historical facts. However, as with any projection or forecast, forward-looking statements are inherently susceptible to a number of risks and uncertainties and actual results and events could differ materially from those currently being anticipated as reflected in such forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that management's expectations, beliefs or projections will result or be achieved or accomplished. Any forward-looking statements reflect NPH's views and assumptions as of the date of this press release and NPH disclaims any obligation to update forward-looking information. 1Southwood, D. and Zhu, E. (2015). How the Biggest Independent Broker-Dealer Networks Stack Up: Ranking Five Big IBD Networks by Reps and Revenue. InvestmentNews. May 2015. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170419006157/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 19, 2017] Washington Hospital Healthcare System Celebrates Earth Day 2017 With Free Community Celebration This Saturday Washington Hospital Healthcare System: This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170419006519/en/ Mateo is looking forward to Let's Go Green Together 2017 on April 22, 2017, at Washington Hospital Healthcare System in Fremont, California. This fun and educational event reflects the Hospital's commitment to environmental stewardship in health care, and is part of Earth Day 2017 celebrations around the world. (Photo: Business Wire) What Earth Day 2017 will be celebrated in 192 countries around this world on Saturday, April 22. As part of Earth Day's commitment to increase environmental and climate literacy, Washington Hospital Healthcare System in Fremont, Calif., is presenting a Let's Go Green Together 2017 event. "The entire staff at our hospital is committed to planet friendly healthcare," said Nancy Farber, chief executive officer at the award-winning, 341-bed, acute-care hospital. "Together with the City of Fremont, we're committed to the healthiest possible community - one that makes a difference in helping to clean up our world." Activities will include: syringes and needles drop-off; confidential document shredding; medication disposal; mercury thermometer exchange and more. For the kids? Face painting, a bike rodeo, bike tune-ups, eco-tainment, Earth Day art, and lots of free games and activities. See a full list at whhs.com/green. It'll be a fun and educational event that reflects the hospital's commitment to environmental stewardship in health care. "We recognize the critical link between the health of each individual and the health of the environment," said Farber, "and we look forward to celebrating this connection with the community." When Saturday, April 22, 2017 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. Where Washington West Parking Lot and Auditorium 2500 Mowry Ave. Fremont, Calif. 94538 About Washington Township Healthcare District Washington Township Health Care District is governed by an elected board and includes Washington Hospital Healthcare System. Unlike a municipal or county hospital, Washington Hospital's operating expenses, research, community programs, and employee salaries are funded by revenues generated through providing patient and other health care services. Opened in 1958, Washington Hospital Healthcare System has grown to include a 341-bed, acute-care hospital; the Taylor McAdam Bell Neuroscience Institute; The Gamma Knife Center; Washington Radiation Oncology Center; Washington Outpatient Surgery Center; Washington Outpatient Rehabilitation Center; Washington Institute for Joint Restoration and Research; Washington Township Medical Foundation; and Washington West, a complex which houses Washington Women's Center, Outpatient Imaging Center, Sandy Amos RN Infusion Center, Washington Urgent Care and additional outpatient hospital services and administrative facilities. Discover more at whhs.com, and through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170419006519/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Prime Minister Narendra Modi's panchtatva - dabe (down-trodden), pichre (backward), shoshit (marginalised), vanchit (deprived) and mahila (women), would "drive his government" to reach out to the unreachable up to 2019 general elections. By Maneesh Pandey: Post 2014, those who thought polarisation and hard-line saffron politics would prevail, move on to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's panchtatva - dabe, pichre, shoshit, vanchit and mahila, which would "drive his government" to reach out to the unreachable up to 2019 general elections. The government would make women, youth, tribal, marginalized and minorities core to the central social schemes to realise 'New India' objective spelt out by him at the BJP National Executive in Bhubaneshwar. advertisement Triple talaq is nothing but women and minorities in a combo, top Union Ministers and party functionaries told Mail Today. Mail Today spoke to Union ministers M Venkaiah Naidu, Prakash Javadekar, Dharmendra Pradhan, national spokesperson Sambit Patra and OBC Morcha National President Vinod Sonkar and they were unanimous in saying, "PM Modi had directed them to 'take the quantum leap' and while some schemes have already been in motion before the Odisha meet, we are taking it to the next level in mission mode to maximize party's outreach before 2019 general elections." Naidu said, "He believes in Dr Ambedkar's People's Development Model based on due empowerment of all sections, including the weaker sections, women and the minorities. Youth is another focus area when he talks about aspirational India. He had started the schemes - PM Jan Dhan Yojana, PM Mudra Yojana, Beti Padhao-Beti Bachao, Housing for All, Skill India, Ujjwala - with a clear thrust on an inclusive governance directly benefiting the five categories listed in his 'New India' mission. 'MODI'S DEVELOPMENT PLANS FOR POOR NOT RHETORIC' "Lighting poor houses with LED, making women benefit from Ujjwala and people volunteering to get the medical life cover even if it comes at Rs 12 per person are just the beginning. We aim to take our social schemes next to high output delivery mode.'' Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar added, "Modi's commitment to upliftment of poor and socially backward, including women, youth and tribals, is final and not a rhetoric. He gave a special status to physically challenged by calling them divyang. And by giving a constitutional status to OBC Commission, he has already set in motion streamlining of benefits due to OBC and marginalised.'' Javadekar added, "for the youth of socially backward classes, we have already given full waiver to SC/ST students in IITs, NITs and higher education. And to promote young and aspirational India, financial assistance for entrepreneurship and innovation by tribal, SC and ST youths are being taken as a priority to give maximum benefits to marginalized classes.'' Modi in Bhubaneswar has stressed to take a 'quantum leap', said Sambit Patra, party national spokesperson. "Make power (post in government) the medium to reach the people and not enjoy it, is a clear message from PM Modi. He is talking about 'New India' aspirations at grassroots and the demographic dividends - youth, women and tribe as priority areas. advertisement "The message he gave to every karykarta and top leaders at the meet was clear. We will not be satisfied by the incremental changes the previous governments have been claiming, but take a quantum leap to reach millions others,'' Patra said. Pradhan, who was the architect of Bhubaneswar meeting, said, "Odisha has already become the laboratory of PM Modi's pro-poor policies and we aim to surge ahead in state after the recent panchayat elections results." Also read: PM Modi in Surat: BJP seeks to win back sulking Patel-Patidars ahead of 2017 Gujarat Assembly elections Also read: To win 2019 election, Modi government can fight war with Pakistan, says Digvijaya Singh Also read: Narendra Modi's youngest fan: How PM broke security protocol to grant this 4-year-old her wish --- ENDS --- [April 19, 2017] Sentar, Inc. Nominated for Small Business Prime Contractor of the Year Award by SPAWARSYSCEN Atlantic Sentar, a Women-Owned Small Business, announced today it has been nominated by the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Atlantic (SPAWARSYSCEN Atlantic) as their sole nominee for the Small Business Prime Contractor of the Year Award for 2016. Only Federal agencies may nominate firms for the Small Business Prime Contractor of the Year Award and each Federal agency may nominate only one firm. The selection criteria for the award includes: management qualifications and expertise, exceptional results, and cost performance. SPAWARSYSCEN Atlantic selected and nominated Sentar from over 500 potential small business contractors that performed work for them during fiscal year 2016. "I am ecstatic to represent SPAWARSYSCEN Atlantic," said April Nadeau, VP (DHA, Navy, and Marine Corps). "Receiving this nomination cannot be credited to just one person, whether you are executing a contract, addressing surge requirements, or providing monthly reports, it's our employees who made this special recognition possible." Since being awarded SPAWARSYSCEN Atlantic Integrated Cyber Operations (ICO) Small Business Preferred Contractor IDIQ pillar contract, Sentar was selected for seven Task Orders as Prime Contractor supporting SPAWARSYSCEN Atlantic, Defense Health Agency, and Marine Corps. Sentar has also successfully performed as a sub-contractor for SPAWARSYSCEN Atlantic on other pillars and non-pillar contracts. These awards have resulted in new jobs throughout multiple states; significantly enhancing Sentar's established capabilities in cyber security and further strengthening the Company's relationship with SPAWARSYSCEN Atlantic. Sentar sub-contractors also submitted Letters of Recommendation based on their experiences with Sentar as a Small Business Prime Contractor, to be considered by the judges' panel. The following are excerpts from those submissions: "I am purposely minimizing our list of positive "above and beyond" examples as they could fill a novel. Sentar leaders foster a very positive "can-do", team-oriented culture with all of their subcontractor partners." "Sentar's culture of respect and trust throughout their day-to-day operations provides a highly agile, responsive environment that empowers the team to do whatever it takes to deliver the support their customers require. We know their leadership, their personnel and their culture and we believe SPAWARSYSCEN Atlantic could not have selected a better company for this prestigious award." "Sentar's outstanding subcontractor program management practices and implementation of a community of interest were truly outstanding initiatives, well-deserving of recognition by SPAWARSYSCEN Atlantic." About Sentar Inc. Founded in 1990, Sentar is a Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) providing advanced cybersecurity and Intel (News - Alert) solutions and services that empower customers to securely leverage computing and network assets to their fullest potential. Almost one third of Sentar employees are US Veterans. Sentar has offices in Huntsville, Alabama, Charleston, South Carolina, Columbia, Maryland, and Colorado Springs, Colorado. For more information, visit www.sentar.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170419006579/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] What you need to know about Powerball's $1.6 billion lottery jackpot You have reached a premium content area of Transitions. To read this entire article please login if you are already a Transitions subscriber. Not a subscriber? Subscribe today for access to: Full access to the website, including premium articles videos, country reports and searchable archives (containing over 25,000 articles). By Press Trust of India: New York, Apr 19 (PTI) Poor sleep may hamper the ability to see things in positive light, especially in people suffering from depression and anxiety, researchers including one of Indian origin have found. Researchers from University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) in the US, used functional MRI to measure the activity in different regions of the brain as subjects were challenged with an emotion-regulation task. advertisement They studied about 78 patients, 18 to 65 years of age, who had been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, a major depressive disorder, or both. The participants were given a questionnaire to assess their sleep over the previous month. They were shown disturbing images of violence - from war or accidents and were asked to simply look at the images and not to try to control their reaction or to "reappraise" what they saw in a more positive light. An example of reappraisal would be to see an image of a woman with a badly bruised face and imagine her as an actress in makeup for a role, rather than as a survivor of violence, said researchers. A motion-sensing device called an actigraph measured their awake time in bed, or "sleep efficiency," over a six-day period. Researchers, including Anand Kumar from University of Illinois at Chicago, found that participants who reported poorer sleep on the questionnaire were seen to have less brain activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex during the reappraisal (DACC) task, while those with lower sleep efficiency based on the actigraph data had higher activity in the DACC. The questionnaire results indicated that three out of four participants met criteria for significant sleep disturbance, and the actigraph results suggested the majority had insomnia, researchers said. "Since the questionnaire and actigraph measure different aspects of the sleep experience, it is not surprising that brain activity also differed between these measures," said Heide Klumpp, assistant professor of psychiatry at UIC. "The questionnaire asks about sleep over the previous month and answers can be impacted by current mood," Klumpp said. "Plus, respondents may not be able to accurately remember how they slept a month ago. The actigraph objectively measures current sleep, so the results from both measurements may not match," she said. "Higher DACC activity in participants with lower levels of sleep efficiency could mean the DACC is working harder to carry out the demanding work of reappraisal," Klumpp said. "Our research indicates sleep might play an important role in the ability to regulate negative emotions in people who suffer from anxiety or depression," she said. advertisement The study was published in the journal Depression and Anxiety. PTI APA MHN SAR MHN --- ENDS --- The Samsung Galaxy S8 is a very good value because of its captivating infinity display, strong performance and long battery life for under $500. Why you can trust Tom's Guide Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test . The Galaxy S8 has been around for a couple of years, but it's still a strong choice for those looking for flagship-level design and solid performance for under $500. The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ boast 5.8- and 6.2-inch infinity displays, which go from edge to edge, and these handsets feature Qualcomms relatively zippy Snapdragon 835 processor for speedy performance. Were still not fans of the fingerprint sensors location. But when you add in excellent battery life and improvements to a camera that was already very good, you have two winning handsets with the Galaxy S8 and S8+. See our best phones list for all of our top picks. Galaxy S8 price and release date The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ were released in April of 2017. You can now get the Galaxy S8 starting at $499 with 64GB of storage. The larger Galaxy S8+ isn't as readily available, but it retails for about $589. However, we've seen this phone for as low as $364 on Amazon (opens in new tab). You may want to keep an eye out for Black Friday deals and Cyber Monday deals to see if these phones get discounted during the holiday season. Design: It feels like the future The Galaxy S8 exemplifies a nearly bezel-free phone done right. Samsung didnt just take away the bezels on this phone; it crafted a space-age work of art with a new infinity display that stretches from edge to edge. The Galaxy S8 not only has a slightly bigger screen-to-body ratio than LGs phone but also looks sleeker because of the way the Gorilla Glass curves toward the edges on the front and back. Other Android phones look like blah, flat slabs by comparison. The S8 is also thinner and narrower than the G6. The screen on the S8 is 5.8 inches, versus 6.2 inches on the S8+. But other than the difference in display size, the S8 and S8+ have the same design. Overall, we prefer the bigger screen on the S8+, but if you have small hands, youll likely find yourself repositioning the phone in your hand to reach certain buttons, including the home button, which is now a virtual button instead of a physical key. The button worked well in our testing, providing solid haptic feedback. Its flanked by the Recent Apps and Back buttons. Whats remarkable about the Galaxy S8 is how much more screen real estate it gives you compared with the S7, while still offering a compact and lightweight design. The S8s 5.8-inch screen is housed in a 5.5-ounce, 2.7-inch-wide chassis, whereas the 5.1-inch S7 weighed 5.4 ounces and had the same width. The S8 is taller, but its still easy to use with one hand. With its 6.2-inch screen, the 6.1-ounce S8+ is heftier than the 5.5-ounce, 5.5-inch S7 Edge. But the S8+ makes the iPhone 8 Plus (6.2 x 3.1 x 0.29 inches, 7.13 ounces) look positively bloated. Plus, unlike the latest iPhones, the S8 and S8+ have headphone jacks. No matter which size you choose, it wont be long before you see fingerprint smudges on the back of the phone. The smudges were especially prominent on the midnight black version of the S8 and S8+, but you can also choose the lighter orchid gray or arctic silver, which dont show smudges as easily. Swipe to scroll horizontally Galaxy S8 Galaxy S8+ Price From $499 From $589 Display (Pixels) 5.8 inches (2960 x 1440) Super AMOLED 6.2 inches (2960 x 1440) Super AMOLED Camera (Back) 12 MP, f /1.7 aperture 12 MP, f /1.7 aperture Camera (Front) 8 MP, f/ 1.7 aperture 8 MP, f/1.7 aperture Biometric Scanning Facial recognition, iris scanner, fingerprint reader Facial recognition, iris scanner, fingerprint reader CPU Snapdragon 835 Snapdragon 835 RAM 4GB 4GB Storage 64GB 64GB microSD up to 256GB up to 256GB Battery 3,000 mAh 3,500 mAh Battery Life (4G) 10:39 11:04 Size 5.9 x 2.7 x 0.3 inches 6.3 x 2.9 x 0.3 inches Weight 5.5 ounces 6.1 ounces Colors Midnight Black, Orchid Gray, Arctic Silver Midnight Black, Orchid Gray, Arctic Silver Android Version 7.0 Nougat 7.0 Nougat Charging USB Type-C USB Type-C Wireless Charging WPC and PMA WPC and PMA About that fingerprint sensor We were worried that the fingerprint sensors placement right next to the camera on the back of the Galaxy S8 and S8+ might be a problem. And it was, initially. Because the sensor is fairly narrow, its difficult to target it without looking. We got used to it after a couple of days, but we still wish it were below the lens. If you dont want to reach around the S8 to unlock your phone, you can choose from a couple of other biometric options that Samsung gives you. Theres facial recognition, as well as iris scanning. Iris scanning unlocks your phone faster and even works in the dark, but it doesnt work in direct sunlight; your eyes need to be fully open, so squinting isnt an option. The facial recognition is not only slower but also had trouble in direct sunlight and doesnt work in the dark. Our advice? Use the iris scanning everywhere except in the sun, and when there is bright light, just use the fingerprint scanner. Display: The perfect screen is here Apple is bringing an OLED screen to the iPhone X, but you have to pay a grand for the privilege. Sporting a resolution of 2960 x 1440 pixels, both the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8+ turned in nearly perfect scores on our tests, offering a very bright picture, amazingly vivid colors and near-perfect color accuracy. The extra-wide 18.5:9 aspect ratio doesnt work well with some apps, but overall, we like how immersive the experience is when watching video and playing games. When watching the new Star Wars: The Last Jedi trailer, we could make out every wrinkle in Reys hands as she seemed to levitate the rocks around her with the Force, as well as every rising ring of smoke around Kylo Rens smoldering mask. As the camera panned around to the island where Luke was training Rey, it was hard not to be impressed by the golden sunshine that reflected off the water, as well as the lush, green foliage dotting the mountains. The S8 backed up our experience by reproducing a superb 183 percent of the sRGB color gamut. That blows away the LG G6s 134 percent, but the AMOLED screen on the Google Pixel scored an even higher 191 percent. (However, when you turn on Adaptive Display mode on the Galaxy S8, it can reach as high as 255 percent.) If youre looking for accurate color, the S8 can deliver that, too. In its AMOLED photo mode, the display notched a Delta-E score of 0.28 (0 is perfect). The LG G6 was closest, at 1.01, but the Pixel XL was way behind, with 5.88. Like the LG G6, the Galaxy S8s screen is HDR certified, which means you can enjoy a wider range of colors and better contrast on videos that support the standard. Amazon, Netflix and YouTube offer a growing variety of HDR-ready movies and shows. The 18.5:9 aspect ratio doesnt work well with every app. For instance, in Super Mario Run, we noticed unsightly bars above and below the game. But Samsungs own apps are optimized, and you can fill the screen by pushing a button while watching YouTube and Netflix, even if the video looks a bit stretched out. Since our initial review, some users complained about a red tint appearing on their S8 screens, but Samsung has released a fix. Audio: Poppin For a small speaker, the Galaxy S8 pumps out pretty sweet sound. When we listened to Justin Timberlakes Cant Stop the Feeling, on this phone, the lyrics were clearer, and the volume was louder, than the same track on the LG G6. The latter handset sounded slightly muffled by comparison. However, you dont get stereo sound from the Galaxy S8 as you do from the HTC U Ultra. The S8's Snapdragon 835 muscle blitzes every other Android phone on the market. Performance: A handheld powerhouse The Galaxy S8 goes boldly forward into a new era of speed, thanks to Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 system on a chip (at least in the U.S.; in other regions, the S8 will have Samsung's Exynos 8895 chip). The S8 also comes with a healthy 4GB of memory, 64GB of storage (twice the amount you get from base models of the LG G6 and the Google Pixel) and microSD card expansion for people who need even more space. When you put it all together, the S8's muscle blitzes every other Android phone on the market, but it falls short of the iPhone 8's A11 Bionic chip. The S8 almost always feels exceedingly snappy, no matter if you're vaulting over Goombas in Super Mario Run or mowing down aliens in N.O.V.A. Legacy. We didnt experience any lag when using multiwindow mode for chatting with friends while streaming video on YouTube. If you pay close attention, you may notice that some of the transitions when switching between apps aren't 100 percent smooth, but that seems mostly cosmetic. In terms of benchmark performance, the Galaxy S8s multicore score of 6,295 in the Geekbench 4 overall performance test was more than 50 percent higher than that of its closest Android competitor, the Snapdragon 821-powered Google Pixel XL (4,146). However, the iPhone 8 scored above 10,000 on this test. The Galaxy S8's graphics power was also quite impressive, as it hit 36,508 on 3DMark's Ice Storm Unlimited test. Other Android adversaries, like the LG G6 (29,611) and the Google Pixel XL (28,182), were farther behind. But the iPhone 8 scored a much higher 64,532. New for the S8 is Samsung's Device Management tab, which is best accessed by swiping in from the Edge tab. It offers a quick look at the status of your device, including battery status, power mode (optimized, performance, game or entertainment), available storage and your current memory usage. There's even an optimization button that cleans up any lingering apps and clears your cache, which is a handy tool for people who go weeks or months without actually turning off their devices. Cameras: Better on both the front and back When we first found out that the S8's 12-megapixel rear camera is ostensibly the same as the one on last year's S7, we were a bit disappointed. But that rush of emotion was a bit premature, because under the hood, Samsung made some important software enhancements. And then you toss in a new, higher-resolution, 8-MP front cam, and you get a phone that produces noticeably better pictures no matter which shooter you're using. The most important tweak comes in the form of Samsung's new multi-image photo processing, which mimics the operation of the Google Pixel's HDR+ mode by taking multiple pictures when you press the shutter, selecting the best one, and enhancing that image with extra details and info from the remaining two pics. When we took both the S8+ and a Pixel XL out for some side-by-side testing, it was clear that Samsung's adjustments have had a pretty positive effect. At a nearby farmer's market, the S8 captured a crate full of apples with better contrast, richer colors and better details than the Pixel XL. And when I continued down the street, the S8+ topped the Pixel XL again when I snapped a pic of some flowers, this time offering better white balance than Google's phone, as evidenced by the greenish hue on the white flower's petals. But it wasn't a clean sweep for the S8+. When I really tried to push both cameras to the limit by shooting a backlit scene pointing straight at the sun, the Pixel XL stunned us with a shot featuring big, bold colors and sharp details, even though there was some serious lens flare going on. Inside, in pretty much ideal conditions, the S8+ and the Pixel XL were again neck and neck. The one difference is that the Pixel's cool color tone brought out the green in the pistachio macaroon, while the pic from the S8 sported a more neutral white balance, which led to a more pleasing overall photo. Finally, at a local bar with even less light to work with, both the Pixel XL and the Galaxy S8 impressed us with photos that were brighter than the scenes in real life. Small differences included less blown-out highlights in the S8's pic, which was countered by more detail in the darker areas of the scene in the Pixel's photo. When it comes to tweaking your photos or changing modes, Samsung has added new Snapchat-like filters that let you decorate faces with various animal masks, hats and other silly emojis. But if that doesn't strike your fancy, the camera also comes with modes for shooting panoramas, food, slow-mo and more. And as with all good camera apps, there's also a Pro mode that lets you adjust settings manually. As for selfies, the S8 and S8+ sport new 8-MP cams with a wide-angle lens, which makes it easy to snap you and all your besties at once. However, compared with the Pixel XL's 8-MP camera, the S8's selfies can sometimes be a little lacking. We compared photos shot by the S8 and the Pixel XL outside on a sunny day. The Pixel XL's photo had an extra level of sharpness and detail we didn't get from the S8+. Our face looked a little too smooth and perfect on the Samsung, to the point where we were wondering whether Beauty Mode was kicking in even when we had it set to 0. The Galaxy S8s camera can shoot 4K video at 30 frames per second and slow-mo video at up to 240 frames per second at 720p. (In comparison, the LG G6 shoots at just 60 fps in slow-mo.) To test the Galaxy S8s video quality, we shot some footage of a pond with fish swimming about in 4K. The S8s footage looked crisper and more vibrant than what the iPhone 7 Plus captured, even if the colors looked a bit oversaturated. However, when we put both phones on a mount to test image stabilization, the iPhone 7s video looked smoother; we saw a bit of stuttering in the S8s footage as we walked up a grassy hill. For a hallmark feature on a flagship phone, Bixby feels pretty half-baked right now. Bixby: Still a work in progress The Galaxy S8 introduces a new personal assistant, Bixby, to take on the likes of Apple's Siri and Microsoft's Cortana. And for a hallmark feature on Samsung's flagship phone, Bixby feels pretty half-baked right now, even after Samsung has rolled out voice controls to its virtual assistant. The main difference between Bixby and other digital assistants is that it lets you use voice commands to control your phone in lieu of tapping the screen, which can save you time and energy. You can also use Bixby to tell you the weather or look up the definition of quixotic, but its real purpose is giving you a whole new way to control your phone. For instance, you can ask Bixby to show you emails from a specific person by name, and it will slickly pull up all your conversations in just a couple seconds. That's way faster than tapping to open the email app, hitting search and then typing in that person's name. Bixby can also understand complex commands with contextual language, so you can do things like ask Bixby to post the last photo you took to Instagram and add a caption, all with one command. You can also change almost any setting on the S8 using your voice, which is often much faster than trying to dig through a modern phone's increasingly complex array of menus and tabs. Or at least, that's how things should work. The big problem is that Bixby's voice-command functionality, while now available, was pretty erratic when we tested it. Sometimes Bixby will fail to understand your language at all, while other times, Bixby will get confused and try to open the wrong app or adjust incorrect settings. But every once in a while Bixby will get everything right and you won't even be able to tell that its voice commands are still a work in progress. Currently, simple commands have the best success rate. MORE: 11 Coolest Things Bixby Voice Can Do on the Galaxy S8 As of August 22, Samsung announced that the Bixby voice command feature is now available in more than 200 countries and territories, though you'll still need to use either English or Korean to make it work. Support for additional languages, as well as more third party apps, is in the works. Then there's Bixby Vision, which leverages the S8's camera along with object recognition to identify items in the world. We found this worked pretty well when we pointed the S8 at various household items, such as shampoos, snacks and aluminum foil. It also works for books. After pointing the Galaxy S8's camera at any object, we could check prices online on Amazon. Say you're at the liquor store and want to know the rating of that wine or what food to pair it with. Bixby has also partnered with Vivino to identify that bottle and spit back information. However, at a wine store in New York, the feature was more miss than hit, as it seemed to have trouble with the bright lights. At home, however, Bixby identified three wines correctly, though we were greeted with a home server error. Bixby's other talents include the ability to set reminders and a Bixby Home tool with a card-based interface that shows you your schedule, what's trending on Facebook, the weather, news and other info. All told, Bixby is a frustrating mix of success and failures, though there is a lot of potential should Samsung work out all the kinks. Thankfully, though, you can turn to the Google Assistant, which also comes preloaded on the S8. Software: Feature-rich but accessible Running Android 7.0 Nougat, the Galaxy S8 still has a skin on top of Android, but its fairly intuitive, and Samsungs minimalist, line-drawn icons are easy to understand. We like that you dont have to tap a button to see all of your apps from the home screen; just swipe down from the middle of the screen, and then swipe left to see more apps. If you swipe down from the very top of the screen from wherever you are, youll see your notifications and Samsungs quick-settings shortcuts. Finally, swiping in from the left provides access to Edge screen shortcuts, such as a customizable list of apps, a device maintenance screen (for battery, choosing performance mode, etc.) and a Smart Select tool for selecting an area of the screen and sharing it or pinning it to the top of your display. Youll also find a ton of advanced features. The ones at the top of our list include a one-handed mode that you can activate by tapping the home button three times to shrink the screen, as well as the ability to quickly launch the camera by pressing the power key twice. At least on the T-Mobile S8 we tested, there was minimal bloatware. T-Mobile included just five of its own apps: Device Unlock, T-Mobile, T-Mobile Name ID, T-Mobile TV and Visual Voicemail. Accessories: Way beyond Gear VR The Galaxy S8 works with the new Gear VR for those who want to experience virtual-reality games and content, but thats not the only interesting accessory. The new DeX ($149) is a dock that lets you use the S8 and S8+ as a mini PC. The dock can connect to a full-size monitor via its HDMI port, as well as a keyboard and mouse via Bluetooth. It also has an Ethernet jack and a USB port. Out of the box, the Samsung Connect app will let you access and control various Samsung-branded smart home gear. For instance, you can start your Samsung robot vacuum ($549) or peek inside your Samsung Family Hub fridge (about $2,900) to see what you need from the store while youre out. But youll get a lot more possibilities if you buy Samsung's $169 Samsung Connect Home a combination mesh Wi-Fi router and SmartThings hub that will let you control other items, such as Philips Hue lights and Netgears Arlo security camera. Samsung offers a slew of other accessories, including an LED View cover for always having the time in view, a wireless charging stand and more. Check out our roundup of the Best Galaxy S8 accessories and Galaxy S8 cases. Battery Life One concern about a phone with this much screen is how that extra real estate might impact battery life. The Galaxy S8+ has a slightly smaller battery than last years S7 Edge (3,500 mAh versus 3,600 mAh), and yet the S8+ improved almost 1 hour, to 11 hours and 4 minutes, on the Tom's Guide Battery Test (continuous web surfing on 4G LTE using T-Mobile's network). The standard Galaxy S8s 3,000-mAh battery endured for 10:39 on the same test, improving on the Galaxy S7's (8:47) time by nearly 2 hours. We obtained these results with the phones resolutions set to their max 2960 x 1440 pixels. They come with the less demanding 2220 x 1080 setting on by default. MORE: Smartphones with the Longest Battery Life Compared to the Galaxy S8+, the Pixel XL's battery life was just a bit longer, at 11:11. The iPhone 8 Plus hit 11:16, while the smaller iPhone 8 lasted 9:54. LG G6 finished way behind, with a time of just 8:39. On top of that, the S8 has battery smarts that let it learn about your usage patterns to help extend its longevity even further. And when you need to juice the phone back up, you can take advantage of the S8s fast-charging capabilities via its included USB Type-C cable or use one of Samsung's slick wireless chargers (available separately). Bottom Line Its clear that, with the Galaxy S8 and S8+, Samsung set out to create more than a phone. Its trying to build a more Apple-like ecosystem, with devices ranging from the Gear VR and the DeX dock to the new Samsung Connect app for controlling smart home gear and the Bixby assistant. Its also evident that Samsung hasnt yet reached that goal, as Bixbys voice features can be hit or miss. But even with that shortcoming, the Galaxy S8 still beats the Android competition while surpassing the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus in terms of design, display quality and features. The iPhones are better, though, when it comes to sheer speed and their cameras. Some shoppers will prefer a newer Android phone in the same price range, like the $479 Pixel 3a XL, but overall the Galaxy S8 and S8+ remain good values for those who prefer Samsung handsets. Credit: Jeremy Lips/Tom's Guide; Comparisons: Samuel Rutherford/Tom's Guide. Thousands of parents have upped their ante against the arbitrary fee hike. By Manjeet Sehgal: After the violent Panjab University fee hike protest in Chandigarh, over six major towns in Punjab are witnessing similar protests. Thousands of parents have upped their ante against the arbitrary fee hike and compulsion to buy books of private publishers by the private schools. Protests including hunger strike, sit in, road blocks and candlelight march erupted in Gurdaspur, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Batala, Bathinda and Pathankot besides other areas against the systematic 'loot' of private schools. advertisement Parents alleged that a sizeable chunk of private schools are owned by the politicians including the ruling Congress. The deputy commissioners and education department officials were reluctant to take action against the schools due to the political interference. Sources said that the schools, besides indulging in indiscriminate fee hike, also ask parents to buy books from private publishers and compel them to deposit fees of three months in advance. "The government is sleeping. Captain Amarinder Singh had assured before the elections that the government will curb the practice by making a law. Parents have become a source of exploitation under the nose of the government. We demand strict action against the erring schools who do not recommend NCERT books and compel parents to buy costly textbooks from private publishers. Interestingly, the nationwide nexus of publishers and school management is acting like a mafia. They cleverly change a page or two and ask parents to buy new editions every year," a Ludhiana based parent Purushottam Sharma told India Today. Parent associations have also decided to meet the Punjab Governor Vijayendrapal Singh Badnore to apprise him about the open loot. PUNJAB CABINET GIVES NOD FOR LEGISLATION TO CURB FEE HIKE The Punjab cabinet today gave its nod to the Punjab State Regulation of Fee of Unaided Educational Institutions Rules, 2017, to rationalise school fees. "The rules would cap the annual fee hike by private schools at 8 per cent of the previous year's fee. All other funds charged by the schools would also be covered by these rules," Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal said. The BJP has slammed the state government for having ignored the woes of the parents who have been protesting against the fee hike for over a month now. "Punjab Regulation of Fee of Unaided Educational Institutions Act, 2016 was already in force but the government wants another act which may take another month or so to become a law, thereby giving enough time to the private schools to loot the parents. We demand stern action against the erring schools which have forced the parents to pay hefty amount of development fees besides the books," Vineet Joshi, secretary, Punjab BJP said. ALSO READ | Panjab University: Fee hike protest enters 14th day advertisement ALSO READ | Panjab University fee hike: Complaint withdrawn, sedition charges against 66 students dropped ALSO WATCH | Protests against Punjab University course fee hike: Police use water cannons to deal with ruckus --- ENDS --- Community radio music directors often have an encyclopedic knowledge of local music and an insatiable thirst to keep their ears ahead of the curve. So in this Tone Deaf series, the Australian Music Radio Airplay Project (Amrap) invites music directors to highlight new Aussie tunes that you might have missed. In this edition, Cam Durnsford from PBS FM in Melbourne contributes with a selection of tracks currently making their way to community radio through Amraps music distribution service AirIt. Check out Cams selections below and if youre a musician you can apply here to have your music distributed for free to community radio on Amraps AirIt. NUN Cant Chain This one has been kicking around for a while but I havent stopped listening to it since it came out the first taste of Melbourne band NUNs second LP The Dome, due out soon. They premiered these songs live as part of Melbourne Music Week last year at the State Library of Victorias magnificent reading room the titular dome where much of the albums lyrics were apparently written. The first time I saw NUN I was completely floored by their use of analogue electronics as a facsimile of a conventional four-piece rock band, and the intensity of the sound they generate. Cant Chain shows this sound has evolved (though is no less intense), with Jenny Branagans vocal less processed and higher in the mix. And all the better for it. feedtime Any Good Thing feedtime are a band that sound to me like theyd be equally at home at art school as they would on the docks. Its a false dichotomy of course, but theres no doubt their thuggish, sludgy post-punk is terrifying and tough as nails, while unabashedly artful in its simplicity. That thunderous, metallic bass tone, primitive rhythms and bluesy slide guitar conspiring here into a beautiful cacophony, as it has done for just shy of 40 years. Taken from Gas, feedtimes first record in more than 20 years, theres no sign of a band cynically going through the motions here. Proof that coming back from a long period of inactivity doesnt always yield diminishing returns. Mista Savona Carnival feat. Solis & Randy Valentine Its hard to believe this hasnt happened sooner given the rich musical cultures and relative proximity of Cuba and Jamaica, but it makes perfect sense now that it has. Give thanks to Melbournes Mista Savona (and a legion of kickstarter supporters) for being the catalyst in uniting the two islands on his latest project Havana Meets Kingston. Jake Savona recruited legendary reggae rhythm section Sly and Robbie, percussionist Bongo Herman, and a cast of other guest musicians from both countries to record not one but two albums, and film a documentary about the whole thing. Carnival is the perfect introduction to whats in store a heavyweight Sly and Robbie riddim, paired with Cuban horns and lyrics sung in both Spanish and English. The Seven Ups Through the Dust The Seven Ups have been doing their thing for a few years now all the time spent tripping in the Tarago up and down the east coast has got them sounding tighter than ever, and seems to have been the inspiration for at least a couple of tracks on Drinking Water, their second full-length. The Seven Ups stock in trade is a highly danceable, horn-heavy take on afrobeat and heavy instrumental funk this track probably leans more on the latter than some of the other cuts on the LP, though theres still something hypnotic about the rhythm on this that evokes the great Tony Allen the opening drum break is asking to be sampled really. Fela lives! In the bonsoy belt. Emily Wurramara Hey Love What a voice. Emily Wurramara has had me totally charmed since the release of her debut EP Black Smoke last year in the time since its release her star has well and truly risen, with a recent Best Indigenous Song award at the 2017 Queensland Music Awards for Black Smoke single Ngayuwa Ngelyeyiminama (I Love You) and a string of festival appearances. Now based in Brisbane, Emily is a multi-instrumentalist who sings in both English and Anindilyakwa, the traditional language of her home on Groote Eylandt in the Northern Territory. Clearly not one to rest on her laurels, shes followed last years EP with another beautiful single that recounts her mothers experiences of racism as a young boarding school student, and turns it into a poignant message of empowerment and solidarity. Red Red Krovvy Holiday Weve all had the feeling after a holiday that were actually more tired and in need of peace and quiet than we were before we left being lost in another culture and place can have an alienating effect on even the most seasoned traveller. Much like Madonnas Holiday perfectly captures the unbridled excitement of going on a vacay, Cairns/Sydney/Melbourne band Red Red Krovvys Holiday is a similar paean to the annual escape we all live for, but with just a touch of dread lingering beneath the surface that can make you wonder why you even bothered. Maybe a staycation would been a better idea? Three minutes of sublimely nihilistic punk rock. Holy Balm Hot Cold (Andras Dub Mix) Take a trip back to the second summer of love by way of this Andras Fox re-rub of Sydneys Holy Balm. Where the original from last years essential Activity LP (also a total banger) gets all woozy and off-kilter in the way Holy Balm do, this remix is a straight up Balearic affair which pulls Emma Ramsays vocal back to let the 909 and dubby bass synth shine. Its one of three Andras remixes taken from a five-track EP of Activity remixes the other two being takes on album highlight Fashion alongside Activity reworks from defunct house duo Zanzibar Chanel and Atlanta producer Moon B. Guaranteed to be heard on a dancefloor near you soon. Friday marks the one-year anniversary of Princes untimely death and to mark the occasion, Deliverance, a six track EP, will be available for purchase. The songs were recorded between 2006 and 2008, and include a four-movement medley named Man Opera, which is a fairly Prince thing to do. The songs were written and recorded when Prince was an independent artist, protesting what he saw as an unjust music industry, a press release explains. In the spirit of that independence, and in supporting Princes opinion of major label contracts, DELIVERANCE is being released independently via RMA, a Vancouver, WA based record company. The majority of all sales of DELIVERANCE will benefit Princes estate. Prince worked with writer and producer Ian Boxill on the recordings, with Boxill completing the project over the past year. Boxill has worked with Gladys Knight, Janet Jackson, 2Pac and more, so this promises to be a rather respectful bit of posthumous intrusion, unlike a lot of the dross pushed out under Michael Jacksons name. I believe Deliverance is a timely release with everything going on in the world today, and in light of the one-year anniversary of his passing, says Boxill of the release. I hope when people hear Prince singing these songs it will bring comfort to many. Prince once told me that he would go to bed every night thinking of ways to bypass major labels and get his music directly to the public. When considering how to release this important work, we decided to go independent because thats what Prince would have wanted. Listen to the title track to Deliverance, below, and check out the EP artwork, too. Disturbing trend continues for North Kansas City School District One of the metro's largest school districts is witnessing a disturbing trend. Two North Kansas City School District employees were arrested and accused of inappropriate actions with children - and it's something the district has seen a number of times over the past two years. Here is what is likely the most important public safety and trend-spotting journalism of the last 24-hour news cycle. Checkit: New federal complaint requests investigation into Missouri Senator Ron Richard over TAMKO campaign contributions Temperature's rising in Ron Richard's kitchen. The Missouri Senate leader has been dogged by accusations of pay-for-play politics for months now. As we reported in February, Richard cashed a $100,000 check from the CEO of TAMKO Building Products six days after introducing legislation that would effectively derail a class-action lawsuit against TAMKO. In fairness, Missouri ethics is usually a bad joke and has rarely resulted in longstanding change or even a slap on the wrist. Here are newsies pretending otherwise: Kansas City New School Survivor Story Kansas City teen lucky to be alive after he's struck by van while riding his bike KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Robert Walker, 17, bears the scars of a life-changing incident after he was run over while he was riding is bike with his brother on 31st and Prospect. "When I look at this bike, you would think the person on it would have died when you look at this bike." Show-Me Legal Debate Lawyers argue Missouri church-state Supreme Court case should go on; entire AG's office recuses itself WASHINGTON * Lawyers on both sides of a Missouri church-and-state case were set to argue Wednesday before the U.S. Supreme Court, despite debate about whether Gov. Eric Greitens' announcement that religious organizations should be allowed to apply for state resources had rendered the case moot. Rock Chalk Booze Liberation Kansas grocery, convenience stores can sell stronger beer in 2019 KANSAS CITY, Kan. - A beer battle has brewed in Kansas for decades and now, a small victory for those who have pushed to sell stronger beer in grocery and convenience stores. Tuesday, Governor Sam Brownback signed SB13 into law. Dead Mall Graveyard Renaissance Old Indian Springs mall location could get new life KANSAS CITY, Kan. - Plans to renovate the old Indian Spring Shopping Center are in the works. The Lane4 Property Group has proposed using 26 acres of the lot for flex/tech buildings and light industrial spaces. The Unified Government is also ready to develop the property. Westside D-Bag Central Celebration Tour the newly converted Switzer Lofts on KC's West Side The once-dilapidated properties - five buildings in all that were the former West High, West Junior High and Switzer Elementary schools - have been reborn as Switzer Lofts after a $24 million renovation. Fear The Sleaze Summit Overpass Lee's Summit neighborhood concerned over proposed bridge LEE'S SUMMIT, Mo. - A proposed bridge project has groups of neighbors frustrated at city leaders and voicing both safety and noise concerns. The $920,000 project calls for a bridge to link 5th Terrace and Bordner Drive, cutting through a creek and green space area popular amongst some of the local children. Salvy Saves The Day Amid FAIL Salvador Perez somehow made this play at the plate to tag Brandon Belt Salvador Perez came up with a spectacular tag at home against the San Francisco Giants. Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez may have just come up with the best defensive play he'll have all year and it's not even May. hotness keeps us interested in the local news scene and some of these local Kansas City items from tonight's news cycle. Dive right in . . .And this is thefor right now . . . Amphipolis and Greek monuments are a priority, according to her Amphipolis and all the important Greek monuments is our priority, said Culture Minister Lydia Koniordou on Wednesday in a meeting with Central Macedonia regional governor Apostolos Tzitzikostas. Our aim is to continue the excavations and make the monument accessible to visitors. The cooperation with the region of Central Macedonia is important because it is giving us the opportunity to resume the excavations. Mrs. Koniordou was refering to the help the region of Central Macedonia will provide to the excavations, which according to Mr. Tzitzikostas comprises of 1 million euro funds from cross border programmes plus an additional 1.5 million euro funds from the new NSRF (National Strategic Reference Framework) programme. 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 Trivizas said that the number of Americans expected to visit Greece this year will rise to around 900,000 from 778,600 in 2016 The US market will be bringing more tourists and more revenues to Greece this year, according to the president of the Hellenic American Chamber of Tourism (HACT), George Trivizas. Trivizas said that the number of Americans expected to visit Greece this year will rise to around 900,000 from 778,600 in 2016. Revenues from US visitors are set to revert to growth after the 22.8 percent annual decline recorded in 2016. They are now seen rising to 727.9 million euros in 2017. One of the most encouraging signs of sustained growth for tourism flows from the US to Greece has been the fact that the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) asked HACT and tourism consultants MTC Group to see whether its Destination Expo 2018 conference could be held in Athens next year. The Greek capital is facing competition from Hanoi, Malta, Aqaba and Tel Aviv. The selection will be made ahead of the ASTA conference in June in Washington. MTC head Notis Martakis expressed his optimism that Athens will be chosen in the end. The US market is crucial, as it is the worlds second biggest in terms of tourism spending (accounting for $121.5 billion last year) behind China (with $261.1 billion). 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 It had been his dream to become a sniper since he joined police basic training America loves a hero sniper. Consider Chris Kyle, the veteran Navy SEAL who became the stuff of legend well before publishing his 2012 autobiography American Sniper, with more than 160 kills confirmed by the Pentagon during his four tours in Iraq. Or Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart, the Delta Force snipers posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for their bravery during the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, actions immortalized in Black Hawk Down. Or Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Carlos Hathcock II, who established a Scout Sniper School at Quantico, Virginia, after returning home from the Vietnam War. Alone with his rifle, the sniper is the embodiment of the one-man army. Now, Iraq has its own expert marksman to celebrate: Yousef Ali, a 20-year-old Iraqi federal policeman who, with the help of a Russian-made Dragunov sniper rifle, is helping Iraqi security forces and the U.S.-led coalition take back the city of Mosul inch by inch, block by block. Since Western-backed forces began their advance on Mosul in earnest in February, six months after the initial military offensive by Iraqi forces, ISIS has put up fierce resistance with their own barrage of mortar shells and sniper fire constant threats lurking behind burned-out houses and mountains of rubble. USA Todays Igor Kossov embedded with Ali to get a first-hand look at the task facing the warfighters of the multinational coalition. Through the small hole in the wall of an abandoned hotel, Ali saw the labyrinth of the Old Citys narrow streets stretch before him. Sneak attack surrounded by civilian human shields Less than 300 yards away, the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, prepared for another sneak attack, surrounded by civilian human shields. The (ISIS fighters) are out there, said the 20-year-old Iraqi federal policeman, taking his eyes off the scope for a moment. Just behind those buildings. Two or three days ago, (ISIS) set some fires to make a smokescreen, then some of them came at us with suicide belts, Ali said. I killed two of them. Tales of incredible marksmanship in ongoing campaigns against the ISIS caliphate have become the equivalent of war porn for faraway observers. In January, British tabloids ran the thinly-sourced story of a SAS sniper who took out three ISIS fighters prepared to fire into a crowd of women and children they had told to halt. And who can forget the tale of 63-year-old Abu Tahseen, Iraqi veteran of five wars, who claimed last year to have killed more than 173 fighters since May 2015? But thats the beauty of the Kossovs profile of Ali. The young Iraqi policeman is less a superhuman marksman and more a courageous young man doing his job and following his training: Ali said it had been his dream to become a sniper since he joined police basic training. After 45 days of basics, he was accepted into sniper training, spending six months becoming acquainted with the specialization under Iraqi and Italian trainers in Baghdad and Fallujah. The training paid off when he was thrust into the Mosul offensive with his M-16 and Dragunov rifles, Ali said. Of course, Ali maintains a friendly rivalry with his fellow snipers: After all, who doesnt want to be the next Chris Kyle? We always hear everything thats going over the radio. So sometimes well say, Oh, I killed more (ISIS fighters) than you, you better try harder, he told USA Today. But we all treat each other as brothers here. Source:uk.news.yahoo.com 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 The second edition of Hurafuna Handicraft Festival, which successfully closed last night, attracted more than 75,000 visitors from various nationalities. The event that was held at Bab Al Bahrain in Manama Souq provided visitors of all ages an opportunity to enjoy the live performances by traditional Bahraini bands, participate in traditional games and the opportunity to purchase traditional products made by 21 craftsmen who showcased their handicrafts during the festival. Some of the handicrafts included hand-weaved baskets, rope making, wooden boxes, pottery, model ships and much more. Hurafuna aimed to create a unique atmosphere to all visitors while promoting the local heritage. The Festival also offered its young visitors a fun-filled calendar of events including activities and educational handicraft workshops such as pottery painting and the art of collage. The workshops aimed to provide an educational platform aimed at preserving the kingdoms rich traditional handicrafts industry. More than 400 school students visited Hurafuna and took part in the various workshops. Commenting on the conclusion of the event, the chief executive officer of Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority Shaikh Khaled bin Humood Al Khalifa, said: We are delighted to witness the success of the second edition of Hurafuna handicrafts festival. The event attracted a large number of visitors and successfully promoted the handicrafts industry among the international visitors who are in Bahrain during the F1 season. Also, by hosting workshops on the sidelines of the Festival, we were able to enhance the handicraft industry among the students and future generation. We aim to continue strengthening our strategy in hosting similar events that play an important role in preserving the traditional handicrafts industry in Bahrain, which is a main component of the tourism identity, said Shaikh Khalid. - TradeArabia News Service Qatar Airways has become the first airline in the world to achieve compliance with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Resolution 753 at its hub in Hamad International Airport (HIA). The resolution requires the airline to track every piece of baggage from the start of the journey all the way through to its finish. The certification has been achieved thanks to the airlines Baggage Management System (Haqiba) developed in-house, as well as its seamless real time integration with the Qatar Airways website and mobile app. Qatar Airways offers real time updates on checked baggage through the Track My Bags feature on its website and mobile app, providing passengers with a truly hassle-free baggage experience. The mobile app provides real time notification to passengers with relevant updates on the bag, as well as the ability to retrieve the details on need basis using My Trips. The information includes various stages of the baggage handling process such as check-in, transfer, arrival, as well as reference to bag tags and baggage belt. This information guides passengers during the journey and provides insight into any instance of delayed or lost baggage. The Haqiba system enables Qatar Airways staff to proactively manage the delayed bags to provide an optimised handling process. Qatar Airways group chief executive Akbar Al Baker, said: Our careful attention to our passengers baggage, from the beginning of their journey all the way through to its finish, is yet another indication of the importance we place on customer experience. We have proactively taken steps to align our baggage management systems with Iatas requirements. As a result, we are delighted that the association has declared Qatar Airways the first airline worldwide to become certified for end-to-end tracking for our hub at Hamad International Airport. Nick Careen, senior vice president - airport, passenger, cargo and security for Iata, said: Qatar Airways efforts over the past year to comply with Iata Resolution 753 on Baggage Tracking have paid off. We congratulate the airline on becoming the first in the world to achieve full compliance of the resolution at their hub in Doha. Qatar Airways ability to track baggage at every stage of its journey will allow the airline full visibility to manage its baggage operations and to more easily trace, retrieve and deliver missing or delayed bags, leading to a better experience for passengers. Resolution 753 was developed to reduce mishandling and baggage fraud, increase passenger satisfaction and enhance the overall baggage management landscape at airports around the world. The resolution was issued in 2016 and made mandatory for all Iata airlines, who have until June 1, 2018 to comply. The certificate was presented to Qatar Airways Doha hub Hamad International Airport (HIA); once all its stations in the network are compliant with the resolution, Iata will award the airline a platinum certificate. - TradeArabia News Service Only a few days after being embroiled in the Air India controversy, Gaikwad was caught arguing with an SBI Bank manager in Latur city of Marathwada in Maharashtra. By Pankaj P. Khelkar: Controversial Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad, who hogged the headlines recently because of his irresponsible behaviour with an Air India staffer, was spotted arguing with an SBI Bank manager in Latur city of Marathwada in Maharashtra. In the mobile video that's gone viral, the bank manager can be seen trying to explain Gaikwad about his helplessness to deposit cash in ATM machines, but MP Gaikwad is in no mood to listen. advertisement Although speaking in support of demonetisation, Gaikwad hit out at the bank for playing foul and protecting the interests of selected customers. Even after six months of demonetisation, a majority of small-time middle-class customers are still facing the brunt of having to stand in long queues in the scorching summer heat in Marathwada. Incidentally, the common people standing outside ATMs had smiles on their faces, as they were happy that this Shiv Sena MP's intervention had got bank officials to ensure that ATM machines, out-of-service for a while, started dispensing cash. Female customers said that they were thankful to Gaikwad for arguing with the bank manager by staging a dharna at the SBI ATM. Surprisingly, today is the polling day for the Latur Municipal Corporation election and this Robinhood appearance of Gaikwad yesterday has certainly become the talking point in Latur town that might benefit the Shiv Sena when the results are declared. Also Read: Ravindra Gaikwad has 5 duplicates, even Shatrughan Sinha mistook one for Shiv Sena MP Prefer train over plane, says controversial Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad Watch Video:Ravindra Gaikwad has given undertaking, will not misbehave again, tweets MoS Jayant Sinha --- ENDS --- SEC Clears T+2 Settlement Window, So Whats Next? The Securities & Exchange Commissions recent vote to shorten the settlement time for stock and bond transactions to two days from three marks a new era of operational efficiency and reduced counterparty risk for the financial industry. But brokers must employ a series of steps to ensure they are fully ready for the transition, scheduled for Sept. 5. Many industry participants in the United States and Canada have already been working to understand and prepare for the switch that will align these countries standards with the many other marketplaces globally that have already transitioned to a T+2 settlement cycle. Notably, 23 European countries moved in October, 2014 and Australia in March, 2016, so the Canada and the US marketplace are behind the global settlement cycle compression curve. For Canada and the US, many institutions still must execute several industry best practices to be prepared, including: Testing their settlement system both internally and as part of industry testing Educating staff and clients of the change and its effects. Applying a stakeholder sign-off process. Developing a paper trail to support post-T+2 implementation audits. Accelerated settlement has been a long time coming. For 17 years, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, or SIFMA, has been urging the change, which affects many instruments and financial products not just equities - with asset-backed securities and bilateral contracts among those that will be highly affected and exchange-traded funds and mutual funds among those that will be somewhat affected. The SECs Investor Advisory Committee endorsed the change in 2015 and the commission proposed its rule last fall. And its just a matter of time before investors must set their sights on achieving T+1 and the move to T+2 in other markets. The SEC intends to take the next three years to study further improvements to the settlement window, including a shorter settlement cycle to T or T+1. Commissioner Kara Stein noted that technological, operational and communications improvements exist that could enable T+1 and even end-of-the-day settlement cycles. In advance of this potential action, markets will need to deal with other T+3 markets migrating to T+2 such as Japan and Mexico. 1 2 next For more information on related topics, visit the following channels: Research Pricing Vexes Sell Side MiFID II's research unbundling requirement has left the sell side scratching its head in how to price its research for its buy-side clients. Sonali Theisen, global head of market structure & data science at Citi declined to answer how her firm is approaching the issue during a MiFID II for Non-Europeans panel discussion last week hosted by Bloomberg. "There are so many hybrid research functions that large sell-side firms are still trying to figure out where we think it fits," she said. "We have desk analysts that work alongside our clients to work on a name and take down a risk. It is almost impossible to quantify that resource." The chances of the sell side developing an a la carte menu of individual research products is slim, according to Neil Scarth, principal at Frost Consulting and who spoke on a separate panel. The UK's Financial Conduct Authority, considered one of the most aggressive regulators, rejected including such a mandate for the sell side in its 600-page implementation document. "This comes from the recognition that even they recognize that the very same thing can have a very different value to different people," he said. "The value of a fantastic piece on Facebook to a deep value investor probably is not very high because deep value investors can never own the stock but a growth investor might find it incredibly valuable." Meanwhile, the sell side may look to develop tiered-access offering, aspirational pricing, and price-price taking models, according to fellow panelist Neil Shah. Tiered-access would not be a novel model, added James Bennett, managing director, Markets at Greenwich Associates. "We're all familiar with the American Express's green card versus gold card versus platinum card," he said. "It means a different level of service and value for different thresholds." One potential scenario for a bulge-bracket firm would be to provide global access for 'X' hours and access to sales coverage on a corporate basis, Shah offered. Taking an aspirational approach, a sell-side research provider could value their research at $100,000 but start at a low price, such as $25,000, and evolve the price over time, he added. And with a price-taking model, the sell side firm would simply price its research and see if any buy-side firm bites. Of the three models, Greenwich Associate's Bennett believes that the tiered-access model becoming the dominant model as sell-side providers work with independent research providers to deliver an enhanced research offering. For more information on related topics, visit the following channels: One of the most vocal critic of Centre's step to tone down the VVIP culture is Bihar Power Minister Bijendra Yadav. By Rohit Kumar Singh: Narendra Modi government's move to scrap VVIP culture of using red beacon (lal batti) atop cars, seems to have irked some Bihar ministers who attended the cabinet meeting helmed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday. One of the most vocal critic of Centre's step to tone down the VVIP culture is Power Minister Bijendra Yadav, who has accused the prime minister of demolishing the federal structure in the country. advertisement "BJP is destroying the federal structure of the country. Whatever decision Centre has taken is not binding on us and state governments are under no obligation to follow them", said Yadav. Though seemingly upset with the new order, minister Lallan Singh, Abdul Jalil Mastan and Ashok Chowdhary said they will respect the decision. "If the Centre has scrapped red beacons, we will also scrap it", said Abdul Jalil Mastan, Excise Minister. Interestingly, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's car does not sport a red beacon and neither does Deputy CM Tejasvi Yadav's. Also read: Is PM Modi's red beacon surprise yet another citizen connect move? Also read: Red beacons: Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis also removes lal batti from his car --- ENDS --- Mauritius is synonymous with pristine beaches because you won't need to look afar for white sand coastlines and crystal clear waters. But there are more places to explore in this small island nation because it's overflowing with scenic mountain views, gastronomic experiences, and historical sites. Underwater Waterfall. A view of Mauritius from the top would give you a chance to witness the island's underwater waterfall. In fact, most tourists are after the view that they avail of helicopter tours to see the gorgeous scene. But according to Earth Porm, it's just an illusion because the sand and silt create a fluctuation of color underneath the water so it looks like it's sucking the whole island. Chamarel Colored Earth. Other natural phenomena that create fascinating views of nature are the colored sands of Chamarel. According to CNN, the lava slowly turns into clay minerals and when the sun hits the ground, it creates a wide array of colored sands from violet, red, purple, green, blue to yellow. Photography Museum. This place is located across the Municipal Theatre in Port Louis and it's a hidden gem that most people should really check out. The museum is filled with the life's work of Tristan Breville, a man who dedicated his life taking pictures and documenting the history of the island. Le Pouce. This iconic mountain that lies next to the island's capital will give you breathtaking views of Mauritius. It's an hour hike going up to the mountain but it would take you about two to three hours going down. Grand Bassin. This marvelous creation of nature holds so much history to it. The Grand Bassin was once a volcano that helped formed the island, but when it died out, it was filled up with water and life flourished in it. Now, if ever you plan on visiting Mauritius, remember to stop by these places. These are beautiful spots that should be included in your itineraries. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 Climate change, one of the worst global problems, is slowly taking its toll. Although it may not be felt that much in some places, there are countries that are greatly affected by this drastic phenomenon, including Vietnam. According to BBC, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment predicted that by the year 2100, the rising sea levels would swallow a big chunk of the country's Mekong Delta region. Mekong Delta is responsible for Vietnam's 50 percent of rice production, and over 20 percent of the whole country's population reside here, according to Climate. EarthJournalism. Vietnam pretty much resigned with the knowledge that nothing could really stop this upcoming disaster. But by planting mangrove trees, they think they have a small chance, said then Minister of the Environment Nguyen Minh Quan. Mangroves are pretty beneficial. They act as natural storm barriers when planted in front of coastlines and they absorb enormous amounts of carbon dioxide in the air. Unfortunately, Vietnam has lost more than a half of its mangrove forests due to urban development and deforestation, therefore bringing them back is a wise choice. One of the current signs that Vietnam is experiencing the worst end of the stick of climate change is that whenever rainy season comes in, intense flooding usually comes afterward. It's an early sign and if no other form of action would be undertaken, the next flooding could be the last, and submerged cities and small villages would remain underwater. Right now, there are several environmental groups that are aiming to spread awareness of this problem to most locals. If everybody believes in the cause, it would be so much easier to revive Vietnam's lost mangrove forests and help slow down the inevitable sinking of some parts of the country. Vietnam is a country in Southeast Asia that is frequently visited by tourists. Its rich culture is a world treasure, therefore, preservation of this beautiful country is a must. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 Guide4tours is a new online booking platform that allows local guides from anywhere in the world to promote and market their services globally. (TRAVPR.COM) SPAIN - April 19th, 2017 - The platform, created by a group of professionals of the tourist sector in Spain and Morocco, was born with an offer of tours in different cities in four continents. It is available in five languages (Spanish, French, English, Italian, Arabic and Russian) and allows guides to offer their services for different devices (computer, mobile, Tablet ... etc) at competitive prices. Amina Achab, co-founder of Guide4tours.com has stated at the launch of the platform that "the local guides have the possibility to market their services globally without marketing costs and adapt to the demands and needs of the customer thanks to the contact and exchange of messages across the platform. " Guide4tours.com is born of the culture of the collaborative economy and offers the possibility for local travellers and guides to have a direct dialogue thanks to an efficient use of information (offer), and of new technologies of communication and information, to satisfy Both the needs of travellers and generate a new value offer for local guides. The founder of Competitive Advantage stated that its founder "stands to differentiate us from the competition thanks to the ability to innovate, offer added value, competitive prices, and presenting traditional services such as tourist tours with new formats and promotion processes, Marketing and management. " Tourism and new technologies In recent years the tourism sector has witnessed an important transformation of the value chain by the emergence of collaborative platforms that connects individuals and companies based on the "peer to peer" economy model. They are platforms that generate new business opportunities in view of the possibility of disintermediation and of being able to have a direct supplier-customer dialogue thanks to an efficient use of the information (supply and demand) that new technologies allow. Guide4tours.com is a good example of how thanks to new technological applications, customers and suppliers can channel ideas and proposals regarding the demand for new services, enhance the dialogue and interaction between travellers and local guides, who become part of Intelligence and the process of business innovation. At present there are millions of pages in the network offering tourist products and services. This excess of information makes aggregation and comparison of supply more and more essential and more precise for both the consumer (traveller) and the borrower of the final services (guides and travel agents). The experience of the specialized channels for the distribution and commercialization of apartments and tourist lodgings, which are the most used and those that today have the greatest growth in the market of the commercialization for this new segment, shows that every day the demand of hiring increases Services directly to travel. The same model is possible to apply to the offer of local tours and activities in destination. Guide4tours was born to that end, in the words of Amina Achab "makes the value chain in the field of tourism routes and activities more profitable and competitive by taking advantage of the latest innovations in Information and Communication Technologies (TIC)". ### Nature escapes said to boost creativity & social-connectedness (TRAVPR.COM) UK - April 19th, 2017 - Acacia Africas recently released 32 page travel catalogue is filled with a wide array of affordable wildlife destinations that are on trend. New for 2017, the specialists collection includes six fresh accommodated overland escapes and a nature fueled small group tour, which includes three walking safaris. A bonus for any wo-mads (female nomads) opting for an African safari, Florence Williams, science journalist and author of The Nature Fix (published, February 2017), claims time spent in the great outdoors not only makes you happier and less stressed, but also more creative and "socially connected - a plus for adventurers of the fairer sex hoping to reap rewards from their holiday in both their professional and personal lives. Arno Delport, Sales & Marketing Manager at Acacia Africa, comments, Our new accommodated overland tours combine comfort and value for money with an added wow factor. No single supplement, the itineraries are attractive to the growing number of solo nomads opting for our tours. Based on current bookings for 2017, more than half of overlanders are single with women taking the lead when it comes to going it alone. South Africa is still an appealing destination for UK travellers, its weak Rand allowing for cheaper safaris: a four day overland camping experience in the Kruger priced from only 315pp (no single supplement). For that reason, Acacia says, it could be time to explore more of the Rainbow Nation by venturing into the countrys smaller and even more affordable parks and reserves. The new 12 day Coast Lesotho & Cape Town accommodated overland tour, covers the 28,000 hectare Mountain Zebra National Park. Once reduced to just four stallions and one mare, its zebra population now stands at around 700. A conservation success story, the endangered black rhino, lion and cheetah also reside in the park. Due to its smaller size, Addo is on a par with the Kruger for viewing elephants en masse, its large herds numbering more than 600. Adjoining the coast, the park is home to the Big Seven including, the great white shark and the southern right whale, and released into the wilds this January, Sylvester the lion, who achieved international fame after escaping twice from the Karoo National Park. Where overlanding comes into its own, Acacia Africa visit both malaria free parks using their all purpose trucks. Ideal for that picture perfect Instagram moment, the elevated seating and large slide down windows allow for 360-degree vistas. From 715pp (no single supplement) + Adventure Pass from 70pp including transport, 11 nights twin share accommodation, most meals and services of a tour leader/driver. Starts Durban - ends Cape Town. Also on trend Acacias new 12 day Delta & Chobe Waterways accommodated small group tour features walking safaris in the 3,200 hectare Polokwane Game Reserve. Its main attraction is the amount of ground one can cover on foot in a single afternoon - white rhino, and some very rare game, like the sable and tsessebe antelope often encountered by safari goers. From 1,200pp (two sharing) + Safari Pass from 950pp including transport accommodation (10 nights twin share rooms with en suite facilities, one night twin share pre-erected tent with en-suite) most meals and services of a tour leader/driver. Starts Johannesburg - ends Johannesburg. Lesotho is Instagram envy all the way (Acacias tours recently featured on Bravos list of 22 Essential Places to Take a Selfie Before You Die), but says Delport, its the countrys cultural kick that will boost its popularity with travellers, as more of us are seeking out deeper and more meaningful connections on our travels. The new 40 day Southern African Adventurer accommodated overland tour includes optional horseback adventures with the Basotho herdsmen in Malealea and village visits near the Sani Pass: the gateway to Lesotho. Swaziland, the smallest country in the southern hemisphere, is also big on experiences, mountain bike safaris in the Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary another major highlight on the itinerary. From 3,285pp (no single supplement) + Adventure Pass from 570pp including transport, accommodation (37 nights twin share accommodation, one night pre-erected en suite tented camp (Delta); one night bush camping at Spitzkoppe, equipment supplied), most meals and services of a tour leader/driver. Starts Cape Town - ends Cape Town. The trip covers an additional five countries including South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Set to be a popular with travellers this year: Namibia featured on the Huffington Posts 2017 list of 17 Epic Places You Never Thought To Travel To, But Should, and it secured second place on Lonely Planets Best Value travel list - its currency pegged to the South African Rand. Featured on Planet Earth II, the Buffalo versus lion pack scene in Botswanas Okavango Delta was a definite highlight with lovers of raw, untamed Africa - the nature documentary series pulling in more viewers (aged 16-34 years) than the X Factor. Prince Harrys recent endeavours also put the spotlight back on the country, the royal celebrity championing a campaign to protect endangered rhinos in Botswana. The reintroduction of the KAZA univisa between Zimbabwe and Zambia has boosted the popularity of the neighbouring countries as travellers are now able to combine activities on both sides of the falls more easily. Acacia Africas new catalogue also includes the new four day Kruger safari, seven day Kruger, Swaziland & Beach, and 46 day Southern Africa Explorer accommodated overland tours. -ends- All the above tours operate year round and exclude return flight. Acacia Africas camping and accommodated overland tours are targeted at the 18-39 market, while the safari specialists small group safaris are open to all travellers from eight years. Acacia Africa (020 7706 4700) SATSA membership No. 1931, ATTA membership no. 20151, ATOL No. 6499 and ABTA No. W4093 PROTECTED. ### By Press Trust of India: Los Angeles, Apr 19 (PTI) In a first, researchers have created a new strain of red-eyed mutant wasps using a novel gene editing technology. The wasps were created to prove that CRISPR gene-slicing technology can be used successfully on the tiny parasitic jewel wasps. The advance provides scientists a new way to study some of the wasps interesting biology, such as how males can convert all their progeny into males by using selfish genetic elements. advertisement No one knows how that selfish genetic element in some male wasps "can somehow kill the female embryos and create only males," said Omar Akbari, an assistant professor at University of California, Riverside in the US. "To understand that, we need to pursue their PSR (paternal sex ratio) chromosomes, perhaps by mutating regions of the PSR chromosome to determine which genes are essential for its functionality," said Akbari. The new CRISPR technology allows scientists to inject components like RNA and proteins into an organism with instructions to find, cut and mutate a specific piece of DNA. The researchers can see how disrupting that DNA affects the organism. The goal was to better understand the biology of wasps and other insects to find a way to control insects that destroy crops or spread diseases like malaria. The first step was figuring out how to use the CRISPR technology in such a small organism, something no one had ever done before, in large part because the work is daunting, Akbari said. This is because jewel wasps lay their tiny eggs inside a blowfly pupa, which had to be peeled back to expose the teensy eggs. In the case of mutant wasps, the team decided to slice the genes that control the colour of the wasps normally black eyes. "We wanted to target a gene that would be obvious, and we knew from previous studies that if the gene for eye pigmentation was knocked out, they would have red eyes, so this seemed like a good target for gene disruption," Akbari said. "Big beautiful red eyes are something you would not miss," he said. "You have to use a very-very fine needle and a microscope and individually inject hundred to thousands of embryos, but in the end, we developed a protocol that can be used to cut the DNA in this organism and we showed that it works," said Akbari. The cuts in the DNA created a mutant wasp with heritable traits, which means those red eyes will be passed down to all their offspring in the future - an important quality for researchers who are looking for a stable line of insects to study. advertisement The research was published in journal Scientific Reports. PTI SAR SAR --- ENDS --- For years it was the Caribbean coast that proved most popular with visitors to Mexico, but the Pacific is now getting some of the attention it deserves. Here are five of the best beaches to explore out west. A post shared by W I T T ???? (@marcelawitt) on Apr 18, 2017 at 8:03am PDT Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca In the south of the country lies the state of Oaxaca, famous for its food, mescal and indigenous culture. Add amazing beaches such as those near Puerto Escondido to the list and you have to wonder why more people dont visit this corner of the country. A post shared by Kingdom Surf (@kingdomsurf) on Apr 16, 2017 at 8:44pm PDT Stone Island, Mazatlan The town of Mazatlan is a great spot for many reasons, and Playa Olas Altas sits right in the center of town. However, its worth taking the 10-minute boat ride to visit Stone Island, which is in fact a peninsula that protrudes into the sea. A post shared by VictorHugoSaucedo (@vtrtpc) on Mar 24, 2013 at 3:38pm PDT Playa el Novillero, Nayarit If you enjoy seeing beaches on a grand scale, you cant go wrong at Playa el Noverillo. At 51 miles in length, its the longest beach in Mexico, and is around two hours drive from the international airport at Puerto Vallarta. A post shared by VNR (@valeria4.85) on Apr 18, 2017 at 11:04am PDT Cabo San Lucas There are plenty of breathtaking beaches around Cabo, which attracts a fashionable crowd of travelers both Mexican and international. Situated in Baja California, the area is easy to reach for U.S. residents. A post shared by Ixtapa Zihuatanejo (@visitiz) on Dec 13, 2016 at 7:20pm PST Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, Guerrero The villages of Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo are separated by around 6 kilometers of sand, and boast distinctive personalities. While Ixtapa is a luxury resort, Zihuatanejo has a more bohemian feel. Split your time between the two and relax on the long stretch of sand. Climate science is complicated business, and understanding the extent to which climate change is man-made also requires an understanding of Earth's powerful natural cycles. One of those natural cycles involves Earth's orbit and its complicated dance with the sun. The first thing you need to know about Earth's orbit and its effect on climate change is that orbital phases occur over tens of thousands of years, so the only climate trends that orbital patterns might help explain are long-term ones. Even so, looking at Earth's orbital cycles can still offer some invaluable perspective on what is happening in the short term. Most notably, you might be surprised to learn that Earth's current warming trend is happening in spite of a relatively cool orbital phase. It's therefore possible to better appreciate the high degree that anthropogenic warming must be taking place in contrast. Not as simple as you might think Many people might be surprised to learn that Earth's orbit around the sun is much more complicated than the simple diagrams studied in childhood science classrooms. For instance, there are at least three major ways that Earth's orbit varies over the course of millennia: its eccentricity, its obliquity and its precession. Where the Earth is within each of these cycles has a significant effect on the amount of solar radiation and thus, warmth that the planet gets exposed to. Check out this must-see educational video for a visual presentation on Earth's complicated orbit: Earth's orbital eccentricity Unlike what is portrayed in many diagrams of the solar system, Earth's orbit around the sun is elliptical, not perfectly circular. The degree of a planet's orbital ellipse is referred to as its eccentricity. What this means is that there are times of the year when the planet is closer to the sun than at other times. Obviously, when the planet is closer to the sun, it receives more solar radiation. Earth's orbit around the sun is more of an oval instead of a circle. The degree of a planet's orbital ellipse is referred to as its eccentricity. This image shows an orbit with an eccentricity of 0.5. NASA The point at which the Earth passes closest to the sun is called perihelion, and the point furthest from the sun is called aphelion. It turns out that the shape of the Earth's orbital eccentricity varies over time from being nearly circular (low eccentricity of 0.0034) and mildly elliptical (high eccentricity of 0.058). It takes roughly 100,000 years for Earth to undergo a full cycle. In periods of high eccentricity, radiation exposure on Earth can accordingly fluctuate more wildly between periods of perihelion and aphelion. Those fluctuations are likewise far milder in times of low eccentricity. Currently, the Earth's orbital eccentricity is at about 0.0167, which means its orbit is closer to being at its most circular. Earth's axial obliquity The angle at which the Earth tilts varies. These axial variations are referred to as a planet's obliquity. NASA Most people know that the planet's seasons are caused by the tilt of the Earth's axis. For instance, when it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere and winter in the Southern Hemisphere, the Earth's North Pole is tilted toward the sun. The seasons are likewise reversed when the South Pole is tilted more toward the sun. What many people don't realize, however, is that the angle at which the Earth tilts varies according to a 40,000 year cycle. These axial variations are referred to as a planet's obliquity. For Earth, the tilt of the axis varies between 22.1 and 24.5 degrees. When the tilt is at a higher degree, the seasons can likewise be more severe. Currently the Earth's axial obliquity is at about 23.5 degrees roughly in the middle of the cycle and is in a decreasing phase. Earth's precession Perhaps the most complicated of Earth's orbital variations is that of precession. Basically, because Earth wobbles on its axis, the particular season that occurs when Earth is at perihelion or aphelion varies over time. This can create a profound difference in the severity of the seasons, depending on whether you live in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere. For instance, if it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere when Earth is in perihelion, then that summer is likely to be more extreme. By comparison, when the Northern Hemisphere instead experiences summer in aphelion, the seasonal contrast will be less severe. The following image may help to visualize how this works: GregBenson / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 This cycle fluctuates on roughly a 21- to 26,000-year basis. Currently, summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere happens near aphelion, so the Southern Hemisphere should experience more extreme seasonal contrasts than the Northern Hemisphere, all other factors being equal. What's climate change got to do with it? Quite simply, the more solar radiation bombarding Earth at any given time, the warmer the planet should get. So Earth's place in each of these cycles should have a measurable effect on long term climate trends and it does. But that's not all. Another factor has to do with which hemisphere happens to be receiving the heaviest bombardment. This is because land warms faster than oceans do, and the Northern Hemisphere is covered by more land and less ocean than the Southern Hemisphere is. It has also been shown that shifts between glacial and interglacial periods on Earth are most related to the severity of summers in the Northern Hemisphere. When summers are mild, enough snow and ice remains throughout the season, maintaining a glacial layer. When summers are too hot, however, more ice melts in the summer than can be replenished in the winter. Given all of this, we might imagine a "perfect orbital storm" for global warming: when Earth's orbit is at its highest eccentricity, Earth's axial obliquity is at its highest degree, and the Northern Hemisphere is in perihelion at summer solstice. But that's not what we see today. Instead, Earth's Northern Hemisphere currently experiences its summer in aphelion, the planet's obliquity is currently in the decreasing phase of its cycle, and Earth's orbit is fairly near its lowest phase of eccentricity. In other words, the current position of the Earth's orbit should result in cooler temperatures, but instead the average temperature of the planet is on the rise. Conclusion The immediate lesson in all of this is that there must be more to Earth's average temperature than can be explained through orbital phases. But a secondary lesson also lurks: Anthropogenic global warming, which climate scientists overwhelmingly believe is the prime culprit in our current warming trend, is at least powerful enough in the short term to counteract a relatively cool orbital phase. It's a fact that should at least give us pause to consider the profound effect that humans can have on the climate even against a backdrop of Earth's natural cycles. When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. Rishi Kapoor is acting in a cameo role in Manto, directed by Nandita Das, and starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui. By India Today Web Desk: Remember the time Rishi Kapoor was angry with Nawazuddin Siddiqui? Three years ago, the ace actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui had slammed forumalaic romantic films and this did not go down well with Chintu ji. Calling Nawazuddin an "average actor," Rishi Kapoor had said, "have read that some actor named Nawazuddin said that romantic heroes just run around trees! It is difficult to bloody sing songs and romance the heroine. How could he say such a thing?" advertisement Rishi went on to add, "You (Nawazuddin) haven't done it (running around trees) in your life; neither will you get a chance to do it. And you aren't capable of doing it either. You don't have the image; you don't have the talent." Now, Rishi Kapoor surprised one and all by starring in a cameo role in Manto, starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the titular role of Saadat Hasan Manto. Directed by Nandita Das, Manto is a biopic based on the famous writer's life and besides Nawazuddin, the film also stars Chandan Roy Sanyal, Rasika Dugal and Shashank Arora. Taking to Twitter, Nawazuddin Siddiqui expressed his pleasure on sharing the screen with Rishi Kapoor. It was indeed a pleasure sharing the screen with @chintskap Sir, what an amazing energy you possess even now.- Nawazuddin Siddiqui (@Nawazuddin_S) April 19, 2017 Rishi then replied positively, adding that he and Nawaz will have fun working together in the future. Thank you Nawaz! Did that bit for Nandita Das and "Manto"-title role played by you. We will have fun working together in the future.Regards! https://t.co/DJA9mC4Tgj- Rishi Kapoor (@chintskap) April 19, 2017 The makers of Manto have not announced a release date yet. ALSO READ: Nawazuddin Siddiqui makes his first-ever appearance as Saadat Hasan Manto WATCH Nandita Das's short film In Defence of Freedom --- ENDS --- If you've been planning a trip to Russia, now is the right time. By India Today Web Desk: If you are planning to visit Russia anytime soon, here's your chance to do so. Tourists and businessmen from India will now be able to visit Russia's far east without a visa, announced Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. In a bid to promote tourism and investment in the region, the country will now ensure that visitors do not have to undergo the tedious process of procuring a visa. advertisement It will be enough for foreigners "to enter their data on a special website in the internet," said the Prime Minister. According to a TASS report, this scheme will be available to 17 other countries, including Algeria, Bahrain, Brunei, Iran, Qatar, China, North Korea, Kuwait, Morocco, Mexico, UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Tunisia, Turkey and Japan. Also Read:UAE is issuing visa on arrival to Indians with American visa or Green card "We are pro actively forming the modern infrastructure and creating special regimes in the far east; the law on visits to the Vladivostok free port was approved in March," Medvedev was reported as saying, by Hindustan Times. The region now expects to earn more revenue from tourist-traffic growth. --- ENDS --- Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 19 To accelerate the pace of investment in major infrastructure projects, the Union Cabinet today approved guidelines to allow financially sound state government entities to borrow directly from external bilateral lending agencies. An official statement said the guidelines would facilitate state government entities to directly borrow from external bilateral funding agencies subject to fulfilment of certain conditions and all repayments of loans and interests to the funding agencies would be directly remitted by the borrower concerned. The state government concerned will furnish guarantee for the loan. The Government of India will provide counter guarantee for it. This dispensation will allow the financially sound state entities to directly borrow and repay the loan required for major infrastructure projects without burdening the state exchequer. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the Cabinet decision would directly benefit important projects such as Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link (MTHL). He said the decision would help states manage their Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) targets. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), a state government entity, has also been allowed to borrow directly from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for implementation of the MTHL project. The existing guidelines do not allow direct borrowings by the state government entities from external agencies. Leave encashment for defence personnel The government has approved leave encashment up to 180 days for those defence personnel who died or were invalidated out of service between December 30, 1991 and November 29, 1999 with less than 15 years of service. The decision was taken at the meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by PM Narendra Modi. The decision will benefit the families of 9,777 Officers and other personnel of defence services. This period is significant as a large number of causalities took place during Operation Vijay in the Kargil conflict and in counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir and North-East. Rachna Khaira Tribune News Service Jalandhar, April 19 The police have begun a survey of foreign students in the state as part of its anti-drug crackdown. Universities, especially in Doaba region, have been asked to provide details of all foreign students who were admitted into universities since their inception and also of those who left the course in between and went missing from the campus. Meanwhile, the department has also sought details from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) about those students who had landed in India, but did not report at the university concerned in the state. Jalandhar Police Commissioner Praveen Sinha said the universities, especially catering to African students in the region, had been asked to cooperate and thus, were providing all necessary support to the police. The police have ordered a crackdown after it arrested more than nine students hailing from Zambia, Uganda and Nigeria in various cases under the NDPS Act in the last two years and had recovered huge amounts of heroine from their possession. According to a recent intelligence report, nearly 15 to 20 students who took admission to a Phagwara-based university last year, had arrived in India, but have not reported at the university to date. The department has now alerted the intelligence agencies in New Delhi about these missing students. We have received inputs that some international drug syndicates are running drug rackets from various universities here in the region. The members of such syndicates take admission in a university here, study for a year and later quietly leave the course in between to run drug cartels in nearby areas, said a highly placed official. The officials further revealed that though international drug cartels were earlier running under a single head with a well organised network of designated people, with the advent of social media, they had changed their modus operandi and were now working in small groups formed in various parts of their operation area. The group working in a particular area is unaware about the other groups located nearby and are too working for the same syndicate, the officials added. It is only because of this modus operandi that the state police had been unable to track high-profile murder cases like that of RSS leader Brig Jagdish Gagneja to date. K.R. Lakhanpal It has been widely reported in the media that the Government of India is willing to mediate and is prepared to refer the issue relating to the sharing of Ravi-Beas waters to a new tribunal to be constituted under the amended Interstate Water Disputes Act, 1956, provided the government of Punjab gives an undertaking that it would abide by the award of the newly constituted tribunal. Such a condition is sui generis in more than one way. Firstly, why such a condition is being imposed only on the government of Punjab and not on all parties to the dispute? Secondly, how is the government of Punjab expected to give such an undertaking, even before the tribunal is constituted and its terms of reference are known? In fact, even before the proposed amendment to the Act is enacted? While the proposal of the Centre to refer the entire gamut of issues to a new tribunal for adjucation afresh is welcome, its insistence on a prior undertaking from Punjab bespeaks of an old mindset in which the narrative has been framed, so far. Such a narrative is based on assumptions that have ceased to hold good since long. These are: That Punjab is a culprit and Haryana is a victim of Punjab's intransigence in not implementing various agreements on the subject. That Punjab has requisite water to meet its current requirements and, rather than sharing it with its needy neighbour, is letting it flow to Pakistan. That carrying the non-existing surplus water to Haryana, by constructing a 214-km-long Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal, will mitigate water scarcity in southern Haryana, without causing any distress to the farmers of Punjab, who are currently utilising this water. That there are no alternative and better ways of meeting the water scarcity of Haryana. Unfortunately, none of these assumptions hold good today in the face of changed hydrological, agronomical and ecological conditions. The so-called agreements on sharing of river waters were entered into between warring states. The changed ground realities have rendered such agreements and consequent building of the SYL Canal unfeasible, without causing a grave damage to the farmers of Punjab, which could not be the intention of the Central government, or the government of Haryana or the Supreme Court. It will greatly help develop a national perspective on the issue if we capture the changed ground realities. Firstly, the total water availability has gone down from 17.17 MAF to 13.38 MAF, as evidenced by the following table: Flow Series Available Water (in MAF) 1921 - 1960 17.17 1981 - 2002 14.37 1981 - 2013 13.38 (Source: Bhakra-Beas Management Board) Secondly, in the wake of the Green Revolution, the cropping pattern in Punjab has undergone a sea change, with wheat and paddy becoming the predominant crops (see table). Thirdly, this radical shift in the cropping pattern of Punjab is in response to the policies pursued by the Central government in the late 1960s and early 1970s to provide much-needed food security to the country, which are even today being continued, despite many other states having caught up with Punjab in the production of wheat and rice. Therefore, in hindsight, wisdom might lie in advising Punjabi farmers to switch over from water-intensive paddy to maize, cotton, pulses and oilseeds, but the switchover is not likely to be painless, cost free and come about in the short term. For that to happen, a comprehensive policy to incentivise production of less water-intensive crops with necessary research and development, infrastructure and marketing support needs to be drawn up and implemented over at least 10 years. The cost and pain involved in the process should be mainly borne by the Government of India. For, Punjab has already suffered enough by destruction of its water and soil resources and by exporting heavily subsidised rice and wheat to the deficit states of the country. Now, to deprive the farmers of Punjab of their current usage of water by diverting it to Haryana by building the SYL Canal will, indeed, be a double whammy. Fourthly, to provide additional about 2 MAF water to Haryana, over and above its current usage, by diversion from its present usage in Punjab is bound to be at a heavy cost to the nation by way of loss of livelihoods and incomes to Punjab, apart from the additional cost of construction of the canal, cost of carrying, and the environmental damage that it is likely to cause. Therefore, giving water to Haryana, by diversion from the current usage in Punjab is bound to be a zero sum game. Fifthly, more extensive exploitation of ground-water resources is hardly a solution for Punjab's water problem. In the first place, exploitation of these resources in Punjab is already highest in the country at 170 per cent. Resultantly, most of the wells in Punjab are deep tubewells, requiring far more energy to draw underground water. Besides, the ground water in the south-western districts of the state is brackish and these districts are solely dependent on canal water to meet all of their water requirements. However, there is a definite silver lining on an otherwise dark horizon. Even Haryana agrees that the availability of water in the divisible pool has gone down; optimal utilisation of the Yamuna waters by constructing upstream reservoirs is a more viable and lasting solution for mitigating water scarcity in southern Haryana; and the divisible water pool could be enlarged by storing water flowing down to Pakistan during the monsoon period. For that to happen, the SYL imbroglio will need to be reframed in terms of extant ground realities rather than in terms of old agreements on the matter. Failing this, we may end up creating a far bigger problem in Punjab without necessarily solving the water scarcity problem of Haryana. The writer is a former Chief Secretary, Punjab. The views expressed are personal. G Parthasarathy THE recent visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh produced a hysterical reaction from China. The foreign office officially protested against the visit. Chinas foreign policy mouthpiece, The Global Times, went ballistic, threatening India with dire consequences and asserting that India should remember that it is substantially weaker than China, both economically and militarily. Lecturing and criticising India on a number of foreign policy issues accompanied this. The Middle Kingdom evidently feels emboldened to adopt such pressures, after it has succeeded in annexing territories across its maritime borders, using coercive diplomatic, economic and military pressures. China has embarked on a determined quest for hegemony, beyond its land and maritime borders. The Chinese termed the visit of the Dalai Lama, particularly to the monastery town of Tawang, as a provocation. This, despite the fact, that it was his sixth visit to Tawang. The Tawang monastery was founded in 1681, with the blessings of the Fifth Dalai Lama. It assumes a special place in Tibetan hearts and minds, as the Sixth Dalai Lama was born in Tawang. China has ruthlessly coerced the Buddhist clergy and people in Tibet into virtual submission. Its remaining fear is that circumstances may arise, in which the next Dalai Lama is born in Tawang. The spiritual independence and heritage of the persecuted Tibetans would then remain linked with India. The McMahon Line was declared as the border between India and Tibet under a tripartite accord signed in 1914. Tawang was on the Indian side of this line. China repudiated this accord. But, following Independence, India took control of Tawang in 1951. China, in turn, laid claim to large parts of Arunachal Pradesh, well beyond the borders defined in 1914. Beijing asserted that it never recognised the McMahon Line. With rhetoric over the border escalating, PM Chou Enlai stated in 1956 that while China never recognised the McMahon Line, the line was an accomplished fact. He added that China should recognise this line. In April 1960, Premier Chou offered to accommodate the Indian point of view on the eastern sector if India agreed to address Chinas concerns on the western sector across the Ladakh-Tibet border, where China had constructed a vital strategic road linking Buddhist-dominated Tibet to the Muslim-dominated Xinjiang region. Indias borders with China in the western Tibet-Ladakh sector have changed through the 19th century. The stalemate following the Dogra incursion into Tibet, led by Gen Zorawar Singh in 1841-1842, and the subsequent takeover of Ladakh by the British resulted in the Johnson Line, drawn by the British in 1865, becoming the border with Tibet. Xinjiang was then not a part of China. The borders drawn in the Johnson Line included large parts of Aksai China, linking Tibet and Xinjiang. When geopolitical circumstances changed, the British drew the border with China along a new MaCartney-Macdonald Line, which enabled Chinese access to Xinjiang. This line, offered in 1899, was informally accepted by China. It leaves the strategic Karakoram Pass under Indias control. What Chou Enlai offered prior to the 1962 conflict was acceptance of the McMahon Line in the east in return for Indias acceptance of the MaCartney-Macdonald Line. This was a proposal that many believe PM Nehru would have been well advised to accept. Chinese claims were, however, refuted. India was drawn into a conflict for which the country was ill-prepared militarily and psychologically, thanks to the earlier Hindi-Chini bhai bhai sloganeering. China now believes that the asymmetry in the military, economic and technological power between India and itself is so great that it need not pay even lip service, or adhere to Chou Enlais proposals, which were reiterated by Deng Xiaoping Xiaoping in 1979. China now expects that India will have to make serious territorial concessions in Arunachal Pradesh (at the very least handing over Tawang and some other strategic areas) in return for anything closely corresponding to the 1899 proposals in the Ladakh sector. It is for this reason that Beijing has refused to even spell out the positions where the Line of Actual Control arising from the 1962 conflict lie. One can expect no change in this position in the foreseeable future. The main reference points that India can use to bolster its case lie in the very well-negotiated April 2005 agreement on the Political Parameters and Guiding Principles for Settlement of the India-China Boundary Question. Article VI of the 2005 agreement states that the boundary should be along well-defined and easily identifiable natural geographical features, to be mutually agreed upon between the two sides. Article VII states: In reaching a boundary settlement, the two sides shall safeguard due interests of their settled populations in the border areas. Both these articles render Chinese claims on Tawang and indeed on areas on the Indian side of the McMahon Line in Arunachal Pradesh largely untenable. But China is not going to be influenced by words alone. The border dialogue between the two countries thus has presently to be focused on strengthening confidence-building measures to maintain peace. But we should never forget that the Chinese are supreme realists and will not hesitate to use military power to their advantage when expedient. New Delhi has been steadily reducing the share of its defence budget. It now is barely 1.6 per cent of GDP. Is India doing enough to ensure that China cannot prevail in any standoff along our borders? This needs much greater attention by our parliamentarians. It would be foolish to cut our nose to spite our face by seeking to discourage trade and investment ties with China. But we should have no doubt that in its quest for hegemony in Asia, China will give no diplomatic space to countries like Japan, India and Vietnam to enhance their economic influence. This is reason enough for us to avoid seeking membership of the Chinese-dominated Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. Chinas recent unprecedented abstention in the UN Security Council in the face of an American diplomatic onslaught on Russia, on developments in Syria, shows that Beijing can dump even major allies when it suits its interests. Dealing with a hegemonic China is going to require considerable courage, skill and attention. Washington, April 19 The FBI has put a 26-year-old Indian national on its top 10 "Most Wanted List", two years after he went missing after allegedly killing his wife inside the kitchen of a Dunkin Donuts restaurant in the US. The FBI offered up to US$ 100,000 for any information that leads to the arrest of Bhadreshkumar Chetanbhai Patel. Bhadreshkumar C. Patel, wanted for 2015 murder of his wife in MD, has been named to ten #mostwanted #fugitives list. https://t.co/93TVN3D51K pic.twitter.com/5woclHRfcA FBI (@FBI) April 18, 2017 (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The agency warned that Patel, who stabbed his 21-year-old wife Palak Bhadreskumar Patel multiple times with a large knife, should be considered armed and extremely dangerous. Palak was found beaten to death inside the restaurant kitchen in Hanover, Maryland on April 12, 2015. Both the husband and wife were Dunkin Donuts employees. "The extremely violent nature of the crimes allegedly committed by Bhadreshkumar Patel earned him a place on the FBI's Top Ten List," Gordon B Johnson, the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Baltimore Field Office, said in a statement. The valuable assistance of the public cannot be overstated, as shown by the ongoing success locating fugitives placed on the Top Ten list, the official said. "The ongoing efforts of our investigators, coupled with the public's assistance, will lead to the capture of Bhadreshkumar Patel. We will never forget, and will not rest until he is located, captured and brought to justice." A video released by the FBI shows both Bhadreshkumar and his wife working on the day of her death, walking off screen behind some racks in the kitchen together. He then re-emerges back on camera without his wife, turning off an oven and leaving the scene, The Capital Gazette reported. Bhadreshkumar's been charged with first- and second- degree murder, first- and second-degree assault, and a weapons offence in connection with her death. A federal arrest warrant was issued a week after Palak's death as Bhadreshkumar was charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. Investigators said he was last seen taking a hotel shuttle to Newark Penn Station in New Jersey on April 13, 2015 around 10 AM. Police said Bhadreshkumar, originally from Kantrodi Ta Viramgam, Gujarat, India, had a visa to be in the US, but it had expired and there was no indication he was able to legally leave the country, the report said. Investigators believe that Palak wanted to return to India, though her husband was against the idea. Patel has ties to New Jersey, Kentucky, Georgia, Illinois and India. "Palak Patel was murdered in a depraved act of domestic violence," Anne Arundel County police Chief Tim Altomare said in a statement. "Numerous and overwhelming efforts have been made in attempts to locate Bhadreshkumar and none of the efforts to date have been met with success," the official said. "In cooperation with the FBI the Anne Arundel County police believe we will certainly locate Bhadreshkumar and provide justice for Palak that her family desperately seeks in order to find closure," the official added. PTI WEDNESDAY has turned out to be a good day for the Indian democracy. In Delhi the Supreme Court demonstrated that the rigour and requirements of the rule of law were not necessarily hostage to the political momentum of the day; and, in distant Chennai the two factions of the ruling AIADMK demonstrated exemplary maturity in reclaiming the party from Sasikala and her family. Chief Minister Edappadi K Palanswami and his faction took the extraordinarily courageous decision to dump jailed Sasikala, who had manoeuvred her way as the general secretary of the party after Jayalalithaas death last December. Before she got packed off to a jail, Sasikala had installed her nephew, TTV Dinakaran, as the (acting) party boss. Sasikala had succeeded in her power grab purely on the strength of being the chambermaid in Jayalalithaas household. That the majority of the AIADMK MLAs and the party functionaries should have servilely allowed themselves to be frog-marched in the service of Sasikala, all in the name of Jayalalithaa and her mantle, was definitely a disgraceful moment for the Indian party system. Only former Chief Minister O Paneerselvam (OPS) and his minor faction defied this hijacking of the party by Sasikala and her band of conspirators. Sasikalas proxy-rule in Tamil Nadu was unnatural and untenable. Now the AIADMK leaders have declared their independence; they have been prompted by the Election Commissions decision to freeze the partys two-leaf symbol; and, they were definitely emboldened to revolt once the Delhi Police issued a lookout notice against Dinakaran. It must not come easily for the party leaders to face the prosaic fact that neither Sasikala nor her nephew has any leadership qualities; undoubtedly she was privy to many intrigues and machinations within the Amma court but she had absolutely no public record of any kind of knowledge, even familiarity, with political issues and the legislative landscape. She is no Jayalalithaa. It remains to be seen how the two AIADMK factions finally arrive at an honorable compromise but that the party functionaries could even think of purging themselves of the founding family will have ramifications beyond Tamil Nadu. Islamic State terrorists on Tuesday opened fire on a security checkpoint near Saint Catharine monastery in Egypt's South Sinai killing 1 policeman and leaving three injured. By Reuters: A policeman was killed and three others were injured after suspected Islamic State terrorists opened fire on a security checkpoint near Saint Catharine monastery in Egypt's South Sinai, the Ministry of Interior has said. According to the SITE Intelligence Group, the IS-affiliated Amaq news agency announced that the group's militants carried out the attack on Tuesday. The gunmen targeted a security checkpoint outside the monastery where they exchanged fire with police forces, a statement by the ministry said. advertisement In retaliatory firing by police, some attackers were injured which forced them to flee, the statement added. The injured have been transferred to Sharm El-Shiekh International Hospital for treatment, security officials said. WHAT HAPPENED An attack on security forces near Egypt's St Catherine's Monastery in south Sinai on Tuesday killed at least one police officer and injured four others, the Health Ministry said, just a week after two deadly church bombings killed 45. Gunmen attacked a police checkpoint several hundred metres (yards) from the church entrance. No one has claimed responsibility. The attack comes just 10 days before Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Egypt and just over a week after two deadly suicide bombings on Christian churches, claimed by Islamic State, plunged the country into mourning and marked one of the bloodiest days for the country's Christian minority in decades. St Catherine's, located at the foot of Mount Sinai, is one of the oldest Christian monasteries in the world and a UNESCO world heritage site. Egypt's Christian minority, which makes up about 10 percent of the country's 92 million people, has increasingly been targeted by Islamist militants, with three deadly church attacks and a spate of killings in northern Sinai in the span of four months. A successful assault on St. Catherine's, one of the world's most iconic sites for Christians, would be the latest challenge to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has pledged to protect the religious minority as part of his campaign against extremism. Egypt is battling an Islamist insurgency in the rugged and thinly populated northern Sinai, which gained pace after the military overthrew President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013 following mass protests against his rule. Attacks in Egypt's southern Sinai, a popular destination for tourists dotted with Red Sea resorts, are by contrast rare. --- ENDS --- Tribune News Service Gurugram, April 19 Senior Congress Meo Muslim leader Aftab Ahmed has written to the Minority Commission demanding a ban on all gau rakshak groups and demolition of their chowkis in the state. Aftab has written to the chairman of the commission citing the recent murder of Pehlu Khan and demanded its intervention as a handful of gau rakshaks were terrifying Muslims. A few days ago, 55-year-old Pehlu Khan, a resident of Nuh in Mewat, was beaten to death in Alwar district of Rajasthan by a mob of gau rakshaks. Most of these gau rakshak dals or cow vigilante groups indulge in violence. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that these cow vigilante groups are involved in violence. Pehlu Khan was transporting cows with documents showing legal purchase. His decision to buy a milch cow instead of a buffalo led to his death. These self-styled vigilantes have created bedlam and hatred among communities and they do not care about facts. They are damaging the social fabric of our country and endangering coexistence among communities, he said in the letter. I will like to emphasise that cow slaughter is banned in various states and Mewat people has supported it. But Muslims are being framed for being cow slaughterers and smugglers. It is surprising that BJP-ruled states are not taking any sincere step to check the activities of such bad elements, reads the letter. Aftab demanded that the commission urgently take up the issue with the Rajasthan government and direct it to arrest all accused soon. We want guidelines to prevent misuse and abuse of law. All 11 innocent persons, who were bringing cows legally from the Jaipur mela and were arrested, should be released and the false FIR against them withdrawn. The government should get all money and cows returned to Pehlu Khans family, he said. Naveen S Garewal & Sushil Manav Tribune News Service Chandigarh, April 19 A group of BJP legislators, nurturing a feeling of discontent for not being heard in their own government, today extended unconditional support to Gurugram MLA Umesh Aggarwal, a day after the police booked his two brothers and a nephew for fraud. The dissidents have sent a clear signal to the government ahead of the one-day Vidhan Sabha session proposed for May 4 and conveyed that they are united and will not be cowed down by pressure tactics. The move suggests the dissidents are in no mood to be intimidated by their own party. Umesh Aggarwal told The Tribune that he would not succumb to intimidatory tactics and he would continue to highlight the wrongdoings of the Manohar Lal Khattar-led government. He recited famous couplets of former Primer Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Haar nahi manunga, raar nahi thanunga, Kaal ke kapaal par, likhta mitaata hu, geet naya gaata hu (I will not give up/ I will not concede defeat, rather, I will engage in new disagreements). It may be recalled that the BJP top leadership had promised to address the grievances of all legislators unhappy with Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar over his failure to ensure that bureaucrats listen to their voice in the districts. Aggarwal has raised issues of corruption and accused Khattar of ignoring elected representatives allegedly at the behest of bureaucrats. Randhir Kapriwas, Om Prakash Yadav, Vikram Thekedar, Abhay Singh Yadav, Bimla Choudhary and Santosh Sarwan were among the BJP legislators who met Aggarwal to express solidarity. Kapriwas, who has been hosting meetings at his house at Chandigarh, said the situation could turn explosive if efforts were made to browbeat them. We will meet senior party leaders and apprise them of how the government is harassing its MLAs for political witch hunting, Kapriwas said. About the FIR against his family members, Aggarwal said it had been done at the behest of the Chief Minister. He claimed that the allegations in the FIR against his family members were baseless and false. He said his family members had lodged two FIRs against the complainants, but the police had taken no action. He added he was prepared for any eventuality and would not succumb to pressure. The police had yesterday booked nine persons, including Aggarwals two brother and a nephew, for fraud on a complaint by a property dealer at Sonepat. Aggarwal said his brothers had purchased a piece of land at Ganaur in 2012-14, but some people tried to carve out an illegal colony there. Three FIRs were lodged on the complaints by his brothers Rakesh Aggarwal and Hitesh Aggarwal and nephew Deepak Aggarwal in this connection in January, September and October, 2016. He said after the registration of the FIRs, Krishna Devi started levelling allegations against his brothers and nephew and made several complaints to the DGP. The Ganaur DSP stated in his report in the case that since the matter was in court, there was no need to register an FIR on her complaint. However, now the police had registered an FIR against his brothers and nephew. Tribune News Service Shimla/Dehradun, April 19 Fortyfive persons, including 10 women and nine children, were killed when a private bus skidded off the road and fell into the Tons river, 200 metre below the road, at Guma Antroli near Nerwa in Chopal of Shimla district, about 170 km from here. The ill-fated bus (UK16 0045) departed from Vikasnagar in Dehradun in the morning for Tyuni. As the bus reached Guma Antroli on the Rohnaat-Chopal road, the driver, while negotiating a curve, lost control and the bus fell into a gorge and subsequently rolled into the Tons. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The bodies of 45 deceased have been recovered while two persons, including the conductor Tulsi (50) and a 18-year-old boy Rohit Kumar, who jumped off the rolling bus, survived, said Deputy Commissioner, Shimla, Rohan Chand Thakur, who was on the spot. The bodies had been sent for post-mortem. Besides the police and home guards, labourers of the PWD and Forest Department had been engaged to recover the bodies, said SP, Shimla, DW Negi The conductor, who fled after jumping out off the bus, was caught by the locals and handed over to the administration while the 18-year-old boy was given medical aid on the spot and then admitted to a hospital. Initially, the police had claimed that there were 56 passengers in the bus. But after the conductor was nabbed and questioned, it was revealed that the total number of passengers was 47 out of which two survived. It was a heart-rending site with the bodies of victims being scattered all around with the wreckage of the bus on the bank of the river. However, the local people immediately started the rescue operations and reached the spot and later rescue teams of the district administration also joined the operation. According to sources, the bus had developed some fault near Minus. The driver and the conductor got it repaired partly and started the further journey. Despite the advice of passengers to stop the bus, the driver continued to run the bus. Rescue teams from Uttarakhand and a team of the NDRF also reached the spot. CM Virbhadra Singh has expressed shock over the accident and conveyed sympathies to the bereaved families. He has directed the local administration to make arrangements for handing over the bodies to the kin after post-mortem. The DC has announced a relief of Rs 50,000 to the next of kin of the deceased. Till the filing of the report, 20 out of 45 victims had been identified out of which 12 hailed from Uttarakhand while eight from Himachal. Uttarakhand Governor KK Paul and Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat have expressed shock and grief over the incident. Rs 1 lakh relief from Ukhand govt Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has announced Rs 1 lakh ex gratia for the families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to those seriously injured and Rs 25,000 for those with injuries. The Chief Minister has ordered an inquiry into the incident. PM announces Rs 2 lakh New Delhi: PM Narendra Modi announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh for the next of kin of those killed and Rs 50,000 for those seriously injured in the bus accident near Shimla from the PM National Relief Fund, an official release said. Probe ordered Transport Minister GS Bali has ordered to constitute a committee headed by the Regional Transport Officer, Shimla, to ascertain the cause of the accident. The committee has been asked to submit its report within 7 days. He also announced financial assistance of Rs 50,000 to each family of the deceased. Dipender Manta Tribune News Service Kullu, April 19 An alert has been sounded in Kullu and Mandi as glaciers have started melting rapidly and the water level of the Beas has been increased due to rising temperature in high hills for the past few days. The district administration has warned the tourists as well as locals to avoid approaching the banks of the Beas in view of safety concern. Kullu and Mandi are prone to river disasters. A number of calamities have been reported in the past when people were washed away in the river because strong water current in the Beas, which flows downstream from Manali onward toward Kullu and Mandi in Himachal Pradesh. The Pandoh Dam authority has informed the district administration, Mandi, that in view of the increasing water level dam gates could be opened to release excess water. Additional District Magistrate Mandi Vivek Chandel issued an advisory cautioning locals and visitors against going near the river banks. It has also been advised that the cattle should not be left to graze in the area. The district administration, Kullu, has also advised the tourists to refrain from going near the river for fun as a precautionary measure. Wiser from the past tragedies, the district administration is gearing up to install warning boards from Bajaura up to Manali and Vashishth along the roadside at key points to apprise the tourists as well as the locals about the danger of gushing waters of the Beas. Unaware of the dangers tourists from plains frequently descend on the banks of river the river for fun and mishaps are reported almost every year. Talking to The Tribune here today, Deputy Commissioner Kullu Yunus Khan said, Around 120 warning boards will be installed at key points between Bajaura up to Manali and Vashishth for awareness purpose in next few days. The message will be displayed in Hindi and English, he said. Apart from this, police personnel have been deployed at Vashishth to keep close vigil over tourists, who descend on the riverside for clicking selfies. The administration is concerned about the safety of tourists. The district administration will organize awareness campaign with the help of NCC, NSS and other volunteers In the first week of May apprising the tourists of the safety guidelines, he pointed out. Kuldeep Chauhan Tribune News Service Shimla April 19 The 60-km-long stretch between Ferach Pul and Minus along the Tons on the Hatkoti-Tyuni-Guma-Paonta Sahib national highway has become a killer road that falls in Chopal and Shillai areas as more than 60 persons had been killed, including 46 killed today, in three accidents for the last three years. As many as 12 persons were killed when an HRTC bus going from Nerwa to Dhar Chanana fell into a gorge near Antravali on the Ferach-Antravali-Guma road three years ago. Four from Rohru were killed on this road last year when their car skidded off the road and fell into the Tons. But the PWD, NHAI and HRTC learnt no lessons and made no efforts to improve the condition of the road despite a high rate of fatalities. This has made all talks of road safety and safe public transport in the state sounds hollow, rued accident victims. Though the police are yet to ascertain the exact cause of todays accident, locals, including accident victims, blame poor condition of road and plying of khatara buses on this road. The government had declared it a national highway in 2008, but it was only in name, resented Hira Singh and Bitu, villagers of Antravali. The HRTC and private operators from Uttarakhand and Himachal ran khatara buses and passengers travelled on roof tops of buses, they added. The stretch between Kuddu-Tyuni- Atahal falls in Uttarakhand, while Ferach-Antravali-Guma-Minus, the accident-prone stretch, falls in Chopal and Shillai with the Tons acted like a boundary between the two states. This road was full of potholes and had many narrow bends and curves that added to the risk of mishaps, said Katar Banchta, a resident of Shantha Chopal, who had lost his cousin sister, a nephew and a niece in two separate mishaps. Chief Engineer, national highways, Bhuvan Sharma said the Hatkoti-Tyuni-Guma-Paonta road was declared the national highway in 2008, but the ministry did not provide fund for this. We are widening the road and a proposal under the road safety project is being submitted to the NHAI to get funds as it was notified as the NH three years ago by the ministry, he added. Srinagar, April 19 A 22-year-old man, who was injured during clashes between protesters and security forces on polling day in Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency, succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday. With his death, the toll in the bypoll violence has climbed to nine. Muzaffar Ahmad Mir, a resident of Kulgam district in south Kashmir, succumbed to his injuries at SKIMS Hospital, a police official said. He said Mir had suffered multiple bullet injuries in his chest and leg during clashes at Barsoo in Ganderbal on April 9. PTI Amir Karim Tantray Tribune News Service Jammu, April 19 The state Cabinet has asked security forces to exercise maximum restraint while dealing with protesters in the Kashmir valley. This was the outcome of the Cabinet meeting held onTuesday under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti. The Cabinet discussed the law and order situation in the Valley following the unprecedented protests during the bypoll to the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat. Eight people had died on the polling day on April 9, which forced the Election Commission of India (ECI) to defer the bypoll to the Anantnag seat to May 25. Since then the Kashmir valley witnessed widespread protests and on Monday college students held a protest and forced the government to close colleges for two days. All these issues were discussed and it was decided to ask security forces to exercise maximum restraints. The meeting started at 2 pm and culminated around 2.45 pm. According to official spokesperson, the state Cabinet expressed deep anguish over the loss of lives during the violence and asked security forces to exercise maximum restraint while dealing with the protesters. The Cabinet made a fervent appeal to all sections of society to help restore peace and normalcy in the Valley. The Cabinet while reviewing the security and law and order situation in the state directed the police and security agencies to exercise maximum restraint while handling law and order situations to prevent loss of human lives, the spokesperson said. The Cabinet urged the civil society and parents to counsel the youth to stay away from violent protests, which, in spite of maximum restraint, can at times lead to fatal consequences, he added. The Cabinet also directed the state administration to take all required measures to tackle the situation effectively and at the same time ensure that the public was not put to any inconvenience and their grievances were addressed. A senior minister told The Tribune that ministers presented their views on the prevailing situation in the Valley and called for bringing peace back to the Valley. Every minister gave his viewpoint and it was decided to engage different sections of society, including youth, so that situation doesnt slip out of hand, the minister said. The Cabinet also discussed the loopholes in the security system which led to the current situation and killing of eight people on the poll day. Yesterdays unprecedented protest by students across the Valley was also discussed and it was decided to plug the loopholes, he added. Samaan Lateef Tribune News Service Srinagar, April 19 Security forces are facing a major challenge from militants, who get caught up in gunfights and in turn attract youth who resort to stone-throwing. Before engaging militants in a gunfight, the security forces in Kashmir have to do meticulous planning to kill the holed-up militants and also avoid civilian casualties during ensuing clashes. Officials say that the militants holed up in gunfights incite youth whose presence near encounter sites minimises the chances of the militants surrender and also creates a law and order problem. A dead militant is a major challenge for us. The presence of stone-throwing youth near encounter sites psychologically emboldens the militant to sacrifice his life, said a senior police officer. During Police Commemoration Day here on October 21, 2016, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had instructed security agencies to try to persuade local militants to surrender even during encounters. Following the CMs instruction, Director General of Police SP Vaid had issued directions to all district police chiefs of Kashmir to use loudspeakers and give militants a chance to surrender before the gunfight. Despite offers of surrender, the security forces have failed to motivate any holed-up militant to surrender since Octo-ber last year. Security forces had brought in the wife and a five-year-old son of a holed-up Lashkar-e-Toiba militant, Shafi Shergujri, on March 9 this year during a gunfight in south Kashmir to persuade him to surrender, but in vain. Shergujri along with his associate Jahangir Ganaie were later killed in the encounter. In the past, locals used to run away from encounter sites to avoid any harm. However, in recent years, the anti-militancy operations have been multi-dimensional as the security forces have to fight a two-front fight - one with the holed-up militant and another with stone-throwers, the officer said. Unlike in the past, the counter-insurgency operations have become a cumbersome job now. The operations are no hourly jobs now. From locating militants to killing them, we have to go through several difficult phases, the police officer said. The worry of the security forces does not end with the death of the militant. The dead militant gets larger funerals, leading to disturbance at least in his native district, he said. At least 250 militants, including 130 locals, are at present active in Kashmir and most of them operate in south Kashmir. Tribune News Service Jammu, April 19 Governor NN Vohra, who is also the president of the Indian Red Cross Society, J&K, chaired the 174th meeting of the State Managing Committee (SMC) of the society at Raj Bhawan here today. Minister for Health and Medical Education Bali Bhagat was present at the meeting. The Governor stressed the need for organising Red Cross melas in each district, especially in Ladakh and other tourist places of Kashmir, for generating funds for the IRCS. It was also decided to install donation boxes at airports, railway stations and hotels to collect donations for the noble cause. The Chief Secretary, J&k, BR Sharma, was asked to issue instructions regarding voluntary contributions from the government employees. The Governor reviewed the activities carried out by the society during the last one year and stressed the importance of imparting first-aid training on a large scale, particularly to commercial drivers and policemen. He directed the Chief Secretary to make the first-aid training compulsory for the issuance of driving licences to the commercial drivers. The Additional Director General of Police, Headquarters, was directed to institutionalise such training programmes for the police recruits at the police training schools as it would help in saving precious lives in case of emergencies. The Governor suggested the need for institutionalisation of funds for the treatment of the poor who suffered from terminal illnesses and emphasised the need for arrangement of patient care facilities in Jammu and Srinagar. The Chief Secretary said that MLAs could now spend up to Rs 10 lakh out of their Constituency Development Fund on the treatment of the poor suffering from life-threatening diseases and other serious illnesses. The general secretary, IRCS, was asked to prepare a project report for setting up blood banks at the district level, which would be pursued by the National Headquarters, IRCS, New Delhi. Stressing the need for making the Red Cross activities more meaningful, the Governor said the need of the hour was to build a large pool of volunteers for ensuring participation of people at the grass-roots level. He directed the Commissioner, Public Works (R&B) Department, to urgently review the construction of Red Cross Bhavan in Srinagar and ensure that the building work commenced without any delay. He was also directed to get the existing building of the Indian Red Cross Society, Kashmir, functional on an urgent basis. The policy framed for the conferment of awards to volunteers was confirmed by the State Managing Committee, IRCS. Accordingly, the IRCS general secretary was directed to identify the Red Cross volunteers who deserved to get awards for their humanitarian services. He was directed to bring out an annual calendar for the training of the state and district disaster response teams. Vohra stressed that the district committees should be well-equipped to dealing with any type of disaster. The Divisional Commissioners of Kashmir and Jammu were also directed to make available proper space for storage of relief materials received from the IRCS, National Headquarters, New Delhi, and other organisations. BR Sharma, Chief Secretary, Umang Narula, Principal Secretary to the Governor, RK Goyal, Principal Secretary, Home, Shaleen Kabra, Principal Secretary, Education, Navin K Choudhary, Commissioner Secretary, Finance, Pawan Kotwal, Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, and Rohit Kansal, Commissioner Secretary, Public Works Department, attended the meeting. Ehsan Fazili Tribune News Service Srinagar, April 19 Uncertainty looms large over the byelection in the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency, which have been postponed till May 25 following violence on the polling day in the Srinagar parliamentary constituency, as the ruling coalition and the Opposition parties have divergent views on the conduct of the election. The ruling Peoples Democratic Party is not in favour of the byelection in Anantnag constituency comprising the entire south Kashmir region due to various factors. First, the hangover of the 2016 unrest in Kashmir continued when the election process was set into motion early last month. This may escalate violence which had already been witnessed during the byelection in Srinagar constituency on April 9. Second, the election process, enforcing code of conduct in the four districts of south Kashmir, may halt developmental activities for over two and a half months. This period being the beginning of the working season in Kashmir, which according to the Peoples Democratic Party leaders already suffered during the last years unrest in the Valley. The Peoples Democratic Party seeks postponement of the byelection again till October-November this year to benefit the state to maintain a peaceful atmosphere, help tourism and trade to grow and create space for developmental activities. The south Kashmir constituency comprising four districts of Anantnag, Pulwama, Kulgam and Shopian form the bastion of the Peoples Democratic Party. Its candidate Tassaduq Hussain Mufti, son of Peoples Democratic Partyfounder and former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and brother of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, had already appealed to the Election Commission of India to postpone the Anantnag byelection. He made this appeal a day after the violence marred Srinagar byelection saying that the Anantnag election then scheduled for April 12, would be more violent. In the backdrop of National Conference-Congress candidate Farooq Abdullahs election from Srinagar constituency, a delegation of the Opposition parties led by Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee president Ghulam Ahmad Mir on Tuesday urged the Election Commission to ensure free and fair polling in south Kashmir. There was no point in deferring the election in Anantnag, sources in the Congress said. GA Mir, contesting candidate of the National Conference-Congress from Anantnag, had earlier also raised questions over the role of the ruling party in the election process and sought the conduct of the Anantnag byelection under the Governors rule. The byelections to Srinagar and Anantnag parliamentary seats, which had been vacated by Peoples Democratic Party members Tariq Hameed Karra and Mehbooba Mufti last year, have become the focal point ever since militancy erupted in Kashmir 27 years ago. The coalition government will have to overcome the odds in the way of these elections peacefully and pave the way for tourism, trade and developmental activities to flourish. By Press Trust of India: Hoshiarpur (Punjab), Apr 19 (PTI) Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjans native village of Bambeli is all set to accord him a grand welcome when he will arrive here tomorrow. "The route to Bambeli has been decorated with big hoardings in honour of the Canadian Defence Minister, who left the village with his family in 1974-75," said village head Paramjit Singh here. advertisement "There is a lot of enthusiasm among the dwellers of Bambeli, located in Mahilpur block of this district, to receive him. A display of fireworks will mark his arrival here," he said. Upon his arrival, Sajjan will be taken to a gurdwara in the village, where he will pay obeisance. Also, food will be at a langar (open kitchen) on the occasion. Sajjans father Kundan Singh and mother Vidya Kaur are already in the village to get their house renovated. His sister Manjit Kaur has also joined her parents, the village head said. Sukhpal Singh, a cousin of Sajjan, said the minister was visiting the village after a gap of 16 years. However, Deputy Commissioner, Hoshiarpur, Vipul Ujwal said he has no official information on the visit of the Canadian Defence Minister yet. SSP H S Bhullar said adequate security arrangements have been made in view of his visit. Meanwhile, Sajjan landed at the Guru Ramdas International Airport in Amritsar in the evening. Some radicals also raised slogans to welcome him. Members of a Sikh fundamentalist group said they raised slogans in his honour but police did not allow them to receive or meet Sajjan, who has been dubbed a "Khalistani sympathiser" by Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has, however, announced to honour the dignitary during his visit to Amritsar to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple on April 20. PTI COR SUN CHS GVS --- ENDS --- Shanghai, April 19 Since her father was elected President of the United States, global sales of Ivanka Trump merchandise have surged and the company has applied for at least nine new trademarks in the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Canada and the US. The commercial engine of the first daughter's brand is stronger than ever even as she builds a new political career from her West Wing office. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Sales hit record levels in 2017, despite boycotts and several stores limiting her merchandise. US imports, almost all from China, shot up an estimated 166 per cent last year. The brand, which Ivanka Trump no longer manages but still owns, says distribution is growing. It has launched new active wear and affordable jewelry lines, and is working to expand its global intellectual property footprint. In addition to applying for the new trademarks, Ivanka Trump Marks LLC has won provisional approval from the Chinese government for at least five since the inauguration. The commercial currents of President Donald Trump's White House are unprecedented in modern American politics, ethics lawyers say. They have created an unfamiliar landscape riven with ethical pitfalls, and forced consumers and retailers to wrestle with the unlikely passions now inspired by Ivanka Trump's mid-market collection of ruffled blouses, shifts and wedges. Using the prestige of government service to build a brand is not illegal. But criminal conflict-of-interest law prohibits federal officials, like Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, from participating in government matters that could impact their own financial interest or that of their spouses. Some argue that the more her business broadens its scope, the more it threatens to encroach on the ability of two trusted advisers to deliver credible counsel to the president on core issues like trade, intellectual property and the value of Chinese currency. "Put the business on hold and stop trying to get trademarks while you're in government," advises Richard Painter, who served as chief White House ethics lawyer under George W Bush. In fact, on April 6, Ivanka Trump's company won provisional approval from the Chinese government for three new trademarks, giving it monopoly rights to sell Ivanka brand jewelry, bags and spa services in the world's second-largest economy. That night, the first daughter and her husband sat next to the president of China and his wife for a steak and Dover sole dinner at Mar-a-Lago. The scenario underscores how difficult it is for the president's daughter, to separate business from politics in her new position at the White House. In a statement yesterday, a spokesperson for the Ivanka Trump brand said that all 2017 Chinese trademarks were defensive, filed to prevent counterfeiters or squatters from using her name. To address ethical concerns, Ivanka Trump has shifted the brand's assets to a family-run trust valued at more than US$ 50 million and pledged to recuse herself from issues that present conflicts. She is also no longer running her design business and has given day-to-day responsibility to Abigail Klem, president of the brand. AP Satya Prakash Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 19 The Supreme Court on Wednesday revived criminal conspiracy charge against senior BJP leaders LK Advani, Murali Manohar Joshi, Union Minister Uma Bharti and others in the December 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case and shifted the trial from a Rai Bareilly magistrate's court to a Special CBI court in Lucknow. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Allowing the CBI's appeal, a Bench of Justice PC Ghose and Justice Rohinton Nariman said the proceedings regarding framing of charges be completed in four weeks. Using its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, it clubbed the two cases pending trial at Rai Bareilly and Lucknow and ordered a day-to-day trial by Special CBI court in Lucknow. Related stories: Babri mosque demolition anniversary passes off peacefully Babri case is about title: Owaisi Hearing adjourned for 2 weeks in Babri case While the high-profile leaders were being tried without any conspiracy charge at Rai Bareilly, ordinary karsevaks faced conspiracy charge at Lucknow for demolishing the disputed structure at Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh, who was the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh at the time of the demolition, is also among the accused. The court ordered that no adjournments would be granted under normal circumstances and the trial judge hearing the case could not be transferred. The trial had to conclude in two years, the Bench said. The Bench had on April 6 reserved its order on the CBIs plea to revive conspiracy charges against senior BJP leaders LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti and others in the December 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case. The Bench had said that it was still hanging fire even after 25 years. It termed the inordinate delay as "evasion of justice". Sixteen years after a Lucknow Special Court dropped the charge of criminal conspiracy against the senior BJP and VHP leaders in the case on technical grounds, the saffron leaders are in for serious legal trouble. People cannot be discharged like this on a technical ground, the Bench had said on March 6 expressing its dismay over the inordinate delay in the case. The impugned order of the Allahabad High Court upholding the lower court order dropping the charge of conspiracy ought to be set aside, Additional Solicitor General NK Kaul told the Bench on behalf of the CBI. On behalf of Advani and Joshi, senior counsel KK Venugopal had opposed the possible shifting of trial and revival of criminal conspiracy, saying it would violate the fundamental right to life and liberty as also the right to fair and speedy trial. Venugopal had said recording of evidence was nearing an end and 183 witnesses would have to be recalled for cross-examination. It would require conducting the entire proceedings afresh, he contended. In the Rae Bareilly case, the court has examined 57 witnesses and another 105 are to be examined. In the Lucknow case against karsevaks, 195 witnesses had been examined by the trial court and the testimonies of 800 more were yet to be examined. The CBI had challenged the 2010 Allahabad High Court order upholding the trial to discharge senior BJP leaders LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti, Kalyan Singh and others. One Haji Mahboob Ahmad, president of Mahafiz-Masjid-Wa-Maqabir, too had moved the SC claiming that with the BJP in power, the CBI may not press for revival of criminal conspiracy charge. The case against Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray and VHP leader Acharya Giriraj Kishore has abated following their death. Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh was Uttar Pradesh chief minister when the disputed structure at Ayodhya was demolished by thousands of karsevaks despite the state governments undertaking given to the top court to protect it. The CBI had registered two sets of cases relating the demolition of the 16th century disputed structure in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. The first one was against unnamed 'karsevaks' that was being tried in a court in Lucknow, while the second one involved the BJP and VHP leaders who were being tried at a Rae Bareli court. The CBI filed a composite chargesheet in both the cases and the state government issued a notification transferring the Rae Bareli case to Lucknow. The Allahabad High Court quashed the notification in 2001 on the grounds that the HC was not consulted. The state did not re-issue the notification rectifying the legal lacunae. The same year, a Lucknow Special Court dropped criminal charges against the 13 leaders on the grounds that there were two FIRs and the one pending before it under criminal conspiracy section did not name them. The HC upheld the order in 2010. It is this order, which is under challenge before the top court. New Delhi, April 19 With the political fiasco in Tamil Nadu getting murkier by the day, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on Wednesday hit out at the ruling All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) saying its leaders are making a mockery of every authority that exists. There is an allegation against Dinakaran that he was willing to pay Rs 50 crore to ensure that the Election Commission decides in his favour about the allotment of the two leaves symbol. We want to highlight a point is that how do they get hold of this kind of money, definitely not by legitimate businesses. It is money belonging to the people of Tamil Nadu, looted from the people of the state. They are making a mockery of every authority, DMK leader Sarvanan told ANI. Meanwhile, AIADMK leader M Thambidurai called for unity in the party, saying if all leaders would come together, then it would strengthen the party. Its not a sudden development, its going on for a long time. We have to come together and have to be united. We need to unite this party so that Ammas ideology may move forward. If we come together then it will strengthen the party. People are supporting our party and 50 per cent vote bank is with us, Thambidurai told ANI. ANI Ravi S Singh Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 19 Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti has refused to step down from her position after Supreme Court revived conspiracy charges against her and some senior BJP leaders in the 26-year-old Babri Masjid demolition case. Responding to calls to resign in the face of the charges, Bharti said there was no conspiracy involved and everything was declared and in public space. I was openly and enthusiastically part of the Ayodhya Ram Temple movement. I was present in Ayodhya on the day mosque was demolished. In mind, word and deed, I was part of the movement. It has been my declared wish for construction of Ram Temple. (sic) I am unapologetic and unrepentant, she claimed, adding that she was willing to face the gallows for the cause. In a significant statement, she also claimed that it was Ram temple movement had helped bring the BJP to power at the centre, adding that she had once given up the post of chief minister for the cause of Indian flag. Responding to Congresss demand for her resignation, she said Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi were all present at former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhis residence when Sikhs were massacred in 1984. Must they also resign? Bharti asked. She also claimed that the interference from Left-controlled media and government controlled Doordarshan had caused the dispute to remain unsettled for years. Doordarshan and Left-controlled Media used to abuse us for being Hindu, day in and day out. We were made to feel apologetic for being a Hindu and devotees of Ram, Bharti said, adding that the dispute would have otherwise been settled amicably. Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 19 India and Russia are set to expand their military tie. And in an important signal to the world, the two nations will conduct their first-ever tri-services joint exercise this year. The exercise will be conducted in Russia and would include military components of the Army, Indian Air Force and the Navy, top Defence Ministry sources told The Tribune. The Indian armed forces have been doing joint exercises of all three services on their own but it will be the first instance for India to do such exercise with another country. Militaries of both the countries have been exercising for long under the Indra series. However, this will be the first-ever joint exercise that could use land forces and equipment like T-90 tanks, IAF fighter jets Sukhoi-30MKI and naval warships. The Integrated Defence Staff of the Defence Ministry will lead the exercises. Officials also pointed to the commonalities between the Indian and Russian military platforms. The military delegations of two sides have had a planning conference and will meet again to finalise the finer points. Ananya Panda Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 19 Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal released the AAP's manifesto on Wednesday and said that in one year the AAP would revamp the Municipal Corporation Delhi (MCD), and make it disease-free and profitable. Saying the Congress is finished, Kejriwal asked people not to waste votes on it, while warning them against electing the BJP. The BJP, if elected, would do little to keep the capital clean, Kejriwal claimed. The chief minister promised to make Delhi free of vector-borne diseases in the next three years, shut all landfills by 2019 and make the city spick and span within a year. Several services rendered by the Municipal Corporations of Delhi (MCDs) will be made available online to reduce corruption and a common redressal helpline number will also be launched, Kejriwal said. He also promised to provide free treatment and medicines in the MCD-run healthcare facilities and improve its quality. In the education sector, he announced that the quality of teaching would be enhanced and nursery and KG classes in MCD- run schools would be started. Some of the announcements made today for MCD polls mirror the AAP's promises made during the Delhi Assembly polls. The party is leaving no stone unturned to woo different sections of the society from sanitation workers to traders, a strategy which had worked well for the party in the Assembly polls. The MCD polls will be a litmus test for the AAP in Delhi, following the party's poor show in Goa and Punjab Assembly polls and its defeat in the recent Rajouri Garden Assembly bypoll, where the party candidate could not save his deposit. Berating the BJP-led MCDs for its "10 years of misrule", Kejriwal said the party which cannot take care of the city's garbage is "incapable" of ruling the national capital. "These BJP people have even backstabbed their own Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) despite his call for Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. "Solving problems of Delhi is not their cup of tea. We will fix all these issues. The Delhi Government has put an end to water, education and health mafia. We will replicate that by dealing a heavy blow to mafias operating in the MCDs," he said. To woo nearly 90,000 sanitation workers, the party has assured that they will get their salaries by seventh of every month, while the contractual labourers would be regularised. He also assured to give protective gears for sanitation workers along with a health insurance scheme and Rs 50,000 fixed deposit for their daughters. To end parking woes in the city, Kejriwal said the issue will be addressed through surface, multi-level and underground parking facilities. Kejriwal said steps would be taken to tackle the menace of stray dogs and monkeys. The party had earlier announced abolition of house tax, a promise the AAP feels will be an important agenda in the civic polls. On that lines, the party will straighten rules so that people can make minor changes in their residence without approaching the MCD officials. Those who have already made such amendments will be regularised under a scheme. Kejriwal said that voting for the Congress in the MCD polls would be "waste of votes" after former Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely joined the BJP. The election to East, North and South Municipal Corporations will be held on April 23. Among the major contenders, the AAP is the last to release its manifesto. With PTI inputs Ajay Banerjee Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 19 India and Russia would conduct first-ever tri-services joint exercise this year. The exercise will be conducted in Russia and would include military components of the Army, Indian Air Force and the Navy, top Defence Ministry sources told the Tribune. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The militaries of both the countries have been exercising for long under the 'Indra' series, however, this will be the first-ever joint exercise that could use land forces and equipment like tanks, T-90, IAF fighter jets, Sukhoi-30MKI and naval warships. A large number of Military platforms in the two countries are common. The military delegations of two sides have had a planning conference and will meet again to finalise the finer points. In October 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a summit meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin where it was decided that Defence will be the key focus of the bi-lateral relationship. Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 19 The government today virtually dismissed the idea of resignation by Uma Bharti from the Cabinet besides describing as hypothetical the possibility of the Supreme Court ruling in the Babri case impacting the selection of candidates for presidential and vice-presidential poll. Senior party leader Arun Jaitley said the case had been going on since 1993. Somehow it is going on and no new situation has arisen. So the situation which was prevailing will continue, he said while responding to queries on the impact of the ruling on the future of Union Minister Uma Bharti and Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh. On whether todays apex court ruling could impact selection of candidates for the posts of President and Vice-President, Jaitley called the question hypothetical. The two top Constitutional posts are falling vacant this year and speculation is rife in Delhis political circles about the possibility of veterans LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi members of the BJPs margdarshak mandal being projected as the BJP candidate for the posts. Sources claim PM Narendra Modi himself suggested Advanis name for the next President at a meeting in Gujarat, a sort of guru dakshina. Advani has been less visible in politics since the new guard took over in 2014 and is also believed to be not on very happy terms with the current leadership. Sources, however, say the PM is in favour of seeing him occupy the Presidents post. The BJP leadership believes it to be a non-issue and if the rather belligerent reactions of Bharti and top Hindutva leaders like Vinay Katiyar are any indication, neither the BJP nor anyone in the Sangh are much perturbed over todays developments in the court. Two years, they say, is a long time and the ruling can be used as an opportunity to build a grand Ram Temple at Ayodhya. Core group discusses verdict A couple of hours after the Supreme Court verdict on the Babri mosque demolition that put into the dock the partys sidelined veterans Advani and Joshi, BJP leaders assembled at PM Modis residence to discuss its political and legal fallout. Party chief Amit Shah and Union Ministers Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and M Venkaiah Naidu remained huddled there for two hours. However, playing down its significance, senior leaders said several issues, including the Kashmir crisis, were discussed. But coming in backdrop of the SC verdict that allows the CBI to put veterans Advani, Joshi and Bharti on trial, it is understood the leadership explored various options to deal with it. Bharti, who earlier in the day said she would go to Ayodhya tonight, cancelled her visit after being advised by the party leadership. Clearly, BJP does not want any over-the-top reactions and would also not like the message to go out that those who spearheaded the Hindutva movement and gave BJP a new identity are being left alone to fend for themselves when the party is in power at the Centre as well as UP. Modi must walk the talk on morality As far as other issues are concerned, our Prime Minister Narendra Modi is always committed to the cause of morality. Those are his public pronouncements. Occasionally, he forgets morality when it comes to his ministers. Lets hope he doesnt forget (it) this time Todays development is like a new film 25 saal baad, on the lines of 20 saal baad, which will finish in the next two years Kapil SIbal, former Cong minister PM crafting Advani trial through CBI The Supreme Court order allowing trial of top BJP leaders in the Babri Masjid case is a well-thought-out politics of the Prime Minister to remove LK Advanis name from the Presidential race. The CBI is under the influence of PM Modi. It stood in the Supreme Court and sought permission to run trial against Advani and others in the Babri Masjid demolition case Lalu Prasad, RJD chief Chargesheet no basis to quit This case is going on since 1993. Somehow it is going on and no new situation has arisen. If that (resignation) was the criteria, some of the current Congress CMs will have to quit. There have been ministers, there have been deputy PMs... If chargesheet is the rule (to resign), then just calculate how many Congress chief ministers will have to go Arun Jaitley, Union Minister More Serious than Gandhijis killing Mahatma Gandhi assassination trial completed in 2 years & Babri Masjid demolition which (is) more serious than MK Gandhi killing not yet decided. Gandhis killers were convicted (and) hanged & Babri accused have been made Union Ministers, conferred Padma Vibhushan, justice system moves slowly... Those responsible for the nations shame in 1992 are now running the country Asaduddin Owaisi, AIMIM chief 25 years on, Babri masjid demolition ghost back to haunt BJP veterans Oct 1993: CBI files composite charge sheet accusing Advani and others of conspiracy May 4, 2001: Special CBI court drops proceedings against accused, including Advani, Joshi, Uma Bharti, Bal Thackeray and others Nov 2, 2004: CBI challenges before Lucknow Bench of Allahabad HC dropping of proceedings on technical grounds; court issues notices May 20, 2010: High Court dismisses plea, says no merit in CBIs revision petition Feb 2011: CBI moves SC against HC order March 6, 2017: SC hints may consider reviving conspiracy charge against the BJP leaders March 21: SC suggests fresh attempts to resolve Ayodhya dispute April 6: Supreme Court favours time-bound completion of trial in the case and reserves order on the CBIs petition April 19: SC restores criminal conspiracy charge against leaders including Advani, Joshi and Union Cabinet Minister Uma Bharti in the case and clubs the trial in the matter pending against VIPs and karsevaks Faizabad (UP), December 6 Muslim groups observed 'day of sorrow' while Hindu outfits celebrated 'shaurya divas' on the 23rd anniversary of Babri mosque demolition today, which passed off peacefully amid tight security in Ayodhya, as well as in other parts of the country. Babri Masjid Action Committee (BMAC) observed the day as 'Yaum-e-Gham' (day of sorrow) while VHP observed 'shaurya divas' (day of victory). On the occasion, Uttar Pradesh's Additional Advocate General Zafaryab Jilani, who is also a BMAC member, said the battle for Babri mosque is being supported and fought by Hindus. "The case of Babri mosque is being pleaded in Supreme Court by a group of eminent lawyers who are members of Hindu community," Jilani said in Ayodhya. "We are fighting the legal and political battle of Babri mosque on the support of 90 per cent of secular Hindus of the country," he said. Muslims in the twin town of Ayodhya-Faizabad observed black Sunday today. Incidentally, the mosque was razed on a Sunday on December 6, 1992. People of the Muslim community did not open their shops and hoisted black flags to protest against the demolition of Babri mosque. Indian Union Muslim League observed a 'dharna' outside SSP office in Faizabad. Meanwhile in Delhi, members of Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad today pledged to work for early construction of Ram Temple at Ayodhya as they marked the day as 'Shaurya Diwas'. VHP Delhi president Rampal Singh said the temple should be build through an act of Parliament. "Trusting the judicial system, Hindus waited for 60 years from 1950 till 2010. But now the Hindu community wants the temple to be built through an act of Parliament on the lines of Somnath Temple," Singh said. In Punjab, activists of Shiv Sena observed the anniversary as 'Shaurya Diwas' by holding a function in a local temple in Phagwara. In Hyderabad, a bandh called by All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen and other local outfits passed off peacefully and no untoward incident was reported in the city, police said. In Kolkata, ruling Trinamool Congress organised a rally near Gandhi statue in the heart of the city to mark the anniversary as 'Sanhati Divas' (Unity Day). "Ours is a democratic and secular country, there should be an atmosphere of brotherhood among all and everybody should be able to live freely," Party MP Sudip Bandopadhyay said at the rally. "Nobody should attempt to decide who will eat what," Bandopadhyay said referring to the recent controversy over beef eating. On the occasion, Left parties held a protest rally in New Delhi and accused RSS-BJP of whipping up communal passions in the country. During the rally, CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury dubbed Hindutva organisations as "anti-national" and accused them of not only disturbing peace, but endangering scientific temperament in the country. Meanwhile, UP minister Tej Narain Pandey said even after 23 years of the demolition, those responsible for it have not been punished and not even court proceeding has reached to that extent so we can believe that the accused will be punished. Jilani also referred to various legalities involved in the case. He also appealed to Muslims to remain patient as their case has a strong footing in Supreme Court. PTI Washington, April 19 In a blow to Indian IT industry and professionals, US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order for tightening the rules of the H-1B visa programme to stop its "abuse" and ensure that the visas are given to the "most-skilled or highest paid" petitioners. Acting on his 'Buy American, Hire American' pledge, Trump signed the order that calls for an overhaul of the programme at the Kenosha, Wisconsin, headquarters of toolmaker Snap-on Inc yesterday. "Right now, widespread abuse in our immigration system is allowing American workers of all backgrounds to be replaced by workers brought in from other countries to fill the same job for, sometimes, less pay. This will stop," Trump told an enthusiastic audience in Wisconsin before signing the order. He said the order sets in motion the first steps to initiate "long-overdue" reforms to end "visa abuses". "Right now, H-1B visas are awarded in a totally random lottery, and that's wrong. Instead, they should be given to the most skilled and highest-paid applicants, and they should never, ever be used to replace Americans," he asserted. "No one can compete with American workers when they're given a fair and level playing field, which has not happened for decades," he said. Trump said his administration is going to enforce 'Hire American' rules that are designed to protect jobs and wages of workers in the United States. "We believe jobs must be offered to American workers first. Does that make sense?" he said. But the New York Times noted that Trump's announcement came at a jittery time for the White House, as he faces the 100th day of his presidency without much to show for it in the way of legislative accomplishment, after the defeat of his health care overhaul. "And his two high-profile executive orders cracking down on immigration from predominantly Muslim nations have been stymied by the courts," the paper pointed out. Trump's executive order also declares that American projects should be made with American goods. "No longer are we going to allow foreign countries to cheat our producers and our workers out of federal contracts. Everyone in my administration will be expected to enforce every last 'Buy American' provision on behalf of the American worker, and we are going to investigate every single trade deal that undermines these provisions," he said. According to the executive order, the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Labour, and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall suggest reforms to help ensure that H-1B visas are awarded to the most-skilled or highest-paid petition beneficiaries. In a statement, the White House said H-1B visas are supposed to bring the highest skilled and paid labour to the United States. But according to studies, 80 per cent of the approved applications were for the two lowest wage levels allowed. Currently, companies routinely abuse the H-1B visa programme by replacing American workers with lower paid foreign workers," it said. Reforming the H-1B visa system was one of the major election promises of Trump. According to several US reports, a majority of the H-1B visas every year are grabbed by Indian IT professionals. India accounts for the highest pool of qualified IT professionals, whose services go a long way in making American companies globally competitive. As mandated by the Congress, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) every year issues 65,000 H-1B visas and another 20,000 to those applicants having masters and higher degrees from a US educational institution. This month USCIS received 199,000 H-1B visa petitions and as a result, the federal agency had to resort to a computerised draw of lots to decide the fate of successful applicant. Betsy Lawrence, the director of government relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told CNN that, "Although released with ceremonial flair, the order will have no immediate impact on H-1Bs." "Many of the changes to the H-1B programme contemplated by the administration would require legislative action or rule-making and would take time to go through the necessary processes," he said. Meanwhile, some US lawmakers said the executive order signed by Trump calling for a review of H-1B visas was too little and too late. "This does nothing," said Senator Charles Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader. "Like all the other executive orders, it's just words - he's calling for new studies. It's not going to fix the problem. It's not going to create a single job." "We already know H-1B visa abuse hurts American workers. Simply reviewing the programme is too little, too late," Senator Dick Durbin said. US lawmakers have already tabled more than half a dozen legislations in the Congress with specific proposals to reform and improve the H-1B visas systems. Many of those proposals, as per industry body Nasscom, are discriminatory and are targeted towards Indian IT companies. The US tech industry and corporate sector, however, has welcomed the "much-needed" review of the H-1B visa programme and expressed confidence that it would help them bring in the best and the brightest from across the world. PTI By Nolan Pinto: After SM Krishna's exit from the Congress and many senior leaders close to him praising the BJP and PM Narendra Modi, one would have thought that the logical step for his grand-nephew's political aspirations would be with the BJP but Nirantar Ganesh took everyone by surprise. Ganesh not only joined the Congress but also brought along more than 40 doctors with him to the party fold. advertisement Hailing from Mudigere in Chikkamagaluru district, Ganesh is an Orthopaedician at a private hospital in Bengaluru. As part of his social service initiative, he provides free medical treatment to people in villages of Kadur twice a week. "Having been brought up in a family with deep roots in the Congress and its ideology, it was difficult for me to join any other party," he tells India Today. Although he said that he had a discussion with his granduncle SM Krishna, who was with the Congress for decades, but decided against taking that offer to join the BJP. "He said he would put my name in the followers list but my conscience did not let me go," he added. There are talks that Ganesh could likely be the Congress candidate from Kadur constituency in the 2018 polls but when asked about this, he said that he joined the party to strengthen its hold at the grassroot level. 'FAMILY IMMATERIAL, PARTY AND PEOPLE FIRST' For the new Congressman, the party and the people of his constituency will always come first. Ganesh said that even if it comes to a point where he might be called upon to take on SM Krishna in the field, he will not hesitate to do so. KPCC Working President Dinesh Gundurao inducted Ganesh along with many others in the party. "Dr Ganesh had expressed his intention to take the plunge into politics for more than 5-6 months and it was only recently that it was finalised. Gundurao added that even though Ganesh happens to be related to SM Krishna but that would not change anything as he is involved in his own social work and has his own personality. (With inputs from Sharan KA) Also read: Not aspiring to be Karnataka chief minister: SM Krishna Also read: Congress party set for a makeover, election of party president between Sept 16-Oct 15: Sources --- ENDS --- Tribune News Service Chandigarh, April 19 The Ontario governments resolution terming the 1984 anti-Sikh riots as genocide and the Indian governments objection has kicked up a major controversy on this emotive issue again. The AAP today asked the Narendra Modi government why it remained silent when they passed a similar resolution in Delhi. It has also questioned the silence of the Akalis. The AAP was responding to clarifications of Union Food Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal that her party had fought for ensuring justice for riot victims. The SAD-BJP government had already termed the killings as genocide but the Ontario resolution was condemnable as it made critical references to India, she had said. While Defence Minister Arun Jaitely has reportedly expressed his displeasure to the visiting Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan in a meeting yesterday by terming the resolution as a misguided approach on the riots, the AAP questioned the motive of the NDA government in doing so. Jarnail Singh, senior AAP leader, said it was strange that the same government had not opposed a similar resolution passed by the Delhi government, I had moved the resolution in July 2015. It said the House strongly condemns the Sikh genocide in 1984. Instead of bringing the perpetrators to justice, the government is calling the resolution by Ontario assembly misguided. The same government had not opposed the Delhi resolution, he said. Jarnail also said the three BJP legislators in the Delhi Assembly did not oppose the resolution by the Kejriwal government. HS Phoolka, AAP Leader of Opposition in Punjab, said the BJP and the Congress seemed to have reached some secret pact on the issue now, he said. Rajmeet Singh Tribune News Service Chandigarh, April 19 Scrapping the university status accorded to Khalsa College, Amritsar, by the SAD-BJP government last year, the Capt Amarinder Singh-led Congress government today approved an ordinance to repeal the Khalsa University Act, 2016. The ordinance is expected to be signed by the Governor in coming days. Accusing the Khalsa College Society of jeopardising the colleges heritage status by converting it into a university, the Chief Minister said he had kept his promise to save the 125-year-old institution from falling prey to privatisation. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The Punjab Cabinet also decided that students affected by the decision would be shifted to Guru Nanak Dev University or other universities of their choice. To preserve its architectural grandeur, it suggested that all properties attached to the college be kept intact. Khalsa University was established through Khalsa University Act, 2016, despite stiff opposition from local residents, the college alumni and academicians. Sukhjinder Raj Singh (Lalli) Majithia, general secretary, Punjab Pradesh Congress, who had spearheaded a campaign against the SAD-BJP decision, welcomed the move. Describing the government action as unfortunate, the Khalsa College Governing Council (KCGC) is contemplating legal recourse. Worried, top functionaries of Khalsa University said they had already registered more than 300 students in courses. Chancellor Satayjit Singh Majithia called it sheer vendetta, claiming that an institution of higher learning, that primarily catered to students from the border belt, had been targeted owing to petty politics. There is no merit in the argument that the university is a threat to the college's heritage building. The university will have its own construction. It is totally false that a part of Khalsa College is being used to raise the university. Pro Chancellor Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina said the KCGC would do everything to save the future of its students. Ruchika M Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, April 19 The Congress government is determined to stick to its stand that the state has no water to spare for its neighbour, Haryana, during a meeting called by the Centre to resolve the SYL dispute scheduled for tomorrow. The meeting, to be chaired by the Secretary, Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Dr Amarijit Singh in Delhi on Thursday, has been convened to discuss ways to implement the decree passed by the Supreme Court in 2002, regarding the construction of the SYL canal. It will be attended by top officials from both states. Punjab will be represented by Chief secretary Karan Avtar Singh, and Additional Chief Secretary KBS Sidhu, besides other officials and states technical consultant on water issues SK Goyal. Sources told The Tribune that initially an official-level meeting would take place so as to come up with some points of consensus before Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the mediation further with the CMs of Punjab and Haryana Capt Amarinder Singh and Manohar Lal Khattar. The Punjab delegation has been instructed by Captain to reject any suggestion for the construction of the canal. The states stand will be simple first determine the exact quantum of water available. Since the latest flow series shows that the quantum of water has reduced drastically from 17.17 MAF to 14.37 MAF (based on 1981-2002 series) and now to 13.38 MAF (2002-13 series), there is no additional water that the state can part with through the proposed canal. A meeting of top officials, under the chairmanship of Amarinder, was held last night where the states stand during the proposed meeting was discussed. With the CM having earlier terminated all river water-sharing agreements with its neighbouring states by passing The Punjab Termination of Agreements Act in 2004, he is again determined not to succumb to any pressure. The sources say the state will also point out that there has been an alarming fall in the water table, with the groundwater development index in the state being 172 against the internationally accepted GDI of 75. Tribune News Service Amritsar, April 19 Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan today arrived in the holy city. The SGPC resented that protocol was not followed by the administration while welcoming him at Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport. Representatives of various radical Sikh organisations were there to greet him, but were not allowed to meet him. Sajjan is scheduled to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple tomorrow at 8 am amid heavy security cover. The SGPC will honour him. SGPC executive member Gurcharan Singh Grewal said: "As per protocol, the Deputy Commissioner should have led the administration in welcoming him, but only an SDM-level official was present. This has happened despite the fact that CM had assured that due protocol would be followed for the visiting dignitary," he said. District Public Relation Officer Sherjung Singh said: "The DC was in Chandigarh to attend a hearing in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. In his absence, SDM (Ajnala) was there to receive the Canadian minister as per protocol." Gagan K Teja and Vishav Bharti Tribune News Service Patiala/Chandigarh, April 19 In a surprising development, BJP leader Swaran Salaria, Chairman, Chintpurni Medical College and Hospital, Pathankot, has taken over the management of Gian Sagar Medical Charitable Trust. The medical, dental and nursing colleges being run by the Trust in Banur are facing closure owing to a fiscal crisis. Even as Salaria claims that he has taken charge of the Trust on the condition that he will clear all its pending liabilities and will make the colleges functional in the coming two days, the staff have expressed uncertainty considering the fact that Salarias own Chintpurni Medical College in Pathankot is in trouble. They rue that Salaria has been unable to run the medical college properly. Salaria claims that six of the eight board members of the Trust resigned on April 17 and the two remaining members would follow the suit soon. He would make his own team to run the institution, he said. Salaria held a meeting with staff members of the college yesterday. Meanwhile, Dean of Gian Sagar Medical College Dr AS Sekhon has resigned from his post. In its inspection report, the Medical Council of India has found glaring deficiencies at Chintpurni Medical College, Pathankot. The college is likely to lose recognition and will not be able to admit students for the upcoming session. Earlier on the direction of the Supreme Court, the college was given conditional permission to admit students in 2014-15, but was denied permission in 2015-16. Last year, the Supreme Court-mandated Lodha Committee (Oversight Committee) had allowed the college to admit one batch of 150 students with the condition to remove the anomalies and deposit a security, which can be forfeited if the college failed to comply with the orders. The college has, however, failed to meet the requirements. An inspection of the college was carried out on March 7, and the report noted that there were 24 glaring deficiencies. Some of them include 87 per cent shortage in faculty, 82 per cent shortage of resident doctors, low number of patients coming to the hospital OPD and no patient admitted for indoor treatment. The MCI observed: The college has failed to comply with the conditions laid down by the Oversight Committee. Besides forfeiting the security, the council recommended the college not to admit students for the next two years. Ottawa, April 19 The retreat of one of Canada's largest glaciers has changed the flow of a northern river almost overnight in an extreme case of what researchers call climate change "river piracy. The discovery of the Slims river diversion away from the Bering Sea into another watershed that empties into the Pacific Ocean was published in the journal Nature Geoscience. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Gerard Roe, co-author of the study and a professor at the University of Washington in Seattle in the US state of Washington, told AFP that the Slims riverbed had dried up in only four days. The habitat was altered, he said in a telephone interview. "The chemistry and biology of the water changed dramatically." Researchers led by Canadian geomorphologist Daniel Shugar of the University of Washington in Tacoma had travelled to Canada's northern Yukon Territory last August to study the river's currents, but it was gone. They traced its mysterious disappearance to the Slims river's headwaters, where they found a glacial barrier that once routed its flow northward into the Bering Sea had been breached in the spring. This "abruptly and radically" altered drainage from the Kaskawulsh Glacier spring melt, according to the study, sent the river in the opposite direction into the Pacific Ocean, 1,300 km away from where the mouth of the river used to be. Shugar and his team used computer models to show the fast glacier melt -- and the subsequent river diversion -- was due to global climate change, and not natural temperature fluctuations over centuries. Such changes, they warned in the study, can have "profound downstream impacts" on ecosystems and communities that rely on the discharge. Last summer, for example, Kluane Lake, which was fed by the Slims river, dropped a full metre below its lowest recorded level for that time of year. Another research team member, John Clague of Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, said the discovery highlights that while people view climate change as a gradual process, its effects may not be. "To me, it's kind of a metaphor for what can happen with sudden change induced by climate," he told the daily Globe and Mail. AFP Tribune News Service Dehradun, April 19 Parents of schoolchildren protested near Summer Valley School against steep hike in school fee by private schools. The protesters submitted a memorandum of their demands to the school principal, seeking withdrawal of the increase in fee. Khajan Dass, BJP legislator from Rajpur, was present during the protest. The parents raised slogans against the fee increase. They alleged that private schools were recklessly increasing the school fee and turning into business enterprises without paying any heed to the state government regulations and judicial pronouncements. They said the students were being harassed in the name of building funds and other sundry charges. They also alleged that students of the weaker sections of society, OBC and Dalits had been denied admissions in schools, despite government guidelines. The parents alleged that many schools had increased the school fee by 30 to 40 per cent, despite that the state government has capped the allowed increase to 10 per cent. They demanded that the unwarranted fee hike should be withdrawn or they would intensify their agitation. Jakarta, April 19 Jakartas Christian governor today lost heavily to a Muslim former government minister in an election run-off, private polls indicated, after a divisive battle that has damaged Indonesias reputation as a bastion of tolerant Islam. Anies Baswedan, who was accused of pandering to hardliners to win votes, and his supporters cheered as news came through that surveys showed him winning by over 10 percentage points against Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who was fighting for his job while standing trial for blasphemy. Official results are not expected until early May but the private pollsters, who count a sample of votes, are usually accurate. The vote was seen as a test of whether the moderate Islam traditionally practised in the worlds most populous Muslim country is under threat from hardliners, who have led a series of mass demonstrations against Purnama over allegations he insulted the Quran. It came against a backdrop of rising religious intolerance that has tainted the image of the diverse Indonesian archipelago as a pluralistic country in recent years, with a surge in attacks on minorities. Baswedan, a former education minister, thanked Jakartas voters for supporting him and hinted that he would move to heal the divisions in the capital after the bitter poll, if his victory was confirmed. We celebrate diversity... We are all ready to work together again, the 47-year-old said. Purnama, the city's first non-Muslim governor for half a century and its first ethnic Chinese leader, congratulated Baswedan and his running mate, adding: We are all the same, we want a good Jakarta, because it is our home. The defeat is also a blow for President Joko Widodo, whose party had backed Purnama. AFP SYDNEY, April 19 Australia and New Zealand have tightened visa conditions for skilled migrants in a bid to woo nationalist-leaning voters, echoing the United States America First policy, but critics have decried the move as mostly political posturing. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Tuesday abolished a temporary work visa popular with foreigners, replacing it with a new programme. New Zealand also tightened access to skilled work visas, taking a Kiwis-first approach. The changes are likely to hurt small businesses and Australian tech start-ups, industry officials said, but both countries will continue to see a surge in foreigners. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Recent population growth in Australia has been driven by student visas, which offer a path for people to study, work and eventually become permanent residents. In the six months to December, the country granted 156,453 student visas. This compares with just 12,866 of the so-called 457 skilled work visas approved in the year to September 2016. More than 95,000 foreigners are now employed under the 457 visa, making up a mere 0.8 per cent of Australias labour force. This is just a change of name, nothing else, said Shamim Ahmed, a Sydney-based migration agent at AIC Education Services. They cannot really abolish this visa, because it is demanded by employers. The 457 visa has been axed with immediate effect, and replaced by two new visas with a shorter skills shortage list and a tougher English language requirement, Turnbull announced on Tuesday. Additional details are still awaited. There will be a short-term skills visa for two years and it can only be renewed once. And then the person holding it has to go back to their home country, Turnbull said, repeating the Australian jobs for Australians rhetoric 16 times. Another four-year visa will have stricter eligibility criteria. Opposition leader Bill Shorten has labelled the announcement cosmetic and a con job that will make no real difference. Thats just shifting deck chairs on the proverbial sinking ship, he added. In neighbouring New Zealand, the policy changes are expected to have a limited impact on net arrivals. The changes include new income thresholds for immigrants to qualify as skilled or highly skilled. Opposition members were quick to accuse the ruling National party of currying favour with voters in an election year, without reining in immigration numbers and unemployment. Nationals changes dont address the huge numbers of people coming here to do low-level qualifications or low-skill work, said Labour party leader Andrew Little. A boom in new arrivals has helped the New Zealand economy achieve some of the strongest gross domestic product growth in the developed world. But the Opposition and the central bank have called for a review of policies, citing low wages and soaring house prices spurred by the influx. Australias decision could upset India, its fifth-largest export market. Reuters Islamabad, April 19 Pakistans National Assembly today passed a bill endorsing compulsory Quran education for all Muslim students studying in government schools from class 1 to 12, a move apparently aimed at weaning away children from religious seminaries. The Compulsory Teaching of the Holy Quran Bill 2017 was tabled before the House by State Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Balighur Rehman. The Bill provides that students from class 1 to 5 will learn to read the Arabic text of the holy book, while students from class 6 to 12 will also learn to read the Arabic text with simple Urdu translation. The minister clarified that this piece of legislation is only meant for the Muslim students. The Bill will need President Mamnoon Hussains signature to become law. It will lead towards spreading goodness and auspiciousness and towards ending chaos and uncertainty, according to the bill. The law will be applicable to all federal educational institutions in the country but it will be mandatory for Muslim students. The provinces can separately legislate on teaching of the Quran. Islam is Pakistans state religion and the government is bound to take steps to help people learn the teaching of Islam. Experts say the legislation could be an effort to wean away students from religious seminaries where they are just taught the Quran. PTI Ahmadi professor found murdered in Lahore Lahore: A professor belonging to the persecuted Ahmadi community was found murdered at her residence here, in the third such attack on the religious minority in the last three weeks. Punjab Universitys Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics professor Tahira Parveen Malik (61) was living alone at her official residence in the varsity campus. When police broke into the house, they found her lying in pool of blood with multiple stab wounds, the spokesperson added. In a 2013 agreement brokered by Russia and the United States, Syria agreed to destroy its chemical weapons. By Reuters: Israel's military said on Wednesday it believes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces still possess several tonnes of chemical weapons, issuing the assessment two weeks after a chemical attack that killed nearly 90 people in Syria. Israel, along with many countries, blames the strike on Assad's military. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said French intelligence services would provide proof of that in the coming days. advertisement A senior Israeli military officer, in a briefing to Israeli reporters, said "a few tonnes of chemical weapons" remained in the hands of Assad's forces, a military spokesman told Reuters. Some local media reports quoted the briefing officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with Israeli military procedure, as putting the amount at up to 3 tonnes. SYRIA HAD AGREED TO DESTROY ITS CHEMICAL WEAPONS In a 2013 agreement brokered by Russia and the United States, Syria agreed to destroy its chemical weapons. Earlier in the day, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical weapons, a global watchdog, said sarin or a similar banned toxin was used in the April 4 strike in Syria's Idlib province. The findings supported earlier testing by Turkish and British laboratories. Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper on April 6 that he was "100 percent certain" that the attack was "directly ordered and planned by Assad". He did not elaborate on how he reached that conclusion. Syria has repeatedly denied it was behind the attack in Khan Sheikhoun. Assad was quoted as saying last week that Syria's military gave up all its chemical weapons in 2013 after the agreement made at the time, and would not have used them anyway. Israel closely monitors the civil war in Syria, a northern neighbour. During the six-year conflict, Israel has largely stayed on the sidelines, carrying out occasional air strikes against what it says is the movement of weapons to Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah militants. Also read: North Korean mock-up birthday video shows missiles blowing up US Also read: Muslim girl's hijab ripped off, called "terrorist" in US Also read:13 Indians killed in US MOAB bombing in Afghanistan: Report --- ENDS --- Islamabad/Karachi, April 19 A looming Supreme Court decision that could disqualify Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif over corruption allegations had the country on edge on Wednesday, as a drawn-out investigation related to the Panama Papers leaks neared a conclusion. Disqualifying Sharif would leave his party in power, but it would cause intense turmoil at a time when Pakistan is experiencing modest growth and improved security after years of violence, and the civilian government and powerful military have appeared to come to uneasy terms. Sharif has denied any wrongdoing, but the Supreme Court agreed to investigate his familys offshore wealth late last year after opposition leader Imran Khan threatened street protests. The SC could take a range of steps. It could clear the prime minister, or order a further judicial commission of inquiry or even declare him ineligible to hold office, as it did in 2012 with then-Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani over a contempt of court case. Naeem ul Haque, a spokesman for Khans Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said he expected a verdict against Sharif, but he made clear the opposition would not launch a new street movement if they were disappointed. In 2014, Khan led a months-long protest that paralysed the government quarter in the capital, Islamabad, after rejecting Sharifs decisive election win a year earlier. The case stems from documents leaked from the Panama-based Mossack Fonseca law firm appeared to show that Sharifs daughter and two sons owned offshore holding companies registered in the British Virgin Islands and used them to buy properties in London. Sharif told Parliament last year that his family wealth was acquired legally in the decades before he entered politics and that no money was siphoned off-shore. Reuters Historys biggest data leak The Panama Papers are an unprecedented leak of 11.5m files from the database of the worlds fourth biggest offshore law firm, Mossack Fonseca. The records were obtained from an anonymous source by the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung, which shared them with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The ICIJ then shared them with a large network of international partners, including the Guardian and the BBC. What do they reveal? The documents show the myriad ways in which the rich can exploit secretive offshore tax regimes. Twelve national leaders are among 143 politicians, their families and close associates from around the world known to have been using offshore tax havens. A $2bn trail leads all the way to Vladimir Putin. Among national leaders with offshore wealth are Nawaz Sharif, Pakistans PM; Ayad Allawi, ex-interim prime minister and former vice-president of Iraq; Petro Poroshenko, president of Ukraine; Alaa Mubarak, son of Egypts former president; and the prime minister of Iceland, Sigmundur Davi Gunnlaugsson. What is Mossack Fonseca? It is a Panama-based law firm whose services include incorporating companies in offshore jurisdictions such as the British Virgin Islands. It administers offshore firms for a yearly fee. Other services include wealth management. Where is it based? The firm is Panamanian but runs a worldwide operation. Its website boasts of a global network with 600 people working in 42 countries. It has franchises around the world, where separately owned affiliates sign up new customers and have exclusive rights to use its brand. Mossack Fonseca operates in tax havens including Switzerland, Cyprus and the British Virgin Islands, and in the British crown dependencies Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man. Washington, April 19 Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is the US most popular active politician, viewed favourably by 57 per cent of registered voters, according to a new poll. Sanders is particularly popular among people aged between 18 to 34, who gave him a 62 per cent approval rating. He also has majority support among those over the age of 50, according to the latest Harvard-Harris survey. Moreover, he is the only person among 16 Trump administration officials or congressional leaders included in the survey who is viewed favourably by a majority of voters. In contrast, only 16 per cent think favourably of White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon, while 45 per cent of voters have a negative view of him, according to the survey data obtained by theHill magazine exclusively on Tuesday. In losing to Hillary (Clinton), Bernie Sanders has floated above todays partisan politics while Bannon has, rightly or wrongly, taken the blame for the administrations failures, said Harvard-Harris Co-Director Mark Penn. It is symptomatic of the Democrats increasingly consolidating to the left while the Republicans are fractured and unable to come together. Sanders is an asset to the Democrats while Bannon is a liability to the administration, Penn said. Clinton is at 42 per cent positive and 53 per cent negative, down from a 44-51 split in a Harvard-Harris poll in February. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is viewed favourably by 31 per cent of registered voters and unfavourably by 48 per cent, while Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer is at 27 per cent positive and 35 per cent negative, the poll finds. On the Republican side, President Donald Trumps favourability rating is at 44 per cent positive and 51 negative. House Speaker Paul Ryan is viewed favourably by 34 per cent of voters and unfavourably by 47 per cent. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell fares worse, at 23 per cent positive and 42 per cent negative. IANS Rolf Lockwood When I first entered the trucking fray in the late 1970s, I wrote about an engineering professor who was convinced that hydrogen could answer just about every need in the world of motive power. Yet here we are, almost 40 years later, with...well, not quite enough to show for it. Hydrogen isnt usually seen so much as a fuel but as a source of electricity by way of a chemical reaction within a fuel cell. Like the recently introduced Nikola One long-haul tractor. Chemists and engineers are still hard at it, perhaps nowhere more so than at Ballard Power Systems in Burnaby, British Columbia. Its been making hydrogen fuel cells for a couple of decades now, and they do have the better part of 100 city buses running on electricity derived from a fuel cell. Some of those buses are Daimler vehicles, and the German manufacturer is at the forefront of hydrogen development. Its certainly not alone. Honda, for example, had a fuel-cell car available for sale in 2010, said to cost $1 million to build. Hyundai is further ahead than most others. Its European arm recently signed a deal to hand over 60 ix35 fuel cell cars to a Paris-based electric taxi startup. Already the worlds largest fuel cell taxi fleet, it uses five such cars that Hyundai delivered in 2015 and plans to have several hundred within five years. The ix35 is said to be the worlds first mass-produced and commercially available fuel cell electric vehicle. Currently there are more than 300 of them running in 12 European countries, more than all other manufacturers combined. The cars range is a commendable 370 miles. There are also those who think hydrogen can be used directly as a fuel in whats known as a Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine. In fact one company in Delta, British Columbia, Hydra Energy, says it can convert any internal combustion engine to run on hydrogen directly, diesel trucks included, and will charge you nothing for the switchover. Users pay only a fixed long-term price for the hydrogen they use. The real key here would seem to be that Hydra doesnt use any fossil fuels to create the hydrogen it sells. Rather, it collects ultra-low-cost waste hydrogen emanating from various common industrial plants. The fuel cell in that gorgeous Nikola tractor, on the other hand, depends on hydrogen produced from a fossil fuel. The most common way by far, like 95% to make hydrogen is a process called steam reformation of methane derived from natural gas. And natural gas being just another fossil fuel, there are, of course, unwanted emissions resulting from the process. So the Nikola tractor is not quite as clean overall as you might think. It emits nothing harmful as its electric motors buzz you down the road, just water vapor and heat, but behind the scenes a fossil fuel has been burned in order to make hydrogen. Theres still a net gain like 20% better in terms of greenhouse gases but it cant be called a truly zero-emissions heavy truck. However, Nikola says it might erect a 100-megawatt solar farm to produce electricity for conversion of water to H2 through electrolysis, thus avoiding the downside of using natural gas. Were getting closer. I think. TTV Dinakaran has been accused of trying to bribe Election Commission officials through a middleman to 'buy' AIADMK's two leaves symbol. By Shalini Lobo: TTV Dinakaran was issued summons at his Chennai residence by a team of Delhi Police over allegedly bribing for AIADMK's 'Two leaves' symbol on late Wednesday night. The summon states that Dinakaran will have to join the probe in Delhi for questioning and investigation. While speaking to India Today, Dinakaran said he would co-operate with the police and answer all queries. He also added that he does not know any Sukesh Chandershekhar, the alleged middleman in the bribery case. advertisement Dinakaran was allegedly told by Sukesh Chander, the mediator, that the AIADMK party symbol - which was frozen by the Election Commission last month ahead of the RK Nagar bypoll - would go to the Dinakaran-Sasikala camp if he was paid Rs 50 crore. Dinakaran was allegedly in direct touch with the accused, Sukesh, who has been arrested. He was picked up by the Delhi Police on Monday morning from a luxury hotel in Delhi. THE DEVELOPMENT: According to the Delhi Police officials, Sukesh has confessed that the money recovered from him was given by Dinakaran and that they have known each other for four years now. Sources from the crime branch have also confirmed that they have evidence such as phone conversation recordings between Sukesh and Dinakaran regarding the deal. Dinakaran has been virtually ousted as Deputy General Secretary of the V K Sasikala faction of AIADMK following a revolt by senior ministers. Assistant Commissioner Sanjay and another official served the summons to Dinakaran at his upscale Besant Nagar residence. The Delhi Police personnel, who were inside Dinakaran's house for about 20 minutes, declined to speak to the waiting media while leaving the premises. Anxiety and tension, meanwhile, prevailed for a while as a party worker tried to allegedly set himself ablaze to show his opposition to the police. The self-immolation bid was thwarted by other cadres and some plainclothesmen. Also read: Panneerselvam calls Sasikala removal 'first win' after Dinakaran says won't fight 'what party wants' AIADMK's TTV Dinakaran charged with offering Rs 50 crore to middleman to buy party's 'two leaves' symbol Watch video Delhi Police crime branch team heads to Chennai to probe Dinakaran --- ENDS --- Oklahoma ranks fourth nationally in the percentage of its hotel room inventory that is under construction, a national commercial real estate firm study says. The state had 3,906 rooms under way through December 2016, representing 5.6 percent of its stock, according to the Marcus & Millichap 2017 U.S. Hospitality Investment Forecast. Oklahoma trailed only three states in percentage: New York (8.8); Washington (6.9) and Texas (5.7), according to the study. Also, for the Central Midwest Region, average daily rate is scheduled to rise 2.3 percent, compared to the 2.4 percent in 2016 behind a recovery in Oklahoma from last years 1.3 percent decline, data from the survey shows. I think things are trending up, quite frankly, said local hotelier Pete Patel, CEO and president of Promise Hotels. We follow the energy market real closely. In the first quarter, things are looking very positive for the next three quarters. As oil goes, so goes Oklahoma. The average monthly price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil jumped from $30.32 in February 2016 to $53.47 in February 2017, a 76 percent increase, according to statista.com. In March, Patel opened the $17.5 million Hampton Inn & Suites at Third Street and Cheyenne Avenue. Two other Promise Hotels-run facilities are in the pipeline downtown. Framing could begin within 30 days on a Hilton boutique, Patel-managed hotel that is being carved out of the former Tulsa Club building by Tulsa-based Ross Group at 115 E. Fifth St., he said. Promise Hotels plans to follow that up with a Holiday Inn Express (new construction) in the Brady District, Patel said. When corporate travel comes back, thats when we feel good, he said. Thats that Monday-through-Thursday business. That is coming back. Tulsa also has done a fabulous job of bringing in the leisure business, the Friday and Saturday. There are activities all over downtown. There are activities at the Expo even in south Tulsa. Nationally, about 140,000 hotel rooms are scheduled to open in 2017, after which construction will begin to taper, according to the study. Brittany Sawyer, executive director of the Metro Tulsa Hotel & Lodging Association, said that state hospitality industry is seeing improvements. The Central Midwest market remains consistent with the national hotel sector outlook for 2017 in that supply will increase and occupancy is expected to decrease as this new supply enters the market and competition increases from home-sharing services, Sawyer said in a statement. In Oklahoma, office markets in Oklahoma City and Tulsa also are doing well and laying the groundwork for higher occupancy, ADR (average daily rate) and RevPAR (revenue per available room) in the state this year, the survey stated. In Tulsa, energy sector performance improvements, a strong office market, and more leisure travelers resulting from an increase in destination marketing will provide a solid foundation for occupancy, ADR and RevPAR this year, she said in a statement. Oklahomas governor reiterated Tuesday evening the view her administration has taken since the beginning of the legislative session the state needs new revenue sources to make up its budget shortfall. She told reporters following a Tulsa Regional Chamber event at Southern Hills Country Club that if she knew how willing the Oklahoma Legislature would be to expand the sales tax to include a vast array of services, ... Id go bet at a racetrack. But what I do know is we cant have four-day school weeks in the state of Oklahoma. We cant restrict the highway patrol to driving 100 miles and not being available to help our citizens ..., she said. Fallin has proposed that the state start charging sales tax on a vast array of services. In speaking to hundreds of Tulsa-area business people at the event, she used the example of taxing tattoos and car detailing as a means plugging the budget hole. Oklahoma is facing an $878 million budget hole the difference between the amount lawmakers budgeted for the current fiscal year and the amount they can spend in the year beginning July 1 unless more revenue is found. The past two fiscal years have also been troubled by revenue failures, which have meant the state has repeatedly been forced to cut funding for state agencies and public schools. Tulsa has seen its sales tax revenue its main source of funding lag ahead of the citys budget process. Following Fallins remarks, Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum praised the governor for working out a deal with Amazon to start collecting sales tax in Oklahoma. Bynum said the Oklahoma Tax Commission told him that Amazon collecting sales tax will mean $2.6 million annually for Tulsa and gives the city more options than it had before. Fallin said there was a business case to finding revenue business and talent attraction. Ill never forget last fall. I was at a business recruitment trip, talking about all the great things in Oklahoma ... Fallin said. But a businessman said to me I cant come to Oklahoma because youre so poor you only educate your children four days a week. ... We have to fix these problems. We have to recognize that it hurts us economic development-wise. The evening, which drew a crowded room of the metro areas business leaders, was aimed at touting Tulsas Future III, the third phase of an economic development initiative aimed at recruiting businesses in new and growing industry. The chamber has secured about $20 million for the effort. The fire broke out inside the compound of Siruthavur bungalow when workers tried to burn a pile of dried leaves. By India Today Web Desk: A fire was reported today from Tamil Nadu's former chief minister Jayalalithaa's Siruthavur bungalow. The fire broke out inside the compound of Siruthavur bungalow when workers tried to burn a pile of dried leaves. As the fire spread out of control, authorities informed the fire department and a fire engine has reached the spot. Further details are awaited. --- ENDS --- advertisement Out of all the buttons and knobs to grab inside Tulsa Police Departments 66,000-pound Mine Resistant Ambush Protected or MRAP vehicle, 7-year-old Rosalyn Baldwin found a baby doll. Rosalyn passed a series of mounted raised seats, designed to protect passengers legs from improvised explosive devices, to reach the vehicles cab and find the doll. Officer Tyler Turnbough explained that officers picked it up during a training exercise and put it in the cab. It was clean, so why not? You didnt want it to get rolled over? she asked, clutching the doll in her arms. Turnbough said yes, and let her keep it. Thats Rosalyns specialty: finding the soft side of things that may seem imposing, be it an armored vehicle or the officers who drive it. The little girl, who lives with her family in Louisiana, arrived in Tulsa early Tuesday to meet Tulsa Police Department officers. This is the 10th state she has visited since January, when she began her mission to hug a law enforcement officer from all 50 states. As law enforcement agencies nationwide are subject to increased criticism and scrutiny, Tulsa Police Maj. Travis Yates said Rosalyns hugs give those tasked with protecting the public some much-needed perspective. I think this is more of medicine for law enforcement. This is what law enforcement needs to see every once in a while, Yates said. Thats why were so honored to have her. The mission Hugging police officers isnt unfamiliar to Rosalyn. Since she was about 3, anytime she would see an officer in public, she has wanted to hug them, said her mom, Angie Baldwin. Rosalyns dad, Errick, agreed. We have to tell her, Honey, theyre writing tickets. This is not the time to give a hug, he said. While Rosalyn has always had an affinity for officers, she only recently began to sense tension between law enforcement and communities they work with, Angie Baldwin said. After a gunman fatally shot five Dallas officers in July, followed shortly thereafter by three Baton Rouge officers being killed, Rosalyn decided officers outside her hometown needed her support, too. Since then, the family has loaded into a sport utility vehicle and driven to states as close as Mississippi and as far away as North Carolina and Virginia. After it leaves Oklahoma, the family plans to visit Missouri to knock out some Midwest states while Rosalyn is on spring break. Throughout the multi-state journey, Errick Baldwin said he has had one early revelation about law enforcements role: Communities needs officers, and positive changes come when both sides learn to embrace each other. Though the embracing others doesnt necessarily mean physically embracing them, Yates said in this case, thats fine, too. Theres been so much violent hatred toward law enforcement in recent years that this puts everything into perspective, what shes doing, Yates said. The innocence of just a hug, can that make a difference? And I tell you, I think it does. I think it absolutely can. A day in Tulsa Rosalyns day with Tulsa Police began at 9 a.m. with a procession of motorcycle cops outside the downtown Hampton Inn and Suites hotel. She ran straight out the hotels sliding doors and into the waiting arms of nine officers. She then tried out several of the motorcycles and spent a good amount of time having conversations with officers through the bikes radio system, announcing, among other things, her favorite colors: green and red. From there, Rosalyn and her family traveled to the Tulsa Police Academy, where she toured the MRAP, got a new doll and bestowed upon every officer she saw a hug and a sticker declaring they have been Officially Hugged by Rosalyn. On a normal Tuesday morning, Officer J.T. Downs said he is likely be working routine traffic enforcement, which inevitably results in writing tickets. Rosalyn was much happier with them than most ticket recipients seem to be, he said. It means as much to us as it does to her. You know, cops have emotions, too, just like everybody else, and its kind of a feel-good thing when people let you know they care about you, especially when you can reciprocate and let them know we care about them, Downs said. Just as Rosalyn jumped out of the MRAP, doll in hand, she heard the tell-tale rhythmic whir of an approaching helicopter, and she tried to run toward it. Police One descended in circles as Yates, the Baldwins, their two older daughters and younger son watched. They were soon going to tour it. Rosalyn watched, too, for a little bit, anyway. Before the helicopter landed, a patrol car rolled into the parking lot where they were all standing. And, of course, she ran over to the car to give the driver a hug. A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a former Hominy man freed from prison after serving 17 years of a life sentence in the alleged sexual abuse of a young girl. U.S. District Judge Claire Eagan this week ruled in favor of the city of Tulsas request for summary judgment in a civil rights lawsuit filed in Tulsa federal court by Matthew Richard Parker. Eagan ruled Parker had failed to make an adequate case that an investigation by Tulsa police, which led to Parkers conviction, was improper. Plaintiff has presented no evidence to show a pattern of tortious conduct, Eagan wrote in her opinion and order. Thus, plaintiff must show that the need for more or different training and/or supervision was so obvious that a violation of his constitutional rights to due process was likely to result from not providing it. Eagan wrote that Parkers lawsuit failed to present sufficient evidence to support a finding of a custom or policy that led to a violation of his constitutional rights. Parker, 47, has been free since March 2015, when the Tulsa County District Attorneys Office dismissed his charges after an appellate court ordered a new trial. He was convicted by a jury in 1997 of sexually abusing a minor. In dismissing the charges, an assistant district attorney noted at the time that after the passage of 21 years, the evidence in the case has become stale, adding that the alleged victim did not want to pursue the criminal case further. Parker has always maintained his innocence. Last May, District Judge William Musseman granted Parkers petition that requested he be declared actually innocent, a designation that allowed him to pursue a tort claim seeking compensation from the state for wrongful imprisonment. An attorney for Parker could not be reached for comment on this weeks ruling. Coweta police disarmed a man allegedly wielding a machete Tuesday night without injury to the officers or substantial injury to the suspect. Police arrested Richard Leland, 63, of Coweta man, on a complaint of assault and battery on a police officer, Coweta Police Chief Mike Bell said. Leland allegedly exited his residence with a machete over his head. He allegedly told officers "you're going to shoot me motherf-----," Bell states in a news release. Police were dispatched just before midnight Tuesday to the 400 block of North Bristow Avenue after dispatchers received a 911 call in which a person mumbled and disconnected the phone line. When police arrived, they saw Leland through a window sitting on a sofa with a machete. One officer drew his stun gun and the other drew his service weapon, Bell said. Officers announced their presence, ordering Leland to disarm and exit the residence. Leland allegedly opened the door and came out yelling "shoot me" with the machete raised. "The machete hit the door frame as he tried to swing and that kind of snagged him up," Bell said. One officer deployed his stun gun on Leland, who dropped the machete. No one was injured. Bell said Leland may have been under the influence of alcohol and medication during the confrontation. Leland bonded out of the Wagoner County jail, according to online jail records. Five Tulsa-area students have been announced as 2017 corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarship winners. Winners include Jaya Chakka, Owasso; Gianna Busch, Bishop Kelley; Warren Fuselier, Booker T. Washington; Hannah Johannsson, Jenks; and Gregory Lucas, Jenks. The students are among more than 1,000 high school seniors who have won the awards, which are financed by about 200 corporations, company foundations and other business organizations. According to a news release, corporate sponsors provide National Merit Scholarships for finalists who are children of their employees, who are residents of communities the company serves or who plan to pursue college majors or careers the sponsor wishes to encourage. Most of the awards are renewable for up to four years of college undergraduate study and provide annual stipends that range from $500 to $10,000 per year. Some awards provide a single payment of $2,500 to $5,000. Recipients can use their scholarships at any regionally accredited U.S. college or university. More awards will be announced May 10, with winners of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards announced on June 7 and July 17. By the end of the 2017 competition, about 7,500 students will have been selected to receive National Merit Scholarships worth about $32 million. Winners are candidates who were judged to have the strongest combination of academic skills and achievements, extracurricular accomplishments and potential for success in rigorous college studies. The National Merit Scholarship Program is in its 62nd year. One question seemed resounding at a forum for community members to share input on a proposal to consolidate five schools on the west side of the Arkansas River: Why west Tulsa? Parents and other community members wanted to know why their area was targeted by a consolidation plan proposed as a budget cut for fiscal year 2017 when other schools across the district also have low enrollment. Superintendent Deborah Gist said three of the schools that would be closed under the consolidation plan Park Elementary, Remington Elementary and Early Childhood Development Center-Porter have the lowest enrollment in the district, with the exception of Early Childhood Development Center-Bunche in north Tulsa. Gist also explained that Tulsa Public Schools is looking at the bigger picture, analyzing the past 15 years of declining enrollment in the area and projections that the trend will continue. Webster High School, into which those elementary schools feed, is projected to have only 372 students by the 2026-27 school year. Its campus is designed to serve 930 students, and that low enrollment isnt sustainable, Gist said. District officials also explained that consolidating the elementary schools would allow students to have access to a wider range of programming, as budget cuts last year reduced Park and Remingtons allocations for full-time music, art and physical education teachers. The district is considering moving students from Park, Remington and ECDC Porter onto the campus currently occupied by Clinton Middle School. Clinton students would then join high-schoolers on the Webster campus. One community member at the forum asked a question she said was the elephant in the room Why are these schools struggling to boost enrollment? She said she attended Tulsa Public Schools and believes that she got an excellent education. What is your office doing to improve the reputation of TPS so people want to come into our schools instead of leave our schools? she asked. Gist said the district does have work to do to improve enrollment but that it also has really wonderful things happening that can get lost in the negative news about education. She said those things will only be enhanced by this recommendation should it move forward. When asked about the plans for the buildings currently occupied by the elementary schools that would close, Gist said there isnt a plan at this point. TPS wont actively try to sell the buildings, Gist said, because the district wants to be prepared in case there is a resurgence of school-age children in the area. The district would also want to hold onto the buildings in case there is a need to use them for other programs or offices, she said. In the meantime, Gist said she wanted to assure people that the district would be committed to maintaining the grounds and security to keep the properties safe. When asked whether those facilities would become occupied by charter schools, Gist said TPS does not have any such plans in place. Nearly 100 parents, school staff and other community members attended the forum at Park Elementary School, 3205 W. 39th St. to ask questions and share input. Several people noted that they were disappointed by the turnout at the forum and would like to see more parents get involved. This room shouldve been so packed that we couldnt get in here tonight one woman said. Gist fielded about an hours worth of questions after a half-hour presentation about the districts funding cuts and an analysis of school enrollment and utilization that led to the consolidation proposal. The presentation also included a description of the Clinton Middle School facilities where Park students would be moved if the plan goes forward. Anticipating a $12 million reduction in state aid for fiscal year 2017, Gist introduced the school consolidation proposal April 5, saying it would net $906,877 in savings for the district that year. The meeting at Park is one of four forums scheduled for the next two weeks as opportunities for community members to learn more and share input about the consolidation proposal before Gist presents final recommendations to the school board May 1. Board members would be expected to vote on the recommendations at their May 15 meeting. OKLAHOMA CITY - A 40-year-old man arrested on Tuesday after driving a vehicle into a hospital waiting room was found dead in his jail cell early Wednesday, the Oklahoma County sheriff's office reported. Charlton Cash Chrisman was found dead in the cell, in which he was the only occupant, sometime after midnight, Oklahoma County sheriff's spokesman Mark Opgrande said. Chrisman had been booked into the jail on Tuesday on complaints of reckless driving and malicious injury and destruction of property. About 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, a police officer reported seeing a white pickup being driven erratically on Portland Avenue. The pickup then entered the parking lot of Alliance Health Deaconess Hospital, 5501 N Portland, made several laps around the parking lot and struck the building. GROVE Second District Congressman Markwayne Mullin told a crowd on Wednesday that looking at a persons motives rather than a persons actions is the key to civility. Around 125 people gathered at the weekly Grove Rotary Club meeting to hear Mullin address health care, Tar Creek and term limits. The crowds actions in Grove were a complete opposite in demeanor of Mullins other meetings. Dont second-guess someones motives, Mullin said. The docile crowd was inquisitive on the issues but focused several questions about the lack of civility in the country. The hatred of the protesters is disturbing, Mullin said when asked a question about why there is so much animosity in the country. People dont have to agree with everything said, but people should be civil, he said. Social media sites and a 24-hour news cycles are driving the turmoil, Mullin said. I feel like we are going to be in this cycle until the communities get fed up, Mullin said. What you see around the country is what your elected officials mimic. Social issues are bogging us down, and we are dealing with stuff we shouldnt be dealing with, Mullin said. Working together is the goal of making the country as great as possible for all generations, he said. Mullin also addressed the changes behind the American Health Care Act, which many Republicans wanted to pass to replace the Affordable Care Act. The goal is to take health care out of politics, Mullin said. Programs like Sooner Care and other state health programs should be the responsibility of the state and taken out of the hands of the federal government, he said. Mullin also addressed actions by Russian President Vladimir Putin. He is testing us we reached out an olive branch when he pushes like in Syria we are going to punch back, he said.Mullin also praised Grove city leaders and the economic growth in the area fueled by the aerospace industry. TTV Dinakaran says he does not want to be the reason behind a split in AIADMK and that he's okay with the party's decision to remove him, 'if that's what they want'. By India Today Web Desk: After a dramatic night which saw the ouster of TTV Dinakaran, VK Sasikala and family from the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Tamil Nadu is all set for a fresh round of developments today. Talking to media persons, Dinakaran hinted today that he might just accept his removal from the party. "I am not going to be emotional. This is a cadre based organisation. Am not worried about being sidelined. If that is what they want, am okay with it," Dinakaran said. "I will never be the reason for a split in the party," he said. advertisement Meanwhile, O Panneerselvam also addressed media, lauding VK Sasikala's removal from AIADMK. "Sasikala and her family have been ousted from AIADMK, this is our faction's first victory," said Panneerselvam. Hinting that the two factions will now conduct talks on the merger of the two AIADMK factions, Panneerselvam said, "Both factions will talk to fulfil the aspirations of lakhs of party workers." Tamil Nadu politics right now pic.twitter.com/XbbXhyKj6m- Aditya Iyer (@Theadityaiyer) April 19, 2017 Dinakaran cancels meeting with party members Dinakaran had called on MLAs and District Secretaries for a meeting at the AIADMK headquarters in Royapettah at 3 PM today, but the meeting was cancelled just before noon. Dinakaran had claimed he had support of "all DMK legislators" and there was speculation that he might attempt a Sasikala-style show of strength to challenge his ouster from the AIADMK, but he denied the rumors during today. "Calling AIADMK MLAs meeting is not a show of strength. These ministers have acted in a hurry. I also have a responsibility to meet MLAs and speak to them," said Dinakaran while talking to the media today. Lookout notice against Dinakaran on bribery charges Delhi Police issued a lookout notice against TTV Dinakaran, in fresh trouble for the AIADMK (Amma) Deputy general secretary after his dramatic ouster from the party last night. Officials have alerted all sea and airports with Dinakaran's details to ensure he doesn't leave the country. Immigration officials have also been instructed to alert police if Dhinakaran tries boarding a flight. According to the report, police are hinting at Dinakaran's possible arrest for allegedly bribing a middleman to get AIADMK's two leaves symbol allotted to his faction. Delhi Police had filed an FIR in the case on Sunday, after the middleman, Sukesh Chandrasekhar, was arrested from a five-star hotel in the Capital. Police recovered Rs 1.3 crore and two luxury cars from Chandrasekhar, who is accused of duping at least 500 Mumbaikars in a Rs 19 crore Ponzi scam. MERGER TERMS OF OPS AND EPS CAMPS Both the Paneerselvam and Palanisami factions had put forward their terms and conditions for the AIADMK merger. They were: OPS camp #1 Removal of VK sasikala and TTV Dinakaran from the party's key posts and governance #2 Complete probe into Jayalalithaa's death, including handing over investigation to CBI if needed #3 The chief ministerial post should go to Panneerselvam and portfolios such as Finance, PWD and Power should to be given to the OPS camp. advertisement This one of OPS' most important terms, as the centre has communicated to Tamil Nadu leaders that if they elect OPS as chief minister, they will be spared of IT raids. EPS camp #1 Palanisami has to be retained as chief minister, and AIADMK general secretary post can be held by Panneerselvam #2 Portfolios of present ministers have to be retained, and OPS camp MLAs can be given the additional portfolios held by Palanisami #3 Palanisami gets to keep the portfolios of PWD and highways. Palanisami has been in charge of Highways for more than a decade, and there's speculation that will not agree to give away the plum portfolio. REACTIONS Thambidurai, AIADMK: We cannot change Chief Minister E Palanisami as he is chosen by the masses and OPS being a senior man will be part of it. In the interest of party unity and cadre, Dinakaran should quit. The decision to unite is based on that. We feel Dinakaran and his family has contributed to the growth of the party. Let him decide, we do not want him to keep away. advertisement Venkaiah Naidu, BJP: Neither BJP nor central government has any role or any interest in what is happening in AIADMK in TN. This is purely their internal matter. Kanimozhi, DMK: The government has to go. We can't intervene in the internal politics of the party, but the people of Tamil Nadu are suffering. TOP DEVELOPMENTS FROM TUESDAY #1 In an unprecedented move, VK Sasikala and family was shown the exit door from AIADMK (Amma) on Monday after a long meeting at Tamil Nadu chief minister E Palaniswami's residence. "Not one family can control AIADMK. We are ousting Sasikala and Mannargudi clan out of AIADMK," AIADMK (Amma) minister Jayakumar had said while announcing the ouster. Describing the party decision as unanimous Jayakumar had said, "It was based on views of all ministers including the chief minister, 123 MLAs, MPs and public." We have decided to delink Ttv Dinakaran and his family from the party, a committee will run the party: D Jayakumar,TN Minister pic.twitter.com/mpP7Vpm4he- ANI (@ANI_news) April 18, 2017 #2 O Panneerselvam demands removal of "Amma betrayers" Sasikala and Dinakaran, saying merger talks will be off the table until Sasikala and family remain part of the AIADMK. He also renewed his demand for an investigation into Jayalalithaa's death. advertisement --- ENDS --- NEW YORK Fox News Channels parent company fired Bill OReilly on Wednesday following an investigation into harassment allegations, bringing a stunning end to cable news most popular program and one that came to define the bravado of his network over 20 years. OReilly lost his job on the same day he was photographed in Rome shaking the hand of Pope Francis. The downfall of Foxs most popular and most lucrative personality began with an April 2 report in The New York Times that five women had been paid a total of $13 million to keep quiet about unpleasant encounters with OReilly, who has denied any wrongdoing. Dozens of his shows advertisers fled within days, even though OReillys viewership increased. OReillys exit came nine months after his former boss, Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, was ousted following allegations of sexual harassment. Following the Times story, 21st Century Fox said it had asked the same law firm that investigated Ailes to look into OReillys behavior. 21st Century Fox leaders Rupert Murdoch and his sons Lachlan and James said in a memo to Fox staff that their decision to ax OReilly came following an extensive review into the charges. We want to underscore our consistent commitment to fostering a work environment built on the values of trust and respect, the Murdochs said in a memo to Fox News staff members. Fox said Tucker Carlson would move into OReillys time slot the second time in three months hes replaced an exiting prime-time personality. Carlson, a veteran pundit who has hosted shows on CNN, MSNBC and PBS, had taken over for Megyn Kelly in January when she announced she was moving to NBC News. The Five, a talk show with five rotating hosts that regularly airs at 5 p.m. ET, will move into the 9 p.m. time slot. Eric Bolling will host a new show that airs at 5 p.m. starting next month, the company said. OReilly had ruled the no spin zone on television with a quick smile and an even quicker temper. He pushed a populist, conservative-leaning point of view born from growing up on Long Island, and was quick to shout down those who disagreed with him. Fans loved his willingness to talk back to power or point out hypocrisy among liberal politicians or media members. His show generated $178 million in advertising revenue in 2015, according to Kantar Media. His audience was larger in the first three months of this year than it has ever been, according to Nielsen. OReillys pugnacious personality wasnt just an affectation, with one of the settlements going to a woman who complained about being shouted at in the newsroom. Even though at least one of the harassment cases against him dated back more than a decade and was widely reported then, the accumulation of cases outlined in the Times damaged him much more extensively. For Fox executives, it wasnt clear when it would end: a campaign to target advertisers was continuing, a group of women demonstrated in front of Foxs headquarters Tuesday and another woman, a former clerical worker at Fox, called a harassment hotline and accused the host of boorish behavior. Im not going away, said Lisa Bloom, attorney for the latest accuser and another woman who alleges her career stalled because she spurned OReillys advances. OReillys attorney, Marc Kasowitz, charged that his client was being subjected to a brutal campaign of character assassination and that there is a smear campaign orchestrated by far-left organizations bent on destroying OReilly for political and financial reasons. Conservative personality Glenn Beck who once lost a job at Fox News Channel because a similar campaign choked his program of paying advertisers came to OReillys defense of Wednesday, but it was too late. OReillys fans arent likely to be happy about his losing his job, particularly on a controversy set in motion by the Times, a publication hated in conservative circles. You need to write and call Fox News Channel today and tell them, you can lose your advertisers or you can lose your viewers, Beck said on his radio show hours before the firing. But you have to put some spine back into the Murdoch family and the Fox News Channel board because you are about to lose Bill OReilly. OReilly had been scheduled to return from his vacation next Monday, and there had been some talk of him addressing his longtime viewers about the exit. But Fox said Wednesday that wouldnt happen. OReilly is also one of the countrys most popular nonfiction authors. The books in his Killing historical series, including Killing Lincoln and Killing Reagan, have consistently sold 1 million or more copies in hardcover, a rare achievement in publishing, and his platform on Fox enabled him to promote his work. He has also had best-sellers with everything from the memoir A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity to his most recent work, Old School, which includes passages urging the respectful treatment of women. OReilly and co-author Martin Dugard are due to release another book in the Killing series in September, and a spokeswoman for publisher Henry Holt and Co. said that plans had not changed. Vatican spokesman Greg Burke confirmed OReilly was in the VIP section for the popes Wednesday appearance. Burke, a former Fox News correspondent in Rome, denied having facilitated the tickets. Such tickets can be obtained via special request to the papal household from embassies, high-ranking churchmen or Vatican officials. Francis always swings by the VIP seats at the end of his audience for a quick round of handshakes. A photographer from the Vatican newspaper LOsservatore Romano snapped a photo of Francis reaching out to shake his hand. Next Tuesday the ABC will cover ANZAC Day commemorations, from local marches in towns and cities across Australia to the battlefields of Gallipoli and Villers-Bretonneux. From 4.25am AEST, ABC will broadcast the ANZAC Dawn Service from Sydney, followed by the ANZAC Dawn Service from Canberra at 5.30am. From 6am, join News Breakfast hosts and ABC reporters at Dawn services across Australia as the nation wakes up to the anniversary of the Gallipoli landings. ANZAC Day marches in each capital city will be broadcast in every state and territory on ABC, while on ABC News viewers can watch the ANZAC Day National Ceremony from the Australian War Memorial. Following the local marches, the TV simulcast will continue with coverage of the dawn service from ANZAC Cove in Gallipoli at 12.30pm on ABC and the dawn service from Villers-Bretonneux from 1.30pm. Discovery will air space treasure hunt series Coopers Treasure which uses a map created by 1960s astronaut Gordon Cooper, who spotted possible shipwrecks in our oceans whilst he was orbiting the Earth. Now the only man he entrusted with the map, family friend Darrell Miklos, is on the hunt for Discovery. Gordon was right on the money, so to speak. Everything that he pointed out to me on the files, as well as the coordinates on the treasure map from space, actually, each and every one of those that Ive investigated thus far have been proven to be positive, as far as shipwreck material and historical information, said Darrell Miklos. One of the Original 7 astronauts of the 1960s, Gordon Cooper was a space pioneer, setting a record that still holds today for the longest solo space flight in US history. In the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Cooper was sent on a secret mission for the US Department of Defense to search for nuclear sites. While he was scouring the globe he discovered something else: shipwrecks. It was to be a secret that he would keep for over 40 years. Utilising long-range detection equipment from space, Cooper spotted hundreds of unidentified objects of interest in the shallow waters and reefs in the Caribbean. Ruling out the possibility that these were nuclear sites, he started to map out all the dark patches of water. Working for decades in secret, using the information he collected while orbiting the Earth, Cooper created a document that he thought could lead to unimaginable wealth a treasure map from space. Not only that, Coopers findings led him to believe that he may have stumbled upon a missing part of history; the lost fleet of Christopher Columbus. Before he passed away, Cooper shared his secret with his long-time friend Darrell Miklos in the hope that the exploration would continue and the mystery would finally be solved. Now, the one man Gordon Cooper trusted has the research and evidence, together with the map from space, and is setting out to once and for all accomplish his friends long-held dream to uncover the worlds greatest treasures. With the prospect of a history-making discovery and unimaginable wealth on the horizon, Coopers Treasure aims to uncover the truth and the treasure proving to the world that the mysterious documents hold the key for a new generation of explorers. Thursday 4 May at 9.30pm on Discovery. New ABC2 fan series Whovians will be unveiling a worldwide exclusive clip from the third episode of Doctor Who this Sunday night. Join the Doctor Who after party where superfans Rove McManus, Tegan Higginbotham, Adam Richard, Steven ODonnell and guests discuss the latest episode, answer your questions and basically geek out about Doctor Who. As well as unpacking the most recent episode, Rove and the team will open the doors of the TARDIS and go back through the annals of time to lovingly analyse, critique, and unravel the mysteries of this much loved globally renowned series. During Sunday nights episode, watch an exclusive Doctor Who Ep 2 behind-the-scenes clip AND a world-wide exclusive sneak peek from Doctor Who Ep 3. Plus another Australian celebrity will audition for the role of the 13th Doctor. 8:30pm Sunday on ABC2. This new ad is celebrating uniqueness and here's why you should do. By India Today Web Desk: For a country whose very foundation is based on the concept of diversity, it's disheartening to see how we're yet to accept and embrace people for being different. That no two individuals are the same is a proven fact, so why must we judge a certain person purely on the basis of him/her being different from your definition of self? advertisement Also Read: 7 times the advertising world managed being accurate about women A new ad by McDonalds India has touched upon this very facet by weaving a simple-yet-poignant ad as a call for unity among the many unique people of our country. While the video is a McDonalds' way of promoting their food combos, the underlying message goes much deeper than that. From those trolled on social media for having different opinions to those who're yet to fearlessly talk about their sexual orientation, the video will bring a smile to everyone's face and will hopefully be a fresh breeze of change India needs and deserves in the 21st century. Watch the video here. --- ENDS --- This woman stepped out for a walk when she spotted a ball of snakes hanging out with each other. Is that how snakes party together? By India Today Web Desk: A woman in North Carolina in the US was shocked after spotting several snakes mating when she was out for a walk. Christine Proffitt shared a photo of the mating snakes near a trail in Charlotte. However, the snakes did not harm her for taking a photo of them having their private moments, unlike humans do. advertisement FYI || Goes down in hissstory: Woman ends up with a snake in her ear piercing || "Watch out on the greenway today guys," she wrote. Twitter Christine was terrified at the sight of the ball of snakes which all hissed together and were enough to startle her. "Everyday I see four or five snakes every time, but I've never seen 10 to 20 all balled up like that," she told WCNC. "No one's going to believe if I didn't take a picture. So, pics or it didn't happen." Last month, another snake was in news. In Indonesia, the police found an unusually bloated snake while they were searching for a missing man only to find the same man inside snake's stomach. An 18-inch knife was used to peel off the serpent's skin. According to the village secretary, people had heard cries from the palm grove the night before the man was found in the snake's stomach. || The following video contains graphic content and might be disturbing for some viewers. Viewer's discretion is advised || Watch the man who is now hisstory here: --- ENDS --- Haysam, 30, from Aleppo Syria, and his wife Nazli, who will soon become a mother, are overwhelmed by the welcome they received in the middlesized Greek city of Livadia. They are now living in a flat allocated by UNHCR. UNHCR /Christos Tolis LIVADIA, Greece - Spring is in the air and 30-year-old Haysam is in high spirits as he strolls through the streets of Livadia, a small town nestled under the snowcapped mountains of central Greece. He has good reason to be; after more than three years of uncertainty in Turkey and Greece, the refugee is living in a flat provided by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, as he waits to join his family in Belgium. To cap it all, his young wife Nazli, aged 21, will become a mother later this year. She got pregnant in Livadia I am very proud of that, he confides. Its the talk of the midsize town, where the affable Kurdish-Syrian from Aleppo has made many friends since being transferred here earlier this year from the crowded Cherso site in the north. After nine months, UNHCR called and said we have found a place for you in Livadia, explains Haysam, who had in 2013 flown to Istanbul with his family after the war came to their district. I stayed at home without food, electricity. He explains that the first floor flat, which is provided by UNHCR under an ambitious accommodation programme funded by the European Commission is equipped with all he and Nazli could need, including furniture, appliances and kitchen goods. They were also given clothing and help with the groceries as well as access to a wide range of social services. A far cry from Aleppo, where there were bombs everywhere and I stayed at home without food, electricity, water. I was forced to go, he says. Haysam and Nazli were overwhelmed by the welcome they received by the people of Livadia, whom he said were there for them, despite their own economic problems. They dont look at us like refugees. They deal with us like other Greeks, says Haysam. I made many friends. Livadias decision to accommodate asylum seekers, alongside the much bigger Athens and Thessaloniki municipalities, was spearheaded by Giota Poulou, its visionary mayor. The pugnacious pragmatist consulted with all sectors of society, including the church and political opponents, to build consensus in the town and obtain agreement. The result is a win-win situation The town has agreed to host some 400 people for placement in 70 apartments. The result is a win-win situation with the town making moral and economic gains, the asylum seekers living in a real home rather than a crowded site and UNHCR supporting the Government of Greece in finding a solution to a challenging problem. Livadia is an example that could persuade other mid-size towns to follow suit. UNHCR, which works closely with the Greek Ministry for Migration Policy, is keen to form partnerships with more municipalities and is engaged in discussions with mayors in Crete and Thessalia.. To date, UNHCR in Greece has provided accommodation for close to 30,000 asylum seekers under a programme which was initially designed for people selected to benefit from the EU relocation scheme but was subsequently expanded to include particularly vulnerable asylum seekers. This was achieved through a complex and difficult operation that also provided a whole basket of services and protection beyond simple provision of a safe and clean place to live. The Greek Government would like to see the programme continue and expand through this year as efforts to move people out of the camps continue. This accommodation programme is part of larger efforts aimed at ensuring that a sustainable and adequate reception system is put in place by the Greek Government. This requires the provision of more accommodation opportunities in urban areas such as the one made available to Hysam and Nazli, improving reception conditions on the islands and on the mainland, the provision of greater security in all sites, and ensuring that all unsuitable sites are quickly closed. UNHCR is also urging EU Member States to increase the pace and number of people relocated and reunited with family members in other EU Member States. While relocation has picked up recently, to date only 12,407 individuals out of an initial target of 66,400 have been relocated from Greece. Fadis hands are in constant motion as he talks folding, pinching and teasing a sheet of paper, as he recounts the events that brought him from Syria to Jordans Zaatari refugee camp. A few minutes into his story he pauses and holds up a delicate paper lily. A smile brightens his face. I find origami indescribably interesting, says the 26-year-old from Daraa in southern Syria. It allows you to make something from nothing, and for me it relieves my stress and releases all the negative energy. It is better than a stress ball. At the start of the Syrian conflict, Fadi, 26, was studying commerce and accounting at Tishreen University in the port city of Lattakia. It was here that one of his professors first introduced him to the ancient art of origami, or paper folding. But what began as a novel hobby back in Syria has since become an important part of his life in the camp. Origami helps Syrian refugee find purpose in exile. Fadi is one of around 80,000 Syrians who currently call the bustling Zaatari camp home. In total, Jordan is host to 658,000 registered Syrian refugees, with the vast majority living in towns and cities across the kingdom. Fadi was in his third year of university when the conflict forced him to abandon his studies. As the fighting moved closer to their home in Daraa, and with his father working abroad, Fadi took the decision to move the family to Jordan in October 2013. I was responsible for 14 souls, mostly women and children, says Fadi, referring to himself plus his nine younger siblings, mother, grandparents and his heavily pregnant wife. I was so scared that one of them would be killed or hurt. They paid smugglers to drive them to the borders of Syria, Jordan and Iraq, where they were dropped off at 5 a.m. and told to walk through the desert towards a distant hill to reach Jordan. But after hours of walking in sweltering temperatures they were surrounded by wilderness, with no food and their water all gone. It allows you to make something from nothing." Eventually they met some Bedouin herders who pointed them in the right direction, and they finally reached Jordan after more than 14 hours of walking. Once the Jordanian authorities picked them up, Fadis wife, who was seven months pregnant with twins, began to feel pain and was rushed to hospital. Our twins were stillborn, says Fadi, simply. After that we went to Zaatari, and life slowly started again. Fadis first priority after settling into the camp was to find work to help support his family. Having previously volunteered back in Syria at a centre for children with Downs syndrome, he got a job as a classroom assistant on an informal education course for children run by NGO Relief International. The courses are held in the camp at a community centre funded by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. It was then that I remembered the origami, and thought it would be something interesting and different to try with the kids, Fadi says. The results were overwhelmingly positive, according to Fadi, particularly for those children with special needs or behavioural issues. Fadi works as a classroom assistant at a community centre funded by UNHCR. UNHCR/Annie Sakkab "Origami breaks down barriers and gives kids hope," says Fadi. UNHCR/Annie Sakkab Fadi is one of around 80,000 Syrians who call bustling Za'atari home. UNHCR/Annie Sakkab Fadi takes children to school at Za'atari refugee camp in Jordan. UNHCR/Annie Sakkab The kids loved the fact that you can turn a piece of paper into something else a bird, or a chair. It improves their concentration and their commitment. When I give them a project, they dont get distracted or bored, they go for it until they are finished. The biggest impact Ive seen is with Miriam and Mohammed, two kids in the class with Downs syndrome, Fadi adds. They used to have problems with their attention and aggression, but the change has been remarkable. Since they started origami last year they have something to focus their efforts on, and they are much calmer and happier as a result. As well as bringing enjoyment to his pupils, Fadi also credits his hobby with transforming his life in exile. It has made me feel like an active member of the community here, and now people in the camp know who I am. Its given me purpose as a refugee. Fadi describes the simple act of folding paper to make other objects as universal, understood by everyone who has ever made a paper plane, regardless of race or language. He dreams of one day teaching origami to refugee children in other parts of the world. Its something new, and Ive seen how they respond to it. Origami breaks down barriers and gives kids hope. The Yogi Adityanath government has scrapped Akhilesh Yadav's dream project - the Samajwadi Smartphone Yojana - under which the former CM aimed to distribute nearly five crore smartphones at a subsidised rate. By India Today Web Desk: On a day it completed a month, the Yogi Adityanath government scrapped former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's pet project - the Samajwadi Smartphone Yojana. In September last year, Akhilesh Yadav had announced to distribute nearly five crore smartphones at a highly subsidised rate if Samajwadi Party returns to power. Akhilesh had described the project as "biggest attempt to bridge the digital divide". advertisement The then state government had launched a website where people could get themselves enrolled under the scheme. The scheme received over 1.4 crore registrations since its launch. Confirming the news regarding scrapping of the project, additional chief secretary (IT and Electronics) Sanjiv Saran said registration for scheme has been stopped with immediate effect. BJP HAD RAISED OBJECTIONS OVER SMARTPHONE SCHEME Ahead of the state Assembly election, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had approached the Election Commission complaining about Samajawadi Party's smartphone project. In January, the BJP had filed a petition with the poll panel against the Samajwadi Party's smartphone distribution scheme, saying it amounted to violation of the Model Code of Conduct. ALSO READ: Yogi on scrapping spree: How Adityanath dealt with Akhilesh Yadav's pet projects One Akhilesh Yadav project that may be spared Yogi Adityanath's axe Yogi Adityanath drops 'Samajwadi' for 'Mukhyamantri' from government schemes --- ENDS --- Yogi Adityanath took oath as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister on March 19. The BJP's decision to pick the firebrand leader to lead the crucial state surprised everyone. Here's how foreign media sees Yogi Adityanath's elevation. By Reuters: One recent afternoon, dozens of young Hindu men, swords drawn and saffron scarves draped around their necks, rode motorcycles through a Muslim neighbourhood near the capital of India's most populous state and chanted "Hail Lord Ram!" In the preceding weeks they and their peers had acted as informers, police officials say, helping them identify thousands of Muslim-run butchers' shops that have since been shut and urging officers to stop Muslim youths talking to Hindu girls in the street. advertisement Their organisation is the Hindu Yuva Vahini (Hindu Youth Force), a private militia set up in 2002 by Yogi Adityanath, a local priest and politician, to assert the dominance of India's main religion which he felt was being eroded by minority faiths. Since Adityanath's promotion last month to chief minister of Uttar Pradesh state, home to 220 million people of which a fifth are Muslims, the group has become emboldened, openly proclaiming its Hindu roots and putting pressure on police. MUST READ: Yogi's UP game plan: Is CM Adityanath weighed down by Hindutva baggage and trying too much too soon The appointment of the 44-year-old, known for his fiery anti-Muslim rhetoric and a campaign against "Love Jihad" - or the conversion of Hindu women to Islam - has shocked some Indians, who say it undermines the country's secular status. They worry that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "development for all" agenda will be overtaken by radical, Hindu-first policies with the potential to stoke communal tensions that have erupted sporadically through India's 70-year history. Adityanath declined to be interviewed for this article. "Blood can be shed, and Muslims will feel the pain," Pankaj Singh, a senior leader of the Hindu Youth Force, told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the rally in Unnao, an hour's drive southwest of the capital Lucknow. Such comments have sent a chill through some in the Muslim community, on the defensive in Uttar Pradesh since this year's election in which Adityanath rallied the Hindu majority and delivered a resounding victory to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). MUST READ: What does Yogi Adityanath coming to power mean for Muslims in UP? In return for his successful campaign, the party handed the priest one of India's most powerful positions, emboldening his militia to act and speak more openly than it did under the previous administration. Based in Uttar Pradesh and funded by members who want to win favour with local power brokers, the youth force says it is 2 million strong and growing. In Unnao, police stood back as members blocked traffic, honked horns and shouted pro-Hindu slogans on the busy streets. Muslims who came out to watch did so quietly from their doorways. advertisement HINDU RIGHT, HINDU RADICAL Modi himself is the product of the Hindu right, coming from the BJP and its powerful parent movement, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), that nurtured him early in his career. But since sweeping to power in 2014, he has focused on economic reforms that he hopes will drag India into the modern era and create enough jobs for a swelling workforce. Adityanath represented the BJP during the Uttar Pradesh state polls earlier this year, and helped Modi consolidate power as he bids for re-election in a national ballot in 2019. The priest, however, has often defied BJP discipline and is not part of the RSS machine, raising fears that Modi may have unleashed radical "Hindutva", or religious-nationalist forces that he will struggle to contain. MUST READ: Tough times for young men in UP as anti-Romeo squads hit the streets "The BJP has no command over this organisation. They respond to Adityanath and no one else," said Gilles Verniers, assistant professor of political sciences at Ashoka University. advertisement A close aide to Modi said it was Adityanath's job to maintain law and order in the state. "The onus lies on him. It is his duty to take care of his vigilante group," said the aide. Daljit Singh Chawdhary, additional director general of police for Uttar Pradesh, dismissed the threat of the youth force acting outside the law. WATCH: Yogi Adityanath era begins in Uttar Pradesh "We are not tolerating any vigilante group taking the law into their (own) hands, while at the same time anyone is free to provide us with tip-offs," he said. "We have had no recent complaints against the Hindu Yuva Vahini, so there is no reason for us to take action against them." DEVOTION AND POWER The original source of Adityanath's power is an ancient temple in Gorakhpur, eastern Uttar Pradesh, where people treat the shaven-headed priest with reverence. Soon after he was named chief minister last month, a devotee collected dust from the rug on which Adityanath had walked, so as to worship it. Built on such devotion, the youth force has evolved into a powerful group that dispenses justice and has proved itself a formidable vote-getter. The BJP's national spokesman, Nalin Kohli, said the party's victory in Uttar Pradesh was not only thanks to Adityanath and his private militia. But Singh expressed little doubt about the group's importance in securing the result. advertisement "Modi won Uttar Pradesh because of Adityanath's ground force," Singh said. One of Adityanath's first directives after becoming chief minister was to impose a ban on Uttar Pradesh slaughterhouses that operated without licences. Most Indian states have laws that ban the slaughter of cows, considered sacred by Hindus, while buffalo slaughter requires permission from state governments. Butchers in Uttar Pradesh have long complained that authorities failed to issue new licences, although the outgoing government allowed them to continue operating anyway, ensuring employment and food for the Muslims who dominate the industry. Adityanath's militia has been pushing police to enforce rules calling for a complete ban on illegal slaughterhouses and the sale of meat from unlicenced shops. "We got the police to shut down 45,000 small meat shops in less than 24 hours ... they would have failed without our informers," said Singh, who added that he reported daily to Adityanath. "They (police) know we are the real heroes now." Chandani Qureshi, a mother of four, said her husband worked as a sweeper in a meat shop in Lucknow. Her family relied on his daily wage of 300 rupees ($4) to survive. "The chief minister's men came with orange flags, broke the window panes of our shops and threw knives and weighing scales out on the street," she said, sitting in her one-room home. "We had no power to stop them." Owners of large abattoirs have sought injunctions to block Adityanath's orders to ban unlicenced slaughterhouses and thousands of butchers have protested against the ban, yet some doubt they will prevail. "I don't think we can defeat Adityanath's militia. It would be better if we start selling something else," said Mohammed Faizan, who inherited a meat shop from his grandfather. Uttar Pradesh's deputy chief minister and state BJP president, Keshav Prasad Maurya, said his government would not let slaughterhouses sell cow and buffalo meat. It wanted shop owners instead to start selling chicken and eggs. "The dairy business is more profitable than the beef trade," he said. He also said members of Adityanath's militia were acting as responsible citizens. "It would be wrong to consider them as a parallel administration." "HANDS OFF HINDU GIRLS" At the rally in Unnao, Singh stood on a rickety stage and awarded idols of Hindu gods to youths for halting sales of beef, stopping religious intermarriage and composing poetry in honour of cows. As well as helping to close down butchers, the militia has been tipping off "Anti-Romeo Squads", groups of police who intervene to prevent young men and women meeting publicly. A police official who oversees 64 such squads said the units were formed to tackle sexual harassment of women, but admitted that there had been cases where militia members pressured policemen to target Muslim men seen in the company of Hindu women. He declined to be named. Muslims say they are being singled out. "They think our boys are villains," said Irshad Sheikh, whose son was detained by police recently. Singh, the youth force leader, rejected suggestions that the squads deliberately targeted Muslims. At the rally, he met the father of a 21-year-old Hindu woman who was recently forced by members of the militia to call off her wedding to a Muslim man. "For centuries, Muslims have been playing the dirty game of converting Hindus," Singh said, as his men returned from their run through the Muslim neighbourhood. "But now if they touch a Hindu girl, we can fight with our swords." The woman's father, Subhash Chandra, said he welcomed the militia's intervention. "The Muslim boy trapped her and wanted to convert her. I am lucky that Yogi Adityanath's people saved my daughter's life. How can a Hindu become a Muslim? It is a sin to convert anyone." SO SORRY: Will UP CM Yogi Adityanath fulfill PM Modi's long list of promises? ALSO READ: Yogi Adityanath compares triple talaq to Draupadi's cheer-haran, calls for common civil code Yogi Adityanath's popularity soars over crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses, anti-Romeo squads, claims survey Yogi on scrapping spree: How Adityanath dealt with Akhilesh Yadav's pet projects Yogi Adityanath impact? Akhilesh Yadav ready for anti-BJP alliance proposed by Mayawati --- ENDS --- Drinking water is becoming more and more scarce around the world with some areas with zero access to clean water. However, a recent invention by scientists from MIT and Berkeley might finally end water shortage. According to the UN Water statistics, 47 percent of the world's population will be living in areas of high water stress by 2030. However, scientists have been finding ways how to address this issue and one of the solutions is harvesting water from the atmosphere. Unlike groundwater, however, harvesting water from thin air proves to be more challenging. Over the years, scientists have developed various methods how to do this, such as the atmospheric water generators that harvest dew and turn it into drinking water. Recently, a new invention to harvest water from the atmosphere was announced by a team of scientists from MIT and Berkeley. What makes this new invention a breakthrough is that it can harvest up to three liters of water in even the driest places of the earth. The device which was designed by Omar Yaghi, a chemist at the University of California, Berkeley, was an engineered crystal which can be tweaked to bind certain molecules very tightly. His crystal was specifically designed to attract water. After that, he asked the help of Evelyn Wang, a mechanical engineer at MIT, to develop a device that will encase the substance that will power water collection. What Wang and her team did was create a solar-powered condenser that is activated by the temperature range. Some of the practical uses of the device are in areas affected by drought or war and in dry areas where water is scarce. It can also be used to supplement ground water supply. The study was published in the journal Science. Fake news has been everywhere, constantly confusing and misleading people from the truth. And now, they are even more difficult to spot, for which reason the University of Michigan prepares to offer an online course to help their citizens be equipped on effectively spotting fake news. The faculty members of University of Michigan is offering a free online course on Friday, April 21 entitled "Fake News, Facts, and Alternative Facts" on the edX website, Michigan Radio reported. This is the website that universities use to offer free online classes to the public. According to Brian Weeks who teach communication studies, it is good that Google and Facebook are launching new tools to better help the public be informed on how to distinguish what is true and what is not. He believes that one way to do it is through citizen education. According to Michigan News, the online course is modeled after the historic U-M teach ins of the 1960s, where the participants get the chance to learn based on their own pace at a time they prefer, as soon as the learning materials are available and are posted online. Weeks said that inaccurate information as well as fake news are a threat to the basic foundations of democracy. He said that one way to have a meaningful dialog, people must agree on the facts. He also added a lot of fake news that spread especially online are really harder to spot. He advice the public to read beyond the headline and to find out the author of the article and check if there are also other reliable sources or news organization who reported the same story. He said that people should begin to look into their own biases; even their friends' who share and spread stories on Facebook and other social media platforms. Financial management is one of the most important skills that college students should learn. However, some universities and colleges appear to be lacking in equipping their students with this knowledge. It was previously reported that millennials are earning much lower salaries than baby boomers when they were at the same age. Education did help slightly boost a millennial's income but not as much and the younger generation only has half the net worth of the previous generation. In a post for USA Today College, Allison Beacham, a graduate of Miami University, shared the reason why she wished Money 101 or financial management was a required college class. She talked about how she learned about financial literacy through self-study. Beacham noted that money management was not a part of her formal education even though it was a vital part of adult life. She admitted that she was lucky her family took financial education at home seriously and, because of that, she and her roommates were able to handle their finances smoothly. Her other friends, though, were not as fortunate. Some almost got evicted mid-semester because they did not sit down and plan out how to pay the rent. Others also spent more money at bars rather than on books. She explained that this behavior, which she described as disastrous, could have been avoided. The Miami University graduate suggested that taking a moment to talk about basic financial management during freshman orientation would have been helpful. Moreover, a personal finance elective would have drawn interest. Even better would be a required money education class, similar to alcohol education. So far, the only finance class available at Miami University required non-business majors to get a prerequisite course and a special request from their dean. It was also a difficult class since it was intended to separate those who had the potential to pursue a career in finance from those who don't have the potential. There are also a lot of online resources that students can read through for self-study. By managing their finance well, they can make sure that they are able to save money and have a social life at the same time as well as to build a good credit record. In a closed-door meeting of the cabinet that ended after an hour, some other major decisions were taken. By Rajat Rai: The newly formed Yogi Adityanath government on Tuesday held its third cabinet meeting in the state capital and gave its nod to eight schemes, including implementation of Prime Minister Fasal Beema Yojana (PMFBY) and e-Tendering in government departments. In a closed-door meeting of the cabinet that ended after an hour, some other major decisions were taken. advertisement THE DEVELOPMENTS "The lackluster attitude of the previous government was proving to be a hindrance in the implementation of various central government scheme including the PMFBY. Now, it has been decided the scheme will be implemented within the next two years", cabinet minister Siddharthnath Singh informed the media after the cabinet. In order to further streamline the clearance of insurance claim of the farmers, the state has been divided into 12 clusters. "It has also been decided that one insurance company will only be given the charge of two clusters so that the claims are settled timely", he added. The government has also decided to open 12 new agriculture science centres. The names of the Agra and Gorakhpur airports will not be changed. Also read: Yogi Adityanath compares triple talaq to Draupadi's cheer-haran, calls for common civil code Also read: Yogi Adityanath's popularity soars over crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses, anti-Romeo squads: Survey Also read: Yogi Adityanath to hold mass weddings for poor Muslims under government's Sadbhavna Mandap --- ENDS --- UW Makes Changes to Operate More Effectively and Efficiently UW President Laurie Nichols By Laurie S. Nichols In my first year as president of the University of Wyoming, I have made it a priority to travel around the state to hear from Wyoming people about their thoughts and expectations for the states university. The message has come through loud and clear in these visits: The people of Wyoming care about their university, and they have high expectations for us. And while they recognize the financial challenges we have been contending with, they want and need us to do more to meet the needs of the state. In fact, one of the central themes we have heard is that the people of the state want the university to do more particularly when it comes to outreach efforts, off-campus degree programs and research to benefit the states economy. And, of course, they want us to stay focused on our primary mission of providing access to high-quality education for Wyomings students. Theres no question that meeting the expectations for increased services at a time of declining revenues is a significant challenge -- a task that requires excellent planning, prioritizing and execution. That is what we are attempting to do through the creation of a strategic plan to guide the university for the next five years. A draft of the strategic plan may be viewed on the UW website at www.uwyo.edu/president/strategic-plans, and we are accepting comments on that site. Additionally, a public meeting to discuss the draft and accept comment is Tuesday, April 25, from 2:30-3:30 p.m. in Strausner Hall at Casper College. The session may be viewed online at https://zoom.us/j/322459559. I encourage you to participate. At this point, the draft calls for advancements in academic quality, enrollment, statewide engagement, diversity and economic development over the next five years. Specifically, it aims to increase student recruitment, retention and graduation; degree programs that meet Wyomings workforce needs and more offered online and at UWs regional centers; collaborations with community colleges and K-12 schools; enhanced research funding; growing startup companies; and diversifying the universitys revenue streams, among other measures. Accomplishing all of this will be a challenge during these tight financial times. Faced with budget reductions totaling $41 million for the current fiscal year, the university has had to rethink the way it does business at just about every level. We are becoming a leaner, more focused institution, expecting to have about 400 fewer employees than at this time last year by the start of the new fiscal year July 1. We are making that reduction largely by not filling vacancies and through retirement and separation incentives, although some layoffs may be necessary. We have worked to examine everything we do and to prioritize our work. Some services that arent essential to the universitys mission have been scaled back or considered for outsourcing or elimination. What we have not been willing to compromise is our educational, research and service mission to Wyoming. You might have heard or read about some of the reorganization we are doing as part of this process. That includes assimilating the functions of the UW Outreach School into academic units across campus. When it comes to UWs presence outside the Laramie campus, be assured we remain very committed to this important part of our mission. Any changes that take place at UWs branch campus in Casper and our regional centers will be about improving both effectiveness and efficiency, not about retreating from these regions. As the draft strategic plan indicates, we want to increase our distance offerings and even launch new four-year programs in conjunction with community colleges. UW-Casper has been an important part of the university for 41 years, and it will continue to be in the future. Any decisions about changes in the programs offered in Casper will be made in close consultation with community leaders. One example of efficiency and centralization from the reorganization is that UW-Casper and the regional centers now fall under one administrative structure in Casper with a reporting line to UWs chief academic officer, or provost. This centralized hub from Casper can better assist with service to the state and community colleges for program delivery, marketing and advising. The University of Wyoming is a partner with the people of the state, and we are committed to our land-grant mission of teaching, research and service. With your input and ideas, we can advance UW to new heights as the states university. Laurie Nichols is the president of the University of Wyoming. UW Student Group Supports Veterans Through COMBAT Color Run April 22 A University of Wyoming student group will celebrate military veterans with a Laramie community event this weekend. UWs Students Supporting Veterans (SSV) hosts the seventh COMBAT Color Fun Run Saturday, April 22, at noon at Optimist Park. COMBAT Color is a 3-mile run or 1.5-mile walk, and game of color tag. Runners are encouraged to wear camouflage and a white shirt to make the color more visible. At the finish line, runners are incited into battles with their family and friends. Volunteers along the run route battle runners by throwing handfuls of color (cornstarch dyed with food coloring) at runners as they pass. Runners battle volunteers by throwing color back. Pre-registration for the COMBAT Color Fun Run is $30 for adults; $25 for students; $20 for children between ages 10-15; and free for children younger than 10. Registration is available on the day of the event. Because the event is organized by United States veterans, all proceeds will go to benefit the SSV, the Connor Cloud Scholarship for Veterans and Meghan Gable Scholarship for Involvement. For more information, go to www.combatcolor.com or email Luke Cloud at rcloud2@uwyo.edu. Invite your friends on Facebook here. Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. The import of fertilisers has sharply risen since early 2016, which has affected local production and caused heavy losses to domestic fertiliser producers.- Photo ndh.vn. The response comes after the VCA, under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), received a report in early April that some domestic fertiliser producers are requesting that trade defence measures be applied for a number of imported fertiliser products due to its negative impacts on domestic production. The fertiliser products in the requested list have the codes: 3105.10.10, 3105.10 .20, 3105.10.90, 3105.20.00, 3105.30.00, 3105.40.00, 3105.51.00, 3105.59.00, and 3105.90.00. These commodities are all inorganic or complex inorganic fertilisers mixed with nitrogen and phosphorus (P2O5), in which nitrogen content is at least 7 per cent and P2O5 content is at least 30 per cent. The addition or mixture of other elements such as magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), sulphur (S), potassium (K) and other trace elements dont change its physical and chemical nature nor the products purpose. The addition of micronutrients is appropriate for each soil type and crop group. In addition, imported goods are investigated regardless of colour. In order to evaluate the situation and make a decision on initiating an investigation, as well as to ensure the rights and interests of enterprises under the countrys trade defence policies, the VCA has asked businesses producing the listed types of fertilisers to provide the following details: business information; design capacity and production of fertilisers for 2014, 2015 and 2016; companies ideas on the case; and other relevant evidence. The deadline to submit the details is before 5pm on April 24. The import of such fertilisers has sharply risen since early 2016, which has affected local production and caused heavy losses to domestic fertiliser producers. A market to watch According to experts assessing the laws on Housing and Real Estate Business, foreigners newfound rights to purchase real estate in Vietnam, with access to a 50-year freehold, has given the high-end apartment market access to a new trove of investment capital. High-end apartments in Vietnam are currently significantly better priced than in neighbouring markets, such as the Philippines, Singapore, Jakarta, and Kuala Lumpur, though the pace of economic development and foreign investment attraction in the central cities of Vietnam is easily comparable. After investing in traditional markets like Thailand or Bali, investors seek for new opportunities to diversify their investment portfolios. Investors, such as Sembcorp, CapitaLand, Mapletree, Keppel Land, Meada, Mitsubishi, Kajima, and Creed Group, have all found attractive investment opportunities in Vietnam. Moreover, a strong wave of sales programmes for foreigners and overseas Vietnamese were launched by real estate companies. Although there are still no specific statistics available, the number of foreigners buying houses has been rising sharply. Luxury Apartment - a five-star serviced apartment project on My Khe Beach, will start to welcome tourists this year A testimonial from Yukio Kawate, a businessman from Japan, stated: I often have long business trips to Danang. Therefore, I tend to stay in an apartment that can provide me with the necessary amenities, as well as 24/7 security and, preferably, with modern technology. When the Law on Housing for foreigners in Vietnam changed, I was introduced by a friend to Luxury Apartment. Due to Alphanams investment policies, soon I can stay in my own apartment for 10 days per year, free of charge, while seeing 45 per cent of my investment returned to me in five years time. Real estate experts stated that 2017 is the year of seaside resort investment in Vietnam. Developers have their eyes set on building coastal resorts in prime locations to attract an increasing number of customers. They are working on improving their designs, amenities, and quality of management to provide the market with high quality projects that strengthen clients trust. The right choice Projects that meet foreign investors criteria are often sold quickly. Luxury Apartment Danang success in the high-end coastal apartments segment is a good example. Its appeal to a wide variety of investors and clients is noticeable in its limited number of units left. Luxury Apartment units come fully furnished with high-end furniture and modern electronic equipment The 33-story tower is located on the pristine white sands of My Khe Beach as well as close to Danangs central business district. A location favoured by investors who want to take advantage of the rising tourism, yet do not want to exclude the rising number of business visitors coming to the city. From Luxury Apartments location, clients can easily travel to the city centre, the airport as well as the UNESCO world heritage sites Danang is known for. The carefully designed units of Luxury Apartment are filled with natural light and are equipped and furnished by the worlds leading brands to ensure a luxury feel. This makes the decision to purchase, either in the form of investment or as personal accommodation. Troy Griffiths, deputy general director of Savills Vietnam, noted that the serviced apartments sector in Vietnam has seen an 83 per cent average occupancy rate in 2016. With this number, Alphanam, the developer of Luxury Apartment, commits a 45 per cent return on investment within five years to investors. From the sixth year, investors will receive 85 per cent of the rental profits. Currently, Alphanam is offering an attractive discount policy of up to 7.5 per cent on the total value of a unit. With immediate and committed returns, the project is now among the best-selling high-end resort apartment projects in Danang. Luxury Apartment is currently the only five-star apartment project on My Khe Beach, with the first apartments for residents having been handed over at the end of the second quarter of 2017. Rental operations will start in October to ensure that the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, situated adjacent to Luxury Apartment, will run in tandem with the serviced apartment units. To bring this investment opportunity to foreign investors, Alphanam is headed to Singapore and will be at the Emerging Markets Property Show organised by PropertyGuru between April 22 and 23 in the Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel. In its initial plan announced in 2006, the Tay Ho Tay Town project has an area of 847 ha. In the process of applying for a licence, representatives of a consortium of six South Korean investors expressed an expectation that their Central Area of Tay Ho Tay (West West Lake) Town project would be part of celebrations for Hanois 1,000th anniversary. But after being licensed on January 19, 2006, the project then stalled. Like many others, the main reason was site clearance issues. In April this year, as the anniversary looms and with pressure from the investors, authorities involved in the project gave signs that the site clearance issues may be wrapped up by the end of the year. On May 4, 2010, 160 days before the anniversary, the Hanoi Peoples Committee (HPC) ratified announcement No 136/TB-UBND on guidance/direction from its Chairman, Mr Nguyen The Thao, on the work process of projects in the Tay Ho Tay New Urban Area. The announcement came based on a meeting held on April 22 at HPC, which was described as tense. In the announcement, Mr Thao remarked that work at all projects [in Tay Ho Tay Town] is too slow, especially site clearance, which show that there is a lack of firm cooperation between investors and authorities, due to poor capability in and a lack of responsibility of the investors and insufficient consultation with departments and branches under the HPC, and local authorities [at the district and commune level] have not focused on performing their tasks. He therefore directed all sides to seriously review their responsibility in implementing the tasks assigned by the HPC. In its initial plan announced in 2006, the Tay Ho Tay Town project has an area of 847 ha. It contains many parts, including Peace Park, Friendship Park, a Diplomatic Compound, five roads (Nos 1 to 5), two resettlement areas in Xuan Dinh and Co Nhue communes, and the Central Area project. It will straddle the administrations of seven communes and precincts in Tu Liem district (65 per cent of the total area), Tay Ho district (25 per cent) and Cau Giay district (10 per cent). The Tay Ho Tay Development Co., Ltd, (T.H.T), now made up of five companies (Daewoo E&C, the Daewon Co. Ltd, the Dong Il Construction Co. Ltd, Keangnam Enterprises Ltd, and the Kolon Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd) instead of the original six, has 207.66 ha as the centre of its project: the Central Area, Tay Ho Tay New Urban Area. The project has two phases, the first of which will be implemented on 117.3 ha with most of the land being farming land, with the second phase to cover 90.3 ha, mostly residential land. On December 10, 2007, the HPC issued Decision No 4908/QD-UBND on taking over 1,173,030 sq m (117.3 ha) of land in two communes - Co Nhue and Xuan Dinh - in Tu Liem district and assigned the Hanoi Land Fund Development Centre to implement site clearance and compensation. The Chairman of HPC required that the site clearance and the handing over of 61.3 ha in Phase I was to finish in July 2010. The area has some 740 households and will be the site of the Thang Long Opera House. The entire Phase I is required to be completed in October. We have cooperated with T.H.T and sought an agreement regarding land compensation solutions for households, said Mr Tran Huy Dung, Director of the Hanoi Land Fund Development Centre. He also confirmed that meetings with 228 households on the first stages of the inventory process are now underway and 75 compensation solutions have been published and are waiting for approval. Around 40 people involved in the land clearance compensation process, divided into four groups to carry out investigations and surveys, continue to complete documents and set up compensation and support solutions to ensure the continuity of the process. On May 6, 2010, T.H.T transferred VND67 billion ($3.5 million) to the Tu Liem branch of the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, earmarked for land compensation purposes. A day later, the investor sent HPC a document confirming their commitment to prepare capital for land compensation, especially prioritising an area of 61.3 ha (including 25 ha for the Thang Long Opera House) in Xuan Dinh commune, Tu Liem district. The compensation rate for farming land taken over for the project varies, to a maximum VND1.5 million ($78) per square metre. Total compensation to be paid by the investor in Phase I is VND1,937 billion ($101.9 million) and more than VND5,750 billion ($302.6 million) in Phase II. The money transfer will take place in parallel with the process of site clearance. The company is continuously in touch with related offices and authorities to gain consensus, and also with households in the communes and districts to secure full cooperation. According to Mr Dung, based on Plan No 180/ UBND-TTPTQD, co-signed on April 29, 2010 by the Centre and the Xuan Dinh Commune Peoples Committee, site clearance will be carried out non-stop on Saturdays and Sundays to meet the deadline of July 31. He believes, however, that site clearance for all 117.3 ha could take longer than planned due to Vietnamese customs. Some of the land has cemeteries, he said. Vietnamese people normally move tombs to other locations in the ninth month of the lunar year [October], so site clearance may extend to end of the year. For the 90.3 ha in the second phase, in Cau Giay and Tay Ho districts, as most of the land is residential the whole project, including the construction of resettlement areas, must be fully coordinated. But the resettlement area is also proceeding slowly due to site clearance issues and its proximity to Nhat Tan Bridge, and it also needs to have a comprehensive transport network. It will take around two years to meet all the necessary conditions for project implementation, said Mr Dung. If site clearance meets the deadline and the investor keeps to its commitments, in 2014 technical infrastructure in the Central Area is expected to be completed. T.H.T leaders have cooperated with the Centre and local authorities and have transferred funds, said Mr Dung. This shows their determination to implement the project. According to Mr Nguyen Chi Dung, Director of the Investment and Construction Project Management Unit under the Hanoi Construction Department, the 14 ha Thang Long Opera House will be the first project to see ground broken in the Central Area of the Tay Ho Tay New Urban Area project. The ground breaking is planned for October this year, on the occasion of Hanois 1,000th anniversary. In the HPC plan, in May this year the Construction Department met selected design consultants from Italy, Japan, France and the UK to discuss ideas for the Opera House. In July they will submit their design solutions. In August HPC will set up a council to select one of four design solutions and organise a referendum, before publishing the official design in September. Thang Long Opera House is expected to be an arts and cultural centre at the national level, where diversified forms of art will be performed and traditional forms of art displayed. A programme on benchmarking and ranking the most sustainable companies in Viet Nam in 2017 was launched today.-VNA Photo The annual programme, which is organised in light of Government Notice No 398/TB-VPCP, dated December 15, 2015, on rankings of sustainable businesses, is aimed at honouring pioneering and successful enterprises in sustainable development and encouraging enterprises to focus on sustainable development plans and measures. The evaluation and ranking are based on the Corporate Sustainability Index, which is built on economic, social and environmental aspects with 151 questions divided into two sections - the first being general criteria and the second delving into specific criteria of sustainable development. The questionnaire has been proven specific, inclusive, scientific and objective. The content of the questionnaire has been created, reviewed and edited by top-notch specialists from the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, concerned ministries and agencies, in addition to valuable comments and contributions from Vietnamese and international economic experts. The ceremony to announce the most sustainable companies in the country in 2017 will be held in December this year. At the first programme in 2016, 100 companies have been named the most sustainable companies in Viet Nam. From April 17 to May 5, 2017, any creative individual will be able to join the contest, selecting one of the three topics. The topic information is available at: www.vib.com.vn All designs must be implemented on www.designbold.com to make the competition fair to all entrants. For round one, all submissions will be judged and the top 10 of these will be selected to go to the next round. During round two, the 10 submissions will be posted online to be voted on by the general public via VIBs Facebook page as well as being nominated by the board of judges to select the two final winners. DesignBold is expected to change the designing experience by offering a platform connecting professional designers, marketers and clients (mostly small-medium enterprises without demand for full-time professional designers) from all over the world, Hung Dinh, founder and CEO of DesignBold and a member of the board of judges, said. With the designbold platform, the process to create an advert will be shortened and be much more efficient. Two weeks after launch, DesignBold earned $132,366 in revenue with over 3,000 orders. This innovation contest is not only bringing the new experience to the design community by offering a new technology platform from a start-up, but also to encourage the start-up community in Vietnam to continue to launch successful products, Chris Elkin, CEO of Aleph Labs and also a member of the board of judges, said. Start-ups have received a lot of attention recently, from students to professionals, even more senior members of the community who are passionate about contributing to society. The number of start-ups with innovative products delivered benefits society by increasing employment, contributing to the state budget and increasing overall capabilities within Vietnam. The support of reputable financial organisations to enable start-ups to be successful through mentoring, and connections with potential investors to aid with fund raising will continue to aid the future growth of the start-up community in Vietnam. The collaboration with and support of the start-up community from VIB is one of the reasons The Banker, Financial Times nominated the Bank of the year, Vietnam 2016 award to VIB. In the middle of April, 2017, VIB supported Vietnam Silicon Valley to successfully organise the VSV Investor BootCamp where any individual or organisation is more connected and professional in joining start-up investment. Warren Cammack head of innovation and general manager of CBA capability exchange at VIB, an active member in participating to encourage the development of the start-up eco-system in Vietnam and Australia, joined a VSV event to discuss innovation. Cammack had more than 15 years working experience in the digital sector, with 11 years working in Fintech. Cammack is one of the members of the board of judges for the contest too. The Rang Dong IZ-a large-scale zone dedicated to textile and garment industry-will cost about VND5 trillion (US$213 million) in the first phase.-Photo rangdongip.com.vn The IZ, the largest of its kind in the country, is one of Nam Dinhs key projects, the provincial Peoples Committee vice chairman Ngo Gia Tu said at the ground-breaking ceremony. Currently, the textile and garment industry contributes 40 per cent of the provinces total production output, Tu said, expressing hope that once operational, the IZ will accelerate provincial development. Financed by Rang Dong Investment JSC, the zone costs about VND5 trillion (US$213 million) in the first phase. It will cover 1,500 hectares in Nghia Hung District, Tran Minh Hoan, head of the provincial IZs Authority, said Once completed, the IZ will be able to produce one billion metres of fabric per year and employ thousands of people, Hoan said. Nam Dinh has held a series of investment promotion activities in countries such as South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and the US to advertise investment opportunities in the IZ. Several investors have shown interest in investing in the zone, he said. The event also saw two Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) inked between Rang Dong Investment JSC and other investors. The MoUs focus on the development of a 40ha-garment and textile village and a weaving and dyeing factory. According to experts, developing large-scale IZs dedicated to the textile and garment industry will help Viet Nam improve its competitiveness and enjoy the benefits of preferential tariffs in free trade agreements. The countrys garment and textile exports experienced a year-on-year increase of 11.2 per cent to US$6.84 billion in the first quarter of this year, according to the Viet Nam Textile and Apparel Association. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close In the lead up to Junes commune elections, several local opposition leaders here have lost their jobs, leading villagers to wonder why the well-liked commune chief was removed along with two councilors and other members of staff. I dont know about the removal and I am just wondering why the commune chief was stopped, said Nul Seab, 37, who was seeking help from the authorities with documentation to allow her daughter to get a job. Hundreds of opposition commune officials who had changed party allegiance since they were elected in 2012 were fired from their positions after Interior Minister Sar Kheng ordered them removed. The order affected hundreds of councilors from the Sam Rainsy Party and Human Rights Party, which merged to form the Cambodia National Rescue Party ahead of the 2013 general election. The CPP won the majority of seats in the 2012 commune elections, securing more than 8,000 of the nearly 11,500 council seats up for grabs. The opposition only won 40 of the 1,633 commune chief positions. Sguon Samean, a former SRP commune chief, who was removed from the post on March 20, said the abrupt decision had badly impacted on her constituents. I have a lot of documents that have not been signed yet. I have not finished my work yet. The documents are important for people, she said, adding that outstanding payments on her $190 monthly salary had also not been made. Oum Som, another CNRP councilor who lost his job after Khengs order, said he regretted working in March without pay. They stopped us, but I also wonder why they stopped the contracted staffs at the commune, he added. Three staffers in Trapaing Chan commune were also suspended, a move staff deemed political as they were all due to stand as opposition candidates in the upcoming election on June 4. Van Pharun, one of the staffers, said although she was contracted through to the end of the year, her work was stopped short with little explanation. I dont think its in accordance with the law. If Im not fulfilling my duties they should have called a meeting. They stopped me without a logical reason, she said. According to the letter of suspension, dated March 30, Sang Khat, the acting commune chief and a member of the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party, said the staffers had been fired after they failed to show up for work following the dismissal of their superiors. Khuon Saorum, the district governor, said he would intervene in the decision to fire the commune staff members, claiming the commune chief did not have the power to end their contracts. General Khieu Sopheak, Interior Ministry spokesman, said the commune officials salaries would remain unpaid. Losing them does not mean the work stops. They are not the most important people, he said. The commune elections, scheduled for June 4, are promising to be a competitive affair, with the CPP and CNRP appearing to have comparable support. Twelve parties will contest the election, but only the CPP and CNRP have registered candidates in the countrys 1,646 communes. As saber-rattling over North Korea continues, Cambodias ambassador to South Korea has said that there are no plans in place to evacuate citizens in the event of a conflict breaking out. Long Dimanche, ambassador to South Korea, said he was closely monitoring the situation but as no emergency had been declared, there was no need to make preparations for an evacuation. It seems there is nothing wrong in South Korea as they are still living their lives and investment and tourism is progressing normally, he said. If something changes, the government of South Korea will inform us in advance. He said about 60,000 Cambodians are in South Korea, the vast majority migrant workers. Nam Bunna Lee, a migrant laborer, said he and his fellow workers were not worried by the trading of threats between the North and the United States. The reason is that North Korea often threatens to detonate nuclear weapons, he said. However, he added that if the dispute escalates towards conflict, a plan should already be in place to get Cambodian citizens to safety. Japan recently announced it was planning to send military and civilian aircraft to evacuate its citizens from South Korea in the event of war. Chum Sounry, foreign affairs spokesman, could not be reached for comment. Ou Virak, a political analyst and founder of the Future Forum, a think tank, said the government should have a comprehensive response plan in case of war on the Korean peninsula. The government should be ready at any time to rescue its citizens, he said, adding that it could look to more developed nations for assistance. Even if there is neither tension nor confrontation, the government should be well prepared. The government should take action rather than wait. China announced Tuesday that 28 countries will send their heads of government to an international conference on the One Belt, One Road (or OBOR) program to be held next month in Beijing. However, only six G-20 countries are on the list, and government heads in most of the developed world will not attend. Italy is the only major western country sending its head of government to the conference on the development plan, despite China's effort to give it an international flavor. Four influential personalities will attend the event at the highest level. Those are Russian President Vladimir Putin; Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni; Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund; and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who will inaugurate the conference. "This is an economic initiative and it deals with economic cooperation, so we do not want it to be politicized," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in reply to a question about whether the Western world was not showing much interest because it had doubts about China's motives. France and Germany have major elections around the time of the Belt and Road Forum, to be held May 14-15. However, they have agreed to send senior officials. "This is an economic cooperation forum, an international cooperation platform that everyone is paying attention to, supports and hopes to participate in," Wang said. He said representatives of 110 countries, which include those that are not on the OBOR route, would attend. A problem of plenty? China has also signed documents with 56 countries to enlarge support for the program. It has allocated an initial amount of $40 billion for a Silk Road Fund to implement OBOR. "The contours of OBOR are vast, and its ever-expanding nature has created plenty of discrepancies," Jonathan Hillman, director of the Reconnecting Asia project at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, told VOA. "For example, some infrastructure projects announced years earlier are now covered under the OBOR banner." British Prime Minister Theresa May was widely expected to attend as part of her efforts to strengthen Britain's business and diplomatic links with China in the post-Brexit era. Instead, she is sending British Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond in her place. For China, OBOR is an important model to expand political influence while enhancing its infrastructure construction business and exporting its industrial overcapacity. Beijing is also projecting the program as a "win-win solution" to the problem of inadequate infrastructure in developing countries, and economic slowdown in the developed ones. Guest list Most of the presidents and prime ministers attending the forum are from countries that have received or expect to obtain financial support from China. They include Greece, Belarus, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Ethiopia. Russia depends heavily on business deals, including a 30-year gas supply contract that it has entered with China. China has done well in persuading most of the countries linked to the South China Sea dispute, including Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Philippines, to send their leaders. Seven of the 10 members of the Association of South East Asian Nations are sending the heads of their governments. China did not distinguish between developed and developing countries, and regarded all as equal members of the international community, Wang said, as one of the goals of the Belt and Road program was to promote equitable development between rich and poor nations. Recoining a name Wang dropped the word "one" from the original name of the program, One Belt, One Road. Observers said China is trying to avoid the impression that it wants to control the increasingly international program, and make it a consultative process. On the other hand, several countries in China's neighborhood including Japan, South Korea, India and Singapore have not yet agreed to send their heads of government. Three of China's colleagues on BRICS Brazil, India and South Africa are not sending their heads of governments, according to the list released by the Chinese foreign minister. The other two members of BRICS are Russia and China. "Unsustainable debt is a real concern for certain countries," Hillman said, referring to concerns that expensive infrastructure projects under OBOR can push economically weak countries deeper into debt. The mood in Jakarta on its second election day this year is notably more tense than it was in February, although the city's voting stations remained as festive as ever on the surface. Incumbent governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama faced off with former education minister Anies Baswedan. Neither of them got the 50 percent of votes needed last time to win, although third-place candidate Agus Yudhoyono was eliminated after the first round. The runoff is the climax of six months of turmoil that started last fall when Ahok, a Chinese-Christian, was accused of blasphemy for citing a Quran verse to argue that Muslims can vote for him without issue. That comment triggered two huge Islamist demonstrations calling for his arrest, and Ahok became the first gubernatorial candidate to simultaneously be on trial at the Supreme Court for blasphemy. My heart is beating so fast, said Dharma Dhiani, a housing rights activist who lives in Pasar Ikan, a North Jakarta neighborhood that has been threatened with evictions by Ahok, who wants to re-develop the seaside area for tourism. I hope we all hope Anies wins, because we can't take five more years of this. Equally vocal were Ahok voters, who hoped the intense campaign against him wouldn't derail a politician widely regarded as effective, businesslike, and free of corruption. For us Ahok is the only choice, said a young mother in Petamburan, a Central Jakarta neighborhood that is home to Habib Rizieq, leader of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), the hardline group that organized the anti-Ahok rallies. She spoke quietly because she didn't want to attract attention in the heavily guarded voting station. I hope the rest of Jakarta remembers that. Dissatisfied with Ahok There are swathes of the city that would never vote for Ahok because of his unapologetic eviction campaign in the pursuit of economic development. One such stronghold is the Rumah Susun subsidized housing complex in Jatinegara, East Jakarta. Nearly everyone who lives there was forcibly relocated from the nearby Kampung Pulo in 2015. Many residents work as traders, drivers, and other low-income professions. Who did I vote for? Who else? said Mohamad Nasir, a 75-year-old retired trader. Anies, he clarified. Every other member of his extended family three generations said the same. Men and women everywhere in Jatinegara, whose two polling stations registered over 1300 voters, flashed the Anies hand-gesture, making a circle with their index finger and thumb. Chaerul, a taxi driver, said the new apartments to which they were relocated were intolerable. I used to live by the water. We were poor but we had a life. Now our families live in boxes. The evictions were one reason why thousands of ordinary Jakartans joined the protests last fall, which were ostensibly held on religious grounds. I voted for the Muslim, said Etin, a garment worker in Luar Batang, a seaside neighborhood targeted for evictions last year. A Symbolic Election Ahok is ethnically Chinese, a minority that has faced decades of prejudice and resentment. A disproportionate number of the country's wealthy businessmen are of Chinese descent, although that's in part because they were systematically excluded from government positions. In 1998, about 1000 Chinese-Indonesians were murdered in sectarian violence that preceded the fall of Indonesian dictator Suharto. Those tensions have once again risen to the surface this election season. City officials sent out 60,000 police and military personnel to safeguard against potential disturbances. Police also monitored numerous buses and trucks in Central Java to prevent "mass mobilization," which is to say, another rally or demo. (Thousands of participants in the November and December rallies came from outside Jakarta.) When voting closed around 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Indonesian Police Chief Tito Karnavian reported that there had been no violent incidents. Unknown assailants in Pakistan have stabbed to death a university professor who was an Ahmadi Muslim, a minority group often considered the country's most persecuted religious sect. Police in the eastern city of Lahore said Tuesday that they had found the body of Tahira Malik , 61, in the residential colony of the University of Punjab. She lay in a pool of blood, with stab wounds on her face and neck, officers said. The microbiology professor was retired but continued to teach at the university, one of Pakistan's oldest and most prestigious institutions. Jamaatul Ahrar, an offshoot of the extremist Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for Malik's death. The same group had said it was behind the recent deaths of two other high-profile members of Pakistan's Ahmadi community: A doctor of veterinary medicine was killed earlier this month in Lahore, while gunmen in Nankana shot dead a prominent Ahmadi community member late last month. Counterterrorism experts joined police investigating the latest case. Founded in 19th century The Ahmadi (or Ahmadiyyah) Muslim community was founded in Punjab near the end of the 19th century. It has millions of members worldwide, but is reviled by the overwhelming majority of Pakistani Muslims because of doctrinal differences. The followers of the Ahmadi sect believe its founding leader, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was the second coming of the Messiah. This belief is a departure from that of mainstream Muslims, who consider Muhammad to be the last prophet of God. In 1974, the Pakistani parliament declared the Ahmadi sect as "non-Muslim." The Ahmadi community has long been a target of sectarian violence in Pakistan. In 2010, attacks on two separate Ahmadi mosques in Pakistan killed 94 people and wounded over 150. The Ahmadi community recently released its annual report, which noted an increase in violence against Ahmadis and their mosques across Pakistan in 2016. Government criticized Ahmadi leaders have criticized the government for inaction over targeted killings. "The government is not courageous enough to take a stand for minorities publicly," political scientist Hasan Askari told VOA. The lawyer killed in Nankana was a relative of professor Abdus Salam, a renowned theoretical physicist who was Pakistan's first Nobel laureate. Salam fled from Pakistan in 1974, five years before his Nobel award, to protest enactment of the constitutional amendment declaring members of the Ahmadi community to be non-Muslims. He lived in Britain until his death in 1996. Much like in the United States last November, voters in France's elections are driven largely by anti-establishment sentiments and public anger over corruption, cronyism, and immigration policies that some believe threaten French native culture and national security. Those views are prevalent in France's Rust Belt, a stronghold of anti-immigration candidate Marine Le Pen, but also in Paris. Unlike the Rust Belt, many Parisians do not appear ready to fully support Le Pen, opting instead for centrist candidates who will continue the path toward the globalism that is sustaining a new, prosperous way of life for young professionals in the city's wealthy urban districts. For months, analysts have predicted that a series of highly publicized Islamist extremist attacks in Paris, Nice and Normandy would cause French voters to swing toward the right and to candidates promising curbs on Muslim immigration, as well as a possible departure of France from the EU. In the French capital's eclectic 11th arrondissement, in the shadows of the Bataclan theater scene of the worst of the November 2015 terrorist attacks residents dismiss any suggestion that concerns about terrorism and Islamism will sway them to vote for anyone other than centrists. "You have the tourist industry and you have the attraction of Paris for foreign companies and foreign businesses," said Jean-Yves Camus, a district resident and political commentator who has written extensively on French rightists and published in Charlie Hebdo, the satirical weekly whose offices were the scene of a mass shooting by Islamist terrorists in 2015. "If you choose to vote for the National Front, you vote against your own interests, against the interests of this multicultural city. "We are still very much aware that the extremist threat is there and in an everyday basis, we are still living in a state of emergency, but we do not scapegoat the Muslims," Camus said. Marine Le Pen and her National Front have made Muslim immigration a central theme of her campaign. 'Spirit of the French' Candidates of the center-right have largely stayed away from the issue. So has the mainstream media, and many Parisians. Many prefer to talk about the economy, corruption and cronyism, and why they would not support the National Front. "Because it is not in the spirit of the French, the extreme right," said Michel Molinas, a fashion stylist. "Because those who are with the extreme right are fascists. For the French, it is not their thing. That is true. That is how I see it and I would never vote for them. Never, never, never." Like many voters interviewed on the streets of Paris this month, Molinas said he will make his pick among centrist candidates Emmanuel Macron, a former Socialist economy minister and investment banker, and Francois Fillon, a former prime minister who is center-right. Both candidates face misconduct accusations. Macron, with strong ties to deeply unpopular Socialist President Francois Hollande, has been accused of having an extramarital affair with a man, while Fillon is under investigation for allegedly using public funds to create fake jobs for relatives. "Mr. Macron, Mr. Fillon, things are said of them sometimes, but they remain viable candidates so I'm going to make my choice between one of them," Molinas said. "The political establishment is like it has always been. After 30, 40 years, there are problems, but the main thing is the TGV [high-speed trains] continues to run, the airports remain working, and the highways are rolling, so the goal is that. Right now, there is business everywhere," said another voter, Vincent Terpant, a wine dealer. "The main thing is that our children have a bit of a better future." Not all, however, are comfortable with how things are. Shaking the system Analysts predict some will vote for Le Pen quietly, as a protest, in a bid to shake the system. "They despise the elite of this country," said Thomas Guenole, a political scientist. "Over three quarters of our population think our politicians are disgusting as human beings, and the same thing with mainstream media. In this context, some it's a minority but some, just want to put a grenade in the ballot. That's all." While some want a clean break from the past, others see no reason for a revolt against globalism. In Paris' La Defense business district, Jeremy Teixeira, son of Portuguese immigrants, interns at a multinational company that will pay for his graduate studies. For him, globalism has delivered. "As a young person, I'm for the globalization. It is something that's imposed on is. We cannot go against it. We must go with it. For business, for individuals, it is very good thing," he said. In an elite city that has set a world standard for cosmopolitanism and diversity, the notion of a nationalist, new France and a future that looks inward and to the past seems, for many voters, alien. The question in this election is how big the protest against the status quo will be. And there is no guarantee, even in Paris, that centrists will win. Just a few days before the April 23 first-round vote, polls showed the far-left's Jean-Luc Melenchon, who has described bankers as "parasites," is surging. Melenchon's surprising rise to front-runner status in the last moments of the race underscored the unpredictability of the election, but reaffirmed how large the French electorate's appetite for change may be. Analyst Guenole says the power of middle- and upper-class French urbanites on the left and right who will quietly vote to shake the system should not be underestimated. "You have more and more self-determination of voters and less and less socioeconomic determinism, which is excellent news for democracy," said Guenole, "but it's very bad news for sociologists and opinion polls." 1 An injured demonstrator is been helped by another after clashing with riot police during the so-called "mother of all marches" against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas. The Arctic is a dead end for floating plastic waste dumped in the Atlantic Ocean off Europe and the United States and swept north by ocean currents to a polar graveyard, scientists said Wednesday. Levels of plastic found east of Greenland and in the Barents Sea off Norway and Russia were far higher than expected for the sparsely populated regions, according to the report showing how man-made pollution extends even to remote parts of the globe. "The northeastern Atlantic sector of the Arctic Ocean appeared as a dead end for the surface transport of plastic pollution," the authors wrote in the open access journal Science Advances. The survey, by the Tara Oceans circumpolar expedition that sampled 42 Arctic sites in 2013 with nets, found hundreds of thousands of mostly tiny bits of plastic per square kilometer (square mile) in the northeastern Atlantic region. Much of the plastic was apparently old and had floated north from Europe and North America. Levels were comparable to those in ocean gyres, vast swirling currents nearer the equator, where plastic debris is known to accumulate, they wrote. "Ninety-nine percent of the floating plastic in the Arctic was confined in the Greenland and Barents Seas," lead author Andres Cozar of the University of Cadiz in Spain told Reuters. "The plastic pollution in the rest of the Arctic Polar Circle was low or absent," he said. Global warming could open the Arctic to more pollution, partly as the extent of sea ice shrinks. "High loads of marine plastic pollution may become prevalent in the Arctic in the future," the study said. The study said there was "special concern" about the impact of plastic on fragile Arctic wildlife, including on the seabed where bits may eventually sink. Northern fulmar birds on the Arctic Svalbard islands north of Norway, for instance, have been found with high levels of plastic in their stomachs from discarded plastic bags, fishing nets and other trash. Separately, the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP), which was not involved in the report, is examining wider pollution risks from plastics. "We're looking to see how big the problem is for the Arctic both the physical plastic and the chemicals attached to the surface," Lars-Otto Reiersen, executive secretary of AMAP, told Reuters. With Venezuelas capital girding for massive demonstrations Wednesday, President Nicolas Maduro is accusing the United States of trying to overthrow his leftist government. In an address from the national palace in Caracas Tuesday evening, Maduro complained of a State Department push to provoke an imperialist intervention in the South American country, with pro- and anti-government demonstrations as a backdrop. Venezuelas center-right opposition is organizing the mother of all marches to protest Maduros administration, and the Venezuelan leader is rallying his supporters to turn out for a counter-march. Over the last several days, he has ordered military troops to fan out across the country and announced plans to vastly expand the countrys civilian militia to half a million members from its current 100,000. The U.S. State Department on Tuesday issued a statement warning that the international community would join in any response to the criminal repression of peaceful democratic activity... The statement, put out by spokesman Mark C. Toner, urged nonviolent demonstrations. We deplore the use of violence against unarmed protestors, it said. Using the abbreviation for the ruling United Socialist Party, it particularly warned against using colectivos armed bands under the political control of PSUV party leaders to repress protestors while the security forces idly stand by. Security forces and members of the judiciary, the statement continued, have legal and constitutional responsibilities to protect, not prevent, peaceful demonstrations. Maduro rejected the statement, saying the State Department in essence had announced a coup against Venezuela. Whoever wants to see the script written to generate violence, death read the statement. There is the plan, he said. Weeks of protest At least five people have been killed in over two weeks of protests, with security forces firing rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons. The turbulence erupted after the Venezuelan Supreme Courts March 30 announcement that it would strip the opposition-controlled National Assembly of its legislative powers. The court stacked with appointees of Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez reversed its position in the wake of domestic and international outcries about an attempted power grab. Thousands of Maduros opponents are expected to turn out Wednesday, converging on central Caracas to pressure his administration to respect the assemblys autonomy, schedule long-delayed elections, free political prisoners and restore other democratic norms. Unidad Venezuela, a coalition of opposition parties, also is organizing marches in each of the countrys 24 states, according to the groups Twitter account. Demonstrators also are expected at the Venezuelan embassy in Washington. Diosdado Cabella, a Maduro backer and vice president of the ruling United Socialist Party, said he anticipated about 60,000 motorcyclists to join marchers in support of the government. "We are going to mobilize, to fight, to continue fighting to prevent any intention of the right to subvert the constitutional order," added Cabella, a lawmaker in the National Assembly. Conflicting messages But the leftist governments opponents also are appealing to military and civilian troops to back their cause. We know that behind those shields are Venezuelans who accompany us in this struggle for a change, the National Assemblys president, Julio Borges, said in a tweet Tuesday. The National Socialist Party has ruled Venezuela for 17 years. Economic pressures have mounted in recent years, especially since the price of oil Venezuelas chief export began falling in 2014. Venezuelans face chronic, severe shortages of food, medicine and other basics in what once was Latin Americas wealthiest country. Wednesdays mass protest falls on a significant date for Venezuelans: On April 19, 1810, Venezuelans began their quest for independence from Spain. Concern over bloodshed Maduro faces intensifying pressure, from internal political foes and from international bodies such as the Organization of American States, to back off from violence. We view with serious concern the militarization of Venezuelan society. We call for good sense, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said in a tweet Tuesday, according to the AFP news service. Colombia is among 11 Latin American countries including Brazil, Argentina and Mexico urging peaceful demonstrations. They called upon Venezuelas government to respect the constitutional right to peaceful protest. On Tuesday, the Venezuelan Penal Forum, an NGO, said security forces in the country have carried out 538 arrests since early April. It said that as of Monday, 241 people were being detained. It also reported multiple instances of torture and cruelty to detainees. VOA Spanish Service intern Goldy Fogel contributed to this report from Washington The URL has been copied to your clipboard The code has been copied to your clipboard. United States and Chinese officials denounce continued bellicose rhetoric from North Korea. The Philippines drug war has lost some popularity as criticism about it continues. Plus, Indonesians head to the polls to choose Jakartas next governor. VOAs Steve Miller has your Asia news, in a minute. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions declared war on gangs Tuesday, vowing to stringently enforce immigration laws to prevent gang members from coming across the Mexican border. "Because of an open border and years of lax immigration enforcement, MS-13 [a crime gang] has been sending both recruiters and members to regenerate gangs that previously had been decimated, and smuggling members across the border as unaccompanied minors," Sessions told the Organized Crime Council in Washington. The council offers guidance to the Organized Crime and Gang Section, a group of prosecutors that develop gang-fighting strategies. The section is part of the Criminal Division within the Department of Justice. MS-13 is short for La Mara Salvatrucha, a gang that was founded in the poor neighborhoods of Los Angeles in the 1980s. Today, members are U.S.-born and immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico and Guatemala. MS-13 has spread to other parts of the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Central America. 'Pedaling poison' "Transnational criminal organizations like MS-13 represent one of the gravest threats to American safety. These organizations enrich themselves by pedaling poison in our communities, trafficking children for sexual exploitation and inflicting horrific violence in the communities where they operate," Sessions said. Sessions, the nation's top law enforcement official, said his Department of Justice had "zero tolerance for gang violence." He said his remedies included securing the border, expanding immigration enforcement and choking off supply lines. In an early-morning tweet, his boss, President Donald Trump, blamed former President Barack Obama for the growth of MS-13. "The weak illegal immigration policies of the Obama Admin. allowed bad MS 13 gangs to form in cities across U.S. We are removing them fast!" the president tweeted. MS-13 members have been involved with robbery, extortion, drug trafficking and human smuggling. The gang operates in 40 states and the District of Columbia, according to the Justice Department. The department says there are more than 30,000 MS-13 members in total and about 10,000 in the U.S. The Department of the Treasury labeled MS-13 a "transnational criminal organization" in 2012. Sessions vowed to cut off the group's revenue resources. Later, Trump praised Sessions' announcement. "I promised to get tough and we are!" he tweeted after Sessions spoke. Off the coast of Bangladesh, a small island is being battered by cyclones and devoured by the sea. Kutubdia has been the source of a mass exodus as communities destroyed by the changing conditions flee the island in search of a new life. And for those paying attention, Kutubdia is not just an island it it a bellwether, and a warning, for the low-lying nation where millions are threatened by the effects of climate change. Watch: Island of Kutubdia offers bleak vision of future A disappearing island I remember from my younger years the village was full of greenery, with trees, vegetables and paddy fields, recalls Rozina Khatun, who now looks out across a very different landscape. On this part of Kutubdia, the greenery and the paddy fields have largely gone destroyed by floods; they have been replaced with salt fields instead, which are themselves now often ruined by floods. Where there were once villages, recently built shacks now pepper the landscape. The speed with which the rising seas have encroached on the island is unusual, but the new buildings are testament to a far swifter destructive force. Though the region has always been afflicted with deadly tropical cyclones, a World Bank study found that higher surface temperatures in the Indian Ocean were likely to increase their frequency and strength. Last May Cyclone Roanu tore path through Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh, destroying around 125,000 homes and structures along the way. Khatun's home was one of them, and though his family escaped with their lives, they lost everything. Over recent decades, tens of thousands of inhabitants have left the island. Those who had money have left this place but those who are still here are living under poverty line, Khatun added. If I had money I would leave, but I am still here. Buying from elsewhere Saber Ahmed also is attempting to rebuild his life on Kutubdia. His fishing boat was destroyed in the cyclone, which he and his family survived by climbing trees. In 1991, when sea levels were already beginning to rise sharply, his wife and child were killed in another cyclone that caused thousands to flee. And longer rainy seasons have made it harder to dry the fish he has caught. On an island once rich in paddy fields, now he has to buy rice from off the island. "Before, we cultivated a lot and wanted for nothing," he said. "But now, as we cannot cultivate anything we have to buy in things from elsewhere." What is happening in Kutubdia is driven by a number of factors, including a naturally quick rate of erosion. Beyond Kutubdia But the role of climate change means it is predicted to play out on a national scale with potentially devastating consequences. Bangladesh is seen by many experts as the most vulnerable country in the world to climate change over the coming decades. Estimates vary, but according to a U.N. report released last year up to 25 million people in Bangladesh are at risk from the impact of rising sea levels. This partly stems from the long stretch of coastal land around the Bay of Bengal as well as the fact that two thirds of the country is less than five meters above sea level. Across Bangladesh, a series of measures have been taken in response, including siren systems giving advance warning of coming cyclones. But while Kutubdia's cyclone shelters have helped save lives, shoreline sea defenses are impermanent and regularly breached. Mohammed Alam works for Coast, an aid organization that focuses on assisting those whose lives have been hit by climate change. As part of its work, it has provided financial help to Ahmed Saber. Alam called on the Bangladeshi government to do more to educate people about the problems caused by climate change. Repeated attempts by VOA to contact the department of environment and forests failed to elicit a response. But he also emphasized that a global, not just local, response was needed. I think that the developed countries are the most responsible for climate change and they need to support this effort, he said, referring to global agreements to cut emissions blamed for climate change. Many of the homes on Kutubdia are not even connected to the power grid, and Bangladesh's emissions pale in comparison to many other less populous countries. A distant memory Noting with disdain the decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to scrap many of former President Barack Obama's climate-related policies, he added "the rights of undeveloped and developing countries are being despoiled by the developed countries." If the coming years do produce potentially millions of so-called climate refugees in Bangladesh, then they will be following in the footsteps of Muhammed Nuruddin. Nuruddin recalls seeing with dread the sea levels rise toward his house. He fled Kutubdia with his family in when he was eight years old in 1988. He remembers the depression of his father, a respected fisherman on the island who had to turn to manual labor on the mainland, as his family struggled to find a place to re-establish. Half a decade later, however, they found a spot near the popular mainland beach town of Cox's Bazaar, further south down the Bangladesh coast. Since then, Kutubdia's shoreline has receded, so more families have flocked to the area, turning what was a cluster of families into a community of thousands. Despite his happiness, he remains haunted by what happened in Kutubdia. "The lower land will be under sea one day," he warns, "because of climate change." The British parliament voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to back Prime Minister Theresa Mays call to hold early general elections on June 8, three years ahead of schedule. May pushed for the snap poll in hopes of smoothing the Brexit process. The vote in parliament was 522 to 13. Members had been widely expected to approve the early poll, which analysts say will likely give May a stronger hand in negotiating Britains exit from the European Union but also gives the opposition a greater voice in how the Brexit process is carried out. The two-year exit negotiation process began last month when May triggered Article 50 of the Lisbon EU treaty. However, the British leader has been weighed down by the oppositions protests over how the negotiations on trade and taxes are conducted. May said the early vote is necessary to ensure that her government can strengthen our position in these negotiations. I believe this is the way we get clarity and stability in the future for the United Kingdom beyond Brexit, she said. WATCH: May on early vote On Wednesday, May repeated her belief that there is no turning back on Brexit. The early general election will not change the two-year departure timetable, but has opened up a new episode of bickering over the measure, which has bitterly divided the country for the past year. Courting opposition May has challenged Britains deeply fractured opposition to band together and present their arguments against Brexit. Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn appeared to accept that challenge by welcoming early elections. But in a heated exchange before the vote in parliament Wednesday, Corbyn criticized May for her decision to not take part in any televised debates ahead of the June poll. Corbyn also denied Mays allegations that he and his fellow Brexit opponents, the Liberal Democrats, have been working to derail the process. There is no obstacle to the government negotiating, but instead of getting on with the job she is painting herself as the prisoner of Lib Dem threats to grind government to a standstill," Corbyn said, adding that the Liberal Democrats have "only nine" seats in parliament. With the Labor Partys popularity at a historic low, analysts widely expect Theresa Mays Conservatives and their allies to retain a majority in parliament, meaning May would remain prime minister during course of the Brexit negotiations. Last year, polls failed to predict the passage of the referendum on Brexit and observers now caution that in seeking to strengthen her mandate, May also risks her political career, depending on whether voter attitudes change in the next seven weeks. The late environmental activist Chut Wutty was prepared for his own death any time. Wutty lived with threats from interests threatened by his activism, according to Sam Chanthy, his wife. He was threatened with verbal warnings and live rounds. His children, he was told, would be kidnapped. On April 26, 2012, Chanthys brother-in-law called at 2 p.m. to say, Brother Wutty was shot dead in Koh Kong. He was 46. Chut Wutty was shot once, fatally, while in the drivers seat of his red Jeep. He was deep in the forests of Koh Kong province, tracking reports of illegal logging and land grabs. With him were two reporters from The Cambodia Daily who survived. Some loggers even warned him that they would not just kill him easily, Chanthy said. They swore to nail him to a cross, and cut his body into pieces until he died. According to official accounts cited in the verdict issued six months after his death, Wuttys car was stopped by military police and security guards hired by Timbergreen Company, the concessionaire receiving a state-granted permit to sweep the forest at Veal Bei, making way for the construction of Russey Chrum mega hydropower dam. Wutty later quarreled with In Ratana of the military police and Rann Borath, the companys guard, over requests from Ratana and Borath that Wutty and the reporters surrender memory cards containing photos from the Timbergreen-operated site. Ratana fired a round from his AK-47 killing Wutty, according to the verdict. Ratana died by the same rifle that Rann Borath grabbed in an attempt to stop him from further shooting. Borath received a suspended sentence of 18 months and was released soon after the verdict. A very brave man He was a serious man who didn't like to talk much, but he took very good care of his family, said Chanthy, his wife. The couple had one son and two daughters. He teaches his kids with soft and peaceful approaches. He never took even a single hit on his kids even if he was angry. He always talked in sweet words to his children. Born in a rural village in Kandal Province as Cambodia was collapsing into decades of devastation, Wutty went to Russia for military studies, then returned to serve in the Cambodia's Ministry of National Defense as military trainer. He quit that job in the early 2000s to serve as the country deputy director for the global transparency watchdog, Global Witness, before the government closed its Cambodia office. Wutty then founded the National Resources Protection Group and campaigned against the illegal logging nationwide until the day he died. He was a very brave man, Patrick Alley, co-founder of the Global Witness, told VOA. Legacies and inspiration Wutty was the prime architect of grassroots community-centered campaigns that still patrol the endangered Prey Lang densely forested area, one of Southeast Asia's largest rainforests. He helped found the Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN) in 2007, when many Cambodians didn't even know of the existence of Prey Lang, a forest in north-central Cambodia that spans four provinces and many traditional villages. From the period we worked with him, he was a committed and can-do person, said Seng Sok Heng, spokesman of the award-winning PLCN. What he loved the most was to work with people at the communities, sharing experiences, knowledge and senses of mobilization and advocacy with them, Sok Heng told VOA. He was an important man to Prey Lang. Without him, we cannot imagine if this forested area could exist until today. Danger continues In a 2014 speech, President Barack Obama took the stage to honor slain civil society workers around the world including Wutty. Those threats persist. Even though the Cambodian government has given more powers to the Environment Ministry and formed a national ad hoc task force led by the country's top military commander, large-scale illegal logging continues. Two Environment Ministry-employed rangers were shot dead while they were tracking illegal logging in the northern Preah Vihear province. In March 2016, Phorn Sopheak, a 22-year-old PLCN member, was attacked with machete in an unsuccessful murder attempt as she patrolled forests. We continue to be threatened by timber traders and the colluded officials, so we are still facing dangers even though there has been a move from the national-level for state-community cooperation to protect the environment, Sok Heng of the PLCN told VOA. We still find it difficult to work. In Koh Kong province where Wutty died, environmental activists have been targeted by legal cases filed because of their opposition to state-permitted mineral schemes. They [environment activists] can still be facing legal suits against them for their actions, said In Kongchit, Koh Kong provincial human rights coordinator for the local rights group Licadho. But Wuttys activism and heroism continue to inspire, according to Kongchit, and youth-driven movements are spreading awareness of the need to participate to protect the environment. Elusive justice Wuttys family and members of Cambodias civil society movement remain unconvinced by the Koh Kong provincial court claims that it based its verdict on a reliable investigation. In Kongchit, who participated in the autopsies of Wutty's and In Rattana's bodies at the Koh Kong Hospital the day they died, called the court's conclusion elusive justice for Wutty. Ive never thought the evidence and the courts findings were real. Theyre made-up and artificial, said Chut Wuttys eldest son Cheuy Oudom Reaksmey, 25, who recently took over the former position of his father as director of the Natural Resource Protection Group (NRPG). What I want to find the most is who ordered the killing of my father. He had been followed for so long, so I think there was someone ordered to kill him, Reaksmey said. We want to see the mastermind and the real killer to get prosecuted. Im still hopeful, he added, because there is no secret in this world. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Interpol issued a red notice Wednesday for the arrest of billionaire and Communist Party critic Guo Wengui, but gave no details of his alleged crimes. "What we understand is that Interpol has already issued a 'red notice' for criminal suspect Guo Wengui," foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters. The comments came as VOA's Mandarin service interviewed Guo Wednesday. Guo had previously said he would provide details during the interview about Chinese leaders. He said earlier this week he had received threats from Chinese agents warning him against doing the interview. "You [VOA reporters] mentioned that China's foreign ministry had talked to you and asked that you not report on this," Guo told VOA. "The reason is simple: The individual I'm about to expose, he has the power to direct the foreign ministry. He is truly afraid because he is corrupt." Guo has made allegations of massive corruption within the highest levels of the Communist party and has been keeping out of the public view for the past three years. On Twitter, he dismissed the allegations from China, calling the red notice suicidal behavior coming from truly corrupt officials who fear I will expose their crimes. This will only strengthen my determination to fight these bad guys until the end. Everything is just getting started, he added. An Interpol red notice is described on the organizations website as a request to locate and provisionally arrest an individual pending extradition. It is not legally binding and countries are free to act on the notice at their own discretion. Guo has sent tweets over the past month indicating he was in both the U.S. and Britain. Neither of the countries hold extradition agreements with China. The South China Morning Post, which first reported the red notice, cited anonymous sources claiming Guo is suspected of paying millions of dollars in bribes to disgraced former state security vice-minister Ma Jian, with whom he has been linked. Beijing is looking for foreign contractors to help find oil and gas under the South China Sea but expects to meet resistance because other governments contest its claims and any discoveries may bring low returns. China's state-run China National Offshore Oil Corp. issued a tender last week for foreign companies to join it in exploring for fossil fuels in 22 tracts south of the country's coastline. The blocks spanning a combined 47,270 square kilometers cover waters contested by Taiwan and Vietnam. Vietnam has been particularly outspoken since the 1970s about its claims. Complicated matter Foreign oil companies eyeing the bids, which close in September, probably worry that their ties to the Chinese maritime claim could spoil their reputation among rival South China Sea claimants or that any oil found would be a disputed asset, analysts say. "Given the area in question, there are risks around the sovereignty issue," said Thomas Pugh, commodities economist with Capital Economics in London. "If they enter a deal with China and Chinese firms, they could risk not being allowed to work with other countries in the region who are disputing ownership of the area." Disputes over ownership continue Discoveries themselves could also be contested by other countries, said Raymond Wu, managing director of Taipei-based political risk consultancy e-telligence. "The other contestant parties do not accept that China has sovereign claims," Wu said. Foreign contractors, he said, must face "not just only the difficulty or uncertainty of finding oil, but who does the oil belong to? I don't see many investors willing to get into it at this point." Vietnam and China rammed each other's boats outside the disputed Gulf of Tonkin in May 2014 after Beijing allowed a Chinese oil rig to be placed there. China has worried Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines as well over the past decade by increasing its control over about 95 percent of the 3.5 million-square-kilometer, resource-rich sea with artificial islands equipped for combat aircraft and radar systems. Looking for oil costs big money Oil and gas exploration also require expensive machinery, tough for some would-be applicants, while no one is sure how much fuel will turn up, said Zhao Xijun, deputy School of Finance dean at Renmin University of China. CNOOC may hope to offset those risks by bringing on foreign partners, he added. "The first thing is that risk is pretty high and second, the technical requirements are rather high," Zhao said. "So perhaps the organizations or companies able to participate in this project would face a certain hurdle." Falling oil prices further limit the value of exports from any undersea discoveries, analysts say. World oil prices have fallen from more than $100 per barrel in 2013 to about half that now. "The terms will probably have to be pretty good to attract foreign firms," Pugh said. Oil riches under the sea The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that 11 billion barrels' worth of oil under the sea and 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Much of that lies under the continental shelves of Southeast Asian claimants and has not been tapped. The Philippines began more than 40 years ago looking for oil west of Palawan island, at Reed Bank. In 1984, a Philippine company found an oil field off in the same region and it supplies 15 percent of the annual oil consumption in the Philippines. Malaysia has secured about 5 billion barrels of oil and 80 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, more than any other of the five South China Sea claimants. There is opportunity CNOOC, which is China's biggest offshore oil and gas producer, says on its website it will pick foreign partners with a "vision of win-win cooperation" and "flexible and favorable measures in the exploitation in the deep water area." The state run Global Times news website quotes Chinese analysts saying that because most exploration blocks are close to China itself, they are stable investments for foreign contractors. China also has a deal with Vietnam over joint use within the Gulf of Tonkin, site of one oil block being offered for a contract. "I don't think that will be a problem, because China and Vietnam have made some compromises or demarcation trying to divide the territorial waters, so if that is the case, I think this kind of exploration will certainly [be] in the Chinese territorial domain," said Andrew Yang, secretary-general with the Chinese Council of Advanced Policy Studies think tank in Taiwan. But one expert told the Global Times that large-scale foreign drillers may still use extra caution because of the disputes. A senior Cuban official is warning foreign countries against meddling in the internal affairs of Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro is facing down mass protests. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez says foreigners should avoid any interference that could encourage violent extremism, including a coup. Rodriguez, whose government has close relations with Maduro, said during an official visit to Lisbon, Portugal, on Wednesday that Venezuelans fear foreign action against their country. Maduro late Tuesday charged the U.S. State Department with encouraging a military intervention. Human rights organizations and countries including the United States have accused Venezuelan security forces and pro-government groups of using excessive violence against protesters. Members of the Organization of American States have also criticized what they view as Venezuela's turn toward authoritarianism. Democrats claimed a partial victory over President Donald Trump, as first-time candidate Jon Ossoff secured enough votes Tuesday in Georgia's traditionally Republican 6th Congressional District to advance to a June run-off election. The contest for the seat, vacated by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, gained national attention as a referendum on the first 100 days of the Trump presidency. Vote tallies for the incredibly close race ran into the night as Ossoff told supporters the fight would go on if he did not secure the 50 percent+1 vote majority needed to win outright. We have defied the odds, we have shattered expectations. We are changing the world and your voices are going to ring out across this state and across this country, he said late Tuesday. President Trump saw the close contest very differently, tweeting just moments later that Despite major outside money, FAKE media support and eleven Republican candidates, BIG R win with runoff in Georgia. The president weighed in on the high-stakes election earlier Tuesday, predicting Ossoff would be a disaster in Congress. VERY weak on crime and illegal immigration, bad for jobs and wants higher taxes. Say NO. In the hours before polls opened, Trump also recorded a last-minute phone appeal to district voters, saying only you can stop the super-liberal Democrat. But Ossoff had help from an extraordinary $8.3 million nationwide fundraising haul and an army of volunteers looking for an opportunity to beat Trump. We've got progressive people very angry and worried about Trump's policies, and this is the only race that's on the national stage right now, Jen Cox, founder of the activist group Pave it Blue, told VOA at a rally last week. The special election was seen as an early test of anti-Trump sentiment and the president's ability to retain the loyalty of Republican voters. Activists and party donors still hurting from Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's 2016 election loss saw an opportunity in the traditionally Republican district that Trump won by only one point in 2016. Even though the Georgia 6th is wealthier and better-educated than most congressional districts, a win here could provide Democrats with a blueprint to take control of Congress in 2018's mid-term elections. Ossoff's early fundraising appeals encouraged voters to Make Trump Furious. But he told VOA earlier this month that Georgia 6th voters were far more concerned about economic issues than ideological tests. This campaign no matter what the national press says is about local solutions before it's about national politics, Ossoff said. Republican field Tuesday's election also narrowed the crowded field of eleven Republican candidates down to just one: moderate Republican Karen Handel, who is heavily favored to win in a district that hasn't sent a Democrat to Congress since 1979. Despite his late involvement in the race, President Trump never endorsed a Republican candidate. Now that the choice is directly between Handel and Ossoff, Trump could get more directly involved in rallying district voters with a trip to Georgia. Donald Trump coming to town could be the biggest thing to happen to congressional elections in years, said Todd Rehm, a Republican strategist and founder of the blog GeorgiaPundit.com, told VOA. At its core, the 6th is still a 60 percent Republican district. A 23-year-old man, who was granted protection from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), has filed a federal lawsuit demanding the federal government to release information about his "sudden" deportation. Juan Manuel Montes filed suit Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California after U.S. immigration officials failed to provide any documentation to explain the legal basis for sending him back to Mexico. Montes was brought to the U.S. by his parents when he was four and deported to Mexico by U.S. officials in February. He is the first DACA-protected immigrant to be deported under the Trump administration. Montes' lawyers said immigration officials did not provide the documentation requested even after his legal counsel contacted Border Patrol under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). "We look forward to presenting our case to the court, because our client has the right to know why and how he was physically removed from the United States when he had permission to live and work here," Monica Ramirez Almadani, an attorney with Covington & Burling LLP, said in a statement sent to the media by the National Immigration Law Center (NILC). Complicated case In the release, Montes said he was walking to a taxi station in Calexico, a border town in California, when a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CPB) agent on a bicycle stopped and asked for his identification. According to Montes, he told the agent he had left his wallet in a friend's car and did not have identification on him. "I was forced out because I was nervous and didn't know what to do or say, but my home is there," Montes said. The DACA recipient said CBP then took him to a local station where Montes said they made him sign documents and did not provide him with copies of the signed documents, allow him to see an immigration judge or seek counsel. He said within hours, in the middle of the night, he was deported to Mexicali, Mexico. "I miss my job. I miss school. And I want to continue to work toward better opportunities. But most of all, I miss my family, and I have hope that I will be able to go back so I can be with them again," Montes said in a statement. VOA asked CBP about Montes' case and a spokesman said Montes' DACA status expired in August 2015, and he was notified at that time. "Juan Manuel Montes Bojorquez was apprehended by the Calexico Station Border Patrol after illegally entering the U.S. by climbing over the fence in downtown Calexico.He was arrested by Border Patrol just minutes after he made his illegal entry and admitted under oath during the arrest interview that he had entered illegally," CBP spokesperson said. In addition, CBP wrote, Montes has a conviction for theft for which he received probation. Montes does not mention in the news release his DACA status, crime conviction, or an illegal reentry to the U.S., and NILC said Montes has an active work permit. Besides working in California's agricultural fields to help support his family, Montes studied welding at a local community college. CBP did not provide VOA any additional information on Montes' criminal cases. NILC says officials acknowledged receiving the FOIA request, but have not provided the documents. "Montes also sought additional information from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services [USCIS] and from the Calexico Port of Entry, to no avail. FOIA provides an agency with 20 business days to respond to a request for records. CBP and USCIS have failed to timely respond as required by law," NILC said. The Obama-era DACA, which defers deportation and grants work permits for a renewable two-year period, still has an uncertain future. DACA recipients have been in limbo since President Donald Trump took office in January. Even though Trump campaigned on a promise to undo DACA, he has since declared himself divided on a "very, very tough" issue. No announcements have been made about the program's future. But the Department of Homeland Security tells VOA that 43 DACA recipients have been deported since Trump took office. In addition, DHS says 676 DACA recipients are in removal proceedings and 90 have been detained. Governments and private donors have pledged $812 million to control and eliminate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) at a five-day summit convened to advance efforts to fight river blindness, sleeping sickness, schistosomiasis and other disabling diseases of poverty. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation kicked off proceedings Tuesday at a special event. The champagne was flowing as leaders from governments, pharmaceutical companies, and charitable organizations gathered to celebrate the achievements of the 2012 London Declaration. That landmark agreement produced a road map for the control, elimination and eradication of 10 of the world's 18 NTDs by the end of the decade. "This is an exciting milestone in global health, which is the fifth anniversary of the 2012 London Declaration about neglected diseases," said Bill Gates, Foundation CEO. "There are a number of these diseases. They are quite horrific. They affect the poorest of the poor. Part of the reason they have been neglected is because they are in mostly tropical countries," he said. NTDs affect 1.6 billion people in 149 countries, including more than one-half billion children. They kill about 170,000 people yearly and cause untold suffering for millions of men, women and children who are disfigured, disabled, stigmatized and unable to work their way out of poverty. In keeping with its commitment to tackle neglected tropical diseases, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is contributing $335 million in grants to support programs over the next four years focused on "drug development and delivery, disease surveillance and vector control." While goals for eliminating NTDs have not all been met, Gates said great progress has been made over the past five years. "Some of these diseases are on track to be done by 2020, some by 2025, some will take longer than that. But, in areas like sleeping sickness great results, great tools and just the level of sophistication being put together here. "Part of what has enabled it is the unbelievable drug donations," said Gates. Since 2012, pharmaceutical companies have donated 7 billion treatments, an "incredible commitment," which Gates said was cause for celebration. "They have given away these drugs in very, very large quantities and what we have seen is that the limitations thereabout the lead times, the volumes where they were available, how long they would be available those have gone away over the last five years. "So now we can assume that part and focus is on the delivery, the financing for the delivery, the quality of the delivery. And because of that we have made huge progress," he said. The World Health Organization cites what it calls remarkable achievements in the fight against neglected tropical diseases. It reports that nearly 1 billion people annually have been receiving drugs to prevent one or more NTDs. Sub-Saharan Africa In sub-Saharan Africa, where more than 40 percent of these diseases are concentrated, the WHO notes the development of non-toxic drugs for African sleeping sickness have reduced the number of cases of the deadly disease from 37,000 in 1999 to well under 3,000 cases in 2015. Other successes include the elimination of trachoma, the world's leading infectious cause of blindness in Oman, Morocco and Mexico. Guinea-worm disease is on track for eradication as only 25 human cases of the disease remain. Edridah Muheki Tukahebwa, NTD program manager in Uganda's Ministry of Health, told a packed audience attending the Gates event that her country was leading in the elimination of NTDs in Africa, especially in Onchocerciasis or river blindness. She said a great deal has been achieved since Uganda started a program to control the disease in the early 1990s. "Of 4.9 million people who were at risk of contracting river blindness, 3.4 million of them are now protected. And the communities that used to be harassed by the black fly bites are now settled, very vibrant and productive. "With all of this, it is a national priority to eliminate NTDs, including Onchocerciasis or river blindness," she said. Pharmaceutical companies offer pledges Pledges were made at the event by CEOs of pharmaceutical companies including Eisai, Novartis, Pfizer, Sanofi, Merck and Gilead to continue drug donations, respectively, for Lymphatic filariasis, leprosy, trachoma, sleeping sickness, river blindness, and leishmaniasis until their particular NTD was eliminated. Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organization, called this a game-changing event, noting that drug donations amounted to $20 billion to $30 billion a year. She told VOA that a lot has been achieved in the last five years. "By working together, we have reached 1 billion people with NTD, and these are a group of diseases that shackle people in poverty. Not just the current generation, but their children. "One billion people have been helped in 2015 alone so, this is already a game-changer," she said. While recognizing that more remains to be done before these terrible diseases are eliminated, Chan said when that goal is achieved "it will be truly, truly amazing." Evacuations from besieged Syrian towns resumed Wednesday after being put on hold by a bombing Saturday that killed at least 126 people. Syrian state media and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said buses carried 3,000 people from the government-held towns of Foua and Kfarya, which have been subject to siege by rebel fighters. Other buses brought several hundred people from the rebel-held areas of Madaya and Zabadani where pro-government forces are responsible for sieges. The transfers are being done as part of an agreement reached last month. Saturday's bombing in Rashideen hit a convoy of buses that was transporting people from pro-government areas, and most of those killed were evacuees. The U.N. Security Council condemned the attack in a statement Tuesday, calling it "barbaric and cowardly." Khailee Ng wanted name brand clothes. So, as a suburban teenager in Malaysia, he shoplifted. He could have continued with his criminal life, he said, but took a different route. Ng started to build web pages because it was a better way to make money, he told a crowd at F8, Facebook's developer conference in San Jose, California, this week. "It's depressing when your only natural talent is shoplifting," he said. More than 4,000 developers from all over the world have gathered at the conference to hear about Facebook's newest technologies such as augmented reality and virtual reality. But the social networking giant also paid homage to the work of international developers and entrepreneurs. In his keynote address Tuesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said 80 percent of developers building apps on Facebook are international. To that end, the company is hosting meetings in more than 40 cities worldwide for watching the conference. One advantage entrepreneurs in developing countries have is that the existing industries are not mature, said Peng Zhang, founder and president of GeekPark, an incubator and media company in China. Of the startups in China worth more than $1 billion, two-thirds are focused on improving traditional industries, he said. "There are huge gaps," he said. A Malaysian journey Ng described his journey from suburban teen shoplifter to web developer, to founder of two companies - a news site and an e-commerce firm - which he sold. He bought a ticket to Silicon Valley to find out more about the tech industry. Now Ng is a managing partner at 500 Startups, an investment and incubator firm that has invested in more than 1,800 companies worldwide. Beyond telling his personal story, Ng said there are key steps to making tech entrepreneurship more accessible for people worldwide. One is investing in local entrepreneurs building businesses who don't necessarily match the pattern of the Silicon Valley startup founder. "If our tunnel vision only goes for the pedigree path, we will not be able to complete the entire spectrum of human potential," he said. Testing ideas in Peru Gary Urteaga, a Peruvian entrepreneur, told his own story of trying and testing company ideas. Inspired by the success of Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, the Chinese online commerce firm, Urteaga co-founded Cinepapaya, a way for people to buy movie tickets and find out about movie showings. It was bought late last year by Fandango. Now Urteaga is the vice president of business development at Fandango Latam and an investor. He says the next opportunity is in solving problems people have worldwide. "If we develop and solve the problems of security, education, health and water, then we can create the next billion-dollar companies," he said. Facebook on Wednesday pulled aside the curtain on a secretive unit headed by a former chief of the Pentagon's research arm, disclosing that the social media company is studying ways for people to communicate by thought and touch. Facebook launched the research shop, called Building 8, last year to conduct long-term work that might lead to hardware products. In charge of the unit is Regina Dugan, who led a similar group at Alphabet's Google and was previously director of the U.S. Defense Department's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA. Dugan told software developers at Facebook's annual F8 conference that the company was modeling Building 8 after DARPA, a government office founded in the 1950s that gave the world the internet and the miniaturized GPS receivers used in consumer devices. Any hardware rollouts are years away, Dugan said in a speech. Potential products could, if successful, be a way for Facebook to diversify beyond its heavy reliance on advertising revenue. One example of Building 8's work so far, Dugan said, was an attempt to improve technology that allows people to type words using their minds. "It sounds impossible, but it's closer than you may realize," Dugan said. Using brain implants, people can already type eight words a minute, she said. Facebook's goal, working with researchers at several U.S. universities, is to make the system non-invasive, as well as fast enough so that people can type 100 words a minute just by thinking. Possible uses include helping disabled people and "the ability to text your friend without taking out your phone," she said. Another Building 8 project, she said, was trying to advance the ability to communicate through touch only, an idea with roots in Braille, a writing system for the blind and visually impaired. A video played at the conference showed two Facebook employees talking to each other through touch. As one employee, Frances, wore an electronic device on her arm, the other, Freddy, used a computer program to send pressure changes to her arm. "If you ask Frances what she feels," Dugan said, "she'll tell you that she has learned to feel the acoustic shape of a word on her arm." In December, Facebook signed a deal with 17 universities including Harvard and Princeton to allow swifter collaboration on projects with Dugan's team. Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday called the Islamic State terror group a "tool" of the United States, and dismissed criticism of Russia for its ties with Taliban and efforts to bring the militant group into peace talks. "After it [the U.S.] dropped the bomb on Afghanistan, it did not eliminate Daesh," Karzai said, referring to last week's "mother of all bombs [MOAB]" attack against Islamic State. "I consider Daesh their tool," Karzai told VOA's Afghan service in an exclusive interview in Kabul, using the Arabic acronym for IS. "I do not differentiate at all between Daesh and America." The United States military, in partnership with Afghan forces, has promised to eliminate IS terrorists in Afghanistan this year and contain a resurgent Taliban, citing recent battlefield successes against the two groups. IS-controlled territory U.S. military spokesman Navy Captain Bill Salvin told VOA recently that counterterrorism operations, with Afghan forces in the lead, have reduced IS-controlled territory by "two-thirds" and the number of its fighters by "more than 50 percent." Despite strong anti-IS efforts by the United States especially in recent weeks Karzai told VOA that the U.S.-led fight against IS has been "weak" over the past two years. He said there is plenty of evidence to back up his allegation, even though the U.S. has been fighting to wipe out IS and its allies in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere. During most of his two terms in office, Karzai had close ties with the United States, whose invasion of Afghanistan to root out terrorist strongholds paved the way for his rise to power. He was welcomed at the White House and taken into confidence on U.S. military strategy in his country. But his relationship with Washington has turned increasingly acrimonious in recent years. He sharply denounced the U.S. use of the bomb known as MOAB against IS underground headquarters in Afghanistan last week, adding that his successor, Ashraf Ghani, was a traitor for allowing the attack. "They dropped an atomic bomb on Afghanistan there's no difference between 'the mother of all bombs' and an atomic bomb," Karzai said. IS has made inroads in Afghanistan in recent years and has claimed responsibility for deadly attacks, including last month's assault on a military hospital in Kabul that killed more than 30 people and injured 80 others. Meanwhile, Taliban has been contesting government forces in key provinces nationwide. Russia connections Taliban connections with Russia have increasingly come under the spotlight as Moscow seeks to increase its influence in the nation it once occupied and to counter Islamic State expansion from Afghanistan to neighboring Central Asian countries. Mounting allegations of Russian military involvement on the ground in Afghanistan have drawn concern from U.S. and Afghan authorities that Russia is working behind the scenes to help the Taliban battle Afghan forces and militant groups in the country, such as IS. In his interview with VOA, Karzai dismissed criticism of Moscow's ties with the Taliban. Karzai has become closer to Russia since leaving office, saying during a visit to Moscow in 2015 to meet with President Vladimir Putin that he supported the annexation of Crimea. "They talk to the Taliban," Karzai said of Russia. "The U.S. also talks to the Taliban. Norway, Germany and other countries also talk to them. Russia also has the right to hold talks with the Taliban." News reports last October said at least one U.S. official participated in three rounds of "informal meetings" between the Afghan government and Taliban. U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner would not comment on the reports at the time, but said the U.S. was "committed to promoting a negotiated settlement to end the Afghan conflict." Avoid bolstering Taliban legitimacy But U.S. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, who held talks with Afghan leaders in Kabul last weekend, said nations should avoid bolstering Taliban legitimacy. "No one should support the Taliban," McMaster said, when asked to comment on Russia's overt contacts with the group. "No one should support armed resistance against the Afghan government and the Afghan people." Still, Karzai told VOA: "The Taliban is a major reality in today's Afghanistan. The Americans themselves say that they [Taliban] control 50 percent of the Afghan territory. When a force controls 50 percent, countries have no option but to talk to them. The U.S. itself talks to them they meet them in their office in Qatar." U.S. and Afghan accounting of Taliban territory holdings do not support Karzai's claim. The Afghan government said it currently controls nearly two-thirds of the country's 407 districts. The Taliban controls 33 districts, less than 10 percent of the national total, and a recent U.S. military assessment lists 116 districts more than one-quarter of the country as "contested" areas. Russia has acknowledged political ties with Taliban. But Russian officials said Moscow is not supplying Taliban militants with arms and training, and that their contacts are only aimed at facilitating the peace process in Afghanistan. "We do not provide any financial or military assistance to the Taliban. The allegations [of Russian assistance] are just a rumor and baseless," Russian Ambassador to Afghanistan Alexander Mantytskiy told reporters Wednesday in Kabul. 'Regional approach' Moscow last week hosted a new expanded round of multination "consultations" it has recently launched with the stated goals of developing a "regional approach" for promoting Afghan security and a government-led national reconciliation with the Taliban. But the U.S. administration refused to take part in the conference, questioning Russian intentions and motives. Washington was not invited to the previous round of talks. "The main question on the agenda was the coordination of regional efforts aimed on supporting the process of national reconciliation in Afghanistan in the interest of the speedy restoration of peace in the country," Mantytskiy said. "The participants expressed shared concern regarding the rise of the terrorist activities in Afghanistan leading to the further escalation of the conflict." Karzai told VOA that the U.S. is not sincere in bringing peace in the country. "A conference was recently convened in Moscow. Why didn't America participate in it?" Karzai asked. "Why did it ask the Afghan government to send a low-level delegation to the conference?" Karzai said that since 2008, he repeatedly relayed his displeasure with Americans to Putin who, he said, remained skeptical until 2012-13. "But when I complained again during a gathering in Kyrgyzstan, Putin told me that there might be an element of truth in it," Karzai said. Police in the western U.S. state of California say a man who shot dead three men Tuesday in the city of Fresno wanted to "kill as many people as he could." Kori Ali Muhammad was taken into custody shortly after firing 16 shots in the span of a few minutes that left a 34-year-old, a 37-year-old and a 59-year-old dead. "I did it. I shot them," Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said Muhammad told officers. All three of the victims were white. One was a utility worker on the job when he was shot, while the others were killed outside a Catholic Charities building. Muhammad's father, Vincent Taylor, told the Los Angeles Times that his son, who is black, believed he was part of war between blacks and whites and "a battle was about to take place." Dyer said Muhammad yelled, "Allahu Akbar," both during the first shooting and after his arrest, but that authorities do not believe the attacks had anything to do with terrorism. "Based on information that we have been provided and our investigation has shown, is that this is solely based on race and it has nothing to do with terrorism in spite of the statements that he made," Dyer told reporters. "He did clarify that the reason he made that statement, in the event that anything did happen to him, that he was in fact pledging his allegiance to God for protection." Muhammad is facing four counts of murder. He is also the chief suspect in the shooting death last week of a hotel security guard. Dyer said that after Muhammad saw a police department media release about the earlier shooting he "made a decision to himself that he was not going to go to jail," and would shoot as many people as possible. On the drive from Jakarta to Bogor, a hilly regency about an hour south of the Indonesian capital, the polyphonic aural landscape gradually converges on a single voice thats broadcast from storefronts, food carts, and houses: Radio Rodja, the countrys leading Salafi station. In 2005, Radio Rodja started as a community production in Cileungsi, a small Bogor town, and obtained an AM frequency two years later, from where it became the most popular of the dozens of Salafi radio stations in Indonesia. In recent years, it has also live-streamed content about 20 hours a day on its website to reach listeners across the country. The majority of its content is Quran recitations and lectures on theology, conduct, health, and lifestyle. Salafism is a fundamentalist movement, originating in Saudi Arabia, that extols the norms of early, eighth-century Islam and rejects modern cultural innovations. It is pointedly quietist, or discouraging political action or extremism, by design, but nevertheless, the rise of Salafi conservatism has caused frictions in diverse and tolerant Indonesia. Salafism is visibly on the rise in middle-class Jakarta suburbs like Bogor, Depok, and Bekasi, as evidenced by the content of sermons at local mosques, the number of Salafi boarding schools in those areas, and Salafi dress ankle length pants and beards for men, niqabs and burqas for women of its residents. One reason the movement has penetrated these groups is that it directly reaches them through radio and TV stations like Rodja. Moderate Muslim organizations like Nahdlatul Ulama have pitched halfhearted efforts to counter their influence, but they are stretched thin by their size and dissolute agendas. Salafi media, on the other hand, has a laser-like focus on broadcasting dakwah (proselytization) at all hours of the day. This simplicity is no small part of its popular appeal. Rodja offices Radio Rodja is headquartered in a small building complex around Al Barkah mosque. Its facilities include several soundproofed live-broadcast rooms and a large office with 20-odd Apple computers. Rodja staff declined multiple requests to be interviewed, citing previous misrepresentation in the press. A recent weekdays broadcast included a lecture on signs of the coming apocalypse, another on becoming a teenager who is loved by Allah, a listener call-in hour on health, Arabic language classes, and several hours of Quran recital. According to schedules posted on their website, Radio Rodja hosts prominent Salafi preachers from across Indonesia, like Badrussalam and Yazid Jawas, as well live broadcasts from the Jakarta Islamic Centre. The language of Indonesian Salafi groups has become less provocative in recent years, said Salafi researcher Din Wahid, of the State Islamic University of Jakarta. They avoid certain buzzwords like heresy to avoid censure by mainstream groups like NU. Still, most of Rodjas content comprises a staunch rejection of modernity, according to Ayang Utriza Yakin, a postdoctoral researcher at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium who spent six months in 2016 intensively researching the station. Almost all the preachers denounce or criticize modernity itself, said Yakin. The ustadhs and preachers of Rodja criticize the Internet, technology, and television at the same time that they use it for their work because, according to them, it can make people disobey Allah. Salafis also believe in traditional family and gender roles, said Yakin. Radio Rodja propaganda is the very opposite of what women have fought for in recent decades, he said. For Rodja preachers, work is not mandatory for women. Work is for men. The women's place in the home. Womens work poses fitnah [temptation or distress]. It will make men lust. In fact, some say that work for women is forbidden. Proliferating While small stations pop up and disappear with some frequency, there are about 25 core Salafi radio stations across Indonesia, according to the website SalafyForum.net. Last month in a plenary meeting, members of the enormous moderate Muslim group Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) called the uptick in Salafi media quite alarming." Their dakwah often involves spreading hatred to other groups, is intolerant, and is contrary to the values of friendly and peaceful Islam said Ahmad Najib, an NU official. NU has tried to counter some Salafi media by creating a rival bodies. In Cirebon, West Java, which has two Salafi stations, NU set up a counter-propaganda radio station. But its unclear that these two threads of Indonesian Islam intersect at all, which is to say, whether NU listeners would have ever engaged with Salafi content in the first place. Honestly we are doing only a little to counteract Salafi radio, said Savic Ali, the director of NU Online. We have set up several networks but none are managed properly. He said this was a regrettable circumstance since Salafi views do increase tensions with traditional Indonesian Muslims, especially NU members. Ambiguous effects Salafism has been growing at a steady clip in Indonesia since the 1980s, but its exact effects are hard to draw out. Certainly, Indonesian society has grown more and visibly religious, but part of that can be attributed to newfound freedom of religious expression after the secular Suharto dictatorship ended in 1998. Salafism is at odds with the countrys traditionally tolerant form of Islam; it considers Shi'a and Ahmadiyya to be heretics, for instance. More recently, Salafi networks have become conduits for extremists. Although they are a minority of Indonesian Salafis, there is a strain of jihadist Salafism as represented by the Salafi-influenced boarding school Al-Ngruki in Central Java. Yakin said according to his research, Rodja is funded by a mix of donations, subscriptions, wealthy Indonesian businessmen, as well as receiving funds from Saudi Arabia and other rich Gulf states, the exact details of whom, he said, are still murky. He maintains that the Indonesian broadcast authority, KPI, can and should monitor Radio Rodja,and hundreds of other Salafi stations throughout Indonesia. Applications for H1-B visas are down slightly this year amid uncertainty in the U.S. about the program and talk of reform. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reports that 199,000 H1-B applications were made during the week-long filing period that began April 3. Two years ago 233,000 applications were made during the same April period. H1-Bs allow employers mostly high-tech firms to hire skilled foreign workers to work in the U.S. for three years. There are 85,000 slots available each year, 65,000 for applicants with bachelor's degrees and 20,000 for those with master's degrees or higher. USCIS says it has already conducted a computer-generated random lottery to determine which of the applications will be accepted. The H1-B program has come under criticism for taking American jobs and driving down wages. Tuesday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at making it harder for companies to hire foreign workers under the H1-B program. "We are going to use a tool you all know very well. It's called the sledgehammer," Trump said Tuesday during a speech at Snap-on Tools, a company in Kenosha, Wisconsin. In the order, called "Buy American Hire American," the president directed four government agencies to suggest reforms to the H1-B visa program as soon as practicable. "They [H1-Bs] should be given to the most skilled and highest-paid applicants and not be used to replace Americans," Trump said. The Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Labor, and the Secretary of Homeland Security also shall propose new rules and issue new guidance, to supersede or revise previous rules and guidance if appropriate, to protect the interests of United States workers in the administration of our immigration system, including through the prevention of fraud or abuse, the president directed. WATCH: What is an H1-B Visa? Fixing H1-Bs Howard University political science professor Ron Hira said the Trump administration is right: "The laws are loose, and so what happens is it's become a way for employers to bring in cheaper, indentured workers as opposed to filling those skills gaps. As a result, the program is oversubscribed, and it's actually undercutting Americans." Hira added that the intent of the program is good in serving as a guest worker program for when there are shortages of American workers. What got in the way? Politics. Companies are making so much money, he said, that they are able to influence Congress to prevent changes in the H1-B program. And it's all legal. Hira said that if the sledgehammer seemed to be velvet-coated, that's because the executive order is not really intended to change policy so much as to guide policy changes. It will take time for federal agencies to study the program and implement changes a likely relief to companies who feared the program might have been dismantled. "The idea behind the executive order is to make it merit-based, that the really highly skilled people get preference over the cheap labor that goes on," Hira said. Overwhelmingly, India has been the biggest recipient of H1-B visas. The Department of Homeland Security reports that 71 percent of H1-Bs went to Indians in 2015. China was a distant second with 10 percent of the visas. India's success is attributed to its huge outsourcing firms that submit thousands of applications every year, increasing their chances of winning the visa lottery. Outsourcing firms, which supply services to other companies, are controversial because they are not subject to a federal requirement that they not displace American workers if they pay the H1-Bs at least $60,000 a year. Hira said the new policy might help high-tech American companies at the expense of the outsourcing firms that abuse the system. But "expect the Indian government to lobby against the changes," he predicted. Earlier in April he was spotted in the northern countryside of the central Syrian province of Hama, where the forces of President Bashar al-Assad have been battling a surprise rebel offensive and reportedly sustaining high casualties. On Monday, according to local news reports, General Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran's elite Quds Force, a special forces branch of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was in Kirkuk, 1,000 kilometers from Hama, trying to broker a deal between Shi'ite militias and the Kurds about eventual control of the disputed northern Iraqi city. The London-based Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, a Qatari-owned pan-Arab news outlet, reported that Soleimani's visit to Iraq's Kurdish region lasted several days, and during that time the Quds Force commander stressed that Kirkuk should remain a city for all Iraqis and shouldn't be annexed by the Kurds. He said military clashes between Kurds and Shi'ites should be avoided. As the wars have raged in Syria and Iraq, and as Iran has deepened its military involvement, Soleimani increasingly has taken on the role, according to some analysts, as Iran's viceroy in the Levant a mixture of soldier and satrap. Credited as strategist Syrian rebel commanders credit the silver-haired 59-year-old with being the principal architect last year of Assad's military strategy to retake the rebel-controlled eastern half of the city of Aleppo, and of channeling rebel militias into the neighboring province of Idlib, shaping what military strategists term a "kill zone." Analysts and Western intelligence agencies closely observe Soleimani's movements as they try to work out what Iran's longer-term goals are for Syria and Iraq. Will both be turned into what will be seen as provinces of Iran and platforms for Tehran's regional ambitions? Who will run Iraq and Syria once the Islamic State terror group is ousted from Mosul and Raqqa? The three countries share deep religious and cultural ties, but the power of Iran now in Syria and Iraq comes with the presence of tens of thousands of Shi'ite militiamen linked to Tehran and trained and commanded by Quds Force generals and Soleimani, who reports, reputedly, directly to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It is thanks to Shi'ite militias and Iranian combat troops as much as to Russian airpower that battlefield fortunes have shifted in Syria to favor Assad, military observers say. Since January 2013, more than 1,000 members of the Quds Force or other IRGC units have been killed fighting in Syria most of them Pakistani Shi'ites recruited with the lure of Iranian citizenship and cash. Several IRGC generals have died in Syria, including Hassan Shateri, a veteran of Iran's covert wars in the Middle East, whose 2013 funeral at Amir al-Momenin Mosque in Tehran was attended by Soleimani. Some analysts estimate that about 10,000 Iranian combat troops are in Syria, as well as thousands of fighters from Lebanon's Tehran-affiliated Shi'ite militia, Hezbollah. As the United States and Iran jostle for influence in the Levant, Iran's growing power in Syria and Iraq is causing unease in Western capitals. "The extent of lasting Iranian influence seems to be of special concern," analyst Sam Heller noted in a recent roundtable discussion on Syria's future by scholars at the Century Foundation, a U.S.-based research organization. Resentment in Syria, Iraq There's alarm even among some government loyalists in Damascus and Baghdad who chafe at Iranian clout. In the summer of 2015 in Syria, there were reports of resentment among some of Assad's Syrian commanders at the influence of Quds Force generals. In Iraq, Shi'ite militias not under control of Tehran but loyal to Iraq's Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani have bristled at talk of Najaf, considered the third-holiest shrine by Shi'ite Muslims, eventually coming under Iranian sway. In the meantime, Tehran-loyal militias have branched out and extended their control of more Iraqi territory. Last month, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, one of the largest militias professing allegiance to Khamenei, moved its headquarters into a palace built by Saddam Hussein in a Sunni-majority neighborhood of the Iraqi capital. Otherwise, the Quds Force-linked Shi'ite militias have been careful to observe the overall direction of Iraq's prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, about the conduct of the battle against IS and have remained outside Mosul, allowing Iraq's regular security forces to battle inside the mainly Sunni city. And they have avoided clashing with the 5,000 or so American troops now stationed in Iraq or the U.S.-backed Kurdish peshmerga forces. There were fears that following the U.S. cruise missile strike this month on a Syrian government airfield, Iran may have ordered Shi'ite militiamen in Iraq to retaliate. In the longer term, though, it is unclear whether Tehran will accept a continued American military presence in Iraq one the Iraqi prime minister said on a recent visit to Washington he would like to see. Wider Shi'ite role In March, Hashim al-Musawi, spokesman for the Iran-controlled militia known as the Islamic Resistance Movement in Iraq (al-Nojaba), indicated at a news conference in Tehran that his and other Iranian-affiliated Iraqi Shi'ite militias wanted to take on a more expansive role in the region once the Sunni IS militants were defeated. He mentioned taking military action against Turkish forces based near Mosul if they didn't withdraw, and forming a brigade on the Golan Heights, controlled by the Assad government, as a means to strike at Israel. IRGC units already are thought to be stationed on the Golan Heights. At a joint news conference April 5 in Washington with Jordan's King Abdullah, President Donald Trump was asked what he thought about the Iran-loyal militias when it comes to Syria and their support in propping up Syria's Assad. "Will you go after them?" he was asked. "You will see," he replied. "They will have a message. You will see what message that will be." But according to Ranj Alaaldin, an analyst at the Brookings Doha Center and author of a forthcoming book on Shi'ite militias in Iraq and Syria, Iran and its proxies "dominate realities on the ground." "Iranian influence cannot be eliminated," he argued, it can only be contained. Italy reported a measles epidemic Wednesday following a fall-off in vaccinations, as the United States issued a warning to visitors about the outbreak of the potentially fatal disease. The Health Ministry said there had been almost 1,500 registered cases of measles so far this year, compared with 840 in all of 2016 and 250 in 2015. "Italy and Romania have an epidemic at the moment," said Walter Ricciardi, president of the Higher Health Institute, adding that he understood why the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had issued an advisory this week. Ricciardi told Radio 24 that the United States, unlike Italy, had launched a massive campaign to persuade parents to vaccinate their children. The Higher Health Institute said that only about 85 percent of Italy's 2-year-olds were being vaccinated against measles, well below the 95 percent threshold recommended by the World Health Organization to block the illness. The center-left government has accused the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) of spreading concern among parents by questioning the safety of some vaccines and by loudly denouncing efforts to make vaccinations mandatory. 'They bring a risk' "Vaccinations have played a vital role in eradicating terrible illnesses ... but nonetheless, they bring a risk associated with side effects," M5S founder Beppe Grillo wrote in 2015, saying mandatory vaccination represented a gift for multinational pharmaceutical firms. A leading M5S politician, Andrea Cecconi, suggested last month the jump in measles cases might be part of a natural cycle for the illness rather than a preventable epidemic. Renewed concern over measles came amid fury among doctors over a program on state broadcaster RAI that highlighted the possible side effects of the human papillomavirus vaccine, which protects against cervical cancer. The M5S defended the report, but health officials accused RAI of being unnecessarily alarmist. "It is very serious that a TV program, which is supposed to be at the service of citizens, spreads fear by telling lies and giving credence to the anti-vaccine lobby," said Giuseppe Mele, chairman of the Italian Society of Pediatricians. After an unusually eventful campaign season, Jakarta seems to have chosen a new governor. Based on 'quick-count' results from the city's polling stations, former education minister Anies Baswedan is on track to win with about 58 percent of the vote. The mood in Jakarta on its second election day this year was notably more tense than it was in February, although the city's voting stations remained as festive as ever on the surface. Incumbent governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama faced off with Baswedan after neither of them got the 50 percent of votes needed last time to win, although third-place candidate Agus Yudhoyono was eliminated after the first round. The runoff was the climax of six months of turmoil that started last fall when Ahok, a Chinese-Christian, was accused of blasphemy for citing a Quran verse to argue that Muslims can vote for him without issue. That comment triggered two huge Islamist demonstrations calling for his arrest, and Ahok became the first gubernatorial candidate to simultaneously be on trial at the Supreme Court for blasphemy. My heart is beating so fast, said Dharma Dhiani, a housing rights activist who lives in Pasar Ikan, a North Jakarta neighborhood that has been threatened with evictions by Ahok, who wants to re-develop the seaside area for tourism. I hope we all hope Anies wins, because we can't take five more years of this. Equally vocal were Ahok voters, who hoped the intense campaign against him wouldn't derail a politician widely regarded as effective, businesslike, and free of corruption. For us Ahok is the only choice," said a young mother in Petamburan, a Central Jakarta neighborhood that is home to Habib Rizieq, leader of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), the hard-line group that organized the anti-Ahok rallies. She spoke quietly because she didn't want to attract attention in the heavily guarded voting station. I hope the rest of Jakarta remembers that. Dissatisfied with Ahok There are swathes of the city that would never vote for Ahok because of his unapologetic eviction campaign in the pursuit of economic development. One such stronghold is the Rumah Susun subsidized housing complex in Jatinegara, East Jakarta. Nearly everyone who lives there was forcibly relocated from the nearby Kampung Pulo in 2015. Many residents work as traders, drivers, and other low-income professions. Who did I vote for? Who else? said Mohamad Nasir, a 75-year-old retired trader. Anies, he clarified. Every other member of his extended family three generations said the same. Men and women everywhere in Jatinegara, whose two polling stations registered over 1300 voters, flashed the Anies hand-gesture, making a circle with their index finger and thumb. Chaerul, a taxi driver, said the new apartments to which they were relocated were intolerable. I used to live by the water. We were poor but we had a life. Now our families live in boxes. The evictions were one reason why thousands of ordinary Jakartans joined the protests last fall, which were ostensibly held on religious grounds. I voted for the Muslim, said Etin, a garment worker in Luar Batang, a seaside neighborhood targeted for evictions last year. A symbolic election Ahok is ethnically Chinese, a minority that has faced decades of prejudice and resentment. A disproportionate number of the country's wealthy businessmen are of Chinese descent, although that's in part because they were systematically excluded from government positions. In 1998, about 1000 Chinese-Indonesians were murdered in sectarian violence that preceded the fall of Indonesian dictator Suharto. Those tensions have once again risen to the surface this election season. Before the blasphemy allegation surfaced, Ahok, who rose to the governorship vacated by Joko Widodo when he became president in 2014, had over 70% approval ratings. City officials sent out 60,000 police and military personnel to safeguard against potential disturbances. Police also monitored numerous buses and trucks in Central Java to prevent mass mobilization, which is to say, another rally or demo. (Thousands of participants in the November and December rallies came from outside Jakarta.) When voting closed around 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Indonesian Police Chief Tito Karnavian reported that there had been no violent incidents. It was known as the the Pearl of the North. Mosul traces its history to the 25th century B.C., and for 13 centuries it was ruled by Assyrians, becoming at one time an even grander city than Babylon. Then known as Nineveh, and located 30 kilometers north of modern Mosul, it was a key city in Mesopotamia, a cradle of civilization that is credited with such profound developments as the invention of the wheel, the first planting of cereal crops and the first use of cursive script. The origins of modern medicine and mathematics can be traced to the city. Early Sumerian inhabitants were among the first to pose existential questions such as: Who are we? Where are we? How did we get here? These helped to shape ancient Greek philosophy and, subsequently, our modern world. But the Pearl of the North, like the whole of Mesopotamia, has also seen more than its share of devastating wars that pitted tribes, races, religions, countries and empires against each other in terrible cycles of conflict, revenge and retaliation. The word Mosul means "linking point" and, sitting astride a route linking northern Mesopotamia with Anatolia, it has lured conquering armies. On Tigris' west bank Since the 7th century, the city has stood on the west bank of the River Tigris, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, where it attracted an influx of Muslim Arabs, Kurds and Turkic tribes. In 637, the city was annexed to the Rashidun Caliphate by Utba bin Farqad Al-Salami. It grew to encompass both banks, although Assyrians defiantly still call Mosul Nineveh or Ninweh. In 1538, Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent captured Mosul from the Persians, adding it to his Ottoman Empire. With the defeat of the Ottomans in World War I, British forces occupied Mosul and put into effect a secret 1916 land deal between London and Paris to carve up the Turkish empire. The Sykes-Picot Agreement defined Iraq's modern borders, creating a country that awkwardly grouped Kurds with Sunni and Shi'ite Arabs, Assyrians and Yazidis. A monarchy was established, and in 1932, Iraq gained independence from Britain. Split across borders, ethnic and religious groups chafed at the colonial reordering of the map of the Middle East. Under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein and the Ba'ath Party, the rearranging continued. Mosul and its outlying province, like other parts of northern Iraq, witnessed a major demographic shift, involving forced displacement campaigns by Baghdad to reduce the size and cultural influence of indigenous minorities Kurds, Yazidis, Assyrians, Shabaks, Armenians, Turkmen and Mandeans. The government made concerted efforts from the mid-1970s onward to expel minorities and to encourage Arab settlers. An estimated 200,000 Kurds were displaced to other parts of the country in 1978 and 1979 alone. Decades later, when sectarian violence erupted after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and the ouster of Saddam, many blamed the Sykes-Picot deal for pitting ethnic groups against each other. When the Sunni extremist Islamic State group announced its caliphate, it emphasized that it marked the end of Sykes-Picot. IS even posted a video of a bulldozer flattening a dirt berm marking the border between Iraq and Syria. U.S.-led invasion The 2003 U.S.-led invasion was originally planned to start with Mosul. When policymakers drew up the war plans, they had wanted to strike from Turkey with the key northern city as the first target. But the Turks refused to approve the operation, forcing the invasion force to attack from Kuwait in the south. Mosul fell on April 11, 2003, when the Iraqi Army 5th Corps, loyal to Saddam, fled the city two days after Baghdad was seized. U.S. Army Special Forces with Kurdish fighters swept into Mosul. Hiding in the city were Saddam's sons Uday and Qusay, killed three months later in a gunbattle with coalition forces. Under coalition occupation, the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division, a civil affairs battalion and NGOs started to oversee the reconstruction of Mosul. U.S. soldiers quickly ended an early insurgency against their presence. But security in the city started to deteriorate within months, and on June 24, 2004, coordinated car bombs killed 62 people. By November, Mosul, like other parts of Iraq, was rocked by twin insurgencies by Sunni and Shi'ite groups. In Mosul, the biggest challenge came from a violent Islamist group called Jamaat Ansar al-Sunnah, a coalition of Sunni Arab and Sunni Kurdish fighters, aligned with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad. The group, also known as al-Qaida in Iraq, a forerunner of Islamic State, seized control of Fallujah, Ramadi, Samarra and Baquba. A month later, 14 U.S. soldiers, four American contractors and four Iraqi soldiers were killed in a suicide attack on a mess hall at a coalition base. From then on, Mosul was never truly free of insurgents. Bombing, assassination In 2008, security deteriorated further. On January 23, 2008, 36 people died in an explosion in an apartment building. The next day, a suicide bomber assassinated local police chief General Salah Mohammed al-Jubouri as he toured the blast site. In May, the U.S. backed an Iraqi army offensive commanded by General Riyadh Jalal Tawfiq, hoping to suppress insurgents. That year, 12,000 Assyrian Christians fled Mosul after Sunni insurgents murdered more than a dozen of their faith and threatened to kill any Christians who failed to convert to Islam. That was a taste of what was to come when IS attacked Mosul in June 2014 and, after declaring a new caliphate, unleashed a wave of terror against Christians, Yazidis and fellow Muslims. Myanmar's democratic government recently launched a comprehensive, multi-year strategy to reform the country's education system, which is in a dire state after decades of neglect under the former military regime. The National Education Strategic Plan runs through 2021 and is an ambitious road map for a first phase of reforms that aims to improve teaching, learning and inclusion on all education levels, from kindergarten to universities. Some major proposed measures include extending basic education with two years to a total of 13, and the introduction of new curricula, child centered learning and more interactive classrooms. The plan has been broadly welcomed as an important starting point for the long-term task of developing a modern education system. But education experts note significant challenges such as its high implementation costs, while some criticized it for failing to consult civil society and ethnic minority education providers. More than three years in the making with ample assistance from international donors and education consultants, the plan was presented in late February by de facto government leader and State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi, who stressed it is pivotal for Myanmar's socio-economic development. "The change must be started in education," she said. "We all need to consider what the main needs are to succeed after the National Education Strategic Plan has been adopted." Bertrand Bainvel, UNICEF's Myanmar representative, said the launch was "a historic moment" for the education system. Expensive reforms Myanmar's education system was one of Asia's best until the military took over in 1962. It drastically cut spending, began to emphasize rote learning and - fearing the student movements - all but dismantled higher education. In 2011, the previous, quasi-civilian government began to sharply raise education spending, which was Asia's lowest and represented only 0.7 percent of GDP. It drafted a National Education Law and began developing the NESP. For the National League for Democracy government to now implement the new plan, which officially runs from 2016-2021, will be expensive. The "low-performance scenario" in which 80 percent of the measures are introduced, requires $10.6 billion over five years, or an average of $2.1 billion annually. Last year, the government spent $1.13 billion on education, international donors $71 million and individual households an estimated $186 million. So the government will have to prioritize among the proposed measures and sharply increase spending, presumably together with international donors. Mael Raynaud, a political analyst who has written about education reform, said finding necessary funding and quality personnel to implement the NESP will be a long-term challenge. "[I]t took 20 years for Indonesia to be able to provide the education sector with a budget comparable to what exists in the West, or in East Asia. And obviously, it will take decades to train teachers and professors, but also (Ministry of Education) staff," he said. Non-state educators excluded Raynaud, who heads the Enlightened Myanmar Research Foundation's Political Information Program, said another major issue will be "the process through which a number of non-state providers of education are slowly integrated in the system." In Myanmar, Buddhist monastic schools, civil society and ethnic organizations - including rebel groups - play an important role in filling a gap in education services for poor students and children in remote ethnic areas. Rebel groups have long demanded autonomy to govern ethnic areas, including the right to teach their own languages and culture. Kachin, Karen and Mon rebels maintain education departments that teach tens of thousands of students in their areas of control, but the government mostly declines to recognize their degrees. Thein Lwin, a former NLD member and respected education expert with the National Network for Education Reform, criticized the plan for its lack of consultation with civil society and ethnic educators, in particular on the issue of how to integrate their education programs into the government system. He noted that NNER - a large network of student unions, teachers unions and ethnic education NGOs - also was ignored by the Ministry of Education. Ethnic language teaching falls short According to Thein Lwin, the Ministry of Education's ethnic language teaching programs and curricula - implemented and drafted without non-state educators - are minimal. "The difficulties are that ethnic languages are taught only in evening class, not in the school hours; Myanmar reader texts are translated into ethnic languages for teaching; and [there is a] lack of teachers for ethnic languages," he wrote. Thein Lwin said many countries with indigenous minorities include strong mother tongue teaching in basic education, as it can significantly reduce dropout rates, which are often high in Myanmar's ethnic regions. Kim Jolliffe, a political researcher who studied ethnic groups' social services provision, said the NESP's "clear strengths" lie in emphasizing new education approaches - such as a shift to child centered and outcomes based learning - that both state and non-state educators can use to develop unified teaching methods, which eventually can help integrate the latter's programs. Yet, he also faulted the lack of inclusion of non-state educators in the NESP. "There were a lot of attempts over a long period by many actors to be heard and they were just blocked out." New Zealand said on Wednesday it will tighten access to its skilled work visas, just a day after the United States and neighboring Australia announced similar restrictions on immigration. New Zealand's immigration minister said he was taking a "Kiwis-first approach to immigration", echoing Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and U.S. President Donald Trump in announcing policies to ensure jobs for Australians and Americans. Migration has become a hot topic in the lead up to New Zealand's Sept. 23 general election. "These changes are designed to strike the right balance ... and encourage employers to take on more Kiwis and invest in the training to upskill them," immigration minister Michael Woodhouse said in a statement, using the colloquial term for New Zealand citizens. The changes to be introduced later this year include introducing a minimum income requirement, making it more difficult for family members to join visa holders and limiting the amount of time seasonal workers are allowed to stay in New Zealand. A boom in new arrivals has helped the New Zealand economy race along with some of the strongest gross domestic product growth in the developed world. But opposition parties and the central bank have called for a review of current policies, citing low wages growth and soaring house prices spurred by the influx. Many sectors, such as technology and construction suffer from a severe shortage of workers and companies in these areas were recruiting many of their workers from offshore. Under the changes, employers would need to provide a minimum income of NZ$49,000 ($34,530.30) for anyone entering on a prioritized "skilled". Anyone earning more than NZ$73,000 would be classed as highly skilled. Nigeria's president on Wednesday suspended the country's intelligence chief over the recent discovery of $43 million in cash in a Lagos apartment. President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered an investigation into how the National Intelligence Agency came to claim the money and whether any laws were broken, a government statement said. The discovery of the cash in both local and foreign currencies by the country's anti-corruption commission caused a sensation in this West African nation where graft is rampant. Buhari has ordered the suspension of the director-general of the intelligence agency, Ambassador Ayo Oke, until the investigation is complete, the statement said. The investigation has been given two weeks to report to the president. Separately, Buhari has ordered an investigation into alleged wrongdoing in the award of contracts under the government office that coordinates the humanitarian response in Nigeria's northeast, which for years has suffered from the Boko Haram Islamic insurgency. The secretary to the federal government, David Babachir Lawal, has been suspended pending that investigation, the statement said. Buhari won election in 2015 on a promise to halt corruption. Pakistans Supreme Court will announce a much-awaited judgment Thursday that could either politically boost Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, or unseat him over corruption allegations. A five-member bench of the Supreme Court concluded long-drawn hearings in the case on February 23 and reserved the final judgment. The corruption charges against the prime minister stem from leaked financial documents known as the Panama Papers. They listed Sharif's two sons and a daughter, along with hundreds of other Pakistanis, as holders of offshore bank accounts. Sharif denied any wrongdoing, but the court agreed to investigate his family's offshore wealth late last year after opposition leader Imran Khan threatened street protests. Khans Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf or PTI party along with several other politicians, had separately petitioned the court to disqualify the prime minister. They argued that since the emergence of the Panama Papers, Sharif has concealed and misstated facts in speeches to parliament and to the nation about property his children own in London through offshore companies. Khan alleges that Sharif established the assets through tax evasion, money-laundering and corruption during his previous two stints as prime minister of Pakistan in the 1990s. It is a defining moment in the history of Pakistan because this verdict will change the way the ruling elite govern in Pakistan, Khan told a public gathering in Islamabad ahead of Thursdays court decision. He said that the judicial system in the past unfortunately had always sided with the powerful in the country. What should happen first time in our history is that a powerful person in Pakistan should be convicted of corruption and money laundering, Khan said when asked about the coming court ruling. Corruption is rampant in Pakistan. The country ranks 116th out of 176 in Transparency International's annual index of the world's most corrupt nations. Government ministers and Sharifs ruling party aides appeared confident, however, that the verdict will be in favor of the prime minister. Federal Information Minster Marriyam Aurengzeb told reporters the court decision will bring an end to all rumor-mongering and speculation. She said those leveling false accusations against Sharif would get nothing. Pakistani political circles and media are rife with speculation about possible outcomes after the Supreme Court announced on Tuesday it would hand down the verdict on Thursday. Leaders of mainstream Pakistani political parties have converged on Islamabad and are holding internal meetings to discuss future plans if the Supreme Court verdict leads to the disqualification of Prime Minister Sharif. Over the last six months, the skyline over the sleepy fishing city of Gwadar has been transformed by machines that dredge the Arabian Sea and cranes that set up shipping berths in what is projected to become Pakistans biggest international port. Infrastructure developments have enabled the hammer-shaped Gwadar peninsula to emerge as the centerpiece of Chinas determined effort to shorten its trade route to the Persian Gulf and obtain access to the rich oil reserves there. A mini-Chinatown has appeared, with prefabricated living quarters, a canteen and a karaoke center. After hours, the workers have the grounds to play their favorite game, badminton. A spokesman for the Chinese team in Gwadar said in an interview that his government had invited employment bids in China, then brought the workers here. He proudly touted the successful test run conducted by China in November when it used Pakistans land route from Kashgar to Gwadar to transport a convoy of 60 containers for export to the Middle East and North Africa. Prior to that, he said, China had sailed materials through the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean to reach Gwadar. The Chinese propose to cut down that 12,000-kilometer sea route by about one-fourth once they adopt the land route from the northwestern province of Xinjiang to Gwadar. So eager is China to save on distance, time and expense and the challenge posed by the U.S. Navy in the South China Sea that it has weathered Pakistans unstable law-and-order situation to build its economic corridor. Small wonder that the Chinese spokesman omitted an incident related by locals to VOA that the test convoy came under fire in Hoshab, Baluchistan, despite protection from a special security force. Since then, Pakistan has enhanced its 12,000-plus security force to protect the Chinese. That has turned Gwadar into a military zone, with strict checks of vehicles and ID cards, plus an encampment of intelligence officials. Still, Baluch insurgents use attacks on soft targets, like laborers from other provinces, to drive away investors from the China Pakistan Economic Corridor. On April 5, as road workers from Sindh were gunned down in Kharan in targeted killings claimed by the Baluchistan Liberation Front, former army Col. Farooq Ahmed said suspicion fell on militants operating from Afghanistan. The Chinese, for their part, have taken heart from the security provided by Islamabad to plan ahead. A prefabricated coal plant will be brought from China to Gwadar to fire up its energy needs. Moreover, China will finance Gwadar international airport, according to the spokesman. Distances inside Pakistan have shortened as the Frontier Works Organization builds a 3,000-km network of roads funded by Chinese investment. Symbolizing skepticism Despite Pakistans ongoing military operation against the Taliban, sporadic terror attacks are the biggest hurdle to the countrys development. After 9/11, when Pakistan allied with the U.S. in combating terrorism in Afghanistan, militant organizations put down their roots and threatened the nation from inside. As social indicators fell and Pakistan became one of the worlds most food-insecure nations, it opened its doors to China one of Americas rivals to help fight poverty, a key factor in fundamentalism and terrorism. When U.S. envoy Nikki Haley recently spoke of nations that use their United Nations veto to stop non-state actors from being designated as terrorists, it was seen as a reference to Chinas refusal to let Kashmiri militant Masood Azhar be so named. Pakistani analysts interpreted this to mean the U.S. would move closer to India, even while revisiting ties with Pakistan because of its key role in Afghanistan. Now the road from Karachi to Gwadar is smooth and empty, with awe-inspiring, wind-carved hills and mysterious canyons that dip into golden sands that run for kilometers along the deep blue-green Arabian Sea. It has enabled locals to rediscover their country -- even as some marvel at the speed of construction. But in a country that suffers from grinding poverty, little industry and high unemployment, the benefits of Chinas investment are still hard to sell to the average person. Gwadar symbolizes the skepticism. A miniscule amount has been spent by Islamabad and Beijing on peoples welfare, including a vocational training center, a hospital and school. The peninsulas natural beauty belies erratic electricity, scarce drinking water and lack of proper sewerage. Gwadar Port Authority Chairman Dostain Jamaldini explains to delegations arriving daily from across the country that revenue generation is the key to uplifting the area. He showed off a huge quadrangle in the center of Gwadar that can even be seen on Google Earth. There, he has recommended to Islamabad that a multipurpose lighthouse be constructed to guide incoming ships and generate revenue. Until that happens, the fishermen who build wooden boats along Gwadar beach will likely lose their livelihood as their shanty homes are removed. Already, the vacant plots in Gwadars Sinjhaar area overlooking the sea have been repossessed by the Pakistan Navy and earmarked for sale to military officials and politicians. For the well-connected, a real estate boom is on the horizon. Trader Abbas Rashanwala said he waited for years for peace to come to Gwadar. Now his real estate business has taken off, with investors flocking in to buy land. Many realtors are betting on Gwadar as on the stock market making deals online or on the phone. Several sit in the Punjab, selling property they have never seen in Gwadar, all on speculation that prices will soon skyrocket. Meanwhile, Chinas investment in Gwadar is helping control maritime crime. Officials tell how traffickers from Africa and the Middle East used to dock on the beach at night to swap slaves for narcotics. In February, 36 nations, including the U.S. and Russia, participated in the Pakistan Navys multinational patrolling of the Arabian Sea in a global recognition of Chinas role in making the waterways safer. Still, Chinas emerging role in Pakistan has raised many questions. The most prominent criticism is that China will become Pakistans East India Company a metaphor for the British empires plunder of India. Notwithstanding the doomsayers, there also is a readiness to accept that development and peace are inextricably linked to Pakistans future. Albania's parliament voted for a new president without casting a single ballot on Wednesday, convening and then closing the first of five election rounds in less than 10 minutes because no candidate came forward to run. The bizarre non-election went ahead despite a boycott by the opposition Democratic Party, which quit parliament two months ago and has since insisted Tirana first needs to name a technocratic government. To ensure that the ceremonial figure of president is a compromise figure, the constitution requires a candidate to get three-fifths of the vote to win in the first three rounds. If no candidate wins, the rules then say a simple majority will do to pick the new head of state. The other parties in parliament decided to go ahead with the empty vote as a way to respect this approach and pressure the Democrats to return and make it a real election. "No candidates have been presented to parliament," Vasilika Hysi, head of parliament's legal committee, announced to the chamber. "Even without a candidate, the first round is considered to have been held," added speaker Ilir Meta. Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama argued for patience when spoke to reporters after the open-and-shut first round. "We shall wait," he said. "It's better have the right president and one who is accepted by as many [parties] as possible. We never saw our power as an urge to be arrogant, but to be patient." A lot of this back-and-forth is tactical. The Democratic Party, which has been losing support to the government in recent local elections, has switched its focus to the parliamentary elections due to be held on June 18. It has not applied to run in those elections, in an effort to put pressure on the government to make way for technocrats. Under regular pressure from the European Union and from Germany this week, the ruling Socialists and the Democrats agreed last week to talks between their leaders. Albania's current government and opposition leaders have been taunting each other daily rather than offering sincere dialogue, delaying compromise. Democratic Party leader Lulzim Basha remained adamant about demanding a technocrat government and nothing else. "Pave the way for dialogue ... or the squares and streets of Albania will be taken over by a peaceful armada [of our supporters]," he told supporters while parliament was in session. Parliament was due to hold the next voting round on Thursday. Russia Wednesday blocked a draft U.S. statement in the U.N. Security Council condemning the latest North Korean missile test. The statement said North Korea's illegal ballistic missile activities are leading to a nuclear weapons delivery system and "greatly increasing tension in the region and beyond." The council also would have demanded that the North "immediately cease further actions in violation of the relevant Security Council resolutions and comply fully with its obligations under these resolutions." Members said they are concerned Pyongyang is diverting resources toward building missiles and bombs while the population has "great unmet needs." It is unclear why Russia blocked the statement, which is almost identical to a February council statement that Russia approved, condemning other ballistic missile tests. But diplomats say Moscow objected to the removal of the words "through dialogue" in the latest statement when talking about a diplomatic solution in the North. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson plans to preside over a Security Council meeting next week on North Korea. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will brief the members. U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley warned North Korea Wednesday not to "pick a fight" with the United States. Mehdi Bahlouli is due to be executed in Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj. He has been on death row for over 15 years. A criminal court in Tehran sentenced him to death in 2001 for stabbing a man to death in a fight. At the time of the crime he was only 17 years old. The other man is Peyman Barandah and his execution is due to take place on 10th May in Shiraz Central Prison in the Fars Province. When he was 16 he was arrested and after spending 5 years on death row he was convicted of killing a teenager by stabbing, also during a fight. Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa for Amnesty International, Philip Luther, said that the execution of these two men would be a breach of human rights and pointed out their treatment in prison has been cruel and inhuman. Carrying out the executions of these two young men would be an outrageous breach of international human rights law that would cement Irans position as one of the worlds top executors of juvenile offenders. Mehdi Bahlouli has spent his entire young adult life on death row. His shocking ordeal epitomizes the cruelty of Irans juvenile justice system which regularly sentences juvenile offenders to death in violation of international human rights law and then subjects them to prolonged periods on death row. The anguish and torment of living their lives in the shadow of the gallows also amounts to cruel and inhuman treatment. The family of Mehdi Bahlouli said they got a call on Saturday from prison authorities telling them to attend their final visit. The next day he was sent to solitary confinement ahead of the planned execution. The penal code of Iran was amended in 2013 allowing a judge to overturn the death penalty and provide a more suitable punishment if it is believed that the underage offender did not have the appropriate level of maturity or was not able to understand the nature or consequences of the crime committed. Furthermore, in January 2016, Iran told the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child that young people who had not reached 18 at the time of their crime are granted retrials and their previous verdicts are annulled by the Supreme Court. However, Mehdi Bahlouli requested a retrial, but it was denied. Luther condemned the Islamic Republic for going back on its 2013 promise to move away from the death penalty for juvenile offenders. He called in Iran to urgently amend its penal code and to establish an official moratorium on executions. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a closely watched case Wednesday whose outcome will determine whether states have to give religious schools equal access to certain types of taxpayer money. The justices will hear a challenge from Trinity Lutheran Church in the midwestern city of of Columbia, Missouri. The church maintains its exclusion from a state program that provides money for ground-up tires that are used to cushion school playgrounds is discriminatory and violates religious freedom under the U.S. Constitution. The state constitutions of Missouri and about three dozen other states prohibit spending public funds on church schools or other religious organizations. If the high court rules in favor of the church, Michael Bindas of the Institute for Justice, which supports the church, says it could result in a major shift in the law on churches and public funding. "It has the potential to remove one of the last legal clouds hanging over school choice," Bindas said. The possibility of the the high court ruling in the church's favor has raised concerns among groups of public school teachers and other opponents of vouchers and other forms of public financial aid for private schools. Last week, Missouri's new Republican governor, Eric Greitens, added an element of uncertainty to the case when he directed state agencies to allow religious organizations to have access to taxpayer funds for playgrounds and other purposes. Citing the new state policy, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the American Civil Liberties Union urged the court to dismiss the case. The Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents the church, said the court should decide the issue, arguing the state's latest position on the issue could be reversed. The case, which considers the restrictions of religious liberty under the U.S. Constitution, is one of the most significant before the Supreme Court in its current term. It will also be the biggest test for the court's newest justice, Neil Gorsuch, who was appointed by President Donald Trump. Turkey's prime minister hit back Tuesday at European monitors who said more than 2 million votes could have been manipulated in Sunday's closely contested referendum on expanding presidential powers. Binali Yildirim, responding to criticism from the Council of Europe's observer mission, said debate over the outcome of the referendum was "over," and that "the people's will had been reflected at the ballot box." He spoke in response to calls from the council to investigate alleged vote irregularities that several official observers said allowed as many as 2.5 million uncertified ballots to be counted. Alev Korun, an Austrian member of the council's observer mission, said the number of uncertified ballots would almost double the margin of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's victory an electoral win that vastly broadens the power of the presidency. Another observer, German lawmaker Andrej Hunko, told The New York Times "it seems credible that 2.5 million were manipulated, but we are not 100 percent sure." Separately, European monitors alleged that those who campaigned against Erdogan's push for expanded powers faced numerous obstacles, including a lack of freedom of expression, intimidation and access to the media. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe also alleged misuse of administrative resources by Erdogan ahead of Sunday's vote. Dramatic shift signaled Sunday's vote created a powerful executive presidency that largely sidelines the Turkish parliament and abolishes the Cabinet and the office of prime minister. Ministers will be directly appointed by the president, who also will set the national budget. The president also will appoint judges to the high court and the constitutional court. The constitutional amendments also end the official neutrality of the presidency, allowing a president to lead a political party and declare states of emergency. Critics argued the reforms were tantamount to creating an elected dictatorship, while Erdogan and his supporters said they would create a fast and efficient system of government better able to confront terrorism and a sluggish economy. Unstamped ballots Opposition complaints and calls for a new vote centered on a decision by electoral officials to use and tally ballots that did not have an official stamp, despite a 2010 law that requires such official validation. Additional complaints included the barring of nearly 200 opposition members from serving as election monitors and the temporary detention of other election observers. On Monday, the head of Turkey's electoral board, Sadi Guven, strongly defended his decision to allow the controversial ballots, citing high demand for ballots and saying similar procedures had been followed in the past. "This is not some move we've done for the first time," said Guven, speaking to reporters Monday in Ankara. "Before our administration took over, there had been many decisions approving the validity of unstamped ballots." Trump congratulates Erdogan U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday congratulated Erdogan on his referendum victory. The White House said in a statement the two leaders spoke by phone, with their conversation also including the need to hold Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accountable for a recent chemical attack. It further said the two leaders discussed the fight against Islamic State and "the need to cooperate against all groups that use terrorism to achieve their ends." Turkey's Supreme Election Board on Wednesday rejected all complaints and calls for a re-vote that on Sunday gave President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sweeping powers to turn the country into an executive presidency from the current parliamentary system. The narrow 51-49 percent referendum victory has led to protests in Istanbul and other cities over allegations of voting fraud. The unrest has focused on the board's earlier decision to allow ballots without an official stamp. Under Turkeys election law, all ballots and the envelope they are placed are required to have an official stamp, a measure to prevent vote-stuffing. Erdogan a thief, Erdogan a murderer hundreds chanted in the Kadikoy, the center of the Asian side of Istanbul and a stronghold of the president's opponents. The vote was unfair. We don't want one-man rule. We just want democracy for everyone, a woman protestor said. Some protestors carried placards with the viral hashtag slogans from referendum night - "The 'No' is not finished" and " 'No' has won. Similar protests were held across Istanbul. The demonstrations were smaller than Monday when thousands took to the streets. Demonstrations were also held in other cities, including the capital, Ankara. Protests have been broadly tolerated by security forces, which have sweeping powers to stop them, under emergency rules introduced after last Julys failed coup. Usually those powers are used to quell anti-government dissent. The Kadikoy protest was devoid of the usual intimidating presence of heavily-armed riot police and armored cars. Instead, plain-clothes police filmed those participating and checked foreign media credentials as well as occasionally politely asking demonstrators not to use derogative chants against the president. Dawn raids were made across Istanbul Wednesday, detaining dozens of people suspected of organizing and participating in the protests. Growing numbers of unverified videos and photos have appeared on social media purporting to show vote-stuffing. Many are from Turkeys predominantly Kurdish southeast. Much of the region has strict security as it battles Kurdish insurgents of the PKK. Several voting districts that are traditional strongholds of the pro-Kurdish HDP that was campaigning against the referendum recorded massive 'yes' votes. Only one-half percent voted 'no' on the referendum in one district where a majority voted for the HDP in the 2015 election. The HDP along with the main opposition CHP, Republican Peoples Party, have refused to recognize the result, and had called for the narrow referendum victory to be annulled. The CHP had submitted an annulment petition Tuesday to the Supreme Election Board. Earlier Wednesday, before the board announced its rejection of the complaints, the CHP threatened to boycott parliament. "We do not recognize the referendum result,said CHP spokeswoman Selin Sayek Boke. "There should be no doubt that we will exercise all our democratic rights against it." In a move widely seen as intended to thwart potential further legal complications over the referendum, Erdogans first meeting on the day after Sundays vote was with the head of the Constitutional Court. The president and his ruling AK Party, under emergency rule in the aftermath of the coup, had purged and arrested thousands of the judiciary members, including those of the Supreme Election Board and the Constitutional Court. But Sunday's narrow margin of victory and the ongoing controversy seemed to galvanize the opposition, which has been largely influenced by the tens of thousands of arrests and purges across academia, media and within the Turkish State, under emergency rule. We are standing up for our 'no' votes, declared a journalist student at Wednesdays Kadikoy protest. All we want is fair and just referendum results. And we will keep demanding this until we win! Political columnist Semih Idiz of Al Monitor notes, It's now a question of how the main opposition will mobilize in the lead-up to the next elections, whether it's early elections, or in 2019. The Ugandan military says it is ending its manhunt for fugitive warlord Joseph Kony after years of chasing him and bands of loyal fighters across Central Africa. A military spokesman, Brigadier General Richard Karemire, told a reporter for VOA's Swahili service Wednesday that the search for Kony has been suspended. Ugandan newspapers report the first batch of soldiers have returned from the Central African Republic, where the soldiers searching for Kony have been based. The U.S. military announced last month it will remove its personnel from Operation Observant Compass, the Ugandan-led task force pursuing Kony and members of his rebel Lord's Resistance Army. The LRA once had an estimated 2,000 fighters and was blamed for attacks on villages and kidnappings across the C.A.R., South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. A Ugandan military statement Wednesday said Kony now has less than 100 fighters under his command and is "weak and ineffective. He no longer poses any significant threat to Uganda's security and Northern Uganda in particular." Northern Uganda is where the LRA waged a brutal insurgency for 20 years before relocating to the jungles of Uganda's neighbors. Several senior LRA leaders have been captured, killed or surrendered, the most recent being Kony's chief communications officer Michael Omona, who gave himself up in the C.A.R. last month. Kony, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, remains at large. A former senior LRA commander, Dominic Ongwen, is currently on trial at the ICC in The Hague. The United Nations estimated in 2013 that the LRA had killed more than 100,000 people and kidnapped more than 60,000 over the previous quarter-century. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague has rejected Kyiv's call to impose provisional measures against Russia for its support of rebels in eastern Ukraine, while acknowledging Kyiv has a case against Moscow for discrimination in Russia-annexed Crimea. "At this stage of the proceedings, Ukraine has not put before the court evidence which affords a sufficient basis to find it plausible that these elements are present," said Presiding Judge Ronny Abraham. "Therefore, the court concludes that the conditions required for the indication of provisional measures in respect of the rights alleged by Ukraine on the basis of ICSFT [International Council Supporting Fair Trial] are not met." The ICJ said Kyiv had failed to provide evidence that Russian funding was connected directly to civilian deaths in Ukraine, where 10,000 people have perished since fighting broke out in February 2014. Kyiv filed a lawsuit against Russia at the ICJ for intervening militarily in Ukraine, financing separatists that Kyiv labels "terrorists," the shooting down of civilian passenger plane MH17 in July 2014, and discriminating against Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians in the annexed peninsula. Ukraine asked the United Nations-established court to take provisional measures to stop Russia from fueling the conflict, as it can take months for the court to decide if it will take a case. 'Supporting terrorism' rejected The court's ruling Wednesday means the ICJ will make no immediate demand against Russia for violating the International Convention for the Suppression of Financing Terrorism, as Kyiv was seeking. "From the very start, there was an incorrect approach in determining the status of both the [self-proclaimed] LNR [Lugansk Peoples' Republic] and DNR [Donetsk Peoples' Republic] as terrorist groupings, but they are no Islamic State," said Kyiv's Institute of Global Strategies' Vadim Karasev. "They are rather classical separatist groupings." While evidence has accumulated in reports of Russia's military support for the conflict, analysts and observers say calling it terrorism hampered Kyiv's case. While the ICJ rejected provisional measures against Russia, it demanded Moscow ensure the rights of minority Tatars and Ukrainians in Russia-annexed Crimea and said Kyiv had a case showing otherwise. "With regards to the situation in Crimea, the Russian Federation must comply in accordance with its obligation under International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination," said ICJ's Abraham. Crimean Tatars were some of the most vocal opponents of Russia's annexing of the peninsula in March 2014. Thousands have since fled as Russia took control of Tatar media and banned the highest body representing the minority group, the Mejlis. The ICJ urged Moscow to end its limitations on the Crimean Tatar community's representative institutions, like the Mejlis. The judges said Russia must also ensure there are no limits on access to Ukrainian language education on the peninsula. Welcomed decision Despite the court's rejection, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, speaking during a visit to London, welcomed the ruling. "The international court in The Hague recognized its jurisdiction over both court cases. We are confident that today we are pursuing the right course, and hope for a successful hearing of these cases," he said. "For us, this decision of the court is a positive one," said Ukraine's deputy foreign minister, Olena Zerkal. "We proved our position and we see that we have a very good perspective for the hearings on merits, and we're going to actually put forward all our intentions and efforts in order to prove our position on merits." Russian officials also welcomed the interim ruling. The State Duma international affairs committee's first deputy chairman, Dmitry Novikov, said it was "quite natural" the court made such a decision. "If any court demonstrates minimal objectivity in pronouncing judgments, it should make these decisions on the basis of certain evidence. The fact that there is no evidence of Russia's support to terrorism, it is quite a natural thing, and the fact that the court has to agree on it, is quite a natural thing," Novikov told Russia's Interfax news agency. "Submission of a lawsuit by Ukraine, it is clear that it is a part of an information and political war, which the Ukrainian authorities are waging against Russia, involving different international institutions, such as the U.N. International Court in The Hague," he added. Analysts described the ruling Wednesday as balanced and expected. "Meaning that, well, it's a pretty well-balanced decision when neither Ukrainian nor Russian side can feel like they've been somehow, well, humiliated by the decision," said Nickolay Petrov, head of the Center for Political Geographic Research. "And, at the same time, it's only the beginning of a long-term process." Russia has already rejected the authority of the court, which does not have the ability to enforce any of its rulings. "Yes, but symbols do play a very important role in international politics," noted Petrov. "That's why Russian authorities do pay a lot of attention on different international court rulings. And, it's understandable that they're trying to avoid any cases where Russia can be really punished for violating international laws." While the ICJ rejected making immediate demands against Russia for supporting Ukraine's rebels, it urged both sides not to take any actions that would aggravate the conflict. More than illegal immigrants who try to cross the border, more than drugs, what worries Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly is the criminal network that lays all of it on America's doorstep. "We've made a difference, to say the least, on the southwest border," Kelly said Tuesday of the Trump administration's nascent efforts to enhance security. "But this network is so well-developed and is so efficient, it can move anything." According to the Department of Homeland Security, the network used by criminal cartels and smugglers has moved hundreds of tons of drugs into the U.S. And until recently, it was also moving tens of thousands of illegal immigrants. "But it could move other things, too," Kelly told an audience Tuesday at George Washington University, suggesting biological weapons or even a dirty bomb would not be out of the question. "There's a lot of subcontractors in this network, and these guys don't check passports. They don't do explosive residue testing," Kelly continued. "If you've got the money, you're in." Concerns in Europe The threat is not necessarily unique to the United States. European security officials have voiced similar concerns in the past, especially following the initial waves of refugees that poured into Europe from places like Syria and Libya. Intelligence officials have also long suspected that terror groups, like Islamic State, made expert use of such criminal networks to sneak foreign fighters through Turkey in order to bolster their numbers as much of Syria fell into chaos. Such networks have even played roles in helping terrorists across North Africa and the Middle East launder money, profit from the drug trade and secretly build their fortunes. Steadily, signs of higher levels of sophistication have been emerging, with officials from Europe and the East Asian Pacific pointing to people smugglers in the Middle East and South Asia. "In countries like Pakistan, the traffickers or the migrants compare and benchmark: Is it now a better time to go to Europe or better to go to Australia?" Fabrice Leggeri, executive director of Frontex, the European border and coast guard agency, told VOA late last year. "So one can imagine there is a sort of global market." U.S.-bound American officials worry that with Islamic State's self-declared caliphate falling apart, the pressure to make even better use of these networks is only likely to increase, especially as once-loyal foreign fighters start to think about making their way to the U.S. "We're already seeing large numbers of the fighters go home," Homeland Security's Kelly warned Tuesday, expressing specific concern about those aiming to return to European countries that have visa-waiver agreements with the U.S. Yet, thanks to the growing synergy between criminal networks and terrorists, even those foreign fighters who are not able to use Europe as a gateway can still wind up on America's borders. There is a chance, U.S. officials warn, that some already have. "The nexus between criminal networks and terrorist networks is real and, I would predict, will get more sophisticated," Kelly cautioned. "They're not doing it in huge amounts yet, I don't believe, but to me, it would be a next step." The United States called a special U.N. Security Council session Tuesday on the importance of protecting human rights and that issue's role in preventing conflict and fostering international security, but dropped an expected move to make human rights reviews a formal part of all council meetings. U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley singled out North Korea and Syria as countries where human rights violations are frequent and systematic, and she warned the next international crisis could well arise in a nation where rights are disregarded, such as Cuba or Iran. It is no surprise that the world's most brutal regimes are also the most ruthless violators of human rights, Haley said. She also criticized the governments in Burundi and Myanmar, but she did not refer to rights violations in U.S. allies such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey, or to non-state groups such as the Islamic State, which has been accused of many atrocities and abuses. To be honest, there is hardly an issue on our agenda today that does not involve concerns about human rights, and future threats will continue to challenge us, Haley said of the Security Council's work. But if this council fails to take human rights violations and abuses seriously, they can escalate into real threats to international peace and security. U.S. decides not to press vote Diplomats had expected the U.S. to try to win the council's approval to add human rights considerations to all its meetings, but that was dropped after at least six member states Russia, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan and Bolivia made clear they opposed such a move. Opposition also was expected from Senegal, and the United States eventually decided not to risk defeat on a procedural vote to press the issue, diplomats said. The deputy U.N. director for the group Human Rights Watch, Akshaya Kumar, said, Unless the U.S. is prepared to seriously address human rights abuses committed by its allies like Saudi Arabia and Iraq a theoretical debate about human rights issues at the Security Council won't improve the council's work. If the Trump administration wants to burnish its reputation on rights, she added, it should address problems at home, such as its discriminatory travel ban on people from six Muslim-majority countries. Theme is human rights The United States called Tuesday's meeting in its role as president of the Security Council this month. It was the first time the council has devoted a meeting to the general theme of human rights, although it has discussed specific human rights situations such as in North Korea on several occasions. But the topic was controversial among some members, who saw the change as overstepping the Security Council's mandate and infringing on the work of other U.N. bodies such as the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council. "The Security Council has only those powers which member states wish to endow it with," said Russia's deputy U.N. envoy, Evgeny Zagaynov. "Where it attempts to go beyond these powers, it inevitably impedes upon the competencies of states or other bodies within the U.N. system." Egypt envoy voices a concern Egypt's U.N. envoy, Amr Aboulatta, raised a concern that human rights could disguise an attempt "to interfere in the internal affairs of states and add to the council agenda items that don't constitute a threat to international peace and security." "It is not that we don't want to discuss the topic of human rights," Bolivia's Ambassador Sacha Llorenti said. "It's that we want to discuss it in a form on which the membership agrees on and that is much more democratic and transparent than the Security Council." The U.S. sought to assure allies Wednesday that the USS Carl Vinson naval strike group is indeed headed to the northern Pacific as a deterrent to North Korea's nuclear weapons program. But this came after days of misleading statements that the aircraft carrier and other ships had already been headed there. "We're sending an armada, very powerful," President Donald Trump declared April 11, three days after the strike group left Singapore. Admiral Harry Harris, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, had announced April 9 he was ordering the strike group to sail north after leaving Singapore and that it would not be making previously planned port visits in Australia. However the strike group instead stayed in the western Pacific and conducted an abbreviated set of exercises with Australian forces. By last Saturday, the Vinson was sailing through the Sunda Strait, which separates the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra, thousands of kilometers from the Korean peninsula. On Wednesday, U.S. officials attempted to clarify the conflicting statements about the strike group's whereabouts. White House spokesman Sean Spicer noted Trump's comment "that we have an armada going towards the peninsula. That's a fact, it's happened. It is happening rather." What part is misleading? Im trying to figure that outIm not the one who commented on timing, said Spicer. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, on a visit to Saudi Arabia, told reporters, "The Vinson, as Ive said on the record, was operating up and down the western Pacific. And were doing exactly what we said. And that is, were shifting her, instead of continuing one direction as she pulled out of Singapore shes going to continue part of our cruise down in that region but she was on her way up to Korea." Mattis then said, "She will be on her way. And Ill determine when she gets there and where she actually operates. But the Vinson is going to be part of our ensuring that we stand by our allies in the northwest Pacific." The mixed messaging is being viewed by some as undermining the United States' credible threat of military force against North Korea. Duped by Trump: U.S. Taunted Over Carl Vinson Aircraft Carrier Tale, was the headline in the conservative business daily Wall Street Journal, which noted ridicule in some corners of Asia and wariness in others. The headline in Chinas Global Times read Tricked Badly, while the Korea Times in Seoul bluntly declared US lied about carrier strike group. Carrier to spend extra month off Korean Peninsula After the initial U.S. Pacific Command announcement on April 9 stated that the Carl Vinson Strike Group was headed north toward the Western Pacific Ocean, a spokesman for the command told VOA and other news organizations this was motivated by North Koreas reckless, irresponsible and destabilizing program of missile tests and pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability. This raised concerns that Trump might launch a unilateral military strike to prevent or retaliate against a possible North Korean nuclear test on April 15, the birth anniversary of the nations founder Kim Il Sung, often marked by a provocative weapons test. North Korea did not conduct a nuclear test that weekend but held a massive military parade and attempted a missile test at or near its key submarine base at Sinpo. The Vinson and its strike force is believed to still be in the Indian Ocean, engaged in training exercises with Australia and is now expected to arrive in waters off the Korean peninsula around April 25, when North Korea marks an important holiday: Military Foundation Day. It is now confirmed that the aircraft carriers crew will spend at least an extra month at sea. Our deployment has been extended 30 days to provide a persistent presence in the waters off the Korean peninsula, the groups commander, Rear Adm. James Kilby, wrote Wednesday on the groups Facebook page. Watch: Naval Strike Force Heads to Korean Peninsula Days After US Claims It Had Ambiguous messaging damages credibility The perceived communications mix-up discredits some of the tough rhetoric coming from the Trump administration. "If you threaten them and your threat is not credible, it's only going to undermine whatever your policy toward them is," said North Korea expert Joel Wit at the 38 North monitoring group, run by Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. Analyst Daniel Pinkston with Troy University in Seoul, said this policy of increased military pressure is not only weakened by mixed messages over deploying a naval strike force, but also by widespread opposition among important allies such as Japan and South Korea. They are not going to support some military adventurism to take a gamble with the execution of some preventive military operation against North Korea. Its just not going to happen, Pinkston told VOA. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence did not mention the delay in sending the Vinson group Wednesday when he addressed American military forces aboard the USS Ronald Reagan, a Nimitz class aircraft carrier undergoing maintenance in Yokosuka, Japan. Pence instead repeated stern warnings to Pyongyang that he made earlier in Seoul and Tokyo, not to test Americas resolve. He again referenced Trumps decisions to launch missile strikes in Syria and Afghanistan, and said the United States is fully prepared to use military force if needed. Those who challenge our resolve or our readiness should know, we will defeat any attack and meet any challenge and use conventional or nuclear weapons with an overwhelming and effective American response, the vice president said. The USS Carl Vinson strike group includes the flagship aircraft carrier, along with its air wing, destroyers USS Wayne E. Meyer and USS Michael Murphy and the cruiser USS Lake Champlain. The United States is pledging support for Saudi efforts to counter Iran's destabilizing activities in the region. During talks Wednesday in Riyadh, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis emphasized to his Saudi counterpart, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the importance of cooperating and boosting Saudi security in order to "reinforce Saudi Arabia's resistance to Iran's mischief." "We are not leaving this region, but at the same time it is in our interest to see a strong Saudi Arabia military, security services and secret services," Mattis told reporters. "So what we can do here today could actually open the door possibly to bringing our president to Saudi Arabia." The Arab kingdom is Mattis' first stop on a week-long Middle East tour, that includes Egypt, Israel and Qatar. Earlier on Wednesday, the U.S. defense secretary met with Saudi King Salman. The visit comes a month after U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Prince Mohammed at the White House, with both leaders noting the "importance of confronting Iran's destabilizing regional activities while continuing to evaluate and strictly enforce the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action," according to a March 15 White House statement. On Wednesday, the Saudi defense minister told Mattis, "we greatly value the leadership of President Trump." He also said the two countries will work to "curb and counter all the challenges in the region, either when it comes to the curbing of the fighting terrorist organizations or the malign activities of Iran that continues to unsettle the world." In remarks to Pentagon reporters following Wednesday's talks with Saudi officials, Mattis praised Saudi Arabia's regional leadership role in restoring stability in the Middle East. The U.S. defense secretary also said the U.S. is watching Iran's impact across the region, from its support for Hezbollah to the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad. "Everywhere you look, if there is trouble in the region, you find Iran," Mattis said. "So, right now, what we are seeing is the nations in the region and others elsewhere trying to checkmate Iran and the amount of disruption, the amount of instability they can cause." While in Riyadh, Mattis also called for the crisis in Saudi Arabias neighbor, Yemen, to go before a United Nations-brokered negotiating team in order to politically resolve the countrys raging civil war. U.S. officials have signaled that President Donald Trump may further U.S. involvement in Yemen crisis in order to strengthen strategic relations with the Saudis, who have been supporting the fight against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Trump administration does not believe that Yemen's government and the Houthis will to go to a U.N.-brokered negotiating table unless more military pressure is put on the Houthis, in order to convince the rebels they are incapable of holding their captured terrain. The official added that the U.S. was not considering American troops on the ground in Yemen as an option to increase military pressure. Iran sends flotilla to Gulf of Aden The comments come amid reports Iran dispatched a a flotilla of warships from the countrys southern port city of Bandar Abbas for the Gulf of Aden on Monday. Iranian authorities say Iran's 46th naval fleet, comprised of Sabalan destroyer and Lavan logistic warship, embarked on the voyage in a bid to maintain the Islamic Republics power in the high seas. "The timing of this mission, and also increasing number of naval missions conducted by Iranian navy in that region is very uncommon and seems to be a muscle flexing toward Saudis, Hooshang Aryanpour, a Virginia based retired Iranian Rear Admiral told VOA. "The fleet is tasked with maintaining security for Iranian ships and countering Iranophobic plots and campaigns launched by the enemies of the Islamic Republic, the Iranian government said in a statement. According to Rear Admiral Sayyari, the Iranian naval forces are making efforts to improve security in the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb, considering security of those regions as a top priority. Iranian authorities say that the naval forces have so far escorted 3,850 Iranian commercial and tanker ships as well as 25 foreign vessels in the Bab el-Mandeb and the Gulf of Aden regions where pirates are active. U.S. marine administrators in the region have repeatedly complained about Irans hostile nautical maneuvers in the region in the recent months and warned that some provocative naval actions increase the chances of miscalculation and unintended confrontation. [The] Iranian navys increasing presence in this specific region is evocative and could be interpreted as showing teeth to Saudis who are in a proxy war with Iran in Yemen and have zero strength in the sea," said Aryanpour. Analysts say confusing or deceptive messages about a U.S. naval armada heading to waters off the Korean peninsula undermines the United States' credible threat of military force against North Korea. The White House and the U.S. militarys Pacific Command were not quite accurate in early April when they said the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier group was en route to the Sea of Japan to respond if needed to a North Korean provocation. WATCH: Defense Secretary Mattis on USS Carl Vinson Delayed deployment The naval strike force is still far south in the Indian Ocean, where it was engaged in training exercises with Australia. The Pacific Command said on Tuesday the strike group will now proceed to the Western Pacific as ordered. The earlier reports of the U.S. carrier group moving toward Korea raised concerns that Trump might launch a unilateral military strike to prevent or retaliate against a possible North Korean nuclear test on April 15, the birthday of the nations founder Kim Il Sung, that is often celebrated by a provocative weapons test. U.S. President Donald Trump said on April 12, We are sending an armada. Very powerful. WATCH: White House Press Secretary Spicer on ship's location North Korea did not conduct a nuclear test that weekend but instead held a massive military parade and attempted a missile test that failed. The perceived communications mix-up discredits some of the tough rhetoric coming from the Trump administration. If you threaten them and your threat is not credible, it's only going to undermine whatever your policy toward them is, said North Korea expert Joel Wit at the 38 North monitoring group, run by Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. Vice presidents stern warnings U.S. Vice President Mike Pence did not mention the delay in sending the Carl Vinson group Wednesday when he addressed American military forces aboard the USS Ronald Reagan, a Nimitz class aircraft carrier undergoing maintenance in Yokosuka, Japan. Pence instead repeated stern warnings to Pyongyang that he made earlier in Seoul and Tokyo, not to test Americas resolve. He again referenced Trumps decisions to launch missile strikes in Syria and Afghanistan, and said the United States is fully prepared to use military force if needed. Those who challenge our resolve or our readiness should know, we will defeat any attack and meet any challenge and use conventional or nuclear weapons with an overwhelming and effective American response, the vice president said. WATCH: Pence on threat North Korea represents to region Emerging North Korea policy The U.S. policy on North Korea as articulated by the vice president is to use the threat of military force to increase pressure on Pyongyang to unilaterally dismantle its nuclear and missile arsenals, and to urge China, for the most part, to take stronger measures to force its economically dependent ally to capitulate or face total collapse. For this policy to be effective the threat of force must be credible, said analyst Bong Young-shik with the Yonsei University Institute for North Korean Studies in Seoul. Without taking the risk of military action on the Korean Peninsula you cannot really dissuade the leadership in Pyongyang from continuously pursuing and possessing nuclear weapons and missile programs, he said. However, Northeast Asia analyst Daniel Pinkston with Troy University in Seoul, said this policy of increased military pressure is not only weakened by mixed messages over deploying a naval strike force, but also by widespread opposition among important allies such as Japan and South Korea. They are not going to support some military adventurism to take a gamble with the execution of some preventive military operation against North Korea. Its just not going to happen, said Pinkston. For all its provocative missile and nuclear tests the Kim Jong Un government has not yet attacked another country. If the Trump administration were to launch a preemptive or preventive strike against North Korea under the current conditions, Pinkston said, it would likely lead to disastrous results: drawing the region into war, terminating regional alliances, and isolating the United States in the U.N. Security Council. Despite the tough rhetoric there have also been contradictory statements coming from other Trump administration officials who have downplayed the possible use of force. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster Sunday said, It's time for us to undertake all actions we can, short of a military option, to try to resolve this peacefully." Tehran and Moscow have both suggested that the international community should investigate the circumstances behind the Khan Sheikhoun deaths before responding political or militarily or even definitively ascribing the incident to forces loyal to the Assad regime. Following the Syrian presidents talking points, his foreign allies have supported an alternative explanation that claims the given chemical agents may have been held in a rebel warehouse and released accidentally after a strike by Syrian forces. But no evidence has been presented to suggest that the rebels were capable of synthesizing sarin gas or similar chemical agents, or that they might have acquired them from outside sources. Meanwhile, the Assad regime has a well-recognized track record of using chemical weapons, having deployed sarin early in the conflict and having used chlorine gas against rebel-controlled areas several times since then. Under an agreement brokered by the US and Russia, Assad was supposed to have given up his stockpiles of nerve agents by the summer of 2014, but a relative lack of transparency on the part of the Syrian government led to some speculation that undeclared stockpiles had been retained. And in any event, experts who have recently commented on the Khan Sheikhoun attack have pointed out that the regime had the ability to synthesize more sarin and ample time in which to do so. In light of such observations, it is easy to conclude that the Iranian Foreign Ministers criticisms of the US response are disingenuous and indicative of the same kind of political motives that he ascribes to the American government. And as The Tower pointed out last week, the Iranian defense of Assad in the wake of the Khan Sheikhoun attack was only part of a broader pattern of ignoring confirmed chemical attacks, barrel bombings of civilian populations, and other war crimes. The same article notes that Zarif has repeatedly attempted to deflect criticism by playing the victim with regard to chemical weapons and saying that Tehran would never defend such attacks, having been the target of them during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s. But The Tower does more than just suggest the Iranian government is being hypocritical in its defense of Assads chemical attacks. It notes that there is mounting evidence that the Iranian regime itself has an active chemical weapons program and is worried that this will be subject to more scrutiny in the wake of a Western response to the Syrian attacks. The article pointed out, for instance, that German intelligence reports indicated that Iranian entities had attempted to acquire numerous components with applications to nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare. The article also indicated that some Iranian Kurds have claimed that chemical weapons may have been used against them, a fact that would seriously underscore the Congressional Research Services recent conclusion that Tehran may be in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which it ratified approximately 20 years ago. Of course, such violations would make it all the more unsurprising if Tehran was knowingly turning a blind eye to worse violations being carried out by its Syrian ally. But regardless of the accuracy of the CRSs conclusion or the Kurdish claims of small-scale Iranian chemical warfare, the fact remains that it is highly unlikely that Zarif or other high-ranking Iranian officials would be unaware of Syrian chemical weapons activity. Zarifs recent criticisms called for international investigations but failed to provide any information to contradict the Western conclusion that Assad is responsible for Khan Sheikhoun. But the Iranian government should be in a position to immediately help with the called-for investigation, given how deeply embedded the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and its local proxies are among forces loyal to the Assad regime. In fact, in an editorial published on Sunday in the New York Post, former US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton pointed out that IRGC forces were personally present at the Syrian airbase that was targeted by the US strike after having apparently been used for the deployment of airborne chemical weapons. Bolton went on to credit Tehran and the IRGC in particular with saving Assad from overthrow and subsequently buttressing his continued efforts to destroy the rebel opposition. This is a situation that Bolton highlighted to make a case for designating the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization and subjecting it to harsh financial restrictions. For some people, such a move was made more imperative not just by the extensive Iranian intervention in the Syrian Civil War but also by the effects of the nuclear agreement spearheaded by the previous US president. As well as providing Iran with direct relief from nuclear related sanctions, that agreement led to Western business deals with the Islamic Republic including commercial aircraft sales that some experts fear will expand connections between the IRGC, Syria, and other areas of Iranian influence. This concern was highlighted by The Tower on Friday, in an article that claims approximately 21,000 people and 5,000 tons of supplies had been smuggled into Syrian by the IRGC is just two months time, using commercial aircraft. Notably, the IRGC has reportedly repurposed aircraft belonging both to Mahan Air, which remains under sanctions over such activities, and to Iran Air, which had sanctions removed as a result of the nuclear agreement. The article also points out that there are deep connections between another Iranian carrier, Aseman Airlines, and the IRGC. Both Aseman and Iran Air have entered into agreements to purchase planes from American aircraft manufacturer Boeing and European manufacturer Airbus. The Tower points out that both the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and some US lawmakers have called for the US Treasury to halt these sales until it proves that the aircraft wont be used by the IRGC for the support of terrorist activity. These sorts of concerns are not limited to IRGC activity in Syria, and The Tower points out that many of the flights between Tehran and Damascus have also stopped in Iraq to board Shiite militant fighters who had been operating on Tehrans behalf there. This goes to show that the Iranian governments defense of its allies has the potential to be mutually supportive and self-reinforcing, in line with the well-recognized Iranian ambition for the establishment of a unified Shiite crescent that spans much of the Middle East. On Friday, US Senator John McCain visited Iranian Resistance offices in Albania, where he met with National Council of Resistance of Iran President Maryam Rajavi. During the visit, the senator commented upon the threat of expanding Iranian influence, tying it to the particular issue of Tehrans defense of Assad in the midst of various apparent war crimes. It is a fact that Bashar Assad would not be in power today if it had not been for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, and the Iranian help and the Hezbollah that came to Syria when Bashar Assad was about to fall, McCain said. There is no doubt that Iran is attempting to stifle freedom and democracy throughout the region. Egyptian-American charity worker Aya Hijazi was released from prison after nearly three years of detention, her lawyer said Wednesday. The lawyer, Taher Abol Nasr, told the Associated Press that Hijazi was released late Tuesday, two days after a court acquitted her of charges of child abuse that were widely dismissed as bogus by human rights groups and U.S. officials. Hijazi, a dual national, and her husband had established a foundation to aid street children in 2013, but were arrested along with six others in 2014. It was not immediately clear whether her co-defendants were also released. President Donald Trump did not publicly mention the case when he met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi earlier this month, but a senior White House official had said ahead of the meeting that the case would be addressed. It was not immediately clear if Hijazi, 30, would remain in Egypt following her release. Hijazi, who grew up in Falls Church, Virginia, received a degree in conflict resolution from George Mason University in 2009, and then returned to her native country. Hijazi's foundation named Belady, Arabic for "our nation" had its offices raided after a man alleged that his son was missing and blamed it on Belady. Egyptian authorities have clamped down on civil society, particularly human rights groups and other organizations that receive foreign funding. Such groups played a central role in the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak, and pro-government media often present them as part of a conspiracy to undermine the state. The authorities also arrested thousands of people in the months following the 2013 overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi, mainly his Islamist supporters but also a number of secular and liberal activists. Residents of the Indonesian capital are heading to the polls to elect a local governor, in a runoff election between a moderate and a hard-line conservative. Wednesday's poll pits ethnic Chinese and Christian incumbent Basuki Ahok Tjahja Purnama against former cabinet minister Anies Baswedan, who has sought support from conservative clerics opposed to non-Muslims in public office. Analysts have consistently described a tight race, and opinion polls show the likelihood of a close outcome Wednesday in Jakarta. The two candidates finished atop a three-way vote in February that capped a campaign marked by violence and protests. However, neither candidate cleared the required 50 percent threshold, triggering Wednesday's vote. Since February, antipathy stoked by the campaign has been largely relegated to internet commentary, with Baswedan supporters describing Purnama as a heathen unworthy of holding public office. For his part, Purnama has pushed to curtail corruption and improve the quality of life, in a campaign largely aimed at Jakarta's middle class. He is currently on trial in the capital, accused of blasphemy. A court verdict has been delayed until the day after the runoff vote is tallied. Purnama assumed the post of Jakarta governor in 2014 from current President Joko Widodo. A victory Wednesday would make him the first non-Muslim governor in the city's history. Survivors of 1981's El Mozote massacre are closer than ever to justice after the reopening of an investigation begun more than a quarter-century ago into the army-led killing of about 1,000 people, casting light on a horrific symbol of the unaccountability for atrocities in El Salvador's civil war. The killings went unpunished because of an amnesty law that from 1993 prohibited prosecution of crimes from the war, which between 1980 and 1992 claimed 75,000 lives and led to over 8,000 disappearances. Bodies of El Mozote victims rotted outdoors and many were devoured by animals, while others were buried or burned by soldiers involved in the operation. Survivors could not bury their dead or find closure in justice. But in 1991, Argentine forensic experts began helping to disinter remains to identify the victims, forgotten by politicians and society during decades of official silence. So far they have gathered remains of 400 people, and this year in January their work attracted special attention on the 25th anniversary of El Salvador's 1992 peace accords. Eustaquio Martinez has spent more than half his life searching for the remains of his wife and six children, executed in December 1981 by an army battalion, along with roughly 1,000 unarmed civilians in El Mozote and other parts of Morazan, a district 200 kilometers northeast of San Salvador, the capital. "Some of [my] little ones were shot, some had their throats cut," the 65-year-old Martinez said, sobbing as he told Reuters how the soldiers killed his family under the shade of a mango tree. He was spared because he was on a trip at the time. Their killers accused them of collaborating with "the communists" from the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), currently the ruling government party. Another step toward redress was taken last year when El Salvador's Supreme Court declared the amnesty law unconstitutional. The investigation was reopened and a court began a case against 18 soldiers who were called to testify in March. Salvadoran legal records show only one lawsuit, filed in 1990, over the killings. The investigation has given hope to Martinez and 60 other families seeking justice for their loved ones in El Salvador. In a report by a U.N.-backed Truth Commission, several military officials were accused of being involved in what the government at the time termed a "counterinsurgency operation." One of them was General Jose Guillermo Garcia, defense minister between 1979 and 1983. Garcia, 82, was deported last year from the United States where he had lived since 1989, and brought to court in March to answer questions about El Mozote. He is also wanted in respect to other crimes such as the 1980 murder of San Salvador Archbishop Oscar Romero and four American churchwomen. In December, Vice President Oscar Ortiz and other senior officials joined in the annual commemoration of the El Mozote massacre. Twenty-one small white coffins filled with bones were buried in the local cemetery amid speeches, songs and candles. "What we want is justice," 58-year-old Jose Marquez, who lost his parents and siblings in the massacre, said during the ceremony. "The people who did this - some of them died, but others are alive and they're still free." The World Health Organization said Tuesday that unprecedented progress had been made in tackling many of the world's most disfiguring and disabling neglected tropical diseases over the past 10 years. Margaret Chan, WHO director-general, said there has been "record-breaking progress towards bringing ancient scourges like sleeping sickness and elephantiasis to their knees." About 1.5 billion people in 149 countries, down from 1.9 billion in 2010, are affected by neglected tropical diseases (NTD), a group of 18 disorders that disproportionately affect the very poor. In 2007, the WHO and a group of global partners devised a strategy for better tackling and controlling NTDs. Five years ago, a group of nongovernmental organizations, private and public partners signed the London Declaration, committing greater support and resources to the elimination or eradication of 10 of the most common NTDs by the end of the decade. "That has been a game changer in the expansion of NTD interventions worldwide," said Dirk Engel, director of the WHO's Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases. Meeting on Wednesday The WHO's fourth report on neglected tropical diseases was launched to coincide with a one-day meeting Wednesday at the agency's headquarters to take stock of what has been achieved in the fight against NTDs and to explore ways to move the process forward. Engel said health ministers, representatives from pharmaceutical companies, academics, donors and philanthropists "will look at the changing landscape of NTDs" and explore better ways of integrating the fight against these diseases into global health and development. The report described achievements made in controlling the debilitating diseases. For example, it noted that an estimated 1 billion people received 1.5 billion treatments donated by pharmaceutical companies for one or more NTDs in 2015 alone. It cited dramatic successes in efforts to eliminate visceral leishmaniasis, a parasitic, disfiguring disease that attacks the internal organs. "If you get it, it kills. There is no way out," said Engel. The disease is prevalent in Southeast Asia, particularly in Bangladesh, India and Nepal. Engel said a subregional program was organized to provide early treatment with donated medicines and vector control through indoor residual spraying, similar to that used in malaria control. "With those two interventions, you reduce the incidence of visceral leishmaniasis almost to nothing," said Engel. "And the aim was to have less than one case in 10,000 people at the subdistrict level, which is a tough target." He noted that the disease had been eliminated in 82 percent of subdistricts in India, 97 percent of subdistricts in Bangladesh, and eliminated entirely in Nepal. "This is a result that we had not anticipated a few years back," he said. While Asia is burdened with the greatest number of NTD cases, Africa has the highest concentration of the diseases. Engel told VOA that between 450,000 and 500,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa were infected by at least one tropical disease but usually several at the same time. He said Africa was making excellent progress in controlling neglected tropical diseases. African sleeping sickness has been reduced from 37,000 new cases in 1999 to fewer than 3,000 cases in 2015, and Guinea worm disease has gone down "to only 25 human cases, putting eradication within reach," he said. Engel noted that lymphatic filariasis, an infection transmitted by mosquitoes, causing enlargement of limbs and genitals, also was being brought under control. "Some countries are lagging a bit behind. Some countries are actually doing fairly well," he said. "We have just acknowledged the first African country that has eliminated lymphatic filariasis as a public health problem Togo." He noted that so much progress has been made in the treatment of onchocerciasis, or river blindness, that "we are now thinking of setting a new target of elimination post-2020." In another important advance, the report found that trachoma, the world's leading infectious cause of blindness, "has been eliminated as a public health problem" in Oman, Morocco and Mexico. Affected areas Neglected tropical diseases used to be prevalent throughout the world. Now, they are found only in tropical and subtropical regions with unsafe water, bad hygiene and sanitation, and poor housing conditions. "Poor people living in remote, rural areas, urban slums or conflict zones are most at risk," said the report. The World Health Organization said improving water and sanitation for 2.4 billion people globally who lack these basic facilities was key to making further progress in the fight against neglected tropical diseases. Christopher Fitzpatrick, health economist in the WHO's department of tropical diseases, told VOA that the socioeconomic costs in terms of lost productivity and out-of-pocket health expenditures by people infected with NTDs is very high. "It has been calculated that for every dollar invested [in improving water and sanitation infrastructure], there will be about $30 of return to affected individuals," he said. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Morgan Tsvangirai and former Vice President Joice Mujurus National Peoples Party have formed what they term a pre-election alliance ahead of Zimbabwes watershed 2018 general polls. In a statement, the MDC-T said, I am pleased to inform the nation that today we have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Dr. Joice Mujuru of the National Peoples Party to establish a pre-election alliance en-route to the establishment of a coalition government which shall drive a comprehensive democratization and transformation agenda. This is just the beginning of the building blocks towards establishing a broad alliance to confront Zanu PF between now and the next election in 2018. Similar arrangements will be entered into with other political formations and we will inform you as it happens, as we have done today. While political parties have their role in nation-building, said the MDC-T, it must be understood that they are not the only stakeholders. We are in this together with other key stakeholders such as traditional leaders, the church, labour, vendors, war veterans, civic society, business and the generality of Zimbabweans. This is our collective struggle and I call upon the people of Zimbabwe to join us in working together and in playing your part so that we can reclaim our country, our freedom and our dignity. To the youth, the future belongs to you. Shape it and the first step in doing so is by registering to vote. The party further noted that 93 year-old President Robert Mugabe knows that the countrys crisis is unsustainable. Every Zimbabwean from every station of life knows it too. So we should all stand together in unison and say enough is enough. As President Mugabe enters the sunset of his life, it is incumbent upon all of us to pick the pieces and rebuild our country together. I hope the understanding we reached today, and which we will reach with many others, will culminate in a solid political co-operation agreement that should usher in a new governance culture in our country. Today, marks the beginning of Zimbabweans coming together in building an inclusive society that prides itself in leaving no one behind. The future can only be bright for this country that we all love. Enterprise Insurance Company plc - Establishment of a Special Committee and the Appointment of Inspectors The Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC) has appointed Tony Woodcock and John Fordham of Stephenson Harwood LLP as independent inspectors under Section 8 of the Financial Services (Information Gathering and Co-operation) Act 2013 to investigate the insolvency of Enterprise and the conduct of its directors and auditors. The appointment of inspectors has been made by a Special Committee of the GFSC Board (the Enterprise Special Committee). The Enterprise Special Committee is composed of the GFSC Chair, Dr Jonathan Spencer, and GFSC members, Adrian Coles and Paul Sharma. The Enterprise Special Committee will also have the responsibility of acting as the GFSC Audit Regulation Committee. The Enterprise Special Committee will be the decision making panel in the regulatory inquiry relating to Enterprise, its directors and auditors. Gibraltar Museum Lecture Series: Excavating a World Heritage Site The next in the Gibraltar Museum lecture series will be a presentation by Dr Geraldine Finlayson on the subject of Excavating a World Heritage Site. In it Geraldine will talk about her personal experience with the Gorhams Cave excavations which she has been leading for 27 years. Very often talks on Gorhams Cave present results but on this occasion Geraldine will take us through a close look at the details of what happens at the planning stages, selection of personnel and discussion of objectives through to the actual day to day of the excavations themselves. It will include a personal account of the effort required as well as of the detailed work involved. Geraldine describes the cave as a living laboratory where every possible care is taken to extract as much information as possible, even before lifting any artefact. This is the first time that a lecture of this type will have been given in Gibraltar and it should be of appeal to a wide audience. The talk will take place on Thursday 20th April at 7pm at the John Mackintosh Hall. Photo: Santiago Felipe/Getty Images Editors note: Two years after this story was published, Arca shifted to using she/her pronouns; she told Paper in April 2020, I identify as a transwoman, and I see my gender identity as nonbinary. We have updated the headline and introduction accordingly. In a way, were meeting Alejandra Ghersi, a.k.a. Arca, the prolific Venezuela-born, London-based producer for the first time. Ghersi has existed as a kind of specter embodying the Arca entity for years, making a name for herself producing for heavyweights including FKA Twigs, Bjork, and Kanye West, and through formidable solo recordings like 2015s Mutant and 2014s Xen. Yet Ghersis newest album, Arca, which is out now on XL Recordings, finds her dropping the veil completely. Not only is she singing in her native Spanish and, as Latin culture site Remezcla notes, drawing from the tradition of tonadas sung by agricultural workers in Venezuelas llanos (plains) regions, shes also uncompromising in her exploration of violence, queer desire, and exposure. Over the phone, Ghersi spoke about the virtues of being a contradiction, the nuances of what can be said in Spanish and English, and how the literal bare-bones nature of Arca, from her first-take approach to vocals to her stripped-down instrumentals, was also a way of reaching an equilibrium. I felt like I was going so vulnerable and fragile on this record that I had to become something something else needed to be amplified in a way, Ghersi says. I was, in some certain ways, taking off my armor. Lets start by talking about the headspace you were in while writing this record. Is it fair to say that there was an urgency surrounding its creation? I would say so. At the same time, I have a contradictory tendency when talking about this. I dont think its fair or right for me to say that this one was more urgent than the others. Theyre kind of like pieces of me. It automatically feels like judging some side of me or a past version of me or pretending that growth is linear and the last album is the biggest and most important to me. Like, I dont feel that. I feel like every record Ive ever made, on some level, is urgent. However, I will concede that something youre maybe pointing at which is this record, there was more [of an urgency] because of the presence of a voice, and vocals and lyrics, and maybe because of the sociopolitical climate. Or cultural climate, just to be a bit more chill. Im specifically relating or referring to matters of identity, embodying and not being ashamed of being who you are in certain ways, I guess. Maybe in a cultural sense there was an urgency because I wanted to make eye contact in every sense of the word. Im referring more to the immediacy not just of the music, but the statement you present preceding the album. You write: Heres my voice and all my guts: feel free to judge it. Its like MMA or a bullfight: youre watching emotional violence for pleasure. I cant stop thinking about the confluence of violence and vulnerability youre exploring here. Well, the really interesting thing for me to think about is that I might be hypersensitive, hyperaware of how because Ive been putting out music under my own name, its been mostly instrumental or theres a little bit of a veil. And there had been a veil where I didnt have to expose my voice. The ideas that I was working with didnt require me to use my voice. With this album, I started to realize my intuition was pulling me towards a place where what I needed to communicate required my voice. If you really start to think about musicianship or performing arts, and to scrutinize the psychological setup that there is between performing or singing and an audience, its kind of insane, right? Because you have someone whos expected to emote and to dig deep and reach into your guts. And youre doing it very publicly. And people are really silently taking it in, but also totally allowed and sometimes encouraged to scrutinize. Its a little bit pornographic if you start to think about it. Theres something revealing about a private inner world to many people under the pressure of a gaze. I read that Bjork had a part in this, and that she encouraged you to think about using your own voice in music this time around. Can you tell me a bit about how that happened? Yeah. I wouldnt say I would never use the word encouraged. Oh, I misunderstood. No, no. I mean, she was a big part of it. I keep saying she planted a seed because if I say encouraged, it doesnt do justice or represent accurately the ways in which she nurtures her friends. She doesnt encourage. Thats too domineering. Encouraging someone implies that theres some kind of ego. She kind of gently planted a seed, and said: Have you ever considered using your voice? And thats even more beautiful in a way to me, because its not like a prescription. I think thats why I kind of want to make a point to say its not that she encouraged me. It was very gentle, and in a way, more powerful. The reason she said it was because I was singing in the car. And I always sing around my friends when Im comfortable, and its something thats natural for me to do. I never stopped doing that. You sing entirely in Spanish on Arca. Im curious what your relationship was like to Spanish growing up, and how thats shifted over time. I guess theres a historical timeline and an emotional reality. The historical timeline is from after second grade to high-school graduation, I was in Venezuela. When I was 17, I left Venezuela, so Spanish just became something I spoke with my family members or friends that spoke Spanish in New York. But on top of that, from preschool to first grade, I lived in the States. So even when I moved back to Venezuela, I could speak English with an American accent. Most prep schools there teach English, so when I was doing my English classes, I stood out in Venezuela. Because I could read without an accent or with an American accent. Some of the kids might call me gringo because they were like, Wow, his mouth moves weird and he can do those American rs. And when I was in America, I was like one of the two foreign kids in the class because it was a really white town. I dont really feel 100 percent Venezuelan and I definitely dont feel American. So I feel kind of origin-less. I feel like Im in an in-between. Being origin-less can be hard. When youre faced with the panorama of identity politics that is active today and maybe in our generation, its easier to represent and group around a cause when youre talking about the extremes. Like, if youre anywhere in-between and that might expand itself to gender identity or origin, then its kind of more gray and its harder to use words. I think that thats something that maybe in the back of my head I try to relate with: I dont want to be forced to choose because I dont have to. Its not the reality of who I am. I think the sparks that fly off being a contradiction are the thing that I chase. Thats what seems more real to me than just saying Im one or the other. Reserving the right to renegotiate your identity, and renegotiate and externalize how you feel as opposed to labeling yourself or being dogmatic about your identity, maybe might allow you to remain more fluid. And in remaining more fluid, you might be able to relate to different kinds of people, people who are from different origins. And ideally people who dont have clear-cut origins make you feel comfortable, too. And these little traces of all the things, all the flecks and specks that are a degree of what you inherit? Theyre beautiful. And if theyre contradictory, I think theyre even more beautiful. I think its awkward to exist in those in-between spaces, but in the long run probably more liberating because you allow yourself exit routes. You allow yourself exit routes to one day take that history and genetic story inside of you very seriously, but youre allowed to go against it and follow your intuition or your heart into places of contradiction. Its challenging to embrace that fluidity, even though every force in the universe is telling you to assimilate or choose one identity. I totally agree with that. Theres a side of me that just thought about my answer, and thought maybe could be seen as some kind of cop-out. I just would like to add that what I can tell you about me that I do know that Ive learned through experience and whats important to me and what I gravitate toward and what I fight for is, I tend to want to seek balance or contradiction as a way of always staying alive and flowing and growing. If I have to reverse engineer why it feels more honest for me to sing in Spanish, I always say the same thing. I came from a kind of turbulent family and their passion and their dissonances were all lived through Spanish. My earliest memories of conflict, and extreme love and extreme joy? Those were in Spanish. English is the language of my left brain. I went to university at an American university, so I was talking about Freud and gender studies and music production. Like, all technical and all knowledge was English for me. But when it came to expressing themes that were arising inside of me while I was making this record, I just couldnt even imagine doing it in English. So what does it feel like now, navigating that tension of being bilingual? If I had to choose to say in words what to stand for, its the in-between. Theres so much in my life that Ive not belonged. And that feeling of not belonging is a place that people can meet at. Thats so beautiful, and it was a breakthrough for me to figure that out. And to figure out that I could externalize that and that other people would respond in an appreciative way. Making music is an inward and outward gesture at once. I make it because Im communing with a side of myself that might help me look people in the eye. But at the same time Im reaching out, in a way. I kind of roll my eyes when people say they make music for themselves or they make art just for themselves, because maybe in their head what that means is that theyre making it for someone who they dont think is real. Their audience isnt real. But its still a communicative act. Its still an outward manifestation of longing. So when I make peace with that, you know, we are fulfilled as animals in the measure that we are connecting with one another I realize that maybe who I care about connecting with are freaks, or mutants, or people can meet in those in-betweens, those really awkward spaces, or audiences that feel like they dont belong. And, in my music, carve out a place where that side of someone can feel like theres space. Thats something that Ive realized in hindsight is really important for me. Its the reason I might have named a record Mutant. Why was I so drawn to that? Its maybe because evolution carries within it the narrative of the fittest survive. I dont know if I believe that. I think with every kind of creature and every kind of human, there is no better. Were all just mutations, and I think that each mutation should be celebrated. This interview has been edited and condensed. Ahmadinejad disregarded notions that the strike might serve as a message for Iran, which has been backing the Syrian dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad since the outbreak of the civil war six years ago. Iran is a powerful country and people like Mr. Trump or the United States administration cannot hurt Iran, the former president said in an interview with the AP, vaguely commenting upon the newly assertive US policy that has been initiated by President Donald Trump. Last week, Ahmadinejad apparently surprised the Iranian political establishment by registering as a candidate in the May 19 presidential election, against the wishes of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who is the ultimate authority in all matters of Iranian policy. His recent statements capitalize upon the renewed national and international prominence that he has enjoyed since the registration. They also strike a familiar tone, invoking the nationalist rhetoric that characterized his two-term presidency, as well as expressing the same supposed readiness for war that characterizes many of the public statements by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, in which Ahmadinejad was formerly an officer. But despite Ahmadinejad dismissing the threat posed to Iran by the US, the AP claims that he avoided repeating inflammatory statements that made him infamous in the West and dodged certain questions that might have given rise to intensified rhetoric. The article also stated that he struck a mostly conciliatory tone during the interview, taking care to not stir up controversy that could alienate voters or clerical authorities. This description of his public tone may suggest that at least for the time being Ahmadinejad is striving to present himself as a similar alternative to the supposedly moderate incumbent Hassan Rouhani. Ahmadinejad even went so far as to express tentative support for the Iran nuclear agreement, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which has made Rouhani a target for intense backlash from hardline conservatives in the lead-up to his campaign for reelection. The deal was viewed by some figures as showing unacceptable willingness to compromise with the longstanding adversaries of the Islamic Republic. The Revolutionary Guards have seemingly attempted to counteract this impression by ramping up aggressive rhetoric and close encounters with US Navy vessels in the Persian Gulf. Now, Ahmadinejad appears to be taking a careful approach to encouraging an adversarial tone toward Western adversaries without directly undermining the nuclear agreement and its effects on the Iranian economy. A further consequence of this is that there is arguably far less difference between Ahmadinejads and Rouhanis foreign policy postures than there was when Rouhani was first elected in 2013. The Iranian constitution barred Ahmadinejad from running for a third term, but permits a former president to return after a one-term gap. After spearheading the nuclear negotiations that concluded in June 2015, Rouhani has presumably felt pressure from hardliners to reassert Irans independence and national pride. The US strike on Syria has provided his administration with a unique opportunity to do so by decrying what hardliners strive to portray as baseless American aggression in the Middle East. The USA Today recently published a video clip of Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif accusing the US of using the Syrian chemical attack as a means to score political points. But the Rouhani administrations defiance of the US has reached well beyond commentary on the Al Shayrat strike. It can even be seen as having recently stood toe-to-toe with the rhetoric coming from hardliners like Ahmadinejad. On Saturday, Reuters quoted Rouhani himself as saying that the Islamic Republic needs on ones permission for the buildup of its stockpiles of missiles and other military equipment. The 2015 nuclear agreement was followed by a United Nations Security Council resolution that called upon Iran to avoid the development, stockpiling, or testing of ballistic missile that are capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, but the country has continued to carry out such tests, leading to the White House putting Tehran on notice soon after President Trump took office. Rouhani has defended these tests while criticizing the US for supposed imposition on Irans right to self-defense. Rouhanis remarks also implied that the Islamic Republic was under threat of unprovoked aggression from its Western adversaries a position that the Revolutionary Guards and other hardliners have frequently used to justify an aggressive posture toward passing Western naval vessels and other such attempts at a show of force. In fact, UPI reported on Monday that Rouhanis statements about Irans military buildup were delivered in the context of a ceremony purporting to showcase natively built Iranian military equipment, including a stealth fighter called Qaher F-313. However, the aircraft did not flight during the demonstration, and even a propaganda video released by Iranian state media only showed the plane taxiing on a runway at a slow rate of speed, and appearing unstable while doing so. The lack of a full demonstration underscores the fact that military experts have dismissed the F-313 as a hoax that stands alongside a number of other jury-rigged pieces of military equipment in attempting to portray the Iranian military as being much more advanced than it is. In an editorial published by the New York Post on Sunday, former US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton plainly declared that Iran poses no significant military threat to the United States or its friends and allies. The article went on to emphasize the need to confront the more credible threat of Iranian sponsored terrorist activity, which Bolton said could be accomplished in part by designating and sanctioning the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization. Against the backdrop of nuclear negotiations, the Rouhani administration was previously presented by some Western policymakers as a moderating influence that might challenge the political dominance of the IRGC. But this has not come to pass, as evidenced by the IRGCs increasing influence over the Syrian Civil War and other regional conflicts, as well as its prosecution of a crackdown on activists and journalists inside the Islamic Republic. Insofar as the Rouhani administrations recent, confrontational remarks reflect the talking points of the Revolutionary Guards and familiar hardline figures like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, they can be expected to embolden Western commentators like Bolton, who call for assertive policies toward the Islamic Republic regardless of the precise makeup of its leadership. Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden. Photo: Sonia Recchia/Getty Images A woman director has finally been invited to join Marvels Cinematic Universe, but she wont be doing it solo. After studio head Kevin Feige spent months meeting with directors for the job directing Brie Larson in Captain Marvel, (reportedly many women directors were in the running), the studio has chosen the directing duo Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, according to Variety. The pair is known for the indie Half Nelson (2006), which earned Ryan Gosling his first Oscar nomination, the YA adaptation Its Kind of a Funny Story (2010), and the Ryan Reynolds gambling drama Mississippi Grind (2015). Theyve also directed episodes of the Showtime dramas Billions and The Affair. Meg LeFauve and Nicole Perlman are writing the Captain Marvel script, and the movie is slated for release March 8, 2019. Boden (along with Fleck) made Vultures list of 100 women directors Hollywood should be hiring. Much like one Felicity Porter, Kimmy Schmidt is going to college in New York will she choose Ben or Noel? Who knows! Right now she mostly cares about recess. In season three of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Kimmy tries to get divorced and tries out higher education, Lillian is dealing with a breakup, and Tituss has gone full Lemonade. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt returns to Netflix on May 19. Prepare your thumbs. Before Patton Oswalts wife, Michelle McNamara, died in her sleep in 2016, she was a writer specializing in true-crime reporting. At the time of her death, she was working on a book about the Golden State Killer, a man who had murdered 12 people and raped 45 throughout California over the course of a decade back in the late 1970s and early 1980s. McNamara had told friends that she felt she was close to solving the case, and now 48 Hours is airing a special called The Golden State Killer about the mystery man and the woman who tried to sleuth out his identity. People who knew the victims, McNamaras friends, and Oswalt himself all contribute to the report, set to air on April 22 at 10 p.m. Now comes the time that we have all been anxiously awaiting. For the last time this season (this forever?) it is time to talk about PK, a neck masquerading as an entire person. It is no secret that I think that he is the absolute living worst. He is worse than the threat of nuclear war and drug-resistant gonorrhea. He is worse than beetle larvae covered in Velveeta and the dead animals underneath a hoarders stack of newspapers. He is worse than climate-change deniers and Taylor Armstrongs upper lip implant. Erika called him a nasty person and, you know what, he really is. If you dont believe me, here is a list of things that I have called PK during this season of The Real Panty Wearers of Landing Strip Lane: a thumb without a fingernail the crusty part of your heel before a pedicure a Monster energy drink left out in the sun a dolphin tattoo of a man a pinata full of toenail clippings an anal fissure wearing a pair of camouflage Crocs a soliloquy of belches an overstuffed burrito covered in Steve Bannons rosacea a wet pair of socks you have to put back on a bathroom stall drawing of a penis a size-small condom filled with a million leper dicks a Toblerone covered in pus a broken beer bottle full of sharts I hold these truths to be self-evident and admissible evidence in a court of law. If you didnt believe me, he really proved them during his appearance on this reunion special, where he continues to attack Erika and refuses to apologize for his absolutely shameful comments about her and how she might be giving her bits away and that she has deep-rooted problems in her marriage. PK doesnt know either of these to be true. Yes, she makes raunchy music videos, but she has never claimed to be anything but devoted to her husband. Also, he has never even met her husband, Tom, and doesnt know anything about what their relationship is like. How can he make these assumptions on national television? PK gets very defensive with Erika and Lisar for attacking his character and says he should be forgiven because, All I did was make a bad joke. Bad jokes are one thing, but making jokes that are mean to women and imply things about how they live their lives that are untrue and are based on old, outdated, and misogynistic stereotypes is just disgusting. Telling Ken while the cameras were on that he still wouldnt shag Erika even after he had seen her vagina is disgusting. Grousing that people have called him a pervert and made assumptions about him after he did all of those things is, you guessed it, super disgusting. Im glad Erika told him to get off the stage and I hope that he does. Before we can move on to other disgusting people, Id like to take a moment to congratulate Kyle Richards not only on offering us some hilarious takes on Edens hugs and the way the women of Beverly Hills greet each other, but also on her very successful business. We learn that her Beverly Hills boutique Kyle by Alene Too has now spawned six stores. There is the original Kyle by Alene Too, but also Kyle by Alene Too: The Streets, Kyle by Alene Too: Electric Boogaloo, Kyle by Alene Too: Red, White, and Blonde, Too Alene Too Furious, and Kyle by Alene Six: This Time Its Personal. Anyway, after PK is taken from us we have to deal with Eden Sassoon, a paperweight of a woman, and Kim Richards who, ugh. I cant. I mean, this is a woman who went out on a date with Donald J. Trump and wont even tell us about it. I dont mind that Andy Cohen brought it up, but I will never forgive Lisa Vanderpump for asking Kim if shes seen him naked. I would rather suck PKs pinky toenail than think about Donald Trump naked. Ugh. Now we have to talk about Kim Richards. Ugh. Double ugh. A litany of ugh. A rosary where I say the Ugh Father followed by 10 Ugh Marys. Kim is just a mean, vindictive, awful kind of person and Kyle Richards can hardly even defend her anymore. She just sits there on the couch, biting her finger like its a baby carrot slathered in Sad Valley Ranch dressing from a crudite platter while hoping that no one realizes that the two of them are related even though they have the same last name. Yes, Im talking about when Kim returns the bunny to Lisa Rinna, which is perhaps the biggest dick move Ive ever seen on a reunion special and that includes when Teresa threw Andy Cohen around like a rag doll and when Porsha socked Kenya in the face. Just like Kims cries, lies, denies line, it is so obviously scripted and planned out that it is desperately sad. Kim has been sitting at home for months, dreaming up ways that she could possibly hurt Lisar and she dreamed up this amazing moment with the bunny as she sat in her darkened living room in her robe clutching a mug of hot coffee with hazelnut Coffeemate with both hands and the light bulb went on and she never looked back. The saddest part of the bunny return is that it comes moments after Kim told Lisar and the world that she could see some future for them in their friendship. It was nice, it seemed like the two of them finally broke the cycle of hatred and could move forward. But no, immediately after that, Kim brings out the bunny and we realize that she was being insincere and cynical the whole time. What makes it even worse is her standing in front of Lisa, holding that withered bunny in its wizened, uncrinkled cellophane, giving this whole preamble about how the energy of the bunny was off and she was giving it back to Lisar in the hopes that she could give it back to her some day with good energy and they could move forward. Oh, bullshit. Kim wanted to do something awful to hurt Lisar so that when Lisar stops trying to be friends with her, Kim can say, But I tried! I told her to give me the bunny back! But she doesnt want that bunny back. She just wants Lisar to suffer. Not that Lisar is completely blameless in this whole scenario, but Lisar at least has the strength to stand by all the awful things that shes said and done to Kim. No, owning it does not make it go away, but it is a good step in recognizing the damage that youve done and taking responsibility for how you make a person feel. Kim returning the bunny and saying, Oh, give it back some time is just like when Kim says, I didnt say anything about Lisars husband. Yeah, technically she didnt, but the spirit behind it is clear. In both of those cases, it is as malevolent as a beefy fart after an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet. Lisar is clearly hurt and the cynical part of me thinks that she recognized a moment of hurt and milked it for all it was worth. The uncynical part of me thinks that she must have really felt bad that her olive branch was snapped in half and thrown back at her and the whole time Kim acted as if she was trying to do Lisar a favor. I wish that the world we lived in was the second kind of world, but the first kind of world also plays into it. I dont think Kim got nearly the reaction she thought she was going to get. Everyone there saw it as cruel and calculated, just as Eileen said. I mean, how could they not? Lisa Vanderpump, whose defense of Dorit, PK, and Kim is making her overstay her welcome, told Lisar, Well, she did say to give it back, but, seriously, Lisa? Kim chose to give it back on camera. She knew this moment was coming and she told someone to place the bunny behind the couch where she could get it easily. That bullet was loaded in the chamber before Andy even asked that question and Kim was just dying to shoot. The end of the episode is a great moment, where Kim picks that sad, tired bunny up again and drags it to meet Lisar. Who told Kim to pick up the bunny? That was the worst advice that anyone ever gave Kim and that she ever took and when she asks Lisar if they can talk, Lisar says no and brushes past her. The chill in that soundstage must have been enough to ice all of PKs vodkaRed Bulls for at least the rest of the Trump administration, however long that lasts. For the first time in a long time at a reunion, I cant wait to see what comes next. Richard Simmons. Photo: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for MTV I hope to see you all soon, Richard Simmons says in a new statement to People magazine. Fans of the fitness guru became concerned when he was hospitalized earlier this week, reportedly for severe indigestion. Any news about the weight-loss expert has also received renewed scrutiny ever since the release of producer Dan Taberskis Missing Richard Simmons podcast earlier this spring, in which Simmonss friends and clients express concern for the well-known TV personality, who has reportedly not been seen in public since February 2014. With his statement today, Simmons clearly seeks to both assuage his fans fears, as well as poke fun at the mystery surrounding his decision to withdraw from his previously very public life. Hello to everyone who has shown concern for me and sent their good wishes, he says. You will never know how much it means to me. Arent you sick of hearing and reading about me?! LOL. Simmons continues, Well by now you know that Im not missing, just a little under the weather. Im sure I will be feeling good and back home in a couple of days. His manager Michael Catalano informed ABC News about Simmonss decision to seek medical treatment yesterday based on the advice of the people around him. The Sweatin to the Oldies host now says, This has reminded me that when you need help you cant be afraid to reach out and ask for it. We all think we should always be able to solve our problems all by ourselves and sometimes its just bigger than we are. I reached out and I hope you will too. Im sure there are people in your life who love and care for you and would do anything to help you with the challenges you face. Just knowing you care has already made me feel better. Hope to see you again soon! Last March, Simmons called into the Today show to offer similar reassurances after his friend and former masseur Mauro Oliveira voiced concerns about the weight-loss personalitys well-being to the New York Daily News. No one is holding me in my house as a hostage. I do what I want to do as Ive always done. So people should sort of just believe what I have to say, Simmons said at the time. Because, like, Im Richard Simmons! Recall Robert Pattinson in 2012, the year of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2, the fifth Twilight movie and a knotty exercise in punctuation. That film capped a franchise that had grossed some $3.3 billion worldwide. Pattinson was as familiar a matinee-idol name as any male actor in the world and seemingly trapped forever in his role as the sullen vampire Edward. Five years later, Pattinsons magically gone from Rob Lowe to Robert Mitchum. How did the teen idol reinvent himself as character actor? Here, we take a look at the method behind his makeover. 1. Work With Weirdos Cosmopolis. Post-Twilight, the obvious route wouldve been prestige-TV roles and the tutelage of Academy-approved directors. Instead, Pattinson starred in Cosmopolis, adapted from a Don DeLillo book by David Cronenberg, the Canadian maestro of body horror. As a first sign of Pattinsons intentions, Cosmopolis was remarkably savvy: Its about a disaffected young billionaire standing in the maelstrom of his own existential angst, providing a subtle commentary on the state of Pattinson the actor. Moreover, Cosmopolis gave notice that Pattinson had chops. 2. Work With More Weirdos Pattinson collaborated again with Cronenberg in Maps to the Stars, then with the brutalist Australian filmmaker David Michod in The Rover, with weirdo-supreme Werner Herzog in Queen of the Desert, and with the visually sophisticated Dutchman Anton Corbijn in Life. In 2015s The Childhood of a Leader, Pattinson played dual roles, teaming with the audacious American Brady Corbet, a fellow actor making his feature-film directorial debut. 3. Take Small Roles Remarkably, since Cosmopolis, Pattinson has declined to be the sole lead in a film. Either hes shared top billing, as he does with Dane DeHaan in Life, or hes functioned as a clear supporting No. 2, as he does in The Rover, in which he features prominently but Guy Pearces character clearly drives the story. 4. Take Even Smaller Roles The Childhood of a Leader. In The Childhood of a Leader, Pattinson has what amounts to a cameo, playing a friend of the father of the titular child until his bizarre, dramatic, head-shaven reappearance as a different character later in the film. 5. Be a Team Player The Lost City of Z. Photo: Aidan Monaghan By sidelining himself, Pattinson has conveyed to filmmakers that he lacks the solipsism you might fear in a franchise star, while being interested in developing the very different skills to be a character actor. That effort reaches its apex with the newly released The Lost City of Z, in which Pattinson is a supporting player to Charlie Hunnam but enlivens every scene that hes in, bringing the kind of vagabond energy that makes the most of limited screen time. 6. Your Career-Defining Part? Yeah, Dont Ever Do That Again Most of all, Pattinsons post-Twilight path has been defined by steps taken decisively away from Edward and from films targeted at a teen audience. In both Cronenberg films, he exists at a chilly, alienated remove, a stark contrast to the emotional histrionics required by Twilight. And in Z, he goes into the jungle, in the type of brutal epic that John Huston, as well as Herzog, once mastered. 7. When in Doubt, Copy Kristen Stewart At the same time Pattinsons been accomplishing his makeover, his former co-star and romantic partner Kristen Stewart is completing her own post-Twilight redemption tour. Her recent work with the French auteur Olivier Assayas in Clouds of Sils Maria and Personal Shopper has elicited performances of a quality Pattinson has yet to match. But with links to forthcoming projects from Harmony Korine, Claire Denis, and, yes, Assayas, Pattinson can continue to fashion a bold new career out of the ashes of his old one. *This article appears in the April 17, 2017, issue of New York Magazine. Shannon Purser. Photo: Andrew Toth/Getty Images for American Express Shannon Purser, the breakout name from Stranger Things thanks to her relatively small but bighearted (and jacketed), role as Barb, has come out as bisexual. The 19-year-old actress, who now plays Ethel Muggs on Riverdale, did so in the midst of a Twitter conversation with fans of the CW show about whether a kiss between Veronica and Betty in the shows pilot qualified as queerbaiting, as the show seems to be using their kiss for shock value and appears to have no intention of exploring an actual relationship between the two characters. In a now-deleted tweet, Purser complained about angry beronica stans, and then defended herself against complaints that she was dismissing LGBT fans who were looking for representation on TV. Ships are great, being horrible to people who don't ship your ship is not. Shannon Purser (@shannonpurser) April 18, 2017 And I get that, representation is so powerful and important. But we didn't write the show? We have literally no say in what happens. https://t.co/V4k4m8TgKU Shannon Purser (@shannonpurser) April 18, 2017 Lemme clarify, not angry at beronica stans. Not even angry at rightfully upset beronica stans. Disappointed with hateful people. Peace Shannon Purser (@shannonpurser) April 18, 2017 Later last night, Purser expanded on her thoughts, explaining that she had recently come out as bisexual to her friends and family (Purser tweeted vaguely about her sexuality earlier in April) and that she was still new to the LGBT community. Mazel to Purser, and hooray for another woke teen TV star. Lets hope the woke teens of TV can also help the TV writers rooms and TV execs become a little more aware, too. From Indecent, at the Cort. Photo: Carol Rosegg One of the reasons Shakespeares history plays are the greatest examples of their genre is that he took care to write about events no one could possibly remember. (They were set eons before his own day.) Contemporary playwrights interested in history, especially American history, have a harder task, with only two centuries to exploit and no kings. Still, they keep trying. This spring alone, we have on Broadway three new works that set out to tell essentially true stories of the recent past, only one of which is thoroughly successful. That one is J.T. Rogerss Oslo, in which the secret negotiations that led to the 1993 Israeli-Palestinian accords are used as the framework for a kind of exploded documentary, credibly filling in blanks in the record to make an already surprising story astonishing. Less convincing, though it just won the Pulitzer prize, is Lynn Nottages Sweat, which is based on intensive research into Rust Belt deindustrialization but attenuates its power in the very process of forcing the facts into drama. And now comes Paula Vogels Indecent; taking a huge slice of cultural and social history as its subject, it is in some ways the most ambitious of the three, and in all ways the least convincing. I say that with sorrow and surprise and yet not too much surprise, because I already found Indecent more worthy than fine when I saw it Off Broadway last year. But a second viewing of the play, now pumped up and retuned for Broadway, only makes its problems more obvious. Happily, its good qualities are enhanced as well, including an imaginative staging by Rebecca Taichman, beautiful klezmer-inspired music by Lisa Gutkin and Aaron Halva, and, most fundamentally, the depth of its engagement with a recalcitrant subject. That subject is itself a play: a 1907 Sholem Asch melodrama called Got fun Nekome in the original Yiddish and The God of Vengeance when it wound up on Broadway in 1923. On the simplest level, Indecent traces that plays unlikely history from its first reading in a Jewish salon in Warsaw to its premiere at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin to its international fame and eventual infamy. In a ghostly postscript, Vogel even spins out its trajectory to a performance by a ragtag troupe on the edge of extinction in the Lodz ghetto in 1943. By that point, Asch had disowned the play as a youthful misstep. And truth be told its story of a Jewish man who pretends to piousness in his living room but runs a brothel in his basement is not very convincing, even as melodrama. A recent production by the New Yiddish Rep revealed the clunkiness of its pairings of respectability and disrepute, the obviousness of its nearly mustache-twirling take on hypocrisy. The only part of the play that still seemed fresh and surprising was the part that engendered its infamy and sparked Vogels interest: a romance between the brothel-keepers virginal daughter and one of his prostitutes downstairs. How, more than a hundred years ago, did Asch dare dream up the love scene in which the two girls caress each other and kiss in the rain, not only without prurience or judgment but as a symbol of something pure and beautiful in an ugly, debased world? Not everyone saw it that way at the time; the lesbian kiss that had impressed or perhaps excited European audiences became a scandal on Broadway. Upper East Side rabbis railed from the pulpit against the damage it would do to their project of presenting Jews as paragons of good citizenship. Then, as Vogel demonstrates, the police got involved. Two weeks into its run at a theater on 42nd Street, God of Vengeance was shut down and the cast arrested; they were later found guilty of presenting an indecent, obscene, and immoral play. As Vogel sorts the facts in Indecent, thats the end of that part of the story; next stop, Lodz. But that wasnt the end. The company, after posting bail, actually returned to the theater in time for the matinee, and the verdict was in any case overturned on appeal. (A timeline provided to critics outlines these developments.) Of course its more dramatic as Vogel presents it onstage, but the omission is one crack among many in the storytelling that together lead to an atmosphere of unreliability even if you dont have a cheat sheet. Another is the narrator, Lemml, a humble everyman character invented by Vogel to hold the rangy story together. Lemml is by chance in the room when Got fun Nekome is first read in Warsaw, then, transfigured by his first taste of theater, he becomes its stage manager in Europe and New York. In 1938, he returns to Poland an unlikely reverse migration Vogel tries but fails to motivate and joins the doomed troupe in Lodz. It is that troupe, called the dead troupe in the script, that performs Indecent, apparently from beyond the grave. I have a problem with plays, however well-intentioned, that hitch their wagon of importance to the Holocaust. Presumably Vogel connects the notion of literary indecency to that of totalitarian states, but Indecent kept setting off my category error alarms. The Holocaust material feels Holocaust adjacent, not integral, and though God of Vengeance was apparently staged in Lodz, the performances there had nothing to do with the rest of the history of that play that Vogel dramatizes. For this Taichman must share the blame, as she shares a created by credit. (She first worked on this material as her directing thesis at Yale, where Vogel later taught playwriting.) Her staging, full of haunting touches and clever perspectival high jinks, fudges the distinctions among the 40-some characters played by the seven actors and thus seems to invite us to imagine relevance that doesnt exist. (The three fine musicians shape-shift, too, but less confusingly.) In preparing the show for a theater that holds something like eight times the audience of the Vineyards intimate space, Taichman has also upped the cute-Jew ante well past my comfort level. Even the cellphone announcement is spoken in an oy-could-you-just-die Yiddishe Momme accent. And Vogel has done little to trim the tired jokes (are we still doing lesbian-thespian shtick?) or rethink the scene-setting shortcuts (All the German intelligentsia can talk about right now is Dr. Freud! Its the 20th century!) that suggest her lack of interest in the subtleties of real behavior. Fair enough; Vogel has never been a practitioner or exponent of naturalism. Her best plays, like the Pulitzer winner How I Learned to Drive, create a theatrical world in which ideas and imagery take precedence over characters, and conflicts usually worked out in argument are instead explored in structure. That style may simply not suit a history play; though it is nominally the subject of Indecent, we never (for instance) get much of an insight into God of Vengeance. (Its violent ending is repeated many times, often for laughs.) And I would submit that the Holocaust in particular cannot yet be treated abstractly or aesthetically. Still, Indecent gets one thing perfectly right. The rain scene between the two girls, which we also see repeatedly, is still, after 107 years, something shocking and sacred and character-driven. Most history is. Indecent is at the Cort Theater. Prince. Photo: Vince Bucci/Getty Images To mark the first anniversary of Princes death, a batch of the prolific pop stars unreleased music will become available for digital purchase on Friday, April 21. Record company Rogue Music Alliance is independently releasing the six-song EP Deliverance, which features tracks recorded between 2006 and 2008. The EP is currently available for preorder on iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon, but fans can get a taste of what theyre buying with the title track, which is currently up on Apple Music (hear a preview below). According to a press release, The majority of all sales of Deliverance will benefit Princes estate. A disc version will hit stores nationwide on June 2. Update, April 19, 2017, at 9:45 a.m.: As is typically the case with all things Prince, this Deliverance EP is reportedly already caught up in legal controversy. According to St. Louis, Minnesotas KSTP, both Princes estate and Paisley Park preemptively filed a federal lawsuit against Rogue Music Alliance engineer George Ian Boxill, even before the EP was announced and Deliverance went up on Apple, claiming his release of these unpublished tracks would be unauthorized under a confidentiality agreement they say Boxill signed. The lawsuit also accuses Boxill of exploiting Princes music for his own personal gain by allegedly refusing to return the master tracks, which Princes estate estimates to be worth more than $75,000. Whether or not the EP will still be released on Friday, as planned, remains to be seen. Will Smith. Photo: Theo Wargo/Getty Images Will Smith might grant your three wishes as the genie in Disneys forthcoming live-action Aladdin. Deadline reports that Smith is in early talks to join Guy Ritchies nonlinear Aladdin.* Earlier this year, Smith was courted for a role in Tim Burtons live-action Dumbo, but ultimately passed (Colin Farrell is now rumored for the role that ostensibly would have been Smiths). While Aladdin is in the early stages of casting, think of the possibilities if Smith moves into the lamp once occupied by Robin Williams! Disneys remake kingdom requires Friend Like Me in they key of Big Willie style as soon as possible. *An earlier version of this story misidentified Guy Pearce as Aladdins director. Guy Ritchie is directing the live-action adaptation. The election process has been described by many as a sham and this is because the process does not conform to international standards. In Iran, the Guardian Council oversees the elections. That means that it first of all approves who even runs for presidency. Election law also stipulates that candidates have to adhere to, as well as believe in, Islam and the sacred system of Islamic Republic in practice. They must also be loyal to the Constitution and the absolute rule of the country. In democratic elections there is an opposition, however in Iranian elections, the opposition is blocked by the Guardian Council. Also blocked are the candidates who have been in disagreements with the Supreme Leader. The President of Iran can always be overruled by the Supreme Leader. In fact, it is the Supreme Leader that has absolute power, making the powers of the President rather limited. Former President of the Islamic Republic from 1997 to 2005, Mohammad Khatami, said that the role of presidency is basically just a facilitator of the regime. Although there are two factions in the Iranian government, they cannot be differentiated in the way we can differentiate candidates in Western elections. Both factions are criminal, terrorist, and have the common aim of supressing the Iranian people. Both sides have been involved in crimes against humanity and abuses of human rights. The 2015 nuclear deal is something that will affect the presidential elections because it is a way that President Trump can enforce sanctions on the country. Iran had the upper hand while the Obama administration was in place because it was able to get away with a number of malign activities, safe in the knowledge that Obama was so desperate to have the nuclear deal that he would not dare to do or say anything that would jeopardise it. With the arrival of a new US President who is not willing to let the Islamic Republic continue its murderous rampage across the Middle East, the regime is growing concerned. It has put so much effort into supressing opposition and invested heavily in killing, torturing or holding captive members of the PMOI/MEK. It was hugely destabilising for the regime to know that there was an international effort to transfer thousands of opposition members away from Camp Liberty and Ashraf to countries in Europe. The two main candidates for next months elections are Hassan Rouhani (the current president) and Ebrahim Raisi. Hassan Rouhani has had direct involvement in the decision making of the Iranian regimes crimes, including the most recent suppression of the people and sending children to war to fight on behalf of Iran. He has failed to condemn the human rights abuses that take place on a daily basis and he has boasted about being able to deceive other countries during the nuclear deal negotiations. His opponent, Raisi, has also made a career out of pursuing the regimes malign policies. The most significant act he was involved with was the 1988 massacre of tens of thousands of political prisoners. He was part of the so-called death commission that oversaw all the executions. Shockingly, juveniles were executed as well and pregnant women. He has played a part in a harrowing crime against humanity and should be punished, not chosen to be president. So it is clear that no matter what the outcome of the election is, the candidates have been selected by the Guardian Council and are as corrupt as each other. The dire situation of the country will never change unless the international community intervenes. 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. The old Cotton Belt railroad bridge over the Brazos River near downtown could attract bicycle riders, diners, nature lovers and others wanting an up-close look at a part of Wacos past. About 40 people attended a public meeting Tuesday night to offer their views on how the iron truss bridge that now belongs to the nonprofit City Center Waco could best meet its potential and complement the continued development along the riverfront. Ideas floated during the 90-minute session hosted by City Center Waco executive director Megan Henderson included making the old bridge a gathering place that might feature dining establishments, benches, covered sitting areas and attractive lighting. One person suggested it might serve as the catalyst for creation of a train service that would roll around the central city, though another attendee described that idea as far-fetched. Several observed that the bridge needs only tweaking and should accommodate residents and visitors wanting to run, walk or simply relax while watching the river roll and enjoying the sites of downtown. At minimum, Henderson expects the bridge would be renovated to be safe for pedestrian crossings and tie in with ramps to the new $5.7 million riverwalk section the city of Waco is building on the east side of the river. When the segment is finished, a lighted hike-and-bike trail will run from Brazos Park East to McLane Stadium. Trent Dougherty, a philosophy professor at Baylor University and president of the Waco Bicycle Club, said putting the historic bridge to use establishes Waco as belonging to the culture of preservation as opposed to the throwaway culture. Dougherty said bikers would appreciate the creation of a designated lane for their use as part of the bridge modification. Mitch DeLaRosa, 56, kicked off public comment suggesting that the bridge would hold little appeal as merely a place to cross the river in 105-degree heat. DeLaRosa suggested it needs an attraction that might include a restaurant. Ryan Helm, 31, who owns and operates Waco River Safari, said the bridge could serve as the site of a floating dock to accommodate the growing number of watercraft using the river. Connection to past The development should reflect the bridges history in its new design, said Ron Miller, 70, a Lorena resident who serves as chairman of the Texas Train Festival in Temple. Dont forget. This is a railroad bridge, and I think it could serve as a connection to Wacos past, Miller said. I think development should include a railroad theme. The bridge also could serve area businesses well. What sounds really lovely to me is walking or riding a bike along the river and across the bridge while eating ice cream, said Julia Meek, who operates the Pokey Os ice cream truck downtown. Henderson said a committee assigned the task of planning the bridges development is scheduled to make a decision on the concept within three months. A 12-month period for fundraising will follow, and then a detailed design will take shape. Henderson asked people at the public meeting to write down their suggestions on a piece of paper so they could be posted to Center City Wacos Facebook page. The Wallace Group has prepared three concepts for the bridges transformation, and drawings were on display Tuesday. City Center Waco received the bridge last year as a donation from developer Rick Sheldon and his wife, Lisa. The bridge was built in 1907 but had been abandoned for decades when the Sheldons bought it in 2016. A vision Sheldon depicted through an animated video would make the bridge more than a pedestrian connection. The video, prepared by the Wallace Group, shows a festival walkway along Mary Avenue that crosses University Parks Drive and extends to the bridge. The bridge itself would be widened and furnished with benches, dramatic lighting, landscaping and concession stands. Henderson has said that vision would cost an estimated $7 million, which would probably require significant fundraising or private partnerships in addition to public money. Near the bridge, businessmen Todd Behringer and Shane Turner are creating a $9 million retail center at May Avenue and University Parks Drive, while other investors are about to open the Mary Avenue Market, an 11,000-square-foot food and retail center, at Sixth Street. A court date for McLennan County Commissioner Will Jones has been postponed because the prosecutor in the case is dealing with an unexpected health issue. Jones, Precinct 3 commissioner, had been set Friday to plead guilty or no contest to a Class A misdemeanor charge of offering a gift to a public servant. However, Assistant Attorney General Amy Cadwell asked that the hearing be postponed until May 5, officials in 54th State District Court said. Visiting State District Judge James Morgan is hearing the case because Judge Matt Johnson recused himself. Jones, 45, was arrested last month for making an improper offer to reimburse his Republican primary opponents filing fee in exchange for his opponent dropping out of the race. In an plea agreement between Cadwell and Jones attorneys, Jim Dunnam, Thomas West and Jeff Kearney, Jones is expected to be placed on deferred adjudication probation for one year. He also is expected to be fined and ordered to perform community service, officials said. Dunnam declined comment Wednesday about the case. The attorney generals office agreed to prosecute Jones after McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna recused his office and asked the Texas Rangers to investigate possible bribery charges against Jones. Re-elected in November Jones was re-elected to a second term in November. The charge stems from an offer he made to reimburse Ben Matus the cost of his $1,250 filing fee if Matus would drop out of the race. Jones admitted in January 2016 he made the offer to Matus, saying he didnt consider it wrong. He called it a simple business transaction. Jones defeated Matus, an auto repair instructor at Texas State Technical College, in the primary with 56 percent of the vote and won 83 percent of the vote in the November general election against Libertarian challenger David Reichert. A Dallas attorney representing a biker arrested in the Twin Peaks shootout fired off a series of motions Tuesday, including one to quash the indictment that includes an illustration of a ham sandwich. Clint Broden, who represents former Scimitar member Matthew Clendennen, is asking 54th State District Judge Matt Johnson to order District Attorney Abel Reyna to identify specific evidence his office intends to use against Clendennen contained in what Broden describes as a three-terabyte document dump of materials collected against 155 bikers indicted. Broden contends the sheer volume of materials released by prosecutors to defense attorneys, almost all of which appears to have absolutely no relation to Mr. Clendennen, amounts to searching for a needle in a haystack. While the state cannot be faulted for complying with the Morton Act, due process requires it to go further, Broden wrote. Indeed, this court should not endorse a method of document production that merely gives the requesting party access to a document dump, with an instruction to the party to go fish. The Michael Morton Act requires prosecutors to provide defense attorneys with evidence in the case. Reyna did not return calls Tuesday. Broden claims it is not possible for defense attorneys to review all the information provided in a timely and efficient manner. Clendennen, of Hewitt, is set for trial Oct. 9. In another motion, Broden says that despite the massive document dump by prosecutors, they did not provide the discovery in Clendennens case as soon as practical. Brodens motion quotes a transcript from the hearing in which Reyna says he instructed Chavez in detail to carefully read over the warrant affidavit and to make sure he could swear that every element was true and correct. Chavez obtained the arrest warrants for the 177 bikers. Chavez testified he never spoke to Reyna that night. Manuel Chavez offered plainly contradictory testimony to the extent that, if Mr. Reynas testimony is truthful, Mr. Chavezs testimony must be perjurious, Brodens motion states. In a related motion, Broden seeks to suppress what he calls the fruit of the unconstitutional arrest. Broden alleges that Chavez did not have personal knowledge of facts included in the identical arrest warrant affidavits used to arrest the bikers. Finally, Broden seeks to quash the indictment against Clendennen, punctuating his request with an illustration of a ham sandwich and a citation from a New York case in which a judge is quoted as saying a grand jury would indict a ham sandwich. The grand jury gave little consideration to each of the bikers cases it indicted, Broden claims, and returned indictments that alleged 10 bikers, not nine, were killed at Twin Peaks. The grand jury actually indicted Mr. Clendennen, and many of the other motorcyclists indicted on Nov. 10, 2015, for causing the death of William Anderson despite the fact that Mr. Anderson was not killed at Twin Peaks. Mr. Anderson actually died in a motorcycle accident in the state of Nebraska several months after the Twin Peaks incident, Brodens motion says. In short, there was no more evidence that Mr. Clendennen was involved in the death of William Anderson that there was evidence that he was involved in the death of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, according to the motion. Forest R. Bloodworth Aug. 21, 1942 - April 16, 2017 Forest Bloodworth, 74, of Gatesville passed away on Sunday, April 16, 2017. Funeral Services will be at 11 a.m., Thursday, April 20, at Scott's Funeral Home with burial following at Restland Cemetery. Visitation will be from 4 to 6 p.m., Wednesday, at the funeral home. Forest was born on August 21, 1942 in Hardin, KY, to the late James and Dola Rhodes Bloodworth. He graduated from South Marshall High School in Marshall, KY. After high school, he attended Murray State University before being drafted into the United States Army. He served from 1964-1966. Forest married Doloma Lee Chappell on April 13, 1966. They were married for almost 33 years before her death in March of 1999. Forest and Doloma had one son together, Kyle Bloodworth, and he was a stepfather "Dad" to Doloma's children, Monty and Beverly Marlin. Forest worked as a fabricator and a welder for many years. He also drove a big rig truck for several years and he enjoyed it very much. He eventually settled in Gatesville and worked for T.D.C.J. until his retirement in 2005. Forest enjoyed many things throughout his life. He had a passion for playing the guitar and wasn't just a player, he excelled in his musical ability and knowledge. Forest had the ability to bless all those who heard him play. As a child, he enjoyed hunting, fishing, all types of outdoor activities, and was no stranger to guns. He was a Christian that was raised in the Church of Christ and taught all his children about the Lord. Forest had the fortune of knowing and falling in love with Lupe Retana and her girls later in life. They met from working together at T.D.C.J. and began dating in 2004 to eventually marrying in 2009. The last 13 years, they brought so much joy to each other. They loved to take spontaneous trips and sometimes with no destination in mind, but were always on the lookout for a Waffle House. Forest was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Doloma Bloodworth; and a daughter, Beverly Lynn Weidemann. Forest is survived by his wife, Guadalupe Bloodworth; children, Monty Marlin and wife, Jana, Kyle Bloodworth and wife, Regina, Elsa Tindell and husband, Aaron, and Leslie "The Favorite" Heidi Ortega and husband, Nicholas; 12 grandchildren; one great-granddaughter; and his beloved dog, Millie. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Scott and White Hospice, 2401 S. 31st St., Temple, TX 76508 or to the Activity Fund at Hillside Medical Lodge, 300 S. Hwy 36 Bypass, Gatesville, TX 76528. Paul was born in Victoria, Texas on January 25, 1930 to Pablo and Guadalupe Villareal where he lived for 7 years. In 1937 the family moved to Edroy, Texas where he attended school in Odem. In 1951 he joined the United States Army at the age of 21 during the Korean Conflict and received an Honorable Discharge on December 31, 1952. After returning to Edroy, he met the love of his life, Dora Marin, whom he married on September 5, 1954 and lived there for 36 years. Paul and his wife Dora had 3 children, Diana, Fernando and Pablo "Paul" Jr. Paul and his family were active members of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church and the American G.I. Form. He started working as a truck driver for COOP/ Farm Land Industries driving an 18 wheeler and owned a small T.V. repair business. In 1973 he moved to Waco, Texas with his family due to a job transfer. On December 1, 1986 he retired from his occupation as a truck driver serving over 30 years. After his retirement he spent much of his time attending the many schools, musical and other activities where his children and grandchildren were involved. His favorite pastime was going to the movies and on Saturday morning eating breakfast at McDonald's. He remained a devoted member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church until his death. The 100-day mark of the Trump presidency is fast approaching, and his aides fear the media narrative will depict his historically awful lack of accomplishments with highly unflattering levels of accuracy. But dont tell that to President Trump. He knows the real problem is the news media wont acknowledge how terrific the start to his presidency has been in comparison with all his loser predecessors. A new Gallup poll out Monday, however, strongly suggests an increasing number of Americans just dont believe Trumps spin about his presidency anymore. It finds that only 45 percent of Americans think Trump keeps his promises, down from 62 percent in February, an astonishing slide of 17 points. This drop has been 11 points among Republicans, 9 points among conservatives. Meanwhile, among Americans overall, there has been a 7-point drop in those who think Trump can bring about the change this country needs, from 53 percent to 46 percent, and a 6-point drop in those who think that Trump is honest and trustworthy, from 42 percent to 36 percent. Trumps failure to fulfill his promises is worrying to Republicans, too. The Washington Post reports that Republicans, eyeing the 2018 elections, are fretting that Trump has achieved no major legislative victory, which cuts against his promise to execute beautiful deals in Washington. As GOP pollster Frank Luntz puts it, Trump and Republicans must post a record of accomplishment because if you dont, no rhetoric will fix it. Meanwhile, Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., commits full-blown heresy, warning: We cant blame this on Barack Obama. We have to look in the mirror. Its important, however, to drill down with more precision on what it really means that Trump is failing to keep his promises. There are several ways this is occurring, and they are distinct from one another. First, Trump is explicitly adopting policy goals that contradict black-letter promises (the GOP health care plan that he championed would roll back coverage for 24 million people and deeply cut Medicaid, after he vowed insurance for everybody and promised not to cut Medicaid). Second, he is failing to unite the party to accomplish generally promised goals. Republicans have yet to pass anything that can satisfy the baseline need to be described as repeal and replace. Third, other general promises may be in the process of running aground, or just disintegrating, now that the difficulties of translating them into detailed policy are proving that the original promises were unrealistic, rooted in bad faith or outright fantasies. The travel ban is blocked in part because the true motives behind the measure combined with the lack of any serious rationale for it put it in legal jeopardy. Ambitious tax reform may founder due to GOP divisions over specifics. The promise of massive infrastructure spending may shrivel into an unambitious, cronyist tax-break-and-privatization scheme. The bluster about China and trade and NATO and the Export-Import Bank is all getting retracted in the face of factual reality. The vow not to touch entitlements cannot be squared with the ideological imperatives of congressional Republicans, so it has quietly been put in a drawer. Trump is generally moving away from the economic populism that was supposed to make him different from other Republicans and is embracing a more orthodox GOP governing approach (while doubling down on Trumpisms nativism and xenophobia). Meanwhile, that approach is itself proving to have been based on unrealistic promises. Many congressional Republicans are not actually willing to roll back coverage for millions while deeply cutting taxes for the rich, it turns out; GOP fiscal priorities are deeply unpopular, and as I believe we will discover during the coming budgetary and tax reform debates mathematically unworkable. Many pundits are ascribing a number of Trumps recent reversals to a learning process, in which Trump is discovering that our challenges are much more complicated than he originally thought and is evolving accordingly. But as Brian Beutler points out in The New Republic, what all this really demonstrates is that the original slate of false promises and assumptions is failing him. But at bottom, this all originates with the increasingly undeniable reality that much of what he campaigned on was based on one sort of lie or another. WOODCLIFF Sanitary Improvement District No. 8 of Saunders County is working on a project that should be a long-term solution to erosion issues in Woodcliff. The housing development along the Platte River in northeast Saunders County has been dealing with erosion issues since 1981, said JEO Consulting Group Project Manager Jon Peterson. The first attempt at stopping river bank erosion took place in 1981, but other construction projects took place in 1985, 1993, 1996 and again in 2012, Peterson said. SID Charman Lonnie Mahrt said the district has been working toward the current project for at least the past two years. Current cost estimates for the project are $630,000, but that does not include engineering, mitigation or future operation and maintenance. SID No. 8 will be asking the Lower Platte North Natural Resources District for up to 50 percent assistance on the cost of construction. Mahrt said the remaining funds will come from the SIDs sinking fund. If the NRD does not approve to cost share, the SID would be looking at other funding sources and possibly a bond issue. The construction project will place 19 bendway weirs along the almost two miles of riverfront property that is disappearing at the rate of a foot per year in some places. The bendway weirs are low lying rock jetties angled slightly upstream that will push the low flow channel away from the bank, according to the project summary. Larger rock jetties have been part of past projects, but the smaller jetties will work better, Peterson said. Peterson said the worst erosion is taking place on the northern side, where the river and community meet up. Some of those residents have lost 20 or more feet of riverbank in the last 15 to 20 years. In addition to the weirs and other rocks placed in critical areas of the bank, cuttings from live willow trees will be placed along the bank. Some of the willow poles placed along the bank will grow willow trees through a process called adventitious rooting, Peterson said. According to the project summary, there will be approximately 6,000 tons of riprap and rock, equating nearly 250 side-dump semi loads. However, none of the project can begin until the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approves a 404 permit, Mahrt said. Mahrt said they hope to get approval from the Corps in the next month and then approach the NRD for cost sharing. The soonest construction could start would be the fall of 2017, per Nebraska Game and Parks and U.S. Fish and Wildlife, due to environmental issues that construction would impact. PLATTSMOUTH The Cass County, Nebraska sheriff's office, recently donated an IES Interactive Use-of-Force Training Simulator to the Dover Tenn. Police Dept. Cass County Deputy Wes Tuttle delivered the simulator to Dover last week. According to Police Chief Kim Wallace, Cass County and the Center for Rural Development based out of Hazard, Ky., both had a hand in bringing the simulator to Dover. Rural Development originally gave the system to Sheriff William Brueggemann's office in Cass County, who in turn gave it to Wallace for use in Dover. Cass County recently purchased an upgraded system. "It's all about rural helping rural," Wallace said. Federally paid training took place in Somerset, KY, and the different sheriff's offices share the systems. Wallace said she and Brueggemann met when they both served on the Small Rural Law Enforcement Board. "Once a year we would get together and talk about small rural law enforcement issues," she said. Dover Police Officer Lee Miller helped with setting up the system. After some issues they learned the infrared camera in the meeting room was interfering with calibrating the laser system. Once they moved where the projector was pointing, it started working. Cumberland City Police Chief Jason Gillespie came to learn the system so his officers could use it for training as well. Tuttle said, when asked about different scenarios, "You could in fact contact IES about different scenarios they could send to you. You could even take and make your own scenario. If you have a business that would let you act out a scenario in their business, and you have someone video it, you send it to IES and they will put in on a CD for you, or you may be able to put it on a CD yourself to use for scenarios for your specific area." Tuttle also said the system has a simulated baton, mace, and a shotgun or rifle could be added. "Actually, there is a pistol, a Sig Sauer, that's an actual working firearm, you can take the laser barrel out and put a real one in and use it. You can also get CO2 cartridges with a 'felt recoil system' to get an actual recoil when you shoot with the laser." Wallace said the sheriff's office and surrounding agencies would also be able to use the simulator. It can be used for training in active shooter scenarios, armed disturbances, burglaries and robberies, disorderly conduct, domestic, emotionally disturbed people, patrol, probation, a total of approximately 100 different scenarios. Software can be added for additional scenarios. Tuttle said he'd been using the simulator since 2009, "Even though you know it's a simulator, it can still get your adrenaline going," he said, "It's a cheap way to train too, because you're not using ammo. The laser and guns require a battery, and recognizes verbal commands." Gillespie said, "It was extremely generous of them to bring this over to us." Wallace said they will still have to go to the firing range for state mandated training but added, "We are very fortunate to have been given a piece of technology that will be beneficial to improve the officers firearms skills." WATERFORD is marking time with a new museum in the Viking Triangle. The Irish Museum of Time is the first of its kind in the... Valentines Day is a time to reflect and appreciate the relationships in our lives. However, it can also be a time to reflect on... THE average rent in Waterford has now soared to 1,148, up 102% from its lowest point. The increase in rents around the country reflects an... THE road to the classroom is to be made safer and easier for four Waterford primary schools. They have been selected for inclusion in... THIS June, Waterford will see its first Pride march in over a decade as part of the Pride of the Deise festival. Taking place over... Waterford is set for a summer like no other on several fronts after two years of Covid-19 restrictions. With the countys hurlers triumphing in the... ... but you will need to show proof of jab get into bars STUDENTS heading to college in September will not have to be vaccinated... THERE was a great response to this years Spring Clean initiative in Waterford, as over 50 groups from the county registered to get down and... WATERFORD is the most sunny city in Ireland and the county is second in the sunshine league, being pipped to first place by our... Nothing screams modern politics like making a long-term plan and sticking to it. Yep, once we're on the right track, that's where we stay. And nowhere, outside of who is in the prime minister's office, is this more clear than in infrastructure planning where the priorities for multibillion-dollar investments aren't changed more than once, or maybe twice, a decade or electoral cycle, whichever is shorter. Urban Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher. Credit:Louise Kennerley Paul Fletcher, who is Urban Infrastructure Minister for the minute, was keen to impress upon the audience at a CEDA event in Melbourne that a long-term plan was being followed through by the government as it considered where to sod-turn taxpayer money. He pointed to the formulation of urban rail plans together with the state governments as an example of how the Coalition was all about setting a direction and staying the course. Outback Steakhouse in Fairy Meadow, Wollongong, where former employee Kiara Robinson says she was underpaid. Credit:Janie Barrett After she resigned, Ms Robinson received a "statement of attainment" as part of a Certificate III in Hospitality. It says she attained seven units including working effectively with others, working in hospitality and in a customer service environment. It also covered units in safe and hygienic food handling, sourcing information on the hospitality industry and showing social and cultural sensitivity. Ms Robinson was paid $11.80 per hour, about half the adult casual rate of $21.94 which Mr Rorris said she was entitled to for serving food and alcohol (as a level 2 employee under the Restaurant Award) in 2014. "Let's be clear, a full-time university student does not knowingly sign a three-year traineeship contract as a waitress just so that she can cut her wages in half," Mr Rorris said. "All of this is happening under the noses of the government and its 'Smart and Skilled' training system that has allowed private training companies to use taxpayer's money. It makes me pretty angry that they were underpaying me and getting incentives from the government at the same time. Kiara Robinson "We are calling for an independent inquiry into the traineeship system and mounting evidence of exploitation that is emerging." Icon Restaurants Australia, which trades as Outback Steakhouse, still uses a 2002 wage agreement which says an employee who enters a traineeship is paid at "the minimum rate" for the duration of a traineeship. It also says a "trainee will undertake an average of 20 per cent of time in training" and their pay is to be reduced by this same percentage. Her employment records show that Ms Robinson was registered as a trainee from January 20, 2014 when she started working for the Outback Steakhouse Fairy Meadow. However, her training contract was not signed until March 7 that year. She was paid at the same minimum rate of $11.80 per hour from January 20 and after she started training. The traineeship contract her employer completed and signed says Ms Robinson was working 21 hours a week and that she was one of 16 trainees working at the restaurant. According to the restaurant's wage agreement, the 21 hours should have been matched with an average 4.2 hours of training per week. But according to her pay records, Ms Robinson was only paid for about 388.5 hours in total for the 37 weeks she was employed. This means she worked an average of 10.5 hours per week and not the 21 hours stated on her training contract. Based on the actual number of hours she worked, Ms Robinson should have spent a total of 77.7 hours in training about two hours per week. Ms Robinson said she and about 15 other employees were called into a room and rushed into signing documents to enrol in a training scheme. She had no idea it was a three-year traineeship. "They said there is an opportunity to get some training and quite a few of us thought no worries, no cost to us," she said. "It was pretty rushed. We weren't told anything about the traineeship and how it related to our pay." Another former Outback Steakhouse employee who did not want her name published told Fairfax Media she attended only three or four training sessions during her 15 months of employment at Outback Steakhouse Fairy Meadow. She was paid the same rate as Ms Robinson for serving food and alcohol. "Basically nothing was taught to us," she said. "I didn't find it useful to our job at all. "It was a workbook questions and some diagrams. It was theory, but didn't cover anything we did in a practical sense." Mr Rorris said the traineeship should never have been approved because Ms Robinson worked an average of half the 21 hours in her traineeship contract and because she had no regular hours of work. The Department of Industry which administers the training subsidy under the state government's Smart and Skilled vocational training program said anyone doing a part-time traineeship must be offered regular employment and training each week, at least a minimum of 15 hours per week for traineeships of less than two years and 21 hours per week for traineeships of two years or more. As a full-time university student, Ms Robinson now questions how she was enrolled in the government-subsidised traineeship. "I wasn't getting enough hours of work to be a trainee anyway," she said. "It makes me pretty angry that they were underpaying me and getting incentives from the government at the same time. "They didn't explain it to us." Ms Robinson said she felt exploited by the restaurant. "We were just a bunch of 18-year-olds in our first job," she said. "I don't think we should have been expected to know what we were getting into and I definitely think they took advantage of that." A full page of her "NSW Apprenticeship/Traineeship Training Plan" marked Part 2 which lists formal training details is blank and Part 3, which should outline further details of her training, is missing. Mr Rorris has called for the suspension of all new hospitality industry traineeships run through private registered training organisations until an extensive audit of existing traineeships is undertaken. NSW Teachers Federation president Maurie Mulheron said its state executive carried a resolution on April 4 in support of the campaign to stop the exploitation involving private registered training organisations. It supports the Labour Council's call for an independent inquiry into the NSW traineeship system. "The federation believes what has been uncovered may just be the tip of the iceberg," Mr Mulheron said. "Federation is concerned that there may be significant numbers of school-aged children as well as university students forced to sign documents resulting in them being underpaid." A spokeswoman for Outback Steakhouse confirmed some of its employees participate in training courses through a registered training organisation and Apprentice Support Australia. "It is the responsibility of each individual employee to complete course requirements to secure qualifications," she said. "Employees remuneration is not discounted if they are enrolled in a traineeship and fully complies with Outback Steakhouse's Certified Agreement. This is lodged under Icon Restaurants Australia Pty Limited. "Fair treatment of all employees is core to the business and Outback Steakhouse encourages employees with concerns about their pay or training to contact the company directly." The company which delivers training to Outback Steakhouse employees said Ms Robinson did not complete the training program but it "conducted an appropriate amount of training for her program". The training company rejected the claim that Ms Robinson only undertook about two sessions of training saying this was "not accurate based on her progress through the program". "It is our practice to provide all trainees with a full training plan," the company said. "At the completion of her units, Ms Robinson signed her training log confirming she had completed all hours necessary." The training company did not reply to Fairfax Media's requests for a copy of the logbook and the actual number of hours Ms Robinson completed as part of her training. When Mr Rorris asked for copies of Ms Robinson's records, the training company replied in an email on March 22 that it was only required to keep documents for two years and the "records are no longer available". The Australian Business Apprenticeships Centre provided Ms Robinson with a copy of her training plan which it said the training company had provided. A spokesman for the NSW Department of Industry said Training Services NSW is currently monitoring the performance of training providers associated with the company. The providers received state government subsidies through its Smart and Skilled program. "Stringent quality controls govern the delivery of training subsidised by Smart and Skilled and protection for students is our absolute priority," the department spokesman said. "All Smart and Skilled training providers are subject to regular monitoring and review and we actively encourage students to contact Training Services NSW at any time if they are not satisfied with the training being delivered. One hundred and two years on from the immortal landing by Australians at Anzac Cove, it is well and truly time that we grew up about Anzac Day. That doesn't mean we stop commemorating the sacrifices made by our service men and women for our benefit. However, it does mean we need to abandon some of the myths which stand in the way of a proper appreciation of our history. We can be proud of our Anzacs without diminishing the reputations of others, writes Bill O'Chee. Without doubt, the biggest myth is that so many Australians died in the First World War - of the 331,000 Australians who served overseas, over 60,000 were killed - because British officers were incompetent, or worse still, indifferent to the fate of "colonials". This is not only untrue, but grossly unfair. Without doubt, there were some generals who were better than others, but as the war went on, the poor generals were replaced, and by war's end, the quality of British and Australian leadership was largely very good. That is part of why we won. Labor frontbencher Andrew Leigh has advocated for a transition from stamp duty to land tax, claiming the current system hurts younger and poorer first home buyers while entrenching inequality. In a wide ranging speech at the Crawford School of Public Policy on Thursday, the shadow assistant treasurer will also take aim at the education sector, suggesting experiments should be run on children and schools to make sure that resources are spent in the most effective way. He will also advocate for a new public holiday every election year called "Deliberation Day" to where citizens debate their political future in schools and town halls around the country. Dr Leigh's comments on housing come a month after the Parliamentary Budget Office costed a Greens proposal that would kill stamp duty and replace it with a more efficient yearly land tax, saving home buyers from upfront charges of up to $40,000 in Sydney and $55,000 in Melbourne, while eventually delivering the government billions of dollars. The boss of the Defence Department, Dennis Richardson, will step down next month after a five decade public service career. He will leave his Canberra office on May 12, two days before his 70th birthday. Dennis Richardson has spent 48 years in public service roles and national security. Credit:Andrew Meares Respected former Communications Department chief Drew Clarke has also drawn the curtain on a distinguished public service career with his resignation as Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Mr Richardson has led the mammoth department since 2012. His tenure at Defence was part of a 48-year contribution to public service and national security, Mr Turnbull said on Wednesday morning. For hundreds of years, biologists knew of the giant shipworm only from shell fragments and a handful of dead specimens. Those specimens, despite being preserved in museum jars, had gone to mush. Still, the shipworm's scattered remains made an outsized impression on biologists. Its 91-centimetre-long tubular shells - the shipworm isn't technically a worm but a bivalve - were so striking that Swedish taxonomist Carl Linnaeus included the animal in his book that introduced the scientific naming system "Systema Naturae." And yet no one could get their hands on a living example of the giant shipworm, or Kuphus polythalamia. Unlike with other shipworms, named because they ate their way into the sides of wooden boats, no one knew where the giant shipworm lived. "It's sort of the unicorn of molluscs," Margo Haygood, a marine microbiologist at the University of Utah, told The Washington Post. The habitat of the world's longest clam is a mystery no longer. As Haygood and her colleagues reported Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the search for the giant shipworm has come to an end. A killer remains on the run on Wednesday morning after reportedly stabbing another man to death at a Northbridge home on Tuesday. The man, described as light skinned, is believed to have fled the area on Newcastle Street on foot around 1pm. Police would like to speak with 38-year-old man Daniel Carrington, also known as Daniel 'Macka' McKenzie in relation to the incident. Major crime detectives returned to the apartment complex on Wednesday morning to continue their investigations into the brutal attack. Fisheries minister Dave Kelly has ignored comments from experienced boaties and divers that there are more great white sharks off the coast of WA, claiming the "fisheries department don't believe there's been a significant increase." His comments come two days after Mandurah teenager Laeticia Brouwer was killed by a suspected great white shark while surfing with her father near Esperance, becoming the 15th shark attack victim in WA since 2000. The tragedy has forced the new state government to defend its stance on shark management just one month since being sworn in, as the federal government push WA to employ more drastic measures to protect ocean users. Mr Kelly told Radio 6PR on Wednesday the new government would not lay drumlines to catch sharks that attack people, instead choosing to focus on technologies such as shark shields that could protect divers and surfers who have accounted for 13 of the past 15 fatalities in WA. Brasilia: Congressional police in riot gear used tear gas to drive back hundreds of members of federal police unions who tried to invade the Brazilian Congress on Tuesday to protest a pension reform bill that would reduce their benefits. The demonstrating police officers broke glass doors before being pushed back in a violent clash that underscored the unpopularity of the pension reform that is at the heart of Temer's austerity program. Police officers attempt to break into the Brazilian National Congress during a protest by officers from several Brazilian states against pension reforms. Credit:AP The program aims to rescue the Brazilian economy from its deepest recession on record. Riot police used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse fellow officers from the front doors of Congress. Earlier Temer had made new concessions to ease the bill's passage. He agreed to set a lower retirement age for women, police, teachers and rural workers and grant more generous transition rules for workers after allies' concerns delayed the bill's formal presentation. Theresa May is betting on beating Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who tweeted his support for the election. Credit:Getty Images It's an odd argument. Labour actually supports Brexit now, though it wants it done a different way. And the House of Lords put up less of a fight than was expected in resisting the Brexit trigger legislation last month. It's hard to identify a "recent" development that put the government's Brexit plans at risk, other than its own foot-in-mouth moments such as the phoney Gibraltar war. Broadly, Theresa May's reasons for this election are genuine. Assuming she wins convincingly, there will be fewer opposition MPs in Westminster who might block or amend the reams of necessary Brexit-related legislation. Assuming she wins convincingly, she can confidently say she has a mandate from the British people for her vision for the country outside the European Union. But, specifically, she has without doubt picked this moment because the opinion polls point to a spanking victory, and another decade or more in power. The latest polls have the Conservatives 21 points ahead of Labour. This is the Conservatives' biggest lead in government since 1983. A recent by-election saw a Labour heartland seat fall to the Conservatives. Labour is a disunited rabble with a desperately unpopular leader. And the UKIP vote is collapsing after the departure of Nigel Farage with much or all of it likely to flow to the Conservatives in a Brexit election. Nevertheless, there are some small signs of concern for May. One poll put the lead over Labour much closer, at 9 per cent. And polls show the public generally like Labour's policies, though they don't see them as a credible government. Labour is in a dire position but a lot of its remaining seats are fairly safe, while many Conservative seats are held on small margins. Another potential hiccup for May is that the public is more than a little sick of politics right now, which could provoke a backlash or voter apathy. A BBC reporter got a priceless reaction from Brenda, a voter in Bristol, when he broke the news there would be a general election in June. "You're joking! Oh for God's sake I honestly can't stand this. There's too much politics going on at the moment, why does she need to do it?" But the biggest risk for Mrs May is that this is not a straight political fight so the polls are not good predictors. She has framed it as Brexit II The Next Referendum. She has asked the country if it trusts her to get Brexit right. But only a third of the British think the government are doing well at negotiating Brexit, while 37 per cent think they are doing badly, according to the most recent polling from YouGov. Britain is still divided on Brexit itself 44 per cent think it was the right decision to leave the EU, and 43 per cent think it was wrong. Most of the country is of the opinion that, once the Brexit referendum results came in, the government should get on with it. But given an election where they get a new choice, many may decide to try to put a stop to it. If a big anti-Brexit mood sweeps the country in the next month, as it properly focuses on the pluses and minuses for the first time in a year, the Conservatives might find it hard to preserve their majority. And this election is likely to see a resurgence of the Liberal Democrats, who will campaign hard against Brexit alongside the Scottish National Party. May is aware of this. The biggest anti-Brexit constituency in the country is the 18-24 age demographic, and May has called the election right in the middle of exam time. Coincidence? Perhaps not. Quibbles aside, May is by far the favourite to win this election. Assange is holed up in London's Ecuadorian embassy, where he sought asylum in June 2012 shortly after losing a legal fight against an arrest warrant over rape allegations in Sweden. Assange told Fairfax it was wrong to assume he sought asylum to avoid extradition to Sweden to face the rape allegations. He said he was granted asylum and refugee status in relation to a US prosecution over his work with WikiLeaks. "I did not seek to avoid extradition (to) Sweden, I sought to avoid extradition to the US from UK or Sweden," he said. By seeking asylum he breached one of his bail conditions and is subject to arrest under the UK's Bail Act, British police have said. The fine print of the UK's electoral laws does not immediately disqualify Assange from standing for election, despite his current life in legal limbo. As a citizen of a Commonwealth country Australia Assange is eligible. He would have to pay a 500 ($850) deposit, refundable if he wins 5 per cent of the vote, and get the signatures of 10 people in his electorate. The UK's 1981 Representation of the People Act disqualifies anyone from being a member of the House of Commons if they are ordered to be imprisoned or detained for more than a year after being found guilty of an offence (in any country) or if they are "unlawfully at large" when they would otherwise be so detained. Last year a United Nations panel ruled Assange was in "arbitrary detention" against international law a decision that the British and Swedish governments rejected. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said its decision was "legally-binding to the extent that (it is) based on binding international human rights law" - however it is not automatically enforceable in either the UK or Sweden. Assange has not been convicted of any offence, though there is an outstanding European arrest warrant against him. A Swedish court has ordered his detention in absentia, judging he was suspected on probable cause of rape, and there was a continuing risk he would flee or evade a trial. Prosecutors last year interviewed Assange at the embassy, and are now considering his answers before deciding whether to push forward with their case. According to Fair Trials International, Swedish law requires Assange to be physically present on Swedish territory before charges can be laid. However, chapter 45 of Sweden's judicial code sets out how a trial might take place without Assange if "after service of the summons upon the defendant, he has fled or remains in hiding in such a manner that he cannot be brought to the main hearing" and if "the matter can be satisfactorily investigated". CHARLESTON -- City leaders see the business incentives now on offer in Charleston after a City Council vote Tuesday as a jump start to activity on Lincoln Avenue. The city got council approval to have a guideline of incentives the city can offer a business in order for them to expand or to entice a new business to the area. Charleston Mayor Brandon Combs said while the newly approved business incentive program is meant to attract businesses to every aspect of the city, he hopes this specifically revitalizes Lincoln Avenue. Vacant lots litter the city's main drag currently. "There is empty and vacant properties on Lincoln. There are empty and vacant properties on other main drags," Combs said. "We are not just focusing on Lincoln, but we would like to see some of that cleaned up... I really think this will coincide in making the corridor into (Eastern Illinois University) possibly look even better." Four main incentives are now available for use by city staff to attract new business to the city. These incentives include two-year abatements of various city taxes for new and expanding businesses coming to Charleston, excluding those in TIF (tax increment financing) districts that already receive city benefits, as previously reported. On the list of incentives the city could offer, one covers sales taxes. The incentive allows for businesses to get reimbursed for the citys share of the sales taxes collected from the business for a two-year period should the business come in. The city's share of the sales tax amounts to 1 percent of the normally 6.75 percent tax on most items. Another incentive offers an abatement of sales taxes on construction materials used to improve an existing structure for a new business or expanding a business. Combs said this would hopefully give local business leaders the incentive to expand or clean up their buildings. These materials covered under the incentive would include concrete, lumber, floor coverings, wall coverings and paint, according to a measure that would implement these incentives. For those looking to build on vacant lots that have been empty for more than two continuous years, the incentive program would offer an abatement of property taxes to the city on a prorated scale based on construction costs for two years. For example, if the cost of construction on the vacant property is between $1 million and $2.5 million, the business may abate or remove up to 90 percent of the property taxes due to the city from the property for two tax years. The last incentive on the list would discount permit fees, based on a prorated scale. The measure leaves open the chance for further incentives based on the scale of the business coming in. If extra incentives are needed or a business would like to ask for changes or a few extra, we have some --I guess you would say-- wiggle room, Combs said. He said the intention is not to play favorites with businesses, however, if a large scale business comes in with a special offer, it might be considered. Combs noted that any decision like that would be made by the city council members. More details on the recently approved measure can be found in the city agenda item mentioning this. (Steve Pamperin, city planner) gets phone calls all of the time and when they call, one of the first questions they ask him is what incentives do you have and quite frankly Steve has to say none, Combs said about the situation before the inclusion of these incentives. And often, business are looking at a few different sites when deciding where to land, said Cindy White, Charleston Area Chamber of Commerce president. Scott Smith, city manager, said this might change the tide for business. It will be something (city staff and me) have in our back pocket to be a starter for some conversations and maybe be able to go back to some that we have talked to over the last few years that have expressed an interest in one way or another in coming to town, Smith said. That may make a difference for some. Hadley Phillips, Unique Homes vice president, considers the move to be an enticing offer that he thinks will attract more going forward. The majority of what we do right now is commercial in nature, Phillips said. When we go to towns, we are looking for incentives to get into the market. Phillips said incentives can really make a difference for a business on whether it can even economically work for them to build in a city. I know especially in our business if we are going to come to a certain town, it will make or break whether I can make the project really happen, Phillips said. The building codes are just getting more stringent. So, every year you are adding thousands of dollars to the cost, and sometimes, the market can't keep up with that. CHARLESTON -- Some Coles County landowners have lease agreements with a company for planned solar energy panels and another company is also considering the area for the same kind of project. Details about the plans are limited, with representatives of both companies noting the early stages of their projects. But Coles County property records show that two landowners signed agreements in February to lease land for possible locations for solar panels. The leases cover five different parcels totaling about 390 acres roughly two miles northeast of Ashmore. The leases grant easements to Geronimo Energy LLC, based in Edina, Minn. The agreements are for five years but can be extended with notice of actual plans for construction. A Geronimo Energy representative declined requests to speak to someone with the company about the project. Lindsay Smith, the company's marketing and communications director, cited the "very early planning stages" for the project as the reason for not providing any details. Wesley Humphres, owner of four of the parcels with which Geronimo has leases, also declined to comment and referred questions to the company. The owners of the other parcel, Douglas Coartney and others, couldn't be reached for comment. Meanwhile, a representative of a Santa Monica, Calif., solar energy company confirmed that it's contacted landowners in Coles County and others, including Cumberland, Douglas, Edgar, Moultrie and Shelby counties. Jason Carr, director of community relations with Cypress Creek Renewables, said the company is focusing on northern Illinois but will contact landowners "all across the state." So far, landowners have received mailings providing information about the company and its planned projects, along with contact information for a company land specialist, Carr said. Time would be needed for studies and to develop agreements but "it may get to the point" that Cypress Creek would enter into lease agreement with landowners, he also said. "It's definitely a process," Carr said. "We're trying to identify properties that have the most promise. It has to make sense that it can work." One reason Illinois is more attractive to solar energy companies is a law that passed last year requiring utilities to use a certain amount of solar power by the year 2030, he said. The state's average amount of sunlight is also enough to likely make for viable agreements with Illinois electrical utilities, Carr also said. He said a solar energy company has to supply power to a local utility and the panels have to connect to existing electrical substations. Compensation to landowners varies with markets and with the utilities involved and aren't based solely on the productivity of the land leased, Carr added. The company negotiates leases with each landowner and "it's not for everyone," he said. The Nigerian Customs in collaboration with the WCO hosted a National SAFE AEO Workshop funded by the Customs Cooperation Fund (CCF) Korea 11 to 14 April 2017 at the Customs Command and Staff College, Gwagwalada - Abuja, a WCO Regional Training Centre (RTC) for Western and Central Africa (WCA). The Workshop was opened by the Comptroller General of Customs, Colonel Hameed Ali (Rtd). In his opening remarks the Comptroller General recognized that the SAFE AEO Programme will not only increase the security and facilitation of Nigerian trade but raise the compliance level and revenue collection. The workshop was attended by more than 30 senior Customs officials who were very supportive of the Programme implementation. At the end of the workshop, participants developed a detailed road map for their implementation and recognized the challenges that would need to be addressed to ensure the successful execution of the Programme. MATTOON -- Representatives of Mattoon Area PADS ceremonially broke ground Wednesday at the planned site of the nonprofit group's new homeless shelter and community kitchen. PADS Board President Robert Gooden welcomed more than 120 well-wishers to this construction site, 1812 Western Ave., just south of City Hall. Haven of Hope Campaign Chair Suzi Coffman said PADS officials began considering options for a new shelter several years ago because its current site, a former doughnut shop at 2017 Broadway Ave., is too small to deliver needed services. Due to lack of space, she said, they have had to turn away families with children. Coffman said PADS sold the shelter building to the adjacent K.C. Summers dealership in 2015 and used the proceeds as the foundation for its campaign. She said they set a goal of not using any government funding to open the new shelter and they looked at many potential sites. Last year, the land at 1812 Western was donated to PADS in memory of Mattoon businessman Adolf Kull by his widow, Victoria Kull, and his son, Mark Kull. "This was a blessing we had never dreamed of and we are so tremendously grateful for it," Coffman said. Coffman said the campaign received another boost this year when Heller, Holmes & Associates offered to match all donations made in February up to $50,000. She said this offer produced an outpouring of community support that enabled PADS to reach its $400,000 goal for constructing a new shelter. Gooden said the new shelter will offer 16 beds for male guests, eight for females, and two separate bedrooms for families to stay together. Standerfer Construction Co. of Mattoon will serve as the general contractor for building the new facility, designed by the Upchurch Group. Contractor Bill Standerfer said more than a dozen subcontractors have agreed to donate services or provide work at a heavily discounted rate for the project. "I know these people. They are hardworking and they will get it done," Standerfer said. The campaign is now focused on raising the approximately $90,000 that PADS estimates is still needed to furnish and equip the new facility. Coffman thanked everyone who has donated to the campaign. "Your contribution is making it possible for PADS to continue serving the community by helping those in need," Coffman said. PADS Executive Director Michael Stopka said the shelter offer overnight stays in a safe environment for men, women, and children. He said they also provide case management to help overnight guests find employment and housing, and day programs to help them develop life skills. In addition, Stopka said the community kitchen at the shelter provides hot meals for overnight guests and for other community members in need. One of PADS' current guests, J.J. Bloomquist, represented his compatriots at the shelter during the ceremony. Bloomquist, who grew up in Chicago, said he has lived in Coles County in recent years but lost his home a few months ago. Bloomquist said he is staying at PADS and fulfilling its day programming and community service requirements while working as a temporary worker at a local factory. He said his goal is to become a permanent worker and save up enough money to get a new residence. "They are wonderfully supportive," Bloomquist said of PADS. The PADS shelter was opened in 2003 by a group of local residents who wanted to help homeless individuals in the community. One of these founders, Bob Beall, took part in Wednesday's ceremony. He is a former executive director and board president for PADS. Beall referenced the frustrations of operating the shelter. He said shutting down the shelter and forgetting about it would be easy for PADS' leadership and volunteers, but they have not taken this easy route. The former executive director thanked them for their hard work and dedication to serving people in need, and he thanked the community for its financial support and prayers. "Thank you all and keep the good work going," Beall said. Fatal semi crash on I-57 backed up traffic onto I-24 By Adam Morton Apr. 18, 2017 | 07:41 PM | PADUCAH, KY The Paducah City Commission delayed a vote to approve a zoning change that would allow a new nursing facility to be built on Pecan Drive.Last Tuesday, commissioners introduced an ordinance to change the zoning of the wooded 18-acre property, located at 4231 Pecan Drive, from an R-1 low density residential zone, to an R-4 high density residential zone. The zone change request is coming from CDB Service Finance, LLC. The company wants to construct a 77,300 square foot nursing facility with 100 beds.A public hearing was held at an April 3 Planning Commission meeting, where a resolution was adopted to approve the zone change. Several residents have since voiced concerns that building the new facility would cause flooding issues on nearby properties. A final vote was scheduled to take place Tuesday, but commissioners chose to delay the vote.Mayor Brandi Harless said one of the reasons for the delay is not all commissioners were present at the meeting."We'd like to have Allan [Rhodes] here for that decision, because it's a big decision," Harless said. "Also for fact gathering and knowledge gathering. I don't feel like I knew enough, and so I was after some more information about making that decision. It was a little bit of a quick turn around for me."Commissioners will vote on the measure at their meeting next Tuesday. On the Net: By Adam Morton Apr. 18, 2017 | 08:38 PM | PADUCAH, KY Paducah City Commissioners discussed upcoming projects at their meeting on Tuesday.City Manager Jeff Pederson spoke about some of the city's biggest projects planned for the coming year. A ranked list of projects city officials put together at a January workshop was presented at the meeting, and updates to the city's E-911 system and the first phase of City Hall renovations made the top of the list.The first phase of renovations to City Hall is projected to cost nearly $4.9 million, according to Pederson. Funds have been identified for the project using a combination of historic tax credits, remaining funds from the City Hall visioning and design project with RATIO, and reserve funds from the General Fund and Solid Waste Fund. The first phase would address City Halls roof, canopy, furnace and air conditioning systems. "The way to preserve [City Hall] is to start reinvesting in it." Pederson said.The first phase of the E-911 project is estimated to cost $3.9 million, and would include the replacement of the telephone systems. The City has $900,000 set aside for the first phase, with the remaining funds to be satisfied through a bond issue."The specifications are being developed right now that wold put us in a position to go out and bid for a telephone and CAD system in early summer" Pederson said.It should be noted that Tuesday's meeting was just a pre-budget workshop. The Commission can make changes to any of these items, and the final budget will not be approved until June. On the Net: By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 18, 2017 | 08:43 PM | MCCRACKEN COUNTY, KY A traffic stop Monday night in McCracken County led to multiple drug charges for a Missouri man. The McCracken County Sheriff's Office says deputies performed a traffic stop on a truck driven by 29-year-old Daniel Ossola of St. Louis. During the traffic stop, deputies say they saw Ossola throw an object out of the passenger side window. Police said the object contained crushed Oxycodone and Fentanyl pills. Deputies also found marijuana on the ground outside of the driver side door. Deputies searched the truck and found four Xanax bars, 22 Fentanyl pills and $1,910 in cash, which is believed to be proceeds of illegal drug sales. Ossola was arrested and charged with driving on a DUI suspended license-2nd offense, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of controlled substance, prescription controlled substance not in the proper container, tampering with physical evidence, communication device violation, careless driving and trafficking controlled substance. By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 19, 2017 | 09:10 AM | MAYFIELD, KY A Mayfield man faces multiple charges after he was reportedly found passed out inside someone else's home. According to the Mayfield Police Department, 29-year-old Edward Williams illegally entered a home on South 9th Street. When the owner entered the home to clean it, he found Williams passed out on the floor in a bedroom. Williams fled the scene before police arrived but he was later arrested near Center Street and South 8th Street. Officers said Williams was in possession of marijuana and was very intoxicated. Williams is charged with alcohol intoxication in a public place, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and criminal trespassing. He was lodged in the Graves County Jail. 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. By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 19, 2017 | 09:17 AM | KUTTAWA, KY A man was arrested Tuesday after police allegedly found over 75 pounds of marijuana during a traffic stop on Interstate 24. According to Kentucky State Police, Troopers stopped a vehicle near the 47 mile marker in Lyon County for a traffic violation. During the traffic stop, police said they saw several indicators of criminal behavior, which led to a search of the vehicle. During the search, Troopers found edible marijuana, as well as over 75 pounds of high grade marijuana. Troopers arrested 37-year-old Michael D. Wilson, of Edmonds, WA, and charged him with trafficking marijuana greater than five pounds. Wilson was lodged in the Caldwell County Jail. Loading... This year is Cardboard Citizens' 25th anniversary and we decided to mark it by putting together a book to tell our story to date. The act of recall has been a labour of love and wonder, tinged with sadness: love, to think of all the amazing friends who have been part of our journey; wonder, in thinking, wow, did we really do all those things (when we had no idea of how to do anything); sadness, that some of the Cardboard Citizens didn't make it through to 2017. When you start out, you have no idea how important it might be 25 years down the line to keep the irritating pile of documents that quickly accumulates. We certainly had no idea that what started as an exploratory project to prove a theory would ever end up as an enduring living breathing organisation with a life of its own, whose effects have been felt both by thousands of individuals we have met on our way and by companies and organisations worldwide who have been inspired by Cardboard Citizens to create their own projects with homeless people. The group was one of the most generous, tolerant and non-judgemental I had ever facilitated I first bought a book by Augusto Boal in 1976. I found The Theatre of the Oppressed exciting but difficult to read, and skipped to the end to scan the few practical exercises offered almost as a postscript. In the late 1980s I encountered the work again, in workshops with Boal himself, and ended up inviting him to London to deliver a workshop at London Bubble, where I was working as associate director. My prescient boss at the time, artistic director Jonathan Petherbridge, suggested that we apply for funds to put these principles into action, trialling Forum Theatre in London. We created a list of the type of oppressed' groups we might be interested in working with; the list was long, including unemployed people, nurses, teachers, people with mental health issues, disabled people, prisoners, youth workers, women, you name it. This was the tail end of a turbulent period of British history. The Big Bang had happened in the city, brash yuppies brayed openly of their wealth, and politicians spoke of (the inconvenience of) stepping over homeless people in doorways on their way to the opera. Suffice it to say, political opinions were polarised. Eventually, by a process of elimination, we arrived at the idea of working with homeless people. We stuck up posters in day centres around London, advertising workshops in those venues 'Homeless? Got something to say about it? Come to xyz'. The idea of theatre helping people barely existed at this point, so while most organisations and centres were happy enough to work with us, from the start we had to try to explain what we were doing and why which was a tough call in some respects, as we barely knew ourselves we were making it up as we went along. We had the pleasure of performing under a railway arch to some 70 well-lubricated and jovial members On the back of these first outreach workshops, we invited any homeless people who wanted to come to what was effectively planned as an audition workshop. A wonderfully varied group of some 18 people turned up to take part street-sleepers, sofa surfers, drug users, trans women, students, sex workers (male and female), people with learning difficulties, migrants, old, young, gay, straight the group was virtually a snapshot of social exclusion at the time and a premonition of the many constituencies that would come to make up the company in future years. The workshop itself was amazing this heterogeneous group was one of the most generous, tolerant and non-judgemental I had ever facilitated, and their stories came tumbling out. Over the next two weeks, we shared stories and improvised scenes till we had cobbled together two plays based on the lives of our group. We put together a short tour of London hostels and day centres, and off we went, learning rapidly on the job, playing purely to homeless audiences and those who worked with them. At that time, there were two settlements of street-dwelling homeless people in London, going by the generic name of Cardboard City. The largest of these was the Bullring, at a vast paved underpass in Waterloo, now occupied by the IMAX cinema. This alternative metropolis of lost souls and renegades encompassed some 200 people living in improvised cardboard bashes', some of which had been there long enough to receive regular postal deliveries. The idea of theatre helping people barely existed at the point we were beginning The culmination of that first-three week tour took us, by invitation, to the Bullring, where we had the pleasure of performing under a railway arch to some 70 well-lubricated and jovial members of that community (as well as 15 or so dogs plus the local vicar), on a wild night which took our rather strait-laced reading of Forum Theatre to whole new areas of chaotic beauty and possibility. The group started meeting regularly and Gary Gallard, an important founder member, came up with the name Cardboard Citizens. More plays were made, more tours executed, plans for independence were hatched, and four years down the line the company became an independent entity. Year on year we have gone forward, operated part-time, then full-time, grown, shrunk, grown again lost people, found people, added functions, tried things, come close to extinction, clawed our way back, got stronger; moving several times, from an office under a hostel until we arrived at the glorious premises we currently lease in Whitechapel, complete with our own workshop space. And here we are, celebrating 25 years, with the world premiere of nine plays charting 150 years of the history of housing the poor, at The Bunker, just a 15 minute walk from where it started in Waterloo. We hope you'll join us there to celebrate this milestone. Home Truths runs at the Bunker Theatre until 13 May. Cardboard Citizens 25 Years is available to buy now. Please email [email protected] if you would like to purchase a copy. Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/04/2017 (2029 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Imagine being 12 years old and losing your mother in a sudden, horrifying accident. Now imagine going through all that as a young prince, the son of a beloved princess with whom the world was fascinated, cameras constantly trained on you. That was Prince Harrys reality. Over the past two decades since Princess Dianas violent death in Paris, Harry, now 32, did what too many people do: he bottled up his grief and buried it somewhere deep and inaccessible. Ive spent most of my life saying, Im fine, he told The Daily Telegraphs Bryony Gordon in an interview that came out Monday. Well, hes not pretending anymore. In the interview, Harry disclosed his 20-year struggle to cope with his mothers death, saying he got help just three years ago for all the grief left unprocessed. He spoke about refusing to think about her because it wouldnt bring her back. He talked about how his grief would bubble to the surface as rage, leaving him feeling like he wanted to punch someone. I buried my head in the sand for many years, he said. Britains Prince William speaks to Lady Gaga via FaceTime Tuesday as part of a campaign to persuade people to be more open about their mental health and crush the stigma associated with the issue. (Heads Together campaign / The Associated Press) The interview is generating plenty of buzz, not just because of its content, but because of its incredible candour. The British arent exactly known for being in touch with their emotions keep a stiff upper lip and all that and the royals are especially protective of their image, which is one of stoic self-restraint. As Gordon wrote, It has always been a sign of strength and dignity to keep it all inside, and our royal family have always been the embodiment of that, God bless them. But Prince Harry just redefined strength and dignity for a new generation. But Harry isnt just breaking from a British cultural norm by speaking up about his mental health, hes also rejecting toxic ideas about masculinity that boys dont cry, that to feel emotion is a sign of weakness, that boys must man up lest he be labelled a sissy, that men must always be the rock for everyone else. Boys internalize these messages early, and they can do real damage when those boys become men. Numerous studies and surveys have shown that men are less likely to seek mental-health treatment than women, and men are also far more likely to complete suicide; in the United Kingdom, suicide is the biggest killer of men under 45. Add to that a layer of myths and misconceptions about mental illness happiness is a choice! and its little wonder so many suffer in silence. The royals are hoping to change that. ALASTAIR GRANT / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Princess Diana (left) sits next to her younger son Prince Harry on Aug. 19, 1995. Harrys candid interview was followed up Tuesday with a FaceTime chat about mental health between Prince William and pop superstar Lady Gaga as part of Heads Together, a mental-health campaign that was launched by Prince William, Prince Harry and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge last May. Their goal is to normalize conversations about mental health by actually having them. Lady Gaga, who disclosed last year that she was dealing with symptoms from post-traumatic stress disorder, tells Prince William in the video the best thing that resulted from her mental illness was sharing her difficulties with other people and finding out she wasnt alone. Its interesting to see and hear from you how much having that conversation has really made a difference to you, William says in the video. Its so important to break open that fear and that taboo which is only going to lead to more problems down the line. As many have already noted, Heads Together is a cause that Princess Diana would no doubt be proud of. As Harry said in the interview, I think its what my mother believed in, is the fact that if youre in a position of privilege or position of responsibility, and if you can put your name to something that you genuinely believe in, and that other people believe in, and you get that support and belief and encouragement, then you can smash any stigma you want. Its easy to be cynical about mental-health awareness campaigns, with their hashtags and earnest platitudes about starting conversations and breaking stigmas especially as mental-health coverage continues to be spotty or non-existent for many Canadians and wait lists to see mental-health professionals remain years long. But its vitally important we keep talking about mental health, to make it OK for people to say, You know what? Im not fine. What Harry did took guts. But perhaps someday opening up about mental illness wont require so much courage, because it wont be so scary. jen.zoratti@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @JenZoratti Prince Harry meets with volunteers at the Leicestershire Aids Support Service in March. On Monday, he revealed in an interview with The Daily Telegraph that he has battled grief and rage since the death of his mother, Princess Diana, in 1997, and sought counselling when he no longer could keep the emotions bottled up. (Justin Tallis / The Associated Press) Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/04/2017 (2029 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A wave of new European-made cheeses will be hitting the Canadian market this summer and Manitobas largest cheese maker believes product innovation will be the best defence against this new outside threat. One of our strengths has been product development and innovation and bringing new products to market, Mike Raftis, vice-president of sales, marketing and communications for Bothwell Cheese, said. As more imported products come into the market, its going to bring more options for the customer. Theyll have access to more varieties, so we have to continue to focus on innovation and product development and making sure were still competitive in the category. RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Bothwell Cheese vice-president Mike Raftis (left), pictured with president Kevin Thomson, says he believes innovation and efficiency will help the company face increased competition from European cheese. Raftis noted Bothwell is launching a new Non-GMO Project Verified line of cheeses this year, made with milk from dairy cows that are fed non-GMO (genetically modified organism) crops. The Non-GMO Project offers North Americas only third-party program for verifying a products ingredients. Raftis said Non-GMO Project verification is the fastest-growing label in the natural products industry and Bothwell is the first Canadian cheese manufacturer to receive Non-GMO Project status. Its first such product a medium-aged white cheddar should be hitting store shelves in August or September. Providing products that customers are looking for is a great way for us to make sure we remain strong on the (store) shelf and competitive, he said. Bothwell, which was founded in 1936 by a group of local dairy farmers, produces more than 25 varieties of cheeses in six product categories: traditional, flavoured, smoked, cheese curds, shredded and sliced. In July, the federal government is expected to more than double the amount of European cheese allowed into the country as part of the new Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). That means an extra 17,700 tonnes of tariff-free imported cheeses, which represents about four per cent of current Canadian cheese production. The Dairy Processors Association of Canada, whose members include cheese manufacturers, estimates the increase in European imports could cost Canadian cheese makers up to $230 million annually in lost sales and up to 400 direct jobs. Dave Shambrock, executive director of Food & Beverage Manitoba, said local cheese makers such as Bothwell and Santorini Dairies Inc. should fare better than some specialty cheese makers. He noted Bothwell already has a strong market presence in Canada because of innovative products such as its line of flavoured Monterey Jack cheeses and its award-winning cheddar cheeses. And Santorinis main cheese product is feta cheese, most of which it sells to an affiliated company the Opa! of Greece chain of fast-food restaurants, he said. Theyre (both) pretty efficient operations as well, he added, so I think theyre in a reasonably good position. Santorini president and CEO Paul Kostas noted while it may cost European cheese makers less to produce their product, theyll still face added transportation costs to get their products to Canada. Also soft cheeses, such as feta, have a shorter shelf life than hard cheeses, he added. RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS A worker stirs cheese curds at the Bothwell Cheese plant in New Bothwell. So there are still some things where we have an advantage. In a recent column, Sylvain Charlebois, a professor in food distribution and policy at Dalhousie University, wrote that the best tool the federal government has for offsetting the negative impact of CETA are the import quotas its expected to issue. But it hasnt said yet who grocers, processors, artisan cheese makers, dairy farmers or even restaurants will get licences to import European cheeses, he wrote. Charlebois warned that if not done right, many Canadian artisan cheese makers could disappear in the face of increased competition from European producers. To do it right, many of the import licences should go to small dairy processors, most of whom are family-owned fine-cheese makers, and to co-operatives, he said. Dairy Processors Association of Canada president Jacques Lefebvre agreed, saying processors could supplement their product offering and incomes by importing European cheeses they dont produce themselves. The retail sector would still benefit because the processors still have to sell the products through retail stores, he said. Charlebois said while allowing more tariff-free European cheeses into Canada will mean more choice for Canadians, it likely wont mean cheaper prices. Even though it is always difficult to predict what is likely to happen in retail stores, chances are prices will remain somewhat the same, he said. Cheese has historically been expensive in Canada, yet consumers have always continued to buy it. Unless retailers feel they would be selling more products with lower prices, rebates at the dairy counter are highly unlikely. murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 18/04/2017 (2030 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The Winnipeg Free Press was named Tuesday as one of five finalists for the Canadian Journalism Foundations prestigious Jackman Award for Excellence. The nomination was for tackling indigenous issues and reconciliation from three angles, examining remedial efforts at both the federal and provincial levels and through art. The shortlist, released Tuesday, also included CBC News Vancouver, The Canadian Press, Global News and the Globe and Mail in the large media category. JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES The art and stories of the Inuit are passed down through generations, as told in the Free Press series Inuit Heart Our goal every day is to deliver journalism that matters, so I am delighted that our reporting has earned this distinction from the Canadian Journalism Foundation, Free Press Editor Paul Samyn said. What this nomination says is that the Free Press is among the top tier of newsrooms in this country. The award recognizes news organizations that embody exemplary journalism that positively impacts the communities they serve. Finalists are chosen in two categories: large and small media. The Free Press has won the award twice since it was established in 1996. It recognizes the journalistic ideals of accuracy, independence, accountability, courage and originality. Among the stories highlighted: Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/04/2017 (2029 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Manitoba Hydro will close a dozen rural offices on May 19. The Crown corporation said Wednesday that 20 employees will be affected, all of whom will be offered jobs elsewhere. The offices set to close are located in Beausejour, Powerview, Falcon Lake, Fisher Branch, Gimli, Boissevain, Pilot Mound, Glenboro, Winnipegosis, Ste. Rose, Grandview and McCreary. The rationale is were seeing less and less foot traffic, Hydro spokesman Bruce Owen said. Most people are paying their bills online. BRUCE BUMSTEAD / BRANDON SUN FILES Manitoba Hydro will close offices in Beausejour, Powerview, Falcon Lake, Fisher Branch, Gimli, Boissevain, Pilot Mound, Glenboro, Winnipegosis, Ste. Rose, Grandview and McCreary. Owen said that field services wont be affected, he said. Staff who work on the lines and outages are spread over a wide area, and take their trucks home. If there is a major outage, field staff can be deployed instantly, he said. Falcon Lake has a field worker living in the immediate area with a truck at his home, who will remain in that area, Owen said. Hydro said it is closing the offices in a continuing effort to improve service delivery and reduce costs. When Hydro made the decision to consolidate 24 district offices into existing customer service centres in 2013, the remaining 12 were under review. It is now time to move forward with the closure of these remaining 12 district offices, Hydro said in a prepared statement. Owen said that the entire district consolidation project will save $2 million annually and avoid $50 million worth of future upgrades to the 36 offices. He said the buildings will be sold in a process offering them to local or district governments first. The process can be a lengthy one, as it includes an environmental assessment and possible cleanup. Owen said that 24 per cent of customers paid bills at the 36 rural offices in 2007, but that number dropped to six per cent last year. nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 18/04/2017 (2030 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. wfpslideshow:419858213:wfpslideshow PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Marquette resident Shirley Thevenot and her pooch Lily have been watching movie crew and Keanu Reeves shoot "Siberia" in this tiny Manitoba town. MARQUETTE Lindsay McRae pulled up to her neighbours yard Tuesday to ask if she and her kids could come over and star gaze on her back deck after work. The neighbour, Shirley Thevenot, confided she had no idea shooting a feature film took so much work. Her deck overlooks the set of Siberia, a romantic thriller starring Keanu Reeves in Marquette, a tiny farming community 50 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg. As a freshly minted action star, Reeves made a bold pivot 22 years ago, signing up to perform the title role of Hamlet on the stage of the Manitoba Theatre Centre in the winter of 1995. This time around, the 52-year-old veteran action star is hot off his role in the US$130-million gross of John Wick: Chapter 2. In Siberia, director Matthew Ross has Reeves playing a diamond dealer trying to sell blue diamonds of questionable origin in Russia.The diamond dude falls in obsessive love with a Russian cafe owner along the way. In February, the Hollywood trade magazine Variety reported Reeves launched international sales at the European Film Market in Berlin through Company Films, which is working with IM Global and a production company to sell the film to international markets. WME is handling the domestic rights on this side of the Atlantic. The whole thing is a little heady for tiny Marquette. Nearly the entire town had been transformed into a movie set for the shoot this week. You dont get to meet celebrities all the time, especially when theyre just outside your door, in the middle of nowhere, said Terry Dorge, wearing workboots and a carpenters belt while building an addition at the home of his cousin Tayvia Dorge. Her selfie with Reeves, shot as he stepped out of the shoots Porta Potty, is the talk of the town. Its exciting. Its good for the town, brought people in out of curiosity. Were all talking about seeing the movie, bank employee Melissa McMillan said. To hear the buzz, Reeves is chill, a friendly guy who blends in wherever he appears, when hes not in front of the camera. Case in point: one moment Monday saw about 10 women, all locals, cluster around Reeves with cellphones in hand. When the production crew moved to usher them off, the star stepped in to welcome them. Let them come, Reeves was quoted as saying. He posed for all the selfies the ladies wanted. Marquettes population more than tripled overnight when the cast and crew of about 130 descended on the community Sunday. Its population is about 50. PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Reeves prepares to shoot a walking scene on the set in Marquette, Manitoba Tuesday. Thevenots back deck, for example, overlooked the camera action Monday and all day Tuesday, as crews shot film from two homes theyve rented from locals. The bungalows looks beaten up, with junk in the yards, all part of the movie set. One homeowner said shes taking it in stride. She said she introduced herself to Reeves, got a handshake and ribbed him about the production crew transforming her yard into a junkyard. I told him he should get his stuff out of my backyard, said Bonnie Lawrence. The Thevenot home is ideally located to watch all the action. The front picture window looks over the towns tiny restaurant, Grazzers, now transformed into a grim-looking Siberian cafe. The crew will shift from the houses across from her backyard to the cafe later this week, Thevenot has been told. Im hoping my kids and I can catch something from her back deck this evening, McRae chuckled before driving off to collect her kids. This week has proved to be a teaching moment for the town. Its seen various productions set up in the past, including Heaven is for Real a 2014 Hollywood drama starring Greg Kinnear but its never hosted a crew for an entire week. In addition to renting and renovating two of the half-dozen homes, the production has also rented out the curling rink and even added a small shed to Grazzers. Camera crews practiced their shots with stand-ins before Reeves stepped on-set for the real deal Tuesday. Cars and vans scattered around the set have Russian licence plates. Two RCMP cruisers block the main street to detour traffic away from the productions. Huge trailers crowd the parking lot of the local co-op gas bar and convenience store and the back street of the town. Cattle rancher Darren MacMillan figures Marquette will see itself in the film when it plays, but in the meantime, the rentals, renovations and general buzz are giving the town a little economic bump. Theyve been in town for a few weeks doing renovations, and we heard it was coming, but you never realized it until its here. The towns shut down for a bit, and our little town has gone from 50 people to, probably its 150 now It all benefits the town, MacMillan said. with files from Randall King alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca A group of local water activists are taking their voices to the decision makers. Around 20 people from Winona County and the surrounding area took off by bus for St. Paul to go lobby for environmental and water protection at the capital for Water Action Day, where they joined hundreds of others from around the state. Prior to leaving, they met outside City Hall to discuss their goals and gather signatures from some who werent making the trip. Johanna Rupprecht, policy organizer for the Land Stewardship Project, said they were going to do their job as engaged citizens and deliver go in person to the capital to express support for environmental protection. Clean water needs to come before corporate profits, Rupprecht said. Rupprecht said the group is going with several goals, including supporting state investment in programs that develop environmentally friendly farming practices and maintaining the level of environmental review for large farms. The House and Senate are considering an omnibus bill which would roll back several environmental protections and policies. Various aspects of the bills would eliminate the state Environmental Quality Board, create new ways to challenge environmental regulations and weaken a law requiring buffer strips of vegetation between farm fields and waterways to trap pollutants. They also have concerns about legislation under consideration currently would double the size of the feedlot threshold from 1,000 to 2,000 animal units. They maintain that raising the threshold of animal units on a feedlot that would be required for an environmental review, would benefit only a small number of very large farms while being a potential detriment to the water quality around the farms. LSP members said that only nine farms were so large that they crossed the current threshold in 2016, and over 90 percent of farmers are under that number. One of the specific programs LSP is supporting is the Forever Green Initiative at the University of Minnesota. The Senates Ag Environment Finance Bill provides $269,000 over two years, and the Senate Legacy Funding bill provides $900,000 over the next two years, but supporters say the program needs $5 million annually to be fully funded. They argue that the research and outreach the program does to develop and improve cover crops and perennial crop use is necessary to continue sustainable agriculture that is profitable for farmers while improving water quality. The program is particularly concerned about the high levels of nitrates reported by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, 73 percent of which they say are from runoff from cropland, something hoped to be reduced by cover crops and other practices. So far, the Governors budget proposals have been supportive of water protection measures and included $167 million in bonding for wastewater and drinking water across the state. LSP member Barb Nelson, who lives near the Arches and was going to St. Paul with the group, said for a variety of issues, whether frac sand or factory farming, the legislators should look to the concerns of the people who live in the area first. We expect our legislators favor the people who live here over outside interests, Nelson said. Winona Tuesday 8:39 a.m. Madison Elementary reported that boards had been taken off a playground set by middle school-age boys, and they are going over video to identify them. They said it's an ongoing problem with the equipment. 9:18 a.m. A man reported that the license plates had both been taken off his vehicle on the 800 block of west Seventh Street. 7:27 p.m. A man on the 300 block of Olmsted Street reported that between April 12 and 18 someone jacked up the front end of his car and took the driver's side tire. Winona County Monday 2:51 p.m. Chad Michael Swanson, 44, Winona, was arrested on charges of domestic assault causing fear and harm as a result of an incident around 8 p.m. on Sunday in Stockton. Swanson allegedly was throwing items around a residence, and hit a 39-year-old woman with several things. He had left by the time deputies arrived however. 8:05 p.m. Brandon Jon Pederson, 27, Winona, was cited for possession of a small amount of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia after being stopped for a lane violation on Hwy 14 near Gilmore Valley Road. Gassing children is abhorrent. Killing children in any way is abhorrent, but President Donald Trump said he was particularly moved by the images of the recent Syrian chemical weapons attack. That is understandable because the use of chemical weapons in warfare is arguably worse than other types of wartime battlefield killing. The reason: Modern killing by chemicals is a cruel and calculated way to destroy humans, but preserve physical structures, roads and machines. A war monger who wants to preserve infrastructure, but destroy the lives of opposing armies, collaborating civilians and innocent bystanders has decided that life is cheap but buildings are not. In Syria, the civilian population is terrorized not only by rockets, bullets and bombs, but they are also subjected to murder by starvation and poison gas. Only the last two approaches kill people without destroying their homes, schools or places of worship. A look at the rubble that was once the Syrian city of Aleppo is a reminder to all that a violent, explosive war with conventional weapons can destroy nearly everything. Aleppo was under siege for four years, with President Bashar Assads government fighting opposition rebel forces dug-in and fighting amidst civilians. The Syrian government took Aleppo late last year, claimed a victory and won back a decimated city where once stood a vibrant town. Chemical weapons like the sarin and chlorine gas used by Assad, however, change the fighting calculus. Killing with chemistry prevents a towns destruction. Infrastructure survives, buildings are preserved. Chemical weapons allow for a war victory with the spoils remaining intact. In the late 20th century, an enhanced radiation weapon was developed that did the same thing. The neutron bomb, also known as the capitalist bomb or landlords weapon was developed and nearly deployed by the United States and France. It was a bomb with less explosive and heat-generating power, but radically more radioactivity and the ability to kill life but keep structures and machines in good working order. Politics, fear and strategic considerations kept this weapon out of production. International outrage forced countries to abandon work on the neutron bomb, seen popularly as an immoral and indiscriminate weapon. Chemical weapons share the neutron bombs negative values. Trump expressed his emotional reaction to the horrendous imagery of beautiful children gasping for air, their lungs burning, their bodies paralyzed. His military response was meant to be punitive and a warning against Assads further use of chemical weaponry. The final part of his presidential action should now be preventive. Stop chemical weapons entirely, not only in Syria, but around the world. Use of chemical weaponry must never be normalized, and the president should use this moment to take a strong, moral and consistent stand to promote extreme verification internationally. The previous vetting process for Assads secretly stockpiled or recently manufactured sarin and chlorine gas was inadequate. Only extreme verification with global partners can move the world toward total eradication of this scourge. This may sound aspirational, but it is imaginable and achievable. Trump should use his deal-making business prowess to build a coalition of military powers prepared to enforce the current Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons work. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, or OPCW, is a 2013 Nobel Peace Prize winning international organization with a 98 percent world membership. But OPCW needs to be given stronger tools and expanded international legal authority if it is to more aggressively enforce standing treaties. One way might be to empower a United Nations that Trump already wants to rationalize and reform. Stopping chemical weapons could be Trumps signature foreign policy initiative, one more immediately achievable than previous presidents attempts to eradicate nuclear weapons. The United States, too, still has stocks of chemical weaponry it plans to eliminate by 2023. Negotiating a means to accelerate the destruction of foreign and remaining American chemical weapons could also open a door to dealing with other future problems that threaten the global commons. Now is the time. A Wisconsin Indian tribe that has threatened to withhold nearly $1 million from the state because of a dispute over another tribes casino expansion in Shawano County filed a lawsuit Wednesday to block the expansion. The Stockbridge-Munsee filed the federal lawsuit against the state of Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker and the Ho-Chunk Nation, which is expanding its once-limited gambling facility east of Wausau. The lawsuit seeks several potential remedies to the dispute, including declaring the state in violation of the Stockbridge-Munsee compact because it is not protecting the tribes interests and rights in not having another tribe develop a class III gambling facility near its only casino. The tribe also asks a federal judge to order a preliminary injunction blocking the Ho-Chunk Wittenberg casino expansion until the lawsuit is resolved. The lawsuit is the latest escalation in the dispute over the Wittenberg facility, which prior to the renegotiation of tribal gaming compacts in 2003 wasnt allowed to include a restaurant, hotel or table games. Last year, the Ho-Chunk broke ground on a $33 million expansion that will increase the number of slot machines from 506 to 778, add an area with high-limit gaming and 10 table games, and construct an 86-room hotel and 84-seat restaurant and bar. It is expected to be completed this year, according to the Ho-Chunk. The Ho-Chunk Wittenberg facility is closer to Wausau than the Stockbridge-Munsees only casino, North Star Mohican Casino Resort, and the tribe worries the competition will negatively affect its revenues, which fund a large share of its government services. A study commissioned by the Stockbridge-Munsee estimated the lost revenue would be $22 million, or 37 percent of its Bowler casino. After the Stockbridge-Munsee objected to the Ho-Chunks expansion plans last fall, the state Department of Administration reviewed the compacts and determined the expansion wasnt a violation. In a Feb. 2 letter, DOA Secretary Scott Neitzel wrote the tribe has the ability to file a lawsuit to resolve disputes over the state compacts. Last month the tribe sent a letter informing the state it would withhold a $923,000 payment due by June 30 because of the dispute and asked to initiate a dispute resolution process. On March 22, the state responded, asking for a meeting with the tribes lawyers. A Stockbridge-Munsee spokeswoman said a meeting took place but no resolution was reached, thus resulting in the lawsuit. DOA spokesman Steve Michels said Wednesday the state has been consistent and clear in honoring the compacts with all of the Tribes in Wisconsin. Under the terms of the Ho-Chunk Compact, as amended in 2003 by the Doyle Administration, the Ho-Chunk are authorized to conduct gaming in Wittenberg, Michels said. The Ho-Chunk, which is also expanding its casinos in the Wisconsin Dells and Black River Falls, responded in a statement saying the Stockbridge-Munsee Tribe has spread false information and continues to litigate its opposition to the Ho-Chunk Nations Wittenberg improvement and expansion project in the media. We are prepared to safeguard our interests and are confident well be successful in court and finally be able to resolve this issue, said Ho-Chunk Nation President Wilfrid Cleveland. Seaspan Corporation's (NYSE: SSW) stock has been steadily sinking for the past several years; it's down nearly 70% over the last three years. What's driving this downdraft: the challenging market conditions in the container shipping sector, which are causing investors to worry that the company might be in over its head. However, the company sees things quite differently. SA students benefit from major digital electronics update at CERN International scientists share knowledge with SA students and industry at a workshop, dedicated to the CERN electronics upgrade. South African students and industry are benefiting from the major digital electronics challenge of upgrading the ATLAS Tile Calorimeter at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The Tile Calorimeter of the ATLAS detector covers the central region of the detector and it is designed to measure the energy and position of particles that result from high-energy proton-proton collisions provided by the LHC. The Tile Calorimeter detects particles called hadrons, which are copiously produced in high-energy proton-proton collisions. Following the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012, the LHC is developing a long-term plan to increase the intensity of the collisions. This is necessary to provide a lot more data with which to explore the Higgs boson and its coupling to other particles; the search for other bosons and other new particles. In 2016 the LHC delivered collisions with an intensity significantly surpassing the initial design. The LHC envisions major upgrades in the future that will increase the data available by about 100 times. The Tile Calorimeter will undergo a major replacement of its on- and off-detector electronics for the high luminosity programme of the LHC starting in 2026, says Professor Bruce Mellado, who coordinates of the contribution to ATLAS by South Africa. All signals will be digitised and then transferred to the off-detector electronics, where the signals will be reconstructed, buffered, and sent to the first level of the trigger at a rate of 40 MHz, or 40 million times every second. This will provide a better precision of the calorimeter signals used by the trigger system; will provide more information and will allow the development of more complex trigger algorithms. Mellado and colleagues from the US and Europe organized the ATLAS Tile Calorimeter Upgrade week at iThemba Laboratories in Cape Town from March 15th to 17th, where scientists from around the world, working at the ATLAS experiment at CERN gathered to discuss the technicalities of the upgrade. Sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation, the event provided a unique opportunity for local students and industry to gain information and knowledge from highly respected scientists from around the world. The ATLAS upgrade represents a major challenge in digital electronics that South African scientists and industry are profiting from, says Mellado. The generation and real-time processing of digital signals forms the first stage of what is usually referred to as the Big Data problem. In the process of pursuing this type of complex problems, South African students encounter the opportunity to acquire unique skills, which are brought to the country. Local industry also profits from these activities. Based on a design developed for the upgrade of the off-detector electronics of the Tile Calorimeter, South African industry was able to manufacture in 2016 the most complex electronics board in the country to date. The production of the board was possible thanks to a concerted effort in investing and innovating that now enables local industry to produce complex boards more efficiently and affordably. The workshop was kicked off with an open session chaired by Mellado. The first speaker was the Director of iThemba Laboratories, Dr. Faial Azaiez, who welcomed the participants and gave an overview of his vision for the laboratory and its international projection. The Director emphasized the commitment to support the development of instrumentation for South Africa. Daniel Dock, Managing Director, TraX Interconnect (Pty) Ltd, gave a presentation on the history and capabilities of the South African electronics industry. Dock gave an overview of the complexities behind the manufacturing of high-density electronics board, with emphasis on the techniques that had to be developed to manufacture the board for the ATLAS Tile Calorimeter. The open session was concluded by a colloquium by Dr. Oleg Solovyanov, the Project Leader of the ATLAS Tile Calorimeter. Solovyanov reviewed the most important features of the detector and plans for the upgrade. 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. Brett Valliant wanted to go to the movie theater, not the performing arts center. But his buddy talked him into it, and hes forever grateful. The 35-year-old organist from Wichita, Kansas, has become known nationally for scoring and accompanying silent films, as hell do Friday night at First Presbyterian Church. Arts for the Soul, the churchs music and fine arts series, concludes its 10th anniversary season with Valliant accompanying the 1927 Buster Keaton classic, The General. But had Valliant gone to the movies 20 years ago instead of the performing arts center in Wichita, he may not have found his calling. Valliant says he and a friend planned to see the latest blockbuster, but when the friend picked up Valliant, then 15, he told Valliant about a silent film playing at the arts center. I really wanted to see the other movie, Valliant said in a phone interview. I said well stay for 15 minutes and then leave. The next thing I knew it was intermission. I was captivated by what I had seen and heard. What he saw was the silent film The Eagle (1925), starring Louise Dresser and Rudolph Valentino. What he heard was a Wurlitzer, a theater organ played by Lee Erwin (1908-2000), who had composed scores for more than 70 silent films. When I discovered (the theater organ), I became fascinated with them and became interested in them, Valliant said. The next year, at age 16, he accompanied his first silent film, Peter Pan (1924), and he hasnt stopped. His Lincoln performance will be his second for Arts for the Soul. He accompanied Safety Last, the 1923 film starring Nebraska-born Harold Lloyd in November 2008. He also performed a 2010 organ concert at First-Plymouth Church. Very few silent film scores remain, so when Valliant accompanies a film he often starts from scratch. He watches a film first and takes copious notes. I use the pause button a lot, he admitted. Then he creates the score, which allows for improvisation. Then comes the performance, which proves to be a multi-tasking endeavor. You still have to watch the film while youre playing, he said. You have to make sure the timing is right with whats happening on the screen. You never just go up there and play the organ. Youre always watching the film. Arts for the Soul will make a big night of it. Following the film and Valliants accompaniment, Arts for The Soul will host a gala reception, an event recognizing the series 10 years with live music and hors doeuvres. The following companies are subsidiares of Vodafone Group Public: 360 Connect S.A., 3@ Telecom, A-ccelerator B.V., A-ccelerator Holding B.V, AAA (Euro) Limited, AAA (MCR) Limited, AAA (UK) Limited, Acorn Communications Limited, Africonnect (Zambia) Limited, Ag Mercantile Company Private Limited, Al-Amin Investments Limited, Amsterdamse Beheer- en Consultingmaatschappij B.V., Apollo Submarine Cable System Limited, Array Holdings Limited, Asian Telecommunication Investments (Mauritius) Limited, Aspective Limited, Astec Communications Limited, Autoconnex Limited, Aztec Limited, BelCompany BV, Bluefish Apac Communications Pte. Ltd, Bluefish Communications, Bluefish Communications Limited, Business Serve Limited, C&W Worldwide Nigeria Limited, C.S.P. Solutions Limited, CCII (Mauritius) Inc., CGP India Investments Ltd., CGP Investments (Holdings) Limited, COOP Mobil s.r.o, CT Networks Limited, CWGNL S.A., CWW Operations Limited, Cable & Wireless Access Limited, Cable & Wireless Americas Systems Inc., Cable & Wireless Aspac Holdings Limited, Cable & Wireless CIS Services Limited, Cable & Wireless CIS Svyaz LLC, Cable & Wireless Capital Limited , Cable & Wireless Communications Data Network Services Limited, Cable & Wireless Communications Starclass Limited, Cable & Wireless Communications Technical Service (Shanghai) Co. Ltd (Beijing Branch), Cable & Wireless Europe Holdings Limited, Cable & Wireless GN Limited, Cable & Wireless Global (India) Private Limited, Cable & Wireless Global Business Services Limited, Cable & Wireless Global Holding Limited, Cable & Wireless Global Telecommunication Services Limited, Cable & Wireless Holdco Limited, Cable & Wireless Networks India Private Limited, Cable & Wireless Trade Mark Management Limited, Cable & Wireless UK Holdings Limited, Cable & Wireless UK Services Limited, Cable & Wireless Waterside Holdings Limited, Cable & Wireless Worldwide, Cable & Wireless Worldwide Limited, Cable & Wireless Worldwide Pension Trustee Limited, Cable & Wireless Worldwide Services Limited, Cable & Wireless Worldwide Voice Messaging Limited, Cable & Wireless a-Services Inc, Cable & Wireless a-Services Limited, Cable and Wireless (India) Limited, Cable and Wireless (India) Limited Indian Branch Office, Cable and Wireless Nominee Limited, Cable and Wireless Worldwide South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Cavalry Holdings Ltd, Celfocus Solucoes Informaticas Para Telecomunicacoes S.A, Cellops Limited, Cellular Operations Limited, Central Communications Group Limited, Central Telecom (Northern) Limited, Centurion GSM Limited, Chelys Limited, City Cable (Holdings) Limited, Cobra do Brasil Servicos de Telematica ltda., Commnet Cellular Inc., Complete Network Technology, Connect (India) Mobile Technologies Private Limited, Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Limited, Dataroam Limited , Device Insight, Digital Island (UK) Ltd, Digital Mobile Spectrum Limited, East Africa Investment (Mauritius) Limited, Emtel Europe Limited, Energis (Ireland) Limited, Energis Communications Limited, Energis Holdings Limited, Energis Local Access Limited, Energis Management Limited, Energis Squared Limited, Erudite Systems Limited, Esprit Telecom B.V., Eudokia Limited, Euro Pacific Securities Ltd., Eurocall Holdings Limited, Europolitan Holdings AB (now Europolitan Vodafone AB), FB Holdings Limited, FM Associates (UK) Limited, FinCo Partner 1 B.V., FireFly Networks Limited, Flexphone Limited, GS Telecom (Pty) Limited, Gateway Communications Africa (UK) Limited, Gateway Communications Tanzania Limited, General Mobile Corporation, Generation Telecom Limited, Ghana Telecommunications, Ghana Telecommunications Company Limited, Global Cellular Rental Limited, Globe Limited, GrandCentrix GmbH, Grupo Corporativo ONO S.A.U., H3ga Properties (No 3) Pty Limited, HBO Nederland Cooperatief U.A., HBO Netherlands Channels sro, HBO Netherlands Distribution B.V., Hellas Online, How2 Telecom Limited, Hutchison Essar Ltd, Indus Towers Limited, Intercell Communications Limited, Internet Network Services Limited, Invitation Digital Limited, Ipergy Communications NV, Isis Telecommunications Management Limited, Jaguar Communications Limited, Jaykay Finholding (India) Private Limited, Jupicol (Proprietary) Limited, KABELCOM Braunschweig Gesellschaft Fur BreitbandkabelKommunikation Mit Beschrankter Haftung, KABELCOM Wolfsburg Gesellschaft Fur BreitbandkabelKommunikation Mit Beschrankter Haftung, Kabel Deutschland, Kabel Deutschland Holding, Kabel Deutschland Holding Erste Beteiligungs GmbH, Kabel Deutschland Holding Zweite Beteilgungs GmbH, Kabel Deutschland Neunte Beteiligungs GmbH, Kabel Deutschland Siebte Beteiligungs GmbH, Kabelfernsehen Munchen Servicenter GmbH & Co. KG, LG Financing Partnership, LGE HoldCo V B.V., LGE HoldCo VI B.V., LGE HoldCo VIII B.V., LGE Holdco VII B.V., LLC Vodafone Enterprise Ukraine, Le Bunt Holdings Limited, Legend Communications Limited, Liberty Global, Liberty Global Content Netherlands B.V., London Hydraulic Power Company, M-PESA Foundation, M-PESA Holding Co. Limited, ML Integration Group Limited, ML Integration Limited, ML Integration Services Limited, MV Healthcare Services Private Limited, Mannesmann AG, MetroHoldings Limited, Mezzanine Ware Proprietary Limited (RF), Mirambo Limited, Misrfone Trading Company LLC, MobiFon S.A., Mobile Commerce Solutions Limited, Mobile Phone Centre Limited, Mobile Wallet VM1, Mobile Wallet VM2, Mobile by Sainsburys Limited, Mobiles 4 Business.com Limited, Mobileworld Communications Pty Limited, Mobileworld Operating Pty Ltd, Mobilvest, Motifpros 1 (Proprietary) Limited, Multi Risk Indemnity Company Limited, Multi Risk Limited, ND Callus Info Services Private Limited, Nadal Trading Company Private Limited, Nat Comm Air Limited, National Communications Backbone Company Limited, Navtrak Ltd, Netforce Group Limited, Netgrid Telecom SRL, Number Portability Company (Proprietary) Limited, ONO, Omega Telecom Holdings Private Limited, Oni Way Infocomunicacoes S.A, Oskar Mobil S.R.O., Oxygen Solutions Limited, P.C.P. (North West) Limited, PPL Pty Limited, PT Network Services Limited, PTI Telecom Limited, Peoples Phone Limited, Pinnacle Cellular Group Limited, Pinnacle Cellular Limited, Plex Limited, Plustech Mercantile Company Private Limited, Prime Metals Ltd., Project Telecom Holdings Limited, Quickcomm Software Solutions, Radio Opt GmbH, Rian Mobile Limited, SBC SMART CITY 1517 B.V., SMMS Investments Pvt Limited, Safaricom Limited, Safenet N.P A., Sarmady Communications, Scarlet Ibis Investments 23 (Pty) Limited, Scorpios Beverages Pvt. Ltd, Silver Stream Investments Limited, Singlepoint (4U) Limited, Singlepoint (4U) Ltd., Singlepoint Payment Services Limited, Siro Limited, Spar Aerospace (Nigeria) Limited, Sport TV Portugal S.A, Starnet, Stentor Communications Limited, Stentor Limited, Storage Technology Services (Pty) Limited, T.W. Telecom Limited, T3 Telecommunications Limited, TKS Telepost Kabel-Service Kaiserslautern Beteiligungs GmbH, TKS Telepost Kabel-Service Kaiserslautern GmbH & Co. KG, TNAS Limited, TSM NZ Limited, Talkland Airtime Services Limited, Talkland Australia Pty Limited, Talkland Communications Limited, Talkland International Limited, Talkland Midlands Limited, Talkmobile Limited, Tele2 Italia SPA, Tele2 Spain, Telecom Investments India Private Limited, Telecommunications Europe Limited, Ternhill Communications Limited, The Cobra Group, The Eastern Leasing Company Limited, The Old Telecom Sales Co. Limited, Thus Group Holdings Limited, Thus Group Limited, Thus Limited, Thus Profit Sharing Trustees Limited, TnT Expense Management LLC, Tomorrow Street GP S.a r.l., Tomorrow Street SCA, Torenspits II B.V., Townley Communications Limited, Trans Crystal Ltd., UMT Investments Limited, UPC Nederland Holding I B.V., UPC Nederland Holding II B.V., UPC Nederland Holding III B.V., Unified Communications, Uniqueair Limited, Urbana Teleunion Rostock GmbH & Co.KG, Usha Martin Telematics Limited, VAPL No. 2 Pty Limited, VBA (Mauritius) Limited, VBA Holdings Limited, VBA International (SL) Limited, VBA International Limited, VEI S.r.l., VM SA, VND S.p.A, VSSB Vodafone Shared Services Budapest Private Limited Company, Verwaltung Urbana Teleunion Rostock GmbH, Victus Networks S.A., Vizzavi Finance Limited, Vizzavi Limited, Voda Limited, Vodacall Limited, Vodacash s.p.r.l., Vodacom (Pty) Limited, Vodacom Business (Angola) Limitada, Vodacom Business (Ghana) Limited, Vodacom Business (Kenya) Limited, Vodacom Business Africa (Nigeria) Limited, Vodacom Business Africa Group (Pty) Limited, Vodacom Business Africa Group Services Limited, Vodacom Business Cameroon SA, Vodacom Business Cote Divoire S.A.R.L., Vodacom Congo (RDC) SA, Vodacom Financial Services (Proprietary) Limited, Vodacom Group Limited, Vodacom Insurance Administration Company (Proprietary) Limited, Vodacom Insurance Company (RF) Limited, Vodacom International Holdings (Pty) Limited, Vodacom International Limited, Vodacom Lesotho (Pty) Limited, Vodacom Life Assurance Company (RF) Limited, Vodacom Payment Services (Proprietary) Limited, Vodacom Properties No 1 (Proprietary) Limited, Vodacom Properties No.2 (Pty) Limited, Vodacom Tanzania Limited Zanzibar, Vodacom Tanzania Public Limited Company, Vodacom UK Limited, Vodafone (NI) Limited, Vodafone (New Zealand) Hedging Limited, Vodafone (Scotland) Limited, Vodafone 2, Vodafone 4 UK, Vodafone 5 Limited, Vodafone 5 UK, Vodafone 6 UK, Vodafone Albania Sh.A, Vodafone Alternatif Telekom Hizmetleri A.S., Vodafone Americas 4, Vodafone Americas Virginia Inc., Vodafone And Qatar Foundation L.L.C, Vodafone Asset Management Services S.a r.l., Vodafone Australia Pty Limited, Vodafone Automotive Deutschland GmbH, Vodafone Automotive Electronic Systems S.r.L, Vodafone Automotive France S.A.S, Vodafone Automotive Iberia S.L, Vodafone Automotive Italia S.p.A, Vodafone Automotive Japan K.K, Vodafone Automotive Korea Limited, Vodafone Automotive SpA, Vodafone Automotive Technologies (Beijing) Co Ltd, Vodafone Automotive Telematics Development S.A.S, Vodafone Automotive Telematics S.A, Vodafone Automotive UK Limited, Vodafone Belgium SA/NV, Vodafone Benelux Limited, Vodafone Bilgi Ve Iletisim Hizmetleri AS, Vodafone Business Services Limited, Vodafone Business Solutions Limited, Vodafone Canada Inc, Vodafone Cellular Limited, Vodafone Central Services Limited, Vodafone China Limited (China), Vodafone China Limited (Hong Kong), Vodafone Connect 2 Limited, Vodafone Connect Limited, Vodafone Consolidated Holdings Limited, Vodafone Corporate Limited, Vodafone Corporate Secretaries Limited, Vodafone Czech Republic A.S., Vodafone DC Pension Trustee Company Limited, Vodafone Dagitim Hizmetleri A.S., Vodafone Data, Vodafone Distribution Holdings Limited, Vodafone Egypt Telecommunications S.A.E., Vodafone Elektronik Para Ve Odeme Hizmetleri A.S., Vodafone Empresa Brasil Telecomunicacoes Ltda, Vodafone Empresa Mexico S.de R.L. de C.V., Vodafone Enabler Espana S.L., Vodafone Enterprise Australia Pty Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Austria GmbH, Vodafone Enterprise Bahrain W.L.L., Vodafone Enterprise Bulgaria EOOD, Vodafone Enterprise Chile SA, Vodafone Enterprise Communications Technical Services (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Vodafone Enterprise Corporate Secretaries Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Denmark A/S, Vodafone Enterprise Equipment Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Europe (UK) Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Europe (UK) Limited Czech Branch, Vodafone Enterprise Europe (UK) Limited DubaiI Branch, Vodafone Enterprise Finland OY, Vodafone Enterprise France SAS, Vodafone Enterprise Germany GmbH, Vodafone Enterprise Global Businesses S.a r.l., Vodafone Enterprise Global Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Global Network HK Ltd, Vodafone Enterprise Global Network Pte. Ltd., Vodafone Enterprise Hong Kong Ltd, Vodafone Enterprise Italy S.r.L, Vodafone Enterprise Korea Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Luxembourg S.A., Vodafone Enterprise Netherlands BV, Vodafone Enterprise Norway AS, Vodafone Enterprise Regional Business Singapore Pte.Ltd., Vodafone Enterprise Singapore Pte.Ltd, Vodafone Enterprise Spain S.L.U. Portugal Branch, Vodafone Enterprise Spain SLU, Vodafone Enterprise Sweden AB, Vodafone Enterprise Switzerland AG, Vodafone Erste Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Vodafone Espana S.A.U., Vodafone Euro Hedging Limited, Vodafone Euro Hedging Two, Vodafone Europe B.V., Vodafone Europe UK, Vodafone European Investments, Vodafone European Portal Limited, Vodafone Finance Limited, Vodafone Finance Luxembourg Limited, Vodafone Finance Sweden, Vodafone Finance UK Limited, Vodafone Financial Operations, Vodafone Financial Services B.V., Vodafone Fixed Ltd, Vodafone Foundation, Vodafone Foundation Australia Pty Limited, Vodafone Gestioni S.p.A, Vodafone Ghana Mobile Financial Services Limited, Vodafone Global Content Services Limited, Vodafone Global Enterprise (Hong Kong) Limited, Vodafone Global Enterprise (Italy) S.R.L., Vodafone Global Enterprise (Japan) K.K., Vodafone Global Enterprise (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Vodafone Global Enterprise Limited, Vodafone Global Enterprise Russia LLC, Vodafone Global Enterprise Taiwan Limited, Vodafone Global Enterprise Telecommunications (Hellas) A.E., Vodafone Global Network Limited, Vodafone Global Network Limited Slovakia Branch, Vodafone Global Services Private Limited, Vodafone GmbH, Vodafone Group (Directors) Trustee Limited, Vodafone Group Pension Trustee Limited, Vodafone Group Services GmbH, Vodafone Group Services Ireland Limited, Vodafone Group Services Limited, Vodafone Group Services No.2 Limited, Vodafone Group Share Trustee Limited, Vodafone Hire Limited, Vodafone Holding A.S., Vodafone Holdings (Jersey) Limited, Vodafone Holdings (SA) Proprietary Limited, Vodafone Holdings Europe S.L.U., Vodafone Holdings Luxembourg Limited, Vodafone Hutchison Australia Pty Limited, Vodafone Hutchison Finance Pty Limited, Vodafone Hutchison Receivables Pty Limited, Vodafone IP Licensing Limited, Vodafone India Digital Limited, Vodafone India Limited, Vodafone India Services Private Limited, Vodafone India Ventures Limited, Vodafone Institut fur Gesellschaft und Kommunikation GmbH, Vodafone Intermediate Enterprises Limited, Vodafone International 1 S.a.r.l. Luxembourg Zweigniederlassung Bern, Vodafone International 1 S.a r.l., Vodafone International 2 Limited, Vodafone International Holdings B.V., Vodafone International Holdings Limited, Vodafone International M S.a r.l., Vodafone International Operations Limited, Vodafone International Services LLC, Vodafone Investment UK, Vodafone Investments (SA) Proprietary Limited, Vodafone Investments Australia Limited, Vodafone Investments Limited, Vodafone Investments Luxembourg S.a r.l., Vodafone Investments Luxembourg S.a r.l. Luxembourg Zweigniederlassung Bern, Vodafone Ireland Distribution Limited, Vodafone Ireland Ltd., Vodafone Ireland Marketing Limited, Vodafone Ireland Property Holdings Limited, Vodafone Ireland Retail Limited, Vodafone Italia S.p.A., Vodafone Jersey Dollar Holdings Limited, Vodafone Jersey Finance, Vodafone Jersey Yen Holdings Unlimited, Vodafone Kabel Deutschland Field Services GmbH, Vodafone Kabel Deutschland GmbH, Vodafone Kabel Deutschland Kundenbetreuung GmbH, Vodafone Kenya Limited, Vodafone Leasing Limited, Vodafone Libertel B.V., Vodafone Limited, Vodafone Luxembourg 5 S.a r.l., Vodafone Luxembourg 5 S.a r.l. Luxembourg Zweigniederlassung Bern, Vodafone Luxembourg S.a r.l., Vodafone Luxembourg S.a r.l. Luxembourg Zweigniederlassung Bern, Vodafone M-PESA SH.P.K., Vodafone M-Pesa S.A, Vodafone M.C. Mobile Services Limited , Vodafone Magyarorszag Mobile Tavkozlesi Zartkoruen Mukodo Reszvenytarsasag, Vodafone Malta Limited, Vodafone Marketing UK , Vodafone Maroc SARL, Vodafone Mauritius Ltd., Vodafone Mobile Commerce Limited, Vodafone Mobile Communications Limited, Vodafone Mobile Enterprises Limited, Vodafone Mobile NZ Limited, Vodafone Mobile Network Limited, Vodafone Mobile Operations Limited, Vodafone Mobile Services Limited, Vodafone Multimedia Limited, Vodafone Nederland Holding I B.V., Vodafone Nederland Holding II B.V., Vodafone Nederland Holding III B.V., Vodafone Net Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S., Vodafone Network Pty Limited, Vodafone New Zealand Foundation Limited, Vodafone New Zealand Limited, Vodafone Next Generation Services Limited, Vodafone Nominees Limited1, Vodafone ONO S.A.U., Vodafone Oceania Limited, Vodafone Old Show Ground Site Management Limited, Vodafone Overseas Finance Limited, Vodafone Overseas Holdings Limited, Vodafone Panafon International Holdings B.V., Vodafone Panafon UK, Vodafone Partner Services Limited, Vodafone Payment Solutions S.a r.l., Vodafone Portugal Comunicacoes Pessoais S.A., Vodafone Procurement Company S.a r.l., Vodafone Property Investments Limited, Vodafone Pty Limited, Vodafone Qatar Q.S.C., Vodafone Retail (Holdings) Limited , Vodafone Retail Limited, Vodafone Roaming Services S.a r.l., Vodafone Romania S.A, Vodafone Romania M - Payments SRL, Vodafone Romania Technologies SRL, Vodafone Sales & Services Limited, Vodafone Satellite Services Limited, Vodafone Servicios SL.U, Vodafone Servizi E Tecnologie S.R.L, Vodafone Servicos Empresariais Brasil Ltda., Vodafone Shared Services Romania SRL, Vodafone Specialist Communications Limited, Vodafone Stiftung Deutschland Gemeinnutzige GmbH, Vodafone Technology Solutions Limited, Vodafone Teknoloji Hizmetleri A.S., Vodafone Tele-Services (India) Holdings Limited, Vodafone Telecel-Comunicates Pessoais S.A., Vodafone Telecommunications (India) Limited, Vodafone Telekomunikasyon A.S, Vodafone Towers Limited, Vodafone UK Content Services Limited, Vodafone UK Investments Limited , Vodafone UK Limited1 , Vodafone US Inc, Vodafone Ventures Limited1 , Vodafone Vierte Verwaltungs AG, Vodafone Worldwide Holdings Limited, Vodafone Yen Finance Limited , Vodafone m-pesa Limited, Vodafone-Central Limited Vodaphone Limited, Vodafone-Panafon Hellenic Telecommunications Company S.A., VodafoneZiggo Group Holding B.V, Vodata Limited , Vouchercloud SA (Pty) Ltd, Wataneya Telecommunications S.A.E, Waterberg Lodge (Proprietary) Limited, Wayfinder, Wheatfields Investments 276 (Proprietary) Limited, Wireless Interactions & NFC Accelerator 2013 B.V., Woodend Cellular Limited, Woodend Communications Limited, Woodend Group Limited, Woodend Holdings Limited, XB Facilities B.V, XLink Communications (Proprietary) Limited, Your Communications Group Limited, ZUM B.V., ZYB, Zelitron S.A., Zesko B.V., Ziggo B.V., Ziggo Bond Company B.V., Ziggo Deelnemingen B.V., Ziggo Finance 2 B.V., Ziggo Financing Partnership, Ziggo Holding B.V., Ziggo Netwerk B.V., Ziggo Netwerk II B.V., Ziggo Services B.V., Ziggo Services Employment B.V., Ziggo Services Netwerk 2 B.V., Ziggo Zakelijk Services B.V., and Zoranet Connectivity Services B.V.. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Whirlpool: 1900 Holdings Corporation, ADC, Aeradriatica S.p.A., Airdun Limited, B. Blend Maquinas e Bebidas S.A., BUD Comercio de Eletrodomesticos Ltda., BWI Products Limited, Bauknecht AG, Bauknecht Hausgerate GmbH, Bauknecht Limited, Beijing Embraco Snowflake Compressor Company Limited, Bill Page Orchestra, Bill Page Orchestra Inc., Brasmotor S.A., Brunson Place Properties, Brunson Place Properties LLC, CNB Consultoria Ltda, Cannon Industries Ltd., Centro de Desarrollo Tecnologico e Innovacion WHM S. de R.L de C.V., Comercial Acros Whirlpool, Comercial Acros Whirlpool S. de R.L. de C.V., Consumer Appliances Service Limited, Ealing Compania de Gestiones y Participaciones S.A., Elera Delaware, Elera Delaware Inc., Elera Holdings Corporation, Embraco Europe S.r.l., Embraco Eurosales S.r.l., Embraco Industria de Compressores e Solucoes em Refrigeracao Ltda., Embraco Luxembourg S.a r.l., Embraco Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Embraco Mexico Servicios, Embraco Mexico Servicios S. de R.L. de C.V., Embraco North America, Embraco North America Inc., Embraco RUS LLC, Embraco Slovakia S.r.o., Everest Campus, Everest Campus LLC., General Domestic Appliances Holdings Ltd, General Domestic Appliances International Ltd., Guangdong Whirlpool Electrical Appliances Co., Guangdong Whirlpool Electrical Appliances Co. Ltd., Haceb Whirlpool Industrias S.A.S., Hefei Rongshida Sanyo Electric, Hefei Whirlpool Enterprise Management Service Co. Ltd., Hoover Comercial Limitada, IRE Beteiligungs GmbH, Indesit Argentina S.A., Indesit Company, Indesit Company Beyaz Esya Pazarlama A.S., Indesit Company Beyaz Esya Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S., Indesit Company Ceska S.r.o., Indesit Company Domestic Appliances Hellas Mepe, Indesit Company International Business S.A., Indesit Company Luxembourg S.A., Indesit Company Magyarorszag Kft, Indesit Company Nordics AB, Indesit Company Polska Sp. zo.o., Indesit Company Singapore Pte. Ltd., Indesit Company UK Holdings Ltd., Indesit IP S.r.l., Indesit International ZAO, Indesit Ireland Ltd., Indesit Middle East FZE, Indesit Ukraine LLC, Industrias Acros Whirlpool S. de R.L. de C.V., Industrias Acros Whirlpool S.A. de C.V, Jackson Appliances Ltd., Joint-Stock Company Indesit International, KitchenAid, KitchenAid Australia Pty Ltd, KitchenAid Australia Pty Ltd., KitchenAid Delaware Inc., KitchenAid Europa Inc., KitchenAid Global, KitchenAid Global Inc., KitchenAid Inc., KitchenAid Korea Limited, KitchenAid Promotions, KitchenAid Promotions LLC, KitchenAid Trading Co., KitchenAid Trading Co. Ltd., LAWSA S.A., MLOG Armazem Geral Ltda., Maytag Corporation, Maytag Limited, Maytag Properties, Maytag Properties LLC, Maytag Sales, Maytag Sales Inc., Maytag Worldwide N.V., Merloni Domestic Appliances Ltd., Nineteen Hundred Corporation, Polar S.A., Qingdao EECON Electronic Controls and Appliances Co., Qingdao EECON Electronic Controls and Appliances Co. Ltd., South American Sales Partnership, THC Assets Corporation, Up Points Servicos Empresariais S.A., Vitromatic S.A. de C.V., WCGP Nova Scotia Co., WHirlpool EMEA Finanace S.a r.l., Whirlpool (Australia) Pty. Limited, Whirlpool (B.V.I.) Limited, Whirlpool (China) Co. Ltd., Whirlpool (China) Investment Co., Whirlpool (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Whirlpool (Hefei) Trading Co., Whirlpool (Hefei) Trading Co. Ltd, Whirlpool (Hong Kong) Limited, Whirlpool (Japan) Co. Ltd., Whirlpool (Thailand) Limited, Whirlpool ASEAN Co., Whirlpool America Holdings Corp., Whirlpool Argentina S.r.l., Whirlpool Asia B.V., Whirlpool Asia Holdings S.a r.l., Whirlpool Asia Inc., Whirlpool Asia LLP, Whirlpool Belux N.V./S.A., Whirlpool Bermuda Euro Ltd., Whirlpool Beyaz Esya Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.S., Whirlpool Bulgaria Ltd., Whirlpool CIS Ltd., Whirlpool CR, Whirlpool CR spol. s.r.o., Whirlpool CSA Holdings S.a r.l., Whirlpool Canada Co., Whirlpool Canada Co. (post 9/1/05 amalgamation company), Whirlpool Canada Holding Co, Whirlpool Canada Holding Co. (post 4/18/06 amalgamation company), Whirlpool Canada Investments S.a r.l., Whirlpool Canada LP, Whirlpool Canada Luxembourg Holdings S.a r.l., Whirlpool Chile Limitada, Whirlpool Colombia S.A.S., Whirlpool Comercial Ltda., Whirlpool Company Polska Sp. z o.o., Whirlpool Company Ukraine LLC, Whirlpool Croatia Ltd., Whirlpool EMEA S.p.A., Whirlpool Ecuador S.A., Whirlpool Eesti OU, Whirlpool El Salvador, Whirlpool El Salvador S.A. de C.V., Whirlpool Electrodomesticos S.A., Whirlpool Eletrodomesticos AM S.A., Whirlpool Enterprises, Whirlpool Enterprises LLC, Whirlpool Europe B.V., Whirlpool Europe Coordination Center, Whirlpool Europe Holdings Limited, Whirlpool Ev Aletleri Pazarlama Ve Ticaret A.S., Whirlpool Finance B.V., Whirlpool Finance Center Corp., Whirlpool Finance Luxembourg S.a r.l., Whirlpool Finance Overseas Ltd., Whirlpool Financial Corporation, Whirlpool Financial Corporation International, Whirlpool Floor Care Corp., Whirlpool France Holdings SAS, Whirlpool France SAS, Whirlpool Germany GmbH, Whirlpool Global B.V., Whirlpool Global Investments B.V., Whirlpool Greater China Inc., Whirlpool Guatemala, Whirlpool Guatemala S.A., Whirlpool Hellas S.A., Whirlpool Holdings Corporation, Whirlpool Home Appliances B.V., Whirlpool Home Appliances Limited Liability Company, Whirlpool Hungarian Trading Limited Liability Company, Whirlpool India Holdings Limited, Whirlpool Insurance Company, Whirlpool Insurance Company Ltd., Whirlpool Internacional S. de R.L. de C.V., Whirlpool International GmbH, Whirlpool International Holdings S.a r.l., Whirlpool International Manufacturing S.a r.l., Whirlpool Ireland Appliances Limited, Whirlpool Ireland Limited, Whirlpool Italia Holdings S.r.l., Whirlpool Italia S.r.l., Whirlpool Japan Co. Ltd., Whirlpool Japan Inc., Whirlpool Kazakhstan LLP, Whirlpool Latin America Corporation, Whirlpool Latvia S.I.A., Whirlpool Lietuva UAB, Whirlpool Ltd Belgrade, Whirlpool Luxembourg Holdings S.a r.l., Whirlpool Luxembourg Investments S.a r.l., Whirlpool Luxembourg S.a r.l., Whirlpool Luxembourg Ventures S.a r.l., Whirlpool MEEA DMCC, Whirlpool Magyarorszag Kereskedelmi Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Whirlpool Management Services S.a.g.l., Whirlpool Maroc S. a r.l., Whirlpool Mauritius Limited, Whirlpool Mexico Holdings LLC, Whirlpool Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Whirlpool Mexico S.A. de C.V., Whirlpool Mexico Ventures LLC, Whirlpool Microwave Products Development Limited, Whirlpool NAAG Holdings Corporation, Whirlpool NAR Holdings, Whirlpool NAR Holdings LLC, Whirlpool Nederland B.V., Whirlpool Nordic, Whirlpool Nordic A/S, Whirlpool Nordic AB, Whirlpool Nordic AS, Whirlpool Nordic OY, Whirlpool Oceania Inc., Whirlpool Overseas Holdings, Whirlpool Overseas Holdings LLC, Whirlpool Overseas Hong Kong Limited, Whirlpool Overseas Manufacturing S.ar.l., Whirlpool Peru S.R.L., Whirlpool Polska Appliances Sp. z o.o., Whirlpool Polska Sp. z o.o., Whirlpool Portugal, Whirlpool Portugal S.A., Whirlpool Product Development (Shenzhen) Company Limited, Whirlpool Properties, Whirlpool Properties Inc., Whirlpool Puntana S.A., Whirlpool R&D S.r.l., Whirlpool RUS LLC, Whirlpool Realty Corporation, Whirlpool Romania S.r.l., Whirlpool S.A., Whirlpool SSC Limited, Whirlpool Slovakia Home Appliances spol. s.r.o., Whirlpool Slovakia spol. s.r.o., Whirlpool South Africa (Proprietary) Limited, Whirlpool Southeast Asia Pte, Whirlpool Sweden Aktiebolag, Whirlpool Taiwan Co. Ltd., Whirlpool Technologies LLC, Whirlpool UK Appliances Limited, Whirlpool UK Pension Scheme Trustee Limited, Whirlpool Ukraine LLC, Whirlpool WW Holdings B.V., Whirlpool do Brasil Investements B.V., Whirlpool do Brasil Ltda., Whirlpool of India Limited, Whirlpool Osterreich GmbH, Whirlpool Osterreich GmbH, Xpelair, Xpelair Ltd., Yummly, Yummly Canada Ltd., and Yummly Inc.. Read More The Travelers Companies, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides a range of commercial and personal property, and casualty insurance products and services to businesses, government units, associations, and individuals in the United states and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Business Insurance, Bond & Specialty Insurance, and Personal Insurance. The Business Insurance segment offers workers' compensation, commercial automobile and property, general liability, commercial multi-peril, employers' liability, public and product liability, professional indemnity, marine, aviation, onshore and offshore energy, construction, terrorism, personal accident, and kidnap and ransom insurance products. This segment operates through select accounts, which serve small businesses; commercial accounts that serve mid-sized businesses; national accounts, which serve large companies; and national property and other that serve large and mid-sized customers, commercial trucking industry, and agricultural businesses, as well as markets and distributes its products through brokers, wholesale agents, and program managers. The Bond & Specialty Insurance segment provides surety, fidelity, management and professional liability, and other property and casualty coverages and related risk management services through independent agencies and brokers. The Personal Insurance segment offers property and casualty insurance covering personal risks, primarily automobile and homeowners insurance to individuals through independent agencies and brokers. The Travelers Companies, Inc. was founded in 1853 and is based in New York, New York. American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. operates as a specialty retailer that provides clothing, accessories, and personal care products under the American Eagle and Aerie brands. The company provides jeans, and specialty apparel and accessories for women and men; and intimates, apparel, activewear, and swim collections, as well as personal care products for women. It also offers graphic tees and other clothing products under the Tailgate brand name; and menswear products under the Todd Snyder New York brand name. As of January 29, 2022, the company operated 880 American Eagle stores, 244 Aerie brand stand-alone stores, and five Todd Snyder stores in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Hong Kong. It also ships to 81 countries through its Websites; and offers its merchandise at 260 locations operated by licensees in 28 countries, as well as provides products through its Websites ae.com, aerie.com, and toddsnyder.com. American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Internet sales tax A bill (LB44) to collect Nebraska sales taxes owed on Internet purchases was stalled at second-stage floor consideration by debate. An amendment would address possible constitutional concerns raised by Attorney General Doug Peterson. Coming Wednesday Three major bills will be debated on Wednesday, the first of the scheduled late-night sessions this year. * A school funding bill (LB409), introduced by Education Chairman Mike Groene, will be debated in the morning. It would revise the Tax Equity and Educational Opportunities Support Act (TEEOSA) by reducing the base limitation rate for school districts, changing the amount of aid provided by the state to school districts for 2017-18 and 2018-19. * Medical cannabis legalization (LB622), introduced by Lincoln Sen. Anna Wishart, will be debated two hours beginning at 1:30 p.m. It would legalize the consumption of cannabis for limited medical purposes. It was supported at its hearing by 15 individuals, three family groups and the ACLU of Nebraska. It was opposed by the Nebraska State Patrol, the Attorney General's office, County Attorneys Association, Nebraska Sheriffs' Association, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Nebraska Medical Association and the Nebraska Pharmacists Association. * At 6:15 p.m. the Legislature will debate a bill (LB661), introduced by Sen. John Kuehn of Heartwell, that would make records containing information on lethal injection drugs confidential and exempt from disclosure to the public if they could identify drug compounders or sellers. The Department of Correctional Services and Nebraskans for the Death Penalty have spoken in support of the bill. Opponents included the League of Women Voters of Lincoln and Lancaster County, the ACLU of Nebraska, the Nebraska Catholic Conference, the Nebraska Bar Association, Media of Nebraska and others. 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 A former University of Nebraska-Lincoln police sergeant has pleaded not guilty to drunk driving, according to court records. Zachary Byers' attorney entered a written plea for his client Tuesday after prosecutors charged him with driving while having a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit. Byers, 36, was pulled over on Interstate 180 at 2:33 a.m. Feb. 23 by a state trooper for a traffic violation, according to the Nebraska State Patrol. The trooper conducted a drunk driving investigation, and Byers' blood-alcohol level tested .194 percent. The limit to drive is .08 percent. Byers resigned his position as a sergeant with the police department last month and is no longer a law enforcement officer, UNL spokesman Steve Smith said. Byers is now a public safety systems specialist at UNL, according to the campus directory. Byers has been with UNLPD since 2001. UK plasma exhaust research receives funding 19 April 2017 Share The UK's MAST Upgrade tokamak is to receive 21 million ($27 million) in funding to upgrade its plasma exhaust systems. The upgrades will allow fusion researchers to improve their understanding of plasma exhaust physics. MAST Upgrade (Image: UKAEA) The controlled exhaust of power and particles from a hot fusion plasma, through the 'divertor' area of the reactor, is arguably the biggest challenge facing a future fusion power plant using the tokamak design, according to the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE). The Mage Amp Spherical Tokamak (MAST) facility at CCFE in Oxfordshire is undergoing a major upgrade. MAST Upgrade is expected to begin operating later this year. MAST Upgrade's flexible divertor design is already focussed on studying a range of configurations which could solve this problem, CCFE said. These include the new 'Super X' divertor, designed to cool particles down by steering them on a longer exhaust path out of the plasma. European fusion research consortium EUROfusion has now approved the first phase of its contribution to a 21 million program of enhancements to MAST Upgrade. The funding - which will be phased from now to 2022 - will come jointly from EUROfusion and the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. This funding will give MAST Upgrade an "unrivalled capability" over the coming years, according to CCFE. It will be used to increase the tokamak's plasma heating power from 5 MWt to 10 MWt. It will also be used to install a cryoplant for the divertor, as well as improving the plasma fuelling systems. The funding will also be used for upgrading plasma control hardware and software, and for adding extra equipment for measuring plasma exhaust data. Andrew Kirk, head of MAST Upgrade operations, said: "MAST Upgrade provides a uniquely flexible test bed for plasma exhaust physics in all divertor configurations. This extra funding will enhance our capabilities even further, enabling MAST Upgrade to assess alternative divertors for use in the first fusion power plants." Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics Sigmund Freud is globally regarded as the pioneer of psychoanalysis, and he made significant strides in the field of neurology, psychotherapy, psychoanalysis. Freuds work has been extensively studied as it explored new avenues in an attempt to understand the human personality. Psychoanalysis is a clinical way for treating psychopathology through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst. 5. Early Life Freud was given the name Sigismund Schlomo Freud at birth on May 6, 1856, in Freiberg, which is now part of the Czech Republic. Freiberg at the time was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His parents were Jewish, and his father worked as a wool merchant. The family settled in Vienna where Freud went to school. He exhibited high academic abilities, particularly in the fields of math, Latin, Greek, history, and science. Freud was proficient in German, French, Italian, Spanish, English, Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. He was admitted to the University of Vienna at 17 years of age to pursue medicine and graduated in 1881. 4. Career Freuds career began at Vienna General Hospital in 1882 where he worked in different departments. At the beginning of his career, Freud was influenced by fellow doctor Josef Breuer, who successfully treated a patient suffering from hysteria. The patient, named Bertha Pappenheim, had overcome physical symptoms through opening up about past traumatic events. This case inspired Freud to pursue psychology, and in 1895 he proposed that physical ailments are more often than not outward manifestations of deeply suppressed traumas in "Studies in Hysteria." Freud left Vienna for Paris in 1885 and studied under the tutelage of Jean Charcot, an accomplished neurologist who was undertaking research in hypnosis. On his return to Vienna the following year, Freud established a private practice and married Martha Bernays. The last of his six children, Anna Freud, also became a psychoanalyst. 3. Major Contributions Sigmund Freud specialized in nervous and brain disorders. He realized that hypnosis was not as effective as he had hoped and thus adopted a new method, where he engaged with patients freely. He created a comfortable setting for the patient and encouraged them to talk about what was on their mind. In 1896, Freud became the first person to use the word psychoanalysis to describe his new treatment thus setting the foundation for the field. Freud published some groundbreaking theories such as the interpretation of Dreams, where he argued that the minds energy, if not discharged, would manifest in dreams. He proposed that the analysis of dreams had the potential to treat neurosis. The book also suggested that dreams had two parts: the manifest and latent content. The former was the sights and sounds while the latter referred to the dreams hidden meaning. In his work titled The Psychopathology of Everyday Life," he examined the dynamic unconscious. He began giving lectures at the University of Vienna in 1902 and was the major figure in the Psychoanalytic Society. Other renowned psychologists including Carl Jung were among his growing list of followers. 2. Challenges Sigmund Freud's work was criticized as much as he was praised since he presented new methods instead of mainstream ones. Freuds work in the fields of sexuality, particularly regarding homosexuality and infantile sexuality received the harshest criticism. When the Nazis occupied Germany in 1933, Freuds books were among those that were burned. He sought exile in England in 1938 after the Nazis invaded Austria. 1. Death and Legacy Sigmund Freud requested his doctor to administer him with a lethal dose of morphine after his cancer became unbearable. He had been suffering from cancer of the jaw for quite some time. He died on September 23, 1939, and his body was cremated. Freud is remembered for his significant contributions to psychology. He popularized such terms as unconscious and conscious and proposed theories to explain human personality. Freud was a pioneer in the field of psychoanalysis, and his works have been the basis for subsequent research in the discipline. On December 20th, 1989, President Bush launched a military operation code-named Operation Just Cause to topple the dictatorial government of Manuel Noriega in Panama. The invasion involved about 24,000 US troops who had orders to oust the leader and execute a warrant for his arrest on drug trafficking charges. The US forces had the backing of well-equipped military hardware. The military campaign was rather short as it lasted for only two months, beginning on December 20, 1989 and ended on January 31, 1990. 5. Background In the 1980s, Panama was a country of great significance to the US mainly due to the presence of the Panama Canal, a critical shipping route for American ships. The Panama Canal, which had been constructed primarily by the US government, was partially under the control of the Panama government with a plan for it to be fully handed over to the Latin American country by the year 2000. The small nation also hosted several US military bases which were strategic during the America-Russia Cold War because of Panama's relative proximity to Cuba. The countrys president at the time was Manuel Noriega who had notably previously served as a paid informant for the Central Intelligence Agency and was of great help in the international war on the drug trade. Noriega had facilitated the movement of weapons into Latin America in an effort to arm pro-western forces in the time of the Cold War. George H. W. Bush has been at the head of CIA from 1976 1977. Noriega had sided with the US and not the Soviet Union in Latin America. He received more than $100,000 annually from the 1960s up to 1980s, when it was increased to $20,000. Noriega worked closely with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to curb the illegal drug shipments. On the other hand, he also received financial support from drug dealers and facilitated laundering drug money, because he had a special relationship with the CIA and could not be investigated by DEA. In the 1980s, the relationship between Noriega and the US was deteriorating. In 1986, Ronald Reagan opened negotiations urging Noriega to step down as he had been exposed publicly by the New York Times for his involvement with the illicit drug trade. Noriega was pressured and indicted on several drug-related charges in US courts. In 1988, a US invasion was planned, but President Reagan refused because the ties Noriega had with Bush as head of CIA, which could potentially affect Bushs presidential campaign. In later negotiations, the charges of drug trafficking were dropped. In March 1988, Noriegas forces resisted the coup attempt to topple the Panamanian government. As the relations deteriorated further, Noriega shifted allegiance to the Soviet bloc where he received military aid from Libya, Nicaragua, and Cuba. The US military planners started preparing plans to invade Panama. In May 1989, Panama conducted its general elections where Noriegas primary opponents gained majority votes only to have the government reject the results and cling to power. Then on December 16, 1989 a convoy of US military personnel was attacked in the nations capital prompting President Bush to order the commencing of Operation Just Cause. 4. Makeup The US military was deployed to the tiny country and comprised of units from the US Army, US Air Force, The US Navy, and The US Marines. The Panamanian Defense Forces had only 16,000 officers. The operation involved 27,684 US troops and more than 300 aircraft, which included the C-130 Hercules tactical which was equipped with Adverse Weather Aerial Delivery System (AWADS), AC-130 Spectre gunship, C-141 Starlifter, OA-37B dragonfly observation and attack aircraft, C-5 Galaxy strategic transport, AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, and other specialized military aircraft. Air logistics was given by the 22nd Air Force and air assistance from the 60th, 62nd, and 63rd military airlift wings. The Panama incursion was the first combat for the AH-64 and the F-117. 3. Description The US military invasion began on 20th, December 1989 at 1:00 am local time. The first course of action was to destroy all strategic installations including the Punta Paitilla Airport, Army garrisons and jamming the Panamanian radar units using EF-111As of 266th TFW and 390th ECS. Several air assaults were critical in the capture of significant towns and cities with the deployment of paratroopers. There were some scattered from Panamanian Defense Force (PDF). By December 24, the PDCF had been crushed, and the US forces held most of the country. With defeat being evident, President Noriega sought refuge in a Vatican diplomatic mission in the capital city. However, the US forces used psychological strategies to flush him out and capture him by playing loud rock music at the diplomatic residence. Noriega surrendered on January 3, 1990 when he was captured and then flown to the US. 2. Outcome The war had a duration of two months and resulted in many casualties with some organizations reporting deaths of over 3,000 Panamanian civilians. Both warring sides lost military officers with the US reporting 23 deaths from its forces and three civilians, while the Panama Defense Forces reported 150 deaths and 500 civilians. The war also displaced many from their homes, resulting in thousands of refugees. The European Parliament and the Organization of American States made a formal protest against the invasion and condemned it as a blatant violation of international law. In 1992, Noriega was charged on eight counts of money laundering, racketeering, and drug trafficking. He was found guilty and sentenced to 40 years in a federal prison, although later it was reduced to 30 years. 1. Significance The Invasion of Panama is considered by scholars as a precursor to the Gulf War where the US government showed the world its military capacity. The war, while relatively short, strained diplomatic relations between the US and several Latin American nations with Peru recalling its ambassador from the US in protest. Noriegas case became the very first in the Jurys history where a foreign leader was convicted of criminal charges. There are four major deserts in the United States, collectively forming the North American Desert. Each of the Great Basin, Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan deserts are located in the Western United States, with the latter two dipping into significant portions of Mexico. They are categorized by having less than ten inches of precipitation in an average year. When one thinks of the term desert, a barren landscape may come to mind. However, all four of these regions challenge that notion with spectacular variety in the landscape and plant and animal species. Chihuahuan Desert Yuca blooms in the Chihuahuan desert of Texas. The Chihuahuan is the largest desert in North America, though the portion within the United States does not make it the largest desert in this particular country. The nearly 250,000 square-mile Chihuahuan Desert spans through Southern New Mexico, Eastern Arizona, portions of Southwest Texas, and then far South into Mexico's Central Highlands. The Sierra Madre Occidental borders the Chihuahuan Desert to the West and the Sierra Madre Oriental to the East. The 1,900-mile Rio Grande/Rio Bravo cuts through this sensitive ecosystem, which along with underground springs and small streams, provides the much-needed water supply. Read MoreChihuahuan Desert Though the Chihuahuan showcases surprising biodiversity, it is also one of the most endangered regions in the world. Much of this is due to human activity and a lack of understanding regarding the importance of the ecosystem. Thankfully, Texas' Big Bend National Park protects over 800,000 acres of the desert landscape and its precious flora and fauna. Great Basin Desert Wild horses in the Great Basin Desert. The title for largest desert located entirely within the United States goes to the Great Basin Desert, which covers around 190,000 square miles. Its boundary lies mostly within Nevada and crosses into parts of California, Idaho, Utah, and Oregon. To the West loom the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and to the East, the Wasatch/Rocky Mountains. The Snake River Plain marks the Northern boundary, and the Mojave Desert defines its Southern terminus. In the Eastern portion of the desert, visitors can tour the Great Basin National Park in the state of Nevada. Read MoreThe Great Basin Desert Unlike the other three deserts on this list, the Great Basin is considered a "cold" desert. Much of its minimal precipitation falls in the form of snow. This is because of the relatively high latitude and high altitude (3,000 - 6,500-feet above sea level). That being said, it is an overall temperate desert with hot summers. The extremely arid climate is formed because of the "rainshadow effect" created by the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains. The Great Basin Desert in winter. The standout species in the Great Basin Desert is the bristlecone pine. These trees are not only well-adapted to the harsh climate but also the ravages of age. They can prosper for millennia. The oldest bristlecone found in the area was about 5,000 years old. Mojave Desert Landscape of the Mojave Desert. The Mojave Desert is the smallest of the four major American Deserts. However, it is still an immense and impressive sight to behold at over 20-million acres (31,250 square miles), spanning parts of California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. The Mojave stretches from the Sierra Nevada Range and California Montane Chaparral and Woodlands in the West, and the San Gabriel/San Bernardino Mountains in the Southwest, to the Colorado Plateau and Arizona Mountain Forests to the East. The Mojave also acts as a transition between the Great Basin Desert to the North and the Sonoran Desert to the South. This area ranges in elevation from the 11,049-foot summit of Telescope Peak in the Panamint Mountains to the lowest point in North America, the Badwater Basin in Death Valley, which sits at 282-feet below sea level. Death Valley is also the driest and hottest place on the continent, at one point recording a temperature of 134-degrees Fahrenheit. Road through the Mojave Desert. Within the Mojave's boundary, there is Death Valley National Park, Joshua Tree National Park, and the Mojave National Preserve. These federally protected sites ensure a healthy ecosystem for the wide range of plants and animals that rely on this region. The notable wildlife here includes bighorn sheep, mountain lions, black-tailed jackrabbits, desert tortoises, and the Devil's Hole pupfish, which exists nowhere else in the world. The Joshua Tree is an important indicator species of this ecosystem that also sustains the life of countless other species. Read MoreThe Mojave Desert Sonoran Desert Saguaros and small cacti in Sonoran Desert - Saguaro National Park, Arizona, USA. Also called the Desierto de Altar, the Sonoran Desert covers 120,000 square miles across Southwestern Arizona, Southeastern California, and portions of the Mexican states of Baja California Sur, Baja California, and Sonora. The Sonoran also includes the Colorado and Yuma deserts. Collectively, the Sonoran Desert is the most biologically diverse out of the four major US deserts. In total, there are around 100 reptiles, 2,000 native plants, including the quintessential Saguaro cacti, 60 mammals, 30 native fish, 20 amphibians, and 350 birds. The Colorado River and the Gila River flow through this region, which along with the winter and summer rains that are unique to this subtropical desert, provide the vital water sources that support so much life. That being said, the warm year-round temperatures of the Sonoran Desert have been attracting more and more residents over time. This has begun to disrupt the fragile habitat and threaten these species that are so uniquely adapted to the harsh, human-free environment. Read MoreThe Sonoran Desert Female white tail deer in the Sonoran desert landscape. The North American Desert, comprised of the Chihuahuan, Great Basin, Mojave, and Sonoran deserts, stretches across massive portions of the Western and Southwestern United States and, in the case of the Chihuahuan and Sonoran deserts, unites large portions of the Mexican landscape. Across these state and country lines, plants, animals, and unique but extreme environments roam freely. Though they pose challenges to all life that ventures within, these deserts are still vital and beautiful ecosystems worthy of exploring and preserving for ages to come. Thailand is the leading tourist destination in Southeast Asia with its tourism industry spanning close to 70 years of history. Tourism contributes about 9 to 10% to the total GDP. The number of tourists visiting Thailand has been on a steady rise throughout the years reaching up to 30 million visitors annually, although the numbers sometimes decline due to unrests and security threats. However, Thailands tourism industry remains an all-time high, especially during the December-January peak festive season. Thailand is a unique place to visit for its natural, cultural and historical heritage and the warm tropical climate which is favored by tourists escaping the cold winters found in their countries. The rising medical tourism industry has attracted tourists who come for holidays while getting medical care. China China has had the largest number of tourists visiting Thailand over the decades with the number expected to keep rising. In 2016, about 8,757,466 Chinese tourists visited Thailand making up for more than 25% of the total number of tourists. During 2017's first quarter, China recorded a total of 2,439,076 tourists bound for Thailand. A large number of Chinese tourists are linked to the low-price package tours which enable small budget travelers to visit Thailand regularly. However, the Thai government has discouraged these package tours as they limit the amount of spending by the tourists, earning little revenue despite a significant number of visitors. Malaysia Malaysia is the second leading country in the world and the leading ASEAN country which sends tourists to Thailand with a total of 3,533,826 visitors in 2016 and 813,865 visitors between January and March 2017. Close relations between the two countries as well as the promotion of Thailands tourist attractions across ASEAN countries has played a significant role in increasing the number of Malayan visitors. The shared Buddhist traditions also attract Malaysian tourists who wish to attend pilgrimage and festivals outside their own country. Russia Russia is the leading western country which sends the highest number of tourists to Thailand and the third leading overall. In 2016, approximately 1,089,992 Russians toured Thailand, and another 488,987 Russians visited the country between January and March 2017. Long-term close relations between Russia and Thailand have contributed to the longstanding preference for Thailand as a tourist destination by Russian tourists. Thailands government is however concerned with the number of Russian tourists which is considered too small. South Korea South Korea and Thailand have bilateral relations, with Thailand being considered a top destination for South Korean tourists who visit in large numbers. South Korea makes up about 6% of the foreign tourists in Thailand. About 1,464,629 South Koreans toured Thailand in 2016 and another 463,278 in 2017s first quarter. Most of the Korean tourists come in group tours and only about 20% visit Thailand as independent tourists. Future Prospects With the aim of improving Thailands tourism industry, the Tourist Authority of Thailand has put forward several measures such as banning cheap tourist packages which in turn will improve and encourage tourist spending. The goal of the initiative is to promote richer tourists to spend more while in Thailand. The authority markets Thailand through initiatives such as experience Thainess campaign and use of the slogan Amazing Thailand. Other countries with high numbers of tourists to Thailand include Japan, Laos, India, Germany, the US, the UK, France, Singapore, Vietnam, and Australia. Email Sign Up For Our Free Weekly Newsletter London Calling: UK Delegation Visits UAE to Strike Property Deals Sign Up Free | The WPJ Weekly Newsletter Relevant real estate news. Actionable market intelligence. Right to your inbox every week. Go Thank you for your interest! You will now be receiving our Weekly Real Estate Newsletter. Real Estate Listings Showcase A government-led delegation of UK investors and developers are set to visit the Middle East to strike deals with investors as they continue to plough their wealth into the UK post-Brexit.They will be attending two set-piece events designed to reinforce investment and trade links between the regions as total international investment into the UK from the Middle East topped AED 15.1 billion in 2016.While Middle Eastern investors have traditionally been drawn to residential property in London, the AED 18.4 billion top up this month of a AED 229.5 billion real estate and infrastructure investment portfolio in the UK owned by the Qatari government, shows that the appeal stretches even further.Sir Edward Lister, who is the chairman of the government's Homes and Communities Agency, is leading the UK delegation.He said, "The Emirates have always been strong investors in the UK, not just in London, but throughout the country and we have always welcomed that investment."In spite of Brexit, the lying property dynamics in the UK remain unchanged. The demand for all types of property is absolutely enormous. The UK government target for housing is 250,000 homes a year, and in a good year we are only achieving 170,000 so the pressure is on for housing across the country and we need with that modern office accommodation as well as industrial and distribution warehousing."In a country where property is so well protected by rule of law, the UK always makes a sound investment."Sir Edward, who is also the former deputy mayor of London also said he was looking forward to speaking to experts from the Middle East to learn about the innovations being used, especially next generation construction methods, which could also benefit the UK.The UK's trading relationship with the region dates back over two centuries and the special relationship between the UK and the Gulf is reflected in the booming trade figures.Trade between the UK and the GCC has soared by 185% between 1999 and 2015, with the UAE emerging as the UK's third largest export partner outside of Europe and the 11th largest trading partner for the UK overall. In the wake of Brexit, the UK's international relationships are expected to be bolstered and nurtured further.Faisal Durrani, Head of Research at Cluttons explained, "We already know that London residential property is a favorite asset class among the region's wealthy, as has been reflected in our Middle East Private Capital Surveys for a number of years. London's nickname as the 'eighth emirate' is further substantiated by the tremendous volume of investment it attracts from the Middle East and the GCC states in particular.""As well as Qatar's multi-billion-dirham investment into the UK, Kamco of Kuwait and Rasmala of Dubai recently completed a AED 248 million deal to acquire an Amazon distribution warehouse near Edinburgh that is responsible for 3 of 8 Amazon parcel deliveries in the UK. And Abu Dhabi Investments acquired a AED 1.4 billion share of a shopping mall in Liverpool recently."In an article he wrote for EG recently, The Rt Hon Liam Fox MP, the UK's Secretary of State for International Trade, said that it was important for the UK to continue to attract overseas business.He wrote; "In order to fully realize our ambitions, the DiT will fully support the property industry by matching investors with projects and facilitating flows of foreign capital into investment opportunities across the whole of the country."This includes building homes, upgrading infrastructure, regenerating towns and cities and promoting the strengths of regional areas, such as the Northern powerhouse and Midlands Engine."In Dubai, developers are also inviting overseas investment.Sanjay Manchanda, the chief executive of one of the world's leading developers Nakheel, said, "There is a very attractive business model here in Dubai. Everybody needs a diversified portfolio to mitigate risks. If you compare Dubai prices with those in Hong Kong and Singapore, New York and London, they are very competitive and much lower. Today the returns on real estate in Dubai are around 5-10%."Durrani continued, "While the UK will always be perceived as a safe harbour for investments, the dizzying speed at which cities in the Gulf have arisen are attracting the attention of the global investment community, particularly when you have mega projects like the USD32 billion Al Maktoum International Airport in the making, along with ground breaking new transportation infrastructure like 3-D printed skyscrapers and Hyperloop waiting in the wings to provide the next generation of economic growth."Sir Edward Lister, Sanjay Manchanda and Faisal Durrani will be speaking at the Middle East Real Estate Forum, which includes two set-piece events designed to reinforce investment and trade links between the UK and the Middle East.The events are in Abu Dhabi on 25 April and Dubai on 26 April.They are being organized by global real estate publication EG, which is working in partnership with the UK DiT and international real estate adviser Cluttons, to put the global ambitions of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and the UK under the spotlight.The events have a lineup of notable speakers who will also exchange thoughts on best practice approaches to large-scale regeneration, development and infrastructure delivery.EG Editor Damian Wild, who will chair the events commented, "This investor tour of the Middle East is taking place at a very exciting time. The UK is at a significant moment in its recent history while the Middle East is one of the world's most dynamic business environments. It's no surprise that senior figures from the UK real estate industry have been quick to join the delegation and hopes to explore business and investment opportunities in Dubai and Abu Dhabi."The investment opportunities the delegation will be showcasing cover the length and breadth of the UK and range from residential to commercial to infrastructure."Working with Cluttons again, we hope to build on the success of our first forum, which we staged jointly in Dubai three years ago. We are also grateful for this support of the UK government's Department for International Trade. Indeed many of the delegates travelling with us to the Middle East also joined us on a similar trip we ran with DIT to New York and Toronto last year." Boy who was kicked off Air Canada By: Mason White WorldWideWeirdNews.com (Scroll down for video) A father in Canada, was shocked when an Air Canada employee told him that there was no room on their scheduled flight for his young son. Brett Doyle booked tickets for his family members, including his 10-year-old son. When he tried to check in on the Internet, the system rejected his son. When he arrived at the airport in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Brett was told that there was no room for his 10-year-old son due to overbooking. The family wanted to go to Costa Rica for a vacation. The mother of the child even offered to give up her seat for her son, but employees told her that there was no guarantee that the child would get it. Brett and his family quickly drove to Moncton, New Brunswick, to catch another flight that had room for his entire family, but by the time he arrived at the airport, he was told that the fight was canceled. The family eventually found another flight to Costa Rica. Brett complained to Air Canada, but he did not get a response until his story went viral on the Internet, following the incident with another passenger on United Airlines. Air Canada apologized to Brett, and offered him a voucher in the amount $2,500. Airlines are under pressure since the flight crew of United Airlines called police to drag off 69-year-old David Dao, due to overbooking. Brett said that after hearing the plight of Dao, he was happy Air Canada hadnt dragged off his son from an airplane. A Denver man is the fourth person to be charged in an evening shooting that happened outside of a Lincoln Super C in February. Daqwan Hickey, 20, is charged with discharging a firearm near a building and use of a firearm to commit a felony. After an arrest warrant was issued in March, the FBI arrested Hickey Tuesday night in Denver. Police were called to the Super C at 21st and G streets just before 8 p.m. on Feb. 21 on a report of shots fired. Surveillance video showed the two vehicles involved -- a Jeep and a Mercury Grand Marquis. Hickey was identified as being the front passenger of the Marquis. He and Shantrell Hickey are accused of shooting at the Jeep at least 10 times, hitting the SUV three times. Shantrell Hickey, 21; Jaun Taylor, 21; and Tayron Jennings, 18, were charged last month. Taylor was the driver of the Marquis, police said. Jennings is accused of displaying a gun from inside the Jeep and pointing it toward the Marquis. He didnt fire the weapon, Police Chief Jeff Bliemeister said. A fifth man was also arrested in the shooting but prosecutors declined to charge him, citing insufficient evidence. Police believe the two groups of people have been involved in an ongoing dispute. Witnesses told investigators they had a verbal argument before shots were fired, court documents say. No one was injured. Shantrell Hickey, who was out on bail at the time, was recently sentenced to 18 months in prison and one year of post-release supervision for his involvement in a May 2016 drive-by shooting. He was charged with aiding and abetting attempted first-degree assault, and later pleaded no contest to attempted terroristic threats. The Ascaris lumbricoides burrowed through Scott Gardners intestinal walls to get into his bloodstream where it hitched a ride through his liver and into his heart, which faithfully pumped it into his lungs. The parasitic nematode didn't stop there. It molts and breaks out of the alveoli (the air sacs in the lungs) and crawls up the trachea, said Gardner, the director of the Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parisitology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Once it reaches the trachea, the nematode is then swallowed, traveling back into the small intestine where it grows to an adult. Gardner said he is one of a billion people around the world who play host to the worm-like parasite, which can grow to 14 inches long and is spread through contaminated food and water in places with unsanitary conditions. His nematode is now a museum piece, going on display along with other parasites of all shapes and sizes at the Nebraska State Museum at Morrill Hall. Guts and Glory: A Parasite Story, featuring the work of the Manter Lab and its collection of 90,000 cataloged entries, opens Saturday on the museums second floor. Designed with an eww, gross factor in mind, said Mandy Haase-Thomas, the museums spokeswoman, the new exhibit is an entry into the vast world of parasites and the people who study them. Beyond the actual parasites on display -- carefully preserved in glass jars and behind Plexiglas display cases -- the exhibit describes the work of two UNL-trained parasite researchers now at the University of Notre Dame. Interactive screens take visitors behind the scenes to watch UNL researchers collect and prepare parasite samples for UNL's collection, including a 3-D tour of the Manter Lab. Parasites beyond those that affect humans are also featured in the new Morrill Hall exhibit, including hand-built models of various organisms as well as their hosts. Twisting overhead and leading visitors through the exhibit is a replica of the Hexagonoporus physeteris, a 100-foot-long tapeworm pulled from the belly of a sperm whale. A concrete pylon mold, covered in spray foam and painted canvas stretched over it to create a skin-like texture, stands in as an oversized model of a coyote intestine infested with a parasite called Echinococcus multilocularis. Inside the model, which is carpeted pink and ribbed to mimic an intestines anatomy, tapeworms disappear into the flesh the same way they do on a smaller scale in an actual coyote. Finally, a cross section of prairie collected from Cedar Point Ranch demonstrates how different parasites can exist in an ecosystem like the Nebraska Sandhills populated with field mice, rattlesnakes and insects. Morrill Hall has talked about creating a parasite exhibit for a long, long time, said Joel Nielsen, graphics specialist and project coordinator. Planning for Guts and Glory began last year with the goal of showing off the Manter Labs collection. Weve got some really nice, enlarged pieces of microscopic parasites that will be really spectacular, Nielsen said. People will really get a good look at what you cant always see. Gardner said learning more about parasites helps scientists understand biodiversity around the world. A common robin hopping on a Lincoln lawn might be host to 3 or 4 parasites -- tapeworms, nematodes, and trematodes -- the same as a different bird in a different part of the world. To understand how things are connected in the world, we have to understand whats out there, he said. Arkansas death row inmate Don Davis was 15 minutes away from execution Monday night when his lethal injection was halted after the US Supreme Court declined to overturn a stay handed down earlier that day by the Arkansas Supreme Court. He was the first of eight inmates originally scheduled to be put to death in a state killing spree over 11 days this month in Arkansas. Davis, 52, was convicted and sentenced to death in the 1989 killing of 18-year-old convenience store clerk Rebecca Lynn Doss in Little Rock, Arkansas. He has been on death row for more than 25 years. There is evidence that Davis suffers from intellectual impairment, scoring low on childhood IQ tests. He also suffered a serious brain injury, which along with his ADHD and low IQ has likely led to double deficits in cognitive function. Davis was set to be executed by lethal injection at 8:15 p.m. Monday. According to a report by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the inmate had been placed in a windowless cell, just steps away from the death chamber at the Cummins prison unit near Pine Bluff. Bruce Ward, another inmate who had been set to die Monday, was never moved to a Cummins holding cell because Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge declined to appeal court stays blocking his execution. A diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, Ward appears to not understand that he faces the death penalty, and believes instead that he is preparing for a special mission as an evangelist. The state has acknowledged that they do not have time to procure new execution warrants for Davis and Ward before the end of April. The state parole board recommended clemency last week for Jason McGehee, a third prisoner among the initial eight scheduled to die. A federal judge blocked his execution. Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson has vowed to press forward with plans to execute the five remaining inmates before the states supply of one of the execution drugs, midazolam, expires at the end of April. Strict distribution controls imposed by dozens of drug companies in the US and Europe have made it difficult for US states practicing the death penalty to acquire the chemicals to use in lethal injections. The Republican governors spokesman, J.R. Davis, stated: We will continue, on Thursday, on Monday and then Thursday, referring to the remaining five men the state is seeking to put to deathin two double executions, on April 20 and April 24, and in one on April 27. The moments leading up to Daviss last-minute reprieve exemplify the barbarous character of Arkansas rush to execute condemned death row inmates who as a group have been defined by mental illness, intellectual disability, and bad lawyering, according to the Fair Punishment Project, a legal advocacy group. According to the Democrat-Gazettes account, Davis was delivered his last meal as he awaited the Supreme Courts decision. After several hours, Arkansas Department of Corrections spokesman Solomon Graves said that prison officials didnt yet know the outcome, but they were standing by, ready to execute Davis. According to a Democrat-Gazette reporter who was part of the group set to witness the execution, some time after 11 p.m. three media witnesses were allowed to leave the media center and travelled by car to the Cummins unit, stopping behind a van of witnesses outside the death chamber. The driver of the van entered the building, returning to tell the media that the execution was a no-go. In a one-sentence order moments earlier, the US Supreme Court had declined to vacate the hold on Daviss execution that the state Supreme Court had granted Monday afternoon. The full US high court heard an appeal by Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge for several hours and issued its order about a quarter-hour before the states death warrant expired at midnight. Scott Braden, an assistant federal public defender for the inmates, said the high court justices, including new Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, heard evidence that Davis had been denied proper independent counsel on the issue of his mental health. Mr. Davis has organic brain damage, intellectual disability, a history of head injuries, fetal alcohol syndrome, and other severe mental health conditions, Braden said, according to the Guardian. Arkansas authorities justify this tortuous treatment of Davisholding him steps from the execution chamber until just minutes before his impending lethal injection was called offon the basis of justice for the victims family. In reality, their actions are based on vengeance and retribution. The legal rollercoaster ride Davis, the other death row inmates, and their attorneys have been subjected to will provide no closure for victims families or the citizens of Arkansas. Rather, the states drive to kill is aimed at stoking reactionary sentiments and acclimatizing the population to the daily murder and brutality of class rule in America. On Saturday, federal district judge Kristine Baker issued a temporary stay of the inmates executions. She questioned the reliability of the sedative midazolam used as the first chemical in Arkansas three-drug lethal injection protocol. If midazolam does not adequately anesthetize plaintiffs, or if their executions are botched, they will suffer severe pain before they die, Baker wrote in her 101-page ruling. On Monday afternoon, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis, Missouri, reversed Judge Bakers decision, ruling 7-1 that the evidence did not show the states execution procedure is very likely to cause severe pain and needless suffering for the prisoners. Also on Monday, the Arkansas Supreme Court granted a stay of execution for Davis. Attorneys had requested stays for Davis and Ward while the US Supreme Court takes up an Alabama case concerning inmates access to independent mental health experts. At about 7 p.m. Monday, Attorney General Rutledge appealed the state high courts stay of Daviss execution. The last-minute US Supreme Court ruling meant that Davis could not be put to death Monday. Despite these setbacks to their planned assembly-line state killing schedule, Rutledge said Arkansas would press forward with the other planned lethal injections. There are five scheduled executions remaining with nothing preventing them from occurring, but I will continue to respond to any and all legal challenges brought by the prisoners, Rutledge said. No state has attempted a double execution since the 2014 execution of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma. Lockett writhed in pain for 43 minutes during the execution. Prison officials halted the execution after his vein had blown and Lockett succumbed to a heart attack shortly thereafter, forcing Oklahoma officials to cancel the second planned execution. Undeterred by the possibility that their lethal injection protocol could end in similar gruesome spectaclesand barring future unfavorable legal rulings and last-minute reprievesArkansas is determined to pursue the executions of five inmates before the end of the month: Ledell Lee and Stacey Johnson, on Thursday, April 20; Jack Jones and Marcel Williams, on Monday, April 24; and Kenneth Williams, on Thursday, April 27. Thousands of workers at BMW-owned auto plants in the UK are striking today for 24 hours in opposition to the planned closure of the companys final salary pension schemes. The strikes were called by the Unite union, which says that the plans to close the companys current pension scheme could see the retirement benefits of workers being slashed by up to 160,000. The strike is the first by BMWs British workforce. In a ballot result announced last month, workers across the companys four manufacturing plants voted by 93 percent in favour of strikes on a turnout of 72 percent. BMWs Mini model is manufactured at the Cowley plant in Oxfordshire and the Swindon site, Rolls-Royce cars at Goodwood, West Sussex, and engines at the Hams Hall facility near Birmingham. BMW plans to end its two defined-benefit pension schemes this June and move all workers over to an inferior defined-contribution pension scheme. This has been in the pipeline since at least 2014, when new starters at the company were hired on the basis of accepting the inferior scheme. The same attacks were imposed on new starters at BMWs German plants. This attempt to slash pension benefits is being carried out by a giant transnational firm, which recorded revenues of 94 billion (100 billion) in 2016 and made more than 9 billion (7.8 billion) in pre-tax profits in 2015. Unite did everything possible to prevent any strikes. On February 20, General Secretary Len McCluskey met four senior BMW managers from its European and British operations at the Cowley plant in what Unite described as a bid to avert industrial action by the workforce. McCluskey declared, [T]here is a viable alternative proposal on the table [from Unite] which would resolve this dispute and avert a damaging strike. On March 29, just prior to its strike ballot closing, Unite staged a stunt in front of BMWs headquarters in Munich, Germany, handing in a petition to the company. Unites main complaint was that the company would not negotiate seriously, and talk about the affordable options, which Unite was offering to keep the scheme open. Throughout the so-called negotiations, BMW refused to back down, determined to bring in the changes without modification. It is intent on robbing its workforce of billions of pounds of pension benefits in order to compete against its rivals and protect its rising profits. Despite this intransigence, McCluskey continued to sow illusions that a settlement to the benefit of its members was still possible. I urge BMW to step back from its May deadline for the pension schemes closure and negotiate seriously to find a settlement which is good for the business and good for the workforce, he said. BMW was emboldened to launch its latest attack because of Unites previous collaboration in ensuring that new starters were forced onto the inferior scheme in 2014. At the time, Unite was fully aware of the companys objective, saying, In our experience moves to close pension schemes to new entrants always end with an attack on existing employees pensions. Workers fear that this move by BMW is just the thin end of the wedge. Unite made a token threat of strike action, declaring it would not stand idly by if the company carried out its plans. Despite this posturing, the union did nothing and the firm successfully imposed its scheme in 2014. In this latest dispute, BMW workers are not being called out in an all-out strike by Unite, but for eight separate 24-hour stoppages. Different plants will be striking on different days. Even the days Unite has chosen for strike action during April and May are designed to cause the least disruption to BMWs operations. At the Mini plant in Cowley, five days of strike action are scheduled, yet two of these will take place on Sundays. The assembly line at Mini only operates from Monday to Friday. Saturdays and Sundays are used for other work, including maintenance. Since 2001, when BMW took over the Mini brand, Unite has formed a pro-business partnership with the company, under which workers have been fired at will and backbreaking productivity imposed. In 2009, there was a major rebellion at the plant in Cowley when hundreds of workers denounced union officials over their collaboration in the sacking, with no notice, of 850 mainly agency staff. This followed a BMW edict cutting production from three shifts over seven days to two shifts over five days. At a meeting videoed by a number of workers on their phones, employees angrily denounced Unite officials and threw food at them. One worker stood up to denounce Unite and demand it return the union dues the sacked workers had paid in. In 2011, a further 80 job losses as part of more-flexible shift patterns were imposed. A union representative justified the cuts on the basis that BMW...are in a volatile market and it is a supply and demand issue. The attack on pensions has been taking place throughout private industry, with companies pilfering billions of pounds, which workers have paid into their pension pots. BMWs move follows that by Royal Mail, which was privatised in 2013, and which announced recently that its pension scheme was no longer affordable. Over the last year, announcements ending defined-benefit pension schemes in Britain were made by Tata Steel UK, by high street retailer Marks and Spencer and by the US multinational Honeywell. If any worker remains unconvinced about Unites role as a facilitator of BMWs pension diktatsdespite its occasional bouts of hot airone need only look at its record at Tata Steel. In January, Unite and the two other unions in the steel industry, Community and GMB, agreed on a sellout deal for the steel conglomerate to close their defined-benefit pension scheme to new accruals. Workers were asked to accept it with a gun held to their headon the basis that if they didnt, their already threatened jobs would be lost. Faced with this ultimatum, they reluctantly voted for the defined-contribution scheme. No guarantee was made that the existing 15 billion British Steel Pension Scheme would be supported and not end up in the state-run Pension Protection Fund. If this happens, Tata steel workers enrolled in it face losing fully 10 percent of their retirement savings. In return, the company made a worthless guarantee that it would keep open blast furnaces at its Port Talbot plant in Wales and invest just 1 billion over a 10-year period and seek to avoid compulsory redundancies for five years. This is no way rules out forced job losses because Tata is able to cite worsening trade conditions further down the line to lay off workers. It also allows the trade unions to collaborate with Tata on their favoured means of imposing jobs lossesvia voluntary redundancies. In order to prosecute a successful struggle, workers at BMW must fight for the closest unity with auto workers at other plants in Britainincluding those employed at Vauxhall and Nissanand with those in BMW plants in Europe and internationally who face the same attacks. Forging this unity is inseparable from workers taking the struggle out of the hands of the trade unions, which have repeatedly demonstrated their role as a loyal arm of management. Debate is raging within the Trump administration over whether to carry through on the presidents campaign promise to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate change accord. Both camps are offering reactionary prescriptions in order to ensure that immediate corporate profit interests remain unimpeded by any genuine effort to confront the potentially catastrophic impact of climate change. Trump aides abruptly canceled a meeting of top advisors scheduled for Tuesday, at which officials hoped to arrive at a consensus approach toward the Paris accord. Trump will reportedly decide the future of US involvement in the pact in advance of next months G7 summit in Italy. The Paris agreement, inked in December 2015, requires the more than 190 signatory countries to submit voluntary goals for slowing the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Defenders of the pact often hail it as the capstone achievement of Barack Obamas environmental agenda. French President Francois Hollande at the time called it a major leap for mankind, while former prime minister of Britain David Cameron triumphantly proclaimed, Weve secured our planet for many, many generations to come. Yet the discussions inside the Trump administrationled by a man who has tweeted that global warming is a concept created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitiveexplode that myth that Paris was any sort of landmark agreement to forestall climate change. Jared Kushner, Trumps son-in-law and senior advisor, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson are the leading voices advocating for the US to remain a party to the agreement. Tillerson, the former CEO of ExxonMobil, backed it during his confirmation hearing in January, explaining, Were better served by being at that table than by leaving that table. Since then, a growing number of fossil fuel interests have entered the fray urging Trump to remain in Paris. Administration officials have met with many of the top energy companies and industry groups in recent weeks. Tillersons successor at ExxonMobil, Darren Woods, signaled his support in February, calling the agreement an effective framework for all countries to address rising emissions. Rival oil giants Shell and BP have also voiced support. Likewise, three of the nations top coal producers, Peabody, Arch and Cloud Peak, signaled their support for remaining in the agreement. They hope to use US involvement to support investments in coal technology, including the capture and storage of carbon emissions. The support from major coal, oil and gas conglomerates underscores that Paris is no threat to their profits, but rather insulates them and their sponsor governments from pressure for the far-reaching measures to cut emissions in line with the speed scientists warn is necessary to prevent catastrophe. The remain strategy is coupled with a proposed weakening of the voluntary targets set by the Obama administration for greenhouse gas reductions. Obama pledged to achieve 26 to 28 percent reduction in 2025 compared to 2005 levels. Just three months into the Trump administration, many observers have given up hope that the US can meet even this extremely modest target. There are no penalties embedded in the Paris agreement for revising or missing the goals set by each country. There is concern, however, that withdrawing from the agreement outright could enable countries that tax carbon pollution to place environmental tariffs on imports from the US. Trumps chief strategist Steve Bannon and Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt have emerged as the most prominent opponents of the Paris accord within the administration. Pruitt remarked on Fox News last week, Its a bad deal for America. 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 our costs. Pruitt, who refuses to recognize that climate change is primarily driven by human activity, notably did not object to the nature of the agreement so much as a perceived disadvantage relative to potential competitors, especially China. This is, in fact, the main concern for both sides of the debate within the administration, and for that matter, the Democrats as well, despite differing conclusions. The big energy companies are also not universal in their support for remaining in Paris. Harold Hamm, the billionaire CEO of hydro-fracking giant Continental Resources and link between Pruitt and Trump, bitterly opposes the climate agreement. A collection of ultra-right and libertarian think-tanks such as the Heritage Foundation and Americans for Prosperity, which Trump has relied upon thus far to formulate his environmental agenda, also oppose remaining. Regardless of who wins the debate on the fate of US involvement in the Paris climate change agreement, the intent of the Trump administration is to further subordinate the interests of humanity to an increasingly reckless capitalist elite. The strike by 2,600 bus workers at Irelands Bus Eireann transport company has been called off. The two main unions involved, the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) and the Services Industrial Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU), accepted the recommendation of the Labour Court, the final state arbitration body, and called off the strike on April 13. The unions have agreed to ballot their members on an agreement that means at least 18 million in cuts to wages and services. At the end of February, Bus Eireann bosses unilaterally introduced a list of 55 cost-cutting measures to reduce wages and conditions, claiming it had lost 6 million in 2016 and was facing insolvency. The Fine Gael government has been introducing measures over several years to outsource services and privatise certain routes. A threatened strike at the beginning of March was called off by the unions to facilitate talks at the Works Relations Commission (WRC), the state-funded arbitration body with a record of sanctioning the demands of the employersalbeit with modifications. The unions work with the Labour Court in much the same way. As a result, transport workers have experienced a steady decline in wages and conditions over the years, as the trade unions have been transformed into organisations hostile to their interests. Totally incorporated into the state, the union bureaucrats are now despised by thousands of workers within their own organisations and considered an irrelevancy by the majority of workers and youth who are outside these organisations. After the weeks of talks at the WRC broke down, the recommendations from the Labour Court are to be put to a ballot of bus workers over the next three weeks. The document includes provisions for 220 redundancies of which 120 will be drivers and 46 clerical workers, as well as the ending of many routes across the country. Cuts to wages include the abolition of bonuses for shift work, a ban on overtime, and a compulsory two-hour-and-45-minute daily unpaid break. There will also be measures introduced to insure the remaining drivers have less control over the routes and the hours they work. The cuts to services and job cuts negotiated with the unions also include the closure of the Dundalk maintenance garage. The Irish News noted in its editorial after the strike was called off, A large amount of what the company called for was in the Labour Courts recommendations, which could point towards Bus Eireann agreeing to the terms. There is growing anger among bus workers across the transport industry. The government-sponsored slide towards privatising bus routes and cutting wages and conditions has been met with resistance. However, this has constantly been channelled by the unions into state arbitration bodies, where aggressive cuts to workers pay and conditions are hammered out. At the end of March, the anger and frustration of bus workers came to the fore when hundreds attempted to spread the strike by picketing city bus depots and trains. The NBRU quickly moved to shut down the secondary picketing, and Patricia King, general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, immediately issued a statement condemning the bus workers actions, as did Shane Ross, the minister for transport. NBRU General Secretary Dermot OLeary promptly apologised on national radio for his members behaviour, stating arrogantly, Im urging those who are picketing to stop, and people should go to work immediately. I categorically state that the general secretary, who is me, is very much in charge of my trade union and its destination in this dispute. The NBRU and SIPTU officials then spent a frantic four hours during the morning Dublin rush hour trying to stop Bus Eireann workers from picketing and spreading the strike. On April 9, as the strike continued and it was widely reported that the unions were prepared to agree to 18 million in cuts, OLeary remarked, The issue of headcount reduction would not be unusual when talking about efficiencies. Having given assurances that the strike would not spread, OLeary again reiterated that the dispute could only be solved by what he called the proper arbitration bodies. Chairman Kevin Foley, who presides over the Labour Court, is one of a layer of civil servants who receive between 175,000 and 180,000 annually to concoct agreements with the union leaders. Workers ballots are usually delayed for weeks to insure the maximum demoralisation. The compliance of workers locked within these organisationswhich serve a policing function for attacks on workers pay and conditionswould not last if it were not for the political support the union bureaucracy receives from all the establishment parties. Fine Fail and Sinn Fein condemned the Fine Gael government for grooming the company for privatisation, and called for the minister of transport to intervene. The pseudo-left members of the Dail/parliament (TDs) were vocal in their support for the striking bus workers. At a parliamentary debate on the strike, Paul Murphy of the Socialist Party/Solidarity group declared, I salute the actions of the Bus Eireann workers. They are fighting not only in defence of their own terms and conditions, but for all those who work in public transport. Their real and unswerving support, however, is for the trade union bureaucracy. While a number of bus workers looked on from the gallery, Murphys colleague, Ruth Coppinger, opened her speech by saying, It is welcome that talks have been announced in the Workplace Relations Commission tomorrow. Only a united struggle by workers independent of the moribund union structures will succeed in challenging the continuing attacks on jobs, living standards and essential services. Steven Stephens, who on Sunday shot to death a random stranger in Cleveland, Ohio and posted the video on Facebook, killed himself Tuesday outside the city of Erie, Pennsylvania after his car was disabled by pursuing police. Stephens died of a single gunshot to the head, fired from his own pistol, shortly after he was recognized by workers at a McDonalds drive-through window who called police. A Pennsylvania state trooper pursued Stephens, ramming his vehicle and disabling it. Stephens then took his own life. The victim of the gruesome killing posted on Facebook was 74-year-old Robert Godwin Sr., a retired foundry worker survived by nine children, 14 grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren. Godwin was apparently a random target, stopped by Stephens as he was walking along a sidewalk on Clevelands east side on Easter Sunday afternoon. Both Stephens and Godwin were African-American. Stephens demanded that the elderly man recite the name of Stephens estranged girlfriend, and after he did so, shot him in the head while filming the scene on his cell phone. He then posted the video on his Facebook page, together with claimsapparently falsethat he had shot 12 other people that day in an Easter Sunday massacre to avenge himself on his girlfriend. Cleveland police detectives spoke with Stephens via cell phone after the killing and tried to persuade him to surrender. They were able to track his movements from Cleveland to Erie, 100 miles to the east, using the pings from the cell phone on nearby cell towers before he discarded the phone. As in many such tragedies, it is not clear what set off the impulse to homicidal violence. Stephens had no previous criminal convictions and was working in a position of trust, as a job counselor at Beech Brook, a local behavioral health agency that serves children, teenagers and families. He had worked at the agency for eight years and had been a mentor for young people. He had a conflict of some kind with his girlfriend of three years, identified as Joy Lane, and told his mother on Saturday that she was seeing him for the last time. His Facebook postings also report having lost everything gambling at casinos in Erie and Cleveland, although it is not clear the exact role this financial disaster played in triggering his fatal actions. Stephens had a permit for concealed carry of a pistol and visited a local gun range last summer for target practice. We had been in a relationship for several years, Joy Lane told CBS News in a text message. I am sorry that all of this has happened. My heart & prayers goes out to the family members of the victim(s). Steve really is a nice guy he is generous with everyone he knows. He was kind and loving to me and my children. During the nearly 48 hours that Stephens was on the run, the American media gave nonstop attention to the case, particularly emphasizing the use of Facebook to make public the horrifying images of Godwins execution-style killing. There were repeated calls for Facebook to take stronger action to censor the content placed on its pages by subscribers. The video of the killing was available on Facebook for about three hours before it was taken down. Facebook officials said they removed the video 23 minutes after learning of it. Several million people watched or downloaded the video during the time it was posted online. Stephens used Facebook Live to post his confession to the killing of Godwin, while posting videos on his regular Facebook page announcing his plan to carry out the killing and showing the murder itself. Police departments have been pressing for restrictions on Facebook Live since last summer, when Diamond Reynolds, the girlfriend of Philando Castile, live-streamed the aftermath of the police shooting of Castile as she sat with him in their car in a Minneapolis, Minnesota suburb. An official statement by the company said that Facebook did not allow the content posted by Stephens to stay on its site. We work hard to keep a safe environment on Facebook, the statement said, and are in touch with law enforcement in emergencies when there are direct threats to physical safety. At a conference of Facebook developers Tuesday in California, billionaire CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company was developing artificial intelligence methods for screening postings of videos and photographs for violent content, with a view to speeding up the process of internal censorship. The 2017 French presidential election, to be held in two rounds on April 23 and May 7, raises issues of international significance. It takes place under the shadow of war following the unprovoked US strike on Syria of April 7 and amid threats by Washington and the NATO alliance against Syria, Russia and North Korea. France is itself in a state of emergency, and leading presidential candidates have called for a French exit from the euro and the European Union and a return of the military draft. The election is dominated by enormous popular anger against the political establishment and the traditional parties of government, The Republicans (LR) and the Socialist Party (PS). The PS, the hegemonic force in the French left since its foundation in 1971, shortly after the May-June 1968 general strike, is collapsing, discredited by its policies of austerity and war. An international breakdown of established politics is underway. In Britain, a narrow majority voted last June to exit the EU. In the United States, Donald Trump was elected as president over the opposition not only of the Democratic Party, but also large sections of Trumps own Republican Party. Since taking office, he has pursued a nationalist and militaristic American First program. In France, this crisis takes the particularly noxious form of the possibility that Marine Le Pen of the neo-fascist National Front (FN), the descendant of the fascist collaborationist forces who ruled France during the Nazi Occupation, may become president. The possibility of such an outcome is the responsibility not only of the PS, but of an entire layer of pseudo-left organizations that long ago broke their historical links to Trotskyism, such as the New Anti-capitalist Party (NPA) and Workers Struggle (LO). Abandoning all of the principles of revolutionary Marxism, they have oriented for decades to the PS, a reactionary party of finance capital. In this atmosphere, in which opposition to the PS finds no effective political expression of a genuinely left-wing character, Le Pen is allowed to present herself as a populist and the main challenger to the ruling establishment. This situation, together with the explosive international crisis, has produced numerous shifts and crises in the election campaign. At first, LR expected that, as in previous elections, it would benefit from the crisis of the PS. But in January, LR candidate Francois Fillon was badly damaged by corruption charges that surfaced shortly after he proposed an alliance with Berlin and Moscow against Washington. This set up a race between Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron of the PS-backed On the March movement. After the unprovoked and illegal US strike on Syria, Jean-Luc Melenchon (Unsubmissive France movement, formerly the Left Front) has been rising in the polls based on growing antiwar sentiment, especially among youth. The election is now too close to call. In an unprecedented situation, four candidatesMelenchon, Macron, Le Pen and Fillonare in a statistical tie. Any two could conceivably qualify for the runoff. Whatever its outcome, the presidential election will solve nothing. France is deeply polarized and class tensions are at the boiling point. Two-thirds of the French population says class struggle is a daily reality for them, 20 percent more than in 1968, just before tens of millions of workers joined the May-June general strike. Amid a deep international crisis and the imminent danger of war, bitter political convulsions and class struggles are being prepared. The Parti de legalite socialiste (PES), founded last year as the French section of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), is intervening to offer an internationalist, socialist and revolutionary alternative for the working class. The PES does not endorse any candidate. It encourages the broadest social struggles and opposition to war and nationalism. Its central responsibility in this election is to explain to workers and youth the class role played by the candidates and the necessity to build the PES in France and the ICFI internationally as the authentic Trotskyist vanguard of the working class. The discrediting of the PS and the rise of the FN The French political establishment is being torn apart by the collapse of the PS, following the path of similar anti-working class social democratic parties across Europe, from Greeces Pasok to the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE). Incumbent PS President Francois Hollande is so hated that, in a decision without precedent for a French president, he did not seek a second term. Hollandes presidency is the end product of what was from its foundation a thoroughly rotten party. The PS was founded in 1971, after the Stalinist French Communist Party (PCF) discredited itself by refusing to take power during the 1968 general strike. It was not a socialist organization, but a tool of the most reactionary social forces. A loose coalition of social democrats, social Catholics, ex-Stalinists, ex-Trotskyists and former officials of the Nazi-collaborationist Vichy regime, it functioned as an electoral vehicle for a leading ex-Vichy politician, Francois Mitterrand. In 1981, Mitterrand became Frances first PS president. From the beginning, the PS became the axis around which countless so-called revolutionary parties revolved. In 1972, the PCF signed the Common Program with the PS, boosting the PSs socialistic pretensions by associating it with the Soviet Unions main political ally in France. The PCF was destroyed when Mitterrands PS-PCF government swiftly repudiated its promised social reforms after coming to power, declaring an austerity turn in 1982, and when the PCF subsequently supported the restoration of capitalism in the USSR. All of the organizations in France that had emerged out of the Trotskyist movement repudiated Trotskys proletarian internationalist perspective, defended by the ICFI. Instead, they capitulated to the PS. The Internationalist Communist Organization (OCI, today the POID, or Independent Democratic Workers Party), the ICFIs former French section, split with the ICFI in 1971 on the false, nationalist perspective that the PS-PCF alliance would create a workers government. This alliance set the stage for the career of Lionel Jospin, an OCI member working inside the PS, who became Mitterrands leading assistant and, in 1997-2002, prime minister of France. The PS developed influence in the middle classes through a broad network of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the Freemasonry, social democratic sections of the trade union bureaucracy and academia. It developed close ties with the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR, the predecessor of the NPA) in the 1980s via the SOS-Racism NGO, and with the OCI through the student unions. The OCI/POID, LCR/NPA and LO, while they fought factional battles inside such organizations against the PS and expressed the discontent of sections of the French middle class with the PSs big-business policies, did not speak for the working class. At no point did they present themselves as seriously challenging the PS or seek to build a mass party of the working class against the PS. All of them functioned in the milieu of the state and its political periphery, effectively building up the PS as an alternative to building a revolutionary party. The 2002 presidential election crisis was a decisive experience. When Jospin was eliminated in the first round, protests erupted against a runoff between the conservative Jacques Chirac and the FNs Jean-Marie Le Pen. The LCR, LO and Workers Party (PT, the ex-OCI) had collectively won 3 million votes in the first round of the election. At the same time, international antiwar protests were erupting against plans for the illegal US invasion of Iraq. The LCR, LO and PT proved unable and unwilling to do anything with this opportunity, however. The ICFI issued an open letter to the three parties, proposing a campaign for an active boycott of the runoff. Without hiding its political differences with these organizations, the ICFI explained that an active boycott, mobilizing workers in struggle, would best prepare the working class to fight back against the wars and social attacks Chirac was preparing. The three parties did not bother to respond, however. They simply aligned themselves with the PSs campaign for a Chirac vote, supposedly to block neo-fascism from coming to power and preserve democratic rule in France. Effectively, these parties told the millions of people who mobilized against Le Pen that they should not have bothered to march and protest. They could have simply allowed the election to take place and Chirac to take power. By adopting this policy of backing a right-wing candidate supported by the PS, supposedly in order to defeat the danger of authoritarianism and fascism posed by the FN, all three parties made clear that they had no intention of posing an alternative to the capitalist system. Instead, they pursued ever more openly pro-imperialist and pro-war policies. Amid the escalating international crisis of capitalism in the 21st century, their reactionary role gave an opening to the FN. It was transformed from a minor party that sometimes attracted a right-wing protest vote into a contender for power. The escalating divisions within the NATO alliance and the turn of the EU to a policy of deep austerity that developed in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis gave an opening to Le Pen. She could denounce from a reactionary nationalist standpoint the economically suicidal austerity policies imposed by the EU and the PS. Le Pen also spoke to growing sentiment in the French ruling class for police state measures and against German hegemony in the EU. In this decade, the FN also opposed NATO proxy wars in Syria and Ukraine supported by the PS and the NPA, based on an imperialist policy of keeping Russia as a French ally against Germany. The FN is a pro-war party that enthusiastically backed the French war in Mali. It was nonetheless able to present itself as less aggressive than the PS and its left allies, who supported a war drive that openly involved France and the other NATO powers in a direct confrontation with Russia, a major nuclear-armed power. Ultimately, Hollande came to rely on the FN as a mechanism to stabilize his deeply unpopular PS government. He invited Marine Le Pen to the Elysee presidential palace after both of the terror attacks in Paris in 2015 and imposed a state of emergency suspending basic democratic rights. The PS then proposed to inscribe the principle of deprivation of nationality, which was the legal basis for the outlawing of leaders of the French Resistance and the deportation of the Jews to death camps during the Occupation, in the French Constitution. With such an unequivocal repudiation the traditions of left-wing politics, the PS sought to legitimate the FN as part of the political mainstream. What do the French presidential candidates propose? The rise of the FN is only one particularly noxious expression of the degeneration of the French capitalist class as a whole. The French bourgeoisie is politically bankrupt and has nothing to offer. Despite their bitter tactical differences on foreign policy orientation and conflicts over corruption charges, the 2017 presidential candidates are united in their support for militarism and police state rule. They all support a costly buildup of the military and the police that can be achieved only through drastic attacks on social rights of the working class won over generations of struggle. Marine Le Pen has led a far-right, populist campaign rooted in the traditions of French fascism, allying herself with far-right forces such as Geert Wilders of the Netherlands and the Alternative for Germany (AfD), and glorifying Trump. She speaks for layers of the ruling class who seek alliances with Trump and Russia to confront German hegemony in Europe. She once declared that only one word is needed in talks with Merkel: No. She proposed a Frexit from the EU and a return to the franc before backing down in recent weeks under pressure from the banks, saying she would submit these proposals to a referendum first. Her party is a coalition between the descendants of Nazi-collaborationist forces such as the French Popular Party (PPF) that founded the FN in 1972 and new arrivals over the last decade from PS split-offs, notably around Jean-Pierre Chevenement. She opposed the FNs traditional anti-Semitic positions and her fathers stance denying the Holocaust in a pragmatic policy to de-demonize her party and win power. She also abandoned its free market rhetoric, claiming that she will protect the people, mixing attacks on Islam and calls for a massive police buildup with calls for social policies such as lowering the retirement age. Le Pen has established a voter base in the working class due only to the reactionary role of the PS and its political periphery. Her populist attacks on the PS and LR won a broad hearing among those disillusioned with the PS. Her law-and-order and anti-immigrant rhetoric is largely indistinguishable from that of the PS. She has pledged to increase military spending to 2 percent of GDP. Her populism is a reactionary fraud. The FNs fascistic program, advanced amid a historic war crisis and collapse of capitalism, will inevitably bring it into the most violent conflict with the working class. Francois Fillon speaks for pro-EU layers of the bourgeoisie with ties to Russia who are hostile to the US-led war drive against Russia and China. He bitterly criticized Hollandes attempt to push Washington to launch air strikes against Syria in 2013 and went to Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin, where he made a public statement denouncing Hollandes policy. If elected, Fillon would lead a violently right-wing government closely tied to the far right. He advocates drastic austerity and massive job cuts and makes nationalistic, law-and-order and lifestyle appeals to the FN voter base. Not only did he initially propose moves to all but eliminate public health care in France, but he has relied at key points in his campaign on far-right Christian elements linked to the anti-gay marriage Protest for Everyone movement. He also plans to increase military spending to 2 percent of GDP. Emmanuel Macron, a former Rothschild banker and PS economy minister, is the favored candidate of Berlin, which he has repeatedly visited, including for a personal meeting with Merkel. He has called for a hard line in talks with Moscow and also criticized Trump, aligning himself with factions in Berlin and the NATO alliance working with the US Democratic Party against Russia. Macrons aggressive military policy makes clear that a German-led EU offers no alternative to the militaristic policies of US imperialism. He has called for a return of the draft and an increase in defense spending to 2 percent of GDP. He has also received the support of major figures in the security establishment who played key roles in the state of emergency and Hollandes extrajudicial murder operations. These figures include PS Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian. Behind Macron, the main forces in the old French political establishment are seeking to recycle themselves. His On the March movement is clearly being considered as a possible escape route for PS politicians seeking to leave the PS and join an organization that makes no reference to socialism. Much of the PS leadership has backed Macron, not PS candidate Benoit Hamon. Macron also has support from sections of LR around Alain Juppe, who consider Fillon too close to the far right. Benoit Hamon won the PS nomination as voters mobilized in the PS primaries against his rival, former Prime Minister Manuel Valls. He was promoted in the media and by a layer of academics because he proposed a universal minimum income for all, independent of employment. He has a pro-US, militarist, law-and-order program, proposing to raise military spending to 3 percent of GDP and boost police powers. He attacks pro-Russian statements by other candidates. Hamons campaign rapidly fell behind as it became clear that Hamon would not break with PS officials most closely associated with Hollandes austerity policies, such as Labor Minister Myriam El Khomri. Moreover, his universal minimum income proposal proved to be unpopular. It would have provided a miserly few hundred euros per month to workers, based on the pessimistic concept that, due to technological change, large layers of workers will never again find regular work. Melenchon and the dead end of French nationalism Jean-Luc Melenchon is, for now, being seen by a significant section of voters as the alternative to the right-wing policies of Le Pen, Fillon and Macron. His support has risen in the final stages of the election campaign largely because significant layers of youth back his recent statements against war and anti-immigrant hatred and approve of the social demands included in his election program: wage increases, student financial aid and a lowering of the retirement age. The turn to antiwar rhetoric is bound up with Melenchons so-called Plan B strategy, developed after his Syriza allies began imposing deep EU austerity on Greek workers. The PES supports large wage increases, a reduction in the retirement age, free education and financial aid to students. It encourages the broadest social struggle for such demands. It warns, however, that if Melenchon is elected, workers will have to prepare for a bitter struggle against him. Melenchon, a long-time PS politician, is laying a trap for the working classa specialty he has developed over an extended career, first in the OCI and, starting in 1976, in the PS. Should he come to power, he will prove to be, no less than Syriza, a determined enemy of the working class. A brief examination of Melenchons record should suffice to dispel illusions that he will fight for the demands in his program. He joined the PS in 1976 after a brief membership in the OCI, becoming a PS senator. He left the PS only in 2008 to form the Left Front, together with the PCF and split-offs from the NPA. While in the PS, he worked closely with Mitterrand to defuse popular opposition to Mitterrands policies, claiming to oppose the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq and the launching of the euro, but dropping his opposition when Mitterrand told him it was opportune to do so. He was a minister in Lionel Jospins unpopular 1997-2002 government and supported the 2011 NATO war in Libya. The Left Front voted to impose the state of emergency in the National Assembly in 2015. The programs and demands Melenchon puts forward today are so much empty demagogy. His is a bourgeois program. A socialist policy requires the united action of the European and international working class. No serious reform measures can be taken by French capitalism, which is dependent on international capital flows and far less capable of making concessions even than it was 35 years ago, when Mitterrand made the PSs austerity turn. Melenchons foreign policy, embodied in his Plan B, is reactionary and nationalistic. His Plan B is based on the premise that a French capitalist government must be willing to confront Berlin and possibly leave the euro. Discussing with Le Parisien the demands he would place on Germany if elected, Melenchon said, The Germans have no way to say no. The Spanish, the Italians, the Portuguese, the Polish, a whole series of countries have had enough. If the Germans dont want to move, I have said the Plan B is to leave [the EU] with them [the above-listed countries]. Melenchon is not developing an internationalist strategy to mobilize workers in France and across Europe to defend workers targeted by EU austerity, in Greece or elsewhere. Nor is he proposing an antimilitarist strategy. He is proposing to bring back the draft and prepare for war, while outlining a change of military alignments within Europe. Melenchons rhetoric is a dangerous combination of social demagogy, populism and nationalism. Under Hollande, Melenchon has moved far to the right. He founded the Unsubmissive France movement to avoid running publicly as the candidate of the Left Front, based on the perspective, outlined in his book The Era of the People, that the left, socialism and an independent role for the working class are all obsolete. His friendships with right-wing, nationalist figures such as LR political advisor Patrick Buisson and journalist Eric Zemmour are a matter of public record. To find a historic precursor for Melenchon, one would have to return to figures like Henri De Man, the Belgian social democratic leader of the 1920s and 1930s. A nationalist who called for planning under capitalism during the Great Depression, De Man opposed Marxism and developed along very reactionary lines. He corresponded with a variety of right-wing figures, including Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. Ultimately, during the decisive crisis of the 1940 Nazi invasion of Belgium, he pressed aggressively to dissolve his own party and support the establishment of a Nazi-collaborationist regime. The bankruptcy of the New Anti-capitalist Party To workers and youth seeking a left-wing critique of the PS and Melenchon, the PES addresses the sharpest warnings regarding the New Anti-capitalist Party (NPA) and other parties like it, such as LO and the POID. These are long-time associates of the PS, bitterly opposed to Trotskyism. They do not oppose war or austerity any more than Melenchon. The NPA descends from middle-class forces from which the ICFI split at its foundation in 1953, and which later found a social base in portions of the post-1968 petty-bourgeois student movement. It speaks for pro-imperialist layers of the affluent middle class. The conversion of the Ligue communiste revolutionnaire (LCR) into the NPA in 2009, a few months after the 2008 Wall Street crash, was intended to send a clear signal to the political elite: the LCR was breaking any residual identification with Trotskyism and preparing a major shift to the right in the face of the global economic crisis. The NPA does not claim a specific relation to Trotskyism, the LCR wrote in its founding platform for the NPA, but continuity with those who, over the last two centuries, have confronted the system all the way. The NPA is a pluralistic and democratic party. [There was] participation of comrades from various components of the social movement, of the anti-globalization left, of political ecology, of comrades from the PS and the PCF, from the anarchist movement, from the revolutionary left. Without becoming bland, the NPA has everything to win by opening itself even further. The PES has extensively documented on the World Socialist Web Site the NPAs subsequent role. Together with Melenchon, the NPA called for a Hollande vote in the 2012 runoff election. Over the last six years, the NPA has played a key role in promoting NATO interventions in Libya, Syria and Ukraine, in large part aimed at Russia. It supported the pro-austerity Syriza government in Greece. The war drive has been at the heart of the NPAs intervention in the 2017 elections. Its criticisms of Melenchons populism, coming as the press was attacking Melenchons pro-Russian positions, were from the right, reflecting anger over Melenchons criticisms of a war drive against Russia supported by the NPA. After Trumps strike on Syria, Phillipe Poutou, the NPAs presidential candidate, issued a statement dissociating himself from antiwar protests in terms virtually indistinguishable from CIA propaganda. The statement slandered opponents of war in Syria as defenders of President Bashar al-Assads regime, declaring that without any support for or hope in the American army strikes, we will not join the protests of the French political parties, who, in order to advocate a reasonable peace with El Assad and his minions, close their eyes to the hundreds of thousands of dead killed by the dictator and the millions of displaced and refugees. The 2017 presidential election campaign is an indictment of the LCR/NPAs entire political evolution since the 2002 presidential election crisis. The LCR told workers to rely on the traditional bourgeois parties, including the LCRs PS comrades, to halt the drive to authoritarian rule, war and deep austerity that masses of people feared would occur if the FN took power. But it was the PS that imposed a permanent state of emergency, carried out drastic social cuts, and waged a series of wars. And it relied on the NPA to block opposition to war from the left. The struggle for Trotskyism in the working class will not take place in an alliance with the NPA, LO or the POID, but in bitter struggle against them. Build the PES! The discrediting of the French political establishment is an initial stage in a vast political reorientation of the French and international working class, carried out under conditions of a resurgence of war and dictatorship. There is no other road but a return to the fundamental principles of revolutionary Marxism. On this centenary of the October Revolution, as masses of people are reminded of the irreconcilable struggle and internationalist perspective of the Bolshevik Party and the heroic struggles of the Russian working class 100 years ago, this is the perspective advanced by the PES. The PES insists that the defeats and betrayals suffered by workers during the period when the PS was falsely identified as socialist, and the LCR as Trotskyist, can be explained and reversed only from the standpoint of genuine Trotskyism. The PES bases its struggle on the international continuity of the ICFIs intransigent defense of the political independence of the working class and its opposition to petty-bourgeois pressures that led so many organizations in France to abandon Trotskyism for alliances with the PCF or PS. Founded last autumn as the ICFIs French section, the PES was not in a position to stand its own candidate. However, we are confident that our perspective will win increasing support amid the rapidly escalating crisis of capitalism. We appeal to workers, youth and socialist-minded intellectuals to join and build the PES. The PES opposes imperialist war and all forms of nationalism. Together with its sister parties in Europe, the Socialist Equality Party of Britain and the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei of Germany, it advances the perspective of the United Socialist States of Europe. It opposes both the EU and the policies of those, like Melenchon and Le Pen, who oppose the EU on a nationalist basis. The war crisis and the EUs austerity drive will not be solved through conflicts between states, but through the class struggle and overthrow of the capitalist class by the working class in every country, and the building of a federation of workers states pursuing socialist policies across Europe. Above all, the PES seeks to build the ICFI as the revolutionary international leadership of the working class, to mobilize the working class in a struggle against war and capitalism. In line with the ICFIs statement against war, it stresses that: The new antiwar movement must be anti-capitalist and socialist, since there can be no serious struggle against war except in the fight to end the dictatorship of finance capital and put an end to the economic system that is the fundamental cause of militarism and war. The new antiwar movement must therefore, of necessity, be completely and unequivocally independent of, and hostile to, all political parties and organizations of the capitalist class. The new antiwar movement must, above all, be international, mobilizing the vast power of the working class in a unified global struggle against imperialism. Roy Christensen traveled around the world and lived in 13 different places before discovering Lincoln. I tell people Im a slow learner, but I finally found Lincoln, the 57-year-old joked during a recent interview at his business, Christensen Audiology & Hearing Aid Center at 77th and A streets. Ive been here for 20 years now and ... Im not going to leave. This is my home. Christensen is asking voters of his adoptive hometown to go to the polls May 2 and give him a second term on the Lincoln City Council. He was born in Washington, D.C., but left by age 2. His family moved every few years stopping in upstate New York, Utah, Arizona, Indiana and Idaho. His sophomore year of high school, Christensen pried a promise from his dad: No more moving until he graduated. The day of my high school graduation, we loaded up a U-Haul truck and moved to Alabama, he said. From then on, Christensen forged his own path. He spent two years in Chile doing mission work with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and speaks Spanish fluently. He was working on a bachelors degree in speech pathology and audiology at Northern Arizona University when he met his wife, Ramiel, at a church mixer for young adults. He helped put chairs away after the event, and on his way out the door, he spotted her working in the kitchen. I saw her and said that is the young lady for me. I had to persuade her, Christensen said. They now have seven children, ages 12 to 34, and 10 grandchildren. Christensen went on to serve six years in the Army, three of them in Germany, and earned a masters degree in audiology from Idaho State University. While registered a Republican, Christensen has a libertarian streak. Republicans, he said, tend to want economic freedom but social controls. Democrats tend to want social freedom but control economic activity. Why control anybody? Why not let people make good choices on their own and give people the freedoms to do that, he said. His efforts on the council have included fighting to rein in spending and lower taxes, leading the push for city buses that run on compressed natural gas, streamlining StarTran routes and banning sky lanterns. A business opportunity brought Christensen to Lincoln. For five years before moving to Lincoln, he worked at an audiology office in Yakima, Washington. In search of new opportunity, Christensen flew to a weekend conference in Orlando, Florida, in October 1997. As the plane passed over Nebraska, the pilot pointed out Lincoln buried under 2 feet of snow and without power. On the ride home, the pilot once again pointed out Lincoln still buried in snow and mostly without power. I thought to myself, what a miserable place, Christensen said. At least Im not there. The next morning, he got a call from Charlie Gillum Jr. of Hearing Doctors of Kansas who asked Christensen to partner on an audiology business in Lincoln. He opened Audiology Center of Lincoln that December and later changed the name to Christensen Audiology. His office specializes in hearing aid services for seniors. In Lincoln, Christensen has served five years as bishop of the Mormon Church's Trendwood ward, one of seven in the city, basically doing what a minister does, without the pay. He also has invested in two other businesses, Gauntlet Games at South 13th and Arapahoe streets and White Knight Properties, which focuses on restoring houses. In his spare time, he enjoys the challenge of board and tabletop games and reading science fiction novels by the likes of Isaac Asimov. He also has sang in a barbershop chorus. Christensen said all that moving around taught him two things: how to make friends and that people make the place. By that standard, Lincoln, Nebraska, is as good as or better than any place Ive ever lived, he said. The administrative presidium of Humboldt University has instructed security personnel to stop students from distributing leaflets opposing the institutions declaration that public criticism of Professor Jorg Baberowski is unacceptable. The intervention of the universitys security personnel occurred last Wednesday and Thursday. Members and supporters of the International Youth and Students for Social Equality were handing out a leaflet that condemned the presidiums statement as an attack on freedom of speech. The universitys defense of Baberowski comes just one month after a finding by the District Court in Cologne that the professor could be described as a right-wing extremist. In response to a request by the IYSSE for an explanation of the actions taken by security personnel, a representative of the department of public relations stated: No political activities should take place here at all. This act is a fundamental assault on the freedom of opinion of all students. Humboldt University President Sabine Kunst, a well-connected Social Democratic Party (SPD) politician, is claiming the power to determine what can and cannot be said at the university. The actions of the Humboldt administration are aimed at turning universities into authoritarian institutions. Numerous schools in Germany still bear the names of Sophie and Hans Scholl, members of the White Rose resistance movement who were executed in 1943 because they wrote and distributed leaflets opposing the Nazi regime. The reference to the Scholl siblings is particularly appropriate because criticism of Baberowski has centered on his apologetic attitude toward the Nazi regime. In an interview published in Der Spiegel in February 2014, Baberowski declared: Hitler was not a psychopath. He was not vicious. He did not want people to talk about the extermination of the Jews at his table. Baberowski also stated that the late Professor Ernst Nolte, the leading academic apologist for Nazism in postwar Germany, was unjustly criticized. Baberowskis relativizing of Hitlers crimes is grounded on the claim, which is wildly popular in extreme right-wing and neo-Nazi circles, both in Germany and internationally, that the actions of the Third Reich were a regrettable, but understandable, response to the threat posed by Soviet Bolshevism. He extends his apologetics to the conduct of the German army (Wehrmacht) during its invasion of the Soviet Union, denying that it consciously and deliberately waged a war of extermination. The Wehrmacht merely responded to the actions of the Soviet resistance: Stalin and his generals imposed a new kind of war on the Wehrmacht which no longer spared the civilian population, he wrote in 2007. In his 2012 book, Scorched Earth, Baberowski further developed his apologetic argument. Arguing that fascist ideology and anti-Semitism played no role in the mass killings organized by the German army, he wrote, Hitlers soldiers did not wage an ideological war, but were rather fighting a war whose dynamics they could not escape. These are positions that Humboldt University now declares to be above criticism. The claim of Sabine Kunstand all the major newspapers in Germany, which have sprung to Baberowskis defensethat Baberowski is a simple scholar who has been subjected to a brutal left-wing political attackis absurd on its face. Baberowskis relativization of Nazi crimes has the most far-reaching political implications. One has only to pose the following question: What would be the political implications of a leading German politicianor, for that matter, a political figure in any major countrydeclaring: Hitler was not vicious. He did not want people to talk about the extermination of the Jews at his table. In fact, whatever Baberowskis intentionsand there is no reason to believe that he does not understand the political implications of his statementshe is providing a fraudulent, pseudo-scholarly cover for the rehabilitation of the Third Reich and its leader. Right-wing politicians can legitimize their defense of Hitler by prefacing their apologetics with the phrase: As the great historian Jorg Baberowski has explained to us so eloquently, Hitler was not vicious. It is no accident that politicians from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and several right-wing publications have declared their solidarity with Baberowski. Against the backdrop of a growing clamor by leading German politicians and the media for a vast expansion of the countrys military operations, Baberowski has emerged as a spokesman for tough-minded realists. Germany, the argument goes, must get over the moral burden imposed by outdated guilt feelings over the events of the 1930s and 1940s. At one public meeting, Baberowski declared: And if one is not willing to take hostages, burn villages, hang people and spread fear and terror, as the terrorists do, if one is not prepared to do such things, then one can never win such a conflict, and one should stay out of it. Later, Baberowski claimed that his words were quoted out of context. But no one in the audience believed for a moment that they were listening to an antiwar message from a pacifist. Baberowskis meaning was clear enough: When Germany launches a military action, it must do whatever is necessary to win. Baberowski also emerged during the refugee crisis as a right-wing opponent of the admission of refugees into Germany. He is constantly in the public eye, whether in articles and interviews or on talk shows, attacking the German government from the right and agitating against refugees in the style of the AfD. For this, he has won praise from Breitbart News, the neo-Nazi Daily Stormer and a slew of other right-wing publications such as Junge Freiheit, the magazine Compact and the blog Politically Incorrect. The current defense of Baberowski by the university has taken the form of a series of hysterical denunciations in the bourgeois press of the World Socialist Web Site, the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (SGP, the German section of the International Committee of the Fourth International) and the IYSSE. The leading bourgeois daily, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung [FAZ], has published several articles, including one on its front page, warning of the powerful influence of the WSWS on public opinion in Germany. Thirty years ago, during the famous Historians Disputeamong the most important intellectual events in post-World War II Germanythe FAZ provided a platform for Ernst Noltes Nazi apologetics. It has been among the leading voices calling for an acceleration of the revival of German militarism. The FAZ defends Baberowski because it shares his right-wing positions. Germanys return to an aggressive imperialist policy based on military power requires the relativization of the Nazis crimes. The same political considerations motivate Humboldt University President Kunst. The SPD, of which she is a member, is playing a leading role in reviving German militarism. It was none other than Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who was then the foreign minister and is now the German president, who was one of the first to demand an end to military restraint in 2014. It must be noted that this effort to suppress criticism of Baberowski is taking place in a city that is ruled by a Red-Red-Green [SPD, Left Party, Green Party] coalition government. Sabine Kunst could not have come to the defense of Baberowski without being assured of the Berlin governments political support. This is a further substantiation of the connection between the defense of Baberowski and the efforts of all the bourgeois parties (including the Left Party and the Greens) to legitimize the revival of militarism. The Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei and the IYSSE will not be intimidated by censorship or threats from the university administration. In the face of the right-wing campaign defending Baberowski, the support for the IYSSE among students continues to grow at Humboldt University and throughout Germany. The readership of the German-language section of the World Socialist Web Site has been growing rapidly. It is unacceptable, to the German working class and youth, that at the very university where Hitlers war of annihilation against the Soviet Union was planned, it is no longer permissible to criticize positions that justify the Nazis crimes, promote a revival of militarism and instigate hatred of persecuted refugees. We therefore call upon students, workers and youth to protest against Humboldt Universitys attempt to muzzle free speech. Letters of protest can be sent directly to the president of the HU Sabine Kunst: praesidentin@hu-berlin.de, with a copy to iysse@gleichheit.de. Trade unions last Thursday called off a transport workers strike that had for three days halted public bus services across the northern Indian state of Haryana. After backroom talks, the state government promised to temporarily halt permits for new private bus operators and reinstate the 120 workers who were sacked for going on strike without notice. Due to the halting of the strike, there remains a threat that the government will proceed with privatisation moves in a modified form, with the complicity of the trade unions. Every day more than 1.3 million passengers travel in the buses of the state-owned Roadways transport service. About 4,200 buses, including 39 luxury ones, mostly plying between Gurugram and Chandigarh, came to a halt as a result of the strike. The Hindu-supremacist Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP) state government took repressive measures, including the sacking of at least five workers from each of 24 depots, and deployed police to intimidate strikers. As a result of talks between state officials and unions, the government agreed to repeal a new transport policy that allows fresh new private operators. Under the privatisation measures announced in February, the transport department received 1,669 new applications for permits for bus operations. Transport workers fear the expanding private bus service will affect their jobs. Haryana Transport Minister Krishan Panwar declared that the government would withdraw the issuance of new permits. However, it refused to cancel permits granted earlier to 853 buses for 273 routes in the state. Media outlets reported that the state government would frame a new transport policy that would incorporate suggestions by the Regional Transport Authority and trade unions. This means the government will seek the unions help to impose privatisation and quell workers opposition. When asked by reporters if the government had buckled under pressure of the Roadways unions, Panwar insisted: That is not the case. The step has been taken in the public interest. For weeks the unions had held talks with the minister to avert the strike. Haryana Transport Union general secretary Sarbat Poonia expressed shock that the government sought to issue new permits despite Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattars assurance to the contrary, made to the union on March 29. The All India Transport Workers Union, linked to the Stalinist Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM)-controlled Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), issued a statement denouncing the nefarious conspiracy of the state government to privatise the bus service while appealing to the same government not to engage in retrograde measures. The BJP-led state and central governments have been aggressively pushing forward with a pro-big business agenda that features the privatisation of entire public sectors, including road transport. The policies of the twin Stalinist partiesthe CPM and the Communist Party of Indiaand all their affiliated major trade unions, including the CITU, are based on making futile appeals to the government not to implement such measures for fear of triggering workers hostility. In order to deflect the anger of workers, the unions call limited protests but they are thoroughly opposed to the independent mobilisation of workers against the BJP-led governments. The continuing workers struggles in Haryana indicate the enormous class tensions developing in India. On March 18, a Haryana court sentenced 13 workers at the Japanese-owned auto giant Maruti Suzuki to life imprisonment on trumped-up charges related to strikes and protests in 2012. The companys victimisation of the workers has been backed by the police, the judiciary, the Haryana and central governments and the entire political establishment. Last October, close to 12,000 contract health workers, including several hundred doctors, employed under the National Health Mission went on strike across Haryana demanding permanency and equal wages with state health department employees. At least 150 were sacked and face police charges over their involvement in the strike. Their union ended the strike on the basis of the state health ministers assurance to consider their demands. Earlier last year, power workers in the state went on strike to protest against the suspension of contract workers who joined a strike last May 11 against the privatisation of the complaint and maintenance works of 23 subdivisions. When 23,000 contractual and permanent employees held a mass leave campaign on May 11, the government declared emergency regulations and sacked more than 7,000 contractual employees. The author also recommends: Free the framed-up Maruti Suzuki workers! [20 March 2017] In Tokyo yesterday, US Vice President Mike Pence continued the Trump administrations reckless brinkmanship with North Korea while seeking to reassure nervous allies in Asia that the dangerous confrontation could be ended without war. His remarks come amid a relentless drum beat in the American and international media vilifying the North Korean regime. Pence reiterated his statements in South Korea on Monday that the era of strategic patience is over and all options are on the table. In other words, the US is willing to use all means, including military force, to end North Koreas nuclear and missile programs. South Korea and Japan, both of which house large US military bases, could be the target of North Korean missiles in the event of war. In addition, the South Korean capital of Seoula city of 10 million peoplelies within the range of North Korean artillery emplacements near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two countries. Pence told the media Trump was determined to work closely with Japan, with South Korea, with all our allies in the region and with China to achieve a peaceable resolution and the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. A Japanese government spokesman repeated the refrain that Pence and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed that China needed to play a greater role in dealing with North Korea. The Trump administration is applying huge pressure on Beijingnot least through threats of initiating a war on its doorstepto force Pyongyang to bow to Washingtons demands. However, Trump has already declared that if China cannot solve North Korea, the US is prepared to go it alone through other, namely military, means. In comments to Fox News yesterday, Trump was openly sceptical that the stand-off with North Korea would be resolved through diplomatic means. I hope things work out well. I hope theres going to be peace. But you know, theyve been talking with this gentleman [North Korean leader Kim Jong-un] for a long time ... everybodys been outplayed. The US president again declared he would keep the world in the dark as to the measures the US would take. I dont want to telegraph what Im doing or what Im thinking ... well see what happens, he said. Asked what would happen if North Korea tested another missile, he simply replied: Well find out. Trumps remarks take on a particularly menacing character following the US cruise missile strikes on Syria and its use of the Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb in Afghanistan last week. In South Korea, Pence cited the US attacks in Syria and Afghanistan in his warning to North Korea not to test the resolve of the United States. Since coming to office, the Trump administration has conducted a review of US strategy toward North Korea that called for a full range of options. As well as military attacks, the options leaked to the media include a return of US nuclear weapons to South Korea, sabotage by special forces inside North Korea and decapitation strikes to kill North Korean leaders. By keeping the world guessing as to what the US will do, Trump has added a great deal of uncertainty and instability into an already precarious situation, heightening the danger of miscalculation or mistakes triggering a conflict. That was further compounded by misinformation from the White House and Pentagon last week that an aircraft carrier strike group headed by the USS Carl Vinson had been ordered to waters off the Korean Peninsula to coincide with a possible North Korean missile or nuclear test last Saturday. In fact, the warships took part in joint exercises in the Indian Ocean with the Australian navy. The USS Carl Vinson and its accompanying guided-missile destroyers and cruiser are now due to arrive next week during possible North Korean tests marking Military Foundation Day on April 25. Citing a government official, South Koreas Yonhap news agency reported that the Pentagon was sending two other US aircraft carriers for joint exercises with the South Korean navy. Extensive US-South Korean air drills are currently underway and will continue into next week. Some 1,500 US and South Korean military personnel are taking part in the Max Thunder exercise, along with a host of warplanes, including F-16 fighters, AV-8B Harriers, EA-18G Growlers, transport aircraft and helicopters. The South Korean and US militaries have just completed their annual Foal Eagle war gamesinvolving some 320,000 troopsthat are preparations for war with North Korea. The Guardian reported yesterday that the Pentagon is actively considering shooting down a North Korean test missilean act of war that could trigger retaliation against the US or its allies, particularly South Korea. A US official told the newspaper that the prospective shoot-down strategy could occur after a nuclear test, to send a signal to Pyongyang that the US can impose military consequences for a step Trump has declared unacceptable. Also yesterday, CNN reported that the US military is preparing tests of its anti-missile systems in May. A land-based and a ship-based test will take place in the Pacific region, sending a further warning to North Korea about US military capacities. While the Trump administration has repeatedly called on China to deal with North Korea, Beijings ability to force Pyongyang to accede to Washingtons demands is limited. The Chinese government has already imposed sanctions on North Korea in a bid to force it to halt its nuclear and missile tests, which only provide the US with a pretext for its continued military build-up in the region. Relations between the two allies are tense. Chinas chief North Korean official, Wu Dawei, held discussions in South Korea last week but according to the South Korean media is yet to arrange a meeting with North Korean leaders. The Yonhap news agency quoted a diplomatic source as saying: I understand the Chinese side is asking but the North is not replying. The prospect of a US war against North Korea is provoking deep anxieties and fears in Beijing. An editorial in yesterdays state-owned Global Times suggested that the Chinese leadership was willing to consider imposing crippling economic sanctions on North Korea, but not to force regime-change, and could react to extensive US military action against Pyongyang by coming to the aid of its ally to prevent a US take-over. The editorial warned: If the blow is heavy, the Chinese people will not allow their government to remain passive when the armies of the US and South Korea start a war and try to take down the Pyongyang regime If Pyongyang were to be taken by the allied armies of the US and South Korea, it would dramatically change the geopolitical situation in the Korean Peninsula. The comments underscore the dangers of a war on the Korean Peninsula, drawing nuclear armed powers such as China into a devastating global conflagration. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Theresa May announced her governments intention to hold an early general election. If two-thirds of MPs vote today to accept abrogating the recent provision for fixed five-year terms in office, parliament will end all business on May 2 and a ballot will take place on June 8. Mays surprise decision gives a measure of the escalating crisis of British imperialism in the aftermath of the narrow 51.9 percent vote to leave the European Union in last Junes referendum. Since that time, May, who supported the Remain camp, has led her party while at the beck and call of the pro-Brexit forces within it based on the constant assertion that Brexit means Brexit. But her hard-line pose has never successfully concealed, let alone mended, the deep divisions within the ruling class. Instead, she has been pushed into threatening a hard Brexit, including the UKs exclusion from the Single European Market. With 44 percent of UK exports bound for Europe and Londons position as a finance centre dependent on access to the continent, the other major parties have generally combined demands that a hard Brexit be avoided at all costs with a threat to block any negotiated deal that does not maintain access to the single market. As a result, May is in a much-weakened position in her negotiations with the EU, reflective of the declining global weight of the UK itself. In her brief statement announcing the snap election, May castigated the Labour Party for threatening to vote against the deal we reach, the Liberal Democrats for threatening to grind the business of government to a standstill, the Scottish National Party for its intention to vote against legislation formally repealing Britains EU membership, and unnamed unelected members of the House of Lords. All were denounced for betraying the national interest at this moment of enormous national significance, with May demanding an end to all dissent in a way that earned her several comparisons with Turkish President Erdogan. The central conceit of Mays speech was that [t]he country is coming together, but Westminster is not. This is a lie. In the first instance, divisions in Westminster reflect those within the ruling class that continue to deepen. These, in turn, are an expression of the growing national antagonisms that first gave rise to the Brexit referendum. May hoped to answer her detractors by forging an alliance with President Donald Trump, whose own embrace of Brexit was bound up with his America First protectionism and undisguised hostility to the EU as a German-led trade rival to the United States. This backfired, as Berlin and Paris met Trumps challenge with their own hard-line response. The week leading up to Mays announcement saw her foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, humiliated as the European powers rejected US-dictated demands at the G7 summit for additional sanctions against Russia, while Moscow poured scorn on Britain as an irrelevance without an independent position. Finally, and most importantly, no leading politician, least of all May, can speak honestly about the huge social tensions that gave rise to the unexpected No vote in last Junes referendum. A significant section of the most exploited and oppressed workers defied all appeals to support EU membership by then-Tory leader David Cameron, Labours Jeremy Corbyn, the Trades Union Congress, the City of London, then-President Barack Obama and every EU head of state. May calculates that she can exploit anti-EU sentiment to ensure electoral victory. Her working hypothesis is that the governments slim working majority of 17 will grow to as many as 200 due to a collapse in support for Labour, as foreseen in opinion polls giving the Tories a staggering lead of as much as 21 percentage points. However, this is a high-risk gamble based on the recognition that the underlying opposition to austerity cuts and social devastation can find no progressive expression. Corbyn offers no genuine alternative to the Tories. He has spent the past year doing all he can to disappoint the millions who looked to him to reverse Labours rightward trajectory, handing the initiative to the Blairites, who are now once again discussing his removal or the formation of an alliance with the Liberal Democrats. Given the extreme instability and combustibility of the situation in Europe and globally, the seven weeks between now and June 8 is, in political terms, a long time. The political landscape on which the current polls are based could be transformed by the time of the snap election. In its editorial on the election, the Guardian baldly declares: Britain does not need, and its people are not demanding, this general election. There is no crisis in the government. Mrs. May is not losing votes in the Commons. The House of Lords is not defying her. No legislation is at risk. There is no war and no economic crisis. Brexit is two years away. The press are not clamouring for an early election. The government has not run out of ideas. The opposition is not ready. No war and no crisis? Domestically, the May government confronts an increasingly restive working class, while it has set itself on a collision course with the Scottish National Party, which is demanding a second independence referendum, and with Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland and the government of the Republic in the south, which have mooted their own vote on Irelands unification. Just one month before the planned UK election, France will hold the second round of its presidential election, in which it is expected that Marine Le Pen, leader of the fascist National Front, will likely contest the EUs favoured candidate, Emmanuel Macron of the Socialist Party-splinter group En Marche!, or possibly Jean-Luc Melenchon of the nominally left Unsubmissive France. Either outcome would have the impact of politically polarising the whole of Europe, with entirely unpredictable consequences for the UK. Most important of all, events in Britain are unfolding at a time of a build-up to a possible US war against North Korea and unending anti-Russian propaganda. Mays announcement was overshadowed by the outpouring of threats against Pyongyang by Washington, with Vice President Mike Pence declaring that the era of strategic patience is over. Publicly, the UK has positioned itself as the most steadfast ally of Trump. But the day before her election announcement, Mays office let it be known that she had opposed the statements by US defence chiefs that they are confident they can utterly destroy North Koreas nuclear sites. A Number 10 source said, Weve been here before... We are urging restraint on military action. Another senior government source added, It feels like the Cuban missile crisis all over again. Thirteen days to Armageddon. Such warnings from the UK will count for little in Washington. But they point to the grave dangers facing the worlds people. The central issue posed in any election is to raise the political consciousness of the working class to the level demanded by the deepening crisis of global capitalism. This means rejecting all attempts to corral workers behind one or another faction of the ruling class in what is presented as a second referendum on Brexit, and proceeding instead on the basis of understanding the full import of world events. It is less than a decade and a half since a government and a prime minister with far greater popular support than Mays Tories, Tony Blairs Labour, was politically destroyed as a result of an eruption of mass anti-war sentiment. In this election, the Socialist Equality Party will utilise every opportunity to explain the necessity of constructing the socialist leadership required to defeat the governments undeclared agenda of austerity, militarism and war. President Trump signed an executive order Tuesday making it more difficult for skilled workers from other countries to obtain temporary work visas in the US. The order also called for a review of trade deals to enforce Buy American clauses and mandated government agencies to use American-made steel and other goods in federally funded projects and contracts. The measures, Trump said, were part of his Buy American, Hire American policy, which would send a powerful signal to the world: Were going to defend our workers, protect our jobs, and finally put America first. Trumps program of economic nationalism, along with his savage witch-hunting of immigrant workers, is the domestic counterpart to the administrations ever more violent military provocations around the world. With the support of the trade union bureaucracy, Trump is peddling the lie that foreign workers and unfair trade deals with China, Mexico and other countries, not the relentless pursuit of profit by the American ruling class, are the causes for chronic unemployment and stagnant wages. Aware that American workers are already tired of endless wars and their financial and human cost, the Trump administration is trying to divert social anger outward even as its program of expanding militarism, corporate tax cuts, deregulation and social spending cuts imposes greater hardships and inevitably provokes working class opposition. Trump signed the executive order at the headquarters of the Snap-On tool manufacturing company in Kenosha, Wisconsin, a former industrial town south of Milwaukee that has been gutted by decades of auto factory closures and deindustrialization. Reviving his routine of posturing as the savior of American workers, the billionaire president began his remarks by declaring, I love workers. His entourage was filled with others who share such love, including Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, who threatened to dispatch the national guard to crush mass worker protests in 2011, former Goldman Sachs executive and now treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin, and billionaire Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who is committed to destroying public education. Also joining Trump were his neo-fascistic aides Stephen Bannon and Stephen Miller who, no doubt, penned most of the presidents pseudo-populist remarks. For too long, weve watched as our factories have been closed and our jobs have been sent to other faraway lands, Trump declared. Weve lost 70,000 factories since China joined the World Trade Organization But this election, the American people voted to end the theft of American prosperity. They voted to bring back their jobsand to bring back their dreams into our country. Trump lashed out at the NATO countries for not paying for US military protection and then singled out Canada for criticism, saying the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was threatening the businesses of Wisconsin dairy farmers. Were going to stand up for our farmers, Trump said, because in Canada, some very unfair things have happened to our dairy farmers Its another typical one-sided deal against the United States. And its not going to be happening for long. In a reference to his plans to free corporate America from whatever occupational safety, health and environmental rules still exist, Trump said, when it comes to wasteful, destructive, job-killing regulations, we are going to use a tool you all know very wellits called the sledgehammer. The president claimed the federal governments Buy American standards have been gutted by excessive waivers and reckless exemptions, adding that countless jobs and countless contracts... have been lost to cheap, subsidized, and low-quality foreign goods. Every federal agency would now be ordered to strictly uphold the rules, and he pledged to crack down on foreign bidders that used dumped steel and other subsidized goods to take contracts from workers like you Not going to happen anymore. The administrations Hire American rules, he said, would mandate that jobs must be offered to American workers first. He claimed, widespread abuse in our immigration system is allowing American workers of all backgrounds to be replaced by workers brought in from other countries to fill the same job for sometimes less pay. He said, American workers have long called for reforms to end these visa abuses. And today, their calls are being answered for the first time. The long-overdue reform of H1B visas, he said, would restrict them to the most-skilled and highest-paid applicants, and they should never, ever be used to replace Americans. The accusation that the temporary visa program is responsible for wholesale joblessness and falling wages is a fraud. The program, first enacted in 1990, provides three-year visas to only 85,000 skilled and college-educated workers per year, mostly to computer programmers and other high-tech employees, along with a smaller number of doctors, medical trainees, public school and college instructors, engineers, entertainers and lawyers. Silicon Valley employers like Google, Apple, Intel and outsourcing firms, which hold the visas and determine whether to renew them for another three years or sponsor a worker for a green card (permanent residence), certainly hold enormous leverage and can exploit these workers to the fullest. This is the result of the workings of the capitalist profit system, not the fault of the victims of this exploitation. In any case, Trumps measures will serve only to intimidate and silence workers who fear their temporary visas will be cancelled. As for Trumps claim that American workers have long called for reforms to end these visa abuses, this refers only to the AFL-CIO and other trade unions, which have campaigned against H-1B visas as part of their general effort to divide the working class along national lines and block any common struggle against the global capitalist corporations. Nor have Buy American campaigns, long peddled by the unions, been anything but a ruse to tie workers to their own employers and force them accept the destruction of jobs, wages and living standards in the name of making US corporation more competitive, i.e., profitable. Under condition of growing working class hostility to Trump, the trade unions have become one of the presidents most dependable allies. Far from denouncing the mass roundups and deportation of immigrant workers, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, a frequent visitor to the White House, offered to work with Trump to rewrite the rules on trade and immigration. After the presidents rant against immigrants before a joint session of Congress on February 28, Trumka told Fox News, I was actually pleasantly surprised to hear him say the system is broken and its legal immigration, as well as undocumented peoplehe talked about them a lotbut this was the first time he spoke about legal immigration being used to drive down wages. Weve been saying that for a long time. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal last month, Trumka expressed hope that the president would soon name China a currency manipulator, renegotiate NAFTA and impose steep tariffs on China and Mexico, as previously promised. That he had failed to do so already, Trumka lamented, was because of the influence of the Wall Street wing in the White House. Arrayed on the other side of the White House fight, Mr. Trumka said, are Peter Navarro, an economist who wants to confront China and runs the White Houses small National Trade Council, and the White Houses chief strategist, Steve Bannon, who views himself as an antiglobalist, the leading business newspaper reported. The AFL-CIO, which has long been a petri dish for ultranationalist and fascistic views, has found a meeting of the minds with Trump and Bannon. But after decades of betraying the working class and colluding with the bosses in the destruction of entire cities like Kenosha, the unions lack any credibility among broad sections of workers and young people. They are clutching onto Trump, and he onto them, to prevent American workers from concluding that they must oppose economic nationalism and join with their class brothers and sisters internationally to abolish capitalism and its scourges of poverty, inequality and war. (WAAY) - An AMBER Alert has been issued for a 12-year-old Atlanta girl who is believed to have been kidnapped. Arasley Jimenez-Vasquez was allegedly abducted by Armando Aguilar, 32, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Atlanta police have issued a felony kidnapping warrant for Aguilar. The alert states Vasquez is believed to be in extreme danger. Vasquez is 5'2" and 130 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. Aguilar has heavy scarring on the right side of his chin and has a large tattoo of "Ashley" across the middle of his chest, with four large stars above the name and three stars below it. The two may be in a white 2009 Ford Econoline van with Georgia license plate number QFD5854. Anyone with the location of the two is asked to call 911 or contact the Atlanta Police Department at 404-817-2379. MONTICELLO, Fla. (WTXL) - Jefferson County will officially be the first charter school district in Florida and will be run by the charter school group Somerset Academy. That's after an agreement with Somerset Academy was approved by the school board tonight. The move to become three separate charter schools was the best way to keep the struggling district from shutting down completely. In a series of unanimous votes, the Jefferson County school board approved a five-year contract with Somerset Academy. That means the district will be run by Somerset beginning with the new fiscal year, July 1st. All 750 or so students from the middle/high school, which is already a consolidated school, and the elementary school will now go to the current middle/high school building. Somerset officials say there will be two separate drop-off times for the younger and older students. Somerset Academy Charter School was founded in 1997 and runs K-12 educational programs in Florida, Nevada and Texas. Both parents and officials think the change will be a positive one. "It's been a systemic problem for many years here in the county and I think the charter is the jolt that we needed to help us get out of the rut," said Marianne Arbulu, Jefferson County Schools Superintendent. "I think that as long as what's needed in terms of resources for the students and as well as for the teachers, I think that we can look forward to a successful year," said parent Robert Walker. For students, this means anyone has the choice of whether or not they want to attend Jefferson. Arbulu says, as it stands, the new school will have about 945 total seats, giving the district some room to grow. For teachers and many other school staffers, this will mean a pay increase. Despite the name change, Somerset Academy is contractually obligated to keep Jefferson's current mascot and school colors. Lincoln Mayor Chris Beutler wants Kansas ranchers to pay more attention to the health of Lincoln residents, downwind from their annual grass burns. In a letter to Kansas officials, Beutler described some of the complaints he received from Lincoln residents and doctors and he urged regulators to pay more attention to these consequences. Resident complaints increased substantially this year in comparison to previous years, Beutler said. One came from a 61-year-old asthma sufferer who stayed indoors at an office job, but still took inhaled steroids just to survive the day. Lincoln pulmonologist Dr. Kevin Reichmuth also reported his respiratory patients experienced more symptoms during the most recent smoke events. Further, he expresses concern that if the current levels of particulate matter caused by the Flint Hills burnings are repeated annually, respiratory patients could suffer recurrent exacerbations of their underlying lung disease which can lead to progressive lung function decline, Beutler wrote. The health impacts in Lincoln are severe enough that outdoor events were canceled throughout the city on multiple days this spring, Beutler pointed out. The mayor questioned the current Kansas burn plan, which allows burns in the Flint Hills area to be concentrated into a short period of time. It appears that the short time frame is for the convenience of the property owners and those who manage the burns, not based on current studies questioning the necessity of abbreviated burn periods," said Beutler. Clearly the current plan is not protecting the health of the people living in Lincoln, Nebraska," Beutler wrote. "At a minimum, attention should be given to current research and input from those outside of Kansas who are managing the health of those directly impacted by the fires, he wrote in a letter to John Mitchell, director of the division of environment, with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. "The impacts of the Flint Hills burning programs are becoming increasingly severe for Lincoln and Lancaster County residents. The health of our community is jeopardized by the excessive smoke generated by the Flint Hills burns that are conducted over a short period of time," he wrote. Lincoln has tracked smoke pollution caused by the Flint Hills fires since 2003, issuing air quality warnings in 2003, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2014 and this year. The air quality index has been unhealthy for sensitive individuals continuously for over 24 hours this year on four days, April, 7, 9, 11 and 13, the mayor wrote. Tentative plans for a 100,000-square-foot downtown library that will likely last longer than 50 years and will cost around $50 million were presented to the library board and interested public Tuesday. In addition to space for books, the library will likely have an auditorium with seating for 250, places for people to use borrowed laptop computers or their own laptops, a cafe run by a private business, group study rooms and smaller tutoring rooms with glass walls for better supervision. It will also likely have makerspaces where people can use equipment -- like sophisticated printers, or sewing machines -- that they may not be able to afford for their homes. It may even have an audio visual lab for making and editing videos. Consultants from a Texas company that specializes in libraries and a local architectural firm talked about potential program spaces, from teen areas to music areas, during two meetings in Lincoln Tuesday, one for the library board and another for the public. But they did not describe exactly what the building or the spaces will look like. That design will come later when the program statement is handed over to architects, said Dick Waters, of Godfreys Associates of Dallas. And the library board hasn't said where the new library will be built, though consultants said the Pershing building itself is not at the top of the list. The library board, which met Tuesday morning in closed session to discuss real estate, will likely announce a site in the next two to three months, said Pat Leach, Lincoln City Libraries director. The program statement is irrespective of a site. It can be applied to a site once it has been selected, said James Walbridge with the Lincoln office of HDR Inc. The consultants expect the building will be around 100,000 square feet, a two- to three-story building that is about a third bigger than Bennett Martin Library, the current central library. A library is open more hours than any other public service building, so it must be durable and high quality and it must be energy-efficient, said Brad Waters with Godfreys Associates. "You never sacrifice quality for quantity," said Dick Waters. "You can always build more space. You cannot improve quality without major deconstruction. So quality is the best economy. "And if you dont believe it, welcome to Bennett Martin, said Brad Waters, about Lincolns current downtown library, where it was 90 degrees in the board room Tuesday morning, forcing board members to move to the auditorium. One thing a library can do well is have the best children's program, said Dick Waters, who expects Lincoln will have a "knock your socks off space for children." Tuesday's meetings were part of a process that will eventually lead to design of the building and voter consideration of a bond that will use public funding for part of the cost. With voter approval of a bond issue, the city could break ground on a new downtown library in late 2019, Dick Waters said. On Tuesday, consultants offered specific ideas for a new downtown library based on the earlier feedback they received from Lincoln library users, businesses, teens, educators and staff. After Tuesdays meetings, the consultants will add details to the program statement -- everything from the number of chairs and kind of equipment in each area to the number of recharging stations that might be needed for motorized wheelchairs. This thick book of details, which will be reviewed by the library board and the public in late May, sets the direction for design, said Brad Waters. The cost is already set at around $50 million, consultants said. There was no discussion of parking because that will depend on where the new library will be built. If you are going to have a library that is well used, you will have to have convenient parking, said Brad Waters. However, his father, Dick Waters, suggested driverless cars will become a reality, mitigating some of a library's parking needs. The new library will be built for a city that will grow to 456,000 people in the next 35 years, and with 1.3 million items in its systemwide collection, consultants said. A new central library will not replace branches but will, in fact, create more library users overall in the long run, said Dick Waters. You will build more branch libraries in addition to a great, new central library, he said. You are the owner of this article. Community Health Systems, or CHS, announces that it had signed a definitive agreement with Sunnyside Community Hospital & Clinics to purchase Yakima Regional Medical Center and Toppenish Community Hospital for $45 million. The flow of beer in Whiteclay must stop, the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission ordered Wednesday, an unprecedented move that sets the stage for a major court battle. Commissioners voted 3-0 to deny licenses to all four beer stores in the alcohol-soaked outpost in northwest Nebraska, a bottle's toss from South Dakota's dry Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. "This is not a place that can exist any longer," commission Chairman Bob Batt of Omaha said after the vote. "This is not a place that can exist as a purveyor of alcohol at all." Cheers erupted from those who packed a tiny hearing room at the State Office Building for the decision. Former Oglala Lakota President Bryan Brewer and longtime Winnebago activist Frank LaMere, both in tears, embraced after the vote. "We've never come this far," Brewer said. "I'm just so happy for our people." A lawyer for the beer stores which also face allegations from the Nebraska Attorney Generals Office of selling to bootleggers said they will appeal the decision in Lancaster County District Court. The stores may remain open through April 30, when their licenses expire. Attorney Andrew Snyder of Scottsbluff, who listened to the decision via conference call, said later that his clients will seek a judge's order to extend that until the appeal is resolved. The owners of Arrowhead Inn, State Line Liquor, D&S Pioneer Service and Jumping Eagle Inn weren't present for Wednesday's vote. Snyder repeated his claim that the state's actions against his clients are part of a politically motivated effort led by Gov. Pete Ricketts. "I think the commissioners are wrong," Snyder said in a phone call. State lawmakers applauded the Liquor Commission's decision later at the Capitol when Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon, who watched Wednesday's vote, announced the result on the legislative floor. "We have been poisoning a group of people for many years, and today a decision was made to end that," said Sen. Brewer, a member of Pine Ridge's resident Oglala Lakota Tribe whose legislative district includes Whiteclay. Alcohol sales in the unincorporated village have been in question for months. The Liquor Commission ordered the beer stores to reapply for their licenses in November, citing concerns about law enforcement after a local official said Sheridan County "absolutely" lacked adequate resources to police the area. Sheridan County, where Whiteclay is located, is patrolled by a sheriff's office with five full-time deputies. Whiteclay has about eight official residents, but combined, its liquor stores sell millions of cans of beer each year, much of it to Oglala Lakota tribal members. The tribe's top law enforcement official told liquor commissioners during an April 6 hearing that Whiteclay crime routinely spills over into Pine Ridge, and Nebraska authorities do little to help. A group of street ministers who live in Whiteclay testified about persistently dangerous, disgusting conditions there. But aside from the single remark last fall by Sheridan County Commissioner Jack Andersen, local authorities have insisted they have the resources to maintain public safety. The Liquor Commission rejected that argument in reaching Wednesday's decision. Commissioner Bruce Bailey of Lincoln, his voice shaking, read a list of reasons he felt gave the commission authority to close the stores: the frequency of ambulance calls to Whiteclay and the stores themselves, "very moving" stories of debauchery and violence on the streets in Whiteclay, and a unanimous resolution by the Oglala Lakota Tribe's executive committee that the beer stores should be closed. "Very honestly, their five officers cannot cover what needs to be done, let alone realize we're also covering a 35-mile-by-66-mile county," Bailey said of Sheridan County. Snyder said Bailey's statement went beyond the issues the commission was supposed to consider in its decision and will only help with the stores' appeal. "I appreciate his comments," Snyder said. "Thatll be useful to us." In 2006, Snyder convinced the Nebraska Supreme Court to side against the Liquor Commission and grant a license to Arrowhead Inn owner Jason Schwarting, whose father owned the business before but lost his license because of a felony conviction. David Domina, the Omaha lawyer representing five Sheridan County residents who protested the licenses this year, said he doesn't believe the 2006 result is likely to be repeated. "The quantity and quality of evidence is dramatically different" in this case, he said. Batt said commissioners "did this by the book" and expressed confidence their decision would hold up in court. Even if the beer stores close, the federal government and state officials from Nebraska and South Dakota still must commit to addressing the systemic issues surrounding alcoholism on Pine Ridge, Batt said. Some movement is already underway on that front. The Legislature is expected to approve a new task force this year to address public health issues surrounding Whiteclay. Last week, a state-funded crew leveled a pair of decrepit buildings there and began cleaning up several exposed foundations. And a private group called Whiteclay Redo, whose organizers include local street minister Bruce BonFleur, is raising money to redevelop the area. LaMere, whose own tribe is based nearly 400 miles from Pine Ridge, has fought nearly two decades to end Whiteclay beer sales and fix the problems on the neighboring reservation. He knows he's far from finished. Still, LaMere relished Wednesday's victory. He called it "perhaps the greatest day" in the history of relationships between Native American tribes and the state of Nebraska. "We will celebrate briefly today." The prisoners' hunger strike has only been going on for one day, but it seems that ever since it started, all Fadwa Barghouti, Marwan Barghouti's wife and representative in the outside world, has been doing is trying to explain time and again that her husband's protest is not a whim intended to serve his personal interests. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter According to Barghouti's wife, the other prisoners anointed him as the leader of the strike, and her attempt to justify his actions is in response to accusations raised in recent days regarding Barghouti's motivesnot only the accusations publicly issued by Israel, but those proclaimed behind closed doors in Ramallah. (Photo: Gil Yochanan) The fact is that Barghouti stands nearly alone when she is addressing the Palestinians, without any leader of repute by her side. Comments backing up the strike were indeed received from the Palestinian leadership, but they sounded forced and somewhat general. Barghouti knows this and therefore demands the strikers have outside support. "The success of the strike depends on the solidarity of the people with my husband," she said. The strike had been planned for some time, and the scheduled date was not coincidental: It bagon on Palestinian Prisoners' Day in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. This explosive combination could lead to clashes and friction with the security forces, but in practice, the rallies took place in the centers of Palestinian cities and ended in the same relative calm they had begun. (Translated and edited by N. Elias) ISIS has claimed responsibility for an attack on an Egyptian police checkpoint near the famed Saint Catherine's Monastery in Sinai late Tuesday, which authorities said killed one policeman and wounded four. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The militants opened fire from an elevated hilltop overlooking the police checkpoint just outside the monastery, which is located in a remote desert and mountainous area in the southern part of the Sinai Peninsula, according to a statement by the Interior Ministry. Saint Catherine's Monastery (Photo: Shaul Golan) After an exchange of gunfire, the attackers fled the scene, the ministry said, adding that some of the gunmen were wounded in the shootout. No further details were immediately available. According to SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks online activity of militants, the ISIS-affiliated Amaq news agency announced that the group's militants carried out the attack near Saint Catherine. This is the first time the ISIS has attacked a monastery. ISIS in Sinai The attack comes shortly before a planned visit by Pope Francis to Egypt next week. The attack on the 6th century monastery, which is a popular site for tourists visiting Red Sea resorts along Sinai's southern coast, comes just over a week after suicide bombers attacked two churches in the Nile Delta city of Tanta and the coastal city of Alexandria, killing 45 people on Palm Sunday. Egypt's Sinai-based ISIS affiliate claimed responsibility for those attacks. Scene of the Palm Sunday attack (Photo: EPA) The Palm Sunday attack prompted President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi to declare a three-month state of emergency and deploy armed forces to help police in guarding vital installations, including churches across the country. A state of emergency already in place in northern Sinai has failed to halt near-daily attacks against police and security forces by ISIS in the volatile area. The extremist group has lately stepped up its attacks, moving its activities from Sinai to other parts of Egypt and is increasingly using sophisticated tactics that are likely to fuel sectarian tensions and embarrass el-Sisi. Photo: AFP Egypt's Copts, the Middle East's largest Christian community, have also long complained of suffering discrimination, as well as outright attacks, at the 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 until his ouster in 2011. The attack and the church bombings threaten to deal a blow to Egypt's struggling tourism industry, which has suffered from political instability and a fragile security situation since the 2011 uprising. The US issued a travel warning on Wednesday, advising its nationals in Egypt to stay away from places of worship for the next two weeks and to avoid crowds as long as they remain in the country. An Army Radio interviewer drew comprisons between Marwan Barghoutia convicted Palestinian terrorist who murdered Israelis and is currently leading a hunger strike in an Israeli prisonand Irgun and Lehi fighters. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Ravit Hecht, a Haaretz columnist, made the parallel toward the end of an interview with Minister of Tourism Yariv Levin, which dealt almost exclusively with Barghouti, when he sardonically said: "You know the history of Israel and our existence. Did you know that all the underground freedom fighters were heinous murderers in the eyes of the other side? You don't see any parallels here?" Minister of Tourism Yariv Levin (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg) Levin responded by saying, "That is a terrible comparison and it is shameful and disgraceful that an Israeli broadcasting station even ask this type of question." Levin's sharp response then prompted Hecht to double down, saying, "Why? You said you were in favor of freedom of expression?" Once again, Levin responded pointedly, accusing the interviewer of ignorance and of fabricating history. "This shows total ignorance, a total distortion of history. There is a difference of heaven and earth between these disgraceful murderers and our people who were really heroes, who fought a real occupying army and not the IDF, which defends us all in our own country." (Translated and edited by Fred Goldberg) FRESNO - A man wanted in the slaying of a security guard set out to kill as many white people as he could on Tuesday, gunning down three men on the streets of downtown Fresno before he was captured and admitted to the shootings, authorities said. Kori Ali Muhammad, 39, was arrested shortly after the morning rampage that left three white men dead, police said. Muhammad, who is black, fired 16 rounds in less than two minutes at four places within a block, shooting men who appeared to be going about their day, authorities say. During his arrest, Muhammad shouted "Allahu akbar," but Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said the shootings had "nothing to do with terrorism in spite of the statement he made." "This is solely based on race," Dyer told reporters. Health Minister Yaakov Litzman paid a visit Tuesday to Rabbi Eliezer Berland, a leader of the Breslov Hasidic community who was sentenced to 18 months in prison at the end of 2016 for a string of sexual offences. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Berland is currently staying in a convalescent home in Hadassah Har Hatzofim Medical Center in Jerusalem where he is completing the remainder of his sentence under house arrest while receiving medical treatment. Yaakov Litzman visits Rabbi Berland In addition, Deputy Education Minister Meir Porush (United Torah Judaism) also visited the convicted sexual offender. Berland was released 2 weeks ago from prison while serving his sentence amid health problems. In total, he served 5 months in jail. Litzmans entourage explained the meeting as being part and parcel of his general visits to the sick. They also noted that Berland had made a number of requests to receive a visit from Litzman due to his poor health. Coming under criticism, Litzman once again sought to justify his controversial visit on Wednesday morning, claiming that he was meeting Berland just like he would any other sick person. Meir Porush visits Berland The visit marks a change of position for Litzman, who thus far has refused to visit Berland despite the pressure that was exerted on him. Even criminals have rights, said Litzmans cohorts. Moreover, officials in the health ministers office said that Berland had paid his debt and had completed his prison sentence. Rabbi Litzman (Photo: Yoav Dudkevitch) As long as he was under arrest it was different. This visit does not legitimize his crimes, if they were committed, said one of Litzmans spokespeople, appearing to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the verdict against him. Rabbi Berland (Photo: Amit Shabi) Last July, the 79-year-old Berland, who had headed the Shuvu Banim Yeshiva in Jerusalem, was indicted on several counts of sexual misconduct and assault. He was sentenced last November to 18 month in prison after accepting a plea bargain and expressing regret for his actions. In April this year, The Israel Prisons Service Parole Board accepted Berland's petition for an early release from prison so that he could receive medical treatment. He is set to spend the remainder of his sentence under house arrest. (Translated and edited by Alexander J. Apfel) Nothing should have surprised us in Finance Minister Moshe Kahlons new plan , neither the issues he chose to deal with nor the timing or the way it was done. Saying that the writing was on the wall would be a serious downgrading of Kahlons abilities. In other words, it could have been much worse. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter After the trick that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu played on Kahlon with the Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC) affair, insisting on a compromise that sets up a new, separate news corporation without Geula Eventhe wife of Netnayahu adversary Gideon Sa'arat its helm, it was only a matter of time before the finance minister had his revenge. Kahlon said it himself in different waysThe IPBC affair was the turning point for the finance minister. Its not that everything was perfect beforehand, but this time he felt exploited, deceived, betrayed, humiliated and mainlyas is always the case with Netanyahuhe felt as if he had been thrown along the side of the road. The thing that frustrated him the most was that although he was deeply familiar with the prime ministers conduct, although he had already left the Likud party for similar reasonsNetanyahu managed to do it to him again. The question was how would this revenge be served. So instead of matzah and bitter herbs, Netanyahu was served with a sweet revenge straight to his face. Kahlon and Netanyahu. The prime minister is too experienced to let the finance ministers achievement slip away from his hands (Photo: Amit Shabi) Kahlons financial plan is only part of the revenge. Its a part that cannot be downplayed, as it strengthens his position as the social minister, the man who is touched by the distress of young Israeli families. The "Net Family Plan," as it is called, is an effective name for a program that may one day even be named after Kahlon. This takes us to the second part, if not the main part, of the revenge: The finance ministers press conference, which the prime minister was not informed of and not invited to. Even without the IPBC affair, the finance ministers decision to hold a press conference without Netanyahu sticking his head in the frame is understandable. The way Netanyahu appropriates his ministers achievements and immediately turns them into his own successor the success of his government or any other wording that immediately belittles the ministers achievementhas been getting on the ministers nerves. Kahlon experienced it recently, when immediately after the IPBC affair, he was forced to visit the cities of Beit Shemesh and Or Yehuda with Netanyahu leading the way, once again taking credit for housing agreements that the finance minister had worked on for a year and a half, while Kahlon sat next to him, humiliated and angry, without his famous smile. Until now, ministers wouldnt dare do what Kahlon did Tuesdayhold independent press conferences in blatant defiance of the prime minister. This isnt the first time, however, that Kahlon acted as a pioneer vis-a-vis Netanyahu. This time, though, he did it with unusual elegance and effectiveness: It seems to be a good and important program. If there were elections on the horizon, we would call it an election strategy. And if the elections are indeed closer than they seem, Kahlon has succeeded in strengthening his public standing, and maybe even regaining a Knesset seat or two, which has slipped away from him over the past year. It is therefore unsurprising that the smile has returned to Kahlons face. One can only imagine how satisfied he must have felt, standing there on his own, elaborating on his financial plan, enjoying all the attention, basking in all the compliments. The initial reaction from the prime ministers associates was a typical response from Coalition Chairman David Bitan: We wont let him hurt the disability pensionsas if the disability pensions were the apple of Netanyahus eye. Moreover, as if the plan to raise the disability pensions was the flagship plan of the coalition chairman, who strongly opposed it only several months ago. The response that followed this response was much more moderate: The proposals presented will be examined in a positive manner. Heres another attempt to humiliate the finance minister. But we can count on Netanyahu. He is too experienced to let this thing slip away from his hands. The initial reactions will soon disappear and will be replaced with generous credits to the prime minister and to the government he leads, for a plan that he identified first and that Kahlon only executed. The Samaria military court sentenced Nawaf Fad to six years in prison on Tuesday for his role in the 2011 shooting at Josephs Tomb that injured four Israelis and killed 24-year-old Ben-Yosef Livnat. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Fad was acquitted of murder charges due to reasonable doubt, but was convicted of obstruction of justice for having tampered with evidence by rearranging stones and backpacks scattered at the scene of the shooting. Ben-Yosef Livnat and the scene of the attack at Joseph's Tomb (Photo: AFP) Former Culture and Sport Minister Limor Livnat, who is also the deceased victims aunt, expressed outrage at the military courts verdict, saying, In an inconceivable manner, the verdict acquitted Ben-Yosefs murderer. The court showed incredible empathy towards the assassin. The family was shocked to hear the verdict, which contains a series of serious and inexplicable mistakes, said Livnat. Livnat further argued that the judges reached conclusions that the defendants defense did not even raise at trial and that they blatantly ignored conflicting testimonies and an explicit confession by the defendant. I truly believe that the appeal that will be submitted will allow the truth to come to light, she contended. In 2011, Palestinian Authority police opened fire on a three-car convoy of Jewish worshippers traveling to pray at Josephs Tomb in Nablus. After the incident, Palestinian security forces arrested the four policemen who had been responsible for the security of the compound and who were involved in the shooting. Palestinian police Palestinian sources claimed that the police had ordered the worshippers not to approach the tomb without coordination and that the order was ignored and thus the Palestinians first fired in the air and then at the car itself. In May 2013, the IDF and Shin Bet arrested three of the policemen after they were released from PA custody. According to the Shin Bet, the three suspects had coordinated their versions of the story so that they would all claim that they believed themselves to be under attack and thus justified in opening fire. Attorney Haim Bleicher of the Honenu legal organization echoed Livnat and claimed that the acquittal of the defendant had no basis in the evidence and the facts presented in court. The defendant explicitly admitted that he had shot at the victims car and even admitted that he had hit him, explained Bleicher. In addition, a bullet was found in the victims vehicle that matched the shooting trajectory described by the defendant in his confession. Bleicher also criticized the courts behavior towards the family. The court and the judges after the verdict were impervious to and ignored the murder victims family and their rights as victims, lamented Bleicher. The judges tried to distance the murder victims family from the case despite the fact that it is also clear in the verdict that the terrorist played an active part in the murder and in tampering with the evidence. This constitutes a double blow to the family, one by the terrorist and a second time by the judges misconduct, he concluded. Marwan Barghouti scheduled the Palestinian prisoners hunger strike precisely and intentionally at a time when the Palestinian society has reached one of its low points: With no political horizon; with a catastrophic economic situation, mainly in Gaza, and with the worst rift possible between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The despair has even led to a break in the ground battles against Israel: The drizzle of terror attacks is sporadic, and mostly reflects the hatred and personal issues of its perpetrators. This is no longer the terrorism of hope, with national motives, like in the days of the intifadas. Make no mistake about it: A hunger strike is the prisoners ultimate weapon, and it is political and has political objectives in any event. This was the case in the 20 hunger strikes Palestinian inmates have held in Israels prisons since 1969. The achievements they reached through these strikes should not be downplayed: First and foremost, they received the de facto status of political prisoners, whose status in the jail is different from the status of criminal prisoners. In addition, they received a special moral status and importance among the Palestinian society. Marwan Barghouti. A hunger strike as a political weapon (Photo: Reuters) Barghoutis reasons for the strike are only a setting for the political goal, which is directed this time mainly at the Palestinian leadership and society, and especially at Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Barghouti wishes to fulfil his achievements in the latest Fatah elections and be appointed as Abbas deputy, in a bid to reach an influential spot and position himself as the successor despite being in prison. Through the strike, he is trying to force Hamas and Fatah to search for ways to reach a reconciliation, as he understands that without the Gaza Strip negotiations are out of the question; and he is indicating to Israel that time is running out, and that if the parties fail to return to the negotiating tablethe Palestinians will turn to the struggle path. More than 600,000 Palestinians have passed through Israels prisons since 1967. There are hardly any families in the territories that dont have a son who has been detained. The Israeli prison has become part of the collective experience shaping the ethos of the conflict. This is why the concern for the prisoners, the solidarity with their struggle and the hopes for their release are shared by everyone, regardless of ideologies, factions and rifts. In the Palestinians' eyes, the prisoners are a patriotic model of a sacrifice for the national goal. That is also why the West Bank has been flooded with demonstrations and parades in support of the strike. Abbas and Hamas are in a catch-22 situation. The hunger strike is seen as a headache both in Ramallah and in Gaza, but they have no choicebecause of the streets supportbut to support it. Abbas would rather see Barghouti, who is much more popular than him, in jail. He wont dare come out against him, however, and definitely not against the hunger strike. On the contrary: The longer it lasts, the firmer the statements he will issue in favor of the strike. Hamas, which is busy building its new leadership and preoccupied with the deep economic crisis in Gaza and with the electricity crisis, which is causing a public unrest, wont be able to sit idly by either. Yahya Sanwar, who was jailed for life and released, has yet to order his people in prison to join the strike, but they will likely join it gradually. In any event, Barghouti will have Hamas full support. The Palestinians want a new leader. They have stopped legitimizing Abbas rule, and they understand that Hamas is not a long-term solution. They also want a change, which is why they will support the prisoners struggle, and no one can predict right now where it might lead. Through the victory Barghouti is aiming for, he seeks to force Israel to release him from prison and recognize his leadership. Israel, however, keeps repeating the tune it began playing 10 years ago, arguing that not only is Abbas not a partner for negotiations, but that there is no Palestinian partner at all. It may be time to change direction, to try to talk to Barghouti, who the Palestinians see as their leader, and at least check if there is someone to talk to. Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon and the Likud are trading punches over a plan Kahlon submitted Tuesday to abolish customs duties on a number of household items as part of a drive to reduce the cost of living for Israelis. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Likud MKs came out strongly against the plan and the manner in which it was presented, which caught Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu off guard. Kahlon and Netanyahu (Photo: Amit Shabi) MK Nava Boker (Likud) attacked the plan, saying, "This is a bad plan that does not provide a solution to the 230,000 people living with hunger. Kahlon must announce an increase in the allowances to the minimum wage. Any solution that amounts to less will encounter strong resistance from me and those of my fellow Likud members. " MK Yoav Kish wryly remarked that he was pleased "Minister Kahlon remembered he is Minister of Finance and not Minister of Communications." Kish continued, saying, "Kahlon should remember that without the support of the Prime Minister and the Likud, his plan will not be approved. Kahlon will not be supported by the Likud without a significant increase in the allowances for the disabled, which is no less important than lowering the tax on cellular phones." Disabled people protesting low Gov't aid (Photo: Motti Kimchi) In an interview with Army Radio, Minister Tzachi Hanegbi attacked Kahlon for his presentation of his plan. "In the past, it was at least expected that the PM would not hear about it (the plan) in the media." Speaking at the inauguration of the Health Discovery Tower at the Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa, Kahlon said, "No one really objects to a plan that is so good for the middle class. "The program will pass in full. Those who are angry at the fact that it provides benefits and relief to people who have been waiting for it for so many years, his anger is out of place." The plan will cost an estimated NIS 800 million per year. It will not increase the budget deficit and instead will be covered by higher than expected annual tax income. (Translated and edited by Fred Goldberg) THESSALONIKI -- Military officials in Greece say four army officers have been killed and one injured in the crash of a border patrol helicopter in northern Greece. The incident occurred Wednesday, north of the town of Elassona, some 450 kilometers (280 miles) northwest of Athens. Army officials say the Huey UH-1H helicopter had been on a routine border patrol flight. SANAA -- A US drone killed four suspected al Qaeda members in an overnight strike as they were travelling through the central desert province of Marib, local officials said on Wednesday. One said that authorities had not been able to identify those killed because the bodies were so badly burnt. Dr. Leah and Prof. Simcha Goldin, the parents of fallen soldier Lt. Hadar Goldin , will join an IDF delegation led by Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot that will participate in the March of the Living in Poland Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Their son was killed during the 2014 Operation Protective Edge in Gaza and his body was captured by Hamas , which has since refused to return it to his family. At the end of the annual march, in which participants silently make their way from Auschwitz to Birkenau, a memorial service will be held at the extermination camp, where Goldin's parents will read out a letter their son wrote to them when he visited the Nazi camp on a trip before joining the army. Lt. Hadar Goldin Israeli and Jewish teenagers from all over the world arrive in Poland every year as part of an educational program to visit the Nazi concentration and extermination camps, Jewish ghettos and other notable sites to learn about the Holocaust. In his emotional letter during his own trip, the young Hadar told his parents that after having witnessed the horrors perpetrated by the Nazis during the Holocaust, he realized that he must give of himself to the State of Israel and do "above and beyond." "Mom and Dad, I'm sitting in the corner of a train car in Poland. I don't know how many children like me, and people similar and different to me, were transported in this carbut they were all Jews. Ripped away from their homes and their families, from their parents and children, without knowing where they were being sent or where they were going. But I want to tell you that thanks to you, I know where I'm going," he wrote. Prof. Simcha and Dr. Leah Goldin, Hadar's parents (Photo: Motti Kimchi) "I'm going to the State of Israel. My country and ours. And I understand, thanks to you, what my country gives me, but mostly what I need to give of myself to the country. And when I look inwards, I know I have the strength to give above and beyond: Whether it's to represent my country and ours abroad, in Charleston and in Cambridge, at school and as part of the community. "To be honorable, respectable, and clever. To be good where others are not! To be a decent human being, as you always say. With friends, at school, to succeed and be the best I can possibly be. To represent and defend my country in the IDF with a rifle, and before and after the army with a different kind of weapon. And always with the tools you've given me," he went on to write. "Mom and dad, I wanted to say thank you. Dad, thank you for building me up and helping me building myself up, and for your constant guidance, wisdom and teaching. Mom! Thank you because, every time I lose something, myself, you help me find it by picking me up, helping me rise instead of fall. For your constant care, your ceaseless support and your endless prayers. Thank you for constantly learning from you two. "Everything I see here in Poland takes me back to you, to my grandmothers, to Tzur and Ayelet and Chemi (his siblings), and the thought that leaves its mark in me is that I, and Tzur, and all of us, are the walking triumph of the Jewish people. This is a grand mission that I am willing to take upon myself. This is probably because, from the moment I was born, you've instilled this mission in me. This is thanks to you," he wrote. Hadar Goldin's letter to his parents "When Hadar wrote this letter, in a train car at the Auschwitz extermination camp, he knew, unlike the children who died in the Holocaust, that the Jewish people have a country that can defend itself, by itself," Goldin's parents said. "His insights were the result of the education that we, his parents, the children of Holocaust survivors, gave him. Even then, Hadar knew exactly what his country did for him and what he needed to do for his country. "In hindsight, we know that Hadar did indeed give it his all, as he promised he would. After almost three years in which Hadar has been held by Hamas in Gaza, we are disappointed every day anew to see this state, which rose from the ashes, fail to keep the values of the IDF and its promise to its soldiers to bring them back from the battlefield ," the parents added. Leah Goldin, the mother of fallen soldier Lt. Hadar Goldin, laid into the government on Wednesday afternoon during a Knesset meeting on State Comptroller Yosef Shapira's Operation Protective Edge report. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Holding back the tears, Leah told those present, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that My son has gone from being a heroic fighter to a debt of a body (that the state needs to pay). Shame on you all. Leah Goldin (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg) Tensions mounted when she accused the prime minister of turning "us into an enemy of the people, prompting Likud MK Miki Zohar to intervene. "It's not ok what you are saying and it is an exaggeration." Turning to Zohar, Mrs. Goldin said: "You don't answer. Don't answer! I wasn't asking you. I don't even know your name. You insolent man. Be quiet! she shouted as she threw a cup of water at him. It was not the first time Zohar and other Likud MKs had been admonished by family members who had suffered the loss of their children in Protective Edge. A father of an IDF soldier killed in the operation launched into a verbal tirade against Likud members almost immediately after the talks got underway. Illan Sagi: 'I paid with my son's life.' (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg) Addressing one of the central contentions of Shapiras report that the cabinet was not sufficiently updated on the tunnel threat, committee Chairwoman MK Karin Elharar (Yesh Atid) began the discussion by asking Netanyahu about the extent to which the cabinet was involved in the decision-making process during the 2014 Gaza incursion. Much to the outrage of MK Yoav Kisch (Likud) and Zohar, the two immediately jumped to the prime ministers defense, insisting that the prevalence of leaks compelled Netanyahu to conceal paramount information from the porous cabinet. If there were no leaks, things would have been shared with the cabinet, the two shouted, setting the tone for much of the dialogue that then ensued, as Illan Sagi, a bereaved father, told them to respect us and sit quietly. Illans son, Staff Sergeant Erez Sagi, was killed in a battle in Nahal Oz after Hamas terrorists penetrated an IDF outpost via its tunnel network. But tensions quickly mounted as Illan Sagis appeals to restore some semblance of order to the discussions escalated into a bitter diatribe as he vented his frustration at his sons death. PM Netanyahu and Yosef Shapira (R) (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg) I paid the price of my son. Where were you all during the war when my son was killed in a tunnel? he yelled. Turning to MK Jamal Zakhalka (Joint List), an astonished Sagi said: What are you doing here anyway? How did they let you in here? Go on the hunger strike with Barghouti!, he screamed in reference to a current hunger strike being led by Marwan Barghouti, a convicted Palestinian murderer and terrorist. Shortly after, Sagi recalled an incident in which he said he stood outside the prime minister's office holding a sign when Coalition Chairman David Bitan approached him and said "It won't help you," a charge which gave rise to a heated exchange between the two. "You liar. I never spoke to you," Bitan retorted. Sagi (L) and Bitan (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg) One of the fundamental conclusions drawn in the comptrollers report was that Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon and former IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz failed to update Security Cabinet ministers about the threat posed by Hamas's border-crossing tunnels, leaving Israel inadequately prepared to deal with this threat. (Translated and edited by Alexander J. Apfel) A Palestinian driver rammed into a 70-year-old Israeli pedestrian at the Gush Etzion Junction on Wednesday afternoon, lightly-to-moderately wounding him. IDF troops who were at the scene shot and killed the terrorist. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter A bus had been letting off passengers at the northern hitchhiker post of the Gush Etzion junction when a vehicle hit one of the passengers who was getting off the bus. The terrorist was identified as Suheib Mashahra, 21, from the village of Sawahra, east of Jerusalem. A knife in the terrorist's car MDA paramedics treated the wounded man on scene and later evacuated him to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in the capital. "A man of about 70 was lying on the ground at the bus station conscious and confused. Civilians told us that he was hit by a vehicle while standing behind the bus," MDA emergency medic Shmuel Daniel said. (Photo: Matti Blomberg/TPS) Shlomo Ne'eman, head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council, decried the attack, saying this was "another event that demonstrates the desire of terrorism to subdue us, but they must understand that it only strengthens us. "I wish a quick recovery to the wounded and call on the government to strengthen the settlements and promote construction with all its might. When they shed our blood, every hate monger must know that the result will be many more houses and settlers throughout the Land of Israel." (Photo: Matti Blomberg/TPS) Ne'eman praised the Israel security forces, saying "We thank the IDF and praise the soldiers who acted with determination and neutralized the terrorist." (Photo: Matti Blomberg/TPS) On Friday, British citizen Hannah Bladon was killed in a stabbing attack during a light rail ride in Jerusalem's Tzahal Square, when the terrorist Jamil Tamimi from Ras al-Amud boarded the train with a knife and stabbed the student. (Translated and edited by N. Elias) The International Court of Justice has rejected Ukraine's request for measures aimed at blocking Russian support for rebels in eastern Ukraine, but imposed measures to rein in discrimination by Moscow against ethnic Tatars and other minorities in Crimea. The UN court also said Wednesday that it expects both Moscow and Kiev to work to implement the Minsk agreements that were designed to bring peace to conflict-ravaged eastern Ukraine. At hearings last month, Ukraine accused Russia of sponsoring terrorism by providing funds and weapons to rebels in Ukraine and of discriminating against Tatars and others in Crimea. Lawyers for Russia rejected the allegations. Wednesday's ruling was preliminary decision aimed at preserving Ukraine's rights while the full case makes its way through the court, a process likely to take years. WASHINGTONUS President Donald Trump will host Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Washington on May 3, the White House said on Wednesday. "They will use the visit to reaffirm the commitment of both the United States and Palestinian leadership to pursuing and ultimately concluding a conflict-ending settlement between the Palestinians and Israel," White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters. A senior IDF officer reported that Russia has overtaken Irans dominant position in Syria. He added to say that Israel request the UN to redistribute peace-keeping forces in the Syrian controlled part of the Goaln Heights, promising to guarantee the forces safety. Finally, the IDF officer revealed that the Idlib chemical attack was carried out by an order of senior officers in the regime and possibly with Assads full knowledge who, according to Israel intelligence, still in the possession of several tons of chemical weapons. A senior IDF officer asserted on Wednesday that the recent sarin gas attack against civilians in Syria was carried out on the orders of senior officers in the regime Syrian President Bashar Assad. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The official based these remarks on the Israeli intelligence on the attack, adding that Iran had lost its hegemony in Syria, which was replaced by Russian hegemony. Aftermath of Sarin gas attack in Syria X He also spoke about developments taking place in Syria over the last few months, according to which Assad has gained confidence after taking back control of territories in the western part of the country. Among other things, this emboldened Assad to fire anti-aircraft missiles at Israel in a failed attempt to intercept IAF planes that attacked an advanced weapon shipment destined for Hezbollah. The IDF official noted that the IDF's policy of preventing weapons smuggling from Syria to Hezbollah would continue despite the anti-aircraft incident. However, he said, Israel would not respond to the sarin gas attack. "Our utilitarian position is that where the superpowers are taking responsibility, we have no reason to jump in, but to present an intelligence picture and to continue humanitarian aid to the injured in the Golan," he said. In the past, Assad had 1,200 tons of chemical warfare material installed unto rockets, most of which were destroyed, leaving only a few tons. "The sarin attack shows Assad's frustration and distress, and the fact that there is no desire to undertake ground maneuvers in Syria, not by Hezbollah, Russia or the Iranians," the official noted. "I can't really see how matters will be settled in Syria, a possible solution could be the establishment of a federation or confederation on an ethnic basis as it was in the Balkans." According to the official, the coordination mechanism the IDF created with Russia was also adopted by other countries operating in Syria, such as Turkey and the United States. The mechanism also includes reciprocal visits to Jerusalem and Moscow, once every two months, by the heads of the Operations Directorate in both armies. According to the officer, the Americans briefed IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot and the military secretary of the prime minister, Brig. Col. Eliezer Toledano, two hours before the attack on Assad's army. Anxiety and posttrauma are conditions that afflict a large number of people in Israeli society, including quite a few children and adolescents, and many fail to get rid of the symptoms long after the event that caused them. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter A study from 2012 found that in Sderot, half of the high school students suffer from post-trauma caused by Qassam rockets, and another study from 2014 that examined anxiety victims who were taken to Soroka Medical Center for treatment during Operation Pillar of Defense revealed that half of them continued to suffer from anxiety symptoms (such as impaired concentration, sleep and mood swings) eight months after treatment. Additionally, at a Knesset hearing one year ago, Bela Ben Gershon, who is in charge of emergency preparedness for mental health at the Ministry of Health, said that the ministry is not prepared to provide mental health care to victims of anxiety in the event of a general war. As all anxiety victims actually seek out treatment, the reality on the ground may be much more serious than even currently assessed. L to R: Vardi, Zimmerman, Hacohen (Photo: Orel Cohen) ReachMore, founded six months ago with the vision to develop an application that provides treatment for trauma victims, tries to address these issues with their new product, an application that offers mental support to people suffering from trauma-induced anxiety. Instead of a psychologist, the treatment will be given by a completely automatic therapist-simulating system, "without human contact" that will be able to reach large audiences in real time. The goal is to offer assistance in dealing with the traumatic event immediately upon exposure to it and during the first month following it, to reduce the chance of victims entering posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Bringing about cognitive change The app is based on a study by psychologist Dr. Jacob Zimmerman, one of the company's four founding partners. Zimmerman took a look at the effectiveness of automated online therapy for anxiety disorder that relied on a cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) protocol. His study showed that such online treatment were able to achieve similar and even better results when compared with traditional, face-to-face psychological treatment. The unique advantage of automated online therapy programs is that the patient follows the treatment plan at home and according to their own pace, and that they can review previous stages and information they have learned along the program whenever they choose. One of the main disadvantages to such automated protocols is that without a therapist there is no person to notice the patient's body language and responses to the treatment, nor can the program adjust its course accordingly. The app mainly treats anxiety through techniques that work to induce cognitive change. The app teaches techniques of sedation, such as breathing or muscle relaxation exercises, and offers a therapeutic program according to the answers the user selects. A past in combat, a future in posttraumatic healing In addition to Zimmerman, who is a mental health professional, the company's founders include Vardi, a former sales manager at Cisco Israel and Amsterdam, who founded the Caring car rental venture and served as a combat soldier and commander in the Sayeret Matkal elite commando unit; Uri Hacohen, another former Sayeret Matkal alum and CEO of the BDO company, which assists small and medium businesses on behalf of the Ministry of Economy; and Yonatan Goffman, VP of Technologies, a former F-15 pilot who has a Bachelor's and Master's degree in computer science from the Technion Institute of Technology. Reachmore is hoping to get to a point where they can offer each client a personal program that develops automatically, in accordance to their reactions to treatment. "We'll be able to reach you mainly through the authorities," explains Gidi Vardi, the company's CEO. "The easiest way for that to happen will be for you to get a text message that says: an incident took place near your locationdownload the app here. After downloading the application, it will explain in a very clear and gradual manner the treatment process, which will last for 30 days." There are currently several tools available on the local market for self-help through an application and without the direct involvement of a therapist, offering treatment for such ailments as phobias and social anxieties, though not for those dealing with a traumatic event. The US goverment runs a similar program to support veterans, though it is intended to treat people with full-blown PTSD. To what extent is post-trauma an Israeli disorder? "It's a global problem. In the United States, there are 107 disasters, including natural disasters and terror incidents that are declared by the federal government as a disaster, every year. That comes out to one trauma event every three days. Israel is considered very central in dealing with trauma, since we are saturated with difficult events. There's a lot of knowledge here and a lot of people who have researched and studied the issue, and so we use a lot of knowledge." What is your business model? "Towns and governments fund treatments post difficult events. We are selling the license to the app, making it available for it to exist for a municipality or government, plus an additional payment for (personaled). We also tailor the application for specific eventsdealing with a fire isn't the same as dealing with a terrorist attack." What is your social added value? "The added social value here is reaching a lot more people, and we estimate we can reach 1,000 times more people following an event ... After the attack in Sarona, 80 people called the hot line. This is nothing compared to the number of people who suffered and still suffer from this event because they haven't received the right treatment. "With the help of our tool," promises Vardi, "We can reach 80,000 people after such an event." (Translated and edited by Gahl Becker) Welfare and Social Services Minister Haim Katz, former chairman of the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) workers' committee, may soon be summoned for questioning in light of the increasing evidence regarding irregularities in the number of IAI employees joining the Likud faction. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Thus far, the police have investigated a number of workers in the industry and arrested several of them, among them Katz's son, Yair and his close associate Eli Cohen. The investigators suspect that in return for the benefits received by senior executives, a company from the north has facilitated and performed work for IAI, contrary to procedures and with a clear advantage over other companies. Haim Katz (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky) According to the investigators, the company has received rolling orders: each time the payment for an order ran out, another order would be issued for it. One of the suspects is the member of the Likud Central Committee and a member of the Histadrut party. The police are reportedly looking to find incriminating evidence on Minister Katz. According to the testimonies gathered, it appears that Katz's investigation will focus on the functions of workers in the Likud party during the period when he was chairman of the committee. According to the testimonies, IAI employees were forced to support the chairman and his faction in return for advancing and improving their status in the company. Sources close to Minister Katz expressed anger at what they described as "a well orchestrated campaign of slander in the media in an attempt to harm Minister Katz's name and his many years of public service. The minister is not afraid and will deal with the investigation, if and when he is summoned." (Translated and edited by N. Elias) Americans may fight over how to interpret the Constitution, but nearly all embrace our nations founding document. Yet, we rarely consider the threat foreseen by its in authors in growing economic inequality. Founders feared it would undermine the democratic republic that our Constitution established. It would be fitting to consider that threat as we make policy today. It suggests caution on Gov. Pete Ricketts proposal to focus tax cuts on the highest income Nebraskans. His proposal is incorporated in the Revenue Committee tax bill (LB 461) now before the full Legislature. The book Crisis of the Middle-Class Constitution" by Ganesh Sitaraman, explored the founders concern. John Adams, our second president, didnt mince words. He said the balance of power accompanies the balance of property. Key founders argued that our democratic republic could work only because America had avoided extreme inequality. They saw in America uniquely fertile conditions for democratic government. Put simply, most Americans were middle class. Unlike most other nations, 18th century America had neither extreme wealth nor widespread poverty. James Madison, the lead author of the Constitution, foresaw that changing centuries hence. And when it did, wrote Madison, our system of government would need to be adapted. To forestall that day, Thomas Jefferson aggressively promoted graduated taxes and other measures to prevent extreme inequality. In contrast, Governor Ricketts promotes helping those on top increase their share. The Legislation incorporating his proposal grants three-fourths of tax cuts to the top 20 percent, according to the nonpartisan Open Sky Institute. That weakens our state and our system of government. It is particularly unfair to families whose earnings have not kept pace. They are already paying more than their share of taxes. The bottom 80 percent of Nebraskans pay 9 to 11 percent of income in state and local taxes. The top 20 percent pay less just 8 percent. The top one percent pays least just over 6 percent. That is all according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Worsening that disparity is no way to sustain a strong middle class or a democratic republic. It would add to damage already inflicted on middle class workers by the widening gap in earnings. Theyve been losing ground for decades. In 2015, the average CEO of a top 350 corporation made 276 times the average employee. That is up from just 20 times in 1965, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Thats a 1,400 percent increase. The 400 richest Americans now have more wealth than the bottom 60 percent of us. The top 400 have more than 190 million Americans combined, including the heart of the middle class. The governors proposal would widen the gap. It would ladle out tax cuts to the winners and stiff working families laid low by falling earnings. It would weaken our state by weakening our democracy. And it would squander funds needed for higher priorities. If it passes, there wont be money for significant payroll tax relief for working families. We wont have funds for meaningful property tax relief for middle class farmers and home owners. We wont have funds to invest in preparing children from struggling families to succeed as students and adults. If we dont help them join the middle class, we dont help them build our state and strengthen our democracy. If we pass the governors plan, we wont have funds to help Nebraskans start small businesses. The governor offers tax breaks if and when they make it, instead of help when they need it. Most Nebraskans do not resent the success of higher income taxpayers. They are valued neighbors and community members. Many have contributed to building and improving our state. But we cannot make America strong without a strong middle class. We cannot make Nebraska strong without genuine opportunity for every one of our neighbors. And we cannot sustain a democratic republic that offers political equality, amidst extreme economic inequality. We need tax and economic policy that widens opportunity, rather than concentrates wealth. The founders of our nation and constitution understood that. It is up to us to act on it. After a delay of about a month, the tiny Israeli Duchifat 2 satellite was launched Wednesday evening from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The satellite, a project of the Israeli Space Agency in the Ministry of Science and the Herzliya Municipality, was launched on the Atlas 5 launcher to the International Space Station. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Satellite launch (: Google earth) X The satellite was carrying a swarm of 28 tiny satellites from around the world in order to map the atmosphere, a mapping that will help in transmitting GPS signals. Duchifat 2 is the only high school student satellite to be launched in this project, while the rest of the satellites were built by college students and researchers from around the world. The rocket was launched at 06:11pm from Florida. About 20 minutes later, the spacecraft disengaged from the launcher. At the space station, the satellites will be transferred to the Japanese section and in a month and a half they will be released into space by a special robot arm operated by the astronauts. NASA's launch site said the Israeli satellite was among the dozens of satellites that were launched into space today. Duchifat 2 is the second tiny satellite developed by Israeli students weighing only 1.8 kg. Duchifat 1, which was developed by students from the Science Center in Herzliya and launched in June 2014 is still active in space beyond the original estimate. Of the 50 groups in the world that have started working on satellites, only 28 have passed NASA's rigorous tests, including the Israeli group. More than 80 students from Ofakim, Yeruham, Ofra, Hura and Herzliya had been working on the development of Duchifat 2 in the last two years. The students worked in ten teams and had a clean room, an electronics laboratory and a ground station for communications with satellites at their disposal. Duchifat 2 (Photo: Roi Greenberg) Each team was responsible for a different field such as technical specifications, operating system programming, satellite data decoding, control, system engineering, and more. The students were accompanied by engineers from academia and from the Space Division in the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). The satellite successfully passed the tests carried out in IAI's clean room. The data received from the satellite will be transferred to the ground station at the Herzliya Science Center, to be interpreted by the students. A year later, the satellites are expected to fly, flare, and decompose in the atmosphere, 90 kilometers above earth. Minister of Science Ophir Akunis said before the launch: "Duchifat 2 is not only an educational project that brings youth closer to space, paving the way to the future, but also an international research project. This is Israeli pride in Israel's future generation and an opportunity to increase public awareness in the field of space." (Translated and edited by N. Elias) One of the many programs that Im tremendously proud of is our Career and Technical Education program at York High School. In the past five years we have revamped our Career and Technical curriculum and course offerings and I believe we have one of the most comprehensive programs in the state of Nebraska. In 2014 York High School partnered with Centennial and Seward public schools and launched an Agronomy Academy with Monsanto, Pioneer, Mycogen, and Syngenta. Students in the Agronomy Academy meet on site at the production facilities four days a week to learn agronomy concepts as well as gain exposure to the numerous careers available with some of the leading seed companies in the world. Another program we are tremendously proud of is our partnership with the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture. York High School students have the ability to choose from a robust curriculum of offerings and are able to acquire a work-based job certification in chemical application and diversified agriculture. In the next two years, York High School is expecting to have 12 students graduate high school with these work certifications. York High School has also developed some valuable business/community partnerships that are giving several students hands-on experiences. Currently we have partnerships with York General Hospital, Truck Center Companies and UTC Aerospace Systems. Students in the Truck Center Companies internship have the opportunity to be part of a 12 week, diesel technology internship. During this time students focus on 15 vital objectives to the diesel technology career field. Many students who have completed this program have transitioned into a diesel technology program or have been hired by Truck Center Companies. Currently, York High School is one of the largest participants in the Southeast Nebraska Career Academy Partnership through Southeast Community College. York High School students have the opportunity to be part of five career academies Agriculture, Business, Health Sciences, Information Technology and Manufacturing Welding. In the 2017-18 school year we will add Education and Criminal Justice. These academies have allowed our students to learn key career-readiness skills, have prepared students for immediate employment with enhanced skills, and have allowed students to earn college credit. York High School has a tremendous Career and Technical Education program. York High Students are given valuable opportunities to gain hands-on experiences in many different career fields. We are very proud of the progress we have made and will continue to look for ways to give our students the skills needed to be successful in the 21st century classroom and workforce. FAIRMONT The Family Market on the main street of Fairmont is at risk to close but not if a committee of local go-getters can find a way to keep it open. The store was purchased six years ago by Tammy Thompson as an added location to the grocery she already owned in Kenesaw. That store, she said, is also on the market. We are moving from Kenesaw, she explained Tuesday by telephone, and are thus looking to get out of the business entirely. Minimum order requirements by grocery warehouses led her to purchase the Fairmont store in the beginning. Despite the 120-mile round trip to take merchandise from Kenesaw to Fairmont, she said, With the two stores is has been much, much better in making the required dollar volume for the wholesaler to send a truck. Absent a firm buyer by the first of May, Thompson said she will begin the process of selling down the inventory in anticipation of auctioning fixtures and equipment later this summer. Her goal is to be out of the Fairmont location by the end of July whether by sale as a going business or, if forced to, through liquidation. I have really enjoyed the Fairmont people, she said, and the people who work for me (there) are great people. The store has a staff of four including manager Janet Zuhlke. Soon after learning of Thompsons plan to divest herself of both stores last fall the local SOS (Save Our Store) Committee was formed. Its one and only mission: Find a way to keep the Family Market open. Derek Betka, Sheila Lauby, Rhonda Veleba and Village Clerk Linda Carroll of that committee sat on the bench in front of the business Monday to discuss the situation. Other members of the committee include Aaron and Jodi Fintel and also Pat Lentfer, Fillmore Co Economic Development director. What needs to happen and soon given Thompsons plan to initiate first stages of the liquidation process at the first of next month is for the store to be sold as a going concern. That, of course, would make closure unnecessary for Thompson and breathe new life into what residents fully realize is a key community asset. Committee meetings were convened with public information meetings offered, too. One of those attracted some 60 people. The committee invited leaders from Henderson to explain how that community put together a group of investors to buy its grocery store and keep the lights on. Norm Yoder, retired Heartland superintendent of schools, was one of the key cogs of that successful project who brought what advice and information he could to Fairmont residents. Uticas store was also purchased by locals there and relocated to a new building at the edge of downtown. Inventory for Utica is purchased through arrangement with a store in Seward. A good bit of the footwork is done for a prospective buyer, from community survey results to a fresh energy analysis and more. Early on in the committees work, Carroll contacted Jim Crandall of Cooperative Business Development Specialists and UNL. He has since signed on as consultant and advisor to the community. Crandall offered a big-picture overview on Fairmonts initiative from his knowledge and experience working with many other towns in similar circumstances. There are several small towns in Nebraska who have seen their grocery stores close due to a number of reasons, he said. Most of the time it is lack of family to carry on as aging owners near retirement. Some instances of medical issues with owners not able to continue or other circumstances. A few places where stores closed from lack of customers patronizing the store and yet often times those stores were not meeting the needs of the community in a variety of ways from hours open, selection, lack of fresh produce or meats, etc. My experience has been that we are seeing struggles with store closures in towns under 1200-1500. On the other end of the spectrum, low population towns struggle with enough buying capacity to support a store. He said 350-400 seems to be the minimum size unless they are in a very, very rural area. As towns lose their stores or see owners wanting to change ownership, communities first look for local solutions. Is there a family who will own the store, is there a larger grocery nearby that would put a branch store in our town? Corporate stores will not enter communities that small, Crandall said. Sometimes communities find themselves in a situation where they consider some kind of community or small group ownership. That could be in a cooperative of community members who have purchased shares in the business to capitalize the costs of buildings, inventory and staffing. I have cooperatively owned grocery stores with 160-plus members, another has about 110 owners. Each owner invested money in the coop by purchasing one or more shares, he explained. I have an LLC in one community with about 80 shareholders. Another LLC has 20 and each shareholder put in fairly large amounts of money. So there are a variety of approaches, but the general approach is to spread the risk over many people, share the talents of many people, elect a board of directors from the membership to oversee the business and then hope that everyone spends more of their grocery dollars at home. Fairmonts movers and shakers would, of course, choose as their first choice an individual or perhaps a family to buy, own and operate the business. The investor group strategy is also very much in play at Fairmont, however the problem there is exacerbated by the time window: More investors are needed and they are needed now. It would be nice, said Betka, if somebody comes in and buys it. If that doesnt happen, however, the committee is tapping any resource it can find Crandall for one to find out what options remain. Things are going on in Fairmont, said Carroll. Young couples are moving back to town. They are leaders and they are active, she said, adding her opinion that those new folks be brought onto the village board. When the population of 560 as noted on the signs at either end of town on Hwy 6 was mentioned, Carroll was quick to laugh and hold up one finger. Five-hundred-sixty-one, she insisted. Remarkably a few minutes after her comment, as though silently summoned, a newborn and its mother strolled past. Pointing toward the stroller, Thats the one (in 561) right there Carroll said with a big smile. Fairmont is making a comeback, said Lauby, citing the citys annexation of the Caseys location alongside Hwy 81 just outside town. That was done at the request of Caseys management and is proving beneficial to both the village and the company. The age old adage that losing its grocery store or school is hard for small communities to overcome may be true, But we still have our school, Lauby said, referring to Fillmore Central Middle School. It still brings 200 people into this town every day. The railroad plays a role in local commerce. Its the same for the ethanol plant nearby and Betka spoke of a wind turbine project in Fairmonts future, too. With a chuckle, Carroll related how the late Gene Fischer, a longtime resident, village board member and unabashed Fairmont booster, was known to declare his favorite town to be, The perfect location for planes (the nearby Fairmont Air Field of WWII vintage is still in use by private aircraft), trains (the tracks split the town through the middle) and automobiles (for the high volume of traffic on Hwy 81 at the west edge of town). Theres potential here for a viable business, Lauby said, we just need the right person. The right person with the right drive, added Betka. Anyone wishing to obtain more information about a possible purchase of the store or how to go about becoming an investor is encouraged to contact Veleba or Lauby by email at: rhondav@yorkchamber.org or sheila.lauby@fillmorecentral.org. YORK The first of four expected arraignments in District Court has been set in a case involving an alleged methamphetamine manufacturing place on East Ninth Street in York. On March 30, the York Police Department obtained a search warrant for the residence in question and was assisted by the York County Sheriffs Department and the Nebraska State Patrol. The intent of the warrant, according to investigators, was to search for drugs, narcotics and evidence of reported meth making. When they served the warrant, they said they intercepted Travis Ziegler, 34, leaving the house. They learned that Ziegler had been living there and he was detained. During the search, according to court documents, they allegedly found a cold pack opened and ammonium nitrate removed. They also found in the garage: a can of camping fuel with another white gas, empty lithium battery packages, bottles of muriatic acid and a five-gallon bucket of ammonia which was believed to be a byproduct of manufacturing methamphetamine. They also allege that in the room where Ziegler had been sleeping, they found a used syringe, a metal spoon with methamphetamine on it, a coffee filter with methamphetamine on it and additional unused syringes. In the kitchen, they allegedly found a coffee grinder they believed to be used to grind pseudoephedrine. In other rooms, they allegedly found jars used in the shake and bake method, pipes and syringes. And in an outside garbage tote, they allegedly found a variety of items believed to be used to make methamphetamine. Zieglers case has been bound over to District Court where he faces charges of delivery/manufacturing of an exceptionally hazardous drug, a Class 2 felony; possession of ephedrine with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine, a Class 4 felony; and possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 felony. If convicted, he could be facing a possible maximum sentence of 54 years in prison. Also charged in the case were Simon Sweeney, 36; Echo Sweeney, 30; and Allen Wilcox, 20. Court proceedings for the three have not yet been bound over to District Court. YORK A case involving drug possession has been bound over to District Court and arraignment proceedings are pending for two people from Eustis. Charged are Kimberly I. Sprau, 42, and Donnie Sprau, 47. Both have been formally charged with Class 4 felonies, which carry a possible maximum sentence of two years in prison and post-release supervision, upon conviction. According to court documents, a trooper with the Nebraska State Patrol saw an eastbound vehicle, in York County, on Interstate 80, which had expired license plates. A traffic stop was initiated and the trooper alleges that he could smell the odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle. Donnie Sprau was the driver and Kimberly Sprau was the passenger. A probable cause search was conducted. Troopers allege that they found two methamphetamine pipes with residue in a backpack and two more in the front console. They said they also allegedly found 30 grams of marijuana and two marijuana pipes in the vehicle. It was also discovered that there was a full extradition warrant issued for Donnie Sprau in Iowa. This has been a long time in the making, but in our continuing pursuit to bring only the best of firearms, 2nd Amendment and defence related news to our readers, we are very excited to announce the next step in our evolution as a company. As of 2020, Minuteman Review is now the proud owner and operator of Your Defence News, a website with a long history of breaking huge news stories and investigative journalism. We hope you are equally as excited as us. This means that now the teams of Minuteman can combine with the firepower of Your Defence News to stay at the absolute forefront for our readers. Keep an eye. Big things are coming soon. We couldn't be more excited. In the meanwhile, here are some of our most popular posts and categories to keep you busy. Happy shootin' my friends! Buying Guides: Firearms Firearm Accessories Ammunition Gun Safes Scopes & Optics Hunting Air Rifles Best AR-15 Best AR 15 Scope Best Hunting Rifle Best Gun Safe Best AK 47 Best AR 10 Best Glock Triggers Best Glock Best Home Defense Shotgun Sen. Deb Fischer said Wednesday that the United States needs to try to "build a partnership with China" in an attempt to address North Korea's nuclear arms threat and rein in its aggressive neighbor. While all options are on the table just as Vice President Mike Pence declared during his recent trip to South Korea, a working relationship with China may be the best means to confront that challenge, Fischer said. "I feel pretty hopeful" that President Donald Trump may be able to do that after what appeared to be a successful meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida earlier this month, Fischer said. "China has a vested interest in North Korea not becoming more belligerent," she said. Fischer, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee's strategic forces subcommittee, said even missile launching tests that fail -- as a North Korean test did last weekend -- bring that nation closer to the day when it may be able to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile that could deliver a nuclear weapon to a U.S. target. "It's not really failure when they are learning something," she said. Progress made through continued testing, whether it's an ICBM or an intermediate missile, "makes the world less safe," she said. Fischer, in Lincoln for a series of meetings, sat down for a brief interview following a noon gathering at the Nebraska Club. President Barack Obama "understood the dangers" posed by North Korea and provided incoming Trump administration officials with valuable briefings to prepare them, Fischer said. "It's a flash point," she said. Turning to another global hot spot, Fischer said Syria is "such a complex situation" that it defies any easy answers. That volatile mixture includes Iranians, Russians, jihadists, Americans and Syrian civil war participants. Fischer recalled a private meeting over spaghetti around the pool at Vice President Joe Biden's residence in 2013 with a couple of other senators that President Barack Obama unexpectedly attended for about an hour. "They were trying to make a case" about U.S. strategy, she said, "but they couldn't make (their end game) clear." Obama's much-discussed "red line" threat about a U.S. response to any Syrian use of chemical weapons against its own people was a big mistake, Fischer said. The president subsequently took no retaliatory action when that occurred and then invited Russia onto the scene by allowing it to enter the Syrian arena with a brokered destruction of chemical weapons, she said. "But we're here now," Fischer said, "and I want to hear from this president now." Fischer said she supported Trump's retaliatory strike on a Syrian airfield for the government's use of chemical weapons against its own people and awaits further decisions by the president. "If that would involve thousands of U.S. troops, Congress should be involved," she said. Australia has retained its top-ten ranking for the seventh consecutive year in A.T. Kearneys Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index. Australia was ranked 9th in the 2017 edition of the index. According to A.T. Kearney, a global management consulting firm, the index is a forward-looking analysis of how political, economic, and regulatory changes will likely affect FDI inflows into countries in the coming years. The index is built using primary data from a proprietary survey administered to senior executives of the worlds leading corporations. Respondents include C-level execs and regional business leads. All companies participating in the survey have annual revenues of $500m or more. Since its introduction in 1998, the index has reliably pointed toward firms top choices globally for FDI, with the countries ranked in the index reliably tracking closely with the destinations for the actual global FDI inflows. In this years survey, 35% of respondents said they were optimistic about Australias economic outlook, compared to 32% in 2016. Investors from Asia are among the most optimistic and rank the country third among the most attractive investment destinations. Investors from the IT sector demonstrate the greatest interest in Australia. Relative to the rest of the world, Australia has seen unprecedented growth and stability. While there is broad and healthy acknowledgement that we need new answers going forward to sustain our economic growth, the fact that international investors remain interested in Australia is good news, said Nigel Andrade, partner and head of Australia at A.T. Kearney. Australias [generally secure] environment and the efficiency of its legal and regulatory processes are strong attractions for foreign investors. The results of this years Index show that these two aspects are the top factors that global investors look at when making a decision about their investment destination. The United States topped the index this year, holding onto its first-place position for the fifth year in a row. Germany jumped two spots to second, and the United Kingdom and Canada were also ranked among the top five. Related stories: CoreLogic: Capital Gains Performance Lower This Decade Sydney Real Estate Is Cheap, And There Is No Property Bubble Our directory features more than 18 million business listings from across the entire US. However, if we're missing your business, add your business by clicking on Add Your Business. The president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota says his recent arrest during a protest against alcohol sales in Whiteclay won't deter him from voicing his disapproval of the possibility of allowing alcohol on the dry Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Tokyo: U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Wednesday that Washington would work with its allies and China to put economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea but added that America would defeat any attack with an "overwhelming response". Pence arrived in Tokyo on Tuesday from South Korea and reassured Japan of U.S. commitment to reining in North Korea`s nuclear and missile ambitions in a series of meetings with Japanese leaders, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Speaking aboard the USS Ronald Reagan, a Nimitz class aircraft carrier currently undergoing scheduled maintenance at its home port of Yokosuka, Pence said U.S. intentions remained unwavering in the face of the threat posed by the reclusive North, which has conducted a series of missile and nuclear tests in defiance of U.N. sanctions, most recently with a failed missile launch on Sunday. "Those who would challenge our resolve or readiness should know, we will defeat any attack and beat any use of conventional or nuclear weapons with an overwhelming and effective American response," Pence said to loud applause, reiterating that all options are on the table in dealing with Pyongyang. Pence made his remarks as the White House grappled with controversy over the location of the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier strike group that U.S. President Donald Trump said last week had been sent to near the Korean peninsula as a warning to North Korea, but which headed towards Australia instead. Pence said he had spoken with Trump and by 2020 some 60 percent of the U.S. naval fleet would be in the region and Japan`s role will grow. "The United States will strengthen its presence in the Asia Pacific," he said. "Japan will assume a larger role and responsibility in our alliance in the years ahead." North Korea regularly threatens to destroy Japan, South Korea and the United States and it showed no let-up in its belligerence after the failed missile test on Sunday, a day after putting on a huge display of missiles at a parade in Pyongyang. Pence also said the United States would protect freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea, where Beijing is entangled in territorial rows with several Southeast Asia nations. Pence arrived in Japan after visiting South Korea and leaves for Indonesia later on Wednesday. Jakarta: Jakarta`s Christian governor on Wednesday looked set to lose to a Muslim former government minister in a divisive run-off election that has stoked religious tension in Muslim-majority Indonesia. Anies Baswedan was on 56-57 percent in the race to lead Jakarta compared to 41-43 percent for incumbent Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who is fighting for his job as he stands trial for blasphemy, according to a sample of votes counted by several private pollsters. The vote is seen as a test of whether the moderate Islam traditionally practised in the world`s most populous Muslim country is under threat from hardliners, who have led mass demonstrations against Purnama. Purnama, the city`s first non-Muslim governor for half a century and its first ethnic Chinese leader, won the first round in February but not by a big enough margin to avoid a run-off. The race was already significant as politicians see the job as a stepping stone to the presidency in 2019 polls, but the stakes were raised dramatically by a controversy sparked by claims that Purnama had insulted the Koran. The allegations drew hundreds of thousands of conservative Muslims onto the streets of Jakarta in major protests last year, and led to Purnama -- known by his nickname Ahok -- being put on trial for blasphemy in a case critics see as politically motivated. Opinion polls in the run-up to the vote indicated that the race was neck and neck but in the event, Baswedan appeared on course for a strong victory. The former education minister, who was accused of cosying up to hardliners to win votes from disaffected Muslims during the election campaign, thanked Jakarta`s voters for supporting him. The 47-year-old also hinted that he would move to heal the divisions in the capital, if his victory is confirmed: "We celebrate diversity... We are all ready to work together again." Over 7.2 million people were registered to vote in the polls, which closed at 1:00 pm (0600 GMT).Official results will not be released until early May but the private pollsters are usually accurate. After an anti-Purnama protest last year turned violent, authorities were taking no chances and over 60,000 security forces had been deployed. Hardline groups had pledged to station monitors at polling booths. Police blocked the plan, warning it could cause "intimidation", but groups appeared to be outside some polling centres in defiance of the ban. However there was no sign of unrest and police said the election had run smoothly. Despite Purnama`s first-round victory, Baswedan had been seen as the favourite in the run-off because the votes from a third, Muslim, candidate who was knocked out were expected to go to him. But with tension over the governor`s alleged blasphemy subsiding in recent weeks, Purnama appeared to regain momentum. Purnama`s troubles began in September when he lightheartedly said in a speech that his rivals were tricking people into voting against him by using a Koranic verse, which some interpret as meaning Muslims should only choose Muslim leaders. His long-running blasphemy trial began in December, and the verdict is expected within a few weeks. If he were to have won the vote and then be convicted of blasphemy, he would not automatically be barred from holding office and could avoid jail for a long time by appealing. Many voters still support Purnama due to his record leading Jakarta since 2014. He has won praise for cleaning up once-filthy rivers and creating more green spaces, although his acerbic style has upset some. However many voters were swayed by the blasphemy controversy. "As a Muslim, I will choose according to my faith," Elva Sativia, a 33-year-old housewife, told AFP. Guwahati: In a distressing incident, a youth had to carry the dead body of his relative on a bicycle from hospital to his village due to the lack of a proper road. Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has directed the Directorate of Health Services to rush to Majuli and probe the circumstances. Earlier today, images of the youth carrying the dead body of his relative on a bicycle from a hospital at Garamur area in Majuli to Balijan village on the river island surfaced. The youth told media that he took his ailing relative on his bicycle for admission in the hospital. However, the ailing person breathed his last after reaching the hospital. He said that he was carrying the body to his home as there is no proper road and there are many bamboo bridges on way to his home, making it difficult to take the body in a van. Majuli, the largest river island in Assam, is represented in the state Assembly by Chief Minister Sonowal. The constituency is part of the Lakhimpur Lok Sabha constituency, once represented by the Chief Minister. Sonowal vacated the Lakhimpur constituency in 2016 after becoming state`s Chief Minister. "The patient was brought to the hospital on Tuesday morning by his relative. However, he died while we were preparing to put him on oxygen and start the treatment. We told the relative to wait so that we can organise an ambulance but the relative did not listen and tied the body to his cycle and took it back," said Superintendent of the hospital Manik Mili. (With IANS inputs) Mohit Dubey /IANS Having been cold-shouldered by the previous Samajwadi Party regime, it is now Advantage Varanasi as the new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has put Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s parliamentary constituency back on the front burner. Despite concerted efforts by Modi at the Centre, the city, considered one of the oldest in the world, did not see the promised makeover from Kashi to Kyoto because of the "step-motherly" treatment meted out by the Akhilesh Yadav government. But things are changing now that the BJP is in power in the state. According to officials, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath spends 30 minutes daily to take stock of development projects in Kashi. He has also given oversight of these projects to a two-minister group, and has himself held a review of works initiated in the past two years. Modi, soon after his victory in 2014, had promised to turn Kashi into Kyoto, the Japanese city known for its mix of ancient and modern. But a non-BJP government in the state and the resultant lack of coordination meant that what the Centre proposed, the state disposed. That change is in the air became evident as Adityanath dispatched state Urban Development Minister Suresh Khanna to Varanasi on April 15 to track progress on projects in the city, and said that "if need be", he himself would "assess the situation on the ground". According to one official, the Chief Minister has asked bureaucrats to ensure completion of work on some projects within three months. "At a recent meeting, he observed that work in Varanasi and neighbouring areas was slow in ratio to the funds allocated by the Union government," the official told IANS. The projects rolled out in Varanasi come under various departments, including urban development, power, tourism, public works, housing, and irrigation. There are also some under the Varanasi Development Authority and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). An ambitious roads project to link eight districts to Varanasi has been stuck as compensation was not paid to farmers whose lands were acquired. The Divisional Commissioner of Varanasi has now been asked to ensure distribution of money in Ghazipur, Varanasi and Jaunpur at special compensation camps. The road projects -- Varanasi-Gorakhpur, Varanasi-Lucknow and a ring road -- fall under the NHAI and the Akhilesh Yadav government had done precious little to get things moving, an official contended. Work on under-construction bridges -- expected to ease the city`s chaotic traffic -- is now on a June 30 deadline and Adityanath has asked the Uttar Pradesh Bridge Corporation to ensure adequate workforce is provided. The Public Works Department (PWD) has been sanctioned Rs 90 lakh for completion of an under-construction road overbridge (ROB) at Maduadeeh and for shifting of a sewer line from there. Again, the deadline is June 30. Similarly, those working on the 1,710 metre flyover linking Chaika Ghat to Lahartara have been asked to finsih work by March 2018. Adityanath has also okayed a proposal for a five-km four-lane road between Shivpur-Lahartara (Phulwaria) and a bridge on the Varuna river at Kuniya Ghat. Another project, worth Rs 88 crore, will build dividers on all roads and re-layer surfaces to make them dust free. A Detailed Project Report (DPR) for multi-level parking lots in Kashi has also been sought. These structures will be made by the municipal corporation in the first phase and the PWD in the second phase. The Divisional Commissioner has been authorised to adopt a PPP model for this project. Given the city`s drinking water problem, Adityanath has ordered a probe of works undertaken by the Jal Nigam under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The Nigam had constructed 23 overhead tanks and branch lines without a feeder line to link these. While over Rs 500 crore has already been spent on this project, the people of Varanasi are yet to benefit. Clearly, if the new Chief Minister walks his tough talk, the people of Varanasi may well be lucky enough to see "acche din". New Delhi: The Chhattisgarh government on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that Yogendra Yadav-led Swaraj Abhiyan was shifting its "political battle" to the court in the garb of a petition for probe against Chief Minister Raman Singh in the purchase of an Agusta helicopter for VVIP use. The state government contended that the party, which has recently attained the status of a political party, has directly approached the apex court without lodging an FIR and were trying to give a "political colour" to the plea by making allegations against the Chief Minister. A bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra said it would first hear on August 23 the preliminary objections raised by Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, representing the state, that the petition was not maintainable. Rohatgi said that Swaraj Abhiyan, which is seeking a SIT probe into alleged irregularities in the purchase of an Agusta helicopter for VVIP use by the Chhattisgarh government, should have approached the state police first for registration of an FIR in the matter. "Is it the law that for every criminal offence, you come to the Supreme Court? Why they have not gone to register an FIR and if the FIR was not lodged, they could have approached the trial court with a plea under section 156(3) of the CrPC for direction to the police to register an FIR. They have directly come to the Supreme Court," he said. "Just because they have given a colour to the petition that the Chief Minister is allegedly involved so they have come to the Supreme Court directly," he told the bench, that also comprised Justices A M Khanwilkar and M M Shantanagoudar. The Attorney General argued that Swaraj Abhiyan has now been registered as a political party and was also contesting the MCD elections in Delhi and "they are ultimately shifting the political battle here." Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner, told the bench that the apex court can deal with the matter as the issue whether a political party can file a public interest litigation (PIL) has already been dealt with by the Supreme Court as well as high courts. "There are stark facts in this case which the Attorney General does not want us to go into as the Chief Minister is from the party which is in power in the Centre," he said. Bhushan also argued that the apex court, on a number of occasions, has entertained such writ petitions filed by political parties or personalities. Rohatgi countered the submissions, saying "after so many years, this court has to take a holistic look whether this kind of petition can be entertained directly by the Supreme Court. Why they (petitioner) have not gone to the trial court or the high court? This court is flooded with petitions under Article 32 of the Constitution". The bench said it would deal with preliminary objections raised by the Attorney General "once and for all" and fixed the matter for further hearing on August 23. Swaraj Abhiyan is led by former Aam Aadmi Party members including psephologist Yogendra Yadav, advocate Prashant Bhushan and others. The apex court had on September 23 last year asked the Centre to clarify its stand on the plea which also sought an SIT probe into some foreign bank accounts purportedly linked to the son of Chief Minister Raman Singh. The Centre had earlier contended that they have cancelled all contracts with Agusta Westland after the allegations of irregularities surfaced. The petition has sought an SIT probe into the purchase of a VIP chopper in 2007-08 by the state government. "The actions of the Chhattisgarh government in issuing a pre-decided tender inviting bids for the purchase of specific model of a specific brand of helicopter for VIP movement shows a complete mala fide intention on the part of the respondents to subvert the tendering process and to make sure that a pre-decided seller would be given the contract," the plea has alleged. "The petitioner is also seeking an inquiry into the alleged offshore accounts of Abhishek Singh (son of Raman Singh, Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh) a few months after the alleged scam in the purchase of Agusta helicopter for VIP use," it has claimed. It has also alleged that so far no genuine attempt has been made to investigate this deal. New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said investigative agencies are doing their best to ensure extradition of controversial businessman Vijay Mallya, who was arrested in London yesterday and later released on bail. "I think the government and all the investigating agencies are certainly putting (in) their best efforts because the agencies do believe that an offence has been committed for which the person (Mallya) is required in India," the minister told reporters here. The minister further said Mallya's extradition is part of the "judicial process" in the UK. "It's part of the judicial process in that country and the judicial process functions on certain considerations," he said in response to queries regarding Mallya's extradition. Mallya, who has been declared a proclaimed offender by Indian courts, was arrested in London by the Scotland Yard yesterday on India's request for his extradition on fraud charges. He was, however, released on bail a few hours later on a bail bond worth 6,50,000 pound. He is required to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on May 17. The 61-year-old liquor baron has to face charges in Indian courts in connection with loan default cases. Mallya, whose now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines owes more than Rs 9,000 crore to various banks, had left India on March 2, 2016. The Indian government has since revoked his Indian passport, but he has repeatedly dismissed all charges against him. In January, an Indian court ordered a consortium of lenders to start the process of recovering the loans. India had placed a formal extradition request for Mallya as per the Extradition Treaty between India and the UK through a note verbale on February 8. Earlier in January this year, a CBI court had issued a non-bailable warrant against Mallya in the Rs 720-crore IDBI Bank loan default case. He is the owner of a Formula One team. While handing over the request, India had asserted that it has a "legitimate" case against Mallya and maintained that if an extradition request is honoured, it would show British "sensitivity towards our concerns". Dehradun: A court here has sentenced a city jeweller to two years' rigorous imprisonment for stashing away unaccounted money in the Swiss bank. Chief Judicial Magistrate (economic offences) Vivek Dwiwedi handed the sentence to owner of Punjab Jewellers Raju Verma yesterday after holding him guilty of not showing money stashed away in the Swiss bank in his Income Tax returns. He also slapped a fine of Rs 8 lakh on the jeweller, senior counsel of I-T department S M Jain said. In his order, the CJM said the jeweller deposited Rs 92 lakh in the Swiss Bank in 1996 but did not show it in his ITR files. The vigilance cell of the Income Tax department had detected the fraud during raids conducted at the jewellery outlet in year 2012, the IT department senior lawyer said. Sixteen cases were lodged against Verma and court proceedings initiated against him in 2015. The trial was completed in a record two years time and quantum of sentence pronounced, the senior counsel claimed. It is the first case of black money anywhere in the country where hearings have been concluded and quantum of sentence pronounced within two years, he further claimed. The City of Lincoln's Farmers' Market in the Haymarket is expanding again this year, staging vendors along Canopy Street, from P Street north to Q Street. The Market will open during 2017 every Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon, beginning May 6 and continuing through Oct. 14. The Haymarket lives up to its name each Saturday morning as farm fresh produce, flowers, baked goods, and handmade items from over 100 vendors are sold on the streets and sidewalks. The Haymarket Farmers Market serves as one of Lincolns main social and culinary event. It is a place where people gather to shop, meet with friends, and exchange ideas and recipes and to plan the perfect feast. Farmers Market is ever changing in its effort to present an enormous array of fresh locally grown produce and farm produced products. The Market displays glorious flowers, delicious bakery items and Nebraska arts and crafts. You will find baskets and tables overflowing with wonderful products that you can only find on Saturday mornings in this historic district. London: Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya, who has been declared a proclaimed offender, is likely to challenge his extradition to India from the UK on the grounds that the charges against him are politically motivated, a legal expert said on Wednesday. The 61-year-old liquor baron, who has been living in self-imposed exile in Britain since last year, was arrested by Scotland Yard yesterday on fraud allegations, triggering an official extradition process in the British courts. Mallya was released on conditional bail a few hours later after providing a bail bond worth 650,000 pounds and assuring the court of abiding by all conditions associated with extradition proceedings, such as the surrender of his passport and a ban on him possessing any travel documents. The UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) will now argue the case on behalf of the Indian authorities. "The Crown Prosecution Service, acting on behalf of the Indian authorities, will need to demonstrate a prima facie case ie. Produce some evidence to show that the criminal charges against Mallya, for which his extradition is sought, are justified," said Javinder Nakhwal, partner at Peters and Peters Solicitors LLP and member of the UK's Extradition Lawyers Association. "There are a number of grounds on which it is possible to contest extradition, some of which might not be relevant to Mallya's case. Mallya may seek to challenge extradition on the basis that the request for his extradition is politically motivated, and that any extradition would constitute a breach of certain human rights, she explained. The precise grounds on which Mallya contests his extradition remains to be seen. His legal team will seek to support their arguments with factual and/or expert evidence and can claim he won't get a fair trial in India and can also raise the condition of Indian prisons as a factor behind the extradition request being declined. The Indian authorities will have an opportunity to respond to any such evidence, she said. "When the case returns to court on May 17, the district judge is likely to set down a timetable for the service of any evidence to be submitted by either side in the proceedings, and list a date for a final hearing. "There might be a few more hearings in this case in the coming months to deal with case management or any issues that arise, before the final hearing takes place, at which the full arguments from both sides in this case will be heard by the district judge," Nakhwal clarified. Mallya, whose now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines allegedly owes more than Rs 9,000 crore to various banks, had fled India on March 2, 2016. In January, an Indian court ordered a consortium of lenders to start the process of recovering the loans. "Extradition is the formal procedure for requesting the surrender of persons from one territory to another... Part 2 of the Extradition Act, in conjunction with any applicable extradition instrument, regulates export extradition from the United Kingdom to category 2 territories [like India]. "The CPS acts as the representative of the requesting state in category 2 cases (as for category 1 territories), and all proceedings are heard at Westminster Magistrates' Court," a CPS statement said. At the extradition hearing the judge must decide a number of issues: whether the documentation sent to the court by the Secretary of State complies with the Act; whether the individual arrested is the person named on the warrant; whether the offence detailed in the request is an extradition offence et al. If the District Judge rules in favour of extradition, the UK home secretary must order Mallya's extradition within two months of the appropriate day. India and the UK have an Extradition Treaty, signed in 1992, but so far only one extradition has taken place under the arrangement Samirbhai Vinubhai Patel, who was sent back to India last October to face trial in connection with his involvement in the post-Godhra riots of 2002. However, unlike Mallya, he had submitted to the extradition order without legal challenge. As Mallya is fighting the extradition order, he will have the right to appeal and the case can go up to the UK Supreme Court. The flamboyant businessman, who still owns Force India Formula One team, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. "Not a rupee was misused," he had tweeted earlier this year. But Indian authorities want him to stand trial for alleged unpaid loans to Kingfisher Airlines, which collapsed in 2012 with the loss of thousands of jobs. As he awaits the hearing, Mallya is expected to be based at his lavish country home in Tewin, Hertfordshire, an hour's drive from London. The Indian and UK governments are believed to have struck an agreement on extradition proceedings during British Prime Minister Theresa May's visit to India last November. India had given a formal extradition request for Mallya as per the Extradition Treaty between India and the UK through a note verbale on February 8. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was the most senior Cabinet minister to raise the issue during his visit to the UK earlier this year. The UK Home Office declined to comment on "individual cases" but said that Mallya's case will be handled under Part 2 of the UK's Extradition Act 2003. New Delhi: Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Shazia Ilmi on Tuesday filed a police complaint accusing Aam Aadmi Party supporters of "abusing" and hurling "sexual innuendos" at her on social media. Ilmi, who had switched to the BJP from the AAP, said she was trolled over her video statement on microblogging site Twitter, where she had targetted the Arvind Kejriwal government over the involvement of sacked AAP minister Sandeep Kumar in a sex tape. Notably, earlier on Tuesday, the BJP expelled Savitri Khatri, its Narela ward candidate for the upcoming Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls, for allegedly allowing Sandeep Kumar to campaign for her. "I left the AAP because of bad elements in it and our party (BJP) did the right thing today. Because of Kumar, Savita Khatri had to pay. "But, because of Kumar's misadventures, I am now facing abuse on social media. They are posting nasty comments with ration card jokes and sexual innuendos. Some of it is so vulgar, I cannot even describe it in words," she said. Ilmi claimed that Twitter users who were "abusing" her were "AAP supporters". "These people follow big AAP leaders. They must be tracked through their handles and IP addresses. This is not just an insult to me, but an affront to all women. Would they use such filthy language for women in their own homes?" she asked. Lodged the police complaint against the obscene AAP supporter trolls! Shame on you and your filthy mentality pic.twitter.com/o4uCXyYo4F shazia ilmi (@shaziailmi) April 18, 2017 Kumar, a former minister in the Kejriwal government, was sacked from the AAP last year over a sex tape purportedly featuring him. When asked, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia condemned the trolling of Ilmi and promised strict action against AAP volunteers if found guilty. "Such behaviour is unacceptable and strict action should be taken. It is wrong to troll a woman on Twitter. If AAP volunteers are found involved in this case, we will take strict action," Sisodia said. Police confirmed receiving a complaint and said it is being looked into. (With PTI inputs) New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday released his party's manifesto for the April 23 municipal corporation elections, which promises to make the national capital clean and free from dengue, chikungunya. Stressing on cleanliness, the AAP chief said promised to make the city free of vector-borne diseases in three years. The AAP manifesto also promised to simplify rules to end rampant corruption in the civic bodies. Arvind Kejriwal also announced several lucrative schemes for sanitation workers and their families, promising uninterrupted salary disbursal on 7th day of every month. According to reports, Kejriwal's party is contesting the civic polls on a full scale for the first time in the national capital. AAP aims to wrest power from the BJP, which is ruling at the Centre and has controlled the three municipal corporations in the city for past 10 years. AAP had made an impressive debut in the municipal bypolls last year as it won five of the 13 wards where elections were held. One of the biggest highlights of the AAPs election manifesto for Delhi MCD polls are waiving house tax against all residential properties. Kejriwal had earlier already announced to waive house tax against all residential properties during a rally in Delhi's Burari. AAP sources had earlier hinted that the manifesto will focus on sanitation workers, who have repeatedly gone on strike over the past two years over delay in salary payment and arrears. AAP is including major demand of safai karmcharis such as guaranteed salary payment by seventh of every month, regualrisation of contractual staff besides providing free health insurance to all sanitation workers, a party leader was quoted as saying. With maintaining cleanliness and hygeine in the city being the core job of the civic bodies, the manifesto also outlines a detailed roadmap on construction of toilets and urinals across the city. New Delhi: In a shocking incident ahead of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) Elections, Aam Aadmi Party MLA Amanatullah Khan on Tuesday night claimed he was shot at thrice. The incident took place near Batla House Chowk at Jamia Nagar in Okhla. Talking to media, Khan alleged that Congress workers, including candidate Shoaib Danish, barged into the AAP's office and started to scuffle. Khan said while he was talking to a sub-inspector regarding the incident, three rounds were fired at him, but he escaped unhurt. The AAP MLA said the shooting was "a desperate act by the Congress supporters". The incident happened post Tuesday midnight outside the AAP office when both the parties were campaigning in the wake of MCD polls. Deputy Commissioner of Police Romil Baaniya said a call was received at 12.10 am regarding the clash between the workers of the two parties at Batla House Chowk after which the police rushed to the spot. "Another call was received from AAP MLA Amanatullah about the firing at 12.57 am," the DCP said. He said that no one was injured in the firing and both parties blamed each other for it. "Both parties were asked to give written complaint but no complaint was received from them. Action would be taken as per their complaints," he added. Washington: India's high economic growth rate last fiscal may not reflect the actual impact of demonetisation particularly on the informal sector, and it may take a few months to assess its real fallout, Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian has said. He, however, said the impact of the sudden withdrawal of 86 percent of currency is "pretty much over" as the newly- printed 500 and 2,000 rupee notes hit the banking system, replacing the old 500 and 1,000 rupee notes that were voided overnight on November 8, last year. India is estimated to have clocked a surprising 7.1 percent GDP growth in 2016-17 fiscal with a 7 percent growth rate in the October-December quarter, notwithstanding demonetisation. "There (has) been an impact of it (demonetisation) on the informal sector which would be difficult to assess. But, I think it is pretty much over. It was related to cash in the economy. The cash is back, so hopefully those short-term costs are pretty much behind us," Subramanian said at the Centre for Global Development, a top American think tank. Subramanian, who is here to attend the annual Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, said the actual impact of demonetisation is not reflected in the GDP numbers. "That being said, I do think that the headline number might not give the actual impact of demonetisation. I think we will get to know over the course of the next few months what the actual impact is going to be," he said. The informal sector, which does the bulk of its transactions in cash, had borne the biggest brunt of demonetisation. "A lot of impact of demonetisation is really a case of too early to tell and (we) will find out over the course of (the) next few months, except for the impact on the informal sector, which I do not think we are really going to get a handle on at all," he said. Subramanian said that the popular response to this policy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has "humbled him" in his understanding of Indian politics and to some extent economics as well. "...What you have seen on demonetisation in terms of the popular response...It certainly humbled me in my understanding of Indian politics and to some extent Indian economics," he said. Responding to a series of questions on demonetisation, the chief economic adviser said that it was over and it signalled a regime change. Demonetisation on the part of the government does signal a "regime shift" which says "if you are not going to be compliant on your tax payments, the government is going to make extra efforts to do so", he said. So, it is kind of signalling a regime change, he added. Acknowledging that a lot of demonetisation was part economics, part politics, Subramanian said it does raise some really interesting questions about the popular response to demonetisation. He conceded that this was a step towards digitisation and broadening of the tax base. "It is really about creating an infrastructure, using technology to better deliver government services in the long run," he said. New Delhi: The government on Wednesday decided to extend stock limits on sugar traders by another six months till October 2017 to check sweetener prices that are ruling at Rs 42-44 per kg. A decision in this regard was taken at the Cabinet meet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "The Union Cabinet has given its approval for extending the validity of the existing Central Order in respect of sugar for a further period of six months from April 29 to October 28, 2017," an official statement said. The move will enable state governments to impose stock limits and licensing requirements in respect of sugar, if needed, it said. The government feels that "despite adequate availability of stocks for consumption in the current season, hoarding and consequent profiteering is anticipated due to drop in production over the previous year". Stating that the price rise appeared to be more on sentiment than actual shortage, the government said fixing of appropriate stock limit on need basis was essential to regulate supply of sugar and address speculative prices. The move is expected to help improve the availability of these commodities to general public at reasonable rates and control the tendencies of hoarding and profiteering, the statement added. Currently, there is a stock limit of 500 tonnes and turnover limit of 30 days for sugar traders in the country other than those in West Bengal. The stock limit for traders in West Bengal is 1,000 tonnes. The country's sugar output is estimated to fall for the second consecutive year to around 20 million tonnes in 2016-17 season (October-September), much lower than the annual demand of 24-25 mt. To boost domestic supply, the government has allowed duty free import of 5,00,000 tonnes of raw sugar till June. Washington: The radical idea of giving free money under a universal basic income plan to reduce poverty can work in India only if the plethora of welfare schemes are phased out, Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian has said. Subramanian -- who had mooted the idea of universal basic income or a uniform stipend paid to every adult and child, poor or rich, in the annual survey of the economy this year -- said such a move will have to be completely financed from within and implemented at a mass scale. Universal basic income (UBI) will guarantee all citizens enough income to cover their basic needs and would be easier to administer than the current anti-poverty schemes, which are plagued by waste, corruption and abuse. According to The Economist, India's proposal to give every citizen a cash transfer using the digital platform Aadhaar could reduce absolute poverty from 22 percent to 0.5 percent. "The Indian setting is completely different in two three different ways. One is that this is not going to be donor financed at all (like in some African countries). It is going to be completely financed (from) within," Subramanian said in his appearance at the Center for Global Development, a top American think-tank. "So the issues that come up, relate to is do we have the fiscal space to do? Secondly, if it happened this is going to be kind of a scaled-up version. It's not going to be 80 villages, what is the impact and then we think about scaling up. It will be a scaled-up kind of a thing," he said, observing that this was something that does not necessarily need to be implemented by the centre like one scheme. States can start on their own, noted Subramanian, who is currently in the US to attend the annual Spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Observing that providing UBI would amount to between four and five per cent of GDP, he said the Indian government cannot afford that. "So the only way it can work is to potentially we can phase down some of the existing programmes, otherwise it does not work," he said. "Then you get into the political economy of questions like can you phase down other subsidies...The fertilizer subsidy, the employment guarantee scheme. Can you phase those programmes politically or now? When you can't phase it down an extra four-five per cent of GDP is not very meaningful," he said. Subramanian also noted that some people think that India has built in a reasonably well social welfare programme in terms of giving away subsidised food. "Would this undermine that? And the third big question is, is the infrastructure to implement this...The whole biometrics, financial inclusion and mobile," he said in response to a question. "India currently has 1.1 billion people covered under biometrics. At the same time 250 million have banking financial accounts and about 60 per cent of those are linked to the AADHAAR numbers," Subramanian said. In terms of mobiles, 250 million people have smart phones, 300 million people have regular phones and 350 million people have no phones, he noted. Ideally one would like to have the biometric number, bank account and mobile phone linked with each other, he said. "That is the kind of dream, we call it the JAM (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile) infrastructure. At the moment, it is very patch in the way it is developed," he said. Noting that in principle nothing prevents a state government from going on its own, Subramanian said, what some of the states, which are thinking about it seriously, do want is federal money for this. The states might ask for untied money from the Centre, he said. "That is the kind of conversation that is beginning to happen, because that would make it easier for the state governments to finance this," Subramanian said. One of the starting points for this in India is the various social welfare schemes, like the employment guarantee scheme, the food or kerosene subsidy are very leaky and they do not do a very great job in reaching the poor, he said. UBI can easily be an improvement on that, the chief economic adviser said. Responding to a question, Subramanian said that it would be very difficult to phase out the existing subsidy programmes, because of the potential political opposition to it. "That's true across the world, very difficult to withdraw entitlements," he said. "So unless you phase down existing programmes...You can't really (implement UBI)...Because the magnitude is so big," he said. New Delhi: Sounds unbelievable, but scientists have revealed that a melting glacier in northwest Canada has caused a river to completely change course last year. The findings reveal the dramatic impact of climate change on the geographical distribution of the world. Describing the phenomenon as the first modern case of climate change 'river piracy', scientists said the 'abruptly and radically' altered drainage from the Kaskawulsh Glacier spring melt sent the Slims River in the opposite direction into the Pacific Ocean, 1,300 kilometers away from where the mouth of the river used to be. The discovery of the Slims River diversion away from the Bering Sea into the Kaskawulsh River was published on Tuesday in the journal Nature Geoscience. Gerard Roe, co-author of the study and a professor at the University of Washington in Seattle in the US state of Washington, told AFP that the Slims riverbed had dried up in only four days. "The habitat was altered," he said in a telephone interview. "The chemistry and biology of the water changed dramatically." Last August, researchers led by Canadian geomorphologist Daniel Shugar of the University of Washington in Tacoma had traveled to Canada's northern Yukon Territory to study the river's currents, but it was gone. They traced its mysterious disappearance to the Slims River's headwaters, where they found a glacial barrier that once routed its flow northward into the Bering Sea had been breached in the spring. Prof Shugar and his team used computer models to show the fast glacier melt - and the subsequent river diversion - was due to global climate change, and not natural temperature fluctuations over centuries. Such changes, they warned in the study, can have "profound downstream impacts" on ecosystems and communities that rely on the discharge. Last summer, for example, Kluane Lake, which was fed by the Slims River, dropped a full meter below its lowest recorded level for that time of year. Another research team member, John Clague of Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, said the discovery highlights that while people view climate change as a gradual process, its effects may not be. "To me, it's kind of a metaphor for what can happen with sudden change induced by climate," he told the daily Globe and Mail. The study noted that the change in the river's flow affected the whole landscape. In the big picture, the piracy of the Slims is a reminder that climate change "may bring surprises that we are not appreciating fully and that we're not necessarily prepared for", added Prof Shugar. (With AFP inputs) Panaji: The Congress has praised the Goa Forward Party leader and state minister Vijai Sardesai who recently warned the Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders not to make provocative statements. "The statement made by a VHP leader that their cadres would impose beef ban if the government failed to do so is an attempt to disturb the communal harmony in our state," Goa Congress spokesperson Trajano D'Mello said here. "Cabinet Minister Vijai Sardesai has taken a bold stand saying if such utterances are repeated, the government would not hesitate to use the law to ban such elements," D'Mello said, speaking to reporters last evening. VHP functionary Radha Krishna Manori had said on Sunday that his organisation would "impose a ban" on beef consumption in Goa in the next one or two years if the government didn't do so. Sardesai, whose party is a part of BJP-led Goa government, slammed the VHP, warning that if its leaders continued in the same vein, they would meet the fate of Pramod Muthalik, the controversial chief of Sri Ram Sene who was banned from entering Goa in the past. "I would like to refresh your memory that it was I who took up the issue of banning Muthalik," D'Mello told reporters. All secular people who want communal peace should appreciate and support Sardesai's warning, he said. "No one should play politics on this sensitive issue," D'Mello said, adding that the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who also holds the charge of home department, should issue similar warning to any organisation which tries to disrupt the peace in the coastal state. Hyderabad: A Maoist militia commander and two members, belonging to Chhattisgarh, were today arrested from Telangana's Jayashankar Bhupalpally district, police said. Militia commander Madivi Idama and two militia members -- R Hanumaiah and K Nagesh -- were arrested from outskirts of Venkatapur mandal of the district, ASP (Eturnagaram Sub-Division) Rahul Hegde told PTI over phone. The trio belonged to Bijapur in Chhattisgarh and were working for Venkatapur Area Committee of the outlawed CPI (Maoist) in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district for the last five years. They used to supply provisional items to the ultras and also put up banners and posters, the officer said. Idama is also accused of involving in planting land mines (targeted at police) along with other dalam members in June and November last year, the ASP said. "No weapons/arms were seized from them. A case was registered and further probe is on," Hegde said. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday revived the conspiracy charges against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stalwarts LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti in the politically sensitive 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case. Besides the three leaders, the accused, against whom the conspiracy charge would now be invoked, are Vinay Katiar, Sadhvi Ritambara, Vishnu Hari Dalmia, who were being tried at Rae Bareilly for making inflammatory speeches before the 16th-century mosque was razed in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya town on December 6, 1992. The SC order is a huge set back for Advani as report swere doing rounds that the BJP patriarch was the front-runner for the presidential post. The apex court bench comprising of Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman transferred the trial from Rae Bareli to Lucknow. However, the top court said Kalyan Singh, who is currently the Governor of Rajasthan and during whose tenure as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh the disputed structure was razed, is entitled to immunity under Constitution as long as he remains in gubernatorial position. "The Court of Sessions will frame charges and move against him as soon as he ceases to be Governor," it said. The top court directed that additional charges be framed under Section 120-B and the other provisions of the IPC as mentioned in the joint charge-sheet against Champat Rai Bansal, Satish Pradhan, Dharam Das, Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, Mahamadleshwar Jagdish Muni, Ram Bilas Vadanti, Vaikunth Lal Sharma Prem, and Satish Chandra Nagar. Also Read - Yogi Adityanath supports SC's observation on Ayodhya dispute, says UP govt ready to help if needed SC slams CBI The apex court dubbed the demolition of the medieval era monument as a "crime" which shook the "secular fabric of the Constitution", and observed that the accused were not brought to book largely because of the conduct of the CBI and then Uttar Pradesh government. It said that the accused persons could not be brought to book "largely because of the conduct of the CBI in not pursuing the prosecution of the aforesaid alleged offenders in a joint trial, and because of technical defects which were easily curable, but which were not cured by the State Government." Restoring the conspiracy charge and transferring the trial, the judgment said, "What is being done by us today is only to remedy what was expected" to be done by the CBI and the then state government after the February 12, 2001 judgment of the Allahabad High Court. Issuing a slew of directions, a bench comprising Justices P C Ghose and R F Nariman said "the proceedings viz. Crime No. 198/92 (against Advani and five others) in the court of the Special Judicial Magistrate at Rae Bareilly will stand transferred to the Court of Additional Sessions Judge (Ayodhya Matters) at Lucknow." Besides the three leaders, the accused, against whom the conspiracy charge would now be invoked, are Vinay Katiar, Sadhvi Ritambara, Vishnu Hari Dalmia, who were being tried at Rae Bareilly. Also Read - Ayodhya dispute: SC for out-of-court settlement; political parties welcome advice, Muslim groups unconvinced "The court of sessions will frame additional charges under Section 120-B (conspiracy) and the other provisions of the Penal Code mentioned in the joint charge sheet filed by the CBI against Champat Rai Bansal, Satish Pradhan, Dharam Das, Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, Mahamadleshwar Jagdish Muni, Ram Bilas Vadanti, Vaikunth Lal Sharma and Satish Chandra Nagar," Justice Nariman, writing the judgement for the bench, said. "The court of sessions will, after transfer of the proceedings from Rae Bareilly to Lucknow and framing of additional charges, within four weeks, take up all the matters on a day-to-day basis from the stage at which the trial proceedings, both at Rae Bareilly and at Lucknow, are continuing, until conclusion of the trial. "There shall be no de novo (fresh) trial. There shall be no transfer of the Judge conducting the trial until the entire trial concludes. The case shall not be adjourned on any ground except when the sessions court finds it impossible to carry on the trial for that particular date," it said. Move larger SC bench in Babri conspiracy case, Togadia tells Centre Vishwa Hindu Parishad President Pravin Togadia on Wednesday demanded that the Centre approach Supreme Court's larger bench on the Babri Masjid conspiracy case and a new law to facilitate construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya. "Lakhs had reached Ayodhya, and lakhs do not reach a place on the word of one person. It cannot be a conspiracy," Toghadia told reporters here, demanding that the Centre approach a larger bench of the Supreme Court on the matter. "The CBI has insulted 100 crore Hindus by going to the Supreme Court," he added. Also Read - Yogi Adityanath effect? Muslims put out banners in support of building Ram Mandir Congress tries to corner PM Modi The guilty in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case should be punished, the Congress said as it asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to put to test his morality about which he "talks a lot". "The prime minister talks a lot and extols about morality. He should put his morality to test after this verdict. "We leave it to the prime minister's conscience on how he reacts morally to this extensive judgement of the Supreme Court," Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari told reporters. The NCP welcomed the Supreme Court's ruling and demanded that BJP leader and Union Minister Uma Bharti be sacked from the Cabinet. Lalu accuses PM of 'crafting' Advani trial RJD chief Lalu Prasad today alleged that the Supreme Court order allowing trial of top BJP leaders in the Babri Masjid case was a "well-thought-out politics" of the Prime Minister to remove L K Advani's name from the Presidential race. "The CBI is under the influence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It stood in the Supreme Court and sought permission to run trial against Advani and others in the Babri Masjid demolition case," Prasad alleged. "Since Advani's name was in circulation as a probable for the post of President, Modi through well-thought-out politics struck out his (Advani's) name," he alleged. "It is well known that the CBI does what the government desires," the RJD chief claimed. Uma Bharti cancels Ayodhya visit Union Minister Uma Bharti, who had announced a visit to Ayodhya to offer prayers to Ram Lala, cancelled her programme on Wednesday after the Supreme Court revived the conspiracy charge against her in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case. "The issue of Ram temple at Ayodhya is not political but a matter of conviction for me. If I would have gone there, this would have turned into a political affair. So I am cancelling my visit," Uma Bharti said in a statement. The apex court verdict came on a CBI plea challenging May 2010 Allahabad High Court order upholding the dropping of conspiracy charge against Advani and others. Delhi: BJP core group meeting held in the national capital on Wednesday to discussed the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and the attack on jawans among other things, as per some media reports. The meeting took place hours after the Supreme Court allowed the CBI plea to restore the criminal conspiracy charge against LK Advani, MM Joshi and Uma Bharti in the 1992 Babri demolition case. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah, union ministers Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and M Venkaiah Naidu were huddled for two hours at PM's residence but a senior party leader played down the meeting's significance, saying it had a number of issues, including the Kashmir crisis, on its agenda. Senior party leader and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the BJP respected its leaders like Advani and Joshi and that it would offer comments only after studying the verdict in detail. The party has held the position that the demolition of mosque was not planned but a spontaneous act of agitating 'kar sevaks' and there was no conspiracy behind its razing on December 6, 1992. The top court has clubbed the trial in the matter pending against the leaders and 'karsevaks' and ordered day- to-day trial with the proceedings to be completed in two years. "We have allowed the CBI appeal against the Allahabad High Court judgement with certain directions," a bench comprising Justices PC Ghose and R F Nariman said. Meanwhile, the Kashmir University and colleges across the Valley remained closed for the second consecutive day today on government orders in the wake of widespread violence by the students on Monday. These educational institutions were closed yesterday on the orders of Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Baseer Khan, as a precautionary measure to prevent further protests, officials said, as per PTI. However, examinations were held in the Kashmir University as per the schedule. Higher secondary schools in South Kashmir Shopian district also remained closed, the officials said. Students of many of the colleges in the Valley on Monday held protests demonstrations against alleged highhandedness of security forces against students of Degree College, Pulwama, on Saturday. The Monday clashes had left injured several dozen students and five police personnel. (With Agency inputs) New Delhi: In a major development, BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav, who complained about food quality, has been dismissed from the service. Tej Bahadur Yadav is a BSF constable and had posted videos on social media on quality of food served in BSF. Tej Bahadur's videos allegedly showing poor quality food being given in BSF had gone massively viral on social media. An inquiry for reported breach of discipline was instituted against BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav. Yadav had alleged that he is being "mentally tortured" and that his attempt to post the first video was to bring to light the alleged prevailing corruption in his organisation. "The Prime Minister had said so (eradication of corruption)...I was doing the same. Is this (inquiry) what I should be getting in return?," he said in the short video claiming he surrendered his phone to the authorities on January 10 and it has been "tampered with". In the earlier videos uploaded on social media, Yadav had alleged that while government procures essentials for the soldiers, the higher-ups and officers "sell them off" in an "illegal" manner in the market and they have to suffer. New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave its nod to the Election Commission proposal to buy Electronic Voting Machines with paper trail, informed sources said. The Union Cabinet decision on Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines is important in view of allegations by several parties, including Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party and Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that EVMs can be tampered with. New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved leave encashment for soldiers who were killed in action or were invalidated out of service between 1991 and 1999, an official here said. The Union Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved leave encashment up to 180 days for those defence personnel "who died or were invalidated out of service between 30.12.1991 to 29.11.1999 with less than 15 years of service". According to an official statement, families of around 9,777 Officers and other ranks were expected to benefit from this decision. During that decade, the armed forces saw a large number of casualties in counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast and during the Kargil war (Operation Vijay) in 1999. New Delhi: Following is the chronology of events in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case in which the Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed CBI's appeal and restored criminal conspiracy charge against BJP leaders L K Advani and others: *Dec, 1992: Two FIRs filed in the case. One against unknown karsevaks for demolition of the mosque. The other named BJP leaders Advani, M M Joshi and others for allegedly giving 'communal' speeches before demolition. *Oct, 1993: CBI files composite charge sheet accusing Advani and others of conspiracy. *May 4, 2001: Special CBI court drops proceedings against accused including Advani, Joshi, Uma Bharti, Bal Thackeray and others. *Nov 2, 2004: CBI challenges before the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court, the dropping of proceedings against BJP leaders on technical grounds. Court issues notices. *May 20, 2010: High court dismisses plea. Says no merit in CBI's revision petition. *Feb, 2011: CBI moves Supreme Court against high court order. *Mar 6, 2017: SC indicates it may consider reviving conspiracy charge against the BJP leaders in Babri Masjid demolition case. *Mar 21: SC suggests fresh attempts to resolve Ayodhya dispute. *Apr 6: SC favours time-bound completion of trial in the case and reserves order on CBI's plea. *Apr 19: SC restores criminal conspiracy charge against leaders including Advani, Joshi and union cabinet minister Uma Bharti in the case and clubs the trial in the matter pending against VIPs and karsevaks. New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday welcomed the revival of conspiracy charges against senior BJP and VHP leaders in the demolition of the Babri mosque, and demanded speedy trial in the case. "The law of the land has prevailed. We hope that there will be speedy trial and all the guilty will be punished and face the consequences," Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha told IANS. "It is a known fact that the Babri demolition as a spontaneous reaction has been proven wrong and it was indeed a political conspiracy," he said. The Supreme Court on Wednesday revived the conspiracy charge in the Babri Masjid demolition case against senior BJP leaders L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Kalyan Singh and Uma Bharti, among others after the CBI petitioned it for restoring criminal conspiracy charges. Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Manish Tiwari said that the decision has put Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "morality quotient" on test. Asked if those holding constitutional posts including Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti and Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh should resign following the decision, he said the Congress would leave it to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's wisdom. "Our Prime Minister doesn't get tired of speaking of morality and moral high ground. This decision would test his moral standards. We leave it to his wisdom how he reacts to this and whether a chargesheeted minister should remain in his cabinet or not," Tiwari said. Reacting to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's jibe that if filing of chargesheet or FIR should become a standard for resignation, half of Congress' Chief Ministers would have to go, Tiwari said: "Jaitley ji has forgotten that Congress ministers have resigned even at mere allegations on moral grounds, let alone filing of FIR or chargesheet." He also questioned the morality behind appointing Kalyan Singh, who was Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh when Babri Masjid was demolished on December 6, 1992, as a Governor. "There is not an iota of morality in this government," he added. Tiwari said it was not right to compare the Babri Masjid demolition and the ensuing anti-Muslim riots to anti-Sikh riots of 1984 which happened when Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister, and allegedly did nothing to prevent the riots. "You cannot compare it with 1984 incident. The Congress has repeatedly expressed regret over what happened in 1984. Did the BJP ever apologise even once for the pogroms that happened under its watch?" he said. New Delhi: The Delhi High Court dismissed a plea seeking direction to Centre to approach International Court of Justice for securing release of Kulbhushan Jadhav, the Indian national on death row in Pakistan. A social activist had filed a petition saying an Indian citizen had been illegally detained and wrongly awarded capital punishment by a Pakistani military court without providing him a fair trial. The petition sought direction to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to approach the ICJ for providing consular access to Jadhav, saying the former Naval officer has not only been illegally detained by Pakistan but also wrongly awarded capital punishment. Jadhav, sentenced to death on April 10, faced seven charges including espionage and waging war against Pakistan. Islamabad has rejected Indian requests for consular access to Jadhav. The plea also said government should also issue protocol for release of Indians abducted/kidnapped in other countries. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose government on Wednesday took the decision that VIP vehicles should do away with red beacons, said that every Indian was a VIP. He also said that these symbols were "out of touch with the spirit of new India". Replying to a tweet hailing the government decision, PM Modi said, "Every Indian is special. Every Indian is a VIP." In another post, he maintained, "It should have gone long ago. Glad that today a strong beginning has been made." Thank you. These symbols are out of touch with the spirit of new India. https://t.co/xCMaSn48mc Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 19, 2017 It should have gone long ago. Glad that today a strong beginning has been made. https://t.co/25BxLdlDpp Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 19, 2017 Every Indian is special. Every Indian is a VIP. https://t.co/epXuRdaSmY Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 19, 2017 Come May 1, vehicles with red beacons will be a thing of the past as the government has barred their use by VVIPs, including the President, the Prime Minister and CMs. Seeking to end the VIP culture, the Union Cabinet today decided that beacon lights will be removed from all vehicles, except emergency vehicles, like ambulances and fire brigade. The vehicles with beacon lights, which are seen as a symbol of VIP culture, "have no place in a democratic country", the government said. "After May 1, no one will be able to put red light atop his/her vehicle. Blue light will be used only for emergency vehicles in the country. Neither the states nor the Centre will have power to give any special permission (for use of beacon lights)," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said after the Cabinet meeting. He said the use of red beacons atop vehicles has been a matter of discussion and debates for long as to why certain people have special privileges on road. Jaitley added that amendments will be made soon in the Central Motor Vehicles Rules to give effect to the decision. A rule that empowers the Centre or state governments to allow use of red beacon lights to dignitaries will be altogether removed from the statute books, the minister said. "There will be no exception for anyone. The reason is very clear that the rule itself is being removed from the rule book," he added, as per PTI. Beacons, however, will be allowed on vehicles concerning emergency and relief services, ambulance, fire service etc. In light of the decision, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways will make necessary provisions in law. On the other hand, on the question of punitive measures in case of violations, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said that action will be taken as per provisions in the law. He said a detailed notification in this regard will be issued soon and there is no need for any amendment in the Motor Vehicles Act. "We can issue the notification under respective rules and before that, a notice will be issued for public hearing," he said. (With Agency inputs) RACINE Local activists are adding their voices to calls for an independent commission on Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Liberal advocacy group Common Cause gathered a petition with more than 1,800 signatures from residents in Wisconsin supporting the commission, the group said in a statement. The petition was dropped off Wednesday at House Speaker Paul Ryan's Racine office, 216 Sixth St. "Unfortunately, watching the interactions, even antics, of the intelligence committees currently charged with conducting this investigation for the American people, you see intense partisanship," said Bill Earley, a local volunteer co-lead with Common Cause in Racine. "The people's interest will only be protected by an independent special commission," he said. "We cannot allow this investigation to be handled as a partisan issue. We are urging Democrats, Republicans and independents to come together and put country before party." The House investigation into Russian meddling has been clouded by Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes' visit to the White House for a meeting with a secret source. That led to renewed calls for an independent commission and Nunes' decision to step aside from the probe. New Delhi: India and Nepal will further deepen cooperation in key areas like security, trade, investments and energy, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Wednesday. Talks on a range of issues were held between the two neighbouring countries during the ongoing visit of Nepalese President Bidya Devi Bhandari. Bhandari, who is on a visit to India from April 17-21, held talks with her Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Minister for Home Affairs Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Finance and Defence Minister Arun Jaitley. A statement by the MEA said, the Indian leadership reiterated its support to ongoing efforts of the Nepal government in moving constitution implementation process forward through dialogue and taking all sections of its society on board. Both the sides, the MEA said, noted that Indo-Nepal relations derive their strength and salience from shared history, common cultural ethos, and long years of close and intense people-to-people contacts facilitated by open borders. "The Indian leadership reiterated the importance of its neighbourhood first policy, and the high priority India attaches to strengthening relations with Nepal in every sphere," the MEA said. Bhandari also conveyed Nepal's commitment to take forward the relationship between the two countries on the basis of goodwill, understanding and mutual benefit. "She thanked India for its continued support for Nepal's socio-economic development, in particular, India's support for post-earthquake reconstruction process," the statement added. The two sides expressed satisfaction at the "intensive bilateral exchanges" in recent months at all levels between the two countries to deepen and strengthen ongoing cooperation in areas like trade, economic, investments, water resources, energy cooperation, security, post-earthquake reconstruction efforts, culture, education and people-to-people ties. They also assessed the implementation of ongoing connectivity and development projects, and expressed satisfaction at the recent initiatives taken towards expediting implementation of various projects. These projects include the cross-border connectivity works such as the development of Terai roads, cross-border rail links, integrated check posts, and cross-border petroleum products pipeline. Nepalese Minister for Foreign Affairs Prakash Sharan Mahat, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sita Devi Yadav, Minister for Peace and Reconstruction, Members of Nepalese Parliament, and other senior government officials also accompanied Bhandari during his visit. In Kathmandu today, Mahat said Bhandari's visit has been "fruitful" in enhancing the bilateral relations and goodwill between the two neighbours. The two countries reviewed bilateral energy cooperation, including development of hydropower projects in Nepal, power trade and development of high-capacity cross-border transmission lines. "The State visit of the President of Nepal provided the opportunity to the two sides to review all aspects of bilateral relations and to reiterate their commitments to take India-Nepal partnership to a new level across diverse sectors for mutual benefit," the MEA added. During her stay in India, she will travel to Gujarat and Odisha. Washington: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Tuesday added a 26-year-old Indian national on its top 10 "Most Wanted List". Bhadreshkumar Chetanbhai Patel is accused of killing his wife inside the kitchen of a Dunkin Donuts restaurant in the US in 2015 and has been missing since then. The FBI offered up to USD 100,000 for any information that leads to the arrest of Bhadreshkumar Chetanbhai Patel. The agency warned that Patel, who stabbed his new bride Palak Bhadreskumar Patel multiple times with a large knife, should be considered armed and extremely dangerous. 21-year-old Palak was found beaten to death inside the restaurant kitchen in Hanover, Maryland on April 12, 2015. Both the husband and wife were Dunkin Donuts employees. "The extremely violent nature of the crimes allegedly committed by Bhadreshkumar Patel earned him a place on the FBI's Top Ten List," Gordon B Johnson, the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Baltimore Field Office, said in a statement. The valuable assistance of the public cannot be overstated, as shown by the ongoing success locating fugitives placed on the Top Ten list, the official said. "The ongoing efforts of our investigators, coupled with the public`s assistance, will lead to the capture of Bhadreshkumar Patel. We will never forget, and will not rest until he is located, captured and brought to justice." A video released by the FBI shows both Bhadreshkumar and his wife working on the day of her death, walking off screen behind some racks in the kitchen together. He then re-emerges back on camera without his wife, turning off an oven and leaving the scene, The Capital Gazette reported. Bhadreshkumar has been charged with first- and second- degree murder, first- and second-degree assault, and a weapons offence in connection with her death. A federal arrest warrant was issued a week after Palak's death as Bhadreshkumar was charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. Investigators said he was last seen taking a hotel shuttle to Newark Penn Station in New Jersey on April 13, 2015, around 10 am. Police said Bhadreshkumar, originally from Kantrodi Ta Viramgam, Gujarat, India, had a visa to be in the US, but it had expired and there was no indication he was able to legally leave the country, the report said. Investigators believe that Palak wanted to return to India, though her husband was against the idea. "Palak Patel was murdered in a depraved act of domestic violence," Anne Arundel County police Chief Tim Altomare said in a statement. "Numerous and overwhelming efforts have been made in attempts to locate Bhadreshkumar and none of the efforts to date have been met with success," the official said. "In cooperation with the FBI the Anne Arundel County police believe we will certainly locate Bhadreshkumar and provide justice for Palak that her family desperately seeks in order to find closure," the official added. (With Agency inputs) New Delhi: India today summoned the Pakistan deputy high commissioner in connection with Kulbhushan Jadhav's death sentence by a military court there and made a fresh demand for consular access to the retired Indian Navy officer, two days after Pakistan army ruled out access to him. Pakistan's Deputy High Commissioner Syed Haidar Shah was called by the external affairs ministry which reiterated that Jadhav was innocent and false charges were framed against him, according to sources. The Pakistan diplomat was also told that not giving consular access to Jadhav amounted to violation of human rights as well international norms as the two countries have a bilateral agreement on consular access. Upping the ante, Pakistan army had on Monday ruled out consular access to 46-year-old Jadhav, days after India had made a strong case for access to the Indian prisoner on death row. Indian envoy Gautam Bambawale had met the Pakistan foreign secretary last week and demanded a certified copy of the charge sheet and the army court order in the case, besides consular access to the retired Indian Navy officer. "We definitely want to appeal against the judgement but we cannot do it unless we have the details of charges and a copy of verdict. So, my demand was that the details of the charge sheet and a copy of the verdict be provided to us," Bambawale had said after the meeting. Expressing disappointment over Pakistan turning down India's request for consular access to Jadhav, the Indian envoy had also 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 the international law and on humanitarian grounds as he is an Indian national." New Delhi: A government official on Wednesday said there was no information about death of any Indian in the April 13 bombing by the US on an ISIS tunnel complex in Afghanistan. Earlier news agency ANI had reported that thirteen Indian nationals who had joined Islamic State were among those killed in the Mother of all bombs (MOAB) bombing in Afghanistan`s Achin district. News agency PTI reported that an Islamic State recruit from Kerala was among 36 ISIS militants killed when the US military dropped the 'MOAB' of all bombs in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar. Mohammed, who was in his mid 20s, killed in the US assault, an intelligence officer of the Kerala Police said. However, he didn't have proof to confirm it. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had last year informed the state assembly that 21 people, including children, were missing and this included 17 from Kasargode district and four from Palakkad district. The US military last week dropped its largest non-nuclear bomb ever deployed in combat on an Islamic State tunnel complex in eastern Afghanistan, close to the Pakistani border. A GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), nicknamed "Mother Of All Bombs," was dropped on a tunnel complex of ISIS-Khorasan, a regional affiliate of the terror group, in Achin district of Afghanistan's Nanagarh province, the Pentagon said. Colombo: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Sri Lanka next month to take part in the celebrations marking the UN 'Vesak Day', the most important in the Buddhist calendar, a senior Lankan minister said on Wednesday. Prime Minister Modi will make his second visit to Sri Lanka in the second week of May, Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said here. During his visit, he will take part in the UN 'Vesak Day' celebrations to be held here from May 12 to 14. "The Indian Prime Minister has confirmed his visit," Rajapakshe told reporters. Modi had also visited the country in 2015. The 'International Day of Vesak' will be hosted by the Buddhist-majority country and the commemorations here will include an International Buddhist Conference in which over 400 delegates from more than 100 countries will participate. Vesak is the most important day in the Buddhist calendar. It commemorates Lord Buddha's birth, enlightenment and passing away. New Delhi: In her first comments after the SC ruled that she will have to face trial on conspiracy charges in the Babri demolition case, Union Minister Uma Bharti said that she is willing to go to jail for the sake of a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya. Koi saajish nahi thi, sab kuch khullam khulla tha. Mera man, vachan, karam ek the. Mere man main sirf ek baat thi aur wo tha Ram Mandir. (There was no conspiracy, every thing was in the open. My consicence, words and deeds were one. I had only Ram temple in my mind), she said. BJP patriarch LK Advani, senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi and 10 others will also be facing trail along with Uma Bharti. Recalling her decision to quit as Madhya Pradesh CM in 2004 after a case was filed against her for allegedly disrespecting the national flag (she was acquitted later), Ms Bharti said, I had left the CM chair for the pride of the tricolour. Yes, I was there (Ayodhya) on Dec 6, rest of the matter if for the lawyers to talk in the court, she said. Let I be hanged or jailed, I have no problem, I only want to see a Ram temple (in Ayodhya). I have never expressed regret. She also asserted the role of the Ramjanmbhoomi movement in the rise of the BJP in the country. On the Congress' demand that she resign from the union cabinet, Ms Bharti said, When 10,000 Sikhs were killed (in 1984) Sonia was in the house of Rajiv (Gandhi) then does it mean that she was part of the conspiracy? Congress has no moral right to ask questions, she added. She also revealed details about her plan to leave for Ayodhya tonight. 'I am going to Ayodhya tonight and will thank Ram Lalla and Hanuman ji for giving so much pride in life, she said. Dehradun: Amid raging debate over the issue of triple talaq, a Muslim woman has hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's efforts to bring change for the sufferers of the practice. The Uttarakhand woman further said it was better to convert and adopt Hinduism than to face injustice due to `triple talaq` system. Venting her anger and frustration, the woman hailing from Kichha further said when converted to Hindu, men would not be able to divorce them just by uttering the word `talaq` thrice. Notably, her sister is a victim of triple talaq. Covered by a hijab, the unnamed Muslim woman said, "What is the use of spending whole life with a man who can at any point of time desert his wife by saying Talaq, Talaq, Talaq? If this injustice happens in old age, where would the victim go?" "Today, I am young and why would I spend my whole life fearing triple talaq? It is better to embrace Hinduism and marry a Hindu man who would at least not destroy my life by uttering just three words," she added. Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she said, "What Modi is doing for the country is very good. What he is doing for women, especially for Muslim women, is very good." She also hailed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Watch the video: On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dubbed triple talaq a "bad social practice", saying such practices can be ended by social awakening but stressed that the BJP didn't want a conflict in the society for this. Meanwhile, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) said that those using triple talaq recklessly and without justification should be made to face social boycott. Earlier this week, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath called for an end to the practice of triple talaq and invoked the disrobing of Draupadi in the Mahabharata to emphasise his point. "When I see people silent on the raging issue (of triple talaq), the episode from Mahabharata comes to my mind. Draupadi asked the palace - who is responsible for this situation? Who's responsible for this crime? Vidura said those responsible are criminals, those who supported this incident are culprits, those who are silent are responsible," Adityanath said. Hindu Mahasabha general secretary Dr Pooja Shakun Pandey had last week urged all triple talaq victims to adopt Hinduism if they wanted to lead respectful lives. Beijing: China's foreign ministry said Wednesday that Interpol has issued a "red notice" seeking the arrest of Guo Wengui, a Chinese billionaire who has threatened to expose corruption at the highest levels of the ruling Communist Party. Foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang gave no details about Guo's alleged crimes when announcing the Interpol notice. The real estate tycoon disappeared from public view in 2014 but resurfaced in recent months, claiming in two interviews with overseas Chinese media and a stream of Twitter posts that he held damning information about party elites. His case has been closely followed by Chinese political watchers, who say his leaks could be potentially damaging as internal factions jostle for power in the months leading up to the 19th Party Congress this fall, when a new generation of party leaders will be chosen. Guo, who is believed to be in London, has been linked to Ma Jian, a former deputy head of China's intelligence service who was charged with corruption in February. In a brief message to The Associated Press on Wednesday, Guo dismissed the Interpol notice as an empty threat from the Chinese leadership. "It's all lies, all threats," Guo said. "It shows they are scared of me leaking explosive information." He added: "Don't worry, this is a good thing." Guo was not listed on Interpol's website and agency officials declined comment, saying that Interpol does not comment on specific cases without the agreement of the member country involved as a matter of policy. New York: An Indian-American CEO has been ordered to pay $135,000 to her former domestic worker after a Labour Department investigation found she underpaid and mistreated her. Himanshu Bhatia, CEO of Rose International and IT Staffing, will have to pay her former live-in domestic service worker back wages and damages under the terms of a consent judgement entered into the US District Court for the Central District of California. The judgement, entered on April 11, resolves a complaint filed by the US Department of Labour in August last year. An investigation by the department's Wage and Hour Division found that Bhatia willfully and repeatedly violated federal labour laws' minimum wage and record keeping provisions from July 2012 to December 2014. The complaint alleged that Bhatia paid her domestic service worker, who had been identified in an earlier complaint as Sheela Ningwal, a fixed monthly salary of $400 plus food and housing at Bhatia's home in San Juan Capistrano and other residences in Miami, Las Vegas and Long Beach. Investigators found that the employee suffered "callous abuse" and retaliation, including being forced to sleep on a piece of carpet in the garage when ill, while Bhatia's dogs slept on a mattress nearby. The complaint also alleged that Bhatia confiscated Ningwal's passport. Bhatia terminated the worker in December 2014 after she allegedly found her employee researching labour laws online, and after the worker refused to sign a document stating she was being paid an adequate salary and had no employment dispute with Bhatia. "This consent judgement underlines the department's commitment to protecting workers from exploitation," said Janet Herold, solicitor for the Department of Labour's Western Region. "The department will take strong and immediate action to ensure that workers are protected against retaliation." New Delhi: The Congress, which has been critical of both the Centre and the PDP-BJP coalition government over their handling of the Jammu and Kashmir situation, set up a policy-planning group led by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the state on Wednesday. The group includes senior leaders Karan Singh, P. Chidambaram, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ambika Soni, Ghulam Ahmed Mir, Rigzin Zora, Tariq Hameed Karra, and Shyam Lal Sharma. "Congress President Sonia Gandhi has constituted a policy-planning group for Jammu and Kashmir under the chairmanship of Manmohan Singh," said a statement released by party General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi. The move comes after a delegation of the Congress and National Conference leaders from Jammu and Kashmir met party Vice President Rahul Gandhi. The delegation led by PCC President Ghulam Ahmed Mir later called on President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan and apprised him of the situation in the Kashmir Valley. Gandhi earlier said on his official Twitter account: "Met a delegation of Congress and NC leaders, who will call on the President later today (Wednesday) to express our concern over the situation in Kashmir." Voting in the Srinagar-Budgam parliamentary constitguency on April 9 saw large-scale violence and death of eight civilians in clashes, besides a record low turnout of seven per cent voters. Re-polling on April 13 at 38 polling stations in Budgam district recorded a mere two per cent balloting. Widespread protests by students and clashes with police in Srinagar, Bandipora, Baramulla, Anantnag, Pulwama, Kupwara, Kulgam and Shopian districts have also rocked the valley. KENOSHA With a banner proclaiming Buy American Hire American hanging above an American flag made of tools, there was little doubt where President Donald Trump was going with his speech on Tuesday. Saying Americans voted in November to end the theft of American prosperity, Trump visited the headquarters of Kenosha tool manufacturer Snap-on to sign an executive order tightening rules on high-skilled foreign workers. The executive order, the president said, would send a powerful signal to the world. This historic action declares that the policy of the government is to aggressively promote and use American-made goods and to ensure that American labor is hired to do the job, Trump said. America first, you better believe it. In his 20-minute speech to hundreds inside Snap-on, 2801 80th St., Trump also expressed support for Wisconsin dairy farmers, continued his criticism of trade deals and gave a shout-out to Gateway Technical College for its partnership with Snap-on. Visa program targeted The executive order takes aim at the H-1B visa program, which Trumps administration argues has brought in foreign workers who work for less pay, undermining American workers and wages. The order directs U.S. agencies to propose rules to prevent immigration fraud and abuse in the program, according to the Associated Press. Agencies are also being asked to suggest changes so that H-1B visas are granted to the most-skilled or highest-paid applicants. We believe jobs must be offered to American workers first. Does that make sense? Trump said to applause. Trump signed the executive order surrounded by Wisconsin officials, including Racine County legislators Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and state Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine. The presidents appearance honors the work thats done here locally, said Wanggaard. This is the center of manufacturing in the United States, right here in Wisconsin. Trump said that the 97-year-old Snap-ons founders wanted customers to know the tools of the mechanic were just as important as the tools of the doctor, the dentist, the politician or the business leader, and that his craft was a noble, noble craft. Nicholas Pinchuk, Snap-on chief executive officer, did not comment directly on Trumps executive order, but said in a statement before the speech that Trumps visit emphasizes the need to nurture such manufacturing strength. Its encouraging to know that our elected officials at the highest levels of government recognize the importance of American manufacturing and American workers and have chosen Snap-on to highlight this vital focus, Pinchuk said. President lifts Gateway Gateway and Snap-ons partnership includes professional development for faculty and industry credentialing for students on a number of diagnostic tools, which improve students career readiness and job opportunities, a Gateway spokesman said. Through the collaboration, a national network of certification centers has been established, which also help faculty and students. Trump called the partnership a great example of why vocational education is the way of the future, adding vocational schools are going to be a big factor in the Trump administration. That was pretty exciting, Gateway President Bryan Albrecht said. Its always great to hear the president talk about Gateway Technical College and our partnership with Snap-on. Four Gateway students from the colleges automotive technology program stood behind Trump during the speech. It was an amazing feeling being up there, said Michael Brose, one of the students on stage. It was a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Wisconsin in spotlight Tuesday was Trumps first visit to the state since taking office. He began his speech by referencing his win in Wisconsin, the first time a Republican carried the state since 1984. In Kenosha County, Trump won by a mere 255 votes. Trump visit draws protesters for and against president KENOSHA President Donald Trump had yet to arrive in Kenosha for a planned appearance at th Gov. Scott Walker and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., were among the state elected officials at the event. Trump was also joined by Reince Priebus, a Kenosha Tremper High School graduate who is now Trumps chief of staff. We flew over his house on the way out and he got all excited, Trump said. House Speaker Paul Ryan, who represents Kenosha and Racine counties, is on an overseas NATO-related trip. Trump, a NATO critic, called on Ryan to work with NATO, get them to pay their bills. Trump also pledged to help Wisconsin dairy farmers affected by a trade dispute with Canada. Were going to get together and were going to call Canada, and were going to say, What happened? Trump said. And they might give us an answer, but were going get the solution, not just the answer. New Delhi: The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan, whose restraint while being abused and kicked by Kashmiri youth won many hearts, says that he was not scared of stone-pelters. In an exclusive conversation with Zee Media, the CRPF jawan, who hails from Khetarajpur in Odisha's Sambalpur district, said he would serve the country till his last breath. The jawan added he was not scared of stone-pelters but was wary of a situation which could spin out of control. Vicky Vishwakarma, who is back home on a holiday, said he exercised restraint and did not respond to the abuses hurled at him for the welfare of the nation. "It was a very sensitive area. I just wanted to fulfil my duty. It is difficult but this is what we are taught during our training that we have to take care of ourselves as well as our country in every circumstance. They (stone-pelters) were shouting slogans like `Pakistan Zindabad`, `Go India, Go back' to torture us, but I did not succumb. I will live for the country till my last breath. But I will continue to do my duty... I will do everything for my nation." The CRPF jawan's mother said she was a bit scared when her son was posted on the border. However, she was proud of him for doing his duty properly. "My son will continue to serve the country," asserted Vicky's father, while his brother said he was proud of hi. Here is the video: Video clips of the CRPF trooper being heckled by youths during the April 9 election were uploaded on social media and kicked a row. In the videos, the Kashmiri youngsters are seen slapping and kicking the jawan, who had a rifle in hand, in an attempt to evoke a sharp reaction from him. Despite having weapons, the CRPF jawan showed the utmost restraint and chose to stay silent while walking down the street filled with the slogan-shouting mob. Bengaluru: A Sessions Court on Wednesday acquitted French Consulate official Pascal Mazurier of raping his minor daughter in 2012, citing lack of evidence. "There is not enough evidence to prove that the accused (Mazurier) had committed the crime. He is innocent as even the DNA test was negative," said Special Court Judge BS Rekha, acquitting the French official of the offence. Mazurier, 44, and his estranged wife Suja Jones, 42, who accused him of sexually abusing their three-year-old child, were present in the court when Judge Rekha read the operative part of the judgement. "I am happy that justice has been done to me though it has been a long battle," Mazurier told reporters outside the court later. Jones, who hails from Kerala, however, said she would move the Karnataka High Court against the judgement for securing justice to her daughter. On a complaint by Jones, police filed an FIR (First Information Report) under Sections 376 and 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against Mazurier on June 15, 2012 for alleged sexual assault and sodomy on the victim. Following his arrest on June 19, 2012, the French Consulate suspended Mazurier as deputy head of its chancery here. Mazurier secured bail from the Karnataka High Court on October 12, 2012 for his release from the jail four months later, while the criminal case was pending in the lower court for trial. The Special Court for child rights had framed charges against Mazurier on February 11, 2014 for abusing the victim at home in June 2012. The estranged couple were married in France in 2001 and have three children -- two sons and a daughter. The family moved to Bengaluru in 2008 and was staying in an apartment in the city's central suburb. Mumbai: The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) activists on Tuesday barged into a clothing and accessories retailer showroom and warned it against selling Pakistan-manufactured clothing pieces. The activists of Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena (MNVS), the students' wing of MNS, stormed into Zara's showroom at High Street Phoenix mall in Lower Parel and warned the management to stop selling Pakistan-manufactured clothes, reported Mid-Day. The Asian Age reported that the MNS workers raised slogans, pulled down clothes and trampled upon them. Mid-Day quoted MNVS vice-president Akhil Chitre as saying, "Pakistan is killing our people and jawan and we are selling their clothes. The country has implicated Mumbai's Kulbhushan Jadhav and even after a request from our government, they want to hang him on false pretexts. If they will not stop selling, then we will start agitation MNS-style." He added, "The whole country is against this and considering people's emotions, Zara should stop selling Pakistan-made clothes. We had gone to meet the showroom management and request them to stop, however, because the staff adamantly said that they had permission and would continue to sell, a few party workers went in and an altercation occurred." The Asian Age has quoted Deputy commissioner of police Pravin Padwal as saying, Ten protesters, including corporator Datta Narvankar has been arrested under IPC section 143 (unlawful assembly) in front of a ZARA showroom. The accused have got bail after the arrest. Further investigations are on. The daily reported that the MNS workers had, on Monday night, visited the showroom and gave its staff a letter. The letter, a copy of which is available with The Asian Age, reads: Soldiers, policemen and innumerable citizens of the country are being maimed and killed regularly by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists, and the Marathi manoos in Mumbai has also not been spared by these terrorists. Just yesterday, the Pakistan government awarded the death sentence to Indias soldier Kulbhushan Jadhav on false charges. In spite of such atrocious behaviour, Pakistani-made clothes are being sold in India, which is alarming patriotic Indians The money made by trade with India is being used by Pakistan to spread terror In light of this, you are asked to immediately discontinue the sale of Pakistani-made clothes in your store. New Delhi: Millions of provident fund subscribers can now access their account statements on EPFO's e-Passbook service. Subscribers who have activated their Universal Account Number, can download their e-Passbook every month under the EPFO online service. Here is a step by step guide on how to download your EPF Passbook First go to the EPFO website: http://epfindia.gov.in/site_en/For_Employees.php? Now select the Member Passbook option Punch in your Log in and password details. Your login will be your activated UAN number and the password that you have chosen. Once you punch in your details, you will be able to view your passbook. Select your passbook bar and you can successfully download your EPF passbook. Members of EPFO can register themselves on portal by using his or her photo identification number, such as PAN, Aadhaar, National Population Registry, driving licence, passport, voter ID, ration card. The e-Passbook shall contain transaction-wise details of account (all credits and debits) since the month for which the details for the establishment have been processed in new application software at the field offices. Under the e-Passbook service, only one registration will be allowed against one mobile number. If you have closed or inoperative EPF accounts, you will not be able to generate e-passbooks. Bengaluru: Producer Shobu Yarlagadda today said he hopes to amicably resolve the dilemma over the release of the multi-lingual film 'Baahubali 2: The Conclusion' in Karnataka which is facing protests over reported controversial remarks of actor Satyaraj who has played a key character in the movie. "This is a very sensitive issue, and I don't want to comment much on it. The only thing I want to say is - we will resolve the issue amicably in the interest of all concerned," he told PTI in an interview. Asked if he would hold talks with pro-Kannada activists to resolve the problem, Yaralagadda said, "We have not yet decided the nature of talks. For now, I do not want to offend anybody by giving any statement." Asked what kind of loss the film will face if the film is not released in Karnataka, Yaralagadda said he didn't really know. "First, we have to resolve the problem." Many pro-Kannada organizations have threatened to launch a stir against the film's release across the state. They have demanded an apology from Satyaraj, who is playing Kattappa in the film, for reportedly making some controversial remarks some years ago on Cauvery dispute. Asked what he has been hearing from director SS Rajamouli about the film's release, Assistant Director Srinivas Rao said the director will accept Yaralagadda's decision. He said the director was right now busy with post-production work. Rao wanted to know why the issue was being raked up now. "Why are they (protestors) raising their voice against the release of Baahubali 2 Is it not a fact that Satyaraj had acted in the first part of the film. They could have protested then, why now It is inappropriate to rake up this issue at this point of time," the assistant director said. The film is slated for release on April 28. Mumbai: The big battle between Baahubali Prabhas and Bhallaladeva Rana Daggubati will be held in just a few days! Fans of the magnum opus will finally know the answer to the biggest question Why Kattappa killed Baahubali?. But even before the SS Rajamouli directorial hits the silver screen, Baahubali and Bhallaladeva are all geared up for a contest of one-upmanship. Dharma Productions shared a video that shows Prabhas and Bhallaladeva all set for arm wrestling. Check out the video and decide which side you would want to be: Slated to release on April 28, the second half of the two-part magnum opus Baahubali: The Conclusion is perhaps the most anticipated films of the year. The first part that released in 2015 proved to be a blockbuster and the concluding half promises to be even more thrilling. Also starring Tamannaah Bhatia, Ramya Krishnan, Anushka Shetty, Nasser and Sathyaraj, the first part of Baahubali was appreciated across the globe for being an absolute visual treat loaded with breathtaking special effects, jaw-dropping stunt sequences and larger-than-life backdrop. Are you ready to venture into the gigantic world of Baahubali again? Chennai: AIADMK's Deputy General Secretary T.T.V. Dinakaran on Wednesday said the state ministers have decided to keep him out of the party due to some fear. Speaking to reporters here he said: "Due to some unknown fear, the ministers have taken the decision." Dinakaran, who is AIADMK General Secretary V.K.Sasikala's nephew, added that he does not know what the ministers are fearing and the U-turn in their stand has happened in a matter of three days. He also said as everybody decided to keep him out of the party affairs, he has decided to stay out. Dinakaran said Sasikala appointed him as the Deputy General Secretary and he would resign his post only after discussing it with her. In a sudden turn of events, Tamil Nadu Finance Minister D. Jayakumar on Tuesday announced that the state ministers have decided to keep out jailed AIADMK leader Sasikala, her nephew Dinakaran and his family out of the party. When queried about the General Secretary's position, Jayakumar said a committee will be formed to run the party. Sasikala was elected as the AIADMK's General Secretary in December 2016. Jayakumar, who made the announcement after meeting Chief Minister K. Palaniswami, told reporters that the AIADMK was bowing to the wishes of party cadres, people, lawmakers, ministers and others to keep Dinakaran and his family members out of the party. "We will run the party and the government," Jayakumar said. "We want to save the party and the government from the clutches of one family." According to Dinakaran those who are in public life should not have any fear. Dinakaran said he would not take any hasty decision and added that he would not act in any way that could harm the party and the government. "I don't have any expectations from the party or the government," Dinakaran added. Earlier in the day, speaking to a news channel in New Delhi LOk Sabha Deputy Speaker M. Thambidurai urged Dinakaran to respect the party's decision. He also said the families of Dinakaran and Sasikala had undergone sufferings and also contributed to the party's growth. The AIADMK split into two after late Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa's death. One faction is led by Sasikala and the other by former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam. The Panneerselvam camp is discussing the latest developments. Rampur: Apparently irked with the growing clamour for banning the evil Sharia traditions like triple talaq, nikah halala etc, senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan has now called for reinstating 'sati pratha'. 'Sati pratha' is an obsolete Hindu tradition where a widow immolated herself on her husband's pyre, before banning triple talaq in the state. Azam Khan has made this appeal to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who has expressed support to demands for banning triple talaq. "Who is stopping him to legislate laws on triple talaq? But first tell me which Muslim opposed ' sati pratha'? 'Sati pratha' is a part of the Hindu culture. Make it applicable, first," Khan said. His remark came after Adityanath said that those silent on the triple talaq issue were equally 'guilty' as the ones practising it. "People maintaining silence are equally guilty," Adityanath said while addressing a launch of book on former prime minister Chandra Shekhar Singh. The Chief Minister further said, "If our criminal suits and marriages are similar, then what is harm to implement Uniform Civil Code in the country." Citing the example of Mahabharata's Draupadi's 'Cheer-haran', he said that the society would also be equally guilty if it does not utter a single word on the issue. The fresh impetus to impose a ban on triple talaq came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly spoke against the issue. "Our Muslim sisters deserve justice. We should try to solve this issue at the district level. We should also proceed on the formula of a new India. We can't simply move forward on a slow pace, but charge ahead with full speed," he said during the BJP National Executive Meeting in Bhubaneswar. With ANI inputs New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) appeal challenging withdrawal of conspiracy charges against senior BJP leaders including LK Advani and others in connection with the Babri Masjid demolition case. The apex court said that the trial has to be completed in two years, adding that day-to-day hearing would continue in a Lucknow court. Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh, who enjoys constitutional immunity, has been given certain relief from the top court. Besides Advani, MM Joshi, Uma Bharti and several others will now face trial on criminal conspiracy charges in the matter. The apex court also ordered that no adjournment would be given under normal circumstances, adding that no judge hearing the case would be transferred. Here are top political reactions to the case:- Pramod Tiwari, Congress I respect Supreme Court for this decision; BJP tried its best to save the leaders but all failed. GVLN Rao, BJP spokesperson We will study the court order on LK Advani, Uma Bharti, MM Joshi and others till then we can't say anything. Vinay Katiyar, BJP MP There is no need for Uma Bharti to resign in the wake of apex court ruling as the charges against her are baseless. We want Ram Mandir to be built soon and are ready to go to jail for the cause. Shaina NC, BJP Ram Temple will be built only by consensus and or court order. We need to move beyond politics on Ram Mandir. Kailash Vijayvargiya, BJP We will discuss the issue, but I don't think we need to take action against our leaders. Utkarsh Anand There will definitely be a demand for (Uma Bharti's) resignation in such serious allegations. Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has warned state officials of action if the ban on liquor shops in important religious places like Ayodhya, Vrindavan, Chitrakoot and Deva Sharif was not strictly implemented. In a meeting with officials of the Excise Department, he also directed that a new excise policy be chalked out with a view to increase the state's revenue. "Strict action will be initiated against officials in case total prohibition was not imposed around religious places and officials responsible will be punished," the chief minister warned officials during the meeting held late last night. Adityanath directed officials that the 8,544 liquor shops whose location has to be changed following a Supreme Court order banning liquor sale along highways should be allowed to open only at a prescribed distance from schools, places of worship, hospitals and populated areas. There should be total prohibition in the one kilometre area around Kanshi Vishvanath Temple in Varanasi, Krishna Janmasthan in Mathura and Sangam in Allahabad, he said. Adityanath also told the Excise Department officials to chalk out on priority, a new excise policy with a view to increasing revenue. KENOSHA The executive orders which President Donald Trump signed at the headquarters of tool manufacturer Snap-on Inc. on Tuesday restrict use of a program used by U.S. companies to bring in foreign technology workers. Another provision calls for a review of federal agencies requirements to buy American-made products. Trumps orders target the H-1B visa program, which the White House says undercuts American workers by bringing in large numbers of cheaper, foreign workers, driving down wages. The tech industry has argued that the H-1B program is needed because it encourages students to stay in the U.S. after getting degrees in high-tech specialties and companies cant always find enough American workers with the skills they need. The new order would direct U.S. agencies to propose rules to prevent immigration fraud and abuse in the program. They would also be asked to offer changes so that H-1B visas are awarded to the most-skilled or highest-paid applicants. Kurt Bauer, president and CEO of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, who attended the speech, said the order returns the program to its original intent. It addresses some of the abuses and puts more emphasis in supplementing our workforce in areas where specific skills are in high demand, Bauer said. Bauer said there are instances where some workers granted H-1B visas were hired into jobs over Americans with similar skills. What this will do is protect Americans who have certain skills that are in demand but also allows those who came into our country to get an education in a specific high-demand field to remain here, Bauer said. Highly skilled positions with often difficult-to-find workers include chemical, nuclear and mechanical engineering. Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council, said small- to mid-sized businesses often are the most challenged to find highly skilled workers. There are some strong signs that some companies have abused the program, Still said. A review of the program is not unneeded while also taking a look at closing some of the loopholes that have emerged over time. There are 386 employees on H-1B visas in the University of Wisconsin System, 206 of them at UW-Madison, according to university officials. UW-Madison spokeswoman Meredith McGlone said the visa program is very important to ensuring our ability to hire and retain top-notch faculty and staff in a globally competitive environment. Campus officials are reviewing Trumps order to determine how it affects the university, McGlone said. The order also seeks to strengthen requirements that American-made products be used in certain federal construction projects, as well as in various federal grant-funded transportation projects. The commerce secretary will review how to close loopholes in existing rules and provide recommendations to the president. The order specifically asks the secretary to review waivers of these rules in free-trade agreements. The waivers could be renegotiated or revoked if they are not seen to be benefiting the United States. Bauer said he had not reviewed specifics on the presidents plan emphasizing use of American-made products in certain federal projects but believes it could be good for Wisconsin in the long run. On the surface it makes sense, Bauer said. In Wisconsin, 20 percent of the states GNP is manufacturing, with 465,000 Wisconsinites working in manufacturing. Buckley Brinkman, executive director and CEO of the Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing Productivity, said an emphasis on buying American-made products is a welcome sentiment but one that needs to be better defined. Brinkman said there was a time when the state favored purchasing as much as it could from Wisconsin-based businesses. But when it came time to buy new motorcycles for the State Patrol, it would buy them from Milwaukee-based Harley-Davidson, which often carry a premium price. They would still buy motorcycles from Harley-Davidson even through there were motorcycles available at lower cost, Brinkman said. Specifics of (Buy American) can be driven to an extreme. Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will be on a day-long visit to Jhansi to review various developmental works of the state government including provision of drinking water and wheat purchase in backward Bundelkhand region. Official sources said Adityanath may also inspect the various ponds constructed for the purpose of water conservation in the perennially arid zone of the state bordering Madhya Pradesh. Bundelkhand covers a geographical area of around 70,000 square kilometres and includes seven districts of UP and six districts of MP. It comprises 13 districts in all -- Jhansi, Lalitpur, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Mahoba, Banda and Chitrakoot (all in UP), and Datia, Tikamgarh, Chhatarpur, Panna, Sagar and Damoh (all in MP). His visit to Jhansi tomorrow assumes significance as it will be his first visit to the parched region of the state after assuming office, almost a month ago. The BJP in its Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra (manifesto for 2017 UP Assembly elections) had said that it will constitute Bundelkhand Development Board to ensure all-round development of region. The manifesto also mentioned that the party will form Pond Development Authority (Talab Vikas Pradhikaran) to ensure conservation and revamping of various ponds. In a major decision announced on April 2, the Adityanath government approved Rs 47 crore-package to ensure immediate availability of drinking water to Bundelkhand region. The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister had said that if needed, the state government would make available additional funds under this head, but there should not be any problem of drinking water for the people and the cattle in Bundelkhand region. The chief minister had said that Budelkhand was continuously ignored in the last 15 years and no step had been taken to ensure the development of the region when SP and BSP were in power. Adityanath had said he was aware of the hardships faced by the people of the region. The backwardness of Bundelkhand region was a key election issue, during the recently held assembly polls. Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday accused the BJP and its sister organisations of distorting her views and opinions and misleading the people by using fake accounts on social media. Without naming the BJP, she alleged in a Facebook post, "In the recent past, one section of religious group, belonging to a political party ruling at the Centre and also in the name of their sister organisations and others (either using real or fictitious names) are distorting my views, opinions, sayings and thus misleading people with my photos through some fake accounts." "I strongly condemn such scandalous activities by the so-called Hindu zealots. These type of communal forces, with their political vendetta, are maligning people," she alleged. "The members of minority communities, SC, ST, OBC, backward communities, general class and women are not being spared. I'm sorry to say that the current situation is a horrifying signal of the dark future of our country in their hands," she claimed. "They cannot fight the battle politically and also on developmental front with me. So they are launching personal attack and hate campaign through social media," Banerjee claimed. "But this is not the reality. One cannot fool people all the time. Ultimately, the truth will prevail everywhere," she said. "We do not need lessons on Hinduism from them. Hinduism is universal and it teaches us religious tolerance. Hindu religion is not the monopoly of the so-called Hindus. We are proud of Hindu religion and all religions as well," the Trinamool Congress supremo said in her post. Kolkata: Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday said BJP's progress in the recent Kanthi Dakshin assembly by-polls indicated the "declining popularity" of West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and other political parties. "It is indicative of the efforts put in by the BJP's Bengal unit. It is also indicative of the declining popularity of TMC and other political parties in West Bengal," Irani told media persons here. Referring to her party's improved showing in the by-poll where it finished second, pushing the Left Front to third place, the Bharatiya Janata Party leader said: "It is indicative of the future directions the BJP is headed." The Trinamool retained the Kanthi Dakshin assembly seat, with its share of votes going up. "You cannot take citizens of West Bengal for granted anymore," the Minister said when asked about allegations that state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has not taken any steps against the accused party leaders and ministers in the Saradha chit fund and Narada sting operation cases. Citing the success of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana and Mudra Yojana, she said the BJP government has delivered in terms of development activities to the people of the state. Asked about the state government slapping cases against BJP workers in the state, Irani said: "Law and order is a state subject. There is expectation from the constitutional framework that law would not be misused for politics." She, however, declined to make any comment on CBI's investigation in the chit fund and the sting operation case. "As a union cabinet minister, I cannot talk about the ongoing investigation. It would be improper for me to do so," she said. Irani said one should not create an environment that could subjugate any particular investigation agency to any kind of pressure. "The courts and agencies will ensure that justice is done," she said, adding that her party and central government "respect constitutional procedural and due process of law". Refuting state opposition parties' allegations of an "understanding" between the Trinamool and the BJP, she said BJP workers were beaten up and supporters were threatened. "Does it mean any understanding," she asked. Queried on the stand of a section of BJP state leaders that central leaders during their visit to Bengal should not remain soft on Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, Irani said: "I do not think so. Many senior BJP leaders have come to West Bengal. It is indicative of the support of government of India to Bengal, and is indicative of the support of BJP's national president." She also did not give a direct reply to a poser as to whether the Mamata government was appeasing the minorities. "When you have deteriorating law and order situation that affects every citizen... When you have no electricity in rural areas, it affects everybody... When you have no industries to employ youth, that affects every family," she said. Beirut: A bomb blast killed six people and injured 32 in the Salah al-Din district of Aleppo, Syrian state television reported on Wednesday without giving further details. Salah al-Din is located west of Aleppo`s Old City in a district that was part of the last rebel enclave there until it was taken over by the Syrian army in an advance in December. Moscow: A cargo ship with 12 persons aboard sank in the Black Sea on Wednesday, prompting a large-scale rescue operation. At least seven crewmembers of the dry cargo ship Geroi Arsenala are still missing, RT News reported. Over 120 rescuers and eight vessels are taking part in the rescue mission, Russia`s Emergencies Ministry said. "The Geroi Arsenala sank, five people have been rescued, the search for seven people is under way," a source said. However, conflicting reports said only one of the crewmembers had been rescued alive. The nationals of at least three states -- Russia, Ukraine and Georgia -- were aboard the ship. The ship, which was sailing under the Panamanian flag and heading from the Russian port city of Azov to Turkey, was loaded with grain. Beijing: China, a close ally of North Korea, today expressed serious concern over Pyongyang's plans to step up its nuclear and missile programmes. China is seriously concerned about the latest developments in the nuclear and missile programmes of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said. Lu's comments came after North Korea's deputy ambassador to the UN and its vice Foreign Minister reportedly said that a new nuclear test was under preparation and more missile tests would be conducted on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis. "China is committed to denuclearising the Korean Peninsula, maintaining peace and stability there, and resolving problems through dialogue and consultation. China's stance on this is unswerving," Lu said in strongest comments against North Korea in the present crisis. Lu stressed that given the complicated and sensitive situation on the Korean Peninsula, China firmly opposes any words and deeds that could heighten hostility and tension and called on all parties involved to make efforts to ease the tension. Two days ago Lu welcomed the US to play a positive role in peacefully resolving the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue as US Vice President Mike Pence put North Korea on notice pointing to American airstrikes in Syria and Afghanistan. "We are willing to work with all parties concerned to achieve denuclearisation and safeguard peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula," Lu said responding to Pence comments made in Seoul. "Just in the past two weeks, the world witnessed the strength and resolve of our new president in actions taken in Syria and Afghanistan," Pence had said, referring to missile strikes in Syria for deadly chemical attack and dropping of the mother of all bombs over IS hideout in Afghanistan. "North Korea would do well not to test his resolve or the strength of the armed forces of the United States in this region," Pence said. On April 14, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said conflict over North Korea could break out "at any moment" and warned there would be "no winner" in any war. "There has been heightened tension between the US, the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The precarious situation deserves our attention and concern," Wang said, without directly referring to threats of strong retaliation threatened by US President Donal Trump if North?Korea?resorts to nuclear test. Lu Chao, director of the China's Border Studies Institute at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that the latest test, despite its failure, could be another defiant message from Pyongyang that it will not change its tough stance in the face of US pressure even though the failure showed that Pyongyang's missile technology was flawed. Manila: The death toll from a Philippine bus that plunged into a ravine rose to 31 with signs that overloading contributed to the crash, a police official said today. The accident, which saw the bus come off a winding road to fall 24 metres (80 feet) into a ravine in the upland province of Nueva Ecija on Tuesday, also left 46 injured with four still in a critical condition, said Senior Superintendent Antonio Yarra. "The wheel burst and that caused the bus to fall into ravine. It seems that it (the bus) was overloaded. Because of the overloading, it was beyond the capacity of the wheel to hold," Yarra, the provincial police chief told AFP. He said a count determined there were 77 passengers on board, much higher than earlier estimates. He declined to say who might be held responsible as the investigation was ongoing. Road accidents are common in the Philippines, where old, badly maintained buses often drive on poorly lit roads. In February, 13 students and a driver were killed while on holiday in a mountainous region when their bus slammed into a post. Paris: French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen says all the presidential contenders and all French people are potential attack targets. The candidates for France's first-round presidential election Sunday have increased security in recent days. Authorities announced yesterday that they had arrested two Islamic radicals suspected of plotting a possible attack around the vote. While prosecutors haven't identified the potential targets, Le Pen said on BFM television that "we are all targets. All the French." Le Pen also defended her decision to force national French news network TF1 to take down the European flag during an interview Tuesday night. She said Wednesday that "I am a candidate in the election for the French republic" and said Europe is acting like France's "enemy." Thessaloniki: Military officials in Greece say four army officers have been killed and one injured in the crash of a border patrol helicopter in northern Greece. The incident occurred on Wednesday, north of the town of Elassona, some 450 kilometres northwest of Athens. Army officials say the Huey UH-1H helicopter had been on a routine border patrol flight. A Greek military official confirmed the deaths to The Associated Press, but insisted on anonymity pending an official announcement. An extensive search of the rugged area was launched after the army lost contact with the helicopter, which had taken off from the central city of Larissa. Jakarta: A former Indonesian education minister won the race for Jakarta governor on Wednesday after a polarising campaign that cast a shadow over Indonesia`s reputation for practicing a tolerant form of Islam. Anies Baswedan won with 58 percent of the votes versus 42 percent for Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, known by his Chinese nickname as "Ahok", based on 100 percent of the votes in an unofficial "quick count" by Indikator Politik. Other pollsters showed similar results with 99 percent counted. The national elections commission will announce official results in early May. The turbulent campaign featured mass rallies led by a hardline Islamist movement, which has strengthened in recent years in a country long dominated by a moderate form of Islam. More than 80 percent of Indonesia`s population professes Islam. "Going forward, the politics of religion is going to be a potent force," said Keith Loveard, an analyst at Jakarta-based Concord Consulting and an author of books about Indonesian politics. Baswedan`s huge margin of victory was surprising since opinion polls in the run-up to the election had pointed to a dead-heat. Purnama won the first round of voting for governor in February in a three-way race. Indonesian social media users likened the election outcome to the shock results of the U.S. presidential vote and the Brexit vote of last year. One Twitter user, @fuadhn, said Indonesians "can feel what US and British citizens feel now. Welcome populism..." The election came on the eve of a visit by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, as the Trump administration seeks to engage the world`s fourth-largest nation and largest Muslim-majority country as an emerging regional power. Pence is scheduled on Thursday to visit the biggest mosque in Southeast Asia, Jakarta`s Istiqlal Mosque. KENOSHA President Donald Trump had yet to arrive in Kenosha for a planned appearance at the headquarters of tool manufacturer Snap-on, Inc. early Tuesday afternoon, but more than 100 protesters were already gathered at a nearby park to show how they felt about his visit. Representing a variety of interests from labor to LGBTQ rights the protesters lambasted Trump for his immigration, health care and economic policies. They carried signs calling the president a fascist and criticizing, among other things, his alleged ties to Russia, his treatment of women, and his administrations perceived embrace of nepotism. But those critical of the president werent the only people to turn up Tuesday; others turned out in support. Trumps promise of returning manufacturing jobs to the U.S. resonated with voters such as Chris Manoyan, 54, who joined the crowd of about 100 Trump supporters gathered across 80th Street from Snap-on while Trump was inside. Manoyan took time off from her job as a property manager to show support for Trump, waving a blue Make America Great Again! flag. I think hes done a lot in a short period of time. I think hes doing a good job, Manoyan said. The protest The anti-Trump protest, nearby at Sunnyside Park, 8216 26th Ave., was organized by the progressive political action organization Forward Kenosha, and drew speakers from a bevy of Democratic-leaning groups, all of them critical of both Trump and U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, whose congressional district includes all of Racine and Kenosha counties. Trump made the trip to Snap-on to promote and sign an executive order aimed at making changes to a visa program that brings in high-skilled workers. Protesters, including Gina Walkington, a founding member of Forward Kenosha, were less than impressed with the order, dubbed Buy American, Hire American, however. (Trump) is here today in Kenosha to tell us to buy American, but if you buy a Trump tie its made in China, Walkington said. One group brought along a giant inflatable chicken with a golden pompadour to encourage the real estate tycoon to release his taxes. Dubbed Chicken Don the inflatable caricature was brought to Wisconsin from Washington, D.C., by Tax March Milwaukee. Tom Gilding, a retired Burlington High School teacher who was among the protesters, said Trumps decision to not release his taxes shows a lack of transparency in his administration. Gilding helped hold up the inflated chicken that was about 10 feet tall. Gilding, 65, had a sign that read What are you afraid of, Donald? Release your taxes. If the chicken could say anything, he would say that, he said. Action urged Terrance Warthen, a representative with Our Wisconsin Revolution, a grassroots organization aimed at furthering a more equitable and democratic society, urged those gathered to focus on get-out-the vote efforts. Alderman (John) Tate, who just won election (to the City Council in Racine), won by four votes. That is a young progressive that we now have in city government in Racine that won by four votes, said Warthen, of Kenosha. The marching is great. The signs are great. The petitions are great. The Facebook comments make us feel better throughout our day. Nothing changes, nothing matters unless you get in that ballot box. Nothing. Touching on immigration rights, a group of young people with Voces De La Frontera in Racine took the stage to urge those gathered to call on Mike Frontier, the president of the Racine Unified School District Board, to place a resolution on the next boards next agenda that would prevent the district from collaborating with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Now, more than ever, we must protect our students in schools, said Valeria Ruiz Lira, a 20-year-old Case High School graduate and undocumented immigrant. Tell (Mike Frontier) that as a community member, religious leader, or ally, you support the safe zone resolution. Tehran: Iran has showcased its latest locally-developed anti-aircraft missiles at an annual Army Day parade. Some of the trucks carrying the weapons were decorated with banners featuring anti-Israel slogans. The Army Day parade was held in Tehran on Tuesday with troops from all branches of the armed forces taking part. The ceremony also included tanks, armoured vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), fighter jets, radar systems and air defence systems. Certain parts of the parade drew particular attention, including anti-Israeli banners that read "Death to Israel" in Persian and showed a fist punching through the Jewish Star of David. Attending the massive military parade was President Hassan Rouhani, who said in his address that Iranians "should always maintain alertness against conspiracies by others and should enhance our deterrent power day by day," as cited by Press TV. Rouhani said that Iranian forces defend the whole of the "important and sensitive" region of the Middle East, and promised a "vigorous and determined" response to potential aggressors. He also accused "some of the world`s armies" of spearheading "intervention in other countries" internal affairs, genocide, terrorism sponsorship, and lack of regard for the people`s opinion and law." According to Fars news agency, Iranian-made Sayyad (Hunter) 3 anti-aircraft missiles was showcased during the parade for the first time. The Sayyad 3 can also be mounted on the Bavar 373, Iran`s locally-developed long-range air defence system. The development of the Bavar 373 was announced in September 2011, shortly after Russia cancelled a contract to supply Iran with S-300 systems, according to UK military think tank Jane`s. Israel`s relations with Iran have been strained for decades. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli firebrand leader, vehemently opposes the landmark 2015 nuclear deal that imposed limits on Iran`s nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. In previous public statements, the Israeli PM repeatedly claimed Tehran is seeking to annihilate Israel and poses a threat to Europe and the West. Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump, who previously referred to Iran as the "number one terrorist state", ordered a review of the nuclear deal. Russia earlier voiced concern over Washington`s policy towards Iran, saying it disagrees over labelling it a "terrorist state". Riyadh: US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to reinvigorate the Riyadh-Washington alliance, with both seeing a common adversary in Iran and its "destabilising" activities. The United States and Saudi Arabia have a decades-old relationship based on the exchange of American security for Saudi oil. But ties between Riyadh and Washington became increasingly frayed during the administration of president Barack Obama. Saudi leaders felt Obama was reluctant to get involved in the civil war in Syria and was tilting toward Riyadh's regional rival Iran. The Sunni Muslim kingdom "felt That deal, signed in July 2015 by the Obama administration, saw the lifting of international sanctions in exchange for guarantees that Tehran will not pursue a nuclear weapons capability. Mattis arrived in Riyadh yesterday afternoon, wishing to "reinvigorate" ties by listening to Saudi leaders and learning "what are their priorities", the official said. The retired four-star Marine general will meet King The deputy crown prince last month met President Donald Trump in Washington. Saudi leaders worry about Iran interfering in Arab countries by using Shiite communities to advance their pawns, as in Bahrain, Lebanon and Yemen. Bordering Saudi Arabia, Yemen has been torn for more than two years by a civil war between Iran-backed Huthi rebels, their allies, and pro-government forces aided by a Saudi-led military coalition that receives some military support from the US. The Saudis have found a more Mattis has called Iran "the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world". In February, Trump imposed new sanctions on Tehran after a ballistic missile test launch, and in response to its support for Yemen's rebels. The US military is watching Rebels in late January attacked a Saudi warship in the Red Sea, and they are also believed to have fired missiles towards US warships in the area. The United States accuses the rebels of deploying coastal "I am extraordinarily concerned about another contested maritime chokepoint in the region," US Central Command chief General Joseph Votel told the House Armed Services Committee in March. Kathmandu: Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari's ongoing state visit to India has been "fruitful" in enhancing the bilateral relations and goodwill between the two neighbours, Foreign Affairs Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat said here today. India's President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and various political parties highlighted the significance of the Nepal-India ties during their meetings with Bhandari and extended best wishes to Nepal in its efforts towards implementing the Constitution and holding the local- level elections, he said. "This visit has been fruitful in enhancing the relations and goodwill between the two countries," Mahat, who was a member of the high-level delegation accompanying Bhandari to India, told reporters upon his arrival at the Tribhuvan International Airport. "They have also expressed the commitment to support Nepal in its development endeavours," the Minister was quoted as saying by The Kathmandu Post. Responding to questions that Bhandari was received at the airport by India's Minister of State, Mahat said there was nothing lacking in the honour India accorded to Nepal's President. "The guard of honour that India gave to Nepal's President at the Rashtrapati Bhawan is an important thing. The Indian President, Prime Minister and distinguished personalities were present on the occasion," he said. Mahat said Bhandari went to the airport when Mukherjee arrived on a state visit to Nepal as Nepal has the tradition of presenting the guard of honour at the airport itself. Bhandari, who arrived in New Delhi on Monday on a five- day visit, was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. This is Bhandari's first visit abroad after assuming office in 2015. She was scheduled to have visited India last May, but the trip was cancelled after the then cabinet in Nepal said it was not adequately prepared for it. During her stay in India, she is also expected to travel to Gujarat and Odisha. Colombo: The death toll from a garbage dump collapse in Sri Lanka on Wednesday rose to 32. Eight persons remain missing. The Sri Lankan Disaster Management Centre said search and rescue work was on at the Meethotamulla garbage dumping site, Xinhua news agency reported. Several houses were buried after the massive garbage mountain collapsed on April 14. A fire also broke out at the site and the Air Force was deployed to douse the flame. Residents have been protesting over the months, urging the authorities to move the garbage to another location. The government said there would be no more dumping of garbage at Meethotamulla. President Maithripala Sirisena has told officials to give maximum relief to the affected people. Rashidin: The evacuation of civilians and fighters from besieged Syrian towns resumed on Wednesday after a weekend bombing at a transit point killed 126 people, 68 of them children, an AFP correspondent reported. Dozens of buses from the government-held towns of Fuaa and Kafraya, which have been under crippling siege for more than two years, reached the edge of the rebel-held transit point of Rashidin outside government-held second city Aleppo, the correspondent said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the hard-won evacuation deal was back under way. "The process has resumed with 3,000 people leaving Fuaa and Kafraya at dawn and nearly 300 leaving Zabadani and two other rebel-held areas," the head of the Britain-based monitoring group, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP. Rashidin was the scene of Saturday`s deadly bombing. At least 109 of the dead were evacuees. The rest were aid workers and rebels guarding the convoy. Dozens of wounded were taken to hospitals in nearby rebel-held territory, while others were taken to Aleppo. The evacuations were taking place under a deal between the government and the rebels that is also seeing residents and rebels transported out of Madaya and Zabadani, towns near Damascus that are surrounded by pro-government forces. The agreement is the latest in a string of such deals, which the government of President Bashar al-Assad says are the best way to end the violence after more than six years of civil war. Rebels say they amount to forced relocation after years of bombardment and siege. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Saturday`s bombing. Islamist rebel group Ahrar al-Sham, which has many fighters in the area, denied any involvement. The government blamed "terrorists" -- a catch-all term for its opponents. The evacuation deal was brokered late last month by Qatar, a longtime supporter of the rebels, and Iran, a key regime ally. Its implementation had been repeatedly delayed. Kabul: At least 14 Taliban fighters, including the shadow governor of the northern Baghlan province, have been killed in heavy fighting with Afghan forces, officials said today. Amir Gul Hussainkhil, the deputy provincial police chief, said Afghan security forces launched a large-scale attack on the insurgents the night before in the western part of the province, setting off five hours of intense fighting and killing Taliban shadow governor Mawlavi Lal Mohammad. Hussainkhil said the dead also included a number of expert bomb makers. He says no government forces were killed. The Taliban confirmed that the shadow governor was killed and said four other fighters died in the clashes. Elsewhere in Afghanistan, a roadside bomb killed a district police chief and his driver in the southern Zabul province late yesterday, according to Gul Islam Sial, spokesman for the provincial governor. He said four police were wounded in the blast. In the northern Takhar province, Taliban fighters killed a senior border police officer and wounded four police in an ambush early today, police spokesman Khalil Aseer said. California: A 39-year-old man went on a shooting spree in the central California city of Fresno on Tuesday, killing three people and injuring another before being arrested, authorities said. Fresno police chief Jerry Dyer told reporters that the suspect, an African-American named Kori Ali Muhammad, shouted "Allahu Akbar" -- "God is great" in Arabic -- as he was being taken into custody. But he said it did not appear the killings were an act of terrorism and a probe was under way to determine if they qualified as a hate crime. He said Muhammad, who used the alias "Black Jesus" and was wanted in the killing last week of an unarmed security guard outside a motel in the city, had indicated in postings on his Facebook page that he hated white people and the government. "This was a random act of violence," Dyer said. "These were unprovoked attacks by an individual who was intent on carrying out homicides today." He said all the victims were white males and there was every reason to believe Muhammad had acted alone. Lieutenant Mark Hudson, a police spokesman, told AFP the FBI had been contacted about the killings. A spokeswoman for the FBI declined comment, referring media inquiries to local police.Dyer said Tuesday`s shooting spree began downtown at around 10:45 am local time when one man sitting in a truck was shot through the passenger window. The other victims were shot nearby during a rampage that lasted about a minute and during which up to 16 rounds were fired. Dyer said Muhammad surrendered to police at the scene, telling officers "you guys are looking for me." Dyer said Muhammad had a criminal history including for weapons violations, drugs and making terrorist threats. He said he was known to be homeless at times, and had associated with gangs. Muhammad`s father, Vincent Taylor, told The Los Angeles Times that his son was convinced he was part of an ongoing war between whites and blacks, and that "a battle was about to take place." Muhammad faces four counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder, authorities said. Hudson said the weapon used in the killings had not been recovered. The rampage is likely to reignite a long-running debate in the US on gun control, an issue that has dogged successive administrations. More than 30,000 people are killed by gun violence in the United States every year, half of them between the ages of 18 and 35, according to statistics. So far this year, there have been more than 17,700 incidents involving guns nationwide and 4,405 fatalities, Gun Violence Archive, a not-for-profit group, said on its website. It said the victims include at least 184 children up to 11 years old and 914 teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17. President Donald Trump has yet to spell out his policy on gun control. With Republicans in control of the White House and Congress, some critics fear his administration will ease restrictions. Washington: US President Donald Trump will host Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas at the White House May 3 for talks on efforts to revive the Middle East peace process, the White House said Wednesday. "They will use the visit to reaffirm the commitment of both the United States and Palestinian leadership to pursuing and ultimately concluding a conflict-ending settlement between the Palestinians and Israel," White House press secretary Sean Spicer said. The meeting would be Trump`s first with Abbas, and follows a series of US contacts with the Palestinian leader. Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have repeatedly run aground despite periodic US efforts to revive them, most recently by former secretary of state John Kerry. But Abbas, who met in Ramallah recently with CIA chief Mike Pompeo and Trump`s special representative Jason Greenblatt, has said Trump is "seriously considering a solution to the Palestinian issue." The US president held talks last week in Washington with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Jordan`s King Abdullah. Shortly after taking office, Trump alarmed Palestinians by calling into question his administration`s support for a two-state solution, a bedrock of US policy. But he has since warned Israel against "unrestrained" building of settler homes in the occupied West Bank. Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping has asked the PLA's newly-formed 84 large military units to prepare themselves for combat and give priority to building "new-type" fighting capabilities in electronic, information and space warfare. Xi, also the Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the overall high command of the 2.3 million-strong military, spoke to the commanders of the new units here yesterday and asked them to improve their joint operation capabilities and technology level. He said the new units of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) must prepare themselves for combat and study wars. The President told the new forces to conduct more combat exercises and give priority to building "new-type" fighting capabilities, state-run China Daily reported today. In PLA terminology, "new-type" fighting capabilities generally refers to capabilities of engaging in electronic, information and space operations. Xi's call for building "new-type" fighting capabilities of the world's largest military came as Beijing prepares to counter the US deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) interceptor missiles in South Korea, whose powerful radars could see through most of the part of China including its missile development programme. As it expanded strategic influence, China is also flexing its military might especially in the neighbourhood over the territorial disputes with India, Japan and countries in the South China Sea. All 84 of the new units are at combined corps level, which means their commanders have or soon will be promoted to a rank of either major general in the Ground Force, Air Force and Rocket Force or rear admiral in the Navy. Though the PLA has not disclosed how these units were set up, it is likely that they were created through the regrouping of existing forces rather than recruiting new personnel, because the Chinese military is still engaged in cutting its troops by three lakhs, the daily said. The units' emergence also indicates that the PLA's structural shake-up has taken effect. At a CMC conference in December, Xi ordered the military's structure to be adjusted and optimised, calling for a smaller but capable and flexible military, the report said. The establishment of the units is the latest move in a massive reform the PLA is undergoing. The unprecedented reform began in November 2015, when the Central Military Commission unveiled a blueprint for the PLA's development. The commission pledged to establish a leaner and more efficient command chain to reduce the number of non-combatant personnel and departments and to build the PLA into a mightier force capable of winning modern wars. Since then, the PLA has set up a headquarters for its Ground Force, founded a Strategic Support Force dedicated to electronic, information and space operations, and established a Rocket Force to replace the former Second Artillery Corps. The previous four top PLA departments-staff, politics, logistics and armaments-were dismantled, the report said. YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. Armenias President Serzh Sargsyan, who is currently in Bishkek on a working visit, participated in the Eurasian Economic Supreme Council session with other EEU member state heads of states President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev, President of Russia Vladimir Putin and President of Moldova Igor Dodon, who was invited to the session. Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission Tigran Sargsyan was also present at the session. The Presidents Office told ARMENPRESS the narrow format and expanded format sessions were chaired by the President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev the country which chairs in the organization. Among the dozen of agenda issues the EEU member state presidents were briefed on the 2015-2016 EEU international activitys main direction report, the main guidelines of the macroeconomic policy of member states of 2017-2018 were discussed, and the documents on presenting candidates for EEC board members and making changes in the working procedure of the Eurasian Economic Commission. The interim agreement draft, which is being designed, between the EEU and member states and Iran, aimed at creating a free trade zone, was also discussed. Among other issues, the issue of granting Moldova a status of observer in the Eurasian Economic Union was also discussed. The Presidents decided to hold the next session on October 11 in Moscow. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan delivered a speech at the Eurasian Economic Supreme Council session, saying: "Distinguished Heads of State, Colleagues, Before referring to one or two issues presented for the discussions at the plenary session of the Supreme Council, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambaev for organizing todays meeting at such a high level, as well as for the hospitality and warm welcome. The shaping of our common economic area and its development for the second year in a row is taking place in a complex global economic situation which is manifested in the decreasing tempo of the global economic growth and geopolitical convulsions. All this on one hand creates certain problems for the full-fledged functioning of our Union, on the other hand it opens new opportunities for a closer cooperation of our countries. Under these conditions, the concerted steps taken by our countries allowed the member state to stabilize to some extent the situation, to achieve the macroeconomic stability through the assistance to some areas and branches, which has translated into the tendency of growth in some countries in the areas of industrial and agricultural production. In particular, in 2016 the gross domestic product indicators in Armenia showed positive dynamics; there was registered the increase of activities in the production, agricultural, and service areas. Armenias turnover with the EAEU countries grew by more than 15%, and the export of the Armenian goods to the Eurasian market grew by 65%. There was registered the increase of the turnover with third countries as well. Our countries have similar goals for development which we, in particular, see in the introduction of industrial innovations, high technologies in the area of agriculture, digitalized economy, and renewable sources of energy. It is also important to make concerted efforts aimed at the implementation of the mutually beneficial cooperation programs. We have two main objectives: First, to fortify the Union from within, further liberalize our common economic area through the elimination of the barriers, reduce exemptions related to the free move of goods, services, capital, and labor. Second objective is the amplification of the EAEUs international engagement. These two objectives complement each other and affect the efficiency and international standing of the Organization. From the viewpoint of further strengthening of the international standing of our integration union, we attach great importance to the invigoration of the EAEU cooperation with the third countries which are ready for a true partnership, and with pivotal integration units. In 2016, issues of cooperation with Iran, China, India, Egypt and some other countries were discussed in a constructive spirit. Armenia is interested in securing these agreements legally, particularly with the Islamic Republic of Iran with which we have pragmatic, mutually beneficial, and good neighborly relations. From this point of view, we assess positively the cooperation process between the Eurasian Economic Commission and European Commission as an important factor for the promotion of a dialogue between the two integration unions which will be conducive for the exchange of experience, exploration of the avenues for integration and cooperation, and a harmonious, complementary and mutually beneficial development. Distinguished Heads of State, The efficiency of the EAEU is also dependent on the smooth and coordinated works of the state bodies of the member states, Eurasian Economic Commission, and business circles. With this regard, we expect that the Eurasian Economic Commission, within the scope of its authority, will provide proposals on the resolution of the problems facing the Union. We also view as important the creation and publishing by the Eurasian Economic Commission in cooperation with the state bodies of the member states of the so called White Book which will present by consent of the parties 60 barriers existing within the Unions market. I hope that the road map for their elimination with the proper timetable will be created soon. Armenia will continue to implement the preset programs aimed at thwarting the negative tendencies present in the global economy, promoting sustainable development, including through the utilization of the integration potential of the Union. Thank you." YEREVAN, APRIL 19, ARMENPRESS. The Yerevan City Council election campaign will launch on April 21 during which the political forces participating in the election will present their visions and programs on Yerevans development to the public. Armenpress presents the visions, as well as slogans of political forces for the Yerevan City Council election. Ruben Tadevosyan Chairman of the Organizational Commission of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) told Armenpress that the party will take part in the election with For the sake of Yerevan slogan. The partys pre-election program will be released on April 21. We will release our program within the set timeframes which will be posted on our website, Tadevosyan said. He informed that as in the parliamentary election, in the Yerevan City Council election as well the RPA will have a separate website, however, he didnt specify the name of the website. Yelk (Way out) bloc representative, member of Civil Contract party Alen Simonyan told Armenpress that the blocs slogan for the election is Dear Yerevan, there is a way out. We have already decided the slogan, and the blocs pre-election program will be released soon, Alen Simonyan said. Yerkir Tsirani party will release both the slogan and the pre-election program on April 21, on the day of the launch of election campaign. Party President and Yerevan Mayor candidate Zaruhi Postanjyan said their program is significantly different from the programs of the remaining political forces. The partys activity will be focused on ensuring the direct engagement of Diaspora-Armenians in all spheres of Armenias public life. The Yerevan City Council election will be held on May 14. The Republican Party of Armenia, Yelk bloc and the Yerkir Tsirani party will take part in the election. The Ruling Partys proportional list is headed by the current Mayor Taron Margaryan, the list of Yelk bloc is headed by opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan, and Yerkir Tsiranis list is headed by Zaruhi Postanjyan, president of the party.The passport and visa department of the Police provided information on the number of voters in Yerevan to the CEC. 841973 people are eligible to vote in the Yerevan City Council election. YEREVAN, APRIL 19, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Turkey Mevlut Cavusoglu addressed accusations against OSCE/ODIHR and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on their critical report published over the constitutional referendum in Turkey held on April 16, Anadolu reports. Cavusoglu said the OSCE/ODIHR and the PACE observers took part in the rallies against the referendum and attended no campaign before the referendum. This time the delegation came with bad intentions and made political remarks rather than technical, meanwhile their work is not to make political comments, the Turkish FM said. He also blamed the observer mission members on supporting terrorism, stating that their report is not binding. FM Cavusoglu also stated that they will present their final proposal on visa regime liberalization to the EU. Let them decide. Either yes or no. If they say no, the remaining agreements, including the agreement on refugees will be terminated, he said. On April 17 the OSCE issued a statement on Turkeys constitutional referendum results. The statement said the referendum was contested on an unlevel playing field, and the two sides in the campaign did not have equal opportunities. In general, the referendum did not live up to Council of Europe standards. The legal framework was inadequate for the holding of a genuinely democratic process, Cezar Florin Preda, Head of the delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, said. The referendum took place in a political environment in which fundamental freedoms essential to a genuinely democratic process were curtailed under the state of emergency, and the two sides did not have equal opportunities to make their case to the voters, said Tana de Zulueta, Head of the ODIHR limited election observation mission. Our monitoring showed the Yes campaign dominated the media coverage and this, along with restrictions on the media, the arrests of journalists and the closure of media outlets, reduced voters access to a plurality of views. YEREVAN, APRIL 19, ARMENPRESS. Vice-Speaker of the Parliament, Head of Armenia-China parliamentary friendship group Hermine Naghdalyan and the group members on April 18 were hosted by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of China to Armenia Tian Erlong, press service of the Parliament told Armenpress. Mr. Tian Erlong warmly welcomed and addressed his best wishes to all members of Armenia-China parliamentary friendship group, expressing hope that the existing friendly relations and mutual partnership between the two countries will be expanded and strengthened. The Chinese Ambassador said all members of the group are Chinas friends regardless of whether they will be included in the next parliament or Armenia-China friendship group. In her turn Hermine Naghdalyan said the cooperation between Armenia-China friendship group and the Chinese Embassy in Armenia, as well as the mutual relations of both countries have been productively developed. In particular, there are already serious achievements and cooperation prospects in the fields of culture, education, economy and defense. Both sides expressed hope that the cooperation between the parliaments of Armenia and China will record a stable progress under the next convocation parliament as well. YEREVAN, APRIL 19, ARMENPRESS. Agriculture minister of Armenia Ignati Arakelyan held a meeting on April 18 with executives of several major Iranian greenhouse construction and tomato paste production companies. The Iranian businessmen briefly introduced their operations and mentioned they are greatly interested in cooperating with Armenia in various directions in the agricultural field. Namely, the Iranian entrepreneurs expressed willingness to establish a tomato reprocessing plant in Armenia with the purpose of exporting the products to EEU countries. They added they expect the assistance of the agriculture ministry over this issue. They also mentioned they plan to sign contracts with Armenian farmers for organizing the production of tomato. Minister Arakelyan expressed willingness to assist the Iranian side in organizing the tomato reprocessing and production of tomato paste in Armenia. In order to have more comprehensive information regarding the seeds of local varieties, the minister suggested the guests to closely cooperate with the Scientific center of Vegetable and Industrial Crops SNCO and with other scientific centers operating under the ministry. Iganti Arakelyan suggested presenting a business project in order to make the partnership practical with the businessmen. The meeting also focused on the possibilities of greenhouse production in Armenia and organizing the production of agricultural and other goods by joint efforts. YEREVAN, APRIL 19, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of the Parliament of Armenia Galust Sahakyan on April 19 held a meeting with newly appointed Ambassador of Serbia to Armenia Dusan Spasojevic, press service of the Parliament told Armenpress. Galust Sahakyan congratulated the Ambassador on his appointment and wished him a productive work. Talking about the Armenian-Serbian relations, the Parliament Speaker said they are based on friendship and mutual support. In this context he attached importance to the role of parliamentary friendship groups on the development of bilateral ties, strengthening the contacts between the two peoples. In his turn the Serbian Ambassador thanked for the reception, as well as presented the recent political changes in his country and conveyed the greetings of Serbias Parliament Speaker to Galust Sahakyan. The Ambassador attached importance to boosting the cooperation in various spheres and strengthening the friendship between the two peoples. Dusan Spasojevic presented the upcoming programs, talked about the prospects on visa regime liberalization between the two countries and opening embassies in Serbia and Armenia. Speaker Sahakyan expressed his support to the Ambassadors initiatives and wished success in his further activities. Fresh prepared foods manufacturer Bakkavor is set to hire 100 new members of staff at its factory in Bourne, Lincolnshire. The site is looking to fill vacancies in a range of roles including production operatives, team leaders and other skilled positions. The recruitment drive is part of a broader Bakkavor initiative across the country following the employment of an additional 1,000 people last year. The company said it was increasing capacity to meet higher demands from customers. Jonathan Zair, head of operations at Bakkavor business Bourne Prepared Produce, said this was an exciting time for the company. We have a number of different roles on offer and we look forward to welcoming the new colleagues to our team, Zair said. The business is a major employer in the Bourne area, with more than 1,200 people working at the site, which produces a range of products for the major supermarkets. Bakkavor currently employs more than 16,000 people across its UK sites and recently hired Yvette Sowerby as technical director. For years, we watched as companies closed. Jobs went to other countries and more goods were imported. That needs to change, President Donald Trump said in a message to Americans on Tuesday in his speech at Snap-on Tools in Kenosha. We are going to protect our jobs we are finally standing up for our workers, Trump said during his visit, which included him signing a Buy American and Hire American executive order. During the speech, Trump talked about the issues with NAFTA, problems with the H-1B visa program and issues with the government buying goods and services from outside America. These issues need to be addressed, Trump said. Trump said the U.S. wants to negotiate with Mexico immediately, but we have all of these provisions that delay the process. NAFTA has been very, very bad for our country. We are going to make big changes or get rid of NAFTA once and for all, Trump said. As for the H-1B visa program, Trump said visas are awarded in a random lottery. That is wrong. They should go to the most skilled applicants, Trump said. Trumps visit included more than words. The executive order he signed would restrict use of a program used by U.S. companies to bring in foreign technology workers. The order also seeks to strengthen requirements that American-made products be used in certain federal construction projects, as well as in various federal grant-funded transportation projects. The order also specifically asks the secretary to review waivers of these rules in free-trade agreements. When Trump ran for president, he vowed to Make America Great Again. It makes sense that would mean to make more products that say Made in America. As the president pointed out in his visit, there are a lot of good workforce development initiatives going on here in America, including Snap-Ons partnership with Gateway Technical College, which the president mentioned by name. U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos also complimented the partnership in a news release, stating: Snap-Ons partnership with Gateway Technical College is a great example of what can be achieved when business and education collaborate this type of partnership can be replicated across the country, and the Presidents Buy American and Hire American Executive Order puts us on that path. There are a lot of good job training programs going on now, but those participants need jobs available for them when they graduate. American jobs need to be protected and this executive order seems like a good step. UK Prime Minister Theresa May, who surprised the world yesterday when she broke her own promise and called snap elections for June 8, has said that she will not debate the other party leaders before election day. Instead, May says she will "get out and about and meet voters." Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn has mooted holding debates without her, replacing her with an empty chair. Labour's Jeremy Corbyn accused the PM of "dodging" a head-to-head showdown and the Lib Dems urged broadcasters to "empty chair" her. Theresa May says no to general election TV debates [BBC] (Image: DFID, CC-BY) FILE PHOTO: A prototype of the Tesla Model 3 is on display in front of the factory during a media tour of the Tesla Gigafactory which will produce batteries for the electric carmaker in Sparks, Nevada, U.S. July 26, 2016. REUTERS/James Glover II/File Photo (Reuters) By Norihiko Shirouzu SHANGHAI (Reuters) - It's not due to arrive in China until next year, but already Chinese-funded, smart, connected plug-in car start-ups are scrambling to launch cars to go head-to-head against Tesla Inc's "mass market" Model 3 sedan. For leading Chinese electric vehicle (EV) start-ups such as Future Mobility, WM Motor and Singulato Motors, the key is that they will produce their cars locally, making them better able to match the Model 3's price. Tesla, which has largely enjoyed a monopoly in the premium electric car market, is expected to price its Model 3 from $35,000 in the United States. Buyers in China would expect to add 25 percent to that in import tariffs. The founders and CEOs of Future Mobility, WM Motor and Singulato acknowledge the Model 3 is the car to beat. The first vehicles they aim to launch in the next couple of years will be priced around 300,000 yuan (roughly $43,500) or below, they told Reuters ahead of the Shanghai auto show, which opens to the public on Friday. "Between 200,000 yuan and 300,000 yuan," said Singulato's co-founder and CEO Shen Haiyin. The Chinese-funded firms' strategy is to beat the Model 3 in China by making their cars more premium and yet cheaper than Tesla's mass-market all-electric battery car. The three start-ups see California-based Tesla's weakness in its inability to produce cars in China, the world's leading market for plug-in cars. Tesla has denied recent talk in China that it was considering manufacturing its cars locally. "Tesla is deeply committed to the Chinese market, however these rumors are not true," the company said. To be sure, Tesla will be no pushover. It this month overtook Ford Motor Co in market value as investors embrace CEO Elon Musk's strategy of offering stylish, high performance cars that are continually upgraded with features that rival automakers are still only testing. Tesla has to date competed only in premium price classes at relatively low volumes. The Model 3 will need to appeal to more price-sensitive consumers to reach its projected annual sales of 500,000 vehicles. Story continues "COMPETITIVE" PRICING Daniel Kirchert, president and co-founder of Future Mobility, says his company plans to launch three models. The first, a premium midsize crossover sport-utility vehicle (SUV), will arrive "before 2020", followed within three years by a sedan and a 7-seater multi-purpose vehicle (MPV). All will be based on the same vehicle underpinning architecture and share major components, "to achieve this very attractive entry price of about 300,000 yuan," Kirchert told Reuters in a telephone interview. "It's a bit more than $40,000, a very competitive price positioning ... because Tesla customers buying the Model 3 in China would have to shoulder the cost of a 25 percent import tariff on the car", unless it's produced in China, he said. "We will be competitive because we produce the car locally," he added. As well as making its car in China, at a planned assembly plant in Nanjing, Kirchert said Future Mobility plans to make the SUV bigger than the Model 3 and more luxurious. "In the end, it's really about how premium you are. That's the real challenge." Singulato Motors unveiled its first "mass-production" car, also a crossover SUV, in Beijing last week, and says it will be priced below 300,000 yuan. It has started taking pre-orders for a limited period from customers willing to put down a deposit of 2,017 yuan. WM Motor plans to launch its first car, an electric plug-in crossover SUV, in the second half of 2018, again priced to compete with the Model 3, co-founder Freeman Shen told Reuters. The car will be the first of three electric vehicles the Shanghai-based firm plans to launch by 2020, by which time Shen says WM Motor should be selling around 100,000 cars a year. WM Motor showed a concept car to reporters on Tuesday in Shanghai, which Shen said hinted at the mass market model. The company aims to get the car to showrooms by September 2018. (Reporting by Norihiko Shirouzu in SHANGHAI, with additional reporting/editing by Joe White in SHANGHAI; Editing by Ian Geoghegan) By Noah Browning and Bozorgmehr Sharafedin MANAMA/DUBAI (Reuters) - At a wake in Iran's holy city of Qom in February, a small group of Bahraini emigres and clerics mourned a young militant killed in a gun battle with Bahrain's security forces. The eulogy was delivered by an exiled Bahraini cleric who has called for the island's Shi'ite Muslim majority to uproot the Sunni Al Khalifa monarchy in a holy war. The choice of resistance is widening and spreading on the ground, said the cleric, Murtada al-Sanadi, who has been named by the United States as a "specially designated global terrorist" backed by Iran. The ceremony shines a light on Iran's widening influence over an armed fringe of the opposition in Bahrain, a country with a strategic value that belies its small size. It hosts a U.S. naval base and is a close ally of Saudi Arabia, Iran's main regional rival. A quickening tempo of mostly crude bombing and shooting attacks has accompanied a government crackdown, which culminated last year in the dissolution of the main opposition bloc. The dead 29-year-old militant, Reda al-Ghasra, was shot and killed when security forces ambushed the speedboat carrying him and fellow fugitives at dawn on February 9. Ghasra had just a few weeks earlier escaped from a prison where he was serving a life sentence for terrorism. Ghasra's two brothers, both wanted on militant charges, also appeared at his wake in Qom. They played a recorded phone call of Reda saying his boat was on its way. The Bahraini government has asserted he was fleeing to Iran. A confidential assessment by Bahrain security officials, reviewed by Reuters, names Sanadi as the leader of the Ashtar Brigades, a militant group that has carried out bombings and shootings directed at the kingdom's police. In a statement online, the group hailed Ghasra as a "martyr commander" on his death. According to the security assessment, Sanadi tasked Ghasra with forming militant cells with Iranian help. Iran's foreign ministry called Bahraini government accusations that Iran had any role in supporting Sanadi or the Ashtar Brigades in violent acts "baseless and fabricated." Sanadi did not respond to requests for comment. SUPREME LEADER An uprising by some in Bahrain's Shi'ite majority was quelled in 2011 with the help of a Saudi intervention. Low-level protests followed. Clashes with police killed scores of activists and suspected militants, while Bahrain says 24 of its officers have been killed. Most clashes involve youths throwing rocks and molotov cocktails, but there has been a series of bombings in recent years. Opposition activists say these attacks show that a government crackdown is pushing Shiite youths into the arms of extremists. An analysis of years of statements by Bahrain's public prosecutor on Ashtar Brigades suspects suggests that the group operates in cells of fewer than 10 young men overseen by emigre militants like Sanadi based in Iran. Recruited on religious pilgrimages or study trips to Iran, Bahrain's prosecutor has said, the suspects were given weapons and explosives training in Iran or neighbouring Iraq. Iran denies the accusation. Sanadi has powerful allies in Iran, where he has lived since he went into exile in 2012. The official website of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei published an editorial by Sanadi in December accusing the U.S. of helping repress Shiite activism in Bahrain. The U.S. State Department put Sanadi on its proscribed "terrorist" list on March 17. His name appears alongside leaders in al Qaeda and Islamic State. The U.S. cited Sanadi's links to the Ashtar Brigades which, it said, "receives funding and support from the Government of Iran." Bahrain accuses Sanadi of having organized deadly attacks on police and smuggling arms from Iran. According to Bahraini security dossiers on Ghasra and Sanadi reviewed by Reuters, Bahraini authorities consider the Ashtar Brigades to be the armed wing of Sanadi's Islamic Wafa Movement, a political party that is banned in Bahrain. Wafa and the Ashtar Brigades did not respond to requests for comment about their relationship. A Wafa party representative contacted by Reuters agreed to relay questions to Sanadi but did not ultimately reply. Sanadi, the security documents say, receives funding from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and commissioned Ghasra to organize the military training of Bahraini militants in Iran by the IRGC and in Iraq by the Hezbollah Brigades militia. The Ashtar Brigades announced an alliance with the Iran-backed Hezbollah Brigades via an online statement in February. Sanadi spoke of his relationship with Ghasra in a communication to his followers on messaging app Telegram, dated in March and seen by Reuters. "I found him a lover of (Shi'ites), ready for the highest sacrifice and dedicated to the choice of resistance. Ghasra's brother Yasser, speaking to Reuters from Iran, acknowledged that his brother Reda was a fighter but denied he received Iranian help. He declined to comment on links between his brother and Sanadi. PROUD TO BE AN ENEMY Speaking to Iranian state TV channel al-Alam in March Sanadi said: "I'm proud that America considers me an enemy." While not commenting directly on the state department accusations, he said the U.S. was using "so-called terrorism and ... an imaginary danger they claim is coming from the Islamic Republic of Iran" to sell arms to Gulf allies and maintain influence. Sanadi is the only official of his party to have eluded a long-term jail sentence, though he spent six months behind bars amid 2011 protests on rioting charges. Six months later he departed legally for Iran. Chronicling his experiences in a prison manifesto called "Pain and Hope" published in Iran last year, he said he suffered torture and watched fellow detainees killed at the hands of Jordanian and other foreign officers he scorns as "mercenaries." Bahraini security officials denied to Reuters that Sanadi suffered torture in custody. There have been isolated abuses which have been investigated and addressed but this is not a systematic phenomenon, said one official In January, Sanadi called on Bahrain's opposition to abandon mostly peaceful protests in public squares and to take up arms. "From today and hereafter, the period has changed. We in the Islamic Wafa Movement announce that we have begun a new phase as a tribute to the martyrs: one grip on the squares and one grip on the trigger!" he said in a speech in Qom. Iran's promotion of Sanadi appears to point to an endorsement of his agenda. Next to an Iranian flag and a banner reading "Death to the House of Saud," referring to Saudi Arabias rulers, Sanadi delivered a sermon at Friday prayers in the country's most prestigious mosque in Qom in September - an exceptional honor. Sanadi also took to the main stage at a 2013 conference of Ahl al-Bayt, a Qom-based global fraternity of scholars founded by Khamenei in 1990. The meeting commemorated Bahrain's uprising. "We are truly thankful to the Iranians, especially the leader of all Muslims, Ayatollah Khamenei," Sanadi declared. For his part, Irans Supreme Leader in a speech last summer warned that Bahrain government moves against top opposition figures was removing an obstacle in front of the passionate, heroic Bahraini youth to fight against the ruling system. (edited by Janet McBride) When Zeynab Mohammed got the news that she and her five children would be accepted into Canada as government-assisted refugees, it was supposed to be good news. But during the immigration process, Mohammad became pregnant with her sixth child, Nasteha, and feared that trying to bring her along could ruin her application and undo all of the work she had put in so far. Mohammad made the decision to travel to Canada with five of her children and leave two-month-old Nasteha with Mohammad's sister, Ebla, denying that she had any family left back home. "She was scared that if she told them the truth, they would send her back to Kenya," said Mohammed's eldest daughter, Sofiya, who acted as a translator. Ruth Beardsley, a social worker with Options Community Services in Surrey, said she "couldn't believe" that this had happened. "My heart immediately went out to her," said Beardsley. "As a mother myself, I could just understand how difficult a decision that must have been." Beardsley soon became heavily involved in the case, helping Mohammed seek out legal counsel and eventually volunteering to go to Nairobi to pick up Nasteha herself. When asked what it was like to be separated from Nasteha for so long, Mohammed said that she couldn't speak about it, only saying that it was still "very difficult" to think about. Beardsley notes that Mohammed's experience isn't unheard of. She said in her eight years as a social worker, she has seen about 12 families have to make a decision about whether to leave behind a child less than a year old. "It's very difficult to get the paperwork done in the first place," said Beardsley. "And in [Zeynab's] case, and in the others that I'm aware of, they are so scared that this might mean they would never get a chance to leave." A documentary about the events was funded on Kickstarter, surpassing its $20,000 goal by $727. It will premiere Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at the Rio Theatre. Story continues The trailer suggests the film delves deeper into the barricades faced by Beardsley in getting Nasteha to Canada, including corruption, endless paperwork, illness and the difficulty of separating Nasteha from her aunt, who had been the child's mother figure for the past four years. After travelling halfway around the globe to meet Nasteha, Beardsley said finally meeting her was hard to put into words. "It was pretty amazing," she said. "The fact that we were now at this point where the paperwork was ready for us to pick up and ready for us to meet them both was very encouraging, very rewarding it's difficult to describe." Likewise, Mohammed found it hard to believe that her child was finally in front of her once again. "It was like a dream when I saw Nasteha. I didn't feel like it was reality to see my daughter after four years," she said through Sofiya. "When I saw her [for] the first time it was very shocking and happy and all kinds of emotion." "My husband is in Kenya right now, but I am very happy to have all of my six children with me." If you would like to attend tonight's screening, message the film's Facebook page for a free ticket. Listen to the segment on CBC'sOn the Coast: Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram As the political crisis in Macedonia, triggered by allegations of mass surveillance by intelligence agencies, deepens the environment is increasingly unsafe for journalists who report critically on the ruling Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization-Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE) and its leader, Nikola Gruevski. The party has been at odds with the critical media since it first dominated Macedonias political scene in 2006, but tensions reached a peak in recent weeks after Gruevski, in an interview with local newspaper Republika, accused the critical media of being foreign mercenaries working in the interests of financier George Soros. Some independent journalists say that since the former prime ministers comments were published, they have been verbally assaulted or threatened. A news crew for a critical outlet was also beaten while covering a VMRO-DPMNE rally. Gruevskis interview was published shortly after Macedonia held early elections in December, as part of efforts by the EU and U.S. to bring the countrys opposing parties to the negotiating table. The country has been divided since allegations by the opposition Social Democratic Union party that the secret service surveilled more than 20,000 Macedonians led to mass protests after the ruling party attempted to halt an investigation into the claims. However, the elections have so far failed to achieve stability and Gruevskis party has not yet formed a coalition government. Against this backdrop,VMRO-DPMNE leaders and supporters have lashed out at perceived external enemies, including journalists and news outlets considered pro-opposition. In January for instance, Milenko Nedelkovski, a talk show host and party supporter, published the names and addresses of several critics, including journalists, on his Facebook profile, the Balkan Insight reported. Borjan Jovanovski, founder of the independent website Nova TV, is one of the journalists who says he has been threatened in recent weeks. He said he has increased security at his home to protect his family after a teenager threatened him in a restaurant in the capital, Skopje, on March 2. Jovanovski, who is also a former editor at the now-defunct privately owned broadcaster A1 TV, said the boy spat at him and called him a traitor. Although he has been a target of previous attackson one occasion, Jovanovski said, he was sent a funeral wreath bearing his namethe journalist said he feels more at risk after this incident because he suspects it was instigated by a party official. In a similar incident the same week, three teenagers went to the home of critical columnist Branko Trickovski, and called him a traitor. Trickovski said the atmosphere is hard to bear. He said smearing stories about opponents of the ruling party are being made up daily and spread on pro-government media and social media. He added that attempts to intimidate opposition supporters and journalists is happening more regularly. Cars are being torched, funeral wreaths sent to their homes, kids to their doors, financial assets cut down, he said. Trickovski said he has been targeted by smear stories and that his wife is regularly harassed. Also in March, Vladimir Zelceski, a reporter for opposition news website A1on, and Aleksandar Todevski, a camera operator for the site, were hospitalized after being beaten at a VMRP-DPMNE rally. The journalists suffered head injuries and their equipment was damaged in the attack, according to reports. One person has been charged with the attack, Predrag Petrovic, the editor of A1on, said. He added that he believes the journalists were targeted because the news outlet is critical of the party. Attacks on journalists started after Nikola Gruevski openly called for settling scores with traitors, Petrovic said, referring to the former prime ministers Republika interview. Gruevski alleged in the interview that media supported by international organizations, including the Open Society Foundation, have a political agenda. Ivo Kotevski, a spokesperson for VMRO-DPMNE, denied that the party is encouraging supporters to harass the press, and said that the opposition Social Democratic Union (SDSM) and its leader Zoran Zaev, have targeted pro-government media. Zaev and the media under the control of SDSM/Soros have been accusing us of anything and everything, but it only shows the despair which they are in, their lack of ideas and the fear that they will not be able to deliver on the tasks they have been given, Kotevski said. Kotevski said that Zaev has called pro-government media enemies and he cited incidents where Zaevs supporters allegedly attacked news outlets during the election campaign. CPJ was unable to independently verify details of the incidents the spokesperson cited. Petrovic said that the current climate for journalists is a continuation of how the ruling party tries to control the press. For 10 years the government has been taking full control of the media through businessmen close to it or via government-sponsored advertisements, Petrovic said, referring to how VMRO-DPMNE favors supportive media by rewarding them with state advertisements. Journalists with whom I spoke said the uneven distribution of funding has left them marginalized. Macedonia, an EU accession country, has been criticized for this practice in the European Commissions annual progress reports. Should the hostile rhetoric against journalists continue, and the political limbo be prolonged, the foreseeable future for Macedonia could be marked by instability, with Gruevski and his close circle unlikely to let go of power, and the opposition, encouraged by months of protests, unlikely to back down. Ohio is responsible for many firsts in regards to the death penalty: it was the 1st state to suggest using the drug midazolam for execution and the 1st to attempt using a single lethal injection drug protocol. New to that list is the first state to have a ruling upheld in circuit courts against midazolam, according to Robert Dunham, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. On April 6, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit upheld a previous preliminary injunction, barring the usage of midazolam in Ohio's lethal injection drug protocol. The case was filed by 3 death row inmates who were previously scheduled for execution. The injunction provides a temporary stay of execution until the case is overturned or another drug protocol is found. The decision follows a previous preliminary injunction from Magistrate Judge Michael Merz of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio Jan. 26. That ruling followed a 5-day evidentiary hearing in which experts spoke on the constitutionality of midazolam - a drug most frequently used for sedation. The inmates argued that the drug violated their Eighth Amendment right against cruel and unusual punishment. The Ohio courts agreed. In the 6th Circuit's 2-1 ruling on April 6, Circuit Judge Karen Nelson Moore, joined by Circuit Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch, wrote in her opinion that the inmates claim that likelihood that midazolam violated the inmates' Eighth Amendment right was "likely to succeed." The opinion looked at the conclusions drawn during the evidentiary hearing in January. One expert witness for the plaintiffs, Craig Stevens, a professor of pharmacology at Oklahoma State University, concluded that the use of a midazolam as the 1st drug in a 3-drug protocol "is highly likely to cause intolerable pain and suffering," as it would not mask the effects from the 2nd and 3rd drugs. According to Deborah Denno, a professor at Fordham University's law school who specializes in capital punishment issues, midazolam was originally Ohio's "plan b" to a protocol that began with sodium thiopental. After sodium thiopental was discontinued by the pharmaceutical manufacturer due to its usage in executions, midazolam became the state's go-to. "The fact that the state that first introduced this drug as a viable drug to use for lethal injection has now held, or at least a lower court judge has held it to be unconstitutional is quite a statement," Denno said. Dunham agrees that the ruling is important, however he feels the importance lies in what he calls the "fullest evidentiary hearing" on midazolam. "This [hearing] was the 1st one that proceeded without artificial time pressures from execution warrants so the court was able to take the time that was necessary to fully hear the evidence," Dunham said, citing other hearings in Alabama, Oklahoma, Virginia and the U.S. Supreme Court where they ruled in favor of the state. Much of the defense in the Ohio case rested on the 2015 Supreme Court decision in Glossip v. Gross, where the court ruled that Oklahoma's use of midazolam did not violate death row inmate Richard Glossip's Eighth Amendment right. Denno, Dunham and the Court of Appeals agree that the Ohio decision benefited from additional history and facts that the Supreme Court case did not have. "There's nothing that the Ohio court did that is inconsistent with the United States Supreme Court precedent, there's no legal judgment it made inconsistent with what other courts have done, it's just the judgment was based on different findings of fact," Dunham said. Included in the Ohio evidentiary hearing was testimony surrounding the executions of Christopher Brooks and Ronald Smith, both from Alabama. The most recent court opinion found that Brooks' "heaving" and Smith's "heaving, coughing, and flailing" during the execution "were attributable to midazolam's inability to prevent the pain caused by paralytic drugs and potassium chloride, rather than to other circumstances." Ohio has a record of problematic executions. The ruling comes three years after the execution of Dennis McGuire, which involved midazolam. McGuire was the 1st inmate in the state to be executed with the state's then-new drug protocol of midazolam and hydromorphone. Witnesses from McGuire's execution testified during the evidentiary hearing prior to Merz's ruling about the unusual events during his execution. "I saw the stomach first. I saw what looked like a knot in his stomach ... and his stomach was moving. I had not seen that before," said Gary Mohr, director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Alan Johnson, a reporter for The Columbus Dispatch also testified that McGuire "began coughing, gasping, choking in a way that I had not seen before at any execution. And I remember it because I relived it several times. Frankly, that went on for 12 to 13 minutes." Ohio is also the only state with an inmate who survived a lethal injection execution. The Department of Corrections attempted to execute Romell Broom back in 2009. He is still waiting on death row. "Ohio has always been at the forefront but it's also had a lot of problems, that's one reason it has been at the forefront of these execution methods," said Denno. Denno, who notes that the state has already filed an appeal to the court's opinion, says it's difficult to predict what the ruling will mean for the state's injection drug protocol. She did say that typically states will find a different drug rather than spend their time and resources on trials. Arizona and Florida have already abandoned the drug. It's also unclear what implications this ruling may have on other states and courts - namely for 8 inmates in Arkansas. Eight inmates from Arkansas were scheduled to be executed in a 10-day period starting April 17. One inmate, Jason McGehee, was granted a stay of execution April 6. On April 17 - the day Bruce Ward and Don Davis were to be executed - the Arkansas Supreme Court issued stays of execution for them. The state then asked the U.S. Supreme Court to step in, hoping that a ruling would allow the executions to continue. Right before midnight, when the signed death warrants would expire, the Supreme Court refused to step in and lift the stays. As of April 18, there are still 5 more executions scheduled. There have been several suits filed on behalf of the inmates. Part of the argument presented by the lawyers is based on the constitutionality of midazolam. "The difficulty in Arkansas is that like the proceedings in Oklahoma and in Virginia and Alabama, they're taking place under death warrant so there's an artificially pressed time period," Dunham said. Karen Clifton of Catholics Mobilizing Network told NCR in a statement that "particularly in regards to the scheduled executions in Arkansas, where the state's supply of midazolam is serving as impetus for 7 executions in 10 days, this ruling provides further objection to the use of the death penalty." The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hold a conference April 21 about a re-hearing petition from the inmates. Denno is unsure how much the Ohio decision will play into the court's decision, especially since Ohio is "not going along with their holding, basically." The ruling does not bar further executions in Ohio but does mean the state may have to go back to the drawing board to find a new lethal injection protocol, as state's choices and supplies dwindle. Ultimately, Clifton feels the ruling called into question "lethal injection as a humane way to carry out an execution." "After this decision, we are once again faced with the question of the morality of the death penalty in this country. As Pope Francis has said, there is 'no humane way to kill another person.' This ruling provides one more reason why the death penalty is a failed system that denies the dignity due to every human person," Clifton said in her statement. Dunham agrees, stating that this could be another step in removing midazolam as an execution drug. "The difficulties states have are that the pharmaceutical manufactures don't want their medicines used in executions," he said. "So states have been looking for non-anesthetics to perform an anesthetic function and that simply doesn't work. That suggests that whatever happens from this point forward in the three drug protocol is going to be inappropriate. At a minimum, it's going to be human experimentation." | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! The Supreme Court said Monday that Arkansas won't be able to execute two of its death-row inmates. And a growing number of conservatives, who see the death penalty as an anachronistic, religiously hypocritical and big-government waste of money, are just fine with that. In fact, the extreme nature of Arkansas' efforts to execute eight inmates over a week and a half after going 12 years without an execution could even underscore anti-death-penalty conservatives' argument about why it should be abolished. And what conservatives think about the death penalty matters perhaps more than it does for any other political faction: Public support for the death penalty and actual executions is at or near a 40-year-low . But Republicans control a majority of state legislatures and governor's mansions, so any movement to actually undo it will likely be driven by conservatives. For the most part, the GOP in Arkansas fully supports the efforts of Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) to execute these inmates before a lethal injection drug expires. But to growing numbers of conservatives on the fence or opposed to the death penalty outside Arkansas, what he's doing feels like it belongs in the 1990s rather than today's society, where life without parole is an option. For me, both as a fiscal conservative as well as a person of faith, we've evolved to a point in society where it's not necessary, said longtime Georgia state Rep. Brett Harrell (R), who just unveiled his opposition to the death penalty. In January, Harrell helped announced the formation of Georgia's branch of Conservatives Against the Death Penalty, a faction of a national group formed in 2013 that has now expanded to 11 states and counting, including in very red states such as Utah, Kansas and Nebraska. But Arkansas is drawing the attention of even pro-death-penalty Republicans. Marc Hyden, with the national branch of Conservatives Against the Death Penalty, said he's in contact with national tea party leaders who are privately put off by the rush to execute in Arkansas. They're not necessarily changing their minds about it, but there's a sense that the state's rush to execute these men feels unnecessary, he said. I think the inevitable is the death penalty will, at some point, become a thing of the past, Hyden said. In Georgia which led the nation in executions last year Harrell agreed that there are more conservatives wary of the death penalty than those who publicly say so. When he acknowledged he had changed his mind about the death penalty, nearly a dozen of his Republican colleagues privately told him: Good job. I believe the same thing. A messy, headline-grabbing legal battle in Arkansas could further prod them to oppose it. There's a growing number of people who are stereotypically pro-death penalty who are beginning to reconsider the issue, Harrell said. Source: The Washington Post, Amber Phillips, April 18, 2017 Death in a bottle: Capital punishment in the U.S. has no foreseeable expiration date The fight over medications used for lethal injections is part of the continuing battle over capital punishment Dueling was outlawed in the Arkansas Territory in 1820, but in present-day Arkansas, courtroom fencing is a blood sport. In the current legal duel over executions, the stakes are lethal - and the consequences may be felt well beyond state lines. The fight is ostensibly over the use of specific drugs planned for a series of executions scheduled to start this week. That's not what it's really about, of course; it's about stopping those executions. Opponents of capital punishment, while successful in many venues, have failed to convince legislators and judges in several Southern states, including Arkansas, to abandon the death penalty. (Georgia and Texas led the field last year, with 9 and 7 executions, respectively.) The limited legal avenues available to death-penalty opponents involve challenges to the methods of execution. The United States Supreme Court has narrowed the definitions of "cruel and unusual punishment" over the years, tightening the rules, but has refused to ban all executions outright. Which leaves the question of whether specific drugs or methods used in executions fit the permissible criteria. The legal battle in Arkansas is being waged on that narrow issue, but everyone involved knows the deeper issue is life or death. The unlikely trigger for this chain of events was a pharmaceutical label: eight executions were scheduled almost back-to-back to beat an impending expiration date for the first in Arkansas' trio of execution drugs, the controversial sedative midazolam. The state has never used the drug before, and it has a checkered history. But the new protocol, and the assembly-line plan at Arkansas' death-house near Pine Bluff, are rich in irony. Governor Asa Hutchinson didn't want to break the law by injecting an expired drug to put a condemned man to sleep. Yes, for real. Hutchinson is, by all accounts, an obedient servant of the law - the kind of man who would never yank a "Do Not Remove" label from a mattress. But being a stickler can have consequences. Hutchinson's decision opened the door to challenges not only to midazolam, but also to other drugs planned for the executions. While opponents of midazolam argued against its effectiveness, citing failures to fully sedate inmates in Ohio and Oklahoma executions, the manufacturers of 2 other crucial drugs went to court to prevent their use in the Arkansas death chamber. They say the state purchased them fraudulently. Add to those circumstances the reality that public support for the death penalty is waning, even in deep-red Arkansas. The state had so much trouble lining up official witnesses for the planned spate of executions - a minimum requirement of 6 witnesses for each - that Corrections Director Wendy Kelly had to make a personal pitch to the Little Rock Rotary Club for volunteers. I'm not making this up. Execution chambers are gruesome places. I have visited a number of them - fortunately when not in use - and the transition from hideous Old Sparky to the sterility of a medical gurney hasn't robbed them of their grisly menace. The closest I've come to the real thing is watching a precision lethal-injection rehearsal at Texas' Angola Prison, and that chilling experience explains to me why Rotarians are not signing up in droves in Little Rock. I don't know much about the candidates for Arkansas's arsenal of disputed drugs, but the public record for each of them is pretty unsavory. What I do know, for certain - about each and every one of them - is that they lost a crapshoot. Is the death penalty moral? Put that question aside. You don't even have to go there: The death penalty is patently arbitrary and unjust. Whether a defendant is to live or die depends not on Lady Justice, but Lady Luck. For 200 years, the best legal minds in America have tried to come up with an equitable way to administer the death penalty - and they have failed. "Justice" depends on the vagaries of race (victim and perpetrator), location, and economic status. Add to that the ambition of prosecutors, the competence of defense counsel, the human variables of judges. Oh, yes, there's that other pesky possibility: deadly error. DNA results have exonerated 18 condemned murderers over the last 2 decades. What errors might have occurred before DNA? And what happens when the government accidentally convicts and executes an innocent person? That has happened, too: check out the 1989 Texas execution of a 27-year-old Hispanic named Carlos DeLuna. Over the next few days, you can expect appeals arguments in state and federal courts. My bet is that the federal appeal to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals will be decided in Arkansas' favor. Regardless of the decision, there will certainly be an appeal to the US Supreme Court. The odds here are that the Court won't take the case, but if the dice come down differently and 4 justices vote to accept it, the decision will be based on the very narrow grounds of this case and these drugs. You can safely place a side bet that the death penalty itself will not be an issue. The Court has on several occasions in the past come very close to a complete ban on the death penalty as "cruel and unusual" and therefore unconstitutional, but close doesn't court. These justices are unlikely to break the mold. The clock is ticking on that drug label: the expiration date is April 30th. If the legal battles continue beyond that date, the condemned men win - but my wager, sadly, is that they will lose. Either way, this much you can take to the bank: Capital punishment in the United States has no foreseeable expiration date. Source: salon.com, Martin Clancy, March 18, 2017 Dueling was outlawed in the Arkansas Territory in 1820, but in present-day Arkansas, courtroom fencing is a blood sport. In the current legal duel over executions, the stakes are lethal - and the consequences may be felt well beyond state lines.The fight is ostensibly over the use of specific drugs planned for a series of executions scheduled to start this week. That's not what it's really about, of course; it's about stopping those executions. Opponents of capital punishment, while successful in many venues, have failed to convince legislators and judges in several Southern states, including Arkansas, to abandon the death penalty. (Georgia and Texas led the field last year, with 9 and 7 executions, respectively.)The limited legal avenues available to death-penalty opponents involve challenges to the methods of execution. The United States Supreme Court has narrowed the definitions of "cruel and unusual punishment" over the years, tightening the rules, but has refused to ban all executions outright.Which leaves the question of whether specific drugs or methods used in executions fit the permissible criteria. The legal battle in Arkansas is being waged on that narrow issue, but everyone involved knows the deeper issue is life or death.The unlikely trigger for this chain of events was a pharmaceutical label: eight executions were scheduled almost back-to-back to beat an impending expiration date for the first in Arkansas' trio of execution drugs, the controversial sedative midazolam. The state has never used the drug before, and it has a checkered history. But the new protocol, and the assembly-line plan at Arkansas' death-house near Pine Bluff, are rich in irony.Governor Asa Hutchinson didn't want to break the law by injecting an expired drug to put a condemned man to sleep. Yes, for real. Hutchinson is, by all accounts, an obedient servant of the law - the kind of man who would never yank a "Do Not Remove" label from a mattress. But being a stickler can have consequences.Hutchinson's decision opened the door to challenges not only to midazolam, but also to other drugs planned for the executions. While opponents of midazolam argued against its effectiveness, citing failures to fully sedate inmates in Ohio and Oklahoma executions, the manufacturers of 2 other crucial drugs went to court to prevent their use in the Arkansas death chamber. They say the state purchased them fraudulently.Add to those circumstances the reality that public support for the death penalty is waning, even in deep-red Arkansas. The state had so much trouble lining up official witnesses for the planned spate of executions - a minimum requirement of 6 witnesses for each - that Corrections Director Wendy Kelly had to make a personal pitch to the Little Rock Rotary Club for volunteers. I'm not making this up.Execution chambers are gruesome places. I have visited a number of them - fortunately when not in use - and the transition from hideous Old Sparky to the sterility of a medical gurney hasn't robbed them of their grisly menace. The closest I've come to the real thing is watching a precision lethal-injection rehearsal at Texas' Angola Prison, and that chilling experience explains to me why Rotarians are not signing up in droves in Little Rock.I don't know much about the candidates for Arkansas's arsenal of disputed drugs, but the public record for each of them is pretty unsavory. What I do know, for certain - about each and every one of them - is that they lost a crapshoot.Is the death penalty moral? Put that question aside. You don't even have to go there: The death penalty is patently arbitrary and unjust. Whether a defendant is to live or die depends not on Lady Justice, but Lady Luck.For 200 years, the best legal minds in America have tried to come up with an equitable way to administer the death penalty - and they have failed. "Justice" depends on the vagaries of race (victim and perpetrator), location, and economic status. Add to that the ambition of prosecutors, the competence of defense counsel, the human variables of judges.Oh, yes, there's that other pesky possibility: deadly error. DNA results have exonerated 18 condemned murderers over the last 2 decades. What errors might have occurred before DNA? And what happens when the government accidentally convicts and executes an innocent person? That has happened, too: check out the 1989 Texas execution of a 27-year-old Hispanic named Carlos DeLuna.Over the next few days, you can expect appeals arguments in state and federal courts. My bet is that the federal appeal to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals will be decided in Arkansas' favor.Regardless of the decision, there will certainly be an appeal to the US Supreme Court. The odds here are that the Court won't take the case, but if the dice come down differently and 4 justices vote to accept it, the decision will be based on the very narrow grounds of this case and these drugs. You can safely place a side bet that the death penalty itself will not be an issue.The Court has on several occasions in the past come very close to a complete ban on the death penalty as "cruel and unusual" and therefore unconstitutional, but close doesn't court. These justices are unlikely to break the mold.The clock is ticking on that drug label: the expiration date is April 30th. If the legal battles continue beyond that date, the condemned men win - but my wager, sadly, is that they will lose.Either way, this much you can take to the bank: Capital punishment in the United States has no foreseeable expiration date.Source: salon.com, Martin Clancy, March 18, 2017 | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Arkansas had big plans to execute seven men in 10 days beginning Monday night, when Don Davis and Bruce Ward were scheduled to be taken from their death row cells in the state's Varner Unit and driven roughly 3 miles to the Cummins Unit, or "death house," near the small town of Grady. That didn't happen, because of a slew of legal decisions on state and federal levels. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the stays of execution granted by lower courts, but delays from the Arkansas Supreme Court remained after the state chose not to appeal a stay given to Ward, and the U.S. Supreme Court decided to maintain the stay given to Davis in a last-minute ruling less than 10 minutes before his death warrant expired at midnight Monday. As of Tuesday morning, there are no legal proceedings blocking the remaining 5 executions from taking place. Patrick Crain, who worked for the Arkansas Department of Corrections from 2003 to 2007 and was head of the Varner unit's death row, told the Intercept that he's shocked the state of Arkansas wants "to carry out the executions in this crazy way." He said he worked with good people at Varner, and hates to see this happening to them. "What are they going to tell their kids? 'Hi Johnny, I executed seven people'? Crain asked, his voice tinged with outrage. "That's ridiculous. They're going to carry it around inside for the rest of their lives. It's going to affect them and their families." The former death row prison guard, who describes himself as a life-long Republican, was pro-death penalty when he began working for the Department of Corrections. But that changed. Crain said the case of Damien Echols, 1 of the "West Memphis 3," a group of teens convicted in 1994 for the murder of 3 children in a purported "Satanic ritual," weighed on him greatly. Echols was at Varner waiting to die when DNA evidence led to his release in 2011. "We came close to killing an innocent man," he said of Echols, with whom he's still in contact. Crain also explained that he frequently encountered people on death row who seemed incapable of controlling or understanding the consequences of their actions. "I have questions about the culpability of people who are profoundly mentally ill," Crain said. "Killing people that are mentally challenged and mentally ill , that's unacceptable. But I'm sure they're going to keep at it." A study by Harvard University Law School's Fair Punishment Project reported that Arkansas "will execute several men with serious mental illnesses ," as well as men whose IQs suggest mental impairment. Don Davis, who was scheduled to die Monday, is believed to have an IQ between 69 and 77, "both of which are in the range of intellectual impairment," the report states. Bruce Ward has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and appears "not to understand that he is about to die, believing instead that he is preparing for a 'special mission as an evangelist,'" according to the study. "For Mr. Davis, all he got was an expert from the state hospital," said Jessica Brand, the main author of the Harvard report. These experts "often don't look at health in the same way" as those who could be hired by defense attorneys, she explained. A case regarding this issue, McWilliams v. Dunn, is to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court on April 24. If the court decides these men are entitled to independent experts, then their constitutional rights "will have been violated in a fundamentally prejudicially way," said Brand. "Most of these guys lacked experts who were independent of the state ... the idea that they got a fair trial in the 1st place is a lie." Further delays are possible, he added. The Harvard report found that Ledell Lee, scheduled for execution on April 20, had legal counsel that was habitually inadequate. The Intercept spoke briefly with Lee's attorney, Lee Short, about further actions. "We're considering all options," Short said. Arkansas scheduled the rapid-fire executions because the state's supply of midazolam, the sedative in a lethal 3-drug cocktail that ends an inmate's life, expires at the end of the month. The court delays pose a significant problem for the state. "We're now in a situation where all the FDA-approved manufacturers of potential execution drugs have put controls in place," said Maya Foa, director of Reprieve, a human rights organization based in the UK that campaigns against capital punishment. Once the midazolam expires, she explained, it will be difficult for the state to acquire a replacement. The only way to acquire the drugs will be illegally, and "there are a number of legal avenues that companies can use to enforce the contracts" that pre-empt use in lethal injection, Foa said. Midazolam was used in several high-profile botched executions in which it appears not to have sedated the condemned prisoners. Oklahoma's execution of Clayton Lockett in 2014 was the 1st, and Ohio's January execution of Rick Javon Gray was the most recent example. A Federal judge in Ohio ruled against the use of midazolam in executions a week after Gray's botched execution, saying it violated the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. At an April 12 hearing on injunctions against the executions, clinical pharmacologist Daniel Buffington testified for Arkansas that the drug would even be effective past its expiration date. But Dr. Joel Zivot, an expert on bioethics, said "[n]o one knows what expired drugs will do in the setting of lethal injection. It's clear that the state has some concern about expiration date and the public concern around using expired chemicals to kill." The executioners aren't experts - they are a group of volunteers who are trained shortly before the execution takes place. For Crain, the former head of Arkansas' death row, the prospects are clear: "They're going to botch an execution, is what I think." Deborah Denno, a professor of law at Fordham University who has studied capital punishment for 25 years, agrees. She told The Intercept that executions are "are being handled by individuals who lack any kind of knowledge base," and state training seminars aren't enough to provide that foundation. State officials have vowed to continue fighting for the executions. But Crain said the concerns should far outweigh any "political points" to be won by politicians, whom he views as the driving force behind the push for assembly-line executions. He called the saga "a macabre circus." | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! Source: theintercept.com, April 18, 2017 Only a few years ago, experts laughed at the possibility of a constitutional convention, an assembly without historic precedent governed by no established rules. No ones laughing now. In recent months, prospects for such a convention have started to look very real. Wedded to a movement to rein in profligate federal spending with a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, what was once a vision of the fringe right has been embraced by conservative hardliners as well as moderate Republicans like Ohio Gov. John Kasich and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Pushed for years by a network of determined, well-funded special interests, the movement to rewrite the Constitution with a process that circumvents the federal government is gaining approval in several statehouses. I think its got at least a 50-50 chance of happening, said Georgetown University law professor David Super, who has recently embarked on an effort to bring attention to the movement. If hes right, a narrow band of special interests could soon succeed in forcing a constitutional convention where more than 200 years of legal precedent that has formed the definition of civil rights in America could be under review by delegates selected by state lawmakers. Fears that the convention would veer away from addressing just a balanced budget amendment have prompted three states Maryland, Delaware and New Mexico to rescind applications passed during a previous pro-convention movement. But while the recent push-back to a constitutional convention (#ConCon to the social media crowd) has slowed the momentum, proponents are still making gains. This year, Wyoming and Arizona passed measures calling for a convention to address the nations debt, bringing to 14 the number that have passed such petitions since 2010. And while there are objections, proponents argue that petitions passed and never rescinded by 14 states in the 1970s and 80s are good in perpetuity, and theres no legal ruling to prove them wrong. That adds up to 28 of the 34 state legislatures needed to call for the convention. At least two states South Carolina and Virginia have bills on the table. And according to Common Cause, a liberal-leaning group that has been organizing opposition to a convention, Republicans now control seven state legislatures that dont have an existing application for a balanced budget convention: Idaho, Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Virginia, and South Carolina. And pro-convention efforts are focused on bringing those states into the fold. Wisconsin Sen. Chris Kapenga, R-Delafield, has introduced legislation that would make Wisconsin the 29th state on the list to issue a call for a convention under Article 5 of the U.S. Constitution to address the federal governments skyrocketing debt, currently at nearly $20 trillion. Kapenga says that debt poses an existential threat to the nation. We have no plan on how were going to get it back down and its continually increasing, he said. We started going into dangerous levels to GDP when President Obama got into office. The Constitution provides two avenues for ratifying amendments. One, which has been the route taken 27 times before, requires a two-thirds vote by both the U.S. House and Senate before being sent to the states for ratification by their legislatures. The second, which has never been invoked, allows two-thirds of the states to initiate a convention, with ratification of an amendment requiring approval by three-fourths of the states, or 38. The key characteristic of this approach is it allows states to sidestep the federal government, which Kapenga said cant be trusted to put its own fiscal house in order. The founding fathers put this vehicle in place specifically to protect the people of the United States, he said. And I and a significant number of others across the country are concerned about our national debt. Two sessions ago Kapenga introduced the same legislation, which won passage in the Assembly with unanimous Republican support. But it stalled in the Senate. This time around the proposal has the support of Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, but Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald again is not so sure, saying senators are not up to speed on implications, and that hed see if there is momentum for the them. Kapenga thinks the momentum is there, and he plans to appeal to the partys caucus. This is a discussion thats going to take some time to explain, he said. He shrugs off concerns that the convention could turn into a free-for-all, or runaway convention, in which all manner of amendments could be inserted into the process. It would be illegal for them to vote on anything thats outside of the authority of the call, he said. If you look at the bills were passing, they would be breaking state law by doing that. Other proponents like the Balanced Budget Task Force, the Heartland Institute and the Citizens for Self-Governance dismiss the threat of a runaway convention as a liberal doomsday fantasy. I wont give credence to those fear-mongering claims of a possible runaway convention that for decades have been used as a fundraising tool for some organizations, Thomas Llewellyn of the Balanced Budget Task Force told the Senate Federalism, Interstate Relations & Constitution Committee, which passed Kapengas proposals earlier this month. But many judges and scholars maintain that once such a convention is convened, all bets are off. Neither Congress nor the president nor the Supreme Court would have any say, said Super. As momentum for a convention surges, more people are asking a crucial question: Did the founding fathers, those masters of checks and balances, inadvertently leave in their masterpiece an avenue for the ultimate unchecked power? Supers not the only expert who thinks so. In fact, its becoming something of a consensus. The danger is that a true Article 5 convention arguably has no limits, said UW-Madison political science professor Howard Schweber. Were in very uncharted territory here. Its not at all clear theres any way to call such a convention and limit its mandate to considering questions of debt. Once such a convention is called, its very plausibly argued that it can do anything. The outcome could be quite radical. Schweber rates the likelihood of such a convention as low. Theres a lot of risk here, he said. And the closer this thing comes to being real, the more people will back away from it. But a broad array of legal experts and partisans from both the left and the right arent so sure. The Founding Fathers werent unaware of the possibility of a government takeover by one political faction. Thats why they inserted the three-fourths rule. But, as many insist, under a true Article 5 convention, there are no rules. The John Birch Society, a far-right champion of limited government, has been down this road before, successfully lobbying several states to rescind earlier petitions. Larry Greenley, a John Birch official, noted that there has been one precedent. At this month's state Senate committee hearing he pointed out that the 1787 Constitutional Convention wasnt convened with the intention of scrapping the Articles of Confederation. But delegates not only threw out the document they came to fix, they changed the ratification process so that the new Constitution they crafted would pass. A runaway Article V convention could replace the three-fourths of the states ratification requirement with a simple majority of the states, even a simple majority of the voters, he said. During the earlier push for a constitutional convention in the 1980s, then U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger warned that it could turn into a free-for-all for special interests. A new Convention could plunge our Nation into constitutional confusion and confrontation at every turn, he wrote, with no assurance that focus would be on the subjects needing attention. The late Justice Antonin Scalia, declared that a convention would be a horrible idea. This is not a good century to write a Constitution, he said at a 2015 Federalist Society event. And Georgetowns Super isnt optimistic that tinkering with the Constitution at this point in time will reflect a national vision. Im very anxious that in a very angry period, a period when so many people completely disregard the views of others, that thats not the time to be writing a Constitution, he said. You can imagine some moments in U.S. history when we really did have a strong sense of the nation and of working together, but this is not one of those times. One of Kapengas three proposals would allow the state seven delegates -- three appointed by the Assembly speaker, three appointed by the Senate president and one appointed by the governor, setting up the potential for a solidly Republican delegation. Wisconsins is one of 32 state legislatures dominated by Republicans, only two away from a two-thirds majority of all states. If Kapengas proposal for delegation makeup were adopted by all of them, that would give Republicans a 244-106 or 70-30 percent advantage, well above a two-thirds threshold in terms of delegates. At this point in the nation, it would not have to be a bipartisan discussion, Super said. Theres no reason to believe it would be. The behind-the-scenes push for a convention is quickly emerging as a topic of public debate as it lurches toward possible fruition. But its hardly a mass movement. In fact, its being propelled by a handful of anti-tax, small-government groups with ties to billionaires Charles and David Koch. The Koch brothers have spent hundreds of millions to advance their libertarian views, with remarkable success. And their money is intertwined with every level of the convention push. To lobby state legislatures, a group called Citizens for Self-Governance established a lobbying arm called Convention of States Action, which is active in several states. The group registered as a lobbying interest in Wisconsin in December. Citizens for Self-Governance includes on its leadership team Mark Meckler, founder of Tea Party Patriots, and Eric OKeefe, a longtime friend and ally of David Koch who worked on Kochs 1979 vice presidential bid on the libertarian ticket. The group has worked closely with the Koch-backed American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in crafting model legislation for states to call for a convention. OKeefe is a familiar name in Wisconsin. He heads up Wisconsin Club for Growth, a Koch-supported group that prosecutors accused of illegally coordinating with Gov. Scott Walkers recall campaign. Another group, the Balanced Budget Task Force, has been actively engaged in devising state-specific strategies to push the call for a convention through state legislatures. Loren Enns, the director of state campaigns for the Balanced Budget Amendment Task Force, is also connected to the Heartland Institute, an influential pro-business group with strong ties to the Kochs. Hes also listed on the website I Am American, whose goals include the balanced budget amendment, a fair tax amendment and term limits. The website blames many of the nations problems on the 17th Amendment, adopted in 1913, which the group contends concentrated power in Washington by taking away state legislatures right to appoint U.S. senators. The Balanced Budget Amendment Task Force lists as partner organizations ALEC, the National Federation of Independent Business and the Heartland Institute, all of which receive key funding from the Kochs. Riding a wave of conservative victories, for which they can take a large share of the credit, the Kochs are in a good position to leave an indelible imprint on the nations guiding document. But they wont do it without competing influences. That doesnt mean that you wont have other moneyed interests with particular agendas trying to influence the delegates and offering huge campaign contributions once the delegates are chosen, said Super, the Georgetown law professor. One can only imagine how much they would spend on influencing the delegates to this convention who realistically would be state legislators, many of whom with political ambitions that they would need funding to support. Should delegates adhere to the stated purpose of the constitutional convention and pass a balanced budget amendment, some experts argue that would be enough to plunge the nation into economic chaos and shred the social safety net. The effect on the economy would be catastrophic, reads a 2011 blog post from conservative-leaning consulting firm Macroeconomic Advisers, which supports reducing the deficit and had advised both the Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush administrations. The firm warned that a balanced budget amendment would cause recessions to be deeper and longer by hampering the federal governments ability to counter the effects of an economic downturn. Steven Durlauf, a University of Wisconsin-Madison economics professor, called the balanced budget amendment an extraordinarily bad piece of policy for the country. It makes no sense to hamstring the government, he said, which needs to run deficits during economic downturns to keep the economy afloat. Part of the governments function is to offset the business cycle, Durlauf said. During good times, the government spends less. During recessions, it stimulates the economy by spending more. And thats the way its been for many decades. A balanced budget amendment would give the government two options to deal with an economic downturn: raise taxes or cut spending. And given the nature of the political process, theres no chance that taxes are going to go up, he said. Now identify which areas of government spending are ones which will get cut and youll have a laundry list of types of spending that conservatives dont favor. Durlauf suggested that policy makers refocus their efforts. Serious policy making needs to focus on the fact that the political system is simply dysfunctional, he said. (A balanced budget amendment) is like giving up. Kapenga said concerns about potential fallout from barring the government from deficit spending were putting the cart in front of the horse. The first step that were doing right now is we have to get the vehicle to have that conversation, he said. Once we get the vehicle set up to have that conversation, the delegates will talk through those things. Another group supporting a convention is the Assembly of State Legislatures, a group of state lawmakers who have so far met five times to hammer out rules for a hypothetical convention. Kapenga serves as co-president of the group, and his proposed legislation would throw Wisconsin support behind procedural rules ASL established. He said the group is not affiliated with any other group or political party. One of our cornerstones was we will not accept any input, engagement-wise, or money from any outside organizations, because we have to keep this politically pure, he said. Asked how ASL is funded, Kapenga said: Everyone who showed up would come and theyd bring 100 bucks and they put it in their dues and that covered all the costs. He said the group kept costs down by meeting at statehouses in various states, free of charge. Only one meeting, he said, involved a fee. But he has not escaped criticism that his efforts are tied to big business. Kapenga's first attempt at a bill calling for a constitutional convention coincided with efforts by ALEC, which in 2012 proposed model legislation on the issue. Kapenga, who is an ALEC member, denies ALECs influence. Thats kind of guilt by association, he said. State Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, also belongs to ALEC, an affiliation she characterizes as opposition research. She said that in 2013, she and Kapenga attended one of the groups workshops on strategies for getting a petition for a convention through a state legislature. It was only a short time later that he made his first attempt to pass pro-convention legislation. Its just unbelievable he would say its not at all tied, she said. I was sitting right there in the same workshop he was in when we were all instructed to go back to our states and try to pass these resolutions. Then three months later he introduced a resolution. So thats a great coincidence. Taylor said the effort to pass a balanced budget amendment is a creature of big business. Of the thousands of doors shes knocked on, she said, no person has ever brought up that we need to amend the federal Constitution. The people really pushing for this are corporations, she said. Because they dont like the EPA, they dont want to be regulated at all. Theyre opposed to a lot of the social safety net. Theyre opposed to Social Security and Medicaid. While none of that comes as a surprise, she said, the once-remote possibility that pro-business, anti-government groups might achieve their aims through a constitutional convention is now a matter of concern. When I was there in 2013 and they launched this effort, it sounded so crazy to me, she said. I never thought theyd get 34 states. But theyre getting close. Ive learned to never say never when I look at the right wing. English Finnish OUTOTEC OYJ PRESS RELEASE APRIL 19, 2017 AT 10:00 AM Outotec to deliver grinding and flotation technology to Russia Outotec has been awarded a contract for the delivery of grinding and flotation technology in Russia. The contract value is over EUR 17 million including equipment deliveries. The order has been booked in Outotec's 2017 second quarter order intake. Outotec's deliveries will start in autumn 2017. Further details of the project will not be disclosed at the customer's request. "Our process knowledge and advanced minerals processing technology will ensure optimized performance and maximum operating life of the grinding and flotation equipment for our customer", says Kimmo Kontola, head of Outotec's Minerals Processing business unit. For further information please contact: OUTOTEC Kimmo Kontola, President - Minerals Processing business unit tel. +358 40 822 7100 Eila Paatela, Vice President - Corporate Communications tel. +358 20 529 2004, +358 400 817198 e-mails firstname.lastname@outotec.com DISTRIBUTION Main media www.outotec.com Ocean View, Delaware, April 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The industry report Smart Water Metering Market Size By Application (Residential, Commercial, Utility), By Technology (AMR, AMI), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Germany, Italy, France, UK, Sweden, Portugal, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, UAE, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Lebanon, Egypt, Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina), Growth Potential, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2017 2024 by Global Market Insights, Inc. says Smart Water Metering Market size will surpass USD 14 billion by 2024. Enhanced metering accuracy coupled with increasing demand for savings in billing is set to drive the global smart water metering market size. Operational cost optimisation will further augment the demand for these products and assist in conserving scarce resources at affordable prices. Rising demand for systems can be attributed to development of smart grid infrastructure coupled with expansion of water pipeline network. Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/697 Effective measures towards controlling and monitoring of Non-Revenue Water will stimulate growth. According to World Bank estimates, approximately 32 bcm of physical water is lost every year owing to faulty distribution networks, inaccurate systems and theft. Automated Metering Infrastructure (AMI) smart water metering market size is set to exceed 50 million units by 2024. Adoption of AMI systems are low subject to high installation costs associated. Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) systems demand will increase owing to widespread adoption of the technology for the past two decades. However, data security concerns related to consumption tracking coupled with customer unwillingness may hinder the business growth. Strict regulations toward water conservation and accurate billing coupled with rising consumer awareness will fuel the U.S. smart water metering market growth. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), 2009 in association with the Department of Energy (DOE) funded the Smart Grid Investment Grant (SGIG) to encourage adoption of intelligent systems. Glendale was the first U.S. city to implement these products as an effort to develop a smart grid network with aim to better manage its utilities and effectively respond to unexpected challenges including drought. Commercial smart water metering market share is projected to witness growth over 15% during the forecast timeline. Rising concerns towards control of overhead expenses including water bills can impact the profitability of a commercial establishment, complementing the business outlook. Browse key industry insights spread across 195 pages with 304 market data tables & 9 figures & charts from this 2017 report Smart Water Metering Market in detail along with the table of contents at: https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/smart-water-metering-market China accounted for over 55% of the Asia Pacific smart water metering market share in 2016. In 2012, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) of China unveiled the 12th Five-Year Plan focusing towards the development of intelligent grids, household and cities, Under the proposed blueprint the investment of USD 294 billion were allocated for water resources projects. As per the plan, the pricing policies on ladder water price will be implemented in most of the municipal utilities, necessitating a paced deployment of these products in the region. Increasing administrative emphasis with favourable government initiatives will positively drive the Germany smart water metering market growth. Growing foreign collaborations and investments toward the development of high performance advanced systems will further stimulate the product demand. Being an active member of the Open Metering System Group the country regulates the standardization activities of these products for water, gas and electricity. Notable players in the smart water metering market include Itron, Siemens, Landis+GYR, Schneider Electric, Circutor, Icsa, Iskraemeco, Holley Metering, Honeywell, Osaki, Elster, Sensus Sentec, Badger Meter and Neptune Technology. Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @ https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/697 Smart water metering market research report includes in-depth coverage of the industry with estimates & forecast in terms of unit shipments and revenue from 2013 to 2024 , for the following segments: Global Smart Water Metering Market, By Application Residential Commercial Utility Global Smart Water Metering Market, By Technology AMI AMR The above information is provided on a regional and country basis for the following : North America U.S. Canada Europe Germany Italy France UK Sweden Portugal Asia Pacific China India South Korea Japan Australia Middle East & Africa Saudi Arabia South Africa UAE Lebanon Egypt Latin America Mexico Brazil Uruguay Argentina Browse Related Reports: Smart Gas Metering Systems Market Size By Application (Residential, Commercial, Utility), By Technology (AMR, AMI), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Germany, Italy, France, UK, Sweden, Portugal, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, UAE, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Lebanon, Egypt, Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina) Application Potential, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2017 2024 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/smart-gas-metering-systems-market Smart Sensor Market Size By Product (Temperature & Humidity, Pressure, Motion, Position, Flow, Image, Touch), By Technology (MEMS, CMOS), By Network (Wireless, Wired), By Application (Commercial/Industrial [Retail, Education, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Hospitality], Residential/Smart Homes [Home Security, Energy Management & Climate Control, Lighting, Window & Appliance Control, Audio-Visual & Entertainment, Assisted Living], Consumer Electronics, Automotive, Oil & Gas, Aerospace & Defense), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, UAE, South Africa), Growth Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2016 2024 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/smart-sensor-market About Global Market Insights Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology. Contact Us: Arun Hegde Corporate Sales, USA Global Market Insights, Inc. Phone: 1-302-846-7766 Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688 Email: sales@gminsights.com Web: https://www.gminsights.com Blog: https://gminsights.wordpress.com Connect with us: Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Twitter Swedish English Stockholm, 2017-04-19 12:49 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The shareholders in RusForest AB (publ) are hereby summoned to the annual general meeting to be held on 17 May 2017 at 1 p.m. at Advokatfirman Vinges office at Smalandsgatan 20, in Stockholm. Notification, etc. Shareholders who wish to participate in the general meeting must: firstly be included in the shareholders register maintained by Euroclear Sweden AB as of 11 May 2017; secondly notify the company of their participation in the general meeting no later than 11 May 2017. The notification shall be in writing to RusForest AB, attn. Gustav Wetterling, Hovslagargatan 5, 111 48 Stockholm, Sweden, via fax +46 8 545 015 54 or via email to agm@rusforest.com. The notification shall state the name, personal/corporate identity number, shareholding, address and daytime telephone number, and, where applicable, information about representatives, counsel and assistants. When applicable, complete authorisation documents, such as powers of attorney for representatives and counsel, registration certificates or corresponding documents, shall be appended to the notification. Nominee shares Shareholders whose shares have been registered in the name of a bank or securities institute must temporarily re-register their shares in their own names with Euroclear Sweden AB in order to be entitled to participate in the general meeting. Shareholders wishing such re-registration must inform their nominee of this well before 11 May 2017, when the re-registration must have been completed. Proxy, etc. Shareholders represented by proxy shall issue a dated and signed power of attorney for the proxy. If the power of attorney is issued on behalf of a legal entity, a certified copy of a registration certificate or a corresponding document for the legal entity shall be appended. The power of attorney is valid for a maximum of one year after the issuance or for the duration indicated in the power of attorney, whichever is longer, but not for more than five years after issuance. The registration certificate, where applicable, may not be older than one year. The power of attorney in original and, where applicable, the registration certificate should be submitted to the company by mail at the address set forth above well in advance of the general meeting. A proxy form is available at www.rusforest.com. Shareholders right to request information Shareholders are reminded of their right to request information in accordance with Chapter 7 Section 32 of the Swedish Companies Act (Sw. aktiebolagslagen). Number of shares and votes There are a total of 130,655,471 shares and votes in the company as of the date of this notice. Proposed agenda 1. Opening of the meeting; 2. Election of a chairman at the meeting; 3. Preparation and approval of the voting list; 4. Approval of the agenda; 5. Election of one or two persons to verify the minutes; 6. Determination as to whether the meeting has been duly convened; 7. Presentation of the annual accounts and the auditors report, and the group annual accounts and the auditors report on the group accounts; 8. Resolution regarding the adoption of the income statement and the balance sheet, and of the consolidated income statement and the consolidated balance sheet; 9. Resolution regarding appropriation of the companys result according to the adopted balance sheet (see below); 10. Resolution regarding discharge from liability for the members of the board of directors and the managing director; 11. Determination of the number of members and deputy members of the board of directors and auditors and deputy auditors (see below); 12. Determination of the fees to the board of directors and the auditor (see below); 13. Election of members and chairman of the board of directors and auditor (see below); 14. Closing of the meeting. The board of directors proposal Resolution regarding appropriation of the companys result (item 9) The board of directors proposes that the companys result shall be carried forward. Shareholder proposals Proposal regarding the chairman of the annual general meeting, the number of members and deputy members of the board of directors and auditors and deputy auditors, fees to the board of directors and the auditors and election of members and chairman of the board of directors (items 2, 11, 12 and 13) Shareholders that represent 93.42 per cent of the outstanding shares have submitted the following proposals to the board of directors: - Jesper Schonbeck, member of the Swedish Bar Association, is proposed to chair the annual general meeting (item 2). - The number of board members shall be three (3), with no deputy members (item 11). - The number of auditors shall be one (1) registered accounting firm (item 11). - The annual fees to each board member who does not draw any salary from the company shall amount to SEK 180,000. However, the annual fee to the chairman of the board of directors shall amount to SEK 340,000. Furthermore, it is proposed that an annual fee of SEK 120,000 shall be paid to the chairman of the audit committee and SEK 120,000 to the chairman of the operational committee established by the board of directors in the Company. The annual fees may be invoiced through a company in a way that is cost neutral for RusForest (item 12). - The auditors fee is proposed to be paid on account, as approved by the board of directors (item 12). - Re-election of Niklas Bergman, Michalis Avraam and Peter Nilsson as board members. Niklas Bergman is proposed to continue as chairman of the board of directors Furthermore, it is proposed to elect Michalis Avraam as the chairman of audit committee and Peter Nilsson as the chairman of operational committee (item 13). __________________________ Documentation etc. The annual accounts and the auditors report will be held available as from 3 May 2017 at the companys office, Hovslagargatan 5, SE-111 48 Stockholm, and at the companys website, www.rusforest.com, and be sent to shareholders that so request and inform the company of their postal address. __________________________ Stockholm, April 2017 RusForest AB (publ) The board of directors LOS ANGELES, April 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hip Cuisine Inc., (PINKSHEETS:HIPC) the global fresh-served food purveyor for health conscious consumers, has completed the second round of financing for $750,000. This offering was exempt from registration pursuant to Rule 506(b) of Regulation D and was priced at $0.75 cents per share for 1,000,000 shares. No commissions or finders fees were paid in connection with this offering. Our first offering of $375,000 was part of the initial S-1 registration approved in June of 2016 and closed in October of 2016 which took just under 120 days to fund. The second round was closed in less than 30 days and was an all equity financing priced at $.75 for a total raise of $750,000. This round did not involve any type of convertible debt, additional warrants, commissions or finders fees. This is an important factor to note with this offering. This shows that our investors believe in our business model and our ability to execute and build shareholders equity. With the proceeds from this round we successfully closed the asset purchase of Rawkin Juice and will start the execution of phase one of the business plan which is to open additional locations throughout Southern California and Panama. stated Douglas Samuelson, CFO of Hip Cuisine. About Hip Cuisine Hip Cuisine is an international nutritional value concepts company and global fresh-served food purveyor for the health-conscious consumer. Based in Miami, Florida, its holdings include fusion restaurants in the Western Hemisphere known for fresh, vegan friendly, on-demand nutritious menus and cold-pressed juices and smoothies. Hip Cuisine opened its first location in Panama City, Panama in 2015 designed to deliver a nutritious menu with super-food ingredients at affordable prices tailored for the on-the-go customer looking for a healthy alternative. The company plans to expand its brands in the U.S. and Latin America. Hip Cuisine has two locations located at Balboa Boutiques, Ave. Balboa, Local 104, Panama City, Panama and Plaza 770, Main Street, Costa del Este Panama. Our telephone number is 011-507-6501-8105. @Hip Cuisine Hip Cuisine'sFacebook www.hip-cuisine.com About Rawkin Juice Rawkin Juice serves authentic cold pressed juices & smoothies, amazing salads, vegan meals and raw desserts. After years of research Rawkin Juice opened its doors in Burbank in 2014 featuring its state-of-the-art organic-vegan kitchen. The company made its own original, cold-pressed juice and smoothie blends, always made fresh to order, for pick up in person or through online delivery. Its colorful, musical menu creates an upbeat theme and a fun environment for healthy conscious customers. Using local sources for organic fruits and vegetables, the company uses glass bottles exclusively to further demonstrate its commitment to optimum credibility of nutrients. Rawkin Juice has two locations located at 4201 West Alameda Ave., Burbank, CA and 705 Montana Ave., Santa Monica CA. Phone: (818) 859.1002. The website is www.rawkinjuice.com Forward-Looking Statements This document contains forward looking statements related to the transaction and business combination between Hip Cuisine and Rawkin Juice, including statements regarding the benefits of the transaction as well as statements regarding the companies products and markets. Forward looking statements are predictions, projections and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this document, including the following: expected synergies and other financial benefits of the transaction may not be realized; integration of the acquisition post-closing may not occur as anticipated; litigation related to the transaction or limitations or restrictions imposed by regulatory authorities may delay or negatively impact the transaction; unanticipated restructuring costs may be incurred or undisclosed liabilities assumed; attempts to retain key personnel and customers may not succeed; the business combination or the combined companys products may not be supported by third parties; actions by competitors may negatively impact results; and, there may be negative changes in general economic conditions in the regions or the industries in which Hip Cuisine and Rawkin Juice operate. Legal filings may identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements set forth in this document. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and Hip Cuisine and Rawkin Juice assume no obligation and do not intend to update these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. In a 1918 editorial, W.E.B. Du Bois advised African Americans to stop agitating for equality and to proclaim their solidarity with White Americans for the duration of the First World War. The editorial surprised many African Americans who viewed Du Bois as an uncompromising African American leader and a chief opponent of the accommodationist tactics urged by Booker T.Washington. In fact, however, Du Bois often shifted positions along the continuum between Washington and confrontationists such as William Trotter. In 1895, when Washington called on African Americans to concentrate on improving their communities instead of opposing discrimination and agitating for political rights, Du Bois praised Washingtons speech. In 1903, however, Du Bois aligned himself with Trotter, Washingtons militant opponent, less for ideological reasons than because Trotter had described to him Washingtons efforts to silence those in the African American press who opposed Washingtons positions. Du Bois's wartime position thus reflected not a change in his long-term goals but rather a pragmatic response in the face of social pressure: government officials had threatened African American journalists with censorship if they continued to voice grievances. Furthermore, Du Bois believed that African Americans contributions to past war efforts had brought them some legal and political advances. Du Boiss accommodationism did not last, however. Upon learning of systematic discrimination experienced by African Americans in the military, he called on them to return fighting from the war. Show Spoiler C 1. The passage is primarily concerned with Show Spoiler B 2. The passage indicates which of the following about Du Bois's attitude toward Washington ? Show Spoiler C 3. The passage suggests which of the following about the contributions of African Americans to the United States war effort during the First World War ? Show Spoiler D 4. The author of the passage refers to Washington's call to African Americans in 1895 primarily in order to Show Spoiler E 5. According to the passage, which of the following is true of the strategy that Du Bois's 1918 editorial urged African Americans to adopt during the First World War ? A. identifying historical circumstances that led Du Bois to alter his long-term goals.B. defining accommodationism and showing how Du Bois used this strategy to achieve certain goalsC. accounting for a particular position adopted by Du Bois during the First World War.D. contesting the view that Du Bois was significantly influenced by either Washington or TrotterE. assessing the effectiveness of a strategy that Du Bois urged African Americans to adoptA. It underwent a shift during the First World War as Du Bois became more sympathetic with Trotter's views.B. It underwent a shift in 1903 for reasons other than Du Bois's disagreement with Washington's accommodationist views.C. It underwent a shift as Du Bois made a long-term commitment to the strategy of accommodation.D. It remained consistently positive even though Du Bois disagreed with Washington's efforts to control the African American press.E. It was shaped primarily by Du Bois's appreciation of Washington's pragmatic approach to the advancement of the interests of African Americans.A. The contributions were made largely in response to Du Bois's 1918 editorial.B. The contributions had much the same effect as African Americans' contributions to previous wars.C. The contributions did not end discrimination against African Americans in the military.D. The contributions were made in protest against Trotter's confrontationist tactics.E. The contributions were made primarily by civil rights activists who returned to activism after the war.A. identify Du Bois's characteristic position on the continuum between accommodationism and confrontationismB. explain why Du Bois was sympathetic with Washington's views in 1895C. clarify how Trotter's views differed from those of Washington in 1895D. support an assertion about Du Bois's tendency to shift his political positionsE. dismiss the claim that Du Bois's position in his 1918 editorial was consistent with his previous viewsA. It was a strategy that Du Bois had consistently rejected in the past.B. It represented a compromise between Du Bois's own views and those of Trotter.C. It represented a significant redefinition of the long-term goals Du Bois held prior to the war.D. It was advocated by Du Bois in response to his recognition of the discrimination faced by African Americans during the war.E. It was advocated by Du Bois in part because of his historical knowledge of gains African Americans had made during past wars. daagh wrote: The paradox of the Roman empires history is marked by the fall of the western part around the 5th centaury A.D with several regions succumbing to cross border terrorism and internal insurgency, breaking into independent kingdoms, the rise of the eastern part, with the empire fire-walling the crises, and retaking most of the lost territories to establish a firm rule of over most of the Eastern Europe for another six to seven centuries (A) with several regions succumbing to cross border terrorism and internal insurgency, breaking into independent kingdoms, the rise of the eastern part, with the empire fire - walling the crises, and retaking (B) as several regions succumbed to cross border terrorism and internal insurgency and broke into independent kingdoms, and the rising of the eastern part as the empire fire-walled the crises and retook C) when several regions succumbed to cross border terrorism and internal insurgency and broke into independent kingdoms, and by the rise of the eastern part, where the empire fire-walled the crises to retake (D) with several regions succumbing to cross border terrorism and internal insurgency and breaking into independent kingdoms, and by the rise of the eastern part, with the empire fire -walling the crises, and retaking (E) amid several regions succumbing to cross border terrorism and internal insurgency broke into independent kingdoms, and by the rise of the eastern part, as the empire fire -walling the crises, retook Can somebody rate this? A) Lacks a conjunction and not parallel B) Not parallel (Tense) fall rising C) Change in meaning . Also there is an issue at the end of the underlined part - where the empire fire-walled the crises to retake most of the lost territories to establish a firm rule of over most of the Eastern Europe. How can you fire-wall a crises to retake lost territory ? It's completely illogical. Original Sentence: with several regions succumbing ... with the empire fire-walling the crises... when several regions succumbed to cross border terrorism ... where the empire fire-walled the crises to retake ... D) Perfect: Parallel and preserves the original meaning E) Not Parallel (Tense) succumbing broke Life is a highway I wanna ride it all night long Signature Read More The sentence talks about a paradox, so we must look for two scenarios, separated by a conjunction. The conjunction will make it easy to spot the paradox.Also the 2 scenarios must be parallel. The structure of the sentence can be broken up asParadox marked1.) by X,and2.) by YLets look at the options one by one.Paradox marked1.) by the fall of the western part ...,2.) the rise of the eastern partParadox marked1.) by theof the western part ...,and2.) theof the eastern partParadox marked1.) by the fall of the western part around the 5th centaury A.Dand2.) by the rise of the eastern part,The parts in Bold explain the reasons for the Fall and Rise of the parts of empire and are essential for explaining the paradox. But option C converts these parts into mere modifiers of the time and area, hence these parts become non-essential.Paradox marked1.) by the fall of the western part around the 5th centaury A.Dand2.) by the rise of the eastern part,Non-essential modifiers can be safely removed without changing the meaning of the sentence, but if we remove the non-essential modifiers from this option, we are left with a sentence that no longer explains the paradox.Paradox marked1.) by the fall of the western part around the 5th centaury A.Dand2.) by the rise of the eastern partParadox marked1.) by the fall of the western partwith several regions succumbing to cross border terrorism and internal insurgency and breaking into independent kingdomsand2.) by the rise of the eastern part,with the empire fire -walling the crises, and retaking most of the lost territoriesParadox marked1.) by the fall of the western partamid several regionsto cross border terrorism and internal insurgencyinto independent kingdoms_________________ It is funny how some Nigerian men are not willing to take up fatherly roles but leave all domestic duties for the woman without pity of how much work she has to do every day. Legit.ng gathered that just recently in Amadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, a young man has suddenly become an internet sensation as was snapped by a student backing his baby. READ ALSO: I met with Jesus Christ and his disciples in Dubai bar - Kenyan music star reveals (photos) However, even though the mans identity was not reveled, he is believed to be an academic staff probably a lecturer at the institution. Despite the fact that people were looking at him, the young man looked untroubled as he proudly walks the campus with his baby. Man seen backing his baby on campus The man was seen rocking his navy-blue native top and trouser, as he used an Ankara to back his baby and carried his bag on one hand. READ ALSO: Tenants now to bring goats, N80,000 for landlords burial in Abia state (photo) Watch related video below: He is such a gentle man! Source: Legit.ng Abortions would not be covered by health insurance plans for Wisconsin state employees, with few exceptions, under a bill considered by a legislative committee Wednesday. The bill would ban health insurance plans from covering elective abortions for state employees, according to its authors, Sen. David Craig, R-Town of Vernon, and Rep. Andre Jacque, R-De Pere. It's unclear whether that would change anything in practice, as state plans currently only require coverage for medically necessary abortions. "The bill protects the lives of the unborn, protects the conscience of state residents and protects the taxpayers from future obligations of paying for abortions," Craig told members of the Assembly Committee on Health during a public hearing. Supporters say the legislation is one more step to prevent taxpayer money from directly or indirectly funding abortions, while opponents argue it is an overreach that would interfere with women's access to reproductive health care. "No taxpayer should ever be forced to have his or her money support an activity that takes a human life, whether by direct or indirect means," said Heather Weininger, executive director of Wisconsin Right to Life. Under the bill, the state's Group Insurance Board could not enter into a group health insurance plan contract or provide a group health insurance plan on a self-insured basis that provides abortion services, except for in cases of rape, incest or the life of the mother. Pro-Life Wisconsin legislative director Matt Sande said the group opposes those exceptions, but supports the bill. Advocates for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault have registered in opposition to the bill because it would require a woman to report cases of rape or incest to law enforcement in order to have abortion services covered under a state health plan. The Wisconsin Medical Society, which represents physicians throughout the state, also opposes the bill, which it says would "artificially restrict" coverage options for the Group Insurance Board. "Although it is a contentious issue, abortion is a legal medical procedure," said Wisconsin Medical Society lobbyist Mark Grapentine. "Legislative action to bar the GIB from offering a health insurance coverage agreement that includes access to a legal procedure may not be in the best interests of plan participants who may need access to those legal procedures." Rep. Lisa Subeck, D-Madison, said the bill appears to be "yet another" attempt to "chip away at access to abortion care." Wisconsin law currently prohibits payment for abortion through Medicaid and bars state exchanges set up through the Affordable Care Act from covering abortion. The state Department of Employee Trust Funds currently requires coverage for therapeutic abortions, which are deemed as medically necessary procedures. It is up to the health plan to determine what constitutes medical necessity, and the plan may require prior authorization before services are covered, said ETF spokeswoman Nancy Ketterhagen. The state does not collect data on how many abortions are covered under its plans, Ketterhagen said. Jacque argued there is "no standard" for what counts as a therapeutic abortion, something he said the bill would make clear. Jacque said he does not believe abortions are ever medically necessary. Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, said that opinion is "degrading" to women and families who have aborted wanted pregnancies after complications. "I am concerned your bill is going to cause heartache to families," Taylor said. Nothing in the bill would prevent a state employee from paying out-of-pocket or receiving funds from a private organization to pay for an abortion, Jacque and Craig argued. Subeck countered that state employees pay into their health plans and the bill would prevent them from using that money to cover an abortion. Twenty-one states have laws restricting abortion coverage under public employees' insurance plans. A similar bill was introduced in Wisconsin in 2013, and was approved by the state Assembly before dying in the Senate. That bill would have restricted the ability of employees of religious organizations to obtain contraception through their insurance plans. Gov. Scott Walker has not taken a position on the bill. "Governor Walker is focused on Wisconsins economy and getting the state budget done. The governor believes in protecting the sanctity of life," said Walker spokesman Tom Evenson. The bill has yet to be heard before a Senate committee. It is supported by Pro-Life Wisconsin, Wisconsin Family Action and Wisconsin Right to Life. It is opposed by End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Alliance for Women's Health, the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault, the Wisconsin Medical Society and AFSCME Wisconsin Council 32. The illicit affair of two married nurses recently became the talk of the town after love messages were found on the WhatsApp of the female nurse by her husband. The two nurses work at Harare Central Hospital. Legit.ng gathered that this is not the first time 33-year-old Tsitsi Darare would be making headlines as she did in 2013 after cheating with a medical doctor. But this time, its with a married nurse, Tafadzwa Jackson. They were caught after Tsitsis husband, only identified as Baba Ruth caught her chatting with Jackson and grabbed the mobile phone and went through their conversations. Baba Ruth disclosed to H-Metro that he has lost patience with Tsitsi forcing him to engage her parents over her behaviour given that she once cheated with a medical doctor in 2013. Tsitsi Darare I want to believe that Tsitsis behaviour is almost similar to a wh*re because this is not her first time to cheat, she was published in newspapers in 2013 over cheating with a married doctor, said Baba Ruth. She was chatting with Jackson while I was seated in the room, imagine, atotindivara nechipfambi yavanhundira mutsime inosvibisa panoiraramisa. When other nurses will be busy treating patients, Tsitsi and Jackson will be busy salivating and planning on how to cheat together. That is what I read from their conversations, she asked him for time to have se_x. I have lost patience with this woman and my worry is about our kids and I considered their fate when I decided to forgive Tsitsi on the first incident. Her parents were not home when I took my kids there to have a meeting because I discovered from the messages that Tsitsis young sister is aware of the illicit affair and Jackson visits their house. Tsitsi leaning on her unidentified male friend To make matters worse she pretends to be an ardent follower of Christianity and attends church services every week unaware that she is a wh*re who cannot get sexual satisfaction from one man, he said in the company of his two kids. He also showed H-Metro more photographs of Tsitsi partying with men in Chitungwiza. READ ALSO: Confusion as Lagos matron disappears after calling daughter When H-Metro contacted Tsitsi about the issue, she denied cheating with Jackson despite the messages caught blaming Baba Ruth for cheating first. I sent love messages to Jackson I work with not that I am in love with him, ini ndikati kwamuri I love you does that mean we are in love. He confronted me over the messages and I explained to him that I am not in love with Jackson but he failed to understand it. Tsitsi partying with friends As for the photographs he showed you those are my classmates and we were having fun not that there is one I am in an affair with. Please do not publish that story. It is better for me to bring another story of my husband cheating with a lady because he wants to fix me, said Tsitsi. Confirming the incidence, Tsitsis mother Mai Darare said: Tsitsis husband came here but could not see me since I was attending a funeral but I urge him to resolve his differences with Tsitsi amicably. I heard that he has packed his belongings and left the house but he has to remember that tomorrow he will be together with his wife and kids, she added. 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 Requiring CCW for Employees: A Smart Move By Dean Weingarten. April 17th, 2017 Article Source In a recent defense story from Cleveland, Ohio, a man said that he had a concealed carry permit because his past employer required it. From cleveland.com: He said he has a concealed carry permit because he used to work at a barbershop, and the owner required barbers to get their concealed carry licenses for their protection. I suspect that more businesses are taking this approach. It brings about many benefits. Last year, we had the example of a Georgia business owner who required his employees to be armed. He would give them a Taurus Judge revolver when they showed him their concealed carry permit. Here are a few of the advantages. They have been hidden behind false narratives and misinformation about people who legally carry guns... ....... Dean Weingarten comments on another way that a 'gun-free-zone' business can be avoided. Arguably many might of course make the point that a permit should not itself be needed, but the principle here is laudable - whereby the business owner insures against the possibility of an armed attack by having recourse to an armed response. Not only are the employees potentially safer but, as or more important, so are the customers. "You don't have to be Jewish to fight by our side." 2017 JPFO All rights reserved. jpfo@jpfo.org 1-800-869-1884 Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership 12500 NE 10th Pl. Bellevue, WA 98005 USA "America's most aggressive defender of civil rights" We make the NRA look like moderates Join JPFO Back to Top 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 ... Vans Shop Riot Series 2017 returned this past weekend with a bang at Rampaffairz Skatepark, Belgium. Epic tricks and high levels of skateboarding were a theme for the day. With a continued support of this unique event the 24 attending shops from all over Belgium, looked to riot, compete and be crowned the best shop team in Belgium, thus winning the golden tickets to the finals in Milan, Italy. In the end Skateboutique (Jonathan Thijs, Trevor Cappon, Simon Deprez) managed to claim the top prize with Pablo Six from Stoemp Skateshop winning the Nixon best trick competition on the day with a 360 flip to flat. The Riot heads to Burnside, Skatepark, Netherlands next on the 7th May. Follow all the action from Vans Shop Series 2017, from qualifiers to finals at vansshopriot.com. Results: 1. Skateboutique, Kortrijk (Heading to the finals in Milan, Italy) 2. Twits, Leuven 3. Ride All Day, BXL Best Trick Winner: Pablo Six, Stoemp Skateshop 360 Flip to Flat Requiring CCW for Employees: A Smart Move By Dean Weingarten. April 17th, 2017 Article Source In a recent defense story from Cleveland, Ohio, a man said that he had a concealed carry permit because his past employer required it. From cleveland.com: He said he has a concealed carry permit because he used to work at a barbershop, and the owner required barbers to get their concealed carry licenses for their protection. I suspect that more businesses are taking this approach. It brings about many benefits. Last year, we had the example of a Georgia business owner who required his employees to be armed. He would give them a Taurus Judge revolver when they showed him their concealed carry permit. Here are a few of the advantages. They have been hidden behind false narratives and misinformation about people who legally carry guns. 1. Employees with a concealed carry permit are a deterrent to robbery and physical attacks on the business premises. This may seem obvious, but you will find many who claim, without support, that it is not so. Having more than one employee armed at a location makes it an extremely unattractive target. There are too many variables, and too much to go wrong for any thinking robber. 2. There is an obvious, clear screen to limit employees to a select, high quality level. Permit holders are self selected to be one of the most law abiding, responsible groups in the nation. Their crime rates are only a fraction of those of police officers; they are many more times as law abiding as the general population. 3. Your employees are in a group that puts a high value on personal responsibility and self reliance. This is the group least likely to blame you for personal failures, or to see your business as a potential source of a "liability lottery". They look ahead, see problems, and do things about them. 4. The state is now doing a continuous screening process for you, one that is actionable and clear. If an employee becomes likely to have problems (according to the state, not the employer), their permit will be taken from them. The employer then has reason to dismiss the employee. In some states there is another benefit. Wisconsin, Kansas, and Tennessee offer immunity from lawsuit if the employer allows employees to be armed. From Wis. Stat. 175.60(21)(b), (c): (b) A person that does not prohibit an individual from carrying a concealed weapon on property that the person owns or occupies is immune from any liability arising from its decision. From kslegislature.org 75-7c10(c)(2) (2) Any private entity which does not provide adequate security measures in a private building and which allows the carrying of a concealed handgun shall not be liable for any wrongful act or omission relating to actions of persons carrying a concealed handgun concerning acts or omissions regarding such handguns. From tndefenselitigation.com: (a) A person, business, or other entity that owns, controls, or manages property and has the authority to prohibit weapons on that property by posting, pursuant to 39-17-1359, shall be immune from civil liability with respect to any claim based on such person's, business's, or other entity's failure to adopt a policy that prohibits weapons on the property by posting pursuant to 39-17-1359. The advantages are clear. We will be seeing more business owners with this policy. 2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included. Link to Gun Watch. Dean Weingarten comments on another way that a 'gun-free-zone' business can be avoided. Arguably many might of course make the point that a permit should not itself be needed, but the principle here is laudable - whereby the business owner insures against the possibility of an armed attack by having recourse to an armed response. Not only are the employees potentially safer but, as or more important, so are the customers. Back to Top Identification of a specific genetic mutation in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) helps clinicians select the best treatment option. Potential NSCLC patients usually undergo invasive tissue biopsy, which may often be unnecessary and delays treatment. A report in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics describes a new blood test that can accurately and quickly identify genetic mutations associated with NSCLC, allowing clinicians to make earlier, individualized treatment choices -- a step forward in personalized cancer treatment. Credit: Biodesix, Inc. Identification of a specific genetic mutation in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) helps clinicians select the best treatment option. Potential NSCLC patients usually undergo invasive tissue biopsy, which may often be unnecessary and delays treatment. A report in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics describes a new blood test that can accurately and quickly identify genetic mutations associated with NSCLC, allowing clinicians to make earlier, individualized treatment choices - a step forward in personalized cancer treatment. "This study is critical because it is the first to demonstrate the uptake of blood-based testing for actionable mutations in the non-hospital (community) setting. Physicians and patients in a community setting may not have easy access to a large hospital or other diagnosis/treatment facility. This assay provides results within 72 hours from sample receipt," explained Gary A. Pestano, PhD, Vice President of Development and Operations of Biodesix, Inc., a co-inventor of the test. An actionable mutation plays an important role in the development or progression of a tumor. Specific therapies that target a mutation can improve outcomes, such as reducing the risk of death or lessening the severity of disease. In the case of NSCLC, certain genetic mutations can be used to identify patients who might be sensitive or resistant to a particular cancer therapy. For example, epidermal growth factor (EGFR) mutations may result in sensitivity to drugs that are EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), such as erlotinib or gefitinib, whereas individuals with the EGFR T790M mutation are more resistant to these drugs. Patients with ALK rearrangements do not respond to EGFR-TKIs, but are sensitive to other targeted therapies (such as ceretinib). "The described assay can detect actionable mutations in patients diagnosed with earlier stages of NSCLC, thereby improving clinical outcomes," remarked Dr. Pestano. The new test uses a highly sensitive gene mutation detection method that is based on the partitioning of DNA into droplets to detect specific circulating tumor DNA mutations and RNA variants in whole blood. Of the more than 1,600 samples tested, 10.5% had EGFR sensitizing, 18.8% EGFR resistance, 13.2% KRAS, and 2% EML4-ALK (anaplastic lymphoma kinase) mutations. The test showed high sensitivity (>80%) and specificity (100%) for detecting each type of mutation. In most cases, blood tests and tissue biopsies yielded the same results. Another advantage of the test is that it can be performed quickly: 94% of results were available within 72 hours of blood draw. In contrast, results from tissue-based testing can take weeks to obtain and can therefore delay time to treatment. In addition to providing insights regarding selection of treatment, this blood test may also prove helpful in assessing the presence of residual disease, recurrence, or relapse and detection of therapy-resistant cancer cells more quickly than conventional tissue-based methods. The majority of samples came from patients under the care of community physicians. "These data highlight the adoption of mutation testing by the lung cancer community and demonstrate the utility of a centralized laboratory for the evaluation of actionable mutations from blood," commented first author Hestia Mellert, PhD, Director of Molecular Development at Biodesix, Inc. "Physicians in remote locations may now have greater and more rapid access to this critical patient information." More information: "Development and Clinical Utility of a Blood-Based Test Service for the Rapid Identification of Actionable Mutations in Non-Small-Cell Lung Carcinoma," Journal of Molecular Diagnostics (2017). Journal information: Journal of Molecular Diagnostics "Development and Clinical Utility of a Blood-Based Test Service for the Rapid Identification of Actionable Mutations in Non-Small-Cell Lung Carcinoma,"(2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.jmoldx.2016.11.004 A serial electron microscopy reconstruction of a single synaptic connection. Credit: Anton Maximov Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in La Jolla have revealed new clues to the wiring of the brain. A team led by Associate Professor Anton Maximov found that neurons in brain regions that store memory can form networks in the absence of synaptic activity. "Our results imply that assembly of neural circuits in areas required for cognition is largely controlled by intrinsic genetic programs that operate independently of the external world," Maximov explained. A similar phenomenon was observed by the group of Professor Nils Brose at the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine in Germany. The two complementary studies were co-published as cover stories in the April 19, 2017, issue of the journal Neuron. The "Nature vs. Nurture" Question Experience makes every brain unique by changing the patterns and properties of neuronal connections. Vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch play particularly important roles during early postnatal life when the majority of synapses is formed. New synapses also appear in the adult brain during learning. These activity-dependent changes in neuronal wiring are driven by chemical neurotransmitters that relay signals from one neuron to another. Yet, animals and humans have innate behaviors whose features are consistent across generations, suggesting that some synaptic connections are genetically predetermined. The notion that neurons do not need to communicate to develop networks has also been supported by earlier discoveries of synapses in mice that lacked transmitter secretion in the entire brain. These studies were performed in the laboratory of Professor Thomas Sudhof, who won the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. "We thought these experiments were quite intriguing," Maximov said, "but they also had a major limitation: mice with completely disabled nervous systems became paralyzed and died shortly after birth, when circuitry in the brain is still rudimental." The TSRI team set out to investigate if neurons can form and maintain connections with appropriate partners in genetically engineered animals that live into adulthood with virtually no synaptic activity in the hippocampus, a brain region that is critical for learning and memory storage. "While the idea may sound crazy at the first glance," Maximov continued, "several observations hinted that this task is technically feasible." Indeed, mammals can survive with injuries and developmental abnormalities that result in a massive loss of brain tissue. Inspired by these examples, Richard Sando, a graduate student in the Maximov lab, generated mice whose hippocampus permanently lacked secretion of glutamate, a neurotransmitter that activates neurons when a memory is formed. Despite apparent inability to learn and remember, these animals could eat, walk around, groom, and even engage in rudimental social interactions. Working closely with Professor Mark Ellisman, who directs the National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research at the University of California, San Diego, Sando and his co-workers then examined the connectivity in permanently inactive areas. Combining contemporary genetic and imaging tools was fruitful: the collaborative team found that several key stages of neural circuit development widely believed to require synaptic activity were remarkably unaffected in their mouse model. The outcomes of ultra-structural analyses were particularly surprising: it turns out that neurotransmission is unnecessary for assembly of basic building blocks of single synaptic connections, including so-called dendritic spines that recruit signaling complexes that enable neurons to sense glutamate. Maximov emphasized that the mice could not function normally. In a way, their hippocampus can be compared to a computer that goes though the assembly line, but never gets plugged to a power source and loaded with software. As the next step, the team aims to exploit new chemical-genetic approaches to test if intrinsically-formed networks can support learning. More information: "Assembly of excitatory synapses in the absence of glutamatergic neurotransmission," Neuron (2017). Journal information: Neuron "Assembly of excitatory synapses in the absence of glutamatergic neurotransmission,"(2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2017.03.047 The Jarvik 2015 ventricular assist device is designed for young children with advanced heart failure who are awaiting a transplant. Stanford will be one of the sites testing the device. Credit: Jarvik Heart Inc. During the wait for a heart transplant, patients with advanced heart failure can be supported with a ventricular assist device, an artificial pump that helps the heart move blood through the body. But the VAD now used for babies and small childrenthe Berlin Hearthas drawbacks. The pump carries a 30 percent risk of stroke and is unwieldy: The driver, which sits outside the body, is about the size of a shopping cart. For these reasons, children supported with the Berlin Heart must stay in the hospital until a donor heart becomes available. This can take months. In recent years, researchers have developed a replacement for the Berlin Heart called the Jarvik 2015. The new device is a fully implantable pump that is roughly the length of a paper clip and as thick as an adult's index finger. After a series of successful animal studies, the Food and Drug Administration recently approved the first clinical trial of the device in humans. It's called the PumpKIN Trial after the NIH-sponsored Pumps for Kids, Infants and Neonates program that launched the research. Christopher Almond, MD, an associate professor of pediatrics at the School of Medicine, is one of the trial's principal investigators. Erin Digitale recently asked him about the trial, which in May will begin enrolling children at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford and several other North American sites. Q: How does a ventricular assist device support the patient's health? Almond: Infants and small children with severe heart failure have an unacceptably high risk of death on the transplant waitlist. A VAD helps to keep the child stable and capable of safely waiting out the time until a donor organ is available. Also, it's really miserable having heart failurepatients tend to have trouble breathing; have severe fatigue that keeps them bedridden; and have nausea, vomiting and loss of appetite that lead to malnutrition. In addition to improving survival, a VAD alleviates many of these symptoms by ensuring enough blood can get to the body's organs when the heart is weak. The goals of VAD support are to allow you to breathe comfortably, engage in exercise and tolerate excellent nutrition so that you become a better candidate for heart transplant. Beyond that, we ideally would like kids to go home with their VAD rather than being stuck in an ICU for weeks or months. Having a heart pump can also give transplant doctors more time to find a heart that is the best match for the patient. Both of these factors lead to better outcomes after heart transplant. Q: The new pump is named for Robert Jarvik, MD, who has spent his career designing different ventricular assist devices, as well as the first total artificial heart. What were some of the biggest challenges he and his team faced in developing this tiny pump? Almond: The main challenge of miniaturizing any pump technology is to design it in a way that does not crush fragile red blood cells as they pass through the device, which is spinning several thousand times per minute. An earlier version of the Jarvik 2015 pump tended to break red blood cells and had to be redesigned. Interestingly, a relatively minor design change caused a big reduction in the pump's red cell breakage. A second challenge is that the flow rate through miniature pumps is much slower than for adult pumps, greatly increasing the chance that clots can form inside the pump. When clots form, they can break off and travel through the bloodstream to the brain, causing a stroke. For example, blood typically flows through an adult heart pump at 1.5 to 2 gallons per minute, making it less likely to slow down and clot. Blood flows through an infant pump at about one-eighth to one-quarter of a gallon per minute, making it more likely to clot. However, the Jarvik 2015 pump has a relatively low risk of clot formation. Q: How will the trial work? Almond: This multicenter, randomized clinical trial will enroll 88 patients at 22 pediatric heart transplant centers in North America. Stanford is providing leadership for the trial, which will enroll children with advanced heart failure who weigh between 18 and 44 pounds and need a heart transplant. They will be randomly assigned to receive a Berlin Heart or a Jarvik 2015, with half of the patients in each group. For the trial, all study participants will need to stay in the hospital so we can carefully evaluate the safety of the new pump. But if the pump proves to be safe enough, the longer-term goal is to discharge patients home with the device to wait for their heart transplant. Q: How does Stanford's leadership role in this trial fit in with our larger history as a center of innovation in heart transplant? Almond: Stanford has been a pioneer in developing cardiac transplantation and therapies for children with end-stage heart failure. In 1984, we performed one of the world's first heart transplants in a young child. We have been refining pediatric heart-transplant techniques ever since. Stanford has also been a pioneer in the field of heart pumps. In 2004, Packard Children's was one of the very first U.S. hospitals to use the Berlin Heart. Until that time, the Berlin Heart had been used primarily in Europe. Under the direction of pediatrician David Rosenthal, Packard Children's petitioned the FDA to import the device from Germany for a 5-month-old boy, who was then the youngest child in the world to receive the pump. This little boy did well and got a heart transplant after 55 days. The novel use of the Berlin Heart in this child ended up on the front page of The New York Times and served to catalyze interest in the device across the United States. Stanford faculty provided important leadership for the multisite clinical trial of the Berlin Heart, which led to its FDA approval in 2011. Stanford physicians have been on the forefront of the use of VADs in children with single-ventricle heart disease and in children with muscular dystrophy or other contraindications to heart transplant. Today, Stanford Children's Health has one of the busiest pediatric VAD programs in the country. Credit: Wikimedia Commons Scientific evidence of a 'higher' state of consciousness has been found in a study led by the University of Sussex. Neuroscientists observed a sustained increase in neural signal diversity - a measure of the complexity of brain activity - of people under the influence of psychedelic drugs, compared with when they were in a normal waking state. The diversity of brain signals provides a mathematical index of the level of consciousness. For example, people who are awake have been shown to have more diverse neural activity using this scale than those who are asleep. This, however, is the first study to show brain-signal diversity that is higher than baseline, that is higher than in someone who is simply 'awake and aware'. Previous studies have tended to focus on lowered states of consciousness, such as sleep, anaesthesia, or the so-called 'vegetative' state. The team say that more research is needed using more sophisticated and varied models to confirm the results but they are cautiously excited. Professor Anil Seth, Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science at the University of Sussex, said: "This finding shows that the brain-on-psychedelics behaves very differently from normal. "During the psychedelic state, the electrical activity of the brain is less predictable and less 'integrated' than during normal conscious wakefulness - as measured by 'global signal diversity'. "Since this measure has already shown its value as a measure of 'conscious level', we can say that the psychedelic state appears as a higher 'level' of consciousness than normal - but only with respect to this specific mathematical measure." For the study, Michael Schartner, Adam Barrett and Professor Seth of the Sackler Centre reanalysed data that had previously been collected by Imperial College London and the University of Cardiff in which healthy volunteers were given one of three drugs known to induce a psychedelic state: psilocybin, ketamine and LSD. Using brain imaging technology, they measured the tiny magnetic fields produced in the brain and found that, across all three drugs, this measure of conscious level - the neural signal diversity - was reliably higher. This does not mean that the psychedelic state is a 'better' or more desirable state of consciousness, the researchers stress; instead, it shows that the psychedelic brain state is distinctive and can be related to other global changes in conscious level (e.g. sleep, anaesthesia) by application of a simple mathematical measure of signal diversity. Dr Muthukumaraswamy who was involved in all three initial studies commented: "That similar changes in signal diversity were found for all three drugs, despite their quite different pharmacology, is both very striking and also reassuring that the results are robust and repeatable." The findings could help inform discussions gathering momentum about the carefully-controlled medical use of such drugs, for example in treating severe depression. Dr Robin Cahart-Harris of Imperial College London said: "Rigorous research into psychedelics is gaining increasing attention, not least because of the therapeutic potential that these drugs may have when used sensibly and under medical supervision. "The present study's findings help us understand what happens in people's brains when they experience an expansion of their consciousness under psychedelics. People often say they experience insight under these drugs - and when this occurs in a therapeutic context, it can predict positive outcomes. The present findings may help us understand how this can happen." As well as helping to inform possible medical applications, the study adds to a growing scientific understanding of how conscious level (how conscious one is) and conscious content (what one is conscious of) are related to each other. Professor Seth said: "We found correlations between the intensity of the psychedelic experience, as reported by volunteers, and changes in signal diversity. This suggests that our measure has close links not only to global brain changes induced by the drugs, but to those aspects of brain dynamics that underlie specific aspects of conscious experience." The research team are now working hard to identify how specific changes in information flow in the brain underlie specific aspects of psychedelic experience, like hallucinations. The study is published in Scientific Reports. In a striking coincidence, the release date of this paper (19th April, 2017) comes precisely 74 years to-the-day after Albert Hoffman - who first synthesized LSD in 1938 - conducted his first 'self-experiment' to discover its psychological effects. This date, 19th April 1943, is widely known as 'bicycle day' in honour of Hoffman's bicycle ride home following this first LSD trip. More information: Scientific Reports, DOI: 10.1038/srep46421 University of Virginia Health System neurosurgeon Jeff Elias, MD, pioneered the use of focused ultrasound for the treatment of essential tremor, the most common movement disorder. Elias is pictured with equipment used in the scalpel-free alternative to brain surgery. Credit: UVA Health System The University of Virginia Health System's pioneering use of focused sound waves to treat essential tremor, the most common movement disorder, has been named one of the top 10 clinical research achievements of 2016. The Clinical Research Forum presented the award to UVA neurosurgeon Jeff Elias and University of Maryland neurologist Paul Fishman last night at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Elias led the research into the use of focused ultrasound as a scalpel-free alternative to traditional brain surgery for essential tremor, a condition that often leaves patients unable to write legibly or eat without spilling. His years of work were rewarded last July when the federal Food and Drug Administration approved the approach to treat the condition. "Our whole team is very excited to receive such a prestigious award. We believe that this relatively new technology will improve the lives of many patients with essential tremor and hopefully other central nervous system diseases in the future," Elias said. "Essential tremor beautifully demonstrates the potential of this technology, where such a dramatic improvement in the patient's condition occurs during the procedure." How It Works Essential tremor is estimated to affect 10 million Americans. The involuntary shaking can be a tremendous hindrance to everyday activitiesanything that requires a steady hand can become impossible. As such, for patients who are appropriate candidates for the procedure, focused ultrasound is often immediate and life changing. The ultrasound technology focuses sound waves inside the brain to create heat, much like a magnifying glass focuses light. That heat can then be used to carefully interrupt the circuits that are responsible for the tremor. Using magnetic resonance imaging, doctors can monitor the location and intensity of the procedure in real time - an important safety feature when making a precise lesion deep inside the brain. Elias was the principal investigator of an international clinical trial of the device that enrolled 76 patients with severe tremor who had not responded to medication. The randomized clinical trial clearly demonstrated a significant benefit: Tremor was reduced by half after three months and by 40 percent after a year. The results were reported in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine in August 2016. Scientists of the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) have discovered an unknown molecular mechanism promoting the activation of the human immune system. The team has been studying the glutathione molecule known for its role in cleaning the body from harmful metabolic wastes and revealed that glutathione also stimulates T cells energy metabolism. This discovery offers perspectives to develop new therapeutic strategies for targeting cancer and autoimmune diseases. Credit: Communication LIH Scientists at the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) have discovered hitherto unknown molecular mechanism by which the human immune system activates its immune cells. T cells that express a gene known as Gclc effectively ward off pathogens. The Gclc gene encodes a protein instrumental for the production of a substance called glutathionea molecule that was previously known only to eliminate harmful waste products of metabolism such as reactive oxygen species and free radicals. A team led by LIH researcher Prof Dirk Brenner has discovered that glutathione also stimulates T cell energy metabolism. When in contact with pathogens, T-cells can grow, divide and fight off intruders such as viruses. Glutathione is thus an important molecular switch for the immune system. This discovery offers starting points and perspectives to develop new therapeutic strategies for targeting cancer and autoimmune diseases. The scientists published their findings in the journal Immunity. "Our body has to keep our immune system in a carefully balanced equilibrium," says Prof Dirk Brenner. "If the body's innate defences are overactive, then they turn against the body. This is what happens in autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis or arthritis, for example. However, if the defences are too weak, then they cannot handle infections, or body cells can proliferate uncontrolled and to form tumours, which can become life threatening." Immune cells such as T cells therefore normally reside in a state of alert hibernation, with minimal energy consumption. If pathogens or parts thereof dock onto their outer envelope, then the T cells activate and boost their metabolism. This necessarily creates greater amounts of metabolic waste products such as reactive oxygen species (ROS) and free radicals, which can be toxic for the cells. When the concentration of these oxidants increases, the T cells have to produce more antioxidants so as not to be poisoned. No previous research group had studied the mechanism of action of antioxidants in T cells in great detail. In exploring this phenomenon, Prof Brenner's team discovered that the antioxidant glutathione produced by T cells serves not only as a garbage collector to dispose of ROS and free radicals, it is also a key switch for energy metabolism that controls the immune response, and is thus of high relevance to multiple diseases. "These fascinating results form a basis for a targeted intervening in the metabolism of immune cells and for developing a new generation of immunotherapies," explains Professor Markus Ollert, Director of LIH's Department of Infection and Immunity. For their investigations, the scientists employed mice that were genetically modified such that their T cells did not express Gclc and thus could not produce glutathione. "In these mice, we discovered that the control of viruses is impairedmice that lack the Gclc gene have an immunodeficiency. But by the same token, this also meant the mice could not develop any autoimmune disease such as multiple sclerosis." Further tests performed by Prof. Brenner's team demonstrated the reason for this: "The mice cannot produce any glutathione in their T cells," Prof Brenner continues, "and so a number of other signaling events that directly boost metabolism and increase energy consumption are lacking." As a result, without glutathione, T-cells do not become fully functional; they remain in a state of hibernation and no self-destructive autoimmune response occurs. Prof Karsten Hiller from the Braunschweig University of Technology adds: "It is intriguing to see that cellular metabolism and immune activation are so tightly entangled and that a fine-grained interplay is essential to achieve a correct function." Prof Brenner sees his T cell experiments as a prelude to more in-depth investigation of the energy balance of immune cells in general. A number of autoimmune diseases are related to malfunctions in various subgroups of T cells. "If we understand the differences in the molecular mechanisms by which they stimulate their metabolism during defensive or autoimmune responses, then we can discover clues as to possible attack points for therapeutic agents regulating the immune response." The distinguished researcher sees a similar situation in cancer: "In this context, too, it is important to know why the immune cells that are actually supposed to fight cancer cells drop to a low metabolic state and in some cases even actively suppress an immune response against the tumour. Counteractive metabolism-stimulating measures could make the immune cells work more efficiently and fight off cancer more effectively." In follow-up projects, the researchers are planning to gain new indications for potential sites of therapeutic interventions. Provided by Luxembourg Institute of Health Credit: Medical University of Vienna The rate of new cases of bowel cancer in Austria has fallen by around 20% in the last ten years, while the associated mortality rate has fallen by nearly 30%. This trend is primarily due to improvements in preventive screening colonoscopy, in which precancerous stages are removed before the disease can take hold. This is confirmed by a recent study conducted at MedUni Vienna and is evidence of the exceedingly high quality of screening colonoscopy performed in Austria. The diagnosis and treatment of bowel cancer are also topics being covered by the 10th European Federation for ColoRectal Cancer Congress, which is being held at MedUni Vienna from 20 to 22 April 2017. In Austria there are around 4,700 new cases of bowel cancer every year. The massive reduction in the number of new cases and consequently the number of associated deaths is primarily due to the high quality of the screening examinations. This is confirmed by a study led by Monika Ferlitsch, from the Department of Medicine III at MedUni Vienna and Vienna General Hospital and member of the Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) of MedUni Vienna and Vienna General Hospital. As part of a Quality Assurance project, the quality of colonoscopies was evaluated during a period between 2007 and 2014 by analysing 159,246 screening colonoscopies. Although there was a significant increase in the number of early precursors (adenomas) during the observation period, there was a significant drop in the rate of advanced changes. Says Ferlitsch: "The results confirm that there has been a clear improvement in the quality of screening examinations. We discover changes earlier and more frequently, thus preventing tumours from developing or metastasising." The study is a joint project conducted by MedUni Vienna, the Austrian Society of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (OEGGH), the Federation of Austrian Social Insurance Institutions and Austrian Cancer Aid. However, Ferlitsch and her team are also involved in other Quality Assurance projects. For example, the scientist was commissioned by the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy ESGE) to compile clinical guidelines for the removal of colorectal polyps and for endoscopic mucosal resection (ablation of mutated mucous membrane). Says Ferlitsch: "If polyps are removed during screening colonoscopy in compliance with the Guidelines, there is a much greater probability that they will be removed completely. This means that the polyp cannot grow again and so cannot develop into bowel cancer." Thus, by ensuring radical removal of polyps, the doctors reduce the risk of an interval carcinoma forming, that is to say a tumour that occurs in the interval between two examinations. One third of these are due to missed adenomas, one third to incomplete removal of adenomas and one third to fast-growing adenomas. Says Ferlitsch: "These Guidelines are the result of a joint international project led by MedUni Vienna. We were able to benefit in particular from the expertise of two Australian centres. We are greatly honoured that the ESGE entrusted this task to us and it is testament to our expertise in this field." More information: Monika Ferlitsch et al. Colorectal polypectomy and endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR): European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE) Clinical Guideline, Endoscopy (2017). Monika Ferlitsch et al. Colorectal polypectomy and endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR): European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE) Clinical Guideline,(2017). DOI: 10.1055/s-0043-102569 You absorb the culture and you join the cause, said Joseph Brennan, who, as head of global equity indexing, has had a front-row seat as the firm has expanded. His division embodies Vanguards credo of do more with less: The 45 people he oversees globally look after $2 trillion in assets. Our assets per head are incredible, he said. At $44 billion per person, that certainly qualifies as an understatement. Up and down Wall Street, where the sum of a firms assets under management has become a badge of power and sway, Vanguards ability to attract and run so much money with so few people has been a cause for envy and disbelief. Some have even warned that index funds will distort the broader market, especially if active stock pickers are pushed farther to the sidelines. Already, six out of the 10 largest mutual funds by asset size belong to Vanguard, with the largest, Vanguard Total Stock Market Index, now weighing in at $465 billion, according to Morningstar. Only two American Funds Growth Fund of America and its EuroPacific Growth Fund, both belonging to the Capital Group are actively managed, promising higher returns for a steeper fee. There is this existential crisis in the soul of every professional asset manager, said Josh Brown, a financial adviser and blogger at Ritholtz Wealth Management. Vanguard has become synonymous with the idea that people should pay less not more for stock market exposure. The IAB SA has invited people to Save the ASA, a meeting where industry speakers will discuss the importance of self-regulation in the advertising space. We cannot let this role be assumed by government, said the IAB. This comes after the ASA applied for business rescue in 2016 to help it restructure the organisation, while reviewing its funding model. Losing the ASA would be a truly sad day for not only the advertising industry, but more importantly for proponents of industry self-regulation in any form in South Africa, said Andrew Allison, head of the IAB SA Regulatory Affairs Council. The ASA has served advertisers and consumers tirelessly for more than 50 years and has always championed the highest standards of honesty and fairness across the industry. It has certainly had its issues in recent years, but these are already in the process of being resolved. In the invitation, the IAB said the ASA is in dire need of funding. During the meeting, which it said was convened by the business rescue practitioners, a number of resolutions will be tabled. This will give effect to a new management team and board, a leaner organisational structure, a long-term funding model, and a streamlined adjudication process. Now read: The strangest ASA complaint we have ever seen Armenian News-NEWS.am presents an interview with Grant Thornton Armenia Managing Partner, as well as the member of Grant Thornton International Board of Governors, Gagik Gyulbudaghyan. In an interview with the agency Mr. Gyulbudaghyan presents 20 years of companys work. With experience of working abroad and knowledge of local market, advisory and audit services provided by Grant Thornton Armenia, the company contributed to building business climate in Armenia. In addition, the services are exported, thus raising awareness of Armenia as an intellectual center. Grant Thornton Armenia was founded 20 years ago when a few knew what an independent audit is. What changes has Armenian market undergone over the last 20 years? Our company was launched in 1997, but Grant Thornton France had been operating in Armenia since 1992. At the time, many people still had no idea what an independent audit is, what are the standards of business ethics. A lot has changed,also, due to the work we have done. We now have 150 employees instead of eight we used to have. We are a market leader. In past years, we have made a great contribution by training numerous professionals, performing analyzes that helped both business and public sector. In 2016 we registered an 18 percent growth despite difficult economic situation, and tighter competition. The secret of our success is that here in Armenia we have the best quality staff, professionals and shareholders. These qualities also make us famous abroad. We are exporting our knowledge and skills. Last year, just like during previous years, we signed many contracts abroad, in particular in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and we will start working in Mongolia this year. The investment that we brought to Armenia is also spreading to other countries. Here in Armenia we display all the qualities which are known abroad: we are honest, responsible, professional and hard-working. We are not afraid of challenges, this is the reason we succeed in countries where others face difficulties. So, you have the right to present Grant Thornton outside Armenia? For any firm to be able to operate under the brand of Grant Thornton in any market, permission of Grant Thornton International, is required. We have undergone this process when started operations in the three countries mentioned, where we have established subsidiaries of Grant Thornton Armenia. Our Armenian experts support operations in these firms. I want to emphasize once again that everything we achieved was thanks to our highly qualified staff, who possess all types of qualifications both in the area of audit, valuation and IT security. Some of them were new for foreign markets. Which are they? We were the first firm to provide advisory services for ISO 27001 information security certification. A number of Armenians banks have already got the certificates and we have consulted some of them in this process. Another new service is providing Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard certificate. We have the right to perform throughout Europe. This service is available for card processing centers, banks issuing credit cards, stores providing discount and loyalty cards. Starting this year we are performing penetration tests which are mandatory for information security of banks. Armenia has a great demand for this service. The service is in high demand outside Armenia as well, and we will work with Grant Thornton UK by complementing each other. Similar services have been already offered in Armenia, but you have to pay the price equivalent to the one you pay in U.S. or Europe. We will become the first local company. We had orders for information security certification from Europe and U.S. Are these companies working in CIS market or not only? Not only. We have provided IT audit services to a number of UN headquarters: for UNDP and UNICEF in New York, UNOPS in Copenhagen. We have clients in France, Croatia and other European countries. Do you have new tools for financial sector - the main traditional audit customer in Armenia? Starting January 1, 2018, all Armenian banks have to adopt the ninth version of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). We help Armenian and foreign banks to prepare for IFRS 9. Overall, there is a lot of work, we try to offer innovative solutions for businesses. Grant Thornton permanently supplements its traditional services: due diligence, feasibility study, asset valuation, business plan. For many years we have been also working on major state-run projects, including infrastructure. We often act as a part of multi consortium by providing accounting and consulting. We are doing this not for Armenia only. What about public sector? We have participated in setting up an e-gov a program of electronic government of Armenia. Among other projects are illumination project in Yerevan, stock-taking for the Ministry of Finance. In Kyrgyzstan we implemented projects for the state property fund, post office, and provided assistance with the introduction of e-procurement system, for which will also help develop audit methodology. The requirement for mandatory audit for large companies was introduced in 2010. It was removed in 2014. Have you experienced decline in number of customers? Almost not, and I will explain the reasons. Our main customers are companies ordering audit not as a requirement, but as a part of a corporate culture that recognizes both the importance and the benefits of audit. During the period of mandatory audit, the number of our customers has increased by 3-4 percent. We lost them later, but gained new customers instead. What advantages do the companies get after audit? Is it about good terms for loans or participation in international projects? Yes, that's it. In some cases the companies wanted to participate in international competitions. They just came and said: 'you know they demand an audit over the last three years' and asked whether we can do it. In order not to find yourself in this situation, we must have a culture of audit. It is a desirable option for everyone, but this is an imperative for the companies wishing to work in the regional or global markets. Many of our partners are either participating in the programs of international financial institutions or are receiving funding from international agencies. According to a new law proposed by the Finance Ministry, audit companies must undergo an independent certification through a sectoral chamber. Auditors are ready for such a responsibility. This is definitely right. There must be a very strict assessment, high quality standards, so that no one could order or carry out an audit just to tick the box. We all have to realize that the company itself needs an audit. It is required first of all to check the state of your company, and only after to make your partners aware of the state of your company. Finally, the audit is important for government: lack of audit leads to a shadow economy. And if we want to have rule of law, transparency of all companies has to be a must. And of course, it's also important for foreign investors. I am happy that oall of the world's leading accounting networks operate in Armenia. This is a great confidence for the potential investor. I am also happy to note that we were the first, and now we are the leaders. Two decades of Grant Thornton Armenias investments enabled not only to improve the level of economic and financial analysis, but to present Armenia abroad as a country having high level financial services. Animal farm Two-thirds of Nepalis are engaged in agriculture, but the farm sector accounts for only one-third of the countrys economy, pointing to a huge scope for improvement. Rice has the largest contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) followed by livestock and poultry. 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 STEPANAKERT. The adversary violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between the Karabakh and Azerbaijani opposing forces more than 55 times, from late Tuesday night to early Wednesday morning. During this time the Azerbaijani armed forces fired around 760 shots toward the position-holders of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic/NKR) Defense Army, and with different-caliber shooting weapons, the defense army informed Armenian News-NEWS.am. In addition, the adversary fired two shells from a shoulder-launched, anti-tank rocket-propelled grenade launcher, in a northerly direction of the line of contact. Also, the Azerbaijani armed forces continued actively firing from sniper rifles at various directions of the line of contact. But the Artsakh defense army vanguard units are in command of the operational and tactical situation at the frontline, and they continue confidently carrying out their military watch. Mass protests are held in Turkey against the disputed results of the constitutional referendum that was conducted in the country on April 16. Thousands of people took to the streets in numerous Turkish cities, and against the scandalous decision by the countrys Supreme Election Council (YSK), which deemed valid the ballots that were cast without a stamp, according to Cumhuriyet daily of Turkey. The demonstrators stated that they do not accept the results of the unfair plebiscite that was conducted. In several towns, the protesters marched toward the YSK local offices. During some demonstrations, police used violence and detained several dozen demonstrators. The YSK had declared valid the Yes ballots that were cast without a stamp in numerous election precincts, and this had secured Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans victory in the referendum. The political opposition in Turkey demands the holding of a new referendum, since the will of the people and the law was disregarded. According to preliminary results, the Erdogan-led Yes campaign has won the referendum in Turkey on April 16, by garnering 51.4 percent of the votes. Eighteen constitutional amendments were put to the vote, and according to which Turkey is to transition from a parliamentary to a presidential system of government. Turkish opposition and international analysts stress, however, that with these amendments, Erdogan is gaining the sole right to govern the country, and that this is perilous for democracy and freedoms in the country. He already has announced his plans for reinstating the death penalty in Turkey. A meeting of the Military Committee of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) got underway Wednesday in Minsk, the capital city of Belarus. The discussants will confer on military security threats, according to RIA Novosti news agency of Russia. The respective representatives of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan as well as the chief of the CSTO Joint Staff are participating in this event. Those in attendance will focus also on the matter of organizing international flights for the armed forces of the CSTO member states. At the end of the talk, it is planned to sign a protocol, in which the adopted decisions will be recorded and respective instructions will be given toward implementing these decisions. Arson attack on Dhobighat church An unidentified group in the wee hours of Tuesday set fire to a Catholic church in Lalitpur in second such attack on the house of worship. Arsen Khojoyan has been sentenced to nine years in prison for the murder of a teenage girl last summer, in Tavush Province of Armenia. Khojoyans mother, Mrs. Svetlana, informed about the aforementioned to Armenian News-NEWS.am. Arsen said nothing in court, she added. He refused to testify. The trial into this murder case had begun just a month ago. In his final words at court, Khojoyan apologized to the injured party, and noted that he regretted what had occurred. The injured party, in turn, told the court that it had no claims from the defendant, and asked the court to hand down a light sentence. And Khojoyans attorney, Anna Mezhlumyan, told us that her client did not wish to file an appeal. According to the indictment, during an argumenton June 24, 2016 at around 8pm on the Berd-Verin Karmiraghbyur motorwayand because of the use of profanity against his mother, Verin Karmiraghbyur village resident Arsen Khojoyan had stabbed several times underage resident Astghik of the same village in Tavush Province, in the neck and abdomen. The17-year-old girl had died as a result. Criminal charges were brought against Khojoyan, and on a count of murder. He was placed under arrest. To note, Arsen Khojoyan was captured by Azerbaijan on March 7, 2014, and released on April 10 of the same year. Ever since returning from captivity, however, he was complaining of physical and mental problems. Bad weather forces Simrik Air chopper to land on field in Lamjung A Simrik Air helicopter landed on a field at Beshisahar in Lamjung district due to adverse weather conditions. The need for finding a fast solution to the Karabakh conflict has become apparent after the clashes on April 2-5 last year, French presidential candidate from the Socialist party, Benoit Hamon, said in an interview with Nouvelles d'Armenie. According to him, the phrase frozen conflict is an inadequate description of the situation in which numerous people die every year. France has its own obligations, along with Russia and U.S. Last year we immediately mobilized to achieve ceasefire with partners as soon as possible. But it would be wrong to consider that the situation has stabilized. The clashes may start any moment, this having consequences on the entire region. Thus, everyone should find a solution, whose elements are already known. These are the Madrid Principles of 2010, Hamon said. He also noted that in case of becoming a president, he will continue to work exactly to this end: Each side should fulfill its obligations. As to including the Armenian Genocide Day in the official calendar of the country, the politician noted that Francois Hollande once proposed to include all the genocides and crimes against humanity in one calendar day. If I become a president, I will continue working in that direction, the candidate said. Apart from this, Hamon referred to the criminalization of the Genocide denial. Even if the legal ways of criminalizing the Genocide denial faced obstacles, which we know about, we should not give up. There are various ways to retain the memory on this tragedy so that the crimes against humanity committed in the past cannot recur in the future, he said. Spayka will invest $ 20 million in the construction of new greenhouses in Armenia in 2017. Currently, the company owns 35 hectares of greenhouses, where it grows tomatoes and cucumbers. By the end of the year it is planned to build another 20 hectares of greenhouses and create about 200 new jobs, said Karen Baghdasaryan, the head of the project management department of Spayka. According to him, the first greenhouse complex of Spayka was built in 2014. It grew radish for exports to Russia. In a year, the company seized about 15-20% of the Russian market. Although the project was very successful, two years later the company decided to rebuild the complex: the production of radish was organized on the open ground (where instead of 9000 tons they started to produce 6000 tons of products; in the future, the harvest volumes are planned to be increased to 10,000 tons), whereas the greenhouses were used for growing tomatoes and cucumbers. Today, Spayka's greenhouses have a total area of 35 hectares, from where they receive about 15,000 tons of tomatoes of Dutch varieties and gherkin cucumbers. After increasing the area of greenhouses to 55 hectares the company plans to receive more than 25 000 tons of products per year. There will be working about 600-700 people instead of the current 450 in these greenhouses. To date, most of the vegetables from the greenhouses Spayka are exported to Russia. The demand there, according to Baghdasaryan, is great. As Baghdasaryan noted, when the volume of production increases, it will be possible to think about the organization of exports to the EU countries. As the employees of the Spayka greenhouses told the journalists, tomatoes and cucumbers are grown hydroponically - a method of growing plants in the artificial environment without soil. All the nutrients needed for vegetables are dissolved in water, through which they are transferred to the plants. Instead of the usual soil, a coconut substrate is used. Each bush of a tomato, as the employees said, can reach 7-8 meters in length and yield about 7-8 kg of tomatoes per season. YEREVAN. - Following the missile strike against Syria, the U.S. seems not to be very inclinced to bring the issue to a military clash. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, expert Arman Navasardyan, said the aforementioned at the meeting with journalists on Wednesday, responding to the question of Armenian News NEWS.am correspondent as to whether a new attack by Washington is possible and whether this will impact the Russian-American relations. In his words, this was also shown by the American political line in regard to North Korea. ''The rehtorical part of the problem plays a very big role here. North Korea comes up with threats, U.S. President Donald Trump threatens, but these threats remain hanging in the air. Another thing is important here: Can such a situation lead to a large-scale clash? I think this won't happen. But considering the current political situation and the correlation of forces against the backdrop of international relations, an accidental step of one of the states or quasi-states can come to pose a big threat,'' Navasardyan noted. He also added that the U.S. won't strike Russia, recognizing the consequences very well. ''Russia won't do this either. But where is the guarantee that, for instance, the Islamic State won't use its weaponry?'' Navasardyan stressed. On April 7, the U.S. launched missile strikes against a Syrian airbase in the Homs Governorate. President Trump said he had ordered the bombing of this airfield because, in his words, the Assad forces Tuesdays chemical attack on the Idlib Governorate was launched from this airbase. Bus crash in India's Himachal Pradesh kills at least 44 At least 44 people were killed when a bus they were travelling in plunged off a mountain road in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. YEREVAN. - The question of Artashat city mayor cannot be discussed unless the city mayor Argam Abrahamyan resigns, Spokesperson for the rulingRepublican Party of Armenia (RPA) Eduard Sharmazanov told Armenian News NEWS.am. Argam Abrahamyan, the son of Armenian former prime minister Hovik Abrahamyan, ran as a deputy candidate from Tsarukuan bloc in Ararat province and won 34,415 votes. According to the preliminary information, he will resign from the office of mayor and start working in the countrys parliament. However, there is already information circulated on that Hovik Abrahamyan is not going to surrender his native Artashat and is now preparing a substitute for his son Argam Abrahamyan. He allegedly sees the son of his aunt, Deputy Mayor of Artashat, Gagik Poghosyan, as a candidate for that post. Now everyone is concerned about one question: Will RPA nominate its candidate in Artashat or will this city be left under Hovik Abrahamyans control? We will leave Artashat to Artashat people, Yerevanto Yerevan people, Martunito Martuni people When the time comes, we will listen to the opinion of the local regional structure, territorial structures, discuss everything and adopt a decision. RPA discusses everything on time. Today Argam Abrahamyan is a mayor, both de facto and de jure. When he resigns, he will become a deputy. The Central Electoral Commission will announce nomination deadlines, and then the party will discuss everything. Because Armenia still has incumbent mayor, there is no such issue on the agenda of the party, Sharmazanov said. Head of the territorial structure of the RPA in Ararat province, Alik Sargsyan, for his part, assured that the board has not yet discussed the issue of the candidate. China's Xi restructures military, consolidates control Chinese President Xi Jinping has announced a restructure of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to transform it into a leaner fighting force with improved joint operations capability, state media said. Though most of us only remember the current Milwaukee Public Museum building opened in 1963 the 54-year-old structure is actually the institution's third home. As times have changed, so has the museum's house. The fact that the museum has been considering a new home to carry it into the future is no secret in fact MPM has been working with a consultant for a few years now on the building and it's a long process. "When a museum makes changes," says Todd Happer, communications manager for the Association of Science-Technology Centers, a trade group to which MPM belongs, "they're slow moving, and they're almost always taken in response to needs of the community and in fulfillment of the institution's mission." Here, the museum has an inefficient building with outdated infrastructure and inadequate conditions for housing its collections, according to President and CEO Dennis Kois. The current situation threatens the museum's ability to remain an accredited institution and to be financially viable going forward. Milwaukee's museum is not unique in the challenges it faces, according to Happer. "One of the institutional needs that really does drive that is that when these intuitions were founded a century ago, the builders didn't really anticipate the amount of collections that would be acquired over time," he says. "Certainly they didn't know as much as we know today about the chemistry and environmental science behind keeping those specimens and those objects well preserved so that they're always accessible for the community." These and other issues factor into MPM's decision to build new rather than renovate the current building. Now that talk about a new Milwaukee Public Museum has again been in the news, we sat down with the museum's Kois about the kinds of considerations and decisions that figure into such a move. OnMilwaukee: I posted a picture on social media last time I was here of the really nice marble water fountains in the museum, and someone commented, "I hope theyre going to take those when they move." Is this a sign of some of the issues you face in terms of the idea of a new building? Dennis Kois: Someone actually wrote that? Wow. There's incredible value in being beloved, and it can also become the albatross around your neck that you can get loved to death. So it's one of those things we're going to have to navigate really carefully as we go. You have to play that middle ground, don't you, of not becoming staid and not ever changing, but then not changing faster than this community ... Than the community can kind of support. Yeah, absolutely, and I think that's going to be hard to do. For institutions like this, though, where ultimately we've got to shift that mindset from being that the institution is beloved because it is the thing I went to as a kid, or it's the thing that it's always been, and that's why I love it, to carrying some of that forward but it's also got to be a place that people love and want to come to because it's telling stories and it's current and it has current science. So we're finding that tipping point. The institution ultimately can't survive by being a nostalgia factory. At the same time, we've got to absolutely respect that past that it has. The people have community ownership. They feel like they own this place, and that's a powerful advantage we have, so it's going to be an absolute challenge, and when I get it wrong, just like the "Streets of Old Milwaukee" ... People will tell you. The people will tell me. Did you get anything wrong in the "Streets"? Did people complain? It's been amazingly well-received. When it was first announced, everybody was up in arms. "They're going to ruin it, they're going to screw it up, whose dumb idea was this?" Then once it was done, it's been sort of a resounding success. I think people were worried it would be intrusive, but things like the figures behind the door at The Pfister, I see people peering through there all the time. Those have already become sort of beloved. They're subtle enough that it didn't ruin the sort of core experience, and that was absolutely one of the reasons we did that project, was to prove that we can take beloved content and update it without ruining it. So that was a preview of the bigger, in a sense, philosophically, of this discussion (of a new building). In a philosophical sense, it was, because it's, "So how do you do that? Can we actually achieve that and can we do it in a way that later we'll be able to reference back and say, look, we didn't screw that up?" You're going to have to trust that it'll carry some of this forward. What's the lesson that you learned from that? For me, the takeaway from that was that it is hard to overestimate Milwaukeeans' connection to this place. I knew there was some of that, but I was shocked when that article ... I remember you showing some of the things that came out of that article, and it was just like, holy moley, people are really passionate. It's 20 commenters or whatever, but still, it represents a wider community input and I think museums pay lip service all the time to wanting to have the community feel like they're owned by the community, and be representative of the community and all these things, and most museums struggle to ever get there, so the advantage we've got is we've actually achieved that. This place is really owned by Milwaukee, but we also have to make sure that we don't let that drive every decision we make. It would be easier to be irresponsible and not change anything. You can't have a 600,000-member board of directors? Right, exactly. Indeed, we cannot. What could a new museum look like, in philosophical terms? The work we did over the last two years with Gallagher & Associates was really around two things. One was, why has the museum not been sustainable in the scenario it's been in, and then what could it look like that would both make a great museum but also make sure it's around 200 years from now, like it's going to be sustainable going forward. Some of the things we knew going in. Some of the things about why it has not been sustainable, why it's been a challenge, I think everybody's got a pretty broad community understanding outright, that it's because it's directly related to the government and the county owning the collections, owning the building, and they haven't been able to keep up with that. People understand that. We were built the same year as the Domes, so people understand as soon as you say that, oh, you know, they get it. The thing that was surprising, I think to all of us, and nobody went in knowing this, was when we really did the study work on what is the core issue that's been driving the challenges the museum has faced in its past. It was founded in the '60s. The city ran it for a period of time. The city's mill tax couldn't support it any more, so they transferred it to the county. The county ran it for a period of time, kept up some of the content, but the county couldn't afford it, and at some point, due to this public-private partnership, we know how that ended and what that resulted in, which was a big fiscal crisis. Those issues have been addressed and fixed, and the museum is doing well, but still is not able to afford and just keep up this building and all this content, and so the question we all have is why? What's fundamentally the issue here? The thing that we realized is that this structure, when we built it, when the city built this museum in 1963, we were incredibly ambitious as a city, and because wed invented the diorama, we designed this huge shell to just fill in with dioramas, to fill in with "Streets of Old Milwaukee" and walk through glacial fronts and dinosaurs because that was the mode, that was where we were on the cutting edge. We were on the front end of what was being done in the world on dioramas and experiential exhibits. That served us really well for 30, 40 years, as we built out those exhibits, but what I think nobody thought through at that time or just didn't have a plan for was how do you keep all that stuff up? How do you build these gigantic, incredibly elaborate, incredibly expensive installations and then what do you do 30 years later when all the science is out of date and time has moved on and technology has moved on? We filled this place in, and then maintained it at the very same time that over the last 20 years, museum footprints pretty much globally, and particularly in natural history museums, have been getting smaller. New museums are getting built and they're getting smaller and smaller and smaller, not because there's less but because technology lets you make them smaller. Media, interactives, touch screens, theatrical experiences you can cram more content into a given amount of square footage than ever before as a museum. I assume, the fundraising being what it is, if you can build a smaller museum, that does not hurt you in terms of raising money. It certainly doesn't cost more, but to right-size, it matters a lot. This is the key to all this. This building, when you look at how it compares for a city this size, one of the things that makes it really special is it's huge, and you get lost in it, and it's sort of this magical experience. That's the real value and we'll have to talk about how to carry some of that forward, but it also drives incredible amounts of expense: exhibit expense, utility expense, fundraising, maintenance, upkeep, the floor staffing to keep those doors open and everything dusted and cleaned. It drives unbelievable resource needs, and so when we looked at every museum of natural history that has been built in the world in the last 15 years since 2000 there's only one museum in the world that has been built that is larger than the Milwaukee Public Museum, and that is the National Museum of Natural History for China, in Shanghai, which is basically one "Streets of Old Milwaukee" bigger in its gallery space than MPM. And it's in a metro area with 30 million people. Thirty-plus million people, right, so if you were building this building today if you announced, I'm going to build a museum in Milwaukee and you built this you'd be building it for a city of 25 million. You'd build it for New York City or L.A. The reason it's not sustainable is it is too big. Now there's value in that, and there's beauty in it, and there's the part about it's beloved, but it can't sustain itself at this scale in a city of 1.7 million people. Is there also an opportunity cost in that you have all these people who have to dust all this stuff, and have this floor staff to do all this kind of stuff, that's money you can't spend on something else? That's absolutely true. You think about the fundraising in this community, you're raising from a fairly finite set of foundations and philanthropies and corporations. You're not raising from 25 million people to keep up a museum designed for a city of 25 million, you're raising from 1.7 million people to keep up a museum designed for a city of 25 million. Its a city that doesn't have anything approaching the wealth of a city like New York. Or Chicago, in philanthropic wealth. So there is opportunity cost, and one of the better examples is, of the three-and-a-half million dollars that the county provides to help operate this museum, which is about a quarter of our operating budget, half of that amount literally flies out the windows and doors just to heat and light the building, and then to grease the wheels on the escalators. Not fixing the building, just your basic maintenance, that's a million-seven-five a year. It's an incredible amount of money, partly because the building's not insulated, it hasn't been kept up, systems are old. If you could say, "Hey, I can right-size this museum and that utility bill's going to become $400,000," well, gee, that's like I just fundraised $1.3 million every year for the next 50 years, because I don't have to pay those expenses anymore. If that money still does come in, you can spend it on collections or you can spend it on something, research, or something else. Whatever it may be, right. The other sustainability long-term issue, and then I'll pivot to the questions of what does it look like or what does it start to feel like, but the other issue that we face that's a challenge for the whole community is the idea that there's going to be public dollars to continue to invest in all these cultural assets in Milwaukee, meaning direct governmental support, 10 years, 20 years, 30 years from now. Nobody would be wise to bank on that as their sustainability strategy. If you bank on that, the county's going to have endless resources to just keep plowing money into these places, you're going to be out of business, because the county will be the first to say, we don't anticipate that being the case. Right now a quarter of our budget comes from the county every year. They've been incredible partners and provided great operating support. When that number goes down, what are you going to do? You're already raising a significant amount in the community, you're in competition with every other need in the community, so you've got to come up with a strategy that makes sense for where Milwaukee's going to be 20 years or 50 years from now, and that is in a community where 100 percent of the county's tax base is taken up by pension obligations, and we have to be able to be thriving and succeeding when we get there as opposed to that becoming the next crisis or the next challenge for an institution. So in a sense this is also a potential exit strategy from the current situation, which you think will prove untenable? Absolutely. We're creating a museum that fundamentally the non-profit entity would own, MPM would own. They would still be the county's collections it would be exhibiting and leasing and showing there, and so the county would still have some obligation to keep those collections maintained and care for them, as long as they continue to own them, but similar to what the art museum has done, where it's kind of incrementally stepped away from being a war memorial center that is run by the county with county dollars, we've got to similarly go down that path, and I think that that's one you'll see the community needs to address in a lot of different dimensions over the coming years. Do you think funding for a new building will include money from the county? It's going to have to. There's no question that what we're gonna put forth in the larger plan. The county's got to be essentially the lead investor, the first one through the door, because it's their building that we're trying to solve for, it's their funding resource that is the thing that we're trying to make sure they don't need in the future, so it improves their bottom line in the end, and it's their collections. It's also going to require state-level support in some way, shape or form. We're spending a lot of time in Madison figuring out what that would look like, and what mechanism could possibly work, but I absolutely think there's a path to that. Are you finding some openness in Madison to that? Yes. It's premature to know, but I think there is a incredibly strong case that this museum can make that would be hard for many culturals in Milwaukee to make, that we are a state-wide institution. We serve every county in the state, we serve every legislative district, and we've got the numbers that we show every legislator to prove it. Our collections encompass the entire state. We are the only natural history museum of any scale in the entire state, and so unless as a state we don't want to value that and we want to take it away, there has to be some kind of state mechanism to support its advancement. I do think that's a case that even the art museum, as great as the art museum is, and as great as that building is, that would have been a hard case for them to make. There's a Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. There is more than one other art museum in this state. Just the scale of visitation here and the state-wide support (means) there does seem to be an opening and an opportunity I think, for state-level support. They have not slammed the door in your face? No. I'd say the opposite. I'd say it's been a very active and engaged conversation at the state level on how to make sure that the state's biggest museum is here 100 years from now. There's a vested interest everyone has in that. County support, state support and then you're going to have to find a mechanism for philanthropic support, for fundraising, and I think again, the other opportunity we have is that we are a state-wide institution, so we can fundraise in Madison, fundraise in Green Bay, fundraise from individuals that have been successful in Wisconsin all across the state. I think Milwaukee has to get away from fundraising only in its own backyard a lot of the time, because I don't think that that's going to be a recipe for success long-term. We'll find what that mix looks like, and there will definitely be a way to get this done. You must have a group of fairly committed donors; are they behind this? Do they buy into the new building idea as opposed to renovating the old building? I've probably had 200-plus meetings in the last couple of months just to share those plans, share the visuals, share the ideas and I think once we talk it through, there is nobody that has made an argument that that is the wrong path, that we should stay in this building and try and renovate the building as it sits, or even more extreme would be to say we should just do nothing, we should kind of just wait for the end to come and just sit here. Doing nothing is an option, you could just coast and say, oh, what can we do and throw up our hands. That is not a path that we want to take. I think generally speaking, people are excited and cautiously optimistic and hopeful that this can matter in the community, and hopefully that's the case without me, cause the community's got to want it to happen in a holistic sense for it to come to pass. To where you started that question, which is what could it look like, right, here's what I would say, which is, we could hire the best museum designers in the world and the best teams of people to build these things out and do this great institution that would be a five-star museum in any other city in this country, and would just be the ideal, perfect, modern natural history museum. You could open the doors on that thing and it would be an utter fail for Milwaukee, because what it didn't do or doesn't do would be to carry forward the really unique gestalt or vibe that this institution has because of its history and because of its legacy. What is the special sauce? To me, it's the experiential walk-through stuff, it's some of those dioramas. It's the quirky vibe and the little secret Easter eggs that are hidden around the museum, the things we've talked about in the past. It's that it doesn't put on airs, that this really does feel like a public institution, that it's not a temple on a hill. I think all of those pieces, you've got to carry that into the future so when you open those doors on day one, people come in and say this is new, this is great, but it also feels like the Milwaukee Public Museum. Granny is still in her chair. Granny's still rocking on her chair. Maybe there's a few blue-carpeted walls hidden here and there. I don't know what things we identify are the things people really care for, you've got to bring some of that with you, because otherwise it is a fail. That's really important, but on the flip side, it can't just be nostalgia. It's got to be a new institution. It's got to feel contemporary. It's got to make sense for a 12-year-old now; that feels like a museum that he wants to or she wants to go to and spend time in, because it feels like the future. That's the risk we have in not changing is we're letting go of the future. We're deciding that we're going to stick with the here and now and the past, and that's going to have to be good enough, and I think that's not the right decision for Milwaukee. I know this is totally putting you on the spot, but you've said that you can't not bring anything, and we understand that you can't bring everything. We definitely cannot bring everything. When somebody walks into this new museum, is it, and I know this is completely arbitrary, will it be 50 percent familiar stuff and 50 percent new? You can't right-size it and have it be 50 percent familiar stuff, because there would be no room for anything new. It's bringing the very best of what is here. I'd be lying if I said I knew what that meant. Well, we know it's the water fountain. (Laughs) It's definitely the "Streets." One of the things we've spent the last few years doing, actually, is talking to visitors in the community, and saying what are your favorite things here? What absolutely has to be part of the future? And some of those things we knew like "Streets," duh, everybody wants "Streets." Some of them have been really surprising to us. There are things that people identify as in their top 10. The favorite example I have, and I'm not promising this is carrying forward into the future by saying this, but you know the under-sea spiral. Oh yeah, up to the shells. You go up and you spiral down and you're getting deeper and deeper and darker and darker and those little porthole windows. That was not on my radar as a favorite, but it comes up in the top 10 of every single survey we do. That was a big surprise. What are some of the others? The snake button, specifically. But if you guys would bring the snake button, you would presumably bring the diorama... That I do not know. Some of the historic dioramas. No question. Some that pre-date even the library, that sort of had come along to multiple sites already, as well as some of the best of, there's a large scale, and ones that have the 15-foot plate glass you can't even buy anymore in front of them. The mountain lion and the mountain deer, those kinds where just the sheer artistry and beauty of those is unparalleled. Those kinds of things make that list. "Crossroads of Civilization" makes that list now, which is really interesting as it vaulted right into the top three or four. It's proof that you can hybridize some of that old feel and some of the retro feel with some of the new technology and things, so that was a little bit of a proof of concept. That exhibit is a great example. That used to be "Temples, Tales & Tombs." That exhibit was 6,000 square feet. "Crossroads" is the exact same content in half the size, it's 3,000 square feet. It has immediately vaulted into the top couple of favorite exhibits. The dwell time that people spend in that exhibit is healthy and good. I would posit that it probably would outpace the dwell time people spent in the old exhibit, although we don't have the data for that from back then. It's half the size, but it is not half the exhibit. It is a great exhibit in its own right because it's using those technology tools, and that's what we're going to have to do in a certain way with a lot of this content as we carry it forward. What about back of house? Behind the scenes, what do you guys need that you don't have now? A healthy building that can not damage the collections. In terms of the environment? Yeah. Not only is our, and you've seen this in the other articles that have been out, but not only is the building failing to protect the collections that are in storage, it's important to acknowledge it's also failing to protect the collections that are on exhibit. The core environmental conditions of this building do not by any stretch meet even the most basic of standards for museums. Did it ever? In 1963 they did. When the systems were new, by 1963 standards, absolutely, but that's one of the big issues. If we plowed in the $40 million to update this building, it still would not meet contemporary museum standards because you're still working with the 1963 design for HVAC and humidification and other construction pieces. You could bring it up to 1963 standards and it still won't meet contemporary museum standards. And you still have these expenses, these utility bills and things like that. It does not solve any of that. You still have a giant footprint. You're still missing the business pieces you need to succeed in a city this size. The example I always give, and you probably heard (my predecessor) Jay Williams talk about this back in his tenure, we're the largest urban museum of natural history that gets no parking revenue. We drive parking revenue to the city, and we've calculated that's right around a million dollars a year. So we subsidize the City of Milwaukee, which is great for the mayor, great for the city and they thank us for it, but that is revenue that then we have to go out and fundraise. So the new building will include parking the museum would own? It would have to have parking that the museum owns, because that's another million-dollar piece, how you solve for a future where there isn't county support? You need parking revenue, you need to right-size, you need utilities and reduced expense, you need event space. If I could get half the revenue the art museum gets from their events I'd be thrilled, because we're not set up for that. So it's all those kinds of pieces have to matter, too. Also, we've got to solve how to care for the collections long-term. That implies that we're going to have to move those collections. Some of them are going to certainly need to be in offsite storage somewhere else in Milwaukee, Downtown or near Downtown. Some will be with the future museum, right on site with that museum. That is a model that everybody from the Smithsonian to the Field (Museum in Chicago) uses to make sure that the actively researched collections are right there and usable every day, and that the deeper storage collections are somewhere nearby and are done cost-effectively, but that's going to be a big piece of it. We've got to figure out what the partnerships and research arm of the museum looks like going forward. That was an area of this museum that was absolutely decimated when it had its fiscal crisis, because you've got to still keep this giant building open, so you can't reduce security, you can't reduce the front line. What they did is we lost a lot of scientific knowledge and staff and collections care staff, and so we've got to rebuild some of that expertise, but the way you do it in a museum now is through partnership. So it's joining partners with Marquette, with UWM. We're bringing out a new curator this spring who's coming from Indiana University, from Purdue, IUPUI, who's a really well-known researcher in her field and really wants to move from writing journal articles to having public impact, and so she's decided this is where she wants to be, and she's coming this spring so she's also going to be teaching at Marquette. We're working on a communications of science program with Marquette to bridge between the two. It's those kinds of partnerships have to develop. You have to figure out a scientific and research structure for the museum that makes sense in the future, and then you've got to have the exhibits and all the business pieces and all that stuff, too. It's that mix. Let's talk about amenities. You need to have a restaurant where you can get a nice glass of wine and some good food. People have a much higher standard of what they expect a cultural institution to provide now than they did when this museum was built initially, just sort of having a cafeteria is the baseline, but you've got to have several levels above that for a large portion of an audience. I feel like you guys have done a good job with what you have in terms of getting the coffee shop in there, the options that are in the cafeteria, it's way better than some other places in town. We're trying to find the sweet spot of that. Also have to have a good two-dollar hot dog. You dont want to outpace your audience. But the options are limited. You go to the Field Museum, for example, and they have a Corner Bakery where you can sit down, they have a bar. There's multiple options. If you want to spend more money, there's a nice restaurant; if you want to spend less, there's a cafeteria. That segmentation of audience and opportunities and revenue is what every museum looks at now. We talked a little bit about this in vague terms, what's going to go into your location search? We're still working that through. At this point, nothing's off the table. Even if I did know, I wouldn't tell you. But I don't know. What are some of the factors that are going into that? Obviously cost is one. Cost is going to be one. There's obviously going to be both politics in the sense of public politics and politics in the sense of donors. If there's lead donor who wants it to be in a specific place, that may have an impact. If the mayor or the governor wants it in a specific place in Milwaukee, that may have an impact on the conversation. There's going to be audience. I think it's really important that we be accessible by public transportation, or figure out a path to be able to do that if the site isn't, it's going to have to be made accessible. I think it's got to be a site that feels truly public. I think museums suffer when they feel like they're placed in a part of a community that not the whole community feels welcome, so one of the advantages of this site and this side of town, frankly, is it feels like it's for everybody because it's where criminal justice is and buses come here and it's not a sort of exclusive part of town, so I think it's important that wherever we land, we either bring some of that vibe with us, or we end up in a place that has some of that. We're one of the most diversely utilized institutions in the city. The audience here looks like Milwaukee, and you could lose that if you did it in the wrong way or went to the wrong part of the city without thinking it through, so wherever we land we're going to have to make sure we carry that with us. And then it's the adjacencies question. How do we as a city get more out of building a new museum than just, hey, that's a great new museum, standing there all by itself? How do you make sure that it's driving economic impact and city development and restaurants and other amenities developing around it? One of the problems of this particular site is it's just kind of an island. You can come down here as a family, there's no place else to go to get a bite to eat. There's no place to go shop. The only other thing you can do is go check out a library book, or go get a divorce over at the courthouse, right? Those are your family options. How do you make sure that what we do actually impacts the city? We sell as many tickets in a year as the Bucks. How do you get more out of that and have that be an economic and cultural driver for the city as opposed to just, it goes here and good luck to it? So you're looking for complementary relationships, like, for argument's sake, at the Lakefront with the art museum and Discovery World. Could be the Lakefront or the arena district or Menomonee Valley, or wherever it goes, it's how do you get the most bang as a city. In Milwaukee, one of the areas we really need to strengthen our community is cultural planning and the larger narrative of how we use these opportunities to advance a bigger narrative in our city. We're only going to do this once in our lifetime, so how do we get the most out of this? One last question for you. You're a design guy, right, so are you already thinking about, here's my chance to fix that one thing that drives me crazy? Is it in your head already? The moment the board gets whiff of me getting involved in design, they should rightfully fire me. That is not what I'm here to do. I'm like everyone, I've got opinions. I've been involved in museums for 25 years, so I know what I like, but I'm one voice among many, so no. I'm not going to go there. That would be bad news. That said, I do think what's important is that we aim high. This is an institution and this is a city that deserves some significant ambition. The goal is not to just do a, hey, it's a solid B. The art museum reset the bar on this community for what it means to create a signature institution, and while we are not going to be using a starchitect or going to quite that direction, that doesn't mean that we cannot build something that creates great public space, that is a great amenity, that becomes a signature part of the city, that gets to being more than just the sum of its parts. That's what Milwaukee needs to do on every level as a city right now. We need to aim higher. As a Milwaukeean, I grew up here, we are sometimes too nice about the city we live in. We need to aim higher and be harsher and try harder, and I think that's what the museum is going to do with this project. That's my goal is to just really push it in that direction, and don't settle for a B. This needs to be an A+, and that's what this city deserves. After graduating from college, Abby Walker who grew up in Mequon accepted a job in the communications department at LaSalle Bank in Chicago. While there, she was dazzled by most of her female coworkers. "I worked with women who had gorgeous hair, gorgeous bags, gorgeous clothes and gorgeous jewelry. To say I felt inept is an understatement," says Walker. "I struggled to find my niche in a world of confident, accomplished, beautiful women." And then she purchased a pair of black and white polka-dotted heels. Walker says the bold-yet-professional shoes set her apart from other women in the office and were the first step in what would become her signature style and identity. "My love for heels blossomed, and I continued to push the edge as to what I could or should wear to work while pursuing a communications career," says Walker. "The more distinct the shoe, the greater my courage at work and in my personal life." However, Walker also experienced the downside of wearing heels: foot pain. She started to think about ways to alleviate achy feet and experimented with foot sprays designed to help with pain and reduce inflammation. "At the time, I was working for a company that formulated and manufactured holistic supplements so I had become more aware of ingredients we put on and in our bodies. I thought these sprays were genius, but I was less than impressed with the ingredients. So ... I had a hair-brained idea to create a similar spray myself," says Walker. Walker hired a clinical herbalist and naturopathic doctor to help her formulate a spray. Together they created a formula that was initially a success, but did not stay effective when made in large batches. Determined to find a solution, Walker did market research about high heel pain and came across an insole that claimed to reduce foot pain from high heel wearing called Insolia. She contacted the CEO of the company, a male engineer from MIT, who was instantly interested in partnering with her. "The insole empowered me to wear high heels all day and pick the kiddos up from daycare and run to the grocery store without crying in pain," she says. Walker became the exclusive distributor of Insolia insoles in the United States and Canada and was offered the opportunity to distribute the insoles under her own brand name. Walker spent the summer of 2014 studying business, e-commerce and more. She also teamed up with a podiatrist and an engineer and created the product. Walker named the company Vivian Lou after her daughter, Vivian Louise, who was 3-years-old at the time. The weight-shifting insoles take pressure off the forefoot so, according to Walker, women can wear high heels four times longer without pain. Vivian Lou soles are made in China and available online for $29 a pair. Walker donates two percent of every sale to Dress for Success in Minneapolis and Women's Bean Project in Denver. "In a standard 3-inch heel, 75 percent of a womans body pressure is on her forefoot. Thats where we feel the burn, the pain, the pressure. Our insoles ever-so-slightly rotate the heel bone up and back to shift weight to the heel and stop feet from slipping forward in the shoe," says Walker. "There is literally nothing else like it on the market." Illustration of Aalto-2. Credit: Aalto University In the evening on Tuesday 18 April, Aalto-2, the satellite designed and built by students in Otaniemi was launched on the Atlas V booster rocket towards the International Space Station orbiting the Earth. It will take the cargo spacecraft Cygnus about three days to reach the International Space Station. 'We have been preparing for the launch of either Aalto-1 or Aalto-2 for a long time. There was a big crowd of us looking forward to and celebrating this historic event in Otaniemi,' says Professor Jaan Praks, the director of the project. Aalto-2 will take part in the international QB50 Mission, the aim of which is to produce the first ever comprehensive model of the features of the thermosphere, the layer between the Earth's atmosphere and space. Dozens of nanosatellites from different parts of the world will take part in the mission. Because Aalto-2 is part of a larger project, it will be registered in Belgium in the same way as the project's other satellites in order to simplify the permit procedures. 'The space station will release Aalto-2 into space within about one month of the arrival of the cargo. The astronauts will install the launch adapter into a robot arm, which will allow the satellites to be safely detached to their orbits. The astronauts will film the satellite being detached and that will be the last time we get to see the Aalto-2 satellite before starting to wait for a signal from it,' says Tuomas Tikka, a doctoral candidate at Aalto and one of the founders of Reaktor Space Lab. The Aalto-2 satellite's orbit is close to the equator, so the satellite can only be occasionally in contact with the earth station in Otaniemi. 'Several earth stations from around the world are involved in the mission. The information sent by the satellites will be shared by them all, so it is likely that the first time we hear from the Aalto-2 satellite will be with the help of one of the other earth stations,' says Tikka. Aalto-2, which only weighs two kilogrammes, is carrying the multi-Needle Langmuir Probe (mNLP) payload developed at the University of Oslo for the measurement of plasma characteristics. 'Our team's primary goal will be to demonstrate how well the satellite platform designed and built at Aalto University functions in the challenging conditions of space,' Tikka continues. Finland has officially entered space age Construction of the Aalto-2 satellite began in 2012 as a doctoral project when the first students graduated as Masters of Science in Technology after working on the Aalto-1 project. Over six years, dozens of next-generation space industry experts have been trained in the projects. The impact is already visible in the growth of start-up companies in the space sector. 'Although there has been space technology in Finland for several decades, Aalto-2 is the first Finnish-built satellite that is now in space. Thanks to the cost-efficiency of small satellites, the industry is on the rise both in Finland and abroad ,' says Praks. Infected salamander. Credit: Frank Pasmans A new fungal disease brought in from Asia is threatening European salamanders. Once the amphibians become infected, they die within a brief period of time, as biologists of the universities of Zurich and Ghent have shown in a Nature paper. Because saving the infected populations is still not possible, Switzerland has preventively imposed an import ban for salamanders and newts. The situation is alarming: The invasive Asian fungus has recently led to mass mortality of fire salamanders in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Only small numbers of the black-yellow amphibian have survived the invasion of Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans - the "devourer of salamanders." The aggressive fungus, which presumably came to Europe through the amphibian trade, affects the skin of the animals, leading to the formation of skin necrosis and ultimately death. The death rate is extremely high, as a study by researchers in the team of Benedikt Schmidt has proven. Schmidt, research group leader at the Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Sciences at the University of Zurich and academic associate for the Swiss Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Programme, says, "Our mark-and-recapture data shows that only 13 percent of the infected salamanders survive over a 10-day period." And, if that were not enough: "The numbers also show that a third of the healthy salamanders became infected with the fungal disease in the same time period." According to An Martel, head of the study and professor at the University of Ghent in Belgium, it is therefore not surprising that an afflicted population shrinks by more than 90 percent within just a few weeks and then disappears. This fungus is the "perfect" enemy The aggressive fungus from Asia has not yet been found in Switzerland. "We must do everything to make sure it stays that way and the disease does not continue to spread," biologist Schmidt warns. Once the "devourer of salamanders" arrives, its epidemiological properties as a "perfect" pathogen make it a deadly enemy: Infection experiments demonstrate that salamanders are not able to build up a resistance to the pathogen. In addition, mere contact with a just a few fungus spores suffice for an infection that ends in death. The fungus also has resistant spores that are not strongly affected by weather conditions and are able to survive for a long time in the environment. Other amphibian species such as the alpine newt react less sensitively to Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans; what is lucky for the alpine newt, however, involves an additional risk: "More robust species may act as a reservoir," Benedikt Schmidt explains. The fungus therefore lives on, even after more sensitive animals like the fire salamander have already long died. According to Schmidt, all these factors make it almost impossible to save a salamander population in its natural environment once infected. "Reintroduction would also have few prospects for success as the spores are able to survive in nature for a long time." Research and import stop as measures If the fungus continues to propagate in Europe, it will pose a great danger to the diversity of European salamanders, many of which are already endangered and on the red list in many countries. Since the fungal disease has initially been limited to a small area, an attempt is being made to prevent it from spreading further: The European Union has launched a research project to create the scientific basis for the control of the "devourer of salamanders" as quickly as possible. Exotic salamanders and newts are often kept as pets and imported in large numbers: Between 2001 and 2009, for example, more than two million fire belly newts, the carriers of the fungal disease, were shipped to the United States. For this reason, both Switzerland and the United States preventively prohibited the import of salamanders and newts. "In case of invasive diseases, this is an unavoidable measure," Schmidt says in support of the measure, "even if trade restrictions are unpopular." More information: Gwij Stegen et al. Drivers of salamander extirpation mediated by Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans, Nature (2017). DOI: 10.1038/nature22059 Journal information: Nature Christian Federation condemns shooting of its member The Federation of National Christian, Nepal (FNCN) has condemned firing at its member by unknown gunmen on Sunday. Each spring, barnacle geese have to fly a long way to their breeding grounds. It's a couple of thousand kilometres to Arctic Russia, where they have to arrive just as the snow has melted. Are they able to predict the vastly changing climate there from their wintering grounds? Credit: Jasper Koster The breeding grounds of Arctic migratory birds such as the barnacle goose are changing rapidly due to accelerated warming in the polar regions. They won't be able to keep up with this climate change unless they can somehow anticipate it. A research team from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) employed computer models to assess the future of the geese and their young. Results are being published online by the scientific journal Global Change Biology. It's the time of year when barnacle geese and many other migratory birds prepare to depart for their breeding grounds above the Arctic Circle. From their wintering grounds in the Netherlands, the geese fly all the way up to the Barentsz Sea in northern Russia, where they should arrive just as the snow has melted. But in the polar regions, the climate is warming much more rapidly than in more temperate areas like the Netherlands - a phenomenon known as 'Arctic amplification'. It's hard enough for humans to get to grips with the accelerated warming, let alone for barnacle geese, as an earlier NIOO-led study showed. After all, how can they tell from their wintering grounds if the snow has begun to melt thousands of kilometres away? So is it possible for the barnacle geese to advance their spring migration nonetheless, to predict climate change? First study, fewer young Ecologist Thomas Lameris and his fellow researchers from NIOO, and also the Swiss Ornithological Institute among other institutions, have tried to find the answer. "This is the first study that tests if migratory birds are in any way able to adjust their timing to the accelerated warming in the polar regions. We used a model to show that the availability of enough edible grass to build up reserves for their journey is not a problem for the barnacle geese. It's the unpredictability of the climatic changes in their breeding grounds that spells trouble for them." Are barnacle geese capable of predicting climate change? They need to arrive at their breeding grounds just as the snow has melted. But the climate in the Arctic is changing rapidly nowadays. Credit: Thomas Lameris/NIOO-KNAW If the geese continue to mistime their arrival, their reproductive success will be reduced. Lameris: "They miss their optimal breeding window and the peak in local food abundance, so fewer goslings will survive." Some compensation for this comes from the fact that as well as starting earlier, the breeding season is becoming longer. This gives the goslings more time to grow. But that's not enough. To establish the barnacle geese's potential for anticipating climate change, the researchers built a model that tracks individual geese as they fly to their breeding grounds in northern Russia and make stopovers along the route. "In the model, the geese have to make a choice each day: stay in their present location and continue to feed, or fly to the next stopover." The researchers tested the model for various gradations of climatic warming. It's a long trip each spring for the barnacle goose. It has to fly thousands of kilometres from temperate Europe to its breeding grounds in the Arctic, with only a few stop-overs along the route. Credit: Thomas Lameris/NIOO-KNAW Smarter migration strategy? The barnacle goose is an ideal 'model species' for studying the effects of climate changes, because researchers have been able to study this animal for decades. But it's not just about a single species. Lameris: "Our results are probably valid for many more species of Arctic-breeding migratory birds, and certainly for other geese such as the white-fronted and the brent goose." On the whole, geese are clever birds. Goslings learn the migration route from their parents, including the best places to stop over and build up fat reserves. "So if they do change the timing of their arrival, it would be easy to pass that on to the next generation", Lameris argues hopefully. "The main question is whether geese and other migratory birds can adapt as fast as the climate changes, to keep up." More information: Thomas K. Lameris et al, Potential for an Arctic-breeding migratory bird to adjust spring migration phenology to Arctic amplification, Global Change Biology (2017). DOI: 10.1111/gcb.13684 Journal information: Global Change Biology Michael Bugeja, professor and director of ISU's Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication, explores what might happen if we allow machines to dictate our lives. He says we need to educate ourselves on media literacy and the way in which we use technologyasserting ourselves over the technology. Credit: Christopher Gannon Most Americans have some form of digital technology, whether it is a smartphone, tablet or laptop, within their reach 24-7. Our dependence on these gadgets has dramatically changed how we communicate and interact, and is slowly eroding some of our core principles, said Michael Bugeja, professor and director of the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University. Bugeja is not advocating against technology in fact, he relies on it for his work and personal life but he says we need to recognize the possible ramifications before it is too late. In his forthcoming book, "Interpersonal Divide in the Age of the Machine," Bugeja explores what might happen if we allow machines to dictate our life. Those machines range from smartphones to robotics to virtual reality. Bugeja theorizes that because of our reliance on machines, we will start to develop the universal principles of technology, such as urgency, a need for constant updates and a loss of privacy. "We are losing empathy, compassion, truth-telling, fairness and responsibility and replacing them with all these machine values," Bugeja said. "If we embed ourselves in technology, what happens to those universal principles that have stopped wars and elevated human consciousness and conscience above more primitive times in history?" Need for media and technology literacy Bugeja warns of the dangers associated with adopting these values. The proliferation of fake news is just one example of how this shift is already influencing our culture. Technology provides a continuous connection to our social media feeds, which has become a popular source for news for many Americans. However, social media tends to cultivate news stories that reflect our individual beliefs and values not a broad spectrum of viewpoints and is an easy way for fake news stories to spread, Bugeja said. "The business of journalism is already feeling the effect of living in a world of correlation without causation," he said. "We understand what happened and how it happened, but we don't understand why it happened." That's why Bugeja wants colleges and universities to require students take media and technology literacy courses. He says it is important that students know where to go to find credible news stories, and open their minds to information from a variety of sources, not just those that confirm what they already think or believe. "We need these courses so that people know where to go for facts and how to deal with technology. If you do not assert yourself over technology, it will assert itself over you and you will be doing what the machine asks you, rather than you telling the machine what to do," Bugeja said. There is no easy short-term fix for the future, Bugeja said, which is why we need to temper our use. He says the long-term solution is through education. Machines are not human It is not just the philosophical and intellectual consequences that have Bugeja concerned, but also the impact of technology on business, behavior and everyday activities. Business and industry increasingly rely on machines or robots to do the jobs of humans. Bugeja says this shift can improve efficiency, safety and the company's bottom line, but he questions what will happen to those individuals who lose their jobs to machines. Working at a university, Bugeja has witnessed how machines have altered behavior in the classroom, dining hall or when walking across campus. Technology is a distraction that keeps students from focusing on their studies and limits interpersonal interactions, he said. In much the same way, the temptation of responding to an alert from social media or notification of a text message while driving has increased safety concerns. "We introduce new gadgets by saying they will make our lives better, which is true, but there are also dangers," Bugeja said. The purpose of his latest book is to raise awareness about the dangers of living in a world dominated by machines. He challenges readers, just as he does with students in his class, to balance their use of technology and not feel pressured to respond immediately to an email or text message. The book, published by Oxford University Press, will be available in July. The 2015 Aliso Canyon methane gas leak in Southern California is shown in this image from an infrared camera. Credit: Environmental Defense Fund Regulations recently enacted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reduce methane emissions from oil and natural gas production will cost about a third less than what the agency estimates but may not lead to expected leak reductions, according to publicly available data analyzed by Stanford researchers. The research published online April 18 in Environmental Research Letters evaluated the recently updated EPA 2012 New Source Performance Standards that lay out how methane leaks should be detected and mitigated by the oil and natural gas industry. The research shows that enforcing the standards will cost about 27 percent less than EPA estimates. However, the group also found that methane emissions reductions will likely fall short of the agency's 2025 mitigation targets by 20 to 50 percent, in part due to challenges with the technology used to detect leaks. "We found out that even if you implement all these regulations as specified, what you achieve in terms of emissions reductions might be less than what the EPA estimates it's going to achieve in terms of targets," said lead author Arvind Ravikumar, a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences. "One of the reasons it happens is because of In their paper, the group made recommendations for how to improve reduction of methane leaks. Despite the president's recent executive order to review the EPA's regulations, the findings may be helpful to state-level regulators and companies developing new technologies to detect leaks in oil and gas operations. Methane leaks from natural gas operations contribute to rapid global warming while costing millions of dollars in economic loss. Methane is the primary component of natural gas, which is the top source of electricity production in the United States. Even small leaks can have large impacts on the planet: Methane emissions cause about 25 percent of manmade global warming today. Methane leaks can also threaten human health and safety, as shown by the 2015 Aliso Canyon leak in Southern California and multiple recent explosions in New York City caused by leaks in aging natural gas pipes. "It would be better for everyone if we don't waste gas," Ravikumar said. "About 1 to 2 percent of gas is completely leaked now and fixing it is a direct economic value to both the operators, because they can sell that gas, and to consumers, because ultimately, we pay for it and prices are very volatile." Evolving technology Federal law requires operators to survey for leaks with a technology called optical gas imaging, or infrared cameras. But the technology's accuracy depends on variables like weather conditions and time of day, making the equipment "notoriously finicky in terms of its performance," said Ravikumar. The EPA estimates a 60 percent reduction in leaks from these periodic surveys, but researchers found the technology to range between 15 and 75 percent effective in actually reducing methane emissions. The group based their findings on calculations from a software tool they adapted to model costs and benefits of mitigating methane leaks based on publicly available surveys conducted in U.S. natural gas facilities over the last four years. "We are using this tool to develop a quantitative and statistically supportable approach to evaluating a policy," said study co-author Adam Brandt, an assistant professor of energy resources engineering. "Not only that, because it's open source, anyone can see exactly how the calculations are done, run it themselves and see the effectiveness of a policy." Broad recommendations The EPA regulations the group analyzed impose uniform standards on how often operators must inspect their facilities for leakage, what technology they can use and how soon a problem should be addressed. But given the variability in natural gas facilities, Stanford researchers recommend addressing methane leaks from a regional and holistic perspective, such as coordinating with other greenhouse gas mitigation policies, rather than imposing uniform standards based on national averages. "These are only recommendations," Ravikumar said. "The methane business itself is fairly new and there are still many unknowns when it comes to methane emissions given what we know, these ideas seem like the best way forward." To address the issue of varied results from infrared cameras, Stanford researchers encourage regulators to instead adopt a more technology-agnostic approach. Since the group's software modeling tool was initially released in 2016, several organizations have begun developing alternate ways of detecting methane leaks that may prove more effective. "Companies are developing detection technologies using our models," said Brandt, who is also a Center Fellow at Stanford's Precourt Institute for Energy and an affiliate at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. "You can start to play with different variables and examine the costs and benefits associated with them." The researchers also recommend addressing emissions regionally since each basin features unique properties. For example, a possible solution would be indirect mitigation, in which the EPA sets a methane reduction target and then lets operators decide the best approach for reaching it. "This research is not only applicable to the federal EPA rules we are also talking with the California Air Resources Board," Ravikumar said. "There's a lot of interest around finding the best way to reduce emissions." More information: Arvind P Ravikumar et al. Designing better methane mitigation policies: the challenge of distributed small sources in the natural gas sector, Environmental Research Letters (2017). DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/aa6791 Journal information: Environmental Research Letters Zealandia robin Iti shares a mealworm with his mate Aroha. Credit: Victoria University Research from Victoria University of Wellington has shown for the first time that wild male birds read their partner's behaviour to appropriately cater to her food desires. Dr Rachael Shaw, a postdoctoral research fellow in Victoria's School of Biological Sciences, conducted a study on a group of North Island robins based at Zealandia. The research investigated whether male robins could give their mate the type of food that she was most likely to want during reproduction. "Robins are a monogamous, food-sharing species, so were ideal for this experiment. The experimental procedure has only previously been used in the laboratory on Eurasian jays," she says. "We found male robins appropriately catered to their mates' desire, even when the female's behaviour was the only cue available to guide their choices. "This suggests that females can signal their current desires to their mates, enabling males to respond to that." Dr Shaw says the finding raises the possibility that other species might be capable of doing the same. "In many species food sharing by the male is vital to help the female offset the energetic costs of reproduction, such as egg laying and incubation. The male's ability to give his mate what she wants could in fact be an important factor in determining the success of a pair, as well as influencing whether they stay together. These are really exciting avenues for future research." The experiment first involved establishing female robins' eating habits. "I fed the females either meal worms or wax worms, and then gave them the choice between these two types of insect larvae. I found that after the females had eaten one type of insect, they would prefer to eat the other type when given the choice. This means that the female's desire for a particular food is affected by what she has previously eaten." Based on this, Dr Shaw then tested if the male would also be able to choose the type of insect his mate was most likely to want (the one she had not just eaten). "Regardless of whether or not he had seen what his mate ate first, the male still made the appropriate choices. This suggests that the female is likely to be displaying her current desire in her behaviour, and that the male is using these cues to identify the food that she wants." The research, co-authored by Victoria's Associate Professor Kevin Burns and Professor Nicola Clayton from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, was recently published in the journal Scientific Reports. The field work and data collection was carried out by Dr Shaw with help from Victoria student Regan MacKinlay. Dr Shaw's research is supported by a Rutherford Foundation postdoctoral fellowship and a Marsden Fast Start grant from the Royal Society of New Zealand. Previous research from Dr Shaw has revealed surprising similarities to human intelligence in robins. Biologist James Haber. Credit: Mike Lovett A new paper in the prestigious journal Nature from Brandeis researchers in the laboratory of James Haber provides a detailed description of the processes of DNA repair. Chromosomes undergo DNA repair to correct insults to our genetic code, caused either by errors in copying the DNA or by external factors such as exposure to radiation or toxins. Most damage gets accurately repaired, so the cell is unaffected, but some result in permanent errors (mutations or chromosome rearrangements) that may lead to diseases, including cancer. Especially dangerous are double-strand DNA breaks (DSB's) that sever the chromosome. The work was principally carried out by postdoctoral fellow Ranjith Anand with contributions by technician Annette Beach and physics Phd student Kevin Li. They examined repair of a double-strand break in yeast cells. When a DSB occurs, the cell needs to patch up the break by matching up the ends of the broken chromosome with similar DNA sequences located on an intact chromosome; the intact sequences can be used as a template to repair the break by DNA copying. To accomplish repair, the cell must be able to locate another chromosome with similar sequences to use as a template. Finding such a template is no easy task. Chromosomes are made up of base pairspairings of the molecules guanine and cytosine or adenine and thymine. (As you may remember from biology class, G goes with C and A with T). The end of the broken chromosome must be compared with millions of possible short DNA regions in order to find a chromosome with the same arrangement of base pairs. This search is mediated by the RAD51 protein, which promotes the matching up of the broken end with potential donor sequences. But how perfect does the match have to be? Ranjith Anand, the first author on the Nature paper, said this was one of the central questions that the Haber lab wanted to answer. They found that repair was still possible when every sixth base in a stretch of about 100 bases was different. Previous studies of RAD51 in the test tube had suggested that the protein had a much more stringent requirement for matching. That one of the six base pairs could be a mismatch surprised the scientists. The process "is permissive of mismatches during the repairing," says Anand, now an organism engineer at Ginkgo Bioworks in Boston. There was another big surprise in the lab's results. Researchers had thought that mismatches such as an adenine paired with a cytosine were corrected by what are called mismatch repair proteins such as MSH2 or MSH6 whereby the cytosine was removed and replaced by the properly-paired thymine. Instead, Haber and his fellow researchers found an enzyme called DNA polymerase delta serves this proofreading function. More information: Ranjith Anand et al. Rad51-mediated double-strand break repair and mismatch correction of divergent substrates, Nature (2017). DOI: 10.1038/nature22046 Journal information: Nature Successive reviews and inquiries have revealed that mandatory sentences fail to achieve their stated aims. Credit: Shutterstock The Victorian Liberal Party recently announced that, if elected in November 2018, it would introduce mandatory minimum sentences for repeat violent offenders as part of its crackdown on crime. Heralded as a "two-strike" approach, the proposal applies specifically to repeat offenders and 11 violent crimes, including murder, rape and armed robbery. Shadow Attorney-General John Pesutto claimed the proposed new sentencing laws were "unprecedented" in Victoria and "will be certainly among the toughest measures that anyone has sought to introduce in our criminal justice system". Although obviously intended to improve community safety, mandatory minimum sentencing policies run counter to the significant body of evidence indicating that this approach to sentencing is costly, unlikely to improve public safety nor effective in deterring future offending. Despite this, such political promises are neither new nor unique to Victoria. Mandatory minimum sentencing across Australia Mandatory maximum and minimum sentencing policies have been introduced to varying degrees across other Australian states and territories. Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria have each introduced minimum terms of imprisonment for a variety of different offences. At the Commonwealth level, the Migration Act imposes mandatory minimum terms of imprisonment for aggravated people-smuggling offences. The widespread uptake of such policies should not, however, be considered an indicator of their success in practice. Successive reviews and inquiries have revealed that mandatory sentences fail to achieve their stated aims and have unintended consequences in practice, particularly for marginalised and diverse communities. Failure to enhance public safety The limits and dangers of mandatory sentencing schemes are well-established in Australian and international research. Importantly, we know the threat of a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment does little to deter future offending. Therefore, the approach fails to achieve its aim of reducing offending and increasing public safety. While policies that promise definite and lengthy terms of imprisonment for repeat violent offences may appear attractive within populist politics, they undermine long-established principles of proportionality and individualised justice. In sentencing offenders for serious violent crime, senior members of the judiciary are in an expert position to determine the appropriate sentence to be imposed. Politicians lack the qualifications and experience to determine sentences, though they can pass legislation that reflects public concern and gives the judiciary the power to determine sentences for punishment, deterrence and rehabilitation. By weighing up the individual facts of a case, a person's offending and their individual circumstances, a judge works to apply a just sentence. Such a complex act of sentencing should not be used by politicians as a response to populist concerns. The cost of mandatory sentencing The failure of mandatory sentencing to achieve its stated aims also comes at a significant cost to public money. By their very nature, such policies divert more people into the prison system and for lengthier periods of time. The result is greater cost. Take the recent Victorian policy announcement for example. In 2015, the Productivity Commission found that it cost A$103,000 annually to imprison one person in a secure Victorian prison facility. Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy estimated the proposed sentencing laws would impact 3-4,000 people "over a period of time". On this basis, over the government's four-year term, if 3,000 additional people were imprisoned for one year, the opposition's proposed policy would cost at minimum an estimated $309 million. If this cost were repeated each year for the four-year term of government, the cost of the policy would be a minimum of $1.236 billion. From a purely economic perspective, the cost of this approach is staggering. That $309 million will not be spent on tackling the underlying causes of crime or implementing evidence-based criminal justice policies. And, at a time when Victoria and many Australian jurisdictions is imprisoning more people than ever, any policies that increase prisoner numbers must be seriously reconsidered. 'Political' responses to crime Policies such as that announced by the Victorian Liberals are commonplace in the lead-up to state elections, when parties often mount "law and order" campaigns. Politicians will often promise tougher criminal justice policies, usually in the form of longer terms of imprisonment, or zero-tolerance policing. This is all sold as taking action to "keep the community safe". The political nature of such reforms was evident in 2014. Following a series of high-profile "one-punch" homicide deaths, NSW introduced a minimum term of eight years' imprisonment for offenders who were intoxicated while committing such a crime. Championed by then-premier Barry O'Farrell and later introduced by Mike Baird, the harsh approach to sentencing was touted as a response to public outrage over increasing levels of alcohol-fuelled violence. Over two years on, the Law Council of Australia has appealed for the abolition of the law, noting that mandatory minimums "create greater law and order problems" than they solve. Why we must learn from our mistakes Since the Victorian Liberals' announcement, the proposal for mandatory minimum sentencing has been met with significant criticism from the legal and academic community. Their concerns are well founded. Australian states and territories must move away from populist, ineffective "law and order" policies in favour of evidence-based and individualised responses to serious criminal justice concerns. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Hyaenodont skull. Credit: Matthew Borths Analysis of Egyptian fossils has identified a new species of extinct carnivorous mammals called hyaenodonts, according to a study published April 19, 2017 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Matthew Borths from Ohio University, United States of America, and Erik Seiffert from University of Southern California, United States of America. Hyaenodonts preceded modern terrestrial carnivores in Africa and also lived in Europe, Asia, and North America. Some were tree-dwelling; others were terrestrial. The Afro-Arabian hyaenodont records are the oldest, making them key to understanding the evolution of these extinct meat-eaters. The authors of the present study characterized 34 million-year-old Egyptian fossils of a new skunk-sized species of hyaenodont. They named it Masrasector nananubis, the species name referring to Anubis, the canine-headed Egyptian god associated with the afterlife. This hyaenodont was a teratodontine, a carnivorous clade that has been difficult to align with other lineages due to poorly known cranial anatomy. The fossils of the new hyaenodont are the most complete known remains of a teratodontine from the Paleogene Period, and include largely complete skulls, jaws and limb bones. Based on the morphology of the new hyaenodont's bones, the researchers concluded that teratodontines are a close sister group of Hyainailourinae, one of two major hyaenodont clades that were hypercarnivorous, eating mostly meat. Comparison of the limb bones with those of other meat-eating mammals suggests that the new species was terrestrial and moved fast. The researchers state that the fossils of this new species will inform all future explorations of hyaenodont evolution and ecological diversity. "Hyaenodonts were the the top predators in Africa after the extinction of the dinosaurs," says Borths. "This new species is associated with a dozen specimens, including skulls and arm bones, which means we can explore what it ate, how it moved, and consider why these carnivorous mammals died off as the relatives of dogs, cats, and hyenas moved into Africa." More information: Borths MR, Seiffert ER (2017) Craniodental and humeral morphology of a new species of Masrasector (Teratodontinae, Hyaenodonta, Placentalia) from the late Eocene of Egypt and locomotor diversity in hyaenodonts. PLoS ONE 12(4): e0173527. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0173527 Journal information: PLoS ONE This artist's impression shows the exoplanet LHS 1140b, which orbits a red dwarf star 40 light-years from Earth and may be the new holder of the title 'best place to look for signs of life beyond the Solar System'. Using ESO's HARPS instrument at La Silla, and other telescopes around the world, an international team of astronomers discovered this super-Earth orbiting in the habitable zone around the faint star LHS 1140. This world is a little larger and much more massive than the Earth and has likely retained most of its atmosphere. Credit: ESO/spaceengine.org The newly discovered super-Earth LHS 1140b orbits in the habitable zone around a faint red dwarf star named LHS 1140, in the constellation of Cetus (The Sea Monster). Red dwarfs are much smaller and cooler than the Sun and, although LHS 1140b is ten times closer to its star than the Earth is to the Sun, it only receives about half as much sunlight from its star as the Earth and lies in the middle of the habitable zone. The orbit is seen almost edge-on from Earth and as the exoplanet passes in front of the star once per orbit it blocks a little of its light every 25 days. "This is the most exciting exoplanet I've seen in the past decade," said lead author Jason Dittmann of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (Cambridge, USA). "We could hardly hope for a better target to perform one of the biggest quests in sciencesearching for evidence of life beyond Earth." "The present conditions of the red dwarf are particularly favourableLHS 1140 spins more slowly and emits less high-energy radiation than other similar low-mass stars," explains team member Nicola Astudillo-Defru from Geneva Observatory, Switzerland. For life as we know it to exist, a planet must have liquid surface water and retain an atmosphere. When red dwarf stars are young, they are known to emit radiation that can be damaging for the atmospheres of the planets that orbit them. In this case, the planet's large size means that a magma ocean could have existed on its surface for millions of years. This seething ocean of lava could feed steam into the atmosphere long after the star has calmed to its current, steady glow, replenishing the planet with water. The MEarth-South telescope array, located on Cerro Tololo in Chile, searches for planets by monitoring the brightness of nearby, small stars. This photograph shows the array, comprising eight 40-cm telescopes, at twilight. Credit: Jonathan Irwin The discovery was initially made with the MEarth facility, which detected the first telltale, characteristic dips in light as the exoplanet passed in front of the star. ESO's HARPS instrument, the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher, then made crucial follow-up observations which confirmed the presence of the super-Earth. HARPS also helped pin down the orbital period and allowed the exoplanet's mass and density to be deduced. The astronomers estimate the age of the planet to be at least five billion years. They also deduced that it has a diameter 1.4 times larger than the Earthalmost 18 000 kilometres. But with a mass around seven times greater than the Earth, and hence a much higher density, it implies that the exoplanet is probably made of rock with a dense iron core. This super-Earth may be the best candidate yet for future observations to study and characterise its atmosphere, if one exists. Two of the European members of the team, Xavier Delfosse and Xavier Bonfils both at the CNRS and IPAG in Grenoble, France, conclude: "The LHS 1140 system might prove to be an even more important target for the future characterisation of planets in the habitable zone than Proxima b or TRAPPIST-1. This has been a remarkable year for exoplanet discoveries!". In particular, observations coming up soon with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope will be able to assess exactly how much high-energy radiation is showered upon LHS 1140b, so that its capacity to support life can be further constrained. Further into the futurewhen new telescopes like ESO's Extremely Large Telescope are operatingit is likely that we will be able to make detailed observations of the atmospheres of exoplanets, and LHS 1140b is an exceptional candidate for such studies. This research was presented in a paper entitled "A temperate rocky super-Earth transiting a nearby cool star", by J. A. Dittmann et al. to appear in the journal Nature on 20 April 2017. More information: A temperate rocky super-Earth transiting a nearby cool star, Nature (2017). nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature22055 Journal information: Nature Provided by ESO Social media murder. Credit: Google The Facebook Live video of the murder of 74 year old Robert Godwin Sr. by Steve Stephens has been watched at least 1.6 million times. It took Facebook 3 hours to take the video down, and by that time it had been copied and circulated repeatedly by Facebook users. In Sweden, three men were arrested after streaming the sexual assault of a woman live to a private Facebook group. Facebook's VP, Global Operations wrote that "We disabled the suspect's account within 23 minutes of receiving the first report about the murder video, and two hours after receiving a report of any kind. But we know we need to do better." Facebook was notified about the murder video 1 hour and 45 minutes after it had been posted. There is a limit to what Facebook can actually do about preventing this sort of posting, short of banning what is now the core of the platform, video, and in particular, live video. The idea that notoriety and 15 minutes of fame through mass media spurring murderers is not new. In the past, critics have argued that mainstream media has played a major role in publicising mass murderers and giving them the very thing that they crave. Not only that, but there has been a view that this process actually then spurs others into copycat crimes. With social media and live streaming, mainstream media is no longer needed. Criminals, murderers and terrorists have found that they can go directly to a seemingly eager audience to view crime as it happens. It is not only murderers who are turning to Facebook. The live streaming of suicides has become an increasingly frequent occurrence. On another level, Facebook and social media has been implicated in fuelling gang violence by allowing gangs to trade insults and make violent threats. It's behaviour that has been termed "internet banging" by sociologists Desmond Patton, Robert Eschmann and Dirk Butler, who have been studying this phenomenon. For teens, cyberbullying and "being mean" online are the expected consequence of being online and using social media, especially Facebook. The question that researchers and others are increasingly asking is whether the negative consequences of social media will inevitably outweigh any benefits. The fundamental problem with social media, and more generally with the internet, is the online disinhibition effect that lies at the heart of trolling and bad behaviour. The issue with bad behaviour online is that it becomes the new normal. As society readjusts to these new norms, online disinhibition kicks in again to move the norm to new extremes. Another psychological phenomenon that may be at play is the bystander effect. People on social media can watch a video of a murder, suicide or rape and not take action, like reporting the video, because there is an assumption that because so many others are watching, somebody would have already taken that action. Just as the world is getting fatter because we can't say no to gratification from fats and sugars, social media is destined to become more violent and aggressive. The fascination with watching others behaving badly is too hard to resist, fuelling even further tendencies of exhibitionism and narcissism that then motivate more people to behave badly and record the experience online. To that extent, online exposure to bad behaviour becomes the cerebral equivalent to polluting the body with junk food. Another macabre practice that has been fuelled by social media is the growth in people taking selfies at horror sites such as the Dachau concentration camp, and locations of disasters such as plane crash sites. Of course, there is the balancing effect of people acting collectively through social media for individual and collective good but this, like exercise in combating obesity, takes effort and it is not at all certain that it can neutralise the negative aspects of social media. Facebook and other social media sites are not in a position to address the growing problem playing out on their platforms. It is not even possible to criminalise the act itself as a deterrent if what is actually being depicted is already a crime. Bad behaviour online may be amenable to similar strategies used to target other poor behaviours like smoking and excessive drinking through regulation or even pricing. The US and other governments are taking this approach in dealing with cyberbullying. The German Government is also investigating Facebook for its role in inciting racial and ethnic hatred and could hold it accountable. Ultimately, holding the companies that facilitate this behaviour accountable would force their hand to either limit what could be posted by having it moderated or simply restricting the service in some other way. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Researchers set up time-lapse cameras to record penguin behavior during the dark Antarctic winter. Credit: T. Hart Not even the most intrepid researcher wants to spend winter in Antarctica, so how can you learn what penguins are doing during those cold, dark months? Simple: Leave behind some cameras. Year-round studies across the full extent of a species' range are especially important in polar areas, where individuals within a single species may adopt a variety of different migration strategies to get by, and a new study from The Auk: Ornithological Advances uses this unique approach to get new insights into Gentoo Penguin behavior. Gentoo Penguins are of interest to scientists because they're increasing at the southern end of their range in the Western Antarctic Peninsula, a region where other penguin species are declining. Little is known about their behavior during the nonbreeding season, so Caitlin Black and Tom Hart of the University of Oxford and Andrea Raya Rey of Argentina's Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas used time-lapse cameras to examine patterns in Gentoo Penguins' presence at breeding sites across their range during the off season. They found both temporal and spatial factors driving winter attendancefor example, more Gentoo Penguins were present at breeding sites when there was open water or free-floating pack ice than when the shoreline was iced in, and more Gentoo Penguins were at breeding sites earlier in nonbreeding season than later. The researchers deployed the cameras at seven sites including Argentina, Antarctica, and several islands. Each camera took eight to fourteen photos per day, and volunteer "citizen scientists" were recruited to count the penguins in each image via a website (penguinwatch.org). Overall, the seven sites fell into three distinct groups in terms of winter attendance, each with its own patterns of site occupation. These findings could have important implications for understanding how localized disturbances due to climate change and fisheries activity affect penguin populations during the nonbreeding season. Time-lapse cameras recorded images of Gentoo Penguins at their breeding sites in winter. Credit: T. Hart "Working with cameras allows us to understand half of this species' life without having to spend the harsh winter in Antarctica. It has been exciting to discover more about why Gentoos are present year-round at breeding sites without having to handle a single bird," says Black. "I believe the applications for this technology are far-reaching for colonial seabirds and mammals, and we are only just beginning to discover the uses of time-lapse cameras as deployed virtual ecologists in field studies." "What most seabirds do away from their nest is often anybody's guess. For Antarctic birds, this is compounded by the long periods of darkness that penguins and others must face in the winter," adds Mark Hauber, Editor-in-Chief of The Auk: Ornithological Advances and Professor of Animal Behavior at Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. "This new research in The Auk: Ornithological Advances on Gentoo Penguins colonies reveals critical year-to-year differences in where the birds are when they are not nesting: In some years, only the most temperate sites are visited, and in other years both southerly and northerly locations are busy with penguins." More information: "Peeking into the bleak midwinter: Investigating nonbreeding strategies of Gentoo Penguins using a camera network" April 19, 2017, americanornithologypubs.org/do /10.1642/AUK-16-69.1 Circulation of fake Rs 500 notes rife in Pokhara Circulation of fake 500 rupee notes has become a cause for concern in Pokhara as the local authorities have been unable to track down their source. Ducks harvested by hunters in the Saskatchewan River Delta have given scientists new insight into the migration patterns of North American waterfowl. Credit: M. Carriere Knowing where migrating birds came from and where they're headed is essential for their conservation and management. For ducks, most of this information comes from long-term bird-banding programs, but this type of research has limitsdespite all the birds harvested by hunters, only a small percentage of banded birds are ever recovered. A new study from The Condor: Ornithological Applications takes on the challenge of gaining information from unbanded birds by using stable isotope ratios, which reflect where birds were living while growing their feathers. These results reveal that the northern reaches of Canada may have underappreciated importance for North America's waterfowl. Canada's Saskatchewan River Delta is North America's largest inland delta and is a key stopover site for migrating ducks. To learn more about the origins of ducks using delta habitat, Christian Asante of the University of Saskatchewan, Keith Hobson of the University of Western Ontario, and their colleagues analyzed the isotopes in feather samples from 236 ducks from five species, all harvested by hunters in the region during migration in 2013 and 2014. Hydrogen and sulfur isotope ratios give scientists different informationhydrogen isotope ratios vary predictably with latitude, while sulfur isotope ratios reflect the type of food a bird eats and underlying geologybut together they indicated that as many as half the ducks using the delta during migration originated in the vast and nearly inaccessible areas of boreal forest and wetlands to the north. The research required close collaboration with the area's hunters. "Working on this project was a great experience," says local community member Michela Carriere, who was hired to do the field work for the study. "I spent a few weeks collecting samples from the ducks and getting to know the hunters and the guides. Twice a day a load of ducks would come in and I would collect samples and label and package them, plucking feathers and extracting tissues. The hardest part was the labeling, which has to be done meticulously. I would spend hours each day collecting and organizing the samples." The results show that the boreal habitat's contribution to North America's waterfowl populations, though poorly documented, may be crucial. This region faces increasing threats from climate change and other factors, and isotopic monitoring offers a new means of tracking the effects on birds. "Our study is important for two reasons," says Hobson. "First, it demonstrates clearly that the delta is a major fall refueling station for birds breeding in the north. Second, it shows once again how origins and regions of productivity can be determined using the simple isotope approach with feathers from hunter-killed birds. This major potential tool in waterfowl management has been largely overlooked in North America for too long." More information: "Tracing origins of waterfowl using the Saskatchewan River Delta: Incorporating stable isotope approaches in continent-wide waterfowl management and conservation" April 19, 2017, americanornithologypubs.org/do 1650/CONDOR-16-179.1 Cayan Announces New Partnership with Aldelo Partnership Expands Cayans Genius Presence in the Restaurant Market BOSTON, MA Apr 18, 2017 Cayan, a payment technology company, today announced a new strategic partnership with Aldelo, a leading provider of POS software for the hospitality industry. With this integration, Aldelo is now EMV certified with Cayan, enhancing the partnership and presenting new opportunities for Aldelos resellers. Aldelo provides an easy-to-use restaurant POS solution and has over 120,000 installations around the world. The software companys partnership with Cayan will bring Aldelos network of 400+ dealers more opportunities to provide their merchants with Cayans powerful payment solution, Genius. In turn, by enabling Aldelos resellers to sell Genius Countertop and Genius Handheld, Cayan will effectively expand its portfolio of quick-service, casual and fine-dining restaurants. Integrating with Aldelo is a mutually beneficial partnership, as its providing an opportunity for us to gain a strong foothold in the hospitality industry, said Ken Paull, CRO of Cayan. Simultaneously, Aldelos integration with the Genius Platform sets their resellers and restaurant customers up for success now and in the future, allowing one-swipe bar tabs and EMV capabilities. Given the levels of credit card fraud rapidly increasing in industry areas where EMV adoption has been slow, Aldelos integration with Cayans payment technology will better protect restaurants businesses, while allowing their customers to pay with chip cards and the most popular NFC and QRC schemes emerging, such as Apple Pay. Additionally, Cayan offers industry leading EMV processing times, completing transactions in under 4 seconds. Since Aldelo focuses on various restaurant types, improved EMV transactions result in faster moving lines at QSRs while also leading to faster table turnover at fine-dining restaurant establishments. Aldelo resellers can quickly and easily get their customers set up with Genius and take advantage of its ability to: Customize tip suggestions Process one-swipe bar tabs with rapid EMV transactions Provide on-screen digital signature capture and online, digital storage and retrieval Accept mobile, credit, debit and gift card payment types Remain secure and scalable, ensuring full encryption and tokenization Future-proof the payment process, allowing customers to stay on top of industry changes The Aldelo interface to the Genius platform from Cayan takes advantage of some truly advanced technology between the companies, said Harry Tu, President of Aldelo. This advanced EMV technology allows us to maintain our industry leading feature set along with secure payment processing for our customers. About Cayan Cayan is a technology company focused on transformative innovations in payments. From simple and reliable payment processing, to fully integrated, multichannel customer engagement platforms, Cayan is continuously developing new ways to unlock the power of payments. Cayans platforms include their Cayan Unified Commerce Solution Suite and Genius Platform both are secure and scalable platforms that are fully configurable, tailored to a businesses unique needs and easy to implement. Headquartered in Boston, the company has multiple offices in the United States and Belfast, Northern Ireland. Cayan is one of the worlds fastest growing payment companies. For more information, visit www.cayan.com. More news: Mastercard and PayRange provide consumers additional choices at vending machines across 300 cities in the U.S. and Canada. Mastercard [1] today will make creased dollar bills and spare coins a thing of the past at vending machines. Through a partnership with PayRange [2] , maker of the worlds simplest mobile payment solution for machines, consumers can buy beverages and snacks with Masterpass [3] at vending machines across 300 cities in the United States and Canada. Consumers want a seamless shopping experience. They want to be served instantly at stores and are even more demanding when it comes to buying at a machine. Globally, 61 percent of consumers say they would be willing to shop in a completely automated store with kiosk stations using virtual service. 52 percent say they actually prefer self-service stations to avoid waiting in lines.1 Using the PayRange app on their mobile device, consumers can select the beverage or snack they want to buy and pay for those items safely and securely using Masterpass. Convenience is as important to consumers as personalization and customization, said Betty DeVita, chief commercial officer, Digital Payments and Labs, Mastercard. Paying with a mobile phone seems like such an obvious answer to a pain point that has existed for decades. Whether its a physical card or a tap of a phone, as mobile usage becomes a way of life, consumers will expect all retail touchpoints to be as mobile-friendly as possible and all commerce experiences to be frictionless. With Masterpass, consumers are able to store all payment information, including card details, shipping information, and payment preferences in one convenient location. PayRange thrives on reinventing the consumer experience in the world of automated retail by bringing legacy machines into the digital age, said Paresh Patel, founder and CEO, PayRange. The partnership with Mastercard grants millions of consumers access to the rewarding cashless experience across the PayRange network of machines. Gone are the days of digging for loose change or coin jams. With a swipe up on their phone, were making everyday payments simplefor everyone. Mastercard Vending [4] and Masterpass [5] APIs on the Mastercard Developers [6] platform enables developers to add vending and digital payment capabilities inside their own mobile application. Mastercard also provides a simulator for developers to test their apps removing the requirement of having an actual vending machine to determine if the app is communicating with the machine. Masterpass will be available in the PayRange mobile app beginning May 1, 2017. About Mastercard Mastercard [7] (NYSE: MA), www.mastercard.com [8] , is a technology company in the global payments industry. We operate the worlds fastest payments processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. Mastercard products and solutions make everyday commerce activities such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter @MastercardNews [9] , join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog [10] and subscribe [11] for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau [12] . About PayRange: PayRange was founded to provide read more Exclusive POS content from Pointofsale.com. LAGOS, Nigeria, April 19, 2017/ Introduction Jumia Nigeria (www.Jumia.com.ng) is pleased to present the 2017 edition of the African Mobile Trends Paper. This is the third white paper presentation from Jumia delving into mobile trends across Africa and specifically Nigeria. The study takes a look at the how the market has democratized mobile internet use, the consumer behaviors driving increased smartphone adoption and the role of mobile brands, mobile operators and m-commerce in creating a synergy of an enhanced customer experience.This years Mobile Africa Study was carried out in 15 African countries which generate more than 80% of Africas GDP Algeria, Nigeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Mozambique, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and Senegal.Africa Mobile subscriptions and Internet penetration There are 960 million mobile subscriptions across Africa an 80% penetration rate among the continents population. Internet penetration is at 18% with 216 million internet users. While Nigerias internet penetration is much higher at 53%, it mobile subscription is similar to Africas at 81% penetration (150 million mobile subscriptions). Like last year, it is presumed that the unique subscription rate is lower as each subscriber owns an average of 2 sim cards.Nigeria: A Mobile First Nation As predicted in 2016, Nigeria continues its trajectory down the increasingly widening highway that is the mobile internet. With a current internet penetration rate of 53% (97.2 million users) Nigeria has a much higher penetration rate than across Africa (18%).About 71% of website visitors on Jumia use their mobile phones. This is in comparison to 53% of Jumia African customers. One of the main vehicles of this mobile trajectory is the increasing adoption of the smartphone device by consumers. As predicted in our 2016 report, smartphone adoption continues to rise in Nigeria. The mobile phone category continues to be the most popular among Nigerian shoppers on Jumia, both in terms of the number of items sold, and in terms of revenue generated. The sales of smartphones jumped up by 394% between 2014 and 2016, mostly driven by an increasing range of smartphones price points.ECommerce and the Diversification of Smartphones The average price for a smartphone on Jumia is $117, down from $216 in 2014. Correlating with this is a drop in the share of sales of basic feature phones from 6% in 2015 to 4% in 2016, even as the share of smartphones on the website increased.In 2016 Chinese mobile brands held dominance and played a major role in introducing smartphones with lower price points. Infinix, Innjoo, Tecno, Samsung and Yezz are the top 5 smartphone brands in terms of sales on Jumia. Infinix continues to be Africas top smartphone brand across Jumias 15 markets. One of their entry level smartphones, the Infinix Hot4Lite was one of the best-selling phones across several African markets including Nigeria.Browsing in Nigeria: adapting to high data costs and lower performance smartphones The increased access and affordability of low specification smartphones has also revealed a need for the mobile ecosystem to respond with data-efficient browsers and mobile apps that are optimized for performance and an easy user experience.Looking at the mobile internet browsers customers use to access Jumia, 50% of customers in Africa come onto Jumias mobile site with Google Chrome. In Nigeria that number is just 28%. Instead, the Opera mini browser is much more popular, with 41% of the mobile traffic to Jumia Nigeria coming from Opera mini.One reason for this could be that countries with higher levels of income have been found to have more users accessing the internet with heavier browsers like chrome which typically have higher system requirements. Opera mini is a lighter browser in terms of data usage and is popular among new mobile internet users who have lower incomes and cant afford costly internet data packs. A recent report from Opera determined the savings on mobile data costs for Opera mini users in Nigeria has amounted to about $198 million (N39.5 billion) over a 10-month period, due to its data compression technology. This is a clear example of the ripple effect that customer enjoy when a slight change is introduced by one of the digital ecosystem players.On our end, an immediate key priority is to enhance the desktop user experience (which accounts for almost 30% of Jumias traffic and almost 40% of orders placed) by delivering a progressive web application that bridges the gap between conventional web pages and native mobile applications, to give customers a faster web and desktop experience that includes functionalities like push notifications and the ability to browse while offline.MCommerce Beyond browsing on mobile The trend since 2013 was for people to use their mobile phones to browse and look up products and then purchase them on their desktop. Now customers are checking out and paying for orders from the mobile app or the mobile friendly version of the website. This is a trend we foresee growing in the future based on the current figures.Mobile customers (both those who use the Jumia app and those who browse from mobile browsers) account for 63% of all orders on Jumia Nigeria. Across the 15 markets where the study was carried out, that figure is at 47%. With a whopping 2,236,000 Jumia app downloads from 2015 to 2016 (a 128% increase), Jumia app users form a significant portion of the mobile traffic on Jumia Nigeria. Currently, 1 out of 2 mobile visitors in Nigeria are coming from the Jumia mobile app.The highest conversion rate recorded in the last year has been on the app. That is the number of completed orders in relation to the number of visitors is higher on the mobile app than on the mobile or desktop versions of the website. This could be driven by the fact that the app is exclusively designed for mobile and therefore has a faster and better shopping experience for users.Hence, the priority for mcommerce for the next few years is to continually democratize the usage of the app and incentivize an increase in usage by maintaining a better browsing experience and lower data consumption.Strategic collaborations with phone operators and data providers are also a key factor for enhancing customer experience. For example, the 0 data usage (free browsing) offered to MTN sim card owners when they browse on both the Jumia mobile site and the app will remain a key feature and value-added service for Jumia customers.Nigerias mobile trends for 2017 are positive with a steady growth of smartphones adoption and diversity. These increased offerings deliver more value for customers and cheaper access to internet connectivity. As smartphone brands and mobile operators continue to invest in research and development and innovative data packages, and ecommerce providers invest in customer service, logistics and marketing over the next few years, our outlook is for an even more synergized digital ecosystem over the next few years. Distributed by APO on behalf of Jumia. More news: QikServe appoints Don DeMarinis as Chief Commercial Officer Cayan Announces New Partnership with Aldelo Al Nahdi Drives Growth and Insight with Oracle Retail Cloud Services Go Coin-and-Cash-Free at Vending Machines Pizza Hut Rolls Out New Easy Ordering Functionality As Digital Makeover Continues Masterpass-Enabled Bots Launch on Messenger with FreshDirect, Subway and The Cheesecake Fa Vendors Exchange and USA Technologies Partner to Launch the VE Kiosk Inventory needs to be managed and managed well, or you are going to get in recurring trouble, and lose your credibility and hard-earned conversions, whether Read more Security Increased in France Ahead of Presidential Election There are many things to worry about when it comes to a presidential election; security is number one on that list. For France, the threats of the election have begun to show themselves. Just a few days before citizens go to the polls, French authorities arrested two men on suspicion of planning an imminent attack ahead of the first round of the presidential election on Sunday. French intelligence agents say the two men were French nationals and were known to authorities for having been radicalized. They believe the two were ready to commit an attack on French soil in the coming days as they found weapons, explosives, six cell phones and an ISIS flag in an apartment rented by the suspects. Authorities have warned the presidential candidates that an unnamed candidates campaign headquarters was the target of the attack. As a result, the security details for those in the running have been increased. We were warned Thursday that two individuals were preparing an attack on the headquarters of a major candidate. We were asked to strengthen the security of our headquarters and to limit travel by public transport. The police patrols were reinforced around the building, a source close to centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron told local news. French voters will go to the polls on Sunday, with the second round of voting scheduled for May 7. More than 50,000 soldiers and police will be deployed for both rounds of voting. The country has been in a state of high alert since the terrorist attacks in 2015. Everything has been put in place to ensure the security of this big event for our democracy and our republic, French Interior Minister Matthias Fekl said. The security forces are mobilized everywhere across France to ensure the security of French people and to ensure the presidential campaign goes smoothly. DPM Thapa urges Madhesi Morcha to review decision Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) Chairperson has urged the agitating Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha (SLMM) to review its decision to boycott the local level elections slated for May 14. South Korea's Chung Yoo-ra, then known as Chung Yoo-yeon, bites her gold medal as she poses after winning the equestrian Dressage Team competition at the Dream Park Equestrian Venue during the 17th Asian Games in Incheon September 20, 2014. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/Files COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - A Danish court upheld an extradition order of a South Korean woman wanted for questioning linked to a scandal that brought down former president Park Geun-hye, the public prosecutor's office said on Wednesday. Chung Yoo-ra, a 20-year-old dressage rider, immediately filed an appeal, the office added on Twitter. Her lawyer was not immediately available for comment. She is the daughter of Choi Soon-sil, a friend of Park who is accused of colluding with the former president to pressure businesses to contribute to non-profit foundations. Both Choi and Park have denied wrongdoing. In March, Denmark's public prosecutor ordered Chung's extradition "for the purpose of prosecution in her home country", a ruling she appealed. Chung has been accused of cheating to gain admission to her high school and university in South Korea, but has denied any wrongdoing. South Korean authorities have also been investigating whether Samsung Electronics channelled money to a German firm controlled by Choi to sponsor Chung's equestrian career in return for favours from Choi and Park. Chung's former lawyer Peter Martin Blinkenberg told Reuters in mid-March that she would challenge the extradition ruling and even apply for political asylum if necessary. Blinkenberg died suddenly shortly afterwards. While the cause of death is still unknown, there were no immediate signs of foul play, local police said. (Reporting by Stine Jacobsen; Editing by Terje Solsvik and Tom Heneghan) Ustaz Yusri Yubhi Yusof is a member of the Religious Rehabilitation Group and was sharing his experience as a counselor at the Al Islah Mosque. (PHOTO: Yahoo Singapore / Safhras Khan) There is a need for the Malay-Muslim community in Singapore to better understand the meaning of jihad, especially in todays context. This was the point stressed by Religious Rehabilitation Group (RRG) member Ustaz Mohd Yusri Yubhi Md Yusoff during a talk on jihad at the Al-Islah mosque on Friday (14 April). He gave a mini-sermon on the subject following a Friday prayer session at the mosque in Punggol. In Islam, the term jihad which linguistically means struggle can refer to both a believers personal spiritual struggle for self-improvement or the physical struggle against enemies of the faith. Speaking to a congregation of about 20 people, Ustaz Yusri, who is also the executive director of the Singapore Islamic Scholars and Religious Teachers Association (Pergas), shared his experience in helping to counsel Muslims who were suspected of, or directly involved in, terrorism activities here. He had, for example, counselled two individuals who were suspected to be involved in Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) activities. The 42-year-old Islamic scholar has also counselled three men who were linked with the Jemaah Islamiah terrorist group and, in total, has taken part in more than 60 counseling sessions involving suspected radicals in Singapore. The talk was part of an ongoing effort by both the RRG a voluntary group of Islamic scholars and teachers and Singapore Islamic Council (Muis) to educate the public on the dangers of extremism. Jihad not just about armed struggle Speaking in Malay, Ustaz Yusri pointed out that in the Quran jihad is not solely defined as picking up arms and going to war, and that there are different aspects of the term. In fact, even though the term jihad is repeated 41 times in the Quran, most of the references were made to a broader aspect of things and not just a war. Even controlling our desires and trying our best to be a better person is considered to be a jihad, he said. He also noted that even when an armed jihad is called upon, there are rules which must be followed. He said that according to the Quran, it is wrong if children and the elderly are killed during a jihad. Story continues It is also wrong to destroy any place of worship, like a church or a temple. It is also against the ethics and laws of jihad to destroy food plantations and plants, he stressed while lambasting ISIS for their actions, especially in destroying places of worship. During the sharing session, Ustaz Yusri also asked if there is a need for Muslims to participate in jihad in todays context. In fact, what we need to do today is to produce more Muslims who are able to contribute to the growth of our country which itself is a jihad where we can showcase the greatness of Muslims to the world, he said. By Marcin Goettig WARSAW (Reuters) - European Council President Donald Tusk testified for eight hours on Wednesday in a Polish intelligence probe by Warsaw's right-wing government that he described as a smear campaign to discredit him. Tusk was called as a witness in an investigation into former heads of military counter-intelligence (SKW) suspected of cooperating with foreign intelligence services without his official permission. A former SKW head has said that Tusk, who was Poland's prime minister at the time and thus ultimately responsible for the intelligence service, was fully aware of secret services' cooperation with Russia and had authorised it. The 59-year old EU official is the ex-leader of Poland's Civic Platform (PO), now the largest opposition party, and an arch-rival of Jaroslaw Kaczynski, head of the ruling eurosceptic Law and Justice (PiS) party. The prosecutors who summoned him to testify are under the direct control of the PiS-run government. "I have no doubt that this is part of a political smear campaign. Its authors do not really hide it," Tusk told local media before the hearing in the prosecutor's office. Tusk said afterwards that he was barred by law from providing any details about the probe. "I have come here because of respect for the Polish state," he said. He said he would invoke his immunity as European Council president if he felt prosecutors were trying to make it impossible for him to perform his duties in Brussels. They could do that, for example, by repeatedly summoning him to testify in Warsaw. "I hope it will not come to this, but if it does I will not hesitate," he said. Earlier, Tusk was greeted by hundreds of supporters at Warsaw's central railway station chanting "Free, European Poland". 'MAY FACE CHARGES' Kaczynski, 67, has said Tusk should not be reappointed to chair summits of EU leaders because he may face charges in Poland related to a 2010 plane crash that killed the country's then president - Kaczynski's twin brother Lech - or other accusations about a Ponzi scheme. Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo was the only EU leader to object to Tusk's reappointment at a summit on the issue. Although Kaczynski holds no government post, he is seen as Poland's main decision-maker. Justice Minister and Prosecutor General Zbigniew Ziobro said Poland's "establishment wants to portray Donald Tusk as a victim and a mistreated politician." "But Donald Tusk enjoys the benefits of Polish citizenship, while also having responsibilities to fulfil," Ziobro told state television. The PiS party, which defeated Tusk's PO in a 2015 election, has been accused by the European Commission of undermining democracy with its overhaul of the constitutional court. Tusk's lawyer Roman Giertych said earlier this month that prosecutors had threatened twice to use physical force against the former prime minister to bring him to the hearing despite his EU immunity. Earlier in March, Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz, a close ally of Kaczynski, accused Tusk of actions amounting to diplomatic treason, saying he worked with Russia to harm Polish interests in connection with the 2010 plane crash over Russia's Smolensk. (Editing by Tom Heneghan) Location is one of the citys greatest strengths, with access to half the worlds entire population with a mere five-hour flight As Hong Kong continues to defend its status as one of the worlds premier locations for business in Asia, its government is pushing forward several exciting new initiatives this year that should excite inbound investors. One of the citys greatest strengths has always been its location. Due to its proximity, Hong Kong has enjoyed direct access to mainland China, particularly Shenzhen which is just a 45-minute train ride away. Shenzhen which has long been known as the hardware capital of the world is now also touted as the Silicon Valley of China. Hong Kong also happens to be strategically located at the center of Asia and a mere five-hour flight away from half the worlds entire population. (Yes, half. Thats 3.5 billion people primarily from China and India). As a result, the city has witnessed unprecedented ecosystem growth in the past few years. The number of startup co-working spaces, innovation labs, and accelerator programs has grown explosively from three to now over 50 in just the last four years. Standing in the midst of these inbound investments is InvestHK, a department of the local Hong Kong Government. Its mandate is to facilitate inbound foreign direct investment and offer services to companies who want to set up or grow a local office. These companies range from large MNCs to SMEs, all the way down to new startups. The department also provides startup-specific advice through their StartmeupHK platform, which connects academia and the corporate and private sectors. The departments ultimate goal, however, is job growthto bring the best companies in the world to Hong Kong and facilitate startups to scale rapidly, thereby increasing their potential to hire local talent. Here are four key initiatives worth keeping an eye out for this year: The loop In January 2017, officials from Hong Kong and Shenzhen announced in an agreement the development of an 85-hectare innovation and technology park. The Lok Ma Chau Loop is said to be four times the size of Hong Kongs Science Park. According to chief executive CY Leung, it will be Hong Kongs largest innovation and technology platform ever. Story continues Also read: Tech met Cool at Sonar Hong Kong, highlighting the need for creativity in technology The location will help a number of companies in the city to set up strategic offices on the border of Shenzhen, which is a boon to the citys tech industry. Innovation fund Also announced in early January, during chief executive Leungs 2017 policy address, was the brand new US$250 million (or HK$2 billion) government investment fund aimed at boosting technology and innovation in Hong Kong. The Innovation and Technology Venture Fund will provide venture support for startups, which would lead to more institutional VC fund flow and startup talent. This may be aimed to combat some of the criticism that the city has received due to its lack of government financial support for the ecosystem as compared to Singapore. Only time will tell if the fund achieves its long-term goals successfully. StartmeupHK Festival and Hong Kong Fintech Week StartmeupHK has made big strides in just a couple of years to host and organize two world-class events (with Elon Musk as a keynote speaker in one of them) showcasing Hong Kong as a true startup and fintech hub and attracting tens of thousands of overseas visitors annually. The city remains one of the top three financial centers of the world and has the real opportunity to become a top three global startup and fintech hub. Also read: Crowdfunding startup CoAssets expands to Hong Kong with an investment in Fintech Central business district #2 This is not a new initiative by any means. The chief executive first announced it in his policy address back in 2011. Hong Kongs CBD2 is located where the old Kai Tak Airport used to be. This district, once an industrial base (and still predominantly filled with warehouses), is now one of the governments key focus areas for redevelopment. As the demand for office spaces in the citys current central business district can no longer be met, there is a renewed effort to revitalize and enhance the design, connectivity, and infrastructure of the buildings in CBD2. - Jay Kim is a Hong Kong-based investor, author and host of the popular podcast, The Jay Kim Show which educates aspiring entrepreneurs, investors, and startup founders through interviews with top global business leaders. Subscribe via iTunes and feel free to reach out directly to Jay on Twitter @jaykimmer Want to be part of the ecosystem? Register for your Echelon Asia Summit access pass now! Enjoy +10% off Echelon Asia Summit Startup, Investor and Corporate passes just for being our favourite e27 reader. The views expressed here are of the authors, and e27 may not necessarily subscribe to them. e27 invites members from Asias tech industry and startup community to share their honest opinions and expert knowledge with our readers. If you are interested in sharing your point of view, submit your post here. Featured Image Copyright: sergwsq / 123RF Stock Photo The post Hong Kong comes out swinging in 2017; Here are 4 developments that make it a great year for startups and innovation appeared first on e27. Jakarta's Christian governor on Wednesday lost heavily to a Muslim former government minister in an election run-off, private polls indicated, after a divisive battle that has damaged Indonesia's reputation as a bastion of tolerant Islam. Anies Baswedan, who was accused of pandering to hardliners to win votes, and his supporters cheered as news came through that surveys showed him winning by over 10 percentage points against Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who was fighting for his job while standing trial for blasphemy. Official results are not expected until early May but the private pollsters, who count a sample of votes, are usually accurate. The vote was seen as a test of whether the moderate Islam traditionally practised in the world's most populous Muslim country is under threat from hardliners, who have led a series of mass demonstrations against Purnama over allegations he insulted the Koran. It came against a backdrop of rising religious intolerance that has tainted the image of the diverse Indonesian archipelago as a pluralistic country in recent years, with a surge in attacks on minorities. Baswedan, a former education minister, thanked Jakarta's voters for supporting him and hinted that he would move to heal the divisions in the capital after the bitter poll, if his victory was confirmed. "We celebrate diversity... We are all ready to work together again," the 47-year-old said. Purnama, the city's first non-Muslim governor for half a century and its first ethnic Chinese leader, congratulated Baswedan and his running mate, adding: "We are all the same, we want a good Jakarta, because it is our home." The defeat is also a blow for President Joko Widodo, whose party had backed Purnama. - 'Stay unified' - The incumbent had long been a shoo-in to win re-election after gaining popularity due to his determined efforts to clean up Jakarta. But the governor -- known by his nickname Ahok -- lost a once-unassailable lead after a controversy erupted last year over claims that he had insulted Islam, a grave charge in Indonesia. His troubles began in September when he lightheartedly said in a speech that his rivals were tricking people into voting against him by using a Koranic verse, which some interpret as meaning Muslims should only choose Muslim leaders. The allegations drew hundreds of thousands of conservative Muslims onto the streets of Jakarta in major protests, and led to Purnama being put on trial for blasphemy in a case critics see as politically motivated. Purnama won in the election's first round in February but Baswedan was seen as the favourite in the run-off because the votes from a third, Muslim, candidate who was knocked out were expected to go to him. Opinion polls in the run-up to the vote indicated that the race was neck and neck but in the event Baswedan strongly defeated Purnama, the pollsters indicated. They showed him with about 57 percent to Purnama on 43 percent. More than 7.2 million people were registered to vote in the polls, which are also important as politicians view them as a potential stepping stone to the presidency in 2019. After an anti-Purnama protest last year turned violent, authorities were taking no chances and over 60,000 security force personnel had been deployed but there was little sign of unrest. Purnama's long-running blasphemy trial began in December. Prosecutors are due to recommend a sentence on Thursday, and a verdict is expected within weeks. Many voters still supported Purnama due to his performance as governor since 2014. He had won praise for cleaning up once-filthy rivers and creating more green spaces, although his acerbic style had upset some. Fighting was still ongoing Wednesday near the site in eastern Afghanistan where the US dropped a massive bomb on an Islamic State group stronghold six days ago, a NATO spokesman said. Security forces have denied access to residents and media to the area where the US military dropped its GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast, dubbed the "Mother of All Bombs" and used in combat for the first time on April 13. The target was caves and hideouts being used by the jihadist group in the Achin district of Nangargar province. The blast triggered shockwaves which residents said they felt miles away. The Afghan defence ministry has said it killed at least 95 militants, including some IS commanders and foreign fighters, but no civilians. The statement could not be independently verified. "We are still engaged in active combat with the enemy" in the area, Captain Bill Salvin, a spokesman for NATO's Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan told AFP late Wednesday. Fighting was ongoing, he said, and there are a "lot of IEDs (improvised explosive devices)". A spokesman for Afghan special forces said the presence of landmines and "pockets of resistance" on top of mountains had slowed down operations in the area. He did not specify if the fighters were Islamic State. AFP correspondents said they saw no sign of fighting in the immediate area Wednesday, but were turned away by security forces before reaching the site. Salvin refused to confirm or deny the toll given by Afghan authorities, but said NATO had a "very high confidence" there had been no civilian casualties, adding security forces had warned families 48 hours before the strike. An assessment of the area could be "going on for a while", he added. Ahmad Jan, a resident of Achin who fled IS fighting and moved with his family to the provincial capital Jalalabad before the bomb was dropped, told AFP he had no idea whether his house or relatives survived the attack. "No one can go there, they have completely blocked the area. I don't know if my house is destroyed. They have not even shown any dead bodies to anyone," he said. Some Afghans have condemned the use of their country as what they called a testing ground for the weapon, and against a militant group that is not considered as big a threat as the resurgent Taliban. Analyst and retired general Atiqullah Amarkhail told AFP the US military needed time to analyse the impact and clean the debris. "It was not an ordinary bomb. It carried a special kind of explosives, it was tested in a mountainous area for the first time, I believe a team of US experts are now working on the ground to assess the effects and impacts," he said. 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 steadily lost ground in the face of heavy pressure both from US air strikes and a ground offensive led by Afghan forces. Cheap Sri Lankan labour has built skyscrapers and condos across the Gulf for decades but now contractors at home are desperate for workers as the island nation experiences an unprecedented construction boom. The labour shortage has seen builders offer lavish incentives ranging from cash to vehicles to keep workers from heading overseas, and in some cases, illegally employ foreign tradesmen to man projects. Sri Lanka was left with a massive reconstruction task at the end of the civil war in 2009, with large parts of the north left in ruins by decades of fighting. Annual investment in new homes, roads and ports -- which has hovered at around 600 billion rupees ($4 billion) in recent years -- is expected to almost triple to $11.6 billion in 2017. But Sri Lanka needs 400,000 new workers -- a two-thirds jump from existing levels -- to keep up with this surge, said Nissanka Wijeratne, the head of the Chamber of Construction Industry. "We can't get that many overnight and we will have to import. We are now facing a serious labour crisis," he said. Private contractors are going to extreme lengths to stop the flow of tradesmen heading to the Gulf for construction jobs, offering bonuses like motorcycles and cars to labourers who choose to work on projects back home. - Social stigma - The government has taken a different approach and sought to put curbs on migration by raising the minimum wage requirements for workers heading overseas. Under their proposal, Sri Lankans will be barred from going abroad for work unless they can show evidence of future earnings amounting to more than $400 per month. "We want to discourage those who go abroad for low pay. Some of these workers can get more money if they stay back in Sri Lanka," Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake told AFP. But it is a risky strategy. Roughly one in ten Sri Lankans work abroad and their remittances are the number-one foreign exchange earner for the island of 21 million. The pool of money flowing home is growing, with Sri Lankans sending $7.24 billion last year compared with $6.98 billion in 2015. The push to recruit local workers has also suffered due to a cultural stigma surrounding blue-collar labour, meaning that Sri Lankans living in the country often choose low-paying office jobs over better remunerated opportunities in masonry, carpentry and plumbing. "There is a social perception about construction industry labour, and that is why young people prefer public sector jobs even if they pay much less," Wijeratne said. "It is about social acceptance." - 'Illegally employed' - The dearth has spurred some desperate contractors to look offshore themselves -- not for work but workers. The government estimates roughly 200,000 foreigners are employed illegally in the construction sector. "Foreigners are illegally employed like this because we have a shortage of workers," urban development minister Champika Ranawaka said recently. "I am proposing that the government come up with a policy on foreign workers to regularise this sector." One company, which declined to be identified, said it was employing foreign workers illegally but noted that many others were doing the same. Chinese firms, unable to source local labour, have moved armies of construction workers to Sri Lanka to man their mega building projects. Along one of Colombo's main promenades, hundreds of Chinese workers wait every day for transport home after finishing a shift building towers for a new Shangri-La Hotel. Across the street, their countrymen toil on a vast $1.4 billion real estate development. Despite unemployment hovering at 4.5 percent at the end of 2016, the crippling labour shortage shows no signs of easing, raising fears that it will put the brakes on economic growth. A large-scale Sri Lankan contractor said he had stopped accepting commissions to build condos because he couldn't find tradesmen to finish the job. The crisis is stretching beyond the construction sector. Sewage and water works projects are struggling to find labourers and are turning to neighbouring India for workers. Sri Lanka's lucrative garment industry is also facing a shortage of 50,000 machine operators, and many companies have relocated to Bangladesh in search of cheap labour, according to industry officials. BEIRUT (Reuters) - The last rebel fighters have left the Syrian town of Zabadani near Damascus as part of a reciprocal evacuation deal for four besieged towns that had been interrupted after a bomb attack hit one convoy, state media and a war monitor said on Wednesday. Thousands of people also left the rebel-besieged Shi'ite towns of al-Foua and Kefraya in Idlib province under the deal. "Al-Zabadani has become completely empty of militants" who either evacuated or accepted government rule, state television said, broadcasting from the town which had long been under siege by pro-government forces. State media said around 500 rebels and their families departed al-Zabadani and nearby areas for rebel-held territory in northwest Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 3,000 people left al-Foua and Kefraya heading towards Aleppo city, which the government controls. They included nearly 700 pro-government forces, the Britain-based war monitoring group added. Under the agreement between the warring sides, civilians and pro-government fighters were being moved out of the two Shi'ite towns, in exchange for Sunni rebels and civilians getting bussed out of the towns of Zabadani and Madaya. The evacuations had been stopped after a bomb attack on a convoy of evacuees from al-Foua and Kefraya on Saturday reportedly killed 126 people, including more than 60 children. Alaa Ibrahim, governor of the Damascus suburbs, told state television in Madaya that the government would "gradually restore all its services" now that rebels had left the town. The same would soon happen in Zabadani, he said. Thousands of Syrians have evacuated mostly besieged rebel areas in recent months under deals between President Bashar al-Assad's government and insurgents fighting for six years to unseat him. Ambulances brought wounded people from the convoy attack into government-held Aleppo and took them to hospital on Wednesday, state media said. Several people from al-Foua and Kefraya who were injured in the blast told Reuters they had spent three days in rebel territory, where they received first aid and food, before arriving in Aleppo. "My face was dripping with blood," said Fatmeh Yassin, 18, who suffered eye injuries from the blast. "Later, they took us to a hospital around Bab al-Hawa" near the Syrian-Turkish border. Yassin lost her brother who had been in the convoy with her and "hadn't heard anything about him in days," she said at a hospital in Aleppo. Sharif al-Hussein from Kefraya waited at the same hospital for doctors to check his 6-year-old son. "There is shrapnel in his eyes because he was sitting at the window of the bus when the explosion happened," said al-Hussein, who had also received emergency aid in the opposition area near the Turkish border. "They told us this morning to get ready for the (Syrian Arab) Red Crescent to come get us," he said. "We couldn't believe it." (Reporting by Ellen Francis and Angus McDowall in Beirut, Kinda Makieh in Damascus; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Hugh Lawson) EC concerned over RPP chiefs remarks The Election Commission (EC) has expressed its concern over the activities of ruling Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP). LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's energy secretary Greg Clark said he had met with potential investors in South Korea earlier this month in the hunt for a new partner for a stalled nuclear power project but no deals were agreed. "Any decisions are on the part of the consortium about who are its members but rather than wait to hear (that), I wanted to establish contact with prospective investors but that is some way from being anything which is agreed," Clark told a parliamentary committee on Wednesday. He did not give details about the identity of the prospective investors. Toshiba has been forced to buy out French utility Engie from a project to build three nuclear reactors in Moorside, northwest England, adding to strains on the Japanese company's finances and to uncertainty over the project. Toshiba has said it is looking for more investors to join the $15-20 billion NuGen project or to sell out altogether. South Korea's KEPCO remains the most likely suitor, but people with direct knowledge of the matter have said the utility is in no great rush to get involved. (Reporting by Nina Chestney, editing by David Evans) What do you think about when you hear the term corporate social responsibility (CSR)? Theres a lot of noise around this business opportunity, but a lot of business owners either view it as a passing fad or an unnecessary external pressure. However, the truth is that its very important to the overall health of your organization especially from a marketing and branding perspective. CSR Marketing The Link Between CSR and Brand Equity When you bring up the idea of CSR in a room full of business executives, youre bound to get a variety of responses. Some will reveal that they actually know very little about it, while others will go on a spiel about all of the wonderful things their company is doing to better society. Youll also have those who are skeptical about the return on investment in CSR. By one definition, Corporate Social Responsibility is an ethical management concept where companies aim to integrate social, economic and environmental concerns along with the consideration of human rights into their business operations. This definition is particularly relevant because it touches on just how far-reaching a CSR program can be. Its not just about partnering with an NPO or sponsoring a local charity. Its about creating tangible change socially, economically, and environmentally. While the underlying purpose of CSR is to advance a specific cause that benefits society, dont be fooled into thinking that it cant also have a positive impact on your own company. A strategically developed, properly implemented CSR program can directly enhance a brands ability to create and maintain a positive image in the consumer marketplace. Dont feel bad if you have profits on your mind whenever you approach the subject of CSR you arent alone. One of the main reasons companies engage in socially responsible behavior is the possible financial gain that can come from it, management expert Timothy Creel explains. Recent studies show that companies engaging in socially responsible behavior tend to show long-term financial gains and increases in value. CSR is very much a long-term play, however. Companies tend to show financial losses in the first three years. It isnt until 36 or 48 months down the road that benefits begin to kick in. But when they do, the impact can be instrumental in terms of marketing and branding. The reason why CSR builds brand equity is largely psychological. As Creel notes, Positive feelings are related to social approval and self-respect. Brands that evoke positive feelings make customers feel better about themselves. Remember that most purchases arent about satisfying a need. Sure, there are instances where customers need products to survive, but most purchases are rooted in wants. When a company is able to tie a purchase that is otherwise seen as non-essential to something larger than the product, customers have an easier time validating the purchase in their minds. Another branding-related benefit of CSR is the sense of community it creates. Creel points to how Lowes donates materials and provides volunteer hours to Habitat for Humanity, which allows the company to form connections in local communities. These connections fuel the brands image and result in better connectivity. Ultimately, a commitment to serving others has an impact on sales. According to a survey from Better Business Journey, 88 percent of customers say theyre more likely to buy from a company that supports and engages in activities that improve society. Three Companies Getting CSR Right Lowes was already mentioned, but what other companies are getting CSR right? 1. Kitchen Cabinet Kings Environmental sustainability is a big focus right now and Kitchen Cabinet Kings is doing a phenomenal job of positioning its brand for the future by aligning the companys sales with the Plant a Tree Campaign. For every full kitchen purchased, the company plants a tree in one of the 155 National Forests in the United States. We think a tree planting is a great way to thank you for your business while giving back to our planet, the company explains. Our hope is that as this tree grows, so does our relationship. It might seem like a small thing, but when it comes to choosing between Kitchen Cabinet Kings and a competitor, something as simple as supporting sustainability can make a big difference. 2. Kroger The popular supermarket chain Kroger has long been involved with CSR programs. As the company explains, We have built a strong foundation based upon the commitment of our associates to serve each and every customer every day, and our promise to be good stewards of our communities and our planet. We know that trust is earned and we never take for granted the trust and confidence of our associates, customers, suppliers, communities and other stakeholders. Specifically, Kroger partners with companies and groups that fight world hunger, support womens health, and provide for military members and their families. They also have initiatives in place that relate to the environment, supply chain, and local economies. 3. Delta Airlines In an industry where companies are often blasted by frustrated customers, Delta seems to be doing something right on the CSR front. The focus of Deltas CSR programs, which center on reducing carbon emissions and encouraging environmental sustainability, is on improving transparency. See Also: 4 Steps to Creating a Killer Marketing Plan Today Delta also asks a lot of its employees, who are heavily involved in Delta Force for Global Good. The fact that Delta employees are also committed to the companys CSR goals is something that appeals to many customers. Give Your Brand a Boost With CSR The benefits of CSR are plentiful. While a CSR program should have a positive influence on the people, groups, or communities that are directly affected by the actions, its also becoming abundantly clear that CSR is a strong marketing and branding play. If your brand is looking for a boost, CSR may be the answer. A foreigners' real experience at the foreigners police department in Bratislava. Font size: A - | A + My friend and I stayed in the foyer to warm up as I was a little underdressed. After about an hour, the officers that had been coordinating the tickets, as usual, disappeared. A good Samaritan, the same one who explained the last person system to the people who had been there since 5:00 a.m. but didnt know to register, began helping people get their tickets. At some point, the ticket stopped generating tickets at all and an officer indicated that they probably wouldnt get to any more than it had generated. Again, my friend and I chatted to pass the time, mostly about the absurdity of this system and location. We found a bench. She showed me pictures on Instagram and I tried not to fall asleep. I got a coffee. By 9:30 or 10:00, the relevant screen for me read 305. We chatted some more. I texted to some friends who wanted to know how the process was going. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Read also: Read also: Blog: Find the last person Read more I started losing track of time when my friend suggested going to a nearby Pizza Mizza. I thought it was too early for pizza, but then realized it was 11:00 or 11:30. The screen read 314. We had a nice lunch, including more coffee, and got back to the office an hour later, just about when the office closes for half an hour for lunch. We had been taking bets on how far theyd gotten in the hour we were gone. I made the mistake of being optimistic and guessed perhaps 320. The screens were blank when we got there, but the good Samaritan and his wife told us nothing had happened at all. It was still at 314. We decided to go for a walk. She grew up in Petrzalka, so getting lost wasnt a risk. We came back a little after 1:00, when the office reopens: 315. We went for another walk, to Lake Drazdiak, and looked for snezienky. Getting back around 1:30 or 2:00, there were far fewer people, but the good Samaritan and others around my number remained, so I thought perhaps the pace had picked up after lunch: 317. At this point, my friend thought we should leave, but I wanted to find out exactly how many people they would get through. We chatted some more, played a word game, and so on. This whole time, of course, she is getting phone calls from work about different issues. Some time around 2:30, I saw a well-dressed Russian man who arrived well after most of us come out from behind the door for the 3s, and I confess I had to consciously stop myself from tripping him onto the concrete when he passed me. Read also: Read also: Blog: What I know about "the list" Read more By 3:00 p.m., when the office closes on Fridays, the sign read 322. We waited a few more minutes, in part because I wanted to look the officer in the eye who would tell everyone to leave. Finally, two women, one in uniform and another not, came out and told us they were done taking people for the day. The good Samaritans wife and my friend started speaking to them in Slovak, after which I was told they were asking why people cant make appointments, why we cant use todays tickets as a way to get in earlier on Monday, and other perfectly legitimate questions. The women said they dont make the policy, to which my friend said she understood but there is no one else with whom to speak. There was not much of a reaction to that beyond suggesting that Tuesdays tend to be easier. My friend gave me a ride home and I texted complaints to others and fell asleep for about two hours. Then I woke up, went to get some dinner, tried to write, felt tired again, and went home to go to sleep, setting my alarm for 5:00 a.m. so I could make up for all the work I didnt get done on Friday, even with having cleared my day. I think that might have been around 10:00 p.m., but am not positive. This account of the authors real experience at the foreigners police department in Bratislava is to be continued. James Griffith teaches political thought and philosophy at the Bratislava International School of Liberal Arts The most significant drop was seen in the engineering and technical positions which currently struggle the most to find appropriate staffers. Font size: A - | A + About one-third of employers require the applicants for their job position to have some digital skills. The statistics, however, show that their quality is dropping. As a result, also the requirements of employers drop, the TASR newswire reported. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement The decreasing trend in the requirements of companies has occurred in all regions of Slovakia and throughout the sectors, said Katarina Tesla of the company Profesia, as quoted by TASR. The most significant drop was seen in the engineering and technical positions which currently struggle the most to find appropriate staffers. The share of job offers for these sectors requiring computer skills was 42 percent in 2011, but in 2015 it represented only 32 percent, Tesla said, as quoted by TASR. The statistics of Profesia suggest that the share of job applicants who state in their CV they have user computer skills dropped slightly between the years 2011-2015, from 88 percent to 85 percent. The gap between skills resulted in high unemployment of young people, said Radovan Debnar of the company Learn2Code which deals with digital skills education. This also limits IT companies in carrying out their business opportunities as they lack staffers, he added. The problem is that IT language is still underestimated in Slovakia. Most people learn foreign languages, while the programming language is usually suppressed, Debnar claimed. He also stresses that digital skills do not concern only programming and coding the websites, but it also includes the creation of documents, presentations, videos, promotion materials, and logos, as well as writing blog posts, as reported by TASR. The newly launched paste production is related to the breeding of African sharptooth catfish and the cultivation of oyster mushrooms. Font size: A - | A + Miners in the Upper Nitra region have begun producing food pastes as part of similar non-mining activities launched earlier in a quest to gradually replace underground coal mining. The newly launched paste production is related to the breeding of African sharptooth catfish by Upper Nitra Mines in Handlova (Trencin Region) and the cultivation of oyster mushrooms, which have already been grown for 20 years underground, said Stanislav Gursky, managing director of a company called Agro GTV, which belongs to the Upper Nitra Mines Group. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement As part of fish breeding, were currently launching the processing of fish in the form of food paste, and one of the spreads will contain oyster mushrooms, Gursky said, as quoted by the TASR newswire. The latter will appear on the market within two or three weeks. Pastes containing sharptooth catfish, beans and vegetables, respectively, have been on sale since December, Gursky added. Meanwhile, Agro GTV currently grows 1,500 tonnes of tomatoes annually in greenhouses in Novaky (Trencin Region) as part of a project started seven years ago. At the same time its subsidiary Agro-Rybia Farma in Handlova used to grow 150 tonnes of tomatoes and 100 tonnes of cucumbers annually, but the company has dropped cucumbers this year due to lower than expected revenues, replacing them with a new variety of tomatoes. Growing tomatoes is one of the activities aimed at partly replacing the flow of jobs in the mining sector, Gursky said. Although it might appear that 40 people [working at the greenhouses in Novaky] are too little, we already have a further activity planned, and were preparing many others, he added, as quoted by TASR. The Upper Nitra Mines Group currently has 1,000 non-mining staff working, for example, in services and in engineering as part of a company called Ekosystemy, which is involved in repairing and reconstructing rail carriages, added Gursky. It is already the third verdict issued in favour of ex-Supreme Court president Stefan Harabin. Font size: A - | A + Supreme Court Judge Stefan Harabin did not violate the disciplinary rules with his statements about the courts President Daniela Svecova. This stems from a decision of the disciplinary senate that dismissed the proposal of the Judicial Council chair Jana Bajankova, who asked to discipline Harabin with a financial sanction. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement It is already the second decision of the three-member senate led by Trencin court judge Juraj Florovic issued in Harabins favour. It ruled the same already in May 2016, but the appellate senate ordered the senate to deal with the case again in December 2016. The decision is not valid yet as both participants can appeal it, the TASR newswire reported. Read also: Read also: Controversial judge succeeds in another disciplinary proceeding Read more The disciplinary senate was dealing with Harabins statements from September 2015, when he said Svecova was following public opinion and instructions of politicians and that she may have ended up in psychiatry. The senate tried to find out what led Harabin to such criticism, however, it doubted objective reasons for it, as reported by TASR. The April 18 proceeding lasted more than seven hours and the atmosphere was very tense. The senate heard Svecova who explained that she perceived the statements as a serious interference into her personal rights and that they have caused her serious trouble. There was no reason for being so disrespectful to the Supreme Court president, she added, as reported by TASR. Harabin welcomed the senates decisions, claiming that court independence won in this case. He had told the disciplinary senate that he had felt like he was being bullied by Svecova due to his own senates rulings that had freed police officers convicted of corruption, TASR wrote. Svecova and Bajankova have submitted altogether six motions to the disciplinary senate concerning Harabin. He has already succeeded in three proceedings, but no verdict is yet valid. US experts are expected to help with the new initiative aimed at searching for innovative educational projects. Font size: A - | A + The primary school in Bosany (Trencin Region) has applied several innovative approaches to improve the education of schoolchildren. It, for example, participated in the School to Touch project within which both pupils and teachers received tablets and actively used them in the education process. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement It is a very good way of teaching as it helps teachers and also pupils to obtain the competences they need, the schools headmistress Jana Konturova told The Slovak Spectator. Thanks to these projects, the pupils are more motivated to learn and are more skilful than their peers who have not used the up-to-date technologies, she admitted. Searching for innovative projects and approaches to improve education at Slovak schools is now one of the aims of the Generation 3.0 initiative run by the non-governmental organisation Pontis Foundation. It plans to pick selected projects carried out by schools and non-governmental organisations via a competition, measure their impact and, if successful, spread them to schools across the country. One of the objectives is to contribute to the big reforms in education planned by the Education Ministry as some of the already launched initiatives have resulted in positive changes to the system. We want to support the activities coming from below, from teachers and non-governmental organisations, said Norbert Maur, programme manager of Pontis Foundation. Seeking innovative approaches In the current phase, Pontis Foundation is searching for those projects that introduce innovative approaches to education. It announced a competition in February, to which 53 projects developed by non-governmental organisations, as well as primary and secondary schools and universities were submitted. The jury subsequently shortlisted 15 initiatives of which three will be awarded during the May 3 ceremony in Bratislava. We consider the award one of the catalysts of change that should guarantee the progress and put it into practice, Maur told the press conference. The winning projects should meet several goals set by Pontis Foundation, particularly in regard to the skills they should develop. This includes the development of curiosity and pleasure from inventing, as well as innovativeness and the skills of life-long learning, empathy, cooperation, critical thinking and the ability to distinguish manipulation, Maur explained to The Slovak Spectator. They should also help children improve their reading literacy, skills in natural sciences, crafts and art, he added. We will have to prepare children for the changes that come with technological progress and changes to society, Maur said, adding that these skills should help them to be ready for the change. US experts to help with measurements The awards, however, will not be the final phase for the winning projects. Pontis Foundation plans to collaborate with their creators and provide them with financial and pro bono support. In cooperation with the US Embassy in Slovakia, it will then invite US experts who will share their experiences and know-how with measuring the impacts of the initiatives on the education system. Thanks to their knowledge, Pontis Foundation and its partners will be able to recognise the most promising education projects, US Ambassador to Slovakia Adam Sterling said. Pontis Foundation will also collaborate with the Slovak institutions active in the education sector, including the National Institute for Certified Educational Measurements (NUCEM) and the Centre for Pedagogic Research operating at the Faculty of Pedagogy of Comenius University in Bratislava. The result of this cooperation should include the creation of its own set of indicators to enable monitoring of the projects effectiveness and impact on schools. This should subsequently help spread the innovative approaches to other schools across the country, Maur said. The measuring will take place in 2018 to secure relevant data about the impact of these approaches to education, he added. Launching a public discussion Another long-term aim of the Generation 3.0 project is to open a public discussion about education and create some kind of platform for teachers, schools and also non-governmental organisations to share their experience with innovative methods of teaching. To achieve this, they plan to organise a Generation 3.0 Forum in September, with the aim to motivate people active in this field to meet and discuss the important topics and solve specific problems, Maur said. The final aim of the project is that every child and every young person in our country has the potential to fulfil their potential and have all necessary skills to do so, said Lenka Surotchak, head of Pontis Foundation. After several years of heavy pressure by the military and fellow Moslems the Islamic terrorist group Abu Sayyaf is showing clear signs of disintegrating. The senior leader of Abu Sayyaf, Radulan Sahiron, is using clan elders on Sulu Island to help negotiate his surrender. Sahiron has one condition, that he not be extradited to the United States, which is offering a one million reward for his capture (because of kidnap and murder of Americans). Sahiron said he is tired of running. What has shattered Abu Sayyaf morale was the spectacular collapse of a major effort to kidnap Western tourists on Bohol and Cebu islands in the central Philippines. This plan involved three Abu Sayyaf factions coordinating their efforts but the plan came apart on the 11 th when police were alerted (by concerned locals) about the presence of armed strangers. The subsequent gun battles killed the experienced Abu Sayyaf leader in charge of the operation and his key assistants. With that most of the remaining Abu Sayyaf members realized they were in bad shape and there was no way out. The increased naval patrols, it turned out, had cut Abu Sayyaf off from nearby Malaysia and easy access to ships they could grab for hostages. Increased ground patrols and aerial surveillance had limited Abu Sayyaf mobility on land. Several major battles recently was evidence of that. Worse Abu Sayyaf was running out of money because the government had been enforcing the no ransom laws more effectively and reduced the number of kidnappings. Combat, desertion and surrenders had cost Abu Sayyaf over half its strength in the past year. Because of this the Bohol-Cebu operation was vital and when it failed, after months of planning, Abu Sayyaf leaders and most of their followers realized things would only get worse for them now and it was best to either make a deal (if you were well known) or try and walk away (an often successful tactic in the Moslem south). This wont be the end of Abu Sayyaf but it will mark the passing of the ISIL affiliated group as a serious threat to security in the south and especially to the MILF peace deal that gives the Moslem areas of the southwest a measure of autonomy. Police Corruption Exposed Since 2016 the war on drugs was accompanied by a less visible effort to deal with police corruption. The anti-corruption angle became more visible because of recent prosecutions of police who were too greedy and too quick to shoot. This war caused more Filipinos to see police misbehavior up close and in bloody detail. Thus after about six months of the war on drugs opinion surveys showed 85 percent of Filipinos approved of the violent crackdown but at the same time 78 percent were fearful they, or someone they knew, might become a victim of the increased violence. After the drug war was resumed in early March under new rules (and lots of corruption prosecutions) the fear began to subside and a poll at the end of March showed the number of fearful Filipinos has declined to 73 percent and the government wants to keep the trend moving in that direction. This unease was based on the growing instances of corrupt cops using their new license to kill for personal gain. The fear became headline news when a group of corrupt cops were arrested in January for kidnapping and murdering a wealthy South Korean. Months of looking into police corruption had uncovered much evidence that has resulted in a growing number of police being dismissed or indicted. For the new government it became popular to come down hard on corrupt cops and a lot of these had become a little too bold and obvious during the war on drugs. Since the March 6th resumption of the crackdown on illegal drugs there has been a lot less violence. The revived operations limits the number of police involved to those who have already been screened and known to be uncorrupt. So far the revised anti-drug tactics have led to about 75 percent fewer arrests per week and 84 percent fewer deaths. Part of that is due to the fact that so many known drug gang members were arrested or killed during the first seven months of the operation. It will take another month or so to determine if the new approach is continuing to reduce the distribution and use of illegal drugs. The initial campaign certainly reduced crime. The war on drugs was suspended on January 30th because of an expanding investigation of police corruption, especially of police involved in anti-drug operations. Since the anti-drug campaign began in July 2016 to the end of January 2,512 suspects were killed. During that time there were 51,882 arrests during 42,798 police investigations. Most of the dead were suspects who violently resisted arrest or searches but nearly 40 percent were the result of local vigilantes or drug gangs killing suspected informers or rivals. The extent and intensity of these efforts caused over 1.1 million people to turn themselves in. Since 93 percent of those surrendering were users nearly all were released, especially if they provided information about their suppliers. So far the police and military have suffered fewer than 120 casualties, mostly wounded but including 38 dead. April 18, 2017: In the south (Sultan Kudarat province) police arrested two MILF members in connection with two bombs that went off and wounded fifteen people. The arrests were reported to MILF which, under terms of the peace deal, must assist in the investigation. This one looks like the MILF men were involved in an extortion effort. The peace treaty is still awaiting approval by the national legislature and MILF has been very cooperative as a result, especially when it involves MILF members who have gone rogue. April 14, 2017: In the south (Tawi-Tawi province) eleven Abu Sayyaf members surrendered. These included two who were wanted in Malaysia for kidnapping. This surrender was a result of an operation in the central Philippines (Bohol province) where the leader of a major kidnapping effort in Tawi-Tawi was killed along with some of his key associates. April 13, 2017: In the south (Sulu) Abu Sayyaf beheaded a Filipino hostage in an effort to force the government to allow ransoms to be paid (or at least quietly stop interfering). The victim was a fishing boat captain taken at the end of 2016. The military responded by announcing that it was reinforcing the search for the remaining Abu Sayyaf men in the south and the 24 hostages (sailors from nearby nations) they still held. The army is under pressure to shut down most of the remaining Abu Sayyaf groups by June. The government cancelled plans to celebrate Independence Day (June 12) by planting flags or erecting structures on ten uninhabited islands in the Spratly Islands. China also claims these and the government admitted it backed off because China had protested and warned that going forward with this would jeopardize billions of dollars in economic aid from China. April 12, 2017: In central Philippines (Bohol province) security forces found that one the Abu Sayyaf men they had killed yesterday was Abu Rami, a wanted Abu Sayyaf leader who specialized in kidnapping operations. April 11, 2017: In central Philippines (Bohol province) security forces clashed with a group of Abu Sayyaf gunmen while following up reports that ten armed men had recently arrived in the island province. The initial clash left six Islamic terrorists, three soldiers and a policeman dead. The search is on for the other gunmen. Police received tips from local civilians. Abu Sayyaf does not have much support in this part of the country but there are apparently some locals (probably gangsters) who expressed support because Abu Sayyaf would not move in without some local help. Abu Sayyaf hoped to kidnap some foreign tourists in Bohol or nearby Cebu Island and extract large ransoms. April 10, 2017: In the north (Ifugao province) NPA members surrendered and accepted amnesty. Such surrenders have become more common, but many of the NPA members are doing so without bringing any weapons with them. April 3, 2017: The government warned NPA (the illegal armed wing of the local Communist Party) negotiators that the peace negotiations (resumed today in Holland) will be abandoned is some progress is not made this time. Until February 4th the government kept the peace negotiations with the NPA going despite persistent NPA demands that hundreds of jailed NPA members be freed first. For most of February the army and police were ordered to exert maximum pressure on the NPA and that apparently worked because the operations concentrated on the NPA groups known to be hostile to a peace deal. The third round of peace talks took place in early January and were not a success mainly because too many NPA factions refuse to make peace and by the end of January the ceasefire was over because of many attacks by these factions. Until the NPA can regain control over (or disown) disobedient factions the government will resume its efforts to destroy the leftist rebel group. Peace talks got started in Norway during August 2016 and some progress was made. But it became obvious that many NPA leaders opposed peace talks and could not accept the fact that many, if not most, veteran NPA members were fed up with their career of banditry. Thus it is no surprise that NPA violence declined since the ceasefire began but for a minority of NPA members peace is not seen as a solution. March 27, 2017: Japan delivered the first two of five TC-90 reconnaissance aircraft. This comes a year after Japan offered to provide the aircraft at low cost. The other three will arrive in early 2018. These are military versions of the popular King Air twin engine civilian transport. Many are used for military purposes (training, transport, electronic warfare, surveillance) and Japan has been using them since the 1970s. Japan changed its laws in 2014 to allow for the export of military equipment (under certain conditions) and is expected to supply the Philippines with a lot more help like this. The TC-90 doubles the range of Filipino coastal surveillance from 300 to 600 kilometers. The cost of the lease was not revealed but it should not be a lot as these TC-90s are used and not equipped with any expensive electronics. King Air 90s sell for less than a million dollars used and cost less than a thousand dollars an hour (maintenance, fuel, spares) to operate. In the south (Basilan province) Abu Sayyaf released one of the two tugboat crewmen they had kidnapped four days earlier. The other captive, the captain of the tugboat, had been rescued by solders the next day and troops were closing in on the group holding the man released today. In situations like this some Abu Sayyaf groups will just release their captive alive and run for it. The security forces will not pursue as diligently as they would if the group murdered their captive and tried to get away. At this point Abu Sayyaf holds 26 hostages, twenty of them foreigners. Al Shabaab is taking fewer captives and losing more due to the aggressive searching by the military and police. March 19, 2017: In the south (Maguindanao province) the military continued their air and ground operations in remote areas where BIFF (a renegade MILF faction) members are based. This weekend operations left 21 Moslem rebels dead and 26 wounded. The air force bombed and then soldiers occupied a BIFF base where bombs were built and new bomb builders were trained. Other troops ambushed many of the BIFF members seeking to escape the base. One soldier was wounded during this operation. The main reason for over a week of operations in this remote area was intel that that Zulkifli bin Hir, an Indonesian Islamic terrorist bomb expert was present with a small group of BIFF men he was training in a series of temporary camps. BIFF has been on the run since it was formed in 2011 after splitting from MILF. There is a $500,000 reward for information that leads to the death or capture of Hir and that has been attracting a growing number of tips from the remote areas around here. The army believes, based on captured documents and prisoner interrogations, they found and destroyed all of the camps. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union antitrust regulators said on Wednesday they had cleared the acquisition of aircraft engine components maker ITP by Rolls-Royce subject to its elimination of a conflict of interest in an engine consortium. The engine consortium EPI, made up of Rolls-Royce, ITP, Germany's MTU and France's Safran , designs and manufactures the engine powering the Airbus A400M, which competes with the Lockheed Martin C-130J aircraft, powered by a Rolls-Royce engine. The European Commission said in a statement that it initially had concerns the merger would have allowed Rolls-Royce to gain additional influence on the decision-making process of the EPI consortium, on matters that affected its competitiveness against the Lockheed Martin C-130J. To allay those concerns Rolls-Royce offered commitments to eliminate the conflict of interest and ensure EPI remains competitive, the Commission said. (Reporting by Julia Fioretti; editing by Philip Blenkinsop) By Lamine Chikhi ALGIERS (Reuters) - Two Islamist opposition parties in Algeria have posted faceless portraits of female candidates for May's legislative election, upsetting state authorities which have ordered them to show the faces or be barred from the ballot. The dispute reflects fear among many Algerians of any revival of political Islam in a country that balances religious conservatism with searing memories of its 1990s war against armed Islamist groups that killed 200,000 people. The ultra-conservative Salafi strain of Islam, with its roots in Saudi Arabia, preaches religious purity and argues that their faith bans the faces of women being portrayed in public. Election monitoring officials told Islamist opposition parties on Tuesday they had 48 hours to display the female candidates' visages on campaign posters or their lists would be disqualified from the May 4 ballot. "They must show their faces," Abdelwahab Derbal, the president of the body in charge of surveillance of the elections, told reporters on Tuesday. Leaders of several Islamist parties criticised Derbal's decision, saying it was neither fair nor constitutional. "Our candidates are politicians not fashion models," FNA party leader Moussa Touati told local media. "I will not tell my candidate to show their faces on the posters or flyers." Another political leader, Naima Salhi, who has faceless women candidates on her party list said "authorities should respect Algeria's religious traditions". In one election list in Adrar, two women candidates are seen faceless with only their name and profession shown. In another, a female candidate has removed both her face and family name. RURAL-URBAN DIVIDE Most of the cases have been registered in rural areas where religious conservatism is more prevalent than in the capital Algiers and other cities. The elections are most likely to be dominated by the ruling National Liberation Front (FLN) and its allies who benefit from association with the North African state's government, which spends oil and gas revenue heavily on a vast social welfare system ranging from housing to subsidized fuel and food. The FLN along with the RND and other pro-government parties hold a majority in both chambers of parliament. Opposition parties are weak and split over how to challenge a system they say is controlled by a leftist old guard that dates to Algeria's 1962 independence from France and backs the status quo. Still, a move by several Islamist parties to join forces has spooked some Algerians with memories of the 1992 election, when the hardline Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) was set to win only for the army to cancel the vote and ban the party, triggering a decade of devastating war with Islamist militants. The FIS remains outlawed but other Islamist parties are legal, along with secular and left-wing parties. The poster debate has spilled into social media, with conservatives arguing the Salafist position that Islam forbids exhibiting women's faces in public, even in posters. Others on social media have mocked the "ghost women" candidates. Algerian electoral law states that each list of candidates must include a minimum of 15 percent of women, a condition that aims to boost female participation in politics. "How can these candidates reach out to their voters without being visible?" the Collective for Rights and Dignity of Algerian Women said in a statement. "One cannot tolerate such a drift that undermines the dignity of Algerian women." (Reporting by Patrick Markey) Fresh wounds In a landmark ruling, a civilian court has convicted Army officials for the first time in Nepals judicial history. Opposition leaders in Bolivia have urged President Evo Morales to follow the example set by Paraguayan leader Horacio Cartes and give up his bid to run for a fourth consecutive presidential term. The leftist leader has said he may stand in the 2019 election, despite losing a 2016 referendum on constitutional reforms that would have allowed him to run again. However, Morales said that he had no intention of engaging with the opposition on the matter. He said: I debate with the people, not the Right wing. What are they going to debate if they have no policies? Are we going to debate their lies? A referendum on the issue held in February 2016 saw a slim majority vote against the reforms. Morales previously accepted the result, but blamed the loss on a smear campaign by the opposition. Under Bolivian law, the leader could run in 2019 if he were to resign six months before the end of his term. UK fintech startups such as TransferWise and Azimo are setting up new European headquarters outside of Britain; Expansion is driven by fears of losing out under Brexit deal and represents lost growth for UK economy; Luxembourg's fintech lobbyist believes US and Asian fintech businesses looking to expand will now snub Britain as a result of Brexit. Taavet Hinrikus (Transferwise) speaks on a panel discussion during the DLD15 (Digital-Life-Design) Conference at the HVB Forum on January 19, 2015 in Munich, Germany. DLD is a global network of innovation, digitization, science and culture, which connects business, creative and social leaders, opinion formers and influencers for crossover conversation and inspiration. LONDON It was less than two hours into the Treasury's first International Fintech conference last week that Taavet Hinrikus pierced the government's jingoistic bubble. The conference was meant to promote Britain as a global hub for fintech post-Brexit, with over 400 investors from around the world invited and around 100 local businesses. Chancellor Philip Hammond told the audience that fintech could help create a "global Britain" by exporting to the world. But Hinrikus, the CEO of online money transfer business TransferWise, told the same crowd shortly after: "If I was setting up TransferWise today, I probably would not choose London." Even worse, he told a reporter from Reuters on the sidelines of the conference that, while TransferWise will keep its global headquarters in London, it will be setting up a new European headquarters as a result of Brexit. Locations like Dublin, Berlin, Barcelona, and Paris will all likely be considered. Hinrikus' comments are a huge blow, not just to the Treasury's hopes of promoting Britain, but to the UK's real fintech economy, worth 7 billion annually. The sector is facing a Brexit-driven drain: money and other resources that would have been invested in British offices are now being redirected towards setting up overseas locations. 'To try and ignore the fact that they need an EU is a bit of a folly' "Any good business leader is planning now for those known unknowns," Nasir Zubairi told Business Insider last week. Zubairi is the CEO of Luxembourg House of Financial Technology, a non-profit part owned by the government that aims to promote and develop Luxembourg as a fintech hub. Story continues Zubairi, who is British and spent many years in working in finance here, said: "There could be a scenario in which passporting is kept but do you want to risk that and wait two years to find out at the last minute and then panic? I personally cant see any scenario within which London keeps passporting. In which case, firms in the UK need a European focal point. They need an access channel." Azimo cofounders Michael Kent and Marta Krupinska AzimoPassporting allows companies to sell products and services anywhere within Europe under once licence. It seems likely that Britain will lose this right in negotiation. Worried by the uncertainty, finance businesses big and small are making a move to ensure they can continue to sell to customers on the continent no matter what. Azimo, another online money transfer business, recently made the decision to open a Dublin office. PPRO Group, a payments business, has opened an office in Luxembourg. Its CEO Simon Black, told the Guardian at the time: "I dont know of a licensed fintech company in the UK that isnt looking at options [in Europe]." Rival fintech "hubs" are also keenly aware of the opportunity currently presented to them. Envoys from Paris, for example, have made repeated visits to London in recent months to pitch the city to firms. "Its not about luring firms, because nobody is going to shift their entire business and youd be stupid to think that," says Zubairi. "Theyre going to put a token office in a centre somewhere to be able to continue to follow passporting rules within Europe. To try and ignore the fact that they need an EU office is kind of a bit of a folly." 'London is no longer Europe. Then they need to find another hub.' This Brexit fintech drain is less severe than people feared in the immediate aftermath of last year's referendum. Companies aren't leaving, they're just working on a 'Plan B'. But Britain's fintech sector will likely grow at a slower rate than it otherwise would have. These new offices are not beachheads into new markets that will bring more revenue, but exercises in box-ticking and paperwork that bring with them more cost. Azimo, for example, already offered its services in Ireland prior to the Dublin office. BII brexit cities threaten london Business Insider Intelligence Zubairi believes Britain will miss out on external investment, as well as see a drag on internal growth. "The opportunity for us is outside of Europe," he says of the Luxembourg view. "Its not about the firms from London, its about the firms from the US, from Israel, from China, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore. "These startups are at the point where theyre looking at international expansion. All of them are starting to look at Europe. The Americans dont jump over Europe, the Asians dont go to America first they go to Europe. Heres the critical element London is no longer Europe. Then they need to find another hub. Thats where the European hubs will benefit." Heres the critical element London is no longer Europe. Then they need to find another hub. Thats where the European hubs will benefit. Luxembourg is already benefiting. Zubairi points to Chinese payments business Ping Pong, which recently set up in Luxembourg, and Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten, which has a $100 million fintech investment fund and chose Luxembourg for the European branch of its commercial bank. "Obviously London will continue to be a centre because London has a big consumer market nobody comes to Luxembourg to serve the local market," Zubairi says. "You come to Luxembourg to service Europe. Thats what Luxembourg is all about." Ultimately, if the Treasury truly wants Britain to maintain its position as the global capital of fintech, it will have to do more than put on conferences. Hinrikus said in his speech last week: "If London wants to cement its position as the fintech capital of the world, it needs to take some action... we need action, not just words." Fintech companies want clarity on their ability to hire talent from Europe and to sell products and services to the continent post-Brexit. Whether the government can give such clarity with its hands tied by Brexit is another question. In the meantime, momentum may well ebb away from London. Rivals smell blood in the water. A press release sent out this week to the British Australia Chamber of Commerce's Fintech Forum is titled: "Australia fintech on the hunt for Londons top tech talent post-Brexit" they're not alone. NOW WATCH: A healthcare expert explains why you should think twice before taking an ambulance to the hospital See Also: SEE ALSO: TransferWise CEO: 'If I was setting up TransferWise today, I probably would not choose London' DON'T MISS: London fintech business Azimo is planning a Dublin office to cope with Brexit NEXT UP: Fintech is now worth 7 billion to Britain's economy and employs 60,000 people By Alexandros Avramidis THESSALONIKI, Greece (Reuters) - It was Mohamed Khaleuf's third attempt to cross the Greek-Macedonian border hiding in a freight train and he had no plans to give up trying. "I promised myself I would try five times. If I'm not successful, I will try to cross from somewhere else," said Khaleuf, a migrant from Morocco in his early twenties. Khaleuf is among dozens of migrants, mostly young Moroccans, Tunisians and Algerians, who arrived in Greece in the last year and found shelter in old rusting carriages around a station in the outskirts of Greece's northern city of Thessaloniki. From there, they monitor freight trains heading to central Europe. Whenever trains stop in the station, the migrants try to sneak into their compartments or jump in between wagons. If they're lucky, they make it across unnoticed. Some said they plan to get off before the border and continue on foot. Often, they are arrested by Macedonian guards and sent back to Greece. No one can say how many have made it. A Greek government spokesman was not immediately available for comment. More than a million refugees and migrants arrived in Europe in 2015, landing in Greece from Turkey and then streaming through the Balkans, heading north to Germany or Austria. But that route shut in March last year following an agreement between the EU and Turkey, stranding about 60,000 people in makeshift and formal camps across Greece. In the abandoned trains where Khaleuf and others live, conditions are grim, without electricity or running water. For food, they queue up at a nearby camp in a former toilet paper factory. People come and go, leaving piles of garbage behind. Some carriages burnt down in accidents when migrants tried to warm up in freezing winter temperatures. "Here we live like animals," said Habib, a 22-year-old Algerian who crossed from Turkey to the island of Rhodes and then hid under a truck on a ferry to Athens. Together with a friend, he had made an attempt to leave Greece days earlier, leaping onto a train with his blue rucksack. Without documents, the pair were arrested in Macedonia and sent back. Despite the dire conditions, many migrants choose the carriages over the camps as they can keep an eye on passing trains, they said. Mustafa, a 32-year-old Algerian who arrived in Greece last October and in Thessaloniki in March, hoped to get out of there soon. "Tomorrow I hope to be in Macedonia!" he said. (Writing by Karolina Tagaris; Editing by Mark Trevelyan) By Edward McAllister and Lamin Jahateh BANJUL (Reuters) - After police arrested 57-year-old Gambian activist Solo Sandeng at a protest a year ago, witnesses said he was beaten to death and buried in an unmarked grave near a fishing village. Since then a new government has come to power, promising swift redress for alleged crimes committed during the 22-year rule of ex-president Yahya Jammeh, and nine intelligence officers are now on trial for the murder. Yet hope for justice is already giving way to frustration for Sandeng's family, as well as for relatives of the many other Gambians who disappeared before Jammeh fled the west African country in January. They are growing impatient with a justice system which, starved of funds, equipment and expertise, is buckling under a backlog of dozens of unsolved cases from the Jammeh era. Elation swept Gambia when Jammeh was forced out, and the new government of President Adama Barrow has promised to set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in six months, modelled on similar bodies in other African nations. But Sandeng's family, discouraged by repeated adjournments in his case to let prosecutors gather more evidence, says that is not enough. "We need justice to be served, then we can reconcile," his daughter Fatoumata told Reuters, wearing a black veil and a white t-shirt with a picture of Sandeng's face. Police finally found and exhumed Sandeng's body last month, helping his case to become one of just a few to have made it to court so far. But Fatoumata also sympathises with those relatives who do not even have the consolation of a trial. "We have many families who have gone through this for many years and they need justice now," she said in Banjul. "You can't tell them to wait until you feel like doing something." Delays are common in even the best funded justice systems, but the problems of Gambia, a tiny agricultural economy, are profound. Former victims have described arbitrary detention, torture and often death for political opponents under Jammeh, which rights groups argue must either be addressed at home or at the International Criminal Court (ICC). But saddled with over $1 billion in debt - more than Gambia's annual economic output - the country is struggling to function at all, let alone pay for a wave of complex trials. "The economy is a shambles," Finance Minister Amadou Sanneh told Reuters. "There is a serious deficit in the funding of judges." LAWYERS WITHOUT COMPUTERS The European Union pledged 75 million euros ($80 million) to Gambia weeks after Jammeh left, resuming aid cut off in 2014. But this will go towards food security, roads and jobs. Meanwhile, lawyers often have no internet access or find themselves unable to make hard copies of important documents for a lack of printers. "Imagine a lawyer without a computer. It slows us down," said Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadou. "Lawyers make more money in their private practice than working for us." Tambadou said the Sandeng case was brought to trial too fast and not enough evidence was collected, but he urged patience. "The weight of expectation is too high. Twenty-two years is not 22 days," he said. "We have inherited a broken justice system and we must rebuild that system." Despite the delays and cash shortages, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission aims to start public hearings by the end of the year. Gambia did not suffer a civil war or large scale ethnic conflict like other African countries that have set up such commissions - Jammeh fled to Equatorial Guinea after refusing to accept an election defeat by Barrow - so achieving truth and reconciliation should in some ways be a less daunting task. Still, Gambia will need to learn from others' experience. Opaque and costly, Ivory Coast's commission was criticised for not offering specific recommendations to help solve differences that linger after thousands died in a short 2011 war. Liberia's similarly failed to make many citizens feel that crimes committed during a decade of civil war had been redressed. Others have had more success. In Sierra Leone, a U.N.-backed commission uncovered new facts about the roots of a nine-year civil war that ended in 2002, helping to avoid further conflict. In Rwanda, where 800,000 died in a 1994 genocide, community tribunals successfully tried abuses. But rights groups say there can be no substitute for effective trials, although Jammeh has put himself out of the ICC's reach as Equatorial Guinea has not signed up to the court in the Hague. "The biggest danger for Gambia is that the commission becomes a talking shop with interesting dialogue about what happened without addressing the need for justice," said Human Rights Watch Africa researcher Jim Wormington. "It cannot be a replacement for justice." (Editing by Tim Cocks and David Stamp) By Sofia Menchu GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Javier Duarte, the former state governor of Mexico's ruling party who was arrested in Guatemala at the weekend, said in court on Wednesday he would not agree to be extradited until his lawyers were able to study a formal extradition request. "At this time, I can't agree (to extradition) until the formal extradition request arrives, and it can be studied by my defence team" said Duarte. "This doesn't mean I won't accept it, though." If Duarte agrees to be extradited, he could be back in Mexico within a month, according to Guatemalan justice officials. If not, it might take considerably longer. Duarte faces prosecution for embezzlement and organised crime in Mexico, where he was the governor of Veracruz state until last year. He has denied any wrongdoing. A lawyer for Duarte said shortly after the arrest the former governor would likely accept his extradition. The Mexican government has 60 days to present a formal extradition request to Guatemala. Duarte's defence team will then decide whether to agree to his extradition. He will remain jailed during that time. The Mexican Attorney General's Office said this week that Duarte's extradition could take up to a year if he resists. Duarte, who governed the oil-rich state of Veracruz for President Enrique Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), became a symbol of corruption in Mexico, and his case is highly politicized with elections looming. (Reporting by Sofia Menchu; Editing by Sandra Maler) near earth object asteroids neos nasa m15 091b NASA Astronomers are taking radar images of a "potentially hazardous asteroid" named 2014 JO25. The space rock looks like a peanut and may be twice as big as some of the tallest skyscrapers on Earth. It will safely fly past Earth on Wednesday, April 19. NASA recently turned down an asteroid-hunting telescope program to find objects like 2014 JO25. Astronomers on Wednesday night will be keeping a close eye on a big asteroid that's zooming past Earth. Telescopes like the Arecibo Observatory a huge radio dish built inside of a Puerto Rican sinkhole have already started filming the tumbling space rock, called 2014 JO25, by pinging it with radar and recording the echoes. Below is one of the first radar videos (made by Arecibo) that astronomers took of the asteroid, on April 17. NASA said the space rock will fly within about 1.1 million miles of Earth, or roughly 4.6 times the distance from our planet to the moon, on April 19. What we know about asteroid 2014 JO25 asteroid 2014 jo25 goldstone deep space network april 18 2017 NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSSRAstronomers discovered the object about 3 years ago. Because it will fly so close to Earth, it has earned the label of a "potentially hazardous asteroid," or PHA. However, NASA says 2014 JO25 "will fy safely past Earth" and isn't due to swing by again for more than 400 years. The rock is estimated to be about 2,030 feet across, NASA said in an April 6 press release. That's roughly between the height of the One World Trade Center in New York City and Shanghai Tower in China two of the tallest skyscrapers on Earth. But Edgard Rivera-Valentin, a planetary scientist with the Universities Space Research Association who studies Arecibo data, said it may actually be much larger than that. "Arecibo revealed that this object ... is twice as big as originally estimated and is shaped like a peanut," Rivera-Valentin told Business Insider in an email, adding that Arecibo and other radar observatories will take their best photos on Wednesday night. Story continues "[A] little bit more time is needed to clearly get at the size of the object" and analyze that data, he said. NASA's Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, California, also recorded the asteroid on April 18. The 230-foot-wide dish photographed the 30 radar images of the space rock (above) as it hurled toward the vicinity of Earth from about 1.9 million miles away. Astronomers turned those images into a sped-up movie: Defending Earth by 'pinging' asteroids Arecibo_Observatory_Aerial_View Uploaded to Wikipedia by File Upload Bot (Magnus Manske) The rock's "peanut" shape comes from the fact that it's a "contact binary," the term for when two rocks smoosh together in space. Rivera-Valentin previously told Business Insider that contact binaries make up about one in every six space rocks, which makes them very common leftovers of our solar system's formation. Rivera-Valentin said it's vital to make movies of these near-Earth objects (NEOs) as they coast through our neighborhood, since there's always a good degree of uncertainty about their future paths at least after optical telescopes first spot them. "Arecibo goes beyond acting as a fortune teller, we can characterize these objects," he previously said. "We can study their size, shape, spin state, composition, and near-surface geology." The ultimate goal is to feed such data into advanced simulations and estimate just how big of a threat a particular hazardous space rock poses to humanity. "An asteroid impact, unlike other natural catastrophes, can actually be avoided. The data from Arecibo can be used by NASA to inform a planetary defense mission," he said. A "planetary defense" mission may sound like the plot of a science fiction blockbuster, but NASA is deadly serious about tracking and preparing for killer asteroids. The space agency even has a mandate from Congress to find 90% of an estimated 300,000 NEOs big enough to wipe a large city off the map. Space rocks that are capable of such devastation pass by us with worrisome frequency. In fact, the typical American is about 30 times more likely to die from a regional asteroid strike during their lifetimes than a refugee terrorist attack, according to a recent data analysis by Business Insider. However, NASA recently and for a third time turned down NEOCam a powerful asteroid-hunting space telescope that could help get the job done. In an email to Business Insider, NASA officials said they intend to fund the NEOCam mission, though only partially through 2017 presumably long enough to track down full funding for the mission, and a rocket on which to launch it. "The NEOCAM project is working to identify activities that could be done this year that would reduce the technical, schedule, and cost risk of a future mission," David Schurr, the deputy director of NASA's planetary science program, previously told Business Insider. NOW WATCH: A NASA scientist said were woefully unprepared for a giant asteroid strike heres why nuking one wouldnt work See Also: India to support Nepals bid to implement constitution through dialogue India on Wednesday said that its leadership has reiterated its support to ongoing efforts of Nepal government in moving constitution implementation process forward through dialogue and taking all sections of its society on board. By Benet Koleka TIRANA (Reuters) - Albania's parliament voted for a new president without casting a single ballot on Wednesday, convening and then closing the first of five election rounds in less than 10 minutes because no candidate came forward to run. The bizarre non-election went ahead despite a boycott by the opposition Democratic Party, which quit parliament two months ago and has since insisted Tirana first needs to name a technocratic government. To ensure that the ceremonial figure of president is a compromise figure, the constitution requires a candidate to get three-fifths of the vote to win in the first three rounds. If no candidate wins, the rules then say a simple majority will do to pick the new head of state. The other parties in parliament decided to go ahead with the empty vote as a way to respect this approach and pressure the Democrats to return and make it a real election. "No candidates have been presented to parliament," Vasilika Hysi, head of parliament's legal committee, announced to the chamber. "Even without a candidate, the first round is considered to have been held," added speaker Ilir Meta. Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama argued for patience when spoke to reporters after the open-and-shut first round. "We shall wait," he said. "It's better have the right president and one who is accepted by as many (parties) as possible. We never saw our power as an urge to be arrogant, but to be patient." A lot of this back-and-forth is tactical. The Democratic Party, which has been losing support to the government in recent local elections, has switched its focus to the parliamentary elections due to be held on June 18. It has not applied to run in those elections, in an effort to put pressure on the government to make way for technocrats. Under regular pressure from the European Union and from Germany this week, the ruling Socialists and the Democrats agreed last week to talks between their leaders. Albania's current government and opposition leaders have been taunting each other daily rather than offering sincere dialogue, delaying compromise. Democratic Party leader Lulzim Basha remained adamant about demanding a technocrat government and nothing else. "Pave the way for dialogue ... or the squares and streets of Albania will be taken over by a peaceful armada (of our supporters), he told supporters while parliament was in session. Parliament was due to hold the next voting round on Thursday. (Reporting by Benet Koleka; Editing by Tom Heneghan) BEIRUT (Reuters) - A general from Iran's Revolutionary Guards assumed the post of ambassador to Iraq on Wednesday, in a sign of the key role the military force is currently playing in its neighbouring country. Iraj Masjedi previously worked as adviser to Qassem Soleimani in Iraq, according to the Tasnim news site. Soleimani is head of the Quds Force, the branch of the Revolutionary Guards responsible for operations outside of Iran. Since Islamic State took control of swathes of Iraq in 2014, Soleimani worked with top Iraqi security officials to fight the militant Islamist group, primarily through a Shi'ite volunteer force known as Popular Mobilization Units. "Iran wants an advanced, powerful, secure and unified Iraq," Masjedi said on Tuesday in Baghdad, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). Iran has sent dozens of military advisers and fighters to Iraq and neighbouring Syria, where it is supporting Syrian president Bashar al Assad. Masjedi has more than 35 years' experience in the Guards and a deep knowledge of Iraq, according to the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA). During the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, Masjedi was a commander at the Revolutionary Guards' Ramezan base in Western Iran, which was a centre for Iraqi opposition groups planning and carrying out military operations against Saddam Hussein's forces on Iraqi soil, according to the Iranian judiciary's news site Mizan Online. The heads of some of those armed groups are now senior officials in Iraq. (Reporting By Babak Dehghanpisheh; Editing by Hugh Lawson) A man arrested on suspicion of organising the St Petersburg metro bombing has denied organising the attack. Kyrgyzstan-born Abror Azimov has appeared in court after being detained by the FSB, Russia's security service, in a Moscow suburb on Monday. He has admitted indirect involvement in the attack but said he did not know he was taking part in terrorist activity. The FSB say Azimov was "one of the organisers" of the attack and accused him of "training" the suspected suicide bomber 22-year-old Akbarjon Djalilov. Djalilov, who was born in Central Asian Kyrgyzstan, is suspected to have triggered the explosive device that killed 14 people on a St Petersburg metro train on 3 April. In court Azimov admitted indirect "involvement" in the attack. "I did not say that I was involved in the blast", Russian news agencies quoted him as saying. "There was some involvement by me, but not direct. "I was given an order. "I did not understand that I was taking part in terrorist activity." The court has ruled Azimov can be held in detention until 3 June as the investigation into the atrocity continues. Eight other men, all from ex-Soviet Central Asia, have also been detained in Moscow and St Petersburg in connection with the bombing. There have been no claims of responsibility for the attack, but possible ties to Islamic State jihadists, who have threatened Russia in retaliation for its actions in Syria, are being examined. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says US president Donald Trump has chosen the path of war. The hardline former president is standing in Irans presidential election on May 19. Speaking exclusively to Euronews, he described the 2015 nuclear deal Tehran signed with world powers as not clear: In my opinion, the way information was given was incorrect. The nation was not given the correct information. And then we saw what was said did not materialise. Sanctions continued, new sanctions were imposed, some of them were extended. In the agreement, the capacity for legal follow-up had not been envisaged. Ahmadinejad predicts US policy on Syria will lead to war and the collapse of Americas global power. I think Mr. Trump chose the path of war, in spite of the promises he gave his people. I have said this before and I say it again: this war will certainly lead to the fall of the US global hegemony. Iran, the US, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey we all have to join hands to primarily work for the security, dialogue and peace of Syria. And secondly, for helping realise the will and sovereignty of the Syrian people. We have to respect Syrian sovereignty and let the people of Syria to choose what they want and we should accept their choice. Nobody, nobody is above the people of Syria, nobody. Today, the Board of Regents set tuition for the University System of Georgia (USG) for the 2017-2018 academic year. All 28 of the USGs colleges and universities will keep their tuition increase to two percent, which limits the increase across the University System to $27 to $98 per semester for a full-time, in-state undergraduate student. With the generous support of the governor and legislature, we continue to focus on college affordability, while providing quality education, said Chancellor Steve Wrigley. Keeping tuition increases to a minimum allows the University System to provide a quality education balanced with the critical need to keep public higher education affordable. By keeping the tuition increase to two percent for the 2017-2018 academic year following the zero percent increase for the current year (2016-2017), the University System has been able to limit tuition increases to an average of 2.2 percent annually over the last five years. The USG continues to offer some of the lowest tuition rates among peer state public higher education systems. Out of the 16 states that make up the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), the USG has now become the sixth lowest state in tuition and fees for four-year institutions. Meanwhile, the Board continues to ensure fees and fee increases are kept to a minimum and used for the benefit of students. The USG has worked with each of the institutions to reduce the number of fee increases, which must demonstrate a clear need. In recent years, the number of approved mandatory fee increases from USG institutions has continued to decrease year-over-year. For example, the number of fee increases dropped from 67 in Fiscal Year 2012 down to 12 for the upcoming year, Fiscal Year 2018. Additionally, the University System has taken steps to eliminate certain fees, such as the Board of Regents plan to phase out mandatory commuter meal plans. By the end of Fiscal Year 2019, mandatory commuter meal plans will no longer be in use at Georgia Gwinnett College. The College of Coastal Georgia eliminated their plan last fall and Kennesaw State University will eliminate their plan effective fall 2017. The University System also continues to focus on increasing accessibility through its online offerings. eCore, the USGs online core curriculum, will decrease tuition to $159 per credit hour from $169. In addition, Kennesaw State University and the University of North Georgia will decrease the cost of online tuition on average by six percent, while the remaining institutionsonline tuition will remain the same with no increase for the 2017-2018 academic year. The University System also provides free, open-source, on-line e-textbooks through the Affordable Learning Georgia initiative. Last year, the USG was ranked by national publisher OpenStax at Rice University as number one in the nation of any school or school system for saving students the most money by providing free textbooks worth more than $3.5 million in 2016. The University System of Georgia is committed to providing students an affordable, accessible and high quality college education, said Shelley Nickel, executive vice chancellor for strategy and fiscal affairs. Across the University System, we are working together to help make college affordable with the ultimate goal of student success. The University System has also implemented initiatives focused on helping students graduate in a shorter timeframe, and as a result, save money by avoiding extra semesters and unneeded classes. These initiatives include: Degree Roadmaps: Campus advisors are providing degree roadmaps, so students avoid spending time and money in courses that do not count toward their degree. Students have a clear path of which courses to take to earn their degrees. Full Course Loads: As part of the 15 to Finish effort, campuses encourage students to take 15 credit hours per semester, thus shortening the time it takes to graduate. Proactive Advising: Institutions are also using an early-alert system to monitor students performance so that a low test grade may signal a counselor to provide additional support, such as tutoring, and help enable students to complete a class successfully. Tuition rates for each institution can be found here: http://www.usg.edu/fiscal_affairs/tuition_and_fees. WASHINGTON An aircraft carrier strike group that the Trump administration had warned was headed toward North Korea in a powerful show of force has instead spent the last week thousands of miles away and heading in the opposite direction. The Pentagons disclosure April 8 that the Carl Vinson carrier strike force was being diverted to waters near North Korea had contributed to rising global tensions over a possible U.S. conflict with the nuclear-armed regime in Pyongyang. Senior administration officials repeatedly cited the orders to rush the Carl Vinson strike force from Singapore to North Korea as a sign of President Donald Trumps willingness to directly confront a regime that has conducted five nuclear tests and multiple missile launches in violation of United Nations resolutions. It was widely assumed that the carrier group was patrolling somewhere within range last weekend, when U.S. officials feared Kim Jong Uns military would conduct a sixth underground nuclear test, or would try to test-launch an intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time. The U.S. ships have the ability to shoot down incoming missiles and launch cruise missiles of their own. On Saturday, Pyongyang staged a massive parade that displayed new missiles and had warned that it would counter a U.S. attack with a nuclear war of our own. The next day, the regime attempted to test a midsize ballistic missile, but it exploded seconds after launch in the sea off the east coast. The Navys admission that the Carl Vinson and four other warships were, in fact, conducting exercises in the Indian Ocean last week and were still in Indonesian waters as of Saturday has raised fresh questions about the credibility of the White House, which has frequently come under attack for making false claims. Officials said Tuesday that the false narrative about the Carl Vinson resulted from mistakes and miscommunication up the military chain of command to the White House, and was not part of a deliberate military attempt to psych out North Koreas leaders and mislead the public. The embarrassing saga began when Adm. Harry Harris, who heads U.S. Pacific Command, initially announced in a news release April 8 that he had directed the Carl Vinson carrier strike group to sail north from Singapore, adding that the ships were being diverted from planned port visits to Australia. The Trump administration cited the deployment of the naval strike force, which includes the carrier and four warships, as a clear warning to North Korea, which was said to be planning a nuclear test last weekend in conjunction with a national holiday. We are sending an armada, very powerful, to the waters off the Korean Peninsula, Trump told Fox Business News on April 12. A day earlier, Defense Secretary James N. Mattis told Pentagon reporters that the aircraft carrier was on her way up there. Some news organizations cited the armadas apparent race northward as a sign of a possible pre-emptive attack on North Korea, spurring global concerns of a possible war. While the Pentagon sought to downplay those reports late last week, at no point did it or the White House suggest the Carl Vinson was not, in fact, nearing the Korean Peninsula to give Trump a more robust military option should he decide he needs one. Pundits cited the warships approach as evidence of Trumps muscular style in the same week that he had ordered a cruise missile strike on Syria in response to a poison gas attack, and the Air Force had dropped the so-called mother of all bombs on an Islamic State stronghold in Afghanistan. But on Saturday, a full week after the initial news release, the Navy posted a photograph showing the Carl Vinson traveling south through the Sunda Strait between the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java about 3,500 miles southwest of the Korean Peninsula. As Defense News first reported Monday, the strike force has been taking part in exercises with Australian forces in the Indian Ocean over the last week. It is now really steaming northward and is expected to arrive in the Sea of Japan next week, U.S. officials said. Police have identified the man who was shot and killed at an Albuquerque motel last week as 21-year-old Leroy Garcia. Officer Fred Duran, a spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department, said Garcia was found dead around 7 a.m. on April 11 after a shooting was reported at the Motel 76 on Candelaria near Interstate 25. This is being investigated as a homicide, and detectives have not yet identified a suspect, Duran said Tuesday. Duran didnt say whether Garcia was an out of town guest at the motel or from Albuquerque. He didnt respond to questions about why it took a week to provide the name of the victim. A corrections officer accused of raping a male inmate had sex with him twice at the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center and used her authority as a guard to coerce him into it, according to court records. Wendy Vowinckel, 42, was arrested Monday and booked into the same jail she works at. It is illegal, and considered rape, for corrections officers to have sexual relations with inmates. The victim, a 25-year-old man, told a Bernalillo County Sheriffs Office deputy that Vowinckel was the pod officer for the area where he was housed. On April 13, the victim and Vowinckel went into a dark, empty classroom and had sex while the rest of the pod was on lockdown, meaning inmates couldnt leave their cells, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. Video surveillance reviewed by authorities supports that claim the victim and Vowinckel are seen going into the classroom twice for extended periods of time while the pod is locked down. Its unclear from the complaint when the second incident happened. Vowinckel brought the victim fast food, candy and colored pens, along with more personal items a lipstick print on a paper towel and a piece of womens underwear, according to the complaint. The underwear was later confiscated by a different corrections officer during a shakedown. The inmate told authorities he agreed to have sex with Vowinckel only because he was scared of her. The victim states he did not refuse to engage in the sexual acts because of the defendants position of authority over him and because she threatened to harm him if she caught him with another woman, according to the complaint. Court records show Vowinckel was released Tuesday after being charged with four counts of criminal sexual penetration and one count of intimidation of a witness. She is on leave with pay pending the investigation, according to jail spokeswoman Nataura Powdrell-Moore. The best thing that may be said about Republican State Representative Rod Montoyas recent comments aired in a few media outlets regarding the state budget passed by the Legislature is that they were highly misleading. Rep. Montoya claimed Democrats wasted time and exploited the budget crisis to raise taxes. While mostly rehashing tired attacks on Democrats often heard at election time that are short on specifics, he also accused the legislative majority of wast[ing] time on green chile legislation. Rep. Montoya thinks the majority did not address any important issues during the legislative session. Nothing, as they say, could be further from the truth. First of all, the Legislature did pass a balanced budget for next year, fiscal year 2018. That budget was responsible and bipartisan at least in the Senate, where it passed 34 to 4. Unlike the reckless one offered by Gov. Susana Martinez and her uber-partisan Republican helpers like Rep. Montoya in the House, it would have prevented further cuts to K-12 classrooms and other key services like law enforcement. Importantly, it would have replenished our reserves to avoid another downgrade of the states bond rating. Another downgrade would cost New Mexico additional millions in future borrowing. We cant afford that. For three years we have cut schools and essential services to the bone. Cutting more is no longer an option. That is why Democrats and Republicans alike in the Senate made the courageous decision to pass a revenue package, with strong bipartisan agreement, that protects public education, health care and public safety on an ongoing basis. We also passed the most significant tax reform legislation in a generation, but apparently Rep. Montoya is unaware of it. Rep. Montoya himself voted no on emergency funding to keep state courts open this year. Had his view prevailed, criminals might have been necessarily turned loose on the streets, according to the chief justice of the Supreme Court. Thats not responsible legislating. In a sometimes grueling 60-day session, the Legislature spent mere moments on naming the green chile cheeseburger the states favorite food. In the Senate it actually died in the Rules Committee without being discussed. It wasnt Democrats alone who sought the designation, and it certainly did no harm to the Legislatures impressive, material accomplishments for the people of our state. The governor has chosen to do the wrong thing by vetoing the budget and the package of needed new revenues we in the Legislature passed. It was an extremely reckless action on her part. Both measures were responsible; both were bipartisan. Since she torpedoed this grown-up solution, she ought to articulate now exactly what services she wants to cut and eliminate instead of having fixed the $350 million shortfall New Mexico faces. The Legislature had already solved the problem for her. By tabling a vote last Thursday on whether they will support a U.S. Department of Energy plan to drill a 3-mile-deep borehole on private property to test the feasibility of burying nuclear waste in deep wells, Otero County commissioners joined a growing list of skeptics of the project. A nearly identical project is being planned near Nara Visa in Quay County, and that County Commission has come out against the project there. With the 2010 shutdown of the planned nuclear waste storage facility at Yucca Mountain, Nev., the DOE has been looking at other ways to dispose of the nations thousands of tons of nuclear waste scattered at temporary storage facilities throughout the country. DOE has embarked on an estimated five-year, $80 million project to collect data on whether 16,000-foot boreholes drilled into crystalline rock formations are a viable storage method. The department has awarded contracts to four private companies to provide that data. South Dakota-based Respec is weighing a site in Haakon County, S.D.; California-based AECOM is exploring a site near Fort Stockton in far western Texas; Pennsylvania-based TerranearPMC is proposing the Otero County site; and Georgia-based Enercon is looking at the Nara Visa site. The DOE contracts require that the drilling locations be on private property and the companies secure public support for their projects. Two other proposed sites in South Dakota have already been abandoned because of local opposition. While DOE officials stress the borehole projects will not involve any nuclear waste and its website says DOE will not use any selected site for the actual storage or disposal of waste in the future, skeptics arent buying it. Greg Mello with the nuclear watchdog Los Alamos Study Group says the DOE is being disingenuous. Its a research project, but the sites being selected for the research are also more likely the disposal sites because of that research, Mello told the Journal. I dont buy the idea that this has nothing to do with waste disposal, which is what these communities are being told. In contrast to Quay County, DOE might have had better luck in southeastern New Mexico, where the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant and other nuke friendly businesses have sprouted. But Stephen Hickman, director of the U.S. Geological Surveys Earthquake Science Center, has cautioned that any area eventually hosting a deep-well disposal site should be free of fracking the practice of injecting mixtures of water, sand and chemicals under high pressure into oil- and gas-bearing formations to extract otherwise unreachable oil or gas. Fracking is alive and well in parts of southeastern New Mexico. Theres a reason Im from the government, trust me is a punchline and the bottom line is that communities considering such serious geologic projects, be it fracking or DOE boreholes, need to factor in long-term implications with any research project or promised economic boom. This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers. SANTA FE Albuquerque contractor Mick Rich has been eyeing a run for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Democratic incumbent Martin Heinrich for several years and hes now ready to make it official. Rich, a Republican, is expected to formally announce his candidacy in the coming weeks, but said Tuesday that hes definitely in the race. While hes never run for elected office before, Rich said his business experience hes worked as a commercial contractor for more than 30 years would provide a different perspective for New Mexicos congressional delegation. Ive been building communities around New Mexico for 35 years, Rich told the Journal. I dont think more government is going to solve our problems. If elected, he said he would push for relaxed restrictions on federal land use and more funding with solidified missions for the states federal laboratories, while describing high crime and drug overdose rates in New Mexico as a barrier to economic development. Rich also described Heinrich as being out of touch with state voters, citing his vote against confirming former Texas Gov. Rick Perry as secretary of the U.S. Energy Department as an example. However, before facing off against Heinrich, Rich could face opposition in the GOP primary. Though no other Republicans have announced candidacies, that could change in the coming months. Meanwhile, Heinrich could be a formidable foe on the campaign trail. The former two-term U.S. House member and Albuquerque city councilman, who will be up for re-election for the first time in 2018 since being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012, took in more than $1.3 million in contributions this quarter and has about $2.5 million on hand in his campaign account, according to federal reports. Rich founded Mick Rich contractors in 1988 and is a member of the state Labor and Industrial Commission. His firms projects have included building and renovating schools and churches around New Mexico, including the San Felipe de Neri Parish in Albuquerques Old Town. He said Tuesday he dislikes political labels, but feels he would be able to work effectively with President Donald Trumps administration and current congressional leaders. New Mexicos other U.S. senator is Tom Udall, also a Democrat, who recently decided against running for governor and wont be up for re-election until 2020. Tommy the California sea lion, know for saluting his keepers and visitors, died Monday at the ABQ BioPark zoo. That morning, his keepers noted that Tommy was not displaying his normal behaviors and put him under observation. About 12:30 p.m., he died unexpectedly. Tommy was 13 and the zoos sole sea lion. We did a necropsy, saw a few things that concerned us, sent them (tissue samples) in for testing and will be getting those back soon, said veterinarian Baird Fleming, deputy chief executive officer of the BioPark. He declined to speculate on the cause of death. Tommy was just a few months old when the zoo got him from a rescue facility, the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, Calif., Fleming said. He had been abandoned; we dont know what happened, only that he was by himself, he said. They (Marine Mammal Center) nursed him back to health, but once he was stabilized he was deemed not releasable and sent to Albuquerque. Here, Tommy shared his exhibit space with three harbor seals females Baby, born in 1975, and Gracie, born in 2002, and male Feisty, born in 1990. Known for raising his foreflipper in a salute, Tommy was a very interactive animal and he and I would play through the observation window, said Fleming. He was a very sweet guy and a big favorite among a lot of our staff and among zoo visitors. California sea lions range along the West Coast of the United States, though farther north their populations blend with the Steller sea lion, a different and larger species. California sea lions, however, are not small. Adult males can reach 6-8 feet in length and weigh up to 800 pounds, while adult females are not quite as long and weigh a more petite 100 to 250 pounds, said Fleming. Tommy was considered average size, weighing about 650 pounds, and he had been in spectacular shape, Fleming said. California sea lions, he added, can live from 15 to 25 years in the wild and in captivity, though some have been known to live 30 years or longer. They dont have too many natural predators aside from sharks and the transient pod of killer whales. Its too early to say if Tommy will be replaced, Fleming said. Were pretty upset about the whole thing, so the idea of replacement is hard to contemplate, he said. We need a little time to recover, to grieve, I think is an appropriate word, but we will shortly look at what we will be doing in that area. Copyright 2017 Albuquerque Journal If humans one day colonize Mars, perhaps the University of New Mexico will have played a small part. College students from across the country are programming robots to perform exploration-related tasks for this weeks NASA Swarmathon at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a NASA-funded competition organized by the University of New Mexico. Participants write computer code that enables ant-like robots to autonomously navigate an arena, finding and collecting small cubes. Organizers want the challenge to mimic the gathering of resources, such as ice, on the surface of Mars, according to Melanie Moses, an associate professor of computer science at UNM and Swarmathons principal investigator. Central to the challenge is getting robots to work together or at least stay out of one anothers way since each team will field three robots in the arena. Swarming introduces a layer of complication you have to come up with the rules by which the agents communicate with each other, Moses said. Robot swarms could aid NASAs initiative to put people on Mars, arriving on the red planet ahead of humans to make it habitable, Moses said. But other possible swarm uses include bomb detection and search and rescue missions; swarms can cover far more ground than a single unit. There are lots of applications, said Matthew Fricke, the software lead on the Swarmathon project, noting that one company has already developed robots that can identify and pull weeds on farmland. Ants provided inspiration for the competition robots because of their foraging acumen. Theyre very good at collecting resources in all kinds of different environments, said Moses, whose lab at UNM focuses on biologically inspired computation. Swarmathons physical competition, now in its second year, runs today through Thursday and should feature 19 teams from around the United States. As the organizing university, UNM will not compete. But a number of postdoctoral researchers and current students worked on the software that makes it possible, including UNM junior Antonio Griego. This is legitimate software engineering experience; were doing a lot of things I would actually do in an actual job, he said. Competitors this week will include Central New Mexico Community College and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute. Another 15 schools participated in a virtual version of the competition. UNM graduate student Elizabeth E. Esterly has also launched a high school edition. More than 1,000 students have participated in Swarmathon, which NASA has backed with about $2 million so far. UNMs agreement is with NASA Minority University Research and Education Program, and the program aims to reach students at institutions that serve minorities. NASA appreciates the idea that if were going to take on these enormous challenges like going to Mars, we need to tap into the intellectual abilities of the entire population, Moses said. You cant just focus on Ivy League schools and MIT and Stanford; you really need to draw talent from across the country, and its great seeing how much talent there is in small schools all over the place. Copyright 2017 Albuquerque Journal A U.S. Department of Justice attorney litigating the Albuquerque Police Department reform case said his team hasnt been told to change its approach, despite the attorney generals call for a review of all ongoing consent decrees. During an April 6 conference call about the Albuquerque police reform effort, U.S. District Judge Robert Brack asked DOJ attorneys about Attorney General Jeff Sessions memorandum that called for the DOJ to review all existing and contemplated consent decrees, according to a transcript of the call. APD is among about 20 law enforcement agencies throughout the country that are operating under court-enforceable outlines for police reforms, though the outline here is usually called a settlement agreement. Brack, who is presiding over reforms, said he wanted a heads up if any policy changes were being considered. We have not gotten any direction any change of direction from where we have been. We will continue to enforce the agreements, said Luis Saucedo, an attorney in the DOJs Civil Rights Division. We have not gotten word that were going any other direction other than to continue as we have been. Sessions, who has been critical of DOJ interventions into police departments across the country, issued a memorandum made public earlier this month that called for a review of all consent decrees to make sure they align with the administrations goals and principles for the DOJ. Those goals included improving officer safety and morale, ensuring that public safety is an honorable career, fighting crime and promoting civil rights, he said. Sessions comments raised concerns among many advocates for police reform in Albuquerque and Mayor Richard Berry said the department remains committed to the settlement agreement. In the memo, Sessions said the misdeeds of individual bad actors should not impugn or undermine the legitimate and honorable work that law enforcement officers and agencies perform in keeping American communities safe. The DOJ announced in 2014 that its investigation into Albuquerque police found systemic problems within the department, including a pattern and practice of excessive force and a culture of aggression. The city and the DOJ then negotiated a settlement agreement that outlines numerous tasks for APD, which include retraining officers. New Mexicos two senators have also raised concerns about Sessions comments. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Tom Udall, both Democrats, joined 14 other senators who wrote Sessions a letter last week saying his comments about consent decrees threatened to undo years of work reforming police departments around the country. We expect a lot out of the people who serve in blue every day, and they deserve an enormous amount of respect for the kind of work they do. But we also have to hold them to the highest standards. I dont think the attorney general always understands that balance, Heinrich told the Journal . He is the chief law enforcement officer for the United States of America. He really needs to set a tone that is representative of the entire nation. LUBBOCK, Texas A West Texas grand jury has indicted a 23-year-old man on charges that he opened fire on a group of people standing on a motel balcony, wounding seven of them. The Lubbock County jury on Tuesday indicted Adrian Vicente Castillo on a count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon causing bodily injury. The charge carries a punishment of two to 20 years in prison. Authorities say Castillo was leaving a Lubbock bar April 3 when he began arguing with people on the second-story balcony at the nearby motel. The bickering escalated and Castillo pulled a handgun. The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reports (http://bit.ly/2oV5wYS ) Castillo remains incarcerated at the Lubbock County jail, where hes also being held on a parole violation. Jail records dont indicate whether he has an attorney to speak on his behalf. ___ Information from: Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, http://www.lubbockonline.com RICHMOND, Va. Virginias Democratic governor is facing mounting pressure to halt next weeks scheduled execution of an inmate whose case has seen two witnesses recant, years after he was convicted of ordering his ex-girlfriends killing. Ivan Teleguz, 38, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection April 25 unless hes granted clemency by Gov. Terry McAuliffe. A Catholic, McAuliffe has said he personally opposes capital punishment but will uphold the law as governor. He hasnt stopped an execution during his tenure. Since Teleguzs trial, two prosecution witnesses have recanted, prompting the traditionally conservative newspaper in Virginias capital city and death penalty foes, including British billionaire Richard Branson, to call on McAuliffe to spare the inmate. Executing a man who might be innocent would provide no benefit and only leave a terrible stain on Virginia and our justice system, a group of conservatives including Brent Bozell III, president of the Media Research Center said in a letter to McAuliffe. The victims family and the cases lead police investigator say they remain certain that Teleguz is guilty. I do not have any doubt, former Harrisonburg Police investigator Kevin Whitfield said in an interview. I feel as convinced today as I did back then. Teleguz was convicted in 2006 of hiring a man to kill 20-year-old Stephanie Sipe, his childs mother. Sipes mom found her stabbed body in her Harrisonburg apartment, along with their unharmed 2-year-old son. Teleguz, whose family left Ukraine when he was a child, was interviewed by police just after the 2001 killing. Sipes family told investigators that her relationship with Teleguz had soured and that he was mad over a court order to pay child support. Teleguz wasnt charged until years later, after a man arrested in another case told a U.S. marshal that Teleguz said he had hired someone from Pennsylvania to kill Sipe because he was upset about the payments. Michael Hetrick said Teleguz hired him and Edwin Gilkes for $2,000 to kill Sipe. Gilkes, who was convicted of participating but said he wasnt present for the killing, also testified against Teleguz. Years later, Gilkes and the man who first implicated Teleguz Aleksey Safanov said in affidavits that they lied to secure a deal from prosecutors. Lead prosecutor Rockingham County Commonwealths Attorney Marsha Garst declined to be interviewed. After the witnesses recanted their testimony, an appeals court ordered a judge to hold a hearing to examine Teleguzs innocence claim. His appeal was rejected after Gilkes refused to testify and Safanov whod been deported to Kyrgyzstan didnt show up. Hetrick again testified that hed been hired by Teleguz to kill Sipe. The judge said Teleguz has never presented a reasonable alternative for why Gilkes and Hetrick would drive from Pennsylvania to a strange city in another state to kill Sipe. He called it simply farfetched that Sipes death was a drug robbery gone bad or that Teleguzs enemies would have Sipe killed to get him in trouble, as his supporters have suggested. Teleguzs attorneys and supporters say the only thing now linking him to the crime is Hetrick, who they say had an interest to lie because his life was at risk. Hetrick was spared the death penalty and sentenced to life in prison in exchange for testifying against Teleguz. If they go through with this execution, theres going to be more loss, and more pain and grieving, said Steven Corbally, who worked as an investigator for Teleguzs attorneys. The Richmond Times-Dispatch, in an editorial this month noting the questions surrounding the case, urged McAuliffe to commute Teleguzs sentence to life without parole. The Innocence Project and Branson, the Virgin Group founder, are among those who have taken to social media urging followers to call the governors office. More than 100,000 people have signed an online petition supporting Teleguzs clemency bid. Three former Virginia attorneys general including one Republican also have asked McAuliffe to intervene. McAuliffe, the only person with the power to grant Teleguz clemency, told WVIR-TV this week that clearly issues have come up that he needs to look at very closely. Virginia has executed two inmates since McAuliffe took office in 2014. The last execution was in January of Ricky Gray, who killed a well-known Richmond family of four. If Teleguz is executed, hell be given the sedative midazolam, followed by rocuronium bromide to halt breathing, and potassium chloride, which stops the heart Teleguzs attorneys said they were preparing a filing with the U.S. Supreme Court on a technical issue, but no other appeals were planned. They say he remains hopeful his name will be cleared. Even to this day, hes praying and has faith that things will turn out right because he believes so strongly, attorney Elizabeth Peiffer said. Sipes family feels just as strongly about Teleguzs guilt. It blows my mind, it really does, that he is still trying to fight and plead for his life, Jennifer Tilley, Sipes sister, told WHSV-TV. (Sipe) didnt have the opportunity to plead for her life. Sipes relatives couldnt immediately be reached by The Associated Press. ____ Follow Alanna Durkin Richer at http://twitter.com/aedurkinricher. Read more of her work at http://apne.ws/2hIhzDb . Indias goodwill always with Nepal, say Indian prez, PM Indian president and prime minister on Tuesday said that India appreciated efforts being made by Nepal to implement the constitution and hold local polls accommodating all sections of the society. The historic Inn and Spa at Loretto is coming under new ownership. Jim Long, founder and CEO of Heritage Hotels and Resorts, Inc., along with an investor group led by Randy Talbot announced today that they are acquiring the property. The Lorettos iconic architecture, modeled after Taos Pueblo, make it one of the most photographed buildings in the state, Long said in a news release. We are delighted to add Loretto to our portfolio of culturally-designed New Mexico properties and look forward to introducing our guests to this new experience. Heritage Hotels and Resorts has purchased other historic hotels around New Mexico, including Hotel St. Francis in Santa Fe and Palacio de Marquesa in Taos, and with the Loretto purchase will have more than a dozen hotels in the state. Long plans only minor renovations for the Inn and Spa at Loretto. The property has already had a lot of renovation dollars put into it. Almost $12 million put in, Long told the Journal. So the property is actually in fine shape. The Inn, which was founded in 1975 by the Kirkpatrick Family, underwent extensive interior renovations in 2009. Longs goal with The Inn at Loretto is to make the outdoor landscapes more captivating, create more dynamic outdoor dining and seize on opportunities for outdoor events like festivals and concerts. The Inn at Loretto has two restaurants, Luminaria Restaurant and Patio for fine dining and The Living Room at Loretto for a more casual experience. In addition to the spa, Loretto also houses six retail shops, Faircloth Adams, Handwoven Originals in Santa Fe, Little Bird at Loretto, Liquid Outpost, Timbavati and Abbate Fine Art, according to the Loretto website. Heritage does not have plans to change the lineup. Most of the tenants represent what we would want the hotel to represent, said Long. But, you know, we will continue to look for special retailers that make or sell very unique products. The Inn and Spa at Loretto has 136 guest rooms and Santa Fes only penthouse, according to the Heritage Hotels and Resorts news release. It also contains 12,000-square-feet of event, meeting and wedding space. The Inn at Loretto has been a AAA four-diamond property since 2009. Central New Mexico Community Colleges FUSE Makerspace will provide a lot of high-tech power to turn ideas into marketable products when the Innovate ABQ research and development hub Downtown opens in August. CNM and city leaders announced on Thursday that the CNM makerspace, which opened in April 2016 at a 3,000-square-foot space on the main campus, will move into a 13,500-square-foot building at the seven-acre First Baptist Church property at Broadway and Central. Thats where the University of New Mexico and its public and private partners are building out Innovate ABQ. The makerspace will be just west of the new Lobo Rainforest building on the northeast corner of the site. That six-story building, scheduled to open in August, will house entrepreneurship programs for students and businesses to build startups and take new technology from UNM and other universities and labs to market. With CNMs makerspace next door, aspiring entrepreneurs will have on-site access to the state-of-the-art design and manufacturing equipment theyll need to build businesses from the ground up, said Mayor Richard Berry. It will become one of the finest makerspaces in New Mexico and elsewhere, the mayor said at an event Downtown announcing CNMs plans. People who might not otherwise have such resources will be able to come here and work on things like table saws, laser cutters and 3D printers. The makerspace will occupy the old Noon Day Ministries soup kitchen and shelter, which the city turned into an Epicenter for community entrepreneurship activities in 2015. The Epicenter moved out last summer when developers broke ground on the Lobo Rainforest building. CNM will invest about $1.2 million to renovate and move into the facility, financed in good part by grants from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, New Mexico Gas Co.s parent firm Emera Inc., and the McCune Charitable Foundation. Kellogg approved a three-year, $2 million grant in March to support CNM Ingenuity, the entity that runs the makerspace and CNMs STEMulus Center Downtown. CNM will use some of that money for the makerspace move, and for a variety of programs related to innovation and entrepreneurship. Emera awarded a $500,000 grant to the city of Albuquerque last fall for its innovation and entrepreneurship programs. The city, in turn, pumped that money into CNMs makerspace initiative. Kellogg funding aims to boost affordable access for low-income and minority communities, said Kellogg program officer Alvin Warren. The foundation has granted about $7 million to innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives around New Mexico. The makerspace is open to everyone, said CNM chief community engagement officer Samantha Sengel. Even at its cramped location on campus, about 300 people have already used the makerspace. In fact, 12 startups are currently working there, said CNM President Kathie Winograd. With 13,000 square feet, well be able to greatly expand the makerspace and serve a lot more people, Winograd said. A new report on the hospitality industry is projecting good news for the Southwest, but not necessarily for New Mexico. The 2017 U.S. Hospitality Investment Forecast, an annual report from commercial real estate investment firm Marcus & Millichap, is projecting revenue per hotel room in the Southwest will exceed the national average but that New Mexico should be prepared for a decline. The forecast points to issues such as hotel stays on government per diem that could restrict room revenue. Charlie Gray, executive director of the Greater Albuquerque Innkeepers Association, isnt so sure. Historically, because of Los Alamos and Sandia, our number (of people staying in hotels on government per diems) is higher than most other states, said Gray. But Gray said that even if government per diem room nights fall, it will be at least partially offset an increase in the per diem rate. Albuquerques federal rate, for example, has increased from $89 to $91, he said. The Marcus & Milllichap report is bullish on the Southwest region, thanks to an improving national economy and other factors. Economic growth remains sufficient to generate a 1.7 percent increase in room nights (for the Southwest) this year and raise occupancy to 66.5 percent, the Marcus & Millichap report states. But the report projects a decline in both of those metrics for New Mexico. New Mexico Tourism Department Research Director Victoria Gregg told the Journal that the departments indicators tell a different story. She said both occupancy rates and revenue per available room grew from 2015 to 2016, and that the department is seeing positive numbers from the first quarter of 2017. The early numbers, combined with the upward trend in 2016, indicate that room occupancy and revenue continues to show strong growth, she said. Gray said the Albuquerque occupancy rate is up 4 percent in the first quarter of 2017 over the same time in 2016, as a strong indicator of the coming year. Im cautiously optimistic, he said. The Marcus & Millichap report also noted some potentially positive news for the state, pointing out that a potential an increase in drilling in the Permian Basin of southeastern New Mexico, where oil companies have made substantial investments over the last year, could lift hotel occupancy rates. The report also points out that proposed budget increases in infrastructure and defense could help New Mexico but that there is still uncertainty as to how federal budget changes may affect the industry as a whole. JERUSALEM Syria still has up to three tons of chemical weapons, Israeli defense officials said Wednesday in the first specific intelligence assessment of President Bashar Assads weapons capabilities since a deadly chemical attack earlier this month. The estimate came as the head of the international chemical weapons watchdog said laboratory tests had provided incontrovertible evidence that victims and survivors of the April 4 attack in northern Syria were exposed to sarin nerve gas or a similar banned toxin. Israel, along with the United States and much of the international community, has accused Assads forces of carrying out the attack, which killed at least 90 people, including dozens of children. A senior Israeli military official said Israeli intelligence believes Syrian military commanders ordered the attack, with Assads knowledge. Briefing reporters, he said Israel estimates Assad still has between one and three tons of chemical weapons. The assessment was confirmed by two other Israeli defense officials. All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity under military briefing rules. Assad has strongly denied he was behind the attack in the opposition-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in Syrias northern Idlib province, and has accused the opposition of trying to frame his government. Top Assad ally, Russia, has asserted a Syrian government airstrike hit a rebel chemical weapons factory, causing the disaster. In response to the April 4 attack, the United States fired 59 missiles at a Syrian air base it said was the launching pad for the attack. Israel welcomed the strike on its northern neighbor. The Syrian government has been locked in a six-year civil war against an array of opposition forces. The fighting has killed an estimated 400,000 people and displaced half of Syrias population. Israel has largely stayed out of the fighting, though it has carried out a number of airstrikes on suspected Iranian weapons shipments it believed were bound for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Iran and Hezbollah, both bitter enemies of Israel, along with Russia have sent forces to support Assad. Following Russias intervention in September 2015, Israel and Moscow opened a hotline to coordinate military activity in Syria. Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman will fly to Moscow next week for talks with senior Russian officials. Syria agreed to give up its chemical weapons arsenal to avert U.S. strikes following a chemical weapons attack in opposition-held suburbs of Damascus in August 2013 that killed hundreds of people and sparked worldwide outrage. Ahead of that disarmament, Assads government disclosed it had some 1,300 tons of chemical weapons, including sarin, VX nerve agent and mustard gas. The entire stockpile was said to have been dismantled and shipped out under international supervision in 2014 and destroyed. But doubts began to emerge soon afterward that not all such armaments or production facilities were declared and destroyed. There also is evidence that the Islamic State group and other insurgents have acquired chemical weapons. Dan Kaszeta, a U.K.-based chemical weapons expert, said the Israeli estimate appeared to be conservative, but nonetheless was enough to be highly lethal. One ton of sarin could easily be used to perpetrate an attack on the scale of the 2013 attack. It could also be used for roughly 10 attacks of a similar size to the recent Khan Sheikhoun attack, he said. A fact-finding mission from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, an international watchdog, is investigating the April 4 incident and on Wednesday its director-general, Ahmet Uzumcu, said that the results from four OPCW designated laboratories indicate exposure to sarin or a sarin-like substance. He said in a statement that further results would follow, but that the analytical results already obtained are incontrovertible. The agency, based in The Hague, Netherlands, is expected to issue a report within two weeks. Turkish and British tests also have concluded that sarin or a substance similar to the deadly nerve agent was used in the Idlib attack. Earlier this week, Assads former chemical weapons research chief told Britains The Telegraph newspaper that Syria had at least 2,000 tons of chemical weapons before the war and only declared 1,300. Former Brig. Gen. Zaher al-Sakat said the Syrian government still possessed hundreds of tons of chemical weapons. ___ Associated Press writers Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, and Zeina Karam in Beirut contributed to this report. PHOENIX A sexual and domestic violence focused-Arizona organization has accepted $53,400 from U.S. Rep. Krysten Sinema, including donations made to her campaign tied to Backpage.com, which has been linked to prostitution. The Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence accepted the money Tuesday, The Arizona Republic reported (http://bit.ly/2pgM3mv ). Part of that money comes from donations made to Sinemas campaign last year tied to Backpage.com founders and former Phoenix News Times executives. Michael Lacey and James Larkin were accused of knowingly profiting from prostitution in 2016. I am aware of the source and, given the work we do to combat sexual violence in all of its forms, we feel that the money can be put to good use addressing and basically going against the work that was used to generate that money in the first place, said Allie Bones, CEO of the coalition. Friends of Public Radio Arizona, who is affiliated with Arizona Public Radio and Spot 127, had previously returned a $10,600 donation from Sinema after they discovered the source of the money. We respect Spot 127s decision, said Macey Matthews, a spokeswoman for Sinema, in a statement. Other politicians and political committees in Arizona and New Mexico are doing similar moves to get rid of money people affiliated to Backpage.com had given to their campaigns. ___ Information from: The Arizona Republic, http://www.azcentral.com LOS ANGELES The nations top bank regulator knew about problems with Wells Fargo & Co.s sales practices in 2010 but did not do enough to put an end to the banks bad practices, an internal agency review has concluded. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said that its oversight of Wells Fargo was lax and that examiners missed numerous opportunities to have the bank address its problems, according to a report released Wednesday. Those problems led to the creation of as many as 2.1 million accounts that customers didnt authorize. The OCC did not take timely and effective supervisory actions after the bank and the OCC together identified significant issues with complaint management and sales practices, according to the report. It noted that problems with the banks sales practices had been mentioned in OCC reports since at least 2010 and the bank had been warned about its handling of complaints as early as 2009. OCC bank examiners also didnt seek to understand the root causes of those or other problems, which allowed them to fester, according to the 15-page report. Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry said during a congressional hearing in September, soon after the bank reached a $185 million settlement with the OCC and other regulators over its sales practices, that he had ordered a review of the OCCs supervision of Wells Fargo. Wednesdays report is the product of that review. In his September testimony, the Comptroller stated unequivocally that the OCC can and must do better, including identifying and acting on issues like these sooner, Deputy Comptroller Bryan Hubbard said in an email Wednesday. The report includes lessons learned that address the issues and weaknesses identified in the review. Hubbard said the OCC would not provide additional comment on the report. Wells Fargo declined to comment. (EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE) The report noted that bank examiners met in early 2010 with Carrie Tolstedt, the former Wells Fargo executive who led the community banking division that is at the center of the unauthorized accounts scandal. Examiners asked Tolstedt about 700 whistleblower complaints about workers gaming the banks sales goal system to boost their pay. But after that meeting, examiners apparently did not investigate further, the report found. In another instance, examiners apparently thought the banks push to get customers to open an average of eight accounts each seemed risky but did not take an in-depth look at how the bank was monitoring sales. The OCCs internal review is the latest development toward assigning blame over the banks sales practices, which were first reported in a 2013 Los Angeles Times investigation and became a national scandal after Wells Fargos settlement with regulators in September. The settlement led to a pair of brutal Capitol Hill hearings, during which lawmakers grilled Wells Fargos then-CEO John Stumpf, who later resigned. Some lawmakers also had tough questions for the OCC and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, asking why those agencies had not identified problems at the bank earlier. The OCCs report comes just a week after Wells Fargo released its own report, based on a months-long internal investigation of what led to the scandal. That report, prepared by a law firm hired by the board, put much of the blame for the companys unethical practices on Stumpf, Tolstedt and generally weak corporate oversight. The report alleged that Tolstedt created a pressure cooker environment and shielded the practices at her division from Stumpf and the board. That included playing down the number of workers terminated for unethical practices, a figure that had reached 5,300 by last year. The law firm, which interviewed some 100 former and current employees and reviewed 35 million documents, also found that questionable sales practices dated back to at least 2002. (EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE) The report failed to quell continuing anger over the scandal, which has caused fewer consumers to open new accounts and contributed to the bank reporting flat first-quarter earnings last week. The bank noted that its portfolio of consumer loans shrank, in part because of fewer credit card account openings over the last several months. Institutional Shareholder Services, which advises big investment firms on corporate governance issues, recommended earlier this month that shareholders at the banks April 25 annual meeting vote against the election of 12 of the banks 15 board members, including Chairman Stephen Sanger. In an open letter to Wells Fargo shareholders on Wednesday, California State Treasurer John Chiang called the banks behavior morally repugnant and urged shareholders to vote against seven board members, including Sanger, long-tenured director Susan Swenson and five others who were all members of the banks corporate responsibility committee in the years leading up to the scandal. Chiang, who is a board member of the states two massive public pension funds the California Public Employees Retirement System and the California State Teachers Retirement System said he is urging those funds to cast their votes that way. CalPERS and CalSTRS collectively own more than $2 billion in Wells Fargo stock, according to Chiangs letter. Chiang also urged shareholders to push the bank to end its use of forced-arbitration agreements, which require that bank customers settle disputes in private arbitration rather than in court. 2017 Los Angeles Times Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. _____ After riots and violent protests in and around their campus during the past three months, officials at the University of California at Berkeley said Wednesday that the school is canceling a planned speech by conservative firebrand Ann Coulter because of safety concerns. In a letter to a campus Republican group that invited Coulter to speak, university officials said that they made the decision to cancel Coulters appearance after assessing the violence that flared on campus in February, when the same college Republican group invited right-wing provocateur and Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos to speak. The violence and protests caused by Yiannopouloss invitation garnered national attention and forced officials to put the campus on lockdown. And after the university canceled the Yiannopouloss talk, President Donald Trump criticized the school and threatened in a tweet to pull federal funds from UC-Berkeley. The decisions by UC-Berkeley to cancel both events involving high-profile Republicans are especially notable given the campuss role during the 1960s and 1970s as the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement and its long tradition of social protest. Coulter said in an email to The Washington Post on Wednesday that the university had been trying to force her to cancel her speech by imposing ridiculous demands on her but that she still agreed to all of their silly requirements. She said that she believes her speech has been unconstitutionally banned by the public, taxpayer-supported UC-Berkeley. Coulter said the university insisted that her speech take place in the middle of the day, that only students could attend, and that the exact venue wouldnt be announced until the last minute. She said that she agreed with the conditions, but that apparently wasnt good enough. They just up and announced that I was prohibited from speaking anyway, Coulter said, noting that her speech topic was to be immigration, the subject of one of her books. I feel like the Constitution is important and that taxpayer-supported universities should not be using public funds to violate American citizens constitutional rights. A conservative national group that was helping to organize the event, Young Americas Foundation, said Coulter also made demands of her own, including that any students engaging in violence be expelled. In her email, Coulter said she is still planning to give her speech, and YAF spokesman Spencer Brown said she has told them she plans to appear at Berkeley on April 27. If Berkeley wants to have free speech, they are going to get it, Brown said. A university spokesman said the school has not been in direct contact with Coulter but conveyed its concerns with the student group that invited her. He said the university was especially concerned that holding the event in the late afternoon would risk protests and potential violence stretching into the evening when the area would get crowded with commuters and students. Everything were doing is so the speaker and students can actually exercise their rights without disruption, Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof said. Its unfortunate that there are people who think the universitys efforts to keep students and the speaker herself safe are silly.' On Wednesday, university officials said they hope to reschedule Coulters event for sometime in September, and they emphasized that they are not canceling her event because of her controversial nature or sharply conservative views. It has nothing to do with anyones political views. We believe in unqualified support to the First Amendment. But we also have an unqualified focus on safety of our students, Mogulof said. We are going to be making a concerted effort to explain the reasons behind this. On Saturday, protests again turned violent though in the city of Berkeley, not the university campus as pro-Trump and anti-Trump protesters clashed in the streets. The violence on Saturday was further heightened later in the day as far-left activists and far-right activists joined the fray. And on Tuesday at Auburn University in Alabama, three people were arrested amid protests and a fistfight that occurred over a speech by self-proclaimed white nationalist leader Richard Spencer. At Berkeley, university officials said the recent violence has caused them to rethink where and when to hold such events. In their letter, university officials also partly blamed the college Republican group for inviting Coulter and setting a date for the event April 27 without consulting the university. Officials learned of Coulters event, the letter said, from reading about it in newspapers. And after consulting with university police, officials said, they could not find a venue available on that date that would allow them to protect Coulter, the audience and bystanders. Coca-Cola India today launched the localised Elevator commercial under the Taste the Feeling campaign suitably adapted for the Indian audience. The campaign is in tune with Coca-Colas One Brand strategy to unify all Coca-Cola trademark brands under one creative approach. The narrative draws upon the significance of Coke in breaking the ice between a celebrity and their fan stranded in a stuck elevator and acting as a catalyst of social bonding. The story opens with Deepika Padukone being followed by photographers outside a hotel. She escapes them by entering an elevator, which breaks down abruptly. A room service attendant in the same dysfunctional elevator promptly offers a chilled Coke to a hassled Deepika. This helps in lightening up the environment and breaking the ice between a sought-after celebrity and a common person. The ad is accentuated by cheerful music and youthful energy that underlines the essence of the Brand Coke. Coke is at the centre of the advertisement, which is designed to spread the message of breaking social barriers to foster a strong connect with each other and the carefree spirit within us. The campaign has been digitally launched with teasers featuring Deepika Padukone. It will be subsequently hyper-localised for Punjab with Diljit Dosanjh in the star cast. Short videos and clips of different duration have been carefully planned for multiple platforms and consumer touch points. This will be followed by a pilot run of the on-ground consumer engagement activities leveraging 3D hologram technology. The consumers may also get a chance to meet their favourite stars by participating in many contests and activities that the company is planning. Explaining the thought behind the campaign, Debabrata Mukherjee, VP - Marketing, Coca-Cola India, added, Coca-Cola is a simple pleasure that creates memorable moments out of ordinary ones. We have added local flavour to our global Elevator campaign and created what we believe is a highly engaging communication. While the countries and places may differ, the simple pleasure of enjoying a Coke remains universal. The ad is truly enjoyable due to celebrity quotient of Deepika Padukone, upbeat music, great storytelling and a positive message that no matter what you do, you can always bond over Coca-Cola. Highlighting the thought behind the campaign, Prasoon Joshi, Chairman Asia Pacific, CEO & Chief Creative Officer - India, McCann, who supervised the creatives of the campaign, said, The new Coca-Cola Elevator campaign captures a tale of togetherness between total strangers. The light-hearted film features Deepika Padukone as herself, where a fan bumps into his heart-throb in an elevator. Coca-Cola breaks the ice and makes the connection between the celebrity and the awe-struck fan special. The choice of music and dance make the film truly enjoyable. Sharing her experience, Deepika said, Shooting for this campaign was so much fun. Its a situation I could completely identify with and I think the bond between two people has been captured beautifully! Campaign credits: Creative Agency: Prasoon Joshi, Chairman Asia Pacific, CEO & Chief Creative Officer India Prateek Bhardwaj, National Creative Director Kapil Batra, Creative Head, McCann Delhi Jeet Kalra, Creative Head - Films Sameer Kumar, Creative Team Leader Production House: Hemant Bhandari, Director, Chrome Pictures Outbrain, a leading global discovery platform, has entered into a sales partnership in India with SVG Media, the digital media company that has recently been acquired by Dentsu Aegis Network. SVG Media, now renamed as SVG Columbus, has been appointed as the official sales partner in India for Outbrain. It will help the company to continue to grow its presence and strengthen its foundation in India, allowing Outbrain to further penetrate the market. SVG Media will allocate a workforce of over 10 digital experts across offices in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore and will support Outbrain in working with brands all over the country. Since its launch in early 2014, Outbrain has experienced massive growth in India, and the partnership will further strengthen its presence in the market at a time when the company is more than ever advancing its product and services to provide something truly valuable for its clients. Since entering the market in 2014, India has proven to be a market with huge potential for Outbrain and weve observed tremendous growth over the past few years, said Chris Mockford, Head of Operations, APAC at Outbrain. Neeraj Singhal, Sales Director for India at Outbrain, commented, Outbrain continues to be the medium of choice for brands across all industry sectors that wish to reach relevant audiences in India. Through this partnership with SVG Media we will be able to serve our clients, as well as better deploy our technology, tools, proprietary analytics and insight capabilities. Akshay Mathur, Senior Vice President, Komli, added here, SVG brings unparalleled understanding of the Indian market and execution capabilities. This is the reason why majority of the worlds leading companies are choosing us for setting up their India business. We are delighted to partner with Outbrain and look forward to supporting them in building their India business. Anurag Gupta, CEO, SVG Media, commented, Were incredibly excited about the potential for this new partnership. Outbrains superb reputation is entirely in-sync with the reputation that SVG Media has worked so hard to create in India. He added, SVG Media works with almost all the leading brands in India and we look forward to bringing them on Outbrains unique discovery solution. Over the last six years, SVG Media has been the India market entry partner for the leading Internet brands, including Facebook, Twitter, OLX, LinkedIn, Zynga and others. These companies have chosen SVG Media because of its unmatched understanding of Indias emerging digital advertising market. The company has also contributed aggregate revenues of $2 billion to its international partners. Outbrain continues to advance Discovery in Asia and has spent the past five years on the ground educating the market and building the largest network of premium sites for discovery. The continued expansion of the company significantly increases the marketers ability to build audiences and drive discovery for their brands. Outbrains growing reach combines local premium publications, such as the Indian Express, The Hindu, Moneycontrol, Business Standard and ESPNcricinfo, in addition to global sites like CNN, ESPN, Time Inc. and BBC. Worldwide, it serves over 250 billion recommendations per month and reaches in the region of a billion users every month across the globe. We can help you make sense of the agribusiness industry, extending from chemicals and fertilizers used as inputs into agriculture, to the commodities, food and by-products that are an output to farming, with policy and regulation applied at every step of the value chain. Jakarta election: Tense run-off expected for governor post Voters in Jakarta are choosing a governor in a run-off election, that has been called "the dirtiest and most divisive" in Indonesia. Samsung has started the rollout of the April security patch for the Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 Edge in Europe. While the update does not add any new features, it does contain fixes for 49 Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) in Android, as well as patches for safety issues that have been identified in Samsungs own software like some previously identified memory leaks and issues related to elevated privileges. Like its the case with updates such as this one, the rollout is happening in stages, which means it might take a while before you get a notification on your Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 Edge alerting you that the security patch has arrived and is ready to be installed. Still, those who are tired of waiting have the option of manually checking if the OTA (over-the-air) update is ready for download by going to the Settings app, tapping the About phone option and selecting the Software update command. Before proceeding with the installation of the patch, users are advised to make sure their phones battery is sufficiently charged and that a stable Wi-Fi connection is available. Even if the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge no longer hold the title of Samsungs latest and greatest flagships which now goes to the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus they remain quite capable phones and the Korean tech giant will continue updating them for the foreseeable future, the company previously promised. The Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge might be Samsungs last flagships to take advantage of a physical home button, as the company is now pursuing a more innovative, almost bezel-less design which leaves little room for a home key at the bottom. While this years Galaxy S8 makes use of Samsung and Qualcomms first 10nm processors the Exynos 8895 and Snapdragon 835 last years models came equipped with Samsungs homegrown octa-core Exynos 8890 processor and Qualcomms Snapdragon 820. Interestingly enough, the Galaxy S8 features 4GB of RAM just like its predecessor, but its base storage model has now been bumped from 32GB to 64GB. Despite being available at launch with Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box, the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge were eventually updated to Androids latest mobile operating system Android 7.0 Nougat. Virtual reality social experiences are still in their infancy, and Facebook, like many companies going into the space, is just now unleashing their freshman effort into the world in the form of Facebook Spaces. Its a simplistic, laid-back VR environment where friends can chill and talk together while playing around with fun VR gadgets. The VR hangouts happen against a backdrop of a users choosing, which can be a favorite photo, landscape, or just about any other Facebook-bound content. Once youve got your VR space loaded up, its a quick jaunt through a few menus to invite some friends. If they happen to have VR gear laying around, they can join in. If they dont however, you can call them on Facebook Messenger, and they can join from their PC or phone via video chatting. The experience is certainly not full-featured enough to be called a game; the focus is on other people, after all. You can doodle in 3D and manipulate those doodles, a la Tilt Brush, which means that creative users could potentially do any number of things with any number of objects. Users can also use a virtual selfie stick to capture memories made in VR, and the availability of content from Facebook accounts that the user follows can help friends to find content that inspires those memories together. If things get a bit out of hand, however, users can put the experience on pause, which puts their avatar in a separate, quiet space. If theyre the host, they can kick people out of the VR chat room or shut the whole thing down. The app is currently available for free on the Oculus Store, though this is the only place its currently available mostly due to its use of the Oculus Rifts Touch Controllers. Facebook has not said anything about any kind of mobile release just yet, though with Gear VR, Daydream, and even Cardboard all having methods of mimicking the Oculus Touch controllers to a certain extent, it could be possible in the future. It is worth noting, however, that Facebook owns Oculus, which means that if the app does go mobile, it will likely only come to the Oculus-powered Samsung Gear VR. Google Cloud Platforms coolest perks are the things that Google puts together for you to use on the platform with little to no effort, such as the newest pre-trained machine learning model on offer, their very own Cloud Speech API. The same extremely well-trained and powerful speech recognition API that powers numerous Google services that people use every day, such as Search and Assistant, is now out on general availability for all Google Cloud Platform customers to use in their projects on the platform. It isnt publicly available for free or for sale on its own, but non-customers can net themselves a free trial. Not only is Googles own speech recognition API available to all Cloud Platform customers, but some tweaks have been made to it, resulting in it being more powerful and versatile, and more well-suited to run with Google Cloud Platform as a backend. The API already recognizes over 80 languages with a pretty high success rate thanks to training over the course of years by billions of users, but Google has sweetened the deal by fine-tuning transcription to help with long audio input, optimizing the API for faster batch processing of audio samples, and adding support for WAV, Opus, and Seex files. The feature set on offer will make it easier to further and more specifically train the model, implement it into just about any client-facing application, and even allow it to be trained and used for mission-critical or specialized scenarios, such as dictating a novel. Early adopters and testers given early access have already made a few compelling cases for the use of this technology. Google gives two such examples in their blog post announcing the open availability. The first is InteractiveTel, a telephone marketing analytics outfit that has been using the API to help monitor and optimize dealer and customer interactions on the phone. According to CTO Gary Graves, the API has been performing quite accurately, and has been outputting transcriptions for them in close to real time. Clarion, a Japan-based car infotainment specialist, has been using the API to add voice capabilities to their products. Much like InteractiveTels CTO, Clarion exec Hirohisa Miyazawa had high praise for the APIs accuracy and speed. Lenovo has today introduced its latest Chromebook offering, the Lenovo Flex 11 Chromebook. With a name like Flex it is probably not too difficult to anticipate the big selling point with this Chromebook, its flexibility. In fact, Lenovo refer to the Flex 11 as a Chromebook which is part laptop and part tablet, highlighting its versatility as a device that is as powerful as a laptop, but as portable as a tablet. This is achieved due to the Lenovo Flex 11 Chromebooks quintessential 2-in-1 design and its employment of a hinge that is able to rotate a full 360-degrees. Essentially offering consumers the option to use the Chromebook in a variety of positions, including a traditional laptop position, as well as a traditional tablet position. Adding to its generally portable nature, the touchscreen HD display included is an 11.6-inch display. Which although seems big by tablet standards, fits nicely with the selection of smaller Chromebooks that are currently available. Not to mention, thanks to the display and the processing power underneath, this is one of the new breed of Chromebook that has been designed with Android apps (as well as Chromebook apps) in mind. The Lenovo Flex 11 Chromebook comes powered by a quad-core ARM processor (clocking at 2.10 GHz), includes a battery that is said to offer up to 10 hours of usage before needing to be recharged, and weighs in at less than 3 pounds. In terms of its connections and ports, the Flex 11 Chromebook comes equipped with a USB Type-C port. In addition to a standard USB 3.0 port, a HDMI port, a microphone/headphone port, and an SD card slot. While this is designed as a portable Chromebook, it has also been designed with durability in mind. So as well as the included non-slip texture, the Flex 11 Chromebook includes a water-resistant keyboard which Lenovo states will be able to handle as much as a cup of water being spilled on it. For when such instances do occur, Lenovo has announced the Flex 11 Chromebook has been specially designed to funnel spillage away while avoiding contact with sensitive electrical areas. In terms of availability and pricing, Lenovo has confirmed that the Flex 11 Chromebook will become available to buy this month (April), with the price starting from $279 in the US. While RAM and storage limits have yet to be confirmed, the pricing information that has come through highly suggests the Flex 11 Chromebook will be available in multiple RAM/storage configurations, with the price reflecting those options, accordingly. When the Samsung Galaxy S8 series was introduced in New York last month, the company announced that the latest flagship phones will be accompanied by a pair of AKG Acoustics earbuds. However, following the smartphones official unveiling, there have been some reports suggesting the possibility that not every Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus unit out there will receive the AKG Acoustics treatment, and instead, these earbuds could be reserved only for certain markets. Fortunately, this doesnt seem to be the case, according to Samsungs Philip Berne, who confirmed in a recent tweet that the AKG earbuds will be included in every Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus retail package. Samsung isnt the first smartphone manufacturer to bundle one of its flagship phones with a pair of branded earbuds, but generally speaking, these are rare occurrences and are usually limited depending on region and other factors including increased costs. The 6-years old HTC Sensation XE comes to mind a device that shipped with regular or Beats Audio headphones in the box. However, the good news for Samsung enthusiasts is that they wont have to worry about limited availability for the high-end earbuds, as recently confirmed in a tweet by Samsungs Marketing Manager, Philip Berne. He also reconfirmed that Samsung does have an early offer which bundles a pair of AKG on-ear headphones with a 256 GB microSD card for $99, but to be clear, this offer is unrelated with the AKG in-ear units included in every Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus package. As to how Samsung managed to include high-end earbuds as a standard feature in every retail box, to begin with, both the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus are accompanied by premium prices, ranging from $750 to $850 or higher. But perhaps more importantly, it should be noted that AKG Acoustics parent company is none other than Harman International Industries, which was acquired several months ago by Samsung Electronics. Having said that, the inclusion of high-end AKG Acoustics earbuds with every Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus purchase may have been possible thanks to Samsungs acquisition. Virtual reality technology is making further steps into the mainstream consumer market, and back in January, Lenovo revealed its own VR headset. It was unveiled as a less expensive alternative to headsets such as the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. However, no release date has been announced on that occasion, with the company only saying it would launch later this year. The release timeframe for the Lenovo VR headset has now been narrowed down following a Twice interview with Lenovos VP of Consumer Business in North America, as Mike Abary said that Lenovos virtual reality headset would be available for the back-to-school period. While this doesnt give a precise date, it does mean that its release should be scheduled between the middle of July and mid-September. The VR headset that Lenovo showed off earlier this year was a prototype bearing the Windows Holographic logo but so far the name of the device has still not been confirmed. Its price tag was touted as one of the main selling points of the device, as unlike high-end VR headsets that were released so far, it was anticipated that Lenovos head-mounted display would be priced at less than $400. The design of the headset appears to be more similar to the PlayStation VR than the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift, and rather than resting on a users nose, it uses a hinge to attach itself to a solid head strap. That means the eyepiece can simply be flipped up when users want a look at their surroundings, instead of having to rest it on the forehead or completely remove it. Another benefit of the Lenovo VR headset is that it weighs only 350g and is much lighter than headsets from other manufacturers. Specs of the device include two OLED displays (each with 1440 x 1440 resolution) and two front-facing cameras. However, not much else was revealed about the gadget and its currently unclear whether it will utilize motion controllers. In the same interview with Twice, Abary also discussed the decline of PC hardware sales and the need to attain growth for the company through other innovative efforts. Areas mentioned in this respect aside from VR products included Lenovos gaming business, its new VR-compliant gaming desktop, new notebook plans, and its upcoming Lenovo Smart Assistant wireless smart home speaker. Lenovo is just one of the many companies looking to drive growth with newer technologies in this manner. For example, Sony recently discussed plans to focus on VR solutions over the next few years, conceding that the company is no longer in the race to gain any significant smartphone market share from the likes of Apple and Samsung. With some Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus buyers in South Korea taking to social media to complain about an alleged reddish tint on the displays of their new smartphones, Samsung has released an official response denying that the warm hue on its latest flagship is a sign of defective hardware. According to an official statement released by the company earlier today, the problem can be easily rectified by going into the Settings app installed on the devices and tweaking the color optimization for the display. In case the color tones on the screen still remain too warm for a customers liking, the company has also offered to exchange the phone for a new device at its authorized service centers. While Samsung is understandably downplaying reports about defective display panels, some industry insiders and supposed experts seem to think that the overly red hue may be a sign of hardware failure. According to them, the problem is the result of a faulty GPU chip that is preventing optimal color calibration, resulting in an improper rendering of colors thats making the on-screen tones look way too warm. However, not everybody is in agreement with that opinion. Some seem to suggest that the problem lies with the Deep Red OLED technology integrated into the Galaxy S8 lineup, which is being used for the first time in a smartphone. Certain experts claim that the new tech can make the regular whites turn slightly red, thereby creating a problem for users who are used to the traditionally cooler colors of the Super AMOLED panels on their previous Samsung smartphones. While the real reason for the reddish tint is yet to be clearly identified, this could be a potential problem for Samsung if the company doesnt address the issue as soon as possible. The South Korean tech giant is already under significant scrutiny following last years Galaxy Note 7 fiasco, and another misstep here will definitely be damaging for the company. Allegations of faulty hardware notwithstanding, Samsungs latest smartphones have had a great opening, with millions of people pre-ordering the devices in South Korea and around the world. Spotify today announced its expanding the availability of its Spotify for Students service to 33 new countries across the globe. Previously available in the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany, the service can now also be accessed by users living in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Philippines, Singapore and many other countries. Spotify for Students allows university students to grab a Premium subscription normally priced at $9.99/month at half the price. The subscription offers ad-free music streaming, access to a library of over 30 million songs, advanced sound quality, and offline listening, the company says. To take advantage of the promotional price, students need to visit the Spotify Student site where they will be required to sign up with their personal details. The offer is good for up to four years after which students are expected to graduate, but note that Spotify will verify your enrollment. For this purpose, the digital music service has partnered with SheerID in order to verify that those who want to take advantage of the deal are actually students currently attending a university. Spotify first introduced its half-price student discount back in 2014, offering it in three key markets. Three years later, the music streaming giant is finally expanding its student-oriented offering to other territories, most likely in a move to counter Apple Musics own student discount program that launched last year in seven markets. Soon afterward, Apple made the subscription available to college students in 32 additional countries. Back in March, Spotify announced it has reached 50 million paying subscribers, but thats not to say the company doesnt have higher ambitions. With the expansion of its student discount program, Spotify aims to hook students from across the world to its music database, likely hoping they will turn their young users into lifelong customers. Founded in Sweden in 2008, Spotify has often received criticism for its free ad-supported business model which some music labels argued devalues music. For its part, Spotify always defended its freemium system as the best way to get customers to pay for a service. Still, recent years have marked a change in attitude, as Spotify looks to align itself with the competition. Sprint has changed the terms of their global roaming plan to offer better value to customers when traveling in 165 international destinations. Those customers who have the Sprint Unlimited Freedom plan will automatically receive free texts, free basic data, and voice calls priced at $0.20 cents per minute. If they are traveling in Mexico or Canada, customers can receive free LTE high-speed data, voice calls, and texts. Upon arrival at their destination, customers will receive a text message clearly laying out Sprints services and rates, meaning that they can use their smartphones just as they do at home, without the worry of racking up an unexpected bill. Customers will also be able to take advantage of free international calls from the US to Canada and Mexico, and high-speed data can be purchased where available, directly from the customers device. This costs between $2-$5 per day in Canada and Mexico, but theres also a weekly option costing between $10-$25, with the price depending on the destination. The speeds offered in the global roaming plan is up to 2G, meaning that browsing will be extremely slow. Sprints Chief Marketing Officer, Roger Sole, said in a statement that Sprint customers automatically have access to great international services when traveling abroad. The new features of the global roaming plan are intended to reinforce Sprints dedication to their customer-centric campaign. Their new ad campaign, which is called Works for Me, launched recently and aims to highlight Sprints transparency and ease of use for their customers, giving them mobile plans that fit their day-to-day needs. Customers who are on other plans with Sprint will have to pay extra for calls, texts, and data when they are abroad. However, its thought that the prices will be much cheaper than before, and much less than what other rival mobile providers are charging. Sprint have confirmed that the changes will take place automatically, and they have also said that global roaming is only available to customers who have devices with LTE/GSM capabilities. In recent weeks, many mobile giants including Vodafone have scrapped their roaming charges for using mobile devices abroad, and roaming charges for travelers to the EU will be abolished altogether from June this year. Hot on the heels of the news that the un-carrier won big at the most recent spectrum auction, T-Mobile has now begun bringing some big changes to its network, starting with Chicago. In addition to planned expansion to the number of retail locations for both T-Mobile and MetroPCS by 43 stores, the company is enabling better urban penetration and range for their network in the area. That improvement mostly comes down to the company enabling its Extended Range LTE technology in Chicago. Unfortunately, not all users will have access to the new features since not every phone supports it. For T-Mobile, the enhancement will only be noticed by customers with devices supporting LTE band 12. Other devices will continue to work with the carrier as before, but they will not have access to the improved experience. The current changes are being brought in using the very latest in T-Mobiles small-cell network capabilities, in addition to making use of the companys latest spectrum purchases. The signal should now be able to travel twice as far and perform up to four times better inside buildings, at least on paper. Chicago-based customers and those in the cities surrounding areas are among the first to have access to those technologies. According to the providers VP of Engineering for T-Mobiles Central Region, Jennifer Silveira, the improvements are arriving in record time and just a few months after the airwaves were acquired. More enhancements are also on the way for other areas of the network too, Silveira says. Those are said to include 256-QAM, three carrier aggregation, and 44 MIMO technologies. Back to main portion of todays announcement and T-Mobile estimates that 350 jobs will be created in the area to support both the retail locations and the new network. New stores will be located in Cook, DuPage, and the collar counties to help fill out some of the newly-available network capacity, though no exact locations have been provided as of yet. According to T-Mobile CTO, Neville Ray, the company will now be serving the top 10 largest U.S. cities with Extended LTE. Ray also said that T-Mobile is just getting started and will beginlighting up 600 MHz LTE later this year. Mongolia launches its first satellite Mongolia launched its first satellite on Wednesday, part of its efforts to make use of new technology to diversify its resource-dependent economy. Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam has stated that Verizon is open for possible merger talks with media conglomerates Comcast, Walt Disney, or CBS Corporation. Merging with media companies like Comcast, Disney, or CBS is important to the wireless carrier, as these companies have expertise in content creation and advertising, which Verizon needs to grow its mobile media and digital advertising business. The establishment of mobile media and digital advertising business is just one of the efforts of Verizon to pursue growth in the next few years despite the increasing competition in the wireless carrier industry. While Verizon thinks merging with Comcast is more beneficial for the wireless carrier due to the extensive fiber optic network across the country in addition to its media assets of the cable company, the wireless carrier has stated that it is willing to talk regarding possible merger deals with CBS or Disney. The entry of the wireless carriers into other industries is not new, but given the increasingly competitive nature of their main businesses, larger national carriers like Verizon and AT&T have both gone on a spending spree to acquire businesses it sees as important to their pursuits. Verizon had purchased AOL and Yahoo, companies with substantial digital media assets, for more than $4 billion each in order to grow its digital media and advertising business. In addition, Verizon has also become a major global supplier of telematics services upon purchase of companies like Fleetmatics, which gave the wireless carrier a foothold in the business of connected fleet management. Meanwhile, AT&T has acquired Time Warner, the owner of HBO and CNN, for $85 billion. This merger, when approved, provides AT&T with a huge portfolio of media assets it could use in its foray into mobile media and the digital advertising business. The rise of Donald Trump into the Oval Office provided an opportunity for the wireless carriers to pursue mergers, as the Trump administration is potentially more lenient with business regulations. Moreover, it is clear that the FCC under Ajit Pai wants to simply focus the FCC into regulating the airwaves, which in turn delegates other regulatory tasks to agencies like the Federal Trade Commission. This results in at least one less regulatory hurdle for possible mergers of the wireless carriers. Yahoos time as an independent company will be over by the end of this quarter, but that doesnt mean that they cant move toward positive profit growth and beat analysts estimates for how well they would do as they wind down their time under their own command. Where analysts said that Yahoo would likely post profits of 14 cents per share, they managed to post 18 cents per share for the quarter. Their total adjusted revenue figure of $833.8 million also beat out analysts, with most estimates pegging their number for the quarter around $814 million. While Yahoo didnt manage to beat the somewhat dismal estimates by a huge margin, the fact that they have managed to surpass somewhat promising revenue growth despite their internal struggles is still a good sign for Verizon Wireless that will soon complete its acquisition of Yahoos core business. Acting CEO Marissa Mayer, still set to be in a fairly high position with the company after theyre sold to Verizon, said that the company wants to finish its independent episode on a high note, and make the integration with Verizon as effortless as possible. Regardless of Yahoos recent financial performance, Verizon will still have to resolve some issues following the acquisition as the Sunnyvale-based company was recently revealed to have suffered several major data breaches in the past few years, with the number of compromised user accounts going into tens of millions following some incidents, and even hundreds of millions on other occasions. Because of this, Verizon managed to lower the price of the deal by $350 million. It is worth noting that this is the first quarter out of the past ten that Yahoo has managed to exceed expectations, falling short nine quarters in a row amidst a series of questionable deals, declining user numbers, and hacking scandals. The remainder of the company thats not being sold to Verizon including Yahoo Japan and a stake in Chinese trade giant Alibaba will likely be merged into a new company called Altaba in the future. Verizons acquisition of Yahoos Internet business is currently set to be completed in June, so an update on the situation should follow shortly. Motorists crowd pumps over fuel shortage fears Valley motorists, used to besieging gasoline stations at the slightest hint of a shortage, have been crowding the few open pumps for the past few days while Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) issued its customary notice that all was well. Nepal, SAsia could benefit from protectionist US policies: WB US President Donald Trump has often become a target of ire for his controversial policy statements. SUV For starters, the UK is the melting pot for classic cars and all things Formula 1 , with the obvious exception of Scuderia Ferrari. Then theres the motor industry, which is experiencing a bit of a renaissance. Everything from German-owned MINI to the best name in the British biz sells more vehicles than ever, and the said vehicles keep getting better with each passing year.Aston martin is a good case in point. Saved by the Ford Motor Company but reinvented by its current owners, the automaker has plans to introduce an exhilarating hypercar in the near future, a mid-engine supercar , and even a hybridized crossover. But till then, the aging V8 Vantage gets a limited-run edition that celebrates British culture and craftsmanship. In China.Presented at this years edition of Auto Shanghai , the V8 Vantage S Great Britain Edition is finished in eye-popping Stratus White. Blue-painted door mirrors, rear diffuser, and taillight trim make for a first-class chromatic contrast, whereas the white-and-blue wind badges ooze specialness.The interior, as expected from an Aston Martin , is lavishly trimmed. Zagato-style wave quilting for the Aurora Blue leather, Union Jack embroidery, and Anodized Blue rotary dials are the centerpieces of Aston Martins Q division latest creation. Available only in China, the most British V8 Vantage of all V8 Vantages carries a sticker price of RMB 2,088,000, which equals $303,185.The Q by Aston Martin service has grown substantially since it was first established in 2012. We have the opportunity to work with our customers, taking personalization to a different level, declared Marek Reichman, the companys executive vice president and chief creative officer. The report shows first-quarter worldwide Harley-Davidson retail motorcycle sales went down 4.2 percent compared to the same period in 2016. In line with the companys expectations, sales in the U.S. market were down 5.7 percent as well.First quarter U.S. retail sales were in line with our projections and we remain confident in our full-year plan despite international retail sales being down in the first quarter, said Matt Levatich, CEO, Harley-Davidson. We are very pleased with our continued growth in U.S. market share and the progress our U.S. dealers made in reducing their inventory of 2016 motorcycles in the quarter.Harley-Davidson's U.S. market share for the quarter was 51.3 percent in the 601cc-plus segment, up compared to the first quarter in 2016. The manufacturers international retail sales decreased 1.8 percent compared to the same quarter in 2016.The international figure decrease was driven by lower sales in the U.S., which, in turn, were caused by soft industry sales and the H-Ds decision to reduce shipments of 2017 model year motorcycles.This decision helped dealers focus on selling down their 2016 inventory. International retail sales were down behind weak demand in Asia Pacific, partially offset by strong growth in Latin America. The EMEA and Canada regions were both down as they compared against strong prior year growth of 8.8% and 16.3 %, respectively.For the rest of the year, Harley-Davidson continues to anticipate motorcycle shipments to be flat to down modestly in comparison to 2016. For the second quarter, the Milwaukee company expects to ship around 80,000 to 85.000 bikes.On the long term, H-D plans to attract two million new riders in the U.S alone by 2027. It also plans to grow international business to 50 percent of annual volume, launch 100 new motorcycles, and grow the business without enlarging its environmental impact. When the union, which is the representative of the employees in front of the enterprise, is unhappy, the firms situation is in jeopardy, even if the problems happen many miles away from the headquarters.In this case, the production of the Model 3 risk delays because of this scandal, but nothing is exactly certain at this point.According to a report from Welt am Sonntag, a recently acquired company that used to be named Grohman Engineering has a group of disgruntled employees who are part of the IG Metall union in the country. The resulting subsidiary is called Tesla Advanced Automation Germany, and it has about 660 employees on its payroll.According to workers' representatives from IG Metall, the workers at Teslas facility get about 30% less than the union pay scale. The difference is about $268 (EUR 250) a month more than what they receive at this moment.The American automaker has proposed an increase in pay that would lead to revenues higher by EUR 150 ($160) per month, but the unions reps are requesting an increment of about EUR 400 ($428) per month.Reports claim that the automaker even promised an additional compensation program through its TSLA stocks, but it was not received with joy by the representatives of the workers.Theres a chance that the two parties will reach a consensus on the wages, but this situation is not going to be good for the Model 3s launch.As InsideEVs remarks, the representatives of Tesla Grohmann Automation Germany will use next week to look into the possibility of organizing strikes in the future.Since the facility manufactures components for the Model 3, among others, the flow of production in Fremont, California, could be interrupted by the delays brought by strikes kW kWh PHEV AWD The decision to launch a plug-in hybrid is like a foregone conclusion, given the demands of the market. Here are the specs!With a hybrid system power of 180(245 PS) and 500 Nm, the Phideon GTE is a perfect match to the Audi A6L, which is what everybody expected. It also makes this the most powerful production car to wear the GTE badge, packing a couple of dozen extra horses over the European Passat GTE.The extra grunt is down to the much bigger 2.0-liter turbo engine, compared to the 1.4 TSI used by the Passat. As for the electric motor, this delivers 91 kW of solo output and draws power from a 14.1battery located under the trunk for up to 50 kilometers of range. On both a full tank and battery, the car is said to go for up to 846 kilometers.As Volkswagen's first locally produced premium plug-in sedan, the Phideon is the flag bearer. The German brand also unveiled the I.D. CROZZ concept at the Shanghai Auto Show this week, and its appearance is decades into the future compared to the Phideon.But the Chinese consumers are sure to love the legroom and luxurious, feature-rich interior of the PhideonBesides the front bumper and some badges, everything else stays the same. The Phideon 's total length of 5.05 meters is impressive - just 10mm shorter than the Phaeton. Based on the Modular Longitudinal Matrix platform, it measures 1.87 meters in width and 1.48 meters tall.Two other powertrains are available. Namely, a 2.0 base TSI with front-wheel drive or a 3.0 TSI V6 rated at 300 PS, and 440 Nm of torque delivered through standard This post may contain affiliate links. This is a sponsored post by Giovanni Rana. This post contains lots of photos. If you prefer you can scroll to the bottom for just the recipe. A few weeks back I was lucky enough to travel to Verona, Italy on a sponsored trip with Giovanni Rana, an authentic Italian pasta company. I was in the company of a few blogger friends, Erin, Tiffany, and Alana, as well as dozens of people who had won a trip to Italy. Yes for real. You can enter at the dinewithrana.com site and there are still three more trips this year you can win. Talk about dreams coming true and the trip of a lifetime! We saw so much and did so many fun things (if youre following me on Instagram you may have seen some of these photos) including a trip to the Masi Winery with wine tasting and a gorgeous four-course lunch. This cheese board is everything. Lets not forget dessert. Lightly fried ravioli with a panettone filling, and dusted with confectioners sugar. You guys seemed to love this photo on Instagram. We saw a short Romeo and Juliet play and although Romeo and Juliet are fictitious Shakespeare characters, their families, the Montagues and the Capulets, were real families living in Verona in the 1500s and this is Juliets (fictitious) balcony. And her wall where people write and leave love notes to each other and to her. We toured a centuries-old church. The architecture is astounding. I walked by this gorgeous case of macarons daily. We toured the Rana pasta plant and although I couldnt take pictures inside because all the machines and the production are patented, we concluded with a fabulous pasta making class. Pasta making was pretty easy. Just flour, two eggs, a fork to whisk the eggs into the flour, lots of kneading by hand, rolling out the dough, and filling it with spinach, mascarpone, ricotta, and Parmesan cheeses. I think I did a pretty good job as a first timer. Not as perfect as the pasta that the pasta-making machines roll to 0.4 millimeter thickness but it was made with love. Thats what counts, right? And thats what is so amazing about Giovanni Rana. Its a family-owned business started by Mr. Giovanni Rana decades ago. He gave us a private Q&A session and history about his company. Pasta is family, pasta is love, Giovanni Rana is rooted in tradition, artesian practices, and inspires people to gather around the family table to enjoy a delicious meal together. Giovanni Rana pasta is refrigerated. Its not dry and doesnt come from a cardboard box. The Rana family takes such pride in their pasta, in their company, and in all the ingredients they use. All the ingredients in the factory are tasted and tested to ensure theyre the best quality. After our pasta making class we had a food styling and recipe creating session. The ingredients to choose from were the most beautiful I have ever seen, hands down, and I have been to dozens of high brow food photography and food styling workshops, and these ingredients blew anything I have previously seen out of the water. Not a penny was spared and everything was ridiculously fresh, vibrant, and colorful. This is the dish I created and photographed. Its light, fresh, but full of flavor. Giovanni Rana 4 Cheese Ravioli, cherry tomatoes, green beans, and garnished with basil. The photos in this post were all taken on my iPhone 7+ but when ingredients are so fresh and the lighting in the Rana familys lake home on Lake Garda that they so graciously opened up to us is so pristine, you dont need a DSLR. The trip concluded with a gran finale pasta gala bash complete with a live band, so much pasta, and wonderful wine. Left to right: Tiffany, me, Erin, and Alana. Such fun ladies! Today I am recreating a recipe thats a twist of the one I created on the trip. Its light but satisfying, the cherry tomatoes and basil complement each other perfectly, its accidentally vegetarian because I used Giovanni Rana 4 Cheese Ravioli but you can substitute with your favorite. As a bonus the colors in the dish red, green, and white remind me of the Italian flag. What I love about this dish is that its ready in 10 minutes. Because the pasta is refrigerated you only need to boil it for 4 minutes to achieve al dente perfection. Its a perfect dinner for busy weeknights that comes together so easily and the whole family will love it. Continue to Content Print Yield: serves 2 to 3 Tomato Basil Cheese Ravioli Prep Time 2 minutes Cook Time 8 minutes Total Time 10 minutes Light but satisfying, the cherry tomatoes and basil complement each other perfectly, accidentally vegetarian, and ready in 10 minutes. A perfect dinner for busy weeknights that comes together so easily and the whole family will love it. Ingredients one package Rana 4 Cheese Ravioli 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved if desired 2 to 3 tablespoons fresh basil, chiffonaded salt and pepper, to taste freshly grated Parmesan cheese, optional for garnishing Instructions Fill a pot with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Once the water is boiling, add the pasta and cook for 4 minutes; dont overcook. Drain and set aside. To a large skillet, add the olive oil, tomatoes, and cook over medium-high heat for about 1 to 2 minutes, or until tomatoes have softened. Add the ravioli, stir to combine, and cook for about 1 minute. Add the basil, salt and pepper, stir to combine, and serve immediately. Optionally garnish with freshly grated Parmesean. Dish is best warm and fresh. Nutrition Information: Yield: 2 Serving Size: 1 Amount Per Serving: Calories: 234 Total Fat: 19g Saturated Fat: 5g Trans Fat: 0g Unsaturated Fat: 13g Cholesterol: 16mg Sodium: 285mg Carbohydrates: 13g Fiber: 2g Sugar: 10g Protein: 5g Post is brought to you by Giovanni Rana. The recipe, images, text, and opinions expressed are my own. #dinewithrana We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Democrat Jon Ossoff a 30-year-old documentary filmmaker powered by $9 million in donations got by far the most votes in the special election to fill HHS Secretary Tom Price's House seat in Georgia, but fell short of the 50% threshold needed to win outright. He'll now face Republican Karen Handel in a runoff in June. The results with 86% reporting: Ossoff 48.6%, Handel 19.5%, with 16 candidates splitting the rest. Why it matters: This special election was viewed as a referendum on President Trump, who spent the days before the election blasting off a series of tweets bashing Ossoff. Early on Wednesday morning, the president weighed in, again: The Trump administration has certified Iran's compliance with the nuclear deal and extended sanctions relief, per the AP. The State Dept say a further review is underway which "will evaluate whether continuing to lift sanctions would be in U.S. national security interests." Why it matters: President Trump has repeatedly attacked the deal as one of the worst ever struck in history, though he did say during the campaign that once such a deal was reached, it had to be followed. This will upset many conservatives, though, who want to rip up the deal. President Trump got to claim a Twitter victory early this morning after the high-stakes special House election in the Atlanta suburbs. The two parties now plunge into an expensive two-month runoff as they try to excite their donors and bases heading into next year's congressional midterms. The bottom line, from Atlanta-Journal-Constitution's Greg Bluestein: "The proxy fight between Democrats and Republicans will continue in Georgia for two more months." The lead: "Democrat Jon Ossoff [48%] is headed for a runoff in June against a Republican contender after failing Tuesday to score an upset victory to [replace now-HHS Secretary Tom Price in] a suburban Atlanta district in Congress. He goes into a June 20 runoff against Karen Handel," who got 20%. (The numbers.) Trump's tweet: "Despite major outside money, FAKE media support and eleven Republican candidates, BIG "R" win with runoff in Georgia. Glad to be of help!" What's next, from N.Y. Times' Jonathan Martin and Richard Fausset, from Atlanta: "Ossoff's strong showing will ensure that national Democrats continue to compete here and will increase pressure on the party to contest a special House election next month in Montana that it has so far ignored." What it means: "Combined with Democrats' better-than-expected performance in a special House election in Kansas last week, the Georgia result will be an immediate boon to Democratic groups, lifting their fund-raising and bolstering candidate recruitment efforts, while sobering Republicans who are assessing whether to run in Mr. Trump's first midterm election." Adding it up: "Already, Republican candidates and outside groups have had to spend over $7 million against Democrats in a series of deeply conservative districts." When the Russian Revolution broke out in early 1917, Vladimir Ilych Ulyanov better known as Lenin the leader of the Bolshevik faction of the RSDLP, was exiled in Zurich, Switzerland. As the first reports arrived of these extraordinary events, Lenins excitement was coupled with exasperation that he himself was separated from them by thousands of miles. I am beside myself that I cannot go to Scandinavia!! he complained bitterly, in a letter to his friend Inessa Armand. I will not forgive myself for not risking the journey in 1915! [Social] change never takes place by itself; it always needs the intervention of men, who are thus confronted with great social problems. And it is those men who do more than others to facilitate the solution of these problems who are called great men. (G V Plekhanov, On the Role of the Individual in History) On the 3rd of April Lenin arrived in Petrograd from abroad. Only from that moment does the Bolshevik Party begin to speak out loud, and, what is more important, with its own voice. (Leon Trotsky, The History of the Russian Revolution) Immediately after hearing abou the revolution, Lenin resolved to return to Russia and play a part in the events to come. Over the next weeks followed urgent correspondences between Switzerland and other Bolshevik exiles and those running the Bolshevik centre in Petrograd, as Lenin prepared to join them. Even before his arrival on the scene he was providing analysis of the situation in the party newspaper Pravda (Letters from Afar) and outlining revolutionary tactics: ...the struggle against imperialism, as before revolutionary propaganda, agitation and struggle with the aim of an international proletarian revolution and the conquest of power by the Soviets of Workers Deputies (and not the Cadet swindlers). In the final days of March, Lenin along with other Socialists in in Switzerland embarked on the dangerous journey to Scandinavia via war-torn Germany. As soon as he arrived at Petrograds Finland station on 3rd April, he gave a speech to his fellow Bolsheviks denouncing the provisional government and calling for international socialist revolution. The party centre he found in Russias capital was completely at odds with the revolutionary vanguard which would lead the October insurrection little more than six months later. In Lenins absence not a single Bolshevik deputy had opposed the Petrograd Soviets approval of the Russian bourgeoisies provisional government. To make matters worse, when Kamenev and Stalin arrived from exile in mid-March, they proceeded to turn Pravda towards giving critical support to the new government, including its policy of continuing the war with Germany! Lenin wasted no time in taking his comrades to task, criticising the mechanistic approach of Kamenev to the bourgeois revolution before reading his famous Theses on the tasks of the Russian proletariat the day after his arrival in Petrograd. By the time Petrograd conference of Bolsheviks took place at the end of the month, having been virtually a minority of one only weeks before, Lenin was winning around the majority of the party to his position. The importance of this change in the party line to the success of the October Revolution cannot be overstated. Lenin alone among the Bolsheviks at that stage recognised that only the Russian working class had the potential to carry through the revolution. His perspectives confirmed those of his fellow great revolutionary Leon Trotsky, who would join him at the head of the Bolshevik Party in just a few short months. On the basis of Lenins formulations, the Bolsheviks grew exponentially from being a tiny minority to winning the majority of the Soviets and leading the Revolution itself. This reading guide contains a selection of Lenins most important writings and speeches from the April period, accompanied by works which provide further details of events at that stage of the Revolution. It follows on from our guide to the February Revolution and our comprehensive reading guide for the whole Russian Revolution. Next we will be publishing a guide for the June Days of 1917. Introduction The Significance of Lenins April Theses | Darrall Cozens This introductory article illustrates how Lenin Theses on proletarian revolution winning round and transforming the Bolshevik Party proved to be a decisive turning point in the Russian Revolution, and draws from this example lessons we can apply to events today. Without Lenin The History of the Russian Revolution Volume 1: Chapters 15-16 | Leon Trotsky Available for purchase These two chapters of Trotskys History cover Lenins struggle among the Bolsheviks for a genuinely revolutionary programme. Draft Theses | V.I. Lenin This draft, written while still in Zurich gives the first detailed outlines of what was to become Lenins famous April Theses. Telegram to the Bolsheviks Leaving for Russia | V.I. Lenin This telegram sent to Stockholm from Switzerland restated Lenins position of resolute opposition to the bourgeois government to his comrades about to join those in Russia. The April Theses The Tasks of the Proletariat in the Present Revolution [April Theses] | V.I. Lenin Lenin first read out his famous April Theses all two meetings of the All-Russia Conference of Soviets of Workers and Soldiers Deputies on 4th April. They presented for the first time to the Soviets a new revolutionary perspective, entirely different from the class collaboration and support for the bourgeois government offered by other Left parties. Letters on Tactics | V.I. Lenin These letters which involve Lenin giving an overview on the present stage of the Revolution before polemicising against Kamenev on perspectives and tactical questions, were published as a pamphlet in April 1917. The History of the Russian Revolution Volume 1: Chapter 17 | Leon Trotsky Available for purchase In this chapter of his magnum opus, Trotsky covers some of the revolutionary events of April 1917, including the May Day demonstrations. Bolshevism: The Road to Revolution: Part 6 Section 3 | Alan Woods Available for purchase Alan Woods history of the Bolshevik party here explains the events set in motion by Lenins return to Petrograd, inside the party and beyond. The Government on Paper The History of the Russian Revolution Volume 1: Chapter 18 | Leon Trotsky Available for purchase This chapter of the History examines in detail the first official government to inherit the revolution, and the month in which the masses turned against it. The Revolution in Russia and the Tasks of Workers in All Countries | V.I. Lenin While ostensibly a call to arms for workers around the world, Lenins speech gives extensive criticism of the coalition government in Russia in particular. An Unfortunate Document | V.I. Lenin In this article published in Pravda in early May 1917, Lenin exposes the leaders of the Mensheviks and Social-Revolutionaries as social-chauvinists at the beck-and-call of their imperialist masters. Peace and Reaction | Leon Trotsky In this article, Trotsky dryly mocks the growing unrest in the Russian army towards the provisional government continuation of pro-war policies. Proletarian Revolution The Dual Power | V.I. Lenin Lenin explains here that the dual power which has arisen from the Revolution reflects the class divide between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Report on the Present Situation and the Attitude toward the Provisional Government | V.I. Lenin A report delivered at the Petrograd City Bolshevik conference in April, describing the situation of dual power in Russia at that time, and its class basis. A Basic Question | V.I. Lenin Lenin polemicises against Plekhanov to argue against the fallacy of a mechanistic two-stage theory of revolution. A Strong Revolutionary Government | V.I. Lenin In this piece, Lenin reiterates that a revolutionary government in the given situation must stand against capitalism. NRB gets new board directors Two vacant posts at the boardroom of the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the central bank of the country, have finally been filled with the appointment of two independent directors after a gap of more than a month. The Cabinet meeting held on Sunday appointed Shriram Poudel and Ramji Regmi as board members of the NRB. Catholic Priest Shot Dead As Christian Killings Continue In Congo A Catholic priest was shot dead in the Democratic Republic of Congo last Friday night. Father Joseph Mulimbi Nguli, 52, was killed by unknown attackers as he returned to his family home in Katuba, a district of Lubumbashi city, on the southern tip of the DRC. The Congolese bishops denounced the shooting and wider "attacks in parishes and religious communities, in particular in Kinshasa, Kananga and Bukavu". The vicar general of the Archbiocese of Lubumbashi, Monsignor Denis Moto, said he was confident that local security officials would find the attackers and bring them to justice. The murder is emblematic of wider security issues in the African country. In August, 36 people were tied up and hacked to death in the North Kivu region by a Ugandan jihadist group. The Islamist Allied Democratic Forces-National Association for the Liberation of Uganda (ADF-NALU) has targeted Christians in the north-east of the country. Weekly killings, rapes and lootings are part of life for Christians in DRC, according to World Watch Monitor. A witness from the persecution charity Open Doors International (ODI) said Christians lived in "misery" as a result of the attacks. "Signs of recent attacks are visible everywhere on buildings dotted along the road. Smaller villages have been obliterated and hardly any civilian life is visible," said an anonymous representative from ODI. "Eighty per cent of the households here have farms, but they cannot access them because is it simply too dangerous. This means no food and no revenue. They have become vulnerable to starvation," one official told the charity. "We do not understand why this is happening to us," said one pastor. "The rebels just take people into the bush to kill them or kidnap them. They attack one place for a while and cause people to run away. Then they strike the places people run to." In their recent post-conference message the Congolese Catholic bishops added: "We are concerned about the massacres in North-Kivu, in particular in the city and in the Territory of Beni; from the killings in Central Kasai to clashes between security forces and the militia of the traditional leader Kamuina-Nsapu, from inter-community conflicts that are causing many victims in several provinces, especially in Katanga, to the sad events of 19 and 20 September in Kinshasa and the resurgence of banditry". One held with leopard hide in Baitadi Police on Wednesday arrested a man in possession of a leopard hide from Patan of Baitadi district. Christian governor in Jakarta faces election defeat while on trial for alleged blasphemy Jakarta's Christian governor today looked set to lose office to a Muslim former government minister in a highly divisive election that has been going on while the Christian is on trial for blasphemy. So-called 'quick counts' by 10 research companies show former Cabinet minister Anies Baswedan winning between 55 and 60 per cent of votes with about 80 per cent of ballots counted, according to AP. The incumbent, Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama is currently on trial after allegedly insulting the Quran and hundreds of thousands protested against him in Jakarta, deriding his Chinese ancestry and calling for him to be imprisoned or killed. Ahok congratulated his opponent and told a televised news conference: 'We now will come together and forget this campaign. Jakarta is home for all of us.' Baswedan, who is from a moderate Muslim background, capitalised on the backlash against Ahok by courting the support of conservative clerics and figures on the radical fringe who opposed electing a non-Muslim, AP noted. Ahok, who was Jakarta's first ethnic Chinese governor and first Christian in half a century, has been popular with middle-class Jakartans for his efforts to stamp out corruption and make the highly polluted capital, home to 10 million people, more agreeable to live in. On Thursday, prosecutors will make their sentencing demand in Ahok's trial. Blasphemy is a criminal offence in Indonesia and punishable by up to five years in prison. In a speech to fishermen in September, the governor reportedly cited a verse from the Quran that warns Muslims against taking Christians and Jews as allies. He is said to have added that due to Indonesia's transition to democracy in 1999, it was perfectly acceptable for Muslim voters to choose a Christian in the election for governor in February. Ahok has denied the charges, saying that his comments were aimed at politicians 'incorrectly' using the Quranic verse against him. Blasphemy convictions in Indonesia almost always result in conviction, and the law has been criticised by Amnesty International for hurting freedom of expression and for targeting religious minorities. Indonesia technically guarantees freedom of religion in its constitution but in reality only six religions are recognised and tough blasphemy laws control debate and target minorities. Christians represent less than 10 per cent of the 250 million population. Did you think people liked your church for its high quality worship? Think again A majority of US churchgoers say that the quality of the sermon is the main factor affecting their church attendance. The sermon, in both its application of Scripture and relevance to life, takes ultimate priority for both Protestant and Catholic worshippers, according to a Gallup poll released last week. Gallup surveyed over 1500 US adults in March, collating statistics from both the religious and non-religious about their attitudes to attending religious gatherings. Compared to Catholics, Protestants, or those who identify as simply Christian, are more likely to value the role of the sermon in church. Eighty-three per cent of Protestants said that 'sermons that teach about Scripture' was a major factor in church attendance, while for Catholics it was 62 per cent. The lowest-ranked factor for both groups was 'Choir or other spiritual music': 44 per cent of Protestants called it a major factor, and just 29 per cent of Catholics said the same. The poll surveyed those who attend church monthly or more often. Gallup observed: 'Overall, Catholics rate none of the factors as more important reasons for attending than do Protestants, suggesting that the latter group -- with dozens of denominations and branches of Protestantism to choose from -- may be more attuned to specific dynamics of what they prefer in their church experience than Catholics.' In a more general survey of Muslims, Jews and Christians, three in four of those polled said that the sermon, either one that connects religion to one's own life, or teaches about Scripture, was a major factor affecting church attendance. The next most significant factor was 'Spiritual programs geared toward children and teenagers', which 64 per cent of those polled said was a priority. The least significant 'major factor' was quality worship music (38 per cent), 36 per cent of those polled said it was a minor factor. Gallup also polled those who no longer attend church, but used to, why they left. There was no predominant, pervasive reason for not attending, but the most cited reason was preferring to worship alone (44 per cent). Thirty-six per cent of those asked said their dislike of organised religion was a major factor. Other major factors included not finding the right church (22 per cent), or not having time to attend (19 per cent). Sixteen per cent said they didn't like being asked for money when they went to church. The least cited major factor was not feeling welcome at church (six per cent). Gallup concluded from its study: 'While social benefits are clearly important to majorities of those who worship regularly, what most motivates them to attend is learning more about the tenets of their faith, as well as connecting that faith to their lives.' It suggested that if churches wish to survive, it should focus on reclaiming the 35 per cent of Americans who once attended church, but have since lapsed. Hope that 'something good will come': How victims of rape and conflict in Uganda are being aided by this Christian charity A young woman makes a floral mask for her head during a therapy session in northern Uganda. She is in recovery with the leading Christian charity World Vision after repeatedly being raped amid years of conflict in the region. 'Although we are still struggling, we are hoping that something good will come,' she tells World Vision. 'That is why we put the white flower on the forehead. Flowers [are] small so good, they are beautiful and so people love them. We want to be those flowers.' The small sign of hope is emblematic of the work being done by World Vision in the region, where the deadly Lord's Resistance Army [LRA] is no longer active but its brutal legacy remains. Between 1992 and 2005, the LRA, a violent 'Christian' sect, abducted up to 30,000 children from northern Uganda, and every single family across the region was affected by the conflict. Even years after the violence ended, many former child soldiers cannot return home, as they are ostracised by their communities. Thousands of children were born as a result of sexual violence in conflict, with girl soldiers being raped. One of those abducted children still reeling from disaster was Margaret, who describes now how she was received after returning home with two children born of rape. Taken as a 12-year-old, Margaret was raped for years by both soldiers and medical staff. Margaret is among many victims now being helped by World Vision, which is working to end stigma through partnering with faith leaders and community leaders and developing youth groups aimed at restoring hope to individuals whose lives have been blighted by rape and conflict. 'My father rejected me and my children. I wanted to get married again, but men do not want us with our children,' Margaret says. 'I later got married but my husband does not like my children. He segregates them and does not support them in any way. We are stigmatised. My children and I do not feel safe because in the community we are not loved.' Women like Margaret have no homes to go to, and are ongoing victims of the internal conflict that took place between the Ugandan army and Joseph Kony's LRA, in which at least 1.5m people were forced into International Displaced Person [IDP] camps. Observers have stated that both the LRA and the Uganda People's Defence Force committed widespread sexual violence in the course of hostilities. World Vision points out that children were particularly vulnerable. They constituted more than half of the IDP population and were subject to a higher risk of abduction by the LRA. Girls were used as combatants and routinely forced to be 'wives' to soldiers as soon as they reached puberty. Women and girls subjected to forced marriage were required to have sex with the deliberate aim that they bear children. At least 2,000 children conceived in these circumstances have already been documented by advocacy groups in northern Uganda's provinces, with thousands more likely remaining hidden because of the stigma their mothers feel. Over the past two years, World Vision has seen communities transformed as a result of the programme, which works with faith leaders to develop 'faith champions' who develop their own action plan to influence the community and end stigma. The programme is also developing youth groups and 'youth champions', who devise their own action plan to influence their wider community. And it is developing a 'Citizen Voice in Action Group,' which promotes advocacy, and helps to ensure that former child soldiers and their children have access to services. Gavin Crowden, World Vision's UK's head of policy and public affairs, and Erica Hall, senior child rights policy adviser, have just returned from a visit to Gulu in northern Uganda. There, they met with former child soldiers and children born into captivity as a result of sexual violence in conflict. Hall, who has regularly visited northern Uganda over the past five years and witnessed a positive 'shift' there, explains the context of World Vision's work in the region and describes an interfaith-inspired special day on her latest trip. 'We started the project last August officially, though it was a long time in the making. No one was talking about these children three years ago, but I went for what was called "a day of prayer" working with partners and faith leaders who were trained by us through our "Channels of Hope" project last year,' she tells Christian Today. 'The day kicked off with a march through the streets of Gulu with a group of faith leaders including the former Anglican bishop in northern Uganda, the Catholic Archbishop and the Muslim sheikh, and a group marching with children and banners saying "Accept us as your children". There is still a long way to go but that was inconceivable two years ago. 'This particular project, which is finded by the Foreign Office, has the aim of addressing the stigma associated with the conflict. We have trained 25 faith leaders, which involves them looking at the Scriptures and questioning how we are not protecting these children and reinforcing the stigma. 'The [former] Archbishop ended the day by serving lunch to the children at his house. It was so amazing for the kids to have people caring for them.' 'It's an integrated approach and of course the survivors and children are at the heart of it, so...for us the bottom line is what the survivors and the children who were born in captivity are saying. It is their perceptions of how attitudes have changed in the community that matters, rather than whether or not we think they have changed. 'One of the things we are doing in that region is trying to increase the reintegration of former child soldiers - reconcilation with community. We have a great agricultural project in the north which is still recovering from the war, where 60 families will get plots of land. We have deliberately made sure that 60 per cent of recipients of the plots of land are those who were abducted by the LRA. It means that they are working side by side with those who were impacted. 'The destruction has made it very difficult to reconcile the different communities and this is a way of them coming together with a common goal which is improving the economic situation of all of them. And that is really exciting.' How A Church Is Bringing Light To Its Community In Uganda's Rwenzori Mountains When one simple action raises money, helps people's lungs, gives children a better chance at an education and introduces people to Jesus as Lord, it's probably worth doing. That's what one Ugandan Christian thinks about a solar panel project he has helped to bring to a rural mountain village. The solar powered light that has transformed the life of Kayanji Baptist Church, nestled in western Uganda's Rwenzori Mountains, was installed three years ago through a project funded by UK charity BMS World Mission. Since the solar power was given to the church, its membership has more than doubled from 30 to 80 people. 'The Bible says, "Let there be light,"' says Isaiah Thembo, a local BMS worker and the man who helped to install the lighting. 'Through the project, people are coming to see that God is love, because the church is connecting the community to God.' Kayanji village used to be plunged into darkness when the sun went down, but now the Baptist church is sharing the light. It opens its doors every evening for people to come and use the light to read and to study the whole village is welcome. The pastor also uses the light to run a Bible study every morning, that more and more members of the community are attending. In addition, the solar power is used for people to charge their mobile phones, at a small cost. The money raised through phone-charging maintains the church and is used to help struggling people in the community, such as widows and orphans. Only seven per cent of the whole of Kasese District, of which Kayanji village is a part, has mains electricity. For the vast majority of the district, the only source of light is by burning kerosene lanterns or candles. Until a few years ago, this is what everyone in Kayanji village was doing. But kerosene is expensive and dangerous. It produces a dim light and toxic smoke, which irritates the eyes and skin and is a major cause of both respiratory diseases and harmful CO2 emissions. In a country that is in darkness for nearly 12 hours a day, a safe source of light can completely change people's quality of life. 'My kids come here for [school] preparation every evening,' says father-of-10 Kambala Limengo. Kambala is a member of Kayanji Baptist Church and is excited about the change the solar project has had, both for his family and for the wider community. 'Our children used to learn from home using candles,' he says. 'But this solar light is bright, and it doesn't give out smoke it doesn't use firewood or kerosene to burn, it is just using the sun.' Another father, Kahoja Murugire, who has nine children, is also thankful for the light and the opportunities it is bringing. 'This solar has a bright light, and it does not spoil eyes,' he says. 'I think it is going to help my children, because they come here daily. I am giving a lot of thanks for this light.' Church members like Kambala and Kahoja believe that the huge growth in the church is a direct result of the light. 'We are seeing new members in the church because of this project,' says Kambala. 'When it is dark, these newcomers come in. And then the pastor meets them for a Bible study and it changes their lives. 'They are seeing that love is here.' Kayanji is one of eight rural villages that have had their churches and their evenings transformed thanks to this BMS World Mission solar project. The lights are helping children thrive at school, they are providing income for practical outreach into the community and, perhaps most exciting of all, they are providing a way to introduce people to the Light of the World. Meet Uganda's Millionaire-Making Farmer In a region of northern Uganda where an estimated 90 per cent of people survive on subsistence farming, Acaye Genesis has a dream. A dream to transform the lives of Gulu District's struggling farmers through chilli, ginger and bananas. And a dream to share the gospel of Christ as he helps them to meet their very real physical needs. "In June, there is a month here called the month of hunger," says Genesis. "A typical farmer grows food crops, and that is what they always sell but when you've done all your selling and the crops you've planted are not yet ready your family suffers." Approximately 61 per cent of people in Gulu District are living in poverty. It is the poorest region in Uganda, with the majority of the population having spent 20 years in Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps while their homes and land were ravaged by war. People returned to reclaim their land in 2008, but after two decades stripped of any independence they'd lost their agricultural skills, and the younger generation had never learned to farm at all. Yet the only means of survival for most people in the region is to grow food. Farmer by heart and by profession, Genesis is working with UK charity BMS World Mission to teach Gulu's farmers biblical techniques for farming, and to introduce them to cash crops that will enable them to earn enough money to send their children to school and to pay for health care. "We are currently working on ginger, chilli and bananas," he says. "We are the pioneers for ginger in northern Uganda but the market is here. And chilli was not grown on a commercial basis, but we are trying to introduce it to farmers here." An average farmer in the area earns 550,000 Ugandan shillings a year that's the equivalent of 33 pence a day. It's virtually nothing. Genesis has been heading up a project training 100 farmers in Paicho sub-county to grow cash crops to earn more money. And he has found that chilli, ginger and bananas thrive in Gulu's soil. Last month, one of his farmers was picked up by the local radio station for his success, having made two or three million shillings in the last year from growing chilli. And a few other farmers have already made a million shillings this year. "Of course it makes me happy," says Genesis. "When you are beginning this work, you are not sure if you are going to succeed. But we are moving on. I have seen quite a number of farmers who have picked up on what we are trying to do." A couple of million shillings is nothing in comparison to Western salaries, but it's making a huge difference for farmers like Ongaba Peter, a 42-year-old pastor and father of five. "The bananas have helped me a lot," says Peter, "just five bunches are enough to send my children to school. And I think when the ginger is ready I will have a lot more money to keep sending my children to school and to keep up with their health needs." Before taking part in the project, Peter used to grow cassava and groundnuts, which are a commonly grown food crop in the region. "It was very hard in those days because I would have to sell a great quantity of cassava or groundnut to pay for my children to go to school," he says, "so that would mean that I have less to eat at home." Part of Genesis' work is training the farmers to grow separate crops for cash and for food, so that they don't have to choose between food and an education for their children. But Genesis' work isn't just about farming. "My second hope is to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet the spiritual needs of the farmers," he says. "To make them understand that everything they are doing is connected to God and to the Bible." Through the project, Genesis and the BMS-supported team have been able to share the gospel with non-Christian farmers, pray with them, and even see some of them come to faith. "It looks like agriculture, but through this work we share everything. We share the gospel. There are many times people have asked, 'come and pray with my family,' and we go and pray with them." At least 100 families are already benefitting from Genesis' work. That's around 700 men, women and children who are reaping more hopeful harvests. In addition, the trained farmers are sharing their knowledge and success with their neighbours and communities, and more farmers are opting to diversify and try growing something new. "Farming is part of me," says Genesis. "When I grew up, it happened that all the subjects that I loved at school were farming. So I ended up being a professional, and also a farmer myself." Genesis' passion for agriculture and for his country's struggling farmers drives him to pursue his work, and he has even bigger dreams for the future. When asked how he feels about the success of the project so far, Genesis says, "I give God the glory. Without God, it would not have happened." MPs overwhelmingly back #GeneralElection2017 Theresa May has won overwhelming support from the House of Commons, clearing the path for a general election on June 8. A majority of 509 with 522 MPs backing the move and just 13 opposing gave the Prime Minister the two-thirds majority needed to overturn the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act. Parliament will dissolve on May 2 and formal campaigning will begin. It comes just weeks after May insisted she would not hold a general election before 2020 the previous date under the Act. Justifying her U-turn she told MPs on Wednesday afternoon she said: 'Today we face a new question: how best to secure the stability and certainty we need over the long term in order to get the right deal for Britain in Brexit negotiations and make the most of the opportunities ahead. 'And I've come to the conclusion that the answer to that question is to hold a general election now in this window of opportunity before the negotiations begin. 'A general election is the best way to strengthen Britain's hand in the negotiation.' Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said her change of heart was one of many 'broken promises'. Responding in the House of Commons he said: 'Britain is being held back by her government. Most people are worse off than they were when the Conservatives came to power seven years ago, the election gives the British people the chance to change direction.' He added: 'This election is about her government's failure to rebuild the economy and living standards for the majority. It is about the crisis her government has plunged the NHS into, the cuts to to our children's schools which will limit chances of children, 4 million of whom live in poverty, a chance of an alternative to raise living standards, as more and more people do not have security in their work or over their housing.' Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron accused May of putting her party above the country and said she was running scared by not accepting the challenge of TV debates. 'The British people deserve to hear party leaders set out their plans and debate them publicly. But the Prime Minister has refused to take part in televised leaders' debates,' he said. 'Why will she not publicly debate these issues now what is she scared of?' Nepal's Catholics suffer arson attack weeks before elections An arson attack struck the first Catholic cathedral in Hindu-majority Nepal on Tuesday leaving the building and priest's housing damaged. The incident occurred around 3 am, the pastor of the parish, Father Ignatius Rai, said. Although the priest's residence and the western part of the Assumptio Cathedral were damaged, there were no casualties, according to Vatican Radio. 'This is shocking,' Father Rai added. 'The local Christian community is now living under threat.' A former parish priest of the Assumption Cathedral, Father Silas Bogati, said: 'We are panicking. Nobody left anything in the church premise this time so we don't know whether it was a personal attack or by some disgruntled organisation.' A parish statement urged against any disturbance to religious harmony after the attack. 'The Catholic Church has been involved in social work for half a decade now and will continue with our work despite the frequent attacks,' a parish spokesperson said. Catholics are a tiny proportion of Nepal's Christian minority. The Nepal Catholic Directory estimates there are about 8,000 Catholics in the country, mostly in the eastern region. This is out of a total population of 28 million, 80 per cent of whom are Hindu. The attack comes weeks before Nepal's first local elections in 20 years on May 14. Seen as a stepping stone in implementing the country's new secular constitution passed in 2015, one major party has decided to campaign locally on reinforcing a Hindu state. 'We are eagerly looking forward to the upcoming local elections in the country and we are in the process with the government. This incident, if politically motivated will not harm the peaceful environment in the country,' said Father Bogati. Predictions and trajectories: What will the Church in Scotland look like in 30 years? The fourth Scottish Church Census is a thorough piece of work, as you would expect from the excellent Peter Brierley organisation. Supported by all Scotland's major Churches, it gives an accurate big picture of what many of us feared was the case in Church in Scotland today. The headline news is that it is declining rapidly. As someone who has been saying this for years I feel more than a little vindicated to have the information that proves it. Given that the Church in Scotland has declined 50 per cent in the past 30 years, down to 389,500, I thought I might use my prophetic gifts to look forward to the next 30. So what will the Church look like in 2047? It is impossible to foresee with any certainty, but the current trajectory suggests the following. 1. Barring revival and renewal the decline will be sharper than anticipated in the report. Whenever these reports come out people cling on to statistics that offer comfort. But saying that there are 2.9 million Christians is meaningless when only 12 per cent of them even bother attending church. The figures err on the side of optimism. We are told that over seven per cent of the population attend church on a Sunday but that does not square with the reality that many of us experience. 2. Pentecostal congregations will not be the revival of the Church in Scotland. They have tripled since 2002, but from a small starting base. However, the most significant factor here is that these are largely ethnic churches, with some 80 Nigerian churches being started. They have not shown that they can reach out beyond their own constituency and indeed some are already experiencing second-generation drop off. 3. The growth or stabilisation of the Catholic church has largely been due to Polish and other immigrants. They are a welcome addition to the Church but again it's questionable both whether this will continue or be effective in stopping the general decline. 4. Although very optimistic sounds are being made about the number of children involved (52,000 under 15) the fact is that most of these are only very loosely connected with the Church, meeting in its buildings. The demographic is against the Church 42 per cent of attenders are over 65. Fifty-nine per cent of ministers are over 59. 5. The Church in Scotland in 2047 will not consist of Messy Church, or other midweek meetings, or internet church. These are good but they are essentially sticking-plaster measures which do not deal with the root causes of the problem. 6. The responses so far to the report indicate that most Church leaders are not prepared to face the roots of the problem although the Roman Catholic leadership seem to be more realistic than most. Bishop David Chillingworth of the Scottish Episcopal Church for example stated: 'Institutional patterns of religion may not hold the loyalty which they held in the past. But people everywhere are on a journeys of spiritual exploration and yearn for spiritual experience.' It was ironic that on the week this report was leaked to the press another one was also leaked the Church of Scotland General Assembly is to be asked to receive a report which will allow Church of Scotland ministers to perform same sex marriages. While this will run well with the 'liberals' it is likely to lead to further decline and a further haemorrhaging of evangelicals. He who marries the spirit of the age will inevitably be a widow in the next. 7. I cannot foresee a renewal in the Church of Scotland too much has been lost already. It will be around in 2047 but a mere civic rump of what it is today. The key to the Catholic Church will be whether it gets good leadership the archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, Leo Cushley, seems to be providing that at the moment. 8. In 2047 the three groups that are growing the most in Scotland today the FIEC churches (with key churches such as Charlotte Chapel in Edinburgh), the CLAN churches (Christians Linked Across the Nation largely charismatic churches from many denominations and my own denomination, the Free Church of Scotland, will I believe continue to grow. As regards the Free Church we acknowledged 20 years ago that we were dying and we reckoned it would take many years to turn it around. But the Lord has enabled and we are now a growing and vibrant denomination with a number of new church plants. If we reach 'critical mass', which I think is about 200 churches (double our current number), then who knows what could happen? However it could of course fall flat. 9. It may be that the Lord will surprise us, as he often does, with renewal and revival. Maybe the Lord will renew the Church of Scotland or use Elim or the Brethren or a completely new group. We don't know. 10. If there is to be a vibrant Church in Scotland in 2047 then it will be one which returns to biblical theology, has vibrant mercy and creative ministries, its own comprehensive education system and has church planting at its core. If we want to return to the attendance of the time I began my ministry, 30 years ago, we would need to plant 7,000 churches with an average attendance of 100 each. Time to begin breaking up the ground, sowing the seed and pleading with the Lord to send the rain! David Robertson is Associate Director of Solas CPC in Dundee. Follow him on Twitter @TheWeeFlea Scientists go on the hunt for descendants of Jesus using DNA from the Shroud of Turin Researchers and religious scholars have reportedly embarked on a "groundbreaking" search to see if any living descendants of Jesus Christ's family can be found. Experts are analyzing the famous Shroud of Turin for DNA samples. The Daily Mail reported on Tuesday that scientists will also be investigating the supposed bones of John the Baptist, Jesus' cousin, which were discovered in Bulgaria in 2010. The hope is that samples from relics possibly connected to Jesus' family, including the Sudarium of Oviedo, could allow researchers to trace the DNA samples to any living people today. Part of the endeavor was showcased on Easter Sunday on the History Channel, with Oxford University geneticist George Busby and biblical scholar Pastor Joe Basile traveling to places like Spain, Italy, Israel, and Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, where the 2,000-year-old bones of John the Baptist were said to be discovered. "They believe that if they can find a strand of Jesus' DNA it could help identify who among us today are descendants of Jesus and provide us with new insight into the man many consider to be the most important person in history, Jesus," the History Channel explained about the search. Busby wrote about the research journey in an article for The Conversation last week, stating that scientific advances are allowing for new breakthroughs to be made in the field of ancient DNA. He noted that scientists have DNA sequences from hundreds of people long since dead, and have traced their lineage to further understand human history. Busby admitted that he was initially skeptical about the supposed discovery of the bones of John the Baptist, and noted that many people could have handled the bones and left their DNA there, which contaminates the search. Still, he explained that researchers can now differentiate modern contamination from ancient genomes, which could bring them closer to the truth of who the bones really belong to. He revealed that the search will also focus on the Shroud of Turin, the relic that some believe was used as the burial cloth of Christ when He was taken down from the cross. The geneticist revealed that "recent research identified multiple people's DNA on the The Turin Shroud," with further analysis still to come. Further mystery formed around the Shroud back in October 2015, after Italian researchers studying the object found DNA traces of plants from all around the world. Real Clear Science said at the time that the researchers found sequences of pollen DNA and other dust particles from South America, the Middle East, Central Africa, Central Asia, China, and other regions, though the meaning of this discovery is yet to be fully understood. Busby said their research also took them to Jerusalem where they met a man "who is in the process of sequencing material from the James Ossuary, a first century chalk box which may have held the bones of Jesus' brother." "We also met an archaeologist in Israel with several crucifixion nails, one of which was still embedded in a poor crucified soul's heel bone. Unfortunately, it's impossible to extract DNA from rusty iron," he noted. Busby suggested that if one day DNA analysis could show evidence that the Shroud, the James Ossuary, and the bones found in Bulgaria are a familial match, that could present the world with a very important question. "Could this then have been the DNA of Jesus and his family? To answer that, all you need is a little belief," he positioned. This article was originally published in The Christian Post. Student lynching spurs Pakistan parliament to call for reform of blasphemy laws A Christian advocacy group has welcomed the Pakistani parliament's plans to reform its controversial blasphemy laws. The planned reform comes after a university student was killed by a mob on April 14 after being accused of blasphemy, according to the Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS), a group that supports persecuted Christians in Pakistan. According to Pakistani laws, insulting Islam can incur the death penalty. The murdered student was a member of Abdul Wali Khan University in north-western Pakistan and was beaten to death for allegedly promoting 'blasphemous' content on social media, including his views on socialism and the mystic aspect of Islam known as Sufism. Another student was injured in the mob attack, after which university officials closed the campus. As many as 45 people have reportedly been detained in connection with the lynching. A resolution by Pakistan's National Assembly condemned the killing and said that legal safeguards needed to be implemented to avoid abuse of the country's blasphemy laws. CLAAS director Nasir Saeed welcomed the news. He said: 'It is great news as in the past whoever tried to speak about changes in the blasphemy law was shut up and even threatened with death. 'Those who raised their voices, like Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer and minority minister Shahbaz Bhatti, were killed in broad daylight, and their killers hailed as heroes. 'I wish the Pakistani parliament had taken this step and realised the sensitivity of the issue earlier, saving many innocent people who were killed for a crime they never committed. Their lives could have been saved, but it is still not too late.' Advocacy groups say that the majority-Muslim country's blasphemy laws are used to target religious minorities, including Christians. In 2011, Pakistan's minister for minorities Shahbaz Bhatti was murdered for his opposition to the country's blasphemy laws. Bhatti, a devout Christian, was shot by three masked men as he left his mother's home in Islamabad. He had defended among others Asia Bibi, a Christian woman jailed in 2009 for blasphemy who has been on death row for six years. Her defenders are adamant she was wrongly blamed in an inter-communal argument. Just months before, Salman Taseer, governor of the Punjab region was also murdered for his opposition to the blasphemy laws. His murderer was his own bodyguard Mumtaz Qadri, who was later hanged. Thousands attended Qadri's funeral, declaring him a martyr for Islam and demanding tougher blasphemy laws. In January this year, a Christian man was arrested over claims of blasphemy. Major 5 parties for holding local polls in one go, to continue parleys with Morcha Major five parties of the Parliament have agreed to hold the upcoming local level election slated for May 14 in single phase. The hunt for Jesus' DNA: What does it actually tell us? Scientists may be on the verge of discovering the DNA of Jesus Christ. That's the revelation explored in a new History Channel documentary titled 'The Jesus Strand', in which a pastor collaborates with a scientist, exploring historical artefacts on the hunt for the DNA of Christ. The most tantalising recent discovery is that of bones believed by some to belong to John the Baptist, Jesus' cousin. If the ancient saint's DNA could be recovered, it could point to Jesus' DNA since as the two were related they would share some genetic code, as the investigating geneticist George Busby explains on The Conversation. Radiocarbon dating of John's bones said to have been found in the remains of a 6th-century church off the coast of Bulgaria showed them to be 2,000 years old, and DNA recovered from them matched that of Middle Eastern populations. However, there are some problems in the way of the quest. The alleged St John relic has been contaminated by others' DNA over time: 500 years passed between John's death and the sealing of his remains in the church. That doesn't mean John's DNA if it is indeed his couldn't be isolated, but the relic just doesn't contain much DNA to work with. Research has now shown the bones to have been contaminated by those who excavated them, making the precise discovery of John's DNA from this relic increasingly unlikely. But the investigation remains fascinating. If more DNA were discovered, if the DNA of John and through that Jesus Christ could be found, would it matter, and why? 1. Nothing can be proved Even if you isolate an individual's DNA from a relic, it is impossible to prove that a belonged to a particular historical figure. In the case of John, we have nothing to cross-reference it with yet, and even if we did, we couldn't prove that either artefact came from John himself. The same logic applies with Jesus. There's no way to unambiguously verify ancient DNA. This quest, unfortunately, relies on intense speculation, and no actual proof. 2. But we can make progress One of the marvels of modern innovation is that it can take us so far into the past. As technology improves and discoveries continue, there may be hope for real progress. If more DNA evidence were discovered, and collated with that of the Turin Shroud the cloth some believe was use to wrap Jesus' body when he was taken off the cross and the alleged bones of Jesus' brother James, which some claim have also been discovered, some legitimate assumptions could begin to be made. Different relics could be used to verify original artefacts. It would still rely primarily on hypothesising, but DNA sequencing could be used to help provide some evidence about whether relics like the Turin Shroud are legitimate or not. 3. Could you find God's DNA? There's a grand metaphysical question lurking behind this quest. What if you found the DNA belonging to the human Jesus Christ, whom Christians believe to be God incarnate? What if you found God's DNA? Would it not be the most astonishing of all discoveries? Classical debates about Jesus' human and divine identity would return. Would there be any trace of 'divinity' in Jesus' human body? If there wasn't, would that mean Jesus wasn't 'fully' divine as the early Church decreed him to be? What of the ethical implications what would you do with the DNA? Human cloning hasn't been successfully achieved, but what would happen if you cloned Christ? The pious would surely never dare, but human beings and scientists - are insatiably inquisitive. Someone might try. 4. So what? Ultimately though this latest discovery and even what might follow doesn't take us very far. The John the Baptist relic is interesting, but tells us little, and nothing for certain. Furthermore, we can't ever prove that we've found Jesus' DNA, and even we did find it, so what? Jesus Christ, God incarnate, was a man who walked the Earth. This Middle Eastern man like any human being had blood, flesh and DNA. Just like the classic quest to find the face of Jesus, it somewhat misses the point of the incarnation. Christian theology teaches not only that God became a man, but radically that he lives on now in the hearts of human beings. As the Apostle Paul wrote: 'God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory' (Colossians 1:27). There's no need to go digging for Christ and his genetic remains, interesting though it is. His 'body', according to Christian faith is an incredibly, almost impossibly diverse assemblage of human DNA. It's called the Church. You can follow @JosephHartropp on Twitter Tim Farron Slams Theresa May For Wishing Trump 'Good Luck' Tim Farron has slammed Theresa May for wishing both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump "good luck" in the US presidential election. The Prime Minister's spokesman was asked if May had any message for the two candidates ahead of polling day on Tuesday. "I think the Prime Minister would wish them both good luck," said her spokesman. Number 10 said there was no favouritism and repeated its line that the vote was "a matter for the voters of America". But Liberal Democrat leader Farron, who is an evangelical Christian, jumped on the statement. "Donald Trump is not just mad and bad but he's also dangerous. Why would you wish him luck? I have never seen anyone so unworthy of the office of the Presidency in history," he said, according to the Huffington Post. "He is a nasty misogynist and woefully under prepared for the immense responsibility that comes with sitting in the Oval Office. "I am worried that millions of people will vote for him this week. The party of Abraham Lincoln is now the party of Donald Trump." Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP leader and Scottish First Minister, also defied the traditional convention of not commenting on US elections. "I have already made my views on Donald Trump clear, when late last year I withdrew his status as a Global Scot," she said on Facebook. "Hillary Clinton is not perfect - what politician, anywhere, is? But she will be a great role model for women the world over. What's more she'll be a president. "I wish her luck on Tuesday." Downing Street inevitably adopted a more cautious tone as it will have to negotiate with the future President. When the spokesman was pressed on whether May would be happy with a Trump administration, he said: "The outcome of the Presidential election is a matter for voters in America of course. "We will work with whoever is the next President of the United States." When North Korea's capital had so many Christians it was called the 'Jerusalem of the East' North Korea is once again making headlines due to the unsettling behaviour of its erratic tyrant, Kim Jong-un, whose family dynasty has made it the world's most inhospitable place towards religion. A particular animosity is reserved for Christians. Ironically, what is now the North Korean capital city of Pyongyang was a century earlier such a hotbed of Christian activity that it was known as the 'Jerusalem of the East'. Though Christians remained a small minority of the overall North Korean population, Pyongyang was a different story, and at its high point, three out of 10 people there were practising Christians. More than 2,000 and possibly as many as 3,000 churches were built in the region. 'Crosses dotted the Pyongyang skyline' and downtown street preachers would shout, 'Believe in Jesus and go to heaven', as Hyun Sook Foley says in his article, 'The Jerusalem of the East', in Christian History magazine. Catholicism arrived in Korea in the late 1700s, largely by way of native-born scholars and traders who'd encountered the faith during their international travels. Koreans had been more receptive to Christianity than people in most other parts of Asia and enough converts were made that it began to be viewed by the establishment as a threat. Starting in the early years of the 1800s, Catholics (some foreign priests, but most of them Korean converts) were murdered. Even under formidable and often dangerous opposition, both Catholicism and Protestantism spread effectively in Korea. An 1882 treaty between Korea and the United States launched diplomatic relations between the two nations. From this point, American missionaries (mostly Protestant) flocked to the region, where they established roots by building hospitals and schools, such as Union Christian College (which now exists as Soongsil University in Seoul, South Korea) and the Pyongyang Theological Seminary (which now exists as Chongshin University, also in Seoul). The closing years of the 1800s and the opening years of the 1900s saw the fastest growth in Pyongyang's Christianity. In January 1907, a meeting between Western missionaries and North Korean Christians resulted in a prolonged outpouring of religious sentiment and church construction known as the Pyongyang Revival. The year 1910 saw the beginning of a Japanese occupation of Korea that lasted until 1945. The Japanese occupiers were very hostile towards Christians, many of whom were incarcerated, and some of whom were martyred. But the faith, and most of the churches, endured. Though many North Koreans turned to Communism, there was not so much friction initially between the North Korean Christians and Communists because both were oppressed by the occupying Japanese. During World War II, there were more than three times as many Christians in North Korea as in South Korea, according to Jin-Heon Jung's article 'Underground Railroads of Christian Conversion: North Korean Migrants and Evangelical Missionary Networks in Northeast Asia' for the journal Cultural Diversity in China. However, the end of WWII saw a mass migration of Christians from North to South Korea. Even following that exodus, South Korea's Christian population has since risen enormously, and now accounts for almost 30 per cent of its total populace. In post-WWII North Korea, the government went after churches by seizing the bank accounts of Christians. By then, there was basically no freedom of the press in North Korea. Soon after the euphemistically-named Democratic People's Republic of Korea was established on September 9, 1948, authorities began arresting people attending religious services and raiding Christian homes to confiscate any religious materials. Since 1948, Kim Il-sung, the first leader in North Korea's dynasty of murder and tyranny, has been (often forcibly) worshipped as God in his homeland. His mother, though, might have objected: she was a Presbyterian deaconess. His father also had been an ardent Christian. And North Korea's supreme leader himself, who so vigorously expunged Christianity from his nation, had once been a church organist. As he came to power, though, he saw that deities would be an obstacle to his exalted status. It was Kim or God, and one of them had to go. Upon making his decision, the first Kim incarcerated Christians on a massive scale. He also portrayed the faith as a reviled tool of American imperialism and 'spread rumors that missionaries were Western spies who branded Korean children with hot irons and sold their blood', as told by Victor Cha in his book The Impossible State: North Korea, Past and Future. During the Korean War (1950-1953), Kim Il-sung ordered the murders of many thousands of Christians. By 1960, there were zero houses of worship in North Korea. These days, there are four state-sanctioned 'churches' in Pyongyang (two Protestant, one Roman Catholic, and one Russian Orthodox). They exist as 'proof' that North Korea tolerates religion. Foreigners who visit them are not permitted to interact with any North Koreans in attendance. One group of visiting Christians went to a church on Easter Sunday only to find that the doors were locked. The issue was that these visitors had neglected to tell their chaperone about their Easter Sunday plans. So the chaperone was unable to arrange a staged church experience, complete with fake North Korean churchgoers, a fake religious ceremony, and, of course, unlocked church doors. According to World Watch Monitor, tens of thousands of Christians are currently in North Korean labour camps, where they are singled out for the harshest and most humiliating treatment, as well as the most brutal methods of execution. For 15 consecutive years, Open Doors has ranked North Korea as the most oppressive nation for Christians. All of them must hide their faith from the public, and some must hide their faith even from immediate family members, who might turn in any such worshippers. Despite these circumstances, it has been estimated that as many as 300,000 Christians live in North Korea, which has an overall population of about 25.4 million. To put it mildly, Pyongyang is a Jerusalem no more. But much as the Kim regime has endeavoured to banish God, many thousands of North Koreans have continued to embrace him in secret and at tremendous personal risk. Why the gay sex issue isn't going to go away for Tim Farron and what he should say next time he's asked It's a question Tim Farron must lie awake at night dreading. Channel 4's Cathy Newman once again pinned the Liberal Democrat leader on his personal views on gay sex. 'Metropolitan remainers might like what they hear from you on Brexit,' she began. 'But what about social issues. Take for example, a while back I asked you whether it was true you believed homosexuality was a sin and you struggled to answer. Now you have had a while to consider that question, what is the answer?' For fourth time @timfarron struggled to give me a clear answer on if it's true he believes homosexuality is sinful #C4News #GeneralElection Cathy Newman (@cathynewman) April 18, 2017 He replied: 'I don't think I struggled to answer it at all, Cathy. I think I'm not in the position to make theological announcements over the next six weeks. I'm not going to spend my time talking theology or making pronouncements.' He went on to stress his political support for gay rights: 'As a Liberal, I'm passionate about equality, about equal marriage and about equal rights for LGBT people, for fighting for not just for LGBT rights in this country but overseas. 'Just because I'm Christian, it would be a bit boring for everybody to spend the next weeks asking me to make theological announcements that I'm not going to make.' In a campaign where Farron will look to pitch his party as the only credible option Remain option, it is a stumbling block he doesn't need. As a quick Google search will show, the issue is one that could well dominate public views of him. The reaction on social media was predictable. Until moments before hailed as a hero of the 48 per cent, Farron was immediately derided as an 'absolute disgrace'. This is an absolute disgrace. But hey, I'm just some sinning gay, what would I know. https://t.co/nzu1PU7YLB Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) April 18, 2017 Mr @timfarron you are definitely a sinner for your continued intolerance & prejudice. Please try and join the rest of us in the year 2017. David Walliams (@davidwalliams) April 18, 2017 Tim Farron on C4 news failing to clarify his views on the gay community. 'We're all sinners'. It's 2017. Sue Perkins (@sueperkins) April 18, 2017 BREAKING: John McDonnell says it's 'appalling' if Tim Farron believes homosexuality is a sin & urges him to clarify his position. @GMB Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) April 19, 2017 There are layers upon layers of questions behind this issue. Is it right for Cathy Newman to repeatedly ask about this when it doesn't have any relevance to Farron's policy positions? Is it now impossible for a British Prime Minister to be anything other than a social liberal? Are conservative Christians barred from positions of high office in UK politics? But the most pressing seems to whether a politician's personal views matter if it doesn't effect his policies. When Tony Blair was asked if he prayed the concern was whether it would affect his judgment about going into Iraq. But no such concern can be applied to the Lib Dem leader. Farron has gone to great lengths to stress his pro-LGBT rights credentials. Today is International Transgender Day of Remembrance. I will keep doing all I can to stand with the community: https://t.co/N3UDCKFCcy Tim Farron (@timfarron) 20 November 2015 He voted for the gay marriage legislation in 2012 and insists his abstentions later in the bill's process were over concerns about transgender people's protections. Out of the major party leaders he has been the most outspoken on gay rights certainly more so than the daugher of a vicar Prime Minister. As an evangelical Christian, Farron clearly believes in private that gay sex is sinful. As a liberal he won't enforce that on anyone and wants maximum freedoms for LGBT people to marry alongside heterosexual people. But that is a difficult and uncomfortable nuance to communicate to a hostile and religiously illiterate press pack. The reaction to Farron's latest interview has shown that personal views, no matter how inconsquential, do matter. However firmly he boasts of his support for equal marriage and transgender rights, his refusal to deny gay sex is sinful will dog him. Private views matter, however clearly they are separated from public policies. So here's what Tim Farron needs to say next time Cathy Newman asks him about gay sex. 'I'm a traditional Christian, and that goes with certain views about sex and sexuality. It also means, for instance, that I think the right place for sexual activity for heterosexual people is within marriage, but I notice you don't press me on that. 'However, I'm perfectly capable choosing to live in a particular way myself without feeling I need to inflict that on the rest of the country. And as a Liberal Democrat I stand for freedom of choice, justice and equality for everyone, including gay, lesbian and transgender people. I don't judge anyone and I don't condemn anyone. I need to have the freedom to exercise my conscience and they need to have the freedom to exercise theirs, and my record shows that I have fought and will fight for that as hard as ever I can. 'As a Liberal Democrat, I categorically reject the idea that everyone has to be forced into an ideological straitjacket before they can contribute to the political life of this country. I hope we can move on from this obsession with sex and sexuality and talk about the things that really matter about this election.' Will it silence his critics? Possibly not but what comes across as the non-answers he's given so far haven't done so, either. Black students at Pomona College and neighboring schools in Claremont, California, have published an open letter declaring their hostility to free speechother peoples free speech, that is. The letter shows that the faculty of the Claremont colleges are failing in their most basic educational duties. The manifesto, written by We, few of the Black students here at Pomona College and the Claremont Colleges, was triggered by a statement on academic freedom by outgoing Pomona College President David Oxtoby. Oxtobys statement in turn responded to a student blockade that tried to shut down a talk on policing I was supposed to give at Claremont McKenna College on April 6. Leave aside for a moment the signatories unblemished ignorance regarding free speech and the role of unfettered discourse in creating their own liberties. Viewed purely formally, the letter is a major embarrassment to the faculty of Pomona and the Claremont colleges. It is filled with excruciating solecisms (Though this institution as well as many others including this entire country, have been founded upon the oppression and degradation of marginalized bodies, it has a liability to protect the students that it serves); garbled regurgitations of High Theory (The notion of discourse, when it comes to discussions about experiences and identities, deters the Columbusing of established realities and truths [coded as intellectual inquiry] that the institution promotes); and sheer head-scratchers of incomprehensibility (To conclude our statement, we invite you to respond to this email by Tuesday, April 18, 2017 at 4:07 pm [since we have more energy to expend on the frivolity of this institution and not Black lives].) (Gnawing question: Why not a 4:08 pm deadline?) Does this student writing demonstrate the value of a Pomona education? Several of the co-signatories are graduating this year or the next. Are their professors satisfied with their command of the English language? What grade would this incoherent tract receive if turned in as a term papera D? Or, more likely, an A? Faculty undoubtedly fear correcting the writing of marginalized students, lest they suffer the same scourging as UCLA Education Professor Val Rust did when he tried to induct some of his Critical Race Theory students into the protocols of academic prose. The content of the letter, such as it is, should alarm the faculty as well (at least those faculty who have not inspired We, few's tortured efforts at Foucauldian post-modernism). The students appear to argue that the ideal of free speech is based on a mystifying and oppressive concept of unitary truth, and that such a concept solidifies white supremacy: The idea that there is a single truththe Truthis a construct of the Euro-West that is deeply rooted in the Enlightenment . . . This construction is a myth and white supremacy, imperialism, colonization, capitalism, and the United States of America are all of its progeny. The idea that the truth is an entity for which we must search, in matters that endanger our abilities to exist in open spaces, is an attempt to silence oppressed peoples. We, few of the Black students here at Pomona, etc. have it exactly backward. Free speech is the best tool for challenging hegemonic power. Absolute rulers seek to crush non-conforming opinion; the censor is the essential bulwark of tyrants. Without the Enlightenment and its challenge to unquestioned authority, We, few of the Black students would not even be at the Claremont colleges, because those secular, independent colleges might not even exist. (It would be interesting to know how many Enlightenment philosophers We, few can even name; it is of course virtually certain that they have read none.) Freedom of the press and of speech was essential in the fight against slavery and Jim Crow; how do We, few of the Black students here at Pomona, etc. think that those battles could have been waged without the First Amendment rights that the We, few now think they despise? Moreover, We, few of the Black students only pretend to be postmodern relativists. They are fully confident that they possess the truth about me and about their oppressed plight at the Claremont schools. An alternative construction of their realityone, say, that pointed out that as members of fantastically rich, tolerant, and welcoming American colleges, they are among the most privileged human beings in historywould be immediately rejected as contrary to the truth and not worth debating. We, few would also reject the alternative truth that far from devaluing Black students, the administrations of the Claremont colleges have undoubtedly admitted many with levels of academic preparation far below that of their white and Asian peers, simply to fulfill the administrators own self-righteous desire for diversity. Typical of all such censors and petty tyrants, We, few of the Black students now want to crush dissent. They ask the Claremont University Consortium to take action, both disciplinary and legal, against the editors of the conservative student paper, the Claremont Independent, for the open-ended sins of continual perpetuation of hate speech, anti-Blackness, and intimidation toward students of marginalized backgrounds. These are the demands not of relativists but of absolutists determined to solidify their power. As for We, fews gross misreading of my work, it shows that reading skills are in as short supply at the Claremont colleges as writing skills. My entire argument about the necessity of lawful, proactive policing is based on the value of black lives. I have decried the loss of black life to drive-by shootings and other forms of street violence. I have argued that the fact that blacks die of homicide at six times the rate of whites and Hispanics combined is a civil rights abomination. And I have tried to give voice to the thousands of law-abiding residents of high-crime areas who are desperate for more police protection so that they can enjoy the same freedom from fear that people in more wealthy areas take for granted. The ungrammatical list of attributes that We, few of the Black students say disqualify me from speakingHeather Mac Donald is a fascist, a white supremacist, a warhawk, a transphobe, a queerphobe, a classist, and ignorant of interlocking systems of domination that produce the lethal conditions under which oppressed peoples are forced to liveunsurprisingly displays the ignorance already familiar from the rest of their letter, since I was an early and documented opponent of the Iraq war and all such efforts at regime change. The other epithets are not worth responding to. Photo by Karen Ducey/Getty Images The Electoral Commission has today announced that it has fined Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace for breaking campaigning rules during the 2015 general election. But both organisations have criticised the law itself, and said that today's ruling could discourage charities from participating in the upcoming general election. Greenpeace has been fined 30,000 for failing to register with the Electoral Commission and Friends of the Earth was fined 1,000 after it was late registering. FoE has paid its fine. Electoral Commission investigation At the general election, non-party campaigners were required to register with the Electoral Commission if they spent more than either 20,000 campaigning in England or 10,000 campaigning in Wales. The Electoral Commission, the body that oversees elections, concluded that Greenpeace Ltd incurred at least 99,000 of spending in England and 12,000 of spending in Wales on a 'Coastal Champions' boat tour and on an anti-fracking poster campaign which was undertaken jointly with Friends of the Earth Ltd. Bob Posner, director of party finance and regulation and legal counsel for the Electoral Commission, said: Non-party campaigners are vital to a healthy democracy and we encourage their active participation during campaign periods; however, where a significant amount of money is being spent on campaigning it is right that voters can see who is spending that money and what they are campaigning for. The Commission supports all campaigners by producing a range of materials to help ensure compliance with the law. Law is unworkable Both organisations said that the law as it stands is unworkable and should be changed. Craig Bennett, chief executive of FoE, told Civil Society News that we hold our hands up to the mistake and said it was down to an administrative error we didnt register in time. However he said that the legislation was overly complex and unworkable and expressed concern that recommendations to improve the law, which were made by Lord Hodgson, have not been implemented ahead of the snap general election, which was announced yesterday. Greenpeace UKs executive director, John Sauven, said that it had decided not to register as an act of civil disobedience. "Sometimes legislation is just wrong and you have to stand up and say so. Thats why we decided to oppose this illiberal law in an act of civil disobedience. The Lobbying Act is a democratic car crash, it weakens democracy and curtails free speech." Waste of charity money Bennett said FoE would continue to campaign, and has put in place measures to stop it falling foul of the law again. He said that the resource needed to make sure charities are compliant is too bureaucratic. We and other charities are going to have to put a lot of effort and spend a lot of money to makes sure we dont fall foul of the law, he said. He added that it was too soon to estimate how much it could cost. But he said it will be taking money away from the campaigning that supporters give us money to do. Harder to campaign Bennett also said that ahead of the 2015 election his charity had been assured by politicians that it would not affect his organisation, which has turned out not to be the case, and warned that todays ruling adds to concerns for charities. He said the law as it stands makes it much harder for charities to campaign on matters in the public interest and that health and education charities may find it difficult to speak out. Many charities were too worried about the new legislation to campaign having a chilling and silencing effect on civil society. Todays ruling will only add to that concern, he said. Hodgson review ignored The government commissioned a review of the Lobbying Act, which was carried out by Lord Hodgson. He made several recommendations, including one specifically about snap elections, but none of them have been implemented. The House of Lords report on charities was the latest to call for Hodgsons recommendations to be implemented. Bennett said: Wide ranging changes need making to the Act, including greater clarity around joint campaigning, to enable charities to do their job. Its vital that charities are able to use their voice to stand up for those that cant, this legislation shouldnt be stopping them. Sauven added: "If the last election is anything to go by it will have a chilling effect on groups trying to raise important issues. Whoever wins on June 8th should heed the advice of Lord Hodgson and amend it. From Charity Finance magazine Charities' registration with Electoral Commission lapsed There are currently ten organisations registered as third party campaigners with the Electoral Commission, but there are around 150 organisations that have lapsed, of which a significant minority are charities. Among those currently registered are Hope not Hate and 38 Degrees. Those with lapsed registrations include RSPCAs campaigning arm, the Salvation Army, Arthritis Research UK, Amnesty International United Kingdom Section and Stonewall. FOR THIS MONTHS CONGRESSIONAL RECESS, Rep. Greg Walden returned to his far-flung district and hosted six town hall meetings, attended by thousands of his constituentsmany of them seeking clarity on the future of GOP-led efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Walden, the lone Republican who represents Oregon in Congress, currently heads the powerful and media-savvy House Energy and Commerce Committeewhere, Willamette Week wrote, the American Health Care Act, the GOP replacement for ACA, began its short journey. In the weeks before House Speaker Paul Ryan pulled the American Health Care Act, there was spin aplenty from the press office of the Energy and Commerce Committees press office. The committee sent out numerous press releases aimed at building momentum for passage, and arguing that the GOPs mission was rescuing the American people from Obamacares collapse and rebuilding our broken health care system. Those releases were laced with Republicans main talking points: protecting patients with pre-existing conditions, lowering costs for families, letting young adults stay on their family policies, and more choice for patients. Some also addressed Medicaid changes, which were wrapped in friendly, reasonable-sounding language. Walden sent out his own news releases, which reinforced points made in the Committees press announcements. In a March 9 statement, he was specific about the changes his committee planned for Medicaid: We responsibly unwind the Obamacare Medicaid expansion while treating those covered under the expansion today fairly. We refocus Medicaids limited resources to the patients most in need. After Ryan pulled the AHCA, the Willamette Week observed that Walden may now have questions to answer at home. Finely crafted press messages about health care policy from congressional PR shops may not cut it anymore. The voting public craves honesty and clarity. AT HIS TOWN HALL MEETINGS, Walden leaned on the same carefully crafted talking points. That approach may have backfired: News coverage of the town halls (Walden hears Do your job,' Vocal crowd in Bend gives Walden an earful, Rep. Walden finds tough crowd at Hood River town hall) seethed with angry words from attendees who didnt buy their congressmans spin. Joshua Cook, who works in an emergency room on the Oregon coast, traveled to Bend and asked Walden why he wanted to change healthcare. Cook unfurled an American flag and said, Americans want health care, and it has to be for everybody. Walden ducked the charge, responding there were pieces of the Affordable Care Act he wanted to keep in place. I never want to go back to the days that you cant afford or cant get insurance because you have a pre-existing condition, he said. Sign up for weekly emails from the United States Project When a young woman asked Walden why he wanted to do away with the Affordable Care Act, Walden noted all the elements he wanted to keep. From Oregon Public Broadcastings coverage: Walden pointed out all of the elements of the ACA that he supported retaining, such as protections for people with preexisting conditions and allowing young people to remain on their parents plan until the age of 26. But Walden said the health care system under Obama had major problems. I want to fix it, so it will work, he said. If Walden explained how such fixes would come together, then the story from Oregon Public Broadcasting didnt say. Revisions to Medicare are not part of the ACA repeal-and-replace discussions, but Walden brought them upperhaps to reassure seniors and to make a positive point about the existing health law without discussing what the GOP has in mind for Medicare. The ACA was able to close the so-called doughnut hole, he told a crowd at the town hall event in The Dalles. We leave that closed. He added, Thats important for seniors. Press reports indicate Walden did not talk much about Medicaid, which covers about one quarter of Oregons population. The GOPs proposals to change the programs financing, cut the number of people currently receiving benefits, and impose work requirements to get benefits could affect many of the 11 million people who gained coverage under the ACAs Medicaid expansion. As CJR wrote recently, the AHCA would effectively erase the gains in insurance coverage achieved under the ACA. Many town hall attendees seemed anxious over the potential loss of coverage, and raised their concerns over and over. As Walden pivoted to pre-scripted messages, some in his audience caught on, got frustrated, and told reporters they were dissatisfied with what they heard. An attendee at a Prineville town hall told KTVZ-TV, which serves the Eugene area, that Walden walked around the question[s]. He offered no details on specific changes Republicans would make to the healthcare law, but instead told the group, The treatment we want for the people in need is with hope it will actually help them. By then the crowd, according to the station, had become disgruntled. Many among the thousands of attendees at a Bend town hall were also unhappy with Waldens responses. Supposedly the health care bill is being re-written, but I dont really hear what that is like, one attendee said. It seems like at this point its just taking peoples health care away, and that theres no replacement. The Bulletin, a Central Oregon newspaper covering the Bend town hall, seized on the same frustration: Janice Schock, a longtime Bend resident who has supported Walden, said she was disappointed he hadnt more directly addressed her question about how, as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, he would handle renewed efforts to repeal Obamacare. Schock told Walden that while it was fine to tinker, getting rid of affordable care was wrong. Schock wasnt the only Walden supporter who wanted more substantive responses. We want to hear the truth, about what the Republicans plan to do with healthcare, said 69-year-old Joanne Manciu, who lives in The Dalles. We get so much heat from the left that seems absolutely outrageous. What do they actually have planned and how does it work? Walden offered little clarity on the GOPs bill, which he called a work in progress that needed to be improved, according to a local CBS affiliate. He told attendees that he never wanted to return to the days when people with pre-existing conditions were denied coverage. For the Medford town hall, the Mail Tribune ran down the social media responses to Waldens comments, and interviewed attendees for their thoughts on the congressmans answers. He continually went back to these stock answers that make him look good, said one, but clearly what he believes is not what most of the people in this room believes. Congressional recess comes to a close on Friday, but there will be more town halls this summer, and the need for clarity on the future of healthcare will still be critical IF THERES SOMETHING TO PRAISE in coverage of Waldens half-dozen town halls, then its this: Finely crafted press messages about health care policy from congressional PR shops may not cut it anymore. The voting public craves honesty and clarity. They want to know more and, in these instances, their elected representative didnt tell them enough. But neither did the news media. Many of the town hall reports stuck to the same old formula for covering such events. They offered good descriptions of angry and frustrated attendees, and then they fell into he said, she said reporting that pitted Walden supporters against Walden opponents. News outlets didnt get into much substance about the GOP plan to replace Obamacare. There were plenty of opportunities for a few sentences to clarify issues raised at the town halls for those reading or listening to coverage at home. The Dalles Chronicle, for example, reported Walden saying, Nothing were doing in the health law thats being debated right now adversely affected Medicare. Instead of piling on more quotes from Walden, the Chronicle might have explained that Republicans do have plans to continue Medicare privatization and then described what those plans could do. Congressional recess comes to a close on Friday, but there will be more town halls this summer, and the need for clarity on the future of healthcare will still be critical. Local news outlets successfully sounded the alarm over the AHCA last month. Now they should reconsider how they will cover the next round of GOP-crafted policy proposals, to provide their audiences with the information they cant get at town halls. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Trudy Lieberman is a longtime contributing editor to the Columbia Journalism Review. She is the lead writer for CJR's Covering the Health Care Fight. She also blogs for Health News Review and the Center for Health Journalism. Follow her on Twitter @Trudy_Lieberman. MARCY, N.Y. A alumna of SUNY Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly) has donated $75,000 to the school toward the creation of an endowed scholarship that the SUNY Poly Foundation will administer. The alumna wishes to remain anonymous, SUNY Poly said in a news release issued Tuesday. The gift comes with the stipulation that SUNY Poly provides a $25,000 matching gift to make the total endowment $100,000. The donor attended SUNY Poly as a transfer student when the school was previously known as Upper Division College, the university said. The scholarship will be known as the Zeman Vdoviak Scholarship, in memory of the donors grandmothers. They were born in Slovakia and immigrated to America, settling in the Mohawk Valley where they raised their families and continued their childhood friendship for the rest of their lives. The donors planned gift will be designated to support SUNY Poly students who transfer into the institution to complete their degree, the school said. Naming it after my grandmothers is a way to honor them, as they always encouraged us to do the best we could in school and were incredibly supportive of the fact that public education was available here in America. The idea of a free, public education just amazed them, the donor said in the SUNY Poly news release. What I would hope is that it will give some peace of mind to a transfer student as they finish up their degree without the worry of going into more debt. Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram New York, April 18, 2017The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on the Maldives prosecutor general to drop the legal case against Raajje TV journalist Mohamed Wisam, who was acquitted last month of obstructing police at an anti-government protest in 2015. The prosecutor general lodged an appeal with the high court on April 5. Wisam was acquitted on March 28, after Judge Ahmed Shakeel ruled there was insufficient evidence to support the charge brought against him, according to the Maldives Independent. Wisam was at the protest to cover an issue of national importance, according to a statement that Raajje TV emailed to CPJ. The prosecutor generals insistence on continuing this baseless case against Mohamed Wisam and Raajje TV is clearly intended to intimidate all journalists in the Maldives, said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Steven Butler. Wisam was merely doing his job as a journalist, and should not be prosecuted. During the trial, the prosecution said that Wisam scaled barricades and obstructed police officers, but the judge said that a video presented as evidence showed only Wisams arrest, according to the Maldives Independent. The judge noted that other journalists were covering the protests, the article said. PGs decision to appeal Wisams acquittal embarrassing, must revoke decision: @Raajje_tv | https://t.co/xIZ0YMKZu1 Raajjemv English (@RaajjeEnglish) April 17, 2017 In the statement emailed to CPJ, the independent Raajje TV said it wants the prosecutor general to withdraw the appeal and to cease the merciless attacks on journalism in this country. A date for the appeal hearing at the Maldives high court has not been set, Aishath Shaany, head of English content at Raajje TV, told CPJ. The maximum sentence for obstruction is six months in prison and a fine of up to 12,000 Maldivian rufiya (US$779), Shaany said. The prosecutor generals office did not immediately respond to request for comment via email. Prosecutors used the same video presented as evidence in Wisams trial in a separate trial of Raajje TV cameraman Adam Zareer, who was convicted in February of obstructing police at the March 2015 protest, and fined 3,000 rufiya (US$195), the Maldives Independent reported. Zareers lawyer said that he plans to appeal, according to reports. Wisam and other Raajje TV journalists have faced multiple charges in recent months. Last month, Wisam and Leevaan Ali Nasir were found guilty of a separate obstruction charge and fined 28,800 rufiya (US$1,868) each, according to the Maldives Independent. Raajje TV has also been fined 2 million rufiya (US$129,584) under the countrys criminal defamation law, the station told CPJ. [Editors note: The sixth paragraph of this alert has been updated to reflect the maximum sentence for obstruction.] Police disrupt Chand partys anti-poll events Police intervened in the anti-election programmes organised by the Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal in Butwal and Janakpur on Tuesday. Viking Cruises announced that it has signed on to sponsor National Geographics first fully scripted global anthology series, Genius, which in its first season tells the story of Albert Einstein, according to a press release. During the global premiere of Genius on April 25 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on National Geographic, Viking will showcase a brand campaign entitled Time, featuring Torstein Hagen, Founder and Chairman of Viking Cruises. A lifelong admirer of Einstein, Hagen, who is also a physicist, shares Einsteins interest in the concept of time and often refers to time as the only scarce commodity. The campaign debuts today and will roll-out across additional marketing channels throughout the shows 10-part global event series on National Geographic. Through my formal education, I studied nuclear physics, and as a scientist, I have always been fascinated with Einstein and his work as a theoretical physicist, said Torstein Hagen, Founder and Chairman of Viking Cruises. We are pleased to have a premier partner in National Geographic, to further bring enriching offerings through art, history and exploration to audiences around the world, while also continuing to showcase The Viking Way of travel. Genius exemplifies National Geographics commitment to premium content, and we are thrilled that it is attracting premium partners like Viking, said Brendan Ripp, Executive Vice President of Sales and Partnerships for National Geographic. Vikings commitment to expanding cultural horizons is truly inspiring, and we hope Genius is just the beginning of our joint efforts to bring consumers the type of content we both believe in. Dramatizing the stories of the worlds most brilliant innovators, season one of Genius reveals how Albert became Einstein, according to a statement, exploring his extraordinary professional achievements along with his volatile, passionate and complex personal relationships. The series is based on Walter Isaacsons book Einstein: His Life and Universe and is executive produced by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, with Howard making his scripted television directorial debut with the first episode. The difference between a good leader and a great leader often comes down to how one handles conflict. Conflict in the workplace is unavoidable. Leaders gain or lose respect based on how they respond to and handle it. Our instincts dont serve us well in conflict. If we disagree with something that someone says, our natural reaction is to push back, to push against that person. This response can sound defensive or aggressive, causing a loss of respect from employees. Even if you are not the one pushing against, you are likely to work with employees who will display this behavior. For example, outspoken millennials may resort to this push-against communication style. Younger employees arent afraid to share their opinions and ideas or to challenge those of their superiors, according to workplace research. One way to reduce conflict and increase cooperation is to go with, not against people who disagree with you. That is the essence of the Japanese martial arts form known as Aikido. Here are examples of push-against responses: State credit union advocacy led to the governors of New Hampshire and New Mexico signing credit union-friendly bills into law in recent weeks, while other pro-credit union bills in Delaware, Washington, Montana and Tennessee await signatures. In New Hampshire, Gov. Chris Sununu signed into law a bill that loosens credit union branching restrictions by giving the regulator the authority to approve out-of-state credit unions to branch into New Hampshire. The Cooperative Credit Union Associations (CCUA) New Hampshire Advocacy Committee had several members submit oral and written testimony in support of the bill, and CCUA President/CEO Paul Gentile helped lead efforts as the bill went through the public hearing process. New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez signed a data breach notification bill into law earlier this month, a bill strongly supported by the Credit Union Association of New Mexico. Russian Propaganda Connections Writing and dispensing Russian propaganda is coordinated through a centralised system, every element of it connects to the Kremlins policies and rhetoric consistently. The phenomenon is not new, they widely used similar tools in the Soviet Union as well. The fake news stories are usually generated by unrecognisable fake websites using anonymous sources with the hope that they make their way into mainstream media. To Moscow it does not matter whether the sites serving their interests are operated by their own men, or useful idiots, actually it is exactly anonymity that allows them to infiltrate web pages. In Hungary, there are various propaganda sits that are undoubtedly controlled by Moscow, including the portal Hidfo, which now runs under a Russian domain, established by Magyar Nemzeti Arcvonal (Hungarian National Front, MNA), the organisation of the murderer of a policeman, Istvan Gyorkos. Gyorkos had an active relationship with the undercover agents of Russian military intelligence. After it was founded, the Hungarian news website MNA-run Hidfo posted extremist content. Then, Gyorkos handed the site over to the Russians, who changed the websites profile and today it explicitly focuses on disseminating Russian propaganda. Later it was revealed that a journalist of the site with deep knowledge of military affairs met Jobbiks Marton Gyongyosi twice. Former editors of We stand with Russia say they had no connections to Hidfo and Gyorkos, but one former administrator claimed once an individual joined the team of editors who was openly a Hungarist (Hungarian neo-Nazi) and claimed he was in contact with MNA. However, it was unclear which branch of the MNA the Hungarist belonged to, as the organisation split up in 2012. Moreover, a Russian man living in Hungary, KS also appeared among the sites admins. When we investigated KS's background it was found that the person is described even by his friends as having a fierce temper and he was previously convicted of vandalism by a Hungarian court. Erno told Index they themselves never tried to establish contacts with Russian diplomats. One leftist editor wanted to coordinate with the Russians in one concrete case, but the majority voted against it, thus no Russian connection was established. We were really cautious not to turn the site into someones playground, he claimed. Contrary to this, another former editor who holds far-left views recalls the events completely differently. His story is that the editors wanted to establish a news site, but the plan did not come to fruition. Erno admits that the establishment of a news site came up several times among the editors, but this did not have anything to do with the Russians either. According to a former admin, Russian diplomats did not take the Facebook page seriously. He recalled an occasion when he spoke to Russians during a wreath laying ceremony. He mentioned to Russian diplomats that they could give the Facebook page an interview, but he was politely rejected because they would only give an interview to a news site, not to a Facebook page. Although the majority of the pages editors, writers are in their 20s, there is an older ex-diplomat in their ranks as well: Sandor Csikos, who translated most of the Russian-language content of the We stand with Russia site. Csikos was bought into the team by the anti-fascist, leftist Mate Kocsis. Later the ex-diplomat was inactive for a short period, then he returned only to leave the team recently. Index Hungary: You Might Also Read: Facebook To Introduce Fake News Tools: How Cyber Propaganda Influenced Politics in 2016: On Facebook, Fake US Election News Was More Popular Than Real News: Facebooks Shifting Attitude To Controversy: Cyberwar: Enter the Trolls: Want To See What The Pros Expect Of Oil In Q2? Access The Q2 Market Forecasts HERE Talking Points: Crude Oil Technical Strategy: Long above Q2 Opening Range @ $49.91/bbl A weak US Dollar could lift Oil toward $60/bbl in H2 2017 if OPEC extends cuts Saudi exports fall to 21-month low showing active balancing working The Oil business has always been a messy business, which has led to a messy market. However, there are signs that the often-critiqued plan from OPEC to reign in production to balance the market is working. On Tuesday, data from Joint Organization Data Initiative in Riyadh showed that Saudis oil exports had fallen below 7 million barrels a day, which is the lowest level since May 2015. Score one for good timing if you are a Crude Oil Bull because the announcement of the planned falling crude oil exports from OPECs largest producer aligned with an upgraded global growth forecast from the IMF. The weekly chart below smooths out some of the day-to-day volatility but shows a few key Bullish developments with one main concern. The excitement comes from price stability above the 55-WMA and the Weekly Ichimoku Cloud. Both technical indicators are long-term trend bias filters, and the price trading above them favors the next shock to be higher as opposed to lower. Another good measuring point for Crude Oil is the Q2 Opening Range low at $49.91/bbl. Swing traders looking for short-term support can look to the 38.2% retracement of the March-April range at $51.20/bbl. Opening Ranges are a simple binary approach (price above or below) to help see whether momentum has been Bullish or Bearish after a starting session of a specific time series. If the price remains above $49.91, it would be hard to argue that Bearish pressure has staying power. When looking at institutional speculators with the CFTC Committment of Traders Index published every Friday, we see that net-longs increased from speculators for the second week in Crude Oil futures, which argues that smart traders are looking for further upside. The concern when looking at the chart is the yellow rectangle that encapsulates the price range of the extreme week at the beginning of the year with an intra-week high of $55.21. Therefore, you can see were stuck between the Opening Range high of Q1 at $55.21 and the Opening Range low of Q2 at $49.91. Given the fundamental support that looks to be developing as the price trades above the opening range, the Oil market looks to be setting up an increasing likelihood of a break above the $55.21, which would likely see us trading above $60/bbl. A break below the Q2 opening range at $49.91 would open up downside targets at the long-term support of $41.77. Interested in Joining Our Analysts, Instructors, or Strategists For a Free Webinar? Register Here Chart Created by Tyler Yell, CMT Crude Oil Sentiment: Oil - US Crude: Retail trader data shows 39.8% of traders are net-long with the ratio of traders short to long at 1.51 to 1. In fact, traders have remained net-short since Apr 10 when Oil - US Crude traded near 5266.2; theprice has moved 1.0% higher since then. The number of traders net-long is 7.3% lower than yesterday and 20.3% lower from last week, while the number of traders net-short is 4.6% lower than yesterday and 1.5% lower from last week. We typically take a contrarian view to crowd sentiment, and the fact traders are net-short suggests Oil - US Crude prices may continue to rise. Traders are further net-short than yesterday and last week, and the combination of current sentiment and recent changes gives us a stronger Oil - US Crude-bullish contrarian trading bias. (Emphasis Mine) --- Shorter-Term US OIL Technical Levels: Tuesday, April 18, 2017 For those interested in shorter-term levels of focus than the ones above, these levels signal important potential pivot levels over the next 48-hours. Contact and discuss markets with Tyler on Twitter: @ForexYell Poll cycle in advance stage, no turning back now: EC chief Quelling speculations that the May 14 local level elections could either be cancelled or postponed in view of possible security challenges, particularly in Province 2, Chief Election Commissioner Ayodhee Prasad Yadav on Tuesday expressed confidence that the elections will go ahead as planned. A lack of sufficient evidence has led the South African Competition Commission to drop its probe into MTN and Vodacom over anti-competitive pricing strategies. The regulator stated that it had found no solid grounds for legal action against either of the top two South African operators after a thorough investigation of their pricing plans, which began in 2013 after number three Cell C accused them of stymieing competition. Cell Cs core complaint was focused around on net pricing, through which its larger rivals offered their customers free or discounted calls to subscribers on the same network. The operator decried the practice as inducement and an undue squeeze on its margins. However, the Competition Commission stated that it had found that it would be unlikely to succeed in a prosecution of the specific conduct subject to Cell Cs complaint. However, there is evidence to suggest that this conduct and other features of the market, in particular the price differentials applied for on-net and off-net calls as well as long-term subscribers contracts, have made it difficult for late entrants such as Cell C to compete effectively. The regulator noted that it would now partner with South African communications authority ICASA to look into regulatory interventions that may be necessary to make the market competitive. BRUSSELS - EU consumers would be ashamed if they knew about the poor working conditions of the women who produce the clothes they buy from Sri Lanka that's the view of Lola Sanchez Caldentey, Member of the European Parliament (MEP). Her comments came after she visited the country with fellow MEP Anne-Marie Mineur to evaluate labour rights in the country's apparel sector prior to the European Union's decision on granting Sri Lanka preferential trade access. Sri Lanka's labour rights regime is under scrutiny as the European Union is set to decide next month whether the country is entitled to preferential trade access to the EU under the GSP+ regime (Generalised Scheme of Preferences). Sri Lanka has been suspended from GSP+ since 2010 because of its human rights record. The apparel industry accounts for about half of Sri Lanka's total exports. President Bhandari departs for Gujarat President Bidya Devi Bhandari who is presently on a five-day State visit to India wrapped up her important meetings and programmes in the Indian Capital and left for Rajkot, the fourth- largest city in the state of Gujarat, on Wednesday. SEDE BOQER, Israel...April 19, 2017 - Researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) have developed novel ultrafiltration membranes that significantly improve the virus-removal process from treated municipal wastewater used for drinking in water-scarce cities. Current membrane filtration methods require intensive energy to adequately remove pathogenic viruses without using chemicals like chlorine, which can contaminate the water with disinfection byproducts. Researchers at UIUC and BGU collaborated on the new approach for virus pathogen removal, which was published in the current issue of Water Research. "This is an urgent matter of public safety," the researchers say. "Insufficient removal of human Adenovirus in municipal wastewater, for example, has been detected as a contaminant in U.S. drinking water sources, including the Great Lakes and worldwide." The norovirus, which can cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, is the most common cause of viral gastroenteritis in humans, and is estimated to be the second leading cause of gastroenteritis-associated mortality. Human adenoviruses can cause a wide range of illnesses that include the common cold, sore throat (pharyngitis), bronchitis, pneumonia, diarrhea, pink eye (conjunctivitis), fever, bladder inflammation or infection (cystitis), inflammation of the stomach and intestines (gastroenteritis), and neurological disease. In the study, Prof. Moshe Herzberg of the Department of Desalination and Water Treatment in the Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research at BGU and his group grafted a special hydrogel coating onto a commercial ultrafiltration membrane. The "zwitterionic polymer hydrogel" repels the viruses from approaching and passing through the membrane. It contains both positive and negative charges and improves efficiency by weakening virus accumulation on the modified filter surface. The result was a significantly higher rate of removal of waterborne viruses, including human norovirus and adenovirus. "Utilizing a simple graft-polymerization of commercialized membranes to make virus removal more comprehensive is a promising development for controlling filtration of pathogens in potable water reuse," says Prof. Nguyen, Department of Chemical Engineering, UIUC. ### Prof. Herzberg and his student, Maria Piatkovsky, worked on this groundbreaking research with Prof. Thanh H. Nguyen and her student, Ruiqing Lu, Department of Chemical Engineering, UIUC as well as Professor Dr. Mathias Ulbricht, chair of Technical Chemistry II, University Duisburg-Essen, Germany. The project was supported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA grant RD83582201-0) and the German-Israeli Water Technology Cooperation Program, which is funded by the Ministry of Science & Technology of Israel and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (BMBF-MOST, BMBF grant # 02WA1261B, MOST grant # GR-2394). Improvement of virus removal using ultrafiltration membranes modified with grafted zwitterionic polymer hydrogels, Lu, R., Zhang, C., Piatkovsky, M., Ulbricht, M., Herzberg, M., Nguyen, T.H., Water Research (2017), doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2017.03.023. About BGU's Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research The Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Israel's largest and leading water institute, conducts interdisciplinary, cutting-edge research and graduate education in water sciences, aimed at improving human well-being through technologies and policies for sustainable use of water resources. World-renowned Zuckerberg researchers are focused on desalination technologies and groundwater production, water quality and microbiology, as well as water resource economics and management. Zuckerberg graduate programs attract students from all corners of the world who are involved in research projects and collaborations in both developed and underdeveloped countries. Named for New York philanthropist Roy J. Zuckerberg, the Institute was founded in 2002 within the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research at the Sede Boqer Campus of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. For more information, visit http://www.aabgu.org/water. About American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (AABGU) plays a vital role in sustaining David Ben-Gurion's vision: creating a world-class institution of education and research in the Israeli desert, nurturing the Negev community and sharing the University's expertise locally and around the globe. As Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) looks ahead to turning 50 in 2020, AABGU imagines a future that goes beyond the walls of academia. It is a future where BGU invents a new world and inspires a vision for a stronger Israel and its next generation of leaders. Together with supporters, AABGU will help the University foster excellence in teaching, research and outreach to the communities of the Negev for the next 50 years and beyond. Visit vision.aabgu.org to learn more. AABGU, which is headquartered in Manhattan, has nine regional offices throughout the United States. For more information, visit http://www.aabgu.org. A new study reports an antibody therapy in development for the neurodegenerative disorders known as tauopathies may be eventually used as a marker to screen patients for disease progression, which could help inform much needed new therapeutic strategies for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, frontotemporal dementia, and Alzheimer's disease. Currently, no approved treatments exist for such diseases, where neurological damage and cognitive decline occur as toxic "clumps" of a misfolded protein called tau accumulate in the brain. One barrier to clinical trials is screening patients that have the aggregated form of the protein in their central nervous systems, and also determining if a therapy is reaching its intended target. Based on promising results in rodents, an antibody called HJ8.5 that recognizes the pathological form of tau is now under investigation. Here, Kiran Yanamandra and colleagues showed that administering HJ8.5 increased the detectable levels of tau in the serum of four human patients with tauopathies as well as in mouse models. Tau is typically found inside neurons, but researchers believe that accumulations in the spaces outside of brain cells are responsible for driving the diseases' pathologies. The scientists correlated the amount of tau in the brain with serum protein levels in mice, demonstrating that the higher levels of tau observed after treatment reflected increased serum-stability of the protein (which typically has a short half-life in the blood and is as such often undetectable). The authors say it will be important to assess plasma tau across different patient populations as anti-tau antibodies move forward into clinical trials. ### Ocean Current Dumps Plastic in Remote Arctic Waters: The Arctic Ocean is a dead-end for plastics floating in the North Atlantic, a new study reports. The study confirms that plastics are abundant and widespread in seas east of Greenland and north of Scandinavia, even though human populations - contributors of plastic waste - are low there. The results stress the importance of properly managing plastic litter at its source, because once it enters the ocean, its destination can be unpredictable. Historically semi-closed seas with high surrounding populations, like the Mediterranean Sea, have exhibited excess buildups of plastic debris. Such buildup has not been expected to accumulate in waters at polar latitudes, however, as they largely lack nearby pollution sources. During a 2013 Tara Oceans circumpolar expedition, Andres Cozar et al. used nets to collect floating plastic debris, including fishing lines and a variety of plastic films, fragments and granules. Most of the ice-free surface waters in the Arctic Polar Circle were only slightly polluted with plastic debris, they report. However, plastic debris was plentiful in the Greenland and Barents Seas. Hundreds of tons of plastic fragments (with average values similar to those in areas of plastic pileup closer to the equator) were estimated from surface waters alone, and even more debris is likely on the seafloor below, the authors say. The proportion of film-type plastic in their samples supported the hypothesis that the plastic had largely traveled from distant sources, including the coasts of northwest Europe, the U.K. and the east coast of the U.S., though some could be sourced to local shipping activity. The researchers followed the pathway of plastic in the North Atlantic Ocean using 17,000 satellite buoys, confirming the pollution flows poleward via the thermohaline circulation, a current known as the global ocean conveyer belt. Though the study concluded Arctic floating plastic currently accounts for less than 3% of the global total, this current will cause plastic to continuously accumulate as pollution from lower latitudes flows upward. The authors say the potential effects of this pollution flow on the Arctic's unique ecosystem are especially concerning. ### MINNEAPOLIS - For people with severe brain injuries, researchers have found that the rhythm of daily fluctuations in body temperature is related to their level of consciousness, according to a preliminary study published in the April 19, 2017, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. "Our study suggests that the closer the body temperature patterns of a severely brain injured person are to those of a healthy person's circadian rhythm, the better they scored on tests of recovery from coma, especially when looking at arousal, which is necessary for consciousness," said study author Christine Blume, PhD, of the University of Salzburg in Austria. Circadian rhythms, which are rhythmic variations in body functions brought about by the body's internal clock, are the daily cycles that tell us when to sleep, wake or eat. This biological clock also regulates many of the body's other functions including temperature. It is set by environmental cues, like periods of daylight and dark. In healthy people, daily variations in body temperature closely follow the sleep-wake cycle, the 24-hour daily sleep pattern controlled by the body's internal clock. Other studies have found that disruptions to the sleep-wake cycle may affect various aspects of health like the immune system and short-term memory. During a normal sleep-wake cycle, the body's core temperature fluctuates and can drop one to two degrees during the early morning hours. For this study, researchers monitored 18 people with severe brain injuries, those with unresponsive wakefulness syndrome and those in a minimally conscious state. Unresponsive wakefulness syndrome, also known as a vegetative state, is when someone has awakened from a coma, is opening his or her eyes and having periods of sleep, but remains unresponsive. A minimally conscious state is when someone shows signs of awareness. For one week, researchers continually monitored the body temperatures of participants with external skin sensors. With that temperature data, they were able to determine the length of the circadian rhythm for each person. Length of temperature cycles of participants ranged from 23.5 to 26.3 hours. Researchers also evaluated the level of consciousness for each person with the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised, measuring things like response to sound and ability to open eyes with or without stimulation. They found that those who scored better on that scale had body temperature patterns that more closely aligned with a healthy 24-hour rhythm. "This is the first time an association has been found between circadian variations in body temperature and arousal in brain-injured patients. Importantly, arousal is essential for consciousness," said Blume. "Circadian variations are something doctors should keep in mind when diagnosing patients. The time of the day when patients are tested could be crucial. Also, doctors may want to consider creating environments for patients that mimic the light patterns of night and day to help achieve a normal sleep-wake cycle. The hope is that this may help bring a person with a severe brain injury closer to consciousness." The researchers tested bright light stimulation on eight participants for one week and found positive effects in two patients. Blume said that larger studies are needed to test the hypothesis that bright light is indeed beneficial for patients. One limitation of the study was that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data was not available to evaluate the extent of brain damage, especially in the hypothalamus, the portion of the brain where the body clock is located. Blume suggests that future studies look at the relationship between body temperature rhythms and other body rhythms like hormone patterns and rest-activity cycles. ### To learn more about brain injury, visit http://www.aan.com/patients. The American Academy of Neurology is the world's largest association of neurologists and neuroscience professionals, with 32,000 members. The AAN is dedicated to promoting the highest quality patient-centered neurologic care. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as Alzheimer's disease, stroke, migraine, multiple sclerosis, concussion, Parkinson's disease and epilepsy. For more information about the American Academy of Neurology, visit http://www.aan.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube. Media Contacts: Renee Tessman, rtessman@aan.com, (612) 928-6137 Michelle Uher, muher@aan.com, (612) 928-6120 Scores of undocumented immigrant youth in the U.S. who are pursuing careers in the chemical sciences and related fields face an uncertain future in this country. This week's cover story in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, provides an in-depth look at the issue. Linda Wang, a senior editor at C&EN, spoke with several undocumented immigrants in the chemical sciences. Many of these students and chemistry professionals have benefited from a 2012 Obama Administration immigration policy called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which allows some undocumented youth who entered the U.S. as minors to apply for deferred action from deportation as well as temporary work permits. But their future remains in limbo as President Donald J. Trump considers policies to crack down on undocumented immigrants. Even if DACA remains unchanged, however, there are virtually no avenues aside from marrying a U.S. citizen to legalize a person's status. Currently, 20 states offer in-state college tuition to students who meet eligibility requirements, including undocumented students. In addition, several universities, including the University of Washington and the University of South Florida, encourage faculty and staff to participate in UndocuAlly programs, which train them on how to support the undocumented student population. Although the current political climate and recent news of deportations are making some undocumented workers and students retreat into the shadows, many who spoke with Wang said it was important to share their stories. ### The article, "Undocumented students remain in the shadows of the chemical sciences," is freely available here. The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With nearly 157,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. ACS does not conduct research, but publishes and publicizes peer-reviewed scientific studies. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio. To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org. Follow us on Twitter | Facebook WASHINGTON, DC -- If an asteroid struck Earth, which of its effects--scorching heat, flying debris, towering tsunamis--would claim the most lives? A new study has the answer: violent winds and shock waves are the most dangerous effects produced by Earth-impacting asteroids. The study explored seven effects associated with asteroid impacts--heat, pressure shock waves, flying debris, tsunamis, wind blasts, seismic shaking and cratering--and estimated their lethality for varying sizes. The researchers then ranked the effects from most to least deadly, or how many lives were lost to each effect. Overall, wind blasts and shock waves were likely to claim the most casualties, according to the study. In experimental scenarios, these two effects accounted for more than 60 percent of lives lost. Shock waves arise from a spike in atmospheric pressure and can rupture internal organs, while wind blasts carry enough power to hurl human bodies and flatten forests. "This is the first study that looks at all seven impact effects generated by hazardous asteroids and estimates which are, in terms of human loss, most severe," said Clemens Rumpf, a senior research assistant at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom, and lead author of the new study published in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union. Rumpf said his findings, which he plans to present at the 2017 International Academy of Astronautics Planetary Defense Conference in Tokyo, Japan, could help hazard mitigation groups better prepare for asteroid threats because it details which impact effects are most dominant, which are less severe and where resources should be allocated. Though studies like his are necessary to reduce harm, deadly asteroid impacts are still rare, Rumpf said. Earth is struck by an asteroid 60 meters (more than 190 feet) wide approximately once every 1500 years, whereas an asteroid 400 meters (more than 1,300 feet) across is likely to strike the planet every 100,000 years, according to Rumpf. "The likelihood of an asteroid impact is really low," said Rumpf. "But the consequences can be unimaginable." Modeling asteroid effects Rumpf and his colleagues used models to pepper the globe with 50,000 artificial asteroids ranging from 15 to 400 meters (49 to 1312 feet) across--the diameter range of asteroids that most frequently strike the Earth. The researchers then estimated how many lives would be lost to each of the seven effects. Land-based impacts were, on average, an order of magnitude more dangerous than asteroids that landed in oceans. Large, ocean-impacting asteroids could generate enough power to trigger a tsunami, but the wave's energy would likely dissipate as it traveled and eventually break when it met a continental shelf. Even if a tsunami were to reach coastal communities, far fewer people would die than if the same asteroid struck land, Rumpf said. Overall, tsunamis accounted for 20 percent of lives lost, according to the study. The heat generated by an asteroid accounted for nearly 30 percent of lives lost, according to the study. Affected populations could likely avoid harm by hiding in basements and other underground structures, Rumpf said. Seismic shaking was of least concern, as it accounted for only 0.17 percent of casualties, according to the study. Cratering and airborne debris were similarly less concerning, both garnering fewer than 1 percent of deaths. Only asteroids that spanned at least 18 meters (nearly 60 feet) in diameter were lethal. Many asteroids on the lower end of this spectrum disintegrate in Earth's atmosphere before reaching the planet's surface, but they strike more frequently than larger asteroids and generate enough heat and explosive energy to deal damage. For example, the meteor involved in the 2013 impact in Chelyabinsk, Russia, was 17 to 20 meters (roughly 55 to 65 feet) across and caused more than 1,000 injuries, inflicting burns and temporary blindness on people nearby. Understanding risk "This report is a reasonable step forward in trying to understand and come to grips with the hazards posed by asteroids and comet impactors," said geophysicist Jay Melosh, a distinguished professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana. Melosh, who wasn't involved in the study, added that the findings "lead one to appreciate the role of air blasts in asteroid impacts as we saw in Chelyabinsk." The majority of the injuries in the Chelyabinsk impact were caused by broken glass sent flying into the faces of unknowing locals peering through their windows after the meteor's bright flash, he noted. The study's findings could help mitigate loss of human life, according to Rumpf. Small towns facing the impact of an asteroid 30 meters across (about 98 feet) may fare best by evacuating. However, an asteroid 200 meters wide (more than 650 feet) headed for a densely-populated city poses a greater risk and could warrant a more involved response, he said. "If only 10 people are affected, then maybe it's better to evacuate the area," Rumpf said. "But if 1,000,000 people are affected, it may be worthwhile to mount a deflection mission and push the asteroid out of the way." ### The American Geophysical Union is dedicated to advancing the Earth and space sciences for the benefit of humanity through its scholarly publications, conferences, and outreach programs. AGU is a not-for-profit, professional, scientific organization representing 60,000 members in 137 countries. Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and our other social media channels. AGU Press Contact: Nanci Bompey +1 (202) 777-7524 nbompey@agu.org The development of rapid diagnostic tests to identify existing and emerging diseases, such as Ebola or SARS, with the same speed and efficiency as a pregnancy test, is being hindered by lack of profile and financial barriers, suggests a joint report from a meeting organised by the Academy of Medical Sciences and the InterAcademy Partnership for Health. Such tests, which can also play a critical role in tackling antibiotic resistance, need to be prioritised by governments and funders internationally alongside drugs and vaccine development to improve global health. The report, 'Improving the development and deployment of rapid diagnostic tests in Low and Middle Income Countries', published today (20 April 2017 in the UK), summarises the conclusions of an international meeting held in London on the 21 November 2016, to discuss the growth of this technology and how rapid diagnostic tests could be accelerated to become widely adopted globally. It highlights the need for the establishment of a new international body to advocate for rapid diagnostic tests, share information and coordinate international research and development efforts. The report also proposes the creation of an Essential Diagnostics List to raise the profile of the most important diagnostics required for a functioning healthcare system, similar to the WHO Essential Medicines List. The major social and global benefits that rapid diagnostic tests can provide, such as targeting the use of antibiotics only to those who will benefit, limiting unnecessary use and delaying the development of antibiotic resistance, were stressed at the meeting. Rapid diagnostics were also described as essential for disease surveillance to support healthcare planning, to spot trends such as antibiotic resistance, and to identify, monitor and control emerging infections such as Zika virus and pandemic influenza. Professor Sanjeev Krishna, Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, who chaired the meeting, said: "Diagnostics save lives - doctors cannot treat a disease properly unless they know what it is. Rapid diagnostic tests are also essential for tackling major healthcare challenges, such as controlling emerging diseases and reducing antibiotic resistance. "We need diagnostics to move into the spotlight, taking their rightful place as a priority alongside drugs and vaccines to improve global health. Governments around the world will need to prioritise development and implementation of rapid diagnostics, while a new international body is needed to help coordinate global efforts." Financial incentives are also required to encourage companies to develop new tests, the report suggests. Rapid diagnostic tests are not always seen as being a lucrative market for big companies, while smaller companies may not have the resources to scale up production. Rapid diagnostic tests are particularly useful in countries where there are less developed healthcare systems, such as low and middle-income countries. Developing rapid diagnostic tests for these countries is challenging, because they have to be both economical and robust enough to cope with difficult environmental conditions. Professor Sanjeev Krishna, added: "Everyone has heard of a pregnancy test -- a cheap, portable and efficient handheld diagnostic. We need to see more of these types of test developed for infectious diseases and we need to see them used widely in countries with less developed healthcare systems to quickly and cheaply identify disease. "We have seen great successes with rapid diagnostic tests for malaria, HIV and TB, but we need to do more to build on this. Rapid diagnostics tests that can work in real world conditions and can be operated with minimum training could completely transform the way we treat patients, but we need the political will, financial incentive and coordination of effort to move forwards." ### The report summarises the conclusions of a workshop that brought together 56 experts from countries including the UK, Nigeria, Morocco, Guatemala, Uganda, Philippines, Brazil, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Trinidad and Tobago. The workshop was organised by the Academy of Medical Sciences and the InterAcademy Partnership for Health with funding from the UK Global Challenges Research Fund. To interview a spokesperson, or to request a copy of 'Improving the development and deployment of rapid diagnostic tests in Low and Middle Income Countries', please contact Giorgio De Faveri at giorgio.defaveri@acmedsci.ac.uk, +44 (0)20 3141 3206, or Claire Bithell at claire.bithell@acmedsci.ac.uk, +44 (0)20 3141 3207. Notes for editors 1. The Academy of Medical Sciences is the independent body in the UK representing the diversity of medical science. Our mission is to promote medical science and its translation into benefits for society. The Academy's elected Fellows are the United Kingdom's leading medical scientists from hospitals, academia, industry and the public service. We work with them to promote excellence, influence policy to improve health and wealth, nurture the next generation of medical researchers, link academia, industry and the NHS, seize international opportunities and encourage dialogue about the medical sciences. http://www.acmedsci.ac.uk 2. The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) is a 1.5 billion fund announced by the UK Government to support cutting-edge research that addresses the challenges faced by developing countries through: challenge-led disciplinary and interdisciplinary research strengthening capacity for research and innovation within both the UK and developing countries providing an agile response to emergencies where there is an urgent research need. GCRF is administered through delivery partners including the Research Councils and national academies. GCRF forms part of the UK's Official Development Assistance (ODA) commitment, which is monitored by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). ODA-funded activities focus on outcomes that promote the long-term sustainable growth of countries on the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) list. GCRF funding is awarded in a manner that fits with Official ODA guidelines. 3. For more information on the Academy's GCRF programme of workshops please visit http://www.acmedsci.ac.uk/GCRF. 4. The InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) is an umbrella organisation that brings together three international network of academies of science and medicine: IAP for Science, IAP for Research and IAP for Health. Its more than 130 national and regional member academies, including 78 in the IAP for Health section, harness the expertise of scientific, medical and engineering leaders to advance sound policies, promote excellence in science education, improve public health and achieve other critical development goals. The InterAcademy Partnership that brought together the three original networks was formally established in March 2016. For more information, see http://www.interacadmies.org. Knowing where migrating birds came from and where they're headed is essential for their conservation and management. For ducks, most of this information comes from long-term bird-banding programs, but this type of research has limits--despite all the birds harvested by hunters, only a small percentage of banded birds are ever recovered. A new study from The Condor: Ornithological Applications takes on the challenge of gaining information from unbanded birds by using stable isotope ratios, which reflect where birds were living while growing their feathers. These results reveal that the northern reaches of Canada may have underappreciated importance for North America's waterfowl. Canada's Saskatchewan River Delta is North America's largest inland delta and is a key stopover site for migrating ducks. To learn more about the origins of ducks using delta habitat, Christian Asante of the University of Saskatchewan, Keith Hobson of the University of Western Ontario, and their colleagues analyzed the isotopes in feather samples from 236 ducks from five species, all harvested by hunters in the region during migration in 2013 and 2014. Hydrogen and sulfur isotope ratios give scientists different information--hydrogen isotope ratios vary predictably with latitude, while sulfur isotope ratios reflect the type of food a bird eats and underlying geology--but together they indicated that as many as half the ducks using the delta during migration originated in the vast and nearly inaccessible areas of boreal forest and wetlands to the north. The research required close collaboration with the area's hunters. "Working on this project was a great experience," says local community member Michela Carriere, who was hired to do the field work for the study. "I spent a few weeks collecting samples from the ducks and getting to know the hunters and the guides. Twice a day a load of ducks would come in and I would collect samples and label and package them, plucking feathers and extracting tissues. The hardest part was the labeling, which has to be done meticulously. I would spend hours each day collecting and organizing the samples." The results show that the boreal habitat's contribution to North America's waterfowl populations, though poorly documented, may be crucial. This region faces increasing threats from climate change and other factors, and isotopic monitoring offers a new means of tracking the effects on birds. "Our study is important for two reasons," says Hobson. "First, it demonstrates clearly that the delta is a major fall refueling station for birds breeding in the north. Second, it shows once again how origins and regions of productivity can be determined using the simple isotope approach with feathers from hunter-killed birds. This major potential tool in waterfowl management has been largely overlooked in North America for too long." ### "Tracing origins of waterfowl using the Saskatchewan River Delta: Incorporating stable isotope approaches in continent-wide waterfowl management and conservation" will be available April 19, 2017, at http://americanornithologypubs.org/doi/abs/10.1650/CONDOR-16-179.1 (issue URL http://americanornithologypubs.org/toc/cond/119/2). About the journal: The Condor: Ornithological Applications is a peer-reviewed, international journal of ornithology. It began in 1899 as the journal of the Cooper Ornithological Club, a group of ornithologists in California that became the Cooper Ornithological Society, which merged with the American Ornithologists' Union in 2016 to become the American Ornithological Society. ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (April 19, 2017) - New analysis of Medicare's Hospital Compare portal shows the statistical methodology used to rate and compare hospitals underestimates mortality rates of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) at small hospitals. The research, titled "Mortality Rate Estimation and Standardization for Public Reporting: Medicare's Hospital Compare," appears in the Journal of the American Statistical Association. Hospital Compare collects data from Medicare claims and hospitals. That data is then processed through a statistical model known as a "random effects logit model," which unfortunately shrinks mortality rates from small hospitals to resemble the national average. "Hospital Compare's finding of average risk at small hospitals is a mistake because the current model is not properly calibrated," notes Edward I. George, professor of statistics at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and one of the study's authors. "It's a mistake that has implications for patients." Low volume hospitals, by definition, have little data regarding AMI mortality. In using the current model, a poorly performing small volume hospital will look average, and even a large hospital that performs far better than average will yield results that underestimate their quality. "The underestimation of AMI mortality rates at small hospitals, as seen in Hospital Compare, contradicts previously established research and consistent findings that mortality rates are typically higher at low volume hospitals," adds Jeffrey H. Silber, professor of pediatrics at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, professor of health care management at The Wharton School, and one of the study's authors. George, Silber, and fellow researchers Paul R. Rosenbaum, also a professor of statistics at The Wharton School; Veronika Rockova, assistant professor of econometrics and statistics at The University of Chicago's Booth School of Business; and Ville Satopaa, assistant professor of technology and operations management at INSEAD, propose an alternative model that yields more accurate and appropriately calibrated predictions. This model would incorporate additional factors such as hospital volume, nursing staff, medical residents, and the hospital's ability to perform cardiovascular procedures into the calculation process. Combined with a different statistical method known as "direct standardization," the researchers' approach is seen to be more effective for adjusting mortality rate comparisons between hospitals. "Patients deserve to have the most accurate information available so they can make well-informed health care decisions. Our analysis demonstrates that further modeling with additional hospital attributes has the clear potential to shed more light on the rankings of such hospitals," the authors conclude. Evaluating and assessing hospital performance, while challenging, is nothing new to the statistical community. In 2011, the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS) published "Statistical Issues in Assessing Hospital Performance," which examined statistical issues identified by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and other stakeholders about the government agency's approach to modeling hospital quality based on outcomes. Then chair of COPSS, Thomas Louis, a professor in the department of biostatistics at Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health, knows this issue well. "Adopting the modeling enhancements proposed by the authors in this new Hospital Compare research will improve predicting outcomes and choosing a hospital," said Louis. "I urge the CMS and all researchers working on profiling methods to seriously consider issues the authors have identified and their state-of-the-art approaches to many of them." ### About the American Statistical Association The ASA is the world's largest community of statisticians and the oldest continuously operating professional science society in the United States. Its members serve in industry, government and academia in more than 90 countries, advancing research and promoting sound statistical practice to inform public policy and improve human welfare. For additional information, please visit the ASA website at http://www.amstat.org. Researchers at Columbia University have made a significant step toward breaking the so-called "color barrier" of light microscopy for biological systems, allowing for much more comprehensive, system-wide labeling and imaging of a greater number of biomolecules in living cells and tissues than is currently attainable. The advancement has the potential for many future applications, including helping to guide the development of therapies to treat and cure disease. In a study published online April 19 in Nature, the team, led by Associate Professor of Chemistry Wei Min, reports the development of a new optical microscopy platform with drastically enhanced detection sensitivity. Additionally, the study details the creation of new molecules that, when paired with the new instrumentation, allow for the simultaneous labeling and imaging of up to 24 specific biomolecules, nearly five times the number of biomolecules that can be imaged at the same time with existing technologies. "In the era of systems biology, how to simultaneously image a large number of molecular species inside cells with high sensitivity and specificity remains a grand challenge of optical microscopy," Min said. "What makes our work new and unique is that there are two synergistic pieces - instrumentation and molecules - working together to combat this long-standing obstacle. Our platform has the capacity to transform understanding of complex biological systems: the vast human cell map, metabolic pathways, the functions of various structures within the brain, the internal environment of tumors, and macromolecule assembly, to name just a few." All existing methods of observing a variety of structures in living cells and tissues have their own strengths, but all are also hindered by fundamental limitations, not the least of which is the existence of a "color barrier." Fluorescence microscopy, for example, is extremely sensitive and, as such, is the most prevalent technique used in biology labs. The microscope allows scientists to monitor cellular processes in living systems by using proteins that are broadly referred to as "fluorescent proteins" with usually up to five colors. Each of the fluorescent proteins has a target structure that it applies a "tag," or color to. The five fluorescent proteins, or colors, typically used to tag these structures are BFP (Blue Fluorescent Protein), ECFP (Cyan Fluorescent Protein), GFP (Green Fluorescent Protein), mVenus (Yellow Fluorescent Protein), and DsRed (Red Fluorescent Protein). Despite its strengths, fluorescence microscopy is impeded by the "color barrier," which limits researchers to seeing a maximum of only five structures at a time because the fluorescent proteins used emit a range of indistinguishable shades that, as a result, fall into five broad color categories. If a researcher is trying to observe all of the hundreds of structures and different cell types in a live brain tumor tissue sample, for example, she would be restricted to seeing only up to five structures at a time on a single tissue sample. If she wanted to see more than those five, she would have to clean the tissue of the fluorescent labels she used to identify and tag the last five structures in order to use those same fluorescent labels to identify another set of up to five structures. She would have to repeat this process for every set of up to five structures she wants to see. Not only is observing a maximum of five structures at a time labor intensive, but in cleaning the tissue, vital components of that tissue could be lost or damaged. "We want to see them all at the same time to see how they're operating on their own and also how they're interacting with each other," said Lu Wei, lead author on the study and a postdoctoral researcher in the Min lab. "There are lots of components in a biological environment and we need to be able to see everything simultaneously to truly understand the processes." In addition to fluorescence microscopy, there are currently a variety of Raman microscopy techniques in use for observing living cell and tissue structures that work by making visible the vibrations stemming from characteristic chemical bonds in structures. Traditional Raman microscopy produces the highly-defined colors lacking in fluorescence microscopy, but is missing the sensitivity. As such, it requires a strong, concentrated vibrational signal that can only be achieved through the presence of millions of structures with the same chemical bond. If the signal from the chemical bonds is not strong enough, visualizing the associated structure is near impossible. To address this challenge, Min and his team, including Profs. Virginia Cornish in chemistry and Rafael Yuste in neuroscience, pursued a novel hybrid of existing microscopy techniques. They developed a new platform called electronic pre-resonance stimulated Raman scattering (epr-SRS) microscopy that combines the best of both worlds, bringing together a high level of sensitivity and selectivity. The innovative technique identifies, with extreme specificity, structures with significantly lower concentration - instead of millions of the same structure needed to identify the presence of that structure in traditional Raman microscopy, the new instrument requires only 30 for identification. The technique also utilizes a novel set of tagging molecules designed by the team to work synergistically with the ultramodern technology. The amplified "color palette" of molecules broadens tagging capabilities, allowing for the imaging of up to 24 structures at a time instead of being limited by only five fluorescent colors. The researchers believe there's potential for even further expansion in the future. The team has successfully tested the epr-SRS platform in brain tissue. "We were able to see the different cells working together," Wei said. "That's the power of a larger color palette. We can now light up all these different structures in brain tissue simultaneously. In the future we hope to watch them function in real time." Brain tissue is not the only thing the researchers envision this technique being used for, she added. "Different cell types have different functions, and scientists usually study only one cell type at a time. With more colors, we can now start to study multiple cells simultaneously to observe how they interact and function both on their own and together in healthy conditions versus in disease states." The new platform has many potential applications, Min said, adding that it is possible the technique could one day be used in the treatment of tumors that are hard to kill with available drugs. "If we can see how structures are interacting in cancer cells, we can identify ways to target specific structures more precisely," he said. "This platform could be game-changing in the pursuit of understanding anything that has a lot of components." ### Funding: NIH Director's New Innovator Award (1DP2EB016573), R01 (EB020892), the US Army Research Office (W911NF-12-1-0594), the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation. R.Y. is supported by the NEI (EY024503, EY011787) and NIMH (MH101218, MH100561) Prez Bhandari welcomed in Gujarat President Bidya Devi Bhandari, who is presently on a five-day State visit to India, arrived in Rajkot, the fourth-largest city in the state of Gujarat, on Wednesday. A team of scientists from Singapore has discovered new ways in which cancers can escape the body's immune system. Focusing on gastric cancer (GC), the third leading cause of cancer death worldwide, the team's findings may also prove applicable to other major cancers with potential implications for how cancers might be better treated with immunotherapy, one of the most promising classes of anti-cancer drugs today. Promoters are regions in the genome that regulate the expression of genes, similar to the switch of a light bulb. Using an ultra-sensitive technique called NanoChIP-seq, the team surveyed the promoter landscape for GC to better understand the epigenetic mechanisms contributing to GC development. The team found that in GCs, gene promoters are dysregulated in a way that alters a tumour's antigenic profile to evade the body's immune system. The study, published in the leading journal Cancer Discovery, involved scientists and clinicians from Duke-NUS Medical School, Genome Institute of Singapore, Cancer Science Institute of Singapore (CSI Singapore) at the National University of Singapore (NUS), and National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS). "Using the NanoChIP-seq platform invented in Singapore, we created comprehensive epigenetic profiles for both GC and normal tissues," explained team leader Professor Patrick Tan. "Epigenetics is a process by which a cell's DNA is chemically modified by the environment, to change gene expression. By comparing the epigenetic profiles of gastric tumours to normal tissues from the same patient, we were able to identify those promoters specifically altered in GC tissues." Professor Tan is a Faculty Member of Duke-NUS Medical School, Deputy Executive Director of the Biomedical Research Council at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), and also Senior Principal Investigator at CSI Singapore and Principal Investigator at NCCS. Just like how a light can be controlled by multiple switches to influence its intensity and colour, the team identified hundreds of genes controlled by multiple promoters, causing alternate versions of that gene to be produced. The team demonstrated that some of these gene variants are capable of stimulating cancer growth. Strikingly, the team also found that many of these alternate gene variants produced in gastric tumours were also less likely to stimulate the immune system compared with their normal counterparts. "Our data, combining computational, experimental assays, and analyses of human gastric cancers, indicates that the use of these less immunogenic variants may enhance the ability of a tumour to bypass the host's immune system. This process is referred to as tumour immunoediting," added Ms Aditi Qamra, graduate student at the Genome Institute of Singapore and first author of this study. She is also a graduate student with the Department of Physiology at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. The findings provide important insights into mechanisms used in cancer development and may have implications for cancer immunotherapy. While striking clinical responses have been seen in some patients treated with immunotherapy, these drugs are expensive, associated with side effects, and not all patients respond to the treatment. The team's results suggest that studying the promoter profiles of tumours may possibly identify those patients who would be responsive to immunotherapy. Moreover, the team also identified cellular pathways required by the tumour cell to maintain expression of the less immunogenic gene variants. The team is now exploring if targeting these pathways, combined with immunotherapy, can increase the proportion of patients that might respond to such drugs. Summary of key findings Nano-ChIPseq enables the comprehensive identification of promoter elements using small amounts of tissue, opening up the ability to analyse samples obtained directly from patients. Altered promoters in GC change the gene expression profile of GC cells and may confer its oncogenic properties, including cell movement and cancer signalling. Gene variants associated with GC altered promoters lack immunogenic N-terminal-lacking peptides, enhancing the ability of gastric tumours to evade the native body's immune response. ### The newly discovered super-Earth LHS 1140b orbits in the habitable zone around a faint red dwarf star named LHS 1140, in the constellation of Cetus (The Sea Monster)[1]. Red dwarfs are much smaller and cooler than the Sun and, although LHS 1140b is ten times closer to its star than the Earth is to the Sun, it only receives about half as much sunlight from its star as the Earth and lies in the middle of the habitable zone. The orbit is seen almost edge-on from Earth and as the exoplanet passes in front of the star once per orbit it blocks a little of its light every 25 days. "This is the most exciting exoplanet I've seen in the past decade," said lead author Jason Dittmann of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (Cambridge, USA). "We could hardly hope for a better target to perform one of the biggest quests in science -- searching for evidence of life beyond Earth." "The present conditions of the red dwarf are particularly favourable -- LHS 1140 spins more slowly and emits less high-energy radiation than other similar low-mass stars," explains team member Nicola Astudillo-Defru from Geneva Observatory, Switzerland [2]. For life as we know it to exist, a planet must have liquid surface water and retain an atmosphere. When red dwarf stars are young, they are known to emit radiation that can be damaging for the atmospheres of the planets that orbit them. In this case, the planet's large size means that a magma ocean could have existed on its surface for millions of years. This seething ocean of lava could feed steam into the atmosphere long after the star has calmed to its current, steady glow, replenishing the planet with water. The discovery was initially made with the MEarth facility, which detected the first telltale, characteristic dips in light as the exoplanet passed in front of the star. ESO's HARPS instrument, the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher, then made crucial follow-up observations which confirmed the presence of the super-Earth. HARPS also helped pin down the orbital period and allowed the exoplanet's mass and density to be deduced [3]. The astronomers estimate the age of the planet to be at least five billion years. They also deduced that it has a diameter 1.4 times larger than the Earth -- almost 18 000 kilometres. But with a mass around seven times greater than the Earth, and hence a much higher density, it implies that the exoplanet is probably made of rock with a dense iron core. This super-Earth may be the best candidate yet for future observations to study and characterise its atmosphere, if one exists. Two of the European members of the team, Xavier Delfosse and Xavier Bonfils both at the CNRS and IPAG in Grenoble, France, conclude: "The LHS 1140 system might prove to be an even more important target for the future characterisation of planets in the habitable zone than Proxima b or TRAPPIST-1. This has been a remarkable year for exoplanet discoveries!" [4,5]. In particular, observations coming up soon with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope will be able to assess exactly how much high-energy radiation is showered upon LHS 1140b, so that its capacity to support life can be further constrained. Further into the future -- when new telescopes like ESO's Extremely Large Telescope are operating -- it is likely that we will be able to make detailed observations of the atmospheres of exoplanets, and LHS 1140b is an exceptional candidate for such studies. ### Notes [1] The habitable zone is defined by the range of orbits around a star, for which a planet possesses the appropriate temperature needed for liquid water to exist on the planet's surface. [2] Although the planet is located in the zone in which life as we know it could potentially exist, it probably did not enter this region until approximately forty million years after the formation of the red dwarf star. During this phase, the exoplanet would have been subjected to the active and volatile past of its host star. A young red dwarf can easily strip away the water from the atmosphere of a planet forming within its vicinity, leading to a runaway similar to that on Venus. [3] This effort enabled other transit events to be detected by MEarth so that the astronomers could nail down the detection of the exoplanet once and for all. [4] The planet around Proxima Centauri (eso1629 - http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1629/ ) is much closer to Earth, but it probably does not transit its star, making it very difficult to determine whether it holds an atmosphere. [5] Unlike the TRAPPIST-1 system (eso1706 - http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1706/ ), no other exoplanets around LHS 1140 have been found. Multi-planet systems are thought to be common around red dwarfs, so it is possible that additional exoplanets have gone undetected so far because they are too small. More information This research was presented in a paper entitled "A temperate rocky super-Earth transiting a nearby cool star", by J. A. Dittmann et al. to appear in the journal Nature on 20 April 2017. The team is composed of Jason A. Dittmann (Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, USA), Jonathan M. Irwin (Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, USA), David Charbonneau (Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, USA), Xavier Bonfils (Institut de Planetologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble - Universite Grenoble-Alpes/CNRS, France), Nicola Astudillo-Defru (Observatoire de Geneve, Switzerland), Raphaelle D. Haywood (Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, USA), Zachory K. Berta-Thompson (University of Colorado, USA), Elisabeth R. Newton (MIT, USA), Joseph E. Rodriguez (Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, USA), Jennifer G. Winters (Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, USA), Thiam-Guan Tan (Perth Exoplanet Survey Telescope, Australia), Jose-Manuel Almenara (Institut de Planetologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble - Universite Grenoble-Alpes/CNRS, France; Observatoire de Geneve, Switzerland), Francois Bouchy (Aix Marseille Universite, France), Xavier Delfosse (Institut de Planetologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble - Universite Grenoble-Alpes / CNRS, France), Thierry Forveille (Institut de Planetologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble - Universite Grenoble-Alpes/CNRS, France), Christophe Lovis (Observatoire de Geneve, Switzerland), Felipe Murgas (Institut de Planetologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble - Universite Grenoble-Alpes / CNRS, France; IAC, Spain), Francesco Pepe (Observatoire de Geneve, Switzerland), Nuno C. Santos (Instituto de Astrofisica e Ciencias do Espaco and Universidade do Porto, Portugal), Stephane Udry (Observatoire de Geneve, Switzerland), Anael Wunsche (CNRS/IPAG, France), Gilbert A. Esquerdo (Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, USA), David W. Latham (Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, USA) and Courtney D. Dressing (Caltech, USA). ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world's most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It is supported by 16 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, along with the host state of Chile. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world's most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world's largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is a major partner in ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. And on Cerro Armazones, close to Paranal, ESO is building the 39-metre Extremely Large Telescope, the ELT, which will become "the world's biggest eye on the sky". Links * Research paper in Nature - https://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso1712/eso1712a.pdf * Photos of La Silla - https://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/category/lasilla/ * More information on HARPS - https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/lasilla/36/harps/ Contacts Jason Dittmann Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Cambridge, USA Email: jdittmann@cfa.harvard.edu Nicola Astudillo-Defru Geneva Observatory - Universite of Geneva Geneva, Switzerland Email: nicola.astudillo@unige.ch Xavier Bonfils Institut de Planetologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble - Universite Grenoble-Alpes/CNRS Grenoble, France Email: xavier.bonfils@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr Richard Hook ESO Public Information Officer Garching bei Munchen, Germany Tel: +49 89 3200 6655 Cell: +49 151 1537 3591 Email: rhook@eso.org Megan Watzke Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Cambridge, USA Tel: +1 617-496-7998 Email: mwatzke@cfa.harvard.edu A component of the skin mucus secreted by South Indian frogs can kill the H1 variety of influenza viruses, researchers from Emory Vaccine Center and the Rajiv Gandhi Center for Biotechnology in India have discovered. Frogs' skins were known to secrete "host defense peptides" that defend them against bacteria. The finding, scheduled for publication in Immunity, suggests that the peptides represent a resource for antiviral drug discovery as well. Anti-flu peptides could become handy when vaccines are unavailable, in the case of a new pandemic strain, or when circulating strains become resistant to current drugs, says senior author Joshy Jacob, PhD, associate professor of microbiology and immunology at Emory Vaccine Center and Emory University School of Medicine. The first author of the paper is graduate student David Holthausen, and the research grew out of collaboration with M.R. Pillai, PhD and Sanil George, PhD from the Rajiv Gandhi Center for Biotechnology. Jacob and his colleagues named one of the antiviral peptides they identified urumin, after a whip-like sword called "urumi" used in southern India centuries ago. Urumin was found in skin secretions from the Indian frog Hydrophylax bahuvistara, which were collected after mild electrical stimulation. Peptides are short chains of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. Some anti-bacterial peptides work by punching holes in cell membranes, and are thus toxic to mammalian cells, but urumin was not. Instead, urumin appears to only disrupt the integrity of flu virus, as seen through electron microscopy. It binds the stalk of hemagglutinin, a less variable region of the flu virus that is also the target of proposed universal vaccines. This specificity could be valuable because current anti-influenza drugs target other parts of the virus, Jacob says. Because flu viruses from humans cannot infect frogs, producing urumin probably confers on frogs an advantage in fighting some other pathogen, he says. Delivered intranasally, urumin protected unvaccinated mice against a lethal dose of some flu viruses. Urumin was specific for H1 strains of flu, such as the 2009 pandemic strain, and was not effective against other current strains such as H3N2. Developing antimicrobial peptides into effective drugs has been a challenge in the past, partly because enzymes in the body can break them down. Jacob's lab is now exploring ways to stabilize antiviral peptides such as urumin, as well as looking for frog-derived peptides that are active against other viruses like dengue and Zika. ### Emory co-authors include senior research associate Ali Ellebedy, PhD and assistant professors Jens Wrammert, PhD and Anice Lowen, PhD. Holthausen is in the Immunology and Molecular Pathogenesis graduate program. Jacob's lab is based at Yerkes National Primate Research Center. The research was supported by Emory University and by the Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (Primate centers: P51OD11132). Philadelphia, PA, April 19, 2017 - Identification of a specific genetic mutation in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) helps clinicians select the best treatment option. Potential NSCLC patients usually undergo invasive tissue biopsy, which may often be unnecessary and delays treatment. A report in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics describes a new blood test that can accurately and quickly identify genetic mutations associated with NSCLC, allowing clinicians to make earlier, individualized treatment choices - a step forward in personalized cancer treatment. "This study is critical because it is the first to demonstrate the uptake of blood-based testing for actionable mutations in the non-hospital (community) setting. Physicians and patients in a community setting may not have easy access to a large hospital or other diagnosis/treatment facility. This assay provides results within 72 hours from sample receipt," explained Gary A. Pestano, PhD, Vice President of Development and Operations of Biodesix, Inc., a co-inventor of the test. An actionable mutation plays an important role in the development or progression of a tumor. Specific therapies that target a mutation can improve outcomes, such as reducing the risk of death or lessening the severity of disease. In the case of NSCLC, certain genetic mutations can be used to identify patients who might be sensitive or resistant to a particular cancer therapy. For example, epidermal growth factor (EGFR) mutations may result in sensitivity to drugs that are EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), such as erlotinib or gefitinib, whereas individuals with the EGFR T790M mutation are more resistant to these drugs. Patients with ALK rearrangements do not respond to EGFR-TKIs, but are sensitive to other targeted therapies (such as ceretinib). "The described assay can detect actionable mutations in patients diagnosed with earlier stages of NSCLC, thereby improving clinical outcomes," remarked Dr. Pestano. The new test uses a highly sensitive gene mutation detection method that is based on the partitioning of DNA into droplets to detect specific circulating tumor DNA mutations and RNA variants in whole blood. Of the more than 1,600 samples tested, 10.5% had EGFR sensitizing, 18.8% EGFR resistance, 13.2% KRAS, and 2% EML4-ALK (anaplastic lymphoma kinase) mutations. The test showed high sensitivity (>80%) and specificity (100%) for detecting each type of mutation. In most cases, blood tests and tissue biopsies yielded the same results. Another advantage of the test is that it can be performed quickly: 94% of results were available within 72 hours of blood draw. In contrast, results from tissue-based testing can take weeks to obtain and can therefore delay time to treatment. In addition to providing insights regarding selection of treatment, this blood test may also prove helpful in assessing the presence of residual disease, recurrence, or relapse and detection of therapy-resistant cancer cells more quickly than conventional tissue-based methods. The majority of samples came from patients under the care of community physicians. "These data highlight the adoption of mutation testing by the lung cancer community and demonstrate the utility of a centralized laboratory for the evaluation of actionable mutations from blood," commented first author Hestia Mellert, PhD, Director of Molecular Development at Biodesix, Inc. "Physicians in remote locations may now have greater and more rapid access to this critical patient information." ### When we make a decision about whether or not to cooperate with someone, we usually base our decision on past experiences -- how has this person behaved in the past? -- and on future reciprocity--will they return the favor? -- and weigh these against the possible benefits of defecting. However, when analyzing strategies for repeated dilemmas, modeling long-term memory in cooperative strategies quickly becomes computationally intractable, and in the past, researchers have either restricted the possible strategy types, or only allowed players to make their decisions based on the previous round ("memory-1"). One basic but important example of a social situation is the prisoner's dilemma. In this situation, two prisoners are given the same options: remain silent or snitch on the other. If they both remain silent, they each get one year in jail. If one talks, and the other remains silent, the one who talks goes free, and the other gets three years in jail. If they both talk, they both get two years. For repeated versions of this game, a variety of successful memory-1 strategies have been found, including "Win-Stay Lose-Shift" (WSLS), where prisoners continue to cooperate or defect until this strategy gives the less desirable outcome. However, if players can remember the last two rounds (memory-2), there are 65'536 possible strategies, and if they can remember up to three rounds (memory-3), this increases to 1.84x10^19--this is already computationally infeasible, not to mention other kinds of social situations with more than two players. To overcome this computational challenge, IST Austria scientists and their collaborators have proposed an alternative approach to the problem of simulating these dilemmas: they have distilled a set of axioms that every robust cooperative strategy should have, and characterize the strategies that satisfy these conditions. In this way, they reduce the computation necessary for an open-ended search of all possible strategies. In particular, their axioms state that a successful cooperative strategy should be: (1) mutually cooperative, (2) able to correct errors, and (3) sufficiently retaliatory against defectors (in Figure A, MCk, ECk, and REk correspond to properties (1), (2), and (3), respectively. "C" indicates cooperation, "D" indicates defection.). The first condition corresponds to continuing to cooperate after rounds of mutual cooperation. The second means that even if a player makes a mistake, after a certain number of rounds, the players return to mutual cooperation. The last protects the group from players who might take advantage of altruism, or who might make the group too altruistic, and thus vulnerable. They found that players with these strategies and memories of length k (that is, they remember the past k rounds of play) will only cooperate if all players took the same actions for the last k rounds (i.e. if they all cooperated or if they all defected)--giving rise to the name all-or-none (AONk) strategies. The WSLS strategy, in particular, is AON1. They moreover show that these strategies evolve naturally in a variety of different social dilemmas, and for groups of arbitrary size. Of course, not every cooperative strategy needs to be AONk to be stable. However, the authors have numerical results that indicate that all-or-none strategies (or delayed versions thereof) in fact make up all memory-2 strategies for the prisoner's dilemma. They also make several predictions: First, if cooperation evolves in the context of a social dilemma, it is the result of all-or-none-type strategies. Second, cooperation evolves more readily in memory-2 strategies than in memory-1 strategies, under reasonable conditions. In other words, a longer-term memory increases the chance that cooperation will evolve. The group further examined the implications of players remembering only how often other players cooperated (and not when). In this case, longer memory did not lead to a greater degree of cooperation, thus indicating that successful strategies depend not only on the degree of past cooperation, but also its context. ### Krishnendu Chatterjee joined IST Austria in 2009, and became full professor in 2014. He and his group are broadly interested in game theory and computer-aided verification, and one specialty of the group is evolutionary game theory. Post-doc Christian Hilbe is particularly interested in the applications of evolutionary game theory in economics and biology: "It's fascinating to see how mathematics can be used to describe human and animal behavior in a wide range of different situations." Research published this week in Scientific Reports uses computer image and statistical shape analysis to shed light on which parts of the face are most likely to be inherited. The study, by researchers at King's College London, examined 3D face models of nearly 1,000 UK female twins, and found that the shapes of the end of the nose, the area above and below the lips, cheekbones and the inner corner of the eye were highly influenced by genetics. The team took scans of twins' faces using 3D cameras and custom built statistical software to generate thousands of points that were perfectly aligned across the faces and then measured how 'curved' each face looked at each one of those locations. The researchers then compared how similar these measurements were between identical twins, who have the same genes, and non-identical twins, who only share half of the genes. By seeing which parts of the face are the most similar in shape in a pair of identical twins, the researchers then calculated the likelihood that the shape of that part of the face is determined by genetics. This likelihood is quantified as the "heritability", a number between 0 and 1, where a larger number implies that it is more likely that the shape of the face is controlled by genes. The researchers have published 'atlases' showing how heritable each part of the face shape is, which can be viewed online at: http://heritabilitymaps.info Lead researcher, Professor Giovanni Montana from King's College London said: "The notion that our genes control our face is self-evident. Many of us have facial traits that clearly resample those of our parents and identical twins are often indistinguishable. "However, quantifying precisely which parts of the face are strongly heritable has been challenging so far. By combining 3D models of the face with a statistical algorithm that measures local changes in shape, we have been able to create detailed 'face heritability maps'. These maps will help identify specific genes shaping up the human face, which may also be involved in diseases altering the face morphology." "This study also shows us that even identical twins can vary quite a lot on facial features, but because of the key areas being genetically controlled, we perceive them as being 'identical,'" added Professor Tim Spector, Director of the TwinsUK study at King's College London. The software for analysing 3D scans could also have other uses in medical imaging, engineering and facial recognition technology. ### This study was funded by the Wellcome Trust and supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London and the NIHR Guy's and St Thomas' Clinical Research Facility. Notes to Editors: About King's College London King's College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world (2016/17 QS World University Rankings) and among the oldest in England. King's has more than 29,600 students (of whom nearly 11,700 are graduate students) from some 150 countries worldwide, and some 8,000 staff. King's has an outstanding reputation for world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), eighty-four per cent of research at King's was deemed 'world-leading' or 'internationally excellent' (3* and 4*). Since our foundation, King's students and staff have dedicated themselves in the service of society. King's will continue to focus on world-leading education, research and service, and will have an increasingly proactive role to play in a more interconnected, complex world. Visit our website to find out more about Vision 2029, King's strategic vision for the next 12 years to 2029, which will be the 200th anniversary of the founding of the university. For further information about King's, please visit the King's in Brief web pages. The TwinsUK study is based at St Thomas' Hospital. About Wellcome Wellcome exists to improve health for everyone by helping great ideas to thrive. We're a global charitable foundation, both politically and financially independent. We support scientists and researchers, take on big problems, fuel imaginations and spark debate. NASA is making sure the next generation of high school graduates understand the variety of career paths that can lead to missions exploring space. In fact, hundreds of students are already helping NASA's astronauts live and work aboard the ISS NASA is making sure the next generation of high school graduates understand the variety of career paths that can lead to missions exploring space. In fact, hundreds of students are already helping NASA's astronauts live and work aboard the International Space Station - the orbiting research platform making discoveries that benefit Earth while developing the technology that will allow humans to live and work in deep space. For more than 50 years, NASA has sponsored programs to get students interested in the aerospace industry. This involves extensive outreach efforts, finding and developing the next generation of scientists and explorers to help humans reach the stars. This also includes students who decide to work in more hands-on technical fields and even the culinary arts. The HUNCH program -- High Schools United with NASA to Create Hardware -- shows high school students the many ways they can put their talents to work for NASA, beyond the role of astronaut. The program provides students a hands-on experience with the space agency -- building NASA-designed parts for use by agency personnel. "When we started this program 14 years ago, we had two main goals," said Bob Zeek, HUNCH co-founder and program manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. "We needed full-size models of actual space station flight hardware to train ground support personnel. And we wanted to get kids who are good at machining, welding or other technical skills involved with NASA. All the things we do in HUNCH are preparing these students for the future and helping NASA at the same time." The program started with three schools in two states. Now 117 student classrooms in 26 states participate, helping build NASA's future as well as their own. The HUNCH team also joined forces with the SME Education Foundation to help encourage students pursuing engineering and technology degrees. The foundation is a network of manufacturing professionals, researchers, educators and students working to connect and share knowledge and experience through mentoring, internships and job-shadowing. HUNCH and SME's Partnership Response in Manufacturing Education (PRIME) program is a new collaboration to introduce more high school students to career opportunities in the aerospace industry. While students have used machining and welding skills to build exact replicas of hardware used on the space station, the program has expanded beyond manufacturing training fixtures. HUNCH has created programs for students to learn about computer-aided design, welding technology, graphic arts and even sewing. Select schools are building actual flight hardware. A student-built locker was recently delivered by the 10th SpaceX cargo resupply mission and installed on the station. Here are some of the recent projects completed by HUNCH student teams: Culinary Challenge: Culinary arts students were invited to create a dessert item for astronauts to enjoy on the space station. They had to create a dish that followed specific dietary restrictions while making something that can be packaged and delivered to space. For example, crumbs do not simply land on a table for easy clean-up in space, so dry, crunchy items are generally not sent to the station. The 10 finalists were selected and a winning recipe is scheduled to be selected in April. Sleeping Well in Space: Students studying sewing and fabric helped design and build specialized slippers and new sleeping bag liners for the crew. Science Lockers: Students were given precise designs for new storage lockers and bolts to be used on the station. They needed to match exactly the area in which the lockers will be installed on the station because making changes after they are delivered to the space station is not as simple as popping down to the local hardware store for a replacement. Crew Quarters Lint Catchers: A student team in Texas developed a replacement for air filters to use in the crew quarters, improving the design by making them magnetic and removing the need to have screws affix the filters in place and the time it takes to replace them. NASA also is showing how one group will design parts for a different group to fabricate: These lint catchers will be built by teams in Kentucky and Tennessee. Video Challenge: The program is also engaging students to help with outreach by encouraging them to create original video products aimed at communicating to new audiences NASA's mission, accomplishments and efforts. The best of these videos will be posted to NASA's YouTube and Facebook pages. "This is one of those programs that benefits the agency and the students," said Glenn Johnson, HUNCH design engineer at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "Students gain valuable working skills creating tangible products that meet a real need for NASA." ### For more challenges, including ways students can be a part of the HUNCH program, visit the HUNCH website: https://www.nasahunch.com/ For a complete listing of active projects, visit the HUNCH design and prototype site: http://hunchdesign.weebly.com/. NEW YORK, NY (April 19, 2017) - The Sidney Kimmel Foundation has selected Dr. Neville Sanjana, Core Member and Assistant Investigator at the New York Genome Center and Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at New York University, to receive the prestigious 2017 Kimmel Scholar Award. Dr. Sanjana received the award to fund his study "Essential Genes For Cancer Immunotherapy," which is designed to leverage the advanced gene-editing technique known as CRISPR to comprehensively survey mutations that allow cancer cells to resist immunotherapy treatment. Over the past two decades, the Sidney Kimmel Foundation has awarded more than $65 million to promising young cancer researchers to fund their pioneering research to help advance cancer treatment. Selected by a world-class medical advisory board, Kimmel Scholars are awarded a two-year grant totaling $200,000. In 2017, along with Dr. Sanjana, 14 other investigators from some of the country's leading cancer research institutions, including MD Anderson Cancer Center and The Rockefeller University, were recipients of the award. This award is given to the most promising and creative researchers to support important scientific discoveries in the field of oncology. With the Kimmel Foundation marking the conclusion of the Scholars Program this year, Dr. Sanjana joins the final class of innovative researchers to receive this award. "We are very proud that Dr. Sanjana's research has been honored and recognized by the Sidney Kimmel Foundation," said Cheryl A. Moore, President and Chief Operating Officer of the New York Genome Center. "Insights gained from Dr. Sanjana's work have the potential to advance next-generation immunotherapy treatments for cancer." "Our overall goal will be to create a list of actionable mutations for patients enrolled in immunotherapy trials, which will allow oncologists to rapidly recognize mutations that might render a tumor resistant to a treatment and switch the patient to a more effective therapy," said Dr. Sanjana. "As the use of immunotherapy is broadening, we will also test how generalizable the resistance targets are to other cancers such as non-small cell lung cancer, renal cell carcinoma, breast cancer and Hodgkin's lymphoma." Immunotherapy, which supplements and encourages the body's own immune system to attack cancer, was the first treatment of any kind ever to extend survival in metastatic melanoma. Using specifically designed CRISPR screens, Dr. Sanjana and his lab team will explore and study thousands of genetic mutations related to cancer tumor resistance in a fraction of the time it would take to do this individually. Precise, programmable engineering will allow for parallel editing of each individual gene in a genome, noncoding regions around a single gene of interest or a subset of particular genes. The resulting pool of engineered cells can be tested for virtually any biological phenotype to enable functional discoveries. ### About the New York Genome Center The New York Genome Center is an independent, nonprofit academic research organization at the forefront of transforming biomedical research and clinical care with the mission of saving lives. A collaboration of renowned academic, medical and industry leaders across the globe, the New York Genome Center's goal is to translate genomic research into development of new treatments, therapies and therapeutics against human disease. Its member organizations and partners are united in this unprecedented collaboration of technology, science and medicine, designed to harness the power of innovation and discoveries to advance genomic services. The New York Genome Center's member organizations are united in this unprecedented collaboration of technology, science and medicine. Their shared objective is the acceleration of medical genomics and precision medicine to benefit patients around the world. For more information, visit our website at http://www.nygenome.org. LA JOLLA, CA - April 19, 2017 - Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in La Jolla have revealed new clues to the wiring of the brain. A team led by Associate Professor Anton Maximov found that neurons in brain regions that store memory can form networks in the absence of synaptic activity. "Our results imply that assembly of neural circuits in areas required for cognition is largely controlled by intrinsic genetic programs that operate independently of the external world," Maximov explained. A similar phenomenon was observed by the group of Professor Nils Brose at the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine in Germany. The two complementary studies were co-published as cover stories in the April 19, 2017, issue of the journal Neuron. The "Nature vs. Nurture" Question Experience makes every brain unique by changing the patterns and properties of neuronal connections. Vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch play particularly important roles during early postnatal life when the majority of synapses is formed. New synapses also appear in the adult brain during learning. These activity-dependent changes in neuronal wiring are driven by chemical neurotransmitters that relay signals from one neuron to another. Yet, animals and humans have innate behaviors whose features are consistent across generations, suggesting that some synaptic connections are genetically predetermined. The notion that neurons do not need to communicate to develop networks has also been supported by earlier discoveries of synapses in mice that lacked transmitter secretion in the entire brain. These studies were performed in the laboratory of Professor Thomas Sudhof, who won the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. "We thought these experiments were quite intriguing," Maximov said, "but they also had a major limitation: mice with completely disabled nervous systems became paralyzed and died shortly after birth, when circuitry in the brain is still rudimental." The TSRI team set out to investigate if neurons can form and maintain connections with appropriate partners in genetically engineered animals that live into adulthood with virtually no synaptic activity in the hippocampus, a brain region that is critical for learning and memory storage. "While the idea may sound crazy at the first glance," Maximov continued, "several observations hinted that this task is technically feasible." Indeed, mammals can survive with injuries and developmental abnormalities that result in a massive loss of brain tissue. Inspired by these examples, Richard Sando, a graduate student in the Maximov lab, generated mice whose hippocampus permanently lacked secretion of glutamate, a neurotransmitter that activates neurons when a memory is formed. Despite apparent inability to learn and remember, these animals could eat, walk around, groom, and even engage in rudimental social interactions. Working closely with Professor Mark Ellisman, who directs the National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research at the University of California, San Diego, Sando and his co-workers then examined the connectivity in permanently inactive areas. Combining contemporary genetic and imaging tools was fruitful: the collaborative team found that several key stages of neural circuit development widely believed to require synaptic activity were remarkably unaffected in their mouse model. The outcomes of ultra-structural analyses were particularly surprising: it turns out that neurotransmission is unnecessary for assembly of basic building blocks of single synaptic connections, including so-called dendritic spines that recruit signaling complexes that enable neurons to sense glutamate. Maximov emphasized that the mice could not function normally. In a way, their hippocampus can be compared to a computer that goes though the assembly line, but never gets plugged to a power source and loaded with software. As the next step, the team aims to exploit new chemical-genetic approaches to test if intrinsically-formed networks can support learning. ### In addition to Maximov, Sando and Ellisman, authors of the study, "Assembly of excitatory synapses in the absence of glutamatergic neurotransmission," were Camille Considine, Yongchuan Zhu, Min Huang and Marco Uytiepo of TSRI; and Eric Bushong, Sebastien Phan and Suyeon Ju of UC San Diego. This study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grants R01MH085776, R01NS087026, P41GM103412, NS027177I, DA038896 and F31MH094059). About The Scripps Research Institute The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) is one of the world's largest independent, not-for-profit organizations focusing on research in the biomedical sciences. TSRI is internationally recognized for its contributions to science and health, including its role in laying the foundation for new treatments for cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, hemophilia, and other diseases. An institution that evolved from the Scripps Metabolic Clinic founded by philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps in 1924, the institute now employs more than 2,500 people on its campuses in La Jolla, CA, and Jupiter, FL, where its renowned scientists--including two Nobel laureates and 20 members of the National Academies of Science, Engineering or Medicine--work toward their next discoveries. The institute's graduate program, which awards PhD degrees in biology and chemistry, ranks among the top ten of its kind in the nation. In October 2016, TSRI announced a strategic affiliation with the California Institute for Biomedical Research (Calibr), representing a renewed commitment to the discovery and development of new medicines to address unmet medical needs. For more information, see http://www.scripps.edu. Prez Bhandaris India visit fruitful: Minister Mahat Minister for Foreign Affairs Prakash Sharan Mahat has said that President Bidya Devi Bhandari's state visit to India has been fruitful and significant. Human umbilical cord blood can rejuvenate learning and memory in older mice, according to a study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The researchers identified a protein, abundant in human cord blood but decreasingly so with advancing age, that had the same effect when injected into the animals. The findings could lead to new treatments for age-associated declines in mental ability. "Neuroscientists have ignored it and are still ignoring it, but to me it's remarkable that something in your blood can influence the way you think," said the study's senior author, Tony Wyss-Coray, PhD, professor of neurology and neurological sciences and a senior research career scientist at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System. The lead author is former postdoctoral scholar Joseph Castellano, PhD, who is now an instructor of neurology and neurological sciences. The study will be published online April 19 in Nature. In a widely discussed earlier study, Wyss-Coray's lab showed that direct infusion of young mice's plasma, the cell-free portion of blood, benefited old mice. Those benefits extended beyond biochemistry and physiology to actual performance on tests of memory and learning, the researchers found. The new study marks the first demonstration that human plasma can aid older mice's memory and learning, which both Wyss-Coray and Castellano said would seem to increase the likelihood that it could have a similar beneficial effect in people. It's also promising from a drug-development standpoint, they suggested, that a single protein appears largely capable of mimicking those benefits. Age-associated changes in blood Comparing blood plasma from 19- to 24-year-olds, 61- to 82-year-olds and umbilical cords, researchers identified age-associated changes in a number of proteins. These changes, the investigators suspected, might affect a brain structure called the hippocampus, which in both mice and humans is critical for converting experiences into long-term memories. In particular, the hippocampus is essential for helping you remember spatial information, such as how to find your way back to the car you parked in a multilevel structure several hours ago, and information about autobiographical events, such as what you ate for breakfast. For largely unknown reasons, the hippocampus is especially vulnerable to normal aging, said Wyss-Coray. "With advancing age, the hippocampus degenerates, loses nerve cells and shrinks," he said. The capacity to learn and remember falters in lockstep. Hippocampal deterioration is also an early manifestation of Alzheimer's disease. To distinguish the effects of old, young and "youngest" human blood on hippocampal function, the researchers used immune-deficient laboratory mice that could be given repeated injections of human plasma without experiencing negative immune reactions. Experiments undertaken before injecting human plasma into the mice showed that, like their immune-competent peers, these mice's hippocampal activity, integrity and regenerative capacity dropped off in old age -- indeed, a bit faster. Old immune-deficient mice performed more poorly than younger ones on tests of memory and learning. One such test, the Barnes maze, employs a table, about 4 feet in diameter and 1.3 feet high, that is brightly lit and open to the surrounding environment -- two factors that make mice feel insecure. The table is also full of holes, one of which is attached to a tube in which a scared mouse can find darkness and safety. The other holes offer only a drop to the floor from a height that would not physically harm a mouse but is enough deter one. Which hole has a burrowing tube attached to it can be changed from one session to the next. Visual cues to its location can also be transferred to help guide the mouse to the escape hole, memory permitting. Improvements in hippocampal function When the older mice received human umbilical-cord blood plasma every fourth day for two weeks, many measures of hippocampal function improved notably. Plasma from older people, on the other hand, didn't help at all, while young-adult plasma induced an intermediate effect. And older mice's performance on the Barnes maze and other tests was stellar in comparison with mice of the same age who got injections of saline instead of plasma. Something in umbilical cord blood was making old brains act younger. To find out what it was, Wyss-Coray and his colleagues gauged plasma-protein levels in humans and mice from different age groups, in search of proteins that the two species share in common and whose levels change similarly with age. One protein in particular grabbed their attention: In a laboratory test designed to discern a substance's ability to enhance nerve-cell activity in the brain, it triggered this activity to a great degree. The protein, called tissue inhibitor of metalloproteases 2, or TIMP2, belongs to a well-known family of four TIMPs that regulate the activity of other proteins whose function is to chop up yet other proteins occupying the matrix in which cells are embedded. Injecting TIMP2 by itself into elderly mice largely duplicated the beneficial effects of umbilical-cord plasma. It even restored these mice's nesting capacity: an instinctive penchant, largely lost in old age, for using available materials, such as cotton wads supplied by the researchers, to build nests in which mice typically prefer to sleep. But older mice that were given human cord plasma depleted of TIMP2 derived no learning and memory benefits. And administering TIMP2-neutralizing antibodies to young normal mice, who ordinarily perform well on memory tests, obliterated their prowess. "TIMP2's effects in the brain have been studied a little, but not much and not in aging," said Castellano. "In our study, it mimicked the memory and learning effects we were getting with cord plasma. And it appeared to do that by improving hippocampal function." ### Stanford's Office of Technology Licensing has filed for patents related to the findings in the study. Alkahest, a biotechnology company based in San Carlos, California, in which Castellano and Wyss-Coray hold equity and which Wyss-Coray co-founded, has licensed rights to this intellectual property. Other Stanford co-authors of the study are former graduate student Kira Mosher, PhD; former research assistant Rachelle Abbey; research technician Alisha McBride; research scientist Daniela Berdnik, PhD; research associate Jadon Shen; research nurse manager Martha Tingle, RN; former mass-spectroscopy specialist Izumi Hinkson, PhD; Xinmin Xie, MD, PhD, a consulting associate professor of anesthesiology, perioperative and pain medicine; Michelle James, PhD, assistant professor of radiology and of neurology and neurological sciences; and Martin Angst, MD, professor of anesthesiology, perioperative and pain medicine. The study was funded by the National Institute on Aging (grants K99AG051711, AG045034, DP1AG053015 and AG040877), the Jane Coffin Childs Foundation, the Simons Foundation, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Glenn Foundation for Medical Research and the Stanford Brain Rejuvenation Project. Stanford's Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences also supported the work. The Stanford University School of Medicine consistently ranks among the nation's top medical schools, integrating research, medical education, patient care and community service. For more news about the school, please visit http://med.stanford.edu/school.html. The medical school is part of Stanford Medicine, which includes Stanford Health Care and Stanford Children's Health. For information about all three, please visit http://med.stanford.edu. The effects of alcohol can be unpredictable; while some consumers become amiable and affectionate, others turn into brutish thugs, and Jens Herberholz, from the University of Maryland, USA, explains that the cellular mechanisms that underpin the consequences of intoxication remain elusive. 'Alcohol is a complicated drug', he says, because it affects a wide range of cellular systems, making it difficult to unravel which factors contribute to alcohol sensitivity. However, humans are not the only animals that can suffer the consequences of over-indulgence; inebriated crayfish tail-flip animatedly while under the influence and become heavily intoxicated after lengthy exposures. Having studied the cellular mechanisms that underlie decision-making and aggression in these crustaceans, Herberholz was curious to learn how previous social experience might impact the effect of alcohol on crayfish. Herberholz and students Matthew Swierzbinski and Andrew Lazarchik discovered that isolated crayfish are less sensitive to the effects of alcohol than gregarious animals and they publish their discovery in Journal of Experimental Biology at http://jeb.biologists.org. 'How past social experience might shape the neurobehavioural effects of acute alcohol exposure is significantly understudied', says Herberholz, who initially teamed up with Swierzbinski and Lazarchik to find out how inebriated crayfish behave. Intoxicating individual crayfish - which had previously been housed together - in tanks of dilute alcohol ranging from 0.1 to 1 mol l?1, members of the lab filmed the animals as they initially began walking aggressively on stiff straight legs, before switching to tail-flipping as they became more intoxicated, and finally losing control as they rolled on their backs like incapacitated humans. And the effects took hold much faster at the highest concentrations, with the intoxicated animals enthusiastically tail-flipping after 20 min in the strongest alcohol, while the animals that were bathed in the most dilute alcohol took almost 2 h to feel the effects. However, when the trio tested the effects of the most concentrated alcohol on crayfish that had been held in isolation for a week before their drinking spree, the animals were far less sensitive to the alcohol, taking 28 min to become inebriated and begin tail-flipping. But how were the effects of intoxication manifested in the neurons that control the crayfish's drunken behaviour? Inserting fine silver wires near the sensory nerves that excite the lateral giant interneuron - which controls the tail-flipping behaviour - Lazarchik recorded that the neural circuit became more sensitive in both the isolated and gregarious crayfish when the crustaceans were inebriated. However, the effects of alcohol became apparent more swiftly in the sociable crayfish's lateral giant interneuron, mirroring the animals' behavioural sensitivity. Swierzbinski was even able to use intracellular electrodes to measure a difference in the effects of alcohol in individual neurons in the isolated and communal crayfish. Paying tribute to Swierzbinski, Herberholz says, 'It takes talent and patience to collect data from enough animals'. As the inhibitions of the drunk socialised crayfish were loosened more than those of the drunken loners, Herberholz suspects that the alcohol has more of an impact on the GABA neurotransmitter, which inhibits behaviour, in the gregarious crayfish. He also speculates that isolation could make humans less sensitive to the effects of alcohol, leading them to consume more. Herberholz says, 'Our study shows that social experience can change the sensitivity to acute alcohol'. He adds, 'Inebriated people...could potentially have different responses to alcohol depending on their prior social experience'. And, although he emphasizes that we are still a long way from confirming that social experience produces similar effects in the brain circuits of inebriated mammals (including humans), Herberholz is optimistic that, one day, drunken crayfish could help us to develop better treatments and preventative measures to support humans suffering from alcohol abuse. ### IF REPORTING THIS STORY, PLEASE MENTION JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY AS THE SOURCE AND, IF REPORTING ONLINE, PLEASE CARRY A LINK TO:http://jeb.biologists.org/content/220/8/1516.abstract REFERENCE: Swierzbinski, M. E., Lazarchik, A. R. and Herberholz, J. (2017). Prior social experience affects the behavioral and neural responses to acute alcohol in juvenile crayfish. J. Exp. Biol. 220, 1516-1523. DOI: 10.1242/jeb.154419. This article is posted on this site to give advance access to other authorised media who may wish to report on this story. Full attribution is required, and if reporting online a link to jeb.biologists.com is also required. The story posted here is COPYRIGHTED. Therefore advance permission is required before any and every reproduction of each article in full. PLEASE CONTACT permissions@biologists.com From 2006 to 2012, there were approximately 51,000 emergency department visits per year for patients injured by law enforcement in the United States, with this number stable over this time period, according to a study published by JAMA Surgery. Deaths of civilians in contact with police have recently gained national public and policy attention. While journalists track police-involved deaths, epidemiologic data are incomplete, and trends in nonfatal injuries, which far outnumber deaths, are poorly understood. Elinore J. Kaufman, M.D., M.S.H.P., of New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, and colleagues used the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample, a nationally representative sample of emergency department (ED) visits, to determine whether the incidence of ED visits for injures by law enforcement increased relative to total ED visits from 2006 to 2012. During this time period, there were 355,677 ED visits for injuries by law enforcement, and frequencies did not increase over time. Of these visits, 0.3 percent (n = 1,202) resulted in death. More than 80 percent of patients were men, and the average age of patients was 32 years. Most lived in zip codes with median household income less than the national average, and 81 percent lived in urban areas. Injuries by law enforcement were more common in the South and West and less common in the Northeast and Midwest. Most injuries by law enforcement resulted from being struck, with gunshot and stab wounds accounting for fewer than seven percent. Most injuries were minor. Medically identified substance abuse was common in patients injured by police, as was mental illness. "While public attention has surged in recent years, we found these frequencies [approximately 51,000 ED visits per year] to be stable over 7 years, indicating that this has been a longer-term phenomenon," the authors write. "While it is impossible to classify how many of these injuries are avoidable, these data can serve as a baseline to evaluate the outcomes of national and regional efforts to reduce law enforcement-related injury." ### (JAMA Surgery. Published online April 19, 2017.doi:10.1001/jamasurg.2017.0574. This study is available pre-embargo at the For The Media website.) Editor's Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc. Encouraging science-based policies and defending science from political attacks are strong motivators for March for Science participants, according to a new University of Delaware Center for Political Communication survey. The study, conducted from March 31 to April 18, surveyed 1,040 members of March for Science Facebook groups or pages about their reasons for marching in April 22 events across the United States and around the globe. (For a PDF of the study, click here.) Fully 93 percent of respondents said "opposing political attacks on the integrity of science" would be very important to them as a reason for participating in a March for Science event. At the same time, 97 percent of respondents said that "encouraging public officials to make policies based on scientific facts and evidence" was a top priority, and 93 percent said the same for "encouraging the public to support science." Other reasons that most respondents rated as very important included "protesting cuts to funding for scientific research" (90 percent), "celebrating the value of science and scientists to society" (89 percent) and "promoting science education and scientific literacy among the public" (86 percent). Fewer respondents ranked "encouraging scientists to engage the public" (70 percent) and "encouraging diversity and inclusion in science" (68 percent) as highly. Nevertheless, solid majorities said these reasons were very important. The survey also asked respondents why they had joined or followed March for Science pages, groups or hashtags on social media. Not surprisingly, the top reason (93 percent) was "to learn about March for Science events." A majority (54 percent) also said they joined "to connect with people who share my views." Other common reasons for joining or following included "to become more involved in politics or policy-making" (45 percent), "to learn about other online advocacy and activism opportunities" (41 percent), "to learn about issues facing scientists and scientific institutions" (36 percent) and "to learn about other offline advocacy and activism opportunities" (32 percent). Only a small percentage of respondents (12 percent) said they joined or followed "to learn about science." When asked whether their experiences with March for Science social media pages, groups or hashtags had made them more likely to participate in science advocacy, 78 percent of respondents said yes for online advocacy and 74 percent said yes for offline advocacy. In addition, large majorities said their experiences had made them more likely to like or share (76 percent), read (70 percent) and write (64 percent) messages about science on social media. Almost two-thirds (64 percent) said their experiences with March for Science social media had made them more likely to contact public officials about science. Majorities also said their experiences had made them more likely to discuss science with people they knew (59 percent) and to follow news about science (55 percent). ### About the study The study was supervised Barbara Ley, a professor in the Department of Communication and Women and Gender Studies at the University of Delaware, with support from the University of Delaware Center for Political Communication. The survey was conducted online from March 31 to April 18. The 1,040 respondents were recruited from 81 different participating March for Science Facebook groups and pages (see full list below). The study did not use probability sampling to select respondents; as a result, no sampling error for the study can be calculated, and the results do not necessarily generalize to all March for Science Facebook group and page members. Of the respondents, 82 percent were residents of the United States and 18 percent were residents of other countries. A large majority (81 percent) identified as women, with 18 percent identifying as men, and 1 percent as other. Half (50 percent) of the respondents said they considered themselves scientists. Participating March for Science Facebook groups and pages Arkansas; Atlanta, GA; Atlantic City, NJ; Baltimore, MD; Berlin, Germany; Boston, MA; Bratislava, Slovakia; Brussels, Belgium; Buffalo, NY; Cape Town, South Africa; Champaign-Urbana, IL; Charleston, SC; Charlottesville, VA; Cleveland, OH; Copenhagen, Denmark; Denver, CO; Des Moines, IA ; Duluth, MN ; Dunedin, New Zealand ; Estonia; Fargo (ND)/Moorhead (MN); Grand Rapids, MI; Guam; Halifax, Canada; Hamilton, Canada; Houston, TX; India; Indianapolis, IN; Iowa; Irish STEM Solidarity with US; Jackson, MS; Kalamazoo, MI; Kansas City, MO; Las Cruces, NM; Las Vegas, NV; Lexington, KY; Lisbon, Portugal; Lithuania; London, United Kingdom; Los Angeles, CA; Louisiana; Louisville, KY; Luxembourg; Milwaukee, WI; Mobile, AL; Newark, DE; Nigeria; Norway; Oklahoma; Omaha, NE; Panama; Paris, France; Puerto Rico; Philadelphia, PA; Philippines; Phoenix, AZ; Portland, OR; Raleigh, NC; Reykjavik, Iceland; Rhode Island; Riverside, CA; Rochester, NY; Rome, Italy; Rutgers at Trenton, NJ; St. Louis, MO; Sao Paulo, Brazil; San Francisco, CA; Seattle, WA; Seville, Spain; Silicon Valley, CA; South Bend, IN; Space Coast, FL; Sydney, Australia; Taiwan; Tokyo, Japan; Trinidad and Tobago; Uganda; Vancouver, Canada; Vermont; Virtual March for Science; West Palm Beach, FL ST. PETERSBURG, FL (April 19, 2017)- More than 30,000 fish species exist. But it's always been a guessing game on where they originate. A new technique developed by researchers at the University of South Florida College of Marine Science is paving the way in discovering where a wide-range of species spawn. It's a difficult task as 95% of fish in the world release their eggs into the water and drift away. Marine biologists are gathering samples of hundreds of free-floating fish eggs in the Gulf of Mexico. They then extract DNA from each one and amplify and sequence a specific barcoding gene. That gene is then compared to a database, revealing the fish's identity. Previous studies have looked for eggs belonging to a specific fish species. This work is groundbreaking as it determines the complete composition of fish egg communities, which could contain more than a dozen species. "This is pioneering work. They can be underneath everyone's noses for decades and no one would know it, they just get called fish eggs they have no idea what species they are," says co-lead investigator Ernst Peebles. Since the fish eggs are only a few hours old, this technique allows researchers to assign spawning locations with certainty, as opposed to methods of looking for older larvae which could have been floating in the ocean for weeks or even months. Identifying spawning sites will enable better management and protection of critical habitats for economically and ecologically important fish species in the Gulf of Mexico. This innovative research is a positive outcome from the tragic Deepwater Horizon oil spill. It's funded by the RESTORE Act, an acronym for Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States. In addition to the 2-year pilot study, USF researchers are competing to win funds for an additional 15 years of monitoring and special studies. The results could provide an essential baseline of fish spawning habitats in the Gulf of Mexico, which is critical knowledge should another disaster occur. ### April 19, 2017 - Why are women at higher risk of complications after total hip or knee replacement surgery? An increased rate of hypersensitivity to the metals contained in joint implants might be a contributing factor, suggests a study in the April 19 issue of The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer. Among patients with unexplained pain after undergoing total joint replacement with metal-containing components, women are more likely than men to test positive for metal sensitization, according to the report by Nadim J. Hallab, PhD, and colleagues from Rush University Medical Center, Chicago. "These findings may explain, at least in part, the sex disparity in the outcomes of certain TJA [total joint arthroplasty] implant designs," the researchers write. Higher Rate and Severity of Metal Sensitization in Women after Joint Replacement The authors reviewed data on 2,613 patients who were evaluated for unexplained joint pain after total hip and/or knee replacement. All had metal-containing joint replacement components, and none had signs of infection, inflammation, or other findings that would explain their pain. The patients averaged 62 years of age; 60 percent of the patients were women. Average time since joint replacement was about three years, and in most cases less than two years. Women had higher average pain scores than men: 6.8 versus 6.1, on a scale of 0 to 10. All patients underwent a blood test--the lymphocyte transformation test, or LTT--to evaluate immune cell sensitization to metals. The LTT can assess whether the patient has developed hypersensitivity to one or more of the metals contained in the implant components, such as cobalt, chromium, or nickel. The LTT results suggested immune sensitization to implant metals in 49 percent of women, compared to 38 percent of men. The difference persisted when researchers used a more stringent definition of sensitization: 25 versus 18 percent. In addition, among patients with positive LTT results, the severity of metal sensitivity was greater in women. Prior to blood testing, 29 percent of women with pain after joint replacement said they had allergic skin reactions to metals, compared to 4 percent of men. The results show a "remarkable and significant" increase in immune cell sensitivity to metals in women compared to men with unexplained pain after total hip or knee replacement. "This supports both our hypothesis and previous reports that females may have a higher risk of adverse responses to implant metals," Dr. Hallab and coauthors write. The findings support the possibility that the higher rate of complications after total joint replacement in women may have an "adaptive immunological basis." But it's still unclear whether the sex-related difference in immune sensitization is related to intrinsic biological factors, such as hormones, or to environmental factors, such as exposure to metals in jewelry or cosmetics. The study also couldn't determine whether sensitization to metals is a pre-existing condition, or induced by the metal-containing joint implants, or a combination of the two. The researchers call for more targeted studies to assess the clinical outcomes of patients who test positive for metal sensitization. Dr. Hallab adds, "We feel these results add credence to the utility of metal allergy LTT testing for diagnosing orthopaedic patients who demonstrate a history of dermal metal allergy or have an implant with idiopathic pain and/or peri-implant inflammation." ### Click here to read "Females with Unexplained Joint Pain Following Total Joint Arthroplasty Exhibit a Higher Rate and Severity of Hypersensitivity to Implant Metals Compared with Males: Implications of Sex-Based Bioreactivity Differences." Article: "Females with Unexplained Joint Pain Following Total Joint Arthroplasty Exhibit a Higher Rate and Severity of Hypersensitivity to Implant Metals Compared with Males: Implications of Sex-Based Bioreactivity Differences" (doi: 10.2106/JBJS.16.00720) About The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery (JBJS) has been the most valued source of information for orthopaedic surgeons and researchers for over 125 years and is the gold standard in peer-reviewed scientific information in the field. A core journal and essential reading for general as well as specialist orthopaedic surgeons worldwide, The Journal publishes evidence-based research to enhance the quality of care for orthopaedic patients. Standards of excellence and high quality are maintained in everything we do, from the science of the content published to the customer service we provide. JBJS is an independent, non-profit journal. About Wolters Kluwer Wolters Kluwer N.V. (AEX: WKL) is a global leader in information services and solutions for professionals in the health, tax and accounting, risk and compliance, finance and legal sectors. We help our customers make critical decisions every day by providing expert solutions that combine deep domain knowledge with specialized technology and services. Wolters Kluwer reported 2016 annual revenues of 4.3 billion. The company, headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands, serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries and employs 19,000 people worldwide. Wolters Kluwer shares are listed on Euronext Amsterdam (WKL) and are included in the AEX and Euronext 100 indices. Wolters Kluwer has a sponsored Level 1 American Depositary Receipt program. The ADRs are traded on the over-the-counter market in the U.S. (WTKWY). For more information about our solutions and organization, visit http://www.wolterskluwer.com, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. From: American Evaluation Association (AEA) For Immediate Release: Dateline: Washington , DC Wednesday, April 19, 2017 Allison Van and I am currently an evaluator at the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) program at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and the owner of Allison Van Consulting. Previously I managed The Pasture Project for Winrock International, which was an effort to build a movement among farmers in the Midwest to reintegrate livestock rotation both for greater profit and environmental benefit. The project benefitted from funders that were willing to take chances with us, allowing for a budget where resources could be shifted to account for new information or opportunities. Our strategies were highly diverse demonstration sites on farms, supporting a collaboration of farmer educators, training dedicated farmers in public speaking yet all directed at influencing the decision-making of individual farmers. Some strategies were about direct influence while others focused on building capacity in both cases results wouldnt be seen for years and were highly dependent on external circumstances. As both the program manager and default evaluator, my goal was to test strategies relatively quickly, rigorously, and cheaply then modify, end or expand them within 6-18 months. I needed an approach for the team to compare the development of different strategies so money could be funneled where it was most likely to make a difference. Understanding that the core challenge was one of budget allocation amidst uncertainty and long time horizons was critical to selecting the right evaluation approach. Rad Resources: The combination of Michael Quinn Pattons Hot Tip: There are profound trade-offs and opportunity costs in social change, making value for money a critical measure of program effectiveness. How programs invest their resources can be the most fundamental determinant of success. A The American Evaluation Association is celebrating Environmental Program Evaluation TIG Week with our colleagues in the Environmental Program Evaluation Topical Interest Group. The contributions all this week to aea365 come from our EPE TIG members. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the My name isand I am currently an evaluator at the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) program at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and the owner of Allison Van Consulting. Previously I managed The Pasture Project for Winrock International, which was an effort to build a movement among farmers in the Midwest to reintegrate livestock rotation both for greater profit and environmental benefit. The project benefitted from funders that were willing to take chances with us, allowing for a budget where resources could be shifted to account for new information or opportunities. Our strategies were highly diverse demonstration sites on farms, supporting a collaboration of farmer educators, training dedicated farmers in public speaking yet all directed at influencing the decision-making of individual farmers. Some strategies were about direct influence while others focused on building capacity in both cases results wouldnt be seen for years and were highly dependent on external circumstances.As both the program manager and default evaluator, my goal was to test strategies relatively quickly, rigorously, and cheaply then modify, end or expand them within 6-18 months. I needed an approach for the team to compare the development of different strategies so money could be funneled where it was most likely to make a difference. Understanding that the core challenge was one of budget allocation amidst uncertainty and long time horizons was critical to selecting the right evaluation approach.The combination of Michael Quinn Pattons Developmental Evaluation and E. Jane Davidsons Real Evaluation were my constant guides to developing an evaluation approach and making decisions in the context of extreme uncertainty and long time horizons.There are profound trade-offs and opportunity costs in social change, making value for money a critical measure of program effectiveness. How programs invest their resources can be the most fundamental determinant of success. A bootstrap method combining cost-effectiveness analysis , the logic model for each strategy, and rubrics of early stage indicators of behavior change allowed us to thoughtfully consider how to make and shift investments.The American Evaluation Association is celebrating Environmental Program Evaluation TIG Week with our colleagues in the Environmental Program Evaluation Topical Interest Group. The contributions all this week to aea365 come from our EPE TIG members. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org . aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators. From: Joyce L. Gioia, CMC, CSP -- The Herman Group Austin , TX Wednesday, April 19, 2017 The Herman Trend Alert April 19, 2017 Electric Planes Coming Last month, President Trump talked about ending US automobile CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards, which would mean the end of electric cars. Shortly thereafter, we discovered that electric planes are on the way. And more than one company is working on them. London to Paris electric flights on easyJet Within 10 years, the start-up airline easyJet plans to launch electric-powered, passenger flights from London to Paris. Working with the UK company Wright Electric, the airline plans to develop a plane for 150 passengers. The cooperation between the two companies is "actively providing an airline operator's perspective on the development of this exciting technology". Wright Electric's goal is to transform all short-haul flights to electric-powered within the next 20 years; short-haul flights represent about 30 percent of all airline flights worldwide. Proven technology The US inventor Chip Yates, whose own electric aircraft, the Long-ESA, holds the world record for fastest electric aircraft, is providing the technology. Other manufacturers onboard as well Since 2014, Airbus has been developing an electric two-seater aircraft and the manufacturer plans to create its own short-haul electric aircraft seating 70 to 90 passengers. Moreover, another aerospace firm, Zunum Aero in Kirkland, Washington announced recently, it is developing electric planes to carry passengers on regional commercial flights of up to 1,000 miles. Zunum Aero is working with Boeing's HorizonX division, its arm that invests in innovative technology, and JetBlue Technology Ventures. The purpose is to develop 10- to 50-seat aircraft for flights that could be scheduled as soon as the early 2020s. Their worthy goal is to reinstate flights to smaller airports that lost service during the last 30 years. Zunum's goal: get people out of their cars and back on airplanes In spite of flying lower and slower than aircraft, Zunum's execs expect to cut airfares and travel times in half with more-efficient planes flying mostly out of general-aviation airports. (General aviation airports typically host private and corporate jets.) With specially designed cabins, passengers would be able to carry their luggage straight from their cars to the planes, rather than pass through Transportation Security Administration checkpoints. (We're not sure how that would work---or for how long.) Only the beginning Just as electric cars are helping to conserve fossil fuels, so do electric aircraft have tremendous potential for reducing our carbon emissions. Expect to see electric planes. within five to seven years, replacing the Bombardiers, the Embraers, and the Canadairs on regional flights. The reductions in cost and overall travel time will be a welcome development. ******** The Herman Group is a firm of Strategic Business Futurists concentrating on workforce and workplace issues. We forecast the future and advise clients regarding relevant trends and how those trends may affect their lives. Applying our expertise as Certified Management Consultants, we advise corporate leaders regarding employee retention and organizational development to help them build workforce stability. We help organizations become Employers of Choice. We also work with Employer of Choice, Inc. to formally recognize employers that meet the stringent standards dictated by the labor marketplace. As authors of management books and as active professional speakers, we inform and inspire people to make a positive difference in the world of work. You did really get the ball rolling with our retention presentation, overall we have seen a move in the right direction with our turnover. In practice since 1980, we have served a wide variety of clients throughout the United States and in other countries. Our global affiliates assist us in sharing our expertise and advice with clients internationally. Our team of professional consultants and trainers is supported by an administrative staff that gets things done. We also have consultants certified to deliver our programs in your local area. Delivering to both small and large groups across 100 industries, The Herman Group has provided over 2,500 educational and informative keynote speeches and training seminars worldwide. Based in Greensboro, North Carolina, we travel extensively to meet the needs of our clients. We can always be reached through the support team in our office at (800) 227-3566. Overseas callers may reach us through 336-210-3547. Should you have any questions after touring our website, please call or e-mail us at info@hermangroup.com. Get started now on improving the stability and performance of your workforce and increase your chances for success in the future. The UK pig industry has said it is determined to maintain the current very low levels of risk from Livestock Associated-MRSA (LA-MRSA) in pigs, after Countryfile looked at the issue in Denmark. A recent BBC Countryfile programme looked at the problem of LA-MRSA in Denmark, where about 88% of pig farms are believed to be infected with the antibiotic-resistant bacteria, also known as MRSA CC398. The feature described the situation in Denmark as a public health scandal. Presenter Tom Heap acknowledged that for most people the bug poses very little risk, with people working pigs at the highest risk. He also stressed that although the bug is found on meat, it is killed by proper cooking. A microbiologist working in Denmark told Mr Heap that, while in most cases of infection nothing really happens, a minority of patients may get life-threatening infections. There is clear evidence seven patients have died of MRSA CC398, he said. The feature linked the spread of the bug to overuse of antibiotics in Denmark and highlighted calls to significantly reduce usage. It turned the spotlight on the UK, where LA-MRSA has only been confirmed in a small number of pigs. But with nearly 700 live pigs imported from Denmark last year and no compulsory testing in either Denmark or the UK, Mr Heap said addressing the problem was in our interests, too. 'Public should not be worried' National Pig Association (NPA) chief executive Zoe Davies said the public should not be worried. LA-MRSA has not been deemed high risk by the government, and is not the same as hospital associated MRSA, so the public should not be worried. Hospital surveillance has picked up very few cases and none that are associated with people working directly with livestock. In addition, the recent Food Standards Agency MRSA risk assessment confirmed, there has never been a single case documented of LA-MRSA being contracted by anyone eating meat products from anywhere in the world. "I also want to stress that the link made between antibiotic usage on farms and the prevalance of bugs like LA-MRSA is not as simplistic as is made out in features like this. For example, Denmark has already significantly reduced antibiotic usage but LA-MSRA levels remain high. However, we know LA-MRSA is here in the UK and, as a proactive industry we have worked with government to provide guidance for those working with pigs to reduce risk even further. The parent group of beet processor British Sugar have said higher prices for sugar with a weak sterling rate have driven a rise in its half-year profits. In the Associated British Foods' 2017 Interim Results report, the company said profits in the first half was 'much improved' compared to last year. "With sales fully contracted for the year we expect an improvement in British Sugar's result for the full year," they said. The company said last year sugar production was at 900,000 tonnes which was 'much lower than normal', due to unfavourable planting conditions. This is in contrast to its reported 2014 crop production of 1.45m tonnes, a record. "The campaign started later in order to maximise the growth of the crop and was completed at all sites by late February. As a consequence the high level of sugar stocks at the beginning of the year has reduced to meet sales demand. The contracted growing area for 2017/18 has been increased and planting by growers is well advanced." 'Exciting opportunities' With 2016/17 forecast to be the second year of global sugar deficit, world prices are higher than last year. A tightening of EU stock levels has strengthened domestic prices across the region and in Africa, domestic and regional prices increased as a result of higher US dollar denominated world prices. The lifting of European Union sugar quotas in October 2017 and leaving the EU, offers 'exciting opportunities' for the UK beet sugar industry, the company said. Speaking ahead of an NFU conference, Paul Kenward, Managing Director of British Sugar said: "We are one of Britains most globally competitive industries and we are ready to work with farmers, importers and government to design a UK sugar policy that allows our world-leading domestic sugar industry to continue to thrive." "Over the past 100 years we have built a world-class UK beet sugar industry, contributing to local economies and communities, and benefiting UK plc. "Our investment of 250 million over the past five years has made our factories the most efficient in the world. Beet sugar yields in the UK have improved by more than 25% in the last ten years." Prez calls on investors in India to tap opportunities President Bidya Devi Bhandari has said that cooperation and partnership have become the defining feature of inter-state relationship in todays globalised and interdependent world. British asparagus fans are on a mission to Brussels next week to promote the "green stuff" to their continental neighbours. West Midlands Conservative MEP Anthea McIntyre will host a visit to the European Parliament by growers and aficionados from the Vale of Evesham in Worcestershire - the area considered by many to produce the finest asparagus in the world. She said: "If you love fresh asparagus this is some of the most delicious you can get. This is our chance to shout about it to Europe and the world." Accompanied by mascot Gus the Asparagus Man as well as St George, the delegation will deliver a big bundle of freshly-cut local "gras" to the heart of the European Union to highlight its unbeatable quality, colour and flavour. The trip will celebrate and say "thank you" for the granting of EU Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status to Vale of Evesham Asparagus earlier this year. A 'green' delegation The team will be greeted outside the Parliament on Tuesday April 25 by Miss McIntyre, who will then take them inside to lunch with MEPs. The delegation - all dressed in green - will set out from Bretforton in a mini bus the day before, with a send-off at the Fleece Inn, home of the renowned asparagus auction which is a focal point of the annual British Asparagus Festival. Among the delegation will be Nigel Smith, landlord of the Fleece and festival chairman; Matt Foster, managing director of West Growers, of Defford near Pershore; festival director Tash Daley; Angela Tidmarsh, tourism officer for Wychavon District Council and co-founder of the festival; grower and farm shop-owner Darren Hedges; and Wychavon marketing and events officer Steve Knight. Plus St George and Gus, of course. Miss McIntyre said: "It took four years of hard work to win PGI status but it is so worthwhile. Now nobody can attempt to pass off an inferior product as Vale of Evesham - and the protection puts our product on a par with Champagne or Parma ham. "I am looking forward to welcoming them all to Brussels and spreading the word that you haven't really lived until you'v e enjoyed Vale of Evesham asparagus." Figures show Scottish food and drink exports to Asia grew by 72 million in 2016, with a 7% increase in the value of exports to Asia - a key market. The increase to 1.055 billion represents a 7% increase in the value of exports to Asia, a key target market, over the past year. Latest statistics also show food exports grew by 41% to 160 million and dairy, eggs, fruit and vegetable exports improved by 71% and 28% respectively. Scotland's Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing said that the figures show Scottish food exports are in 'fantastic health'. Retaining access to vital European markets, which account for around 40% of our food and drink exports, remains a priority but we must also continue to extend our reach and these statistics show we are doing just that. Susan Beattie, head of food and drink at Scottish Development International said: Asia continues to be a priority under the Scotland Food and Drink Export Plan. The team of in-market specialists in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan are helping Scottish companies access new opportunities in this dynamic market on a daily basis opening doors to leading retailers and food service organisations. The recent export figures demonstrate strong consumer demand across this rapidly growing region for Scotlands high quality premium food and drink products. Scottish dairy farmers run the risk of missing out on valuable dairy aid scheme money. According to NFU Scotland, only 20 percent of dairy farmers have applied to 2.4 million scheme which closes on 1 May. The union has urged farmers to act now. Poor uptake suggests that information on this support scheme is only slowly filtering out to farmers. The deadline is 1 May and, to date, only one in five of Scottish dairy farmers have applied for payments ranging between 1000 and 4000. In 2016, the EU Commission recognised the crisis in the sector and set aside 350 million to be shared out between each member state to contribute to dairy market stabilisation. The UK was allocated 25 million, with Scotland receiving 2.4 million. Under the terms of the Scottish scheme, the highest payment rate, 4,000, is available to farmers on Bute, Arran, Mull, and the Kintyre peninsula to protect the supply base for Campbeltown creamery. Farmers who were paid a milk price of less than 20p per litre during 2016 can receive 3,250; farmers who were receiving under 25p could get 2,000 each, while those farmers who received 25p per litre or more can receive 1,000. As the scheme is linked to improving efficiency, producers must commit to simple production profiling and milk recording to qualify. An estimated two-thirds of Scottish dairy herds already milk record on a regular basis. 'Cannot afford to miss out' NFU Scotlands Milk Policy Manager George Jamieson said Scottish dairy farmers cannot afford to miss out on the financial support currently available to them through this scheme. He said: Given the fragile state of our dairy sector, funding of between 1000 and 4000 is available. With feed and fertiliser prices rising, and milk prices levelling off, this is money that will be welcome to all. To be clear, this is the second financial offering from the EU commission designed to drive future dairy market stabilisation and sustainability. The first part, the short-term EU-wide volume reduction scheme, has helped to consolidate the rising market backed by increased intervention for dairy commodities. This second scheme is at member state level, with Scotland having 2.4 million available for our dairy farmers. To secure those funds, Europe has insisted that producers commit to actions that will help them cope with future market volatility. The Scottish Government, in consultation with industry stakeholders including NFUS has agreed that simple production profiling and milk recording are appropriate. These both offer opportunities to manage, with more certainty, milk production in line with market needs, and create a vast amount of data that will be useful to the individual farmer and the sector. Mr Jamieson concluded: The funds are significant, particularly for those who have been receiving the poorest milk prices over a prolonged period, and the wider benefits on production profiling and milk recording we believe could be of lasting benefit. Five things for farmers to watch out for in Autumn Statement Four-wheel drive, four-wheel steering, a closed cockpit, active LED lighting and a huge power-to-weight ratio this radical machine is Renaults striking vision for the F1 car of the future. Unveiled at the Shanghai motor show to demonstrate Renaults long-term commitment to Formula 1, the R.S.2027 concept was designed to showcase how F1 cars could look in 10 years time. Renaults philosophy for the project was to design a machine that puts the driver back at the heart of the sport whilst also highlighting the path where technology transfers from racing to road cars. To that end, the 600kg car would be powered by a small internal combustion engine - but boosted by a battery system almost five times as powerful as those currently used in F1, it would produce around 1,340bhp for a hitherto unheard of power-to-weight ratio. In addition to four-wheel drive and four-wheel steering, the R.S.2027 would also feature a range of active elements, including active aerodynamics (to reduce energy waste due to drag at high speeds), active LED lighting (incorporated into the wheels to display a range of information, including the drivers position), and active suspension (which would replace more complex system and could be used to recover lost energy). On the safety front, the polycarbonate closed canopy would provide protection whilst allowing the driver to be visible to fans, while two titanium pop-up roll-over bars would emerge from their unobtrusive locations in milliseconds should the car overturn. A number of autonomous functions, such as the driver relinquishing control under safety car conditions, have also been built in for safety. Renault are by no means the first team to unveil a futuristic F1 concept car. In 2015 McLaren released images of the MP4-X, while in 2010 Red Bull showcased the Adrian Newey-designed, F1-inspired X1 prototype. Security chiefs say measures in place for local elections Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Tuesday instructed chiefs of security agencies to ensure effective security for the upcoming local elections. SLMM stages torch rally The supporters of the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha (SLMM) and the Sanghiya Gathabandhan organised a torch rallies at Siraha bazaar and Lahan, among other places in the district, protesting against the local polls on Tuesday evening. Haiti - News : Zapping... "A national army and not a scout army" dixit Rebu Former Secretary of State for Public Security, Colonel Himler Rebu asks the authorities to properly manage the departure of the Minustah and its replacement by MINUJUSTH. He hoped that the Minustah would leave a small contingent of soldiers to dissuade representatives of sectors seeking instability and called on the existing government "to create a national army, not an army of scouts". NOTICE Diaspora : Passport The Consulate General of Haiti in Miami advises you to renew your passport before its expiry date. If your passport is valid for less than 6 months, it is time to renew it. For more information, contact the Consulate by phone at (305) 859-2003 or by e-mail at cghm.news@diplomatie.ht Distribution of 2,500 hot meals As part of the celebration of Easter, President Jovenel Moise, through the Social and Economic Assistance Fund (FAES) and the Ministry of Social Affairs, allowed 2,500 beneficiaries to receive a hot meal. The distribution took place at the Champs de Mars, in front of the former headquarters of the army of Haiti. Demonstrators demand work to Moise Individuals claiming to be activists PHTK grouped in the "Kowalisyon pou libere militan" (KOLIM), demonstrated in Port-au-Prince to demand the President Jovenel Moise to respect his commitment to give them work... Problems in the National Lottery Marie Margareth Fortune, Director General of the Haitian State Lottery (LEH), asked employees no longer part of the Institution to bring back the LEH owned vehicles, which they used for personal use. She also requires Marie Myrtha Jean Jacques, who has been absent since April 10th from her place of work, to return all the sensitive documents and the files of the institution she has taken and that prevents the normal functioning of the LEH. A period of 24 hours from Monday is granted toher to execute, otherwise the measures provided for by law will be taken against her. National Day of the Diaspora Lesly Conde, Consul General of Haiti in Chicago, reminds the entire Haitian community that 20 April of each year is known as the National Diaspora Day. "The Diaspora has always made an invaluable contribution to the survival of our country. Today, more than ever, it must participate actively in the reconstruction process. A new Haiti is being built, a new future is emerging. It is above all, and after all, the future of our dear country." HL/ HaitiLibre Behavioral Study on Differences Between Male and Female CEOs Featured at Brandon Hall Groups Women in Leadership Summit Posted by Press Releases on Wednesday, 04-19-2017 2:42 am Currently 0.0/5 Stars. 1 2 3 4 5 0.0 from 0 votes SuccessFinder's Dr. Larry Cash and Susan Van Klink guest star on HCMx Radio for a revealing discussion around why female corporate leadership has not significantly increased over the past decade.Brandon Hall Group announced today it is partnering with SuccessFinder, a provider of technology for making decisions across the employee lifecycle, for a revealing discussion around why female corporate leadership has not significantly increased over the past decade.SuccessFinder, led by Dr. Larry Cash and Susan van Klink, studied and analyzed 200 male and female CEOs to measure significant differences in the behaviors they use to run leading businesses across North America. The research, called Mission Imposter, revealed that even women who make it to the top and are successful often exhibit inferiority behaviors, lacking in self-confidence and insecurity.Cash and Van Klink discussed the research on Brandon Hall Groups latest HCMx Radio podcast recently, and Van Klink will participate in a... Close Forgot Your Password? Enter in your email address and we will send it to you. Send Email An HR.com member profile provides you with access to a multitude of information and education along with the opportunity to network with the largest HR community on the web. If you need any help, call .877.472.6648 and ask for our Member Experience Co-ordinator. Hi Please check your email for an activation link. If you do not receive your activation email within a few minutes, check your spam folder or call our Help Desk at 1.877.472.6648 For faster assistance, dial extension 4. Thank you! Continue Hi Verification error - Please enter the correct code above. Verified Wow! You have successfully verified the account Continue Hi your HR.com account is ready Your Profile completion: 30% Complete your profile CANADIAN CEOS RELYING ON HR FOR SUCCESS IN 2017 Posted by Press Releases on Wednesday, 04-19-2017 1:48 am Currently 0.0/5 Stars. 1 2 3 4 5 0.0 from 0 votes DESPITE VOLATILITY, MOST CEO'S ANTICIPATE GROWTH. VANCOUVER APRIL 18, 2017 According to the 2017 Conference Board of Canada Chief Executive Officer (CEO) survey, the biggest challenges CEOs face this year come from global volatility and unprecedented disruption. Canadian business leaders are coping by focusing on talent, culture, and fiscal discipline. "Competition is global, international trade is increasingly tenuous, technology and innovation are advancing at a feverish pace and every move is public," says Anthony Ariganello, CPHR, CEO, CPHR Canada. "The world of today's business leaders is more complex than ever before. We want Canadian business leaders to know that a Chartered Professional in Human Resources CPHR can help position their organization for success, while allowing them to focus on strategic direction and leadership." Many Canadian business leaders overlook and underutilize expertise they have readily available that can position them to more ... Close Forgot Your Password? Enter in your email address and we will send it to you. Send Email An HR.com member profile provides you with access to a multitude of information and education along with the opportunity to network with the largest HR community on the web. If you need any help, call .877.472.6648 and ask for our Member Experience Co-ordinator. Hi Please check your email for an activation link. If you do not receive your activation email within a few minutes, check your spam folder or call our Help Desk at 1.877.472.6648 For faster assistance, dial extension 4. Thank you! Continue Hi Verification error - Please enter the correct code above. Verified Wow! You have successfully verified the account Continue Hi your HR.com account is ready Your Profile completion: 30% Complete your profile Company Retreat to Yosemite National Park Posted by robert walsh on Wednesday, 04-19-2017 3:07 pm Currently 0.0/5 Stars. 1 2 3 4 5 0.0 from 0 votes Our company is planning a retreat to Yosemite National Park in California. This is a huge undertaking but we feel is worth the trouble for the team building that it will encourage. Yosemite National Park is a landmark that is located in California in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. This is a very popular location for all fans of the outdoor life, especially for those looking for amazingly gorgeous hiking trails to adventure on. You can find everything from hikes that only take an hour or two or hikes that can last up to 8 days. Here is a look at some of the backpacking trips we have planned for the employess: Cathedral Range - For those looking for a quieter and longer adventure, you can enjoy a backpacking tour around the Cathedral Range. It is around 39 miles and can take about 6 days to complete. You are going to be able to take in several different views of the stunning Yosemite Valley as you go through valleys and high countries. Some would say that this is one of the most be... Close Forgot Your Password? Enter in your email address and we will send it to you. Send Email An HR.com member profile provides you with access to a multitude of information and education along with the opportunity to network with the largest HR community on the web. If you need any help, call .877.472.6648 and ask for our Member Experience Co-ordinator. Hi Please check your email for an activation link. If you do not receive your activation email within a few minutes, check your spam folder or call our Help Desk at 1.877.472.6648 For faster assistance, dial extension 4. Thank you! Continue Hi Verification error - Please enter the correct code above. Verified Wow! You have successfully verified the account Continue Hi your HR.com account is ready Your Profile completion: 30% Complete your profile Does Your Contingent Workforce Hiring Strategy Need Work? 4 Ways to Fix It Posted by Tania Fiero on Tuesday, 04-18-2017 9:31 am Currently 3.9/5 Stars. 1 2 3 4 5 3.9 from 8 votes More Americans are in business for themselves than ever before. By 2020,more than 40 percentof the U.S. workforce will be contingent. What do HR leaders think of the shift? They love the gig economy for the heightened flexibility, reduced labor costs, and broader access to talent it brings.Seventy percentof businesses recognize that contingent labor helps control costs, and 69 percent acknowledge such workers have improved their organizations agility. Theyre not so enamored, however, with the managerial challenges this burgeoning workforce presents.Nearlytwo out of fiveorganizations lack efficient management structures for their contingent workers. Even more 47 percent point to streamlining their gig worker hiring processes as a top priority. Time for a Tuneup Is your contingent hiring process running smoothly? Business processes, just like car engines, need tuneups now and then for peak efficiency. You may even need to call a professional mechanic sometimes. Follow t... Close Forgot Your Password? Enter in your email address and we will send it to you. Send Email An HR.com member profile provides you with access to a multitude of information and education along with the opportunity to network with the largest HR community on the web. If you need any help, call .877.472.6648 and ask for our Member Experience Co-ordinator. Hi Please check your email for an activation link. If you do not receive your activation email within a few minutes, check your spam folder or call our Help Desk at 1.877.472.6648 For faster assistance, dial extension 4. Thank you! Continue Hi Verification error - Please enter the correct code above. Verified Wow! You have successfully verified the account Continue Hi your HR.com account is ready Your Profile completion: 30% Complete your profile Teachers quit job to contest polls Gandaki Thapa Adhikari, 37, was a permanent school teacher at a public school in Baglung district. With a masters in Nepali, she had been teaching up to the secondary level though her posting was as a primary teacher. GuideSpark Appoints HR Industry Veteran Brian Schipper to Board of Directors Posted by Press Releases on Wednesday, 04-19-2017 5:42 am Currently 0.0/5 Stars. 1 2 3 4 5 0.0 from 0 votes Newest Board Member to Provide Strategic Oversight for Leading Employee Communications CompanyGuideSpark, leading the transformation of employee communications, today announced the appointment of Yext Chief People Officer and former head of HR for well-known tech companies like Twitter, Groupon and Cisco, Brian Skip Schipper, as the newest member of the companys Board of Directors. We are delighted to have an HR industry visionary such as Skip join the GuideSpark board as we expand our leadership in the employee communications market, said GuideSpark co-founder and CEO Keith Kitani. His more than 30 years of industry experience combined with his unique customer point of view will give us invaluable strategic insight into the trends and demands of todays transformational HR leaders as they seek to reach and engage an ever-evolving workforce. We expect that Skips diverse background and expertise will help inform and enhance our solutions as we work with companies to transform the... Close Forgot Your Password? Enter in your email address and we will send it to you. Send Email An HR.com member profile provides you with access to a multitude of information and education along with the opportunity to network with the largest HR community on the web. If you need any help, call .877.472.6648 and ask for our Member Experience Co-ordinator. Hi Please check your email for an activation link. If you do not receive your activation email within a few minutes, check your spam folder or call our Help Desk at 1.877.472.6648 For faster assistance, dial extension 4. Thank you! Continue Hi Verification error - Please enter the correct code above. Verified Wow! You have successfully verified the account Continue Hi your HR.com account is ready Your Profile completion: 30% Complete your profile Robbins Media Group Seeking Sales Recruits for New Office in Grayson, KY Posted by Press Releases on Wednesday, 04-19-2017 1:21 am Currently 0.0/5 Stars. 1 2 3 4 5 0.0 from 0 votes Robbins Media Group (http://www.robbinsmediagroup.com) expands with a new office in Grayson, KY, to help launch the careers of salespeople, and further the careers of seasoned sales professionals.GRAYSON, KY (PRWEB) APRIL 18, 2017Mike Robbins, President and CEO of Robbins Media Group (RMG), recently opened a new call center in Grayson, KY, for selling STARKART, the largest local advertiser grocery cart network in the United States and Canada, and its sister company, the NALA, a boutique marketing agency. The new office is located at 222 State Highway 1947, Suite 5, in Grayson.This is a great opportunity for salespeople to sell STARKART and the NALA nationally, while bringing much-needed income into this economically challenged community, said Robbins. Both companies are ideal for small businesses that want and need exposure with shopping cart advertising through STARKART and hands-on marketing assistance for their businesses via the NALA.RMG is a privately held, Charlotte, NC-based... Close Forgot Your Password? Enter in your email address and we will send it to you. Send Email An HR.com member profile provides you with access to a multitude of information and education along with the opportunity to network with the largest HR community on the web. If you need any help, call .877.472.6648 and ask for our Member Experience Co-ordinator. Hi Please check your email for an activation link. If you do not receive your activation email within a few minutes, check your spam folder or call our Help Desk at 1.877.472.6648 For faster assistance, dial extension 4. Thank you! Continue Hi Verification error - Please enter the correct code above. Verified Wow! You have successfully verified the account Continue Hi your HR.com account is ready Your Profile completion: 30% Complete your profile In a move anticipated for months, and a day after Equal Pay Day, the New York City Council approved a salary history ban making it illegal for any employer or employment agency in New York City to inquire about a job applicants salary history and employee benefits in the interview process. The bill was first introduced on Aug. 16, 2016, in an attempt to prohibit employers from inquiring about a prospective employees salary history on a job application. The proposed bill closely followed a provision from Massachusetts amendments to its Equal Pay Act (and similar provisions in Philadelphia), which prohibit employers operating in those states from requesting the compensation history of prospective employees, unless the prospective employee has voluntarily disclosed such information. On Wednesday, April 5, 2017, after months of debate and public comment, the New York City Council approved the passage of the bill. The bill formally amends the New York City Human Rights Law, Title 8 of the Administrative Code of the City of New York, which prohibits discrimination in New York City. 1253-A now makes it a discriminatory employment practice for an employer to: (1) inquire about the salary history of an applicant for employment, which includes either asking the applicant directly about his or her salary history or conducting a search of publicly available records or reports; or (2) r... Tags : success skills attitude All of your locations are up and running. Youve done all you could do to advertise and get a jump on your competition. So now, the only thing you have left to do is the hiring. Plus you must retain good employees. Success includes retaining good employees. Turnover creates inefficiencies that cost companies major dollars every year, so it's important to pay employees for the efficiencies they create and by staying with the company. Success is hiring and retaining good employees and training them. Treasure your Best Employees In 1994, Cary Albert and his wife Jacquelyn began Schlotzskys. At Albert Enterprises, the owner claims labor costs as a percentage of his business are some of the lowest in the Schlotzsky's system, but that he pays some of the highest hourly rates. Why? "Because we retain great people and reward them with higher pay. You can't put a price tag on this." Albert Enterprises, which landed at No. 1,372 on Inc.'s list of the fastest growing companies in America. It grew to 845 employees and annual revenue of $21 million in 2015, up 280 percent from $5.5 million in 2012 when it employed 125. Teamwork The Albert's are actively involved in all facets of their businesses. Having grown at an eye-popping 100% over the past few years was a remarkable feat. This is a testament to the amazing TEAM assembled by this ownership. Our PEOPLE truly DO make the difference.... We have heard for years that the Baby Boomers in the United States are about to retire. The economy has forced many people to work longer than they ever anticipated. This results in junior employees having less upward mobility and many capable candidates being forced to take roles well below their knowledge, skills and abilities. When the senior generation leaves the workforce there will be a struggle to attract qualified employees to retain them. The opportunity costs are excruciating. The companies that will succeed in this talent crisis will have the necessary programs and culture in place to attract, retain and reward qualified candidates. Furthermore, companies with specialized roles will need well established training, development and succession programs to educate capable workers who have been under-employed for many years. The workforce replacing the roles that Baby Boomers have left vacant will have many opportunities since the number of workers leaving the workforce is greater than those candidates available to step into the open roles. There is a gap that needs to be filled with quality, substance and perseverance. Join this one hour educational presentation as we uncover the necessary total rewards programs to have in place to survive the coming talent crisis. We will discuss compensation and benefit strategy as well as designing and marketing your company culture to attract the talented candidates that are required for success. Dont wait. Time is of the essence and every organization needs to take action now to prepare for the up coming talent crisis. Attend this presentation to learn more! By registering for this webcast you will receive email communications and notifications from the sponsor(s). Parent Concussion Meeting Announced for Central Illinois Wednesday, April 19, 2017 Advocate BroMenn Medical Center in Bloomington, Illinois, is hosting an evening entitled Dessert with the Doctor on May 2, 2017. Registration for this free event is required. More details, including registration information, can be found be accessing this flyer Traffic saturation jams TIA Hello, this is your captain speaking. Due to air traffic movement at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), we will be spending an extra 30 minutes in the air. We will keep you informed. Enjoy the flight. From the Archive From Foes to Friends: Military Trip Rekindles Burma-North Korean Relations Gen. Thura Shwe Mann gives a present to KPA officials after the MoU signing ceremony on Nov 26, 2008 in Pyongyang. In November 2008, a 15-member Burmese military delegation boarded a flight from Naypyidaw to Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, via Beijing. One year had past since Burma resumed diplomatic relations with the pariah nation after more than two decades of estrangement. Thura Shwe Mann, then the Burma Armys chief of general staff, led the delegation. He now heads the Legal Affairs and Special Cases Assessment Commission; formed when the National League for Democracy came to power in 2016. A leaked document about the trip states that the delegation was in North Korea and China from Nov. 21 to Dec. 2 on the invitations of North Koreans Chief of General Staff General Kim Gyok Sik and Chinas People Liberation Armys Commander in Chief Gen. Chen Bingde. The itinerary on the document shows the delegation stayed in North Korea until Nov 29 before heading to China. The trips purpose, according to the document, was to study the militaries in North Korea and China. The delegation would then use their findings back in Burma to improve the efficiency and patriotism of their own army. Here is a selection of leaked photos from our archive documenting the clandestine trip. Apart from the military studies, it also appears in the pictures that Gen Thura Shwe Mann and his North Korean counterpart Gen Kim Gyok Sik signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), the contents of which have never been verified. News China to Welcome Burma, Other Nations for Biggest Summit of Year on New Silk Road Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, speaks with Burmas President Htin Kyaw after a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of People in Beijing, China on April 10, 2017. / Yohei Kanasashi/Pool / Reuters BEIJING, China China will gather its friends and allies together for its biggest diplomatic event of the year in May, a summit on its New Silk Road plan, with most Asian leaders due to attend but only one from a G7 nation, the Italian prime minister. President Xi Jinping has championed what China formally calls the One Belt, One Road or OBOR, initiative to build a new Silk Road linking Asia, Africa and Europe, a landmark program to invest billions of dollars in infrastructure projects including railways, ports and power grids. China has dedicated US$40 billion to a Silk Road Fund and the idea was the driving force behind the establishment of the $50 billion China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced on Tuesday a list of those attending the conference, including some of Chinas most reliable alliesRussian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. Burmas State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and Indonesian President Joko Widodo are coming too, all generally good partners of China. One Belt, One Road is to date the most important public good China has given to the world, first proposed by China but for all countries to enjoy, Wang said. The culture and historical genes of One Belt, One Road come from the old Silk Road, so it takes Eurasia as its main region, he said, adding that representatives of 110 countries would attend. While China says the New Silk Road is not political, it has run into opposition from India due to a section of it in Pakistan, known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, where some projects run through the disputed Kashmir region. Wang dismissed those concerns, saying the Pakistan project had no direct connection to the dispute and India was welcome to participate in the New Silk Road. Indian friends have said to us that One Belt, One Road is a very good suggestion, he said. Nevertheless, India Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not on the list of leaders attending. Wang also made no mention of any attendance of officials from Japan, South Korea or North Korea, all countries with which China has strained ties. Nor was there mention of Australia, a strong US ally that has close trade links with China. The list included only one leader from the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni. Diplomatic sources in Beijing said China had hoped for at least some senior Western leaders to attend, including British Prime Minister Theresa May, to burnish the plans credentials and make it less China-centric. British finance minister Philip Hammond will come as Mays representative, while Germany and France are having elections at the time and will send high-level representatives, Wang said. Wang confirmed Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte as among 28 leaders coming, along with the Spanish, Greek, Hungarian, Serb and Polish prime ministers and Swiss and Czech presidents. This is a positive, cooperative agreement, and we dont want to politicize it, Wang told reporters when asked if China was upset at the absence of most major Western leaders. This is an economic cooperation forum, an international cooperation platform that everyone is paying attention to, supports and hopes to participate in, he said. Global Friend China is sensitive to any suggestion that what it sees as its benign intentions do not have a receptive global audience, especially in Western capitals. China was privately upset in 2015 after most Western leaders rebuffed invitations to attend a big military parade marking 70 years since the end of World War Two. Western leaders were unhappy with the guest list that included Putin and wary of the message China would send with the show of strength. While China has portrayed the New Silk Road as a genuine effort to share the bounty of Chinas economic development and to fund infrastructure gaps, many Western countries are concerned about a lack of detail and transparency in the project and are suspicious about Chinas broader political intents. Diplomatic sources said the presence of Putin and other leaders from countries with dubious human rights records, like the Philippines and Central Asian states, had contributed to a reluctance among Western leaders to attend. Still, at a time of uncertainty about the US place in the world following President Donald Trumps pledges to put America first, China sees an opportunity to become more of a global leader and has found a receptive audience for its New Silk Road. Leaders from countries that would appear to have little, if any, connection so far to the plan are coming to the summit, including Chile and Argentina. Everyone wants to be Chinas friend now with Trump in office, said a senior Asian diplomat in Beijing. A senior Indonesian government official said China was aiming for a spectacular summit. The Chinese are gunning forglobal leadership so I think this OBOR summit is going to be huge, the official said. News Police Hunt for Killer of Publisher Who Criticized Former Regime The office of weekly news journal Iron Rose. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy RANGOON Police are searching for clues to identity the killer of a weekly news magazine publisher in Rangoons Pazundaung Township. Ko Wai Yan Heinn, 27, the publisher and editor of Iron Rose, was found dead with 15 stab wounds in the chest and abdomen on Sunday at the journals office in Pazundaungs Ward 2. According to front-page images available online, the journal was critical of generals of Burmas former junta and their affiliated businesspeople. The exact date of the murder is unclear as the body was only found after neighbors noticed the stench and contacted the police. Forensic tests have not finished yet, so we cant release the details, a police officer in Pazundaung Police Station told The Irrawaddy. U Zayar Hlaing of the Myanmar Journalist Network said, We have not yet discussed releasing a statement because we still dont know what happened. Police have opened a murder case under Article 302 of Burmas Penal Code. Last December, Ko Soe Moe Tun, 36, an Eleven Media Group journalist who reported on the controversial Chinese-backed Letpadaung copper mining project, illegal logging and farmland confiscation, was beaten to death in Monywa Township, Sagaing Division. Police are yet to find a suspect four months after his murder. Opinion They Do Not Count Us: Resisting the Myitsone Dam Beyond China, the US, and Big Geopolitics Graffiti is seen on a stone at the confluence of the Mali and Nmai rivers at Myitsone, outside Myitkyina, the capital city of Kachin State, on March 30, 2017. / Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters In autumn 2011, waterways took on an unprecedented prominence in Burmese thinking, thanks to the great Myitsone Dam controversy. The Myitsone mega-project envisioned the construction of large hydropower dams, seven altogether, on the upper reaches of Burmas most important river, the Irrawaddy, with the most powerful dam nearby the revered Myitsone confluence. The project began secretively during the junta era in the mid-2000s and is led by a large Chinese state-owned hydropower corporation. Situated near the China border, the dams would have provided large amounts of electricity to China and significant revenue for the Burmese government. At the time, this was Chinas largest hydropower project ever proposed abroad. Despite harsh political repression, widespread resistance soon developed. Anti-dam activism arose from ethnic Kachin society. After Burmas partial democratization started in 2010, passionate anti-dam campaigning emerged in lowland Myanmar. By autumn 2011, public opposition was snowballing, leading then-President Thein Sein to announce that he was unilaterally suspending the Myitsone Dams construction. An often forgotten, but important, fact is that the dams construction had already stalled a few months earlier because the region was engulfed by war between the Myanmar Army and the Kachin Independence Organizationa devastating war that continues today. Yet, the Presidents unprecedented suspension made global headlines. It was loudly protested by the Chinese companies who had invested large sums, as well as the Chinese government. The Irrawaddy campaign and Myitsone suspension became a pivotal moment in Myanmars dramatic reform process and in its relations with China, as well as with the West. One of the people at the root of these historic events was a church elder living in Tanghpre, an ethnic Kachin village of one thousand people near the Myitsone confluence. He and other village leaders first organized to resist the dam project already when it was in its infancy, in 2003. Ten years later, I find myself sitting in his humble living room. I have been visiting northern Myanmar since 2010, doing anthropological research on Kachin society, including the Myitsone conflict. While his two kids loudly and proudly prepare their English lessons, he tells me how he first discovered documents that described plans to build a dam at the confluence. And he tells me how thereafter Tanghpre villagers took the lead in resisting this project. The dams massive reservoir was to flood their homes, and no one had even consulted them! Village elders painstakingly convinced and mobilized various Kachin activists and elites to help them fight. This church elder continued to help organize resistance even after Myanmars rule of guns overrode his village. The military authorities resettled the confluence areas villages into two newly built relocation villages, displacing about 2,000 people and taking their lands. There was little compensation. Violence and intimidation were used. Even after the official suspension of construction, for example, in March 2012, the Army came to enforce evictions and demolish remaining homes. Today, the new relocation village has no cultivable farmland, leaving people unable to grow their own food. Drug abuse has spread and a powerful company has grabbed local gold panning sites. Thus, even though the Myitsone project is suspended, the church elder speaks of a broken community: We, the villagers, feel we have become destroyed people. Even though the Myitsone building is not going on, but for these villagers, it is hard in their heart, for their life, for their religion. We have to spend maybe 15 years to re-establish the village as when we were living in Tanghpre. People lost their livelihoods. If they do not give us rice, we can do nothing. Heris the new village. But this sidecompany covered; that sidecompany covered; this mountaingovernment wildlife area. These villagers depend on the river, stream, and mountain. Now, we cant go anywhere: All stopped! How can these people grow? This is the big, big problem they have given us. He is both tragic and comic when he talks about how the Chinese hydropower company is, since the suspension, trying to befriend the villagers. Only after their project became suspended did the Myitsone projects Chinese leaders begin direct outreach to Tanghpre villagers, broader Burmese publics, and activists. I have argued elsewhere that this efforts anti-political rhetoric cannot overcome the reality that defeating the Myitsone Dam has, in different ways, become a key symbol in both Kachin and Burmese nationalisms. The Tanghpre church elder shows me his determination to resist, as he pokes fun at the schmoozing of the Chinese company officials at the village: Before the suspension, they never came to talk, even though they see us. That time, their behavior and mentality is: We do not care about the villagers! We dont need to talk with you! We are boss. We have already talked with the government side. We have power. But after Thein Sein announced suspension, next year their behavior changed. They came to us and talked to us: What do you need? And now in 2013, they changed even more. Now, what happens is in the churches, we make some concert, singing competition, and they come and see He imitates the company representatives fake-sounding voices of enjoyment: Aa-aa-aah! And he keeps imitating their exaggeratedly friendly voices: Oh, please, I request this song again, for me! 50,000 kyat [about US$36]! They come to church and listen to what we are doing, even though we do not invite. They come and sit, and he claps his hands as if excited, and shouts ha-ha-ha, twisting his mouth into a big smile. He shows me name-cardsMyitsone Management Department, Myitkyina Office, Director, Deputy Directorand laughs: And with these two, many people come. I giggle at his performance and ask: Do you think they actually like the songs? He-he! It is clearif they love us truly, then they will leave to China! Thats just pretending. His determination to see the project leave is shared by many Kachin and Burmese activists and numerous people from various backgrounds whom I have met and talked to during fieldwork. It was these peoples intentions, decisions, and world-makingin a specific historical momentwhich mobilized the anti-dam movement that eventually grew remarkably widespread. This widespread resistance to the project made the Burmese Presidents decision to suspend building the Myitsone Dam thinkable in the first place. Thus, any explanation of the Myitsone controversy must begin from understanding that resistance. Instead, some scholarly and media analyses have treated the Myitsone issue as if it stemmed primarily from big geopoliticsfrom China-Myanmar relations and China-US competition over regional influence. At their worst, both Western and Chinese accounts have given undue space to vague insinuations whereby the campaigning against the dam and its eventual demise was merely US or Japanese manipulations to derail Chinese powers expansion. I am left frustrated with the apparent attractiveness of such poorly evidenced narratives. When I tell the Tanghpre church leader about the idea that a Western-led geopolitical conspiracy created the local anti-dam resistance, he quips: Really, they think that?! They should come talk to me! To explain why the Chinese companies still claim that Americans organized the resistance, he turns to the reason why he thinks his village and his nation were ignored in the first place when the dam construction began: Its because they dont care about the Kachin, right? The Chinese do not count the Kachin in their mind. They do not count us. I know that. Thats why they call us shantou [Mandarin: mountain-topan imperial era Han-Chinese name for Kachin people]. For the Chinese, we are just some shantou. As he curiously gauges my reaction to his analysis, I think about how aware people can be about their own invisibility. In my experience, most Kachin patriots think that Kachinland is the center of the worldas do we all about our own homes. This man understands, though, that his village and his beloved nation are easily relegated to the footnotes of grand stories, principally those about China and America wrestling for power at some off-the-beaten-path place. Such stories of distant governments and big geopolitics are blind to more powerful forces in that place. To notice those forces, we can learn from the mistake of the Chinese hydropower company and go talk with more diverse people, rather than talk only to government representatives. Our analysis of Myitsone, for example, is accurate only when it can account for the Kachin and Burmese anti-dam campaigners own explanations, goals, and decisions. The moral of the Myitsone story is about many uncounted people, like this village elder, who keep on resisting. These people matter because they want toand docreate worlds of their own making. Laur Kiik is a doctoral student in Anthropology at Oxford University. He studies nature conservation, nationalism, and religion in Burmas Kachin region. His publications on the Myitsone Dam and on Kachin society are accessible here: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Laur_Kiik/publications. If you have thoughts on this post, feel free to email Laur at [email protected] This article originally appeared in Tea Circle, a forum hosted at Oxford University for emerging research and perspectives on Burma/Myanmar. Student Wins Grant to Support Nonprofit Nursing student Kyle Serafico 17 won a grant to help patients with their medication regimens at a local clinic. April 19, 2017 BLOOMINGTON, Ill. Illinois Wesleyan University student Kyle Serafico 17 is the winner of a $500 mini-grant to help launch a medication adherence campaign aimed at patients at the Community Health Care Clinic (CHCC). As a student in the course Grant Writing, Serafico and each of his classmates completed a mini-grant application on behalf of a community partner. Taught by Action Research Center (ARC) Coordinator Carrie Mack, the grant-writing course allows students to learn about fundraising strategies for nonprofits. Each student is paired with a local organization to research grant opportunities and best practices, and design a program and budget. As the winner of the $500 mini-grant, Seraficos funding will help launch the new Rock Your Meds (RYM) campaign for CHCC. The campaign is dedicated to increase patients adherence to their medication regimens, and the grant will help establish a medication adherence protocol that includes producing education materials in both English and Spanish for CHCC staff to use during patient interactions. The funds will also enable CHCC to purchase pillbox organizers, which have been shown to increase adherence to treatment plans. Im grateful the judges chose to help the Community Health Care Clinic, said Serafico, who will also be completing a larger grant proposal for the CHCC by the end of the semester. He said winning the money for the clinics project has given him more satisfaction than any good grade on an assignment. The CHCC provides free primary care, referrals and medications to underserved adult populations in McLean County. In his grant proposal, Serafico noted that a large proportion of CHCC patients are Spanish-speaking people with chronic medical conditions who struggle to adhere to their treatment plans. CHCC will collaborate with Illinois Wesleyan Medical Spanish students to properly translate and execute the campaign in Spanish. Promoting patient adherence to medication involves a lot of patient education, said Byron S. Tucci Professor of Hispanic Studies Carolyn Nadeau, who teaches the Medical Spanish course. It is designed to help future health care workers overcome the language barrier with patients. In Seraficos grant proposal, Nadeau explained that under the RYM program, Medical Spanish students will review the medications and their purposes with patients, and then have the patient perform a teach back, which is an echo of what the student explained to the patient. Nadeau noted that the collaboration between the CHCC and Illinois Wesleyan students will not only accommodate the Spanish-speaking population, but will also give students an opportunity to make a stronger relationship with the Spanish-speaking population they will provide care for in the future, she said. Open to students from all academic majors, Serafico emphasized that the Grant Writing class is one where students learn useful skills that change the way they both think and engage with the community. When we engage with the community in the way Carrie Mack teaches us, and when we are in a position to help, the stakes are too high to just take the class for credit, said Serafico. I am certain I will become a more useful health care provider with the skills I take from this class. A native of Buena Park, Calif., Serafico is a senior nursing student. At IWU, he is a member of Sigma Theta Tau international nursing honor society, former president of Residence Hall Association, and is a third-year employee for the Office of Residential Life. Last summer, he tutored English in Tokyo, Japan, as an IWU Freeman Asia Intern. Although Serafico is still considering whether he wants to work in epidemiology, public policy, or academia, his long-term plans are to work in the public health arena. By Vi Kakares 20 Students Honored at Juried Student Art Show "Aunt Caroline," a photo by Anna Kerr-Carpenter '17, won the School of Art Purchase Award. April 18, 2017 BLOOMINGTON, Ill. More than a dozen students were honored with awards during the 30th annual Juried Student Art Exhibition and the BFA/BA Senior Arts Exhibits at Illinois Wesleyan University. The exhibition celebrates the achievements of students who are majoring or minoring in art. All aspects of the art program are represented: drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, graphic design, 3-D design, ceramics, glass and sculpture. In addition, works of the five seniors (Kaining Li, Kelly Mangan, Makenna Merritt, Naijun (Nancy) Qu and Lucero Sanchez) are on display. Students and awards included: Allison Guenette 19 (Omaha, Neb.): Gallery Award for her acrylic on canvas Self Portrait II Lixuan (Ivy) He 20 (Zhuhai, China): Faculty Selection Award for her conte crayon work Unfinished Anna Kerr-Carpenter 17 (Elk Grove, Calif.): Dyke Alumni Award for her photograph Cocoon and the School of Art Purchase Award for her photograph Aunt Caroline Rebecca Kordas 20 (Orland Park, Ill.): Faculty Selection Award for her glass and photo work Fitting and the Admissions Purchase Award for her conte drawing Parade "The Divine Timekeeper" by Hieu Vu '19 won a President's Award. Dora Ling 18 (Zhenjiang, China): Faculty Selection Award for her monoprint Travel Journal Naijun (Nancy) Qu 17 (Changshu, China): Ames Library Purchase Award for her photograph Nothing Ever Happened and Senior Exhibition Honors recognition Lucero Sanchez 17 (Chicago): CLA Purchase Award for her acrylic painting Buscando Mi Color Joi Stack 18 (Chicago): Faculty Selection Award for her graphic design The Humanistic Tradition Jenna Taylor 20 (Normal, Ill.): Presidents Award for her monoprint Yugen Hieu Vu 19 (Hanoi, Vietnam): Faculty Selection Award for his video Spawn and Presidents Award for his design The Divine Timekeeper Emily Wilkes 19 (St. Charles, Mo.): Gallery Award and Mayo Alumni Award for her monoprint Boy and Office of Residential Life Hall of the Year Award for her acrylic painting Just another thing hanging over your head Kerry Zhang17 (Shanghai, China): Sipich Alumni Award for his monoprint I am sweet but I aint candy The exhibit remains on display through April 27 at the Merwin and Wakeley Galleries in the Joyce G. Eichhorn Ames School of Art Building. Gallery hours are 12 to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday, 7-9 p.m. Tuesday evenings, and 1-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. By Reilly Kasprak 17 Two abductors held, victim freed Police on Wednesday arrested two persons for their alleged involvement in holding a man hostage. Reddit Email 189 Shares By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | Demographically, the 21st century will be the Muslim Century, as the Pew Research Center on Religion in Public Life has shown. Muslims will go from 24% of the worlds population today to 31% by 2060. I.e. they will equal the Christian population of the world by that date. And then they will outstrip the Christians by 2100. Pew writes: Between 2015 and 2060, the worlds population is expected to increase by 32%, to 9.6 billion. Over that same period, the number of Muslims the major religious group with the youngest population and the highest fertility is projected to increase by 70%. The number of Christians is projected to rise by 34%, slightly faster than the global population overall yet far more slowly than Muslims. h/t Pew Research Center. Most of the increase will occur because of population growth where people live. Africans will be a larger proportion of the worlds population in 2060 they they are now. In fact, over the next century, the African population could quadruple, and 40% of the human population could be African by 2100. Muslims in Africa will form a larger proportion of the world Muslim population, while the Middle East will remain stable with about a fifth of the worlds Muslims. Nigeria could go to 900 million over the century, coming to dwarf the European Union and equaling a shrinking China by 2100. Some countries will be deeply affected by these changes. The Russian Federation will go from 11% Muslim in 2010 to at least 33% Muslim in 2060. The future of Muslims in Europe depends in part on immigration policy (most of Western Europe is not reproducing itself, and so Europe will get old and less dynamic if it decides against immigration). The European Union could remain steady at about 500 million, but I suspect that projection takes immigration into account. The publisher of Time magazine, Henry Luce, called the twentieth century The American Century. It was an apt description. The US had half the worlds GDP just after WW II and even in 1999 it had nearly a quarter. It was the main world center of technological innovation, and has an enormous military-industrial establishment probably costing $1 trillion a year, dwarfing that of all the other countries of the world. It isnt clear whether the Muslim world will have that kind of economic clout. China and Hindu-majority India will be the two largest countries and may well have the two largest economies. But Chinas population may fall and age, which could be an economic challenge. Prejudice against Muslims has grown by leaps and bounds in the United States, and hatred of Muslims played a role in Trumps campaign and in the policies he tried to enact once elected. Not all Americans are bigoted toward Muslims, and most understand that you cant blame 1.8 billion Muslims for the violence and extremism of a tiny fringe. The Neo-Nazis and their slightly less illiterate fellow travelers over at Breitbart froth at the mouth on this issue. I am sorry to say that Evangelical Christians are according to opinion polls pretty hateful in this regard, much moreso than the general population (they are also the most enthusiastic supporters of Trump, which makes me think a lot of them are dressing up white supremacy as Christianity). The Zionist right wing seems to think if only you can badmouth Muslims enough, no one will mind if you steal all the remaining land owned by Palestinians in the West Bank. And, a small sliver of the US left, exemplified by Bill Maher, hates Muslims almost as much as they hate Evangelicals and Republicans. Despite White House chief strategist Steve Bannons impractical dreams, there is no prospect that government policy or other measures can kickstart population growth among the white population, whatever that is. Middle class people tend to have smaller families. They want to enjoy some leisure, and be sure to be able to send their children to college. The only proven antidote to shrinking populations is immigration. Countries like Japan that are allergic to letting a lot of immigrants in will simply shrink, that is all, and will have a very large number of old people. Countries that welcome immigrants, as France traditionally has, will grow and be economically vibrant. So to sum up, Muslims will go from a fourth of humankind to a third just in the next 43 years. They will then likely go on up to 38% or 40% during the rest of the century. That is, a plurality of human beings in 2100 could well be Muslim. Since growing populations will be increasingly rare, countries will prize young, dynamic Muslim immigrants and will compete for them. Those countries that lose out and just cant get Muslims to move there will get small and old and stagnant. Islamophobia may have a future. Islamophobes do not. Reddit Email 201 Shares Danny Sjursen | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | Make no mistake: after 15 years of losing wars, spreading terror movements, and multiplying failed states across the Greater Middle East, America will fight the next versions of our ongoing wars. Not that we ever really stopped. Sure, Washington traded in George W. Bushs expansive, almost messianic attitude toward his Global War on Terror for Barack Obamas more precise, deliberate, even cautious approach to an unnamed version of the same war for hegemony in the Greater Middle East. Sure, in the process kitted-up 19 year-olds from Iowa became less ubiquitous features on Baghdads and Kabuls busy boulevards, even if that distinction was lost on the real-life targets of Americas wars and the bystanders (call them collateral damage) scurrying across digital drone display screens. Its hardly a brilliant observation to point out that, more than 15 years later, the entire region is a remarkable mess. So much worse off than Washington found it, even if all of that mess cant simply be blamed on the United States at least not directly. Its too late now, as the Trump administration is discovering, to retreat behind two oceans and cover our collective eyes. And yet, acts that might still do some modest amount of good (resettling refugees, sending aid, brokering truces, anything within reason to limit suffering) dont seem to be on any American agenda. So, after 16 years of inconclusive or catastrophic regional campaigns, maybe its time to stop dreaming about how to make things better in the Greater Middle East and try instead to imagine how to make things worse (since thats the path we often seem to take anyway). Here, then, is a little thought experiment for you: what if Washington actually wanted to lose? How might the U.S. government go about accomplishing that? Let me offer a quick (and inevitably incomplete) to-do list on the subject: As a start, you would drop an enlarged, conventional army into Iraq and/or Syria. This would offer a giant red, white, and blue target for all those angry, young radicalized men just dying (pardon the pun) to extinguish some new crusader force. It would serve as an effective religious-nationalist rallying cry (and target) throughout the region. Then you would create a news-magnet of a ban (or at least the appearance of one) on immigrants and visitors of every sort from predominantly Muslim countries coming to the United States. Its hardly an accident that ISIS has taken to calling the presidents proposed executive order to do just that the blessed ban and praising Donald Trump as the best caller to Islam. Such actions only confirm the extremist narrative: that Muslims are unwelcome in and incompatible with the West, that liberal plurality is a neo-imperial scam. Finally, you would feed the common perception in the region that Washingtons support for Israel and assorted Arab autocrats is unconditional. To do so, you would go out of your way to hold fawning public meetings with military strongmen like Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and suggest that, when it came to Israel, you were considering changing American policy when it comes to a two-state solution and the illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine. Such policies would feed another ISIS narrative: U.S. support for illiberal despots and the failure of the Arab Spring is proof that practicing Muslims and peaceful Islamists will never successfully gain power through the democratic process. Key to such a losing strategy would be doing anything you could to reinforce ISISs twisted narrative of an end-of-days battle between Islam and Christendom, a virtuous East versus a depraved West, an authentic Caliphate against hypocritical democracies. In what amounts to a war of ideas, pursuing such policies would all but hand victory to ISIS and other jihadi extremist groups. And so you would have successfully created a strategy for losing eternally in the Greater Middle East. And if that was the desired outcome in Washington, well, congratulations all around, but of course we all know that it wasnt. Lets take these three points in such a losing strategy one by one. (Of course losing is itself a contested term, but for our purposes, consider the U.S. to have lost as long as its military spins its wheels in a never-ending quagmire, while gradually empowering various local adversaries.) Just a Few Thousand More Troops Will Get It Done There are already thousands of American soldiers and Marines in Iraq and Syria, to say nothing of the even more numerous troops and sailors stationed on bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Turkey, and other states ringing Americas Middle Eastern battlefields. Still, if you want to mainline into the fastest way to lose the next phase of the war on terror, just blindly acquiesce in the inevitable requests of your commanders for yet more troops and planes needed to finish the job in Syria ( and Iraq, and Afghanistan, and Yemen, and so on). Lets play this out. First, the worst (and most plausible) case: U.S. ground forces get sucked into an ever more complex, multi-faceted civil war deeper and deeper still, until one day they wake up in a world that looks like Baghdad, 2007, all over again. Or, lest we be accused of defeatism, consider the best case: those endlessly fortified and reinforced American forces wipe the floor with ISIS and just maybe manage to engineer the toppling of Bashar al-Assads Syrian regime as well. Its V-Day in the Middle East! And then what? What happens the day after? When and to whom do American troops turn over power? * The Kurds? Thats a nonstarter for Turkey, Iran, and Iraq, all countries with significant Kurdish minorities. * The Saudis? Dont count on it. Theyre busy bombing Houthi Shias in Yemen (with U.S.-supplied ordnance) and grappling with the diversification of their oil-based economy in a world in which fossil fuels are struggling. * Russia? Fat chance. Bombing terrorists? Yes. Propping up an autocratic client to secure basing rights? Sure. Temporary transactional alliances of convenience in the region? Absolutely. But long-term nation-building in the heart of the Middle East? Its just not the style of Vladimir Putins Russia, a country with its own shaky petro-economy. * So maybe leave Assad in power and turn the country back over to whats left of his minority, Alawite-dominated regime? That, undoubtedly, is the road to hell. After all, it was his murderous, barrel-bombing, child-gassing acts that all but caused the civil war in the first place. You can be sure that, sooner or later, Syrias majority Sunni population and its separatist Kurds would simply rebel again, while (as the last 15 years should have taught us) an even uglier set of extremists rose to the surface. Keep in mind as well that, when it comes to the U.S. military, the Iraqi and Afghan surges of 2007 and 2009 offered proof positive that more ground troops arent a cure-all in such situations. They are a formula for expending prodigious amounts of money and significant amounts of blood, while only further alienating local populations. Meanwhile, unleashing manned and drone aircraft strikes, which occasionally kill large numbers of civilians, only add to the ISIS narrative. Every mass casualty civilian bombing or drone strike incident just detracts further from American regional credibility. While both air strikes and artillery barrages may hasten the offensive progress of Americas Kurdish, Iraqi, and Syrian allies, that benefit needs to be weighed against the moral and propaganda costs of those dead women and children. For proof, see the errant bombing strike on an apartment building in Mosul last month. After all, those hundred-plus civilians are just as dead as Assads recent victims and just as many angry, grieving family members and friends have been left behind. In other words, any of the familiar U.S. strategies, including focusing all efforts on ISIS or toppling Assad, or a bit of both, wont add up to a real policy for the region. No matter how the Syrian civil war shakes out, Washington will need a genuine what next plan. Unfortunately, if the chosen course predictably relies heavily on the military lever to shape Syrias shattered society, Americas presence and actions will only (as in the past) aggravate the crisis and help rejuvenate its many adversaries. The Blessed Ban The Trump administrations proposed travel ban quickly became fodder for left-versus-right vitriol in the U.S. Heres a rundown on what its likely to mean when it comes to foreign policy and the next war. First, soaring domestic fears over jihadi terror attacks in this country and the possible role of migrants and refugees in stoking them represent a potentially catastrophic over-reaction to a modest threat. Annually, from 2005 to 2015, terrorists killed an average of just seven Americans on U.S. soil. You are approximately 18,000 times more likely to die in some sort of accident than from such an attack. In addition, according to a study by the conservative Cato Institute, from 1975 to 2015 citizens of the countries included in Trumps first ban (including Iraq and Syria) killed precisely zero people in the United States. Nor has any refugee conducted a fatal domestic attack here. Finally, despite candidate and President Trumps calls for extreme vetting of Muslim refugees, the government already has a complex, two-year vetting process for such refugees which is remarkably extreme. Those are the facts. What truly matters, however, is the effect of such a ban on the war of ideas in the Middle East. In short, its manna from heaven for ISISs storyline in which Americans are alleged to hate all Muslims. It tells you everything you need to know that, within days of the administrations announcement of its first ban, ISIS had taken to labeling it blessed, just as al-Qaeda once extolled George W. Bushs 2003 blessed invasion of Iraq. Even Senator John McCain, a well-known hawk, worried that Trumps executive order would probably give ISIS some more propaganda. Remember, while ISIS loves to claim responsibility for every attack in the West perpetrated by lost, disenfranchised, identity-seeking extremist youths, that doesnt mean the organization actually directs them. The vast majority of these killers are self-radicalized citizens, not refugees or immigrants. One of the most effective and tragic ways to lose this war is to prove the jihadis right. The Hypocrisy Trap Another way to feed the ISIS narrative is to bolster perceptions of diplomatic insincerity. Americans tend to be some of the least self-aware citizens on the planet. (Is it a coincidence that ours is about the only population left still questioning the existence of climate change?) Among the rare things that Democrats and Republicans agree on, however, is that America is a perennial force for good, in fact the force for good on Earth. As it happens, the rest of the world begs to differ. In Gallup global polls, the United States has, in fact, been identified as the number one threat to world peace! However uncomfortable that may be, it matters. One reason many Middle Easterners, in particular, believe this to be so stems from Washingtons longstanding support for regional autocrats. In fiscal year 2017, Egypts military dictator and Jordans king will receive $1.46 and $1 billion respectively in U.S. foreign aid nearly 7% of its total assistance budget. After leading a coup to overturn Egypts elected government, General Sisi was officially persona non grata in the White House (though President Obama reinstated $1.3 billion in military aid in 2015). Sisis recent visit to the Trump White House changed all that as, in a joint press conference, the president swore that he was very much behind Egypt and that Sisi himself had done a fantastic job. In another indicator of future policy, the State Department dropped existing human rights conditions for the multibillion-dollar sale of F-16s to Bahrains monarchy. All of this might be of mild interest, if it werent for the way it bolstered ISIS claims that democracy is just an idol, and the democratic process a fraud that American presidents simply ignore. Then theres Israel, already the object of deep hatred in the region, and now clearly about to receive a blank check of support from the Trump administration. The role that Israeli leaders already play in American domestic politics is certainly striking to Arab audiences. Consider how unprecedented it was in 2015 to see Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticize a sitting president before a joint session of Congress in an Israeli election year and receive multiple, bipartisan standing ovations. Even so, none of this prevented the Obama administration, domestically labeled weak on Israel, from negotiating a record $38 billion military aid deal with that country. While violent Palestinian fighters are far from blameless, for 40 years Israel has increasingly created facts on the ground meant to preclude a viable Palestinian state. Netanyahu and his predecessors increased illegal settlements in the Palestinian territories, built an exclusion wall, and further divided the West Bank by constructing a network of roads meant only for the Israeli military and Jewish settlers. Although most world leaders, publics, and the United Nations see the Jewish settlements on the West Bank as a major impediment to peace, the current U.S. ambassador to Israel was once the president of a fundraising group supporting just such an Israeli settlement. The notion that he could be an honest broker in peace talks borders on the farcical. All of this, of course, matters when it comes to Washingtons unending wars in the region. Even Secretary of Defense James Mattis, soon after leaving the helm of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), recognized that he paid a military security price every day as a commander of CENTCOM because the Americans were seen as biased in support of Israel. So, you want to lose? Keep feeding the ISIS narrative on democracy and Israel just as the Trump administration is doing, even as it sends more troops into the region and heightens bombing and drone raids from Syria to Yemen. Send in the Cavalry If the next phase of the generational struggle for the Middle East is once again to be essentially a military one, while the Trump administration feeds every negative American stereotype in the region, then its hard to see a future of anything but defeat. A combination of widespread American ignorance and the intellectual solace of simplistic models lead many here to ascribe jihadist terrorism to some grand, ethereal hatred of Christendom. The reality is far more discomfiting. Consider, for instance, a document from ancient history: Osama bin Ladens 1998 fatwa against the United States. At that time, he described three tangible motives for jihad: U.S. occupation of Islams holiest lands in the Middle East, U.S. attacks on and sanctions against Iraq, and American support for Israels occupation of Jerusalem. If ISIS and al-Qaedas center of gravity is not their fighting force but their ideology (as I believe it is), then the last thing Washington should want to do is substantiate any of these three visions of American motivation unless, of course, the goal is to lose the war on terror across the Greater Middle East and parts of Africa. In that case, the solution is obvious: Washington should indeed insert more troops and set up yet more bases in the region, maintain unqualified support for right-wing Israeli governments and assorted Arab autocrats, and do its best to ban Muslim refugees from America. That, after all, represents the royal road to affirming al-Qaedas, and now ISISs, overarching narratives. Its a formula already well used in the last 15 years for playing directly into the enemys hands and adhering to its playbook, for creating yet more failed states and terror groups throughout the region. When it comes to Syria in particular, there are some shockingly unexamined contradictions at the heart of Washingtons reactions to its war there. President Trump, for instance, recently spoke emotionally about the beautiful babies cruelly murdered in Idlib, Syria. Yet, the administrations executive order on travel bans any Syrian refugees including beautiful babies from entering this country. If few Americans recognize the incongruity or hypocrisy of this, you can bet that isnt true in the Arab world. For ISIS, todays struggle in Syria, Iraq, and elsewhere is part of an unremitting, apocalyptic holy war between Islam and the West. That narrative is demonstrably false. The current generation of jihadis sprang from tangible grievances and perceived humiliations perpetrated by recent Western policies. There was nothing eternal about it. The first recorded suicide bombings in the Middle East didnt erupt until the early 1980s. So forget the thousand-year struggle or even, in Western terms, the clash of civilizations. It took Americas military-first policies in the region to generate what has now become perpetual war with spreading terror insurgencies. Want a formula for forever war? Send in the cavalry again. Major Danny Sjursen, a TomDispatch regular, is a U.S. Army strategist and former history instructor at West Point. He served tours with reconnaissance units in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has written a memoir and critical analysis of the Iraq War, Ghost Riders of Baghdad: Soldiers, Civilians, and the Myth of the Surge. He lives with his wife and four sons near Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. [Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author, expressed in an unofficial capacity, and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.] Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook. Check out the newest Dispatch Book, John Dowers The Violent American Century: War and Terror Since World War II, as well as John Feffers dystopian novel Splinterlands, Nick Turses Next Time Theyll Come to Count the Dead, and Tom Engelhardts Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World. Copyright 2017 Danny Sjursen Via Tomdispatch.com Reddit Email 74 Shares By Laura Robson | (Informed Comment) | The idea that partition and population exchange might represent solutions to Middle Eastern conflict, long advocated by a wide variety of observers and commentators, is being put to the test. Diplomats and pundits alike have proposed the sectarian partition of both Syria and Iraq for years. Its Time to Seriously Consider Partitioning Syria, trumpeted a 2016 James Stavridis piece in Foreign Policy, echoing any number of similar proposals for Iraq ranging from what Fareed Zakaria called an enclave strategy toJoe Bidens 2006 call for autonomous Kurdish, Sunni, and Shii regions loosely connected via a federal government in Baghdad. . Click to buy States of Separation: Transfer, Partition, and the Making of the Modern Middle East (University of California Press, 2017). Thomas Friedman is the latest to resurrect proposals for sectarian partition, with a column last week advocating the division of Syria and the construction of some kind of semi-autonomous Sunni area guaranteed by external military force as the least bad solution for Syrias travails. In Syria, where the civil war has taken on an increasingly sectarian cast, this idea is now being implemented. Small-scale sectarian population exchanges have begun, with Sunni and Shii villagers swapping territory under the terms of a negotiated deal between the regime and the rebels under Iranian, Qatari, and Lebanese auspices. A few days ago, a bus convoy carrying Shii evacuees became the target of a suicide bomb that killed more than a hundred people, including dozens of children. Despite the violence, all parties have agreed to continue the swap, with some sources reporting this weekend that as many as 30,000 people could be forcibly transferred over the next two months. The impulse behind this isnt humanitarianism; its imperialism. Partition and its conjoined twin, population transfer, emerged after World War I as strategies of external intervention designed to serve the purposes of European colonial ambition, and they have a long and disgraceful history in the twentieth century Middle East. As the British and French empires struggled to take over new Middle Eastern territory after the First World War amid a global surge in anti-imperial nationalisms, they tried to find a way to present their colonial takeover as a form of altruistic modernization. So in collaboration with the new League of Nations, they created a system of mandates, and charged themselves with the task of remaking the pluralistic populations of the old Ottoman Arab provinces into modern nation-states. From the beginning of their occupations of Palestine, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, both the British and the French looked for ways to homogenize and standardize populations in ways that would strengthen imperial governance while making the case that they were merely trying to create viable political entities out of a primitive and highly sectarian region. So, claiming to have the interests of various minorities in mind, the French high commission in Syria prevented Armenian refugees from assimilating into their host communities, instead maintaining them in distinct geographical blocs, recruiting them into colonial military forces, and using them to settle hard-to-control regions like the Jazira. In Iraq, the British coopted Assyrian refugees into the colonial levies and used them as both a military tool and a rationale to enforce British control over the oil-rich area around Mosul. This extended to Palestine too, with the British and the League of Nations alike offering support for the creation of European Jewish settler blocs and proposing, in 1937, mass population exchange and the creation of ethnically homogenous spaces as a solution to the post-Balfour morass. Demographic engineering like this offered both a mechanism and an excuse for a continued European military presence. And the more resistance such plans engendered, the stronger the case became for a more or less permanent colonial occupation. That it often made victims of the very communities it was claiming to protect was irrelevant to its backers. Likewise, contemporary calls for partition and transfer in Iraq and Syria have nothing to do with protecting populations on the ground. In fact, as was demonstrated this week, advocates are willing to stomach very high levels of violence to accomplish their goals. Partition and population exchange are not being proposed because they work to reduce bloodshed; they are being proposed because they are both rhetorically and practically useful to the wide variety of external actors intent on maintaining and expanding their positions in Syria and Iraq. They elide external responsibility for contemporary Middle Eastern violence by assigning sectarian origins to state collapse and civil war. They buttress the idea, valuable in so many different contexts, that the Middle East is so fundamentally divided that security there is impossible without an external force acting as mediator. They offer both a rationale and a means for exerting physical influence on the ground. And when they go wrong and turn violent as partitions and transfers inevitably do they can be presented as yet another example of why external political and military intervention will unfortunately be needed for the foreseeable future. Laura Robson is Associate Professor in the Department of History at Portland State University. Her most recent book is States of Separation: Transfer, Partition, and the Making of the Modern Middle EastUniversity of California Press, 2017. VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - April 19, 2017) - Lumina Gold Corp. (TSX VENTURE: LUM) (the "Company" or "Lumina") is pleased to announce that it has been granted 13 new concessions by the Ecuadorian Ministry of Mining, covering 40,647 hectares. These concessions, which are spread throughout the country, are in addition to the ones that were announced on November 16, 2016 and December 22, 2016. The new concessions, which were awarded through the Government's auction process, consolidate Lumina's position along trend with its existing Condor project, Lundin Gold's Fruta del Norte project and Tongling's Mirador project. Concessions on the prolific northwest oriented Apuela Batholith, close to world class discoveries such as Codelcos Llurimagua and SolGolds Cascabel, are expected to add additional value to Lumina's prospective portfolio. The following table, map and descriptions outline Lumina's new and previously existing concessions in Ecuador. Lumina has commenced extensive geological mapping, soil and stream sediment sampling to focus the Company's efforts on the mineralized areas of these new concessions. This work will enable Lumina to identify high-priority drill targets in addition to the current 12,000 meters of infill drilling that is ongoing at Cangrejos. Diego Benalcazar, Lumina's in-country Senior Vice President, commented: "The concessions Lumina has added since November have made it the second largest concession holder in Ecuador, and one of the leading gold explorers in the region. Our technical team of 15 geologists has already commenced work across this portfolio of highly prospective concessions." Countrywide Concession Summary: Area Name Number of Concessions Hectares Province Key Projects Cangrejos (including Cangrejos 20) 6 6,374 El Oro Condor 7 8,269 Zamora-Chinchipe Previously Announced Concessions - Nov 16, 2016 and Dec 22, 2016 Press Releases Pegasus A / Pegasus B 14 66,525 Cotopaxi & Bolivar Tres Picachos 1 4,828 Zamora-Chinchipe Orquideas 1 4,743 Zamora-Chinchipe La Canela 1 3,187 Zamora-Chinchipe New Concessions Added Palma Real (1) 4 19,775 Esmeraldas Cascas (1) 2 9,998 Zamora-Chinchipe Tarqui (1) 2 4,817 Morona-Santiago Quimi (1) 2 2,731 Morona-Santiago Yawi 1 1,494 Zamora-Chinchipe Escondida 1 1,204 Zamora-Chinchipe Santa Elena (1) 1 628 Zamora-Chinchipe Total 43 134,573 (1) Concessions currently optioned by Lumina. Lumina is responsible for funding the required work commitments on these concessions. After two years, the concessions will be transferred to Lumina. Description of New Concessions Outside of Lumina's Key Projects: The Macuchi Volcanic Massive Sulphide (VMS) Metallogenic Belt Concession Areas Lumina has assembled three large concession packages, totaling 86,300 hectares, encompassing submarine arc volcanic rocks of the Paleocene to Eocene Macuchi formation, prospective for VMS and skarn gold styles of mineralization. The Company holds the Pegasus A, Pegasus B and the Palma Real concessions in this belt. Pegasus A / Pegasus B (66,525 hectares) Pegasus A comprises seven contiguous mineral exploration license areas in Cotopaxi Province. The northernmost Pegasus-1 concession is two kilometers south of the Estero Hondo gold mine. First quarter 2017 field work has defined gossanous rock samples in the western part of Pegasus-1 at La Envidia, assaying between 6.3 and 9.4 grams per tonne of gold and 1,415 parts per million ("ppm") arsenic. La Envidia shows consistently anomalous silver assays (4.7 ppm silver), and locally anomalous copper assays (up to 0.145% copper) were recently returned from both rock and saprock samples. In addition, pan concentrates at La Envidia, taken from streams every 100m, have yielded up to 70 coarse, angular and locally brilliant gold particles per pan over two kilometers north-south. Pegasus B is a prospective area south of Pegasus A. It is adjacent to Salazar Resources' Las Naves VMS deposit. The regional geology is Cretaceous Island Arc volcanics with potential mineralization in the form of Kuroko massive sulphide type and possible younger Miocene porphyritic mineralization. There is also potential for epithermal deposits in the highlands. Palma Real (19,775 hectares) Palma Real is located in the western foothills of the Andes in Esmeraldas Province, approximately 40 kilometers southwest of the giant Cascabel copper-gold deposit under development by SolGold, in broadly similar geological formations to the Pegasus blocks. Stream sediment copper anomalism, as defined by the British Geological Survey in 2000, surrounds the Canande gabbro pluton and is the principal attribute of this previously underexplored license area. The Zamora - Morona Santiago Copper-Gold Metallogenic Belt Concession Areas Lumina holds title to twelve mineral exploration concessions, totaling 33,630 hectares, that are on trend with its Condor project. These concessions discontinuously span 170 kilometers of the prolific Zamora Copper-Gold Metallogenic Belt. This area is prospective for porphyry copper-molybdenum-gold-silver, epithermal gold-silver, as well as skarn gold and copper styles of mineralization. Lumina has the added advantage of detailed in-house geochemical and geophysical data to facilitate prospect generation and project development within this metallogenic belt. Cascas (9,998 hectares) The two Cascas license areas encompass a 16 square kilometer copper-molybdenum anomaly, defined by Odin/Cambior between 1996 and 1998. The anomaly is open to the northeast and is flanked to the southwest by a stream sediment gold anomaly. La Canela and Tres Picachos (8,015 hectares) La Canela (3,187 hectares) and Tres Picachos (4,828 hectares) straddle the same Jurassic aged volcanic and plutonic rocks present at Fruta del Norte and its district. Stream sediment sampling by Odin/Cambior between 1996-1998 defined several zones of gold anomalism in each concession, mostly within Misahualli volcanic rocks. Tarqui and Quimi (7,548 hectares) Tarqui & Tarqui 2 (4,817 hectares) and Quimi & Quimi 2 (2,731 hectares) license areas cover mid Jurassic granodiorites of the Zamora Batholith, as well as dioritic dikes and breccia zones located between the Mirador copper-gold-silver mine (presently under construction) and the Panantza-San Carlos porphyry copper deposits. Quimi is eight kilometers to the northwest of the Mirador mine development site and five kilometers north of the Mirador Norte copper-gold deposit. Geochemical sampling by Billiton in the early 1990's defined kilometer-scale zones of copper-gold soil anomalism that will form the focus of Lumina's detailed follow-up exploration in 2017. Orquideas (4,743 hectares) The Orquideas license contains a copper-molybdenum geochemical anomaly, approximately three kilometers long and 1.3 kilometers wide, orientated northwest by southeast, as defined by soils, stream sediments and rock samples taken between 1996 and 1998 (Odin/Cambior). Localized gold anomalism has been detected on the periphery of this zone, whereas silver is consistently anomalous from recently acquired potassic and phyllic altered rock samples (0.14-1.93 ppm silver). A major north-south fault, recently identified, is located outboard of the copper-molybdenum anomaly, in which copper sulphide and oxide mineralization assayed up to 0.25% copper. Yawi (1,494 hectares) The Yawi concession lies within the Zamora Batholith, overlying the Hollin and Napo formations and is prospective for high grade gold-silver and base metal veins. Odin previously held this concession and defined a silica-pyrite altered intrusion that assayed over 6 ppm gold, 213 ppm silver, 0.13% lead, 0.29% zinc and >10,000 ppm arsenic. Escondida (1,204 hectares) The Escondida concession fills a gap inside the Condor concession blocks. Mineralized subvolcanic breccias and proximal skarn depict an unexplored volcanic center similar to the Los Cuyes diatreme system present at Lumina's Condor project five kilometers to the east. Santa Elena (628 hectares) Santa Elena is located along strike with the regionally significant Las Penas Fault Zone, which forms the principal structural control for the Fruta del Norte epithermal gold-silver deposit. Similar cover rocks, particularly the Misahualli Formation, as well as an elaborate and local gold mineralized fault zone have also been detected. TVX defined a greater than one kilometer long gold anomaly in 1998, the scale and tenor of which has been confirmed by first quarter 2017 field work with pan concentrate sampling. Concentrates, derived from stream sediments and fault rocks, reveal up to 120 coarse, angular gold particles per pan. About Lumina Gold Lumina Gold Corp (TSX VENTURE: LUM) is a Vancouver, Canada based precious and base metals exploration and development company focused on gold and copper projects in Ecuador. The Company's Cangrejos Gold-Copper project is located in El Oro Province, southwest Ecuador, and its Condor Gold-Copper project is located in Zamora-Chinchipe Province, southeast Ecuador. The Company also holds a large and highly prospective land package in Ecuador consisting of 134,573 hectares. The Company has an experienced management team with a successful track record of advancing and monetizing exploration projects. Lumina intends to continue to identify, acquire and advance mineral exploration properties that have large scale potential. Further details are available on the Company's website at https://luminagold.com/. VANCOUVER, April 19, 2017 /CNW/ - Trilogy Metals Inc. (TSX, NYSE-MKT: TMQ) ("Trilogy Metals" or "the Company") is pleased to announce the results of a recently completed metallurgical test work program using sample material from the Arctic deposit collected during the 2016 field season. This metallurgical test program was carried out as a follow-on program to confirm previous metallurgical results completed in 2012 and in support of advancing the project to a pre-feasibility study ("PFS") planned for completion in Q1 2018. Highlights Recoveries and Concentrate Grades Improved from Previous Study Copper recoveries improved from 87% to 92% Zinc recoveries improved from 87% to 88% Copper concentrate average grade remains high at 29% Zinc concentrate average grade improves from 56% to 60% In-pit geotechnical and hydrology studies are now completed to a PFS level The results demonstrate that excellent recoveries and clean concentrates of copper and zinc can be generated from the polymetallic copper-lead-zinc-gold-silver ores at Arctic. Concentrates of copper recovered an average of 91.7% of the copper and formed a concentrate averaging 28.7% copper metal. Concentrates of zinc recovered an average of 87.8% of the zinc and formed a concentrate averaging 60% zinc metal. Neither concentrate contains significant deleterious penalty metals and are considered excellent quality by world standards. The lead concentrate contains significant precious metals and is still undergoing further test work to determine optimal recoveries for lead, gold and silver. The Arctic deposit is a high-grade copper-zinc-lead volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit which also contains significant amounts of precious metals. The Company is proposing a 10,000 tonne per day, open pit mining operation with a typical crush-grind-float flow sheet producing significant tonnages of copper and zinc concentrates and lessor lead concentrate containing significant quantities of precious metals. The mineralized material from Arctic has been shown to be amenable to traditional flotation methods for the production of saleable base-metal concentrates. The results of this recent test work program, completed by ALS Metallurgy of Kamloops, Canada, were in-line with previous results reported in the Company's National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure technical report entitled "Preliminary Economic Assessment Report on the Arctic Project, Ambler Mining District, Northwest Alaska" dated effective September 12, 2013 (the "PEA") (see press release dated September 12, 2013) and will support a PFS to be completed in Q1, 2018. Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, President and CEO of Trilogy Metals commented, "We are very pleased with the results of this metallurgical test work program at Arctic. Recoveries and concentrate grades for our two principle metals copper and zinc are excellent. We are currently conducting additional test work to determine the optimal recoveries of our three other metals lead, gold and silver, and will report on that work in due course. In combination with recently completed structural, hydrological and geotechnical work, we are well poised to kick-off the approved 2017 plan and budget and complete a PFS on Arctic in Q1 of 2018. The PFS will demonstrate the true value of the high-grade Arctic deposit which we expect will be the first in a series of potential mines in the Ambler mining district. With the recent announcement that the BLM has initiated the permitting process on the AMDIAP; our recently announced option agreement with South32 whereby they will fund a $10 million program at our Bornite deposit in 2017; and an upswing in demand for copper and zinc, the Company is well positioned to add value for shareholders by advancing development of the Ambler mining district." The revenue stream in the PEA (see figure 1 below) showed that copper produced 60% of the revenue stream, with zinc contributing 21%, silver at 9% and gold at 6%. Lead was the least valuable of the metals and is still undergoing further test work to determine optimal recoveries for lead, gold and silver. Neither the zinc nor the copper concentrates contain any significant deleterious penalty metals and are considered excellent quality by world standards. Metallurgical Update A total of four diamond drill holes were completed during the 2016 field program to provide whole core for sample materials in this test work program. Drilling targeted the first seven years of planned mine production from the Arctic deposit and provided 14 major mineralized intercepts for use in the test work program. The metallurgical flow sheet envisions a truck and shovel open-pit mining operation followed by a traditional crush-grind-float processing facility. Grinding test work completed on the 14 mineralized intercepts confirmed the material to be soft to moderate in terms of Bond Work Index characterization. Bond Ball Mill work index averaged 7.6kWhr/tonne, with a maximum value of 10.3 and minimum value of 5.3. A composite sample of approximately 600 kilograms was prepared from the mineralized intercepts and used for metallurgical concentration test work. This composite sample was used in bench scale testing to confirm the performance of the previously defined flotation process; as well, a large volume of the sample was processed in a pilot plant to provide sufficient volumes of a copper-lead bulk concentrate to complete detailed copper and lead separation test work. A flowsheet of the Arctic flotation process is shown in Figure 2. Metallurgical test work, as shown in Table 1, reflects good recovery and upgrading of copper, lead and zinc values. The Arctic deposit contains talc, a naturally hydrophobic mineral. Talc is recovered via flotation prior to base metals flotation. Copper and zinc losses associated with the talc concentrate are less than one percent of the overall base metals. Copper and zinc concentrates as defined in this test work program are considered to be excellent in terms of concentrate grades. The lead concentrate which contains significant precious metals will be subject to further economic analysis and possibly additional metallurgical testing for the recovery of precious metals. Table 1: Arctic Deposit Overall Metallurgical Performance (Bulk Sample) Grades Metal Recoveries Product Cu Pb Zn Au Ag Cu Pb Zn Au Ag % % % g/t g/t % % % % % Flotation Feed 3.13 0.93 4.75 0.61 46 100 100 100 - - Pre-float Conc. 0.20 0.15 0.27 0.06 5 0.8 2.0 0.7 - - Lead Conc. 2.72 23.8 1.32 7.12 933 2.4 76.9 0.9 63.4 59.4 Copper Conc. 28.7 1.03 2.97 0.35 113 91.7 11.8 6.9 11.0 26.0 Zinc Conc. 0.79 0.24 60.0 0.44 24 1.8 1.8 87.8 - - Final Tails 0.16 0.10 0.25 0.19 7 3.3 7.5 3.8 - - Geotechnical & Hydrology Update In spring of 2015, Trilogy Metals contracted SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. to initiate open pit geotechnical and hydrogeological field investigations to achieve prefeasibility level design for the Arctic Project. SRK's scope of work consisted of three broad phases, spanning two years of staged technical investigations. Phase 1 focussed on data collection by means of a field investigation program tied to the Arctic 2015 and 2016 exploration drilling programs. Geotechnical information collected from the drilling programs included geotechnical rock mass classification data from oriented drill core, testing of drill core for laboratory-derived rock properties, and downhole acoustic and optical televiewer surveying. Hydrogeological testing included packer testing, installation and monitoring of new and existing instrumentation within the proposed open pit area, airlift testing and seepage surveys. As input for the engineering studies, SRK also completed a structural geology study, and developed a fault model based on field mapping, surface LiDAR data interpretation, drill hole logging and a 3D geology model provided by Trilogy staff. Phase 2 undertook advanced geotechnical and hydrogeological characterization and analyses, which resulted in the identification of six relevant geotechnical design sectors for the planned open pit. Phase 3 included kinematic analyses, numerical modelling of representative pit sections and derivation of overall, inter-ramp and bench scale slope design recommendations for each geotechnical design sector. Final inter-ramp angles per design sector vary depending on the slope direction within the design sector, but in general are 26 to 56 degrees (see Figure 3). We are pleased to report that SRK completed a final report documenting the structural, hydrological and geotechnical work in February 2017 this completes the work package to a Pre-feasibility level of study. Qualified Persons The metallurgical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators ("NI 43-101") and supervised and reviewed by Jeffrey B. Austin, P.Eng., President, of International Metallurgical and Environmental Inc., a "Qualified Person" as defined in National Instrument 43-101 and the person who oversees metallurgical developments for Trilogy Metals. The 2015 and 2016 geotechnical and hydrological field investigations, technical analysis and slope design recommendations were completed by Qualified Persons employed by SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. of Vancouver, Canada. Bruce Murphy P.Eng., Principal Consultant with SRK, is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Murphy has reviewed the geotechnical and hydrological technical information in this news release and approves the disclosure contained herein. About Trilogy Metals Trilogy Metals Inc., formerly NovaCopper Inc., is a metals exploration company focused on exploring and developing the Ambler mining district located in northwestern Alaska. It is one of the richest and most-prospective known copper-dominant districts located in one of the safest geopolitical jurisdictions in the world. It hosts world-class polymetallic VMS deposits that contain copper, zinc, lead, gold and silver, and carbonate replacement deposits which have been found to host high grade copper mineralization. Exploration efforts have been focused on two deposits in the Ambler mining district - the Arctic VMS deposit and the Bornite carbonate replacement deposit. Both deposits are located within the Company's land package that spans approximately 143,000 hectares. The Company has an agreement with NANA Regional Corporation, Inc., a Regional Alaska Native Corporation that provides a framework for the exploration and potential development of the Ambler mining district in cooperation with local communities. Our vision is to develop the Ambler mining district into a premier North American copper producer. TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - April 19, 2017) - Nighthawk Gold Corp. ("Nighthawk") (TSX VENTURE:NHK) is pleased to announce encouraging preliminary results from its ongoing metallurgical test work program on the Colomac Gold project. Testing was completed at Bureau Veritas in Richmond, BC, and audited by Starkey & Associates Inc. in Oakville, Ontario. Three drill core bulk samples from various portions of the Colomac gold deposit were assayed and tested for grindability using the SAGDesign methodology. A master composite was then amalgamated from the bulk samples and used for additional metallurgical testing. Initial results indicate that gold recoveries of up to 96.5% may be achieved and the rock is amenable to all standard gold recovery technologies. This represents a significant increase in recovery over the historic production results of 88.1% (1994 to 1997). Additional testwork is expected to yield further optimization and confirmation of these results. Highlights include: Variation in rock hardness of the three bulk samples was minimal indicating that the material is relatively homogeneous; The master composite sample, having a head grade of 1.81 grams per tonne gold measured by fire assay, generated favourable recoveries for all process options, including heap leaching, flotation, and gravity separation; Gold extraction by flotation ranged from 94.1% - 95.5% with maximum recoveries achieved at a feed size F 80 of 151 microns; of 151 microns; Cyanide heap leaching of minus 12,700 micron material reported up to 81.8% gold recoveries, perhaps an option for lower grade material which would otherwise be considered waste; Cyanidation of ground rock increased gold recovery significantly up to 96.5%. "Results from this initial metallurgical testing have significantly exceeded our expectations in comparison to Colomac's known historical recoveries", commented Nighthawk President & CEO, Dr. Michael Byron. "In particular, Colomac material shows excellent grind characteristics, exceptional gold recoveries and responsiveness to all standard gold recovery technologies, comparing favourably to similar projects in North America. It's also important to note that the rock is exceptionally clean as no deleterious materials were detected that could otherwise adversely affect processing, or impact the environment. We are very pleased with the initial results, and expect the final testwork to confirm these findings". The three drill core bulk samples, totalling 119.5 kilograms of split drill core, were of similar mineralogical characteristics. In addition to hardness testing (Table 1.0), they were also used to address the spatial and grade variations of the quartz diorite host rock (Table 2.0). Each sample was assayed and tested to obtain individual grinding parameters. Grinding tests indicate that all samples exhibit a consistent high hardness, and minor variability, presenting no milling issues. The average SAG Grindability for the three samples was measured as 13.31 kWh/tonne (Grinding from F 80 6" to P 80 1.7 mm) and 14.25 kWh/tonne for the Bond Ball Mill Work Index on SAG ground rock. A master composite sample was subsequently blended from the South Zone and Deep bulk samples in an effort keep the head grade as high as possible for the metallurgical testing. The North Zone sample was omitted from the master composite due to its lower grade. Table 1. SAGDesign Test Summary Sample Information SG Solids WSDT (kWh/t) Sd-BWI (kWh/t) South Zone 2.76 12.32 14.28 North Zone 2.73 13.52 14.38 Deep 2.70 14.07 14.10 Average 2.73 13.31 14.25 Table 2. Head Assays of Colomac Samples Sample Information Fire Assay (g Au/t) Screen Metallics Assay (g Au/t) South Zone 1.16 1.32 North Zone 0.35 0.90 Deep 0.65 1.69 The master composite, reporting a head grade of 1.81 grams per tonne gold, was tested for gold recovery amenability, specifically by cyanide leaching, flotation, and gravity separation. Favourable recoveries were achieved for all process options. Gold recoveries by flotation ranged from 94.1% - 95.5% with maximum recoveries achieved at a feed size F 80 of 151 microns. Cyanide heap leaching of minus 12,700 micron material reported up to 81.8% recoveries; however, given the deposit's northern location, this may only be an option for seasonal processing of lower grade material which would otherwise be considered waste. Highest recoveries were achieved by cyanidation of ground rock with an impressive 96.5% recovery. A summary of that metallurgical test work is shown in Table 3. Table 3. Master Composite Test Results Test Description Particle Size P 80 (microns) Au Recovery (%) Flotation Fine 75 94.9 Medium 105 94.1 Coarse 151 95.5 Gravity (Centrifuge) Fine 75 33.3 Medium 105 45.0 Coarse 150 25.9 Leaching Heap -12,700 81.8 Whole Ore 148 96.4 Gravity + Leach 105 96.5 Future Testing Although the findings of this testwork program indicate the Colomac deposit is amenable to all standard recovery technologies, the flowsheet developed on the master composite is viewed as preliminary in nature. Future testwork is planned on samples which are more representative of the various gold zones within the deposit; in particular, the high-grade zones such as Zone 1.5, which is to be sampled during the current drill program. The main purpose is to confirm that metallurgical responses observed in this testwork apply over a broader range of head grades. However, given these excellent initial recoveries reported for the lower grade material it may be expected that similar, or possibly better recoveries may be achieved with the higher grade material. Quality Control The technical information disclosed herein was prepared under the supervision of Dr. Alice Shi of Bureau Veritas and qualified person, Mr. John Starkey of Starkey & Associates Inc. Mr. Starkey has supervised the metallurgical work reported on and has reviewed and approved the technical disclosure contained in this news release with respect to such work. Dr. Michael J. Byron, Ph.D., P.Geo., President & Chief Executive Officer of Nighthawk, who is the "Qualified Person" as defined by NI 43-101 for this project, observed the collection of the samples for metallurgical testing, reviewed the progress on the metallurgical testing on multiple occasions and has also reviewed and approved of the technical disclosure contained in this news release. About Nighthawk Nighthawk is a Canadian-based exploration company focused on acquiring and developing gold mineral properties in the Northwest Territories. Including the mineral claims and leases of the Colomac Gold Project, Nighthawk's Indin Lake Gold Property comprises a total land package of 222,203 acres in the Indin Lake Greenstone Belt, located approximately 200 kilometres north of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories and includes an Inferred Mineral Resource estimate, prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101"), of 39.815 million tonnes with an average grade of 1.64 g/t gold for 2.101 million ounces gold using a cut-off grade of 0.6 g/t gold. Nighthawk also holds a 100% interest in the property known as the Superior Project, which covers 39,015 acres approximately 85 kilometres north of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. RENO, NV--(Marketwired - April 19, 2017) - Klondex Mines Ltd. (TSX: KDX)( NYSE MKT : KLDX) ("Klondex" or the "Company") is pleased to report its preliminary operating results for the first quarter of 2017 for its Nevada and Canadian operations. First Quarter 2017 Operating Highlights and Annual Outlook: Mined a total 57,633 gold equivalent ounces (1) , in line with Company expectations , in line with Company expectations Produced and sold a total of 34,454 and 33,737 gold equivalent ounces, respectively In Nevada, ore from Fire Creek was stockpiled due to heavy snowfall limiting our ability to transport ore to the Midas mill Built a significant stockpile in Nevada of 30,890 tons at an average grade of 0.94 gold equivalent ounces per ton containing 29,142 gold equivalent ounces (2) . This is an increase of approximately 18,000 tons from the end of 2016. These tons will be processed at the Midas mill in the second quarter . This is an increase of approximately 18,000 tons from the end of 2016. These tons will be processed at the Midas mill in the second quarter Forward sold 20,000 of the stockpiled gold ounces in the first quarter at an average realized price of $1,250 per ounce As planned, the Company continued to ramp up True North in Canada towards full production, which is expected to occur in the second half of the year The Company's initial mineral resource estimate at Hollister is expected to be completed in the second quarter. Development work continued with ore silling in the Gloria zone; stockpiled ore is expected to be processed at the Midas mill in the third quarter The Company remains on track to meet its annual production guidance of 210,000 to 225,000 gold equivalent ounces, up 36% from 2016 The Company will report its financial results for the first quarter of 2017 after market close on Thursday, May 4, 2017. (1) Mined ounces are calculated using tons hauled to surface multiplied by the assays from production sampling. (2) End of month surveys are used to account for tonnage. Grade of material is based on weighted average of representative samples taken during mining. A metallurgical balance, using mined and milled numbers, is performed to determine final stockpile balances. Mr. Paul Huet, President and CEO commented, "Despite difficult weather conditions in Nevada, our underground mining activities performed as expected in the first quarter. We have built a substantial stockpile at the Midas mill that will be processed in the second quarter." Mr. Huet continued, "First quarter production was largely from two mines, Fire Creek and Midas in Nevada. Our True North and Hollister operations will contribute more in the second half of the year as they continue to ramp up towards full production. We are well positioned to deliver on our annual Company-wide production guidance of 210,000 to 225,000 gold equivalent ounces." First Quarter 2017 Operating Results Three months ended March 31, 2017 Fire Creek Midas Hollister Nevada Total True North Total Ore tons mined 31,730 40,153 6,950 78,833 28,686 107,519 Average gold equivalent mined grade (oz/ton)(1) 1.19 0.35 0.29 0.68 0.14 0.54 Gold equivalent mined (ounces) (1) 37,605 14,065 2,047 53,717 3,916 57,633 Gold mined (ounces) 37,193 9,279 1,885 48,357 3,916 52,273 Silver mined (ounces) 28,258 328,767 11,142 368,167 - 368,167 Ore tons milled 21,659 39,308 - 60,967 28,936 89,903 Average gold equivalent mill head grade (oz/ton)(1) 0.95 0.32 - 0.55 0.14 0.41 Average gold mill head grade (oz/ton) 0.94 0.22 - 0.47 0.14 0.37 Average silver mill head grade (oz/ton)(2) 0.84 7.43 - 5.09 - 3.45 Average gold recovery rate (%) 93.4 % 92.0 % - % 93.0 % 96.1 % 93.4 % Average silver recovery rate (%)(2) 83.2 % 84.2 % - % 84.2 % - % 84.2 % Gold equivalent produced (ounces)(1) 19,201 11,453 - 30,654 3,800 34,454 Gold produced (ounces) 18,981 7,873 - 26,854 3,800 30,654 Silver produced (ounces) 15,109 245,989 - 261,098 - 261,098 Gold equivalent sold (ounces)(1) 16,540 12,782 - 29,322 4,415 33,737 Gold sold (ounces) 16,378 8,781 - 25,159 4,400 29,559 Silver sold (ounces) 11,145 274,855 - 286,000 1,000 287,000 (1) Gold equivalent ounces ("GEO") and grades are computed as the applicable gold ounces/grade plus the silver ounces/grade divided by a GEO ratio. GEO ratios are computed by dividing the average realized gold price per ounce by the average realized silver price per ounce received by the Company in the respective period. Preliminary GEO ratios for each respective segment are as follows: GEO Ratio 68.7 68.7 68.7 68.7 68.8 68.7 (2) The Company does not track this silver statistic at True North due to silver being trivial to that operation. Fire Creek and Midas in Nevada: At Fire Creek and Midas, the Company mined 71,883 ore tons in the first quarter at an average mined head grade of 0.72 gold equivalent ounces per ton. First quarter 2017 production in Nevada was impacted by heavy snowfall that limited the ore mined from Fire Creek from being transported to the Midas mill. As such, the Company shut down the mill for just over two weeks to perform preventative maintenance originally scheduled for later in the year. The Company's mining activity performed as planned which resulted in 51,670 gold equivalent ounces mined. The Company built a significant ore stockpile containing 29,142 gold equivalent ounces at the end of the first quarter. The Midas mill has excess processing capacity so the stockpiled ounces will be processed in the second quarter of the year. Hollister in Nevada: At Hollister, sill development work began in the Gloria zone. The Company expects tons mined and mill head grades to progressively increase throughout the year as it transitions to bulk mining in the form of long-hole, cut-and-fill and selective shrink stoping. Stockpiled ore is expected to be processed at the Midas mill in the third quarter after metallurgical test work is completed. In-fill drilling in the Gloria zone continues. During the first quarter, the Company completed 31 drill holes totaling 11,775 ft. Results are pending and the Company expects to generate a preliminary mineral resource and reserve estimate in the second and third quarter, respectively. True North in Canada: At True North in Canada, the mine continues to ramp up towards full production. First quarter production was primarily from lower grade areas on the 16 Level and the 2603 ramp where development was already in place. The Company also experienced lower than expected underground equipment availability in the first quarter and consequently accelerated planned mill maintenance originally scheduled to occur later in the year. The Company expects 2017 production and grades to progressively increase throughout the year as mining activity moves to the higher grade 710 incline and decline zones, with 2017 production heavily weighted in the second half of the year. 2017 Guidance: The Company reiterates its 2017 consolidated production guidance of 210,000 to 225,000 gold equivalent ounces. 2017 production is weighted more heavily in the second half of the year as True North and Hollister continue to ramp up towards full production. Webcast and Conference Call Klondex will report its financial results for the first quarter of 2017 after market close on Thursday, May 4, 2017. A conference call and webcast will be held the following morning on Friday, May 5, 2017 at 10:30am ET/7:30am PT. The conference call telephone numbers are listed below. Canada & USA Toll Free Dial In: +1 800-319-4610 Toronto: +1 416-915-3239 International: +1 604-638-5340 Callers should dial in 5 to 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time and ask to join the Klondex call. The webcast will be available on the Company's website or by clicking http://services.choruscall.ca/links/klondex20170505.html. About Klondex Mines Ltd. (www.klondexmines.com) Klondex is a well-capitalized, junior-tier gold and silver mining company focused on exploration, development, and production in a safe, environmentally responsible, and cost-effective manner. The Company has 100% interests in three producing mineral properties: the Fire Creek Mine and the Midas Mine and ore milling facility, both of which are located in the state of Nevada, USA, and the True North Gold Mine (formerly known as the Rice Lake Mine) and mill in Manitoba, Canada. The Company also has 100% interests in two recently acquired projects, the Hollister mine and the Aurora mine and ore milling facility (formerly known as Esmeralda), also located in Nevada, USA. TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - April 19, 2017) - Duran Ventures Inc. (TSX VENTURE:DRV) (BVL:DRV) ("Duran" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that due to a return to normal climatic conditions in northern Peru, operations at the Company's 80% owned Aguila Norte flotation plant ("Aguila Norte" or the "Plant") will restart shortly. As previously announced (see Company's new release dated March 16, 2017) extremely heavy rain falls and floods in northern Peru due to the El Nino effect resulted in the temporary suspension of operations at the Plant. The Regional Government of La Libertad in Northern Peru declared a state of emergency for the region on February 9, 2017. Highways and roads throughout Northern Peru were affected by the severe weather conditions which caused the collapse of many bridges along the coast and in the mountainous regions. Mineral shipments and consumable material for the Plant were not available and/or were considered too dangerous to transport during this time. Plant operations were briefly halted after the first week of March and it was decided to suspend operations on March 15th when the highway and roads nearby the Plant became impassable. The Company is also pleased to announce that 91.17 metric tonnes ("mt") of zinc concentrates and 23.26 mt of lead-silver concentrate was shipped from the Plant and has arrived at the Impala Terminals in the port of Callao, Lima. The concentrates are 100% own by Aguila Norte and represent the first sale of concentrates produced from wholly-owned purchased mineral. The Company entered into an agreement with mineral trader Ocean Partners to purchase the concentrates. The Company expects to continue purchasing and processing this mineral. Third party mineral currently on site is expected to be processed by the end of the month once the circuit, pad and equipment have been thoroughly inspected and approved for processing. The third party mineral is not owned by the Company and the mineral supplier is charged a processing fee, or "Maquila", for each metric tonne processed. The Company has received several expressions of interest from nearby mineral suppliers in the region. Over the next few months the Company expects to continue processing third party mineral during and after the Plant commissioning phase but at the same time will focus on establishing long term relationships with mineral suppliers by entering into profit sharing agreements. The Company will also purchase mineral for processing and later sell to certain mineral buyers. Relationships with these buyers, or traders, have been established and short term loan agreements will be set up to assist the Company in mineral purchases. Jeffrey Reeder, CEO and President of Duran commented "The recent extreme weather in Peru affected the operations during this crucial startup phase. This rare severe El Nino effect last occurred in Peru in 1997 and I have personally witnessed the effects of this natural phenomena both times. While constructing the Plant Duran took this into consideration and consequently only minor repairs are required to certain areas of the Plant affected by the heavy rains. We are very excited that our very first owned concentrates have arrived at the Impala Terminals in the port of Callao and are awaiting payment. The produced concentrates show that the flotation circuit at the Plant is functioning as expected." The Company is also pleased to announce that the Don Pancho property sale transaction with Tartisan Resources Corp. ("Tartisan") closed on March 30, 2017. The Company received CDN$50,000 and 500,000 shares of Tartisan and retains a 2% net smelter return royalty, of which half (1%) can be purchased by Tartisan for US$500,000. Jeffrey Reeder, P.Geo., a qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101, is responsible for all technical information contained in this news release. About Duran Duran Ventures Inc. is a Canadian exploration company focused on mineral processing and the exploration and development of precious and base metal properties in Peru. Duran Ventures Inc. is a Canadian resource companylisted on the TSX Venture Exchange and the Bolsa de Valores de Lima: Symbol "DRV" VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - April 19, 2017) - Paul Saxton, President of Lincoln Mining Corporation (TSX VENTURE:LMG) ("Lincoln" or the "Company") and George Sanders, President of Goldcliff Resource Corporation ("Goldcliff") are pleased to report that they, as Pine Grove gold joint venture partners, have made significant progress in advancing the permitting of the Pine Grove project, in Lyon County, Nevada. Critical to the overall permitting process is our engagement of Mr. Del Fortner as Director of Permitting and Environmental Compliance. From 2003 to 2006 Mr. Fortner directed the Federal mining program for Nevada as Deputy State Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Since 2006, Mr. Fortner has been in private practise with an excellent record of advising resource development projects on all aspects of local, state and federal permitting. Mr. Fortner is a graduate of the University of Akron with a BSc. degree in Geology. Mr. Fortner will assist the joint venture in developing the most cost effective and timely strategies for all exploration and mine development permit issues. He will also provide guidance for all communication with environmental consultants, local, state and federal agencies and local stakeholders. Mr. Fortner has already met with the Lincoln exploration team to assist in the preparation of drill permits. The joint venture plans an additional reverse circulation drill program to further expand the new upper zone discovered at the Wilson deposit in the fall 2016 drill program. He will also be meeting with the Lincoln Chief Operating Officer to develop a Plan of Operations for submission for mine development. The joint venture partners welcome Mr. Fortner's contribution to advancing the Pine Grove project. Jeffery Wilson, Vice President of Exploration of Lincoln Mining Corporation, and a Qualified Person under NI 43-101 has reviewed, prepared, and approved the scientific technical disclosure contained in this news release. Lincoln Mining Corp. is a Canadian precious metals exploration and development company with two projects in various stages of exploration and development, which include the advanced stage Pine Grove gold property in Nevada and the pre-development stage Oro Cruz gold property in California. In the United States, the Company operates under Lincoln Gold US Corp. and Lincoln Resource Group Corp., both are Nevada corporations. UN welcomes court verdict on Maina Sunuwar murder The United Nations has welcomed the Kavre District Courts Sundays verdict in which the bench convicted three former Nepal Army officials of killing Maina Sunuwar during the insurgency. By Jun Ji-hye The Ministry of National Defense began a cultural experience program for members of the United States Forces Korea (USFK), Tuesday, to promote friendship and understanding between the allies. The annual event, named "Friends Forever," which will last until October, began with a two-day taekwondo camp at the ministry's gymnasium and the World Taekwondo Headquarters, known as Kukkiwon. A group of U.S. soldiers participating in the camp are learning the origins and history of taekwondo, as well as its basic postures and stances, the ministry said. Upcoming events include history trips to the Jeolla provinces and Gwangju in May, and to Buyeo and Gongju in South Chungcheong Province in June. Many important remains and relics from the ancient Baekje Kingdom (18 B.C. 475 A.D.) are in Buyeo and Gongju. Trips to Jeju Island and to Gyeongju in North Gyeongsang Province will take place in September and October, respectively. Gyeongju was the capital of the ancient Silla Kingdom (57 B.C. 935 AD.). Defense Minister Han Min-koo said in a letter to U.S. soldiers participating in the event: "I appreciate the hard work of the USFK soldiers, who have a big role in maintaining stability and peace on the Korean Peninsula. I hope you will continue your efforts to establish the world's strongest and most effective combined defense system." The program first began in 1979 and 19,000 U.S. soldiers have participated so far, the ministry said. By Kim Se-jeong The Seoul Metropolitan Government will roll out a variety of activities at Gwanghwamun Square to celebrate Earth Day this Saturday. Earth Day is celebrated every year around the world to raise awareness of the importance of the environment and encourage people to step up efforts to protect it. Activities in central Seoul will cover four themes: climate change, waste management, air pollution and biodiversity. This year's focus will be air pollution by fine dust. The city will launch a group of fine dust campaigners who will stage a parade during the ceremony. The campaigners, consisting of Seoul residents, will continue to raise awareness of the health impact of fine dust and pressure the central government to act. The campaigner launching event will begin at 4 p.m., and will be peppered with musical performances. On the sidelines, embassies of the U.S., Ecuador and Bolivia will present special exhibitions on the environment and the Amazon Basin. Forty-six NGOs and groups will have booths, presenting Earth Day-related content and promoting their own activities. For more information, call (02)2133-3510. Besides the city, the Gangdong-gu council in eastern Seoul is also celebrating Earth Day with its own activities. Together with the Korea Meteorological Administration, the district council opened a meteorological and climate photo exhibition at Cheonho Station on Seoul Metro Line 5, Wednesday. Almost 40 photographs give viewers a glimpse of droughts, floods and the yellow dust that hits Korea each year. From Wednesday to Friday, the district council is sponsoring a market selling energy-saving electric devices such as solar-powered smartphone chargers and LED light bulbs. An energy workshop will be held to educate children on the importance of saving energy. On Saturday, the district will organize a parade, joining forces with the city government to raise awareness of air pollution. On April 25, 50 civil servants in the district will bike to work to set an example for residents. For more details about Gangdong-gu's activities, call (02) 3425-7137. by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, April 19, 2017 Indications are stronger than ever today that Bill OReillys days at Fox News Channel are numbered, if not over. He went on a vacation last week with the intention of returning to the hosts chair on The OReilly Factor next Monday, April 24. As expected, in his absence from the air this week, the news media has been full of stories about efforts on the part of various actors to prevent his return from happening. For example, there was an apparent march, principally by women, on Fox News headquarters on Sixth Avenue on Tuesday. In conjunction with this protest, in which participants held signs demanding that OReilly be fired, someone actually went to the expense of hiring a small plane to fly over Manhattan trailing an O'Reilly protest banner. advertisement advertisement Also on Tuesday, a story circulated that another sex-harassment accuser had emerged -- an African-American woman who once held a clerical job somewhere in the vicinity of OReilly's office at Fox News. According to reports, the woman said O'Reilly leered at her and referred to her as hot chocolate. Are you picturing this scene now? Bill O'Reilly, the Fox News guy, is supposed to have said something to this woman on the order of, Hey, what's cookin, hot chocolate? -- like he's Huggy Bear in Starsky and Hutch. Then he supposedly leered. Or maybe he leered before, or even during, this hot chocolate come-on. Well, maybe he did these things, or maybe he didn't. The incident making headlines this week allegedly happened in 2008. In publicizing this accusation, lawyer Lisa Bloom (representing this woman who has not been named) was quoted in a Hollywood Reporter story as saying: [OReilly] would never talk to her, not even hello, except to grunt at her like a wild boar. Like a wild boar. If this were a courtroom, opposing counsel would be within his or her rights to object to this wild boar characterization, right? Perry Mason would. By Wednesday, the O'Reilly coverage had moved to The Wall Street Journal, where a headline reported that Fox News was preparing to cut ties with OReilly. This story was an aggregation of other stories from the WSJ and elsewhere that had popped up recently reporting that Fox News execs were busily discussing their OReilly exit strategy. The catalyst for all this has mainly been the New York Times story published on April 1 that reported that Fox News and/or O'Reilly himself have paid up to $13 million in settlement money to various women who have accused him of sexual harassment at FNC. Some of the stories on this situation indicate that O'Reilly and Fox News have responded to the various accusations, and the widespread coverage of them, by describing them as part of a conspiracy on the part of left-leaning groups and media organizations who have long sought an opportunity to put a dent in Fox News Channel's dominance of the news ratings on cable TV. Personally, I have seen no statements or quotes to this affect stemming from Fox News or attributed to Fox News. In these stories, this response is vaguely summarized in a paragraph or a single sentence. Certainly, toppling Bill O'Reilly would represent a huge benefit to all media that see him and Fox News Channel as a competitor. In that respect, you can hardly blame rivals such as CNN and MSNBC for piling on. They are overdoing it, of course, but their audiences are probably lapping it up. However, unless actual proof can be found that O'Reilly engaged in egregious, inappropriate sexual harassment behavior in violation of 21st Century Fox corporate guidelines for employees, and aspects of his contract, then the only reason to jettison him is because he has already been tried and convicted in the court of public opinion, whether he is guilty or not. On Wednesday morning, an opinion poll materialized that said 46% of those surveyed for this poll (conducted by an outfit called Morning Consult) felt The O'Reilly Factor should be cancelled. A story about the poll on Politico said this result represented an 11% increase from a similar poll taken just last week. But many of those respondents said they don't watch the show anyway. Among those respondents who said they do watch The O'Reilly Factor, 58% were in favor of the show continuing, with 22% favoring cancellation. Like him or not, I always said O'Reilly was a great broadcaster -- entertaining, flamboyant, over the top. It is a shame he has to go out this way. by Chase Martin , April 19, 2017 Nokia plans to launch multiple updates across its virtual reality ecosystem at the annual NAB show in Las Vegas next week. The updates aim to improve the quality of captured stereoscopic 360-degree video and audio, increase the efficiency and add new capabilities to VR content distribution. Although the companys OZO camera remains physically the same, the software behind it has received generational advancements in image quality and efficiency in the creative process, according to Nokia in an advance announcement of the introduction. We are developing new innovations that work together to empower storytellers, enable audiences to participate in content anywhere on any platform, and deliver on the promise of transformative experiences that help the human family feel more together, stated Paul Melin, vice president of digital media at Nokia Technologies. The OZO Creator software, which is responsible for the image processing in the system, now includes so-called mixed reality enablement by capturing 3D spatial data along with the video feeds. This data can then be used to integrate digital objects within the recorded 360-degree video world. Nokia plans to demonstrate its VR live-streaming capabilities at NAB next week from a camera in its booth to Akamais booth. In addition to updating its own VR ecosystem, Nokia developed a platform for distributing immersive content that also supports other stereo 360-degree cameras. The platform includes a VR content management system for Nokias OZO partners and a VR player that can be integrated into existing video apps. That VR player includes new VR format extensions for streaming that enable higher resolutions, spatial audio and 3D depth information for real time mixed reality use. Virtual objects and advertisements can be rendered within a 360-degree scene in real time, according to Nokia. Nokia has numerous partners, with some integrating Nokia capabilities into their app and others adding it for live-streaming events. Here are the partners for Nokias VR ecosystem: Seeing immense opportunity where rivals have failed, Facebook is apparently ready to corner the business of augmented reality. At the heart of the effort is a new AR app marketplace, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled at Facebooks F8 conference on Tuesday. Were going to start today with all the basic effects that youre used to, [including] facemasks, art frames, and style transfers, Zuckerberg told F8 attendees. In other words, the AR marketplace will initially look a lot like Snapchat, which is best known for such tools. Ignoring Snapchats place in history, Zuckerberg declared: Were going to make the camera the first mainstream augmented-reality platform. Unlike Snapchat, however, Facebook is offering an open platform for AR apps and tools. Instead of having maybe 10 or 20 options to choose from, youre going to have thousands of options from creators all over the world from all different types of cultures and backgrounds and styles, Zuckerberg said on Tuesday. advertisement advertisement But Facebooks AR ambitions dont end there. In the future, I think that more of us are going to contribute to culture and society in ways that are not measured by traditional economics and GDP, Zuckerberg said. With the help of AR apps, a lot more of us are going to do what today is considering the arts, and thats going to form the basis for a lot of our communities. We can create all kinds of things that, until today, have only been possible in the digital world. And were going to be able to interact with them and explore them together, Zuckerberg said. In practical terms, he asked the F8 audience to imagine going on vacation in Rome, and having information about the Coliseum overlaid on the actual building or directions overlaid on the actual street. Think about -- if your daughters a big Harry Potter fan -- for her birthday, you can transform your home into Hogwarts! said Zuckerberg. Looking farther into the future, Zuckerberg said: We all know where we want this to get eventually. We all want glasses, or eventually contract lenses that look and feel normal, but that let us overlay all kinds of information and digital objects on top of the real world. Eventually, Zuckerberg said he even sees the VR revolution making many physical tools -- from TVs to photographs to clocks -- obsolete. One day, if you want to watch TV, we can put a digital TV [on the wall], and instead of it being a piece of hardware, its a $1 app instead of being a $500 piece of equipment. Think about how many of the things in our lives dont actually need to be physical, Zuckerberg said. They can be digital and think about how much better and more affordable and accessible theyre going to be when they are. On April 20-22 a well-known Yalta resort in occupied Crimea will invite the so called 3rd Yalta International Economic Forum. Current Crimean authorities present this business forum as one of the high-profile events in international economic life. However, as a matter of a fact this event has political nature being called to demonstrate disunity of the Western world in respect of Crimea status. As it happens, organisers of the 3rd Yalta International Economic Forum (YIEF-2017) represented by the so-called government of the Republic of Crimea supported by the administration of the President of the Russian Federation use their best endeavours to expand foreign representation. Prospective participants from 40 countries all around the world received about 1000 invitations. Moscow expects approximately 150-250 foreign politicians and businessmen to visit Yalta this year. A year ago politicians and businessmen from 25 countries across the world participated in Yalta forum. Yet the crowning organisers achievement was attendance at the occupied Crimea of EU MPs. Among the participants of YIEF-2016 were such fervent supporters of Kremlin policy as Marcus Pretzell, representing Alternative for Germany, a right-wing populist party (who was expelled from the European Conservatives and Reformists group in April 2016 following his callings to shoot illegal migrants) and Jaromr Kohlek, representing the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia traditionally favouring to Kremlin. However, no representatives of any reputable foreign company were seen among the forum participants. It shall be mentioned in this context that G7 states as well as the EU have introduced economic sanctions against Crimea following its occupation by Russia which includes a prohibition to invest in Crimean infrastructure and enterprises and cooperate with local companies. Despite of this fact this year the so-called Crimeas friends who supported the annexation of the peninsula in 2014 are going to recreate at Russias expense again. As a rule, all of them are members of marginal European parties funded by Kremlin. However, the masters of the forum put high hopes on the visit of EU MPs to the occupied Crimea who were invited deliberately to raise the status of the event. Romanian Laurentiu Constantin Rebega and Italian politician Lorenzo Fontana are expected to be among the guests of the Forum. By the way, Italian delegation promises to be one of the most representational as about 50 persons received official invitations. Supposedly it will involve a member of Italian Parliament - Senator Bartolomeo Amidei, politicians, deputies of the regional councils of Veneto (Roberto Ciambetti, Stefano Valdegamberi, Luciano Sandona, Andrea Bassi), Liguria (Di Muro Flavio, Rixi Edoardo) and, naturally, Tuscany (by the way, here is the location of the estate and vineyards of the corrupt Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev), as well as representatives of the business community of Italy (Bonaspetti Chiara, Rinaldo Vicentini, Maurizio Motta, Campedelli Giuseppe, etc.). The list of guests also includes politicians and businessmen from Austria, Turkey, Finland and other European countries. Despite of the impressive list of guests it appears that the visit by the representatives of foreign big business and respectable investors of Yalta forum may not be forthcoming. Moreover, investments are out of the questions as foreign sanctions prohibit foreign companies to run a business in Crimea. Even the only fact of visiting of the annexed peninsula is a grave violation of international and Ukrainian law and those politicians and businessmen who dared to visit Crimea without the permission of the lawful authorities may face economic sanctions. For the last three years from the moment of the annexation, the international community has not changed its front to Crimea status. Europe and the whole civilized world still treat the peninsula as Ukrainian. That is enshrined in the UN General Assembly Resolution 68/262 of March 27, 2014 which affirms territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders and calls upon all States not to recognize any alteration of the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol and to refrain from any action or dealing that might be interpreted as recognizing any such altered status (paras. 1 and 6). Investments in Crimea: myths or reality? Russian media insistently reports strong interest to the Yalta Economic Forum from foreigners. They mention free trade zone enabling to cut significantly the production cost as one of the principal attractive factors for running business in Crimea. Present Crimea governor Sergey Aksyonov also insists on favourable investment climate calling crisis the window of opportunities for business. He talks dreamily about anticipated construction of roads in Crimea by the Italians and oyster culture by the Frenchmen and consistently proposes potential investors to contact him via official phone number. Inescapable would be the disappointment of those who nevertheless determines running business in Crimea where the off the scale corruption level drives away even the hard bitten Russians. However, the issue is not about merely the sanctions and corruption. Long-term project business needs guarantees and stability and it seems senseless to invest money in territory which is owed to return. However, Putins Russia is used to having no fear in face of Western economic sanctions. At the turn of the previous year the authorities of the annexed Crimea adopted the Strategy of the social and economic development of the peninsula until 2030 which defines as the principal priority achievement of the economic growth through raising the share of hi-tech enterprises and involvement of foreign investments. The calculations show that the anticipated total investments in economy until 2030 are 438 bln rubles (approximately USD 7,4 bln), while the volume of estimated foreign direct investments is USD 1,98 bln. As a matter of fact, it is difficult to say what foreign investors are expected in Russia under sanction regime as occupied Crimea is not a territory of top-priority investment even for Russia and still remains a dotation region. Giani da Negro, freelance journalist, ROME, Italy. Source: http://www.youreporter.it/foto_Forum_in_Yalta_Kremlin_s_ideological_trap Siemens Aktiengesellschaft, a technology company, focuses in the areas of automation and digitalization in Europe, Commonwealth of Independent States, Africa, the Middle East, the Americas, Asia, and Australia. It operates through Digital Industries, Smart Infrastructure, Mobility, Siemens Healthineers, and Siemens Financial Services segments. The Digital Industries segment offers automation systems and software for factories, numerical control systems, motors, drives and inverters, and integrated automation systems for machine tools and production machines; process control systems, machine-to-machine communication products, sensors and radio frequency identification systems; software for production and product lifecycle management, and simulation and testing of mechatronic systems; and cloud-based industrial Internet of Things operating systems. The Smart Infrastructure segment offers products, systems, solutions, services, and software to support sustainable transition in energy generation from fossil and renewable sources; sustainable buildings and communities; and buildings, electrification, and electrical products. The Mobility segment provides passenger and freight transportation, such as vehicles, trams and light rail, and commuter trains, as well as trains and passenger coaches; locomotives for freight or passenger transport and solutions for automated transportation; products and solutions for rail automation; electrification products; and intermodal solutions. The Siemens Healthineers segment develops, manufactures, and sells various diagnostic and therapeutic products and services; and provides clinical consulting services. The Siemens Financial Services segment offers debt and equity investments; leasing, lending, and working capital financing solutions; and equipment, project, and structured financing solutions. Siemens Aktiengesellschaft was founded in 1847 and is headquartered in Munich, Germany. US gunman kills three 'in race attack' Three white men were killed and another wounded when a black gunman opened fire in Fresno, California, in a suspected race attack, police have said. The following companies are subsidiares of Tenet Healthcare: 45th Street MOB LLC, 601 N 30th Street I L.L.C., 601 N 30th Street II L.L.C., 601 N 30th Street III Inc., AHM Acquisition Co. Inc., AIG Holdings LLC, AIGB Global LLC, AIGB Group Inc., AIGB Holdings Inc., AIGB Management Services LLC, AMC/North Fulton Urgent Care #1 L.L.C., AMC/North Fulton Urgent Care #2 L.L.C., AMC/North Fulton Urgent Care #3 L.L.C., AMC/North Fulton Urgent Care #4 L.L.C., AMC/North Fulton Urgent Care #5 L.L.C., AMI Information Systems Group Inc., AMI/HTI Tarzana Encino Joint Venture, APN, ARC Worcester Center L.P., ASC Old Co. LP, ASC of New Jersey LLC, ASJH Joint Venture LLC, Abrazo Health Network EP Clinical Services LLC, Abrazo Surgical Outpatient Center LLC, Advanced Ambulatory Surgical Care L.P., Advanced Center for Surgery Vero Beach LLC, Advanced Regional Surgery Center LLC, Advanced Surgery Center of Bethesda LLC, Advanced Surgery Center of Metairie LLC, Advanced Surgery Center of Northern Louisiana LLC, Advanced Surgery Center of Sarasota LLC, Advanced Surgery Center of Tampa LLC, Advanced Surgical Care of Lutz LLC, Advanced Surgical Care of St Louis LLC, Advanced Surgical Concepts LLC, Advantage Health Care Management Company LLC, Advantage Health Network Inc., AdventHealth Surgery Center Celebration LLC, AdventHealth Surgery Center Mills Park LLC, AdventHealth Surgery Center Wellswood LLC, AdventHealth Surgery Center Winter Garden LLC, AdventHealth Surgery Centers Central Florida LLC, AdventHealth Surgery Centers West Florida LLC, Alabama Cardiovascular Associates L.L.C., Alabama Digestive Health Endoscopy Center L.L.C., Alabama Hand and Sports Medicine L.L.C., Alamo Heights Surgicare L.P., Alliance Surgery Birmingham LLC, Alliance Surgery Inc., Alvarado Hospital Medical Center Inc., Ambulatory Surgical Associates LLC, Ambulatory Surgical Center of Somerville LLC, American Institute of Gastric Banding Ltd., American Institute of Gastric Banding Phoenix Limited Partnership, American Medical Inc., Amisub Inc., Amisub Inc., Amisub of California Inc., Amisub of North Carolina Inc., Amisub of South Carolina Inc., Amisub of Texas Inc., Anaheim Hills Medical Imaging L.L.C., Anaheim MRI Holding Inc., Anesthesia Partners of Gallatin LLC, Arizona Care Network Next L.L.C., Arizona Health Partners LLC, Arizona Spine and Joint Hospital LLC, Ascension Saint Thomas Lebanon Surgery Center LLC, Asia Outsourcing US Inc., Aspen Healthcare, Atlanta Medical Center Inc., Atlanta Medical Center Interventional Neurology Associates L.L.C., Atlanta Medical Center Neurosurgical & Spine Specialists L.L.C., Atlanta Medical Center Physician Group L.L.C., Atlantic Coast Surgical Suites LLC, Atlantic Health-USP Surgery Centers L.L.C., Audubon Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Avita/USP Surgery Centers L.L.C., BBH BMC LLC, BBH CBMC LLC, BBH DevelopmentCo LLC, BBH NP Clinicians Inc., BBH PBMC LLC, BBH SBMC LLC, BBH WBMC LLC, BCDC EmployeeCO LLC, BHC-Talladega Pediatrics LLC, BHS Accountable Care LLC, BHS Affinity LLC, BHS Integrated Physician Partners LLC, BHS Physician Performance Network LLC, BHS Physicians Alliance for ACE LLC, BHS Physicians Network Inc., BHS Specialty Network Inc., BT East Dallas JV LLP, BW Cardiology LLC, BW Cyberknife LLC, BW Hand Practice LLC, BW Office Buildings LLC, BW Parking Decks LLC, BW Physician Practices LLC, BW Retail Pharmacy LLC, BW Sports Practice LLC, Baptist Accountable Care LLC, Baptist Diagnostics LLC, Baptist Health Centers LLC, Baptist Physician Alliance ACO LLC, Baptist Physician Alliance LLC, Baptist Plaza Surgicare L.P., Baptist Surgery Center L.P., Baptist Womens Health Center LLC, Baptist/USP Surgery Centers L.L.C., Bartlett ASC LLC, Beaumont Surgical Affiliates Ltd., Berkshire Eye LLC, Bloomington ASC LLC, Blue Ridge/USP Surgery Centers LLC, Bluffton Okatie Primary Care L.L.C., Bluffton Okatie Surgery Center L.L.C., Braselton Endoscopy Center LLC, Briarcliff Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., Bristol Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Broad River Primary Care L.L.C., Brookwood Ancillary Holdings Inc., Brookwood Baptist Health 1 LLC, Brookwood Baptist Health 2 LLC, Brookwood Baptist Health 3 LLC, Brookwood Baptist Imaging LLC, Brookwood Center Development Corporation, Brookwood Development Inc., Brookwood Diagnostic Imaging Center LLC, Brookwood Garages L.L.C., Brookwood Health Services Inc., Brookwood Home Health LLC, Brookwood Occupational Health Clinic L.L.C., Brookwood Parking Associates Ltd., Brookwood Primary Care Cahaba Heights L.L.C., Brookwood Primary Care Hoover L.L.C., Brookwood Primary Care The Narrows L.L.C., Brookwood Primary Care Homewood L.L.C., Brookwood Primary Care Inverness L.L.C., Brookwood Primary Care Mountain Brook L.L.C., Brookwood Primary Care Oak Mountain L.L.C., Brookwood Primary Care Vestavia L.L.C., Brookwood Primary Network Care Inc., Brookwood Specialty Care Endocrinology L.L.C., Brookwood Sports and Orthopedics L.L.C., Brookwood Womens Care L.L.C., Brookwood Womens Diagnostic Center LLC, Brookwood Maternal Fetal Medicine L.L.C., Brownsville Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, C7 Technologies LLC, CGH GP Inc., CGH Hospital Ltd., CHIC/USP Surgery Centers LLC, CHN Holdings LLC, CHVI Tucson Holdings LLC, CML-Chicago Market Labs Inc., CRNAs of Michigan, CS/USP General Partner LLC, CS/USP Surgery Centers LP, Camp Creek Urgent Care L.L.C., Camp Lowell Surgery Center L.L.C., Cardiology Physicians Associates L.L.C., Cardiology Physicians Corporation L.L.C., Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgery Associates L.L.C., Cardiovascular Clinical Excellence at Sierra Providence LLC, CareSpot of Austin LLC, CareSpot of Memphis LLC, Carmel Specialty Surgery Center LLC, Castle Rock Surgery Center LLC, Catawba-Piedmont Cardiothoracic Surgery L.L.C., Cedar Hill Primary Care L.L.C., Cedar Park Surgery Center L.L.P., Center for Advanced Research Excellence L.L.C., Center for the Urban Child Inc., Central Carolina Physicians Sandhills L.L.C., Central Carolina-IMA L.L.C., Central Jersey Surgery Center LLC, Central Texas Corridor Hospital Company LLC, Central Valley Quality Alliance LLC, Central Virginia Surgi-Center L.P., Centura Ventures Surgery Centers LLC, Centura/USP Colorado Springs Surgery Centers L.L.C., Chalon Living Inc., Chandler Endoscopy Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Charlotte Endoscopic Surgery Center LLC, Chattanooga Pain Management Center LLC, Chesterfield Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., Chico Surgery Center L.P., Clarksville Surgery Center LLC, Coast Healthcare Management LLC, Coast Surgery Center L.P., Coastal Carolina Medical Center, Coastal Carolina Medical Center Inc., Coastal Carolina Physician Practices LLC, Coastal Carolina Pro Fee Billing L.L.C., Colorado GI Centers LLC, Commonwealth Continental Health Care Inc., Community Connection Health Plan Inc., Community Hospital of Los Gatos Inc., Compass Surgical Partners Holdings of Asheville LLC, Compass Surgical Partners Holdings of Odessa LLC, Compass Surgical Partners Holdings of Raleigh LLC, Compass Surgical Partners Holdings of St. Petersburg LLC, Compass Surgical Partners Holdings of Tampa LLC, Compass Surgical Partners Holdings of Waco LLC, Compass Surgical Partners Holdings of Winston-Salem LLC, Conifer Care Continuum Solutions LLC, Conifer Ethics and Compliance Inc., Conifer Global Business Center Inc., Conifer Global Holdings Inc., Conifer Health Solutions LLC, Conifer Holdings Inc., Conifer Patient Communications LLC, Conifer Physician Services Holdings Inc., Conifer Physician Services Inc., Conifer Revenue Cycle Solutions LLC, Conifer Value-Based Care LLC, Conroe Surgery Center 2 LLC, Coral Ridge Outpatient Center LLC, Corpus Christi Surgicare Ltd., Covenant/USP Surgery Centers LLC, CreAtiv Management Company Inc., Creekwood Surgery Center L.P., Crown Point Surgery Center LLC, DH/USP SJOSC Investment Company L.L.C., DMC Detroit Receiving Hospital Premier Clinical Co-Management Services LLC, DMC Education & Research, DMC Harper University Hospital Premier Clinical Co-Management Services LLC, DMC Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital Premier Clinical Management Services LLC, DMC Imaging L.L.C., DeTar/USP Surgery Center LLC, Delray Beach ASC LLC, Delray Medical Center Inc., Delray Medical Physician Services L.L.C., Denville Surgery Center LLC, Des Peres Physician Network LLC, Desert Regional Medical Center Inc., Desert Ridge Outpatient Surgery LLC, Desoto Surgicare Partners Ltd., Destin Surgery Center LLC, Detroit Education & Research, DigitalMed Inc., Dignity/Abrazo Health Network LLC, Dignity/USP Phoenix Surgery Centers II LLC, Doctors Hospital of Manteca Inc., Doctors Medical Center Neurosciences Clinical Co-Management LLC, Doctors Medical Center Orthopedics Clinical Co-Management LLC, Doctors Medical Center of Modesto Inc., Doctors Outpatient Surgery Center of Jupiter L.L.C., EPHC Inc., EPIC ASC LLC, East Atlanta Endoscopy Centers LLC, East Cobb Urgent Care LLC, East Cooper Coastal Family Physicians L.L.C., East Cooper Community Hospital Inc., East Cooper Hyperbarics L.L.C., East Cooper OB/GYN L.L.C., East Cooper Physician Network LLC, East Cooper Primary Care Physicians L.L.C., East West Surgery Center L.P., Eastgate Building Center L.L.C., El Mirador Surgery Center L.L.C., El Paso Center for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy LLC, El Paso Day Surgery LLC, El Paso Urology Surgery Center Curie LLC, Emanate/USP Surgery Centers LLC, Emanuel Medical Center, Emerus BHS/SA NW Military LLC, Emerus BHS/SA Southside LLC, Emerus/BHS SA Hausman LLC, Emerus/BHS SA Kelly LLC, Emerus/BHS SA LLC, Emerus/BHS SA Overlook Parkway LLC, Emerus/BHS SA Schertz LLC, Emerus/BHS SA Thousand Oaks LLC, Emerus/BHS SA Westover Hills LLC, Encinitas Endoscopy Center LLC, Endoscopy Consultants LLC, Enterprise Research Solutions LLC, European Surgical Partners Ltd., Eye Center of Nashville UAP LLC, Eye Surgery Center of Nashville LLC, FMC Medical Inc., FMCC Network Contracting L.L.C., FREH Real Estate L.L.C., FRS Imaging Services L.L.C., First Choice Physician Partners, Flatirons Surgery Center LLC, Fort Bend Clinical Services Inc., Fort Worth Hospital Real Estate LP, Foundation Bariatric Hospital of San Antonio LLC, Foundation San Antonio Borrower Sub LLC, Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center, Fountain Valley Surgery Center LLC, Franklin Endo UAP LLC, Franklin Endoscopy Center LLC, Frontenac Ambulatory Surgery & Spine Care Center L.P., Frye Regional Medical Center Inc., FryeCare Boone L.L.C., FryeCare Morganton L.L.C., FryeCare Physicians L.L.C., FryeCare Valdese L.L.C., FryeCare Watauga L.L.C., FryeCare Womens Services L.L.C., GAB Endoscopy Center LLC, GCSA Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, GIA/USP Surgery Centers LLC, Gainesville Endoscopy ASC LLC, Gainesville Endoscopy Center LLC, Gamma Surgery Center LLC, Gardendale Surgical Associates LLC, Gastric Health Institute L.L.C., Georgia Endoscopy Center LLC, Georgia Gifts From Grace L.L.C., Georgia Musculoskeletal Network Inc., Georgia North Fulton Healthcare Associates L.L.C., Georgia Northside Ear Nose and Throat L.L.C., Georgia Physicians of Cardiology L.L.C., Georgia Spectrum Neurosurgical Specialists L.L.C., Glen Echo Surgery Center LLC, Golden Ridge ASC LLC, Good Samaritan Medical Center Inc., Good Samaritan Surgery L.L.C., Graystone Family Healthcare Tenet North Carolina L.L.C., Great Lakes Surgical Suites LLC, Greater Dallas Healthcare Enterprises, Greater Northwest Houston Enterprises, Greenville Physicians Surgery Center LLP, Greenwood ASC LLC, Greystone Internal Medicine Brookwood L.L.C., Gulf Coast Community Hospital Inc., HC Hialeah Holdings Inc., HCH Tucson Holdings LLC, HCN EP Horizon City LLC, HCN EP Lee Trevino LLC, HCN EP Northeast LLC, HCN EP Sunland Park LLC, HCN Emerus El Paso LLC, HCN Emerus Management Sub LLC, HCN Emerus Texas LLC, HCN Laboratories Inc., HCN Physicians Inc., HCN Surgery Center Holdings Inc., HDMC Holdings L.L.C., HKRI Holdings LLC, HMHP/USP Surgery Centers LLC, HNMC Inc., HNW GP Inc., HNW LP Inc., HSRM International Inc., HSS Palm Beach Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, HSS/USP Surgery Center LLC, Hagerstown Surgery Center LLC, Harbor Heights Surgery Center LLC, Hardeeville Medical Group L.L.C., Hardeeville Primary Care L.L.C., Harlingen Physician Network Inc., Harper-Hutzel AHP Services Inc., Harvard Park Surgery Center LLC, Haymarket Surgery Center LLC, Health & Wellness Surgery Center L.P., Health Horizons of Kansas City Inc., Health Horizons of Murfreesboro Inc., Health Horizons/Piedmont Joint Venture LLC, Health Services CFMC Inc., Health Services HNMC Inc., Health Services Network Care Inc., Health Services Network Hospitals Inc., Health Services Network Texas Inc., HealthCorp Network Inc., Healthcare Compliance LLC, Healthcare Network Alabama Inc., Healthcare Network CFMC Inc., Healthcare Network DPH Inc., Healthcare Network Georgia Inc., Healthcare Network Holdings Inc., Healthcare Network Hospitals Inc., Healthcare Network Louisiana Inc., Healthcare Network Missouri Inc., Healthcare Network North Carolina Inc., Healthcare Network South Carolina Inc., Healthcare Network Tennessee Inc., Healthcare Network Texas Inc., Healthcare SMG I L.L.C., Healthcare SMG II L.L.C., Healthcare SMG IV L.L.C., Healthcare UC Holdings Inc., Healthmark Partners Inc., Healthpoint of North Carolina L.L.C., Heart and Vascular Institute of Michigan, Hialeah Real Properties Inc., Hickory Family Practice Associates - Tenet North Carolina L.L.C., Hill Country ASC Partners LLC, Hill Country Surgery Center LLC, Hilton Head Health System L.P., Hilton Head Regional Healthcare L.L.C., Hilton Head Regional OB/GYN Partners L.L.C., Hilton Head Regional Physician Network LLC, Hilton Head Regional Physician Network Georgia L.L.C., Hitchcock State Street Real Estate Inc., Holston Valley Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Holy Cross Hospital Inc., Home Health Partners of San Antonio LLC, Hoover Doctors Group Inc., Hoover Land LLC, Hospital Development of West Phoenix Inc., Hospital RCM Services LLC, Houston Northwest Partners Ltd., Houston PSC L.P., Houston Specialty Hospital Inc., Houston Sunrise Investors Inc., Hyde Park Surgery Center LLC, Imaging Center at Baxter Village L.L.C., InforMed Insurance Services LLC, International Health and Wellness Inc., Intracoastal Surgery Center LLC, JFK Memorial Hospital Inc., Jacksonville Endoscopy Centers LLC, Journey Home Healthcare of San Antonio LLC, KHS Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, KHS/USP Surgery Centers LLC, Kingsport Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Laguna Medical Systems Inc., Lake Endoscopy Center LLC, Lake Health Care Facilities Inc., LakeFront Medical Associates LLC, Lakewood Regional Medical Center Inc., Lancaster Specialty Surgery Center LLC, Lebanon Endoscopy Center LLC, Legacy Warren Partners L.P., Leonardtown Surgery Center LLC, Lifemark Hospitals Inc., Lifemark Hospitals of Florida Inc., Lifemark Hospitals of Louisiana Inc., Longleaf Surgery Center LLC, Los Alamitos Medical Center Inc., Lubbock ASC Holding Co LLC, MASC Partners LLC, MH/USP Bay Area LLC, MH/USP Brazoria LLC, MH/USP Kingsland LLC, MH/USP Kingwood LLC, MH/USP Kirby LLC, MH/USP Main Street LLC, MH/USP North Freeway LLC, MH/USP North Houston LLC, MH/USP Richmond LLC, MH/USP Sugar Land LLC, MH/USP TMC Endoscopy LLC, MH/USP West Houston L.L.C., MH/USP Woodlands Parkway LLC, MSV Health/USP Surgery Centers LLC, MVH/USP Surgery Centers LLC, MacNeal Management Services Inc., MacNeal Medical Records Inc., MacNeal Physicians Group LLC, Magnetic Resonance Imaging of San Luis Obispo Inc., Magnolia Surgery Center Limited Partnership, Manchester Ambulatory Surgery Center LP, Maple Lawn Surgery Center LLC, Marion Surgery Center LLC, Mason Ridge Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., McLaren ASC of Flint LLC, Meadowcrest Hospital LLC, Medical House Staffing LLC, Medplex Outpatient Medical Centers Inc., Medplex Outpatient Surgery Center Ltd., Memorial Hermann Bay Area Endoscopy Center LLC, Memorial Hermann Endoscopy & Surgery Center North Houston L.L.C., Memorial Hermann Endoscopy Center North Freeway LLC, Memorial Hermann Specialty Hospital Kingwood L.L.C., Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Surgical Hospital L.L.P., Memorial Hermann Surgery Center Brazoria LLC, Memorial Hermann Surgery Center Cypress LLC, Memorial Hermann Surgery Center Kingsland L.L.C., Memorial Hermann Surgery Center Kirby LLC, Memorial Hermann Surgery Center Main Street LLC, Memorial Hermann Surgery Center Pinecroft LLC, Memorial Hermann Surgery Center Preston Road Ltd., Memorial Hermann Surgery Center Richmond LLC, Memorial Hermann Surgery Center Woodlands Parkway LLC, Memorial Hermann Texas International Endoscopy Center LLC, Memorial Hermann West Houston Surgery Center LLC, Memorial Hermann/USP Surgery Centers II L.P., Memorial Hermann/USP Surgery Centers IV LLP, Memorial Surgery Center LLC, Memphis Urgent Care #1 L.L.C., Memphis Urgent Care #2 L.L.C., Metro Specialty Surgery Center LLC, Metro Surgery Center LLC, MetroWest HomeCare & Hospice LLC, Metropolitan Medical Partners LLC, Miami Surgical Suites LLC, Michigan Pioneer ACO LLC, Michigan Regional Imaging LLC, Mid Rivers Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., Mid State Endo UAP LLC, Mid-State Endoscopy Center LLC, Middle Tennessee Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., Midland Memorial/USP Surgery Centers LLC, Midland Texas Surgical Center LLC, Midwest Digestive Health Center LLC, Midwest Pharmacies Inc., Midwest Specialty Surgery Center LLC, Millennium Surgical Center LLC, Minimally Invasive Surgicenter LLC, Minimally Invasive Surgicenter of Delray LLC, Mobile Imaging Management LLC, Mobile Technology Management LLC, Modesto Radiology Imaging Inc., Monocacy Surgery Center LLC, Mountain Empire Surgery Center L.P., Munster Specialty Surgery Center LLC, Murdock Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, NICH GP Holdings LLC, NKCH/USP Briarcliff GP LLC, NKCH/USP Liberty GP LLC, NKCH/USP Surgery Centers II L.L.C., NMC Lessor L.P., NMC Surgery Center L.P., NME Headquarters Inc., NME Properties Corp., NME Properties Inc., NME Property Holding Co. Inc., NME Psychiatric Hospitals Inc., NME Rehabilitation Properties Inc., NS Medical Billing Center L.L.C., NSCH GP Holdings LLC, NSCH/USP Desert Surgery Centers L.L.C., NSMC Holdings Inc., NSN Revenue Resources LLC, NUCH of Georgia L.L.C., NUCH of Massachusetts LLC, NUCH of Michigan Inc., Nacogdoches ASC-LP Inc., National ASC Inc., National Ancillary Inc., National Diagnostic Imaging Centers Inc., National HHC Inc., National Home Health Holdings Inc., National ICN Inc., National Imaging Center Holdings Inc., National Medical Services II Inc., National Outpatient Services Holdings Inc., National Surgery Center Holdings Inc., National Urgent Care Inc., Network Management Associates Inc., New Dimensions LLC, New England Physician Performance Network LLC, New H Acute Inc., New Horizons Surgery Center LLC, New Medical Horizons II Ltd., Newhope Imaging Center Inc., North Anaheim Surgery Center LLC, North Atlantic Surgical Suites LLC, North Campus Surgery Center LLC, North Carolina Community Family Medicine L.L.C., North Denver Musculoskeletal Surgical Partners LLC, North Fulton Cardiovascular Medicine L.L.C., North Fulton Hospitalist Group L.L.C., North Fulton Medical Center Inc., North Fulton Primary Care - Willeo Rd. L.L.C., North Fulton Primary Care - Windward Parkway L.L.C., North Fulton Primary Care - Wylie Bridge L.L.C., North Fulton Primary Care Associates L.L.C., North Fulton Pulmonary Specialists L.L.C., North Fulton Womens Consultants L.L.C., North Haven Surgery Center LLC, North Miami Medical Center Ltd., North Shore Same Day Surgery L.L.C., North Shore Surgical Suites LLC, NorthPointe Surgical Suites LLC, NorthShore/USP Surgery Centers II L.L.C., Northridge Surgery Center L.P., Northwest Georgia Orthopaedic Surgery Center LLC, Northwest Regional ASC LLC, Northwest Regional Surgery Center LLC, Northwest Surgery Center Ltd., Novant Health/USP Surgery Centers LLC, Novant/UVA/USP Surgery Centers LLC, Okatie Surgical Partners L.L.C., Old Tesson Surgery Center L.P., Olive Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Olive Branch Urgent Care #1 LLC, Ophthalmology Anesthesia Services LLC, Ophthalmology Surgery Center of Orlando LLC, Optimum Spine Center LLC, OrNda Healthcorp, OrNda Hospital Corporation, Orlando Health/USP Surgery Centers L.L.C., OrthoArizona Surgery Center Gilbert LLC, OrthoLink ASC Corporation, OrthoLink Physicians Corporation, OrthoLink Radiology Services Corporation, OrthoLink/ Georgia ASC Inc., OrthoLink/New Mexico ASC Inc., Orthopedic Associates of the Lowcountry L.L.C., Oxford Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, PAHS/USP Surgery Centers LLC, PDN L.L.C., PHPS Inc., PHPS-CHM Acquisition Inc., PM CyFair Land Partners LLC, PMC Physician Network L.L.C., PSS Patient Solution Services LLC, Pacific Endo-Surgical Center L.P., Pacific Endoscopy and Surgery Center LLC, Paley Institute Global LLC, Palm Beach Gardens Community Hospital Inc., Palm Beach International Surgery Center LLC, Park Plaza Hospital Billing Center L.L.C., ParkCreek ASC LLC, Parkwest Surgery Center L.P., Patient Partners LLC, Peak Gastroenterology ASC LLC, Pediatric Surgery Center Odessa LLC, Pediatric Surgery Centers LLC, Physician Performance Network L.L.C., Physician Performance Network of Arizona LLC, Physician Performance Network of South Carolina LLC, Physician Performance Network of Tucson LLC, Physicians Performance Network of Houston, Physicians Performance Network of North Texas, Physicians Surgery Center of Tempe LLC, Physicians Surgery Center of Chattanooga L.L.C., Physicians Surgery Center of Knoxville LLC, Piccard Surgery Center LLC, Piedmont ASC LLC, Piedmont Behavioral Medicine Associates LLC, Piedmont Cardiovascular Physicians L.L.C., Piedmont Carolina OB/GYN of York County L.L.C., Piedmont Carolina Vascular Surgery L.L.C., Piedmont East Urgent Care Center L.L.C., Piedmont Express Care at Sutton Road L.L.C., Piedmont Family Practice at Baxter Village L.L.C., Piedmont Family Practice at Rock Hill L.L.C., Piedmont Family Practice at Tega Cay L.L.C., Piedmont General Surgery Associates L.L.C., Piedmont Internal Medicine at Baxter Village L.L.C., Piedmont Physician Network LLC, Piedmont Pulmonology L.L.C., Piedmont Surgical Specialists L.L.C., Piedmont Urgent Care Center at Baxter Village L.L.C., Piedmont Urgent Care and Industrial Health Centers Inc., Piedmont/Carolinas Radiation Therapy LLC, Placentia-Linda Hospital Inc., Pleasanton Diagnostic Imaging Inc., Point of Rocks Surgery Center LLC, Porter Musculoskeletal Surgery Center LLC, Potomac View Surgery Center LLC, Practice Partners Management L.P., Premier ACO Physicians Network LLC, Premier ASC LLC, Premier Adult and Childrens Surgery Center LLC, Premier Endoscopy ASC LLC, Premier Health Plan Services Inc., Premier Medical Specialists L.L.C., Prince William Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Professional Anesthesia Services LLC, Pros Temporary Staffing Inc., Providence/UCLA/USP Surgery Centers LLC, Providence/USP Santa Clarita GP LLC, Providence/USP South Bay Surgery Centers L.L.C., Providence/USP Surgery Centers L.L.C., Pueblo Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, R.H.S.C. El Paso Inc., RE Plano Med Inc., RHC Parkway Inc., RLC LLC, Reading Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., Reading Endoscopy Center LLC, Reagan Street Surgery Center LLC, Red Cedar Surgery Center LLC, Redmond Surgery Center LLC, Republic Health Corporation of Rockwall County, Resolute Health Physicians Network Inc., Resolute Hospital Company LLC, Resurgens Surgery Center LLC, Rheumatology Associates of Atlanta Medical Center L.L.C., Rio Grande Valley Indigent Health Care Corporation, Riva Road Surgery Center LLC, River North Same Day Surgery L.L.C., Riverside Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Rock Bridge Surgical Institute L.L.C., Rock Hill Surgery Center LLC, Rockville Surgical Suites LLC, Rocky Mountain Endoscopy Centers LLC, Roswell Surgery Center L.L.C., SCNRE LLC, SFMP Inc., SFMPE - Crittenden L.L.C., SL-HLC Inc., SLH Physicians L.L.C., SLH Vista Inc., SLPA ACO LLC, SLUH Anesthesia Physicians L.L.C., SMSJ Imaging Company LLC, SMSJ Tucson Holdings LLC, SRRMC Management Inc., SSI Holdings Inc., Safety Harbor ASC Company LLC, Saint Francis Cardiology Associates L.L.C., Saint Francis Cardiovascular Surgery L.L.C., Saint Francis Center for Surgical Weight Loss L.L.C., Saint Francis Hospital Billing Center L.L.C., Saint Francis Hospital Medicare ACO LLC, Saint Francis Hospital Pro Fee Billing L.L.C., Saint Francis Hospital-Bartlett Inc., Saint Francis Medical Partners East L.L.C., Saint Francis Medical Partners General Surgery L.L.C., Saint Francis Physician Network LLC, Saint Francis Quality Alliance LLC, Saint Francis Surgery Center L.L.C., Saint Francis Surgical Associates L.L.C., Saint Francis-Arkansas Physician Network LLC, Saint Francis-Bartlett Physician Network LLC, Saint Thomas Campus Surgicare L.P., Saint Thomas Surgery Center New Salem LLC, Saint Thomas/USP Surgery Centers II L.L.C., Saint Thomas/USP Surgery Centers L.L.C., Saint Thomas/USP Baptist Plaza L.L.C., Saint Vincent Physician Services Inc., Salmon Surgery Center LLC, Same Day Management L.L.C., Same Day Surgery L.L.C., San Antonio Endoscopy L.P., San Fernando Valley Surgery Center L.P., San Gabriel Valley Surgical Center L.P., San Ramon ASC L. P., San Ramon Ambulatory Care LLC, San Ramon Network Joint Venture LLC, San Ramon Regional Medical Center LLC, Santa Barbara Outpatient Surgery Center LLC, Santa Clarita Surgery Center L.P., Savannah Endoscopy Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Schertz Surgery Center LLC, Scottsdale Endoscopy ASC LLC, Scripps/USP Surgery Centers 2 LLC, Seaside Surgery Center LLC, Shelby Baptist Affinity LLC, Shelby Baptist Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Shore Outpatient Surgicenter L.L.C., Shoreline Real Estate Partnership LLP, Shoreline Surgery Center LLP, Sierra Providence Health Network Inc., Sierra Providence Healthcare Enterprises, Sierra Vista Hospital Inc., Sierra Vista Surgery Center LLC, Silver Cross Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Silver Cross/USP Surgery Centers LLC, Sinai-Grace Premier Clinical Management Services LLC, Solantic Development LLC, Solantic Holdings Corporation, South Carolina East Cooper Surgical Specialists L.L.C., South Carolina Health Services LLC, South Carolina SeWee Family Medicine L.L.C., South County Outpatient Endoscopy Services L.P., South Denver Musculoskeletal Surgical Partners LLC, South Florida Ambulatory Surgical Center LLC, South Fulton Health Care Centers Inc., South Plains Endoscopy Associates LLC, SouthCare Physicians Group Neurology L.L.C., SouthCare Physicians Group Obstetrics & Gynecology L.L.C., Southeast Ohio Surgical Suites LLC, Southern Orthopedics and Sports Medicine L.L.C., Southern States Physician Operations Inc., Southwest Childrens Hospital LLC, Southwest Endoscopy LLC, Southwestern Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Spalding Regional Medical Center Inc., Spalding Regional OB/GYN L.L.C., Spalding Regional Physician Services L.L.C., Specialty Surgicenters Inc., Springfield Service Holding Corporation, St. Augustine Endoscopy Center LLC, St. Christophers Pediatric Urgent Care Center - Allentown L.L.C, St. Josephs Hospital Surgical Co-Management LLC, St. Josephs Outpatient Surgery Center LLC, St. Louis Physician Alliance LLC, St. Louis Surgical Center LC, St. Louis Urology Center LLC, St. Lukes/USP Surgery Centers LLC, St. Marys Hospital Cardiovascular Co-Management LLC, St. Marys Hospital Surgical Co-Management LLC, St. Marys Levee Company LLC, St. Marys Medical Center Inc., St. Vincent Health/USP LLC, St. Vincent/USP Surgery Centers LLC, Suburban Endoscopy Center LLC, Summit View Surgery Center LLC, Sun View Imaging L.L.C., SurgCenter Camelback LLC, SurgCenter Clearwater LLC, SurgCenter Development, SurgCenter Northeast LLC, SurgCenter Pinellas LLC, SurgCenter Tucson LLC, SurgCenter at Paradise Valley LLC, SurgCenter of Deer Valley LLC, SurgCenter of Glen Burnie LLC, SurgCenter of Greater Dallas LLC, SurgCenter of Greater Jacksonville LLC, SurgCenter of Northern Baltimore LLC, SurgCenter of Palm Beach Gardens LLC, SurgCenter of Pine Ridge LLC, SurgCenter of Silver Spring LLC, SurgCenter of Southern Maryland LLC, SurgCenter of St. Lucie LLC, SurgCenter of White Marsh LLC, SurgCenter of the Potomac LLC, Surgery Affiliate of El Paso LLC, Surgery Center at Mount Pleasant LLC, Surgery Center at University Park LLC, Surgery Center of Columbia L.P., Surgery Center of Coral Gables LLC, Surgery Center of Okeechobee LLC, Surgery Center of Pembroke Pines L.L.C., Surgery Center of Peoria L.L.C., Surgery Center of Santa Barbara LLC, Surgery Center of Scottsdale LLC, Surgery Centers of America II L.L.C., Surgery Centre of SW Florida LLC, Surgical & Bariatric Associates of Atlanta Medical Center L.L.C., Surgical Center Development #3 LLC, Surgical Center Development #4 LLC, Surgical Clinical Excellence at Desert Regional LLC, Surgical Elite of Avondale L.L.C., Surgical Health Partners LLC, Surgical Institute Management LLC, Surgical Institute of Reading LLC, Surgicare of Miramar L.L.C., Surginet Inc., Surgis Inc., Surgis Management Services Inc., Surgis of Chico Inc., Surgis of Phoenix Inc., Surgis of Redding Inc., Surgis of Victoria Inc., Sutton Road Pediatrics L.L.C., Sylvan Grove Hospital Inc., T1 Security LLC, TENN SM LLC, TFPS IV L.L.C., TH Healthcare Ltd., TH International Services Florida LLC, TLC ASC LLC, TOPS Specialty Hospital Ltd., TOSCA ASC Holdings LLC, TPR Practice Management LLC, TPS VI of PA L.L.C., TSPE LLC, Tamarac Surgery Center LLC, Tampa Bay Joint and Spine LLC, Tempe New Day Surgery Center LP, Templeton Imaging Inc., Tenet Business Services Corporation, Tenet California Inc., Tenet Central Carolina Physicians Inc., Tenet EKG Inc., Tenet El Paso Ltd., Tenet Employment Inc., Tenet Finance Corp., Tenet Florida Inc., Tenet Florida Physician Services II L.L.C., Tenet Florida Physician Services III L.L.C., Tenet Florida Physician Services L.L.C., Tenet Fort Mill Inc., Tenet Global Business Center Inc., Tenet HealthSystem Bucks County L.L.C., Tenet HealthSystem Graduate L.L.C., Tenet HealthSystem Hahnemann L.L.C., Tenet HealthSystem Medical Inc., Tenet HealthSystem Nacogdoches ASC GP Inc., Tenet HealthSystem Philadelphia Inc., Tenet HealthSystem Roxborough LLC, Tenet HealthSystem St. Christophers Hospital for Children L.L.C., Tenet Hilton Head Heart L.L.C., Tenet Hospitals Limited, Tenet Network Management Inc., Tenet Patient Safety Organization LLC, Tenet Physician Resources LLC, Tenet Physician Services - Hilton Head Inc., Tenet Rehab Piedmont Inc., Tenet Relocation Services L.L.C., Tenet SC East Cooper Hospitalists L.L.C., Tenet South Carolina Gastrointestinal Surgical Specialists L.L.C., Tenet South Carolina Island Medical L.L.C., Tenet South Carolina Lowcountry OB/GYN L.L.C., Tenet South Carolina Mt. Pleasant OB/GYN L.L.C., Tenet Unifour Urgent Care Center L.L.C., Tenet Ventures Inc., TenetCare Frisco Inc., Terre Haute Surgical Center LLC, Teton Outpatient Services LLC, Texan Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., Texas Orthopedics Surgery Center LLC, Texas Regional Medical in Sunnyvale, The 6300 West Roosevelt Partnership, The Healthcare Insurance Corporation, The Healthcare Underwriting Company a Risk Retention Group, The Huron Corporation, The Old Bridge Surgery Center LLC, The Outpatient Center LLC, The Southeastern Spine Institute Ambulatory Surgery Center L.L.C., The Surgery Center at Jensen Beach LLC, The Tresanti Surgical Center LLC, Theda Oaks Gastroenterology & Endoscopy Center LLC, Three Springs ASC LLC, Timonium Surgery Center LLC, Titan Health Corporation, Titan Health of Chattanooga Inc., Titan Health of Hershey Inc., Titan Health of Mount Laurel LLC, Titan Health of North Haven Inc., Titan Health of Pittsburgh Inc., Titan Health of Pleasant Hills Inc., Titan Health of Princeton Inc., Titan Health of Sacramento Inc., Titan Health of Saginaw Inc., Titan Health of Titusville Inc., Titan Health of West Penn Inc., Titan Health of Westminster Inc., Titan Management Corporation, Titusville Center for Surgical Excellence LLC, Treasure Coast ASC LLC, Trinity Health of New England/USP Surgery Centers L.L.C., True Medical Weight Loss L.P., True Medical Wellness LP, True Results Georgia Inc., True Results HoldCo LLC, True Results Missouri LLC, Tucson Digestive Institute LLC, Tucson Hospital Holdings Inc., Tucson Physician Group Holdings LLC, Turlock Imaging Services LLC, Turlock Land Company LLC, Twin Cities Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., Twin Cities Community Hospital Inc., UAP Lebanon Endo LLC, UAP Nashville Endoscopy LLC, UAP Scopes LLC, UAP of Arizona Inc., UAP of California Inc., UAP of Missouri Inc., UAP of New Jersey Inc., UAP of Oklahoma Inc., UAP of Tennessee Inc., UAP of Texas Inc., UCC Tucson Holdings LLC, UMC Surgery Center Lubbock LLC, UMC-USP Surgery Centers LLC, USC/Norris Cancer Hospital, USP 12th Ave Real Estate Inc., USP Acquisition Corporation, USP Alexandria Inc., USP Assurance Company, USP Athens Inc., USP Atlanta Inc., USP Austin Inc., USP Bariatric LLC, USP Beaumont Inc., USP Bergen Inc., USP Bloomington Inc., USP Bridgeton Inc., USP Cedar Park Inc., USP Chesterfield Inc., USP Chicago Inc., USP Cincinnati Inc., USP Coast Inc., USP Columbia Inc., USP Connecticut Inc., USP Corpus Christi Inc., USP Creve Coeur Inc., USP Denver Inc., USP Des Peres Inc., USP Destin Inc., USP Domestic Holdings Inc., USP Effingham Inc., USP Encinitas Endoscopy Inc., USP Fenton Inc., USP Festus Inc., USP Florissant Inc., USP Fort Lauderdale Inc., USP Fort Worth Hospital Real Estate Inc., USP Fredericksburg Inc., USP Fresno Inc., USP Frontenac Inc., USP Gateway Inc., USP HMH Surgery Center at Shore LLC, USP Harbour View Inc., USP Houston Inc., USP Indiana Inc., USP International Holdings Inc., USP Jacksonville Inc., USP Jersey City Inc., USP Kansas City Inc., USP Knoxville Inc., USP Little Rock Inc., USP Long Island Inc., USP Louisiana Inc., USP Lubbock Inc., USP Maryland Inc., USP Mason Ridge Inc., USP Mattis Inc., USP Michigan Inc., USP Midland Inc., USP Midland Real Estate Inc., USP Midwest Inc., USP Mission Hills Inc., USP Montana Inc., USP Morris Inc., USP Mt. Vernon Inc., USP Nevada Holdings LLC, USP Nevada Inc., USP New Hampshire Inc., USP New Jersey Inc., USP Newport News Inc., USP North Carolina Inc., USP North Kansas City Inc., USP North Texas Inc., USP Northwest Arkansas Inc., USP OKC Inc., USP OKC Manager Inc., USP Office Parkway Inc., USP Ohio RE Inc., USP Oklahoma Inc., USP Olive Inc., USP Orlando Inc., USP Philadelphia Inc., USP Phoenix Inc., USP Portland Inc., USP Reading Inc., USP Richmond II Inc., USP Richmond Inc., USP Sacramento Inc., USP San Antonio Inc., USP Santa Barbara Surgery Centers Inc., USP Securities Corporation , USP Silver Cross Inc., USP Siouxland Inc., USP Somerset Inc., USP South Carolina Inc., USP Southlake RE Inc., USP St. Louis Inc., USP St. Louis Urology Inc., USP St. Peters Inc., USP Sunset Hills Inc., USP TJ STL Inc., USP Tennessee Inc., USP Texas Air L.L.C., USP Texas L.P., USP Torrance Inc., USP Tucson Inc., USP Turnersville Inc., USP Virginia Beach Inc., USP Washington Inc., USP Waxahachie Management L.L.C., USP Webster Groves Inc., USP West Covina Inc., USP Westwood Inc., USP Winter Park Inc., USP Wisconsin Inc., USP-HMH Surgery Center at Central Jersey LLC, USP/Carondelet Tucson Surgery Centers LLC, USP/SOS Joint Venture LLC, USPI Group Holdings Inc., USPI Holding Company Inc.1, USPI Holdings Inc., USPI Physician Strategy Group LLC, USPI San Diego Inc., USPI Stockton Inc., USPI Surgical Services Inc., Underwood Surgery Center LLC, United Anesthesia Partners Inc., United Real Estate Development Inc., United Real Estate Holdings Inc., United Surgical Partners Holdings Inc., United Surgical Partners International, United Surgical Partners International Inc., Universal Medical Care Center L.L.C., University Surgery Center Ltd., Upper Bay Surgery Center LLC, Utica/USP Tulsa L.L.C., VB Brownsville LTACH LLC, VBOA ASC GP LLC, VBOA ASC Partners L.L.C., VHM Services Inc., VHS Acquisition Corporation, VHS Acquisition Partnership Number 1 L.P, VHS Acquisition Subsidiary Number 1 Inc., VHS Acquisition Subsidiary Number 11 Inc., VHS Acquisition Subsidiary Number 12 Inc., VHS Acquisition Subsidiary Number 3 Inc., VHS Acquisition Subsidiary Number 4 Inc., VHS Acquisition Subsidiary Number 5 Inc., VHS Acquisition Subsidiary Number 6 Inc., VHS Acquisition Subsidiary Number 7 Inc., VHS Acquisition Subsidiary Number 8 Inc., VHS Acquisition Subsidiary Number 9 Inc., VHS Arizona Heart Institute Inc., VHS Brownsville Hospital Company LLC, VHS Chicago Market Procurement LLC, VHS Childrens Hospital of Michigan Inc., VHS Detroit Businesses Inc., VHS Detroit Receiving Hospital Inc., VHS Detroit Ventures Inc., VHS Harlingen Hospital Company LLC, VHS Harper-Hutzel Hospital Inc., VHS Holding Company Inc., VHS Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital Inc., VHS Imaging Centers Inc., VHS New England Holding Company I Inc., VHS Outpatient Clinics Inc., VHS Phoenix Health Plan Inc., VHS Physicians of Michigan, VHS Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan Inc., VHS San Antonio Imaging Partners L.P., VHS San Antonio Partners LLC, VHS Sinai-Grace Hospital Inc., VHS University Laboratories Inc., VHS Valley Health System LLC, VHS Valley Holdings LLC, VHS Valley Management Company Inc., VHS West Suburban Medical Center Inc., VHS Westlake Hospital Inc., VHS of Anaheim Inc., VHS of Arrowhead Inc., VHS of Huntington Beach Inc., VHS of Illinois Inc., VHS of Michigan Inc., VHS of Michigan Staffing Inc., VHS of Orange County Inc., VHS of Phoenix Inc., VHS of South Phoenix Inc., Valley Baptist Lab Services LLC, Valley Baptist Physician Performance Network, Valley Baptist Realty Company LLC, Valley Baptist Surgery Center LLC, Valley Baptist Surgery Center Real Estate LLC, Valley Baptist Wellness Center LLC, Valley Health Care Network, Vanguard Health Financial Company LLC, Vanguard Health Holding Company I LLC, Vanguard Health Holding Company II LLC, Vanguard Health Management Inc., Vanguard Health Systems, Vanguard Health Systems Inc., Vanguard Holding Company I Inc., Vanguard Holding Company II Inc., Vanguard Medical Specialists LLC, Vanguard Physician Services LLC, Ventana Surgical Center LLC, Veroscan Inc., Victoria Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., WHASA L.C., Walker Baptist Affinity LLC, Walker Street Imaging Care Inc., Warner Park Surgery Center LLC, Watermark Physician Services Inc., Webster Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., Wellington Endo LLC, Wellstar/USP Joint Venture I LLC, Wellstar/USP Joint Venture II LLC, West Boca Health Services L.L.C., West Boca Medical Center Inc., West Bozeman Surgery Center LLC, West Palm Healthcare Real Estate Inc., West Suburban Radiation Therapy Center LLC, Westgate Surgery Center LLC, Westlake Hospital LLC, Westlawn Surgery Center LLC, Westminster Surgery Center LLC, Westminster Surgery Centers LLC, White Fence Surgical Suites LLC, Wilmington Endoscopy Center LLC, Wilshire Rental Corp., Windsor Mill Surgery Center LLC, Winter Haven Ambulatory Surgical Center L.L.C., Wisconsin Specialty Surgery Center LLC, and Wymark Surgery Center LLC. Read More Water sources dry up after illegal stone mining Four sources of water have dried up in Majhuwagadhi of Khotang district after a dozen illegally operated stone mines used rock breakers nearby to extract natural resources such as boulders. The member of Parliament for Tarkwa Nsuaem Constituency in the Western Region on Easter Monday launched an apprenticeship fund to train a new generation of practitioners who would learn crafts from skilled Masters in the field . A quantity of apprenticeship equipment were donated by the MP to the youth of his constituency to improve their standard of living and decrease the dependency ratio in the region. The equipment worth thousands of Ghana Cedis included hair dryers, tonging machines, straightening machines, steaming machines, sewing machines etc. The MP disclosed that a seed money of 100,000 Ghana Cedis has been injected into the fund to support the smooth implementation of the program. Leaders of the various identifiable groups in the constituency like the Tailor's Association, leaders of garages, Hairdressers' Association etc attended the ceremony in their numbers Presenting the items to the first 200 beneficiaries,the member of parliament for Tarkwa Nsuaem Honourable Mireku Duker said it is estimated that about 40% of skilled masters in the vocation segment of Ghana's population will retire over the next ten to fifteen years so there is an urgent need for them to be replaced. He said the program is expected to create many opportunities for young people in his constituency. As part of his efforts to alleviate poverty and decrease the plight of his people, the MP said more donations will follow soon. Receiving the items, the overwhelmed youth beneficiaries commended the MP for his service to humanity. They said the donation had come at the right time since they were in dire need of such equipment to learn vocational skills. They promised that they would put the equipment into good use to serve as an inspiration for others to venture into vocational skills. The program, organized at Tarkwa Goldfields Club House was chaired by the Nsafoa Hene of Wasa Fiase Traditional Council. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - South Sudanese former rebels are holding about a dozen UN staff hostage in a refugee camp in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a UN official said Tuesday. UN officials were negotiating to try to win the release of the employees from the MONUSCO mission in DR Congo, said the official, who asked not to be named. "We can confirm that some MONUSCO staff members are currently being held in a camp for former combatants in Munigi in eastern DRC," said the official. "The mission is working to resolve the situation." About 530 former rebels from South Sudan are living in the Munigi camp, just outside of Goma, after fleeing across the border when fighting flared in the South Sudanese capital of Juba in July. The combatants, who were disarmed when they entered the camp, have for months demanded that they be relocated, but UN officials have been unable to find countries willing to take them in. Rebel leader Riek Machar remains in South Africa and has been prevented from returning to South Sudan. UN officials declined to give details about the nationalities of the UN staff being held, citing security concerns. After gaining independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan descended into war in December 2013, leaving tens of thousands dead and 3.5 million people displaced. Paris (France) (AFP) - The leopard population in a region of South Africa once thick with the big cats is crashing, and could be wiped out within a few years, scientists warned on Wednesday. Illegal killing of leopards in the Soutpansberg Mountains has reduced their numbers by two-thirds in the last decade, the researchers reported in the Royal Society Open Science journal. "If things don't change, we predict leopards will essentially disappear from the area by about 2020," lead author Samual Williams, a conservation biologist at Durham University in England, told AFP. "This is especially alarming given that, in 2008, this area had one of the highest leopard densities in Africa." The number of leopards in the wild worldwide is not known, but is diminishing elsewhere as well. The "best estimate" for all of South Africa, said Williams, is about 4,500. Graphic illustrating the decline of the leopard in South Africa and efforts to save the animal as well as protecting farmers What is certain, however, is that the regions these predators roam has shrunk drastically over the last two centuries. The historic range of Panthera pardus, which includes more than half-a-dozen sub-species, covered large swathes of Africa and Asia, and extended well into the Arabian Peninsula. Leopards once roamed the forests of Sri Lanka and Java unchallenged. Today, they occupy barely a quarter of this territory, with some sub-species teetering on the brink of extinction, trapped in one or two percent of their original habitat. Leopards were classified last year as "vulnerable" to extinction on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of endangered species, which tracks the survival status of animals and plants. South Africa recently suspended trophy hunting of leopards, though experts agree this is not a major cause of the population decline. Bleak findings South Africa recently suspended trophy hunting of leopards, though experts agree this is not a major cause of the population decline A 2008 census of leopards in the 6,800-square kilometre (2,600-square mile) Soutpansberg Mountains found a robust population of nearly 11 adult cats for each hundred square kilometres (39 square miles). To find out how the carnivores had fared since then, Williams and his team set up four dozen motion-triggered camera traps across the area, and left them in place from 2012 to 2016. The cameras captured a total of 65 individual leopards during the four-year period: 16 adult males, 28 adult females and 21 younger cats. They also fitted eight adults with GPS collars to track their movements -- or lack thereof. Only two of the GPS-tagged leopards survived the monitoring period. Three were done in by snares, one was shot by a local resident whose cattle had been attacked, and two went missing, probably killed since they also disappeared from camera surveillance. A statistical analysis of the results showed "a 66 percent decline over a period just over 7.5 years," the study concluded. Lake Fundudzi sits among the foothills of South Africa's Soutpansberg Mountains in the northern province of Limpopo Ironically, the bleak findings helped conservationists and local officials raise money to hire a "community engagement officer." "One of the things he does is help local people adopt non-lethal techniques" to prevent leopards from attacking cattle and other livestock, including the use of guard dogs, Williams added. But the clash between humans and big carnivores, experts agree, is mostly due to humanity's expanding footprint, especially in Africa, whose population is set to expand by more than a billion before mid-century. As a result, the habitats of most wild megafauna are diminishing, and getting chopped up into smaller and smaller parcels. "It is extremely alarming that the trends that we are reporting exemplify trends in large carnivores globally," Williams said. Studies in Africa of lions, black-backed jackals and bat-eared foxes have showed similar rates of decline. The Chairman of the Economic Management Team, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, and the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta are leading a Government delegation to the IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings to be held in Washington DC, from April 18 28, 2017. The delegation is made up of officials from the Bank of Ghana, led by the Governor, Dr. Ernest Kwamina Yedu Addison; the Chairman of the Finance Committee in Parliament, Dr. Mark Assibey Yeboah (MP); and officials from the Finance Ministry. A statement from the Ministry of Finance copied to Citi Business News explained that the delegation will meet with the World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim, as well as the IMF Managing Director, Christian Lagarde. They would also attend the African Consultative Group Meetings with Christian Lagarde andPresident Jim Yong Kim. A major highlight for the delegation is the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Spotlight on Ghana event, a spotlight event being organized for Ghana to examine the major political and economic trends in Ghana as the new Government charts its course. The Ghana event will bring together policy makers, business leaders, country analysts, opinion leaders from Ghana, the United States and beyond, to discuss Ghanas prospects for economic recovery, explore issues of governance and regional leadership and examine the multiple strands on US policy engagement. Other meetings the delegation would attend, include the G24 Deputies Meetings and the African Caucus Bureau. The G24 Ministerial Meeting provides an opportunity for the G24 member countries to consider key areas in which international Financial Institutions and multilateral actions can effectively complement and support their policy efforts. The delegation will also hold investor related meetings with holders of Ghana's Bonds as well as institutional investors. These meetings provide an opportunity for the delegation to highlight Government's economic policies and strategies as well as investment opportunities in Ghana. Also on the agenda are meetings with Senior Executives of ratings agencies: Standard and Poors, Fitch, and Moodys. These meetings present a window of opportunity to re-emphasize governments policies and strategies in solving macroeconomic imbalances as well as strategies to ensuring debt sustainability. Aside the obligatory meetings with the IMF and the World Bank, the delegation will hold bilateral discussions with other partner countries, financial institutions and private sector investors. About the Spring Meetings Each spring, thousands of government officials, journalists, civil society organizations, and participants from the academia and private sectors, gather in Washington DC for the Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund. Seminars, regional briefings, press conferences, and many other events focused on the global economy, international development, and the worlds financial markets are held. By: citibusinessnews.com/Ghana The Ghana Consulate New York's attention has been drawn to an article on the front page of the Amandla newspaper vol. 16 Issue 3 dated March 15, 2017 with the headline "Graft at the Ghana Consulate in New York" and wishes to respond as follows: a) By virtue of the Missions new online visa application process, isolated complaints received from some visa applicants between May and August 2016, in respect of discrepancies in the fee recorded on their receipts and accompanying visa labels, was given due attention with the commencement of an internal investigative process whereby applications for that period were ring-fenced for thorough checks; b) Through this process, it was found that indeed there was an emerging trend of financial malfeasance. Culprits were identified and an internal disciplinary committee duly constituted in line with existing rules and regulations while the appropriate authorities in Ghana were duly notified; c) Consequently, members of staff found culpable/complicit in the malfeasance have been sanctioned (including being surcharged with the loss of revenue). Contrary to what the news article has sought to portray about the Consulate, there has rather been constant efforts by the Consulate to enhance customer service and in dealing with challenges. Thus, in March 2016 a new user friendly online application system was launched to streamline visa processing system and also to usher in the Biometric passport application system. The online application system besides making management of data much more efficient and allowing for a transparent audit trail in all of the Mission's consular dealings has also enabled the Mission to respond to customer service needs of applicants by way of an online/ offline chat system. It has also for the first time allowed for an effective way to track all applications sent by mail especially using the Consulate's UPS integrated postal system. What is more, the online platform has created the necessary platform needed for the creation of a mini call center to deal with the increase in the number of telephone enquiries. The Consulate's capacity-building mechanism also includes retraining of existing staff members and fresh recruitments of people with the requisite professional backgrounds in customer service. The writer of the news article was invited by the Consulate for a discussion with a view to laying out the bare facts on the basis of whatever information had come to his attention. The Consulate would indeed have provided the relevant facts and clarification on the issues contained in the article had the opportunity been duly provided before going to press. The Consulate-General of Ghana in New York, however wants to assure the General Public that it is committed to taking all measures necessary to ensure consumer satisfaction in carrying out its mandate. 19.04.2017 LISTEN I am excited by the current political move and emphasis to re-establish the Ministry of Aviation to provide political and strategic policy guidance that will ensure progress and sustainability in Ghanas aviation sector. I find the promise by the NPP government to withdraw the 17.5 percent Value Added Tax (VAT) on domestic air travel, a welcome relief for both domestic aviation service providers and the travelling public which bears the brunt of the cost transfer (My Joy online, 2017). I will also acknowledge the efforts of the previous NDC government for the 20% reduction in the per litre price of aviation fuel (Jet A1). Jet fuel and lubricants are one of the major cost drivers in airline business operations. I hope that gradually all non-business friendly fees and taxes imposed on aviation service providers and subsequently transferred to the travelling public. Aviation Infrastructure Airports One of the critical areas that forms the foundation block in aviation development is aviation infrastructure. I know the previous government has done some work in assessing the current state of our airports and some improvements have been made at the Kotoka International Airport, Kumasi Airport and the Tamale Airport to improve aeronautical facilities such as the runways, taxiways, terminals, parking bays and navigational / guidance systems to improve safety, increase capacity and ensure efficiency in service delivery and on-time performance for airlines that operate out of these airports. However, there are still challenges with both air-side and land-side capacity and support infrastructure at these airports. It is my hope that there will be continuity of on-going improvement projects, without the usual slack due to changes in government and new policy directions. Some these challenges are highlighted in this article. Air Rescue Fire Fighting (ARFF) Capabilities My research indicates that some of the major deficiencies at Tamale and Kumasi Airports are the Air Rescue Fire Fighting (ARFF) facilities, which lack equipment for up to- date operations such as filling equipment for foam powder and reservoirs to refill the fire trucks. Consistent water provision for firefighting purposes has also been identified as an issue at these airports and I count on the Ghana Airport Company Limited to proactively address these areas of concerns to maintain existing ARFF ICAO categories for Kumasi (Level 6) and probably upgrade Tamale Airport to ICAO Level 9 in anticipation of the possibility of having medium to wide body aircraft operating out of that airport (ICAO Annex 14, Volume 1). Air- Side Services and Passenger Experience To meet the future demand and comply with the requirements assigned to the Kumasi and Tamale Airports, there should be an effort to improve on refueling capacity. There should be consistent and reliable storage and supply of aviation fuel and other lubricants. Provision of refueling will also increase the operational performance for airlines using these airports and allow for the establishing of new route networks between these airports and the sub-regional airports in the future. It may also allow for extended hours of operations while improving the indirect economic benefits of the airport. As part of efforts to improve passenger experience at our national airports, an introduction of complimentary wireless internet services could help to disseminate terminal information and boost advertising for businesses who can easily utilize the e-commerce capabilities of internet services. I also think we need host services, interpretation, and lost /found services at our domestic/regional airports. Security Security around some of our regional airports is not the best, with constant encroachment around the buffer zones required for safety and security of air operations. There have been reported encroachment around airport facilities and navigational aids and this trend is worrying and warrants serious attention. The airport security fencing around the Kumasi, Tamale and Sunyani Airports should be assessed periodically and improved whenever necessary to avoid runway incursions by humans and wild-life. Kumasi Airport may require new and extra screening devices to increase security and to expedite processing times. Land-Side Traffic Issues at our Airports I know that the phased improvement of the airside at the Kotoka International Airport is currently ongoing and that is very refreshing. However, there are issues in terms of traffic flow on the land side of the airport. Kotoka International Airport should have a multimodal transport system with easy and convenient transfer to hotels and the emerging Airport City. Currently, the road network providing access to the terminals from the city are narrow and creates potential for periodic peak-hour traffic jam that further obstructs the airports accessibility from the city. It could also contribute to passenger delays and reduce passenger experience. Sufficient parking capacity and a well-designed access road system should allow for efficient landside traffic flow. Maybe a long-term sustainable ground access strategy that will include a light railway system or a Monorail system from the terminals to an off-terminal car park may suffice. That may also provide opportunities for private sector investments in the non-aeronautical revenue generation aspect of airport management such as car-parks, rentals and bus services. A single till revenue generation mechanism may be the best way forward in terms of aeronautical charges at our airports, since it ensures lower cost to aviation service providers and users, while maximizing revenue for the airport mangers as compared to the dual till system of charging. Aviation and Tourism There should also be a concerted effort to have a detailed multi-sectoral plan to integrate tourism development with aviation development. The efforts at having airstrips and regional aerodromes that will provide access to tourist locations should be pursued vigorously. Air taxi and flight charter business should be encouraged to serve as feeders from the international airports to airstrips proximate to these tourist sites. An example could be an airstrip near the Kakum Eco-Sanctuary which can be served by 19 seater aircraft and helicopters that will provide tourist with easy accessibility from Accra to Cape-Coast in under 30 minutes. The direct, indirect and induced economic effects of these airstrips cannot be under-estimated. Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul Services (MRO) and Cargo Village Another business area that was suggested by the previous government for exploration is aircraft Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) Services in Ghana. I strongly support business in that area, since it has the potential to strengthen the aviation sector, provide jobs, provide influx of technology transfer for graduates in aerospace/aviation engineering and stimulate secondary economic development. A look at the sub-region shows a need for MRO since the closest MRO businesses for aircraft operators within our sub-region may be in Kenya, Ethiopia and South Africa. The Ministry of Aviation can liaise with the Ministry of Trade to come up with an investment drive that will provide incentives to open the MRO market for private public partnership in the form of domestic and foreign companies investing in this area. The Ghana Airports Company Limited can lease portions of airport lands and facilities to these MRO businesses at the Tamale International Airport for such ventures. Another potential could be an enhanced air cargo village at the Tamale Airport that will be linked to the proposed Northern Railway system and provide a seamless transport modal system for neighboring countries in the northern parts of the sub-region for both export and import of goods and commodities. Another area that requires serious attention may be the taxes and surcharges on aircraft servicing products such as rotables, spares and replaceable. The signing of the Cape Town Convention and its Aircraft Equipment Protocol by Ghana will bring speed, certainty and cost savings to repossession, deregistration and export of aircraft, helicopters and aircraft engines (aircraft objects) on an insolvency or other default in Ghana and protect creditors' interests in aircraft objects. (Fieldfisher.com, 2017). That will engender confidence in our domestic aviation sector and promote foreign direct investments in the sector. Market Competition for Start-Ups and Some Regulatory Limitations There has been talks of establishing a national airline in Ghana, which would explore network of routes world-wide. Even though, I am not a fan of a wholly -owned government airline in Ghana, I may be amenable to a private-public partnership arrangement in which the government could have not more than 30% stake and in which the governing board and executive management of such an airline will be insulated from political micro-management. A challenge that could face any proposed airline partnership in Ghana will be the type of strategic, operational and marketing plan that will be rolled out to usurp the existing competition along the existing route networks, ensure higher load factors and break-even in terms of return on investment (ROI). Airline businesses in general have a high barrier of entry due to the massive initial capitalization required for fleet acquisition or lease, human resources, training, fuel, maintenance, insurance, marketing and route development to name a few of the variables. The present challenge is that the existing competitors have already established themselves on the routes. These competitors have aircraft fleet that are modern and fuel -efficient and their business models ensure high aircraft utilization over regional and long-haul routes. Some of these airlines have developed an in-depth understanding of the existing passenger capacity in terms of available passenger seat mile (ASM) and intend on increasing their stake of revenue seat miles (RSM) and cargo through predatory pricing strategies. Another task that the new administration needs to tackle before delving into any airline venture may be the process to engage the US Department of Transport (DoT) on the re-categorization of Ghana into category 1 of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) program. This will enable Ghanaian registered air carriers that are under the regulatory oversight of the GCAA to initiate, continue, expand and engage in code-share partnership with US carriers for flights to the US mainland thereby benefitting substantially from the huge economic potential over that route network. Ghana Aviation University Program The new administration as part of a long-term strategic focus should also consider the formulation of a national strategic plan of action to establish an aviation/aerospace collegiate program in an existing university or establish a new regional aeronautical university (with regional partners such as Nigeria, Sierra Leone, The Gambia and Liberia) to assist in the training of skilled and competent human resources to support an anticipated growth in the aviation sub-sector in Ghana and the West African sub-region. A multi-sectoral approach between the Aviation, Defence and the Education Ministries can team -up to jump-start such a program. A four-year Bachelor of Aeronautics (Flight, Airport Management and Airline Administration options) could be the degrees awarded during the inception stages of such a program and then later a Master of Business Administration (Airline operations and Airport Management options) explored. The University of Ghana Business School and the U.G Aeronautics Department could handle the ground related aviation and business courses. The flight training component could be done at a re-vamped Afienya Flying Club Airstrip in a collaboration with the Ghana Airforce and GCAA. The School of Trade Training under the Ghana Airforce could also be upgraded and affiliated with the Aeronautics Department to offer undergraduate technical degrees in aerospace and aviation -related disciplines. The flight certification oversight will be done by the GCAA, while the academic accreditation will be done by the National Accreditation Board. Air Navigational Services (ANS) and Aircraft Accident and Safety Investigation Board The new administration should also expedite the proposed decoupling of the Air Navigation Services outfit (Air Traffic Management Services) from the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority to ensure efficiency and to avoid conflict of interest (A regulator that also acts as a service provider). Potentially, ATMS could be a self-sustaining entity with the capacity to use revenues from services provided to re-capitalize and invest in modern air traffic communication, surveillance and navigation equipment. In the same vein, I strongly propose a legislative Bill and facilitation of a plan of action that will ensure a permanent establishment, mandate, staffing and funding of the Aircraft Accident and Safety Investigation Board (AASIB) under the Ministry of Aviation in line with the standards and recommended practices of the ICAO Annex 13. It is my hope that with these recommendations and pointers our aviation sector will become the most operationally vibrant, efficient and economically productive in the West African Sub-region. Sources: (MyJoyonline, Fieldfisher.com, FAA.gov, ICAO Annexes 12,13,14,19, National Airport System Program). Okatakyie Kwasi Adjekum, Ph.D., CSP, ATP. Aviation Consultant ([email protected]) 19.04.2017 LISTEN Laws are important because laws tell everyone in a society what they are to do, how and when they are to do it, and besides, laws enable governments to be formed, and give them the power to control and be controlled, even though in the case of Liberia, our government wants to control everything but refuses to be controlled by the citizens. That said, the chairman of the Liberias National Election Commission (NEC), like any other Liberian citizen, must obey the laws of the country, including meeting the guidelines and provisions set forth in the holding of public offices. If at all Cllr. Korkoya, as chairman of the NEC, is not a natural born Liberian citizen, then he is wrongly occupying the position. However, contrary to a recent call for his resignation on citizenship grounds, Cllr. Korkoya was born in Liberia and his parents hailed from one of the 16 tribes in the country. So that closes the case with this verdict. This is why when some of us read the recent media publications, our attention was seriously drawn to a political call from veteran Liberian politician and a 2017 presidential candidate, Dr. Togba Nah Tipoteh, requesting the resignation of Cllr. Jerome Korkoya, chair of NEC, on grounds that he (Korkoya) is a naturalized American citizen. This ask disabled some of us morally and socially when we think of its lowliness. So, while I am in no way an admirer of Cllr. Korkoya, a personality with whom I have shape intellectual and moral disagreements, I strongly believe the charge against him given the dramatic and chaotic historical context of Liberia. Equally, and with all due respect to Dr. Tipoteh, a man I respect and hold in the highest of esteem, I feel conditioned and fully obligated to fundamentally disagree with him in his decision to push a narrative that is not only a distraction from the real problems and issues that Liberia has and faces, but one that is a total disregard to the pains and suffering of ordinary Liberians. In this regard, I therefore urge Dr. Tipoteh and all those who are drawn to the trivialities in Liberia; the petit factors that have no equation to the larger discomfort Liberia and Liberians are grappling with now and will in the future if we remain on the same wasted course, to desist. There are far greater cutting-edge and survival matters in Liberia. These matters have the potential to either annihilate our pride as the first independent nation in Africa, or subject us to a nation of the stone-age, if we are not already there. At this juncture, what Liberians want to hear from their political and national leaders is how we can move the country forward. We are interested in knowing as to who has the best mind to ensure that Liberia produces the next chief technology officer or the next CEO of Google, Microsoft, Apple, Ford or General Motors, etc. What is important to Liberians is how many people will be trained and how many jobs will or can be created in applied research, bio-technology and medical research; in advanced medicine, manufacturing and agricultural food production? Liberians are more interested as to who has the best mind and patriotism to ensure that all of our roads are paved and that the entire nation is empowered with both fossil fuel and green energy. Liberians are also very interested in knowing as to who has the mindset to make Liberia the financial and technology capital of West Africa, just as how Singapore is to Asia. Liberians are very much interested in knowing as to who has the creativity and experience to ensure that our country serves as the shipping and commercial center of the West African sub region. Liberians are also interested in knowing as to who has the leadership, capabilities and vision to see our country build high-speed rails that will ease commute and accelerate commerce and trade. The last time I check, no one in Liberia has time for rhetoric and divisive politics anymore. The days for those things are over. Though it is important that we talk politics, democracy and laws in Liberia. But we have been listening to these things since some of us were in grade school, especially from some of the same people including Dr. Tipoteh himself. Unlike some of us, the NEC boss Jerome Korkoya attended the University of Liberia where Dr. Tipoteh not only teach, but launched his political clarity and prominence. In fact, Korkoya and many other young Liberians were not just followers of the Tipotehs, Sawyers and Fahnbullehs, they were their foot soldiers. Then Dr. Tipoteh did not see Korkoya as a non-Liberian citizen. Only now. What has changed? The point here is, Liberians must cherished their sons and daughters who traveled abroad, obtained education and returned to the country to add value. Our concerns should not be about what a natural born Liberian citizen had to do to survive in an advanced nation during and after years of untold conflict and destruction. Our focus should be on whether such a person has a criminal record as a result of being in a foreign country. Apparently, Korkoya is a decent man as far as we know until proven otherwise. The state of Israel does not ask its citizens who live in the United States, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Russia, South Africa, India or even Ethiopia about whether they are Israelites or not. Like Israel, other nations do the same as long the persons biological lineage can be proven to come from that country. Just recently, my friend Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed relocated from upstate New York (where he worked as an ordinary civil servant in State Government) to his motherland Somalia to contest presidential elections. He won and is currently using his expertise to facilitate change in a deeply divided nation. This should be our focus, and those who do the contrary must face the law. So far, Korkoya has not been implicated in doing the contrary. So why this noise? In order to keep democracy alive in Liberia, we need to learn that democracy without meaningful sustainability is baseless. We also have to learn and appreciate that we will and can only flourish as a nation by allowing a diversity of voices to be heard. Our democracy should not be reduced to voting alone, or a smear campaigns rooted in personal interested. While enforcing our laws is a good thing, Dr. Tipoteh and all those who are selectively interested in certain laws in the country failed to see and understand that our laws and institutions are not only broken every day throughout the country, they are abused by the very people with whom we entrust them. There are secret arrests and tortures, arbitrary detentions and murders, politically motivated and discriminatory cover-ups, massive looting of public resources, organized corruption and bribery at the highest level ever seen in human history. Yet, no one says anything about these things. Just a day or two ago, Professor Sumo Harris was murdered according to his family. Like Harris, many poor and ordinary Liberian citizens are murdered in communities throughout the length and breadth of the country and no one says anything. Moreover, assuming Korkoya is a naturalized U.S. citizen, what is wrong with that by the way? Absolutely nothing as long as he was born in Liberia and hails from one of the 16 major tribal groups. Besides, almost every single Liberian family has relatives in the United States, and most if not all of the people serving in government (past and present) have some family members in the United States. In fact, most officials of the Liberian government have their immediate family members here. From the executive branch to the Legislative and judicial branches, they all have children here. Some even have their wives here. Is Dr. Tipoteh willing to say that the children of these people, who had to assume some status in the U.S. in order to improve themselves educationally and otherwise, are not Liberian citizens? If so, why did Dr. Tipoteh allow many of the people in the current and even past Liberian administrations to hold government positions? Has Dr. Tipoteh asked the people who headed and are now heading maritime; central bank, transport, foreign affairs, education and many other sectors? Has he asked his friend, the current president of Liberia, with whom he had recently had a decent foreign trip to Morocco? Is he willing to tell members of the Supreme Court of Liberia and subordinate courts in the country that their kids are not Liberians because they assumed American citizenship in effort to improve themselves and return home? Is he willing to tell the president pro tempore, the speaker of the House and key senate and house committee members that their children, wives and other relatives are not Liberians? If we go by Dr. Tipotehs metrics, some of his good friends and acclaimed followers will not have government jobs in Liberia. For a protractive period, the entire leadership at the ministry of finance, the Central Bank of Liberia and some other ministries were people with secondary citizenships, and this still seem to be the case with certain agencies up till now. Half, if not all, of the presidents immediate family has secondary citizenship. Some of Dr. Tipotehs colleagues have secondary citizenship. If Dr. Tipoteh is really concerned about anything, he should be more concerned about government contracts that supposed to be awarded to Liberian citizens and business that are instead awarded to nationals of other nations within our sub region. If the veteran politician is so worried about our Liberianness, then he should have advised the president during their recent trip together abroad that focus needs to be placed on creating avenues for more young people to be employed in the country. As we write, there are thousands of Liberians in the United States and in other lands whose lives are in serious jeopardy because they have no legal status to live in these foreign countries and they cannot return home because our country has nothing to offer them except corruption, lack of electricity, poor or no healthcare facilities, bad roads etc. I say to Dr. Tipoteh and all Liberians that whenever we engage in national debates, we should not overrate the power of jobs and wealth creation and improve living conditions arguments some of us find personally convincing to our people. Apart from the fact that mere political talking-points are no longer appealing, they do not resonate with ordinary Liberians, especially our young people anymore. What seems to worry and resonate with Liberian youth and young people around the world are the current unplanned global economic and social trends caused by globalization, information, and the communications technology (ICT) revolution that is creating increased pressure for changes in all economies and societies. Our young people will be better served if we tell them our solution to these problems. So I respectfully say to Dr. Tipoteh, please forget about this artificial citizenship narrative and focus on the pressing problems our country has. For example, most institutions in our nation including the ministry of health and social welfare cannot accurately provide data on the total number of people with tuberculosis, malaria, measles, or the number of people who died from cancer, childbirth or, the number of children who are malnourished. The ministry of education cannot provide accurate data on the countrys primary school enrolment, drop-out rate; or the number of qualified teachers or the number and types of schools in the country. The ministry of agriculture cannot accurately provide data on the number of commercial and sustenance farmers, the different categories of farmers, and the agricultural products they produce. The ministry of justice cannot accurately provide data on the number and type of arrests made in each year; or the number of inmates incarcerated, the murder rate; or the number of immigrants entering or in the country since the bureau of immigration and naturalization falls under its authority. Liberia has real and serious problems but our leadership and politicians are not listening, maybe we need to develop a system that will listen to the Liberian people. Imagine having to develop a system today that would express the will of the people so that trust in our institutions of democracy, our government, our leaders and our politicians will visibly stop declining. This, instead, is not case. What we keep hearing from the wise ones in our society is the unexpected. Finally, it is important to note that we should not allow elections to be the fossil fuel of politics and economic prosperity in Liberia, as doing so would be the latest in a series of worrying blows to the health of our democracy and the survival of our country. I therefore urge all Liberians to forget about what divides us more and instead focus on who has the best ideas and vision to take our nation forward. The facts are, as a former student activist at the University of Liberia, Jerome Korkoya was a Liberian citizen when he followed Dr. Togba Nah Tipoteh and others progressive political thinking. Cllr. Jerome Korkoya, chair of the National Election Commission of Liberia (NEC) is a Liberian citizen even though he is no longer adhering to the continuous political views of Dr. Tipoteh and his colleagues. About the Author: Jones Nhinson Williams is a Catholic educated Liberian philosopher and an American trained public policy scholar, labor market information expert, and workforce development professional. He can be reached at: [email protected] I can't disagree much with the glowing report that America has become very diverse, and as a result, opinions towards Africa (depending on who's asked), may have advanced in some quarters. Nonetheless, the negative stereotype (not necessarily racist) about Africa, still visibly hangs in a corner, most notably among American Youths. Having interacted with a tangible number of Americans through the internet, coupled with the steady feedbacks I receive from some Africans resident in the United States, it has served as an amazing eye-opener for me, as I made polite inquiries of their individual candid opinions about Africa. Well, my discovery was absolutely stunning! Quite a handful of the Americans I volunteered to make small talk with, could almost certainly bet their lives Africa was a country! A few others, politely nursed the opinion that Africa is divided into three parts- The lonely deserts, the impoverished communities and the forests of evil, which are colonized by wild animals and scary witch doctors. How pleasantly adorable! Seemingly startled at my 'weird' prospects of civilization, you bet, they sure had probing questions in return for me! Not only were these curious Americans deeply astonished at "how good my English was", they probed further with breathtaking questions like: "How do you leave the house daily, with so many animals clustered around your environment?" "Can you see a lion just by looking out the window?" "Most houses in Africa as shown on TV, are tiny huts built with mud, so how do you afford internet services?" The American media hasn't been particularly sweet to Africa. According to the popular mantra, "Bad News Is Good News", so where else to grab a bunch of those, if not Africa? The media strategically flaunts images of deserts, debris of war, starving children (to showcase an impoverished Africa) and make-believe documentaries, which creates the impression that Africans cohabit as relatives with animals! Who really blames the average American youth anyway, for seeing Africa in such demeaning light? If television and the print media, indirectly portrays Africa as satan's hub of poverty, disease and war, who are the youths to grow a contrary opinion? Ever heard the phrase 'Dark Continent?' Yeah, that's right... It's Africa's flattering nickname across the Atlantic! Life in Africa, certainly isn't as horrifying as often projected. Neither is Africa consumed by what the foreign audience have probably seen or heard on television. People live normal lives here with computers, running water and power supply (however steady or epileptic). People live in comfortable homes, devoid of less pleasant accommodations like huts and mud houses. Terrorism and insurgency are confined within specific areas and not 'everywhere' as often portrayed. Africa definitely has her unappealing sites and supposed danger zones, but which continent doesn't? The American media should likewise, capture Africa's steady economic rise and development as well! The negative stereotype largely circulated about Africa, can be reduced to a minimum, if foreigners can be exposed to see the other half of Africa for themselves! 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. Weija-Gbawe Constituency is one of the three constituencies in Ga South Municipal Assembly. The constituency is represented in Parliament by Hon. Tina Gifty Naa Ayeley Mensah who doubles as Deputy Minister for Health. The Member of Parliament took charge of the constituency on January 7, 2017 after she has won the seat overwhelmingly with 34,216 votes as against 25,087 votes, leaving a vote margin or difference of 9,129 ahead of her close contender-Ms. Obuobia Darko-Opoku who stood on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC). The constituency, since its inception in 2012 has been the stronghold of the NPP. Several attempts by the NDC to take control of the constituency have proved futile. The NDC has made two (2) unsuccessful attempts. The constituency has over ninety thousand registered voters with a voter population turn out of about 66.7% in the 2016 general elections. One major problem in Weija-Gbawe Constituency is perennial flooding. Most households in the constituency are located in waterloggs which endanger their lives. The constituency over the years has recorded several death cases as a result of the perennial floods. Properties destroyed and people rendered homeless. This has attracted the attention of the Member of Parliament, Hon. Tina Gifty Naa Ayeley Mensah to visit the flood prone areas of the constituency and also advised constituents living in such areas to be extra vigilant to save their lives. The MP has mapped out strategies to handle the perennial flood in the constituency. In the area of education, the constituency has 24 and over 40 Public and Private Basic Schools respectively. There are 3 Private Senior High Schools. The schools in the constituency are located in two (2) circuits; Gbawe and Weija. The Public Basic Schools in Weija and Gbawe Circuits, among six (6) other circuits were ranked first and second positions with 63.8% and 63.5% percentage passes respectively in the overall performance analysis of the 2016 Basic Education Certificate Examination (B.E.C.E). The percentage passes for the two circuits clearly show that, about 36.2% and 36.5% of students/candidates fell below the percentage passes in Weija and Gbawe circuits respectively. This implies that, such students/candidates failed to obtain aggregates between 6 and 30. Education in the constituency is dear to the heart of the Member of Parliament, Hon. Tina Gifty Naa Ayeley Mensah. This is why she intends to use part of the MP fund to set up an education fund to assist brilliant but needy pupils or students in the constituency. The education fund will also be used to run educational programmes to help pupils or students who performance abysmally. A mobile library will also be set up to make library materials available to children in the constituency to read. Health is an important issue to every human being. It is often that, a sound mind resides in a healthy body; therefore it is prudent to stay healthy to develop a sound mind to go about normal activities as humans. The Ga south Municipal Hospital, popularly known as Akawe and Oblogo Clinic are the only government health facilities in the constituency. The Member of Parliament who doubles as the Deputy Minister for the Health Ministry is much concerned about Health. She intends to support the health facilities in the constituency as and when necessary in order to provide good healthcare delivery to constituents. As a mother of three (3), female and infant mortality issues are dear to her heart, hence she will work hard to reduce female and infant mortality to the barest minimum or eliminate such mortality entirely. Women need to be empowered to be able to play roles to complement effort made by their husbands. When women are empowered, they turn to be useful to themselves, their family and societies in which they live. It is a fact that, women and children are the most vulnerable in society; therefore if women are empowered through empowerment programmes, they will be less vulnerable. The Member of Parliament, Hon. Tina Gifty Naa Ayeley Mensah is much aware of the plight of women in her constituency and therefore would play active and passive roles to assist women through comprehensive women empowerment programmes to position them to be useful to their family. Infrastructural development, particularly road is another area which will be considered by the MP as part of opening up the constituency for development. All roads under construction in the constituency will be pursued by the MP. No road initiated by the NDC administration will be abandoned. Youth unemployment is prevalent in Weija-Gbawe constituency. The teeming youth cannot find jobs to do in or outside of the constituency. This is a major issue and a worry to the Member of Parliament and Deputy Minister for Health, Hon. Tina Gifty Naa Ayeley Mensah. Job creation has always been a major challenge in Ghana; hence a large number of graduates cannot find jobs to do. This is a national issue which needs to be handled in a holistic manner. The MP has hinted that, she will lobby to ensure that, jobs are made available for the teeming youth in her constituency to do. She believes when constituents find jobs, they will have a sound mind and also contribute to the developmental agenda of the constituency. I wish to use this means to appeal to constituents to be patient as plans are far advanced to handle all problems in the constituency. Thank you. http://www.modernghana.com/author/TeacherDanquah [email protected] (0243174600) 19.04.2017 LISTEN The Police say they are investigating their failure to respond to distress calls from a lecturer whose Ashongman home was attacked by robbers last Sunday. Director of Police Public Affairs, Superintendent Cephas Arthur lamented that Dr. Benedicta Fosu-Mensah was let down by the police possibly because of a technical fault in the communication system. It could also be down to the poor professional attitude of the police who may have ignored the calls, he told Joy FM's Super Morning Show Wednesday. Dr. Fosu Mensah said she had a 20-minute opportunity to get help while four men broke through her window using cement blocks. She eventually lost more than 2,000 cedis and other properties during the dawn attack. "...they took the car, my flatscreen TV, laptop, jewelry, mobile phone, camera and anything they could lay hands on including the stew I prepared for the Easter," she said. But she says she is grateful to God that she had some money at home because, without it, the uncompromising robbers could have done the worst. Photo: The ransacked room of Dr. Fosu-Mensah Describing the incident as 'very unfortunate', SP Cephas Arthur said the police take a serious view of the failure to attend. Recalling a personal embarrassment, he said emergency lines have occasionally failed the police. He said he invited an audience to try calling some police emergency numbers. But right on live television, nobody picked the call after several attempts. 'In fact, I sweated' he said. He found out later that sometimes when lines get jammed, a call may seem to go through but that may not have been the case. SP Cephas Arthur also bemoaned the growing individualistic lifestyle of Ghanaian communities. "That is true...we don't care about each other," he said and blamed the development on the infiltration of western culture. He lamented that the days when a mother will say "thank you for spanking my child are long gone". Story by Ghana|myjoyonline.com|[email protected] President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will later today, launch the government's flagship agricultural programme, 'Planting for Food and Jobs'. The launch will be held at Goaso in the Asunafo municipality in the Brong Ahafo Region. The project is expected to be rolled out in all 216 districts across the country and will involve the supply of farm resources such as high yielding and improved seedlings to participating farmers. The NPP government has said that it intends to revolutionize agriculture in the country by introducing the programme which is expected to create more than 750,000 jobs. The programme, according to the government, would also motivate farmers to grow staple foods such as maize, millet, and beans. Interested farmers are to be provided with free seedlings among other agricultural inputs and agro-chemicals such as fertilizer at reduced prices. The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto told Citi News, government was very optimistic about the prospects of the program. He also announced that government intends to construct a warehouse in each district of the country enhance food storage. This year, we expect that with these interventions and only the 200,000 farmers, we would be able to increase the demand for jobs on the farms, and create 750,000 jobs. Government has also resolved to build a 1000-metric tonnes capacity warehouse in each of the 216 districts to ensure that we have enough storage capacity to store and market the expected increases that we get from this program, the minister said. Meanwhile, the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana, has noted that, the program will fail if it is not properly restructured to target more small-scale farmers, instead of large-scale farmers. The Programme Officer for the Association, Charles Kwowe Nyaaba, in an earlier interview with Citi News said the target beneficiaries in the first place are wrong. They are targeting the large-scale farmers, and not small-scale farmers, but we all know that the farmer population in Ghana, we have over 80% being small-scale farmers. He further said that government's intention to recruit, train and deploy National Service personnel as extension service officers was a recipe for failure since they may not possess the required skills to undertake the duty. By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana Follow @jnyabor President Akufo-Addo yesterday met three former Presidents Jerry John Rawlings, (1992-2000), John Agyekum Kufuor (2001-2008) and John Dramani Mahama (2012-2016) at the Flagstaff House, the seat of government. First to arrive at the presidency was former President Jerry John Rawlings, at about 10:55am, accompanied by his aides, followed by former President John Agyekum Kufuor in the company of his press secretary, Frank Agyekum and his aide, Adu Acheampong, four minutes later. A few minutes past 11am came immediate past President John Dramani Mahama, who arrived with the former chief of staff, Julius Debrah; Director of Communications of his failed re-election bid, Joyce Moctari Bawa and Stan Dogbe, who served as his aide. They were received by Chief of Staff Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, who ushered the visitors into the venue, with President Akufo-Addo on hand to receive them. The meeting, which was held behind closed doors, lasted two hours. A communique signed and issued by the Director of Communications at the presidency, Eugene Arhin, later indicated that the meeting, which lasted for two hours, was held in a good atmosphere, one of frank exchanges and mutual respect. Its purpose was to seek their views on some governance-enhancing measures his administration intends to take. He made reference to the fact that in his inaugural speech on Saturday, January 7, 2017, President Akufo-Addo stated that I am in the unique position of being able to draw on the wisdom and experience of three former presidents of the Republic, their Excellencies Jerry John Rawlings, John Agyekum Kufuor and John Dramani Mahama. They represent the continuity of the institutions of our Republic, for which we thank God. The statement, he said, was reiterated in the president's message to parliament in the State of the Nation on Tuesday, February 21, 2017, where he said, I am in the enviable position of being the first Ghanaian leader to be able to draw on the experiences of three living, former presidents. This should, definitely, enrich my tenure of office. To that end, Arhin indicated, It is the intention of President Akufo-Addo to have further meetings with the three former presidents in the future. By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent Minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Parliament has sternly warned that it will drag the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) over conflict of interest in the issuance of $2.25 billion domestic bond at a coupon rate of 19.75%. The minority has also said that it would petition the Financial Services Authority of the United States to investigate Franklyn Templeton Investment Limited, which was given the unique preferential treatment to purchase 95 percent of the latest government domestic bond. The investment company also participated in Ghana's bonds of 2013 and 2015 under former Finance Minister, Seth Terkper. The minority, who issued the warning at a press conference yesterday in Accra, also called for full parliamentary investigation into circumstances surrounding the private placement and unique issuance of the bond since the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, should have brought the bond to parliament for approval. The ranking member for finance and NDC MP for Ajumako/Enyan/Essiam, Cassiel Ato Forson, who addressed the media on the issue, said the whole transaction was shrouded in secrecy. According to him, Mr Ofori-Atta, his wife, Dr Angela Ofori-Atta and the Attorney-General, Gloria Akuffo, are partners and shareholders of a company close to Franklyn Templeton Investment Limited that bought the 95 percent of the bond. The bond was virtually participated by only two investors. The whole bond transaction was shrouded in secrecy to the extent that Ghanaian investors were denied the opportunity to participate in the deal, the ranking member said, stressing that the entire deal lacks transparency. He noted that in the past a 'book building' approach for issuance of bonds which was initiated by the NDC government, was opened for a minimum of three days to ensure optimal participation; but in the case of the historic $2.25 billion bond issue, the process was limited to just one day, thus denying other market players the opportunity to participate in the process. The 'private placement' approach used in this Templeton case was not at all competitive. It was opened in the morning and closed in the evening of the same day, obviously cooked for one single investor, he argued. He said what is more worrying is that the statement put out by the Ministry of Finance did not name any companies or individuals that participated in the sale, except to say that the issuance attracted a number of global portfolio investors, including a very substantial investment in the 15-year bond by very well respected global financial investors. The ranking member said the minority MPs' search had also revealed that one Trevor G. Trefegarne, who is one of the five board of directors of Frankly Templeton, is also the Chairman of Enterprise Insurance Limited a subsidiary of Frankly Templeton which he claimed is owned by the Finance Minister and his wife. Putting these apparent facts together, we have reason to believe that there is a relational interest between our Finance Minister and Trevor Trefgarne, which means a potential lack of transparency and a conflict of interest, the ranking member said. By Thomas Fosu Jnr The minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) in parliament yesterday raised serious concern over the huge size of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government and the economic implications for the nation. It chastised the president for religiously promising to protect the public purse but is doing otherwise. According to the minority, from the way the government has begun with unrestrained expenditure through the unprecedented appointment of 110 ministers and splashing of public money on social parties for the president and his family, President Akufo-Addo should not be trusted with his campaign promise of religiously protecting the public purse. The minority Members of Parliament (MPs) raised the concern during their assessment of the first 100 days of the NPP administration under President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo -Addo Leading a press conference which was held at the precincts of parliament yesterday, the deputy minority leader, James Klutse Avedzi, said it was totally unnecessary and a waste of public resources to create ministries such as the one in-charge Public Procurement, Ministries of Aviation, Railway Development, Regional Reorganisation and Information. He said the office of the ministry of state in-charge of public procurement is not only completely unnecessary, but also very bizzare because there is an effective and functioning Public Procurement Authority (PPA) which has been established by an Act. The NDC government amended the Public Procurement Act to enhance its effectiveness so appointing a minister to be in-charge of public procurement amounts to nothing but elongating the long arm of red tapism which in itself becomes a potential avenue for corruption, Mr Klutse Avedzi said, stressing that the creation of the ministry means the NPP government is intentionally centralizing key procurement decisions at the presidency for personal and partisan gains. The minority also questioned the need to split the Ministry of Transport into three Transport, Aviation and Railway Development with accompanying ministers and their deputies. Mr Avedzi, who is the MP for Ketu North, said under a merged ministry which had one minister and a deputy during the era of the NDC, a lot of achievements were chalked with massive rehabilitation of the Accra, Kumasi and Tamale airports as well as massive investment in the development of the Tema and Takoradi Harbours and a $300 million loan which was secured for railway development. No justification therefore exists for having three different ministries with six ministers to work in just one sector when more will not be achieved, he note, stressing that this is a typical example of incompetence on the part of a party which claims to have the men and the women. The deputy minority leader pointed out that it is also a waste of public funds to split the Ministry of Communications into information and communication, which are having two ministers and five deputy ministers as compared to the NDC's regime, which had a combined ministry with one minister and two deputy ministers. He said the Ministry of Business Development, Ministry of Special Initiatives, Ministry of Planning and Ministry of Monitoring and Evaluation could be merged into other ministries to avoid unnecessary pressure on the public purse. This elephant-sized government will translate into 110 bungalows, 110 saloon cars, 110 V8 Toyota Land Cruisers, 110 body guards and 220 police guards in their bungalows, which are a big drain on the public purse, he pointed out. The minority also spoke about the creeping acts of violence perpetrated by political vigilante groups such as Invincible Forces and the Delta Force, which are associated with the ruling NPP. According to the minority MPs, President Akufo-Addo had not taken any step to stop these acts, citing the attack on a court by some members of Delta Force. Plainly speaking, the blame for the state of lawlessness afflicting the country must lie squarely with President Akufo-Addo because he is the one who encouraged the training of these thugs by South African mercenaries, Mr Avedzi underscored. He observed that the 100 days of the Akufo-Addo-led government has been 100 days of hardship, 100 days of broken promises, 100 days of deceit, 100 days of bribery and conflict of interest, 100 days of wasteful expenditure on Ghana at 60 celebrations, 100 days of terrorism by Invincible Forces and Delta Forces and 100 days of 110 ministers. By Thomas Fosu Jnr Automobile company, Honda Ghana Limited, has unveiled its latest tech-savvy 10th generation Civic sedan vehicle brand dubbed, 'Civic FMC' onto the Ghanaian market. The new model is manufactured at Honda's plant in the USA, and replaces its predecessor that traversed the compact sedan segment between 2011 and 2015. Features of the new vehicle includes lane watch, remote engine start, 7-inch touch screen with audio control, push button start, smart entry, bluetooth, Wi-Fi connectivity, sunroof, 17-inch Alloy wheels, roomy cabin and high interior quality materials. Building on its over 40-year heritage, the 2016 Civic sets an all-new standard in compact car style and performance. With sleek, sporty lines and an improved power-to- weight ratio, its a drivers delight. The Honda Place Head of Sales and Marketing, Manish Daryanani, addressing the media on Thursday in Accra at the launch of the vehicle on the domestic market, said, Honda purposefully introduced the Civic to offer customers better and improved driving values with superior versatility at low running and maintenance cost some of the characteristics you would soon discover yourselves. Coming on the heels of the ninth generation model, Mr Daryanani said the new Civic has matured with upmarket features, and is currently appraised as the most comfortable and sophisticated of any Civic ever. Like in previous models, the new Civic weighs less, some 150 pounds less, much of which comes off the front axle for somewhat improved front-to-rear weight distribution, Mr. Daryanani said. Journalists were given the opportunity to do a test drive of the car. The Honda Civic is responsive as it has reduced internal friction and increased BHP by 15horsepower and 91b-ft of torque to deliver a total of 158 horsepower @ 6500rpm and 138ib-ft @ 4200rpm whilst doing 060mph in just eight seconds, one of the test drivers remarked. The remarkable improvement gives the new Civic a refreshing sense of lightness and sharpness with a sporty feel, especially when viewed against the unique C-shaped LED taillights, which leaves an unforgettable impression. And unlike its predecessors, the new Civic is quieter inside even at high speed and its ride is more compliant than ever with best-in-class interior volume to say the least. These features translate into ample rear passenger space that could leave families and prospective customer contemplating whether to buy a Civic or an Accord. By Melvin Tarlue The story about the armed robbery attack on a University of Ghana female lecturer, Dr. Benedicta Fosu-Mensah at Ashongman, a suburb of Accra, and if we may add, close shave with death, was a scary read in the DAILY GUIDE yesterday. The criminals while wielding what she identified as an AK 47 assault weapon and another firearm of a different description which they trained on her as they searched her residence for valuables was an unenviable experience. Her narration of the harrowing encounter with the merchants of death who could have easily pulled the trigger, especially as suggested by one of them, as he became impatient with her said it all about how armed robbers are generally heartless. Many were not as lucky as they died at the hands of the criminals. We do not want to take a swipe at the police but only wish to express concern about the time it takes for the law enforcement agency to respond to distress calls. From the victim's narration, it took the police twenty minutes to respond to her call; the crux of the concern. It is instructive that robbers do not usually stay for this long at crime scenes and the police could have easily pounced upon them, had their response time been swift. There might be some factors accounting for the seeming slowness in responding to distress calls, something perhaps beyond the officers on the night shift and patrol duties. The victim was able to call the police because she is educated and taken the trouble to memorise the emergency numbers. It is a fact that not all educated persons know these numbers anyway. For those who do, many of them do not have confidence in the police to respond swiftly as it showed in the case of the woman under review. Our mobile phone network companies must constantly be in touch with the police with a view to innovating ways of dealing with emergencies, especially since armed robbers would definitely kill victims seen to be sending out distress calls. Such engagements would be effective in identifying challenges which affect communication between distressed victims of armed robbery attacks and the police. Another factor we think must be addressed is dearth of adequate logistics at the disposal of the police. It is common to be told by the stations that patrol vehicles would be dispatched when they are available leaving armed robbers to have field days. Like fire stations, every police station must be fitted with standby vehicles to respond to emergencies and the necessary gadgets and men. Had the victim whose story triggered this commentary died, her fate could have been attributed to the non-swift response of the police. The state must invest in more logistics for the police. The momentum of patrols must be raised as should be the provision of communication equipment. Since most robberies take place between 1am and 2.30am, we think such periods must be the time when the law enforcement agency's patrols must be on high alert. We wish to also call on residents to be their neighbours' keepers. The female lecturer tried to have them come to her aid but nobody cared to do so. At such critical moments of life and death, what good neighbours should do is not only call the police but insist they respond immediately. Independent Presidential Candidate, Jacob Osei Yeboah aka President JOY, has thrown a wise counsel at the presidency seeking to caution President Nana Addo Dankwa-Akufo-Addo to do everything possible to resist any temptation of corruption that has the tendency of bruising his government. He has also warned the presidency against likely traps that might be set by his own people among other power brokers, which have the tendency of breeding and leading to open incompetence within the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration. Though, he acknowldged that the first 100-days of the president point to positive signs which are good things to come, there should be no room for complacency since the task ahead is huge. President JOY made these points in a statement released on Tuesday April 18th 2016 on his take on the first 100-days of the NPP and President Akufo-Addo. "For the first 100 days, forming a government and restructuring the economy which has enabled a smooth takeoff towards the nation's socio-economic reconstruction, I am giving 85% mark to H.E Nana Akufo-Addo for his good intentions and attempt to shape the destiny of our nation competently. The whole nation is awaiting to see how the Akufo-Addo led government will handle the endemic corruption perceived to have been perpetrated against our nation." According to President JOY, the two cardinal words that led to former President Mahama and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) defeat and awful humiliation at the 2016 General Elections can be atrributed to these these two evil compatriots, Perceived Unbridled Corruption by the public and Incompetence by the then NDC government in trying to solve the nation's challenges. There is no doubt of the massive goodwill from Ghanaians towards the personality of H.E. Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the government to succeed within the first 100 days in office. The professionals and calibre of officers appointed to occupy various positions in government is par excellence and a good indicator of competence. The size of his ministers is exceptionally the highest in our history but not that does not necessarily means it is a sign of incompetence, but all in all, we wait to see they perform," the statement said. He went on to add that as a strategist the structure and size of your ministers is clear indicator that depict your strategy to achieve the varied degrees of promises within a limited time frame. "Such a structure may be inefficient but could be effective as well. However, incompetence could be measured after the various ministers fail to achieve their respective goals in fulfilling the campaign promises. As government is a continuum of liability from the previous one. ...The government would have to work with the NDC incompetence committed contracts with high judgement debt clauses perceived to be shrouded in corruption. These are great pitfalls that the NPP will be measured if not avoided. The ability of Akufo-Addo led government to transmutethese incompetent and corrupt contracts as real performance vehicles will indeed distinguished government as competent with integrity." He observed that there have been attempts lately to cite the Akufo-Addo-led government for corruption at the Parliament House and currently the Addison Committee on Energy. None of these matters, he identified can hold water but they are great pointers of the eagle-eye with which to get hold of anything against the government. He emphasised that while most Ghanaians see incompetence as being different from corruption by definition, JOY and Team-JOY analysis rather has conjugated them into a simple term 'Bond of Greed'. "Greediness blinds the glutton to the surrounding reality of corruption and incompetence. Take issues like the National ID, One-District-One-Factory, Energy, Galamsey, and Vigilantism; competent solutions will guarantee 90% success in our socio-economic reconstruction of our country. The competent execution of National ID and One-District-One-Factory in particular will silence the critics as these projects are quite unique to the NPP administrations performance." President JOY decried energy and Galamsey as being key challenges facing the country and a growing concern day by day. He said these two challenges if solved competently can indeed transform the nation to reflect the state of our true identity of the Gold Coast. On other matters, he said vigilantism seems to be the weakest to handle but it is embedded in overt security implication of life threatening scenarios. "Diffusing the energy built up and transforming such energies into environmental protection and agrarian economic ventures will stop apprehension to possible terrorism looming within the sub-region." Staff of the National Insurance Commission (NIC) have denied chasing the Insurance Commissioner Lydia Lariba Bawa as reported by some media establishments recently. They pointed out in a statement that at no time did such a thing happen, stressing that they did not also petition the President regarding the Commissioner's performance. Their relationship with the lady, they said, has been fruitful and cordial since she assumed headship of the Commission. The workers acknowledged the gains chalked during her stewardship, some of which have been the No Premium No Cover Policy and its accompanying benefits such as the energizing and sustainable flow of funds to the insurance industry. The introduction of the Claims Payment Guidelines during her tenure has also ensured prompt and speedy payment of interests of insurance to third party claimants. The measures she has put in place to ensure the flight of capital in the insurance industry is worth mentioning, they stated. The Director-General of NLA Kofi Osei-Ameyaw supported by some staff of the authority during the donation The National Lottery Authority (NLA) has donated food items to some churches and institutions to celebrate Easter as part of its corporate social responsibility. This forms part of the Authority's second mandate to support the needy, destitute and vulnerable in society. The items presented include bags of rice, gallons of oil, cartons of soft drinks and boxes of canned products. Director-General of NLA, Kofi Osei-Ameyaw, together with management, presented the items to support the 2017 edition of Joy FM's annual Easter Soup Kitchen which fetes thousands of underprivileged in society. The Dzorwulu Special School, which caters for children with special needs, also received some items. Additionally, six churches in the Atimpoku and Juapong, including the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Catholic Church and the Church of Pentecost, were also presented with some food items to support their annual picnics for the destitute in their localities. Mr Kofi Osei- Ameyaw said the gesture forms part of the Authority's corporate social responsibility and mission to give hope and happiness to society, particularly the underprivileged during occasions such as Easter to make them feel loved and cared for. 19.04.2017 LISTEN Taxpayers Alliance Ghana has noted with worry recent publications in the media about the Finance Ministrys decision to review all import duty/tax exemptions. In a statement issued by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to reinforce the Finance Ministers position during the 2017 budget reading, all applicants who qualify for exemptions from import duties and taxes are required to make prior payments and after, make a claim for refund of the amount paid. This directive raises critical questions bothering on legality and propriety given governmentsown assurance that it will implement policies to boost investments in order to prop the economy. Indisputably, the tax exemption regime has been grossly abused over the years leading to colossal shortfalls in tax revenue for the state, therefore, any lawful and holistic review coupled with a thorough plugging of the loopholes that has led to such wanton abuses will be a commendable one. However, TPAG considers the current arrangement to cure the irregularities inherent in the exemption regime as palpably flawed. To start with, the review has no legal basis and, or is crafted to usurp the powers vested in the parliament of Ghana. Article 174 of the 1992 constitution of Ghana expressly states; (1) No taxation shall be imposed otherwise than by or under the authority of an Act of Parliament. (2) where and Act, enacted in accordance with clause (1) of this article, confers power on any person or authority to waive or vary a tax imposed by that Act, the exercise of the power of waiver or variation, in favour of any person or authority, shall be subject to the prior approval of Parliament by a resolution. Clearly, the move by the Ministry of Finance and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) is tantamount to a breach of the law and due process. Under what law or authority is this review being implemented? Why is Parliament silent on the actions directing compliance with the directive and how the GRA is arrogating to itself powers that are exclusive to Parliament? Again, our concern is that the review in its current form will strangle the finances of beneficiary companies under the exemption policy. The request for companies to pay the equivalent of the tax waiver on goods that qualify under the regime and later apply for a refund is a debilitating circus that will lock up capital with implications on time value of money even if refund is successful overtime. Moreover, for TPAG, the review provides a fertile ground for corruption that will further drain the state of needed revenue to fix the challenges in the economy. It is estimated that in 2016 fiscal year alone, over GHC 1.2 billion was lost by the state arising out of complicity and collusion between some Custom officials and some companies. This amount could be halved if a pragmatic and honest strategy is devised through the use of modern technology which will essentially reduce opportunities for negotiated settlements and manual handling of clearing procedures at the ports. TPAG is also aware that the biggest culprits in the menace of import exemption abuses are politicians who use their power and political capital to circumvent the rules and dubiously clear goods without paying import charges under circumstances where those good do not qualify for exemptions, raping the state they profess to serve. TPAG will welcome any lawful review by Parliament which has the power to vary these exemptions so as to reduce or completely stop the abuses of the import exemption protocols at Ghanas ports. Corruption of the system should not result in unlawful and punitive curative measures that have the tendency to adversely affect genuine beneficiaries. Let us also place on record that the ports of Ghana are corruption havens with Tema harbour alone losing $8 million monthly to corrupt practices. Cumulatively, corruption at Tema, Takoradi, Kotoka, and other points of entry to Ghana runs into several millions of dollars. If corruption at these places is nip in the bud, there will be no need for such knee jerk actions being pursued with reference to import exemptions at the ports will stand with the business community in our avowed attempt to promote free market principles which thrive on our core values of Lower Taxes, Taxpayer Rights within an atmosphere of accountability. Signed: Boniface A. Sutinga Deputy Executive Director (Taxpayers Alliance Ghana) Contact: 0242824006 Email: [email protected] Cotonou, Republic of Benin, 18 April 2017 Bank Group (AfDB) Director-General for the West African Region, Janvier Litse visited the Republic of Benin from 10 to 12 April 2017 as part of a dialogue mission with the country's authorities. The visit falls within the Banks commitment to strengthen cooperation with member States. It provided an opportunity to discuss issues related to the imminent opening of the Banks National Office in the country. Discussions between a Bank-led multidisciplinary team and the Government officials enabled the two parties to agree on key issues including the facilities, immunities, privileges and exemptions of the National Office and its staff. The Agreement establishing the National Office was signed by Benins Foreign and Cooperation Minister, Aurelien Agbenonci. Janvier Litse co-signed the Agreement and the aide-memoire of the negotiations, and expressed appreciations for the constructive and collaborative spirit of the two parties. He said: The Bank's decision to open an Office in Benin falls within the framework of its new Development and Business Delivery Model (DBDM), the first principle of which is to bring the Bank closer to its clients with a view to achieving its 2013-2022 strategy, in particular its High Five priorities. The Director-General reassured the authorities that every effort would be made for the Office to quickly become operational, as per the wish of the Bank's senior management and of Benin Government. Two agreements (loans and grants) worth 9.5 million euros (Approximately 6.2 billion CFA francs), were inked to support a project on Community Forest Management Phase II in Benin. Speaking on the occasion, the State Minister for Planning and Development and Governor for Benin, Abdoulaye Bio Tchane, welcomed the AfDB's decision to move closer to its clients, which according to him, would strengthen the effectiveness of AfDBs operations. He also highlighted the role that the Bank would play in the implementation of the Governments Action Plan (PAG). "The AfDB has long been a champion of Benins development. The opening of a National Office should significantly scale up PAG implementation, he said. Director General Litses meeting with government representatives also focused on cooperation and the prospects for Bank interventions to support Benins 2017-2021 strategy and the government's action plan. The talks are a follow-up of the discussions between Bank Group President Akinwumi Adesina and Benin President, Patrice Talon, during his visit to the Bank in Abidjan on 11 January 2017. Litse discussed the status of the countrys portfolio and the need to improve its performance with the government authorities. The meetings also identified the priorities for the Banks interventions in support to the PAG 2017-2021, namely agriculture and infrastructure. Sorry, we can't find the content you're looking for at this URL. 19.04.2017 LISTEN Mr. Sydney Casely-Hayfords call for the legalization of small-scale mining, popularly known as Galamsey, is quite sound in principle, as it seeks to democratize the mining profession. Unfortunately, on the practical aspect of the trade, he ought to have been born or raised in one of the areas of the most intense small-scale mining, such as yours truly was, to fully appreciate the deleterious implication of allowing every Kofi Mensah or Yaw Owusu who wants to go into mining do so without any remarkable restrictions (See Legalize Galamsey Casely-Hayford to Government Citifmonline.com / Ghanaweb.com 4/8/17). I dont know what the situation is presently at Akyem-Asiakwa, but there was a time when one could not go to farm on the Atiwa Hills without the presence of a human navigator who knew where most of the abandoned mines were located, some dating back to the early 19th century. Indeed, it was not uncommon, while I was growing up in the late 1960s and early 1970s, to hear the town-crier, Mr. Kwaku Dame, beat the gong and report the news of several local residents who went missing while Galamseying at Pusupusu or in the Atiwa Hills. We actually called it the Atiwa Mountains and sometimes the Atiwa Ranges, as we had been taught in primary and middle school geography classes. Oftentimes, a search party would be dispatched, made up largely of a platoon of some of the most buffy youths in town. Sometimes it took several hours or days for the party to report back, almost invariably the bad news of either the sighting or recovery of the remains of these Galamseyers. In much the same way that people are not rampantly and riotously registered to open up clinics and practice medicine in Ghana, merely because they have learned how to administer a shot with the syringe, small-scale miners ought not to be registered to expedite the degradation of the land and wantonly pollute our potable drinking-water resources, merely because they have expressed an immutable passion for mining. It is also rather scandalously facile for anybody to talk about regulating the predatory activities of legions of small-scale miners, when even the far better equipped and professionally trained large-scale miners are not nearly quite as effectively policed by the government as they ought to. But I guess if one thinks in terms of multinational corporate exploitation of the resources of our land, then it becomes absolutely logical to allow for the democratization of the mining industry as a whole. It also ought to be clear to eloquent Galamsey advocates like Mr. Sydney Casely-Hayford that the mere enactment of laws in of itself, would not make the legalization of Galamsey any healthier or safer. The government has to put armies of salaried law-enforcement agents on the ground; and I dont see most of these Galamseyers making enough money to pay the salaries and wages of these security personnel. We also need to bear in mind that the big mining companies employ more than just miners or mining engineers. They also employ trained emergency rescue workers, medical staffs and a host of other para-professionals of great benefit to the surrounding communities. There is room for the creation of other far less dangerous fields of endeavor or employment and private enterprise than mining. And the negative environmental impact of mining, especially the Galamsey type of surface mining, far outweighs the positive. Brother Sydney Casely-Hayford knows as well as the best educated citizen on the subject that what we are talking about here goes well beyond theory. It is the very long-term survival of the Ghanaian human species that is at stake here. And the more deliberate and sober we go at it, the better stead it would stand us in finding more productive and constructive and healthier ways of using the land. *Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs Abuja (AFP) - Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday suspended two key aides over an alleged contract scam and for keeping an unauthorised stash of cash in a private home, his office said. Buhari "has ordered an investigation into the allegations of violations of law and due process made against the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr David Babachir Lawal, in the award of contracts" in the north-east, the presidency said in a statement. The Nigerian leader also directed that Lawal be suspended from office "pending the outcome of the investigations." Last year, Lawal, a top-ranking member of the administration and a Buhari confidant, was alleged to have awarded contracts running into millions of naira to companies in which he had interests, within the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE). He denied the accusations. The money was part of government funds meant to rehabilitate the victims of the Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast. The Senate summoned Lawal to explain himself but he refused, prompting lawmakers to ask the president to remove him. Buhari has also suspended Ayo Oke, the head of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), one of the country's spy bodies, pending an investigation into the discovery of a stash of cash in a private apartment in the upscale Ikoyi area of Lagos. Litmus test for Buhari Last week, the country's anti-graft agency EFCC seized over $43 million in cash during a raid on the apartment. The money has been claimed by the NIA, prompting Buhari to order an investigation "to enquire into the circumstances in which the NIA came into possession of the funds, how and by whose or which authority the funds were made available to the NIA". The probe will also establish whether or not there has been a breach of the law or security procedure in obtaining custody and use of the funds. The investigators have 14 days to submit their report to the president. The suspension of the two top aides is seen as a litmus test for Buhari who came to power in 2015 vowing to stop the plunder of state funds by corrupt politicians and public officials. Critics have accused the no-nonsense former army general who first led a military regime in the 1980s as conducting a political witch-hunt because many of those arrested for graft are opposition party members or served in the previous administration. But the government has dismissed the charges, insisting that anyone with proven case of graft would face the law. 19.04.2017 LISTEN The war on corruption is real, no doubt anymore. Banks are no more safe havens for financial criminals. Huge sums of money belonging to politicians or petty tradesmen can easily be traced in banks. Besides, it is clear that all the monies used for politics and a lot used for illegal businesses were stuck in private houses after President Muhammadu Buhari was sworn-in in May 2015. Daily discoveries by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), with the support of patriot-whistle-blowers reveal the scenarios, confusion and tension which the treasury looters found themselves, leading to the abandonment of our monies in their many inhabited houses. That has partly caused the recession. Yet, corruption does not end there. Startling revelations by the EFCC has shown that treasury looters also hid their loots in forests, graveyards and unimaginable places. There are now in existence all kinds of banks in Nigeria, an invention by the looters for the safekeeping of their ill-acquired wealth. There are deep forest bank (DFB), vacant house banks (VHB), graveyard bank (GYB) occupied house bank (OHB), farm house bank (FHB), airport lounge bank (ALB), parked cars bank (PCB) water reservoir bank (WRB) and soak-away bank (SAB). More discoveries are on. Information and Culture Minister, Lai Mohammad, through his media aide, Segun Adeyemi, confirmed that funds looters now bury money in cemeteries and in deep forests, asserting thatmany of them are abandoning their booty at unusual places, including airports even as they continue to run helter-skelter. A friend sent me a whats up massage that he is mobilizing a group of volunteers to relocate to Lagos to assist in finding those houses and dens where the looters have hidden our monies. According to him, EFCC has been doing a good job and needs to be supported. But how to find out the houses, he said would need to consult spiritualists in order to get his percentage as a whistle-blower. He wondered why the looted funds are found in Lagos more than Abuja. But the controversial Ekiti state governor, Ayodele Fayose claims that the looters who have resorted to burying stolen funds in their backyards and burial grounds are looters in the Buharis presidency, especially those being compensated for funding the election of the President in 2015. He claimed that they bury their own loots in the Villa with Presidential protection. His special assistant on public communications and new media, Lere Olayinka, described the anti-corruption war as a laughing stock because most of the discovered monies including N49 million at Kaduna Airport, N448 million in a shop at Victoria Island, Lagos and N13 billion in Ikoyi, Lagos neither have owners nor the identities of owners of the properties where the money was found known. He faulted the claim that only the Presidents appointees were saints, while other Nigerians, including those in the National Assembly, judiciary, opposition politicians and the civil servants were rogues. The cabals in the Presidency, he squeaked, have been taking advantage of the Presidents state of health to oppress Nigerians. Actually, most of the culprits are ex-political office holders and it is quite understandable. But however, there are cases of incumbent government officials entangled in corruption. There have been several reports on that and the courts are still handling many, though accusations are mounting that those in government are untouchables, thus being protected. And with the clearance of alleged corrupt members of the executive, legislative and judiciary arms of government at the federal level, a lot of citizens have been questioning the sincerity in the corruption war proclaimed to be total and effective in all its ramifications. We recall with sadness that Nigeria lost four corruption cases in one week. Questions from recent events have been nagging. The first was lost by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) when Justice Abdulaziz Anka of the Federal High Court in Lagos lifted the forfeiture of N75m in the account of Mike Ozekhome a lawyer of Ekiti state governor Ayo Fayose. The following day, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) lost the case involving a former Niger Delta Affairs Minister Godsday Orubere who was discharged and acquitted by an Abuja High Court over alleged complicity in N1.97bn contract fraud. Recall that Orubebe alone nearly disrupted the 2015 Presidential polls because Goodluck Jonathan was losing out. Orubebes trial Justice Olukayode Adeniyi also discharged and acquitted all the defendants, after the charge was withdrawn by the prosecution. The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, in a letter to Chairman of the ICPC, confirmed that money which Orubebe allegedly diverted, was intact, but was awaiting further contract decisions and directives from the Ministry of Niger-Delta Affairs.Moreover, an Abuja High Court discharged and acquitted Justice Adeniyi Ademola; his wife, Olabowale and Joe Agi of 18-counts charge. Ademola was last year arrested by the DSS for alleged corruption and possession of firearms. The trial judge, Justice Jude Okeke ruled that there was no justifiable reason to call on the defendants to enter their defence and discharged all of them. The EFCC also within the week lost the case involving former First Lady Patience Jonathan. Justice Mojisola Olatoregun of a Federal High Court in Lagos defroze her $5.8m Skye Bank account which she quickly wanted to withdraw but was stopped by the EFCC. Olatoregun freed her and discharged affected five companies: Finchley Top Homes Ltd, Aribawa Aruera, Magel resort Ltd, AM -PM Global Network Ltd, Pansy Oil and Gas Ltd, and Pagmat oil and Gas Ltd as well as one Esther Oba said to be having a total sum of N7.4 billion in six different banks. This is unbelievable! Why the rush to court without thorough investigations. This is unbecoming of the EFCC. It was really a blow to the federal government. The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, met behind closed-doors with President Buhari in Abuja over the anti-graft war, expressing optimism that the war was not losing steam despite the lost cases because the system was designed in such a way that anyone who loses at a lower court can appeal the ruling. However, there are allegations of a gang-up by the judiciary against Buhari's administration with the fraternity in esprit de corps influencing judicial rulings. Kaduna State governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, has also accused members of the National Assembly of lack of commitment in the corruption fight as the annual budget of the NASS lacked transparency. But Senate Leader, Senator Ahmed Lawan, said NASS fought corruption through support because Nigerians expected higher and better performances in terms of service. Also recently, former President Goodluck Jonathan was accused of receiving $200 million as proceeds from the Malabu Oil deal, an accusation he has denied. Despite all these, the minister of information and culture, Lai Muhammad feels strong that Nigeria will win the war against corruption. It is a long, tough and arduous war. The administration must be equipped for it. To him, all lost cases discourage the administration because it is Nigerias war of liberation from poverty, misery, sickness and wretchedness. In a letter to President Buhari by Charles Oputa aka Charly Boy who describes himself as area fada and president of frustrated Nigerians, the hope of recovering Nigeria out of the mess would be to round up all looters and destroyers of the country and deliver us from the vile, evil and wicked politicians/cabals that have enforced this kind of poverty, hunger, hopelessness on my people, with impunity. Furthermore, although incumbent administration has made a lot of goofs in some areas, Nigerians were with him on the corruption fight which cannot be fought by the president alone or a few kitchen cabinet members some of whom the people do not even trust. He said Nigerians must see corruption as a crime that must be fought starting from the National Assembly. He recalled the running battles Buhari had with some of the blackmailers, scammers, certificate forgers and the riff raffs in the National Assembly and urged him to act for the interest of Nigerians because, After all, Obasanjo dealt with many of them in the house; Goodluck dealt with House Speaker. He suggested that it was time for Nigerians to formulate their own kind of democracy, because the Oyibos way has failed to fight corruption, thus the people should decide to scrap the Senate or drastically turn it down to a more manageable level. Muhammad Ajah is an advocate of humanity, peace and good governance in Abuja. E-mail [email protected] Rome (AFP) - UNESCO awarded its prestigious peace prize on Wednesday to migrant rescue association SOS Mediterranee and the mayor of Lampedusa, the tiny Italian island on the frontline of the refugee crisis. The Felix Houphouet-Boigny Peace Prize goes to the European NGO and mayor Giuseppina Nicolini "for their work to save the lives of refugees and migrants and welcome them with dignity," the UN cultural body said in a statement. The plight of migrants constitutes "one of the crucial issues of our day, notably in the Mediterranean where nearly 13,000 men, women and children have perished in shipwrecks since 2013," said acting jury head Joaquim Chissano, former president of Mozambique. Lampedusa, Italy's most southerly outpost, was the first port of arrival for thousands of migrants setting off from North Africa in the first years of the crisis, which began in 2011 and has developed into the worst since World War II. The mayor of Lampedusa, Giuseppina Nicolini, has been recognised for her work at the frontline of the refugee crisis SOS Mediterranee, founded in 2015, rescues hundreds of men, women and children each week from flimsy dinghies and boats in the Mediterranean, along with other NGOs. Nicolini was recognised for "her boundless humanity and unwavering commitment to refugee crisis management and integration in response to the arrival of thousands of refugees on the shores of Lampedusa and elsewhere in Italy". 'Watery grave' "I dedicate this prize to all those who did not make it across the sea because they were swallowed up, and also to Gabriele Del Grande," said Nicolini, referring to an Italian journalist arrested in Turkey this month while researching the lives of Syrian refugees. "He was the first to count the Mediterranean's dead on a website, back when nobody even knew people were dying in the Mediterranean. He is now a prisoner in Turkey," she said, calling on the government to "bring him home". The jury said SOS Mediterranee's Aquarius vessel, co-run by Doctors Without Borders, had saved more than 11,000 lives. It appealed to the international community "to ensure that the Mediterranean sea becomes, once again, a place where solidarity and intercultural dialogue hold sway, and that it ceases to serve as a watery grave". Private rescue vessels sounded the alarm this weekend over the "unprecedented mass rescues" of people fleeing horrors in conflict-torn Libya, recovering seven bodies including that of an eight-year-old, and warning more migrants risked drowning without EU action. Close to 37,000 people have been brought to safety in Italy so far this year, a 45 percent increase on the same period in 2016. Solidarity The EU's border control agency Frontex has accused donor-funded vessels of doing more harm than good by acting "like taxis" off Libya and tempting human traffickers to put as many people as possible out to sea in flimsy vessels. Italian prosecutors have suggested they may have links with traffickers and in March named SOS Mediterranee's activity as being of interest to investigators. Their charges have been fiercely rejected by the NGOs. "European governments need to show more solidarity to the humanitarian organisations that are working on the front line of this humanitarian crisis. Border control is not the solution," Regina Catrambone, the director of MOAS rescue service, said Wednesday. UNESCO's Felix Houphouet-Boigny Peace Prize, created in 1989 to honour those making a significant contribution to peace, has gone in the past to Nelson Mandela, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat, King Juan Carlos of Spain and former US president Jimmy Carter. As the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), struggles to recover from its defeat in the 2016 elections, grassroots members of the party in the Ketu South Constituency in the Volta Region, have waded into the blame game by accusing Former President John Dramani Mahama and his wife, as being the major cause of their defeat. At a press conference in Aflao today [ Wednesday ], the group described the partys defeat as humiliating, and blamed it on the party's neglect of the foot soldiers. The pro-opposition group; Action Movement of NDC, claim that some actions and utterances by the then Candidate and former President John Dramani Mahama and the wife, Lordina Mahama, created so much disaffection for the party at the grassroots. The Action Movement is saying exactly what sent us to a humiliating opposition. Our executives did not spread the campaign funds in the 2016 election, instead kept them for themselves. Bad utterances from JM to nurses and party elders. The women front was broken by Lordina; JM's wife the group stated. The group justified their resolve to go public with the issues, claiming it was as a result of unyielding responses from their leaders internally. The Ketu South Constituency is the Electoral Commission's largest constituency, and has featured as the stronghold of the opposition NDC. Many political observers believe that, the recent loss of the party in the general elections was also largely due to apathy in the party's strongholds. Addressing the media, the leader of the group, Godwin Henyo, said the way out is for the party leadership to expedite measures towards re-organization of an early congress to elect a new flagbearer. Direct your concerns to us Kwesi Botchwey to NDC members Although a fact-finding committee led by Kwesi Botchwey is seeking to establish the cause of the partys defeat and make recommendations going forward, several individuals and groups in the party have been putting out their own diagnosis. There have been times where the committees work has turned violent. The Committee has thus cautioned members to desist from such public discussions, and allow it to finish its work. By: King Nobert Akpablie/citifmonline.com/Ghana Kinshasa (AFP) - The UN said Wednesday it had found a further 17 mass graves in the Democratic Republic of Congo's central Kasai region, an area plagued by violence between tribal militias and security forces. Fighting erupted in Kasai after government troops last August killed tribal chief Jean Pierre Mpandi, also known as Kamwina Nsapu, who had launched an uprising against President Joseph Kabila. Wednesday's announcement by the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, raises to 40 the number of mass graves discovered in Kasai. Two United Nations researchers, who had been sent to investigate violence in the region, were found in a grave 16 days after they were abducted last month. "It is absolutely essential that the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo immediately take the necessary measures, and previously missing steps, for an independent, transparent inquiry that establishes the facts and circumstances of violations and abuses of human rights," Hussein said of the Kasai violence. If the government does not take such action he would not hesitate to "ask the international community to support an inquiry, which could include the International Criminal Court", Hussein added. Authorities announced on April 14 that two suspects had been detained over the kidnap and killing of the two UN experts, an American and a dual Swedish-Chilean woman. One of the suspects, however, escaped with the help of four police officers guarding them. DR Congo security forces have been accused by the UN of using disproportionate force against militiamen, who are armed mainly with clubs and catapults. However, the UN also accuses the rebels of recruiting child soldiers and of committing widespread atrocities. Kampala (AFP) - The Ugandan army said Wednesday it has neutralised the Lord's Resistance Army, as troops began withdrawing from the Central African Republic where they had been hunting the group's feared leader Joseph Kony. "The decision to withdraw was premised on the realisation that the mission to neutralise the LRA has now been successfully achieved," Ugandan army spokesman Brigadier Richard Karemire said in a statement. The army said that Kony now commands fewer than 100 fighters and has been left "weak and ineffective." Kony "no longer poses any significant threat to Uganda's security," said Karemire. Thirty-one soldiers landed in an airfield in Gulu, northern Uganda, on Wednesday, with more to follow, according to local media reports. A self-styled mystic and prophet, Kony launched a bloody rebellion three decades ago seeking to impose his own version of the Ten Commandments on northern Uganda. The UN says the LRA has slaughtered more than 100,000 people and abducted 60,000 children since it was set up in 1987. The LRA was forced out of Uganda in 2006 and has since roamed the remote forests on the borders of South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and the CAR. Ugandan troops have operated in the strife-torn eastern part of CAR since 2009 searching for LRA fighters terrorising the area. "The Ugandan military operation, with the assistance of US military advisors, has played an important role in degrading the LRA, especially in encouraging defections of LRA members," said Washington-based researcher Ledio Cakaj, author of "When the Walking Defeats You", a book about Kony's inner circle. However, Cakaj said that while Kony is still at large the threat to the local civilian population remains. "Local security forces in CAR have shown in the past their inability to provide security for civilians, and the vacuum left by the withdrawal will likely be exploited by the LRA and other predatory groups", he told AFP. At the end of March the US military announced that its forces, which have been deployed in the hunt for Kony in eastern CAR since 2011, would be removed from counter-LRA activities in the impoverished nation. Two persons have been arrested at Agbogbloshie by the Greater Accra Regional Police command for possessing 500 rounds of ammunition. They are Imoro Abdul Wahab, 25, a scrap dealer, and Kwaku Amankwa, 58, a self-acclaimed registered arms dealer. The arrest, according to the command, was executed based on intelligence it had picked up Tuesday, April 18 2017 with the help of a resident there. The command's Public Relations Officer, ASP Affia Tenge said in a media address Wednesday April 19, 2017 that further investigations are being conducted to ascertain and establish the intention of the two persons. Their arrest comes in the wake of deadly clashes at the Agbogbloshie Yam Market last week. Hitherto Tuesday's arrest, the command has arrested five persons in connection with the clashes that erupted at the market. Locally manufactured rifles were retrieved from the suspects during the arrest, the police said. Violent clashes erupted Tuesday between Konkombas and Dagombas at the Agbogbloshie Yam market in Accra with two person reported dead. Information gathered by Starr News indicates that the violence started after a Dagomba man was beaten by some Konkombas for allegedly stealing a mobile phone Monday evening. The police retrieved 250 rounds of BB cartridges and 250 rounds of AA cartridges summing up to the 500 pieces of cartridges, ASP Tenge told the media Wednesday. Both suspects are being detained for investigations, and shall soon be put before the court when our investigations and the intent has been established, he added. -Starrfmonline President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said he is fully aware of the implications of ignoring the agricultural sector of the Ghanaian economy and has, therefore, pledged not to do so. Speaking at Goaso in the Brong Ahafo Region on Wednesday, 19 April at the launch of the Planting for Food and Jobs programme, the President said: Agriculture remains the fuel that powers all our activities in Ghana. We ignore it at our risk. My government will certainly not ignore it. I give you my pledge: food crop farmers, fish farmers, and livestock farmers will all have the support and the respect they deserve from my government. We need to raise agriculture to a higher plane to be able to improve on the quality of life of our people. Planting for Food and Jobs is just the beginning. He said government intends to construct a 1000 metric tonne-capacity warehouse in each of the 216 districts. The purpose of these warehouses will be to handle produce as well as to store the anticipated surpluses under the Planting for Food and Jobs campaign, he asked. Government will also expand the feeder roads and networks to mitigate post-harvest losses and also ensure foodstuffs are available to customers. -Classfmonline 19.04.2017 LISTEN President Nana Akufo-Addo has assured that his government has put in place measures to ensure the success of the Planting for Food and Jobs programme, which was launched today [Wednesday]. The programme, which was launched in Goaso in the Brong Ahafo Region, is expected to modernize agriculture, improve production, achieve food security and make Ghana more self-sufficient, whilst creating jobs for the youth, the President said. He recounted encounters with farmers in the Brong Ahafo Region, known to be the food basket of Ghana, who indicated their expectation of the Akufo-Addo government to revive and modernize the agriculture sector. The farmers also served notice of their desire and an end to the disgraceful spectacle of importing foodstuffs from neighbouring countries, the President added. In response to these expectations, President Akufo-Addo said: I am happy to inform you that 'Planting for food and Jobs' is the basis of the answer to the twin problems you have been confronted in recent years. He reiterated that, the policy is anchored on the pillars that will transform Ghanas agriculture; the provision of improved seeds, the supply of fertilizers, the provision of dedicated extension services and marketing strategy. The initiative is expected to increase the production of maize by 30%, rice by 49%, soybean by 25% and sorghum by 28% for current production levels. Agric needed for meaningful change The President stressed that, if Ghana is to see any meaningful change in the lives of her people, efforts must be directed at Agriculture. Some of these efforts will see government pursue a value addition strategy aimed at rapidly ramping up agro-processing and developing new and stable markets for our products. Our policies and intervention will encompass the full agriculture value chain and creating additional business and job opportunities in the areas of storage, transport, processing and marketing of agriculture produce, all of which will ensure that our farmers and fisher-folk earn a higher income, President Akufo-Addo said. By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana Health Minister Kwaku Agyeman-Manu 19.04.2017 LISTEN The government has announced that it will pay all amounts owed providers under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) by the end of April, 2017. Health Minister Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, who revealed this at the ministrys annual summit in Kumasi on Wednesday, April 19, said government would not wait until the claims accumulate before providers are paid. Amounts owed providers, especially Ghana Health Service (GHS) and CHAG (Christian Health Association of Ghana) and the private sector, in respect to May 2016 will be settled by close of this week or early next week, he revealed. In addition, he said government would release some amount of money any moment from now which will enable the authority to settle about three or four months of the arrears by end of May or June this year. Mr Agyeman-Manu indicated that government was hoping to undertake monthly releases to cater for the cost of health provision under the scheme henceforth. He admitted that government was aware of the numerous challenges suffered by the scheme and measures were being implemented to ensure that the programme remained vibrant. According to him, the Health Ministry had initiated processes to restructure the scheme to ensure its sustainability. -Classfmonline President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Wednesday, April 19, 2017, launched the Planting for Food and Jobs programme at Goaso, in the Brong Ahafo Region. According to him, the programme is the basis of the answer to the twin-problem of the migration of youth to city centres in search of non-existent jobs as well as an end to the disgraceful spectacle of Ghana importing foodstuffs from neighbouring countries. Planting for Food and Jobs, the President explained, will be anchored on the pillars that will transform Ghanaian agriculture: the provision of improved seeds, the supply of fertilisers, the provision of dedicated extension services, a marketing strategy, and the use of e-agriculture. The Planting for Food and Jobs programme is expected to increase the production of maize by 30 per cent; rice by 49 per cent; soybean by 25 per cent; and sorghum by 28 per cent from current production levels. This programme will create 750,000 jobs in both direct and indirect employment, he added. Assuring that all the necessary measures have been put in place to guarantee the success of the programme, President Akufo-Addo indicated that to ensure fertiliser is readily available to the farmer at affordable prices, government has reduced the prices of fertiliser by 50%. A 50kg bag of NPK fertiliser, the fertiliser most used by farmers, up to now has been costing GH115. Under this government, farmers will only pay GH57.50 for it. Likewise, a 50kg bag of urea now sells at GH47.50, as opposed to GH80 last year, he said. Additionally, with a looming shortage of agricultural extension officers in the next two to three years, and largely as a result of the previous NDC administration's decision not to employ any of the 3,200 graduates from the country's five Colleges of Agriculture between 2011 and 2015, President Akufo-Addo revealed that his government has, in the last three months, employed 1,200 of these graduates. He assured further that in 2018, we will employ 2,000 more extension officers, with the solemn pledge of employing more graduates from our Colleges of Agriculture in the subsequent years. The use of the technology in the Planting for Food and Jobs programme, via the use of the e-Agriculture platform, the President indicated, will ensure the effective distribution of improved seeds and fertilisers, as well as a significant improvement in extension service delivery to farmers. To reinforce the pledge made by the Minister, government intends to construct a 1,000 metric tonne-capacity warehouse in each of the 216 districts. The purpose of these warehouses would be to handle produce, as well as to store the anticipated surpluses under the 'Planting for Food and Jobs' campaign, he added. President Akufo-Addo reassured farmers of the commitment of his government to expand the feeder road and farm track networks to mitigate post-harvest losses and also ensure foodstuffs are available to consumers. Commending the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, for originating this initiative, President Akufo-Addo also commended the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta for recognising the critical importance of the project, and allocating GH370 million in the 'Asempa Budget' for it. President Akufo-Addo also expressed the appreciation of government to Canada, who are supporting the programme with 125 million Canadian dollars over a five-year period, for which we are grateful. The World Bank has also pledged support of $50 million for this year alone. USAID, through its Feed-The-Future Initiative, have also indicated, despite their initial hesitation, their preparedness to support Planting for Food and Jobs. The private sector has indicated its willingness to support the programme, and let me applaud the proactive role in fulfilment of its core obligations that the Agricultural Development Bank is taking in support of the programme, he added. The President, in reiterating his government's commitment towards the revival of the country's agriculture, noted that the Minister for Finance had increased budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Agriculture from 0.9% in the NDC era to 1.9%, with government targeting a 4.8% allocation to the Ministry by 2020, akin to the unprecedented feat chalked by the Kufuor era in 2008. GOV'T WILL DEVELOP AGRICULTURE The President noted that if Ghana is to make any meaningful change in the lives of the people, her efforts must be directed at agriculture, as the majority of people can only feel a change in their lives when agriculture is developed. With Ghana's agriculture predominantly hinged on the production of cocoa, President Akufo-Addo noted that the country has not made much progress in the cultivation of staples, like rice, maize and soya, urging, therefore, for a fundamental change in attitudes towards agriculture. Agriculture is not and cannot be a single-crop industry. Farming is a business and it is a profession that must be promoted and studied like all other professions. Ghana has the unique potential to feed its growing population, meet the raw material requirements of our processing industries, achieve food security, and compete successfully as a leading supplier to countries around us and beyond, he said. The vision of his government, he stressed, will be to modernise agriculture, improve production efficiency, achieve food security, and profitability for farmers, all aimed at significantly increasing agricultural productivity. Additionally, a value-addition strategy, aimed at rapidly ramping up agro-processing and developing new and stable markets for products will be pursued. Our policies and interventions will encompass the full agricultural value chain and create additional businesses and job opportunities in the areas of storage, transport, processing, packaging and marketing of agricultural produce, all of which will ensure that our farmers and fisher folk earn higher incomes, he added. -Classfmonline 19.04.2017 LISTEN A security expert has advised the police to cultivate informants at Agbogbloshie in Accra if they are to be successful in the retrieval of illegal weapons in the hands of some residents. Wing Commander Patrick Sorgbordjor (retired) said because of the compact nature of the community, attempts to barricade it for the purpose of conducting a search for illegal weapons would be difficult. He told Evans Mensah on Joy FMs Top Story Wednesday the police have to adopt alternative intelligence gathering if they are to be successful. Related Article: Konkombas, Dagombas at Agbogbloshie clash; 2 dead The Police in the Greater Accra Region have announced the arrest of two men in possession of 500 rounds of ammunition at Agbogbloshie, days after the area was engulfed in bloody clashes. Related Article: 2 arrested with 500 rounds of ammunition in Agbogloshie Some young men clashed resulting in the death of at least two people and the injury of dozens of others, including a pregnant woman. The spokesperson for the Greater Accra Regional Police Command, ASP Afia Tenge, told Joy News the two men were arrested on Tuesday on intelligence gathered by the police. Spokesperson for the Greater Accra Regional Police Command, ASP Afia Tenge One of the men, Imoro Abdul, 25, who is a scrap dealer was also found in possession of 2,500 rounds of cartridges. Related Article: Ethnicity not cause of Konkomba, Dagomba clashes Slum Union ASP Tenge said the two men, "shall soon be arraigned before the court when their intent has been established." She said the Command will deploy police officers into the community in an attempt to retrieve any illegal arms in the hands of residents. The Small Arms Commission has said the Agbogbloshie community is a volatile place because of the circulation of assault rifles by some residents. Executive Secretary of the Commission, Jones Applerh, told Joy News on April 13 there are estimated 1.1 million illegal weapons in the hands of some citizens. But Wing Commander Sorgbordjor said it will be difficult for the police to retrieve illegal assault rifles in the community if it does not reform its strategy. He said the conventional strategy of storming the community to search rooms of residents to retrieve the arms will not yield the right result. "It is difficult to cordon the whole area so what they have to do is to cultivate intelligence of those who live there," he said, adding the police have to be selective in the choice of informants. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Austin Brako-Powers | [email protected] 19.04.2017 LISTEN The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) is in support of government's plan to sell a majority of its stake in the Volta River Authority (VRA). Speaking to Citi News, the Executive Director of ACEP, Ben Boakye said this, specifically the sale of the thermal component of VRA will improve efficiency and accountability. We have held the position that Ghana needs to diversify the thermal component of VRA's operations. What we have is a situation where, because the government owns VRA, the procurement process is actually hijacked by government and ministers and not the VRA we are supposed to hold accountable. So what you tend to see is that, because that component of the institution is micro-managed by the government, they have ended up in so much debt. It is actually the thermal component of VRA's operation that is killing the company. Once there isn't much problem with the hydro component the government should hive of the thermal component and give it into private hands so that the procurement of crude oil will no more be the role of government so that we can have that efficiency required, Mr. Boakye explained. A Deputy Minister of Finance, Charles Adu-Boahen, disclosed to Citi News, government's plans to bring in private sector operators to manage the VRA. He explained that private sector participation will ensure efficiency and lead to the production of power at a much cheaper price for Ghanaians. By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghan Prampram (GAR), GNA - President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has been urged to speed up the appointment of the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs). So far, President Akufo-Addo has named Metropolitan Chief Executives for Kumasi, Accra, Tamale and Takoradi leaving 212 more to be appointed for the remaining Assemblies. Reverend Casmire Nii Okine Mensah, Greater Accra Regional Organizer and Ningo-Prampram 2016 Parliamentary Candidate for the Progressive People's Party (PPP), told the Ghana News Agency that the delay in the appointments was slowing down development in the various areas. Rev. Mensah said even though the President has performed extremely well in his first 100 days in office, the delay in appointing MMDCEs were creating unnecessary tension among interest groups which want to push their favourites to the position. He also appealed to the President to appoint a native of Prampram as the Ningo-Prampram District Chief Executive to ensure peace in the district. Rev Mensah, who is also the Head Pastor of Mission Church of Peace International, Ghana and an educationist, explained that since its creation in 2012, the Assembly has had two natives from the Ningo Traditional Area as chief executives. The District is made up of the Ningo Traditional Area and the Prampram Traditional Area with its administrative head office located at Prampram. He alleged that even though the Ningo area has had these chief executives, the natives and residents from the area, had refused to pay fees and rates to the Assembly in protestation to the location of the head office in Prampram. This, he noted however, did not result in any friction because, at the time, the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area hailed from Prampram and the people saw the appointment of the chief executive from the Ningo area as a balance of the system. Rev Mensah further said even though such an arrangement had no constitutional backing, it would be prudent to appoint a new DCE from the Prampram area since the current MP, Mr Sam Nartey George is a native of Ningo. GNA By Laudia Sawer, GNA Accra, April 19, GNA - A Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr. Carlos Ahenkorah, says Ghana a signatory to the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement is too small a country to have two Single Window operators. He, has, therefore challenged the pioneer and only single window operator, Ghana Community Network Services Limited (GCNet) to speedily re-double its efforts in actualising the full breadth of Single Window operations in the country. He recalled GCNet's drive to automate trade facilitation and port clearance processes in the country and the difference that brought to trade and port operators. He praised the Ghana Integrated Cargo Clearance Systems (GICCS) deployed by GCNet as efficient and robust enough to deliver on any valuation needs and address any bottlenecks in the overall clearance systems at the ports to deepen trade facilitation and enhance revenue mobilisation. Mr Ahenkorah was speaking at a luncheon after the 61st Board Meeting and 16th Annual General Meeting of GCNet. He noted that GCNet had taken too long in securing the manifest, the seed document in clearance processes at the ports from source, a situation that may have encouraged other operators to exploit the loophole to try to secure that right from the International Air Transport Association. The Deputy Trade Minister, however, noted that if GCNet had connected Maersk Lines to transmit its manifest into the Ghana Customs Management System (GCMS) over the past three years then there was no way that it could not oblige other carriers to emulate that example and ensure that both air and sea manifest are transmitted expeditiously. He also urged GRA (Customs Division) as the statutory body to assist GCNet to get all other carriers to do so with dispatch going forward. Mr. Ahenkorah also charged GCNet to remain committed to their tenets of innovation and service delivery and work harder to expand the scope of its TradeNet Single Window platforms in order to ward off any superfluous and duplicitous competition. On his part, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Shippers Authority, Dr. Kofi Mbiah, challenged Government to be bold to speedily resolve critical issues militating against the full actualisation of Single Window implementation in the country. He said Ghana having been acknowledged as a pioneer in Single Window operations by international bodies like the World Bank and a number of countries having undertaking familiarization visits to Ghana to learn about the GCNet experience. Dr. Mbiah noted that in as much as there was the need for collaboration between GCNet and other operators, it was also extremely important to define the parameters of engagement to create a level playing field for all players in the trade facilitation and revenue mobilisation eco-system. Welcoming guests earlier to the event, the Executive Chairman of GCNet, Dr. Nortey Omaboe, noted that as a Public Private Partnership (PPP) conceived since its inception, the model over time had proved to be the most effective way of executing such a national mandate to support revenue mobilisation by Government, foster trade facilitation and enhance business competitiveness. Dr. Omaboe observed that Government's quest for increased revenue in an environment of reduced taxes to stimulate private sector growth meant greater focus on GCNet to come up with new initiatives to support revenue mobilisation efforts. He, therefore, outlined a number of initiatives that GCNet had proposed to Government to enhance revenue mobilization. These include the need to improve upon the valuation of consignments, the need to invoke bonds for transit goods that do not exit the country after 14 days and the review of the paltry charges currently imposed, ensuring that warehoused goods are ex-warehoused within the stipulated time periods. Also, tighter control of free zone operations and the duty and tax exemptions granted thereon, the assignment of all newly registered taxpayers to relevant GRA Tax Offices and ensuring they file tax returns, etc. Dr. Omaboe however expressed concerned about non-clarity in the role of some entrants in the trade facilitation and revenue mobilisation space following the cessation of the destination inspection companies and called for urgent steps to address the worrying development; and its inherent duplications and hence unnecessary cost to Government. He was confident that what he termed 'unnecessary complication' would eventually be resolved mindful of the consideration that the interest of the country should remain paramount and be protected. Dr. Omaboe assured guests that GCNet was poised for further growth and development in the years ahead as it leverages upon its continuous innovations in deploying systems that bring greater value to the Government and people of Ghana. GNA 19.04.2017 LISTEN By Desmond Davies- London Bureau London, April 19, GNA - The Rwandan government has about 400 requests for the extradition of fugitives accused of taking part in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi that saw one million people killed in three months, the country's High Commissioner in London, Yamina Karitanyi, has said. She added that many of those requests were in Europe and thanked countries such as the US, Canada, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands, which 'have cooperated with our judiciary in extraditing, deporting, or putting perpetrators on trial'. Ms Karitanyi was speaking at a service to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the genocide at St. Marylebone Parish Church in London on Friday. She said it was important for the judiciary to continue the 'fight against the genocide fugitives and ideology'. Ms Karitanyi said those countries that had cooperated with Rwanda recognised that the country was 'equipped to provide justice'. She added: 'The UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which was based in Arusha and is now closed, sent its outstanding cases back to Rwanda, where the judicial and detention systems had fully met international standards for fair trials. 'There are UN monitors in Rwanda to observe proceedings and that should further encourage others to extradite genocide suspects. 'Moreover, the European Court of Human Rights issued a judgment in 2011 that trials in Rwanda were fair and extraditions could go ahead,' she said, adding that since 2007 the death penalty had been abolished in that country. But she expressed disappointment in the long judicial process going on in the UK to extradite five suspected fugitives. She said: 'we have been fighting, for 10 years now, since 2007, over five extradition cases of genocide suspects. 'We are now expecting a decision of the High Court to determine whether these suspects could finally face justice, either in Rwanda or here. For now, and after 10 years, the suspects, a medical doctor, a Pentecostal pastor and three former mayors, remain free, even after the lower court in this country established that they suspects have charges of genocide and crimes against humanity to respond to. 'Yet, they are not even required to attend their extradition hearings,' Ms Karitanyi added. 'There are reports of other genocide suspects moving to the UK from other European countries because they are determined that once in the UK, their eventual extradition, or trial in the UK, will be difficult and even if approved, would prove to be a lengthy process,' the High Commissioner said. 'We now have a situation where genocide perpetrators are able to exploit the judiciary to evade justice. 'To genocide survivors, this is justice denied.' Ms Karitanyi added: 'You may then appreciate, that at times, Rwandans wonder why perpetrators of the genocide against the Tutsi are not treated with the same concern as terrorists. 'Survivors could only wonder why the pursuit for masterminds of genocide, with all the laws and other resources in place, is not given the firmness that it deserves.' The High Commissioner explained that the reason why there was a need to continue to remember the victims was because 'we are faced with the appalling threat of genocide denial'. Ms Karitanyi said: 'You see, in the age of information overload, and abuse of freedom of expression, perpetrators and their allies dare to deny the existence of the crime of genocide, or in the case of Rwanda and because the bodies of the victims are too many to deny, and the stories of the survivors too vivid to be ignored; there continue to be attempts to reduce the genocide against the Tutsi to an undefined act of mass killing. 'The importance, therefore, of the commemoration, is to honour the victims, as well as re-commit to applying two key principles: the responsibility to protect, and fighting genocide ideology and denial. 'We should safeguard historical clarity and not allow those who trivialise genocide or busy attempting to re-write the history of Rwanda to remain unchallenged. 'For the sake of humanity, let us not remain indifferent. 'The price is simply too high, and sends a bad signal to the world,' Ms Karitanyi added. GNA By GNA Reporter Accra, April 19, GNA - The Concern Health Education Project-Ghana has called on government to increase immunisation services in order to prevent children dying needlessly from vaccine preventable diseases and reduce under five mortality. To this end, the non-governmental organisation (NGO) working in the area of health advocacy and community education, has called on government to increase its domestic funding for immunisation, within the context of the growing health budget. A statement signed by Mr Isaac Ampomah, the President of the Concern Health Education Project, and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Wednesday also urged the government's health system to be ready at all times for effective and efficient immunisation responses. It said immunisation, which had a significant impact on under five mortalities in Ghana and around the world, which currently averted an estimated two to three million deaths every year and a further 1.5 million deaths, could be avoided if global vaccination coverage improved. 'Two. Four million Children worldwide currently miss out on essential and basic vaccines, whilst Ghana's immunisation rates were once an impressive 98 per cent in 2014 but have worryingly declined to 89 per cent in 2015 this is a result of many defaulters and miss out children. 'Ghana must see immunisation as a priority to ensure immunisation rates increase, as we wait for new vaccine yet to be added soon,' it said. The statement, therefore, urged government to see civil society as a partner and friend and not as a competitor for donor funding for immunisation, adding that 'Government, CSOs and the donor community must advocate enough logistics, availability of weighing scale, adequate child record booklets and the refrigerated cold chain facilities for all health sectors in Ghana.' According to the statement, government opening up its health systems and integrating child education where immunisation would be seen as a priority with urgent measures taken to share the plan for transition from GAVI support for input from the private sector would help address the problem in the country. It appealed to government to see to the expansion of Men-A vaccinations as the surest way to protect children from meningitis. 'Government and the donor community must see routine immunisation as a service that guarantees a child survival and not as the usual charity,' it added. The statement however noted Concern Health Education Project's support and readiness at all times to work with government to push the immunization agenda forward both locally and internationally. World Immunisation Week is April 24 to April 30 and around the world, governments, NGO's advocates and health professionals celebrate what has been achieved with immunisation, as well as looking for solutions to address the challenge. Immunisation is one of the most cost effective health interventions providing 16 dollars in return for every one dollar invested. It prevents illness, disability and death caused by vaccine-preventable diseases including cervical cancer, diphtheria, hepatitis B, measles, mumps, pertussis (whooping cough), pneumonia, meningitis, polio, rotavirus, rubella and tetanus. GNA Accra, April 19, GNA - Pastor Matthew Kwabena Yeboah, the Madina Zonal Chairman of the Church of Pentecost, has called for effective collaboration between the state and non-state actors to deal with the galamsey menace. He said the fight against illegal mining could only be won if it was considered as a top national security priority. Pastor Yeboah made the call at the end of a three-day Easter Convention of the Church at Ashalley Botwe, near Madina in Accra. He said the church did not exist to meet only the spiritual needs of its members but to also ensure that God's creation was protected from destruction. Pastor Yeboah, who is also the Head of the Ashalley Botwe District of the Church, said galamsey operators were satisfying their personal interests to the detriment of the welfare of the masses. 'Our rivers have been polluted, agriculture lands have been lost and human lives are in danger. We, therefore, support the effort by the media, the Christian Council of Ghana and other civil society organisations to clamp down on the activities of these galamsey operators,'' he said. Pastor Yeboah urged the members of the church and the public to provide useful information on the activities of galamsey operators to the security agencies for prompt action to be taken. Pastor Kofi Okyire Apianing, the Madina District Head of the Church, called on Christians to open a new chapter by refraining from acts that would hinder national development. He said Christians would be doing a disservice to the nation if they did not allow the teaching of Jesus Christ to reflect in their life styles. Pastor Apianing urged religious leaders to educate their members on government's policies and programmes so as to make their implementation a success. GNA 19.04.2017 LISTEN Bolgatanga, April 19, GNA - The forty seventh payment cycle cash grant and the second payment in 2017 to beneficiaries under the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme in the Bolgatanga Municipality has ended. The 292 beneficiaries who were paid through the E-zwich system through the Naara Rural Bank received a total of GH22,000.00. Mrs Mercy Pwadra, the Municipal Director of Social Welfare and Community Development, lauded the timely disbursement of funds saying since the initiation of the LEAP in 2010, it has been very beneficial to them. She said thirty more communities have been targeted in the municipality for 2017 and preliminary assessment on them would be done before approval. The Municipal Director also expressed worry about the delay encountered with the E-zwich payment system and the slow working staff designated to do the payments and called on the banks to improve upon their services. She said internet connectivity in some communities have also been a challenge during pay days and this is compounded by the lack of transport for the staff expected in the communities on pay days. Some of the beneficiaries expressed worry about the system and noted that the payment went faster when the Ghana Postal Services handled the payments and called for the E-zwich payment system to be improved. LEAP is a social cash transfer programme system that provides cash and health insurance to the extremely poor and vulnerable households and the disabled across the country. Its main aim is to alleviate short-term poverty and encourage long-term human capital development. The LEAP was launched as Ghana's flagship programme of the National Social Protection Strategy in 2008 and was funded by the Government of Ghana with support from the World Bank and DFID. It also receives technical support from UNICEF's social protection unit. GNA By Fatima Anafu- Astanga, GNA Accra, April 19, GNA - Mr Dominic Nitiwul, the Minister of Defence, says the Ministry is ready to collaborate with France to improve maritime safety and security in the Gulf of Guinea. According to him, it was also high time Ghana cooperated with neighbouring countries to counter emerging threats like illegal fishing, piracy, other illegal operations, as well as challenges relating to oil and gas exploration in the Gulf of Guinea. A statement issued in Accra by Colonel M'bawine Atintande (rtd), Acting Director Public Affairs, said the Ministry would therefore work with France to address these and other challenges. Mr Nitiwul was speaking at the Square, when he met with the French Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Francois Pujolas, in Accra. He expressed concerned about illegal small-scale mining activities which, he said, was destroying lands and water bodies. He said he had received complaints from Cote d'Ivoire expressing displeasure with Ghana over activities of the illegal small-scale miners. The Ivoirians had complained that water bodies that take their source in the Western Region of Ghana were heavily polluted and threatened the livelihood of their nationals. 'Illegal small-scale mining in Ghana had become an international challenge because some foreigners were involved. The Minister therefore asked France for support to curb the menace,' Mr Nitiwul added. The Defence Minister reiterated the long-standing relations between Ghana and France and expressed gratitude to France for the partnership in military training and support to Ghana in other areas. Mr Francois Pujolas urged the Defence Ministry to work together with Cote d'Ivoire to share information to counter security threats like terrorist attacks. The French Ambassador was accompanied by the Defence AttachA at the French Embassy, Commander Guillaume Roquefeulle, among others. GNA By Morkporkpor Anku, GNA Accra, April 19, GNA - The World Bank's Africa's Pulse says Africa can greatly increase its per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP), if it is able to bridge the huge infrastructure gap in sectors of its economy. The report, which is the 15th Edition of the World Bank's bi-annual analysis of growth in sub-Saharan Africa, said closing the infrastructure gap that still persisted in sub-Saharan Africa held tremendous potential for increased growth. Sub-Saharan Africa, according to the Pulse, still lags behind other developing regions in virtually all dimensions of infrastructure performance, although trends varied across key sectors. The energy sector, road and railroad densities are among the worst performing sectors. Although access to electricity has more than doubled during the period 1990 to 2014, only 35 per cent of the population has access to electricity. Road density also declined during 1990 to 2011. 'By contrast, telecommunications infrastructure has improved dramatically; the number of fixed and mobile phone lines per 1000 people increased from three in 1990 to 736 in 2014, and the number of internet users per 100 people increased from 1.3 in 2005 to 16.7 in 2015.' Albert Zeufack, the World Bank's Chief Economist for Africa, said the gains made in telecommunications infrastructure had been made on the back of technology, high political will and the right kind of regulatory reforms. He said it was important for countries in sub-Saharan Africa to look at how to replicate this success in other sectors. 'If we could replicate this success in other aspects of the infrastructure sector, the impact would be absolutely phenomenal,' he stated, adding that closing the gap in energy and road/railway infrastructure would yield the greatest benefits. Africa's GDP growth will increase by 1.7 per cent per year if it is able to catch up to the median of the rest of the developing world and 2.6 per cent per year, if it was able to close the infrastructure gap relative to the best performers. He explained that closing the gap in electricity generation in Africa alone would put sub-Saharan Africa on its way to catching up with the rest of the developing world. 'We need to continue the reforms of the regulatory framework that would lead to crowding in more private sector because our governments will not be able to finance the needed infrastructural investments on their own budgets; we need to create the right environment for the private sector to invest in our countries,' he stated. Mr Zeufack said African governments needed to enter into more public private partnerships to ensure the Africa catches up with the world. Punam Chunam-Pole, Lead Author of the Africa's Pulse Report, stressed the need for investments into infrastructure, especially public investments, to be efficient, saying efficiency was as important as the investments itself. She said in order to ensure efficiency, it was important to look at the quality of institutional and regulatory frameworks, as well as beef up procurement, selection and implementation capacities. GNA By Belinda Ayamgha/Caroline Pomeyie, GNA Accra, April 19, GNA - A Fisherman, Robert Martey, was on Wednesday put before an Accra Circuit Court with the charge of supplying narcotic drugs without lawful authority. Robert was said to have in his possession 56 wrappers of narcotic drugs, which he was selling without lawful authority to the public. He pleaded not guilty to the charge, but the court presided over by Mr Aboagye Tandoh remanded him, into police custody, to reappear for trial on May 2. The facts of the case as presented by Chief Superintendent of Police Duuti Tuaruka are that, the accused person is a Fisherman living at Teshie. He said on April 6, at about 20:30 hours, the police had information that Robert was dealing in Indian hemp at Teshie. The police proceeded to the scene at Teshie town, where the accused person was arrested. A search conducted on him revealed 56 wrappers of dried leaves suspected to be narcotic drugs. Chief Superintendent Tuaruka told the court that, during interrogation, the accused person claimed ownership of the exhibits. He said they were sealed in the presence of the accused person and an independent witness and later forwarded to the police crime laboratory for analytical examination and report. GNA By Hafsa Obeng, GNA 19.04.2017 LISTEN Accra, April 19, GNA - The Abeka District Court has invited an Ophthalmologist of the Achimota Government Hospital to explain a report on Evelyn Boakye, the victim in the Marwako assault case. At Wednesday's sitting, the court presided over by Mrs Victoria A. Ghansah, said the court was unable to understand the language and see the hand writing of the report on the victim by the Ophthalmologist Dr Matilda M Addah. Led in evidence by Chief Inspector H.A. Hanson, the Prosecutor, Dr Addah told the court that the victim, Ms Boakye was one of the patients who reported at the Achimota Government Hospital on February 28, this year. According to the medical doctor, the victim reported at the medical facility with a medical form issued by the Police. The witness after identifying two medical reports, said the victim suffered a traumatic Conjunctivitis and she was given some medication and asked to come within two weeks or when the need be. She explained that traumatic conjunctivitis meant inflammatory of the white part of the eyes due to a traumatic condition. According to her further examination of the victim indicated that she was worried and anxious and there was pressure on both eyes. The witness said the examination also showed that the victim's eyes were dry and she reacted to lights. Answering questions under cross examination by Mr Julios De Mederios, the witness said it was not all the time that pepper in the eyes of a person caused conjunctivitis. She admitted that diagnosis depended on history of the patient and the victim informed her that pepper was splashed in her face. The witness said she was not surprised that the victim reported to the hospital two days after the incident. According to the witness it was not true that the victim reported of eye problem after using an eye drop prescribed by her. Meanwhile, defence counsel informed the court that they had received the court proceedings while in court on Wednesday hence they had not open it to make their submission of no case. He, therefore, prayed the court an adjournment to enable him read and made his submission of no case. Defence counsel said he was confident that after the submission of no case, the court would acquit and discharge Jihad Chaaban, the accused person. The court ordered the defence to file the submission of no case on the prosecution so that he could furnish same to the Attorney General's office to respond. Hearing continues on April 26. Chaaban aged 26, is before the Court for allegedly dipping the face of Ms Evelyn Boakye into a blender full of blended pepper at the Abelenkpe branch of Marwako Restaurant. He has been charged with offensive conduct by calling the victim a prostitute, intentionally and unlawfully causing harm and assault. Chaaban has pleaded not guilty to the charges and he is on bail. The Marwako Restaurant Supervisor was on February 28, this year, alleged to have assaulted the alleged victim Ms Evelyn Boakye for fidgeting with a blender and working slowly. Chaaban, a brother-in-law of the owner of Marwako Restaurant at the Abelenkpe branch allegedly grabbed the neck of the victim angrily and dipped her face into a blender of blended pepper. GNA Goaso(B/A), April 19, GNA - President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has reiterated his government's commitment to make agriculture the pivot of Ghana's economic and social development. He noted that if Ghana was to make any meaningful change in the lives of the people, her efforts should be directed at agriculture, as the majority of people could only feel a change in their lives when agriculture was developed. Speaking at the launch of government's flagship agricultural programme 'Planting for Food and Jobs', on Wednesday at Goaso in Brong Ahafo Region, President Akufo noted that with Ghana's agriculture predominantly hinged on the production of cocoa, the country has not made much progress in the cultivation of staples, like rice, maize and soya, urging, therefore, for a fundamental change in attitudes towards agriculture. 'Agriculture is not and cannot be a single-crop industry. Farming is a business and it is a profession that must be promoted and studied like all other professions. Ghana has the unique potential to feed its growing population, meet the raw material requirements of our processing industries, achieve food security, and compete successfully as a leading supplier to countries around us and beyond,' he said. The revolutionary flagship 'Planting for Food and Jobs' programme is aimed at transforming Ghana's agricultural sector. The programme is expected to address the twin-problem of the migration of youth to city centres in search of non-existent jobs, as well as an end to the disturbing spectacle of Ghana importing food stuffs from neighbouring countries. President Akufo-Addo explained that the Programme would be anchored on the pillars that would transform Ghanaian agriculture: the provision of improved seeds, the supply of fertilizers, the provision of dedicated extension services, and marketing strategy and the use of e-Agriculture. 'The Planting for Food and Jobs programme is expected to increase the production of maize by 30 per cent, rice by 49 per cent, soyabean by 25 per cent, and sorghum by 28 per cent from current production levels. This programme will create 750,000 jobs in both direct and indirect employment,' he added. The vision of his government, he stressed, would be to modernise agriculture, improve production efficiency, achieve food security, and profitability for farmers, all aimed at significantly increasing agricultural productivity. Additionally, a value-addition strategy, aimed at rapidly ramping up agro-processing and developing new and stable markets for products would be pursued. 'Our policies and interventions would encompass the full agricultural value chain and create additional businesses and job opportunities in the areas of storage, transport, processing, packaging and marketing of agricultural produce, all of which would ensure that our farmers and fisher folk earn higher incomes,' he added. GNA Champion Iron Ltd [ASX:CIA] dropped as much as 10.4%, to a low a 90 cents, this morning. But the stocks drop hasnt affected investors who got in at the start of 2017 significantly. Year-to-date, CIA is still up 80%. What happened to Champions share price? The price of iron ore slid again last night. According to the Australian Financial Review: The spot price of iron ore now has fallen one-third from its February peak, as the slide into a bear market turns into an accelerating rout. This is whats causing CIAs share price to fall. As an iron ore miner, CIAs profits are tied to the price of iron ore. If the spot price trends down, the anticipation is that profit will be hurt in the immediate future. AFR again: Sellers are keen to sell and buyers, anticipating further price drops, are reluctant to buy, contributing in part to the volatility. Steel mills in China are still in the midst of tapping their substantial iron ore stockpiles, which means they are unlikely to rush to buy any seaborne cargoes, market sources told Metal Bulletin. Of course, the opposite can happen. If the iron ore price spikes, then its likely CIAs share price will too. What now for the iron ore price? If you believe the iron ore price will appreciate in the long term, finding the best iron ore miner you can and sticking with it might be the best course of action. What Im saying might sound simple. But, too many times, investors get scared by a sudden drop in share price and choose to sell out for a loss. If youre going to invest in the resource sector for the long-term, then you shouldnt let daily, monthly or even yearly slumps discourage you. If youve done your homework and you bought into a stock for less than its worth, hold on. There is nothing more depressing than selling out for a loss to see that your prediction, in the end, turned out to be right. Regards, Harje Ronngard, Junior Analyst, Money Morning PS: Resources are back in business after their revival in 2016. The six month-long flurry of investment in the resource sector has sparked a string of fast, three-digit gains on some mining stocks. Saracen Mineral Holdings is up 163.1%; Whitehaven Coal has soared 152.9%; Mineral Resources is 138.2% higher; Fortescue Metals Group gained 116.6%; and St Barbara Ltd is up 114%. According to resources analyst Jason Stevenson, this is only the start. In a new Money Morning report, The Top 10 Australian Mining Stocks for 2017, Jason introduces you to 10 cheap, top-quality Aussie mining stocks that look set to soar as this years commodities comeback pushes ahead. To get your free copy of Jasons report, click here. [ampBannerMM] We hear a lot about the free market, especially from those on the right side of politics. Shrink the government, reduce rules and regulations, and just let the market set prices. So how does the market set prices? What sets the price of a new laptop or television? Well there are the production costs. The cost of the components and the labour to produce it. Then the business needs to set a margin above the production costs, for the business to sell at a profit. But the business cant just pick any high margin to sell at, because there are other makers of laptops and televisions. Theyre subject to the laws of competition. This is why laptops just keep getting better and cheaper. Theyre subject to the laws of competition. Thats the free market, the so called invisible hand at work. Now to housing but before we get started, we need to recognise, there are two components to housing. Its important to understand this. Theres the improved value, basically the value of the house itself, and theres the unimproved value, basically the value of the land on which the house sits. Some people suggest you cant separate the two values, or that its a difficult process to do so. Well, I get a rates bill every year, and the two values are separated on my rates bill. My local council can seemingly to do the impossible. Insurance companies can do it. For example, should your house burn down, the insurance company will replace the house value only. The fact is you can easily separate the values. Its done all the time. Two Components of the Housing Market If you can think of housing as having two components, it becomes easier to get an understanding of housing issues. Land around all the infrastructure and services we enjoy is fixed in supply. Its not subject to the laws of competition, like the laptop. Therefore it just gets bid up to whatever the economy can afford. If the economy is booming and unemployment low, house prices get bid up to the red line. And unlike the laptop example, land has no production value. It only has an exchange value. So while the free market may operate in the land market, it works a little differently. Land around the services we all enjoy will always sell at the red line. Housing has never has been affordable. So building cheaper houses wont make housing cheaper; it will only mean people can then afford to pay a little more for the land component. When you look at housing from this perspective, youll see nearly all the government schemes designed to make housing more affordable will actually send house prices higher. Its not the house itself that rises in price. A house is a money drain; it requires constant money to upkeep. But its the land underneath that keeps rising in price. But what can government do to lower land price? Well you could look to our founding fathers of Federation. In 1901 they somehow found a way. You see, they had a problem. They were to build a new capital city, somewhere between Melbourne and Sydney. And the problem was this. What would be the first thing that would happen once the location of the new capital city became known? They realised the first thing people (especially insiders) would do, is buy up all the land in and around the location of our new capital city. The sheep paddocks could be bought for a song, and insiders could sit back and watch it rise in value over time. So our founding fathers of federation found a way to take the speculative component out of land price. And the bonus was that the funds raised by doing that would help fund the building of the new capital. But their vision of 1901 never really came to fruition. Over time the vision was lost and badly implemented. Parliament House itself didnt open until 1927. The span of time saw their original vision lost. But the clues are there for anyone who wants to follow it through. While land has a price, we must get the boom and bust of a real estate cycle. It really is that simple. This cycle simply repeats in a set time frame and the sequence. It allows you to see the big picture of what is coming next for the economy. Its profitable knowledge to have. At Cycles, Trends and Forecasts we condensed that knowledge into our real estate clock. You can see that clock and find out where the economy is headed next by going here. Regards, Terence Duffy, Lead Researcher, Cycles, Trends & Forecasts From the Port Phillip Publishing Library Special Report: Gigastocks The mainstream press is just starting to clock this phenomenon. But most of the resource-sector wonks havent grasped the FULL potential of whats unfolding. Specifically, they dont get the grand scale and potential of a development that occurred on 4 January, 2017. And what it could mean for three specific Australian stocks currently trading in obscurity[More] Drugs found in bedroom of vacant apartment View Photos Tuolumne City, CA A suspect wanted on drug charges and trespassing climbed out a window of an apartment as deputies entered through the front door and then found drugs inside. Maintenance staff at a Tuolumne City apartment complex last week recognized 23-year-old Kyle Birdsong inside a vacant apartment and called the Tuolumne County Sheriffs Department. Birdsong was already wanted for felony drug charges related to manufacturing. When deputies arrived on the scene, they repeatedly ordered that anyone inside the apartment should exit immediately. When no one came out staff gave deputies a key to enter the apartment. Once inside deputies were approached by a woman and began questioning her. That is when witnesses saw Birdsong crawl out a bedroom window. Deputies combed the area but could not find him and he remains on the loose. A search of the bedroom uncovered more than an ounce of methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia, heroin and a digital scale. Anyone with information regarding Birdsong or his whereabouts is asked to contact the call sheriffs office at 209-533-5815. Sacramento, CA A state proposal to make California the third state to vote in the 2020 presidential race was approved by the Senate Committee on Elections and Constitutional Amendments. In its first committee test, Senate Bill 568 received bi-partisan support and was approved 5-0. It would eventually need to gain support of the Senate and Assembly, and Governor Jerry Brown. It would move Californias primary to the third Tuesday in March, trailing only Iowa and New Hampshire on the presidential election calendar. The bills author, Senator Ricardo Lara, says, California is first in the nation when it comes to our economy, our population and our innovations, but were dead last in the presidential primary calendar. Its time for Californians to have a louder voice about who is going to lead our country. The bill also calls for moving up primary elections for statewide office and legislative races to the third Tuesday in March, in hopes of eliminating potential confusion, and extra costs, of holding two separate elections. Recently, presidential primaries have been included as part of Californias June primary election. Congressman Tom McClintock View Photos Washington, DC The recent US attack on Syria drew the ire of Mother Lode Republican Congressman Tom McClintock. President Donald Trump approved the cruise missile strike at a Syrian Air Base on April 6 in response to the Syrian governments use of chemical weapons. McClintock recently issued a statement in response, saying, The Syrian governments use of chemical weapons is an atrocity and a war crime, but it is not a national emergency created by an attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces as provided in the War Powers Resolution. No matter how strongly we may feel about the actions of the Syrian government, the President had no legal or constitutional authority to order this attack without the consent of Congress. This action crosses a bright line that separates the fundamental powers of our government and risks a constitutional crisis if continued. McClintock has also been critical of many other U.S. military actions over the past couple of decades in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sonora Opera Hall View Photos Sonora, CA The California Nurses Association is sponsoring a pair of town hall meetings that will be held Thursday at the Sonora Opera Hall. Similar type events are being held up and down the state, and the purpose is to give an overview of recently introduced Senate Bill 562, authored by Democratic Senators Ricardo Lara and Toni Atkins. The bill essentially calls for a single payer, universal healthcare, system in California. The town hall events will have speakers that are favorable of SB 562. At 12:30pm the featured speaker will be former Democratic Congressional candidate, and Tuolumne County resident, Dr. Bob Derlet. At 6:30pm the speaker will be Dr. Hope Ewing, also of Tuolumne County. A presenter during both sessions will be Pilar Schiavo, a Tuolumne County native who has worked with CNA for many years. Supporters indicate that the town halls are being conducted in advance of a rally scheduled for the state capitol on April 26 focused on the legislation. Fans would like to know who Toyin Aimakhus husband is. People are wondering what he does and how they met. You can learn everything about the story of Toyin Aimakhu and her husbands love here. Read on! Toyin Aimakhu is very popular, so people always want to peek into her life and see her personal issues. However, the star seems to keep it all very personal. We tried to find the information about Toyin Aimakhus husband so that you can understand what is going on with these two love birds. So, if you want to learn more, keep reading, you are about to hear some great piece of information. Toyin Aimakhu and husband This couple met a couple of years ago. They fell in love and got married in 2013. They were the best buddies for a while before they got married and they even worked in the same industry, so these two factors made them very close. As a result, they got married not too long after becoming friends. Her husbands name is Niyi Johnson. The wedding took place at the Oriental Hotel, and it was only a small ceremony since the couple had no money at the time for a big fancy wedding. They seemed absolutely happy. In an interview with the popular magazine, Toyin Aimakhu and her husband confessed that they had intimacy before marriage. They regretted it but said that they could not help it. Hmm, intimacy before marriage. I am guilty of it as well. It is not a good thing but what can we do. May God help us Christians and forgive us. It is not easy; the temptation is too much. In my own case, when I had with my husband before we got married, I really felt bad about it and asked for forgiveness and for like four months, we abstained from it till after our wedding. It wasnt easy, but we made sure we there was some distance". However, she was not pregnant when she got married, and it was not the reason this couple had decided to make their relationships legal and official despite what many people said at that time. The thing was that Toyin Aimakhu was not too slim from nature, so when people looked at her round belly, they had that question immediately. READ ALSO: Toyin Aimakhu opens up on split with Adeniyi Johnson However, she debunked those rumors after they got married. In another interview, she said that she was not pregnant and did not expect a child as she was getting married. This was quite a relief for many, but still, not everyone believed her. Meanwhile, Toyin Aimakhu also mentioned that marriage life changed her a lot, especially in issue which concerned her style and clothes. Thus, for instance, she said: Dressing, I cant wear those skimpy outfits anymore. Moreover, the way I talk to people has changed too. I can no longer make decisions on my own, and I cant use my blackberry anymore, thats the most painful one. My husband doesnt like me using It because it distracts me and I have to obey him cos is my small god. They seemed to be happy, but then the rumors about them splitting up appeared. It was a real torture for the family. They had to state that they love each other and still care enough. The second wedding anniversary of Toyin Aimakhu and her husband During the second year of their marriage life, they had hard times because of all the rumors. So, to reassure each other of their love, Toyin Aimakhu and her husband decided to make official posts on their social network profiles. They posted beautiful pictures and added romantic comments to them. Here is a comment by Toyin Aimakhu: It has been two spectacular years with my Rib, and I bless the Lord everyday for sending me such a good, patient, loving and good hearted man. Marriage is a lot of work and commitment, it isnt easy but you are doing your best to continue to make it work, and I pray that the good Lord give us the grace to celebrate many more years together. I love you, my husband, and God knew exactly what He was doing when He sent you to me and may God continue to give you all that makes a man a real man. Thanks to you all for your support, love, and prayers during the good times and the time of challenges. God bless us. Happy Wedding Anniversary Okomi". The answer to this was as follows: Seconds turns to minutes, minutes to hours, hours to days, days to weeks, weeks to months and months to year and year turning to yearsYour love, your uniqueness, your strength, and weaknesses make me love u as the day unfolds. You became not just a friend bust my best friend not just a wife but my mum, not just my woman but my eternal companion. God bless the day I met u.. through the thick and rough, through the rain and shine u stood and still standing (melo melo in @olamide_ybnl voice) even (when they fire catapult of envy in@reekadobanks voice)... Gods love and grace prevailed.. Thank you for bringing the sunshine to my world I love you now and forever pls help me celebrate my WIFE!!!!! @aimakhutoyin All Glory to GOD". That seemed like a real fairytale and true love that comes true. But something happened later. Is Toyin Aimakhu still married? Unfortunately, she is not married. She and her husband got divorced. Her name is still wildly discussed, and new men allegedly want to be with her. One particular man, Seun Egbegbe, was even said to be dating her. But after she found out about it, she made an official statement. Here are her exact words: I dont know where this story of me getting married to Seun Egbegbe is coming from. I think someone is behind all these. And I feel all these bloggers should always try to confirm their stories before publishing. First, it was the story of me getting a thorough beating from Seun, and now they said I am planning to marry him. I have said it times without number that Im not dating Seun and I have never been beaten to a pulp by any man. Seun is my friend. You can only marry someone you are dating. And I dont think I have time for any relationship now. Besides, the celebrity does not want to get married ever again. She has been hurt by her previous failed marriage and now she wants only to forget about it. So, if you expect the wedding bells on her street any time soon, forget about it. Here is what Toyin Aimakhu said about getting married in the future. I dont think I would want to get married again. I have tried it, and it didnt work. I just want to focus on my career for now. I have loads of project that I am working on, and thats basically what is giving me joy. I am setting up a movie academy in Ibadan, and I have gotten a place that I would use for the school. To sum it up, the story of Toyin Aimakhu and her husband began as a real love story but turned out to be a disaster. We hope to see her happy again, but for now, this is all you need to know about Toyin Aimakhu and her family life. READ ALSO: Will Toyin Aimakhu, Hubby Divorce After Seeing These Photos? Source: Legit.ng - Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the IPOB has been named as the leader of the Eastern Consultative Assembly (ECA) - In his acceptance of the office, Kanu says the Biafra people have endured so much and the time has come for them to leave - The IPOB says the false census figures which gives the north superior majority over the south is one of the major reasons for Biafra agitations Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has described what he called the continued treatment of easterners like slaves by the Federal Government as horrendous injustice. Kanu in his latest statement, stressed that the igbos have since gotten to a point where they can no longer tolerate the position of eternal slavery, in Nigeria. Kanu made this known in a letter of commendation to the Eastern Consultative Assembly, ECA, for appointing him leader of the Assembly in Enugu Tuesday. The ECA had announced a new leadership structure with detained the IPOB leader as its head. Kanu in his letter written from Kuje Prisons accepted to play the new role and pledged not to let the people down. However, the ECA also named Mrs Marie Okwo as its deputy leader and matron while Evangelist Elliot Ugochukwu- Uko was made the secretary. Rev Fr John Odey was named the publicity secretary while Dede Uzor A Uzor assistant publicity secretary, just as the former vice president, Dr Alex Ekwueme, erudite Professor Ben Nwabueze, SAN, and the Catholic Archbishop of Owerri, Dr Anthony Obinna became the patrons. Kanus letter of acceptance/appreciation read: With the greatest humility, I accept this clear demonstration of confidence you have reposed in me and wish to thank the entire membership and leadership of ECA for their doggedness in building a wonderful coalition dedicated to the defence of truth at a time when most are too terrified to stand up and be counted. I am honoured by this election; I hope all the affiliate groups in this coalition will soon join hands with us in our peaceful and non -violent pursuit of a referendum that will allow the people decide their future. READ ALSO: Release Kanu to us and we will advise him on the Biafra agitation - Igbo elders Embattled leader of the IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, says it is time for the Igbos to come out of the house of bondage The horrendous injustice visited on us daily by our oppressors have since gotten to a point where we can no longer tolerate the position of eternal slavery, which they carefully crafted for us and have ruthlessly executed over the years. Our children today and generations to come do not have a future. Our youths are despondent, our once truthful and outspoken elders frightened and silenced, our politicians compromised, our leaders bought over. Our present status as race and a people is one of utter hopelessness and s*rvitude. Our only hope for the future lies in a peaceful plebiscite that will settle once and for all time the burning issues that confront us today. I commend the ECA and strongly believe that I will not let you down. Once again, I say thank you for this great honour. However, in a communique issued after the meeting, the ECA stated that false and bogus census figures which gives the north superior majority over the south was one of the major reasons for agitations for the re-validation of the Biafran republic. The communique which was jointly signed by Mrs Marie Okwo and Rev Fr John Odey attacked two northern leaders, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai and Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu over their recent comments on restructuring and Biafran agitation. The communique read in part, The 6th plenary session of the ECA held today at the residence of Chief (Mrs.) Maria Okwor in Independence Layout Enugu." In an earlier report by Legit.ng, a new pro-Biafra group, the Biafra Nations Youth League (BNYL), has joined the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), in its struggle for a sovereign state. BNYL, according to its leader, Prince Robinson C. Obuka is a community-based organization of youths with headquarters in Bakassi Peninsula. It was reportedly established on August 3, 2013 in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, following agreements by members and founders to uphold the unity of the various ethnic nations in the Bight of Biafra. The group said it supported all the actions taken so far by IPOB on the continued detention of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu. In a similar vein, world acclaimed Nigerian novelist, nonfiction writer and short story writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is to lead team of scholars to Washington where a discuss boardering over Biafra will take central stage. The writer whose words on the the issues surrounding feminism has a global attention, would be the keynote speaker at a conference tagged: " Remembering Biafra", scheduled to hold at the The George Washington University in DC. George Washington University's Remembering Biafra conference will bring together scholars, activists, and humanitarians to examine the global impact of the Nigeria-Biafra War of 1967-70. Speakers will be analyzing the war in terms of its impact on US-Africa relations, its influence on the modern politics of humanitarianism, and the legacies of decolonization. Source: Legit.ng Nigeria does not recommend travelling to the United States after some citizens who applied for American visa in Nigeria was cancelled and denied entry. In one case, a doctor was denied entry to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport Atlanta. According to Abike Dabiri-Eriv, senior special assistant to the President of Nigeria for foreign affairs and the diaspora, a doctor who was supposed to be present at the wedding was injured. She said: 'Four Nigerians have been sent back within the past two weeks, so we advise those who need to travel without an urgent need to consider revising their trip until there is clarity about the new immigration policy'. READ ALSO: anada visa lottery 2017/2018 in Nigeria - Is it a scam? Dabiri-Ereva added that 'there were no reasons for the decision of the US immigration authorities'. 'Then there was the case with an engineer who was asked to prove that he was an IT expert,' said Dabiri-Ereva, citing software engineer Celestine Omin, 28, who was detained at the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. He was on a working trip from Lagos to his employer. According to Andela, Omin was told that he doe not look an engineer and he needs to pass a test to prove it. Then he was asked to answer two difficult questions in the field of computer science. Omin was later released three hours after the call of the US Customs, the border guard and his employer. 'This is advice that we feel we should publish,' said Dabiri-Ereva. 'We must inform people about what is happening'. Nigeria is not on the list of countries that are banned from entering the United States in accordance with the decree of President Donald Trump, who exempts immigration from certain countries. Trump signed a new order on Monday, banning immigration from six countries with a Muslim majority, resulting in Iraq losing its previous order in January. The new travel ban comes six weeks after Trump's initial order caused chaos at airports across the country before federal courts blocked it. READ ALSO: Apply for US visa in Nigeria Source: Legit.ng - The minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed, says Nigeria is too beautiful and great to disintegrate - Mohammed urges Nigerians to work for the greatness of the country - Meanwhile, the south east forum promise to convince Nnamdi Kanu to drop the Biafra agitation if he is released from prison The minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed, has called on Nigerians to shun the prediction that Nigeria will break. READ ALSO: Names of Nigerians who stay at Osborne Towers emerge Mohammed made the call on Tuesday, April 18, when he spoke as the chairman at Lagos State University, Ojo maiden discovery lecture, tagged: Can Nigeria survive another century as a corporate entity, delivered by Chief Joseph B. Oke, The minister who was represented by the director research and innovations, national universities commission, (NUC) by Dr Rahman Yusuf, said that the country is too beautiful and great to disintegrate. Lai Mohommed has said Nigeria is too beautiful to disintegrate. Everyone has a role to play in the unity of the country. As people predictions that Nigeria will disintegrate did not come to pass. We all have endeavour that Nigeria despite being a developing nation attains greatness, the minister said. Meanwhile, the south east forum has asked the federal government to release the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Director of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu to it for the elders to talk to him, and advise over the brewing agitation. According to its convener, Dr Dozie Ikedife who made the disclosure to newsmen in Nnewi, Anambra state, this was one of the issues the forum discussed in its meeting in Enugu a couple of days ago. READ ALSO: GOOD NEWS: President Buhari finally moves Nigeria out of recession, as economy grows stronger Ikedife said the elders resolved that if the Federal Government could release Nnamdi Kanu and others held under the same circumstance to them, they would take up the responsibility to talk to Biafra agitators and advise them as elders. He insisted that the elders saw it as justice denied to continue to hold Kanu and others in detention without either releasing them or giving them speedy trial. He said there was nothing wrong for somebody to ask for his rights.' In this video below, Jake Epelle, the founder of the Albino Foundation, speaks to Legit.ng about the hardships experienced by albinos living in Africa. Source: Legit.ng The Nigerian national ID card, most recently known as the National Electronic Identity Card (e-ID card), is a multi-function chip-based card issued to individuals with NIN. The NIN (National Identification Number) is issued by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC). Once someone has registered for the e-ID, there is a simple way to check whether it is ready for collection and activation. An infographic on how to check one's e-ID status. Photo: canva.com (modified by author) Source: UGC A few years ago, checking one's ID status was quite hectic. Most recently, though, the NIMC has streamlined the process, making it easy for applicants to figure out whether their e-IDs are ready. How to check if your National ID card is ready Here are the steps to take after registering for your e-ID. A man using a computer. Photo: pexels.com, @Ketut Subiyanto Source: UGC PAY ATTENTION: Subscribe to Digital Talk newsletter to receive must-know business stories and succeed BIG! Have you been trying to figure out how to check the national ID card status online? Follow these steps to check the status of your e-ID application. Open your browser on your computer or smartphone. Visit the National Identity Management Commission [NIMC] website. Scroll down to the issuance page. Check your card's status on the link near the bottom of the page. Fill in your credentials, including the first and last names and NIMC check trading ID. Click on the 'Check Now' icon. You will be presented with information regarding your e-ID status. If it's ready, you can visit an activation centre to collect your ID. How can I get my national ID card in Nigeria? One of the most common queries among NIN holders of legal age is 'how to get my national ID card.' There are two distinct ways one can get their Nigerian e-ID. Method 1: Physical collection You can visit your ERC centre and collect your ID in person. To do so, you will need the Batch ID Number sent via SMS and a 4-digit PIN. Process of card collection and activation Here is what to do and expect when collecting your e-ID from a collection centre. Visit the NIMC ID collection centre and present the text message or email printouts received from NIMC with the batch ID. The Operations Support Officer will then use the batch ID extracted from your SMS to sort out your e-ID. After sorting the document, the Activation Officer will give you the e-ID card to confirm your names and address on the envelope. You are then advised to open the envelope, take out the e-ID, and verify the names, date of birth and image on the face of the e-ID card before activation is done. If you are satisfied with the information on the e-ID, the Activation Officer will collect it from you for a Match-on-Card (MOC) verification. After the verification, the Activation Officer will activate five of the 13 applets on the card. The National e-ID will be given back to you after activating. Method 2: Using the NIMC Mobile ID app A woman using a smartphone. Photo: pexels.com, @Ketut Subiyanto Source: UGC How can I get my NIN card online? Here is how to get a national ID card in Nigeria without having to collect it physically. The National Identity Management Commission made it super easy for one to get their e-ID online. This happens through the IMC Mobile ID app, an innovative mobile services platform available to Android and iOS users. How to get your e-ID on the app The government's launch of the NIMC app made it quite convenient to get one's virtual e-ID. Getting your virtual ID is extremely simple once you have installed the app and keyed in your details. Click on the 'Show My ID' button to display your virtual card and verification QR code on the app. Then, you can tap on the photo of the e-ID to flip it so you can see the back. Click on either the 'Full ID' or 'Basic ID' buttons on the bottom of the virtual e-ID on the app to control how much of your details are displayed. Clicking on the 'Refresh' button in the 'Show My ID' section of the NIMC app will update your information by connecting securely to the NIMC database. What is the National Identification Number (NIN)? The National Identification Number (NIN) is an 11-digit number assignable to all Nigerian citizens and legal residents. What is the NIN used for? The NIN is used to consolidate all records about an individual into the National Identity Database and is also used as a valid means of establishing or verifying one's individual identity. How much does a Nigerian national ID card cost? The National e-ID Card is free for the first issue. After that, future replacements and renewals will attract a fee. How and where will I pick up my National e-ID Card? You can pick up your card at the ERC in which you enrolled. You will receive a text message with the collection details on your phone. Is a national ID card the same as NIN? No, the national ID card is not the same as the NIN. The National Identification Number is assignable to all Nigerian citizens and legal residents without age restrictions. The National e-ID Card can only be issued to NIN holders aged 16 and above and who have been registered into the country's National Identity System. The NIN is an 11-digit number, while the e-ID card is a physical token that can be presented upon request. Can I print another NIN slip if I lose mine? A conventional printer. Photo: pexels.com, @Anete Lusina Source: UGC You will have to pay 500 through the Remita platform available at any bank near you. Provide the payment slip to a NIMC enrolment centre and request to have a NIN slip printed. What are the functions of the e-ID card? The card has 13 applets, 5 of which come pre-activated during collection. Here are the main functions of the e-ID. Electronic Identity Information (e-ID) EMV Payment Security: Electronic Public Key Infrastructure (ePKI) Travel: International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Verification: Match-on-Card Nigeria's national ID card is one of the primary modes of identification for the county's citizens and legal residents aged above 16. Unlike years ago, the process of registering, collecting, and activating the e-ID card has become remarkably streamlined. DISCLAIMER: This article is intended for general informational purposes only and does not address individual circumstances. It is not a substitute for professional advice or help and should not be relied on to make decisions of any kind. Any action you take upon the information presented in this article is strictly at your own risk and responsibility! READ ALSO: WASSCE 2021 results are out now: How and where to check them Legit.ng recently published a guide on checking one's WASSCE 2021 results. The West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) is a type of standardized test in West Africa. Students who pass the exam receive a certificate confirming their graduation from secondary education. If you sat for your WASSCE in 2021, there are numerous methods you can use to check your results. Follow this guide to learn more. Source: Legit.ng - The controversial Osborne apartment is located on 16 Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos state - The apartment became controversial after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) discovered $43.4m, 27,800 and N23.2m in it - The owner of the money and the apartment is yet to be identified by the anti-graft agency On Wednesday, April 12, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) discovered $43.4 million, 27,800 and N23.2 million from a luxurious apartment on 16 Osborne Road, Ikoyi in Lagos state. READ ALSO: Pastor burns THOUSANDS of Bibles, you won't believe his reasons (photos) The EFCC's discovery followed a whistle-blower operation which led operatives of the anti-graft agency to the building. While the owner of the money and the building were the money was discovered is yet to be identified by the commission, Legit.ng has outlined the details of the luxurious apartment. The controversial Osborne apartment is located on 16 Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos state READ ALSO: SEE names of 11 Nigerians who stay at Osborne Towers Ikoyi where $43.4million was found by EFCC Also, what many Nigerians do not know is that, the controversial 'Osborne' apartment won the 2011 International Residential Award for the best residential property interior in Africa. The apartment became controversial after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) discovered $43.4m, 27,800 and N23.2m in it According to its website, below are 11 luxuries and special features you can find in the apartment: 1. The Osborne Towers which was built by Cappa D'Alberto comprises of four-bedroom, luxurious all en-suite apartments 2. Motion sensor in all the rooms 3. Two swimming pools 4. A health and fitness centre The owner of the money and the apartment is yet to be identified by the anti-graft agency 5. Sauna and massage pavilion READ ALSO: BREAKING! Chairman Chanchangi Airlines is dead 6. Squash court and club house 7. 3800 KVA caterpillar generators 8. A dedicated transformer 9. Video door entry telephone 10. Closed Circuit Television 11. 24-hour security Watch Legit.ng's video of Nigerian man asking the government if they want him to steal below: Source: Legit.ng - President Muhammadu Buhari has suspended the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Babachir David Lawal and Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ayodele Oke - President Buhari has also ordered an investigation into the allegations of violations of law and due process made against the secretary to the government of the federation - The president has ordered a full scale investigation into the discovery of large amounts of foreign and local currencies by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has claimed President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, April 19, suspended the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Babachir David Lawal and Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ayodele Oke. This was made known in a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina. Legit.ng gathered that the Senate recently found Lawal guilty of complicity in the finances meant for the welfare of the Internally Displaced persons, IDPs in the north east and called on the president to remove him. Lawal was indicted by the Senate report for allegedly contravening the provisions of the public procurement act and the federal governments financial rules and regulations pertaining to award of contracts. READ ALSO: Names of Nigerians who stay at Osborne Towers emerge Read the full statement below: President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered an investigation into the allegations of violations of law and due process made against the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr David Babachir Lawal, in the award of contracts under the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE). President Buhari has finally caved in to pressure from the Senate to suspend the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Babachir Lawal. The President has also directed the suspension of the SGF from office pending the outcome of the investigations. In a related development, the President has ordered a full scale investigation into the discovery of large amounts of foreign and local currencies by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in a residential apartment at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos, over which the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has made a claim. The investigation is also to enquire into the circumstances in which the NIA came into possession of the funds, how and by whose or which authority the funds were made available to the NIA, and to establish whether or not there has been a breach of the law or security procedure in obtaining custody and use of the funds. The President has also directed the suspension of the Director General of the NIA, Ambassador Ayo Oke, pending the outcome of the investigation. A three-man Committee comprising the Hon. Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, and the National Security Adviser, headed by the Vice President, is to conduct both investigations. The Committee is to submit its report to the President within 14 days. The most senior Permanent Secretary in the SGF's office, and the most senior officer in the NIA, are to act, respectively, during the period of investigation." READ ALSO: This is how to check if your National ID card ready for pick up Meanwhile, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo is currently meeting the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation in his office at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, The Punch reports. Lawal was in Osinbajos office as of the time the presidency announced his suspension. Read the reactions of Nigerians below: In the Legit.ng video below, the deputy national publicity secretary of the APC, Timi Frank, warns that his party could lose the 2019 election. Watch: Source: Legit.ng - Ayodele Oke, the suspended Director-General of National Intelligence Agency (NIA), wept as he was denied audience with Vice president Yemi Osinbajo - He was barred from the Presidential Villa, Abuja shortly after his suspension - President Buhari had ordered a full scale investigation into the discovery of large amounts of foreign and local currencies by the EFCC which the NIA has claimed Ambassador Ayodele Oke, the suspended Director-General of National Intelligence Agency (NIA), wept as he made frantic efforts to enter the Presidential Villa, Abuja, The Punch reports. The NIA boss made attempts to seek an audience with Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo shortly after his suspension was announced but was turned back. In the process, of avoiding journalists, Oke was driven towards the Service Chiefs Gate from where he was turned back. He has since left the premises. READ ALSO: Babachir rushes to Osinbajo, denies knowledge of suspension by President Buhari Suspended Nigeria Intelligent Agency (NIA) boss Ayo Oke arriving the State House for a meeting with the Vice president Photo credit: Abayomi Adeshida According to an earlier report by Legit.ng, President Buhari suspended Oke and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir David Lawal. The president ordered a full scale investigation into the discovery of large amounts of foreign and local currencies by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in a residential apartment at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos, over which the NIA has made a claim. Ayodele Oke, the suspended Director-General of National Intelligence Agency (NIA), wept as he was denied audience with Vice president Yemi Osinbajo Photo credit: Abayomi Adeshida The investigation is also to enquire into the circumstances in which the NIA came into possession of the funds, how and by whose or which authority the funds were made available to the NIA, and to establish whether or not there has been a breach of the law or security procedure in obtaining custody and use of the funds. READ ALSO: Military officer dies in Boko Harams bombing along Nigeria-Cameroon border Ayo Oke's body guard shielding him from cameras at the State House Abuja Photo credit: Abayomi Adeshida Read reactions from Nigerians below: In the Legit.ng video below, the deputy national publicity secretary of the APC, Timi Frank, warns that his party could lose the 2019 election. Watch: Source: Legit.ng - Nigerians in their reactions faulted the suspension of Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Babachir David Lawal - In their reactions on social media, they call on President Buhari to sack some looters in his cabinent before suspending the SGF - The National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ayodele Oke was also suspended over discovery of large amounts of foreign and local currencies by EFCC Nigerians have taking to social media to react to the suspension of Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Babachir David Lawal and Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ayodele Oke. READ ALSO: GOOD NEWS: President Buhari finally moves Nigeria out of recession, as economy grows stronger President Buhari has also ordered an investigation into the allegations of violations of law and due process made against the secretary to the government of the federation. In their reactions on social media, they call on President Buhari to sack some looters in his cabinent before suspending the SGF The president has ordered a full scale investigation into the discovery of large amounts of foreign and local currencies by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has claimed. Legit.ng recalled that Lawal was indicted by the Senate report for allegedly contravening the provisions of the public procurement act and the federal governments financial rules and regulations pertaining to award of contracts. Chinedu Ewelukwa, a Facebook user in his reaction said: "Why only suspending an obviously corrupt secretary who thought you have his back? How many of your critics and political enemies did you order an investigation on their case before sending the police, EFCC and DSS after them? READ ALSO: READ ALSO: Police to recruit 30,000 personnel annually DIG Dikko "It's quite unfair to suspend him without suspending and sacking Amaechi and other looters in your cabinet. That must be because they know your dirty secrets. There's no need suspending your secretary when the investigation will most likely end in his favour. "I only pity Ayo who you want to use as the sacrificial lamb the way you used the guy that implemented a law against general overseers of pentecostal churches in Nigeria. Mezie Akalusia Ugonwanne in his reaction simply said: "Kai baba, sack Amaech now." Meanwhile, Legit.ng has also reported that the suspended SGF rushed into Vice President Yemi Osinbajos office when his suspension was announced on Wednesday, April 19. He was reported to have feigned ignorance of the action of President Muhammadu Buhari. On his way out of the meeting with Osinbajo, Lawal was quoted as telling State House correspondents that he was not aware of his suspension and further requested to know who wrote the statement announcing his suspension. In this Legit.ng video, a Nigerian expresses his opinion on corruption in President Buhari's government. Watch the video: Source: Legit.ng A member of Al Qaeda in Africa confirmed Saturday that the attack Friday on a hotel in Bamako, Mali, had been carried out by a jihadist group loyal to Mokhtar Belmokhtar, an Algerian operative for Al Qaeda. The Qaeda member, who spoke via an online chat, said that an audio message and a similar written statement in which the group claimed responsibility for the attack were authentic. The SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist groups, also confirmed the authenticity of the statement. The Qaeda member, who refused to be identified for his protection, said that Mr. Belmokhtars men had collaborated with the Saharan Emirate of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, a unit that is active in the Sahara, in and around the desert outpost of Timbuktu, Mali. The cell is led by Yahya Abu Hammam, a longtime member of A.Q.I.M. who has been responsible for numerous kidnappings of Western citizens in Mali and neighboring countries. Mr. Belmokhtar has been reported killed at least twice in the past year, but American officials acknowledge that he is probably still at large. Allan Holdsworth, a self-taught guitarist whose protean, virtuosic style was a source of amazement even to his more famous peers, died on Saturday at his home in Vista, Calif. He was 70. The cause was a heart attack, said Leonardo Pavkovic, Mr. Holdsworths former manager. Mr. Holdsworth forged a relentlessly exploratory approach to harmony, which he brought to bear on both the guitar and the SynthAxe, a guitarlike synthesizer that allowed him added control over his tone and flow. He had his own vocabulary of unorthodox chords, often involving far reaches across the fretboard. As a soloist, he executed lightning-fast melodies with remarkable fluidity. Reviewing a performance by Mr. Holdsworth in 1983, The New York Timess Jon Pareles wrote: He pours out notes in a liquid rush without slurring a single one. His sense of harmony reveals itself in daring melodic extrapolations and in chords that are complex and impressionistic yet as transparent as folk music. Mr. Holdsworth played in a number of seminal ensembles throughout the 1970s, including the Tony Williams Lifetime, Soft Machine and U.K. But he never seemed to arrive at any bands moment of peak popularity, or to stick around long enough to accrue a major following. Where does this go? Nowhere good, Id guess. Paiges story could play out with her as the good and competent soldier, but all signs point toward an impending crisis. Elizabeth loves her daughter, but shes still clueless about the depth of Paiges anguish, telling Philip that Paige is basically O.K. (At some point the scales will fall off and Elizabeth will have to respond to Paige purely as her mother, and that will be a great moment in the shows history.) Leave it to Gabriel to see things clearly. As he left for Moscow, his last words to Philip were: You were right about Paige. She should be kept out of all this. And the episode closed on Philips shocked and alarmed expression. In that solemn goodbye scene if it was our last sight of Frank Langella as Gabriel, it was an agonizing reminder of how great he was in the role Gabriel confirmed Philips fears about the methods of his K.G.B. employers. People were shot, worked to death in the camps, Gabriel said. Some were counter-revolutionaries. But some some hadnt done anything. Just people. I did it, too. He offered no reassurance about the greater good: I believed I was acting in the service of a higher purpose. But I was just scared. Philip was clearly worried about present practices as well. Elizabeth had carried out her assignment at the psychiatrists office, stealing a document labeled Committee on Human Rights. Philip asked Gabriel about it, and Gabriel casually said that it was information about people who were part of a well-organized opposition at home. Philip looked apprehensive, presumably at the thought that their work was being used against innocent dissidents. Back at home, Oleg was free of the C.I.A. This made his mother happy, but he didnt seem too excited about it you had to wonder whether he would have been happier if the Americans had shown up. Later we saw him at an archive looking up his mothers file from the four years she spent in a gulag. This lined up with Gabriels memories and also invoked the ghost of Nina Krilova. (The photograph of the young, haggard woman in the file looked a little like Nina at the end.) Ms. Bloom said the woman, who is African-American, worked in a clerical position at the network but did not work directly for Mr. OReilly. The woman reported that in 2008, Mr. OReilly would stop by her desk and grunt like a wild boar; he would also stand back to allow her to exit the elevator first and then say, Looking good, girl, Ms. Bloom said. Mr. OReilly leered at the womans cleavage and legs and called her hot chocolate, Ms. Bloom said. Ms. Bloom said she had talked to the womans sister as well as her roommate and boyfriend at the time, who all said the woman had told them of the allegations. The investigation by Paul Weiss was expected to expand if other problems involving Mr. OReilly were reported. She just felt like she had to do the right thing and include her story, Ms. Bloom said. Mr. Kasowitz responded strongly to the allegation, saying there was reason to be skeptical of the womans claim. It is outrageous that an allegation from an anonymous person about something that purportedly happened almost a decade ago is being treated as fact, especially where there is obviously an orchestrated campaign by activists and lawyers to destroy Mr. OReilly and enrich themselves through publicity-driven donation, Mr. Kasowitz said. Although Mr. OReilly, 67, brings immense value to 21st Century Fox as a ratings draw and a revenue generator, the Murdoch family will have to weigh those considerations against its other ambitions. Those include overhauling a Fox News culture that has been damaged by repeated sexual harassment allegations and pursuing the acquisition of the British satellite company Sky, long coveted by the family patriarch, Rupert Murdoch. The company must convince British regulators next month that it is fit to acquire the 61 percent in Sky that it does not own. Questions about Mr. OReillys future come just weeks after The Times reported that Mr. OReilly or the company had made payouts to five women involving allegations of inappropriate behavior by Mr. OReilly. In exchange, the women agreed not to sue or speak of the allegations. The payouts totaled about $13 million. Two of the deals were struck by 21st Century Fox last year after Mr. Ailes was pushed out following accusations by several women of sexual harassment. In the aftermath of Mr. Ailess dismissal, the company said behavior that disrespects women or contributes to an uncomfortable work environment would not be tolerated. The Times reported that two other women who had not received payouts had accused Mr. OReilly of harassing them. One of those women has since reported her accusations to 21st Century Fox. Health insurers pressed Trump administration officials on Tuesday to continue billions of dollars in subsidies for low-income people buying plans under the federal health care law, but left with nothing that would dissipate the fog of uncertainty hanging over the industry. The insurers have been closely watching as President Trump and congressional Republicans and Democrats debate the future of those subsidies, known as cost-sharing reductions paid by the Obama administration that now go to the companies covering about seven million individuals to help lower deductibles and co-payments. Insurers who attended Tuesdays meeting with Seema Verma, the new Medicare administrator, reiterated our most pressing concern: the instability in the individual market created by the uncertainty of funding, according to a statement from Americas Health Insurance Plans, one of the main industry trade groups. But Ms. Verma made no promises, according to accounts of the meeting, and indicated to the insurance executives that Congress would have to decide whether to appropriate the money. Heard the shots, saw nothing. Was not home. Heard firecrackers, saw nothing. And so it went, through 14 apartments. But there was also this from a woman in the building: Heard shots. States that he was a tall dark skinned male with a gray sweater and gray hoodie with bluejeans. Stated that he had a heavy beard. Four years later, two men were tried in connection with Juans killing. One had confessed. The other, Steven Odiase, denied any involvement, and in fact, had not been arrested until two years after the fact. Another man was arrested, but talked his way out of trouble by claiming to have seen Mr. Odiase join in the shooting. Defense lawyers were given the police report of the canvass on Minerva Place. Just not all of it. A white space appeared in the middle of the page, in the exact spot where the words of the witness had been written. Her statements had vanished. So had her name, her apartment number and any evidence that she had ever opened her door. And unlike the tall, dark-skinned, bearded gunman described by the interviewed woman on the night of the killing, Mr. Odiase was short, light-skinned and, at the time, beardless. His co-defendant also did not resemble the witnesss account. BOSTON More than 20,000 drug cases tied to a disgraced former state chemist appear headed for dismissal, lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union and public defenders said Tuesday as they combed through legal filings from local prosecutors in Massachusetts. Were all overjoyed today at having what is, we think, the largest dismissal of criminal cases as a result of one case in the history of the United States of America, said Carl Williams, a lawyer with the A.C.L.U. of Massachusetts, which has pressed for the dismissal of tainted cases. It was the latest development in the yearslong story of Annie Dookhan, a chemist whose co-workers called her Superwoman because she worked so fast. But she was found to have mishandled drug samples, forged signatures and returned positive results on drugs she never bothered to test, and in 2013, she pleaded guilty to 27 counts, including obstruction of justice, perjury and tampering with evidence. By then, the damage was done. Prosecutors and defenders around the state had already begun the imposing task of figuring out which convictions had been tainted by the failings. Early estimates rose above 40,000. Hundreds of people were released from prison. LOS ANGELES A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday accused the government of deporting an undocumented immigrant who had been allowed to remain in the country under an Obama-era program that President Trump promised to maintain. Lawyers for the immigrant, Juan Manuel Montes, 23, who had been living in the United States since age 9, said he was the first recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, to be removed from the country. His case is emblematic, said Marielena Hincapie, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, one of the parties that filed the lawsuit. It shows that people with valid DACA may be at risk despite President Trumps statements to the contrary. On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security disputed the lawsuits account of Mr. Montess deportation, saying Mr. Montes had originally left the country on his own. When Kori Ali Muhammad, a homeless man who voiced a hatred of white people and the government, learned on Tuesday morning that he was wanted in the killing of a Motel 6 security guard in Fresno, Calif., he decided he was going to kill again, the police said. About 10:45 a.m., Mr. Muhammad walked up to a Pacific Gas & Electric utility truck and fatally shot a 34-year-old white employee in the passenger seat, the police said. He ran down another street and fired his handgun at another white person but missed. He reloaded. Mr. Muhammad then turned onto North Fulton Street and encountered a white man carrying a backpack and a garbage bag full of clothes. A witness said it sounded as if there was an altercation before three bullets were fired into the mans abdomen. Mr. Muhammad ran away, stopping briefly to pick up bullets he dropped in the street, and, according to the police, fired his gun again when he spotted a white man outside Catholic Charities, the aid organization for homeless people and those in need. If the message is that you cant come to Arkansas and take advantage of and kill innocent people without facing the possibility of the death penalty, then let that be the message, Mr. Rapert said. At the prison on Monday night, a spokesman for Mr. Hutchinson spoke of the widower of Mr. Daviss victim, who he said would go to sleep again without that peace he was hoping to get tonight. Ms. Rutledge, in a statement, called the days developments heartbreaking and said families have waited far too long to see justice. Few people here in Arkansass capital expect the states approach to the death penalty to shift. After Mr. Hutchinson announced the execution schedule, developed as a response to the looming expiration date of a lethal injection drug, the state became the site of measured rallies and prayer vigils, as well as courtroom clashes. There are clearly instances where there were demonstrations while I was governor that did not cause me to change my decision, said Jim Guy Tucker, a Democrat who oversaw seven executions when he was governor. I do think for those who are just unassailably or unwaveringly opposed to the death penalty under any circumstances, they do at least need to think about the actual acts these people committed and be aware that many of them still appear to be quite dangerous people. The actor Johnny Depp appeared Friday at a protest on the Capitol steps that drew hundreds of people, including Damien Echols, one of the so-called West Memphis Three, men convicted in a child murder case who were freed more than five years ago in an unusual arrangement after evidence raised questions about their guilt. On the same day, a Circuit Court judge in Pulaski County issued one ruling, later vacated, to block the executions and joined a different protest against capital punishment. (The State Supreme Court has since forbidden the judge, Wendell Griffen, to consider cases about the death penalty, and it referred him to a disciplinary panel.) As protesters clashed with police officers outside, the white nationalist leader Richard Spencer spoke in an Auburn University auditorium on Tuesday night, hours after a federal judge ruled that the university could not block the event. Three protesters were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Last week Auburn, a public university, canceled a contract permitting use of the auditorium after students organized protests and organizations like the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice registered complaints. University officials said they were concerned that protests against Mr. Spencer might result in violence or property damage. But on Tuesday, Judge W. Keith Watkins of United States District Court in Mongtomery, Ala., cleared the way for Mr. Spencers presentation on constitutional grounds, ruling that there was no evidence that Mr. Spencer advocates violence. Discrimination on the basis of message content cannot be tolerated under the First Amendment, the ruling said. WASHINGTON Two Russian long-range bombers flew about 100 miles off the Alaskan coast on Monday night, the first time since President Trump took office that Moscow has sent warplanes so close to the United States, the military said Tuesday. The two Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers flew off Kodiak Island, within a 200-mile area called the Air Defense Identification Zone. The bombers flight into that space prompted the Air Force to scramble two F-22 stealth fighter jets and an E-3 airborne early-warning plane to intercept the Russian planes, according to First Lt. Lauren Hill, a spokeswoman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or Norad, in Colorado. After the American jets flew alongside the Russian bombers for several minutes, the Russian planes broke off and headed back to their base in eastern Russia, Lieutenant Hill said. The interception was first reported by Fox News. WASHINGTON When a North Korean missile test went awry on Sunday, blowing up seconds after liftoff, there were immediate suspicions that a United States program to sabotage the test flights had struck again. The odds seem highly likely: Eighty-eight percent of the launches of the Norths most threatening missiles have self-destructed since the covert American program was accelerated three years ago. But even inside the United States Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, where the operation is centered, it is nearly impossible to tell if any individual launch is the victim of a new, innovative approach to foil North Korean missiles with cyber and electronic strikes. Bad welding, bad parts, bad engineering and bad luck can all play a role in such failures as it did in the United States own missile program, particularly in its early days. And it would require a near impossible degree of forensic investigation to figure out an exact cause, given that the failed North Korean missiles tend to explode, disintegrate in midair and plunge in fragments into faraway seas. But this much is clear, experts say: The existence of the American program, and whatever it has contributed to North Koreas remarkable string of troubles, appears to have shaken Pyongyang and led to an internal spyhunt as well as innovative ways to defeat a wide array of enemy cyberstrikes. Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain is calling for a snap election on June 8, breaking a promise not to seek a vote before 2020. Here are answers to some questions about the election and Mrs. Mays decision. What is a snap election? The British do not vote directly for their prime minister. Instead, they vote for a candidate to represent their district in Parliament. The leader of the party that wins the most seats in Parliament normally becomes the prime minister. Historically, prime ministers could call an election whenever they chose. But in 2011, Parliament passed a law that scheduled a general election every five years with two exceptions. If the members of Parliament lose confidence in the government, or if two-thirds of the members agree, a snap election can be held. Mrs. May, the current prime minister and leader of the Conservative Party, believes she has the votes to hold an early election. If Mrs. May is already in power, why hold an election? Mrs. May took office less than a year ago, when her predecessor, David Cameron, resigned after losing the June 23 referendum on British membership in the European Union, known as Brexit. At the time, she promised to carry out voters wish to leave the union. She also said she would not seek an early election. However, Mrs. May has since staked her legacy on Brexit. With only a small working majority in Parliament at the start of what is expected to be a difficult two years of negotiations, she decided to go to the voters now. Polls suggest that the Conservative Party will easily win an election if it is held soon, thus strengthening her majority. CAIRO Gunmen attacked a checkpoint near the iconic St. Catherines Monastery in Sinai, one of the oldest Christian monasteries in the world, killing one police officer and wounding four others on Tuesday evening, Egypts Interior Ministry said. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the shooting through its Amaq news agency, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist communications. Although comparatively small by the standards of the Sinai insurgency, the assault was a relatively rare instance of violence in the southern part of the province, and it came just nine days after Islamic State suicide bombers killed 45 people in attacks on two churches in Alexandria and Tanta on Palm Sunday. In a statement on its Facebook page, Egypts Interior Ministry said that gunmen opened fire on the checkpoint with small arms, then fled after coming under fire from Egyptian security forces. Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown that lets you sleep and lets us get paid to watch comedy. What do you think of it? What else are you interested in? Let us know: thearts@nytimes.com. The Senator From Massachusetts Just Wants a Hello Senator Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat, spoke with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show on Tuesday, where she promised to keep up her resistance to the Trump administration. We cannot lay down and play dead, she said. Weve got to be in this fight. Then Mr. Fallon asked about her relationship with Republicans in the Senate, and she couldnt help but laugh. FALLON: Is this true? I heard that Mitch McConnell wont make eye contact with you. Is that real? WARREN: [shrugs] Yeah. FALLON: He seems kind of like a quiet type of just WARREN: Maybe thats it. Maybe hes just being quiet. FALLON: Wait, but if you see him in the hallway, he wont look at you or talk to you? WARREN: Oh, come on. You know. I say hi. But FALLON: Well, I mean, what does he say back? WARREN: Nothing. FALLON: Mitch! Mitch McConnell, you have to say hi to Elizabeth Warren. Come on, how old are we now? This is silly. We have to be civil. Lets do this, we all have to work together. Late Night Takes On Trumps Taxes With Girlboss, which debuts on Netflix on Friday, Ms. Cannon will try to slay the likability requirement, one that prevents writers from giving female characters the rough edges that make for the most interesting storytelling. And in Sophia (played by the Tomorrowland star Britt Robertson), the show is riffing off a real-life, flawed, female boss. Ms. Amoruso became the face of young female entrepreneurship, a position that attracted both outsize attention to and criticism of her business dealings. Her real-life story has grown even thornier in the lead-up to the series premiere. Girlboss was born when Ms. Amorusos #GIRLBOSS partly a memoir of her rise to success, partly a manifesto for inspiring other women to rise, too landed in the hands of Charlize Theron. She optioned the book and brought it to Ms. Cannon, one of Hollywoods most in-demand writers of female comedic characters. Ms. Cannon made her mark as a writer and producer working for Tina Fey on 30 Rock, where she was nominated for an Emmy, then on the Fox series New Girl and as the writer of the successful Pitch Perfect films. Along the way, she signed a development deal with 20th Century Fox TV. But when she and Ms. Theron refused to water down the Girlboss concept or to ditch the title television networks passed. Netflix snapped it up. In the pilot, Sophia is a listless 23-year-old who is allergic to responsibility. She steals a sandwich from her boss and a rug from the side of the street. Only when she finds a cheap vintage jacket and decides to style it and flip it on eBay the spark of what becomes a dizzyingly successful online fashion business is she challenged to grow up. I wanted to be able to show how mad she was at the beginning, Ms. Cannon said. Thats a very real response when youre lost, rudderless and dont know what your life is about. If the show had ended up on a network, I dont know if we would have been able to really capture that element, she added. If you find her off-putting at the beginning, youre going to turn the channel. As actors go, Geoffrey Rush is formidable, having won an Oscar for Shine, an Emmy for The Life and Death of Peter Sellers and a Tony for Exit the King. So who better and we havent even gotten to the hair to portray Albert Einstein in Genius, the latest production from Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, and the first scripted series from Nat Geo. It makes its debut on Tuesday, April 25. Who says science isnt sexy? Genius unfurls in 10 episodes, following Einstein (Mr. Rush as the older physicist, Johnny Flynn as the younger one) from his humble origins in Germany and college years in Switzerland, where he developed a reputation as a visionary and libertine, to his celebrity after unlocking the cosmos with his theory of relativity and emigration to the United States during the rise of Nazi Germany all while leaving broken hearts and unhappy children in his wake as he searched incessantly for answers. The important thing is not to stop questioning, he says. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. Janesville joins a growing family of books about the evisceration of the working class in the United States. What sets it apart is the sophistication of its storytelling and analysis. Image Amy Goldstein Credit... Melina Mara The characters are especially memorable. This may be the first time since I began this job that Ive wanted to send notes of admiration to three people in a work of nonfiction. Readers will also finish Janesville with an extremely sobering takeaway: Theres scant evidence that job retraining, possibly the sole item on the menu of policy options upon which Democrats and Republicans can agree, is at all effective. In the case of the many laid-off workers in the Janesville area, the outcomes are decidedly worse for those who have attended the local technical college to learn a new trade. (Goldstein arrives at this conclusion, outlined in detail, by enlisting the help of local labor economists and poring over multiple data sets.) A striking number of dislocated G.M. employees dont even know how to use a computer when they first show up for classes at Blackhawk Technical College. Some students dropped out as soon as they found out that their instructors would not accept course papers written out longhand, Goldstein writes. It makes you realize how challenging and humiliating it can be to reinvent oneself in midlife. To do so requires a kind of bravery for which no one gets a medal. But perhaps the most powerful aspect of Janesville is its simple chronological structure, which allows Goldstein to show the chain reaction that something so calamitous as a plant closing can effect. Each falling domino becomes a headstone, signifying the death of the next thing. Because the G.M. plant closes, so does the plant at the Lear Corporation, which supplied it with car seats and interiors. Because so many in Janesville are now out of work, nonprofits lose board members and contributions to local charities shrivel. Because their parents are out of work, students at Parker High start showing up for school both hungry and dirty. A social studies teacher starts the Parker Closet, which provides them with food and supplies. (Deri Wahlert: Shes one of the people to whom Id like to write a fan note.) At times, though, On Tyranny veers toward overwrought. Trumps brand of populist nationalism may be illiberal, but it is also not very popular. Since his inauguration, a critical free press, independent judiciary, patriotic Civil Service and robust social movements have placed significant constraints on Trumps actions. When Snyder intimates that 2016 might be the last free election in the United States for a while, one wonders if the book will become self-defeating because of its hyperbole. Of course, just as I was pondering whether On Tyranny exaggerates, Trump tweeted that the press is the enemy of the American people. That sounds awfully pre-fascist to me. So approach this short book the same way you would a medical pamphlet warning about an infectious disease. Read it carefully and be on the lookout for symptoms. THE SOUL OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT By Floyd Abrams 145 pp. Yale University, $26. Image Claims of American exceptionalism can be exaggerated. But the First Amendment really does make America unique, even within the industrialized democracies. No other country has such stringent protections against government restrictions of free speech and a free press. Abrams, a constitutional litigator, celebrates that fact in The Soul of the First Amendment. The best part of this short primer is his history of free speech jurisprudence in the United States. Abrams reminds us that federal protections of free speech rights are of recent provenance. A century ago, obscenity laws and community standards provided ample reason to justify government censorship. States, localities and courts restricted the freedom of the press without much constraint for the countrys first 150 years. The First Amendment was not applied to state censorship laws until 1925. There are companies, which in prior years have been strong supporters in Washington of the U.S.-China relationship, who are much quieter, and even waiting to see if a tougher approach might get more results with China, said Jake Parker, vice president for China operations at the U.S.-China Business Council. In one criticism on Tuesday, William Zarit, the chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, expressed concern about President Trumps offer of trade concessions in exchange for greater Chinese support in pressuring North Korea over its nuclear ambitions. If the United States gives concessions in the trade area so that we dont push as hard on leveling the playing field in all these different areas, Mr. Zarit said at a news conference in Beijing on Tuesday, I think its a shame. In public, businesses work hard to strike a sunny note. Last November, Jay Carney, Amazons senior vice president for global corporate affairs and former White House spokesman, made no mention of his companys challenges there when speaking at Chinas World Internet Conference, according to a Chinese-language transcript of his remarks in state media. That reticence has bred frustration among some United States officials. In 2015, President Barack Obama told the Business Roundtable, a business group, regarding its complaints about China, Dont tell us on the side, Weve got this problem, you need to look into it, but then but leave our names out of it. Still, executives say complaining can have an impact. Earlier that same year, Mr. Obama publicly criticized proposed Chinese rules that would require technology companies to turn over encryption keys to Chinese authorities. His administration had also expressed concern about Chinese draft regulations that would require Chinas financial sector buy only from secure and controllable suppliers, which trade groups said effectively meant Chinese companies. In both cases China relented, temporarily scrapping the banking laws and tempering the language in the antiterrorism law. And Ford, which said this month that it planned to offer a full line of electric or hybrid vehicles by 2025 with the Chinese company Chongqing Changan Automobile, stood by its cautious approach. You dont get any prizes for being first to market, Trevor Worthington, Fords vice president for product development in Asia Pacific, told Reuters at the show. New Strategy from Maker of Dulux Investors had a muted response to a strategy update on Wednesday from Akzo Nobel, the maker of Dulux paint, as the paint and chemicals company from the Netherlands sought to stave off an unsolicited takeover bid, worth about $24 billion, from the American rival PPG Industries. Shares were up slightly in early trading in Amsterdam after Akzo Nobel said it planned to return as much as 1.6 billion euros, or about $1.7 billion, to investors through dividends and increased its financial guidance for 2020 as it outlined a plan to remain a stand-alone company. Akzo Nobel also said it would seek to publicly list or sell its specialty chemicals arm within 12 months. IBM Shares Sinking After Weak Earnings (Mr. VanSickle and his wife could be eligible for thousands of dollars in subsidies if they purchased insurance under the Affordable Care Act, said Larry Levitt of the Kaiser Family Foundation. But such a plan would most likely be more limited, and Mr. Trump still maintains that he wants to undo the program.) The miners typically regard their health care with a sense of moral entitlement, having frequently passed up higher pay during contract talks in order to top off their benefits. John Leach, 67, worked in four different mines over 23 years as a miner in western Kentucky. As a result, he said, I got four of those speeches: If you work here, you work your 20 years, you are guaranteed insurance for yourself and your family for the rest of your life. Since he retired in 2001, that insurance, along with Medicaid and Medicare, has kept him and his wife, Rhonda, 60, afloat. The couple care for two adult children with severe physical and mental disabilities. In 2015, the health plan paid out over $50,000 for Rhondas hip-replacement surgery. I dont know if youve ever gone through a serious test at the doctors office, Ms. Leach said by phone. You wait and wait and dont hear anything and the pressure starts building up: Am I going to live or am I going to die? Thats exactly what this is like: living and dying. Many retired miners who supported Mr. Trump understood that his promise to revive employment in their industry was a long shot in the face of cheap natural gas a couple of jobs might come of it, Mr. VanSickle said. HOUSTON Exxon Mobil is pursuing a waiver from Treasury Department sanctions on Russia to drill in the Black Sea in a venture with Rosneft, the Russian state oil company, a former State Department official said on Wednesday. An oil industry official confirmed the account. The waiver application was made under the Obama administration, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity, and the company has not dropped the proposal. The proposal is now before the Trump administration at a delicate time in Russian-American relations, with rising tensions over the war in Syria and a looming congressional inquiry into reports of Russian efforts to influence the United States presidential election. The appeal did not come up during Senate confirmation hearings for Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, who was Exxon Mobils chief executive before his nomination by President Trump and was known to have a strong working relationship with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. At the time, Mr. Tillerson and other company officials said they had not lobbied against the sanctions, which were imposed on Russia in response to its military intervention in Ukraine. Bill OReillys reign as the top-rated host in cable news came to an abrupt and embarrassing end on Wednesday as Fox News forced him out after the disclosure of a series of sexual harassment allegations against him and an internal investigation that turned up even more. Mr. OReilly and his employers came under intense pressure after an article by The New York Times on April 1 revealed how Fox News and its parent company, 21st Century Fox, had repeatedly stood by him even as he and the company reached settlements with five women who had complained about sexual harassment or other inappropriate behavior by him. The agreements totaled about $13 million. Since then, more than 50 advertisers had abandoned his show, and womens rights groups had called for him to be fired. Inside the company, women expressed outrage and questioned whether top executives were serious about maintaining a culture based on trust and respect, as they had promised last summer when another sexual harassment scandal led to the ouster of Roger E. Ailes as chairman of Fox News. HONG KONG Chinese authorities plan to question Apple about video streaming services available over its app store within the country, in their latest move to intensify pressure on the American technology giant over the content it provides in the vast and crucial market. A report on Chinas official Xinhua News Agency late Wednesday said that the authorities would summon Apple to urge it to tighten up checks on software applications available in the Apple Store. The report did not say when the summoning would take place. The inquiry appears to focus on third-party apps available on the companys app store in China. The report said the authorities had told three Chinese websites to tighten their oversight of online information, livestreaming services and online performance. Some broadcasters, it said, offered live content forbidden by Chinese law, including pornography. Ruth Sulzberger Holmberg, who challenged racial barriers, political skulduggery and environmental adversaries as publisher of The Chattanooga Times in Tennessee for nearly three decades, and who was a member of the family that controls The New York Times, died on Wednesday at her home in Chattanooga. She was 96. Her family confirmed her death. Growing up in a newspaper family in New York, Mrs. Holmberg was imbued from adolescence with journalistic traditions of social responsibility, and that heritage became manifest in Chattanooga as she presided over a newspaper known for aggressive, analytical reporting and editorials that denounced racial segregation, exposed government corruption and demanded cleaner air in a city of heavy industry and belching smokestacks. For years she was a pariah in a city where many regarded her as an Eastern liberal interloper. Mrs. Holmberg, who was publisher of The Chattanooga Times from 1964 to 1992, stayed on as publisher emeritus and chairwoman until 1999, when it was sold to a small chain and merged with a rival newspaper. (Though it was owned by her family, the paper was never part of The New York Times Company.) She was a granddaughter of Adolph S. Ochs, who bought The Chattanooga Times in 1878 and The New York Times in 1896, and the second of four children of Iphigene Ochs and Arthur Hays Sulzberger, the publisher of The New York Times from 1935 to 1961. Start-up culture is defined by long days and nights. Shoestring budgets, thin staffing and lots of trial and error are hardly ideal conditions for any entrepreneurs, let alone working parents. To address those challenges, a new crop of workspaces are aiming to make it easier to start a business with little ones in tow. Funded in a variety of ways that include bootstrapping entrepreneurs and corporate behemoths like Google, these spaces all perform vital functions. Some host meetings with a bank or investors, others help entrepreneurs learn all facets of starting a business, while some simply provide a common space to meet and talk with peers. One such space in Durham, N.C., called Nido was exactly what Ali Rudel said she needed to fulfill her dream of starting her own bakery while juggling the responsibilities of caring for her 3-year-old and 6-month-old daughters. They attended a Montessori preschool on site while she worked next door on developing her idea over 14 months. We dont fully understand the consequences the plastic is having or will have in our oceans, he said. What we do know is that this consequences will be felt at greater scale in an ecosystem like this because it is unlike any other on Earth. Every year, about 8 million tons of plastic gets into the ocean, and scientists estimate that there may be as much as 110 million tons of plastic trash in the ocean. Though the environmental effects of plastic pollution are not fully understood, plastic pollution has made its way into the food chain. Plastic debris in the ocean was thought to accumulate in big patches, mostly in subtropical gyres big currents that converge in the middle of the ocean but scientists estimate that only about 1 percent of plastic pollution is in these gyres and other surface waters in the open ocean. Understand the Latest News on Climate Change Card 1 of 5 A new response to rising seas. Consigned to marginal land more than a century ago by the U.S. government, some Native American tribes are trying to move to areas that are better protected from high water and extreme weather. In response, the Biden administration has created a program designed to help relocate communities threatened by climate change. A change in priorities. Gabon, a major producer of oil, knows the resource wont last forever. So the countrys officials are turning to the Congo Basin rainforest for revenue while also promising to preserve the area. The approach, which aims to strike a balance between the needs of a nation and those of a world facing a climate crisis, appears to be working. A warming Siberia. Rapid warming of the Arctic has led to extreme wildfire seasons in Siberia in recent years, scientists have concluded, and such severe fires are likely to continue. The researchers said that the region may be near a threshold beyond which even small temperature increases could result in more intense fires. Shift to clean energy. The energy crisis sparked by Russias invasion of Ukraine is likely to speed up rather than slow down the global transition away from fossil fuels and toward cleaner technologies like wind, solar and electric vehicles, the International Energy Agency said in its annual World Energy Outlook, a 524-page report that forecasts global energy trends to 2050. Climate pledges fall short. Countries are failing to live up to their commitments to fight climate change, pointing Earth toward a future marked by more intense fires, drought and other havoc, according to a new U.N. report. Just 26 of 193 nations that agreed last year to step up their climate actions have followed through with more ambitious plans. Another model of ocean currents by one of the studys authors predicted that plastic garbage could also accumulate in the Arctic Ocean, specifically in the Barents Sea, located off the northern coasts of Russia and Norway, which this study demonstrates. The surface water plastic in the Arctic Ocean currently accounts for only about 3 percent of the total, but the authors suggest the amount will grow and that the seafloor there could be a big sink for plastic. Bridal Week Say yes to the shoe: On Thursday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Martha Stewart Weddings editors will help you make the tough call between minimalist stilettos ($398) and pearl-embellished sandals ($455) from the new Stuart Weitzman bridal line. At 625 Madison Avenue. R.S.V.P. here. Bloomingdales at 59th Street has the new Spanx bridal collection, which includes a shaping bodysuit ($74) and high-waist briefs with pretty lacy motifs ($64). The jeweler Jemma Wynne has created a bridal capsule for Stone & Strand that includes a hexagon-frame diamond ring in a contemporary interpretation of Art Deco style ($16,305 for 18-karat gold). At 185 Franklin Street, sixth floor. Openings and Events On Thursday, dot COMME, an Australian vintage shop that specializes in, you guessed it, Comme des Garcons, will open a pop-up at Opening Ceremony stocked with eccentric pieces like a dress with built-in gloves ($2,000). At 35 Howard Street. November 13, 2015 Hollande: My dear compatriots Anchor1: Horrific breaking news story tonight. Terror across Paris. It is a city under siege. (FR) Flash urgent, un drame se deroule : Paris est attaquee. La ville est en etat de siege. Anchor2: Six connected terrorist attacks here. (FR) Six attentats coordonnes. Anchor3: At this hour, the death-toll stands at 129 lives lost, and the worst violence this country has seen since world war 2. (FR) Pour linstant, le bilan se chiffre a 129 morts, lattentat le plus sanglant en France depuis la Seconde Guerre mondiale. SUPER: TWO WEEKS LATER TITLE (FR): DEUX SEMAINES PLUS TARD COFFEE SCENE VO: France is still shellshocked. Tensions are high. But one group was expecting this. We told you so, they say. VO (FR): La France est encore sous le choc, et reste sous haute tension. Mais certains ne sont pas surpris : on vous lavait bien dit . FLYERING SCENE VO: They are the National Front Frances far right, conservative party. anti-immigrant. anti-EU. Ultra-nationalist. And all across europe, far right parties like these are exerting influence across Europe. VO (FR): Ils sont au Front National, un parti dextreme-droite, qui defend une ligne anti-immigration et anti-europeenne. Partout en Europe, des partis similaires tissent leur toile. VO: The leader on the ground here, is Stephan Revier. VO (FR): Voici Stephane Ravier, lun de leur chefs de file. BIKINI SCENE VO: Hes an open critic of Muslim immigration And luckily for him, a national election is days away. And this climate of fear may be their ticket to victory. VO (FR): Il soppose ouvertement a limmigration musulmane. Hasard du calendrier, nous sommes a quelques jours des regionales. Ce climat de peur pourrait bien lui etre favorable. VO: These are just the regional elections, but a win would be their biggest yet and would further legitimize the party for a 2017 presidential run. But not everyone is a fan... VO (FR): Il ne sagit que de regionales, mais une victoire serait inedite et favoriserait le FN pour lecheance presidentielle de 2017. Mais tous ne sont pas pour. END OF LEAFLET SCENE - go f**k yourselfa VO: This is marseille, part of the french riviera, almost 500 miles south of Paris, and on track to become Europes first muslim majority city. VO (FR): Nous sommes a Marseille, a 800 km de Paris. La cite phoceenne est en passe de devenir la premiere ville europeenne a majorite musulmane. END WITH ANTI-NATIONAL FRONT PROTESTER IN MARKET TITLE: Frances Far Right Rise TITLE (FR): La montee de lextreme-droite en France Nona: Their main idea is to keep their jobs, the housing and the social benefits to the french. Its the same cry and its the same cry all over europe. French first here, danish first there, austrian first there. These are nativist parties and of course they are fueled on fear. Nona (FR): Ce quils veulent, cest que les emplois, les logements et les allocations reviennent en priorite aux Francais. Cest pareil partout en Europe. Les Francais dabord, les Danois dabord, les Autrichiens dabord... Il sagit de partis xenophobes que la peur alimente. VO: In the wake of the refugee crisis, debt showdowns, and terrorism in the streets. Far right movements across Europe have been gaining momentum. VO (FR): Avec la crise des refugies, lausterite, et des scenes de guerre en pleine rue, les partis europeens dextreme-droite montent en puissance. VO: for the National Front the message is clear: The left has failed you, the right has failed you, now its time for something new. VO (FR): Le message du Front National est clair : la gauche a echoue, la droite a echoue, il faut changer de methode. Marine Le Pen: Our politicians need to open their eyes. Yes there is a link between massive migration, anti-French communalism and Radical Islamism. VO: Leadership in the party is a family affair. Marine Le Pen is the president and face of the party. She shocked the nation by placing third in the 2012 presidential election and continues attract a loyal and passionate following. VO (FR): Le Front National est une affaire de famille. Marine Le Pen est a la fois la presidente et le visage du FN. Elle est arrivee troisieme a la presidentielle de 2012, et peut compter sur une base qui lui est devouee. NEWS CLIP OF MARINE: Multiculturalism stands for multiconflict. VO: Her father Jean marie le pen founded the party in 1972. Under his reign, the party earned a xenophobic reputation. VO (FR): Jean-Marie Le Pen, son pere, a fonde le parti en 1972. Sous sa presidence, le FN a ete taxe de xenophobie. NEWS CLIP: holocuast pop Once again, minimizing the holocuast - I speak freely, and people dont like that - he says NEWS CLIP VF - Faisant preuve une nouvelle fois de negationnisme... / J.-M. LE PEN: Je parle librement, ce qui choque un certain nombre de gens VO: In 2015, his own daughter expelled him from the party to detoxify their image and broaden their appeal. More recently he endorsed Donald Trump on Twitter. VO (FR): En 2015, sa propre fille lexclut du Front pour tenter de dediaboliser le parti. Plus recemment, Jean-Marie Le Pen a soutenu Donald Trump sur Twitter. TWITTER SCREENSHOT TWITTER SCREENSHOT FR: Si jetais americain, je voterais pour Donald Trump... Que Dieu le benisse ! VO: Her niece is the partys rising star. Marion Marechal-Le Pen. Just 26 years old. Sarah Palin calls her, her Political crush. Shes running to lead this region in southern france, and Her right hand man is stephane ravier. VO (FR): Sa niece est letoile montante du parti. Elle na que 26 ans. Sarah Palin dit avoir eu un coup de cur pour elle. Elle sest portee candidate pour la presidence de la region PACA. Son bras droit ? Stephane Ravier. SARAH PALIN QUOTE FR: Jai un coup de cur pour elle, mais je ne peux pas voter pour elle puisquelle se presente en France. VO: SR fashions himself as a man of the people. While the Le Pen family controls things from afar, Stephan is the man on the ground. Hes a senator, district mayor, and the son of an Italian immigrant. VO (FR): Stephane Ravier se presente comme un homme du peuple. Tandis que la famille Le Pen teleguide le parti, Ravier est sur le terrain. Il est a la fois senateur, maire darrondissement, et le fils dun immigre italien. VO: Hes known for public anti-muslim spectacles. He defiantly served bacon at a public function, and once even stopped a muslim wedding because the bride word an illegal veil. VO (FR): Il est connu pour ses prises de position anti-Islam. Il a servi du porc lors dun rassemblement public, et a interrompu un mariage musulman en raison du voile illegal porte par la mariee. I grew up in Marseilles northern neighborhoods. In the working-class neighborhoods. My Dad was an electrician at construction sites. I grew up there and it hurts me to see what has happened. Stephane Ravier: These are the neighborhoods where, lets say 50, 60, 70 percent of the population is Muslim, to begin with. They speak French there too, but these are foreign enclaves. Except when it comes to claiming social benefits. Thats when they claim to be French. VO: Now, hes out before the first round of voting. If they win, there will be a run off one week later. VO (FR): Il bat la campagne avant le premier tour. SUPER: Voting day round 1 TITLE (FR): Jour de vote, premier round VO: The first round results are in. VO (FR): Les resultats du premier tour viennent de tomber. -TV reporter: Its in Provence-Alpes-Cote dAzur That the National Front got its best score with Marion Marechal Le Pen, 41.2 percent of the votes. VO: The national front won the first round by 15 percent. And their leading in 6 of the 13 regions across the country. VO (FR): Le FN gagne le premier tour avec une avance de 15 points. Ils sont en tete dans 6 regions sur 13. song: To the health of france and shit for the king of england who declared war against us! Ravier: If you love France, you love wine! Ravier (FR ST): Si vous aimez la France, vous aimez le vin ! VO: Its a resounding victory, but far from over. VO (FR): Une victoire assourdissante, mais tout reste a faire. VO: The record breaking win has shocked opponents into action and now, the national front is about to face a full frontal assault from all sides. VO (FR): Lampleur inedite de la victoire a electrise les concurrents du FN, qui se trouve attaque de toutes parts. VO: The liberals are in panic mode. Their new strategy is to stop the national front at any costs. VO (FR): Branle-bas de combat a gauche. Leur nouvelle strategie : faire barrage au FN a tout prix. VO: The attacks have Stephane on the defense. VO (FR): Ravier est sur la defensive. -Socialist: Ive just heard Mr Ravier stigmatize Muslim people in a non acceptable way. Ravier: What? When? When have you heard this? This is defamation. -Ive heard it now. -Youre a liar. Youre doing again a trial. -The Stalinist roots are still there. -Youre manipulating people. Its incredible to listen to this. -Its a scandal. VO: With the numbers as they are now, the National Front is all but certain to win the region. To block them socialists make a game changing move. They pull out of the race. Forcing their supporters to vote Republican Its a familiar strategy in French politics. And the move is just enough to give the republicans a slight lead. VO (FR): Au vu des chiffres, le FN semble a deux doigts de prendre la region. Pour leur faire barrage, les socialistes tentent un coup de poker. Ils se desistent au profit de la droite republicaine. De quoi donner aux Republicains une petite avance. VO: The National Front is pushing back, vying for every last vote. VO (FR): Le FN joue son va-tout. -littering -jewish lady -son is a good guy SUPER: Election day TITLE (FR): Le jour des elections Stephan: [a text from] Le Pen, Marion. Who tells me we lost. Democracy is crying tonight. VO: The national front has lost here by 10 percent and failed to capture any other regions in France. VO (FR): Le FN a perdu de 10 points, et na conquis aucune region. Nona: For the moment, I think that all the factors that have helped the progression of the National Front are still there. Were in the middle of an economic recession thats not going to stop. And the international context- the rise of the Islamic state. Nona (FR): Je pense que tous les facteurs qui ont aide a la progression du FN sont toujours intacts. Nous sommes en pleine recession. Quant au contexte international, avec lemergence de Daech... They are on their way. They have been getting close to power. (FR) Ils poursuivent leur route. Ils ne sont pas loin du pouvoir. Nona: But you also see its limitations. They make very good scores in the first round of elections, but then when comes the second round; nobody yet, wants to make an alliance with them. They are unknitting the social and political fabric of the country. Nona (FR): Mais on entrevoit leurs limites. Si leurs scores au premier tour sont tres eleves, pour lheure, personne ne veut forger dalliance avec eux au second tour. Ils sont en train de detricoter le tissu social et politique de la France. Stephan: Its a beautiful victory despite it all. We make progress election after election, so we can win. The film does not cite the many books that have been written about Moses and Jacobs, but it does quote extensively from Jacobss own groundbreaking 1961 volume, The Death and Life of Great American Cities. If youve read Robert Caros Moses biography, The Power Broker, and Anthony Flints account of Jacobss activism, Wrestling With Moses, you know many of the stories eventually retold here. (Mr. Flint is one of the talking heads; Mr. Caro is not.) For the movies first half-hour, though, contemporary interviewees repeatedly evoke the views of Moses and Le Corbusier, advocates of a sterile modernism, and contrast them with Jacobss advocacy of a more organic mode of urban growth. A long time goes by before any specific project is explored. The movie lights up whenever it shows archival footage of its antagonists: Jacobs is sensible, warm and witty; Moses is cocksure, occasionally truculent, openly contemptuous of the people his big ideas are likely to displace. Defending a project that would have run Fifth Avenue through Washington Square Park, he sneers at the cabarets and speakeasies he plans to raze. Also interesting (and too brief) is a section on the international legacy of Moses: China today is Moses on steroids, the political economist Saskia Sassen notes. A scary thought. Much of Lydia Tenaglias diverting documentary, Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent, about one of Americas first celebrity chef-restaurateurs, is framed as a battle against vulgarity. Mr. Tower, an epicure raised as a lonely child amid chilly affluence, attended Harvard around the late 1960s before finding his calling. On camera, he remembers how, when student protesters invited him to become a revolutionary, he replied, Im too busy cooking. He adds: Drink Champagne and eat smoked salmon. That was my revolution. After college, in 1972, Mr. Tower alighted at Alice Waterss pioneering Berkeley, Calif., restaurant, Chez Panisse. Together, he and Ms. Waters gave birth to the so-called California Cuisine, based on local ingredients and championed by the likes of James Beard. After a falling-out with Ms. Waters, Mr. Tower founded the restaurant Stars, a magnet for San Franciscos political and show-business glitterati, and was bestowed a Dewars endorsement deal. But Stars, overextended (it had branches elsewhere in Northern California and overseas), was damaged and ultimately undone by an earthquake in 1989. After years in retreat, Mr. Tower resurfaced in 2014 to resuscitate the ailing Tavern on the Green in Manhattan. Despite his efforts, he was out a year later. Ms. Tenaglias camera lends a polished veneer as food authorities like Ruth Reichl, Mario Batali, Wolfgang Puck and Martha Stewart attest to Mr. Towers gifts, with Anthony Bourdain, one of the films producers, especially forceful. Throughout, the solitary Mr. Tower maintains an unflappable refinement, dedicated, a college friend says, to looking for some utopian possibility of living, because thats what kept the darkness away. A real estate executive who played a prominent role in rebuilding the World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan will join the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to oversee its large infrastructure projects, officials said on Wednesday. The executive, Janno Lieber, is leaving Silverstein Properties, a real estate firm, for a new role as chief development officer at the authority, which runs New York Citys subways, buses and commuter railroads. Starting in May, Mr. Lieber will manage the agencys capital projects and real estate assets, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said. The projects in this newly created portfolio are essential for securing the future of the M.T.A., Mr. Cuomo said in a statement. Bringing Janno Lieber on board is a perfect example of leveraging private-sector talent and experience to accomplish our bold and ambitious agenda to continue transforming the M.T.A. Mr. Cuomo, who controls the authority, has taken an increasingly hands-on role at the agency as he focuses on improving the regions infrastructure. Mr. Lieber will oversee several high-profile projects, including building the next phase of the Second Avenue subway, to 125th Street in Manhattan, and a new train terminal under Grand Central Terminal for the Long Island Rail Road. Weve never advertised, Ms. Sinclair said, but business has been good since the store opened. A beef patty was 65 cents when she started working there 30 years ago. Now it costs $2.25, or $23 for a dozen. Bakers work in two shifts; batches of chicken and vegetable patties are made in the morning, while the beef patties are made in the afternoon. Although Ms. Sinclair declined to disclose how many patties are produced daily, she said all of them were handmade using fresh ingredients like thyme and Jamaican scotch bonnet peppers. And she said they were never frozen. The dough is made on site and the patties formed using a small hand-crank machine. After the bakery was featured in an episode of the Travel Channels Bizarre Foods With Andrew Zimmern last year, Ms. Sinclair said she received dozens of calls about the patty maker, including one from Denmark. Not everyone comes in for a patty. Some grab a loaf of bread, a pack of buns or a copy of the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper. On holidays like Easter and Christmas, top sellers are a specialty fruit cake and duck bread, a hard duck-shape bread. On weekends, the line often extends out the door, as people who used to live in the neighborhood come back to stock up, Ms. Sinclair said. The State of New Jersey is moving to revoke or suspend the license of a prominent psychologist, accusing him of failing to prevent details of patients mental health diagnoses and treatments from being disclosed when his practice sued them over unpaid bills. The complaint against the psychologist, Barry Helfmann, a past president of the New Jersey Psychological Association, followed a ProPublica article published in The New York Times in December 2015 that described the lawsuits and the information they contained. The complaint was filed by the state attorney generals office on April 7 with the New Jersey State Board of Psychological Examiners. It accuses Dr. Helfmann of failing to take reasonable steps to protect patients confidentiality, failing to keep notes about certain patient visits, failing to release records requested by a patient and failing to supervise office staff members concerning patient confidentiality and preserving patient records. Dr. Helfmann, the complaint says, repeatedly failed to protect the personal health information of his own clients. The allegations encompass Dr. Helfmanns own patients as well as those of his colleagues at Short Hills Associates in Clinical Psychology, a practice where he is the managing partner. During Donald J. Trumps presidential campaign, a curious feature of the lobby in Trump Tower in Manhattan became a sideline distraction: Kiosks selling merchandise occupied the open public space where seating should have been. After $14,000 in fines and at least a year of back-and-forths, the benches were reinstalled. But the building continues to violate the terms of its decades-old agreement, according to a new audit completed by the office of the New York City comptroller, Scott M. Stringer. Auditors found that it lacked many of the tables it is required to provide the public, part of an agreement that had allowed Mr. Trump to build his tower 20 stories higher than originally allowed. The building was one of more than 180 properties where public spaces did not comply with the citys rules more than half of all locations with privately owned public spaces in New York, according to the audit. Image Scott M. Stringer, the New York City comptroller, whose office completed the audit. Credit... Kevin Hagen/Getty Images Privately owned public spaces, commonly known as POPS, are areas that developers have agreed to provide the public in exchange for leniency on certain zoning requirements. They have been a quirk of the New York landscape since the 1960s, when they were pioneered before spreading to other cities around the world. As smokers turned to electronic cigarettes to reduce the health risks of smoking, big tobacco companies started buying e-cigarette makers and producing and selling their own. Now those companies are lobbying Congress to prevent the Food and Drug Administration from regulating electronic cigarettes and cigars, as it does conventional cigarettes. If they succeed, they will be able to sell and market addictive nicotine products to young people with few restrictions. While promoters of e-cigarettes and e-cigars, which provide nicotine in vapor form, say they can help people quit conventional tobacco products containing harmful tar, there is not a lot of evidence for that claim. In addition, the devices are dangerous to young people because the nicotine they provide can cause addiction and can harm the developing adolescent brain, according to a 2016 report by the surgeon general, Vivek Murthy. Health experts also say that the vapor those devices produce can contain carcinogens and metal particles. Another government report found that 16 percent of high-school students said they had used e-cigarettes in 2015, up from just 1.5 percent in 2011. The industry sells these products in a broad array of flavors, like gummy bear and cotton candy, designed to appeal to young people when they are more susceptible to becoming dependent or addicted to nicotine. You know there is a lot of fear in corporate America when it actually penetrates the hard exoskeleton of Rupert Murdoch. Mr. Murdochs Fox News announced Wednesday that it will part with its star host Bill OReilly weeks after a New York Times investigation into sexual harassment charges led more than 50 companies, under pressure from protesters, to pull their ads from The OReilly Factor. This wasnt the only recent boycott. Last month, North Carolina passed a face-saving reversal of its bill that prevented transgendered people from using the bathroom of their choice after a host of companies and organizations, including the N.C.A.A., said they wouldnt do business in the state. A campaign by the group Sleeping Giants has shamed hundreds of marketers into pulling their ads from the right-wing Breitbart News. A threatened boycott has extracted a promise from United Airlines that it will no longer violently remove passengers in favor of a company employee. If youve flown United recently, youll know thats progress. Whats driving these about-faces? Theres little evidence that broad-based boycotts actually hurt a companys bottom line; in fact, loyal customers often increase their patronage. Mr. OReillys ratings rose after the Times investigation. After the Cracker Barrel chain fired gay employees in 1991, visits to the restaurants rose in the face of protests. In 1977, when a Georgia group threatened a boycott of the Girl Scouts of America for its endorsement of the Equal Rights Amendment, cookie sales went through the roof. Did you catch this gem on CNN.com from April 6? The Kentucky Coal Mining Museum in Benham, owned by Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College, is switching to solar power to save money. Communications director Brandon Robinson told CNN affiliate WYMT that the project will help save at least eight to ten thousand dollars, off the energy costs on this building alone. Go figure. The coal mining museum is going solar, for solid economic reasons, and President Trump is reviving coal, with no economic logic at all. This bizarre contrast speaks to a deeper question of leadership and how we judge presidents. Trump took two major national security decisions in the past few weeks. One was to strike Syria for using poison gas. Trump summoned his national security team, asked for options on Syria, chose the cruise-missile strike which was right and won praise for acting presidential. The other decision you didnt see. It was Trump dismantling budgets and regulations undergirding U.S. climate and environmental protection policies in his nutty effort to revive U.S. coal-fired energy while quietly announcing plans to withhold a promised $32.5 million U.S. contribution for the U.N. Population Fund, which supports family planning and maternal health. This article is part of the Opinion Today newsletter. You can sign up here to receive more briefings and a guide to the section daily in your inbox. How much would you say it costs to attend a top private college like Dartmouth or Pomona for one year? Im guessing that the first number that pops into your mind is quite large, like $60,000. For most Americans, thats the wrong answer and its wrong by a lot. The list-price tuition at these college does indeed run so high, but just a small slice of the population pays the list price. Typically, only families earning at least $200,000 a year fail to qualify for financial aid. For families with middle-class incomes, highly selective colleges are much, much less expensive. The widespread misimpression about the cost of college causes real damage. It leads many middle-class and lower-income families to believe, incorrectly, that college is unaffordable. When they respond by discouraging their child from attending or finishing college, they hurt the childs long-term economic prospects. There are people who blushingly downplay their impact on the events around them. Then there is President Trump. Glad to be of help! he tweeted early this morning, in response to the results of a special Congressional election in Georgia, where a young Democrat with enormous momentum fell shy of the 50 percent of votes he needed to avoid a runoff in June. It was classic Trump, taking both an unwarranted victory lap and dubious, outsize credit. What happened in Georgia was hardly an affirmation of his leadership or sway. It was a dodged bullet: nothing more, nothing less. It wasnt the end of the story, either. With just over 48 percent of the vote, the Democrat, Jon Ossoff, did well enough for liberal groups and party leaders to maintain enthusiasm going into the runoff, which pits him against Karen Handel, the top Republican finisher. WASHINGTON I have been meeting with North Korean government officials for over two decades, first for almost 10 years as part of my job at the State Department, and then as a researcher working at universities and think tanks. This experience has made me familiar with the North Koreans views on safeguarding their countrys security. I believe that President Trump is making a big mistake if he thinks that the threat of a military strike and escalating sanctions will persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons. Following a two-month review, the Trump administration has moved to implement a policy that emphasizes pressure including the threat of military force and new sanctions against North Korea, as well as new restrictions intended to punish Chinese businesses with ties to Pyongyang. While the theory is that doing so will persuade North Korea to stop its provocative behavior, return to negotiations and give up its nuclear weapons, it wont work that way. These threats will make the North Korean government only more likely to dig in its heels and move forward with its nuclear and missile programs, embroiling the United States in a festering crisis on the Korean Peninsula that could escalate out of control. For more than 60 years, North Korea has successfully resisted not only pressure from great powers, mainly the United States, but also attempts at manipulation by its patrons, the Soviet Union and China. This reflects a strong nationalism but also a principle dear to the North Koreans: that as a small country in a life-or-death confrontation with the worlds most powerful nation, any display of weakness would amount to national suicide. A longstanding, deeply ingrained view in Pyongyang is that Washingtons real agenda is to get rid of the North Korean regime because of the military threat it poses to American allies like South Korea and Japan, its widespread human rights violations and now its nuclear arsenal. To the Editor: Re As Atrocities Mount in Syria, Justice Seems Out of Reach (front page, April 16): The absence of justice for six years of atrocity crimes in Syria, leaving more than 400,000 dead and many more missing, tortured, displaced or refugees, can be reversed. The United Nations General Assembly could agree, by majority vote, to enter into a treaty negotiated by the Secretariat with one or more directly affected countries Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, even Iraq to set up a hybrid tribunal with extraterritorial jurisdiction over the Syrian situation, including crimes of ISIS. There is more than enough evidence already being compiled to make this feasible. Trials in absentia pending ultimate arrest may be necessary. There are precedents in the tribunals for Sierra Leone, Lebanon and Cambodia to help guide such an initiative. With three weeks to go to the May 9 election, the campaign has shaped into a two-way race. Moon Jae-in, a 64-year-old human rights lawyer of the leftist Democratic Party, which holds the most seats in Parliament, was initially thought to be a shoo-in to succeed Ms. Park. But Ahn Cheol-soo, 55, a former physician who made a fortune in software, has surged in the polls, in part because many voters appear to believe he is better suited to deal with the North Korean threat. The candidates have advanced similar programs: Both have promised reforms; both have emphasized the importance of the alliance with the United States while stressing the need for dialogue with the North. Yet many South Koreans, especially conservatives, seem to think that Mr. Ahn would be more likely to work well with the Trump administration than the left-leaning Mr. Moon. One key issue is the planned American deployment of an antimissile system known as Thaad. Both candidates initially opposed the deployment, but Mr. Ahn now says it would be irresponsible for the next president to reverse the decision of the preceding administration. A lot can still happen over the next three weeks a North Korean nuclear test, for instance, or more saber-rattling in Washington. As the campaign intensifies, it is essential for the candidates to do their best to ensure that their race serves not to add to the anxieties of their nation or their allies, but to demonstrate that South Koreas democracy has achieved a strength and maturity capable of withstanding an extraordinary challenge. Decimated in the 2015 election, after its unhappy phase as the junior partner in a coalition government with David Camerons Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats have now repositioned themselves as the party of Europe. Making a play to win the support of the Remain voters who still feel resentful about the result of last years referendum on Britains membership in the European Union, it is calling for a second referendum at the end of the Brexit negotiations. The Liberal Democrats may recoup some lost seats in Parliament, but its electoral appeal is too narrow for it to form a serious opposition. It would be triumph for the Liberal Democrats if they won back even 50 seats at the coming election. As for the U.K. Independence Party, the Brexit vote has deprived it of a raison detre. Since the referendum, the party has imploded in a vicious civil war. It currently has no representatives in Parliament, and is unlikely to have any after the June election either. In Scotland, the governing party is the Scottish National Party. At the last general election, it won an extraordinary 56 out of 59 seats, leaving Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives each with a single seat. The partys leader and Scotlands first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has tried to exploit the Brexit result to push for another referendum on Scottish independence, pointing out that a majority of Scots voted to remain in the European Union. Mrs. May has insisted that any referendum, if there is to be one, can only take place after Brexit negotiations are completed, and Britain has left the union. This conflict will cast a shadow over the coming election, but there is little evidence of much appetite among Scots either for a new referendum or for independence itself. Given their extravagant success at the last election, it would not be surprising if the nationalists lost a few constituences this time. As in England and Wales, though, the real battle will be not over who governs, but who, among a depleted opposition, can make the most of whatever political scraps remain. Again, Labour is likely to fare worst. Twenty years ago, the party seemed unassailable in Scotland. Even as late as 2010, it held 41 out of Scotlands 59 constituencies in the Westminster Parliament. After June 8, Labour may be left with not one. Instead, the primary goal of Mr. Trumps first tax bill should be to fix the federal corporate and small-business tax system, which has made America increasingly uncompetitive in global markets and has reduced jobs and wages here at home. The White House and the Treasury already have a tax plan that we were involved with last year. The three most important planks of that plan are: First, cut the federal corporate and small-business highest tax rate to 15 percent from 35 percent, which is now one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world. Second, allow businesses to immediately deduct the full cost of their capital purchases. Full expensing of new factories, equipment and machinery will jump-start business investment, which since 2000 has grown at only one-third the rate recorded from 1950 to 2000. Third, impose a low tax on the repatriation of foreign profits brought back to the United States. This could attract more than $2 trillion to these shores, raising billions for the Treasury while creating new jobs and adding to the United States gross domestic product. To help win over Democratic votes in the House and Senate, we would also suggest another component: What many workers across the country want most from President Trump is infrastructure funding. As part of this bill, we should create a fund dedicated to rebuilding Americas roads, highways, airports and pipelines, and modernizing the electric grid and broadband access financed through the tax money raised from repatriation of foreign profits. As much as possible, this bill should include private financing for projects like toll roads and energy drilling. We also favor user pays financing, such as toll roads, and we would oppose any Fannie Mae-type financing structure for projects that would put taxpayers on the hook for hundreds of billions in potential losses. But there are growing doubts that the president will fulfill that pledge, according to Times reporting. On todays episode: Why so many of President Trumps advisers are urging him to break a major promise on climate change. Coral Davenport, who writes about energy and the environment for The Times, discusses Mr. Trumps about-face on the Paris climate accord. Mike Cox, a former official in the Environmental Protection Agency, brings us inside Scott Pruitts E.P.A., where staff members are rebelling against their new boss. Background reading: Ms. Davenports reporting on President Trumps policy advisers urging him to honor the Paris climate accord. Back in February, E.P.A. workers called their senators to try to block Mr. Pruitts confirmation. Tune in, and tell us what you think. Email us at thedaily@nytimes.com. Tweet me at @mikiebarb. And if that isnt enough, we can even text. Glassmaking is one of the worlds oldest arts. Ancient Mesopotamians and Egyptians made glass glazes more than 5,000 years ago, and glassblowing was developed in the early days of the Roman Empire. Since the mid-1900s, glass has been made in factories by melting sand, then floating sheets of it in vats of molten tin (or, you know, as a byproduct of testing atomic bombs in the desert). Researchers now hope to make glass with a more versatile, modern-day technology: 3-D printing. In a study published in Nature on Wednesday, a team from Germany presented a new glassmaking method based on a liquid glass that can be shaped into complex structures with a 3-D printer, and then heated into a solid. The technique may reduce the time and costs of creating complex or detailed glass pieces, and yield high-quality glass that is smooth enough to make lenses and mirrors, said Bastian Rapp, a principal investigator at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and an author of the paper. Three-dimensional printing is more pervasive than ever, yet it remains mostly limited to plastics, ceramics and metals. People thought glass would just not be accessible to 3-D printing, Dr. Rapp said. We wanted to close this important material gap. Were safe. From this one. That was a quote from NASAs planetary defense officer, Lindley Johnson, after a large asteroid soared narrowly by cosmic standards past the Earth on Wednesday morning, the closest approach by such an object in more than a decade, according to scientists at NASA. The asteroid, discovered three years ago and known by astronomers as 2014 JO25, is approximately 2,000 feet end to end, larger than the Willis Tower in Chicago, though its unusual shape made its size difficult to assess before it passed. It was about 1.1 million miles away from Earth about 4.6 times the distance between Earth and the moon when it passed by at about 8:30 a.m. Eastern time. JO25 which some enthusiasts have nicknamed The Rock after the actor Dwayne Johnson approached from the direction of the sun. It will be visible through telescopes for several nights. The last time a similarly sized asteroid passed within such a close distance was September 2004, when Toutatis, a 3.1 mile-long asteroid, came within four lunar distances of Earth. It is all kind of a lot. And it is unlikely to stop any time soon thanks to Starbucks, whose short-term journey on this particular bandwagon (their unicorn drink will only be sold for five days) was greeted with both excitement and confusion online. For many, it was their first encounter with unicorn-themed foodstuffs. Starbucks sent out a news release perhaps unsurprisingly filled with fairy tale language: Like its mythical namesake, the Unicorn Frappuccino blended creme comes with a bit of magic, it said. In statements to the news media, the company twice referred to the drink as magic. But a Starbucks spokeswoman said there was no one we could interview about how they make a unicorn Frappuccino. So we decided to talk to one of the people who kicked off the unicorn food trend instead: Adeline Waugh, 27, a health and wellness blogger and food stylist in Miami. Ms. Waugh inadvertently helped start the trend last year after experimenting with a natural food dye beetroot to add a pop of color to my photos, she said. I was never intending to start a trend. WASHINGTON Ajit Pai, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, is taking the next steps to unwind Obama-era rules and other regulatory efforts that had restricted the abilities of telecommunication companies and broadcasters. With two items up for vote on Thursday that are expected to pass, Mr. Pai is carrying forward a swift Republican attack on telecom rules. The rollback will empower big telecom and media firms that have lobbied aggressively for deregulation, but consumer groups say it may also eventually put consumers at risk of higher prices and fewer options for services and media. Since being appointed by President Trump in January to lead the commission, Mr. Pai has abolished a plan to open the cable box market, suspended several participants from a program for low-income broadband subsidies, and chipped away at net neutrality, which guarantees consumers equal access to all internet content. A proposal to roll back net neutrality rules is expected as soon as this month. In just three months, hes taken many steps to reduce choices for consumers, make services more expensive or roll back the rights people thought they had online, Phillip Berenbroick, the senior policy counsel at Public Knowledge, a left-leaning consumer group, said of Mr. Pai. The tech world just witnessed a robbery. The heist was so brazen you kind of had to admire it, even if it was pulled off with all the grace of a gas station stickup. Facebook barged into Snapchats happy Venice Beach, Calif., mansion, took a solid inventory of the goods, then lifted the crown jewels. First a version of Stories, the fun slide-show format that Snapchat created, appeared last year on Instagram, owned by Facebook. Then Snapchats features made their way to WhatsApp and Messenger, Facebooks chat apps. A couple of weeks ago they got to the big leagues Facebooks main app and the heist was complete. On Tuesday, the leader of the Facebook crew, Mark Zuckerberg, put on a conference to show off his loot. But he went further: He unveiled a vision of augmented reality in which digital objects and effects are overlaid on images of the real world which could undercut Snapchats mission to become the camera company for the next generation. His speech had a lot of corny jokes, but that was just Mr. Zuckerbergs way of hiding the shiv. In reality it was a performance that made plain Mr. Zuckerbergs ruthlessness as a businessman. It also shows that he understands Facebooks most important assets. Mr. Zuckerberg realized early on that the most important thing in his business was not necessarily creating the best new features. It doesnt matter who invents digital mustaches. What matters is owning the biggest and most engaged network. And because he has the network, he always wins. LONDON Young Marx, a new comedy starring Rory Kinnear as a broke, restless and horny 32-year-old Karl Marx, will open the London Theater Companys first season in October, the company announced on Wednesday. The London Theater Company is a new commercial venture by Nicholas Hytner and Nick Starr, who previously ran the National Theater in London together; Mr. Hytner was director, overseeing artistic programming, while Mr. Starr served as executive director. The companys first season will take place in the new Bridge Theater, the name of which was also announced on Wednesday. The 900-seat venue, on the south side of the Thames, near Tower Bridge, is the first commercial theater of its scale to be built in London in 80 years, according to the company. Mr. Hytner will direct Young Marx, which was written by Richard Bean and Clive Coleman. Mr. Hytner directed Mr. Beans lauded comedy One Man, Two Guvnors, which opened at the National Theater in 2011 with James Corden in the lead role. Young Marx will focus on the philosophers destitute years in London, and will feature Oliver Chris as Friedrich Engels, his collaborator on The Communist Manifesto. Nebraska officials voted on Wednesday to revoke the liquor licenses of four stores in the tiny town of Whiteclay, potentially cutting off a major source of alcohol to Native Americans who live a short walk away on the dry Pine Ridge Reservation. The state liquor board said that the town was not adequately served by law enforcement, sufficient cause to deny the renewal of the licenses. The decision was applauded by legislators and activists who had pressured the state for years to close down the stores, arguing that they were encouraging alcohol consumption among people who historically have high rates of alcohol abuse and fetal alcohol syndrome. But the store owners immediately vowed to appeal, a move that could keep the stores open while a battle takes place in the courts. ROSWELL, Ga. Jon Ossoff, a Democrat making his first bid for elective office, narrowly missed winning outright in a heavily conservative House district in Georgia on Wednesday, throwing a scare into Republicans in a special congressional election that was seen as an early referendum on President Trump. Mr. Ossoff received 48.1 percent of the vote, just short of the 50 percent threshold needed to win the seat, and he will face Karen Handel, the top Republican vote-getter, in a June runoff. A documentary filmmaker and former congressional staff member, Mr. Ossoff, 30, had hoped to avert a runoff in the Sixth District, a Republican-dominated section of the Atlanta suburbs that had been represented by Tom Price, who is now Mr. Trumps health and human services secretary. But despite his financial advantage Mr. Ossoff had raised $8.3 million, more than quadruple that of the next-closest candidate and a highly energized liberal base, a majority was just out of reach in a district that has not sent a Democrat to Congress since the Carter administration. Mr. Ossoff released a statement early Wednesday after the race was called. This is already a remarkable victory, he said. We defied the odds, shattered expectations, and now are ready to fight on and win in June. To supporters of a Maryland bill to help rape victims, the idea seemed like a no-brainer: Women impregnated by their attackers should not have to fight custody battles to raise their children or, as often happens, put them up for adoption. The proposal had the support of lawmakers in both parties and people on both sides of the abortion debate. Bills had passed unanimously in both the State Senate and the House of Delegates. The governor was on board. But on the last day of the annual three-month session last week, the legislation died at the stroke of midnight. Now, unless Maryland lawmakers bring up the bill in a special session, which seems unlikely, the state will remain one of a handful without such a law. It came down to six legislators who handled last-minute negotiations on April 10. Critics were quick to note that all of the negotiators were men. Thirty-nine states have constitutional provisions limiting state aid to religious groups, Justice Sotomayor noted. We dont want, as a country well, the vast majority of states to fund houses of worship, she said. David A. Cortman, a lawyer for the church, said it sought only to protect children of all faiths from injury and could not use the rubber in its religious work. He argued that the state Constitution violated equal protection principles and the First Amendments guarantee of free exercise of religion. All were talking about is a safer surface on the playground for when kids play, he said. Justice Sotomayor said that Missouri was not interfering with the church. You have a playground, she said. No one is taking the playground away from you. James R. Layton, a lawyer for the state, said it should have leeway to decide for itself whether and how much to help religious groups, and he noted that the program was a competitive one. We dont want to be in a position, for example, in this case, where we are selecting among churches, he said. A 2004 Supreme Court decision, Locke v. Davey, allowed Washington State to offer college scholarships to all students except those pursuing a degree in devotional theology. Mr. Cortman said that case involved direct support for religion. Playgrounds, he argued, were a different matter. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg asked whether the church could demand as a matter of federal constitutional right that that playground be funded, even though they have an admissions policy that favors members of their church? WASHINGTON The Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down a Colorado law that made it hard for criminal defendants whose convictions were overturned to get refunds of the fines and restitution they had been ordered to pay. Colorado may not presume a person, adjudged guilty of no crime, nonetheless guilty enough for monetary exactions, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote for the majority. The vote was 7 to 1. Five justices joined Justice Ginsburgs majority opinion, and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. concurred on other grounds. Justice Clarence Thomas dissented, and Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, who just joined the court, did not participate. The state law required people cleared by the courts to file separate civil suits and prove their innocence with clear and convincing evidence to obtain reimbursement. Critics said the law was part of a national trend to extract fees and fines from people who find themselves enmeshed in the criminal justice system. The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against the publisher of a popular alt-right website, claiming that he orchestrated a terror campaign against a Jewish woman in Montana. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the woman, Tanya Gersh, accuses the publisher of The Daily Stormer, Andrew Anglin, of unleashing a troll storm by publishing an article in December that listed Ms. Gershs contact information and exhorted readers to take action against her. In the weeks and months that followed, the lawsuit contends, Mr. Anglin continued to publish pieces about Ms. Gersh. Along with her family, she received more than 700 harassing messages, including death threats, and a message on Twitter to her son suggesting that he pursue a free Xbox located inside an oven, the suit says. Speaking with reporters by telephone on Tuesday, Ms. Gersh said she is no longer working and attends trauma therapy twice a week. As a result, Richard Cohen, the law centers president, said the group, along with its Montana-based co-counsel, intends to seek a very, very substantive award for damages, which will send a message that the kind of hate Mr. Anglin coordinated has to stop. Can our workouts be shaped by what our friends do? That question is at the heart of an important new study of exercise behavior, one of the first to use so-called big data culled from a large-scale, global social network of workout routines. The researchers focused on running, because so many of the network participants were runners. And what they found suggests that whether and how much we exercise can depend to a surprising extent on our responses to other peoples training. The results also offer some practical advice for the runners among us, suggesting that if you wish to improve your performance, you might want to become virtual friends with people who are just a little bit slower than you are. There have been intimations for some time that aspects of our lifestyles and health can be contagious. Using data from surveys and postings on social media, scientists have reported that obesity, anxiety, weight loss and certain behaviors, including exercise routines, may be shared and intensified among friends. MEXICO CITY When the authorities caught up with him at a lakeside hotel in Guatemala this past weekend, Javier Duarte, a fugitive former Mexican governor, went quietly. Less than a week earlier, the Italian police had surrounded another former Mexican state governor, Tomas Yarrington, as he finished dinner at a restaurant on a Florentine piazza, ending his five years on the run. At least three other former Mexican state governors are missing, and more than a half-dozen are under investigation or fighting prosecution on corruption charges. Whatever the accusations, the governors in this rogues gallery share at least one trait: All behaved as if they were untouchable. The decades of impunity have generated a level of audacity and absurdity that we have never seen in Mexico, said Max Kaiser, an anticorruption expert at the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness, a research organization. SEOUL, South Korea When news broke less than two weeks ago that the Trump administration was sending the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson to the Korean Peninsula, many South Koreans feared a war with North Korea. Others cheered for Washington, calling the deployment a powerful symbol of its commitment to deterring the North. On Wednesday, after it was revealed that the carrier strike group was actually thousands of miles away and had been heading in the opposite direction, toward the Indian Ocean, South Koreans felt bewildered, cheated and manipulated by the United States, their countrys most important ally. Trumps lie over the Carl Vinson, read a headline on the website of the newspaper JoongAng Ilbo on Wednesday. Xi Jinping and Putin must have had a good jeer over this one. Like North Korea, which is often accused of displaying fake missiles during military parades, is the United States, too, now employing bluffing as its North Korea policy? the article asked. JAKARTA, Indonesia The Christian governor of Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, lost a bitterly contested race on Wednesday that was widely seen as a test of religious and ethnic tolerance in the worlds most populous Muslim-majority nation. Just hours after the polls closed, the governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, conceded defeat to his main challenger, Anies Baswedan, a former minister of education, who had a commanding lead in the voting. Mr. Basuki congratulated Mr. Anies and implored his supporters to forget all the things that happened during the campaign a reference to the religious and racially tinged nature of the election. Official results by the General Elections Commission of Indonesia will not be released until next week. It was a crushing defeat for Mr. Basuki. Opinion polls just before the election had suggested that he was in a dead heat with Mr. Anies, who is Muslim. TAIPEI, Taiwan Taiwans government said on Wednesday that a Chinese political activist who intended to apply for asylum had voluntarily returned to China after meeting with the immigration authorities. His departure spares the government a potential diplomatic tangle as it continues to seek information on the detention of a Taiwanese rights advocate in China last month. Zhang Xiangzhong, 48, an anticorruption campaigner who spent three years in prison in China, had arrived in Taiwan on April 12 as part of an eight-day group tour. The next day he abandoned the group and on Friday said in an interview with Radio Free Asia that he planned to apply for political refugee status. But according to a statement from Taiwans Mainland Affairs Council, Mr. Zhang flew back to China on Wednesday morning with his tour group. Mr. Zhang, who had called for greater transparency from the Chinese government, was detained in 2013 for gathering a crowd to disrupt public order. In 2014 he was sentenced on what his lawyers said was a trumped-up charge of credit card fraud, and he was released last July. Mr. Zhang told Radio Free Asia that his conviction was based on a forced confession obtained through torture and that his health had deteriorated while in prison because of a lack of medication for his asthma. Theres legitimate concern about Zhangs safety after hes sent back to China, said Patrick Poon, a researcher at Amnesty International in Hong Kong. The grant has been reduced since 2010 by 23 percent, he said, prompting the loss of 600 of 2,900 council staff members. Mr. Robinson says laws made in Edinburgh or Westminster often fail to fit a rural community, and says he thinks that Brexit and Scotlands independence debate provide a political opportunity to bring more powers to Shetland. As to Mr. Hill, Mr. Robinson thinks there probably is a doubt as to the constitutional status of Shetland, but added that Mr. Hills antics over time have grown to irritate people. Now 74, Mr. Hill arrived here in 2001 after being shipwrecked off Shetland on an ill-fated trip around Britain in a 15-foot boat a voyage that he says prompted nine lifeboat call-outs and one helicopter rescue mission, winning him the nickname Captain Calamity. So difficult to reach is Forvik, which Mr. Hill says means island of the bay of sheep, that he visits only about twice a year, though a shelter he built there in 2008 is still standing. A fount of self-taught legal and historical knowledge, Mr. Hill describes himself as Forviks acting first minister. With plans to create a Forvik passport and another attempt to test the authority of Shetlands court this time over planning permission Mr. Hill says he thinks he can make the Shetland Islands the epicenter of the breakup of monolithic states. Ms. Manson thinks that future generations will erect statues to Mr. Hill, though, right now, even he accepts that he divides opinion. There are a lot of people who support what I do, because they know that my heart is in Shetland, he said, before acknowledging, There is the other side that think that Im just a complete nutter, and that I should go away and mind my own business. The post-audience greetings in the section are something akin to a V.I.P. rope line, and a way for visiting dignitaries to get to meet the pope without a formal audience. Often, though, the pope is unaware of the people he is meeting there, and Wednesdays exchange with Mr. OReilly echoed the popes 2015 meeting in the United States with Kim Davis, a county clerk in Kentucky who became a conservative hero for defying a court order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. That meeting struck a discordant note with the rest of Francis visit to the United States, but many conservative American Catholics, who have criticized the popes inclusive agenda, pointed to it as proof that the pope had not departed from the traditional culture war agenda. Mr. OReilly falls on the conservative side of the divide and in February 2016 lectured Francis over immigration after the pope stepped into the heated American presidential campaign. In remarks that appeared aimed at Donald J. Trump, who had pledged to build a wall at the border with Mexico, Francis said: A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. Days later, on his television show, Mr. OReilly, who has been a prominent booster of Mr. Trump, said: The pope. I would very much like to speak with him. And if I can arrange that, I would like to bring the family of Kate Steinle with me, he said, referring to an American woman killed by a Mexican laborer who had been deported from the United States multiple times, a case often brought up by Mr. Trump on the campaign trail. Finally, Mr. OReilly added, I would suggest to Pope Francis that millions of Americans have been harmed economically by our immigration system, which desperately needs reform. I think I could persuade the pope that providing protection and enforcing settled law is certainly not un-Christian. It was unclear if Mr. OReilly said as much during his interaction on Wednesday with Francis, who has made mercy a cornerstone of his pontificate. A priest translating for the English-speaking visitors and pilgrims summarized Francis remarks made to the general audience and then told the ticket-holding attendees the pope would give them his apostolic blessing and bless their religious artifacts. On a chilly morning at the Vatican, Francis circled the piazza in his popemobile and spoke to the faithful about how happiness and joy can grow where everyone thinks there is only sadness, defeat and shadow. God makes his most beautiful flowers bloom amid the most arid rocks, Francis said. Then he gave a special greeting to English-speaking pilgrims, including Mr. OReilly, saying: I invoke upon you and your families the loving mercy of God our Father. BAGNERES-DE-BIGORRE, France In the final days before Frances presidential election on Sunday, Emmanuel Macron was tramping through the snow high in the mountains near the Spanish border for a critical campaign stop near this tiny village where his grandparents once lived. With the race exceptionally tight, it seemed an unlikely place for any candidate. Hardly a voter was in sight. Instead, what Mr. Macron later described as a pilgrimage, with some 20 journalists in tow, was in part intended to show his human side, to reflect his connection to a terroir a definable place and personal history that French voters could latch onto. With no political party to speak of, and never having held elected office, Mr. Macron, 39, a onetime investment banker and former economy minister, is leading an improbable quest to become modern Frances youngest president. His profile is that of an insider, but his policies are those of an outsider. If the ever-precocious Mr. Macron is to succeed, his first challenge is to sell a product still largely unfamiliar to almost everyone: himself. That Mr. Macron is such an unknown underscores his unusual position in a French election that, to some degree, is a referendum on the future of Europe. The far-right leader Marine Le Pen threatens to take France out of the European Union. By contrast, Mr. Macron is ardently pro-Europe and has portrayed himself almost as the anti-Le Pen. ISTANBUL Dozens of members of Turkeys political opposition were arrested in dawn raids on Wednesday, as a crackdown began on those questioning the legitimacy of a referendum on Sunday to expand the powers of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Mr. Erdogan has claimed a narrow 51.4 percent to 48.6 percent victory in the vote, but protesters in pockets of the country have marched in the streets every night since then to demonstrate against what they assert was a rigged election. After warnings from Mr. Erdogan, at least 38 people accused of participating in the protests were rounded up Wednesday morning or issued arrest warrants, according to lawyers and relatives of the detained. Despite the arrests hundreds of people gathered in several cities across Turkey on Wednesday evening in a show of defiance. LONDON Less than 12 months after deciding to quit the European Union, Britons will vote on many of the same questions again, after lawmakers on Wednesday agreed to call an early general election, the outcome of which could shape Britains relations with its closest neighbors for decades to come. By an overwhelming vote of 522 to 13, British lawmakers agreed to hold elections on June 8 at the request of Prime Minister Theresa May, who hopes to strengthen her parliamentary support and gain a freer hand to negotiate Britains withdrawal from the bloc. The outcome of Wednesdays vote in Parliament was never in doubt, even with the requirement of a two-thirds threshold to call a snap election that, until Tuesday morning, Mrs. May and her aides had insisted would not happen. Electioneering was already underway during the parliamentary debate, with party leaders exchanging insults, as well as highlighting some of the thorniest issues Britain faces today. Those include the clarity of Britains break with the European Union, the stark inequality among the countrys regions and the future of Scotland, where there are growing calls for a new referendum on independence. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia Defense Secretary Jim Mattis called on Wednesday for a political solution in Yemen between Sunni Arabs, supported by a Saudi-led coalition, and Iranian-backed Houthis, but he stopped short of publicly warning Americas Sunni allies against a planned bombing campaign targeting the port city of Al Hudaydah. Human rights officials have warned that bombing Al Hudaydah could lead to a humanitarian crisis in Yemen, and Mr. Mattiss remarks were in line with those of many officials in the region that the Saudi coalitions war against the Houthis, begun two years ago, cannot be won militarily. American officials hinted at additional military and intelligence support for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in Yemen. They said a stepped-up military campaign against the Houthi fighters who have taken over the capital and portions of the country may be necessary to bring the group and its ally, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen, to the negotiating table. In Yemen, our goal is to push this conflict into U.N.-brokered negotiations to make sure it is ended as soon as possible, Mr. Mattis said during a short news conference after a night and a day of meetings with King Salman of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. WASHINGTON Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson described a landmark Iran nuclear deal as a failure on Wednesday, only hours after the State Department said Tehran was complying with its terms. But the top United States diplomat stopped short of threatening to jettison the 2015 agreement that was brokered by world powers, or saying whether the Trump administration would punish Iran with new sanctions. The whiplash left Republicans on Capitol Hill, who had universally excoriated the agreement to limit Irans nuclear program and voted against its implementation, uncertain of how to respond. Its architects, however, said they were cautiously optimistic that the deal would stay in place. The nuclear deal fails to achieve the objective of a non-nuclear Iran, Mr. Tillerson said. It only delays their goal of becoming a nuclear state. He said that Iran continued to threaten the United States and the rest of the world, and he announced that the Trump administration was reviewing ways to counter challenges posed by Tehran. Happy special election day, everyone! Were going to be watching the results of a very unusual congressional race in Georgia, where Democrats are trying to snatch away the House seat once held by Tom Price, President Trumps health secretary. Both parties have pumped millions into the election, and its become a significant test of the Republican Partys strength in a red-leaning district. Most polling locations close at 7 p.m., and we should get the earliest results soon after that. I would take this standard and apply it to the possession of nuclear weapons. There are those who shouldn't have nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them. (The reality of course is that no nation should have nuclear weapons) In the case of North Korea, we have one man who decides everything that goes on in that country on a national level, who wasn't elected and seems to have no opposition whatsoever to anything he says or does. Speaking for myself, I wouldn't trust this person in my neighborhood with a loaded gun. Having Kim Un Sung in the possession of nuclear weapons or Thermo-nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them is tantamount to having someone not only possessing a gun, but having an assault rifle and ten 20 round clips. Some that say that it is hypocritical for the nation that developed this type of weapon and who possesses a stockpile of nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them, to tell another country that they shouldn't have them. This may be true, and we may not have the right to do this, and we may be wrong in the belief that we should have these types of weapons, and no one else should possess them, in this case I really don't care if we are hypocritical. I would be the first one to rid the planet of all types of nuclear weapons. Still, the decision to develop atomic weapons was made before I was born. I was born 66 years ago and most people reading this article, although not everyone, have not been around this long. Even though, I spent 20 years supposedly "serving my nation" in the military, I have never subscribed to the development of nuclear weapons by either the United States or the old Soviet Union. It has always been my belief that people should never have let the United States government or the Russians, after seeing the carnage of World War II, have let their governments develop nuclear weapons, especially after seeing what it did to the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In my defense, I was 17 years old when I entered the military and wasn't as astute as I am now. I wore my uniform to protest the Vietnam War and attended the Washington veterans against the Vietnam War demonstration. Still, I never realized how corrupt our government or and other governments around the world really were. In the case of my outlook on the government in Washington along with other governments of the world, I didn't start to see what was underneath the veil of propaganda and secrecy until after 9/11 and the run-up to the disastrous war against the country of Iraq. I was retired from the military at that time and I saw how the mainstream media was marching to the tune of war and spouting the propaganda of Washington, even though Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. With my military experience, I understood how Bush and his minions were misleading the American people. This is when I started writing politically on a small blog of my own. Since then, I have been writing about lies and propaganda whenever I see it. In the case of the present situation in Korea, I see only a madman that rules and isolated nation, virtually unaware of what goes on in the world, developing nuclear weapons and the capability of using them against other nations. The hate that North Korea and to an extent even South Korea has towards the nation of Japan is real and understandable. The hate that North Korea has towards the United States is also real and understandable. Even though the North Koreans might have justification for despising the United States, it would be foolish to let them develop weapons of mass destruction, no matter how justified they believe they are. The facts are that the leader of North Korea and his government cannot be trusted with nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them. I don't like Donald Trump and I don't like American foreign policy and I distrust my own government to the extent that I can't watch mainstream media or read most American publications for that matter, because I believe this country is sleepwalking towards a fascism. I do believe however, that what our government is saying about North Korea is totally correct and letting them have long-range ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads is about the worst thing that can happen. (Although some may say it is poetic justice). They might not develop long-range ballistic missiles in my lifetime, but they surely will in my children and grandchildren's lifetimes and I'm not comfortable with that. I think that our government, along with other governments, must insist that North Korea stop its nuclear program. Like other people, I worry that the use of force would involve tremendous death and destruction to not only North Korea, but South Korea, and could escalate out of control and could start World War III. Still, I would hope that the nations of the world will unite to deny North Korea the means to launch nuclear attacks on Japan and the United States. I implore people to get involved and make the American government realized that they cannot command North Korea to give up its weapons program because they're threatening to use of force. The truth is that North Korea is not going to unilaterally give up its nuclear program because of the dictates of the United States. The only way that North Korea is going to give up its nuclear program is if they get something in return. The last time that North Korea suspended its nuclear program, the United States immediately began demonizing them and continued with its threats and sanctions. The United States must realize that it no longer is a policeman of the world. The world does not bend to the will of the Americans because of its economic and military power. The United States must also realize that great powers and empires come and go. No single country or Empire can dictate what the world does forever. America must realize that the world now is no longer the world it was after the second world war. After the second world war America's economy was 54% of the world economy. This is no longer the case. America has only been a world power in the last 100 years. This is a second of time in the history of the world. The truth is that soon, the United States will no longer be the dominant economic or military power. This may hurt the feelings of the far right in America, but this is the way of civilization Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Anthony Perry v Merit Systems Protection Board (Image by Tanya Ward Jordan) Details DMCA The Anthony Perry v Merit Systems Protection Board case presented a technical and rather critical question to the Supreme Court about appeals from the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) decisions. The MSPB is an independent, quasi-judicial agency in the executive branch that reviews federal employees' "adverse-action" claims that they were wrongly fired, demoted or suspended. If an employee's adverse-action challenge also involves a claim under the federal anti-discrimination laws, it is referred to as a "mixed" case. In Perry's underline case, Anthony Perry (an African-American male) who worked as an IT specialist for the Commerce's Census Bureau for almost 30 years, argued that he had a "mixed case." He also asserted that Commerce officials coerced him into a settlement agreement that led to his retirement, and that the notice of proposed removal commerce officials gave him was the product of race, age, disability discrimination, and retaliation. Rather than hear Perry's claims, the MSPB ultimately ruled that the Board lacked jurisdiction to conduct a hearing on Perry's claim because both the suspension and retirement were "voluntary." MSPB ruled that Perry's retirement resulted from a valid settlement agreement and not a "mixed case" appealable to the Board. Perry, who had been representing himself "pro se" steadfastly, disagrees. The Board never addressed the discrimination claims. The question the Supreme Court with Gorsuch on the bench must answer is --- Whether an MSPB decision dismissing a mixed case on "jurisdictional grounds" is subject to judicial review in district court or in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. In 2012, in Kloeckner v. Solis, the Supreme Court seemingly acted to answer the question of what the appropriate forum for federal civil-service employees appealing decisions of the MSPB in mixed cases. In Klocekner v Solis the court held unanimously that: "A federal employee who claims that an agency action appealable to the Merit Systems Protection Board violates an antidiscrimination statute listed in 5 U.S.C. 7702(a)(1) should seek judicial review in district court , rather than the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, regardless whether the MSPB decided her case on procedural grounds or on the merits." However, in Perry v. Merit Systems Protection Board, the SCOTUS with Justice Neil Gorsuch on the bench is to decide whether the answer is different from Kloeckner when the MSPB actually rejects an employee's claim for "lack of jurisdiction" because the Board deems the adverse employment action not appealable. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). (Image by Love Thy Nature) Details DMCA Almost a year ago, I conducted an interview with Sylvie Rokab, director of Love Thy Nature. We spoke extensively about the disconnect between people and nature. Our conversation included the question of whether Americans -- and the rest of the world -- had the political will necessary to make the required changes to combat climate change. Three months into the Trump administration, the situation has worsened. Trump has stacked his cabinet with fossil fuel cronies, slashed the EPA budget, and threatened to pull out of the Paris Climate Accords. In my original article about the documentary, I included the quote from social scientist Duane Elgin: "We are so far away from nature, that we are running into an evolutionary wall." With Earth Day and the People's Climate March approaching, I contacted Rokab once again to find out how she believes citizens can fight to protect our country's natural resources, the air we breathe, and the future of our children -- specifically under these new dire circumstances. How concerned are you about the impact of the Trump agenda? Do you think we've reached a tipping point? "We're seeing before our eyes decades of environmental protection pulverizing into smog, so yes, I am very concerned. On the other hand, the strong momentum in the areas of nature protection and sustainable development won't be erased overnight. Pablo Neruda once said: "When you see the boom of sustainable developments like wind and solar around the world, when you see the substantial increase in membership of organizations fighting for nature protection and restoration in the United States, you realize that Spring is indeed coming. This is fueled by a large number of people who are rolling up their sleeves and doing something. The People's Climate March on April 29th is already promising to be so significant that it might as well turn into a chapter in history. I can't wait to take the train to downtown Los Angeles to join the march. The darkest times can be the ones to propel us into the future, if we just choose to seize the day." Since we spoke in 2016, how has the film played a part in educating audiences about the need for action? "Every screening of Love Thy Nature is an opportunity for sharing ideas on how to transform ourselves from the inside out -- deepening our connections with nature. So often, our discussions are about how to overcome our own nature deprivation. "Just like any other mammal, we're wired to protect who and what we love: our families, homes, communities, and neighborhoods. In essence, this includes the places and beings that we have a relationship with. What's sad about our times is that many of us have become so disconnected from the natural world that companies are blowing up mountain tops for minerals and most people might not even realize it! Our daily lives are increasingly limited to the boundaries of the cyber world, to the detriment of personal health, and the viability of habitats, rivers, and living beings that surround them. "We need to re-awaken our innate need to connect with nature (Biologist E.O.Wilson calls it 'Biophilia'), and expose ourselves -- especially our children -- to the wonders and realities of their natural world. This can be as simple as twenty minutes a day connecting with the outdoors. Then, it becomes inevitable that we would want to protect nature. "For example, a creature that lives in the dark depths of the ocean would not know the value of color. By the same token, a nature-deprived human will find more value in relating to digital-game animals than to the giraffes of the African plains. Now, if a young person decided to volunteer in Namibia to rescue wild animals, or if adults join with their neighbors on hiking trails and enjoy a river with its ducklings, that's how we start changing our mind-sets to become engaged in the fight to save animals and habitats. When a river we are boating in becomes polluted, it's an impetus to organize to save that river." 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 "In this book, Rob Kall is fueling a discussion that is long overdue, one that can perhaps shake us out of our current herd mentality, back to true community and intertwined purpose. His bottom-up discourse may serve to turn us all upside down just long enough to view our current politic from a different perspective." Dr. Mari K. Swingle, author of i-Minds: How Cell Phones, Computers, Gaming, and Social Media are Changing Our Brains, Our Behavior, and the Evolution of Our Species 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. Last July, while stumping for then-candidate, now-president Donald Trump, US Representative Mike Pompeo (R-KS) gleefully referenced nearly 20,000 Democratic National Committee emails released by the transparency/disclosure journalists at Wikileaks. "Need further proof that the fix was in from Pres. Obama on down?" Pompeo tweeted. The emails showed that DNC officials had worked overtime to rig their party's primaries for eventual nominee Hillary Clinton and against challenger Bernie Sanders. What a difference nine months makes! On April 13, Pompeo -- now in charge at the Central Intelligence Agency -- used the bully pulpit of his first public speech in his new job to call out his old ally as "a nonstate hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia." WikiLeaks says that no, it is not in fact abetted by Vladimir Putin's regime. If I have to choose between believing WikiLeaks or believing Mike Pompeo, I'll believe WikiLeaks six days a week and twice on Sunday. Over the course of more than a decade, WikiLeaks has built a sterling reputation for delivering the real goods on various governments (including Russia's). The next document it releases which is shown to be fake will be the first. WikiLeaks has earned the trust of the public -- and moreover, it has shown that it trusts the public with information about what our governments are doing in our names and with our money. The US intelligence community, on the other hand, spies on us, lies to us about it, and expects us to pick up the check even after decades of irrefutable evidence of its dishonesty and incompetence. The publicly released evidence for Pompeo's allegation that WikiLeaks is in bed with the Russians is: Zero, zip, zilch, nada, a big fat goose-egg. If Pompeo has any such evidence, he's keeping it secret. And that's not very believable: After all, the CIA has done a pretty poor job of keeping secrets lately. WikiLeaks is in the process of releasing "Vault 7," a trove of CIA documents revealing the agency's work to subvert the electronic devices we all use on a daily basis and spy on us through them. If Pompeo had any evidence that WikiLeaks was working with or for Putin, someone (maybe even WikiLeaks itself) would likely have already procured and published that information. Just sayin'. WikiLeaks has changed the world, and it's changed it for the better. Pompeo and his old and busted spy mill, not so much. 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 RUSSIA: (19 April 2017). Thirty Years From Now. Russia News Today. INDIA: (18 April 2017). In the Year 2047. Indian Defence Review. ISRAEL: (18 April 2017). In the Year 2047. MEPeace. [Middle East Peace] NEW ZEALAND: (18 April 2017). In the Year 2047 | Meditation In The Military -- A Short Story by Dr. David Leffler. Transients. NEWS SERVICE: (17 April 2017). In the Year 2047: Military Future Affairs. The Daily Journalist. NIGERIA: (17 April 2017). In the Year 2047. The Nigerian Voice. UNITED STATES: (14 April 2017). In the Year 2047. US Army TRADOC Mad Scientist "Articles of Interest." General of the Army (GA) Camilla Torres was packing her office. As a five-star general, her staff would do this for her, but she insisted on doing it herself, just as she always had from the time she was a young lieutenant. She found that packing her own mementoes promoted purification and growth. It caused her to reflect not only on her previous assignments but on her entire career. Such introspection always brought a realization of what had been accomplished as well as what she could have done better. She learned much from these reflections and appreciated how she had grown. GA Torres was leaving her plush corner office at the United Nations (UN), and the position she had created under great scrutiny from the world's militaries: Guardian of the Peace (GoP). Under her leadership, the GoP had become the most powerful and coveted military position. In the past, militaries derived their strength from threats and using powerful weaponry. In recent years, they had come to realize that true strength is gained by preventing enemies from arising in the first place, victory BEFORE war.[1] Military scientists worldwide were exploring ways to harness the power of the mind to that end. The primary duty of the GoP is to command all countries' Military Prevention Wings:[2] groups of military personnel practicing an advanced consciousness-developing program twice daily. The Prevention Wings responsible for creating and maintaining world peace accomplished this by harnessing the power available at the source of existence, the level of the unified field, a thousand million million times (10 to the 15th power) more powerful than the nuclear force.[3] The ongoing group-meditation technology to take advantage of this energy had so successfully alleviated the collective stresses leading to terrorism and war that war had become a thing of the past. Under GA Torres' command as GoP, the world had experienced a lasting peace that it had never before known. As a result, GA Torres became the first US "General of the Army" since GA Omar Bradley. Previously, this five-star rank was granted only to American generals commanding armies for another nation during a time of war. Because of GA Torres' unprecedented success in establishing and leading Prevention Wings, the President asked Congress to change the rules and bestow this highest rank on all generals commanding the special UN Prevention Wings that maintain peace without fighting. Few Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) officers last all the way through the officer ranks to become generals. Camilla Torres was truly an exception. As early as high school she was already exhibiting the charismatic leadership style that had served her well in her career. A sharp straight "A" student, she turned down scholarships from both USMA at West Point and the US Naval Academy. Instead, she chose to attend Norwich University because it catered to her personal style of being "ahead of the pack." It was the right fit for both because Norwich historically has pioneered bold innovative ideas. It was the birthplace of ROTC and the first military educational school to admit women. The quote immediately caught her attention because she was interested in the medical field and was planning on entering the nursing program offered at Norwich. She already knew from the nurses who recognized her potential and were mentoring her that nursing was a stressful profession, especially so in the US Army. Military nurses are often required to work long days and nights under challenging conditions to accomplish their mission. This is why she decided to learn and practice the TM technique twice a day, every day at Norwich, and continued with this practice after she was commissioned in the US Army. The profound deep rest it provided gave her a competitive edge over her colleagues. Traditionally people in the medical fields display their degrees on the wall of their offices in order to confer credibility. GA Torres was no exception; they were proudly displayed on the wall of her UN office. As she took them down to pack, she fondly glanced at her Norwich diploma. The "summa cum laude" designation certainly caught visitors' attention over the years. This prestigious hard-earned designation also appeared on all of her other noteworthy degrees including her MD from Johns Hopkins. The diploma that attracted the most attention over the years and had gotten her the most notice was the uncommon wording on her online MS degree in Maharishi Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine:[6] "By participating in the collective practice of the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field, this graduate has directly enlivened the unified field in world consciousness, intensifying global coherence and giving the world a taste of utopia." She smiled to herself as she packed away this diploma; these were certainly words she had lived by. These bold words served her well later in her career when they caught the attention of GEN Rufus Jackson. Every four-star general has a general's aide who is a nurse. The general selected MAJ Torres because of her outstanding record as a competent, capable and intelligent leader. They first met as he was walking by her newly assigned office with his entourage and noticed her boxes piled up outside. Her door was wide open so he let himself in and introduced himself and his staff. She was hanging her unconventional diploma prominently featuring a photo of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in full beard and Eastern dress. The general had never seen such a unique diploma. As he looked it over, reading out loud the visionary words, he asked with a puzzled look: "What does this mean?" She smiled, basking in the attention of the general and his staff, and said: "Yes, they are prescient words, but as an experienced leader this might be of interest you. Serotonin is a powerful neurohormone. It can mediate feelings of happiness, contentment, and even euphoria. Research indicates that leaders exhibit higher levels of serotonin. Research also indicates that low levels of serotonin correlate with aggression, poor emotional moods and violence. You would be interested to know that a peer-reviewed publication reports that when the size of a large group of people meditating at Maharishi's university changed, serotonin production of people in the nearby community changed correspondingly. The results suggest a plausible neurophysiologic mechanism that could explain the reduced aggression and hostility found in a whole society in the vicinity of large groups of individuals practicing this type of meditation together.[7] Not only are we humans influenced by the unified field, but we derive our very being from that field. Thus we influence that unified field through our thoughts and deeds, especially strongly through the advanced TM techniques I have studied." "That's a bold statement, young lady," the general said, "It's good that you are tuned in to the scientific research. Without good research to back these claims, people will not take you seriously." Years later, after finishing her assignment, COL Torres again met GEN Jackson, now retired, to ask his advice on how to handle her recent acceptance into the US Army War College (USAWC). "Camille," he said, "From the very first day we met I felt it in my bones - this is a gal who will rise to the highest levels of command." As GA Torres took down her USAWC Masters diploma off the wall, she reflected on her time well spent there. She had learned valuable information from the required military-history readings. Militaries are traditionally conservative to new ideas. As an example, tanks were first used to follow-up after the infantry rather than to lead, because military leaders were initially afraid to use this new technology. They only reluctantly agreed to deploy tanks with the tactics they were accustomed to. She remembered reading that Dwight Eisenhower, soon after WWI, was threatened with court-martial by the Chief of Infantry. His offense? Advocating revolutionary new ways to deploy tanks. In his Infantry Journal article,[8] Eisenhower pioneered what is now called a Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA). Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Reprinted from www.mikemalloy.com by Unknown Doctors dragged off airplanes, live murders broadcast on Facebook, Utah's firing squad executions . . . . Our nation is going insane. And Mike Pence shows up at the DMZ wearing a Bushesque leather flight jacket and Kim Jong Crazy vows to test missiles on a weekly basis. We should've dressed Pence up like Dennis Rodman, maybe. Oh, and in a UN press conference N. Korean representative suggested that the US is prompting a nuclear war. Yeah, we're in deep sh*t. CNN has more: Only at a North Korean press conference at the United Nations, can you hear a diplomat say he hoped journalists had a good holiday weekend and then warn of possible thermonuclear war. North Korea has consistently issued threats of war toward the United States in recent decades, but the Trump administration's announced end of a "strategic patience" policy with Pyongyang has upped the ante in terms of warnings and bellicose rhetoric. North Korea's UN deputy representative, Kim In Ryong, on Monday unleashed at a hastily called UN press conference a torrent of threats, war scenarios and rhetoric aimed at the United States. North Korea's UN ambassador condemned the US naval buildup in the waters off the Korean Peninsula, plus the US missile attacks on Syria. Kim said, "It has created a dangerous situation in which thermonuclear war may break out at any moment on the peninsula and poses a serious threat to world peace and security." While reporters at the United Nations have heard similar rhetoric from North Koreans before, Monday's forceful wording was on a higher level. The deputy ambassador, reading from a statement, told reporters, "The US is disturbing the global peace and stability and insisting on the gangster-like logic that its invasion of a sovereign state is 'decisive, and just, and proportionate' and contributes to 'defending' the international order in its bid to apply it to the Korean Peninsula as well." Kim said his country is ready to react to any "mode of war" from the United States. Any missile or nuclear strike by the United States would be responded to "in kind," said the North Korea representative. USS Carl Vinson sailed away from, not to, Korean Peninsula ., degrees .. The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, which was supposedly headed to the Korean peninsula, has actually ... (Image by YouTube, Channel: ARIRANG NEWS) Details DMCA Aircraft carrier Carl Vinson sailing into Indian Ocean 3500 miles away from the Korean peninsula The sound you just heard was a sigh of relief- at least for the present. The Carl Vinson carrier task force the Trump administration had announced as headed for the Korean peninsula-in response to North Korea testing ballistic missiles- is according to a New York Times account [1] is now heading in the opposite direction toward the Indian Ocean for war games with the Australian Navy. The Times alluded to a "Defense News" report [2] which revealed the Vinson "On Saturday-according to photographs released by the U.S. Navy-the carrier passed north through the Sunda Strait, the passage between Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java. It's about 3500 miles from Korea." That revelation was confirmed by "U.S. Navy officials in Pearl Harbor and Washington declined to comment on the ships movements other than to confirm the April 15 movement through the Sunda Strait". Then lastly the Defense News report had this to say, "off the record, several officials expressed wonderment at the persistent reports that the Vinson was already nearing Korea, 'We've made no such statement', said one official". Well... considering all the bombast we heard lately from the likes of President Trump, his press secretary Sean Spicer, Pentagon spokesman Dana White, Defense Secretary James Mattis, national security advisor H. R. McMaster and Vice President Mike Pence visiting the South Korean side of the demilitarized zone all mouthing assertions the Vinson would bring a show of force that would deter North Korean leader Kim Song un to desist further testing of his ballistic missiles, one would think the US was heading for a direct military confrontation with a North Korea possessing nuclear weapons. That reported carrier task force heading for Korea would hardly be a minor provocation taken lightly by Kim who revealed at the time he'd keep testing ballistic missiles every week and continue to develop his nuclear arsenal as a deterrent against any US attack. Somehow sanity came about within the Trump crowd and a potential conflict was averted at least for the moment. Actually it's anyone's guess how sanity prevailed in this instance considering the belligerent outfit filling the White House corridors. Maybe the realization provoking Kim with a task force heading in his direction might indeed be a bad idea. Maybe China's President Xi -who met Trump a week ago in Florida- called the "Donald" got Trump's attention in time to avert a potential disastrous conflict. Who knows. But leave no doubt there's an unpredictability to the Trump gang starting with the president himself and no one knows what the next hornet's nest this mob will stir up. The Times article read like a bad "who done it", something reminiscent of a Keystone Kops episode or the gang that couldn't shoot straight or simply the right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing. But today's reality isn't old Hollywood when provocations made by the US could result in the unthinkable. 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). Reprinted from consortiumnews.com An early insider account of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, entitled Shattered, reveals a paranoid presidential candidate who couldn't articulate why she wanted to be President and who oversaw an overconfident and dysfunctional operation that failed to project a positive message or appeal to key voting groups. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaking with supporters in Phoenix, Arizona. March 21, 2016. (Photo by Gage Skidmore) Okay, I realize that people who have been watching Rachel Maddow and other MSNBC programs -- as well as reading The New York Times and The Washington Post for the past four months -- "know" that Clinton ran a brilliant campaign that was only derailed because of "Russian meddling." But this insider account from reporters Jonathan Allen and Annie Parnes describes something else. As The Wall Street Journal review notes, the book "narrates the petty bickering, foolish reasoning and sheer arrogance of a campaign that was never the sure thing that its leader and top staffers assumed. " Mr. Allen and Ms. Parnes stress two essential failures of the campaign, the first structural, the second political. The campaign's structure, the authors write, was an 'unholy mess, fraught with tangled lines of authority, petty jealousies, and no sense of greater purpose.'" The book portrays Hillary Clinton as distant from her campaign staff, accessible primarily through her close aide, Huma Abedin, and thus creating warring factions within her bloated operation. According to the Journal's review by Barton Swaim, the book's authors suggest that this chaos resulted from "the fact that Mrs. Clinton didn't know why she wanted to be president. At one point no fewer than 10 senior aides were working on her campaign announcement speech, not one had a clear understanding of why Americans should cast their vote for Mrs. Clinton and not someone else. The speech, when she finally delivered it, was a flop -- aimless, boring, devoid of much beyond bromides." The book cites a second reason for Clinton's dismal performance -- her team's reliance on analytics rather than on reaching out to real voters and their concerns. There is also an interesting tidbit regarding Clinton's attitude toward the privacy of her staff's emails. "After losing to Mr. Obama in the protracted 2008 primary," the Journal's review says, Clinton "was convinced that she had lost because some staffers -- she wasn't sure who -- had been disloyal. So she 'instructed a trusted aide to access the campaign's server and download the [email] messages sent and received by top staffers.'" Nixonian Paranoia In other words, Clinton -- in some Nixonian fit of paranoia -- violated the privacy of her senior advisers in her own mole hunt, a revelation that reflects on her own self-described "mistake" to funnel her emails as Secretary of State through a private server rather than a government one. As the Journal's review puts it: "she didn't want anyone reading her emails the way she was reading those of her 2008 staffers." Sen. Bernie Sanders speaking to one of his large crowds of supporters. (Photo credit: Sanders campaign) But there is even a greater irony in this revelation because of the current complaint from Clinton and her die-hard supporters that Russia sabotaged her campaign by releasing emails via WikiLeaks from the DNC, which described how party leaders had torpedoed the campaign of Clinton's rival for the nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and other emails from her campaign chairman John Podesta, revealing the contents of Clinton's paid speeches to Wall Street banks and some pay-to-play features of the Clinton Foundation. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). SiGMA 2017 Will Pack A Punch April 19, 2017 Claude de Cuba The Summit of iGaming Malta (SiGMA) has doubled in size each year since its first summit in 2014. The fourth edition of SiGMA is going to be bigger and better than ever. Whether you're an iGaming rookie, a big name or somewhere in between, we highly recommend you make the trip to Malta Nov. 22-25. With over 6,000 projected attendees and a multitude of networking events, odds are you'll meet the right people to help you with your future endeavors. A Thousand Free Flights After their success allocating 300 free flights last year for affiliates, SiGMA has decided to more than triple the offer and is giving away 1,000 free flights for this years edition. The first 500 flights will go to new business affiliates, guaranteeing a fresh new wave of opportunities at this years event. The second half of the free 1,000 flights will go to top level executives (e.g. casino managers, payment officers, CEOs, COOs and the like). Make sure you register on time to claim your free ticket! Startup Pitch 2017 Last year the SiGMA Startup Pitch launched. This year, the Startup Pitch will be given a second go bringing the best 40 startups and several investors together. All the 40 shortlisted startups will be given a free 2m2 booth at SiGMA17 and a consultancy package. From then on, only the top eight startups deemed to have the most potential will move on to the finals and be given an opportunity to make their pitch. Each startup in the finals will be given a three-minute presentation spot which will be followed by a Q&A session from the investors and then the audience. Six investors are already confirmed to be participating including Morten Klein from Klein Group and Carla Maree Vella from Optimizer Invest. Two investor spots are still waiting to be filled by those interested. Check out how the Startup Pitch of last year was set up in the video below: Careers Convention On the second day of the expo between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m., IT developers and graduates (e.g. ICT, law, accountancy, etc.) will have the opportunity to come in contact with recruiters and potential employers. HR departments of exhibiting gaming companies will be present for all inquiries. The Venue The Malta Fairs & Convention Centre (MFCC) in TaQali will host SiGMA17. There will be six themed bars, three restaurants and two lounges within the so-called iGaming Village. Enjoy a drink, a lunch or a cigar on the house at SiGMA17! There will also be a free shuttle service which should make your visit at SiGMA a smooth and comfortable one. The conference venue will have a similar setup from the year before with round tables and a large stage. SiGMA17 will hold four conferences. There are also numerous featured seminars. For exact dates and times, check out the schedule here. Sharelines SiGMA 2017 will have a lot to offer for affiliates, operators and iGaming fanatics. This last Friday, Kendrick Lamar released his third studio album DAMN., blessing us with 14 hot new tracks right in time for the summer. One part of the album gaining heat in the press though, is Kendrick calling out Fox News anchorman Geraldo Rivera, who he directly references in the song, "Yah.": After the release of To Pimp A Butterfly in 2015, the chorus to the hit single "Alright" became a popular chant during various demonstrations against police brutality, which Geraldo (and Fox News as a whole) chose to spin as yet another "criminal rap artist" attempting to inspire violence. A clip of Geraldo reading aloud the lyrics of "Alright" on his Fox News show can be seen below, where he reprimands the rapper's "violent" message: Now what you might not know about Kendrick Lamar, if you're only a fan of his party tracks and don't really listen to the lyrics, is that this actually isn't the first time he's sent shots at Fox News. Here are 6 times that Kendrick took shots at Fox News (and you didn't even know it) 1. "Rigamortus," from Section.80 Even from the start of his rap career, when he began slowly gaining mainstream appeal with his mixtape Section.80, K. Dot has had beef with the right-wing news network. Look at his heated bars regarding Ted Stossel, who once had a nightly programme on Fox News: Yikes. Good luck bouncing back from that one. 2. "F**kin' Problems" by A$AP Rocky, feat. Drake, 2 Chainz, and Kendrick Lamar It's 2013, and Kendrick's now been featured on A$AP Rocky's hit track "F**kin' Problems," along with Drake and 2 Chainz. But the spotlight wasn't enough for our boy from Compton, who had to go in a little deeper with his verse: Woah, I've never seen Sean Hannity ever do anything but sit down, but that's gotta hurt. 3. "Backseat Freestyle," from good kid, m.a.a.d. city The album that cemented Kendrick's status as one of the GOAT rappers out right now, GKMC could arguably be considered the beginning of Kendrick's reign. It's on the fast-paced, grittier song "Backseat Freestyle" where he really starts coming at Fox News' neck. Tucker Carlson: consider your career over. 4. "Control" by Big Sean, feat. Kendrick Lamar Fast-forward a little bit to his feature on Big Sean's "Control," which might as well be called "The Feature Heard Round The World," where Kendrick took the kiddie gloves off and came straight out punching. But there was a certain somebody he mentioned who most of us seemed to forget about: Wait...huh? I mean, I get the part with all of the other rappers, but this seems more... oddly specific? Should we be concerned? 5. "i.", from To Pimp A Butterfly One of the first singles we heard from Kendrick's second album, "i." carried with it a whole new spirit of positive energy and growth, one that we hadn't really gotten from his music in the past. Even then, our boy just couldn't pass a good opportunity to get some punches in: Okay, so apparently Kendrick hangs out with Bill O'Reilly? And they give each other food dares? I really can't make heads or tails of this. 6. "DUCKWORTH.", from DAMN. This one really threw me for a loop, especially since it was in the last song on DAMN., after a huge earth-shattering story that he shares in the last verse. Seriously, take a look for yourself: No! That was you, Kendrick?! You were the one who threw that pie at Rupert Murdoch, Acting CEO of Fox News, during his 2011 UK Parliament hearing on phone hacking? No, that's impossible. There's video and everything Wait a second... Maybe Geraldo was right about you after all, Kung Fu Kenny. Listen to DAMN. by Kendrick Lamar, below on Amazon Music! The award winning actor is a talented but unconventional host for the historic awards show. There's a new face leading this year's Tony Awards ceremony, but he arrives with plenty of experience talking directly to camera. Academy Award winner and House of Cards star Kevin Spacey was announced yesterday to be taking the reins of the awards ceremony honoring the best of Broadway theater. Spacey, who's now most known for being the leader of the free world on Netflix's hit political drama, may not immediately seem like an obvious choice to host, but he does have an impressive track record in the theater. Nominated twice for Tony Awards and winning one for 1991's Lost in Yonkers, Spacey has starred in major New York productions and was last seen in the title role of Shakespeare's Richard III at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. More impressively he spent several years working in London as the Artistic Director of The Old Vic Theatre Company, helping to revitalize the company and bring big name talent to its productions. That's not to say he isn't something of an outside the box choice for this year's show. Reports suggested several other hosts had already been approached and turned down the gig for varying reasons. Spacey himself joked about the process, stating in the announcement, "I was their second choice for Usual Suspects, fourth choice for American Beauty and 15th choice to host this year's Tony Awards. I think my career is definitely going in the right direction. Maybe I can get shortlisted to host the Oscars if everyone else turns it down." Spacey does however stand as a change of pace from recent hosts who have typically been younger song and dance performers like Hugh Jackman, Neil Patrick Harris, and James Corden. While Spacey can sing as evidenced by his portrayal of Bobby Darin in Beyond the Sea, no one is expecting him to pull of the show stopping opening numbers that those previous hosts were able to accomplish. Additionally while Spacey has the wit and timing to land jokes, it's hard to know whether younger audiences will tune in to see him host. With the younger skewing hit musical Dear Evan Hansen likely to be a frontrunner, CBS might've preferred someone who would have more cache with those crowds. Still we won't know how Spacey will fare as host until June 11th when the show airs from Radio City Music Hall on CBS. More from Arts Why you should see this spring's crop of new Broadway plays Broadway musical adaptation of Mean Girls sets premiere date for this fall Previewing this spring's biggest Broadway musicals Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Advanced Infusion Systems Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2016-2026" report to their offering. PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-19 10:20:31 Press Information Future Market Insights 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018, Valley Cottage, NY 10989, United States T: +1-347-918-3531 F: +1-845-579-5705 Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.com Press: press@futuremarketinsights.com Website: www.futuremarketinsights.com email Published by Abhishek Budholiya +1-347-918-3531 e-mail http://www.futuremarketinsights.com # 653 Words 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comPress: press@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: www.futuremarketinsights.comAbhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531 Infusion systems are medical instruments and associated disposables, used to deliver fluids or drugs in solution to patients circulatory system in a controlled, precise and automated manner. There are different routes to introduce a drug into the patients system, of which, highly used mode is through intravenous, although subcutaneous, arterial and epidural infusion are preferred as per the requirement. They are simple devices and gravity controllers that employ a clamping action to vary the flow of liquid under the force of gravity. This instrument was extensively used for medication purpose but, due to association of high mortality rates with it, advanced infusion systems were developed. Facilities like easy start up, visual monitoring, mobility of system, balanced and continues infusion of multiple medications at the same time, patient safety are a few factors which are boosting the growth of the potential market of advanced infusion systems over conventional ones.Advanced Infusion Systems Market: Drivers and RestraintsOverall increase in global population suffering from chronic disease, cancer, diabetes is the major factor that drives the market growth of global infusion systems market. Enormously developed technology in infusion system which eliminates user-related risks, higher bioavailability, safety, therapeutic effectiveness, increase in health care spending are also some other factors that drive the growth of the market. To operate these automated infusion systems, a highly trained intelligent system is required. If this system is not trained properly, it can lead to increased morbidity and mortality rate which can restrain the growth of this market.Request Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2026 Advanced Infusion Systems Market: SegmentationThe global advanced infusion systemmarketis classified on the basis of product type, application type, end user and geography.Based on product type, the global advanced infusion systemMarketis segmented into the following:Elastomeric infusion systemVolumetric infusion system- Large volume and Small volume pumpPatient Controlled Analgesia pumpDisposable infusion systemSyringe infusion systemAmbulatory infusion systemImplantable infusion systemBased on application type, global advanced infusion systemMarketis segmented into the following:ChemotherapyDiabetesPain managementAsthmaClinical nutritionBased on end user, the global advanced infusion system market is segmented into the following:HospitalsAmbulatory Surgical CentersDiagnostic centersBedsideVisit for TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2026 Advanced Infusion Systems Market: OverviewOver the last few decades volumetric and syringe pumps, the clinical and surgical industry, infusion systems, have been widely used for intravenous therapy (IV). Industry experts estimated that 80% of the hospitalized patients receive intravenous (IV) therapy. This demand is expected to increase in the coming years. Growing incidence of chronic lifestyle disorders like cancer, diabetes and increased rate of aging population are the major factors that are expected to rise the demand for infusion pump market in forecast period. Increasing malnutrition in developing countries is expected to increase the demand for infusion pumps for critical nutrition. Hospitals are the largest end-users of infusion systems and account for over half of the market share.Advanced Infusion Systems Market: Regional OverviewRegion wise, the advanced infusion system market is segmented into regions namely, North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific, Japan and Middle East and Africa. North Americaholds the largest market share globally. The advanced infusion system market in Asia-Pacific and Latin America is expected to grow relatively fast in coming years. Factors expected to drive this growth are increase in population and increase in incidences of cancer, diabetes and asthma.Advanced Infusion Systems Market: Key PlayersHospira, Inc., is a leading provider of infusion technologies globally. The key players in this markets are AngioDynamics, Inc., Animas Corporation, B. Braun Melsungen AG, Terumo Corporation and F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. Infusion systems by Hospira, Inc. have operations in over 60 key markets across Europe, Asia and The Americas. Q Core Medical is a medical device company focused on the infusion pump market, which is expected to hold a large market share in the upcoming period. Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Animal Auto-Immune Disease Therapeutics Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2016-2026report to their offering. Animal Auto-Immune Disease Therapeutics Market PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-19 09:07:02 Press Information Future Market Insights 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018, Valley Cottage, NY 10989, United States T: +1-347-918-3531 F: +1-845-579-5705 Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.com Press: press@futuremarketinsights.com Website: www.futuremarketinsights.com email Published by Abhishek Budholiya +1-347-918-3531 e-mail http://www.futuremarketinsights.com # 544 Words 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comPress: press@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: www.futuremarketinsights.comAbhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531 Autoimmune disease can be termed as the diseases condition in which the body has a tendency to kill, or affect its own normal cells. In humans there are around 80 types of different auto immune diseases. Similar type of diseases are also observed in animals. Some of the popular autoimmune diseases in animals are Pemphigus Vulgaris, Autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA), dry eye, Addison's disease, Canine inflammatory bowel disease, Canine systemic lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Allergies (a hypersensitive immune system) and others. There are several ways of treating the auto immune diseases in animals using various drugs and other therapies like surgeries and stem cell therapies. The drugs used in the treatment are just to reduce the symptoms associated with the specific auto immune disease.Animal Auto-immune Disease Therapeutics Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe increasing transfer of zoonotic diseases among immunosuppressed patient is a prime factor responsible for the increased awareness of the auto-immune disease among companion animals. High threat of HIV transfer from the animal source to a person with suppressed immunity, transfer of allergic components from companion animal to family members are also increasing the demand for diagnosis for autoimmune disease diagnosis among companion animal. The growing incidence of autoimmune diseases in livestock animal has decreased the quality of meat consumed especially in pharmaceutical manufacturing. . Moreover, the increasing focus on livestock health among African countries which are the main exporters of livestock is increasing the demand for autoimmune disease therapy. However limited therapy options for animals in the developing countries and lack of awareness is hindering the growth of animals autoimmune therapeutics market.Request Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2462 Animal Auto-immune Disease Therapeutics Market: OverviewAutoimmune disease treatment is gaining more attention owing to increased threat of zoonotic disease transfer among human. The growing incidence of zoonotic disease transfer is changing business operations of the animal healthcare industry as emergency care. The veterinary hospitals are offering a wide range of therapeutic services for companion animals. However, limited intervention by the government to promote the clinical diagnosis of animal, lack of effective molecular-based technologies to diagnose the autoimmune condition is curbing the growth of animal autoimmune disease diagnostics market.Animal Auto-immune Disease Therapeutics Market: Regional OverviewRegion wise, the global Animal Auto-immune Disease Therapeutics Market is classified into regions namely, North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific, Japan, Middle East and Africa.North America leads the global Animal Auto-immune Disease Therapeutics Marketfollowed by Europe. This is due to the extent of awareness for the zoonotic disease transfer in the developed countries like U.S., Canada, Germany, U.K., etc. Asia Pacific and Africa market are witnessing increased adoption of animal healthcare service especially for livestock animal owing to increasing demand for meat products in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry. Moreover, the increasing threat of zoonotic disease transfer in livestock animal is expected to boost the demand of animal autoimmune disease therapeutics market during the forecast period.Request For TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2462 Animal Auto-immune Disease Therapeutics Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players in global Animal Auto-immune Disease Therapeutics Market are Aratana Therapeutics Inc., Pfizer Inc., Vet-Stem, Inc., Ambrx Inc., Taconic Biosciences, Inc., JBS United, Virbac, Eli Lilly and Company, Jaguar Animal Health Inc. and many more. Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Anti-Reflective Coatings Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2017-2027" report to their offering. Anti-Reflective Coatings Market PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-19 06:30:57 Press Information Future Market Insights 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018, Valley Cottage, NY 10989, United States T: +1-347-918-3531 F: +1-845-579-5705 Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.com Website: www.futuremarketinsights.com email Published by Abhishek Budholiya +1-347-918-3531 e-mail http://www.futuremarketinsights.com # 779 Words 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: www.futuremarketinsights.comAbhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531 An anti-reflective coating is an optical coating that is applied on any lens surface or optical element to reduce the reflection. In a typical imaging system, this improves efficiency as much less light is lost. While the primary benefit is the reduced reflection itself, an anti-reflective coating on something like a pair of spectacles helps make the wearers eyes more visible, aiding eye contact. It also helps reduce the glint from a covert viewers telescopic sight or binoculars. An anti-reflective coating consists of transparent thin films with alternating layers of a contrasting refractive index. The anti-reflective coating market caters to the needs of many companies dealing in eyewear, electronics, automobiles, solar panels and telecommunications.Eyewear not expected to cede its share of the anti-reflective coatings market any time soonEyewear is expected to retain a strong position in the anti-reflective coatings market. This is because a large number of people are anticipated to join the workforce in the years ahead and they may require vision correction. These customers should easily be able to see the difference that light transmitting glasses make in their daily lives. Anti-reflective coating glasses offer greater comfort by the reduction of painful sunlight glare, elimination of unwanted reflections and adjustment of surrounding contrast levels that improves visibility and provides an easier night driving experience. Anti-reflective coating sprays are also useful in eyewear applications.Request For Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2805 Electronics and telecommunications is likely to be the second largest end user in the anti-reflective coatings market. It is predicted to show rapid growth during the forecast period due to a booming demand for smartphones. For a device checked more than a hundred times a day, an anti-reflective glass panel can mean the difference between frustration and satisfaction, especially in bright lights, indoors or in sunlight outdoors. Large screens and ultra-high definition televisions in excess of 50 inches are becoming very popular in developed countries. These massive, flat display panels would need an anti-reflective coating to enable a pleasurable viewing experience for customers. Anti-reflective coatings also find use in the fabrication of semiconductors during the photolithography stage. They help eliminate the reflections, which further enhances lithography.A focus on renewable and non-polluting sources of energy is a trend that is seen worldwide in the 21st century. There is a greater realisation that conventional resources will eventually deplete, fuelling the urgency to look for alternative energy sources such as solar panels, windmills, and hydropower. Solar panels should become increasingly important in the days ahead and they will prove to be a steady adopter of anti-reflective coatings. Governments in a number of countries including the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, China and India are framing policies that offer financial incentives to companies installing solar power systems to counter the energy crisis, global warming and unacceptable levels of pollution. Any light reflected from a solar panel is wasted energy and anti-reflective coatings help deliver better light transmission and reduce light reflection.The automobile industry is already a massive source of employment in developed countries and production is rapidly expanding in emerging markets such as China, India, Thailand, Mexico and Indonesia. Discerning customers have begun to demand the latest technologies in their vehicles such as GPS navigation systems and intelligent touchscreen infotainment systems compatible with their smartphones. These screens should ideally be coated with an anti-reflective coating as there would be too much glare otherwise, hampering system use. In addition to this, even the cars windshield and glass usually have an anti-reflective coating to prevent glare distraction while driving.Lack of customer awareness and regulations may hamper anti-reflective coatings market growthIn spite of all the advantages offered by anti-reflective coating in various industries, usability related issues are likely to raise their ugly head in the coming years. There is a lack of consumer awareness about the benefits offered by anti-reflective coating in a few cases. Some countries have very strict norms concerning raw material use in the manufacture of anti-reflective coating, challenging the anti-reflective coatings market growth in the long run.Request For TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2805 Anti-Reflective Coatings Market: Key RegionsThe largest anti-reflective coatings market is presently North America due to a high demand for smartphones, solar panels, spectacles and automobiles in the region. However, the strongest growth is predicted to be in Asia because of improving customer awareness of anti-glare spectacles and electronic displays. Rising energy requirements in these populous countries should increase solar panel sales, thereby boosting the APAC anti-reflective coatings market.Anti-Reflective Coatings Market: Key PlayersSome of the companies operating in the anti-reflective coatings market include Carl Zeiss, Essilor, and Hoya Corporation. Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Aquaculture Therapeutics Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2016-2026report to their offering. Aquaculture Therapeutics Market Trends PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-19 09:08:11 Press Information Future Market Insights 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018, Valley Cottage, NY 10989, United States T: +1-347-918-3531 F: +1-845-579-5705 Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.com Press: press@futuremarketinsights.com Website: www.futuremarketinsights.com email Published by Abhishek Budholiya +1-347-918-3531 e-mail http://www.futuremarketinsights.com # 595 Words 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comPress: press@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: www.futuremarketinsights.comAbhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531 The Farming or the culturing of aquatic animals like the fishes, algae, mollusks, crustaceans, aquatic plants and other aquatic organisms in different types of water is termed as Aquaculture. The cultivation process involves nurturing of these aquatic organism in the controlled condition either in fresh or in salt water. Later on these aquatic organisms are then harvested to be served as the source of nutrition or to be used for many other purposes. The aquatic animals are very sensitive and are prone to various epidemic diseases. Other factors affecting the aquatic cultured animals are Pathogens (e.g. bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites) exist in all natural water bodies. At the same time crowded culture environment makes the causes high risk for infection and makes the fishes nervous. Crowding also results in fish knocking eventually leading to surface wounds which is a cause for inaction. These can be cured using several FDA approved antibiotics and other medicines. Apart from diseases medicines are used to improve the wellbeing of the fishes in the aquaculture. The list of drugs includes chorionic gonadotropin, formalin solution, florfenicol, oxytetracycline, tricaine methane sulfonate, hydrogen peroxide, sulfadimethoxine/ormetoprim combination, acetic acid, calcium chloride, calcium oxide, carbon dioxide gas, fullers earth, garlic (whole form), ice, magnesium sulfate, papain, potassium chloride, povidone iodine, sodium bicarbonate, sodium chloride, sodium sulfite, thiamine hydrochloride, urea and tannic acid. The above mentioned drugs take care of the aquatic animals fighting with several diseases which are not only harmful to the aquatic animals but are also harmful to the consumer. There are two different categories of diseases which affect the aquatic population viz. diseases due to pathogens which are indigenous to the local environment and exotic pathogens.Aquaculture Therapeutics Market: Drivers and RestraintsA lot of advances are taking place in the aquaculture therapeutics as there are several diseases which are affecting the animals cultured in the aquaculture. There are several diseases which are driving the aquaculture therapeutics market. Mostly the diseases are dependent on hygiene conditions which are to be maintained. Advances in aquaculture therapeutics, and growing demand for the more effective aquaculture therapeutic drugs are the factors expected to drive the growth of aquaculture therapeutics market. More over the demand for aquaculture is growing day by day due to the decreasing number of the oceanic fishes and increasing consumption of the fishes at a global level.Request Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2463 Aquaculture therapeutics market: OverviewDespite the long tradition of practicing aquaculture in several countries it is still a growing and a business with great scope. The requirement of aquaculture therapeutics is increasing day by day as more and more countries have stared adopting aquaculture which is cheaper source of protein. As the fishes or the animals are consumed by the human FDA has set up certain regulatory guidelines for the drugs to be administered to the fishes in aquaculture. They are categorized as conditionally approved animal drugs and indexed animal drugs. Depending upon environmental and diseased conditions these drugs are used in the aquatic fishes.Aquaculture therapeutics market: Regional OverviewRegion wise, the global Aquaculture therapeutics market is classified into regions namely, North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific, Japan, Middle East and Africa.China is the leading in the aquaculture market which contributes around 61% of the global aquaculture market which is followed by Indonesia and India.Request For TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2463 Aquaculture therapeutics market: Key PlayersSome of the key players in global Aquaculture therapeutics market are TunaTech GmbH, ViAqua Therapeutics Ltd, Alpharma, Inc. PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-19 13:03:01 Second trial investigating PROSTVAC in combination with checkpoint inhibitors from Bristol-Myers Squibb COPENHAGEN, Denmark, April 19, 2017 - Bavarian Nordic A/S (OMX: BAVA, OTC: BVNRY) today announced the initiation of a Phase 2 clinical trial of its prostate cancer immunotherapy candidate, PROSTVAC (rilimogene), in combination treatment with YERVOY (ipilimumab) and/or OPDIVO (nivolumab), both of which are immune checkpoint inhibitors from Bristol-Myers Squibb, as neoadjuvant therapy in patients with localized prostate cancer. A lead-in stage will evaluate the safety of the combination of all three drugs in 10 patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer, followed by enrollment of up to 55 patients with localized prostate cancer in three cohorts, who will receive PROSTVAC in combination with either ipilimumab or nivolumab, or a combination of all three drugs prior to undergoing radical prostatectomy. The primary endpoint of the study is to evaluate and compare changes in T cell infiltration in the tumor after neoadjuvant treatment across the three different cohorts. The principal investigator of the study is James L. Gulley, MD, Senior Investigator, Center for Cancer Research, part of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the sponsor of the study. Detailed information on the trial can be found at http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02933255. "There are now eleven ongoing studies of PROSTVAC across various stages of prostate cancer. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the evaluation of the immunotherapy candidate in earlier disease stages, where the cancer has not yet spread beyond the prostate. We are excited to learn more about the potential of PROSTVAC for treating this population, and to evaluate the potential synergistic effects of combining the vaccine with checkpoint inhibitors, as we believe PROSTVAC may enhance the clinical activity of these drugs," said Paul Chaplin, President & Chief Executive Officer of Bavarian Nordic. This is the second trial conducted in collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb. The first trial was initiated in October 2016, and is investigating the combination treatment of PROSTVAC and ipilimumab at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), also in a neoadjuvant setting. For patients interested in enrolling in this clinical trial, please call NCI's toll-free number 1-800-4-Cancer (1-800-422-6237) (TTY: 1-800-332-8615) and/or see the website: https://trials.cancer.gov/ and search for NCT02933255. About PROSTVAC PROSTVAC (rilimogene galvacirepvec/rilimogene glafolivec or "rilimogene") is a prostate specific antigen (PSA)-targeted immunotherapy candidate designed to enhance or stimulate the body's immune response, specifically T cells that will target and kill prostate cancer cells, altering the course of the disease and improving overall survival (OS) of patients with prostate cancer. A robust data package has been established that includes 19 ongoing or completed clinical studies, comprising more than 2,000 patients of which more than 1,100 patients have been actively treated with PROSTVAC, which has been generally well-tolerated. A pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial in 1,297 patients, designed to determine if PROSTVAC extends the overall survival for patients with asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) has completed enrollment and top-line data are anticipated in 2017. The combination of PROSTVAC and ipilimumab was previously investigated in an NCI-sponsored Phase 1 trial in mCRPC patients, indicating improved survival for the treatment regimen when compared to the predicted survival (J Clin Oncol 33, 2015 (suppl 7; abstr 172)). This improved effect is believed to be due to PROSTVAC's ability to stimulate an anti-prostate cancer immune response combined with the ability of checkpoint inhibitors to make the anti-cancer immune response more effective. PROSTVAC is being developed in collaboration with the Center for Cancer Research, part of the intramural research program of the National Cancer Institute under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement. More information available at http://www.bavarian-nordic.com/pipeline/prostvac.aspx. About ipilimumab and nivolumab Ipilimumab and nivolumab are immune checkpoint inhibitors developed and marketed by Bristol-Myers Squibb. Ipilimumab is a CTLA-4 antibody, which is approved by the FDA for the treatment of melanoma. Nivolumab is a PD-1 antibody, which is approved for the treatment of patients with NSCLC in the second line setting, among other indications. These immune checkpoint inhibitors work by targeting molecules that serve as checks and balances in the regulation of immune responses. By blocking inhibitory molecules or, alternatively, activating stimulatory molecules, these treatments are designed to unleash and/or enhance pre-existing anti-cancer immune responses. About Bavarian Nordic Bavarian Nordic is a fully integrated biotechnology company focused on the development, manufacturing and commercialization of cancer immunotherapies and vaccines for infectious diseases, based on the Company's live virus vaccine platform. Through long-standing collaborations, including a collaboration with the U.S. government, Bavarian Nordic has developed a portfolio of vaccines for infectious diseases, including the non-replicating smallpox vaccine, IMVAMUNE, which is stockpiled for emergency use by the United States and other governments. The vaccine is approved in the European Union (under the trade name IMVANEX) and in Canada. Bavarian Nordic and its partner Janssen are developing an Ebola vaccine regimen, which has been fast-tracked, with the backing of worldwide health authorities, and a vaccine for the prevention and treatment of HPV. Additionally, in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute, Bavarian Nordic has developed a portfolio of active cancer immunotherapies, including PROSTVAC, which is currently in Phase 3 clinical development for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer. The company has partnered with Bristol-Myers Squibb for the potential commercialization of PROSTVAC. For more information visit www.bavarian-nordic.com or follow us on Twitter @bavariannordic. Forward-looking statements This announcement includes forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside of our control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning our plans, objectives, goals, future events, performance and/or other information that is not historical information. All such forward-looking statements are expressly qualified by these cautionary statements and any other cautionary statements which may accompany the forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances after the date made, except as required by law. Contacts Rolf Sass Srensen Vice President Investor Relations (EU) Tel: +45 61 77 47 43 Seth Lewis Vice President Investor Relations (US) Tel: +1 978 341 5271 Press Release This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients. The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein. Source: Bavarian Nordic A/S via Globenewswire PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-19 16:45:45 Press Information Academic Dating 1/254 Waterview Boulevard Craigieburn 3064 Melbourne Australia Mark McIlroy Owner +614 32 427 738 email http://www.academicdating.net # 425 Words 1/254 Waterview BoulevardCraigieburn 3064MelbourneAustraliaOwner+614 32 427 738 Dating website Academic Dating achieved a milestone this year 2017, reaching 10 years of operation.The website was originally developed as a dating website for the academic community.However, people from a wide range of backgrounds joined the site and the site now has a wide base of members.The membership base is approximately 4,278 members from 144 countries.The website is totally free to use and supports its expenses through modest use of Google Adsense advertisements on the site.Members come from a wide range of backgrounds and locations.The largest countries represented on the site are the USA, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and India.However, there are 144 countries represented in all.The gender split of the site is quite even, with 62% male and 38% women.Academic Dating has a comprehensive set of dating site functions including sophisticated search options, the ability to upload an unlimited number of photos to a member's profile, messages sent through the site, and the ability to remember or block communication with other members.A unique feature of the site is the ability of a member to select from three colour schemes, which when selected will update all pages throughout the site as viewed by that member.Although hosting members from a wide range of backgrounds, academics do join the site at times in line with the original intention of the website.A comprehensive set of Frequently Ask Questions, and Policies documentation is provided online.Academic Dating is extremely easy to use, with all screens based on menus, links and function buttons.Academic Dating includes a 'guest' login feature, where visitors can log into the site and view most of the site pages, however they must join and create a profile if they want to communicate with other members.Operation of the site is extremely fast, due to the careful limiting of the use of graphics, and the high quality hosting solution and database system used.The site is hosted on a secure commercial hosting service based in the USA.The site was developed as a new venture by the owner, Mark McIlroy in 2007.Site administration is based in Melbourne, Australia and is a venture of Mark Laurence McIlroy.Mark McIlroy is based in Melbourne, Australia and currently works in the Financial Planning industry.He has a background in the corporate Financial Services sector in Australia. His early career was based in Information Technology roles, and included Financial Services roles such as Portfolio Manager (Quantitative), managing Australian Equity share portfolios for a major bank.The site address of Academic Dating is is www.academicdating.net Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Robotics-Assisted Telesurgery Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2016-2026report to their offering. Robotics-Assisted Telesurgery Market Trends PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-19 09:10:25 Press Information Future Market Insights 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018, Valley Cottage, NY 10989, United States T: +1-347-918-3531 F: +1-845-579-5705 Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.com Press: press@futuremarketinsights.com Website: www.futuremarketinsights.com email Published by Abhishek Budholiya +1-347-918-3531 e-mail http://www.futuremarketinsights.com # 673 Words 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comPress: press@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: www.futuremarketinsights.comAbhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531 Robotics is a science branch that includes electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and computer science. It is concerned with the design, manufacturing, operation and use of the robots, along with the computer systems required to control them and process information. This technology is slowly but surely moving from fiction to fact thanks to current research in the Robotics-Assisted Telesurgery market. We will eventually reach a point when medical robots will be able to think, act independently or even take critical decisions without any assistance from doctors or medical professionals. Robotics-Assisted Telesurgery first came onto the scene in the first decade of the 21st century. These robots have already proved their mettle in assisting surgeons who perform hysterectomies or prostate cancer. Constant design improvements mean that the Robotics-Assisted Telesurgery market will become increasingly vital in the days to come.Robotics-Assisted Telesurgery Market DriversA preference for minimally invasive procedures is anticipated to drive the Robotics-Assisted Telesurgery market. Robots provide improved visualisation, greater dexterity and high precision & accuracy. Minimally invasive surgeries are very popular with surgeons, patients and also their insurance companies since incisions made are smaller, infection risk is less, hospital stays are much shorter and convalescence is greatly reduced. However, human limitations like hand-eye coordination and limited dexterity stifle treatments. The desire to overcome the challenges of current laparoscopic technologies and improve the scope of minimally invasive surgeries will benefit the Robotics-Assisted Telesurgery market. An ageing and growing population will boost the Robotics-Assisted Telesurgery market and growing acceptance of telesurgery is also going to help Robotics. A surgery can take several hours and be physically exhausting for surgeons and they could even experience hand tremors as a result. A surgical robot would be able to operate on several patients without any drop in precision or efficiency which would help medical professionals to serve a larger number of people in the long run.Request Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2477 Robotics-Assisted Telesurgery Market RestraintsCost is a very critical challenge in the Robotics-Assisted Telesurgery market. A top of the line robotics-assisted surgery system can easily cost somewhere in the region of Euro 1.5 million. The initial investment itself can make it difficult for underfunded medical institutions in developing countries to adopt it. That is also not the only expense incurred as thousands more need to be spent on medicines required to complete the surgery. Hence, there is ongoing research to make the medical assistant robots of the future not only smart but affordable too. The second constraint in the Robotics-Assisted Telesurgery market is the lack of funding. In spite of dramatic innovations by scientists in robotics technology, investors are somewhat hesitant to invest in the industry until they are assured of a ready market for the devices. However, both patients & medical healthcare organisations are showing an increased readiness to pay for Robotics-Assisted Telesurgery equipment which will boost investor confidence and subsequently drive down development cost. The third restraint of the Robotics-Assisted Telesurgery market is human resistance to change. Robotics-Assisted Telesurgery is still a relatively new concept which has had almost no long-term follow-up studies. These systems also have very large footprints and massive robotic arms. It might be difficult for medical organisations to accommodate them when they are already space constrained, to begin with.Robotics-Assisted Telesurgery Market Key RegionsThe largest Robotics-Assisted Telesurgery markets are North America, the European Union, Asia Pacific and then the rest of the world. China, Japan and South Korea are expected to lead the world in future growth rate. This is on account of their rapidly ageing population, strong government focus on both healthcare and manufacturing expertise, and providing training to their surgeons to adopt and perform Robotics-Assisted Telesurgery. Companies would be well advised to cater to the specific needs of the Asian Robotics-Assisted Telesurgery market for their long term benefit.Request For TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2477 Robotics-Assisted Telesurgery Market Key Market PlayersSome of the companies operating in the Robotics-Assisted Telesurgery market are Intuitive Surgical, Hansen Medical, Stryker Corp, IRobot Corporation and MAZOR Robotics. Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Bioalcohols Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2017-2027" report to their offering. Bioalcohols Market PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-19 06:29:32 Press Information Future Market Insights 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018, Valley Cottage, NY 10989, United States T: +1-347-918-3531 F: +1-845-579-5705 Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.com Website: www.futuremarketinsights.com email Published by Abhishek Budholiya +1-347-918-3531 e-mail http://www.futuremarketinsights.com # 635 Words 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: www.futuremarketinsights.comAbhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531 Bioalcohols are key in protecting the environment from greenhouse gases and global warming. Bioalcohols are biologically produced alcohols and some of the most common bioalcohols are ethanol; and propanol and butanol to some extent. They are produced by the action of microorganisms and enzymes through the process of the fermentation of sugars or starches. Bioalcohols are also produced through the fermentation of cellulose. The most common application of bioalcohols is their use as an alternative to gasoline. The global bioalcohols market is growing due to increasing scarcity of fossil fuels and huge fluctuations in global crude oil prices. Due to the problem of global warming, which is caused by the emission of carbon dioxide contributing to the greenhouse effect, bioalcohols are emerging as a popular alternative to traditional fossil fuels. Due to the increasing use of bioalcohols, the carbon footprint is reduced, and hence there is a lucrative opportunity for the use of such substances as the fuel of the future. Combined with this, the rising use of bioalcohols in emerging economies is fuelling the global bioalcohols market in a positive direction.Request For Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2812 Bioalcohols as a fuel of the futurePresently, bioalcohols are manufactured by the process of fermentation of biomass including organic wastes. With latest technological advancements, the production of bioalcohols is increasing being derived from cellulosic biomass usage, thus supporting the growth of the global bioalcohols market. Cellulosic biomass comprises complex sugar molecules such as those found in switch grass and corn. Due to the rapid advances made by biotechnology, researchers have now devised a way to use this cellulosic biomass for improvements to fossil fuels. There are distinct advantages of bioalcohols over fossil fuels in terms of emissions related to sulphur, nitrogen oxide, ground ozone and carbon monoxide. The emission of such hazardous substances is reduced by mixing bioalcohols in fossil fuels. The only emissions that are generated by the use of bioalcohols are formaldehyde and acetaldehyde, that dont have any effect on the surroundings. Ethanol gases possess the property of having less atmospheric reactivity, and thus result in reduced oxidant formation. There are various hazardous substances that are emitted by the burning of fossil fuels, and some of them are even cancerous. The emission of such hazardous substances will be reduced by using ethanol and methanol, because they give out advanced steam pressure after getting mixed with petrol. There is no change in the performance of petrol by mixing it with ethanol or methanol.Key regions leading the production and consumption of bioalcoholsThere are various types of bioalcohols such as bio butanol, bio BDO, bio methanol and bio ethanol. Currently, Germany is the largest consumer and producer of bioalcohols. There are stringent norms in Germany regarding pollution control and protection of the environment, and hence the market for bioalcohols is growing in this country. However, the shortage of raw materials from which bioalcohols can be produced is acting as a major dampener in the bioalcohols market in Germany. United States is the second largest market for bioalcohols in the world. The administration in the United States has taken several initiatives to support the production of bioalcohols as an alternative fuel or as an additive to fossil fuels. The United States government is offering financial assistance to the manufacturers of bioalchols to set up the necessary infrastructure for the production of bioalcohols. Emerging regions such as South America are also a promising market for the production of bioalcohols. The South America region is a hub for the production of bio ethanol, which is one of the major products comprising bioalcohols.Request For TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2812 Bioalcohols Market: Leading PlayersSome of the key manufacturers of bioalcohols are BASF SE, Cool Planet Energy Systems, DSM and Cargill. Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Marine Propulsion Engine Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2017-2027" report to their offering. Marine Propulsion Engine Market PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-19 06:26:33 Press Information Future Market Insights 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018, Valley Cottage, NY 10989, United States T: +1-347-918-3531 F: +1-845-579-5705 Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.com Website: www.futuremarketinsights.com email Published by Abhishek Budholiya +1-347-918-3531 e-mail http://www.futuremarketinsights.com # 649 Words 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: www.futuremarketinsights.comAbhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531 Marine propulsion is the system or mechanism used to generate thrust that allows a small boat or even a ship to move across waterways. Modern ships are usually equipped with mechanical systems consisting of an electric motor turning a propeller, or even pump-jets or an impeller. These ships employ reciprocating engines as their main source of power because of their robustness, operational simplicity and lower emissions. The power required by a ship largely depends on the way it is used during regular operations for e.g. A passenger ship requires less power than either a trade or naval ship. The marine propulsion engine market serves offshore support vessels, commercial vessels, inland waterway vessels, submarines and more.Focus on renewable energy fuelling the marine propulsion engine marketA growing need for dependent and fuel-efficient ships is anticipated to be the main driver of the marine propulsion engine market. There has been rapid innovation in the industry that has led to the development of new high-performance engines that are more fuel-efficient than their predecessors. Leading companies in the marine propulsion engine market are continuously innovating and extending their product offerings to handle the growing demand for greater capacity handling. This is mainly due to a rise in international seaborne trade caused by a globalised world with heavy interdependence and interconnectivity.Request For Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2804 The second major factor that is likely to impact the marine propulsion engine market is the focus on renewable energy sources. Global warming and an impending energy crisis are some of the biggest challenges faced by the world in the 21st century. Commercial and transport ships notorious for causing a lot of pollution and accidental oil spills not only damage the regional natural ecosystem but also negatively impact the companys goodwill and market image. That is why energy sources such as solar energy, wind energy, electric energy and hydroelectric energy are becoming more important than ever before. The development of electric motors that can power ships and reduce fossil fuel consumption will definitely have a positive impact on the marine propulsion engine market. The depletion of shale gas and conventional reserves will increase the demand for LNG, particularly as a marine fuel.Regulatory hurdles the biggest challenge to the marine propulsion engine marketUncontrollable CO2 emissions from conventional engine systems have led to the implementation of stringent environmental regulations and various taxes such as carbon tax to help reduce the impact of climate change. The marine pollution convention (MARPOL) regulations help prevent sewage, oil and chemical spill contamination along with air pollution caused by marine propulsion engine exhaust fumes. Non-adherence to these governmental rules and regulations may lead to severe penalties running into billions of dollars. This can stifle the growth of the marine propulsion engine market particularly as smaller domestic companies may not be able to comply.Asia Pacific is the key marine propulsion engine market to watchAsia Pacific accounts for a major portion of the marine propulsion engine market and is anticipated to maintain its dominance throughout the forecast period. This is primarily because of key nations China, Japan and South Korea that have become manufacturing powerhouses heavily dependent on external trade. China is already the worlds largest exporter and would naturally require a greater number of commercial ships, thus having a positive impact on the demand for marine propulsion engines. In addition to trade, countries across the world have begun beefing up their navies to combat ocean piracy. Asian navies, in particular, are rapidly building their defence capabilities and this should increase the size of the marine propulsion engine market across the Asia Pacific region.Request For TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2804 Marine propulsion engine market: key playersSome of the key players in the marine propulsion engine market are Caterpillar, Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., General Electric Company, and Masson Marine. PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-19 09:16:02 Meetzoo launches on the App Store after crowdfunding over 150,000 Makes meetings more fun and productive by combining calendar with LinkedIn information and collaborative note taking Download now to gain free access to Meetzoos premium features for one year Make Meetings More Productive with Meetzoo Meetzoo PR: George Wright meetzoo@spartanpr.com +44-(0)7543-634718 Meetzoo, the new app that aims to make business meetings more productive, is now available for iOS devices from the Apple App Store. The new app helps colleagues work more effectively by combining their calendar with LinkedIn information and collaborative note taking, action tracking and minutes. Meetzoo is free to download, however premium features such as CRM and cloud storage integrations, personalised/branded emails and sharing photo and attachments will be introduced later this year as part of a monthly subscription. As a special bonus for early adopters, those who download the app during the next six months will receive one years free access to Meetzoos premium features. The core functions of the app, such as calendar and LinkedIn integration, note taking, etc. will always be free. Meetzoo will be introducing new free features this summer such as Shake to Meet, where two users can shake their phones together to exchange contact details and create a mutual calendar event. Meetzoo Founder and CEO Paul Lewis-Borman says, Meetzoo was borne out of my own frustration. Most meetings are far less productive than they should be, so I looked at what makes a bad meeting such as not knowing enough about the participants, not having a clear objective, agendas rarely being followed, poor time management and little in the way of continuity or accountability between meetings. I went looking for an app that could solve these problems and couldnt find one, so I created Meetzoo. A Fortune 50 company is estimated to waste $75 million a year due to poor meetings, while the average employee attends around 62 meetings a month. Thats a lot of wasted time, says Paul. No more jumping between your calendar, emails, LinkedIn and note-taking apps just to catch up on what you were talking about. With Meetzoo you can quickly pick up where you left off. Meetzoo is currently available for the iPhone, however iPad, Android and web app versions are in the pipeline. Download here: https://appsto.re/gb/BkOQeb.i ENDS Media Resources: https://meetzoo.box.com/v/MediaResources View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/201704190051 Meetzoo is live on the App Store #meetzoo #startup #startups #business #tech #newapp #iphone Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the IHE XDS.B Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2016-2026report to their offering. IHE XDS.B Market Trends PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-19 09:00:11 Press Information Future Market Insights 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,, Valley Cottage, NY 10989,, United States, 3479183531 email Published by Abhishek Budholiya +1-347-918-3531 e-mail http://www.futuremarketinsights.com # 419 Words 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,, Valley Cottage, NY 10989,, United States,3479183531Abhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531 IHE XDS.b also known as Cross-Enterprise Document Sharing is one of the latest technology, which is widely used in the healthcare to share and secure the information of patients primary and secondary clinical documents. The IHE XDS.b enables data sharing between two or more healthcare enterprises that have collaborated to work together. The patients clinical reports and images such as radiology reports, laboratory reports among physicians or different healthcare enterprises. The main components of IHE XDS.b includes a metadata, repository and registry each having different functions. With the penetration of technology in the healthcare sector and the need for effective documentation over the traditional methods of patient data management and sharing, the global market for IHE XDS.b is expected to register a healthy CAGR over the forecast period.Global IHE XDS.b Market: Drivers & RestraintsConsidering the market dynamics of the global IHE XDS.b market, the market drivers identified are the demand for smooth flow of informations and patient data sharing among the healthcare enterprises. Moreover, the various advantages of IHE XDS.b such as error free informations, readable, comparison of patients historical reports with the current report and accessibility of the patients previous information from cross enterprise and the e-prescribing is fostering the growth of IHE XDS.b market globally.Request Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2455 Global IHE XDS.b Market: Regional OutlookBased on the geographic regions, global IHE XDS.b market is split into seven key regions namely North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific, Japan, and the Middle East & Africa. The North America market for IHE XDS.b leads the global market with largest market share among the aforementioned regions. The adoption of new technologies in the region along with the acts for patient safety and efficient data management in the healthcare laboratories in the region attributed to the growth of the market in the region. Western Europe market for IHE XDS.b trails behind the North American market. With increasing healthcare infrastructure and IT, developments in the regions like Latin America, Asia-Pacific, and Eastern Europe is expected to offer lucrative opportunities for the IHE XDS.b market in these regions by the end of forecast period.Request For TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2455 Global IHE XDS.b Market: Key PlayersSome of the major players identified in the global IHE XDS.b market includes, CareEvolution, NEN, BridgeHead Software Ltd., Microsoft, Synedra, and Lexmark International Inc. among others. Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Remote Electrocardiogram Monitoring Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2016-2026report to their offering. Remote Electrocardiogram Monitoring Market Trends PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-19 09:09:16 Press Information Future Market Insights 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018, Valley Cottage, NY 10989, United States T: +1-347-918-3531 F: +1-845-579-5705 Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.com Press: press@futuremarketinsights.com Website: www.futuremarketinsights.com email Published by Abhishek Budholiya +1-347-918-3531 e-mail http://www.futuremarketinsights.com # 671 Words 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comPress: press@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: www.futuremarketinsights.comAbhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531 Telemedicine is using Information Technology and telecommunications to provide medical assistance from a distance. It became especially widespread in the 20th century due to advances in both these fields. It helps to eliminate distance barriers and provide medical aid to distant & far-flung rural areas that would be inaccessible otherwise. The stress of a modern-day fast-paced lifestyle has led to many cases of hypertension, diabetes, heart attacks and various other diseases. That is why the remote electrocardiogram monitoring market has become increasingly important. As per data from the American Health Association (AHA), arrhythmia affects more than 4 million people and causes nearly half a million deaths in the U.S. alone. ECG instruments are the best way to detect & measure arrhythmia. Remote electrocardiogram devices are becoming commonplace for monitoring a patients heart condition. Recently, they have been applied for various heart diseases since the quality & transmission through telecommunications has improved substantially. There are three main components of a remote electrocardiogram monitoring machine the patient, the doctor, and the remote server.Remote Electrocardiogram Monitoring Market DriversOne of the key drivers of the remote electrocardiogram monitoring market is the ageing population in western countries. People there have a strong sense of individuality & prefer living independently in their own homes. Remote electrocardiogram monitoring devices could help doctors provide them prompt medical attention. It saves the doctors time along with the need for patients to take a medical appointment unless their condition is very serious. It is also much more cost-effective than hiring a nurse to visit the individual from time to time. A second factor responsible for growth is improving Internet connectivity in rural areas. Telecommunication technology has progressed by leaps and bounds in the last 30 years and it is now quite easy for a doctor to provide medical aid to patients living in remote villages, which might be both underpenetrated & unserved. A remote electrocardiogram could be used to monitor patients with pacemakers there & the central control unit is able to correctly diagnose an arrhythmia. Electronic stethoscopes can also be used as recording devices, which can be vital in the area of telecardiology. There have been many successful cases of this worldwide already. These are the main drivers of the remote electrocardiogram monitoring market.Request Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2476 Remote Electrocardiogram Monitoring Market RestraintsThere are several challenges present in the remote electrocardiogram monitoring market with a major one being unreliable connectivity. We have all faced the problem of a slow Internet connection, no cell phone network, too much line disturbance or rolling blackouts at some point in time. This can pose a serious problem to medical practitioners when they are checking their patients. Losing connectivity midway would cause great inconvenience to both parties. A second issue could be resistance to change. People might either be unaware of such medical aid or be hesitant to go in for it in the first place. There could also be resistance from hospital staff because they may not be trained to use it. The IT department of any organisation is frequently overloaded and even they might stall the adoption of this equipment since it will be added responsibility which they may be unable or unwilling to shoulder. There could also a question of who will provide the funding, especially in developing nations where government reimbursement is hard to come by.Request For TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2476 Remote Electrocardiogram Monitoring Market Key RegionsNorth America is the largest remote electrocardiogram monitoring market & is expected to remain so in the near future. This is due to a high prevalence of arrhythmia, hypertension and diabetes there along with awareness of these ailments & enhanced medical care. The geriatric populations of Europe, China, Japan and Korea will also ensure a steady demand for the remote electrocardiogram monitoring market there.Remote Electrocardiogram Monitoring Market Key Market PlayersSome companies in the remote electrocardiogram monitoring market are Huntleigh Diagnostics, Intelesens, iRhythm Technologies, GE Healthcare, MD Biomedical, Kalamed, Labtech, and Life Watch & Jiangsu Konsung Medical Equipment. PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-19 09:06:02 The Annual General Meeting of Odfjell SE will be held on Thursday 11 May 2017 at 16:00 hours at the Company's headquarters in Conrad Mohrs veg 29, Bergen, Norway. Attached please find notice of the Annual General Meeting. The notice will also be available at the Company's headquarters and on the Company's web-page odfjell.com. Investor Relations contact: Tom A. Haugen, Vice President Finance Tel: +47 55 27 46 69, Email: IR@odfjell.com This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients. The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein. Source: Odfjell SE via Globenewswire PR-Inside.com: 2017-04-19 13:05:01 Veeva and TransCelerate collaborate to simplify document exchange in clinical trials between investigators and sponsors TransCelerate Selects Veeva Vault SiteExchange Veeva Systems Inc. Sue Glanville sue@catalystcomms.co.uk +44 (0) 7715 817589 or Cate Bonthuys cate@catalystcomms.co.uk +44 (0) 7746 546773 Veeva Systems (NYSE: VEEV) and TransCelerate BioPharma Inc., a non-profit organization with membership comprised of global biopharmaceutical companies, today announced TransCelerate selected Veeva Vault SiteExchange for the Shared Investigator Platform (SIP), a platform that facilitates investigative site collaboration with multiple clinical trial sponsors. The TransCelerate SIP Initiative aims to provide the industry with a centralized platform that will be interoperable with various clinical solutions, streamline communications between investigators and sponsors, and reduce redundant requests during a trial. TransCelerate chose Veeva Vault SiteExchange to simplify document access and exchange through the SIP. Veeva Vault SiteExchange will improve efficiencies and allow clinical trial investigators, sites, and participating sponsors to have immediate and centralized access to critical documents, eliminating one of the burdens that exists at investigator sites. Veeva is a proven technology innovator and cloud leader with an excellent track record in driving greater efficiency in clinical operations, said Janice Chang, senior vice president of global operations at TransCelerate. The integration of Veeva Vault SiteExchange with the Shared Investigator Platform further simplifies site administrative efforts, which is core to one of our strategic priorities to improve site experience. TransCelerate is doing exciting work to promote enhanced industry collaboration and introduce efficient ways companies can accelerate treatments to market, said Jennifer Goldsmith, senior vice president of Veeva Vault strategy. Were honored to work with TransCelerate and help clinical sites and sponsors effectively manage trial documentation to get medicine to patients more quickly. Veeva Vault SiteExchange is a cloud application that will help sites consolidate study document requests, alerts, and notifications across sponsors in the TransCelerate-sponsored SIP. Now investigators can spend less time on administrative tasks and focus more on clinical research. For more information on Veevas collaboration with TransCelerate and Veevas leadership in industry collaborations, visit veeva.com/eu/IndustryCollaborations. To learn more about Veeva Vault SiteExchange, read todays separate product announcement. About TransCelerate BioPharma, Inc. TransCelerate BioPharma Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the health of people around the world by simplifying and accelerating the research and development (R&D) of innovative new therapies. The organizations mission is to collaborate across the global biopharmaceutical R&D community to identify, prioritize, design and facilitate implementation of solutions designed to drive the efficient, effective, and high quality delivery of new medicines. TransCelerate evolved from conversations at various forums for executive R&D leadership to discuss current issues facing the industry, and examine solutions for addressing common challenges. The founding member companies are AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and Company, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, the Roche Group, and Sanofi. Additional members that have joined since the inception of TransCelerate include Allergan, Inc., Amgen, Astellas Pharma Inc., EMD Serono, Inc. (a subsidiary of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany), Merck & Co., Inc., Novo Nordisk, Shionogi & Co., Ltd. and UCB. Membership in TransCelerate is open to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies with Research & Development operations. Executive offices are located in Philadelphia, PA. For more information, please visit http://www.transceleratebiopharmainc.com. Additional Information For more on Veeva Vault SiteExchange, visit: veeva.com/eu/SiteExchange For more on Veevas industry collaborations, visit: veeva.com/eu/IndustryCollaborations Connect with Veeva on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/veeva-systems Follow @Veeva_EU on Twitter: twitter.com/veeva_eu Like Veeva on Facebook: facebook.com/veevasystems About Veeva Systems Veeva Systems Inc. is a leader in cloud-based software for the global life sciences industry. Committed to innovation, product excellence, and customer success, Veeva has more than 500 customers, ranging from the world's largest pharmaceutical companies to emerging biotechs. Veeva is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, with offices in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. For more information, visit www.veeva.com/eu. Forward-looking Statements This release contains forward-looking statements, including the market demand for and acceptance of Veevas products and services, the results from use of Veevas products and services, and general business conditions, particularly in the life sciences industry. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based upon Veevas historical performance and its current plans, estimates, and expectations, and are not a representation that such plans, estimates, or expectations will be achieved. These forward-looking statements represent Veevas expectations as of the date of this press announcement. Subsequent events may cause these expectations to change, and Veeva disclaims any obligation to update the forward-looking statements in the future. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. Additional risks and uncertainties that could affect Veevas financial results are included under the captions, Risk Factors and Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in the companys filing on Form 10-Q for the period ended October 31, 2016. This is available on the companys website at veeva.com under the Investors section and on the SECs website at sec.gov. Further information on potential risks that could affect actual results will be included in other filings Veeva makes with the SEC from time to time. ### View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/201704190056 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. Elimination of Florida Certificate of Need (CON) Could Set Off Cardiac Services "Arms Race" By: HealthGroup West LAS VEGAS - April 18, 2017 - PRLog -- Healthcare consulting firm, HealthGroup West has a long history of advising hospital, health system and independent physician practice clients on market dynamics and the development of effective strategies to position the organizations for success. Founder and Principal Consultant Kevin Curtis is watching the various initiatives to eliminate or scale back certificate of need (CON) laws across the country with interest, having supported clients through the deregulation process in states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania in the past. He anticipates that elimination of CON will set off an initial "arms race" for higher end services such as cardiology, and encourages hospitals, health systems and independent physician practices to plan ahead of final legislation. Thirty-five states and the District of Columbia currently have CON programs in place. New Hampshire became the latest state to repeal its laws in September 2016. "There have been large political pushes for CON repeal across the country in prior years, but many of these efforts have lost support before they got too far in the legislature. This year, the Florida repeal initiative appears to have traction in the face of considerable opposition from the state's hospitals and health systems, and there may well be a domino effect to other states," noted Curtis. Efforts to eliminate or scale back CON legislation have reached state legislatures in Florida, West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina in recent months; the Florida House of Representatives Health & Human Services Committee voted 12-5 in early April to approve CON repeal for state hospitals. "Once it was likely that CON changes were on the horizon in Ohio and Pennsylvania, organizations that did not wait for the inevitable and aggressively planned for increased competition held the strategic advantage," said Curtis. He adds, "This round of potential deregulation comes at a time of significant instability in the healthcare industry, with the uncertainty surrounding the future of the Affordable Care Act and what could replace it, and as healthcare providers wrestle with the transition to value-based payment models. Any one of these changes is monumental on its own the combination of one or more happening simultaneously is potentially epic. Healthcare providers, including hospitals and independent physician practices, should be considering multiple scenarios in their planning." HealthGroup West advises hospitals, health systems and independent physician practices on strategy, business development, contracting, capital investment and operational efficiency. For more information, visit Contact Kelly James ***@healthgroupwest.com Kelly James End -- Healthcare consulting firm, HealthGroup West has a long history of advising hospital, health system and independent physician practice clients on market dynamics and the development of effective strategies to position the organizations for success. Founder and Principal Consultant Kevin Curtis is watching the various initiatives to eliminate or scale back certificate of need (CON) laws across the country with interest, having supported clients through the deregulation process in states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania in the past. He anticipates that elimination of CON will set off an initial "arms race" for higher end services such as cardiology, and encourages hospitals, health systems and independent physician practices to plan ahead of final legislation.Thirty-five states and the District of Columbia currently have CON programs in place. New Hampshire became the latest state to repeal its laws in September 2016. "There have been large political pushes for CON repeal across the country in prior years, but many of these efforts have lost support before they got too far in the legislature. This year, the Florida repeal initiative appears to have traction in the face of considerable opposition from the state's hospitals and health systems, and there may well be a domino effect to other states," noted Curtis. Efforts to eliminate or scale back CON legislation have reached state legislatures in Florida, West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina in recent months; the Florida House of Representatives Health & Human Services Committee voted 12-5 in early April to approve CON repeal for state hospitals."Once it was likely that CON changes were on the horizon in Ohio and Pennsylvania, organizations that did not wait for the inevitable and aggressively planned for increased competition held the strategic advantage," said Curtis. He adds, "This round of potential deregulation comes at a time of significant instability in the healthcare industry, with the uncertainty surrounding the future of the Affordable Care Act and what could replace it, and as healthcare providers wrestle with the transition to value-based payment models. Any one of these changes is monumental on its own the combination of one or more happening simultaneously is potentially epic. Healthcare providers, including hospitals and independent physician practices, should be considering multiple scenarios in their planning."HealthGroup West advises hospitals, health systems and independent physician practices on strategy, business development, contracting, capital investment and operational efficiency. For more information, visit http://www.healthgroupwest.com Email : ***@healthgroupwest.com Tags : Certificate Of Need , Cardiovascular Services , Florida Certificate of Need Industry : Health Location : Las Vegas - Nevada - United States Account Phone Number Disclaimer Report Abuse Account Email AddressAccount Phone Number Page Updated Last on: Apr 18, 2017 HealthGroup West, LLC PRs Are Employers Edging Out Health Insurance Plans? HyTrust Expands into Singapore Market with Its Cloud Workload Security Solutions HyTrust partners with Complete Solution Finder (CSF) to bring virtualization and cloud security solutions to Singapore to help address cloud security challenges By: HyTrust MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - April 18, 2017 - PRLog -- "HyTrust recognizes the security and data compliance challenges that organizations in the ASEAN market are faced with. This is why we are pleased to partner with Complete Solution Finder (CSF), who also has significant virtualization, cloud and network security expertise in region," said Patrick Conte, Vice President of International Business at HyTrust. "With CSF's knowledge and relationships with key resellers and service providers, we know they will be an incredible partner in providing regional enterprise and government customers access to HyTrust's leading workload security solutions that can accelerate transformation to a software-defined data center (SDDC)." "Complete Solution Finder strives to deliver great customer service with leading technologies. As we witness the gradual shift of the traditional IT infrastructure to virtual infrastructure in the ASEAN region, we are looking forward to defining fresh opportunities with HyTrust to meet the increasing demands for cloud security solutions," said Lawrence Woo, Managing Director at Complete Solution Finder. "We believe HyTrust will be a great fit in the Cyber Security landscape to enhance the security of organizations' cloud solutions in the region." For more information, please visit: www.hytrust.com www.csfinder.com About HyTrust HyTrust's mission is to make private, public and hybrid cloud infrastructure more trustworthy for enterprises, service providers and government agencies. HyTrust provides solutions that automate security controls for software-defined computing, networking and storage workloads to achieve the highest levels of visibility, granular policy control and data protection. HyTrust customers benefit from being able to accelerate cloud and virtualization cost savings while improving their security posture by automating and enforcing security policies in real time, adapting quickly to compliance requirements, and preventing unplanned outages. Headquartered in Mountain View, CA, HyTrust is backed by the leading providers of strategic IT infrastructure including VMware, Cisco, Intel and Fortinet; by the vanguard of innovative solutions for the intelligence community, In-Q-Tel; and by a world class group of financial investors including Sway Ventures, Granite Ventures, Trident Capital and Vanedge Capital. HyTrust was recently named one of CRN's "20 Coolest Cloud Security Vendors", a recipient of VMworld's 2015 Gold Award for Security/Compliance and Virtualization, and the Most Innovative Cloud Company at Intel Security Focus 2015. About Complete Solution Finder Founded in 2005, Complete Solution Finder is a Singapore-based, Information Security focused regional Value Added Distributor (VAD) with partners across ASEAN. Complete Solution Finder is committed to helping enterprises with their information security initiatives by providing both best-of-breed and cost-effective products from leading innovative technology vendors. Contact press@hytrust.com ***@hytrust.com press@hytrust.com End -- HyTrust Inc. , a leading workload security provider, announced a strategic partnership with Complete Solution Finder (CSF), an information security focused Value-Added Distributor (VAD), to bring cloud security solutions to the Singapore-based region. This initiative seeks to expand HyTrust's presence in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) market, simultaneously enabling IT and business managers to leverage the benefits of cloud computing while ensuring the highest level of data protection and compliance for mission critical workloads."HyTrust recognizes the security and data compliance challenges that organizations in the ASEAN market are faced with. This is why we are pleased to partner with Complete Solution Finder (CSF), who also has significant virtualization, cloud and network security expertise in region," said Patrick Conte, Vice President of International Business at HyTrust. "With CSF's knowledge and relationships with key resellers and service providers, we know they will be an incredible partner in providing regional enterprise and government customers access to HyTrust's leading workload security solutions that can accelerate transformation to a software-defined data center (SDDC).""Complete Solution Finder strives to deliver great customer service with leading technologies. As we witness the gradual shift of the traditional IT infrastructure to virtual infrastructure in the ASEAN region, we are looking forward to defining fresh opportunities with HyTrust to meet the increasing demands for cloud security solutions," said Lawrence Woo, Managing Director at Complete Solution Finder. "We believe HyTrust will be a great fit in the Cyber Security landscape to enhance the security of organizations' cloud solutions in the region."For more information, please visit:HyTrust's mission is to make private, public and hybrid cloud infrastructure more trustworthy for enterprises, service providers and government agencies. HyTrust provides solutions that automate security controls for software-defined computing, networking and storage workloads to achieve the highest levels of visibility, granular policy control and data protection. HyTrust customers benefit from being able to accelerate cloud and virtualization cost savings while improving their security posture by automating and enforcing security policies in real time, adapting quickly to compliance requirements, and preventing unplanned outages.Headquartered in Mountain View, CA, HyTrust is backed by the leading providers of strategic IT infrastructure including VMware, Cisco, Intel and Fortinet; by the vanguard of innovative solutions for the intelligence community, In-Q-Tel; and by a world class group of financial investors including Sway Ventures, Granite Ventures, Trident Capital and Vanedge Capital. HyTrust was recently named one of CRN's "20 Coolest Cloud Security Vendors", a recipient of VMworld's 2015 Gold Award for Security/Compliance and Virtualization, and the Most Innovative Cloud Company at Intel Security Focus 2015.Founded in 2005, Complete Solution Finder is a Singapore-based, Information Security focused regional Value Added Distributor (VAD) with partners across ASEAN. Complete Solution Finder is committed to helping enterprises with their information security initiatives by providing both best-of-breed and cost-effective products from leading innovative technology vendors. Email : ***@hytrust.com Tags : Cloud Securirty , Government , Compliance , Cyber Security , Workload Security , Virtualization Security , Software Defined Data Center Industry : Financial , Government , Health Location : Mountain View - California - United States Subject : Partnerships Account Phone Number Disclaimer Report Abuse Account Email AddressAccount Phone Number Funds will support Rivers of Recovery's innovative recreational rehabilitation program for injured U.S. veterans and active duty military personnel. Contact Jim Mayol ***@riversofrecovery.com Jim Mayol End -- The Stanislaus Fly Fishers and Rivers of Recovery will host the Fly Fishing Film Tour (F3T) at the State Theatre in Modesto, California, on May 4, 2017, at 5:30 p.m.All proceeds from the event will directly benefit Rivers of Recovery, a non-profit organization serving combat veterans through rehabilitative fly fishing adventures. Tickets are $10 per person. As always, veterans and students can attend the event for free.Rivers of Recovery specializes in the rehabilitation of combat veterans suffering with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), minor Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI), stress, anxiety, and depression.Each Rivers of Recovery trip hosts six to ten combat veterans on a four-day, science-based, experiential program that focuses on confidence-building, outdoor activities, talk therapy in a relaxed, positive environment, and proven techniques on the self-management of symptoms, stressors and responses.Through philanthropic contributions and events like this one, Rivers of Recovery trips are free to the participant, with $2,500 covering airfare, lodging, guiding/instruction, meals and research study.It's a program that's directly affected the lives of many California U.S. military veterans, including *Jose is the sole survivor of a 122-mm rocket attack that struck his howitzer near Ar Ramadi, Iraq. Jose sustained 3rd degree burns over 75% of his body, lost most of his fingers on his left hand and most use of the right. Given just a 3% chance of living, after nearly a year in the hospital and more than 70 surgeries, he beat the odds and now serves as the director of operations for Rivers of Recovery. *Derek was injured in 2004's Operation Phantom Fury, losing his leg in battle as well as sustaining a traumatic brain injury and multiple shrapnel wounds. Today Derek serves as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, overseeing emergent and transitional housing grantees for the Department of Veterans Affairs. He is a nationally recognized speaker on pain management, post traumatic growth, and therapies affecting veterans and their families. He is also the author of "Exit Wounds, a Survival Guide for Pain Management." *One of the first Rivers of Recovery participants, Gunny is now a Rivers of Recovery Board member, a full-time Veteran Outreach Program Specialist/Counseling Technician at the Modesto Vet Center and a volunteer in Redding, California."It's amazing what they've given back considering what they've already given to our country," said Jim Mayol, Rivers of Recovery board member and the event organizer.Through fly fishing, the Rivers of Recovery program combines outdoor recreational activities with instruction on the self-treatment of symptoms of stress, depression and anxiety, to empower veterans to live a life that is no longer restricted by psychological or physical disabilities."I met other veterans around me going through similar things," Jose Jauregui said. "They see me going through the same stuff as they are, and I think we help each other. That's what it's all about. It gives you the sense of being normal in the community now."Rivers of Recovery would like to thank the Stanislaus Fly Fishers and all contributors for their support.Visit http://www.riversofrecovery.org to learn more. Dating website Academic Dating celebrated its 10 year anniversary this year. The site now has 4,278 members from 144 countries. By: Academic Dating Contact Mark McIlroy ***@outlook.com Mark McIlroy End -- Dating website Academic Dating achieved a milestone this year 2017, reaching 10 years of operation.The website was originally developed as a dating website for the academic community.However, people from a wide range of backgrounds joined the site and the site now has a wide base of members.The membership base is approximately 4,278 members from 144 countries.The website is totally free to use and supports its expenses through modest use of Google Adsense advertisements on the site.Members come from a wide range of backgrounds and locations.The largest countries represented on the site are the USA, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and India.However, there are 144 countries represented in all.The gender split of the site is quite even, with 62% male and 38% women.Academic Dating has a comprehensive set of dating site functions including sophisticated search options, the ability to upload an unlimited number of photos to a member's profile, messages sent through the site, and the ability to remember or block communication with other members.A unique feature of the site is the ability of a member to select from three colour schemes, which when selected will update all pages throughout the site as viewed by that member.Although hosting members from a wide range of backgrounds, academics do join the site at times in line with the original intention of the website.A comprehensive set of Frequently Ask Questions, and Policies documentation is provided online.Academic Dating is extremely easy to use, with all screens based on menus, links and function buttons.Academic Dating includes a 'guest' login feature, where visitors can log into the site and view most of the site pages, however they must join and create a profile if they want to communicate with other members.Operation of the site is extremely fast, due to the careful limiting of the use of graphics, and the high quality hosting solution and database system used.The site is hosted on a secure commercial hosting service based in the USA.The site was developed as a new venture by the owner, Mark McIlroy in 2007.Site administration is based in Melbourne, Australia and is a venture of Mark Laurence McIlroy.Mark McIlroy is based in Melbourne, Australia and currently works in the Financial Planning industry.He has a background in the corporate Financial Services sector in Australia. His early career was based in Information Technology roles, and included Financial Services roles such as Portfolio Manager (Quantitative), managing Australian Equity share portfolios for a major bank.The site address of Academic Dating is is http://www.academicdating.net A resident expert from Aroma Bravo describes his great passion and excitement for the future of Honduras gourmet coffee. Contact Charles C Harmon Co LLC ***@gmail.com 888-582-6650 Charles C Harmon Co LLC888-582-6650 End -- When it comes to gourmet coffee, Honduras easily ranks high in the recommendation list of coffee experts. This is not surprising because Honduras gourmet coffee has long been revered for its smooth, balanced and full-bodied flavor. For many experts, this coffee represents the very best of the Latin American specialty coffees. Each cup is a revelation; every sip highlights the alluring aroma and unique origin flavors of the Honduran beans."Drinking Honduras gourmet coffee is always a magical experience for me," says one of the resident experts at Aroma Bravo Coffee and Tea. "Even after years of sipping this coffee, I'm still amazed every time."When asked about how his passion for Honduras coffee started, the expert recalled: "I discovered the coffee when I began working as a small-batch roaster. We were trying out several single-origin coffees but the Honduran variety left the best impression on me. It had deep, luscious flavors of chocolate and nuts with subtle hints of cocoa, caramel and honey. It was certainly rich in taste but not at all overbearing;a good balance that most specialty coffees find difficult to achieve. That's how my love affair with Honduran gourmet coffee started out."It seems that the Aroma Bravo expert is not alone in his passion. Roasters, baristas and other professionals around the world have also been charmed by Honduras coffee's unique flavor profile."I believe that Honduras coffee is up to par with the best coffees in the industry. There is already an increasing demand for the coffee, evident in how Honduras has already surpassed Guatemala as the best exporter in Central America, and now ranks sixth place globally. It's exciting to see more and more people discover this coffee. It has so much to offer in terms of body, flavor and aroma, and I'm glad that many coffee lovers are starting to appreciate that," the expert further remarked.More info about Honduras gourmet coffee is available at https://www.amazon.com/ review/R39EF6L6FY46DU/ ref=cm_cr_rd... Aroma Bravo is a certified organic brand of Honduras gourmet coffee. Highly rated for its smooth and well-balanced flavor, Aroma Bravo Coffee is a must-have for all coffee lovers. If you are new to iQ you can schedule a demo and learn more about this opportunity. PSFK iQ - Where Innovators Turn for Research. Our professional-grade research platform is designed specifically for Retail and CX leaders who want to know whats next. Whether youre staying current on trends or need a real-time research partner to help you get ahead, count on PSFK iQ to deliver the info you need to make your next move. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague said on April 19 that it would not impose measures ordering Russia to stop funding and equipping pro-Russia separatists as part of a case brought against Moscow by Ukraine. The United Nation's highest court said it was refusing the request by Ukraine to issue a provisional measure to block what Kyiv says is Russian monetary and military support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. Moscow seized control of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and has supported the separatists in a war that has since killed more than 9,900 people in eastern Ukraine. When Ukraine lodged its case in January, Kyiv said Russia has stepped up its interference in Ukraine's affairs since 2014, "intervening militarilyfinancing acts of terrorism and violating the human rights of millions of Ukraine's citizens, including, for all too many, their right to life." It said Ukraine was seeking "full reparations for...acts of terrorism the Russian Federation has caused, facilitated or supported," citing bombardments of residential areas and the July 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which killed all 298 passengers and crew. It said Ukraine was seeking "full reparations for...acts of terrorism the Russian Federation has caused, facilitated or supported," citing bombardments of residential areas and the July 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which killed all 298 passengers and crew. Ukraine is also calling on the court to stop what it says is "racial discrimination" against Crimean Tatars and ethnic Ukrainians in Crimea since its takeover of the peninsula, which followed the deployment of troops and a referendum denounced as illegitimate by Ukraine, the United States, and a total of 100 UN member countries. Russian Denials Ukraine's filing accused Russia of violating the Terrorism Financing Convention and an international treaty against racial discrimination. It asked the court's 15 judges to rule that "the Russian Federation bears international responsibility" for "acts of terrorism committed by its proxies in Ukraine." Moscow rejects the allegations. It has said the terrorism claims are "neither factual nor legal" and argued that the ICJ does not have jurisdiction over the case. Russia has denied sending troops or military equipment to eastern Ukraine, despite what Kyiv and Western countries say is incontrovertible evidence. As it can take months for the ICJ to even decide to hear a case, Ukraine also lodged a request for provisional protection measures. In that interim application, Ukraine asked for an urgent court order demanding Russia refrain from "any action which might aggravate or extend the dispute" or make it more difficult to resolve, including a halt to the alleged pumping of money, weapons, equipment and personnel into the east. The United States, European Union, and other countries have imposed sanctions on Russia in response to its interference in Ukraine, which has badly damaged Moscow's relations with both the West and Ukraine. Although the ICJs rulings are final and binding, it has no means of enforcement. With reporting by AFP Over the past five years, Iranian officials and state media have touted the "indigenous" ingenuity in the Islamic republic's mass-produced Mohajer-6 combat drone, which Russia has deployed in its war against Ukraine. But a new investigation by Schemes, the investigative unit of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, has found that electronic components underpinning Tehran's production of the Mohajer-6 are far from homegrown. The Mohajer-6 drones contain components produced by companies from the United States and the European Union, both of which have sanctions restricting the export to Iran of such technology that can be used for both civilian and military purposes dual-use technology. The presence of these components in the Mohajer-6 does not mean their producers are in violation of U.S. or EU sanctions, and RFE/RL does not have evidence that this is the case. The investigation also found Mohajer-6 components produced in China, including a real-time mini-camera made by a Hong Kong firm that said it was "very sorry" that its products were being used in war. At least one major foreign-produced component of the Mohajer-6 has previously been identified by reporters in a Mohajer-6 recovered from the battlefield by the Ukrainian military: an engine made by the Austrian manufacturer BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co KG, a subsidiary of the Canadian company Bombardier Recreational Products. But Ukrainian intelligence assesses that the Iranian combat drone contains components from nearly three dozen different technology companies based in North America, the EU, Japan, and Taiwan, the Schemes investigation has found. A majority of these companies are based in the United States. A Schemes reporter who personally inspected the foreign-made drone parts identified components produced by at least 15 of these manufacturers. These include parts made by the U.S. technology firm Texas Instruments, which said in a statement that it does not sell into Russia or Iran and complies with applicable laws and regulations. To identify these components, Schemes reporters examined parts of the Mohajer-6 drone that the Ukrainian military shot down over the Black Sea near the Mykolayiv region coastal town of Ochakiv. They also reviewed Ukrainian intelligence records on the sources of these components. The drone also contains a microchip bearing the logo of a California technology company and a thermal-imaging camera that Ukrainian intelligence says may have been produced by a firm based in Oregon or China. Both Western officials and experts on illicit technology transfers say Iran has built a broad, global procurement network using front companies and other proxies in third countries to obtain dual-use technology from the United States and the EU. "Exporters will look at the request coming from the [United Arab Emirates] or another third country, and they'll think that they're selling to an end user based there, when really the end user is in Iran," Daniel Salisbury, a senior research fellow with the Department of War Studies at King's College London, told RFE/RL. In September, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions specifically targeting Iranian companies that Washington links to the production and transfer of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to Russia for deployment in its war on Ukraine. Fighting rages with no sign of an end more than eight months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an unprovoked invasion on February 24. "Non-Iranian, non-Russian entities should also exercise great caution to avoid supporting either the development of Iranian UAVs or their transfer, or sale of any military equipment to Russia for use against Ukraine," U.S. Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement announcing the sanctions. Chinese Cameras, California Chips Development of the Mohajer-6, the latest model in a series of drones Tehran has used since the 1980s Iran-Iraq War, began in 2017, while mass production began the following year. During a ceremony commemorating the Islamic Revolution, then-Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami said that the new tactical drone could perform surveillance, reconnaissance, as well as help destroy targets. Hatami extolled what he described as the drones domestic design, a portrayal echoed in later reports by Iranian media. "The homegrown drone was made through cooperation among the army, Defense Ministry, and Quds Aviation Industries," the English-language Tehran Times quoted an Iranian military official as saying in July 2019. The dismantling of the Mohajer-6 drone recovered by the Ukrainian military shows that the UAV is packed with foreign components. One of these parts is a bright-orange real-time mini-camera produced by the Hong Kong-based company RunCam Technology. Documents seen by Schemes show that Ukrainian intelligence has also identified RunCam as the producer of the camera, which likely assists in remote guidance of the drone. Founded in 2013, RunCam is involved in the development and production of so-called "first-person-view" real-time cameras. "Our users are our friends," the company's website states. The site says that RunCam has two authorized Iranian dealers. Reached by Schemes for comment about the use of its camera in the Iranian drone deployed by Russia in its war on Ukraine, RunCam said in an e-mailed response: "We are very sorry to know that RunCam's products were used in warfare. RunCam is specialized in producing products for model aircraft hobby. We never contact any customer related to military." The provenance of the Mohajer-6 drone-s thermal-imaging camera is more difficult to determine. A Ukrainian intelligence assessment reviewed by Schemes indicates it could be the Ventus Hot model produced by Sierra-Olympic Technologies, based in the U.S. state of Oregon, but that it also resembles a cheaper analog available for sale by the Chinese company Qingdao Thundsea Marine Technology. Qingdao Thundsea Marine Technology said in an e-mailed statement that the company did not "have any business with Iran," because "it will affect our business." The company said it specializes in marine services and is not involved in manufacturing. It also said that it did not have a single successful order for its online advertisement of the thermal-imaging camera resembling the one recovered from the Iranian drone. Sierra-Olympic Technologies did not respond to a request for comment on the possible use of its thermal-imaging cameras in Iranian combat drones in time for publication. Microchips recovered from the drone also featured the logos of the California-based company Linear Technology Corporation and its parent company, the Massachusetts-based semiconductor company Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI). ADI did not respond to an e-mailed request for comment on the possible use of its technology in the Iranian combat drone. Schemes reporters also observed among the components of the Iranian drone a voltage step-down converter produced by Texas Instruments. The company said in an e-mailed statement that it "does not sell into Russia, Belarus, or Iran." "TI complies with applicable laws and regulations in the countries where we operate, and does not support or condone the use of our products in applications they weren't designed for," Texas Instruments said. Schemes reporters also saw several components produced by the California-based technology manufacturer Xilinx, whose parent company is the multinational semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), also based in California. According to Ukrainian intelligence, one of these Xilinx components was integrated into a video data-link module located in the wing of the Mohajer-6 that helped carry out attack missions. "This module transmits information from the board to the missile head. That is, guidance for the missile. With the help of this module, it was possible to guide the missile to the target," a Ukrainian military intelligence representative told Schemes. AMD did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication. 'No Authorization' Previous media reports about the components of the Mohajer-6 drone, including by CNN, have shown evidence that its engine was produced by the Austrian manufacturer BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co KG, whose parent company is the Quebec-based Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP). The Canadian company responded to the reports on October 21, saying in a statement that it "has not authorized and has not given any authorization to its distributors to supply military UAV manufacturers in Iran or Russia." "As soon as we were made aware of this situation, we started an investigation to determine the source of the engines," BRP said. . But Schemes reporters found that the authorized Rotax distributor listed on the Austrian manufacturer's website advertised itself as a Rotax aircraft engines distributor for Iran as recently as December 2020. The distributor, the Italian company Luciano Sorlini S.p.a., has posted multiple magazine advertisements on its websites in which it describes itself as a Rotax distributor for numerous countries. Prior to January 2021, Iran was listed among these countries. The Rotax website also lists a Tehran-based company -- MahtaWing -- as an official service center for its engines. The company, known in Persian as Mahtabal, conducts repairs of Rotax engines, including the Rotax 912 iS, the engine that was found in the Mohajer-6 combat drone recovered in Ukraine. BRP said in an e-mailed statement on November 4 that while Luciano Sorlini S.p.a. is the appointed distributor of Rotax aircraft engines in Iran, "since 2019, no Rotax engines have been sold in Iran, and we will not sell any engines to Iran moving forward." The Canadian company said it had "internal controls" that "significantly" restrict the sale of its products for military purposes. "For example, the sale of any BRP product to operators with any military activity in Iran, Turkey, and Russia is strictly prohibited," BRP said. "We conduct our business in compliance with all EU, Canadian, and U.S. applicable regulations." BRP described the Iranian company MahtaWing as a "local service center" that "offers maintenance services for previously sold aircraft engines." Shahriar Siami of RFE/RL's Radio Farda contributed to this report. The names are in, but in Iran just registering your candidacy is not enough to actually participate in a presidential election. Now it's time for the biggest hurdle, as the Guardians Council -- the 12-member body at the heart of the Islamic republic -- vets all applications and comes up with a final list of candidates. In the course of days, nearly all of the hundreds of registrants will be rejected, leaving voters around half a dozen handpicked names to choose from on election day (May 19). As the sifting gets under way, labels will be flying as domestic and foreign media alike try to categorize potential candidates into one of Iran's various political streams. Ultimately, most will be deemed to be incompatible with the state's Islamic values, meaning those who are closest to the Western idea of reform have little chance of advancing. But while the names that make the final list can be assumed to be acceptable to the clerical establishment, that does not mean there are not bona fide differences among them. But what, exactly, is a reformist, a conservative, or a hard-liner? There are overlaps between camps, of course: some conservatives, for example, hold more liberal views on, say, the economy. But in lieu of actual parties (there are none in Iran) or self-identifying factions, a handful of terms do serve to delineate the strands of loose political ideology around which Iranian politicians cluster. Reformists: International media often portray this group as Iran's great hope of freeing itself from the tyranny of the supreme leader and his acolytes. But the term is, in itself, inadequate. First, being a "reformer" in the Iranian context means something entirely different than what would be considered a progressive in the West -- we are not talking about people advocating for gay marriage here. There are also two distinct types of reformists in Iran. Seditionists: The first distinct branch within the reformist camp is comprised of opposition supporters who are seen as the "seditionists" by their foes. For the most part, the seditionists are the leaders and backers of the Green Movement who took to the streets en masse to protest Mahmud Ahmadinejad contentious reelection to a second term in 2009. The conservative media labeled the uprising the fitna (meaning "sedition"). These people -- notably Mir Hossein Musavi, the second-placed finisher who lost a tight race due to what his supporters claimed was electoral fraud -- have long since been ostracized from Iranian politics. This group believes in the predominance of elected institutions over unelected -- a contentious idea in a system in which the clerical establishment plays a dominant role in steering the country -- and argues for the direct election of the supreme leader, the highest authority in the Islamic republic. It is perhaps the hardest camp to define, considering that another stream, the conservative hard-liners, label anyone with even the slightest reformist bent a "seditionist." In their purest form they will play little part in the election, although there are questions whether their most ardent followers could affect the outcome by refusing to vote or by other means. Moderates: The second "reformist" group is the moderates, which remain firmly within the clerical establishment but also believe that a liberal society with increased participation of the people are in keeping with the Islamic Revolution. This camp's great hope was once Mohammed Khatami, who served as Iran's president from 1997-2005. Khatami exhibited his desire for reform by extending an olive branch to the United States in 1998 with his then-unheard-of call for a "dialogue of civilizations," and at home by allowing many newspapers to open up. But key to the moderates, while allowing for some liberalization and greater public participation, is ensuring the continued success of the Vilayat-e Faqih -- the so-called Rule of the Jurists. This political philosophy, developed by the Islamic republics founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, holds that those best fit to govern are those most equipped to interpret Gods law -- namely, Irans clerics. During the last election, Mohammed Reza Aref, Khatamis vice president from 2001-2005, represented this group until he withdrew to allow Rohani a better chance of winning. This year, Mostafa Kavakebian, Tehrans representative in the Majlis (Iranian parliament), best embodies this faction. The Principlists/Hardliners: Known in Iran as the Osul-Garayan, this group congregates around the supreme leader -- currently Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This group is guided by an unswerving belief in the ideological principles of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. They have a loose manifesto based on loyalty to the fundamental pillars of the Islamic Republic of Iran: Shi'a Islam, the 1979 Islamic Revolution, loyalty to the Supreme Leader, and an unquestioning acceptance of the Vilayat-e Faqih. They are above all suspicious of "cultural invasion" -- what they term Westoxification -- Western social influence that must be resisted at all costs. They fear the West's soft power -- and its possible influence on the population -- at least as much as its hard power, if not more. They believe that Iranians should be ascetic -- material development is treated with suspicion and must be subordinated to the importance placed on spiritual development. This year their most prominent candidate is Ebrahim Raisi, custodian and chairman of the Astan Quds Razavi, the organization that manages several of Irans holiest sites. Pragmatic Conservatives: This group is again comprised of people firmly within the Islamic Republic's clerical establishment. Pragmatic conservatives believe that the Vilayat-e Faqih is the institutional pivot upon which the entire political system should turn, but also that economic reforms are necessary. People should be allowed to get rich; the economy should open up to the world. Perhaps the best exemplar of this camp is Ali Larijani, the current chairman of the Majlis and former secretary of the Supreme National Security Council. Larijani believes utterly in the Islamic Revolution, but also that it must be tempered with economic pragmatism. This year their most prominent potential candidate is Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the mayor of Tehran. Pragmatists: This group forms a bridge between the hardliners and those more moderately-inclined. Again, they are deeply embedded within the established elites but believe that Iran must open up more to the West, both economically and diplomatically (though they also fear its cultural influence). The undoubted head of this faction is President Hassan Rohani (often described as a relative moderate following the demise of the moderates-turned-seditionists), who faces strong opposition from hard-line elements within the state as he seeks reelection this year. His cause will not be helped by the death earlier this year of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani -- one of the most prominent figures in the history of the Islamic Republic and a quasi-mentor of Rohani, who also benefitted from Rafsanjanis political networks. The Wildcard: On 11 April, former President Mahmud Ahmadinejad surprisingly registered as a candidate, despite Khamenei's express wishes that he do no such thing. Ahmadinejad was once close to the supreme leader and was considered a hard-line principlist. But he was and remains a populist, drawing the majority of his support from Iran's lower classes. It may well be that the Guardians Council keeps him off the final list of candidates, but it would do so at the risk of alienating many voters. And if he does manage to get through (or if the attention he attracts helps boost the chances of his former vice president, Hamid Baghaei) Iran's carefully managed elections may yet throw up one more surprise. 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. Mijat Lakicevic, a Belgrade-based journalist, writing recently on the independent web portal Pescanik, put forward a provocative proposal. We should build a monument to the victims of the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences, he wrote. Lakicevic is referring to the infamous Memorandum, a 1986 manifesto seen as promoting Serbian nationalism that was signed by a number of prominent Serbian academics. In the eyes of many, it marked the beginning of the drawing of ethnic lines in Yugoslav societies and served as a prologue to the wars of the 1990s. His idea is in reaction to a serious initiative by Russias state-backed Sputnik media outlet to build a monument to the victims of the 1999 NATO bombing of Serbia. According to Lakicevic, it was the 1986 Memorandum that turned Serbs against their neighbors and, indeed, against the rest of the world. The harm done by that ideology [expressed in the Memorandum] is far greater than the damage caused by the war against NATO, Lakicevic writes. The wars that preceded the 1999 intervention led to the exodus of hundreds of thousands of educated young people and incalculable economic loss -- a national catastrophe, according to Lakicevic. And that is without even mentioning the evil wrought upon other [neighboring] peoples." Lakicevic says he does not expect many public figures to back his proposal, which is what one might call an intellectual exercise rather than a serious proposal. He will certainly be unable to compete with the long list of prominent individuals, politicians, and celebrities supporting the Sputnik proposal, which is seen as an attempt by Moscow to further discourage Belgrade -- the Kremlins closest ally in the Balkans -- from pursuing closer ties with the West, including membership in NATO. Apart from Prime Minister and now President-elect Aleksandar Vucic, who said that Serbia will fulfill its duty toward innocent victims of aggression, a number of public figures have pledged their support, including some signatories of the 1986 Memorandum. Serbian film director Emir Kusturica is one of the most outspoken supporters of the Sputnik initiative. Kusturica said the proposed monument should stand as a reminder that everything that befell the Serbian people in the last century was part of a project aimed at its destruction. Kusturica has been a vocal critic of the West and is a known cheerleader for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Two years ago, he facetiously claimed that World War III would likely begin with the U.S. bombing of state-backed Russian TV channel RT, since it was the only outlet challenging the spread of U.S. propaganda. It should be noted that there are already several monuments to victims of the NATO intervention in Belgrade and other Serbian cities, including the 30-meter-high Eternal Flame in Belgrades Friendship Park. Historian Ljubinka Trgovcevic fails to see the urgency behind erecting another one. She also points out that no one involved in the Sputnik idea is mentioning the Albanian victims of the war. [Ethnic Albanian victims] are considered citizens of Serbia by the constitution, and yet they are excluded from outpourings of public empathy, which only shows this governments hypocrisy, Trgovcevic said in an interview with RFE/RLs Balkan Service in Belgrade. On the one hand, they continue to lay claim to Kosovo and its territory as part of Serbia, and on the other they do not count [ethnic Albanians], including those who died [as a result of NATO bombing] among the citizens who deserve to be honored. I see absolutely no reason for the monument, and I am decidedly against it. According to information gathered by the Humanitarian Law Center NGO, 758 people died during the NATO bombing campaign from March to June 1999. Of those, 453 were civilians, including 220 ethnic Albanians -- almost half of the total -- 202 Serbs, and 28 others. The majority of the victims (448), including military casualties, were killed on the territory of Kosovo. The figures are based on almost 1,500 documents and more than 500 statements from witnesses and victims relatives. The manipulation of historical memory for political gain is nothing new in the Balkans. What seems to have been forgotten in all public memorialization of the NATO intervention is the context of the confrontation with forces loyal to former Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic. NATO air strikes began on March 24, 1999, only after months of failed peace talks, broken promises by the Milosevic government, and, finally, a new wave of repression against ethnic Albanians by the Serbian military and police. No one can doubt the large-scale human rights violations, expulsions, and war crimes [perpetrated by the Serbian forces in Kosovo] -- all of which are ignored in this [Sputnik] initiative,Jelena Krstic of the Humanitarian Law Center told RFE/RL. Her response to Vucics statement that Serbia is obliged to fulfill its duty to the victims of the NATO bombing is that we also have to show respect for the victims whose deaths we are responsible for. Trgovcevic sees the Sputnik initiative as a distraction from Serbias current problems. We have many other much more pressing problems, including high unemployment and the exodus of young people from this country, and yet we are dreaming up pharaonic monuments to serve the needs of those in power, she laments. The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect the views of RFE/RL. 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 The International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague has refused Ukraines request to impose provisional measures against Russia to block what Kyiv says is Russia's monetary and military support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. But the court on April 19 did issue a provisional ruling calling for a halt to what it says is "racial discrimination" against Crimean Tatars and ethnic Ukrainians in Russia-occupied Crimea. "The conditions required for the indication of provisional measures," as requested by Ukraine in order to block Russian support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, "are not met," the United Nations highest court said in its April 19 ruling, read out by ICJ President Ronny Abraham. Moscow seized control of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and has supported the separatists in a war that has killed more than 9,900 people in eastern Ukraine since April of that year. When it lodged its case in January, Kyiv said that Russia has stepped up its interference in Ukraine's affairs since 2014, "intervening militarilyfinancing acts of terrorism and violating the human rights of millions of Ukraine's citizens, including, for all too many, their right to life." It said Ukraine was seeking "full reparations for...acts of terrorism the Russian Federation has caused, facilitated or supported," citing bombardments of residential areas and the July 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which killed all 298 passengers and crew. Racial Discrimination While Ukraine was unsuccessful in its attempt to have Russian funding of the separatists temporarily halted, the ICJ did rule in its favor on part of the case involving an international treaty against racial discrimination. The court, which handles disputes between states, granted a provisional ruling for Russia to stop what the court described as "racial discrimination" against Crimean Tatars and ethnic Ukrainians in Crimea since Russia's takeover of the peninsula, which followed the deployment of troops and a referendum denounced as illegitimate by Kyiv, the United States, and a total of 100 UN member countries. "The Court finds that Russia must refrain from imposing limitations on the ability of the Crimean Tatar community to conserve its representative institutions, including the Mejlis, and ensure the availability of education in the Ukrainian language," an ICJ statement issued after the ruling said. Olena Zerkal, Ukraine's deputy foreign minister, told reporters outside the court that even though the ruling was mixed, it was still a legal victory for Ukraine because the panel of judges said they think the court, as of this point, has jurisdiction to hear both cases.. "For us, this decision of the court is a positive one," she said. "We proved our position and we see that we have a very good perspective for the hearings on merits and we are going to actually put forward all our intentions." Russian delegates did not immediately comment at the court. Ukraine has asked the court's 15 judges to rule that "the Russian Federation bears international responsibility" for "acts of terrorism committed by its proxies in Ukraine." Moscow rejects the allegations. It has said the terrorism claims are "neither factual nor legal" and argued that the ICJ does not have jurisdiction over the case. Russia has denied sending troops or military equipment to eastern Ukraine, despite what Kyiv and Western countries say is incontrovertible evidence. Ukraine lodged the request for provisional protection measures because it can take months for the ICJ to even decide whether it will hear a case. In that interim application, Ukraine had asked for an urgent court order demanding Russia refrain from "any action which might aggravate or extend the dispute" or make it more difficult to resolve, including a halt to the alleged pumping of money, weapons, equipment and personnel into the east. The United States, European Union, and other countries have imposed sanctions on Russia in response to its seizure of Crimea and its interference in Ukraine, which has badly damaged Moscow's relations with both the West and Ukraine. Although the ICJs rulings are final and binding, it has no means of enforcement. With reporting by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service A pair of Russian nuclear-capable bombers flew near Alaska, the Pentagon said, coming as close as 100 miles from Kodiak Island. U.S. officials said on April 18 that the two Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers flew roughly 280 miles southwest of Elmendorf Air Force Base, within the Air Defense Identification Zone of the United States, on April 17. The U.S. Air Force scrambled two F-22 stealth fighter jets to intercept the Russian bombers, in an operation that was "safe and professional," said Pentagon spokesman Navy Commander Gary Ross. The American jets flew alongside the Russian bombers for 12 minutes, before the Russian bombers reversed course and headed back to their base in eastern Russia, Fox News reported. The last time Russian bombers flew near the United States was July 4, 2015, when a pair of Russian bombers flew off the coasts of Alaska and California, coming as close as 40 miles to Mendocino, California. During that incident, CNN reported that the Russian pilots relayed a message of greetings on the U.S. independence day. Based on reporting by AP, CNN.com, and Fox News Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, world leaders in CV manufacture, has outlined a new commercial vehicle product portfolio for India. In the overall commercial vehicle and M&HCV market in India is concerned, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles has seen sales of 13,200 vehicles of its Bharat Benz truck brand during the period January to November 2019. This was a dip of 35 percent over 20,500 units sold in the same period of the previous year. Now the company has outlined a new CV product portfolio for India, each of which promise to come in with class leading fuel efficiency, elevated safety equipment and better cabin comforts. The products are claimed to receive better connectivity and reliability, all of which will go a long way in reducing maintenance costs. The new generation of trucks and buses has also been detailed with a ProfitTechnology+ benefit package. The company has also cited a deviation from the traditional tonnage classification towards customization of vehicles to create a truck for every need. There will be added impetus on customization of applications and thus creating a vehicle to target specific sectors. With added emphasis on digitization for customers, DICV also detailed Proserv a customer service digital program with new telematics solutions of Truckonnect and Busconnect. This kind of digitization platform will allow truck operators to track, manage and analyze their vehicles in real time. This will lead to better maintenance, efficient management, cost efficiency and increased utilization of assets while it will also related to enhanced driver performance. The Proserv application comes in with 65+ features, allowing for advance booking, part ordering, extended warranty, insurance and 247 roadside assistance with online payment options. Busconnect will benefit both passengers and operators in a way that will allow for passengers to be able to select routes, get tracking alerts, on board entertainment and earn reward miles. Operators will receive fleet summaries so as to manage fleet administration in a more efficient manner. The Bharat Benz buses in BS6 format sees new design elements with bold styling. They receive new grille designs, solid bumpers and more comfortable cabins with suspension seating. The introduction of soft cruise control allows drivers to manage speeds at constant levels thereby relating to better fuel management. The instrument cluster gets shift gear advisory and the buses will come in with future ready electric and electronic architecture called ETech with advanced human interface, easy fault detection and chassis body CAN interface. Since 2007, scientists have been searching to find the cause of a sudden and unexpected global rise in atmospheric methane, a potent greenhouse gas, following almost a decade in which concentrations had stayed relatively constant. Recent studies have explored a range of possible causes. Suggestions have included a rise in oil and natural gas extraction, increased emissions from tropical wetlands or increases in emissions from growing East Asian economies. However, a new paper by an international team of scientists in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) investigates an alternative possibility: a rise and fall in the concentration of the substance that destroys methane in the atmosphere, the hydroxyl radical. Lead author, Dr Matt Rigby from the University of Bristol's School of Chemistry and Cabot Institute, said: "A change in the hydroxyl radical concentration would be a neat explanation for the changes in methane that we've seen. "It would mean that emissions may not have increased suddenly in 2007, but rather, risen more gradually over the last couple of decades." Since the global concentration of the hydroxyl radical cannot be measured directly, the team's findings were made by studying the rate at which the solvent methyl chloroform, which is also destroyed by hydroxyl, was removed from the atmosphere. Professor Ron Prinn from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who co-authored the paper and leads the Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (AGAGE), an international project that measures greenhouse gas concentrations, said: "We have been monitoring trends in the methyl chloroform for nearly 40 years because of its role in depleting stratospheric ozone. advertisement "Because methyl chloroform is now banned under the Montreal Protocol for the Protection of the Stratospheric Ozone Layer, we've see its concentration drop very rapidly. "We can examine how this rate of decline changes from one year to the next to infer the hydroxyl radical concentration." Dr Steve Montzka from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), who also co-authored the paper, and operates an independent measurement network for methylchloroform, added: "This paper re-examines some of the assumptions that had previously been made in studies of hydroxyl radical and methyl chloroform and shows how they influence our understanding of methane's atmospheric sink. "To me, one of the main findings is that our objective analyses of two sets of observations tells essentially the same story, even as it becomes more and more difficult to measure methyl chloroform given that its concentration is approaching zero." Dr Rigby added that there was still uncertainty remaining. He explained: "Whilst there are strong hints in our study that hydroxyl radical changes could be playing a significant role in the fluctuations in methane growth, our uncertainties are very large. "In future, we need to think about new ways to reduce this uncertainty, if we are to truly understand changes in atmospheric methane." The study also lead to a more certain, but unexpected finding: that emissions of methyl chloroform had not dropped to zero. Dr Rigby said: "Because its production is now banned globally, we were expecting to see no emissions of this substance at all. However, we have very strong evidence that emissions are continuing." The team are preparing a follow-up study that would determine where these emissions are originating. Meanwhile, they are continuing to monitor methane in the atmosphere, and are waiting to see whether its current rate of increase will continue. People who consume low-fat milk and yogurt, rather than whole-fat dairy products, are less likely to have depression, according to researchers in Japan and China. Dairy consumption has long been linked to a wide range of physical health benefits, but its effect on emotional health has remained unclear. Now, a new study published in the journal Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology reveals that people who consume low-fat dairy products may be less prone to depression Professor Ryoichi Nagatomi of Tohoku University and colleagues in Japan and China investigated the association between whole and low-fat dairy consumption and depressive symptoms such as exhaustion, sadness, anxiety, helplessness and hopelessness. This is the first study to consider different components of dairy products (whole fat and low fat) and the occurrence of depression. The study involved 1,159 Japanese adults between the ages of 19 and 83. There were 897 men and 262 women, of which 31.2% and 31.7% respectively, were depressed. The researchers asked the participants in a questionnaire how often they consumed whole- or low-fat milk or yogurt. Depressive symptoms were evaluated using the self-rating depression scale, which consists of 20 questions and is a tool to distinguish people with and without depression. The result showed that people who consumed low-fat dairy products between one and four times a week are less depressed. The correlation remained even after considering other critical factors such as age, sex, health status, nutrition status and life style. The study found no association between whole-fat milk consumption and depressive symptoms. The researchers speculate that this is because trans-fatty acid contained in whole fat milk, which is associated with depression, cancelled out the anti-depressive effect of another milk component, tryptophan. The researchers note that since this was a cross-sectional study that analyzed a population at a single point in time, it could not explain what actually caused such outcomes. Other dairy products, such as cheese and butter, were not included in the study. It is also unclear whether milk or yogurt had a stronger influence. Further studies are necessary to confirm and clarify the causality of the findings. The breeding grounds of Arctic migratory birds such as the barnacle goose are changing rapidly due to accelerated warming in the polar regions. They won't be able to keep up with this climate change unless they can somehow anticipate it. A research team from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) employed computer models to assess the future of the geese and their young. Results are being published online by the scientific journal Global Change Biology. It's the time of year when barnacle geese and many other migratory birds prepare to depart for their breeding grounds above the Arctic Circle. From their wintering grounds in the Netherlands, the geese fly all the way up to the Barentsz Sea in northern Russia, where they should arrive just as the snow has melted. But in the polar regions, the climate is warming much more rapidly than in more temperate areas like the Netherlands -- a phenomenon known as 'Arctic amplification'. It's hard enough for humans to get to grips with the accelerated warming, let alone for barnacle geese, as an earlier NIOO-led study showed. After all, how can they tell from their wintering grounds if the snow has begun to melt thousands of kilometres away? So is it possible for the barnacle geese to advance their spring migration nonetheless, to predict climate change? First study, fewer young Ecologist Thomas Lameris and his fellow researchers from NIOO, and also the Swiss Ornithological Institute among other institutions, have tried to find the answer. "This is the first study that tests if migratory birds are in any way able to adjust their timing to the accelerated warming in the polar regions. We used a model to show that the availability of enough edible grass to build up reserves for their journey is not a problem for the barnacle geese. It's the unpredictability of the climatic changes in their breeding grounds that spells trouble for them." If the geese continue to mistime their arrival, their reproductive success will be reduced. Lameris: "They miss their optimal breeding window and the peak in local food abundance, so fewer goslings will survive." Some compensation for this comes from the fact that as well as starting earlier, the breeding season is becoming longer. This gives the goslings more time to grow. But that's not enough. To establish the barnacle geese's potential for anticipating climate change, the researchers built a model that tracks individual geese as they fly to their breeding grounds in northern Russia and make stopovers along the route. "In the model, the geese have to make a choice each day: stay in their present location and continue to feed, or fly to the next stopover." The researchers tested the model for various gradations of climatic warming. Smarter migration strategy? The barnacle goose is an ideal 'model species' for studying the effects of climate changes, because researchers have been able to study this animal for decades. But it's not just about a single species. Lameris: "Our results are probably valid for many more species of Arctic-breeding migratory birds, and certainly for other geese such as the white-fronted and the brent goose." On the whole, geese are clever birds. Goslings learn the migration route from their parents, including the best places to stop over and build up fat reserves. "So if they do change the timing of their arrival, it would be easy to pass that on to the next generation," Lameris argues hopefully. "The main question is whether geese and other migratory birds can adapt as fast as the climate changes, to keep up." Page Content In deciding whether California's overtime laws apply to nonresident employees who spend full days or weeks working in the state, the California Supreme Court has previously held that the state's labor code applies to overtime work "performed in California." By focusing on the location of the work performed, the Supreme Court signaled the state's strong interest in enforcing its overtime laws for work performed within its borders without regard to either party's residence as controlling factors. However, a federal court in the state just issued a new decision addressing this same question in Marchwill this case change the standard, or does it simply refine existing law? Read on to find the answer Background Decisions The last California Supreme Court pronouncement on this issue came in the 2011 case of Sullivan v. Oracle Corp. There, the court decided that Oracle, a California-based employer, needed to apply California overtime law for work performed within the state. The court cited to a prior decision from 1996, Tidewater Marine Western, Inc. v. Bradshaw, that reasoned an employee is deemed to be a wage earner of California, and thus entitled to its protections, if "the employee resides in California, receives pay in California, and works exclusively, or principally, in California." This standard would suggest a multi-factor test, looking to factors such as residency, in determining the ultimate answer. Notably, the court said it was not prepared to answer the question of whether businesses based outside of California could be liable for work occasionally performed in California by nonresident employees, although it noted "the Legislature may not have intended" such a situation to be regulated by California's overtime laws. But the court cautioned that it also was not prepared to hold that California's wage orders necessarily applied to "all employment in California, and never to employment outside California." This hedging analysis did little to provide clear guidelines for employers wanting to know when they are subject to California law for work performed in California, as our state generally imposes stricter requirements than other state or federal laws. Nonetheless, many subsequent federal decisions interpreting California's ruling in Sullivan found that the location of the work performed was, in fact, "determinative" to whether California's wage and hour laws would apply if the work was performed principally in California. If the work was performed principally in other states, the wage and hour laws of California would not apply, even if some work was performed in the state. Could Recent Federal Case Upset the Apple Cart? Fast-forward to March 2017. At least one federal court has now questioned the location-of-work test as a controlling factor. In Vidrio v. United Airlines, Inc., decided on March 15, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California considered a multi-factor approach. This test calls for a determination based on where the employer maintains its business headquarters, where the employee resides, as well as where the work is performed. In making its ruling, the federal court noted the two different approaches to the jurisdictional question. The case involved a lawsuit filed by flight attendants challenging their pay statements. The judge applied both tests before ruling in favor of the employer. The court said it was undisputed that class members spent more than 80 percent of their working time outside of California and that the employer's headquarters was in Chicago with substantial administrative operations in Houston. Citing these facts, the court ruled in favor of United, also noting that class members were not principally working in California and United's operations in California made up less than 20 percent of its overall business. The court made clear that the same jurisdictional limits applied without regard to whether the controversy involved pay statements or underlying "wage and hour statutes and regulations to which it relates." What's Next? Reading between the lines, it does not appear that federal courts interpreting Sullivan have been willing to altogether abandon the multi-factor test in favor of a location-of-work test. However, last month's decision in Vidrio makes clear that it remains a significant factor in the analysis, contrary to the vague and hedging ruling of Sullivan. Employers should seek legal counsel on a case-by-case basis with regard to whether California law will apply to work performed by any employees who happen to do work in California. John Skousen is an attorney with Fisher Phillips in Irvine, Calif. Fisher Phillips. All rights reserves. Reposted with permission. Countries & Areas Search for country or area A Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan B Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma Burundi C Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Cote dIvoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czechia D Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic E Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia F Fiji Finland France G Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana H Haiti Holy See Honduras Hungary I Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy J Jamaica Japan Jordan K Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan L Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg M Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique N Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea North Macedonia Norway O Oman P Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Q Qatar R Republic of the Congo Romania Russia Rwanda S Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria T Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu U Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay Uzbekistan V Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Y Yemen Z Zambia Zimbabwe This page may have been moved, deleted, or is otherwise unavailable. To help you find what you are looking for: Enter Search Term(s): Still cant find what youre looking for? Send us a message using our contact us form. To report a broken link or other problems with the website, please include the URL. Thank you for visiting state.gov. USPACOM, AT SEA 02.09.2008 An F/A-18 Hornet from Carrier Air Wing 11, embarked aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz escorts a Russian Tu-95 Bear, long rang bomber aircraft on Feb. 9, 2008 south of Japan. The bomber neared the vicinity of the carrier resulting in the fighter intercept. Nimitz was transiting through the Western Pacific on a regularly scheduled deployment when the incident occurred. X 0 20 Help Keep Us Soaring We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling. We need your help in reversing that trend. We would like to add 20 new subscribers this month. Each month we count on your subscriptions or contributions. You can support us in the following ways: by Austin Bay April 19, 2017 The Trump Administration is suggesting China will receive a favorable trade deal -- and perhaps other unspecified considerations -- if Beijing helps terminate North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Cooperate to terminate -- that's the gist of the U.S. diplomatic strategy to deal with North Korea's rogue nukes. During his recent visit to South Korea, Vice-President Mike Pence gave a more expansive but still focused description. "...President Trump," Pence said, "is absolutely committed to marshaling the energy of the world community, in countries in the Asian pacific, to use economic and diplomatic power to isolate North Korea and achieve a goal of a denuclearized Korean peninsula." The coercive diplomatic operation the vice-president sketched relies on sustained cooperation. Pence implicitly appealed to collective interest in ending the threat of nuclear war in East Asia. The U.S. will "marshal" global and regional economic and diplomatic power in order to "isolate" North Korea's rogue regime and achieve "denuclearization." Note that once North Korea's threat disappears, the entire peninsula will become a "no nukes" zone. That's a goal China ought to share. One month ago, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson mused that if North Korea didn't end its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, why, Japan and South Korea might have to acquire their own nuclear arsenals. I guarantee that comment jolted Chinese leaders, and a hard jolt was Tillerson's objective. During WW2, Japan committed atrocious crimes in China. Understandably, China still distrusts Japan. A nuclear-armed Japan is a Chinese nightmare. At the moment, South Korea has faith in its alliance with the U.S. and has no need to possess nuclear weapons. While in Seoul, Pence told South Koreans "We (Americans) are 100 percent with you." However, should some unforeseen event shake South Korea's faith, the country has the cash, industrial base and technical wherewithal to quickly build nuclear weapons. China knows Japanese and South Korean nuclear weapons would work. The declared U.S. goal of a "denuclearized peninsula" signals to China that the U.S. will guarantee that China won't face a nuclear-armed South Korea. Should North Korea collapse and South Korea absorb it, the reunified Korea won't have nukes. Pence didn't say it, but the art of this Trump diplomatic deal could include guarantees that Japan won't acquire nukes. Denuclearizing the Korean peninsula is a goal shared by the sane, a category which excludes North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and his regime stalwarts. Seoul, Tokyo, Honolulu and Guam are all currently within range of North Korean ballistic missiles, and North Korea has threatened them with nuclear strikes. Shanghai, however, is also within range, as are Beijing, Manila, Hanoi and Russia's Vladivostok. The BBC recently reported that North Korea wants "to be able to put a nuclear warhead on an intercontinental ballistic missile that can reach targets around the world, including the US." The Taepodong-2 ICBM could strike Moscow and New Delhi and some military analyst think it could hit parts of the continental U.S. Impoverished North Korea intends to project a global nuclear threat -- which substantiates the charge that dictator Kim Jong Un is megalomaniacal. According to Pence, isolation is the predicate for North Korean denuclearization. Complete economic isolation would deny North Korea all imports and stop its exports. North Korea has coal, but deprived it of energy imports would reduce Pyongyang's already pitiful industrial and transportation activities to a trickle. Since China and Russia border North Korea, isolation is impossible without their cooperation. Truly complete economic isolation would require a naval blockade. That might get touchy. Iran might try to ship oil to North Korea by tanker. Can the Trump Administration convince the Chinese navy will intercept blockade runners? Close American-Chinese cooperation in that tight degree might well secure termination of North Korea's nuclear weapons quest. It would tell disgruntled North Korean generals that the world has changed and it's time they terminated the Kim regime. Fappening 2.0 continues unabated: This time Netflix horror flick star The Babysitter Samara Weavings nude photos leaked Another celebritys personal account has been hacked leading to some personal photos including nudes being leaked online. The celebrity victim is Samara Weaving and the notorious website Celeb Jihad has been the one to release the photos. Samaras father has spoken out against the hack, though the actress herself has not yet made a statement. Her Fathers statement Samaras father Simon has released a statement against the alleged hacks & consequent release of the photos. The statement reads as follows: We have dealt with things like this in the past her [email account] was hacked, but I am not sure if that has anything to do with this. We are used to her being in the spotlight and what that involves. He added: She is a strong girl and she is resilient. The actress herself is said to be traveling from the US to Melbourne, Australia which explains why her father came out with the official statement instead. Samara is the niece of the legendary Hugo Weaving and is only the latest celebrity to be the victim of Celeb Jihad. Her father has said that hes advised his daughter to ignore the leaks and concentrate on her work. I think the best theory with this sort of this is not to give it oxygen, he said. I have her to ignore it and to concentrate on her work. She has been on set since 6am so she has other things to think about. The Fappening Leak The hackers have leaked more than a dozen images of Samara lying in bed and exposing herself. Early reports, however, were uncertain if these were genuine photos or doctored. In later reports though, Samaras father has clarified that the photos were definitely doctored. She has said they are doctored, the actors father said yesterday. We have been texting all morning, but havent spoke about the situation at length. The ambassador for Bonds Samara started her acting career in 2008 on out Of The Blue. Since then, she has appeared on the much-loved soap Home and Away & is set to feature in the remake of Picnic at Hanging Rock. She will be starring alongside Yael Stone and Natalie Dormer. She also stars in Netflixs upcoming horror flick, The BabySitter. The hacking trend Since the fappening occurred, any celebrity hack tends to get built up at the next fappening. This statement apparently puts to bed rumors that the leak was in anyway related to the Fappening 2.0 leak when hackers released nude images for 64 more celebrities. Multiple celebs including Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, and Emma Watson have been the recent target of such leaks with Emma Watson even pursuing legal recourse against the above-mentioned site Celeb Jihad with an advocate confirming the images in question were stolen. Photos from a clothes fitting Emma had with a stylist a couple of years ago have been stolen. They are not nude photographs. Lawyers have been instructed and we are not commenting further, said an offical release. Hacking celebrity account though, look like to have become a trend, with Ex-Premier League star Anthony Stokes lover Eilidh Scotts accounts being hacked just recently and their personal photos finding their way onto the internet. Welcoming a new pet into your home is an incredibly wonderful thing - but it's also a big life step, and takes a lot of processing and planning. Rather than just run out to your local shelter or rescue on a whim and bring home the first pet you see, there are lots of things you should take into consideration first before adopting a new furry friend. Are you ready to have a pet in your home full time? Probably the most important thing to consider before starting the process of adopting a pet is if you're actually ready to take on a pet full time. When you bring home an animal, you are welcoming a new member into your family - a member who requires plenty of love, attention and care. "When adopting, you are making a long-term commitment to care for an animal - that could mean 10 to 15 years for dogs and up to 20 years for cats so the possibility of future lifestyle changes such as moves, the birth of children and new jobs should all be taken into consideration," Joseph Teixeira, senior manager of customer relations and communications at the ASPCA, told The Dodo. "Financial costs such as food and vet care along with the time commitment are all things to consider when adopting a new pet." Christy Tinsley Ilfrey As much as we love petting dogs and cats for hours on end, there's so much more than that that goes into caring for an animal. Lee Asher, a Los Angeles resident who has dedicated his life to helping rescue animals, currently has eight rescue pets himself, and has a few questions he thinks it's important to ask yourself before deciding to adopt: Figure out what kind of pet is right for you. Is your work schedule flexible, or do you have to be out of the house Monday through Friday every day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., no exceptions? How big is your living space? Do you have easy access to lots of outdoor space? Are you an active person, or are you more of a couch potato? Believe it or not, these are all important questions when trying to figure out what kind of pet is right for you. Every pet has different needs, from cats to big dogs to bunnies to small dogs. "When you adopt a pet, you're saving a life, but you should still make that decision carefully," Matt Bershadker, president and CEO of the ASPCA, told The Dodo. "I always encourage people to go in with an open mind, yet be mindful of their home environment and lifestyle. For example, an active person might be matched with a high energy pet, while a less active person may be better off with a more sedate pet. Your local shelter knows its animals well, so they can usually find a strong match that will change both of your lives for the better." Dodo Shows Odd Couples Dog Is So Gentle And Patient With Her Foster Kittens Meghan Sweers Consider fostering first. Once you've figured out what kind of pet is right for you, it might be a good idea to consider becoming a foster parent first, especially if you've never had a pet before. Fostering gives you the experience of caring for an animal without the locked in, long-term commitment of adoption. "Whether you're helping a dog learn to love and be loved, or watching an injured kitten recover from illness or injury, fostering gives you the opportunity to single-handedly change an animal's life for the better," Teixeira said. "Each animal fostered out to a home opens up a cage or kennel space in the shelter to save another animal and gives caretakers the opportunity to provide unique, individualized attention that some special needs animals require before they're ready for adoption." And, who knows, you may just end up with a "foster fail." It's been known to happen. Research shelters and rescues. Once you've officially decided you're ready to adopt, it's time to start researching where you're going to adopt your new pet from. There are lots of options when it comes to pet adoption, all with different benefits. With big public shelters, there are often countless dogs and cats waiting for homes in crowded conditions. Since sometimes these shelters have to take drastic measures to free up space, you could literally be saving a life when you adopt. If you find an animal you connect with at a big shelter, make sure you tell the staff you're interested in said animal or have them put a hold on her before you go home to think it over - just to make sure that nothing happens to her while you're making your decision. Sue Zelitsky When researching different shelters and rescues, always make sure you look into the specifics of adopting with them. How much do adoptions typically cost with that organization, and what is the application process like? Some shelters and rescues will even let you take a pet on a trial overnight at your house to see if it's a good match. There are tons of different options available when it comes to adopting, so make sure you know them all. If you're looking for a specific type of dog or cat, websites like PetFinder.com and Adopt-a-Pet.com can be super helpful. You can customize your search preferences to match your ideal pet, and then you'll be presented with different pets that fit your needs waiting at shelters and rescues nearby. Do a meet-and-greet with your future pet. When you arrive at a shelter or are browsing a rescue's Facebook page, it can be very easy to just decide to adopt the first pet you see - but don't do it. When you see someone cute in a coffee shop or stumble upon a dating profile that intrigues you, you don't decide to make them your significant other immediately, right? You get to know them. You go on a few dates. You consider how their personality works with yours and how they would fit into to the rest of your life, before deciding to commit to them. That's exactly how it should work with pets, too. If you find a pet through a rescue's website, arrange a time to meet that pet in person. If you see a pet in an enclosure at a shelter, find an area where you can take the pet out and play or walk with him. Get to know the animal you might be welcoming into your life permanently. Ask plenty of questions to people who know the animal about what he's like. Bond with the pet in question, get all of the information you need, and then use all of that to make an informed decision. "You should write out everything to consider and bring that with you," Asher said. "When you first see the pet you want you will forget to consider everything. Bring a logical, non-emotional friend or partner with you. It's a good idea to choose the pet you want, then think about it for at least a day." Lee Asher Prepare your home. Once you make the adoption final, it's time to get your home ready for your new pet. While your home may seem perfectly safe and ready on first glance, there are lots of little things that you might not notice that your pet absolutely, 100% will. Anything that can be easily broken into, eaten or destroyed, will be, as soon as your new pet arrives, so it's important to take care of any problem areas beforehand. "Before you pick up your new pet, take the time to walk through your home and look for potential hazards," a group of experts at BluePearl Veterinary Partners told The Dodo. "Be sure to close off access to closets, cabinets, trash bins, fireplaces and access to the outdoors. Tuck away power cords, shoes and any other items on the floor that your pet can chew on. Also, check your kitchen to make sure all unsafe foods, knives and chemicals such as cleaning products are out of reach from your pet." Animals are incredibly curious creatures who will do weird things like dig through your freshly clean laundry, take long naps in random cabinets and get stuck in loose hangers laying on the floor. Even if you're pretty sure something won't pose a problem, tuck it away or secure it anyway, just in case. Microchip your pet. Even when you think you're completely, 100% prepared, accidents can still happen. Your new pet could still find a way to escape, and if she doesn't have the proper identification, she could end up lost for good. Even if an identification tag falls off, a microchip is there for keeps and can be scanned by any local shelter. Hopefully your pet will never get lost, but if she does, a microchip can help bring her home again. Lee Asher Make your new pet comfortable when he arrives. When your new best friend finally comes home for the first time, he might be a little nervous. As exciting as it is to finally have a family and be away from a shelter environment, your home is still somewhere your pet has never been before, and it might take him a little while to settle in. If you've just adopted a cat, sometimes it helps to keep your new cat in one room at first, then slowly introduce him to the rest of the house. Letting him get used to one room at a time can help him to feel a little less overwhelmed amidst all the change. If you've just adopted a dog, getting him a crate that he can sleep in and use as a safe space is a great way to help him get adjusted, and to keep him from getting into things he's not supposed to while he's still learning the house rules. "Put a cozy bed for your pet in every room," Teixeira said. "Pets are much more likely to keep off of furniture if they have attractive alternatives. For cats, provide a variety of scratching posts and perches. For dogs, teach them what is okay for them to chew. If dogs have attractive toys and bones of their own, they'll be much less likely to gnaw on your things!" If you're stressed about your new pet settling in, he will be able to sense it. Animals are very intuitive like that. Just relax, and soon enough, your new friend will start to relax, too. "Once you show him where the water and food is, just trust him and act normal," Asher said. "You want to just do your thing so that your pet gets right with the program. Chill, relax and have awesome energy. Animals will feel the energy and eventually match it. You chose that pet for a reason and that pet chose you, so everything will work out if you let it be and don't force it." Rachel Billings When a veterinarian onboard a ship packed with thousands of animals saw another sheep had fallen, she went over and took the dead animal's temperature. It was 47 degrees Celsius - that's 116.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Most people have no idea what life is like for the millions of cows and sheep shipped from Australia to the Middle East and Asia every year just to be slaughtered, often in the most inhumane ways - but thanks to some brave experts, what goes on on these "floating ovens" is finally starting to come to light. Warning: Disturbing images below Lynn Simpson On every single "live export" ship that departs Australia, animals die along the way from heat, sickness or stress, and the industry sees their deaths as merely routine. Every year, over one million cows and over two million sheep spend 10 to 12 days (and sometimes even longer) packed together on ships. Some even try to escape, jumping overboard in fear. Opponents of the industry have started calling this ships what they essentially are: "floating ovens" and "floating coffins." Cow on live export ship being lowered to deck by a rope | Lynn Simpson Dr. Lynn Simpson served as the onboard veterinarian for 57 live export voyages. She saw mother cows and sheep miscarry onboard because of stress. It is customary for newborns born aboard live export ships to be euthanized. When pregnant animals gave birth to babies who were still alive, it was Dr. Simpson who had to kill them. Even the ship's crew would ask her to spare the baby lambs born on the ship. "The crew were all so sad, many missing their children terribly ... [They] would challenge me as to why we had to [kill newborns]," Dr. Simpson said. "Grown men cried. Some tried to hide lambs. It was heartbreaking." Dodo Shows Faith = Restored Rescued Animals Melt Into This Woman's Arms When She Sings To Them Lynn Simpson Lynn Simpson And Dr. Simpson isn't the only expert speaking out for these animals. New research just revealed just how stressed the animals on live export ships really are. The motion of the ships, combined with the crowded conditions, makes sheep compete for space, pushing each other and becoming aggressive, and their heart rates speed up. Lynn Simpson Lynn Simpson Other times, scared and stressed sheep showed affiliative behaviors, like nestling a head under the head of another sheep for comfort. Dr. Clive Phillips, professor at the University of Queensland's School of Veterinary Science and coauthor of the study, said that increasing each animal's space even 20 or 30 percent would help decrease their stress. Lynn Simpson Lynn Simpson Andrew Wilkie, a member of the Australian parliament, has been trying for years to put an end to the live export industry altogether. "How many times are we going to see live sheep buried - buried alive? How many times are we going to see exposes of the cruelty of the slaughterhouses in Indonesia? How many more times are we going to see photos and footage of the conditions on the live export ships? What about those sheep coming out of an Australian winter and going into a Middle Eastern summer?" Wilkie said as he reintroduced a bill earlier this year seeking to phase out and eventually ban the live export industry. Lynn Simpson Lynn Simpson "The live export benefits very, very, very few people ... a very small number of big cattle producers, a very small number of exporters ... It is a complete lie to say there's no alternative," Wilkie said. "We throw these thousands of sheep and thousands of cattle on these huge boats in the most appalling conditions and we let them sail off into the sunset." Lynn Simpson Lynn Simpson When rescuers found Shocks the donkey, he was lying in a field at a farm in Ireland with a rope tied tightly around his neck. The skin around his neck was covered in lesions and sores from being tethered, and his owner and poured bleach over his wounds thinking this would help him. Amber's Donkey Little did he know, that moment was the beginning of a new life for Shocks, who would not only get the help he needed - he'd even become incredibly helpful to others. Shocks got a loving new home: The Donkey Sanctuary in Birmingham, England, where many of the animals are rescued from neglect and abuse and go on to become therapy donkeys. That's where, in 2013, Shocks met Amber, who was 2 years old and couldn't make a sound. When Amber and her twin were born prematurely, Amber couldn't breathe. Almost as soon as she entered the world, she needed surgery to save her life. Amber's Donkey Doctors gave Amber an emergency tracheostomy, a surgery that put a pipe in her neck to let air in, saving her life - but it cut off airflow from her vocal chords, rendering the little girl totally mute. Amber's Donkey Amber also has cerebral palsy, which makes it difficult for her to build muscle and move around. "She struggled to sit up and showed no signs of crawling 'til very late on," Julian Austwick, Amber's father, told The Dodo. "A friend mentioned The Donkey Sanctuary to Tracy [Amber's mother] and told her the donkeys can give therapy to additional needs children, so we decided to try it." Dodo Shows Little But Fierce Pocket-Sized Kitten Grows Up To Be A Wild Woman Amber's Donkey It was Amber's first time meeting a therapy animal - and, as it happened, Amber was Shocks's first patient. And when he met Amber, the connection was instantaneous. Amber's Donkey "It was fairly immediate to see they had a bond together, as they were both so gentle with each other," Austwick said. "Shocks would lower his head to her and would allow her to hold him around his neck. It was scary for us, as parents, as he was so big compared to little Amber, but they really seemed smitten!" Amber's Donkey Amber's Donkey Shocks encouraged Amber to be active, which helped her build up her strength. She even learned to ride the donkey who, only a little while before, had been left for dead. Amber's Donkey Amber's Donkey Finally, when Amber turned 3, she was old enough for another surgery to make it possible for her to talk - but it would take practice. Amber's Donkey She still hadn't said a word when she went to visit Shocks one day in November 2013. After taking a ride with him and getting ready to leave the sanctuary to go home, she hugged the donkey and said, "I love you, Shocky." Amber's Donkey Amber's Donkey "We were delighted," Austwick remembers. "It was such a proud moment and of course a massive relief to know that she could speak." Now Amber is going to school and growing up strong - but she still visits her best friend, Shocks. Amber's Donkey "She gets to go in the arena with him and groom him and cuddle him and lead him around the arena and she loves it," Austwick said. "They still value their time together and they still love their cuddles." Neither Shocks nor Amber had the easiest lives before they met each other. But the future looks bright for both of them. Amber's Donkey Not only that, their connection has been an inspiration to so many, including Amber's parents. They were so moved by what Shocks did for their daughter, they even wrote a book about it. Amber's Donkey "I'd say they healed each other," Austwick said. Amber's Donkey Amber's Donkey Loblaw is selling all 213 of its gas stations across the country for $540 million to Brookfield Business Partners and its partners. While Brookfield would rebrand the stations to Mobil, they would continue to use the PC Plus loyalty program offered by Loblaw. The proposed deal is subject to certain conditions, but is expected to close in this years third quarter. Brookfield Business Partners, a unit of Brookfield Asset Management, says it sees potential for expanding the network of Loblaw-owned gas stations and associated kiosks after the deal closes. This transaction aligns with our strategy of owning and adding value to high quality businesses with solid long-term fundamentals in sectors we know well, Cyrus Madon, CEO of Brookfield Business Partners, said in a statement Wednesday. We look forward to working with Loblaw to enhance and grow the current network of gas stations. Brookfield said it would use the Mobil fuel brand under an agreement with Calgary-based Imperial Oil Ltd., a subsidiary of Houston-based ExxonMobil, one of the biggest integrated oil and gas companies in the United States. Loblaw, Canadas largest operator of grocery and pharmacy stores, is the latest company to divest its gas stations, which have been largely purchased by companies that focus on fuel distribution or convenience stores. Last year, Imperial Oil sold its remaining 497 Esso retail stations in Canada to five buyers for a total of $2.8 billion. Among the buyers was Parkland Fuel Corp. of Red Deer, Alta., which acquired Imperial Oils On the Run/Marche Express convenience store franchise system and 17 Esso stations. On Tuesday, Parkland announced a $1.5-billion deal to buy Chevron Canadas downstream fuel business, including 129 retail gas stations in the Vancouver area and the Chevron refinery in Burnaby, B.C. Loblaw said it expects to use proceeds from the sale of its fuel business for its corporate activities. This is a positive outcome for our customers, our gas station operators, and our company, said Sarah Davis, the president of Loblaw Companies Ltd., in a news release. Read more about: SHARE: KEY LARGO, FLA.-Capt. Dan Harvey chuckles as he hauls out his phone to see how late were running. Were in a sturdy white zodiac exploring the waters off Key Largo for whats meant to be a two-hour tour. Were at two hours 10 minutes but no ones in a hurry to get back to shore. Which is good, because Harvey spots a white heron on an island of mangroves a hammock and we veer off to have a looksee. As we get closer, he tells us that herons hunt by standing completely still in the shallow water for so long the fish think theyre part of the scenery. Then boom, the fish are lunch. You cant help but learn about wildlife when you visit the Florida Keys. From Key Largo, where Harvey grew up, all the way down to Key West, people come here for the fishing, snorkelling and diving. Or, on this morning, to take an eco tour and get to know the locals a little. Related story:New resort in the Keys Harvey picks us up at the dock outside the hotel and we head off toward the mangroves. He explains how the different types of mangroves filter salt from the water and he tells us the term mangrove came to be when people started building shelters in the groves of trees. Im not sure I believe him, but I see the logic. We head through a winding channel (If they were man made theyd be straight, he says with more logic) to emerge in a cul de sac of houses on the water. Harvey calls it Little Jurassic Park because of the iguanas lounging in the trees, limbs and striped tails dripping off the branches. After the first couple sightings, you get better at spotting their orange heads in the lush greenery. Harvey doesnt get the boat too close because they like to go to the bathroom. And the iguanas spit salmonella-tainted saliva. While we watch the reptiles as if theyre laid out after a couple of beers, not doing too much too quickly a very sober blue heron crashes out of the bush just in front of us. We jump. The iguanas dont. Hang on to your hats, Harvey says as he hits the gas on the Intracoastal Waterway. Were off to see a family of osprey chattering in their nest atop one of the poles planted in the water for that very purpose, subsidized housing that helps keeps utility poles free of giant nests and baby birds. We arrive at Pelican Key where there are no birds in the mangroves today but there is always an abundance of Cassiopea, upside down jelly fish in the water. Harvey collects one in a net and jokes: If we had bread and peanut butter we could have a PB and jelly sandwich. If only. We hang on to our hats again as Harvey guns it across Florida Bay to Everglades National Park, one of the largest wetlands in the world. Its also the only body of water on the planet where you can see alligators hanging out in fresh water and crocodiles lounging in salt or brackish water. On the way back to the hotel, after our white-heron detour, I sit on my hat so I can use both hands to take pictures of the graceful brown pelicans soaring alongside. Later, Im shocked to learn the elegant pelican is also a bit of a jerk. Be careful of the birds, they bite, says the guy with the straw cowboy hat at Robbies Marina, a 20-minute drive south of Key Largo. For two bucks you can go on the marinas docks to watch people feed little fish to much bigger fish, tarpon. (You buy a bucket of little fish for another $3.17). It isnt as simple as it sounds because pelicans are also looking for a free lunch and they arent afraid to steal it. A few big men and one little girl lie on their bellies on the dock, dangling the bait over the water. Every now and then a tarpon almost as big as the girl jumps out of the water to snatch it. Meanwhile, the pelicans try to intercept the bait from behind, above and below. People holler out of surprise, horror and delight all at once when a pelican gets a fish. Up close, pelicans look a little shifty, their beady eyes looking you up and down to see whether you have any bait. They stick around like bullies at the bike racks until people and their buckets of fish dwindle from the docks. Then they take off toward the string of utility poles that run alongside the overseas bridge. As you watch the pelicans soar over the turquoise water you both recover some poise and youre happy to have hung out with another local critter, beady eyes and all. Jennifer Allford was a guest of the Playa Largo Resort & Spa, which did not review or approve this story. When you go Eco tour: The two-hour (and change) eco tour with Capt. Dan Harvey is $65 (U.S.) for adults $50 kids. You book it through the Playa Largo Resort & Spa (playalargoresort.com). Go for a drive: You dont have to drive two and a half hours to Key West to get a taste of the Overseas Highway, the southernmost section of US 1. Take a 20-minute drive south to Islamorada to enjoy a few of 42 long bridges that stretch throughout the Keys. Order a fish sandwich: At Islamorada, stop at Lazy Days for a fish sandwich on the water. Take the waiters recommendation to pay an extra $1 and have it done Lazy Days style, that is, sauteed in panko bread crumbs and served with tomatoes, scallions and Parmesan. Like many restaurants in the Keys, you can bring in the fish you caught that morning and have them prepare it for dinner. Do your research: fla-keys.com/key-largo,robbies.com,nps.gov/ever/index.htm 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 FREDERICTONThere is a growing movement among New Brunswicks First Nations to banish drug dealers, as mourners said farewell this week to a woman who died of a drug overdose. Leo Bartibogue, an addictions counsellor, says there are 30 to 40 drug dealers in his community of Esgenoopetitj, in northeastern New Brunswick, and its hard for people to quit when theres an ample supply of drugs at every turn. Bartibogue attended the 35-year-old womans funeral on Monday and says its suspected she may have taken fentanyl a powerful synthetic opioid drug that has killed hundreds in Western Canada but is relatively new to the East Coast. We have so many routes that come in through our community that people seem to prey on, bringing these drugs all the time into our community, so we dont know what were getting, Bartibogue said. RCMP Cpl. Maxime Babineau said while an autopsy has confirmed an overdose, police have yet to confirm the drug and are awaiting test results from Health Canada, possibly later this week. We have placed an urgent request for the results, Babineau said Tuesday. Bartibogue said the band council has suggested a resolution to ban drug trafficking, as the Elsipogtog and Tobique First Nations have done, and hes in full support. Tobique Chief Ross Perley said, under a banishment resolution passed last week in his community, anyone charged with drug trafficking would be cut off from all band services and benefits. Our hope is that theyll reconsider what theyre doing to their people if they risk losing potential employment, housing benefits, royalties or things of that nature, Perley said. Both Perley and Bartibogue say children as young as 10 years old are buying drugs. Perley said he knows of about a half-dozen drug dealers in his community and most are dealing in opioids and prescription drugs, rather than more expensive drugs such as cocaine. Theyre cheap. You can get them anywhere. The traffickers are getting them legally by the local pharmacists, so the access to these types of drugs are really easy, he said. This is the start of us, as a community, a united community and a united leadership taking a stance on drugs in the community. According to the New Brunswick coroners office, there were 43 drug overdose deaths in the province last year. Thats down from 51 in 2015 and 70 in 2014. Those statistics account for both legal and illicit drug toxicity deaths. Esgenoopetitj Chief Alvery Paul has warned his community on social media. With this recent death and near fatal overdoses, we as parents, family and community must work together to stop the selling of drugs entering our community. I understand this is a battle that we cant win overnite but we have to educate our young children, he wrote on his Facebook page. RCMP Sgt. Chantal Farrah said police are doing what they can to stop drug trafficking, but they need public help to identify the sellers, which can be done anonymously through Crime Stoppers. Taking any type of illegal drug, you never know whats really in that drug because its done on the black market, so you are taking a gamble with your life. Its like Russian roulette and youre putting something toxic in your body that could kill you, she said. Several Saskatchewan First Nations have made similar moves. The Makwa Sahgaiehcan First Nation last year banished six non-band members and gave warnings to more than a dozen members because of a crystal meth problem. Muskoday First Nation, Mistawasis First Nation and the Lac La Ronge Indian Band have also banished people to help control crime. And the chief of Saskatchewans Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations said he supports bands that want to exile criminals. Read more about: SHARE: MONTREAL Ever since last falls American presidential election campaign, Justin Trudeau has played nice with Donald Trump, routinely bending over backward to avoid taking the new administration head on. Parsing the prime ministers comments on Trumps eventful first three months one would be hard-pressed to find anything but kind words about the new occupant of the White House. When the president moved to suspend the American refugee program and to ban citizens from six Muslim majority countries from travelling to the U.S., Trudeau issued a tweet to restate Canadas pro-refugee policy but refrained from openly criticizing the U.S. move. When Trump cut foreign aid funding for contraception and family planning programs, the Canadian government raised its own contribution but otherwise kept its peace. Ditto as the American administration confirmed its determination to walk away from the Paris treaty on climate change. Earlier this month, the prime minister offered Canadas full support for Trumps unilateral decision to launch airstrikes on a Syrian military facility in retaliation for the regimes chemical gas attack on civilians. In the process, Trudeau soft-pedalled his partys long-standing commitment to multilateral international action. A few days later, the prime minister called for the removal of the Bashar Assad regime. Somewhat predictably, no amount of prime ministerial appeasement is turning out to be enough to keep Canada on the good side of the Trump White House and off the presidents ever-changing hit list. On Tuesday, he lashed out at NAFTA in general and Canadian dairy policy in particular. In Canada, some very unfair things have happened to our dairy farmers, and others, and were going to start working on that, Trump told a Wisconsin audience. NAFTA has been very, very bad. Were going to make some very big changes or were going to get rid of NAFTA once and for all, he added. Contrast that with what the president had to say on the heels of his first face-to-face meeting with Trudeau less than two months ago and consider that there were no major public disagreements between the two governments over the interval. We have a very outstanding trade relationship with Canada. Well be tweaking it, Trump opined in mid-February. Well be doing certain things that are going to benefit both of our countries. At the time, that statement was greeted with jubilant relief in some Canadian quarters. That jubilation was somewhat premature. Anyone professing surprise at the sight of the U.S. president blowing hot and cold on the same issue over a matter of weeks has not been keeping track of Trumps first three months in the White House. There is plenty of evidence that he is, to put it politely, a chameleon-type of politician. Trump tends to blend his rhetoric to his environment, as often as not to the detriment of consistency. But if anyone still harboured the delusion that a nascent bond between Trudeau and Trump would shelter Canada from this presidents volatile approach to policy-making, this weeks developments should have settled the issue. Crafting alliances on Capitol Hill and in the states legislatures as Canada has been attempting to do as part of an all-hands-on deck political lobbying operation may not be as glamorous as spending a night at the theatre with Ivanka Trump but it may yield more reliable results. So far, Trudeaus velvet glove approach to the Trump administration enjoys widespread support in this country. But that comes with the underlying assumption that the glove is not an empty one and that an iron hand will manifest itself in defence of Canadas interests. That did happen on Tuesday. In a strongly worded letter, Trudeaus envoy to Washington, David MacNaughton, refuted Trumps contention that Canadas dairy policy was wreaking havoc on American dairy farmers. Still, up to now Canadas efforts on the U.S. front have unfolded on a rare bipartisan basis. Former prime minister Brian Mulroney has been providing Trudeau with insider advice on American trade dynamics. Conservative interim leader Rona Ambrose has struck a supportive role in her own visits to the U.S., as has Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall, a premier otherwise known as the prime ministers chief provincial critic. But there are trade issues on which it will be difficult to continue to present a united front as the war of words turns into a full-fledged negotiation. Canadas dairy and poultry supply management system is not far from the top of the divisive list. Chantal Hebert is a national affairs writer. Her column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Read more about: SHARE: A committee representing gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Toronto police officers is speaking out against an annual grant provided by the city to Pride Toronto, saying it would be unacceptable for the government to financially support an event that excludes police. We, as city employees, would feel completely devalued and unsupported by our employer should they fund this event at this time, reads a letter released Wednesday by the Toronto Police Association, signed by the executive committee of Toronto polices Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer internal support network. How can we possibly feel appreciated by our employer while they sponsor an event that its own employees have been disinvited from participating in as full, equal and active participants in their role as city employees, the committee writes. The letter, demanding the city withhold the planned grant of $260,000, comes amid mounting controversy over police participation in the upcoming Pride parade. Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders announced in February that his force would not be marching in the parade, Canadas largest Pride event. We understand the LGBTQ communities are divided, Saunders said in a statement at the time. To enable those differences to be addressed, I have decided the Toronto Police Service will not participate, this year, in the Pride Parade . . . . I want to make it very clear that this will have no impact on our ongoing outreach to LGBTQ communities. Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Mayor John Tory said he could understand the feelings of the officers who had written the letter, and said weve got to get that sorted out. He said he has heard that very good discussions are going on between Pride and Saunders, and encouraged them to keep working toward a resolution. Asked if the city would stop providing basic services to Pride, such as cleanup, Tory said the city would continue to support the Pride festival in that capacity but noted that he also wants the festivities to be a celebration of inclusion. That doesnt mean you selectively exclude certain groups of people, so that is an issue, he said. I think the best way to resolve it is the way they are trying to resolve it now, which is for Pride and for the police service in particular to be meeting with each other and having these discussions. Saunders decision came after Black Lives Matter Toronto held a sit-in part way through last Julys parade, stopping the procession for about half an hour until Pride organizers signed its list of demands. Black Lives Matter Toronto has said it opposes police presence in the parade because it could discourage marginalized communities from participating. At its annual general meeting in January, Pride Toronto adopted a list of Black Lives Matter Toronto demands, including banning police floats from the parade. Pascale Diverlus, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter Toronto, noted in an interview Wednesday that Saunders, in his February statement announcing his force would not participate in the parade, acknowledged that there was still work to do to build positive relationships between police and LGBTQ communities. This is not the way to go about doing it, she said of the letter released Wednesday. When Pride banned police floats from the parade, it did so after realizing that this is about safety and about a long history of people black people, indigenous people not feeling protected and feeling unsafe, said Diverlus. A handful of Toronto city councillors have also argued against providing the citys annual grant money to Pride this year. It doesnt sit right with me and with other councillors that we issue this grant in view of the position that theyve taken with respect to the police force, Coun. John Campbell said. We need a certain level of equity and inclusivity attached to the issuance of grants for organizations. Last month, Janaya Khan, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Toronto, said Campbell was failing to understand race relations. What is missing is a real understanding of what it means to be a racialized person in this city, and the fear that exists in your body when you are around a police officer, Khan said. The institution of policing discriminates people based on race. We actually wouldnt need to exist if city councillors were doing their job. With files from David Rider and The Canadian Press SHARE: Ryerson University has gained a slice of Canadian literary history after a donation of thousands of historical books and documents collectively worth $1 million from publisher McGraw-Hill Education. The donated collection, which includes more than 3,000 books published from the 1860s to 1970 and over 2,000 documents including author contracts and letters, is the largest single donation to Ryersons library to date. The material is all from defunct Canadian publisher Ryerson Press, which was bought by McGraw-Hill in 1970 and shares a namesake with the university Ontario educator and Methodist minister Egerton Ryerson. This is a very eclectic collection that can go in all kinds of different ways history students, Canadian history students, church history students just studies about the social times up to the 1970s and then people interested in publishing as well, Ryerson chief librarian Madeleine Lefebvre told the Star. Its got value in the sheer range of whats in the collection, so seeing it all in one place gives it a lot of added value to the researcher, I think. Among the collection, which arrived at the university about a week ago and ranges from science textbooks to biographies to contemporary fiction, are a first-edition print of Canadian author Alice Munros first book, Dance of the Happy Shades, early releases of Lucy Maud Montgomerys Anne of Green Gables and cook books from the 1950s featuring recipes that rely heavily on mayonnaise and aspics. The oldest piece in the collection is a Methodist Church pamphlet published in 1862. Lefebvre said McGraw-Hill had contacted the Ryerson library more than two years ago about making the donation. McGraw-Hills long-standing relationship with Ryersons library was also part of the reason why the university was chosen to receive the donation, the publishers North America managing director Aaron Yaverski told the Star on the phone from New York City. The material had long been held in McGraw-Hills own archive in Whitby, largely out of the public view. We were looking for a home for that collection that not only could house it but also a university that was going to make sure that the collection was fully available to scholars to study and to make sure it stayed part of Canadian history, Yaverski said. So its not that other universities didnt fit that bill as well, but the long-standing relationship weve had with Ryerson made that sort of a fit and a good home for the collection. He added that a donation like this was a fairly unique move for the publisher, and described the contents of the collection as a phenomenal representation of Canadian publishing history. Im very excited that its found a phenomenal home at Ryerson University and Im happy that it will now be exposed to many more people to appreciate and study, Yaverski said. Ryerson Archives and Special Collections staff has just started to unpack and catalogue all the material, Ryerson librarian Val Lem said, a process thats expected to take weeks, if not months, to complete. Once thats done, it will be stored by the Ryerson Archives and Special Collections department, Lem said the books and documents wont be in general circulation, but students and staff will be able to access them in a special room on the fourth floor of Ryersons library building. As a slice of publishing history, it represents a form of publishing industry where they made a significant effort to support Canadian writers, both historians, academics, childrens writers, poets, huge scope and breadth of Canadian cultural writing, he said. Correction April 19, 2017: This article was edited from a previous version that incorrectly stated the McGraw-Hills donation was triggered by the publisher closing its Canadian office. In fact,McGraw-Hill is not, and was not, planning to close its office in Canada. Incorrect information was provided to the Star. Read more about: SHARE: The rear wheels of a TTC streetcar derailed Tuesday night, causing traffic to back up in Torontos downtown core. The streetcar was being towed north on Bathurst St. when the rear wheels came off the rails at the Queen St. W. intersection. The car needed to be moved. When the towing crew pushed the car, the wheels popped off, said TTC spokesperson Stuart Green. The vehicle was disabled and empty when the incident occurred and there were no injuries. Police were called just after 7 p.m. to direct traffic. Queen St. W. was blocked off between Bathurst and Portland Sts. The roads reopened at around 1 a.m. SHARE: Its been empty for 38 years. And slowly Torontonians began to forget what the Crystal Ballroom in the Omni King Edward Hotel looked like, except for the occasional bride allowed in to take photographs, or the handful of fly fishermen who practiced casting from the balcony. But on Wednesday the ballroom in Torontos first luxury hotel, which once played host to Torontos elite, opened its doors to the public once more. It first opened almost 100 years ago, in 1922; the hotel itself opened in 1903. The 5,000-square-foot space hosted a variety of events, from a state dinner with British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin and the Prince of Wales in August 1927, to performances from some of the great musicians and orchestras of the 1920s to 1940s, including Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Harry James, Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman. But that ended in 1979, according to Christophe Le Chatton, the hotels general manager, because the room, which sits on the 17th floor, did not measure up to current city codes. And after some time, it fell into disrepair. The room always looked phenomenal. It was not stripped of the details, Le Chatton said. It just looked tired. Thats not to say the ballroom was completely empty for the past few decades. Le Chatton said brides regularly asked to have their photos taken in the room, and Drake had pictures for a magazine spread done in the space. A lot of people used it to film some movie scenes or have photo shoots, Le Chatton said. Fly fishing classes were even briefly offered in the ballroom, since it was the only space big enough to accommodate the sport, with fishing lines cast from the balcony. But the vast majority of the time, the ballroom remained empty. Now, after having undergone $6.5 million in renovations, it will once again be open for events. The corporate office of Omni Hotels & Resorts, which owns the King Edward, and Toronto design firm Moncur Design Associates collaborated to make numerous changes. The ballrooms kitchen was moved from the 18th to the 17th floor, carpet and curtains were added, a bar was added to the pre-function space, and a plaster restoration specialist who focuses on older buildings was brought in to restore the wood carvings. Revitalizing the room has been the talk of the town, especially in the hotel world, for many years, according to Le Chatton. The ballroom, which can accommodate roughly 330 guests, has floor-to-ceiling windows showcasing southeast views of Toronto, 8-metre high coffered ceilings, and intricate wood stencilling along the top border of its walls. Three modern chandeliers now hang where oversized crystal chandeliers once were, but which were lost over the years, and a balcony that can hold 60 overlooks the entire space. We wanted to ensure that we would keep all of the grandeur of the room. The traditional aspect of the architecture, we did not touch that too much but really just gave it a fresh look, Le Chatton said. It feels new and yet the design is very 30s. So that was the intent there. The space has already been booked at least once every month until 2018. The base price to book an evening event in the ballroom is $50,000, Le Chatton said, which can vary depending on the time of day and any add-ons one might want for their event. More than 15 of the booked occasions will be weddings, the first of which is set for Saturday. What is amazing is every single bride that weve brought here that came looking for the space, most of them have signed up for it, Le Chatton said. The response has been tremendous. The ballrooms renovations come on the heels of a larger $40-million makeover of the entire King Edward Hotel, which wrapped up in 2015. SHARE: A religious leader who has spoken out in favour of accommodating Muslim prayer at Peel Region public schools says he has been targeted by racially motivated death threats. Ibrahim Hindy, an imam at Dar Al-Tawheed Islamic Centre in Mississauga, posted screen shots of two threats on Facebook Tuesday. The first appeared to be a Facebook comment threatening to burn down Hindys mosque. The second threat, which appeared to have been sent by email, contained a photo of five Muslim men hanging from nooses, with the caption, Islamic Wind Chimes. This is appalling, Hindy wrote of the threats. This is not Canada. We have to make this stop. Peoples lives should not be threatened for speaking to their local school board. The imam has publicly spoken in favour of the Peel District School Board accommodating Jummah, a Muslim congregational prayer held each Friday around midday. Peel students have performed Jummah in schools for several years, but the practice gained widespread attention in January when the board issued a new religious accommodation policy. In March, Peel school board officials and Brampton Mayor Linda Jeffrey condemned the ensuing hatred and misinformation spread by certain members of the public who opposed the accommodation of Muslim prayer. In his Facebook post, Hindy said he had contacted Peel police about the threats. Peel Regional police spokesperson Const. Mark Fischer confirmed that officers are investigating Hindys complaint. We are treating this incident very seriously and have allocated the appropriate resources which include increased patrols at the Islamic Centre, Fischer said. When asked whether officers believed the threats were related to Hindys involvement with the Peel District School Board, Fischer said Peel police would not be able to comment on the ongoing investigation until a suspect was charged or identified. Read more about: SHARE: The Toronto Police Service wants you, or at least your opinion as it seeks help finalizing the design and colour of its new patrol cars. But dont set your hopes on seeing officers driving flourescent-yellow or fire-engine red cars around Toronto streets anytime soon. The online survey Torontonians are asked to fill out has only five options: white, silver, grey, dark blue and black. Perhaps the police service was worried about another Boaty McBoatface. Or is this latest exercise in public engagement more in line with auto legend Henry Fords reputed comment that Model T buyers could have any colour they wanted so long as its black? Five paint choices are shown from an infinite number of choices available in a colour palette, Michael Felip, a retired Toronto police officer, wrote in an email Wednesday. Felip is responsible for the original design of the white patrol cars that replaced yellow cruisers back in 1988 a move he recommended after reviewing colour studies and safety research. Is the survey designed to point the public in a certain direction? he wrote. Did anyone think of approaching a design studio or university or graphic arts school and propose they come up with a new look based on creativity, safety, visibility and police traditions. The public is being presented with a limited colour choice for a reason, said Toronto police spokeswoman Meaghan Gray. The cars have to be a reflection of the Toronto Police Service, which is why the questions are not open-ended but rather a selection of design options have been put forward for the public to choose from. Cruiser colours leapt onto the public radar last fall after Chief Mark Saunders made the arbitrary decision to switch the colour of the forces cars from the familiar white, blue and red cruisers to dark grey with white reflective lettering. Outrage followed. Critics called the choice too stealth, aggressive and militaristic. Experts said emergency vehicles need to be highly visible lime yellow, for instance, not camouflage grey. Toronto is not the only police service to come under fire for replacing its aging fleets with cars painted in darker hues. City council and the police civilian oversight board told Saunders to put the brakes on the conversion, and he did in November, calling the controversy his biggest regret of 2016. Last week, the police service posted an internal poll inviting member feedback on design choices. One thousand employees have responded so far, Gray said Wednesday. This week, the service issued a news release inviting the public to complete an online survey and influence the next design of frontline cars. The Toronto Police Service has more than 700 cars used for frontline policing and as they reach the end of their lifecycles, they need to be replaced, the release said. The results of an internal and public on-line survey will be collated and included in a report to the board next month, Gray wrote in email. Councillor Shelley Carroll, who sits on the police board, praised the service for posting the on-line survey in an attempt to correct Saunders mistake last year of acting without community or board input. However, she also questioned the bland colour offering when many European law enforcement agencies paint their vehicles in highly visible lime yellow or Day-Glo green. Carroll said the board may still ask the service to seek feedback from other police departments on their choices of front-line vehicles. The survey also asks the public which characteristic they would most like the new-look cruisers to project: professionalism, visibility, community-orientation, authority, forward thinking or reassurance. Mayor John Tory, also a member of the police board, said he is pleased the service has a better process in place that is more transparent than before. I just hope that people take part in it, if they have a view on this, and that they do it in a serious matter, Tory said Wednesday, adding he has no particular colour preferences. Its not a joking matter, the colour and visibility of police cars so people can see them, especially when they need help, is a very important matter. But inviting input from the public can lead to embarrassment. Last year, Britains Natural Environment Research Council held on online vote to name a new British polar research ship. The name Boaty McBoatface was the winner. But the red-faced government backtracked and opted for RRS Sir David Attenborough. Instead, one of the research vessels remotely operated submarines will carry the name Boaty McBoatface. With files from David Rider SHARE: Dozens of men and women whose ancestors were once sold as slaves to fund the nascent Georgetown University gathered at that university Tuesday for an emotional worship service of remembrance and repentance. Marylands Jesuit priests sold 272 slaves in 1838, and used the proceeds of the sale to secure the future of the floundering new college. That sale only became well-known last year, through the research of genealogists and then widespread publicity. Now, the university is grappling with how to respond to the new knowledge of its own history - as are dozens of people who have learned their ancestors were once enslaved by men of God and sold by those priests to even more brutal slavery in Louisiana. The worship service on Tuesday, part of a full day of events in which Georgetown renamed a building in honour of the first of the 272 slaves listed on the document of sale, was the first time Georgetown gathered these descendants together on campus. Sandra Green Thomas, who has become a leader in the new community of descendants, spoke during the service. Their pain was unparalleled, she said about the people who were enslaved. Their pain is still here. It burns in the soul of every person of African-American origin in the United States. All African-Americans have hungered and thirsted for the bounty of America. She spoke also of the slaves and their descendants faith - faith in both the ever-deferred promise of America and the Catholic religion their Jesuit captors taught them. Even when they were sold to Louisiana and distant from a church, many of the 272 slaves kept their faith and passed it on to their descendants. That tradition lasted through to the present. Many of the descendants who learned about their family history in the past year or two grew up in devout Catholic families, and were staggered to learn that the faith that extended through their family for years was in fact the legacy of slavery. The injustices that the 272 slaves experienced at the hands of the Jesuits, Green Thomas said, their descendants are still experiencing them today. She also noted that the promise of forgiveness after atonement is a core belief of the Catholic faith so many of them share, and the purpose of this gathering was penance. The descendants, ranging from children to elderly men and women, processed into the elaborate Gaston Hall at Georgetown to the music of Amazing Grace. Georgetown University President John DeGioia apologized to the descendants, as did Bishop Barry Knestout, who led the service in place of Cardinal Donald Wuerl after the cardinal was called to Pittsburgh for a friends funeral. The Rev. Tim Kesicki, president of the Jesuits of the United States and Canada, spoke of the Maryland Jesuits who owned the slaves in the 1830s. Today the Society of Jesus who helped to establish Georgetown University and whose leaders enslaved and mercilessly sold your ancestors stand before you and say we have greatly sinned, he said. With the pain that will never leave us, we resist moving on, but embrace moving forward with hope. Mary D. Williams-Wagner, another descendant, also read during the service from the writing of Frederick Douglass. Between the Christianity of this land and the Christianity of Christ, I perceive the widest possible difference, Douglass wrote. We have men-stealers for ministers, women-whippers for missionaries. ... We have men sold to build churches, women sold to support the gospel and babes sold to purchase Bibles. On Tuesday, on the Gothic campus of a university established in that shameful religious history, the colleges current leaders and the slaves descendants tried to find hope and healing in Christian tradition instead. The Scriptural passages chosen for the service included Isaiah 58, which calls to loose the chains of injustice . . . to set the oppressed free and break every yoke, and Psalm 137, which refers to being captured and exiled to a foreign land and yet still asked to sing songs of praise to the Lord. SHARE: FRESNO, CALIF.A man who shot and killed three people at random on the streets of downtown Fresno shouted Allahu akbar during his arrest Tuesday and had posted on social media that he disliked white people, authorities said. Kori Ali Muhammad, 39, was arrested shortly after the morning rampage that left three white men dead, police said. Muhammad, who is black, fired 16 rounds in one minute at four places within a block. He walked up to a utility truck and shot a Pacific Gas & Electric Co. employee sitting in the passenger seat, authorities say. The driver of the truck sped off to the police department for help, but the man died. Muhammad then shot at another person and missed. He aimed at a third, killing him on the sidewalk of a neighbourhood lined with tall trees. The final victim was gunned down in the parking lot of a charity building. These individuals who were chosen today did not do anything to deserve what they got, Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said. These were unprovoked attacks by an individual that was intent on carrying out homicides today. He did that. Its too soon to say whether Muhammad, who was homeless and filled his social media feeds with racially charged posts, had ties to any militant groups or causes, Dyer said. Stephen Hughes, 66, said he and his wife rushed home Tuesday after receiving a frantic call from a neighbour. Hughes came home to see a body draped in a blanket on the sidewalk leading to his front door. He first thought the shooting was gang-related, but then he noticed the bag of groceries near the body. This guy doesnt look like a drug guy. It looks like a guy carrying his groceries home from the store, Hughes said. Muhammad had a criminal past and was wanted in connection with a shooting last week that killed a security guard at a Fresno motel who had responded to a disturbance. The security guard also was a white man. On what appeared to be Muhammads Facebook page, he repeatedly posted #LetBlackPeopleGo and encouraged black warriors to mount up. A flurry of posts emerged in the past day. He wrote that his kill rate increases tremendously on the other side and also posted about white devils. On several occasions, he wrote updates that included the phrase Allahu Akbar, meaning God is great in Arabic. Muhammad has a criminal history that includes arrests on weapons, drugs and false imprisonment charges and making terrorist threats. He had been associated with gangs but was not a confirmed member, police say. Muhammad was charged in 2005 with possessing cocaine with intent to distribute, court records show. Federal prosecutors said at the time that he was also in possession of a 9mm semi-automatic handgun and two rifles after being convicted of a felony. He claimed insanity, and his attorney requested a psychiatric examination for his client, saying Muhammad appeared eccentric with some bizarre beliefs. A psychiatrist who examined Muhammad believed he had psychosis, Muhammads attorney said in the court filing. He also suffered auditory hallucinations and had at least two prior mental health hospitalizations, according to court documents. His attorney said that Muhammad had paranoia and thought the justice system and his defence attorney were conspiring against him, court papers said. The attorney who represented Muhammad in that case did not return a call for comment Tuesday. Public records list Muhammad as Cory Taylor and other aliases with addresses in Fresno and Sacramento. A woman who identified herself as Taylors grandmother said Tuesday that the family last saw him on Easter Sunday. She hung up the phone before giving her name. Authorities spotted Muhammad running and took him into custody. Police are looking for the revolver. Police say two of the victims may have been clients of Catholic Charities, which provides a variety of services for refugees, the homeless and those for disabilities. Catholic Charities doesnt believe Muhammad has ties to the non-profit, spokeswoman Teresa Dominguez said. Seyed Ali Ghazvini, imam of the Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno, said Muhammad was not a member of his congregation and he did not recognize him. The imam said he is consulting with other faith leaders. We are very sorry for this to happen, Ghazvini said. We offer condolences for the victims, we pray for the victims and their families. This story has been corrected to show that police say the suspect posted on social media that he dislikes white people, not that he told officers that. Also Seyed Ali Ghazvini's first name was misspelled Sayed. SHARE: CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA.John Glenns trailblazing legacy took flight Tuesday as a cargo ship bearing his name rocketed toward the International Space Station. An Atlas rocket provided the late morning lift to orbit, just as it did for Glenn 55 years ago. The commercial cargo ship, dubbed the S.S. John Glenn, holds nearly 7,700 pounds of food, equipment and research for the space station. Its due there Saturday, two days after the arrival of two fresh astronauts. NASAs shipper, Orbital ATK, asked Glenns widow, Annie, for permission to use his name for the spacecraft, following his December death. Glenn, an original Mercury 7 astronaut, became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962. He launched again in 1998 aboard shuttle Discovery at age 77, the oldest person ever in space. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery two weeks ago. It is clearly a chance one more time to show John Glenns name emblazoned in space, said Frank Culbertson, a former astronaut who now heads Orbital ATKs space systems group. Glenn was a courageous, pioneering leader who always promoted space and set a good example, Culbertson noted. And I hope that putting his name on the space station is an inspiration to the next generation to aspire to do similar things, push the boundaries, he said. Read more: Astronaut John Glenn to be interred at Arlington Cemetery Joe Biden, Marine Corps general join thousands who attended John Glenns funeral Former astronaut, U.S. Sen. John Glenn of Ohio has died at 95 Photos: John Glenn, American space hero, dies at 95 Besides supplies, the capsule contains a banner showing Glenn in his orange space shuttle launch suit its the first thing the station astronauts will see when they open the craft as well as memorabilia for his family. Because the launch was delayed a month by hydraulic problems at the pad and on the rocket, no Glenn family members were able to make it to Cape Canaveral, according to Culbertson. Orbital ATK one of NASAs prime delivery services for the space station, along with SpaceX normally uses its own Virginia-based Antares rockets to launch its Cygnus cargo ships, named after the swan constellation. But it opted for the United Launch Alliances bigger Atlas V rocket in order to carry up a heftier load. A new, larger greenhouse is flying up, along with equipment needed for a spacewalk next month. Looks like we nailed the orbit once again, said Vern Thorp, a manager for the rocket maker. NASAs 360-degree video streaming of the launch the first such attempt for a live broadcast didnt go as well. Something went wrong moments before liftoff, and the video skipped over the actual rising of the rocket from the pad. NASA said it would try again, perhaps on an upcoming SpaceX delivery mission. Mission Control beamed up the launch broadcast for the three astronauts at the space station, which is orbiting about 400 kilometres high. The American, Russian and Frenchman will be joined Thursday by another American and Russian who will take off from Kazakhstan. SpaceX and Boeing are developing new capsules that could fly U.S. astronauts to the space station as early as next year. Boeings Starliner capsule will fly on the Atlas V. It was the last launch commentary for NASA spokesman George Diller, who is retiring next month after 37 years. His was the voice at liftoff for the final space shuttle flight, by Atlantis, in 2011, as well as the send-off of the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990 and all five Hubble-servicing missions hundreds of rocket launches in all. Were really, really going to miss hearing your golden voice on console during launch, George, said Kennedy Space Centers director, Robert Cabana, patting him on the back. Diller said his time at the space agency has been a heck of a ride. I couldnt do better if Id been riding a rocket. SHARE: BRUSSELSBritish Prime Minister Theresa Mays surprise decision Tuesday to hold a snap election in June likely wont derail her efforts to lead her nation out of the European Union but it could ease pressure on her during torturous Brexit negotiations over the next two years. With opposition parties in disarray, May has seized on a strong moment to win her own negotiating mandate from the British people. She can deal a hammer blow to the Labour Party, which is split by internal divisions over Brexit. And she can potentially silence dissent within her own party about any compromises she makes with EU leaders as they divvy up their divorce settlement. Perhaps most importantly, she can put off the next round of elections until 2022, offering more breathing room for both sides as they rush to complete Brexit negotiations before Britain leaves the European Union in 2019. Read More: UK Prime Minister calls snap election Scottish leader Sturgeon formally requests second independence referendum If she hadnt called new elections, she would have had to face voters in 2020 at the latest, increasing election-year pressures in a settlement that is sure to be painful for both sides. But if she thinks a stronger domestic mandate will blow down doors in Brussels and force them to make concessions, she is likely mistaken. Above all, the election will add yet more uncertainty in a topsy-turvy Europe that is already facing the possibility that an anti-EU leader could win the French presidency next month and that German Chancellor Angela Merkel could be unseated in September. I guess we had too much political stability in Europe, wrote the director of the Carnegie Europe think tank, Tomas Valasek, on Twitter. And Mays own apparent red lines including strong barriers against a new movement of EU workers to Britain and no role for the European Court of Justice in policing the Brexit deal increase the likelihood that EU leaders will take a tough stance against her, no matter the view of the British people. The Greek government made the miscalculation of using elections as a negotiating tactic in 2015 when it held a referendum about whether to accept the terms of a painful bailout deal. Greek voters rejected the deal but EU leaders didnt budge. So far, EU leaders have taken a hard and unified line on Brexit, saying that they will offer few concessions on access to Europes borderless market without rights for their own citizens and businesses inside Britain. They owe nothing to British voters. Despite the grim chances for the snap polls to reverse Brexit momentum, opponents of the divorce are seizing this as their last, best chance to turn the tide. Britains Liberal Democrats, which ruled alongside Mays Conservatives until 2015, said that people who believed Britain should remain closely tied to the European Union now had a chance. If you want to avoid a disastrous Hard Brexit. If you want to keep Britain in the Single Market. If you want a Britain that is open, tolerant and united, this is your chance, Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said in a statement. But in a measure of the unlikeliness that the basic Brexit dynamic will shift, the Liberal Democrats are only polling at about 10 per cent in most recent surveys, compared to more than 40 per cent for the Conservatives. And Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn did not even mention Brexit in his initial response to the snap election call, a sign that he does not intend to focus on the central question of British political life in his bid to gain seats. Now, instead, the bigger question will most likely be whether an increased majority for the Conservatives emboldens the hard-line backbenchers who want a tough Brexit, or whether May can quiet them and seek a more conciliatory line. Read more about: SHARE: PARISExtremism concerns shook Frances presidential campaign Tuesday as authorities announced arrests in what they said was a thwarted attack and candidates urged tougher counterterrorism efforts for a country already under a state of emergency. While national security has been a strong theme in the campaign, far-right candidate Marine Le Pen hardened her tone on foreign extremists and border controls in the wake of the arrests that came days before the first round of voting. Centrist Emmanuel Macron called for national unity and stronger intelligence. Le Pen and Macron are among four leading candidates seen as most likely to progress from Sundays first round and to reach the May 7 runoff between the top two. As the government prepared to flood streets with more than 50,000 police and soldiers to safeguard the ballot, Interior Minister Matthias Fekl said police thwarted an imminent terror attack, arresting two men in the southern port city of Marseille. Both are suspected Islamic radicals, according to the Paris prosecutors office, which is leading the probe. It said police seized guns and explosives of a type previously used in attacks in France and Belgium inspired by Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL. Fekl said at a brief news conference that the two French men, one born in 1987 and the other in 1993, intended to commit an attack on French soil in the very short term, which is to say in coming days. Macrons campaign team said authorities earlier provided a photo of the suspects to his security detail. Fekl gave no details about potential targets or motives and it was unclear whether the attack could have targeted a campaign event. France heads to the polls on Sunday, in the first round of its most unpredictable presidential election. The presidential election is being watched as a bellwether for global populist sentiment, in large part because of Le Pens nationalist, anti-immigration positions. Before Tuesdays arrests were announced, Le Pen said on RTL radio that she would expel foreign extremists and draft army reservists to close Frances borders as soon as she takes office. We cannot fight the terrorism that weighs on our country without controlling our borders, Le Pen said. With the measures she wants to put in place, she said, the three men who carried out the January 2015 attacks against the Charlie Hebdo newspaper and a kosher supermarket never would have obtained French citizenship because they had criminal records. Because they were delinquents, they would have been expelled from France, Le Pen said. Macron struck a tough, but conciliatory tone. He called the arrests a reminder that the terrorist threat remains very high, especially during the election campaign, and reiterated calls for pressure on Internet companies to better monitor extremism online. But he added that terrorism . . . is a challenge that calls upon us, more than anything else, to come together, because the terrorists wish nothing more than our division. Macron and conservative candidate Francois Fillon have pledged more robust counterterrorism efforts, but remain committed to Europes open borders. Frances fight against homegrown and overseas Islamic extremism has, with jobs and the economy, been one of the main issues for the stumping presidential candidates. Those on the right have been particularly vocal, seeking to appeal to voters traumatized by Daesh-inspired attacks that have killed at least 235 people in France since January 2015, by far the largest casualty rate of any Western country. With the terror threat higher than ever, Fekl said everything is being done to secure the election, the candidates, their election headquarters and rallies. He said more than 50,000 police, gendarmes and soldiers will be deployed in France and its overseas territories on Sunday and during the decisive May 7 second round. Angela Charlton and Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed. Read more about: SHARE: ISTANBULTurkeys state-run news agency says a court has accepted an indictment against columnists and senior staff from the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper for aiding terrorist organizations. Anadolu Agency said Tuesday the 274-page indictment accused 19 people of sponsoring several outlawed organizations, including Kurdish militants, a far-left group and the network of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is blamed for last summers failed coup. Twelve of the suspects, including investigative journalist Ahmet Sik, columnist Kadri Gursel and cartoonist Musa Kart, have been in pretrial detention for months. Anadolu said two suspects are being sought. The arrests are part of a widespread crackdown in the wake of the attempted coup, which has led to the imprisonment of more than 40,000 people. The Committee to Protect Journalists says Turkey has the highest number of imprisoned journalists in the world. The first hearing is scheduled for July 24. SHARE: In the summer of 1949, a 17-year-old white girl named Norma Padgett accused four black men of kidnapping her from a dark road in central Florida and then, in the back seat of their car, taking turns raping her. Neighbours quietly doubted the girls version of events, and others speculated that the elaborate, detailed account was merely a coverup for the bruises shed collected from her husbands suspected beatings. But this was the era of Jim Crow, in the middle of Lake County, where the local economy was sustained by orange groves that white men relied on black men to nurture. And there to ensure law and order was Willis V. McCall, a sheriff buoyed by his segregationist views, union-busting and white supremacist reputation. Within days of Norma Padgetts accusations, three black men from the city of Groveland were in jail and a fourth, Ernest Thomas, was dead, shot and killed by an angry mob led by McCall who had chased him 200 miles northwest of Lake County. In Groveland, black-owned homes were shot up and burned, sparking chaos so intense the governor eventually sent in the National Guard. Based on little evidence, a jury quickly convicted the living three. Charles Greenlee, just 16 at the time, was sent to prison for life. Samuel Shepherd and Walter Irvin, friends and Army veterans, were sentenced to death, but the U.S. Supreme Court later overturned their convictions and ordered a retrial. Before that could happen, though, McCall shot them both. Shepherd died at the scene, but Irvin who played dead survived, and his sentence was later commuted to life in prison. The saga of the men who became known as the Groveland Four has spanned nearly seven decades, tarnished the reputation of the town that endorsed it, inspired a revelatory, Pulitzer Prize-winning book and became the subject of an online petition demanding that Gov. Rick Scott formally exonerate all four. After 68 years, and several previous failed attempts, the state of Florida has finally found the words that justice had been waiting on all this time: Were truly sorry. On the floor of the Florida House of Representatives Tuesday, lawmakers unanimously passed a resolution apologizing to the families of the Groveland Four and exonerating the men. It also calls on Scott to expedite the process for granting posthumous pardons. None of the Groveland Four are still living. This resolution is us simply saying Were sorry understanding that we will never know nor be able to make up for the pain we have caused, said Rep. Bobby DuBose, a bill sponsor, according to the Miami Herald. Then he asked House members to stand and face relatives of the Groveland Four who were present. As the state of Florida and the House of Representatives, DuBose said, Were truly sorry. The formal acknowledgment of the case, now widely considered a racial injustice, has been years in the making. A book by author Gilbert King, Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America, revived interest in the decades-old case and unearthed new evidence from once redacted FBI files that cast doubt on Padgetts version of events. Then in 2015, after reading Kings book in a college history class, University of Florida student Josh Venkataraman was driving from Orlando back to campus when he passed the road sign for the city of Groveland. The book had touched him, he told a Miami Herald columnist in 2015, but seeing the physical place made it real. He reached out to Carol Greenlee, the late Charles Greenlees daughter, who was living in Nashville, Tenn., and asked if he could help. At first the woman was skeptical, but eventually gave Venkataraman her permission to start a petition. Im in the mode of trying to get my father exonerated, she told the Herald years ago, and I need all the help I can get. Exonerate the Groveland Four was born, and in the two years since has garnered nearly 9,000 signatures. Venkataranman was at the statehouse Tuesday and said on his social media that he couldnt be happier for the family members of the Groveland Four who have become like family to me. Carol Greenlee, now 67, and her brother, Thomas, 52, were also in Tallahassee for the apology. Today, a part of it is forgiveness. And he would feel good about that, she said of her father, reported the Associated Press. This means that something positive has come out of something so wrong and so negative and so bad. SHARE: NEW YORKFox News Channels parent company fired Bill OReilly on Wednesday following an investigation into harassment allegations, bringing a stunning end to cable news most popular program and one that came to define the bravado of his network over 20 years. OReilly lost his job on the same day he was photographed in Rome shaking the hand of Pope Francis. The downfall of Foxs most popular and most lucrative personality began with an April 2 report in The New York Times that five women had been paid a total of $13 million (U.S) to keep quiet about disturbing encounters with OReilly, who continued to deny any wrongdoing in a statement hours after he was fired. Dozens of his shows advertisers fled within days, even though OReillys viewership increased. OReillys exit came nine months after his former boss, Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, was ousted following allegations of sexual harassment. Following the Times story, 21st Century Fox said it had asked the same law firm that investigated Ailes to look into OReillys behaviour. 21st Century Fox leaders Rupert Murdoch and his sons Lachlan and James said in a memo to Fox staff that their decision to axe OReilly came following an extensive review into the charges. I understand how difficult this has been for many of you, Rupert Murdoch said in a memo to Fox staff. Read more: Defenders of embattled Fox host Bill OReilly fight back on harassment charge Bill OReilly might be gone for good, and thatd be good indeed: Menon Bill OReilly goes on vacation after sexual harassment scandal OReilly, denied a chance to say goodbye to his Fox viewers, did so via a statement. It is tremendously disheartening that we part ways due to completely unfounded claims, he said. But that is the unfortunate reality that many of us in the public eye must live with today. I will always look back on my time at Fox with great pride in the unprecedented success we achieved and with my deepest gratitude to all my dedicated viewers. OReillys dismissal doesnt signal any change of direction for the network: Fox said conservative pundit Tucker Carlson would move into OReillys time slot the second time in three months hes replaced an exiting prime-time personality. Carlson, a veteran who has hosted shows on CNN, MSNBC and PBS, had taken over for Megyn Kelly in January when she announced she was moving to NBC News. The Five, a talk show with five rotating hosts that regularly airs at 5 p.m. ET, will move into the 9 p.m. time slot. Eric Bolling will host a new show that airs at 5 p.m. starting next month, the company said. OReilly, 67, had ruled the no spin zone on television with a quick smile and an even quicker temper. He pushed a populist, conservative-leaning point of view born from growing up on Long Island, and was quick to shout down those who disagreed with him. Fans loved his willingness to talk back to power or point out hypocrisy among liberal politicians or media members. OReilly and U.S. President Donald Trump are both crowd-pleasing showmen who know how to signal to loyalists in their audience that they are not taking themselves quite as seriously as their detractors are, said news consultant Andrew Tyndall. Half of the fun that they have with their audiences comes from watching the outrage that they manage to provoke. What Rush Limbaugh was to talk radio, Bill OReilly has been to conservative television, said Mark Feldstein, communication professor at the University of Maryland. You cant underestimate the influence and the profits that he brought into Fox News for all these years and thats why they hesitated so long in doing the right thing. His show generated $178 million in advertising revenue in 2015, according to Kantar Media. Before the advertising boycott, there was the prospect of even more: his audience was larger in the first three months of 2017 than it has ever been. With a profit centre gone, 21st Century Fox stock fell almost 1 per cent Wednesday in heavy trading. OReillys pugnacious personality wasnt just an off-screen affectation, with one of the settlements going to a woman who complained about being shouted at in the newsroom. OReilly was alleged to have slowed the careers of women who spurned his advances. One former Fox personality, Juliet Huddy, said she pulled away and fell to the ground when he tried to kiss her, and he didnt help her up, the Times reported. One harassment case, from a former producer who said OReilly called her and described sexual fantasies and appeared to be masturbating, dated back more than a decade and was widely reported then. While OReilly survived then, the accumulation of cases outlined in the Times damaged him much more extensively. For Fox executives, it wasnt clear when it would end: a campaign to target advertisers was continuing, a group of women demonstrated in front of Foxs headquarters Tuesday and another woman, a former clerical worker at Fox, called a harassment hotline and accusing the host of boorish behaviour. Some of OReillys critics were happy with the news. Author Stephen King tweeted: New book by Fox News: Killing Bill OReilly. It referred to OReillys series of bestselling books on the deaths of major historical figures. Mission accomplished, said Keith Olbermann, who frequently tweaked OReilly on an MSNBC show that competed in the same time slot for several years. Olbermann said that when he was working at Fox Sports in 1999, he helped a friend get a job at Fox News. She quit the job and the business due to her treatment by OReilly, he said. This has been going on for decades and I hope his having to go out in shame and disgrace makes things just a little bit better for her and all his victims right now, he said. Certainly they make things better for America. But many of OReillys fans took to social media to express their unhappiness at losing their hero. Several suggested that Fox had essentially caved to a left wing campaign. It didnt help that the controversy was set in motion by the Times, a publication hated in conservative circles. OReillys lawyers said he was the victim of an orchestrated campaign by liberal organizations like Media Matters for America, which contacted his advertisers to pressure them to leave the show. Conservative personality Glenn Beck who once lost a job at Fox because a similar campaign choked his program of paying advertisers came to OReillys defence on his radio show. You need to write and call Fox News Channel today and tell them, you can lose your advertisers or you can lose your viewers, Beck said on his radio show hours before the firing. But you have to put some spine back into the Murdoch family and the Fox News Channel board because you are about to lose Bill OReilly. He was too late. OReilly is also one of the countrys most popular non-fiction authors. The books in his Killing historical series, including Killing Lincoln and Killing Reagan, have consistently sold 1 million or more copies in hardcover, a rare achievement in publishing, and his platform on Fox enabled him to promote his work. He has also had bestsellers with everything from the memoir A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity to his most recent work, Old School, which includes passages urging the respectful treatment of women. OReilly and co-author Martin Dugard are due to release another book in the Killing series in September, and a spokeswoman for publisher Henry Holt and Co. said that plans had not changed. Vatican spokesman Greg Burke confirmed OReilly was in the VIP section for the popes Wednesday appearance. Burke, a former Fox News correspondent in Rome, denied having facilitated the tickets. Such tickets can be obtained via special request to the papal household from embassies, high-ranking churchmen or Vatican officials. Francis always swings by the VIP seats at the end of his audience for a quick round of handshakes. A photographer from the Vatican newspaper LOsservatore Romano snapped a photo of Francis reaching out to shake his hand. SHARE: Just 10 days ago, when news broke that the Trump administration was sending the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson to the Korean Peninsula, many South Koreans feared a possible war with North Korea. Others cheered for Washington, calling the deployment a powerful symbol of its commitment to deterring the North. On Wednesday, after it was revealed that the carrier strike group was actually thousands of kilometres away and had been sailing in the opposite direction, toward the Indian Ocean, leaving South Koreans feeling bewildered, cheated and even manipulated by the United States, their countrys most important ally. Read the latest news on U.S. President Donald Trump Trumps lie over the Carl Vinson, read a headline on the website of the newspaper JoongAng Ilbo on Wednesday. Xi Jinping and Putin must have had a good jeer over this one. Like North Korea, which is often accused of displaying fake missiles during military parades, is the United States, too, now employing bluffing as its North Korea policy? the article asked. The episode raised questions about whether major allies of the United States, like South Korea and Japan, had been informed of the carriers whereabouts, and whether the misinformation undercut U.S. strategy to contain North Koreas nuclear ambitions by using empty threats. U.S. aircraft carriers regularly visit waters near the Korean Peninsula as part of annual military exercises with South Korea and Japan. But when the U.S. Pacific Command said on April 9 that the Carl Vinson had been ordered to leave Singapore and return to the Western Pacific, the decision was considered highly unusual, as it had been in exercises off the Korean Peninsula just last month. Were sending an armada, Trump said at the time. On Wednesday, the South Korean Defense Ministry declined to comment, other than to say that the United States and South Korea do not discuss the details of their joint strategy to deter North Korean provocations. When asked to clarify Trump's statements about sending an "armada" as a warning to North Korea even though the Carl Vinson aircraft carrier was heading in the opposite direction, Sean Spicer said "that is a fact, it happened, it is happening rather." But critics accused the ministry of fanning jitters among South Koreans before a May 9 presidential election in which North Koreas behaviour has been a central issue as have Seouls close military ties to the United States. There is no way for South Korea not to have known that the Carl Vinson would not be in Korean waters last Saturday, said Kim Dong-yub, a former navy officer and defence analyst at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University in Seoul. Still, they kept mum, doing nothing to ease the anxiety when security was a key election issue. What they did was nothing short of trying to influence the election, Kim said. The whole episode is a reminder of how fettered South Korea remains to its alliance with the United States. Shin In-kyun, a military expert who runs the civic group Korea Defense Network, said that Trump appeared to have used the Carl Vinson as a feint aimed at preventing North Korea from conducting a nuclear test. It would have been very awkward for the South Korean military to come out and clarify when they knew that Trump was bluffing, Shin said. The bluffing worked, in fact. North Korea didnt do a nuclear test last Saturday. Coupled with Trumps order to strike a Syrian airbase with dozens of missiles, and repeated warnings from his senior aides that military options were not off the table in dealing with North Korea, news of the Carl Vinson rushing back to Korean waters stirred anxiety in South Korea. The fear was that if North Korea were to conduct a nuclear or long-range missile test on Saturday to commemorate the 105th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the Norths founding president and the grandfather of Kim Jong Un, the Carl Vinson would be in Korean waters by then to launch a pre-emptive strike. North Korea, never one to be outdone in tough talk, accused the United States of bringing war to Korea and vowed to respond with nuclear attacks at U.S. military bases in South Korea and Japan. This week, it unveiled a video depicting its missiles engulfing a U.S. city in flames, shown as a backdrop for the Kim Il Sung celebration. In South Korea, all major candidates for the presidential election issued statements warning that a pre-emptive U.S. strike would set off a full-scale war on the Korean Peninsula. They intensified their bickering over who was best suited to keep peace on the peninsula. Kim Ky-baek, who runs the nationalist South Korean website Minjokcorea, expressed fears that the Carl Vinson episode would damage Trumps credibility among South Koreans. Trump may say this was part of his smokescreen tactic, he said. But the impression we get is that the Trump administration still doesnt know what it is really trying to do with North Korea, and has no clear and efficient line of communication. When the chief Cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga, the Japanese government spokesman, was asked about the issue at his daily news briefing on Wednesday, he declined to address the misreported itinerary directly. Its an operational matter for the United States military, he said. But Hideshi Takesada, a professor at the Institute of World Studies at Takushoku University in Japan, said it was inconceivable that the Japanese military was unaware of plans for the Carl Vinsons deployment. When it comes to matters that concern Japan, the two militaries communicate essentially in real time, he said. By allowing misconceptions about the strike groups location to persist, he added, the Trump administration had ratcheted up pressure on North Korea. Officials in Tokyo effectively cooperated by not speaking out. Whatever the case, whether it was deliberate misinformation or a miscommunication between the Pentagon and the White House, its quite serious, said Narushige Michishita, a specialist in international security at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo. It undermines the credibility of U.S. leadership. The United States continues to adopt a muscular posture toward North Korea, however, with Vice-President Mike Pence promising during a visit to Japan on Wednesday that Washington would give an overwhelming and effective response to the use of conventional or nuclear weapons. The Carl Vinson is now actually headed to the Korean Peninsula and is expected to arrive in the region next week, Pentagon officials say. April 25 is another major anniversary in North Korea, the birthday of the Korean Peoples Army, and some analysts say the North might try to celebrate with a major provocation. In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Rear Adm. James W. Kilby, commander of the Carl Vinson carrier strike group, said its deployment has been extended 30 days to provide a persistent presence in the waters off the Korean Peninsula. Read more about: SHARE: Heres an idea for cooling nuclear tensions between North Korea and the United States. Why not start by negotiating an end to the Korean War? Technically, the war that began in 1950 when Pyongyang invaded South Korea is still ongoing. An armistice in 1953 halted the fighting, the idea being that the warring parties would meet within three months to hammer out a formal peace treaty. But the meeting never occurred. With Donald Trump as U.S president, that war is in danger of reigniting. The history of American involvement in Korea is tortuous. It began at the end of the Second World War when the U.S. supported one Korean government in Seoul and the Soviet Union backed another in Pyongyang. It solidified as these rival governments vied for position. It turned hot in 1950 when the U.S. persuaded the United Nations Security Council to authorize armed force against North Korean troops invading the South. On paper, the war was waged between North Korea and the 16 nations of the UN Command (including Canada). In practice, it was a showdown between the U.S. and Pyongyang, the latter aided by Chinese volunteers. The war was brutal and nasty. American bombers flattened the North. Hundreds of thousands of civilians throughout the Korean Peninsula were killed or wounded. And it taught the regime in the North two lessons. First, it could wage war against the worlds most powerful nation and survive. Second, China while a reluctant ally would in the end and for its own geopolitical purposes always come to Pyongyangs aid. Both of these views still seem to hold in the North which is why Trumps strategy of bluster and intimidation is unlikely to work. Since the presidency of the first George Bush, Washington has been trying to figure a way to cool North Koreas ardour for missiles and nuclear weapons. Negotiations have been held, approaches made. At one point, America agreed to supply North Korea with technology for peaceful nuclear power if it gave up its weapons program. At another, it agreed to provide the country with oil. Occasionally, success seemed imminent. But then political reality would intrude. A new U.S. president would be elected on a promise to get tough with the North. The North Koreans would revert to hostility mode. Washington rarely trusted North Korea. At one point, George W. Bush famously called it part of the axis of evil. The feeling was reciprocated. Pyongyang twisted and turned. But throughout, it kept returning to the same reality in a world dominated by the hostile Americans, nuclear weapons were necessities. The downfall of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Moammar Gadhafi in Libya showed what could happen to regimes without weapons of mass destruction. North Korea wasnt about to make the same mistake. In short, dont expect the Norths current dynastic dictator, Kim Jong Un, to give up nuclear weapons just because Trump is talking tough. Other U.S. presidents talked tough with Kims grandfather and father. Both survived. Similarly, dont expect China to work miracles. China may have little patience for its allys grand nuclear ambitions. And it is exerting some economic pressure on Pyongyang by, for instance, refusing to buy North Korean coal. But the dynamic that brought China into the Korean War still holds. A belligerent regime in Pyongyang may not be good for China. But chaos, or the prospect of America dominating the entire Korean Peninsula, would be worse. Which brings me back to the Korean War. It is the great piece of unfinished business. If Washington and Pyongyang are to ever trust one another, they along with South Korea must negotiate the peace that will finally end this war, without preconditions. Will wrapping up the war convince the North Koreans to forego the development of nuclear weapons? I doubt it. It is too late for that. But the world has survived nuclear-armed regimes in India, Pakistan and Israel. It should be able to survive more. China argues that the answer to the U.S.-Korean standoff is negotiation. China is right. A peace treaty that finally ends the state of war between these two eccentrically led nations would be a good place to start. Thomas Walkom appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Read more about: SHARE: One block away from Parliament Hill, even as Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai won over MPs in the House of Commons on April 12 by crying out for the rights of girls, a cruel and abhorrent scene was playing out on the street. If youre in Ottawa, go to 65 Bank St. and see for yourself. Men, and a few elderly women, stand right outside the abortion clinic set up by the late Dr. Henry Morgentaler, all day, every day, and torment those entering. They wear sandwich boards showing pictures of cut-up bloodied meat and signs saying, Will you support my right not to be killed in the womb? next to photos of fetuses. Holding life sacred, one sign says. No, theyre holding sperm sacred, a la Monty Python, and theyre still at it after all these years. B.C., Quebec and Newfoundland have bubble zones around their clinics. They are difficult and legally costly to obtain, and the Morgentaler Clinic in Toronto only got its zone after it was firebombed. But in Ottawa, there isnt one. The demonstrators are omnipresent and creepy, some unwell, and some threatening. A bylaw says they must be on the other side of the street. But they cross the street and stand next to the clinic doors, harassing patients, their companions, and staff. Not only do the Ottawa police not enforce the sidewalk bylaw, they react angrily when the clinic reports the infraction. They have threatened to charge clinic staff with obstruction or harassment if they continue to call for help, says Shayna Hodson, director of operations. Even when helpful Ottawa police officers appear and make promises about safety, they mysteriously never show up again. Contacted by phone and email, Ottawa police did not respond to the Stars questions. Ottawa police make me respect Toronto police so much on this issue, says clinic owner Arlene Leibovitch. They understand us and that we are part of community services, as they are. Its a recipe for violence. Hodson is most worried about a young man well call N. who seems to follow directions of older protesters like the omnipresent Cyril. N. was arrested on April 5 after he made it into the building. There is security video of N. holding a large bottle of holy water or gasoline or kerosene? and a rosary, lifting his arms in prayer, kneeling, banging walls and doors, throwing the fluid and screaming at patients and staff, You murderers. The use of accelerants by protesters is increasing. Last week a Toronto church was set on fire by a man using accelerant in a large water-dispensing bottle. The clinic was evacuated. Later footage showed a security guard lifting N. up and carrying him out of the building. He was arrested and an elderly lady posted bond. Hes out. Hodson says antagonism among Canadian anti-abortionists is rising. Emboldened by Trump who is trying to defund Planned Parenthood nationally and various cruelties imposed on American women state by state, Canada is seen as a lawless land of abortion, Hodson says. Hodson says the demonstrators on the clinic sidewalk endanger patients. When theyre clustered outside the door, she doesnt know if theyre domestic abusers waiting for patients to enter or waiting to punish them after they leave. Under Ontarios domestic violence laws, employers have to keep workplaces safe. Canada no longer has a prominent voice for abortion rights. We need one. Abortion rights are shrinking as the anti-abortionists march, despite the partial access Ottawa has finally negotiated for women in New Brunswick, the (glacial) arrival of the abortion pill in Canada it only works in very early pregnancies and is sparingly prescribed and the fine work being done by Health Minister Jane Philpott. Some clinics are closing because its too difficult to provide security and insurance and hire staff. Women will always need abortions, as even the Harper government conceded on the floor of the House of Commons. Yet a few hundred metres away from our Parliament, staff in a small clinic worry that a violent man will make it through three levels of security and throw acid or gasoline. As I left the Toronto clinic after my interviews, there were two gangly impossibly young girls sitting on the step whispering to each other. Its an old story. One girl needs an abortion; her best friend is there to stick up for her. Every clinic sees these gentle pairings daily. It wrung my heart. With a feminist prime minister, a gender-neutral cabinet, and good intentions, why are girls like this not protected from harm? Read more about: SHARE: When assessing the latest controversy over prayer in schools that is taking place in the Peel District School Board, it is important to remember that the issue of religious accommodations has a long, acrimonious history in Canada. Each incident is presented as a life-and-death struggle over the fabric of Canadian identity. On one hand there is typically a minority group that requests an accommodation it believes is required to freely practice its faith. But these demands are almost always met by a chorus of opposition that demands our institutions stay secular. But make no mistake, in Canada, secular means maintaining the traditions of the Christian majority. When seeking to understand the current anti-Muslim paranoia, it is instructional to look at how public ire used to be directed at Sikhs. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Sikhs were the minority group du jour in the public spotlight. For example, in 1988, John Morris, a federal candidate from the seemingly progressive NDP, went on television and stated that his Sikh opponent, Liberal Harbajhan Pandori, was unfit to become a member of Parliament because his culture is really aside from much of the culture of Canada. In the early 1990s, many Canadians were in an uproar over the decision to allow Sikh cadet, Baltej Dhillon Singh to wear a turban as part of his RCMP uniform. More than 200,000 people signed a petition seeking to overturn the decision. And there were clear racist undertones to the opposition. Thousands of pins were sold that showed a white man, surrounded by menacing caricatures of a Sikh, an Asian, and a black man, along with the caption Who is the minority in Canada? Similarly, a Calgary man, Herman Bittner started selling calendars that parodied a Sikh in an RCMP uniform with the caption Is this Canadian, or does this make you Sikh? Bittner clearly did not see this as racist, stating in an interview, Am I really a racist, or am I standing up and trying to save something that you know can be lost forever? The same sentiment was expressed when teacher Harbhajan Singh Pandori was fired from the Peel Board of Education for refusing to give up his kirpan, a small ceremonial dagger that is considered mandatory to carry in the Sikh faith. After the Ontario Human Rights Commission ruled that Sikhs could, under certain restrictions, wear kirpans at schools, public outcry ensued. A petition was signed by 6,000 people, one of whom commented I do believe that when you come to another country, try to go with our tradition. And that asks the question: What exactly is our tradition? It is often presented as secular, but this is a facade. For if you look closely, our tradition in Canada is a history of accommodations to Christians, especially when it comes to our schools. That is why up until the late 1980s and early 1990s, supposedly public schools in Ontario still had mandatory Bible study and began each day with the Lords Prayer. And it is important to remember that school boards fought hard to keep these traditions, and only abandoned them when forced to by the Ontario Court of Appeal. Even today, religious accommodations for Christians persist. It is why schools are closed on Sundays, Good Friday, Easter Monday, and Christmas, but not Vaisakhi, Eid or Diwali. And of course, it is also why the only religious schools to receive public funding in Ontario are Catholic. If the true intent is for our schools to be secular, we would move toward one publicly funded system in which all the major religious holidays of our students are recognized and celebrated. This is what was done in New York City in 2015, where for the first time, all schools were closed for both Eid and Yom Kippur. NYC Public Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina said at the time, We are committed to having a school calendar that reflects and honours the extraordinary diversity of our students This new addition will also enable a teachable moment in the classroom for our students to learn about religious tolerance and the societal contributions of various cultures. In a country as supposedly committed to diversity and pluralism as Canada, it should be easy for us to do the same. But if we are not willing to do this, we should at least be honest about why. Lets stop pretending that we want secularism, when really what is desired is to maintain the religious accommodations of the Christian majority, at the expense of everyone else. Sachin Maharaj is a PhD candidate and Canada Graduate Scholar in educational policy at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. Nadir Shirazi is a diversity consultant and former program co-ordinator at the University of Torontos Multifaith Centre. SHARE: Re: Qatar behind state-sponsorship of terrorism, Opinion, April 11 Qatar behind state-sponsorship of terrorism, Opinion, April 11 In a recent opinion piece by Mohamed Fahmy, the author states that Qatar is engaged in the blatant state-sponsorship of terrorism. This allegation is, to borrow Mr. Fahmys language, blatantly untrue. The State of Qatar has not, does not and never will support terrorism in any form. We believe that terrorism is antithetical to our values, our principles and our faith. Moreover, the State of Qatar has taken concrete steps to block private citizens from providing financial support to terrorist organizations. We have enforced laws on our books that strictly regulate fundraising by individuals and provide rigorous oversight of charitable donations that could be diverted to terrorist organizations. In addition, our government recently issued a new cybercrimes law that prevents social media from being used as a tool for illicit fundraising and terrorist recruiting. We have also restructured our national counterterrorism committee to improve interagency co-ordination including counter-terrorist financing and cyber security and we have significantly increased bilateral co-operation with our allies in support of global efforts to combat terrorism. These are not the policies and initiatives of a state-sponsor of terrorism. They are, in fact, the actions of a nation firmly committed to ending the terrorist threat in the Middle East and around the world. Fahad Mohamed Kafood, ambassador of the State of Qatar to Canada SHARE: Heineken NV (HEINY) - Get Free Report shares posted solid early gains in Amsterdam Wednesday after the brewer said first quarter volumes increased thanks to solid activity in Asian and European markets. The world's second-largest brewer said beer volumes rose 1% in the first three months of 2017 compared to the same time last year, boosted by an 8.3% volume increase in the Asia Pacific region that offset declines in EMEA and the Americas. Like-for-like volumes were up 0.6%, Heineken said. The volume figures, when compared to the final three of last year, appear unimpressive, but Heineken offered the caveat that the first quarter is "seasonally less significant in terms of both volume and profit to full-year Heineken results and noted that reported net profit in the quarter was 293 million ($314 million) compared with 265 million in 2016. Heineken shares rose more than 1% in the opening hour of trading in Amsterdam to change hands at 81.39 each in Amsterdam, extending their three-month gain to just under 15%. Beer volume growth was hit in the U.K. by a pricing spat between the Dutch brewer and Tesco plc (TSCDY) , the country's largest supermarket, which pulled half of Heineken's brands off its shelves after the brewer demanded a price increase due to the fall in the pound. "Performance in the first quarter was in line with expectations, delivering volume growth against strong comparatives last year," said CEO Jean-Francois van Boxmeer. "Asia Pacific continued to outperform and volume in Europe was solid. In Africa, Middle East & Eastern Europe market conditions remain challenging, adversely impacting volume. In Americas, whilst Mexican volume was good this was more than offset by weaker volume in Brazil. Our full year expectations remain unchanged." Shares of IBM (IBM) - Get Free Report were retreating by over 5% to $161.31 in morning trading on Wednesday, the day after it reported a top line miss but bottom line beat for the 2017 first quarter. This was the company's 20th straight quarter (or about five years) of year-over-year revenue declines. For the past quarter, the information technologies giant reported earnings of $2.38 per share, above analyst expectations for $2.35 per share. However, the company's revenue came in at $18.2 billion, slightly below consensus estimates for $18.4 billion. A number of analysts believe the EPS upside was simply due to a lower- than-expected tax rate and higher IP income. The company is in the midst of transitioning the company's focus from traditional hardware to artificial intelligence and cloud computing. "The portfolio will grow. I am confident that the IBM company will grow again," IBM Chief Financial Officer Martin Schroeter told CNBC on Tuesday after the results came out. Shares of IBM are down 2.6% for the year, compared to the S&P 500's rise of 5%. Despite the disappointing revenue report, people have to remember that there aren't many choices for investors when it comes to investing in artificial intelligence (AI), ARK analyst James Wang told CNBC. If someone wants to invest in AI targeted toward the general public, then they can invest in Alphabet's (GOOGL) - Get Free Report Google. But if someone wants to invest in AI that targets more specific groups like the government, then IBM is the best bet, he claimed. "They're doing really good work," Wang said. To hear how Wall Street was responding to the disappointing revenue number, keep reading. Jefferies, James Kisner (Underperform, price target lowered to $135 from $145) "Q1 revenue missed, and while Q1 EPS as IBM reports it was basically in-line, we view these earnings results as poor quality given a a large contribution from IP income and an artificially low tax rate. The results reinforce our view that IBM's recently poor earning quality masks ongoing secular headwinds that will likely result in disappointment for investors. . . These results reinforce our longer-term view that IBM faces secular challenges in Software business and competitive pressures in Services that are underappreciated by investors." Credit Suisse, Kulbinder Garcha (Underperform, $110 price target) "While EPS came in at $2.38, slightly above expectations, it was helped by series of one-time items, adjusting for which the results would have missed estimates by 30%. We believe IBM faces fundamental challenges in turning around its business with a combination of top line (legacy MF exposure, cloud impact) and underlying margin pressure. . . More concerning, we saw GM drop to 44.5%, falling 300bps yoy. We believe this reflects the need for continued investment to stabilize the top line and mix shift to their as-a-service business, as we had outlined in our note. We believe the GM pressures could be secular in nature due to competitive and cannibalistic nature of the cloud business." JMP Securities, Greg McDowell (Market outperform, $188 price target) "While Cognitive Solutions beat expectations and strategic imperatives continue to grow in the double digits, IBM saw weakness in the UK and Germany (down 4% yoy) and missed Systems expectations (with hardware down 40% yoy) and also missed Technology Services and Cloud Platforms expectations (due to some signing delays and a couple of large clients that brought operations in-house). . . It was a mixed quarter overall, in our opinion, but IBM reiterated its goal of operating (non-GAAP) EPS of at least $13.80 and, consequently, our 2017 and 2018 operating EPS expectations are unchanged. In addition, CFO Martin Schroeter reiterated full-year FCF guidance, while stating that IBM is "ahead of track" to reach $40 billion in Strategic Imperatives revenue next year (which would imply a mix-shift to over 50% of revenue)." French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said today that France will provide proof in the next few days that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces used chemical weapons in an attack on April 4, Reuters reports. "There is an investigation underway (by) the French intelligence services and military intelligence ... it's a question of days, and we will provide proof that the regime carried out these strikes," Ayrault told France's LCP television. "We have elements that will enable us to show that the regime knowingly used chemical weapons." Last week, UK ambassador to the UN Matthew Rycroft told the UN Security Council that the UK tested samples analyzed from the site of the attack that tested positive as chemical nerve agents. "These have tested positive for the chemical nerve agent sarin or a sarin-like substance. The United Kingdom therefore shares the U.S. assessment that it is highly likely the regime was responsible for a sarin attack on Kham Shaykhun," he said. (What will move markets this quarter and how should investors position themselves ahead of time? Jim Cramer sat down with four of TheStreet's top columnists recently to get their views. Click hereto listen to his latest Trading Strategies roundtable with them and read their advice for stocks, bonds, forex and gold.) The following companies are subsidiares of American International Group: AGC Life Insurance Company, AIG APAC HOLDINGS PTE. LTD., AIG Aerospace Insurance Services Inc., AIG Asia Pacific Insurance Pte. Ltd., AIG Asset Management (Europe) Limited, AIG Asset Management (U.S.) LLC, AIG Assurance Company, AIG Australia Limited, AIG Brazil Holding I LLC, AIG CIS Investments LLC, AIG Canada Holdings Inc., AIG Capital Corporation, AIG Capital Services Inc., AIG Claims Inc., AIG Credit Management LLC, AIG Egypt Insurance Company S.A.E., AIG Employee Services Inc., AIG Europe Holdings S.a.r.l, AIG Europe S.A., AIG Federal Savings Bank, AIG Financial Products Corp., AIG General Insurance Co. Ltd., AIG Global Asset Management Holdings Corp., AIG Global Operations Inc., AIG Global Real Estate Investment Corp., AIG Global Reinsurance Operations, AIG Holdings Europe Limited, AIG Insurance (Thailand) Public Company Limited, AIG Insurance Company China Limited, AIG Insurance Company JSC, AIG Insurance Company of Canada, AIG Insurance Company-Puerto Rico, AIG Insurance Hong Kong Limited, AIG Insurance Management Services Inc., AIG Insurance New Zealand Limited, AIG International Holdings GmbH, AIG Investments UK Limited, AIG Israel Insurance Company Ltd, AIG Japan Holdings Kabushiki Kaisha, AIG Kenya Insurance Company Limited, AIG Korea Inc., AIG Latin America I.I., AIG Latin America Investments S.L., AIG Lebanon SAL, AIG Life Holdings Inc., AIG Life Limited, AIG Life South Africa Limited, AIG Life of Bermuda Ltd., AIG MEA Holdings Limited, AIG MEA Limited, AIG Malaysia Insurance Berhad, AIG Markets Inc., AIG Matched Funding Corp., AIG PC Global Services Inc., AIG Philippines Insurance Inc., AIG Property Casualty Company, AIG Property Casualty Inc., AIG Property Casualty International LLC, AIG Property Casualty U.S. Inc., AIG Re-Takaful (L) Berhad, AIG Resseguros Brasil S.A., AIG Seguros Brasil S.A., AIG Seguros Mexico S.A. de C.V., AIG South Africa Limited, AIG Specialty Insurance Company, AIG Technologies Inc., AIG Travel Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., AIG Travel Assist Inc., AIG Travel Assist Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., AIG Travel EMEA Limited, AIG Travel Inc., AIG Uganda Limited, AIG Vietnam Insurance Company Limited, AIG WarrantyGuard Inc., AIG-FP Pinestead Holdings Corp., AIG-Metropolitana Cia. de Seguros y Reaseguros S.A., AIGGRE Europe Real Estate Fund I GP S.a r.l., AIGGRE Europe Real Estate Fund II GP S.a r.l., AIGGRE U.S. Real Estate Fund I GP LLC, AIGGRE U.S. Real Estate Fund II GP LLC, AIGGRE U.S. Real Estate Fund III GP LP, AIGGRE U.S. Real Estate Fund IV GP LLC, AIU Insurance Company, AM Holdings LLC, Ageas Protect, AlphaCat Managers Ltd., American General Corporation, American General Life Insurance Company, American Home Assurance Co. Ltd., American Home Assurance Company, American International Group UK Limited, American International Realty LLC, American International Reinsurance Company Ltd., American International Underwriters del Ecuador-Holding S.A. en Liquidacion S.A., Arthur J. Glatfelter Agency Inc., Blackboard Insurance Company, Blackboard Specialty Insurance Company, Blackboard U.S. Holdings Inc., C.A. de Seguros American International, Commerce and Industry Insurance Company, Crop Risk Services Inc., Eaglestone Reinsurance Company, Ellipse, Franklin Life Insurance Company, Fuji Fire and Marine, Glatfelter Insurance Group, Glatfelter Underwriting Services Inc., Globe and Rutgers Insurance Group, Grand Isle SAC Limited, Granite State Insurance Company, Illinois National Insurance Co., Inversiones Segucasai C.A., Johannesburg Insurance Holdings (Proprietary) Limited, Laya Healthcare Limited, Lexington Insurance Company, Lexington Specialty Insurance Agency Inc., National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh Pa., National Union Fire Insurance Company of Vermont, New Hampshire Insurance Company, PCG 2019 Corporate Member Limited, PT AIG Insurance Indonesia, Pine Street Real Estate Holdings Corp., Risk Specialists Companies Insurance Agency Inc., SAFG Capital LLC, SAFG Retirement Services Inc., Service Net Warranty LLC, Stratford Insurance Company, SunAmerica Asset Management LLC, Talbot Holdings Ltd., Talbot Underwriting Holdings Ltd., Talbot Underwriting Ltd., The Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania, The United States Life Insurance Company in the City of New York, The Variable Annuity Life Insurance Company, Travel Guard, Travel Guard Group Canada Inc./Groupe Garde Voyage du Canada Inc., Travel Guard Group Inc., Tudor Insurance Company, VALIC Financial Advisors Inc., Valic Retirement Services Company, Validus Holdings, Validus Holdings (UK) Ltd., Validus Holdings Ltd., Validus Reinsurance (Switzerland) Ltd, Validus Reinsurance Ltd., Validus Ventures Ltd., Volunteer Firemen's Insurance Services Inc., and Western World Insurance Company. Read More Skechers U.S.A., Inc. designs, develops, markets, and distributes footwear for men, women, and children; and performance footwear for men and women worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Domestic Wholesale, International Wholesale, and Direct-to-Consumer. It offers casual, casual athletic, sport athletic, trail, sandals, boots, and retro fashion footwear for men and women under the Skechers USA, Skechers Sport, Skechers Active, Modern Comfort, Skechers Street, Mark Nason, and BOBS brands; sneakers, casuals, boots, and sandals for boys and girls under the Skechers Mega-Craft, S-Lights, SKECH-AIR, Foamies, Twinkle Toes, Z-Strap, Skechers Stretch Fit, and Skechers Street brands; and technical footwear under the Skechers GOrun, Skechers GOwalk, Skechers GOtrain, Skechers GOtrail, and Skechers GO Golf brands. The company also provides men's and women's slip-resistant and safety-toe casuals, boots, hikers, and athletic shoes; and lifestyle apparel for men, women, and kids. As of December 31, 2021, it operated 4,306 company and third party owned Skechers stores. The company sells its products through department and specialty stores, athletic and independent retailers, boutiques, and online retailers; and through its e-commerce sites, concept stores, and factory and warehouse outlet stores. It also licenses its Skechers brand. Skechers U.S.A., Inc. was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in Manhattan Beach, California. - Nandi County Government has hired William Rutos lawyer Karim Khan - The County government has sorted the services of Karim who is set to file a legal suit against the British Government - Nandi County Government is seeking compensation for atrocities committed against the community during colonial era Remember Karim Khan, the British lawyer who got Deputy President William Ruto off the cuff from the ICC case? Well, the lad has just bagged himself a well-paying job in Kenya. TUKO.co.ke has learnt that Nandi County Government have sorted the services of Karim Khan, a world-acclaimed law practitioner in a case against the British Government. According to reports reaching TUKO.co.ke News desk, the Nandi County Government has officially rolled out the process of suing the British Government for atrocities committed on the members of the community during the colonial era. Karim Khan READ ALSO: Vocal female Jubilee MP attacks Raila Odinga The County has taken Britain to court and is seeking compensation. Speaking to TUKO.co.ke on phone, George Tarus, a political adviser to Governor Cleophas Lagat said the County has sorted the services of international lawyer Karim Khan and Lilian and Koech advocates, who will be tasked with collecting sufficient evidence for a case against Britain at the International Court of Justice (ICC). READ ALSO: Did Aspiring Jubilee MP fake his own Kidnapping? Lagat said the Nandi County Government is seeking compensation over displacement of the Nandi community from their land. The county government has also sued Britain over the brutal killing of Nandi leader Koitalel Arap Samoei. READ ALSO: MP Isaac Mwaura undergoes surgery after alleged gun attack Karim Khan with William Ruto at ICC We have signed an agreement with the two law firms and they are expected to tour the region next week to start collecting evidence in readiness to file the suit," George Tarus said. Subscribe to Tuko youtube channel to watch more interesting videos! The Nandi County assembly is said to have already approved KSh108 million to hire Rutos lawyer Karim and the Kenyan legal firm to file the case at ICC. Have something to add to this article? Send to news@tuko.co.ke Watch TUKO HOT NEWS Episode 7 below: Source: TUKO.co.ke - A Kenyan lawyer has taken Israel to court over the crucifixion of Jesus Christ - The lawyer, Dola Indidis intends to use the Bible as evidence in his case - Indidis filed the case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) On March, 2017 a Kenyan lawyer came out of the blue and filed a petition against Israel with the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The lawyer, Dola Indidis wanted the International court to hold the country responsible for the trial, crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ. According to court papers seen by TUKO.co.ke, Indidis accused the state of Israel of atrocities committed against Jesus Christ during the ancient times. Dola Indidis READ ALSO: 12 times Ex-Citizen TV news anchor Janet Mbugua CHARMED Kenyans with her STUNNING beauty Indidis, who is the former spokesman of the Kenyan Judiciary urged that Israel should be held responsible for the death of Jesus. Evidence today is on record in the Bible, and you cannot discredit the Bible, Indidis defended his move before journalists. READ ALSO: Meet the ONLY four people President Uhuru Kenyatta is following on Instagram I filed the case because its my duty to uphold the dignity of Jesus and I have gone to the ICJ to seek justice for the man from Nazareth, he added. The Kenyan lawyer also involved other parties in his legal suit. Among them is Pontius Pilate, King Herod, Rome emperor Tiberius, Italy and a number of Jewish elders. READ ALSO: Jalang'o bows down to fans pressure, makes a dramatic U-turn on Radio station Subscribe to Tuko youtube channel to watch more interesting videos! In his petition, Indidis exacted the kind of questioning used during Jesuss trial, questioning, hearing and sentencing. TUKO.co.ke tried to get in touch with Ondidis for an update on the case in vain. Have something to add to this article? Send to news@tuko.co.ke Watch TUKO HOT NEWS Episode 7 below: Source: TUKO.co.ke The consul of Ukraine in Rostov-on-Don is monitoring the situation with the wreck of a dry cargo ship with Ukrainians on board. The press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministrys consular service department reported this on Twitter. The consul in Rostov-on-Don is in operational contact with the Kransodar Krai's Emergencies Ministry department and is monitoring the situation with the shipwreck in the Kerch Strait," reads the report. The dry cargo ship Geroi of Arsenala wrecked in the waters of the Black Sea on April 19. There is information that there were 12 crew members on board: nine Ukrainians, two Russians and one Georgian. According to some media reports, five crew members have been rescued, while seven are said to be missing. Rescue operations are under way. iy Ukraine and Italy are interested in development of cooperation and sharing hybrid warfare experience. Defense Minister of Ukraine General of the Army of Ukraine Stepan Poltorak said this after a meeting with Italian Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti, the press service of the Defense Ministry of Ukraine reported. Ukraine and Italy are interested in development of cooperation and sharing hybrid warfare experience. Meanwhile, we are interested in opening new directions of our cooperation and open to enhanced military political dialogue, Stepan Poltorak said. Poltorak has also noted that all the plans concerning bilateral cooperation between Defense Ministries of Ukraine and Italy are fulfilled. ish Paying an official visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko met with representatives of the country's business circles. This is reported by the press service of the Head of State. "President Poroshenko told about the implementation of reforms in Ukraine over the past three years and the main results that have been achieved so far. Significant attention was paid to creation of the investment climate, conduct of the judicial reform, tackling corruption, reforming the banking and energy sectors. The President also informed about the launch of the electronic register of VAT refunds," the statement reads. The President stressed that he believed in the trade and investment prospects for Ukrainian-British partnership. According to him, the UK with more than $2 billion has become one of the largest foreign investors in Ukraine, creating tens of thousands of jobs. Thus, the Head of State noted the successful cooperation of the Ukrainian Antonov company and the British Dowty Propellers company during the design of the An-132D transport aircraft. ol Ukraine intends to purchase about 3.5 million tonnes of anthracite coal from the United States a year. Energy and Coal Industry Minister Ihor Nasalyk stated this when speaking with reporters before a governments sitting on Wednesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reported. They have agreed to import about 300-350 thousand tonnes a month. It will be about 3.5-4 million tonnes a year. If we agree on this contract, then well not need all the others," Nasalyk said. The minister also added that at present the US Embassy assists Ukraine in this issue. iy Ukraines delegation has called on the UN Security Council members to pay special attention to the observance of human rights on the temporarily territories, when considering the situation in the occupied Crimea and Donbas. Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Serhiy Kyslytsia made the corresponding statement at the UN Security Council meeting in New York on Tuesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. "The human rights component should be an integral part of the Council's consideration of the ways to settle the conflict. This approach should be applied by the Council when considering the issue of the occupation of Crimea and Russian military aggression in the Ukrainian Donbas," Kyslytsia stressed. "Russian de facto authorities in Crimea commit massive and systematic human rights violations and seek to destroy the identity of Ukrainians, Crimean Tatars as the indigenous inhabitants of the peninsula as well as of other ethnic and religious groups," the Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine said. ol When Bertrand Michauxs father directed one of the largest steel mills in eastern France, his town, Hayange, tucked in the hills of eastern region of Lorraine, was known as a little Texas for its wealth owed to a mining industry that dated back to Roman times. This month, Michaux walked with a reporter through the rusted ruins of the shuttered old plant and a town whose collapsed economy triggered discontent that has made it one of Marine Le Pens biggest strongholds. There were small businesses. People were rich because everyone had a job. Everyone worked here. The big change came in 2013 when its owner, the Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal, closed the plant despite promises by Socialist President Francois Hollande to defend it. The plant had been functioning for centuries and was the last of the big employers in town. As business came to a grinding halt, charities like the one run by the group Secours Populaire, on the edge of town, became busy. It came much faster than they thought. There are people who come here who had very good situations, and a result of the state of things, they lost their jobs, said Anne Duflot-Allievi, the centers director. Psychological misery The centers warehouse is piled with donated clothing, boxes of food, and furniture. Those who came for help declined interviews. There is total psychological misery. People are truly, completely lost. Some really need counseling. It is not easy for them to come to the point of suddenly saying, I am poor. People are sometimes ashamed, said Duflot-Allievi. The feelings of defeat and despair have made many vulnerable, she said. They watch TV, they keep up with politics, and they will believe in hope, and they will believe the first one who comes and tells them that tomorrow they will have a job and will get rid of all the foreigners. Le Pens nationalist, anti-immigration National Front has succeeded in winning over diehard leftists in Hayange. Once a bastion of left-wing unionists, the town changed politically. The towns mayor, Fabien Engelmann, is a former animal rights activist and communist but is now a National Front member and vocal supporter of Le Pen. Our country is the victim of deindustrialization, mass unemployment, said Engelmann, during a meeting with a reporter outside Hayanges city hall, a hulking, square building reminiscent of socialist architecture with the words Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite emblazoned over the main entrance. Like much of Hayange, the building has seen better days. Its paint is worn and weeds grow through the cracks of its steps. A problem of massive immigration, Engelmann said, is bringing Islamization of our country and increasing the problem of insecurity. Growing racism A few meters away, on the town square, Husein Sinancevic, a Muslim immigrant from Montenegro, draws glares from passing towns people when they see him telling a reporter the story of his familys flight from the former Yugoslavia during the Balkan wars. I fled fear, he said. When, in 1998, I came to France I said there is no better place in the world than France. Today, it is not France like before. Today, France is seriously racist. I say to anyone my name is and they hear a Muslim name, and they say, Wait, come back later, and they smile like that, Husein said, faking a grin. At Hayanges unemployment office, there are few choices for job seekers. In one corner of the waiting area, a rack with pamphlets offers guidance for French citizens who seek jobs in Luxembourg, 30 minutes away. Laurent Duval, in his 40s, has been unemployed for months. He said he sees little hope in any of the mainstream, centrist candidates. Just have a look at [politician Emmanuel] Macron, who is powered by the system. So that leaves us with what, exactly? he asks. Duval, like many Hayange residents, does not declare support for the National Front, but said he understands those who support Le Pen and her anti-European Union, anti-immigration stance. People dont want globalism anymore. Thats why when youve got some politician who promotes values of we stand for what we are, its really appealing to a lot of people, Duval said. Prosperity as distant memory At a rally this month in the village of Monswiller in the nearby region of Alsace, more than 1,000 supporters packed an auditorium where Le Pen repeated calls for an end to massive immigration. Her supporters say the message is driven by honesty, not racism. I dont think she is racist. Shes just a woman who is clear, who says things clearly, said Marie-Bernarde Warnecke. There are many people who support her who are not exactly of French origin, so to say she is racist, I do not think so, said Warnecke, a second-generation French citizen whose parents immigrated to France from Cameroon. Warnecke said she had always voted for Socialists until now. She cited security as her main concern in these elections. In Hayange, Bertrand Michaux points to a balcony of what was once his fathers office in a decaying ornate 19th century building that was the steel mills headquarters. Part of the facility is now a museum. A stone tower in the complex bears an inscription of the year 1767. Prosperity is a distant memory. Michaux made a living not at the plant, but as a dentist. His sons have moved on to careers elsewhere in France and Hong Kong. It will never become Texas again, he said. Texas was the steel mills. It was the mines. All that is obsolete. Hayange has been, I will say, sold. Shut for years, the plant is now so decayed that experts say it would have to be demolished before it could ever be fired up again. Michaux believes that will never happen. Marine Le Pens campaign posters promise she will put France back in order. For some, amid the ruins of the French rust belt, that promise is the only hope. A flamboyant Indian business tycoon, wanted in India on charges of fraud and defaulting on loans worth over one billion dollars, was arrested Tuesday in Britain on behalf of Indian authorities. Vijay Mallya was released on bail by a London court a few hours later. His arrest came a year after he quietly left the country and went to live in London after state-owned banks sued him to recover loans amounting to $1.4 billion. In New Delhi, the government hailed the arrest of the one-time liquor and aviation baron, saying they will pursue his extradition back to India. Junior Finance Minister Santosh Gangwar told reporters that Mallya will be brought back to India and the due process of the law will be followed. Mallya's case is being seen as a litmus test of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pledge to crack down on corruption. The flashy businessman has become a poster boy for defaults on massive loans piled up by corporate tycoons and for a cozy nexus that many say has existed in India between businessmen and politicians. After Mallya went to live in London, the government faced huge criticism from the public and from opposition lawmakers for not preventing him from leaving the country and bringing him to trial. He had refused to return to India to appear in court. Mallya, who owned a liquor business, ran into trouble when a premium airline he launched in 2005 went bankrupt. Despite the massive loans he had accumulated, the man who called himself "the king of good times" continued to lead a lavish lifestyle and was as much in the news for his flashy parties as his debts, prompting huge public anger. His arrest follows considerable diplomatic lobbying by New Delhi. Britain had turned down the initial request for his deportation last year, saying he entered the country on a valid passport. In its latest extradition request, India had said that if the request is honored, it would show "British sensitivity toward our concerns." Soon after his arrest, Mallya tweeted "Usual Indian media hype. Extradition hearing in Court started today as expected." The businessman has repeatedly denied charges of wrongdoing, and calls the collapse of his airline a genuine commercial failure. He has also accused government agencies of pursuing a "heavily biased investigation" and holding him guilty without trial. However, extraditing Mallya from London to India may not be easy. Indian authorities will have to prove that they have enough evidence to prosecute him, while Mallya is likely to maintain that he will not get a fair trial in India. A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced an Islamic State sympathizer to life in prison for plotting to bury a remote-controlled bomb on a beach on Key West, Florida. Harlem Suarez was arrested in 2015 for buying a dummy bomb from FBI agents posing as IS members. Judge Jose Martinez declared Suarez to be "inept" and "nutty." Federal prosecutors said Suarez posted "a ton" of pro-Islamic State propaganda, including graphic videos, on the internet. They said he planned to bury the nail-filled bomb on the beach and set it off with a cellphone. "When told the shrapnel would rip through people faster than bullets, he smiled and said, 'Great, great.' This defendant has shown no remorse, he has demonstrated no sense of responsibility," U.S. Attorney Marc Anton said. For nuclear physics graduate student Chelsea Bartram, White House adviser Kellyanne Conway's "alternative facts" were the last straw. President Donald Trump had disputed photographic evidence of the size of his inauguration crowd. Reporters challenged him. Conway's response that the administration gave "alternative facts" has become a widely used hashtag for anything demonstrably untrue. "A lot of us do care about this notion of an objective reality,"said Bartram, who is pursuing a doctorate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Many scientists I know, myself included, spend so many hours in the lab sacrificing enormous amounts of their life for this abstract idea" that understanding reality can benefit human civilization, she said. "And then to have someone say, 'Well, that's not important anymore,' it's so devastating." So on Saturday, Bartram plans to join the March for Science, a protest in Washington and more than 500 other cities around the world supporting science's role in government decisions on health, safety, the economy and more. The march has more than 200 co-sponsors, including many major scientific and professional societies, zoos, aquaria and advocacy groups. Organizers have not released crowd size estimates. "This is pretty remarkable and unprecedented," said geochemist Eric Davidson, president of the 60,000-member American Geophysical Union, one of the march co-sponsors. Many of the group's members did the climate research that the Trump administration disavows. "I can't think of another example where scientists have organized themselves in as many cities with an event as big as this," he said. Tipping point The dispute over crowd sizes was just one small example of what scientists see as a larger pattern. During the campaign, Trump dismissed the scientific consensus about the dangers of human-induced climate change. His appointee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, also does not accept climate science. He has repeatedly clashed with the agency he now heads. But scientists say their frustration has been building for decades. "We might have reached a tipping point now, but acting as though this is a new thing is giving too much credit to the current administration," said march co-organizer and public health expert Caroline Weinberg. "It's letting people who have been there for a very long time off the hook." And it goes far beyond climate change, Weinberg added. "It's about not paying attention to the best research on things like food stamps. It's about cutting things like Head Start and after-school programs," to name a few. "And that all affects health, because that's a time to set kids on the right path." Critics say a public protest risks further politicizing science, turning scientists into just another interest group. Bartram sums up a widespread response: on hot-button issues like climate change, opponents have already done it. "I don't think anything we do is going to further politicize it," she said. Disconnect But if the goal is to get policymakers to listen, "a march isn't going to change anything. That's the problem," said Rob Young, head of coastal research at Western Carolina University. Young said much of the problem stems from the growing disconnect between scientists and voters, especially the rural and working-class people who voted for Trump. He said most probably have never met a scientist. "It's easy to demonize us if those folks don't know who we are," he added. Scientists need to get out of the lab more, he said, and explain how their work affects people's health and livelihoods. "I hope that when they're done marching in Washington, that they will come home and that they will march into their local planning board or local town council," he concluded. That's what march organizers hope, too. Many scientists accept much of the blame for the disconnect with voters. The American Geophysical Union's Davidson said a major post-march goal is more public engagement. "I think the day is gone when scientists can stay in their ivory towers and assume that everyone is going to recognize their value," he added. Support us - Help us upgrade our services! Maintaining our website and our free apps does require, however, considerable time and resources. We're aiming to achieve uninterrupted service wherever an earthquake or volcano eruption unfolds, and your donations can make it happen! Every donation will be highly appreciated. Improved multilanguage support Tsunami alerts Faster responsiveness Design upgrade Detailed quake stats Additional seismic data sources Download and Upgrade the Volcanoes & Earthquakes app to get one of the fastest seismic and volcano alerts online: Android | IOS to get one of the fastest seismic and volcano alerts online: We truly love working to bring you the latest volcano and earthquake data from around the world.We need financing to increase hard- and software capacity as well as support our editor team.If you find the information useful and would like to support our team in integrating further features, write great content, and in upgrading our soft- and hardware, please PayPal or Online credit card payment )., these features have been added recently: TECHNOLOGY Neo-Nazi-website founder faces lawsuit A Montana woman sued the founder of a neo-Nazi website Tuesday, saying the publisher orchestrated an anti-Semitic campaign of terror that bombarded the woman and her family with hateful messages from anonymous Internet trolls. The barrage of emails, phone calls, texts and social-media comments threatened and harassed Tanya Gersh, 44, and her family including her 12-year-old son with messages replete with slurs and Holocaust references, according to the federal lawsuit. The trolling campaign started in December after Daily Stormer founder Andrew Anglin published the familys personal information, including the 12-year-olds Twitter handle and photo. In a string of posts, Anglin accused Gersh and other Jewish residents of Whitefish, Mont., of engaging in an extortion racket against the mother of white nationalist Richard Spencer. Gershs lawsuit said she agreed to help Spencers mother sell commercial property she owns in Whitefish. But Sherry Spencer later accused Gersh of threatening and harassing her into agreeing to sell the property. Anglin is accused of invading Gershs privacy, intentionally inflicting emotional distress and violating a Montana anti-intimidation law. Associated Press EARNINGS Yahoo revenue jumped in first quarter Yahoo reported a 22.1 percent increase in quarterly revenue Tuesday, ahead of the sale of its core Internet business to Verizon Communications. Yahoo said revenue from Mavens the mobile, video, native and social advertising units that it says are key emerging businesses rose 35.6 percent to $529 million in the first quarter ended March 31. Net income attributable to Yahoo was $99.4 million, or 10 cents per share in the quarter, compared with a net loss of $99.2 million, or 10 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose to $1.33 billion from $1.09 billion. Verizon in February agreed to buy Yahoos core business which includes its Internet search and email assets for $4.48 billion, lowering its original offer by $350 million, in the wake of two massive cyberattacks at Yahoo. Yahoo said Tuesday that it expects the deal to close in June. Reuters Also in Business U.S. builders broke ground on fewer homes last month, the Commerce Department said Tuesday, as housing starts fell 6.8 percent in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.22 million. The setback came after strong gains in an unusually warm February. Groundbreaking on new homes is still 8.1 percent higher through the first three months of this year compared with the same period in 2016. During the first three months of this year, construction of buildings with at least five units, mainly apartment complexes, has climbed 14.1 percent. Single-family housing starts have risen 5.9 percent. UnitedHealths first-quarter profit soared 35 percent as the nations biggest health insurer slashed participation in Affordable Care Act exchanges but expanded just about every other part of its business. Overall, the company earned $2.17 billion in the first quarter on $48.72 billion in total revenue, or $2.37 per share. UnitedHealth now expects adjusted 2017 earnings of between $9.65 and $9.85 per share after predicting $9.30 to $9.60 per share last fall. Subaru is recalling more than 33,000 compact cars in the United States because a fuel problem can make the engines stall without warning. The recall covers Impreza cars from the 2017 model year. Subaru says in documents filed with the government that a winter blend of fuel can turn to vapor in the fuel line, causing the engine to run roughly and stall. No crashes or injuries have been reported. U.S. factory output fell unexpectedly in March, charting its biggest decline in seven months as vehicle production contracted. The Federal Reserve said Tuesday that manufacturing production dropped 0.4 percent last month. Februarys output was revised down to show a 0.3 percent gain instead of the previously reported 0.5 percent increase. Despite the sharp decline in manufacturing output, overall industrial production rose 0.5 percent last month because of an 8.6 percent weather-driven surge in utilities generation, the Fed said. From news reports COMING WEDNESDAY 2 p.m.: Federal Reserve releases beige book. Earnings: American Express, CSX. Supporters of Marine Le Pen gather for a rally in La Trinite-Porhoet, France, in March. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post) [This story has been optimized for offline reading on our apps. For a richer experience, you can find the full version of this story here. An Internet connection is required.] Songbirds flitted among the redbud trees. The wind tickled yellow flowers in fields of rapeseed. The medieval church clock clanged on the hour. Otherwise all was still in this one-boulangerie town in the French countryside when Marine Le Pen strode to the lectern and, with the unwavering force of a freight train, vowed to save the country on behalf of its forgotten young. Our youth are in despair, the 48-year-old thundered. I will be the voice of the voiceless. Two-thirds of the way back in an overflow crowd, Adrien Vergnaud knew instantly that the leader of Frances far-right National Front was speaking for him. The joblessness, the migrants, the terrorism. She was the only one who cared. Without her, said the tautly muscled 25-year-old construction worker, his troubled country has no future. But with the backing of young voters like Vergnaud, Le Pen may become the next president of France. As the country hurtles toward the election this spring that could alter the course of European history the first round is Sunday Le Pens once-longshot and now undeniably viable bid to lead France rests heavily on an unlikely source of support. Populist triumphs in Britain and the United States came last year despite young voters, not because of them. Millennials generally at ease with immigration, trade and multiculturalism lined up against both Brexit and Donald Trump. It was older voters who sought to overturn the existing order with nationalist answers to the problems of a globalized world. (Sarah Parnass,Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post) [Frances National Front co-founder Jean-Marie Le Pen says the battle is already won] But France is a land of youthful revolts, from the 18th-century barricades to the fevered university campuses of May 1968. And with youth unemployment stuck at 25 percent, Le Pens reactionary call to return the country to an era of lost glory by closing borders, exiting the European Union and restoring the national currency has fired the passions of young voters craving radical change. Weve been told our whole lives that everything is set. Free trade. Forgetting our borders. One currency for all of Europe. Nothing can change, said Gaetan Dussausaye, the mild-mannered 23-year-old leader of the National Fronts youth wing. But young people dont like this system. This system is a failure. The National Fronts strength among millennials suggests the populist wave thats unsettled the West may be more durable than many may assume. Far from the last gasp of closed-society older voters who are demographically destined to be outnumbered by a rising tide of cosmopolitan youth, the populist insurgency could continue to build over years and decades if enough disenchanted young voters can be lured by the promise of something new. And across Europe, thats exactly what far-right movements are attempting. In Germany a country where the two main parties are led by political veterans in their 60s the anti-Muslim Alternative for Germany party is run by a fresh-faced 41-year- old. Scandinavian parliaments, meanwhile, are stocked with politicians in their 20s hailing from parties that just a decade ago were consigned to the extremist fringe. The National Front was, until relatively recently, a fringe movement itself, seen by critics as a neo-fascist front filled with racists, anti-Semites and xenophobes and led by the convicted Holocaust denier Jean-Marie Le Pen. To many older or middle-aged voters, the partys essential DNA remains unaltered, even as it has furiously tried to refashion its image. The National Front is trying to make us think theyve changed, said Marie-Therese Fortenbach, a 50-year-old who said her half-Congolese heritage has made her a victim of the sort of discriminatory practices the party long preached. I dont believe it. But the young who have only known the party since Jean- Marie Le Pens generally more calculating and cautious daughter Marine took over in 2011 have been easier to convince that the National Fronts reputation for extremism is overblown. Young volunteers hand out pro-Marine Le Pen literature outside a metro stop in Paris. The National Front leader has a commanding lead among Frances youngest voters in the elections first round, polls show. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post) The party now boasts the youngest member in both the National Assembly and the Senate. Its student activists can be seen on posh Paris street corners, handing out fliers, and Le Pen has surrounded herself with a coterie of 20- and 30-something advisers. This month she delivered a speech in Bordeaux focused exclusively on youth issues, complete with a plea to her cheering young supporters to go against the currents of history. There are signs they are doing just that. [Can French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron deliver on his promise to remake the country?] If Le Pen wins, European leaders fear the disintegration of the E.U. after decades spent trying to bind the continent more closely together. And although shes down in hypothetical second-round contests, Le Pen enjoys a commanding lead among Frances youngest voters in the 11-candidate first round, polls show. One survey has her winning nearly 40 percent of the vote among those 18 to 24, nearly double the total of her nearest competitor, Emmanuel Macron. Thats all the more surprising because Macron, at 39, is vying to become the youngest president in French history. But its consistent with recent results: The last two times voters across France went to the polls in European elections in 2014, and in regional voting a year later the National Front triumphed among the young. Its a paradox, said Remy Oudghiri, a sociologist with Sociovision, a firm that conducts major surveys of French attitudes. The young overall are open to cultural diversity, open to immigration. But among the youth, theres a portion that is radicalized, that believes the more we open to the outside world, the more we decline. The difference between the two groups, Oudghiri said, is that one hasnt bothered lately to cast ballots. French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron campaigns at a printer manufacturing plant in Paris on April 5. Macron, 39, is vying to become the youngest president in French history. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post) Since only the radicalized youth goes to vote, the FN wins, he said. That dynamic could be especially pronounced this year. Polls show that support for Macron is shallow, with even those who say they back him unsure whether they will actually turn out for a candidate with no formal party affiliation and a platform that seeks to please both the left and right. As a former economy minister and investment banker, the pro-E.U. Macron also struggles with young voters who dont fit the profile of the successful urban cosmopolitan. In France, you have a lot of young people who dont live in the big cities, who didnt go to college, who left the education system, said Jeremie Patrier- Leitus, the 28-year-old leader of one of Macrons several youth factions. You have young people who are unemployed, and its easy to tell them thats because an immigrant took their job. Macron has taken the opposite tack, trying to convince Frances disgruntled youth that immigration is good for the country and that the E.U. is worth saving. Its a pitch, Patrier-Leitus acknowledged, that doesnt always bring crowds to their feet or voters to the polls. Europe has strong opponents but very weak supporters, said Patrier-Leitus, who regularly travels between Paris and his job at a French cultural center in New York. We didnt realize how fragile Europe really was. If Europes young defenders have been tough to rouse, its opponents are filled with passion. Dussausaye, the head of the National Fronts youth wing, said that when he first saw Le Pen speak at a 2011 rally, it was like Cupids arrow for the then-17-year-old. People surround National Front leader Marine Le Pen and cheer during her rally in La Trinite-Porhoet, France, on March 30. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post) Le Pens once-longshot and now undeniably viable bid to lead France rests heavily on an unlikely source of support: young voters. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post) Le Pen enjoys a commanding lead among Frances youngest voters in the 11-candidate first round, polls show. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post) The two later bonded, he said, over their desire to seal the countrys borders from mass immigration and their shared affection for cats. She has natural authority, but shes also very human, Dussausaye said, gushing from his desk at the partys suburban Paris headquarters. His office is decorated with personal photos of Le Pen cuddling her cats as well as campaign posters, including one of a cafe table overturned in a pool of blood and the phrase More immigration means more Islamism. [Marine Le Pen could win the French election but first she must win a family feud] After Marine Le Pen a husky-voiced, twice-divorced Generation Xer the partys most prominent face is that of a millennial the leaders niece, 27-year-old Marion Marechal-Le Pen. To critics, she is the unbridled id to her aunts disciplined ego. To supporters, she is a modern-day Joan of Arc, defending a country yet again in the midst of a foreign invasion. Having become in 2012 the youngest person ever elected to the French parliament, her unapologetically hard-line stances have earned her a certain celebrity status in right-wing circles the world over: Sarah Palin confessed a political crush on Marechal-Le Pen, while Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon anointed her a rising star. In an interview at her Paris office, Marechal-Le Pen dismissed the notion that younger French voters suffering from an unemployment rate more than twice the national average are gravitating to the party her grandfather founded primarily because of its economic protectionism. Their motives, she insisted, were more cultural than pocketbook. The main concern for the youth is the question of immigration, she said. They have the feeling that they are being deprived of their own identity. The multicultural model defended by our elite is a model that doesnt work. The National Fronts solution a dramatic cut in immigration and an end to French participation in Europes border-free travel area has found some unlikely adherents. Davy Rodriguez, 23, is deputy leader of the partys youth wing and a student at Pariss Sciences Po, one of the most prestigious universities in France. Hes also the son of immigrants. His mother is Portuguese, his father is Spanish. A refugee from Sudan who identified himself as Mohamed (he declined to give his full name) walks into a thicket in Calais, France, on April 1. Marine Le Pen has denounced the European Unions mandate for member states to help resettle refugees. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post) Rodriguez whose Twitter page features a tableau of soldiers charging into battle behind a tattered French tri-color now spends his days and nights campaigning to dramatically tighten, if not close, the borders his parents crossed decades ago to begin their lives in France. To Rodriguez, theres no contradiction between his life story and his politics: When his parents came to France, the country needed more workers. Today, he said, it doesnt, but its being inundated nonetheless. We cant accept what [German Chancellor Angela] Merkel is doing to our country to our national identity by putting migrants all over the countryside, he said while sitting at an outdoor cafe in St. Germain, the famously bookish quarter of Pariss Left Bank. The E.U. is destroying Europe with mass immigration. In fact, France has received far fewer migrants per capita in recent years than many European nations. The foreign-born share of Frances overall population has risen relatively slowly, amounting to about 12 percent of the country last year compared with 10 percent in 2000. Economists also cast doubt on the idea that immigrants undercut the ability of the French to find work, noting that new arrivals often do the jobs that native-born workers refuse. But the perception of an influx that is harming French workers especially the young as they try to get their footing in an economy still badly bruised from the Great Recession has persisted and is a key component of the National Fronts rhetoric. Marine Le Pen visits a pig farm in Pordic, France, on March 30. Le Pen has been campaigning heavily in rural areas, where she is enjoying widespread support. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post) At her rally in the French countryside town of La Bazoche-Gouet, Le Pen denounced the E.U. for mandating that every country do its part to resettle refugees. Where will we put them all? she asked, prompting a furious round of boos from the 600-strong crowd that had gathered in the towns wooden-beam, open-air central hall. Vergnaud, the 25-year-old construction worker, joined in lustily. Frances problem is that its too generous, he said after Le Pen had sent her faithful off with an emphatic rendition of La Marseillaise, the French national anthem. We give to the people who are coming into the country, but not to the French. His arms swathed in elaborate tattoos, Vergnaud said hes not normally the type to attend political rallies. But he and four friends, all in their 20s, had driven a half-hour from their own small town because they see Le Pen as the last hope for a country at risk of collapse. The problems are everywhere Vergnaud looks: The companies that are leaving. The farms that are failing. The people who are dying in mass-casualty terrorist attacks. The mosque thats gone up in his town, right next to the church. I live near the Muslims. They dont work. They just take what theyre given by the government, he said. But theyre also taking French jobs, he argued minutes later. I work mostly with foreigners people from Turkey, he said. Among the five friends, there was no doubt that Le Pen is their savior the only one who would bother coming to their picturesque but decaying slice of countryside, the only one willing to fight back against the immigrants who they say are jeopardizing Frances future and their own. The old folks may not understand. But to the young, it was all very clear. My grandparents are afraid of Le Pen. They say shes extreme, and that if shes elected, we might have a war, said Manon Coudray, a 23-year-old secretary. I say maybe thats a good thing. A woman holds a French flag as she walks to a campaign event being held by Marine Le Pen in La Trinite-Porhoet on March 30. Le Pens National Front has polled strongly among young voters in elections in 2014 and 2015. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post) Cleophee Demoustier contributed to this report. Read more: A republic in turmoil: Frances two-party system is breaking apart A slice of tropical rain forest becomes a thing in Frances presidential election It will be a total disaster if Marine Le Pen wins the French election, says Frances U.S. envoy Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news Dear Dr. Fox: I believe that most neutered cats belong in pairs. I have had nine Siamese cats, mostly in pairs. The surviving member of my penultimate pair grieved deeply and hid from me for about five months. When she stopped hiding, she was a changed kitty. When she passed, I acquired a pair of littermates who never spent a night apart and were my best friends for 20 years. I did not want the surviving partner to go through what the last one had. I spent many hours thinking about their eventual demise. At 19 years old, I knew, that, statistically, it would be soon. One evening, we returned home from dinner to find that our beloved male, Oedipus, could not move his back legs. He had jumped from a chair excited to eat three hours earlier. I knew time was short, so I scheduled euthanasia for the next day. I took both cats to the vet. In the vets office, I placed Oedipus on the table and let his sister, Phaedra, out of the cage to join him. She jumped up with him and inspected him thoroughly. When she lost interest, I put her back into her cage. After the vet euthanized Oedipus, and we were sure he was gone, I let Phaedra out of the cage to be with him again. She checked him out thoroughly and eventually lost interest again. I put her back in her cage, and we departed. Her grieving process was very short. She looked everywhere in the house, and then adopted his position as primary lap cat. The difference in the grieving process with Phaedra seeing that Oedipus was gone was remarkable. I know in my heart that her being able to know he was dead and not suddenly just gone helped her. I recommend allowing surviving pets to see the deceased, acknowledge the change in being and grieve gently, instead of fretting about the disappearance and fearing the same thing will happen to them. I hope this information helps others with the future loss of their pets. A.A.R., Naples, Fla. DF: Your observations and suggestions are important for all cat owners to consider, beginning with adding another cat to the home if you have only one. The essential steps to take to introduce a new cat are posted on my website, drfoxvet.net. I have also posted a long review on how animals grieve the loss of a loved one, human or fellow animal. As you note, some show little grief but might well benefit from having the opportunity to examine the deceased. Some cats will yowl loudly day and night after experiencing such loss, but others, like many people, seem to take it in stride. In my experience, cats will search the house more frequently when the companion animal is missing (for instance, at the vets office) than after they have been able to see the body of the deceased before its removal from the home. Dear Dr. Fox: It became apparent that it was time to put down my 17-year-old cat New Years Eve. Not able to stand Kittens pain, I called around and found a vet who was willing to come to my home New Years Day. He claimed a shot right into Kittens stomach was the best thing to do. After the injection, my family and I petted him for several minutes as he died. During this time, Kitten opened his eyes fearfully and gasped for air and then was gone. It didnt seem like a particularly painless way to go. I would like your opinion on the least painful method of putting a cat or dog to sleep. I have other animals that will one day need to be put down. S.S., Herndon, Va. DF: I regret that you and your cat went through this experience, because this is not the best or usual way to euthanize a cat or dog. Injecting the euthanasia solution into the abdominal cavity should be done only when a vein cannot be successfully injected, which usually ensures a smooth and quick unconsciousness and death from cardiac arrest. The abdominal injection process is slower, and the animal might struggle and gasp for air repeatedly. When a limb or neck vein cannot be successfully injected, the best euthanasia protocol is to first give an injection of a strong sedative into the thigh muscle. This two-step procedure is the best way to help ensure a humane death. The next time around, request that the veterinarian who comes to your home follow this protocol. Dear Dr. Fox: We have a cocker spaniel who is quite active. When he was 3, he tore the ACL in his right leg. We opted for surgery, although I was a pastor, and money was tight. We paid on the installment plan, and it was about $3,500 total. He wasnt overweight, but our surgeon insisted he still lose weight and take a short course of meds. Of course, he tore the ACL in his other leg a year later. Same price. We followed the surgeons orders regarding running and jumping, and he wore an Elizabethan collar to keep him from going after the sutures. He is now 9. The only medication he takes is Dasuquin, which we get by mail order. Hes kept the weight off and has had no further problems, happily. I love to watch him run. He is walked daily, except when its icy. He is pain-free. He can jump up without any problems. Many people thought we should have had him put down. Im so happy we didnt. When I lived in the District, we went to a great clinic that accepted payments on the installment plan. It was worth every penny. S.M., Crownsville, Md. DF: Thanks for confirming the benefits of corrective surgery for this common canine problem, along with documentation of the expense and the accommodating payment plan your veterinarian set up with you. Your dog was young and not a heavy-bodied breed; older dogs are poor candidates for this kind of surgery. Still, losing some weight was important. This is one factor that makes dogs prone to tearing their cruciate ligaments, as is a lack of regular exercise and sudden activity after a long winter indoors. I advise people to keep their dogs from being too active when they get outdoors and are still in poor physical condition. Dear Dr. Fox: My elderly father lives in a two-story house. He has recently become disabled, and he might have to live in the downstairs area only. There is one small bathroom on that floor. The problem is that we currently use that bathroom for his cats litter box. Also, this 14-year-old cat uses the entire bathroom to eliminate, frequently going on the floor and foregoing the litter box, even when its clean. The cat has been doing this for years, and we cannot seem to break him of these undesirable toilet habits. Because this is the only bathroom that my father will be able to use, we have to find a new location for the cats litter box. My father and his nursing aides will not possibly be able to share this bathroom with a cat who makes a daily disaster out of it. Whats the best way to acclimate a cat to a new litter box location, and how do we get him to use it 100 percent of the time? Otherwise, were going to have to find a new home for this cat; I am unable to take him. R.A., Newark, N.J. DF: This is a challenge for an older cat! Your best hope is to buy a large wire dog crate, 4-by-5 feet or larger, and put the cat inside in the new room, along with a bed, food, water and a litter box. Clean up the bathroom with Natures Miracle enzyme cleaner. Let the cat out, supervised, as often as possible for play and grooming, but never allow him back into the bathroom. The cat should adapt quickly to using the litter box in the confines of the cage, which can eventually be left open so the cat can come and go freely, or it can be kept most of the time in the closed room, with as much human company as possible, and let out and closely monitored at other times. Correction In an earlier column concerning a dogs fear of being in a car, I suggested a veterinary prescription of Xanax (alprazolam). However, I included an incorrect dosage: Rather than giving the dog 0.5 grams, I recommend giving 0.5 milligrams. I also want to add that you should never treat a pet with your own medications. Michael W. Fox, author of a newsletter and books on animal care, welfare and rights, is a veterinarian with doctoral degrees in medicine and animal behavior. Send letters to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. When your dining room table gets upgraded from a Craigslist score to a polished wood beauty, its time for a lesson in the care and feeding of fine furniture. A good-quality dining table, whether new, vintage or antique, can be a major investment, and its surface should be protected. If youve never used coasters or do your dusting with commercial sprays filled with chemicals, you might want to consider changing your ways. Heat, moisture, silicone, candle wax and pets can damage or ding your table. Direct sunlight should be avoided. And forget doing your nails here; the acetone in nail polish remover can melt your fabulous finish right off. Establish a relationship with your table, says Christophe Pourny, president and co-founder of Christophe Pourny Studio, a Brooklyn furniture restoration business and maker of a line of plant-derived furniture care products. Dont just throw a plate of food on your table, eat and then walk away, Pourny says. Take time to set down a place mat. When you are done, check to see if youve spilled anything and wipe it off immediately. Keith Fritz, whose firm, Keith Fritz Fine Furniture, is based in Indiana, has been making custom dining tables with hand-rubbed finishes for more than 20 years. Fritz, whose work is sold through designers, cautions his clients about four things that can damage wood finishes: temperatures above 120 degrees, abrasions, standing or trapped water and harsh chemicals. [Six filters in your home you may be forgetting to replace or clean] For tiny nicks and scratches, Keith Fritz sometimes uses a special furniture stain marker. (Brad Urban) Eventually, though, you must embrace the tables patina, Fritz says. People always freak out about the first scratch. But over the years, it will all blend in together. I would much rather see people enjoying their table and having fun with it than being afraid to use it. For tiny nicks and scratches, he sometimes uses a furniture stain marker (Touch-Up Pen by Touch-Up Solutions). When you buy any wood table, whether its a dining table, coffee table or end table, ask questions about caring for it. Here is a list of basic mistakes to avoid to keep your table looking good: Putting hot things directly on the table. A casserole dish right out of the oven or a stew pot right off the stove should not be placed on your table without heat protection. Pourny has a simple and modern solution: natural cork trivets. (Bed Bath & Beyond has a set of three round ones for $10.) When used under serving pieces, these can protect your table from scorching and scratches. Passing on place mats or tablecloths. When having a meal, its best to use something to protect your table from spills. Place mats are great for daily dining, but a tablecloth will be your best choice for a large group. Fritz prefers cloth over synthetic. Plastic place mats can trap water, and some have off-gassing chemicals that might cause a chemical reaction to the finish on a new table, he says. Fritz advises clients not to make place mats or cloths a permanent fixture. When youre not using your table, you should enjoy the beautiful wood, Fritz says. [How and when to clean 6 major appliances] Forgetting about condensation. Cold or warm drinks, flower vases and bottles of chilled wine can transfer water and humidity onto a table, leaving white rings if moisture gets trapped under them. Always use coasters, trivets or other pads. If you get a water ring, Fritz says, be patient. Three things get rid of water rings: time, heat and oil, he says. First, wait a day or two and see whether the ring will evaporate on its own. Second, put your hair dryer on low (blow it on your hand first; if it doesnt feel uncomfortable, it should be okay), then lightly blow air over the ring and hope it will disappear. Third, rub with an oil-based product that can remove water spots. Fritz has had luck with Howard Feed-N-Wax, a blend of beeswax, carnauba wax and orange oil. Taking a knife to wax spills. If at the end of a dreamy candlelit evening you find some wax drippings on your table, dont grab a paring knife and go at it. Avoid using anything metal, whether scissors or a knife, as youll probably damage the wood. Pournys trick: Use a credit card to scrape off wax clumps. If there is still residue left, Pourny suggests covering the wax with a cloth and running a slightly warm iron over it. Any leftover wax should cling to the cloth. Christophe Pourny, shown working on a table, is an expert furniture restorer based in Brooklyn. He also has a line of plant-derived furniture care products. (James Wade Photography) [Six common mistakes you make when doing laundry] Using commercial dusting sprays and silicone polishes. Consumers get hooked on dusting sprays, something fine-furniture experts are not too keen on. Says Pourny: You should avoid them. They are just giving your pieces instant gratification, a temporary shine, and then they attract more dirt and dust that will eventually build up. Fritz says, These products are engineered so that every time you go to the store, you feel like you need to buy a can of it. You dont need them. Experts advice on the best way to clean: Use a fresh, slightly damp (not wet) cotton cloth to wipe daily spills off your table after a meal. Then buff with a dry cloth. Wearing chunky jewelry or oversize watches. Its not just women with large bangles, jangling charm bracelets or spiky rings that can gouge a table. These days every guy is wearing this huge metal watch, the bigger the better, Pourny says. That can heavily scratch your table. If youre having a fancy dinner party where guests might get blinged out, it might be best to use a tablecloth (with a felt liner or table pad underneath) to protect the wood. Asked to rank their life satisfaction on a scale from 0 to 10, American 15-year-olds gave an average mark of 7.4. (Wavebreak Media) American high school students are generally satisfied with their lives. But many of their peers in other countries are happier. Asked to rank their life satisfaction on a scale from 0 to 10, American 15-year-olds gave an average mark of 7.4, according to a study released Wednesday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an international research group. American students scored close to the average of 7.3 among OECDs 35 member countries. But students in such countries as Iceland and Finland are doing much better. And an average Mexican high schooler rated life satisfaction at 8.2 out of 10. American students also reported higher levels of anxiety over tests, bullying or a feeling of not belonging at schools, compared with many of their peers. Teacher and parental support, spending time with friends and being physically active make it more likely that a student will be satisfied with life, according to the study. But feeling anxiety over grades and spending too much time online are signs a student may feel dissatisfied. In happy schools, teacher support as perceived by students tends to be much greater, said study co-author Andreas Schleicher. Studying hard does not necessarily mean being miserable. The authors highlight the cases of Finland, Switzerland and the Netherlands, where good grades and high spirits exist side by side. There are also some gender differences. Feeling very satisfied with ones life is more widespread among boys, while feeling low life satisfaction is more common among girls across most countries and cultures. Why that was the case was unclear from the report. The study was conducted in 2015 with 540,000 randomly selected kids who completed written tests and questionnaires. Tom Loveless, who researches education policies with the Brookings Institution in Washington, was skeptical about the way the survey looked at U.S. high school students. He said that at the time of the study, most 15-year-old sophomores would have spent a little more than a year in their current high school, so their well-being could have been shaped by other factors. Fox News on Wednesday ended its association with Bill OReilly, the combative TV host and commentator who has ruled cable-news ratings for nearly two decades and was the signature figure in the networks rise as a powerful political player. The conservative-leaning hosts downfall was swift and steep, set in motion less than three weeks ago by revelations of a string of sexual harassment complaints against him. The questions about his conduct represented yet another black eye to Fox, which had dealt with a sexual harassment scandal involving its co-founder and then-chairman Roger Ailes, just last summer. [The fall of Roger Ailes: He made Fox News his locker room ] After a thorough and careful review of the allegations, the company and Bill OReilly have agreed that Bill OReilly will not be returning to the Fox News Channel, 21st Century Fox, the channels parent company, said in a statement Wednesday. The ousted host stood by his earlier denials of the allegations in a statement issued late Wednesday afternoon. Over the past 20 years at Fox News, I have been extremely proud to launch and lead one of the most successful news programs in history, which has consistently informed and entertained millions of Americans and significantly contributed to building Fox into the dominant news network in television, he said. It is tremendously disheartening that we part ways due to completely unfounded claims. Bill OReilly is out at Fox News. (Richard Drew/AP) But that is the unfortunate reality many of us in the public eye must live with today. I will always look back on my time at Fox with great pride in the unprecedented success we achieved and with my deepest gratitude to all my dedicated viewers. I wish only the best for Fox News Channel. The host of The OReilly Factor got the news while awaiting a flight back to the U.S. from a vacation in Italy. His representatives said he was resigned to his demise, having monitored rapidly deteriorating negotiations over his exit over the past several days. OReilly wasnt directly involved in the discussions with the family of Rupert Murdoch, which controls Fox and 21st Century Fox; his attorney, Fred Newman, conducted the talks. In the end, Newman couldnt save his clients job. People close to OReilly said Rupert Murdoch and his sons James and Lachlan, who head 21st Century, effectively decided OReillys fate with little outside discussion. OReillys contract--signed just last month--contains a clause that enables him to be dismissed under a fixed financial formula, averting protracted negotiations. The end for OReilly was set in motion by a scathing New York Times investigation in early April that revealed that he and Fox had settled five allegations of harrassment brought by Fox employees over a 15-year period. The company and OReilly paid out $15 million in exchange for his accusers silence. The Murdochs were well aware of the allegations against OReilly when they re-signed their star commentator to a new three-year contract that pays him around $18 million a year. In preparing their story, reporters for the New York Times had sent Foxs executives a long list of questions, placing senior executives on alert months in advance of its publication. But the prospect that his accusers bound by non-disclosure agreements as a result of their settlements wouldnt speak in anything but general terms led the company to believe it could weather the Times story. In fact, it was a sixth accuser a former guest on OReillys program named Wendy Walsh who may have been the key to his unraveling. Unlike the women who received settlements for their complaints, Walsh never sued or settled with OReilly, leaving her free to speak in public about her allegations. She did so repeatedly, putting a name, face and voice to the allegations in media accounts. Shortly after the Times published its story, advertisers began to flee OReillys program. The boycott kept up as Walsh held press conferences and gave interviews. On Tuesday, another woman came forward, anonymously, to complain that she had been harrassed with racial and sexual comment by OReilly in 2008. The Murdochs ultimately concluded that OReilly was vulnerable to further complaints and that the continuing publicity about them would make him untenable in advertisers eyes. In addition to OReilly and Ailes, Fox has also lost popular hosts Greta Van Susteren and Megyn Kelly since the turmoil began last summer. The network, however, continued to roll in record ratings, driven in part by viewer interest in Donald Trump, a longtime friend of Ailes, Murdoch and OReilly and a frequent interview guest on Fox programs, including The OReilly Factor. The loss of OReilly, however, is of a different magnitude: The OReilly Factor has been the networks flagship show for nearly 20 years, and in many ways has embodied its conservative-oriented spirit. [How much turmoil can Fox News handle?] He still seemed to be at the peak of his popularity and prestige only three weeks ago. His 8 p.m. program, which mixes discussion segments with OReillys pugnacious commentary, drew an average of 4 million viewers each night during the first three months of the year, the most ever for a cable-news program. His popularity, in turn, helped drive Fox News to record ratings and profits. OReilly was also the co-author of two books that were at the top of the bestseller lists in April. OReilly had previously survived several controversies during his 21 years at Fox, including a lurid sexual harassment case in 2004 that was fodder for New Yorks tabloid newspapers. He also beat back a wave of headlines in 2015, when reporters examined his claims about his days as a young reporter and found them to be dubious. All the while, OReillys audience not only stuck with him, but continued to grow. But this time, the intense media coverage surrounding OReilly led to a stampede of advertisers away from OReillys program, leaving it almost without sponsorship over the past two weeks. Various organizations, including the National Organization for Women, called for OReillys firing, and intermittent protests began outside Fox Newss headquarters in New York. Morale among employees at the network reportedly was suffering, too. The Murdochs also had more than just OReillys TV career to consider: The OReilly controversy has been casting a shadow over 21st Centurys $14 billion bid to win the British governments approval to buy Sky TV, the British satellite service. Leaving OReilly in place would likely have been a public-relations nightmare for James and Lachlan Murdoch, the sons who head 21st Century Fox, Fox Newss parent. The Murdoch family abandoned a 2011 offer for Sky amid another scandal, the phone-hacking conspiracy perpetrated by employees of the Murdoch-owned News of the World tabloid in London. A parliamentary panel later declared Rupert and James Murdoch to be unfit to run a public company a description they hoped would not be revived by regulators with the OReilly matter hanging over them. In the wake of the Ailes scandal last summer, the Murdoch brothers vowed to clean up a workplace environment that women at Fox had described as hostile under Ailes. In one of their few public statements on the matter, they said at the time, We continue our commitment to maintaining a work environment based on trust and respect. But those efforts have seemed unavailing, and at times have even seemed hypocritical. Since the Ailes scandal erupted, the company has continued to employ almost all of the senior managers who were in charge when Ailes was allegedly harassing employees, including Bill Shine, currently Foxs co-president. Shine was accused of enabling Ailess retaliatory efforts against an accuser, Fox contributor Julie Roginsky, in a sexual-harrassment lawsuit Roginsky filed earlier this month. In the end, even an endorsement from President Trump could not save OReilly: In an interview with Times reporters on April 5, Trump called OReilly a good person and said he should not have settled the complaints made against him. I dont think Bill did anything wrong, Trump said. Fox said that Tucker Carlson, host of a discussion program now airing at 9 p.m., will take over OReillys 8 p.m. time slot. Tucker Carlson Tonight, in turn, will be replaced at 9 p.m. by Foxs 5 p.m. show, The Five, starting on Monday. The OReilly Factor will continue for the remainder of the week, with guest hosts Dana Perino and Greg Gutfeld. Martha MacCallum and Sean Hannity will remain in their current spots at 7 p.m and 10 p.m., respectively, and the 5 p.m. hour will be occupied by a new show, hosted by Eric Bolling, starting May 1. OReilly hasnt said what he intends to do next. Bill OReillys tenure at Fox News became more imperiled Tuesday, with the lodging of a new harassment allegation against The OReilly Factor host and no apparent end in sight to the advertiser boycott that has undermined his program. The board of Fox Newss parent company, 21st Century Fox, will meet Thursday, when OReillys fate could be determined, according to people close to the situation. Although the board has no direct vote over OReillys employment status, its members could be influential with the Murdoch family, which controls the company and would have the final say. CNN reported that exit talks were underway between OReilly and Fox, but OReillys camp said such discussions havent taken place. OReillys contract signed in March has an opt out clause that would require Fox to pay him a fixed amount if invoked, making extensive negotiations unlikely and unnecessary. In the meantime, OReillys representatives seemed determined to put up a fight before it ever came to that. His attorney, Marc Kasowitz, issued two defiant statements Tuesday, both accusing activists and far-left organizations of ganging up on OReilly, one of the most popular personalities on cable TV. Kasowitz who has frequently represented President Trump in disputes with the news media responded angrily after another woman alleged Tuesday that OReilly had subjected her to abusive treatment when she worked at the network. The woman, who has remained anonymous, made a formal complaint to a Fox News hotline set up to field harassment allegations, according to her attorney, Lisa Bloom. She said OReilly had made disparaging racial and sexual comments to her while she was employed as a clerical worker at the network in 2008, Bloom said. The woman isnt seeking compensation, just accountability, according to Bloom, who also represents Wendy Walsh, another OReilly accuser. Bloom said she is working for Walsh and the former clerical worker on an unpaid basis and that neither of her clients is seeking monetary compensation. Fox had no comment about the new allegation. But Kasowitz issued a statement saying, It is outrageous that an allegation from an anonymous person about something that purportedly happened almost a decade ago is being treated as fact, especially where there is obviously an orchestrated campaign by activists and lawyers to destroy Mr. OReilly and enrich themselves through publicity-driven donations. Later Tuesday, Kasowitz issued a second statement. It read: Bill OReilly has been subjected to a brutal campaign of character assassination that is unprecedented in post-McCarthyist America. This law firm has uncovered evidence that the smear campaign is being orchestrated by far-left organizations bent on destroying OReilly for political and financial reasons. The Murdochs patriarch Rupert is the chairman of Fox News and sons James and Lachlan head 21st Century Fox must decide whether OReilly is so badly damaged by the harassment complaints that his value to Fox is permanently diminished. Alternatively, they will have to assess whether getting rid of him would anger OReillys loyal viewers and perhaps deal a permanent blow to Fox, one of the most lucrative franchises in the familys media empire. Only a few weeks ago, either consideration seemed inconceivable. The OReilly Factor, which mixes discussion segments with the hosts famously pugnacious commentary, was performing better than it has in its 20-year history. The program drew an average of 4 million viewers each night during the first three months of the year, a record for the show and the most ever for a cable-news program. OReillys popularity, in turn, helped drive Fox News to record ratings and profits. But in early April, the New York Times disclosed that OReilly and Fox had settled harassment complaints made by women hed worked with at Fox over the years. The newspaper found that OReilly and Fox had settled five such allegations since 2002, paying out about $13 million in exchange for the womens silence. Two of the settlements, including one for $9 million in 2004, were widely reported. But the others had been kept secret by OReilly, Fox and the women involved. In addition, Walsh a former OReilly Factor guest alleged that OReilly had harassed her in 2013. Walsh hasnt sued or settled, and has spoken against OReilly repeatedly in recent weeks, drawing more negative attention to him and the network. A law firm hired by Fox has investigated Walshs complaint and is expected to complete a confidential report about it before the parent companys board meeting. The intense media coverage surrounding OReilly led to a stampede of advertisers exiting OReillys program, leaving it almost without sponsorship over the past two-plus weeks. Various organizations, including the National Organization for Women, have called for OReillys firing, and intermittent protests have been held outside Fox Newss headquarters in New York. The advertiser boycott has shown no signs of dissipating, even as OReilly has been off the program while on a two-week vacation. He is scheduled to return Monday, barring any decision about his future before then. (McKenna Ewen,Jorge Ribas/The Washington Post) The directions to Roger Stones worldwide headquarters of conspiracy theories, self-promotion and Nixonian arcana are like much about Roger Stone confusing and mysterious. The first version, received from Stone via text message, leads to a blanched, deserted parking lot next to a vacant building behind a chain-link fence in Oakland Park, north of Fort Lauderdale. A place called Scandals Saloon sits across the street, but it turns out Stone has sent the wrong address. Well, you will have to kill that lede, says the man who knows enough about this dance with the journalistic profession to recognize what might have been a resonant detail in a first paragraph. Stone, after all, has seldom met a scandal he couldnt curl up with and adore. The next part of the directions to his personal office and broadcast studio calls for locating a door discreetly marked A, which might be helpful, except for the crucial fact that there is no door discreetly marked A at the new address next to a bathroom supplies depot. There is, however, a blacked-out door with no markings, and the man who emerges from behind it, wearing shorts, loafers with no socks, a rakishly loosened tie and an untucked white dress shirt, is unmistakably Stone. What happened to our A? he calls out to his two young assistants. Inside, Stone keeps a bong in the shape of Richard Nixons head and a framed drawing of a roll of toilet paper with Nixons face on each sheet. In the early 1970s, Stone became a master of the darker political arts, meddling surreptitiously with the Democrats, as part of Nixons Committee to Re-Elect the President, nicknamed CREEP. More than 4 decades later, Stone still likes to think of himself as a man who operates in the shadows. P.S.: I have no boring clients, he tantalizingly says one evening, without naming names or explaining exactly what he does. But the darkened office of this buddy of President Donald Trump is also buzzy because the old trickster is having a very public moment. A regular human might find it unsettling that Congress is threatening to haul him before a committee investigating possible Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Stone is reveling in it. I want to get called, Stone, 64, says over dinner one night. I just want a fair chance to tell my side of it. Stone dismisses one of his main pursuers, the former federal prosecutor and California Democratic congressman Adam B. Schiff, as being full of Schiff. Stone is thinking about suing Schiff for defamation, even though congressional immunity makes such legal action nearly impossible. Schiff, in a sense, is a fantastic, accidental PR man for Stone. The congressional attention couldnt arrive at a better time for Stone, who has a book, The Making of the President 2016, to hawk and who will be featured next month in a much hyped Netflix documentary, Get Me Roger Stone. Proud to be a Nixon man: Stone in his memorabilia-overrun office. (Andrew Innerarity/For The Washington Post) Stone, a prolific author who hosts a radio program and runs a website, StoneColdTruth.com, never really went away. Hes been talking nonstop for decades, pointing an accusing finger at Lyndon Johnson for alleged complicity in the Kennedy assassination, rooting around in Bill Clintons extramarital misdeeds, depicting the Bushes as a crime family. Its just that now there are more people listening. His studio a man-cave-style haunt slathered floor to ceiling with Nixon memorabilia and conspiracy books has been stocked with professional lighting and a broadcast-quality audio line by Stones 19-year-old grandson, Nick. The door opens, and a woman in workout clothes strolls in with a 9-month-old Yorkshire terrier named Mimi. Ah, Mrs. Stone! Roger Stone says. Mimi pulls at her leash and lets out a torrent of high-pitched yips. She usually only chases Russians, Stone deadpans. Stone met his Cuban American wife, Nydia, during one of Ronald Reagans presidential campaigns, where she was working as a photographer. In a Polaroid picture taped to her computer monitor, the future married couple are slender and stylish with deep 1980s tans. Stone cant be bothered to reminisce. Hes got an interview coming up, but hes not sure about the host. Wheres he from? Stone calls out. Minnesota, I think, John, his driver and studio assistant, says. I think its Sweden, Stone says. Turns out its neither. The program is hosted by Stefan Molyneux, an Irish-born Canadian. All day its like this. Every day, Stones wife says, with a sigh and little smile. Ive gone deaf listening to him! Stone thinks Google and other big Internet firms are trying to crush his business by blocking traffic to his website, which has dropped precipitously. Still, he says, I dont make a million dollars. But I do okay. He also believes hes under surveillance by federal investigators. His evidence is a New York Times report that said he was being scrutinized for possible Russia ties and news reports about his private communications that he believes were leaked by government snoops. On top of that, he thinks someone is trying to kill him either with poison or via weaponized automobile after the car he was riding in was T-boned recently by a vehicle with tinted windows that sped off after the collision. The suspect list, he says, would be infinite. No mincing of words A large Buddhist shrine, known as a butsudan, is stationed in the living room at Stones spacious bungalow along a canal in Fort Lauderdale. Nydia whose father was a military attache in the United States for Cubas Batista regime before it was toppled by Fidel Castro hosts Buddhist gatherings there. I chant for Rogers Buddha nature to emerge, she says. Roger Stone with his wife Nydia in their Washington home in 1996. (Ron Edmonds/AP) The effectiveness of those appeals is certainly open to interpretation. In his book, Stone calls Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), a scoundrel and the most prolific liar ever to run for president. He regularly engages in vituperative Twitter tirades. Stone allows that hes been prone over the years to tweet while drinking cocktails. Two martinis, he says. Im a lightweight. Last year, he was banned from CNN after calling commentator Ana Navarro an entitled diva bitch, on Twitter. Hes also called her fat and stupid. In 2012, he tweeted that the liberal broadcaster Roland Martin is a stupid negro. Stone says he regrets the Martin remarks and points to statements hes made urging Republicans to do a better job of outreach to African Americans. But he doesnt plan to let up on Navarro, a co-chair of then-presidential candidate John McCains Hispanic advisory council, because he thinks she is overstating her credentials as a Republican strategist. Navarro did not respond to an interview request. Martin called Stone a superficial, petulant, racist child. The media, Martin said, tends to say, Oh, hes a colorful character. No, hes a racist, sexist individual. For years, Stone has maintained residences in Florida and in New York, where he rents a small place in Harlem. In Florida, the Stones used to live on South Beach, but he tired of the noise and moved north to Fort Lauderdale, where his stepson is a Broward County sheriffs deputy. The couple share their house with two Yorkies Mimi and Max, a 16-year-old who is blind, incontinent and nearly deaf and an 80-year-old former pilot with cancer who is crashing in a back bedroom. Boxes fill the living room because the Stones have had some tensions with their landlord here, he says, and are in the process of moving to another rental nearby. Republican operatives Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and Lee Atwater in 1985. (Harry Naltchayan/The Washington Post) The house is thick with heavy art deco furniture that presents a considerable challenge for his grandson, who is loading pieces precariously into a pickup truck parked out front next to Stones sleek Jaguar XKR. Stone, a prodigious accumulator of things, says he has 50 winter suits and 20 summer suits, all custom made. In his home office, a dozen or so hats rest on head-shaped forms like those commonly used for wigs. He places a stiff-brimmed hat with a center crease on his head, and says, This is an open roader. A similar hat was worn by the man who was escorting Lee Harvey Oswald when he was fatally shot, Stone says. Stone worked briefly for the Trump campaign in its early days and was either fired (Trumps version) or quit (Stones version), but stayed in contact as an informal adviser and energetic promoter, including connecting Trump with the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones of Infowars.com. When he left, Stone says, the campaign tried unsuccessfully to get him to sign a confidentiality agreement that would have prevented him from talking to reporters. I would have had to agree to not breathe any air, he says. [The alleged connections between Trumps campaign and Russia] The truth is reporters flock to Stone, in part, because he talks their language and because hes dishy and quotable. Hes forever referencing his sources, lately focused on tantalizing inside dope about the White House. The chaos of packing up an overstuffed household does little to distract Stone. After all, the Hollywood Reporter is on the line, asking about the documentary premiere. I have two tickets, Stone says. One is for himself, he quips, and the other for a libel lawyer. Between calls, Stone annotates a transcript of Schiff, the California congressman, talking at a hearing last month about hacked emails released by WikiLeaks. Stone has aroused Schiffs attention by boasting about communicating with Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder (Stone now says it was back-channel communication through a journalist source). Schiff also questioned Stones direct-messaging with Guccifer 2.0, a Twitter user who a U.S. intelligence assessment concluded with high confidence was in league with Russian military intelligence, known as the GRU, to tamper with the U.S. presidential election. At his desk, Stone reads aloud from the transcript. Schiff: Mr. Stone was in direct communication with a creature of Russian GRU, Guccifer 2.0, Stone recites in a loud, mocking tone. No, I dont concede that! Wrong! Stone says in a booming voice as if Schiff were in the room with him. Unsupportable. . . . Its innocuous. Sorry guys, you cannot prove Guccifer is a Russian agent. When the intelligence services use the word assessment that means, We dont know. Were guessing. Stones been working on the annotation for days. But he keeps having to put it down. He has a book to flog. A tough cookie The three dozen or so people assembled to meet Roger Stone at the Palm Beach Bookstore a snug place on a glitzy avenue at the heart of the presidential weekend-getaway town include a man with one leg and wearing a Make America Great Again hat who says he attended 14 Trump rallies during the campaign. Another man has arrived via motorcycle to ask Stone to prevail on President Trump to build a 90-mile automobile bridge to connect Key West and Cuba. Youre a tough cookie, Mr. Roger! the man blurts out during Stones book talk. Moments later, a young woman walks up and slips Stone a book to sign. Im the mystery texter, she says. Off to the side, Billy Benson a former Democratic political operative whose wife, Candice Cohen, owns the store watches with amusement in seersucker pants and a bright lavender blazer that he says he picked up cheap at a secondhand store. We hated each other when we lived in D.C., Benson says of Stone. He was doing tricks. I was doing tricks. We get along great now. Five young women, including the girlfriend of Stones driver, sidle up next to him for a photo. Theyre speaking Ukrainian. It sounds like Russian, but its different, one says, before another abruptly cuts off the conversation. After his chat, Stone explains to a few attendees that he asked his tailor to make him pants with a 2-inch waistband and wide legs because he wanted to emulate the style once worn by Cab Calloway. Stone doesnt have time to hang around. A cable film crew is waiting at a nearby hotel. Hes famished when the interview finishes, but being Roger Stone is a 24-hour-a-day proposition, so hes got the media tagging along for dinner. Its getting late and a television reporter at the table mentions hes got an early broadcast in the morning. Stone pulls a black tube from his jacket pocket: Clinique for Men face bronzer. He swears by it. Anne Arundel County The following were among incidents reported by the Anne Arundel County police. For information, call 410-222-8050. GLEN BURNIE AREA ROBBERIES Glen Burnie, Jan. 9. A man had sex with a 15-year-old girl who had agreed to have sex with him in a vehicle for cash. The man gave the girl the cash and then robbed her of the cash at gunpoint. On April 6, a Glenn Dale man, 27, was charged with armed robbery, robbery, firearm use in a felony crime of violence, first- and second-degree assault, two counts of third-degree sex offenses, reckless endangerment, handgun in a vehicle, handgun on a person and prostitution. Annapolis These were among incidents reported by the Annapolis Police Department. For information, call 410-268-9000. ASSAULTS President St., 1100 block, 10:24 a.m. April 7. During an altercation, a man cut an acquaintance on the hand. An Annapolis man, 61, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault. ROBBERIES Hillsmere Dr., 100 block. Cash was stolen from a bank. THEFTS/BREAK-INS Bay Ridge Rd., 900 block, 4:30 p.m. April 7 to 9 a.m. April 10. Property was stolen from a vehicle. Forest Dr., 1800 block, 10:25 a.m. April 7. A catalytic converter was stolen from a vehicle. Forest Hills Ave., 900 block, April 11. Property was stolen from a home, and a door was damaged. Oak Hill Pl., 1200 block, 5 p.m. April 6. A catalytic converter was stolen from a vehicle. Oaklawn Ave., 400 block, April 10. A bicycle was stolen from a garage. Tuckahoe Creek Ct., 600 block, 9:30 a.m. to 10:50 p.m. April 10. Property was stolen from a home. Howard County These were among incidents reported by the Howard County Police Department. For information, call 410-313-2236. CLARKSVILLE AREA ROBBERIES Trotter Rd., 5900 block, 12:13 a.m. April 11. An armed acquaintance inside a home stole cellphones and a watch from a group of people and fled with another person. COLUMBIA AREA ROBBERIES Cedar Lane, 5500 block, 12:20 a.m. April 10. Two males assaulted a man, stole his wallet and fled. Two Columbia males, both 16, were charged with robbery. Columbia Rd., 5300 block, 11:23 p.m. April 7. A male with his face partially covered assaulted a food delivery person, stole pizza and fled. Early April Way, 9000 block, April 7 to 8. Several vehicles were entered; it was unclear whether anything was stolen. Harpers Farm Rd. and Eliots Oak Rd., 2:48 p.m. April 8. Two armed males stole a mans cellphone and earbuds, assaulted him and fled. High Beam Ct., 10600 block, 10:25 p.m. April 5. A male with his face partially covered assaulted a food delivery person and stole his cash and cellphone. THEFTS/BREAK-INS Cradlerock Way, 7100 block, April 9 and 10. Cash was stolen from a business. Broken Land Pkwy., 9600 block, April 6. Airbags were stolen from vehicles at a park-and-ride lot. Snowden River Pkwy., 8700 block, April 6. Airbags were stolen from vehicles at a park-and-ride lot. MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS Faulkner Ridge Cir., 10500 block, 6:02 a.m. April 7. A 2013 Honda Civic was stolen. Summer Park Ct., 9700 block, 9:45 a.m. April 9. A 2009 Hyundai Sonata was stolen. ELKRIDGE AREA THEFTS/BREAK-INS Keeton Rd., 8000 block, 7:30 to 9 p.m. April 7. Coins were stolen from a home. Maiden Point Pl., 7100 block, 1:26 p.m. April 6. Liquor, jewelry and designer bags were stolen from a home. INDECENT EXPOSURE Furnace Ave., 5600 block, 6:39 p.m. April 10. A man exposed himself to two woman. An Elkridge man, 53, was charged with indecent exposure and disorderly conduct. MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS Old Waterloo Rd., 6800 block. A 2007 Suzuki GSXR was stolen. ELLICOTT CITY AREA ROBBERIES Dorsey Hall Dr., 5000 block, 9:52 p.m. April 8. A male assaulted a food delivery person, stole a pizza and fled. THEFTS/BREAK-INS Annapolis Rd., 9800 block, 5:27 p.m. April 5. A digital speed sign was stolen from the side of the road. Knoll Stone Ct., 9300 block, 7:16 p.m. April 10. A parked vehicle was entered; nothing was reported stolen. Town and Country Blvd., 8800 block, and W. Springs Dr., 3200 block, April 5 to 6. Tires were stolen from two vehicles. MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS W. Springs Dr., 3100 block, 2:24 a.m. April 7. Three males tried to steal a motorcycle. A Lanham man, 25, and a Waldorf man, 30, were charged with auto theft. INDECENT EXPOSURE Flagstone Ct., 7800 block, 4:23 p.m. April 6. A male stood in front of a window and exposed himself. COUNTERFEITING N. Ridge Rd., 3200 block, 9:38 p.m. April 9. During a traffic stop, counterfeit cash and weapons were found. A North Carolina man, 21, and a Baltimore woman, 34, were charged with possession of forged currency. The man was additionally charged with manufacturing counterfeit money and possession of drugs with intent to distribute. FULTON AREA THEFTS/BREAK-INS Scaggsville Rd., 11600 block, March 14 to April 1. A door was broken on a storage room in an attempt to gain entry. JESSUP AREA MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS Guilford Rd., 10100 block, 11:05 a.m. April 9. A 1999 Buick Park Avenue was stolen. LAUREL AREA THEFTS/BREAK-INS Old Columbia Rd., 8200 block, April 6. Airbags were stolen from vehicles at a park-and-ride lot. MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS Canterbury Riding, 9500 block, 8:15 a.m. April 10. A 2010 Lexus was stolen. Whiskey Run, 9700 block, 10:27 p.m. April 8. A Yamaha was stolen. MOUNT AIRY AREA MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS Long Corner Rd., 1800 block, 8:37 p.m. April 9. Several motorcycles were stolen. SAVAGE AREA MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS Washington Blvd., 9700 block, 2:21 p.m. April 10. A Ford F150 was stolen. Adam Eidinger smiles while legally smoking a joint inside his D.C. home in 2015. Eidinger said he is prepared to be arrested Monday to protest Congress blocking D.C. from allowing legal sales of pot in the nations capital. (Astrid Riecken/For The Washington Post) Dozens of activists, including some military veterans, plan to light joints Monday on the steps of the U.S. Capitol federal land where committing the offense could draw a sentence of up to a year in jail as part of an effort to urge a reluctant Congress to support marijuana legalization. Monday @ High Noon reads a flier for the event, calling on Congress to also remove marijuana from the nations list of most-dangerous drugs. Mass Civil Disobedience @ 4:20p East Side of the US Capitol. Activists for the cause have flirted with arrest before, including smoking near the White House when President Obama was in office. But the April 24 event marks the first time activists plan to light up squarely on federal land and against the backdrop of the U.S. Capitol dome, where the image may be hard for federal authorities to ignore. [Turns out, smoking pot outside Obama White House gets you invited inside] It also would be the first significant protest to take place under a Trump administration that has suggested there would be greater enforcement of federal drug laws prohibiting the use of recreational marijuana than under the Obama administration. Hundreds of advocates for marijuana legalization rally and smoke on a D.C. street pot outside the White House in Washington on April 02, 2016. The protesters could have been fined under city law, but were not. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post) You can only ask nicely for so long before you have to change your tactic, said Adam Eidinger, a co-founder of the advocacy group DCMJ. Eidinger said he is making sure his 13-year-old daughter will be taken care of and that his rent is paid in case he must spend an extended period of time in jail. Its come to this, he said. Eidingers primary mission is to push Congress to allow the District to fully enact a ballot measure approved by voters in 2014, to legalize marijuana for recreational use. Seven in 10 D.C. voters backed the measure, which made possession legal, but left to District lawmakers was the task of writing rules to regulate and tax marijuana sales. Conservative House Republicans blocked local leaders from taking those steps, invoking Congresss broad power over local District affairs to do so. Thats left it legal for people in the District to possess marijuana, but not to legally buy or sell it, creating a gray market where people now grow it at home and barter and trade for pot. [First legal harvest fueling gray market for pot in U.S. capital ] Its silly, Eidinger said. We should legalize the activity that is already going on and give the District the ability to tax and regulate it will raise money and make it safer for consumers. A spokeswoman for the United States Capitol Police, which has jurisdiction over the Capitol grounds, said in an email that it is illegal to smoke marijuana on Federal property. Eva Malecki, the spokeswoman, did not respond to a question about how the law enforcement agency might respond to the planned event. Eidinger said he has not discussed the planned protest with police but has been in touch with authorities about another event scheduled for Thursday, a national day of pro-pot advocacy. Eidingers group plans to distribute free marijuana joints to anyone with a congressional ID badge on a city street outside the Capitol. Under current law, possessing the joints on city streets is not a crime, but smoking it is. The group has already rolled more than 1,000 joints and has dozens of volunteers ready to distribute them. Nikolas Schiller, the other co-founder of DCMJ, said he hopes the back-to-back events will also focus congressional attention on reauthorizing a measure that shields medicinal marijuana programs from federal law enforcement actions. The measure, known as the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment, is scheduled to expire at the end of April. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has said the benefits of medical marijuana may be overhyped and suggested that he may take a tougher stand on states that legalize. On Tuesday, Sessions added that marijuana distribution networks including in the D.C. area, promote gang activity. Any mass arrests from Mondays planned protest would be left to federal prosecutors in the District to handle. Channing D. Phillips, the current prosecutor, was appointed by Obama and has said he expects to be replaced. THE DISTRICT Confusion as warning system goes off, loudly A technical glitch appears to have caused a loud warning system to go off Wednesday morning at the Naval Observatory in upper Northwest Washington, just as a training exercise of how to deal with an active-shooter situation was wrapping up across town at the Washington Navy Yard in Southeast. Authorities had warned on social media that they were going to run an active-shooter drill starting at 8:30 a.m., and it was expected to last about two hours. Drivers, pedestrians and area residents were told they would probably see police activity and face delays at gates to get onto the grounds of the Navy Yard. The warning was to prevent panic. In 2013, a lone gunman, Aaron Alexis, fatally shot 12 people and injured three others in a building at the Navy Yard before he was killed by police. Wednesdays active-shooter drill was expected to last until 10:30 a.m., but it ended about 9:45 a.m. But just as the Navy Yard drill was to end, a loudspeaker, known among Navy officials as The Giant Voice, came on at the Naval Observatory about seven miles away. The Observatory compound is where the vice president resides. Area residents reported hearing this message at least three times in about an eight-minute time span: Attention. Attention. A severe accident has been reported on the installation. But it was false. Things were fine at the Naval Observatory and at the Navy Yard, officials said. Dana Hedgpeth MARYLAND Man is arrested in Metro attack case Metro Transit Police arrested a 21-year-old man Wednesday in connection with a beating and robbery that occurred on the Red Line on Sunday, the transit agency announced. Police arrested Marcus James Lee of Northeast Washington just before 2:30 p.m., Metro said. Police are searching for three others in the incident, which occurred about 5:40 p.m. Sunday on a train heading toward Glenmont. As the train approached the Wheaton stop Sunday, Metro said, four people surrounded the victim, who was seated. One of the suspects sat next to him and said, I need you to give me the password for that phone and look the other way, otherwise it will not end well for you. The man refused to give up his phone, Metro said, and people began punching him in the face and head, with one of them yelling give me that phone! The man also reported that the suspects reached into his pockets. The attackers fled at Wheaton and the victim was hospitalized with injuries that were determined to be non-life-threatening, Metro said. The robbers got away with credit and debit cards, but not the phone, according to the agency. Metro said all four attackers have been identified, and more arrests are expected. Faiz Siddiqui A technical glitch appears to have caused a loud warning system to go off Wednesday morning at the Naval Observatory in upper Northwest Washington, just as a training exercise of how to deal with an active-shooter situation was wrapping up across town at the Washington Navy Yard in Southeast. Authorities had warned on social media that it was going to run an active-shooter drill starting at 8:30 a.m., and it was expected to last roughly two hours. Drivers, pedestrians and area residents were told theyd likely see police activity and face delays at gates to get onto the grounds of the Navy Yard. The warning was to prevent any type of panic. In 2013, a lone gunman, Aaron Alexis, fatally shot 12 people and injured three others in a building at the Navy Yard before he was killed by police. [Before Navy Yard shooting, alleged gunman heard voices and sought help] Wednesdays active-shooter drill was expected to last until 10:30 a.m., but it ended around 9:45 a.m., officials said. Just as the Navy Yard drill was about to end, however, a loudspeaker, known among Navy officials as The Giant Voice, came on at the Naval Observatory, about seven miles away. The Observatory compound is where the vice president resides. Area residents reported hearing the following message at least three times in about an 8-minute time span: Attention. Attention. A severe accident has been reported on the installation. But it was false. Things were fine at the Naval Observatory and at the Navy Yard, officials said. When we were concluding the exercise [at the Navy Yard], our giant voice was saying All clear. All clear, said Chatney Auger, a spokeswoman for the Navy District Washington office. That affected the Naval Observatory. How or why the glitch happened wasnt immediately clear, officials said, and they are looking further into the problem. There was no incident, Auger said. It wasnt supposed to happen. There was just a glitch in our system. Of the problem that caused some near the Naval Observatory to be concerned, Auger said thats why we do exercises like this so we can evaluate our preparedness, secured response and communication system. It was a technical error, she said. Theyre looking into it. Gilbert Dunkley contributed to this report. They met in 2012, became friends and soon were dating. The D.C. woman was 25 when she met Lamont Roberts. The couple went to cabarets, dinners and movies. During their romance, Roberts encouraged his girlfriend to let him take nude photographs of her that he kept on his phone. She agreed, but insisted that he delete them afterward. She thought Roberts erased them. But three years later, when the two broke up, prosecutors said Roberts launched a month-long campaign of harassment using the explicit photographs. He left voice mails, emails and text messages threatening to distribute 8.5-inch-by-11-inch prints of the photos around the womans home and workplace if she didnt come back to him. Then he followed through. He stalked her and made her life a living nightmare with photographs of her vagina, prosecutor Jessi Camille Brooks told a D.C. Superior Court judge Wednesday, as the former girlfriend sat in the back of the courtroom. Roberts, convicted after a November trial, is the first person in the nations capital convicted under the Districts 2014 image exploitation law, also known as the revenge porn law. On Wednesday, Judge Juliet J. McKenna sentenced him to nine years in prison for assault, threats and stalking. Of that sentence, nearly two and a half years were for the five misdemeanor counts of distributing the photographs. Five times in October 2015, prosecutors said, Roberts posted the photos on the front door of his former girlfriends house, which she shared with her young children and her mother. It was her mother who discovered the photographs one morning. Roberts also posted pictures on the gate outside the home, where her neighbors could see them as they walked by. Roberts put one on her cars windshield. He also went to her job and stood in the lobby with a copy of a photograph, which she grabbed from him. Various versions of so-called revenge porn laws exist in 35 states, according to the nonprofit Cyber Civil Rights Initiative. They are designed to make it a criminal offense to distribute intimate photos or videos of a person without their consent, or to use such images in an act of revenge. Mary Anne Franks, vice president and legislative and technology director for the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, said the group is hoping that a law will be introduced to Congress before the end of the year that will make distributing such images across state lines a federal offense. Franks said the biggest challenge with such laws has been concerns over free speech rights. Another hurdle, she said, has been legislators who blame the victim for even agreeing to such photographs or videos. Franks said she considers distributing such private photos as a way to control or punish to be a form of domestic violence. In 2014, Franks testified before the D.C. Council when the citys bill was introduced. She now criticizes the Districts law because she said the law requires prosecutors to prove intent to harm. That could be challenging, she said, unless there is evidence such as a voice mail or text message to prove that the perpetrator shared the images to harm the victim. D.C. Council member Charles Allen (D-Ward 6), chairman of the councils Judiciary and Public Safety committee, said authorities will review how future cases are handled to determine whether the law needs to be tweaked. Allen said the purpose of the law was to catch up to the rapidly changing Internet. This is an emerging area of the law, the world of cybertechnology. The law has to catch up in many instances, Allen said. Under D.C.s image exploitation law, defendants can be charged with either a misdemeanor or a felony depending on the details of the case. Roberts was convicted of misdemeanors. Defendants who post such photographs on the Internet, or a place where six or more people could see them, could face a felony charge. The misdemeanor charge carries a maximum of 180 days in jail, a $1,000 fine or both. The felony offense carries a maximum of three years in prison. Roberts will have to wait before he begins serving his prison term: He is serving a six-year sentence in a prior federal drug case, a charge he picked up after his arrest in the photo stalking case. In court Wednesday, Roberts, 46, wearing an orange D.C. jail jumpsuit, stood next to his attorney and apologized to the court and to his former girlfriend. He told the judge that he is in a drug treatment and a domestic violence prevention program in the jail. I made a mistake and I apologize, Roberts said. McKenna placed Roberts on three years of supervised probation and ordered him to stay away from his former girlfriend. The judge also ordered Roberts to pay $650 in fines. Ill have my mother pay it, he said before the marshals led him out of court. Jennifer Jenkins contributed to this report. A plane is seen fumigating over coca fields in San Miguel, close to the border with Ecuador, some 400 miles south of Bogota, Colombia, in 2006. (FERNANDO VERGARA/AP) After a 15-year legal battle, a U.S. jury will begin deliberations Wednesday over whether a U.S. security contractor must pay damages to as many as 2,000 Ecuadoran farmers who say they were poisoned by the U.S. and Colombian governments years-long, coca-eradication campaign. During a two-week trial in Washington that ended Tuesday, a lawsuit against McLean, Va.-based DynCorp probed one of the bitter legacies of Americas long war against Latin American cartels and its own insatiable drug appetite. The mostly peasant farmers in the case, represented by International Rights Advocates, say their families, animals and crops were collateral damage in recklessly executed aerial spraying efforts using glyphosate, the active ingredient in the popular weed killer Roundup, when aircraft or clouds of fumigant drifted south over the Colombia-Ecuador border. The human rights groups say the American corporation should be held liable for its role in alleged abuses by an element of Plan Colombia, a sweeping, $10 billion U.S. counternarcotics effort launched in the 1990s that became the governments largest foreign policy initiative in South America and is credited for helping a democratic U.S. ally end a bloody civil war. In a first test trial involving six farmers before U.S. District Judge Ellen S. Huvelle , the plaintiffs have suggested giving each farmer damages of $50,000 to $500,000, plus potential punitive damages. A police officer in front of herbicide containers at an anti-narcotic police base in Villa Garzon, near the southern Colombia's border with Ecuador, in 2006. (William Fernando Martinez/AP) Only one farmer had the means to obtain a visa and travel to Washington to testify in person; the rest testified via video. [Plan Colombia: How Washington learned to love Latin American intervention again] This is a historic case, said plaintiffs attorney and International Rights Advocates Director Terrence P. Collingsworth. A jury will finally [decide whether] DynCorp aerially sprayed a toxic poison . . . on thousands of Ecuadoran farmers and killed their crops, their animals, and caused untold misery for the farmers and their families. For DynCorp to deny its role is for it to stand up and refuse refuse to take responsibility, fellow lead counsel Theodore J. Leopold told the 10-person jury in closing arguments. DynCorp spokesmen have said that health problems experienced by farmers were because of other causes, and that no spray mission using the Monsanto-manufactured herbicide was conducted near the Putumayo border without direction and prior approval of the U.S. State Department and the Colombian government. In court, company attorneys said the firm was not responsible for pilots, who were hired by a subcontractor or the Colombian national police, and denied that anyone acted recklessly or intentionally to spray the farmers. The company attorneys also said in court that there was no evidence of spray drifting more than 150 feet under flight parameters or at the times and places alleged by farmers. This was the largest U.S. foreign policy initiative in 20 years in South America, lead defense attorney Eric G. Lasker told jurors, saying that DynCorp managers acted with great commitment and care and that brave pilots executed flights at risk of terrorist and guerrilla ground fire. The aerial operations worked. This was a success. A plane sprays coca fields in San Miguel, on Colombia's southern border with Ecuador. (William Fernando Martinez/ASSOCIATED PRESS) In court filings and testimony, farmers said spraying begun in January 2001 caused severe health problems in northern Ecuador, including the deaths of four infants and incidents of high fever, vomiting, diarrhea and skin problems. Ecuadoran authorities at one point reported that spraying prompted at least 60 percent of farmers on the border to abandon their farms and stop the planting of banana, rice and corn. Crops including peppercorn, pineapple and plantain were also reported damaged. The spraying was getting into the house and it was touching them as when you are walking, it rains, it touches you that way. Thats how it was getting to my children, said Laura Sanchez, whose farm was about a mile from the frontier, according to a summary of testimony in court files. The cloud moved toward us because the plane went actually almost over us. We were not only able to see [the cloud] but we also felt it on our bodies, Edgar Balcazar said of spraying from 2001 to 2006 on his land. The spray had the same smell and the same sticky thing on our skin. The lawsuit filed Sept. 11, 2001, alleges to show the impact on civilians of a two-decades- long drug-suppression tool wielded by U.S. and Colombian authorities. The spraying peaked in 2006 when more than 405,000 acres were hit, according to White House data. [WHO adds one of worlds most popular weedkillers to list linked to cancer] U.S.-funded spraying helped slash Colombias cocaine-producing lands temporarily from an estimated 400,000 acres in 2001 to fewer than 120,000 acres in 2012, according to data from the United Nations. At the same time, a lethal counterinsurgency campaign helped bring the Marxist rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which was deeply engaged in the drug trade, to the negotiating table in secret government talks. Aerial fumigation provoked a backlash by rural residents, however, while eventually shifting drug-growing to areas such as national parks and indigenous reserves that were shielded from spraying. With the support of President Juan Manuel Santos who received the Nobel Peace Prize last year the Colombian government declared an end to spraying with glyphosate, citing concerns of a cancer link, in 2015. [Peace with FARC may be coming, so Colombias farmers are on a massive coca binge] Opponents of a spraying ban warned that although other major coca-producing countries balked at spraying, hand-eradication by ground forces was dangerous. They predicted correctly that it could lead to a recovery in cocaine production. Colombia in 2013 agreed to pay Ecuador $15 million and expand no-spray buffer zones to settle an allegation at the International Court of Justice that reckless spraying caused serious damage to people, to crops, to animals, and to the natural environment on the Ecuadoran side of the frontier. The trial in Washington followed years of legal wrangling, including a dismissal by another judge in 2013, before a federal appeals court revived claims for battery and intentional infliction of emotional damage. Huvelle wrote that in allowing the trial, there is ample evidence to suggest that DynCorp and pilots that it briefed and managed simply ignored (and sometimes mocked) the fact that plaintiffs from specific areas of Ecuador were complaining about the companys sloppy spraying flights, citing thousands of sprayings that broke speed, height and mixture limits. The fact that plaintiffs include impoverished farmers who rely on their land to survive and defenseless children make defendants recklessness all the more outrageous, Huvelle wrote in September. [Trump downplays possibility of a New York billionaire reviewing U.S. spy agencies] DynCorp, taken private in 2010 in a $1.5 billion deal by Stephen Feinbergs Cerberus Capital Management equity fund, began as an aviation company and became one of the largest U.S. security contractors, supporting State Department and Drug Enforcement Administration aerial missions. Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld plunged into the high-stakes debate over how to save the troubled transit agency Wednesday by proposing far-reaching changes to extract major concessions from labor unions and seek new, dedicated funds from local governments to provide $500 million a year for equipment and maintenance. Wiedefeld said Metro needs $15.5 billion over the next 10 years for investments to remain safe and reliable, an average increase of nearly 30 percent over the agencys previous request. He also said the agency needs to rein in labor costs to help avoid a budget crisis. He urged making pension benefits less generous for future hires and amending a federal law to strengthen managements hand in arbitration of contract disputes. The agency also should be free to outsource operations and facilities, such as for the second phase of the Silver Line. Metro employees would compete with contractors for some work. I dont have a backup plan to solve this, because I dont know where else I can go, Wiedefeld said. Metro must change its business model, as operating expenses are growing at nearly twice the rate of revenues, he said. But Wiedefeld stopped short of calling for an end to mandatory binding arbitration of labor disagreements, as Republican lawmakers and some business groups have urged. Wiedefelds initiative, described in documents and a meeting with Washington Post editors and reporters, instantly became the centerpiece for current discussions in the District, Maryland, Virginia and Congress over Metros future. This is the first time Wiedefeld has offered a comprehensive plan to address Metros long-standing problems with funding and what he called the agencys unsustainable cost structure. Wiedefelds opinion is likely to carry influence because he has earned the respect of many elected officials, business groups and transit advocates for his willingness to make tough decisions, such as his unprecedented one-day emergency shutdown of the system last year over safety concerns. Taken together, the elements of the plan represent a kind of grand trade-off, in which a tougher stance on labor relations could help persuade politicians and the public that Metro is operating as efficiently as possible and thus deserves half-billion dollars a year in extra funding. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) lauded Wiedefelds plan, saying it is one of several proposals that should be considered as the region works to turn Metro around. Paul Wiedefeld has started to turn the troubled ship that is Metro, and his logical proposal for a long-term funding plan is worthy of careful consideration, Kaine said in a statement. He said he was open to any solutions that meet the main criteria of ensuring a reliable funding source and making positive changes to safety and governance. But Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) complained that her office had not been adequately briefed. We were provided only a minimal heads-up but no paper or details on the proposed reforms and how they would reduce costs or improve safety. Essentially all we received for details at this time was a huge price tag, Comstock said in a statement. While Wiedefelds proposal advocates for dedicated funding for the transit agency, he does not take a position on what form it should take. He also does not recommend rewriting the Metro Compact, which dictates how the agency is governed and funded, and which many critics say is a roadblock to real reform. But many of the proposals Wiedefeld does make will face enormous hurdles. While the Metro board could okay some of the measures, the additional funding will require approval by state legislatures in Richmond and Annapolis, the District government and suburban counties and municipalities served by Metro. Clearly, what Im trying to do here is thread a needle, Wiedefeld said. We have lots of different interests, whether its Richmond, whether its Annapolis, whether its the District, whether its Fairfax County. Everyone has their own pressures that theyre under. In addition to the labor provisions and new funding, Wiedefeld proposes a $26 million annual rainy day fund to pay for snowstorms and other emergencies. Growth in annual subsidies to Metro from the jurisdictions would be capped at 3 percent, once the new capital fund and emergency fund were created. The proposal also eliminates high-cost bus routes that serve few riders and opens the possibility that local jurisdictions would have to take over costly paratransit services. Wiedefeld said extension of the federal program that supplies $150 million a year to Metro for equipment and maintenance is critical. The program is scheduled to expire in two years, and Republicans in control of Congress have indicated they want to see concessions on labor practices before continuing the program. Since taking over Metro in November 2015, Wiedefeld has focused on resolving urgent, short-term safety and maintenance troubles, and on the difficult task of cutting a deal to balance next years budget. Wiedefeld said he was surprised at the depth of Metros problems when he took over. He said that Metro was always viewed as the gold standard of transit systems in the industry and that he assumed when he arrived that it would at least be a really good bronze or silver. Instead, he said, it was whatever is below bronze, across the board. Wiedefeld is speaking out as the debate over Metro reforms and funding enters a critical phase. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) recently tapped former U.S. transportation secretary Ray LaHood to head a study of Metros problems and make long-term recommendations. The plan is that the LaHood panel will lead to the drafting of bills in Virginia and Maryland in early 2018 to enable counties and municipalities in the D.C. suburbs to raise taxes to support Metro. Wiedefeld declined to say what kind of taxes he thought the region should adopt to create the capital fund needed to generate $500 million a year. Thats something for the public and elected officials to decide, he said. Two proposals that have been floated are a 1-cent regional sales tax, which would generate about $500 million a year, and a tax on property close to Metro stations. Instead, Wiedefeld emphasized that the extra money is needed to buy rail cars and buses, and catch up on overdue maintenance. Otherwise, he said, Metro would lose ground on safety and reliability, inevitably leading to a decline in ridership. With a system that is now more than 40 years old, customers are feeling the effects of an aging system that is jeopardized by decades of deferred maintenance, he said. He said it was vital that the money come from a multiyear, stable revenue source, which would enable Metro to leverage the funds by floating bonds. Metro is the only major transit system in the nation that does not have a significant dedicated funding source that allows it to tap the capital markets in that way. Asked whether he would resign if he does not get the support he seeks, Wiedefeld said he would step down if there was not enough money to guarantee safety. Im not going to back off what we need to do on the safety side, he said. The new plan offered the first look at Wiedefelds views on how to deal with labor costs, which account for more than two-thirds of Metros expenses. He said he would preserve Metros existing pension commitments to current employees and retirees, but would save money by providing 401(k) retirement plans for all new hires. The 401(k) plans are less costly to Metro than the existing plan, which provides a guaranteed level of benefits. He also proposed to amend a 1995 law sponsored by former U.S. representative Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.) that governs arbitration of labor disputes. Critics say Metros labor costs are too high because arbiters tend to favor unions in disputes over wage and benefits contracts. Wiedefeld favors revising the National Capital Area Interest Arbitration Standards Act to require that the arbiters make decisions that are consistent with Metros financial condition. Arbiters also could not make awards that exceed the ability or willingness of the funding jurisdictions to pay, Wiedefeld said. Finally, Wiedefeld said he would curb costs by opening to competition functions that Metro can outsource. This would be positions such as station managers and track inspectors on the section of the Silver Line slated to open in 2020, but not train operators he said. Faiz Siddiqui contributed to this report. Democrat Jackie Smith, 34, won Tuesdays special election to become the Prince William County clerk of court in a victory Democrats say reflects increased grass-roots energy after the election of Donald Trump. (Courtesy of the Smith campaign) As Tuesdays House race in Georgia was drawing intense national scrutiny for signs of The Trump Effect on local races, a Democrat defeated a powerful GOP lawmaker for an obscure Prince William County office that activists on both sides call either a harbinger or a wake-up call. Democrat Jackie Smith beat Del. Jackson H. Miller, the popular Republican House majority whip with far more campaign cash, by eight points to become the Prince William County clerk of court. The previous clerk, Republican Michele B. McQuigg, defeated Smith, a Dumfries lawyer who has never held elected office, by five points in 2015. McQuigg died in February, prompting a special election to serve out her eight-year term. The office, which oversees court filings and legal documents, isnt particularly glamorous. And only about 26,000 people or 10 percent of registered voters cast ballots. But Prince William is closely watched because no statewide candidate has won Virginia without winning the county since 2001. Democrats easily have won the county in presidential and statewide contests, while Republicans have won local seats in off-year elections. The chairman of the Board of County Supervisors is Corey A. Stewart, who is running for the GOP nomination for governor on a platform of embracing President Trump and the states Confederate heritage, among other conservative issues. The state Democratic Party declared the win in the clerks race the beginning of the end of the Trump age. The party credited Democratic voters energized by Trump with coming out for local issues they typically ignore and a renewed focus on down-ballot races. [Miller, Smith vie for Prince William clerk of court seat] Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) directed the state party to help Smiths campaign. Sen. Tim Kaine (D) recorded a robo-call on her behalf, while U.S. Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.) funded a mailer. Every Democrat running to represent Prince William in the state legislature and the two Democratic candidates for governor, Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam and Tom Perriello, canvassed or made calls for Smith. I dont know why everyones talking about Georgia. This is the center of the universe in Prince William, Virginia all eyes should be on that, said Susan Swecker, chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Virginia. This was a big race in a swing county the first marker of the 2017 election cycle, and it showed the rising tide of resistance, a wake-up call for the Republicans in Virginia and the beginning of the end of the Trump era. John Whitbeck, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, dismissed Sweckers comments as utter hyperbole and ridiculousness. After voters blew up their narrative in Georgia and Kansas, we are not surprised Democrats are grasping at straws, said Whitbeck, referring to the Democrats who fell short in special elections to fill vacant House seats. [Republicans avoid big loss by forcing runoff in Georgia House race] But he said the loss did signal the importance of Republicans ramping up their efforts to boost GOP success in early absentee voting, where Democrats have had an edge, ahead of Novembers gubernatorial election. Theres nothing we can do about Democrat enthusiasm, Whitbeck said. Republicans dont control that. What we can control is turning out Republican voters in a race thats really do or die. Political analysts cautioned against reading too much into the national implications of a low-key, low-turnout clerks race. But they said the Democratic energy exposed by the campaign is a warning for Republicans in November, when the state will elect a new governor and all 100 members of the House of Delegates. It highlights the challenge that Republican nominees are going to face in having to overcome the antipathy that Trump faces in Northern Virginia, said Bob Holsworth, a veteran state political analyst. The fact Democrats seem to be more enthusiastic and more energized in this race and were able to defeat a well-known, popular Republican is a trend Democrats hope endures. A prominent conservative blogger warned that the Republican loss in what should have been a winnable race should raise alarms up and down the ballot. This election result should force every Republican running for election or reelection in Virginia to sit up and take notice, Brian Schoeneman, editor in chief of the Bearing Drift conservative blog, wrote on Wednesday. President Trumps low approval ratings and the motivation his election has created among liberal and progressive activists has manifested itself in grass-roots organizing at a level we havent seen in Virginia from Democrats in a long, long time. Harry Wiggins, the chairman of the Prince William County Democratic Committee, concedes that its an overstatement to sell the victory as the beginning of the end of Trump, who he doubts was paying attention. But he says the campaign showed the power of grass-roots energy on the Democratic side. Ive never seen an outpouring of people like this, said Wiggins. Id say 70 percent of the people Id never seen before and never met before. And it was a particularly high number of women who were outraged by Stewart and Trump. Democrats and nonpartisan analysts alike say the results also reflect poorly on Stewart, the countys top Republican elected official who is making his success as a conservative in Northern Virginia central to his gubernatorial campaign. Stewart scoffs at this contention, saying hes heard it many times over the past decade in office as Republicans lost his county. I feel bad for Jackson, but frankly Im not surprised, because Prince William County has been a political cemetery for Republicans, said Stewart, listing a string of gubernatorial, presidential and Senate candidates who fell short in Prince William. Theyve all lost. Except for me. For her part, Smith, 34, says shes not planning on being on the front lines of any resistance against the president or seeking higher office. She just wants to modernize a bureaucracy thats frustrating to deal with. But she credits the presidents election for galvanizing people across the political spectrum to pay more attention to local politics. People have realized you cant just sit back and let the political machine come and take care of things, Smith said. As a member of the community, you have to be involved in these local races that in the past have been largely ignored. Khizr Khan, a Virginia Gold Star father whose son was killed in Iraq, campaigns for Hillary Clinton in Norfolk, Va. (Julia Rendleman/The Washington Post) Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the Gold Star Muslim parents from Charlottesville whose campaign feud with President Trump vaulted them to a national spotlight, are endorsing former congressman Tom Perriello in the Virginia Democratic gubernatorial primary. The Khans say Perriello, who represented them in Congress from 2009 to 2011, is the best candidate to resist Trump and his values. Perriello faces Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, who has called the president a narcissistic maniac, in the June 13 Democratic primary. Resisting President Trump and defeating the hate and bigotry that he sows will take people of conviction and good conscience standing up and fighting back. Tom Perriello is one of those people, the Khans said in a statement provided by the Perriello campaign. We support Tom Perriello for governor and will be voting for him in June because he will fiercely resist the unconstitutional actions of President Trump while advancing an inclusive Virginia that welcomes all. [In Khans home state, Va. Republicans offer sympathy but dont denounce Trump] The couple have become politically active and a public face for Muslims who sacrificed for their country after their son, Army Capt. Humayun Khan, died during the Iraq War in 2004. Khizr Khan delivered one of the most memorable speeches at the Democratic National Convention with a forceful condemnation of Trump and his proposal for a ban on Muslim immigration. Trump responded by accusing Khizr Khan of viciously attacking him and suggesting his wife did not speak during the convention address because of her religion. Republicans and Democrats alike condemned Trump for his criticism of parents of a fallen soldier. The Khans have stayed active in Virginia politics, endorsing Democrat LuAnn Bennetts unsuccessful challenge to Rep. Barbara Comstock (R) and supporting Rep. Don Beyer (D) with a bill to block the federal government from considering religion when setting immigration policy. [Khan urges Congress: Resist Muslim ban] Northam has been endorsed by all but one state and federal Democratic officeholder in Virginia, as well as the largest state teachers union and the abortion rights group NARAL. Perriello has been endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and top staffers to Hillary Clinton and former president Barack Obama, in addition to several national progressive figures. Northam had twice as much campaign cash available at the end of March, according to financial filings released on Monday. Perriello also picked up support from the Progressive Campaign Change Committee, a million member national grass-roots group that supports candidates similar to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), which sent out a late Tuesday fundraising email for him and Georgia Democratic congressional candidate Jon Ossoff. The winner of the Democratic primary faces one of three Republicans: longtime operative Ed Gillespie, Chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors Corey A. Stewart or state Sen. Frank Wagner (Virginia Beach). Posters encourage regular attendance at Simon Elementary School in the District, a city that has enormous truancy rates, even among young children. (Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post) How should the success or failure of a public school be judged? For the past generation, the federal governments primary answer has been standardized test scores. But now states have more latitude to decide for themselves, and many are choosing to judge schools in part based on how many students frequently miss class. Of the dozen states that have laid out their plans for holding schools accountable under the new federal law known as the Every Student Succeeds Act, 10 are aiming to use chronic absenteeism as a factor in identifying their best and worst schools. So is the District. More than 6 million children missed more than 15 days or three weeks of school during the 2013-2014 school year, according to federal data published last year. It was the first time such nationwide data had been gathered and published. Johns Hopkins University researcher Robert Balfanz said he hopes that incorporating absenteeism in school rating systems will encourage districts and school leaders to pay more attention to what has often been an overlooked problem. If kids arent there every day, its going to be hard for us to succeed, said Balfanz, whose work has helped show that there is a tight link between students who miss class frequently more than 10 percent of the school year, or 18 days in a 180-day school year and those who struggle academically and eventually drop out. [Parents say Loudoun officials reaching too far to stop school tardies] The act, which was signed into law in 2015, requires states to design rating systems that rely heavily on student achievement, including proficiency rates on standardized math and reading tests, year-to-year growth on those tests and graduation rates. But the law also requires rating systems to incorporate at least one measure of school climate or quality and that is where chronic absenteeism comes in. Many states are choosing to use absenteeism because it is linked to student achievement and because it does not require a lot of new resources, since schools and districts already collect attendance data, said Chris Minnich, executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers. Minnich said he anticipates that states may embrace additional indicators of a schools success such as the percentage of a high schools students who not only enroll but also persist in college as they devise systems to measure them. I think the biggest thing is, were now signaling to schools that its not all about test scores, Minnich said. Under the previous federal education law, No Child Left Behind, schools in many states were judged in part on average daily attendance. Most schools scored well on that measure, masking the number of students who were frequently missing class. Under the law, test scores, graduation rates and other such academic factors are still required to carry much more weight than nonacademic factors in a states school rating system. And so absenteeism would account for a relatively small percentage of a schools overall performance rating under the emerging accountability plans. Of the 13 plans submitted, only those from Louisiana and Vermont do not use chronic absenteeism. The rest of the state plans, including those from Maryland and Virginia, are due by September. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos will decide whether to approve them. In the District, test scores and graduation rates would count for 70 percent of a schools rating. Twenty-five percent would be measures of school environment, including chronic absenteeism which accounts for only 5.8 percent of an elementary schools score and 7.5 percent of a middle and a high schools score and re-enrollment rate, or the percentage of enrolled students who choose to return to the school each year. [Truancy, absenteeism a chronic problem in D.C. schools] In New Jersey, chronic absenteeism accounts for 10 percent of a schools rating, compared with 70 percent for academic achievement and 20 percent for progress toward English proficiency for students learning the language. Absenteeism is far from the only nonacademic indicator that states are using in their plans. Also popular is college and career readiness, which some are measuring by the proportion of students taking Advanced Placement or dual-enrollment classes. Connecticut has a whopping 12 factors in its school rating plan, including academic achievement and growth on tests (52 percent) and graduation rates (15 percent), chronic absenteeism (7.4 percent), and physical fitness and access to arts classes (3.4 percent each). Officials at the National Education Association, the nations largest labor union, said they are glad to see absenteeism in rating systems, as long as those systems are used to help identify schools for extra support and not to punish them. Data showing that a struggling school has many frequently absent students, for example, could help make the case for more funding for social workers to tackle the problem. [Is your school worth one star or five? D.C.s new rating system] Balfanz, the Johns Hopkins researcher, said he, too, believes that measuring chronic absenteeism helps schools pinpoint and address issues that are keeping students out of class and, therefore, unable to learn. For that reason, he is glad that absenteeism is in school rating systems, so it gets more attention. But he also is glad that it does not count for too much. Giving the metric too much emphasis can backfire, he said. Once you have a lot of weight, then people try to find ways to make things look good. Members of the Overmountain Men representing militia from North Carolina listen to remarks at a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the Revolution at Washington Square in Philadelphia during opening ceremonies for the Museum of the American Revolution. (Matt Rourke/AP) OHIO ISIS supporter pleads guilty to seeking killing An Ohio man who expressed support for the Islamic State has pleaded guilty to soliciting the murder of members of the U.S. military, the Justice Department announced Wednesday. Terrence J. McNeil, 24, of Akron, pleaded guilty Tuesday to five counts of solicitation to commit a crime of violence and five counts of making threatening interstate communications involving his call to kill military personnel. McNeil disseminated ISILs violent rhetoric, circulated U.S. military personnel information, and explicitly called for the killing of American service members in their homes and communities, acting assistant attorney general Mary B. McCord said in a statement, using an acronym for the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. Now he will be held accountable. McNeil, a U.S. citizen, was arrested on Nov. 12, 2015. He professed his support on numerous occasions on social media for the Islamic State, according to documents filed in the case. In September 2015, using a Tumblr account, he reposted a file with the banner Islamic State Hacking Division, followed by Target: United States Military and Leak: Addresses of 100 U.S. Military Personnel. McNeil went on to say it was necessary to kill the kuffar or disbelievers: Now we have made it easy for you by giving you addresses, all you need to do is take the final step. McNeils sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 2. Under the terms of his plea agreement, he faces a sentence of between 15 and 20 years in prison. Ellen Nakashima PENNSYLVANIA Man convicted in ambush of trooper A Pennsylvania man who hid in the forest under cover of night and opened fire with a snipers rifle was convicted of capital murder Wednesday in the ambush slaying of a state police trooper he targeted at random in hopes of sparking a revolution. A jury convicted Eric Frein, 33, in the Sept. 12, 2014, attack at the Blooming Grove state police barracks in northeastern Pennsylvania. Cpl. Bryon Dickson II, a married father of two, was killed, and a second trooper was shot through the hips and left debilitated. The gunman led authorities on a 48-day manhunt through the rugged Pocono Mountains before U.S. marshals caught him at an abandoned airplane hangar more than 20 miles from the barracks. After a two-week trial that presented uncontested evidence of Freins guilt, the jury convicted him on all 12 charges, including murder of a law enforcement officer, terrorism and two weapons of mass destruction counts related to small explosive devices he left in the woods while eluding capture. Associated Press ALABAMA State chief justice loses bid to regain job Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore lost his effort to regain his job on Wednesday as the Alabama Supreme Court upheld his suspension for urging defiance of federal rulings allowing gays and lesbians to marry. The fiery jurist lashed out at Wednesdays decision, saying he considers his lengthy suspension to be illegal. I have done my duty under the laws of this state to uphold the sanctity of marriage and the undeniable truth of God-ordained marriage of one man and one woman. Mere human judges have no authority to say otherwise, Moore said. The Alabama Court of the Judiciary, the state panel that disciplines judges, handed down the punishment against Moore in September, saying he violated judicial ethics by urging judges to defy clearly established law and a direct federal court order. The charges against Moore centered on a memo he sent state probate judges on Jan. 6, 2016, six months after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that gays and lesbians have a fundamental right to marry. Moore said in the memo that a 2015 Alabama Supreme Court order to refuse marriage licenses to gay couples remained in full force and effect. Associated Press CALIFORNIA Gunman kills three in downtown Fresno Three people were killed in random and unprovoked shootings that unfolded in a matter of seconds Tuesday morning in Fresno, Calif., and were motivated by racial hatred, authorities said. Police said they quickly arrested a suspect who they determined had previously expressed anger toward white people and the government. When the suspect was taken into custody, he yelled Allahu Akbar, according to Fresno police Chief Jerry Dyer. At a briefing Tuesday night, Dyer said police believed the killings were motivated by hate and not tied to terrorism. Authorities identified the suspect as Kori Ali Muhammad, 39, and described him as a man with a lengthy criminal history who went out Tuesday intending to kill people. Dyer said Mohammad was also the suspect in the killing of a security guard at a motel last week. The three people killed Tuesday were white men, as was the motel security guard, Dyer said. A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying more than 7,000 pounds of supplies to the International Space Station lifts off Tuesday at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. (John Raoux/AP) Dyer said that police examined Muhammads Facebook account, where they found some posts that say he does not like white people as well as others that expressed some antigovernment sentiments. Mark Berman NEW YORK Etan Patzs killer sentenced to 25 years Almost 40 years after first-grader Etan Patz set out for school and ended up at the heart of one of Americas most notable missing-child cases, a former store clerk convicted of killing him was sentenced Tuesday to at least 25 years in prison. The sentencing of Pedro Hernandez culminated a case that affected police practices, parenting and the nations awareness of missing children. Hernandez, 56, received the maximum allowable sentence and will not be eligible for parole until he has served the 25 years. Lead defense attorney Harvey Fishbein told the court Hernandez wanted to express sympathy to Etans parents but also to say hes an innocent man and he had nothing to do with the disappearance of Etan Patz. Hernandez was a teenager working at a convenience shop in Etans Manhattan neighborhood when the boy vanished in 1979, on the first day he was allowed to walk alone to his school bus stop. Hernandez, of Maple Shade, N.J., confessed to choking Etan. But his attorneys have said that he is mentally ill and his confession was false, and they are vowing to appeal his conviction. Etan was among the first missing children pictured on milk cartons. His parents advocacy helped to establish a national missing-children hotline and helped law enforcement agencies share information. Associated Press MICHIGAN Flint mayor proposes Detroit water source Flints mayor reversed course Tuesday and recommended that the Michigan city beset by a man-made crisis that left its water supply contaminated with lead continue getting its drinking water from a Detroit-area system long-term, saying a third switch would be too risky and expensive. Under the proposal, Flint would remain a customer of the Great Lakes Water Authority for the next 30 years instead of transitioning to a new Flint-area pipeline as planned. A previous money-saving decision to join the new Karegnondi Water Authority in 2013 set the stage for the disaster when state-appointed financial managers controlling Flint in 2014 decided to tap the Flint River temporarily while the regional pipeline to Lake Huron was being built. For 18 months, the river water was not treated to reduce corrosion. As a result, lead leaching from old pipes and fixtures caused elevated lead levels in children and forced residents to use bottled or filtered water for bathing and drinking. Mayor Karen Weaver announced the plan at a news conference at city hall with top federal, state and local officials who supported her decision. Flint returned in 2015 to the Great Lakes Water Authority, which serves much of Detroit and its suburbs. Weaver said that staying with the Detroit-area system under a new 30-year contract and using the local county as a backup would be the cheapest, costing $269 million over 20 years and keeping already-high customer bills in check. Flint estimates it would save $58 million by not having to upgrade its troubled water plant. Associated Press Okla. deputy sheriff shot: An Oklahoma sheriffs deputy died Tuesday after being shot while serving an eviction notice in Mulhall, about 50 miles north of Oklahoma City, authorities said, and a suspect was later arrested after a manhunt. Logan County Sheriff Damon Devereaux said the deputy, David Wade, was shot several times, including in the face. Authorities said Nathan Aaron LeForce, 45, later surrendered to police. Associated Press Mais Balkhi, right, advocacy and outreach manager for Syria Relief & Development, and Amena Waseem at work in their office in the District. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post) As the Syrian military began laying waste to the city of Aleppo in an offensive to vanquish rebel forces last year, a doctor was at his wits end. Anas Moughrabieh was trying to save civilian lives, treating patients remotely via teleconference from his office in Detroit. As people were rushed into the Syrian hospital with grave head injuries, doctors there had run out of hypertonic saline, which relieves pressure in the brain. That and other simple supply shortages led many to die, including children. He looked on helplessly from 6,000 miles away. Although the hospital was run by the Syrian American Medical Society a District-based charity that relies on donations lack of funding wasnt the issue. And in this case, the brutality of the Syrian regime wasnt responsible for the supply shortage. The problem was a U.S. bank. Mais Balkhi. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post) During the bloody siege, the medical society had tried to wire $80,000 to a vendor in Turkey so its hospitals could stock up on medical supplies. But the U.S.-based bank, in its diligence to ensure the funds werent being funneled to overseas terrorists, was holding up the transfer. By the time the money went through six months later, the deadly siege was over. Patients on life support cannot be patient, Moughrabieh said. They either live or they die. The wire transfer delays during last summers bloody campaign in Aleppo reflect a broad pattern: At a time of historic humanitarian need, banks are increasingly hesitant to conduct business with charities that work in disaster zones for fear that they could be caught up in funding international terrorism. Known in charity circles as derisking, because banks are seeking to avoid rather than manage risk, the issue has been brewing for about three years, largely as an unintended consequence of stepped-up efforts to counter terrorism financing, charity advocates and finance professionals say. The inability to get humanitarian assistance to refugees from political conflicts or natural disasters can result in death from starvation, exposure, and disease, concluded a 2016 report from the World Bank. The elderly and the young are particularly hurt by de-risking and are literally dying as a result. Two-thirds of all U.S. charities that work abroad are reporting difficulties accessing financial services because of the banking trend, according to one of two new studies that show for the first time the scope of the impact the banking trend has had on aid providers working in catastrophe zones. I was surprised, said Kay Guinane, director of the D.C.-based Charity & Security Network, which represents nonprofit groups working in crisis regions and issued one of the new reports. I dont think any of us had any idea how big a problem this really is until we got this data. The other report, released last month by Duke Laws International Human Rights Clinic and the Netherlands-based Women Peacemakers Program, found that institutional donors such as Western governments and large foundations as well as banks are increasingly neglecting human-rights organizations that focus their work on womens issues and operate in areas such as Syria and Iraq. One such grass-roots group provides secular education to children in Syria to counteract Islamic State schools. Womens rights and their defenders are really often caught in the crosshairs of these very risk-averse banks and overzealous regulatory authorities, said Jayne Huckerby, a Duke University law professor and an author of the study. The world is facing its worst humanitarian crisis since World War II, with the United Nations estimating that 65 million people have been displaced by climate change and war and that 20 million are in danger of starvation. Drought and famine are plaguing Somalia, Nigeria and South Sudan. A Saudi-led blockade of goods is starving innocents in Yemen. The Syrian government has been blocking aid deliveries to its own people and this month allegedly killed at least 80 civilians in a chemical attack. The derisking trend also has prompted recent closures of orphanages in Lebanon and Sudan, has cut off relief for persecuted minorities in Burma and has terminated school programs for students in Afghanistan, according to the Charity & Security Network report. Delays, fees, closures Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Charity & Security Network report asserts that it is the first comprehensive empirical study on the impact that bank derisking has had on nonprofit organizations. The 305 charities surveyed said they experienced delays in wire transfers, requests for unusual additional documentation, increased fees and account closures. The issue stems from well-intended efforts to tighten controls on terrorism financing in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Since then, the U.S. Treasury Department has labeled nine U.S. charities as supporters of terrorism and has designated 54 worldwide. No U.S. charity has been put on a terrorist list since 2009, but the report contends that at least 5,875 of the roughly 8,665 U.S. charities that work overseas have been adversely affected by banking behavior aimed at disrupting terrorism. One District-based charity, which works to promote gender equality in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, Lebanon and elsewhere, was hit when Citibank froze its accounts on March 10. Our checks have started to bounce, said an executive, who asked that the charity not be publicly identified out of fear of retribution that could further stall its efforts. We are working for the betterment of peoples lives in the world. Were not doing arms trade, or something horrible like that. I am almost beside myself with frustration. Sue Eckert, lead author of the Charity & Security Network study and an expert on the intersection of economics and national security, said the fundamental nature of terrorist financing is changing in part because of the bank-led crackdown on traditional cash streams. Its by and large not coming through the formal channels now, she said, noting that Islamic State funds now often derive from their physical control of territory from oil, sale of antiquities, and taxation and extortion, including kidnapping for ransom. Bank associates acknowledge the problem. Rob Rowe, a vice president at the American Bankers Association, said the chaos wrought by civil war in Somalia, for example, has left bankers feeling blind. Unfortunately, banks just cant send funds, he said. They look at it and say, We cant make the distinction between a charity thats trying to get money to a starving family versus one that is ready to go out and buy a stockpile of Uzis to fire on civilians. We dont have enough information, we cant make that call, and if we make the wrong guess, were the ones that are in trouble. The financial sector has been spooked by a spate of high-profile fines. HSBC Britains biggest bank was fined nearly $2 billion in 2012 after a U.S. Justice Department probe found its controls for money-laundering inadequate. Paris-based BNP Paribas bank was fined nearly $9 billion in 2014 for violating sanctions against Sudan, Cuba and Iran. BNP, as one example, was accused among other things of stripping information from wire transfers so they could pass through the U.S. system without raising red flags. We cannot continue On occasion, even established charities have had their accounts closed. It happened to the Syrian American Medical Society in early 2015, more than a year before its wire-transfer debacle during the Aleppo siege in summer 2016. In February 2015, Chase Bank closed the societys account with little explanation. JPMorgan Chases media relations department declined to comment, During that period of freezing, we werent able to wire money; we werent able to pay our staff in the U.S., said Randa Loutfi, a pediatrician and the organizations director of programs. Society officials scrambled to find a new bank. Large financial institutions politely declined, Loutfi said. She believes the word Syria in the title of her organization immediately made banks wary. We show them the license that we work under from the government, she said. Still, many banks were scared. They start the process and then, Sorry, we cannot continue. It took months for the organization which treated roughly 1.4 million Syrians in 2014 alone to get its finances back in order. The charity wound up splitting its money among three smaller banks from the Midwest. Another U.S.-based group, Syria Relief & Development, which runs about 30 hospitals in Syria and has a shelter program for Syrian refugees in Jordan, has had its accounts closed by five different banks since 2015. Mais Balkhi, the Kansas-based organizations advocacy and outreach manager, said dealing with banks has been one of the groups biggest challenges. Were having more attacks, people are dying, but we are sometimes unable to help because banks are closing accounts and delaying transactions, Balkhi said. Particularly vulnerable Much of the focus on charities as potential fronts for terrorism centers on a simple phrase: Particularly vulnerable. Helping to create the mistrust of charities after Sept. 11 was a highly influential but little-known intergovernmental organization called the Financial Action Task Force, an advisory panel that formed in 1989 to combat money laundering. Immediately after the attacks, the purview of the global task force expanded to terrorist-financing concerns and it deemed nonprofit organizations particularly vulnerable to terrorist abuse. In June 2016, recognizing the harm to charities caused by that designation, the Financial Action Task Force removed it. But the manual used by state and federal bank examiners in the United States who investigate banks for ethical and legal lapses still reflects the old standard, charity advocates say. Bank derisking isnt always the most pressing problem plaguing aid givers in crisis-ravaged countries, where they are putting their lives on the line to help. In 2016, 14 doctors working with the Syrian American Medical Society were killed in combat zones, mostly when bombs fell on hospitals. But the banking woes compound the problems. Its silly to add the money issue to all the other challenges, Loutfi said. We already have enough challenges. MEDITERRANEAN About 9,000 migrants rescued over weekend Nearly 9,000 mainly African migrants were rescued in the Mediterranean this past long weekend after being put by smugglers in Libya on unseaworthy boats heading toward Italy, United Natons aid agencies said Tuesday. The migrants board the overcrowded boats, often just inflated rubber vessels unsuitable for such a journey, in the hope of starting a new life in Europe. More than 35 vessels, including private charity boats, the European Union border agency Frontex, the Italian and Libyan coast guards, and 12 merchant ships were involved in rescuing dozens of vessels, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said. At least 900 migrants have died or have gone missing trying to reach Europe by sea this year, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration said. He said about 36,000 migrants have been rescued, compared with 24,000 at this time last year. Reuters FRANCE Imminent attack foiled, authorities say French police thwarted an imminent terror attack and arrested two suspects in the southern port city of Marseille, authorities said Tuesday, just days before the first round of Frances presidential election. Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said the suspects were getting ready to carry out an imminent, violent action on national territory. He said investigators have not determined the day, the targets and the exact circumstances of the alleged plot. France votes Sunday in the first round of its two-stage election. Extra safety measures are being put in place for the balloting, with recent attacks having made security one of the major issues of the presidential campaign. The suspects, Mahiedine Merabet, 29, and Clement Baur, 23, both French, were detained under arrest warrants for terrorist criminal association, according to a police document. Molins said Merabet had, in recent days, tried to send a video to the Islamic State group to claim allegiance or responsibility for a potential attack. Baur was signaled to authorities by his family in 2015 as radicalized, with the possible intention of going to Syria. He had links with Belgian extremist networks, Molins said. The two were known to police and intelligence services for their religious radicalism. They met in prison in 2015, Molins said. Associated Press ETHIOPIA 669 reported killed in months of protests Months of violent protests that sparked Ethiopias ongoing state of emergency left at least 669 people dead, but security forces used proportionate measures to counter the unrest, the government-affiliated Ethiopian Human Rights Commission said Tuesday. The protests, which began in November 2015 and spread nationwide, demanded wider political freedoms and posed a challenge to one of Africas fastest-growing economies. The commissions report largely blamed opposition groups for what it called illegal rallies. But it also said security forces were not properly prepared for a protest that turned into a deadly stampede in October and sparked the emergency declaration. Human rights groups have accused Ethiopias government of carrying out extrajudicial killings during the protests. The commissions report recommended that security forces at fault in a number of incidents be brought to justice. More than 25,000 people suspected of taking part in protests were detained under the state of emergency. Several thousand have been released. Associated Press No talks with Palestinian hunger strikers, Israel says: Israel will not negotiate with hundreds of Palestinian prisoners who have begun a hunger strike to press for better conditions, a government minister said. If sustained, the strike, led by Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti, would be the largest in recent years. Israeli Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan said that the strike is politically motivated and that the prisoners have no legitimate complaints. Erdan said Barghouti was transferred to another prison and placed in solitary confinement. Crash kills 12 Saudi officers in Yemen: The Saudi-led military coalition fighting in Yemen said one of its helicopters crashed in the east, killing 12 Saudi officers in one of the deadliest incidents for Saudi troops since the conflict began more than two years ago. The Black Hawk crashed in Marib province, the coalition said. The coalition of mostly Arab Sunni countries has been waging a campaign to dislodge Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, who seized Yemens capital and some other areas in 2014. From news services SYRIA Sarin used in attack, watchdog confirms The nerve agent sarin was used in an attack that killed scores of civilians in northern Syria this month, the global chemical weapons watchdog said Wednesday. The attack, which the Trump administration has attributed to the Syrian government, prompted the United States to carry out its first military action against President Bashar al-Assad, six years into a war in which atrocities against civilians are near-daily occurrences. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said Wednesday that samples from 10 victims of the attack indicated exposure to sarin or a sarin-like substance. While further details of the laboratory analyses will follow, the analytical results already obtained are incontrovertible, said Ahmet Uzumcu, the OPCWs director general. The attack in the northwestern town of Khan Sheikhoun woke hundreds of civilians in the early hours of April 4. Soon, many were choking and in convulsions. At least 86 people were killed and more than 500 others were affected, according to monitoring groups and local doctors. International conventions prohibit the use of sarin, which causes a victims nervous system to go haywire and can kill in as little as a minute. Louisa Loveluck INDIA 4 from Modi party face trial in mosque attack Indias top court on Wednesday ordered four senior leaders of the governing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party to stand trial over a 1992 attack on an ancient mosque that sparked Hindu-Muslim bloodshed. A lower court had earlier dropped conspiracy charges against the four in a case that has languished in Indias sluggish legal system for nearly 25 years. Hindu groups say the 16th-century Babri Mosque was built on the site of a temple dedicated to the Hindu god Ram that was destroyed by Muslim invaders. Hindu fundamentalists razed the mosque in December 1992, sparking the largest explosion of Hindu-Muslim violence in India in decades, leaving 2,000 dead. Hindu hard-liners, including BJP members, say they want to build a new temple on the site. The four party leaders, including former deputy prime minister L.K. Advani, are accused of making inflammatory speeches that incited thousands of their followers ahead of the attack on the mosque. A separate case is underway involving about 20 people accused of demolishing the mosque. Associated Press Egypt releases U.S. charity worker: Egyptian American charity worker Aya Hijazi was released from prison after nearly three years of detention, her attorney said. The lawyer said Hijazi was released late Tuesday, two days after a court acquitted her of charges of child abuse that were widely dismissed as bogus. Hijazi and her husband were running a foundation dedicated to helping street children but were arrested in 2014. Their arrests came amid a clampdown on civil society by authorities. More mudslides in Colombia kill at least 14: A deluge of rain set off landslides that smashed homes and filled streets with mud in a mountain city in Colombia. Authorities said at least 14 people were killed and two dozen injured. The disaster struck when many in Manizales were still asleep, just as it did during a flooding disaster two weeks ago that caused more than 300 deaths in the city of Mocoa. Dozens of hillsides gave way in Manizales after the area received the equivalent of a full months rain in five hours. Danish court backs South Koreans extradition in probe: A Danish court has upheld a decision by the Copenhagen public prosecutor to allow the extradition of the daughter of a former confidante of South Koreas ousted president to face prosecution in her home country. Chung Yoo-ra, wanted as part of a corruption investigation, is the daughter of Choi Soon-sil, who is jailed on suspicion of bribery and receiving favors in return for manipulating government affairs. From news services THE TRUMP administration is more than halfway through the 120-day review of financial regulation that the president ordered on Feb. 3. Time flies! And the hot new idea is, well, an old idea: the Glass-Steagall Act, a Depression-era law which, until its repeal in 1999, separated federally insured commercial banks from risk-taking investment banks. Some say the laws repeal helped lead to the panic of 2008 and that reinstating it would stabilize Wall Street more than the convoluted Dodd-Frank law enacted in 2010. Gary Cohn, the Wall Street veteran who heads the National Economic Council, expressed a willingness this month to consider a 21st-century Glass-Steagall, in keeping with certain vague 2016 campaign remarks by Donald Trump and a line in the Republican platform. What that might mean in practice is still anyones guess. A bipartisan group of senators including Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) seized on Mr. Cohns remark to reintroduce their long-standing proposal to restore Glass-Steagall pretty much as it was in the 20th century. Thomas M. Hoenig, vice chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), has a more nuanced plan that would allow commercial and investment banks to exist within the same overall corporate structure, but with clearly separate capital and management so taxpayers faced no exposure to the riskier investment sides losses. Such a ring-fencing plan has been adopted in Britain; a key component is a tough capital requirement 10 percent for the commercial bank, as an added protection against systemic risk and taxpayer bailouts. Mr. Hoenigs proposal calls for a similar buffer. An irony of the situation is that some of todays behemoth universal banks got that way because at the height of the crisis the government encouraged consolidation between, say, Bank of America and the failing Merrill Lynch investment bank. It would take tremendous effort by legislators and bankers to split them up again. The actual causal link between the repeal of Glass-Steagall and the financial crisis is a matter of great dispute, however, because the investment firms whose failures triggered the panic, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, had never been subject to the law. What they lacked was sufficient capital to weather a crisis; accordingly, beefed-up capital throughout the financial sector is whats essential to protect against another meltdown, wherever it might originate. It so happens that Dodd-Frank, despite its undue complexity, has been fairly successful in forcing banks to build capital. This is why the Federal Reserve found last year that the U.S. banking system could withstand a severe global recession with the domestic unemployment rate rising five percentage points. In fact, Wall Streets main complaint is that excessive capital requirements are forcing them to restrict lending though FDIC data show that bank lending grew 5.3 percent in 2016 while the industry made healthy profits. No doubt the financial sector would love to steer President Trumps Dodd-Frank rewrite in the direction of relaxed capital requirements. Whatever else a 21st-century Glass-Steagall turns out to mean, it must not be that. Emma Green is a staff writer at the Atlantic, where she covers politics, policy and religion. During a moment alone with Hillary Clinton before an October campaign event in New Hampshire, Elizabeth Warren recalls, the presidential nominee seemed confident: She smiled and said the numbers looked good. But Warren didnt share the candidates optimism. I was anxious, right down to my bones, she writes with the faux folksiness that winds through her new book, This Fight Is Our Fight. The senator from Massachusetts saw Donald Trump as an extreme version of Ronald Reagan his vision was like the conservative philosophy on steroids. She was trying to sound the alarm but worried she wasnt doing so loudly enough. And now she is angry about the consequences. She writes that regulatory rollbacks make her mad, spitting mad. The sick-in-the-back-of-the-throat unfairness of legislators opposing the minimum wage nearly chokes me, she says, and the revolving door between Goldman Sachs and federal office makes me gag. Warren repeats her list of enemies like a talisman: corporate executives, greedy bankers, perma-pundits who take private-sector kickbacks. And her arch-nemesis is clear: During my time in office Ive learned a bitter lesson, she writes. A Republican-led Congress just doesnt care. Since she got to Washington, Warren has embraced a moral language Democrats often struggle with: good old-fashioned economic populism, complete with references to good guys and bad guys and loads of fiery outrage. Increasingly, populist anger may be the favored language of liberals. With Sen. Bernie Sanderss surprise success and Clintons shocking failure in 2016, lefty progressives have spent the past few months saying, I told you so. This Fight Is Our Fight is no exception. But Warrens book also reveals the moral languages the senator is less able to speak. She never truly grapples with why Democrats lost, why middle-class voters would choose Trump or whether their anger might be about more than the economy. Warren sees the world through the narrow lens of economic interests, ignoring the deeply held values and beliefs that often determine peoples politics. This attitude is condescending, but more important, it limits Warrens understanding of America and why her party has failed so badly. Warren has a playbook for Democrats: Talk about the middle class, not the poor. Focus on regulation and corruption, not taxing and spending. And at every possible moment, highlight the hypocrisy and corruption of the other side. She details policy proposals in bulleted lists and anecdotes, mixing stories from her Oklahoma childhood with narratives about middle-class Americans who worked hard and still ended up struggling with money. This Fight Is Our Fight could conveniently double as a slogan for a national campaign, one very different from Clintons Stronger Together. In her retelling of the elections that left Republicans in control of the White House, Congress, 32 statehouses and 33 governors mansions, Warren styles herself as a populist Cassandra who expected Trumps victory. Clinton earns no praise for her policies or leadership Warren subtly suggests that her endorsement was more practical than ideological. But she makes sure to include a nod to her fellow senator from New England: Bernie was amazing. Passionate. Smart. Totally committed, Warren writes. I was reminded why we had been friends for so many years. Sanders-style progressivism is where the party should go, she argues away from the free-trade liberalism championed by Democrats like Bill Clinton, whom Warren criticizes for pushing forward tax cuts and deregulation with the repeal of the Glass-Steagall financial regulations. After years of a booming stock market and a rich payoff for those with big investment portfolios and fancy corporate jobs, she argues, its time to raise this question: Is this the best that capitalism has to offer? Warren has nominated herself as the person to answer that question perhaps as a senator, perhaps as president. She declined to run for the White House in 2016, despite rumors that she might. (To the anonymous sources who claimed to know her thinking in the press, Warren says: Um, seriously?) Now she seems to be offering her own soft pitch: Unlike other Democrats, she understands the anger of the American people, she predicted Trumps success, and she knows what the party should do next. Yet the story Warren tells about the election and Americas anxieties is curiously one-dimensional. She uses standard progressive math to explain Trump voters: Some are racist bigots, some were taken in by a huckster casino owner and some are suffering from intense economic despair. One of the women she follows, Gina, lives in a mobile home in a small North Carolina town. She and her husband barely get by on her hourly wage from Walmart. We need to tell this story! Gina tells Warren. But I really need this job. Gina, we find out at the end of the book, proudly voted for Donald Trump, hoping he would shake things up. In Warrens world, the Democratic Party would win the vote of every Gina in America by fighting for a playing field that isnt tilted so hard against her. But Warren never really tells us why Americas Ginas arent voting for Democrats now. Perhaps Warrens narrow lens has something to do with it. While she mentions the problems of racism and tosses in an obligatory shout-out to Planned Parenthood, those issues are not central to her narrative of how America got the way it is and how Democrats need to fix it. She gives no credence to peoples religious convictions and moral crises. She spends no time on battles over LGBT identity or racialized policing. And she has no patience for arguments in favor of smaller government. To Warren, real political action is never local and communal, but always federal. Some 200 pages in, it comes: a brief flicker of culpability, a feint at explanation. Obviously, not enough voters had believed that Clinton was the candidate most committed to fighting for their families, Warren writes. Our side hadnt closed the deal. . . . Shame on us. Its an admission of tactical failure, nothing more. That little word, us, is Warrens only nod to the possibility that she might bear some responsibility for her partys failures and the dismal state of American politics generally. Democrats shame is there. But Warren isnt about to share it. Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye is the chief justice on the California state Supreme Court. Years ago, when I was a trial court judge in Sacramento, the husband of one of my court staffers murdered their two children in front of her, beat her and then killed himself. All of us were unaware of her problems at home, as well as the fear and shame that drove her into silence. Soon after this tragedy, I began a domestic violence court a specialized court that aids victims and holds offenders accountable by connecting the justice system with social service agencies. Its a model that works. But, like everything else in the justice system, it only works if it has the trust, confidence and cooperation of all of the participants. It is my concern for the trust and confidence in our state court system that prompted me last month to ask Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly not to make immigration arrests at or near courthouses. Our state courts are on the front line of justice in the United States: We handle more than 90 percent of the nations case filings each year. I am asking that immigration agents treat courthouses as sensitive areas as they do schools, churches and hospitals. In their response, Sessions and Kelly agreed with me that the enforcement of our countrys immigration laws is necessary, and that we should strive to ensure public safety and the efficient administration of justice. As a former prosecutor, a judge and the wife of a retired police officer, I also agree with them that law-enforcement officials strive to perform their duties with the highest degree of professionalism and public service. We disagree, however, on where that enforcement should occur. My request is that they respect the safety needs of the state court system and those who access it. This goes to the core of our system of government, built on the principle of checks and balances. You dont have to read the Federalist Papers or be fortunate enough to get a ticket to the musical Hamilton to recognize the elegant weave of checks and balances set up by our Founders. Our three branches of government are co-equal; our local, state and federal governments have overlapping authority. Each branch and each entity should take care not to act in a way that undermines the trust and confidence of another branch or entity. We encourage the vulnerable to come to our courthouses for help. But immigration arrests, or the fear of arrests at or near courthouses, disrupt court activities and the lives of those seeking justice. The well-publicized immigration arrests at courthouses in Los Angeles and elsewhere have disrupted court business and deterred litigants. One judge said there was near hysteria among civil litigants recently when they thought immigration agents were about to raid a courthouse. An attorney in a small, rural county who assists self-represented litigants with landlord-tenant problems, domestic violence issues, probate and guardianships said litigants are too afraid to come to court. I worry that both documented and undocumented immigrants will no longer cooperate with state and local law-enforcement agencies; crimes or civil wrongs will go unreported and communities will live in fear. Some of the comments Ive received after I sent my letter suggest that I am against enforcement of our immigration laws. I am not. I ask for sensible enforcement tactics that do not undermine due process, fairness and access to justice in our state court systems. RECEP TAYYIP Erdogans ugly win in Sundays referendum on a new, authoritarian constitution for Turkey creates big problems for the countrys secular democratic forces and for Turkeys Western allies but also for Mr. Erdogan himself. His victory was not convincing, as he had hoped, but narrow, contested and tainted by the finding of a European observer mission that the pre-election campaign was not free or fair. Turkeys three biggest cities voted against the would-be strongman. The country is not united behind him, but polarized a political reality that even an empowered ruler will ignore at his peril. To be sure, the Turkish president sounded defiant in the wake of his victory, dismissing Western critics for their crusader mentality and hinting that he would embrace harsh new measures, such as reinstituting the death penalty something that would surely rupture Turkeys relations with European Union leaders. As it is, Mr. Erdogans government has purged some 130,000 people from their jobs and jailed more than 45,000 since a failed military coup last summer. The new constitution, which will take full effect in 2019, could allow him to remain president until at least 2029 , with only weak parliamentary checks and a judiciary he could shape with his own appointments. Turkey, however, has not yet reached the state of Egypt or Russia, where elections are grossly rigged and most opposition has been crushed. Even Kurdish towns that have been assaulted by the military in the name of defeating terrorists turned out to vote against Mr. Erdogan, as did the large secular populations of Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. Preliminary results showed 48.7 percent of the country voted against the constitution despite a one-sided campaign in which opposition voices were suppressed. A controversial decision by election authorities to accept ballots that lacked official stamps may have saved Mr. Erdogan from defeat, but at the price of further undermining his legitimacy. Mr. Erdogan would be wise to try to defuse some of the opposition by reaching out to opponents, as Western governments urged him to do. Until 2015 he pursued a peace settlement with the militant Kurdistan Workers Party; some observers think he may return to it. But Mr. Erdogans history over 14 years in office has reflected an increasing hunger for power, matched by a growing intolerance of criticism. If that trend continues, Turkey will face relentless domestic strife. All of this poses a dilemma for the United States and other NATO nations, which badly need Turkey as an anchor of the alliance on the borders of the Middle East but cannot easily countenance its drift toward dictatorship. The Trump administration awkwardly reflected this tension Monday as President Trump called Mr. Erdogan to offer congratulations and discuss Syria even as the State Department gingerly addressed the election irregularities and urged the government to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of all its citizens. In the near term, Western leaders cannot afford to break with Mr. Erdogan, but they must do their best to push him toward ending his domestic repression. The millions of Turks who still seek to preserve democracy and civil liberties will need allies, too. With Russia determined to use lies, violence and covert attacks to expand westward through Ukraine, we should all welcome Anne Applebaums answer to Secretary of State Rex Tillersons rhetorical question Why should U.S. taxpayers be interested in Ukraine? [Why U.S. taxpayers should care about Ukraine, op-ed, April 16]. It is disturbing and revealing that Mr. Tillerson would pose this question as he did. The State Departments attempt to defend it as a rhetorical device did nothing to illuminate the secretarys intentions. As a radio reporter covering the State Department in the 1990s, I remember a moment in October 1993 when then-Secretary of State Warren Christopher arrived in Kiev for meetings with then-President Leonid Kravchuk and Ukraines parliament. The meetings concerned disposal of Soviet nuclear armaments. Clearly tired and ready for rest after a long flight from Kazakhstan, Mr. Christopher stopped anyway as I approached him in a hotel lobby. I asked, Beyond disposal of Soviet nukes, what do Americans need to hear about your visit to Ukraine, Mr. Secretary? He answered, Its about sharing American values and the U.S. priority to speed the day when Ukraine can live in freedom, prosperity and peace. Mr. Tillerson would be well served to study the successful use of soft diplomacy by his predecessors. David Randal Allen, Amissville, Va. Whether for real or imagined reasons, North Koreas motivation for pursuing its nuclear weapon and intercontinental ballistic missile programs is its decades-long fear of an attack by the United States, not China or Russia [Tough rhetoric has North Koreas neighbors on edge, news, April 14]. If thats the case, the Trump administrations parking an aircraft carrier and submarines in its vicinity simply confirms Pyongyangs fear, as reflected in its current rhetoric. A much better way of neutralizing North Koreas nuclear program would be to assure the regime that we have no intention of attacking, not now nor into the far future. Such assurance could start with offering to finally sign a peace treaty to end the 1950-1953 Korean War and, as well, to stop holding those annual, joint U.S.-South Korean military maneuvers, which North Korea takes seriously as preparation for an invasion. Sure, North Korea might interpret such overtures as some sort of victory over its archenemy, but so what if they initiate the winding down of its nuclear program? Herman M. Heyn, Baltimore Before he joined the Supreme Court a decade ago, John Roberts proclaimed what he called the cardinal rule of judicial restraint: If it is not necessary to decide more, it is necessary not to decide more. But as he heard arguments Wednesday in this terms much anticipated church-state case, the chief justice seemed to be practicing a different rule from the one he preached: More is more. Restraint was in short supply during oral arguments in the Trinity Lutheran Church case at the high court. It was a manufactured controversy, cooked up by conservative interest groups that are hoping to chip away at constitutional provisions in 39 states restricting taxpayer money from going to churches. In this case, it wasnt only unnecessary to decide more it was unnecessary to decide it at all. It wasnt a big deal to start with: A preschool in Missouri had applied for a state grant in 2012 to repave its playground with flooring made from old tires. The state rated the application highly but denied the grant because the school was run by a church. The church sued. The complaint became irrelevant last week when the states new governor, Eric Greitens, reversed Missouris position and said he would allow religious organizations to compete for such grants. The lawyer hired by the state, James Layton, suddenly found himself arguing the position opposite of those who hired him. The case would seem to meet the dictionary definition of moot, as in, deprived of practical significance. Some justices thought so. Why isnt the case moot? Stephen Breyer asked, adding that the governor said hes going to give you the grants. Ruth Ginsburg said that while the case may not be technically moot, Missouris reversal would have affected whether we thought this was an appropriate case to review. Sonia Sotomayor asked Layton: If representatives of the state are not willing to fight this case, are they manufacturing adversity by appointing you? The short answer: Yes. In front of the Supreme Court on Wednesday, Concerned Women for America, a conservative group, was displaying balloons and signs proclaiming Every Childs Safety Matters. Said Annette Kiehne, the Trinity Lutheran preschool director, This is about keeping our kids safe, wherever they play. But it really wasnt about that. It was about interest groups whose business model depends on perpetuating the culture wars trying to frighten people into thinking Christianity is under siege. It was a springtime version of the annual war on Christmas. Michael Farris, CEO of the Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented Trinity in the case, was fairly straightforward about his motives, telling reporters in the plaza that theres a broad concern among religious people in this country that were becoming second-class citizens. But if this supposed assault on Christianity is real, it has been going on for a long time. Opponents of the church-state language in state constitutions correctly say that these Blaine Amendments were shaped by anti-Catholic bigotry in the late 19th century. But their roots go back to the founding. Layton told the justices that Missouri in 1820 adopted language based on Thomas Jeffersons 1786 Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which said that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever. What has changed now? Nothing except the rise of interest groups (on both sides) that justify their existence and boost their fundraising with such controversies. The goal this time: to roll back restrictions on public money going to churches. An article in the conservative National Review argued that a victory for Trinity Lutheran would fundamentally alter the landscape of school choice. Arguing for Trinity, David Cortman offered reasons the justices need to rule even though there isnt an actual dispute in this case: The governor could change his mind, or state courts could knock down the governors new policy. Eventually, though, he admitted that why were here in the first place is the Missouri state constitutional provision the one saying no public money may be used in aid of any church. So thats what its about: Invalidating dozens of state constitutional provisions keeping public money out of churches. There are 39 states with constitutional amendments like the one Missouri has. Thats a history, Sotomayor said. And the essence of that history is, basically, we dont want . . . the vast majority of states to fund houses of worship. Justice Samuel Alito, in retort to Sotomayor, disputed the idea that the Missouri amendment reflects an admirable historical tradition that should be respected. No, anti-Catholicism wasnt admirable, but the American tradition that the government doesnt give cash to churches is venerable. A restrained judiciary wouldnt upend that tradition because of a manufactured conflict over a playground. Twitter: @Milbank Read more from Dana Milbanks archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. The only modern president who rivaled Donald Trump in his lack of preparation for global leadership was Harry Truman. Both men took office with little knowledge of the international problems they were about to face, and with worries at home and abroad that they werent up to the job. I pray God I can measure up to the task, Truman said right after Franklin Roosevelts death and the shock of taking the oath of office. Trump wouldnt be human if he hadnt had a similar prayer in a corner of his mind on Jan. 20. Now, in one of those curious rhymes of history, Trump faces a similar challenge to Trumans in confronting North Korea. Truman went to war in 1950 to reverse a North Korean invasion of the South. Trump is now perilously close to conflict in his attempt to halt North Koreas defiant nuclear program. What can todays occupant of the White House learn from Truman? The Missourian had many qualities now celebrated by historians, but lets focus on his personal character. Truman exhibited what in those days were called manly virtues quiet leadership, fidelity to his beliefs, a disdain for public braggadocio. He never took credit for things he hadnt accomplished. He never blamed others for his mistakes. President Trump is obviously a radically different person from Truman. Hes a showy New Yorker, where Truman was a low-key Missouri farm boy. Where Trump made his name as a noisy casino tycoon and TV star, the poker-playing Truman always kept his cards close. (Adriana Usero/The Washington Post) What these two presidents have in common is the experience of coming into the Oval Office facing widespread doubts. What Truman teaches us is that character counts, especially for a president with low initial popularity ratings. On foreign policy, Trump has shown a flexibility and pragmatism that contradict some of his inflammatory campaign rhetoric. He had accused China of raping the American economy, for example, but as president, he evidently realized that he needed Beijings help on North Korea and other issues and dropped his claims that Beijing was a currency manipulator. Trumps Russia position seems to be evolving, too. During the campaign, he was almost fawning in his praise for President Vladimir Putin, and investigators probed for hidden connections to Russias covert hacking of the 2016 campaign. Now Trump has taken a warier tone toward Putin. There have been similar shifts on more mundane issues, such as the Export-Import Bank and the tenure of Federal Reserve Chair Janet L. Yellen. Trumps new positions seem right to me. But because they represent reversals from earlier views, they raise the question of what this man really believes. How does a politician become more trustworthy? Theres no formula; it must be earned. But Trump would help himself if he exhibited more of the virtues that Truman embodied. Trump should stop blaming others, for starters. He should never again say that Barack Obama is the cause of his difficulties in Syria, or anywhere else. Shifting blame sounds political, but it also sounds weak. Similarly, Trump should never again malign his military commanders, as he did after the death of Navy SEAL William Ryan Owens, when Trump said that the generals . . . lost Ryan. Such statements are the opposite of leadership. Trump should stop taking credit for things he didnt do (and even for things he did accomplish). These boasts only diminish him. Its good that he has decided that NATO isnt obsolete anymore, but hes foolishly vain to take credit for it. The same is true with job gains from decisions by U.S. companies to keep plants in the United States. The quicker Trump is to claim personal credit, the phonier it seems. Trumps taxes present another example of how trust is won and lost. The man running for president might refuse to release his tax returns, but the wise chief executive, never. When presidents encounter difficulty, they need public confidence. Divisive tactics that may work in a campaign, or attempts to shift responsibility to others, can be ruinous. Truman is remembered as a great president because he overcame a history of personal failure, as a farmer and a haberdasher, to develop the one bond thats indispensable for a president, which is that in a crisis, people believed him. Truman was grieved by North Koreas invasion in 1950. The war went badly, his popularity plummeted, his commander, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, defied him. But the public stuck with Truman for a simple reason: He had built a reservoir of the trust that is essential for a successful leader. Read more from David Ignatiuss archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. In his April 17 op-ed, Venezuela and the eclipse of U.S. leadership, Jackson Diehl accurately depicted the hell Venezuelans are living in. He put some of the blame on declining U.S. leadership in inter-American affairs. True, Washington no longer exerts the clout it once did in a region that has become increasingly confident and assertive on the global stage. That was evident in 2009 following a military coup in Honduras. Washington was unable to pressure the de facto government that took power in that small Central American country to step down. Moreover, in the early days of Hugo Chavezs rule in Venezuela, the United States couldnt disguise its glee after a coup attempt in 2002, and Washington alienated all Latin American nations. Mr. Chavez was radicalized and tightened his grip. Mr. Diehl was right that the United States can do a better job of marshaling regional support to pressure the Venezuelan regime, but governments have also held back for pragmatic economic and ideological reasons, keeping distance from what might be perceived as a U.S.-led effort to topple a Latin American government. While the endgame may be near, the regime is entrenched and sits on the worlds largest oil reserves. Applying serious economic sanctions would do little other than deepen the misery of many Venezuelans. More regional governments are waking up to Venezuelas disaster and are willing to do something about it. If Washington assumes a more unilateral, interventionist stance, progress could stall, drawing the United States and a transformed Latin America further apart. Michael Shifter, Washington The writer is president of the Inter-American Dialogue. The Supreme Courts newest look at the separation of church and state focused Wednesday on the hard and unforgiving surface of a church preschools playground in Missouri. Trinity Lutheran Church in Columbia, Mo., wanted to participate in a state program that reimburses the cost of rubberizing the surface of playgrounds. But the state said that was not allowed. The exclusion has raised big questions about how to uphold the Constitutions prohibition on government support for religion without discriminating against those who are religious. Its a fraught issue. Its a hard issue, said Justice Elena Kagan, adding, Its an issue on which I I guess Im going to say nobody is completely sure that they have it right. [Court agrees to hear church playground case with larger implications] Kagan and other justices across the courts ideological spectrum indicated that they believed Missouri might have gone too far in excluding Trinity Lutheran. The courts ultimate decision in the case could have wide-ranging implications for government aid to religious institutions. Missouris state constitution, similar to those of about three dozen states, directs that no money shall ever be taken from the public treasury, directly or indirectly, in aid of any church, sect, or denomination of religion. David A. Cortman, a lawyer for the conservative group Alliance Defending Freedom, representing the church, acknowledged the difficulty religious cases raise but said this one should be easier for the justices than most. All were talking about is . . . a safer surface on the playground for when kids play, Cortman told the court, adding, That doesnt enable any religious activity. But James R. Layton, a Jefferson City lawyer representing the state, said that no matter where the line is drawn on the separation of church and state, writing a check that says payable to Trinity Lutheran Church ought to be on the other side of the line. Layton seemed to face an uphill battle in defending the exclusion of church groups from a program with only a secular goal making playgrounds safer and for which Trinitys Learning Center would have been approved had it been a secular preschool. Kagan challenged him. Youre depriving one set of actors from being able to compete in the same way everybody else can compete, because of their religious identification, she said. In such a case, she said, the states interests have to rise to an extremely high level. Kagan asked tough questions of Cortman as well. But the court already has a conservative majority likely to include the newest justice, Neil M. Gorsuch that is protective of religious plaintiffs. Sympathetic comments from Kagan and Justice Stephen G. Breyer, her fellow liberal, bode well for the church. [George Will: When separation of church and state leads to children with scraped knees] The hour-long argument suggested there could be a majority for a narrow ruling in favor of churches when programs are generally applicable to the public and secure secular benefits promoting, for instance, health and safety. Some states with constitutional restrictions like Missouris allow such participation. And adding a twist to the case Missouri now does as well. The states new Republican governor, Eric Greitens, announced last week that he was reversing the policy that denied Trinitys application in 2012 and that churches are now eligible to participate. The states new attorney general agrees, and Layton was appointed by the state to defend its old policy. Several justices asked why that did not make the case moot. Certainly if the new policy had been in place it would have affected the courts decision to review the case, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said. But Cortman and Layton argued that the court should decide the issue, because the policy could be changed again in the future. Justices spent little time on that issue and more on the merits of the arguments. The backdrop for the case was a 2004 Supreme Court decision, Locke v. Davey, that said Washington states college scholarship program could deny those who wanted to major in theology. Cortman and some of the conservative justices said that was different because a theology degree was obviously more closely tied to religious practice. [Gorsuch jumps right in] Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. had tough questions for Layton, and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. pointed out a number of federal programs that allowed government funding for safety and protection of churches, synagogues and mosques. Another oddity of the case is that the court accepted it in January 2016, before the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. The court delayed scheduling it until now, when it has a full roster of justices, perhaps to avoid a tie Gorsuch asked few questions Wednesday. He did volunteer that everyone in the case agrees that the church was subject to discrimination by being told it could not participate in the program, which reimburses those that resurface their playgrounds through a state program that recycles old tires. Justices Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor were Cortmans toughest questioners. Sotomayor took exception to Cortmans argument that Missouris program interfered with the right to free religious exercise. We seem to be confusing money with religious practice. I dont think the two are tied, she said. This church is not going to close its religious practices or its doors because its playground doesnt have these tires. Missouri and the majority of states restrict the use of tax money for religious institutions, Sotomayor said. Theyre just saying, We dont want to be involved with the church, she said. Ginsburg noted that Trinity said it does not discriminate among the students it accepts. But, she asked, what about a theoretical case in which a church school favored Lutherans, then other Protestants, then perhaps allowed in Jews or others as space permitted? Should public money go for such a church? Cortman replied that he believed Trinity should be included in the grant program even if it restricted its school population to Lutherans. Breyer pressed Layton on why it was proper for Missouri to provide religious institutions with some services but not others. Does the Constitution of the United States permit a state or a city to say, we give everybody in this city police protection but not churches? Breyer asked. We give everybody fire protection, but let the church burn down. We give everybody public health protection, but not a church. Layton said he would be reluctant to make such a claim. But he said there were differences. One is that we are not actually taking money from the state treasury and giving it to the church, Layton said. And this court has seldom, if ever, actually said its okay to write a check from the public treasury to a church. . . . Were providing a service. And the service there is not being provided solely for the benefit of the church. The service is being provided for police and fire for the benefit of the public safety. The case is Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Comer. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz announced Wednesday that he will not run for reelection to his House seat in 2018. The Utah Republican said he wont seek any political office in 2018, stirring speculation that he may run for governor in 2020. Last year, he told the Deseret News of Salt Lake City that he would take a serious, serious look at a gubernatorial bid in Utah once his term as chairman of the Houses primary investigative committee expired. Chaffetz, who was first elected in 2008 and has considered running for the Senate, is the target of rising criticism over his lack of interest in aggressively investigating President Trump. He said Wednesday that he plans to return to the private sector, though he did not provide more detail. For those that would speculate otherwise, let me be clear that I have no ulterior motives, Chaffetz, 50, wrote on his Facebook page. I am healthy. I am confident I would continue to be re-elected by large margins. I have the full support of Speaker Ryan to continue as Chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. That said, I have made a personal decision to return to the private sector. He added, I may run again for public office, but not in 2018. He is one of nine House Republicans who have resigned or announced plans to retire in 2018, four of whom left to join Trumps administration and sparked special elections such as the one in Georgia on Tuesday in which Democrat Jon Ossoff nearly avoided a runoff for Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Prices old House seat. Anti-Trump energy has buoyed Democratic hopes of retaking the House in the midterm elections next year, and a well-funded Democratic challenger has emerged in Utahs 3rd Congressional District, which is now open. Although its red territory that Chaffetz has easily won previously, 2018 dynamics could make it more competitive. First-time candidate Kathryn Allen (D) touted her campaign on Twitter on Wednesday as news of Chaffetzs decision spread. This changes the field but not my commitment to bringing integrity to Congress, she wrote. Since he wont do his job, I will. Chaffetz has made his mark on the House since his election nine years ago and ascension to the Oversight Committee chairmanship in 2015. As chairman, he was a pugnacious prosecutor of the Obama White House and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, taking a lead role in challenging the administration on the deaths of embassy personnel in Benghazi, Libya, and relentlessly probing Clintons private email server. He intended to expand his oversight of the new president if Clinton had won in November. Its a target-rich environment, the Republican said in an interview at the end of October. Even before we get to Day One, weve got two years worth of material already lined up. She has four years of history at the State Department, and it aint good. [House Republicans are already preparing for years of investigations of Clinton] Instead, Trump won the election, and Chaffetz has not subjected him to the aggressive oversight called for by Democrats and ethics watchdogs over possible conflicts of interest raised by the presidents sprawling business empire. His first request to the Trump White House came in mid-February, when he asked for information about security at the presidents Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after Trump pored over documents related to North Korea on the clubs outdoor terrace. The move was interpreted as a small concession to critics but failed to quiet them after Chaffetz said on the same day that he would not investigate Trumps former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who had just resigned. The situation with Flynn was taking care of itself, Chaffetz said. He eventually joined his Democratic counterpart, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (Md.), to request information about Flynns security-clearance applications. [Chaffetz asks Trump for information about Mar-a-Lago security] Chaffetz waffled on his support for Trump before the election, stating emphatically that he couldnt look his teenage daughter in the eye if he backed the GOP nominee following his lewd comments toward women revealed in an Access Hollywood video. But a few weeks later, Chaffetz backtracked, saying he would vote for Trump because he just couldnt stomach Clinton. His district reelected him with 74 percent of the vote last year, but Allen outraised the congressman by collecting $534,000 as of the last filing deadline. The Salt Lake Tribune reported that Allens contributions spiked after Chaffetz appeared on national television and suggested that low-income Americans would be able to afford health insurance if they chose to forgo new iPhones, a comment he later tried to soften. Republican Damian Kidd is also considering running for Chaffetzs seat, saying Chaffetz was too interested in media attention. [Chaffetz just set some kind of record for flip-floppery] This month, Chaffetz held a town hall meeting during which an angry crowd criticized his tenure as Oversight chairman. Chaffetz has faced several angry demonstrations in his district since Trumps election but in February dismissed the protesters as a very, very small minority that is not representative of the average person, certainly not in Utah. Lisa Rein and Mike DeBonis contributed to this report. John DeStefano, head of the office of presidential personnel, stands for a portrait in his office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) If Johnny DeStefano applied for a job in the Trump administration, chances are pretty good that Johnny DeStefano wouldnt hire him. DeStefano is the presidents official headhunter, responsible for filling up to 4,000 political jobs about 500 of which are really important jobs in a government that his boss promised to clear of the permanent class of capital insiders to drain the Washington swamp. So the ideal applicant wouldnt have spent much of his career on Capitol Hill as DeStefano has, starting with a college internship. Or served as political director for former House speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), who embodies the GOP establishment. Or raised money for House Republicans, then built a data operation used by the Republican National Committee. And yet this didnt stop DeStefano, an amiable 38-year-old who grew up in Kansas City, Mo., from getting an under-the-radar role as someone to see in Trump world. In an interview at his corner office next to the White House, the director of presidential personnel brushes off suggestions that his mainstream political pedigree is a liability. Before Trump, everyone started somewhere, he says, sitting easily in a navy blue suit at the conference table where he asks people why they want to work for President Trump. The spacious digs are appointed with white marble floors, a black limestone fireplace and coffered ceiling 18 feet above him. What Im interested in now is, Why do you want the job, and more specifically, why do you want to work for this administration? DeStefano says he asks candidates he interviews for jobs ranging from undersecretary of transportation to ambassador to the European Union. Whats your vision? I want to know that myself, he says. Im the person whos vouching for them to the president of the United States. Hes also struggling to fill critical jobs across a government still missing most of its senior leaders, a personnel roadblock caused by a slow start, screening delays, candidates turned off by a post-government lobbying ban and the possibility that Trump doesnt want to fill all of those posts. When the White House announced DeStefanos appointment, the far-right blogosphere lit up in anger. Those who hoisted the pirate flag and joined the Trump team when he was at 2 percent in the polls . . . must wonder what the devil is going on, longtime conservative activist Richard Viguerie wrote, calling the choice a major impediment to Trumps goals. And yet DeStefano has won over the pirate wing led by Stephen K. Bannon, Trumps combative chief strategist. Bannon now calls DeStefano just a huge piece of manpower with a very good sense of who could be a change agent and what are the key positions you have to fill and get filled right away. DeStefanos new post and ornate office are a long way from the Data Trust in downtown Washington, the Republican voter-data firm where he could wear flip flops and jeans to work while overseeing the team of 24 technology geeks he built to modernize the GOPs voter files. He climbed the ladder of Washington politics the traditional way. The summer of his junior year at Saint Louis University, his uncle, a longtime Capitol Hill chief of staff, helped get him an internship with then-Rep. J.C. Watts (R-Okla.). After graduation, DeStefano got a job serving as liaison to outside conservative groups for the House Republican Conference, and when Democrats targeted Rep. Deborah Pryce in 2006, he went to Ohio to run her reelection campaign. The GOP lost the House but Pryce squeaked by with a margin of 1,055 votes. Boehner took notice and hired DeStefano to help recruit Republicans to run for the House. Then as head of member services, DeStefano advised tea party members elected in 2010 on how to staff their offices. His surroundings notwithstanding, he retains a sense of minimalism, with almost-empty bookcases and a bare desk except for some stray papers and an empty tube of Airborne, the immune-system booster. It looks as though he hasnt moved in. Friends say the sparse office shouldnt be confused with disengagement: DeStefano is a strategic thinker with a radar for assessing peoples talents. Youre not going to see pictures of Johnny in the Oval with President Trump, says Brett Loper, the top policy aide to Boehner who is senior vice president of government affairs at American Express. You might see a leftover dish that once contained ice cream. Hes not a flashy, let-me-show-off-my-relationships-in-Washington kind of guy. But there are some small signs of his new prominence. The regular guy who seems most at home talking about his beloved Kansas City Royals signs job offers with a more formal version of his name: John DeStefano. This has led to ribbing from friends, including Boehner, who know him only as Johnny. Leaving behind the nickname only serves to reinforce that DeStefano is a player with considerable stroke part facilitator, part closer. Hes the man bringing the president the names of candidates who must get Senate sign-off after Cabinet secretaries and a long line of senior White House aides have weighed in. The competing powers in the inner circle often cant agree, and DeStefano nudges them to consensus or starts over. In a White House besieged by infighting, he tries to manage the chaos. Johnny takes a lot of heat, says Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, describing pressure that comes from above, below and from the calendar. Hes calm, hes patient and he has a good understanding of whos in charge, meaning the president. DeStefano finds himself firing back at naysayers who think that Trump is moving too slowly to staff the government. Bill Clinton had 100 people looking through resumes and Trump has 36. So what? Back then, they came in on paper. Now theyre emailed. I think that doing it right is more important than doing it fast, he says. Which makes sense coming from someone who didnt aspire to the job he landed. Priebus, who got to know DeStefano when he was Republican National Committee chairman, called DeStefano two days before Christmas to ask him to come to New York the next day to meet the president-elects son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, at Trump Tower. DeStefano was getting ready to fly home to ask his girlfriend, Sarah Cascio, a property manager he met in Kansas City, to marry him. One problem: DeStefano hadnt put on a suit in years. The ones in his closet were too snug. He squeezed into his best one, and has since seen a tailor. Literally, this came out of the blue, Boehner says. You dont have to wonder what youre getting with Johnny. He brings stability. He had no experience in executive searches before this. Most presidents have their personnel chiefs in place months before the election. He wasnt on board until late January, after Trumps transition team had dumped New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) and his lists of potential job candidates. The hiring operation was on life support. DeStefano and his team ensure that candidates pass the ultimate test in this administration: loyalty. (Never Trumpers or those who said something unflattering about the candidate on Twitter or Facebook are almost always disqualified.) Its my job if I see any daylight anywhere to make sure its dealt with before it gets to the president, DeStefano says. He and his team are also the gatekeepers, culling thousands of resumes the White House wont say how many in the personnel offices database to create a list for lower-level posts that dont require Senate confirmation. Few of the top jobs are filled from that list; instead they emerge from a more chaotic process by which an adviser, family member, senator or the vice president will hand DeStefano a name and tell him to take a look. He has to tell Cabinet secretaries when their picks arent going to fly with the White House. So where do you begin to hire 4,000 people who want to upend the federal government as we know it? For starters, this isnt a spoils system. There wasnt a huge campaign, DeStefano says. This isnt a Republican administration that came with thousands and thousands of folks who are expecting jobs. Theyre looking instead for people who have driven change in or out of government. He acknowledges that finding outsiders involves a little bit more of a mix of recruitment and placement than I think most administrations have had, but he calls it an opportunity. Hiring in the Trump White House can take unpredictable turns. After fast-food executive Andrew Puzder withdrew his nomination to be labor secretary in February, DeStefano had met with the president about potential replacements when Bannon came into the Oval Office with two of his own picks one of whom was a former U.S. attorney from Miami who had interviewed for an agency general counsel job. The team immediately met with him, shifted gears, and Trump nominated Alexander Acosta for labor secretary. When Priebus called, DeStefano had been running Data Trust for four years. His friends say he doesnt get enough credit for building up what was an anemic operation almost from scratch. It was a place that was not functioning, said Guy Harrison, who ran the House Republican fundraising arm with DeStefano as second-in command. Hes really good at reforming from within. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), center, and Democratic National Committee Chairman Thomas Perez, far left, greet members of the band Relic at the Louisville Palace on April 18. (Sam Upshaw Jr./AP) Earlier this week, before heading downstairs to speak to nearly 3,000 Kentuckians, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) reminisced about his 2016 presidential campaign. After he had gained steam, and his rallies had become arena-size events, he was struck by the difference between his crowds and those at Democratic Party fundraisers. Wed have a rally with five or ten thousand young people out, a great deal of energy, Sanders said between bites of a steak sandwich. Then Id walk into a room and thered be a thousand people from the Democratic Party. You were in two different worlds one full of energy, one full of idealism. And the other, full of good people I dont mean to put them down who are the bedrock of the Democratic Party. At that moment, Sanders was on the second day of a week-long, cross-country speaking tour with Democratic National Committee Chairman Thomas Perez. The DNC was picking up half the bill for the 12-seat chartered plane as well as the venues, including the downtown Louisville Palace. As Sanders spoke, Perez was a block away, meeting with party leaders who like most Democratic leaders had backed Hillary Clinton for president. Later that evening, they would take a stage and praise Sanders, who is not a Democrat, for reinvigorating their party. A chairman who defeated Sanderss preferred candidate to run the DNC was now touring as his opening act. Our values are aligned on so many of the critical issues that confront the nation and the Democratic Party, Perez said in an interview. When people actually look at the platform of the Democratic Party theyll say, We need community college! well, look at the platform. When they say, We need a $15 minimum wage look at the platform. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post) The first 24 hours of the tour revealed both the strength and the seams in the strategy. It began in Portland, Maine, on Monday evening, where a crowd wrapped around the State Theatre to see the Come Together, Fight Back tour. Maines Democratic Party leaders flitted through the crowds with clipboards, encouraging fans of Sanders to sign up. [Republicans avoid big loss by forcing runoff in Ga. House race] They had competition. A group of rogue Berniecrats had brought clipboards of their own, with petitions encouraging the senator to run for president in 2020 as an independent. When the rally began, a mention of Perez was met with boos audible over mild applause; the loudest heckling came from a man whose T-shirt declared his support for the Green Party. Once onstage, Perez described his Democratic Party as a vessel for activists, with a platform they could love. It was activists, he said, who stopped the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. It was activists who had passed a minimum-wage hike, which Maines Republican governor had halted. In these first 100 days, the most remarkable thing is not what Donald Trump did the most remarkable thing is what you did across the county, Perez said. The chairman left the stage, and a disembodied announcer introduced Sanders. This time, there were no boos; over 48 minutes, Sanders mentioned Perezs DNC only once. Our job is to radically transform the Democratic Party into a 50-state party, Sanders said. Our job is to create a democratic Democratic Party, a grass-roots party, where decisions are made from the bottom up. Any Sanders supporter could crack that code. In 2016, especially after it became clear that he could not win the nomination, Sanders and his delegates waged a largely successful campaign to move the party to the left. The platform Perez could not praise quickly enough had been altered to endorse Sanderss economic issues, as well as marijuana decriminalization and the end of a ban on federal money paying for abortion. A unity commission, created to appease Sanders delegates who blamed superdelegates for skewing the primaries, had finally been impaneled and Sanders was watching to see whether it followed his advice. Since Clintons general election loss, there was little resistance inside the party to Sanderss politics. As the plane flew to Louisville, a Harvard-Harris poll was being released that found Sanders polling at 57 percent favorability with all voters. No politician in America was better-liked. Sanders is an asset to the Democrats, said Mark Penn, a former Clinton pollster and strategist, in a statement about the poll. In Kentucky, where Clinton pipped Sanders in the primary, the senators star power followed him to every stop. After he finished his steak sandwich, a souvenir-seeker raced to his half-empty plate and picked up a french fry, waving it at a table of his friends like a trophy. On a midday visit to Frankfort, where the millennial-focused news site Mic had convened a group of Kentucky voters, Sanders walked past posters from his 2016 bid that had never left the venues windows; selfie-seekers waited more than an hour to see him. The reason we are on this tour is to do nothing less than try to revitalize American democracy, Sanders said. Doing so did not mean going easy on Democrats. In Frankfort, as in Mondays speeches, Perez and Sanders suggested that Democrats had lost voters to Trumps GOP because they had stopped talking to them. Perez and Sanders took turns explaining to the Mic-assembled panel that Democrats wanted to help them all to provide free college education, to pay coal miners pensions, to make health care cheaper. I suspect that the Democratic Party here in Kentucky has not done the kind of job that it should have done in explaining [that] hundreds of thousands of people have received health care, Sanders said to a scrum of reporters after the panel. [Republicans avoided calamity in this months two special elections, but a lot more peril lies ahead] Perez, who has criticized Democrats for the same sins, took more shots at the Trump presidency. The cost of one trip to Mar-a-Lago would fund the White House logs database for 13 years, he said, after a windup about the Trump budgets spending cuts. On the way back to Louisville, Perez suggested that Democrats had countless opportunities to portray Trump as a phony populist; the challenge was in focusing and getting anyone to listen. Your life is not going to improve if your family member, who has an opioid addiction, loses his health care, Perez said. Your life isnt going to improve if an infrastructure bill doesnt have prevailing wage requirements. On Tuesday, as the tour continued, Perez and Sanders fell in and out of sync. Perez had spent weeks talking up Jon Ossoff, the Democrat trying to win the suburban Atlanta congressional district vacated when Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price joined the Trump administration. After a closer-than-expected April 11 defeat in a Kansas district, Perez thought Democrats needed to swing at everything. Sanders was less interested in the Ossoff race. Hes not a progressive, he said. He was endorsing Democrats based on their economic populism; they could differ from progressives on social issues but not on the threat of the mega-rich to American politics. Soon, he said, the 5-to-4 majority on the Supreme Court was likely to make it legal for the wealthy to give unlimited sums to candidates, and the only way to fight back was grass-roots politicking and small donations. If you are running in rural Mississippi, do you hold the same criteria as if youre running in San Francisco? he said. I think youd be a fool to think thats all the same. Sanders had said this before, and each time, he had sparked anger from a center-left ready to accuse him of abandoning women or nonwhite voters. On Thursday, he was set to campaign in Omaha for Heath Mello, a Democrat running for mayor who had previously backed a bill requiring ultrasounds for women considering abortions. But Perez and Sanders were on the same page about candidate diversity. I live in the peoples republic of Takoma Park, Perez said. If you demand fealty on every single issue, then its a challenge. The Democratic Party platform acknowledges that were pro-choice, but there are communities, like some in Kansas, where people have a different position. By Tuesday night, the tour was starting to click. There was just one heckler in the Palace, who yelled corporate shill at the chairman during a quiet moment. As in Maine, there was a standing ovation when a local member of Congress, a Democrat who had backed Clinton, endorsed Sanderss call for single-payer, Canada-style health care. And there was a smoother stage show. Perez himself introduced Sanders, and the senator told their audience to bring millions of people into the political process and create a political system not dominated by a handful of billionaires. After 45 minutes, Perez re-emerged from backstage, following Sanders to the place where a bluegrass band called Relic was playing This Land Is Your Land. The two of them clapped along, belting out Woody Guthries lyrics. From a distance, it looked as if they were singing in harmony. Read more at PowerPost In a tiny managers office at the back of the kitchen of an Italian family restaurant here, Republican Bob Gray explained that he never would have run for Congress if it werent for Donald Trump. If this was any other year or we didnt have the kind of president that we have, I would not have run, Gray said. I recognized if Trump is one thing, he is a disrupter. And if you want significant change, you need a leader who is able to disrupt. Like Trump, Gray considers himself a disrupter. Hes a businessman, he said, whose only prior elected office was to the City Council of the Atlanta suburb of Johns Creek. Like Trump, he added, he was an outsider who wasnt part of the establishment. Even his slogan was cribbed from Trump: America First. Conservative Always. That didnt do much for Gray in Tuesday nights special election in Georgias 6th Congressional District, however. In a district Trump had carried by just 1.5 percentage points last year, Gray had banked on just enough pro-Trump Republicans to carry him into a runoff with Democrat Jon Ossoff. With the GOP vote split between 11 Republican candidates, it wasnt an entirely wild idea, but as midnight approached on Tuesday, it became clear that it was just a fantasy. Karen Handel, a Republican candidate for Georgia's 6th Congressional District, appeared headed for a June runoff against Democrat Jon Ossoff after a special election on Tuesday. (David Goldman/AP) Instead, the evening would go to Karen Handel, who appeared headed to a runoff with Ossoff early Wednesday. For most Republican voters in the 6th District, Trump loyalty has become a matter of begrudging party loyalty. Its a delicate dance, and Handel found a way to do it best. [Democrat Jon Ossoff appears headed to runoff in Ga. House race] She didnt ape Trumps slogan or paste photos of the president on her campaign headquarter walls or have supporters wave Trump signs at a campaign rally the way Gray did, but she paid lip service to the Trump agenda. She went so far as to list Trumps border wall on her website as a key policy proposal, but she did it without actually mentioning the president by name. Do I support the president? Absolutely, she said in an interview. But my job, if I have the privilege of being the next congressman, is not to be an extension of the White House. It is to be the best representative. When more than half of unofficial returns had come in, Grays share of the vote was below 10 percent. Gray had been projected to get around 15 percent, within striking distance of Handel, the Republican front-runner. It didnt happen. By then, Grays campaign manager, Tyler Jacobs, had moved from the war room a single laptop surrounded by a black curtain to the bar. Gray was preparing to make his remarks. His supporters seemed deflated. Im not ready to say its over yet, Gray said, but he knew it was. And so did his supporters. So he implored them, Weve got to rally behind Karen Handel. No one cheered; there was no applause for party unity. And why should there be? For at least some of Grays most hardcore supporters, they had supported him specifically because of his love for Trump. Hes willing to support the president, and I voted for the president, said Brittany Evrard, a 27 year-old substitute teacher from Fulton County who volunteered for both Trump and Gray. Handel might like Trump fine, supporters like Evrard figured, but she wasnt like Gray. She wasnt, as hed say, a disrupter. But she was the choice of more 6th District Republicans than any other candidate. Read more at PowerPost Republicans have emerged from two close-call elections rattled but not yet defeated, but with fresh, frightening evidence of the additional political peril that almost certainly lies ahead. Sure, they avoided the calamity of an outright loss in Tuesdays special election in Georgia, advancing to a runoff race in two months to replace the new health secretary, Tom Price. And when lawmakers return next week, House Speaker Paul D. Ryans first order of business will be to swear in the newest House Republican, Ron Estes, after his special election win in Kansas last week. But both races gave Republicans a scare they never would have anticipated six months ago and demonstrated that Democrats have galvanized the anti-Trump activism of the past three months into votes at the ballot box. Even though Democrats came up short in each race, these were seats way down the list of top Democratic targets. This was particularly true of the Estes race, in a district where Trump won by an overwhelming margin. Far richer targets await in the 2018 midterm elections. [Republicans avoid big loss by forcing runoff in Ga. House race] (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post) And in the near term, Republicans find themselves facing the same task figuring out how to fulfill President Trumps agenda that rallied Democrats in the first place. Democrats believe that Jon Ossoffs performance, less than two points shy of the 50 percent threshold he needed to win outright, validated their emerging strategy of focusing on dozens of GOP seats in diverse, well-educated suburbs across the country in advance of next years elections. Price regularly won this seat north of Atlanta without breaking a sweat, but Trump won the region by just 1.5 percentage points last year. [For Republicans in Georgias 6th District, a delicate dance with Trump] That signaled a potential vulnerability for several dozen Republicans in similar suburban areas, many of whom, like Price, have regularly won reelection by wide margins. Almost all of these Republicans have never run for Congress with a Republican president in office. They are Republicans such as Reps. Lee Zeldin from Long Island and Ryan Costello from Philadelphias western suburbs, both elected in 2014, and Reps. Erik Paulsen from the Twin Cities suburbs and Leonard Lance of New Jersey, both elected in 2008. All four won reelection last November in a rout, with Lances 11-percentage-point win being the smallest margin of the four. Now they are all Democratic targets next year because of the suburban makeup of their districts. Previously they ran as independent checks against a Democratic president whose popularity wavered in those regions, but now they must choose sides defend or distance themselves from Trump. Even if he doesnt hit 50 tonight, Ossoff is showing us the path to retaking the House. It runs through the Panera Breads of America, Brian Fallon, a former adviser to Hillary Clintons presidential campaign and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), wrote Tuesday on Twitter. Democrats need a net gain of 24 seats to reclaim the House majority, and Ossoffs strong showing will heighten the attention on every decision made by Republicans in potential swing districts over the next 18 months. House Republicans have already backed off one attempt to pass Ryans plan to revise the 2010 Affordable Care Act, because of a revolt from conservatives and moderates. The House is midway through an 18-day break in which some Republicans have faced angry voters at town halls complaining that Ryans health-care plan would leave millions uninsured. Trump has been pushing for more negotiating and for a vote later this spring. The task was already an uphill fight. Now, after Kansas and Georgia, House Republicans may be even more anxious about voting on the controversial plan. If Republicans start believing their majority is imperiled, everything will grow more difficult. Each vote could bring more doubt from rank-and-file lawmakers wondering whether they are walking a plank toward defeat in the midterms. Legislative paralysis, in turn, could imperil Republican fortunes even more. Trump came into office with a sweeping prediction that he would win so much that the public would get tired of winning. Ryan spent last year waving his Better Way policy prescriptions, which he promised would become a reality under a Republican Congress and president. If Republicans dont push through some parts of Trumps agenda, theyll have very little to show voters next year in their reelection bids. This is a new dilemma for Republicans. Since winning the House during the 2010 midterms, they have behaved as if their gerrymandered districts created a permanent majority. They pushed the U.S. treasury to the brink of default in 2011 yet lost only a few seats the following year; they forced a government shutdown in 2013, only to expand their majority in 2014 to its largest since the Great Depression. Fast-forward to this year, when, in the span of one week, Republicans needed a last-minute infusion of cash from conservative groups in Washington to prop up Estes and saw a nearly $5 million barrage of ads against Ossoff do nothing more than keep him from winning outright in a district that has been held by Republicans since 1979. Those GOP groups will probably spend that much and more between now and the June 20 runoff. Ali Lapp, president of a Democratic super PAC, the House Majority PAC, questioned whether, by the fall of 2018, the GOP would be prepared to spend that much money in all districts this Republican. Ossoffs fate may not be the best determinant of whether they need to. Even if he loses in June, it might be a false positive. Thats what happened in June 2006, when Republicans poured all their resources into narrowly winning a special election to replace the imprisoned Randy Duke Cunningham. Democrats did the same in May 2010, eking out a win in a special election to replace the late John P. Murtha in western Pennsylvania. In each instance, the majority party claimed that the race showed they were well positioned for the midterm elections. In each instance, they were wrong: Democrats proceeded to lose the majority in 2010, and Republicans lost in 2006. The reality was that those special elections demonstrated only that the party in power had the wherewithal to win in a single head-to-head contest. When the general elections arrived, one side was trying to defend 60 or more vulnerable seats, while the minority had only a few at-risk districts to protect. Now, Republicans have to decide whether to keep pushing the big and bold plans on health care and an overhaul of the tax code or whether to pull back the ambition in the hope for some narrower victories. Each path has its own level of vulnerability, as two straight close special elections have demonstrated. Read more from Paul Kanes archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. President Trump is pressuring Congress to sink parts of the Affordable Care Act. But now that the first attempt at a GOP health-care overhaul has failed, he must decide whether to throw the law a line. The White House and Republican lawmakers are facing key decisions that could either improve the insurance marketplaces established by the ACA next year or prompt insurers to further hike rates or withdraw from those marketplaces entirely. Republicans had hoped to protect those with marketplace coverage while lawmakers replaced Obamacare. But with that effort hitting a wall, Trump and his health-care decision-makers are in a bind: They can either let the current system fail and risk raising the ire of 11 million Americans who use the marketplaces, or help stabilize Obamacare and potentially make it harder for Republicans in Congress to abandon the law itself. Its an awkward political environment, theres no question about it, said Lanhee Chen, a health-policy expert and former adviser to 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Republican objections to the ACA naturally lead them away from assisting it, but the party now bears some responsibility for what happens to it, Chen added. President Obama and President-elect Donald Trump speak to the media during a meeting in the Oval Office on Nov. 10. Trump must decide whether to support Obamacare now that the GOP health-care plan has failed. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) The reality of this is Republicans will face some political repercussions for what happens to Obamacare, he said. Trump and other Republicans have long predicted a so-called death spiral for the state-based marketplaces set up under President Obamas signature domestic achievement. Trump has often tweeted and said on the campaign trail that the law will die of its own weight. He shrugged off the recent failure of the GOP health-care bill by saying the law is exploding anyway. The best thing we can do, politically speaking, is let Obamacare explode, Trump said in the Oval Office last month. Its exploding right now. [ACA remains law of the land, but Trump vows to explode it] The dire predictions have partially come true: Although some state marketplaces offered multiple plan options and only modest premium raises last year, many others provided only one plan choice and double-digit premium hikes. Next years outlook is still unclear, but its unlikely the marketplaces will suddenly attract a better mix of healthy enrollees to help lower costs. If the marketplaces further deteriorate, Republicans may take the fall, surveys show. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that a majority of Americans will now blame Republicans, not Democrats, for marketplace problems, because the GOP spent the past seven years promising to fix and replace the system. That reality is forcing Republicans, including Trump, to seriously consider a half-dozen actions that could help improve or at least sustain the marketplaces where Americans without employer-sponsored plans buy coverage. Looking at next year, if we imagine that the marketplace right now is, say, a C-minus, there are several things that need to be done to just preserve it at its C-minus level, said Mike Adelberg, who under Obama directed the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight established at the Department of Health and Human Services. There is a list of actions the administration must decide whether to take to keep the marketplaces humming, most of them through regulatory actions at the Health and Human Services Department or through the Internal Revenue Service. The actions center on three programs: cost-sharing reductions, reinsurance and risk corridors. Cost-sharing refers to government subsidies to low-income Americans to help them pay for insurance. Trump threatened recently to let such subsidies lapse, but Democrats say they will shut down the government as part of the spending negotiations next week if the president follows through. Administration officials and lawmakers are still deciding how to handle the issue. A White House spokesman said only that no decisions have been made at this time. [Republicans may not want Trump to end Obamacare payments] Reinsurance and risk corridors are two programs set up under the ACA to redistribute funds from insurers with healthier enrollees to insurers with sicker, more expensive customers. The marketplaces could also be hurt or helped depending on whether the IRS enforces the ACAs individual mandate to buy coverage and whether the administration enforces new, tighter rules around enrollment. By pulling these levers, Congress and the administration could buy goodwill with insurers and also help shield themselves from criticisms that theyre ignoring the plight of those who have already seen the cost of their Obamacare plans rise dramatically. The marketplaces are already facing enough problems without Republicans trying to hurt them even more, said Gail Wilensky, who directed Medicare and Medicaid under George H.W. Bush. It is in no ones interest to stir that pot more than has already been stirred, which is quite enough without anyones help, Wilensky said. Trump and his administration have given mixed signals on how they will approach the issue. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued tighter enrollment rules last week that shorten the sign-up period for marketplace plans, mandate people pay any outstanding premiums before new coverage begins and, if theyre trying to sign up outside the regular season, require them to prove they meet the qualifications. These are all changes that pleased insurers selling marketplace plans. But the administration has also essentially stopped enforcing the individual mandate to buy coverage, which was supposed to be an important ACA tool to ensure that not just sick people, but also those who are healthy, buy coverage. The outgoing Obama administration had said that starting this year, the IRS wouldnt accept tax filings if people failed to indicate whether they had been insured. But under Trump, the agency has said it will continue the practice of accepting forms with that answer left blank, saying the decision meshes with the presidents executive order to reduce the burdens of the health-care law. Processing silent returns means that taxpayer returns are not systematically rejected, allowing them to be processed and minimizing burden on taxpayers, including those expecting a refund, the agency said in a statement, referring to returns that dont indicate the taxpayers health-care status. It remains unclear whether the Trump administration and Republicans will provide extra payments to insurers, which insurers say are essential for helping them hold down premiums. The most pressing of those payments are cost-sharing reductions, which reimburse insurers for discounting extra insurance costs such as co-payments and deductibles for those with incomes lower than 250 percent of the federal poverty level. The payments amount to about $7 billion next year. Thats far less than the $110 billion the federal government pays every year to subsidize premiums but still a significant amount for insurers who are overwhelmingly losing money on the marketplaces. Congress must decide whether to provide those payments in a government funding bill it is taking up next week. Although top Republicans appear reluctant to withhold them, Trump has suggested they could be used as leverage to get Democrats on board with other GOP priorities, such as funding a border wall. Insurers are also closely watching the administration for how it will treat the reinsurance and risk-corridor programs. They are due one more set of reinsurance payments before the program phases out, and its unclear whether the administration will pay all the money available or repay some of the funds to the U.S. treasury, as some Republicans have called for and as the law seems to direct. A number of insurers have also sued for risk-corridor payments, which the federal government lacked sufficient funds to cover over the past few years. If they get those payments, some insurers might be more prone to continuing to sell marketplace plans next year. Hypothetically, if the administration was to settle on the risk corridors, it would make people feel a whole heck of a lot better about sticking around, Adelberg said. Read more at PowerPost A poster in Jakarta, Indonesia, shows Habib Rizieq, the head of the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front, which opposed the incumbent Christian governor of Jakarata, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, in an election April 19, 2017. (Ed Wray/Getty Images) Jakartas first Christian governor in generations lost his reelection bid Wednesday, according to unofficial results, after a heated sectarian campaign that underscored the influence of hard-line Islamists in the worlds most populous Muslim nation. Although the results were not final, early counts showed a decisive victory for Anies Baswedan, a Muslim candidate whose supporters portrayed the race as a referendum on the power of Islam in shaping the politics of Indonesias capital. The outcome also raised questions about whether moderate Muslim political factions could face increasing pressure from hard-line groups energized by the Jakarta victory. The incumbent governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, was known for tough anti-corruption drives and challenges to hard-line Muslim groups that have taken on an increasingly central role in Indonesian politics. Comments he made last year led to charges of blasphemy that hung over the campaign. His blasphemy trial resumed Thursday with prosecutors calling for two years probation, meaning he probably would not face jail time even if convicted. The maximum penalty for blasphemy is five years in prison. You wont see a governor as clean as Ahok again, said Tsamara Amany, a university student and activist, referring to the governor by his nickname. She called Purnama a symbol of tolerance. But Indonesias Islamist groups waged powerful opposition, holding rallies that brought out hundreds of thousands of people. [How comic book super heroes became part of the Jakarta election] Baswedans apparent large margin of victory 58 percent to 42 percent in an unofficial tally contrasted with some polls pointing to a far closer race. Purnama won the first round of voting for governor in February in a three-way race. Official results of Wednesdays voting are to be announced in early May. The election also underscored the countrys political rifts on the eve of a visit by Vice President Pence, who is scheduled on Thursday to visit Jakartas Istiqlal Mosque, the largest in Southeast Asia. The blunt-speaking Purnama charged during the campaign that his Islamist opponents were betraying the constitution, and he urged Muslim voters in stump speeches to ignore imams who say Jakarta must have a Muslim governor. Baswedan, a smooth-talking former education minister, appealed for tolerance while also playing to hard-line sentiment. He declared that, as a Muslim, he would never vote for a Christian. I dont really care about who would be governor, said Alissa Wahid, a prominent progressive activist. But I am scared for the swinging pendulum of social change, especially in the Muslim community. They used mosques to spread hateful sentiments, and I am scared of the repercussions. In the elections first round, held in February, Purnama received 43 percent of the vote against two Muslim opponents. In the decisive runoff, he got around 42 percent suggesting that he had hit his ceiling during the first contest. The population in Jakarta and the surrounding region is about 85 percent Muslim. [An Indonesian fatwa against fake news] Its the downside of democracy. The best one doesnt always win, said Joko Anwar, a prominent film director and backer of Purnama. Its going to give the intolerant groups more room and justification for what they have been doing, so theyll keep doing it even more. While the election sloganeering was mainly expressed in religious terms, the vote also reflected class tensions in a country with some of the starkest income inequalities in the world, analysts said. Purnama was overwhelmingly supported by the middle and upper class, but he alienated poorer constituencies with his harsh eviction policies in the north of the city. Theres a wide, disenfranchised social base that looks elsewhere than politics for representation, notably to Islamist hard-liners, said Ian Wilson, a lecturer and research fellow at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia, who has researched the attitudes of Jakartas poor communities. In the Kebun Kacang area of central Jakarta, a maze of narrow streets with a mosque on nearly every corner, working-class residents strongly favored Baswedan. I will be supporting the Muslim, said young woman in a headscarf who declined to give her name. But a short walk away from Kebun Kacang, Jakarta transforms into wide boulevards and huge shopping malls. Trisha Dharmono, who works as an attendant in the Grand Indonesia shopping mall, said she is a Muslim but voted for Purnama because she thought he was effective. My religion is my own business, not the business of imams, she said. Savic Ali, a progressive Muslim who runs news websites for Nahdlatul Ulama, the nations largest Muslim organization, said he was worried about the future. Although I feel that Anies is pretty tolerant, his victory will push the intolerant groups that backed him to spout their views yet more aggressively, he said. Thats the challenge for Indonesian pluralism. Read more: Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news British Prime Minister Theresa May received overwhelming support Wednesday from Parliament to hold early elections in June, as the government seeks more clout before difficult talks on Britains break from the European Union. As expected, May received lawmakers approval for a June 8 election, three years ahead of schedule. Lawmakers voted overwhelmingly 522 to 13 in favor of a motion that paves the way for an election that could expand the Conservative Partys hold on Parliament and government affairs. But the session in the House of Commons was also a forum to spar over the British leaders stunning decision Tuesday. Her backers lauded the move as a courageous tactic aimed at giving Britain the best possible leverage in its high-wire negotiations over the E.U. divorce, known as Brexit. Her critics painted the election call as a blatant attempt to steamroll the opposition while it is weakened after May had repeatedly promised not to hold an early vote. We welcome the general election, said Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, triggering guffaws and laughter. But this is a prime minister who promised there wouldnt be one. A prime minister who cannot be trusted. The Scottish National Partys Angus Robertson called on May to condemn a Daily Mail headline calling opponents saboteurs. May, who had earlier told the BBC that she opposed the headline, said it was right to have debate and scrutiny in Parliament. But she added barbs against opponents who she said were undermining British interests ahead of the E.U. talks. Its clear from statements that have been made by the Scottish nationalists and others, that they do want to use this House to try to frustrate that process, May said. Before heading to Parliament, May told the BBC that she reversed her pledge in order to strengthen our hand in negotiation with the European Union. I genuinely came to this decision reluctantly, having looked at the circumstances, and having looked ahead at the process of negotiation, she said on BBC Radio 4. But the election also threatens to revive the bitterness and public feuds from last years referendum over E.U. membership. [The big questions as Britain heads back to election season] Had she not called an early election, she argued, the Brexit negotiations would have occurred in the years before the scheduled 2020 election and potentially put Britain at a disadvantage with E.U. negotiators who have signaled that they are unwilling to offer Britain generous concessions on the break over issues including trade and immigration. But if the pro-E.U. side does well in the election, May could be forced to soften her vision of a hard Brexit. She also said her decision was partly in response to political opponents who have questioned Mays tactics for the Brexit process, which should take at least two years. She disclosed that she made the decision last week during a walking holiday in Wales. Her critics say she was driven by political opportunism because of her partys commanding lead in the polls. In Scotland, where voters favored staying in the European Union, Mays decision could help push plans to hold another referendum on Scottish independence in a bid to remain in the E.U. Yesterday she changed her mind, not for the good of the country, but for reasons of simple party advantage, Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the Scottish National Party, said at a rally. [Theresa Mays element of surprise] The governing Conservative Party has a narrow majority of 17 seats in the House of Commons. Some pollsters suggest that its majority could jump significantly with the upcoming election. On Wednesday afternoon, lawmakers voted on whether to back Mays call for an early election. The Labour and Liberal Democrat parties had officially welcomed Mays announcement, and while there was resistance, she easily got the backing she needed. May became prime minister in July after her predecessor, David Cameron, resigned following his pro-European Union sides defeat in last years referendum. Britain voted 52 to 48 to quit the bloc. But majorities in two of the U.K.s four nations Scotland and Northern Ireland opted to stay. Sturgeon, the Scottish leader, has argued that the U.K. is taking Scotland out of the E.U. against its will. Last month, the semiautonomous Scottish Parliament backed her call for a new independence referendum. But for such a referendum to be binding, she needs approval from Westminster. May has not ruled out a fresh independence referendum but has said that now is not the time. Sturgeon told supporters on Wednesday: Make no mistake, if the [Scottish National Party] wins this election in Scotland, and the Tories dont, then Theresa Mays attempt to block our mandate, to give the people of Scotland a choice, over their own future when the time is right, will crumble to dust. Read more: As Brexit reshapes Britain, it does the same to Europe In Shakespeares home town, a house divided Cue the British nostalgia Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news The guided-missile destroyer USS Porter launches a missile strike from the Mediterranean Sea on April 7 against al-Shayrat military airfield near Homs, Syria, in response to the Syrian military's reported use of chemical weapons. (U.S. Navy via European Pressphoto Agency) The deadly nerve agent sarin was used in an attack that killed scores of civilians in northern Syria this month, a global chemical weapons watchdog group said Wednesday. The attack, which the Trump administration has attributed to the Syrian government, elicited horror across Western capitals and prompted the United States to launch its first military action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, six years into a war in which atrocities against civilians have become a daily occurrence. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said Wednesday that samples from 10 victims of the attack indicated exposure to sarin or a sarin-like substance. While further details of the laboratory analyses will follow, the analytical results already obtained are incontrovertible, said Ahmet Uzumcu, the organizations director-general. The attack in the northwestern town of Khan Sheikhoun woke hundreds of civilians in the early hours of April 4. Within minutes, many were choking and in convulsions. Others had died in their sleep. At least 86 people were killed and more than 500 others affected, according to monitoring groups and local doctors. International conventions prohibit the use of sarin, which turns a victims nervous system against them and can kill within seconds. On April 4, survivors said they felt as though their lungs were on fire. The Syrian government denies using chemical weapons against its own people, despite its involvement in a 2013 sarin attack that is thought to have killed more than 1,000 residents of the rebel-held Damascus suburbs. On Wednesday, France said it will soon provide proof of the Syrian governments involvement in the latest attack as well. There is an investigation underway [by] the French intelligence services and military intelligence. . . . Its a question of days and we will provide proof that the regime carried out these strikes, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said. We have elements that will enable us to show that the regime knowingly used chemical weapons, he added. Read more: Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news Palestinian protesters wave their national flag during a demonstration in the West Bank town of Bethlehem to show their support for Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails after hundreds of detainees launched a hunger strike on April 17, 2017. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty Images) It has been three days since more than 1,000 Palestinian political prisoners detained in Israeli jails declared an open-ended hunger strike, turning tensions up a notch in the decades-old, intractable conflict. The protest is a peaceful one, say the prisoners, a fight to improve deteriorating living conditions imposed by the Israeli Prison Service. Allowing more family visits, educational options and more public telephones are their central demands. Palestinian Authority literature also mentions torture, unfair trials, detention of children, medical negligence and solitary confinement experienced by prisoners. But Israelis say the strike is not about living standards. Conditions for jailed Palestinians, many of whom have killed Israelis, exceed international standards, they say. Its about politics, the Israelis insist: a battle for leadership within the Palestinian Authority over who might replace Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas when the time comes. The issue is an emotional one for both sides. To Palestinians, the prisoners are political fighters tried by a foreign entity and held in foreign jails; to Israelis, they are terrorists with Israeli blood on their hands. Palestinian protesters hurl stones toward Israeli security forces during clashes following a demonstration in the West Bank town of Bethlehem to show their support for Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli on April 17, 2017. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty Images) As the hunger strike goes on, both sides fear an eruption of violence should one of the prisoners die. About 6,500 Palestinian prisoners are jailed in Israel, and more than 800,000 Palestinians have been incarcerated at one time or another over the past 50 years, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, a 24-year-old support group for Palestinian detainees. While Palestinian hunger strikes are not new, what sets this one apart is the involvement of Marwan Barghouti, a senior member of the West Banks ruling Fatah party and in many ways Abbass natural successor. [Marwan Barghouti: A prisoner at the center of peace talks] A onetime advocate for peace, Barghouti turned militant, leading Palestinians through two intifadas, or uprisings, against Israel. He has spent the past 15 years in jail, convicted by an Israeli court of five counts of murder and membership in a terrorist organization. During his lengthy incarceration, Barghouti has maintained a hard line toward Israel and has acquired an almost mythical status among Palestinians. Graffiti of his defiant face appears on the separation wall between Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. Public opinion surveys consistently show that he is one of the most popular Palestinian leaders. I dont think Marwan needs to go out of his way to improve his public standing, but the strike will strengthen him, said Ghassan Khatib, a professor of political science at Birzeit University near the West Bank town of Ramallah. In this Jan. 25, 2012 file photo, jailed senior Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti appears in a Jerusalem court. (Bernat Armangue/AP) Im almost certain he sees himself as the natural leader of the Palestinian people, and running for the presidency might be his only ticket out of jail, Khatib said. Whether Barghouti manages to improve prison conditions or not, he looks set to firm up his support and, along the way, challenge Palestinian and Israeli leaders. For Abbas, who is set to meet with President Trump on May 3, an escalation of Palestinian violence sparked by the strike could overshadow his visit to the White House. For Israelis, the situation will test legislation passed by the Israeli parliament two years ago that permits authorities to force-feed hunger striking prisoners if their lives are in danger. The law was upheld by Israels Supreme Court but drew criticism from the international community and from the medical world, who say force-feeding prisoners against their will is unethical. [Israel wants to force-feed Palestinian prisoners on hunger strikes] Hoping it will not reach that point, Israeli authorities have tried to break the strike by removing the leaders, including Barghouti, from the general prison population and enhancing medical staff at the prisons. Adding to the tension, an op-ed written by Barghouti was published by the New York Times on Sunday. Israelis were angered not only by his words, but also by the newspapers identification of him merely as a Palestinian leader and parliamentarian, failing to mention his militant activities. The newspaper later amended his biography. Calling Barghouti a political leader is like calling Assad a pediatrician, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, referring to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. They are murderers and terrorists. Israels deputy minister for diplomacy, Michael Oren, called the column journalistic terrorism and said that the Timess Jerusalem bureau should be shuttered. Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, who is responsible for the prison services, said Barghoutis transfer to solitary confinement was not due to the article. When you have an organized strike, you cant allow the leadership to stay with the other prisoners, he said. Erdan said he would not surrender to such a strike because it will damage Israels security and make it much harder to deter Palestinian attackers . This is not political, even though Israeli ministers are saying it is, said Issa Qarakah, head of prisoners affairs for the Palestinian Authority. All [the prisoners] want is to ensure conditions inside the jails are in full compliance with human rights. When you look at Barghoutis demands, it is clear this is not a real humanitarian issue, said Erdan. Israel complies with international law. Everyone knows this is all about Barghoutis political interests. Qarakah said Israels refusal to negotiate with the striking prisoners would only bolster their ranks. On Wednesday, the Palestinian Authority turned to foreign diplomats for help to mediate an end to the strike. Jamal Barakat, whose brother, Salim Barakat, was killed in a 2002 attack orchestrated by Barghouti, said the 57-year-old Palestinian should stay behind bars. Barakat showed little sympathy for the prisoners struggle. ruth.eglash@washpost.com Read more A member of Iraqi rapid-response forces, seen in January at a hospital in Mosul, walks past a wall painted with the black flag commonly used by Islamic State militants. (Alaa Al-Marjani/Reuters) An Ohio man who expressed support for the Islamic State has pleaded guilty to soliciting the murder of members of the U.S. military, the Justice Department announced Wednesday. Terrence J. McNeil, 24, of Akron, Ohio, pleaded guilty Tuesday to five counts of solicitation to commit a crime of violence and five counts of making threatening interstate communications involving his call to kill military personnel. McNeil disseminated ISILs violent rhetoric, circulated U.S. military personnel information, and explicitly called for the killing of American service members in their homes and communities, acting assistant attorney general Mary B. McCord said in a statement, using an acronym for the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. Now he will be held accountable. McNeil, a U.S. citizen, was arrested on Nov. 12, 2015. He professed his support on numerous occasions on social media for the Islamic State, according to documents filed in the case. In September 2015, using a Tumblr account, he reposted a file with the banner Islamic State Hacking Division, followed by Target: United States Military and Leak: Addresses of 100 U.S. Military Personnel. [The Islamic States suspected inroads into America] According to the documents, one file that apparently sought to rally Islamic State followers to violence stated: O Brothers in America, know that the jihad against the crusaders is not limited to the lands of the [caliphate], it is a world-wide jihad and their war is not just a war against the Islamic State, it is a war against Islam. McNeil went on to say it was necessary to kill the kuffar or disbelievers: Now we have made it easy for you by giving you addresses, all you need to do is take the final step. According to case documents, the file said, Kill them in their own lands, behead them in their own homes, stab them to death as they walk their streets thinking that they are safe. The file then displays several dozen photographs, purportedly of military personnel, along with their names, addresses and military branch, according to the government. The final image is a picture of a handgun and a knife with text that reads, and kill them wherever you find them. McNeils case is an example of what FBI Director James B. Comey has repeatedly warned about in recent years Islamic State supporters taking to social media to call on supporters in the United States to kill people in the country. McNeil posted other kill lists in late 2015, all of which repeated the call to commit murder, the Justice Department said. While we aggressively defend First Amendment rights, the individual arrested went far beyond free speech by reposting names and addresses of 100 U.S. service members, all with the intent to have them killed, said Stephen D. Anthony, special agent in charge at the FBIs Cleveland division. McNeils sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 2. Under the terms of his plea agreement, he faces a sentence of between 15 and 20 years in prison. The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson transits the Sunda Strait on Friday near Indonesia. (U.S. Navy Via Getty Images) As tensions mounted on the Korean Peninsula this month, the U.S. military made a dramatic announcement: An aircraft carrier had been ordered to sail north from Singapore toward the Western Pacific, apparently closing in on North Korea and its growing nuclear arsenal. But the ship that some officials portrayed as a sign of a stepped-up U.S. response to threats was in fact, at the moment that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un mounted a defiant show of military force last weekend, thousands of miles away from the Korean Peninsula, operating in the Indian Ocean. Officials nebulous if not seemingly misleading statements about the whereabouts of the USS Carl Vinson come as the Trump administration attempts to deliver a dual message on one of its most thorny foreign problems: at once illustrating a willingness to employ force against a dangerous adversary while also steering clear of steps that could spiral out of control. A series of binary, sometimes conflicting comments delivered by top officials in the past week highlight the Trump administrations hope that hard-line rhetoric will have a deterrent effect and, more fundamentally, the lack of attractive options it faces on North Korea. While officials are eager to signal a break from previous U.S. policy, their strategy appears to be a continuation of the Obama administrations attempt to use international economic and diplomatic pressure to force results in Pyongyang. [Despite talk of a military strike, Trumps armada actually sailed away from Korea] The Trump administration, having looked at the options, is speaking out of both sides of its mouth, which if done deliberately is good policy, said Patrick Cronin, an Asia expert at the Center for a New American Security. The idea is that we have the means of striking back, were certainly going to protect our allies . . . but were not going to make the mistake of starting a war, he said. Standing at the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas this week, Vice President Pence issued his latest warning to North Korea. The patience of the United States and our allies in this region has run out, and we want to see change, he said. But even as they highlight Trumps willingness to use force in new ways in Syria and elsewhere, Pence and other officials have also expressed a preference for a negotiated disarmament for North Korea. Our hope is that well be able . . . to achieve this objective through peaceable means, the vice president said, adding that he hoped for a resumption of negotiations. The double-barreled comments from Pence, like those from national security adviser H.R. McMaster and other senior officials, also indicate the importance that China, which Trump hopes will play an instrumental role in persuading Kim to abandon his nuclear plans, holds in the administrations strategy. Analysts said the White House is betting that its tough talk will convince Chinese President Xi Jinping that Trump is willing to use force to shatter the long standoff with Pyongyang, prompting Beijing to use the weight of its trade ties with North Korea to help avoid a huge conflict on its border. Trump himself has issued repeated warnings to North Korea on Twitter, calling on China for help but promising to act unilaterally if need be. I have great confidence that China will properly deal with North Korea, Trump tweeted on Thursday. If they are unable to do so, the U.S., with its allies, will! Bruce Klingner, a scholar at the Heritage Foundation, said such statements appeared to be out of sync with the Trump administrations preferred course. Its a message at a much higher volume and intensity than would seem warranted, if the focus is going to be on stronger sanctions and a renewed diplomatic process, he said. The use of bellicose rhetoric, even when paired with messages of continuity, could bring unanticipated results. Already, North Korea has ratcheted up its rhetoric against the United States, threatening its own preemptive strike. Rodong Sinmun, an official newspaper of the ruling Workers Party, declared this week that North Korea would use nuclear arms to obliterate the United States if it made a move suggesting a first use of military action. Perhaps with that in mind, officials at the Pentagon and State Department have attempted to ratchet down speculation about potential conflict. Some of that was fueled last week ahead of a major North Korean anniversary by news of the carrier strike groups deployment and media reports suggesting a preemptive U.S. attack might be in the works. Military officials acknowledge that circumstances have grown far more dangerous as North Korea has made progress toward miniaturizing nuclear weapons and developing a missile that could reach the U.S. mainland. While they have drawn up a range of actions that the United States might want to take in the event of a provocative move by North Korea such as a nuclear test or strike on its southern neighbor the officials indicate their hope is that diplomacy will prevail. [White House warns North Korea not to test U.S. resolve, offering Syria and Afghanistan strikes as examples] Those options probably include stepped-up cyber and electronic activity, which would be more easily denied and less likely to trigger a North Korean response. Diplomacy is only effective if its backed up by credible options, said a defense official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss administration deliberations. Officials at the State Department have signaled that a resolution to the standoff could be well off in the future. I think theres not going to be an answer tomorrow or the day after that. Its going to take more time, Susan A. Thornton, acting assistant secretary for East Asia and Pacific affairs, told reporters this week. Our preference is to put pressure on the North Korean regime so that they will undertake to cease this threatening behavior and roll back their illegal programs, she said. It is not clear what effect the news that the Carl Vinson has been thousands of miles away in the Indian Ocean, rather than bearing down on the Korean Peninsula, will have in Pyongyang. While the belief that the Carl Vinson was heading toward Korea was reported as fact by media outlets around the world Trump last week said he was sending an armada, very powerful there were hints it was perhaps not steaming there as fast as many supposed. On April 11, U.S. Naval Institute News reported that although the carrier had canceled port calls in Australia, it had not scrubbed training events to move faster toward the Korean Peninsula and would still take more than a week to enter waters near Korea a point that was lost amid heated talk of war. Other photographs released by the Navy showed the Carl Vinson in the South China Sea from April 12 to 14. In any case, the carrier strike force appears to be finally steaming in that direction now. A spokesman for the U.S. militarys Pacific Command said the carrier strike group is heading north to the Western Pacific as a prudent measure. The spokesman did not provide a comment about why confusion about the ships location persisted, even as Trump and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis appeared to confirm last week it was heading in that direction. Thomas Gibbons-Neff in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Karen DeYoung and Dan Lamothe in Washington contributed to this report. While President Trump has said that things will work out fine between the U.S.A. and Russia, other administration officials are taking a harder line toward Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Jim Lo Scalzo/Sputnik Pool/European Pressphoto Agency) The message was defiantly optimistic, like a suitor determined to hold a relationship together despite mounting obstacles. Things will work out fine between the U.S.A. and Russia, President Trump declared on his Twitter account last week. At the right time everyone will come to their senses & there will be lasting peace! Trumps interest in achieving warm relations with Moscow has been a consistent theme since the earliest days of his campaign, and it stands now as one of the few major foreign policy positions that he has not discarded or revised since taking office. But in his devotion to this outcome, Trump appears increasingly isolated within his own administration. Over the past several weeks, senior members of Trumps national security team have issued blistering critiques of Moscow, using harsh terms that have led to escalating tensions between the countries and that seem at odds with the president. The harsh rhetoric and the apparent lack of any rebuke from Trump suggests that Russian skeptics have gained influence in the administration, making the rapprochement that Trump envisioned seem increasingly remote. View Graphic Team Trumps ties to Russian interests In a speech at the United Nations, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley lashed out at Russia for its role in Syria, asking how many more children have to die before Russia cares enough to prevent Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from committing further atrocities. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson accused Russia of being incompetent or complicit in the chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of Syrian civilians. CIA Director Mike Pompeo went even further in an appearance at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington last week, depicting Moscow as an unredeemable adversary. Though Trump has repeatedly praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pompeo described him as a man for whom veracity doesnt translate into English. The statements have created confusion about the Trump administrations posture toward Russia and put senior officials, including Haley, in the awkward position of having to explain why Trump has yet to echo any of their strong words. The White House did not respond to requests for comment. Foreign policy experts close to the administration played down the apparent disconnect between Trumps statements and those of his national security subordinates, saying that Trumps words about Russia were often misinterpreted to signal that he intended to be soft. There was never anything in the plan about being nice to the Russians, said James Carafano, the vice president of foreign and defense policy at the Heritage Foundation, who served as an adviser to Trump during the campaign and post-election transition. I dont think any of this is a U-turn, a reversal or a shift, Carafano said. He noted that Trumps decision to bomb an airstrip in Syria where the Russian military had worked with Assads forces and Trumps recent vocal support for NATO demonstrate his willingness to defy Putin. Trump doesnt have to do Russia bashing and is probably seeking to leave an opening for Putin to pursue better relations with the United States, Carafano said. The fact that [Trumps officials] are not mimicking the exact same words doesnt mean theyre not on the same sheet of music. In recent weeks, Trump has had opportunities to reinforce the messages of his subordinates. In a news conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg this month, Trump said relations with Moscow may be at an all-time low but described Russia as a strong country and said, Were going to see how that all works out. Asked about growing concerns in Europe over alleged Moscow interference in elections and calls for bolstering Europes military defenses, Trump had no words of caution for the Kremlin. Right now there is a fear, and there are problems, Trump said. But, ultimately, I hope that there wont be a fear and there wont be problems and the world can get along. That would be the ideal situation. Trumps tack with Russia seems at odds with his approach toward other global powers and issues. He threatened to label China a currency manipulator and to cut off U.S. support for NATO, for example, before retreating from those positions in recent weeks. Trumps posture toward Moscow is also seen as a reflection of his reluctance to acknowledge that Russia interfered in the U.S. election and, based on the consensus view of U.S. intelligence agencies, sought to help him win. Critics said the administrations competing messages have caused concern overseas. Rep. Adam B. Schiff (Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said that he recently attended a security conference in Munich where there were profound questions among our allies about just where this administration is coming from. They dont see the president yet willing to take on Putin or to criticize him directly, Schiff said. It doesnt matter what others in his Cabinet said. If they didnt hear it from the president, they didnt really believe it was administration policy. Senior administration officials have struggled to explain the disparity in their comments including statements suggesting that Russia may have known that Assad was about to launch a chemical weapons attack with those of the president. I think were both saying the same thing; its just being reported differently, Haley said during an interview on ABC News this month. Pressed on why Trump has not condemned Moscow, Haley said, This is what I can tell you: The president has not once called me and said, Dont beat up on Russia, has not once called me and told me what to say. Trumps national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, faced similar questions in a separate ABC interview this week when asked how the president could be so confident that things will work out fine and predict lasting peace. Well, McMaster quipped, when relations are at the lowest point, theres nowhere to go but up. McMaster has helped form the administrations more combative stance toward Moscow. He replaced Michael Flynn, who seemed to share Trumps interest in pursuing closer relations with Moscow before Flynn was fired for his misleading statements about his contacts with the Russian ambassador. Juan Zarate, a former national security official who advised Pompeo during his confirmation as CIA chief, said that he sees Trumps continued conciliatory messages toward Moscow as a means of preserving options for the administration in its dealings with Russia. I worry less about what appears to be some discordance because I think you can have flexibility in messaging, Zarate said. But you do have to have consistency in policy. For now it seems like we do. In fact the policy seems to be getting more vigorous and confrontational. But Zarate also noted Trumps tendency to double down on positions. Trump was criticized for seeming lenient toward Moscow, and lo and behold hes going to stick to his line. Moscow has also noticed the administrations competing messages. After a series of sharp exchanges with senior U.S. officials, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said this week that Moscow would focus on signals from the president. We will be guided by what President Donald Trump once again confirmed . . . that he wants to improve relations with the Russian Federation, Lavrov said. We are also ready for that. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks at the Meeting of the Ministers of the Global Coalition on the Defeat of ISIS in Washington on March 22. (Cliff Owen/AP) Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Wednesday that the landmark nuclear deal has failed to squash Irans ability and determination to develop atomic weapons, arguing that the countrys ambitions still threaten international peace and security. An unchecked Iran has the potential to follow the same path as North Korea and take the world along with it, Tillerson said in remarks to reporters in the formal setting of the State Departments Treaty Room. The United States is keen to avoid a second piece of evidence that strategic patience is a failed approach. [The historic nuclear deal with Iran: How it works] Tillersons strong criticism of Iran and the nuclear deal came one day after the State Department officially notified Congress that Iran has met all its commitments under the agreement, a certification required every 90 days. This is the first time the Trump administration has done so, in a letter Tillerson wrote to House Speaker Paul D. Ryan and released just before the midnight deadline. The White House is conducting a top-to-bottom review of Iran policy, including an evaluation of the deal officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. As a candidate, President Trump frequently called it the worst deal ever negotiated. But once in office, it has been unclear whether he intends to break it or leave it in place. If the administration were to decide to walk away or otherwise renege on its commitments, it would open the door for Iran to cast aside its own promises and resume the unfettered development of its nuclear program. Iran has denied even considering the development of nuclear weapons. In a slap at the Obama administration, which negotiated alongside five other nations to reach the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, Tillerson declared Wednesday, The Trump administration has no intention of passing the buck to a future administration on Iran. Congress has introduced bills extending U.S. sanctions against Iran related to its alleged support of terrorism, human rights violations and missile tests. Lawmakers have put the legislation on pause, however, because of the impact the bills could have in Irans presidential election, which is scheduled for next month. President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate who pressed for the deal against domestic opposition, is seeking reelection. In addition, the U.S. Treasury has announced sanctions against individuals and companies affiliated with Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The historic agreement was negotiated with Iran by the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany, with help from the European Union. It did not address Irans alleged support of terrorism or its dismal human rights record, but focused on its commitment not to build a nuclear weapon for at least a decade and to open its facilities to U.N. inspections. In exchange, international and U.S. sanctions on nuclear-related issues were lifted and billions of dollars in Iranian assets were unfrozen when the deal was implemented in January 2016. With Iran getting most of its benefits upfront, even critics of the agreement have said the United States gains little by breaking the deal now. Iran has said that sanctions relief never gave it the economic boost it craved, and it has blamed the United States for not doing enough to allow U.S. businesses and banks to set up shop in Iran. In his remarks Wednesday, Tillerson focused not only on the nuclear deal, but also on what he called Irans alarming and ongoing provocations that export terror and violence. He specifically cited Irans support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and for Houthi rebels in Yemen, as well as hostility to Israel, the harassment of U.S. naval vessels plying the Persian Gulf and cyberattacks against the United States and its allies in the Gulf. Iran spends its treasure and time disrupting peace, he said. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers a speech Monday, a day after claiming victory in a referendum. The fairness of the vote has been challenged by the opposition and international observers. (Burhan Ozbilici/AP) President Trump plans to meet next month with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to Turkish and U.S. officials, just weeks after Erdogan claimed victory in a referendum that vastly increased his powers and has been questioned by the opposition and international observers. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Wednesday that the two leaders would sit down together before a NATO summit scheduled for May 29-30 in Brussels. A senior U.S. official confirmed that the meeting was likely to occur. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity prior to an announcement. Trump telephoned Erdogan on Monday to congratulate him on his referendum victory and to discuss last weeks U.S. cruise missile strike on Syria and cooperation in the campaign there against the Islamic State, a White House statement said. The statement made no mention of widespread international concerns, including by the State Department, about the erosion of democratic institutions under the referendum and allegations of human rights violations leading up to it. A State Department statement on the referendum cited observed irregularities on voting day and an uneven playing field during the difficult campaign period, which took place during a state of emergency. We look to the government of Turkey to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of all its citizens, the statement said. Read more: In divided Turkey, president defends victory in referendum granting new powers How Erdogan has reshaped Turkey, as told by readers This was the worst call by far: Trump badgered, bragged and abruptly ended phone call with Australian leader Venezuela is bracing for rival demonstrations and the potential for worsening political violence. An opponent of President Nicolas Maduro joins a protest. (Federico Parra/AFP via Getty Images) Anti-government protesters poured into the streets of Venezuelas capital and blocked its main highway Wednesday, but their march toward downtown Caracas was stopped by volleys of tear gas fired by riot police and national guard troops. The march was by far the largest in a wave of protests this month, as opponents of President Nicolas Maduro have sought to increase pressure on his unpopular government. Dramatic images spread by social media showed protesters fleeing clouds of gas by scrambling down embankments into the citys badly polluted Guaire River. [Venezuela protests: Photos from the mother of all protests] In another video spread widely, a solitary protester stood in the path of an armored police vehicle, forcing it to back up, while canisters of tear gas fogged the streets around him. Despite the huge crowds, Maduro remained defiant. Speaking at a counter-demonstration organized by the government, he dismissed the protests as part of a coup plot. Maduro threatened to hold opposition leaders accountable for the scattered outbreaks of violence on Venezuelas streets. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post) They have tried to topple us, and weve defeated them once more! he told the cheering crowd of red-clad supporters, insisting he would not concede one millimeter to his opponents. Wednesdays march was a test for Maduros opponents, who have urged frustrated Venezuelans to join them despite their fears of out-of-control violence and a harsh crackdown by security forces. If their goal was to show that Venezuelas masses have turned against the government, the large turnout suggested they were mostly successful in attracting people who have been on the sidelines. I dont usually participate in protests, and today I choked on the tear gas, said Teresa Ruiz, 58, an accountant who said she was trying to return home after a day in the streets. Its too much for an old lady like me. At least two people were killed in scattered acts of violence that were also a sign of the dangers protesters face. One was a young man who died after being shot in the head by unidentified attackers at a Caracas intersection where marchers were gathering. The other victim was a 24-year-old woman shot at a protest in the western Venezuelan state of Tachira. At least six others have been killed in this months unrest, according to U.S. officials the worst political violence since clashes in 2014 that left more than 40 dead. The oil-rich countrys economy has collapsed, leading to chronic shortages of food and medicine. Maduros critics are calling for new elections, the release of political prisoners and an end to autocratic abuses of Venezuelan institutions. Many chanted Freedom! as they marched Wednesday. [Venezuela sees its most intense protests in years] At an opposition gathering in western Caracas, Jose Rafael Rojas, 60, said he had taken a day off from work to join the march. In Venezuela, there is no peace, no justice, he said. Having to search for food is very frustrating for me. Every time I look for corn flour, I can never find it. Citing the need to maintain order, the government took extraordinary measures to try to limit the size of Wednesdays opposition march, cutting subway service and setting up roadblocks along highways. The government also urged its supporters to take to the streets in Maduros defense. At least some employees at state-owned companies reportedly were threatened with dismissal if they declined to join pro-Maduro rallies. [Denounced as dictator, Maduro reverses court ruling on Venezuela legislatures powers] In his speech Wednesday, Maduro repeated his claim that the United States was plotting to overthrow him and said security forces had captured more than 30 masked putschists he described as terrorists. He threatened to arrest opposition leader Julio Borges, the leader of Venezuelas legislature, calling him a coward, a clown and a coup-monger. Maduro cited a statement issued by the State Department on Tuesday titled Non-Violence and Accountability During Protests in Venezuela, calling it a green light for the conspiracy against him to go forward. The statement calls for both sides to remain peaceful and said the United States joins 11 other nations in the region in urging Maduros government to take immediate steps toward a prompt solution to the grave crisis affecting all Venezuelans. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that we are concerned that the government of Maduro is violating its own constitution and is not allowing the opposition to . . . organize in a way that expresses the views of the Venezuelan people. Maduro opponents were left seething after Venezuelas supreme court tried to strip the opposition-controlled legislature of its powers last month, a decision judges mostly reversed the following day. The government was also widely condemned for disqualifying opposition leader Henrique Capriles from running for office for 15 years, meaning that he will be ineligible to challenge Maduro for the presidency in elections due to be held next year. Opposition leaders called for the protests to continue Thursday. Read more: Venezuelans are storming supermarkets and attacking trucks as supplies dwindle Venezuelans are trying to oust their president. Will the government stop them? Venezuela declares a 2-day workweek because of energy shortages Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news It was supposed to be steaming toward North Korea more than a week ago, an armada signaling American resolve. Then it wasnt. Now, it seems the USS Carl Vinson may finally be heading north. Our deployment has been extended 30 days to provide a persistent presence in the waters off the Korean Peninsula, Rear Adm. Jim Kilby, commander of Carrier Strike Group One, said in a message posted on the Carl Vinsons Facebook page and addressed to families and loved ones of the personnel on board. [Despite talk of a military strike, Trumps armada actually sailed away from Korea] The Carl Vinson, accompanied by a carrier air wing, two guided-missile destroyers and a cruiser, was reported to have been ordered to sail north after leaving Singapore on April 8. But a week later, the Navy published photos showing it was actually sailing in the opposite direction through the Sunda Strait between the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java, more than 3,000 miles southwest of the Korean Peninsula and more than 500 miles southeast of Singapore. It appears the confusion over its whereabouts stemmed from a U.S. Pacific Command announcement that could have been worded a little more clearly, in the words of a defense official speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record. On April 9, the Pacific Command announced that the strike group was heading to the Western Pacific, even as a spokesman for the Pacific Command linked the move directly to North Koreas reckless, irresponsible and destabilizing program of missile tests and pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability. Days later, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters that the Carl Vinson was on her way up there. In an interview that aired April 12, President Trump said the United States was sending ships. An armada, very powerful, he said. They were not exactly wrong, Navy officials now say. Its just that the change of course toward the Korean Peninsula had not happened yet. White House press secretary Sean Spicer, during his daily media briefing on Wednesday, disputed the notion that the administration had led anyone astray. What part is misleading? Im trying to figure that out, Spicer said. We were asked a question about what signal [the decision to dispatch the carrier to the Western Pacific] sent. We answered the question on what signal it sent. Im not the one who commented on timing. It is not clear why the carrier strike group stayed in Southeast Asia, or why the Trump administration did not clarify where it was. On Tuesday, the Pacific Command said only that the strike group had completed military exercises and would now head north. After departing Singapore on April 8 and canceling a scheduled port visit to Perth, the Strike Group was able to complete a curtailed period of previously scheduled training with Australia in international waters off the northwest coast of Australia, a U.S. Pacific Command spokesman said in a statement. The Carl Vinson Strike Group is heading north to the Western Pacific as a prudent measure. In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Mattis said Wednesday: The bottom line is in our effort to always be open about what we were doing we said that we that we were going to change the Vinsons upcoming schedule. The Vinson, as I said on the record, was operating up and down the Western Pacific and we were doing exactly what we said. That is, we were shifting her. We dont generally give out ship schedules in advance, but I didnt want to play a game either and say we were not changing a schedule when in fact we had. So were doing exactly what we said we were going to do. She will be on her way, and Ill determine when she gets there and where she actually operates, but the Vinson will be a part of our ensuring that we stand by our allies in the northwest Pacific. U.S. and South Korean news media have reported that the Carl Vinson is now expected to arrive off the Korean Peninsula by April 25, just as North Korea marks the anniversary of its armys founding. Our mission is to reassure allies and our partners of our steadfast commitment to the Indo-Asia-Pacific region, wrote Kilby, the carrier group commander. We will continue to be the centerpiece of visible maritime deterrence, providing our national command authority with flexible deterrent options, all domain access, and a visible forward presence. China, meanwhile, is feeling anything but reassured, warning recently that a storm is about to break over the divided Korean Peninsula. Thomas Gibbons-Neff in Riyadh and Missy Ryan in Washington contributed to this report. Read more U.S. Navy sends strike group toward Korean Peninsula Chinas Xi calls Trump, urges peaceful approach to North Korea Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news It was March 2020, and the world was closing down as the COVID-19 pandemic spread. At first, the news of... Workers on the tea plantations in Sri Lankas hill country, and railway workers in the capital of Colombo have expressed support for the International Committee of the Fourth Internationals (ICFI) campaign to free the framed-up Maruti Suzuki workers in India. Socialist Equality Party (SEP) members and supporters took the campaign to the plantations and railway workers quarters in Ratmalana, a southern outer suburb of Colombo. Plantation workers are the poorest section of the working class. Most of the families of the estimated 200,000 workers live in small line rooms without basic necessities like basic health care and drinking water. Plantation workers are paid poverty level daily wages of less than US $5. With the support of the unions, the companies have implemented a wage system based on productivitysimilar to a sharecropper systemto preserve profits under conditions of declining tea exports and income. Last year the workers rebelled against the unions, which conspired with the companies and the government to introduce the system. As a result of the campaign waged by the Socialist Equality Party (SEP), the workers of Deeside Estate in Maskeliya formed a workers action committee, independent of the unions, to take forward the struggle for decent wages and improved living and working conditions. The Deeside Estate Workers Action Committee unanimously passed the following resolution demanding the release of the Maruti Suzuki workers: We, the Deeside Estate Workers Action Committee, strongly denounce the life sentences imposed on 13 Maruti Suzuki autoworkers in India and the three-to-five-year prison terms on another 18 workers by an Indian court on March 18. We demand the release all of the workers immediately. As we came to know through the World Socialist Web Site, the conviction and sentencing of the workers was the outcome of a frame-up mounted jointly by Japan-based Maruti Suzuki management, the Haryana state government and the central government of India. Attacks against Maruti Suzuki workers are a warning to the international working class. This is a part of the war declared by international capital on workers to exploit labor power and increase their profit under conditions of the growing crisis of world capitalism. We also faced similar attacks in February 2015. Eight workers who were in the forefront of a strike against increased workload were arrested and removed from their jobs by our estate management. Plantation trade unions lined up with the management and police in this attack. Only the Socialist Equality Party fought for their release and reinstatement. Through the lessons of those struggles we formed an action committee in our estate independent from trade unions. Plantation companies are working to dismantle their estates and to transform workers into contract or casual employees. Thus, those companies aim to increase their profits by abolishing even limited rights won by workers through their past struggles. Workers must unite internationally to fight these attacks and against pro-capitalist and nationalist trade unions. Workers of the world, unite. SEP supporters also campaigned among workers on the Deeside estate in Up Cot and the Maskeliya and Lonach estates at Watawala in Nuwara-Eliya district. They distributed the ICFI statement Free the framed-up Maruti Suzuki workers. G. Wilfred from Deeside estate said, Court sentences against Maruti Suzuki workers are brutal. This is a warning to the international working class. We had a similar experience on our estate. In 2015, seven other workers and I were witch-hunted on fake charges that the estate supervisor used to attack us. After several months, the case was dismissed and we were reinstated because of workers opposition and the campaign that was waged by your party to defend us. M. Fernando, a retired worker of Deeside estate, said, I was shocked when I heard about this attack on the Indian workers. We normally watch several Indian channels on TV but none of them reported on this serious attack. Also, I dont hear that any political party or trade union has opposed it. Ive only heard about this case through your campaign. K. Manoharan from Lonach estate, added, The life sentence is equal to a death penalty. How can they give this type of punishment to workers who fought for their rights? It cant be accepted. He said that Watawala Plantation Company, which runs the estate, has abandoned tea cultivation in nearly 70 hectares and is going to hand over a part of the estate to an Australian company for a dairy farm. The workers will lose their jobs. The trade unions support this attack. Railway workers in Ratmalana said it was very important to learn how workers are treated elsewhere. They said they only know what happens around them and that no one speaks to them about issues like the Maruti Suzuki frame up. P.K. Udaya Kumara, a railway foundry worker, said, The workers must come forward to get these Indian workers released. We must organize internationally. Also we must wage a tireless fight. As railway workers, we won our permanency [full-time positions] only through a struggle. Denouncing all the parties of the political establishment for abandoning the interests of workers and the poor and only looking out for their own privileges, he said, We are suffering. Parties like JVP (Peoples Liberation Front) who talk about socialism are also the same. They show red banners but are working for capitalists interest. He explained that his father was a supporter of JVP in the 1960s but that he was disgusted by the JVPs activities. I am a member of SLFP (Sri Lanka Freedom Party) union. But they do nothing to win our demands. They are part of the ruling elite. I salute you for your international campaign. R.S. Jayaratne, an office worker in Ratmalana railway workshop, said, Its interesting to know that such an international party exists. I came to this house recently and this is the first time I met your party. This case against Maruti workers is unfair and unjustified. Workers are always suppressed by the moneyed class. This punishment shows how brutal the ruling class is. This is relevant not only to India, but to the whole world. That is why I say your campaign is inspiring in rallying the workers of the world around this campaign. This is a good effort. He signed the online petition launched by the ICFI demanding the release of the Maruti Suzuki workers. Another worker, Viraj Silva, said: I think workers must fight for equality. This punishment affects the workers of the whole world. We must stop this through a powerful campaign. Even though I may not totally agree with your politics I totally agree with this campaign. The worker said he also leases a three-wheeler taxi for part-time work. We cannot survive on one salary. We work on Sundays. This is the plight of workers everywhere and this is the reason why the Maruti Suzuki workers tried to organize against their meager salaries. T. Susantha said, This punishment by an Indian court is relevant to Sri Lankan workers. As a railway worker here in Sri Lanka I express my solidarity with victimized Maruti workers. I totally agree with your international campaign. Thilanga Ratnayake added, What I would simply say is this verdict is totally unjustifiable and I support this international campaign wholeheartedly. The US national security advisor, Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, was in Afghanistan over the weekend, speaking with President Ashraf Ghani and General John Nicholson, the US military commander in the country. The aim of the talks, the Military Times reported prior to McMasters arrival in Kabul, was to assess whether more military personnel are needed to break the stalemate there. In February, Nicholson had told a US Congressional hearing that he needed thousands more troops. McMasters visit follows a raft of reports showing that the term stalemate vastly downplays the situation. More than 15 years after the US launched its war in Afghanistan, the insurgency against the US-backed government in Kabul and its puppet masters in Washington is gaining the ascendancy. The conflict is by far the longest war in which the United States has ever been involved. US imperialism and its allies invaded Afghanistan in October 2001, on the basis of false allegations that the Islamist Taliban government had collaborated with Al Qaeda in carrying out the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. The 9/11 atrocities were the pretext for the US to achieve its ambition of a military footprint in Central Asia. As well as Afghanistan being close to oil and gas-rich Central Asian republics to the north, it borders Iran to the west, China to the east and the Indian subcontinent to the south. The invasion and overthrow of the Taliban took a matter of weeks. An American client state was installed in the capital Kabul with the venal blessing of the United Nations in December 2001. The US military set about transforming the dual-runway airfield in Bagram, in central Afghanistan, into one of its largest bases in the world. What the American establishment had not anticipated was that by 20032004, it would face expanding armed resistance to the foreign occupation by large sections of the Afghan population, especially in the majority ethnic Pashtun provinces bordering Pakistans volatile tribal northwest region. By 20082009, the fighting was so intense that it led to the Obama administrations surge, which boosted US troop numbers in the country to over 100,000 by 2011, alongside more than 30,000 troops from NATO states and other countries, and thousands of contractor mercenaries. Today, the occupation force has been reduced to 8,400 American military personnel, barely 5,000 NATO troops and some 26,000 mercenaries. The fighting, however, has again reached dimensions that rival those of six years ago. The Taliban published a map last month showing the areas it controls or is on the verge of controlling. Out of 349 districts, the Taliban claims to fully control 34 and to be contesting a further 167. Apart from major cities, the Kabul government exerts next to no authority in the southwest region bordering Pakistan. Entire swathes of the countrys north, including the rural areas around the major city of Kunduz, are also in insurgent hands. A February report by the US governments Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) verified the Talibans claims. SIGAR estimated that the insurgency controls, contests or influences at least 171 districts and the Kabul government had authority over no more than 52 percent of the country. Other reports estimate the governments control to be higher, at between 57 and 62 percent, but there is no question that its grip is crumbling. In comments this month to USA Today, the Afghan ambassador to the US, Hamdullah Mohib, revealed that the US-trained and equipped Afghan military and police suffered a staggering 29,000 dead and wounded in 2016 alone. Tens of thousands of troops have deserted. As many as 30,000 members of the nominally 200,000-strong Afghan Army may be ghost soldiersthey exist only on paper and their pay is taken by corrupt officers and officials. The dominant force in the insurgency remains the Taliban and the allied Haqqani network, which have fought the occupation since 2001. In recent years, small groupings in Afghanistan have declared their allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and its caliphate in the Middle East. A few hundred ISIS supporters in eastern Afghanistan were the ostensible target of the first-ever use in combat of the Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) conventional bomb on April 13. Unknown numbers of alleged fighters and civilians were killed in the horrific firestorm created by the MOAB detonation. While clearly intended as an international warning to Syria, Iran, Russia, North Korea and China of American ruthlessness, the use of the MOAB also signalled that the US military will use all the means at its disposal to try to push back the Afghan insurgency. The prospect of a strategic defeat in Afghanistan is playing into the growth of US rivalries and tensions with Russia. With growing stridency, American military and strategic figures are making provocative accusations that the Russian government of President Vladimir Putin is supporting the Taliban in order to undermine the Kabul government and the US position in the country. Russia, while acknowledging it maintains communication lines to the Afghan insurgents, has rejected the US allegations that it is giving weapons or equipment to the Taliban. In March, its foreign ministry labelled the claims as fabrications designed to justify the failure of the US military and politicians in the Afghan campaign. Russia sponsored a third conference on April 14involving Russia, China, Iran, India, Pakistan, Central Asian states and the Afghan governmenton how to develop talks between Kabul and the Taliban. Moscow is asserting that its main objective is to try to bring about some type of peace settlement that ends the conflict and its destabilising impact on the entire region. The Trump administration refused to participate, declaring that the conference was an attempt by Russia to assert influence, and that the motives of other participants were unclear. Instead of attending, the US dropped the MOAB bomb on the eve of the talks. Over the weekend, General McMaster not only clearly implied that Russia was an obstacle to defeating the Taliban on battlefields, but so was Pakistan. The Taliban also refused to take part in the conference, issuing a statement that the precondition for peace negotiations with Kabul was the total withdrawal from Afghanistan of all US and foreign forces. At this stage, the Trump administration has not announced any additional American troop deployments to Afghanistan. The Cleveland man who allegedly posted a video of himself shooting an elderly man on Facebook has killed himself near Erie, Pennsylvania, police say. According to the Pennsylvania State Police, the murder suspect was spotted by police on Tuesday morning. A pursuit ensued. Then, according to the police, Stephens shot and killed himself. The search for Steve Stephens has ended, Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams told reporters in a press conference. Authorities received a tip that the vehicle we were looking for was in a McDonalds parking lot near Erie, Pennsylvania. Police responded. There was a short pursuit. As the officers approached the vehicle, Steve Stephens shot himself. Steve Stephens was spotted this morning by PSP members in Erie County. After a brief pursuit, Stephens shot and killed himself. - PA State Police (@PAStatePolice) April 18, 2017 As news of the death spread across social media, Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf commended the officers for their quick actions and for keeping Pennsylvanians safe during the standoff. Incredibly grateful to @PAStatePolice for spotting & pursuing the Facebook Killer in Erie and acting without hesitation to keep others safe. https://t.co/FxUN92vYHD - Governor Tom Wolf (@GovernorTomWolf) April 18, 2017 Stephens suicide ends a two-day national manhunt in which authorities in several states were on alert to find the 37-year-old suspect. It is unclear where Stephens has been since Easter Sunday, when he allegedly approached 74-year-old Robert Godwin Sr. and shot him point blank, killing him. While attacking him, police claim that Stephens said in the video that his girlfriend drove him to commit the crime. Story continues Stephens then posted a video of the crime to Facebook. Despite his claims of having 13 victims, authorities dont believe that Stephens hurt anyone else since shooting Godwin. Despite Stephens death, authorities say that they are continuing to investigate the crime. This is still an ongoing investigation, said Williams. We are going to find out what happened. With Stephens death, police may never get the answers that they sought. This started with one tragedy and ended with someone taking his life, Williams said. We may never know why. Its a tragedy. This article was originally published on PEOPLE.com President Donald Trump responded to the thousands of Tax March demonstrators on Saturday (Tax Day) who demanded that he release his tax returns. "Someone should look into who paid for the small organized rallies yesterday. The election is over," he tweeted after wishing everyone a happy Easter. "I did what was an almost an impossible thing to do for a Republican-easily won the Electoral College! Now Tax Returns are brought up again?" Trump continued. Someone should look into who paid for the small organized rallies yesterday. The election is over! - Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 16, 2017 I did what was an almost an impossible thing to do for a Republican-easily won the Electoral College! Now Tax Returns are brought up again? - Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 16, 2017 Happy Easter to everyone! - Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 16, 2017 Thousands of protesters gathered across the U.S. on Saturday for the Tax March calling Trump release his taxes. Tax March organizers said rallies were planned in 150 locales including Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, Mar-a-Lago, Fla., and Washington, D.C. Several in Hollywood, including Sarah Silverman, Debra Messing, Jon Cryer, Chris Evans, Saturday Night Live's Pete Davidson, How to Get Away With Murder's Matt McGorry, Andy Richter, director Ava DuVernay, House of Cards creator Beau Willimon and actress Lea Thompson took to social media to show their support. Silverman and Messing participated in the NYC march while McGorry was present at a march in Sarasota, Florida. Read more: Anti-Trump Protesters Flock to Downtown L.A. for Tax Day March Trump, who is the first major-party nominee to not release his tax returns in over 40 years, has previously said his taxes were being audited and that voters did not care about his tax returns. Trump also tweeted that the country has "no choice" but to continue building its military. Our military is building and is rapidly becoming stronger than ever before. Frankly, we have no choice! - Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 16, 2017 Read more: Tax Day Demonstrators, Including Sarah Silverman and Debra Messing, Demand Trump Release His Taxes President Donald Trump responded to the thousands of Tax March demonstrators on Saturday (Tax Day) who demanded that he release his tax returns. "Someone should look into who paid for the small organized rallies yesterday. The election is over," he tweeted after wishing everyone a happy Easter. "I did what was an almost an impossible thing to do for a Republican-easily won the Electoral College! Now Tax Returns are brought up again?" Trump continued. Someone should look into who paid for the small organized rallies yesterday. The election is over! - Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 16, 2017 I did what was an almost an impossible thing to do for a Republican-easily won the Electoral College! Now Tax Returns are brought up again? - Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 16, 2017 Happy Easter to everyone! - Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 16, 2017 Thousands of protesters gathered across the U.S. on Saturday for the Tax March calling Trump release his taxes. Tax March organizers said rallies were planned in 150 locales including Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, Mar-a-Lago, Fla., and Washington, D.C. Several in Hollywood, including Sarah Silverman, Debra Messing, Jon Cryer, Chris Evans, Saturday Night Live's Pete Davidson, How to Get Away With Murder's Matt McGorry, Andy Richter, director Ava DuVernay, House of Cards creator Beau Willimon and actress Lea Thompson took to social media to show their support. Silverman and Messing participated in the NYC march while McGorry was present at a march in Sarasota, Florida. Read more: Anti-Trump Protesters Flock to Downtown L.A. for Tax Day March Trump, who is the first major-party nominee to not release his tax returns in over 40 years, has previously said his taxes were being audited and that voters did not care about his tax returns. Trump also tweeted that the country has "no choice" but to continue building its military. Last week, the U.S. military dropped the "mother of all bombs" on ISIS targets in Afghanistan. Trump's proposed budget blueprint released in March called for $54 billion in defense spending which would cause cuts in the State Department, Environmental Protection Agency, National Endowment for the Arts and other federal programs. Story continues Our military is building and is rapidly becoming stronger than ever before. Frankly, we have no choice! - Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 16, 2017 Read more: Tax Day Demonstrators, Including Sarah Silverman and Debra Messing, Demand Trump Release His Taxes Learn how low-cost carriers enable you to snap up enticing fares. A few decades ago, low-cost airlines were a novelty. But nowadays, thanks to deregulation across the industry, travelers have dozens of cost-effective flight options. For example, Spirit Airlines has a $9 Fare Club (requiring a $59.95 enrollment fee), Tigerair can get you from Singapore to Thailand for $40 and earlier this year WOW Air offered direct flights from San Francisco to Iceland for $99. Of course, fees often apply -- and add up -- but if you travel lightly, you can trim costs. Here are a few clever ways budget airlines can help you save on airfare, plus expert-approved tips for snagging the lowest fares. They consider the details. There is no one-size-fits-all model for low-cost carriers. However, they all have one thing in common: painstaking attention to details. They hire analysts who review every expense with a fine-tooth comb, and then go over it again, to cut costs. For example, many low-cost carriers only offer one class of seating, streamlining the boarding process, requiring fewer crew and saving time so the airline can squeeze more flights into the day. They're making strides to be fuel efficient. "We operate brand-new airplanes which are more fuel efficient than older aircrafts," says Skuli Mogensen, founder and CEO WOW Air, whose Iceland-based airline operates the youngest fleet in the world. It also boasts the lowest emission levels. Low-cost carrier AirAsia was the first airline in the world to install an innovative wing tip design that helps lower wind drag and offers more efficient fuel consumption. They utilize social media platforms. Another way budget carriers save: Opting out of spending a hefty amount on traditional advertising. WOW Air almost exclusively markets through digital social media channels, including Snapchat. Southwest Airlines also heavily relies on a large social media presence. The company has 2 million followers on Twitter. Meanwhile, legacy carrier Delta has 1.3 million Twitter followers, and United has 913,000 followers. Story continues They take more chances. Low-cost carriers are the airline industry's poster children for taking risks. One way they do this is by fuel-hedging (locking in rates for fuel under the premise that they'll go up in the future). The one caveat with this approach: If the prices go down, the low-cost carrier is stuck paying higher prices. One thing they don't cut corners on is passenger safety. All commercial aircraft, regardless of cost, must meet the same safety regulations provided by the Federal Aviation Administration. They hire committed crews. Over time, a high employee turnover can be costly. WOW Air makes an initial large investment in its 900 employees who are all hired for their "wow factor." "After experiencing our service, passengers are most surprised to discover how pleasant, helpful and accommodating our flight crew is," Mogensen says. Budget airlines often pay lower wages to staff members, but unlike their larger counterparts, they also frequently offer profit-sharing programs, which makes employees feel more invested in the company. They enable consumers to double up on discounts. Budget airlines dominate the flash sale space. In March, Frontier Airlines had a one-day flash sale featuring $29 flights across the U.S. Around the same time, Spirit Airlines was even more generous and offered 99 percent off select domestic fares. What's more, most low-cost carriers like WOW Air further lower prices by regularly sending promotional codes to subscribers. They've redefined what's necessary. What's the number one thing consumers should know about budget airlines? "You basically get what you pay for," Mogensen says. "We keep the basic price of airfare to its minimum and allow our passengers to add on extras they might find necessary," he explains. Bringing your own snacks, packing light and paying for your bags online, as well as being content without getting a seat assignment in advance, are all ways to save. Just make sure to factor in what level of comfort and convenience you want before you book. They add value in other ways. Let's be honest, budget airlines are known for eliminating perks not adding benefits. Still, WOW Air offers trans-Atlantic passengers added value with its free multiday stopover in Iceland. And while the number of airlines offering these extended layovers is growing, for the most part, it is limited to European carriers selling tickets at full price, such as TAP Portugal, Brussel Airlines and Finnair. While most budget airlines do away with loyalty and rewards programs, some low-cost carriers, including Southwest Airlines, JetBlue and Spirit Airlines, still offer them. They come with perks like points that can be redeemed for future flights and, in some cases, hotel stays and car rentals. They think outside the competition. If you've ever flown with Ryanair, you probably know the carrier frequently uses less popular airports with lower runway fees. For example, if you're flying the Ireland-based budget airline to Paris, you won't land at Charles De Gaulle Airport. Instead, you'll land outside the city at Beauvais--Tille Airport. Budget airlines are also pioneers in unchartered territory. "We've made no secret of our plans to expand our operation to other parts of the world, including the South American market, which is characterized by little competition and high prices," Mogensen says. South America currently only has around eight low-cost carriers, while Europe has 28 and Asia has 54 low-cost airlines. They fly fewer types of planes. Sure, it's enticing to be able to pick from a diverse fleet of aircrafts and routes with commercial carriers. But when it comes to maintaining aircrafts, the required mechanics are expensive. So, many low-cost carriers save money by offering only one or two kinds of planes, which can be serviced by the same crew and with the same components. For example, AirAsia, one of the largest low-cost carriers in the world, features just two types of planes in its 80-plus aircraft fleet. Turks have voted to give their president sweeping new executive powers. Supporters of the constitutional change-President Recep Tayyip Erdogan chief among them-argue that the country needs a presidential system (rather than a parliamentary one) to respond quickly to threats at home and abroad. Opponents of the constitutional amendments argue that theyre nothing more than a power grab by Erdogan. The results leave the country sharply divided. A little more than 51 percent of Turks voted in favor of the executive presidency, with a turnout of over 85%. The referendum results fell largely along rural/urban fault lines-the Anatolian heartland voted overwhelmingly for Erdogans proposed changes, while the three largest cities (Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir) all voted against. But the referendum is just the beginning of the story. Heres what happens next: 1. Erdogan gets to work Opposition parties have pledged to contest the referendum results, but dont expect anything to change. Erdogan has already gotten parliament to extend the state of emergency, allowing him extraordinary powers to manage dissent; he will then hold a special AK party conference where he will officially resume his role as chairman, allowing him to decide which members of his party will stand for elections. Expect a cabinet reshuffle shortly thereafter; Erdogan will reward those ministers that campaigned vigorously for the referendum and sideline those who didnt (with the added benefit of blaming these individuals for the relatively close outcome). All this sets the stage for... 2. Early elections Winning the referendum was only step 1; now Erdogan must win an election. Next elections are scheduled for November 2019, but Erdogan has three reasons for moving them up to 2018, or even fall 2017. First, Turkeys economy is worsening; unemployment hit a 7-year high in early 2017. General unemployment is at 13 percent, while youth unemployment is at 24.5 percent. Erdogan knows he better get his vote sooner rather than later. Story continues Second, the longer he waits, the more often he has to push for extensions of the state of emergency he needs to advance his argument that I alone can save Turkey from traitors and terrorists. While Erdogan has firm control of his AK party, the opposition remains disorganized; while the Republican Peoples Party (CHP) will likely remain the main opposition force in Parliament, early elections would give smaller-scale parties like the National Movement Party (MHP) and the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democracy Party (HDP) as little time as possible to get their act together. 3. Oppressed opposition parties Both the MHP and HDP barely cleared the 10 percent threshold of support needed to enter parliament in November 2015 elections, and things arent getting easier-since this past summers failed coup attempt, Erdogan has shuttered more than 150 media outlets; Turkeys press freedom, already under threat, has fallen to 151 out of 180 countries on the Reporters Without Borders press freedom index. Erdogan has also purged political opponents from the military, universities and government ministries. According to the International Referendum Observation Mission, more than 100,000 political opponents have been arrested under emergency decrees, 40,000 have been detained, and more than 150,000 civil servants have been fired from their posts all together. Yet the opposition knows that if it doesnt mobilize before the next elections, Erdogan will be much tougher to deal with after them. 4. An even frostier relationship with Europe Europe wasnt thrilled with the referendum outcome, especially because Erdogan spent the past few months framing the referendum as us vs. the West, a message that obviously found resonance with a large swath of Turkish voters. Turkey-Europe relations became even more strained as Erdogan attempted to woo Turkish voters living in Europe by dispatching government ministers to lead pro-referendum rallies in European cities; when the governments of Germany and the Netherlands refused to allow the rallies to take place (citing security concerns), Erdogan called them Nazis. In the end, 63 percent of Turkish voters in Germany voted in favor of the referendum, as did 71 percent of Turkish voters in the Netherlands and 65 percent in France. Looking ahead, the real concern for E.U. leaders is not Turkeys hopeless bid to join the union but the 3 million Syrian and other migrants that Turkey is housing as part of a broader EU-Turkey deal; Erdogan has threatened more than once to push as many as possible of the migrants toward Europe. As part of the deal, Turkey was supposed to improve press freedom and drop talk of a reinstatement of the death penalty. That hasnt happened. In short, E.U. leaders must contend with the reality that Turkey is starting to look less like Europe and more like Russia. 5. A worsening dilemma in Syria The referendum victory may well embolden Erdogan to play a larger role in neighboring Syria, especially if he feels under threat and needs to manufacture a geopolitical crisis to mobilize nationalist voters. Thatd be a risky, if still remote, move. Beyond the hundreds of Turkish casualties and millions spent, Turkeys intervention has already stirred up geopolitical trouble. In November 2015, Turkey shot down a Russian jet over the Syrian-Turkish border. In December, an off-duty Turkish police officer assassinated the Russian ambassador to Turkey in Ankara to protest Moscows involvement in Syria. Erdogan and Putin have since smoothed things over, but how long that will last is anybodys guess. As Turkey stumbles along in Syria, Erdogans strongman image will suffer, particularly because hes been unable to check the progress of Syrian Kurds, who hope to carve out a homeland for themselves in parts of Syria that President Bashar al-Assad cant control. That might encourage the more militant of Turkeys Kurds to push for their own territory as well. And thats a problem that becomes more dangerous and expensive for Turkey every year as Erdogan refuses compromises with Kurdish moderates. In other words, the challenges ahead for Turkey are just beginning. This article was originally published on TIME.com With each passing year, it seems the societal taboo's toward marijuana are slowly fading into thin air. Consider, for example, the following fact: according to a recent Gallup Poll, support for cannabis legalization in the U.S. is up to sixty percentan all-time high. What's more, twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia have recently legalized medical marijuana. With that, of course, comes the potential windfall of new business for cannabis growers and sellers. Yet, there's another group that should be added to the list of those who will benefit from this, and it's not who you'd first come to expect: architects and interior designers. Naturally, as the industry grows, and competition stiffens, each company will look for an edge to bring in more patrons. And that includes smartly designed spaces. Although the industry is still in its early stages, AD survey's six of the best design marijuana shops across America. Photo: Courtesy of Diego Pellicer The high stoner holiday, 4/20, is upon us. A part of cannabis culture for decades now, the number 420 first became associated with marijuana in the 1970s thanks to a group of California stoners known as the Waldos who would meet outside their school to smoke at 4:20 p.m, the Huffington Post reports. According to Philly.com columnist Chris Goldstein, the 420 association grew from there, and was popularized in the 1990s by former High Times editor Steve Bloom, who found out about the term in 1990 at a Grateful Dead show via a flyer, and published an article about 420 in the magazine in 1991. Bloom told Goldstein in 2013 that the first April 20th marijuana celebrations began with marijuana activist and dispensary owner Debby Goldsberry, who did 4/20 events in the Berkeley, Calif. area in the 1990s. Now, with marijuana recreationally or medically legal in more than half of the United States, millions of Americans celebrate 4/20 by smoking cannabis. And Philadelphia, where marijuana possession is decriminalized up to 30 grams, is no different. So, with that in mind, weve rounded up seven 4/20-themed events in the area to properly celebrate the holiday. Scoring your own party supplies, however, is up to you. A post shared by One Art (@oneartcommunitycenter) on Apr 16, 2017 at 5:46pm PDT One Art Community Center in West Philadelphia is bringing back its annual 4/20 party for yet another high holiday. Philly reggae artists Jah People, Jah One and the One Art Band, the Rootsetters, and others will perform, and the center will have munchies and all around good vibes available, according to an event posting. 4:20 p.m. to 12 a.m. Thursday, One Art Community Center, 1421-39 N. 52nd St., $7 at the door, oneartcommunitycenter.com. A post shared by Creep Records Store (@creeprecordsstore) on Apr 3, 2017 at 10:36am PDT Philadelphia-based tattoo artist and glass pipe maker Steve Bishov is having his first pipe shows opening on the most appropriate of days. Featuring the artists tattoo-inspired, cold-worked glass pipes, the show will exhibit collaborative work from Bishov and more than 20 different pipe artists. Story continues 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Thursday, Creep Records, 1050 N. Hancock St. Ste. 76, creeprecords.com. Sixteen comedians will enter. And 16 comedians will leave. But all of them except one will be stoned the whole time, and its up to everyone else to figure out who the narc is. Field sobriety tests, trivia, and testimony will help audience members and panelists with their decision across two shows in honor of 4/20 this year. 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Thursday, Good Good Comedy Theatre, 215 N. 11th St., $15, goodgoodcomedy.com. A post shared by National Liberty Museum (@nationallibertymuseum) on Apr 6, 2017 at 6:29pm PDT The National Liberty Museum is touting this as the first glass smoking pipe show in a museum setting, so taking in a watershed weed exhibit on the biggest weed holiday of the year seems only appropriate. With art from major pipe makers like Banjo, Marble Slinger, Germ, and Robert Mickelsen, this one will have you wondering, People can smoke out of that? 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, National Liberty Museum, 321 Chestnut St., $7, libertymuseum.org. Birthday cake pierogi are back for a limited time only so if you missed them last time dont hesitate. #dessertpierogi #birthdaycake #fatkiddreams A post shared by matthew rodin (@mrodin88) on Mar 24, 2017 at 11:52am PDT Whats 4/20 without the munchies? The Irish Pol took that question seriously this year, and came up with a 10-item menu made specially just for Weed Day. Think buffalo chicken ramen, gordita crunch wraps, and tatchos, a stoney version of nachos using tater tots. Our eyes, however, are on the birthday cake pierogi (pictured above), complete with fun-fetti dough and buttercream icing filling. 5 p.m. to 12 a.m. Thursday, The Irish Pol, 114 Market St., theirishpol.com. A post shared by Philadelphia Film Society (@phillyfilmsociety) on Apr 17, 2017 at 11:44am PDT Check out the best non-stoner stoner movie of the modern age in ultra high-definition while you are the definition of ultra-high. Director Richard Kelleys 2001 debut feature follows troubled teen Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal) after imaginary friend Frank, a six-foot rabbit-monster, tells him the world is going to end in 28 days. Dont freak out, man. 7:30 p.m., Prince Theater, 1412 Chestnut St., $13, filmadelphia.org. Featuring music from Yheti, Luzcid, Shlump, and more, Codas High Times 002 dance party is the spot for Philly stoners who may have gotten their hands on a good sativa. Raging until 3 a.m., this event also features a munchies bar with 15 pizzas, Chick-Fil-A nuggets, Dunkaroos, and dirt pudding, so come hungry. Hoops, flow toys, and gloves will be available for your baked self to play with on the dance floor. 9 p.m. to 3 a.m., Coda, 1712 Walnut St., $15 to $20, codaphilly.com. Most Popular on Philly.com (Reuters) - AbbVie Inc said on Wednesday that its experimental cancer drug, veliparib, failed to meet the main goals of two late-stage studies. The trials evaluated the effect of veliparib, in combination with a chemotherapy regimen, on patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and triple-negative breast cancer. In one trial, the combination treatment failed to improve the overall survival of NSCLC patients, who had smoked within the past 12 months and had more than 100 smoking events in their lifetime. In another trial, which evaluated the treatment on patients with early-stage triple-negative breast cancer, the drug did not achieve the complete pathologic response. Veliparib belongs to a closely watched class of new medicines called PARP inhibitors, which block enzymes involved in repairing damaged DNA, thereby helping to kill cancer cells. The only approved drugs in the class include AstraZeneca Plc's Lynparza, also known as olaparib, and Tesaro Inc's niraparib. Tesaro's niraparib won the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval for the treatment of recurrent ovarian cancer late in March this year. Other experimental PARP inhibitors include Clovis Oncology Inc's rucaparib and Pfizer Inc's talazoparib. Abbvie's shares were marginally down after the bell on Wednesday. (Reporting by Divya Grover in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Bill Rigby) KABUL, Afghanistan The sky-tearing blast last week was unlike anything the villagers around the Acchin valleys in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar had ever heard. It set off panicked phone calls and fearful speculations until word spread that the explosion was not a new insurgency strike but an air attack by the United States. The onslaught employed one of the few bombs to have its own set of names the GBU-43/B, otherwise known as the Massive Ordnance Air Blast, or the Mother of All Bombs (MOAB). It was the first time the 21,000-pound bomb, which covers a 1,000-yard radius, has been used in combat. The strike, directed at a network of tunnels used by insurgents, drew global attention to the long-running conflict in Afghanistan. It was the right weapon, for the right target, General John W. Nicholson, commander of the US forces in Afghanistan, told a room of journalists in Kabul on Friday afternoon. But it wasnt just Americans who were enthusiastic about the strike. Despite the worries sparked worldwide by the news, local Afghan leaders were cheering the MOAB. The attack was successful, and we all are happy, since there were no civilian casualties, Zabiullah Zmarai, secretary of the provincial council in Nangarhar, told Foreign Policy. The official added that tribal areas from the neighboring districts of Shinwari, Charigam, and Kot had reached out to him to praise the MOAB. Daesh [the Arabic term for the Islamic State] was a huge threat to the people in Nangarhar. They are relieved they were finished off with one bomb. Malawi Subhanullah Salim, an imam from the Bati Kot district bordering Acchin, spoke enthusiastically about the attack. They [the United States] have pulled out the Islamic State by the roots from this region, he told Foreign Policy, adding that his community welcomed this operation and was pleased with the results. But others questioned the motivation. The attack and the use of MOAB seems disproportionate, said Timor Sharan, senior analyst at the International Crisis Group in Washington. He, like many, pegged the use of the bomb as a show of strength by the Trump administration. Its more about the message than the act sending a clear message to regional players, including Russia and as far as North Korea, to say that the U.S. is ready to take action and utilize necessary force. Story continues Zmarai agreed that the move was a show of strength by the United States, but it was one that seemingly gratified him. America wants to show her power to the countries like Pakistan and Russia, to warn Russia not to support Taliban anymore and to Pakistan not to produce terrorists, he said. Nicholson defended the timing of the attack, which came the day before multinational talks in Moscow on Afghan security. He said it was a tactical reaction after Afghan and U.S. forces came up against the tunnel and cave defenses that honeycomb the mountains. The focus of [this] operation was nothing other than destroying Daesh in 2017, Nicholson said, adding that the Resolute Strike operation had now liberated two-thirds of the province. He emphasized that the decision had been his alone in sharp contrast with Trumps evasion of a similar question the previous night. But the Afghan enthusiasm for the strike came largely from its target, not from any geopolitical implications. The Islamic State was first reported in Afghanistan in 2014 but has steadily grown as a decentralized and scattered insurgency, most prominent in eastern Afghanistan. After initial failures to gain footing, a powerful local group, now calling itself the Islamic State Khorasan Province, coalesced around July 2016 in several districts of Nangarhar. Even among Afghanistans radicalized armed groups, the Islamic State was not welcomed into the fold, largely because of an extremely fundamentalist interpretation of Islam that didnt align with the complexities of local traditions and ethnic divisions. The groups methods, copied from its parent in Syria, were seen as hideously brutal even by the local Taliban groups and sympathizers. From public beheadings of tribal elders, to kidnapping, to sexual assault, the Islamic State created a new terror structure parallel to the Taliban-led brutality that already existed, one that has shocked even conflict-hardened Afghans. The insurgent group has also claimed responsibility for several attacks in the capital city of Kabul, including a double-suicide onslaught on a peaceful demonstration that caused dozens of casualties. The United Nations recorded about 900 civilians killed by the Islamic State in Afghanistan last year, a tenfold rise since the previous year. They are animals! Nicholson said. Theyve sent suicide bombers to peaceful demonstrations and in mosques during prayer. Just last month, they shot and killed hospital patients in bed. The Taliban condemned the hospital attack. Fighting between the new insurgent group and Afghan forces has driven hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. The Islamic State has also kidnapped many Afghans, holding them for ransom or as human shields. When Bahauddin Baha of Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar, heard about the blast his immediate concern was for his uncle, who was kidnapped three weeks earlier by Islamic State fighters from Haska Maina, a district near Acchin. We dont know if he got caught in the attack, he said. Even though I strongly believe it was insurgents who were targeted by attack. I feel so broken when I hear that the worlds heaviest bomb was dropped on my homeland. It doesnt seem right to target terrorism like this. The official insurgent death toll is 96, but the extent of civilian casualties is still unclear. U.S., Afghan, and local authorities say there were none. We havent heard of any casualties, except those from the insurgents, said Salim, the preacher. How could there be any when our brothers there have been fleeing from Daesh? Sediq Seddiqi, director of the Government Media & Information Center, told Foreign Policy that civilians had been warned about the attack and that surveillance footage of the site indicated there is no evidence of civilian casualties. The Afghan forces working alongside the U.S. forces ensured that the last of the families living in that area were evacuated two days prior to the explosion, said Javid Faisal, spokesperson for Abdullah Abdullah, chief executive of the Islamic Republic. Zmarai, the local council leader, added that the United States had distributed leaflets by helicopter telling civilians to clear the area. Although leaders both locally and in Kabul cheered the operation, former President Hamid Karzai accused the United States of using Afghanistan as a testing ground for dangerous weapons. It is upon us Afghans to stop the USA, he said on social media. If we dont act against Daesh, we get blamed. If we do something, we still get blamed, Faisal said, reacting to Karzais comment. As Afghans and as leaders, we need to stand together against Daesh brutalities. This move showed our [the U.S. and Afghan governments] collective commitment to eliminating Daesh in Afghanistan. It should be encouraged. Photo Credit: NOORULLAH SHIRZADA/AFP/Getty Images From Woman's Day Get excited, soap opera fans: your favorite Days of Our Lives villain will be hitting your daytime screens once again. Alison Sweeney plans to reprise her popular role as bad girl Sami Brady for an extended visit this spring, according to People. The 40-year-old actress shared the exciting news with her Instagram fans in the video below. "From my end, it takes a little bit of logistics with projects I'm working on," she told Soap Opera Digest. "And unfortunately, this year's been hard for me because of my knee injury, so I had to push some stuff back. So, I figured out a schedule, blocked out some time that I had available, and we figured it out!" Alison stepped into the role as Samantha Brady over 20 years ago when she was just 16 years old. Since 1993, Sami notoriously became known on the show as the girl "you love to hate," and she never failed to stir up trouble. The Daytime Emmy Award-winning actress stayed as a regular for 21 years before making a character exit in 2014. She returned shortly in 2015 for the show's 50th-anniversary special. Photo credit: Getty Since leaving Days of Our Lives, Alison has starred in various Hallmark movies such as The Irresistible Blueberry Farm and the Murder, She Baked series. There's no set date on when exactly Alison will appear again on Days, but she said on Instagram that production begins in a couple weeks. We can hardly wait for some good ol' Sami Brady-style drama! (h/t People) Follow Woman's Day on Instagram. You Might Also Like BEIJING (Reuters) - America's allies in Asia were silent on Wednesday over confusion about a U.S. aircraft carrier group that was supposed to be headed toward North Korea in a show of force, but was actually completing training exercises in Australia. But many Chinese took to social media to joke about it. "American imperialism is a paper tiger," said one user on Weibo, China's version of Twitter. "The aircraft carrier was sleep-walking," said another. The U.S. military's Pacific Command explained on Tuesday that the Carl Vinson strike group first had to complete a shorter-than-initially planned period of training with Australia. But it was now "proceeding to the Western Pacific as ordered", it said. U.S. President Donald Trump said last week that he had ordered the strike group to head for Korean waters amid talk that unpredictable North Korea was likely to conduct a nuclear or long-range ballistic missile test. "We cannot comment on details of U.S. operation of its assets," a military official said in Seoul, the capital of South Korea. North Korea remains technically at war with the South and the United States because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice and no peace treaty was signed. Japan, the other main U.S. ally in the region, did not comment on the mix-up while China's foreign ministry declined to comment at a regular briefing. Singapore-based security expert Ian Storey said countries in the region would have found the confusion over the strike group's location "unsettling and perplexing". "This disconnect between the White House and Pacific Command may be an operational issue but it is distinctly odd," said Storey, who is based at the ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute. "The fact that the Carl Vinson strike group was not in the vicinity of the Korean peninsula undermines the Trump administrations tough approach towards Pyongyang." North Korea did not refer to the mix-up but said the United States and its allies "should not mess with us". "A nuclear powered aircraft carrier that the United States and its puppet group are loudly advertising is nothing more than a pile of scrap metal in the face of our revolutionary forces' mighty power," said the Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North's ruling Workers' Party. (Reporting by Michael Martina, Greg Torode in Hong Kong and Jack Kim in Seoul; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan) By Tom Allard JAKARTA (Reuters) - The thumping win by Anies Baswedan in the bitterly fought election for Jakarta governor signals twin threats to Indonesias President Joko Widodo - from rising Islamism and the renewed clout of Indonesias old political and business elites. Baswedan thanked supporters after taking a decisive lead in the unofficial count on Tuesday afternoon, but not before his political patron, Prabowo Subianto, claimed victory first - thanking the scions of Indonesias establishment by his side. "Our focus is social justice, ending inequality and our commitment is to safeguard diversity and unity, Baswedan said. The conciliatory tone contrasted with the fractious nature of a campaign that challenged Indonesias religious and ethnically tolerant traditions, and comments made by Baswedan on the eve of the election. Baswedan compared the poll to the Battle of Badr, a pivotal fight in the early days of Islam that consolidated the Prophet Muhammads power, a win ascribed to divine intervention. FRINGE BECOMES A FORCE The Jakarta election was marked by the blasphemy trial of Baswedan's rival, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who allegedly mocked a verse in the Koran used by his opponents to claim Muslims could not vote for anyone with different religious beliefs. Purnama is a Christian and ethnic Chinese in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation. Huge, well-funded anti-Purnama protests in November and December sunk his high approval ratings. They were organised by hitherto fringe Islamists drawn from violent vigilante groups and Salafists influenced by Saudi Arabias puritanical brand of Islam. Conservative clerics took the anti-Purnama message to the mosques throughout the campaign, said Eva Kusuma Sundari a senior official in Widodos party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle. This is a major defeat for us. The landscape is changing and its not favourable to us, she said. "We have to figure out our own understanding of this political religion without giving up our constitutional and nationalistic approach." Tim Lindsey, an Indonesia analyst from the University of Melbourne, said Islamist groups had emerged from the fringe to become a force. This is a rehearsal for [the 2019 presidential election] and it sends a very clear message that if you play the Islam card its going to help you, he said. If groups like these can get hundreds of thousands on the streets, you are going to want to use that power. Slamet Maarif, a spokesman for the Islamic Defenders Front, one of the main forces behind the push to prevent a Christian from leading Indonesia's Muslim majority capital, said the group was already eyeing the 2019 poll. "We will maintain the existing unity of Muslims. And we will prepare Muslim unity for 2019," he told Reuters. SUHARTO'S ELITES Widodo, who grew up in a shack by a river in rural Java and became a successful furniture seller before entering politics, was the insurgent candidate who defeated Prabowo in the 2014 presidential election. Popularly known as Jokowi, he became the first Indonesian from outside the elites to assume the countrys highest office. He was catapulted to national prominence after becoming governor of Jakarta, with Purnama serving as his deputy. His fit-and-start reform agenda has antagonised some in the business establishment who chafe against his calls for more foreign investment and increased competition in some sectors of the economy. Among those standing alongside Baswedan and Prabowo as they claimed victory were moguls Aburizal Bakrie, Hashim Djojohadikusumo and Hary Tanoesoedibjo. All were prominent businessmen with links to the three-decade authoritarian regime of Suharto before he was ousted from power in 1998 during the Asian financial crisis. Tanoesoedibjo, who is President Donald Trump's business partner in two resort developments in Indonesia, once worked for Suharto's son, Bambang Trihatmodjo. Bakrie is a former chairman of the Golkar Party, which Suharto created as the parliamentary rubber stamp for his 32-year hardline rule. His family conglomerate, Bakrie Group, is prominent in the mining industry, oil and gas, and property development. Prabowo, a former general and son-in-law of Suharto, was banned from entering the United States over his alleged human rights abuses as a military commander tasked with disrupting the student protests that eventually toppled Suharto and ushered in Indonesias democratic era. Djojohadikusumo is Prabowo's younger brother. Their father, Sumitro Djojohadikusumo, was the architect of Suharto's economic plans. Considered a spent force after his defeat in 2014, Prabowo now has a platform to raise money and increase his profile ahead of another tilt at the presidency in 2019, said Wimar Witoelar, a political analyst and former presidential spokesman. [Baswedan] will be indebted, he said. The Jakarta government will be a pawn in the political play for 2019. (Additional reporting by Agustinus Da Costa. Editing by Bill Tarrant.) Taking antidepressants during pregnancy might actually be safer than you think, according to several recent studies. It turns out elements like mental illness genes might be more of a factor than the antidepressants themselves. One new study from Indiana University found that mothers who took these medications early in their pregnanc ies didn't increase their children's chances of developing conditions like autism or ADHD or of smaller fetal growth when placed against other risk factors. Indiana University partnered with researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health for the study, which was published Tuesday in JAMA. The study looked at 1.5 million babies born in Sweden between 1996 and 2012 and data on the country's antidepressant adult prescriptions, children's autism and ADHD diagnoses and more. Study author Brian D'Onofrio looked at siblings born to mothers who took antidepressants during pregnancy compared to those who didn't, and found the autism rate was similar, Time reports. This means the medications weren't a huge deal when it came to developing autism and that it was another factor that stood out for the children. As Time says, the findings suggest "that something else in the children's experience -- like their genetics or the environment in which they were raised -- played a greater role than the drugs." "If you just look at the population as a whole, children born to women who take antidepressants are more likely to be diagnosed with autism than children born to mothers who don't take them," D'Onofrio, also the director of clinical training in Indiana University's department of psychological and brain sciences, told Time. "But when you try to account for all the other factors that could help explain that association, like comparing siblings and looking at the timing of the exposure, the association went away." The study did find a slightly increased risk of premature birth for children whose moms took the antidepressants compared to those who didn't. Story continues Another study published in the same edition of JAMA examined more than 35,000 births in Canada and the corresponding rates of autism spectrum disorders in brothers and sisters whose mothers took antidepressants while pregnant and those who didn't. One of the study authors Dr. Simone Vigod of Women's College Research Institute came to a similar conclusion as D'Onofrio, that though there was a higher risk of autism for children born to these mothers, that link went away given factors including how serious the mother's depression was. "When taking everything together, it's quite reasonable to say that these are low-risk medications, especially when you consider the potential risk of not taking them for some women," Dr. Vigod told Time. Yet another study published in JAMA Pediatrics indicated studies surrounding antidepressants and autism are difficult to analyze, given the differences in how they look at topics "like a mother's depression and environmental factors," Time reports. Why Can't I Get Pregnant? The Best and Worst Exercises for Pregnant Women David Oliver is Associate Editor, Social Media at U.S. News & World Report. Follow him on Twitter, connect with him on LinkedIn, or send him an email at doliver@usnews.com. By Alister Doyle OSLO (Reuters) - The Arctic is a dead end for floating plastic waste dumped in the Atlantic Ocean off Europe and the United States and swept north by ocean currents to a polar graveyard, scientists said on Wednesday. Levels of plastic found east of Greenland and in the Barents Sea off Norway and Russia were far higher than expected for the sparsely populated regions, according to the report showing how man-made pollution extends even to remote parts of the globe. "The northeastern Atlantic sector of the Arctic Ocean appeared as a dead end for the surface transport of plastic pollution," the authors wrote in the open access journal Science Advances. The survey, by the Tara Oceans circumpolar expedition that sampled 42 Arctic sites in 2013 with nets, found hundreds of thousands of mostly tiny bits of plastic per square kilometer (square mile) in the northeastern Atlantic region. Much of the plastic was apparently old and had floated north from Europe and North America. Levels were comparable to those in ocean gyres, vast swirling currents nearer the equator, where plastic debris is known to accumulate, they wrote. "Ninety-nine percent of the floating plastic in the Arctic was confined in the Greenland and Barents Seas," lead author Andres Cozar of the University of Cadiz in Spain told Reuters. "The plastic pollution in the rest of the Arctic Polar Circle was low or absent," he said. Global warming could open the Arctic to more pollution, partly as the extent of sea ice shrinks. "High loads of marine plastic pollution may become prevalent in the Arctic in the future," the study said. The study said there was "special concern" about the impact of plastic on fragile Arctic wildlife, including on the seabed where bits may eventually sink. Northern fulmar birds on the Arctic Svalbard islands north of Norway, for instance, have been found with high levels of plastic in their stomachs from discarded plastic bags, fishing nets and other trash. Separately, the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP), which was not involved in the report, is examining wider pollution risks from plastics. "We're looking to see how big the problem is for the Arctic - both the physical plastic and the chemicals attached to the surface," Lars-Otto Reiersen, executive secretary of AMAP, told Reuters. (Reporting by Alister Doyle; Editing by Tom Heneghan) By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - Three years after Pfizer's failed bid for AstraZeneca, the British drugmaker aims to prove in the coming weeks that its cancer immunotherapy can deliver on bold sales forecasts made during that takeover battle. Central to AstraZeneca's case is a trial called MYSTIC which is testing the drugs durvalumab and tremelimumab in lung cancer. If initial results to be reported at mid-year indicate success, this could confirm the company's place at oncology's top table. But the market for medicines boosting the immune system's ability to fight tumors is increasingly competitive and the science is moving fast, raising questions as to whether AstraZeneca can produce a knock-out win. Merck & Co, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Roche already have similar drugs approved in lung cancer and the race is on to launch effective combinations for previously untreated disease in patients - a potentially huge market. "I think there will be multiple approvals in the first-line (untreated) space," Naiyer Rizvi, head of thoracic oncology at Columbia University Medical Center, told Reuters. "The question is going to be how do you position all these different options." Durvalumab and tremelimumab are immuno-oncology (I-O) drugs which, by helping the body's immune cells kill cancer, offer an alternative to toxic chemotherapy. While not without side effects, I-O is a kinder option that also promises longer-lasting efficacy, although the high cost is a concern. Analysts at Jefferies see a $20 billion opportunity for I-O drugs in first-line non-small cell lung cancer, with sales split between I-O monotherapy (administering one such medicine on its own); I-O plus conventional chemotherapy; and combinations of two I-O drugs, as in AstraZeneca's approach. "There's a critical unmet need, which is why there is so much excitement about immunotherapies and so much activity," said Rob Iannone, AstraZeneca's head of late-stage I-O development. "Current outcomes are still very, very poor." As experience builds with using the new agents, rival drugmakers have been busily amending clinical trial plans to keep up with a shifting landscape, while also launching new studies to exploit a coming second generation of I-O medicines. The issue has been further complicated by doubts over how to identify patients who will benefit. The latest data suggests that the level of mutation in tumors may be a better biomarker than the current widely used benchmark, a protein called PDL-1. "PDL-1 is a bit of a blunt instrument," said Rizvi. "In future, I think you will see a lot better science around identifying patients based on their genetics." BIG SHARE PRICE SWING AstraZeneca shares, which at around 46 pounds still trail the 55 pounds offered by Pfizer in 2014, are expected to move sharply up or down on the MYSTIC data. But the result may not be as clear-cut as some investors hope because the full data will emerge in stages. Headline news on progression-free survival (PFS), or extending the time before cancer worsens, is due in June or July, with details following later, possibly at the European Society for Medical Oncology congress in Madrid in September. Doctors, patients and investors may have to wait until 2018 to learn whether durvalumab and tremelimumab actually help patients live longer by extending overall survival (OS). Given the competitive landscape, the pressure is on to achieve both PFS and OS. "In the first-line setting, I think it is important to hit both," said Rizvi, who is principal investigator for the MYSTIC trial. Indeed, a miss on PFS could be enough to mark AstraZeneca as a likely loser in the multibillion-dollar I-O race, according to UBS analysts. AstraZeneca's Iannone sees it rather differently, arguing that the durable response generated by I-O drugs makes long-term survival, not PFS, the gold standard test. "It looks as if OS is a more robust endpoint," he said. "We want to preserve PFS, even if we know that the study might ultimately have to wait for OS to appreciate the full benefit." Importantly, AstraZeneca has built multiple options into its trial design, with potential to prove that durva/treme can help all patients or a subset with high levels of PDL-1. In addition, durvalumab is being tested on its own. Back in 2014, AstraZeneca predicted durvalumab could have peak sales of $6.5 billion, including combination therapies, making it the biggest contributor to revenue growth. Current analyst forecasts are only around half this level, according to Thomson Reuters data, making the next few weeks pivotal in building or eroding expectations. AstraZeneca has two chances to build confidence ahead of MYSTIC, with durvalumab potentially winning approval in bladder cancer - a relatively small market - and data also due from a lower-profile lung cancer trial called ARCTIC. But rivals are moving fast. Merck is expected to get a U.S. green light to sell a combination of its I-O drug Keytruda and chemotherapy in first-line lung cancer by May 10, while Bristol-Myers and Roche also have important upcoming combination data. All of this makes success critical for AstraZeneca, which is struggling with falling sales from loss of patents on blockbusters such as cholesterol drug Crestor and is doing external deals to help fund new-drug research. Pfizer may have left the stage but some analysts and bankers believe AstraZeneca could become a target again in any future wave of pharmaceutical industry consolidation. (editing by David Stamp) By Swati Pandey SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia and New Zealand have tightened visa conditions for skilled migrants in a bid to woo nationalist-leaning voters, echoing the United States' "America First" policy, but critics have decried the move as mostly political posturing. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Tuesday abolished a temporary work visa popular with foreigners, replacing it with a new program. New Zealand also tightened access to skilled work visas, taking a "Kiwis-first approach." The changes are likely to hurt small businesses and Australian tech start-ups, industry officials said, but both countries will continue to see a surge in foreigners. Recent population growth in Australia has been driven by student visas, which offer a path for people to study, work and eventually become permanent residents. In the six months to December, the country granted 156,453 student visas. This compares with just 12,866 of the so-called 457 skilled work visas approved in the year to September 2016. More than 95,000 foreigners are now employed under the 457 visa, making up a mere 0.8 percent of Australia's labor force. "This is just a change of name, nothing else," said Shamim Ahmed, a Sydney-based migration agent at AIC Education Services. "They cannot really abolish this visa, because it is demanded by employers." The 457 visa has been axed with immediate effect, and replaced by two new visas with a shorter skills shortage list and a tougher English language requirement, Turnbull announced on Tuesday. Additional details are still awaited. Turnbull, who broke the news on social media site Facebook, expects fewer entrants to Australia under the new scheme, he said in a radio interview on Wednesday. "There will be a short-term skills visa for two years and it can only be renewed once. And then the person holding it has to go back to their home country," Turnbull said, repeating the "Australian jobs for Australians" rhetoric 16 times. Another 4-year visa will have stricter eligibility criteria. Opposition leader Bill Shorten has labeled the announcement "cosmetic" and a "con job" that will make no real difference. "That's just shifting deck chairs on the proverbial sinking ship," he added. In neighboring New Zealand, the policy changes are expected to have a limited impact on net arrivals. Opposition members were quick to accuse the ruling National party of currying favor with voters in an election year, without making reining in immigration numbers and unemployment. "National's changes don't address the huge numbers of people coming here to do low-level qualifications or low-skill work," said Labour party leader Andrew Little. A boom in new arrivals has helped the New Zealand economy achieve some of the strongest gross domestic product growth in the developed world. But opposition parties and the central bank have called for a review of policies, citing low wage growth and soaring house prices spurred by the influx. AFFECTED SECTORS Australia's decision could upset India, its fifth-largest export market and the single biggest beneficiary of the 457 visa, accounting for one in four applicants. Australia wants to boost two-way trade with India, which now stands at nearly A$20 billion, but its decision, just days after Turnbull visited the south Asian nation, could hurt ties. India is examining the consequences of Australia's new visa policy in consultation with all stakeholders, a foreign ministry representative said in reply to a query. "This is also a matter we will be looking at in the context of CECA negotiations," the official added, referring to talks for an economic cooperation pact between the two countries. Leading IT lobby group NASSCOM said it expected limited fallout from the decision, though some firms among India's $150-billion tech industry could lose exemptions they had before. "The occupations being pruned in terms of jobs do not really impact our jobs in terms of the ICT segment," said Shivendra Singh, vice president of the grouping, the National Association of Software and Services Companies. But companies might face more paperwork, he added. "Companies will...probably have to spend more time, effort and possibly money, also, to prepare in advance, and prepare on the ground, as well." For Sydney-based Shamim Ahmed, the outcome of roughly 10 applications filed last month, mostly for Asian clients under a temporary skilled visa category, hangs in the balance. "There is no clarity on the announcement, the details have not been published," Ahmed added. "This has increased our headache." Businesses have generally welcomed the decision but some industries fear being on the receiving end. Early stage start-ups will be hit hardest, said David Ballerini, a co-founder of restaurant discovery and cash loyalty app Liven. "A shortage of relevant skills from the local market was the main reason to rely on 457s," said Ballerini, who employs such visa holders, chiefly for technology and product development. "While there is merit to saving jobs for Australian-born developers, the community is small and technical specialists are few and far between." For a graphic on Australia's 457 visas, click http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/rngs/AUSTRALIA-IMMIGRATION/010040PJ1HL/457-visa.jpg (Reporting by Swati Pandey; Additional reporting by Charlotte Greenfield in Wellington and Sankalp Phartiyal in Mumbai; Editing by Clarence Fernandez) Unable to afford a car, Shanghai university student Long Yi endured an expensive taxi commute across his vast city until he started using one of the car-sharing schemes quickly gaining momentum in China. Essentially an Internet Age twist on car rentals, car-sharing is attracting Chinese millennials who increasingly demand mobility but shun the burden of auto ownership. Long, 20, drives himself to school for around 50 yuan ($7) using EVCARD, a service launched by state-owned automaker SAIC Motor that has compact electric vehicles sprinkled around the city, slashing his travel time and costing one-quarter the taxi fare. "It is cheaper and more convenient and very flexible. I'll choose EVCARD as my primary mode of transport almost every time," said Long. After years of skyrocketing China sales, the global auto industry is contemplating slower growth as it convenes this week for the Shanghai Auto Show, putting alternative sales channels like car-sharing in focus. Long-established in Western countries, such services only began appearing in China in the past two years, but are part of an ongoing Chinese personal-mobility revolution. Already bike-sharing businesses have exploded across China, flooding major cities with bicycles that are unlocked by GPS using an app, can be left anywhere and have become critical to countless commutes. Similarly, drivers typically use a smartphone app to find and unlock shared cars, later parking them anywhere or at set locations. Dozens of Chinese and foreign companies have now either launched or invested in car-sharing operations, with some making purpose-built cars. Germany-based consultancy Roland Berger forecasts annual market growth of at least 45 percent. "That is a significant growth opportunity (for manufacturers). There are only a few hundred thousand cars now, but it's growing and it's growing very quickly," said Johan Karlberg, a Shanghai-based partner with Roland Berger. Story continues - Driving new sales - German giant Daimler launched a car-sharing service last year that has since expanded to seven cities, gaining more than 250,000 registered users, the company said. Jochem Heizmann, China CEO for Volkswagen, the country's top car brand, told reporters in Shanghai VW would partner with Chinese car-sharing operator Shouqi in multiple cities, partly to boost electric-vehicle sales. "You have to see the development of such fleets as sales channels," he stressed. Lynk & Co -- a new unit of Chinese automaker Geely, which owns Volvo - unveiled in Shanghai two SUVs with built-in touch-screen sharing software developed with Microsoft and Sweden's Ericsson. "Communities", such as companies or residential developments, can jointly purchase vehicles to share, or owners can share their car for a fee with other drivers who join Lynk & Co's network, said Alain Visser, the company's senior vice president. "It becomes an interesting concept because sharing can reduce the cost of ownership," he told AFP. Lynk & Co also is partnering with TripAdvisor and Tujia - Chinas Airbnb -- on a proposed system combining shared accommodation and cars. "Instead of entering the (car-sharing) market once it becomes big, we want to make it big," Visser said. Bill Russo, head of Shanghai-based consultancy Gao Feng, said such services will guide auto manufacturing in future. "You may build them to entertain people in the backseat, or to provide more connectivity so people can be productive. Well see this segment influence specifications," he said. China's central government and many local authorities are keen to reduce congestion and air pollution and have dangled various incentives for car-sharing, such as eased licensing requirements and guaranteed parking. Further supporting car-sharing's potential, countless Chinese face significant car-ownership hurdles, including cost, scarce parking and limits on car use in several major cities. By 2020, China will have just 195 million cars for 355 million licensed drivers, Roland Berger estimates. "Many middle-class families that can afford a second car are opting not to. It's a real hassle," said Karlberg. High start-up costs and other hurdles in the fledgling car-share industry mean no one is making money yet, analysts say. But they expect the growing numbers of industry entrants soon to consolidate into a solid few able to run sustainable businesses, perhaps in partnership with government. By Ronnie Cohen (Reuters Health) - The nations first soda tax is fulfilling health experts goals in Berkeley, California. Sales of sugar-sweetened beverages dropped nearly 10 percent during the first year of the tax, which raised $1.4 million for child nutrition and community health programs, a new study showed. Im calling it a home run, lead author Dr. Lynn D. Silver, a senior advisor at the Public Health Institute in Oakland, said of the measure. She ticked off the accomplishments of the penny-per-ounce tax in a phone interview. After it took effect in March 2015, residents drank less sugary drinks and more water, milk and other healthier beverages; average consumer grocery bills did not rise, despite soda company warnings; local store revenue did not, as tax opponents predicted, fall; and the tax raised money for health-education programs. Berkeley voters levied the tax on soda and other sugary drinks to try to curb consumption and stem the epidemics of obesity and diabetes. Similar taxes have been levied around the globe - from Mexico to Colombia, France and South Africa. Last year, other U.S. municipalities - including Philadelphia, San Francisco, Oakland and Cook County, Illinois, which includes Chicago - approved laws to tax sugary beverages. The new study, reported in PLoS Medicine, evaluated changes in beverage sales in Berkeley during the taxs first year. Sugar-sweetened drink sales fell 9.6 percent compared to predicted sales without the tax, while sales of untaxed beverages, like water and milk, rose 3.5 percent. The findings suggest that sugary-drink taxes make health and economic sense, Silver said. Proponents of soda taxes hailed the study as evidence of their effectiveness. Michael F. Jacobson, president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, D.C., called the tax a huge public-health victory. He urged policymakers and voters in cities and counties without soda taxes to review the study and press for similar measures. This study wont stop Big Soda from claiming that taxes dont work, said Jacobson, who was not involved with the research. But if soda taxes didnt make a significant dent in soda consumption, the industry wouldnt be fighting taxes so hard. The American Beverage Association, which represents Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, said in a statement that the new study acknowledges that taxes do not demonstrate a meaningful reduction in obesity rates. Silver called the trade groups statement simply false. Her study did not attempt to judge the taxs impact on obesity and diabetes rates. The soda tax did what it set out to do, which was to lower the sales of sugar-sweetened beverages and to increase consumption of healthier beverages, she said. Our current obesity and diabetes rates are the result of decades of intensive marketing and growing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and other unhealthy foods, she said. It is far too soon to assess the impact of the tax on obesity and diabetes rates. Silver said that when she was training to become a pediatrician in the 1980s, she never saw a child with type 2 diabetes, which used to be called adult-onset diabetes. Today, she regularly sees children with type 2 diabetes. She has watched mothers in clinic waiting rooms feeding their toddlers baby bottles filled with soda, she added. Nancy Brown, CEO of the American Heart Association, said the study confirmed evidence from previous studies of the benefits of soda taxes, and she urged the beverage industry to embrace the taxes. Spending millions to fight local citizens working tirelessly to improve their community puts the beverage industry on the wrong side of health and history, Brown, who was not involved with the study, said in a statement. The American Beverage Association downplayed the significance of the new study, saying the unique demographic profile of the Northern California city of Berkeley makes it a challenging place to determine the true impact of a beverage tax. Berkeley residents do tend to be higher income, better educated and drink less soda than residents of most other American cities. But Silver pointed out that her studys findings mirrored those of another recent study of a soda tax in Mexico. In fact, she said, we saw an even greater decline in sugary-drink sales in Berkeley in the first year, in spite of Berkeleys relative prosperity. Mexicans cut their purchases of soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages by 5.5 percent the first year that a tax was imposed and by nearly 10 percent in the second year, the previous study showed. Reuters reported elsewhere today that sales of soda drinks in the U.S. fell in 2016 for the 12th year in a row, "as demand was hit by consumers choosing healthier options and a slew of sugar taxes aimed at stemming obesity and diabetes took effect." SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2pxNuMW PLOS Medicine, online April 18, 2017. By Isabel Coles QAYYARA, Iraq (Reuters) - Most of the bodies that wash up on the bridge in northern Iraq have their hands bound, eyes blindfolded and a bullet to the back of the head. The ones that have been dead longest float on the surface, buoyed by the gasses produced as they decompose. Those killed recently tumble in the current that drags them down the River Tigris. Their identity, and that of their killers, is a mystery. "Nobody knows," said a mother who has seen more than half a dozen corpses drift past her house overlooking the river near the town of Qayyara in recent months. "Many more could have gone past in the night." Islamic State militants were driven out of Qayyara in August last year. The town is 60 km down the Tigris from Mosul, the last major bastion where the fighters are still battling against government forces. Some officials say the floating dead are victims of the militants, who killed hundreds if not thousands of opponents when they ruled the area. Others, however, say the evidence points elsewhere: toward extra-judicial killings of people accused of having joined the militants, now that the territory is under government control. "Most of it is score-settling," said an intelligence officer in Qayyara. That includes the killing of Islamic State suspects by elements of the security forces: "There are security agencies that say I won't bother myself with the investigation'." The local police chief, Colonel Fawzi Jameel Sultan, insisted that the bodies were mostly victims of the fighters. Either the corpses had floated down from insurgent-held Mosul, or they had only just been dredged up by spring rain, killed last year when the militants still controlled the area. But a senior officer in the security apparatus contradicted him. "Not all of them were killed by Daesh," the officer said, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State. The bodies could not have floated down from Mosul because there are barriers around 30 km south of the city to catch debris, said the officer on condition of anonymity. And some are only one or two months old, killed long after the fighters left. Once the bodies are identified, it will be easier to discern a motive, he said: "If the (victim) worked for Daesh that means the perpetrators were probably people who were harmed by Daesh." Human Rights Watch Iraq researcher Belkis Wille said that if the victims were not killed by Islamic State, the description of bound and blindfolded bodies strongly suggested they were examples of extrajudicial executions by state-affiliated forces, rather than vigilante justice. "NO MERCY" For those who suffered more than two years of extreme violence and privation under Islamic State, no punishment is too severe for people who joined them. "We dont want anyone to show them mercy," said Fawzi Abu Sabri, who lost 13 members of his family to the militants, fantasizing aloud about how he would kill an Islamic State member if he caught one. In areas retaken from Islamic State south of Mosul, locals have purged traces of their presence, razing or blowing up militants' homes and even digging up their graves. Relatives of Islamic State members have also been forcibly displaced to camps and harassed by locals who throw grenades at their homes. Although the militants have been driven out, locals complain that people who cooperated with Islamic State remain in the area. The line between extra-judicial killing by the state and private vigilantism is blurred because many members of the security forces have been personally affected by the militants and wish to avenge the deaths of friends and relatives. A patchwork of forces, including local and federal police, several intelligence agencies and more than three dozen government-backed Sunni tribal militia, makes it more difficult to determine who might be responsible. The mystery is most acute for the relatives of those who go missing. Qais Younis Ilyas's mother has been searching for him since he was detained by Iraqi security forces several months ago. Sitting near the river, she holds a photograph taken on the 22 year-old's wedding day, and a document declaring him innocent signed by local officials and members of the security apparatus. "Nobody gives us any information. Is he dead? Is he alive?" (Editing by Peter Graff) Having a breast cancer diagnosis is hard enough without worrying about job security. With supportive employers, many women continue to work during cancer treatments like chemotherapy. But other women, often in low-paying positions or small organizations, are more vulnerable. And no matter what your career, cancer-related fatigue, nausea and medical appointments mean you'll likely have to negotiate for time off and extra breaks throughout your treatment and recovery. If you're among the 12 percent of U.S. women who develops breast cancer at some point in her life, experts provide insight about disclosing your illness, workplace protections and available resources if job loss looms. [See: Which Medical Screenings Should You Have in 2017?] Take a breath and reassess. Looking back, Molly MacDonald, would have handled her cancer disclosure differently. In 2005, between jobs and ready to join a start-up company as a principal in a sales capacity, MacDonald used the interim period to get routine dental and medical checkups out of the way. "And then the mammogram came back suspicious," she says. When her biopsy confirmed that she had breast cancer, she informed her would-be colleagues of her diagnosis. MacDonald volunteered that this might not be the best time to move forward with their arrangement and the company agreed. "In retrospect, I probably could have done the work," she says. And because MacDonald was no longer covered by employee health insurance, she suffered massive financial setbacks. Think twice before sharing your diagnosis. You needn't disclose the medical condition behind a leave request, MacDonald says: "It would be my recommendation that you look at the Family and Medical Leave Act and keep it quiet." She also advises discretion and strong privacy settings on social media for women diagnosed with cancer. Through a nonprofit she founded, the Pink Fund, which helps breast cancer patients in active treatment with nonmedical expenses -- such as making payments for housing, transportation, utilities and insurance -- she's heard from women who suddenly started getting poor performance reviews once they went public. It's natural to reach out online with questions about breast reconstruction or nipple tattoos, she says, but cautions, "Employers have a right to look at your social media and you could lose your job." [See: HIPAA: Protecting Your Health Information.] Assume you can work unless proven otherwise. In her studies on breast cancer and job status, Dr. Victoria Blinder, a medical oncologist with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, has been struck by how much employment means to women, even beyond the financial and insurance issues. "One thing that shouldn't have surprised me perhaps, but did, was how psychologically important work was for a lot of women and how that cut across different cultures," Blinder says. Going to their places of work, being able to focus on their jobs instead of their treatment and feeling like they're still in control for at least part of the day is crucial for many women. "When you're treating stage 1, 2 or 3 breast cancer, there's a finite period of treatment," says Blinder, who is also a health outcomes researcher in epidemiology and biostatistics. "So really, there should be a time after which people should be able to go back to work, if they stopped working. Some people don't need to stop working at all." Get a note from your doctor. Some patients describe ongoing fatigue coupled with a lack of flexibility in scheduling breaks at work. Blinder has written letters to employers requesting patients be granted accommodations like taking more than the usual allotted break time. She recalls a patient suffering from numbness and tingling in her legs, a treatment side effect. The patient was not allowed to sit on a stool for her job as a lab technician. "Because she looked so healthy, employers didn't believe that she had these symptoms," Blinder says. For this employee, a note from the doctor did the trick, although it doesn't help in every case. A cashier or worker in a hair salon or dry-cleaning establishment might face more trouble if she couldn't keep up. Negotiate with your boss. In situations where protections may not apply for workers with an illness, such as small businesses or certain service occupations, it can help to be upfront with your employer about possible needs you might have and suggest workarounds (like hiring a temp). Blinder offers a conversational opener: "I would like to keep working and my doctor thinks I'll be able to, but I don't know exactly how I'm going to feel after the first treatment. So having some flexibility during the first few weeks will be greatly appreciated." Arrangements needn't be set in stone, she says; rather, it's you and your boss working together so you can still be productive and take care of yourself. Familiarize yourself with your leave policies and rights. Look into your organization's basic sick leave, short-term and long-term disability policies, advises Rebecca Royals, an employment attorney with the Butler Royals firm in Richmond, Virginia. And before you're in a job crisis, get acquainted with your rights under the Americans With Disabilities Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act, she suggests. As the worker, if you qualify for ADA or FMLA, get your ducks in row, such as asking for accommodations as soon as you require them and providing any medical forms your employer needs to comply. Seek legal help sooner rather than later. "It is much easier to get out in front of such a situation and hopefully prevent issues from snowballing than to try and put the proverbial toothpaste back in the tube," says Royals, who is among the attorneys who provide pro bono services for Cancer Linc, a nonprofit that helps Richmond-area cancer patients and their families with legal and financial issues unrelated to their medical treatment. A little legal nudge may be motivation enough for employers to find accommodations, after all. "Sometimes it just takes a phone call from an attorney saying, 'Can you explain to me what's happening to my client?'" says Denise Kranich, executive director of Cancer Linc. [See: What Not to Say for a Breast Cancer Patient.] Take advantage of resources. In a study led by Blinder published in the February issue of Health Affairs, researchers found that of nearly 270 women in New York City diagnosed with early stage breast cancer, low-income women were the least likely to have accommodating employers or retain their jobs in the four months after completing treatment. Racial and ethnic disparities emerged as well. Kranich recommends that vulnerable workers check locally for organizations similar to Cancer Linc or the New York Legal Assistance Group, or turn to their Legal Aid Society or the National Cancer Legal Services Network. Be prepared. In light of the possibility of a cancer diagnosis or recurrence, MacDonald emphasizes the importance of being proactive and planning ahead. If you have access to a disability policy with your company, for instance, she strongly recommends that you take it. Lisa Esposito is a Patient Advice reporter at U.S. News. She covers health conditions, drawing on experience as an RN in oncology and other areas and as a research coordinator at the National Institutes of Health. Esposito previously reported on health care with Gannett, and she received her journalism master's degree at Georgetown University. You can follow her on Twitter, connect with her on LinkedIn or email her at lesposito@usnews.com. Ouagadougou (AFP) - Former Burkina Faso president Blaise Compaore goes on trial next week over the deadly crackdown against the popular uprising that toppled him, in what has been branded a "witch hunt" by his supporters. Thirty-three people were killed when the authorities crushed street protests against the long-serving Compaore in October 2014, according to an official toll. Compaore, who now lives in exile in the Ivory Coast, and 32 of his former ministers are being prosecuted for "murder, beating and deliberate wounding and complicity" in the April 27 trial. "We have no illusions, the dice have been thrown," Compoare's Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP) said in a statement Wednesday, accusing the government of using the country's institutions to "settle political scores" in a "witch hunt". The regime is being prosecuted for only seven of the deaths and the wounding of 82 people. The trial in the impoverished West African country will focus on a meeting when ministers authorised the use of force by the army against the protesters, the supreme court prosecutor said in February. All 32 former ministers on trial face the death penalty. Those who remain in Burkina Faso have been banned from leaving the country. After 27 years in power, Compaore had attempted to modify the constitution to allow him to serve a fifth mandate, sparking the popular revolt that led to his ouster. The former Burkina leader has taken Ivorian citizenship and is a long-time ally of Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara. In September 2015, soldiers still loyal to Compaore launched a failed coup against the transitional government, and in October last year the authorities said they had thwarted another attempt to seize power. The former French colony has been blighted by numerous coups and mutinies since gaining independence in 1960. Canadas defense minister, Harjit Sajjan, flew to his native Punjab on a mission to strengthen Canadas relations with India but no one official was there to greet him at the airport. Ahead of Sajjans arrival, Punjabs chief minister falsely called Sajjan a Khalistani, a group of Sikh separatists with terrorism links. I wont meet him. There are five ministers who are Khalistanis and I am not interested in meeting any Khalistanis, Punjabs top elected official, Amarinder Singh, said. Khalistanis are Sikhs who want to establish their own independent homeland within Indias borders. They are also associated with 1980s violence and the 1985 Air India bombing, the worst terrorist attack in Canadian history. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this comment was received poorly by Sikhs in both Canada and India. Some suspected Singh was trying to distract from Punjabs economic woes. Others pointed out that Indian Defense Minister Arun Jaitley, who is also the finance minister, has met with Sajjan and did not accuse him to be a Sikh nationalist. Sour grapes may also have played a role. Singh also said he was upset that he was not allowed to speak at political rallies in Canada last year, although he did not say why he was not allowed to speak. Minister Sajjan is a proud Canadian, with a lifetime of service to Canada. Sajjans spokesperson said in response to the flap. Sajjan was born in the Punjab village of Bombeli but has lived in Canada since he was five. Sajjan himself said, I dont promote the break-up of any country. My job is to promote the bilateral relations. In other words, no Khalistani. Photo credit: MONEY SHARMA/AFP/Getty Images LONDON (Reuters) - No one can be complacent about the potential threat posed by the missiles being developed by North Korea, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Tuesday. In an interview with the BBC on Monday, North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Han Song-Ryol said Pyongyang would continue to test missiles on a "weekly, monthly and yearly basis". "The regime is now developing intercontinental ballistic missiles which would be capable of delivering a nuclear strike on the mainland United States. These weapons have not yet been fully tested but no one can be complacent about the potential threat they pose," Johnson told parliament. Johnson also said he had spoken to his Chinese counterpart on Monday and urged him to use Beijing's influence to restrain North Korea. (Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; editing by William James) Moscow (AFP) - Chechen strongman leader Ramzan Kadyrov denied Wednesday that any homosexuals have been arrested in his Russian Caucasus republic, dismissing media reports about alleged abuse of gays. "Provocative articles about Chechnya (have) reported so-called arrests," Kadyrov said in an exchange with Russian President Putin, cited by Russian news agencies. "It's even embarrassing to talk about it. It's said there have been what are called arrests, murders, (newspapers) have even given the name" of one victim, he said. "But he is alive, in good health and is at home," he added. Late last month the Novaya Gazeta newspaper reported that hundreds of members of the LGBT community, particularly gay men, had been detained and tortured. Chechnya is a conservative society where homosexuality is considered taboo, and gays are at risk of being killed by relatives. The newspaper said local authorities urged the families of those arrested to kill them to "clear their honour". It added that at least two people were killed by relatives, while a third died after being tortured. Gay Chechens who have fled to Moscow have told AFP of having been beaten and detained "in an unofficial prison", and said they now lived in fear of being identified and tracked down by their families. Asked about these allegations, Kadyrov's spokesman said it was not possible that gays had suffered abuse because homosexuals "don't exist" in Chechnya. The Novaya Gazeta report sparked outrage abroad, including from the US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley who said Monday she was "disturbed by reports of kidnapping, torture, and murder of people in Chechnya based on their sexual orientation". Prosecutors launched a formal investigation on Monday. But investigators said they had as yet received "no official complaint" from a victim, according to the Russian human rights ombudswoman Tatyana Moskalkova. In 2012, President Barack Obama warned that Syrian President Bashar al-Assads use of chemical weapons was a red line that would change [the] calculus of U.S. policy toward the Syrian civil war. A year later, faced with evidence that Assad had used sarin gas against his own people, Obama said, The use of chemical weapons anywhere in the world is an affront to human dignity and a threat to the security of people everywhere. President Donald Trump apparently agrees: He ordered a missile strike against the Shayrat air base in Syria in early April, in retaliation for another chemical attack. The Obama-Trump doctrine that the United States will enforce a global norm against the use of chemical weapons is strategically pointless and morally arbitrary. Strategically, it requires the United States to invest its time and resources policing a weapon this is not qualitatively different from conventional weapons. Morally, it amounts to a declaration that the United States cares more about the murder weapon than the murder victim. Despite their reputation, chemical weapons are not especially deadly or efficient at killing people compared to conventional weapons. Chemical weapons saw their widest use in World War I, during which they killed relatively few soldiers: perhaps 90,000 out of up to 17 million people who died during the war. Chemical weapons sickened tens of thousands more, most of whom recovered. So why do we blame chemical weapons for the carnage of World War I? The weapons were new and poorly understood soldiers naturally feared them. They were also viewed as ungentlemanly, a form of unchivalrous cheating a special kind of insult for professional soldiers. The reputation of chemical weapons doubtless helped bring about strict regulations on them after the war. But the true weapon of mass destruction in World War I was the machine gun, followed by influenza. Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein notoriously used chemical weapons against Kurdish civilians in Halabja in 1988, an attack that probably killed around 5,000 people. But the attack involved at least a score of aircraft flying a dozen or more sorties dropping bombs for hours, preceded and followed up by conventional explosives. Given that much firepower and time, Hussein could have killed as many probably more with any kind of explosive. Hussein discovered, as other have before, that chemical weapons are difficult to employ because they depend on ideal weather conditions beyond human control. Since chemical weapons are costly to build and maintain safely but not terribly useful, it was easy for the great powers to ban them entirely after the Cold War. Story continues Morally, there is no point whatsoever to enforcing a global ban on the use of chemical weapons. I am not arguing we should be more permissive about their use; rather, I am arguing we should be far less permissive about the slaughter of civilians, regardless of the weapon used. The Trump-Obama doctrine amounts to a declaration that the dictators and tyrants of the world can murder their citizens with impunity so long as they dare not murder with a chemical weapon. It signals that perpetrators of genocide enjoy a free-fire zone within their own countries if they pretend to keep the killing clean and gentlemanly. If you think there is really such a thing as clean and gentlemanly killing, you have watched too many war movies. As Gen. William Sherman reputedly said, I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation. War is hell. Or as Dwight D. Eisenhower said: I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity. War is always barbaric and obscene, even just war. It is morally obtuse to believe that there is such thing as clean or humane killing. I am no pacifist: I am a veteran of the war in Afghanistan and I believe there is an occasion when the use of force is just. But I am under no illusion that killing is ever gentlemanly or clean. Pretending that there is a humane way to kill someone is ridiculous it is in fact immoral, because it allows deluded civilians to support war under the false pretense that it is more humane than it actually is. Dead is dead, whether killed by bomb, bullet, or machete. Enforcing a ban on the use of a certain weapon places moral weight on the wrong thing: on the weapon rather than the purpose for which it is employed. We should be angered at the massacre of civilians, regardless of the method of their deaths. If Assad was a monster for gassing a few dozen people this month, he was a monster for slaughtering 500,000 over the past six years with barrel bombs and conventional explosives. It takes a striking degree of moral myopia to be angrier about the murder weapon employed than the fact of the murder in the first place. I understand that photos of dead Syrian children who were gassed to death troubled many people, including the president. A chemical attack that was so horrific in Syria against innocent people including women, small children, and even beautiful little babies their deaths was an affront to humanity. These heinous actions by the Assad regime cannot be tolerated, Trump said in response to the chemical attack in early April. But if you want to base your foreign policy on troubling photos, you have just outsourced your grand strategy to CNN or worse, Twitter. You are creating a norm that if you want Americas attention, be sure to capture your victimhood on camera. The Afghans, for one, might feel justifiably jilted that the worlds media decamped from Kabul long ago, leaving so many useful atrocities unfilmed. And, finally, you need to recognize that the Syrian photos werent even that bad on the scale of world events. If you felt the warm glow of virtuous anger at Assad after viewing those pictures, you need to Google the Rwandan genocide, or the massacre at Srebrenica, or perhaps Auschwitz. Be sure to sit down, dont eat, and turn SafeSearch off. Photo credit: MOHAMAD ABAZEED/AFP/Getty Images Paris (AFP) - A peanut-shaped asteroid 1.3 kilometres (3,280 feet) across streaked past Earth on Wednesday, giving astronomers a rare chance to check out a big space rock up close. But not too close. Dubbed 2014-JO25, the asteroid came nearest at 12:20 GMT and is now hurtling away from the centre of our solar system, said Ian Carnelli, an astronomer from the European Space Agency (ESA). "It does not represent a danger to our planet," Carnelli told AFP, noting that the asteroid passed within 1.8 million kilometres (1.1 million miles) of Earth -- about four times the distance to the moon. The Arecibo observatory in Puerto Rico -- which has one of the world's biggest radio telescopes -- captured the 2014 JO25's first images, showing an object that is likely "two large asteroids that fused together". The space projectile will remain visible to onlookers equipped with a telescope in the northern hemisphere on Wednesday night. Herewith, a little primer on near-Earth asteroids and the danger they pose (or not). - How common? - You may not see them, but space rocks whizz above our heads all the time. Patrick Michel, an astronomer at the Cote d'Azur Observatory, estimates that an average of 10,000 to 100,000 tons of spatial material come into our general neighbourhood each year. But large asteroids passing this close to Earth remain a rarity. "The next one will pass by in 2027, a 800-metre long object that will come within" one Earth-to-the-Moon distance, he said. The last time 2014-JO25 was in our vicinity was 400 years ago, and its next close encounter with Earth won't happen until sometime after 2600. - How dangerous? - 2014-JO25 does not represent an immediate danger. But it does fall within the category of "potentially hazardous asteroids" that astronomers monitor for safety, Pascal Descamps, an astronomer at the Paris Observatory told AFP by phone. Any space rock at least one kilometre (0.6 miles) across that travels within 7 million kilometres (4.3 million miles) of Earth qualifies. Story continues The good news is that scientists have identified at least 90 percent of these flying hazards within our solar system. "There isn't a single one that threatens us in the short term, meaning in the next few centuries," Michel said. "There are thousands of asteroids larger than one kilometre," he added. "The frequency with which they could hit us is once every 500,000 years, so we are facing a risk that is very low." - A knock-out blow - Many sizeable asteroids have crashed into Earth or exploded in our atmosphere, leaving behind massive craters -- and clues as to their composition. More than 60,000 years ago, a 30-metre (98-foot) rock crashed into what is today Arizona. And 65 million years ago, an even bigger asteroid slammed into Earth a little further south, leading to the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs. A one-kilometre asteroid hitting our planet today would be like "a million Hiroshima bombs," Michel said, and trigger the extinction of roughly a quarter of all species. "A 10-kilometre object... would provoke the extinction of our species," he added. - What can be done? - To prevent such a catastrophe, a team of astronomers from NASA and the European Space Agency have drawn up plans for a live test in space: deviating a potentially deadly asteroid. An self-guided 400-kilo satellite -- hurtling at six kilometres per second -- would target an approaching asteroid. The objective would not be to destroy the object, but to deflect it, since fragments could then crash into Earth. A target has been selected. So far, however, funding has not been approved. By Luis Jaime Acosta BOGOTA (Reuters) - A Colombian nun who was kidnapped more than two months ago in Mali is being held by the Macina Liberation Front Islamist militant group, Colombian national police said on Tuesday, citing intelligence reports. Gloria Cecilia Narvaez was seized by armed men on Feb. 7 in Mali's southern Karangasso region, where she had been working in a health center. Four people have been charged in her disappearance. "Intelligence tells us that it is the Macina Liberation Front. We'll have to wait for a statement from that group to know what they will demand," General Fernando Murillo, the head of the national police's anti-kidnapping division, told Reuters. An international unit led by France is looking for the nun, Murillo said, but she may have been moved out of Mali by her captors, perhaps to neighboring Burkina Faso. The kidnappers have so far sent no proof of life or ransom demands, he added. "We think she was taken by mistake - that she was not the target," Murillo said in an interview. Neither Narvaez's religious order nor her family has the funds to pay a ransom, he said. The incident is the first time that Colombia, known as a kidnapping capital in the 1990s, has been involved in the search and rescue of one of its citizens in another country. Malian prosecutors have declined to provide details about the four people charged in the case, but a security source has told Reuters they are connected to the Catholic parish from which Narvaez was abducted. Investigators previously said they suspected Islamist militants could be responsible. Kidnapping has become a lucrative source of cash for groups like Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and al Mourabitoun. The latter is suspected of kidnapping a French-Swiss aid worker from the northern city of Gao in December. The Macina Liberation Front is composed of Fulanis - cattle herders and farmers from central Mali. Its figurehead, Amadou Koufa, is a fiery cleric whose sermons call on Fulanis to rebuild historic empires like Massina, which once stretched over the Mopti region. Islamist militants, who seized northern Mali in 2012 before being driven back by French forces the following year, have regrouped and are increasingly conducting raids in southern and central Mali, areas previously deemed safe. (Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Peter Cooney) France goes to the polls for two rounds of presidential elections on April 23 and May 7, a historically unpredictable contest thanks to its insurgent political outsiders and slew of scandals. At stake is the future of the European Union, as well as Frances labor, immigration and economic policies. The first round of voting in April saw 11 candidates battle it out, which has led to Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron going forward to the second round vote on May 7. It is the first time in six decades that neither the main French right-wing or left-wing parties have had a candidate in the second round. Heres a guide to the whos, whats, and whys of the elections: The candidates Marine Le Pen Le Pen, who led the National Front, has attracted the most attention in the race. She came in second in the first round vote, with 21.3% of the total ballots. The neo-nationalist has attempted to detoxify a party started by her father Jean-Marie, an alleged anti-Semite who wanted to deport 3 million foreigners, called homosexuality a biological and social anomaly, and said Nazi-era gas chambers were a detail of history. Le Pen has broadened her appeal among Frances Northern industrial areas by stressing for increased powers of the state, which is a break from the partys traditionally anti-welfare stance. She has also welcomed a number of gay men into the party, including National Fronts Vice President Florian Philippot. The 48-year-old does however support the repeal of same-sex marriage, wants to end mass immigration, and to reassert French cultural identity through a number of measures that include a ban on dual-nationality for non-Europeans. On foreign affairs, Le Pen advocates for more protectionism and wants to hold a referendum on E.U. membership potentially causing a Frexit that few think the political and economic bloc could survive. Le Pen announced on Tuesday that she was standing down as leader of the National Front for the rest of the presidential campaign, in what is being seen as a fresh effort to broaden her appeal. The party is also facing potentially damaging investigations into its finances. I will feel freer, I will be above partisan considerations, it is an important act, she told France 2 television. Story continues Emmanuel Macron The 39-year-old is a social and economic liberal who polls suggest is the favorite to defeat Le Pen in the second round of voting (see below). He was the clear winner in the first round, gaining 24% of the vote. The former economy minister quit the cabinet of current- and deeply unpopular - President Francois Hollande in 2016 to start his own cross-party political movement called En Marche! (On the Move!). Macron, who is a former Rothschild banker, is a pro-E.U. evangelical, which stands in direct contrast to his biggest competitor Le Pen. He wants to scale back special wealth taxes, encourage entrepreneurship, cut corporation tax, and relax Frances labor laws. He also wants to pump $50 billion into a public investment plan for infrastructure, job training and a shift to renewable energy. He recently told TIMEs Vivienne Walt that he is ideologically opposed to Le Pen and hopes to convince the French people that a positive project and a progressive view is more adapted to our challenges. Francois Fillon The candidate for the centre-right Republicains party once looked like the man to beat, having defeated former President Nicolas Sarkozy, and popular Bordeaux mayor Alain Juppe in the Nov. 2016 primaries. After conceding defeat on Sunday, he asked supporters to choose centrist Macron. Fillon, 62, is a pro-E.U., free-market evangelist whose plans to end the 35-hour workweek, cut half a million in public sector jobs, and drastically reduce public spending (by over $100 billion) has resonated with business leaders. The staunch Catholic is opposed to abortion, surrogacy and voted against same-sex marriage. Like Le Pen, Fillon wants curbs on immigration, calls for an alliance with Russia to fight Islamic totalitarianism and wants to strip returning French jihadists of their citizenship. However, his campaign has been badly hurt by a corruption scandal involving his family (see below). He has dropped in overall polls from first place to third, but it is unclear as to whether he is out of the running. Jean-Luc Melenchon The 65-year-old firebrand quit the Socialist party after 30 years in 2008 and has now started his own party, France Insoumise (France Unbowed), which has attracted widespread support among the traditional hard-left, including the French Communist Party. He declined to endorse either Le Pen or Macron after coming in fourth, with 19.6% of the total count, in the first round of voting. The populist left-winger has proposed a $106 billion tax-and-spend economic programme and wants to replace the presidential system with a parliamentary system. He also plans to pull France out of NATO, has supported Russias military actions in Ukraine and Syria, and would renegotiate the terms or leave the E.U. - another threat to the bloc. To attract younger voters, he launched his campaign as a hologram in a Paris rally while addressing an audience in Lyon, 310 miles away. His recent climb in the polls has been attributed to his fiery speeches and strong performances in two televised debates, especially when he clashed with Le Pen. Leave us in peace with religion he told her on April 4. Were no obliged to suffer your caprices, your little finds, your way of imposing on us your way of life that is not ours. Benoit Hamon The Socialist Party candidate was not favored to win the primaries, but defeated his former boss Manuel Valls to become the partys candidate with Hollande declining to run. He gained only 6.4% of Sundays ballots, which is one of the worst scores the party has had since its founding more than 50 years ago, and has endorsed Macron. He was education secretary in Hollandes cabinet, but resigned in 2014 over the governments shift to a more centrist economic stance. His policies include a universal basic income of $795 for all citizens, a reduction in the 35-hour working week and a tax on industrial robots. But his left-leaning policies have failed to win over many of his fellow Socialists, some of whom have defected to Macron. He attempted to build an alliance with Melenchon, but the plan collapsed - along with his realistic hopes of making the second round, Bloomberg reports. The other contenders include: Bordeaux mechanic Philippe Poutou, from the New Anti-Capitalist Party, who became a folk hero for cutting into Le Pen and Fillon for their respective corruption scandals during the April 4 televised debate. He gained 1.1% of the first round vote and abstained from endorsing Macon on Sunday. He says the centrist will not be an effective bulwark against the National Front. Nationalist Francois Asselineau, from the Popular Republic Union party, wants an immediate Frexit from the E.U. if elected- a plan Le Pen describes as brutal. He won 0.9% of the vote and refused to endorse either candidate. High-school teacher Nathalie Arthaud of the Workers Struggle party. According to her website, the far-left politician wants to increase to salaries and pensions, ban companies from making redundancies, and for the means of productions, like factories and banks, to be put in the hands of society. After winning 0.6% in Sundays poll, she declined to endorse Macron. On Twitter, Arthaud said she will cast a blank vote due to her dissatisfaction with either candidate. Pour ma part je voterai #blanc en rejetant le #FN mais sans croire que Macron est un barrage . Je crois dans l39;expression des luttes. - Nathalie Arthaud (@n_arthaud) April 23, 2017 The independent candidate Jean Lassalle has been a lawmaker since 2002 and wants to return power to local mayors. He once walked across France for nine months and in 2006 went on hunger strike for 39-days in a bid to stop Japanese firm Toyal from closing a factory in his constituency. He gained 1.2% of the vote and has yet to say who he plans on endorsing. Solidarity and Progress partys Jacques Cheminade is a former civil servant who wants to abandon the E.U. and NATO and is known for his conspiracy theories. He came in last with 0.2% and told Franceinfo, ahead of Sundays vote, that he will certainly not vote for Le Pen, is considering Macron, but will probably vote white. The right-wing Eurosceptic Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, from Stand Up France party, wants to leave NATO, create a higher ethical standards for politicians, end sanctions with Russia and create a Marshall Plan for Africa. He came in fifth with 4.7% of the ballot and has yet to endorse a candidate. The issues Employment The French unemployment rate (around 10%) is higher than the Eurozone average of 9.5% and more than double the rates in neighboring U.K. and Germany. Youth unemployment is even higher (at around 25%), due in part to the countrys rigid labor market and a tax system that makes it expensive for employers to hire or fire full-time employees. The lack of economic prospects is a decisive factor in this race, and it has led some young people to flock to Le Pen. According to a March IFOP poll, the National Front is the most popular among those in the 18-24 age bracket. Economy Frances sluggish economy has been the source of much gloom for the locals. Entrepreneurs and an estimated 60,000 millionaires have left the country due to heavy regulation and high taxes. According to the Economist, former President Jacques Chiracs attempted overhaul of pensions and social security in the 90s was the last massive attempt at reform but it collapsed under a wave of protests. Le Pens solution is to throw more barriers up and increase social welfare. Fillon laid out an austerity plan while Marcon wants fiscal restraint and deregulation. Its unclear if any of them would have the parliamentary support to carry out significant reforms, if elected. Security This has been a hot-button topic since a wave of terror attacks by Islamic extremists killed more than 350 people in 2015, prompting Hollande to put France in an extended state of emergency. As of May 2015, around 1,800 French nationals joined ISIS and other militant groups in Syria and Iraq, according to the Soufan Group. Legitimate fears that the radicalized will launch further atrocities has caused deep cultural rifts in France and the the publics attention has now shifted to issues surrounding national identity, Islamic extremism and immigration. Immigration France is also home to one of the largest Muslim minorities in Europe, many who live in the poorest suburbs of the countrys biggest cities. There has been a growing unease towards the countrys minority groups since the spate of attacks, which Le Pen has exploited for political gain. Europes refugee crisis, exacerbated by asylum seekers fleeing wars in the Middle East and Africa, has led to France receiving more than 85,000 asylum applications in 2016. The conservative backlash to the latest events April 2016 poll by Le Figaro found that 47% of French citizens felt the Muslim community poses a threat to their national identity. The controversies Personal and financial scandals are rampant in French political life, especially around election season: In 2012, a sex-scandal destroyed former IMF chief Dominique Strauss Kahns presidential ambitions, and Sarkozys 2007 divorce, a few months after his election, was widely covered in the French press. The only difference in this years race is the sheer breadth of disputes, driven by an angry French electorate tired with its political class: Penelope-gate Conservative candidate Francois Fillon has seen his approval ratings fall after he was put under investigation, and later criminally charged, over allegations that he and his British-born wife, Penelope, embezzled some $720,000 in state funds by setting up fake parliamentary assistant jobs. The ballooning Penelope-gate scandal, which was first revealed in the Canard Enchaine newspaper, shattered the former Prime Ministers Mr Clean image. He has been further tarnished by reports that a political fixer bought him two expensive suits costing more than $13,000. Fillon has remained defiant in the face of calls to withdraw from the race, blaming his political assassination on the media and his opponents. He also had to apologise in March for tweeting a caricature of his rival, Macron, with a hooked-nose, wearing a top hat and carrying a red sickle to cut a cigar. Fillon admitted that it evoked anti-Semitism. Macron is not Jewish but the cartoon seemed to refer to his past job as a Rothschild banker. Le Pens legal troubles Le Pen, who is a member of European Parliament, faces her own investigation over false employment. Brussels investigators allege that Le Pen misused E.U. funds to pay her bodyguard around $45,000 and her France-based assistants nearly $400,000, which should have only been spent on E.U. parliamentary assistants. There is also separate inquiries into her use of violent ISIS images during a Twitter spat against a journalist who compared her party to the terrorist group. E.U. lawmakers voted to remove her parliamentary immunity in March, so that French prosecutors could take legal action against her.Le Pen denies all allegations and the accusations seem to have done little to dent her popularity. But allegations of bigotry still dog the National Front. In March, one of the partys counsellors was suspended after her was caught on a secret camera playing down the systemic murder of Jews during the Holocaust, CNN reports. Le Pen was also criticized by Israel and French politicians in April after she denied that the French state was responsible for rounding up Jews for deportation to Nazi death camps during World War II. Macrons blunder The front-runner had to apologise for calling Frances history in Algeria a crime against humanity in Feb. After a wave of criticism from right-wing opponents, Macron told a rally that he was sorry to have offended you, to have hurt you, France 24 reports. Algerians lived under French colonial rule for more than 100 years, and its bloody war for independence is thought to have killed around 1.5 million Algerians. That month, Macron also had to bat away a sleazy allegation of an extramarital gay affair with Radio France chief executive Mathieu Gallet. If youre told I lead a double life with Mr Gallet, its because my hologram has escaped Macron told supporters - a joke at Melenchons expense. The centrist candidate married his former high-school teacher Brigitte Trogneux in 2007. The polls The first-round vote has been regarded as a huge win for French pollsters, who correctly picked the top-two candidates and got the order of the finish for the five main candidates right. The Hill says this might be down to Frances polling method where pollsters do not rely on phone interviews. The 39-year-old Macron is now the projected winner in the polls. An Elabe poll says 64% of voters will go for Macron on May 7 (with Le Pen 28 points behind him), while an Ifop Fiducial projection has given him 60% of the share. Historically, the winner of the first round has won six of the nine elections since 1965. But the simple two-man horse race has been further clouded by the high number of undecided voters and abstentions- around 10 million did not vote in Sundays poll. This could be made worse by far-left Melenchons refusal to support Macron. The National Front is keen to attract his anti-globalization, hard left voters, the FT reports. National Assembly elections The battle does not end if Macron of Le Pen become president. In June, French voters will elect members to Frances powerful lower house of parliament, the National Assembly. This election is interesting because whoever the president picks as prime minister tends to come for the party that controls the chamber. Neither Macron or Le Pen are expected to get such a majority, seeing as the National Front has historically struggled to gain deputies in the 577-National Assembly and the young On The Move! movement has no experience fielding candidates. They are up against the established parties, who are weaker, but have well-oiled networks throughout the country. What this means is there will likely be a power sharing agreement between the president and prime minister in what is known as cohabitation. This was a painful feature of French political life in the 1980s and 1990s, where the president was effectively reduced to a figurehead. All this suggests that this topsy-turvy race might have a few more surprises up its sleeve. This article was originally published on TIME.com Prince of hilarious cameos and director of all that is good and funny, Taika Waititi is at it again. He's revealed at least one of his characters in the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok and it's a doozy. Anyone familiar with Marvel comics will already be acquainted: It's your boy, Korg. But not as you know him. SEE ALSO: Turns out Thor was just chilling in Australia during 'Captain America: Civil War' Mashable was among the publications gathered at Marvel Studios in Burbank, California Monday night, where the New Zealand director regaled reporters with details about the outer space rock creature. Like Thor, it seems Korg has also been exiled to planet Sakaar, forced to battle in the Grandmaster's (a.k.a. Jeff Goldblum's) gladiator style arena. And from the sounds of things, Korg's a big softy, deep down. Showing footage of Korg rocking a Maori accent, Waititi said "We wanted to change the idea of the obvious choice of how the character would sound he's huge and heavy but he has a very light soul," he said. "Obviously, being made of rocks, we would have gotten someone like the Rock to play him, but there wasnt enough chicken or salmon in Australia to sustain both him and Chris." Watch this space... #Ragnarok A post shared by Taika Waititi (@taikawaititi) on Sep 30, 2016 at 5:15am PDT "So we got the next best thing, which is this super hot young character actor named Taika Waititi, who I've personally come to love. As a director, I just found I had just all the time in the world for him and I wanted to give him take after take," he said. We know, we know. He's the best. Waititi also previewed footage of another Sakaar fighter, Miek, an insect-like alien with a crab mouth and knives for hands. "Miek doesn't talk," Waititi said. "He's like Silent Bob." If you're new to the work of Waititi, you might not realise that the dude is a cameo fiend, appearing in pretty much all of his own films, in memorable, funny as hell moments as well as in larger roles that reveal the extent of his comedic and acting chops. Story continues Fingers crossed Korg isn't the only cameo Waititi will make in the upcoming Thor film. We wouldn't put it past him to sneak another couple in there. When asked by a reporter if he'd consider playing Korg alongside the other Avengers, he said "I'll lobby for anything. My ego's that big. WATCH: 'Outlander' Season 3 teaser trailer will make you believe in love again Kigali (AFP) - Rwanda's government announced on Wednesday it had discovered fall armyworm on its crops, making it the third east African country afflicted by the plant-eating pest also recently spotted in Kenya. Uganda confirmed last month that fall armyworm had entered its borders after devastating crops in several southern African nations in what the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation said was a "huge threat to food security." Telesphore Ndabamenye, head of crop production at the Rwanda Agriculture Board, told AFP the harmless-looking brown caterpillar had afflicted most of Rwanda's 30 districts but said the outbreak was "not bad." "It is under control, there is big effort devoted to control it," Ndabamenye said. Meanwhile, Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper reported Monday the disease had struck maize crops in 11 of the country's 47 counties, in a blow to farmers whose profits have already been hit by a devastating drought. Though native to the Americas, the brown caterpillar first appeared in Nigeria and Togo last year, with some experts blaming commercial air travel for its spread. Agriculture is the backbone of many east African countries including Rwanda, where about 80 percent of the population depends on farming. Armyworm eats food sources like maize, wheat, millet and rice along with crops like cotton, potato, soybeans and tobacco. It has already taken a toll on Uganda where the government said this week the pest had spread to nearly half of the country's districts and that losses from crop destruction could top $193 million (180 million euros). While pesticides are effective, fall armyworm in the Americas has developed resistance to the chemicals. In a statement, Rwanda Defence Force called the bug "a real threat to national food security," and announced it had airlifted about 4,500 litres of pesticides used to counter it around the country. The investigation into an off-duty Philadelphia police officer accused of shooting and wounding her husband in the driveway of their Northampton Township home "is still ongoing" and no decision about any charges is expected to be made until at least Friday, Bucks County District Attorney Matthew D. Weintraub said Wednesday. The woman, whose name has not been released, went to the Northampton Township police station after the shooting Tuesday and "left of her own accord," Weintraub said. He declined to comment further on the status of the investigation or the case. The shooting occurred about 5:30 a.m. Tuesday on the unit block of North Marmic Drive in the Holland section of Northampton Township. Northampton Police Chief Michael Clark has said officers responded to the home for a report of a "domestic incident." The husband, who was shot in his lower abdomen, was taken to St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne, where he was in stable condition. The couple's three children were inside the house and were not injured. Weintraub and Clark have declined to release the names of either person. Clark has said both appear to be in their 30s and that the gun used was the officer's personal firearm. A Philadelphia police spokesman has said the department's Internal Affairs Division is also investigating the matter. As of Jan. 1, 2012, Philadelphia police officers with five or more years on the force have been allowed to live outside the city, as long as they remain in Pennsylvania. Most Popular on Philly.com Over the course of nearly 50 years, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough has traveled across the U.S. speaking to audiences - at universities, the White House and even before a joint session of Congress - about the lessons of history. Some of his most recent speeches are compiled in his new book The American Spirit: Who We Are and What We Stand For, out Tuesday. McCullough sat down with TIME to talk about why hes publishing this anthology now, how history will judge us and what the past can teach our presidents. TIME: Why compile your speeches now? McCullough: I felt it necessary. The time was right. We began work last summer as the campaign got more...off track. We have to remind ourselves of what we believe in, in the way of standard behavior, standard dedication, standard patriotism. And in order to do that, you have to understand history. Weve been raising several generations of young Americans who are, by and large, historically illiterate. And its not that theyre not bright. Its not that theyre indifferent to learning. Its not that theyve grown up with great disadvantages. Its not their fault. Its our fault. Almost 80% of colleges and universities no longer require history for graduation. What should history classes focus on to be the most useful in todays world? History is about people. History is about cause and effect. History is about leadership or lack thereof, or twisted vision that inflicts its mistakes upon leaders. As I point out in the book, the best of our presidents, using the presidency as a model of leadership, were all avid readers of history. Several of them were historians. Woodrow Wilson was professionally, a professor at Princeton. Theodore Roosevelt wrote one of the best histories of the Naval War of 1812. John Kennedy wrote three works of history, one of which, Profiles in Courage, is still a very good book. Dwight Eisenhower wrote one of the best books ever written on World War II. And he wrote every word himself. Story continues Even if you do nothing it has an effect. It isnt just that the effect comes from action. It can come from inaction. Some of the best decisions ever made by our presidents are when they decided not to do something. Harry Truman decided he would not use the atomic bomb in Korea. General Eisenhower decided not to go into Vietnam. John Adams decided not to go to war with France when it would have been disastrous, and it made him very unpopular. So when you take that job, you have to not only understand how the government works, but you have to understand how human beings work, and that people are imperfect. Were so inclined to portray the heroes of the Revolutionary War era as all perfect. No, they werent perfect. How can we judge that? Should we use todays standards to assess those leaders, or just the standards of the time in which they lived? First you have to understand the time in which they lived. There was no simpler time, ever. There was no easier time, ever. Unless you understand what it was like to go through the Civil War, what the influenza epidemic of 1918 was like, you have no appreciation of that. History is an antidote to the hubris of the present. History should be a lesson that produces immense gratitude for all those who went before us. To be ignorant of their contribution is rude. And for anyone in public life to brag about how they dont know any history - and dont care to know any history - is irresponsible. President Trump has expressed admiration for Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, Douglas MacArthur and George Patton. What does that say about the type of leader he aspires to be? Hes said he does not read history, or presidential biographies, because, as he said, he has a mind that can reach beyond all that. Thats utter nonsense. Thats ego-centric illusion. To me, its as if weve put someone in the pilot seat who has never flown a plane or even read about how you do it. So we have to cope with it, by counteracting that, with young people coming along that realize that this is a lesson in how not to be a leader. Is he the reason you wrote this book? Yes. But let me stress: I never mention his name in the book. Im talking to all Americans. Im talking as much to the people who voted for him as much as the people who voted against him. Lets get this momentary spasm were going through over with as soon as possible and out of our minds. We have to try to figure out how to get back on track. Do you think America is truly exceptional? Should students be taught that? I think America has come further in giving opportunity to the best thats in human nature than any other country ever in history, and we seem to be holding on for over 200 years already. Weve greatly improved the inequalities and the shortcomings of our way of life as weve moved forward. One of the things I feel is that we are a country of good people. We are a country of well-meaning, hard-working, conscientious people - 90% of us. And, we are blessed with progress in a number of fields today, the likes of which no people on Earth have ever enjoyed in all of history. Think just for example of whats happened in medicine. Think of the improvements that have been made in the opportunity for education. We have the strongest, most powerful, well-equipped military force in the world. I am optimistic. I dont think we should feel - because weve got this clown holding stage - that thats what were destined to do from now on. Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter What name should historians give this period of history were living in? Its not my profession to judge things now. Youve got to wait 50 years. But Im sure they will wonder what in the world overcame us. You were on the first board of scholars for the new Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, which opens this week. What are its most valuable artifacts in your opinion, the ones that people should make sure to see... I dont think the artifacts are the most important. So what is important about the museums collection? Whats so important about it is its the first museum on the subject of the American Revolution that weve ever had. And, underline this, we can never know enough about the American Revolution if we want to understand who we are, why we are the way we are, and why weve accomplished what weve been able to accomplish that no other country has. What do you think future historians will think of the material that well leave them from today? Were producing so much for future historians that they may be just overwhelmed, because so much of it is redundant and boring. Theres a record of everything, every day. Facebook, for Gods sake! Its like a landslide, every day, of stuff. So the fact that were not writing letters to each other wont hurt them? Oh, thats a huge loss. Huge loss, because no one in public life would dare keep a diary anymore. It could be subpoenaed and used against you in court. And nobody writes letters. If youre interested in immortality, start keeping a diary, and when you get to the point when you think maybe the curtain is going to come down on you, give it to the Library of Congress, and youll be quoted forever because it will be the only diary ever in existence. Is there a particular biography you wish you had written or would like to see a historian write? Some figure who you think is ripe for exploration? I think theres a good biography to be written about Gerald Ford. He was a far more interesting figure of depth as a leader than hes given credit for. Whats your favorite historical monument or museum in the U.S. or abroad? The Shaw Memorial in Boston. A powerful one, in the extreme, because it gives the black troops that served in the [Civil] War a chance to be seen as individuals and not just mechanical figures. Favorite library? The Library of Congress. The Library of Congress is the greatest library in the world. Do you know what my favorite statistic is? There are still more public libraries in this country than Starbucks. Favorite movie thats based on a historical event? My favorite movies arent of real events. Harvey, with Jimmy Stewart. Some Like It Hot. This article was originally published on TIME.com Photo credit: Camille Seaman From Popular Mechanics Tornadoes are one of Earth's most horrifying natural phenomena, and more of them occur in the United States than anywhere else. There's the infamous Tornado Alley, the nearby Dixie Alley, and then the chance of a random tornado hitting anywhere in the country. Real Life Lore gives a rundown of some notable twisters and just what made them so remarkable. The Tri-State Tornado, which extended out of what is classically known as Tornado Alley in Missouri and Illinois and the less tornado-friendly state of Indiana and killed 695 people. Oklahoma, at the core of the Alley, has seen more than its fair share of tornadoes, most notably the 2003 El Reno and the 1999 Bridge Creek-Moore. The Bridge Creek-Moore tornado had the highest wind speeds ever measured globally at 318 MPH, although those who monitor world records don't count Doppler recordings. The El Reno, discussed in the video above and also in central Oklahoma, was the widest, stretching out to over two and a half miles. They may look beautiful digitally, but they're no joke in real life. You Might Also Like Workaholic Japan has unveiled its first-ever plan to limit overtime, but critics want to give it the boot, saying an "outrageous" 100-hour-a-month cap will do nothing to tackle karoshi, or death from overwork. Tokyo's bid to ease a national health crisis comes after the top executive at advertising giant Dentsu quit late last year in response to the suicide of a young employee who regularly logged more than 100 hours of overtime a month. The death of Matsuri Takahashi generated nationwide headlines, prompting the government to come up with a solution to punishing work hours blamed for hundreds of deaths due to strokes, heart attacks and suicides every year. A panel headed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has since come up with a plan calling for a maximum of 100 overtime hours a month. The conservative leader called it a "historic step for changing the way people work in Japan" but critics think the plan should be given its marching orders. The Labour Lawyers' Association of Japan has slammed the proposed cap as "extremely inappropriate" and "impossible to support". "It's tantamount to endorsing a limit that could cause overwork deaths," said Association head Ichiro Natsume. Others who have lost loved ones to karoshi agree. "We cannot accept this -- it's outrageous," said Emiko Teranishi, who heads a group for relatives of karoshi victims. "I thought the government was finally going to tackle the issue.... But this has turned out to be (a) step backward rather than a step forward." Teranishi's husband was the manager of a struggling soba noodle restaurant in Kyoto when he committed suicide in the mid-nineties after suffering from depression blamed on long working hours. "My husband worked for a total of 4,000 hours a year without weekends off. At most, he had two days off a month," she said, adding that he was pressured to work more by his recession-hit employer. Story continues "He was depressed. He told me he couldn't sleep or eat. I asked him to take a day off every morning, but he still went to work." - 'How many more must die?' - The popular post-war image of a Japanese "salaryman" toiling long hours, drinking with the boss and then taking the last train home has evolved over the decades, but many still spend far more time at the workplace than their counterparts in other modern economies. Currently, Japanese firms can make full-time employees work far beyond the usual 40 hours a week during busy periods. Overtime is viewed as a sign of dedication at many firms, even if Japanese workers' productivity lags behind that of their US and European counterparts. And more than one in five Japanese companies have employees whose tendency to overwork puts them at serious risk of dying, according to a government survey published in October. That survey was part of the nation's first white paper on karoshi. The new rules would limit monthly overtime and levy penalties on firms that don't comply -- both firsts in a country notorious for its gruelling work schedule. The scheme, hammered out by Japan's biggest business lobby Keidanren and the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, known as Rengo, officially says overtime should not exceed 45 hours a month. But the proposed changes to the labour laws, expected to be submitted this year, would let employers make workers put in as many as 100 hours of overtime if the office is busy -- a determination made by managers. Rengo's president Rikio Kozu praised the scheme as "the first step taken toward eliminating karoshi". But it does not do enough to tackle the problem, said Hifumi Okunuki, a unionist and teacher at Sagami Women's University, warning that the death toll was sure to mount unless more stringent action was taken. "It seems we have drifted further away from that day in the future when the word 'karoshi' becomes an historical footnote," she wrote in a Japan Times opinion column. "How many more workers must die before our country wakes up?" By Doina Chiacu WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A political newcomer who thrilled Democrats with a strong finish in a Georgia congressional race - despite attacks by President Donald Trump - will face an experienced Republican candidate in a June runoff election for a district long dominated by the party. Democrat Jon Ossoff drew 48.1 percent of the vote in Tuesday's special election, just shy of the 50 percent needed to win the most closely watched U.S. congressional race since Trump took office in January. Some saw the election, held to replace new Health Secretary Tom Price, as a test of the Republican president's political strength. Ossoff, 30, was the top vote getter in a field of 18 candidates, 11 of them Republicans, in a suburban Atlanta district that has sent Republicans to Congress since the 1970s. Republican Karen Handel, 55, a former Georgia secretary of state, won 19.8 percent, and will face Ossoff in the June 20 runoff. The runoff presents a stiffer challenge. If Ossoff gets the support of the other Democratic candidates, he would have 49 percent, said Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez. However, Perez said the party would target up to 35,000 Democrats who voted in November's presidential election but not on Tuesday. "We have an army of volunteers," he told CNN. Handel, who said Trump called to congratulate her on Wednesday morning, dismissed Ossoff as a well-funded novice who would flounder as Republicans consolidated support behind a single candidate. "We know that this is an important race, and it's going to stay in the hands of a Republican," Handel told CNN. "It is all Republicans, all hands on deck." Demographic changes have made Georgia's affluent 6th Congressional District more competitive for Democrats. Trump won the district by only 1.5 percentage points in November against Democrat Hillary Clinton, who drew support from its many college graduates. Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said the race showed how the South was changing. "This should be a wake-up call for the Republican Party in the South," he told NBC's "Today" show. Ossoff, a former congressional staffer and documentary filmmaker, ran on a pledge to "Make Trump Furious." Trump jumped into the race in its final days with attacks on Twitter poking fun at Ossoff for not living in his own district and for attracting support from Hollywood celebrities. The president weighed in again on Wednesday with a tweet saying, "It is now Hollywood vs. Georgia on June 20th." In response, Ossoff portrayed Trump, a New York businessman who had never held public office, as the Washington insider. "Folks in Washington tend to overstate their influence in local races like this," he told MSNBC. "This comes down to grassroots intensity." White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump would campaign in Georgia for Handel "if needed" but dismissed the race as overhyped. "The Democrats went all-in on this race," Spicer told reporters. "They lost." (Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) Hillary Clinton allegedly apologized to Barack Obama on election night after the final numbers confirmed her defeat, reports said Tuesday. Journalists Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes laid bare the details of Clintons campaign with "deep access to insiders from the top to the bottom" in their new book, "Shattered: Inside Hillary Clintons Doomed Campaign, which was released Tuesday. Allen and Parnes wrote: "Obama's legacy and her dreams of the Presidency lay shattered at Donald Trump's feet. This was on her. Reluctantly she rose from her seat and took the phone. 'Mr President,' she said softly. 'I'm sorry.'" The book is an account of the campaign of the Democratic candidate down to the most intricate details. A Washington Post review of the book said that the Democrats were hopeful of Clintons win on election night till Steve Schale, the vote counter, shared his speculation around 9:45 p.m. EDT, Youre going to come up short. According to the Daily Beast, with more than 100 interviews of unnamed sources within Clintons inner circle, the 480-page book retraces the behind-the-scenes of each blunder and misstep in the Democrats campaign. But what stood out, in spite of all the other mistakes and wrong decisions, is the books prognosis that the only problem that stood in her way was Clinton herself. The variable she couldnt change, Allen and Parnes wrote, was the candidate. Obama called Clinton on the election night directly and said: You need to concede. Obama later called John Podesta with the same instruction. The authors claimed that Clinton was defeated because of her own faults but she blamed everyone around her for the loss. The Russian stuff has bothered her a lot, one of her top aides reportedly told the authors. Shes sort of learning what the administration knew and when they knew it, and shes just sort of quizzical about the whole thing. She struggled with the question of why Obama hadnt done more to apprise the public that the Russians had gone way beyond what had been reported [in influencing the presidential election], the authors continued, People reported. She wondered why the president hadnt leaned harder into making the case that Vladimir Putin was specifically targeting her and trying to throw the election to Trump. Related Articles During the past week, tensions surrounding North Koreas nuclear weapons programme appear to have increased the prospect of war on the Korean peninsula. Such fears are heightened by the fact that the precise details of the Trump administrations policy towards North Korea are still something of a mystery. On the one hand, officials have claimed that Obamas policy of strategic patience that assumed sanctions would force Pyongyang to voluntarily drop its nuclear programme, has been a failure. With more hawkish language directed at Pyongyang alongside the bombing of a Syrian airbase earlier this month, the Trump administration has hinted at the possibility of a pre-emptive military response to North Koreas nuclear and missile tests. In reality, however, the strong probability that a military strike against the country could descend into a broader regional conflict with devastating consequences for the region suggests that this is unlikely to form the basis of Trumps North Korea policy. Arguably, more significant then have been Trumps recent attempts to pressure China into playing a more active role in reigning in Pyongyangs nuclear ambitions, as apparent in Trumps veiled tweeted threat: 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 However, if Trump believes that China genuinely has either the means or inclination to solve the North Korean problem on American terms, he is likely to be sorely disappointed. To understand why, we should first ask the question of what Chinas strategic interests are with regards to the Korean peninsula. There is a simple geopolitical logic at play in Chinas approach to North Korea in that for centuries, the Korean peninsula formed the geographical bridgehead through which Japan sought to militarily challenge Chinese hegemony in Asia. Koreas geopolitical significance also explains why the newly established Peoples Republic of China sought in 1950 to defend the North Korean regime following American intervention into the Korean War. Story continues Though much has changed since then, the foreign policy aim of maintaining a friendly regime on the northern half of the peninsula can still be seen as central to Beijings wider security objectives. And as geopolitical competition between the US and China has intensified in recent years, the prospect of a North Korea collapse and a pro-US unified Korea on Chinas doorstep continues to be an outcome to be avoided at all costs. In line with Chinas increasingly uneven development since the late 1970s, Beijing as well as local governments in Chinas northeast also see economic exchange with North Korea as playing a central role in the revitalisation of the economically depressed Chinese border regions. For landlocked provinces such as Jilin and Heilongjiang, trade and investment with North Korea and access to the latters ports is seen as a means of catching up with the more prosperous coastal regions. So even though Pyongyangs repeated nuclear and missile tests have served to strengthen the US military presence in the East Asian region, Beijing is concerned with the question of how to reign in Pyongyang without facilitating a North Korean collapse and inviting chaos on its own borders. In political terms, Chinas influence on Pyongyang is clearly limited. North Koreas fierce autonomy alongside longstanding Korean fears of Chinese hegemony over the peninsula mean that Pyongyangs relations with Beijing bare little resemblance with those that characterized relations between the Eastern European socialist states and Moscow. Beijing also appears to be aware that a complete economic blockade of North Korea is unlikely to pressure Pyongyang to halt its nuclear and missile programmes. One reason for this is related to the relatively resilient nature of the North Korean state in the face of economic hardship. The catastrophic collapse of the North Korea economy in the 1990s, for example, did little to give rise to overt popular resistance against the regime. In addition, there is no evidence of any splits within Pyongyang relating to the nuclear programme that might be exploited. Furthermore, cutting off North Koreas foreign exchange earnings is unlikely in itself to impact significantly on Pyongyangs ability to fund its nuclear programme. North Korea is already the lowest spending of all the worlds nuclear states, and given its perceptions of its security environment, the nuclear programme is likely to be one of the last areas in which it would cut spending too. Thus, Beijing is clearly aware that while it can theoretically exert considerable economic damage on the North Korean economy, there are few mechanisms through which this is in itself likely to translate into a change in policy direction on the part of the Pyongyang regime. As such, Beijing has tended to opt for visible measures, such as the banning of coal imports, to send a message to both Pyongyang as well as to the United States, but do not gravely imperil the stability of the North Korean regime. It should be noted also that Chinas approach also reflects divergent ideas about possible futures for North Korea. Western as well as South Korean understandings of North Koreas future are shaped strongly by the German experience and of a general notion of the illegitimacy of the North Korean state and the desirability of its collapse. Chinas views, on the other hand, are shaped much by its own experience in that it sees North Korea as potentially following a path of reformed socialism. North Korea has indeed made several attempts to emulate the Chinese reform experience, but of course, questions exist as to how successful such attempts can be in the context of the countrys continued geopolitical standoff with the United States. For this reason, Chinas preference has been for the North Koreas nuclear programme to be resolved through negotiations rather than coercion. Though it is often argued that there are simply no good options on North Korea, the fact that the options of military or economic pressure are either too dangerous or have been tried and have so far failed. Perhaps it is time for Trump to take Chinas lead on negotiations as a potential solution to the Korean quagmire, thus also providing the US president with an opportunity to put his own Art of the Deal in to practice. Kevin Gray is a senior lecturer in international relations at the School of Global Studies at the University of Sussex. He is the author of Korean Workers and Neoliberal Globalisation. This article was originally published on FORTUNE.com (WASHINGTON) When U.S. President Donald Trump boasted early last week that he had sent an armada as a warning to North Korea, the aircraft carrier strike group he spoke of was still far from the Korean peninsula, and headed in the opposite direction. It was even farther away over the weekend, moving through the Sunda Strait and then into the Indian Ocean, as North Korea displayed what appeared to be new missiles at a parade and staged a failed missile test. The U.S. militarys Pacific Command explained on Tuesday that the strike group first had to complete a shorter-than-initially planned period of training with Australia. But it was now proceeding to the Western Pacific as ordered, it said. The perceived communications mix-up has raised eyebrows among Korea experts, who wonder whether it erodes the Trump administrations credibility at a time when U.S. rhetoric about the Norths advancing nuclear and missile capabilities are raising concerns about a potential conflict. If you threaten them and your threat is not credible, its only going to undermine whatever your policy toward them is. And that could be a logical conclusion from whats just happened, said North Korea expert Joel Wit at the 38 North monitoring group, run by Johns Hopkins Universitys School of Advanced International Studies. The U.S. military initially said in a statement dated April 10 that Admiral Harry Harris, the commander of Pacific Command, directed the Carl Vinson strike group to sail north and report on station in the Western Pacific. Reuters and other news outlets reported on April 11 that the movement would take more than a week. The Navy, for security reasons, says it does not report future operational locations of its ships. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis initially appeared to play down the deployment on April 11, saying the Vinson was just on her way up there because thats where we thought it was most prudent to have her at this time. Theres not a specific demand signal or specific reason why were sending her up there, he said. Story continues But even Mattis initially misspoke about the strike groups itinerary, telling a news conference that the Vinson had pulled out of an exercise with Australia. The Pentagon has since corrected the record, saying the ships planned port visit to Fremantle, Australia, was canceled not the exercise with Australias navy. On April 15, the U.S. Navy even published a photo showing the Vinson transiting the Sunda Strait. From April 16-18, the website reported that the Vinson was in the Indian Ocean. A U.S. military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Vinson carried out the exercises after passing through the Sunda Strait and wrapped them up this week. This article was originally published on TIME.com Cairo (AFP) - Egyptian security forces killed a gunman suspected of shooting dead a policeman near St Catherine's monastery in the Sinai Peninsula, the interior ministry said on Wednesday. Three other officers were wounded in Tuesday's attack in South Sinai province at a checkpoint near the ancient site, the ministry said. The shooting, which the ministry said Tuesday was carried out by "a number of gunmen", was claimed by the Islamic State group. "Security forces in South Sinai, in cooperation with bedouin elements tracked the perpetrators' escape route and closed roads that would be used to escape," the scene of the shooting, the ministry said in a statement. It said the suspect began firing after he was found by security forces, "which required the forces to quickly deal with him, injuring him leading to his death." Security staff found an automatic weapon and ammunition, adding that "investigations are ongoing to identify the terrorist." St Catherine's monastery, a Christian site 500 kilometres (300 miles) southeast of Cairo in the south of the Sinai attracts thousands of visitors a year. Tuesday's attack comes nine days after Palm Sunday services at Coptic Christian churches in the cities of Tanta and Alexandria were struck by twin bomb attacks claimed by IS, killing 45 people. IS has threatened to carry out more attacks on Copts, which makes up about 10 percent of Egypt's population of more than 90 million people. Egypt has battled a jihadist insurgency in North Sinai province that has killed hundreds of policemen and troops since the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. In October 2015, IS claimed the bombing of a Russian airliner carrying holidaymakers from the popular South Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, killing all 224 people on board. Archaeologists discovered a treasure trove of ancient artifacts during the excavation of a 3,500-year-old Egyptian tomb. The Draa Abul Nagaa necropolis near the city of Luxor yielded eight mummies, 10 colorful sarcophagi, more than 1,000 funerary statues and an array of patterned and colored pots. It was a surprise how much was being displayed inside, Antiquities Minister Khaled el-Enany told reporters Tuesday. This is an important discovery. Read: Archeologists Unearth Ancient Antidepressants And Heart Disease Medications The 18th Dynasty tomb belonged to a nobleman named Userhat who worked as a judge, Egyptian officials said in a statement Tuesday. More mummies were added during the 21st Dynasty, around 3,000 years ago, Mostafa Waziri, head of the archaeological mission, told Agence France-Presse. Among the findings were detailed sarcophagi, or coffins, colored red, blue, black, green and yellow and featuring the carved faces of those inside. Some showed signs of deterioration and breakage, but most remained well preserved, officials said. The statues inside the tomb were a specific type known as Ushtabi, small carved figures that often accompanied the deceased into the afterlife to help them. RTX31DTE Photo: Reuters It is a T-shaped tomb [which] consists of an open court leading into a rectangular hall, a corridor and an inner chamber, officials said in a statement. It's possible additional discoveries could be made, as the head of the archeological mission said the excavation was ongoing. There is evidence and traces that new mummies could be discovered in the future, Nevine el-Aref, spokeswoman for the antiquities ministry, told reporters Tuesday. Archeologists made another groundbreaking discovery nearby in 2014 when they uncovered the remains of at least 50 people in another 18th Dynasty tomb known as tomb KV40. Story continues We discovered a remarkable number of carefully mummified newborns and infants that would have normally been buried much simpler, Susanne Bickel, an Egyptologist involved in the excavation, said in a statement. We believe that the family members of the royal court were buried in this tomb for a period of several decades. Related Articles MOSCOW (Reuters) - A cargo ship heading from Russia to Turkey sunk off the coast of Crimea early on Wednesday morning and 11 of the crew are missing, Crimea's emergency situations ministry said. It said that the Panama-flagged vessel 'Geroi Arsenala' had sent an SOS signal when it was located 14 nautical miles off the Crimean coast. The Interfax news agency cited Russian transport officials as saying that the ship, whose home port was reported to be Kherson in southern Ukraine, had broken in half during a strong storm and sunk. At least six ships and a helicopter were engaged in a search and rescue operation, the emergency situations ministry said in a statement. Their task was complicated however by high winds and choppy waters. Only one of the 12-person crew had been rescued so far, the ministry said, saying that the crew had been made up of nine Ukrainians, two Russians and one Georgian. Preliminary information suggested the ship was en route from the southern Russian port of Azov to Turkey and that its cargo was grain, the ministry said. (Reporting by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Christian Lowe) What Were Following Global Votes: President Trump is getting backlash today for calling Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with congratulations on his recent referendum victorya notably speedy move that seems to endorse the expansion of the authoritarian leaders power. In Indonesia, the worlds largest Muslim-majority country, Jakarta voters are divided over whether the Quran forbids their electing a Christian governor tomorrow. And in the U.K., Prime Minister Theresa May is calling for general elections on June 8, three years ahead of schedule. Shes hoping to gain a political mandate to negotiate Brexitand to strike while public opinion is on her side. Late-Night Politics: In the cover story for our May issue, Chris Jones goes inside Alec Baldwins portrayal of Trump on Saturday Night Live to ask: Can satire save the republic? It could, for instance, help Americans see their political reality more clearly. Stephen Colbert might have edged some viewers in that direction with a vivid parody of InfoWarss Alex Jones on last nights Late Show. But the liberal smugness stoked by late-night comedy risks alienating conservativesand may have fueled Trumps rise. Recommended: How Did the Trump Administration Lose an Aircraft Carrier? Town and Company: During a recent visit to Janesville, Wisconsin, Vice President Mike Pence described the former manufacturing town as an economic role model for America. But the city has struggled to rebound from the closure of its General Motors plant almost a decade ago. Meanwhile in North Carolina, state legislators have rolled back environmental regulations to make the state more business-friendlyand residents say thats allowed companies to contaminate their drinking water. Snapshot A man and boy ride a bicycle near Sinuiju, North Korea, across the border from Dandong, China, on April 15, 2017. See more photos from the North Korean border here. (Johannes Eisele / AFP / Getty) Who Were Talking To Grover Norquist, a conservative activist, explains why hes optimistic about the Trump administration. Story continues Recommended: Mexicos Revenge Hannah Tinti, a novelist, shares how lines from a T.S. Eliot poem gave her courage to take risks with her writing process. Sharon George, a Ph.D. graduate from India doing medical research in Washington, D.C., explains how an executive order on the H-1B visa program could impact her work. Watch here. Evening Read Stressed and confused over taxes today? Youre not alone, writes Vanessa Williamson: Over the last three years, Ive been conducting surveys of hundreds of Americans and interviewing dozens of them, trying to capture not only what they know and think about taxes but how they arrive at those conclusions. Yes, Americans do have large and politically significant gaps in their policy knowledge. But Ive found that those mistakes were rarely the result of a basic innumeracy or a knee-jerk opposition to taxes in general. Instead, the tax system itself draws peoples attention to certain aspects of the tax code and obscures others, making it difficult for taxpayers to accurately assess potential reforms. Americans receive a great deal of information about taxes in their daily lives. Data about taxation is visible on receipts, pay stubs, and of course, income-tax returns. But that information is incomplete and imbalanced, and therefore misleading. Added together, the reasonable (though often wrong) conclusions people draw from this anecdotal data leave them poorly equipped to distinguish fact from fiction in debates over how the system should work. Keep reading here, as Williamson explains how the process of paying taxes confuses Americans about tax policy. Recommended: Alec Baldwin Gets Under Trumps Skin What Do You Know? 1. Since October, U.S. department stores have lost nearly ____________ jobs. Scroll down for the answer, or find it here. 2. Medicaid, which covers more than ____________ people, is Americas largest single insurer. Scroll down for the answer, or find it here. 3. While five types of IUDs are available in the U.S., women in Britain can choose among ____________ different variations. Scroll down for the answer, or find it here. Urban Developments Our partner site CityLab explores the cities of the future and investigates the biggest ideas and issues facing city dwellers around the world. Adam Sneed shares three of todays top stories: Theres one big reason Millennials still cant buy homes: The down payment is too damn high. And soon Congress could change the federal governments best answer to this problem. The term NIMBY isnt strong enough to describe these residents destructive attitude. Say hello to the New Urban Luddites. The toxic national political landscape isnt working anywhere, especially in cities. So maybe its time for a new political party: the Metropolitans. For more updates from the urban world, subscribe to CityLabs daily newsletter. Reader Response Can grade-skipping close the STEM gender gap? Tom Clynes argues that it canencouraging more girls to accelerate their education might reduce the overlap between the years when theyre trying to build a career and the years when theyre trying to start a family. This reader is skeptical: Sure, it could help to have a good 10 years of experience under ones belt before you had your first child, but how is that different than what women are doing now anyway? Instead of having a first baby at 27 or 28 as the article suggests, they're having it at 32 or 33, still well within the biological clock guidelines for fertility. And the issues impeding career advancement are still present whether you have 10 years of work experience at 29 vs. 10 years of experience at 32. So while Im all for accelerating the gifted of either gender, solving the problem of the glass ceiling isnt one of timing. Its one of culture and admitting theres a problem at all. For the working moms out there: Do you think theres an optimal point in your career to have kids? And for all our readers: If youve skipped grades or graduated college early, how do you feel its affected your career and your decisions about whether to start a family? Wed like to hear your storiesemail us at hello@theatlantic.com. In the meantime, check out these related reader discussions on gender tensions in the tech industry and debating the gender pay gap. Verbs Reality augmented, existential questions illustrated, atomic bomb spun, aircraft carrier misplaced. The newsletter dated April 17, 2017, misspelled the name of a Democratic candidate in Georgias sixth congressional district: He is Jon Ossoff, not John. Our apologies for the error, and thanks to reader Ben for pointing it out. The Atlantic Daily is written by Rosa Inocencio Smith. To contact us, email hello@theatlantic.com. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. Dubai (AFP) - Emirates, the Middle East's largest airline, said Wednesday that it will reduce flights to the United States after tightened visa and security measures under President Donald Trump hit demand. The Dubai-based airline said that it would cut services to five US cities -- Los Angeles, Boston, Orlando, Seattle and Fort Lauderdale -- starting from next month. "This is a commercial decision in response to weakened travel demand to US," a spokesperson for the carrier said in a statement. "The recent actions taken by the US government relating to the issuance of entry visas, heightened security vetting, and restrictions on electronic devices in aircraft cabins, have had a direct impact on consumer interest and demand for air travel into the US," it added. Travellers have expressed frustration at a carry-on ban on large electronic devices that took effect last month on US-bound flights mostly from the Middle East and North Africa. It followed an attempt by Trump to impose a travel ban on refugees and on travellers from six Muslim-majority nations. Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways in a statement published Wednesday by the official WAM news agency said demand for its 45 flights a week to the US "remains strong". The European car market clocked up double-digit growth in March, with new car registrations returning to their pre-crisis levels, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association ACEA said on Wednesday. "In March 2017, EU passenger car registrations increased significantly by 11.2 percent," totalling 1.89 million units, ACEA said in a statement. The strong growth was largely due to the timing of the Easter holidays, which had fallen in March last year and in April this year, the association explained. Nevertheless, "all the big five markets recorded very strong performances during the month," ACEA said. New car registrations were up 18.2 percent in Italy, 12.6 percent in Spain, 11.4 percent in Germany, 8.4 percent in Britain and 7.0 percent in France. Taking the first three months of 2017, demand for passenger cars in Europe increased by 8.4 percent to 4.141 million vehicles. Here, too, the number of new car registrations grew most strongly in Italy, where sales sped ahead by 11.9 percent. The Spanish market expanded by 7.9 percent in the period from January to March, the German market by 6.7 percent, the UK market by 6.2 percent and the French market by 4.8 percent, "all... contributing to the overall upturn of the EU market." German car giant Volkswagen remained Europe's biggest manufacturer, with registrations of its VW, Audi, Skoda, SEAT and Porsche brands rising by 6.5 percent. It commands a 21.3-percent share of the market. French maker PSA Peugeot Citroen saw its sales rise by 6.9 percent in the three-month period, while new registrations of Renault raced ahead by 14.4 percent. Each has a market share of 9.5 percent. New registrations of Opel and Vauxhall, the European arms of US giant General Motors currently being taken over by PSA, were up by 3.1 percent. By contrast, US rival Ford saw its sales in European zoom ahead by 16.7 percent, new registrations of Fiat Chrysler were up 17.7 percent, Daimler sales grew by 12.7 percent and BMW sales were up 7.7 percent. Story continues Japanese maker, Toyota, the world's number two, also performed well, with registrations rising by 19.2 percent, while rival Nissan booked an increase of 18.2 percent. The European market for new cars expanded by 6.8 percent to 14.64 million units in 2016, almost the level seen in 2008 when the economic crisis began. It fell as low as 11.8 million units in 2013. By Brendan Pierson (Reuters) - Martin Shkreli, the former drug company executive who drew public outcry when he raised the price of a life-saving drug by 5,000 percent, will be tried for securities fraud separately from a lawyer charged alongside him, a Brooklyn federal judge ruled Wednesday. Both Shkreli and lawyer Evan Greebel, who worked for Shkreli's former company Retrophin Inc, had asked that their case be split. U.S. prosecutors had sought to try the two men together on charges that they schemed to defraud investors in a hedge fund Shkreli controlled. Greebel's lawyer, Reed Brodsky, said at a hearing earlier this month before U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto that he aimed to prove that Shkreli was guilty and that he deceived Greebel. Brodsky said he would present evidence of wrongdoing by Shkreli even beyond what prosecutors claimed. Shkreli's lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said he would try to prove that Shkreli had no criminal intent and relied on Greebel's advice. Brafman and other lawyers for Shkreli said in a joint statement that they were pleased with the decision. Brodsky and a spokesman for the prosecutors both declined to comment. Matsumoto wrote in Wednesday's order that trying the two men together "would place on Shkreli an unfair and heavy burden in defending himself against both the government and Greebel." Shkreli is now set to go to trial on June 26. A trial date for Greebel has not been set, though Matsumoto earlier set aside Oct. 2 as a possible second trial date if the trial was split. After leaving Retrophin, Shkreli ran Turing Pharmaceuticals, where he sparked outrage among patients and U.S. lawmakers by raising the price of a drug used to treat a dangerous parasitic infection by more than 5,000 percent, to $750 a pill. The criminal charges, which are not related to Turing, involve Shkreli's management of Retrophin and the hedge fund MSMB Capital Management from 2009 to 2014. Story continues Prosecutors claim that Shkreli engaged in a Ponzi-like scheme in which he defrauded investors in MSMB and took $11 million in assets from Retrophin to repay them. Shkreli faces charges of securities fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, while Greebel faces only conspiracy charges. Both have pleaded not guilty. The case is U.S. v. Shkreli, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, No. 15-cr-00637. (Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Bernard Orr) Jon Ossoff The first hypercompetitive congressional race of President Donald Trump's tenure in office has both Democrats and Republicans zeroed in on Tuesday on a Georgia district that has been under GOP control for roughly 40 years. The race is swamped with candidates 18 are facing voters Tuesday. Among them are 11 Republicans, five Democrats, and two independents, all fighting to win the seat that was held by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price. Of the four special elections this year to fill seats vacated by Trump appointees, the one in Georgia's 6th Congressional District has become Democrats' best chance of swinging a seat. The Democratic candidate who looks poised to make a strong charge is Jon Ossoff, a 30-year-old documentary filmmaker and former congressional aide. Ossoff has raised a massive amount of cash for the race, capitalizing on anti-Trump fervor among liberal donors. In just three months, he has raised a whopping $8.3 million, vastly more than most candidates running in major statewide races. Ossoff's fundraising haul was more than any member of Congress had raised over a two-year period since 2012 other than House Speaker Paul Ryan and former House Speaker John Boehner. Still, the race remains an uphill battle for Ossoff, who is running in a district that has been entrenched in red since former House Speaker Newt Gingrich won his first election there in 1978. Ossoff and the large field of candidates are competing Tuesday in what's known as a jungle primary. All candidates are on one ballot, and if no candidate clears 50%, the top two will participate in a runoff election on June 20. With Republicans failing to coalesce around one candidate, Ossoff is running away with the primary in polls, garnering support in the mid-40s. But a recent Emerson College poll found that when polled against just one candidate in the runoff election, he trailed slightly against the four Republicans who are considered most likely to emerge from the primary as his opponent, should nobody reach 50% support: Karen Handel, Bob Gray, Judson Hill, and Dan Moody. Story continues And Republicans, taking the threat of an Ossoff victory seriously, have pulled out all the stops in attempting to prevent the Democrat from hitting 50% support on Tuesday. The GOP views the Georgia race as the most competitive of the four special elections. "You see $8.3 million, that's a significant chunk that somebody can run in their district," said one GOP operative familiar with the race. "Essentially, that's what somebody usually raises for a statewide campaign, not an off-year, early special election." The operative added that he hadn't seen anything resembling that level of fundraising in past special elections. "It is a large amount of money from out-of-state donors who are clearly very fired up about opposing Donald Trump," the operative told Business Insider last week. "That's very clear. The liberal base dislikes Donald Trump." 'Jungle primary' In addition to being well-funded, Ossoff is also heavily staffed. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sent eight staffers to Georgia in March to help his election efforts, bringing his total to 70 paid staffers and 2,000 volunteers. The Democratic National Committee's bylaws mandate that the organization stay neutral during the primary, but the committee is prepared to deploy staffers and high-profile surrogates to the district for Ossoff if he finds himself in a head-to-head runoff. With deep pockets funded overwhelmingly by out-of-state liberal donors eager to score a Trump-inspired victory, Ossoff is the most recognized Democrat. But many of the Republicans on the ballot have done little to separate themselves from the others. "Not only is it a special election, but in Georgia it's a jungle primary, where you have a dozen Republican candidates and you really only have one Democratic candidate because he's consolidated all of the support," the GOP operative said, adding that he believed the candidate's "floor" was in the mid-to-high 40s. "For all intents and purposes, he's the only Democrat running," he said. "With all of that money to be put into ads, he's the only one they're hearing about." Donald Trump In last fall's election, Price beat his Democratic challenger, Rodney Stooksbury, 62% to 38%. But Democrats are hoping that antipathy toward Trump, who won the state by a slimmer 51%-to-46% margin, can help turn the tide in the district. Republicans have attempted to paint Ossoff as a "far left" candidate who would be more loyal to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi an unpopular name in the district than to local voters. Republicans have pushed a series of ads claiming that Ossoff misrepresented some of his past foreign-policy experience while working on Capitol Hill. They have also hit Ossoff for not living within the district. He's unable to vote for himself on Tuesday. Asked about this by CNN on Tuesday morning, Ossoff said he did not live in the district because he was supporting his girlfriend's career. "I'm a mile and a half down the street to support Alicia while she finishes medical school," he said. "It's something I've been very transparent about. In fact, I'm proud to be supporting her career. "As soon as she finishes her medical training, I'll be 10 minutes back up the road into the district where I grew up," he continued. Additionally, Republicans are making a larger investment in the Georgia race than in the other three races. "We're obviously monitoring all of it closely, some closer than others," the GOP operative said. "We've obviously made a greater investment in Georgia than we have in Montana or Kansas, and then South Carolina as well." Trump gets involved The election is being billed as a referendum on the early months of the Trump presidency, and Trump got fairly involved in the race as it entered its final days. Although he did not express support for any of the 11 Republicans running, he encouraged voters in a Monday tweet to "vote R" on Tuesday. "The super Liberal Democrat in the Georgia Congressioal [sic] race tomorrow wants to protect criminals, allow illegal immigration and raise taxes!" Trump tweeted on Monday. "Democrat Jon Ossoff would be a disaster in Congress," the president tweeted Tuesday, "VERY weak on crime and illegal immigration, bad for jobs and wants higher taxes. Say NO." Another tweet on Sunday night mentioned media coverage of both the Georgia election and the special election in Kansas' 4th Congressional District last week. In the Kansas contest, Republican Ron Estes beat Democrat James Thompson by 7 points in a district where Mike Pompeo now Trump's CIA director won by more than 30 points last fall. "The recent Kansas election (Congress) was a really big media event, until the Republicans won," Trump wrote. "Now they play the same game with Georgia-BAD!" Ossoff responded to Trump's Monday tweet, calling the president "misinformed." "While I'm glad the president is interested in the race, he is misinformed," he said in a statement. "I'm focused on bringing fresh leadership, accountability, and bipartisan problem-solving to Washington to cut wasteful spending and grow metro Atlanta's economy into the Silicon Valley of the South." A DNC aide said Tuesday that the tweets made it appear as if Trump "just found out" about the election. "If the president's recent tweets are any indication, he seems to have just found out about the Georgia special election," the aide said in a statement. "Democrats, on the other hand, have been heavily involved for weeks." Jon Ossoff Trump has fired off five tweets about the race, including two in which he said that forcing a runoff election in June should be considered a win for Republicans. "With eleven Republican candidates running in Georgia (on Tuesday) for Congress, a runoff will be a win," Trump tweeted late Monday. "Vote 'R' for lower taxes & safety!" "Republicans must get out today and VOTE in Georgia 6," he wrote on Tuesday. "Force runoff and easy win! Dem Ossoff will raise your taxes-very bad on crime & 2nd A." And late on Monday, Republicans pushed out a robocall Trump recorded to voters in the district. "Tomorrow there is a special election for Congress in Georgia," the president said. "Only you can stop the super liberal Democrats and Nancy Pelosi's group and, in particular, Jon Ossoff. "If you don't vote tomorrow, Ossoff will raise your taxes, destroy your healthcare, and flood our country with illegal immigrants," he continued. "Liberal Democrats from outside of Georgia are spending millions of dollars trying to take your Republican congressional seat away from you. Don't let them do it." He claimed that Democrats would be "taking your congressional seat and your money and your safety" if they won the seat. With the huge swing in Kansas where Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas all aided Estes as a potential sign of things to come in the other special elections, there is major concern that the GOP base will be complacent after Trump's victory, not turning out in needed numbers to win the seat. "The energy we've seen, there's been a slight downtick, which I think is natural coming off a very contentious election that we won," the operative said, adding that the GOP had to get its voters "reengaged." Maxwell Tani and Peter Jacobs contributed to this report. NOW WATCH: A reporter asked Spicer if hes confident that no one in the White House is a foreign agent More From Business Insider UPDATE: 11:42 a.m. EDT The man responsible for murdering a 74-year-old man and posting the killing on Facebook was found dead in his car Tuesday morning. Steve Stephens was found inside his car in Erie, Pennsylvania dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police confirmed. Original story: The search for the man responsible for killing 74-year-old Robert Godwin Sr. and posting the murder on Facebook was still underway Tuesday, according to authorities. Steve Stephens last known location was Cleveland, Ohio, where the killing took place Sunday, but law enforcement urged people in Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana and Michigan to be on the lookout. This is what we would consider a national search for Steve, Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams told reporters Monday. So, we are not going to leave any stone unturned. Read: Who Is Steve Stevens? Facebook Killing Suspect Disowned By Family On Twitter Williams confirmed that a detective spoke to Stephens on his cellphone following the murder in an attempt to convince him to give himself up, though no other details regarding the call were given. Reports emerged of a ping from Stevens cell phone in Erie, Pennsylvania, about 100 miles east of Cleveland. Williams said he could not confirm such reports, while police in Erie said they had no knowledge of a ping in the area. Williams also said there was no concrete evidence that Stevens had left Ohio. Godwins family said they wanted justice for their father in an interview with CNNS Don Lemon Monday night. The man who videotaped my father getting shot stripped him of his dignity, Godwins son, Robby Miller, told Lemon. And to post it online for the whole world to see, Im just angry. No, I dont want that man to die. I want him brought to justice. I just want him brought to justice. Story continues Read: Who Is Robert Godwin Sr.? Cleveland Murder Broadcast On Facebook Facebook confirmed it removed the original video depicting the murder, though copies had proliferated on the site and other social media. We know we need to do better, Facebooks Global Operations Vice President Justin Osofsky said in a community post Monday. This is a horrific crime and we do not allow this kind of content on Facebook, a spokeswoman for the company said in a statement Monday. We work hard to keep a safe environment on Facebook and are in touch with law enforcement in emergencies where there are direct threats to physical safety. Related Articles Facebook's in the midst of a serious campaign to convince everyone how much it cares about journalism. Even at F8, the company's giant developer conference taking place this week, it's saucing on the charm. "We don't always get it right, but you have our commitment to keep trying," Dan Rose, Facebook's vice president of partnerships, said at Tuesday's event. Facebook: we like publishers. See, we like publishers! pic.twitter.com/LSC30vVM86 Alex Kantrowitz (@Kantrowitz) April 18, 2017 Too bad someone didn't tell Facebook's algorithms. Over the last few weeks, numerous media publications have seen a distinct drop-off in the reach of links published to Facebookmeaning far fewer people are seeing stories in their Newsfeeds from certain outlets. The issue first came to light on Tuesday, when Kurt Gessler, a deputy editor for digital news at the Chicago Tribune, published a post on Medium detailing how the Tribune's seen its reach on Facebook decline. Dramatically. The post's title laid it bare: "Facebooks algorithm isnt surfacing one-third of our posts. And its getting worse." A chart showing a sharp uptick in the number of Chicago Tribune stories that reached far fewer Facebook users. Image: Kurt Gessler This kind of thing's an ongoing issue on Facebook, which constantly tweaks its secret recipe for what shows up in your Newsfeed. As one person with audience development experience for a major newspaper told us: "When aren't audience development people spooked about FB reach?" In other words: People who work at media outlets are always gonna be freaked out by changes at Facebook. Fair point. But this time, something fishy does seem to be going on. Matt Karolian at the Boston Globe had also noticed a downtick in Facebook reach. @kurtgessler Perfect timing, I just sent out a big report last night. Globe data looking very similar pic.twitter.com/nRJqCuvsHe Matt Karolian & (@mkarolian) April 18, 2017 See that graph, above? Those downturns follow strong upticks that correlate closely to the 2016 election. And it shows a changeand one that Gessler sees hitting newspapers hard in particular, due to their lack of video (at least compared to outlets like Buzzfeed, Vox, Business Insider, et al). Story continues Gessler wrote that Facebook's Newsfeed favors publications that publish video to Facebook as about 25% of all posts. He and another editor looked at 23 newspapers (including the Tribune) and found that most newspapers didn't even get within striking distance of that number. "To be honest, we dont come close to this. But neither does any media organization comparable to the Chicago Tribune," Gessler wrote. The notion that newspapers aren't adequately prepared to play Facebook's game isn't terribly new, but it does fly in the face of the company's recent efforts to put a positive spin on its relationship with the media. Since the election, hardly a week's gone by without Facebook announcing some new initiative, rolling out a new tool to combat fake news, or having a sit-down with a group of publishers of local media. Those efforts at making a big push towards Facebook becoming a safe space for legit journalism seem like they're...well, like they're at odds with Facebook's more pressing efforts to jumpstart its video business. Facebook is pushing a narrative about how much they care about journalism, while pushing publishers to longer videos so that it can start showing ads. And all of these video effortsfrom the initial move to video, to the sudden embrace of live video, to the recent embrace of longform videocome with a deal for publishers. Facebook prioritizes these types of posts, and when publishers post the kind of content it prioritizes, publishers tend to get a bump in the News Feed for their other posts. Scratch the back of Facebook's News Feed, and the News Feed will scratch back. But video, of course, doesn't have much to do with journalism or what papers like the Tribune primarily doafter all, it's a newspaper, not a production company. And this all speaks to the dissonance of Facebook's recent pro-media efforts. As Facebook used to be very fond of reminding everyone, it is a platform, a title that removes it from responsibilities like editorial judgement. Now, Facebook's trying on some sort of public-facing outfit as a responsible actor in the media world, while its automated system runs business as usual. So: Is Facebook in the midst of some massive shift in how it's weighing thing in its news feed? Who knows. The company's famously tight-lipped about these kinds of things. Gessler told Mashable that "more than a half dozen" people from other publishers reached out with similar findings. As a journalist that's covered this topic for some time, I can say that publishers are rarely willing to discuss this matter in publicwho wants to out themselves as not being seen on Facebook? It's a problem Gessler knows well. "My goal was to end the silence, share some data and try to figure out what's happening and why. And we best accomplish that by showing our work," Gessler said via Twitter DM. Gessler added that he understood there were things the Tribune could do to improve its performance on Facebook, but noted that catering to the News Feed can be a slippery slope. "We have our own brand focused on Chicago, Illinois and the Midwest. We want to drive that conversation for our audience, not just share the same story everyone else is," he wrote. That might be music to the ears of journalists. Maybe even Facebook's journalism evangelists. But it's doubtful the algorithms are listening. The question for Facebook now becomes: Can they be trained to? Moreover, does Facebook even want them to? WATCH: Someone combined the best parts of the Kindle and iPad Getty Images photographer Chris Hondros walks the ruins of a building Aug. 21, 2006, in southern Beirut, Lebanon. (Photo: Getty Images) You hear Chris Hondros before you ever see him, as he calmly takes a call as though it were any other day in the office. And for the late Getty Images photographer, it was. The battlefield was where Hondros worked, and where his iconic photographs came to sharply define some of the bloodiest conflicts of the last 15 years, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It would also be where he ultimately lost his life he was killed in a 2011 mortar attack along with fellow photojournalist Tim Hetherington while covering the civil war in Libya six years ago this week. But on this day in 2003, Hondros was in Liberia, answering his phone as he walked down the street with young militia members who were barely out of junior high but were now on the frontlines of a deadly civil war. In the chaotic footage that opens Hondros, a documentary about the photojournalists life and work that premieres Friday at the Tribeca Film Festival, the photographer takes the phone call off camera, reassuring the person on the other end that all is well even as his words are nearly drowned out by rapid bursts of machine gun fire and blasts in the not-too-far distance. Things are fine, Hondros casually tells the caller, his voice the very definition of ease. Give me a call back in about half an hour. Its only then that the viewer sees Hondros come into frame, camera in hand, calmly documenting the chaotic scene in the Liberian capital of Monrovia where militia members were squaring off against rebel forces determined to overthrow then-Liberian President Charles Taylor. Even as other journalists began to turn back in fear of the escalating violence, Hondros continued on toward a bridge where some of the fiercest fighting was underway, crouching as bullets whizzed through the air. Within minutes, he took one of his best-known photographs the image of young militia commander leaping ecstatically into the air, drunk on the glory of war, after firing off a rocket-propelled grenade toward rebel forces. The picture, a finalist for the 2004 Pulitzer Prize, is widely considered one of the most iconic images of modern war photography. Story continues Joseph Duo, a Liberian militia commander loyal to the government, exults after firing a rocket-propelled grenade at rebel forces at a key strategic bridge on July 20, 2003, in Monrovia, Liberia. (Photo: Chris Hondros/Getty Images) Slideshow: Retrospective Photojournalist Chris Hondros >>> It was the story behind that photograph that was the initial genesis for Hondros. Greg Campbell, a journalist and filmmaker who wrote the book Blood Diamonds, had grown up with Hondros in North Carolina and was the photographers best friend. While mourning his death, Campbell was surprised to receive a Facebook message from Joseph Duo, the young Liberian immortalized in Hondros photo, who told him of the larger role the photographer had played in his life. In 2005, during a return trip to Liberia, Hondros had finally met Duo, learning his name for the first time and his backstory. Duo, then 28, had dropped out of school in the 10th grade to go to war. Living in poverty with his wife and three kids, he told Hondros he was trying to get back into school in hopes of pursuing a better life, but it wasnt easy for someone his age. To Duos surprise, the photographer helped him enroll in school and paid the tuition, hoping to allow the man to choose his own fate. The two subsequently kept in touch over the years, as Hondros reviewed Duos report cards and encouraged him to forge on. When Duo graduated from high school and started to take college classes in computing and criminal justice, Hondros continued to pick up some of the costs though he told almost no one, including Campbell. I always knew that Chris made friends easily and kept them close at hand and really kind of cultivated his relationships but I had no idea the actual scale of the impact that he had on people, Campbell said. Joseph Duo, 28, left, a former Liberian government soldier, talks with photographer Chris Hondros at his home Oct. 5, 2005, in Monrovia, Liberia. (Photo: Getty Images) Inspired to tell the story of his friends legacy and generosity, Campbell launched a Kickstarter campaign to finance a film about Hondros most famous photos, and his personal and professional impact on his subjects and others who came to know him during a career that was cut short. Four years later, the result is Hondros, which is scheduled to premiere one day after the sixth anniversary of the photographers death. The filmmakers interviewed Samar Hassan, an Iraqi teenager who was photographed by Hondros in January 2005 moments after U.S. soldiers opened fire on her familys car, killing her parents. The image of Hassan, then only 5, screaming and covered in blood, was one of the most powerful images of the Iraq War, and one of the first to truly capture the horror of the conflict on the countrys civilian population. Yet the most powerful footage in the film is of Hondros at work, captured in war zones via found footage from other journalists who were on the scene. He moves quickly and with precision, always watching and looking for the best angle, the most dramatic framing. The film shows Hondros in action as he takes some of his most iconic images, including in Iraq and Libya, where the footage includes shots of the photographer working right up to moments before his death. Campbell and his fellow filmmakers had put out an open call asking for any imagery of Hondros at work, resulting in hours and hours of footage that had to be whittled down. In the film, the footage is spliced with still images pulled from the Getty Images archive of the actual photos Hondros was taking at the time. Samar Hassan, 5, screams after her parents were killed by U.S. soldiers with the 25th Infantry Division in a shooting Jan. 18, 2005 in Tal Afar, Iraq. (Photo: Chris Hondros/Getty Images) Probably one of the most challenging things was to find that footage and kind of turn over every rock, but it was also one of the most fulfilling, Campbell said. One of the most pleasant surprises was that you could actually see him at work in his environment, and literally in some cases with the video camera over his shoulder, as hes taking photographs that came to be pretty iconic and very well known from the conflicts that he covered. At times, Hondros serves almost as a narrator of the project, speaking about his work and the importance of photojournalism through snippets from various television interviews. At one point, an interviewer asks Hondros to respond to a claim that war photographers are the craziest of all journalists. The problem with war photography is that theres absolutely no way to do it from a distance, Hondros replied. You have to be close. You cant do it from your hotel. You cant do it from across the street, from across the bridge. You have to be there. Theres really no substitute for that. So you have to figure out ways to get into the midst of things, no matter whats happening. And you have to suspend your reason sometimes to do that. Campbells documentary comes at a difficult moment for journalism, especially for photojournalism. As magazines and newspapers have folded and shrunk, while the ubiquity of smartphones has turned practically every passerby into a photographer, professional photojournalists are finding it harder to make a living even as the wars they cover are growing increasingly brutal and dangerous. Though Campbells primary goal was to introduce viewers to his best friend who was just 41 when he died he also hopes Hondros will remind people of the importance of photojournalists, especially in covering combat in places like Iraq and Libya. Everybody with a phone on the planet can take a photo of whats happening, but in order to take a photo that helps you understand it, it requires the skills and talents of a photojournalist, he said. Especially in this day and age where the very fabric of truth is being questioned from the highest levels theres no replacement for having experienced, skilled, well-trained people who know what theyre doing from a journalism perspective going into these environments, who are dedicating themselves and putting themselves at risk to come away with the truth, or as close of an approximation as we can get to it. Chris Hondros in front of a burning building while on assignment on April 18, 2011, in Misrata, Libya. (Photo: Katie Orlinsky via Getty Images) Watching the film, its easy to wonder what Hondros, who had been just weeks from getting married when he was killed, would be doing today. Many of the places he documented, including Iraq, are still being ravaged by deadly unrest. Campbell said its hard to tell where his friends life would have taken him, though he believes he would be on the frontlines somewhere, determined to continue showing the human story of conflict to a world that needs to see it. One of his friends once said that his favorite photo of Chris was the one that Chris never got to take next, Campbell said. Its interesting to kind of think about the possibility of what those photos might have been and the stories he would have been telling us. _____ Read more from Yahoo News: Indianapolis firefighters helped get three cute kittens to safety after finding them in the back of one of their own engines Tuesday. The newborn kitties, two boys and one girl, were found in an engines hose bed after the engine 35 crew kept hearing noises, according to the department. Read: Man Died a Hero After Drowning While Trying to Save Toddler Who Fell Into River "They thought it was bird's chirping but then found the babies huddled together in that compartment. They were pretty dirty and hungry," Rita Reith, battalion chief of media relations, told InsideEdition.com. Apparently the mama kitten climbed inside of the engine and gave birth while the engine was in the shop, but the mother couldn't be found. Firefighters took the animals to Noahs Animal Hospital where they were placed in warm blankets with their eyes still unopened. Read: Dog Dies While Saving Wedding Party From Suicide Bomber The kitties, which not yet been named, are all doing well. They are being hand-fed, and in eight weeks will be ready for adoption, according to the hospital. Watch: Suspected Hoarder Gives Up 74 Puppies and Dogs After Being Overwhelmed Related Articles: Immigration officials have deported a man who is believed to be the first Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program recipient to be deported under President Donald Trumps administration. California resident Juan Manuel Montes, 23, was deported in February, according to his legal team at the National Immigration Law Center. He currently remains in Mexico awaiting further information on his status, and has filed a federal lawsuit as his deportation challenges continue. Montes first arrived in the U.S. at the age of nine, and had been working in agriculture and studying welding at local community college when he was picked up by a Border Patrol agent in Calexico. Without identification on his person, Montes was deported to Mexico that night. He had been twice protected by the Obama-era DACA status, which was valid through 2018. Enacted by the Obama administration, the DACA program is meant to protect undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children (known as Dreamers) from deportation and also gives them work permits. I was forced out because I was nervous and didnt know what to do or say, but my home is there, Montes said in a statement. I miss my job. I miss school. And I want to continue to work toward better opportunities. But most of all, I miss my family, and I have hope that I will be able to go back so I can be with them again. We look forward to presenting our case to the court, because our client has the right to know why and how he was physically removed from the United States when he had permission to live and work here, said Monica Ramirez Almadani, an attorney representing Montes. His team had already filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for further insight into his removal in March, but has yet to receive a response This article was originally published on TIME.com By Tom James (Reuters) - The first U.S. drive-through marijuana dispensary is set to open on Thursday in a small town in Colorado, a state that has been at the forefront of pot legalization. The Tumbleweed Express Drive-Thru, housed in a former car wash in Parachute, Colorado, will allow customers to pull their cars into the store's bay to buy pot directly from their vehicles. You actually drive into the building," Mark Smith, chief executive of Tumbleweed, the company that owns the new store and six other pot shops in the state, said in a phone interview on Wednesday. "A door opens up and you drive the car into the building and then the door closes behind you, like in a Jiffy Lube. So in essence, youre inside the dispensary, but in a vehicle, he said. That process allows the store to comply with Colorado pot laws, which require that marijuana retailers carry out their transactions inside an existing store, ruling out the outdoor windows that are staples of traditional drive-throughs, Smith said. Officials with Colorados marijuana regulator were not immediately available for comment on Wednesday, but were quoted in local media as saying the store would need to abide by statewide rules and bar people under 21 from the premises, even in the back of a car. Parachute, a town of 1,100 people about 200 miles (320 km) west of Denver, banned recreational pot sales in 2013, the year after the state legalized the drug. It rescinded the ban two years later after revenues from natural gas dropped, according to local media. Concerns have arisen over a potential federal crackdown on states with legal recreational pot. Marijuana remains illegal under federal law but has been legalized for recreational use in eight states, including Washington, Colorado and California, as well as the District of Columbia. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has made statements indicating his opposition to allowing recreational use of the drug, and President Donald Trump's administration has indicated it may ramp up enforcement. Colorados governor was one of four state governors to sign a letter urging federal authorities not to crack down on states with legal marijuana, and state lawmakers have proposed shield laws to protect Colorado marijuana growers from federal enforcement. (Reporting by Tom James in Seattle; Editing by Patrick Enright and Peter Cooney) lint's mayor is recommending that the Michigan city continue getting its drinking water from a regional system, following a crisis that left the supply contaminated with lead. Karen Weaver's announcement Tuesday to stay with the Great Lakes Water Authority is a reversal. Last year, she said the city of 100,000 residents would stick with a plan to draw from a new pipeline to Lake Huron that is in the testing phase. But she reevaluated that decision as a condition of Flint receiving $100 million in federal funding to address the man-made disaster. Thousands took to the streets of Bratislava to protest corruption and call for the resignation of Slovakias interior minister, a close ally of the prime minister, Robert Fico. The march was planned not by opposition politicians, but by secondary-school students. A pair of 18-year-olds, Karolina Farska and David Straka, decided to organize the protests after being inspired by anti-corruption protests in Romania earlier this year. And organize they did: on Tuesday evening local time, roughly 5,000 turned out on the streets in Bratislava for one of the largest demonstrations since Fico came to power in 2012. The primary target was Interior Minister Robert Kalinak, who has resisted resignation despite business ties to a real estate developer under investigation for potential tax fraud. Corruption is a persistent problem not only in Slovakia, but across Central Eastern Europe, according to Freedom Houses Nations in Transit report. And Transparency International ranks Slovakia 54th out of 176 countries on corruption. The issue seems to be gaining traction among voters and politicians. Slovak President Andrej Kiska, a political rival of Ficos, publicly supported the protesters. If we remain silent, nothing will change, therefore I challenge people to speak if they see something happening that isnt right, he said. Fico himself, in the past few weeks, was talking about fighting corruption, as Slovak journalist Andrej Matisak explained to Foreign Policy. It was never a topic for Fico. But this is a big topic for the Slovak society, Matisak said. Still, theres the ingrained perception that, though corruption is a problem, no one is able to catch the big fishes, Matisak said. Sadly, it seems people are right about this. And so its evidently fallen to very young people to do something about it. Nie je nam to jedno, they chanted at their march. We still care. This is the first generation that became politically conscious as EU citizens, Zselyke Csakys Freedom House said. She noted that young people played a role in anti-corruption protests in Hungary and Romania too. After several years of silence and many choosing the exit option resulting in increasing rates of emigration the new generation is now making its voices heard, Csaky said. Story continues And will the government listen? Perhaps not. Kalinak isnt expected to resign, though such scandals could undermine Ficos government in the lead up to Novembers regional elections. Protests could continue. The government could put additional anti-corruption measures in place, adding to its banning of companies with unclear ownership from doing business with the Slovak state. Fico issued a statement saying his government takes corruption seriously and will continue to do so. Perhaps even a small change in behavior of big fishes could be considered a success, Matisak mused. Even just one that made them feel they are not totally untouchable. Photo credit: VLADIMIR SIMICEK/AFP/Getty Images With the simple submission of a technical sanctions waiver, oil giant Exxon Mobil created a potential PR headache for the White House. On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported Exxon is seeking a greenlight from the U.S. government to bypass sanctions on Russia and resume doing business with the countrys state-owned oil giant Rosneft. Its hard to imagine how the optics could be worse. One of the biggest of the many scandals plaguing Trumps White House is the FBI investigation into whether his campaign coordinated with Russian intelligence to tip the election in his favor. An unverified dossier alleges that Rosneft may have played a role in the Russian election meddling. And Secretary of State Rex Tillerson happens to be the former Exxon CEO who before becoming Americas top diplomat had lobbied the Obama administration to ease sanctions that hamstrung Exxons business in Russia. The State Department is one of several government agencies that will oversee Exxons waiver application, though a State Department spokesman told the Wall Street Journal Tillerson (who received the Russian Order of Friendship in 2013) is recusing himself from any decisions relating to Exxon for two years. The sanctions were put in place in 2014, after Russia annexed Crimea. The sanctions prevent U.S. companies from dealings with Rosneft involving technology transfer, and also target Rosneft chief and Putin confidant Igor Sechin. Under Tillersons leadership, Exxon paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to lobbying groups to argue against U.S. sanctions and he personally met with senior Obama White House officials a dozen times to discuss sanctions on Russia (though he assured Congressional leaders at his confirmation hearing in January he never lobbied against sanctions personally and to [his] knowledge, Exxon never directly lobbied against sanctions.) Exxon figures the sanctions, which have forestalled exploration in places like the Russian Arctic, cost it at least $1 billion. Story continues Exxon is apparently trying to get U.S. permission to drill in the Russian Black Sea; if it doesnt drill an exploratory well this year, it could lose the concession. But existing sanctions aside, Exxons efforts now to get access to deepwater, offshore oil fields is a little curious given the big global oil supply glut and still-cheap prices. Deepwater projects, like the one Exxon is trying to get going, generally need oil prices closer to $70 a barrel to be economic; crude oil has spent months in the $50 a barrel range. (Exxons other sanctions-stalled project with Rosneft, in the chilly Kara Sea, would be an even dicier proposition at these prices.) But under the terms of its agreement with Rosneft, Exxons Black Sea play could expire if it doesnt act soon, so it presumably wants to keep the proverbial pilot light on so theyre ready to pounce when prices rebound. Another reason could be sheer competitive pressure. The European Union is granting sanctions waivers to its own companies, including Italian oil company Eni, to explore cooperation with Russia in the Black and Barents Seas, even while the sanctions freeze out U.S. firms. Exxon is worried it could get boxed out of the Black Sea by the Italians, one person briefed on the Exxon waiver told the Journal. Photo credit: ALEXEY DRUZHININ/AFP/Getty Images LONDON (Reuters) - Former British finance minister George Osborne said on Wednesday he would stand down from parliament at June's national election, according to a letter to constituents quoted in the London Evening Standard newspaper. Last month Osborne, who had been tipped as a future prime minister until he lost his job as finance minister after helping lead the doomed campaign to stay in the European Union, was named editor of the Evening Standard. He has come under fire for taking on several jobs while remaining a member of parliament, including a part-time job at asset manager BlackRock. "I am stepping down from the House of Commons - for now. But I will remain active in the debate about our countrys future and on the issues I care about," Osborne said in the letter. "I will go on fighting for that Britain I love from the editors chair of a great newspaper. It's still too early to be writing my memoirs." (Reporting by Kylie MacLellan and William James, editing by Estelle Shirbon) Mike Pence Selfie Vice President Mike Pence stood on the deck of the USS Ronald Reagan in Yokosuka, Japan, on Wednesday and reassured thousands of US Navy sailors and regional allies that "the sword stands ready" to strike at North Korea's Kim regime. But President Donald Trump's administration has said this time and time again. The four most important words Pence has said on his Asia trip so far were in response to a key question: Will the US talk to North Korea? "Not at this time." Pence has repeated nearly verbatim statements from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on the US's strategic patience ending with North Korea, and other military threats by other administration officials. But his words aboard the Reagan about an "overwhelming and effective" response to any use of conventional or nuclear weapons by North Korea rang hollow. The US Navy has told Business Insider that the forward-based Reagan will be tied up for months with refittings and training exercises. In a perplexing mix-up, the USS Carl Vinson, which the US Navy said on April 8 would head to North Korea, was photographed 3,500 miles away in Indonesia on April 15. South Korea's conservative candidate for its May presidential election, Hong Joon-pyo, told The Wall Street Journal of the carrier mix-up: "What Mr. Trump said was very important for the national security of South Korea. If that was a lie, then during Trump's term, South Korea will not trust whatever Trump says." uss carl vinson sunda strait.JPG On both the North Korean and US sides of the conflict, all talk of military action can likely be dismissed as bluster. North Korea has promised "nuclear thunderbolts" and "all-out war," but any conflict between the US and Kim Jong Un's regime would likely be bloody and result in the near destruction of North Korea, unacceptable civilian losses in South Korea and possibly Japan, and the devastation of US military bases in the region by missile and artillery fire. Story continues None of the dozen or so North Korea experts contacted by Business Insider said large-scale military action against the regime was credible. China must know this. North Korea, on some level, must know this. North Korea has repeatedly offered to scale back its nuclear program if the US stops its annual military drills with South Korea. The US has dismissed this, saying that planned, regularly occurring military exercises that have gone on for 40 years without leading to war can't be equated to a state that often threatens to nuke its neighbors. North Korea artillery Trump has brought two ideas to the North Korean stalemate: threaten military force, and leverage the US's trade relationship with China to force its hand against the Kim regime. But military force wouldn't work, and there's not much China can do. In light of the failure of military and economic measures, diplomatic engagement looks like the only option left, but Pence has made the US's stance on this clear: "Not at this time." NOW WATCH: A Navy SEAL explains what to do if you're attacked by a shark More From Business Insider Fox News Channel host Bill OReilly on the set of his show, The OReilly Factor, in New York on March 17, 2015. (Photo: Reuters/Brendan McDermid) Fox Newss decision to drop Bill OReilly from the networks popular primetime slate was seen only as a first step by groups that have been pushing for his ouster. The company announced Wednesday afternoon that after a thorough and careful review of the allegations, the company and Bill OReilly have agreed that Bill OReilly will not be returning to the Fox News Channel. A New York Times report this month revealed that five women had been paid more than $13 million by either the network or OReilly to settle sexual harassment accusations against him. After dozens of advertisers pulled out of sponsoring his show, OReilly went on vacation, and was expected to return next week prior to Wednesdays statement. OReilly had been at Fox for two decades, and his show The OReilly Factor was the highest-rated show on cable news. OReillys attorney, Marc Kasowitz, called the allegations a brutal campaign of character assassination. Media Matters, the liberal group that reports on conservative media outlets, including Fox News, said in a Wednesday statement that the company had no choice but to expel OReilly: Fox News was forced to act. They had years to address serial sexual harassment at Fox News. They didnt; they actually enabled it. So, individuals and groups took action to educate advertisers. Advertisers fled because they immediately recognized what Fox News has ignored for over a decade: that serial sexual harassment is not only wrong, but bad for business. UltraViolet, which focuses on expanding womens rights and fighting sexism, was pleased with the move, but also focused on Fox News as a whole: Bill OReilly is a serial sexual predator, a bigot, and a misogynist, said the group in a statement released Monday. He will not be missed. But Fox News problem with sexual harassment and assault is way bigger than just Bill OReilly. For years, Fox News executives, like Bill Shine, have provided cover for systematic sexual harassment and abuse of Fox News employees. From Roger Ailes to Bill OReilly, Fox News has consistently failed to provide a workplace safe from sexual harassment and abuse and thats a big problem. Story continues The fact that Fox News is only taking action against OReilly after an investigation revealed that they could be defrauding shareholders by not revealing payments made to cover up the abuse, isnt lost on anyone, continued the statement. The first accusations of sexual assault lobbed against Bill OReilly at Fox News were made more than 13 years ago. Unless Fox News makes the results of the investigation public, and fires all those found guilty of, or complicit in, covering up sexual harassment, advertisers and the general public will continue to have cause for concern. With reports that dozens of additional women at the network have not yet come forward with allegations of sexual harassment, the next scandal for the network may just be months away. Corporate watchdog group SumOfUs, which was part of the campaign to get advertisers to pull their commercials from The Factor, also urged further action at the network. Bill OReilly should have been fired from Fox News years ago, said a spokesperson for the group in a statement to Yahoo News Wednesday afternoon. The fact that Fox News executives knowingly covered the tracks of a serial sexual predator for this long speaks volumes to the larger issues of sexual harassment and rape culture at the network. But because millions spoke up against sexual harassment, Fox News was forced to fire OReilly. Major advertisers listened to their consumers and employees, recognizing that OReilly is a serial sexual predator who should not be on TV, and that Fox News had no intention of holding OReilly accountable for his crimes. While OReilly may be gone now, it would be wise for advertisers to acknowledge that Fox News has a lot more to do if they want to root out systematic patterns of sexual harassment and assault. Until then, their brands are at risk. Fox News has been at the center of a number of sexual harassment claims over the past year. Last July, Fox News CEO Roger Ailes resigned amid accusations from former anchors Gretchen Carlson and Megyn Kelly that he had sexually harassed them. Read more from Yahoo News: For more than a decade, Fox News' Bill O'Reilly seemed untouchable. Even when a former producer accused him of sexual harassment back in 2004, O'Reilly's alleged sleaziness (remember lurid talk of loofah sponges, vibrators, and threesomes?) didn't doom the conservative talking head. Instead, he paid about $9 million to privately settle the case and went on his blustery way. SEE ALSO: People often defend an alleged rapist's character. Here's why you should doubt them Those days of dodging punishment are over for O'Reilly. On Wednesday, Fox News' parent company 21st Century Fox issued a statement that it decided to cut ties with its star, whose show has brought in billions of dollars in advertising revenue over his 21-year stint at the channel. The calculus for O'Reilly changed suddenly earlier this month when a New York Times expose revealed that O'Reilly and 21st Century Fox, paid a total of $13 million to resolve multiple sexual harassment claims. New allegations surfaced and more than 50 advertisers bailed on his primetime show. O'Reilly maintains his innocence; his lawyer issued a statement Tuesday saying his client had been subjected to a "brutal campaign of character assassination." He also promised "irrefutable" evidence that O'Reilly was being targeted by "far-left organizations bent on destroying [him] for political and financial reasons." The conspiracy in O'Reilly's mind is no doubt epic. Another way to look at it is that progressive groups hounded advertisers to stop advertising on his show and circulated petitions demanding his dismissal. They won by making O'Reilly's behavior too toxic to his company's bottom line. Story continues .@FoxNews we're on your doorstep! Bill O'Reilly is a sexual predator that needs to be fired immediately! #DropOReilly pic.twitter.com/kPhWOFPx4f UltraViolet (@UltraViolet) April 18, 2017 If Fox News the bastion of anti-political correctness that it is can't tolerate an alleged serial sexual harasser in its midst anymore, that's more than just a victory for O'Reilly's accusers. That's a triumph for reasonable people everywhere who refuse to accept that sexual harassment at work is normal or defendable. His departure from the powerhouse network should be a moment for every company and its leadership to think critically about their own sexual harassment policies. After all, if Fox News can no longer survive high-profile sexual harassment allegations unscathed, no other company can either. Karin Roland, chief campaigns officer at the advocacy organization UltraViolet, says O'Reilly's firing could send a clear message. That's what she and UltraViolet have lobbied for, in demanding his departure and pressuring advertisers. Yet she's not naive about 21st Century Fox's motivation for parting ways with him. "Lets be real: Fox is not rejecting sexual harassment," she says. "Theyre covering their butts. If they were rejecting sexual harassment, they would have fired Bill O'Reilly years ago. Theyre doing this because advertisers are fleeing. This is definitely a business decision." Indeed, the Murdoch family, which controls the company, hope to soon acquire the British TV provider Sky. UK media regulators, however, could quash the billion-dollar deal if it doesn't find 21st Century Fox to be a "fit and proper" owner. Turns out employing a man who paid millions to settle sexual harassment allegations is not a good look for a brand that needs regulator approval in 2017. O'Reilly may leave the network with a handsome payout. When Roger Ailes, the former Fox News CEO accused of sexual harassment last summer, was forced to leave, he received $40 million. Then 20th Century Fox turned around and paid his accuser, the former anchor Gretchen Carlson, $20 million to settle a lawsuit against Ailes. Every working woman owes a debt of gratitude to @GretchenCarlson for having the guts to speak out in a hostile environment. Marina Sirtis (@Marina_Sirtis) April 19, 2017 So, O'Reilly has lost his perch at Fox News but still stands to make millions upon exiting, a scenario that looks less like punishment and more like a temporary yet profitable setback. The details of what happens next matter a lot, says Maya Raghu, director of workplace equality for the National Women's Law Center. Other powerful people at Fox News or 21st Century Fox knew about O'Reilly's behavior because of the settlements. They may have even shielded him from harsher discipline or potentially buried other accusations to protect the company's star. If those individuals go unpunished, or even get off without intensive HR trainings, that will hint at just how much the company is willing to learn from its mistakes. When advertisers like @McDonalds continue to advertise on his show, they are saying this behavior is ok @ColorOfChange #droporeilly pic.twitter.com/VXnL4UNFAt Fast Food Forward (@FastFoodForward) April 18, 2017 That reckoning, however, should take place at companies nationwide if people want O'Reilly's downfall to amount to more than just a moment of righteous vindication or delicious schadenfreude. "Theres a danger in thinking that situation was specific to Fox in terms of the dynamics and how it was handled," says Raghu. "Or [when] Bill O'Reilly is on his way out, [thinking] that situation is resolved and we can move on. Instances or high-profile cases like these are always a good time for companies to evaluate their internal policies and procedures on this issue." That means holding harassers and their protectors accountable; ensuring trainings are comprehensive; guaranteeing that employees know how to identify harassment and intervene when they see it; tracking complaints and how they're resolved; and seeing that workplace rules and legal codes are enforced. Now that Fox News has fired its CEO over sexual harassment claims and has dismissed O'Reilly as well, there are literally no more excuses to avoid taking the issue seriously and creating a workplace culture where that behavior is seen not only as unacceptable, but as a liability. The grassroots activists who helped bring O'Reilly down aren't going anywhere. They're furious that the nation elected a man who admitted to grabbing women's genitals and who recently defended O'Reilly against these accusations. Roland sums up their purpose: "People want to see sexual predators like Bill O'Reilly stop getting a free pass and stop being protected at the expense of women who are brave enough to come forward." That's one hell of a rallying cry, and it'll surely get louder now that they've finally helped end O'Reilly's career at Fox News. UPDATE: April 19, 2017, 12:08 p.m. PDT This story was updated to reflect 21st Century Fox's decision to cut ties with O'Reilly. WATCH: Alec Baldwin plays both Donald Trump and Bill O'Reilly in searing 'SNL' skit Paris (AFP) - French investigators were trying Wednesday to piece together the backgrounds of two men arrested a few days before the presidential election as they were planning an "imminent" attack. Clement Baur, 23, and Mahiedine Merabet, 29, were detained Tuesday by elite police and domestic intelligence agents in the southern city of Marseille. Police had been searching for them since April 12 following the interception of a video in which the men pledged allegiance to the Islamic State jihadist group. It has emerged that they had used a number of aliases, switched mobile phones frequently and used pre-paid bank cards to evade police. "It took a while to find them," said a source close to the investigation. In the apartment they shared, police found a loaded Uzi sub-machine gun, two pistols, TATP explosives and a homemade grenade. An IS flag was also discovered. With France going to the polls on Sunday in the first round of the presidential election, the discovery raised fears that the men were intending to attack a campaign event. France's anti-terrorism prosecutor Francois Molins said in a press conference Tuesday that Baur had "constantly changed address" and at one point took on the identity of a Chechen jihadist from the Belgian town of Verviers, a jihadist hotbed. The two men were "equally defiant and determined," Molins said. Baur was convicted in January 2015 of using false identity documents, appearing in court under yet another identity, Ismail Djabrailov, according to the prison guards' union at Sequedin jail near Lille where he served his sentence. - Radicalised in prison - While behind bars in the northern city, he met Merabet, a repeat offender with a string of convictions between 2004 and 2013 for offences including aggravated theft and drug dealing, while they shared a cell for 40 days. Merabet was radicalised by the younger man who "had a big influence on him", a source in the probe said. Story continues In March 2015, Baur's family informed police that he had gone missing and had wanted to go to Syria. They also told authorities that he practised a radical form of Islam having come into contact with the Chechen community in the southern city of Nice. That same year he appeared in a Belgian investigation on "jihadist groups", but the Belgian federal prosecutor's office said there was no longer any trace of him in the country by the end of 2015. While Baur disappeared, Mahiedine Merabet come to the notice of authorities. In December last year, investigators visited his home in the northern town of Roubaix. Merabet was not at home, but in his place was a man with false identity papers who turned out to be Clement Baur. On April 4 this year, an envelope was delivered to police headquarters in Roubaix. It contained a handwritten message from Merabet saying: "I give you my identity card and my bank card... I'll hand myself in soon and we'll talk then... Leave me alone, bye." That strange message indirectly led to his arrest 13 days later. More than 230 people have been killed in a string of jihadist attacks in France since January 2015. Marseille (AFP) - French far-right candidate Marine Le Pen on Wednesday accused her rivals of turning a blind eye to Islamic terrorism at her last major rally before the first round of a nailbiting race for president. Addressing nearly 5,000 flag-waving supporters in the southern city of Marseille, where two Frenchmen were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of planning an attack on the election, the National Front (FN) leader said: "I have been denouncing this terrible poison of Islamic terrorism since I launched my campaign ... and none of my rivals are willing to debate the subject. "They wanted to stay quiet about this problem, to suppress it, to keep it at a distance like one sweeps dust under the carpet," she said. "The silence of the other candidates comes from shame, the shame of being a member or even having led a government which did nothing to lower the threat and even created the conditions for this scourge to develop," she told the rally, which was held under tight security. Police fired teargas and arrested four people after around 500 people demonstrated against Le Pen and tried to march towards the rally. Some of them threw projectiles and firecrackers. "Terrorist acts have multiplied throughout Europe during the campaign," she said. "Here in Marseille two fanatics were arrested before they committed odious crimes." Le Pen, 48, has spent years trying to grow support for the FN by campaigning on bread-and-butter issues, but in the final days of the race she has returned to its stock themes of immigration and national identity. In a BFM television interview Wednesday she repeated that she would slash immigration, make it harder to get French nationality and crack down on suspected Islamists. Polls show Le Pen, 39-year-old centrist Emmanuel Macron, conservative former prime minister Francois Fillon and hard left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon locked in a tight four-way race ahead of Sunday's first round of voting. Story continues A new survey published Wednesday showed Macron leading on 23 percent to Le Pen's 22.5 percent -- both of them down slightly. Fillon had improved to 19.5 percent while Melenchon had reached 19 percent, narrowing the gap with the frontrunners. The top two will advance to a run-off vote on May 7. Jean-Yves Camus, an academic and expert on the FN, told AFP that Le Pen had returned to the "fundamentals, and particularly immigration" in the final run-in. "It's back to basics," he said. "The FN top brass has decided to go full throttle for far-right voters." Struggling Socialist candidate Benoit Hamon, whom polls place fifth, attempted to turn around his campaign at a rally in Paris. Hamon urged voters to "wake up, because you alone can avoid a nightmare for France." - Security back in focus - After a string of Islamist-inspired assaults in France, security to the centre of the campaign following the arrests of two men seen in a video pledging allegiance to the Islamic State jihadist group. A cache of weapons and explosives was found in the apartment of the suspects named as Clement Baur, 23, and Mahiedine Merabet, 29. Macron on Wednesday told a rally that he was the only candidate capable "of ensuring the security" of his countrymen and pledged to "track down all those who have attacked our country or are planning to do so and prevent them from doing harm." Le Pen has claimed that her proposals such as expelling any foreigner convicted of a crime or suspected of being radicalised would have helped prevent some of the attacks since 2015 which have claimed more than 200 lives. Left-leaning Le Monde newspaper has dismissed the claim as "absurd" given that most of the attackers were French, many without criminal records. "You don't seek votes on the backs of dead people. It's a sort of moral red line," the newspaper said. French voters have so far been more concerned about unemployment and their spending power than terrorism or security, polls show, though analysts warn this would change quickly in the event of bloodshed. - Future of EU at stake - Some analysts have also depicted the French election as a sort of referendum on the European Union, with Le Pen proposing to a referendum on France's membership of the 28-country club and scrap the euro common currency. On Tuesday night, she insisted that the TF1 television channel remove the blue-and-yellow European flag from behind her before an interview. But Melenchon, her eurosceptic hard left opponent, sought to soften his position on Tuesday night, stating that he did not seek to end the European Union or the euro despite criticising the "ultra-liberal" trading bloc for years. "Don't believe what they tell you, 'He wants to leave Europe, the euro'... let's be serious," he told supporters. The Communist-backed candidate has pledged to renegotiate some of the founding treaties of the bloc, however, which would cast serious doubt on the viability of the postwar project of integrating the continent. Polls show that a majority of French people still support the EU and the euro. The election has been one of the most unpredictable in decades and takes place against the backdrop of Britain's shock decision to leave the EU and Donald Trump's presidential victory in the United States. Aden (AFP) - A Saudi military helicopter that crashed in Yemen killing 12 Saudi soldiers was likely hit by "friendly fire", military sources said Wednesday. The soldiers, including four officers, died Tuesday when the helicopter went down in Yemen's Marib province, the Saudi-led Arab coalition fighting Iran-backed Huthi rebels said in a statement. "As the Saudi helicopter was not identified by the ground operations centre, the air defence system was triggered automatically," a senior Yemeni military official said. A source familiar with the details of the incident said the helicopter appeared to have been hit by friendly fire "from automated systems". Such incidents can happen if pilots fail to communicate with systems on the ground, the source, who asked to remain anonymous, told AFP. The Yemeni defence ministry's 26sepnews.net news website also reported on Tuesday that the helicopter had been hit by mistake. It cited a senior Yemeni officer who said the aircraft was shot down five kilometres (around three miles) from its landing site after "a technical error that caused the air defence system to make an incorrect reading." The website said the helicopter came down "a very long way" from rebel positions, beyond the range of their weaponry. Coalition spokesman General Ahmed Assiri, contacted by AFP, did not confirm or deny the friendly fire reports, saying an investigation was under way and it was "too early to adopt any hypothesis". The coalition began air strikes in Yemen in March 2015 in support of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's internationally recognised government in its fight against Iran-backed Huthi rebels. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which play key roles in the coalition, have suffered its heaviest losses, with dozens of soldiers killed. In September 2015, a rebel missile strike on a coalition base in Marib killed 67 coalition soldiers, most of them Emiratis. The United Nations says that more than 7,700 people have been killed since March 2015 in poverty-stricken Yemen, which also faces a serious risk of famine. Seven ceasefires brokered between government and rebel forces by the United Nations have failed, while UN-backed peace talks have repeatedly broken down. By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Western countries and drug companies pledged fresh support on Wednesday to wipe out diseases that blind, disable and disfigure millions of poor in tropical areas each year and urged new donors to join the fight. Some 1.5 billion people, mainly in Asia, Africa and Latin America, are infected with one of 18 neglected tropical diseases known as NTDs, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said. One billion of them are receiving treatment, half of them children. "The best thing with these diseases is not to debate whether they are neglected or not, but to proceed to make them history," Bill Gates told a global partners' meeting held at WHO. "We need a broader, deeper bench of investors... so that by 2030 we can achieve the goal of reaching 90 percent of the people who need treatment. I know this is achievable." Gates, who has supported the initiative for over a decade with $1 billion, pledged $335 million over the next 4 years, including $42 million to continue efforts to wipe out Guinea-worm disease. The crippling disease, transmitted by contaminated water, can lead to a 100 cm long (40-inch) worm growing in the body. "Guinea worm is one of our great success stories, even though we're not absolutely at zero, we are down to very small numbers. Thirty years ago over 3 million people in over 20 countries were afflicted," Gates said. Only 25 cases of Guinea-worm disease were reported in six countries last year, "putting eradication within reach", the WHO says. The Carter Center, set up by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, has worked for more than 20 years to wipe it out. "We are close to finishing off this debilitating disease," Carter said, speaking by video from Atlanta, Georgia. "We cannot be complacent, we must be creative and persistent. The Carter Center will not give up until the last Guinea worm is gone." Dengue, onchocerciasis (river blindness), and sleeping sickness are among those carried by mosquitoes or flies that are spreading from rural areas to urban slums, the WHO warned. "NTDs are really the diseases of neglected people, they are diseases of poverty and inequality that affect the most vulnerable among us," World Bank President Jim Kim said by video. "Now we have the largest drug donation program in history with 1.5 billion treatments in 2015 alone," he said. GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis and Sanofi are among major donors, WHO says. Merck said on Tuesday it was developing a children's formula of its drug to treat schistosomiasis, a parasitic worm disease which kills 280,000 a year in Africa. Britain's Minister of State for International Development, Lord Bates, said the UK government was committing an additional 250 million pounds ($321.35 million) to NTD programs. Belgium's deputy prime minister Alexander de Croo pledged 25 million euros ($26.81 million) through 2025 to eradicate African sleeping sickness. "Today the stars are aligned to eradicate it completely," de Croo told the talks. "The pay-off is huge". ($1 = 0.7780 pounds) ($1 = 0.9326 euros) (Editing by Gareth Jones and Pritha Sarkar) Washington (AFP) - Republicans faced a sobering reminder of Donald Trump's unpopularity Wednesday after a young Democrat forced a run-off election in a conservative congressional district, highlighting the vulnerability of the president's party as opponents draw inspiration for fierce battles ahead. Harnessing clear frustration and dissatisfaction with the new president, 30-year-old Jon Ossoff came in first by a wide margin in a crowded field of candidates in Georgia's 6th district, securing 48.1 percent of the vote. But he fell just short of an outright majority in Tuesday's special election to fill the seat of now-Health Secretary Tom Price, setting the stage for a June 20 face-off against the second-place finisher, Republican Karen Handel. The race is seen as an early test of strength for the president, and Ossoff insisted his performance in a district held by Republicans since 1979 showed Trump's party is beatable on their own turf in the current political landscape. That is crucial if Democrats are to have a shot at reaching their stated objective: reclaiming control of the House of Representatives in next year's mid-term elections. "We defied the odds and shattered expectations -- and we are ready to fight on and win in June. Onward to victory," Ossoff, a documentary filmmaker and former congressional aide who campaigned on the idea he would be a check against Trump, said Wednesday on Twitter. Handel, Georgia's former secretary of state, won 19.8 percent of the vote. But there were numerous Republicans in the race, and in aggregate they secured 51 percent, compared to 49 percent for Democrats, a sign Ossoff has a challenge before him to flip the district. Ossoff was quick to declare "a victory for the ages" for Democrats. But Trump, his political brand at stake, painted an opposing picture. "Dems failed in Kansas and are now failing in Georgia," Trump tweeted, referring to last week's congressional race in a Wichita suburb where the Democrat fell short of an upset. "It is now Hollywood vs. Georgia on June 20th." Story continues Trump and top Republicans pointed to high-profile liberals and out-of-state Democratic groups funneling millions of dollars into a race showcasing their effort to nick the president and his party, only to come up short. "They ran to win last night and they lost," White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters. "They came up short." Spicer left open the possibility that Trump campaigns in Georgia ahead of the run-off. - 'Progressive energy' - Democrats still hope Ossoff can capitalize on Trump's lackluster popularity -- his poll numbers lag at around 40 percent, a record low for a new president. As they see it, a win in Georgia could jumpstart efforts to retake the House in 2018. "I'd rather be Jon Ossoff than Karen Handel right now," Tom Perez, the Democratic National Committee chairman, told CNN. "The progressive energy out there is palpable." Liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org in a statement called Ossoff's first-place finish in the relatively wealthy, conservative Atlanta suburbs "a huge triumph for the Resistance and for progressives." "The reason is clear: voters are rejecting Trump and his policies." Part of what is fueling Democratic excitement about the race is that while Trump won Georgia by six percentage points, the district that Ossoff seeks to win supported Trump by barely one point over Democrat Hillary Clinton. "This is a Republican district but it is not a strongly Trump district," House Republican Tom Cole said of the sixth district, home to many well-educated voters who are reliably Republican but frustrated by the new president. "It does tell you this is the kind of seat that Democrats would and should focus on," he told CNN. While Democrats can savor the moral victory of nearly snatching a seat outright in a Republican stronghold, they will need to translate anti-Trump fury and substantial fundraising into concrete ballot-box results if they are to mount a viable comeback. Last week in Kansas, a Democrat came within seven points of winning the race for CIA Director Mike Pompeo's old seat, in a district that Trump won by 27 points in November. Another congressional battle will play out late next month in conservative-leaning Montana, where voters will pick a replacement for Republican Ryan Zinke, who has become Trump's US interior secretary. Google has revamped Google Earth by adding a new UI, as well as tons of new features. One of the main new features on Google Earth is called Voyager, which is capable of providing users with an interactive guided tour. Voyager on Google Earth is able to provide fun facts, stories and other information on various locations around the globe. Google partnered with the likes of BBC Earth and the Gombe National Park to deliver 50 stories for Voyager. Google says that it will add more stories to Voyager every week. Google has already set up a Voyager story called This is Home that takes users on a journey to see traditional homes from cultures around the world. Google will be adding more homes to this Voyager story in the coming months. With the new Earth, we want to open up different lenses for you to see the world and learn a bit about how it all fits together; to open your mind with new stories while giving you a new perspective on the locations and experiences you cherish, Google Earth product manager Gopal Shah said in his blog post. Googles Im feeling lucky option has also made its way to the new Google Earth. When clicked, it will take users to a random and interesting place which they can explore. When a user lands on a place, they will also be able to open up whats called a Knowledge Card to learn about the places history, facts and see more photos. Theres also a card for related places so users can instantly jump to a next location. Google says that it has curated 20,000 different places for this feature to work. The redesigned Google Earth includes a new 3D button, which allows users to view sites from any angle. Users can also share the 3D locations as a postcard for their friends and family, according to VentureBeat. The new Google Earth is now available on the web via the Chrome browser, and it will roll out to Android devices this week. The new Google Earth will be available to iOS devices and other browsers in the coming months. Story continues Google Earth Photo: Google Related Articles From left: Karen Handel, President Donald Trump and Jon Ossoff. (Photos: Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call, Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images, Joe Raedle/Getty Images) As the special election for a Georgia congressional seat that attracted so much national attention this week heads into a runoff, President Trump further inserted himself into the race, a move welcomed by the Republican candidate. Trump called former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel on Wednesday morning, congratulating her on making it to the runoff with Democrat Jon Ossoff. The field was crowded with nearly a dozen Republican candidates, but Handel was the highest finisher among that group with 20 percent of the vote. Ossoff finished just shy of the 50 percent mark that would have allowed him to avoid the runoff and given Democrats the Sixth District seat for the first time in decades. Dems failed in Kansas and are now failing in Georgia, tweeted Trump on Wednesday morning, referencing last weeks special election in Kansas, which resulted in a narrow Republican win. Great job Karen Handel! It is now Hollywood vs. Georgia on June 20th. Trump first entered the fray late Tuesday, urging voters to head to the polls a few hours before they closed. In a series of media appearances Wednesday morning, Handel said that she welcomed the White Houses support as the race heads toward a June 20 runoff. The president was beyond gracious and encouraging, said Handel when asked on Fox News what Trump had said on their call, and I appreciated it so much. And he specifically talked about strength under pressure, and I was grateful for that as well. I would hope so, replied Handel when asked by CNN whether Trump would campaign with her. All Republicans, its all hands on deck for us; we know whats at stake here. I dont think this is about any one person; we all have to rise above it, that it is about the district that has a long legacy of Republican leadership from my good friend current [Health and Human Services] Secretary Tom Price to Senator [Johnny] Isakson and former Speaker Newt Gingrich. We are all, including the very good 10 other Republican candidates, we are all going to be united because we know what the job is over the next 60 days. Story continues Tuesdays results have been seen as at least a slight rebuke of the White House. Trump Loyalists flail in Georgia special election, read an Atlanta Journal-Constitution headline. Political reporter Greg Bluestein wrote in the piece that the pro-Trump route was always a risk in Georgias 6th District, an establishment-friendly stretch that he carried by less than 2 points in November. Conservative radio host and Georgia resident Erick Erickson concurred, writing Tuesday night, The more closely aligned a candidate was with President Trump, the worse that candidate did. Handel was confident that the Sixths voters would rally to her by the runoff. What I hear out across the district is this, said Handel in her Wednesday interview with CNN. The people of this district want a congressman that they know, that they trust, someone who has a real track record. Theyre not interested in someone who doesnt even live in the district, someone who has a really thin resume and very lacking in experience. Ossoff grew up in the district but currently lives with his girlfriend, who is enrolled in medical school at Emory University, just outside the district. He was unable to vote for himself in Tuesdays election but has said he plans to move back into the Sixth as soon as his girlfriend finishes her studies. Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez projected confidence in Ossoffs ability to pull out the runoff in June. Organize, said Perez when asked on MSNBC Wednesday what Democrats would be doing between now and June 20 to win the seat. And thats exactly what were doing. Were going to be out on the street. Theres still opportunity out there. Theres still voters who didnt vote before that are eligible to vote now. Weve identified them, and we will be out there knocking on their doors, and theyll see your vote can make the difference because were already at 49 percent when you look at both John Ossoff and the three Democrats who got roughly 1 percent of the vote between them, and so Im actually very optimistic. You see this energy everywhere across America. Ive been traveling across the country this week, and the energy is palpable. Were going to translate that energy into more votes. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the race as a tossup. Read more from Yahoo News: (CAIRO) - Gunmen attacked security forces near St. Catherines Monastery in Egypts south Sinai on Tuesday, killing at least one police officer and injuring four others, the Health Ministry said, just a week after two deadly church bombings killed 45. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack on a police checkpoint about 800 meters (yards) from the entrance to the monastery, one of the worlds most important Christian sites. The attack comes just 10 days before Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Egypt and just over a week after two deadly suicide bombings on Christian churches, also claimed by Islamic State, plunged the country into mourning and marked one of the bloodiest days for the countrys Christian minority in decades. St. Catherines, founded in the 6th century and located at the foot of Mount Sinai, is one of the oldest Christian monasteries in the world and a UNESCO world heritage site. It is part of the Eastern Orthodox church. Egypts Christian minority, which makes up about 10% of the countrys 92 million people, has increasingly been targeted by Islamist militants, with three deadly church attacks in the span of four months. In February, scores of Christian families and students fled North Sinai province after a spate of targeted killings. A successful assault on St. Catherines would be the latest challenge to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has pledged to protect the religious minority as part of his campaign againstextremism. Egypt has for years been battling an Islamist insurgency in the rugged and thinly populated northern Sinai, which gained pace after the military overthrew President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013 following mass protests against his rule. Attacks in Egypts southern Sinai, a popular destination for tourists dotted with Red Sea resorts, are by contrast rare. Security sources told Reuters that security had been put on high alert at tourist facilities across southern Sinai after the attack. Story continues The attack in southern Sinai comes as Russia is expected to make a long-awaited decision on whether to restore flights to the Sharm el-Sheikh resort after a Russian airliner was downed in 2015, dealing a serious blow to the areas tourism industry, which relies heavily on Russian visitors. Egypts tourism industry, a crucial source of hard currency, has suffered in the years of turmoil that followed the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, as well as from the suspected bombing of the Russian plane, which killed all 224 on board. Israel took the unusual step earlier this month of barring its citizens from crossing into the Sinai peninsula, saying the threat of attacks in the area inspired by Islamic State and other jihadi groups was high. This article was originally published on TIME.com Heineken says its first-quarter performance was in line with expectations (AFP Photo/) The Hague (AFP) - Dutch brewing giant Heineken reported flat beer sales for the first quarter of 2017, but was cheered by a 10.6-percent rise in profits despite a late Easter this year. Global beer sales only grew 0.6 percent compared to the same period in 2016, the Amsterdam-based company said in a statement. Profits were up to 293 million euros ($314 million), compared with 265 million in the first quarter last year. "Performance in the first quarter was in line with expectations, delivering volume growth against strong comparatives last year," chairman Jean-Francois van Boxmeer said in a statement. While beer sales remained strong in Asia, up some 5.4 percent, "in Africa, Middle East and eastern Europe market conditions remain challenging, adversely impacting volume," the company said. Heineken is the world's second-largest brewer after global number one AB InBev clinched a mega deal for its nearest rival SABMiller in November 2015. It was the third biggest takeover in global corporate history. In February, Japanese brewer Kirin said it was selling its Brazilian unit to the Dutch beer giant for $706 million, citing a "stagnant and competitive" market. The acquisition is due to be completed by the end of the first half of 2017, Heineken said. Founded in the 19th century, Heineken produces and sells more than 250 brands including Desperados tequila-flavoured beer, Sol and Strongbow cider. It employs about 73,500 people around the world. The co-author of a new book detailing Hillary Clintons loss in the 2016 presidential election says the Democratic candidate and her top aides could see the wave of populism building in places like Britain, but refused to prepare for its arrival in the United States. It was like standing on a beach and seeing a slow-moving tsunami from the middle of the ocean moving towards you, and you never move, Jonathan Allen told Yahoo News in a wide-ranging interview Wednesday, a day after the release of Shattered: Inside Hillary Clintons Doomed Campaign, which Allen wrote with The Hills Amie Parnes. They did see what was going on in Great Britain Bill Clinton talked about Brexit all the time. Hillary Clinton was concerned about it, Allen said. But she really never had the feel for what was going on in this country and how to adjust for it in the right way. Clinton could never figure out how to tap into the populism that propelled not only Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders to surprising wins in the Democratic primary elections but Donald Trump to the presidency, Allen said. She is somebody who has always believed in working through the system and trying to make change through the system, Allen said. This is somebody who fundamentally believes in the establishment. Its how shes lived her life. And the idea that the American public would turn around and sort of burn down what it had built, this thing that she believes in. It was too hard for her to grasp. According to the book, after Sanders crushed Clinton in the New Hampshire primary, Clinton turned to Minyon Moore, one of her longtime aides, and said: I dont understand whats happening in the country. Clinton supporters leave her election night rally in New York City. (Carlos Barria/Reuters) On election night, as Trump was racking up wins in states like Wisconsin, Bill Clinton said, Its like Brexit. I guess its real. Clintons alleged inability to adapt to the changing political landscape was highlighted during the Democratic primary by her refusal to distance herself from Wall Street something the Sanders campaign seized upon and her focus on attracting African-American voters she failed to win over in 2008. Story continues The result was alienating some white working-class voters, Allen said. Sometimes when she was talking about issues of concern for those voters, other voters decided she wasnt talking about the things they cared about, he said. We saw the same thing play out in the general election. But some strategic failures were obvious from the outset of Clintons campaign, Allen said. In particular: Clintons use of a private email server as secretary of state and her initial refusal to apologize for it. This really went to this trust issue, and it was something that was hard to begin with and it just built over time, Allen said. Related: Hillary Clinton reportedly said that was my last race after losing election The book details a summer 2015 conference call between Bill and Hillary Clinton and her top aides. The former first family was reportedly furious that her campaign had not come up with a way to break through the email scandal. The aides were all thinking, Youve got to apologize. Weve been telling you youve got to apologize,' Allen said. It was an example of how the Clintons didnt get or didnt want to get that she needed to apologize. And eventually she did, but it took a really strong persuasion effort all the way up and down the ranks of her close friends and allies to get her to do it. Other things were out of the Democratic nominees control. What one of Hillary Clintons top aides said after the Access Hollywood tape came out was, this just reconfirmed what people thought about Donald Trump, Allen recalled. And it wasnt something that actually changed votes. Read more from Yahoo News: Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appears on stage at the Women in the World Summit in the Manhattan borough of New York, U.S., April 6, 2017. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton A new book on Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign for president details how the candidate seemed to blame everyone but herself for her stunning loss to President Donald Trump. Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes wrote in "Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign" that Clinton's campaign lacked vision and was filled with infighting staffers who were more concerned about their own careers than they were about helping the candidate win. The Democratic presidential nominee reportedly laid blame on several external factors incompetent campaign staff, Russian interference in the election, the news media, and FBI Director Jim Comey rather than consider that she was a flawed candidate. Her campaign has publicly blamed Comey for the loss. It all started with the scandal surrounding her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android. During the first months of the scandal, Clinton reportedly thought she did nothing wrong and was angry that she was being treated "like a common criminal." She blamed Republicans in Congress, conservative donors, and the media for all the negative coverage of the email story. Allen and Parnes wrote that while Clinton "should have been angry with herself" for her decision to use a private server while working for the government, she instead "turned her fury on her consultants and campaign aides, blaming them for a failure to focus the media on her platform." Neither Hillary nor her husband, former President Bill Clinton, the book said, "could accept the simple fact that Hillary had hamstrung her own campaign and dealt the most serious blow to her own presidential aspirations." That became apparent during a mid-August 2015 conference call, in which the Clintons accosted high-level campaign staffers for failing to get the media to focus on Clinton's message rather than on the email scandal. One of the participants on the call reportedly called it an "ass-chewing." Story continues It took months for those close to Clinton to persuade her to apologize for using a private server in September. The media firestorm calmed a bit once she did, and she got a boost when Vice President Joe Biden declined to challenge her in the primaries. But she faced more defining setbacks in the primary process. Clinton and Sanders 'We haven't made our case' A turning point came in March, when Clinton lost the Michigan primary to Sen. Bernie Sanders, her chief rival for the Democratic presidential nomination. The result stunned observers and defied polling leading up to the day of the vote. Clinton again blamed her campaign team for "failing to hone her message, energize important constituencies, and take care of business in getting voters to the polls," Allen and Parnes wrote. During a debate-prep session, Clinton reportedly snapped at senior policy adviser Jake Sullivan, who was criticizing her performance. "It wasn't just Sullivan in her crosshairs," Allen and Parnes wrote. "She let everyone on her team have it that day. 'We haven't made our case,' she fumed. 'We haven't framed the choice. We haven't done the politics.'" One aide who was in the room for the debate prep said Clinton was "visibly, unflinchingly pissed off at us as a group" and she "let us know she felt that way." Clinton's team had reportedly warned her about some of her weak spots, but she reportedly "hadn't corrected for these problems." And aides seemed afraid to speak out for fear of seeming disloyal. "The one person with whom she didn't seem particularly upset: herself," Allen and Parnes wrote. "No one who drew a salary from the campaign would tell her that. It was a self-signed death warrant to raise a question about Hillary's competence to her or anyone else in loyalty-obsessed Clintonworld." A top campaign lieutenant described Clinton's loss in the Michigan primary as the "tipping point" for the campaign. Things got worse from there. The summer and early fall were dominated by the leaking of emails from the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. Later in, FBI Director Jim Comey announced a renewed look into whether Clinton discussed classified information over her private email server. After she lost the election to Trump, Clinton "kept circling back to two factors: James Comey and Russia," according to the book. The email leaks have been blamed on Russia, and during the final days before the election, Comey notified Congress that the bureau was renewing its investigation into Clinton's private email server. The bureau had found emails it thought might be related to the investigation after it seized devices belonging to Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her husband, former congressman Anthony Weiner. On election night in her hotel suite, Clinton "lashed out," Allen and Parnes wrote. "Her voice rose. Her eyes grew wider. Her hands began moving again. 'These guys came in,' she huffed. 'We were doing better until this happened.'" FBI Director James Comey waits before testifying at a House Intelligence Committee hearing into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 20, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts 'A perfect storm' The blame game continued in the days after the election. In one phone call with a friend a couple of days after the election, Clinton "put a fine point on the factors she believed cost her the presidency: the FBI (Comey), the KGB (the old name for Russia's intelligence service), and the KKK (the support Trump got from white nationalists)," Allen and Parnes wrote. In other phone calls, Clinton reportedly "declined to take responsibility for her own loss." "From Hillary's perspective, external forces created a perfect storm that wiped her out," Allen and Parnes wrote. "In this telling, laid out in scores of interviews with Clinton campaign aides and advisers ... the media bought into an absurd and partisan Republican-led investigation into her email server that combined with Bernie Sanders' attack on her character and a conservative assault on the Clinton Foundation's practices to sow a public perception that she was fundamentally dishonest." Some of her staunchest defenders "maintain that she nailed every major moment of the campaign," Allen and Parnes wrote. They added, however, that another view, "articulated by a much smaller number of her close friends and high-level advisers, holds that Hillary bears the blame for her defeat" because of her own actions and her inability to "prove to many voters that she was running for the presidency because she had a vision for the country rather than visions of power." In their eyes, the book said, Clinton also failed to connect with the voters who were inspired by Sanders and Trump. And some on her campaign thought she lacked the vision of other politicians like President Barack Obama. This was on display during her speech at the Democratic National Convention. "One of the clearest lines of distinction between a great political speech and a pedestrian one is the ability of the speaker to turn the peroration the final run into a big call for action," Allen and Parnes wrote. "Hillary's fell flat. Her pro speechwriters knew it would. They tried to save her from being hokey and timid. But she'd ignored them." Clinton ended her speech that night by saying "America's destiny is ours to choose" and repeating her "Stronger Together" campaign slogan. Clinton did, however, offer contrition to at least one person on election night Obama. After she conceded the election to Trump, Obama place a consolation call to Clinton. In this moment, "the reality and dimensions of her defeat hit her all at once," according to the book. "Reluctantly, she rose from her seat and took the phone," Allen and Parnes wrote. "'Mr. President,' she said softly, 'I'm sorry.'" NOW WATCH: Russia jailed the man who may become Putins biggest challenger in the next election More From Business Insider A standalone Ikea restaurant could be coming to a neighborhood near you. The Swedish retailer has openly revealed larger ambitions to become as popular a dining destination as it is the most recognizable furniture brand in the world in the near future. In an interview with Fast Company, Ikea Food's managing director Michael La Cour said they're looking at opening standalone Ikea-branded restaurants that would operate separately from their big-box furniture stores. "The mere fact that we don't need so many square feet to do a cafe or a restaurant makes it interesting by itself," said La Cour in the interview. "I firmly believe there is potential. I hope in a few years our customers will be saying, Ikea is a great place to eat -- and, by the way, they also sell some furniture.'" The concept wouldn't be far-fetched, given that 30 percent of customers are traveling to Ikea stores -- which are more often than not located in on the outskirts of major towns away from the city center -- just to eat. As any cash-strapped student and Ikea regular knows, $20 goes a long way at the cafeteria, where a hot plate of Swedish meatballs goes for $5, and a plate of kids' pasta or chicken tenders goes for less than $3. In fact, in a market research report by Euromonitor, Ikea ranked 9th on a list of the top 10 international food service brands outside the US and Canada in 2015. The development of separate Ikea restaurants makes sense, given the company's focus on renovating and modernizing Ikea cafeterias in the US that began last year. Restaurants are being made over to offer different zones for different needs, including quick bites, families, and lounging. By Tuvan Gumrukcu and Gulsen Solaker ANKARA (Reuters) - It will be impossible to tell how many unstamped ballots were accepted in Turkey's referendum to expand President Tayyip Erdogan's powers, or their impact on the tight result, because no records were kept, the head of the bar association said. Sunday's referendum narrowly approved granting Erdogan sweeping authority over a NATO-member state which faces conflict on its southern borders and hosts 3 million refugees, making its stability vital to EU neighbors despite worsening relations. Turkey's main opposition parties have called for the result to be annulled, arguing that the decision to accept unstamped voting papers was illegal and did away with a central safeguard against voting fraud. Erdogan has dismissed complaints including a critical report from European observers. But Metin Feyzioglu, head of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations, said the decision had untold consequences that undermined the referendum. "What makes any country a democracy is the security of the ballot boxes," Feyzioglu told Reuters in an interview. "Everything might be impeccable, but if your ballots are unsafe that means that regime is not a democracy." Argument centers around a decision by the electoral board, two hours before polling booths closed, to accept votes on ballot papers that did not bear an official electoral stamp. While foreign observers have said they did not witness specific cases of fraud, Feyzioglu said that decision meant the vote on the biggest overhaul of Turkish politics since the 1923 creation of the modern republic could have been manipulated. "I cannot know whether there was cheating. And if so, who did this, was it organized, did everyone do it? I cannot know. You cannot know this either. Nobody can," said Feyzioglu, who is seen as a potential future leader of the main opposition CHP, which is appealing the outcome of the referendum. "The only proof that (a ballot paper) has not been brought from outside is the timely stamping of the ballot sheet at the polling station," he said. "There is no other proof... If you use your imagination, you can write as many scenarios of irregularities as you want." "NO WAY TO KNOW" Once the ballot boxes were opened, officials at many voting stations stamped the unstamped papers in order to authenticate them, without recording details, he said. "I believe this was with good intention... But it is in fact a crime, you cannot do that. You are validating a ballot sheet that should have been discarded," said Feyzioglu. Standard procedure was for ballot papers to be stamped by officials at polling stations on Sunday morning before polls opened, to prevent anyone slipping in bogus papers that Feyzioglu said could be printed off at home. He said the bar association had taken thousands of calls about unstamped ballot papers on the day of the vote, but it is now too late to calculate how many were affected. "We cannot know the number... There was one way of knowing the number and that was keeping record of those that came out unstamped," he said. Up to 2.5 million votes could have been manipulated - a number almost double the margin of Erdogan's victory, a member of the Council of Europe observer mission said on Tuesday. Feyzioglu said the decision by the YSK election board came even though, in a ruling earlier in the day about which side of ballot slips should be stamped, it said "the aim of stamping envelopes is to prevent the use of fabricated envelopes". Few people in Turkey expect a successful challenge to the referendum, which the YSK said was won by the "Yes" camp with 51.4 percent of the vote, according to preliminary figures. However, Feyzioglu said that if the YSK rejected opposition appeals, the referendum could still be challenged in Turkey's Constitutional Court or at the European Court of Human Rights. If the ECHR ruled that there had been infringements in the vote, the referendum would have to be held all over again, he said. "If you're carrying out such a big change to the system, one that impacts the regime, it must be without a doubt." (Additional reporting by Ece Toksabay; Editing by Dominic Evans/Mark Heinrich) The Hague (AFP) - The head of a global arms watchdog said Wednesday that "incontrovertible" test results from an alleged chemical strike in Syria showed sarin gas or a similar substance had been used. Samples from 10 victims of the April 4 attack on Khan Sheikhun analysed at four laboratories "indicate exposure to sarin or a sarin-like substance," said Ahmet Uzumcu, head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The suspected attack on the rebel-held town in Idlib province killed at least 87 people, including many children, and images of the dead and of suffering victims provoked global outrage. Samples had been taken from three people who died in the attack, and were analysed at two OPCW-designated laboratories, Uzumcu told delegates to the OPCW's executive council on Wednesday, according to a statement from the watchdog. Another set of bio-medical samples from seven people being treated in hospitals were also analysed in two other labs. "While further details of the laboratory analyses will follow, the analytical results already obtained are incontrovertible," Uzumcu told the meeting of the body's executive council which resumed Wednesday at its headquarters in The Hague. A fact-finding mission set up by the OPCW is ready to deploy to the town "should the security situation permit," he said, adding the team was continuing to conduct interviews, and collect samples. The executive council is to meet again on Thursday to vote on a draft decision which is being discussed. An Indian court on Wednesday acquitted a French consular official of raping his three-year-old daughter, the embassy in New Delhi told AFP. Pascal Mazurier was arrested in June 2012 after his Indian-origin wife accused him of raping their daughter, and was tried in a court in the southern city of Bangalore. "We confirm that (Mazurier) was acquitted in the first instance by the Bangalore court," said a diplomatic source, confirming Indian media reports. Mazurier, who was working in the French consulate in Bangalore when he was arrested, had always denied the charge. His trial had been going on since 2014 and received much publicity in India, with his wife and some media accusing France of trying to protect him. His lawyers Clement Witt and Pierre-Olivier Sur told AFP it was the "end of a nightmare". "It is a victory of truth over lies," they said in a WhatsApp message. Mazurier said his acquittal was an "enormous relief". "My hope now is to reconstruct a relationship with my children, make up for the lost time," he told AFP by phone from Bangalore. Mazurier's estranged wife Suja Jones told Indian television news that the acquittal "means my daughter did not get justice". Jones said she would file an appeal, which could add several months or years to the legal process if followed through. By Suchitra Mohanty and Tommy Wilkes NEW DELHI (Reuters) - An Indian government minister from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party and several top party colleagues must face trial for their alleged role in the 1992 demolition of a mosque by a Hindu mob, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday. The demolition of the Babri mosque in the northern town of Ayodhya triggered religious riots that killed thousands, deepening divisions between Hindus and India's large Muslim minority that remain today. The court said Uma Bharti, Modi's water resources minister, and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veterans L. K. Advani and M. M. Joshi, should face trial on criminal conspiracy charges for making inflammatory speeches that incited Hindus to tear down the 16th century mosque. A lawyer for Advani, K. K. Venugopal, declined to comment outside the court in New Delhi. Bharti denied the charges, telling reporters that there was no conspiracy and that it was her dream to see the temple built. Calls to Joshi's office went unanswered. A spokesman for the Hindu-nationalist BJP, G.V.L. Narasimha Rao, was quoted by media as calling the charges "baseless". The charges against the BJP leaders, brought by the Central Bureau of Investigation, date back more than a decade and were previously blocked by another court. But the court's decision to order the trial, and for it to be completed within two years, will be a blow to the BJP and revive debate about the brand of Hindu nationalism within Modi's party. Modi has himself been dogged by questions over his Hindu nationalist ideology. He long faced allegations that he looked the other way or even encouraged Hindu mobs to go on a rampage against Muslims in Gujarat state, when he was chief minister in 2002, after a train carrying Hindu pilgrims was torched. He denied the allegations and a Supreme Court-ordered inquiry absolved him of responsibility. In 1992, Advani, a former home minister and chief of the BJP, led Hindus on a pilgrimage that ended with the razing of the mosque. Photographs circulated at the time show politicians celebrating its destruction. The BJP is committed to building a temple on the site of the mosque, which Hindus say is the birthplace of their god-king Rama, "within the framework of the constitution". Calls from hardliners for the immediate construction of the temple have challenged Modi as he tries to balance the demands of Hindu activists emboldened by his victory in 2014 with a economic reform agenda supported by a broader swathe of the electorate. Most BJP politicians have said the courts should decide if construction can go ahead. Modi last month appointed Yogi Adityanath, a firebrand priest with a history of agitation against Muslims, as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh state where Ayodhya is located, raising concerns that the prime minister was moving to redefine India as a Hindu nation. While several other politicians will also face trial, the court granted the ruling governor of the western state of Rajasthan constitutional immunity and dropped cases against other political leaders. Indian court cases typically drag on for years. (Editing by Robert Birsel) By Tom Allard JAKARTA (Reuters) - The thumping win by Anies Baswedan in the bitterly fought election for Jakarta governor signals twin threats to Indonesias President Joko Widodo - from rising Islamism and the renewed clout of Indonesias old political and business elites. Baswedan thanked supporters after taking a decisive lead in the unofficial count on Tuesday afternoon, but not before his political patron, Prabowo Subianto, claimed victory first - thanking the scions of Indonesias establishment by his side. "Our focus is social justice, ending inequality and our commitment is to safeguard diversity and unity, Baswedan said. The conciliatory tone contrasted with the fractious nature of a campaign that challenged Indonesias religious and ethnically tolerant traditions, and comments made by Baswedan on the eve of the election. Baswedan compared the poll to the Battle of Badr, a pivotal fight in the early days of Islam that consolidated the Prophet Muhammads power, a win ascribed to divine intervention. FRINGE BECOMES A FORCE The Jakarta election was marked by the blasphemy trial of Baswedan's rival, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who allegedly mocked a verse in the Koran used by his opponents to claim Muslims could not vote for anyone with different religious beliefs. Purnama is a Christian and ethnic Chinese in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation. Huge, well-funded anti-Purnama protests in November and December sunk his high approval ratings. They were organized by hitherto fringe Islamists drawn from violent vigilante groups and Salafists influenced by Saudi Arabias puritanical brand of Islam. Conservative clerics took the anti-Purnama message to the mosques throughout the campaign, said Eva Kusuma Sundari a senior official in Widodos party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle. This is a major defeat for us. The landscape is changing and its not favorable to us, she said. "We have to figure out our own understanding of this political religion without giving up our constitutional and nationalistic approach." Tim Lindsey, an Indonesia analyst from the University of Melbourne, said Islamist groups had emerged from the fringe to become a force. This is a rehearsal for [the 2019 presidential election] and it sends a very clear message that if you play the Islam card its going to help you, he said. If groups like these can get hundreds of thousands on the streets, you are going to want to use that power. Slamet Maarif, a spokesman for the Islamic Defenders Front, one of the main forces behind the push to prevent a Christian from leading Indonesia's Muslim majority capital, said the group was already eyeing the 2019 poll. "We will maintain the existing unity of Muslims. And we will prepare Muslim unity for 2019," he told Reuters. SUHARTO'S ELITES Widodo, who grew up in a shack by a river in rural Java and became a successful furniture seller before entering politics, was the insurgent candidate who defeated Prabowo in the 2014 presidential election. Popularly known as Jokowi, he became the first Indonesian from outside the elites to assume the countrys highest office. He was catapulted to national prominence after becoming governor of Jakarta, with Purnama serving as his deputy. His fit-and-start reform agenda has antagonized some in the business establishment who chafe against his calls for more foreign investment and increased competition in some sectors of the economy. Among those standing alongside Baswedan and Prabowo as they claimed victory were moguls Aburizal Bakrie, Hashim Djojohadikusumo and Hary Tanoesoedibjo. All were prominent businessmen with links to the three-decade authoritarian regime of Suharto before he was ousted from power in 1998 during the Asian financial crisis. Tanoesoedibjo, who is President Donald Trump's business partner in two resort developments in Indonesia, once worked for Suharto's son, Bambang Trihatmodjo. Bakrie is a former chairman of the Golkar Party, which Suharto created as the parliamentary rubber stamp for his 32-year hardline rule. His family conglomerate, Bakrie Group, is prominent in the mining industry, oil and gas, and property development. Prabowo, a former general and son-in-law of Suharto, was banned from entering the United States over his alleged human rights abuses as a military commander tasked with disrupting the student protests that eventually toppled Suharto and ushered in Indonesias democratic era. Djojohadikusumo is Prabowo's younger brother. Their father, Sumitro Djojohadikusumo, was the architect of Suharto's economic plans. Considered a spent force after his defeat in 2014, Prabowo now has a platform to raise money and increase his profile ahead of another tilt at the presidency in 2019, said Wimar Witoelar, a political analyst and former presidential spokesman. [Baswedan] will be indebted, he said. The Jakarta government will be a pawn in the political play for 2019. (Additional reporting by Agustinus Da Costa. Editing by Bill Tarrant.) April 18, Tuesday, marks the 62nd death anniversary of Albert Einstein. The German-born theoretical physicist, known for his work and major impact on physics, died in 1955 in New Jersey from an abdominal aortic aneurysm. Einstein was born on March 14, 1879, in Ulm, Germany. He developed the theory of general relativity and advanced the law of photoelectric effect and his work earned him a Nobel Prize in 1921. Moreover, the Time magazine also named him Person of the Century in 1999. Physics is not the only area for which Einstein was known for. He also actively took part in civil rights activism and reportedly knew about the similarities between American segregation and the treatment of Jews in Germany. Following are 10 interesting facts about Einstein gathered from History, All That Is Interesting and Facts Legend. Einstein was a fan of classical music and enjoyed playing violin. In his initial years, Einstein suffered from speech difficulty and was unable to speak until he was 4 years old. Although Einstein was said to be an average student, he excelled in math and never failed the subject. At the age of 16, he wrote his first scientific paper titled The Investigation of the State of Aether in Magnetic Fields. Einstein failed the entrance exam for the Swiss Federal Polytechnic in 1895. He scored well in physics and math, but did not manage to get a good overall score. He was reportedly offered to take up position as Israels president when Israels first President Chaim Weizmann died in 1955. Einstein declined the offer. Einstein married his cousin Elsa Lowenthal after divorcing his first wife Mileva Maric. Einsteins second son Eduard Einstein was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was institutionalized. Einstein enjoyed sailing and he admitted that he was not a good sailor. He did not even know how to swim. Due to his rebellious attitude and habit of skipping classes, Einstein did not get recommendations from his professor. Due to this, he did not get any academic job for two years. Related Articles Washington (AFP) - Several Iraqi troops required medical treatment following a chemical weapons attack by the Islamic State group over the weekend, a US official said Wednesday. Saturdays' attack saw IS launch some sort of low-level chemical agent at the Iraqis in western Mosul as they worked alongside US and Australian military advisors, Major General Joseph Martin said. "The Iraqi security forces ... were in the vicinity of one of the strikes. They were taken back to the appropriate level of medical care to make sure that they were alright," said Martin, who is the commanding general for the US-led coalition's land component. Martin said the agent was being tested, adding there was no confirmation that the Australians and Americans were exposed. "Nobody's died ... and the good news is that nobody has been impacted significantly by this," the general said. IS has periodically carried out attacks using chemical weapons, but both the toll and the impact on military operations has been minimal and the jihadists' bombs and bullets are far deadlier. Martin said all forward-deployed troops have the "appropriate equipment" to deal with chemical threats, but he did not say if this was used in Saturdays attack. The chemical was delivered by "indirect fire," which means by a mortar or shell of some sort. Iraqi forces are fighting to recapture west Mosul from IS after retaking the eastern side earlier this year, while soldiers and pro-government paramilitaries are also operating west of the city as part of the operation. The jihadist group overran large areas north and west of Iraq in 2014, but Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes have since regained much of the territory they lost. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's military said on Wednesday it believes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces still possess several tonnes of chemical weapons, issuing the assessment two weeks after a chemical attack that killed nearly 90 people in Syria. Israel, along with many countries, blames the strike on Assad's military. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said French intelligence services would provide proof of that in the coming days. A senior Israeli military officer, in a briefing to Israeli reporters, said "a few tonnes of chemical weapons" remained in the hands of Assad's forces, a military spokesman told Reuters. Some local media reports quoted the briefing officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with Israeli military procedure, as putting the amount at up to 3 tonnes. In a 2013 agreement brokered by Russia and the United States, Syria agreed to destroy its chemical weapons. Earlier in the day, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical weapons, a global watchdog, said sarin or a similar banned toxin was used in the April 4 strike in Syria's Idlib province. The findings supported earlier testing by Turkish and British laboratories. Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper on April 6 that he was "100 percent certain" that the attack was "directly ordered and planned by Assad". He did not elaborate on how he reached that conclusion. Syria has repeatedly denied it was behind the attack in Khan Sheikhoun. Assad was quoted as saying last week that Syria's military gave up all its chemical weapons in 2013 after the agreement made at the time, and would not have used them anyway. Israel closely monitors the civil war in Syria, a northern neighbor. During the six-year conflict, Israel has largely stayed on the sidelines, carrying out occasional air strikes against what it says is the movement of weapons to Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah militants. (Reporting by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Alison Williams) Rome (AFP) - Italy's health minister has taken the unusual step of criticising national broadcaster Rai's coverage of a vaccine against a cancer-causing virus, sparking a row about media freedom and misinformation. The minister, Beatrice Lorenzin, accused the team behind the popular Rai3 documentary series, "Report", of "spreading fear by propagating unfounded and unscientific theories" about the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in a programme broadcast on Monday. The programme began with a disclaimer saying it was not questioning the efficacy of the vaccine, which has significantly reduced the incidence of cervical cancer, a disease that kills more than 250,000 women annually around the world. The programme went on to highlight Danish research on potential side effects of the drug and a related complaint to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) over its handling of safety issues related to the vaccine and potential conflicts of interest for some of its staff. The Nordic Cochrane Centre, the independent research group that filed the complaint, said Wednesday it was still awaiting a response from the EMA on most of the issues it had raised. Lorenzin said in a statement that the vaccine was "safe and very effective, contrary to what was claimed on public television without any counterview being offered". Rai, a state-funded broadcaster, also came under fire from prominent medical figures and said it would look into whether the programme's content was balanced. Rumours the popular programme could be pulled off air sparked angry reactions on social media on Wednesday, with tweeters threatening to refuse to pay the television licences that help finance Rai. Much of the online discussion was fuelled by Beppe Grillo, the leader of the populist opposition party, the Five Star Movement (M5S). Grillo has been severely criticised in the past by doctors and health officials for his role in helping to fuel concern in Italy over discredited claims the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) could be responsible for the rise in the incidence of autism in the industrialised world. Story continues The health ministry reported last month that cases of measles had tripled in Italy in the first 10 weeks of the year compared with the same period in 2016, and blamed MMR scare stories for the spike. Italy was one of the countries where the MMR-autism scare had the biggest impact, partly because a 2012 court ruling gave it credence. The ruling, giving compensation to the family of an autistic boy on the grounds his condition was likely caused by the jab, was overturned on appeal three years later. The notion of an MMR-autism link was first suggested by a British researcher, Andrew Wakefield, in a 1998 paper for medical journal the Lancet that was subsequently discredited. The paper was withdrawn in 2010 and Wakefield was barred from practising medicine. Numerous major studies since have found no evidence of a link. The New York Times Olivia Dunne is a gymnast on Louisiana States womens team. She was an All-American in her freshman year and made the Southeastern Conferences honor roll as a sophomore majoring in interdisciplinary studies. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times Before the start of her junior season, Dunne is also at the leading edge of a movement shaking the old foundations of college sports: a female student athlete raking in cash thanks to the passage in 2021 of new rules allowing colle One of Dame Elizabeth Taylors most enduring legacies is her activism on behalf of HIV/AIDS patients. Her AIDS foundation carries on her work today. Lizs longtime friend, model and entrepreneur Kathy Ireland, sits down with Rosie Mercado to talk about how Lizs good deeds go on and how The Doctors viewers can help! Kathys in the middle of a glamorous photo shoot, but takes time out for Rosie. The images shes posing for will be part of a new documentary for World AIDS Day. Kathy says the greatest lesson she learned from Liz was that We must not sit idly by when there is something to be done. Rosie wants to know how Kathy balances her business empire, her modeling career, her family life, and her work as Ambassador on behalf of the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. Oh, youre so sweet Rosie! Kathy answers, Who says I do, though? More seriously, she adds that her faith and her family keep her centered. Watch: Supermodel's Health Battle Elizabeth Taylor would say that if you dont have wrinkles and laugh lines, it probably means youve led a pretty dull life, Kathy muses on aging. I believe beautiful people come in every shape, size, color, and age! Something I rejected in the modeling industry was, so much of it was unattainable looks. Rosie, as a plus-size model, agrees. Kathy credits Elizabeth Taylor for inspiring much of her own success in life. The world saw the glamor, and I got to experience the genuine person. The fierce spirit that fought for those who couldnt fight for themselves. She reminds viewers that there are treatments, but still no cure, for HIV/AIDS. Then she announces that, Our company, on her birthday this year, we established a matching grant of up to $100,000, and that will continue through World AIDS Day. ER Physician Dr. Travis Stork encourages viewers to look to The Doctors website for details on how their donations can be matched dollar for dollar! Watch: Animal Holds the Key to HIV? Kathy notes that, Theres a tendency for some people to have a fear of powerful women. Shes gotten a lot of pushback as shes moved her corporation into technology, insurance, finance, and production. I really think it takes tough ovaries! she laughs. We overuse the word icon sometimes, concludes ER Physician Dr. Travis Stork, But I think she truly was iconic. Plastic Surgeon Dr. Andrew Ordon observes that Kathy is an icon too! Former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann has two words of advice for his longtime cable news rival, Bill OReilly: fess up. Olbermann, who is now a special correspondent at GQ, said the embattled Fox News hosts departure from the network over mounting sexual harassment accusations seemed inevitable, and in many respects its so past the time it shouldve happened. I presume the number of stories we know about is a fraction, could be 5 percent of the number of women who were bothered or even threatened by Bill OReilly during their time at Fox, Olbermann told Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric Wednesday, adding that he personally knows two of the women whove accused OReilly of harassment. Keith Olbermann discusses Bill OReillys departure from Fox with Katie Couric. (Screenshot via Yahoo News Video) Fox announced it would be dropping OReillys show following a series of sexual harassment allegations and a damning New York Times report that the network had paid more than $13 million to settle claims made by five women. Under pressure from activist groups, more than 50 advertisers pulled out of the show despite its consistently high ratings. This is demographic, Olbermann said, referring to the reported divide between Fox News chairman Rupert Murdoch and his sons, Lachlan and James Murdoch, who were reportedly influential in OReillys departure as well as that of the networks former CEO, Roger Ailes, following a similar onslaught of sexual harassment claims that became public last summer. This kind of behavior is no longer tolerated in work environments, Olbermann added. Of course, OReilly has plenty of defenders, including President Trump, who told the New York Times earlier this month that OReilly is a good person. Personally, I think he shouldnt have settled, Trump said of OReilly. These two guys have similar interests, unfortunately, and similar standards for their own conduct, Olbermann quipped, noting that he cant recall ever seeing Trump or OReilly at Yankee Stadium without the other. How many Fox News viewers share the presidents sentiment is yet to be seen, but Olbermann is certain that we havent seen the last of OReilly. Story continues Somebody will offer him work, I have no doubt about it, he said. And I would not be surprised if those conversations have already taken place. Though OReilly has continued to maintain his innocence he issued a statement Wednesday decrying the completely unfounded claims that resulted in his ouster Olbermann insisted that it will be even easier for OReilly to make a comeback if he confesses. Say what you did, apologize for it. If you dont sincerely mean it, fake the apology, move on, he advised. America is really forgiving, particularly if you say youre sorry. Read more from Yahoo News: By Valerie Volcovici Neligh, NEBRASKA (Reuters) - When President Donald Trump handed TransCanada Pipeline Co. a permit for its Keystone XL pipeline last month, he said the company could now build the long-delayed and divisive project "with efficiency and with speed." But Trump and the firm will have to get through Nebraska farmer Art Tanderup first, along with about 90 other landowners in the path of the pipeline. They are mostly farmers and ranchers, making a last stand against the pipeline - the fate of which now rests with an obscure state regulatory board, the Nebraska Public Service Commission. The group is fine-tuning an economic argument it hopes will resonate better in this politically conservative state than the environmental concerns that dominated the successful push to block Keystone under former President Barack Obama. Backed by conservation groups, the Nebraska opponents plan to cast the project as a threat to prime farming and grazing lands - vital to Nebraska's economy - and a foreign company's attempt to seize American private property. They contend the pipeline will provide mainly temporary jobs that will vanish once construction ends, and limited tax revenues that will decline over time. They face a considerable challenge. Supporters of the pipeline as economic development include Republican Governor, Pete Ricketts, most of the states senators, its labor unions and chamber of commerce. "Its depressing to start again after Obama rejected the pipeline two years ago, but we need keep our coalition energized and strong," said Tanderup, who grows rye, corn and soybeans on his 160-acre property. Now Tanderup and others are gearing up for another round of battle - on a decidedly more local stage, but with potentially international impact on energy firms and consumers. The latest Keystone XL showdown underscores the increasingly well-organized and diverse resistance to pipelines nationwide, which now stretches well beyond the environmental movement. Last year, North Dakota's Standing Rock Sioux, a Native American tribe, galvanized national opposition to the Energy Transfer Partners Dakota Access Pipeline. Another ETP pipeline in Louisiana has drawn protests from flood protection advocates and commercial fishermen. The Keystone XL pipeline would cut through Tanderup's family farm, near the two-story farmhouse built in the 1920s by his wife Helen's grandfather. The Tanderups have plastered the walls with aerial photos of three "#NoKXL" crop art installations they staged from 2014 to 2016. Faded signs around the farm still advertise the concert Willie Nelson and Neil Young played here in 2014 to raise money for the protests. The stakes for the energy industry are high as the Keystone XL combatants focus on Nebraska, especially for Canadian producers that have struggled for decades to move more of that nation's landlocked oil reserves to market. Keystone offers a path to get heavy crude from the Canada oil sands to refiners on the U.S. Gulf Coast equipped to handle it. TransCanada has route approval in all of the U.S. states the line will cross except Nebraska, where the company says it has been unable to negotiate easements with landowners on about 9 percent of the 300-mile crossing. So the dispute now falls to Nebraska's five-member utility commission, an elected board with independent authority over TransCanadas proposed route. The commission has scheduled a public hearing in May, along with a week of testimony by pipeline supporters and opponents in August. Members face a deadline set by state law to take a vote by November. "TENS OF THOUSANDS" OF JOBS TransCanada has said on its website that the pipeline would create "tens of thousands" of jobs and tens of millions in tax dollars for the three states it would cross - Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska. TransCanada declined to comment in response to Reuters inquiries seeking a more precise number and description of the jobs, including the proportion of them that are temporary - for construction - versus permanent. Trump has been more specific, saying the project would create 28,000 U.S. jobs. But a 2014 State Department study predicted just 3,900 construction jobs and 35 permanent jobs. Asked about the discrepancy, White House spokeswoman Kelly Love did not explain where Trump came up with his 28,000 figure, but pointed out that the State Department study also estimates that the pipeline would indirectly create thousands of additional jobs. The study indicates those jobs would be temporary, including some 16,100 at firms with contracts for goods and services during construction, and another 26,000, depending on how workers from the original jobs spend their wages. TransCanada estimates that state taxes on the pipeline and pumping stations would total $55.6 million across the three states during the first year. The firm will pay property taxes on the pumping stations along the route, but not the land. It would pay a different - and lower - "personal property" tax on the pipeline itself, said Brian Jorde, a partner in the Omaha-based law firm Domina Law Group, which represents the opposition. The personal property taxes, he said, would decline over a seven-year period and eventually disappear. TRUMP: 'I'll CALL NEBRASKA' The Nebraska utilities commission faces tremendous political pressure from well beyond the state it regulates. "The commissioners know it is game time, and everybody is looking," said Jane Kleeb, Nebraska's Democratic party chair and head of the conservation group Bold Alliance, which is coordinating resistance from the landowners, Native American tribes and environmental groups. The alliance plans to target the commissioners and their electoral districts with town halls, letter-writing campaigns, and billboards. During the televised ceremony where Trump awarded the federal permit for the pipeline, he promised to weigh in on the Nebraska debate. "Nebraska? I'll call Nebraska," he said after TransCanada Chief Executive Russell Girling said the company faced opposition there. Love, the White House spokeswoman, said she did not know if Trump had called Nebraska officials. The commission members - one Democrat and four Republicans - have ties to a wide range of conflicting interests in the debate, making it difficult to predict their decision. According to state filings, one of the commissioners, Democrat Crystal Rhoades, is a member of the Sierra Club - an environmental group opposing the pipeline. Another, Republican Rod Johnson, has a long history of campaign donations from oil and gas firms. The others are Republicans with ties to the farming and ranching sectors - including one member that raises cattle in an area near where the pipeline would cross. All five members declined requests for comment. PREPPING THE WITNESSES TransCanada has been trying since 2008 to build the 1,100-mile line - from Hardisty, Alberta to Steele City, Nebraska, where it would connect to a network feeding the Midwest and Gulf Coast refining regions. The firm had its federal permit application rejected in 2015 by the Obama administration. Opponents want the pipeline, if not rejected outright, to be re-routed well away from Nebraska's Sandhills region, named for its sandy soil, which overlies one of the largest freshwater aquifers in the United States. The Ogallala aquifer supplies large-scale crop irrigation and cattle-watering operations. It all comes down to water, said Terry Steskal, whose family farm lies in the pipeline's path. Steskal dug his boot into the ground on his property, kicking up sand to demonstrate his biggest concern about the pipeline. If the pipeline leaks, oil can easily seep through the region's porous soil into the water, which lies near the surface. TransCanada spokesman Terry Cunha said the company has a good environmental record with its existing Keystone pipeline network in Nebraska, which runs east of the proposed Keystone XL. The company, however, has reported at least two big pipeline spills in other states since 2011, including some 400 barrels of oil spilled in South Dakota last year. The Domina Law Group is helping the opposition by preparing the landowners, including the Tanderups and Steskals, for the August hearings, much as they would prepare witnesses for trial. If the route is approved, Jorde said the firm plans to file legal challenges, potentially challenging TransCanada's right to use eminent domain law to seize property. Eminent domain allows for the government to expropriate private land in the public interest. But Jorde said he thinks TransCanada would struggle to meet that threshold in Nebraska. "Some temporary jobs and some taxes is not enough to win the public interest argument," he said. (Additional reporting by Ethan Lou in Calgary; Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Brian Thevenot) DUNWOODY, Ga. (AP) The Latest on Georgia's 6th Congressional District election. (all times local): 10:30 p.m. An upstart Democrat continues to lead the incomplete, early vote count in a special election in a conservative Georgia congressional district. But he's barely clinging to the majority required to pull off a shocking upset in the Atlanta suburbs. The 30-year-old former congressional staffer sought to parlay opposition to President Donald Trump into a victory that would rebuke the Republican's White House and embolden Democrats ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. With early voting totals and about half of precincts counted, Ossoff hovered right at the majority threshold required to win an 18-candidate primary outright in Georgia's 6th Congressional District. But tens of thousands of votes remain uncounted, and Ossoff's lead has been shrinking as more precincts roll in across a district that has been held by a Republican since Newt Gingrich was elected here in 1978. ___ 9:35 p.m. An upstart Democrat is leading a special election by a wide margin in a conservative Georgia congressional district as he bids for a major upset, but his margin is narrowing in the early and incomplete returns. Votes are being counted in Tuesday's metro Atlanta race in which Democrat Jon Ossoff sought to parlay opposition to President Donald Trump into a victory that would rebuke the White House and embolden Democrats ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. With early voting totals and more than a third of precincts counted, Ossoff was slightly above the majority threshold required to win an 18-candidate primary. The question was whether Ossoff would ultimately command a majority to claim the seat outright or be forced into a June 20 runoff. Tens of thousands of votes have yet to be counted in Georgia's 6th Congressional District that stretches across the northern suburbs of Atlanta, and Ossoff's lead had already narrowed in the evening as more precincts reported. Story continues Republicans nationally and in Georgia acknowledged before polls opened that Ossoff would top the 18-candidate field, which included Republicans, Democrats and independents on one primary ballot. __ 9:00 p.m. Early, incomplete election returns show an upstart Democrat leading in a conservative Georgia congressional district in his bid for a major upset. After polls closed Tuesday evening, votes were being counted in the metro Atlanta race in which Democrat Jon Ossoff sought to parlay opposition to Republican President Donald Trump into a rebuke of the White House. With about a third of precincts reporting, Ossoff led the incomplete, early returns with about 53 pe Republicans had acknowledged even before Tuesday's balloting began that Ossoff would top the 18-candidate field Tuesday. An entire slate_Republicans, Democrats and independents appeared on one primary ballot in the state's 6th Congressional District covering several northern Atlanta suburbs. The question is whether Ossoff would command a majority to claim the seat outright. If not, he would face the top Republican vote-getter in a June 20 runoff. The winner is to succeed Tom Price, who resigned to become Trump's health secretary. ___ 6:55 p.m. Most polls are preparing to close at 7 p.m. in a high-profile Georgia congressional race where Democrats are bidding for a major upset in a historically conservative district. Democrat Jon Ossoff is a 30-year-old former congressional staffer who is expected to lead a field of 18 candidates. The entire slate Republicans, Democrats and independents appeared on a single ballot in the race to succeed Tom Price, who resigned to become President Donald Trump's health secretary. The question is whether Ossoff can win a majority to claim Georgia's 6th Congressional District seat outright. If he doesn't, he'll meet the top Republican vote-getter in a June 20 runoff. The race is a barometer of Trump's standing and a chance for both major parties to test their strategies ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. ___ 6:30 p.m. President Donald Trump is mocking a Georgia congressional candidate for not living in the district where the Democrat is trying to pull an upset in a special election. Trump told his Twitter followers on Tuesday afternoon that he "just learned" that Jon Ossoff doesn't live in Georgia's 6th Congressional District. The president urged Republicans to "get out and vote." Ossoff is expected to lead an 18-candidate primary Tuesday. Republicans are trying to hold him short of a majority and force a two-person runoff in June. A 30-year-old former congressional staffer, Ossoff acknowledges he resides in Atlanta, south of the 6th District that encompasses many of the city's northern suburbs. Ossoff has capitalized on anti-Trump sentiments to raise more than $8 million for the race. ___ 2:40 p.m. Georgia voters continue to stream into polling sites in the suburbs north of Atlanta to cast their ballots in the special election to fill the 6th Congressional District seat. Polls opened at 7 a.m. Tuesday and will stay open until 7 p.m. Local election officials have reported steady turnout all day, and state officials have received few reports of problems. Voters arriving at North River Baptist Church in Roswell found a line of more than 30 people stretching out through the front door and into the parking lot on Tuesday afternoon. A brief rain shower prompted some to return to their cars until the sun returned. The district, which spans parts of Fulton, DeKalb and Cobb counties, has been in Republican hands since 1979. Democrats are trying for an upset. ___ 11 a.m. Georgia election officials are investigating reported issues at three polling places in the 6th Congressional District. Voters began casting ballots on Tuesday in the special election to fill the House seat vacated by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price. A spokeswoman for Secretary of State Brian Kemp says voting is going smoothly other than some "isolated complaints." Spokeswoman Candice Broce says electronic polling machines used to check in voters at one precinct in Johns Creek weren't working properly. A state investigator was able to resolve the problem. Elsewhere in the district, a polling place inside a Fulton County high school opened late and voters at a Roswell polling place received incorrect instructions from a poll worker about how to cast ballots. Broce says state officials went to both sites. ___ 9:15 a.m. President Donald Trump is rallying voters in Georgia's 6th Congressional District to "get out and vote" Republican in a special election. In a tweet early Tuesday, Trump urged voters not to vote for Democrat Jon Ossoff for the House seat vacated by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price. Polls opened at 7 a.m. Tuesday and will stay open until 7 p.m. Trump says, "Democrat Jon Ossoff would be a disaster in Congress. VERY weak on crime and illegal immigration, bad for jobs and wants higher taxes. Say NO." In a second tweet, he wrote, "Republicans must get out today and VOTE in Georgia 6. Force runoff and easy win! Dem Ossoff will raise your taxes-very bad on crime & 2nd A." Democrats opposed to Trump have rallied behind Ossoff, who has raised more than $8.3 million. ___ 3:55 a.m. Republicans are trying to prevent a major upset stoked by opposition to President Donald Trump in a conservative congressional district in Georgia. Tuesday's jungle-style primary lumps all 18 candidates on one ballot. The leading Democrat, 30-year-old Jon Ossoff, needs to clear 50 percent to avoid a June runoff. Polls put Ossoff in the lead but short of that margin. Four of the 11 Republican candidates are fighting for the No. 2 spot, limiting their ability to focus on Ossoff. Both national parties have paid field staffers working the race for the seat Tom Price resigned to become Trump's health secretary. Ossoff supporters have contributed more than $8 million. A political action committee backed by House Speaker Paul Ryan has spent more than $2 million attacking Ossoff. Bogota (AFP) - Flooding and mudslides in central Colombia have killed at least 11 people, the Red Cross said Wednesday, causing alarm in a country still recovering from recent mudslides that killed hundreds. At least 20 people are missing after torrential rains lashed the city of Manizales, officials said, raising fears the death toll could soar as it did earlier this month in the southern city of Mocoa. There, at least 323 people including more than 100 children were killed when heavy rain caused three mountain rivers to flood on March 31, hurling a tidal wave of mud and boulders into the city. Manizales "is literally cut off by rock slides, mudslides, floods," Mayor Jose Octavio Cardona told local radio stations. He said the city had been on alert after days of heavy rain, which turned to a torrential downpour overnight. President Juan Manuel Santos suspended his official agenda to travel to the city, the capital of Caldas department -- which is, like Mocoa, a remote and difficult region to access. He said on Twitter he had ordered officials from the emergency agency and transport ministries to the city to assess the "grave situation." Emergency officials said eight neighborhoods had been hit by flooding or mudslides, including one where several homes were buried. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was one Donald Trumps harshest Republican critics. Not anymore. I am like the happiest dude in America right now, Graham said on Fox & Friends on Wednesday. Weve got a president and a national security team that Ive been dreaming of for eight years. Graham praised Trumps recent bombing of Syria and ISIS in Afghanistan, his tough talk against North Korea and the administrations review of the Iran nuclear deal. In 80 days hes done more to correct the world, President Trump, than Obama did in eight years, Graham said. We sent a letter to our good buddy, the Ayotollah. Hey, knock it off. Youve got this Iranian nuclear deal, you may be complying with it, but youre also destroying the Mideast. Youre the largest state sponsor of terrorism. You captured our sailors against international law, humiliated them. Youre firing missiles in violation of U.N. resolutions that even the Russians voted for. So were putting you on notice. Grahams comments came the same day Vice President Mike Pence warned that the U.S. military is ready to strike if North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un escalates Pyongyangs nuclear provocations. The United States of America will always seek peace, Pence said aboard the USS Ronald Reagan, which is docked at the U.S. Yokosuka naval base in Tokyo Bay, Japan. But under President Trump, the shield stands guard and the sword stands ready. If I were Kim Jong Un, whatever his name is, I would listen to Mike Pence, Graham said. Earlier this week, Pence toured the demilitarized zone between North Korea and South Korea, staring down North Korean soldiers standing on the north side. The fact that the vice president of the United States went to the DMZ, looked across the way and said, Were watching you Donald Trump is not going to let this nutjob in North Korea get a missile to hit America, Graham said. And if I were North Korea and China, I would start thinking anew about the president of the United States. Story continues On the Today show, Graham said he spoke about North Korea with Trump during a recent lunch at the White House. I said, Do you want on your resume during your presidency that the North Koreans developed a missile that hit the American homeland on top of it? Graham recalled. He said, Absolutely not. And thats what this is all about. During the 2016 GOP primary, Graham called Trump a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot and a wrecking ball for the future of the Republican Party. He doesnt represent my party. He doesnt represent the values that the men and women who wear the uniform are fighting for, Graham said days before the Iowa caucuses. Id rather lose without Donald Trump than try to win with him. I wish he would leave the party. I dont care if he runs as an independent. If we lose the 2016 election, so be it. Graham added: You know how you make America great again? Tell Donald Trump to go to hell. At one point in the campaign, Trump gave out Grahams cellphone number at a rally after reading that the South Carolina senator had called him a jackass. Even after taking office, the two continued to exchange blows. After Graham and his close ally, Sen. John McCain, knocked Trumps travel ban, the president took to Twitter to accuse the national security hawks of warmongering. Now, Graham says, Trump often calls him. What a difference a few months and 59 Tomahawk missiles make. Hes got the best national security team Ive seen since Ive been in government, Graham said on Fox & Friends. I am all in. Keep it up, Donald. Im sure youre watching. Dont let these guys talk you out of being tough, because you need to be tough. Read more from Yahoo News: By Geert De Clercq PARIS (Reuters) - A group of activists has filed a legal challenge with the French prime minister's office against the extension of EDF's license for construction of the Flamanville nuclear reactor in northern France. The move by Greenpeace and other anti-nuclear groups is in response to safety concerns over the Flamanville reactor and is a precursor to elevation of their challenge to the State Council, the country's highest administrative court. The lobby groups said in a statement that the license, issued in 2007 and renewed this year, should not have been granted because EDF and reactor supplier Areva were aware of technical shortcomings at Areva's Creusot Forge nuclear foundry since 2005. In 2014 Areva discovered that the lid of the Flamanville reactor vessel manufactured by Creusot Forge showed abnormally high carbon concentrations, which weaken its steel. Nuclear regulator ASN is investigating whether the irregularities threaten the safety of the reactor and whether EDF, which also plans to build two Areva-designed EPR reactors at Hinkley Point in Britain, can proceed with Flamanville's start-up in 2018 as planned. "For more than 10 years, EDF and Areva allowed the manufacturing of faulty components for nuclear plants, including for the EPR (European Pressurised Reactor) in Flamanville, and the ASN has allowed this," the group's statement said. One member of the group, lObservatoire du Nucleaire, said in a separate statement that the ASN had committed a major error in December 2013 by allowing EDF to install the reactor containment vessel in the reactor building despite being aware of the problems. It said that today the vessel could only be extracted by destroying part of the reactor. "This is an unacceptable option for EDF, which is putting maximum pressure on the ASN to force it to validate the use of this faulty vessel," lObservatoire du Nucleaire said. EDF and the ASN were not immediately available for comment on Wednesday. Xavier Ursat, EDF's head of new nuclear operations, said last month that he was confident the ASN would declare Flamanville safe. ASN chief Pierre-Franck Chevet has said that a ruling on Flamanville will be solely based on safety requirements. The regulator has repeatedly delayed its ruling on Flamanville since the end of 2015 and last month said a decision would be made by Sept. 21 at the latest. EDF's planned takeover of Areva's reactor unit Areva NP -- part of a government-led rescue of virtually bankrupt Areva -- is conditional on the ASN's green light for Flamanville. (Editing by David Goodman) U.S. bond prices declined higher on Monday after hitting their highest levels since November. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said the "era of strategic patience" with North Korea was over. Pence made the comments on the border between North and South Korea a day after North Korea's failed missile test. The Trump administration is working with China and its allies on a response to North Korea's missile program. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was higher at around 2.252 percent after breaking below 2.2 percent for the first time since Nov. 17. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was also higher at 2.91 percent after hitting its lowest level since Nov. 10. Yields move inversely to prices. While Wall Street's was closed on Good Friday, the government released economic data, which showed retail sales fell for the second straight month and consumer prices dropped for the first time in just over a year. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note dropped to a five-month low in following the data release. On Monday, the Empire State index hit 5.2 in April, well below the 16.4 print reached in March. The NAHB survey showed homebuilder sentiment slipped in April. In oil markets, Brent crude traded at around $55.35 a barrel on Monday, down 0.97 percent, while U.S. crude was around $52.61 a barrel, down 1.05 percent. Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook. More From CNBC Look out below! The first of three polar bear cubs born last year at Ohio's Columbus Zoo made its public debut among watchful visitors Wednesday morning. Read: Beloved Polar Bear Practices Plunges and Handstands in Freezing Pool The unnamed cub swam around the enclosure with its mom, Anana, but twin cubs born to Aurora are not yet ready to be on display. Female polar bears typically raise their young separately from one another, and the three cubs born in November will not be on view together until they are much older, according to a statement from the zoo. The three births within a month at the same facility marks an unprecedented accomplishment for the Columbus Zoo since Anana and Auroras three cubs were the only polar bears to be born in a North America zoo in 2016. Read: The Ice Is Right: Baby Polar Bear Overjoyed as She Plays in Frozen Kiddie Pool Both mothers were paired with male polar bear Nanuq in an effort to increase the species population. Some experts believe the polar bear population could decline two-thirds by 2050. Watch: Polar Bear's Adorable Reaction as She Experiences Snowfall for the First Time Related Articles: An Ohio man mistakenly included in a familys group chat is now embracing the role, sending an epic care package to a deployed soldier he's never met. It all started a few months ago, when Mark Chalifoux, of Cincinnati, said he started receiving text messages and tried to make it clear that he wasnt supposed to be in the chat. Read: Vietnam Veteran Reunited With War Buddy 50 Years After Losing Touch, Thanks to Twitter It was a pic of a little kid smiling with an old lady, and the text said 'Always loves going to grammys!'" Chalifoux told InsideEdition.com. I responded with Looks like hes having a blast! thinking theyd realize their mistake and remove me from the thread. But that wasnt the case, as more messages followed. The next day, Chalifoux said he received a picture of the same child and all the familys input on how cute the kid was, but he replied, I dont know why Im part of this, but Im happy that kid got his car. One of the family members replied, Because you are family! Chalifoux said. He said the messages went silent after that for about two weeks until but then he received another message from the group chat, a picture of four soldiers, one of them named Christian (name changed for privacy), who was apparently part of the family. The text read: Christian and his unit shipping out for six months. Chalifoux said he asked which one was Christian, thinking theyd know he wasnt supposed to be in the chat, but one of the family members just responded Second row next to the emblem. I said I am just going to fully embrace it and called him a patriot in the chat. And everyone responded with the flag emojis, Chalifoux said. But the next text made Chalifoux feel like he should help a stranger out. One of the family members texted the group chat about how to send Christian a package overseas while hes deployed. Story continues Read: Soldier Stands in Pouring Rain to Salute Passing Funeral Procession for Military Veteran Chalifoux wanted to send Christian such a package of 3,000 cookies. I posted on Facebook about it and people said they wanted to chip in so I decided to start the GoFundMe, Chalifoux said. "I dont know if Ill send some other things too." So far, 90 people have contributed to the GoFundMe and Chalifoux has exceeded his $1,000 goal. I just said Ill let it be a surprise when it shows up. I am hoping hell be encouraged that 90 people contributed and it will let him know that someone cares, Chalifoux said. "Families are making much bigger sacrifices than most of us are. Its a nice way for people to show some gratitude and support." The soldier's real name has been changed in this story for privacy purposes Watch: Grandma Invites Teen to Thanksgiving After Sending Him Text Message By Accident Related Articles: Marine Le Pen may well be the next president of France. Or maybe she wont. But after the twin shocks of the Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom and the election of Donald Trump in the United States, it would be foolish not to at least prepare for the possibility of a Le Pen presidency. For those outside of France, preparation includes understanding what a President Le Pen foreign policy would look like. The short answer: While cloaking itself in familiar rhetoric, it would mark a sharp, and frightening, shift in Frances role in the world. Le Pen, in contrast with candidate Trump, is far from a blank slate on foreign policy. Her vision for Frances role on the world stage is consistent and long-standing, and was again recently presented in a campaign speech that was even translated into English. Le Pen has engaged in the same rebranding effort for the National Fronts foreign policy that has so successfully distanced her partys domestic policies from those of her predecessor and father, Jean-Marie Le Pen. In international affairs, Le Pen pere was obsessed with the old demons of French history disputes about the Vichy regime, the fault lines over anti-Semitism, the Cold War fight against communism, and the bitter feuds over Algeria and Frances imperial past. Le Pen fille studiously ignores that history of division and instead seeks to reassure voters by recasting her foreign policy in terms that French voters have long embraced. She even claims to be the ideological heir of Gen. Charles De Gaulle, the founder of the French Fifth Republic. She has sold her foreign policy as one born out of deeply ingrained French political traditions grandeur, independence, and the identity and history of the French nation. But filtered through the ideology of the far-right National Front, her three pillars for a French foreign policy independence, identity, and order yield something new and very different for France and its partners. Le Pen explicitly rejects the notion of a Western camp to which France should belong, or of a universal model that the West should impose on the rest of the world. She insists that she is the only realist in the presidential race that is, she alone seeks to promote French interests as opposed to the delusional politically correct visions of previous governments on issues such as Turkeys bid to join the European Union, free trade, or humanitarian intervention in the Middle East. In terms similar to Trump, she advocates a foreign policy for the common man against the betrayals of an elite class that cares little for the real France. In other words, Le Pen has taken traditional French ideas about the countrys place and role in the world and flipped them on their heads. She presents her ideas in rhetoric that sounds very French in its seeming adherence to classical legalism, but the details reveal a clear departure from the pro-U.N., pro-Europe, Germany-friendly position France has stuck to for decades. By selling her foreign policy in terms familiar to voters, she obscures just how radical a change it would be. Le Pens worldview is built around three principal pillars all of them ideas that French voters have been comfortable with for a long time. The first is Frances independence: the idea that France not only can and should run its own foreign policy, but also that this is essential in order for France to follow the domestic policies of its choice. In Le Pens view, France stands among the great nations of the world. She remains capable of protecting her interests, alone if necessary. Frances capacity for independence rests not only on its storied history, but also on its strength on the international stage strength built, first and foremost, on its military, to which Le Pen wants to dedicate 3 percent of its gross domestic product, including funds for modernizing Frances nuclear deterrent. But the independence that Le Pen advocates is much narrower than the traditional postwar French understanding, and goes even further than the independent footing France has sought to adhere to since the end of the Cold War. Le Pen, for instance, rejects the notion that France needs the EU, NATO, Germany, or the United States to defend itself and its interests. Indeed, she believes the NATO alliance increasingly diminishes Frances strategic autonomy and thus weakens France. Le Pen doesnt just exclude tight alignment with allies, as every French leader since De Gaulle has she also rules out any permanent foreign entanglement. Since the 1970s, Frances vision of its independence has been artfully reconciled with NATO, the EU, and the United Nations by asserting that membership in these organizations enhances French leverage without hampering its freedom of action. But Le Pen rejects the first two institutions, and speaks only rarely and often disparagingly of the U.N. She will accept international cooperation only on the basis of strict sovereign equality and when such cooperation directly serves French interests. France thus need not accept legal obligations that limit French independence, nor does it need to participate in other powers wars to satisfy alliance commitments or for any other reason. The second pillar of Le Pens foreign policy is Frances identity: the idea that the countrys greatest strength is its distinctive history and culture as a nation. French presidential candidates typically extol French grandeur and evoke Frances glorious past to inspire their voters. So when Le Pen talks about what France must bring to the world, because it is France, and because we are French, she speaks a familiar language. Le Pens uniqueness, however, lies in her belief that French identity is under severe threat and will be salvaged by retrenchment. For her, the single-greatest threat to France is the loss of its identity. The global environment today is filled with dangers that could transform or even obliterate French identity, from migration, to free trade, to the European Union, to terrorism, to de-nationalized elites. Thus, Le Pens brand of universalism a long French tradition is that of differences, as she put it in her key foreign-policy speech earlier this year. Le Pen claims that she defends a multicultural conception of the world, but within that world nations have to be uni-cultural. In the foreign-policy arena, Le Pens determination to defend and protect Frances uniqueness implies a deep aversion to passing moral judgment on other countries. Le Pen wants to, so to speak, enhance the concept of human rights with the rights of peoples by which she means nations. Le Pen holds that one of the most fundamental rights for a country is the right to decide how to deal with critical issues like religion, political systems, and border control. There can, in this view, be no universal approach to human rights. Human rights have to be defined and will be limited within national contexts, and those definitions cannot be questioned from the outside. The third pillar is order. The history of France is one of civil wars and foreign invasions; thus, an essential and explicit role of French governments is to provide domestic order and protect against foreign threats. Since World War II, French efforts to inject order in the international realm have included establishing and joining international institutions, which French governments have traditionally seen as promoting an international order that serves as a first layer of defense against sources of internal chaos. In Le Pens view, however, those international institutions now threaten France by removing from the French people the right to decide how to organize their domestic life. She thus rejects the current international architecture. She insists that order depends not only on a strong national defense, but also on protecting the nation from foreign influences. Instead of the current international order, she sees France as an integral part of a new multipolar world order based on dialogue and respect among nations. Accordingly, Le Pens platform largely consists of a list of international regimes and institutions from which she wants to withdraw: NATOs integrated command, the Schengen Area, the eurozone, the EU, and various free trade agreements. She has a principled objection to multilateral groups such as the World Trade Organization and the G-20, because in her view only the people of a nation are able to decide what is right for them. These withdrawals do not amount to isolationism. Le Pen fully accepts that order will at times require military operations overseas as French interests can be threatened from abroad. She claims, in fact, that Africa will be her No. 1 international priority. But her desire for a multipolar world order means that she would rather cooperate abroad with allies like Russia, which respects the need to protect identity, than those such as Germany and the United States (until Trump), which demand openness. Those demands threaten both independence and identity. So unlike those in Britain who advocated leaving the European Union, Le Pen does not see a post-EU France pursuing its interests through bilateral free trade or multilateral cooperation. The use of the traditional French narratives of independence, identity, and order are meant, in part, to counter the National Fronts long-standing credibility problem. Many in the French electorate have long believed that the party is unprepared for government or even dangerous. This updated framing allows Le Pen to speak about what France has to bring to the world, about the role that was hers, and the role I will give back to her. Even though presidential elections are not won on foreign policy, her new narrative is built on concepts that resonate deeply with large segments of the French population. In using them, Le Pen attempts to cast herself as a credible stateswoman. But the reality of her positions, when laid out clearly, is startling. A President Le Pen would seek to disengage France from most of its international commitments. Beyond NATOs integrated command and the EU, other international regimes such as the European Convention on Human Rights and the International Criminal Court would probably be added to the list. Although she has been less clear on climate change, she has criticized the Paris deal not just for being wobbly and impractical, but also because, regardless of the effects on others, each nation has the right and can afford to decide for itself how to deal with the climate. President Le Pen, with a sufficient parliamentary majority, would also be able to seek a more flexible alliance posture, preferring to cooperate with countries and institutions that value sovereignty over interdependence. Her positive reaction to Trumps election was based on hopes that America would break with the absurd idea of subjugation of its allies. Her support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in the name of the fight against terrorist groups, is consistent with this approach. The priority she gives to Africa focused on Francophone countries and built around the principles of sovereignty and noninterference is mostly meant to produce migration agreements that offer countries of transit and origin financial incentives to reduce migration, as detailed in her recent speech in Chad. All three pillars of her worldview come together in her desire for closer relations with Moscow. If achieved, better relations with Russia would signal French foreign-policy independence, bring it closer with a country that also believes in the pre-eminence of identity and conservative values, and point to a desire to prioritize the fight against both terrorism and U.S.-led globalization. Le Pens foreign-policy ideas resonate with at least part of the electorate because they rest securely on Frances national myths: the idea that Frances place in the world stems from its proud history, the notion that France can make its way in the world alone, and the idea that France sits at the top table and participates in shaping the international order. These myths have been important tools for governing France since the foundation of the Fifth Republic. But in previous administrations, such myths have been interpreted through a more realistic and open lens. France has been an important architect of todays European and global orders. But its contribution has been based on the notion that independence doesnt preclude interdependence, a vision of French identity that can survive being bound by international commitments, and an ability to catalyze international cooperation through contributions to global order, as exemplified by Frances active role in many multilateral forums. A President Le Pen would almost surely find that myths make for good campaign posturing, but not for good government. The foreign-policy challenges France faces today defy simple answers that France can implement alone. Terrorism requires a response that masters the nexus between internal and external security. Climate change can be controlled only if key economies believe in international coordination enough to make the needed national adjustments. Russias behavior isnt only a response to Western slights, and its strategy in Syria does not help to address the terrorist and refugee threats to Europe. Marine Le Pen will not find answers to these problems in the romantic poetry of French national myths. She will need to forge effective international cooperation, particularly with Frances traditional partners. But that doesnt mean such myths couldnt help her get elected. Photo credit: Sylvain Lefevre/Getty Images Zuckerberg F8 Facebook's biggest conference of the year kicked off in San Jose, California on Tuesday with a presentation by CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Early in his talk, Zuckerberg addressed the big Facebook news story of the moment: Steve Stephens, who was the subject of a nationwide manhunt after he posted a Facebook video showing him killing an elderly man. Even politicians like Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf have called Stephens the "Facebook killer." Police said Stephens killed himself on Tuesday. "We have a lot more to do here," Zuckerberg said. "We're reminded of this this week by the tragedy in Cleveland. Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Robert Godwin Sr., and we have a lot more work and we will keep doing all we can to prevent tragedies like this from happening." After a pause, Zuckerberg returned to discussing Facebook technologies and products. Watch Facebook's F8 presentation below: More From Business Insider Riyadh (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is in Saudi Arabia Wednesday to reinvigorate the Riyadh-Washington alliance, with both seeing a common adversary in Iran and its "destabilising" activities. The United States and Saudi Arabia have a decades-old relationship based on the exchange of American security for Saudi oil. But ties between Riyadh and Washington became increasingly frayed during the administration of president Barack Obama. Saudi leaders felt Obama was reluctant to get involved in the civil war in Syria and was tilting toward Riyadh's regional rival Iran. The Sunni Muslim kingdom "felt marginalised" during international negotiations on a nuclear accord with Shiite Iran, an American defence official said. That deal, signed in July 2015 by the Obama administration, saw the lifting of international sanctions in exchange for guarantees that Tehran will not pursue a nuclear weapons capability. Mattis arrived in Riyadh Tuesday afternoon, wishing to "reinvigorate" ties by listening to Saudi leaders and learning "what are their priorities", the official said. The retired four-star Marine general will meet King Salman, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, and Salman's son Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who holds the defence portfolio. The deputy crown prince last month met President Donald Trump in Washington. Saudi leaders worry about Iran interfering in Arab countries by using Shiite communities to advance their pawns, as in Bahrain, Lebanon and Yemen. - New Iran sanctions - Bordering Saudi Arabia, Yemen has been torn for more than two years by a civil war between Iran-backed Huthi rebels, their allies, and pro-government forces aided by a Saudi-led military coalition that receives some military support from the US. The Saudis have found a more favourable ear in Washington under Trump, who denounces Iran's "harmful influence" in the Middle East. Mattis has called Iran "the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world". Story continues In February, Trump imposed new sanctions on Tehran after a ballistic missile test launch, and in response to its support for Yemen's rebels. The US military is watching Huthi activities along the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait connecting the Red Sea with the Indian Ocean. Rebels in late January attacked a Saudi warship in the Red Sea, and they are also believed to have fired missiles towards US warships in the area. The United States accuses the rebels of deploying coastal defence missiles and other weapons which threaten free navigation in the waterway which is vital to global trade. "I am extraordinarily concerned about another contested maritime chokepoint in the region," US Central Command chief General Joseph Votel told the House Armed Services Committee in March. Tensions with Iran were already high over another waterway, the Strait of Hormuz which links the Gulf and the Indian Ocean. Iran aims to become the "predominant power" in the Middle East, Votel said. - Anti-IS campaign - Trump's Yemen focus has so far been on a major escalation of attacks against jihadists from the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula group in Yemen. Pentagon officials have so far remained cautious on what they might do to support Saudi Arabia. The Trump administration could, for example, lift a freeze on the delivery of precision guided bombs to the kingdom. Obama's government blocked their transfer in December because of concerns over civilian casualties in Yemen. Trump could also decide to reinforce support for the Arab coalition in Yemen, even if his administration wants the return "as quickly as possible" of UN-backed peace talks, as Mattis said at the start of his Saudi trip. Washington would also like Riyadh to step up its participation in the campaign against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. Options include the kingdom intensifying its aerial operations or its humanitarian aid, the American defence official said, describing the fight against IS as "our number one concern". Mattis is expected to evoke with the Saudis Washington's intentions towards Syria, where Riyadh has aided some rebel groups. For the first time in six years of Syria's war, the American military intervened directly against the regime of Bashar al-Assad by firing 59 cruise missiles at a Syrian government airbase. Saudi Arabia applauded this month's strike after a suspected chemical bombing of a rebel-held town which the US blamed on Assad. After Saudi Arabia, Mattis travels Thursday to Egypt and then to Israel on Friday before returning to the Gulf Saturday for talks in Qatar. Some conservative American analysts say the US should build a common front between Israel and the Gulf monarchies, who have no diplomatic relations with the Jewish state. McDonalds employees in Pennsylvania tried to stall the man accused of killing an elderly stranger in Cleveland when the suspect stopped to order food at the fast-food chain in the midst of a manhunt. A McDonalds employee who recognized Steve Stephens told the Erie Times-News that he called state police and waited before handing Stephens his complete drive-through order of 20 chicken nuggets and fries. We told him his fries were going to be a minute, Henry Sayers, the manager of the Erie County restaurant, told the Times-News. I am pretty sure he figured out that we were on to him, said Thomas DuCharme Jr., owner and operator of the McDonalds, according to the Times-News. He didnt want to wait for his fries. Stephens, 37, drove away without them, and he was confronted by police about five miles away. He shot and killed himself after law enforcement officials attempted to confront him. Stephens is accused of fatally shooting 74-year-old Robert Godwin Sr. at random on Sunday and then sharing the footage on Facebook. This article was originally published on TIME.com Mercedes-Benz already has the CLA, but the automaker sees room for a second, more practical sedan in its compact car family. This new sedan is being previewed on Wednesday at the 2017 Shanghai auto show by the A Sedan concept which also heralds the new look for Mercedes next-generation compacts. The new look is clearly an evolution of Mercedes current design language known as Sensual Purity, and is contrasted by more defined proportions and smoother surfacing. Our concept A Sedan shows that the time of creases is over, Mercedes design boss Gorden Wagener said in a statement. With its perfect proportions and a sensual treatment of surfaces with reduced lines, it is the next milestone of Sensual Purity and has the potential to introduce a new design era. At 179.9 inches in length, the concept is similar in size to the CLA but should be roomier due to a longer, flatter roof and what appears to be a more cab-forward design. The concept also has taller windows, a more vertical C-pillar and shorter overhangs front and rear compared to the CLA. Mercedes-Benz A Sedan concept versus CLA The 20-inch wheels, A-wing splitter and Panamericana grille are all elements we can expect on the future compact lineup from Mercedes-AMG. Dont hold your breath for the ultra-low stance, flush door handles and grid structure of the headlights showing up on any production model, though. The grid structure was implemented to provide a contrast with the smooth body. It also features a special coating that enables it to give off a different glow whether its the daytime running lights shining on it or the main headlight projector. Mercedes' current range of compacts based on the MFA front-wheel-drive platform have proven extremely popular, with more than two million of them sold since the first member, the current A-Class hatch, was introduced in 2012. The success has prompted Mercedes to add even more models for its next-generation compact car family based on an updated MFA2 platform. Story continues One of these new models will be a production version of the A Sedan concept, likely to be called an A-Class. Others will include a rugged, G-Class-inspired SUV and possibly a convertible. These will be in addition to replacements for the A-Class hatch, B-Class minivan, CLA coupe-like sedan, CLA Shooting Brake wagon, and GLA urban SUV. The first member of Mercedes next-generation compact family will be an A-Class hatch, prototypes for which have been spied. Its due for a reveal later this year. Its not clear when the A-Class sedan will arrive and whether Mercedes will even sell it in the United States. For more Shanghai auto show coverage, head to our dedicated hub. By Sofia Menchu GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Javier Duarte, the former state governor of Mexico's ruling party who was arrested in Guatemala at the weekend, said in court on Wednesday he would not agree to be extradited until his lawyers were able to study a formal extradition request. "At this time, I can't agree (to extradition) until the formal extradition request arrives, and it can be studied by my defense team" said Duarte. "This doesn't mean I won't accept it, though." If Duarte agrees to be extradited, he could be back in Mexico within a month, according to Guatemalan justice officials. If not, it might take considerably longer. Duarte faces prosecution for embezzlement and organized crime in Mexico, where he was the governor of Veracruz state until last year. He has denied any wrongdoing. A lawyer for Duarte said shortly after the arrest the former governor would likely accept his extradition. The Mexican government has 60 days to present a formal extradition request to Guatemala. Duarte's defense team will then decide whether to agree to his extradition. He will remain jailed during that time. The Mexican Attorney General's Office said this week that Duarte's extradition could take up to a year if he resists. Duarte, who governed the oil-rich state of Veracruz for President Enrique Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), became a symbol of corruption in Mexico, and his case is highly politicized with elections looming. (Reporting by Sofia Menchu; Editing by Sandra Maler) Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee arriving at Trump Tower last November. (Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is well aware his Twitter witticisms elicit eye rolls and groans; he just doesnt care. The two-time presidential candidates 140-character comedy show frequently pops up in Twitter feeds of journalists and political operatives, inspiring professional critiques and even a Jimmy Kimmel skit, along with countless pleas to give his thumbs a rest. His shtick consists of corny (and sometimes confusing) quips regarding various current events. Among other things, his freewheeling tweets have referred to Snoop Dogg as Poop Dogg, compared Senate Democrats to turkeys hes hunted, and equated Comcast service, unfavorably, with the Obama administration. Huckabee recently told Yahoo News that he embraces a genre he calls groan humor, and encourages his detractors to buzz off. If it is absolutely causing you to be constipated, then for heavens sakes, get off my Twitter feed, he said. I know there are people who will respond back with a smiley face, or an LOL, or some indication they were at least slightly amused, Huckabee said. I find that pleasurable. A transcript of the interview, edited for clarity and length, is below. Do you write all your own tweets? Yes, I dont want to implicate anyone else in my activities that would forever scar their reputations and future. They dont go through any of your staff members or anything like that? Much to their regret, no. It used to. It used to. In fact, when I was a candidate and everybody was so nervous about everything I would say. You know, I didnt even have my own Twitter password. They kept it from me. Really? Yeah, there were so many people that were nervous about what I would do and of course now they know that they were very wise in feeling that way. But after the campaign I said, I want to be able to do what I want. So, I do. Do you read the responses to your tweets? Occasionally. I read some of them. And the ones that are mean towards me, I dont care. Thats part of the deal and some of them are funny. Quite frankly, some of the things people say back to me that are intended to be mean I find amusing. But when they attack members of my family, to me thats, thats hateful. Story continues Tell me about your joke-writing process. Well, I tell people, look, I write for my own amusement. I find Twitter amusing to me. And so I share it, and a lot of people you know, most of my humor is what I call groan humor, groaning people, oh boy. Groaning, g-r-o-a-n. Intentionally, Its just sort of the kind of stuff that causes people to just maybe smile but theyre in on the joke, they get it, that its intended, tongue-in-cheek. I picked out a few standout tweets of yours to see if you could give me background information or walk me through how you came up with them, or just give me your reaction to them now that some time has passed: [Laughing] Oh, no. During Gorsuchs confirmation hearing: Breaking News! Jimmy Dean Sausage Co will be renamed GORSUCH SAUSAGE because he's grinding up some Democrat Senators into PURE PORK SAUSAGE! Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) March 21, 2017 I grew up with Jimmy Dean Sausage commercials, first of all. Its a little bit of a play on the thought that theres the old saying: Two things you should never see made are sausage and laws. And its also the fact that I thought that while there were many of the Democratic senators who Im convinced thought they were just gonna take Gorsuch down and make him totally look like a fool he came across as a very reasonable, responsible, very thoughtful constitutional scholar. And I was frankly stunned at how little they could go after him and get anything on him. I mean, they just couldnt seem to lay a glove on him. And so, for me, it was just a matter of, he ground them up into sausage. I thought it was funny. After Rachel Maddow revealed two pages of Trumps 2005 tax return: Rachel Maddow tonight reveals Amelia Earhart & Jimmy Hoffa are found; they married and had a childSnoop Dog, who paid no taxes ever! Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) March 15, 2017 I was embarrassed for Rachel Maddow the night that she breathlessly teased for 23 minutes that she had something really remarkable. And what she found out was that Donald Trump was very, very rich, and he paid a whole lot of money in taxes. And I thought, Boy, now theres a revelation for us all. Stop the presses here. Tell the New York Times to hold the front page. I mean, seriously, I was embarrassed for her. And this will surprise you: I actually like Rachel Maddow. I think she is who she is. Shes good at what she does. And Ive been on her show in the past and frankly enjoyed it. She was very fair to me when I was on her show. After now Attorney General Jeff Sessions admitted to meeting with the Russian ambassador: Full disclosure:I have NOT met with Russian AMB, but did have Russian dressing on a salad last September. I'll recuse from salads for a week Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) March 3, 2017 Yeah. [Laughs] Well, Ive been amazed at how this whole Russian theme has just dominated so much of the conversation about Donald Trump. As if, you know, Donald Trump is two-stepping down Fifth Avenue from Trump Tower to Central Park every morning and making a secret phone call to Putin. With no evidence. And, you know, to keep pretending that they interfered in our elections, Im thinking, well Im sure if they did, they wish they hadnt, because Trump is not exactly making them wanna give him the Friend of Russia Award right now. During the Oscars: Watch celebs spew ignorant political venom at Oscars?? Nahthink I'd rather have a colonoscopy. Both happen from same location. Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) February 26, 2017 [Laughs] Yeah. Yeah, that one got a lot more reaction than I thought it would. First of all, Im a movie fan. I love film but if I watch the art of a movie, I dont really care what the actors politics are. Thats not why Im watching. And Im watching their art. And their politics is their business and thats fine. When they try to impose it on me in the context of the Oscars and turn something that oughta be the celebration of their art into almost some self-immolation, setting themselves on fire about who got elected, I just wanna say, youre ruining your own moment here. You know, just go up and take the award and thank the people that helped you get it and let us enjoy your craft and your brilliance at doing it. Last month: I Tweet for my amusement and your amazement. To haters trolls and humorless people-you really shouldn't follow me. It's way over your head! Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) March 21, 2017 [Laughs] Yeah, you know, one of the things that amazes me most is that everyday I probably have a hundred people tell me, Delete your account, Why are you doing this? Youre not funny, Youre miserable. And Im thinking, Last time I checked, theres not a single law in any one of the 50 states that require you to follow me on Twitter. So, if this is killing you, if it is absolutely causing you to be constipated, then for heaven sakes, get off my Twitter feed. Just go follow somebody that will let you go freely. But leave me alone! I mean, thats what I dont understand. I find it absurd that people act like they have the right to shut down someone elses speech. Now, its different if Im holding them hostage, and if by law they had to read my tweets everyday. Sure, Id get that they would be upset. Your jokes are almost always current events, mostly political happenings. Is there any subject matter you consider off-limits? You know, a lot of the comedians, like Jerry Seinfeld, wont even play college campuses anymore because everybody gets offended by every joke. And I realize that comedy can be offensive. I think its one of the great aspects of free speech is that people should have some leeway in saying things, even offensive things. And if its truly offensive, and somebody can point out why its so offensive, then they can apologize for it. But I think a lot of the peoples hurts that they demand an apology for, its manufactured. Theyre not really hurt. Theyre not personally injured by it. Their feelings arent so shattered that theyre not gonna be able to have breakfast in the morning. And I just find its absurd and I want everybody to grow up and say, look, people say things all the time. My entire life, I had people say things that were intended to hurt me. Have you ever tweeted something you later regretted or admit now wasnt a good joke? Oh, Ive done a lot that, later on, I thought, That was really stupid. And my kids are usually the ones who are the first to either text me or call me or email and say, Dad, are you serious? Were gonna take the Twitter account away from you. You know kids. Yeah, theyre my worst critics. [Laughs] Whats the reaction like from your family, friends, and staff? Normally, its, they roll their eyes and sometimes they just tell me, please, dont do that again. But, you know, thats OK. Occasionally they actually think something I did was funny. You mentioned Jerry Seinfeld earlier. Do you have any favorite comedians? Oh, theres a lot. Seinfeld is great. I saw him in concert, he was just amazing. And I like some of the old-school comedians. The days of Alan King, who was so funny back on the Ed Sullivan show when I was a kid and would watch stuff like that. Rita Rudner is to me one of the funniest people alive, because shes so subtle and none of her humor is over-the-top. Its not profane; its clean, but its hilarious. I like it when people make me laugh because what they said is just so stinking funny. And, you know, to me, Seinfeld is that brand of comedian. Finally, the president is an avid Twitter user. Do you have any tips for him? [Laughs] You think he would listen if I gave him any? [Laughs] You know, I know a lot of people have been on him for it and, you know, sometimes hell tweet something and Im thinking, Uh-oh, thats gonna leave a mark. But heres my assessment of it: Its been so rare that weve ever been able to kind of know what a president really thinks. Because theyre so scripted, theyre so controlled they are so inside this very thick bubble and protected by so many people in the palace guard that the president really is not a real person anymore. So, I find it incredibly refreshing that this president is allowing us, even when we kind of go, Uh-oh, and even recoil at what he might say, that we have a real clear picture. Hey, this is a real human being with passions and feelings, and he has reactions. And I find it refreshing, because the American president was never intended to be royalty, removed from the people, but rather a servant of the people and a reflection of them. And so, rather than hope that he gives away his Twitter and never does another tweet again, I find it refreshing. A Florida woman faces child abuse charges after police say she burned her son with a hot iron as a form of punishment. Tamecha Jean, 32, was arrested and charged with aggravated child abuse Monday following a tip that was called in to a child abuse hotline. Read: Teacher Charged With Child Sex Abuse After Being Impregnated by Student Pembroke Pines police allege Jean, a mother of three, burned her 9-year-old son on the chest as punishment for forgetting paperwork at school. "We spoke with the child, and we were able to observe the alleged injuries, which he did have on his chest," Pembroke Pines Police Captain Al Xiques told WSVN. "One burn mark appeared to be about the size of a quarter, and the other burn mark appeared to be about one inch long." Xiques called the alleged abuse "more of a form of torture" than a punishment. Jean appeared at a bond hearing, where a prosecutor asked the judge for a $20,000 bond. However, the judge chose to release Jean on her own recognizance. She will be outfitted with an ankle monitor as she awaits her next hearing. Read: Parents Blasted for Screaming at Their Crying Children in Prank Video: 'You Just Got Owned' According to CBS Miami, police said Jean told them she accidentally burned her son while trying to whip him with a belt. Meanwhile, the mother is not allowed to have any contact with the child in question and may only see her other two children under supervision. All three children were placed in protective custody. Read: Boy, 11, Reportedly Killed Himself After Mistakenly Thinking His Girlfriend Had Taken Her Life Related Articles: Ingram Publishing/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- Are you getting a tax refund this year and are eager to spend that newfound cash? According to the IRS, the average individual income tax refund for 2016 was $3,050. Depending on where you start, that money can take you far, far away ... on a vacation. Here are seven destinations where airfare and a hotel stay will cost less than the average refund. Island-hopping in the Aegean Sea Spend nearly two weeks soaking up the sun on some of Greece's most beautiful islands for just $1,499. This trip from Go-Today begins with two nights in Athens, where travelers can visit the Parthenon and the Temple of Poseidon. The next nine nights are spread across the relaxing islands of Mykonos, Crete and Santorini. The cost includes airfare, hotel accommodations and daily breakfast. A taste of Ireland Get the full Irish experience with this two-week trip from Friendly Planet, starting at $2,699, which features visits to classic Ireland destinations like Dublin, Killarney, Galway and Belfast. The cost includes round-trip flights, all ground transportation and transfers, hotel and meal accommodations, and a guide to help get the the most out of the charming country. Experience Ecuador This eight-day trip from LivingSocial takes travelers to exotic Ecuador and Galapagos Islands for just $1,399. The fee includes round-trip international and local flights, six breakfasts, and hotel accommodations. For even more adventure, activities like snorkling with sea lions and observing giant sea turtles are available for a small extra fee. Mamma mia! Also from Go-Today is the so-called Italian Adventure package, priced from $1,099. The cheapest prices are found in October; plan to pay between $100 -- $1,000 more for high season departures in July. The trip includes round-trip airfare from New York (other gateways available), accommodations in Rome, Florence and Venice with rail transfers in between. The 10-day trip is a good option for someone who wants the ease of a fully-booked tour but wants to primarily explore on their own. Breakfast, as well as hotel taxes and surcharges, are also included in the price. Get there before the crowds Yes, were talking about Cuba. The hottest hotspot is tops on every travelers radar, so do yourself a favor and get there before everyone else does. Included in the price of $2,818 from Apple Vacations is a four-night Havana Tour with multiple summer departure dates. Round-trip airfare from Miami, hotel accommodations, tours, private workshops, a salsa lesson, antique car rides and more are included in the price. Get away from it all Dreaming of white-sand beaches, a tropical drink and nothing on the agenda but rest and relaxation? Consider the Cook Islands, an island nation in the South Pacific roughly halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand. A trip from Pleasant Holidays will cost $1,165 for a five-night vacation depending on hotel class and departure city. Round-trip airfare on Air New Zealand is included, as are hotel accommodations and taxes. Asia taxperience STA Travel, famous for catering to student travelers, has created two taxperience vacations for those interested in Asia. An 8-day trip to northern Thailand is priced from $1,296 per person with New York and Los Angeles departures and includes flight and hotel with travel from Bangkok to Chang Mei. Theres also a Vietnam and Cambodia trip priced from $1,653 from New York (slightly less from Los Angeles) and takes in Angor Wat and Ho Chi Min City. The 9-day trip touches down in Bangkok, so youll get three countries for one price. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Jakarta's Christian governor on Wednesday lost heavily to a Muslim former government minister in an election run-off, private polls indicated, after a divisive battle that has damaged Indonesia's reputation as a bastion of tolerant Islam. Anies Baswedan, who was accused of pandering to hardliners to win votes, and his supporters cheered as news came through that surveys showed him winning by over 10 percentage points against Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who was fighting for his job while standing trial for blasphemy. Official results are not expected until early May but the private pollsters, who count a sample of votes, are usually accurate. The vote was seen as a test of whether the moderate Islam traditionally practised in the world's most populous Muslim country is under threat from hardliners, who have led a series of mass demonstrations against Purnama over allegations he insulted the Koran. It came against a backdrop of rising religious intolerance that has tainted the image of the diverse Indonesian archipelago as a pluralistic country in recent years, with a surge in attacks on minorities. Baswedan, a former education minister, thanked Jakarta's voters for supporting him and hinted that he would move to heal the divisions in the capital after the bitter poll, if his victory was confirmed. "We celebrate diversity... We are all ready to work together again," the 47-year-old said. Purnama, the city's first non-Muslim governor for half a century and its first ethnic Chinese leader, congratulated Baswedan and his running mate, adding: "We are all the same, we want a good Jakarta, because it is our home." The defeat is also a blow for President Joko Widodo, whose party had backed Purnama. - 'Stay unified' - The incumbent had long been a shoo-in to win re-election after gaining popularity due to his determined efforts to clean up Jakarta. But the governor -- known by his nickname Ahok -- lost a once-unassailable lead after a controversy erupted last year over claims that he had insulted Islam, a grave charge in Indonesia. Story continues His troubles began in September when he lightheartedly said in a speech that his rivals were tricking people into voting against him by using a Koranic verse, which some interpret as meaning Muslims should only choose Muslim leaders. The allegations drew hundreds of thousands of conservative Muslims onto the streets of Jakarta in major protests, and led to Purnama being put on trial for blasphemy in a case critics see as politically motivated. Purnama won in the election's first round in February but Baswedan was seen as the favourite in the run-off because the votes from a third, Muslim, candidate who was knocked out were expected to go to him. Opinion polls in the run-up to the vote indicated that the race was neck and neck but in the event Baswedan strongly defeated Purnama, the pollsters indicated. They showed him with about 57 percent to Purnama on 43 percent. More than 7.2 million people were registered to vote in the polls, which are also important as politicians view them as a potential stepping stone to the presidency in 2019. After an anti-Purnama protest last year turned violent, authorities were taking no chances and over 60,000 security force personnel had been deployed but there was little sign of unrest. Purnama's long-running blasphemy trial began in December. Prosecutors are due to recommend a sentence on Thursday, and a verdict is expected within weeks. Many voters still supported Purnama due to his performance as governor since 2014. He had won praise for cleaning up once-filthy rivers and creating more green spaces, although his acerbic style had upset some. There is a new crack in one of Greenland's largest glaciers, and NASA researchers have captured the first images of the ice shelf's mysterious rift. Operation IceBridge, NASA's airborne survey of polar ice, recently completed a land-ice mission over northwest Greenland. During the mission, researchers flew over and photographed a new rift near the center of Petermann Glacier's ice shelf (the floating end of the glacier). In the survey photos, the new rift appears relatively close to a larger, known crack that is spreading toward the center of the ice shelf. [Images: Greenland's Gorgeous Glaciers] Part of Petermann Glacier's ice shelf could break off if the two rifts intersect, but researchers with Operation IceBridge said in a post on Facebook that the "medial flowline" (the flow of ice in the middle of the ice shelf) could keep the new rift from advancing. Petermann, one of Greenland's largest glaciers, has shrunk in recent years. Previous rifts have resulted in massive icebergs breaking away from the glacier. In 2012, an iceberg the size of Manhattan broke away from the glacier's ice shelf. In 2010, another iceberg, this one four times the size of Manhattan, dropped, or calved, from Petermann. It was one of the largest ever recorded in Greenland, Live Science had reported. A portion of the new rift at the center of Petermann Glacier's floating ice shelf (straight feature near bottom center), and an older rift from the side of the shelf (near top center), as photographed during a recent Operation IceBridge mission in northeast Greenland. Kelly Brunt/NASA The glacier's new rift was discovered by Stef Lhermitte, an Earth sciences professor at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, while studying satellite images of the area, reported The Washington Post. Lhermitte provided coordinates of the chasm to Operation IceBridge so that researchers could conduct an aerial survey of the ice shelf. "[It's] amazing to see the rift from nearby after studying it from space for several days," Lhermitte told The Washington Post. "From these images alone, it is difficult to already say anything about what exactly caused the crack on this unusual spot." Story continues Glaciers typically crack along their sides. A rift in the center of the floating ice shelf could be due to the warming ocean waters beneath the shelf, Lhermitte hypothesized, according to The Washington Post. In other parts of the world, researchers have observed warm ocean waters that are melting ice shelves from below and weakening them at the center. A recent study of Antarctica's Pine Island Glacier showed that subsurface cracks in the glacier were likely caused by melting underneath the floating ice shelf. Original article on Live Science. Editor's Recommendations Photo credit: U.S. Navy photo. From Popular Mechanics The U.S. Navy wants a drone that can fly off an aircraft carrier, but not to bomb the enemy or engage other aircraft-at least, not yet. The MQ-25 Stingray will be an unmanned tanker, extending the range of the other carrier aircraft, with the possibility of bomber and intelligence-gathering missions baked into the plane down the road. The Navy has awarded risk reduction contracts to the four companies vying to produce the first operational, carrier-borne drone. Now, the Navy has also proven that unmanned carrier landings and takeoffs are possible. The Northrop Grumman X-47B unmanned aircraft, a tech demonstrator built for this purpose, achieved the feat with flying colors in 2013. Once the technology was proven, the Navy had to figure out exactly what kind of missions its first carrier drone would undertake Photo credit: General Atomics. Many naval analysts initially clamored for a new unmanned, long range bomber. For decades the Navy had the A-6 Intruder, a dedicated carrier-borne bomber that had a range of about 1,000 nautical miles when fully loaded with bombs and missiles, and that's not including the possibility of midair refueling. But its replacement to be, the A-12 Avenger II stealth bomber, was canceled in the early 1990s after cost overruns and the end of the Cold War. But a more pressing concern for the Navy may be range. Today's F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and the upcoming F-35C-the aircraft carrier version of the Joint Strike Fighter-have a combat range just over half that of the A-6. While this hasn't become a pressing issue in recent years, China's emphasis on new weapons meant to keep American ships and planes away from mainland Asia has suddenly pushed the range problem to the forefront. Long range aircraft are suddenly in vogue, the idea being to "out-stick" Chinese weapons such as the DF-21D "carrier killer" missile without exposing American ships to needless risk. If you have planes with enough range to keep the aircraft carrier out of harm's way, those defense are no problem. Story continues Photo credit: U.S. Navy photo by Liz Wolter. Rather than building a fleet of long-range drone bombers, however, the Navy took a different tack. The new drone, now known as the MQ-25 Stingray, will be an aerial refueling tanker. While this is an unglamorous job, the decision makes a lot of sense. American Nimitz and Ford-class supercarriers carry about 74 aircraft today but routinely carried 85 to 90 aircraft during the Cold War, so there's room on them for a dozen or so additional planes planes. Instead of fielding ten new long-range strike planes, a carrier could instead have ten drone tankers that help the ship's 44 strike jets reach distant targets. A tanker is also faster, cheaper, and easier to develop. The Navy has said that once the Stingray platform has matured, then limited intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities could be added in, as well as a modest strike capability. The risk reduction contracts went out to Northrop Grumman Systems Corp ($24 million), Boeing ($19.1 million), Lockheed Martin ($18.9 million) and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems ($18.7 million). Northrop Grumman, the developer of the original X-47B drone, likely has the lead as the only contractor that has built a carrier drone before. Analyst Craig Hooper suggests Boeing might offer an unmanned Super Hornet, which would keep the "Superbug" production line humming for years. Lockheed Martin has a flying wing design that, according to AINOnline, combines its experience with the RQ-170 Sentinel drone and the F-35. Finally, General Atomics is proposing a carrier-borne version of its Avenger drone. Whatever the case, the MQ-25's focus means that whatever design is eventually chosen, the entire carrier air wing will benefit. Here's a video of Lockheed Martin's entry for the original carrier drone program, UCLASS. The company's MQ-25 offering will likely look very similar: Source: Seapower You Might Also Like Abuja (AFP) - Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday suspended two key aides over an alleged contract scam and for keeping an unauthorised stash of cash in a private home, his office said. Buhari "has ordered an investigation into the allegations of violations of law and due process made against the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr David Babachir Lawal, in the award of contracts" in the north-east, the presidency said in a statement. The Nigerian leader also directed that Lawal be suspended from office "pending the outcome of the investigations." Last year, Lawal, a top-ranking member of the administration and a Buhari confidant, was alleged to have awarded contracts running into millions of naira to companies in which he had interests, within the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE). He denied the accusations. The money was part of government funds meant to rehabilitate the victims of the Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast. The Senate summoned Lawal to explain himself but he refused, prompting lawmakers to ask the president to remove him. Buhari has also suspended Ayo Oke, the head of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), one of the country's spy bodies, pending an investigation into the discovery of a stash of cash in a private apartment in the upscale Ikoyi area of Lagos. - Litmus test for Buhari - Last week, the country's anti-graft agency EFCC seized over $43 million in cash during a raid on the apartment. The money has been claimed by the NIA, prompting Buhari to order an investigation "to enquire into the circumstances in which the NIA came into possession of the funds, how and by whose or which authority the funds were made available to the NIA". The probe will also establish whether or not there has been a breach of the law or security procedure in obtaining custody and use of the funds. The investigators have 14 days to submit their report to the president. Story continues The suspension of the two top aides is seen as a litmus test for Buhari who came to power in 2015 vowing to stop the plunder of state funds by corrupt politicians and public officials. Critics have accused the no-nonsense former army general who first led a military regime in the 1980s as conducting a political witch-hunt because many of those arrested for graft are opposition party members or served in the previous administration. But the government has dismissed the charges, insisting that anyone with proven case of graft would face the law. By Chris Kenning (Reuters) - An Ohio man who professed support for the Islamic State militant group has pleaded guilty to soliciting the murder of U.S. military personnel, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday. Terrence McNeil, 24, of Akron, Ohio, pleaded guilty to five counts of solicitation to commit a crime of violence and five counts of making threatening interstate communications, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement. Under the terms of his plea, McNeil faces between 15 and 20 years in prison when he is sentenced on Aug. 2. McNeil's attorney, Nathan Ray, could not immediately be reached for comment. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Cleveland said the plea was entered on Tuesday in federal court. Prosecutors say McNeil spread Islamic State's violent rhetoric, circulated information about U.S. military personnel, and explicitly called for them to be killed. "Now, he will be held accountable," Acting Assistant Attorney General Mary McCord said in the statement. According to prosecutors, in 2015 McNeil posted online "kill lists" with the names and addresses of 100 U.S. military members and asked others to murder them on behalf of Islamic State, to which he had professed support on social media. "Kill them in their own lands, behead them in their own homes, stab them to death as they walk their streets thinking that they are safe," one of his online posts read, according to the Justice Department's statement. Stephen Anthony, special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Cleveland division, said federal law enforcement authorities aggressively defend people's First Amendment rights, but that McNeil's actions "went far beyond free speech." (Reporting by Chris Kenning in Chicago; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Matthew Lewis) The International Monetary Fund may be one of the United States greatest post-war success stories, but as the worlds finance ministers, central bankers and investors arrive in Washington this week for the IMF Spring Meetings, an otherwise generally optimistic global economic picture is tempered not simply by heightened geopolitical risk and uncertainty, but also great concern about whether the new U.S. administration will continue to support the IMF. Just this past weekend, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross characterized as rubbish IMF Managing Director Christine Lagardes warnings alongside those of the World Bank and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that while prospects for global economic recovery had brightened, a sword of protectionism and political uncertainty posed downside risks. Even before last years U.S. election, the IMF had warned of the economic consequences of rising populist anti-trade sentiment around the world. Were Lagarde to have ignored current trade and political uncertainties it could have undermined the IMFs integrity. While there has been no official contemplation of reducing U.S. support for the IMF, President Donald Trumps skinny budget proposed sharp reductions in support for United Nations and affiliated agencies, the World Bank, and other multilateral development banks (MDBs). Adding to the unease, the presidents nominees for the two top international positions at the Treasury Department have both expressed skepticism for support of the IMF in the past. More worrying still was the recent rejection by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin of the phrase rules based in the G-20 finance communique last month. While the excising of a sentence eschewing protectionism got more headlines, the unwillingness of the United States to explicitly support the rules based system of which Washington was the architect and anchor for the past 70-plus years adds to overall fears. The global economic and trading order was effectively designed to be rules based specifically to advance a U.S. vision of open markets, representative liberal democracy, and rule of law. Washington benefited from the structural architecture of the system, which provided enormous strategic and economic benefits to Americans; the gains far outweighed losses in any individual trade dispute or macroeconomic stability assessment. The words global governance may be taboo in the Trump administration, but the U.S.- crafted system allows decisions at the IMF to be taken such that member countries feel that they have a voice, even as most decisions are taken by consensus. The United States, of course, maintains an outright veto over major decisions. Washington cannot dictate outcomes, but its sway generally insures that American interests are strongly taken into account and that it remains the indispensable nation. The Trump administration would be foolish to walk away from Americas leadership role at the IMF, which remains one of the great success stories of post-war governance and multilateral cooperation; all while largely advancing U.S. strategic and economic national interests. As the worlds largest and most financially interconnected economy, the United States benefited from the IMFs prevention or mitigation of multiple global crises that could have caused significant economic damage. It played a central role in managing the transition of communist bloc countries to market economies following the fall of the Soviet Union. It plays a central role in combatting terrorist financing and money laundering. And the IMF has provided support for governments in the Middle East/North Africa and countries on frontline of the war on terror, including through current programs or arrangements with Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, Jordan, Tunisia, Kenya, as well as other key strategic hot spots, including Ukraine and Pakistan. Perhaps most resonant for this particular president, the IMF distributes the burden of fighting crises and stabilizing economies across the funds 189 members, rather than concentrating it on the shoulders of the United States. For every dollar Washington invests in the IMF, it effectively leverages about four dollars from other countries. Should Trump actually walk back U.S. leadership at the IMF, other international financial institutions, and MDBs, China has made it known that it is ready and willing to assume the mantle of leadership. Under the presidency of Xi Jinping, China has evolved from a self-described adolescent on the world stage to an increasingly confident leader, especially on issues of international economic policy cooperation. At both last Novembers APEC meeting and in Davos, Xi began to publicly express Chinas willingness to play the stabilizing anchor role on the multilateral stage. Even before the election of Donald Trump, as the Obama administration stepped away from providing ancillary funding for the IMF during the latter stages of the global recession and euro crisis, Beijing was already stepping up to provide emergency funding to the IMF. In spite of its questionable adherence to the basics of open markets, free trade, and transparency, China has increasingly embraced the global system and is loath to see it collapse. During his campaign, Trump persuaded voters that he would look after America First. With the worlds economic policy elite converging on Washington this week, it would be hard to find an institution that plays a greater role in supporting the economic and strategic interests of the United States than does the IMF. It may be too much to ask that the nervousness from protectionism and political uncertainty are put to rest this week. But when the IMFC, the IMFs policymaking body, meets on Saturday, it would be in the United States and the worlds interests if Secretary Mnuchin were to deliver a strong and clear statement of support for the IMF from its biggest beneficiary. Photo credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Palestinian leaders on Wednesday denounced Israel's refusal to negotiate with Palestinians on hunger strike in Israeli jails, warning of a "new intifada" if any of them die. Some 1,500 Palestinian prisoners have joined the hunger strike that began Monday, according to Issa Qaraqe, head of detainees' affairs for the Palestinian Authority. Contacted by AFP, Israel's prison service declined to comment on the number. The hunger strike has been led by prominent prisoner and popular Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life sentences over his role in the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising. He has been placed in solidary confinement in a separate prison over the strike and disciplinary measures have been taken against hunger strikers, though Israeli authorities have not provided details. Qaraqe alleged that their lawyers and relatives were being barred from visiting them. The prisoners have made a range of demands, from better medical care to access to telephones. Around 6,500 Palestinians are currently detained by Israel for a range of offences and alleged crimes. Of those, 62 are women and 300 are minors. Around 500 are held under administrative detention, which allows for imprisonment without charge. Palestinian prisoners have mounted repeated hunger strikes, but rarely on such a scale. Qaraqe said the strike followed months of attempts at negotiations with Israeli authorities. "If their demands are not met, more prisoners will join the strike," he said. "We have asked the international community and the UN to intervene immediately." He added that if prisoners die, "that could lead to a new intifada." While a wave of Palestinian car, knife and gun attacks erupted in October 2015, the unrest has greatly subsided in recent months, though sporadic violence continues to occur. On Wednesday, a Palestinian rammed a car into a bus stop at a tense junction in the occupied West Bank, wounding one person before soldiers opened fire and killed the assailant, Israel's military said. Story continues The Palestinian health ministry identified the man killed as Suheib Mashahrah, 21. - 'Tantamount to torture' - Israeli officials have vowed not to negotiate with the hunger strikers, with Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan on Tuesday calling them "terrorists and incarcerated murderers." Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said that authorities "would not hesitate to implement the law which authorises the force-feeding of detainees". The controversial law passed in 2015 concerns hunger strikers whose life is deemed in danger. Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said he wanted to take the approach of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who publicly refused to accede to the demands of IRA hunger strikers in 1981, 10 of whom died. Qaraqe accused Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, of "incitement" against the prisoners. Shawan Jabarin of Palestinian rights group Al-Haq said invoking the force-feeding law would be "tantamount to torture" and could endanger the lives of those who have been ingesting only water and salt. Barghouti is popular among Palestinians, with polls suggesting he could win the Palestinian presidency. While many Palestinians view the 57-year-old as a hero, Israelis point to the bloody suicide attacks of the second intifada of 2000-2005 and his role in the uprising. He was convicted of attacks that killed five people, though declined to defend himself and did not recognise the court's legitimacy. For Palestinians, the prisons have become a stark symbol of Israel's occupation. Some 850,000 Palestinians have been incarcerated since the start of Israel's occupation 50 years ago, Palestinian leaders say. Palestinians allege that the imprisonments by an occupying force violate international law and have asked the International Criminal Court to examine the issue. "Countries that have signed international accords must not allow the occupier to be above the law," said Palestinian lawmaker Khalida Jarrar, recently released from prison after being accused of encouraging attacks against Israelis. The last large-scale hunger strike was in February 2013, when 3,000 Palestinians refused to eat for one day in protest at the death of a fellow detainee. By Alistair Smout LEWES, England (Reuters) - Polls show British Prime Minister Theresa May on course to a landslide in the election she has called for June. But if her Conservative Party faces one potential snag in its march toward victory, it could be in places like Lewes, a small town beneath a picturesque castle in the hills near England's southern coast. Here, where the local member of parliament is a Conservative but most people voted last year to stay in the European Union, May's party has to win back those who disagree with her plans for a decisive break with the EU. Most forecasters predict Britain's main opposition Labour Party, which has struggled to formulate a position on Brexit, will lose dozens of seats to May's Conservatives. But the small, openly pro-European Liberal Democrats say they are the only party that can gain seats at May's expense, mainly in areas in the comparatively well-off south of England, where they lost seats to the Conservatives two years ago but now have a chance to win them back. "Every weekend I've spoken to people who regret voting for the Conservatives," Kelly-Marie Blundell, the Liberal Democrat, or Lib Dem, candidate for Lewes told Reuters. She said Brexit was one of the leading issues for voters in the town, which had a Lib Dem member of parliament for nearly two decades until Maria Caulfield, a former nurse, narrowly won the seat for the Conservatives in 2015. Last year, Lewes voted by 53 to 47 percent to stay in the EU. One of those "remain" voters was Kathleen Turner, a pensioner who says she will now vote Conservative to give May the mandate to carry out Brexit anyway. "Having got to where we are, we need to get on with it," she told Reuters in the town's bustling shopping district. "She's the only person for the job." BLINKERED SOCIETY May has called the election to increase the narrow 17-seat working majority in parliament she inherited from her predecessor David Cameron, who quit last year after Britons rejected his call to stay in the EU. Cameron won his majority in the 650-seat House of Commons in 2015 in part by taking seats like Lewes from the Lib Dems, who were punished by voters for going into coalition with Cameron's Conservatives five years earlier. The Lib Dems lost 49 seats in 2015 and now have just nine left. But that also means that there are 25 Conservative-held seats where the Lib Dems need a swing of less than 10 percentage points to win. "I'll probably vote Liberal Democrat. The EU is really important," said Valerie Kent, 52, a teacher who described herself as a "floating voter". "We're in danger of becoming a very blinkered society when it comes to things like immigration, and there are many who are worried about that. I would think that the Lib Dems could come back into fashion." Professor John Curtice, Britain's leading election expert, says that despite May's strong showing in head-to-head opinion polls against Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, a lot of Labour seats are still safe because of their demographics. That means May's path to a landslide may not be so straightforward, and losing a clutch of seats to the Lib Dems along the way could prove more important than it appears at first. The impact of leaving the EU on the vote is a "more complicated question", Curtice wrote in an article for the Sun newspaper. "To what extent will people depart from their usual party support because of their views on Brexit?" Even some Lib Dem supporters in pro-EU areas like Lewes wonder if the party's position on Brexit will be enough to make gains, with May riding so high in the polls. "They're targeting the 'Remain' vote, but I'm not really sure what strategy is going to work in the current environment," said artist Claire Crawford, a Lib Dem supporter who voted to stay in the EU. "Theresa May feels strong, so she's calling a vote to capitalize on the weakness of others. It's a bad time for the Liberal Democrats as well as the rest." (Writing by Michael Holden; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Peter Graff) Jakarta (AFP) - US Vice President Mike Pence will visit the largest mosque in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation -- Indonesia -- on Thursday, a symbolic gesture for the deputy in an administration accused of stoking Islamophobia. Pence will tour the Istiqlal Mosque and hold a multi-faith dialogue during the first day of a visit to Jakarta, the White House said. Pence's visit represents the Trump administration's most high-profile outreach to Muslims since coming to office and echoes a similar trip by Barack and Michelle Obama in 2010. About 90 percent of Indonesia's 255 million inhabitants are Muslim. Since becoming president almost 100 days ago, Donald Trump has hosted leaders from majority-Muslim Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. But his administration has also tried to ban travellers from several Muslim-majority nations, citing concerns about terrorism -- an effort currently being challenged in US courts. As a presidential candidate, Trump often appeared to flirt with the far right as he railed against "radical Islamic terrorism". Pence's visit has been welcomed by his hosts, who said they hoped it reflected a shift in US attitudes to Islam. Maruf Amin, the head of the Indonesian Ulema Council, the country's top Muslim clerical body, told AFP: "The US is a big country, with major influence, so it should present itself as a country which is friendly to everyone." "Hopefully Pence's visit indicates a change in attitude, at least that they are moving away from the stance that they don't like Islam much." Adam Mulawarman, the Indonesian foreign ministry's director of American affairs, said he believed "the visit to Istiqlal reflects the desire of the US to open itself to Islam, to engage in interfaith dialogue." Although Indonesia has long been held up as an example of inter-faith tolerance, religious intolerance has been rising in recent years, with a surge of attacks by Islamic hardliners on minorities. Story continues Critics say the case of Jakarta's Christian governor, who has been put on trial for blasphemy for allegedly insulting the Koran, has highlighted how religious freedoms are under threat. On Wednesday, a Muslim challenger appeared to have bested the Christian incumbent in a religiously charged Jakarta gubernatorial election. The presumptive winner Anies Baswedan was accused of pandering to hardliners to win votes. - Smoothing rough edges - Pence is currently on a tour of South Korea, Japan, Indonesia and Australia that is aimed at smoothing some of the rougher edges of Trump's rhetoric. In South Korea and Japan, Pence played down protectionist declarations of "America first" and reaffirmed US treaty commitments to the security of the two countries as tensions rise over Pyongyang's nuclear programme. But analysts say Pence's Muslim outreach in Indonesia, while welcomed, will likely not be enough to assuage fears that the Trump administration is anti-Islam. "President Trump's hostile pronouncements on Islam and Muslims have done considerable damage to his reputation in the Islamic world. It would take more than a visit to repair the damage," said Fawaz Gerges, an expert on the Middle East and Islam from the London School of Economics. In Jakarta, Pence will also meet President Joko Widodo who has been trying to reform the Indonesian economy and boost infrastructure projects. That agenda could provide some common ground. The Trump administration also wants to slash red tape and introduce a plan to fix America's creaking infrastructure. According to a White House foreign policy advisor, Pence will also praise Widodo's "leadership on counter-terrorism". Indonesia has long struggled with Islamic militancy. The talks are also likely to touch upon tensions in the South China Sea after recent clashes between Indonesian and Chinese vessels in waters near Indonesia's Natuna Islands on the fringes of the disputed waters. Yokosuka (Japan) (AFP) - The United States will counter any North Korean attack with an "overwhelming and effective" response, Vice President Mike Pence vowed Wednesday, as he stood on the deck of a massive American aircraft carrier docked in Japan. Donald Trump's deputy is in the region to reassure allies fretting over Pyongyang's quickening missile programme, and its apparent readiness to carry out another banned nuclear test in its quest to develop an atomic weapon that can hit the US mainland. Pence, whose visit started in South Korea the day after the failed launch by North Korea of what analysts said could have been a new missile, described the threat from the isolated regime as growing. Aboard the USS Ronald Reagan, the vice president, adopting a Churchillian tone, told troops he was there as "storm clouds gather on the horizon" of Northeast Asia. "North Korea is the most dangerous and urgent threat to peace and security in the Asia-Pacific," Pence said. But, "we will defeat any attack and meet any use of conventional or nuclear weapons with an overwhelming and effective American response." Pence's comments come after a senior North Korean official warned the regime had no intention of dialling down its missile programme, pledging weekly tests and threatening "all-out war" if the US took any action against it. That kind of rhetoric has unnerved allies in Japan and South Korea, who would be at the sharp end of any North Korean response. Seoul, the South Korean capital, is just 35 miles (56 km) away from the military demarcation line that splits the Korean peninsula, and is within easy range of North Korean long-range artillery. The Ronald Reagan, whose home port is Yokosuka in Japan, is part of the Seventh Fleet and is regularly deployed around the western Pacific. - Treaty allies - The Navy had said earlier this month that a strike group led by the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson had been ordered to "sail north" as a warning to Pyongyang. Story continues Pentagon chief Jim Mattis also said the Vinson was "on her way up" to the peninsula, while Trump said an "armada" had been dispatched, adding fuel to already rising tensions. But a defence official told AFP on Tuesday that the group of ships was still off the northwest coast of Australia and would soon begin heading to the Sea of Japan (East Sea). But it would not arrive until next week at the earliest given the vast distance. At the time of the strike group's deployment, many media outlets reported the ships were moving towards North Korea, suggesting a looming showdown, when in fact they had temporarily headed in the opposite direction. Wearing a green flight jacket, Pence also sought to reassure jittery allies -- who have seen Trump call into question decades-old mutual defence treaties -- of America's commitment. The United States, Pence said, would be unwavering in its alliances and unyielding in its resolve. In a veiled warning to China, Pence added that "our treaty (with Japan) covers all the territory administered by Japan, including the Senkaku Islands" -- a disputed and uninhabited archipelago in the East China Sea that is controlled by Japan but claimed by Beijing. There was also a warning to China regarding the South China Sea, where Beijing has built reefs and islets into fortified islands capable of hosting military assets to bolster its claim to sovereignty over the sea. Pence said the United States would defend the right to freedom of navigation through the waterway, one of the most important shipping channels on the planet. He also vowed that more of America's most advanced military assets would be deployed to the Asia-Pacific. About 47,000 US troops are stationed in Japan and a further 28,000 are in South Korea. Riyadh (AFP) - US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis warned Wednesday of Iranian efforts to create a Yemeni militia "in the image" of Lebanon's Hezbollah, after talks with officials in Saudi Arabia. The kingdom leads an Arab coalition which for two years has been fighting in support of Yemen's government against rebels backed by Iran. Saudi officials have accused Tehran and the Lebanese Shiite militant group, which Iran supports, of aiding the Huthi rebels. Mattis told reporters of the need to overcome Iran's efforts "in destabilising yet another country and create another militia in the image" of Hezbollah. Washington alleges that Iran, Saudi Arabia's regional rival, has shipped missiles to Yemen but Tehran denies the charge. A United Nations panel in January reported that it "has not seen sufficient evidence to confirm any direct large-scale supply of arms" from Iran. Analysts from the International Crisis Group also said there has been "very little hard evidence" of Iranian arms to the Huthis, who are allied with troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Pentagon officials believe members of the Quds Force, the foreign operations wing of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, are in Yemen to help the Huthis. Hezbollah, a powerful political movement in Lebanon, is fighting alongside government forces in Syria and has been declared a "terrorist organisation" by Riyadh. Washington provides intelligence as well as aerial refuelling to coalition warplanes conducting air strikes in Yemen with American-supplied weapons. But after talks with Saudi Arabia's King Salman and Defence Minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Mattis did not indicate if President Donald Trump's administration was considering an increase in that support. Rights groups have repeatedly criticised the coalition bombing campaign in Yemen for causing civilian casualties. "Our goal is to push this conflict into the UN brokered negotiations to ensure that it ends as soon as possible," Mattis told reporters on his first Middle East tour since taking office. Seven ceasefires alongside UN-brokered peace efforts have so far failed to stop the fighting. LIMA (Reuters) - Peruvian police rescued 27 baby Galapagos tortoises, a highly endangered species, from a group of traffickers trying to take them to Europe, authorities said on Wednesday. The tortoises from Ecuador's Galapagos Islands were found in a cardboard box in a bus traveling from northern Peru to Lima, according to The National Forest and Wildlife Service (Serfor). The agency said 29 turtles were found but two had died due to the poor conditions on the trip. The surviving turtles would be repatriated to Ecuador, said Jessica Galvez-Durand, in charge of wildlife management at Serfor. "Their value cannot be estimated as no sales are permitted of the few turtles that are remaining," Galvez-Durand said. The Galapagos tortoise is the largest in the world and can live for more than 100 years. (Reporting by Marco Aquino; Writing by Caroline Stauffer Editing by Sandra Maler) Miami (AFP) - Even though few people live in the Artic, some seas in the region are heavily polluted with plastic because of an Atlantic ocean current which dumps debris there, researchers said Wednesday. Scientists aboard the globe traveling French schooner, Tara, in 2013 were surprised to find the seas east of Greenland and north of Scandinavia are a dead-end for plastics, said the report in the journal Science Advances. The findings "stress the importance of properly managing plastic litter at its source, because once it enters the ocean, its destination can be unpredictable," said the report. The reason the Greenland and Barents Seas and are a dumping ground is known as the North Atlantic branch of the Thermohaline Circulation, a current sometimes called "the global ocean conveyer belt," which ferries plastic particles to the area. The pathway of plastic through the North Atlantic Ocean was also traced using 17,000 satellite buoys. The debris in the area was estimated to measure hundreds of tons, and included fishing lines, plastic films, fragments and granules. A similar amount of plastic pile up can be found in areas closer to the equator. Researchers said the large amounts of film-type plastic made them think the "plastic had largely traveled from distant sources, including the coasts of northwest Europe, the UK and the east coast of the US." The study found that Arctic floating plastic accounts for less than three percent of the global total, but warned it will continue to accumulate in the coming years. FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- One man had just started a new job with the gas company and was riding in a utility truck. Another was carrying a bag of groceries after stopping at a charity center. The third was at a bus stop with a friend, waiting for a ride home. All three were randomly shot dead by a black gunman, Kori Ali Muhammad, who wanted to kill as many white people as possible and was proud of what he had done, laughing as he explained his actions in interviews with police, authorities said Wednesday. "That's what he set out to do that day. He said he did not like white men and said white people were responsible for keeping black people down," Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said. The men were at the wrong place at the wrong time Tuesday. Zackary Randalls was the first to die when Muhammad, 39, walked up to a Pacific Gas & Electric truck and fired into the passenger seat. Randalls, 34, had just started work as a customer-service representative and was doing a ride-along, something he was excited about, friend Eddie Valencia said. He described the father of two preschoolers as an open-minded person with a sharp wit and big heart. "He wouldn't want people to be divided by this," Valencia said. "There were no boundaries with race, religions, beliefs, with anything. If you were a good person and basically could have a good conversation, he would call you a friend. He was a stand-up guy." Muhammad also shot Mark Gassett, 37, of Fresno, who had just picked up groceries at a Catholic Charities building. The gunman pumped two more rounds into Gassett as he lay on the ground, police said. Gassett's ex-wife Lisa Gassett told The Fresno Bee that he had faced hard times but had been working to improve his life. The couple has two children. "He would give his shirt off his back for anybody," she told the newspaper. "That is the kind of guy he was." Next, Muhammad shot toward a bus stop where he had spotted three white men, police said. They scattered, and Muhammad picked the one who was older and appeared heavier: David Jackson, 58, of Fresno. Story continues Jackson's roommate said they were waiting for a bus home after going to the bank and then stopping to use the bathroom at Catholic Charities. Mark Greer, 62, said Jackson tripped over a curb in the parking lot, falling down when he was shot. Greer was able to get away. "I was too fast for him, but David couldn't run that good," he said. Muhammad was arrested shortly after the rampage. He was expected to be charged with four counts of murder and arraigned Friday. Police say the shooter was candid in explaining the crimes that began Thursday night, when he killed another white man, a motel security guard, and culminated Tuesday, when he fired 17 rounds in less than two minutes and killed the three men on the same block. Francine Williams, mother of security guard Carl Williams, 25, described her son as a kind and giving person who had recently gotten engaged. Williams worked at Toys "R'' Us and was at his second job at a Motel 6 when Muhammad shot him multiple times after an argument, police and his mother said. Muhammad told investigators he felt disrespected. Francine Williams said Wednesday that she was in shock but also at peace because she got to tell her son how much she loved him and how proud he made her a few days before his death. He told her he loved her, too. "So, I'm very, very, very grateful that I was able to say goodbye, maybe not at that moment, but prior to that," she said. Muhammad had a long criminal history and filled his social media feeds with posts about black separatism, reparations and "white devils." He told his family there was a war going on between blacks and whites in America. He claimed insanity after being charged with possessing cocaine with intent to distribute in 2005, and his attorney requested a psychiatric examination, saying Muhammad "appeared eccentric with some bizarre beliefs." He had at least two prior mental health hospitalizations, and his attorney said in court papers that Muhammad thought the justice system and his own lawyer were conspiring against him. Muhammad told investigators he is Muslim but prays to seven different gods and has not been to a mosque in 25 years. Police said he hid out in a ravine after the motel shooting and practiced voodoo rituals. When he learned he was wanted in the security guard killing, Muhammad decided to take out as many other white men as possible before he was caught, Dyer said. The suspect showed no remorse, police said. Muhammad "is not a terrorist but he is a racist," Dyer said. ___ Associated Press writers Kristin J. Bender, Janie Har and Olga R. Rodriguez in San Francisco and Mike Balsamo in Los Angeles contributed to this report. The Trump Administration has certified that Iran is complying with the Obama-negotiated nuclear agreement. The confirmation, which tracks the public statements of independent monitors, intelligence agencies and foreign allies, flies in the face of the presidents campaign rhetoric. In a letter affirming Irans compliance, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson noted Irans continued status as a state sponsor of terror and said an interagency process is underway to determine whether suspending sanctions - as the agreement calls for is in the best interests of the United States. But its a far cry from Trumps call that it was a terrible deal and the worst deal ever cut, and one that he had pledged to cancel or at least renegotiate. Georgias special congressional election is heading to a run-off after the Democrat, Jon Ossoff, finished just shy of the 50-percent threshold needed to secure outright victory. Both parties are claiming the results were a win, but dont buy the spin. Ossoff still put up a strong enough showing to reveal the GOPs weaknesses, and Democrats were denied the momentum boost they so sorely needed. The White House gets the location of a U.S. carrier wrong by thousands of miles. The White House delays its consideration of the Paris climate deal. And Trumps inaugural committee doubles Obama fundraising record. Here are your must reads: Must Reads High-Profile Georgia Congressional Race Heads to a Runoff Party showdown to continue into June as both sides claim victory [Associated Press] A Month After Dismissing Federal Prosecutors, Justice Department Does Not Have Any U.S. Attorneys in Place Administration has yet to make any nominations [Washington Post] Nothing to See Here: US Carrier Still Thousands of Miles from Korea Despite White House claims to contrary [Defense News] Trump Administration Says Iran Complying With Nuclear Deal Letter to Congress suggests the U.S. might not support the agreement going forward [Wall Street Journal] Story continues World Leaders On Edge as President Trump Weighs Pulling U.S. Out of Paris Climate Deal Administration sends mixed signals [TIME] Sound Off The United States of America will always seek peace but under President Trump, the shield stands guard and the sword stands ready. - Vice President Mike Pence speaking aboard the USS Ronald Reagan in Japan I dont think that - again, that wasnt the purpose of the call. And thats certainly not the position of the President, and of course supports democracy and would hope for that. But at the same time, the Presidents number-one priority is protecting Americans, keeping Americans safe, and sometimes were going to have to work with other countries and some of our NATO partners in order to do that. - White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Sanders on whether Trumps call to Erdogan sent the message that he supports his power grab Bits and Bites For Patriots visit, Trump gets to show off role of fan-in-chief [Boston Globe] Trump has embraced autocratic leaders without hesitation [Associated Press] This Beltway insider is in charge of hiring for the Trump administration. Its taking a while. [Washington Post] Get a First Look at Rare Richard Avedon Portraits of Jackie and John F. Kennedy [TIME] Marijuana-Related Charges Will Still Be Used to Build Deportation Cases, the Homeland Security Chief Says [TIME] First Protected Dreamer Deported to Mexico Under President Trump [TIME] Former President George H.W. Bush Hospitalized Again in Houston [TIME] Democrats Say President Trumps Border Wall Could Cost $67 Billion [TIME] Sheldon Adelson Gave $5 Million for Trumps Inauguration [New York Times] White House Postpones Meeting on Paris Climate Accord [TIME] This article was originally published on TIME.com President Trump said that he has a conflict of interest in Turkey because of a development there in a 2015 interview. The interview was resurfaced by Mother Jones after Trump faced criticism for congratulating Turkeys president Tayyip Erdogan on winning a referendum that increases his power. I have a little conflict of interest cause I have a major, major building in Istanbul, Trump said on Breitbart News Daily. Its a tremendously successful job. Its called Trump Towers-two towers, instead of one, not the usual one, its two. The host of the news show was Breitbart executive Steve Bannon, who now serves as an advisor to Trump in the White House. Trumps daughter, Ivanka, who now works in the White House as well, also faced criticism as users on Twitter resurfaced an old tweet of hers from 2012 that thanked Erdogan. Thank you Prime Minister Erdogan for joining us yesterday to celebrate the launch of #TrumpTowers Istanbul! - Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) April 20, 2012 Trump has said the president cant have a conflict of interest because hes not covered by U.S. laws governing conflicts in the executive branch. Hes currently being sued by an ethics watchdog group which argues that his financial dealings violate a constitutional prohibition on financial conflicts. This article was originally published on TIME.com Prince William and Kate Middleton will be taking a different route from their predecessors when it comes to raising their royal children. The couple apparently hope to encourage their children to show emotions instead of supressing them. Prince William, Middleton and Prince Harry are advocates of mental health. Before the crescendo of the Heads Together campaign in London, the two royal princes sat down for an interview with CALMzine, where William talked about parenting with the Duchess of Cambridge. Catherine and I are clear that we want both George and Charlotte to grow up feeling able to talk about their emotions and feelings, said the Duke of Cambridge. READ: Kate Middleton feels that motherhood is a combination of joy, love, exhaustion and worry in one According to Middletons husband, they visited a number of schools and talked to children who were very outspoken about their feelings and thoughts, so they wanted their children to be the same. Seeing this has really given me hope that things are changing and that there is a generation coming up who find it normal to talk openly about their emotions. Emotional intelligence is key for us all to deal with the complexities of life and relationships, he added. Prince William explained that he recognizes the fact that talking about emotions and anxiety are deemed as taboo and as a sign of weakness because strong people dont show their pain. He added that he believes everyone is suffering in different ways, but only a few actually open up about their struggles. William believes that Stormzys confession about depression should inspire people to prioritize their mental health. There may be a time and a place for the stiff upper lip, but not at the expense of your health, William further explained. Meanwhile, in another speech, Middleton revealed the challenges of being a mom. The Duchess of Cambridge said she feels that motherhood is a combination of joy, exhaustion, love and worry, Fox News reported. Middleton added that when a woman has children, her first priority becomes being a good mother. Story continues Meanwhile, Middleton and Prince Williams children, George, 3, and Charlotte, 1, will be joining their parents at Pippa Middletons wedding, ABC News reported. Prince George will be a page boy, while Princess Charlotte will be one of the bridesmaids. Do you support Williams campaign to allow children to open about their emotions? Drop a comment below. Kate Middleton and Prince William Photo: Getty Images/Arthur Edwards Related Articles In the wake of Theresa May's sudden general election announcement on Tuesday, Britain is in full meltdown mode. Some people are taking advantage of the chaos, though. SEE ALSO: This woman's outraged response to the general election has gone gloriously viral Shortly after the news of the election broke, Reddit user u/justthisguyiknow took to r/unitedkingdom to share some exciting news they'd purchased the domains conservatives2017.co.uk, conservatives2017.uk, and conservatives2017.com and they were redirecting all of the websites in order to troll the Conservative Party. Originally the Redditor was redirecting the URLs to the Labour Party website, but after some advice from fellow Redditors they decided to change tactic. Image: reddit Now all three domain names are redirecting to this Weebly page: Image: conservatives2017.weebly.com The page basically contains a list of article quotes that show the Conservative Party in a negative light. There are also links to the Government's Register to vote page. "This website is not affiliated with a political party and has been funded by an individual without links to any political party (although my friend's husband is a Labour councillor and my uncle works in the Green Party; possibly my aunt, too, but it's been awhile since we spoke)," reads the description at the bottom of the page. "Also, I thought about joining the Labour Party last year, but I was a bit skint and decided against it, as I didn't support their stance against nuclear power." The sites don't appear to be ranking in Google just yet, but who knows? With the weight of Reddit behind them, maybe a few potential voters will end up stumbling across them in the run-up to 8 June. UPDATE: April 19, 2017, 4:46 p.m. BST The domains were originally redirecting to the Labour Party website. An earlier version of this story said they were re-directing to a negative article about the Conservatives. WATCH: Trump never has to buy sunglasses again because Obama's photographer will shade him forever Bill OReilly is no longer with Fox News. 21st Century Fox issued a statement on OReillys departure, writing that the host will not be returning to the network: Tucker Carlson will take over the 8 p.m. timeslot once occupied by O'Reilly starting Monday. Dana Perino and Greg Gutfeld will continue to guest host in O'Reilly's absence on Thursday and Friday, respectively. The Five will move to the 9 p.m. slot. O'Reilly, in a statement obtained by The Washington Post Wednesday afternoon, again denied any wrongdoing. He added that he was incredibly proud of his a 20-year career at Fox News. It is tremendously disheartening that we part ways due to completely unfounded claims," he said. But that is the unfortunate reality many of us in the public eye must live with today. I will always look back on my time at Fox with great pride in the unprecedented success we achieved and with my deepest gratitude to all my dedicated viewers. I wish only the best for Fox News Channel. Wednesday afternoon, New York magazine writer Gabriel Sherman reported OReillys run of more than two decades on the network would conclude before the host, 67, returns April 24 from an Italian vacation. Executives, Sherman reports, held meetings Wednesday to discuss the terms of OReillys departure. CNN and the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that OReillys lawyers and Fox News representatives were discussing OReillys leaving. Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch also owns the Wall Street Journal. According to New York Magazine, negotiations regarding O'Reilly's departure were moving quickly, though a major issue was whether or not OReilly will be able to say goodbye to his audience, which he will not. Money is another sticking point. OReilly recently signed a multiyear contract at $20 million per year. Story continues OReillys ouster at Fox News comes amid reports that the network paid upward of $13 million in exchange for silence from five women who had accused the host of sexual harassment. On Tuesday, another woman stepped forward with new allegations against OReilly dating to 2008. Since allegations began cropping up, more than 60 advertisers have dropped sponsorship of Foxs The OReilly Factor. Most Popular on Philly.com Photo credit: Jim Best/University of Illinois From Popular Mechanics Climate change has a sent a river in the Canadian Yukon flowing the opposite direction. The finding, from the University of Washington, shows one of "the less anticipated shifts" due to climate change. The Kaskawulsh Glacier is located on the Canadian side of the St. Elias Mountains, which extends into America and is the highest coastal mountain range on Earth. The Glacier is large, covering around 15,000 square miles. It feeds into two rivers, the Kaskawulsh River and the Slims River, supposedly named after a horse that died there during a minor gold rush in 1903. However, the glacier retreated last spring to such a degree that what's normally a geologic event happened in four days. It's called "river piracy." The glacier retreated so far back that the lake that was feeding the Slims changed its outlet, and now solely contributes to the Kaskawulsh River. "Geologists have seen river piracy, but nobody to our knowledge has documented it happening in our lifetimes," said lead author Dan Shugar, a geoscientist at the University of Washington Tacoma. "People had looked at the geological record - thousands or millions of years ago - not the 21st century, where it's happening under our noses." Shugar, as well as co-authors Jim Best at the University of Illinois and John Clague of Simon Fraser University, didn't expect to find the Slims River gone. They had expected to study it, but when they arrived last August, it just wasn't there. "There was barely any flow whatsoever. It was essentially a long, skinny lake," Shugar said. "The water was somewhat treacherous to approach, because you're walking on these old river sediments that were really goopy and would suck you in. And day by day we could see the water level dropping." Shugar and his colleagues decided to study this change instead, going back 300 years into the river's history. "Meltwater," he says, "was flowing through that canyon from one lake into another glacial lake, almost like when you see champagne poured into glasses that are stacked in a pyramid." The second lake drains via the Kaskawulsh in a different direction than the first. The situation is exacerbated naturally by the fact that the toe of the river sits on a geologic divide. Story continues Photo credit: Dan Shugar/University of Washington Tacoma "The event is a bit idiosyncratic, given the peculiar geographic situation in which it happened, but in a broader sense it highlights the huge changes that glaciers are undergoing around the world due to climate change," says Clague, who also points to that "Earth's glaciers are becoming markedly smaller, and that can only happen in a warming climate." Much of the attention in climate change focus on sea-levels, which is understandable given how we've underestimated how much they've risen. But glaciers are also affected, which is why NASA recently created a tool to track their melt across the world. It's unclear if the tool will last in a new Administration focused on removing all mention of climate change from the federal government. Source: USA Today You Might Also Like Photo credit: Sasha Mordovets / Getty From Popular Mechanics Russia's next-generation tank may become nuclear capable. That's according to The Diplomat, citing unconfirmed Russian media sources. A nuclear tank shell would be the ultimate anti-tank missile, capable of destroying dozens of tanks at once. During the 1960s the proliferation of battlefield nuclear weapons saw them placed across all levels of the armed forces. Weapons such as the Davy Crockett recoilless nuclear weapon were issued at the battalion level to counter massed Soviet tank attacks. While this scattered American battlefield nukes, making them difficult to destroy, it also placed more nukes in more hands, which is not necessarily a good thing. Battlefield nuclear weapons were withdrawn from frontline service with all countries after the end of the Cold War but still exist in guarded depots. According to the article, the maker of the T-14 Armata, Uralvagonzavod, plans to upgun the Armata with a new 2A83 152 millimeter gun and also to develop a tactical nuclear shell for the gun. The gun upgrade has been a stated goal for years now, but a nuclear shell is a new and dangerous development. The explosive yield of the shell is unknown, but it would have to be small enough to not threaten friendly forces. The current Armata tank gun, the 2A82 125 millimeter gun, has a maximum effective range of 4.3 miles. The larger 152 millimeter gun would have a longer range-say, up to five miles. To be useful without destroying friendly forces, such a nuclear round would probably be "sub-kiloton" in explosive yield, or equivalent to less than one thousand tons of TNT. (The Hiroshima bomb, for reference, was 15,000 to 18,000 tons.) Let's use a 500-ton weapon as an example. A 500-ton-yield nuclear shell would create a fireball 400 feet wide and damage tanks and armed vehicles another 1,100 feet in all directions. Personnel exposed to the blast would receive third degree burns at distances of up 1,300 feet, and at 2,400 feet, 50 to 90 percent would receive lethal levels of radiation. Story continues This is a bad idea for several reasons. For one, it would make armies more likely to use battlefield nuclear weapons, which could easily escalate to all-out nuclear warfare. Second, unless safety practices are put in place such as withholding arming codes until the last possible moment, tank gun nukes could be used without authorization. That may not be practical, as the speed of an enemy attack may render waiting for permission to use the nuclear rounds impossible. And if the tank carrying these weapons suffers catastrophic damage-that is, it blows up-the explosion could release a plume of deadly radioactive plutonium that would contaminate the battlefield, and friendly forces. Is there any truth the reports? Russia has plenty of tactical nuclear weapons and it seems unlikely that it would bother to develop an entirely new one. That having been said, there are no technical obstacles to a nuclear tank round. It's not an impossible idea. Just a bad one. You Might Also Like United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Russia on Wednesday blocked UN Security Council condemnation of North Korea's latest missile test even though China had backed the strongly-worded statement put forward by the United States, diplomats said. The proposed statement seen by AFP would have demanded that North Korea "conduct no further nuclear tests" and halt missile launches after Pyongyang carried out a failed test on Sunday. Russia wanted to include language contained in a previous statement stressing the need to achieve a solution through dialogue, according to council diplomats. Last month, the council was united in strongly condemning the launch of three missiles and expressed serious concern over Pyongyang's "increasingly destabilizing behavior." In the proposed statement, council members expressed "their utmost concern" over North Korea's "highly destabilizing behavior" and again threatened to take "further significant measures." Diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity appeared surprised that Russia would block condemnation that China, Pyongyang's ally, had been willing to support. The disagreement with Russia over the stronger language came ahead of a Security Council ministerial meeting next week on North Korea that will be chaired by US Secretary of States Rex Tillerson. - US 'not trying to pick a fight' - US Ambassador Nikki Haley separately stressed that the onus was on North Korea to prevent an escalation. "It's important that North Korea know we are not trying to pick a fight, so don't try to give us one," Haley told reporters. "We have said it as clearly as we can possibly say it. The ball is in their court. They shouldn't try to play it at this point." US Vice President Mike Pence earlier vowed that the United States would counter any North Korean attack with an "overwhelming and effective" response. Story continues "North Korea is the most dangerous and urgent threat to peace and security in the Asia-Pacific," Pence said on the deck of an American aircraft carried docked in Japan. "We will defeat any attack and meet any use of conventional or nuclear weapons with an overwhelming and effective American response." UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres separately said "everything" must be done to confront the threat from North Korea and ensure that its missile and nuclear programs do not pose an international threat. Guterres said countries "on the frontline" of the crisis -- China, the United States, Japan, South Korea, Russia -- must spare no effort to prevent a military buildup from Pyongyang. "We believe that it is absolutely essential... that everybody is involved in order to make sure that everything is done so that the threat represented by the development in relation to missiles and in relation to nuclear capability -- not become a threat to the international community," said Guterres. "We fully support the efforts of all states in order to make sure that North Korea does not acquire the capacities that would become a threat not only to the region but in a wider area of the world," he told reporters. Fans of the podcast "S-Town" know that the main character, John McLemore, enjoyed a dangerous hobby called fire-gilding. The ancient process may sound like magic turning dingy metals into brilliant gold or silver but what's really going on is some straightforward science. Fire-gilding was used to transfer gold or silver onto another object, said Tami Clare, an associate professor of chemistry at Portland State University in Oregon. The earliest use dates back to the 4th century B.C. in China, she said. Then, a bit later, it was used in the 2nd century A.D. in Europe, Clare said. The process involves mercury and another metal, either silver or gold, Clare told Live Science. At room temperature, mercury is in a liquid state, whereas silver and gold are solid, she said. For gold to melt into its liquid state, for example, it would have to be heated to more than 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit (1,000 degrees Celsius). [Elementary, My Dear: 8 Elements You Never Heard Of] But when gold or silver is added to mercury at room temperature, the metals dissolve, forming an amalgam, Clare said. This mixture is thicker than mercury on its own; it can be spread like butter, she added. After the the desired metal is dissolved in mercury, the resulting mixture is spread onto the object that the fire-gilder wants to color, Clare said. Copper-based materials, including brass and bronze, work best, because the mixture can adhere to them, she added. The next step is where the fire comes in: Using fire, the mercury is boiled away, leaving behind the gold or silver, Clare said. Mercury boils at a relatively low temperature for a metal: 675 degrees F (357 degrees C), she said. For comparison's sake, gold boils at 4,712 degrees F (2,600 degrees C). After the mercury is boiled off, the gold or silver layer that remains looks dull and lumpy, Clare said. This layer needs to be burnished with a hard, smooth stone to give the surface a smooth and shiny look, she said. Story continues The process may sound simple, but it's dangerous because it involves boiling off the mercury, which releases elemental mercury into the air that a person can breathe in, Clare said. Mercury is a neurotoxin, and chronic exposure to it can cause mercury poisoning and other serious problems, she said. The process also releases mercury into the environment, she added. Indeed, the risks of vaporizing mercury are why the technique is banned in many countries, Clare said. Originally published on Live Science. Editor's Recommendations Listen, Scott Pruitt, have a seat, buddy we NEED to talk about your signature. You were given a gift at birth, a true head start towards signing elegance. Your name is built for signing. Double Ts at the end of your first and last name? Calligraphers dream of that combo. Instead, you deliver us this: don't @ us. it looks like "penis." Scott Pruitt, that says "penis." You must have known this was coming, Scott. You brought it upon yourself. SEE ALSO: Queer chef declines being interviewed for Ivanka Trump's website by spitting straight truth Scott, where is the second T? Lots of time (trust us, lots) could be spent analyzing the bastardization of each letter here, but it doesn't matter. Only one thing is clear: it reads "penis." Not safe for little eyes! And yet, here we are... This particularly splashy sign off comes from a letter penned by Pruitt, who is Donald Trump's newly appointed head of the EPA, on Tuesday afternoon. The letter announces to the oil and gas industries that the Trump administration is revisiting and open to changing an Obama-era rule that clamped down on methane emissions from oil and gas operations. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas. Twitter was quick to notice the signature's resemblance to The Other P Word: penis. Is it just me, or does Scott Pruitt's signature look like, um, well, not "Pruitt." Or am I a 12-year-old? pic.twitter.com/REtekJCjJi Andrew Freedman (@afreedma) April 19, 2017 Seriously, it just doesn't say Pruitt. It says penis. What is this word? pic.twitter.com/fC0SfnUgWQ Miriam Kramer (@mirikramer) April 19, 2017 Kind of indisputable. Just let your mind go there and enjoy. WATCH: Lady Gaga FaceTimed with Prince William to discuss a very important issue Fighting was still ongoing Wednesday near the site in eastern Afghanistan where the US dropped a massive bomb on an Islamic State group stronghold six days ago, a NATO spokesman said. Security forces have denied access to residents and media to the area where the US military dropped its GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast, dubbed the "Mother of All Bombs" and used in combat for the first time on April 13. The target was caves and hideouts being used by the jihadist group in the Achin district of Nangargar province. The blast triggered shockwaves which residents said they felt miles away. The Afghan defence ministry has said it killed at least 95 militants, including some IS commanders and foreign fighters, but no civilians. The statement could not be independently verified. "We are still engaged in active combat with the enemy" in the area, Captain Bill Salvin, a spokesman for NATO's Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan told AFP late Wednesday. Fighting was ongoing, he said, and there are a "lot of IEDs (improvised explosive devices)". A spokesman for Afghan special forces said the presence of landmines and "pockets of resistance" on top of mountains had slowed down operations in the area. He did not specify if the fighters were Islamic State. AFP correspondents said they saw no sign of fighting in the immediate area Wednesday, but were turned away by security forces before reaching the site. Salvin refused to confirm or deny the toll given by Afghan authorities, but said NATO had a "very high confidence" there had been no civilian casualties, adding security forces had warned families 48 hours before the strike. An assessment of the area could be "going on for a while", he added. Ahmad Jan, a resident of Achin who fled IS fighting and moved with his family to the provincial capital Jalalabad before the bomb was dropped, told AFP he had no idea whether his house or relatives survived the attack. Story continues "No one can go there, they have completely blocked the area. I don't know if my house is destroyed. They have not even shown any dead bodies to anyone," he said. Some Afghans have condemned the use of their country as what they called a testing ground for the weapon, and against a militant group that is not considered as big a threat as the resurgent Taliban. Analyst and retired general Atiqullah Amarkhail told AFP the US military needed time to analyse the impact and clean the debris. "It was not an ordinary bomb. It carried a special kind of explosives, it was tested in a mountainous area for the first time, I believe a team of US experts are now working on the ground to assess the effects and impacts," he said. 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 steadily lost ground in the face of heavy pressure both from US air strikes and a ground offensive led by Afghan forces. Delco Proper is coming to Philly. Or, at least two if its stars are. John McKeever and Tim Butterly, John and Izzy on the Comedy Central digital series, will host Good Good Comedys Get In showcase on Thursday, April 27 at 10 p.m. Tickets are available now, and run $5. The comedy showcase this week will feature McKeever and Butterly, as well as Good Good Comedy Theatre founders Aaron Nevins and Kate Banford. The theater also notes online that the show will feature a stacked lineup full of surprises. McKeever and Butterlys appearance at Good Good Comedy Theatre comes following news that Delco Proper has been ordered to pilot at Comedy Central as part of the networks 2017-18 development plans. The show initially debuted in 2015 as a limited run digital series on Comedy Centrals website, with three more episodes hitting the web in February 2016. Created by and starring Philly natives and comedians McKeever, Butterly, and Tommy Pope, the show revolves around a group of three friends who have been hanging around one another at the Delaware County lumberyard where they work for most of their lives. In a release, Comedy Central wrote that the show illustrates that its hard to change in a town that doesnt. The Delco Proper pilot will shoot in the Delaware County area beginning in May. Other areas, like New York or Los Angeles, just wouldnt capture the particular magic Delco has an element that Comedy Central, McKeever says, enjoyed about the original digital series. We think the town we created is such a specific character that would couldnt shoot it in New York of Los Angeles, McKeever says. Were not expecing a bunch of Delco people to watch it, but we are trying to portray the world we are familiar with. More information about McKeever and Butterlys upcoming appearance is available on the Good Good Comedy website. Story continues Most Popular on Philly.com By Marja Novak LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - Slovenia's human rights ombudsman asked the country's top court on Wednesday to rule whether some changes in laws related to foreigners, passed in January, are in line with the constitution. The changes allow the police to close the border to most illegal migrants for a limited period if parliament deems it necessary for reasons of national security. The changes "are making foreigners an object rather than a subject of the (migration) procedure", the ombudsman, Vlasta Nussdorfer, said in her request to the Constitutional Court, and she believes they breach human rights. The Council of Europe and the Amnesty International also said in January the law was a backward step for human rights in Slovenia. Parliament changed the law after almost 500,000 migrants passed through Slovenia in 2015 and early 2016, coming mostly across Turkey and into the Balkans. Once in Slovenia, a member of the visa-free Schengen area, they could go virtually anywhere in Europe. That route was shut off by in March 2016 by an agreement between Turkey and the European Union. The government claims Slovenia would not be able to endure another large influx of migrants, particularly since its northern neighbor, Austria, and other west European states were closing their doors to migrants. The legal changes have not been used so far because it had not seen any significant illegal migration through Slovenia in recent months, the government said. It also said the changes are in line with the Slovenian and European legislation. The Constitutional Court did not say when it would rule on Nussdorfer's request, but its procedures usually take several months. (Reporting By Marja Novak, editing by Larry King) By Joyce Lee and Farah Master SEOUL/MACAU (Reuters) - South Korea's first casino resort has been unlucky with the timing of its grand opening this week as a diplomatic spat scares off gamblers from neighbouring China who usually account for about half of Korea's foreigner gaming revenue. The country's largest casino operator, Paradise Co Ltd <034230.KQ>, and Japanese slot machine maker Sega Sammy Holdings Inc <6460.T> will open Paradise City on Thursday, 5 minutes' drive from Seoul's Incheon International Airport, just 329 km (204 miles) across the Yellow Sea from China. But blunting the benefits of proximity is a ban on Chinese travel agents selling tours to South Korea to protest a planned anti-North Korea missile defence outside Seoul. To offset any revenue drop, Paradise and Sega Sammy said they will target consumers in Japan and Southeast Asia. "It's a pity that, because of the missile issue, there might be fewer Chinese mass customers at first than expected," said analyst Yoo Seung-man at HMC Investment & Securities, referring to non-VIPs. "But it's Northeast Asia's first such resort so it could draw customers that wouldn't otherwise visit South Korea." TRAVEL BAN South Korean casinos have benefited from Chinese policies for over two years, as a campaign against shows of wealth by public officials triggered an exodus of high rollers from Macau, China's only legal casino hub. But after South Korea secured land for its missile system in February, Chinese government officials gave travel agents a "7 point" verbal directive to cease tours to the country, showed a South Korean document seen by Reuters. Publicly, state media called for a boycott of all things South Korean. Chinese visitors to South Korea subsequently fell 39 percent in March from a year earlier, after an 8 percent rise in January and February, South Korean data showed. Paradise said many big-spending Chinese hold multiple citizenships so can easily visit the country regardless of the diplomatic situation. But its March revenue still fell 11 percent from a year prior to 39.3 billion won ($34.54 million). "There are concerns about the Chinese market," Paradise said in a statement. "But we don't expect the missile issue to continue in the long term." Meanwhile in Macau, overall gaming revenue rose 18 percent in March, exceeding analyst forecasts. Casino executives and junket operators attributed the surge to the diplomatic row. CHINESE RELIANCE To lessen any blow at such a critical time, Paradise and Sega Sammy said they would also market Paradise City's hotels, convention halls and other non-gaming amenities to South Koreans who cannot enter the casino - as most casinos in the country are foreigner-only. A Paradise spokeswoman said the resort will also offer exclusive space for junkets to boost junket income, which it expects to make up 5 to 10 percent of initial casino revenue. "Casinos' reliance on Chinese visitors is still on the high side," said analyst Kwon Yoon-gu at Dongbu Securities. "So (Paradise's share price) can't but be sensitive." (Reporting by Joyce Lee in SEOUL and Farah Master in MACAU; Editing by Christopher Cushing) Madrid (AFP) - Spain's ruling Popular Party was hit by yet more corruption allegations Wednesday as the former head of the Madrid region was arrested under a probe into embezzlement of public money. The arrest comes a day after a court summoned conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to testify as a witness in a graft trial involving former PP politicians, the first time in modern history that any Spanish premier will have to take the stand. A spokesman for Spain's National Court, which investigates major corruption cases, said 12 people had now been detained. In a statement, the PP said Ignacio Gonzalez, former president of the Madrid regional government, was one of those arrested. The probe centres on the alleged theft of funds belonging to publicly-owned Canal de Isabel II -- which runs water resources in the Spanish capital and its surrounding towns and villages -- during the previous Madrid regional government administration, the court spokesman said. In its statement, the PP said it had suspended Gonzalez as a member of the grouping, adding that it "rejected all forms of corruption, no matter where it comes from." Corruption is a major issue in Spain -- which last year scored its worst ranking in Transparency International's annual corruption perceptions index. The PP has been particularly hard hit by graft allegations, but its rival Socialists have also been affected. Although the PP still won a general election last year, it failed to retain the absolute majority it won in 2011, and Rajoy now heads a minority government. Nairobi (AFP) - Six Kenyans urged a court Wednesday to suspend a controversial decision by election officials to scrap a tender process and directly procure an electronic voting system for the August polls. The petition is the umpteenth disruption to already chaotic election preparations, a sensitive process in a country where accusations of rigging accompany almost every vote. The tender was awarded to French defence and biometrics company Safran last month, pushing aside another French company Gemalto, which was lined up to win the contract in a bidding process launched in December. In court documents seen by AFP, the six petitioners argue that the entire process was "manipulated and rigged... to culminate in an artificial crisis that would then be used to justify the single sourcing". The two companies were among 10 vying for a contract to provide biometric equipment to identify voters on the day of the August 8 presidential and parliamentary elections, and send results electronically to a central hub. The aim of the system is to prevent fraud through double voter registration or impersonation which are rife when manual voter registers are used. Accusations of fraud after 2007 elections fuelled post-poll violence that left more than 1,100 people dead and hundreds of thousands displaced. Gemalto was the only company to pass preliminary technical evaluations, however on March 22 the electoral commission (IEBC) cancelled the tender, arguing that Gemalto's offer was too expensive and that they doubted it would be able to deliver the technology on time. The IEBC then directly awarded the contract to Safran. Safran is no stranger to Kenyan elections. In 2013, the company provided kits to register voters -- large black boxes equipped with digital fingerprint readers. However the country's first taste of high-tech elections turned into a fiasco as massive technical problems on voting day forced officials to revert to manual voter identification. Story continues Losing candidate Raila Odinga cried foul, however urged his supporters to remain calm, avoiding a repeat of 2007 violence. This year incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta -- son of Kenya's founding father Jomo Kenyatta -- is seeking re-election. However it is unclear whether he will once again face off against Odinga -- son of the doyen of Kenyan opposition Jaramogi Oginga Odinga -- in another round of a long rivalry between the two political dynasties. Several opposition parties have united in a coalition to try to unseat Kenyatta, but with just over three months to go they are still agonising over who will be their flag-bearer. Sean Spicer White House press secretary Sean Spicer defended a mix-up involving an aircraft carrier that members of the Trump administration said had been ordered to sail toward the Korean Peninsula amid threats from North Korea. The US announced on April 8 that the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier would head to the Korean Peninsula, but the US Navy posted a picture on April 15 of the carrier about 3,500 miles away from the area, going in the opposite direction. Before the mix-up was revealed, a spokesman for the US Pacific Command had said the deployment was in response to the "No. 1 threat in the region," North Korea, and its "reckless, irresponsible and destabilizing program of missile tests and pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability." For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android. And President Donald Trump himself spoke about the deployment, saying the US was sending a "very powerful" armada toward North Korea. When asked whether he thought Trump spoke too quickly, Spicer defended the statement. "The president said that we have an armada going toward the peninsula," Spicer said. "That's a fact. It happened. It is happening, rather." Another reporter warned that US allies like South Korea and Japan could interpret the mix-up as "false encouragement" that the US was responding to provocations from North Korea. South Korean presidential candidate Hong Joon-pyo told The Wall Street Journal of the carrier mix-up: "What Mr. Trump said was very important for the national security of South Korea. If that was a lie, then during Trump's term, South Korea will not trust whatever Trump says." "The statement that was put out was that the Carl Vinson group was headed to the Korean Peninsula. It is headed to the Korean peninsula. Story continues The reporter pointed out that while the aircraft carrier is headed there now, it wasn't headed there last week when the statements were put out. "But that's not what we ever said," Spicer said. "We said that it was heading there, and it was heading there, it is heading there." Spicer said the USS Carl Vinson's "ultimate destination" was the Korean Peninsula and that "that's where it ended up." NOW WATCH: Watch a Trump surrogate get shut down after calling Trump the 'Martin Luther King of healthcare' More From Business Insider Colombo (AFP) - Cheap Sri Lankan labour has built skyscrapers and condos across the Gulf for decades but now contractors at home are desperate for workers as the island nation experiences an unprecedented construction boom. The labour shortage has seen builders offer lavish incentives ranging from cash to vehicles to keep workers from heading overseas, and in some cases, illegally employ foreign tradesmen to man projects. Sri Lanka was left with a massive reconstruction task at the end of the civil war in 2009, with large parts of the north left in ruins by decades of fighting. Annual investment in new homes, roads and ports -- which has hovered at around 600 billion rupees ($4 billion) in recent years -- is expected to almost triple to $11.6 billion in 2017. But Sri Lanka needs 400,000 new workers -- a two-thirds jump from existing levels -- to keep up with this surge, said Nissanka Wijeratne, the head of the Chamber of Construction Industry. "We can't get that many overnight and we will have to import. We are now facing a serious labour crisis," he said. Private contractors are going to extreme lengths to stop the flow of tradesmen heading to the Gulf for construction jobs, offering bonuses like motorcycles and cars to labourers who choose to work on projects back home. - Social stigma - The government has taken a different approach and sought to put curbs on migration by raising the minimum wage requirements for workers heading overseas. Under their proposal, Sri Lankans will be barred from going abroad for work unless they can show evidence of future earnings amounting to more than $400 per month. "We want to discourage those who go abroad for low pay. Some of these workers can get more money if they stay back in Sri Lanka," Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake told AFP. But it is a risky strategy. Roughly one in ten Sri Lankans work abroad and their remittances are the number-one foreign exchange earner for the island of 21 million. Story continues The pool of money flowing home is growing, with Sri Lankans sending $7.24 billion last year compared with $6.98 billion in 2015. The push to recruit local workers has also suffered due to a cultural stigma surrounding blue-collar labour, meaning that Sri Lankans living in the country often choose low-paying office jobs over better remunerated opportunities in masonry, carpentry and plumbing. "There is a social perception about construction industry labour, and that is why young people prefer public sector jobs even if they pay much less," Wijeratne said. "It is about social acceptance." - 'Illegally employed' - The dearth has spurred some desperate contractors to look offshore themselves -- not for work but workers. The government estimates roughly 200,000 foreigners are employed illegally in the construction sector. "Foreigners are illegally employed like this because we have a shortage of workers," urban development minister Champika Ranawaka said recently. "I am proposing that the government come up with a policy on foreign workers to regularise this sector." One company, which declined to be identified, said it was employing foreign workers illegally but noted that many others were doing the same. Chinese firms, unable to source local labour, have moved armies of construction workers to Sri Lanka to man their mega building projects. Along one of Colombo's main promenades, hundreds of Chinese workers wait every day for transport home after finishing a shift building towers for a new Shangri-La Hotel. Across the street, their countrymen toil on a vast $1.4 billion real estate development. Despite unemployment hovering at 4.5 percent at the end of 2016, the crippling labour shortage shows no signs of easing, raising fears that it will put the brakes on economic growth. A large-scale Sri Lankan contractor said he had stopped accepting commissions to build condos because he couldn't find tradesmen to finish the job. The crisis is stretching beyond the construction sector. Sewage and water works projects are struggling to find labourers and are turning to neighbouring India for workers. Sri Lanka's lucrative garment industry is also facing a shortage of 50,000 machine operators, and many companies have relocated to Bangladesh in search of cheap labour, according to industry officials. Los Angeles (AFP) - Stanford University has backed down in a months-long row with one of its professors over the use of a photo of President Donald Trump for a flyer promoting a conference on sexual assault. The controversial poster created by Michele Dauber, a law professor at the prestigious California school, includes a screenshot from an infamous leaked video in which Trump crudely boasts about groping women. The screenshot used to publicize the May conference features Trump, TV host Billy Bush and actress Arianne Zucker. "I have been trying for months to get the university to allow the use of this image," Dauber told AFP on Tuesday. "I'm disappointed that it took media reporting in order for the university to honor its obligation to protect faculty academic freedom." Dauber, who has been teaching at Stanford for 16 years, said the university's attempt to block use of the photo on grounds it could be seen as "partisan" lacked credibility and amounted to censorship. "Difficult content and difficult conversations about controversial issues are what you are supposed to be able to have at universities," she said. "That's the point of academic freedom and the First Amendment principles that undergird it." Lisa Lapin, the university's vice president for communications, said the school had initially been concerned "about the appearance of partisanship" especially as the flyer was going out under the name of the law school, not the professor. "It was determined that the image to be used on publicity materials was not a violation of policy," Lapin said. - 'Attack on free speech' - "At US universities, institutions cannot take partisan positions, though individuals are free to express their views," she said, adding that all the publicity material for the May 1-2 conference had now been printed and was being distributed. The event will focus on campus sexual assault and Title IX, the federal law that protects victims of sexual violence and which could be revised by the Trump administration. Story continues Dauber said the incident over the poster went to the heart of free speech and the integrity of Stanford and universities across the country. "I think what we're dealing with is the chilling of free speech under Donald Trump, especially in the context of sexual assault," she said. "I think that Stanford is definitely an institution that has struggled and made a lot of missteps in the area of sexual assault and this is one more example showing that Stanford still has a lot of work to do." The university came under intense scrutiny last year after one of its students, Brock Turner, was found guilty of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman outside a fraternity house on campus. Dauber has been leading a movement to have the judge who sentenced Turner to six months in a county jail recalled. Stanford also came under criticism after it banned hard liquor at on-campus parties in the wake of the Turner case, a measure denounced by some as short-sighted and failing to address concerns about sexual assault. The screenshot used by Dauber for her upcoming conference was taken from the now notorious "Access Hollywood" tape in which Trump brags about kissing women without their consent and grabbing them "by the pussy." Three people were shot dead on the streets of a California city Tuesday by a man who shouted Allahu Akbar as officers threw him to the ground, according to police officials. Kori Ali Muhammad, 39, said he hated white people on social media, repeatedly posting #LetBlackPeopleGo and encouraging black warriors to mount up, authorities said. Read: Hear the Chilling 911 Calls After Shooting of Beloved Grandfather on Facebook Video He screamed the Arabic phrase, which means God is great, as he was being tackled by officers, police said. A Monday posting on Muhammads Facebook page said My kill rate increases tremendously on the other side, CBS News reported. As of late Tuesday, his page appeared to have been removed. The dead, three white men, appeared to have been chosen at random and did not know each other, police said. One victims body was lying on the sidewalk, a spilled grocery bag at his side, and partially covered by a blanket, witnesses said. Another victim died where he was shot, sitting in the passenger seat of a Pacific Gas & Electric truck, authorities said. The driver sped off for a police station, but it was too late. These individuals who were chosen today did not do anything to deserve what they got, Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said. "These were unprovoked attacks by an individual that was intent on carrying out homicides today. He did that." Read: Killer in Facebook Murder Shoots Himself Dead After Police Pursuit: Cops The utility company issued a statement, saying, Our hearts are very heavy today, as we have lost a member of our PG&E family. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of our employee, and all those impacted by this tragic event. Muhammad fired 16 rounds in one minute and reloaded at one point, the chief told reporters Tuesday afternoon. He opened fire at four spots within one block and was arrested at the scene, police said. Story continues Police have asked for the FBIs assistance. Dyer said it was too early to say if the shootings were related to terrorism. Muhammad had also been wanted for the shooting death last week of a Motel 6 employee in Fresno. The suspect, who is homeless, has a criminal history that includes arrests on weapons and drug charges. Watch: 13-Year-Old Boy Accidentally Shoots Himself on Instagram Live Related Articles: The man suspected of killing a Cleveland man and posting a video of the murder on Facebook fatally shot himself after a brief pursuit by Pennsylvania State Police officers on Tuesday, police said. Steve Stephens was accused of shooting Robert Godwin Sr., 74, on a sidewalk in Cleveland, Ohio, on Sunday before fleeing in a car and uploading a video of the murder to Facebook, becoming the subject of a nationwide manhunt. Pennsylvania State Police officers found Stephens in Erie County, Penn., after getting a tip from the public that his white Ford Fusion was parked outside a McDonalds mcd fast-food restaurant, Calvin Williams, the Cleveland police chief, told a news conference. After a brief chase, Stephens stopped his vehicle, Williams said. As the officers approached that vehicle Steve Stephens took his own life, Williams said. We would have preferred that it had not ended this way, he added, saying he and the community would have had a lot of questions for Stephens. Stephens, who had no prior criminal record, was not suspected in any other killings, Cleveland officials said. Stephens said in a separate video on Facebook on Sunday that he had already killed a dozen others. The shooting marked the latest video clip of a violent crime to turn up on Facebook, raising questions about how the worlds biggest social media network moderates content. The company on Monday said it would review how it monitors violent footage and other objectionable material in response to the killing. The shooting video was visible on Facebook fb for nearly two hours before it was reported, the company said. Related: Facebook Killing Another Example of Live Video Features Dark Side Stephens is not believed to have known Godwin, a retired foundry worker who media reports said spent Easter Sunday morning with his son and daughter-in-law before he was killed. In interviews before Stephens death, Godwins relatives said they forgave his killer. Story continues I forgive him because we are all sinners, Robby Miller, Godwins son, said in an interview with CNN twx . Beech Brook, a behavioral health facility in a Cleveland suburb where Stephens had worked since 2008, said in a statement on Tuesday that Stephens had shown no cause for alarm. While an employee, he received corrective action notes related to incomplete paperwork and missed appointments, but no disciplinary actions related to harassment, threats of violence, or other misconduct, the statement said. This article was originally published on FORTUNE.com A Humble, Texas, woman has been charged with child endangerment and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after she allegedly sent videos and pictures of her abusing 1-year-old son to the boys father, PEOPLE confirms. Janelle Peterkin, 23, is accused of stuffing a plastic bag in her sons mouth and covering his head with the plastic bag and then tying it in a knot, according to court documents obtained by PEOPLE, which claim the abuse took place on March 13 as she sat in her car with the child. Peterkin also allegedly burned the boy with a lit cigarette while she filmed him. Investigators later viewed photos and videos of the alleged abuse, according to court documents obtained by KPRC-TV. The Harris County, Texas, Sheriffs Office said that Peterkin admitted to sending the footage - as an act of spite to show her ex-boyfriend that he did not care enough about their baby. An order of protection was issued Monday mandating she not be within 200 feet of the child, who is now living with her mother. Peterkin was released on $15,000 bond. Her next court appearance is May 15. She has not entered a plea to her three charges and has not retained an attorney, according to the Harris County District Attorneys Office. She is presumed to be pleading not guilty, prosecutors said. PEOPLEs efforts to reach her Tuesday were unsuccessful. The boys aunt, who is the sister of Peterkins ex-boyfriend, says she was the one who alerted police about the alleged abuse. RaNeicha Broadnax tells PEOPLE her brother, the boys father, was blocking Peterkins number. However, his girlfriend got possession of his phone, saw the videos and pictures Peterkin allegedly sent and called Broadnax immediately. I pressed play, and it played for three seconds before I hung up the phone on her and called the police, Broadnax says. The footage was sent on April 13, she claims. Broadnax says authorities didnt believe her at first, so she posted the videos on Facebook to get their attention. Story continues People were telling me I am lying and crazy and trying to cause drama, she says. I got a phone call and my family said to take it down. I said, I am not taking it down until the police call me. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. Broadnax claims Peterkin sent more than 30 videos. I watched three videos, and in one video she spit in his face twice, she alleges. She put a cigarette lighter to his hand and he was screaming. She said, Blame your daddy and his new girlfriend. Some of the videos he was just crying, she says. He is screaming at the top of his lungs. Broadnax says she is still in shock. I would have never questioned her [Peterkins] parenting, she tells PEOPLE. She posts about [her son] every day. We thought everything was good, and then we found out this was going on. She told me it was a one-time thing. This article was originally published on PEOPLE.com AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A federal appeals court ordered Texas on Wednesday to pay about $600,000 to cover the legal fees for two same-sex couples who defeated the state's ban on same-sex marriage in a protracted court battle. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit awarded $585,470 in attorneys fees and about $20,000 in costs arising from the challenge to the plaintiffs in the case, Cleopatra DeLeon, Nicole Dimetman, Victor Holmes and Mark Phariss. "We're thrilled. Our lawyers did an outstanding job," Phariss said in an interview. "It's frankly a waste of taxpayer money to have fought the ability of two people who love each other to marry," he said. Marc Rylander, a spokesman for the Texas attorney general's office, said in a statement: We are disappointed in the ruling and are considering our next steps. The case, which wound its way through the U.S. court system, was pending in the Fifth Circuit when the U.S. Supreme Court made its landmark decision in June 2015, in the case known as Obergefell v. Hodges, that made gay marriage legal in the United States. About a week later, the U.S. appeals court ruled in favor of the two couples in the Texas case. (Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Additional reporting by Jim Forsyth in San Antonio; Editing by Leslie Adler) (PARIS) - Extremism concerns shook Frances presidential campaign Tuesday as authorities announced arrests in what they said was a thwarted attack and candidates urged tougher counterterrorism efforts for a country already under a state of emergency. While national security previously has been a strong theme in the campaign, far-right candidate Marine Le Pen hardened her tone on foreign extremists and border controls in the wake of the arrests that came days before the first round of voting. Centrist Emmanuel Macron called for national unity and stronger intelligence. Le Pen and Macron are among four leading candidates seen as most likely to progress from Sundays first round and to reach the May 7 runoff between the top two. As the government prepared to flood streets with more than 50,000 police and soldiers to safeguard the ballot, Interior Minister Matthias Fekl said police thwarted an imminent terror attack, arresting two French men in the southern port city of Marseille. Both are suspected Islamic radicals, according to Paris prosecutor Francois Molins. Police seized guns and explosives from the apartment the men were leaving when they were arrested, Molins said. The explosives found are of a type used in previous attacks in France and Belgium that were inspired by the Islamic State group. It was unclear whether a campaign event was a potential target for the attack; Molins said investigators have not determined the day, the targets and the exact circumstances of the suspects plans. Macrons campaign team said authorities earlier provided a photo of the suspects to his security detail. The presidential election is being watched as a bellwether for global populist sentiment, in large part because of Le Pens nationalist, anti-immigration positions. In a written statement Tuesday, Le Pen pointed to a devastating multiplication of attacks and threats of attacks in France which she said was the result of Islamic fundamentalism that has expanded exponentially in the last decade in the country. Story continues Its time to put back France in order, she said, using one of her campaigns mantras. Before Tuesdays arrests were announced, Le Pen said on RTL radio that she would expel foreign extremists and draft army reservists to close Frances borders as soon as she takes office. We cannot fight the terrorism that weighs on our country without controlling our borders, she said. Macron struck a tough, but conciliatory tone. He called the arrests a reminder that the terrorist threat remains very high, especially during the election campaign, and reiterated calls for pressure on internet companies to better monitor extremism online. But he added that terrorism ... is a challenge that calls upon us more than anything else to come together, because the terrorists wish nothing more than our division. Macron and conservative candidate Francois Fillon have pledged more robust counterterrorism efforts, but remain committed to Europes open borders. Democracy must not get on its knees in front of the threats and intimidations from terrorists, Fillon said in a written statement. The campaign must continue until the end. Far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon suggested his three main rivals - Fillon, Le Pen and Macron - could have been potential targets of the two suspects in Marseille. He expressed solidarity with his fellow presidential hopefuls. We will never make the gift to criminals to divide in front of them. We are not afraid, Melenchon said during a rally in Dijon. Melenchon, who leads a far-left alliance that includes the Communist Party, has risen in polls in recent weeks and is now considered as having a chance of reaching the runoff election. Frances fight against homegrown and overseas Islamic extremism has, with jobs and the economy, been one of the main issues for the stumping presidential candidates. Those on the right have been particularly vocal, seeking to appeal to voters traumatized by IS-inspired attacks that have killed at least 235 people in France since January 2015, by far the largest casualty rate of any Western country. With the terror threat higher than ever, Fekl said everything is being done to secure the election, the candidates, their election headquarters and rallies. He said more than 50,000 police, gendarmes and soldiers will be deployed in France and its overseas territories on Sunday and during the decisive May 7 second round. This article was originally published on TIME.com On May 9 South Korea will elect a new President, as tensions with dysfunctional neighbor North Korea reach fever pitch. On April 16, Pyongyang attempted another weapons test in its quest to develop a nuclear-armed ballistic missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland. Though that launch failed, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Han Song Ryol told the BBC this week that more tests would continue on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis. U.S. President Donald Trump says Pyongyang has gotta behave. Following a visit to the Korean DMZ on Sunday, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said, North Korea would do well not to test [Trumps] resolve or the strength of the armed forces of the United States in this region. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had previously said that a preemptive military strike remains on the table. The South Korean presidential front-runner is Moon Jae-in, a civil-rights lawyer who was a former legislator and onetime presidential Chief of Staff. Moon lost narrowly in 2012 but currently leads a field of five candidates in which his nearest rival is the more conservative Ahn Cheol-soo, a tech entrepreneur. On April 15 TIME sat down with Moon, 64, to discuss how he would deal with North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un and avoid a full-scale nuclear war. TIMEs Zoher Abdoolcarim, Charlie Campbell and Stephen Kim talked with Moon through an interpreter. Here are translated excerpts: Trump has said that the U.S. will go it alone on North Korea if Washington does not get cooperation from China. Meanwhile, the North Korean government has said that it will retaliate if attacked. Tensions are very high. Is a terrible war going to break out on the Korean Peninsula? South Korea and the U.S. are aligned. The first thing that should be done is to stop the Norths further provocations. I dont think the U.S. plans to make a preemptive strike against the North. Any decision by the U.S. should be made in close consultation with South Korea, its ally. If the U.S. makes a preemptive strike against the North, there is a chance of the North striking back against the South. If that happens, South Korea will suffer, not the U.S. But that will also cause damage to U.S. troops based in South Korea and to many American citizens living in South Korea. Human history shows that, even if not intended, an accidental clash can result in war. Story continues North Korean officials and Chinese state media have indicated that Trumps actions are essentially reckless and contributing to the tensions. Do you agree? What is your message to the leaders of the U.S. and China in terms of how to deal with North Korea? If the North continues with its nuclear provocations, its natural that South Korea and the U.S. will impose stronger sanctions against North Korea. But we need deft crisis management skills to ensure that rising tensions do not lead to war. To North Korea, we must send an unequivocal message that their determination to strengthen their nuclear capability does not help them maintain their regime but jeopardizes it ... To China, we must make it clear that if they fail to rein in the North, sanctions against the North will be stepped up and the deployment of [U.S. missile defense system] THAAD will be inevitable for us. If you were elected President, what specific steps would you take to reduce tensions on the Korean Peninsula? The ultimate goal is to get the North to the negotiating table to ensure the dismantlement of the nuclear weapons. So the first stage would be, while strengthening sanctions and pressure against the North, to bring them to the negotiating table. The second step is to have the North agree to a nuclear freeze, to discontinue its nuclear provocations and missile tests. And the last is dismantlement of the Norths nuclear-weapons program. Over the years many tactics have been tried with North Korea, including dialogue, the six-party talks and sanctions. But nothing has stopped North Koreas nuclear program. Is it even possible to persuade Pyongyang to stop developing nuclear weapons? The containment strategy pursued by the two conservative administrations of [former South Korean Presidents] Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye and the strategic patience of the Obama Administration were a complete failure. Things were different under the administrations of [earlier South Korean Presidents] Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun. Then, there was significant progress in inter-Korean relations, without the fear of another war between the two Koreas. To dismantle the Norths nuclear-weapons program, the six-party talks, a multilateral framework, was put in place. We even made a comprehensive agreement between the North and the South: the Sept. 19 Joint Declaration referred to the full dismantlement of North Korean nuclear weapons, having a peace treaty, and even normalization [of relations] between the U.S. and the North. The North even blew up the cooling tower of its nuclear reactor. That all stopped after the Lee Myung-bak administration took office. I know the Norths nuclear capability is more advanced now, but the same step-by-step approach is still workable. What is your sense of Kim Jong Un? Is he irrational, as some say? Do you think he would agree to talk? Kim Jong Un is a very irrational and oppressive leader. But the same goes for his predecessors. The regime itself is irrational, and incomprehensible by international standards - it is a third-generation dictatorship. We face a daunting challenge. You say that you want to negotiate with the regime and make them see reason. But you say the regime is irrational. Isnt there a contradiction here? Even if Kim is an irrational leader, we have to accept the reality that he rules North Korea. So we have to talk with him. If Kim wants the security of the North Korean system and regime, we have to convince him that nuclear dismantlement actually achieves those goals. The U.S. must make diplomatic efforts with the North, and demand that China apply pressure on North Korea. If you are elected President, would you be willing to go to Pyongyang for a summit? And would you go to Washington to say to Trump: Talk to the North Koreans? If elected, I will visit Washington shortly after taking office to discuss with President Trump how to get the North to fully dismantle its nuclear weapons program. I am willing to meet Kim Jong Un so long as that helps us resolve the North Korea nuclear issue. But I am not interested in having a meeting for the sake of having a meeting. I will meet him when there is a guarantee that there would be visible results such as freezing or dismantling the nuclear-weapons program ... We can explore meetings between the U.S. and the North, and between the South and the North in parallel. We can resume dialogue, be they four-way talks or six-party talks. But, if elected President, I will not act unilaterally to have dialogue with the North without prior consultation with the U.S. There is a new President in the White House who is very different from the last President, and who has been saying some aggressive things about North Korea. Do you think you could work with Trump? President Trump occasionally makes aggressive pronouncements about the North, but I recall him once saying that he can talk with Kim Jong Un over a hamburger. President Trump is also critical of the previous policy of strategic patience of former U.S. Administrations, calling it a failure as it failed to change North Korea. I believe President Trump has a pragmatic view. In that sense, I believe we will be able to share more ideas, talk better, and reach agreements without difficulty. Young people in Korea today do not feel much affinity with the North. They are less in favor of reunification than the older generation. Do you feel that if you dont get things right, reunification may never happen? It is not that they are less enthusiastic about reunification. Rather, they have more immediate challenges, like finding a job. On top of that, the two [previous] conservative administrations pursued a different strategy. They pursued reunification by absorption, assuming that the North would collapse quickly. Under that scenario, there is a cost issue. Young people are concerned about the cost they might have to shoulder. Thats why they seem less in favor of reunification. The only way to reduce the cost of reunification is to achieve economic reunification first through inter-Korean economic cooperation, then later, ultimately, legal and political reunification. So you dont think North Korea will collapse? The theory of the collapse of North Korea has been there for a long while, but it hasnt turned out to be true. Even though the North is an irrational regime, I dont think an early collapse is likely. If it does collapse in the near future, it will send an SOS to China, not to South Korea, and it is very likely that a pro-Chinese regime will take power [in Pyongyang]. That will make reunification more difficult to achieve, even impossible. Even if we can reunite the South and the North, the costs will be unbearable for us - far greater than those Germany had to bear [following post-Soviet reunification in 1990]. That is not good for Korea. We should take the step-by-step approach of economic cooperation, then economic integration and finally full reunification. Your father [and mother were] born in what is now North Korea. Does that influence your feelings toward reunification? How important is reunification to you personally? The North and South shared one language and one culture for thousands of years before they were divided only 70 years ago. Ultimately, we should reunite the North and the South, [we] are one people. My father fled from the North, hating communism. I myself hate the communist North Korean system. That doesnt mean I should let the people in the North suffer under an oppressive regime. That is why we should take the path to reunification and pursue a liberal democracy in a united Korea. It has already been proven that a liberal democracy is far superior to the system in the North. South Korea is far more prosperous than the North - beyond comparison. Thats why I favor engagement with the North. What does your mother tell you about the North and her hometown? Are her memories fond? My mother is the only one [of her family] who fled to the South. All her relatives were in the North. Her parents passed away and most of her siblings are gone. My mother is 90 years old. Time is ticking. But her younger sister is still in the North. My mothers last wish is to see her again. The presidency of South Korea is one of the toughest jobs in the world. Are you tough enough for it? I have government experience. I was a member of the National Security Council. I oversaw the overall preparation for the [2007] summit between the North and the South, and have experience dealing with North Korea. As a lawmaker, I was a member of the National Defense Committee. I am the best-prepared candidate to overcome our current crisis of security, diplomacy and the economy, and to rebuild our nation. Youve said that your favorite English word is dream. What is your dream? To achieve a mature democracy, prosperity, human rights, and peace between the North and the South. This article was originally published on TIME.com It's like a scene out of the 2010 movie Rubber. A rogue tire fell off a moving vehicle, narrowly missed a woman and her baby, hit a tree, bounced into a pharmacy, and hit two people sitting down with zero warning. SEE ALSO: Dogs getting their hair cut in slow motion is the most satisfying thing you'll see all day Wheel takes off from moving vehicle in Turkey's Adana, rolls into nearby pharmacy hitting two peoplehttps://t.co/mdzh0kj7AJ pic.twitter.com/dmc3ItcvOF DAILY SABAH (@DailySabah) April 19, 2017 The incident occurred on Friday in Turkey's southern Adana province, the Daily Sabah reports, all of which was captured from multiple angles on security cameras at the pharmacy. While we feel for these two dudes, the footage is just hilarious. Pharmacy owner Abdulkadir Erdeve was sitting at his desk inside the pharmacy with his two friends Ibrahim Obaz and Volkan Ay when the tire came bouncing in, striking the two men in the head and face. "We are a pharmacy. We were waiting for patients. A wheel came instead. We're shocked," Erdeve told the Daily Sabah. The tire did slow down a bit before hitting the two men, so neither of them were seriously injured in the incident. WATCH: This mini scuba gear just gave snorkeling a cool upgrade As the investigations into alleged links between President Donald Trump and Russia during the 2016 presidential election are being conducted in Congress, reports have surfaced that Trump had borrowed money from Moscow during the 2008 financial crisis. The former head of MI6, Richard Dearlove, claimed that the president had borrowed money to boost up his real estate empire that was hit by the financial crisis nine years back, according to the Independent. Trump had reiterated before taking office that Russia never had "leverage" over him, however, the president has been accused several times of having links to Moscow. And not just Trump, several of his top aides have been said to have alleged links with Moscow, according to reports. Read: Russian Billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev Had $95 Million Deal With Donald Trump Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, resigned Feb. 13th, after speculations over his alleged links to Russia. Transcripts of intercepted calls between Flynn and Russian ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyev, as described by U.S. officials to various news publications, reflected that two had discussed sanctions ahead of Trump's inauguration. Flynn was part of the transition team at the time when he had spoken with Kislyev. He had written in his resignation letter that he had misled the vice-president Mike Pence, who had earlier denied that Flynn had discussed any sanctions with Kislyev, the Guardian reported. Trump's campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, resigned last year in August amid questions over his campaign role and also his extensive lobbying overseas, particularly in Ukraine where he represented pro-Russian interests. Roger Stone, Trumps longtime confidant and former campaign advisor, had admitted in March that he had communicated with one of the Kremlin-connected hackers who was behind the Democratic National Committee email breach last year, according to reports. Stone, one of several Trump associates who is under FBI investigation for potential Russian ties, acknowledged in a lengthy statement on March 10 that he communicated with Guccifer 2.0 through Twitter messages last summer. Story continues Asked to list members of his foreign policy team in an interview with the Washington Post, Trump named Carter Page, who worked for seven years as an investment banker at Merill Lynch. Page has been facing questions over his Russia ties since his nomination. During the campaign last year, he denied there was anything suspicious about his visits to Moscow. After the campaign ended, he also denied specific allegations into his meetings with Russian government and business figures, CNN reported. J.D. Gordon, a former adviser to Trump, had told the Independent last month that he met with the Russian ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak, five months before the election to discuss how Moscow and Washington could collaborate on tackling Islamist extremism if Trump became president. He said he spoke to Kislyak at the Republican National Convention in July about Trumps desire to rework on the strategic relationship between the two nations. Related Articles Washington (AFP) - US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he has told Congress of plans to review whether sanctions relief given to Iran as part of the 2015 nuclear deal was in US national security interests. The notification came as the White House certified that Iran was complying with its commitments under the deal negotiated by former President Barack Obama, which is known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. "Iran remains a leading state sponsor of terror through many platforms and methods," Tillerson wrote in a letter to Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan. "President Donald J. Trump has directed a National Security Council-led interagency review of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that will evaluate whether suspension of sanctions related to Iran pursuant to the JCPOA is vital to the national security interests of the United States." The certification of Iran's compliance with the terms of the deal must be issued to Congress every 90 days. The latest notification was the first issued by the Trump administration. The deal placed curbs on Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions. Trump has repeatedly denounced the agreement, and in a January interview with the Times of London and Bild newspaper called it "one of the worst deals ever made." But he declined to say whether he intended to "renegotiate" the deal, as he asserted regularly during the presidential campaign. The pact was signed in July 2015 by Iran and six major powers -- the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany. Critics of the agreement, including Israel, have argued that when some of the terms of the deal expire in 10 and 15 years it will leave Tehran on the threshold of building a bomb. ATLANTA President Trump is determined to expand access to addiction treatment to help curb the opioid crisis, several of his top health advisers said on Wednesday. But they offered few details on how they would fund those efforts at a time when the administration is also pushing for deep budget cuts to domestic programs and seeking to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which extends mental health and addiction treatment to millions. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price told advocates gathered here at a summit on drug abuse that his agency would boost access to opioid treatment, support cutting-edge research on new treatment, and push for better practices to help patients manage their pain, to cut down on prescriptions of powerful opioids. We lose a Vietnam War every single year to drug overdoses, Price said. It must be stopped. In his speech, Price announced the release of $485 million in grants to fund evidence-based treatmentpart of the 21st Century Cures Act signed into law last year. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a close Trump adviser whos now a paid spokesperson for Advocates for Opioid Recovery, urged health officials to expand treatment by deregulating doctors. Current law limits how many patients doctors can treat with medications such as methadone, naltrexone, and buprenorphine, which can help keep cravings in check. (Braeburn Pharmaceuticals Inc., a New Jersey-based maker of an buprenorphine implant, funds Gingrichs group.) Read more: Mystery solved: Addiction medicine maker is secret funder of Kennedy-Gingrich group We need to change the rules, change the regulations, Gingrich said. Trump is trying to cut out things are stupid. If you want to cross a regulation thats truly dumb or unnecessarythese regulations are stupid. But Price pushed back a bit on the notion that expanding access to the medications which can themselves be addictive is the sole answer. He called for a development of safer painkillers and eventually a vaccine for opioid addiction should happen in the future. And, he noted, the industry should be revisiting and rethinking the pain management revolution that he saw first hand as an orthopedic surgeon in the 90s, when it was common practice to prescribe potent painkillers to patients, without thought about the risk of addiction. Story continues The concept of pain as a fifth vital sign struck me any many others as simply nonsensical. There was, and still is, a pervasive sense that doctors will be judged in part by how well patients were satisfied with the pain treatment they got, Price said. Kana Enomoto, acting deputy assistant secretary for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, said the department hopes to focus particularly on helping people struggling with addiction when theyre admitted to hospitals. Two of five drug users receive no addiction treatment before discharge. Read more: Senators ask drug makers to explain prices for opioid overdose antidote Richard Baum, acting director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said expanding access to treatment would save lives at a time when more than 8 million people struggle with drug-use disorders but three-fourths of them dont believe they need treatment. Lets not make it easy for those who experience an overdose, moments away from death, to go back to using drugs, said Baum. Speakers at the summit also made a point of warning that Trumps proposed budget cuts could be disastrous for people trying to overcome addiction. Kentucky Congressman Hal Rogers, a former House appropriations committee chair whose district has been ravaged by opioids, said he didnt believe his fellow members of Congress would go through with cuts that could limit treatment options. We just cant do that, Rogers said. It would set us back into the dark ages. Dr. Anne Schuchat, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told STAT she holds the same hope. In an era where budget cutting is the norm, were optimistic that this will remain a priority for legislators, she said. Democrat Jon Ossoff fell below the 50 percent level needed to claim an outright win against a mass of opponents in a closely-watched special election on Tuesday in Georgia's 6th congressional district, setting the stage for a runoff in June. Ossoff sought to parlay opposition to President Donald Trump into a victory that would rebuke the White House and embolden Democrats ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. With 100 percent of 210 precincts reported, Ossoff was at 48.1 percent, according to a live election update on the New York Times site, below the majority threshold required to win the race outright. At around 1:00 a.m. ET, news agency AP confirmed that the race would head to a runoff on June 20. Trump, who had called on voters to reject Ossoff, claimed credit in a tweet. Republicans nationally and in Georgia acknowledged before polls opened that Ossoff would top the 18-candidate field, which included Republicans, Democrats and independents on one primary ballot. More From CNBC Washington (AFP) - In its 70-year history, the International Monetary Fund has been no stranger to financial crises and policy disputes but now faces a new challenge: a US administration fundamentally opposed to some of its most important positions. With the Fund's 189 members due to stage a semi-annual meeting in Washington this week, there has been no shortage of divergences with the White House. The Trump administration has vowed to dismantle much of the financial regulation put in place after the 2008 financial crisis. But the Fund warns darkly that excessive deregulation could "increase the likelihood" of another meltdown. The IMF warns of the economic dangers of climate change. But the Trump administration casts doubt on its existence and seeks to revive its coal industry while threatening to withdraw from the 2015 Paris Agreement on emissions. It is nevertheless the volatile question of global trade that holds the greatest potential for friction between the IMF and its largest shareholder. - Rubbish - Since the US presidential campaigns, the IMF has repeatedly warned about the dangers of "inward-looking" protectionist measures and defended multilateralism. It is hard to see this as anything but an implicit counter-argument to Trump, who has vowed to raise trade barriers and restrict immigration, who has assailed the free-trade promoted by the World Trade Organization and on Tuesday signed an executive action to promote US firms over foreign ones in federal contract awards. The IMF has so far escaped the president's barbs. Not so in the case of the Commerce Secretary. "Every time we do anything to defend ourselves... they call that protectionism," Wilbur Ross told The Financial Times. "It's rubbish." Washington, meanwhile, is calling on the IMF to pay closer attention to member countries' efforts to affect currency exchange rates and other imbalances, particularly in trade, that harm the United States. Story continues "Clearly, there are some in the Trump administration that have expressed enormous skepticism toward multilateralism and if their line prevails, institutions like the IMF will suffer," said Douglas Rediker, a former US representative at the Fund. Such antagonism cuts a stark contrast with the Obama years, when the IMF found a receptive audience at the White House in calling for raising the US minimum wage, combatting income inequality or giving a greater voice to emerging countries. "There will be some tensions but the weight of the US should not deter the IMF from being blunt and frank in its assessment of US policies," said Nathan Sheets, former under secretary for international affairs at the US Treasury. - Some impact - For the moment, the IMF is holding its anti-protectionist line but also striking a conciliatory tone by hailing the Trump administration's plans to invest in infrastructure and cut corporate taxes. "As a result of an expected US fiscal stimulus and an expected tax reform, there has been optimism, some unleashing of 'animal spirits,'" IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in an interview with several European media outlets published Tuesday.' Just before Trump took office, the IMF had also markedly revised its US growth forecasts upwards, expecting 2.3 percent growth this year. It reaffirmed this prediction in an outlook published Tuesday despite what it said was considerable uncertainty surrounding future US economic policies. The IMF is in reality faced with a delicate balancing act: maintaining its independence without alienating its powerful financial backer. To be sure, the United States does not have the legal means to cut off the IMF's livelihood. But it can make things difficult for the Fund by slowing the institution's efforts to become more active on social and environmental questions and to give greater weight to China or Russia. "The Trump administration will be able to have some impact on what the Fund agenda is," said Sheets. The thorny case of Greece could also be affected. European governments are calling on the IMF to participate in the current aid plan for Athens but the Fund will have to convince Washington that this is wise. "The administration will be more reluctant to support IMF resources being used in Greece," said Sheets. Washington (AFP) - The White House raised the possibility Wednesday of Donald Trump meeting Pope Francis during the US president's trip to Italy in late May, although it stressed nothing has been scheduled. "We will be reaching out to the Vatican to see if an audience with the pope can be accommodated," White House spokesman Sean Spicer said. "We would be honored to have an audience with his holiness." Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said Pope Francis would welcome a request for an audience and do his best to ensure it happened. "As of the end of last week we had not had an official request for an audience but for sure we would welcome it," Burke told AFP, adding that he did not anticipate any scheduling clashes which could prevent a meeting taking place around the dates Trump is due to be in Italy. Trump is scheduled to participate in the G7 summit of leaders on May 26-27 in Taormina, Sicily. Prior to that, he is expected to attend a NATO summit in Brussels. World leaders normally give the Vatican at least several months notice of requests for a papal audience, which are almost invariably granted if logistically possible. In Trump's case, the request will be coming in barely a month before he is due in Sicily for the G7 summit and after months of will-he, won't-he speculation about a possible meeting centered on the two men's very different world views. While campaigning in February 2016 to become the Republican Party's nominee for the White House, Trump and the pontiff had a heated and extraordinary exchange through the media. "Anyone, whoever he is, who only wants to build walls and not bridges is not a Christian," Pope Francis told journalists, responding to a question about the real estate mogul's anti-immigrant stance. Trump retorted: "For a religious leader to question a person's faith is disgraceful." Trump later softened his tone, saying the pope was misinformed, unaware of the impact of the drugs coming into the United States and a range of security issues that made it necessary to build a wall along the southern US border. Story continues On a visit to Mexico in February 2016 Francis held an open-air mass on the US-Mexico border, where he described forced migration as "a human tragedy." When he was sworn in as president on January 20, Pope Francis offered his "cordial good wishes" and hoped that Trump would be granted "wisdom and strength in the exercise" of his office. But he also implored the former reality TV star to continue to help those who suffer the most -- "the poor, the outcast and those in need who, like Lazarus, stand before our door." Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump will host Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas at the White House May 3 for talks on efforts to revive the Middle East peace process, the White House said Wednesday. "They will use the visit to reaffirm the commitment of both the United States and Palestinian leadership to pursuing and ultimately concluding a conflict-ending settlement between the Palestinians and Israel," White House press secretary Sean Spicer said. The meeting would be Trump's first with Abbas, and follows a series of US contacts with the Palestinian leader. Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have repeatedly run aground despite periodic US efforts to revive them, most recently by former secretary of state John Kerry. But Abbas, who met in Ramallah recently with CIA chief Mike Pompeo and Trump's special representative Jason Greenblatt, has said Trump is "seriously considering a solution to the Palestinian issue." The US president held talks last week in Washington with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Jordan's King Abdullah. Shortly after taking office, Trump alarmed Palestinians by calling into question his administration's support for a two-state solution, a bedrock of US policy. But he has since warned Israel against "unrestrained" building of settler homes in the occupied West Bank. Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka will call the International Space Station next week to congratulate Peggy Whitson, a NASA astronaut who is setting a new record in space, officials said Wednesday. Whitson, 57, is the current ISS commander and on April 24 will surpass NASA astronaut Jeff Williams' 534-day record for the longest cumulative stay in space. The call by Trump, his daughter and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins is scheduled for 10 am (1400 GMT) Monday and will be broadcast live on NASA television, the US space agency said. The special Earth-to-space call will be placed from the Oval Office at the White House, the statement said. During the 20-minute call, Trumps plans to "personally congratulate" Whitson for her record-breaking stay at the orbiting outpost, it added. The call will air live on Facebook and "will be made available to schools, museums, and other organizations across the nation and globally," NASA said. Whitson is the first woman to command the space station twice, the oldest woman ever to travel in space, and holds the record for most spacewalks conducted by a female astronaut. Her latest stint began when she arrived at the space station on November 19. Whitson's original six-month mission has been extended an additional three months, and she is scheduled to return to Earth in September. Istanbul (AFP) - Istanbul police on Wednesday detained 16 leftist activists involved in demonstrations against the 'Yes' victory in the referendum on expanding President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's powers, a laywer said. There have been daily street protests in anti-Erdogan neighbourhoods in Istanbul since Sunday's referendum, which the opposition claims was marred by blatant vote rigging. The Freedom and Solidarity Party (ODP), a left-wing movement not represented in parliament, said police had detained its Istanbul chairman Mesut Gecgel on accusations of "agitating the public" by claiming the 'Yes' vote was illegitimate. Gecgel had himself written on Twitter that he was being detained for protesting against the 'Yes' victory. Gecgel's lawyer Deniz Demirdogen told AFP that anti-terror police raided houses of the suspects before dawn, saying 16 people were detained so far but arrest warrants were issued for a total of 38 people. Describing the accusations as "strange", he added: "They are accused of provoking people to question the legitimacy of the 'Yes' in the referendum. "But there's no such crime definition in the penal code." Demirdogen said those detained were being questioned at police headquarters in Istanbul and were awaiting a decision by prosecutors on the case. There was no immediate confirmation of the detentions by the police. Speaking in Ankara earlier, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the issue of the election result was closed and warned against street protests. "Turkey is a state of law... and there can be no talk of anarchy, activities in the street," he said. "I call on people not to give in to provocations or get caught up in incitement," he added. The 'Yes' camp won Sunday's poll with just 51.41 percent of the vote. But the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has formally requested that the Supreme Election Board (YSK) cancel the result over to alleged violations which the opposition says swung the result. Story continues The opposition is particularly incensed by a last-minute move by the YSK to accept ballot documents in envelopes without an official stamp. The YSK was considering the petition and was expected to make an announcement later in the day. CHP spokeswoman Selin Sayek Boke vowed that the party would use all means to challenge the result and could even consider withdrawing from parliament. "We will use all the legal paths, and all legitimate democratic rights for the millions (of voters), no one should doubt this," she told reporters in Ankara. "This can include withdrawing from parliament or continuing to work in parliament," she added, calling for the referendum to be re-run. Istanbul (AFP) - Turkey's election authority on Wednesday rejected opposition requests to cancel a referendum that boosted President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's authority as police detained activists over street protests following the contested poll. The narrow victory of the 'Yes' campaign in Sunday's referendum handed Erdogan sweeping new powers -- most of which will come into force after 2019 -- but was bitterly disputed by his rivals. The controversy has stoked further political tensions over the rule of Erdogan, who has dominated Turkey since becoming premier in 2003 then president in 2014. The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) had on Tuesday asked that the poll be scrapped over alleged violations. Although the 'Yes' camp won with 51.41 percent, it was a narrower-than-expected victory with the opposition claiming the outcome would have been reversed in a fair poll. Ten members of the Supreme Election Board (YSK) decided against annulling the vote, while only one voted in favour, the board said in a statement. To the dismay of opposition parties and 'No' supporters, the YSK made a last-minute decision on Sunday to accept ballot papers in envelopes without an official stamp. International observers from the OSCE and the Council of Europe rights watchdog denounced the move, saying it "removed an important safeguard". Bulent Tezcan, CHP deputy leader, told CNN-Turk the YSK's decision to reject the petitions sparked a "serious legitimacy crisis." - 16 protesters arrested - There have been daily street protests in anti-Erdogan neighbourhoods in Istanbul since Sunday's referendum, with thousands chanting slogans and banging pots and pans in an angry show of discontent. Istanbul police on Wednesday detained 16 leftist activists involved in demonstrations. Among them was Mesut Gecgel, the Istanbul chairman of the Freedom and Solidarity Party (ODP), a leftwing movement not represented in parliament. Story continues The party said he was detained on accusations of "agitating the public" by claiming the 'Yes' vote was illegitimate. Gecgel's lawyer Deniz Demirdogen told AFP that anti-terror police raided the suspects' homes before dawn, saying 16 people were detained so far but arrest warrants had been issued for 38. Describing the accusations as "strange", he added: "They are accused of provoking people to question the legitimacy of the 'Yes' in the referendum. "But there's no such crime definition in the penal code." Speaking in Ankara earlier, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the matter of the election result was closed and warned against further protests. "Turkey is a state of law... and there can be no talk of anarchy, activities in the street," he said. "I call on people not to give in to provocations or get caught up in incitement." - 'All legal paths' - CHP spokeswoman Selin Sayek Boke vowed that the party would use all means to challenge the result and called for a re-run of the vote. "We will use all the legal paths and all legitimate democratic rights... No-one should doubt this," she told reporters in Ankara, saying such steps could even include "withdrawing from parliament". But Levent Gok, CHP's parliamentary group leader, later rejected the idea of boycotting parliament, saying it would use "all legitimate means" to protect the parliament. Turkey's leading satirical weekly Penguen meanwhile took a light-hearted but cutting look at the situation by printing a blank cover. "From now on, covers without cartoons will also be counted as valid," said the caption, in reference to the controversy over the counting of unstamped ballots. - 'Trump makes us happy' - The referendum has also caused new friction in Turkey's relationship with the European Union, which it has long sought to join but which gave the 'Yes' victory the most lukewarm welcome. By contrast, Donald Trump joined Russian President Vladimir Putin in congratulating Erdogan, with the Turkish strongman expressing optimism over his relationship with the new US leader. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Ankara that Trump and Erdogan would meet in May before a NATO summit. "The way president Trump is approaching these matters makes us happy," Erdogan told CNN in an interview. By Steve Barnes LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Reuters) - Arkansas plans to carry out its first executions in a dozen years on Thursday by killing two inmates who claim they are innocent and have launched last-minute appeals to have their lives spared. Convicted murderers Stacey Johnson, 47, and Ledell Lee, 51, each are seeking DNA testing their lawyers argue could prove they did not commit the crimes that sent them to death row. But the state is pressing ahead with its efforts to put the men to death in back-to-back lethal injections Thursday night at its Cummins Unit in the town of Grady, about 75 miles southeast of Little Rock. If the executions are carried out, they would be the first dual U.S. executions in 17 years. Arkansas had sought to execute eight inmates over 11 days in April, the most of any state in as a short a period since the U.S. death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Governor Asa Hutchinson set the unprecedented schedule due to one of the drugs in the state's lethal injection mix expiring at the end of the month. A blizzard of legal challenges resulted in three of the executions being halted and raised broader questions about the lethal injection drug mixes and death chamber protocols in U.S. executions, which hit a quarter-century low in 2016. The last time two executions were attempted in one night was in 2014 in Oklahoma, when prison staff bungled the first and the state called off the second one. Johnson was convicted in Arkansas of the 1993 murder and sexual assault of Carol Heath. Prosecutors said he beat, strangled and slit Heath's throat while the victim's 6-year-old daughter watched. Johnson's lawyers said experts have proven the child's testimony was unreliable. They also said the execution should be put on hold to allow for newer types of DNA testing that were previously unavailable. "Some items have never been tested," said Jeff Rosenzweig, an attorney for Johnson. "We think we should be able to use these new techniques, but weve been denied that so far." Story continues Lee was convicted of beating Debra Reese to death with a tire iron in 1993. On Tuesday, a state judge denied a motion from Lee's lawyers for DNA testing. "This Court does not find that the proposed testing would raise a reasonable probability that the defendant did not commit the offense," state Circuit Judge Herbert Wright wrote in a ruling, which Lee's lawyers have appealed. (Reporting by Steve Barnes in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Phil Berlowitz) By Idrees Ali RIYADH (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Wednesday that Iran's destabilising influence in the Middle East would have to be overcome to end the conflict in Yemen, as the United States weighs increasing support to the Saudi-led coalition fighting there. At least 10,000 people have been killed and more than 3 million displaced in the war in Yemen, now in its third year. Millions of people are also struggling to feed themselves. "We will have to overcome Iran's efforts to destabilise yet another country and create another militia in their image of Lebanese Hezbollah, but the bottom line is we are on the right path for it," Mattis told reporters in Riyadh after meeting senior Saudi officials. Mattis said the goal was for there to be a political solution through U.N.-brokered negotiations to resolve the conflict in Yemen. Officials have said the United States is considering deepening its role in the conflict in Yemen by more directly assisting its Gulf allies, who are fighting Iranian-supported Houthi rebels there. U.S. officials speaking on condition of anonymity said the situation in Yemen came up in their meetings with Saudi officials, including with King Salman and Deputy Crown Prince and Minister of Defense Mohammed bin Salman. Officials said U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition was discussed including what more assistance the United States could provide, including potential intelligence support, saying they were weighing boosting the same type of support already being given. Officials said it did not appear that the Houthis would come to the negotiating table under the current circumstances and there needed to be more military pressure on the group, adding that any potential increase in support would not include U.S. troops. The Iran-aligned Houthis control the Yemeni capital Sanaa and large swathes of territory. The United States backs the Saudi-led coalition which is trying to restore the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, including through a devastating aerial bombing campaign. The United Nations called on Yemen's warring parties earlier this month to safeguard the strategic Red Sea port of Hodeidah as a lifeline for millions of Yemenis facing potential famine. The Yemeni government and its Arab allies are preparing an assault on Hodeidah port, which has been the entry point of nearly 80 percent of Yemen's food imports, because they say the Iran-aligned Houthis use it to smuggle weapons and ammunition. The U.S. officials said that the port was being looked at closely by the coalition, specifically how long it would take for any damage to the port to be fixed and what disruption an assault would cause to the imports. Speaking earlier in the day before the start of a meeting with the deputy crown prince, Mattis said he hoped his trip could potentially open the door for U.S. President Donald Trump to visit Saudi Arabia. (Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Toby Chopra) By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday appeared poised to expand religious rights and potentially narrow the separation of church and state after liberal and conservative justices alike signalled support for a church denied Missouri taxpayer funds for a playground project. A ruling in favour of Trinity Lutheran Church in Columbia, Missouri in the case, one of the most important of the court's current term, could pave the way for more public money to go to religious entities. Justices across the nine-member court's ideological spectrum indicated that Trinity Lutheran should be allowed to apply for the Missouri grant programme that helps nonprofit groups buy rubber playground surfaces made from recycled tires. The church runs a preschool and daycare centre. "It does seem as though this is a clear burden on a constitutional right," liberal Justice Elena Kagan said during a one-hour argument, referring to Missouri's prohibition. A ruling is due by the end of June. It is unclear how far the justices will go in setting a precedent that would give states more leeway to fund religious entities directly. The dispute pits two provisions of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment against each other: the guarantee of the free exercise of religion and the Establishment Clause, which requires the separation of church and state. A broad ruling favouring the church could bolster religious conservatives who favour weakening the wall between church and state, including using taxpayer money to pay for children to attend private religious schools rather than public schools. President Donald Trump's education secretary, Betsy DeVos, is a prominent supporter of such "school choice" plans. Trinity Lutheran, whose legal effort was spearheaded by the Alliance Defending Freedom conservative Christian activist group, could be headed for a lopsided win, with liberals Kagan and Stephen Breyer joining conservative justices in signalling support. Missouri's constitution bars "any church, sect or denomination of religion" from receiving state money, language that goes further than the U.S. Constitution's separation of church and state. Breyer questioned whether denying churches access to the playground grant money would be akin to refusing to provide police or fire services. "What's the difference?" Breyer said. FEDERAL GRANTS Conservative Justice Samuel Alito said several federal grant programs are open to religious entities, including one that provides money to enhance security at buildings where there is a risk of terrorist attack. Synagogues, mosques and religious schools have received funding under that programme, according to a brief filed by a Jewish group supporting the church's position. Alito asked Missouri's lawyer, James Layton, if religious entities would be barred from applying if Missouri had a similar programme. Layton said they would be prohibited. Trinity Lutheran argued that Missouri's policy violates its right to exercise religion as well as the U.S. Constitution's promise of equal protection under the law. Missouri has said there is nothing unconstitutional about its grant programme, noting that Trinity Lutheran remains free to practice any aspect of its faith however it wishes despite being denied state funds. The court's newest justice, Trump's conservative appointee Neil Gorsuch, is known for an expansive view of religious rights. Gorsuch asked Layton why it is acceptable for Missouri to ban religious entities in some instances, such as with the playground programme, but not in others, including safety and health services. Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor was the most outspoken in backing Missouri's ban, noting the difficulty states could face determining whether funds going to a religious entity are being used for a secular purposes. "How do you separate out its secular function from its religious function?" Sotomayor asked. Three-quarters of the U.S. states have provisions similar to Missouri's barring funding for religious entities. Missouri's Republican governor, Eric Greitens, last Thursday reversed the state policy that had banned religious entities from applying for the grant money, saying it was wrong for "government bureaucrats" to deny grants to "people of faith who wanted to do things like make community playgrounds for kids." Missouri and the church both urged the justices to decide the case anyway because of the important issues at play and because the governor's action was not irreversible. The issue was discussed only briefly during Wednesday's argument, suggesting the justices are eager to decide the case on the merits. A Trinity Lutheran victory could help religious organizations nationwide win public dollars for certain purposes, such as health and safety. It also could buttress the case for using publicly funded vouchers to send children to religious schools. A challenge to a 2015 court decision invalidating a Colorado voucher programme is pending before the justices, awaiting the Trinity Lutheran case's outcome. Trinity Lutheran sued Missouri in federal court in 2012. The St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2015 upheld a trial court's dismissal of the suit, and the church appealed to the Supreme Court. (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Additional reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham) By Stephanie van den Berg THE HAGUE (Reuters) - U.N. judges on Wednesday rejected a Ukrainian request to order Russia to stop supporting separatist forces in eastern Ukraine, saying it did not meet requirements under an international terrorism treaty. Pro-Russian forces rose up in Ukraine's east in 2014 after a popular uprising centred in the capital Kiev toppled the former Soviet republic's Moscow-backed president. Ukraine asked the International Court of Justice last month to order Russia to stop backing forces in the conflict, arguing Moscow was violating a global treaty on terrorism financing and another international pact on discrimination. The ICJ, which handles disputes between states, ruled that Ukraine had not presented sufficient evidence on the question of whether Moscow knew or intended that any alleged funds collected would be used to commit terrorist acts on Ukrainian soil. The ruling was interim and does not mean the court has no jurisdiction in Ukraines allegation that Russia has funded terrorism. That issue will be considered when the court hears arguments from both sides, which could last years. The ICJs decisions are final and cannot be appealed, but it has few means of enforcing decisions. Russia has repeatedly denied sending troops or military equipment to eastern Ukraine and was expected to challenge the ICJ's writ in the dispute. The ICJ did grant another request by Ukraine by ruling Moscow must halt alleged discrimination against ethnic Tatars in Crimea and ensure Ukrainian language education was available in the region annexed by Russia in 2014. Moscow "must ... refrain from maintaining or imposing limitations in the ability of the Crimean Tatar community to conserve its representative institutions", the court ruled. It said Tatars must also have access to education in the Ukrainian language. Russia has denied Kievs accusations that it has mistreated the Tatars since 2014. Moscow argues Ukraine was misapplying the treaties on terrorism and discrimination as a way to litigate against Russia's annexation of Crimea. Ukrainian deputy Foreign Minister Olena Zerkal told reporters at the court that the ruling was "a positive one" for Kiev. "We proved our position. We have a very good perspective for (the) hearings on the merits" in the case, she added. Russia's ICJ delegation did not comment on Wednesday's ruling. Russia's takeover of Crimea brought East-West tensions to their highest point since the Cold War, and subsequent fighting in eastern Ukraine since has killed more than 10,000 people. (Writing by Anthony Deutsch; editing by Mark Heinrich) By Roberta Rampton TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Wednesday that Washington would work with its allies and China to put economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea but added that America would defeat any attack with an "overwhelming response". Pence arrived in Tokyo on Tuesday from South Korea and reassured Japan of U.S. commitment to reining in North Korea's nuclear and missile ambitions in a series of meetings with Japanese leaders, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Speaking aboard the USS Ronald Reagan, a Nimitz class aircraft carrier undergoing scheduled maintenance at its home port of Yokosuka, Pence said U.S. intentions remained unwavering in the face of the threat posed by the reclusive North, which has conducted a series of missile and nuclear tests in defiance of U.N. sanctions, most recently with a failed missile launch on Sunday. "Those who would challenge our resolve or readiness should know, we will defeat any attack and beat any use of conventional or nuclear weapons with an overwhelming and effective American response," Pence said to loud applause, reiterating that all options are on the table in dealing with Pyongyang. Pence made his remarks as the White House grappled with controversy over the location of the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier strike group that U.S. President Donald Trump said last week had been sent to near the Korean peninsula as a warning to North Korea, but which headed towards Australia instead. Pence did not mention the Carl Vinson or the controversy. Pence said he had spoken with Trump and by 2020 some 60 percent of the U.S. naval fleet would be in the region and Japan's role would grow. "The United States will strengthen its presence in the Asia Pacific," he said. "Japan will assume a larger role and responsibility in our alliance in the years ahead." Defence officials from the United States, South Korea and Japan, who were in Tokyo for trilateral security talks, said in a statement North Korea should give up its weapons development irrevocably. "The officials call on North Korea to abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile programs in a complete, verifiable, and irrevocably manner, to cease its provocative actions that only increase tensions in the region," they said. 'SERIOUS CONCERN' A senior North Korean official said in an interview with the BBC this week that North Korea would conduct missile tests "on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis", and any military action against it by the United States would prompt "all-out war". North Korea's deputy representative to the United Nations, Kim In Ryong, accused the United States on Monday of creating "a situation where nuclear war could break out an any time" and said the North's next nuclear test would take place "at a time and at a place where our headquarters deems necessary". Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said all parties should make efforts to resolve the situation. "China expresses serious concern with recent trends about North Korea's nuclear and missile development," he said. The situation was tense and China was resolutely opposed to any words or actions that could further raise tension, he added. North Korea regularly threatens to destroy Japan, South Korea and the United States and it showed no let-up in its belligerence after the failed missile test on Sunday, a day after putting on a huge display of missiles at a parade in Pyongyang. Pence also said the United States would protect freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea, where Beijing is entangled in territorial rows with several Southeast Asia nations. Pence heads for Indonesia later on Wednesday. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Writing by Elaine Lies; Editing by Michael Perry, Robert Birsel) SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Ann Coulter fired off an angry stream of tweets Wednesday vowing to speak as planned next week at the University of California, Berkeley after campus officials called off the event for security concerns. "I WILL BE SPEAKING NEXT THURSDAY," the right-wing commentator tweeted, calling the move to cancel her planned event on April 27 a ban on free speech. Coulter was invited to speak at Berkeley by campus Republicans on the subject of illegal immigration. The event raised concerns of more violence at Berkeley, where masked rioters smashed windows, set fires and shut down an appearance by former Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos in February. University officials sent the Berkeley College Republicans a letter Tuesday, saying that officials and campus police had determined they could not ensure the safety of Coulter, audience members or protesters expected at the event. "We have been unable to find a safe and suitable venue," said the letter from Vice Chancellor Scott Biddy and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Stephen Sutton. "Given current active security threats, it is not possible to assure that the event could be held successfully." The Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter Wednesday. The cancellation comes days after violent clashes between far-right and far-left protesters Saturday at a rally supporting President Donald Trump in downtown Berkeley. University spokesman Dan Mogulof said that campus police learned that some of the groups that appeared to be responsible for the violence last weekend and at the Yiannopoulos event "planned to target the appearance of Ann Coulter on campus." Last week, posters went up on campus threatening disruption of the event and officials also found chatter on various websites indicating the possibility of planned violence, Mogulof said. In its letter, the university said the students and officials could work together to reschedule the event for a later date. It noted that "most Mondays and Tuesdays in September during the day should work." Story continues Coulter posted eight tweets in a span of 17 minutes after the AP and others reported the cancellation Wednesday. She called claims of the university trying to set up an alternate date "FAKE NEWS!" The event was being co-organized by a campus group called BridgeCal and the Young America's Foundation, a conservative group that books Coulter's campus speeches. "We have no intention of acceding to these unconstitutional acts," the Young America's Foundation said in a statement. "The Ann Coulter lecture... will go forward." Los Angeles (AFP) - The University of California at Berkeley appears headed for a showdown with right-wing commentator Ann Coulter after her planned appearance at the school was canceled over security concerns. The decision to shelve her April 27 talk at the famously progressive campus came days after opponents and supporters of President Donald Trump clashed in the city. It also echoed a similar cancellation in February of a planned speech at the university by a right-wing provocateur and former Brietbart editor, Milo Yiannopoulos, following violent protests. For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android. Coulter reacted angrily to the cancellation on Wednesday, saying in a series of tweets that it amounted to censorship and vowing nonetheless to show up at Berkeley as scheduled. "I am! At Berkeley next Thursday," she said in one tweet. She added in another post that she had instructed the Republican student group that invited her "to spare no expense in renting my speaking venue - part of my legal damages." A spokesman for the university told AFP the school's College Republicans were informed late Tuesday that the event with Coulter had to be scrapped as the safety of the firebrand conservative commentator and the public could not be assured. "Unfortunately, (campus police) determined that, given currently active security threats, it is not possible to assure that the event could be held successfully," according to a letter sent to the student group. University spokesman Dan Mogulof said concern about security during the event mounted last week after posters appeared on the walls of campus buildings threatening disruptions. He added that "targeted threats" on two websites had also been discovered. - 'Ridiculous demands' - Last weekend, Berkeley was the scene of fights between pro- and anti-Trump demonstrators that led to at least 21 people being arrested. Story continues Mogulof said campus police had learned that some of the groups that took part in those clashes "planned to target the appearance of Ann Coulter on campus." The recent unrest has put the spotlight on the university, known as the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement of the 1960s. The Washington Post quoted Coulter as saying that the university had tried to pressure her to cancel her speech by "imposing ridiculous demands" and that she had agreed to all their "silly" requirements. She told the paper that her speech was to focus on immigration, the subject of one of her books. "They just up and announced that I was prohibited from speaking anyway," she was quoted as saying. "I feel like the Constitution is important, and that taxpayer-supported universities should not be using public funds to violate American citizens constitutional rights." Mogulof said the university hoped to be able to reschedule Coulter's appearance some time in September, after identifying an appropriate venue and working out security arrangements. University officials said although the student organization that invited Coulter was independent and was free to welcome whoever they wished at Berkeley, the campus was responsible "for ensuring safety and security during such events." "In the wake of events surrounding the planned appearance by Milo Yiannopoulos in February, as well as several riots which have occurred in recent weeks in the city of Berkeley, we have increased our scrutiny regarding the time and location of high-profile speakers so that these events can go forward unimpeded," the letter sent to the group said. Members of the student organization could not be reached for comment. When Chicago airport security officers forcibly dragged David Dao from a United Airlines flight on April 9, many people on social media were quick to point out the potential racial facet of the incident, as Dao, 69, is of Asian descent. United Continental Holdings (UAL) CEO Oscar Munoz made it clear in a quarterly earnings conference call Tuesday morning that he had noticed this element as well, telling reporters and analysts on the call that he visited the Chinese consulate in Chicago soon after the episode. There has certainly been some sentiment, and I did visit the Chinese consulate here locally, Munoz said when asked by a reporter during the conference call about the Chinese communitys reaction to Uniteds fiasco. He added that he planned to bring up the issue at pre-planned visits throughout Asia in the coming weeks. In fact while Dao, an American citizen, was originally thought to be of Chinese descent, he was later reported to be of Vietnamese descent. But the potential Chinese market for United Airlines is far larger than any Vietnamese one. Read: United CEO Responds To David Dao Incident As New Video Surfaces United, which reported first quarter 2017 revenues just slightly above consensus expectations Monday evening, confirmed the meeting with Chinese officials but did not provide details such as the date or what exactly was discussed, by press time. Asked about the meeting, Jo-Ann Yoo, executive director of the Asian American Federation, told International Business Times, Mr. Munozs decision to meet with the Chinese consulate to discuss the recent United Airlines incident involving Dr. Dao misses the mark entirely. Dr. Dao is an Asian American who was subjected to Uniteds horrific treatment in the U.S. Even though countless Asian American and social justice organizations, leaders, and individuals have demanded answers, our requests have fallen on deaf ears; we have yet to receive a satisfactory reply or be given a meeting with Uniteds representatives. Story continues While growth in the trans-Pacific market has been slower than that of Uniteds domestic air traffic, according to recent earnings reports, the company has been expanding its trans-Pacific routes in recent years. In June, for example, it added nonstop flights between San Francisco International Airport and the Xiaoshan International Airport in Hangzhou its fifth mainland Chinese city destination and 14th Asia-Pacific route from the California city in June 2016. In a press release announcing the expansion, United touted itself as the top U.S. carrier to China. In the conference call, company leadership unequivocally said it was impossible to tell whether air traffic had declined in the wake of the recent public relations debacle, especially given the time frame, as the week before the Easter holiday generally yields lower traffic. Read: How To Avoid Being Bumped, Overbooked Updated 4/18, 4:40 pm: This story was updated to include comment from the Asian American Federation. Related: Jimmy Kimmel Parodies United Airlines Watch Jimmy Kimmel Live on Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android. Related Articles The Hague (AFP) - The UN's top court will Wednesday rule on a bid by Kiev to halt Russia's alleged funnelling of money, arms, and personnel into Ukraine's war-torn east, a key moment in the three-year crisis. Judges at the Hague-based International Court of Justice will hand down a ruling at 1300 GMT on Ukraine's request for emergency measures, which it says will help bring stability to its volatile east. Kiev is also calling on the court to order Moscow to halt what it calls "racial discrimination" against minority groups in the Russian-occupied Crimea peninsula, particularly against its Tatar population. More than 10,000 people have died in the conflict which entered its fourth year this month, following the ouster of a Kremlin-backed regime in Kiev in February 2014. Ukraine in January dragged its former Soviet-era neighbour before the ICJ, which was set up in 1945 to settle disputes between countries in line with international law. Kiev accused Russia of violating the Terrorism Financing Convention and an international treaty against racial discrimination. Moscow rejects the allegations. In its filing, Ukraine charged Russia with "sponsoring terrorism" by financing pro-Russian separatists and failing to stop military aid from seeping across the border into eastern Ukraine's Donbas region. It called on the court's 15 judges to rule that "the Russian Federation bears international responsibility" for "acts of terrorism committed by its proxies in Ukraine". These include the shelling and bombing of civilians and the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, shot down by a Russian-made Buk-missile over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014. Ukraine wants Russia to pay compensation to all civilians caught up in the conflict -- one of Europe's bloodiest since the 1990s Balkans wars -- as well as to the families of the 298 victims of MH17. - 'No jurisdiction' - As it can take months for the ICJ to even decide to hear a case, Ukraine also filed an application seeking interim protection measures. Story continues In the interim application, Ukraine is seeking an urgent court order calling on the tribunal to order Russia to refrain from "any action which might aggravate or extend the dispute" or make it more difficult to resolve, including a halt to the alleged pumping of money, weapons, equipment and personnel into the east. It also urges the tribunal to order Moscow to control its borders with eastern Ukraine and halt racial discrimination in Crimea -- particularly against Tatars -- which Russia annexed in March 2014. Moscow has strongly denied Kiev's terrorism claims, saying they were "neither factual nor legal" and argued that the ICJ does not have jurisdiction over the case. The conflict has pushed ties between Moscow and the West to their lowest point since the Cold War. Georgia filed a similar case against Russia in 2008 after a brief war over two Moscow-backed regions that broke away from Tbilisi's control in the early 1990s. In an initial ruling, the ICJ ordered both Russia and Georgia to "refrain from any acts of racial discrimination" against ethnic groups. The court in 2011 declined to hear Georgia's main case, saying it had no jurisdiction. It said Tiblisi should have tried harder to negotiate with its neighbour before seeking the court's intervention. Olivier Ribbelink, senior researcher at the respected Hague-based Asser Institute told AFP: "You never know what conclusion the court's judges will reach." He added: "We have been surprised before." Washington (AFP) - After a few days of saber-rattling, US President Donald Trump's administration has reverted to the same North Korea policy as its predecessor: relying on China to control Pyongyang. The USS Carl Vinson carrier battle group, which Trump boasted last week was the "armada, very powerful" to bring leader Kim Jong-un to heel is instead carrying out drills off the coast of Australia. And in Washington, top officials now express hope that North Korea's great power neighbor China will apply the necessary political and economic pressure to halt its nuclear tests. Beijing, of course, has made this promise before, and experts warn there is no particular reason why China would honor it now -- but the White House seems to have few better options. Last week, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the Vinson was "on her way up" to the Korean peninsula. Four days later the ship was photographed sailing the other way, into the Indian Ocean. On Tuesday, Mattis said the United States is "working so closely" with China towards the aim of denuclearizing the peninsula, adding hopefully that: "We all share that same interest." Trump also expressed confidence that -- after his summit earlier this month with Chinese leader Xi Jinping -- the standoff will be resolved with Beijing's full support. - Missile parade - Speaking to Fox News television, Trump said he was dealing with Xi "with great respect" and that China had already begun enforcing more strictly its own ban on coal imports from North Korea. "Nobody's ever seen it like that. Nobody's ever seen such a positive response on our behalf from China," he said. But if Pyongyang is nervous that international sanctions are about to bite, it has not shown it, and senior officials have vowed to continue nuclear and ballistic missile tests. The regime carried out a failed test-firing of a medium-range missile on Saturday, shortly after a parade showcased an impressive arsenal of apparently nuclear-capable rockets. Story continues And North Korea's deputy ambassador to the United Nations vowed that any US strike would provoke "the toughest counteraction." The United States has more than 28,000 troops in South Korea and powerful assets at sea and in air bases around the region, but North Korea has artillery within range of Seoul. South Korea is staging a tense election campaign and the public both there and around the region is fearful that either Kim or Trump or both might make good on their warlike rhetoric. Washington would prefer that China turn the screw on North Korea's coal exports and fuel imports, dissuading them from carrying out the sixth nuclear test they have threatened. "We've seen some tangible indications that they're working towards this end, but it's still quite early," said Susan Thornton, acting assistant secretary for East Asian affairs. "President Trump is very hopeful the Chinese will undertake to use the considerable leverage that they have over the economic lifeblood of the North Korean economy." - Sanctions evasion - Longtime observers of the crisis are skeptical. "I still don't think that China is going to put the kind of pressure that's necessary on North Korea," said Anthony Ruggiero of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Ruggiero and fellow hawks worry that Beijing will not take stern measures against its neighbor until action is taken against the Chinese banks that collaborate with Pyongyang. Beijing has signed up to UN sanctions against North Korea's missile and nuclear programs, and in February vowed to halt coal imports, but trade and finance continue. There have been several cases of Chinese companies and banks working with North Korean networks to evade sanctions, Ruggiero argues, and only the threat of US legal action with halt this. For the former veteran US official, China does not deserve praise for merely "sending back a couple of coal vessels for a sanction that they should have been implementing last year." "The only way this is going to work is if the Chinese are targeted themselves," he argued. So if China won't help, what are the options? Last week Trump warned darkly that if his China outreach fails, the North "will be taken care of" by the United States and its allies. But -- whatever speculation about a military option and despite sanctions proving so unsuccessful for Trump's predecessors -- Thornton told reporters that a choice had been made. "We have made a decision ... to maximize pressure, economic pressure, on the North Korean regime to try to get it to make tangible steps to roll back their illegal programs," she said. PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Every submarine in the U.S. fleet was designed with the height, reach and strength of men in mind, from the way valves are placed to how display screens are angled. That's going to change. With women now serving aboard submarines, defense contractor Electric Boat is designing what will be the first Navy subs built specifically to accommodate female crew members. The designers are doing the obvious things, such as adding more doors and washrooms to create separate sleeping and bathing areas for men and women and to give them more privacy. But they are also making more subtle modifications that may not have been in everyone's periscope when the Navy admitted women into the Silent Service. For example, they are lowering some overhead valves and making them easier to turn, and installing steps in front of the triple-high bunk beds and stacked laundry machines. The first vessel built with some of the new features, the future USS New Jersey, is expected to be delivered to the Navy in 2021. The Navy lifted its ban on women on submarines in 2010, starting with officers. About 80 female officers and roughly 50 enlisted women are now serving on subs, and their numbers are expected to climb into the hundreds over the next few years. For now, the Navy is retrofitting existing subs with extra doors and designated washrooms to accommodate women. But Electric Boat in Groton, Connecticut, is at work on a redesign of the Navy's Virginia-class fast-attack subs and is also developing a brand-new class of ballistic-missile submarines, relying on body measurements for both men and women. "We have a clean sheet of paper, so from the ground up, we'll optimize for both men and women," said Brian Wilson, Electric Boat director of the new ballistic-missile sub program. Electric Boat officials had no immediate estimate of how much the modifications will cost. As anyone who watches war movies knows, submariners are always turning valves, whether to operate machinery, redistribute water between tanks or isolate part of a system that has been damaged. Story continues On the Columbia-class boats, valves will generally be placed lower, Wilson said. Sometimes there will be an extension handle, and some will be easier to turn. Sailors will be able to connect their masks into the emergency air system at the side of passageways, instead of overhead. Emergency air masks are being moved on fast-attack submarines, too, but the bulk of the changes on those subs are to ensure privacy. Seats in the control room on the ballistic-missile submarines will adjust forward a little more so everyone can touch each display and reach every joystick. Steps will be added so shorter people can climb into the top bunk or see into the washers and dryers, since clothes that get stuck in the machines are a fire hazard. The first Columbia-class ballistic-missile sub is scheduled to join the fleet in 2031. At 5-foot-6, Lt. Marquette Leveque, one of the first women to serve on a submarine, said that she didn't have any trouble reaching valves and other equipment but that the ergonomic changes will be helpful for shorter crewmates. Leveque was assigned to a compartment with two other female officers on the USS Wyoming. They shared a washroom with male officers. A sign on the door could be flipped to show whether a man or woman was using it. With so few women on board, the timesharing worked, she said. But with more on the way, the need for separate spaces is greater, she added. "Privacy is important anywhere you are," she said. "We live on this boat, as well as work there." Riyadh (AFP) - The United States wants to see a strong Saudi Arabia, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said during talks Wednesday aimed at reinvigorating the Riyadh-Washington alliance. Mattis, meeting the most powerful figures in the Saudi capital, also hinted that President Donald Trump could visit the kingdom, a longtime US ally which has welcomed Washington's firmer line against common adversary Iran. "It is in our interest to see a strong Saudi Arabia," Mattis said at the start of talks with Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the defence minister, pointing to the country's "military security services and secret services." Later, however, Mattis gave no indication whether President Donald Trump's administration was considering an increase in its limited support for a Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-backed rebels in Yemen. He said his Riyadh talks "could actually open the door possibly to bringing our president to Saudi Arabia." The retired four-star Marine general earlier met King Salman at Al-Yamama Palace in Riyadh, where he told the monarch: "It's good to be back." Mattis commanded troops during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He arrived in the kingdom on Tuesday afternoon to listen to Saudi leaders and learn "what are their priorities," an American defence official said. The United States and Saudi Arabia have a decades-old relationship based on the exchange of American security for Saudi oil. But ties between Riyadh and Washington became increasingly frayed during the administration of president Barack Obama. Saudi leaders felt Obama was reluctant to get involved in the civil war in Syria and was tilting toward Riyadh's regional rival Iran. The Sunni Muslim kingdom "felt marginalised" during international negotiations on a nuclear accord with Shiite Iran, the defence official said. That deal, signed in July 2015 by the Obama administration, saw the lifting of international sanctions in exchange for guarantees that Tehran would not pursue a nuclear weapons capability. Story continues - New Iran sanctions - Saudi leaders worry about Iran interfering in Arab countries by using local Shiite communities, as in Bahrain, Lebanon and Yemen. Bordering Saudi Arabia, Yemen has been torn for more than two years by a civil war between Iran-backed Huthi rebels, their allies, and pro-government forces aided by a Saudi-led military coalition. The Saudis have found a more favourable ear in Washington under Trump, who has denounced Iran's "harmful influence" in the Middle East. In February, Trump imposed new sanctions on Tehran after a ballistic missile test launch, and in response to its support for Yemen's rebels. Prince Mohammed told Mattis that Saudi Arabia and the United States are working to counter challenges in the region, including "the malign activities of Iran" and to bring stability "to the most important straits." The US military is watching Huthi activities along the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait connecting the Red Sea with the Indian Ocean. Yemeni rebels in late January attacked a Saudi warship in the Red Sea, and they are also believed to have fired missiles towards US warships in the area. The United States accuses the rebels of deploying coastal defence missiles and other weapons which threaten free navigation in the waters which are vital to global trade. Trump's Yemen focus has so far been on a major escalation of attacks against jihadists from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. But after talks with Prince Mohammed, Mattis warned of Iranian efforts to create a Yemeni militia "in the image" of Lebanon's Hezbollah. Washington provides intelligence as well as aerial refuelling to coalition warplanes conducting air strikes against the rebels in Yemen with American-supplied weapons. Pentagon officials are convinced that further military pressure will force the rebels back to peace talks, a strategy which other analysts are sceptical of. "Our goal is to push this conflict into the UN brokered negotiations to ensure that it ends as soon as possible," Mattis told reporters travelling on his first Middle East tour since taking office. After Saudi Arabia, Mattis travels Thursday to Egypt and then to Israel before returning to the Gulf for talks in Qatar. Tanya Gersh (Photo: Dan Chung/Southern Poverty Law Center via AP) This week, the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of Tanya Gersh, a Jewish mother and business owner from Whitefish, Mont., who was the main target of a vicious anti-Semitic troll storm launched by neo-Nazi blogger Andrew Anglin this past December. Background: The drama began after Sherry Spencer, mother of well-known white nationalist leader Richard Spencer, authored a blog post claiming that Gersh, a real estate agent, had tried to pressure her to sell a building she owned in downtown Whitefish and publicly denounce her sons political views or risk drawing protesters to her property. (Gersh and the SPLC describe a very different sequence of events in their complaint.) Anglin repeated Sherry Spencers claims on his neo-Nazi website, Daily Stormer, and urged followers to take action against Gersh and other members of the small Jewish community in Whitefish, a city of approximately 7,000. Though Anglin himself never engaged directly with Gersh, the SPLC argues that he is responsible for the 700-plus harassing emails, tweets, Facebook posts, voicemails and other threatening messages received by Gersh, her husband, and even her 12-year-old son, causing them to fear for their lives. The complaint accuses Anglin of various torts, including intentional infliction of emotional distress and invasion of privacy. We didnt know if they would come after us [we] still dont, Gersh told reporters Tuesday, choking back tears as she described the barrage of threats she and her family have received, including countless references to the Holocaust and gas chambers. Once I answered the phone and all I heard were gunshots, she said. I have never been so scared in my entire life. Richard Spencer, who leads a movement that mixes racism, white nationalism and populism, speaks at Texas A&M University in December. (Photo: David J. Phillip/AP) The suit is a first for the SPLC in terms of targeting the perpetrator of a digital harassment campaign, but the principles at the core of the case are similar to many other lawsuits the center has filed against the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups for nearly 40 years. Story continues In the old days, Anglin wouldve burned a cross on Tanyas lawn to intimidate her, SPLC president Richard Cohen told reporters Tuesday. In the digital age, he launched a troll storm against. The method of harassment may be new, but then as now, Cohen said, we always try to try to make leaders responsible for the actions of their followers. The SPLC, an Alabama-based legal advocacy group, has a long history of doing that. In 1980 it sued the Invisible Empire Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and several individual members after more than 100 Klansmen attacked a group of peaceful civil rights protesters in Decatur, Ala., with guns, clubs and sticks. Evidence discovered by SPLC investigators led the FBI to reopen its case on the attack, and prosecutors won convictions of nine Klansmen of criminal charges. After 10 more years, the civil case was finally settled and the Klansmen were required to perform community service, pay damages, refrain from white supremacist activity and also attend a course on race relations taught by leaders of the same civil rights group whose members theyd attacked in 1979. Since then, the SPLC has pursued a number of similar suits, seeking to hold hate groups and their leaders legally and financially responsible for acts of violence and harassment carried out by their members. Supporters of the Ku Klux Klan and the Confederate flag yell at opposing demonstrators during a rally in Columbia, S.C., in July 2015. (Photo: Chris Keane/Reuters) Before this week, the last such hate suit the group had filed was in 2007 against the Imperial Klans of America and four members whod participated in the brutal beating of 16-year-old Jordan Gruver in Brandenburg, Ky., the previous summer. The SPLC successfully argued that, despite claiming to discourage illegal activity, the Klans leadership was responsible for promoting hate and violence against minorities. (The Klansmen reportedly called Gruver, who is of Panamanian-Indian decent, an illegal spic as they threw whiskey in his face, beat him and kicked him on the ground.) A jury awarded Gruver $2.5 million in damages. Cohen acknowledged that Anglin urged followers to refrain from engaging in any violence or threats of violence. But Cohen dismissed this disclaimer as a flimsy defense in light of Anglins publishing photographs and personal contact information for Gersh and several other members of Whitefishs Jewish community, whom he described as a a vicious, evil race of hate-filled psychopaths. To tell people to harass someone and then say dont do anything illegal is talking out of both sides of his mouth, said Cohen. I dont think Andrew Anglin is going to be able to hide behind others who carried out his bidding. Anglin did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story. Danielle Citron, a University of Maryland law professor and leading expert on cybercrimes, called the lawsuit an important step forward and commended the Gersh family for fighting back. So often people dont want to sue, said Citron. Usually you just disappear because youre terrified. In her book, Hate Crimes in Cyberspace, Citron makes the case that cyberharassment is a civil rights issue, but she told Yahoo News that the lack of legal ramifications has created a mentality of I dont give a shit because there arent consequences. Of course, Citron said, a win against Anglin is not going to deter everyone because there are a lot of sick people in the world. But, she argued, the more the law can be used to impose costly penalties for such behavior, if these people are rational actors they will be deterred. Citron, who consulted on the SPLCs complaint against Anglin, said she is confident that any First Amendment defense he may try to bring will fail. This isnt hate speech, she said. This is the targeting with racism and hatred and anti-Semitism of a specific family with threats and defamation. The SPLC, which tracks hate groups in the United States, identifies Anglin as a neo-Nazi, and Citron would agree with that description based on the content of his blog posts and website, the Daily Stormer, named after the Hitler-era Nazi newspaper Der Sturmer. But, she clarifies, whether or not Anglin is actually affiliated with any sort of neo-Nazi group is irrelevant to the case against him. You cant punish someone for having a viewpoint or for participating in a disgusting group that has disgusting political ideas, she said. Thats protected behavior. Activists protest at the Love Not Hate gathering in Whitefish, Mont. (Photo: Andrew Romano/Yahoo News) The troll storm may have subsided slightly, but the impact on Gersh and her family continues. Search Tanya Gersh in Google images and the first result is a photoshopped picture of Gersh with a yellow star of David on her forehead and the words Filthy Juden written in big bold letters across the bottom. Gersh said the threats have forced her to stop working as a real estate agent for fear of putting her clients at risk. She now goes to trauma therapy twice a week and is experiencing anxiety-induced medical issues. Most importantly, Im never feeling safe, she said. This went so far beyond harassment, this was terrorism. The suit did not specify an amount of monetary damages, but Cohen said he plans to seek extensive compensation for the suffering experienced by Tanya and her family, as well as a substantial punitive damage judgment to punish Anglin and to send a message to other likeminded people. Cyberhate in our country is a growing problem and its incredibly ugly, he said. We hope to change that. Read more from the Yahoo Weed & the American Family series: By Jose Cabezas and Nelson Renteria EL MOZOTE, El Salvador (Reuters) - Survivors of 1981's El Mozote massacre are closer than ever to justice after the reopening of an investigation begun more than a quarter-century ago into the army-led killing of about 1,000 people, casting light on a horrific symbol of the unaccountability for atrocities in El Salvador's civil war. The killings went unpunished because of an amnesty law that from 1993 prohibited prosecution of crimes from the war, which between 1980 and 1992 claimed 75,000 lives and led to over 8,000 disappearances. Bodies of El Mozote victims rotted outdoors and many were devoured by animals, while others were buried or burned by soldiers involved in the operation. Survivors could not bury their dead or find closure in justice. But in 1991, Argentine forensic experts began helping to disinter remains to identify the victims, forgotten by politicians and society during decades of official silence. So far they have gathered remains of 400 people, and this year in January their work attracted special attention on the 25th anniversary of El Salvador's 1992 peace accords. Eustaquio Martinez has spent more than half his life searching for the remains of his wife and six children, executed in December 1981 by an army battalion, along with roughly 1,000 unarmed civilians in El Mozote and other parts of Morazan, a district 200 kilometers northeast of San Salvador, the capital. "Some of (my) little ones were shot, some had their throats cut," the 65-year-old Martinez said, sobbing as he told Reuters how the soldiers killed his family under the shade of a mango tree. He was spared because he was on a trip at the time. Their killers accused them of collaborating with "the communists" from the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), currently the ruling government party. Another step toward redress was taken last year when El Salvador's Supreme Court declared the amnesty law unconstitutional. The investigation was reopened and a court began a case against 18 soldiers who were called to testify in March. Salvadoran legal records show only one lawsuit, filed in 1990, over the killings. The investigation has given hope to Martinez and 60 other families seeking justice for their loved ones in El Salvador. In a report by a U.N.-backed Truth Commission, several military officials were accused of being involved in what the government at the time termed a "counterinsurgency operation." One of them was General Jose Guillermo Garcia, defense minister between 1979 and 1983. Garcia, 82, was deported last year from the United States where he had lived since 1989, and brought to court in March to answer questions about El Mozote. He is also wanted in respect to other crimes such as the 1980 murder of San Salvador Archbishop Oscar Romero and four American churchwomen. In December, Vice President Oscar Ortiz and other senior officials joined in the annual commemoration of the El Mozote massacre. Twenty one small white coffins filled with bones were buried in the local cemetery amid speeches, songs and candles. "What we want is justice," 58-year-old Jose Marquez, who lost his parents and siblings in the massacre, said during the ceremony. "The people who did this - some of them died, but others are alive and they're still free." Click here to see a related photo essay: http://reut.rs/2pBi4W6 (Reporting by Nelson Renteria in El Salvador; Writing by Dan Freed in Mexico City; Editing by Toni Reinhold) Elon Musk recently announced that he is fed up with traffic in Los Angeles and will soon begin boring a tunnel under the city to relieve congestion. As a billionaire and innovator, Musk has the resources to make something like this happen. But even if he bores his tunnel, where does that leave the rest of the country with its congested highways, crumbling bridges, aging water systems and fragile power grid? One big push in L.A. doesnt solve the problems of an entire country struggling under the burden of billions of dollars in deferred maintenance. We need a national vision to pay for and revitalize our infrastructure for all Americans. For decades, my association and many others have urged Congress and the states to make much bigger investments in our vital infrastructure. But we are still far behind where we would like to be. The problem is us. We say we want better roads and safer drinking water. But year after year, we refuse to come up with the money to make the big improvements that we need. Yes, some states and local governments have taken it upon themselves to raise revenue. But that isnt enough to meet all our infrastructure needs. But there is hope. President Donald Trump has shined a bright light on infrastructure. During the campaign, his inaugural address - and most recently, his Joint Address to Congress - he emphasized his commitment to rebuild roads, bridges and schools. Last October, his advisors published a paper that proposed $1 trillion in new infrastructure investment over ten years by offering tax credits to private investors. And recently, Senate Democrats introduced their own $1 trillion plan to repair crumbling roads, rebuild schools and do more while creating over 15 million new jobs. As hopeful as these proposals are, there is a big problem: They are heavy on vision and light on details, specifically how to pay for them. Paying for a grand plan is always the sticking point. Those who advance these proposals dont want to talk about pay-fors until the last minute, because they want to limit the opportunity of their adversaries to oppose them. So, we get the big vision first in the light of day, and the messy sausage-making of pay-fors in the dead of night. And whos to blame for this? The American people. It may seem that Congress and the President are pursuing wicked ends through clandestine means when they wrap up a deal with pay-fors at the eleventh hour. But they are simply following our lead. Consider this reader comment in response to a recent newspaper article describing Americans reluctance to pay user fees to rebuild infrastructure. The reader said, Americans want first class roads but dont want to pay for them. Well, folks, nothing is free. No one will provide these things without taxes or user fees. In response to this attitude, Congress and the President have twisted themselves into unnatural shapes to say to voters, Yes, were going to rebuild your infrastructure, and No, were not going to raise taxes or fees to do it (well, maybe just a little). This Harry Houdini act must end. We cant rebuild our infrastructure if our elected leaders are forced to carry out our will wrapped in a straitjacket and submerged in a glass coffin rapidly filling with water. This tableau makes for great theater but lousy public policy. Having a grand infrastructure proposal without a means to pay for it doesnt solve the problem. It merely names the problem and a happy end state, without any of the hard work needed to get to the end. We need to be honest with each other and make sacrifices now to ensure a better future. Sacrifice in this case means money, with Americans paying more than they pay today in exchange for better infrastructure. Its time to treat the American people like adults and explain the need for bigger investment in the form of taxes and user fees. Adults understand that there is no free lunch and there are no free roads. Lets have an honest conversation that starts like this: We are going to build and maintain the finest infrastructure in the world and we, the American people, are going to pay for it. This article was originally published on TIME.com Warsaw (AFP) - Warsaw's Jewish community on Wednesday held a burial of damaged Torah scrolls in the Polish capital, an ancient ritual that some believe had not been carried out since the war. Poland's chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich said the meaning of the ceremony was "about remembering that for us the Torah scroll is so important, is so holy, that when it's no longer usable we bury it as if it was a human being." The community buried fragments of the pre-war scrolls inside two enormous clay jars at the city's Jewish cemetery on the occasion of the 74th anniversary of the start of the Warsaw ghetto uprising. Around 7,000 Jews died in the month-long uprising -- Europe's first urban anti-Nazi revolt -- most of them burned alive, and more than 50,000 were deported to the Treblinka death camp. The Germans then razed the ghetto, after which the notoriously brutal German commander Juergen Stroop penned a report entitled "The Jewish Quarter of Warsaw is No More!" Schudrich said Wednesday's ceremony proved Stroop wrong "because while we're burying this, a living Jewish community is burying it." "The words of the Torah are studied every day all over the world, also here in Warsaw, where there's a living Jewish community. The ultimate response to the German oppression," he told AFP. Poland was home to Europe's largest Jewish community before World War II, numbering 3.3 million. The Nazi Germans killed most of them during the Holocaust. One year after Nazi Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, they built a special district in Warsaw for Jews, isolating around 480,000 behind ghetto walls. On April 19, 1943, the Nazis began liquidating the ghetto, where just 60,000 people remained after the vast majority died of hunger or disease or had been sent to the Treblinka death camp. It was on that day that hundreds of poorly-armed Jews launched the uprising, preferring to die with a weapon in hand than at a death camp. Poland's Jewish community numbers just 10,000 today. A potentially catastrophic global crisis looms. Famine threatens Somalia, South Sudan, Yemen and Nigeria -- countries mired in conflict. Humanitarian agencies that ordinarily respond are strapped for cash to fund critical relief efforts, possibly due to failures of previous humanitarian efforts to demonstrate that donations went where intended. Many have turned to their purchasing power in support of causes, from buying red noses at Walgreens to end child poverty, to Toms shoes so children in poor countries get a pair, too. However, as faculty in global health studies and anthropology at Northwestern University, I've seen firsthand the effects of well-intentioned purchasing choices and material donations. Those purchased products for a cause, and our donated goods -- clothes, toys, shoes, kitchen items -- have unintended consequences, in part because from afar, we don't know what is actually useful, and because there's something alluring to purchasing something for ourselves and knowing it helps someone else. The fact is, these purchases and material donations often do more harm than good. Take material donations. In 1998, after Hurricane Mitch hit Honduras, planes were unable to land because unusable donated clothing littered the runway. After the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, donated clothing was burned on Indonesian beaches for lack of volunteers to sort it. And, after the December 2012 mass shooting in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, people donated approximately 67,000 stuffed animals, as well as school supplies, sleds and clothes to comfort the children. The town had to rent a warehouse to store it all. Much of it had to be redistributed or thrown out. Similar donation issues affect organizations locally. We often give nonperishable goods to local food banks. By simply donating the funds directly, food banks could purchase food wholesale, feeding more people. In so many cases, money goes farther than material donations. In my many years of research, I've come across countless organizations doing excellent work, but struggling with good intentions from afar. Material donations compromise their ability to make the best use of resources. Two particularly memorable cases from Tanzania come to mind. In the first, the director of a school teaching disabled teens marketable trades like welding, sewing and carpentry received a donated package from Canada. Inside the box were school supplies: pens and pencils, notebooks and crayons. The director balked at the tremendous waste of resources, despite the good intentions of those who gave. The box cost more than $60 in postage -- money he could have put to much better use to support the students' needs. In the second example, a hospital director received four shipping containers of used medical equipment. While the Scandinavian sending organization spent thousands of dollars in shipping costs to get the containers to Tanzania, the receiving hospital was obliged to spend additional funds to rent trucks and a crane to get the containers off the cargo ship, onto trucks and transported the eight hour drive to the hospital. When the director opened the containers, they were filled with equipment irrelevant to their needs: heated maternity beds not useful in a tropical country, sheets and mattresses that were useful, but also locally available. Had this director received the funds outright, she could have bought more equipment actually relevant to the hospital. When we give from the heart, we expect recipients to be grateful. Many are grateful for the sentiment, but nonetheless burdened by the outcome of our good intentions. Have you ever received a gift you didn't want? It's awkward. Donating to those in need is not the same as giving a gift. People in need have specific needs. They can't just take anything and make it work. Organizations serving them require the flexibility to be able to meet needs as they arise. That's why monetary donations can be so powerful, even when they seem less personal. To be sure, there is justifiable concern about misuse of funds we donate. Many donation efforts are more about marketing and branding than about meeting needs. But among those organizations that don't meet local needs are even more doing amazing work. Some are large, some are small. We really can make a difference by thinking twice before putting postage on material stuff, and instead putting money we'd spend on postage directly into a local organization's coffers. Ask your neighbors, members of your religious community and your social networks what organizations or initiatives are already doing good work. Organizations on the front lines of the emerging famine crisis need our help, but they also need us to think critically before providing it. Noelle Sullivan is an assistant professor of instruction in global health studies and anthropology at Northwestern University, a board member of Worldview Education and Care, and a public voices fellow with The Op-Ed Project. Follow her on Twitter. By Jeff Mason and Doina Chiacu WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's administration on Wednesday denied being misleading about a U.S. carrier strike group's push toward the Korean peninsula, saying it never gave an arrival date and that the ships were still on their way. When Trump boasted early last week that he had sent an "armada" as a warning to North Korea, the USS Carl Vinson strike group was still far from the Korean peninsula, and headed in the opposite direction. The U.S. military's Pacific Command explained on Tuesday that the strike group first had to complete a shorter-than-initially planned period of training with Australia but was now heading toward the Western Pacific. "The president said that we have an armada going towards the peninsula. That's a fact. It happened. It is happening, rather," said White House spokesman Sean Spicer. He referred further queries about the deployment timetable to the Pentagon. The U.S. military initially said in a statement dated April 10 that Admiral Harry Harris, the commander of Pacific Command, directed the Vinson strike group "to sail north and report on station in the Western Pacific." But the strike group first headed elsewhere, On April 15, the U.S. Navy even published a photo showing the Vinson transiting the Sunda Strait on its way to drills with Australia. http://www.navy.mil/view_image.asp?id=235255 Reuters and other news outlets reported on April 11 that the movement would take more than a week. But the Navy, for security reasons, says it does not report future operational locations of its ships. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis looked to address confusion over the issue on Wednesday, telling reporters traveling with him in the Middle East that the alteration in the Vinson's schedule had been disclosed in the interest of transparency. "We are doing exactly what we said we were going to do. She will be on her way," he said. The strike group's commander, Rear Admiral Jim Kirby, said in a Facebook post this week that the deployment had even been extended 30 days "to provide a persistent presence in the waters off the Korean Peninsula." A Trump administration official told Reuters on Tuesday that Washington was concerned about the possibility of some kind of North Korean provocation around the time of the South Korean election on May 9. "There is precedent going back to the 1990s and early 2000s where there are provocations timed to South Korean political events," he said. (Additional reporting by Idrees Ali in Riyadh, and David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Writing by Phil Stewart; Editing by Peter Cooney) By Lesley Wroughton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday accused Iran of 'alarming ongoing provocations' to destabilise countries in the Middle East as the Trump administration launched a review of its policy towards Tehran. Tillerson told reporters the review, which he announced on Tuesday, would not only look at Tehran's compliance with a 2015 nuclear deal but also its behaviour in the region which he said undermined U.S. interests in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon. His tough words matched those of U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who said in a visit to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday that Iran's destabilising influence would have to be overcome to end the conflict in Yemen. President Donald Trump ordered the review to evaluate whether suspension of sanctions related to the nuclear deal was "vital to the national security interests of the United States," Tillerson said Though there was no sign the Trump administration intended to walk away from the deal, Tillerson twice cautioned that if left unchecked Tehran could become a threat like North Korea, which is also under pressure over its nuclear ambitions. In a letter to U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan released late on Tuesday, Tillerson declared that Iran was meeting its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal but there were concerns about Tehran's role as a state sponsor of terrorism. "A comprehensive Iran policy requires we address all of the threats posed by Iran and it is clear there are many," Tillerson told reporters at the State Department. Tillerson said the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers failed "to achieve the objective of a non-nuclear Iran and only delays their goal of becoming a nuclear state." "FAILED APPROACH" Iran has yet to comment on the Trump administration's review, but Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei warned in November that Tehran would retaliate if the United States breached the nuclear agreement. Tillerson said one of the mistakes in the way the agreement was put together was that it ignored all the other serious threats Iran posed outside of its nuclear programme. "That is why we have to look at Iran in a very comprehensive way in terms of the threat it poses in all areas of the region and the world," he added. "This deal represents the same failed approach of the past that brought us to the current imminent threat we face from North Korea," Tillerson said of the nuclear deal. The nuclear agreement, negotiated during Barack Obama's presidency, placed limitations on Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for lifting economic sanctions against Iran. Tillerson's notice to Congress was part of a 90-day process in which the president has to certify that Iran is complying with the nuclear accord. It is the first update under the Trump administration. The next test of Trump's attitude towards the nuclear deal will be in May when he must decide whether to extend sanctions waivers for Iran first signed by President Barack Obama. During his presidential campaign, Trump called the agreement "the worst deal ever negotiated" and said he would review it once he reached office. The European Union's foreign policy chief, Frederica Mogherini, said last month after meetings with senior Trump administration officials she was reassured in the talks that the U.S. was committed to fully implementing the deal. (Additional reporting by Jeff Mason, Doina Chiacu and David Alexander and Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Andrew Hay) Ottawa (AFP) - A Canadian woman has been arrested for allegedly smuggling foreign nationals into Canada, contributing to a recent wave of asylum seekers walking across the border from the US, police said Wednesday. Michelle Omoruyi, 43, was stopped near the Canada-US border last Friday and charged under Canada's immigration and refugee protection act. Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Staff Sergeant Donovan Fisher told a press conference "nine foreign nationals were (also) intercepted while crossing the border into Canada." At the same time, "several" people were picked up by a border patrol in the US state of North Dakota, he said. US Customs and Border Protection was not immediately available to confirm how many. The arrests were the culmination of a four-month joint investigation by security agencies in both countries. Fisher said a search of a home in Regina, Saskatchewan linked to Omoruyi uncovered a stash of cash and other unspecified evidence. Authorities would not reveal the age, sex or nationalities of the nine foreign nationals detained at the border. But the daily Regina Leader Post said they were from West Africa and all of them have now filed refugee claims in Canada. There has been a flood of asylum seekers entering Canada from the United States since Donald Trump was elected president. According to the government, federal police have intercepted 1,860 border jumpers in the first three months of 2017. Many risked death walking up to 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) across snow-covered fields or through dense forests in the frigid cold of the Canadian winter. College students seeking to suppress or punish speech in their communities are the latest iteration of a longer tradition in American life than many of their critics acknowledge. Thats true even narrowing our backward gaze to Supreme Court cases from the last century. During World War II, for instance, the case of Chaplinsky vs. State of New Hampshire considered whether the municipality of Rochester had, by arresting Walter Chaplinsky, a Jehovahs Witness, for his speech, violated his rights. On the day in question, Chaplinsky was distributing literature on the street when a crowd became inflamed at his message and complained to the city marshal, James Bowering. At first, Bowering advised the crowd that Chaplinsky was acting within his rights; later, after another altercation, he warned that his literature was creating a disturbance. Chaplinsky responded, You are a God damned racketeer and a damned Fascist, and the whole government of Rochester are Fascists or agents of Fascists. He was arrested under a local law stating that no person shall address any offensive, derisive or annoying word to any other person who is lawfully in any street or other public place, nor call him by any offensive or derisive name, nor make any noise or exclamation in his presence and hearing with intent to deride, offend or annoy him, or to prevent him from pursuing his lawful business or occupation. Recommended: Trump Realizes Being President Is Hard The Supreme Court declined to declare that law unconstitutional. There are certain well-defined and narrowly limited classes of speech, the prevention and punishment of which has never been thought to raise any Constitutional problem, the majority opinion stated. These include the lewd and obscene, the profane, the libelous, and the insulting or fighting wordsthose which by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace. Story continues That is the origin of fighting words as an exception to freedom of speech, though the dearth of subsequent cases citing that exception and other jurisprudence cutting against it suggest that corner of First Amendment law no longer applies. Nevertheless, the case was cited in the scholarship of critical race theorists in the 1980s and 1990s as they urged state punishment of racist hate speech (their notion of what that encompassed was narrower than some of todays undergraduates), premised partly on the notion that some words by their very utterance inflict injury. Henry Louis Gates Jr., the director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University, traced that history in Let Them Talk, his masterful 1993 critique of critical race theory and defense of free speech. He noted that the notion of injurious words did survive for awhile in state courts, with results like this: An apparently not atypical convictionupheld by the Louisiana state courtwas occasioned by the following exchange between a white police officer and the black mother of a young suspect. He: "Get your black ass in the goddamned car." She: "You god damn mother fucking policeI am going to the Superintendent of Police about this." No prize for guessing which one was convicted for uttering fighting words. Alas, such cautionary tales are mostly unknown on todays college campuses. As in the 1990s, the aim of activists is not to resist power, but to enlist power. We are witnessing another attempt to revive the notion that certain instances of speech inflict injury by their very utterance, and should therefore be suppressed or punished. But even as notions of what constitutes impermissible hate speech expand, the potential for suppression to boomerang back on activists is seldom considered. Recommended: How Donald Trump's Success Produced Bill O'Reilly's Downfall An instructive example is unfolding at the five undergraduate institutions that make up the Claremont Colleges. Student protesters attempted to shut down a recent speech at Claremont McKenna by Heather Mac Donald, the Manhattan Institute scholar, War on Cops author, and critic of the Black Lives Matter movement. David Oxtoby, the president of Pomona College, responded to efforts to shut down her speech by releasing a statement defending liberalism. Protest has a legitimate and celebrated place on college campuses, he wrote. What we cannot support is the act of preventing others from engaging with an invited speaker. Our mission is founded upon the discovery of truth, the collaborative development of knowledge and the betterment of society. Our shared commitment to these values is critical to educating leaders who are prepared to craft solutions to the most complex problems we face. In response, a group of student activists sent him a petition demanding a revised statement. They wrote, If engaged, Heather Mac Donald would not be debating on mere difference of opinion, but the right of Black people to exist. That is an inaccurate rendering of her views, which I know well, having disagreed with her for years on policing, which we both coverMac Donalds explicit and oft-repeated position is that there is no government agency more dedicated to the idea that black lives matter than the police, a conclusion she reached after years of reporting on New York City, where a sharp decline in the murder rate, which she attributes to improved NYPD tactics, saved hundreds of would-be black murder victims, a trend she believes to have been exported to other cities through the NYPD diaspora. Recommended: Mexicos Revenge There are many solid critiques of her earnestly held positions (and many people of all races who basically agree with Mac Donald). Unfortunately, the petition signed by petitioners at the Claremont Colleges mostly raises and then begs the wrong questions. Heather Mac Donald is a fascist, a white supremacist, a warhawk, a transphobe, a queerphobe, a classist, and ignorant of interlocking systems of domination that produce the lethal conditions under which oppressed peoples are forced to live, it states. Why are you, and other persons in positions of power at these institutions, protecting a fascist and her hate speech and not students that are directly affected by her presence? The language is striking to anyone familiar with the critical race theorists, the Supreme Court cases that their scholarship drew upon, and the people who are typically punished when speech restrictions are successfully implemented in the United States. These students, who seek to weaken free speech norms, do not see how vulnerable to punishment their own speech would be under an alternative paradigm. Not only are they dubbing someone a fascist, a word the Supreme Court specifically held to inflict injury at its very utterance, they are doing so at a moment when there is a national movement urging the punching of fascistsand a White House and Congress that leans on authoritarian-inflected populism more than any in a generation, making it especially likely that new speech restrictions would be used to suppress dissent. It is similarly easy to see how another strategy of critical race theoriststhe attempt to punish some speech by declaring it group libelcould be coopted to punish everything from pro-Palestinian activism to group insults like fuck the police or fuck white tears, or even analytic claims about white fragility or cisgender privilege. At times, the Claremont petitioners do recognize the value of free speech, if only by way of trying to qualify it. Free speech, a right many freedom movements have fought for, has recently become a tool appropriated by hegemonic institutions, the students write. It has not just empowered students from marginalized backgrounds to voice their qualms and criticize aspects of the institution, but it has given those who seek to perpetuate systems of domination a platform to project their bigotry. Their error isnt merely thinking that one can have free speech norms that empower students from marginalized backgrounds while suppressing speech from hegemonic institutionsrather, they err in attributing the power of those who seek to perpetuate systems of domination to free speech. Persons or institutions that already exercise hegemony need not rely on laws or norms protecting unconstrained expression to share their views. As Georgetowns David Coles once put it, in a democratic society the only speech government is likely to succeed in regulating will be that of the politically marginalized. If an idea is sufficiently popular, a representative government will lack the political wherewithal to suppress it, irrespective of the First Amendment. But if an idea is unpopular, the only thing that may protect it from the majority is a strong constitutional norm of content-neutrality. The Claremont Colleges are not government institutions, but a similar logic applies. It is almost never the case that a group is both so marginalized that it is threatened by speech, and so powerful that it can persuade an authority to suppress speech. Later in their petition, the students of the Claremont Colleges demand that the colleges take action against a conservative student newspaper, The Claremont Independent, for what they characterize as its continual perpetuation of hate speech, anti-Blackness, and intimidation toward students of marginalized backgrounds, adding that if the newspaper reports on their petition, provided that the Claremont Independent releases the identity of students involved with this letter and such students begin to receive threats and hate mail we demand that this institution and its constituents take legal action against members of the Claremont Independent involved with the editing and publication process as well as disciplinary action, such as expulsion on the grounds of endangering the wellbeing of others. If these demands were met, would it not demonstrate that the petitioners exercise more power on campus than the students whose punishment they seek? Would not the precedent of punishing students in the manner suggested put the petitioners at risk, if their denunciation of the Claremont Independent led to verbal attacks on its staffers? There is, finally, a weakness in the petitioners argument that Pomona cannot have its cake and eat it, too,that it cannot, on one hand, say that it supports and respects black students, and on the other hand, defend letting Heather Mac Donald speak, even if institutional leaders purport to disagree with the substance of her views. Gates offers the best rebuttal to that view (albeit in a slightly different context): A university administration that merely condemns hate speech, without mobilizing punitive sanctions, is held to have done little, to have offered "mere words." And yet this skepticism about the power of "mere words" comports oddly with the attempt to regulate "mere words" that, since they are spoken by those not in a position of authority, would seem to have even less symbolic force. Why is it "mere words" when a university only condemns racist speech, but not "mere words" that the student utters in the first place? Whose words are "only words"? Why are racist words deeds, but anti-racist words just lip service? Near the end of Let Them Talk, Gates turns specifically to the subject of codes implemented on college campuses to punish hate speech. As he summarized them: The record may surprise some advocates of regulations. "When the ACLU enters the debate by challenging the University of Michigan's efforts to provide a safe harbor for its Black, Latino and Asian students," Charles R. Lawrence writes, "we should not be surprised that nonwhite students feel abandoned." In light of the actual record of enforcement, however, the situation might be viewed differently. During the year in which Michigan's speech code was enforced, more than twenty blacks were chargedby whiteswith racist speech. As Nadine Strossen of the ACLU notes, not a single instance of white racist speech was punished, a fact that makes Lawrence's talk of a "safe harbor" seem more wishful than informed. At Michigan, a full disciplinary hearing was conducted only in the case of a black social work student who was charged with saying, in a class discussion of research projects, that he believed homosexuality was an illness, and that he was developing a social work approach to move homosexuals toward heterosexuality. ("These charges will haunt me for the rest of my life," the student claimed in a court affidavit.) By my lights, this is a good example of how speech codes kill critique. I think that the student's views about homosexuality (which may or may not have been well-intentioned) are both widespread and unlikely to survive intellectual scrutiny. Regrettably, we have not yet achieved a public consensus in this country on the moral legitimacy (or, more precisely, the moral indifference) of homosexuality. Yet it may well be that a class on social work is not an inappropriate forum for a rational discussion of why the "disease" model of sexual difference has lost credibility among social scientists. (In a class on social work, this isn't p.c. brainwashing, this is education.) The trouble is, you cannot begin to conduct this conversation when you outlaw the expression of the view that you would criticize. I believe that Heather Mac Donalds views on policing are widespread, wrongheaded, and unlikely to survive intellectual scrutiny. Regrettably, Americans have not yet achieved a public consensus on the moral necessity of better policing our police. The trouble is, you cannot begin to advance that project when you suppress the airing of the view that one must understand to persuade millions of people to abandon. (Most students cannot even accurately characterize Mac Donalds arguments.) When I was an undergraduate at Claremont, Pat Buchanan spoke on campus. I found a lot of his beliefs odious. But his presence prompted me to familiarize myself with his ideas and the strongest arguments against them. That put me on an intellectual trajectory that allowed me to argue more effectively in subsequent years on behalf of gay marriage, against nativists, and many years later, against the toxic identity politics of Donald Trump. If something like the Campaign Zero agenda for policing reform is going to triumph in America, future leaders at places like the Claremont Colleges will need to know how to meet people like Heather Mac Donald in face-to-face encounters, and to demonstrate that their critiques and ideas are superior. Simply declaring that she is a bigot will not, in fact, advance social justice. If these students succeed in changing free-speech norms in any realm, so that expression is more routinely suppressed when dubbed injurious or hateful or libelous, the history of speech restrictions on and off campusa history routinely ignored by student censorssuggests marginalized communities will be hardest hit by their pyrrhic victory. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. As President Donald Trump weighs whether to keep U.S. in the Paris Agreement on climate change, leaders across the globe are preparing for the potential fallout. Top White House aides are expected to meet this week to debate the new administrations position, and a decision is expected before the end of May. During the campaign, Trump promised to pull the U.S. out of the landmark 2015 accord to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Since taking office, several influential advisors have urged him to reconsider. The potential impact of Trumps decision has led officials from some of the nearly 200 other nations in the pact to play an awkward waiting game, lobbying both privately and publicly for the U.S. to remain while insisting that theyre positioned to take up its mantle should the country withdraw. We are ready to continue to provide the leadership on climate change, Maro efovi, vice president of the European Commission and the chief energy policymaker for the European Union, tells TIME. We are are going to clearly pursue our goals in Europe, but we also want to continue our strong role in helping, especially in the developing world. efovi met with U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry and White House advisors in the weeks after Trumps inauguration to lay out the economic argument for staying in the deal and supporting renewable energy. Last month, Canadian environment minister Catherine McKenna reportedly raised the issue in a meeting with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt. Within the White House, the divisions tend to break along increasingly-familiar lines: Pruitt and chief strategist Steve Bannon favor pulling out, while Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn and senior advisor Jared Kushner are all reportedly in favor of staying in. Withdrawal would allow Trump to fulfill a campaign pledge and may appeal to supporters of his inward-looking, America First platform. But policy experts warn of the potentially significant downsides, including ceding global leadership on climate policy to China and Europe. Story continues Read More: What to Know About the Historic Paris Agreement on Climate Change Trump could also adopt a third option. Since many of the nations commitments to the Paris Agreement are voluntary, there are no concrete penalties if the U.S. fails to meet them. As a result, Trump could change U.S. commitments, preserving its role at the table while adopting less-stringent greenhouse gas reduction targets than those set under the Obama administration. Trump has already said that he will cancel U.S. payments to a UN fund dedicated to supporting climate change initiatives in the developing world. No matter what, the rest of the world will continue to implement the accord-weakened as it may be. The science of climate change is far less controversial in most parts of the world and the Paris Agreement, the product of decades of negotiation, is largely viewed as the last best hope to address it regardless of U.S. involvement. I dont think the Paris Agreement is going to fall apart even if the U.S. walks away from it, says Todd Stern, the chief U.S. climate change negotiator under Obama. They wouldnt want to give the Trump administration the satisfaction of being able to kill Paris. Read More: Why the Paris Climate Summit Is All About the Money Still, China and the EU in particular have shown a readiness to step up. Money continues to flow from the EU, which appears on target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 40% from 1990 levels by 2030, to clean energy projects in the developing world, particularly Africa. In China, stemming carbon dioxide emissions is seen as part and parcel of reducing air pollution more broadly. Observers expect the country will easily meet its goal of sourcing 20% of its energy from clean sources by 2030. In the meantime, China is expected to continue to expand its clean energy industry, including its role as the leading manufacturer of solar panels. Indeed, the growth of natural gas and renewable energy sources like wind and solar have many climate experts striking a bullish pose. I dont see anyone in a waiting pattern whatsoever, says Christiana Figueres, the former head of the UN climate change program and a key architect of the Paris Agreement. They know this is the path toward the future and this is actually a much better investment. Read More: The Paris Agreement on Climate Change Has Surprising New Supporters Even under Trump those market trends will continue in the U.S., says Figueres, who now runs the climate initiative Mission 2020. Operating coal-fired power plants, the heaviest polluter in the electricity sector, has become more expensive as the cost of natural gas and clean energy sources like wind and solar has declined. The International Energy Agency expects coal consumption to peak globally in the next five years, while renewable sources account for a greater share. There is no way to have a to get to any solution on climate change thats not global, says Stern. Its a global problem. For Trump, the decision will partly come down to how involved he wants the U.S. to be in the rest of the world. This article was originally published on TIME.com Aden (AFP) - Two strikes apparently carried out by US drones killed five suspected Al-Qaeda members in Yemen overnight, military sources said on Wednesday. Washington has sharply intensified its air war against the jihadists since President Donald Trump took office in January. One strike hit a vehicle in the southern province of Shabwa, killing two suspected militants, the sources said. A second hit a car in Marib province, east of the rebel-held capital Sanaa, killing three, they added. Both Shabwa and Marib are largely held by Saudi-backed government forces but Al-Qaeda has taken advantage of fighting between them and the rebels to step up its presence. The Pentagon said on April 3 that it had carried out more than 70 strikes against jihadist targets in Yemen since February 28. Washington regards Al-Qaeda's Yemen-based branch as its most dangerous and accuses it of plotting multiple attacks against the West. Sanaa (AFP) - A group of Yemeni protestors set out from rebel-held capital Sanaa Wednesday on a 225-kilometre (140-mile) march to call for unrestricted aid deliveries to the war-torn country. The "protest for bread" marchers will head for the Red Sea port city of Hodeida -- also controlled by Iran-backed Huthi insurgents -- which is the main entry point for aid deliveries to rebel-held areas. A Saudi-led coalition battling the rebels launched an offensive early this year to re-seize control of Yemen's entire Red Sea coast, including Hodeida. Around thirty protestors are marching to demand that the port be declared a humanitarian zone. "We are organising this march so as not to be deprived of our means of survival, and to prevent the capture of Hodeida port" by pro-government forces, protestor Mahioub Hussam told AFP. The war between Yemen's government and Iran-backed Huthi rebels escalated in March 2015 when the Saudi-led coalition intervened in support of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi. The United Nations says that more than 7,700 people have since been killed. The country now faces severe food shortages and the United Nations has warned of impending famine. "This march is not political but humanitarian," said Ezzedine Essoufi, head of the organising committee. Dozens of people gathered outside the United Nations headquarters in Sanaa to see the protestors off on a march expected to take five to six days. Organisers hung banners demanding quicker aid deliveries and the reopening of Sanaa airport, which the coalition shut down in August when it resumed air strikes following the collapse of peace talks. The protestors also demanded an international enquiry on war crimes. The Huthis, who hail from Yemen's Shiite-linked Zaidi minority in northern Yemen, have controlled large parts of the country since they seized Sanaa in 2014. The coalition accuses the rebels and their allies, forces loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, of using the port to bring arms into the country. The UN urged warring parties in early April to "ensure the continued functioning" of Hodeida port as it is the country's main point of entry for humanitarian aid. By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) - Civil rights lawyers on Wednesday demanded changes to a pilot program for New York City police to wear body cameras, saying it does not ensure that officers are held properly accountable for how they treat people. The court-ordered program, whose details were approved by a federal monitor last week, was intended to precede a rollout of the cameras to all patrol officers by the end of 2019. That came after the New York Police Department's "stop-and-frisk" methods, faulted by critics as a means to conduct racial profiling, were declared unconstitutional. But lawyers including Darius Charney of the Center for Constitutional Rights and Angel Harris of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund said the year-long pilot program was vague about when officers must use cameras. In a letter to U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in Manhattan, they said officers should be required to turn cameras on during "forcible" stops, encounters where people are free to walk away and when they are "generally" looking out for crime. The lawyers also said the program should clarify when officers must alert people about the cameras, and that officers cannot review videos until after writing their reports or making statements, so the footage does not color their recollections. "Details of the policy as approved by the monitor turn the cameras from an accountability tool into a tool for surveilling and criminalizing New Yorkers," the Center for Constitutional Rights said in a statement. Nick Paolucci, a spokesman for the city's law department, said: "We are reviewing the plaintiffs' submission and will respond in due course." The stop-and-frisk litigation helped start the body camera program in New York City, which joined cities such as Chicago and Washington, D.C., that also adopted the devices. Such efforts were launched amid nationwide concerns about the use of excessive force by police, especially against black and Hispanic people. Story continues The monitor, Peter Zimroth, on April 11 urged Torres to let the program go ahead without further court intervention. But the civil rights lawyers disagreed, citing a risk that police unions may try to block it in court. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat who has had an uneven relationship with the police department, favors equipping patrol officers with body cameras. He is seeking re-election in November. The cases are Floyd v City of New York, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 08-01034; and Davis v City of New York in the same court, No. 10-00699. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Bill Trott) Lusaka (AFP) - Lawyers for the Zambian opposition leader arrested last week after allegedly refusing to give way to President Edgar Lungu's convoy have asked a court to throw out an associated treason charge. Hakainde Hichilema has been jailed since the police raided his home outside Lusaka on April 11 on charges of breaking the highway code and using insulting language. But the businessman-turned-politician is also accused of treason. According to court documents, Hichilema "on unknown dates but between 10 October 2016 and 8 April 2017 and whilst acting together with other persons unknown did endeavour to overthrow by unlawful means the government of Edgar Lungu." His defence team denounced the lack of details in the charges, and called on the magistrate court to verify they had been properly drafted. One lawyer, Vincent Malambo, also urged the court "to determine whether the charge is not a mere fact or ploy of keeping the accused in custody." State prosecutors admitted that the charge was not properly presented and asked the court for permission to amend it. Another defence lawyer, Keith Mweemba, protested the wording of the charges, saying: "There is no government of Edgar Lungu, but government of the Republic of Zambia." "You cannot say government of an individual person." Magistrate Greenwell Malumani did not say when he would hand down his ruling. Hichilema and five of his aides first appeared in court Tuesday since their arrests last week. His United Party for National Development (UPND) party has called the raid "barbaric" and has accused the police of harassment. Hichilema has launched several unsuccessful legal bids to challenge Lungu's victory in last August's election, and has said he does not recognise Lungu's presidency. He claims the vote was rigged and accuses Lungu of unleashing an unprecedented wave of political repression in the southern African country, which is known for its relative stability in the region. By Chris Mfula LUSAKA (Reuters) - Lawyers for a Zambian opposition party leader accused of trying to overthrow the government asked a court on Wednesday to throw out the case, saying the state charges were vague and ambiguous. Hakainde Hichilema, the United Party for National Development (UPND) leader, was arrested last week in a police raid on his home. He was initially accused of treason on the grounds that he had refused to give way to President Edgar Lungu's motorcade as it passed through Mongu, a town west of the capital Lusaka. On Tuesday, Hichilema was charged in court with plotting with other people between Oct. 10 last year and April 8 this year to overthrow the government by unlawful means. The arrest has raised political tension in Zambia. The Southern African country has traditionally been relatively stable but relations between the government and opposition have been fraught since last August, when Lungu's Patriotic Front (PF) beat the UPND in a presidential election marred by violence. The opposition says the vote was rigged but Hichilema has so far failed in his legal challenge against the result. Defence lawyer Keith Mweemba said on Wednesday that the treason charge was defective in law. "This court has power to quash the indictment and discharge the accused," Mweemba said. The government has offered no further details on the alleged plot. Prosecutor Gemani Zimba said the state could still amend the charge to make it specific. Magistrate Greenwell Malumani said a ruling would be made at a later date. Hichilema remains in detention. "We have all the confidence that (party) president Hichilema and all other accused persons will be set free," UPND spokesman Charles Kakoma said. "The rulings in favour of the UPND defence team all point to that but we just have to wait for the courts to make the final verdict." SEDITION CHARGE Lungu's spokesman Amos Chanda told Reuters: "President Lungu and the government have always had confidence in the judiciary and are of the view that the due process of the law should be allowed to run its full course in this matter." Lungu has narrowly beaten Hichilema, an economist and businessman who goes by the nickname "HH", in two presidential elections. Human rights group Amnesty International said in its annual report that the latest one, in August, was marked by increased political violence. Authorities had repressed the right to freedom of expression and assembly, while police used excessive force to disperse meetings of opposition parties meetings, it said. Hichilema and his UPND deputy Geoffrey Mwamba were arrested and charged with unlawful assembly and seditious practices in October after a party meeting, an action Amnesty called at the time a ploy to intimidate and silence the opposition. The pair were granted bail after being charged with sedition. The rising political temperature in Zambia, Africa's second-biggest copper producer, comes against the backdrop of an economy hobbled by low commodity prices, mine closures, rising unemployment, power shortages, a widening budget deficit and diminishing foreign-currency reserves. (Editing by Angus MacSwan and Mark Trevelyan) Harare (AFP) - Zimbabwe's main opposition and the party led by the country's former deputy president Joice Mujuru on Wednesday signed a pact to work together to topple long-ruling President Robert Mugabe's party in 2018 elections. "This is just the beginning of the building blocks towards establishing a broad alliance to confront ZANU-PF between now and the next election in 2018," said Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) "This is our collective struggle and I call upon the people of Zimbabwe to join us in working together... so that we can reclaim our country, our freedom and our dignity," Tsvangirai told journalists after signing the agreement. Mujuru, who leads the National People's Party, was fired from Mugabe's government and the ruling ZANU-PF party in December 2014 and later formed her own party. She said she was looking forward to working with Tsvangirai and that discussions had been on the table for a while. "This is something we have discussed since last year," she said. "We have taken more than six months to say the least, of consulting, discussing...." The two leaders would not divulge the terms of their agreement, but Tsvangirai revealed that he was planning to enter into similar agreements with other smaller political parties. Mujuru, a former ally of Mugabe was expelled from ZANU-PF after Mugabe's wife, Grace, accused her of plotting against the president and fanning factionalism in the party. She has denied the charges against her. A united coalition would be the first to challenge the dominance of Mugabe's ZANU-PF at the polls, after years of vote rigging allegations against the party which has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980. ZANU-PF has endorsed Mugabe who turned 93 in February as its candidate for next year's election but the liberation movement has recently been hit by factionalism over Mugabes succession, with two main factions jostling to succeed him in the event of his death. Although Mugabe has refused to name a successor, his wife Grace and vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa have been touted as potential replacements. Apple is reportedly testing numerous technologies for its iPhone 8, sources told Bloomberg. Information from sources back previous rumored features expected on the 10th anniversary device this fall. However, the new technology could possibly delay the iPhone 8s release date by one or two months after it is revealed because of supply constraints, the report said. Read: Apple's Gift Suggestions For Mother's Day Include The iPad Pro And BeatsX Earphones Here are some features the iPhone 8 could come with, according to the Bloomberg report: iPhone 8 Rumored Design Features Apple is apparently testing a revamped iPhone with an all-screen front, curved glass and a stainless steel frame, the report said. The design features of the iPhone 8 mentioned by the sources are similar to previous rumors. On Monday, Japanese blog Mac Otakara said the iPhone 8 would come with stainless steel frame to hold together the front and back glass panels of the device. iPhone 8 Rumors: OLED Display And Screen Size The iPhone 7S and 7S Plus are expected to have LCD displays, like previous rumors have indicated. For the iPhone 8, the sources said Apple will use an edge-to-edge OLED screen display provided by Samsung, backing a recent Nikkei report which said Apple placed orders for 70 million OLED panels from Samsung. However, the Bloomberg report said Apple ordered around 100 million panels from Samsung. The DigiTimes reported recently Apple signed a $9 billion two-year contract with Samsung for OLED displays. Read: iPhone 7 Vs Galaxy S8: Speed Test Video Shows Apple Still Ahead of Samsung The display is said to be larger than that of the iPhone 7 Plus, released last year, but will have an overall size closer to the iPhone 7, sources told Bloomberg. Embedded Touch ID Apple will reportedly reduce the smartphones size by embedding the home button into the screen via software like the in the Samsung Galaxy S8, people close to the matter said. However, this week, Pacific Crest Securities equity research analyst recently said Apple will likely ditch its plan of embedding the Touch ID into the iPhone 8 display. A note to investors from an analyst at Cowen and Company last week said Apples biggest trouble among iPhone 8 features was embedding the Touch ID. He also said Apple could ditch the idea or delay the production of the iPhone 8. Story continues New Camera Technology The Bloomberg report said Apple is testing more advanced cameras for the iPhone 8. For the back camera, Apple is reportedly testing versions of the iPhone for better photos by positioning the dual-camera system vertically instead of horizontally like on the iPhone 7 Plus. Apple is apparently testing dual-lenses for the front camera, an upgrade from the current iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, which have single cameras. The company has explored adding augmented reality-based features and depth-of-field enhancements to its iPhone camera system, it was learned earlier this year. The iPhones this year will run iOS 11 that will include a refreshed user-interface, the report said. The software update is expected to be announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, Calif. this June. Related Articles It seems to be an immutable fact that all Wi-Fi routers are doomed to be bad. In fairness, we do ask a lot of them: sit in a cupboard, never move, and dont you dare take one five-minute break per year or Ill run in there are reboot you faster than you can say WPA. So it shouldnt be surprising that Googles own Wi-Fi routers have their own set of problems. But even by the low standards of Wi-Fi routers, Googles problems sound bad. Don't Miss: The best thing about Samsungs new Galaxy S8, aside from the design Ever since a recent update, Google Wifi users have been complaining on Googles forums of constant drops in connectivity. Google has acknowledged the problem and suggested a temporary fix, but its not simple: disconnect any Windows 10 or Xbox devices from your Wi-Fi network, and things should work as normal. This is obviously a problem if youre the kind of person who enjoys using your laptop on the internet from time to time. This isnt even the first time that Googles routers have run into serious problems. Earlier this year, Google accidentally reset a bunch of routers to factory defaults, which required users to hard-reset the devices and set them up again from scratch. Google seems to be facing these problems because its the first company to ship a Wi-Fi router that relies so heavily on the internet and cloud services to function. You have to log in with a Google account to set up Wi-Fi, and updates are installed automatically. Its great for security, but leaves your home Wi-Fi reliant on a cloud system to not make mistakes. Sadly, that doesnt seem to have worked so far. Trending right now: See the original version of this article on BGR.com In a few months, the Samsung Galaxy S8 would be the first smartphone to have Gigabit LTE-class internet speeds. Heres why everyone should look forward to it. Samsung will delay the full rollout of the Bixby virtual assistant on its upcoming Samsung Galaxy S8 smartphone series, but if you want to change the S8s dedicated Bixby button to do something else? Youll likely be out of luck. Samsung is disabling third-party workarounds that previously allowed users to customize what the Galaxy S8s Bixby button could do, according to XDA Developers. On the left side of the phone, the S8 has a physical button that is used to activate the Bixby assistant. Read: The Galaxy S8's Dedicated Bixby Button Can Be Remapped Using An App As XDA Developers reports, the closed loophole comes as part of a pre-release update patch from Samsung. By using the free All In One Gestures app on Googles Play Store, early Galaxy S8 users could previously reset the phones Bixby button to perform tasks like opening the camera or launching a preferred app. While the Galaxy S8 wont actually be released until later in April, Samsung still looks to maintain this stance on button remapping through third-party apps. On Twitter, Samsung reviews program manager Philip Berne confirmed the update and Samsungs stance on remapping the Bixby button. @geoff5093 @Lostatsea1923 @One3OneKing @droid_life It was exploiting a system-level behavior. That behavior has been changed. Can't say it will never happen, but we won't officially support. Philip Berne (@philipberne) April 17, 2017 Tasks like remapping buttons are usually limited to power users and enthusiasts, but given the delay for Bixby on Samsungs part, the companys closing of the loophole is notable. While basic portions of Bixby intended to go up against rival mobile assistants like Apples Siri and Googles Assistant will be available at launch, Samsung previously said voice control wouldnt be a part of the smartphone until later this spring. Story continues Read: What Features Does Samsung's Bixby AI Virtual Assistant Have? In Samsungs initial event announcing the Galaxy S8 earlier this year, Bixby looked to play a central part in the smartphones features. Samsung touted that Bixby would be thoroughly integrated into the phones menus, camera and apps. Related Articles By Nikolaj Skydsgaard COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Uber Technologies [UBER.UL] sees opportunities to expand in the Europe Union, despite withdrawing its ride-hailing service from Denmark and facing the possibility of an EU court ruling that could mean tougher rules for the firm, an Uber executive said. Danes hailed their last rides on the UberPOP app on Tuesday before enforcement of a new law making taxi meters mandatory for drivers and imposing other requirements that meant Uber could no longer operate there. It has already quit Hungary and Bulgaria. "I am ... rather excited about some of the momentum and support I see across the EU, despite the Danish setback," Uber's head of operations in Europe, Middle East and Africa, Pierre Dimitri Gore-Coty told Reuters. In the past three months, more than 7.5 million people hailed rides in the 21 EU states where Uber operates, five times more people than two years ago, Uber said. The firm said it had more than 120,000 active drivers in the region. "Of course, there is more to do" to expand operations in the region, Gore-Coty said in an telephone interview from Amsterdam. For the final quarter of 2016, Uber's revenues were $2.9 billion but losses were $991 million in the period. Uber has expanded across the world, from Chile to China, but has often faced challenges from local taxi firms, unions and lawmakers complaining about unfair competition and saying Uber did not meet standards required for established taxi firms. Gore-Coty dismissed such criticism. "In every country we operate, we already operate within the transport regulation law that exists today," he said about Uber's operations in the EU. Looming later this year the EU's top court, the European Court of Justice, is due to rule on a dispute between Uber and Barcelona's main taxi operator, which in 2014 accused the company of running an illegal taxi service via UberPOP. The ruling could label Uber a digital service or a transport company. If it is the latter, it could constrain Uber by subjecting it to stricter rules on licensing, insurance and safety in the countries where Uber still operates peer-to-peer services such as UberPOP. Uber says it is a digital platform that connects willing drivers with customers and says it is not a transport service. Supporters of the app say it provides a more flexible work schedule, allowing independent drivers to work when they want. However, some drivers want Uber to recognize them as employees and offer them any associated benefits. To deal with its worldwide expansion, Uber said in March that its international headquarters in Amsterdam would move to a larger building to accommodate an increase in staff to 1,000 from 400. "We are very happy with how our business develops across the EU, but also ... all across the world," Gore-Coty said, adding he also saw promising prospects for a food delivery service called UberEATS. (Corrects spelling of Gore-Coty, location of interview in paragraph 5, spelling of UberEATS in final paragraph. Removes "typically" from quote in paragraph 3, adds clarification in paragraph 10) (Editing by Edmund Blair) By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ukraine has partnered with global technology company the Bitfury Group to put a sweeping range of government data on a blockchain platform, the firm's chief executive officer told Reuters, in a project he described as probably the largest of its kind anywhere. Bitfury, a blockchain company with offices in the United States and overseas, will provide the services to Ukraine, CEO Valery Vavilov said in an interview on Wednesday. Ukraine's blockchain initiative underscores a growing trend among governments that have adopted the technology to increase efficiencies and improve transparency. Blockchain is a ledger of transactions that first emerged as the software underpinning digital currency bitcoin. It has become a key global technology in both the public and private sector given its ability to permanently record and keep track of assets or transactions across all industries. Ukraine and Bitfury signed a memorandum of understanding on Thursday. Though Vavilov said he was unable to estimate the cost of the project, he said it was by far the biggest government blockchain deal ever. It involves putting all of the Ukraine government's electronic data onto the blockchain platform. "A secure government system built on the blockchain can secure billions of dollars in assets and make a significant social and economic impact globally by addressing the need for transparency and accountability," said Vavilov. There are other countries that have started blockchain programs, but they are smaller in scope involving one or two sectors, such as land titles and real estate ownership. Countries that have launched blockchain programs include Sweden, Estonia, and Georgia. "This agreement will result in an entirely new ecosystem for state projects based on blockchain technology in Ukraine," Oleksandr Ryzhenko, head of the State Agency for eGovernance of Ukraine, said in an emailed response to Reuters questions. "Our aim is clear and ambitious -- we want to make Ukraine one of the world's leading blockchain nations." Ukraine's deal with Bitfury will begin with a pilot project to introduce blockchain into the country's digital platform. The areas being explored for the pilot project are state registers, public services, social security, public health, and energy, Vavilov said. He expects the pilot scheme to launch late this year. Once the pilot is complete, the blockchain program will expand into all areas, including cyber security. This is Bitfury's second government blockchain project. In April last year, Bitfury signed an agreement with Georgia to pilot the first blockchain land-titling registry. Have you ever wanted to grab your friend's phone and seize control of their disastrous dating life? Now you can. Enter Wingman, a new app launching today that lets you set up friends with only people you deem appropriate. Rubs hands together in devilish anticipation. Its not a dating app, exactly. It's more of matchmaking app a little bit like handing your friend your Tinder or Bumble account and saying, "Here, you deal with this." What sets it apart from the flood of other dating apps is that singles cant create their own profiles or connect themselves with people. Your fate rests almost entirely in the the hands of your wingman or wingwoman. That's either terrifying or a total relief, depending on how you feel about your friends! Wingman also stands out because it wasnt created by the stereotypical figure behind many dating apps, the whiz kid who thinks the right algorithms can solve any problem. Instead it's the brainchild of Tina Wilson, a charismatic, fully grown woman with several decades of IRL dating under her belt. Wilson, who's based in London, told Mashable that she found herself single after a breakup and had a squad of friends, most of whom were already paired off, who were eager to drag her into the world of online dating. She resisted, so they started searching sites for her. Image: wingman It was then that she realized there really was no easy way for friends to help each other out, especially if they lived in different places. And thats how Wingman came to be. She's been beta testing it in the UK and Australia for several years, and now she's ready to make it official in the U.S. (It's available for iOS. Android version is coming soon.) Clearly there are a lot of people who are too shy or nervous to do all the self-promotion required by dating apps, but this isnt just for them. It's for anyone who wants a little help from a friend, including those whove dated online so much that they've grown weary from all the swiping and endless disappointment. Story continues Now you can pass on this dreaded task to your trusted surrogate and let him or her do all the grunt work and, even better, deal with all the rejection. When they try to match you with someone and that person says no, you remain blissfully unaware. SEE ALSO: In defense of ghosting: It's nothing personal Theres an obvious appeal here for a lot of meddling friends too. There are those of us who are now in relationships and need to live vicariously through our single friends. And if youre a graduate of the dating app scene yourself, this could be your chance to use all your hard-won knowledge to help others succeed. The good news for all wingwomen and wingmen-in-waiting is that its now surprisingly easy to insert yourselves into the romantic lives of your friends. You simply login to the app with Facebook and create a profile for the single friend in question. You can do this for as many pals as you like, and each dater profile can also have multiple wingpeople. Image: wingman Your friend is then sent a link to review all the good things youve said about them. (Yes, theyd better be nice. This is not the time to revisit the awful thing your best pal said to you in middle school.) Once theyve approved their profile, you can start swiping through potential matches for them. If you swipe on a match for your single and that person is interested, your friend is automatically connected to them. Theyre free to take it from there. Sorry, nosy nellies, you dont get to be a part of their chats. The gender and relationship preferences are all open. So basically you can help your friends find whatever theyre looking for. While in testing, women have tended to sign up more as wingpeople, there's been roughly an equal pool of male and female singles. SEE ALSO: The best dating apps to get you laid It's a lot of steps to go through to help your friends find casual sex. So chances are it will end up serving people who are looking to find more lasting connections. But Wilson told us it can be for casual dating as much as it is finding marriage material. She designed the app to recreate the way these interactions would work IRL. Youre sitting at a bar, you see a cute guy or girl, point them out to your friend, make the introduction, and then duck out. As in real life, youre allowed to have more than one wingman, and there's even a leaderboard to see which wingman is doing the best for any given single. So if your sense of altruism isn't motivating enough, maybe your competitive side will jump in? Image: wingman While singles cant go after matches directly, they can give their wingperson a nudge if they see someone in the app that they want you to connect them with. However, its up to you to decide if that person is, in fact, a good fit. It's funny to think of your friends trying to save your from your own bad judgment Wilson deemed it "a bit of a breathalyzer test." But youre also opening a discussion about why your choices might have led your pals to screech, "No, no, no hes not right for you." Theres probably something you can learn from that reaction. This all raises an especially interesting facet of Wingman, which is that it's far more social than your typical swiping session. Testers reported to Wilson that they liked being able to see all the nice things their friends said about them in their profiles, and also that it was much more collaborative. SEE ALSO: Hater, the app that lets you find love based on what you hate One user whod just moved to a new city told Wilson that it made navigating an otherwise lonely experience more fun, saying, "My sister and my mom are still helping me out, introducing me to people." For their part, wingpeople liked to be involved and were invested in finding good matches. So if youre the kind of person whos willing to open up your romantic life to friends, this seems like a smart way to do it. Of course not everyone wants to have their mom or sister involved in their dating decisions... and thats fine too. You obviously need to be selective about your squad. And if youre just really not into group dating, there are literally hundreds of other apps where you can fly free without a wingman to help or hinder you. WATCH: Can dating apps be used to catch fugitives? You bet. ROME Italian media regulator Agcom has ruled that French media conglomerate Vivendis expansion into Italy where it has built large stakes in both Telecom Italia and broadcaster Mediaset violates the countrys anti-trust laws and given Vivendi one year to reduce its stake in one of the two companies. The decision marks a victory for Mediaset which has been battling with Vivendi in court after the group chaired by billionaire Vincent Bollore last year pulled out of an $860 million deal to buy Mediasets pay-TV unit and a few months later gained a nearly 30% stake, and significant shareholder voting rights in Mediaset, with rapid fire share purchases. Agcom in December opened a probe into Vivendis aggressive purchase of Mediaset shares after Fininvest, the holding company of the TV group controlled by former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, filed a complaint. Vivendi also controls a 24% stake in Telecom Italia, which it started building in 2015. The regulator late on Tuesday said Vivendi held significant influence and excessive shares in Italys telecommunication and media markets, which breach the countrys media laws. Those laws were put in place when Berlusconi was prime minister to prevent dominance of a single media player. Agcom ordered Vivendi to present a detailed plan within 60 days as to how it will comply with the ruling. Vivendi in a statement said it was surprised and is mulling filing a formal complaint to the European Commission and also an appeal to an Italian regional court. Vivendi has always operated within Italian law, and specifically the Gasparri Law regarding the protection of media pluralism from the creation of dominant positions, the group said. ()Vivendi neither controls nor exercises a dominant influence on Mediaset which is controlled on an exclusive basis by Fininvest with a stake close to 40 percent, it added. Mediaset instead praised the ruling in a statement and said it was waiting to read it in full before deciding future action. Mediasets next step is expected to be legal action to freeze Vivendis voting rights in the broadcaster. Story continues Meanwhile uncertainty over how the battle will play out has caused share value in both companies to drop. Mediaset was down by 2.29% and Telecom shares had lost 1.03% in mid-morning trading Wednesday on the Milan bourse. According to analysts the ruling may now force Vivendi to seek a resolution with Mediaset in coming weeks. One scenario is that they could even perhaps revive the partnership that went sour after the Mediaset Premium deal, albeit in a different form. Vivendi supervisory board member Tarak Ben Ammar, who brokered the initial deal said recently he was willing to act as mediator. If they want me Im always ready to help friends, if they want to stick with lawyers then they dont need me, Ben Ammar, who has a close rapport with both Berlusconi and Bollore, told journalists in Milan last month. The Ugandan army has started withdrawing from the Central African Republic but says it is ready to support the capacity building of the Armed Forces of Central Africa In a press release the UPDF Spokesperson Brigadier Richard Karemire said the first batch of soldiers was received today in Gulu by the Chief of Staff Land Forces (COS-LF) Brig Katsigazi Tumusiime and 4Div Commander Brig Emmanuel Kanyesigye. The army says the withdrawal is mainly because they have successfully neutralised the Lords Resistance Army. The UPDF has since 2012 been part of the African Union Regional Task Force. The first batch has been received today 19th April 2017 in Gulu by the Chief of Staff Land Forces (COS-LF) Brig Katsigazi Tumusiime and 4Div Commander Brig Emmanuel Kanyesigye. The army says The LRA capacity and means of making war against Uganda have been degraded citing Senior Key Commanders such as; Dominic Ongwen, Okot Odiambo and other fighters who have over the years been killed, captured or surrendered, rendering their leader Joseph Kony weak and ineffective. He no longer poses any significant threat to Ugandas security and Northern Uganda in particular. The UPDF operations have contributed significantly to the restoration of peace and tranquillity in big areas of the Central Africa Republic (CAR). This won them admiration from the people exemplified by the 16th April 2017 demonstration by civilians in Obbo town calling upon the forces to stay. However, Uganda may also join the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) under a strengthened mandate to effectively deal with LRA as one way of supporting the country. AUBURN A Canadian man who died in a railroad accident in Auburn Sept. 4 was not supposed to be working in the United States, his girlfriend contends. Blair F. Hammond, 54, of Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, Canada, was killed when he was struck by a train on the CSX railroad tracks near Auburn Drive. Hammond was working for a company that inspects rails for internal flaws that can cause derailments, said Cheryl Harlow, 51, his companion. Harlow said Hammond had worked for his U.S.-based employer since January of this year. He was training in the United States on a permit that expired Aug. 18, she said. He didnt want to be there, because he knew he legally wasnt supposed to work there, Harlow said Friday. His employer told Harlow that Hammonds death was the first involving one of its workers in the companys 89-year history, she said. Late on the morning of Sept. 4, Hammond was taking a rail inspection machine from the back of the truck he used in his work. He and his co-worker had stopped the truck next to a stationary grinder train that was very noisy, she said. The stationary train may have blocked Hammonds view of an approaching freight train and prevented him from hearing it, she said. For whatever reason, he didnt see the approaching train coming. He didnt hear it, she said. Auburn Police described to Harlow a video of the accident, from a camera on the train that struck Hammond. It just shows Blair looking down. He never looked up. He didnt know what hit him, she said. Hammonds co-worker, a retired paramedic and firefighter, could not do anything about Hammonds instantly fatal injuries, Harlow said. Blair was very driven. He always had to do his best work. His job made him feel good about himself, Harlow said. Hammond was trained as an electrical engineer. She described him as a very smart man, very hard worker. However, the fact that he apparently had overstayed his permit to work in the United States really bothered him. Hes a really honorable man, she said. In his leisure time, He really liked sports like hockey and baseball. He did a lot of coaching girls soccer, Harlow said. Hammond had played goalie for amateur hockey teams in the past. In his new job, however, Hammond traveled constantly and worked long hours, Harlow said. He probably had been in DeKalb County for only a day or two before the accident, she added. She had talked to him by phone the night before his death, and she became worried when she could not reach him Sept. 4, she said. She learned of his death more than 10 hours after the accident. Harlow said she has contacted U.S. immigration authorities, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Federal Railway Administration about the fatal accident. Ill keep going with this until its investigated, she vowed. ANGOLA Steuben County Economic Development Corporation director Isaac Lee rolled out his action plan to the board of directors Tuesday afternoon. Lees plan is based on four objectives; business retention and expansion, business attraction, programs at the Enterprise Center for businesses and private sector engagement. Part of retention includes creating and activating a business retention and expansion program and coinciding team. Lee said creating the program will help introduce the programs to the community as well as conduct systemic visits as well as data tracking to capture and record information that will be useful for the board in the future. Lee also wants to create a Steuben County business resource guide. In other communities, these guides have been created, he said, and held by tourism bureaus and chambers of commerce. This guide will contain at least superficial information for everything from startups through mature businesses, said Lee. The document will be a living document that will be started by an intern and maintained and updated as necessary. Recognition is another part of the retention plan, and Lee wants to recognize business anniversaries for the various key stakeholders involved during annual meetings in coming years. He said it is important to recognize those businesses that have continued to be a part of the area. The target industries Lee analyzed for the area include advanced manufacturing, transportation and logistics, bio medical, alternative energy and information technology. Lee wants to build storyboards to continue to attract businesses to Steuben County from these sectors. I want to identify additional suppliers that may want to locate to Steuben County to be closer to businesses they supply, Lee said. Workforce development was another strong suit on Lees action plan. The goal is to help incorporate the Enterprise Center and workforce initiatives into National Manufacturing Day, which is the first Friday in October. Although the official day of the event has not been set yet, Lee wants to be sure to incorporate not just training companies, but local schools and the community as a whole. He wants to build stronger relationships to provide people with the knowledge about the Enterprise Center. I want the training providers to know that this facility is for their training. Its not a school. It is for them to do their work, get their enrollment, train their people, said Lee. I want it used as a supplement for them. It takes private and public sector investments for things to run smoothly, Lee said. Private sector investment will help identify the value and add programs and services that can be implements to benefit individual companies and the community. He would also like to see the SCEDC as the primary lead for tax abatement compliance in the county. Currently there are at least 63 abatements in Steuben County, not counting those that have been added recently, Lee said. The Enterprise Center will be having an open house event on May 4 from 4-7 p.m. at the facility, 907 S. Wayne St., Angola. Lee said hed like to see people there to tour the facility, see that it exists and what it can do for organizations and businesses. The tour is being organized to allow those that wanted it during business hours and those that wanted it after-hours alike to have time to come out and see what is going on. The first classes are scheduled to start at the facility as well. May 15 is the start of a 25 week C&C machining class that will be on Monday and Wednesday nights from 4-8 p.m. May 30 is the start of a seven week welding class. This class will run Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights from 4-8 p.m. ALBION Kids will be able to chow down on free lunches in Albion this summer, as Central Noble Community School Corp. has agreed to host a feeding site in town. Albion Elementary School will operate a Summer Food Service Program from May 30 through July 28. Anyone younger than 18 can stop in Monday through Friday and get a free lunch from 10 a.m. to noon. Food service director Marcos Reyna said he wanted to start a program after seeing how many kids hang around the playground, school campus and the rest of Albion during the summer. It seemed like an opportunity to provide a service for a lot of local youngsters who are around town while schools out. Were all excited and were also nervous, and we want to do well, Reyna said. The summer feeding program is offered through the National School Lunch Program. Each year, hundreds of sites around the state, including local schools, host free lunches for kids. Youngsters can expect to find lunches similar to what theyd normally get while school is in session, Reyna said. Theyll get a lot of lunch favorites, like pizza and chicken nuggets, along with milk, fruits and vegetables. Reyna said he expects to serve more handheld or convenience-type foods as opposed to sit-down entrees that require a fork, like spaghetti. Hes also hoping to set up some presentations during lunch times so kids are educated or entertained while eating. For example, he wanted to see if the Albion Fire Department could visit one Friday to interact with youngsters at the lunch site. One caveat of the summer feeding program is that kids have to stay at the lunchroom and eat there. Theres no carry-out. Summer feeding sites are allowed to make deliveries to off-site locations, but Central Noble isnt going to try that in the first year, Reyna said. Next year, maybe well do some off-site program, meaning we make the food and drop it at certain locations. Right now, I wanted to get the word out and see what the community is like, Reyna said. East Noble School Corp. and West Noble School Corp. have offered summer feeding programs in recent years, but Central Noble hadnt. Reyna suggested the district consider it this year. Central Noble Superintendent Troy Gaff said the district will try it this year and see how it goes. Although there was some consideration about hosting a site at Wolf Lake Elementary School, too, the district opted to start with one location. We were just trying to see how many the impact we would have in the immediate community. We are just going to start small. We have a huge number of students that go to Wolf Lake that are at the library programs or Trinity Day Care or baby-sitters in Albion, so we thought that was our best starting spot, Gaff said. The school district is also going to try to coordinate with local summer camps and programs, day care centers and other groups to use the feeding site, Gaff said. Owners of vacation homes, such as those near Lake Arbutus or ATV trails, often seek to rent their homes out to visitors to offset the houses costs. They can do that in Jackson County, provided that they have a county lodging permit and a conditional use permit from the county. A lot of people when they are not using their cabin like to rent them out to earn a little extra income. That becomes a business and you need to have a license to do that and you need to have proper zoning, not only for health issues, but liability issues, Susie West said, the sanitarian for Jackson County Department of Health and Human Services. Wisconsin State Code requires a lodging license if sleeping accommodations are offered for pay to tourists or travelers for a short period of time for vacation, business or employment. These facilities are called tourist rooming houses. Tourist rooming houses (TRH) are defined by code as all lodging places and tourist cabins and cottages, other than hotels and motels, in which sleeping accommodations are offered for pay to tourists or transients. West says she uses the 30-day rule to decide whether a home is considered a rental property or vacation home. If someone is living in the property for more than 30 days, then it is a rental property. West said the pre-inspection costs $330 and then $121 for the permit. After the first year, you only need to pay for the permit because the yearly inspection is free. If you rent your cabin or other property to tourist of travelers you should contact Jackson County Zoning at 715-284-0220 to see if you need a conditional use permit. You should also have your TRH inspected and obtain a license from the Jackson County Health Department prior to renting. Call 715-284-4301 for licensing information. Failure to obtain a conditional use permit and a lodging license can result in fines up to $1,000. Kayakers looking for a bit of adventure are invited to join the Friends of the Black River for a whitewater paddle Sunday, April 23. The paddle will take place from the Hatfield Dam to Halls Creek. Paddlers can meet at West Clay School Road off County Hwy. K with a put in time of 10 a.m. A flat-water paddle on the Black River is planned for Sunday, May 21, from Brickyard Landing to Halls Creek. Paddlers are asked to meet at 12:30 p.m. near the Hatfield Powerhouse off Powerhouse Road. Kayaks and paddling gear can be supplied for those needing equipment. For more information, contact Jeff Polzin at 715-896-5534. Well, its over for another year. Tax filing, that is. Now we wait for the refund. Or for the check to clear ... or for the letter from the IRS. Its a good thing we do this in April. Add it to the gloom of November and it would be entirely too much to take. As it is, for some folk, their anathema to death and taxes seems to run as an even bet though for the one, the devout can still place their hope in the resurrection. The IRS offers no such out. Not that this is any sort of Republican red-blue phenomena. Pictographs in ancient Egyptian tombs show Pharaohs revenue agents putting the arm on the deceased demonstrating that even if you try to take it with you every eras Unka Sam will follow you there to collect on it. And if the contemporary IRS thinks it comes in for abuse, at least the threat of eternal damnation social ostracism, at the very least doesnt follow those who accept a dinner invitation from publicans and sinners or even the Minnesota Commissioner of Revenue. It is amazing how often the Almighty and the Almighty Dollar find themselves intertwined in a thought, phrase or single sentence. Every quarter in your pocket is stamped In God We Trust even as we are admonished to render unto Caesar... Well, for a year at least, were done rendering. Unless of course, you have first-half property taxes due next month. Or need to renew license tabs. Or buy gas. Or darn near anything else. Thats the thing about income they tax it when we get it, then tax it when we spend it ... and generally find a way to lay a levy when we get rid of the stuff weve bought. Truth is, Ive never had a great deal of sympathy for folks howling about how much income tax they get to pay ... and thats no misprint, I meant get to pay. Having been in the situation, Im here to tell you, life when youre not being asked to pay income tax is a whole lot tougher than having the taxman present you with a hefty bill. So when I hear somebody carrying on about how theyre being impoverished every April I know two things about that individual one, they have no clue what poverty is; and two, theyre bragging about how much money they make. Those folks would really miss it if April 15 didnt roll around. For most of us, other than our daily bathroom habits, theres nothing were so private about as our income. In no small measure our self worth is measure by our net worth and when that figure is inflated, the ego often inflates right along with it. Unfortunately, unless youre running for president or have another suitable outlet, its still considered seriously uncool to just flat-out brag about it unless youre complaining about your sky-high taxes. Thats how we know Bill and Hill are in the money ... their taxes. Its how we were sure that Mitt wasnt among the 47 percent ... his taxes. Its probably why The Donald is so guarded about his. Hes sensitive. About the size of his hands ... and other things. Thats the funny thing about money. Its about the only yardstick we tend to measure each other by. The only way we have to stretch a person out on a spreadsheet and take their measure. Say a man is worth his weight in gold and somebodys going to want him to step on the scale while he checks the commodity markets ... even if money was the furthest thing from your mind when you said it. Yeah, while well measure a person by their money, its almost never what we value them for. Compassions not denominated in dollars, love in lira or loyalty in euros. No ones figured out how to lay a levy on laughter, joy or contentment. Theres no eminent domain for decency, honor or fidelity ... but wouldnt we all be better off if there were? In the meantime, we render unto Caesar ... and share the rest with each other. President Donald Trump pledged to stand up for dairy farmers during a visit to Kenosha Tuesday, saying he will work to solve a trade dispute with Canada that has left some farmers in Wisconsin and other states without buyers for their milk. Trump said the U.S. must have fair trade with all trade partners, including Canada. In Canada, some very unfair things have happened to our dairy farmers and others, and were going to start working on that, Trump said. Its another typical one-sided deal against the U.S., and its not going to be happening for long. U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R- Oshkosh, who was in Kenosha for the presidents visit, said he likely will be making a call to the Canadian ambassador. Johnson said he is optimistic the ambassador will have an open mind to the situation. What they (Canada) are doing is clearly protectionist and obviously is hurting Wisconsin dairy farmers, Johnson said. So well start those discussions. Gov. Scott Walker and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo sent a joint letter to Trump on Tuesday urging him to address Canadas dairy trade policies. Wisconsins more than 9,000 dairy farms employ nearly 80,000 jobs and generate $43.4 billion in annual economic impact. Immediate problem More than four dozen dairy farmers, industry representatives and others gathered in Beaver Dam on Friday to discuss solutions for milk producers affected by a recent decision from Grassland Dairy Products Inc., of Greenwood, which informed several dozen dairy farms, most from Wisconsin and some from Minnesota, it no longer would accept their milk after May 1. Grasslands move was driven by recent Canadian action imposing import taxes on ultra- filtered milk, a product used to make cheese. This meant more than 1.3 million pounds of milk being produced daily from 67 farms need new buyers. Members of the Dairy Girl Network, a national all-womens group of about 4,200 dairy farmers, along with the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, were eager to assist and helped organized Fridays meeting in Beaver Dam. Laura Daniel is a network member and dairy farmer from Cobb, about an hour west of Madison. The Grassland decision did not impact her dairy farm, but she believes consumers can drive a short-term solution. Theres so much cheese in storage now, if we could just create more demand to clear out some of that storage, then cheese companies could go back to manufacturing and refill that storage area, Daniels said. Consumers also could purchase five blocks of cheese, then donate it to a food pantry or an organization that provides meals. Anything that can move inventory would encourage more production, Daniels said. Mullins Cheese in Mosinee came forward Monday and said it would absorb about 100,000 pounds of milk from eight of the dairy farms affected by Grasslands action. Mullins was the first company to step up, said Karen Gefvert, director of government relations at the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation. Another suggestion at Fridays meeting was to urge some of the states 400 dairy companies to absorb some of the states excess milk. Daniels estimated there are more than 100 cheese producers in eastern and southern Wisconsin. If each were to take milk from up to five of the affected dairy farmers, it would provide a short-term solution. Too much milk Gefvert said Fridays meeting also helped to clarify information to dairy farmers. Of the 67 dairy farms affected by the Grassland decision, it was learned three had forward contracts with the company, which meant Grassland would continue to take their milk even after May 1. Gefvert said one of those three was a very large dairy farm and combined with the other two took a large percentage of the available milk off the market. It is getting better but it isnt fast enough, she said. Canadas action made it too expensive for that countrys dairy companies to continue purchasing ultra-filtered milk from the U.S., which had been entering Canada duty-free. Canada stopped buying it because they could get it at the same cost domestically, so Grassland had nowhere else to go with this product and with their processing facility set up the way it is, they couldnt easily change it over to make another product, Gefvert said. Canadas dairy industry has been critical of where Wisconsin has placed blame. In a letter to the Wisconsin State Journal, Andrea Genereaux, communications manager of the Dairy Processors Association of Canada, wrote, Blame Canada! That seems to be the prevailing message we hear these days to explain the challenges the American dairy industry is experiencing. She said Canada understands the American dairy industrys frustration, because to be competitive in the Canadian market it needs to adjust its prices to reflect the domestic environment. Notwithstanding, we do hold some hope that officials can go beyond blaming Canada as they consider solutions to address these structural problems, Genereaux wrote. Gefvert said the states dairy industry may be at fault for the over supply of milk in Wisconsin. Wisconsin always has been a milk deficit state, she said. For a time, Wisconsin dairy producers were bringing in milk from other states to keep up with demand for a variety of dairy products. What had happened is our producers were asking farmers to add cows, so they could make more milk, Gefvert said. But now were hitting a perfect storm with the Canadian pricing structure, the spring flush and theres so much milk being produced nationwide and being shipped to Wisconsin that we have more milk that our processing facilities can handle. A deal that took a surprisingly long time to cut considering how practical it is to slash red tape and improve health care in rural and underserved areas finally is in effect, giving Coulee Region doctors a faster, cheaper track to practice across state lines. The Interstate Medical Licensure Compact was launched April 7, after five years of lobbying, negotiations and rules drafting among health systems and states, as well as passing muster to become law in 18 states so far. Proposed laws also are moving through legislatures in eight other states. Also referred to as license portability, the pact allows doctors who have navigated the time-consuming and costly process of obtaining a license in one state to get one in another state through the compact without having to repeat the same drill. Individual states licensing processes can take anywhere from four to 12 months, while the pact will reduce the steps and the cost of multi-state licensing. Doctors then not only will have a faster track to practice in other states in the pact, but also can work with patients and other doctors via telemedicine hookups across state lines. The license compact is a more efficient way of licensing for doctors in multi-state systems and to license more and more providers, said Brian Vamstad, government relations manager at Gundersen Health System, one of the earliest advocates of the change because of the fact that it operates in three states Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. Before the compact was activated, a Gundersen doctor licensed in Wisconsin could not practice in Minnesota or Iowa without following the duplicative process to gain it in the Gopher or Hawkeye states. We really spearheaded the effort, asking what can we do to remove the duplications, Vamstad said. Vamstad expressed confidence that the network will expand, although he hesitated to predict that all 50 states would sign on to the pact. Similarly benefiting from the national pact is Mayo Clinic Health System-Franciscan Healthcare, by virtue of its alignment with the Mayo Clinic network of hospitals and clinics, headquartered in Rochester, Minn. Weve been strong advocates of this, said Dr. David Rushlow, a family practice physician and chief medical officer at Mayo-Franciscan. This dramatically simplifies and speeds up credentialing for our physicians. Rushlow also welcomed the fact that the pact reflects increasing confidence and cooperative attitudes among state medical boards and other agencies involved. The compact had been snagged for several years in part because of states turf wars and wide variations in licensing requirements and costs. Minnesotas law to join the pact took effect on May 20, 2015, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed the Badger States measure into law on Dec. 14 that year at Mayo Clinic Health System-Franciscan Healthcare in Sparta. This is a major win for patient safety and an achievement that will lessen the burden being felt nationwide as a result of our countrys physician shortage, said Dr. Humayun Chaudhry, president and CEO of the Federation of State Medical Boards in Washington, D.C. As is the case with most health care cost trimming, the savings will not be apparent to consumers initially because of cost shifting to other programs, but could be later after their cumulative effects have taken hold, health officials say. Other states besides Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota that are members of the pact are Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming. Oddly enough, legislators in Florida, where the Mayo Clinic has a major hospital, have not introduced a measure calling for the Sunshine State to become part of the compact. The Coulee Region got one of the few As the American Lung Association doled out to Wisconsin counties in its annual national State of the Air report. La Crosse, Onalaska, Houston County, Minn., and the immediate surrounding areas are included in that A ranking on the Air Quality Index by virtue of their butting boundaries, according to the findings, released Wednesday. La Crosse/Onalaska, considered as a metro area, also made the reports national list of Cleanest Cities, as did Eau Claire/Menomonie, which also includes Chippewa and Dunn counties. La Crosse/Onalaska tied for first in the country for ozone and 24-hour particle pollution because they did not have any days on which those exceeded federal levels. They ranked 123rd out of 184 metro areas for annual particle pollution. The lung organizations report is based on data collected during a three-year rolling time period, including quality-controlled data for 2013-2015. Expressing satisfaction that La Crosse County is among six in the Badger State to receive As, Linda Witucki, the associations executive director in Wisconsin, said, But 40 percent of Americans still live with unhealthful levels of either ozone or particle pollution placing their health at risk. Everyone deserves to breathe clean air, regardless of where they live. Ratings for many counties and cities cannot be made because they lack monitoring equipment, but those that do and received Fs were Kenosha, Manitowoc, Ozaukee and Sheboygan. Those marks were based on high numbers of days under an orange advisory, meaning that children, active adults and people with respiratory diseases should limit prolonged outdoor exertion. Sheboygan is the only county in the state that recorded a red advisory day, meaning that children, active adults and people with respiratory diseases should avoid prolonged outdoor exertion altogether, and everyone else should limit it. Door County got a D, despite its reputation as a healthful mecca for tourists. That was based on Doors nine days under an orange advisory. The most notable national findings of the 18th annual report were lower overall ozone levels and year-round particle levels, the report said. Offsetting those conclusions was a continued trend of extreme short-term spikes in particle pollution, often related to wildfires or droughts, the association said. Short-term spikes in particle pollution can be extremely dangerous and even lethal, the lung group said. Climate is known to cause increased heat, changes in weather patterns, drought and wildfires, which contributed to the extraordinarily high numbers of days with unhealthy particle pollution in some parts of the country. The Trump Administration has proposed drastic funding cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency, author of the federal Clean Air Act. Healthy air protections are under attack and must be defended, Witucki said. Air travels from one state to another, so only federal protections can help protect the air we all breathe. The lung association issued a statement urging President Donald Trump, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and members of Congress to fully fund, implement and enforce the Clean Air Act for all air pollutants, including those that drive climate change and make it harder to ensure healthy air for all Americans, she said. The new La Crosse Common Council elected member Martin Gaul its president Tuesday during its organizational meeting at City Hall. After the 13-member council was officially sworn in to represent their newly drawn districts, the council elected Gaul in a 10-3 vote over new council member Barb Janssen. Janssen defeated 12-year council veteran Jai Johnson in the citys 3rd District in the April 4 election. Gaul said he was approached by members of the previous council to be the next council president. I appreciate the confidence that was shown in pushing me forward, but I do believe that any number of people who are on the council before that are on there now could have performed the job just as well, Gaul said. And I also believe what I said during the meeting that the new council members, that there are a couple folks on there that I know their backgrounds and I think they would have done equally as well. Gaul replaces Richard Swantz as council president. Swantz served on the council since 2009 and was president that past four years. Swantz decided not to run for re-election after moving out of his district. After an April 28 meeting to help familiarize the new council with procedure, Gaul said, he is confident in the councils ability the push the city forward. We all bring strengths and weaknesses to this job, and Im certainly one of those who has strengths and weaknesses. Theres no doubt about it. But that said, I believe that once the council gets into a groove and starts working together, whoever was going to be the president was going to do well by us, Gaul said. And Im happy that I was selected to do it. I hope I can live up to the expectation. Six members of the previous council, Douglas Happel, Gaul, Paul Medinger, Gary Padesky, Phillip Ostrem and Andrea Richmond, were re-elected to the council in the April 4 election. There are seven new members. David Marshall replaces Robert Seaquist in the citys 4th District, while Jacqueline Marcou defeated incumbent James Cherf in the 6th. Patrick Brever and Roger Christians were unopposed in districts 5 and 13, respectively. Jessica Olson defeated Jeff Bagniefski in the 8th District, and Scott Neumeister will represent the 2nd District after winning as a write-in. Mayor Tim Kabat, who was sworn into office for a second term after being un-opposed on the ballot, spoke to the new council about the importance of building on the accomplishments of the previous council, including neighborhood revitalization work and becoming the first community in Wisconsin to end veteran homelessness. By any measure, we can clearly state that La Crosse is a safer, more vibrant and more compassionate place, Kabat said to the council. Kabat also asked the council to continue addressing infrastructure and poverty problems, mental health and substance abuse in the city. We must continue working together, Kabat said. We all know that the people of La Crosse are our greatest resource. By working with them, we can meet any challenge. Before the previous council stepped down, it rejected a proposed ordinance that would have created stricter regulations for the appearance of city taxi cabs and an ordinance to address the nuisance of pigeons in the city. The sale of property near the town of Shelby ball fields was referred. The new council also appointed Ostrem and Padesky to the Board of Public Works, and Marcou and Medinger to the Board of Park Commissioners. Onalaska School Board members have made it clear they will continue to admonish one of their own if his bad behavior continues. The board publicly censured member Jake Speed at the board meeting on April 10. The motion, which was brought forward by member Brian Haefs, is the strongest rebuke the elected board can give one of their own and is designed to put a board member on notice to correct behavior. I wanted to get it all on the record, Haefs said. The public needs to understand this is not acceptable behavior. When reached for comment for this story on Tuesday, Speed refused to talk on the record and demanded all questions be provided in written form and his responses printed in full. He has not provided any response to those questions. According to the motion presented by Haefs, Speed was censured for refusing to participate in new board member orientation, fulfill tasks on the committees he was assigned, his conduct toward other board members and for using his position as a board member for personal gain. In an interview, Haefs said he wanted to deal with this issue before newly elected board members were sworn in at Mondays reorganization meeting. Because they are elected by the people, the board cannot remove another member. State law says an elected board member can only be removed through the recall process or by a local circuit judge for cause. Any recall petition would have to go through the school district, and Superintendent Fran Finco said he has heard no word on efforts to do so. An elected official has to be in office at least a year before the recall process begins, and Speed was sworn in on April 25, 2016. In order to force a recall election, signatures from residents in the district equal to 25 percent of the ballots cast in the last governors election are required. Speed began clashing with the board, especially Board President Ann Garrity, almost as soon as he was sworn in. According to Garrity, Speed took offense to an email conversation she had with him after being sworn in where she told him he couldnt sit on certain board committees due to a perceived conflict of interest with his personal relationship with Northern Hills Elementary kindergarten teacher Allison Pratt. Speed said in the emails, Garrity made demeaning and disparaging remarks toward him. A request made to the district on April 13 for a copy of the email correspondence has yet to be fulfilled and could take up to eight business days due to waiting period requirements in state law. Speeds relationship with Pratt, who according to county records owns the W6779 Kramer Road property in Onalaska Speed has listed as his residence and the address of his American Signs and Printing business, has been an issue during some board meetings and visits he has made to Northern Hills and the district office. During a September 2016 board meeting, Pratt, who is the former head of the Onalaska teachers union, spoke out against the retirement provisions being voted on in the employee handbook, saying it would scare away potential teachers. Speed sided with Pratts arguments and was the lone nay vote at the meeting, which some borders members worried could have been a conflict. In a letter sent to Speed in December, Garrity addressed the fact that Speed had been visiting Pratt at Northern Hills regularly and spending extended periods of time with the teacher. Finco said this came to a head and resulted in an incident when the Northern Hills principal noticed Speed and Pratt walking students to the lunch line together, and the principal informed him that as a member of the public he needed to sign in and follow all of the schools visitor and volunteer policies. According to the letter, Speed also loudly confronted the districts human resources director about Pratts employment, and a supposed investigation the district was making into Speed. The letter said Speed did not have an appointment and Finco said since board members only act in an official capacity during board meetings, Speed should have gone through him just like a member of the public. If any board member has a concern about an employee, they should come to me, Finco said. You cant just come in and start demanding things. Because of his differences with the board, Garrity and Haefs, who is Speeds board mentor, both said he has refused to participate in board orientation and training events as well as participate in assigned committee work. He has also walked out of board meetings before they were adjourned and has missed two special board meetings, the first in January during a board goal development session and the second on Monday, where Speed did not attend a meeting on the district budget. This and Speeds flouting of board bylaws, especially the list of expectations of board members laid out in policy 1100, were another reason Haefs made the motion to censure. During the discussion at the meeting before the censure vote, Speed accused the board of denying him due process by not having the censure motion go through an ethics committee and holding a public hearing where he could defend himself. Barry Forbes, legal expert and associate executive director of the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, and Bob Monk, an expert in Roberts Rules of Order and a professionally registered parliamentarian with the National Association of Parliamentarians, both called these assertions wrong. The board has every right to consider a motion to censure one of their own during a meeting, Monk said, and Forbes added that there was no language in Wisconsin statute that requires elected school boards to have an ethics committee. Monk said while the motion to censure is the boards only method of disciplining a fellow member, the action does require the person censured to be willing to correct his behavior. But for some elected officials, the censure doesnt always have that intended effect. I feel bad for the board members, he said. This is not what they signed up to deal with. Both Garrity and Haefs have said they are willing to move forward with further censure motions if Speeds antics continue. This is a distraction from the good work the staff and teachers at the district are doing, Haefs said, and the mission of the district serving the educational needs of parents and children who reside in it. What is happening is not OK, Garrity said. We dont want to be wasting any more time. We want him to focus on the tasks at hand. WINONA, Minn. The winning submissions for Theatre du Mississippis Original Shorts play contest may be brief, but they pack a variety of experience and style into the time they have. The winners of the sixth annual short contest include playwrights from the east and west coasts, the southwest and one who commutes between the Winona area and Ireland. The plays, four in all, will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Midwest Music Store downtown. This is the first year the staged readings will be performed in the Mid West Music Store. In previous years, the Original Shorts has been performed at the Masonic Temple Theater, where the Theatre du Mississippi is based, but Heaver called the new, smaller space a nice, intimate spot. Samantha Heaver, a Theatre du Mississippi board member who is also directing one of the plays, said the call for submissions was put out nationally and then a panel of judges narrowed the field to the four finalists through a series of readings. We have a really wide base of people who have come together, Heaver said. Heaver said that aside from the brevity of performances 15 to 45 minutes the short play represents a different style from a longer production, and has complexities and strengths of its own. As a plus, they can present more works. The advantage of a short play contest is we can showcase more works, Heaver said. Heaver said it the plays took advantage of the range of times, from around 15 minutes to 40 minutes, and with the price it was a good way to see new theater. Its a short, sweet, cheap way to come support your local arts, Heaver said. The $5 tickets are available at the door, cash only, at the time of the performances. A Madison-based non-profit is hoping to connect veterans across the state with resources to start or grow businesses. Bunker Labs Wisconsin kicked off its Muster Across Wisconsin Tour in downtown La Crosse Wednesday. The organization, which works to network veteran entrepreneurs with their peers and business start-up resources, chose La Crosse because of the impressive efforts of former Marine and Logistics Health Inc. founder Don Weber. Weber served in the U.S. Marine Corps in Vietnam, receiving a Purple Heart and two bronze stars in addition to other honors. He has led LHIs growth from a small startup to more than 1,000 full-time employees and the company he founded recently landed up to $3 billion in contracts with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs that would allow the La Crosse-based company increase its employment to 2,500 workers within a year. I grew up in Onalaska, Bunker Labs Wisconsin Executive Director Michael Ertmer said. The success story of Don Weber and LHI is one of the better stories in the state. Along with several networking events throughout the afternoon and evening, Weber and representatives from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Small Business Development Center, the Wisconsin Technology Council and venture capital firm Idea Fund of La Crosse presented information to participants. Talks covered such subjects as connecting with resources to start and grow a business to a presentation on the investment capital landscape in the state. Ertmer, who served in the U.S. Army National Guard in Iraq and worked in Silicon Valley before coming to Madison, said veterans were one of the biggest contributors to the economic boom after World War II. Nearly half of the wars veterans became entrepreneurs and business owners, but today, experts predict of the 20 percent of veterans who are interested in starting a business, only 6 percent will realize that dream. Professional networks and access to resources are critical for veterans to be successful. Along with reaching out to veterans with the tour, his organization hosts Bunker Forums which focus on marketing, access to business capital and tips on reaching that first customer. There are also online resources at bunkerlabs.org/madison/ and bunkerinabox.org, which provides an online toolkit for entrepreneurs. I love entrepreneurship, Ertmer said. This organization gives me a unique opportunity to give back to veterans. I wish I had this when I got out. Ashleigh Thurman, 16, of Merrillan was found Sunday in La Crosse County by authorities after she had run away from home last week. Officials have not released any specifics about why Thurman ran away, but Thurmans parents have been notified that she has been found. Thurman was last spotted in Black River Falls on Friday, April 7, after leaving work at Donna Ks at about 2 p.m. Police said she then fled with her boyfriend. She was not believed to be in any danger. Her mothers vehicle was also found in the Chippewa Falls area, but the license plates were removed. She had been speaking with her friends, but she refused to come home. WASHINGTON There was an unseemly glee on the part of some Trump supporters in the use of the MOAB Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb against a target in Afghanistan. A powerful nation may possess 21,600 pounds of precision-guided death. A great nation uses it only in a spirit of grim necessity. Yet considered along with 59 cruise missiles thrown at the Bashar Assad regime in Syria a useful, kinetic statement has been made. America will no longer be constrained by President Obamas infinitely varied excuses for inaction (which a rational and determined mind can always find). Nor, apparently, will the nation follow Trumps incoherent campaign pledge to disengage itself into pre-eminence, to somehow retreat into greatness. But a Trump Doctrine is still at the lumpy, unwhisked batter stage of intellectual baking. America acts when horrible images of murdered children catch the presidents eye, or when the ordnance employed sends a signal of toughness. This is hardly a turn toward neo-conservatism. But what is it? And how can we know if Trump, in all probability, does not yet know himself? Uncertainty is not always a bad thing. There should be questions in the minds of foreign powers when they calculate the length of our chief executives fuse. A president should be reliable in providing a proportionate response to aggression and atrocities. He should also be capable of a disproportionate and decisive response, planting a seed of deathly fear in the minds of Americas enemies. (Deterring aggression against Europe during the Cold War, for example, depended on the credible belief that American presidents might be mad enough to use nuclear weapons first if the Soviet tanks began rolling in effectively defending a continent by promising to irradiate it.) The existence of real red lines that North Korea will not have the capability to lob a nuclear missile into the Napa Valley, that the Taliban cant control Kabul, that the Islamic State cant be allowed a permanent, territorial home are the essential guides to foreign policy. But a post-Iraq-invasion America better understands how expensive (in a variety of horrible ways) an invasion and occupation can be. So every American president no matter how they campaign will be faced with the necessity and challenge of degrading threats from a distance. This is really the post-Cold War American doctrine, on the order of the Monroe or Truman doctrines: When possible, America will pre-empt and prevent emerging threats by strengthening proxies and projecting power from medium to long range. This is the essence of a high-tech, offshore war against terrorism and other sources of grave harm a policy that not only takes the lessons of Iraq seriously, but that also recalls the lessons of 9/11. The problem with the Trump administrations foreign policy as represented in its proposed budget is that it does not fully understand our threats or the meaning of power. The existence of the Islamic State is, indeed, a threat. But terrorism is often parasitic, attaching its agenda to local grievances and attempting to ride its proxies to greater power. So al-Qaeda first tries to take root in Sudan, and then more successfully in alliance with the Taliban in Afghanistan. So the Islamic State gathered strength fighting the Assad regime in the ungoverned badlands of eastern Syria before rolling into Iraq. This makes the fate of failed, fragile and lawless states directly and unavoidably relevant to the conduct of the war against terrorism and the defense against other threats. American interests must be defined broadly enough to include things like the effective delivery of social services in Afghanistan, the surveillance for pandemic disease in rural Tanzania, the construction of classrooms in refugee-stressed Jordan, the settlement of conflict in Libya and the promotion of economic progress in northern Nigeria. Encouraging these outcomes represents another, very real type of American power, exercised from afar (apart from the irenic army of health, development and diplomatic professionals). It is an absurd misnomer to call the exercise of power in these areas soft. The matter is simple: Will America merely respond to security threats? Or will it also try to shape the security environments in which threats emerge? This is the context in which the Trump administration is proposing a 29 percent cut in funding for development and diplomacy, for peacebuilding and conflict prevention. It is not a soft-power budget, explains budget director Mick Mulvaney. This is a hard-power budget. It is really a softheaded, hard-hearted budget. If passed in anything close to current form, no amount of explosive power could undo the stupidity or remedy the harm. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy Meteor Timber didnt have any friends at a public hearing in Tomah Tuesday. None of the 18 people who testified during a Department of Natural Resources hearing spoke in favor of the Georgia timber companys permit application to fill 16.4 acres of wetland to construct a sand processing and loading facility. Opposition ranged from hostility to hydraulic fracturing for extracting oil and natural gas to concerns about disrupting the peace and quiet of the rural countryside. We should stop all permitting to all stages of frac sand mining until there are appropriate independent studies that are completed and reviewed, said Janice Kenyon of rural Ontario. The DNR has tentatively approved the permit, which includes filling 13 acres of pristine hardwood swamp. Meteor plans to dismantle two cranberry operations on the 752-acre property, eliminate four impoundments and restore 2,000 feet of stream. Meteor has also proposed to preserve 640 acres of other high-quality wetlands and restore 58 acres at other sites. However, Sara Geers, staff attorney for Midwest Environmental Advocates, expressed skepticism of Meteors restoration plans and said the wetland Meteor wants to fill is rare in Wisconsin and hard to replace once its destroyed. Geers also doubted whether restoration promises can be trusted given the boom-and-bust nature of the sand mining and energy industries. David Epstein, president of Millston Investors Ltd., said the facility threatens neighboring landowners in the Jackson County town of Millston and nearby Lee Lake, a 30-acre impoundment with a public swimming beach and several lakefront houses. A local sportsmans club stocks the lake with trout. There are many valuable homes with Lee Lake frontage in the immediate area with private wells sourced by shallow aquifers, he said. We fear these domestic water systems ... might be adversely affected by Meteors upstream wetlands actions. Greg Eirschele said Unimins sand mining facility in Tunnel City has already transformed the local landscape. The hills are disappearing, Eirschele said. Theyre literally shipping them away. Kim Rudolph, who lives in southern Jackson County, worried about the facilitys impact on his property value. I want to know if the water table goes down, what is going to happen? he said. If my property value drops, are they going to reimburse me for that? A Trempealeau County homeowner said promises from frac sand companies to be good neighbors cant be trusted. Mike Sylla, who lives with his wife and two children in the town of Lincoln, blames a neighboring Hi-Crush sand mine for ruining his water supply. Sylla held up two jars of brown water that he said came from his well. He said his family must buy all its water from somewhere else. Im bringing this sample because it does and can happen, Sylla said. What are we going to drink in the years to come? We wont have any water. He said sand mines might bring a few jobs to the area, but what kind of jobs will there be when theres no water in the area? Kenyon raised the specter of silicosis, which she said is caused by silica particles that escape into the air from sand mining. Im a doctor, and I can speak to the health risks of this endeavor, she said. The little pieces of silica are like needles they are like little swords. They get into the lung tissue, and they do not disappear. There is no known cure for this. Meteor issued a statement shortly after the hearing. It said the project is a $65 million investment that will create nearly 100 jobs. We are pleased to see the regulatory process continue to move forward, and we welcome public input on our plans, said project manager Chris Mathis. Our company knows that sustainability is an important part of operating responsibly. That is why we have gone above and beyond other projects by developing an historic plan to permanently preserve and restore high-quality wetland on more than 600 acres. This effort merits support from those who want to see growth and economic development and those who want to preserve the environment because our project does both. Both the DNR and Army Corps of Engineers have questioned the projects economic viability, given the precipitous drop in demand for sand since domestic fracking peaked in 2014. But in spite of a recent industry slump, Meteor is in a unique position to have a profitable mining operation, according to an economic analysis prepared by a Pennsylvania consulting firm. Thats because the group owns land with large reserves of fine sands that are now in demand and if allowed to move forward would be able to load entire trains and put them onto the Union Pacific system, which would provide a direct link to Texas oil fields. Meteor has said it cannot find another location to accommodate such a large plant along the UP rail line. The company has also said permitting its project is the only way to prevent much of the 752-acre site from being clearcut. About three quarters of the land is owned by the A&K Alexander Cranberry Co., which was cited in 2013 by the Environmental Protection Agency for illegally filling 5.6 acres of wetlands. As part of the penalty, the EPA required A&K to restore 2.2 acres of the filled wetlands and to get an after-the-fact permit for another 3.63 acres. According to documents filed in support of the application, A&K managing partner Marty Alexander took out a one-year loan in August for $321,470 to settle the case. In a letter to Meteor, Alexander said if the sale does not go through logging would be his only way to avoid foreclosure. Katie Graves of Sparta said opponents will continue to fight the project even if the DNR and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approve the permit. Why are we allowing corporations to harm us, to pollute us, to poison us? she said. Its past time for us to take a stand for our communities, our children, our grandchildren and this planetary ecosystem were all a part of. The public can submit written comments through April 28. Chris Hubbuch of the La Crosse Tribune contributed to this report. Dear reader, we're asking for your help to keep local reporting available for all today during our fall fundraiser. Your financial support keeps stories like this one free to read, instead of hidden behind paywalls. We believe when reliable local reporting is widely available, the entire community benefits. Thank you for investing in your neighborhood. Start your day with LAist Sign up for How To LA, delivered weekday mornings. Subscribe Despite President Trump's pledge not to deport undocumented immigrants protected under under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, a young man with DACA status has been deported to Mexico, reports USA Today. Juan Manuel Montes, 23, is the first known individual with DACA status to be deported under the Trump administration. Trump had previously told ABC News that DREAMers, as those with DACA status are known, "shouldn't be very worried" about deportation. Montes has lived in the U.S. since he was nine years old. He was twice granted DACA status, and his status is valid until 2018. Montes was deported to his native Mexico on February 17 after being detained by Customs and Border Protection agents in a border town near San Diego. According to a lawsuit filed on his behalf, Montes "was approached by a CBP agent while he was walking down the street in Calexico, California on his way to take a taxi home after seeing a friend." Juan Manuel Montes had permission to live and work in the U.S. but was deported anyway. We're suing to find out why https://t.co/TKocTvpcVL National Immigration Law Center (@NILC) April 18, 2017 Montes suffers from a cognitive disability caused by an early childhood traumatic brain injury, studied welding at a local community community college, and has been employed as a farmworker for the past two years. He has four minor convictions, none of which are serious enough to disqualify him from DACA protections, according to USA Today. One conviction is for shoplifting from January 2016, and the other three are for driving without a license. At the time he was detained, Montes had left his wallet in a friend's car anddespite having valid DACA statuswas unable to produce ID or proof of his DACA status. According to USA Today, he was removed to Mexico "within three hours." "They detained me, they took me to a center, they asked me a lot of questions, and I signed a lot of papers," Montes told USA Today. A section from the lawsuit filed on his behalf further details his encounter with CBP: The Los Angeles-based Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), the largest California-based immigrant rights organization, issued a statement Tuesday decrying Montes deportation and demanding his return. "We join others in demanding the immediate return of Juan Manuel Montes to his family and request a full account by DHS as to why the Trump Administration is terrorizing the very same group of people it said it would treat fairly and humanely," CHIRLA executive director Angelica Salas said in the statement. "It is beyond the pale that border patrol officers are left to make decisions that impact people's lives and future with absolute impunity. ICE must be reigned in and stopped from grossly violating people's constitutional rights," Salas continued. DACA provides work authorization and temporary protection from deportation to approximately 750,000 young immigrants, according to KPCC. When asked in January by ABC's David Muir whether those with DACA status should be worried about deportation, President Trump said, "They shouldn't be very worried. I do have a big heart. We're going to take care of everybody." Rocky Lee(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) -- Two kayakers have a California fishing crew to thank for reeling them in. According to ABC affiliate KEYT-TV, two kayakers on Sunday were drifting miles off the coast of Goleta, 15 miles west of Santa Barbara. The Stardust Sportfishing crew threw a life ring to the man and the woman who were barely treading water and were not wearing life jackets. As seen in the video, a kayak is floating in the distance behind the two. "They put the guy on first," Jason Diamond, one of the owners of the Stardust, told KEYT-TV on Monday. "He was exhausted, bobbing to the point where his head was going under." Once on board, the man and woman continuously thanked the fishing crew for saving their lives. "We do these drills all the time," said Diamond. "That was just a good textbook save. Those guys did a great job." It is unknown at this time why the two people were stranded or what happened to the kayak. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Photographs taken by Linda Eckwerth. A new tour offering at Disneys Animal Kingdom is Caring for Giants, which offers guests the opportunity to get a closer look (80-100ft) at the African elephant herd otherwise seen on the Kilimanjaro Safari attraction. Guests check in at the tour desk near the entrance to the Kilimanjaro Safari attraction and are given a brief run-down of the upcoming activities, as well as admonishments not to take photos while backstage. We were also reminded that the elephants roam on their own and their closeness to the viewing area is not guaranteed. Afterwards, youre taken on a short jaunt through some backstage areas to an awaiting van that takes the tour group through the savanna to your vantage point. Once you reach your observation spot elephants! During the 30 minutes you have to spend in the observation area, two cast members talk briefly about the elephants and aspects of their lives, both in Animal Kingdom, and in their native home of Botswana. Some of the information shared: African elephants are a keystone species of the savanna and help to maintain the entire ecosystem. The elephant herd is a matriarchal system in which females form a large bonded family and males are kicked out in their teens to lead largely solitary lives. The country of Botswana is underpopulated and home to the largest number of elephants in Africa. In order to preserve their crops from the elephants, farmers there utilize bee boxes. These swinging boxes of bees emit bee sounds (and some bees) when disturbed by elephants. The elephants in turn leave and emit elephant vocalizations low-pitched sounds virtually inaudible to humans that can warn off other elephants from five miles away. The baby is named Stella. While the tour is pretty brief, it affords a nice look at animals that are not always sufficiently cooperative to display themselves to the Kilimanjaro Safari. Additionally, for people trying to pack a lot into their WDW vacation days, it represents a relatively small investment of time and money. Tours cost $30 and can be reserved by calling (407) WDW-PLAY or (407) 939-7529. At this time, reservation can not be made online. Disney Vacation Club members and Annual Passholders qualify for discounts. We all felt it was well worth the money to experience the elephants in such a unique way. All proceeds from the tour go toward conservation efforts. If youve taken the tour, why not write a short review to help other visitors! Post a Comment Wednesday, April 19, 2017 The Louisiana Supreme Court has enjoined the practice of an out-of-state attorney for misconduct in a federal case as a result of a Rule 4.2 violation and failure to participate in the bar proceedings On August 12, 2013, respondent was admitted pro hac vice in the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana specifically to defend Tyrone Thibeaux in the case captioned United States of America v. Rodriguez, et al. One of Mr. Thibeauxs co-defendants was Glenn Charles. On December 12, 2013, during Mr. Charles sentencing hearing, the judge learned that respondent had improperly contacted Mr. Charles outside the presence of and without the approval of Mr. Charles counsel. The judge then ordered respondent to show cause why he should not be sanctioned for this conduct. During the show cause hearing, respondent admitted he improperly contacted Mr. Charles. On April 11, 2014, the judge sanctioned respondent and referred the matter to the courts chief judge, as well as the attorney disciplinary authorities in Texas and Louisiana. On July 23, 2014, the chief judge suspended respondent from the pro hac vice practice of law in the Western District of Louisiana for eight months. The attorney did not respond to the Louisiana inquiry. The court Turning to the issue of an appropriate sanction, we agree with the board that respondents misconduct would warrant a one-year suspension from the practice of law if he were a member of the Louisiana bar. In In re: Williams-Bensaadat, 15-1535 (La. 11/6/15), 181 So. 3d 684, an attorney communicated with a party known to be represented by counsel and mishandled a fee dispute. For this misconduct, we suspended the attorney from the practice of law for one year, with six months deferred, followed by a two-year period of supervised probation. In In re: Fahrenholtz, 09-0748 (La. 10/2/09), 18 So. 3d 751, an attorney knowingly, if not intentionally, failed to cooperate with the ODC in two investigations and failed to fulfill his professional obligations. For this misconduct, we suspended the attorney from the practice of law for one year and one day. Taken together, this case law indicates a one-year suspension is appropriate for respondents misconduct. However, as the board noted, respondent does not have a Louisiana law license to suspend. Nevertheless, based on our holding in In re: Cortigene, 13-2022 (La. 2/14/14), 144 So. 3d 915, we may sanction respondent by enjoining him from "seeking the benefits of a full or limited admission to practice in this state." (Mike Frisch) https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legal_profession/2017/04/the-louisiana-supreme-court-has-enjoined-the-practice.html Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has launched a new project to help Americans find out where government tax money actually goes. The project came about after Ballmer who is estimated to be worth at least $30 billion - retired from Microsoft in 2014. He was looking for something new to do and his wife urged him to help out with her philanthropy efforts. He said his first reaction was to think he had already given enough by paying a lot of taxes over many years. But he then began to wonder where all that tax money he paid actually went. Ballmer said he hoped that at least some of the money was going to help poor, sick and old people. But he found it very difficult to find specific information on the government spending. This led him to start his own database of U.S. government money collected and spent at the federal, state and local levels. According to the New York Times, Ballmer spent more than $10 million developing the project with a research team over the past three years. The project resulted in a website called USAFacts that launched to the public on Tuesday. An introduction calls the new site a data-driven portrait of the American population, our governments finances, and governments impact on society. Ballmer called the project "our nation, in numbers." It is a free service and meant to be non-political. Whether the information provided makes the government look good or bad, he said it is intended to inform and start discussions on important issues. I would like citizens to be able to use this to form intelligent opinions, he told the New York Times. He added that the site aims to provide information that is comprehensive, but also understandable. Users can search through a wealth of information gathered from publicly available sources. Many forms of financial data are covered, along with population and demographic information. Examples of specific areas include education, crime and police, economy, immigration and border security. One of Ballmers biggest research surprises was to find that about 23.2 million Americans work for the government. According to USAFacts, the number of U.S. government workers includes 14 million local, 5.3 million state and 4 million federal. Of those employees, nearly half work in some capacity in education. That felt good to me, as an example, Ballmer said in an interview on CBS News. Another positive fact he discovered was that the number of fires in the U.S. dropped 30-40 percent since 1980. This was despite the U.S. population increasing by 40 percent in the same period. Ballmer said he also learned that most of the money going to fight world poverty is government funded, not from private sources. He estimated that not-for-profits usually receive 50 to 90 percent of money from the government. The billionaire said another surprising thing he discovered was that the U.S. government is not allowed to collect the total number of guns in the country. I cant show it! Im shocked! he told the Times. He said the National Rifle Association had apparently lobbied in such a way that government cant report the exact data. There is information on the number of firearms manufactured, licensed and inspected, but not on the total number of guns, he said. Im Bryan Lynn. Bryan Lynn adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on reports from The New York Times and CBS News. Hai Do was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story philanthropy n. the practice of giving money and time to help make life better for other people database n. collection of pieces of information that is organized and used on a computer portrait n. detailed description of someone or something impact n. powerful or major influence or effect comprehensive adj. including many, most, or all things lobby v. try and persuade government legislators to do something Malaysia Airlines says it will soon become the first airline to use a worldwide real-time satellite tracking system on its planes. The announcement came three years after a Malaysia Airlines plane, flight MH370, disappeared on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. A two-year search followed, covering an area from Southeast Asia to the coast of Africa. Neither the plane nor any of the 239 people it carried were found. Malaysia Airlines says it plans to use a new space-based tracking system developed by the company Aireon. The system will be ready in 2018. Current tracking systems send signals from airplanes to land-based stations. As a result, planes can be lost over the ocean, as was the case with flight MH 370. The new system will send signals from airplanes to satellites providing global coverage. It uses existing data from planes, so it does not require any changes to aircraft. Don Thoma is head of the U.S.-based Aireon. He said in a statement, "Real-time, global flight tracking, anywhere on the planet will further its safety goals, by allowing Malaysia Airlines to track its aircraft anytime, anywhere. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) plans to establish a 15-minute standard for normal flight tracking, and more frequently in case of emergency, by November 2018. Reuters reported that Qatar and Malaysia airlines will begin receiving data for testing this summer. The report said they will be able to use it globally next summer. Im Jonathan Evans. Hai Do adapted this story from Reuters news reports. Caty Weaver was the editor ______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story allow - v. to permit someone to have or do something frequently - adv. happening often Election officials in Turkey have rejected all objections to last Sundays special election on presidential powers. They will not honor calls for a new vote. Turkish citizens voted on a proposal to amend the constitution and expand the powers of the president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Officials say 51 percent of voters supported the plan, while 49 percent opposed. The constitutional amendments give Erdogan the ability to create a powerful presidency from the current parliamentary system of government. The amendments end the office of prime minister as well as the official neutrality of Turkeys president. They let the president lead a political party, declare states of emergency and set the national budget. Critics have argued the amendments are almost like creating an elected dictatorship. The election results have led to protests in Istanbul and other cities. Protesters say some voters marked more than one ballot in the referendum. Demonstrators are also unhappy with the decision by Turkeys Supreme Election board during the vote to accept ballots without an official stamp. Under Turkeys election law, all ballots and the envelope they are placed in have to have an official stamp -- a measure to prevent cheating. On Wednesday, hundreds of people demonstrated on the Asian side of Istanbul. The area is home to many opponents of the president. Some protesters shouted, Erdogan a thief, Erdogan a murderer." The vote was unfair, said one woman. We don't want one-man rule. We just want democracy for everyone. Similar protests were held across Istanbul. The demonstrations were smaller than Monday, when thousands took to the streets. Demonstrations were also held in other cities, including Ankara. In general, Turkish security forces have stayed away from the protesters. Troops have powers to stop demonstrations, under rules announced after a government overthrow attempt failed last July. Usually those powers are used to control anti-government protests. Early Wednesday, security forces carried out raids across Istanbul. Turkeys state-operated news agency says 19 people were detained for reportedly using the results of the constitutional referendum to organize unauthorized demonstrations. Growing numbers of videos and photographs reportedly taken during the referendum have appeared on social media. Some are said to provide evidence of vote-stuffing. Many pictures are from Turkeys mainly Kurdish southeast. Much of the area has increased security as armed forces battle supporters of the Kurdish separatist group PKK. In recent weeks, the pro-Kurdish party HDP urged voters to reject the amendments. Yet, several areas where the party usually has strong support recorded a large number of yes votes in the referendum. The HDP and the main opposition CHP, or Republican Peoples Party, have refused to recognize the election results. Both groups had called on the election board to cancel the results. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim pushed back on Wednesday. He told reporters, It is unacceptable for the main opposition party not to acknowledge results which the public has already acknowledged." [On] Wednesday night, a member of CHP said his party plans to go to Turkeys top court to overturn an election board decision on the referendum. The boards members ruled in a 10-to-one vote in support of the election results. Mehmet Hamidi Yakupoglu is the Republican Peoples Partys representative to the electoral board. He said the CHP wont give up on voters who opposed the changes. He said the partys next stop is Turkeys constitutional court and, if it is unsuccessful there, then the European Court of Human Rights. The Associated Press reported his comments. Im John Russell. And I'm Jonathan Evans. Dorian Jones reported on this story for VOANews.com. George Grow adapted his report for Learning English. His story includes information from the Associated Press and the Reuters news service. Caty Weaver was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story unauthorized adj. without permission; not approved by officials stamp n. a piece of paper placed on a document envelope n. a paper container, often used to hold a letter acknowledge v. to recognize the rights or value of something referendum n. an event in which the citizens of a country vote for or against a proposal on a given issue vote-stuffing n. the custom of one person marking more than one ballot during an election U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing federal agencies to propose changes to the H-1B program. The program is used to bring highly skilled foreign workers to the United States. Trump signed the order called Buy American, Hire American during his Tuesday visit at an American company in the state of Wisconsin. During the presidential campaign, Trump had promised to change the countrys immigration policies. A senior Trump administration official says the order calls for the strict enforcement of all laws governing entry into the United States of labor from abroad. The order directs the departments of Labor, Justice, Homeland Security and State to take action against fraud and abuse in the immigration system to protect American workers. It also directs the departments to propose reforms to ensure that H-1B visas are given only to the most-skilled or highest-paid applicants. The H-1B visa program is designed for foreigners to work for American companies in jobs that usually require higher education -- including scientists, engineers or computer programmers. The government uses a lottery system to give 65,000 visas every year. It gives another 20,000 visas to graduate student workers. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says the number of applications for H-1B visas fell to 199,000 this year from 236,000 in 2016. American companies say they use the visas to recruit highly skilled workers. A majority of the H-1B visas, however, are given to overseas companies that then send workers to American companies. Some critics say those foreign companies give the visas to people to perform lower-level information technology, or IT, jobs. Critics also say the lottery system works in the favor of the large firms that submit a large number of applications. A Trump administration official says the way the system now works, foreign workers are able to come to the United States and replace American workers because the foreign workers accept lower wages than Americans. The official says this violates the principle of the program. The administration has said large American technology companies have been using the program to hire large numbers of foreign workers, lowering wages for Americans. The Reuters news agency examined U.S. Labor Department records and found that more than 15 percent of Facebooks employees in the United States in 2016 used a temporary work visa. Employers including Walt Disney World and the University of California in San Francisco have replaced American technology workers with H-1B visa holders. Some of the American workers were forced to train the foreign workers who replaced them. The Associated Press and Reuters news agencies reported this story. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted the reports for 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 applicant n. someone who formally asks for something (such as a job or admission to a college); someone who applies for something lottery n. a system used to decide who will get or be given something by choosing names or numbers by chance principle n. a moral rule or belief that helps you know what is right and wrong and that influences your actions Editor's Note: This report is part of a series about how to use the VOA Learning English website for group activities. Such activities can be excellent tools for classroom learning and English language practice groups. For a printable, extended list of activities, directions and suggestions, click here. In this Education Tips report, we explore ways to use the VOA Learning English website for listening activities to help students learning American English. While these activities require an Internet connection in the planning stage, most do not require you to use the internet in the classroom. For example, the text from our written series can be printed and read aloud to students. You can read more about materials needed for each activity by downloading the printable guide. Now, lets start with two activities for beginning English learners. Activities for Beginners Activity #1 For the first activity, you can use audio from our popular culture program, Whats Trending Today, or the news-related stories from As It Is. Or try using a video from News Words, a series about terms in the news. Before the activity, choose your audio or video. Also, develop three to four questions to test listener understanding. To begin the activity, divide students into groups of three or four. Hand out the questions for the story or write them on a board or shared screen. Ask the students to read the questions before listening to the audio or watching the video. Then, play the video or recording. Have each group work together on the answer to one question. They should write complete sentence answers. Set a limit of no more than three sentences per question. Then, have each group share their answers to the questions with the class. Activity #2: Another group listening activity for beginning English learners uses the video series Lets Learn English. For this activity, teachers will need response paddles (image below). These interactive paddles were developed by Bill Pellowe and Paul Shimizu, two professors based in Japan. You can click on the image of the paddles for a downloadable version that you can print, copy, and give to students. For more details, download the printable guide. Before the activity, choose the Lets Learn English episode you plan to show. To begin, divide students into pairs -- groups of two. Play the main video at the top of the page. After playing the video, show the online quiz on the shared screen. For each question, play the video and then let students discuss their answers. Then, ask them to raise their response paddles to show which answers they chose. For more on this activity, download the printable guide. Now, lets explore activities for intermediate level English learners. Activities for Intermediate Learners Activity #1 For this activity, you can choose from a wide variety of English learning series, such as English in a Minute, English at the Movies, Words and Their Stories and Personal Technology. In addition, many of the As It Is stories are perfect for intermediate learners. Before the activity, choose the video or audio youd like to use and prepare five questions about the material. To begin, divide students into five groups. Pairs will work well if the class has 10 students or less. Hand out copies of the questions or write them on the board or shared screen. Ask each group to be responsible for answering one question. If the class is large, two groups can answer one question and compare their answers. Activity #2 : For another activity, intermediate level learners can turn to our Health & Lifestyle and Science in the News series. Before the activity, choose the story you would like to use. You may notice that some health and science reports seem more complex than others; some may be better for intermediate activities, while others are better for advanced activities. To begin the activity, organize students into small groups. Play the audio or have one or two students take turns reading parts of the story text aloud. Afterward, show the online quiz on the shared screen. Ask students to raise their response paddles to show which options they chose. Now, lets look at two activities for advanced learners. Activities for Advanced Learners Activity #1 The VOA Learning English programs People in America and American Stories also come with online quizzes. (In addition, American Stories also comes with a detailed, downloadable lesson plan each week.) For the first activity, organize students into pairs or small groups. Play the video or audio for the program you have chosen. Then, show the online quiz on a shared screen. For each question, have students raise their response paddles to show the answers they chose. For details on additional listening activities for the two series, download the printable guide. Activity #2 Our series Health & Lifestyle and Science in the News can also be useful as group listening activities for advanced-level English learners. Remember that some of these stories work well for advanced learners, while others are better for intermediate learners. Before the activity, choose the story youd like to use. To begin the activity, organize students into pairs or small groups. Play the audio or ask one or two volunteers to read the story aloud. Then, display the quiz on a shared screen. Ask student to raise their response paddles to show which answers they chose. After the quiz, there are additional learner-centered activities you can do. For example, you can: Have students pretend to question a scientist or health expert about the subject of the story. to question a scientist or health expert about the subject of the story. Write a letter or 'call' the main scientist named in the report. Ask a question or give advice related to the subject of the story. Create a word web of the main terms you need to know to understand the story. Take the story a few years into the future. How will this affect the average person? What developments do you predict will take place as a result of this scientific research or breakthrough in health understanding? Tell a story or write a 'news' story on the same issue as it would be treated 10 years in the future. In coming weeks, we will look at more on creative ways to use our website for classroom or group practice activities. You can find those reports and others on learningenglish.voanews.com. And, dont forget to download the printable, extended guide of activities and directions by clicking on the document below or to the right of the page. Im Jill Robbins. And I'm Alice Bryant. Alice Bryant wrote this story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. Do you teach English? Have you used our website in your classroom? Tell us what you've done and what you've enjoyed. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or email the Education team. Click on the image below for the printable guide to the listening activities from this story. __________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story text - n. the original words of a piece of writing or a speech print - v. to cause words, images, etc.) to appear on paper or cloth by using a machine (called a printer) board - n. a flat piece of material (such as wood or cardboard) that is used for a special purpose screen - n. the usually flat part of a television or computer monitor that shows the images or text interactive - adj. designed to respond to the actions, commands, etc., of a user paddle - n. any one of various tools or devices that are wide, flat and thin intermediate - adj. relating to or having the knowledge or skill of someone who is more advanced than a beginner but not yet an expert variety - n. a number or collection of different things or people pretend - v. to act as if something is true when it is not true LEXINGTON Central Community College-Lexington will celebrate CCCs 50th anniversary with a Business After Hours event from 5 to 7 p.m. on April 24. The public is invited to the event, which will include refreshments, door prizes and a chance to see the center, which is located in the Dawson County Opportunity Center at 1501 Plum Creek Parkway. The Lexington Center opened in 1977 and was first located on the second floor of an old bank building in downtown Lexington. It included only office space. A move two years later, into a former hospital, allowed the center to expand to two offices and a small classroom. It gained a second small classroom when it moved into a former law office in the early 1980s. In 1998, the City of Lexington offered CCC a city-owned building in downtown Lexington. The building was extensively remodeled by the college, and once completed, it provided space for a receptionist, two medium-sized classrooms, three offices and storage. The Lexington Center moved to its current location in January 2011 where a reception area, four offices and 13 classrooms, combined with technology, allow it to offer a broad range of educational opportunities. These include avocational-recreational, nursing assistant, medication aide, CPR, EMT, adult education and English as a second language classes; GED classes and testing; certificate, diploma and degree programs; and business and professional training. Central Community College dates its beginning to Sept. 12, 1966, when Area Vocational School No. 1 opened in Hastings. Legislation in 1971 created the states six community college areas, one of which was CCC and its 25-county service area in central Nebraska. Today, CCC has campuses in Columbus, Grand Island and Hastings and centers in Holdrege, Kearney and Lexington. OVERTON A commemorative flag designed in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War is making its way through the United States. It was raised at the site of Overtons Veteran Memorial at 10 a.m. Monday morning to dance in the wind through Thursday. A small flag-raising ceremony attracted about 50 people, including Roscoe Frink of Elm Creek who said his daughter told him it was taking place. Frink said he served in Vietnam for 16 1/2 months, with three and a half months as a prisoner of war. Overton residents Elmer and Irene Anderson were key to the flag making its way to Overton. They had been offered the opportunity to have the flag fly in their yard, but they said the memorial was a more fitting place. The Andersons were among those who helped build the Overton Veteran Memorial, on land donated by Cathy Luther, which was dedicated on Veterans Day in 2012. At that time we had 256 names on the monument, said Irene Anderson, noting several have since been added and names can still be added by contacting the village board. Elmer Anderson belongs to the Mariner/Marlin Association, which offered to do something to mark 50 years since Vietnam. The organization purchased the special flag and intends for it to fly in each state. Nebraska is the 21st state to hoist the flag for display. It came from Colorado and will be mailed to someone in Utah on Friday. I think its a great thing to be able to honor the Vietnam veterans because they didnt get any respect when they came back, said Elmer Anderson of why having the flag is significant. He is a Korean War veteran. Its really to honor and thank the Vietnam Veterans, said Irene Anderson, echoing the words displayed at the bottom of the flag: A grateful nation thanks and honors you. I thought it was a nice honor to be able to have it fly in Overton, she said. Rebecca Schluckebier said she brought her children to the event because their father, grandfather and great-grandfather are all veterans. I think it is important to remember these parts of our countrys history and to honor our veterans, to remember that and move forward, said Schluckebier. Larry Johnson, a Vietnam veteran who lives south of Overton, said he was honored to be part of the flag raising ceremony. I feel honored because I didnt expect anything like this, he said. Earl Linn, another Vietnam veteran, said he was happy and proud to have the flag in Overton. The flag itself is highly symbolic. The Andersons distributed a photocopy of an article about it from a fall 2016 Mariner/Marlin publication. A representation of the Vietnam Service Medal, a ribbon, rests below the inner rings. It is connected to a green laurel wreath which signifies honor for all who served. The inner rings are red, white and blue to represent the United States of America and to recognize all Americans, both military and civilian, who served or contributed to the Vietnam War effort. The outer black ring serves as a reminder of those who were killed in action, held as prisoners of war or listed as missing in action. It surrounds the red, white and blue rings to call attention to sacrifices and the defense of our nations freedom. The words service, valor and sacrifice represent the virtues demonstrated by veterans. The gold-rimmed white star between the words service and valor represents hope for the families of those veterans for which there has not been a full accounting. The blue-rimmed gold star located between the words valor and sacrifice represents the families of those veterans who paid the ultimate sacrifice during the war. The blue star at the bottom of the inner blue ring represents the families of all veterans and symbolizes their support from home. Six white stars, three on each side of the blue star, symbolize the contributions and sacrifices made by the United States and its AlliesAustralia, New Zealand, Philippines, Republic of Korea and Thailand. The center circle contains a map of Vietnam outlined in black. The subdued outlines of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and surrounding waters represent the area of operations where U.S. Armed Forces served. The flags blue background is the same color as the canton in the United States flag. When placed next to the flags of World War II and the Korean War Commemoration Flags, the Vietnam War Commemoration Flag will signify the Vietnam Veterans taking their rightful place among generations of U.S. veterans, the article concludes. Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made a new appeal for calm on the Korean Peninsula yesterday and said he believes the United States would prefer a diplomatic resolution to the standoff. Wang told reporters that although U.S. officials have made clear that a military strike remains on the table, he believes that Washington would still prefer to de-escalate tensions through multi-sided talks. Wangs comments came amid a mounting war of words between Washington and Pyongyang. After U.S. Vice President Mike Pence visited the demilitarized zone in South Korea and warned that all options are on the table, a senior North Korean official responded by accusing the United States of bringing the countries to the brink of thermonuclear war. We know the situation is tense, Wang said. The more tense things are, the more calm we need to be to find the opportunities and possibilities for dialogue. China has called for a return to multi-sided talks that ended in a stalemate in 2009, during the rule of North Koreas previous leader, Kim Jong Il. Since entering office, President Donald Trump, like his predecessor, Barack Obama, has pressed China to use its political and economic leverage over North Korea, its once-close ally. China has recently shown tangible indications that it is cooperating with the U.S. to turn up the pressure on Pyongyang, a senior State Department official said this week. Australias prime minister also urged China to do more, saying Beijing has the greatest obligation and responsibility to de-escalate the threat from North Korea. The Chinese often express frustration with North Korea, and disappointment. But the fact is that they have the overwhelming leverage over the North Korea regime, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told reporters yesterday in Canberra. So the eyes of the world are now on Beijing. Beijing has to step up and bring this reckless threat to the peace and stability of our region to an end. The recent surge in tensions on the Korean Peninsula finds Beijing on the outs with both North and South Korea, while many critics have yet to be convinced by its insistence that its influence with Pyongyang has been exaggerated. North Korea has repeatedly ignored Chinas calls for denuclearization and other steps to calm tensions on the peninsula, and relations between the two are believed to have sunk to their lowest level in years. China remains North Koreas chief source of fuel and food imports, but Pyongyang seems to have calculated that Beijings fears of a collapse of Kim Jong Uns hard-line communist regime override any such snubs. In a sign of Beijings hardening attitude, the Global Times, a state-run tabloid, said in an editorial on Monday that China could enforce stricter measures against North Korea, including a ban on oil exports, or join a U.S.-led effort to block the Norths access to international financial markets. Wang, the foreign minister, declined yesterday to comment on the piece, saying Global Times editorials do not reflect official foreign policy. Meanwhile, Chinas once-thriving relationship with South Korea has hit the rocks over Beijings strenuous objections to Seouls deploying of an advanced U.S. anti-missile system. Beijing says the system threatens its own security by allowing the U.S. to monitor flights and other activity in northeastern China. Beijing has retaliated against South Korean businesses, while its military has threatened to take unspecified action in response. Chinas top negotiator for North Koreas nuclear program, Wu Dawei, held talks on the missile shield and North Koreas recent actions during a visit to Seoul last week. However, North Korea didnt respond to Wus request to visit Pyongyang, according to South Koreas Yonhap news agency. Gerry Shih, Beijing, AP Beijing defends trade after its trucks haul missiles China is defending its trade practices with North Korea after Chinese-made vehicles were seen carrying ballistic missiles during a military parade despite international sanctions against selling military hardware to Pyongyang. Photos provided by the North Korean government showed the submarine-launched missiles loaded aboard trucks bearing the logo of Sinotruk, a Chinese company. A representative of a Sinotruk dealer says about 1,000 of its trucks are exported to North Korea annually under contracts that specify theyre for civilian use. Spanish officials say police have arrested 39 people in an international operation against a major network that distributed child pornography material via the popular online chat application WhatsApp. A police statement said the network operated some 100 chat groups with 135 identified users in 18 countries in Europe, Central and South America. The statement said 17 people were arrested in Spain, with other detentions made in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Italy, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Portugal. The operation was carried out in coordination with Interpol and Europol. Spanish police said files retrieved contained abusive and brutal treatment of children up to 8 years of age. To celebrate its 25th anniversary, Le French May Arts Festival is slated to bring its richest in content event to Hong Kong and Macau from May 1 to June 30. Under the theme Celebrating art and life the French Way!, this years edition will showcase national masterpieces from le Louvre, featuring pieces from the royal collections of sculptures and antiques to works by renowned masters of French painting. Although the 25th anniversary will not feature as many programs compared to previous editions, CEO of Le French May Arts Festival Julien-Loic Garin is confident that the silver jubilee celebration is greater in terms of the importance and uniqueness of the offerings. There are big programs that are coming because of our anniversary, he told the Times, speaking on the sidelines of the festivals announcement and champagne testing. [As for] what is new, I would say that we developed more general public events focused on lifestyle, not just arts, Garin continued. Le French May has selected different genres of shows for this event, including classical music, ballet, jazz and hip-hop. The program includes the festivals opening concert The Birth of the Sun King, a lost masterpiece written for the King Louis XIV re-imagined with new media. The concert is the debut performance of Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in Hong Kong, and will be held on May 6 at the Hong Kong Cultural Center. Prior to the concerts Asian premiere in Hong Kong, the ensemble is slated to hold an open rehearsal and chamber music concerts in Macau on May 4 and 5. The festival collaborated with the University of Macau and Clube Militar de Macau to hold the aforementioned events. In Macau there will be an opening rehearsal; almost the official one but not yet. [] So theres much more in terms of the performances. It will be much more intimate in format at the Clube Militar, Garin explained. When questioned whether the festival has further collaborated with local associations, Garin admitted that no proper collaborations were made due to time constraints. Because of the time constraints, we dont really have a proper collaboration but at least the visiting artists will be able to hold master classes and workshops to enhance the knowledge and the appreciation of western arts in local students, the CEO replied. The festival will also be held at MGM Macau. The resort will present TresOrs, an exhibition especially tailored for the festival. French Curator Anne Camilli, founder of Le Musee a la Carte, created the exhibition with the mission to help the public in Hong Kong and Macau discover how the richness of Gold has inspired French artists and craftsmen throughout the course of history. The exhibition, which will feature over 150 works, will also feature local elements such as dragons and phoenixes. We immediately knew that gold is as important in Chinese culture as it is in French culture [] so when the curator selected the pieces she made sure that it also had the significance to the Chinese culture, Garin noted. According to him, the aim of the exhibition is to show the meaning of gold in Chinese culture through different aspects such as religion, symbols and power. A Paris Ballet Legend performance by three star dancers of Paris National Opera, three French Jazz nights in tribute to legendary jazz voices, as well as a new genre of classy hip-hop by female dancers will also be performed throughout the festival. The silver jubilee celebration will bring over 150 events including 80 performances, 70 screenings of films and TV series, 32 exhibitions and over 40 education and outreach events. Organizers noted that over 500 artworks would be brought to Hong Kong and Macau during the festival. Debate continues over jurisdictions within the cross-border express train terminus in the Kowloon- mainland rail link, as no deals have yet been made by the Beijing and Hong Kong governments on checkpoint arrangements. The two governments are working on developing a law enforcement model for the cross-border rails joint checkpoint, noting that a joint checkpoint is essential to reduce the travel time. Hong Kongs transport minister Anthony Cheung Bing-leung said in a radio program that officers would be able to exercise mainland laws within designated areas at the station, which is located in Hong Kong. Although the head did not specify the extent of their powers, critics warn that permitting mainland officers to exercise immigration controls and security checks will breach Hong Kongs Basic Law which bans the implementation of mainland laws in Hong Kong. The question we are handling is how the [mainland officers] exercise of mainland laws in Hong Kong can comply with the spirit of one country, two systems and the Basic Law, Cheung said, as cited by the South China Morning Post. However, the minister clarified that the Shenzhen Bay model (a Hong Kong immigration control point on its border with mainland China, which is housed in the same building with its mainland Chinese counterpart, the Shenzhen Bay Port) could not be directly transplanted, adding it is different as it involves the exercise of Hong Kong laws on the mainland. The final arrangement should be ready before the administration of its Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying ends on June 30. According to him, the final arrangement needs to be assessed by Hong Kong lawmakers; he expressed the belief that there would be sufficient time for this before the scheduled opening which is in the third quarter of 2018. At the end of the day its a matter of trust, he said, citing the lack of public opposition to a local garrison of the Peoples Liberation Army. He also added that certain issues are sometimes overly politicized. Last month, Hong Kong authorities headed to Beijing to discuss the high-speed rail link with mainland authorities. British police yesterday arrested Indian business tycoon Vijay Mallya in London on behalf of authorities in India, where he is wanted on charges of money laundering and bank demands that he pay back more than a billion dollars in loans extended to his now-defunct airline. Mallya was arrested after showing up in a police station, said a statement from the Metropolitan Police in London. At a preliminary hearing, Mallya was granted conditional bail and released with the case adjourned until May 17. In New Delhi, the government hailed Mallyas arrest, saying it would not spare anyone who indulged in fraud. Mallya will be brought back to India. The government is working toward it. No one will be spared, said Santosh Gangwar, the junior minister for finance. Indias Enforcement Directorate, now investigating the liquor barons debts totaling 94 billion rupees (USD1.45 billion), asked a New Delhi court last year to demand Mallyas presence during proceedings. At the time, it said Mallya was not cooperating with investigators, and three times ignored their summons to give evidence. Mallya was famous for his flashy lifestyle and lavish parties attended by fashion models and Bollywood stars. The U.S. will not relent until it achieves its objective of ensuring the Korean Peninsula is free of nuclear weapons, Vice President Mike Pence said yesterday while visiting Japan. After meetings with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other leaders, Pence told reporters that President Donald Trump was confident that economic and diplomatic pressure has a chance of compelling North Korea to cooperate. It is our belief by bringing together the family of nations with diplomatic and economic pressure we have a chance of achieving a freeze on the Korean Peninsula, Pence said. We will not rest and will not relent until we obtain the objective of a denuclearized Korean Peninsula, he said. The Trump administration has signaled a more forceful U.S. stance toward North Koreas recent missile tests and threats, including a warning from Trump that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has gotta behave. So Pence struck a stern tone after arriving at a U.S. naval base from South Korea. We appreciate the challenging times in which the people of Japan live with increasing provocations from across the Sea of Japan, he said. We are with you 100 percent. On Monday, Pence traveled to the tense Demilitarized Zone dividing North and South Korea, where he warned North Koreas leaders that after years of testing the U.S. and South Korea with its nuclear ambitions, the era of strategic patience is over. A senior North Korean official then accused the United States of bringing the countries to the brink of thermonuclear war. Pence, on a 10-day Asia trip that will also take him to Indonesia and Australia, said Trump hopes China will use its leverage to get its longtime ally North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program and ballistic missiles. In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made a fresh appeal for calm. Wang told reporters that although U.S. officials have made clear that a military strike remains a possibility, he believes that Washington would still prefer to de-escalate tensions through multi-sided talks. Abe said Japan likewise hopes for peaceful dialogue with Pyongyang, but at the same time, dialogue for the sake of dialogue is valueless. Pressure on North Korea is crucial, the prime minister said. After meeting with Abe, Pence held talks with Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso on a new U.S.-Japan economic dialogue to be led by the two. The new forum for trade talks was launched by Trump and Abe during the Japanese leaders visit to the U.S. in February. In part, it is meant to take the place of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the regional trade pact that Trump withdrew from shortly after taking office. Pence and Aso said they believed the dialogue could yield opportunities to create new jobs on both sides and to fortify the economic aspects of the alliance. We would like to seek the best shape and forum for our bilateral relationship, Pence said. The TPP is a thing of the past for the United States of America. He said Trump is certain that negotiating trade deals with individual countries was the best way to ensure they yield win-win situations for both sides. The talks did not delve into sector-by-sector issues such as auto exports. With no U.S. trade representative yet in office and other key positions still unfilled, such nitty-gritty discussions will have to come later. The loss of U.S. participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership was a blow to Japan following strenuous negotiations, especially over opening its long-protected farm sector to more imports, especially of dairy and meat products. For now, both sides seem eager to downplay potential for conflict, with Aso repeatedly saying that trade friction has been vanquished in a new era of cooperation. As Indiana governor, Pence saw firsthand the impact of Japanese automakers Toyota, Honda and Subaru, whose factories employ thousands of people in his home state. U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who met with Japans trade minister, Hiroshige Seko, earlier yesterday, said he hopes to soon begin talks on a free trade agreement with Japan. AP The police chief of a small northeast Oklahoma community says he issued himself a citation for speeding, but only after being caught on video. Sperry Police Chief Justin Burch posted an apology on the departments Facebook page Saturday, saying he was wrong in traveling at 75 and 80 mph. Sperry is about 10 miles north of Tulsa. Burch admits hes not sure he would have issued the ticket if not for the video, and that he had a reason for being in a hurry. Nonetheless, he admits he must be held accountable. Burch says he wrote himself the more than $300 ticket and that hell pay it in full. Taiwans immigration department said yesterday that it has provided temporary accommodation to a Chinese dissident who left his tour group intending to apply for political asylum in democratic Taiwan. Zhang Xiangzhong abandoned his fellow travelers on April 13, one day after arriving in Taipei on a package tour. He said he hoped to stay on the self-governing island to promote democracy on the Chinese mainland, which is ruled by the authoritarian Communist Party. The department said in a statement that it found Zhang on Monday night and provided him with temporary accommodation because he did not have any. It said it was investigating the reasons for him leaving his tour group. Taiwan stopped offering political asylum to Chinese citizens to discourage illegal immigration and a string of plane hijackings in the 1990s by mainland citizens wanting to flee to Taiwan. Few major Western leaders to attend Chinese summit Leaders of 28 countries are set to attend a Chinese summit next month showcasing President Xi Jinpings signature foreign policy plan, but few will hail from major Western countries. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said yesterday that Vladimir Putin of Russia, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Spains Mariano Rajoy are among those slated to appear next month in Beijing for a summit to discuss Xis One Belt, One Road infrastructure investment program to stitch together the Eurasian continent. Wang said leaders from France and Germany will not attend due to their domestic election schedules, not because they snubbed China. China has sought to frame Xis vision for the China-led development program as an inclusive project rather than a statement of geopolitical ambitions that should concern the West. Home prices rise in more cities as buyers beat curbs China home prices rose in the most cities since October, suggesting buyers are trying to get in ahead of any further restrictions on property purchases. New-home prices, excluding government-subsidized housing, gained last month in 62 of the 70 cities tracked by the government, compared with 56 in February, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday. Prices fell in eight cities, the data show. Chinese authorities have pledged to enforce strict curbs in most first- and second-tier cities to prevent a housing bubble, while seeking to clear a glut of unsold homes in smaller urban centers. In a month when at least 64 cities announced new or tougher property-buying restrictions, some of the demand may have come from buyers flocking to the market in fear theyd be ruled ineligible for future purchases. Buying restrictions may lead to some panic buying, said Yan Yuejin, a Shanghai-based analyst at property data and consulting firm China Real Estate Information Corp. North Koreas deputy U.N. ambassador accused the United States yesterday [Macau time] of turning the Korean Peninsula into the worlds biggest hotspot and creating a dangerous situation in which a thermonuclear war may break out at any moment. Kim In Ryong told a news conference that if the U.S. dares opt for a military action, North Korea is ready to react to any mode of war desired by the U.S. He said the Trump administrations deployment of the Carl Vinson nuclear carrier task group to waters off the Korean Peninsula again proves the U.S. reckless moves for invading the DPRK have reached a serious phase of its scenario. Kim stressed that U.S.-South Korean military exercises being staged now are the largest-ever aggressive war drill aimed at his country, formally the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. The prevailing grave situation proves once again that the DPRK was entirely just when it increased in every way its military capabilities for self-defense and pre-emptive attack with a nuclear force as a pivot, he said. Tensions have escalated over North Korean moves to accelerate its weapons development. The North conducted two nuclear tests and 24 ballistic missile tests last year, defying six Security Council sanctions resolutions banning any testing, and it has launched more missiles this year including a failed attempt this past weekend. The Norths Foreign Ministry said the missile launches are as part of a normal process of building up the countrys defenses and economy. Ministry official Kim Chang Min also said in the interview in Pyongyang that the U.N., the Security Council and big countries ignored South Korean missile launches and Japanese surveillance satellites. This is the limit of double standards, Kim of the Foreign Ministry said. How can we have any dialogue to get any result with anyone who has this kind of approach? On Monday, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence traveled to the Demilitarized Zone dividing the Koreas and warned Pyongyang that the era of strategic patience is over. After 25 years of trying to deal patiently with North Koreas nuclear and missile ambitions, Pence said, all options are on the table to deal with threat. Deputy U.N. Ambassador Kim said North Koreas policy is shaped by the Trump administrations push for high-intensity sanctions against the country, deploying tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea and launching military action aimed at beheading the Norths leadership headed by Kim Jong Un. He said rolling back the hostile U.S. policy toward the DPRK is the precondition to solving all the problems in the Korean Peninsula. Kim called the news conference to categorically reject the U.S. decision to hold an open meeting of the Security Council on April 28 on North Koreas nuclear program which is scheduled to be chaired by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. He called it another abuse of authority by the United States, which holds the Security Council presidency this month, and a violation of the DPRKs sovereignty. Kim ignored questions about the DPRKs relationship with China and reports that the government didnt respond to requests from Chinese officials for a meeting. AP That rough estimate, yet to be confirmed by forensic testing, may put to rest wide and varied speculation about the bones discovered just north of Mountain Home last weekend but creates its own questions about just whose remains they are. Elmore County Sheriff Mike Hollinshead told the Statesman Tuesday that the skeleton, believed to belong to a child between the ages of 1 and 5, was protruding from a grave that was being used as a badger den. It was in the grave, but not intact, Hollinshead said. The badger had come out of the hole and pushed some of the bones out. He said workers for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game were at the site near Hot Creek Road, about a half-mile north of Mountain Home, on Saturday when they looked down and saw some bones. Closer observation showed it to be a human skull, and we were contacted immediately. The sheriffs office announced the discovery Monday, saying the childs remains included no clothing or other fibers and had been in the ground for a considerable amount of time. Social media exploded with speculation that the bones could belong to DeOrr Kunz Jr., the Idaho Falls 2-year-old who disappeared during a Lemhi County camping trip with his family in July 2015. And archaeologists were called in to evaluate and dismiss, the sheriff said the possibilities the skeletal remains could be related to Oregon Trail emigrants or a Native American burial ground. The sheriffs office hasnt ruled out that the child may have been a victim of a crime. A more precise estimate should be available after forensic testing, he said. Were sending the remains to an agency that can identify what sex, how old and hopefully how long it had been buried, he said. Its going to take weeks. The sheriff declined to say which agency was going to examine the bones. And he said he couldnt respond to questions about the childs possible cause of death and whether forensic examination was expected to make that clear. Well have to wait and see, Hollinshead said. JEROME Whats the secret to the Magic Valley miracle? Theyre less excited about who gets credit, and more excited about getting results. Lt. Gov. Brad Little has spread that message to cities and counties throughout Idaho when they ask about south-central Idahos success in economic development. Little spoke Tuesday to a crowd of business owners and government officials during Jeromes 20/20 Economic Development Forum at the Jerome Country Club. So what could south-central Idaho be doing to continue its growth? Littles multipronged approach is to encourage modernized industries, educate young people and diversify the economy. Never forget who brought you to the dance, Little said. ... Particularly agriculture, in this part of the state. But always have your eyes wide open about other opportunities that might avail themselves to do that critical diversification that you need going forward. But diversification can include bringing in companies that are related to agriculture, he said, adding value to a commodity such as milk during a time when prices are down. Little brought up Chobanis recruitment as an example. Butch and I didnt even know what Greek yogurt was, he said. A key component of diversifying the economy: entrepreneurship. Chobani and Clif Bar came and created jobs here because they were owned by entrepreneurs who wanted to grow their companies very fast, Little said. The challenge now, however, is with talent attraction. As I look at Idaho today, obviously were all keenly aware of where we are from an employment standpoint, Little said. Idaho is a leader in the nation for job creation and income growth. As incomes move up, companies have to innovate to keep costs down. And some are becoming more modernized hiring fewer people, but with higher-tech and better-paying jobs. We want the most modern cheese plants. We want the most modern milk plants, Little said. We want the most modern whatever-it-is because those are the jobs that are going to sustain when the economy goes down. And believe me, it will. In order to meet demand for those jobs, however, Idaho will have to continue its plan for work force education. That, in turn, could help in getting those kids who left Idaho to come back. We need to give (employers) the work force they need to succeed, he said. Jeromes economic development Littles presentation came on the heels of updates provided by Jerome 20/20, the city and Jerome County Commission regarding ongoing economic development efforts. Jerome 20/20 President Joe Davidson reflected on the circumstances that got the organization going in 2013. We were losing people, and our housing market was dropping like a rock, he said. But today, its another situation. City Administrator Mike Williams says the city is almost to the point where it is maxed out for buildable residential lots. Jerome County is still working on a plan to move forward in its planning and zoning, Commissioner Catherine Roemer announced. Progress is being made to schedule community meetings for an updated comprehensive plan. And theres plenty more in the works for economic development. Jerome 20/20 Executive Director Larry Hall said there are three milk and cheese processing plant expansions coming up. Theres also high hopes for a local milk hauler planning to relocate and expand into the city; three large retail projects coming downtown; a manufacturing facility and University of Idaho dairy research center. All the projects on our list are really homegrown, Hall said. Jerome is focusing its marketing efforts on bringing in parallel industries instead of being something were not. Economic development groups have their eyes set on three counties in California where companies may be interested in expanding to Idaho. We want to show them a different world, Hall said. From Lyman Stone: no matter the adjustment, the US is always one of the lowest-concentration countries, along with China, India, Brazil, Germany, and Japan. We have a very diversified metropolitan ecology, as do those countries. Third, Ive highlighted Nordic (purple) and Anglo (orange) countries. Notice that all of the Nordics are much more concentrated than the United States, as are all of the Anglo countries! That one was surprising to me, as I expected large countries like Australia and Canada to be much more comparable to the US. As it is, in terms of population concentration, Poland is more American than Canada. my most concentrated countries are indeed Mongolia and Peru. Not kidding here. Both results surprised me given that both countries are fairly large and have big rural populations and, in Perus case, my impression was that there were a good number of meaningfully sized cities. But it turns out that, in Peru, Lima metro area alone is almost 30% of the population, and then the other cities are pretty small by comparison; and Lima is, of course, also the capital. In Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar metro area is over half of the nations population! So. If you want to know what country is the most city-state-ish, I would have to answer its Mongolia. The Iranian armed forces held a military parade on Tuesday to mark the countrys National Army Day. The celebrations were dominated with a display of military power and the resurfacing of the Death to Israel banners. During his address at the ceremony, President Rouhani said although Iran is avoiding tensions and encounters with other states especially with the region, he stressed that they have to remain vigilant in the face of plots hatched by others and increase deterrent power. Senior government and military officials attended the ceremony. Amongst the countrys latest acquisition that were on display for the first time was the domestically fabricated Sayyad-3 anti-aircraft missile and the Russian-made S-300 missile defense system used for long-range protection against both aircraft and missiles. Iran has been boosting its military might over the years but always refutes claims that it poses a threat to regional countries. The election of President Rouhani has contributed to lowering the tension with Israel. However, Iran and Israel have been at odds over the past decades due to the latters actions in occupied Palestinian territories. Prime Minister Netanyahu has also been engaged in campaigning for tougher actions against Tehran in the West. In February, he claimed that Iran seeks to annihilate Israel, it seeks to conquer the Middle East, it threatens Europe, it threatens the West, it threatens the world as it continues to offer provocation after provocation. This is not the first time Death to Israel banners were brandished at Iranian military parades. There are emerging reports that one of the missiles on displayed at the ceremony seems to be fake because the nose of a rocket mounted onto a bigger missile appears to be pointing skywards. The parade included missiles, tanks, armored vehicles, rifles, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), fighter jets, radar systems and air defense missile systems as well as soldiers in the latest camouflage gear. Chicken will be the best-positioned protein due to its low price position in times of pressure on consumer spending power but rises in production costs and the long-term impact of COVID-19 threaten to disrupt the sector, according to Rabobank. Zambian opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema has been charged with treason on Tuesday for allegedly trying to overthrow President Edgar Lungu. The leader of the United Party for National Development (UPND) was initially charged with treason for obstructing Lungus motorcade. Officials stated that Hichilema blocked Lungus motorcade with his own convoy of vehicles during a traditional ceremony in the East-African nation. On Tuesday, the Lusaka-based Court charged Hichilema with treason in that (he together with other persons did prepare or endeavoured to overthrow by unlawful means the government between Oct. 10 last year and April 8 this year. Hichilema was narrowly defeated by President Edgar Lungu last year in elections which he described as fraudulent. His attempts to mount a legal challenge have so far been unsuccessful. Dressed in a red coat and khaki shirt, Hichilema waved his party symbol to supporters in court and stood throughout, Reuters reported. According to Zambian law, treason is a non-bailable offence with a minimum jail term of 15 years and a maximum sentence of the death penalty. United Nations Human Rights chief Zeid Raad Al Hussein on Tuesday urged officials in Burundi to end the impunity of the government-allied militia called the Imbonerakure. Unidentified bodies have been found across the central African nation after night raids on opposition homes by militias, a top U.N. rights official told Reuters on Tuesday. According to Zeid Raad Al Hussein, there was an increase in cases of enforced disappearance between November 2016 and March 2017, as well as the discovery of dozens of unidentified bodies in various parts of the country during that time. He also acknowledged that the security and political situation in Burundi remains dire citing a video that surfaced on social media early this month in which members of the militia entreated colleagues to rape opposition women. Those responsible for human rights violations, regardless of their position or rank, must be held accountable, he said. Impunity for human rights violations by security forces and the Imbonerakure must be brought to an end. Politically motivated disappearances and imprisonments appear to be on the rise in the country since 2015 when the country plunged into political crisis. Between April 2015 and 10 April 2017, UN figures indicate that 401,573 people have fled Burundi. Ukraine ready to join creation of new transport corridors Ukraine is ready to join the creation of new transport corridors within the framework of developing its transit potential and connect to the existing routes, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said, according to the website of the Ukrainian government.He said the routes include the South-Western direction from Central Asia via Georgia and Azerbaijan towards Europe; Groysman said that this creates the possibility of creating a joint venture between Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.The joint venture will use a single window system for handling cargo along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route.The proposal to create the joint venture was made by the heads of the Azerbaijani, Georgian and Kazakh railway administrations Javid Gurbanov, Mamuka Bakhtadze and Kanat Alpysbayev at the meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman in Kiev Apr. 11.Groysman stressed that cooperation in the transport sphere with the member countries of the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development (GUAM) and Ukraines partners in Central Asia is a priority shared by both the government of Ukraine and the governments of its partner countries.We have complete understanding at the level of the heads of government, Groysman added.In this context, he recalled that a special logistics committee has been already created in the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, and said that this committee will deal with transport issues and improve cooperation with other countries.The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route runs through China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and then through Turkey and Ukraine to Europe.In October 2016, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Georgia signed an agreement on the establishment of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route association with its office in Astana. Its activities are aimed at attracting transit and foreign trade cargo, as well as developing integrated logistics products via the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route. Russian language must not be forgotten By Messenger Staff President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili believes that the Russian language must not be ignored or forgotten in Georgia, as the language is a very important lever to communicate with people in Georgias currently occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) as well as with the Azeri and Armenian origin populations.Margvelashvili stresses that for establishing connections, the Russian language is a very comfortable tool.We mustnt lose this lever, no way. On the contrary, the language must be used more effectively to send important messages. If we leave Abkhazians, South Ossetians and ethnic minorities alone, face to face with very active Russian information propaganda, then how do we intend to reintegrate our occupied territories? the President said.The President highlighted that when one has the power and the truth, they must not ignore any avenue through which to spread the truth.The active campaign against Russian as an enemy language started under the United National Movement leadership in the wake of the Russia-Georgia 2008 war.Russian was neglected at schools, and the former government was actively engaged with the popularisation of the English language, as a symbol of Georgias striving to Europe.The UNM's efforts provided results, and currently a greater part of the Georgia's younger generations do not speak Russian.Language is a key lever for communication and people-to-people relations. The fact that one countrys government takes occupant steps to another it also doesnt mean that the whole population of the country approves of the step.Two hundred years of co-existence Georgia and Russia elaborated different types of common values. It was Russian language which opened doors for Georgian nationals into the outer world. Russian is a language for Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov and many other persons. Russian is a language of great Philosophical, cultural, historic importance. The English language should not substitute the Russian language. Georgians have to learn both languages; the country should free itself from the ill practice of putting Russian language under the Russo phobia.In addition, Georgia is a multi-ethnic country, and many minorities know Russian far better than Georgian. In this way, the restoration of Russian studies is a worthwhile endeavour, and the language's prevalence in Georgia for two centuries has also made it part of the country's heritage. The News in Brief Reforms at the penitentiary system of Georgia praised in Brussels The reform of the penitentiary system has been positively assessed in Brussels, the Ministry of Corrections told IPN. According to the agency, Minister of Corrections Kakha Kakhishvili delivered a speech on the reforms carried out in the penitentiary system of Georgia at the NATO-Georgia Commission meetign in Brussels. Representatives of Georgia's partner countries praised the reforms implemented in the prison system of Georgia. The Minister of Corrections of Georgia met with the representatives during his first visit to NATO headquarters. At the meeting, Kakha Kakhishvili provided detailed information to the allies about the implemented, ongoing and planned reforms in the penitentiary system of Georgia. During the visit, the Minister of Corrections also held a meeting with the NATO Assistant Secretary General. (IPN) Georgia to get rid of its SU-25 in favor of drones and helicopters Georgia is getting rid of its Soviet era Su-25 attack aircraft, and will instead rely on military helicopters and drones, the countrys defense minister said. The Su-25 is a severely outdated aircraft which requires spare parts that are produced in Russia, Minister Levan Izoria said. Speaking in parliament on Tuesday, he added that his ministry plans to sell the remaining aircraft and use the earnings to purchase helicopters and drones, not specifying further. The Georgian Air Force currently has 12 Su-25 jets at its disposal, along with several Mi-24, Mi-8 and US made Bell UH-1 Iroquois military helicopters. The Su-25, or Frogfoot in NATO jargon, is a close air support single-seat, twin-engine aircraft developed by Sukhoi Design Bureau in the mid 1970s. It was manufactured in Tbilisi at a plant known locally as Factory No 31. (DF watch) Georgia starts producing eco friendly coffee capsules The taste of Georgian coffee will soon be available in coffee mugs all around the country and beyond. Local company Kapsulo will start producing high quality and ecologically clean coffee capsules at a new coffee enterprise that will be opened in October 2017 under state program Produce in Georgia. The total cost of the project is 22 million GEL (about $9.19m/8.65m*). The company plans to export coffee to Azerbaijan, Armenia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan in about two years. A leading European company that supplies brands such as Nespresso and Starbucks, XYZ, will provide the coffee beans to Kapsulo company in Georgia. (Agenda.ge) Saakashvili proposes construction of wall with occupied Donbas Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has proposed the construction of a wall with the occupied Donbas region. I support the idea to temporarily build a big wall with the occupied part of Donbas in order to concentrate on the rest of Ukraine, Saakashvili posted on his Facebook page. We will by all means reclaim the occupied territory after we defeat corruption and start a rapid process of development. However, it is necessary to carry out changes in Kiev in order to quickly regain this territory, said Mikheil Saakashvili (IPN) @PatriciaMazzei @stevebousquet @ByKristenMClark Miami Republican Sen. Frank Artiles stood on the Florida Senate floor Wednesday morning and told his colleagues he was sorry for insulting them in private using curse words and a racial slur. I extend a heartfelt apology to my colleagues and to all those I have offended, Artiles began. He offered a direct apology to Sen. Audrey Gibson, a Jacksonville Democrat he had called a bitch. My comments to you were the most regretful of all, because they injured you personally, Artiles said. No one deserves to be spoken to like that. Gibson did not look at him even once. Artiles acknowledged that his comments, made in private Monday night and revealed Tuesday, reflected poorly on him. He also apologized to Sen. Perry Thurston, a Fort Lauderdale Democrat who witnessed Artiles exchange with Gibson and tried to get Artiles to reconsider his crass language before the conversation got out of hand. Artiles refusal to apologize to Gibson in person prompted Senate leaders to get involved. They forced Artiles to say sorry in person late Tuesday. By then, his remarks to Gibson and Thurston including deriding Republican Senate President Joe Negron as a pussy and lamenting that niggas in the GOP caucus elected him had been made public. Both Gibson and Thurston are black. Wednesday morning, Negron stripped Artiles of his chairmanship of the Senate Communications, Energy and Public Utilities Committee. More here. via @mikevansickler Miami Republican Sen. Frank Artiles may have said he's not resigning minutes after he apologized Wednesday for earlier using a racial slur and directing profanity at another senator. Equality Florida's public policy director, Hannah Willard, at 3 p.m. "We call on Senate Leadership to demonstrate an authentic and unmistakable commitment to upholding a standard of basic decency by removing Artiles from office...His hateful personal views have infiltrated his public service and he cannot be allowed to remain in office. Senator Artiles' racist, sexist and anti-LGBTQ vitriol is unacceptable behavior for anyone, especially someone charged with representing the best interest of the people of Florida. There is no place for Frank Artiles in Floridas democracy, just as there is no place for discrimination of any kind in Florida. Adora Obi Nweze, President of NAACP Florida State Conference and member of the National Board of Directors, at 2:10 p.m. "The racial slur, profane language and degrading tone used to members of the Florida Legislative Black Caucus, in particular, a black woman, has no place in our society. In 2017, its unfortunate we still must remind everyone about the N word and the negative impact it has had in the black community for many years. A public apology is not good enough from a public official who has used racist language in the past. Do us a favor, take your racist language and racist actions and resign." The Miami Herald editorial board, at 12:57 p.m. "The state senator from Miami should resign. He is obviously a bully, a man who, by his own admission, has anger problems, and, if not a racist, not afraid to use the language of racism. Indeed, whats the difference?...Artiles, grasping at straws, blamed it all on being from Hialeah. We get it that Artiles meant to convey that he is from a blue-collar neighborhood where calling it as you see it sometimes supersedes sensitivity. But it was a double slap for him to imply his that his abhorrent behavior is accepted in a city well-known for it large Cuban-exile community. No, he should blame these latest troubles on his being coarse, insensitive, entitled and lacking in integrity to such as degree that by the time he delivered his second so-called heartfelt apology on the Senate floor Wednesday, days after the original offense, it was simply too late. Gibson, who never looked Artiles in the eye, wasnt buying it. Neither are we." Sen. Perry Thurston, D-Fort Lauderdale, on behalf of the Florida Legislative Black Caucus, which has 7 senators and 21 House members, in a letter to Rules Chair Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, after members voted to expel Artiles, at 12:30 p.m. "Sen. Artiles' conduct justifies expulsion from the Senate, a remedy that is available under Rule 1.43." Florida Democratic Party Chair Stephen Bittel, at 12:17 p.m. "Frank Artiles' apology was weak, half-hearted and nowhere near enough. This is just the latest of many hate-filled tirades by Republicans in Florida and across the country. Senator Audrey Gibson is a respected leader who has served the people of Florida throughout her life and their must be a consequence for Frank Artiles' inadmissible actions. The Florida Democratic Party stands behind Senator Gibson and continues to call for Frank Artiles' resignation for his racist and misogynist remarks. Republican leadership must call on Artiles to resign and do something about the hate-speech that has taken over their party." State Sen. Rene Garcia, R-Miami, at noon. Like many others, I am extremely disappointed in the inflammatory actions by Senator Artiles this week. The division and backlash that have followed should serve not only as a lesson in collegiality and professional ethics within the Florida Senate, but also as a lesson of respect, humility, and understanding of our states diversity. We are all brothers and sisters under the eyes of God, and we must therefore accept each other for what brings us together as human beings rather than what divides us. Words such as these are simply inexcusable and have no place in public service, the workplace, or our state. Senator Artiles comments towards three highly respected public servants are wrong not only because of their use, but also because of his justification for using them based on where hes from. As someone who also grew up in Hialeah and represents the hardworking families living there, my constituents and I would agree that this language is simply unacceptable. Senator Artiles owes the residents of Hialeah an apology for unfairly associating them with this kind of behavior. The Dream Defenders, at 11:30 a.m. "Let this part sink in. Artiles called six people 'n----as' the night before Florida issued an apology for the Groveland Four...Removing Artiles from his chairmanship is not enough. He needs to resign from the Senate." @PatriciaMazzei The Florida Democratic Party called on Miami Republican Sen. Frank Artiles to resign late Tuesday over his use of curse words and a racial slur in reference to fellow lawmakers. Johanna Cervone, a party spokeswoman, said Artiles "must resign now." "His use of horrific racist and sexist slurs towards his colleagues is disgusting, unacceptable and has no place in our democracy or our society," Cervone said in a statement. "This is just the latest in a string of violent, hateful incidents in which Artiles blames his 'temper'. There is never an excuse for racism or misogyny and the people of Florida aren't buying it. Resign now." The Miami Herald reported earlier in the day that Artiles had an African-American Democratic senator in a private conversation late Monday. He then referred to other Republican senators -- who are not black -- as "niggas." Florida Strong, a liberal independent advocacy group, also asked for Artiles to step down. "It is time for Senator Artiles to bring his embarrassing tenure to an end," Charly Norton, the group's executive director, said in a statement. "Artiles has proven time and again that he lacks the judgment, decency and maturity needed to properly serve his constituents and the people of Florida, and as such, must resign immediately. Our elected officials ought to serve as role models for how we treat one another, not as bullies and buffoons. His hateful actions clearly prove he is not fit to lead." via @learyreports WASHINGTON - Gov. Rick Scott will be at the White House Wednesday morning as President Trump signs a veterans bill. Florida Department of Veterans Affairs Executive Director, Retired Army Lt. Col. Glenn Sutphin, will also join, according to Scott's office. Trump is to sign the Veterans Choice Program Extension and Improvement Act. My father served in WWII and I proudly served in the United States Navy and I appreciate President Trumps commitment to our military and our veterans. --ALEX LEARY, Tampa Bay Times @MichaelAuslen Florida lawmakers are moving full steam ahead to implement the voter-approved constitutional amendment to legalize medical marijuana, but there is still no sign of a compromise between competing House and Senate plans. The two legislators tasked with putting the voters will into effect, Sen. Rob Bradley and House Majority Leader Ray Rodrigues, say they have begun closed-door talks to bridge large divides between their legislation. Neither was willing to divulge any information about a compromise Tuesday after their competing bills (SB 406/HB 1397) cleared their second hearings in front of each chambers health care budget subcommittee. They must pass one more committee before floor votes. With the end of the legislative session 17 days away, Tuesdays votes came with no moves toward a middle ground between the two bills. Im in negotiations with the Senate, Rodrigues, R-Estero, said. Those negotiations will continue. Well see some policy changes that will occur at the third stop, which is the Health and Human Services Committee. What kind of changes? I have nothing else to add, he said. Bradley, R-Fleming Island, is being similarly tight-lipped. I want to respect the integrity of our conversations, and so Ill leave it at that were making significant progress on a lot of the issues dealing with patient access and Im confident that were going to come to a conclusion in short order, he said. Both men have staked out firm positions on key issues as their negotiations prepare. Bradley said the Senate wont consider a bill that provides enough access for a patient base that could expand into the hundreds of thousands in short order. He also said Tuesday that its important to the Senate that whatever compromise language the chambers agree on includes vaping and edibles. Rodrigues and his House colleagues are more reluctant to allow patients to vape or eat cannabis, but he has said he would be willing to do so if doctors played a strong role in directing patients what to do. (That policy idea has some activists concerned it could scare off doctors who are legally allowed only to recommend marijuana, not prescribe it outright.) Other sticking points that remain: Requiring patients have a three-month relationship with their doctors, which the Senate bill does not include but the House does, and which many members of the public said was contrary to the will of the voters in Tuesdays House hearing. Additionally, the House bill allows for fewer new license holders, while the Senate language now includes more growers but limits the number of dispensaries each is allowed to open. Its likely both chambers legislation will be considered in committees next week House Health and Human Services and Senate Appropriations before facing floor votes in the final week of session. Photo: Majority Leader Ray Rodrigues, R-Estero, is the House member charged with reaching a medical marijuana compromise with the Florida Senate. (Scott Keeler | Tampa Bay Times) @PatriciaMazzei @stevebousquet During his tirade to a pair of Democratic senators Monday night, Miami Republican Sen. Frank Artiles referred to Senate President Joe Negron as a "pussy," according to one of the senators present. Artiles was railing against Negron's leadership, which he considers weak. "He called Joe Negron a pussy," said Democratic Sen. Perry Thurston of Fort Lauderdale. Artiles then blamed Negron's rise to power on "six niggas" -- fellow Republicans who had backed his bid for the Senate's top job. The racial slur, following curse words uttered by Artiles to Democratic Sen. Audrey Gibson of Jacksonville -- who, like Thurston, is African American -- prompted calls from Democrats for Artiles to resign. And Negron, who initially tried to stay out of the fracas, issued a strongly-worded statement Tuesday night saying Artiles will publicly apologize to Gibson on the Senate floor Wednesday. @PatriciaMazzei TALLAHASSEE -- Miami Republican Sen. Frank Artiles dropped the n-word to a pair of African-American colleagues in private conversation Monday night after calling one of them a fucking asshole, a bitch and a girl, the two senators said. Over drinks after 10 p.m. at the members-only Governors Club just steps from the state Capitol, Artiles told Sens. Audrey Gibson of Jacksonville and Perry Thurston of Fort Lauderdale that Senate President Joe Negron of Stuart had been risen to his powerful GOP leadership role because six niggers in the Republican caucus had elected him. Artiles later told Gibson and Thurston that hed used the word niggas, suggesting the slang term was not meant to be insulting, Gibson and Thurston said. Its unclear whom Artiles was referring to, since the only black senators in the state Senate are all Democrats and none of them backed Negrons bid to lead the chamber. Artiles apologized to Gibson late Tuesday afternoon, after hed been reported to Republican leaders and reporters started asking questions. In an exchange with a colleague of mine in the Senate, I unfortunately let my temper get the best of me, Artiles said later in a statement. There is no excuse for the exchange that occurred and I have apologized to my Senate colleagues and regret the incident profusely. To Gibson and Thurston, it was clear Artiles wasnt referring to them or to any other Democrats as niggas but apparently to six Republicans who favored Negron for the job over Sen. Jack Latvala of Clearwater. The discussion began Monday night after Artiles approached Gibson at the Governors Club to suggest that a series of questions hed asked of one of her bills earlier in the day were payback for questions shed asked before of one of Artiles bills. At one point, Artiles referred to Gibson as this fucking asshole and this bitch, Gibson said. More here. @PatriciaMazzei Florida Senate President Joe Negron said late Tuesday he was "appalled" by Miami Republican Sen. Frank Artiles' cursing and use of a racial slur in conversation with other lawmakers -- and announced that Artiles will formally apologize to Jacksonville Democratic Sen. Audrey Gibson on the Senate floor Wednesday. Negron's much harsher statement -- compared to his initial response -- came after the Black Caucus scheduled an emergency Wednesday meeting to deal with the Artiles fallout. Senator Braynon reported this incident to me earlier today, and I was appalled to hear that one Senator would speak to another in such an offensive and reprehensible manner," Negron said in a statement. "My first priority was to ensure that this matter was promptly addressed between the two Senators involved, which occurred this evening. Racial slurs and profane, sexist insults have no place in conversation between Senators and will not be tolerated while I am serving as Senate President. Senator Artiles has requested a point of personal privilege at the beginning of tomorrows sitting, during which he intends to formally apologize to Senator Gibson on the Senate Floor. Negron's original statement: It is my understanding that this matter has been resolved by the Senators involved. Incoming Senate President Bill Galvano of Bradenton, who escorted Artiles to privately apologize to Gibson, also issued a statement Tuesday: @PatriciaMazzei In 2014, when then-state Rep. Frank Artiles was running for reelection in Miami-Dade County, someone secretly recorded him at a polling place and caught him using a slur for Middle Easterners or Muslims: hajis. That was three years ago, long before Monday night, when now-state Sen. Artiles deployed the n-word in a conversation with two African-American senators. The Republican Artiles now faces pressure from Florida Democrats to resign. Artiles is expected to publicly apologize on the Senate floor Wednesday for calling Democratic Sen. Audrey Gibson of Jacksonville a fucking asshole and a bitch on Monday and for referring to fellow Republicans who elected Senate President Joe Negron of Stuart as niggas. Artiles also called Negron a pussy. Back in August 2014, Artiles was campaigning unopposed in the primary ahead of a general election race against a largely unfunded, first-time Democratic candidate named Omar Rivero that hardly made headlines. But at some point Rivero posted the secret recording to his YouTube channel. The following March, after Artiles denied he had punched a college student at a downtown Tallahassee bar, the audio made the rounds in Miami political circles. It resurfaced Tuesday, after Artiles private exchange at the Governors Club in downtown Tallahassee with Gibson and Sen. Perry Thurston of Fort Lauderdale was made public. More here. Photo credit: Steve Cannon, Associated Press But the presidents post about the Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13 gang, is misleading. The gang was established in Los Angeles and spread across the country decades before Obama took office. Trumps administration has conducted target operations to arrest criminals, but data is not yet available on how many MS-13 gang members have been arrested or removed. Ioan Grillo, author of the 2016 book Gangster Warlords: Drug Dollars, Killing Fields, and the New Politics of Latin America, disputed Trumps conclusion. I have seen no evidence that the Obama administration can be blamed in any way for the existence or activities of the gang in the U.S., Grillo told PolitiFact. We asked a Trump spokesman for more information but did not hear back by deadline. Keep reading from PolitiFact Florida. Michael-in-Norfolk disclaims any and all responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, completeness, legality, reliability, operability, or availability of information or material displayed on this site and does not claim credit for any images or articles featured on this site, unless otherwise noted. All visual content is copyrighted to it's respectful owners. Information on this site may contain errors or inaccuracies, and Michael-in-Norfolk does not make warranty as to the correctness or reliability of the site's content. If you own rights to any of the images or articles, and do not wish them to appear on this site, please contact Michael-in-Norfolk via e-mail and they will be promptly removed. Michael-in-Norfolk contains links to other Internet sites. These links are provided solely as a convenience and are not endorsements of any products or services in such sites, and no information or content in such site has been endorsed or approved by this blog. 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-plus employees. It is likely the inspiration for hundreds of other businesses in the state, outdoor-related or not. Recently the Montana Legislature attacked Montanas wilderness heritage and passed House Joint Resolution 9, a joint resolution calling on Congress to release seven wilderness study areas (WSAs) 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 HJ 9 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 HJ 9 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 economic bottom line in Montana, we cant act with the recklessness that HJ 9 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 HJ 9 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. Imagine all three branches of Montanas government as ranches in Montana. The Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary all have their own ranches with strict boundaries set up by the people of Montana. This is the law of the land. But one ranch, the Judiciary, is threatening to raise kangaroos and intentionally let them jump over the boundaries, camp out on the Legislature's front lawn and leave scat on their porch. Thus, the Legislative ranch has the affirmative duty, as duly elected representatives of the people of Montana, to direct the Judiciary (Supreme Court) to respect the boundaries of the Constitution of the great state of Montana. Senate Joint Resolution 15, passed by both the House and the Senate, politely tells the Judiciary to take their kangaroos and stay within their boundaries. If the Legislature were not to act, we would find ourselves without boundaries and a seven-member oligarchy would violate Montanas constitutional boundaries. This cannot happen or Montanas freedom and system of a constitutional republic will be lost. The American Bar Association, (ABA), an Illinois-based nonprofit political advocacy group, is pushing radical rule 8.4(g) nationwide through every state's Supreme Court. The proposed rule states in part: It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to: engage in conduct that the lawyer knows or reasonably should know is harassment or discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or socioeconomic status in conduct related to the practice of law. This rule, on the surface, may sound like common sense or reasonable, but in fact is disguised as a restriction of free speech and a violation of the separation of powers. It would make it a legal ethics violation (meaning a lawyer could lose his or her license to practice law) if he or she verbally violated the proposed rule. A lawyer, for example, who belongs to the Catholic Church and openly espouses that marriage is between one man and one woman could be sanctioned for misconduct. Further, a lawyer serving in the legislature making a political speech decrying an organization that sponsors illegal immigration could be disciplined and debarred for discrimination. The ABA makes it clear that the rule applies to a lawyers personal behavior. There is verbal conduct as well as physical conduct and can apply any time a lawyer is speaking to another person outside of a courtroom, even in a social environment. Professionally, lawyers would be restricted on who they can represent and what they can say. Montanas own Supreme Court has asked for public input on this proposed rule. The public response has been overwhelmingly negative. Over 500 Montanans have responded and 99 percent are listed as staunchly opposed. I am proud to have sponsored Senate Joint Resolution 15, which sends a clear message to the Supreme Court and the governor of Montana that Montanas Legislature will not tolerate the unconstitutional content in ABA rule 8.4(g). The Legislature has spoken. Should the Supreme Court of Montana implement ABA rule 8.4(g), they would be violating Montanas Constitution. Montanans, make no mistake: If a government has the authority to control your speech and punish you for speech they deem wrong, then we the citizens are in bondage to that government. I had the honor to meet and rally with Ryan Zinke and Greg Gianforte in Missoula and Helena. We easily elected Ryan Zinke last year, and he is proudly endorsing Greg Gianforte to replace him as our next congressman, saying, Greg is committed to a strong national defense, a conservative agenda, to fighting to keep and bear our arms, stand up to liberal radical environmentalists, voting to simplify a tax code, reduce our tax burden, and to fight for freedom and liberty for all Americans! I want a smart businessman who desires to serve us. As he campaigned for governor, Gianforte traveled our state for over two years, driving over 75,000 miles, staying in the peoples homes every night, not motels, to learn their needs. He also met with businesses and organizations to discern how to get back state control from the federal government. Gianforte has given over half of his income to organizations striving to help people change their lives for the better, and he freely gives his time mentoring everyday Montanans to follow their dreams and start their own businesses. This man is ready to step in and be my congressman. I humbly ask you to trust what I have said is true. Pat Earnest, Hamilton Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Staying in? We've got you covered Get the recommendations on what's streaming now, games you'll love, TV news and more with our weekly Home Entertainment newsletter! Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy HAMILTON Republican congressional candidate Greg Gianforte celebrated his 56th birthday at a meeting hosted by a constitutional Christian group in Hamilton Monday night. About 70 people turned out for the monthly Advancing Conservatism Society meeting that featured a speech by Corvallis High School orator Michael McKay on the U.S. Constitution, as well as prayers and birthday cake for the candidate. The meeting marked the first of three visits Gianforte has planned for Hamilton over the next couple of weeks. He's on the ballot with Democrat Rob Quist and Libertarian Mark Wicks in the race for the congressional seat vacated when Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke joined Donald Trump's cabinet as Interior Secretary. The special election is set for May 25. On Friday, Gianforte will join the presidents son, Donald Trump Jr., and Republican Sen. Steve Daines of Montana for an afternoon fundraising rally at Ravalli County Fairgrounds. The rally is one of several that will be held in the state that day. We know that we have so many great conservative supporters down here, Gianforte told the crowd Monday night. We wanted to make sure that we got to Hamilton. But the trip west wont be all about work for Donald Trump Jr. You know what were going to do over the weekend? Gianforte said. Donald Trump Jr. wanted bad to shoot prairie dogs. So were going to help him scratch that itch a little bit. The announcement was met with laughter and applause. Gianforte will return on May 6 for the Ravalli County Womens Republican Luncheon. Gianfortes support trailed President Trumps in Ravalli County during the November election. Overall, Trump received 2,097 more votes than Gianforte in the general election, but the spread was larger in the individual races. Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in Ravalli County by 8,587 votes. Gianforte received 3,258 fewer votes than Gov. Bullock in the county, but lost statewide. Echoing Trump's own campaign slogan, Gianforte said hes ready to go to work with Donald Trump to drain the swamp. Specifically, we need to put term limits in place. We also need to make it illegal for congressmen to become lobbyists after theyre done. And, during questions at the end of his talk, Gianforte took one from a man who said: Our biggest enemy is the news media. How can we rein in the news media? The man then looked at the Ravalli Republic reporter sitting next to him and raised his hands as if he would like to wring his neck. Gianforte smiled and pointed at the reporter. We have someone right here, the candidate said. It seems like there is more of us than there is of him. I dont have a simple solution for you. I will say that doing town hall meetings and getting out and visiting with people is very important. *** During his 30-minute speech Monday, Gianforte talked about his long love affair with the state. I got introduced to Montana originally over 40 years ago, he said. I had a junior high school science teacher back in Pennsylvania where I grew up who flew P-51s in WWII. He trained at Malmstrom Air Force Base and fell in love with Montana. The only way he could get back here on a teachers salary was to bring 18 ninth-graders with him in a van, actually two vans. We drove from Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, where I lived, all the way to Red Lodge. Four people who took that trip ended up moving to Montana. Its interesting when you talk about the impact a teacher can have, Gianforte said. A couple of years later, Gianforte took a solo train trip from Philadelphia to West Glacier in an effort to see more of the state. I tried to get a backcountry permit in Glacier National Park, but I couldnt, he said. They said there was this other place called the Bob. So a buddy and I that I met in West Glacier hit the trail at Spotted Bear and then we hiked all the way to Lincoln. I knew at the end of that trip that I was going to make a life here, he said. Gianforte and his wife, Susan, have lived in Montana for 24 years. They founded Right Now Technologies in 1997, which went public in 2004 and sold to Oracle Corp. in 2011 for a reported $1.5 billion Gianforte said he and his wife have lived the American Dream. My wife is the daughter of two German immigrants that came here to the U.S. after WWII, he said. Unfortunately, her dad died when she was 1 year old. Her mom, with no high school diploma, was in New York City. She spoke German and no English. As a single mom, they lived in a three-floor walkup in Queens, one bedroom, Gianforte said. Her mom was determined to stay here. She got a job in the mail room of a bank delivering messages. She worked there 38 years and retired as an officer of that bank. She got her little girl that she raised by herself in that third-floor walkup into Cornell engineering school. Now shes retired and fully independent. She has lived the American Dream, Gianforte said. Susan and I have lived the American Dream. And its not complicated, but it involves hard work and frugality and being able to keep the fruits of your labor. We risk losing the American dream if we dont understand the ingredients to make it happen. Three of Gianfortes children have followed in their parents footsteps to become engineers. The fourth, Adam, is finding his own way. On the year that he graduated from college, Gianforte said his son decided to ride his unicycle from Banff to Mexico to raise money for the International Justice Mission. It took two and a half months. He raised $16,000. Hes quite a young man of faith, Gianforte said. On Friday, he quit his job and he moved under a bridge in Chicago because he has a heart for the homeless. He wanted to be with them. I just talked with him on the phone today. He had his second night under the bridge last night. Hes going to do that for a few months, he said. Hes a cool kid. *** Just before the crowd sang Happy Birthday to the candidate, the societys Hollis Poe presented Gianforte with a one-ounce silver eagle coin. Poe said the coin was in recognition that Gianforte and the society were like minded. Should you go on to victory, I would appreciate that you would carry this in your pocket as an everyday coin so that when youre having those conversations with those lobbyists chasing after you in D.C, you can reach in and feel this coin and be reminded that there are folks back home that you care more about than them, Poe said. That our issues trump their issues, literally. This is a token to remind you that you work for us and we stand behind you. Gianforte said he and his wife are ready to serve. We have an amazing thing going on in Washington D.C. right now, Gianforte said. A politician is actually doing what he said he was going to do. You dont know how refreshing that is. HELENA The Montana Senate has endorsed a bill that would require NorthWestern Energy to absorb some of the financial burden that results from unexpected outages instead of passing all of those costs to its customers. The unexpected action on Tuesday comes just days after the chamber narrowly rejected an attempt by Republican Rep. Jedediah Hinkle of Belgrade to have the matter heard on the Senate floor. Regulators were pushing the measure after NorthWestern challenged the Public Services Commission's order requiring the utility to refund Montana ratepayers $8.2 million. That's the amount the company passed on to 360,000 electricity customers after it had to buy power from the open market because of a 2013 outage of the Colstrip coal plant. Hinkle said his motion to resurrect the matter was a last-minute decision made just an hour before Tuesday's vote. GREAT FALLS A 24-year-old north-central Montana woman has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $420,000 from several businesses in just over a year while she worked for an accounting firm. The Great Falls Tribune reports Natalee Christine Crumley pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal charges including wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. She was released pending her sentencing on July 27. Crumley told U.S. District Judge Brian Morris that she heard about the embezzlement scheme she used from a business owner who told her about another embezzlement case. Prosecutors said Crumley forged 112 checks from businesses between June 2015 and August 2016. Initially she said she took the money to help her boyfriend's family, but she later spent it on furniture, clothing and travel, including a trip to the NCAA Final Four. "It's all gone," she said. iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security Committee estimated that the total cost of the construction of the border wall could "soar" to nearly $70 billion, according to a report prepared by minority side of the committee, which is led by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri. However, the report also says that "no reliable estimate of the cost of construction for the full border wall currently exists." The findings were based on the per-mile cost was extrapolated from information provided by Department of Homeland Security to the Senate and then multiplied by the length of the potential border wall -- 1,827 miles. The Democrats also looked at calculating the total wall costs based on cost estimates for wall prototypes proposals -- ranging from $200,000 to $500,000 for a 30-foot-long wall. Based on those estimates, it would cost at least $64 billion to construct the wall, according to their report. Those construction estimates don't include the potential costs of acquiring the land on which the wall will be built or maintenance costs, which may total nearly $150 million per year, according to the report. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, any estimates of the "total border wall cost are premature as there are many variables that are currently unknown." All historic dollar amounts noted in CBP's briefing on the Hill are associated with costs for legacy fence, acquisitions, U.S. Army Corps of Engineering expenses, etc. from the 2008 time period at specific locations, according to CBP. "Costs cannot, and should not, be used to extrapolate future cost estimates for other locations," said a CBP spokesperson in a statement. The budget request of $2.6 billion is to assist CBP with the implementation of President Trump's executive order, "includes significantly more than just border wall as technology and hiring are also key requirements under the Executive Order," the spokesperson added. CBP said it cannot provide a more detailed estimate of the total cost of border barrier system until prototypes are completed and evaluated and design determinations are made. The prototype construction is scheduled to begin on June 22 and finish by July 22, according to the CBP brief, which is in line with previous DHS statements that it would begin in the summer. San Diego was chosen as the location to construct the prototypes because it allows CBP to compare to old barriers in the same area, the impact will be on "an existing enforcement zone" and land is federally owned, according to the CBP briefing provided to Hill staff. There are currently 654 miles of fencing along the border and 1,300 miles with no border barrier, according to the CBP brief. There are 127 miles that are unsuitable for construction. In the short term, DHS plans to use $20 million of "reprogrammed" funds to construct wall prototypes along the San Diego-Mexico border. The administration is requesting $999 million in supplemental funds for fiscal year 2017 that would "continue real estate and environmental planning and design for high priority" areas in the Rio Grande Valley, Tucson and El Paso sectors. If funded, DHS will construct 34 new miles of levee wall and border barrier system in the Rio Grande Valley, and replace 14 miles of fencing in the San Diego sector. For FY 2018 CBP will request approximately $2.6 billion to construct approximately 71 miles of new border barrier in the same priority regions, according to the agency briefing. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Calling it a collaborative commitment to enhancing quality of life, Gov. Steve Bullock joined other state and local officials in a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday for Buttes new $30 million water treatment plant. We shouldnt take clean water for granted, Bullock told about 100 people on a deck of the state-of-the-art plant at Basin Creek, about five miles south of Bert Mooney Airport. Bullock noted that Butte-Silver Bow Chief Executive Dave Palmer, in a Montana Standard story last week previewing the ceremony, had called the plant a big deal. The drinking water will be some of the cleanest water in the nation and that is a big deal, Bullock said. The high-tech plant has been billed as the first ceramic-membrane filter system used to ensure clean drinking water for a U.S. city. They are common in Japan and Europe and are known for efficiency and filters that last much longer than those used in conventional plants in the U.S. Just before Bullock and others cut the ribbon, they put on T-shirts made for the occasion that said, We have a PhD in H20. Water from Basin Creek Reservoir was so pristine, a little chlorine was added before gravity carried it into town but no filters were needed. Federal and state regulators deemed the filter plant necessary in 2011 when, for reasons not precisely clear, the water exceeded acceptable levels of acceptable disinfection byproducts for a short time. Officials with several groups, businesses and government agencies that played a role in the project were on hand Wednesday. They included representatives for the Natural Resource Damage Program (NRDP) and the Upper Clark Fork River Basin Advisory Council, which combined to pay for the new plant. The Clark Fork group helped secure about $20 million in mine-pollution settlement money for the plant and the Butte Natural Resource Damage Program Council (BNRC) steered $10 million to the project. BNRC Chairwoman Elizabeth Erickson said its decision was contentious at the time because one of the groups guiding principles was to focus spending on cleaning up and restoring the Silver Bow Creek channel that runs through central Butte. But she said one member drove home the point that, No matter what else we do, if we dont have good drinking water, what else will matter? Discussions about a new plant began when Paul Babb was serving his second term as the countys chief executive. He left office in late 2012 but was at Wednesdays ceremony. Every form of government got involved in this, as well as the people of Butte. They got behind and supported this, Babb said after the event. Palmer called it a testament to teamwork. There is no reason to go out and buy bottled water anymore, he said. We have some of the cleanest drinking water in the whole state of Montana. Bullocks visit came as state lawmakers wind down the 2017 legislative session with no final decision yet on steering tens of millions of dollars toward infrastructure projects in Montana. Infrastructure packages failed to pass in 2013 and 2015 but Bullock is pushing capital projects once again. Infrastructure not only creates jobs but sets businesses and families up for the future, so its important the Legislature get an infrastructure bill to my desk so we will continue to have investments like this for the long-term for our state, Bullock told reporters after the ceremony. At 1 p.m. on Sunday, supporters of Iowa City Hospice will gather at Willow Creek Park in Iowa City for the annual Walk for Dignity. Iowa City Hospice receives payment for services from insurance providers, but not all patients have this coverage. The many gifts and financial support that we receive from the community allow us to provide the same level of quality care for everyone, regardless of their coverage. Last year, we provided 1,093 days of charity care to patients in our seven Eastern Iowa counties: Johnson, Iowa, Cedar, Linn, Louisa, Muscatine, and Washington. The Walk for Dignity is the primary fund-raiser for Iowa City Hospice, but it also serves as an opportunity to raise awareness about end-of-life services, as well as celebrate the lives and honor the memories of loved ones who have died. This year at the Walk, there will be a Time of Remembrance ceremony at 11:30 a.m., which is open to anyone who has experienced a loss. Iowa City Hospice exemplifies quality care to patients and families, with highly trained and experienced staff. The commitment to quality and innovative care is reflected in all that we do. Please join us at the Walk for Dignity on Sunday. Sponsor a team, tie a ribbon in honor of a loved one, or simply make a tax-deductible gift to Iowa City Hospice. Todd Means Iowa City Editor's note: Means is chairman of Iowa City Hospice Board of Directors. My favorite duty as general manager of the Muscatine Journal is that of cheerleader, a position Ive been preparing for through a decade of employment. Ive been a fan of our news team long before I was paid to be. Even as a newspaper carrier, I used to walk my route while reading the paper and got to know many of the reporters' names who have graced our pages. This Friday will be the last day that I get to cheer on Emily Wenger as part of our Journal team, but it will not be the last time I root for her in her career. Emily has accepted a position at the Greeley Tribune and Windsor Now in Greeley, Colorado. This move will take her closer to her family and provide the next step in what looks to be a promising career in journalism. Emily has played a critical role for us in the past year through her coverage of the mayor impeachment hearings and the trial of a local police officer who was convicted of sexual abuse. So, its no wonder her talents are sought by others. These are the kind of news stories that require attention to detail and the ability to condense hours of activity into a single story. Emilys upbeat attitude and enthusiasm for the community also came across in her coverage of community events, including local festivals, RAGBRAI and children's activities. To say Emily will be missed is an understatement. But with Emilys departure comes new opportunity and we are excited to introduce you to our new reporter, Sarah Ritter, whose first day will be Thursday. Sarah Ritter is a recent graduate of Augustana College. While in school, she worked as an intern and then as a producer/reporter at WVIK. Please join me in welcoming Sarah to Muscatine. Emily joins the ranks of some pretty great people that once called the Muscatine Journal home and she will carry us with her. Former employees often become ambassadors for Muscatine, telling people about our great little downtown, picturesque riverfront and welcoming spirit. Emily, we wish you the best of luck, and I will remain your cheerleader. Aaron Hernandez, the former New England Patriots star who was convicted of murder, was found hanged Wednesday morning in the Massachusetts prison where he was serving a life sentence, officials said. Les emplois a Rennes sont abondants et varies. Il y a quelque chose pour tout le monde. Que vous soyez a la recherche dun emploi [] Les blattes ou cafards (Blatta orientalis) sont des insectes qui appartiennent a la famille des Blattoptera. Ils se caracterisent par leur forme allongee, leurs ailes [] The family of Kenyan entertainers Madtraxx and DJ Stylez is mourning the death of their elder sister, Dr Njeri Muigai, who passed away on Monday, April 17 at her home in Nairobi. Dr. Njeri Muigai, who was eight months pregnant, died after an accident in her home. Her mother found her lying on the bathroom floor unconscious. She was rushed to a Nairobi hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival. Her unborn baby, too, did not survive. Kenya Medical Practitioners and Pharmacists and Dentist Union (KMPDU) Secretary General Dr. Ouma Oluga has mourned her untimely death on social media. No, Njeri Muigai, you cant die now. How can you go when we hadnt even begun working on our plans. Your untimely demise is just very sad news; unacceptable to our hearts. Rest with the angels beautiful. We remain broken, said Dr. Oluga. Njeri Muigai was in her late thirties and worked as a psychologist by specialization with Kiambu County by the time she met her death. Staff from the Board of Equalizations (BOE) Statewide Compliance & Outreach Program (SCOP) will soon visit non-residential retail businesses in the American Canyon area. The purpose of the program is to educate business operators about the BOE, its tax and fee programs, as well as identify gaps in compliance where businesses may be selling or leasing tangible personal property without a sellers permit, said a news release. The BOE has found that more than 98 percent of California businesses that receive SCOP visits are operating with the correct permits. However, noncompliance contributes to more than $2 billion in uncollected sales and use taxes. Kick up your heels on May 5 The American Canyon High School Alpha Wolf Club will host a night of fun, food and dancing as part of Cinco de Mayo on May 5. The event, dubbed Kick Up Your Heels for Education, will begin at 7 p.m and take place in the American Canyon Community Gym, 100 Benton Way. The event will include a silent auction with prizes that include wine experiences and excursions, plus graduation seating and parking. Proceeds from the event will go to the Alpha Wolf Club. Tickets are $25 per person, and can be purchased online at https://squareup.com/store/achs-alliance-alpha-wolf-club. The Hubs upcoming events April at The Hub, located at 350 Georgia St. in Vallejo, will feature a variety of activities, which are held at The Hub unless otherwise noted. Call The Hub at 707-561-6514 for more information or to register (advanced registration highly recommended) for the following: April 22, 29, 9-12 p.m. Hula Hoop Exercise Class. Join the community for a morning of hula hooping. Hoops available for purchase. Free admission. All ages and talents welcome. Learn to Hula Hoop. April 23, 12-5 p.m. Third of three clay sculpting class. This class will concentrate on mold making lessons as you will create a support or (mother) mold to lock the silicon rubber mold into position. You will then cast a reproduction in plaster. Fee: $20 (12 yrs to adults). Materials fee: $30 per project. Limited to 4. 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. You dont have to be a wine magnate to donate $2.1 million to the Land Trust of Napa County in memory of a loved one to preserve open space and farmland. Beverly Wendel isnt one. She is a retired social worker and after-school arts teacher, and her late husband Barry was a school psychologist and had a private therapist practice. They owned rental properties. Im just a truckers daughter, Im proud to say, Beverly Wendel said. Barry and I both had the same view in terms of saving and investing wisely. We were very lucky. They accumulated money and they had no children, Beverly Wendel said. After Barry Wendel died in 2014 after a long illness at age 72, she wanted to do something in his memory. They had moved a quarter century ago from Browns Valley to the small Falcon Ridge development on an oak-sprinkled hill east of Napa a big step, but they made it work. From her backyard, Beverly Wendel sees a sweeping view of a southern Napa Valley landscape that she calls a treasure. Ive lived in this valley a long time, and I really appreciate what we have here, she said. She and her husband had donated what she called small amounts to the Land Trust and various animal groups over the years. When looking to do something bigger in Barry Wendels memory, she thought of the Land Trust. Over its 41-year history, the Land Trust of Napa County has protected 65,000 acres of forests, chaparral and vineyards, both through conservation easements that leave the land in private hands and through ownership. The work we do is permanent, Land Trust CEO Doug Parker said. When someone wants to leave a lasting legacy, land that is protected permanently is very lasting. Beverly Wendel called up the Land Trust, met with Parker and began with a $50,000 donation. Over three years, the amount has grown to total $2.1 million. Doug was just great about providing information about what they were doing and what the plans were and looking at maps, Beverly Wendel said. Every time a CD came due, Id give (Parker) a call and drop by and give him a check. But people dont have to make large donations to preserve Napa Valley from development, she said. It starts with a dollar. Barry and I were fortunate that we were blessed and that we loved the valley and treasured it, she said. So anybody can make a contribution and know where its going and that its staying in the valley. You dont have to be a wealthy rancher or vintner or what-have. Other money can come in and do so much. Unlike some large Land Trust donations, the Wendel donations werent for a specific project. That means the Land Trust can use the donations to fill financial holes on a variety of projects. For example, Parker said the nonprofit group has used the Wendel donations to help protect watershed for St. Helenas Bell Canyon reservoir. Now the Land Trust is working on protecting watershed land for Milliken Reservoir and Lake Hennessey, both drinking water sources for the city of Napa. Beverlys generosity has helped us raise our sights, Parker said. Beverly and Barry Wendel didnt spend large amounts of time exploring the areas wild places and preserved open spaces. They did some hiking, but not a lot. He was working three jobs. We had rental properties. It was kind of 24/7 for us. When we finished our regular jobs, wed work on apartments and condos. We worked hard and saved a lot and were blessed, Beverly Wendel said. But they cared about the scenery that has helped make Napa County world-famous. Barry Wendel was born in Indiana and came to California to attend college. He did an internship at Napa State Hospital and later became a school psychologist for the Napa Valley Unified School District. Beverly Wendel was born in Sonoma County, but her family moved to Napa County when she was 3 months old. The amount shes donated to the Land Trust is $2.1 millionand counting. Beverly Wendel said shes selling a couple of properties. Shes not done giving yet to the Land Trust and other nonprofits in memory of her husband. If I can give everything away on my last day, Id be happy, she said. Two Russian TU-95 Bear bombers were spotted flying about 41 miles off the coast of Alaska on Tuesday, just hours after two US F-22 fighter jets intercepted the same type of Russian aircraft in the area. North Korea can now hit the continental united states with nukes It is difficult to fathom how deep the threat runs from North Korea. This article will summarize only one of the multitude of threats in an encapsulated form. The specific threat covered in this article is related to North Koreas (NK) nuclear and missile capabilities. ( Article by John Carney from thecommonsenseshow.com ) The Ability to Destroy Does Not Prevent Retaliation The United States certainly has the ability to reduce North Korea to a parking lot, and with Chinas assistance the task become infinitely easier. However, and this should have been anticipated, North Koreas destruction, does not eliminate their ability to retaliate after the fact. In fact, North Korea may be more dangerous after they are destroyed than while their military and government are fully operational. Does NK Have Nuclear ICBM Capability? Much has been written about the danger that would be posed if North Korea were able to attach nuclear weapons to an operational ICBM. It is very clear that North Korea has embarked in a new phase of their nuclear weapons technology. The photographic evidence from their recent Day of Sun celebration indicates that they plan to attach a nuclear weapon to an ICBM. This is a game-changing development and it brings the Western half of the United States under direct nuclear threat from the lunatic who runs North Korea. The Daily Mail has identified missiles was similar in appearance to the Chinese DF-41, which can fly 9,000 miles. The map, depicted above, shows how many miles it would take to hit Hawaii and Alaska. Double that capacity and that is now NKs strike range. Defense analyst, Ankit Panda, claimed on The Diplomat, that we have never seen a North Lorean missile that large before. REUTERS: This is a closer view of North Koreas new ICBM at its Day of the Sun military showcase. Some, that I have consulted with over these photos are concerned the it could be the case that the missiles length provides a definitive clue to its range capabilities. CNN has obtained live footage of the parade and the photographic evidence clearly shows the new generation of ballistic missiles. The footage can be observed here. Also on display, were more advanced submarine missles that North Korea has displayed before. One can bet that the Pentagon analysts are busy deciphering the new threats. The following statement is why CNN, despite its far-reaching news gathering sources, is not trusted by the general public. They cautioned their readers to not put too much stock into these new developments because NK has a checkered record of success when it comes to their missiles. Please allow me to remind CNN that it would only take one nuclear missle striking the United States to send the American economy into a tailspin. And the only reason that CNN told the truth about these discoveries is because they were upstaged by the Daily Mail and the Daily Star, and of coure, in typical CNN fashion, they minimized the threat where the other two reporting agencies expressed grave concern. Analysis This analysis does not include NKs submarine, EMP and domestic terror capabilities. That will be covered in a future publication. Based solely on NKs nuclear/ICBM capabilitiies, will NK engage the US in war? Various sources from a multitude of publications and backgrounds have stated that the missiles on display at NKs parade, have a range of between 600 and 9,000 miles depending on the type of missile. The UKs Daily Star is reporting that NK troops in chemical and biological. Here is a photo from Reuters in support of this claim. Based on these images, I would have to conclude that NK is ready for the next conflict. Additionally, there are further reasons for concern. From March 18, 2017, satellite images of North Korea shows a nation that is clearly readying for war. Final Note A day ago, I published a breaking news report that did not get a lot of attention. I claimed I was given off-the-record information that Jared Kushner was making the foreign policy decisions in the White House. My source is personal and his source reaches deep into the White House. The report was premised on the notion that Kushner is making foreign policy decisions based on the whim of George Soros. We know that Kushner and Soros have an intertwined business relationship. Soros, of course answers to the Bank of International Settlements. Taking North Korea and Syria down has much to with getting both countries into central banking. I believed the report immediately based on what I saw on the news on 4/13. When MOAB was dropped on Afghanistan, Trump did not take credit for the decision in his press release. The military appears to acting autonomously, and Trump indicated as much. This adds credibiliity to the story. IF one thinks I am making too much of this, consider CNNs release on this topic on April 14th. The United States on Thursday dropped the most powerful non-nuclear bomb in its military arsenal for the first time in history. But President Donald Trump declined to say whether he personally signed off on the use of the GBU-43/B MOAB, also known as the mother of all bombs, in a strike on ISIS militants in Afghanistan. , also known as the mother of all bombs, in a strike on ISIS militants in Afghanistan. Everybody knows exactly what happens. So, what I do is I authorize our military, Trump said when asked whether he authorized the strike. We have given them total authorization and thats what theyre doing. here. The story can be viewed I am firmly convinced that the military will appear to be acting autonomously from here on out. Who are they taking their orders from, if it is not President Trump? This is a development worthy of our attention. In the next article, we will explore the submarine, EMP and the NK domestic terror threat Spencer Platt/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, has called on authorities in Chechnya to investigate reports that dozens of gay men are being rounded up and tortured there. In a statement on Monday, Haley said the United States was disturbed by the reports that have emerged in the past month. If true, this violation of human rights cannot be ignored," she said in the statement. "Chechen authorities must immediately investigate these allegations, hold anyone involved accountable, and take steps to prevent future abuses. Former Vice President Joe Biden has called on the Trump administration to demand the detentions be stopped, saying in a statement he was "disgusted and appalled" by the reports. Reports that Chechen authorities are engaged in a purge of gay men -- kidnapping and imprisoning them secretly -- emerged late last month. The newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported that dozens of men had been arrested and at least three were killed, citing multiple sources in the Chechen security services and among the LGBT community. Since then testimonies from gay men fleeing Chechnya have begun appearing in the Russian and foreign media, describing how police abducted them and severely tortured them in underground jail cells. Some of the alleged victims described to Novaya Gazeta and the Guardian how their torturers demanded that they name their gay acquaintances. They said police also went through their phones to identify new victims, luring them to fake meetings. Victims have said many are being held in a prison located in the village of Argun. As soon as someone is brought onto the territory, the torture starts, one victim told Novaya Gazeta anonymously. Electric shocks, beating with plastic pipes. They told us we were dogs who dont have a right to live. The whole time you sit there are listen to the screams of people who are being tortured. Tanya Lokshina, the Russia director for Human Rights Watch, told ABC News that her own sources had confirmed the detentions to her. The Russian LGBT Network said it is running a hotline for those in danger in Chechnya, offering them aid in getting out of the region. Igor Kochetkov, an activist with the group, told ABC News that it has received dozens of calls since February confirming the detentions. The purge is apparently being carried out by police and security forces under the command of Chechnyas President Ramzan Kadyrov, the strongman leader appointed by the Kremlin to keep control of the troubled region. Kadyrovs security forces are regularly accused of brutal human rights violations. Attitudes toward homosexuality were already deeply hostile in Chechnya. But recently, Kadyrovs government has been promoting what it calls traditional values, with Kadyrov publicly threatening those he accuses as transgressors. A spokesman for Kadyrov denied the purge was taking place to Russian news agencies by arguing that homosexuals dont exist in Chechnya. Last week, Chechen religious leaders called a meeting of 15,000 people in the countrys main mosque which issued a statement promising vengeance against those reporting the persecutions. Novaya Gazeta has said it considers the call an open threat against its staff. The newspaper has grounds for its fears -- several of its journalists have been assassinated since 2000, with investigations tracing some of the killings back to Chechnya. Moreover, Novaya Gazeta has called on the Kremlin to investigate the detentions. Chechnyas prosecutors office on Monday said it was opening an investigation into the allegations. But critics have expressed doubts that Russian authorities will intervene given the Kremlin has passed its own law discriminating against homosexuals. The so-called gay propaganda law bans the promotion of homosexuality to minors, but is seen by rights groups as signaling that homophobia is tolerated in Russia. The Kremlins spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has said any alleged abuses should be investigated by law enforcement and told reporters last week it was opposed to any threats against journalists. Peskov said those suffering abuse should report it to law enforcement. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. According to a U.S. Coast Guard press release, Munro is the fourth NSC to be homeported on the West Coast in Alameda, California. It was commissioned in Seattle to honor the Coast Guards only Medal of Honor recipient, Signalman First Class Douglas A. Munro (19191942). He is buried in the veterans section of Laurel Hill Memorial Park in Cle Elum, Washington; Munro was a former South Cle Elum resident. On March 4, 2017, the U.S. Coast Guards seventh NSC Kimball was christened. The LM2500 gas turbines used for the NSCs were manufactured at GEs Evendale, Ohio, facility. Worldwide, more than 1,400 GE gas turbines log over 14 million hours serving 35 navies on 500 naval ships for 100 military ship programs ranging from patrol boats, destroyers and cruisers to corvettes, frigates, amphibious ships and aircraft carriers. According to TKMS, the HDW Class 209/1400mod submarine is the most recent version of the HDW Class 209 "family" in a line of 63 boats contracted with 14 customer navies. Like all its predecessors, HDW Class 209/1400mod is a compact and reliable submarine featuring most recent technology, high combat strength, extraordinary battery payload and low signatures. Its comprehensive mission profiles include not only maritime defence and conflict prevention, but also surveillance and intelligence gathering tasks. It is also ideally suited for Special Forces operation missions. Technical Data LOA ~ 62 m Pressure hull ~ 6.2 m Surface displ. ~ 1,450 t Height incl. sail ~ 12.5 m Weapon tubes 8 Crew 30 The requested page is currently unavailable on this server. Back to [RTHK News Homepage] India has reiterated the high priority it accords to Nepal during a series of meetings visiting Nepal President Bidhya Devi Bhandari held with Indian leaders, the External Affairs Ministry said on Wednesday. Bhandari, who arrived here on Monday on a five-day official visit in what is her first foreign tour since assuming office in October 2015, held talks with President Pranab Mukherjee, who hosted a banquet in her honour, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday. Vice President Hamid Ansari, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Finance and Defence Minister Arun Jaitley also called on the visiting dignitary. "Both the sides noted that India-Nepal relations derive their strength and salience from shared history, common cultural ethos, and long years of close and intense people-to-people contacts facilitated by open borders," the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement. "The Indian leadership reiterated the importance of its neighborhood first' policy, and the high priority India attaches to strengthening relations with Nepal in every sphere," it stated. "The Indian leadership expressed support to Nepal's endeavours to achieve socio-economic transformation for the well being of its people." It said that the Indian leadership reiterated its support to the the Nepal government in its efforts to take the Constitution implementation process forward through dialogue and carrying all sections of its society along. On her part, Bhandari reiterated Nepal's commitment to further strengthen the age-old, close and friendly ties with India in diverse sectors. She thanked India for its continued support for Nepal's socio-economic development, in particular, India's support in the reconstruction process after the devastating April 2015 earthquake that rocked the Himalayan nation. "Both the sides expressed satisfaction at the intensive bilateral exchanges in recent months at all levels between the two countries to deepen and strengthen ongoing cooperation in sectors such as trade, economic, investments, water resources, energy cooperation, security, post-earthquake reconstruction efforts, culture, education and people to people ties," the ministry statement said. "These exchanges reflect the wide canvass of bilateral cooperative agenda for shared prosperity and development of the two peoples." The two sides also positively assessed the implementation of on-going connectivity and development projects, and expressed satisfaction at the recent initiatives taken towards expediting implementation of various development projects, especially the cross-border connectivity projects such as the development of Terai roads, cross-border rail links, integrated check posts, and cross-border petroleum products pipeline. "Both the sides reviewed with satisfaction the expanding vistas of bilateral energy cooperation, including development of hydropower projects in Nepal, power trade and development of high-capacity cross-border transmission lines," the statement said. Bhandari, who is accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising Minister of Foreign Affairs Prakash Sharan Mahat, Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Sita Devi Yadav, Members of Parliament, and senior officials of the Nepal government, is also visiting Gujarat and Odisha during her India trip. --IANS ab/vt ( 486 Words) 2017-04-19-14:26:08 (IANS) "On specific intelligence inputs, the army launched an operation in Dand-e-Ghuri district of Baghlan province on Tuesday night. Three others were held," Xinhua news agency quoted a Defence Ministry statement as saying. A dozen helicopters and US aircraft participated in the raid, Khaama Press reported. Maulawi Helel alias Lal Mohammad was among the killed, the statement said. The security forces seized one AK-47 and two rounds of pistol during the operation. Baghlan as well as neighbouring Kunduz and Takhar provinces have been the scene of heavy clashes over the past couple of months as Taliban has been trying to challenge the government forces in the once relatively peaceful region. According to sources, the operation was carried out when the Taliban was preparing for a big attack to overrun Baghlan. --IANS py/vt ( 174 Words) 2017-04-19-15:52:10 (IANS) The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea seeking direction to the government to approach the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for securing release of alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav from Pakistan. A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Anu Malhotra refused to interfere with the government's steps being taken to secure the release of Jadhav, who has been sentenced to death by a special military court in the neighbouring country. The bench said: "This matter best deserves to be left to the expertise and assessment of the government. No intervention by us in the matter is called for." "At a time when the entire energies of the government are required to be devoted to addressing such a serious matter, the petitioner has sought to divert attention by filing this writ petition. We have no doubt at all that the government is best placed to take the decisions as also all appropriate steps to safeguard the life and liberty of the citizens of this country." The court's order came on a plea filed by social activist Rahul Sharma that an Indian citizen had been illegally detained and wrongly sentenced to capital punishment by a Pakistani military court without a fair trial. He demanded that the Indian government challenge the violations of international law by the Pakistan government in the ICJ. The court took into note the submission of Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain that government has reacted with "promptitude at the highest level" to secure Jadhav's release. Jain said that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has even apprised the Parliament of all efforts being undertaken by the government to ensure Jadhav's life and well-being and has assured, not only the Parliament but the entire nation of the "unstinted efforts" being made in this regard. Seeking dismissal of the plea, he also submitted that MPs, cutting across all party lines, are at one with the government on the issue and that the petition on such sensitive matters, which are purely in the domain of governmental function and policy, is unwarranted. The court also noted that due to the sensitive nature of the issue, it would be "inappropriate and impermissible to have a discussion thereon in an open court room, especially about the efforts of the government of India to secure justice for its citizens". It said that any revelation regarding the efforts being made by the government may prejudice their success or frustrate the steps in this regard. On Sharma's plea to design a protocol for similar situation in future, the court said: "The petitioner is presumptuous that there can be a straitjacket formula which can be applied in every instance of abduction or kidnapping of Indian citizens abroad." It noted that there can be wide divergence in the situations that may arise such as the kidnapping of Indian citizens by Somali pirates, where the government was successful in securing their release. Jadhav, sentenced to death on April 10, faced seven charges including espionage and waging war against Pakistan. Islamabad has rejected Indian requests for consular access to Jadhav. --IANS gt/vd ( 531 Words) 2017-04-19-19:04:08 (IANS) "Just landed in Hyderabad. Wrapped up Dubai schedule. We shot the intro song of hero and a romantic number with Hansika (Motwani)," Nandi tweeted. "Songs have shaped up very well. Some wonderful choreography by Raju Sundaram master and Dinesh master," he added. The makers in a statement had said that the film will portray Gopichand in his most stylish avatar ever. In the Dubai schedule, the team also shot a full-length sky dive episode. Also starring Catherine Tresa, the film is being bankrolled by J Bhagavan and J Pulla Rao. --IANS hp/nv/vm ( 129 Words) 2017-04-19-11:32:15 (IANS) Asserting that the government of India left no stone unturned in trying to arrest liquor baron Vijay Mallya, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday said it was committed from day one in the matter. "I think this is all in the media. But I will wait for the MEA to come out with the report, with the confirmation that he has indeed been arrested. The government of India was committed from day one that Mr. Mallya should be arrested. If he has been arrested in London then you must give credit to the government of India," BJP leader Zafar Islam told ANI. Echoing similar views, another BJP leader Sudesh Verma said the government has already clarified that it is not going to leave any stone unturned to get Mallya extradited and face prosecution in Indian courts. "Nobody who is involved in the case would be spared. We should wait and watch," he added. In a major development for the Indian Government, Mallya, who is facing money laundering charges, was arrested by the Scotland Yard in London yesterday. Mallya, who was finally caught after repeatedly refusing to appear before courts and investigators in India since he secretly fled to Britain last March, is set to be produced before the Westminster Magistrates' court soon. This comes after a Delhi court has issued an open-ended non-bailable warrant against Mallya in connection with the 1995 FERA violation case. Last month, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) informed that extradition of absconding liquor baron Vijay Mallya has been stratified by Secretary of State of the U.K. Government and soon a warrant would be released against him. "Somewhere in the month in the month of February, the home office of the U.K. Government conveyed that India's request for extradition of Mallya has been stratified by Secretary of State and sent to Westminster Magistrate court for a district judge consider issue of releasing of warrant," MEA official spokesperson Gopal Bagley told the media. In March, the Supreme Court fast-tracked the proceedings against Mallya and reserved its order on contempt proceedings against him for allegedly diverting $40 million to his children's accounts in foreign banks in violation of court orders. A bench of Justices A.K. Goel and U.U. Lalit reserved its order on whether or not Mallya was guilty of contempt and what action should be taken to bring back the money. The court concluded the proceedings after a three-and-a-half-hour hearing during which the Centre contended that Mallya was mocking the Indian system after fleeing the country. It said the government was holding talks with U.K. authorities to get him deported. The apex court had started proceedings against Mallya a year ago and had issued notice to him on March 8, 2016 on a plea by a consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) for recovery of about Rs. 9,000 crore which the businessman and his companies owed to them. The liquor baron, however, fled the country days before the apex court took up the case against him. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi urged the court to direct Mallya to bring back the $40 million which he had received from Diageo. He told the bench that Mallya had breached court orders and his refusal to bring back the money had aggravated the breach and he should be directed to appear personally before the court. (ANI) Summer is here and with this is sweat and rashes. Sweat leads to odour, which most of the time, is depressing and literally nightmarish! So if you are also struggling with the issue of body odour, here are some expert tips that might help you keep it at bay. - Shower twice a day: Taking bath twice a day, is a perfect solution for those who are likely to have excessive sweat. It not only cools you during the summer months but perfectly targets your body odor. - Let your body dry before dressing: Dr Rohit Batra, Dermatologist, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital and Dermaworld Skin and Hair Clinic New Delhi suggests that it is better to let your body dry before putting on clothes. Wipe your body comprehensively with the towel to dry your body properly as wetness attracts sweat easily. - Get rid of the unwanted hairs: Whether you wear full sleeved clothes or sleeveless tops and tees, you should get rid of the unwanted hair that may start giving foul smell due to sweating. The warm atmosphere is a perfect breeding ground for bacteria and hence, makes sure that you maintain proper hygiene. - Use Antibacterial Soap: Dr Vivek Mehta, Dermatologist, Pulastya's Cadle Skin Laser Clinic says, "Antibacterial soap helps to counter the bacteria of the body, which further helps to lessen the foul smell. Take advice from your dermatologist to select the soap as per your body type. Let them know in advance if you have any skin allergy or infection." - Essential Oils: Using essential oils like lavender, peppermint and pine are also the best to reduce the body odour. These oils not only give you a nice fragrance but lasts longer. - Using Lemon: Rubbing lemon on the parts that stink a lot can help you reduce the smell. You can also squeeze a lemon into the bucket and take bath with that water. It is a perfect solution to reduce smell from the feet. - Eat right food: "Oily/fried food, spicy food can also be a major reason behind extreme sweating which turns into bad body odor after a short while," says Dr Batra - Wear Right Shoes and Clothes: Don't wear clothes made up of nylon or synthetic stuff as it retains sweat. Wear loose, comfortable cotton clothes that help evaporate sweat. Change your feet regularly and frequently especially in summers, this will give a fresh feel to the feet. Also wear, cotton socks while wearing shoes. - Antiperspirant with deodorant: A deodorant covers the strong smell of sweating but one also needs an antiperspirant to control the extreme sweat during the day. Dr. Vivek Mehta says that a combination of antiperspirant and deodorant will keep your body odor far away. - Dose of Vinegar: As vinegar helps in balancing the pH level of the skin creating an antibacterial environment, it is one of the best methods to stop body odor. Since bacteria doesn't survive in the acidic atmosphere, you can splash some vinegar in the areas where sweating is maximum. This idea is really helpful in controlling the foul smell. (ANI) Chinese iron ore futures dropped nearly 2 percent on Wednesday, extending losses for a third day along with steel prices amid concerns supply was outpacing demand in the world's top steel producer and consumer.But the declines for steel and iron ore were smaller than in recent sessions even as both commodities touched multi-month lows. Coking coal dropped more than 4 percent after lagging earlier losses in steel and iron ore."It's still because of sufficient supply and relatively slow demand," said Richard Lu from CRU consultancy in Beijing, on the sustained drop in steel prices."Prices are converging to what's justified by supply-demand fundamentals. Market sentiment is very bearish."The most-traded iron ore on the Dalian Commodity Exchange was down 1.7 percent at 474 yuan ($69) a tonne by midday break. The contract fell as far as 467 yuan, near Tuesday's three-month low when it tumbled 6.5 percent.On the Shanghai Futures Exchange, the most-active rebar was down 1.1 percent at 2,838 yuan per tonne, off a 10-week low of 2,811 yuan reached earlier in the session. The construction steel product fell 3.7 percent on Tuesday.China's crude steel output reached a record 72 million tonnes in March as mills ramped up output in anticipation of a pickup in demand that has remained slow, government data released on Monday showed.Leaner steel demand has curbed appetite for iron ore with spot prices extending their descent.Iron ore for delivery to China's Qingdao port fell 4.6 percent to $63.20 a tonne on Tuesday, the lowest since October 2016, according to Metal Bulletin.The spot benchmark has lost nearly 20 percent this year after an 81-percent rally in 2016.Coal used in steelmaking fell more deeply on Wednesday after having lagged the declines in steel and iron ore futures. Dalian coking coal was down 4.5 percent 1,062 yuan a tonne and coke slid 5.3 percent to 1,545 yuan. ($1 = 6.8830 Chinese yuan)REUTERS SV 0939 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0103-859856.Xml The capacity of the export of electricity to Bangladesh will also be increased, official sources said. The power plants in Bengal have been generating nearly around 7,000 MW of electricity every day on an average and private power plants around 11,000 MW. During peak hours, the state needs nearly 9,000 MW a day. Bengal ranks second after Maharashtra in terms of production of electricity without the assistance of the Centre. Bengal is among the few Indian states to have surplus power which is a major achievement as it has been viewed by many. Production of power in the state has gone up in the last few years.UNI SJC KK -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0212-859951.Xml An Air India flight was grounded at the Indira Gandhi International Airport due to technical failure here today.The Air India flight AI 101 bound for New York from New Delhi was scheduled to depart from the Indira Gandhi International airport here at 0145 hrs. But before the passengers could board the plane, a technical problem was noticed and the flight was grounded.The aircraft was to fly with around 300 passengers on board.According to a spokesperson of Air India, the same aircraft will now fly to New York at 1700 hrs. The airline had made arrangements to accommodate all passengers in a nearby hotel. UNI RBE SV SB 1315 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0427-860079.Xml External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday held a meeting with visiting Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan here. "EAM @SushmaSwaraj meets with Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan in Delhi today," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay tweeted, posting pictures of the two leaders. On Tuesday, Sajjan met Defence Minister Arun Jaitley. Sajjan arrived in India on Monday on a week-long visit. He will also visit Punjab, where he was born. --IANS ab/vt ( 82 Words) 2017-04-19-13:50:09 (IANS) The Congress Party on Wednesday hailed Supreme Court's decision in Babri Masjid demolition case and said the final verdict on it should be taken swiftly so that people don't lose their faith in the apex court. "We welcome the Supreme Court's decision. Action should be taken against L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar and Uma Bharti.The decision on this matter should be taken swiftly so that people don't lose their faith in Supreme Court," Congress leader Naseem Khan told ANI. Echoing similar views, party leader Shakeel Ahmed also lauded the apex court's move saying that the decision has emphasized on the strong law and order prevalent system of the country "This is a very important decision before the Supreme Court. The court has taken the decision on the basis of evidences it has. We hope that the culprits may not get away and justice is done in this case. This decision of the Supreme Court has emphasized on the strong law and order system of the country," Ahmed told ANI. Earlier in the day, the top court allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) appeal challenging the withdrawal of conspiracy charges against senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders including L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti and also ruled that the leaders will face criminal conspiracy charges in the Babri Masjid demolition case. The apex court has directed the sessions judge in Lucknow to conduct the trial in the Babri demolition case on a daily basis, and that the judge will not be transferred. It also ruled out a fresh trial in the case. The top court has also ordered the CBI to ensure that witnesses are produced in court everyday so that there is no delay in the Babri demolition case trial. The trial will have to be completed in two years. However, the apex court has clarified that Kalyan Singh, being Governor of Rajasthan, will not be tried due to constitutional immunity unless he ceases to be in that post. In effect, his trial will begin after his term as Governor ends. Singh was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh when the demolition took place. Others who will face criminal conspiracy charges are Vinay Katiyar, Sadhvi Ritambara, Satish Pradhan, Champat Rai Bansal. The late Giriraj Kishore is also among the names in the original chargesheet. There were two sets of cases relating to the demolition of the disputed structure on December 6, 1992. The first involved unnamed 'karsevaks' or volunteers, the trial of which is taking place in a Lucknow court, while the second set of cases relate to the VVIPs in a Rae Bareli court. With today's order, both these cases are merged and will be heard in Lucknow. The order comes after the CBI had petitioned the apex court saying 14 people, including BJP leaders, who had been acquitted of the charges under criminal conspiracy, should be tried in the Lucknow Court. (ANI) The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today approved the policy guidelines to allow financially sound State Government entities to borrow directly from bilateral ODA (Official Development Assistance) partners for implementation of vital infrastructure projects. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), a State Government entity, has also been allowed to borrow directly from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan for implementation of Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) project. The estimated project cost for Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link (MTHL) is Rs 17,854 crore, out of which JICA loan portion is expected to be Rs 15,109 crore.The guidelines will facilitate the State Government entities to directly borrow from the external bilateral funding agencies subject to fulfilment of certain conditions and all repayments of loans and interests to the funding agencies will be directly remitted by the borrower concerned. The State Government concerned will furnish guarantee for the Loan. The Government of India will provide counter guarantee for the loan.More UNI ADP RSA SHK 1520 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0429-860290.Xml The Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave ex post facto approval to a bill for the creation of a national commission for socially and educationally backward classes in the country. On April 5, the government introduced separate bills in Parliament to set up the panel -- to be known as the National Commission for Backward Classes -- and to repeal the National Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993. The bill on setting up the panel was passed by the Lok Sabha on April 10, but the Rajya Sabha referred it to a Select Committee on April 11 after the opposition blocked its consideration in the upper house. An official statement said setting up of the commission will lead to the overall welfare of socially and educationally backward classes. "The proposed repeal of the act is necessary to facilitate setting up of the new commission through the insertion of Article 338-B in the Constitution," the statement said. "The decision will ensure continuity in the functioning of the National Commission for Backward Classes under Article 338-B," it said. The proposed move will also accord a constitutional status to the national commission. The present National Commission for Backward Classes was set up under the National Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993, to examine requests for inclusion of any class of citizens as a backward class in the list and hear complaints of over- or under-inclusion of any backward class in such list. --IANS ao/tsb/vt ( 253 Words) 2017-04-19-16:08:16 (IANS) The election process of 101 local bodies in 35 districts of Bihar was today set in motion with the issuance of notification to this effect by state election commission. Joint secretary of State Election Commission Mithilesh Kumar Sahu told UNI here that notification for election of 101 local bodies in Bihar had been issue. The process of filing nominations by willing candidates had also begun with the issuance of notification, he added. " Model Code of Conduct has come into force with immediate effect after issuance of notification for the election", Mr Sahu said adding that elections would be held in 101 local bodies across the state as per the notification issued to this effect. A separate notification for election of local body in Patna would be issued on April 29, he informed. UNI KKS AKM 1611 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0213-860413.Xml Expressing displeasure over the steps taken by the different state government agencies for revival of Bellandur lake in Bengaluru, the National Green Tribunal asked the Karnataka Government to clean the lake within a month. The National Green Tribunal also raised questions as to why action was not taken to block the entry of sewerage water despite repeated reminders from the State Pollution Control Board. It further directed the state government to set up a committee headed by the Urban Development Department (UDD) to monitor the rejuvenation of the Bellandur lake. The highly polluted Bellandur lake caught fire earlier on February 17 due to toxic effluents in it. Bellandur lake, the largest of the 262 lakes and tanks in Bengaluru, receives about 40 percent of the city's sewage. (ANI) The spiritual leader Dalai Lama, after his recent visit of Arunachal Pradesh, has presented India of whom he identified as the land of karuna and ahimsa, "with its long-standing respectful secular approach to all religious traditions" as a model for other nations to follow.In a letter he wrote to the Governor of Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, copy of which has been released to press from Raj Bhavan in Kohima, Dalai Lama wrote to Governor P B Acharya on April 17 last, the spiritual leader stated: "India is the only country with the potential to combine its ancient knowledge with modern education in the interest of developing inner peace. Material development contributes to our physical comfort, but lasting well-being also requires mental satisfaction, which depends on cultivating karuna in our hearts and ahimsa in our conduct. I believe this is something that can be of benefit to all seven billion human beings alive today."The contents of the Dalai Lama's letter said "For my part, I would also like to tell you how much I appreciated your friendship and the warm hospitality I received during my recent visit to Arunachal Pradesh. I was very moved by the enthusiasm that people from all walks of life showed in my efforts to promote human values like compassion. "The visit also stirred memories of my escape from Tibet in March 1959 and the vivid sense of freedom and relief I experienced on crossing the border into India," the Dalai Lama wrote. Further, he went on to state: "Today, in this country there is a growing interest in the ancient knowledge embodied in such traditions as those upheld at Nalanda University. Among them is an understanding of the workings of the mind and emotions that is crucial to building inner peace, something that remains very relevant at this time. This very morning, an Indian organization, Sahapedia, an open online resource for the arts, culture and heritage of India interviewed me at some length about this ancient Indian science of the mind. ""It was a pleasure to meet you at Thupsung Dhargyeling Monastic Institute in Dirang. I would like to thank you again for your warmth and kindness to me on that occasion."In a separate statement, Nagaland Governor P B Acharya, whose gubernatorial assignments also extends to the state of Arunachal Pradesh, has paid rich tribute to the Dalai Lama, in the backdrop of the latter's recent visit to Arunachal Pradesh. "Your visit to Arunachal Pradesh was an honour and a blessed occasion for the people of the state. On behalf of all the people of Arunachal Pradesh, I profusely express our gratitude to you. You have immensely touched our hearts and minds by taking all the pain to travel by road to be amongst the people, especially the old, the infirm and all who otherwise could not afford to seek your blessings in person elsewhere," read a statement from Acharya on Tuesday. "It is my firm belief that your visit has immensely benefitted us to hold the Dharma with firmer conviction. I am sure that the preaching that we have received has helped us in understanding Dharma and to follow the righteous way of living together with humane values, love, peace and compassion, the letter said. UNI AS AD1856 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0213-860801.Xml The troops of Assam Rifles, in a search operation in Phek town, apprehended one NSCN-K cadre along with arms, ammunition and extortion notes.In a statement the Inspector General of Assam Rifles (North) said the 9 Assam Rifles under the aegis of HQ IGAR (North) conduct a joint search operation at Hebron Colony, Phek town, the district headquarters, with 22 Assam Rifles alongwith police representative on April 16 last. During the search operation troops of Assam Rifles apprehended one NSCN (K) military wing cadre alongwith one 7.65mm Pistol with live rounds and Extortion slips. The cadre was identified as one SS Lieutenant, aged 38 years and a resident of Khuga Village under Phek District. The apprehended individual along with the recovered items was handed over to Phek Police Station for further investigation, it said. UNI AS AD1858 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0213-860803.Xml In a statement here, he said in a bid to alleviate the sufferingsof the 18 fishermen and to sustain their livelihood, the assistancewas announced from the Chief Minister's Public Relief Fund. At a function held at the State Secretariat, the Chief Minister handed over the cheques to the 18 fishermen families, totallingRs 90 lakh. The fishermen thanked the Chief Minister for the government's gesture.UNI GV CS 1935 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-860866.Xml Police today seized Pakistan currency and arrested three people in this connection from Kataiya police station area in Gopalganj district. Police said here that acting on a tip off, four criminals riding on two motorcycles were intercepted near Tetaria bridge. Three criminals were arrested while one other managed to escape from the spot. " Pakistan currency, two foreign made pistols and some incriminating articles were recovered from the possession of arrested criminals," police said adding that they were being interrogated in this connection.UNI XC KKS BM -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0214-861061.Xml Chairing a meeting of the office bearers of a committee of Batadrava monastery here, Mr Sonowal said the birth place of Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardeva, the 15th century social and religious reformer and preacher of vaishnavite cult, will be developed and placed at the national and international tourist circuit. He asked the committee to prepare a blueprint and get it approved by an architect of international repute. Referring to the Golden Temple of Amritsar, Mr Sonowal said the architectural beauty has made Golden Temple an attractive tourist destination. Similarly, a well thought-out design and architecture is the need of the hour to make Batadrava monastery a must visit tourist destination. The chief minister promised state government's funds for the same adding that funds would never be any dearth for developing Batadrava monastery as an important tourist destination. Mr Sonowal also directed the state's Cultural Affairs department and Nagaon district administration to initiate arrangements for celebrating the birth anniversary of Asam's first chief minister, Late Gopinath Bordoloi at Gopinath Bordoloi Memorial Museum at Raha. He said adequate steps will also be taken to modernise the museum. The chief minister asked the PWD (R) to broaden the road that leads to Batadrava and said the road would be converted to a state highway. UNI SG BM -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0214-861078.Xml Patna High Court today granted bail to incarcerated MP from Madhepura and Jan Adhikar Party(JAP) chief Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav in connection with creating disturbance in law and order under Gandhi Maidan police station area in Patna on January 24 this year. Justice R K Mishra granted bail to Mr Yadav after hearing arguments of his counsel and that of the prosecution. He was arrested and sent to jail for creating disturbance in law and order during his protest march under Gandhi Maidan police station area on January 24. Earlier, regular bail petition of Mr Yadav was rejected by the lower court in this connection.UNI XC KKS BM -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0214-861087.Xml Anil Kumar was unloading cash outside the Pariyava branch of the State Bank of India, when robbers, trying to rob the cash trunk, shot him six times from close range. The robbers had to however flee empty-handed as passersby and bank employees rushed to the spot after hearing the gunshots. The guard was rushed to a community health centre where he was pronounced dead. Police said they were trying to apprehend the criminals and the area has been sealed. No arrests however have been made so far. --IANS md/vd ( 129 Words) 2017-04-19-23:12:07 (IANS) Senior police superintendent Manu Maharaj said here that two people--Kaushlendra and Atul, were arrested near Kanti factory from Agamkuan police station area in Patna. Both were involved in irregularities committed in examination conducted by BSSC recently. "Incriminating documents and cell phones used in helping candidates for unfair means in examination were also recovered during the operation", Mr Maharaj said adding that they were being interrogated in this connection. As it is, the then Chairman of BSSC Sudhir Kumar and Secretary Parmeshwar Ram were among others arrested earlier for their involvement in job racket. SIT was constituted to probe the racket on the directive of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.UNI KKS BM -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0214-861162.Xml A special team of police from New Delhiarrived here tonight to question now sidelined AIADMK Amma leader TTV Dinakaran in connection with a bribery case to get back the Party's 'Two Leaves' symbol, frozen by the EC. The team headed by an Assistant commissioner of policeand an Inspector landed here tonight from Delhi. The team was expected to serve the summons to the oustedAIADMK Amma leader asking him to appear for questioningin connection with the case. Reports also said that the team might also question him onthe basis of the confession statement given by the middlemanSukash Chandrasekhar after his arrest two days back. The Delhi police said it had enough evidence to proceed against Dinakaran following the telephonic conversations hehad allegedly had with the middleman. Dinakaran had stoutly denied his involvement and pleadedignorance that he was not aware of the person arrested by theDelhi Police and that he has not seen him or spoken to him. Dinakaran had alleged that the bribery case was a conspiracyto destroy the party and that he would face it legally if summons were issued to him.UNI GV VS 2340 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-861180.Xml A Saudi Black Hawk helicopter crashed during military operations in Yemen today, killing 12 officers, Saudi news agency SPA reported.It quoted a military statement as saying the plane came down in Marib province, east of the capital Sanaa."As a result, four officers and eight non-commissioned officers from the Saudi armed forces were martyred," SPA said.It gave no details on the cause of the crash, saying it was under investigation.The death toll was one of the largest in a single incident involving Saudi forces since a coalition of Arab states began military operations against the armed Houthi movement in 2015 to try to restore Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power.A ballistic missile fired by the Houthis towards a coalition military base in Marib in 2015 killed more than 60 troops from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.The Saudi-led coalition has recently made some gains against the Houthis in western Yemen, but fighting on other fronts, including Marib, has been static, with little ground changing hands.The Houthis seized much of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, in a series of military operations that began in 2014, eventually forcing Hadi to flee.The Saudi-led coalition accuses Iran of trying to use the Houthis to expand its influence in Yemen, one of the poorest Arab countries. The Houthis regard their move on Sanaa as a revolution against corruption.REUTERS SHS SNU 2307 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-859736.Xml Two sources, briefing on the planning, said the Pentagon, amid heightened tensions over North Korea's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, was looking for ways short of war to pressure the country into denuclearisation, particularly if Pyongyang goes forward with a sixth nuclear test. Defence Secretary James Mattis has briefed the Congress on the option, but the military has not yet decided to intercept a test missile. One U.S. official said the prospective shoot-down strategy would be aimed at occurring after a nuclear test. Meanwhile, U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence has warned Pyongyang against testing Trump's "resolve" and declared an end to Obama's "strategic patience" policy. But North Korea's deputy Foreign Minister Han Song-Ryol said Pyongyang would continue to test missiles "on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis". All-out war would ensue if the US took military action, he said. Experts and former officials said shooting down a North Korean missile during a test would risk an escalation that Washington might not be able to control, which would risk potentially devastating consequences to U.S. allies South Korea and Japan. Senior Pentagon officials considering the shoot-down option are said to have conceded they were unsure how North Korea would respond. (ANI) friendly policy towards North Korea and asked the leadership to consider extending an olive branch to South Korea. "If we look at North Korea and South Korea, who is a friend of China and who is an enemy? Outwardly, China and North Korea are allies, while the United States and Japan support South Korea against North Korea. That's a legacy of the Cold War," The New York Times quoted Zhihua as saying. "But I believe that after decades of contention and shifts in the international landscape, there's long been a fundamental transformation. My basic conclusion is judging by the current situation, North Korea is China's latent enemy and South Korea could be China's friend," he added. The war historian noted that North Korea's repeated effort to conduct nuclear tests had invited the wrath of the United States which put China and South Korea's interests in peril. "The situation now is that each time North Korea stages a nuclear test, the United States increases its military forces in northeast Asia, sending in drones or an aircraft carrier or holding military exercises. And then the military pressure from the U.S. leads North Korea to stage another nuclear test," Zhihua said. "You stage a test, he adds troops and it keeps escalating. The outcome? The real pressure is felt by China and South Korea, and the ones who ultimately bear the brunt are China and South Korea," he added. Zhihua further said that China and North Korea interests were at odds since former focuses on achieving stability on its borders while the latter was focussing on manufacturing more nuclear weapons. "So, putting it objectively, the fundamental interests of China and North Korea are at odds. China's fundamental interest lies in achieving stability on its borders and developing outward. But since North Korea acquired nuclear weapons, that periphery has never been stable, so inevitably Chinese and North Korean interests are at odds," he said. The historian's comments may raise many eyebrows among the Chinese leadership as Beijing's bond with North Korea was formed even before Mao Zedong's decision in 1950 to send People's Liberation Army soldiers to fight alongside them in the Korean War. Mao famously said the two sides were "as close as lips and teeth." (ANI) US President Donald Trump has ordered an inter-agency review of whether the lifting of sanctions against Iran under a 2015 nuclear deal was in the United States' national security interests, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said. Tillerson said in a statement that Iran remained compliant with its commitments under the deal to rein in its nuclear programme but there were concerns about its role as a state sponsor of terrorism.He said he had notified US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, the top Republican in Congress, of the decision yesterday and of Iran's compliance under the deal, clinched under the Obama administration."President Donald J Trump has directed a National Security Council-led interagency review of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that will evaluate whether suspension of sanctions related to Iran pursuant to the JCPOA is vital to the national security interests of the United States," Tillerson said in the statement."It remains a leading state sponsor of terror, through many platforms and methods," Tillerson said.The 2015 deal between Iran and six major powers restricts Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic.Trump has called the agreement "the worst deal ever negotiated".REUTERS SV 0910 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0103-859838.Xml President Donald Trump ordered a review of the US visa program for bringing high-skilled foreign workers into the country, putting technology firms and the outsourcing companies that serve them on notice that possible changes may be ahead.Seeking to carry out a campaign pledge to put "America First," Trump signed an executive order on the H-1B visa program yesterday. It was vague on many fronts, but in a press briefing and a fact sheet the White House pointed toward basic goals.One objective, said Trump aides, is to modify or replace the current lottery for H-1B visas with a merit-based system that would restrict the visas to highly skilled workers. Indian nationals are the largest group of H-1B recipients annually.Such a change could affect companies, such as Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Cognizant Tech Solutions Corp and Infosys Ltd, that connect Silicon Valley with thousands of foreign engineers and programmers. None responded to requests for comment.Trump announced the order and made remarks at a visit to the headquarters of Snap-On Inc, a tool maker in Wisconsin.In addition to addressing the visas issue, he also ordered a government review of government procurement rules favoring American companies to see if they are actually benefiting, especially the US steel industry."With this action, we are sending a powerful signal to the world: We're going to defend our workers, protect our jobs and finally put America first," Trump said.As he nears the 100-day benchmark of his presidency, Trump still has no major legislative achievements. With his attempts to overhaul healthcare and tax law stalled in Congress, Trump has leaned heavily on executive orders to change policy.It was unclear whether the latest such order would yield immediate results. The H-1B visas section included no definite timeline, while the government procurement section did."We hope the goal of President Trump's executive order on the H-1B program is 'mend it, don't end it,'" said Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a major technology industry group.Going to a more merit-based H-1B system could attract more people with advanced science and technology skills, he said in a statement. But he said some ideas could make the system ineffective, such as requiring advertisement of job openings for long periods to prove the unavailability of US workers.Critics of the program say most H-1B visas are awarded for lower-paid jobs at outsourcing firms, many based in India. They say that takes work away from Americans and lowers wages."Right now, widespread abuse in our immigration system is allowing American workers of all backgrounds to be replaced by workers brought in from other countries," Trump said.Tech companies have been bracing for Trump to make changes to the H-1B program. The visas are intended to go to foreign nationals in occupations that generally require specialized knowledge, such as science, engineering or computer programming. The government uses a lottery to award 65,000 visas yearly and randomly distributes another 20,000 to graduate student workers.Critics say the lottery benefits outsourcing firms that flood the system with mass applications for visas for lower-paid information technology workers."Right now H-1B visas are awarded in a totally random lottery and that's wrong. Instead, they should be given to the most skilled and highest paid applicants and they should never, ever be used to replace Americans," Trump said.More than 15 per cent of Facebook Inc's US employees in 2016 used a temporary work visa, according to a Reuters analysis of US Labor Department filings. Facebook did not respond to requests for comment.REUTERS SDR 0415 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0431-859784.Xml Italy has called for the release of an Italian journalist who has been held in custody in Turkey for more than a week since he was detained while doing research for a book.Gabriele Del Grande was arrested on April 9 close to Turkey's border with Syria and transferred to a migrants centre in the city of Mugla.The Italian foreign ministry said it was working to ensure that Del Grande, who has not been charged with any crime, can receive legal assistance, a visit from the Italian consulate, and be allowed to communicate with his family."But obviously this is not enough, because the foreign ministry requests that Del Grande be released, in full respect of the law," it said in a statement late on Tuesday.There was no one immediately available for comment from Turkey's foreign ministry on Wednesday.Amnesty International has said it is concerned by Del Grande's situation and that Italy has not done enough to get him freed.REUTERS JW1537 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-860352.Xml China has issued standardised spellings of the names of six places in Arunachal Pradesh, in what its foreign ministry said today was an assertion of sovereignty.Despite efforts by China and India to improve ties over recent years, deep suspicions persist, especially over their border dispute. Beijing was upset when exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, whom it considers a dangerous separatist, visited the contested stretch of land on the India-China border this month.Last week, China's civil affairs ministry released a list of six places in the region with what Beijing considers to be their formal names, in Chinese, Tibetan and English.Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the move was appropriate and reflected the names used by Chinese ethnic groups, such as the Tibetans, over a long time."These names also reflect, and explain from one aspect, that China's territorial claims on Southern Tibet have an obvious historical, cultural and administrative jurisdiction basis," Lu told a daily news briefing.REUTERS JW RP -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-860456.Xml LUSAKA, April 18 (Xinhua) -- The Zambian government will complain to the Nigerian authorities following a statement from that country's former President Olusegun Obasanjo over the political situation in the country. Last week, the former Nigerian leader appealed to the Zambian government to adhere to the rule of law and human rights principles in dealing with opposition political parties following the arrest of the country's leading opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema who has been charged with treason. In a statement released by his media aide, Obasanjo said it was in the best interest of the country to maintain the rule of law and human rights principles which were a recipe for peace, stability and development not only in Zambia but the entire African continent. But Amos Chanda, the presidential spokesperson told journalists Tuesday that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been instructed to write a letter of complaint to the Nigerian government over the conduct of the former leader which is being seen as interference. He said the former Nigerian leader should not be dictating what was happening in Zambia as the arrest of the opposition leader has nothing to do with political persecution but borders on criminal conduct. The presidential spokesperson further urged diplomats accredited to Zambia to use the right channels to air their views on the current political situation in the country instead of rushing to the media. He further urged the diplomats to allow the due process of the law to take its course in the treason case involving the opposition leader. The United States and the European Union (EU) have issued statements expressed concern over the heightened political tension in the country. There have been reports that the arrest of Hichilema was politically motivated following his decision not to recognize President Edgar Lungu's victory in last year's presidential election. Hichilema, who narrowly lost to Lungu, has refused to recognize as winner, saying the vote was stolen. But the presidential spokesperson said Lungu has no hand in directing the police to arrest the opposition leader, saying the police were working independently. Lungu will also not interfere in the court process, he added. Hichilema was arrested last week after police raided his house in Lusaka, the country's capital. He appeared in court on Tuesday morning where for mention and explanation of the treason charge he has been slapped together with five others. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 07:29:55|Editor: Zhang Dongmiao Liu Jieyi (C, front), China's permanent representative to the UN, addresses a Security Council debate on the topic of maintenance of international peace and security, at the UN headquarters in New York, April 18, 2017. Liu Jieyi Tuesday called on the international community to make efforts for building a more favorable environment for conflict prevention. (Xinhua/Li Muzi) UNITED NATIONS, April 18 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy Tuesday called on the international community to make efforts for building a more favorable environment for conflict prevention. Liu Jieyi, China's permanent representative to the UN, made the remarks at a Security Council debate on the topic of maintenance of international peace and security. Liu said the goal for conflict prevention is to build well with universal security, and therefore all nations should establish the concept of common community of shared future and advocate global governance by engaging a wider consultation and making joint contributions. In this regard, he noted that the international community shall build a global partnership that is based on dialogue rather than confrontation and alliances. "It is necessary to coordinate and maintain security in conventional and non-conventional fields, advance sustainable security with sustainable development so as to eliminate causes of conflict," he added. In addition, Liu said disputes between countries need to be addressed appropriately through dialogue and consultations. "The goal for conflict prevention is to realize peace. Any non-peaceful means is undesirable," said Liu. "All countries need to abide by the principles and purposes of the UN Charter, follow the basic norms governing international relations, such as respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations, non-aggression and peaceful settlement of disputes," he said. Liu highlighted the importance of eliminating root causes of conflict through promoting sustainable development and enhancing mutual understanding as well as exchanges between civilizations. He also appealed to give full play to the roles of regional and sub-regional organizations to exercise their geographical and cultural advantages to make greater contributions to conflict prevention in the region. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 07:39:57|Editor: Zhang Dongmiao Video Player Close LOS ANGELES, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Three people were killed as a man went on a shooting spree in central Fresno, California on Tuesday and later surrendered to police, the Fresno Police Department said. The 39-year-old suspect, identified as Kori Ali Muhammad, was taken into custody. The shooting spree was a random act of violence and Muhammad shouted "Allahu Akbar" as police tackled him to the ground, Police Chief Jerry Dyer said. Muhammad has made posts against white people and expressed anti-government sentiments on Facebook and all of the victims were white men, said Dyer at a press conference. The Fresno spree killer apparently had an active online presence, including two digital rap albums and several social media accounts that posted racially charged threats against President Donald Trump, according to the Fresno Bee, a local media. Police confirmed that Muhammad is also suspected for the murder of a security guard outside Motel 6 in central Fresno on Thursday, but it was still too early to say if the shooting was an act of terrorism. The shooting spree began around 10:45 a.m. local time and 16 shots were fired at the four different locations in less than one minute. Two of the people shot outside Catholic Charities may have been clients of the social service agency and the third victim was a passenger in a Pacific Gas & Electric truck. A fourth man was shot at but not injured, the Fresno Bee reported. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 09:11:36|Editor: Zhang Dongmiao Video Player Close SYDNEY, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Australian scientists are optimistic that a bank of blood donations will help them develop a vaccine for Type 1 diabetes. The team from the St Vincent's Institute of Medical Research became the first researchers in the world to observe immune cells destroy insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. They discovered that the immune cells targeted the C-peptide molecule and are now developing a blood test to measure the immune response to the molecule, which they believe causes type 1 diabetes. Stuart Mannering, an immunologist at St Vincent's, said the team was hopeful of developing a therapy that would teach the immune system not to attack the cells. "That's our long term goal," Mannering told News Limited on Wednesday. "The next step towards this is to measure that immune response in blood samples so we can try to detect it before people develop symptoms of Type 1 diabetes." "What we would really like is a blood test that we can do after a much shorter period of time so that we can see if the immune response is going in the direction we want it." The test will be developed using samples from a biobank, a list of people willing to give blood samples for the sake of medical research. "The living biobank is really essential because it allows us to do this study using human blood from people with and without diabetes and that's a really critical stepping stone... to more human-based studies so we can develop something that will be useful in the clinic," Mannering said. The team received the Diabetes Australia 2017 Millennium Award on Wednesday which comes with a grant worth 100,000 U.S. dollars. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 09:21:38|Editor: Zhang Dongmiao Video Player Close CANBERRA, April 19 (Xinhua) -- An Australian-led research has found that major increases in environmental moisture occurred just before mass extinctions of megafaunal species around 11,000-15,000 years ago. According to the University of Adelaide's Australian Center for Ancient DNA (ACAD), persistent moisture - which was caused by melting permafrost at the end of the last ice age - contributed to grasslands becoming boggy peatlands. Using more than 500 radiocarbon dated bones from animals such as bison, horses and llamas, the team was able to uncover the role the environment moisture played in the extinction of megafaunal animals. ACAD's Director Alan Cooper said that analysis of the fossils showed that extinctions occurred "just before" a number of species went extinct, suggesting some species were unable to adjust to the changed environmental conditions. "We didn't expect to find such clear signals of moisture increases occurring so widely across all of Europe, Siberia and the Americas. The timing varied between regions, but matches the collapse of glaciers and permafrost and occurs just before most species go extinct," Cooper said Wednesday. Co-researcher Matthew Wooller of the University of Alaska Fairbanks said that while climate occurred on different continents at different times, "they all showed that moisture increased massively just prior to extinction." "The really elegant feature of this study is that it produces direct evidence from the fossils themselves these extinct creatures are informing us about the climate they experienced leading up to their own extinctions," he said. Meanwhile lead author Tim Rabanus-Wallace from the University of Adelaide said that with the changed conditions, the food sources for a number of species were wiped out, meaning they did not stand a chance of surviving the environmental shift. "Grassland megafauna were critical to the food chains. They acted like giant pumps that shifted nutrients around the landscape," Rabanus-Wallace said. "When the moisture influx pushed forests and tundras to replace the grasslands, the ecosystem collapsed and took many of the megafauna with it." YANGON, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar people's domestic investment reached 13.191 trillion kyats (9.69 billion U.S. dollars) as of March, according to statistics of Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA) released on Wednesday. The local people's investment in 1,241 enterprises cover 11 sectors, of which real estate development sector accounted for 2.767 trillion kyats, followed by manufacturing (2.438 trillion kyats), transport (2.302 trillion kyats) and hotels and tourism (1.415 trillion kyats). Other sectors, into which local investments were injected, include construction, industrial estate, power, mining, livestock and fishery and agriculture. Local private investment during the first one-year tenure of the incumbent government, led by the National League for Democracy (NLD), has reached over 1.567 trillion kyats. Meanwhile, the real estate market in Yangon seemed not encouraging with most of the developers and owners of the apartments having to depend on rental market rather than sale, said real estate business operators. The condominiums in the commercial city have lesser foreign investors. According to official figures, foreign investment in Myanmar's real estate sector amounted to a total of 3.754 billion U.S. dollars as of March since late 1988, ranking the fifth in the country's foreign investment line-up with 5.34 percent of the total's 70.35 billion U.S. dollars. (1 U.S. dollar = 1,354 kyats) SYDNEY, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The number of skilled foreign workers being allowed into Victoria has dropped dramatically. Figures released by the government on Wednesday revealed that the number of foreign workers employed in Victoria has fallen 20 percent in the past four years. The drop represents 20,000 fewer visas being issued for foreign workers since Bill Shorten, leader of the opposition Labor Party, was ousted as the country's minister for employment. The total number of work visas issued was 96,000 in 2016 compared to a high of 126,300 when the Labor Party was in government. The publication of the data on Wednesday came in the wake of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announcing that the 457 visa program for skilled migrant workers would be abolished. Turnbull said Shorten had "raised the bar and set the records" for visa distribution during his time as employment minister. "Labor handed out visas to foreign workers like lollies at a children's party," Turnbull told News Limited on Wednesday. "You can't claim to be for Australian jobs when you are bringing in so many overseas workers to flip burgers and work as laborers on building sites." Turnbull also promised on Wednesday that he would be making changes to Australia's citizenship process. "This is important for temporary visas, vital for permanent residency and citizenship," he told Sky News Australia. "Citizenship must be valued and we're making changes so that the practices and principles of those obtaining citizenship are consistent with our cultural values." Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said measures would be implemented to ensure that people would abide by Australian laws before being made citizens. He rejected the notion that the eradication of the 457 program was in response to the policies of far-right wing politician Pauline Hanson or U.S. President Donald Trump. "We have been looking at this space for a long period of time... I have pointed out the deficiencies within Labor's management of the 457 program and we have acted," Dutton said. Workers who are are already in Australia on 457 visas will be allowed to stay but new visas will not be issued. Dutton said Australian companies would still be able to fill "genuine" gaps in the work force with skilled laborers from overseas. "I don't want the default position to become bringing somebody in from overseas into an Australian job," he said. He confirmed that in some cases businesses would be charged a higher fee to bring in foreign workers with the money used to train more local workers. Innes Willox, chief executive of the Australian Industry Group and chair of the ministerial advisory committee on skilled migration, said he expected details on how companies would be charged to be announced soon. "What we believe will occur is that there'll be an increased fee and a more streamlined fee for skilled migrants that will be paid for by their employers when they come into Australia," Willox told Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) radio. "That money needs to be used wisely to train Australians, particularly young Australians in jobs that are in need and the jobs of the future." Turnbull said his government was considering introducing a new provisional visa for foreign workers hoping to become permanent residents. The new visa would provide holders with limited access to social security before becoming full citizens. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 11:17:02|Editor: Zhang Dongmiao Video Player Close SANAA, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Two U.S. drone airstrikes have killed at least seven suspected al-Qaida operatives in Yemen's northeastern province of Marib, a security official said Wednesday. "Two al-Qaida leaders, Saleh al-Awlaki and Saeed Ba-Kadir, were targeted and killed along with five others in two separated U.S. drone strikes in late night of Tuesday," the official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The strikes were on two cars in different locations. The first car was hit on a road in Atran area, east of Marib's central city, while the other was hit at the same time at a junction linking the areas of Al-Shabwan and Hoson Al-Jalal, also in eastern Marib, said the official. Marib has long been a hub of al-Qaida activities. The attacks were the latest in a series of airstrikes carried out by U.S. drones against al-Qaida suspects in Yemen. On April 5, a U.S. drone killed two militants of the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch, including Khattab Wuhayshi, the nephew of Nasir al-Wuhayshi, the slain founder of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), according to a security official. Yemen, an impoverished Arab country, has been gripped by one of the most active regional al-Qaida insurgents in the Middle East. The Yemen-based AQAP, also known locally as Ansar al-Sharia, has claimed responsibility for a number of terrorist attacks against Yemen's army and government institutions. So far, the AQAP and other terrorists have taken advantage of the security vacuum and ongoing civil war to expand their influence and seize more territories in the south of the country. Security in Yemen has deteriorated since March 2015, when a war broke out between the Shiite Houthi group supported by former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and the government forces backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition. MOSCOW, April 19 (Xinhua)-- Two Russian Tu-95MS strategic bombers have been accompanied by U.S. F-22 fighter jets on a patrol mission over the neutral waters near Alaska, the Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday. "On April 17, 2017, two Russian Tu-95MS strategic bombers successfully performed the regular aerial patrol mission as scheduled. The flying route was above the neutral waters of the Pacific Ocean, along the Aleutian Islands," the ministry was quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency as saying. The flight lasted more than seven hours and the bombers were accompanied by U.S. F-22 fighter jets for 27 minutes, the statement said. Russia's Long-Range Aviation regularly carries out patrol missions above the neutral waters of the Arctic, the Atlantic, the Black Sea and the Pacific Ocean. All such missions are conducted in strict compliance with international regulations and with respect to national borders, the ministry said. U.S. media reported earlier that two F-22 fifth-generation fighter jets on Tuesday intercepted two Russian bombers near the coast of Alaska. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 13:02:33|Editor: Zhang Dongmiao Video Player Close MOSCOW, April 19 (Xinhua) -- A cargo ship with 12 crew members aboard sank in Black Sea on Wednesday and rescue operation has been underway, the Russian emergencies ministry said. WELLINGTON, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The solid growth in New Zealand's services sector accelerated slightly last month, according to the latest performance of services index (PSI) out Wednesday. The BNZ-Business New Zealand PSI for March was 59, on a scale where above 50 indicates expansion and below 50 contraction. It was 0.3 points higher than February, and the second highest level of expansion over the last 18 months. Business New Zealand chief executive Kirk Hope said the strong result shown for the new orders/business sub-index contributed to the higher March figure. "New orders/business (66.4) were at its highest level since June 2007, which should feed through to activity/sales in the months ahead," Hope said. Combined with 65.6 percent of respondents providing positive comments, the sector was currently in "a solid and positive place." BNZ senior economist Doug Steel said in the statement the PSI had been "a bit like a stuck record, set on high volume." "In fact, the volume dial is even getting tweaked up a bit more," Steel said. The GDP-weighted performance of composite index, which combines the PSI and the performance of manufacturing index, rose by 0.8 points to 59 in March, due to the combined lift in activity across both the manufacturing and services sectors. PUL-E-KHUMRI, Afghanistan, April 19 (Xinhua) -- A Taliban shadow governor was killed together with six other militants after Afghan air force struck a militant hideout in the northern province of Baghlan overnight, provincial governor said Wednesday. "Based on a tip-off, the army's warplanes carried a series of raids in Dand-e-Ghuri District late Tuesday night. As a result, Maulawi Helel, Taliban shadow governor for Baghlan, was killed along with six of his comrades," Governor Abdul Hai Nahimi told Xinhua. The security forces have conducted a follow-up operation in the area and further details will be released later, the official added. Kunduz province, as well as neighboring Baghlan and Takhar provinces, has been the scene of heavy clashes over the past couple of months as Taliban has been trying to challenge the government forces in the once relatively peaceful region. The Afghan security forces have beefed up security operations against militants recently as spring and summer, known as fighting season, are drawing near in the Central Asian country. The Taliban has reportedly confirmed the loss of its local leader Helel in the province 160 km north of Kabul, according to local media reports. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 13:22:39|Editor: Zhang Dongmiao Video Player Close WASHINGTON, April 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday that Iran was complying with a 2015 nuclear deal. In a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan, Tillerson certified that Iran was compliant through April 18 with its commitments under the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. It was the first certification of Iran's compliance issued by the Trump administration. Like his predecessor John Kerry, Tillerson is required to send the certification every 90 days. However, calling Iran "a leading state sponsor of terror," Tillerson informed Congress that the Trump administration had directed a full review of the 2015 nuclear deal to evaluate whether continued sanctions relief was in the U.S. national security interests. During his campaign, Trump repeatedly criticized the Iran nuclear deal, calling it "the worst deal ever negotiated." Iran and six world powers -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States -- reached an agreement on the Iranian nuclear issue in July 2015 that put it on the path of sanctions relief but with more strict limits on nuclear program. The deal set limits on Iran's nuclear activities as it would take Tehran at least one year to produce enough fissile material for producing a nuclear weapon, and allowed regular inspections of the facilities inside Iran. In return, the United States and the European Union will suspend nuclear-related sanctions against Iran, with the lifting of all past UN Security Council sanction resolutions. HANOI, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam is one of the nations with the highest level of cyber insecurity, according to the country's Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam. Vietnam leads the world in terms of malware infection rate via multimedia devices and ranks 10th via online platforms, local online newspaper Vietnam Economic Times quoted Dam as saying Wednesday. Regarding the number of spam mails, Vietnam has been in the world's top-three countries in recent years, after the United States and China. However, Vietnam tops the list when it comes to the per capita ratio due to its relatively smaller population size. In 2015, there was a total of 8.19 billion cyber attacks by harmful software, causing a loss of some 500 billion U.S. dollars, Dam said. Viewing cyber attack as a detrimental threat to the country's economy and security, the Vietnamese deputy prime minister proposed that the legal framework should be further developed alongside with improving people's awareness of the issue. COLOMBO, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from a landslide of a garbage dump in Sri Lanka rose to 32 on Wednesday with eight others still missing. The Disaster Management Center said the search and rescue operations at the site of the Meethotamulla garbage dumping site were still continuing. Several houses were buried after the massive garbage mountain collapsed on Friday. A fire had also broken out at the site and the Air Force was deployed to douse the flame. Residents of the area have been protesting over the past months, urging the authorities to move the garbage to another location. The government said there would be no more dumping of garbage at Meethotamulla following the tragedy. Deputy Foreign Minister Harsha de Silva said over the weekend that a problem running for decades, perhaps as long as 20 years, came to a head with the collapse of a part of the garbage mountain. He said it was unfortunate that even though payments had been made for those families under risk of landslides to move out, some had not done so. President Maithripala Sirisena has instructed officials to provide maximum relief to the people who were affected by the disaster. Afghan First Lady Rula Ghani (C) attends an event on "National Action Plan to Eliminate Early and Child Marriage" in Kabul, Afghanistan, on April 18, 2017. (Xinhua/Dai He) KABUL, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Afghan First Lady Rula Ghani on Tuesday called for protecting Afghan girls against child marriage, noting that forced marriage affects physical health of young girls and robs them of their childhood and future. "Child marriage is a depressing phenomenon for the young generation of Afghanistan and it is a national responsibility to stop the menace," she told audience in an event held in Afghan Media and Information Center. The event marked the launch of "National Action Plan to Eliminate Early and Child Marriage" by Afghan ministries of Women's Affairs and Information and Culture, and supported by the Embassy of Canada in Afghanistan and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). "I urge all Afghan families to avoid child marriage and forced marriage. Your girls face a huge risk when they get married at young age. Early marriage robs them of their childhood and future opportunities." she added. She noted that getting married in an appropriate age reduces girls' risk for physical, sexual, psychological as well as economic abuse. "A girl, who is below 18 is capable of rapidly gaining wisdom and knowledge from the people around her," said Bannet Ndyanabangi, UNFPA country representative at the event. "She can be, one day, an inspiring leader, a productive worker, an innovator, a caring parent or take any other role that empowers a society. She can shape that future of her society. But all of this depend on how we support her today," said Ndyanabangi. The plan of action adopts two approaches, it outlines initiatives designed to prevent and end early and child marriage and it strives to improve the implementation of laws and services which aim to support people at risk of early and child marriage, according to a statement issued by UNFPA. Girls aged 15 to 19 who experience pregnancy and childbirth are twice as likely to die of related complications as women aged 20 to 24 years, according to UNICEF. PARIS, April 19 (Xinhua) -- An estimated high abstention rate in Sunday's French presidential election is likely to bring new uncertainties, Guillaume Indigo, an analyst at BVA pollster, told Xinhua on Tuesday. This year's presidential contest "will be certainly marked by a quite low turnout after a quite strange campaign," said Indigo. A string of surprises overshadowed the campaign. The twists started with outgoing President Francois Hollande's decision not to seek a second term, followed by unexpected victory of outsiders in both right and left primaries and fraud scandals that have tainted the bid of far-right leader Marine Le Pen and of conservative contender Francois Fillon. "Normally, when election comes near, voters are more interested. But this year, it is not the case. Fewer people are expected to vote on Sunday compared to the first round in 2007 or 2012 elections," said Indigo. Five years ago, the turnout was 79.5 percent in the first round. For 2017, the rate is expected to be between 72 percent and 77 percent, the analyst estimated. "That is an important fact which may determine the election's result," Indigo said. In 2002, a record abstention rate of 28.4 percent in the first round propelled the far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen, Marine Le Pen's father, to the second round. The result of this year's presidential contest is even harder to predict, said Indigo. "No one is able to say who will be the winner as many things could happen at last minutes." As competition tightens, centrist front-runner Emmanuel Macron is seen to lead the first round with 23 percent of voting intentions, one percentage point ahead of his challenger Marine Le Pen. Both candidates were down by one percentage point from a previous survey, BVA poll released last Friday showed. Fillon, who lost his top spot in the wake of a fake job scandal, was in the third place neck-to-neck with hard-left Jean-Luc Melenchon, with 20 percent for each. They both improved their scores by one percentage point, according to the pollster. Indigo attributed voter apathy to "an electoral offer which had been shaken by some candidates' fraud affairs which had little mobilized them." In the mean time, "new actor" such as independent contender Macron, who has never held an elected post and whose policy is still untested, has added uncertainty.@ Macron was expected to win the run-off over whoever should be his opponent. However, a low turnout could throw a spanner into his way to the Elysee Palace. "Macron is chosen by default. He had appeased voters from the Socialist Party and the far-left camp who will vote for him to block Le Pen and are not necessarily supporting his project. And useful vote is uncontrollable as voters could change their decision," Indigo told Xinhua. However, a weak turnout could favor Fillon, as his supporters, majority of them being old people and retired voters, "are the most mobilized," and the most sure of their choice. Eleven candidates are competing for the five-year French presidency. If no contender wins a majority of votes in the first round on Sunday, the top-scoring candidates will meet two weeks later for a run-off. PREY VENG, Cambodia, April 19 (Xinhua) -- A China-funded power transmission system was inaugurated here on Wednesday after three years' construction, officials said. Cambodian Minister of Mines and Energy Suy Sem and Chinese Ambassador Xiong Bo jointly launched the 160-km project. According to a report by Keo Rattanak, director-general of Cambodia's state-owned Electricite du Cambodge, the project included two substations and a 115-kilovolt line stretching from southern Kandal province to southeastern Prey Veng and Svay Rieng provinces. "The line is capable of transmitting 150 megawatts (MW) electric power in its first phase, and its capacity will be doubled in the future," he said. He added that the project was built by the China National Heavy Machinery Corporation at the cost of 75 million U.S. dollars which was a concessional loan from the Chinese government. "This project is crucial to ensuring the supply of electric power with reliability, quality, stability and sustainability in these provinces," he said. "Hundreds of thousands of people in the three provinces will get benefit from it." Suy Sem said the Southeast Asian country currently has 115-kilovolt and 230-kilovolt transmission lines in a total length of 1,525 km. He added that the electric power supply available in 2016 was 2,008 MWs, including 1,592 MWs taken from hydropower plants, coal-fired power plants, oil-fueled power plants, and solar power plants, and 416 MWs imported from Vietnam, Thailand and Laos. "The development of electric power sources and national grid is a key element for boosting economic development and reducing poverty," he said. "The inauguration of the 115-kilovolt power transmission line today is another testament to the fruitful cooperation between Cambodia and China," the minister said. Most of electric power sources and transmission lines in Cambodia have been developed by Chinese firms. Ambassador Xiong said China is pleased to see the Chinese enterprises actively engaging in the development of electric power sources and national grid in Cambodia. "We believe that these achievements will greatly contribute to economic growth and living conditions for the Cambodian people," he said. Meanwhile, Xiong said that under the "Belt and Road" initiative, China will continue to support Cambodia in all fields, especially in the development of connectivity infrastructure. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 14:12:54|Editor: MJ Video Player Close KIEV, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Newly sown fields, well-kept houses and modern farms -- the rural area surrounding Koryukovka settlement shines like a pearl among the string of abandoned villages in a remote corner of Ukraine's northern Chernigov region. After experiencing labour force outflow for decades, Koryukovka gained new life in 2013, when it attracted the interest of investors from Central China's Henan province. The Chinese state-owned Huangfanqu Farm entered into a joint venture called Fanda with a Ukrainian partner and has already invested more than 10 million U.S. dollars in the development of farming in Koryukovka district, changing the lives of locals. REANIMATION OF LIVESTOCK FARM "Since the Chinese company started to finance us, we have significantly increased the number of livestock and boosted the productivity of our cattle," Olga Ruchko, a technician at the Koryukovka livestock farm, told Xinhua. Standing proudly in front of the modern farm, Ruchko was not trying to hide her pleasure with the Chinese investors. In 2013, the farm in Koryukovka faced a threat of closure because the previous owners failed to provide enough funds even for buying protein-rich feeds for cows to help the animals produce enough milk and gain weight. "Previously, we could not afford good feeds and our livestock has not got enough nutrition. But now, with Chinese financing, we buy everything we need -- oil cakes and concentrated feeding stuff for cows and mixed cattle feed for calves," Ruchko said. Due to better feeding and improved animal welfare after the renovation of the farm, the daily milk output per cow has increased from 10 to 22 liters. Chinese investment has helped double the livestock at the farm to 2,000 cows and calves and provided jobs to about 100 residents of Koryukovka. The farmers sell about 9 tons of fresh milk to local cheese producing plants per day. They also provide free milk to a local kindergarten. "Currently, we supply milk as a raw material, but the company plans to build its own processing plant to produce finished products," Viktor Yushchenko, chairman of Gorky enterprise, which runs the Koryukovka farm, told Xinhua. DECENT LIFE FOR VILLAGERS The farm at Koryukovka, nearly 300 km north of the Ukrainian capital, is one of the two agricultural enterprises managed by Fanda. The other is located in Naumovka, a suburb of Koryukovka, just 15 minutes' drive away. Once a flourishing village during the Soviet times, Naumovka lost most of its younger generation, who left in search of better life in the city. Now, young people stopped moving out from Naumovka as the village offers them new employment opportunities. Chinese investment revived about 3,000 hectares of arable farmland in Naumovka, providing jobs to more than 130 villagers. In 2013, Volodymyr Metla, a 40-year-old resident of Naumovka, was considering moving to Kiev to take a job as a construction worker so that he could support his family. Metla's life has changed since Chinese investors came to his village and gave him a job as a tractor driver, while employing his wife as a junior accountant. "I have been working for the Chinese company for about four years and I like my job. Chinese managers pay the wages timely, they have good agriculture equipment and they are good people. We made friends with some of them," Metla told Xinhua. Farmers from nearby villages also came to work in Naumovka. "I am from Kholmy, it is 30 km away from here. I used to work for a local enterprise, but it had collapsed. Here I work as a driver of a combine harvester, a sowing machine and a truck," Sergey Onopchenko told Xinhua. WIN-WIN COOPERATION Apart from managing livestock farm in Koryukovka and fields of corn, oats and lupine in Naumovka, Fanda rents a forest of 2,700 hectares, where it plans to raise wild animals, such as deer and hunting birds. Zhang Zhenhua, the director of Fanda, said that the agricultural cooperation between Chinese and Ukrainian enterprises is a win-win for both sides due to the complementary advantages of the two economies. China has experience and knowledge of modern farming technologies, its investors have financial resources, while Ukraine has fertile land and good farming infrastructure. "Before coming to Ukraine, we have visited many countries in Africa and Southeast Asia. Then we found out that agriculture is very well developed in Ukraine and decided to invest in this country," Zhang told Xinhua. The intention of the Ukrainian authorities to join the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative has reassured the Chinese farmers of prospects in Ukraine. Speaking of his dream, Zhang said it is simple: to further develop his enterprise to bring benefits for his employees and local people. To bring his dream to life, Zhang is seeking fresh investment for reconstructing a pig breeding complex, building a greenhouse for vegetables and fruits, and constructing a milk processing plant. "Throughout the world, agriculture works on the same principles: the cultivation of land and breeding of cattle does not make a big profit. To get more income, you need to process the products," Zhang said. Fanda is expected to invest more than 50 million U.S. dollars in total. The projected capital injection will allow the company to create up to 1,500 new jobs in the Koryukovka district. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 14:12:54|Editor: MJ Video Player Close BEIJING, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) giant Baidu decided Wednesday to share an open, complete and reliable software platform with its partners in the automotive and autonomous driving industry to help upgrade the sector. Through the Apollo project, Baidu will build a collaborative ecosystem using its strength in AI technology to work with other companies to promote the development and popularization of autonomous driving technology. The Apollo project provides platforms for vehicles, hardware, software and cloud data services and Baidu will share resources and capabilities in obstacle perception, trajectory planning, vehicle control, operating systems and other functions, as well as a complete set of testing tools. Baidu will first introduce its autonomous driving technology in restricted environments in July, then expand to cars running autonomously on simple urban road conditions toward the end of the year. It will gradually introduce fully autonomous driving capabilities on highways and open city roads by 2020. The company will work with partners with the best and most compatible vehicles, sensors, and other components and offer references and recommendations to participants. "AI has great potential to drive social development, and one of AI's biggest opportunities is intelligent vehicles," said Lu Qi, Group President and Chief Operating Officer at Baidu. Baidu has been investing in R&D for autonomous driving technology since 2015. It conducted successful road tests for its fully autonomous cars on the highways and roads of Beijing in late 2015 and finished open trial operations of its autonomous car fleet in late 2016 at the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province, where over 200 guest passengers rode in the cars. Baidu is the first among the major global autonomous driving players to open its technology and platform to the industry. "An open, innovative industry ecosystem will accelerate the development of autonomous driving in the United States and other developed automotive markets, and through open technology our technological achievements can be quickly applied to a wide range of fields and accelerate even more achievements," Lu added. PUL-E-KHUMRI, Afghanistan, April 19 (Xinhua) -- At least 22 militants, including a Taliban shadow governor, were killed when Afghan security forces carried out an operation in the northern province of Baghlan overnight, the country's Defense Ministry said Wednesday. "On specific intelligence inputs, army's commandos supported by air force launched a night raid operation in Dand-e-Ghuri District, Baghlan province, Tuesday night. As a result, 22 Taliban (militants) were killed and three others detained," it said in a statement. Among the killed were Maulawi Helel alias Lal Mohammad, the Taliban shadow governor for Baghlan, and four other Taliban local commanders, the statement said. The security forces seized one AK-47 gun and two rounds of pistol besides destroying a vehicle during the operation. Baghlan province, as well as neighboring Kunduz and Takhar provinces, has been the scene of heavy clashes over the past couple of months as Taliban has been trying to challenge the government forces in the once relatively peaceful region. The Taliban has reportedly confirmed the loss of its local leader Helel in the province, 160 km north of Kabul, according to local media reports. The Afghan security forces have beefed up security operations against militants recently as spring and summer, known as fighting season, are drawing near in the Central Asian country. Container freighter Netherlands of China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (COSCO) anchors at a wharf in east China's Shanghai Municipality, April 15, 2017. Container freighter Netherlands will stop by Singapore, the Suez Canal, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp and the Pireaus Port in Greece after it leaves Shanghai. (Xinhua/Chen Fei) Hi, here's what you need to know about China today: BEIJING-- Chinese companies' investment in countries along the Belt and Road rose again in Q1. From January to March, Chinese enterprises invested 2.95 billion U.S. dollars in 43 countries along the Belt and Road, according to the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) on Tuesday. xhne.ws/NmAgD ---- BEIJING -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Tuesday that China is willing to work together with Canada to expand bilateral trade and investment. The two countries should also strengthen cooperation on tackling climate change and cooperate in new areas such as clean energy to create new growth points in the relationship, Li said over phone with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. xhne.ws/IkFj5 ---- BEIJING -- China announced Tuesday a military reshuffle with 84 corps-level units newly adjusted or established, a move hailed by President Xi Jinping as another major step in strengthening the country's armed forces. Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), made the remarks while meeting chief military officers Tuesday in Beijing. xhne.ws/y5vNx ---- SHANGHAI -- The C919, the first large passenger aircraft designed and built by China passed the last expert assessment on Tuesday, its manufacturer announced. The aircraft was given the go-ahead to begin a series of high-speed taxiing tests, the last step before its maiden flight. The process usually takes one to two months. xhne.ws/acuom ---- BEIJING -- China's tightened regulations on the property market to rein in skyrocketing home prices have begun to pay off as home prices in major cities continued to stabilize. Of 70 large and medium-sized cities surveyed, 24 cities witnessed a slower price rise year on year in March, up from 20 in February, said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday. xhne.ws/mYU9i ---- WINDHOEK -- Some 600,000 Namibians have either received or will receive rice donated by China amid food shortages as a result of three-year-old droughts in the country, said a senior Chinese Embassy official on Tuesday. Li Nan, charge d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Windhoek, said China has donated 4,000 metric tons of rice to the southwestern African country. xhne.ws/XU6c7 Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 15:18:09|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close NEW DELHI, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The Indian Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that 13 top leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, will be tried for criminal conspiracy in the demolition of a mosque in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. The razing of the 16th century Babri Masjid (mosque) in 1992 incited nationwide riots between majority Hindus and minority Muslims, in which around 2,000 people were killed. Apart from 89-year-old Advani, former Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi, and current Indian Minister of Water Resources Uma Bharti will also face trial in the case at a court in the state capital Lucknow, according to the top court. These top BJP leaders were earlier charged with making inflammatory speeches that motivated lakhs of right-wing volunteers to pull down the mosque in 1992. However, another accused in the case Kalyan Singh, who was BJP's chief minister of Uttar Pradesh when the mosque was demolished and is currently the governor of western state of Rajasthan, will be prosecuted once he demits the constitutional office. The Supreme Court has also ordered that the trial in the case would have to be completed within two years and the judge at the Lucknow trial court who will hear the case and give the judgment can't be transferred in between the hearings. The demolition of the mosque came after a movement led in part by Advani for a temple to be built on the same spot where the masjid was constructed by the Mughals. Many Hindus believe the mosque was built over the birthplace of Lord Ram, a Hindu God and that's why they want a temple over there. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 15:48:15|Editor: xuxin U.S. President Donald Trump addresses a press conference at the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, on April 12, 2017.(Xinhua/Yin Bogu/ File photo) WASHINGTON, April 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order that asks the government to overhaul a visa program so that American workers will be hired first. The executive order, dubbed "Buy American and Hire American," also aims to change rules for government purchases to give priority to American products. "With this action, we are sending a powerful signal to the world: We're going to defend our workers, protect our jobs, and finally put America first," Trump told hundreds of factory workers at the headquarters of Snap-on Inc., a tool manufacturer, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, before signing the document. "Together, we're going to do everything in our power to make sure more products are stamped with those wonderful words: Made in USA," he said. The order accords with Trump's campaign promise to review visa programs so as to prioritize American workers. However, instead of taking direct actions for major changes and reforms, the document mainly launched a series of reviews and assessments focused on the controversial H-1B visa program and its lottery system. The H-1B is a non-immigrant visa that allows U.S. employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty occupations. Many Silicon Valley companies employ large numbers of H-1B holders. Trump derided the "totally random" lottery system that used to allot H-1B visas to employers, saying it allows companies to undercut American workers by bringing in lower-paid replacements, which drives down wages. "They should never be used to replace Americans," the president said of the visas. Defending the H1-B system, many U.S. technology firms said that they cannot find enough skilled American workers, arguing that scrapping the program could cause foreign students studying math and science in the United Sates to leave the country after finishing college or graduate school. "Highly skilled immigrants create new American jobs, raise wages for native-born workers, and contribute enormously to growing our economy," said Todd Schulte, head of Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg's advocacy group FWD.us. "Congress should expand the number of H-1B visas offered while reforming the system to protect American workers," he was quoted by a The Hill news daily report as saying. The new executive order also directed federal agencies to review current procurement requirements and step up the effort to limit government purchase to U.S.-made goods. The order asked government bodies to review and minimize the use of waivers and exceptions to "Buy American" policies, and assess the degree to which waivers included in free trade deals have hurt American workers. White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters that the executive order "will make significant progress towards 'Buy American and Hire American,' the cornerstone of Trump's vision for a government that answers to the American workers who built this country." In contrast, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Trump's latest move puts profits over people, arguing that the president seems to do what the CEOs want, not what the workers want. Up to 85,000 H-1B visas are issued annually by the U.S. authorities, but demand has far outstripped supply in recent years, according to local media reports. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) already suspended premium processing for all H-1B visa petitions from April 3. The halt is expected to last up to six months. Under the current system, a company who is sponsoring a potential employee or current employee's H-1B petition may fill out a form to expedite the processing of that petition. After payment of an additional 1,225 U.S. dollars in charge, USCIS responds typically in 15 calendar days, whereas standard H-1B petitions may take anywhere between three to six months to receive a judgement. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 16:23:21|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close NEW DELHI, April 19 (Xinhua) -- At least 44 people were killed and 12 others injured, some of them critically, after a passenger bus carrying them fell into river in northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, officials said Wednesday. The accident took place near Guma in the remote area of Shimla, the capital city of Himachal Pradesh. "This afternoon, a bus carrying 56 people met with an accident and fell into river Tons, killing 44 people and injuring 12 others," Rohan Chand Thakur, deputy commissioner of Shimla, told Xinhua via telephone. "We have rushed police and medical staff to the spot," the official said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 16:38:24|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close TOKYO, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Visiting U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday reiterated the commitment to working with Japan and other countries in the region to bring an end to nuclear and missile issues on the Korean Peninsula. Speaking aboard the nuclear-powered USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier docked at the U.S. Navy's Yokosuka base, Pence said a diligent and collaborative approach to deescalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula was the way forward. "U.S. policy is to continue to work diligently with Japan and other countries, including China, to bring economic and diplomatic pressure on the regime in North Korea (the Democratic People's Republic of Korea) until the country abandons its nuclear and ballistic missile programs," Pence told an assembly of U.S. servicemen and Japanese Self-Defense Forces personnel. "All options are on the table," Pence said. On Tuesday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in talks with Pence, said Japan was appreciative of U.S. President Donald Trump's stance that has repeatedly stated that "all options, including military action" are "on the table to pressure the DPRK to abandon its nuclear weapon and missile development ambitions." Pence on Wednesday also restated the U.S. commitment to a peaceful resolution to the DPRK's missile and nuclear programs but intimated that it would be no pushover. "The United States of America will always seek peace, but under President Donald Trump, the shield stands guard and the sword stands ready," said Pence. He said the U.S. plans to strengthen its presence in the Asia-Pacific region and remained dedicated to the protection of Japan. A day earlier in talks with Abe, Pence said the Trump administration remained committed to working together with regional stakeholders to ensure a peaceful Korean Peninsula, stating that Trump is determined to work closely with Japan, South Korea, China and all allies in the region to achieve a peaceable solution and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Prior to Pence's arrival from South Korea, Abe on Monday called for increased diplomacy rather than the use of force in dealing with the current situation regarding tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The DPRK has conducted multiple missile tests and two nuclear tests in the past 18 months, with the United States' recent deployment of an aircraft carrier unit to the region after holding large-scale "war games" near the peninsula also stoking concerns. On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China welcomes the United States to play a positive role in peacefully resolving the Korean Peninsula issue. He added that seeking a peaceful solution to the Korean Peninsula issue is a right direction and meets the interests of all related parties. Dialogue and consultation are the only way to resolve the Korean Peninsula issue, said Lu, reaffirming China's stance. After leaving Japan Wednesday, Pence's Asia-Pacific tour will continue with visits to Indonesia and Australia before returning to the United States. PYONGYANG, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Wednesday accused Japan of aggression by reviving war songs in schools and passing a post-war record high defense budget for 2017. Rodong Sinmun, the official daily of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, said in a commentary that Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada has called on schools to revive the singing of "war songs" from World War II, apply the system of education in place before the war, and recite the "royal message of education" of former Japanese Emperor Hirohito. "Meanwhile, the Japanese reactionaries passed 5.125 trillion yen (about 43.7 billion U.S. dollars) for its military spending for 2017 at the House of Councilors, an increase of 1.4 percent compared to last year. This shows that Japan's military spending has steadily increased for five years," it said. The paper said the "Japanese reactionaries are staging a comeback to conquer Korea by way of retaliation for their defeat" and are turning their "self-defense forces' into an elite armed forces in the world and Japan into a total militarist state and state for aggression." "The ultra-rightist politicians' steady visit to the Yasukuni Shrine and frantic efforts to distort history serve as base manure to instill the militarist idea in young people," it pointed out. Japan forcibly annexed Korea in 1910 and enslaved Koreans during its brutal occupation and colonial rule of the peninsula until its defeat in 1945. MANILA, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members will meet with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson early next month, an acting spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines said Wednesday. Robespierre Bolivar told a news conference that Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo will go to the United States in early May to attend the meeting between the ASEAN FMs and the U.S. state secretary. "The agenda and the exact time of the meeting are still being finalized. But it's sometime in early May," Bolivar said, adding that the meeting is confirmed but the details are still being worked out. The ASEAN groups Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. NEW DELHI, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The Indian government has banned all its ministers and other top officials from using red beacons on their cars, in an effort to shun "VVIP culture" that causes inconvenience to the public. Highly placed sources said the decision was made at a cabinet meeting, chaired by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday and the ban will come into effect from May 1. Though only five in India will be allowed to use red beacon atop vehicles, the president, prime minister, vice president, chief justice and the Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament) speaker, Modi has given up the "status symbol", sources said. Days ago, Modi went to the Delhi airport to receive Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina "in normal traffic", which means no traffic restrictions were in place throughout the route. Recently, governments of two states, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh in the north, apparently enforced almost a similar ban on use of red beacons atop vehicles of ministers and other top officials, which is often seen as a display of arrogance. While the Punjab government, run by the country's main opposition Congress Party, announced that using red beacon in the state will be criminal offense. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's government in Uttar Pradesh warned that no minister in the state will be allowed to use the red beacons atop vehicles. India's Supreme Court had described putting up of beacon lights and blowing of sirens as a "status symbol", adding that besides constitutional functionaries, it was the "ambulances, fire services, police and army who are in need for red lights. Rest can be excluded". Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 18:03:55|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close KIGALI, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Rwanda has announced plans to digitize education system to further innovation, social inclusion, job creation, education quality and national competitiveness, the education minister said Wednesday. Musafiri Papias Malimba told reporters that the country entered an agreement with Microsoft Corporation to digitize Rwanda education through a "smart-classroom" project. "We are looking at adopting digitized based education system which will lower the cost of delivering the curriculum and learning materials to schools and improve learning. Students in schools across Rwanda will be exposed to an education system that emphasizes computers and internet use in classrooms to impart knowledge," he noted. Malimba stated that digitization will provide plenty of alternatives to address the socio-economic challenges facing many emerging economies, particularly in terms of improving access to education. In 2014, the ministry of education entered a partnership with Microsoft to incorporate information and communication technology into various aspects of the education sector, ranging from helping students access computers and basic Microsoft software such as Word and Excel to digitizing subject content delivered in schools. It is planned under the partnership that by the year 2020 all schools in the country will have two smart classrooms and all subjects will have been digitized, according to the ministry. The ministry further said the first batch of the schools will be having smart classrooms by the end of 2017. Available statistics from the Rwanda Education Board indicate that only 9 percent or 531 schools in Rwanda currently have access to the Internet. In 2010, the small central African country rolled out more than 3,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable across the country to enable better access to internet services. The optic cable seeks to boost access to various broadband services, including applications such as e-governance, e-banking, e-learning and e-health. It was expected to become a key enabler of the set target to ensure Rwanda achieve middle-income status by 2020. The 2015 global ICT report released by the World Economic Forum ranked Rwanda among top ten countries in Africa that are most dynamic performers when it comes to ICT development. Rwanda plans to establish an ICT park that will be a base of technological investments, including training, industries, research and development. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 18:13:59|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close PHNOM PENH, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia arrested a 53-year-old Dutchman while he was photographing naked boys by a lakeside in a village in northwestern Siem Reap province on Tuesday, according to an anti-pedophile agency's media release on Wednesday. Police identified the suspect as Saraot Evrard Nicolas, a tourist to the province. According to the Siem Reap Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Unit, seven victims, aged between 11 and 15 years, have so far confirmed abuse. Child protection NGO Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), which assisted police in a probe leading to the arrest, said in the press release that during the arrest, police found and seized a digital camera and an iPad from the suspect. "Preliminary search by police discovered numerous sexually explicit pictures of boys which confirmed the crime," the press release said. It said that the suspect often lured boys into a quiet place and asked them to perform erotic poses for one to four U.S. dollars. He also offered in-kind support to some of the boys. "It was not known yet when the Dutchman came to live in Cambodia, but he seemed to be able to speak adequate Khmer to communicate with the boys," the press release said, adding that "he frequented the village and managed to establish close contacts with some of the local families whose boys were among the victims found." The arrest marked the third foreign man arrested in child abuse cases in Cambodia this year, the press release said, adding that all of them committed sexual offences against boys. The Southeast Asian country launched an anti-pedophile operation in 2003 in a bid to end its reputation as a haven for child sex offenders. Since then, dozens of foreigners have been imprisoned for child sex crimes. Photo taken on Feb. 22, 2017 shows a view of the Merkato open-air market in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia. Merkato is the biggest open-air market in Africa and employs an estimate of 13,000 people in 7,100 business entities. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde) ADDIS ABABA, April 19 (Xinhua) -- A total of 669 people, most of them civilians, died in political unrest in parts of the three most populous regions of Ethiopia in 2016, according to a report by a government watchdog. The government mandated Ethiopian human Rights Commission (EHRC) in a report presented by its head Dr. Adisu Gebregzbaher to the Ethiopian parliament on April 18 says, the biggest number of deaths occurred in Ethiopia's largest state Oromiya, with the deaths of 462 civilians and 33 security forces. Deadly protests by Oromos, Ethiopia's largest ethnic group making about 35 percent of Ethiopia's estimated 100 million population, erupted in November 2015 and continued until late 2016. Initially starting as a protest against the expansion of the capital city Addis Ababa into Oromo villages, the protest soon turned into complaints against what many Oromos perceive as political and economic disenfranchisement. The Oromo protests were then joined in June by Ethiopia's second largest ethnic group, the Amhara's, at around 28 percent of the population, complaining about territorial redistricting of "historic" Amhara land to neighboring Tigray region 25 years ago. The EHRC report says 110 civilians and 30 security forces died in the Amhara region unrest. Many Amharas also complain about what they call the political and economic dominance of the Tigray ethnic group, who makes up around 6 percent of Ethiopia's population. The commission's focus on the unrest in the country's third most populous region southern regional state was focused on a small area, Gedeo zone, where ethnic Gedeo's in October 2016 attacked the properties of migrants in a dispute about ownership of land and business. The commission says 33 people died in the unrest. EHRC in its finding stated the security forces largely gave a proportionate response to the unrest although it single out several occasions where it said excessive force was used. The unrest, particularly in Amhara and Oromiya regions, were dubbed by analysts as the worst the ruling party Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Force (EPRDF) had faced since it came to power in 1991. After a clash between congregants and security forces led to a deadly stampede at an Oromo religious festival in October 2016, the Ethiopian government declared a six months martial law. That emergency decree, which since then has been renewed for another four months, seemed to have calmed the situation in the country although tensions persist. First flight arrives at Abuja international airport after completion of repair works on the airport's runway on Tuesday. (Xinhua) ABUJA, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria's capital city airport is "quite operational" and set to reopen Wednesday following completion of repair works on its 3.6 kilometer-long runway, local officials said Tuesday. Head of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority said the repair work, which lasted six weeks, has been done "quite satisfactorily in line with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standard and recommended practices." "The airport, the runway is very ready to accept flight operations safely," he said in a statement. The Nigerian government ordered the temporary closure of the runway on March 8. The runway needed to be repaired because it was actually designed for use for 20 years but was used for 34 years without necessary repairs due to negligence. During the temporary closure, Abuja-bound local and international passengers flew to Kaduna, in the country's northwest region, and traveled by bus, train or helicopter, into the capital city. An official of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria said the runway had been completely cleaned up ahead of flight operations. Air Peace, a local airline, told Xinhua it had made arrangement to resume its normal flight operations at the Abuja airport on Wednesday. The Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, the main airport serving the Nigerian capital city and named after the country's first President, Nnamdi Azikiwe, has an international and a domestic terminal that share its single runway. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 18:49:08|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close MANILA, April 19 (Xinhua) -- New People's Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, released on Wednesday two government soldiers abducted more than two months ago in southern Mindanao. Maj. Gen. Rafael Valencia, commander of the Army's 10th Infantry Division, said the two soldiers were freed around 9 a.m. in Matanao town in Davao del Sur. In a phone interview, Valencia said the soldiers were turned over by the rebels to a group, led by a former Davao del Sur congressman. Valencia said they were later taken to a hospital in Davao City for medical checkup. "They will undergo psychological test and the usual debriefing," he said. The soldiers were intercepted by NPA rebels on Feb. 2 in Columbio town in Sultan Kudarat while aboard a motorcycle. Unarmed and on civilian clothes, the two soldiers were on the way to their base at that time. The abduction came while the communists and the government were still observing their respective unilateral ceasefires and while the two sides are talking peace in the negotiating table. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 18:54:11|Editor: An Video Player Close BEIJING, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Beijing's Internet regulators said Apple is next on a list for inquiries after authorities ordered three Chinese live streaming websites to rectify management loopholes. The three websites are toutiao.com, huoshanzhibo.com and huajiao.com, which were found to have violated four different regulations concerning Internet information services, live-streaming services and online performance, according to the Beijing Cyberspace Administration. In a joint inquiry, conducted by the administration, the Beijing Public Security Bureau and Beijing Cultural Market Administrative Law Enforcement Team, the three companies were found to lack systematic management and to have been inadequate in checking information, emergency response and technical support. "Significant loopholes" also existed in their management of live-broadcast products, user classification, authentication of user identity and the handling of tips-offs, according to the regulators. Some publishers have broadcast live content forbidden by Chinese law on these platforms, they noted. Some provided pornographic content, according to the regulators. Beijing Cultural Market Administrative Law Enforcement Team said it has collected and sorted evidence on the violations at huoshanzhibo.com and huajiao.com and started investigation. Some cases will be transferred to the police, and publishers that have committed violations shall receive criminal punishment. Officers with the law enforcement team said they have also met representatives from Apple about the examination of live stream apps from the tech giant's app store. The Beijing Cyberspace Administration confirmed that the three departments will jointly summon Apple over the issues to urge the American firm to tighten up checks on software applications available in the Apple Store. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 18:54:12|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close KABUL, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Two senior police officials were killed and eight other personnel injured in two separate Afghan attacks, police said Wednesday. In one incident, Taliban militants carried out an ambush on the convoy of Payanda Mohammad, executive official of an Afghan border police force battalion in northern Takhar province, killing him on the spot, provincial police spokesman Khalil Aser told Xinhua. Four police personnel were also wounded in the attack which took place Wednesday morning in Charsee Ha locality of Khawaja Bahawuddin district in the province, 245 km north of Kabul. In southern Zabul province, Saifullah Hotak, police chief of Shinkay disrict, was killed and four police wounded after Hotak's vehicle was struck by a roadside bombing late on Tuesday, according to deputy provincial police chief Ghulam Jilani Farahi. The Afghan security forces' casualties have risen recently as they struggle against a surge in attacks by Taliban and other anti-government groups. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 18:59:15|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close MOSCOW, April 19 (Xinhua) -- A cargo ship with 12 crew members on board has sank in the Black Sea some 14 nautical miles (about 26 km) off Russia's coast, and so far only one crew member was rescued, the Russian Emergency Ministry said Wednesday. The 114-m long vessel, Heroes of Arsenal, carrying the flag of Panama left the Russian port of Azov with a grain cargo and was on its way to Turkey, when the shipwreck occurred in the early hours of Wednesday, the ministry's Crimea division said in a statement. The crew consisted of nine Ukrainians, two Russians and one Georgian, it said. The ministry has started a rescue operation, but the fate of other crew members remained unknown. The statement said the operation was complicated by a storm raging in the region of the wreck. Russian media quoted sources in law enforcement agencies in previous reports as saying that three members of the ship's crew had been rescued, but this has not been officially confirmed. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 19:09:18|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close COTONOU, Benin, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Experts from five African countries opened a two-day meeting here Tuesday to discuss unfair cotton subsidies in developed countries and the need to take action at the World Trade Organization. The roughly 30 experts hail from Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali and Chad - four major cotton producers - in addition to experts from Togo. Since 2003, the main four countries, called the C-4 group, have opposed subsidies granted to cotton producers in some developed countries which they say cause distortions on cotton market. The gathering comes on the heels of a meeting scheduled by ministers from the C-4 group scheduled to be held next Thursday in the economic capital of Cotonou in Benin. The meetings "examine strategies for cotton production and export capacity building in the four countries as well as in the least developed countries," according to Nicolas Dandoga, cabinet director of Benin ministry of Industry. He added the experts will also examine the project "Cotton Road" that aims to promote the emergence of a regional value chain based on the production and marketing of cotton and its by-products such as textile and clothing. "We think that we, African producers and exporters of cotton, should carry on our internal reforms so as to make African cotton more competitive," said Nicolas Dandoga. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 19:24:25|Editor: An Video Player Close by Xinhua Writer Jiang Xufeng BEIJING, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Wang Pengfei, vice president of a leading Internet finance company, has seen the industry grow in China at a galloping pace, along with some shady practices. After working at a state-owned lender for a decade, Wang joined Weidai, an Internet finance company whose name means "micro-loan," in 2014 when the industry was flourishing. FAST BUT FRAUDULENT The industry's burgeoning development came as no accident to Wang and other market observers. China has four large state-owned banks, and state-owned enterprises generally have easier access to financing. Many small companies are troubled by the financing bottleneck, creating pent-up demand. Meanwhile, working-class families struggle to figure out where to invest their savings to seek higher returns, and many of them move money online. The country, home to the world's biggest online population, also has a number of groups, such as college students, who are underserved by banks. China has not established a sound social credit system, and credit cards are not as popular as in some advanced economies. Online payment has instead emerged as a well-received alternative to cash. Crowd funding has picked up momentum as a wave of entrepreneurship has hit the country. Development of Internet finance has helped broaden the financial reach, improve efficiency of financial services, give Chinese more investment options, and help some small businesses get badly needed loans, but the boom has its costs. The first peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform was launched in 2007, and exploded in popularity in China, with the number of such platforms surging 18 times between 2012 and 2015 and the combined transaction volume jumping about 40 times over the period, according to data from the State Information Center. P2P lending platforms helped link clients seeking better yields with borrowers starved for capital, but a report from leading industry information provider www.wdzj.com painted a grim picture. By March 2017, 3,607 Chinese P2P lending platforms had run into trouble or been forced to close, with only 2,281 platforms in normal operation. With a relatively low barrier to entry in the industry, some high-profile fraud cases emerged and grabbed headlines, such as P2P lending platform Ezubao that cheated investors out of nearly 60 billion yuan (8.7 billion U.S. dollars) through fake investment projects. Some bogus lending platforms diverted client funds for other purposes, while online Chinese loan sharks illegally demanded nude photos as a form of collateral from cash-strapped female college students. These cases have triggered the concerns of regulators and a year-long industry correction. On top of P2P lending, Internet finance also covers business such as third-party online payment, crowd funding, and other financial services. "In tandem with the rapid growth, China's Internet finance industry is afflicted with Ponzi schemes and some companies deviate from their main business to seek hefty profits," said Li Bo, a researcher with the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank. When introduced to a long list of wealth management products they have never heard of, many individual investors, such as retirees, have ended up as victims of unscrupulous online finance platforms, sometimes losing their life savings. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang earlier this month cautioned that the country's financial sector was vulnerable to risks such as bad assets, bond defaults, shadow banking and Internet finance, with frequent illegal and corrupt activities. Risk caused by the Internet finance industry has wide repercussions. Some P2P lending platforms resembled hybrid financial institutions providing clients with various financial services online, analysts said. "Some online finance entities have performed illegal services, which creates contagion risk for banks, as financial agencies are intertwined with one another," said Ou Minggang, director of the International Finance Research Center at China Foreign Affairs University. SUPERVISION TO CATCH UP "Before 2017, the industry was full of fraud, such as problematic P2P lending platforms and fraudulent borrowers using false information. With strengthened and coordinated supervision among different regulators, the industry will embrace reasonable development," Wang said. Wang found that some important industry regulations such as those on crowd funding took effect in 2014, and targeted regulations have been rolled out by national and local authorities since 2016 for some murky and less-regulated areas. Regulations on Internet finance services such as third-party payment are relatively sound, but regulations in other areas need to be improved, said PBOC deputy governor Pan Gongsheng. "The pace of business innovation has outpaced supervision in recent years, with companies producing new financial products to bypass supervision and hurt investors' interests," Ou stressed. "Regulators face a steep learning curve, and they must keep abreast of the ever-changing industry landscape. They should focus on Internet finance companies' business and what their financial products really mean for investors," Ou added. Businesses such as P2P lending, Internet-based insurance, third-party online payment, and online asset management were among key areas for strengthened supervision, industry observers said. Internet finance last week appeared on the top banking regulator's list of ten most important areas for enhanced risk control, with targeted measures to be taken to stem emergence of a financial crisis. For P2P lending alone, regulators have unveiled specific policies including 13 restrictions to prohibit P2P platforms from accepting public deposits, pooling investors' money for their own projects, providing guarantees for lenders, or selling financial products. Wang also suggested learning from the experience of advanced economies and strengthening efforts to establish a social credit system with participation by both regulators and credit scoring companies. Better consumer protection laws and regulations should be in place, and supervision of products from Internet finance companies must be strengthened, with better conflict resolution schemes to be established, Li suggested. Wang said 2017 will be a watershed year for Chinese Internet finance as the rules are tightened, bringing the industry out of the wilderness. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 20:04:38|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close by Ronald Njoroge NAIROBI, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is projected to hit 2.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2016 up from 1.5 billion dollars in 2015, officials said. Kenya Investment Authority (KenInvest) Managing Director Moses Ikiara told Xinhua that Kenya's attractive investment climate as well as regional hub status have continued to be a magnet for investors. "In line with the trend of the past five years of annual double digit growth, we expect FDI for 2016 to rise to 2.5 billion dollars," Ikiara told Xinhua on Tuesday evening on the sidelines of a forum on the Mombasa (Dongo Kundu) Special Economic Zone (SEZ). Ikiara said that the manufacturing, construction, energy and Information Communication Technology (ICT) were the most attractive sectors for FDI. Data from KenInvest indicate that the United States, India and Britain are the top FDI sources for Kenya, while Ikiara said China is now emerging as a key source of investment inflows into Kenya. "We hope that more Chinese firms will relocate to Kenya as labor costs rise in their home country," he added. The East African nation hopes to attract FDI with its SEZs which are primarily aimed at exports. The design for the SEZ which also includes a free port has already been completed and the zone is expected to be ready to receive investments in early 2018. Ikiara noted that Kenya's trade imbalance is largely due to heavy reliance of exports of unprocessed agricultural products. "We are therefore encouraging new entrants to begin value addition of agricultural commodities so as to improve balance of trade," he added. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 20:09:39|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close TEHRAN, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Wednesday for a massive turnout in the upcoming presidential election, reported Press TV. "Enemies are resorting to provocations in order to sabotage the elections," Khamenei said, adding however that the nation should "remain aware so that elections are held in a vibrant, passionate, healthy and secure manner." Khamenei said the nation's resistance was key to foiling various plots by enemies against the country over the past decades. "An election of such a nature (with resistance against plots) would lend the country increased security," he added. Over 1,630 candidates have registered to run in Iran's presidential election next month as registration for the upcoming race closed on Saturday. The Iranian Guardian Council of Constitution, a clerical body overseeing elections, has started assessing applicants' qualifications as of Sunday and will announce its approved list by April 27. According to Iran's Interior Ministry, the approved candidates will launch their presidential campaigns on April 28, with Election Day slated for May 19. A screenshot captured on April,19,2017 from Google Maps shows the location of Elassona in central Greece. ATHENS, April 19 (Xinhua) -- A military helicopter with five people onboard crashed in central Greece on Wednesday, killing four and injuring one, according to a Defense Ministry statement. The UH-1H helicopter was carrying Major General Ioannis Tzanidakis, Colonel Thomas Adamou, Major Dimosthenis Goulas and Major Konstantinos Hatzis and Sergeant Vassiliki Plexida, when it crashed near Elassona in central Greece, about 400 km from Athens. Plexida, who survived the crash with serious injuries, was transferred to hospital. Three days of mourning were declared on Wednesday in the country's Air Force after the crash left four officers dead and one injured, said the statement. Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos has sent condolences to the families of the victims. The causes of the accident have still not been determined. According to the Defense Ministry, the helicopter had been on a routine border control flight. It had departed from Larissa in central Greece and would land at Kozani city in northern Greece. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 20:37:41|Editor: Song Lifang Arend F. van Peer (Top) practices with his master Lin Zaipei the Dog Kung Fu in Fuzhou, capital of southeast China's Fujian Province, April 18, 2017. Arend, 39, was from the Netherlands. He and his wife Khingeeva Tatyana came to China in October 2013. Besides doing research and teaching as a professor at a laboratory in School of Life Sciences in Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Arend was a fan of Chinese martial arts. As students of Kung Fu master Lin Zaipei, Arend and his wife learned the Dishuquan, which is also known as the Dog Kung Fu, one of the most popular martial arts styles in Fujian Province and a national intangible cultural heritage. They went to the martial art club every week to practice with Dog Kung Fu lovers from all over the world. Arend said that learning Chinese Kung Fu has been his dream since childhood. He invited Chinese Kung Fu masters, including his master Lin, to the Netherlands for culture exchange. "Arend has mastered a series of skills of Dog Kung Fu and he is capable of teaching these skills" said Lin. On May 3, 2017, Arend and his wife will finish their work in China and leave for the Netherlands. They plan to introduce the Dog Kung Fu to the people in their country. (Xinhua/Lin Shanchuan) Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 20:39:48|Editor: An Video Player Close ISLAMABAD, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Michael Evans, President of Alibaba Group, called on Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif here on Wednesday and said that improved IT and telecommunications development provided a vital base for expansion of e-commerce here. Evans said that he was very confident that Alibaba's e-platform would provide significant stimulus for growth of small and medium enterprises in Pakistan Sharif recalled that he had very fruitful discussions with the Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group Jack Ma on the sidelines of World Economic Forum at Davos earlier this year regarding the opportunities for the group to establish an e-platform in Pakistan, the Prime Minister's office said. He also explicated that Pakistan had achieved economic stability over the last three years and was now amongst the fastest growing economies of the region, adding that the security situation in the country had improved significantly and there had been unprecedented development of infrastructure along with a revolutionary expansion in IT and telecommunications. Evans, for his part, thanked Sharif for inviting him to Pakistan and informed the prime minister about his meetings in the previous day with other federal ministries. E Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 20:39:50|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close by Shristi Kafle, Zhou Shengping MUSTANG, Nepal, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Being one of the oldest apple producers in the remote Mustang district, 75-year-old Nar Bahadur Hirachan feels proud that his village, Marhpa, produces the juiciest apples in Nepal. "We used to sell apples by carrying them on bamboo baskets on our backs and walking to nearby cities. Later, the government helped us to market our products using helicopters since there were no roads. And now the demand is so high that buyers come here to pick apples from the trees themselves," Hirachan told Xinhua in a recent interview. Hirachan once worked as a minister when Nepal was a kingdom about three decades ago. Now this energetic old man owns 250 ropanies (1 ropani equals about 509 square meters) of land, on which he makes a profit of more than Rs. 3 million (about 30,000 U.S. dollars) annually. The local farmer added, "We also sell dry apples, apple juice, brandy and other products which are made without the use of chemicals. Everything here is organic." Mustang, which borders China, is located nearly 200 km away from Nepal's capital Kathmandu and is considered to be the capital of apples. The majority of houses in Mustang have apple orchards which produce different varieties like delicious red, rich red, royal, golden and fuji apples. Mustang is the second-largest apple production hub in the Himalayan country after the remote western district of Jumla. Apples from Mustang are considered the best for their texture, juiciness and crunchiness. However, the same organic apples are rarely found and tasted by locals in Kathmandu. According to government statistics, Mustang produced 4,500 metric tons of apples in the last fiscal year, generating a revenue of over Rs. 310 million. However, the capital city received only a few tons of apples from Mustang in autumn last year equaling about 400,000 kg. Keshav Khadka, an executive member of Nepal Fruits Wholesalers Association, told Xinhua, "Apples from Mustang have been in high demand in recent years. But we have been failing to address the demand. Mustang apples are available for only two months, whereas we need apples throughout the year." Khadka, who has been in the fruit business for the last 15 years, says Mustang's entire production capacity cannot meet the demand of the capital for even a couple of days. On normal days, around 700,000 kg of apples are consumed in the valley, with the amount rising exponentially during festive seasons. Currently, 90 percent of the apple in the deficit in the country is being met by imports, with China being the biggest import destination and accounting for 70 percent. The other apple imports come from India, United States and Australia. Mustang farmers sell their apples for Rs. 50 to Rs. 80 per kg in the local market while the rate rises to to Rs. 150 in the capital. Mustang's lucrative apple trade is a priority for locals, especially those in the hotel business. However, due to low production and problems in grading and packaging systems, Mustang apples are consumed only within the nearby cities like Beni, Baglung and Pokhara. For decades, Temperate Horticulture Development Center, located in the Marpha village has been promoting and supporting the locals in the commercial apple business by providing suitable saplings and technical assistance. But production is still insufficient. Bal Krishna Adhikari, senior officer at Temperate Horticulture Development Center, told Xinhua, "Our farm's challenge is to produce the apple seedling according to the demand of farmers. The demand of the farmers is very high but we produce limited quantities due to the scarcity of farm land, farm resources and human resources." Out of a total 1,100 hectares of area for apple cultivation, commercial production is carried out only in 350 hectares and hence production is automatically low. Beside fresh apples, the region produces dried apple candies, apple brandy, cider wine and juice which support the tourist trade in Mustang district. Dried apple crumble is sold only in the big supermarkets and departmental stores in the capital as they are mostly consumed within the local area by domestic and foreign tourists. Demand for apple brandy is high in big cities like Kathmandu, but supply is comparatively low. A retail liquor store in Kathmandu told Xinhua, "Many customers visit us asking for Mustang's apple brandy known locally as Marpha. Since we only have a limited supply, we often sell them Jumla's apple brand, claiming it to be Mustang." Currently, there are only three apple brandy manufacturers in Mustang, all of which use traditional brandy-making equipment like firewood and processes from last year. Farmers in the Himalayan belt lack modern farming practices and technology like cold stores and skilled human resources, as a result the juicy delicious apples are failing to reach the broader market. Many local traders also say the younger generations are gradually losing interest in the apple business as they are more focused on immediate revenue-generating businesses like tourism, animal farm management and trade. the_guitar_mann/iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- A series of tests performed by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have definitively confirmed the use of Sarin or a Sarin-like substance in Syria's Idlib province. OPCW Director General Ahmet Uzumcu informed members of the organization on Wednesday during a meeting to address the alleged use of Sarin gas by Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad against his own people. The OPCW cited results of testing on samples collected from three victims of the attack at two different OPCW-designated laboratories. "The results of the analysis indicate that the victims were exposed to Sarin or a Sarin-like substance," Uzumcu said. "Bio-medical samples from seen individuals undergoing treatment at hospitals were also analysed in two other OPCW designated laboratories. Similarly, the results of these analyses indicate exposure to Sarin or a Sarin-like substance." While further testing will be done, Uzumcu said, "the analytical results already obtained are incontrovertible." The chemical weapons attack earlier this month prompted the U.S. to launch tomahawk missiles at the airbase from which the Syrian planes involved took off. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 20:49:54|Editor: An Video Player Close XI'AN, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The mythic hero Hou Ji is said to have taught Chinese people to grow grain in the Yangling region some 4,000 years ago. Today, the agricultural zone has attracted teams from across the world to learn apple-growing techniques. White-blossomed apple trees adorn the 35 hectares of this orchard in Yangling District, a high-tech agricultural zone in Xianyang City of Shaanxi Province. Unlike apple trees elsewhere, they appear shorter. "We are using a new technique to keep the trees shorter and planted more densely to facilitate management and improve effectiveness," said Zhang Xiaocai, who is in charge of technology at the Huicheng fruit company. Thousands of kilometers away in Kazakhstan, the same technique is used on 10 hectares of an orchard. "We provide technical support, teaching them how to make organic fertilizer and how to trim the branches," Zhang said. Kazakhstan began sending teams to learn the technique in 2013, after finding that the yield of apples per hectare in Yangling is 7,500 to 15,000 kilograms higher. An orchard using Chinese technology was built in Kazakhstan the next year. "We now receive phone calls from Kazakhstan from time to time, asking for instructions," said Zhang. She added that the orchard was only the first step of their cooperation with Kazakhstan, which plans to import seedlings from China. Kazakhstan is not the only country to cooperate with Yangling. In the orchard, students of a 25-day workshop are learning about water-saving irrigation. They come from colleges, institutes and governments in Mongolia, Nepal, Tanzania, South Sudan and Sri Lanka. "While sharing our technology, we learn from others as well," said Guo Lanjun, general manager of Huicheng. They imported quality seedlings from foreign countries, like the green apple from Australia, which is popular among customers with high blood sugar. With its age-old agricultural civilization, Yangling has trained some 1,500 people from more than 100 countries in agricultural knowledge and techniques in recent years. The Shaanxi provincial government has done its utmost to promote modern agriculture exchanges and cooperation with relevant countries and regions under the Belt and Road Initiative, a grand trade and infrastructure plan proposed by China in 2013. Building upon ancient trade routes, the modern Belt and Road will be a transnational network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa and promoting common development among all countries involved. Over the past three decades, Shaanxi Province has earned a sterling reputation worldwide because of its apples. One in every seven apples in the world is grown in Shaanxi. According to Xi'an Customs, enterprises in Shaanxi exported 200,000 tonnes of apples in 2016 with a total value of more than one billion yuan (around 150 million U.S. dollars). Countries along the Belt and Road are major consumers of Shaanxi apples. Thailand, Myanmar, India, Bangladesh and Indonesia are the top five among 24 countries and regions that imported Shaanxi apples last year, according to Fan Hailong, deputy head of the Shaanxi fruit industry management bureau. "We feel proud after seeing more and more Shaanxi apples on the supermarket shelves in India," said Han Jilong, vice general manager of Shenglong Fruit Industry Company in Baishui County, which is called "China's apple town." Founded in 2008, the company became the biggest exporter among fruit companies in the province last year, with apple exports worth more than 19 million U.S. dollars. "If silk and porcelain were the signatures of ancient China, the apple may serve as a symbol for modern China, especially western China," said He Cheng, the Xi'an office chief of the Kazakhstan International Integration Fund. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 20:54:55|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close MANILA, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte offered Wednesday 1 million peso (20,160 U.S. dollars) reward for the arrest of each member of the Abu Sayyaf Group who escaped from the security cordon in the central Philippine Bohol province. "(The bandits) may be scouring the safety nets where they are landing, I have 1 million peso offer per person," Duterte said during an interview in Bohol. "My order to the police and to all, and even civilian who have interest to fight and kill, my order is dead or alive," said the president. The bandits and the government forces broke out a clash early this month in Bohol, leaving six Abu Sayyaf members dead, including the sub-leader Abu Rami. Four government security forces were also killed in the firefight. Duterte said the civilians could give information about the whereabouts of the bandits to the police and the military. The local media said Duterte flew to Bohol to attend a security briefing for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit. Some ASEAN 2017 events will be held in Bohol this week. The Abu Sayyaf, founded in the early 1990s, has been engaged in high-profile kidnappings of local and foreign nationals. The bandits behead their victims if they fail to pay ransom. A Filipino boat captain was the latest victim of beheading, which took place on April 13 in southern province of Sulu, the terrorists' stronghold. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 20:59:56|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close COLOMBO, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka seeks to ban the sale of cigarettes within a periphery of 500 meters from schools, Health Minister Rajith Senaratne said on Wednesday. The minister said in a statement that the government had taken numerous steps to discourage smoking, and the latest would be to prohibit the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products within the periphery of 500 meters from schools. Previously, the government introduced pictorial warning on packages. The World Health Organization also recognized it. "Now, youths are giving up their smoking habit. Yet, tobacco companies seem to be targeting school children for their sales. This has to be stopped," he said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 21:20:01|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close TIRANA, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The assets of a law maker of Albania's ruling party were seized, local media reported Wednesday, citing rulings by the country's serious crimes court. Alfred Peza, member of the ruling Socialist Party and member of the parliament (MP), had more than 600,000 euros (643,260 U.S. dollars) in assets registered under his wife's name. As he couldn't justify the origin of the assets, prosecutors had requested that the money be confiscated. The court also seized one percent of shares belonging to Peza's wife, Mirela Ndini, in a second-tier bank, worth 850,000 euros (911,285 dollars), media reported, citing sources from the Albanian prosecution. Prosecutors said at the court that both Peza and Ndini had failed to justify the sources of their acquisitions and investment. They had also failed to declare the real value of their assets in a wealth declaration form as stipulated by Albanian legislation. According to media reports, the prosecution has requested legal proceedings against the MP. In addition to possibly losing his parliamentary mandate, the couple may also be imprisoned for several years. The court's rulings were based on the anti-mafia law, which is designed to prevent and clamp down on organized crime, trafficking and corruption by confiscating the assets of persons who have unjustified economic gains as a result of suspected criminal activities. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 21:40:11|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close BERLIN, April 19 (Xinhua) -- German media company Axel Springer, one of the largest digital publishing houses in Europe, has announced its investment into the U.S.-based car-hailing company Uber. But the amount of the financial investment remains so far undisclosed. Kai Diekman, formerly chief editor of Springer's flagship publication BILD, Germany's largest-circulation newspaper, will act as advisor for the Silicon Valley startup with his focus on political issues. Diekman is not only familiar with the political landscape in Germany, but has also gained insights into Silicon Valley culture during a sabbatical in California in 2012. This investment is not the first foray of Springer into the so-called "sharing economy". In 2012 the company agreed on a strategic marketing partnership with Airbnb, an online marketplace and hospitality service, in addition to a minor investment. Uber has been touted as a success story of the so-called sharing economy, where individuals are able to borrow or rent assets owned by someone else, typically via the Internet. To riders, Uber is essentially synonymous with a cheaper type of taxi. To drivers, it acts as a referral service. Uber's app connects riders with drivers via their phone's GPS capabilities. Uber also processes all payments involved, charging the rider's credit card, taking a cut, and direct depositing the remaining money into the driver's account. Springer's investment is a rare piece of good news for Uber, a company whose recent headlines have been dominated by legal uncertainty, criticism over its business ethics and concerns over sexual harassment and discrimination. In February 2017, the hashtag #DeleteUber began trending on social media. One month later Uber co-founder and CEO Travis Kalanick admitted that he needed "leadership help" and announced on Tuesday that he is looking for a chief operating officer. Advocates of Uber point to the convenience and prize-advantage for consumers, and the possibility for workers to use their time more flexibly. A 2016 study by researchers at Arizona State University furthermore suggests that ride-sharing services such as Uber decrease traffic congestion in cities. During its rapid expansion, since it launched in 2009, the Californian startup has encountered numerous legal roadblocks as traditional taxi services fight to protect their turf. Uber continues to face legal challenges in many European countries, including Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands. In 2016 Uber sold its Uber China unit to Didi Chuxing, its former rival in Chinese market, for a 17.5 percent stake in the Chinese ride-hailing giant backed by internet giants Alibaba and Tencent. Over the past several years, Uber has lost a fortune in an unsuccessful attempt to compete with Didi Chuxing. Despite its uncertain future, at over 65 billion U.S. dollars, Uber is now potentially worth more than the stock market capitalizations of automakers BMW, GM and Honda. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 21:50:13|Editor: An Video Player Close by Yang Shilong, Wang Wen, Zhang Zhihuan NEW YORK, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Creativity will be essential for the success of China in addressing challenges such as the middle income trap in terms of adjusting the country's model of growth, said a leading U.S. expert. "If you look at the larger picture of history, China has produced an extraordinary transformation, and raised hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. It has been a great success story," said Joseph Nye, a distinguished service professor at Harvard University. "China has been quite effective in its development, the question is how it will adapt as things change," Nye said in a recent interview with Xinhua. "When circumstances change, you have problems like growing old before you grow rich; when the demographic changes, you have the problem of avoiding the middle income trap in terms of adjusting your model of growth," he said. The middle income trap refers to a theorized economic development situation where a country which attains a certain income will get stuck at that level. "These are major challenges for the Chinese party and the Chinese government. And I think the creativity with which we address (these challenges) will be essential for the success of China," he said. The political scientist who coined the famous notion of "soft power" in the 1980s said it has been appropriate for China to lower its growth target in recent years. "If we look at the larger picture of history, we also know that countries which have very high growth, such as 9 percent growth, eventually return to lower growth, which is a more normal, proper rate of growth," he said. He said his colleague Larry Summers did a study on other countries which had 10 percent growth, and found that "just through the normal processes, they go on to a growth of around 3 percent, 3.5 percent." "So even without the changes and globalization that we've mentioned, one would expect that China's growth rate would decline. Even if China grows at 3.5 percent, that's a very good growth rate," he said. "But it's not 10 percent, and it probably never will be 10 percent again." "We have to make sure that we don't confuse current politics with long-term trends and economy, and that's why it's worth having a larger historical perspective," he said. "People sometimes talk about the early stages of growth: You pick the low-hanging fruit, and gradually, it's not easy, it's harder, and then the growth rates slow down, and that would happen even without the changes and views about globalization and trade internationally," the professor said. Nye said it is crucial that the United States and China, the world's top two economies, maintain a good bilateral relationship, especially in a world that is marked by Brexit and a resurgence of populism,anti-globalization and trade protectionism. He considered Britain's leaving the European Union a mistake, noting that it will be difficult and take years to implement, and will leave Europe and Britain both weaker. Nye also expressed his concern over the upcoming French presidential election on Sunday. "If Marine Le Pen wins and takes France out of the European Union, that I think would undercut the European Union very badly. So Europe can live without Britain; it can't live without France," he said. Last week, a French poll showed that the voting intentions for France's two front-runners for the presidency, far-rightist Marine Le Pen and centrist Emmanuel Macron, were 24 percent and 23 percent respectively. Talking about the current situation in the Middle East, Nye said the region "is going through a series of revolutions, which have their roots in a rested modernization." "These revolutions take decades to work their way through, so I don't think we are likely to see stabilization in the Middle East region for quite some time, maybe decades," he added. Nye said there are voices in developed countries including the United States that are skeptical of institutions like the United Nations, the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund, but "the majority view is still supportive." The key question will be whether China and the United States can cooperate to make these institutions work effectively, he added. Nye pointed out that China-U.S. cooperation on climate change and cyber security has made real progress in recent years, which proves a stronger China-U.S. relationship will not only benefit both countries, but also help promote world peace, stability and development. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 21:55:17|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close LUSAKA, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Zambia and Ghana on Wednesday signed a joint permanent commission for cooperation agreement meant to cement cooperation ties between the two countries. Foreign Affairs Minister Harry Kalaba signed on behalf of Zambia while visiting Ghanaian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sherley Botchwey signed on behalf of her country after a meeting. The Zambian minister said the signing of the agreement was the start of the signing of more agreements to enhance cooperation between the two countries in various fields. The two countries, he said, will soon sign another agreement to waive visa requirements in an effort to enhance free movement of people by breaking down barriers. For her part, the Ghanaian minister said her country was keen to boost relations with Zambia. She said the planned signing of an agreement on visa waiver will enhance cooperation between the peoples of the two countries. She further revealed that President Nana Akuffo-Ado will visit Zambia in July this year for the official opening of this year's Zambia International Trade Fair. The two countries, she added, were planning to exploit opportunities across various sectors that will economically benefit them. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 22:15:23|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close LONDON, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Members of Parliament in the British House of Commons gave their backing Wednesday to prime minister Theresa May's call for a snap general election on June 8. MPs voted by 522 votes to just 13 to support the election which May sees as a mandate for her strategy for Britain leaving the European Union (EU). As the measure does not need approval from the House of Lords, the process of dissolving parliament next month in advance of the election will now get underway. Under current legislation, parliaments have to sit for five years before new elections take place. A two-thirds majority of MPs must agree to a move that will shorten the lifespan of a parliament. As the last general election took place just two years ago, the vote Wednesday was crucial for May. She passed the required minimum needed of 434 MPs in support, after opposition MPs, mainly from Labour and the Liberal Democrats voted in favor of an election. May has already won approval from Queen Elizabeth for the snap election. MPs, the PM said, have a window of opportunity to hold a general election before negotiations with the EU begin. May added that securing the "right deal" with Brussels for Britain is her priority. Downing Street said the June election will not affect May's Brexit timetable. May told MPs the upcoming snap election will be about leadership and stability, saying "I will be asking for the public's support to deliver my plan for a stronger Britain. The choice before us is clear, to trust the people and then let the public decide." She said a general election will provide Britain with five years of strong and stable leadership to see the country through its negotiations with the EU to make sure "we are able to make a success of the EU referendum result." "Britain is leaving the EU and there can be no turning back," said May. Critics of an early election accuse May of taking advantage of low ratings for the main opposition Labour Party. May has been insisting until days ago that she had no intention of calling an early election. Some opinion polls have put Labour more than 20 points behind the Conservatives. May will be going into the election holding 330 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons, with a working majority of 17. The main opposition Labour Party has 229 seats, but many of the party's MPs are estranged from their leader Jeremy Corbyn. May and her Brexit ministers face tough negotiations with Brussels to agree a deal for Britain after it leaves the EU. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 22:15:24|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close BANGKOK, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Thai government has decided to improve the condition of street food sales in Bangkok, said Pornchanok Amphan, a spokesperson of the Defense Ministry, on Wednesday. Pornchanok said after a meeting of a reform committee on the environment headed by Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan that authorities had already removed street vendors on some 431 locations around Bangkok to facilitate traffic flows and improve the city's cleanliness. But street vendors in Bangkok's famous Yaowarat Road, or Chinatown and Khao San road will be kept and improved as food stalls in these two roads will have unique design of Chinese style and Thai style respectively. "These measures are aimed at promoting the value of Thai food and souvenirs," the spokesperson said, according to Bangkok Post. Yaowarat, a street full of Chinese style buildings and shops, and Khao San, a street full of pubs and bars are famous tourist attractions in Bangkok. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 22:20:26|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close by Maria Spiliopoulou ATHENS, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Greece's political leadership on Wednesday expressed condolences over the deadly military helicopter crash in central Greece which killed four officers and injured another. "Our nation and the people express deep sorrow and sincere gratitude to the heroic officers who perished always defending our national security," read an e-mailed statement by the office of Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos. In another e-mailed statement, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said "The loss of four officers of the Greek armed forces in the line of duty caused great sadness to all of us. I express deep condolences, both personally and on behalf of the government and the Greek people, to their families and quick recovery to the injured officer." Similar statements were also issued by all political parties, while the Greek armed forces declared three days of mourning in its Air Force, according to a Defense Ministry announcement. On board the UH-1H military helicopter which crashed near Elassona in central Greece, about 400 kilometers north of Athens, were Major General Ioannis Tzanidakis, Colonel Thomas Adamou, Majors Dimosthenis Goulas and Konstantinos Hatzis and Sergeant Vassiliki Plexida, it was announced. Plexida survived the crash but seriously injured. She was transferred to hospital. Her relatives were informed by doctors that her life was not in danger, local media reported. The causes of the accident have still not been determined. A team of experts has been dispatched on the site to investigate the circumstances of the incident, the Defense Ministry said. According to the Defense Ministry the helicopter had been on a routine border control flight. It had departed from Larissa in central Greece and would land at Kozani city in northern Greece. It disappeared from the radar about half an hour after takeoff and was located three hours later. According to the Defense Ministry spokesman Vassilis Beletsiotis the helicopter was well maintained, all procedures were carefully followed as always before takeoff and weather conditions in the region were quite good with the exception of reported low visibility in some areas due to fog. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 22:25:28|Editor: Zhang Dongmiao Video Player Close ISLAMABAD, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Wednesday signed execution orders of 30 hardcore terrorists who were awarded death sentence by military courts, the military said. "These terrorists were involved in committing heinous offenses relating to terrorism," an army statement said. They were behind the attack on the army public school in Peshawar, kidnapping and slaughtering soldiers of security officials, attack on an airport in Swat Valley, killing of innocent civilians, attacking armed forces law enforcement agencies, the statement said. It is the first time the army chief has approved death penalty of 30 convicts on a single day. The army said the process of execution has been expedited during the ongoing anti-terror major operation codenamed "Radd-ul-Fasaa" or reject discord in English. The parliament recently extended the period of military courts for two more years after its two-year term was expired earlier this year. PARIS, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The arrest on Tuesday of two people suspected of planning "imminent and certain terrorist attacks" is stirring a new wave of fears over security as the French presidential election looms. The terrorist plot is believed to have been targeting candidates of the election, in particular the right-wing candidate Francois Fillon, local media reported. Following the arrest, security of the main candidates has been strengthened, while rallies and other political gatherings are put under close police surveillance. Several candidates, including Fillon, confirmed that they had been informed about the threat by the French Interior Ministry and had received photos of the two suspects. "I congratulate the police and the intelligence services that carried out the arrest of two terrorists. But as far as I am concerned, this does not change the organization of my campaign and, above all, it must not change the focus of the campaign debate to security issues, especially not to mine," said Fillon. The Socialist candidate Benoit Hamon said he was informed of the threat but did not want to make it part of his campaign. "We knew that the threat existed. There was an attack that was thwarted, and we should be glad of that. I do not want to politically manipulate this event which is serious enough," he said, indicating that it will not change his campaign strategies. Emmanuel Macron, centrist candidate and one of the frontrunners, reacted in the same manner, saying that he will continue "to contact, to move" in spite of the threat. Meanwhile, the far-right party National Front (FN) of another frontrunner Marine Le Pen accused its opponents of being unable to cope with the terrorist threat. "Our democracy, voting operations and election campaigns are threatened. It's been two consecutive five-year periods since we allowed the Islamist threat to flourish, and today we have come to a situation where we even wonder if electoral campaigns will still be possible tomorrow," said Florian Philippot, Vice President of the FN. The arrest came just a few days before French voters head to the first round of polls on Sunday. The two suspects, 24 and 30 years old respectively, are believed to be radicalized while sharing a cell during a jail term for public offences, and were on the watch list of the police. During a restricted council at the Elysee on Wednesday, French President Francois Hollande reiterated that "all the right means must be mobilized" to ensure the smooth running of the election. "The terrorist risk is higher than ever," said French Interior Minister Matthias Fekl, adding that the two suspects were planning to commit an attack on the French territory in the coming days. Fekl also announced that 50,000 policemen, gendarmes and military personnel will be deployed to safeguard each round of the election. The new arrest has extended the lengthy list of thwarted terror attacks in France in recent years. In 2016, 17 attacks were thwarted, and 420 individuals linked to terrorist networks were arrested in France thanks to operations of the intelligence services, according to then Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve. On Feb. 3, a 29-year-old Egyptian was shot near the Louvre Museum while trying to attack soldiers with a machete. In an interview last year, then French prime minister Manuel Valls revealed that nearly 700 French nationals or residents were fighting in Iraq and Syria, including "275 women and dozens of children." The returns of these jihadists could mean that more terror attacks are in store for France, he warned. BERLIN, April 19 (Xinhua) -- In a letter to the employees on Wednesday, Tesla owner Elon Musk guaranteed all existing jobs of German technological supplier Grohmann Engineering located in Pruem, Rhineland-Palatinate, for at least five years. He criticized German Industrial Union IG Metall for not sharing Tesla's "mission" of a transition towards sustainable energy. This follows a dispute between the IG Metall and Tesla about the wage levels that are 25 to 30 percent lower than the union rate, according to Work Council chairman Uwe Herzig. IG Metall demands negotiations of a collective labor agreement and job security. Tesla's offer of a monthly wage raise of 150 euros (160.5 U.S. dollars) was seemed not sufficient. "We have not received a satisfactory reply from the company (Tesla)," a Union spokesperson said, adding "we will evaluate whether work strikes are possible." A Tesla representative stated that the company is "prepared in the event, there is an action initiated by the union." Musk announced negotiations with the work council "to ensure that the wage of each individual employee is competitive in the market." In the letter, Musk also states that each employee will receive a bonus of 1,000 euros and Tesla shares worth 10,000 dollars to be distributed quarterly over the next four years. He promised the opportunity for the employees of Tesla Grohmann Automation to "earn significantly more than common in the industry." Grohmann Engineering, renamed Tesla Grohmann Automation after the takeover in January 2017, plays a vital part for the future of the electric car manufacturer, supplying automated production modules. The automated machines are used for the production of Tesla car models, among others, the Tesla Model 3 that is scheduled to enter the market in summer 2017. Grohmann will end the collaboration with all other companies, such as Daimler, and will exclusively supply Tesla. The resulting economic dependence on Tesla had raised the issue of long-term job security. COPENHAGEN, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The Court of Aalborg in Denmark decided on Wednesday to extradite Chung Yoo-ra, the daughter of a longtime confidante of former South Korean President Park Geun-hye in spite of her appeal. "The conditions for the extradition are fulfilled," judge Ole Hoeyer was quoted by Danish news agency Ritzau as saying. The ruling was immediately appealed to the High Court of Denmark by Chung's defense lawyer Michael Juul Eriksen, according to Ritzau. That means Chung, 20, who has been in police custody in Denmark since January, will remain in custody until the High Court of Denmark can hear the case. Denmark's public prosecution office decided on March 17 to extradite Chung, but the ruling was appealed by her. Chung was arrested by Denmark's North Jutland Police on Jan. 1 at the request of Interpol. Her mother Choi Soon-sil is charged with using her friendship with Park to extort funds from large businesses and meddling in state affairs. Chung is alleged to have received illegal favors when entering a prestigious South Korean university. She is also accused of being behind economic crimes in collusion with her mother. PHNOM PENH, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian police destroyed 25,325 marijuana plants in southern Takeo province during raids on Wednesday, the National Police website reported. Police raided on 77 different locations in Kiri Vong district's Preah Bat Chonchum commune, along the Vietnamese border, and seized the cannabis, as the growers had escaped, said Yuk Saran, police chief of Kiri Vong district. "Some 25,325 cannabis plants in 77 locations were cut down and set on fire," he was quoted as saying by the National Police website. In February, police also destroyed more than 40,000 marijuana plants in the same commune. The crackdown was part of the six-month anti-illicit drug campaign that the Southeast Asian nation launched on January 1, 2017. According to government figures, some 6,132 people were arrested in 2,677 drug-related cases during the first three months of the campaign. NEW DELHI, April 19 (Xinhua) -- India's environmental court National Green Tribunal (NGT) Wednesday ordered an immediate closure of all industries around Bellandur lake in southern state of Karnataka, officials said. The lake situated in the city of Bengaluru is highly polluted. "The court said all the industries located in the vicinity of Bellandur lake discharging effluents are hereby directed to be closed," an official said. " As per directive, no industry will be permitted to operate unless inspection is conducted and analysis of effluent is found to be within the permissible limits." The court ordered the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) to enforce the directive and seal industries that are found to be operating in violating the directions. The court slammed local civic bodies for dumping of any kind of municipal solid waste around the lake and ordered them to impose penalties to violators. In February garbage dumped in the lake and wild grass that has grown inside it caught fire, letting off thick clouds of smoke and spewing ash in the nearby area. The lake is heavily polluted as untreated sewage and pollutants get discharged in it. Expert said the polluted water emanate an obnoxious stench round the clock as sustained inflow of pollutants have increased beyond the lake's assimilative capacity and over the years has led to nutrient enrichment and profuse growth of macrophytes and algae in it. For past few days, the white toxic spume rises from the lake and floats in the air, thereby obstructing the commuting movements of pedestrians and motorcyclists. French presidential election candidate Francois Fillon addresses a meeting in Paris, France, on March 21, 2017. (Xinhua/Hubert Lechat) PARIS, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The arrest on Tuesday of two people suspected of planning "imminent and certain terrorist attacks" is stirring a new wave of fears over security as the French presidential election looms. The terrorist plot is believed to have been targeting candidates of the election, in particular the right-wing candidate Francois Fillon, local media reported. Following the arrest, security of the main candidates has been strengthened, while rallies and other political gatherings are put under close police surveillance. Several candidates, including Fillon, confirmed that they had been informed about the threat by the French Interior Ministry and had received photos of the two suspects. "I congratulate the police and the intelligence services that carried out the arrest of two terrorists. But as far as I am concerned, this does not change the organization of my campaign and, above all, it must not change the focus of the campaign debate to security issues, especially not to mine," said Fillon. The Socialist candidate Benoit Hamon said he was informed of the threat but did not want to make it part of his campaign. "We knew that the threat existed. There was an attack that was thwarted, and we should be glad of that. I do not want to politically manipulate this event which is serious enough," he said, indicating that it will not change his campaign strategies. Emmanuel Macron, centrist candidate and one of the frontrunners, reacted in the same manner, saying that he will continue "to contact, to move" in spite of the threat. Meanwhile, the far-right party National Front (FN) of another frontrunner Marine Le Pen accused its opponents of being unable to cope with the terrorist threat. "Our democracy, voting operations and election campaigns are threatened. It's been two consecutive five-year periods since we allowed the Islamist threat to flourish, and today we have come to a situation where we even wonder if electoral campaigns will still be possible tomorrow," said Florian Philippot, Vice President of the FN. The arrest came just a few days before French voters head to the first round of polls on Sunday. The two suspects, 24 and 30 years old respectively, are believed to be radicalized while sharing a cell during a jail term for public offences, and were on the watch list of the police. During a restricted council at the Elysee on Wednesday, French President Francois Hollande reiterated that "all the right means must be mobilized" to ensure the smooth running of the election. "The terrorist risk is higher than ever," said French Interior Minister Matthias Fekl, adding that the two suspects were planning to commit an attack on the French territory in the coming days. Fekl also announced that 50,000 policemen, gendarmes and military personnel will be deployed to safeguard each round of the election. The new arrest has extended the lengthy list of thwarted terror attacks in France in recent years. In 2016, 17 attacks were thwarted, and 420 individuals linked to terrorist networks were arrested in France thanks to operations of the intelligence services, according to then Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve. On Feb. 3, a 29-year-old Egyptian was shot near the Louvre Museum while trying to attack soldiers with a machete. In an interview last year, then French prime minister Manuel Valls revealed that nearly 700 French nationals or residents were fighting in Iraq and Syria, including "275 women and dozens of children." The returns of these jihadists could mean that more terror attacks are in store for France, he warned. LONDON, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Three people were injured in an explosion at a house in the north part of the city on Wednesday, local police confirmed. One man sustained serious burns and an officer got injury on his arm. The cause of the explosion is not yet known. Police said there have been no arrests. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 23:40:53|Editor: MJ Video Player Close Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC), meets with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk, Belarus, April 18, 2017. Zhang paid an official goodwill visit to Belarus on April 16-18. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing) MINSK, April 19 (Xinhua) -- China's top legislator Zhang Dejiang pledged to cement the all-round strategic partnership with Belarus during his three-day official goodwill visit to the country on April 16-18. During his meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Zhang said the decision of Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Lukashenko in 2016 to forge a comprehensive strategic partnership featuring mutual trust and win-win cooperation was an all-round blueprint and had upgraded bilateral ties. "My current trip aimed to implement the consensus of the two state leaders, and facilitate rapid growth of ties at a high level," said Zhang, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC). China hopes to make the 25th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties this year a new starting point to strengthen political trust and strategic coordination, develop an all-weather friendship, expand all-round cooperation and build a community of shared interests and future, he said. The two countries firmly support each other on issues regarding respective core interests and major concerns, which serves as a solid foundation for their bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership, Zhang said. "China will continue to support Belarus' independent domestic and foreign policy as well as its choice of a development path that suits its national conditions," he added. Lukashenko, for his part, said Belarus will always be China's close friend and partner, vowing to boost friendly exchanges and political trust with China and enhance cooperation in such areas as investment, finance and tourism. When meeting with Belarusian Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov, Zhang said China considers Belarus as an important partner in the Belt and Road Initiative, urging the two sides to step up cooperation under the initiative, identify priority sectors for combining their development strategies, make full use of bilateral cooperation mechanisms, and draw plans for key areas and priorities of cooperation. Proposed by China in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative is a massive economic and trade project for common development and prosperity in countries along its routes in Asia, Europe and Africa. Zhang praised the progress of the China-Belarus Industrial Park, calling on both sides to facilitate pragmatic cooperation in various areas. Kobyakov said it is a common aspiration of both sides to deepen win-win cooperation, adding Belarus attaches great importance to the building of the industrial park, and hopes to expand investment and trade of high-tech and high value-added products, and offer a sound environment for the implementation of bilateral cooperation projects. Zhang also held talks with Chairman Mikhail Myasnikovich of the Belarusian Council of the Republic (the upper house of the National Assembly of Belarus), and Chairman Vladimir Andreichenko of the House of Representatives (the lower house of the National Assembly of Belarus). Calling the two countries' legislative bodies firm supporters and builders of the China-Belarus friendship, Zhang hoped both sides would maintain a sound momentum for cooperation, share governance experience, improve the legal environment for win-win cooperation, and boost cooperation in such areas as education and culture. Echoing Zhang's proposals, Myasnikovich and Andreichenko said Belarus hopes to learn from China's experience, and facilitate substantial cooperation and exchanges between legislative bodies. Zhang and the two chairmen signed a joint statement concerning cooperation between the NPC and the National Assembly of Belarus. They visited the China-Belarus Indrustrial Park, which was named Great Stone. Zhang said it was important to improve the investment environment and management, as well as speed up investment attraction, encouraging companies from both sides to make the park a highlight of bilateral cooperation. Zhang also visited the Belarusian State Museum of the Great Patriotic War, and laid a wreath at the Victory Monument in Minsk. Zhang arrived in Belarus after visiting Latvia and Lithuania. He will fly to Moscow to continue his four-nation trip. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 23:40:54|Editor: MJ Video Player Close PARIS, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The new premises of the Chinese Embassy here was officially put into use on Wednesday, after a seven-year design and construction process. The embassy held a flag-raising ceremony at its new location at 20 Rue Monsieur in the seventh arrondissement of Paris to mark the transition. Addressing the ceremony, Chinese Ambassador to France Zhai Jun said that the transformation of the premises of the embassy in different periods embodies the history of Chinese diplomacy, and reflects the significant development in the country. The new premises are a perfect combination of artistry and culture of China and France, said the ambassador, adding it symbolizes the close ties between the two countries, and serves as a new window of the "major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics." The new property, near several French government institutions and museums, was purchased by the embassy in December 2012, and was inaugurated on Sept. 26, 2016 in the presence of high-level officials from both countries. The old premises, located on George V Avenue, will remain part of the embassy and will undertake certain new functions after renovation. KIEV, April 19 (Xinhua) -- An international business council, uniting business associations and chambers of commerce from six countries, was set up in Ukraine on Wednesday. Representatives of China, the United States, Germany, Turkey, France and Ukraine signed a memorandum on establishing a joint business council at the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UCCI) in Kiev. While addressing the ceremony, UCCI President Gennady Chizhikov said that the main aim of the newly-created business platform is to improve the business environment in Ukraine. "Our goals are to improve the conditions for self-rule of business in Ukraine, intensify and strengthen the dialogue between the businesses and the government in Ukraine, and protect the business interests of foreign and domestic investors in Ukraine," Chizhikov said. The improvement of the business environment will attract fresh investment in Ukraine and contribute to the development of the country's economy, he added. Meanwhile, Olexandr Danyleyko, head of the economic cooperation department at Ukraine's Foreign Ministry, said the government strongly supports the creation of the international business council in Ukraine. "This is a very important step. ... It creates new chances that the voice of business will be heard by the government and by the international partners," Danyleyko said. In the near future, business associations from Britain and Austria are expected to join the newly-established business council. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-19 23:50:56|Editor: Zhang Dongmiao Scottish National Party (SNP) leader and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon (R, front) speaks outside the houses of Parliament with deputy SNP leader Angus Robertson in London, Britain, on April 19, 2017. Members of Parliament in the British House of Commons gave their backing Wednesday to prime minister Theresa May's call for a snap general election on June 8. (Xinhua/Tim Ireland) LONDON, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Members of Parliament (MPs) in the British House of Commons gave their backing Wednesday to Prime Minister Theresa May's call for a snap general election on June 8. MPs voted by 522 votes to 13 to support the election which May sees as a mandate for her strategy for Britain leaving the European Union (EU). As the measure does not need approval from the House of Lords, the process of dissolving parliament next month in advance of the election will get underway. Under current legislation, parliaments have to sit for five years before new elections take place. A two-thirds majority of MPs must agree to a move that will shorten the lifespan of a parliament. As the last general election took place just two years ago, the vote was crucial for May. She passed the required minimum needed of 434 MPs in support, after opposition MPs, mainly from Labour and the Liberal Democrats, voted in favor of an election. May has already won approval from Queen Elizabeth for the snap election. MPs, the PM said, have a window of opportunity to hold a general election before negotiations with the EU begin. May added that securing the "right deal" with Brussels for Britain is her priority. Downing Street said the June election will not affect May's Brexit timetable. May told MPs the upcoming snap election will be about leadership and stability, saying: "I will be asking for the public's support to deliver my plan for a stronger Britain. The choice before us is clear: to trust the people and then let the public decide." She said a general election will provide Britain with five years of strong and stable leadership to see the country through its negotiations with the EU to make sure "we are able to make a success of the EU referendum result." "Britain is leaving the EU and there can be no turning back," asserted the British PM. Critics of an early election accuse May of taking advantage of low ratings for the main opposition Labour Party. May has been insisting until days ago that she had no intention of calling an early election. Some opinion polls have put Labour more than 20 points behind the Conservatives. May will be going into the election holding 330 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons, with a working majority of 17. The main opposition Labour Party has 229 seats, but many of the party's MPs are estranged from their leader Jeremy Corbyn. May and her Brexit ministers face tough negotiations with Brussels to agree a deal for Britain after it leaves the EU. In her speech on Tuesday at the door of 10 Downing Street, May made it clear why she wanted an early election. She said: "At this moment of enormous national significance there should be unity in Westminster, but instead there is division. The country is coming together, but Westminster is not." "Our opponents believe that because the government's majority is so small, our resolve will weaken and that they can force us to change course. They are wrong," she said. There has been widespread public support for Monday's decision, while political experts have given mixed responses. Professor Martin Smith, head of the University of York's Department of Politics, said: "With a large Conservative majority, the government will be able to get through any Brexit deal. Of course, there are going to be several difficulties for the Conservatives in the election campaign including the impact on Scotland and the potential for a second referendum, and a focus in the campaign on what sort of post-EU Britain the Conservatives want." Senior lecturer in politics at the University of York, Dr. Sofia Vasilopoulou, said: "It is a good opportunity to put Conservative party divisions on ice in the interest of winning the general election. The election will be dominated by Brexit, and the Labour Party will have to finally clarify its position." MOSCOW, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Interior Ministry is investigating whether the suspected organizer of the St. Petersburg metro explosion Azimov Abror Akhralovich acquired Russian citizenship legally, the ministry said Wednesday. "Currently, with regard to this issue, we are checking the validity and legality of his acquisition of Russian citizenship," Valentina Kazakova, deputy head of the Main Directorate for Migration of the Russian Interior Ministry, was quoted as saying at a briefing by Russian media. Kazakova said that a legal assessment of the "entire procedure" will be conducted, and the deprivation of Russian citizenship will be carried out in case that false information has been provided. The suspect, a Central Asian native born in 1990, was detained on Monday in the Odintsovo District of the Moscow Region, Russia's Federal Security Service said in a statement. Moscow's Basmanny district court on Tuesday authorized the arrest of the suspect, who said earlier in the day that his involvement in the blast was not direct, specifying that he was "given an order" and was unaware he was complicit in terrorist activities. A blast hit the St. Petersburg subway on April 3, killing 14 people and injuring over 50 others. The Russian Investigative Committee has launched a criminal case over the terrorist act. Earlier this month, six people in St. Petersburg and two others in Moscow were detained for suspected involvement in the attack. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-20 00:11:05|Editor: MJ Video Player Close Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi co-chairs the seventh China-EU high-level strategic dialogue with EU high representative for foreign affairs and vice president of the European Commission Federica Mogherini in Beijing, China, April 19, 2017. (Xinhua/Zhang Ling) BEIJING, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Senior officials of China and the European Union (EU) agreed Wednesday to enhance coordination on global issues, continue to promote improvement to global governance and work together for more inclusive, balanced, sustainable globalization. Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi co-chaired the seventh China-EU high-level strategic dialogue with EU high representative for foreign affairs and vice president of the European Commission Federica Mogherini. Both sides agreed to work with each other on the Hamburg G20 Summit, the Paris Agreement on climate change, and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, according to a press release published by the Chinese side. The EU supports and will actively participate in the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation scheduled for mid-May in Beijing, said the press release, adding that both sides will speed up preparations for the annual China-EU summit. China and the EU agreed to deepen cooperation in trade, investment, innovation, people-to-people exchanges and other areas. China urged the EU to fulfill its obligations under Article 15 of the protocol on China's accession to the WTO at an early date so as to give a positive signal on backing a free and open multilateral trading system. In accordance with Article 15, WTO members should cease the surrogate country approach in anti-dumping investigations on China after Dec. 11, 2016, which expires exactly 15 years after China's admission. The EU side said they attach importance to China's concerns, will abide by the WTO rules and has started legal amendment procedures. The two sides also had an in-depth exchange of views on Syria, the Iranian nuclear issue, the Korean Peninsula situation and other affairs. Mogherini said that the EU is ready to enhance coordination with China. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-20 00:16:06|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BOGOTA, April 19 (Xinhua) -- At least 11 people were killed in landslides in central-western Colombia on Wednesday, according to local authorities. Another 20 people were missing in the landslides that destroyed several homes in a neighborhood of Manizales city, the authorities said. The incident happened less than three weeks after flooding and mudslides provoked by heavy downpours hit the southern Colombian town of Mocoa, killing more than 300 people. President Juan Manuel Santos is expected to visit the disaster zone later Wednesday. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-20 00:26:09|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close NAIROBI, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's exports in 2016 declined by 2.9 percent as compared to 2015 to hit 5.611 billion U.S. dollars, official data released on Wednesday shows. According to the 2017 Economic Survey, the marginal drop in exports was attributed to a 12 percent drop in re-exports. "The decline in re-exports was attributed to a contraction in the re-exports of petroleum and manufactured articles into the East African region," says the survey. The economic survey provides detailed information on socio-economic indicators in agriculture, environment and natural resources, manufacturing, public finance, Transport, building and construction sectors for 2016. Tea, horticulture, textile and apparel, coffee emerged as the leading export earners jointly accounting for 56.7 percent of total exports. Total imports also reduced from 15.3 billion dollars in 2015, to hit 13.89 billion dollars in 2016 largely as a result of lower international oil prices as well as reduced transport equipment acquisitions. The findings showed that improved export unit prices of manufactured goods coupled with declined unit prices of mineral fuels resulted in a reduced trade deficit. Africa maintained its lead as the largest destination of Kenya exports, absorbing 40.6 percent of all exports, while Europe and Asia accounted for 24.5 percent and 24.3 percent respectively. The East African Community trading bloc accounted for approximately half of total exports to Africa. The 2017 economic survey showed that main source of imports was Asia which accounted for 66.8 percent of all import merchandise. Imports from Asia also consisted of equipment and material for the construction of the Standard Gauge Railway. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-20 00:26:10|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BEIJING, April 19 (Xinhua) -- China's environment watchdog on Wednesday urged local authorities in Hebei and Tianjin to clean up sewage pits after media reports revealed massive pollution. Pictures of the contaminated pools went viral on Tuesday after a report from an environment organization disclosed the pollution. The Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) said it has sent two investigations teams to look at the sewage pits and ordered local authorities to intensify monitoring of water and soil in and around the polluted pools. According to Dacheng County in Hebei Province, where two reportedly polluted pools -- 170,000 square meters and 30,000 square meters -- were formed by years of digging, illegal dumping of waste acid in 2013 contaminated water and soil in the areas. Dacheng authorities have started to treat the pollution but have not yet finished the work, according to the MEP statement. Two treatment firms were contracted to bring water quality back to normal, but they both failed, according to the county government of Dacheng. Dacheng has set aside 38 million yuan (5.59 million U.S. dollars) to treat the pits in 2017. The investigation team demanded the Dacheng government speed up the clean-up. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-20 00:36:13|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close THE HAGUE, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Wednesday indicated provisional measures that the Russia Federation must "refrain from maintaining or imposing limitations on the ability of the Crimean Tatar community to conserve its representative institutions including the Mejlis" and "ensure the availability of education in the Ukraine language" in Crimea. These two provisional measures were indicated on the request submitted by Ukraine in January. Ukraine had asked for many more measures as it accused Russia of violating both the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism (ICSFT) and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discriminations (CERD). "The conditions required for the indication of provisional measures in respects of the rights alleged by Ukraine on the basis of the ICSFT are not met," said the ICJ. For the ICJ, the banning of Mejlis, a Crimean Tatar elected representative body considered as extremist organization by Moscow, and the alleged restrictions on the educational rights of ethnic Ukrainians fulfill the condition to request the indication of provisional measures. In its release, the ICJ said that it is not called upon, for the purposes of its decision on the request for the indication of provisional measures, to establish the existence of breaches, but to determine whether the circumstances require the indication of provisional measures for the protection of rights. "Both parties shall refrain from any action which might aggravate or extend the dispute before the court or make it more difficult to resolve," said the Court. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-20 00:36:14|Editor: MJ Video Player Close TAIPEI, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of people in Taiwan joined a march to protest against proposed pension reforms on Tuesday and Wednesday. Most of the protestors are retired military personnel, public servants and teachers, who are expected to see their pension benefits greatly shrink if the proposal is approved. They chanted slogans such as "Fake reform" and "Administrators are incapable" while marching around the building of the legislative body at around 3 p.m. Tuesday. Their demonstration continued until Wednesday afternoon following an overnight sleepover protest. The pension reforms were formally discussed by Taiwan authorities when the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) took office in May 2016. The plans delay the age at which a full pension can be drawn from 60 until 65 and gradually increase the insurance premium by about 6 percent. The ending of pension benefits for military personnel, public servants and teachers is also under consideration, activating strong opposition from the three groups. A committee meeting to review the proposed reform bills was scheduled on Wednesday, leading to a new round of protests from Tuesday. About 2,000 police officers were mobilized and barricades erected around the legislature building. "The DPP knew nothing. They did not hear from experts but only invited some irrelevant people to join the meeting. We want justice and a fair and open discussion, even if we must pay back all our pension. But the way they are doing it now is unacceptable," a retired primary school teacher, surnamed Lee, told Xinhua. Harry Lee, president of the civil servants association in Taiwan, said the DPP administration deliberately created clashes between generations and people from different occupations, causing alienation between the young and the old, ordinary workers and military personnel, public servants and teachers, which is "totally absurd." "It's not that the pensions of military staff, public servants and teachers are too high, but the amount of money workers get is too low. It is wicked political manipulation that the administrators attribute the financial woes to these people rather than reflecting on their inability to administer and lift the economy," he said. A cargo vessel is anchored at a container dock of the bonded port area in Qinzhou, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, April 13, 2017. (Xinhua/Shen Hong) MOSCOW, April 19 (Xinhua) -- A cargo ship with 12 crew members on board has sank in the Black Sea some 14 nautical miles (about 26 km) off Russia's coast, and so far only one crew member was rescued, the Russian Emergency Ministry said Wednesday. The 114-m long vessel, Heroes of Arsenal, carrying the flag of Panama left the Russian port of Azov with a grain cargo and was on its way to Turkey, when the shipwreck occurred in the early hours of Wednesday, the ministry's Crimea division said in a statement. The crew consisted of nine Ukrainians, two Russians and one Georgian, it said. The ministry has started a rescue operation, but the fate of other crew members remained unknown. The statement said the operation was complicated by a storm raging in the region of the wreck. Russian media quoted sources in law enforcement agencies in previous reports as saying that three members of the ship's crew had been rescued, but this has not been officially confirmed. By David Musyoka NAIROBI, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Sub-Saharan Africa should implement right policies that make investment in infrastructure more efficient to help spur economic growth in the region, the World Bank said on Wednesday. According to the new Africa's Pulse, a biannual analysis of African economies conducted by the World Bank, if inefficiencies are addressed, public and private investment in infrastructure could be a strategic tool for poverty reduction and economic development. Punam Chuhan-Pole, Lead Economist in the Africa Region at the World Bank and author of the report, said public-private partnerships in Sub-Saharan Africa remain a very small market, with projects concentrated in only a few countries, namely, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda. "The analysis shows that the impact of public investment on economic growth can be improved if countries implement policies that make public investment more efficient," Chuhan-Pole said during the launch of the report in Nairobi. "There is evidence that countries with sound public investment management systems tend to have even more private investment," she added. The report says improving the institutions and procedures governing project appraisal, selection, and monitoring are among the policies countries should implement to ensure they have a sound public investment system. The World Bank said sub-Saharan Africa experienced a slowdown in investment growth from nearly 8 percent in 2014 to 0.6 percent in 2015, adding that this sluggish investment has coincided with a sharp deceleration in economic growth in Africa. It says infrastructure is particularly important since the continent ranks at the bottom of all developing regions in nearly all dimensions of performance. The report analyzes trends in infrastructure quantity, quality and access; explores the relationship between infrastructure growth and economic growth in the region; documents stylized facts on public investment in the region; and examines the quality of infrastructure spending. The World Bank said Sub-Saharan Africa has made great progress in telecommunications coverage in the past 25 years, expanding at a fast pace across both low- and middle-income countries in the continent. Access to safe water has also increased, from 51 percent of the population in 1990 to 77 percent in 2015. "But the challenges that remain are vast and deeply ingrained. For example, little progress has been made in per capita electricity-generating capacity in over two decades," the Pulse says. Only 35 percent of the population has access to electricity, with rural access rates less than one-third urban ones. Transport infrastructure is likewise lagging with Sub-Saharan Africa being the only region in the world where road density has declined over the past 20 years. The growth effects of narrowing Sub-Saharan Africa's infrastructure quantity and quality gap are potentially large. For instance, growth of GDP per capita for the region would increase by an estimated 1.7 percent percentage points per year if it were to close the gap with the median of the rest of the developing world. "Closing the infrastructure quantity and quality gap relative to the best performers in the world could increase growth of GDP per capita by 2.6 percent per year," the report says. It reveals that the largest potential growth benefits would come from closing the gap in electricity-generating capacity. According to granular budget data collected by the BOOST initiative for 24 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, annual public spending on infrastructure was 2 percent of GDP in 2009-15. Roads accounted for two-thirds of overall infrastructure investments in the region. Capital spending on electricity and water supply and sanitation each accounted for 15 percent of total capital expenditures. ARUSHA, Tanzania, April 19 (Xinhua) -- At least 258 doctors and 11 health officers from Tanzania who had been recruited for employment in Kenya will now be employed in Tanzania's public hospitals, the government announced Wednesday. The move follows Kenya's Employment and Labor Relations Court's temporary order, barring the government from hiring foreign doctors. Kenya was in the process of hiring 500 doctors from Tanzania to help address the shortage of health workers and also mitigate effects of the doctors' strike in the country. The decision was made after senior Ministry of Health officials from Kenya led by Cabinet Secretary Cleopa Mailu held talks with Tanzania's President John Magufuli. President Magufuli said the government accepted Kenya's request for Tanzanian doctors due to the cordial relationship between the two countries. Following the deal, Tanzania invited doctors to apply for the positions. Successful applicants will get a two-year contract. Addressing a press conference in Dodoma, Tanzania's minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, Seniors and Children, Ummy Mwalimu said President John Magufuli directed her that following the stalemate in Kenya, the doctors should be employed to serve in the public hospitals in the country. She said after the president accepted Kenya's request, on 18th March this year, her ministry advertised for doctors who were interested in submitting application letters of which 496 doctors applied. The minister added that after scrutiny, it was realized that only 258 doctors met the criteria that were set for the two years contract. According to Mwalimu, the requirements include verification of professional and secondary schools certificates. She further explained that the applicants were also required to states colleges where they studied and year of graduation, where they attended internship and when they completed the programme. Other requirements include experience, age not exceeding 55 years, registration at the medical council of Tanganyika and not public servant. "While the government was finalizing procedures to send the health practitioners to Kenya, some five doctors from the country logged legal complaint, blocking their government from hiring our doctors," said the minister. The minister said the agreement between the two countries was that the whole process was to be completed by 6th April 2017 and the doctors would travel to the neighboring country between 6th and 10th of the same month. "Unfortunately up to that date the Kenyan court had not made any ruling on the matter and President John Magufuli has decided that all those doctors be employed in the country immediately," she added. She clarified that the names of the doctors and eleven others officers who were to go to Kenya and new working stations will be announced in the ministry website. However, the minister maintained that the government will be ready to work on Kenya's request to hire 500 doctors from Tanzania if there will be no other such hindrances to do so. DAR ES SALAAM, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank on Wednesday advised Tanzania to increase investments in infrastructure to promote the already impressive economic growth. Albert Zeufack, the World Bank's Chief Economist for the Africa Region, said although the east African nation's economic growth was impressive, yet the country should improve both soft and hard infrastructure. Zeufack was speaking in a teleconference at the launch of the Bank's new report Africa's Pulse, from the World Bank headquarters in Washington, D.C. The economist said Tanzania was among seven countries in Africa that continued to exhibit economic resilience, supported by domestic demand as well as posting an annual growth rate above 5.4 percent in the past two years. He mentioned other countries in Africa with economic resilience as Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Rwanda and Senegal. "These countries have nearly 27 per cent of the region's population and account for 13 per cent of the region's total gross domestic product (GDP)," said Zeufack. Last week, the World Bank said with strong and consistent growth rates of 6-7 percent, Tanzania has outperformed its east African neighbors of Kenya and Uganda. "Tanzania's growth rates continue to outperform her East African neighbors," said Bella Bird, World Bank Country Director for Tanzania, Burundi, Malawi, and Somalia, at the launch of the World Bank's 9th edition of the Tanzania Economic Update earlier, a series that provide regular review of the economy. Speaking at the launch of the economic update in Dar es Salaam, Bird said by contrast Tanzania remains one of three economies in sub-Saharan Africa, together with Rwanda and Ethiopia, that continue to exhibit resilience in this challenging external environment. Overall, she said, the Tanzanian economy has shown resilience amid flagging growth in sub-Saharan Africa in 2016, adding that Tanzania. The bank said in its economic update similarly the poverty level in Tanzania has significantly declined from 60 percent to 47 percent based on 1.90 U.S. dollar per day global poverty line. "The broad story of Tanzania's growth and poverty reduction over the past decade is now well known," the bank said in the update. LAGOS, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The Nigerian government has promised more efforts toward strengthening the whistle blowing policy in the country, an official said Wednesday. Presidential spokesperson Garba Shehu said in a statement made available to Xinhua in Lagos, Nigeria's economic hub that the evidence followed breakthrough recorded in the war against corruption and unaccounted wealth. He said the enthusiastic response of Nigerians to the whistle blowing policy has boosted the tempo of the anti -corruption crusade of the Buhari administration and as a consequence, the government is considering ways of enhancing the structural capacity of the whistle blowing mechanism. The government, he said, is considering empowering the mechanism by either bringing it under the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) or some other body to imbue the process with a strategic national purpose. He commended the zeal and patriotism of Nigerians for responding positively to the whistle blowing incentive policy, which is intended to expose hidden looted funds. Nigeria's anti-graft police recently discovered 43.4 million U.S. dollars in various denominations in an apartment in Ikoyi, Lagos, The legitimate ownership of the funds has continued to generate arguments. RABAT, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Morocco will get the first high-speed train in Africa in the summer of 2018, the national rail operator ONCF announced on Wednesday. The work on the TGV, "high-speed train" in French, has achieved 86 percent, said Mohamed Rabie Khlie, the director general of ONCF, during an international meeting on train safety held in the northern city of Tangier. The official said Morocco doubled the investment dedicated to the development of its trains and railways in the last decade, which reached 3.4 billion U.S. dollars between 2010 and 2015. Since the beginning of the year, the French-made double-decker TGVs have being tested ahead of the launch of a flagship new line linking the Mediterranean city of Tangier with Morocco's financial capital Casablanca. The new trains, which can reach a speed of 200 miles per hour, will reduce journey time between the two cities from five hours to about two hours. The 2-billion-dollar project has been in development for a decade, financed by numerous partners, including Morocco, France, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE. PRAGUE, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Czech President Milos Zeman said the general election for the legislature will be held on Oct. 20 and 21, Zeman's spokesman Jiri Ovcacek said Wednesday. According to Czech constitution, Zeman must call the election at least 90 days before it is held and the election must be held 30 days before the four-year term ends, which this time is before Oct. 26, 2017. Parties will have to submit their lists of candidates before Aug. 15. Regional offices and Prague City Hall will make a decision on which of the parties and movements will be allowed to run in the election by Sept. 1. The campaign for the general election will start on Oct. 4, 2017. VIENNA, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Austrian interior minister Wolfgang Sobotka Wednesday called for the closure of the Mediterranean migration route to asylum seekers, when speaking to Deutsche Presse-Agentur. "Rescue on the open seas cannot be a ticket to Europe, because it gives organized smugglers every argument to continue to persuade people to flee for economic reasons," he said. The minister said it was not yet possible to determine how many asylum seekers would attempt the trip to Europe in the coming warmer months. Austria is, however, in close contact with neighboring Italy, and can thus react to any eventualities. "In case of a sudden influx we would be equipped and able to ramp up our border protection within hours," he said referring to the potential closure of the Brenner Pass on Austria's shared border with Italy. The comments come on the back of Sobotka's strong support of a closure of the Balkans migration route. Sobotka argued that only a joint European effort to protect the EU outer borders would be effective. "Only in this way can the tragic and senseless deaths in the Mediterranean see an end," he added. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-20 03:17:07|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close WASHINGTON, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The White House on Wednesday denied that it misled the public about the whereabouts of a U.S. aircraft carrier heading toward the Korean Peninsula. "The president said that we have an armada going towards the peninsula. That's a fact. It happened. It is happening, rather," said White House spokesman Sean Spicer at a briefing. In a statement released on April 9, the U.S. Navy announced that the USS Carl Vinson strike group was directed to skip a previously planned port visit to Australia and to sail north from Singapore. Speaking at Fox Business Network days after the Pentagon announcement, U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed that the United States was "sending an armada," referring to the USS Carl Vinson strike group. The Navy announcement came amid increased tension on the Korean Peninsula as U.S. media reports speculated about a preemptive U.S. strike on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Though the announcement did not explicitly say that the Carl Vinson would immediately steam north toward the Korean Peninsula, U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis did tell reporters that the Carl Vinson was "on her way up there." "She (Carl Vinson) operates freely up and down the Pacific, and she's just on her way up there because that's where we thought it was most prudent to have her at this time," said Mattis on April 11. However, on Saturday, when the DPRK showcased its military muscles during celebrations marking the 105th birth anniversary of DPRK founder Kim Il Sung, the Carl Vinson was sailing in the opposite direction, participating in a joint exercise with the Australian Navy in the Indian Ocean. According to a photograph released by the U.S. Navy, the Carl Vinson was transiting the Sunda Strait on Saturday. PARIS, April 19 (Xinhua) -- France will bring "in a few days" evidence proving that the Syrian government "knowingly" used fatal gas in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun earlier this month, Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Wednesday. "We have elements that will allow us to show that the regime knowingly used chemical weapons," Ayrault told LCP television. "In few days, we will prove that the regime has organized these strikes," he added. A report of the Syrian Observatory for Human Right said 87 people were killed, among them many children, on April 4 in a toxic gas attack by Syrian warplanes on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in the country's northwestern province of Idlib. Damascus has repeatedly denied possession of any chemical weapons. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad described the report on suspected use of chemical arms as "100 percent fabrication" to justify western powers' strikes against the regime. In a report released on Wednesday, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said analyses' results indicated the victims' exposure to Sarin or a Sarin-like substance. "While further details of the laboratory analyses will follow, the analytical results already obtained are incontrovertible," said Ahmet Uzumcu, OPCW General Director. PARIS, April 19 (Xinhua) -- French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault held phone talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday to discuss the situation in Syria. According to a press statement issued by the French foreign ministry, Ayrault underlined in his conversation with Lavrov the importance of the mechanisms of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the United Nations (UN) in establishing the facts and responsibilities of this attack, and reaffirmed France's confidence in these mechanisms. He also stressed the urgency to implement a genuine ceasefire in Syria, as well as the need to monitor its implementation by the international community, in order to ensure its solidity and sustainability, said the statement. Moreover, Ayrault expressed his readiness to cooperate with Russia in the fight against terrorism and called for an early resumption of negotiations for a political transition in the troubled country that has been at war for over six years. By Robert Manyara MIGORI, Kenya, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Hot sunny days can cause an economic havoc to the Kenyan fisher folks at Lake Victoria, the largest fishing waters in East Africa shared among Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. With too much heat, fish rot so quickly if they are not preserved or reach the consumer as soon as they harvested. But this all-year round sunlight is turning out to be a solution to their preservation problems: solar energy. With the help of four development oriented partners, fishing communities at Muhuru Bay, a stretched out section of the larger Lake Victoria lying on Migori County in Western Kenya have access to a solar micro-grid distributing the energy they need to power deep freezers. To set up the 2 kW micro-grid, a British charity, Renewable World partnered with Osienala and Family Support Community based Initiatives (Fascia), both non-governmental organizations and an energy technologies' provider firm, Access Energy which has so far been rebranded SteamaCo. Lake Victoria covers four counties in the lakeside region mainly Kisumu, Homabay, Siaya and Migori, providing a main source of livelihood and water to hundreds of locals. "This area (Muhuru Bay) is not covered with electricity and so we have no means of refrigerating fish," said Lucas Odhiambo, a beneficiary of the solar power. "We now have deep freezers using the solar and we are happy we can preserve our fish without much worry," Odhiambo told Xinhua on Wednesday. Ngore Renewable Energy and Auxiliary Project (REAP) runs the grid which includes connecting the power to new customers and accounting for its use. Odhiambo, also the chairperson of REAP said more than 1,000 people are beneficiaries of the grid, saving them from long journeys of searching for electricity connected shops to charge their phones. The fishermen are equally happy to have the micro-grid since they can comfortably charge their newly acquired solar lamps at a lower cost than paraffin refills. "It is not just expensive to use paraffin but also dangerous as it can fall and burn someone unlike solar lamps," said Odhiambo. "Fishermen need four lamps for fishing at night and each paraffin lamp has to be filled with paraffin worth 2 U.S. dollars. These days you only need 0.50 dollars to charge each of the four solar lamps," he added. Charles Wantaro, who manages the Muhuru Bay's micro-grid, said subscribers pay 20 dollars to be connected, more than seven times of what the State utility distribution firm charges for tapping into the national grid. "The connection fee is manageable for the locals and they can use the solar to do business like charging phones or powering public address systems," he said. Those already connected are charged 1.4 dollars kilowatt per hour, Wantaro said. For these communities on the shores of Lake Victoria, connection to solar energy is a platform to improving lives while for the government it is a step towards enhancing attainment of universal access and utilization of clean energy, a target it hopes to reach by 2020. Production of solar energy in Kenya is still small, presently at less than one percent of the total power generated but the government is encouraging initiatives such as Muhuru Bay's to increase the output. Peter Mireri, project officer with Osienala, one of Renewable World's partners said the solar power has expanded the economic opportunities of the locals. "Lives have changed here. The fishermen can afford a smile since they are now able to store fish while they scout for a profitable market," Mireri said. "There are people who are currently managing various businesses courtesy of solar power. In the end their economic status will improve and they will live better lives," he added. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-20 03:42:19|Editor: Zhang Dongmiao Video Player Close By Huang Heng, Mei Liu LOS ANGELES, April 19 (Xinhua) -- "If you want to work on Trump wall, the California will not work with you!!!" Ricardo Lara, California state senator, has said on his official Twitter account. As the border wall project proposed by President Donald Trump was carrying out by federal agencies, local legislatures in California and Arizona showed their determination to resistance to the last minute and they aimed at different bricks in the wall. From angle of Lara, building the wall was a huge mistake and a waste of money and resources of U.S. taxpayers, meanwhile companies bid for the construction works were morally indefensible, so he amended a bill this Monday, would prohibit the wall contractors from getting any state project in the future. Bill 30, previous version of which required California voter approval of any wall construction along the border. The amended one, deleted the vote clause, would be heard April 25 by the state Senate's Governmental Organization Committee. "This bill would prohibit the state, commencing January 1, 2018, from awarding or renewing any contract with any person, as defined, that at the time of bid or proposal for a new contract or renewal of an existing contract is providing or has provided goods or services to the federal government for the construction of a federally funded wall, fence, or other barrier along California's southern border." the bill said. "We're not going to allow a wall that harms our environment and our economy," Lara, a Democrat who represents Southeast Los Angeles County, said in a statement released at the same day. Lara also wrote to the California Chamber of Commerce to seek the support for his bill. Regarding the economy between Mexico and the States, he argued that Mexico people spent a lot of money on shopping in California, and Mexico was one of the largest export market of California. The proposed wall would hurt California's economic market. There are already around 650 miles (1,100 Kilometers) of fencing along the 2,000 mile (3,380 kilometers) long border between Mexico and the U.S. According to a report by the Department of Homeland Security, a border wall would cost a total of 21.6 billion U.S. Dollars and take three and a half years to construct. The Border patrol spokesman Ralph DeSio revealed last week that the construction would take place at the Otay Mesa area, San Diego, but did not say the exact place. San Diego Union Tribune said that up to 450 companies had submitted the designs and 20 companies would win the bidding even though the fund of this massive project had not been secured yet. The result would be announced on June 1 after the selected 20 companies finished prototypes within 120 feet of the border, the report said. Besides of Lara's struggling work, according to an article on San Francisco Chronicle last month, San Francisco, Berkley city and Oakland city of California, all would introduce the similar ban to prevent local builders or related organizations from entering the border wall project. Not only participating building was prohibited, but supplying any material to contractors working on the project, the report emphasized. While on the other side, James Flanagan, a San Francisco contractor thought it was a little radical by using such bans to stop contractors participating the project. "My first reaction is why taxpayer dollars are being spent to hold committee meetings to boycott local companies that employ local workers?" he said when interviewed by SF Chronicle. Outside California State, a lawsuit against the border wall was also filed by an Arizona Congressman and a conservation group, which called for an in-depth investigation of the potential environmental impacts. The conservation group named the Center for Biological Diversity and Congressman Raul Grijalva believed that border wall would damage the habitats of those threatened species. According to local KTAR News, the lawsuit sought to require the U.S Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to prepare a "programmatic environmental impact statement" for the U.S.-Mexico Border enforcement program, since "some areas within 50 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border have been identified as the 'critical habitat' for at least 25 species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service" . "We filed the lawsuit in consider of all perspectives of environment." Randy Serraglio, from the Center of Biological Diversity told Xinhua, saying the lawsuit "was not because of the immigration or other issues, but only environmental factors." Grijalva pointed out in a statement issued last Wednesday that "American environmental laws are some of the oldest and strongest in the world, and they should apply to the borderlands. These laws exist to protect the health and well-being of our people, our wild life, and the places they live." ALGIERS, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Algerian counter-terrorism forces on Wednesday killed an armed militant and arrested another in Constantine province, located 450 km east of capital Algiers, according to local media reports. Quoting a security source, TSA news website specified that this operation was conducted by a joint security unit composed of army and police elements, as they intercepted the two terrorists in the locality of El Khroub. One, named Halfaoui, was captured alive; and the other, M. Youcef alias Zoubeir, was shot dead. Zoubeir was suspected of having attempted to commit a suicide attack, the source noted. The two were on the wanted list of the security forces, as detectives believe that they participated in the assassination of a police officer in downtown Constantine last October. They were members of an Islamic State (IS) affiliated group led by Noureddine Laouira, who was killed by army troops in March 2017 in Constantine. Located in a region plagued by unprecedented security and political instability, Algeria faces ongoing terrorist threats, experts said. A few militants affiliated to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and recently established IS affiliate groups are still taking refuge in the dense woods in the north, and remote desert areas near the troubled Libya and Mali. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-20 04:47:44|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close WASHINGTON, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The Pentagon said on Wednesday the U.S. State Department had approved a 295.6-million-U.S.-dollar worth of arms sale to Iraq. According to a statement by U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the military equipment would include two Peshmerga infantry brigades and two support artillery battalions. "These artillery battalions and infantry brigades will operate under the Kurdistan Regional Government Ministry of Peshmerga (KRG MOP) with the concurrence of the central government," said the statement. To implement the proposed arms sale would also not require the deployment of additional U.S. troops or U.S. contractor personnel to Iraq, the statement added. Awaiting the approval of the U.S. Congress, the arms sale was not concluded at the moment. ROME, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Italy's economy has stayed on a recovery path over the last four years, but its level of growth is far from satisfying, Italian Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said Wednesday. The official made his remarks during a senate committee's hearing on the 2017 budget blueprint approved by Cabinet last week. "2017 is the fourth consecutive year of growth. Yet, the level of growth achieved does not thrill us: we cannot count ourselves satisfied," Padoan said. He added that the recovery had so far been "weak and gradual, due to structural limits" and unemployment was still too high in the country and "unacceptably high" among youth. In February, the jobless rate was 11.5 percent, and 35.2 percent among people aged 15 to 24. According to the minister, changing the current situation would require a growth-oriented fiscal policy through decreasing taxes, a supportive framework for investments, and structural reforms. "This goal must be pursued within a context of structurally decreasing public debt," Padoan stressed. As such, Italy would only have "a narrow path" to move along, he said. The parliament began discussing the annual planning blueprint this week, after extra budget deficit cuts were passed by Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni's center-left government on April 11. The emergency cuts -- worth some 3.4 billion euros (3.6 billion U.S. dollars), or 0.2 percent of GDP -- were necessary to dodge an infringement procedure over excessive deficit by the European Union (EU), and will need the parliament's approval by the end of April. The Italian deficit is actually largely below the ceiling of 3.0 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) required by the EU. It is expected to decrease to 2.1 percent this year (from a previous 2.3-percent forecast), and to drop to 1.2 percent in 2018, according to government figures that comprised the latest cuts. However, Italy also has the third largest public debt in the eurozone after Greece and Portugal, according to the EU statistical office, Eurostat. EU countries are obliged to keep their debts under control, and gradually reduce them towards the ceiling of 60 percent of GDP, since after the European debt crisis. Italy's debt was 132.5 percent of GDP this year from 132.6 percent in 2016, and would fall to 131.0 percent in 2018, the government's latest projections showed. As a result, Padoan warned Wednesday that the country should not revise its ongoing policy of consolidation. "A U-turn in the policy of fiscal consolidation would be counterproductive. It would represent a ruinous choice for the country, and especially for the weakest sections of society," he said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-20 04:57:50|Editor: MJ Video Player Close By Matthew Rusling WASHINGTON, April 19 (Xinhua) -- For a U.S. killer who grabbed nationwide headlines after broadcasting a murder on Facebook, the act was a last message to a world he believed had wronged him, experts said. The nation was shocked earlier this week when a video appeared Sunday on the world's most popular social media platform, which showed a gunman, identified as 37-yerld-old Steves Stephens, randomly selecting and shooting dead 74-year-old grandfather Robert Godwin in Cleveland, Ohio. A nationwide manhunt ensued. Shortly after being discovered Tuesday by police in the state of Pennsylvania, Stephens shot himself dead after a brief police pursuit. "He was definitely deranged," Eleazar Cruz Eusebio, an associate professor at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, told Xinhua when asked about his clinical opinion of what would possess an individual to commit a murder-suicide in such a public way. "And basically what he portrayed online to the public was actually his suicide note," Eusebio said. "He felt the world wronged him. And (he felt) it was time for him to wrong the world." It is no different than a lot of the mass murder suicides and even just murder suicides, but the major difference is that it was shown on the Internet, he said. "In my clinical opinion, he was already too far gone when he was giving that message," Eusebio said. How the situation played out with the killing escalating into a nationwide manhunt and ending in the murderer's suicide was exactly what the killer wanted, experts said. One problem that may have led up to the murder-suicide was the apparently no one around the murderer took notice when he talked of suicide prior to the incident, experts said. When he said he was suicidal to his mother, his mother ignored it, Eusebio noted. "The pain that he was experiencing, he could not harness, and wanted to inflict pain on other people at that point," he explained. The better way to deal with the issue would be that if someone even mildly mentions the word "suicide" has to be taken seriously, Eusebio said. Experts noted that the killer had compounded problems with gambling, breaking up with an ex-girlfriend, debt, an alleged lack of life and career goals, and myriad other issues. "Many of us would say 'get a grip, get a new job, find another girlfriend,' but his coping mechanism was too far gone, that at that point he was saying 'it's no longer about me. Everybody's coming down on me. I'm going to find a way to make other people pay,'" Eusebio said. Experts said such individuals can come from any socio-economic background, ethnic or other background. But there are some common patterns prevalent among individuals who commit such acts of violence. Joseph A. Toomey, assistant professor and director of the forensic psychology concentration at William James College, told Xinhua that one common pattern is a failure to cope with loss and a response to those types of things that fits the pattern of isolation. "They tend to be very isolated individuals," Toomey said. "And then when these losses occur they don't deal with them well. They become very angry, they ruminate over the losses, they externalize blame for the losses. They put the blame on those around them, or circumstances within society." "And so they kind of lash out at a response to that," Toomey said Often such individuals are often the people "who have felt bullied or persecuted for a good deal of their life," he said. "And that might be by specific individuals or that might be just by the world," Toomey said. "They feel that over time they've gotten a raw deal. And what tends to kind of come with that is a sense of almost self-righteous entitlement - that they deserve better than what they're receiving," Toomey said. Another pattern among such people is a fascination with weapons. "They may have spent time researching weapons and they have collected a significant number of weapons," Toomey said. It's also common in such public acts of violence for the victims to be random, he pointed out. Indeed, the victim in the Facebook murder appeared to have been selected at random, echoing other such public killings in U.S. history. "This is particularly true of people who end up taking their own lives after," Toomey added. ROME, April 19 (Xinhua) -- UNESCO on Wednesday awarded its peace prize to Giuseppina (Giusi) Nicolini, the mayor of the Italian island of Lampedusa, for her commitment to saving the lives of migrants and refugees who flee across the the Mediterranean on often unseaworthy boats. Lying closer to Tunisia than it does to Sicily, Lampedusa is the first European landfall for people fleeing war and economic hardship in Africa and the Middle East. Since becoming mayor in 2012, Nicolini has been an outspoken defender of refugee and migrant rights. The UNESCO peace prize jury "recognized (Nicolini) for her boundless humanity and unwavering commitment to refugee crisis management and integration in response to the arrival of thousands of refugees on the shores of Lampedusa and elsewhere in Italy." "Refugees and migrants constitute one of the crucial issues of our day, notably in the Mediterranean where nearly 13,000 men, women and children have perished in shipwrecks since 2013," declared the acting president of the jury, Joaquim Chissano, former president of Mozambique. A total of 8,360 migrants were rescued in the Mediterranean between April 14-16 and approximately 32,800 people have been brought to land since the beginning of 2017, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). So far this year, at least 900 migrants have died or have gone missing while attempting to cross the Mediterranean, according to IOM's Missing Migrants Project. Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni tweeted his praise for the island mayor. "UNESCO assigns its peace prize to Giusi Nicolini, who for years has been committed to the right side on Lampedusa," Gentiloni tweeted. "It is a very beautiful day for my community and for all who contribute to building peace," tweeted Nicolini, who leads a population of just over 6,500 residents on the Italian island of about 20 square miles. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-20 06:48:07|Editor: Zhang Dongmiao Video Player Close DAMASCUS, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Syria's presidential advisor Buthaina Shaba'an said Wednesday that her government's main ally, Russia, assured the Syrian government that there will be no more U.S. strikes on Syrian military positions. Her remarks came a couple of weeks after the U.S. launched 59 Tomahawk missiles on the Shayrat Air Base in central Syria, in retaliation for an alleged toxic gas attack by the Syrian army on a rebel-held town in Idlib province. The Russians "stressed to us that they are standing by Syria, and we understood from them that the American aggression will not be repeated," Shaba'an told pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV in an interview. Further slamming the strike, Shaba'an said the U.S. missile strike was a "reckless aggression that took place without investigation," adding that what the United States is doing today reflects "confusion." The official said that the alleged chemical attack was a setup, citing what she described as western specialists as saying that there was no aerial bombardment on the targeted area in the Khan Sheikhoun town. Shaba'an said the U.S. strike wasn't a military, but a political message, adding that the alliance between Russia, Syria and Iran is "stronger than ever." Meanwhile, the presidential advisor said that the United States is in a state of declination, while Russia, China and India are rising high. She said her country was expecting an investigation team from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), stressing that the Syrian government is in no possession of chemical weapons. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-20 06:48:08|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, April 19 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday appointed Alexander Zuev from Russia as assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping affairs. Zuev will succeed Dmitry Titov to take up the position of assistant secretary-general for Rule of Law and Security Institutions in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told a daily briefing. Zuev joined the United Nations in 1990 and has served with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), United Nations Children's Fund and the United Nations Office for Project Services. Also on Wednesday, the UN General Assembly confirms Achim Steiner of Germany as the new Administrator of UNDP for a term of four years to succeed Helen Clark from New Zealand. Steiner, who is former head of UN Environment Program, said on his twitter that he feels "honored and humbled" to serve as next UNDP administrator. Bright future for oil and gas in TT Speaking at an Energy Symposium last week at the University of Trinidad and Tobagos Pt Lisas campus, Jupiter said various stakeholders in the oil and gas industries, including contractors and labour organisations, must work together to ensure survival of the fabricating industry. We have done it before where all parties have come together and I still believe there is a future in the fabrication industry in Trinidad. I know clearly it was not easy at first. It was tough to ensure we do it (build platforms) in Trinidad and clearly after all of that time, there is no reason why it should not continue and I think it will continue but you have to look at cost. You have to look at cost of doing it in Trinidad. We have key players, all these guys who were involved in the Angelin project. I think we can do it again. The symposium was titled, Enhancing Oil and Gas Production in Trinidad and Tobago, with speakers focusing on several oil recovery methods including polymer flooding and carbon dioxide injection. It was attended by energy experts in the public and private sector. Jupiter said Petrotrin received about 29 expressions of interest from companies, both locally and internationally, for enhanced oil recovery in mature fields which include use of steam, carbon dioxide, water flooding, gas injection and polymer flooding. Asked whether there is a future for the oil industry in Trinidad and Tobago, Jupiter said: Most certainly there is a future. When I entered the industry in 1979, I was told we had eight more years of oil production. From 79 to now, we are talking about 38 years and oil is still here...so there is a future. Jupiter added, And you heard today that if you can only produce 10-15 percent in primary oil recovery and another 20 percent in secondary oil recovery, that is where you have found oil already. The amount of oil that is being produced so far, we can produce as much of that oil in the future. There is a great future for the oil industry in Trinidad and I do not believe it is only gloom and doom. Police file still not sent to DPP in PC Joseph murder Sea Lots resident Kenneth Browne and his ex-wife Melissa Browne, of Carenage, returned to the Port of Spain Magistrates Court yesterday before Deputy Chief Magistrate Maria Busby Earle-Caddle accused of committing the capital offence sometime between March 8 and March 16 at Sea Lots. Kenneth Browne, who is also the father of Josephs four-year-old daughter, faces an additional charge of illegally disposing a body. It was their second appearance in court. They first appeared on March 20 before then Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar, who has since been appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court. When the matter was called in the Eight Magistrates Court, police prosecutor Insp Winston Dillon informed Deputy Chief Magistrate Busby Earle-Caddle that the officer who laid the charges needed about two weeks to have the file forwarded to the Office of the DPP. The matter was adjourned to May 16. The Brownes are represented by attorney Criston J Williams. WPC Joseph was reported missing on March 9 when she did not appear for work and relatives tried to contact her . Her body was found by a fisherman in the Gulf of Paria on March 16. Her cause of death could not be determined by the pathologist. WPC Joseph was last attached to the Morvant Police Station and was the mother of a fouryear- old girl. Drunk driver fined $15,000, disqualified for life He did so on Thursday last and Magistrate Natalie Diop presiding in the San Fernando Magistrates court, heard yesterday that Ramjohn, of Union Road, Marabella, had his first conviction for driving under the infuence in 2010. In 2014, he had a second convition for a similar offence and he was again fined. He was also disqualified from driving for three years, however he petitioned the court and his permit was reinstated. Yesterday, Ramjohn appeared before the magistrate on his third such offence to which he pleaded guilty. Diop fined him $15,000 or two years in jail and ordered him to pay $3,000 forthwith yesterday. The magistrate told Ramjohn that upon a third conviction, a term of imprisonment is almost mandatory but due to his attorneys plea that on his sons death anniversary he became very aggrieved, she spared him going to jail. Police last Thursday responded to a report of a vehicular accident shortly before midnight at Union Road, Marabella, involving Ramjohn. It was a minor accident, the court police prosecutor Sgt Kassieram Lutchman said. A breathalyser test however, revealed Ramjohn had exceeded the alcoholic limit by 42 mg per 100 ml of breath. Attorney Shamilla Michelle Gopaul told Diop that Ramjohn is in dire need of counselling because two years ago his son died. And it appears he needs help not for alcohol consumption, but for depression, for life has dealt him a harsh blow. The attorney admitted that in 2010, Ramjohn was convicted for driving under the influence for which he was fined. And in 2014, Ramjohn was again before a magistrate for a similar offence and he was fined and disqualified. Diop told Ramjohn, who is a mechanic by trade, a third conviction makes it mandatory that the court disqualify him from driving permanently. She granted him two months to pay the balance of the $12,000. Coastguard opts for communty service for drunk driving Community service for the coastguardsman would be determined by the Probation Office in San Fernando, Magistrate Natalie Diop said. The magistrate also read to Clement, of Chatham Village, near Cedros, three other charges including: resisting arrest, disorderly behaviour and playing loud music in his vehicle while it was in motion. The seaman pleaded not guilty to those charges. The court police prosecutor Sgt Kassieram Lutchman, told the magistrate when police had asked Clement what he had to drink, he said that he had four drinks of Johnny Walker, four beers and some other drinks. He was taken to the San Fernando Police Station where he was administered a breathalyser test which gave a reading of 56 mg per 100 mm of breath. The legal limit is 35 mg. Attorney Adele Acosta pleaded with Diop not to impose any penalty that would impact on Clements life as a coastguard saying he will be disciplined by the TT Coastguard for breaking the law. A petty officer was present in court and noted the proceedings as it unfolded. Attorney Acosta further pleaded that Clement was a disciplined officer in the Coast Guard and last year, he was commended for oustanding performance. Your worship, a petty officer is present in court and Your Worship, he stands to be penalised. This will prevent him from continuing certain projects in the Coast Guard, Acosta said. The prosecutor did not have a tracing and requested from the magistrate an adjournment to conduct one in order to determine whether Clement has a past criminal record. The matter was postponed to May 18 and Clement was allowed continuing bail. Diop, however, instructed Clement to report yesterday to the Probation Office at Harris Street where officers there will begin the process of determining what community service they can enroll him in. Gun, ammo, drugs seized in Ste Madeleine According to police reports, at about 2.30 pm on Saturday, officers went to a restaurant and bar at Cipero Road, Golconda, where they found a black Glock 17 pistol, fitted with a magazine with ten rounds of .9 mm ammunition and six packets containing a quantity of marijuana. The items were found under a tent in front the bar. The officers attempted to arrest a man who was standing under the tent, however he ran into some nearby bushes. The officers chased the man but were unable to capture him. Investigators say an arrest is imminent since the man is known to them. In a separate incident, police say a man wanted in connection with two murders in the Southern Division was arrested on Friday. RATS ON REMAND Prisoners contacted Newsday, from behind bars, to complain that large, nasty rats are everywhere including in the eating areas, in cells, in bathrooms, in the kitchen, in the prison officers quarters...even in prisoners beds. Videos recorded by Remand Yard, Golden Grove, Arouca prisoners on their cellular phones were sent to Newsday showing the rodents going about their business. Prisoners said the problem of rats has always existed, but since late last year the infestation has grown worse. The rats have become bold, prisoners said, and are out and about at nights when prisoners are asleep and prison officers are off-duty. Newsday understands that years ago, a contract was given to a local pest eradication company to exterminate the rodents and that company undertook a major fumigation of prisons. However, the contract has since expired and with the latest rat infestation, executives of the prison authorities sent tenders for companies to bid for a new contract. While that process is underway, the rats are multiplying at a rapid rate, putting both prisoners and prison officers at risk. Newsday understands prisoners now have to wash out their cells daily and clear their beds of faeces. President of the Prison Officers Association Ceron Richards confirmed that the association has received numerous complaints of rat droppings on desks, chairs, on bunk beds in prison officers dormitories and elsewhere. He lashed the government, saying the rat issue, like several other problems plaguing the prison system, have been put on the back burner and in the meantime the infestation worsens and a health and safety problem is growing. Richards said that health and safety apart, the issue is fast becoming a human rights one. The government of Trinidad and Tobago is putting prison officers and inmates lives at risk. Our association has received complaints from prison officers and prisoners, of rats infesting various prisons. The complaints have come from the Port-of- Spain Gaol, Golden Grove in Arouca and other facilities. Calls for help on this issue, just like our pleas for stab-proof vests and CCTV cameras to be installed are being ignored and in some cases bogged down by bureaucracy. The government knows they are dealing with prisoners who cannot leave the prisons and prison officers, who are too devoted to walk off the job. So we (prisoners and prison officers) have to take what we get. The only thing consistent with the State is their excuses and the fact that they are not dealing with this and other problems, Richards said. There is a fear that both prisoners and prison officers could fall ill from rat-borne diseases including Leptospirosis, which is spread via rat urine and which is dangerous in that if not treated, can lead to kidney damage, meningitis (inflammation of the membrane around the brain and spinal cord), liver failure, respiratory distress and death. Rat-Bite Fever is also a common disease, which could be transmitted through a bite, scratch or contact with a dead rat. Symptoms include fever, vomiting, headaches, muscle and joint pain, and rash. This disease could also be fatal if left unchecked. Attempts to reach Minister of National Security Edmund Dillon and Commissioner of Prisons Sterling Stewart, yesterday for comment, proved futile. Soldier, girlfriend on drug trafficking charges Colin Clarke, 28, of Cunupia, who was assigned to Camp Ogden in Long Circular, St James, appeared before Senior Magistrate Nanette Forde-John in the Four A Court, charged with attempting to export a prohibited substance, namely 1.853 kilogrammes of cocaine concealed in 24 packages, on April 12, through DHL courier service in El Socorro. The charge was laid under Section 154 of the Customs Act. He was granted bail in the sum of $300,000 or an alternative of $75,000 cash bail on that charge. Clarke, who was represented by attorneys Collin Partap and Irshard Ali, was also charged with knowingly concealing a prohibited substance, namely one package of cocaine, on April 12, at Cunupia. That charge was laid contrary to Section 213 ( c) of the Customs Act. He also faces a charge of possession of 50 rounds of ammunition on April 12, at Cunupia. He was not granted bail on the second and third charge for which he will appear before a Chaguanas Magistrate today. He returns to court on May 11 on the Section 154 charge. Also appearing separately before Senior Magistrate Forde- John was Charline Giles, 24, of Savannah Terrace, Diego Martin, who was charged with trafficking 1.853 kilogrammes of cocaine on April 12 at El Socorro. She too was granted bail in the sum of $300,000 or a cash alternative of $75,000 bail. Giles was represented by defence attorney Richard Clarke-Willis and will return to court on May 11. Problems with new rules According to an overview of the new rules, issued by the Judiciarys Protocol and Information Unit via its website, it is aimed at speeding up the administration of criminal justice. The overview also describes the news rules as a robust case management system developed to deal with cases justly and expeditiously. The adjudication process within the Criminal Justice System has historically been beset by procedural and tactical delays both at the Magistrates Court and at the High Court. An accused person has a right to a fair trial and more broadly, both the accused person and society have a right to an expeditious and cost efficient disposition process, the publication noted. The new rules set out requirements for the prosecution and defence before a trial can proceed. It also talks about sanctions for attorneys who fail to adhere to the time-lines set, as well as the assigning of a case progression officer to each case to assist the court with the management of a trial. The overall effect of these changes is a longer term culture shift within the system, the Judiciarys publication also noted. IMPORTED RULES? But not all attorneys who practice in the criminal courts share the same optimism as the Judiciary. A lawyer said it appears the new rules were imported from the United Kingdoms criminal procedure rules without adapting it to the local court system. While admitting it will tighten the laces of the prosecution, the attorney pointed out that the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions depends on other agencies such as police investigators and the Forensic Sciences Centre, to progress their cases. Theoretically it looks good but the practical reality is a different story, the attorney said. Several criminal defence attorneys also questioned whether the new rules applied to preliminary inquiries in the magistrates court. These rules cannot apply to preliminary inquiries although magistrates are under the impression it does. These rules are only to give the appearance that something is being done to the criminal justice system, the attorney noted. You do not need rules to manage cases in the magistrates court or the High Court...just strong magistrates and judges do to so. President of the Criminal Bar Association Pamela Elder SC, also expressed concern with the new rules. NOT HELPING AT ALL I respectfully feel these (new rules) are just adding an extra layer of delay and complexity to the system, Elder said. She questioned the provision of Case Progression Officers who will be assigned to each case to assist with the management of the trial. Will the court tell me who the case progression officer is? Who is going to pay for one? What are their qualifications, Elder asked. I do not see how this is going to ensure my clients who are languishing in jail for three and four years, will receive an early indictment. How are these rules going to cure the fundamental issues plaguing the criminal justice system? What is there to expedite matters in the High Court? Dont make false assurances and promises to people, she advised. Speaking at a recent Joint Select Committee, DPP Roger Gaspard noted that there were currently 800 murder indictments pending for trial in the High Court. Elder also expressed concern about the nature of sufficiency hearings to replace preliminary inquiries and requirements for the defence according to the new rules. How can the defence be mandated to state its case from the outset if I do not know what the prosecutions case is, she asked. WONT CHANGE A THING Attorney Jagdeo Singh said the new rules will assist in streamlining cases and will allow for better management and a more efficient use of the courts time. But he too expressed concern with the number of outstanding indictments in the criminal courts and how the new rules are expected to treat with this issue. My concern is how do these new rules apply to the magistrates court and the power of the Rules Committee to set out the conduct of criminal trials in the magistrates court where the procedure is already spelt out in statute that is the Summary Courts Act, Singh said. Criminal defence attorney Larry Williams, while applauding the efforts of the Chief Justice and his team, said he does not see the new rules making a difference. It wont make magistrates court start on time. It wont ensure all magistrate courts operate till 4 pm and not end at 12 noon. It wont make the understaffed DPPs Office ready in matters before two to three years of charging a person and it certainly wont make magistrates dismiss murders when the State isnt ready, Williams said. According to Williams, it may assist in summary court matters such as the use of obscene language, to not drag on for years. Another criminal defence attorney agreed that there should be rules to govern criminal cases, but noted the roll out of the new rules was not proper. It is not equitable because the training required for all parties has not been done, attorney Mario Merritt said. NO HELP TO DEFENCE It seems there is a greater burden on the defence to disclose more and there is no greater burden on the State to do the same, he added. I find that this is an unfair situation. The playing field has never been level. The State has always had the freedom to withhold information they think we (the defence) dont need and I think that is unfair especially in light of them saying there is no ambush anymore. In the United Kingdom, you just dont get what they (the prosecution) wants, they give you everything they have in their armoury, he said. Right now with the rules. They want to know your defence, he said, a point also raised by Elder. How is the defence mandated to state its case from the outset? What is from the outset, Elder asked. Merritt said he did not believe the defence should be made to reveal every single aspect of its strategy beforehand. They say it will speed up the process but to me it will do the opposite and slow it down because if you put another cog in place before you get to actual trial, the bureaucracy will naturally slow down the actual even (trial) happening, he noted. It feels like things are being shoved down our throats, Merritt said. He also noted that there were a few criminal attorneys with three or four cases at a time in different districts and the new rules will only serve to put additional pressure on them. I have enormous problems with the rules, he said. Disclosure Today seeking answers from Central Bank on Clico The letter was cosigned by Afra Raymond and David Walker and sent by email to the governor. Raymond and Walker say that so far they have neither received an acknowledgement nor any response and so they decided to deliver the letter by hand. In the letter, they expressed their concern about the direction of the rescue of CLICO and its associated companies after more than eight years under the control of the bank and government. They also expressed concerns about the legality of the ongoing control of the institutions being maintained by the bank and any untoward consequences arising from that extended control and the inordinate delay in returning billions of dollars to taxpayers and its impact on economic decision making. Raymond and Walker also questioned some ministerial statements which, they say, appear to be at odds with the stated goals of the rescue as set out in the Central Bank Act. They want to know whether the bank considers the principals of CLICO and its associated companies, British-American Insurance Company; Caribbean Money Market Brokers and Clico Investment Bank, to be fit and proper persons. They said the bank has a duty to enforce its regulations to ensure the stability of the financial system by disqualifying unfit and improper people from acting as directors, officers, actuaries and controlling shareholders in financial institutions. Raymond and Walker said the bank issued a press release on June 7, 2011 advising of its lawsuit against Lawrence Duprey, Andre Monteil and others after certain forensic investigations. They said since the bank arrived at that position over five years ago, it is entirely unacceptable that no action seems to have been taken to have the responsible parties declared unfit under the fit and proper regulations. Is it the case that such action is still in progress or is it that the clear view as then articulated is no longer the official position? Either way, in the light of previous statements, what is the Central Banks current position on the matter? The letter writers point to sections of Section 44 of the Central Bank Act which stipulate the conditions under which the bank may retain control of an institution, questioning whether given the removal of the risk of contagion and the stated solvency of the Statutory Fund, does the Act not now require (and) demand that control be relinquished? Given that the former governor of the Central Bank and other officers have made statements to the effect that the Statutory Fund is now in surplus and that the company is no longer in deficit, is it not now mandatory that the Section 44 control be relinquished? Benjais lawyers prepare case against Guyana suspects The attorneys are expected to file civil papers and apply for a fiat for prosecution, attorney at law Keith Scotland, one of the attorneys representing Le Blanc told Newsday. Le Blanc sustained injuries to his head after being hit by a bottle after he had performed at Palm Court, a popular night spot in Georgetown early Sunday morning. He received 22 stitches to the injuries. Another of his lawyers, Gideon Mc Master, in a press release assured the perpetrators of this heinous and unprovoked assault that we have ascertained their identities and will invoke the full legal apparatus against them, including vigorous pursuit of criminal and civil litigation, to ensure that justice is served. Mc Master said after performing, Le Blanc was standing in a nearby car park with his manager and some other persons when the driver of a vehicle reversed into them. Another occupant of the vehicle exited and threw a glass object, with force, at Le Blanc injuring him. Le Blanc is represented by attorneys at law Mc Master, Joel Roper and Scotland. Scotland, who was called to the bar in Guyana, said they were making arrangements to visit Guyana to engage local attorneys, with whom they have been in contact, on the matter. Meanwhile, the Guyana Police Force Public Relations Office told Newsday police were investigating the incident but, no one had been arrested. Newsday was told the police interviewed several persons and some of the interviewees are disputing initial eyewitnesses account. A source in Georgetown familiar with the night spot and the men involved in the fracas told Newsday, Nothing will come out of it because the man who brandished the gun is in the habit of doing so, and the police have done nothing about it. The source said the man is also reputed to be a money man with drug connections and money rules. The man who lashed Benjai, the source said, is a thug of the drugs man. Another source also told this newspaper that the man who injured Le Blanc is a former wanted man. Asked how Le Blanc was coping with the injuries, Scotland said, Mr Le Blanc is a survivor but it cant be business as usual. He is at home - very shaken up. TCL workers gearing up for protest again On April 5, scores of workers participated in a noisy placard demonstration to express their frustration over the companys failure to honour an agreement to pay workers approximately $20 million in back pay for the 2009-2011 and 2012-2014 bargaining periods. Oilfield Workers Trade Union TCL branch president Ahmad Mohammed said yesterday the companys management, at a meeting at the Trinidad Hilton on April 6, had promised to respond to the unions concerns in writing by April 11. The union is very concerned that the company has failed to uphold their end and their commitment for furnishing certain information to the union with a view to bringing closure to these outstanding issues with regard to our $20 million dollars in shares that remain outstanding since 2015, as well as the change of rates in our salaries and the payment of back pay to workers which is owed to workers since January 2015, Mohammed said. One commitment was to give a written update and report on the status of the issue of issuing shares to the workers. We would have received verbal information that it would take the company from now until eternity to acquire the shares for workers. So we had requested that information in writing from the company so at least the union would be justified in making that decision if it is to change its position to take cash instead of shares. Such information has not been forthcoming from the company in writing and they would have given a date of last Monday (April 10) to provide that information. By the Tuesday they were supposed to furnish to us a management action plan with respect to how we would go forward with the other things, he said. To date nothing has been forthcoming and the workers are agitating for action as well. Over 400 permanent and 200 casual workers at TCL, Trinidad Packaging Limited and Trinidad Ponsa Manufacturing Limited TPM are affected by the non-payment of the back pay. Sustainable development goals everyones business He was speaking at the Hilton Trinidad and Conference Centre at the launch of the mainstreaming, acceleration and policy support (MAPS) UN mission to Trinidad and Tobago. The mission is here to assist the Government with mainstreaming the SDGs into its own national development agenda - VISION 2030. Minister of Planning and Development Camille Robinson-Regis said the launch of the MAPS signals the beginning of this countrys discussion on the development of an appropriate roadmap for implementation of the Governments 2030 sustainable development plan. The mission will continue until Tuesday with bi-lateral meetings and stakeholder consultations being held in Tobago on Monday. Robinson-Regis said the major objective of the exercise is to engage Government, national stakeholder groups comprising NGOs, the business sector, civil society groups, environmental groups, academia, development partners, the media and a UN team over a seven-day period in an exchange of ideas and to share experiences. She said she plans to lay the strategy in Parliament on Friday. Blewitt said over the past year the UN had supported the Government in advancing the achievement of the SDGs including organising a national dialogue on mainstreaming the SDGs into national development led by the UNDP with the help of other UN agencies as well as supporting the Government on data challenges of the SDGs. Blewitt said the mission will allow the ministry to validate the findings and identify gaps in the work done by the UN team based on a desk review of the draft Vision 2030 plan, plans of line ministries and comprehensive economic development plans for Tobago. He said the mission will also explore financing options for implementation of the SDGs and include consultation and guidance on prioritisation, ownership and coordination around the goals and targets and brainstorming around the strengthening of statistical foundations. Economist: Middle class, poor feeling the pinch Fr Harris, at Easter Sunday Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Port-of-Spain said, Its no use asking the poor to change, if we are not asking the rich to change also. In all of this (economic downturn) it is always the poor who suffer. The rich are not losing jobs; CEOs and executive managers are not losing jobs. Those who lose jobs are always the poor. Contacted for comment, Sagewan-Alli said the Archbishop was spot on in his assessment as there is a segment of society, comprising well to do individuals, who are not feeling any pinch because of the economic downturn because their pockets run deep. However, it is the middle class, the very large middle class and the low income class in the country that is bearing the burden of economic adjustment and the burden of the economic downturn. Govt wont be blackmailed In a telephone interview on CNC3, Rowley agreed with former Transport Minister Stephen Cadiz that, the cargo ferry service to Tobago is vital and essential. He also agreed with Cadiz that, there has to be an answer to the question as to who pulled the Galicia off the route and created this crisis for Tobago. The only assurance I can give now to the people of Tobago is that this government will do everything logically, logistically and feasibly possible to try to get Tobagos essential service in place, Rowley said as he recalled that he met on Monday in Tobago with members of the Tobago Chamber of Commerce and gave them this same assurance. On the withdrawal of the Galicia from the sea bridge, Rowley stated, The answer is simply the owners of the vessel have taken the boat off the service because the terms they demanded from Government cannot be met. Notwithstanding the importance of a reliable cargo service to Tobago as well as disruptions occurring on the sea bridge, Rowley said this does not deviate from the point that Government has found itself in a situation where persons are making demands which it cannot, will not and must not meet. The Government will not be blackmailed and that is the cause of the problem. There was an agreement, confirmed by lawyers, that there was an 18 month arrangement in place that would have taken us until October 2017. However, the Galicias owners had determined they want a three-year, with a twoyear extension, meaning a fiveyear contract. Indicating the Galicias owners promised to pull the vessel off the sea bridge if Government did not agree to this arrangement, Rowley said, They then gave us an ultimatum for Friday and that is what we are dealing with now. The Prime Minister said the Port Authority is looking for alternative vessels and he has been advised that a vessel from Guyana may be able to assist. Rowley explained that the tender process for a cargo vessel will be completed on April 24. He said once the Port Authority examines tenders to determine what alternative vessels are available, Government,will move with expedition to choose one of those vessels and get it to Tobago as quickly as possible. The Galicias final sailing is this Friday. Saying an alternative vessel is not something you can take off the shelf , Rowley warned that for a few weeks, there will be disruption and inconvenience on the sea bridge. In the meantime, we are using whatever resources are available to get some if not all cargo to Tobago. Rowley reminded that the terms and conditions of the Galicias contract, are in fact the subject of criminal investigations at this point of time as documents are being examined at the level of the Office of the Attorney General. Last Friday, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi said he will complete his analysis of the documents sent by Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan, sometime this week. Al-Rawi 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. He described the situation as tantamount to, throwing cash into the sea. Sinanans immediate predecessor Fitzgerald Hinds said reports alleging that Cabinet rejected a note from him to extend the Galicias contract are, totally false. Sinanan has indicated that the TT Express, TT Spirit and a barge could be used to handle the Galicias cargo in the interim. Two Coast Guard vessels are also being considered as interim options. Share There are a myriad of reasons why a cell site can stop working, and as our reliance in mobile technology continues to increase, availability is becoming a critical issue. With smartphones now playing an integral role in our personal and professional lives, service providers are looking at innovative technologies to continue supplying services in the event a cell site goes down. For Verizon, it means the continuation of its LTE (News - Alert)-by-Drone program, which it started last year to continue providing next generation communications services for its customers. This program was initiated by Verizon (News - Alert)'s network team to develop the technology for in-flight LTE operations starting in 2014 and continuing through 2015 before the first flight took place in October 2016. At the time Verizon made the announcement, this was part of its strategy to integrate widespread adoption for in-flight wireless connectivity through its Airborne LTE Operations (ALO) initiative. Using a combination of manned and unmanned aircraft on Verizon's 4G LTE network, successful completion of technical trials in multiple locations across the country were carried out. For Verizon, it meant being able to introduce next generation communications services such as helping first responders and emergency management personnel with improved disaster recovery efforts and launching a new suite of services on Verizon's ThingSpace Internet of Things (IoT) platform. As reported by unmannedsystemstechnology.com, this time around the flight was carried out with a long endurance drone on April 5 at Woodbine Municipal Airport in Woodbine, N.J. The test had several different parameters, one of which was to simulate an indefinite commercial power outage after some sort of disaster that was responsible for interrupting traditional communication services. The drone, which provides a flying cell site was able to take off after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a Certificate of Waiver or Authorization (COA) to Cape May County which will also include an emergency exercise in May that will bring local, state and federal emergency responders to test out the drone in real-life scenarios. The COA gave the drone an area of 800 square miles of airspace up to 7,000 feet. This new test builds upon our leadership in conducting the first successful demonstration in the U.S. for providing aerial coverage from a long-endurance medium altitude aircraft with AATI in Cape May last October, said Verizons Christopher Desmond as quoted by Unmanned System Technology. The unmanned aircraft system (UAS), called the RS-20, has a 17-foot wing span and it was piloted by American Aerospace Technologies, Inc. (AATI). The CEO of AATI, David Yoel, told Unmanned System Technology the goal of the test was to demonstrate the effectiveness of the technology in providing communications to improve safety and effectiveness in extreme emergency situations. The technology could also see other applications as drone technology improves and the IoT sees wider adoption to deliver next-generation communication services for real-time event reporting with live-stream, surveying, security and more. Edited by Alicia Young Share Remember when gigabit fiber seemed almost impossibly fast, and the kind of thing that no one would ever be able to top? Those days are now past, as the pace of development in next generation communications proves to be a lot faster than many may have expected. Nokia and Elisa (News - Alert)a major figure in the Finland online services and information communications technology fieldsuccessfully tested a new network recently that yielded speeds in the 10 gigabit range. Finland has been frantically developing its ultra-broadband capabilities, and given that half the households in Finland currently have access to a fixed connection of over 100 megabits per second (Mbps) in speed, it's clear that Finland is succeeding in getting ultra-fast access to just about everybody. This in turn makes Finland an excellent testing ground for developing new next generation communications technologies and getting said technologies into users' hands. The new network depends heavily on the use of XGS-PON technology Nokia (News - Alert) developed, particularly Nokia's 7360 ISAM FX system. The 7360 is built using next generation PON, as well as the 7368 ISAM ONT system to help bring out the best possible network. Nokia is widely known for its PON technology, and has at last report staged over 40 separate trials worldwide. Thanks to this recently successful testing, Nokia is continuing to expand a worldwide customer base for its systems. Elisa's head of broadband subscription business Matias Castren commented, Utilization of the new XGS-PON technology means high-speed and higher-quality fixed broadband connections. Faster and better connections are needed for the new TV and video services, and increasingly higher quality video technologies such as the 4K technology. In addition, the increased number of devices of households using the Internet connection require higher bandwidths. With this, Castren illustrates why its recent tests with Nokia are so important; we know the rapidly advancing pace of communications technology will require an ever-more-robust network to operate on. We know that the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) and similar smart home developments will require more bandwidth, as will the growth of digital video provision and mobile workforce systems. All of these things need bandwidth to run, and customers won't take it's expensive! too much longer, especially as 5G wireless capability comes into play. Incumbent Internet service providers (ISPs) will need to improve or risk losing market share, and that's where tests like these prove so valuable. Nokia and Elisa's testing should prove to be a real advance for the market, and before long, we'll all likely have access to this level of connectivity. Edited by Alicia Young The run-up to the May 4th parliamentary election is being marred with a gender controversy after some political parties left the images of female candidates on their official campaign posters blank. The female candidates were represented with an avatar wearing a Hijab while the face was left blank in white. The Independent High Authority for Election Monitoring (HIISE) has issued a warning to the concerned political parties to either display the images of the female candidates on their posters by Thursday or their candidatures will be revoked. Parties are obliged to field female candidates under a 2012 law requiring women to make up between 20% and 50% of candidates on electoral lists. Hassan Noui, a HIISE official, deplored that this kind of encroachment is dangerous; it is not legal and it opposes all laws and traditions. Five parties are reported to be involved in such practices which have been notable with parties in the Bordj Bou Arreidj Province. Noui explained that it is every citizens right to know whom to vote for with the help of their portraits. 63 parties and many independent lists are competing for 462 seats in the lower house of parliament. One of the parties affected is the Socialist Forces Front (FFS) and it vigorously condemns this practice which is incompatible with the partys values, Hassan Ferli stated. The FFS official added that the posters are regrettable after blaming the partys communications team in Bordj Bou Arreridj because the FFS is committed to equality between men and women. The country has around 22 million eligible voters. The political parties are hoping that the electorates will participate significantly in the elections. They are also calling for dialogue in shaping the countrys future. The ruling National Liberation Front has enjoyed dominance in the parliament over the past elections. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images Most weeks, New York Magazine writer-at-large Frank Rich speaks with contributor Alex Carp about the biggest stories in politics and culture. Today: the Georgia special House election, tax reform, and Sean Spicers gaffes. Democratic hopeful Jon Ossoff won 48.1 percent of the vote in last nights Georgia special election for Tom Prices House seat not enough to avoid a runoff, but a strong showing for the candidate who campaigned on Make Trump Furious. Will this strategy translate to 2018? This little race was fun while it lasted, and may have been the most successful jobs program (albeit for journalists) of the Trump presidency. But even if Ossoff had actually won its hard to see how this contest was a bellwether for 2018 or much else. Georgias sixth district, we keep being reminded, is ruby red and hasnt sent a Democrat to the House since the states native son Jimmy Carter was president. But it is also a wealthy suburban Atlanta district in which Trump beat Clinton by barely a single percentage point (as opposed to Mitt Romney crushing Obama by 23 points in 2012). With a war chest of $8.3 million and facing a divided field that included 11 Republicans, Ossoff performed a shade better than Clinton (who received 47 per cent of the vote to Trumps 48) but couldnt put it away. Maybe its a good thing he didnt. If he had, one could imagine Democrats prematurely declaring Mission Accomplished and hailing Ossoff as potential presidential or vice-presidential timber at least until everyone remembered that he will not have reached the constitutionally mandated age requirement of 35 by 2020. Ossoff notwithstanding, the party remains in desperate need of a new generation of national leadership that might lead it past the Clinton-Obama era MSNBC has a more fervent following among liberals than the party and its aging Establishment. The most hopeful signs for the Democrats are at its grass roots as first exemplified by the Womens March and most recently by the weekends tax protests, both of which have made Trump furious. How this energy can be maintained and organized to powerful effect in the 2018 midterms is a question that cannot be answered by special elections in quirky congressional districts. Almost six months after the 2016 election, many Democrats are still trying to get their minds around the autopsy: Witness the fact that the journalistic account Shattered: Inside Hillary Clintons Doomed Campaign, released as Georgians went to the polls yesterday, is the No. 1 Amazon best seller, a runaway phenomenon that caught even its publisher by surprise; Amazon now lists the print edition as out of stock for one to two months. There may be more meaning in that landslide than Ossoffs 48.1 percent plurality. Following another round of protests, Donald Trump once again refused to release his tax returns, potentially putting the next item on the GOP legislative agenda tax reform in jeopardy. Will we see Trumps returns before we see House Republicans try to get a plan off the ground? Of course not! (Nor, I suspect, will House Republicans get a tax bill off the ground.) Our best hope for seeing Trumps tax returns will be that day when the Kremlin decides that his useful idiocy is no longer useful and leaks them for its own purposes, no doubt via WikiLeaks. There is zero chance that Trump would voluntarily release them to remove a huge political obstacle to his partys grand plans for tax reform, even if Republicans in Congress try to nudge him (as a few already are). Trump has only one priority, and its not the GOP, let alone America; its the Trump family kleptocracy. Clearly, releasing the returns poses some existential threat to his bottom line. End of story. He isnt losing any sleep worrying about Paul Ryans agenda to cut taxes for other billionaires. Indeed, theres still no evidence that Trump so much as peeked at the how a bill becomes a law diagram while cramming for the final in his ninth-grade civics class. His self-immolating effort to repeal and replace Obamacare will remain the template for everything he does. Which is to say, it is quite likely there will be no legislative achievements in his presidency not tax reform, not a federal infrastructure surge, not a great wall merely an endless slew of grandiosely announced executive orders that will create a certain havoc (when not struck down by the courts) but advance no consistent or substantive program. Trump doesnt even heed his own sporadic quasi-governmental decrees. This weeks executive order was devoted to the theme of Buy American, Hire American, and surely no one expects that it apply either to his own daughters product lines or the menial immigrant workers at Mar-a-Lago and other Trump properties. In the wake of his Holocaust centers Syria gaffe last week, Sean Spicer has argued for less White House transparency and was found to have been lying (or out of the loop) about cronyism at the Republican National Committee and U.S. tactics in North Korea. Are his days at the lectern numbered? Sooner or later Spicer will be history, but I, for one, hope he keeps his job for a long time to come. He is the perfect spokesman for an administration whose daily bread is mendacity whether the lies are big or small. From the moment he insisted that Trumps Inaugural drew record crowds the very first moment of this presidency his credibility has been kaput. As long as he remains front-and-center on camera daily, he will serve as a helpful reminder to Americans of limited attention span that everything the administration says is complete and utter bullshit. (Those of limited attention span include liberal talking heads who unaccountably hailed Trump as presidential after he bombed Syria.) I mean, really: This White House even claimed that warships an armada, as our president dramatically described them were steaming toward Korea as a deterrent to Kim Jong-un when in fact they were headed the other way, for joint exercises with the Australian Navy. (Granted, Australia is another American adversary in Trumps eyes.) Spicer, who retailed that canard as avidly as he did those record Inaugural crowds, seems just as silly delivering his gravest pronouncements as he did reading How to Catch the Easter Bunny to a sparse collection of captive kiddies at Mondays White House Easter Egg Roll. If Goebbels had been as transparently incompetent as Spicer is, its a fair bet that Hitler would have sent him to one of those Holocaust centers. But whats going to do Spicer in is not his egregious performance in his job so much as Melissa McCarthys recurrent performance of his egregious performance in his job. The casting of a woman as the man charged with selling the administrations ostensibly macho image surely continues to eat away at Trump. Since he cant grab McCarthy by the you-know-what to act on his anger, the day will come when he will grab Spicer by the you-know-what and release him for whatever cameo role awaits him on whatever freak show replaces Bill OReillys vacated spin zone at Fox News. All is fair in love and oil production. Photo: Alexey Druzhinin/AFP/Getty Images Typically, when a company requests special permission to be exempted from U.S. sanctions, it provides the government with an argument for how granting such a waiver would advance the public interest. For example, tech companies successfully sought waivers from the Obama administration to operate in Iran and Syria, on the grounds that facilitating the exchange of information in those nations would weaken their repressive regimes. But Exxon has opted to forego that nicety. Rex Tillersons former company is asking the government for a waiver allowing it to resume its joint venture with Rosneft, Russias state-owned oil company, to pump billions of barrels of oil out of the Arctic, Siberia, and the Black Sea on the grounds that such a waiver would be good for Exxons profitability, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal. To be fair to Exxon, it would be exceptionally difficult to argue that allowing the company to unearth a bunch of oil that humanity cant afford to burn while providing Putins government with much-needed revenue serves Americas national interest. Especially now that the company officially believes that the risk of climate change is clear and the risk warrants action. By contrast, its quite easy to argue that allowing Exxon to lend Rosneft its drilling technology will serve the interests of the companys shareholders. As the Journal explains: Exxon opposed how the Obama administration applied sanctions on a number of its projects, according to people familiar with the matter, in part because the European Union granted waivers to its competitors to continue operating. Norways Statoil ASA has a waiver for Arctic drilling in the Barents Sea. Italys Eni SpA is allowed to operate in the Barents and Black seas, and has been aggressively exploring in cooperation with Russia. Exxon is worried it could get boxed out of the Black Sea by the Italians, said a person briefed on the companys waiver application. Under the terms of its deal with Rosneft, Exxon needs an oil discovery in the Black Sea by the end of this year to obtain a Russian government license to drill. Unless Exxon receives approval soon, there might not be enough time to safely drill an exploratory well to be able to develop any discoveries, said oil industry experts. There is a lot of money at stake here, for both Exxon and Putins government. The oil company has reported that it is exposed to up to $1 billion in losses from the Rosneft deals if sanctions arent lifted. Exxon and Rosneft were expected to invest hundreds of billions over the lifetime of their joint projects, before Putin invaded Crimea and the ensuing sanctions put their collaboration on ice. And without the aid of Western expertise on underwater drilling, Russia will struggle to sustain its already flagging oil revenues, as Voxs Brad Plumer has noted. [Russia] is currently one of the worlds largest producers of crude, pumping out 10 million barrels per day (about 10 percent of global supply). But its older fields are in decline, and the country is unlikely to sustain current levels of production past 2020 unless it develops its untapped fields, a recent report from the Wilson Center found. Given that oil and tax revenues fund half of Russias national budget, a long-term decline would have severe repercussions for the country, perhaps even risking political instability. To avoid that fate, Russia desperately needs to bring back Western companies with the expertise to drill in unconventional areas. If Russia could do this all by itself, without Western help, they already wouldve done it, says Edward Chow, a longtime industry veteran who is now an energy policy expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. But they cant. Exxon is seeking its waiver from the Treasury Department. But the State Department will also have a say on its application. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was, of course, CEO of Exxon until he joined the Trump administration. In that capacity, Tillerson worked closely with Putin to cement the Rosneft deals earning himself Russias 2013 Order of Friendship in the process. Tillerson has already pledged to recuse himself from all Exxon-related matters. And theres little reason to suspect that hell covertly aid the company he once ran. After all, the only reason Tillerson agreed to lead a federal department that has the power to erase one of Exxons biggest liabilities is because his wife told him to! (Ostensibly, Mrs. Tillerson also told multiple former high-ranking government officials who take money from Exxon to lobby the Trump administration on her husbands behalf.) Protesters rally against OReilly in front of Fox News headquarters on April 18, 2017. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images When Bill OReilly left for vacation on April 11, he stressed that the break was preplanned to counter the notion that it had something to do with the New York Times revelation that five women were paid $13 million to settle harassment claims against him. A week later, it looks increasingly unlikely that hell ever return to his show. New Yorks Gabriel Sherman reported on Tuesday afternoon that the Murdochs are leaning toward announcing that OReilly will not return to the air, according to three sources. Later that evening multiple outlets said support for OReilly is eroding within Fox News. Most notably, The Wall Street Journal which is also owned by the Murdoch family reported that Fox News is preparing to cut ties with the OReilly Factor host. The paper said 21st Century Fox is holding a board meeting on Thursday, and OReillys fate could be announced by the end of the week. Politico notes that while Fox News initially insisted OReilly would be back, network spokespeople have stopped responding to questions about his status. The shift came as the network faced new pressure to cut OReilly loose. Dozens of advertisers have pulled out of The OReilly Factor, with many shifting their advertising to other Fox programming. On Tuesday, the womens rights group UltraViolet organized a rally of sexual assault survivors outside Fox News headquarters in New York. The group also had an airplane fly over New York with a banner that read Fox: #DropOReilly, The Sexual Predator. Another accuser came forward as well, claiming that OReilly harassed her while she was working in a clerical position at Fox in 2008. The woman, who is black, says that OReilly would grunt at her, leer at her cleavage and legs, and call her hot chocolate. Her lawyer, Lisa Bloom, said she did not report the harassment at the time because she wanted to keep her job. She recently reported her claims via a 21st Century Fox hotline, and isnt seeking money. While OReilly is still on vacation in Italy, his team started fighting back on Tuesday after remaining mostly silent for weeks. First Marc E. Kasowitz, OReillys lead attorney, disputed the new accusers claims. It is outrageous that an allegation from an anonymous person about something that purportedly happened almost a decade ago is being treated as fact, especially where there is obviously an orchestrated campaign by activists and lawyers to destroy Mr. OReilly and enrich themselves through publicity driven donations, Kasowitz said. On Tuesday evening Kasowitz released a second statement, saying OReilly has been subjected to a brutal campaign of character assassination that is unprecedented in post-McCarthyist America. He added that he has evidence that the smear campaign is being orchestrated by far-left organizations bent on destroying OReilly for political and financial reasons. According to the Journal, OReillys camp claims that the liberal watchdog group Media Matters and Democratic fundraiser Mary Pat Bonner are driving the advertiser boycott. Fox has hired Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, & Garrison to look into the allegations against OReilly. Its the same law firm that was brought in to look at the claims against Fox News chief Roger Ailes, who was ousted over his own sexual harassment scandal last year. Conservative activists are praying for an Anthony Kennedy retirement and a Trump appointment designed to overturn Roe v. Wade. Photo: Eric Thayer/Getty Images Here we go again: The rumor that will not die, that Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy is going to retire imminently, giving Donald Trump and conservatives generally a chance to quickly change the Courts trajectory for decades, is back, this time being promoted by the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to the Hill: Sen. Chuck Grassley is predicting that President Trump will get to nominate a second justice to the Supreme Court as early as this summer. The Iowa Republican, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said there is a rumored upcoming retirement but declined to say which justice he expects to step down. I would expect a resignation this summer, Grassley said during a Q&A with the Muscatine Journal in Iowa. Now its always possible someone on SCOTUS that no one thinks is considering retirement actually is, and that Grassleys gotten a heads-up as chairman of the committee that would confirm a successor. But more likely, hes talking about one of the older Justices: 84-year-old Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 80-year-old Anthony Kennedy, or 78-year-old Stephen Breyer. Its very unlikely, however, that Ginsburg or Breyer would voluntarily leave the Court so early in a Trump presidency, or would help conservatives prepare for a nomination designed to repudiate their own judicial legacies. One would hope that Grassley (and before him Ted Cruz, who has been fanning the same rumor for a good while) isnt speculating about anyones health or proximity to the Great Beyond. That sure wouldnt be Iowa Nice, would it? So the odds are high Grassleys talking about Kennedy stepping down. Trouble is, this rumor, which began circulating before the presidential election and gained momentum when Trump won, has been pretty thoroughly investigated and found to be of questionable provenance. Above the Laws David Lat tried to shoot it down last November, finding no one with any real evidence, and also identifying some alternative explanations of clues others cited, like Kennedys tardiness in hiring clerks (later corrected) and his apparent abandonment of a customary summer-teaching gig. If Grassley has not been vouchsafed some secret knowledge, however, it is highly irresponsible for him to engage in this sort of speculation. He surely knows that a near-term Kennedy retirement is the biggest news ever when it comes to the anti-abortion activists who are part of his own political base. Having earlier helped saved abortion rights as the swing vote in Planned Parenthood v. Casey back in 1992, Kennedy came to the rescue again last year in Whole Womens Health v. Hellerstedt, a 5-3 decision that struck down the most popular state method for reducing the availability of abortions. It is almost universally assumed that new Justice Neil Gorsuch would be a fourth vote to either reverse or seriously modify precedents creating and defending a constitutional right to abortion, dating back to Roe v. Wade. So a Trump replacement for Kennedy would very likely be the final blow, as the payment for movement-conservative support for Trump could come due sooner than anyone expected. If, for the sake of argument, Grassley knows whereof he speaks, then you still have to wonder why he is going public with the speculation, which if nothing else is rude to a Justice who would be giving the Republicans conservative base the most precious gift imaginable. Then again, Grassley is 83 himself, and perhaps he cannot contain his enthusiasm at being in the center of a great public spectacle this very summer. Or maybe hes reassuring his partisan colleagues that they will soon get a chance to repeat their one legislative accomplishment of 2017 by further reshaping the Supreme Court. Its all nice on Rice. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images If youre one of the millions of Americans who get their news from thrice-divorced supplement salesmen on right-wing radio, then youre probably aware that Susan Rice wiretapped Donald Trumps phone in a nefarious plot to steal the 2016 election for serial murderer (and/or Muslim Brotherhood sleeper agent) Hillary Clinton. If youre one of the dozens of Americans who get their news from The Wall Street Journal editorial page, then youre probably aware that Trump transition officials had their communications intercepted when they communicated with foreign agents who were under the surveillance of the U.S. spy state. And you know that this was perfectly legal but, you also know that when private citizens are incidentally surveilled in this fashion, their names are masked to protect their privacy. And yet, Obamas national security adviser Susan Rice asked to unmask the name of at least one member of the Trump team and personally reviewed other intelligence summaries that technically masked Trump official identities but were written in such a way as to make obvious who those officials were. And you know that this is all highly unusualand troubling, and an abuse of the Executives surveillance powers that exposes the hypocrisy of the Democratic Partys self-styled civil libertarians. If you are one of the handful of House members whove seen the actual intelligence documents on which this whole hullabaloo is based, youre aware that both those narratives are bullshit and that the real story goes something like this: One Saturday morning last month, our Fox News grandpa-in-chief woke up, misread a Breitbart article, and announced that the former president had wiretapped his phone. Unable to admit that he had baselessly defamed his predecessor, President Trump ordered his staff to validate his paranoid delusion. Weeks later, James Comey announced that the FBI was looking into ties between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. The White House decided it could change the subject and prove that the president had never been wrong on the internet by feeding a story about incidental surveillance and improper unmasking to Devin Nunes, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee and head of the lower chambers investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. But the intelligence reports that the administration fed to Nunes, which he dutifully represented as scandalous, expose nothing but the competence of Americas intelligence community. And Susan Rices requests to unmask certain names in those documents were neither unusual nor inappropriate. Or so those of us who get our news from CNN and The New Yorkers Ryan Lizza now understand. Last week, the cable network reported that Republican and Democratic House members who examined Nuness documents found no evidence that Obama administration officials did anything unusual or illegal. This week, anonymous intelligence sources briefed Lizza on the details of those innocuous documents and on the nefarious process that turned them into front-page news: What the intercepts all had in common is that the people being spied on made references to Donald Trump or to Trump officials. That wasnt even clear, though, from reading the transcripts. The names of any Americans were concealed, or masked, the intelligence communitys term for redacting references to Americans who are not the legal targets of surveillance when such intelligence reports are distributed to policy makers. I spoke to two intelligence sources, one who read the entire binder of intercepts and one who was briefed on their contents. Theres absolutely nothing there, one source said. The Trump names remain masked in the documents, and Rice would not have been able to know in all cases that she was asking the N.S.A. to unmask the names of Trump officials. The intelligence source told me that he knows, from talking to people in the intelligence community, that the White House said, We are going to mobilize to find something to justify the Presidents tweet that he was being surveilled. They put out an all-points bulletina call to sift through intelligence reportsand said, We need to find something that justifies the Presidents crazy tweet about surveillance at Trump Tower. And Im telling you there is no way you get that from those transcripts, which are about as plain vanilla as can be. (The White House did not respond to a request for comment.) To review: The (non-tin-foil hat-wearing) conservative narrative about all this is that Susan Rice legally but inappropriately requested to unmask the names of Trump transition officials who were legally surveilled, for no other reason than to satiate her political curiosity about the incoming administration. And, somehow, this distasteful exercise of legitimate authority deserves equal billing with an FBI investigation into collusion between a foreign power and the American presidents 2016 campaign. If Lizzas reporting is true, then the actual story is: (1) Trump transition officials didnt have their communications intercepted, but were merely discussed by foreign agents under surveillance. (2) Their names remained masked in the intelligence reports presented to committee members. (3) Rice requested to unmask some of the names without knowing that the individuals in question were affiliated with Trump. (4) The White House leaked, and misrepresented, classified intelligence material to validate the presidents tweet. (5) The Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee know this. And yet: Last week, Democrats and Republicans finalized their witness lists, and the names tell a tale of two separate investigations. The intelligence source said, The Democratic list involves all of the characters that you would think it would: Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, Carter Page, speaking of the three Trump campaign officials who have been most closely tied to the Russia investigation. The Republican list is almost entirely people from the Obama Administration. The fake scandal created by Trump and Nunes is not over yet. The first name on the Republican list is Susan Rice. The show must go on. There are bad headlines to distract from, and supplements to sell. While the Trump administration is moving swiftly to crack down on illegal immigration, President Obamas Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program has been left in place, for now. Last month, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said that no one who has current DACA status has been detained or deported under the program (though immigration advocates dispute that). President Trump hasnt made a final decision on the programs fate, but hes repeatedly expressed sympathy for Dreamers. They shouldnt be very worried, he told ABC News in January. I do have a big heart. But now a 23-year-old who has lived in the United States since he was 9 says he was deported to Mexico, despite the protections he was granted under DACA. Juan Manuel Montes told USA Today that after visiting his girlfriend in Calexico, California, on February 17, he was approached by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers who asked to see his ID. He says he told them that he has DACA status and left his wallet in a friends car, but the officers wouldnt let him retrieve his ID. They detained me, they took me to a center, they asked me a lot of questions, and I signed a lot of papers, he said. Within hours hed been walked to the border and released into Mexicali. He spent his first night in Mexico with a friend, but said that after he was mugged and beaten he decided he had to go home. When he saw people using a rope to climb a border wall two nights later he joined them, but was quickly captured and deported again. Hes now staying with his aunt and uncle in western Mexico. The Department of Homeland Security disputes Montess version of events. A spokesman said they only have record of him being deported after scaling the border wall on February 19. They also claimed that his DACA status expired in 2015, though Montess lawyers say it was renewed in 2016, and is valid through 2018. DHS noted that Montes was convicted for shoplifting in January 2016 and was put on probation. He also has three convictions for driving without a license, but USA Today notes that none of those convictions are serious enough to disqualify him from receiving DACA status. Now Montes is suing the Trump administration to obtain more information about his case. He filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California on Tuesday, accusing the government of failing to provide any documentation that explains why he was deported. Juan Manuel was funneled across the border without so much as a piece of paper to explain why or how, said Nora A. Preciado, a staff attorney at the National Immigration Law Center, which is representing Montes. The government shouldnt treat anyone this way much less someone who has DACA. No one should have to file a lawsuit to find out what happened to them. USA Today noted that Montes was not a poster child for DACA. He wasnt his high schools valedictorian or a prominent advocate for fellow DREAMers, the paper wrote. Montes has learning disabilities stemming from a traumatic brain injury he suffered as a child. Nevertheless, he graduated from high school in 2013 and was taking welding classes at a Southern California community college before he was deported. He lived with his mother and younger brother, who is a U.S. citizen. While immigration advocacy groups expressed their support for Montes on Tuesday, Representative Steve King celebrated on Twitter: King opposes DACA and is known for saying in 2014 that for every Dreamer whos a valedictorian, theres another 100 out there who weigh 130 pounds and theyve got calves the size of cantaloupes because theyre hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert. Other lawmakers said Montess story shows that the Trump administration is breaking its promises on immigration: .@realDonaldTrump has broken his word yet again -- this time by deporting a DREAMer protected under DACA. https://t.co/JBAICB0B4v Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) April 18, 2017 Sec Kelly promised that no one w DACA would lose protection unless they violated the prgrm's terms. I intend to hold him to this commitment https://t.co/a1uIdsoqbA Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) April 18, 2017 Jason out of the house. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images The Republican whose indifference to President Trumps myriad conflicts of interest put the oversight in House Oversight Chair will leave Congress in 2018. On Wednesday morning, Utah congressman Jason Chaffetz announced his decision not to run for reelection, in a Facebook post. In statement posted on Facebook, Jason Chaffetz confirms he will not seek re-election: I may run again for public office, but not in 2018. pic.twitter.com/waXSw0BrXE Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) April 19, 2017 Last month, Chaffetz argued that poor people should be forced to choose between access to basic health care and owning a smartphone and a Utah Democrat with her eyes on challenging Chaffetz in 2018 leveraged the ensuing outrage into $350,000 in campaign contributions. But its unlikely that the congressman is retiring out of fear of not being reelected this is Utah were talking about. Rather, The Atlantics McKay Coppins suggests Chaffetz plans to make his return to the private sector a temporary one. Chaffetz is gearing up for a gubernatorial run in 2020and this is a fraught time to be in DC for a Utah Republican, as Chaffetz has learned https://t.co/tUR0MxUx6m McKay Coppins (@mckaycoppins) April 19, 2017 Still, Chaffetzs announcement is a moral victory for all of George Soross paid protesters, along with every Twitter user who ever gave the congressman retirement advice. Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam. Photo: Mike Groll/AP After Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam, a groundbreaking judge on New Yorks highest court, was found dead in the Hudson River last week, initial reports suggested she may have taken her own life. However, the New York Police Department is now investigating her death as suspicious, the New York Post reports. The body of Abdus-Salaam, the first black woman to sit on New Yorks Court of Appeals, was found on April 12, floating in the Hudson River off of Manhattan, by the parkway near 132nd Street. She was found fully clothed and without visible signs of trauma, and her husband had reported her as being missing after he was notified that she had failed to show up for work. Were looking at it as a suspicious death at this point, NYPD spokesman Stephen Davis told the Post. We havent found any clear indications of criminality, but at this point we cant say for sure. Were hoping if anyone could shed any light into the hours before her disappearance, it would help us establish what happened. According to the Post, investigators have spent several days scanning surveillance video to try to trace the judges final moments, and additional cops have been assigned to review video from residential buildings, stores, and mass transit. The NYPD also issued an Information Needed notice on Tuesday, tweeting out a request for information from the public. The #NYPD is seeking info on the death of Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam. Anyone with info is asked to call our detectives at the numbers listed. pic.twitter.com/pSXDtuaVTo NYPD 26th Precinct (@NYPD26Pct) April 18, 2017 Abdus-Salaam, 65, was reportedly last seen alive by a deliveryman at her apartment the morning of April 12, after receiving a package, though her husband received a call around noon that day informing him that she had not shown up for work. Her death was initially described as a suspected suicide, and there were no signs of forced entry at her home. The judge also left her purse, wallet, and cell phone at home, which sources told the Post are possible signs of suicidal intent. Malia Obama out and about in New York. Photo: Alo Ceballos/Getty Images On Thursday, members of Malia Obamas Secret Service detail visited New Yorks First Precinct station house to report 30-year-old Jair Nilton Cardoso, whos been following the 18-year-old around the city. According to the New York Daily News, Cardoso is a longtime stalker who tried to break into the White House while the Obama family lived there. On April 10, Cardoso showed up at the building where Obama interns, held a sign to the window, and begged her to marry him, the Daily News reports. Secret Service agents kicked him out, but two days later he followed Obama out of another building agents reportedly stopped him and told him to leave Obama alone. The next day, agents interviewed Cardoso at his apartment, concluded he had psychiatric issues, and took him to a Brooklyn hospital for evaluation. Police are deciding whether to file stalking and harassment charges against him. The eldest Obama daughter has been living in the city while she interns for film producer Harvey Weinstein. She attended the Girls premiere party and has hit up a few nightlife spots, but not without heavy security. Photo: Prince Williams/WireImage/Getty An investigation into the joy and pain of fitting in: With this series, were exploring the pathologies, hierarchies, and quirks of female socialization from high school to the workplace and beyond. How did people even measure popularity before social media? I asked idly while a friend was cropping a selfie for Instagram. They didnt, she replied. As she refreshed the app to watch the first wave of likes roll in, I felt a stab of nostalgia. Remember when popularity wasnt quantifiable? Remember when trends were subjective, before there were algorithms to calculate them by analyzing words typed into search engines and shared Facebook posts? I miss the days when the most stressful thing about popularity was the sheer uncertainty of the whole enterprise. Back when popularity was cool and aloof, identifiable only by the feelings of desire, envy, and yearning experienced by those who looked upon it. Today, there is no mystery. The metrics of popularity are pervasive and unavoidable. News stories, video clips, music playlists everything comes with view counts, share counts, and crowdsourced ratings. If you look up an address on Google, you see a rating of the location. (My subway stop has 3.9 stars.) If you order dinner on Seamless, youll see tabulations of popularity and quality. (If a two-star sushi spot has been rated a thousand times and is still in business, it cant be that bad, right?) If you add a new contact to your phone, Facebook will announce how much social overlap you have. Some messaging apps even force you to confront the mechanics of popularity head-on Snapchat compares how much you message you friends, versus how much they message you, and assigns heart and side-eye emoji to your contact list accordingly. For a while, popular on social media was an oxymoron anyone who cared enough to build a following online was, by definition, a loser in real life. But as our digital lives merged with our real ones, so did the two forms of popularity. They arent one and the same not yet but digital popularity has at least enough currency to alter social dynamics in every other medium and space. Dating apps encourage users to link to their social-media profiles. (Some, like Raya, actually use your social-media footprint to determine if youre cool enough to join.) Social-media popularity can influence hiring, particularly in fields where marketing, publicity, or getting the word out matter. At parties, there is often a tacit understanding of whose social-media following is weapons-grade, and whose is just normal, and guests alter picture-posing practices according to how much public exposure they can handle. Or, in some cases, how much public exposure they crave. There is a direct correlation between the number of people at a party whose names have appeared next to the word influencer, and the likelihood of fremdscham, the German term for vicarious embarrassment for those who lack shame. I have attended events where the flash of a phones camera turns otherwise rational adults into overeager strivers, dashing across the room to join group photos, shout-spelling their Instagram handles over the din. Social climbing is simultaneously more humiliating and more boring than ever before. Humiliating, because its not enough to crash the party, you also have to charge up your LuMee and strike poses that will look cute online but make you look like a total jackass in person. (In my day, if you wanted your picture taken at a party, you had to interact with the party to lure a photographer. Gate-crashers mingled!) And boring, because the juiciest acts of social climbing have sort of been eliminated. Forget sleeping your way to the top, nobody even flirts their way to the top anymore. They just slide into DMs, an act that is admirably democratic, impressively efficient, and utterly dull. Theres no artistry to, I sent him a picture of my ass and now Im on the guest list. I know this because my boyfriend has the same name as a popular Scandinavian DJ, and the DMs are wild and coming from a wider age demographic than I would have guessed. Youre never too old to squat in front of a mirror and take a picture to send to a stranger, it seems. The result is the worst kind of eternal youth: all the social posturing of adolescents, with none of the carefree abandon. Metrics are the death of aesthetics. Now that we can quantify popularity, we can also calculate its trajectories and predict its patterns popularity is science, not art. And, increasingly, it is work, not play. People talk about popularity the same way they talk about money: Metaphorically, anyone can be rich, but we also know how to quantify social riches in numbers, and the type of work that makes the numbers go up the acquaintances who can bestow popularity, the #Follow4Follow labor that improves it, the bots you can hire to imitate it. Of course, every method for improving digital popularity has an analog in the, ahem, analog world. Since time immemorial, strivers have been kissing up to the prom queen; glad-handing strangers; and hiring claques to astroturf applause. (And some timeless strivers do all of the above, like a certain popular Twitter user who brought a claque to his first meeting with the CIA. President Trumps obsession with the metrics of popularity is so great that it may actually replace his superego.) But the real problem seems to be one of knowledge: Not knowing where you stand induces anxiety, but it can also inspire optimism. If youre not sure whether anyone sees you and thinks of the heart-eyes emoji, you can maintain the belief that the answer is, many peoples eyes turn into hearts when they see me. Back in the day of indefinite popularity, the most magical moments were always when a person who thought herself forgettable suddenly realized that she was loved by many that time-honored teen-movie fantasy. When the relative popularity of a person, place, or thing is public knowledge, though, discretion becomes a charade. There used to be real power in refusing to acknowledge social power. Popularity was contemplated only in private; it was a gnawing fear on a lonely night, a plan hatched while standing against the wall at a party, a secret smugness enjoyed while withholding RSVPs. It was a true social construct, elastic enough to accommodate thrilling tricks of confidence: Nobodies who performed their unpopularity with enigmatic haughtiness could be rewarded with real popularity. When theres no scorecard, everyone is one play away from running the table, and no one can track exactly how it happened. Even those who possessed the powers or popularity did not always understand how they acquired it, or why, much less how to defend it which is precisely why it was so terrifying and magnificent. Says he wanted to step up and make his own decisions without relying on others.Won't rule out anything for the band in the future, says the band gave him everything and changed his life.Wishes good luck to Zayn (sure jan) and says it's a shame that he felt that way, however he should do whatever makes him happy.Thinks everyone's a bit awkward at 18 and while he was trying to figure it out, he just wanted it to be a normal date when he remembers his Central Park date with Taylor Swift.Doesn't know if Out of the Woods and Style are about him (wow) but says she's brilliant so the songs are everywhere. Says he's lucky that everything they went through helped create those songs.Says he wants to thank Tswift, because he thinks of writing about relationships it's like tipping a hat to the time spent together, and the shared experiences will always be there.He talks about a recent relationship without giving out any names but says that she's a huge part of the album.Some songs are full on rock like Kiwi and the range goes out to intricate psychedelic pop like Meet Me in the HallwaySays he didn't want to put out his first album and try to re-create sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties.Honest is the one word that pops into his mind, he didnt want to write stories, but he wanted to tell his from experiences. Says he hasn't been honest in the past and that's the one thing he wants to do.He's very nervous but he's happy that he's found the band he has now and he can be vulnerable enough to put himself out there.Thinks teenage girls who like pop music don't necessarily have worse music taste than a 30 year old hipster. Thinks teenage fans don't lie and they don't try to act too cool and if they don't like you, they don't like you.Says pink is the only true rock & roll colour.He's always received support from his family, but ever since he was ten he wanted to protect his mother at all costs.Says he doesn't read fan fiction (?) but he hopes the fan fiction versions of him get more action than he does. SCREAMING Reply Parent Thread Link oh no don't leave come back what a loss Reply Parent Thread Link oooooo this is interesting Reply Parent Thread Link we heard the same thing from Rubio and yet... so i'll believe it when i see it Reply Parent Thread Link Yassssss And cruz reelection already looks bleak, O'Reilly getting fired, fox news falling apart with lawsuits, tomi got fired, im not tired of the winning!! Reply Parent Thread Link does this mean he needs to change his twitter handle?! if so, he should go with @jasonoutofthehouse Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Great. He can go fuck himself. Reply Parent Thread Link His face is just so damn punchable. Reply Parent Thread Link They're talking about a Gubernatorial run... Reply Parent Thread Link The GOP has to be a little nervous rn tbh. States like Georgia and Kansas are red and shouldn't even be close. Now poor little Chaffetz is scared he'd lose. The same man who spent years attacking Clinton can't even handle his own constituents. Weak ass men. Jason Chaffetz said he won't seek re-election; said town hall attendees intended to "bully and intimidate" him https://t.co/OJ8LWfl2qM Eugene Scott (@Eugene_Scott) April 19, 2017 I was on my commute to work this morning thinking about how we have 4 fucking years of Trump. I've obviously come to terms that he's POTUS a long time ago but sometimes I get fucked up thinking like...4 fucking years. 4 goddamn years.The GOP has to be a little nervous rn tbh. States like Georgia and Kansas are red and shouldn't even be close. Now poor little Chaffetz is scared he'd lose. The same man who spent years attacking Clinton can't even handle his own constituents. Weak ass men. Reply Thread Link he's leaving cause people are mean to him? lololololol Reply Parent Thread Link His constituents and everyone else who hates him basically scared him into retirement. The retirement version of "you can't fire me, I quit." Iconic. Chaffetz out. O'Reilly out at Fox. I've had worse Wednesdays. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link hearing grievances from your constituents = bullying Reply Parent Thread Link he needs a safe space Reply Parent Thread Link the news coming out of montana and alabama is fucking /wild/ Reply Thread Link I'm almost afraid to ask...? Reply Parent Thread Link and alabama has been having a massive sex and ethics scandal with their former governor having to step down and their new governor is having a special election to replace sessions earlier than expected: in montana: http://www.krtv.com/story/35182453/mt-house-speaker-kills-mail-ballot-bill-with-parliamentary-power because mail-in ballots generally favour democrats and we can't have thatand alabama has been having a massive sex and ethics scandal with their former governor having to step down and their new governor is having a special election to replace sessions earlier than expected: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/alabamas-new-governor-orders-speedier-election-to-replace-sessions/ar-BBA0usn Reply Parent Thread Expand Link https://thinkprogress.org/montana-election-mail-ballots-44e0657746c6 I found little about Alabama I found little about Alabama Reply Parent Thread Link fallon trying to compete with cobert's new popularity by having elizabeth warren on. mmhmm I felt so defeated last night after osoff not winning outright. its like no matter how much we ~resist~ we just keep falling short of the goal. *sigh* Reply Thread Link It was a win bb, we shouldnt even be competitive there, the way I see it Osoff has to convert a handful of independent ppl while Handel has to convert every Republican who voted against her, there is like 2 points seperating them. Reply Parent Thread Link everyone kept saying that he needed to win this because in a 2 horse race the gop will win. so idk what to think anymore. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Colbert is better if only for the Tolkien-stanning. Reply Parent Thread Link Even if he loses the runoff it's still a win. Dems need to have field offices in red places to stay competitive, this is like investing in the future to make sure the infrastructure is there to eventually flip. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link "big R win" pic.twitter.com/kIIL8yqTKK Jordan Uhl (@JordanUhl) April 19, 2017 No idea what will happen in Montana or the Georgia runoff much less 2018 but "actually a -20 point swing against us is good" is awful spin. Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) April 19, 2017 Also I can't believe Trump was like "Big R win in Georgia!!" He's so fucking dumb. Although I'm not surprised since he thinks losing the popular vote means he had a mandate. Reply Thread Link "Glad to be of help" ugh god I hate him so so much Reply Parent Thread Link it always blows my mind how R's always have so many candidates run for elections and dems have like 1 or 2. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Did ya see the report that more like only 18% of Asian Americans voted for Trump instead of the initial exit poll results of 27% Reading about it was interesting bc I usually don't hear much about the Asian American vote Reply Thread Link Keith Ellison has a town hall today that I plan on going to if my neck decides to stop being an asshole. Reply Thread Link My rep had a town hall last week and I really wanted to go but I had class. Lame. Hope you get there! Reply Parent Thread Link i wonder how things would be if hilary won ? i felt like trump never gave a legit reason for why he ran for president in the first place? maybe he did and i didn't listen Reply Thread Link If she had won the Reps would've been working at her impeachment from Day One. They outright said it. She would've gotten nothing passed and probably would have been jailed over her ridiculous emails. Reply Parent Thread Link Howard Stern claimed claimed he only did it to negotiate a bigger contract with NBC. Reply Parent Thread Link he's probably going off of michael moores claims http://michaelmoore.com/TrumpSabotage/ Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Mitch McConnell needs to get smacked or chased by a car or something. I want all these men to be so fucking scared so they can have even an inkling of how their actual constituents live. Reply Thread Link we should just turn him into turtle soup. Reply Parent Thread Link lol! he's out here, giving turtles a bad name. Franklin would never. Reply Parent Thread Link The Supreme Court will decide whether to give church schools an equal right to state funds https://t.co/RjRAGlVHhS pic.twitter.com/vPOutO2pDF Los Angeles Times (@latimes) April 19, 2017 Meanwhile, public schools are losing funding Meanwhile, public schools are losing funding Reply Thread Link I wonder what will happen when a satanic church uses this to get funding. That'll be interesting... Reply Parent Thread Link Mitch McConnell ignoring Warren is legit hilarious to me. Men are the worst. The new line of attack on Warren is how much she pays her staff, which has been explained by every credible person yet Republicans are running with "she's a fake feminist" and it's like... and you lot are real feminists...? Reply Thread Link I can't imagine 8 years of trump But The Cure by Lady Gaga (now streaming on Spotify and Apple Music) makes me happy Reply Thread Link LMAO JASON bye bitch! Reply Thread Link Ew how gross. I hate the Patriots. Reply Parent Thread Link how do I remove the true blood tag?? Reply Thread Link It looks like Serial had a baby with Spotlight... I'm in. Reply Thread Link Yes please. Over the weekend all I watched was HLN and ID. I cannot get enough Forensic Files and crime dramatizations. This looks hella good. Reply Thread Link I wish Netflix would do a documentary about a local woman who was killed in the 1960s by a priest. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Irene_Garza Wow, intriguing. This will be something interesting to watch with my mother, an ex-Catholic.I wish Netflix would do a documentary about a local woman who was killed in the 1960s by a priest. Reply Thread Link i was scrolling really fast and i thought the screencap was michael cera Reply Thread Link this looks really interesting. hopefully it's available on uk netflix. Reply Thread Link wow, this gave me chills. any decent documentary recs on netflix or amazon or anything? i've seen a good chunk of the ones on netflix that have been mentioned here previously. Reply Thread Link This looks so good. Reply Thread Link Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in Hello! Your entry got to top-25 of the most popular entries in LiveJournal!Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in FAQ Reply Thread Link Woah Reply Thread Link I'll watch the hell out of this. Reply Thread Link (holy) shit, yes Reply Thread Link damn im here for this Reply Thread Link The Catholic Church is evil and power-hungry; water is wet. Reply Thread Link Definitely gonna watch this. I was visiting Traverse City (MI) a few months ago and ready a story about a nun who went missing up there in 1906. Her bones were discovered 11 years later in a shallow grave, in the floor of a storage room of the church. It's still unclear exactly what happened (there are several theories), but apparently the people in that town still won't talk about it/get angry if anyone shows up asking about it. Reply Thread Link More reasons to hate the Catholic church esp priests. Reply Thread Link Man: have you read Infinite Jest Me: no, have you read The Babysitters Club #4: Logan Likes Mary Anne Man: no Me: well look whos stupid now Ej Dickson (@ejdickson) April 17, 2017 Reply Thread Link LMAO. love that Reply Parent Thread Link love it! Reply Parent Thread Link I have it sitting on my bookshelf but I'm too angry about the last 700 page snooze fest I tried to try reading it - so I'm reading Christmas at the cat cafe instead Reply Parent Thread Link I have it as well and I hate myself for not buying the ebook, it's too god damn heavy to read in bed Reply Parent Thread Link lmao I have that book but no motivation to pick it up tbh. Reply Parent Thread Link I will die before I ever read Infinite Jest solely because it's such a dudebro fave Reply Parent Thread Link Lmao Reply Parent Thread Link Half positive no 4 was Mary Anne Saves the Day. (Obsessed as a tween in the 90's.) Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I was reading The Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor but I swear the library only gave me 5 minutes before I had to return it and I couldn't renew it since someone had it on hold so long story short I am not reading anything right now Reply Thread Link Was it a digital book? The last digital book I had literally gave me 3 days, which I thought was weird because previously it was a month like normal books. I definitely did not finish the book. Reply Parent Thread Link no it was a physical book, they don't have a digital copy :( which is annoying because I'm a member of 2 library networks and I could just go back and forth if they made me return it, but I checked out a bunch of other books at the same time and I have a week more with them but this one was the shortest for some reason, and this library doesn't auto-renew so I have no idea why I had to give it back so fast it's kind of a long book and I don't have time to read every day so I'm gonna finish it in like a year at this rate Reply Parent Thread Link I'm reading American Gods before the show starts. I'm almost done with it and am loving it. Reply Thread Link I just ordered The Hate U Give and The Home That Was Our Country, and I'm excited to start both of them. Reply Thread Link Given the subject matter, it doesn't surprise me it gets dark. Reply Parent Thread Link The Hate U Give is so good. Reply Parent Thread Link I'm reading Station Eleven and it's great! so engaging and scary Reply Thread Link I love that book! Reply Parent Thread Link I'm reading that too! the opening scenes were especially scary to me because it took place in Toronto lol, I don't like to imagine world-ending flu pandemics breaking out in the city I live. Reply Parent Thread Link I started reading that right before the election and had to stop after it happened :( I'm going to start it over soon! I loved what I had read so far! Reply Parent Thread Link Oh I really wanna read that. Reply Parent Thread Link yasss my favorite book of last year, i recommend it in every one of these posts lol Reply Parent Thread Link Oooh I've been meaning to read it. The plot sounds hella confusing though. Is it dystopian or sci-fi? Reply Parent Thread Link I'm 25% into it and I'd call it a post-apocalyptic novel (so, dystopian?). A flu wipes out most of the population on the planet and what's left is basically the world in the Walking Dead (minus the zombies) - at least, that's the story so far Reply Parent Thread Link LOVE station eleven! Reply Parent Thread Link i love that book! Reply Parent Thread Link Station Eleven fucked me up for weeks if not months. Reply Parent Thread Link man... I was telling my therapist about that book today Reply Parent Thread Link !!! suuuuuch a stunning book. I could see that first night playing out exactly like that for me living here, haha. the route and everything. it's so hauntingly gorgeous. the bit about the things that no longer existed (paraphrasing) >>You just cant make this stuff up! *BTW, the students are good kids, they are just being steered by a liberal teacher. People on the Facebook page talked about how the project was an attack on the Second Amendment. This is political race baiting to promote gun control, and does NOT reflect WY values, Bouchard wrote. Lewis said that the students chose the topic, not Gernant. UW president On Wednesday, the students will show their presentation to University of Wyoming President Laurie Nichols, Lewis said. We didnt reach out to her, he said. She actually reached out to us. The president will offer the students an opportunity to talk about what happened with Bouchard, said Boswell, the UW vice president. Boswell said the only reports hes heard are that the students behaved well in an unexpected and awkward situation. That was even acknowledged by Sen. Bouchard, he said. Lewis was not equally impressed by Bouchard. He honestly did not present himself in a professional manner, he said. I would have expected a lot more. I was shocked by his behavior. Robert West, a UW student and vice chairman of the Young Democrats, said Bouchard is acting like hes in campaign mode, even though he was elected to the seat in November. You do have to adjust the way you interact, he said. When youre in campaign mode, youre energizing people to vote for you. But when youre an elected official, you have to represent everyone including those who didnt vote for you. A day after it was rapped by the Supreme Court for remaining silent over rape and murder charges against its personnel in Manipur, the Army today said the judicial probes conducted into these charges were "biased" and slanted against them due to local factors. It alleged that the district judges, who were locals, had conducted the judicial inquiries into the alleged killings and local factors came in the way of the probe reports which went against the armed forces. "The problem in every case is that the slant of judicial inquiry was against us. Judicial inquiries which have been done by a district judge proceeded against us by the virtue of their local apprehensions or local positions. Army's job is not to kill its own people," Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told a bench of Justices M B Lokur and U U Lalit. Citing an example, Rohatgi said if the Army goes after two terrorists holed up in a civilian area and in cross-fire some people are killed, then it cannot be held guilty for these casualties. "We are in our own country. If army is disbelieved, then the whole system will go haywire and cannot work. The inquiry officers were biased due to their local considerations," Rohatgi said, adding the judicial probes were not conducted by the High Court which had tasked the district judges to inquire into the allegations of extra-judicial killings. He said the Army in Manipur was operating in a very difficult situation and needed to be trusted as it cannot stage-manage the killing of its own people. "Army is operating in insurgency-prone areas of Manipur in difficult circumstances and it cannot be disbelieved. It cannot be said that I have stage-managed to kill my own people," he said, adding that compensation has been paid wherever the High Court has directed. To this, the bench said "compensation cannot be a substitute for everything". Rohatgi responded to the remark saying none of the kin of the victims have complained and compensation was paid to their satisfaction. "In criminal law, victim compensation is immaterial and the victim satisfaction can only be considered when there are compoundable offences," the bench said. The Attorney General urged the apex court that no decision should be taken on the judicial inquiry reports of district judges due to their local bias. Rohatgi cited the case of Thangjam Manorama, a Manipuri woman who was allegedly killed in the custody of the Assam Rifles on July 10, 2004, after being picked up on suspicion of working for the People Liberation Army (PLA). He said the appeal in the case was still pending in apex court which had directed an ad hoc compensation of Rs 10 lakh to be given to the kin of victim. Rohatgi said there were variations in the findings over the sequence of arrest given in the reports of judicial inquiry and Court of Inquiry (CoI) in the Manorama case. The bench after perusing the reports of CoI remained unsatisfied and said that the questions asked to the witness prima facie showed that an attempt was made to pressurise him. "If we are to believe that the inquiry reports was biased then we need to be satisfied from all aspects," the court said. The hearing remained inconclusive and will continue tomorrow. The apex court had yesterday pulled up the Army asking why it had remained silent over allegations of rape and murder against its personnel in Manipur and questioned the state government for not proceeding with these cases against them. It had questioned the Manipur government to explain whether it was "sheer helplesness" on their part or a "tacit understanding" that they did not proceed against the Army personnel despite there being serious allegations of rape and murder against them. The court is hearing a PIL seeking probe and compensation in alleged 1,528 extra-judicial killings in Manipur from 2000 to 2012 by security forces and police. During the hearing, the court was earlier told that there were 265 cases of deaths which have to be examined and there were various reports of the commission of inquiry in which serious allegations have been levelled against armed forces personnel. The apex court had earlier asked the Centre to segregate the cases related to the armed forces from the list of 265 incidents of extra-judicial killings in Manipur, which it would deal with first on a plea seeking probe into such alleged fake encounter killings. It had also asked the Manipur government to separate the cases relating to the state police. There are 35 matters related to commission of inquiry and 37 cases of judicial inquiry or high court matters. Similarly, 23 matters of National Human Rights Commission would be heard along with 170 cases based on written complaints. The Centre had said that out of the 282 cases, which were referred to it for verification, 70 matters were found to be related to the Army and Assam Rifles, while the rest concerned the state police. In July last year, the apex court had directed a thorough probe into the alleged fake encounter killings in Manipur saying the use of "excessive or retaliatory force" by the armed forces or police was not permissible in 'disturbed areas' under the controversial Armed Force Special Powers Act. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Kashmir University and colleges across the Valley remained closed for the second consecutive day today on government orders in the wake of widespread violence by the students on Monday. These educational institutions were closed yesterday on the orders of Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Baseer Khan, as a precautionary measure to prevent further protests, officials said. However, examinations were held in the Kashmir University as per the schedule. Higher secondary schools in South Kashmir Shopian district also remained closed, the officials said. Students of many of the colleges in the Valley on Monday held protests demonstrations against alleged highhandedness of security forces against students of Degree College, Pulwama, on Saturday. The Monday clashes had left injured several dozen students and five police personnel. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Filmmaker-actor Kevin Spacey will host the 71 Annual Tony Awards. "I was their second choice for Usual Suspects, fourth choice for American Beauty and 15th choice to host this year's Tony Awards. I think my career is definitely going in the right direction," Spacey said in a press release. The 57-year-old actor won his Tony in 1991, as a featured actor in "Lost in Yonkers." He has appeared in six Broadway productions, including the 2007 revival of "A Moon for the Misbegotten," reported E! online. The actor also tweeted, "Honoured to host the #TonyAwards2017...Fingers crossed all the envelopes are in order." The nominations for this year's Tony Awards, which each year honour plays and musicals presented on Broadway, will be announced on May 2. The actual event will take place and be broadcast live on June 11 from Radio City Music Hall. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Before tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians marched before him, along with some of the most fearsome weapons at his command, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and his audience were shown portraits of his grandfather and father. Pyongyang's giant weekend parade was intended as a show of military strength aimed at Washington, Seoul, Tokyo and others with tensions soaring over its nuclear and missile ambitions. It was also a domestic affirmation of Kim family authority over the country, analysts say. Banners hung from buildings around Kim Il-Sung Square, which is named for the founder of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea -- as the North is officially known -- and its ruling dynasty. One offered Kim Il-Sung "eternal glory", with another reading: "Let us safeguard with our lives the central committee of the party headed by the great comrade Kim Jong- Un." Despite dying in 1994, Kim Il-Sung remains the titular leader of the North, where he is "Eternal President", and his "Juche" or "self-reliance" philosophy - centred on the concept that "man is the master of all things" - is proclaimed as its guiding tenet. In a speech ahead of the march, senior Kim aide Choe Ryong-Hae declared it "a loyal report to the great president Kim Il-Sung and (his son and successor) the great leader Kim Jong-Il that we are maintaining the revolutionary cause". Pictures of the two men are ubiquitous throughout the country, where Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un -- still only in his 30s -- is consistently referred to as the "respected general". The parade was "a big deal for the Kim family cult in the North", said senior Rand Organisation researcher Bruce Bennett. At the same time, Pyongyang was "sending messages of deterrence toward everyone", he added. The new US administration of Donald Trump has ramped up pressure on Pyongyang and declared that Washington's "strategic patience" is over. The North, which says it needs nuclear weapons to protect itself against the threat of invasion, failed with a missile launch the day after the procession and its exact military capabilities are shrouded in secrecy. But it invites international media to observe the parades, and analysts scurry to examine pictures of the missiles on display -- whether real or mock-ups -- for clues about its progress. Choe told his audiences in the square, the country and abroad that the North was a "powerful nuclear-armed state" and "Asia's leader in rocketry". North Korean parades are a regular occurrence, said Jeffrey Lewis, of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California. "It's like Christmas, but for Juche instead of Jesus." Religious terminology is prominent at Kim Il-Sung's birthplace, a heavily restored grave-keeper's cottage at Mangyongdae, a rural idyll overlooking islands in the stream of the Taedong river outside the capital. "This is the sacred place that all the people of the world look up to," said guide Chon Hyon-Ran, who referred to April 15 as Kim's "birthdaymas". "Relics" of family life are on display, from Kim's great-grandfather's pipe to an inkstone used by the future president. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Telangana CID, probing the leak of 'TS EAMCET-II' medical question papers, today arrested the prime accused in the case from Uttar Pradesh. "Shiv Bahadur Singh alias S B Singh, a property dealer, and his assistant Anoop Kumar Singh, a driver, were arrested by the Crime Investigation Department from Jaunpur in connection with the paper leak case," a release from the DGP office said. "He was brought under transit warrant to Hyderabad," said the release. According to CID, Singh, who is involved in different paper leak cases since 2005, is the prime accused this case. "He was allegedly involved in the paper leak of Railway Group-D exam in Lucknow, Railway Drivers exam at Allahabad, Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) examination. PSC examination leak case of Punjab, J&K Teachers exam paper leak case, Wardha Medical College paper leak case of Maharashtra, Chandigarh Teachers examination leak case, Kolkata TET examination paper leak case and DMRC examination paper leak case," the CID said. On July 25 last year, the CID had registered a case under the IPC and other provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Public Examinations (Prevention of Malpractices and Unfair means) Act 1997. It has since then arrested 49 persons (brokers and sub-brokers) and seized Rs 2.87 crore in the scam related to EAMCET (medical) 2016 question paper leak, said the release. The probe revealed that some students appearing for TS EAMCET-II-2016 (medical) examination from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh were taken to camps set up at least five cities about two to three days prior to the exam. They were given practice tests with the leaked copies of two question papers comprising 320 questions with correct answers, the CID had said. The Engineering, Agriculture and Medical Common Entrance Test (EAMCET-II) was conducted on July 9 by Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad and the results were declared on July 14. In the wake of question paper leak, the Telangana government on August 2 announced cancellation of the EAMCET-II examination. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Indian Consulate in Germany will organise several events in two cities in Germany, to celebrate the Maharashtra Foundation Day on May 1, an official said today. The events will be held in Munich and Stuttgart cities for two days with the assistance of the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC). MTDC General Manager Swati Kale gave this information to reporters here today. The MTDC will lend financial support to the tune of Rs 7 lakh for the programme. It will also provide the publicity material, audio-visual presentation, organise cultural events and audio-visual presentation on investment potential in Maharashtra. The events will be organised on the Indian Consulate premises. "The idea of holding the Maharashtra Day celebrations in the two cities in Germany was conceptualised at the recent ITB Travel and Tourism Trade Fair in Berlin last month by Indian Consul General Sugandh Rajaram," she said. During the ITB Berlin event, the authorities were pleasantly surprised to find the Maharashtrian community in Berlin staging traditional Maharashtrian cultural events and folk art, she said. Stuttgart is already designated as the sister city of Mumbai. According to Kale, on the first day of the two-day events, a festival showing select Marathi films will be organised. "Traditional Maharashtrian cultural events, folk arts, festivals and photo exhibition of scenic tourist spots in Maharashtra will be held," she said. "On the second day, an audio-visual presentation will be made on the business opportunities in the state," she added. Besides this, there will be stalls put up displaying variety of traditional art forms of Maharashtra, food festival, Kale said. "The photo exhibition which will continue on the second day also, will showcase the progress made by Maharashtra and its tourism potential," she said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Maharashtra State Election Commission has demanded allocation of Rs 1.86 crore from the state government for the procurement of 700 Voters Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines. "We have demanded Rs 1.86 crore from the state government to procure 700 VVPAT machines," Maharashtra State Election Commissioner J S Saharia told reporters here. He said that usage of VVPAT machines on a trial basis will depend on the factors like the time a manufacturer takes for supplying these machines; the allocation of funds by the government, and the political parties arriving at a consensus on using these machines. "If all these three conditions are met, then the SECM (State Election Commission of Maharashtra) can think of using VVPAT machines in the elections to Mira-Bhayandar (August 27) and Nanded-Waghala (October 30) municipal corporations on a pilot project basis," Saharia said. Notably, the Union government today cleared Rs 3,174 crore for purchasing a total of 16,15,000 VVPAT machines to cover all polling stations. The Election Commission plans to go for paper trail machines in the next Lok Sabha polls to add an additional layer of transparency in voting. Voter-verifiable paper audit trail is a method of providing feedback to voters using a ballotless voting system. A VVPAT is intended as an independent verification system for voting machines designed to allow voters to verify that their vote was cast correctly, to detect possible election fraud or malfunction, and to provide a means to audit the stored electronic results. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya, who has been declared a proclaimed offender, is likely to challenge his extradition to India from the UK on the grounds that the charges against him are politically motivated, legal experts in the UK said today. The 61-year-old liquor baron, who has been living in self-imposed exile in Britain since last year, was arrested by Scotland Yard yesterday on fraud allegations, triggering an official extradition process in the British courts. Mallya was released on conditional bail a few hours later after providing a bail bond worth 650,000 pounds and assuring the court of abiding by all conditions associated with extradition proceedings, such as the surrender of his passport and a ban on him possessing any travel documents. The UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) will now argue the case on behalf of the Indian authorities. "The Crown Prosecution Service, acting on behalf of the Indian authorities, will need to demonstrate a prima facie case ie. Produce some evidence to show that the criminal charges against Mallya, for which his extradition is sought, are justified," said Javinder Nakhwal, partner at Peters and Peters Solicitors LLP and member of the UK's Extradition Lawyers Association. "There are a number of grounds on which it is possible to contest extradition, some of which might not be relevant to Mallya's case. Mallya may seek to challenge extradition on the basis that the request for his extradition is politically motivated, and that any extradition would constitute a breach of certain human rights," she explained. The precise grounds on which Mallya contests his extradition remains to be seen. His legal team will seek to support their arguments with factual and/or expert evidence and can claim he won't get a fair trial in India and can also raise the condition of Indian jails as a factor behind the extradition request being declined. The Indian authorities will have an opportunity to respond to any such evidence, she said. "When the case returns to court on May 17, the district judge is likely to set down a timetable for the service of any evidence to be submitted by either side in the proceedings, and list a date for a final hearing. "There might be a few more hearings in this case in the coming months to deal with case management or any issues that arise, before the final hearing takes place, at which the full arguments from both sides in this case will be heard by the district judge," Nakhwal clarified. Sarosh Zaiwalla, founder and senior partner of Zaiwalla & Co. Solicitors, also believes it will be a "long and strenuous" process which may not succeed at the end. "This is because, the judge will have to be satisfied that Mallya will get a fair trial in India. His (Mallya's) lawyers will argue he is being politically hounded and is a victim of a media trial. He might also point out other Indian businessmen owe much more money to Indian banks, but his client has been singled out for persecution," Zaiwalla said. He also highlighted that Mallya has the final option of approaching the European Court of Human Rights, at least until the UK completes its exit from the European Union (EU). "It is going to be a complicated affair asMallyacan argue that he may not receive a fair trial in Indian courts which are notorious for being easily influenced," he said. According to him, the Indian government has to continue using diplomatic channels to build a solid casework proving Mallya will receive a fair trial in India. "They could also look at the option of legally challenging Mallya in British courts to subsequently bring him to trail in India. A worldwide freezing order on Mallya's assets would be an even more effective option than the extradition route," he said. Mallya, whose now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines allegedly owes more than Rs 9,000 crore to various banks, had fled India on March 2, 2016. In January, an Indian court ordered a consortium of lenders to start the process of recovering the loans. "Extradition is the formal procedure for requesting the surrender of persons from one territory to another... Part 2 of the Extradition Act, in conjunction with any applicable extradition instrument, regulates export extradition from the United Kingdom to category 2 territories [like India]. "The CPS acts as the representative of the requesting state in category 2 cases (as for category 1 territories), and all proceedings are heard at Westminster Magistrates' Court," a CPS statement said. At the extradition hearing the judge must decide a number of issues: whether the documentation sent to the court by the Secretary of State complies with the Act; whether the person arrested is the person named on the warrant; whether the offence detailed in the request is an extradition offence et al. If the District Judge rules in favour of extradition, the UK home secretary must order Mallya's extradition within two months of the appropriate day. India and the UK have an Extradition Treaty, signed in 1992, but so far only one extradition has taken place under the arrangement. As Mallya is fighting the extradition order, he will have the right to appeal and the case can go up to the UK Supreme Court. The flamboyant businessman, who still owns Force India Formula One team, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. "Not a rupee was misused," he had tweeted earlier this year. But Indian authorities want him to stand trial for alleged unpaid loans to Kingfisher Airlines, which collapsed in 2012 with the loss of thousands of jobs. As he awaits the hearing, Mallya is expected to be based at his lavish country home in Tewin, Hertfordshire, an hour's drive from London. The Indian and UK governments are believed to have struck an agreement on extradition proceedings during British Prime Minister Theresa May's visit to India last November. India had given a formal extradition request for Mallya as per the Extradition Treaty between India and the UK through a note verbale on February 8. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today visited the 12th century Jagannath temple here and had a smooth 'darshan' of Lord Jagannath amidst tight security as some groups were opposed to her visit. Banerjee reached at the temple's lion gate at about 6 pm. She was welcomed by the priests and the temple administration and spent about one hour in the temple. "We are happy that Mamata Banerjee visited the temple and had a smooth darshan of the Lord at the temple. She visited several small temples in the premises," said Jagannath Swain Mohapatra, the "Badagrahi" (body protector) of Lord Jagannath, said. Mohapatra said there was no opposition to Mamata Banerjee's visit to the temple as was apprehended earlier. Meanwhile, a report said the police have detained three activists of Bajrang Dal who attempted to raise slogans against the visit of the West Bengal Chief Minister. The police have also seized saffron flags from detained Bajrang Dal activists. Earlier yesterday, the police had detained one Somanath Khuntia, a servitor as he allegedly threatened to oppose West Bengal Chief Minister's visit to the temple. Khuntia had claimed that servitors are annoyed with Mamata for allegedly supporting consumption of beef, which is against Indian culture and traditions. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) RAWLINS, Wyo. Officials in south-central Wyoming say a 25-year-old man is missing and presumed drowned after a weekend kayaking accident. The Carbon County Sheriff's Office says Michael Proberts of Wamsutta traveled to Seminoe Reservoir on Saturday morning to go kayaking. He was reported missing at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday after he failed to return home. Searchers spotted his kayak, paddle, life vest and ball cap near a cove at daybreak Sunday, but were unable to find Proberts. Searches with an underwater remote operated vehicle and with sonar have been unsuccessful in locating Proberts. Undersheriff Archie Roybal tells the Rawlins Times (bit.ly/2pdFdOB ) that no decisions have been made about how long the search will continue. ___ Information from: Rawlins (Wyo.) Daily Times, http://www.rawlinstimes.com A man arrested for a shooting spree in the central California city of Fresno in which three white men were killed saw himself as part of an ongoing race war, according to family and police. The suspect, a 39-year-old African-American named Kori Ali Muhammad, shouted "Allahu Akbar" -- "God is great" in Arabic -- as he was being taken into custody. But Fresno police chief Jerry Dyer said indications were it was not a "terrorist-related crime" and a probe was under way to determine if the murders qualified as a hate crime. He said Muhammad, who used the alias "Black Jesus" and was wanted in the killing last week of an unarmed security guard outside a motel in the city, had indicated in postings on his Facebook page that he hated white people and the government. "This was a random act of violence," Dyer said. "These were unprovoked attacks by an individual who was intent on carrying out homicides today." He said all the victims were white males and there was every reason to believe Muhammad had acted alone. Muhammad's father, Vincent Taylor, told The Los Angeles Times that his son was convinced he was part of an ongoing war between whites and blacks, and that "a battle was about to take place." A Facebook page for a Kori Ali Muhammad in Fresno featured images extolling black nationalism and making repeated references to "white devils," the newspaper said. When Muhammad was a teen he legally changed his name from Kori Taylor, his grandmother, Glenestene Taylor, told the daily. Muhammad faces four counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder, authorities said. Dyer said yesterday's shooting spree began in downtown Fresno when one man sitting in a truck was shot through the passenger window. The other victims were shot nearby during a rampage that lasted about a minute and during which up to 16 rounds were fired. Dyer said Muhammad surrendered to police at the scene, telling officers "you guys are looking for me." Dyer said Muhammad had a criminal history including for weapons violations, drugs and making terrorist threats. He said he was known to be homeless at times, and had associated with gangs. Lieutenant Mark Hudson, a police spokesman, told AFP the weapon used in the killings had not been recovered. Hudson said the FBI had been contacted about the killings. But a spokeswoman for the FBI declined comment, referring media inquiries to local police. The rampage is likely to reignite a long-running debate in the US on gun control, an issue that has dogged successive administrations. More than 30,000 people are killed by gun violence in the United States every year, half of them between the ages of 18 and 35, according to statistics. So far this year, there have been more than 17,700 incidents involving guns nationwide and 4,405 fatalities, Gun Violence Archive, a not-for-profit group, said on its website. It said the victims include at least 184 children up to 11 years old and 914 teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17. President Donald Trump has yet to spell out his policy on gun control. With Republicans in control of the White House and Congress, some critics fear his administration will ease restrictions. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 22-year-old man, who was injured during clashes between protestors and security forces on polling day in Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency, succumbed to injuries today. With his death, the toll in the bypoll violence has climbed to nine. Muzaffar Ahmad Mir, a resident of Kulgam district in south Kashmir, succumbed to injuries at SKIMS Hospital early today, a police official said. He said Mir had sustained multiple bullet injuries in his chest and leg during clashes at Barsoo in Ganderbal on April 9. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 23-year-old man has sued the federal government over his deportation to Mexico, saying he was entitled to remain in the United States under a program that shields people who came to the country as young children. Juan Manuel Montes' attorneys said their client is believed to be the first known person who qualifies for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to be deported by President Donald Trump. The attorneys said Montes qualified for DACA in 2014 and renewed his status for two years in 2016. US Customs and Border Protection disputed the account of Montes' immigration status, saying that his DACA permit expired in August 2015 and, according to its records, was not renewed. The agency said Montes was once convicted of theft and sentenced to probation. His lawyers acknowledged in the lawsuit filed in the Southern District of California that he had a misdemeanor on his record and "minor traffic offenses," none of which would have disqualified him from DACA. Montes, who came to the US when he was 9 years old and suffered a traumatic brain injury as a child, graduated high school in 2013 and pursued a welding degree at community college, according to the lawsuit. He then worked two years picking crops in California and Arizona. According to the lawsuit, Montes was sent to Mexico on February 17 after being stopped by a law enforcement official and asked for identification while walking to a taxi stand in Calexico, California, about 190 kilometres east of San Diego. He had forgotten his wallet in a friend's car and felt "scared and confused." He was asked to sign documents without being given copies or an opportunity to see an immigration judge. After getting assaulted in the Mexican border city of Mexicali, Montes returned to the United States on February 19 and turned himself over to authorities, according to the lawsuit. He was again asked to sign documents, not provided copies and returned to Mexico. Customs and Border Protection said Montes was arrested after climbing over a border fence in downtown Calexico and admitted under oath that he had entered the country illegally. Montes is now living in Mexico with hopes of returning to the United States. "I was forced out because I was nervous and didn't know what to do or say, but my home is there," he said in a statement released by his attorneys. "I miss my job. I miss school. And I want to continue to work toward better opportunities. But most of all, I miss my family, and I have hope that I will be able to go back so I can be with them again." The lawsuit seeks records explaining why Montes was deported to Mexico, alleging violations of the Freedom of Information Act. It says Customs and Border Protection and US Citizenship and Immigration Services, which manages the DACA program, failed to respond to requests for information beyond acknowledging receipt. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Mizoram government today said that it has not received any letter from the MHA, which proposed creation of another autonomous district council to solve the Bru (Reang) refugee crisis. State home department additional secretary, Lalbiakzama told PTI that the state government did not receive such letter purported to be written by the joint secretary of the MHA to the state chief secretary. Meanwhile, state home minister R Lalzirliana ruled out creation of any other autonomous district council, saying that the government would never agree to further balkanise the small hilly state on ethnic grounds. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least 10 Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) activists were arrested for allegedly creating ruckus in a Zara showroom of apparel at Lower Parel area here to oppose the sale of 'Pakistani brands' of clothes. Those arrested included an corporator Datta Narvankar and three women, who were later released on bail, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone-III) Pravin Padwal today. The activists barged into the showroom inside Phoenix mall yesterday after coming to know of the outlet selling the apparel and accessories of 'Pakistani brands,' said the official. The activists shouted slogans against Pakistan and threw out the stock of Pakistani brand garments, he said. According to the officer, the activists also warned the shop management not to sell the cloths of Pakistani brands. The personnel from NM Joshi Marg police station rushed to the showroom and detained 10 activists. They were brought to the police station and subsequently arrested, he said adding they were later released on bail. A case under section 143 (unlawful assembly) of IPC was lodged and the probe is on, he added. The NCP today welcomed the Supreme Court's ruling in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case and demanded that BJP leader and Union Minister Uma Bharti be sacked from the Cabinet. "We welcome the decision of the Supreme Court. In the wake of it, Uma Bharti must be sacked from the (Union) ministry," NCP national spokesperson Nawab Malik told PTI. Top BJP leaders L K Advani, M M Joshi and Uma Bharti will be tried for criminal conspiracy in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case as the SC today allowed the CBI plea to restore the charge against them. The apex court, however, noted that Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh enjoys Constitutional immunity and can be tried only after he ceases to hold the office. Kalyan Singh was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1992. "Even Kalyan Singh has no moral right to continue on a constitutional position like that of a Governor and he must step down to face the charges," said Malik. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari's ongoing state visit to India has been "fruitful" in enhancing the bilateral relations and goodwill between the two neighbours, Foreign Affairs Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat said here today. India's President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and various political parties highlighted the significance of the Nepal-India ties during their meetings with Bhandari and extended best wishes to Nepal in its efforts towards implementing the Constitution and holding the local- level elections, he said. "This visit has been fruitful in enhancing the relations and goodwill between the two countries," Mahat, who was a member of the high-level delegation accompanying Bhandari to India, told reporters upon his arrival at the Tribhuvan International Airport. "They have also expressed the commitment to support Nepal in its development endeavours," the Minister was quoted as saying by The Kathmandu Post. Responding to questions that Bhandari was received at the airport by India's Minister of State, Mahat said there was nothing lacking in the honour India accorded to Nepal's President. "The guard of honour that India gave to Nepal's President at the Rashtrapati Bhawan is an important thing. The Indian President, Prime Minister and distinguished personalities were present on the occasion," he said. Mahat said Bhandari went to the airport when Mukherjee arrived on a state visit to Nepal as Nepal has the tradition of presenting the guard of honour at the airport itself. Bhandari, who arrived in New Delhi on Monday on a five- day visit, was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. This is Bhandari's first visit abroad after assuming office in 2015. She was scheduled to have visited India last May, but the trip was cancelled after the then cabinet in Nepal said it was not adequately prepared for it. During her stay in India, she is also expected to travel to Gujarat and Odisha. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 35-year-old Nigerian national has been arrested for his alleged involvement in supplying narcotic drugs for rave parties and seized cocaine, worth Rs 70 lakh in international market, from his possession here. Acting on a tip-off, the accused, Chima Akuma, was arrested on Monday from near Indian Park, Lado Sarai in Saket, DCP (Crime) G Ram Gopal Naik said. Around 110 grams of cocaine, that was to be supplied to a person with the code name 'Hunk' for parties, has been seized, he said. Police said the buyers have code names on the names of trees, animals or planets and the suppliers never get to know their real names. It has been learnt that Akuma used to attend private parties and visit pubs and clubs to identify potential buyers. Most of his buyers are young persons, including college going students in south Delhi and adjoining areas of the city, they said. Akuma came here in 2014 and was initially exporting readymade garments to Nigeria, police said, adding in order to earn quick money, he developed contacts with some drug traffickers of Nigerian origin. He decided to become a cocaine supplier since the contraband is in high demand here. He rented a house in Neb Sarai village in August 2014 and allegedly started supplying drugs, they said. During interrogation, Akuma revealed that he used to purchase cocaine from a Nigerian national, Joe, who resides somewhere in Rajpur here but he has never seen his residence, police said. Akuma came to New Delhi on a medical visa which had expired last year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An infamous Hong Kong gangster, who specialised in armed jewellery heists and became the city's most wanted fugitive after a dramatic prison escape in the 1980s, died of cancer in custody today. Yip Kai-foon who was re-captured in a hail of bullets in 1996 after years on the run, was a symbol of a more violent time in Hong Kong, which was rife with triad gangs -- organised Chinese criminal networks steeped in murky traditions and violent histories. Images of him and his gang holding AK-47 rifles while wearing balaclavas wreaking havoc on the streets and leaving police vans and store windows riddled with bullet holes once dominated the evening . Yip reportedly started down his path of violent crime at the age of 19, spreading fear, and robbing gold shops, which were considered some of the most dangerous places in the city. He and his gang were known for stealing millions of Hong Kong dollars in merchandise per heist and spraying bullets at police as they made their getaway. He was 55 when he died in the early hours of today, a government statement said, without naming Yip. "During hospitalisation, his condition deteriorated and he was certified dead" today the statement said, adding he was serving his term for illegal possession of arms and ammunition and escape from legal custody. His criminal exploits were portrayed in crime drama Trivisa which won best picture at this month's Hong Kong Film Awards. The gangster was initially jailed in 1985 but made a daring escape from a hospital while he was receiving treatment, reportedly threatening a guard with a broken glass bottle and later hijacking a van in 1989. Yip and his gang spread terror on the streets again until he was recaptured and jailed for 41 years after a 1996 shootout with police where he was shot in the back and paralysed from the waist down. Ahead of his arrest, authorities had offered the then- highest reward in the city of 1 million Hong Kong dollars(USD 130,000 at the time) for his capture. He was a known associate of crime boss Cheung Tze-keung, who kidnapped the eldest son of the city's richest man Li Ka- shing and was sentenced to death in China in the late 1990s. While Hong Kong is now considered one of the safest in the world, organised crime still stalks the city, with the continued presence of gangs - including Wo Shing Wo, 14K and Sun Yee On - spreading their activities to southern China and further overseas. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) One person died and another was gravely injured in a fire that broke out at a restaurant in south Kolkata's Jadavpur area this morning, police said. A 30-year-old died in a fire that broke out at around 11 am at a restaurant located opposite of the KPC Hospital The charred body was found by the fire fighters during the salvaging operations in the building. The man was later identified as hailing from Patashpur in East Midnapore district, a senior Kolkata Police officer said. The man injured in the incident is being treated at M R Bangur Hospital, he said. Forensic team has collected samples from the place and an investigation was on into the fire which appears to have been caused due to gas leakage, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Hindu youth from Pakistan has been selected for the prestigious Emerging Young Leaders Award given by the US State Department for the positive role played by youngsters in building sustainable peace. Raj Kumar, from Pakistan, was among 10 youths from across the world who have been selected for the second edition of the 'Emerging Young Leaders Award' given by the State Department. Those selected for the award include youngsters from Malta, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Algeria, Tajikistan, Belgium, Vietnam, Peru and Israel. The young people selected for the award will visit the US for an intensive programme from April 30 to May 13, specially designed to explore their leadership capacities, strengthen their knowledge of management strategies in the non-profit, government and private sectors, learn and share best practices, and broaden their networks of resources and support, the State Department said in a statement yesterday. Kumar became an active member of the Pakistan-US Alumni Network (PUAN) following his participation in the State Department-sponsored Global Undergraduate Exchange Programme in 2013, the statement said. He served in various leadership positions within PUAN and secured grants totaling USD 10,000 for projects focusing on countering violent extremist voices and promoting pluralism in society. Through one of his initiatives, 'Days of Interreligious Youth Action - Promoting Peace through Arts, Sports, Dialogue and Music', Kumar and his 10-person team brought together 500 community members from different ethnic and religious backgrounds to paint and share messages of peace through art and Sufi music, as well as teach teamwork and sportsmanship lessons, the State Department said. Through another grant, Kumar provided training to women about Pakistani laws that protect their rights. "Raj recognises the power of traditional and social media to influence views; he wrote a piece titled 'My Journey as a Pakistani Hindu'that was picked up by a leading English- language newspaper in Pakistan, Express Tribune," the State Department said. He also has spoken about the role of youth in addressing violent extremism on a prominent Pakistani TV network, Dawn News, and has been profiled by a prominent Facebook page, "Humans of Pakistan. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan's ruling PML-N is weighing the option of early election in case of an adverse verdict by the Supreme Court tomorrow on the high-profile Panamagate case involving Prime Minster Nawaz Sharif and his children. PML-N leadership today held meetings to chalk out strategy in the wake of Panama verdict. "The option of early election (this year) is being discussed by the leadership in case of the apex court's decision affecting Prime Minister Sharif," a PML-N leader said today. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi today held a meeting with senior ministerial colleagues here, hours after the Supreme Court ordered restoring of criminal conspiracy charge against top BJP leaders L K Advani, M M Joshi and Uma Bharti in the Babri Masjid demolition case. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and Information and Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu were among those who attended the meeting, sources said. The political situation in the country was understood to have been discussed at the meeting, the sources said but did not specify the issues. The meeting took place hours after the Apex Court allowed the CBI plea to restore the criminal conspiracy charge against Advani, Joshi and Bharti in the 1992 Babri demolition case. The top court also clubbed the trial in the matter pending against the leaders and 'karsevaks' and ordered day- to-day trial with the proceedings to be completed in two years. "We have allowed the CBI appeal against the Allahabad High Court judgement with certain directions," a bench comprising Justices P C Ghose and R F Nariman said. After the ruling, opposition demanded Bharti's resignation from the Cabinet but she refused to step down. Jaitley also virtually ruled out Bharti's resignation and described as "hypothetical" the possibility of the SC ruling having any bearing in selection of candidates for presidential and vice presidential polls. "This case is going on since 1993. Somehow it is going on and no new situation has arisen. So the situation which was prevailing will continue," Jaitley told reporters. He was asked whether the ruling would mean resignation of Bharti, the Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, from the Union Cabinet and Kalyan Singh as Rajasthan Governor. Asked whether Singh and Bharti should resign following the charge sheet in the case, Jaitley shot back, saying if that is the criteria then some of the current Congress Chief Ministers will have to quit. "There have been ministers, there have been deputy prime ministers... If charge sheet is the rule (to resign), then just calculate, how many Congress chief ministers will (have to go)," he said. When asked whether today's apex court ruling will impact selection of candidates for the posts of president and vice president, Jaitley merely said "it is hypothetical." While the term of President Pranab Mukherjee is coming to an end on July 24, the term of Vice President Hamid Ansari ends on August 10. There has been speculation that Advani and Joshi, both BJP veterans, could be considered as possible candidates for the two top constitutional posts. But there has been no official word so far from the ruling NDA in this regard. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Police today claimed to have foiled a bid to snatch weapons of CRPF jawans by some students during a clash with them in Banihal district of Jammu and Kashmir. The incident occurred yesterday on the Jammu-Srinagar highway after an altercation between the students and the CRPF personnel when a vehicle carrying the former overtook the security force's convoy in which one of their vehicles was hit, they said. To this a few CRPF jawans came down and thrash the errant driver and a student also got hit, a police officer said, adding the incident triggered protest by the students who subsequently blockaded the highway for some hours, disrupting traffic. An argument broke out between some students and the CRPF men in a bid to rescue the driver, but the situation was defused and the convoy commenced it journey towards Jammu, he said. Later, several students came on the highway stopping the traffic and clashed with the para-force, the officer said, adding some even tried to snatch the weapons of some CRPF jawans, turning the situation grim. As the students started pelting stones, breaking glass doors, counters and signboards, besides windscreens and window panes of vehicles, police, which had reached the spot, resorted to baton charge to disperse the agitators. The CRPF convoy was then allowed to move towards Jammu, he said. Following the incident, Banihal town observed a bandh and the highway was blocked due to massive protests, which continued for several hours. Confirming the incidents, Station House Officer (SHO) Banihal, Inspector Mohammad Afzal Wani told PTI that some students tried to snatch weapons of CRPF men, who observed restrain. "We have foiled their bid. The situation would have turned ugly had they snatched the weapons," he said. Notably, a motorcyclist was killed in an accident with an army vehicle on Sunday. Though police have registered an FIR and apprehended the erring driver, the locals held a demonstration and closed their establishments in protest. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Punjab government today decided to scrap the controversial Khalsa University Act, 2016, to save the historic 125-year-old Khalsa College from losing its heritage status. A decision to this effect was taken by the state cabinet at a meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, here, an official spokesman said. Amarinder had earlier promised to protect the glorious legacy of Khalsa College, Amritsar, which is one of oldest educational institutions in the country with a heritage status. The spokesperson said the Cabinet termed as appalling the move by the Khalsa College Society to destroy its rich heritage status by converting the prestigious institution into the university. The Khalsa varsity was established vide Khalsa University Act, 2016, by the previous SAD-BJP alliance government despite huge criticism from not only the residents of Amritsar but also from the alumni of the college and intellectuals of the state, the Cabinet noted. There was no point in establishing an additional university in Amritsar, which already had several reputed institutions of higher learning, it said. While the Guru Nanak Dev University has won wide acclaim and recognition at the national level, the Sri Guru Ram Dass University of Health Sciences and the Indian Institute of Management, Amritsar, were also amongst the institutions of national repute, the Cabinet said It also noted that taking away a chunk of land from Khalsa College to make a university would adversely affect the existence of Khalsa College. The Cabinet opined that all the properties attached to the Khalsa College should be kept intact, thus also preserving its architectural grandeur and marvel. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Punjab Cabinet today decided to hand over the management of the Saragarhi gurdwara to the administration of Saragarhi Memorial Management Trust, Ferozepur to ensure better upkeep of the historic site. The Trust comprises highly decorated serving army men and ex-servicemen as its trustees, whom the Cabinet found to be best equipped to take on the task of protecting and maintaining the important site located at Ferozepur Cantonment. The Cabinet cancelled the orders of the previous SAD-BJP combine government entrusting the management of the gurdwara to Baba Nand Singh Gurdwara Nanaksar Kaleran, Jagraon, for a period of thirty years, an official spokesperson disclosed after a meeting of the state cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh. The SAD-BJP combine government had issued the orders after Chief Organiser Baba Lakha Singh, Gurdwara Nanaksar Kalera, Jagraon, submitted an application seeking handing over of the services of maintenance of the Saragarhi Gurdwara to them. Captain Amarinder had announced his government's intent to transfer the upkeep of the gurdwara to the Trust at the recent event to launch his book on the historic Saragarhi battle which took place on September 12, 1897. Captain Amarinder, himself an ex-Army man, made it clear that the various memorials of martyrs in Punjab would not be allowed to deteriorate under his regime, as happened under the previous government. "These memorials of our brave soldiers would be provided the kind of maintenance and upkeep they deserve," the Chief Minister reiterated at the cabinet meeting. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rebel AIADMK leader and former Chief Minister O Panneerslevam today described the ministers' revolt against the rival Amma faction leader TTV Dhinakaran as the "first success" of his "dharma yudh" against V K Sasikala. Panneerselvam said he had launched the 'dharma yudh' with the help of his supporters, including MPs and MLAs, in an effort to ensure that the AIADMK did not go into hands of Sasikala's family. He was reacting to the ministers' decision late last night to keep away Sasikala, Dhinakaran and their families from the AIADMK and the affairs of its government. Party founder MG Ramachandran (MGR) and late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had steered the party as a people's movement, he told reporters here. "After Amma's (Jayalalithaa) death, the party went into the hands of Sasikala's family and to prevent it we had launched a dharma yudh. And yesterday's (minister's revolt) is the first success in that war," he said. The former chief minister said this struggle, launched "as per the wishes and aspirations of people and party cadre," will continue. Panneerselvam had revolted against AIADMK chief Sasikala on February 7 last alleging he was forced to step down for her elevation as Chief Minister. She had been elected AIADMK Legislature party leader on February 5 for this purpose, but her conviction by Supreme Court in the disproportionate assets case dashed hopes of becoming the Chief Minister. To a question on the possible merger of his faction with that of Chief Minister K Palaniswami, he said talks will be held and conclusions arrived at "as per the desire of people. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Reliance Industries today said it has commissioned the world's largest and most complex ethane plant at its Dahej petrochemical complex in Gujarat in record time, costing about USD 1.5 billion. The company will import large volumes of ethane from North America and use them as feedstock in its cracker to produce petrochemicals. "Reliance is pleased to announce successful and flawless completion of its ethane project including commissioning of its ethane receipt and handling facilities and ethane cracking at its Dahej manufacturing facility in Gujarat in a record time of less than 3 years," a company statement said. Ethane, a natural gas component, is expected to be produced in large volumes in North America due to the shale gas revolution, which has generated an abundance of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and cooking gas LPG. Ethane is primarily used as a petrochemical feedstock to produce ethylene by steam cracking. Reliance plans to ship 1.5 million tonne a year of ethane from its US shale joint ventures to its chemical complex in Gujarat. The firm has two joint ventures in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale - one with Chevron, in which it has invested USD 1.7 billion, and another with Houston-based Carrizo Oil & Gas, in which it has invested USD 392 million. The entire chain included securing ethane refrigeration capacity in the US Gulf coast, delivery of dedicated Very Large Ethane Carriers (VLECs) to carry ethane from the US Gulf Coast to the West Coast of India, construction of ethane receipt and handling facilities, pipelines and upgrade of crackers (to receive ethane) at Dahej, Hazira and Nagothane manufacturing facilities. The VLECs are to transport liquefied ethane from the US to the Dahej terminal in Gujarat, which will be used to supply feedstock for RIL's crackers in Dahej, Hazira and Nagothane. "This successful start-up underlines our ability to build world-scale capacities and infrastructure using complex technologies... The execution of this project at this scale and magnitude is a first in the world," RIL said. With the phenomenal growth of shale gas industry in North America in last five years, ethane prices have fallen. "The supply of ethane to our crackers at Dahej, Hazira and Nagothane will provide feedstock security and flexibility enabling us to select the most optimal feed mix based on market conditions. "This will improve the cost competitiveness of our existing crackers and enable us to optimise the portfolio in a volatile market environment," the statement said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) South Sudanese former rebels released 16 UN staff after holding them hostage for several hours in a camp in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a UN official has said. About 530 former rebels from South Sudan are living in the Munigi camp, just outside of Goma, where they fled when fighting flared in the South Sudanese capital of Juba in July. "We are pleased to confirm that all 16 MONUSCO staff, who were earlier being held in a camp for former combatants in Munigi, have been released," said a UN official yesterday. The 16 staff worked for the UN mission, known as MONUSCO, but there were no details about their nationalities. "The camp is quiet and under full control of MONUSCO. All staff have returned safely to their homes," said the official. The official added that there were no casualties from the incident and that the mission had opened an investigation. The combatants, who were disarmed when they entered the camp, have for months demanded to be relocated, but UN officials have been unable to find countries willing to take them in. Rebel leader Riek Machar remains in South Africa and has been prevented from returning to South Sudan. After gaining independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan descended into war in December 2013, leaving tens of thousands dead and 3.5 million people displaced. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan's native village of Bambeli is all set to accord him a grand welcome when he will arrive here tomorrow. "The route to Bambeli has been decorated with big hoardings in honour of the Canadian Defence Minister, who left the village with his family in 1974-75," said village head Paramjit Singh here. "There is a lot of enthusiasm among the dwellers of Bambeli, located in Mahilpur block of this district, to receive him. A display of fireworks will mark his arrival here," he said. Upon his arrival, Sajjan will be taken to a gurdwara in the village, where he will pay obeisance. Also, food will be at a langar (open kitchen) on the occasion. Sajjan's father Kundan Singh and mother Vidya Kaur are already in the village to get their house renovated. His sister Manjit Kaur has also joined her parents, the village head said. Sukhpal Singh, a cousin of Sajjan, said the minister was visiting the village after a gap of 16 years. However, Deputy Commissioner, Hoshiarpur, Vipul Ujwal said he has no official information on the visit of the Canadian Defence Minister yet. SSP H S Bhullar said adequate security arrangements have been made in view of his visit. Meanwhile, Sajjan landed at the Guru Ramdas International Airport in Amritsar in the evening. Some radicals also raised slogans to welcome him. Members of a Sikh fundamentalist group said they raised slogans in his honour but police did not allow them to receive or meet Sajjan, who has been dubbed a "Khalistani sympathiser" by Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has, however, announced to honour the dignitary during his visit to Amritsar to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple on April 20. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Superstar Salman Khan today released the first poster of his much awaited movie "Tubelight" directed by Kabir Khan. The 51-year-old actor took to social media to unveil the poster. "Kya tumhe yakeen hai ? Agar tumhe yakeen hai then 'Back his Back'," he wrote alongside the poster which features a back shot of a man. In the picture the actor is seen wearing a blazer a cap and holding a sling bag. The catch line of the poster is "Kya Tumhe Yakeen Hai". The makers had released a small teaser of the film yesterday featuring a chorus in the voice of kids. The movie marks the third collaboration between Salman and Kabir, who have previously worked together in "Ek Tha Tiger" and "Bajrangi Bhaijaan". "Tubelight," which also stars Chinese actress Zhu Zhu, will hit the theatres on Eid. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court today commenced hearing to examine the constitutional validity of various aspects of a provision of the Citizenship Act 1955, including the cut-off date for awarding citizenship to Bangladeshi immigrants in Assam. A five-judge bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur said it would deal with 13 questions related to the constitutional validity of section 6A of the Act, which were referred to it for consideration by a two-judge bench in December 2014. Section 6A of the Act relates to special provisions for citizenship of persons covered by the Assam Accord, which was a memorandum of settlement signed between representatives of the Centre and the leaders of Assam movement in August 1985. The bench, also comprising Justices R K Agrawal, P C Pant, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, said that apart from these 13 questions, it might also deal with related issues raised by the parties if required. The apex court asked the Centre and other concerned parties, including Assam government, to file their written submissions in the matter by May 1 and fixed the matter for hearing on May 8. It said after going through the written submissions, it would decide on the dates when the matter would be heard in detail. "All the parties will file their written submissions on or before May 1... With regard to the time that will be required for hearing, there seems to be some impression that the hearing will take considerable time," the bench said. "We will consider it after going through the written submissions filed by the parties," it said. In December 2014, a two-judge bench of the apex court had framed 13 questions for deliberation by a larger bench which included as to whether section 6A violates the Articles of the Constitution by diluting the political rights of citizens of Assam. It had also framed a question about scope of fundamental right contained in Article 29(1), relating to the right to conserve a distinct language, script or culture, and also about the meaning of expressions 'culture' and 'conserve'. The two-judge bench had formulated questions whether section 6A violates Article 14 (equality before law) and 21 (right to life) of the Constitution. "Whether section 6 A violates the basic premise of the Constitution and the Citizenship Act in that it permits citizens who have allegedly not lost their citizenship of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) to become deemed citizens of India, thereby conferring dual citizenship to such persons," it had said. During the hearing today, senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for one of the petitioners, told the bench that the main issue relates to challenge to the vires of section 6A of the Act. The bench was told that these 13 questions were framed by the two-judge bench after the parties had given their suggestions on the issue. The apex court initially told the parties that it would start hearing the matter in summer vacation from May 11 and the arguments might be concluded by May 19. The lawyers, however, said that arguments would take time after which the bench said it would go through the written submissions and would then decide on May 8 about the dates for hearing the matter. The two-judge bench, which was hearing various petition arising out of its judgement on PILs on influx of illegal Bangladeshi migrants to Assam, had decided to keep monitoring the implementation of directions given by it earlier. It had earlier passed a slew of directions, including an order to the Centre to complete the fencing work along the India-Bangladesh border within three months to check cross-border influx of illegal Bangladesh nationals into Assam and streamline the process to deport them back. The apex court had also laid down a time-table for updating of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam so that the entire updated register is published by the end of January, 2016. The apex court's December 2014 verdict had come on the pleas of Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha, Assam Public Works and All Assam Ahom Association filed in the aftermath of large- scale riots in 2012 and 2014 resulting in the death of a large number of persons. In their writ petition, the petitioners have said the sovereignty and integrity of India is itself at stake as a massive influx of illegal migrants from a neighbouring country has affected the core constitutional value. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court has sought responses from the Centre and Arunachal Pradesh government on a plea seeking an independent probe into the death of two persons including a Lama of the Tawang Monastery in alleged police firing last year. Tawang Monastery is the largest in India and second largest in the world after the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet. A bench headed by Justice J Chelameswar issued notice to the Centre and state government on a plea which sought an independent probe by a SIT saying "the people have lost faith in the state authorities as well as the central government, they do not believe that justice will be done within the state". The plea said that if not an SIT, then a CBI probe should be directed by the court into the incident of firing and injuries inflicted by police on the mob in protest leading to the death of two civilians. The petition, filed on behalf of the sister and father of the deceased, referred to an inquiry commission report, which had stated that 380 rounds of ammunition were fired from different weapons, and "after the firing incident, police requested all the magistrates to give firing order ex-post facto to regularise the firing". The plea said that commission report had concluded that the police firing was "unjustified" as the police force had failed to follow all the standard operating procedures, and had recommended that investigation into the matter should be handed over to an independent agency. The petition relates to an incident where police and the paramilitary forces had allegedly opened fire on unarmed protesters on May 2 last year in Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh, resulting into the death of two persons -- Lama Nima Wangdi and Tsering Tempa. The incident, in which several people were also injured, had created widespread disquiet in the state, the plea said, alleging inaction on the part of both the state and central government as it claimed that none of the guilty has been arrested. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A normal monsoon forecast by IMD kept the hope factor alive for stocks today as the Sensex closed higher -- albeit marginally -- after four days of losses in the face of muted corporate results so far. The Nifty, however, ended in the red amid a recovery in Europe. With more companies due to announce results, investors remained largely cautious. The government's weather office yesterday predicted a normal monsoon for June-September, which is expected to give a boost to the rural economy. At the close, the 30-share index stood at 29,336.57, up 17.47 points, or 0.06 per cent. The barometer had lost 469.25 points in the previous four sessions, largely because of continued geo-political tensions and rising wave of global protectionism in the form of visa restrictions. The 50-share NSE Nifty shed 1.65 points, or 0.02 per cent, at 9,103.50. "The Indian Meteorological Department's first stage forecast for the important Indian monsoon season suggested... a near normal season," said Karthikraj Lakshmanan, Senior Fund Manager, Equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund. Mirroring overnight losses in the US, most Asian shares turned lower after Britain's shock decision to call an early election added to global uncertainties, traders said. TCS, the country's largest software exporter, today fell 0.30 per cent after the company's March quarter profit came in below expectations. PowerGrid took the top rank, climbing 4.35 per cent. Adani Ports, NTPC, Asian Paints, Coal India and Maruti Suzuki rose by up to 1.24 per cent. SBI, Hero MotoCorp, Dr Reddy's and ICICI Bank faced selling pressure. BSE power index made the maximum advance, rising 2.04 per cent, followed by realty, metal and capital goods. Broader markets were better-off, with the small-cap and mid-cap gaining more than the benchmark. Foreign investors net sold shares worth Rs 930.67 crore while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth 878.08 crore yesterday, provisional data showed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A court here today ordered the release of seven Sri Lankan fishermen, arrested on April 6 last for allegedly straying into Indian territorial waters. Chief Judicial Magistrate-in-Charge Inba Karthick passed the order following a communique from the Tamil Nadu government, Q branch police said today. The fishermen, from Buddhalaam district in Sri Lanka had strayed into Indian waters near Tuticorin coast. They were arrested and later lodged in the Puzhal Central Prison in Chennai. They would be released from the prison and would be repatriated to Sri Lanka tommorrow, they added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least 14 Taliban fighters, including the shadow governor of the northern Baghlan province, have been killed in heavy fighting with Afghan forces, officials said today. Amir Gul Hussainkhil, the deputy provincial police chief, said Afghan security forces launched a large-scale attack on the insurgents the night before in the western part of the province, setting off five hours of intense fighting and killing Taliban shadow governor Mawlavi Lal Mohammad. Hussainkhil said the dead also included a number of expert bomb makers. He says no government forces were killed. The Taliban confirmed that the shadow governor was killed and said four other fighters died in the clashes. Elsewhere in Afghanistan, a roadside bomb killed a district police chief and his driver in the southern Zabul province late yesterday, according to Gul Islam Sial, spokesman for the provincial governor. He said four police were wounded in the blast. In the northern Takhar province, Taliban fighters killed a senior border police officer and wounded four police in an ambush early today, police spokesman Khalil Aseer said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tata Motors expects volumes, led by light commercial vehicles (LCVs) and buses, to grow by 10- 15 per cent in fiscal 2018 aided by a favourable GST rate and the monsoons, which is forecast to be normal. The company will also create a new segment in the bus market with an AMT (automatic manual transmission) version shortly, apart from launching an AMT version of its premium pick-up Xenon. "We led the LCV growth by more than doubled the industry growth rate last financial year clipping at 22 per cent volume. We're confident of this trend continuing in fiscal 2018 as well, and overall I see Tata Motors driving the industry volumes by clocking 10-15 per cent growth," executive director, commercial vehicle business unit, Ravi Pisharody told PTI here today. As against this, the industry lobby Siam has forecast a 4-6 per cent growth in fiscal 2018 for the commercial vehicles segment. Tata Motors has overtaken the long-time industry leader Ashok Leyland to become the No 1 bus brand in fiscal 2017. In 2016-17, Tata Motors' bus volumes (medium and heavy segment) grew by 22 per cent to 18,198 units from 14,917 units a year ago. On the contrary, Ashok Leyland, saw its bus sales declining by 10 per cent to 17,725 units against 19,586 units. For fiscal 2017, Tatas' cumulative sales stood at 5,42,561 units, up 6 per cent over 5,11,705 vehicles sold in 2015-16. During the year, the bus market (medium and heavy) grew by 8 per cent to 47,262 units. Tata and Leyland together dominate the market with a combined market share of about 76 per cent, with Tatas commanding around 40 per cent now. "We added almost 7 percentage points to our market share in the year", Pisharody said, adding "as our volumes clipped 26 per cent in the IMHCV (intermediate, medium & heavy commercial vehicle) bus category." He said this was driven primarily by orders from state transport undertakings. During the year, it bagged an order for over 1,500 buses from Uttar Pradesh, around 870 from Rajasthan and Haryana and 630 from Andhra. On exports, Pisharody refused to hazard an estimate saying it depends a lot on external factors. In fiscal 2017, its bus exports improved marginally to 5,650 units from 5,142 units, while Leyland's declined massively to to 4,877 units from 6,135 units. On the AMT buses, Pisharody said the move is following the better prospects for the bus market. "We will very shortly launch an AMT version of Ultra range bus. We are also planning an AMT version of the Xenon pickups, which will be shipped to Australia from this month." He said the new Xenon has been received well in the domestic market with over 1,000 units sales so far and expects sales to touch 1,500 shortly Pisharody also claimed an AMT bus and pick-up is a first for the domestic industry. When asked about any plans for an AMT version of for LCVs and trucks, he answered in the affirmative saying, the company is working on such plans as well. On new launches for the year, Pisharody said its runaway success mini pickup Ace will have a range of slightly larger bodies. Ace Magic and Ace Zip will shortly have longer bodies of 8.2 feet from the present 7 feet as customers are looking for larger carrying capacity. These will be launched next month itself. Similarly, its new truck Yodha from the Prima range will come with double cabins shortly, Pisharody said. On GST, he said, sales should pick up after July when the new tax regime is rolled out and since the rates are likely to be 28 per cent it should aid sales. The present VAT excise duties average at 30-32 per cent, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The brooding calmness of a Banyan tree as its branches spread out into the sky, the rustle of its leaves and the cascade of its falling roots, have been captured in a series paintings by an Indore-based artist. Titled, "Time and Being", the exhibition by Aparna Bidasaria showcases the magnificence of the Banyan tree, while attempting to signify the close knit relation between man and nature. Using vibrant acrylics on canvas the artist has depicted the different moods of the tree with changing seasons. "The banyan has fascinated me since childhood and that fascination is now embedded in my artistic sensibility and craft. The paintings have been inspired by changing seasons and the reflection of how the tree transforms with time," says Bidasaria. For her, the banyan symbolises the "dance of life and time". The tree, spreading across acres of space, she says, personifies nature in its full glory. "Its graceful sprawl invites you to swing on its roots, to rest in its shade and enjoy the cool breeze of its leaves," she says. One of her paintings "Safed Dhoop" shows the seamless beauty of nature in greens and white while a set of three paintings titled, "Basant" incorporates vibrant yellows with a touch of white and red signifying the sun. "The tree has many more tales to tell us and through my colours I try to catch the magic it has," says Bidasaria. Curated by art-critic Uma Nair, the ten-day exhibition underway at Triveni Kala Sangam, is also slated to travel to Mumbai in August this year. Nair says it is unusual to find an artist who spends days and months just painting the banyan tree in different reflections of light. "The artist imbues the painting with an essential stillness, harmony and balance. It also brings back her early fascination for the Indian thought in which the banyan is considered both sacred and profane. "From autumnal gold to ochre and amber, her use of warm, bright colours of orange and yellow stand out as a product of her earlier experimentation, marked by abstract expressionism and minimalism," she notes. While talking about the importance of Banyan tree in Bidasaria's artistic journey, Nair says the works are a metaphor of the artist's spiritual feelings. "The works are also a metaphor of her feelings about being an artist, her aspirations for spiritual odysseys as well as her sense of isolation and solitude," says Nair. The show is set to continue till April 26. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A member secretary of Tapi Irrigation Development Corporation (TIDC) in Jalgaon district of North Maharashtra was today arested for accepting a bribe of Rs 4.25 lakh from farmers for sanctioning compensation, an official said. The Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) laid a trap and caught Suresh Hanumant Sawant (49), an Executive Engineer and member secretary of TIDC, was while accepting the bribe, the official said. Sawant had demanded bribe from a 46-years-old lawyer, who was fighting a legal battle for compensation to 110 farmers, whose lands were acquired by the government for a project, he said. Sawant had demanded a bribe from the lawyer for his sanction to the compensation, he added. An advocate had approached the Jalgaon unit of ACB and an offence was registered against Sawant, official said. "A trap was laid at TIDC office today, where he was caught red handed while accepting the bribe," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The death toll of fire in Ranipura area here has risen to seven, with two more persons succumbing to injuries late last night, a municipal official said today. The fire started at a firecracker shop in Ranipura area yesterday afternoon, and spread to the adjoining shop selling polythene bags and five other outlets. Owner of the firecracker shop, Gurvinder Singh Narang, and another person, Jagdish Solanki, were found dead on the spot yesterday. Others who died at the government-run M Y Hospital during treatment were identified as Suresh Sharma, Chetan, Sudarshan, Raja and Karan. Another injured person was undergoing treatment at a private hospital, police said. The district administration has ordered a magisterial probe into the incident. Collector P Narhari said the shop where the fire started was authorised to keep only samples of firecrackers, but the owner had illegally stocked a huge quantity. As many as 20 two-wheelers parked in front of the shops were also gutted in the fire. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced aid of Rs two lakh each for the kin of deceased. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) After intercepting a suspicious package with $4,700 in cash, Bismarck police conducted a search Monday at the residence of the man they suspected of sending it. There, they found 355 bags of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, and other drugs, including marijuana, mushrooms and methamphetamine. Police arrested Mitchell Biwer, 27, of Bismarck, on multiple charges, including possession of a controlled substance with an intent to deliver. The package containing the cash was sent "under suspicious circumstances" from Bismarck to Denver according to the affidavit filed in the case against Biwer. The package was sent to a 30-year-old Colorado man, who had a previous conviction for possession of marijuana with the intent to deliver, the affidavit said. Biwer allegedly later told police the money was sent so the Colorado man could purchase a vehicle. After the package was intercepted, police obtained a search warrant for Biwer's residence, 509 N. 16th St. The search "revealed a copious and diverse collection of controlled substances and associated paraphernalia," the affidavit read. Police found in an locked safe: Three large vacuum-sealed bags containing 355 prepackage 1-gram vials of THC. Two large vacuum-sealed bags containing marijuana, each bag weighing an estimated half-pound of marijuana. Twenty-two grams of psilocybin mushrooms. Biwer has been charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, three counts of possession of a controlled substance and one count of possession of methamphetamine. He had his initial appearance on Tuesday in South Central District Court, where his bond was set at 10 percent of $10,000. In a blow to Indian IT industry and professionals, US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order for tightening the rules of the H-1B visa programme to stop its "abuse" and ensure that the visas are given to the "most-skilled or highest paid" petitioners. Acting on his 'Buy American, Hire American' pledge, Trump signed the order that calls for an overhaul of the programme at the Kenosha, Wisconsin, headquarters of tool-maker Snap-on Inc yesterday. "Right now, widespread abuse in our immigration system is allowing American workers of all backgrounds to be replaced by workers brought in from other countries to fill the same job for, sometimes, less pay. This will stop," Trump told an enthusiastic audience in Wisconsin before signing the order. He said the order sets in motion the first steps to initiate "long-overdue" reforms to end "visa abuses". "Right now, H-1B visas are awarded in a totally random lottery, and that's wrong. Instead, they should be given to the most skilled and highest-paid applicants, and they should never, ever be used to replace Americans," the US President asserted. "No one can compete with American workers when they're given a fair and level playing field, which has not happened for decades," he said. Trump said his administration is going to enforce 'Hire American' rules that are designed to protect jobs and wages of workers in the United States. "We believe jobs must be offered to American workers first. Does that make sense?" he said. The executive order also declares that American projects should be made with American goods. "No longer are we going to allow foreign countries to cheat our producers and our workers out of federal contracts. Everyone in my administration will be expected to enforce every last 'Buy American' provision on behalf of the American worker, and we are going to investigate every single trade deal that undermines these provisions," he said. According to the executive order signed by Trump, the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Labour, and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall suggest reforms to help ensure that H-1B visas are awarded to the most-skilled or highest-paid petition beneficiaries. In a statement, the White House said H-1B visas are supposed to bring the highest skilled and paid labour to the United States. But according to studies, 80 per cent of the approved applications were for the two lowest wage levels allowed. "Currently, companies routinely abuse the H-1B visa programme by replacing American workers with lower paid foreign workers," it said. Reforming the H-1B visa system was one of the major election promises of Trump. As per several US reports, a majority of the H-1B visas every year are grabbed by Indian IT professionals. India accounts for the highest pool of qualified IT professionals, whose services go a long way in making American companies globally competitive. As mandated by the Congress, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) every year issues 65,000 H-1B visas and another 20,000 to those applicants having masters and higher degrees from a US educational institution. This month USCIS received 199,000 H-1B visa petitions and as a result, the federal agency had to resort to a computerised draw of lots to decide the fate of successful applicant. Betsy Lawrence, the director of government relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told CNN that, "Although released with ceremonial flair, the order will have no immediate impact on H-1Bs." "Many of the changes to the H-1B programme contemplated by the administration would require legislative action or rule-making and would take time to go through the necessary processes," he said. Meanwhile, some US lawmakers said the executive order signed by Trump calling for a review of H-1B visas was too little and too late. "We already know H-1B visa abuse hurts American workers. Simply reviewing the programme is too little, too late," Senator Dick Durbin said. US lawmakers have already tabled more than half a dozen legislations in the Congress with specific proposals to reform and improve the H-1B visas systems. Many of those proposals, as per industry body Nasscom, are discriminatory and are targeted towards Indian IT companies. The US tech industry and corporate sector, however, has welcomed the "much-needed" review of the H-1B visa programme and expressed confidence that it would help them bring in the best and the brightest from across the world. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The White House raised the possibility today of Donald Trump meeting Pope Francis during the US president's trip to Italy in late May, although it stressed nothing has been scheduled. "We will be reaching out to the Vatican to see if an audience with the pope can be accommodated," White House spokesman Sean Spicer said. "We would be honored to have an audience with his holiness. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The White House raised the possibility today of Donald Trump meeting Pope Francis during the US president's trip to Italy in late May, although it stressed nothing has been scheduled. "We will be reaching out to the Vatican to see if an audience with the pope can be accommodated," White House spokesman Sean Spicer said. "We would be honored to have an audience with his holiness." Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said Pope Francis would welcome a request for an audience and do his best to ensure it happened. "As of the end of last week we had not had an official request for an audience but for sure we would welcome it," Burke told AFP, adding that he did not anticipate any scheduling clashes which could prevent a meeting taking place around the dates Trump is due to be in Italy. Trump is scheduled to participate in the G7 summit of leaders on May 26-27 in Taormina, Sicily. Prior to that, he is expected to attend a NATO summit in Brussels. World leaders normally give the Vatican at least several months notice of requests for a papal audience, which are almost invariably granted if logistically possible. In Trump's case, the request will be coming in barely a month before he is due in Sicily for the G7 summit and after months of will-he, won't-he speculation about a possible meeting centered on the two men's very different world views. While campaigning in February 2016 to become the Republican Party's nominee for the White House, Trump and the pontiff had a heated and extraordinary exchange through the media. "Anyone, whoever he is, who only wants to build walls and not bridges is not a Christian," Pope Francis told journalists, responding to a question about the real estate mogul's anti-immigrant stance. Trump retorted: "For a religious leader to question a person's faith is disgraceful." Trump later softened his tone, saying the pope was misinformed, unaware of the impact of the drugs coming into the United States and a range of security issues that made it necessary to build a wall along the southern US border. On a visit to Mexico in February 2016 Francis held an open-air mass on the US-Mexico border, where he described forced migration as "a human tragedy." When he was sworn in as president on January 20, Pope Francis offered his "cordial good wishes" and hoped that Trump would be granted "wisdom and strength in the exercise" of his office. But he also implored the former reality TV star to continue to help those who suffer the most -- "the poor, the outcast and those in need who, like Lazarus, stand before our door. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two persons were arrested here today for allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl on different occasions, police said. Jahangir Khan and Mohd Osman were arrested after Meerpet Police registered a case under relevant sections of IPC and POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act against them for allegedly raping the girl, a student of class IX, according to police. Osman, a native of Humnabad in Karnataka, had shifted to Hyderabad few years ago and was working at the welding shop run by Jahangir, and used to stay at the latter's house, Rachakonda Police stated in a release tonight. "Around nine months ago, Osman befriended the girl, who resides near Jahangir's house, and they entered into a physical relationship. "On April 14, Jahangir went to the girl's house and threatened her that he had photos and videos of her and Osman in a compromising position and that he would upload them on various online platforms. He blackmailed her to have sex with him. He assured her of returning the photos and videos," the police said. On April 15, Jahangir took the girl to a hotel in Malakpet, where he allegedly raped her in a room. He again assured her of returning her videos and photos and asked her to meet him again on April 25. Meanwhile, the girl confided in her family members, who in turn lodged a complaint with the police. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two MBBS students were killed when their car rammed into a tree on Ambala-Jagadhri highway near Simbla village, police said today. "The incident took place yesterday when Akash (23), a resident of Ludhiana, and Abhimanyu (23) from Jaipur lost control of the vehicle and rammed it into a tree," they said. The deceased, who were identified as Akash and Abhimanyu, were final year students of MM Medical College in Mullana here. The bodies were handed over to their relatives today after post-mortem, police said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The UN must use all powers that it has in its command to ensure that the developed world does not shut the doors on global trade and does not start to close their borders for people to move around, prominent Indian industrialist Sunil Bharti Mittal said. "We know the globalisation and liberalisation in trade has lifted at least a billion people out of poverty across the globe. There is so much potential that global trade allows the developing world to achieve which no other measure can truly realise," Mittal, Founder and Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, said in his address to a high-level meeting on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Financing Lab hereyesterday. Mittal, 59, speaking in his capacity as Chairman of the world's largest business organisation International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), said it is a matter of concern that parts of the developed world are now embracing a protectionist attitude. He emphasised that the UN must use "all powers that it has in its command" to ensure that the developed world "does not shut the doors on global trade and does not start to close their borders for people to move around". "Then, ICC notices the voice coming out of the developed world, parts of Europe, right here in the US, which are sounding protectionist in nature, sounding moving towards nationalist politics in nature," he told the gathering in the UN, which included President of the UN General Assembly Peter Thomson and UN Permanent Representatives. "It is a matter of deep concern for some of us in ICC because we believe there is no other recourse to uplifting the world out of poverty than to have global trade at the heart of the agenda of the world political leaders," Mittal said. He asserted that inclusive trade must be the "central priority" if nations have to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. "Business is already taking action, we need the right policies and partnerships in place to achieve the SDGs," he said. The Chairman of Bharti Airtel, one of India's leading conglomerates, said the emerging markets, Sub-Saharan Africa, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and other nations greatly benefit from the opening of global trade. Over the last 10 to 20 years, business leaders have been "knocking very hard on the doors of our own countries" to open up to global trade. He told the gathering that India today is one of the most open countries in terms of global trade and investments and invites FDI in India in almost all major industries. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The UN's top court will today rule on a bid by Kiev to halt Russia's alleged funnelling of money, arms, and personnel into Ukraine's war-torn east, a key moment in the three-year crisis. Judges at the Hague-based International Court of Justice will hand down a ruling at 1300 GMT on Ukraine's request for emergency measures, which it says will help bring stability to its volatile east. Kiev is also calling on the court to order Moscow to halt what it calls "racial discrimination" against minority groups in the Russian-occupied Crimea peninsula, particularly against its Tatar population. More than 10,000 people have died in the conflict which entered its fourth year this month, following the ouster of a Kremlin-backed regime in Kiev in February 2014. Ukraine in January dragged its former Soviet-era neighbour before the ICJ, which was set up in 1945 to settle disputes between countries in line with international law. Kiev accused Russia of violating the Terrorism Financing Convention and an international treaty against racial discrimination. Moscow rejects the allegations. In its filing, Ukraine charged Russia with "sponsoring terrorism" by financing pro-Russian separatists and failing to stop military aid from seeping across the border into eastern Ukraine's Donbas region. It called on the court's 15 judges to rule that "the Russian Federation bears international responsibility" for "acts of terrorism committed by its proxies in Ukraine". These include the shelling and bombing of civilians and the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, shot down by a Russian-made Buk-missile over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014. Ukraine wants Russia to pay compensation to all civilians caught up in the conflict -- one of Europe's bloodiest since the 1990s Balkans wars -- as well as to the families of the 298 victims of MH17. As it can take months for the ICJ to even decide to hear a case, Ukraine also filed an application seeking interim protection measures. In the interim application, Ukraine is seeking an urgent court order calling on the tribunal to order Russia to refrain from "any action which might aggravate or extend the dispute" or make it more difficult to resolve, including a halt to the alleged pumping of money, weapons, equipment and personnel into the east. It also urges the tribunal to order Moscow to control its borders with eastern Ukraine and halt racial discrimination in Crimea -- particularly against Tatars -- which Russia annexed in March 2014. Moscow has strongly denied Kiev's terrorism claims, saying they were "neither factual nor legal" and argued that the ICJ does not have jurisdiction over the case. The conflict has pushed ties between Moscow and the West to their lowest point since the Cold War. Georgia filed a similar case against Russia in 2008 after a brief war over two Moscow-backed regions that broke away from Tbilisi's control in the early 1990s. In an initial ruling, the ICJ ordered both Russia and Georgia to "refrain from any acts of racial discrimination" against ethnic groups. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Information and Technology Minister Ravishankar Prasad today inaugurated the first BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) centre in Bihar envisaged under Digital India programme to help local youths avail job opportunity. The centre having seat capacity of 100 and provide job opportunity to 150 boys and girls is the first in the state, the minister said. The Centre is providing grant for starting BPO centres across the country for a total of 48,600 seats. Out of this, 4600 seats are earmarked for Bihar in different towns, a release said. Addressing the inauguration function, Ravishankar Prasad said that the country was moving towards "digital revolution" under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The minister said that very soon 6 more BPOs would open in Patna to provide employment opportunity to about 2000 local youths. In addition, BPO centres would be started soon in Muzaffarpur and Dalsingsarai. The minister said that in 2016-17 the country exported software items worth Rs 7 lakh crore in which contribution of IT/ITES companies was Rs 3 lakh crore. In Bihar IT companies made an export of Rs 9 crore in fiscal 2016-17, he said. Prasad said in addition to Patna, software technology parks would soon be opened in Bhagalpur and Darbhanga. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis met Saudi King Salman today, beginning a series of talks to reinvigorate the Riyadh-Washington alliance in the face of common adversary Iran. The retired four-star Marine general, accompanied by a US delegation, was welcomed by Salman at Al-Yamama Palace in Riyadh, telling the monarch: "It's good to be back." Mattis, who commanded troops during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, arrived in the kingdom on Tuesday afternoon to listen to Saudi leaders and learn "what are their priorities", an American defence official said earlier. The United States and Saudi Arabia have a decades-old relationship based on the exchange of American security for Saudi oil. But ties between Riyadh and Washington became increasingly frayed during the administration of president Barack Obama. Saudi leaders felt Obama was reluctant to get involved in the civil war in Syria and was tilting toward Riyadh's regional rival Iran. The Sunni Muslim kingdom "felt marginalised" during international negotiations on a nuclear accord with Shiite Iran, the defence official said. That deal, signed in July 2015 by the Obama administration, saw the lifting of international sanctions in exchange for guarantees that Tehran will not pursue a nuclear weapons capability. Mattis was also to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and Salman's son, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who holds the defence portfolio. The deputy crown prince last month held talks with President Donald Trump in Washington. Saudi leaders worry about Iran interfering in Arab countries by using Shiite communities to advance their pawns, as in Bahrain, Lebanon and Yemen. Bordering Saudi Arabia, Yemen has been torn for more than two years by a civil war between Iran-backed Huthi rebels, their allies, and pro-government forces aided by a Saudi-led military coalition that receives some military support from the US. The Saudis have found a more favourable ear in Washington under Trump, who denounces Iran's "harmful influence" in the Middle East. Mattis has called Iran "the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world". In February, Trump imposed new sanctions on Tehran after a ballistic missile test launch, and in response to its support for Yemen's rebels. The US military is watching Huthi activities along the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait connecting the Red Sea with the Indian Ocean. Yemeni rebels in late January attacked a Saudi warship in the Red Sea, and they are also believed to have fired missiles towards US warships in the area. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Amidst uncertainty over the US' continued participation in the Paris agreement, a top UN climate official said today the body is "respectful" of internal and national processes of various countries. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa said this is an agenda which needs global efforts. She said many states in the US too have shown commitments towards the agenda of addressing climate change. "We are following what is happening in the US, but you can see also what is happening in every country around the world, this is an agenda which requires global effort. "We are respectful of national and internal processes that take place worldwide. I have no further comment. We will wait and see what the results of those conversations are," she said while interacting with business leaders at FICCI here. US President Donald Trump had recently signed an executive order to radically change his predecessor Barack Obama's climate policies, dealing a body blow to the international efforts to combat global warming. Trump signed the order at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), keeping his campaign promise to support the coal industry. Espinosa, who was on a two-day visit to India, her first after assuming the office of executive secretary in the UN body, said, "The global agenda is framed by governments but then it is also fed by actions of so many actors which includes sub-national authorities, city authorities, private sector investors, and this is also happening in the US." "We have to be mindful that many states in the US has made very strong commitments in this agenda, that incredible number of big cities have made commitments, so many businesses are also addressing and embracing this agenda. The process of transformation of economies has started and it will continue to go on," she said. Elaborating on negotiations regarding the finalisation of the Rule Book for implementation of the Paris agreement, she said the negotiations still need to take place. "It is extremely complex. We have 194 nations that have signed it (agreement). We do not know what is going to be the position of the US in these discussions but again we will have to find a way as we have done in the past also of bringing the minds of countries together. "This is a party driven process. We in the Secretariat will try to provide guidance and support in order to ensure a successful outcome of the negotiations as soon as possible," she said. Referring to the climate of uncertainty over the Paris agreement, she said without denying that there are certain facts which are giving rise to these uncertainties, especially with policies of the US, at the same time there are lot of things happening in the world which give a very clear sense of certainty and a clear sense of direction. "This certainty comes from national governments, governments that have signed and ratified the Paris agreement. Today we have 143 countries which have ratified the agreement in just 16 months since the Paris agreement was signed," Espinosa said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The US tech industry and corporate sector has welcomed the "much-needed" review of the H-1B visa program ordered by President Donald Trump, expressing confidence that it would help them bring in the best and the brightest from across the world. The executive order targeting the visa programme popular with Indian tech professionals was signed yesterday by Trump. Tech advocacy group FWD. US said the announcement should improve the visa system for highly-skilled workers. "Highly skilled immigrants create new American jobs, raise wages for native-born workers, and contribute enormously to growing our economy. Finally, Congress should expand the number of H-1B visas offered while reforming the system to protect American workers," said Todd Schulte, the group's president. Senior Vice President and Chief Policy Officer of the US Chamber of Commerce, Neil Bradley, said economic growth requires a skilled workforce, so it should be a priority to make sure American workers have the skills required to fill open jobs with American companies. "It would be a mistake to close the door on high-skilled workers from around the world who can contribute to American businesses' growth and expansion and make the U. S. More competitive around the world. The H-1B program plays an important role in addressing this need, but it can be improved," Bradley said. "We would encourage changes to the H-1B visas program," IBM CFO Martin Schroeter told CNBC in an interview. "The intent is to short-term high-skill kinds of visas, which is exactly how we use. There is clearly some companies have entirely built their business models around the H-1B visa program which was not at all the intent." The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) said that while the announcement reflects the administration's desire to move toward reforms to the H-1B program, there will be no immediate changes or impact on H-1B visas. "Simply put, it appears that the agencies are asked to review policies related to all visa programs and recommend changes to root out 'fraud and abuse', and to propose additional reforms so that H-1B visas are awarded to the most skilled or highest-paid applicants," the association said in a statement. AILA president William A Stock said H-1B workers help transform state and local economies across the nation, adding that the immigration system is critical to all geographic and industry sectors, not just Silicon Valley. H-1B workers are also vital to the healthcare system, and to manufacturing and energy industries, he said. "Any reforms proposed by the Trump Administration as a result of this Executive Order should be based on facts and data, not innuendo and anecdote, and must ensure that our immigration system, including the H-1B program, remain a viable tool for U. S. Businesses seeking to build and maintain a globally competitive workforce," Stock said. Chicago-based Envoy, previously called VisaNow, said yesterday's signing triggers a "top to bottom" performance review. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), A leading US science and tech policy thinktank, hoped that the goal of Trump's executive order on the H-1B program is "mend it, don't end it". Reforming the program could help improve its effectiveness in attracting the worlds best and the brightest, it said. "We welcome proposals to make the program more effective. For example, replacing the H-1B lottery with a more merit- based system could advance the program's goals of attracting people with advanced STEM skills. We also welcome efforts to root out abuse, better enforce the existing rules, and increase the salary requirements," said ITIF president, Robert D Atkinson. Venezuela braced for rival demonstrations today for and against President Nicolas Maduro, whose moves to tighten his grip on power have triggered deadly unrest and escalated the country's political and economic crisis. Maduro's opponents are vowing to stage the "mother of all protests" calling for his ouster, after two weeks of violent demos that have left five people dead and dozens wounded. Sowing fears of more violence, Maduro is in turn urging his supporters, the military and civilian militias to defend the leftist "revolution" launched by his late predecessor Hugo Chavez in 1999. It is set to be the biggest day of protests since Maduro's allies moved to strip the power of the opposition- majority legislature -- the only lever of government they do not control -- and banned opposition leader Henrique Capriles from politics. The streets of Caracas have seen running battles pitting masked protesters hurling stones and Molotov cocktails against riot police firing tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon. The protests have been relatively small so far, with turnout in the thousands. The opposition is now hoping to flood the streets with a sea of protesters, whom they are urging to remain peaceful. They plan to march from 26 rally points toward central Caracas, a pro-Maduro bastion and the seat of government. The authorities say they will not allow them into the area, where the rival rally will be held. Wednesday is a national holiday that marks the start of Venezuela's independence struggle in 1810. It is a touchy date in Venezuela, where Chavez and Maduro have built a politics of populist, left-wing nationalism around the fight for independence from colonial Spain. Maduro's camp vowed not to be outdone by the opposition. "The whole of Caracas will be held by the revolutionary forces," said lawmaker Diosdado Cabello, one of the president's most powerful allies. Pressure on Maduro has risen in an economic crisis aggravated by a fall in prices for Venezuela's crucial oil exports, which has triggered severe shortages of food and medicine. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Nattukottai Chettiars, which have prominent members like P Chidambaram and A Vellayan, are planning to launch a Rs 500 crore fund to revive entrepreneurship among the community. The Fourth Industrial Revolution has arrived. The first was the steam engine-driven Industrial Revolution; the second involved the innovations from Henry Fords assembly line. Third, microelectronics and computer power appeared on factory floors. Now, manufacturing businesses are beginning to integrate robotics, automation and other data-driven technologies into their workflows. 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 E-commerce giant Flipkart has appointed Goldman Sachs for the proposed acquisition of its bitter rival Snapdeal. The investment bank has already started working on the broad contours of the deal. According to a report in ET, Goldman Sachs is working with Credit Suisse to hammer out the final terms and conditions for the transaction. The proposed acquisition, touted to be the biggest in India's online retail space, is likely to be finalised over the coming weeks, the report said. Credit Suisse, which will be guiding Snapdeal through the sale process will take into account the potential gains of an acquisition by Flipkart. Credit Suisse had made a presentation to the board of the Gurgaon-based online marketplace a few weeks ago. Snapdeal has for weeks been at the center of much takeover speculation, with its largest backer Japan's Softbank, seen as keen to sell the company to its larger rival, Tiger Global-backed Flipkart. Earlier in an e-mail, Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal said their priority was to ensure the well-being of employees amid the "speculation" surrounding the company. "We will do all that we can, and more, in working with our investors to ensure there is no disruption in employment and that there are positive professional as well as financial outcomes for the team as the way forward becomes clear," the duo said in the letter. The founders had also reached out to the employees promising them higher salaries compared to last year as the company heads towards a possible sell out in the coming weeks. Snapdeal has about 3,000 employees in its e-commerce operations. The company also has mobile wallet (FreeCharge) and logistics (Vulcan) operations. Snapdeals largest investor SoftBank is believed to be re-working its plan for sale of e-commerce platform Snapdeal and a final decision is likely to be made in the next few weeks. Softbank had engaged in dialogue with other investors with board representation -- Kalaari Capital and Nexus Venture Partners -- to reach a consensus in terms of valuation. Snapdeal's seven-member board includes representation from investors SoftBank, Kalaari Capital and Nexus Venture Partners, as well as co-founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal. Snapdeal had earlier faced hurdles as company's early backers - Kalaari Capital and Nexus Venture Partners had not agreed with the valuation given by SoftBank. Snapdeal was valued at USD 6.5 billion in its last funding round in February 2016. The valuation has also shrunk since then and the potential deal could be struck at a discounted rate. The cash-strapped firm, over the last few months, has had to trim its workforce significantly and shut down non-core businesses. Earlier this year, Snapdeal laid off about 600 people. Indian e-commerce companies have seen funding dry up over the last few months as investors are focussing extensively on profitability and rationalisation of expenses. India should resist the temptation of resorting to "protectionism" to shield local mobile phone makers against Chinese smartphone firms, China's official media said today warning that Beijing could take countermeasures against any such move. The Indian firms are seeking government action to ease the pain of their defeat to Chinese rivals, an article in the state-run Global Times said referring to pleas by the mobile phone makers that government should raise supplementary levies against handsets from Chinese companies. "As for China, the Chinese government is unlikely to sit idly while India harms the interests of Chinese companies. We cannot rule out the possibility that China will take countermeasures if India takes unfair measures to protect its home grown companies from international competition," the article said. "Beijing and New Delhi should avoid a potential trade war and enhance economic cooperation in order to strengthen bilateral ties between the two countries," it said. With the 'Make in India' campaign having been initiated by the Modi government, India is in a period of rapidly developing industrialisation, and the question of how to effectively protect nascent home grown industries is a tough task faced by local governments, the article said. Although protecting local brands from intense international competition can buy some time for the expansion of home grown industries, such moves will reduce local companies' competitiveness in the long-run and build an inefficient industrial system, it said. "The Modi government has ramped up efforts in recent years to make India a more attractive investment destination, for instance by reforming its tax structure," it said. "However, potential protectionist measures could overshadow the effects of the government's plan to improve the investment climate. China is currently a major source of investment in India, and the country may not be able to complete its industrialisation and modernisation without help from foreign investors," it said. Additionally, Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei Technologies Co and some other Chinese smartphone vendors have announced that they will establish production facilities in India to increase their local assembly of handsets in the country, meaning that supplementary levies against products from Chinese companies would hurt the interests of Indian employees working for the Chinese firms, it said. The government can invoke Essential Commodities Act (ECA) over the decision by the Consortium of Indian petroleum dealers of shutting down the petrol pumps across eight states from May 14. Commenting over the matter, on Wednesday, the Centre said the threat by the association would be dealt according to the measures necessary to maintain supplies of essential commodities. A senior Petroleum Ministry source reportedly said the government got to know about the fuel association decision through media reports only. "We have to wait and see how this measure impacts on the ground... because petroleum products are classed essential commodities and the Essential Commodities Act (ECA) can be applied depending on the circumastances," the source said. On Tuesday, a fuel pump owners' body, the Consortium of Indian petroleum dealers had said that petrol pumps in eight states would be shut every Sunday following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call to conserve oil. The association has decided to shut the outlets in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra and Haryana. "We had planned to shut our outlets on Sundays a few years back. But oil marketing companies had then requested us to reconsider our decision. Now, we have decided to shut the outlets on Sundays," said Suresh Kumar, an executive committee member of the consortium of Indian petroleum dealers. He said the association's decision was made in view of the Prime Minister's call during his recent 'Mann Ki Baat' programme to conserve oil to save the environment. Kumar, also the vice-president of Tamil Nadu Petroleum Dealers Association, said nearly 20,000 petrol pumps in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra and Haryana would be shut for 24 hours on Sundays, starting May 14. "In Tamil Nadu, we expect a business loss of Rs 150 crore if we do not operate on a Sunday. But we have been seeing a decline in sales on Sundays by upto 40 per cent," he said. When enquired about whether the oil marketing companies (OMCs) are supporting the decision or not, Kumar said that the association would inform them soon. Narendra Modi-led government's effort to bring back liquor baron Vijay Mallya to India got extra push on Tuesday after the UK accepted its request to help extradite the absconding businessman. A report in Economic Times quoted sources in CBI and MEA highlighting the importance of the arrest by saying it marked the beginning of the extradition process which now has to reach a "logical conclusion". The sources further stated that the Westminster Magistrates' Court in London has forbidden Vijay Mallya from leaving the United Kingdom. Not just this, Mallya reportedly has also been asked to remain confined to his property at Hertfordshire near London. He also has been restrained from applying for international travel documents or be in the possession of any. Mallya's Indian passport, which was revoked when he moved to London, is now with the Scotland Yard. The report further stated that Vijay Mallya has also been asked to keep his mobile phone switched on for 24 hours. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said investigative agencies are doing their best to ensure extradition of Mallya. "I think the government and all the investigating agencies are certainly putting (in) their best efforts because the agencies do believe that an offence has been committed for which the person (Mallya) is required in India," the minister told reporters here. The minister further said Mallya's extradition is part of the "judicial process" in the UK. "Its part of the judicial process in that country and the judicial process functions on certain considerations," he said in response to queries regarding Mallya's extradition. Scotland Yard on Tuesday arrested Vijay Mallya and produced him in a Wensminster court acting upon the CBI's extradition request. However, following the routine concerning with financial crimes, the court after three hours of his arrest granted conditional bail to Mallya on a Rs 5.4-crore bond and stiff terms until May 17 to Mallya. Mallya's next date of hearing has been scheduled on May 17 at 14:00 hrs for the extradition hearing. Meanwhile, Mallya from his account tweeted over his arrest and referred the whole episode as 'usual Indian media hype'. Usual Indian media hype. Extradition hearing in Court started today as expected. Vijay Mallya (@TheVijayMallya) April 18, 2017 The 61-year-old liquor baron has to face charges in Indian courts in connection with loan default cases. Mallya, whose now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines owes more than Rs 9,000 crore to various banks, had left India on March 2, 2016. In January, an Indian court ordered a consortium of lenders to start the process of recovering the loans. India had placed a formal extradition request for Mallya as per the Extradition Treaty between India and the UK through a note verbale on February 8. Earlier in January this year, a CBI court had issued a non-bailable warrant against Mallya in the Rs 720-crore IDBI Bank loan default case. He is the owner of a Formula One team. While handing over the request, India had asserted that it has a "legitimate" case against Mallya and maintained that if an extradition request is honoured, it would show British "sensitivity towards our concerns". Flamboyant businessman Vijay Mallya, pursued by Indian authorities over unpaid loans tied to his defunct Kingfisher Airlines, was arrested in London on Tuesday and appeared in court for an extradition hearing. A source close to Mallya said he attended a police station voluntarily and the arrest was a technical procedure. Mallya, 61, was arrested on behalf of the Indian authorities over accusations of fraud and appeared in Westminster Magistrates' Court, British police said. Television channels said he was granted bail at the hearing. Mallya, in a message on Twitter, called the news of his arrest "usual Indian media hype". India had asked Britain to extradite Mallya to face trial after the liquor and aviation tycoon fled there last March after banks sued to recover about $1.4 billion that Indian authorities say Kingfisher owes. Mallya has repeatedly dismissed the charges against him and defended himself in messages on Twitter. On January 28 he said that "not one rupee was misused". A spokesman for India's foreign ministry said "the two governments are in touch" over India's extradition request. India and Britain have a mixed record on extradition, say legal experts. Some cases have collapsed when evidence fell short of the standard of "dual criminality", or actions that amount to a crime in both countries. "The court usually focuses on whether there is sufficient evidence of criminality to extradite someone," said Andrew Smith, a partner at London law firm Corker Binning. "India needs to show a prima facie evidential case against this man." Television channel CNN News18 said a team of Indian law enforcement officials would visit London to begin work on the extradition. The Central Bureau of Investigation did not immediately comment. Mallya co-owns the Force India Formula One team. He has a base in London and a country home bought from the father of triple Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton. India's top brewer, United Breweries, part-owned by global giant Heineken, this year asked Mallya, its non-executive chairman, to step down from the board, following a regulatory order. United Breweries was not immediately available to comment after Tuesday's development. India's capital markets regulator has barred Mallya from participating in the securities market for having allegedly diverted funds from whisky maker United Spirits. Exactly a month ago, the Bharatiya Janata Party elected its firebrand leader and five-time MP Yogi Adityanath as Uttar Pradesh's Chief Minister. His appointment came as a surprise for most of the political analysts and public at large because of his controversial stand on several key issues concerning social harmony. Now that a month has been passed, let's see how he has fared in managing the public affairs and taking administrative decisions. Here are some of the key decisions and directives issued by Yogi Adityanath. Yogi Adityanath ordered probe into sale of 21 UP sugar mills: UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered a probe into the sale of 21 sugar mills in the state during the BSP rule in 2010-11. The state government suspected a scam of Rs 1,100 crore in the sale of the mills. Adityanath also said that FIRs would be lodged against sugar mills if they failed to pay arrears of sugarcane farmers by 23 April. He also directed officials to take all measures to make operational the defunct sugar mills of the cooperative sector in next crushing season. Yogi's anti-romeo squad for protecting girls: UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath set up anti-Romeo squad to stop eve-teasing and harassment of girls in the state. The decision was in accordance with the BJP's poll promises. Ahead of the Assembly elections, BJP president Amit Shah had talked about the security of girls and said that he would set up anti-Romeo squads in UP if voted to power. "In UP, people have stopped sending their daughters to colleges because the girls get harassed. We have promised that BJP will form an anti-Romeo Squad to save these girls. This is not communal," Shah said. Judicial probe in Gomti River Front project: Yogi Adityanath constituted a 3-member committee to investigate financial irregularities in the Gomti River Front project. The Gomti River Front was a dream project of former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. A sum of Rs 656 crore was approved for the Gomti River Channelisation project, which was later revised to Rs 1,153 crore. However, the previous government spent 95 per cent of the revised sanctioned amount only 60 per cent of the project work was completed. Two weeks after taking over as chief minister, Yogi Adityanath visited the site to check the progress of work. Yogi Adityanath's tough stand on Triple Talaq: Yogi Adityanath recently compared triple talaq to the disrobing of Draupadi in the Hindu epic Mahabharata, calling the Muslim practice "an insult to women". "These days there is a new debate in the country. Some people are maintaining a silence on this issue. This reminds me of the scene in the Mahabharata in which Draupadi is being disrobed in an assembly and she asks a question to the gathering as to who is responsible for this?" he said. "...no one was able to utter even a single word. At that time Vidur said people who have committed the crime, those who are the accomplices and those who maintained silence on this issue are equally responsible," Adityanath said. Farm loan waiver: At the first meeting of his cabinet, Yogi Adityanath waived loans of Rs 36,359 crore taken by about 94 lakh small and marginal farmers in the state. The BJP had promised loan waiver to marginal farmers in its Sankalp Patra (manifesto) ahead of the Assembly elections. The waiver amount includes Rs 5,630 crore loans of 7 lakh farmers whose accounts were declared non-performing assets by banks. Yogi's focus on rural healthcare: Sending a stern message to those who look for city postings, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the MBBS graduates should give their services in village Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and Community Health Centres(CHCs) for at least two years. "Doctors should understand that the government spends money on their education which should make them responsible towards the public which chooses the government," the Chief Minister said. Adityanath was concerned with the quality of healthcare facilities in rural areas. Chief Minister Adityanath warned government doctors not to indulge in private practice. "Don't try to earn money, try to earn blessings of the people as well," he said. The Chief Minister was speaking after inaugurating 56 new ventilators in the King George's Medical University (KGMU) hospital in Lucknow. Crackdown on slaughter houses: Days after taking over, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed police officials to prepare an action plan for closure of slaughter houses in the state. He also ordered a blanket ban on smuggling of cows. Yogi Adityanath's decision was in line with the BJP's vision document 'Sankalp Patra' released ahead of the Assembly elections. In its document, the BJP had promised a complete shutdown of illegal slaughter houses in UP. Ban on gutka and pan masala in government's office: UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath banned selling and consumption of gutka and pan masala in all government offices in the state. Talking to reporters, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said that Chief Minister Yogi had advised against the use of pan masala, plastic and pan in government buildings and offices. Transparency: In his first cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath asked all his ministers to provide the details of their income, moveable and immovable assets within 15 days to his secretary and the BJP. Yogi Adityanath did not spare the bureaucrats either. The Chief Minister directed all officers to provide full details of their assets as per the prescribed format within 15 days. No room for favoritism: Acting against favoritism, Yogi Adityanath sacked all non-government advisors, chairmen, deputy chairmen and members who were appointed by former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. These posts were believed to be created for people who were close to previous dispensation. Largely, politicians and close bureaucrats. Law and order: Day after he took over as Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath made it clear that he would not compromise on state's law and order situation. He also directed the Director General of Police to ensure that law and order situation in the state improved within a week. The Chief Minister directed officers to crack down on criminals and to ensure that administrative units like police stations and tehsils were free from political pressures. He also said that needs of 90 per cent people were fulfilled through police stations and tehsils and hence these places should be monitored specially. Citizen charter for timely justice: Giving importance to justice in stipulated time, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed that the additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries and Secretaries to work without any bias and prepare a citizen's charter for each department so that common people can get government services within fixed time lines. Job creation: Underlining the importance of economic activities to create jobs in the state, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath pushed for prompt and effective decisions that need to be taken through a single window system. "With this, effective implementation of the Central government run start up and skill development schemes should also be ensured," Yogi had said during his introductory meet with officials. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has asked the officials to start schemes for the success of 'Make in UP' on the lines of Centre's 'Make in India' programme. Taking strong exception to certain finance companies duping investors, the Chief Minister at a presentation of the state institutional finance department here late last night directed that a plan be prepared to act stringently against defaulter companies. Asking officials to identify such companies which run away with investors' money, he said stringent laws should be used against them. Rooting for extending banking services to maximum number of people, he said a drive should be launched for opening new accounts. For the benefit of state's 12 lakh pensioners, the chief minister said digital life certificates should be linked to Aadhar and government departments must ensure that pension amounts are disbursed to people's bank accounts through a digital transfer by the first day of each month. Expressing dissatisfaction over slow pace of "stand up scheme", the chief minister instructed officials to ensure meeting target of loans to SC/ST and woman entrepreneurs per bank branch which would also pave way for economic development of the state and creation of employment opportunities. The US has seen a steep decline in the number of applications for the H-1B visas, the most sought-after by Indian IT firms and professionals, with the country's immigration agency receiving 37,000 less petitions for the 2018 fiscal year, according to new data. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the federal agency which receives and determines the successful applications for H-1B visas, said yesterday that it received 199,000 H-1B applications for the 2018 fiscal year. As per the USCIS figures, it received 37,000 less H-1B petitions for the fiscal year 2018 beginning October 1 this year than the 236,000 it received in 2017. These applications were received in the first five days before USCIS stopped receiving the H-1B petitions. The successful applicants have been decided on the basis of a computerised draw of lots. USCIS, as per Congressional mandate can issue a maximum of 65,000 H-1B visas every year. In addition, it can issue another 20,000 to those who have completed their higher education at a US university. In 2017, USCIS had received 233,000 applications. In 2015 it had received 172,500 H-1B applications and 124,000 in 2014. The USCIS gave no reason for the drop in H-1B visas this year as compared to the previous two years, but experts attributed this to the current rhetoric against it. This years applications are "surprisingly low", William Stock, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association told 'San Francisco Chronicle'. Stock said a reason behind the drop could be that companies that hire engineers to handle other businesses' programming needs may have filed fewer applications. India's Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro accounted for the majority of H-1B applications filed in California last year, the daily reported. Frustration behind the lottery system could be another reason for the drop in the applications, said Martin Lawler, a Bay Area immigration attorney. "We need more math-based professionals, and it is quite depressing that we can't go out and get the best and brightest," he told the daily. He said the demand "is going to continue so long as Silicon Valley is doing well . US President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order that would tighten the process of issuing the H-1B visas and seek a review of the system for creating an "entirely new structure" for awarding these visas. As the burden of rising school fee rises on parents, Zimbabwe's education minister Lazarus Dokora has come up with a solution of its own kind. The cash-strapped nation's education minister said that if the parents cannot pay their children's school fee they can offer livestock instead. The country's daily, Sunday Mail, quoted Dokora as saying, ""Our schools have to be flexible and ensure those who do not have money to pay fees can work. For example, if there is a builder in the community, he/she must be given that opportunity to work as a form of payment of tuition fees." "On the issue of livestock, the community has to arrange a market where everyone participates; from the school authorities, local leadership and parents themselves to avoid parents being duped", he further added. Education ministry's permanent secretary Dr Sylvia Utete-Masango also backed Dokoro's comment and said that the schools should not send back students home in case they are unable to pay their fees. He stated that parents from rural areas should pay in form of livestock while parents staying in the urban areas should work for the school community. ALSO READ: Indian-American CEO asked to pay USD 135,000 to former domestic help for abuse "In terms of valuation, school heads will stand in for the Primary and Secondary Education Ministry and school development committee members for parents. They will jointly determine the value of the livestock, and can then use the money realised to upgrade school infrastructure or help with agriculture", Utete-Masango said to Sunday Mail. The country is facing its worst economical crisis. Last year in December, Zimbabwe has sold 35 elephants to China to raise money for conservation. The 35 elephants were captured from Hwange National Park and flown to China's Shanghai Exhibition Park, Beijing Wildlife Park and Hangzhou Wildlife Park. ALSO READ: Monsoon will be 'normal' this year, says IMD The move was widely crtiscised by the animal welfare activists who termed this deal as an unethical one. The government also has sought to sell its ivory stockpile for millions of dollars. The US tech industry and corporate sector has welcomed the "much-needed" review of the H-1B visa program ordered by President Donald Trump, expressing confidence that it would help them bring in the best and the brightest from across the world. The executive order targeting the visa programme popular with Indian tech professionals was signed yesterday by President Trump. Tech advocacy group FWD.US said the announcement should improve the visa system for highly-skilled workers. "Highly skilled immigrants create new American jobs, raise wages for native-born workers, and contribute enormously to growing our economy. Finally, Congress should expand the number of H-1B visas offered while reforming the system to protect American workers," said Todd Schulte, the group's president. Senior Vice President and Chief Policy Officer of the US Chamber of Commerce, Neil Bradley, said economic growth requires a skilled workforce, so it should be a priority to make sure American workers have the skills required to fill open jobs with American companies. "It would be a mistake to close the door on high-skilled workers from around the world who can contribute to American businesses' growth and expansion and make the U.S. More competitive around the world. The H-1B program plays an important role in addressing this need, but it can be improved," Bradley said. ALSO READ: Flipkart ropes in Goldman Sachs ahead of Snapdeal acquisition "We would encourage changes to the H-1B visas program," IBM CFO Martin Schroeter told CNBC in an interview. "The intent is to short-term high-skill kinds of visas, which is exactly how we use. There is clearly some companies have entirely built their business models around the H-1B visa program which was not at all the intent." The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) said that while the announcement reflects the administration's desire to move toward reforms to the H-1B program, there will be no immediate changes or impact on H-1B visas. "Simply put, it appears that the agencies are asked to review policies related to all visa programs and recommend changes to root out 'fraud and abuse', and to propose additional reforms so that H-1B visas are awarded to the most skilled or highest-paid applicants," the association said in a statement. AILA president William A Stock said H-1B workers help transform state and local economies across the nation, adding that the immigration system is critical to all geographic and industry sectors, not just Silicon Valley. H-1B workers are also vital to the healthcare system, and to manufacturing and energy industries, he said. "Any reforms proposed by the Trump Administration as a result of this Executive Order should be based on facts and data, not innuendo and anecdote, and must ensure that our immigration system, including the H-1B program, remain a viable tool for U.S. Businesses seeking to build and maintain a globally competitive workforce," Stock said. Chicago-based Envoy, previously called VisaNow, said yesterday's signing triggers a "top to bottom" performance review. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), A leading US science and tech policy thinktank, hoped that the goal of Trump's executive order on the H-1B program is "mend it, don't end it". Reforming the program could help improve its effectiveness in attracting the worlds best and the brightest, it said. "We welcome proposals to make the program more effective. For example, replacing the H-1B lottery with a more merit- based system could advance the program's goals of attracting people with advanced STEM skills. We also welcome efforts to root out abuse, better enforce the existing rules, and increase the salary requirements," said ITIF president, Robert D Atkinson. Google has removed model and film actress Poonam Pandey's newly-launched app from its App Store. Pandey had launched her personal app, which she promised would have 'bold' content, on April 17. However, hours after launch, Google Play App Store suspended the app. Immediately after Google banned the app, Pandey tweeted about the move and said: "Google has suspended the app but Android users can directly download #ThePoonamPandeyApp from my website." Google has suspended the App..but the Android users can directly download #ThePoonamPandeyApp from my website https://t.co/tNXblbfKeF Poonam Pandey (@iPoonampandey) April 17, 2017 Pandey has no idea as to why Google banned her app. She questioned Google's move and said: "I don't know why. I see many adult magazines on Play Store and App Store. It's interesting that on one hand Google Play Store is suspending the app and on the other some fans are 'complaining' that I am not even nude in the photos." To which Google responded by saying that they don't comment on individual applications. "We don't comment on individual applications. You can check out our policies for more information," a news agency quoted Google spokesperson as saying. With the launch of her personal app, Poonam Pandey has joined the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Alia Bhatt, Sonam Kapoor and Sunny Leone. The Poonam Pandey App covers almost everything about her life with sections, on introductory page, such as - about, my life, ask, photos, videos, behind the scenes, around the world, events, spin 360 videos, live!, shop, the store, top fans and biography. Jain Irrigation Systems (JISL) today said it has agreed to acquire 80 per cent stake in two entities in the US with an investment of USD 48 million. JISL will acquire the two micro-irrigation companies through its multi-generation wholly-owned subsidiary in US, it said in a BSE filing. The two micro-irrigation dealers, Agri-Valley Irrigation Inc (AVI) and Irrigation Design and Construction Inc (IDC), have entered into an agreement with JISL to merge ownership of their businesses into a newly formed distribution company, JISL said. This new organisation will provide a platform to help growers implement irrigation technology. AVI and IDC have been long tenured stable companies with operations in the US. "We have invested USD 48 million for this acquisition. The transaction gives us the capability to provide grower focused, end-to-end project solutions, consistent with our global solutions and capabilities. With the newly formed company, we'll be able to deliver agriculture technology and irrigation solutions from our recent investments," Jain Irrigation Systems CEO Anil Jain told PTI here. No government or regulatory approvals are required to complete the transaction, the BSE filing said. The transaction is expected to be completed in the next few weeks. Real estate sector in India continued to see a dip in sales in the first quarter with consumers less inclined to buy houses in big cities such as Gurugram, Noida, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Pune and Chennai. A new survey by PropEquity has shown that housing sales stood at 28,472 units during the October- December quarter in these eight major cities, which was a decline from the previous quarter's 28,428 units. "Overall the fall in demand and new launches of residential projects slowed down in the Q1 as impact of demonetisation on the real estate sector tapered down faster than the expectations," PropEquity said. The number of unsold inventory fell to 4,71,855 units as as developers focused on clearing existing stocks instead of launching new ones. Housing prices declined by 1.67 per cent to Rs 6,185 per sq ft from Rs 6,290 per sq ft during the period under review. During the first quarter of 2017, the key residential markets across India witnessed a minimal variation across various market indicators except new launches. "Housing supply across key cities declined by about 20 per cent largely on account developers anticipating dip in demand post demonetisation coupled with muted investors demand," the report said. The report added that the housing supply would pick up in coming quarters. "Real estate sector in India, especially housing is going through a critical transition phase post demonetisation as transaction activity has slowed down," said Samir Jasuja, founder and CEO at PropEquity. Many buyers, sellers, banks and private equity investors are waiting for the sector to tide over the volatility in the market, he added. With implementation of real estate regulatory Act (RERA), Jasuja expected that delays in project deliveries would reduce with developers rushing to complete existing projects to avoid penalties. "We strongly believe that developers with good track record, strong financials and low leverage to external debt are expected to perform better in the current environment," Jasuja said. (With inputs from PTI) Keeping up the heat on its rivals, Reliance Jio has now come up with a fresh offer of international calls at prices as low as Rs 3 per minute with its "rate-cutter plan" that can be activated by recharging for Rs 501. The Mukesh Ambani-run company's website states that its customers can sharply reduce their international call charges by activating the rate-cutter plan. The plan allows Jio users to make calls countries like the US, UK, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Sweden, Switzerland and Taiwan just Rs 3 per minute. Calls to countries such as France, Pakistan, Israel, Japan, Argentina, Denmark and South Korea can be made at Rs 4.80 per minute. Market leader Bharti Airtel recently said that it is offering best international roaming rates to its travelling customers to ensure that they are protected from "bill shocks." Bharti Airtel, India's leading telco said it is offering best international roaming rates to its travelling customers to ensure that they are protected from bill shocks. For instance, in the case of an Airtel customer traveling to Singapore without any pack if daily usage exceeds Rs 499 (which is the cost of the pack), the company will automatically activate the Rs 499 pack at no added cost. Recently the country's second largest telecom service provider Vodafone introduced the i-RoamFREE plan offering free incoming calls. Vodafone's plan offered all international and local outgoing calls at Re 1 per minute and data at Re. 1/MB in over 45 countries on a daily basis. The company also said that it is the first telecom service provider to offer high-speed data on-the-go to Indian customers covering business and holiday destinations such as USA, UAE, UK, Europe, Singapore, Thailand, Australia and Hong Kong. According to market analysts WhatsApp and other social networking sites have already reduced the customers' burden of expenses through internet voice calls which is an added factor for telcos to cut international rates. Since the August 30, 2016 car bombing in front of the Chinese embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, concerns have increased about Central Asians carrying out attacks in their homelands after they leave the war in Syria. A growing number of Central Asians in Syria, especially in the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), are becoming dissatisfied with al-Qaeda because it is limiting external operations, while the terrorist organization known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is actively promoting attacks abroad. Moreover, a number of TIP fighters disagree with the Syrian al-Qaeda affiliate's re-branding to appear "less al-Qaeda-like" and "more Syrian." ISIS is eager to see defected TIP members in its ranks, which could enable these fighters to target Central Asian or Chinese interests abroad in the name of ISIS. BACKGROUND: The TIP often referred to in Western media as East Turkistan Islamic Movement was formed in Afghanistan in the 1990s and later moved to Pakistan's tribal regions after the post-9/11 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. The TIP had a minimal operational presence in Afghanistan and carried out few attacks in China until the start of the Syrian war in 2011, although some of its leaders achieved high ranks among the al-Qaeda leadership based in Pakistan. Starting in 2012, the TIP began signaling interest in supporting the Syrian rebels. Between 2013 and 2015, Uighur militants in Afghanistan traveled to Syria via Turkey and formed the TIP's "Syrian Branch", which quickly superseded its "Afghanistan Branch". The TIP "Syrian Branch" participated in major battles in northwestern Syria along with al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, Jabhat al-Nusra and the two entities it became after re-branding as Jabhat Fath al-Sham (JFS) in 2016 and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in January 2017. At least several hundred, if not over a thousand, Uighurs, have been with the TIP in Syria, while smaller numbers joined ISIS. One sign of growing numbers of Uighurs in Syria and that ISIS takes an interest in them came in June 2015, when a campaign began to urge Uighurs to join its ranks, including featuring videos of an elderly Uighur grandfather engaging in military training with young fighters in Syria. One year later, in 2016, signs of TIP discontent with al-Qaeda in Syria began to surface. First, a prominent Syrian pro-al-Qaeda cleric, Abdul Rezzaq Mahdi, "defended" the TIP amid accusations it was fighting weakly, perhaps because it recruited too many inexperienced fighters. Mahdi then issued a statement urging Uighurs to stay in Afghanistan and not come to Syria, perhaps because it was better to keep the TIP strong in Afghanistan than see internal squabbles weaken the group and its ties to al-Qaeda in Syria. In the next months, dozens of TIP fighters were killed in Russian air strikes in and around Aleppo, which ultimately fell to the Syrian army and saw the TIP's former battle victories reversed. Most recently, in February 2017, pro-ISIS fighters of Jund al-Aqsa, which had been loosely part of the al-Qaeda coalition but always had an ideology similar to ISIS, killed more than 100 rebels in intra-rebel fighting following the re-branding of HTS and loss of Aleppo. The TIP helped Jund al-Aqsa fighters receive medical treatment and travel to Raqqa, Syria to defect to ISIS in a mediation facilitated by al-Qaeda ideologue Abu Muhammed al-Maqdisi. In the aftermath, a TIP activist sought to dispel "rumors" about the TIP abandoning al-Qaeda by explaining on Twitter that the TIP was truly anti-ISIS, as evidenced by a 2016 video of TIP leader Abdul Haq al-Turkistani condemning the organization. But denying these "rumors" was seemingly a tacit acknowledgement that they had some basis in fact. On February 28, ISIS came out with a high-quality 30-minute video, even though it was otherwise decreasing media production due to its own struggles in Syria and Iraq. The video featured Uighur ISIS militants who, for the first time, directly accused the TIP by name of being "secularists" for fighting with HTS with its "many banners" instead of the "one Islamic banner" of ISIS. The video also featured a eulogy of a defector from the TIP to ISIS, who became a commander and died as a "martyr" in an air strike. This was an indication that ISIS seeks more defections from the TIP perhaps with momentum coming from TIP fighters who accompanied Jund al-Aqsa to defect to and support ISIS in Raqqa. IMPLICATIONS: Al-Qaedas re-branding in Syria may have gone too far for the hard-liners in the TIP, who desire an Islamic state in Syria to serve as a model for Central Asia and Xinjiang and oppose any hints of secularism or nationalism. Even al-Maqdisi has criticized the secularism of HTS in Syria. On top of this, one of the goals of HTS has been to integrate with formerly moderate U.S.-vetted groups in Syria to escape the wrath of U.S. air strikes after the negotiations held in Astana concluded with little result. But even after the Astana negotiations, HTS and other groups in its coalition, including TIP, have been targeted by air strikes. Beyond the concerns among TIP fighters about al-Qaeda in Syria both its re-branding as HTS and its inability to defend Aleppo they likely also have reservations regarding the prospects of returning to Afghanistan, as Uzbek fighters from Syria have already done. The Taliban is increasingly gaining footholds throughout the country, but at the same time the Taliban still has nationalist tendencies, which ISIS frequently highlights in its videos. The Taliban even engages in diplomatic activities, such as seeking forms of recognition from Central Asian countries, Russia and China. Historically, the Taliban has been reticent to allow the TIP to attack China out of respect for its backers in Pakistan and to prevent China from adding to the pre-existing anti-Taliban stances of the West in international forums. Thus, even though the Taliban and al-Qaeda are allies, it is unclear how much this relationship will specifically benefit battle-hardened TIP fighters returning from Syria who want to wage Jihad against China. ISIS, in contrast to al-Qaeda or the Taliban, offers fighters a more action-oriented approach regarding external operations with little concern for backlash. Indeed, the attack by an Uzbek former IMU member on the Reina nightclub in Istanbul for ISIS on December 31, 2016 may have served as an example of how ISIS can deliver results. In contrast, al-Qaeda is more reticent about attacks that kill Muslim civilians, or apostates, as ISIS called the guests at Reina who were celebrating a Christian event like New Year. Moreover, the Reina attacker, who was assisted by TIP facilitation networks in Turkey, highlights how these networks are increasingly willing to work with both ISIS and al-Qaeda. Thus, the TIPs former unswerving al-Qaeda allegiance may have diminished over time as its operatives in Turkey have become exposed to both ISIS and al-Qaeda fighters. CONCLUSIONS: The fracturing of militant groups is common among Jihadists. Just as the IMU split over its allegiance to ISIS in 2015, the TIP is likely beginning to see a similar fracturing. The old guard leadership around Abdul Haq al-Turkistani will stay loyal to al-Qaeda and is currently fighting with HTS in Hama, Syria, but the TIP may not be able to prevent a number of its fighters from joining ISIS either in Syria or via its increasingly active Khorasan Province in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which has allied with some Pakistan Taliban factions that are also dissatisfied with the Talibans diplomacy with infidel foreign governments. If more TIP members defect to ISIS, one could expect these Uighur militants to carry out attacks against Chinese interests in China or abroad, in what could be a repetition of the Chinese embassy bombing in Bishkek in August 2016. The TIP, in turn, could find itself in a bind: the ISIS Uighur fighters could generate attention and carry out TIPs intended mission - attacking China while the TIP itself may be hamstrung by the al-Qaeda/Taliban limitations on targeting China. The TIP would thus have to consider abandoning its cause against China like the IMU largely did with its native Uzbekistan in the 2000s or break with al-Qaeda and the Taliban. AUTHORS BIO: Jacob Zenn is a Fellow of Eurasian and African Affairs at The Jamestown Foundation. Image source: wikimedia.org, accessed on April 19, 2017 BISMARCK A bill adding protections for confidential informants used by law enforcement received final approval in the state legislature on Tuesday. The Senate voted 44-1 to approve House Bill 1221, known as Andrews Law, sending the proposed legislation to Gov. Doug Burgum for a signature. The bill is named after Andrew Sadek, a state college of science student who was found dead after working undercover for police to receive a reduced sentence on a drug charge. Autopsy results were inconclusive, but Sadeks parents argue their son was murdered because of his work as a confidential informant. Tammy Sadek, Andrews mother, expressed disappointment after a different version of the bill passed the Senate last month. But family members are pleased that many of the protections they advocated for are now included in the final version of the bill, said family attorney Tim OKeeffe. We were pretty happy with it overall. It was a good first step, OKeeffe said. The bill requires training for law enforcement before using confidential informants and mandates that the Peace Officers Standards and Training Board write rules that provide reasonable protective measures for confidential informants. It also requires a written agreement with informants, which makes it clear that they can speak with an attorney or stop working as an informant at any time. The bill prohibits juveniles under age 15 from being confidential informants and has limitations for juveniles 15 and older. It also prohibits campus police from using confidential informants. In addition, the legislation requires the attorney general to authorize an independent investigation if a confidential informant dies. Sen. Kelly Armstrong, R-Dickinson, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said language in an earlier version of the bill would have had some unintended consequences for law enforcement, but the revised version adds wording to eliminate that concern. Armstrong said the bill will create uniformity for how confidential informants are used across the state while allowing law enforcement to continue using a tool that helps them remove large quantities of drugs from the streets. This reform is needed, but its also important to recognize that law enforcement has a tough job to do, Armstrong said. Agbor Ball, standing left, and Mancho Bibixy, standing right W. Musa Some Common Law Lawyers detained at the Kondengui maximum prison in Yaounde have distanced themselves from declarations made by the President of the Cameroon Bar Council on April 9,2017 in which he confirmed that after due consultations, Lawyers have agreed to resume work on May 2. In a Press Conference held in Yaounde Tuesday April 18, 2017 the lead defense Counsel for the detainees, Barrister Bernard MUNA said his clients, Distance themselves from the outing of the Batonnier. They said Barrister Jackson Ngnie Kamga did not consult those detained or their defense counsel and did not say what will happen to those imprisoned after courts reopen. And maintained that activities in courts in the two English speaking regions will only resume when certain conditions are fulfilled. They are demanding for their release without conditions, the safe return of those on self exile and a win-win dialogue to end the crisis. The views of Barrister Agbor Balla and others is coming barely one week after some Common Law Lawyers lambasted the Bar Council President for making such a declaration when , He did not call the strike, and as such cannot call it off. Batonnier Kamga in his release explained that it was after due consultations with lawyers in the North West and South West regions after their meeting on April 1 and April 8 in Bamenda and Buea respectively. By Wilson MUSA | BY Ricki Green | Discover Los Angeles has launched #Everyoneiswelcome, the first major project completely conceived and created by Discover Los Angeles in-house creative agency while Mistress production arm, Bastard, produced the spot. Diversity and inclusivity have always been cornerstones of Los Angeles culture people from 140 countries who speak over 224 different languages currently call L.A. home, and it is one of only two U.S. cities without a majority population and this community has consistently rolled out the red carpet for visitors from across the globe. There has never been a more critical time to reinforce these points than now. The #everyoneiswelcome campaign underscores these values. The campaign has launched with an inspiring video, the first film piece created by Discover L.As in-house creative team and produced by Mistress. The new video, released on Discover Los Angeles social channels, is a visual metaphor of paper planes, embodying patterns emblematic of countries around the world, fly into Los Angeles. The film is set to the soundtrack of Los Angeles-local Father John Mistys song, Real Love Baby, the film takes viewers on a journey through the streets and shores of Los Angeles including 16 locations. The video includes cameos of Layla Shaikely, creator of the #mipsterz (Muslim hipsters) trend, famed street art by Shepard Fairey (artist who created the iconic Obama Change poster), Madonnas choreographer Megan Lawson and her partner dancer, JoArtis Ratti (Big Mijo co-founder of Krump dance) and everyday Angelenos who were plucked off the streets of L.A., in real-time. Says Ernest Wooden Jr., president and CEO, Discover Los Angeles: Diversity and inclusivity have always been cornerstones of Los Angeles culture, but there has never been a more crucial time to reinforce these points. As one of the planets most diverse metro areas with residents hailing from 140 countries who speak more than 224 different languages, Los Angeles is uniquely poised to launch such a campaign. Last year, Los Angeles welcomed 47.3 million visitors in a sixth consecutive year of record-breaking tourism. Los Angeles welcomed 430,000 Aussies in 2016, becoming the second overseas market following China. Client: Discover Los Angeles Agency: Discover Los Angeles, In House Creative Group Creative Director: Jeremy Bacharach Production Company: Bastard Director: Isaac Ravishankara Head Of Production: David Horowitz Executive Producer: Trevor Paperny | BY Ricki Green | Ford has launched the Love Every Minute campaign via GTB Melbourne, showcasing the Ford Everest 4WD, proving to all 4X4 diehards that Everest is a seriously capable vehicle deserving of its title, Drives 4WD of the Year. The Love Every Minute campaign was shot across a number of inhospitable locations around Alice Springs and launches with cinema and TV directed by Revolvers Bruce Hunt. The TV and cinema is supported by outdoor, online and social along with a media domination at major airports. Says Jon-Paul Jacques, ECD, GTB: We had two goals. Connect to 4X4 diehards by showing them moments of 4X4 hardship theyll identify with. And demonstrate the Everest is more than capable of getting you out of these horrible situations. Ford research showed us 4X4 diehards are serious guys. They told us their most memorable off-road stories, and they were pretty hard-core. Surprisingly, it was the harshest, most intense and unpleasant experiences that they looked back on most fondly. Thus Love Every Minute was born. GTB head of strategy Anuj Mehra said the research confirmed for these guys, the worst of times really are the best of times. Continues Mehra: Some of the most memorable comments from our research included: You do get bogged but I live for the mud, getting out of tough situations, Took on too much for my skill set and slid down a 45-degree angle. Thats the fun though, I cant believe I made that; You realise how stupid you were, but you dont care after its done. We decided to celebrate this contradiction. Says Daniella Winter, general manager of marketing, Ford: This integrated campaign shows real 4X4ers in the grittiest, most challenging Aussie conditions. We believe this honest approach will not only get noticed but prove the Everest is a serious player in a crowded market. Were really excited by what this means for the brand. GTB is part of WPP AUNZ, Australasias leading marketing communications group. Client: Ford Motor Company General Manager of Marketing: Daniella Winter Marketing Strategy & Communications Manager: Tony Jordan Marketing Communications Manger: David Noonan Marketing Analyst: Lara Miller Agency: GTB Melbourne Executive Creative Director: Jon-Paul Jacques Copywriter: Stephen Sheldon Art Director: John Pantzopoulos Agency Producer: Sandi Gracin Head Of Strategy: Anuj Mehra Senior Account Director: Rachel Legge Senior Account Manager: Blade Griffiths Production Agency: Revolver Director: Bruce Hunt Producer: Catherine Jarman DOP: Ross Emery | BY Ricki Green | There are only a few tickets left for Brisbane Advertising and Design Clubs (BADC) Is the big ad dead? event with acclaimed international director Paul Middleditch. The lunch event is this Friday, April 21 from 12:30pm-2:30pm at The Sky Room at Brisbane Convention Centre. Middleditch is the creative mind behind some of the nations most memorable and awarded campaigns, including Carlton Draughts Big Ad and Yellow Pages Not Happy Jan and will deliver an insightful speech that poses the question: is the Big Ad dead? The keynote address will focus on the power of great storytelling in a media landscape thats overflowing with content, also sharing his personal insights into the industry, gained during a long and successful career. | BY Ricki Green | Publicis Media Exchange (PMX) has today announced the appointment of Tina Gavros to the newly-created role of commercial director. PMX is the investment arm of Publicis Media and in the new role, Gavros will work closely with PMXs media partners to drive and maximise new opportunities for clients. Gavros joins PMX from Starcom where she was Sydney trading director. She has spent 17 years at Starcom driving investment outcomes for clients such as Samsung, Metcash and Subaru. This is the third key hire for PMX and Gavros joins Jodi Fraser who heads up Publicis Screen and Simon Carley who joins PMX from Ebiquity to drive business analytics. Says Sarah Keith, managing director, PMX: Having worked with media owners, I have seen first hand how Tina operates and I admire and respect her approach. Her experience will be invaluable as we grow the investment practice that supports the Publicis Media brands. Says Gavros: After working with Starcom for 17 years this is an exciting new challenge for me and an opportunity to bring my experience in investment to the group. PMX plays a pivotal role in not only maximising efficiencies for clients but offering new opportunities as media owners drive innovation across their brands. | BY Ricki Green | CB Exclusive After a successful three years establishing Special Group in Australia, Matty Burton and Dave Bowman are set to take a role at Google, leading the Google Zoo operation throughout the Asia Pacific region. However, Burton (left) and Bowman (right) will remain vested in the Special Group business, maintaining a shareholding in the company. Prior to Special Group the award-winning team spent the last five years with TBWA Sydney as ECDs. Before that Burton was CD at Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney while Burton was a CD at Droga5 Sydney. Prior to that the pair worked at Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand before heading to Droga5 New York. Says Lindsey Evans, CEO and founding partner, Special Group: Matty and Dave joined Special Group Australia just six months after launch and in less than three years have helped build a truly modern culture with killer talent, an enviable group of client partners and an offering that has seen our business gain five Agency of the Year awards. We are obviously absolutely gutted to see them go but very happy that they remain vested in our future success as shareholders. Says Cade Heyde, managing partner, Special Group: We have been working with Google Zoo pretty much since we opened and we feel privileged to be able to continue to collaborate with the boys in their new roles. Says Burton: I am both extremely excited and extremely sad at the same time. The excitement of leading the very talented team at Google Zoo to create some amazing new work, working across Asia-Pacific and across categories with the worlds most innovative company cant be undersold. But Im also sad about leaving behind the very talented people who make up Special Group, given all we have achieved in such a short space of time. We are a little family and I take some solace in knowing that we will continue to be part of that family. Who knows what the future holds but I hope it is great for all of us. Says Bowman: Im incredibly proud of what weve been able to be a part of here at Special Group. Our first three years in market have seen the company grow into an amazing group of talented, creative and passionate people whose drive and hunger has seen them really start to make a dent in our part of the world. But, when we were presented with the unique opportunity to work at Google, knowing we could collaborate with agencies across the region, it was simply impossible to refuse. A global search is currently underway to identify their creative successors and Special Group looks forward to making an announcement in the coming weeks. CB Q&A with Dave Bowman & Matty Burton So, why Google? Well, weve been lucky enough at Special Group to work with the incredibly creative Google Zoo team over the last three years on a variety of different clients and projects. Weve worked with John Merrifield over the last 15 years in various different capacities, from when he was leading the TBWA operation in Japan and across the Asia Pacific, and its been incredible. So, when the opportunity came up to lead the operation across the region, working with the fiendishly talented teams in the Sydney, Tokyo, and Singapore offices, it was really something we couldnt say no to. Its probably the one company, more than any other right now that has the power to change the world. Innovation is in its DNA, but its also an incredibly creative company. Its that perfect intersection of elements that are so often siloed. Does it feel like youre leaving agency world? Not at all. If anything, it feels great to know that we will be able to collaborate with agency partners across the country and the region. There are so many wonderful creative thinkers in this part of the world. As a region we really do punch well beyond our weight, so to be able to link up with similarly hungry people to create real breakthrough work is fantastic. Do you think working with one platform will be limiting? We dont see Google as one platform. Its everything. Its hardware. Software. YouTube. Search. Beacons. Artificial intelligence. We could go on. But the key for us will be to work with the team and find new and interesting ways to bring these to life for all kinds of different brands. Partnering with agencies of all kinds to make them happen. Was doing a start-up a mistake? Is that what youre walking away from? Absolutely not. Doing a start up was the most liberating experience of our lives. It is hard work but the rewards are all the more rewarding because you earned them. You learn a lot and it gives you power to work with the people and brands that inspire you. There are no clients we have because of an international alignment or anything like that, so you make the choices. We have built a great team of the most talented people and who comes in next has a really good base from which to build. So when do you start? | BY Lynchy | Y&R Group Indonesia has appointed Upasana Dua as Head of Planning, and announces the upcoming launch of 2017 BrandAssetValuator proprietary data for Indonesia. A brand strategy specialist with some 16 years experience across categories, Dua (pictured left) has headed up planning at both country and regional levels on iconic brands including Oreo, Horlicks, Kraft and NIVEA. Her extensive FMCG experience has revolved around the need to constantly reinvent and strengthen brand message. Dua said, Its an exciting time to be joining Y&R Indonesia, following the agencys considerable new business wins at the end of last year and ahead of the launch of BAV. With people creating their own identities and consumption patterns no longer defined by traditional demographic segmentation, brand marketers need strategic planning and insights now more than ever. Y&R will also be launching its 2017 (and fourth) wave of BrandAssetValuator data for Indonesia. Since its 1993 launch, BAV has become the worlds largest database and model on brand perceptions. It assesses a brands health in the marketplace, compares its assets to the competition, and explores the category dynamics in the context of the broader brandscape of thousands of brands. Why the US votes the way it does Wednesday, April 19, 2017 at 1:21PM OpenTable, the worlds leading provider of online restaurant reservations and part of the Priceline Group, is introducing a new way for diners to search and make restaurant reservations directly through Facebook Messenger. With OpenTables bot for Messenger, diners around the globe can make reservations at more than 40,000 restaurants worldwide directly from within Messenger through the new Chat Extensions feature. OpenTables bot for Messenger makes planning a meal with friends even easier by enabling diners to search and suggest available restaurants to friends as well as make reservations through the bot without leaving Messenger. Its an easy, collaborative way to pick the perfect spot for a friends birthday dinner, a special occasion or an upcoming trip. Were delighted that our millions of global diners are now able to plan and make restaurant reservations with their Facebook friends all within Messenger, says Catherine Porter, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Business Development at OpenTable. We hope this service helps diners more easily collaborate on dining plans by sharing restaurant suggestions and coordinating a reservation all in one place. Dining out is inherently social and millions of people are already using Messenger and social media to connect with friends to discuss dining. The addition of the OpenTable bot for Messenger is a natural extension of this behaviour enabling them to plan and book together, says Porter. "While it is disappointing that the initial 10 per cent [of] schools in the five states and territories that had planned to begin moving online in 2017 now will not be doing so, we want NAPLAN Online to be successful for everyone," chief executive Robert Randall said. Workers in his situation are unlikely to see unpaid wages, except as a minor, unsecured creditor to a liquidation; they are not eligible for compensation under the Fair Work Entitlement Guarantee, unless they are from New Zealand; and without a new sponsor, they must return home. "Clearly the government will have certain objectives it will want to achieve and often that will be on advice from the directorate but once we start going into communities in terms of planning or development opportunities we need to engage with the local residents because they know the area better than anyone and often it's those interactions and listening to people that will provide often gems of information that are critical to the planning for those areas." Ms Jones wrote that the Burton and Garran Residents Committee had since developed a new policy to deal with the Eagle Rock practice, including banning the encircling of women when the song plays, banning the Australian rock classic from mixers, external venues and formal events, alerting first-years to the tradition and sounding a warning before the song plays to allow time for people to leave the dance floor. Before he took the helm at Defence, Mr Richardson was secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade from 2010 to 2012, ambassador to the United States from 2005 to 2010 and director-general of ASIO from 1996 to 2005. edotco is currently the 12th largest tower company globally and operates and manages more than 25,000 telecom towers across Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. The additional $100 million upsize of its 2016 record tower sector equity private placement sees KWAP join the fold of investors. The full proceeds from the placement process will allow edotco to undertake value accretive opportunities as they arise. The upsize of $100 million and the structure of the offering marks another achievement in our maiden private placement exercise, said Suresh Sidhu, CEO of edotco. edotco now has the advantage of funding flexibility as well as the balance sheet capacity to continue to grow the business confidently and capitalise on potential acquisition opportunities. The enlarged placement of shares to KWAP is an extension of edotcos equity private placement process announced in late December 2016 and was concluded on the same equity valuation of close to $1.5 billion and an enterprise value to FY2016 EBITDA multiple of 12.5x, which is comparable to regional peers. Tan Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim, president and group chief executive officer of Axiata, added: It is an honour for us to welcome KWAP as a new shareholder to edotco. As an existing long- standing investor in Axiata, KWAPs take up of this placement not only validates our long-term growth strategy but also of edotcos strong business fundamentals, its exceptional long-term prospects and experienced management team. We thank KWAP for placing their trust in both Axiata and edotco. Commenting on the investment, Dato Wan Kamaruzaman bin Wan Ahmad, CEO of KWAP, said: We have been very impressed by edotcos rapid growth in the past five years, and would like to be part of its growth journey, towards becoming one of the leading tower players globally by 2020. Domestic private equity has been an area of growth and on a trajectory to provide attractive investment income to the fund in recent years, and we would like to continue building our portfolio in this area. The target is to allocate 3% of our assets in private equity by 2020. At completion, edotcos shareholding results in the investors collectively owning 37.6% of edotco, with Axiata remaining as the majority shareholder at 62.4%. 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. In a bid to nurture Hindi, as a language in the country, the committee of parliament on official languages has made 117 suggestions tot he HRD Ministry. In a recent development, President Pranab Mukherjee has given the nod to a suggestion of a parliamentary panel that the students of Kendriya Vidyalayas and CBSE affiliated schools have to study Hindi till class 10. However, the HRD Ministry has not confirmed its approval to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) suggestion. According to the presidential order, the Centre should draw up the policy to make Hindi a compulsory subject in consultation with states. The website of the department of official languages also has a copy of this order. Will states accept mandatory Hindi in schools? India is a mosaic of cultures where each state speaks a different language. Unlike the north where Hindi is the basic of different languages which resemble Hindi, South Indian languages have a Dravidian base and Southern states like Tamilnadu might not really welcome enforcement of Hindi in their region. Earlier recommendation Last year, the CBSE had recommended a three-language formula comprising English and any two Indian languages to be extended to classes 9 and 10. There are 22 Indian languages for students to choose from in this method. Other Recommendations The President rejected a recommendation which wanted a minimum knowledge of Hindi to be one of the preconditions for a government job. The others that were accepted are fixing the broadcast duration of Hindi programmes on all Doordarshan centres and All India Radio stations.Mukherjee has also accepted the recommendation that said the government, wherever possible, should give all advertisements in Hindi and regional languages. Karnataka State Government to Prescribe CBSE and ICSE Syllabus till Class 8 The written exam result and the list of selected candidates for PGT Computer Science post (rest of Haryana) has been released by the Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC). Why was the HSSC written exam held? The HSSC written exam was held for recruitment of candidates to various posts under Secondary Education Department, Haryana. When was the HSSC written exam held? It was held on 6 March 2016. How to check the HSSC written exam results? In order to check the exam results, visit the HSSC official website hssc.gov.in. Selection Process The selected candidates who had appeared for the exam (against advt no 5/ 2015) will now appear for document verification. Important Dates The scrutiny of documents will be held from 4 May 2017 till 5 May 2017 and again from 8 May 2017 till 9 May 2017. Note: On the day of document verification, candidates must bring "all original documents, set of attested copies of all documents, one Id Proof and self attested copy of downloaded application form." What does the HSSC official notification say? The official notification reads, "On the basis of Written Examination held on 06.03.2016 for the post of PGT COMPUTER SCIENCE (REST OF HARYANA), Secondary Education Department, Haryana Against Advt. No. 05/2015 , Category No.01, the candidates bearing following Roll Nos. have been called for Scrutiny of Documents provisionally to ascertain two times eligible candidates against the advertised posts and further subject to the fulfilment of their eligibility conditions as per respective advertisement and service rules." About HSSC HSSC is an organization that works under the government of Haryana to hire staff for several posts in various ministries and departments of the government and in subordinate groups. Also Read:HSSC JE 2015 Exam Results Declared Jamia Hamdard University, New Delhi released an official notification inviting the candidates for admissions to undergraduate, postgraduate, and research programs for the academic session 2017. All the candidates are requested to apply through the prescribed format latest by June 15, 2017. The Jamia Hamdard university conducts an entrance test for admission to most of the programs. Educational qualification: For B.Tech program: The candidates should have passed Class 12 from a recognized board or university. The candidates should have passed Class 12 from a recognized board or university. For M.Tech CSE/ ISCF program: The candidates should have acquired the Bachelor's degree in Technology (BTech) from a recognized university or institute. About the list of courses and selection process: NEET 2017 scores will be considered for MBBS, BUMS, Nursing, Pharmacy, Paramedical Sc., Rehabilitation Sc. and Chemical and Life Sciences. Similarly, for admission to BTech, JEE Main 2017 score will be considered. For courses like BTech in Food Technology, BSc-MSc Integrated Programme offered by School of Chemical and Life Sciences, either NEET 2017 or JEE Main 2017 scores will be taken into consideration. For PG courses, the university will consider marks in the qualifying exam and performance in interview or entrance exam conducted by the university. How to apply? Log on t the official website. Click on the admission link. On the admission page, click on the link 'Online Admission Portal 2017'. Enter all the required details in the prescribed format. Click to submit. About the university: Jamia Hamdard is a deemed to be the university which offers several courses through nine different schools and an off campus in Kannur. Hyderabad University Admissions Open: Apply For Various Programs 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 ... Swiss Re plans to launch in 2018 a subsidiary in Singapore, which will become the companys regional headquarters for its reinsurance operations in Asia. The company, Swiss Re Asia, will be wholly owned by its Zurich-based global parent, Swiss Re Ltd., will share Swiss Res group credit rating and will supported by the financial resources of the Swiss Re Group. Swiss Re Asia will continue to serve its clients and partners across the region through its network of offices, mirroring its existing footprint in Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore, the company said. This move demonstrates our commitment to Asia as we become even closer to the market, said Jayne Plunkett, Swiss Re chief executive officer, Reinsurance Asia, in a company statement. To embrace the fast-growing insurance industry, we are committed to the growth of our talent base. This change will provide our employees with more opportunities for personal growth within the region itself, she went on to say. The new structure of the reinsurance business will not affect Swiss Re Corporate Solutions in Asia, Swiss Re said. Swiss Re Hong Kong branch, which was established in 1956, will continue to be the Asian hub for the companys life & health business. It will also remain as the base for a number of its property and casualty teams. During the process to create the subsidiary, business will continue as normal for Swiss Res clients and partners, Swiss Re affirmed. The terms and conditions of agreements with Swiss Re, as well as the companys obligations, remain unchanged. Clients and partners will also continue to be served by the same local teams. Asian Insurance Sector The Asian insurance sector has seen strong growth over the past decade, with the region now accounting for 30 percent of global insurance premiums, compared to 20 percent in 2007, noted the company in a statement. Swiss Re expects the regions non-life and life premiums to grow by 5 percent and 6 percent, respectively, in real terms per annum in the coming decade. Emerging Asian insurance markets will grow even faster, the company added. Swiss Re has been associated with Asia since 1913 and has over 1,900 employees in the region. Source: Swiss Re We are not alone Lessons from the Heart When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What... One weird dude Lessons from the Heart There are not a lot of places where someones personal style gets mentioned in the New Testament, so this one... We all knew it was coming and at the Shanghai Auto Show, BMW has unveiled the M4 CS, a potent variant that slots between the M4 Competition Package and the range-topping M4 GTS. While BMW hasnt gone into specific production numbers, its believed that as with the GTS, production of the M4 CS will be capped, as the Germans will manufacture the special edition only until the middle of next year, Being that the production run of the GTS has already concluded, the CS is now the most potent M4 in the companys range. The modifications start with the engine. BMWs M division has tweaked the familiar 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged inline-six engine to now deliver 454 hp and 442 lb-ft (600 Nm) of torque. Those figures represent a 29hp and 37 lb-ft leap over the standard M4 and are 10 hp and 37 lb-ft more than the M4 Competition package. BMW has also taken inspiration from the GTS by employing a number of weight saving measures for the M4 CS. They include the roof, trunklid spoiler, diffuser and front splitter all being made from lightweight carbon fiber reinforced plastic. Additionally, new lightweight door trims have been fitted alongside door pull loops. This results in a 32 kg (71 lbs) weight saving over the M4 and 10 kg (22 lbs) over the M4 Competition Package. When working in conjunction with the standard dual-clutch seven-speed automatic transmission, the weight savings and extra grunt propel the M4 CS from 0-62 mph (100 km/h) in a mere 3.9 seconds, 0.3 seconds quicker than the M4 Competition Package. The top speed meanwhile sits at a limited 174 mph (278 km/h). BMW says that it lapped the Ring in 7 min and 38 seconds, which makes it slower than the GTS (7:27.88), and just as fast as the Porsche 991 Carrera S. Other mechanical modifications to the CS include optional 6-piston front and 4-piston gold calipers with carbon ceramic brakes, stiffer springs and dampers, larger roll bars and 19-inch front and 20-inch rear wheels as standard. The car also gets the same 80 mm (3.1-inch) tailpipes as the M4 Competition Package. Customers will be able to opt between exterior colors including Lime Rock Grey metallic, Alpine White, San Marino Blue metallic, Sapphire Black metallic and Frozen Dark Blue II. In Germany, the BMW M4 CS will be priced at 116,900 or 40,200 more than the regular M4 Coupe that starts at 76,700. US and Canadian pricing have yet to be announced, but expect the CS to cost over $100,000 when it lands in North America in early 2018. Photo Gallery Accidents are a fact of life but one Corvette owner in New Hampshire might want to stay out of the drivers seat after being involved in two crashes just seven minutes apart. According to NH1 News and the Union Leader, Kevin Cullinane was driving near Cumberland Farms when he got into an accident with another vehicle. Cullinane then fled the scene and witnesses note he was traveling at a high rate of speed and weaving through traffic in an attempt to get away. This decision proved tragic when Cullinane slammed into another car, eventually pushing it into a telephone pole. Not content with his vehicular mayhem, Cullinane reportedly attempted to flee again but this time he was detained by witnesses. Manchester police responded to the second crash and were informed by Goffstown Police that the white Corvette was wanted for a hit-and-run incident just minutes earlier. No one was seriously injured in either of the crashes but Cullinane is facing an extensive list of charges including conduct after an accident, operating under the influence of drugs, and reckless operation. More charges are pending, so its likely that Cullinane wont be behind the wheel anytime soon. [ACCIDENT] Driver of C7 Corvette Stingray Arrested for Hit and Run Crashes Corvette: Sales, News & Lifestyle https://t.co/WQ54EBfQzt pic.twitter.com/U9NXE26GG1 Nascar World (@NascarWorldNews) April 18, 2017 A bill adjusting North Dakotas voter ID law awaits action from Gov. Doug Burgum after the Legislature approved it this week. The Senate passed House Bill 1369 in a 35-10 vote Tuesday, after the House approved it Monday. Although proponents said it will help protect the integrity of the states elections, an attorney challenging North Dakotas voter ID laws said the bill doesnt comply with a federal judges 2016 ruling. For those who dont bring a valid ID to the polls, the bill allows voters to cast a ballot thats set aside until they produce an ID. If an ID doesnt include required information or is out of date, a voter could use a current utility bill, bank statement, government-issued check, paycheck or government document to supplement the ID. The bill lists valid forms of identification as a drivers license or non-drivers ID card issued by the Department of Transportation or a tribal government-issued ID. It also includes several options for those living in special circumstances, such as in a long-term care facility. The bill, introduced by Republican lawmakers led by House Majority Leader Al Carlson, R-Fargo, comes amid a federal lawsuit over the states voter ID laws. Secretary of State Al Jaeger was sued by seven members of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa in early 2016 over changes passed in the previous two legislative sessions by the Republican-led Legislature. The plaintiffs argued the law disenfranchised Native Americans. Last year, a federal judge ordered the state to supply affidavits to voters who couldnt provide an ID at the polls. Lawmakers previously eliminated the affidavits, which voters used to swear they were a qualified elector. The voter ID case is still pending, said Deputy Secretary of State Jim Silrum. He said House Bill 1369 does satisfy everything that they were claiming was disenfranchising to the voters that they represent. Rep. Mary Johnson, R-Fargo, wasnt convinced. Speaking on the House floor Monday, she said the bill doesnt provide a true fail-safe option like the affidavit. I dont believe this will pass constitutional muster again, she said. Tom Dickson, an attorney representing the seven tribal members, said in an email the bill does not comply with the courts ruling. He said the provision requiring people to return with an ID if they cast a ballot thats set aside is meant to eliminate votes, not count all of them. In America, we want to count votes, not curtail them, Dickson said. Rep. Jim Kasper, R-Fargo, said there were too many problems with the affidavits. Information previously provided by Cass County showed 1,837 of the 5,005 affidavits filed there last year were not returned or verified. Silrum previously said the ballots cast by people who used an affidavit were counted prior to a post-election verification process conducted by county auditors. We require IDs for getting on an airplane or buying cigarettes or buying alcohol, Kasper said, questioning why the state wouldnt do the same for voting. General Motors continues to pursue the SUV boom not only with its Western brands, but with the SAIC-GM-Wuling Chinese joint venture. The latter is responsible for producing the new Hong Guang S3, a compact seven-seater SUV, the first one of its kind to wear the local brands logo. Developed on the same platform as the Hong Guang MPV, it has a length of 4,654 mm (183.23 in), a width of 1,731 mm (68.15 in), and a height of 1,777 mm (70 in), which is said to translate into a spacious interior that GM has yet to detail. Among the amenities found on it are the LED DRLs, integrated on the sides of the bumper and sitting right under the headlights that have a black look, LED taillights, and optional roof rack. The engine family includes two members: a 1.5-liter naturally aspirated unit, which is likely shared with the new Baojun 310 Wagon that is also displayed at the 2017 Shanghai Auto Show, and a 1.5-liter turbocharged lump. Details surrounding the output, transmission offerings, trim levels, and pricing, will likely be announced in the coming weeks, but dont expect to find the new Wuling Hong Guang S3 outside China, as this wont happen. Images GM & Chesi PHOTO GALLERY Hard as it may be to fathom given the astronomical local taxes on importing foreign-made vehicles especially with such high-displacement engines but China is one of the largest markets for supercar manufacturers like Lamborghini. So the Italian automaker took the occasion of the Shanghai Auto Show to showcase two of its latest models. Alongside the rear-wheel-drive versions of the Huracan, the Raging Bull marque arrived in Shanghai this year with the new Huracan Performante and the Aventador S both shown in Asia for the first time at this weeks show. Based on Lamborghinis junior model, the new Huracan Performante picks up where the previous Gallardo Superleggera left off. That is, to say, more power, less weight, and everything tightened up all around. Unveiled to the world for the first time just last month in Geneva, the Performante packs a 631-horsepower version of the Huracans 5.2-liter naturally aspirated V10 engine. The result is a 0-62 time clocked at under 3 seconds, a top speed in excess of 200 mph, and a Nurbugring lap time of 6:52, making it the fastest production car ever to lap the vaunted Nordschleife. It was joined on the stage by the Aventador S, with its 6.5-liter V12 also naturally aspirated, but producing an even more impressive 730 horsepower to rival even the Aventador SV. Four-wheel steering also helps keeping it on track, with carbon-ceramic brakes to help it shrug off speed even faster than its built it up. As impressive as these latest supercars are, China promises to emerge an even more vital market for the Urus Lamborghinis forthcoming crossover that aims to double the manufacturers sales volume around the world. The Urus will also be SantAgatas first turbocharged model, and take it to further heights especially in emerging markets like China where wealth continues to grow as fast as its population. Photo Gallery The government of South Korea is sending back roughly 2,500 Volkswagen and Audi models to the German carmakers on the back of a sales ban in the wake of the diesel emissions scandal. Local publication Yonhap News reports that the vehicles had been held at a port 70 km south of Seoul in Pyeongtaek since 2016 and that an initial batch of 1,300 vehicles were sent back to German last month. By the end of April, an additional 1,200 units will be shipped back. In 2016, Audi Volkswagen Korea banned sales and revoked the certifications of 80 different vehicles from the automakers after it emerged that emissions reports had been fabricated to allow the models to be sold in South Korea. It is said that there are over 10,000 Audi and Volkswagen models still at the Pyeongtaek port and that a decision on their fate has yet to be made. If the local government approves the sales of them, they could be sold at large discounts. Hat tip to GT! PHOTO GALLERY After selling around 3,000 units of the Mirai in Europe, US, and Japan, Toyota are now planning to push their Mirai into the Chinese market as well. However, before they do so, theyre getting ready to conduct demonstration tests in the country with two units of the FCV, which will be shipped to the Peoples Republic in October, this year. By the turn of the decade, these demonstration tests will see the hydrogen-powered cars engaged in promotional activities, and will be displayed at domestic events, trying to gather enough information on how receptive the Chinese customers are to the car. Toyota will conduct research into vehicle performance within the environment in China, research into the quality of Chinas hydrogen, as well as a variety of quality and durability evaluations, the automaker states. Toyota are also looking to the local government and other business organizations in the industry to explore the potential for creating a hydrogen-based society, and a first step will be made by opening a hydrogen station at TMEC, the first of its kind in Changshu. This will become the sixth of its kind in China, as the other stations are centered in the metropolitan regions of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. As part of offering their Mirai to other global markets, Toyota will also start demonstration tests in Canada, Australia and the United Arab Emirates. Note: European Toyota Mirai pictured PHOTO GALLERY The latest Ferrari 488 GTB and its Spider counterpart may be empirically better in every way, but the previous 458 will likely be remembered as the last great naturally aspirated, eight-cylinder, mid-engined Ferrari. Especially the 458 Speciale and for open-top driving enthusiasts, all the more so the 458 Speciale Aperta. Arguably the ultimate expression of the breed, the Aperta was the Spider version of the 458 Speciale. It packed a 4.5-liter atmospheric V8 rated at 597 horsepower and 398 lb-ft of torque for a three-second 0-62 time and a top speed just shy of 200 miles per hour all with the wind in your hair, should you be so fortunate to find yourself in either seat, really. The factory in Maranello only produced 499 examples of the Speciale A before switching over to the turbocharged 488. And you can bet they all sold out at a suitably quick pace. Fortunately there are still some to be had on the second-hand market five, in fact, listed on JamesEdition alone. But they dont come cheap. Of those five, two brand-new examples are listed (it should come as no great surprise) in Dubai: one in metallic red with black stripes for $950k, and another (pictured) in bright red with blue stripes at a price unlisted. Theres another red one in Munich with only delivery mileage for $688k, a yellow one in Cannes with 3,418 miles for $736k, and one in LA with 3,206 miles for $730k. Whichever way you look at it, youre not going to find one on the cheap. In fact you could get two or three new 488 Spiders for what these 458s are listing for. But where the 488 is force-fed and will sure to be thick on the ground in some parts of the world (and on the second-hand market), the 458 Speciale A will remain a rare tribute to the free-revving eight in all its glory. Photo Gallery Its not just for tourists anymore. The Spanish island of Tenerife, part of the Canary Islands, is rapidly becoming the perfect location for game and animation businesses to relocate or set up shop, thanks to its generous tax incentives, tailored training packages, and strong institutional support. In the past decade Tenerife has started to focus on other sectors like film production, and more recently, animation and vfx industries. Cartoon Brew spoke to several animation companies on the island to understand how the Tenerife Film Commission is working with the animation industry and why the island could grow to become a major player in the international animation industry. According to Marcos Martin, President of SAVE, the regional association for the animation, video game and vfx industry, the transition began when the team behind the Spanish hit Capture the Flag decided to move part of the film production to Tenerife. This was the catalyst for other producers and local institutions to really notice the potential of Tenerife for the animation and vfx industries since Capture the Flag was the first feature film to make use of Spains leading supercomputer Teide-HPC for rendering purposes. With a processor specially optimized for rendering, projects since have included cg films like Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV, Ozzy, and Tad, the Lost Explorer 2. Why Tenerife? Some of Tenerifes main attractions are the generous tax incentives offered by the Canary Islands to new animation companies. The Canaries Special Zone status allows an entirely EU-authorized tax framework with rates that are hard to beat elsewhere in Europe. This was one of the deciding factors for Luis Torres, CEO of Madrid-based video game company Drakhar Studio, who this month is opening a new 3D animation and vfx company on the island, 3Doubles Producciones. We were looking for locations for this business and Tenerife offered us incomparable fiscal incentives. Newly registered companies enjoy 4% corporate tax, no withholding taxes. Additionally, they benefit from generous tax deductions of up to 40% for audiovisual production. (Changes introduced in Spain in 2015 nearly doubled the tax benefits for film producers, with Canarian film productions now eligible for 38-40% corporate tax credit up to a limit of 5.4 million euros, and foreign production offered a cash rebate of 35%, capped at 4.5 million euros, 20% higher than the rest of Spain.) The financial advantages are so tempting that they even attract producers from countries already known for highly competitive tax regimes. Torres, whose company is about to begin co-production of the 3D feature The Steam Engines of Oz with Canadas Arcana Studio, explains that our Madrid-based company wasnt cost-effective for Arcana due to the low rates already available to them in Canada. Once we decided to move to Tenerife, the discussion was back on as we were down to the same level costwise. But it is the strong institutional support to the animation and vfx industries where Tenerife excels. Torres describes how we started considering other places but once we contacted the Tenerife Film Commission, they made everything so easy for us that the discussion was soon over. A Rapidly Expanding Animation Scene Looking for local talent shouldnt be a problem. SAVE maintains an extensive directory of animation, vfx, and video games professionals both residing in the Canary Islands and living abroad but willing to relocate. And in the past few months, a new institutional program has been set up to provide subsidized, bespoke training packages for companies settling there. Another international group that recently opened an office in Tenerife was Mondo TV Iberoamerica, a global brand that chose the island because of its geographical, cultural, and fiscal advantages. Enrico Martinis, studio manager of the Canarian branch, explained that the decision to move their pre-production department from Asia to Tenerife was due to the benefits of being in Europe, with similar time zones to their main offices in Rome and the same culture and languages as their main audience in Latin America, while the costs remained comparable to Asian countries. Besides this, Tenerife has an unbeatable quality of life. Born in Barcelona but living in Tenerife for 15 years, Marcos Martin laughs about it. Excellent living conditions were my initial reason to move here. The island offers one of the most stable climates on the planet with consistent, year-round temperatures averaging 72F (22C), an extraordinary diversity of environments and a rich local gastronomy. When I arrived, Martin says, there werent many animation companies here. Now with my company Salero Studio we have more than five. And this year we are expecting to welcome at least two of the biggest players in Spanish animation who are relocating here. This looks to be a sweeping move that could convert Tenerife into the most vibrant animation and vfx hub to recently develop in southern Europe. The best opportunity to meet these animation studios and learn about Tenerife opportunities will be at the MIFA market at Annecy in June and Cannes MIPCOM in October. And perhaps youll discover why the so-called Island of the Eternal Spring may also be the most unexpected paradise for the animation industry. To learn more online about opportunities in Tenerife, visit the website of the Tenerife Film Commission. Photo: Contributed Inequality in mental health care Around the world, there's a stark inequality in mental health care. Perhaps not surprisingly, mental health care is very difficult to access in some of the worlds poorest countries. Nearly half the people in the world live in countries where there is only one psychiatrist for every 100,000 people. Comparatively, in wealthier nations it is more common to have one psychiatrist for every 2,000 people. In addition to limited available resources, there may be difficult travel conditions, extreme poverty, military conflict, or a natural disaster. It is easy to see there are many who would have virtually no way of accessing a mental health care professional. Although media reports tend to focus attention on physical needs in developing or war-torn countries, mental health needs are also great. Worldwide, about one in 10 people experience a mental illness, but only one per cent of the global health workforce is treating these conditions, leaving vast numbers of people to suffer on their own. In a 2015 report, the WHO said more investment in mental health care is needed to address this inequality. Interestingly, it also recommended increased investment in richer countries like Canada. Although the ratio of psychiatrists to population is more appropriate in wealthier nations, this report suggests too many resources are being used on in-patient care while there is not enough for community care measures. This is certainly true when I look at the care available in our province. I have written several times about the difficulty many people have in accessing community services and the lack of coordination between services. A well-resourced and coordinated approach could improve this a lot. The WHO report also stressed a need to increase resources during times of economic crisis when rates of depression and suicide tend to increase. This is not surprising since stress is a key trigger for many mental health conditions. When a person already living in an impoverished nation with very little in terms of a social safety net is in a mental health crisis, the results are often tragic for the individual, their family and community. Similarly, in wealthier nations such as ours, untreated mental illness is devastating and places a huge burden on our society. We have a long way to go before people around the world can safely access quality mental health care. We must continue to advocate for targeted and coordinated resources as well as reduced stigma surrounding these conditions. This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet. Photo: CBSA Passports seized by the CBSA's Criminal Investigations Section in the course of the investigation The Canada Border Services Agency is announcing sentences and fines against three people who pleaded guilty to participating in a large-scale immigration fraud operation. Jin Fanny Ma, Ming Kun Makkie Wu and Wen Vivian Jiang each received 18 months of jail time and fines ranging from $50,000 to $96,000 for their roles in a racket operating under the banners of New Can Consultants Ltd. and Wellong International Investments Ltd. The unlicensed companies accepted about $10M from 1,600 clients for fraudulent services including creating the fake appearance of Canadian residency to maintain permanent resident status and obtain Canadian citizenship. Fraud impacts the integrity of Canadas immigration system and will not be tolerated. The sentencing today is a result of the CBSAs commitment to prosecuting individuals that willingly break the law, Harald M. Wuigk of the CBSA said in a news release. The CBSA says they have reviewed the list of clients and are actively pursuing investigations on any person found to have misrepresented themselves through fraud or deceit in order to obtain or maintain their permanent resident status in Canada. Western North Dakota communities are fighting what they consider a money grab for a portion of oil tax revenue. Townships in the top nine oil-producing counties were set to share about $25 million in gross production tax revenue for 2017-19 through Senate Bill 2013. An amendment approved by the House diverts $16 million of that funding and sends it to townships across the state. It is a takings, said Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner, R-Dickinson. The gross production tax, which is collected in lieu of property taxes on oil and gas development, is the source of revenue communities use to offset impacts of oil development. Geoff Simon, executive director of the Western Dakota Energy Association, said townships and counties rely on that funding to maintain roads heavily traveled by the oil industry. In McKenzie County, the states top oil-producing county, the road budget is projected to be $64.5 million in 2017, compared to about $8 million in 2010. These arent your average farm and ranch roads. Theyre industrial roads, Simon said. They need every penny they can get to keep up. But townships in other areas of the state have infrastructure needs, too, said Rep. Mike Brandenburg, R-Edgeley, a member of the House Appropriations Committee. Under the original bill, townships in the oil counties were projected to receive an average of about $56,000 for 2017-19. With the amendment, townships in oil counties are projected to receive an average of $20,000, while townships in non oil-producing counties would receive an average of $10,000. Where there arent organized townships, the funding would go to the county. Were trying to find a fair way to do this, Brandenburg said. How the state distributes oil tax revenue is a common topic of debate at the state Legislature, with western communities making the case in recent sessions that they need more funding to keep up. The North Dakota Petroleum Council is adamantly opposed to the amendment and is advocating for a greater portion of the revenue to go back to communities with the greatest impact, said President Ron Ness. A conference committee of House and Senate members is working to resolve their differences on the bill. Other amendments to the bill also reduce funding for the Bakken hub cities of Dickinson, Williston and Minot, which have heavy debt loads after funding major projects such as wastewater treatment plants to keep up with growth spurred by oil development. School districts in those hub cities also would see a funding reduction under the amendment. The bill includes $35 million for a new Williston airport and $5 million for the Dickinson airport. Darrel Wihnon has never seen anything like it before. It was at 8 a.m. last Sunday the local man spotted several deer casually walking through Vernon's downtown core. The deer were ambling along 32nd Avenue toward 32nd Street and Wihnon said they actually stopped near the Salvation Army House of Hope, less than two blocks from main street, before moving on. He shot some video of the deer before posting it to Facebook. And now the video has taken on a life of its own. I think I'm up to about 23,000 views and 300 shares. I guess it's not something people see every day, said Wihnon. I have never seen that many downtown before. Photo: The Canadian Press An Oklahoma sheriff's deputy died Tuesday after being shot while serving an eviction notice, authorities said, and a suspect was later arrested after a manhunt. The Logan County deputy was identified as David Wade, 40. Logan County Sheriff Damon Devereaux told reporters Wade was shot several times, including in the face. He was taken to OU Medical Center, where he underwent surgery and later died. Wade was able to fire, Devereaux said, then radioed in to headquarters to say that he had been shot. The sheriff said Wade was "a warrior." "He gave his life serving his community, and I don't think you can have a bigger honour than that," Devereaux said, holding back tears. Devereaux said Wade had served in the U.S. Army and described him as personable and funny. Wade was married with three children and had worked for the sheriff's office about three years. Authorities said Nathan Aaron LeForce, 45, shot Wade just before 8:45 a.m. in Mulhall when he was serving eviction papers. LeForce then drove his patrol car about 25 miles to a convenience store near the town of Coyle, authorities said. There he stole another vehicle, which has since been found near Guthrie. Some schools in the area were put on lockdown while officers from multiple police agencies searched for LeForce for hours. LeForce was found in an outbuilding near Guthrie, where he surrendered to authorities, Oklahoma Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. John Vincent said. Vincent said police used technology to track LeForce, but he did not give details of the search. Photo: Contributed Shelley Oppenheim Lacerte was stunned to learn the man that killed her daughter had not only been transferred to a facility two hours from her home, but that the man had escaped from the minimum security facility. Former Kelowna resident Robert Raymond Dezwaan strangled 16-year-old Cherish Oppenheim in 2001. Her body was found in the woods near Merritt in October. On Friday, Dezwaan walked away from the Fraser Valley facility. He was caught the next day, but Oppenheim Lacerte wants to know why she was not told he was being transferred or that he had escaped. Dezwaan confessed to the killing in 2003 and was sentenced to life in prison. The 53-year-old's escape triggered a police manhunt in the area surrounding Mission Institution. Oppenheim Lacerte said she was in disbelief when she heard of the killer's escape. "He was on the loose and we had no idea where he could be, if he returned to Merritt," she said, adding she was bothered that she had to learn of the escape through the media. She also didn't know that Dezwaan first applied for day parole last May, a request that was rejected by the parole board. Documents from the board said he continued to minimize his crimes, most likely harboured deviant sexuality and was rated a high to moderate-high risk for both violent and sexual recidivism. "I had no information provided on that. This is the first I've heard about that," Oppenheim Lacerte said when CTV News told her. - with files from CTV Photo: Contributed Most residents of Kaslo ordered from their homes Monday night after a landslide will be able to return tonight, but some may not be allowed back for up to a week. Emergency officials have lifted the evacuation order for all but a handful of houses on the outskirts of Kaslo, where an landslide occurred around suppertime Monday. Seven homes will remain empty until officials determine the danger poised by the landslide. Forty-seven homes were evacuated late Monday night after the slide came down near Zwicky Road, on the western edge of the Kootenay Lake town. Residents of Zwicky Road and several nearby streets were ordered to emergency shelters for the night. But while most residents will sleep in their own beds tonight, officials are urging caution. The evacuation order and alert will remain in place for at least the next week while geotechnical engineers further monitoring and assessment of the slide, the Regional District of the Central Kootenay said Wednesday night in a news release. Geotechnical experts flew over the slide Tuesday. They said about 20,000 cubic metres of trees, mud and rock slid down the mountainside, scouring a path 100 metres long and 75 metres wide. The slide stopped about 300 metres above Zwicky Road and the affected homes. Experts say water is still flowing down toward the homes and there are signs the avalanche is unstable. Residents that have been removed from the evacuation order area will remain on evacuation alert and should remain vigilant and be prepared to evacuate if necessary, the release said. Officials say the slide is part of an ancient, dormant landslide, affected by the wet spring and heavy snowpack of the previous winter. No one was injured and no property was damaged in the event. The rainy spring has caused problems across the region, with mudslides and slippages closing roads and damaging infrastructure in several locations around Kootenay lake. Photo: CTV Matthew de Grood A Calgary man who was found not criminally responsible after killing five people with a knife three years ago is being granted extra privileges. Matthew de Grood was suffering from a mental disorder when he attacked and killed Zackariah Rathwell, 21, Jordan Segura, 22, Josh Hunter, 23, Kaitlin Perras, 23, and Lawrence Hong, 27, at a house party in April 2014. The judge in the case ruled de Grood didn't appreciate his actions were wrong. The Alberta Review Board held a hearing earlier this month to determine whether de Grood, who is housed in a secure hospital, should be granted more freedom. Family members were notified by email Tuesday afternoon that the board will allow de Grood to go for supervised walks on hospital grounds. He will also be allowed trips for medical appointments and treatment. "The review board has granted privileges requested by the treatment team including access to unfenced hospital grounds and visits to Calgary for medical purposes," said Kaitlin's father, Gregg Perras, in an email to The Canadian Press. "The medical visits will be accompanied by staff and security but grounds walkabouts will not include security personnel. I don't see the lack of security on grounds walks as 100 per cent safe for the public." Perras said he was informed there will be a gradual reduction from two staff members to regular supervision, which generally entails two-to-three patients per non-security staff member. The board also said de Grood could be transferred to a larger facility at Alberta Hospital Edmonton at the discretion of his treatment team. The board made it clear that de Grood is a "significant threat to the safety of the public" and is not entitled to an absolute discharge. Photo: CTV A new study suggests those who battled the massive wildfire in Fort McMurray, Alta., continue to suffer both physically and mentally nearly a year after the blaze devastated the community. Preliminary results of a University of Alberta report say one in five firefighters who attended the wildfire reported respiratory problems. One in six has been diagnosed with depression or anxiety. The study analyzed health records of 355 firefighters between six weeks to four months after the fire, which broke out in May 2016. Participants reported coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath along with mental health challenges. The fire forced more than 80,000 people in the Fort McMurray area to flee, destroyed more than 2,400 homes and other buildings, and had an estimated financial impact of almost $8.6 billion. The report aims to offer an in-depth account of what firefighters endured during the months-long effort to quell the blaze and to develop strategies to minimize harm for first responders. Obviously its taxing. Mentally, physically, Parkland County deputy fire chief Amber Coleman told CTV News. Most of us still have that lingering cough, congestion. With the first phase of the study complete, researchers plan to focus their second phase on firefighters long-term health. Many people had access to the gear but by no means did everyone wear it, said Nicola Cherry, the epidemiologist who led the study. The second question is about scheduling. Again, if you are a Fort McMurray firefighter and its your home being burned down, youre not going to want to go and take rest breaks and be away from the fire. Firefighters are being asked to complete an online survey and share their medical records. The information, which is kept private, is then used to help researchers build a profile of who was affected, pinpoint areas of concern and offer solutions. The recommendations could cover a gamut of firefighting protocol, from use of proper equipment to reasonable shift changes. Is it better to go in for 10 days and then have 10 days off, or is it better to go for two days and then have two days to recover? Cherry said. Coleman described the fire as a war zone and said that when it came to mental health, some less-experienced firefighters were surprised by the toll. I think I was a little bit prepared, whereas maybe some of the newer members werent," she said. "We watched the members to make sure they have the outlet to talk about it, to ask questions, to seek help if they need it." The research may prove to be an important reflection for future fires, which have come to be expected in Alberta during the dry summer months. It will happen again, and so (we should) prepare for when it does happen again, Coleman said Photo: CTV Nanaimo RCMP is continuing with their investigation into a shooting which left one person dead. At approximately 3:20 a.m. on Wednesday April 19, officers responded to a report of shots fired at the Howard Johnson's Hotel, 1 Terminal Ave, Nanaimo. "When officers arrived they found one person deceased in the lobby of the hotel from apparent gun shots. Approximately one hour later a vehicle was stopped by North Cowichan Duncan RCMP officers and one male was taken into custody without incident," said Const. Gary O'Brien. "The Nanaimo RCMP Serious Crime Unit assisted by RCMP Forensics and Plain clothes Units are continuing with their investigation. At this time, this appears to be a targeted shooting and investigators do not believe there is any risk to the public." The BC Coroners Service has been advised and the investigation is continuing. Anyone with information on this shooting is urged to contact Nanaimo RCMP at 250-754-2345. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at www.nanaimocrimestoppers.com, text 274637, keyword Nanaimo or call 1-800-222-8477 One person is dead and another is under arrest following a shooting in Nanaimo. RCMP Const. Gary O'Brien said the shooting happened early Wednesday in the southern part of the Vancouver Island community. The Nanaimo RCMP is continuing with the investigation, and more details will be released when available, said O'Brien. Photo: Wikimedia Commons An Air Canada airliner dropped one of its landing gear wheels when taking off from Montreal on Sunday. Aviation website aeroinside.com reports the Airbus A-330-300 departed for London and crossed the Atlantic safely, landing at Heathrow Airport without incident. There were 294 passengers and crew on board. Ground crew there discovered the right forward outboard main wheel was missing. A search recovered the wheel from the end of the runway in Montreal. The airline confirmed the wheel was lost during takeoff, and the Transportation Safety Board is assessing the incident. The plane's return flight was cancelled, and the aircraft is still on the ground in London. Photo: The Canadian Press A Washington state businessman is praising WestJet Airlines' handling of an in-flight medical emergency. Joel VanderHoek posted an open letter on Facebook praising airline staff for coming to the aid of a passenger who lost consciousness on the flight from Calgary to Abbotsford, Saturday. He described their actions as organized, caring, respectful and attentive. In an Easter week of particularly unpleasant news about airline treatment of customers, I commend you for a culture of kindness and care. It was evident before the medical incident, but was made especially clear tonight. Thank you, he wrote. The post has received more than 84,000 reactions and 16,000 shares since Sunday. It was beautiful to see strangers come together as humanity to help one another." VanderHoek said a nurse on board helped the crew tend to the man, who flopped out of his seat into the aisle, along with another passenger who acted as a translator. The incident follows the forceful removal of a man from a United Airlines flight last week and Air Canada bumping a 10-year-old boy from an oversold flight to Costa Rica. with files from CTV Vancouver A real high flyer will be landing in Vernon on Canada Day. Coldstream's own Reagan Sieg will be performing at Canada's 150th birthday on July 1. Sieg is a former freestyle motorcross rider known for such daring moves a 360 backflip. He is also a world-class snowbike rider who has competed on the international stage including the X Games. Sieg is widely considered one of the pioneers of backcountry snow bike free riding. Last year, Sieg and fellow freestyler Morgan Kaliszuk wowed the crowds at Polson Park on Canada Day with their leaps, twists and flips. The faith-work movement has had great success in helping Christians connect daily work with spiritual calling, leading many to shift their approach to economic stewardship. For some, that will translate into a more basic shift in attitude, with continued service at an existing company or a long-standing industry. For others, however, it may manifest in sheer economic disruption. Indeed, from Appalachia to Minnesota, churches are increasing their focus not only on the glories of work in general, but of innovation, entrepreneurship, and capital investment, calling on congregants not just to serve and create where they already are, but to disrupt old systems, contribute new ideas, and start new enterprises. At Crossroads, an evangelical church in Cincinnati, Ohio, such efforts have grown to tremendous scale, resulting in an annual conference, an intensive start-up competition, and various off-shoot investment firms. In an extended profile at Bloomberg, Mya Frazier highlights the churchs unique history, as well as its plans for fueling new businesses. The church began in 1990 as a Bible study among some key business leaders at Procter & Gamble Co., the massive consumer goods conglomerate (which is headquartered in downtown Cincinnati). The group soon grew to 100 people, and by 1996, the church held its first official service. Today, with roughly 30,000 congregants and an annual operating budget of $33 million, the church has managed to retained its heartbeat for entrepreneurship and calling to business. A business endeavor is close to the heart of God and every bit as important as anything else on Gods green earth, says Brian Tome, Crossroads senior pastor. Gods placed a seed in you, he explains elsewhere, and he wants to see it come to fruitfulness.the right seed that will bring forth the right fruit at the right time in every business. That basic theological orientation is carried through a range of teachings, church activities, and institutional enterprises. Through its annual Unpolished conference, the church aims to offer a home base for faith and business and to engage, energize and inspire the entrepreneurial spirit. In addition to hosting speakers and training sessions, the conference includes a highly funded pitch contest, in which entrepreneurs compete for investor capital, as well as a spot in the churchs business accelerator program. The program consists of Ocean Capital, a for-profit angel-investment wing, and Ocean Accelerator Inc., a non-profit designed to equip entrepreneurs to increase Gods presence in the marketplace. Led by Scott Weiss, a retired CEO who now volunteers his time, Ocean offers entrepreneurs a training ground for ministry through innovation, weaving business mentorship with Bible-based discipleship. Our core approach is developing the capability and training them to raise money, says Weiss. If you are a Christian and you want to produce in your faith, Ocean teaches you how to raise money in a Christian way and that theres got to be an ethical standard to doing that. We teach them to pick your investors with care and to be very careful, because you are going to be married a very long time. Crossroads is not alone among churches in its prioritization of entrepreneurship, but they do stand apart in their more open advocacy of business in general. While many churches put a specific emphasis on so-called social entrepreneurship, Crossroads recognizes the social value of any business that meets a human need. Further, amid the churchs energetic emphasis on financial fundraising and investment, their underlying theology has not diluted into a false gospel of mere material prosperity. Instead, theyve kept a careful focus on business as creative service for the love of neighbor and the glory of God. For Todd Henry, one of the churchs longtime members and start-up advisors, the Christian call to innovation is not ultimately about wealth, or even the services or gadgets they develop along the way. At a more fundamental level, its about co-creation with the Father: We have this ability, Henry says, to co-create new things, to partner with God in transforming creation. He points out that pattern recognition is crucial for a successful startup, as is understanding what he terms the law of the harvest: Many of us, especially as entrepreneurs, we live in perpetual harvest mode, constantly trying to reap gain, and some of that is because our investors are telling us, We want to see a return, he says. The problem is when you are living in perpetual harvest mode, you arent taking the time to go back and plant seeds and cultivate seeds. He calls on the entrepreneurs to see God as the source of wisdom and Jesus as a brilliant thinker with a deep systematic understanding of life, skilled in the practice of pattern recognition. Rather than pursuing business as a path to material comfort, Crossroads promotes an approach that embraces constant risk-taking, active obedience, and vulnerability. Indeed, at a very basic level and in so many ways, the life of the entrepreneur reflects much of what the Christian life is all about: discerning and responding, serving and creating, building and exploring. I feel like now, even more so than before, Im having to submit to Gods will, because its getting bigger and bigger, says Lyden Foust, a 2015 Crossroads finalist, whose business idea is finally coming to fruition. You think when you raise a bunch of money, youd become more confident, but thats not the case. It gets harder. The difficult path of entrepreneurship serves as a strong buffer against the idols of convenience and comfortability that increasingly dominate modern life, and the underlying drivers ought to serve as a basic orientation and inspiration for all that we do, whether in our churches, steadier jobs, families, political witness, or in the deeper workings of our spiritual lives. As Charlie Self puts it in his book Flourishing Churches and Communities, Local churches are base camps for launching cultural entrepreneurs, who are connective tissue between faith and economics, charity and outreach, evangelization and improvement of the world. This is the opportunity we have. Those of us working in more stable businesses or industries can surely wield our own variety of risk-taking and creative activity, but in its own unique way, Crossroads offers a bold challenge on the types of frontiers the church has yet to pursue. As we survey the untapped avenues in our own churches and communities, wed do well to ask ourselves, as Frazier does, What might Jesus disrupt? Photo: Ocean Accelerator Photo: Contributed Are you missing a significant amount of cash? Police in North Vancouver are looking for someone who may be without their money after they seized a large amount of cash and a valuable rare coin collection from a homeless man who also was carrying bolt cutters. RCMP say the 21-year-old could not provide a lawful explanation of how and where he came to be in possession of the large amount of money. He was arrested for trespassing. Investigators are certain that the monies are stolen, perhaps from a break and enter of a residence or business, said Cpl. Richard De Jong. Residents, not only of the North Shore, are encouraged to check the places they may hide their valuables to see if they are still there. The rightful owner will be asked to provide details about the total amount of cash for police to hand it over. Open letter to Ministers Sajjan and Freeland: I think its weird that some weapons are considered more acceptable than others. Lethal remote controlled weapons, anti-personnel mines, air-to-surface rockets, Tomahawk missiles, the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb all these are fine. Chemical weapons as a general category are not fine because they poison or asphyxiate. Toxic depleted uranium weapons are fine because their primary use is not to poison or asphyxiate. Napalm, a chemical marriage of plastic polystyrene and hydrocarbon benzene, is fine and is still used by the U.S. military, although it can asphyxiate. Barrel bombs a kind of makeshift cluster bomb were fine for the last six years in Syria, but are not fine ever since property developer Donald Trump said so. Cluster bombs themselves are not fine, unless, like the U.S., youve refused to sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Nuclear weapons are something else again. Like the U.S., you can have them teed up ready for use, even though youve signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. As for a global treaty to ban nuclear weapons, the U.S. led the boycott last month of UN negotiations, speciously arguing that such weapons were required in a world that has them. Canada followed suit, excluding itself from the talks under the specious argument that the talks were not inclusive of all parties. Just days ago Minister Sajjan told reporters that using chemical weapons against human beings is something that has to be stopped. While credible evidence is mounting that Bashar al-Assad did not drop chemical weapons over Khan Sheikhoun, your government has not ruled out the possibility of militarily targeting the Syrian government, presumably under the pretext of stopping the use of chemical weapons. Almost certainly such targeting would be intended to help remove Assad from power, since he is a monster albeit in a world of many monsters, some of them our allies. I myself wouldnt know where to begin with regime change, but Minister Freeland does. She has said Assad must go. Quite what it is that makes you able to distinguish good lethal weapons from bad and one lethal monster that can stay in power from one that must be removed is a marvel. I call upon you to tell Canadians how you do this. Dianne Varga Photo: Ray Hammond 2016 file photo. At least 75 people in Vernon have no place to call home. Vernon's COOL team, made up of community outreach workers, conducted a semi-annual homeless count early Wednesday morning. The count found: 21 people sleeping outside 24 people staying in the Howard House shelter which was full 13 sleeping on the men's floor at Gateway shelter 11 sleeping on the women's floor at Gateway, leaving one empty spot 6 sleeping on extreme weather beds still open in the Gateway basement Normally, at the end of April, BC Housing funding for extreme weather beds comes to an end, said Kelly Fehr of the John Howard Society, adding that this spring things were different. The crown corporation has offered to continue funding on a week-to-week basis depending on the need. For now, it will allow shelter staff to house more people rather than turn them away. The COOL team has been doing outreach, letting people know there are spots available. Some people may not have known there was still space. Fehr had high praise for BC Housing for coordinating with local agencies rather than turning off the financial tap at the end of the month. BC Housing has done quite the job working with us over the last two years....Last year, there was funding for a whole extra month. They've been extremely responsive. As well as providing information to those camping outside, COOL team members also provided referrals to local agencies and dropped off care packages that included some food, garbage bags and sharps containers for needles. Fehr blamed a lack of affordable housing as one reason for the high number of homeless. People can't afford to rent. That's a cold, hard fact, Fehr said, commenting on those living on minimum wage salaries or income assistance. The government plays a role but the private market has a role as well. For those who cannot cope with housing due to severe addictions, Fehr expressed the desire for increased longterm treatment spaces. Currently only one 19-bed treatment facility is in Vernon. Bill's Place does not receive any funding and relies solely on donations from the community, Fehr said. Photo: The Canadian Press Jury selection has wrapped up in the high-profile murder trial of a Dalhousie University medical student. A jury of 14 seven women and seven men will hear the trial of William Sandeson, who is accused in the 2015 death of 22-year-old Taylor Samson. The final juror was chosen mid-afternoon today. Two alternates have also been selected: one man and one woman. More than 300 people showed up for the selection process at the Halifax Law Courts on Tuesday, and by this morning about 100 remained. The trial is expected to last 32 court days. Sandeson was charged with first-degree murder on Aug. 20, 2015, four days after Samson, a physics student at Dalhousie, was reported missing. Samson's body has yet to be found. Photo: Contributed The number of people stopped by the RCMP after illegally entering Canada rose in March. New figures released by the federal government today show the RCMP intercepted 887 people crossing between official border points, up from 658 in February. Of those stopped in March, 644 were picked up in Quebec, 170 in Manitoba and 71 in B.C., with lone crossers nabbed in Alberta and New Brunswick. The increase in illegal border crossings is sure to renew pressure on the federal Liberal government to address the issue, which is believed to be linked to U.S. President Donald Trump's administration. Most of the people crossing illegally into Canada have gone on to claim asylum, but it will be months before the outcomes of those cases is known. The figures also show a general increase in asylum claims in Canada, with 3,440 processed in March compared with 2,885 in February. Photo: Contributed The federal government's plan to legalize recreational use of marijuana has many potential players eyeing how they can find a role in the landscape, including pharmaceutical distributors who already ship drugs across the country. The Canadian Association for Pharmacy Distribution Management a supplier of medicine for pharmacies and hospitals says it has a ready-made, secure system for marijuana distribution far superior to mail-order pot. CEO David Johnston says pharmaceutical distributors offer a more appropriate vehicle for the recreational marijuana market, noting they have a complex infrastructure in place already to handle recalls. He says more discussions can unfold with federal and provincial officials now that the Liberal government has fired the starting gun by tabling its marijuana legislation last week. Hundreds are expected to flock to Parliament Hill on Thursday for "Weed Day" celebrations an annual, highly visible display of support for legal marijuana. Ottawa says it intends to have an established regime for legalized marijuana by July 2018 but provincial and territorial governments will play a critical role on issues including licensing, distribution and retail sales. Photo: BC Coroners Service March proved to be another deadly month for drug-related deaths in British Columbia, the third worst ever recorded in a single month in the province. The 120 drug deaths in March continues a trend that began in November and has shown little signs of slowing down. From November through the end of March, 620 people died from drugs in B.C. March's 120 deaths is a 52 per cent increase from the 79 drug-related deaths in March of 2016. "The introduction of illicit fentanyl to the illegal drug market has had devastating results, with literally scores of our community members dying in their homes across the province, said Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe. It has been just over a year since the provincial health officer's declaration of a provincial health emergency and, while harm reduction measures now in place are reversing thousands of overdoses, long-term measures to stem this tide must include meaningful education beginning at an early age and evidence-based treatment." In the Interior Health Authority, 22 people died from drugs in March, bringing the total from 2017 to 58. In Kelowna, 24 people have died from drugs this year. The BC Coroners Service also released figures on fentanyl-involved deaths in the province from the first two months of the year. Fentanyl was detected in 58 per cent of B.C.'s 119 drug-related deaths in January and 65 per cent of the province's 108 deaths in February. Twelve fentanyl-related deaths occurred in Kelowna in January and February of this year. Men accounted for 82.7 per cent of all drug-related deaths in the province in the first three months of 2017. Photo: Contributed Undercover officers investigating a man accused of killing his wife and burying her body in the basement of their home staged a car accident to get his attention. Allan Shyback, 40, is charged with second-degree murder and causing an indignity to a body in the death of Lisa Mitchell, 31, who was last seen in October 2012. An undercover operation police launched in 2013 ended with Shyback's alleged confession and arrest in Winnipeg a year later. A female officer in the sting told the court she and her partner damaged the front and rear driver's side doors on Shyback's parked car in Dec. 2013. She then waited until he returned to apologize for the accident and offered to pay for the damages. "Initially, he appeared upset and I apologized and explained to him it was a business vehicle it was not my own and due to the road conditions I had slid into his vehicle." She then arranged to have him speak to another officer who she identified as her boss at the marketing firm where she worked. It was the first of several meetings with the accused. Shyback agreed to get an estimate so the damage could be repaired without an insurance claim. She told him the $1,000 quote he eventually provided was fine with her boss. "I offered him Flames tickets as a thank you for being so good on Dec. 4 and being willing to go ahead and receive quotes outside of insurance." The officer said she met with Shyback on Dec. 19, 2013 to give him the $1,000 and the two shared a meal. She said he talked about his two children and plans for Christmas. The two kept in contact through texts and phone calls. She said she called him Jan. 23, 2014 to ask if he would sign an insurance waiver. "He asked if I would be interested in going on a date," she said. She made it clear the next day that a romantic relationship was not in the cards. "Although flattered, I indicated I was not interested. I had just got out of a bad relationship. I was caring for an ailing mother and was focused on work. He said he's also had a bad relationship and understood." The Crown told court in its opening statement that Shyback confessed to strangling Mitchell at the end of the undercover operation on Dec. 5, 2014, and admitting to burying her in his basement. He was arrested that day. Mitchell's partially mummified body was later found in a plastic container buried under cement in the basement. Photo: CTV Vancouver Toronto's baby capybara triplets are in need of names and zoo officials are asking the public for some help. The three were born last month to the High Park Zoo's capybara couple, who escaped last year for several weeks. The Toronto zoo has launched a contest to name the capybabies, May 3 is the deadline for submissions. The zoo encourages gender-neutral names as the sex of the pups is still unknown. -With files from CTV Vancouver The heavy spring run off is causing concerns for some Okanagan Landing Residents. Inge Friesen lives in the 8800 block of Okanagan Landing Road and for days there has been a small creek running down her driveway. A large puddle that covers half of one lane of the road, has formed at the base of her driveway and Friesen is worried about the safety of motorists, pedestrians and cyclists. There is also a continual flow of water from a manhole pouring directly into Okanagan Lake from a boat launch a couple hundred metres from her home. Because homes in the area are still on a septic system, Friesen wonders what is ending up in the lake as the saturated ground above the lake can not hold anymore water. There is a lot of water coming down the hill and it's flowing pretty much uncontrolled through people's properties, said Frisen adding there are estimates putting the water flow into the lake at 1 million litres a day. "We're concerned about water quality and the impact on the lake. East Side Road ditching does not work properly, said Friesen, adding the problem has been getting worse over the past three years. The volume of water has increased substantially and it has become much harder for us to deal with. She has been bringing the issue up with the city for several years, and was told the city will address the issue. The city has been aware there are issues, said Friesen, adding the non-draining ditch will be addressed and negotiations are underway with certain homeowners for drainage easements. Note: This is post #13 in a weekly series of explanatory posts on the officials and agencies included in the Presidents Cabinet. See the series introduction here. Cabinet position: Secretary of Energy Department: U.S. Department of Energy Current Secretary: Rick Perry Succession: The Energy Secretary is fifteenth in the presidential line of succession. Department Mission: The mission of the Energy Department is to ensure Americas security and prosperity by addressing its energy, environmental and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions. (Source) Department Budget: $32.5 billion for FY 2017 Number of employees: 93,000 Primary Duties of the Secretary: Leads an agency tasked with maintaining a safe, secure and effective nuclear deterrent and reducing the threat of nuclear proliferation, overseeing the United States energy supply, carrying out the environmental clean-up from the Cold War nuclear mission, and managing the 17 National Laboratories. (Source) Secretary Info Secretary: Rick Perry Previous occupation: Governor of Texas Education: B.S. in animal science from Texas A&M Previous government experience: Prior to being elected governor, Perry held several positions in Texas, including Lieutenant Governor, Agriculture Commissioner, and member of the Texas House of Representatives. Religious Affiliation: United Methodist Notable achievements: Author of On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For and Fed Up!: Our Fight to Save America from Washington. Served as a C-130 pilot in the United States Air Force (earned the rank of Captain). Awarded the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America. Was a GOP presidential candidate in 2012 and 2016. Notable quotes: On virtues: What I learned growing up on the farm was a way of life that was centered on hard work, and on faith and on thrift. Those values have stuck with me my whole life. On taxes: As Americans, we realize that there is no taxpayer money that wasnt first earned through the sweat and toil of one of our citizens. On the Energy Department: My past statements made over five years ago about abolishing the Department of Energy do not reflect my current thinking. In fact, after being briefed on so many of the vital functions of the Department of Energy, I regret recommending its elimination. Previous and forthcoming posts in this series: Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Education, Secretary of Labor, Secretary of Defense, Attorney General, Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Commerce, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Secretary of Transportation, Secretary of Energy, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Secretary of Homeland Security Photo: File photo New reports released by Elections BC show the Liberal party returned almost $175,000 in political contributions it received in the last six years. The Liberal party's amended financial report shows donations dating back to 2010 from 191 contributors for $174,313 were returned this year. The documents show the New Democratic Party returned $10,500 after reviewing its donations back to 2012. The Elections Act does not require political parties to explain why contributions were returned. The Liberal party said last month it had found 43 indirect political donations worth almost $93,000 that would be returned. Indirect political donations are payments made by an individual on behalf of an organization, which is prohibited. The RCMP is reviewing possible violations of the Elections Act related to indirect political donations and other unspecified contraventions involving political party financing in the province. Special prosecutor David Butcher was appointed last month to provide the Mounties with legal advice in their investigation. Photo: CTV Vancouver With legalized marijuana on the horizon, this year's massive 4/20 event in Vancouver is expected to be a party with little protest. Thursday's event will be the second in a row held at scenic Sunset Beach, and thousands of pot users, advocates, sellers, merchandise vendors and locals are expected in the area. This year's event will once again be unsanctioned after the park board voted 4-3 to reject organizers' permit application, which would have given officials more control and allowed them to charge a hefty fee to help cover costs. The board said sanctioning the event while marijuana remains illegal would send the wrong message. As always, police will be out in full force during the event to ensure public safety. B.C. Emergency Health Services said it will send 21 paramedics to be on site as well. Last year, 31 people were treated at the beach, all for minor ailments. More than 60 were treated in hospital for symptoms ranging from upset stomachs to anxiety, mostly from taking chewable marijuana products. It's unclear how much the 2016 event totalled in health costs, but it cost $99,400 in policing, $24,000 in park board services, $13,600 in street and sanitation work, $6,900 for firefighters' services, and $4,100 for traffic management, according to numbers from the City of Vancouver. -With files from CTV Vancouver Photo: Contributed UPDATE: 4:00 P.M. Officers have conducted an exhaustive search of the area and were not able to locate the suspicious woman. Anyone who sees suspicious activity in the area is asked to call 9-1-1. Police are looking for a woman seen waving a gun at traffic on a busy Vancouver street Wednesday afternoon. The VPD received reports of the woman waving what was thought to be a gun at passing cars on Oak Street, near Devonshire Crescent, about 1:30 p.m. Several officers are patrolling the area to locate the suspect. Schools and hospitals in the area have been notified, and are taking their own safety precautions. Castanet will provide more details as they become available. Send your news, photos and video to [email protected] If you have just started your journey in an online casino or are looking for a new site to play,... New Iranian-backed Group Targets Israel, Media M.I.A | Main | Politico Whitewashes Iranian Militias April 18, 2017 The Post Attacks Israel While Reporting Jerusalem Terror Attack A Washington Post report on an April 14, 2017 Palestinian terror attack omitted important context about the international communitys anti-Israel bias. In so doing, the paper used the occasion of a terrorist attack to gratuitously attack the Jewish state. In a dispatch (Woman fatally stabbed in Jerusalem amid Good Friday gatherings,? April 14, 2017), Post reporter Ruth Eglash detailed the fatal stabbing of a 21-year-old British exchange student, Hannah Bladon, by a Palestinian attacker named Jamil Tamimi. Bladon was murdered while she was riding the light rail in Jerusalem. The Post described the incident as the latest in a spate of stabbing, shooting and vehicular attacks by Palestinians over the last 18 months.? But then the paper alleged: Israel has been accused internationally of being too heavy-handed in response to the attacks, which have left nearly 50 Israelis and more then 200 Palestinians dead. Israel says most of the Palestinians killed were attempting to carry out attacks against Israeli civilians, soldiers or police officers.? The report does not specify what internationally? means. Presumably it means the United Nations, which includes countries such as Syria, Saudi Arabia, or Iran, oppressive regimes whose track record of singling out the Jewish state for opprobrium is well established. According to U.N. Watch, a non-profit organization that monitors that international body, in 2016, the U.N. General Assembly adopted 20 resolutions condemning Israel and only 6 against the rest of the world combined: Bashar al-Assads regime that uses poison gas on its own citizens only received three and North Korea and Iran, only one each. As CAMERA has noted, the U.N.s own Secretary General recently admitted that his organization has an anti-Israel agenda. Contrary to the claim pushed by The Post, Israel has been praised for exercising extraordinary judiciousness in its counter terror efforts. As the former chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, noted, among others, the Jewish state has gone out of its way to avoid unnecessary casualties when fighting terror.? Indeed, following the Israel-Hamas War in 2014, a multinational group of former top military professionals concluded that Israel not only met a reasonable standard of observance of the laws of armed conflict, but in many cases significantly exceeded that standard (Israel exceeded legal standards in Gaza conflict, group tells U.N.,? The Times of Israel, June 3, 2015).? The Post report on the Jerusalem attack also omitted important information regarding the Palestinian leaderships role in encouraging anti-Jewish violence. The paper claims that the so-called stabbing intifada that began in October 2015 contrasts with the first and second intifadas of the 1980s and 2000s, which were centrally organized and included mass unrest.? In fact, the violence began after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas exhorted on official PA TV on Sept. 16, 2015: We welcome every drop of blood that is spilled in Jerusalem.? The terror that followed, while differing from the previous intifadas in scope, nonetheless received support from Palestinian officials. As CAMERA has highlighted, The Post failed to report Abbas incitement at the time (The Washington Post: Palestinian Anti-Jewish Violence is an Israeli Sensational Charge,? Sept. 16, 2016). Now, it seems that amnesia has settled in. Posted by SD at April 18, 2017 07:06 PM The Washington Post tells BDS lies and mis truth. This Christian girl was stabbed several times by a Palestinian man who pleaded mental health after his paedophilia against his young daughter. They released him and he went to kill Jews. The 20 year old Christian girl was helped after the stabbings and an off duty soldier arrested the murderer. Murders by Palestinians get a reward of a pension for life and they earn more than working. Sick PLO culture to reward all murderers. The Washington post supports murder of Jews. This time it was a Christian! Posted by: Jeanette jonas at April 19, 2017 06:27 PM In the incident described in the story, the murder suspect was merely arrested. Apparently, arresting murder suspects is too heavy-handed. After witnessing a murder, perhaps the Washington Post thinks Israeli security forces should avoid any arrests, and merely hand the suspect a yellow warning card. Posted by: RobertBrighton at April 20, 2017 02:25 PM Guidelines for posting This is a moderated blog. We will not post comments that include racism, bigotry, threats, or factually inaccurate material. Post a comment The petition filed by The HSUS and HSI, along with other groups, seeks endangered status for all giraffes under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Photo by Masha Kalinina/HSI 935 shares What kind of person shoots a giraffe to obtain a trophy? How difficult is it to shoot the tallest animal in the world? Imagine seeing a creature this size crumple to the ground after a trophy hunters bullets tear through the beautiful, patterned fur markings and into the creatures flesh? As the largest importer of hunting trophies in the world, including giraffe trophies, and a major importer of giraffe bone for use in knife handles, the United States has played a major role in the decline of giraffe populations. Today The HSUS, Humane Society International, the Center for Biological Diversity, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, and the Natural Resources Defense Council filed a petition with the Department of the Interior seeking endangered status for all giraffes under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. The decline in giraffe numbers is unmistakable and severe, amounting to a loss of nearly 40 percent over the last 30 years. The wild giraffe population (found entirely on the African continent), is estimated to number at 97,560, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. There are four times more elephants than giraffes in the wild, and some giraffe subspecies, such as the reticulated giraffe, are in particular peril. Together, trophy hunters, bush meat poachers, bone traders, wildlife traffickers (for bones, hides, and tails), and consumers are compounding the problems created by habitat destruction. [Related: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, do your job and protect giraffes, or well see you in court] Our petition reveals that between 2006 and 2015, U.S. trophy hunters imported 3,744 giraffe hunting trophies an average of more than one giraffe trophy per day. It is sickening to contemplate that someone gets a thrill from shooting an animal thats about as difficult to spot and stalk as a small construction crane. During this same decade, the United States also imported 21,402 giraffe bone carvings, 4,789 bones, and 3,008 skin pieces. Some safari companies even offer giraffe bow-hunting, with one claiming that the sheer mass of the animal allows it to take a tremendous amount of hammering before it will go down. Can we truly subject these beautiful animals to such cruelty? Currently, no U.S. or international law protects giraffes against over-exploitation from trade in trophies, skins, or bones. An endangered listing would give giraffes the highest level of protection, resulting in a near-total restriction on U.S. imports and sales. As a global leader in conservation, the United States should act now to save these gentle giants from extinction and further senseless killings. If students constitute a clear and present danger either to themselves and/or to others, school officials have a duty to take whatever reasonable steps are necessary to address the threat (Mom says sons 45-day suspension from Success Academy is unjust , New York Daily News, Apr. 12). In todays litigious society, I say its better to err on the side of caution. I have reference now to events at Success Academy Prospect Heights in Brooklyn N.Y. A first-grader with a blood disorder called beta thalassemia was suspended for 45 days after he allegedly threw a stool at the assistant principal and dragged her down the hall by her hair. It was the culmination of dangerous behavior on his part since he started school in October. For example, the boy is said to have hit other staffers, hurled objects at other children, and hit and bit safety agents. Its unclear if the matter would have made the news had the suspension not been that long and if the boy had not been battling a disability. But I maintain that the safety of all students must always be job No. 1. In this particular case, the school had provided the boy with two hours of daily one-on-one instruction with a tutor. It also provided psychological support for months. What more could it have done? I ask this question because of another case involving special education students in the Novi Community School District in Michigan (When your child isnt safe at school , The Detroit News, Apr. 13). It also pertained to a student with a long record of abusive and disruptive behavior at school. The district is being sued for failing to take swift and decisive action. Some will say that parents with special-needs children who are disaffected with neighborhood public schools can use vouchers to enroll them in private schools. But when they do, they lose most of the rights they have under the federal Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (Special Ed School Vouchers May Come With Hidden Costs , The New York Times, Apr. 12). Despite efforts made by Success Academy Prospect Heights, the boys behavior did not improve. When his mother and her lawyer took the matter to an independent Education Department hearing officer, he concluded that the boys misbehavior was not severe enough to justify the schools punishment and ordered the school to take him back, saying: These allegations do not rise to the level of serious bodily injury. Rather, I agree with the parent that such conduct even if true, which I doubt, could not create a substantial risk. Id like to know what conduct would meet that standard. Does the school have to wait until a child loses an eye from a thrown object or a child suffers a concussion from being thrown to the floor? Do teachers have to be severely injured? If children were in any way physically hurt, the school would rightly be sued by other parents for not taking proper action in light of the boys history. Although I question the length of the suspension, I believe the school acted responsibly. Id like to know the reasons the hearing officer said he doubted the behavior as described by the school. Is there more to this story than initially appears? NY Won't Try Kids Under 18 as Adults New York passed sweeping legislation overhauling how its criminal justice system treats teenagers, the central tenet of which is a new rule prohibiting the state from trying juveniles under the age of 18 as adults. The Empire State was one of only two that tried 16-year-olds as adults, and continues a trend of states no longer subjecting teenagers to adult criminal prosecution and incarceration. While some stipulations of the new law are straightforward, some provisions and their implementation may get a little complicated. The Simple Part Under the new law, misdemeanor criminal cases against 16- and 17-year-olds will be heard in family court. And those teens will no longer be held in county jails with adults. After that, the legal reforms get a little murky. "All we had to simply do is say that we're going to take 16- and 17-year-olds and we're going to treat them just like 15-year-olds," New York State Senator Kevin S. Parker told the New York Times. "That's all we had to do, right? All we had to do. And we messed that up." The Not-So-Simple Parts So how did the state legislature "mess that up"? The first is the rollout date, or, to be exact, rollout dates. As the ABA Journal reported, the new regulations will take effect October 2018 for 16-year-olds, but won't be in place for 17-year-olds until October 2019. And then there's how the court system will deal with juveniles charged with non-violent felonies. Those cases will in criminal court, but will be diverted to a new section known as "youth part" and be tried in front of judges trained in family court law. The cases would then be automatically sent to family court after 30 days unless prosecutors demonstrate "extraordinary circumstances." But, as the New York Times notes, that termed has yet to be legally defined. And 16- and 17-year-olds charged with violent felonies could still be tried as adults if the case meets three criteria: The victim sustained significant physical injury; The accused used a weapon; or The accused engaged in criminal sexual conduct. While part of a larger movement of states away from trying young teens as adults, New York will have time to iron out the small details before the new regulations take effect. Related Resources: Affluenza Teen Loses Appeal A few years ago, Ethan Couch was made infamous as a result of the defense his lawyers pleaded in an effort to get him off on four counts of DWI manslaughter. Couch is the notorious "affluenza teen." This week he is again making headlines as the Texas Supreme Court denied his appeal. Unlike influenza, affluenza is a rather different ailment, if it can even be considered such at all. Couch's medical expert testified that the teen was unable to appreciate the consequences of his actions (of killing four people while driving drunk) due to his affluent upbringing. As if claiming an affluent upbringing as a defense wasn't shocking enough, until he fled the country in 2015, he wasn't even sentenced to a single day behind bars. Couch on the Lamb Initially, Couch was given a slap on the wrist sentence, despite being convicted of killing four people, and injuring two others, as a result of a drunk driving accident he caused. While he could have been sentenced to decades behind bars, he was given a sentence of 10 years on probation. However, as most people expected, Couch violated the terms of his probation. But, rather than take the consequences like a responsible adult, Couch fled the country to Mexico, with his mother. Good judgment clearly doesn't run in the family. Unfortunately for the young fugitive Couch and mama Couch, Mexico has an extradition agreement with the US, and was likely all too pleased to rid their country of the scourge of Affluenza, and sent the pair back in the custody of authorities. Now in addition to the penalties for the little Couch, mama Couch is likely facing criminal penalties too. Going Once, Going Twice, Going to Jail Upon his return, Couch was sentenced to two years behind bars. Not surprising in the least bit, Couch's lawyers challenged the sentence. However, the appeals court shot down the appeal, essentially upholding the lower court's sentence. However, the sentence was not related to the probation violation, but rather was part of the standard procedure for transitioning a juvenile probationer to adult probation. Under Texas law, this transition from juvenile to adult probation requires the probationer serve at least 120 days behind bars. The judge sentenced Couch to serve 180 days per each of the four manslaughter counts he was convicted on. While thus far it sounds like Couch is finally facing some sort of real punishment, his attorneys still have a short window to move the court for reconsideration. Related Resources: Illustration of the two-photon blockade. Top: Irradiated by a laser pulse a single atom in free space can absorb and emit only one photon at a time, without constraints on the direction of the photons. Middle: A system consisting of a cavity can absorb and emit an unlimited number of photons. Below: In case of the strongly coupled atom-cavity system the frequency of the laser light can be chosen such that the system can store and emit two photons at maximum. The probability to find a certain number of photons inside a laser pulse usually corresponds to a classical distribution of independent events, the so-called Poisson-distribution. There are, however, light sources with non-classical photon number distributions that can only be described by the laws of quantum mechanics. A well-known example is the single-photon source that may find application in quantum cryptography for secret key distribution or in quantum networks for connecting quantum memories and processors. However, for many applications in nonlinear quantum optics light pulses with a certain fixed number of photons, e.g. two, three or four, are highly desirable. A team of scientists from the Quantum Dynamics Division of Professor Gerhard Rempe at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (Garching near Munich) has now succeeded to make the first steps in this direction. Using a strongly coupled atom-cavity system, they were the first to observe the so-called two-photon blockade: the system emits at most two photons at the same time since its storage capacity is limited to that number. A naive approach for generating a stream of single photons would be to sufficiently attenuate the intensity of a laser beam. But in this case the number of photons still varies from pulse to pulse, and only when averaging over many pulses a mean photon number of one is observed. Applications instead require a fixed number of exactly one photon per pulse. The fluctuations of the photon number per pulse can be strongly reduced by using a single atom as a single-photon source. When the atom is illuminated by a laser beam, it can absorb only one photon at a time, thereby making a transition from the ground state to an excited state. A second photon can only be absorbed after the atom has fallen back to the ground state by emitting a photon. Therefore, no more than one photon is detected in the emitted light field at the same time, an effect that is known as single-photon blockade. In order to extend this principle to a two-photon blockade one has to go beyond a single atom and look for a system that can store more than one photon, but not more than two. To this end, the MPQ physicists combine the single atom with a cavity that provides additional storage capacities. A cavity can absorb an unlimited number of photons and exhibits a correspondingly large number of energy states that lie similar to a ladder in exactly the same distance from each other. Inserting a single atom into the cavity introduces a nonlinear element. This causes the energy levels to split by a different amount for each of the ladder steps. Hence, laser light can excite the system only up to the level to which it is tuned to. The number of photons that can be stored is thus limited to a certain number, and therefore, not more photons than that can be emitted. In the experiment, the physicists hold a single rubidium atom in an optical trap inside a cavity made of two high-finesse mirrors. The frequency of the incoming laser beam is tuned to an energy level requiring the absorption of two photons for its excitation. During the five seconds of atom storage time around 5000 measurement cycles are carried out, during which the system is irradiated by a probe laser and emission from the cavity is recorded via single-photon detectors. Interestingly, the fluctuations in the number of emitted photons does strongly depend on whether we excite the cavity or the atom, points out the project leader Dr. Tatjana Wilk. The effect that the absorption of two photons suppresses further absorption leading to emission of two or less photons is only achieved in case of atomic excitation. This quantum effect does not appear when we excite the cavity. In this case, we observe an enhanced signal of three and more photons per light pulse. Christoph Hamsen, doctoral candidate at the experiment, explains the underlying processes: When the atom is excited we are dealing with the interplay between two conflicting mechanisms. On the one hand, the atom can absorb only one photon at a time. On the other hand, the strongly coupled atom-cavity system is resonant with a two-photon transition. This interplay leads to a sequence of light pluses with a non-classical photon distribution. And Nicolas Tolazzi, another doctoral candidate, adds: We were able to observe this behaviour in correlations between detected photons where the coincidence of three photons was significantly suppressed compared to the expectation for the classical case. Prof. Gerhard Rempe gives an outlook on possible extensions of the experiment: At present, our system emits light pulses with two photons at maximum, but also pulses with fewer, one or even zero, photons. It acts like a kind of low pass. There are, however, a number of applications for quantum communicating and quantum information processing where exactly two, three or four photons are required. Our ultimate goal is the generation of pure states where each light pulse contains exactly the same desired number of photons. The two-photon blockade demonstrated in our experiment is the first step in this direction." Can Your Business Be Sued Over an Employee's Discriminatory Comment to a Customer? An Unruh Civil Rights Act lawsuit filed in Orange County, California, against an Albertson's grocery store over a clerk's statement to a customer should serve as a lesson to businesses small and large. That lesson is to train employees how to treat customers with respect and dignity. Implicit racial bias is a real problem that only education and training can help to prevent. The grocery store is being sued because a clerk asked a customer a rather loaded question about whether the customer planned to pay with food stamps. At first blush, one might not think this statement is discriminatory or offensive. However, the question assumes a fact about a customer based upon a perceived notion of what a person on food stamps looks like. The Unruh Civil Rights Act Under California law, businesses are not allowed to discriminate against employees, nor against customers. In addition to the federal and state employment discrimination laws, California also has the Unruh Civil Rights Act, which protects individuals/customers from discrimination by businesses. Famously, under the Unruh Civil Rights Act, "lady's nights" at bars are illegal due to the obvious gender discrimination. Under the Unruh Act, an aggrieved individual can file a lawsuit against a business that has discriminated against them, and if proven, will receive at a minimum, $4,000 per discriminatory incident. Are Businesses Liable for Employee Statements? Generally, a business will not be liable if an employee commits any intentional act that causes harm to a customer if the act falls outside the employee's employment duties. However, if the statement is made as part of an employee's duties, or the employee intends the act to further the business's purpose, then a business may be found liable under a theory of respondeat superior or employee agency. While making a discriminatory statement may seem to always fall outside the scope of an employee's duties, if an employer knows about an employee's history of making such statements, liability could be imputed to the employer. Additionally, as in the Albertson's case above, asking about whether the customer is using food stamps can be considered inextricably tied to the employee's job duties. Liability for Discrimination in States Without Customer Anti-Discrimination Laws In states that do not have the same protections provided by the Unruh Civil Rights Act to customers of businesses, an employee's discriminatory statement can still be the basis of a lawsuit. Generally, discriminatory statements are shocking, offensive, and have the potential to cause a person significant emotional distress. As such, general tort law may be able to provide a remedy for victims of discriminatory statements. Related Resources: Drivin, a portfolio company of venture capital firm Lightbank, previously worked out of the firm's shared space at 600 W. Chicago. The company moved to another floor in the building when it built out its own office in June. (Keri Wiginton / Blue Sky) Drivin, the Chicago-based startup that helps used-car dealers sell, source, acquire and deliver inventory, has been acquired for $43 million. KAR Auction Services, based in Carmel, Ind., announced the deal Wednesday. Groupon founders Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell launched Drivin in 2015. Advertisement "We've been able to move them from partner to now part of our team," said Don Gottwald, chief operating officer of KAR. "They bring a host of capabilities, not just analytical tools and not just data science, but also technology interfaces that make it easily consumable." The announcement said the company would keep its Chicago location and key executives, including CEO Kayne Grau and COO Justin Mahlik. Advertisement Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 9 Drivin, a portfolio company of venture capital firm Lightbank, previously worked out of the firm's shared space at 600 W. Chicago. The company moved to another floor in the building when it built out its own office in June. (Keri Wiginton / Blue Sky) From its start, Drivin partnered with KAR on the wholesale side of the industry and Cars.com on the retail side. With those partnerships, Drivin has served dealers beyond data, said Grau, who becomes president of Drivin under KAR. He earlier was chief technology officer for Cars.com, while Mahlik had a relationship with KAR. The success of their partnership is based on consolidating information and services that dealers otherwise would have to pull from a variety of sources, Grau said. "The solution existed in the traditional wholesaler through different entities, but nobody put it in as one single solution," he said. He called the used-car manager "the busiest person in a dealership" because they're constantly looking at acquisition and disposal of cars for their lots. "We created the data science to give (them) the data that these are cars that would be great for your lot, and these are cars that would be hard to dispose," he said. "We put it together in a simple-to-understand user interface with mobile and desktop to be able to make real-time decisions." KAR works with tens of thousands of dealers, customers and buyers across the U.S., said Gottwald. "Last year we helped sell more than 5 million vehicles in the marketplace," he said. In 2016, there were 15 million used vehicles sold in the U.S., according to the National Automobile Dealers Association. There were more than 17 million new vehicles sold in the same period. KAR will absorb Drivin's approximately 50 employees, bringing the total team to about 600 in the Chicago area. KAR's salvage auction unit, Insurance Auto Auctions, is based in Westchester, and its newly opened ADESA Chicago auction is based in Hoffman Estates. Advertisement KAR has 17,400 employees across the U.S., Mexico and the U.K., including 1,400 at its Indianapolis-area headquarters, Gottwald said. Experts from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have built a robot that can wheel itself around farms to monitor plants an invention that could let farmers collect data on crops cheaper and easier than ever before. The robot called TERRA-MEPP weighs about 65 pounds and drives itself around on two caterpillar tracks like the kind found on tanks. Able to transmit real-time data about growth and development using cameras, lasers and other sensors, the robot will help identify individual plants with desirable characteristics linked to bigger yields, researchers believe. Advertisement "It takes a lot of work, going into fields and cataloging plants," said Girish Chowdhary, an assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering who specializes in autonomous decision-making in robots. "This robot is designed to automate that, and record data that will later enable biologists and data analysts to use machine-learning tools to find important patterns." Girish Chowdhary, an assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering, is pictured withTERRA-MEPP. (Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology photo ) Chowdhary and more than a dozen other researchers are testing out the farm robot by collecting data on sorghum, a biofuel crop that can grow up to 14 feet tall. Advertisement Cameras attached to the robot capture information on plant height, stem diameter and coloring important details that can determine whether a plant is diseased or stressed. Infrared and other sensors reveal how efficient a plant is at absorbing sunlight or water. So far, TERRA-MEPP has been able to navigate through sorghum fields with relative ease, Chowdhary said. A student works with TERRA-MEPP. (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign / YouTube) "Making a robot that can accurately operate in unknown, uncertain and harsh environments for long periods of time without trampling plants is very exciting," he said. "It's allowed us to take all the theory and the papers we write and put them into practice." The farm robot's success with sorghum points to possible use in corn, soybeans and more common crops in the future, according to Stephen Long, director of the TERRA-MEPP program. Long said his team plans to commercialize the robot within "a few years" after first bringing down its roughly $10,000 manufacturing cost. By 3-D printing parts and producing in bulk, he said, a basic version of the mobile robot could eventually sell for between $2,000 and $4,000. That's a much lower price compared to the expensive, several-ton gantry systems that use giant steel rails, pulleys and cranes to perform similar tasks. Gantry systems, which are too big to move, can cost more than $1 million to install. "If we can collect information on sorghum, we can do it with almost any crop," said Long, a plant scientist by trade. "This means corn will be very easy to do, which would obviously be the biggest market in the United States for this robot." Robotic milking devices and Fitbit-like sensors that track health stats for cows are often used in the dairy industry. And fruit and vegetable growers use robots to harvest crops and minimize labor costs. Advertisement But Mark Young, chief technology officer of the Climate Corporation, a leading agriculture tech company that has sponsored a farm robotics competition in each of the last two years, said use of robots to monitor the heartiness of row crops has been uncommon. Midwestern farms can stretch across thousands of acres, and such expansive areas are difficult to cover, he said. "Using robots and robot-mounted sensors in this space is really new," Young said. "But robots are what's really going to give us sensing at scale." The TERRA-MEPP program is funded by a $3.1 million federal award from the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA-E). Despite his optimism for the program, Long said continued funding is uncertain because of proposed budget cuts from the Trump administration. "The team is worried because in the president's budget, ARPA-E is actually zeroed out," he said. "Why that would be targeted is a bit of a mystery for those of us at the university." Cornell University and Signetron Inc., a privately held company based in Berkeley, Calif., are also working with U. of I. on the project. Chicagoans interested in learning more about the farm robot can check out TERRA-MEPP in person during a special exhibition at the Field Museum May 19 and 20. Advertisement Robert Holly is a freelance writer. Twitter @RobertWadeHolly Common Medical Errors by Nurses -- When Can You Sue? In some ways, quality nursing care can be just as important to your health as the medical treatment you receive from a doctor. By the same token, however, injuries sustained from substandard nursing care can be just as serious as those from physician mistakes. Here are some of the most common medical errors committed by nurses and their legal liability if it happens to you. While most medical malpractice lawsuits will target doctors and hospitals (i.e., those with deep pockets), nurses might be just as, if not more, responsible for injuries resulting from poor medical care. Beyond the medical care they provide patients, nurses are often also responsible for maintaining clean, healthy, and safe environments in which patients can receive quality care. And if they fail to do so, they (or the institution for which they work) may be liable. Many elderly people reside in nursing homes in order to receive continuous care they could otherwise not get if they were still at home. That's why injuries resulting from a lack of attention, like bed sores, are so tragic. In some cases, a nurse's injury liability may not hinge on an accident or a mistake, but an illegal action taken by the nurse. So-called "intentional torts" may sever liability for the nurse's employer, while leaving the bad actor on the hook, both criminally and civilly. Nurses can get their employers in hot water, however, for not treating patients, particularly transgender patients, with due care and respect. This is especially true for institutions that hold themselves out as specialists in gender management. If you've been injured by a nurse's negligence or intentional act, contact an experienced personal injury attorney near you. Related Resources: Chance the Rapper arrives for meeting with Gov. Bruce Rauner at Thompson Center in Chicago on Friday, March 3, 2017. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune) Chance the Rapper is suing bootleggers for allegedly selling unauthorized merchandise outside his shows. The Chicago rapper's company, Chance the Rapper LLC, owns the "Chance the Rapper" trademark, according to the complaint. But bootleggers purportedly showed up outside venues where Chance was performing during his 2016 tour with backpacks and duffel bags full of for-sale T-shirts, hats, sweatshirts and other swag emblazoned with allegedly trademarked images or logos, the complaint says. Advertisement The bootleggers will likely keep trying to sell their wares outside upcoming shows, according to the complaint, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court of Northern Illinois. That could create a quality control issue for Chance's brand. The 24-year-old rapper kicks off a monthslong tour in San Diego on Monday and is one of the headliners at this year's Lollapalooza. Advertisement Though the items allegedly being sold are "generally of inferior quality" in comparison to the merchandise trademarked to Chance and his companies, their appearance is similar and could cause confusion among buyers, the complaint alleges. "The sale of such merchandise is likely to injure (Chance's and the plaintiffs') reputation," the complaint states. A similar suit was filed in September in connection with Chance's 2016 tour. Chance, a protege of Kanye West, is not new to the rap scene. Born Chancelor Bennett and raised on the South Side, the rapper has drawn national attention for years, but he topped the charts the past year. He won his first three Grammy Awards in February for best new artist, rap album and rap performance. He's also known for his humanitarian work in Chicago, recently going to bat with Gov. Bruce Rauner over efforts to fix the city schools, then writing a $1 million check to Chicago Public Schools in what he dubbed a "call to action." The bootleggers in the suit are not named, as their real names are still unknown. CTR Touring, which makes, distributes and sells Chance's authorized merchandise, was named as a plaintiff, along with Chance the Rapper LLC. Attorneys representing the plaintiffs did not respond to requests for comment. The complaint asks the court to authorize state and local police, off-duty officers or anyone acting under the plaintiffs' supervision to seize and impound any of the rip-off merchandise that bootleggers attempt to sell near venues within a 24-hour period of each performance. Advertisement amarotti@chicagotribune.com Twitter @AllyMarotti Attorney Dina Rollman, left, talks with student giving a presentation April 13, 2017, in a Cannabis Law & Policy class at the Illinois Institute of Technology's Chicago-Kent College of Law in Chicago's West Loop. Rollman co-teaches the class with attorney Bryna Dahlin, her business partner. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune) Monica Gutierrez wants to be an intellectual property lawyer. But here she is, sitting in a law class on marijuana. The gray area between state and federal law intrigues Gutierrez she needs to learn how to help cannabis businesses get their names federally registered, she said and she's not alone. Advertisement Law firms throughout Chicago, from national firms to solo operations, are carving out cannabis practices. Full of lawyers with expertise in real estate, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property, and other specialties, firms are increasingly offering to help companies navigate the highly regulated world of medical marijuana, in Illinois and elsewhere. But that world remains limited, compared with other industries, and plagued by uncertainty. Plus, the stigma surrounding the federally illegal drug still remains, barring some firms from advertising their cannabis practices. Advertisement And when it comes to dealing with a substance the federal government puts in the same class as heroin and LSD, there are plenty of issues on which to counsel. "Every area of law you can think of, when it intersects with cannabis, it gets complicated," said Dina Rollman, who teaches the cannabis law class at Illinois Institute of Technology's Chicago-Kent College of Law with her business partner, Bryna Dahlin. The two women formed their firm Rollman & Dahlin in January 2016 to focus on the cannabis industry, and they have seen their workload consistently expand over the first year, Rollman said. The firm counsels companies that grow and sell marijuana as well as businesses that intersect with the industry, from advertising agencies to vaporizer manufacturers. Chicago law firms are carving out cannabis practices to cater to the growing industry, and law students are learning how the drug could affect their future work. (Ally Marotti / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune) Their practice's growth has mirrored that of the cannabis industry, starting with Illinois and branching out to other states, Dahlin said. Cannabis practices at other firms have expanded with the industry too. Law firm Thompson Coburn helped multiple companies through Illinois' initial application process for medical marijuana dispensary and cultivation licenses in 2014 and is helping those companies and others navigate the varying laws as they expand to other states. The St. Louis-based firm now has an established cannabis practice to which attorneys across four of its offices with varying areas of expertise contribute. Diane Romza-Kutz, a partner in the firm's Chicago office, has expertise in food safety labeling that she applies to the cannabis industry, for example. Colleagues work with high-growth companies or specialize in land use, she said. Cannabis law covers a number of legal disciplines, so firms are carving out whole practices to cater to the growing industry, said Bob Morgan, president of the Illinois Cannabis Bar Association and head of the cannabis practice at Chicago-based Much Shelist. Students at the Illinois Institute of Technology's Chicago-Kent College of Law attend a Cannabis Law & Policy class on April 13, 2017, at school in Chicago's West Loop. The highly regulated world of medical marijuana is attracting attention from lawyers. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune) "A cannabis business needs not just a cannabis-focused lawyer but also one that really understands litigation and corporate law and intellectual property law and all these different types of practices," said Morgan, who was the first coordinator of Illinois' medical marijuana pilot program. "A single attorney would not normally have that kind of competency." Advertisement William Bogot, a partner at Philadelphia-based Fox Rothschild who heads the firm's marijuana practice from its Chicago office, came to cannabis law through gambling, so to speak. He's a regulatory attorney who worked for the gambling industry. "The gambling space is a very highly regulated world," Bogot said. "When the new medical cannabis law came to Illinois, it wasn't all so different. ... It was kind of like a natural fit for us." Attorney Bryna Dahlin gives a lecture April 13, 2017, in a Cannabis Law & Policy class at the Illinois Institute of Technology's Chicago-Kent College of Law in Chicago's West Loop. Dahlin co-teaches the class with attorney Dina Rollman, her business partner in a law firm that focuses on the legal marijuana industry. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune) Before its cannabis practice was officially carved out, some attorneys at Fox's 21 other offices around the country already were working in the space, Bogot said. The Chicago office was doing cannabis licensing and regulatory work, a partner in Denver was doing cannabis tax audits, and an attorney in California was doing real estate work for cannabis companies, for example. It was time to formalize, he said. Now, 48 of the firm's almost 800 lawyers are part of the cannabis practice group. Fox's offices in states coming online with their medical marijuana programs are providing expansion opportunities, Bogot said. State lawmakers approved Illinois' pilot medical marijuana program in 2013, and dispensaries started opening two years later. Since then, licensed dispensaries have generated more than $53.8 million in retail sales, according to the state. The Illinois Department of Public Health keeps a watchful eye on the program, which is still in its pilot phase. Cannabis companies must abide by laws dictating everything from where facilities can be located to how they dispose of plant waste. Advertisement While some pioneering states, such as Colorado, grant medical marijuana cards to patients based on broad definitions of symptoms and conditions, Illinois has a limited number of conditions that cannabis can be used to treat. As of April 5, there were 18,300 qualifying patients in the state. Attorney Bryna Dahlin, center right, listens to a student presentation April 13, 2017, during a Cannabis Law & Policy class at the Illinois Institute of Technology's Chicago-Kent College of Law in Chicago's West Loop. Dahlin and a partner co-founded a law firm in January 2016 to specializes in marijuana industry issues. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune) That's still small enough that few attorneys in the state practice solely in the industry, Morgan said. But attorneys in Illinois are getting their feet wet. The Illinois Cannabis Bar Association, founded in fall 2015, has 60 members, all of whom find cannabis law woven into their practices in one way or another. Illinois lawmakers introduced legislation last month proposing to legalize recreational marijuana, but they said it probably won't come up for a vote until next year. The first hearing is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon in Chicago. The stigma surrounding marijuana remains for some law firms. They practice in the field but don't advertise it because of concerns about what other clients might think, Morgan said. It also remains unclear how the industry will grow, and how the Trump administration will treat the drug. For most attorneys in the space, the excitement surrounding working in a new industry wins out. Gutierrez, set to graduate from law school next month, shares that sentiment. Advertisement "Nobody really knows what they're doing in this area, so there's a lot to learn, and there's a lot of firsts," she said. "It's pretty exciting." amarotti@chicagotribune.com Twitter @AllyMarotti Gilbert Caro stands in a park near Stateville Correctional Center, seen in background, where he works as a corrections officer, April 12, 2017, in Crest Hill, Ill. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune) It may be too late for shuttered Corinthian Colleges, ITT Technical Institute or even Trump University, but Wall Street is betting the potential rollback of Obama-era initiatives to hold for-profit colleges accountable may lead to a resurgence of the beleaguered industry. Rebounding from what some analysts saw as an existential threat during the Obama administration, for-profit college stocks are up sharply since Donald Trump's November election amid renewed investor optimism and growing concern from education watchdogs. Advertisement "The perception of investors has been that the prior administration was really out to get the sector," said Trace Urdan, a research analyst at Credit Suisse. "Trump helps make these companies more investable because there is less concern that the government is trying to drive them out of business." Less than 100 days into Trump's presidency, the Department of Education under Secretary Betsy DeVos has delayed implementation of gainful employment rules, withdrawn key federal student loan servicing reforms, and signaled a less onerous regulatory environment for the essentially taxpayer-financed career education sector. Advertisement While good news for investors, the policy shift may mean "buyer beware" for students such as Gilbert Caro, of Chicago, who amassed nearly $100,000 in debt while working toward a master's in business administration at DeVry University, only to end up working as a prison guard near Joliet. Caro is among the tens of thousands of for-profit college graduates alleging they were misled and seeking relief from their federal student loans. "The initial signs are troubling," said Pauline Abernathy, executive vice president of the Institute for College Access and Success, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization focused on alleviating student debt. The for-profit college industry, which saw enrollment peak during the depths of the Great Recession, became the focus of an Obama administration crackdown in 2011, taking on everything from inflated job placement claims to predatory financial practices. Regulators investigated a number of for-profit schools, alleging students were lured by false promises of success and ended up ill-prepared for their chosen careers and drowning in debt. Major players such as Corinthian and ITT Tech went out of business over the past two years, while Downers Grove-based DeVry in December agreed to pay $100 million to settle a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit alleging it misled students. If mortgage debt was the hallmark economic problem of the 2000s, student loan debt will be the crisis for the next 15 years. Andrew Stoltmann, attorney Meanwhile, Schaumburg-based Career Education, which reached a $10 million settlement with New York authorities in 2013 over charges of inflated job placement rates, is winding down its money-losing Le Cordon Bleu culinary schools including one in Chicago to focus on its for-profit universities, Colorado Technical and American InterContinental. Since the Nov. 8 election, DeVry's stock price has risen 52 percent, while other for-profit colleges such as Strayer University and Grand Canyon University have gained 37 percent and 55 percent, respectively, as of Friday's closing bell. Career Education's stock is up 34 percent. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index is up 10 percent over the same period. Fueling the gains is a delay in implementing gainful employment rules, a signature reform under former President Barack Obama designed to hold for-profit college programs accountable for successful career placement. Finalized in 2014, the rules set a minimum debt-to-earnings rate for graduates. A program that fails in two of three consecutive years would be ineligible to participate in crucial federal student aid programs. Advertisement "There's no reason taxpayers should continue funding programs with those types of outcomes," Abernathy said. "These are programs that are often funded 90 percent by federal taxpayers." The first annual results, released in January, showed 800 programs failed the gainful employment standards, with graduates having annual loan payments greater than 30 percent of discretionary income and 12 percent of total earnings. Of the failing programs, 98 percent were offered by for-profit institutions, according to the Education Department. The department last month pushed back the deadline for institutions with failing programs to appeal their debt-to-earning rates and disclose their results until July. "The students deserve to know that the program has failed and that if it fails again the program will lose eligibility for federal funding," Abernathy said. DeVry had three failing programs out of its 29 degree offerings, according to the inaugural report. The three associate degree programs that received failing rates were health care information technology, web graphic design and accounting. The school has "paused enrollments" for the three programs until next year's results are released, DeVry spokeswoman Donna Shaults wrote in an email. Advertisement "These programs remain eligible (for federal financial aid) at least until next year's results are published, at which time we can determine if they've failed two consecutive years," Shaults said. New borrower defense rules, another Obama initiative set to take effect before July 1, may also be in jeopardy. Borrower defense to repayment rules have been in place since 1995, but they were updated after former students of Corinthian Colleges flooded the Department of Education with claims following the school's 2015 closing amid fraud charges. Finalized in October, the rules provide for the automatic discharge of loans from schools that closed after Nov. 1, 2013, ban schools from inducing students to sign pre-dispute arbitration agreements, and provide blanket relief to students in instances of widespread misrepresentations by schools. As of Jan. 19 the last day of the Obama administration there were more than 68,000 borrower defense to repayment applications still pending, including 3,282 from Illinois students, Abernathy said. "Some may have been Corinthian students, but many were for other schools," she said. Advertisement Carmel, Ind.-based ITT Technical Institute ceased operations in September at its more than 130 campuses nationwide, including four in Illinois, after the Education Department cut off access to federal financial aid for new students over accreditation criteria. DeVry agreed to pay $100 million to settle the FTC lawsuit, which alleged the for-profit college misled tens of thousands of students about their post-graduation job prospects and earning potential. The agreement required DeVry to pay $49.4 million to students harmed by the deceptive advertising and also included $30.4 million to forgive all unpaid private student loans issued to undergraduates between September 2008 and September 2015. Getting federal student loans discharged may be more challenging. Lured by DeVry ads promising career advancement, Caro, 36, a U.S. Army veteran, earned a bachelor's in technical management and an MBA, with a focus on security management, from DeVry's Keller Graduate School of Management. Caro, who studied online and at DeVry campuses, completed his studies in 2013 with executive aspirations but is working as a corrections officer at Stateville Correctional Center near Joliet. Saddled with $98,000 in debt, most of which is from federal student loans, he is trying to recoup that money through arbitration. Advertisement "I'd apply at corporate McDonald's and multiple corporate places, and what they pretty much told me is I didn't have the experience," Caro said. His Chicago attorney, Andrew Stoltmann, said he is filing 92 separate claims against DeVry on behalf of Caro and other clients. DeVry previously required students with disputes to take their beefs to the American Arbitration Association rather than going to court. "If mortgage debt was the hallmark economic problem of the 2000s, student loan debt will be the crisis for the next 15 years," Stoltmann said. "So many of these students will go to their graves with this debt, and that's a true injustice." Few analysts expect the Obama-era initiatives to be rolled back completely, with negative publicity about for-profit colleges in recent years shifting public sentiment, forcing even the schools to shift with it. DeVry "supports efforts to protect students," Shaults said, citing several voluntary initiatives announced last fall, including lowering the limit on federal funding from 90 percent to 85 percent of revenue and no longer requiring mandatory arbitration. While easing regulations may boost the for-profit college sector, it may not be enough to stave off new competition from traditional nonprofit colleges, which have stepped in to fill the void in recent years with expanded online programs, reaching students far beyond their leafy quads. Advertisement Major players include Southern New Hampshire University, Liberty University and Arizona State University, all of which have both actual college campuses and thriving online programs. "People are now saying, 'Why do I want a degree from University of Phoenix if I can get a degree from Arizona State University?'" said Urdan, the Credit Suisse analyst. "Because the ASU brand is better than the University of Phoenix brand." This story has been updated to clarify DeVry University's policy on mandatory arbitration. rchannick@chicagotribune.com byerak@chicagotribune.com Twitter @RobertChannick Advertisement Twitter @beckyyerak The 2015 Chicago round of Speed Rack was held in May at Thalia Hall. For the past few weeks, Jacyara de Oliveira has given new meaning to the term "studying for the bar." De Oliveira, bar manager of Sportsman's Club in the Humboldt Park neighborhood, has been training for Sunday's Speed Rack National Finals, a cocktail competition in New York that tests the speed of 16 female bartenders from around the country and raises money for breast cancer research. Advertisement De Oliveira, 25, won the Chicago round of the competition, where she beat out 21 other local mixologists by creating four cocktails in 53 seconds and winning subsequent head-to-head battles based on cocktail taste and speed. Erin Hayes, a bartender at Lost Lake in Logan Square, was runner-up in the Chicago round and garnered enough online votes to win a wild-card spot in the national finals. To prepare for the finals, de Oliveira said she has been studying a list of cocktails Speed Rack officials said mixologists could be asked to make. De Oliveira has been practicing the Cuban cocktail Hotel Nacional (rum, lime juice, pineapple juice and apricot liqueur) the most because she was least familiar with that drink. Advertisement As part of her training, de Oliveira works on muscle memory for grabbing bottles and sets up her bar station in different ways to see if she can shave time off based on the positions of the liquor bottles. "As long as I can keep my cool, I've got a pretty good shot of going all the way," said de Oliveira, who said she calms her nerves by taking a shot of mezcal. Hayes, 33, said she's glad she won the wild-card spot because she's looking for redemption after coming in second to de Oliveira in the Chicago round. A bartender on and off for 14 years, Hayes said she has been setting up her station in different ways to increase efficiency and memorizing recipes to train for her first trip to the finals. "It felt really good to get a second chance," said Hayes, who lives in the Humboldt Park neighborhood. "I'm a little bit nervous but I am more just ready to do it." In the national finals, contestants compete in timed heats to make rounds of cocktails in front of a panel of judges, who rate each drink based on prep time and accuracy. The 16 contestants were the winners from eight regional rounds, including in Denver, Chicago and San Francisco, and eight wild-card contestants, including Hayes, based on online votes. The winner of the national competition gets a trip to the Old Jameson Distillery in Ireland and a tour of the Cointreau distillery in France. This is not de Oliveira's first time in the national finals. She won a wild-card spot in 2013 after being a finalist in the Chicago round. Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. > She has raised the bar for herself every year since her first Chicago competition in 2012, when she didn't make it out of the preliminary round. She lost in Chicago last year but came back to win the competition in May at Thalia Hall with a pisco cocktail with grapefruit liqueur and a bourbon sipper with peach liqueur. De Oliveira, who grew up in Lincoln Square and lives in Humboldt Park, said she has been a bartender for the past five years after slinging some beers at her then-boyfriend's bar in Brazil, where she spent time traveling and working after high school. Advertisement De Oliveira, who was named one of Food & Wine Magazine's Best New Mixologists in October, has worked at Drawing Room, Perennial Virant and Belly Q, among other Chicago hotspots. She has been at Sportsman's since 2013 but said she doesn't have a signature drink because the cocktail list changes every night. The rotating list gives her experience in making a variety of drinks, a good skill for Speed Rack, she said. "I work a lot," de Oliveira said. "I do honestly think that's the best training." tswartz@tribune.com Twitter: @tracyswartz The Gagecelebrates its 10th birthday with cake and bubbly on the house, plus throwback menu specials. (Barry Brecheisen) 1) Grab birthday cake and bubbly The Gage, a Chicago favorite across from Millennium Park, celebrates its 10th birthday by bringing back menu favorites from throughout the years, including baked Alaska, bison tartare, crispy duck livers and more (available through April 26). Better yet, stop in for a meal, snack or drink on Friday, April 21 and you'll be treated to birthday cake and bubbly on the house, starting at 11 a.m. Cheers! The Gage, 24 S. Michigan Ave., 312-372-4243, www.thegagechicago.com. Advertisement 2) Do a restaurant crawl for a good cause Pilot Light, a local non-profit that works to educate young students about healthy eating, hosts its annual "Passport to Pilot Light" event, a restaurant crawl through Wicker Park. How it works: Buy a $5 passport at any of the participating restaurants, including Big Star, Dove's Luncheonette, Lillie's Q, Urbanbelly and Stan's Donuts. Each spot offers a food and drink special to passport holders; at each stop, get your passport stamped for the chance to win prizes at the end. Noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 22. Cash-only for passports, or buy ahead of time at www.eventbrite.com. Advertisement 3) Get breakfast burritos at Broken English Longtime Chicago restaurateur Phil Stefani kicks off the weekend by opening the third location of his Broken English Taco Pub, this one in Lincoln Park. There are margaritas on tap, flaming mezcal cocktails, family-sized taco platters and a giant patio, but the best part is this: The front room is dedicated solely to serving you breakfast burritos to-go. Read more here. 4) Kick off James Beard Eats Week During James Beard Eats Week (actually 11 days), 125 Chicago-area restaurants offer dishes inspired by the late, great culinary expert and cookbook author James Beard. Just a few examples: Broken Shaker's mixing an unusual sounding al pastor margarita, Dos Urban Cantina has created a chicken tostada inspired by James Beard's chicken with 40 cloves of garlic, and The Duck Inn has a five-course tasting menu on tap. Prices vary. Friday, April 21 through Monday, May 1. Multiple locations, www.choosechicago.com/jbf. 5) Check out the new Gemini After closing in January for a four-month renovation, Lincoln Park's Gemini Bistro reopened this week with a new look, new menu, and new name: It's dropping the "Bistro" and going by, simply, Gemini. Read more here. Taste of Chicago tickets this year will be sold in strips of 12 for $8.50. Here festival-goers buy tickets at the 2013 Taste. (Phil Velasquez, Chicago Tribune) The venerable Taste of Chicago happening July 8-12 is inarguably a convenient way to sample a lot of local foods in an enclosed space. Rarely though is the question asked: Is the Taste a good deal for the vendors? Here we attempt to answer some questions about the economics of the festival. How much are tickets this year? Advertisement This year, tickets are sold in strips of 12 for $8.50. Each ticket has a cash value of 50 cents. But wait, that's worth only $6! Advertisement The remaining $2.50 goes toward what the city calls a "Taste amenities" surcharge, one that "defers the cost of the event," according to spokeswoman Rebecca Smith. How much does the city make during Taste of Chicago? In 2012, the last year of Taste's 10-day iteration, the city lost $1.3 million. That was the impetus for the city to reduce the festival to five days the following year, and in turn, the festival turned a $272,000 profit in 2013. But last year's rain-shortened Taste it was shut down that Saturday resulted in a loss of $169,404. How much does it cost restaurants to participate in Taste of Chicago? Restaurants can take part in the festival three ways, each with a participation fee payable to the city: As a five-day vendor ($3,000), a food truck ($100 a day), or a one/two-day pop-up ($100 a day). Each participant also must pay $125 for a temporary food license, as well as show proof of insurance covering employer, automobile and commercial general liability. From there, additional fees are deducted from gross sales, including furniture rental, propane gas, refrigerated storage rental and ice. How does this compare to years past? Rebecca Smith, the festival spokeswoman, said participation cost for vendors has fluctuated through the years. The earliest on record is 2007, when the 10-day festival cost $2,000 to participate. From 2008-2010, the fee went up to $4,000. It was brought down to $3,000 in 2011 where it has stayed even as the festival was shortened to five days in 2013. The pop-up option seems like the way to go for restaurants. Advertisement The pop-up program was instituted in 2012 as an incentive for smaller restaurants to take part for one or two days of Taste, hence, the lower fees. Only participants that have never been a five-day vendor at the festival are eligible. For 2015, pop-ups include Dinky Donuts, Jin Ju, Garifuna Flava, Luke's Lobster and Sono Wood Fired. If the event gets rained out, do the vendors get reimbursed? Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. > Since 1992, the Taste of Chicago has been shut down twice: In 1992 the festival was called off early for one day, and in 2014, its Saturday session was canceled due to heavy rains. Last year, only one-day pop-up vendors for that Saturday were refunded their fee. Most others, such as five-day participant Spritzburger, were not. Dan Smith, co-owner of Spritzburger, said they lost $8,000 last year, as several thousand pounds of hamburger meat were given to staff, incorporated in other recipes, or eventually thrown away. Said Smith: "I just kind of ate it, literally and figuratively." Eli's Cheesecake president Marc Schulman said of last year's rain-shortened Taste: "At best we broke even." Schulman said having it rain out on a Saturday as opposed to a less-crowded Thursday made the loss in business especially steep. "We probably lost 40 to 50 percent of total festival sales (not having the Taste on that Saturday)." How do participants get paid? Since Taste sales are by tickets only, each participant turns in their paper tickets at the end of the festival. For most vendors, the city takes 21 percent of gross sales, after sales taxes are taken out. The exception is for five-day vendors whose gross sales exceed $100,000 in that case, the city takes a 23 percent commission. Vendors are issued a check about a week after the festival. How long does it take for vendors to turn a profit? Advertisement Obviously a number of factors go into this. How busy will the booth get? How much food will the vendors buy? How much are labor costs? Spritzburger's Smith, who took part the past two years (but will not in 2015), said a good rule of thumb is it takes four days to break even, and the fifth day is when you profit. kpang@tribpub.com Twitter @pang A reader looking for a vintage Weary Willie cake recipe gets three recipes, courtesy of the Daley Question. (Danking photography, Getty Images) Q: My father-in-law said that in the 1940s his mother made a cake called Weary Willie, which she said she got from the Chicago Tribune. I have now been tasked to make one for him. Would you by chance have the recipe? Cheri Koglin, Mainz-Gonsenheim, Germany Advertisement A: Not just one recipe but three recipes for you, Cheri Koglin, two of which were published in the Chicago Tribune in May 1947. I had never heard of a Weary Willie cake before your email. Neither, apparently, had Ruth Ellen Church, the newspaper's food editor, who wrote a daily menu column under a pen name, Mary Meade. Advertisement "Can any reader supply this department with the recipe for either Weary Willie cake or one called Breath of Spring?" Meade asked readers on May 17, 1947. "They've been requested, and I can't find any such names in my files. Both sound intriguing, don't they?" Indeed. Readers responded so quickly that Meade could include Weary Willie cake recipes in her columns for May 24 and May 26, 1947. The first was for a plain cake, the second for a chocolate cake with frosting. "I received such an avalanche of mail on the subject of Weary Willie cakes that I feel I should hang my head in shame for not having found the recipe myself," Meade wrote May 26. "But, on the other hand, the fun of reading all these lovely, friendly letters makes me think I'd better turn tables more often and ask readers for recipes!" Most of the recipes were identical ("one woman always uses a tube pan, another always makes cupcakes with the batter"), wrote Meade, who also included some reader comments in her column. "My mother has had this recipe for over 40 years, I know," wrote one. "I've made this cake for at least 35 years, and have never had a failure," declared a second. "Funny thing I just inherited an old cook book the day you asked for Weary Willie cake in the column and there it was in my book," confided a third. Another reader sought to share some history: "The recipe originated in a tea room in Vermont called the Weathervane. We have thought the name may have been given because it is such a good little cake to make when one is weary it is so simple." Advertisement Eleanor Early, in her "New England Cookbook" of 1954, also attributes the cake to The Weathervane, which she calls a Vermont inn. She describes it as "a simple chocolate cake with white frosting." The recipe, she added, "became popular in the neighborhood and is still used by old ladies who ate it when they were little girls." "In those days the New England countryside was infested with tramps," Early added. "A tramp was often called Weary Willie, and it is quite possible that a tramp, begging one day at The Weathervane, offered in exchange for a handout, this nice easy recipe " Early's Weary Willie cake recipe is similar to those published in the Tribune, it does have more exact measurements for how much milk to use so I've included it below. I have not tested these recipes so proceed with the usual caution. Now, what about the Breath of Spring cake? Anyone have memories about that? Do you have a question about food or drink? Email Bill Daley at wdaley@tribpub.com. Snail mail inquiries should be sent to: Bill Daley, Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago IL 60611. Twitter @billdaley. Weary Willie Cake Advertisement A recipe from Mary Meade's menu column on May 24, 1947, in the Chicago Tribune. Meade, the pen name for Ruth Ellen Church, then the newspaper's food editor, notes that most versions of this recipe did not call for salt or other flavoring. No word on a frosting or icing for this cake; perhaps there was none or the assumption was each cook would make one's own. Sift 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1 cup sugar three times into a bowl. Into a cup put 2 unbeaten egg whites, add soft butter in small pieces until cup is half fill, then fill with milk. Pour into dry ingredients, and beat steadily for 7 minutes, then pour into a greased 8 inch square pan and bake in a moderate (350 degrees) oven for 30 minutes. Chocolate Weary Willie cake This recipe, published in the Chicago Tribune on May 26, 1947, includes directions for a simple frosting. 1 cup each: sifted cake flour, sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder Advertisement 1 egg, broken in cup Milk to fill the cup 2 squares unsweetened chocolate 2 tablespoons butter 1 teaspoon vanilla 1.Sift flour, sugar and baking powder into a bowl. Add the egg and milk. Beat well and add chocolate and butter which have been melted together and cool. Add vanilla. Pour into greased 8 inch square pan and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Cool and frost with this icing. Advertisement Icing: Add 2 tablespoons milk to 1 cup confectioners sugar and beat smooth. Add 2 rounded tablespoons marshmallow fluff. Add 1 square unsweetened chocolate and 1 teaspoon butter melted together, then 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Eleanor Early's Weary Willie cake A recipe from Eleanor Early's "New England Cookbook" of 1954. 1 cup each: cake flour, sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt Advertisement 1 egg 3/4 cup milk (approximately) Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. > 2 squares unsweetened chocolate 2 tablespoons butter 1 teaspoon vanilla 1.Sift dry ingredients into a mixing bowl. Advertisement 2.Break the egg into a measuring cup and add enough milk to make one cup. Add gradually to the dry ingredients mixing well. 3.Melt chocolate with butter and add to dry ingredient mixture, beating well. 4.Add vanilla and pour into well-greased 8-inch pan. Bake in a 350-degree oven for about 35 minutes, or until done. * * * Submissions are now closed * * * Are you a Chicago-based entrepreneur between the ages of 21-40? Do you have a business idea, prototype or half-baked strategy that you need help with? Do you watch ABC's "Shark Tank" and think to yourself, "Wow, I am a lot smarter than these people"? We got the contest for you: the RedEye Big Idea Awards are back. On Oct. 13 at Ravenswood Event Center, we'll crown winners with new business ideas in four categories. Advertisement Categories: Food & Drink Arts & Design Technology Community Development & Civic Involvement Winners receive awards including a $1,000 cash prize, ads in RedEye's print edition and a one-year small business membership to the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce plus a gift certificate to apply toward event registration, to help get your idea to that next level. Advertisement Marylynne Schwartz, Nicole Vasquez, Emma Robertson and Nikkita Randle win the 2015 Big Idea Awards. (Sean Ely) And you'll do a victory tour onstage at the Big Idea Awards, which drew nearly 350 guests last year. Check out the winners' ideas from last year. We have created this process to turn your big idea into a reality. So don't wait. Submit your big idea in one of the four specific categories here. Submissions will be accepted until 5:00 p.m. CT on Sept. 21. On Sept. 26, finalists will officially be announced to the public. If you're a finalist, you'll be headed to the finals at Ravenswood Event Center to pitch your big idea to the public (in person) with one goal in mind: Tally the most votes from attendees in your category. The event will feature meet-and-greets with each finalist, beverages, appetizers and more. Submit your idea to us today. Who knows? In less than two months, you could be hoisting the trophy on stage at The Big Idea Awards. Full rules can be found here. (Don't be lazy, actually read them. They have lots of important info you need to know.) Buy tickets to The Big Idea Awards here. Rise Against will play a free show at Chicago's House of Vans Friday, April 21 before returning with Deftones June 9. (LeAnn Mueller / HANDOUT) Chicago hardcore band Rise Against is coming home for a free show at the newly opened House of Vans on Friday. After the Chicago date, the group will head to House of Vans Brooklyn for a April 24 concert that will be streamed live on the Facebook pages of Rise Against and Vans. Advertisement Rise Against has been touring behind its latest record "Wolves," due out June 9, the band'd first album since 2014. Friday's concert is free to the public and doors open at 7 p.m. Fans can obtain tickets through a ballot system at HouseofVans.com. Advertisement Rise Against will also be playing Northerly Island June 9 with Deftones. Tickets are currently on sale through Livenation. North Korea put on a musical spectacle to honor the birthday of the nation's founder, Kim Il Sung, ending with a video in which missiles rain down on the United States and burst into flames. The audience and the current leader Kim Jong Un appeared to love it. Snip: Choe Ryong Hae, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee, vice-chairman of the DPRK State Affairs Commission and vice-chairman of the WPK Central Committee, delivered a congratulatory speech. He referred to the large-scale military parade and mass demonstration as a proud report of loyalty the descendants of Kim Il Sung and the soldiers and disciples of Kim Jong Il present to the great leaders while carrying on their sacred revolutionary cause without an inch of deflection. He also said it was a momentous success that the DPRK tremendously built up the self-reliant defence associated with the whole lives of the President and the Chairman, adding that at this plaza the Korean people can rightly pride themselves on being fully ready to mercilessly crush the enemy's nukes of tyranny by dint of the nuclear weapons of justice impregnated with their precious blood and sweat. From Reuters: North Korea's state television aired footage of a choral performance attended by Kim Jong Un, the elder Kim's grandson, on Sunday, a day after a huge military parade in Pyongyang, which also marked the 105th birth anniversary of Kim Il Sung. The singing was followed by footage of its test-firing of a missile in February which, in the video, was joined by other missiles shooting into sky, passing over the Pacific and exploding in giant balls of flames in the United States. The video ended with a picture of the American flag in flames, overlapping row after row of white crosses in a cemetery. "When the performance was over, all the performers and participants in the military parade broke into enthusiastic cheers of "hurrah!" state run KCNA news agency said. State TV footage showed leader Kim smiling and waving in return. "The Dear Supreme Leader waved back to them and congratulated the artistes on their successful performance," KCNA said. North Korea said in February that it had successfully tested a new type of medium- to long-range ballistic missile, the Pukguksong-2, propelled by a solid-fuel engine. Related reading in today's Financial Times: "A reckless North Korea remains China's useful ally." The Ku Klux Klan display is seen at the "Spies, Traitors and Saboteurs: Fear and Freedom in America" exhibition at the Chicago History Museum on Monday, April 10, 2016 in Chicago. (Kristen Norman / Chicago Tribune) "Spies, Traitors, Saboteurs," a new exhibit at the Chicago History Museum, seems a fitting one for our times, and that's part of why the North Side museum is putting it on. "There were so many issues raised this last election year," says John Russick, the museum's vice president for interpretation and education. "Whether it's about vetting immigrants or questions of who can you trust, there's a lot of that in here. There's a lot in here for anyone who's interested in the long view." Advertisement The short view contains an ongoing investigation into allegations that a foreign power, Russia, conspired to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election and whether it goes deeper than that, deep enough to write new chapters in a future version of this exhibit. This traveling exhibition, bearing the subtitle "Fear and Freedom in America," is not so up-to-the-minute as to address those questions. But there are certainly points of resonance in its look back through American history to highlight moments when peace was threatened from within and the nation debated questions of safety and the sacrifice of civil liberties. Advertisement "We have sometimes gone too far," Russick says, noting what happened with the so-called anarchist riot at Haymarket Square here in Chicago: "People were executed, and people who were sitting in prison were later exonerated. There can be pitfalls to clamping down." Some of these events are fairly well known: the communist scare of the mid-20th century, for instance, or the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, or the nationwide labor rights struggle that included the Haymarket bombing. MOST READ ENTERTAINMENT NEWS THIS HOUR But if my experience is a guide, other events will be a revelation to visitors, or at least revealed in more depth. If I ever learned it, for instance, it has slipped my memory that a Pearl Harbor attack plane crash landed on a Hawaiian island, and the pilot, initially captured by citizens, was freed and rearmed by a Japanese-American. This incident, the exhibition says, gave fuel to the fears about divided loyalties that led to the imprisonment of Japanese-Americans across the nation. The point is that this civilian roundup happened in a context even if, as the exhibition makes clear, concerns about Japanese-American loyalty "had no basis in fact" and would lead decades later to an official apology. I learned, too, about German bombing campaigns within the United States prior to our entry into World War I, and about the Wisconsin town, Mosinee, where on May Day, 1950, "the local American Legion staged a daylong mock Communist coup dramatizing what life would be like under Soviet rule." If that sounds a little bit scattershot in the approach, well, yes. This isn't the tapestry of subversive history so much as patches of it: Timothy McVeigh over here, Chicagoan Bernardine Dohrn and the Weather Underground there; Joseph McCarthy here, intercepted mail bombs to early 20th-century bigwigs there. Contributing to the feeling is a herky-jerky layout, with the various stories existing as modules within a room rather than points on a pathway. This is a problem the history museum has had with other exhibits in this second-floor exhibit space, which is essentially two rooms that abut one another. Advertisement Age is another issue. The exhibit was developed, it seems, as a reaction to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It debuted in 2004 at the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., and it has traveled steadily since, and to some pretty good places. Chicago will be its final stop before retirement, the museum says, and it will go out without having treated such names of ongoing relevance as Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, WikiLeaks or the Patriot Act. A map of known hate groups in the U.S. is said to be from 2014, which means designers weren't sitting entirely on their hands, but that is part of a generally underwhelming depiction of anti-federal government movements, also including a "Militiaman's Workroom" stuffed with the materials to make a powerful bomb. Similarly, "Spies, Traitors, Saboteurs" doesn't have much to add on the Sept. 11 attacks, although, as an artifact, twisted metal said to be from the World Trade Center airplanes packs a punch. This show is stronger when it is further back in history, telling us about the Ku Klux Klan marching on Washington and showing us Klan business cards that those, um, gentlemen apparently used to carry. To handle the present day, there is a bulletin board headed "Fear and Freedom in America Today" pinned with articles about "Trump's border wall" and racist killer Dylan Roof. The goal, of course, is to be of the moment, but it also offers a slightly disconcerting echo of another flat surface in the exhibit pinned with printed matter, the wall in a militiaman's war room. sajohnson@chicagotribune.com Advertisement Twitter @StevenKJohnson When: Through Oct. 1 Where: Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark St. Tickets: Included with $16 general admission; 312-642-4600 or www.chicagohistory.org RELATED STORIES: Rolling Stones' 'Exhibitionism' packs nostalgic punch Advertisement Adults to pay more, teens to get in free at Museum of Contemporary art Penguin love triangle at Shedd Aquarium 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) Reggie's , 2109 S. State St., is issuing refunds to all who bought tickets to tonight's Loudness show after the band was denied entry in the United States Tuesday night at LAX. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune) The classic Japanese metal band, Loudness, was denied entry into the United States Tuesday night after arriving at Los Angeles International Airport due to the new immigration policies from the Trump administration. Loudness was scheduled to appear at Reggie's Rock Club Wednesday along with local acts Ironfinger, Pipe and Hessler. Advertisement The rest of the band's U.S. tour has been canceled. In a statement on the venue's website, Reggie's detailed as much information as is currently known: Advertisement "Due to the new strict policies the US government has placed on foreigners entering the country, Loudness was denied entry into the United States and sent back home this morning. All shows on the US tour are canceled. Refunds for Wednesday's show will be issued at original point of sale." MOST READ ENTERTAINMENT NEWS THIS HOUR Reggie's owner, Robby Glick said he spoke to the band's PR rep who cited an issue with "exemption papers," which were acceptable for entry the last time the band visited the U.S., but denied this time around. "It's a little bit harder," says Glick. "I don't know if it's a product of the administration or if Loudness was flying by the seat of their pants, but there is a difference since our new president came in." Ironfinger, Pipe and Hessler are still scheduled to play a free show 8 p.m. Wednesday. RELATED STORIES: Riot Fest 2017 headliners: Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, Jawbreaker Producer behind Prince 'Deliverance' EP slapped with lawsuit 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) Nine Inch Nails will headline Riot Fest in Chicago, held in Douglas Park between Sept. 15-17. (Paul Bergen, AFP/Getty Images) Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age and punk veterans Jawbreaker will headline Riot Fest when it returns Sept. 15-17 to Douglas Park. The lineup also includes New Order, Paramore, rap-rock all-stars Prophets of Rage (a collaboration among members of Public Enemy, Rage Against the Machine and Cypress Hill), M.I.A., Wu-Tang Clan, a DJ set by the Beastie Boys' Mike D, Chicago industrial-rock icons Ministry and rising hip-hop star Vic Mensa. Advertisement Three-day passes ($149.98) go on sale at noon Wednesday at ticketfly.com. MOST READ ENTERTAINMENT NEWS THIS HOUR Advertisement Among the more than 70 artists announced Wednesday were Bad Brains, TV on the Radio, A Day To Remember, Gogol Bordello, Taking Back Sunday, Dirty Heads, Dinosaur Jr., New Found Glory, Death From Above 1979, Fidlar, Action Bronson, Pennywise, Built to Spill, X, Peaches, the Lawrence Arms, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, the Orwells, Bayside, Say Anything, Mayday Parade, Streetlight Manifesto, Dead Cross, Minus the Bear, the Menzingers, Liars, GWAR, Buzzcocks, GBH, Real Friends, Hot Water Music, Shabazz Palaces, Andrew W.K., Fishbone, the Story So Far, State Champs, Four Year Strong, Beach Slang, the Cribs, that dog., Knuckle Puck, Chon, Slaves, The Hotelier, the Flatliners, Dessa, Saul Williams, Nothing More, Alice Bag, Tobacco, Sleep On It, Downtown Boys, Engine 88, The Smith Street Band, the Regrettes, HDBeenDope, Gazebos and Kitten Forever. greg@gregkot.com RELATED STORIES: Lollapalooza 4-day tickets sold out Lollapalooza 2017: Chance the Rapper, Lorde, Arcade Fire top 170-band lineup Pitchfork fest headliners: LCD Soundsystem, Tribe Called Quest, Solange 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) The Revolution (Matt Finks, from left, Brown Mark, Bobby Z, Lisa Coleman and Wendy Melvoin) has reunited and the band is playing music it made under the leadership of Prince. The tour includes Sunday and Monday concerts at Metro. (Nancy Bundt photo) Friday marks the one-year anniversary of Prince's death, and the band with whom he worked most closely in his '80s heyday, the Revolution, is still reeling from it. The musicians guitarist Wendy Melvoin, keyboardist Lisa Coleman, drummer Bobby Z, keyboardist Matt Finks and bassist Brown Mark have reunited for a tour to celebrate their friend's music, but it's also part of their grieving process. Advertisement "It's our shiva," Melvoin says. When the quintet did three tribute shows last September at First Avenue in Minneapolis, the same location where they recorded most of the soundtrack for "Purple Rain" with Prince in 1984, "the first night was devastatingly depressing. By night three there were smiles, you could feel a weight being lifted from the room. Then we walked off stage, collapsed into each other's arms and wept." Even for many of Prince's closest associates and friends, his death was a shock, though there had been a few clues that his health was declining. At 57, Prince was known for clean living, but suffered from chronic hip pain. He began using a potent painkiller, fentanyl, and six days before his death a chartered jet in which the artist was flying made an emergency landing so Prince could be treated for an overdose. On April 21, 2016, he was found dead in his Paisley Park recording studio. Advertisement Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 38 Prince performs in Los Angeles in 1986. (Los Angeles Times) Though the members of the Revolution had not worked with Prince in decades, they remain the band that he called his personal "Mount Rushmore," Z says, because of the critical role they played as musicians and even songwriters during his creative peak, 1980 to '87. In separate interviews, Melvoin, who has been successfully collaborating with Coleman as Wendy and Lisa on TV and movie scores for decades, and Z, who began working with Prince in the '70s and remained one of his most trusted confidants ever since, discussed his death and how they processed it. Here are some edited highlights of those conversations: Melvoin: No one saw it coming. I was in my backyard on the phone with NBC and I was getting ready to fly to New York (to do some soundtrack work). And then the phone goes "ding ding," and it's Bobby and he says, "Prince is gone." I went from this mood of happiness to, "I have to go." I conferenced in Mark, Lisa and Matt, and we conferred with and consoled each other. We all went to Minneapolis two days later. At least 100,000 people were outside First Avenue and on the street. What do we do? Me and Lisa decided to have a few people up at one of the hotels. We all spoke and talked about him and our grief. Z: The main perspective was the extent that his problem got outside of the medical world and into street drugs. It seemed completely out of the norm for him. I don't think he intended to die. But he was in pain, and when people are in pain and are perfectionists like he was, you look for any kind of resolution. Melvoin: The survivors after a profound death have to come to terms with not being chosen to be part of that process. Why didn't he come to me? We are feeling that in this global way. That's not the way he wanted to go. The privacy, that was him. Right to the end, he couldn't allow anyone to help, or anyone to see the vulnerability because it didn't make him feel in control. So it was me, me, me for him, and that was true in business as in life. MOST READ ENTERTAINMENT NEWS THIS HOUR Z: We knew then that playing was going to be part of our recovery, grief and mourning. I personally needed time. It was such a huge shift because I'd known him since I was 19 (in 1979). We wanted to start at First Avenue because that was ground zero, it was the mecca that we needed to return to. Melvoin: (After the First Avenue shows) we got calls from booking agents to do more. Lisa and I have careers in film and TV music, and we each have a kid. We decided after our season with TV this spring, we will do these dates and see what comes of it. Advertisement The early days of Prince and the Revolution Z: There was a grand plan. He wanted this (multiracial, co-ed) band that was his Sly and the Family Stone. He was also paying a lot of attention to Fleetwood Mac. He was very intrigued by Stevie Nicks, the mix of voices. He wanted a band like that. We were a rock band with (early collaborators Dez Dickerson and Andre Cymone, who went on to solo careers), then a multicultural, utopian, uptown, black-white-Puerto Rican thing, and his lyrics came alive. "Purple Rain," his ultimate song, is the six of us, it works because of that. No disrespect to musicians after us, but I know the Revolution was the last band he was in. He got tired of us because we drove him nuts and he basically became a solo artist after that with a backing band. But when he was in it (the Revolution), he loved it. It challenged him and pushed him. Melvoin: When Lisa first met him (in 1980), she saw a Barbra Streisand-Kris Kristofferson "A Star is Born" poster on his wall. He had this cheesy, naive, dreamy quality. She was a teenager and already a session musician from LA we were well-seasoned. Lisa sees this poster and thinks, "What have I got myself into?" And he's looking at this hippie chick from LA and thinks the same thing. Then he hears her play. She had and still has a musical vocabulary that is instinctual to her and unique to her that he could never do. He wanted that badly. What Lisa and I were able to do, we gave him permission not to feel insecure about what he wanted in his life. He had "A Star is Born" on his wall? OK, let's be it. He could be exactly what he wanted to be with a group of people who wanted him to be himself. That's when he started to own everything he was. Z: The six of us, after going through "Purple Rain," Prince called us "Mount Rushmore." There is no way to go through something like that and not feel close forever. It's like winning a Super Bowl, a major life event so crazy that only six of us knew what really happened. He obviously didn't like looking back, period. It was always, "Look at what I'm doing now." Always moving. But for us mere mortals, looking back at these masterpieces that we get to do now in a different way, this music we created with him it's something we need to do to heal together. Greg Kot co-hosts "Sound Opinions" at 8 p.m. Friday and 2 and 11 p.m. Saturday on WBEZ-FM 91.5. Greg Kot is a Tribune critic. Advertisement greg@gregkot.com Twitter @gregkot When: 8 p.m. Sunday and Monday Where: Metro, 3730 N. Clark St. Tickets: $41, $51; www.metrochicago.com RELATED STORIES: Advertisement Producer behind Prince 'Deliverance' EP slapped with lawsuit Doctor prescribed meds for Prince in another name Paisley Park a lonesome kingdom without Prince Prince probe focuses on doctors, black market drugs In Prince estate case, blood relation may be unnecessary Still no will, but work to settle Prince estate forges ahead 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) Kia Corthron's "Force Continuum" opened in 2001, two years after Amadou Diallo, an unarmed immigrant from Guinea, died on the steps of his Bronx apartment building in a hail of bullets fired by four plainclothes police officers. (All were later acquitted of second-degree murder charges.) In the age of Black Lives Matter, it remains sadly relevant. Corthron writes with a muscular blend of poetics and politics, and there are many moments in this Eclipse Theatre Company production (the first in their all-Corthron season), directed by Michael Aaron Pogue, that resonate uncomfortably as we ponder Chicago's history of police brutality and segregation. By centering her story on three generations of African-American police officers, Corthron adds layers of nuance beyond the simplistic "white cop, black victim" narrative of race relations and criminal justice. Advertisement But the blend of family lore (told in part through the memories of Dece, a 24-year-old officer) and recitations of facts about policing (encompassing everything from how much money New York forked over to settle lawsuits against NYPD in the 1990s to the rate of suicides on the force) doesn't always jell. Corthron's fast-paced structure helps us see how quickly situations between cops and civilians on the street can escalate to tragedy, even with the "force continuum" rules of engagement mandated by the department. (At one point, an officer notes that the "chokehold" is outlawed. It's a chilling line in light of Eric Garner's death in Staten Island in 2014 after being placed in a police chokehold.) What we don't see despite some shocking deaths, offstage and on is why Dece (Maurice Demus) chose to go into the family business. Dece's deceased parents and his grandfather, with whom he lives, were also cops. Grandfather (Lionel Gentle) worked in housing projects, where he learned the names of every resident. "Cops ought to be from the community," he tells Dece. Advertisement Instead, the New York department is filled with officers like Dece's partner, Flip (Anthony Venturini), who goes home to the suburbs and the controlled chaos of birthday parties. (Venturini's description of the latter is a comic highlight.) Flip knows that the war on drugs unfairly targets young men of color. "I'd love to put away more white boys," he tells Dece. Meantime, Dece works undercover on "buy/bust" details and bitterly notes that black and Latino officers are on the front line of danger in these operations. Running parallel to the scenes with Dece is a story of a young black aspiring artist, Dray (Tyshaun Lang) and his overworked asthmatic schoolteacher sister, Tina (LaNora Terrae Hayden), whose encounters with the cops lead to tragedy. There is a lot of story here, but moments of genuine connection and reflection get lost in the rush. We hear Dece explain the interior conflict he feels as a black man well aware of the racism in police profiling, yet also a loyal officer. But especially in his scenes with Grandfather, there's a palpable sense of two men talking past each other (and past their shared pain) to make generic points about the changing nature of police work. (While Grandfather holds fast to the image of a happier time when cops knew their neighbors and treated them with respect, there's plenty of evidence that "the good old days" weren't "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," as Dece sardonically notes.) The nine actors, many playing multiple roles, provide high-octane performances, though more subtlety at points would anchor the twin emotional poles of resentment and fear that drive the conflicts between citizens and police. "You think I'll be brave enough?" Richard Hatcher's Young Dece asks his father (Terence Sims) about his plans to join the force. Corthron's play and Eclipse's production does leave us with disturbing questions about what courage in the face of escalating civilian deaths means for police officers, and what their bottled-up anger and silence costs us all. Kerry Reid is a freelance critic. ctc-arts@chicagotribune.com Review: 'Force Continuum' (2.5 stars) Advertisement When: Through May 21 Where: Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport Ave. Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes Tickets: $35 at 773-935-6875 or eclipsetheatre.com It's been 35 years since Adlai Stevenson III lost the closest gubernatorial election in Illinois history but don't tell him that. "I still haven't conceded, by the way," Stevenson, 86, joked Wednesday. Advertisement The former U.S. senator and his wife, Nancy, were honored by the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform for what old friends and allies described as the Stevensons' lifelong commitment to good government. Stevenson lost the 1982 governor's race by just 0.14 percent 5,074 votes to Republican James R. Thompson, and many attending a lunch where he and his wife were handed the Mikva Legacy Award for Truth and Justice are still smarting more than three decades later that he was denied a recount. (Stevenson did, in fact, concede after the Illinois Supreme Court denied him that recount.) Advertisement But Stevenson's mind is very much on the political present. Though he lamented a decline in American values in his 2008 family history, "The Black Book," he told Chicago Inc. that the political reality in 2017 is far worse than he could have imagined. "I never could have foreseen the conditions now, especially now, after this last election," he said. "The president has no qualifications for the office and was rejected by the American people, but was elected by a constitutional quirk." Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > "I'm very worried. I don't remember any time in the Senate that was this partisan we divided along issues but never along party lines. I don't remember any incivility." He added: "I still have faith in the people, but the system is broken." As the great-grandson of Vice President Adlai Stevenson I and son of former Illinois Gov. and two-time Democratic presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson II, Adlai III was always likely to end up in politics. But now that there are more "Fast and Furious" movies than there are Adlai Stevensons, his son, executive Adlai Stevenson IV, and grandson, University of Illinois student Adlai Stevenson V, are not inclined to follow in Adlai III's footsteps. "They do show a great deal of interest in service," Adlai III told Inc. "But my father said he was 'born with an incurable hereditary disease of politics.' Apparently, the disease has been cured." kjanssen@chicagotribune.com Advertisement Twitter @kimjnews 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. (Korean Central News Agency) There are many complicated theories on what to do about North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. He's that crazy little fat guy with nukes and daddy issues who wants to strap his thermonuclear devices to long-range missiles that just might start World War III. Advertisement Thermonuclear war tends to bother many people of many nations, and multilayered theories abound. My theory is not complicated. It's simple. And it involves the Chicago way. Advertisement Nobody may want to talk about my theory. But if you hear of a Kim Jong Un dead pool, you might place a few bets. Just please don't get the idea that I'm advocating harm to another human being, even if it's a madman who tortures people and has nukes. That would be insensitive. And I don't want my newspaper's emails to be hacked, as happened to Sony Pictures after it made the movie "The Interview," a comedy starring James Franco, Seth Rogen and a guy who looked very much like Kim Jong Un. My favorite part was when the Kim Jong Un character and Franco sang Katy Perry songs together, including the big hit, "Fireworks." "Do you ever feel like a plastic bag/ Drifting through the wind/ Waiting to start again." That scene was so touching, and the Kim Jong Un character was so vulnerable and needy, I felt like giving him a hug. But North Korea was so upset at the plot Kim Jong Un dies in the end they allegedly hacked into Sony's email and started all kinds of rumors about movie executives. North Korea denied all this, but you never want to provoke a crazy little fat guy with nukes. And unlike my Kim Jong Un Chicago way theory, other theories out there are indeed sober and thoughtful. Will his trusted nuclear friends, like Iran, get involved and tell him to cool it until they're all ready? Advertisement Or will China play the stern father to North Korea's crazy little fat guy and resolve the situation? Kim tried a missile test the other day, worrying the world. That test fizzled, and fizzling is extremely embarrassing to crazy dictators. Fizzling tends to trigger them. "We'll be conducting more missile tests on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis," his foreign minister, Han Song-ryol told the BBC in an interview. The minister also mentioned that "all-out war" would occur if the U.S. takes any military measures against the Hermit kingdom. Regular missile tests of long-range North Korean missiles? It doesn't sound prudent, and Trump, as usual, declined comment. "We'll see what happens," he told Fox News. "I don't want to comment on it." Well, Trump was asked, what happens if North Korea launches another missile test? Advertisement "We'll find out," Trump said ominously, and then raised his eyebrows. I suppose Kim Jong Un can make a public announcement and give up his nukes. But that means he'll give up power, and his Hermit kingdom will be no more. That would also mean that his life of torturing his people and devising complicated executions and killings including the time his spies allegedly sprayed poison in his half-brother's face would be without meaning. Or he'll just keep testing his missiles until they work, and then we'll see. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 15 North Koreans celebrate the "Day of the Sun" festival commemorating the 105th birthday of former supreme leader and the nation's founder Kim Il Sung on April 15, 2017, as tension over nuclear issues rise in the region. North Korea displayed a new crop of missiles in the parade attended by current leader Kim Jung Un, grandson of Kim Il Sung. (How Hwee Young / EPA) The trouble with theories involving "diplomacy" and the interests of "nation states" is that they're all so dang complicated. So please consider the 14th century monk named William of Ockham, a famed philosopher who to my knowledge never spent time in Chicago. Advertisement But he did develop a method for dealing with complicated theories. It became known as Occam's razor, and it goes like this: If you're faced with a choice between various complicated explanations, choose the one that is most simple. There are many ways to deal with Kim Jong Un. But the simplest way is the Chicago way. Some general or trusted friend will meet him, and they'll talk and laugh, maybe joke about devilish tortures, or amazing executions of traitors or some other similar interests. Perhaps they'll talk of unleashing ravenous hounds, "Game of Thrones" style, which he has said to have once done to do away with his uncle although that's been denied too or the time he reportedly staked a general to the ground and plopped mortar rounds upon the guy. Then they'll have a final good laugh. After the laugh, there will be a sigh. Advertisement And months later, we might find out that Kim Jong Un has taken ill, but a new leader has emerged in North Korea, one expressing North Korea's independence, yet a leader quite appreciative of China's economic concerns and China's friendship. All this reminds me, oddly enough, of the time when Chicago gangster Anthony "The Hatchet" Chiaramonti came out of prison and claimed the title of Chicago Outfit boss. Like Kim Jong Un, the Hatchet talked a lot of crazy talk. He made a lot of threats. But he threatened other Outfit bosses. Legend has it that he told them it was time to stop babysitting Chicago politicians and become real, old-time gangsters once again. The others nodded in solemn agreement. No one said anything about his crazy talk threatening their economic concerns. And then, a few months later, the Hatchet visited a Brown's Fried Chicken for another meeting. He parked his blue BMW near a sign that said the food was tasty "The Chicago Way." It happened in the vestibule. The Hatchet didn't have time to sigh. Advertisement And outside, I'd like to think there was a plastic bag, drifting through the wind. Listen to "The Chicago Way" podcast, with John Kass and Jeff Carlin, at www.wgnradio.com/category/wgn-plus/category/thechicagoway. jskass@chicagotribune.com Chicago Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts attends the Cubs' annual Bricks and Ivy Ball charity event at Navy Pier's Grand Ballroom on April 19, 2017. Ricketts recently removed his name from consideration by President Donald Trump for deputy commerce secretary. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune) Todd Ricketts, part of the billionaire family that owns the Chicago Cubs, intends to remove his name from consideration for deputy commerce secretary after concluding his family's business interests posed too many potential conflicts of interest, a spokesman for the family said. Ricketts, who spent more than four months trying to work out his nomination, told President Donald Trump of his decision Wednesday. Advertisement "Mr. Ricketts has informed President Trump that he will be unable to serve as Deputy Secretary of Commerce," a statement from Ricketts' spokesman said. "The scope of issues that face the Department of Commerce is very broad, and these issues potentially could touch many of Mr. Ricketts' family's current financial interests." Those interests include the Chicago Cubs and TD Ameritrade, the online brokerage that Ricketts' father, Joe, co-founded and built. Advertisement "Mr. Ricketts is mindful of his obligation to avoid even the appearance of conflict and therefore decided not to pursue this opportunity at the Department of Commerce," the statement said. Former Commerce Secretary Bill Daley said the decision reflects a high sensitivity on the part of the Ricketts family, which he finds commendable in an administration where "some of the individuals have taken a pretty aggressive attitude about no conflicts." "The deputy secretary has to be able to deal with very broad subjects it's hard to slice and dice, and say I'm not going to be involved in the heart of what Commerce is about helping businesses and promoting, and policywise," said Daley, who served under former President Bill Clinton. Ricketts would have needed Senate approval to take the job, but his nomination never advanced to a confirmation hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee. On Jan. 3, Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, the top Democrat on the GOP-led committee, sent a letter with pre-hearing questions to Ricketts. The senator asked Ricketts to respond by Jan. 9 but never heard back, his spokesman, Bryan Gulley, said Wednesday. Ricketts' name will not be formally withdrawn until the Senate returns next week, a White House aide said. The Commerce Department declined to comment. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Ricketts, a longtime GOP backer who threw his support behind Trump, would have served under Wilbur Ross Jr., a billionaire himself who pledged during his confirmation process to resign from a host of corporate positions and divest some of his vast holdings. But Ricketts found the requirements to take the position too difficult to meet. His most prominent holding is his stake in the Cubs, which his family bought in 2009 from Tribune Co. Todd Ricketts serves on the board along with siblings Tom, the chairman; Pete; and Laura. Advertisement Michael A. Memoli contributed. kbergen@chicagotribune.com kskiba@chicagotribune.com Twitter @kathy_bergen Twitter @katherineskiba Chicago police officers canvass the scene of a fatal shooting on an offramp near West Cermak Road and South Clark Street on April 19, 2017, in Chinatown. (Alyssa Pointer / Chicago Tribune) Updated April 19, 9:10 am One man was killed and another wounded in a shooting on a Dan Ryan Expressway ramp in Chinatown Wednesday evening, and two police officers were injured in a crash not far south while responding to the attack, authorities said. Jeremy Scullark, 28, was pronounced dead on the scene of the shooting near Cermak Road and Wentworth Avenue, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner's office. Advertisement Another man was taken to a hospital with a gunshot wound, according to a Chicago Fire Department spokesman. A condition was not available. The shooting took place on I-94 northbound at the exit to Cermak Road about 5:10 p.m., according to a statement from the Illinois State Police. Advertisement Two Chicago police officers and two other people were injured near 31st Street and Shields Avenue as police were responding to the attack, officials said. The officers were taken to Stroger Hospital and the two other people were taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital. None of the injuries were believed to be life-threatening, according to fire officials. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > One officer was in serious condition and the other was in good condition, according to a police media notification. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 5 A police officer looks at damage to a police SUV after a crash near 31st Street and Shields Avenue on April 19, 2017. Two police officers and two other people were injured in the crash, which happened while the oficers were responding to a fatal shooting in Chinatown. (Eric Clark / Chicago Tribune) After the crash, other officers apprehended possible people of interest in the shooting, according to a tweet from Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. At the scene of the shooting, a body lay under a white sheet on the exit ramp between several police cars. Both exit and on ramps were closed. Three Chicago officers and a state police trooper searched the weeds on the side of the on-ramp for evidence. About an hour after the shootings, an ambulance arrived and a handcuffed man was placed inside. Anyone with information can call state police at 847-294-4400. Callers can remain anonymous. Advertisement Chicago Tribune reporter Heather Schroering contributed to this report. Though Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan presides over a nominal democracy, he has surrounded himself with all the trappings of dictatorship: spending more than a billion tax-dollars on a "palace" for himself, hiring the mafia to smuggle his money-laundering kid out of Italy ahead of the police, conspiring to launder millions himself, brutalizing protesters, jailing critics and comedians, arresting and purging public institutions of his opposition, and more. All that was missing was the power to bypass his own legislature and directly impose law on the country. Until, that is, he called for a referendum giving himself these powers, and then rigged it, stealing millions of votes. The rest of the world recoiled in horror from this, condemning the stolen vote and the authoritarian rule behind it. All except Donald J Trump (who has deep business ties with the Turkish dictator). Trump phoned Erdogan to congratulate him. Yet Trump's public support for Erdogan is a serious thing: It's another nail in the coffin of America's prestige in the world as a beacon (no matter if flawed) of freedom. Trump's seeking out the favor of Erdogan, like his shameless courting of Putin, should startle Republicans out of their favorite recurring fantasy: that Trump will go "mainstream" and support democratic norms in America and elsewhere. It's doubtful that Trump will engage in mass imprisonments of journalists, judges and professors. Even Putin doesn't do that; the Russian leader prefers to make an example of certain people. Yet Trump has been inciting hatred against the press (to continue with that example) since the inception of his candidacy, singling out individuals like NBC's Katy Tur for heckling; confining the press to pens, like caged animals, and inciting enough hatred that double layers of security were required for pool reporters by the end of the campaign. Trump's congratulatory call to Erdogan is revealing [Ruth Ben-Ghiat/CNN] The death of a 71-year-old man 10 months after police say an "irate''man hit him in the head with a chair at a West Side hospital care facility has been ruled a homicide. Timothy Everett died Tuesday of complications of remote cerebral injuries and blunt force trauma to the head following an incident at 1550 S. Albany Ave., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. Following an autopsy, the office Wednesday ruled Everett's death a homicide. Advertisement Officers responded to a nursing home in the 1500 block of South Albany Avenue on June 7, 2016, at about 10:45 a.m. after Everett was hit with a chair by a man in his 30s who was "irate over care,'' according to Chicago police. When officers arrived, Everett had lost consciousness and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in serious condition, police said. Advertisement Everett was pronounced dead Tuesday at 8 a.m., according to the medical examiner's office. He had been living at another medical rehabilitation center in Oak Lawn since the incident. Last month, Nicholas Brown, 32, was arrested at his home in west suburban Bellwood by Chicago police officers on a fugitive apprehension team, initially on a charge of aggravated battery to a senior citizen, according to police. He's since been charged with attempted murder, according to court records. Brown remains in custody after being booked into Cook County Jail on March 17 when a judge set bail at $150,000, according to the Cook County sheriff's office. His next court date is listed as May 25. A spokesperson for the nursing home on Albany Avenue in the Lawndale neighborhood was not immediately available. Giovanni Roman, 24, is charged with aggravated aggravated driving under the influence resulting in afatal crash. (Chicago Police Department) A driver involved in an accident that killed his cousin had a blood alcohol level more than twice the legal limit and tested positive for cocaine and marijuana, prosecutors said Wednesday. Giovanni Roman, 24, was charged Wednesday with two felony counts of aggravated driving under the influence resulting in a fatal crash. Advertisement The accident happened around 4:05 a.m. Thursday. A garbage truck for Republic Services was southbound on Harlem Avenue and attempted to make a left turn onto 63rd Street, prosecutors said in court. A "No Turns" sign was illuminated at the intersection, but the truck started making the turn anyway, prosecutors said. Advertisement Roman was speeding north on Harlem Avenue in a 2001 Acura, prosecutors said. His cousin, 26, was in the backseat and was not wearing a seat belt. A 23-year-old woman was the front-seat passenger, prosecutors said. Roman's car struck the passenger side of the garbage truck. His cousin was thrown through the windshield and Roman was pinned in his seat. The driver of the garbage truck and a witness tried to get Roman out of his car but were unsuccessful. The Summit Fire Department arrived and cut him out, prosecutors said. Both Roman and the female passenger, who suffered a broken vertebra, were taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. Roman's cousin was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the truck was not injured. Roman had a blood alcohol content of .18 and tested positive for cocaine and marijuana, prosecutors said. He appeared in court Wednesday afternoon and was ordered held on $250,000 bail, according to Cook County court records. It's not uncommon to hear gunfire in the Far South Side neighborhood where Brande Freeman lives. A young girl was killed around the corner while jumping rope a few years ago. Neighbors say it seems someone is shot to death every year in the 10700 block of South Indiana Avenue in the Roseland neighborhood. Still, Freeman was hit with a gut feeling when she heard shots while watching television late Tuesday. She turned the sound down and called her 22-year-old daughter Brittany Leflore. She didn't answer. Rushing outside, she found a crime scene down the street from her home and saw paramedics working on someone in an ambulance. She didn't know it was her daughter until she got a phone call. "My daughter's dead," Freeman cried out repeatedly as she sat in a wheelchair across the street from the emergency entrance of Advocate Christ Medical Center where her daughter had been pronounced dead. Family members gathered around her, then left one by one, each giving Freeman a goodbye hug until she was finally helped into a car and driven away early Wednesday. Her daughter had been out with friends and was dropped off at a friend's home down the street from where she lived around 11:35 p.m., Freeman said. She was knocking on the door of the home when the shooter apparently opened fire, hitting her in the abdomen and ankle. There have been feuds between groups in the neighborhood that Freeman described as a "war." She believes her daughter got caught in the crossfire. "She stayed out of trouble," Freeman said. "You just got to watch the company you keep. She was so smart and pretty and brilliant, she was everything." Her voice grew louder as she thought of who could have been behind her daughter's death. "You need to show your face because you're a coward," Freeman said about the shooter. "You a coward and you took my daughter's life, she didn't deserve that. She didn't deserve it. Why don't you shoot who y'all looking for?" This is the second time the family has been hit by gun violence. Freeman herself was shot seven years ago. On Jan. 20, 2010, Freeman and her boyfriend were wounded in the 500 block of East 76th Street, about five miles north of where her daughter was shot, according to Freeman and data from the city. Someone walked up to a vehicle Freeman and her boyfriend were in and opened fire. She said she never learned who the shooter was and she didn't think police ever made an arrest. "It's like they make you want to be immune to it," she said. "You can never be immune to your family members dying or people just dying constantly. It's like a disease. It's sickening. I can't even wrap my head around it: I ain't never going to see my daughter again. It's going to drive me crazy." After Tuesday night's shooting, police blocked off most of Indiana between 107th and 108th streets. Officers used flashlights to search the porch of a white two-story home near an alley. One neighbor said he had just gotten home from church when he heard about 20 gunshots. He went outside and prayed for the woman. "(I) just asked God to touch and heal her body," he said. Other neighbors gathered at the edge of the crime scene, talking among themselves and watching officers and detectives search the area. One woman said she was on her porch when she heard the gunfire. "When I ran in the house, they were still shooting," she said. "I hit the floor." Another woman said it wasn't the first time the block had experienced gun violence. "Someone always gets killed there every year," she said. An 8-year-old girl, Tanaja Stokes, was shot in the head Aug. 10, 2010, while playing jump rope with a 7-year-old cousin, Ariana Jones, on the 10700 block of South Indiana. Two men on bicycles opened fire toward a group of men, but they ended up hitting the two girls. Ariana survived the shooting. In May 2014, Brian McKinney, 20, was shot in the shoulder while on the block and pronounced dead at Advocate Christ Medical Center, the same hospital Leflore was taken to. The next year, on Sept. 10, a 16-year-old boy was wounded on the block. He was shot in the left leg in a drive-by shooting, according to police reports. A Chicago police sergeant is being credited with helping a 19-year-old man who had been shot in the left leg late Tuesday. About 10 p.m. on the Southwest Side, a 19-year-old man was walking in the 6100 block of South Hamlin Avenue when two men began saying gang phrases, police said. One of the men pulled a gun and opened fire, striking the 19-year-old man in the left leg. Advertisement A police sergeant in the Chicago Lawn District was responding to the call of a person shot when she saw the 19-year-old man sitting on the sidewalk. A friend of the 19-year-old man was using a sweatshirt to try to stop the blood coming out of the gunshot wound, according to a news release from Chicago police. The sergeant then applied a tourniquet to the man's wound until paramedics arrived. Advertisement The man was taken in serious condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. The sergeant has been with the department for 25 years and has undergone Law Enforcement Medical and Rescue Training, according to a release from police. Officers taped off a portion of Hamlin Avenue that is sandwiched by Hubbard High School and St. Nicholas of Tolentine School. A playground could be seen from the parking lot where officers had found spent shell casings. Mayor Rahm Emanuel said the federal governments recent deportation of a recipient of the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals program is a clear erosion of President Donald Trumps pledge not to go after them. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune) Mayor Rahm Emanuel's plan to create a municipal identification card for people living here illegally and others sailed through the City Council on Wednesday, but not before a handful of aldermen voiced displeasure with the idea. Emanuel, who sees the ID as a way to show he's standing up to the federal government and President Donald Trump's promise to crack down on people living in the U.S. illegally, spoke in favor of the plan during the 40 minutes of debate that preceded the 44-4 vote. Advertisement "We are a welcoming city," the mayor said. "Everybody here has talked about helping bring someone out of the shadows, to help them get on with their lives." Emanuel said the federal government's recent deportation of a recipient of the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals program is "a clear erosion" of Trump's pledge not to go after them. "Yes, we are helping people, but we are also creating a line of protection." Advertisement The mayor called back to Chicago once welcoming black Americans in the Great Migration, saying the city allowed families from Alabama to come here to open businesses. "This is our moral responsibility," he said. But Far South Side Ald. Anthony Beale, 9th, repeated his criticism of the ID as a misapplication of funds, saying the state or federal government is better equipped to deal with the issue. During debate in a committee on the plan last week, Beale noted constituents in his overwhelmingly African-American ward aren't clamoring for the city ID. South Side Ald. David Moore, 17th, also said he couldn't support the plan. Northwest Side Ald. Nicholas Sposato, 38th, who in recent months has come out against measures proclaiming Chicago a sanctuary city for people in the U.S. illegally, voted no on the ID as well, as did Far Northwest Side Ald. Anthony Napolitano, 41st. Several aldermen, however, said the city needs to stand up for vulnerable populations like immigrants, homeless people, and those who have gotten out of jail and need IDs to get jobs. "This is more than an ID, it's a start" for people who often don't get much government help, said South Side Ald. Raymond Lopez, 15th. Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, said IDs aren't a luxury, "they're a necessity." With some immigrant advocates still concerned about federal immigration agents coming after people who apply for the cards, the mayor sought to assure them the identities and addresses of applicants will be safe. "As soon as the information is provided, we're going to erase it so it can't be used to entrap any citizens who have come forward to become part of the mainstream," Emanuel said after the vote. The ordinance allows Clerk Anna Valencia to spend $1 million to get the ID program started, though it leaves many questions about how it will be run. It's unclear what proof of identification and residency people will need to show to get the ID, and exactly what benefits the ID will bring to cardholders. Advertisement jebyrne@chicagotribune.com Twitter @_johnbyrne Aviation security officers struggle with a United passenger who was asked to leave a flight the airline says was overbooked. This is a screenshot of a video posted on Twitter. (Tyler Bridges / Twitter) Chicago aldermen on Wednesday unveiled plans in response to the United Airlines passenger-dragging fiasco, with one proposing that the aviation police force be rolled into the Chicago Police Department and another calling for banning city workers from getting on planes unless a crime has been committed or there's a medical emergency. Ald. Raymond Lopez, 15th, a former skycap at Midway Airport, wants to combine the 305-strong Aviation Department force with the much larger Police Department. Powerful Ald. Edward Burke, 14th, and Aviation Committee Chairman Michael Zalewski, 23rd, introduced an ordinance to not allow city workers to board planes. Advertisement The proposals come after a hearing last week on the April 9 dragging incident that brought United and city government negative attention from around the world. The video went viral, showing an aviation officer dragging bloodied passenger David Dao from the plane to make room for an airline employee heading to a work assignment. Lopez noted that a focus of that hearing was whether the aviation officer had the authority to board the plane and remove Dao. A top city official told aldermen that operating procedures bar aviation officers from boarding a plane "if it's a customer service issue" even as the official declined to say whether the Dao case would be classified as a customer service issue. Advertisement Lopez also said aviation police have the authority to detain people, but only Chicago police officers have the authority make an arrest. "As we heard last week, there's a question of who had the legal authority to board the plane and engage the passenger, whether it was the (aviation officer), or should a Chicago police officer get on the plane to handle the situation," Lopez said. "It's my hope that if we have just a single entity at both airports, that will clear up any kind of confusion." Lopez said the change, which he would like to see happen within 60 days, would allow police at the airports to be armed with guns something Mayor Rahm Emanuel rejected this week when he said "it's pretty clear that's wrong." Emanuel spokesman Matt McGrath reiterated that Wednesday. "The problem on that plane was a lack of judgment, not the lack of a weapon, and this wouldn't solve that problem," he said of Lopez's measure. And McGrath suggested that Burke's proposal, which is backed by three aldermen who are former cops or firefighters, is premature because Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans is overseeing a probe of the incident. In other City Council action Wednesday: Aldermen passed a $160 million contract with a group led by energy efficiency company Ameresco to replace 270,000 streetlights with LED fixtures that use less energy. Approval came despite the fact the Emanuel administration hasn't given many specifics about where the money will come from, saying only that officials will look annually for money in special property tax districts and use taxpayer-financed bonds. Aldermen approved tougher rules on companies that run popular party buses, which have been the scene of several shootings involving drunken revelers. Emanuel had wanted to make it harder for passengers to bring legal guns onto the buses but ultimately decided the city couldn't take that step without running afoul of the state's concealed carry law. Advertisement A proposal to expand where gun ranges are allowed in Chicago to comply with a recent federal court ruling stalled. After the meeting, Burke said many aldermen were afraid if they voted for it, political opponents would paint them as pro-gun. Burke said the ordinance would be tweaked to make clear that isn't the case, and the measure soon will come back to the council. hdardick@chicagotribune.com jebyrne@chicagotribune.com The Chicago City Council on Wednesday voted down a controversial measure that would have exempted people working for aldermen as independent contractors from city ethics rules, including disclosure of who else is paying them. The battle over the issue, though, might not be over. Advertisement The proposal attracted 21 "yes" votes, five short of what was needed to pass. Another 24 aldermen voted against the proposal a rare reversal of a unanimous committee vote from a day earlier. The rejection came after Ald. Proco "Joe" Moreno , 1st, circulated a Tribune article on the subject and urged his colleagues to vote against the proposal. The article noted how aldermen would decide who was an independent contractor. It also pointed out council members in the past had used their expense accounts to hire relatives, political operatives and former full-time city workers with tainted histories. "I think some of them got a little gun-shy because of a story in the paper today," Ald. Edward Burke, 14th, who voted in favor of the exemption, said of his colleagues after the vote. Advertisement After the vote, sponsoring Ald. Leslie Hairston , 5th, vowed that "this is not going to go away" and raised the specter of a lawsuit. Hairston said she thinks some of her colleagues didn't understand her ordinance and were worried they would be painted as anti-good government if they voted against it. A day earlier, city Board of Ethics Chairman William Conlon had rebuked aldermen for trying to make the change, calling it "a very unhealthy secrecy that they are legislating into the laws of the city." He said that no matter the status of the people paid with council money, they have an obligation to reveal conflicts of interest and abide by city ethics rules including a code of conduct and limits on gifts they may accept. After Wednesday's vote, Mayor Rahm Emanuel also suggested the broader issue of the overall city ethics ordinance may come up again. "I think there are some issues that people have some concerns about that we have to look at," Emanuel said. He declined to comment on Hairston's proposal directly and said he was "generally" in favor of "stronger ethics." The initial supporters said they wanted to carve out the exceptions because they had mistakenly classified independent contractors as city employees in early 2016 when they updated the city ethics code. Aldermen contended it was unfair to categorize the contractors as employees because it would require them to disclose details about their businesses that don't belong in the public realm. Now that Hairston's proposal to change the classification has been rejected, independent contractors will have to file financial disclosure statements by the end of next month or face hefty fines. Those extensive statements require them to list all outside sources of income of more than $1,000. They also must list pay to them or their spouses of more than $5,000 from entities that do business with agencies like the CTA, Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Park District. In presenting the exemption, Hairston had cited the example of political and public relations consultants who are paid to help aldermen respond to media inquiries and prepare newsletters. "If they actually read the ordinance, it still covers part-time employees, it still covers full-time employees," Hairston said. "I am not anti-transparency, but (independent contractors) are, under the terms of the law, not city employees. So I'll have to look at taking federal action. We might have to file a lawsuit. "The term 'independent contractor' has a meaning in the law, and this violates that," she added. "I was just trying to clear it up administratively." Internal Revenue Service code defines an independent contractor as someone with his or her own business who sets his or her own hours and work terms, pays his or her own income taxes and does not receive benefits. But just how employees paid out of the $97,000 annual expense accounts provided by taxpayers to each alderman are classified is up to aldermen, and to some extent, the employees themselves. Ald. Brian Hopkins, 2nd, voted in favor of the ordinance in committee despite expressing some reservations but reversed his vote on Wednesday, saying the issue of just who can be classified as an independent contract needed to be cleared up. Advertisement "The real problem is the ambiguity of employees who are working full time or even part time for aldermen who aren't necessarily on the city payroll," Hopkins said. "We have a lack of clarity. ... I would like to solve the problem in its entirety not just one piece of it." But Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson, 11th, who voted against the measure, said he had no qualms about requiring independent contractors to file economic disclosure statements. "We should have openness and transparency," Thompson said. "There's nothing wrong with openness and letting everyone see where the dollars are spent. The issue first came up after an undisclosed alderman this year asked the city ethics panel for an opinion on whether an unnamed contractor was allowed to receive compensation from a GoFundMe account. In a Feb. 24 opinion, Conlon wrote that an independent contractor is a city employee subject to the ethics rules, including filing annual financial disclosures, complying with the city code of conduct, not being paid by non-city entities for work related to his or her council duties and abiding by a gift ban. A week later, that opinion was reinforced by an ethics board notice to council independent contractors that they had to file financial interest statements by May 31. Not filing could make them subject to fines of $250 a day, the notice warned. Advertisement hdardick@chicagotribune.com jebyrne@chicagotribune.com Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool, from left, the Rev. Michael Pfleger and Leon Finney look stunned after leaving an April 19, 2017, hearing at the Daley Center related to a lawsuit over education funding. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune) Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool said Wednesday that "we'll know exactly where we stand" on a potential abrupt end to the school year after a Cook County judge rules next week on two key motions affecting the district's education funding lawsuit against the state. The ongoing lack of clarity about the length of the academic year in a school district clawing through its latest budget crisis came as Mayor Rahm Emanuel declined to say if City Hall might intervene in the district's fortunes absent a favorable court ruling or miracle deal in Springfield. Advertisement "I'm not doing hypotheticals," Emanuel said after a City Council meeting. The comments came after Judge Franklin Ulyses Valderrama told a courtroom packed with top CPS officials, allied clergy, community supporters and lawsuit plaintiffs that he would issue decisions on competing legal efforts April 28. Advertisement The district's lawsuit argues that the state discriminates against its largely impoverished and minority students, and violates Illinois civil rights law, by contributing more money to teacher pensions in the suburbs and Downstate than Chicago. CPS has asked Valderrama to issue a preliminary injunction that bars the state from distributing education dollars in what the district alleges to be a racially discriminatory matter. It's not yet clear how such a move, if approved, would lead to a rapidly achievable solution for the district's immediate financial pressures. A series of skipped pension payments and investment downturns have also increased the district's pension obligations. For its part, the state's lawyers argue CPS has no legal basis to sue under Illinois' civil rights law and have asked the judge to dismiss the case outright. The legal action is unfolding as Claypool has said school could end June 1 instead of June 20, and that most summer school sessions could be eliminated, given a CPS funding shortfall. But Emanuel has declared cutting the school year short is "not the right option, not the right choice," casting doubt on whether the city would follow through on Claypool's threats. Asked Wednesday if he was prepared to let schools close if things didn't work out in court or the General Assembly, Emanuel did not say. "A judge is going to make a big decision on a big case that CPS has brought. That's first," Emanuel told reporters. "They're legitimate questions, but they're not legitimate questions now." Word that the district's parents, students and employees would have to wait for next week's ruling arrived a day after a handful of City Council members criticized the absence of a public plan to keep schools open and close a budget gap that lingers despite midyear budget cuts and teacher furloughs. The Chicago Teachers Union and some community groups have lodged similar complaints. The union has said it could carry out yet-to-be-specified labor actions to protest an early end to the school year. Advertisement A proposal from Ald. George Cardenas, 12th, to send more money from city tax increment financing districts hasn't been voted on yet. The measure also faces opposition from some aldermen and from Emanuel's office. CPS officials have said the district would be about $130 million short of meeting this year's budget after a series of school budget cuts and furloughs intended to cover for Gov. Bruce Rauner's veto of legislation that would've delivered $215 million the district expected. The governor wanted the measure tied to broader pension reform. The district must also pull together $300 million worth of internal savings that were also needed to balance this year's budget. CPS says it has emptied its cash reserves and ended last school year with a negative operating fund balance of $127 million. The district must still pay about $720 million to its teacher pensions by the end of June, according to the Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund. Those pension costs are at the heart of the district's lawsuit against the state and a group of officials including Rauner. Beth Purvis, the Republican governor's education secretary, said Wednesday that Rauner did not create the state's school funding formula while again urging legislators to pass a budget that includes overhauls to the state's education funding system. Chicago Tribune's Hal Dardick contributed. Advertisement jjperez@chicagotribune.com Mayor Rahm Emanuel, seen here Tuesday talking about gun legislation, will preside over Wednesday's Chicago City Council meeting. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune) Welcome to Clout Street: Morning Spin, our weekday feature to catch you up with what's going on in government and politics from Chicago to Springfield. Subscribe here. Topspin The City Council holds its monthly meeting today, with votes expected on a major LED streetlight contract, city-issued IDs for immigrants and the appointment of a new deputy inspector general to audit police reform efforts. Advertisement Even if the council gives the go-ahead to the $160 million streetlight contract with energy efficiency company Ameresco, precisely how it gets paid for will remain an open question. City officials say the costs will be covered with some unspecified mix of borrowing, tax dollars, "other funding sources" and energy savings realized from the project. The project calls for the replacement of 270,000 high-pressure sodium streetlights with LED fixtures over the next four or five years. Advertisement Likewise, some of the details of how the city ID cards will work aren't yet in final form. The measure gives city Clerk Anna Valencia authority to begin the effort intended to help immigrants living in the country illegally and other people who have a tough time getting IDs. But the proposal doesn't specify what kind of documents someone would need to prove identity, how those documents would be verified and how much the program would cost. The new deputy inspector general for public safety, criminologist Laura Kunard, was picked by Inspector General Joseph Ferguson. She would audit the city's Police Department reform efforts a job seen as more important now that it seems unlikely U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions will go to court to get a federal judge to oversee those changes. Also on the agenda is Mayor Rahm Emanuel's proposal to place tougher restrictions on so-called party buses after the involvement of several presumably intoxicated passengers in shooting incidents. Under the latest version, bus operators would have to install security cameras on the vehicles and hire security guards to ride buses with large groups who will be drinking. Banning guns on the buses has been left out. Aldermen also are expected to vote on an ordinance that would allow gun ranges in more areas of the city, a change that comes after a federal appellate court struck down tougher restrictions. And aldermen could consider a change to no longer require independent contractors working for aldermen to disclose who else is paying them, abide by the city code of conduct or obey strict limits on outside gifts. (Hal Dardick) What's on tap *Mayor Emanuel will preside over the Chicago City Council meeting. *Gov. Bruce Rauner will talk about "changes to move Illinois foward" at a noon event in Elk Grove Village. *The Chicago Board of Ethics meets in the afternoon. They're scheduled to consider another 25 cases, all but one billed as involving unreported or unregistered lobbying. The new influx of cases comes after a Chicago Tribune report showed that Mayor Emanuel's personal email accounts served as a private avenue of influence where executives and investors sought favorable action from City Hall, raising questions about whether some of the messages crossed the line into lobbying and violated the city's ethics law. *An abortion rights group will hold a Chicago news conference to blast Gov. Rauner for his recent pledge to veto a House bill that would quickly alter state law in the event the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. Advertisement *A Cook County judge will hold a hearing on Chicago Public Schools' lawsuit against the state alleging the state discriminates against its largely impoverished and minority students and violates Illinois civil rights law by contributing more money to teacher pensions outside CPS than it does to the district. The district has asked the judge to issue a preliminary injunction that bars the state from distributing education dollars in what the district alleges to be a racially discriminatory matter. *Illinois Treasurer Mike Frerichs will speak to the City Club of Chicago. *State House and Senate committees will hold a hearing in Chicago on a proposal to legalize marijuana for recreational use. From the notebook *Panic buttons for hotel staff? Employees working alone in Chicago hotels would have to be issued panic buttons to warn security of harassment or sexual assault as part of a new proposed ordinance aldermen hope will give housekeepers an added feeling of safety if they encounter potentially dangerous situations in guests' rooms. Advertisement Hotels also would be required to post sexual harassment and assault policies and promise no retaliation against workers who report encountering such treatment in a bid to overcome the stigma and shame that often causes such employees not to report it. The plan is set to be introduced to the City Council on Wednesday. Estella, a worker at a Chicago hotel who did not give her last name, talked at a City Hall news conference about twice entering rooms to clean them only to find guests inside naked and masturbating. Ald. Michelle Harris, 8th, said women often second-guess themselves and opt to just get on with their lives rather than report such incidents to authorities. "It's a fear, it's a shame and it's the ability for you to be as a victim raked across the coals to kind of prove what's happened to you," Harris said. "The fact that you may have to fight, not physically fight but mentally fight, and be very aggressive in telling your story and getting people to believe that you are not at fault or you did not contribute to the incident." The head of the Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association and the head of the American Hotel & Lodging Association issued a joint statement Tuesday noting the steps they have already taken to protect employees from sexual harassment and assault, and saying they haven't yet seen the proposed ordinance. "While we will await to see the final ordinance when it is introduced, we hope the elected representatives of the people of Chicago give this matter serious thought and work together with our industry to ensure commonsense policies that empower employees, maintain the proper role of law enforcement and provide a safe working environment," the statement reads in part. Advertisement As with most city rules, the city would have to choose to enforce them to make sure hotels comply. Hotels that don't provide the panic buttons and adhere to the other parts of the measure would face fines of $250 to $500. (John Byrne) *Rauner's ad: Gov. Rauner's press shop didn't shed much light when asked why last week's two-day statewide tour was paid for by the campaign while similar stops Monday in Moline and Peoria were paid for by taxpayers. On Tuesday, a clearer answer emerged: The governor was filmed during the tour, and the Illinois Republican Party promoted a web ad with footage. The short commercial clocks in at over three minutes, and features generic uplifting music and plenty of sound bites from the governor. *Diamond birthday for Madigan: A happy 75th birthday to longtime Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, who came into this world on April 19, 1942, according to his official bio. The World War II baby was first elected to the House in November 1970 and convinced his Democratic colleagues to elect him speaker in 1983 (he was minority leader or majority leader for six years before that). As is often mentioned, Madigan has served as speaker for all but two years since then. (The Newt Gingrich-led GOP landslide in November 1994 swept Democrats out of power, but Madigan rebounded in 1996 to regain control of the chamber.) Advertisement If Madigan keeps control of the House and his chief nemesis, Republican Gov. Rauner, wins re-election next year, their historic stalemate conceivably could last through 2022. The speaker would turn 80 that year. Rauner, for the record, just turned 61. What we're writing *Trump returns to "America first" message in Kenosha speech. *What we know about Trump's "Buy American, Hire American" plan. *Blagojevich's lawyers: "Government wants him to apologize for crimes he didn't commit." *Chicago aldermen want their consultants exempt from ethics rules. Advertisement *Emanuel leaves gun ban out of party bus crackdown. *Moody's downgrades NEIU, warns of credit declines for 6 schools. *Pharmacy lobbyists object to workplace rules proposed by City Council. *Cook County jury awards $350,000 in damages in fatal CPD shooting of black teen. *Rauner moves out of governor's mansion during repairs. *Chicago violence summit in Washington doesn't include many Chicagoans. Advertisement *Challenger concedes to Bolingbrook incumbent mayor in race where Trump was issue. What we're reading (All-food edition) *15 food award parties and dinners to put on your calendar. *McDonald's, fast-food chains find antibiotic-free beef, pork hard to deliver. *Chicago's best Mexican food. Follow the money Advertisement *Here are the first-quarter campaign finance reports for the candidates for governor: Republican Gov. Rauner; Democrats Daniel Biss, Bob Daiber, Chris Kennedy, Ameya Pawar and J.B. Pritzker. *And here is Mayor Emanuel's report. *Track Illinois campaign contributions in real time here and here. Beyond Chicago *Aircraft carrier wasn't en route to near North Korea as U.S. suggested. *Pence assures Japan: America is with you "100 percent." *Homeland Security chief says congressional critics should "shut up" or change laws. Advertisement *Post-Brexit, British prime minister calls for early election. *Democrat on way to forcing runoff in Georgia Republican district special election viewed as referendum on Trump. Simultaneously racist and cringe-inducing today is the aging Republiclone lawmaker, Florida State Sen. Frank Artiles, calling a black colleague a "fucking asshole," "bitch," and "girl," and declaring that he had risen to his powerful role thanks to "six niggas" in the caucus. He didn't pronounce "niggas" the way he might in order to be clear in his meaning, obviously, and had to explain exactly which kind of racist he was later: the ironically-appropriating kind, not the white-hoods-and-nooses kind. But now that's cleared up, everything's all good. Adolf Hitler, second from left, stands in front of the barbed wire fortifications at Kreuzbuche, Germany, on Oct. 6, 1938, after German troops advanced and occupied the second zone of Sudetenland. The book, "Human Rights After Hitler" by British academic Dan Plesch, says Hitler was put on the United Nations War Crimes Commission's first list of war criminals in December 1944, but only after extensive debate and formal charges brought by Czechoslovakia. (AP) United Nations A new book that examines previously restricted files from the U.N. War Crimes Commission cites documents showing that Adolf Hitler had been indicted as a war criminal for actions by the Nazis during World War II before his death contrary to longstanding assumptions. The book, "Human Rights After Hitler" by British academic Dan Plesch, says Hitler was put on the commission's first list of war criminals in December 1944, but only after extensive debate and formal charges brought by Czechoslovakia, which had been occupied by the Nazis. Advertisement The previous month the commission determined that Hitler could be held criminally responsible for the acts of the Nazis in occupied countries, according to the book. And by March 1945 a month before Hitler's death "the commission had endorsed at least seven separate indictments against him for war crimes." Plesch, who led the campaign for open access to the commission's archive, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the documents show "the allies were prepared to indict Hitler as head of state, and this overturns a large part of what we thought we knew about him." Advertisement A Dec. 15, 1944 document submitted to the commission by Czechoslovakia accuses Hitler and five members of "the Reich government," including his deputy Rudolf Hess and Heinrich Himmler, one of the Nazis most responsible for the Holocaust, of crimes including "murder and massacres-systematic terrorism." A photocopy is included in the book. The United Nations War Crimes Commission was established in October 1943 by 17 allied nations to issue lists of alleged war criminals ultimately involving about 37,000 individuals and examine the charges against them and try to assure their arrest and trial. Its unrestricted records, related to more than 10,000 cases, were put online in July 2013 by the International Criminal Court after an agreement with the U.N. Three months later, then U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power announced that the restricted files which contain some 30,000 sets of pre-trial documents submitted by national and military tribunals to the commission to judge whether a case should be pursued would be given to the Holocaust Museum in Washington. According to the book, legally certified documents, government transcripts and interviews with torture victims "prove beyond doubt" that the U.S. and British governments were told about Hitler's extermination camps in the early years of World War II. Plesch said both governments acknowledged their existence but did almost nothing to stop the mass killings. The earliest condemnations of Nazi atrocities were made in a joint statement by the Czech and Polish governments in November 1940. In 1942, the American, British and Soviet governments led their allies in a public declaration "that explicitly condemned Hitler's ongoing extermination of European Jews" and the book says that condemnation was far stronger than commonly believed. "The records overturn one of the most important accepted truths concerning the Holocaust: that, despite the heroic efforts of escapees from Nazi-occupied Europe, the allies never officially accepted the reality of the Holocaust and therefore never condemned it until the camps were liberated at the end of the war," Plesch wrote. Advertisement "The book documents not only that the extermination of the Jews was condemned officially and publicly by the allies but that specific features of the extermination were publicized, including a favored method lethal gas and the central place of execution Poland," he said. Plesch wrote that it was beyond the scope of the book to assess why public condemnations of the extermination of Jews aren't prominent in public and scholarly narratives of the Holocaust. One possibility, he said, is that "significant parts of the governments in the United States and the United Kingdom were directly opposed to doing anything to help the Jews or to support war crimes prosecutions." Nonetheless, he cited material from the commission's restricted archive that shows that hundreds of German "foot soldiers of atrocity" were indicted while the Holocaust was still underway by states where the crimes took place and it shows that these national indictments were endorsed by the War Crimes Commission up to its final meetings before it was closed in March 1948. One chapter analyzes country-by-country the indictments that began to be made early in 1944 for anti-Jewish persecution by Germans. It includes 372 cases submitted against Germany by Poland, 110 by the Netherlands, 91 by France, 52 by Czechoslovakia, 30 by Yugoslavia, 21 by the United Kingdom, 18 by Belgium, 14 by Denmark and 12 by Greece. The book also notes cases brought against German allies Japan and Italy. Advertisement "Ultimately thousands of soldiers were tried for war crimes after World War II," the book says. But Plesch wrote that "the commission's files contain indictments against thousands of Nazis who were then allowed to go free." BEIJING China is defending its handling of trademark applications from President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka and her company, saying that all such requests are handled fairly. Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lu Kang was asked about the trademarks Wednesday, a day after The Associated Press reported that Ivanka Trump had won provisional approval for at least five marks since her father's January inauguration. Three of those approvals were granted April 6, the day Ivanka Trump and her husband sat next to Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife for dinner at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Advertisement Lu said that China follows the law in granting trademarks and "the principle of giving equal protection to foreign trademark holders." Asked about the timing of the April 6 approvals, Lu said: "There are perhaps some media engaging in hyping certain gossip to hint at something undisclosed. I can tell you that they will never succeed." Advertisement Beyond the provisionally approved trademarks, Ivanka Trump Marks LLC has 16 registered trademarks in China and more than 30 pending applications, according to China's Trademark Office database. They collectively cover a wide range of goods and services, including cosmetics, jewelry, leather handbags, luggage, clothes, shoes, retail, spa and beauty services. Other countries where the company has pending and registered trademarks include Japan, Mexico, Turkey, Israel, Canada and Saudi Arabia. Sales of Ivanka Trump's brand, which she no longer manages but still owns, hit record levels in 2017 by some measures despite boycotts and several stores limiting her merchandise. U.S. imports, almost all from China, shot up an estimated 166 percent last year, according to Panjiva Inc., which tracks international imports to the United States. In a statement Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Ivanka Trump brand said the 2017 Chinese trademarks were filed defensively to prevent counterfeiters or squatters from using her name. Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, are trusted advisers to the president. Criminal conflict-of-interest law prohibits federal officials from participating in government matters that could impact their own financial interest or that of their spouses. Some argue that the more Ivanka Trump's business broadens its scope, the more it threatens to encroach on the couple's ability to deliver credible advice on core issues like trade, intellectual property and the value of the Chinese currency. Asked about Ivanka Trump's role in U.S.-China relations, Lu said: "We always think highly of the people who are committed to promoting China-U.S. friendship and cooperation, whether they are from the government or society, and we commend their efforts." SAN DIEGO A 23-year-old man has sued the Trump administration over his deportation to Mexico in February, saying he has permission to live and work in the United States under an Obama-era immigration program that protects young people who were brought into the country illegally as children. If his claim is correct, it is believed he would be the first person with protected status under President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, to be deported under President Trump. Advertisement Juan Manuel Montes, a Mexican national who has lived in the U.S. since he was 9, filed a lawsuit Tuesday demanding that federal officials release information about why he was deported. Montes, who has learning disabilities after suffering a traumatic brain injury when he was young, worked in California's agricultural fields to help support his family and studied welding at a community college before he was deported to Mexico on Feb. 17 without explanation, his lawsuit alleges. Advertisement "I was forced out because I was nervous and didn't know what to do or say, but my home is there," Montes said in a statement. Montes says he was approved for DACA in 2014, received a renewal in 2016, and that his DACA status and work permit were valid. Montes was walking to a taxi station in the border town of Calexico after visiting with a friend when a Border Patrol official on a bicycle stopped him and asked for identification, according to a statement from the National Immigration Law Center, an immigrant rights organization that is part of a group representing Montes in his lawsuit. Montes did not have ID with him, having left it in his friend's car, the statement said. Montes was taken to a Border Patrol station where, he alleges, he was made to sign documents and not allowed to see an immigration judge or attorney. He was also not given copies of the documents he signed, the lawsuit states. In the middle of the night, he was taken to Mexicali, Mexico. "Juan Manuel was funneled across the border without so much as a piece of paper to explain why or how," Nora A. Preciado, a staff attorney at the immigration law center, said in a statement. "The government shouldn't treat anyone this way much less someone who has DACA. No one should have to file a lawsuit to find out what happened to them." In March, Montes and his attorneys filed a Freedom of Information Act request with Customs and Border Protection, asking for all records of his interaction with the agency, but they have not received any additional information, the complaint states. Montes also unsuccessfully sought information from Citizenship and Immigration Services and from the Calexico Port of Entry. In a statement late Tuesday, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Montes was arrested after "illegally entering the U.S. by climbing over the fence in downtown Calexico." Montes "admitted under oath during the arrest interview that he had entered illegally," Ralph DeSio, the agency spokesman, said in the statement. Advertisement However, the lawsuit contends that the fence-climbing incident happened separately days after Montes was initially deported by Border Patrol agents. DeSio also said Montes' DACA status expired in August 2015, and that he had been convicted of theft, for which he received probation. Montes attorney Karen Tumlin said the border protection agency is incorrect and that federal documents show Montes' DACA was due to expire in 2018. The lawsuit states that Montes has a single misdemeanor offense but that it doesn't disqualify him from DACA. News of Montes' deportation spread fast, prompting immigration rights organizations to launch a petition demanding that Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly allow Montes to return to the U.S. Montes' deportation is a departure from Trump's promise to protect from deportation people who were brought to the U.S. as children. An estimated 742,000 given protection under the program live in the U.S. Roughly one out of three lives in California. Advertisement Greisa Martinez, advocacy director with United We Dream and a beneficiary of the DACA program, called the deportation an "attack." "An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us and we've got Juan's back," she said. cindy.carcamo@latimes.com Twitter: @thecindycarcamo A Republican state senator from Miami is facing pressure to resign after he used the n-word to criticize several of his colleagues during an alcohol-fueled rant in front of two black lawmakers. Over drinks at a private club in downtown Tallahassee, State Sen. Frank Artiles referred to six white senators as "n---" and spewed other obscenities while complaining about the chamber's GOP leadership, local media reported Tuesday. Advertisement In response, the Florida Democratic Party called on him to resign Tuesday night, saying he lacked the judgment to remain in office. Artiles apologized for the remarks in a statement Tuesday provided to the Miami Herald. Advertisement "In an exchange with a colleague of mine in the Senate, I unfortunately let my temper get the best of me," he said. "There is no excuse for the exchange that occurred and I have apologized to my Senate colleagues and regret the incident profusely." Republican leaders said Artiles is expected to offer a formal apology this week on the state senate floor. Artiles reportedly fired off the slurs in a heated conversation Monday night with Democratic senators Audrey Gibson and Perry Thurston, both of whom are black. The three were talking at the members-only Governor's Club near the state capitol when Artiles called Senate President Joe Negron, a Republican, a vulgar word for female genitalia and said he had won his position because "six n---" had elected him, according to the Herald. When Gibson and Thurston recoiled at the comment, Artiles tried to defend himself by saying he meant to use a different version of the n-word, ending with "as" rather than "ers," according to Politico. The word was acceptable, he reportedly told them, because he hailed from Hialeah, a largely Hispanic city in Miami-Dade County. At one point, Politico reported, he also called Gibson an insulting word. With that, Gibson stormed off, saying, "I'm done," Politico reported. Thurston told the Herald he stayed and urged Artiles to apologize. Eventually, he did, but it took the intervention of the Senate minority leader and another lawmaker, the Herald reported. Advertisement "I'm very respectful to this process. I'm very respectful to everyone," Gibson told the Herald. "And the way he was characterizing the vote - it wasn't nice." Negron, the Senate president, reprimanded Artiles in a statement Tuesday. "I was appalled to hear that one Senator would speak to another in such an offensive and reprehensible manner," he said. "Racial slurs and profane, sexist insults have no place in conversation between Senators." This isn't the first brush with controversy for Artiles, a Cuban American and former Marine. In 2015, he was accused of punching a college student in the face outside a Tallahassee bar, a claim he denied, as the Miami New Times has reported. And in 2014, as the Herald reported Tuesday, he was secretly recorded using an anti-Muslim slur at a polling place. Police Chief Jerry Dyer glances over at a photo of victim Zackary Randalls during a news conference at the Fresno Police Department on April 19. (Craig Kohlruss / Fresno Bee ) FRESNO, Calif. One man had just started a new job with the gas company and was riding in a utility truck. Another was carrying a bag of groceries after stopping at a charity center. The third was at a bus stop with a friend, waiting for a ride home. All three were randomly shot dead by a black gunman, Kori Ali Muhammad, who wanted to kill as many white people as possible and was proud of what he had done, laughing as he explained his actions in interviews with police, authorities said Wednesday. Advertisement "That's what he set out to do that day. He said he did not like white men and said white people were responsible for keeping black people down," Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said. The men were at the wrong place at the wrong time Tuesday. Advertisement Zackary Randalls was the first to die when Muhammad, 39, walked up to a Pacific Gas & Electric truck and fired into the passenger seat. Randalls, 34, had just started work as a customer-service representative and was doing a ride-along, something he was excited about, friend Eddie Valencia said. He described the father of two preschoolers as an open-minded person with a sharp wit and big heart. "He wouldn't want people to be divided by this," Valencia said. "There were no boundaries with race, religions, beliefs, with anything. If you were a good person and basically could have a good conversation, he would call you a friend. He was a stand-up guy." Muhammad also shot Mark Gassett, 37, of Fresno, who had just picked up groceries at a Catholic Charities building. The gunman pumped two more rounds into Gassett as he lay on the ground, police said. Gassett's ex-wife Lisa Gassett told The Fresno Bee that he had faced hard times but had been working to improve his life. The couple has two children. "He would give his shirt off his back for anybody," she told the newspaper. "That is the kind of guy he was." Next, Muhammad shot toward a bus stop where he had spotted three white men, police said. They scattered, and Muhammad picked the one who was older and appeared heavier: David Jackson, 58, of Fresno. Jackson's roommate said they were waiting for a bus home after going to the bank and then stopping to use the bathroom at Catholic Charities. Mark Greer, 62, said Jackson tripped over a curb in the parking lot, falling down when he was shot. Greer was able to get away. Advertisement "I was too fast for him, but David couldn't run that good," he said. Muhammad was arrested shortly after the rampage. He was expected to be charged with four counts of murder and arraigned Friday. Police say the shooter was candid in explaining the crimes that began Thursday night, when he killed another white man, a motel security guard, and culminated Tuesday, when he fired 17 rounds in less than two minutes and killed the three men on the same block. Francine Williams, mother of security guard Carl Williams, 25, described her son as a kind and giving person who had recently gotten engaged. Williams was a supervisor for Toys "R'' Us who was at his second job at a Motel 6 when Muhammad shot him multiple times after an argument, police and the mother said. Muhammad told investigators he felt disrespected. Francine Williams said Wednesday that she was in shock but also at peace because she got to tell her son how much she loved him and how proud he made her a few days before his death. He told her he loved her, too. Advertisement "So, I'm very, very, very grateful that I was able to say goodbye, maybe not at that moment, but prior to that," she said. Muhammad had a long criminal history and filled his social media feeds with posts about black separatism, reparations and "white devils." He told his family there was a war going on between blacks and whites in America. He claimed insanity after being charged with possessing cocaine with intent to distribute in 2005, and his attorney requested a psychiatric examination, saying Muhammad "appeared eccentric with some bizarre beliefs." He had at least two prior mental health hospitalizations, and his attorney said in court papers that Muhammad thought the justice system and his own lawyer were conspiring against him. Muhammad told investigators he is Muslim but prays to seven different gods and has not been to a mosque in 25 years. Police said he hid out in a ravine after the motel shooting and practiced voodoo rituals. When he learned he was wanted in the security guard killing, Muhammad decided to take out as many other white men as possible before he was caught, Dyer said. The suspect showed no remorse, police said. Advertisement Muhammad "is not a terrorist but he is a racist," Dyer said. Associated Press writers Kristin J. Bender, Janie Har and Olga R. Rodriguez in San Francisco and Mike Balsamo in Los Angeles contributed to this report. Former Massachusetts chemist Annie Dookhan pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence and falsifying thousands of tests in criminal drug cases, calling into question evidence used to prosecute the defendants. (David L. Ryan / AP) BOSTON Prosecutors moved to throw out more than 21,000 drug convictions on Tuesday, five years after a chemist at the state drug lab was caught tampering with evidence and falsifying tests. The state's highest court had ordered district attorneys in seven counties to produce lists by Tuesday indicating how many of approximately 24,000 cases involving Annie Dookhan they would be unable or unwilling to prosecute if the defendants were granted new trials. Advertisement The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts said Tuesday night that 21,587 cases had been recommended for dismissal. It said that would be the largest dismissal of criminal convictions in U.S. history. The cases would be formally dismissed by court action, expected Thursday, the ACLU said. Advertisement "Today is a major victory for justice and fairness, and for thousands of people in the commonwealth who were unfairly convicted of drug offenses," Matthew Segal, legal director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, said Tuesday in a statement. Dookhan pleaded guilty in 2013 to obstruction of justice, perjury and tampering with evidence after being accused of falsifying her work as far back as 2004. She was sentenced to three years in prison and was paroled last year. Many of the drug case defendants have already completed their sentences, though some probably remain in prison because of other charges not contaminated by the lab scandal. About 2,000 cases had been resolved before Tuesday. Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley, whose jurisdiction includes Boston, moved on Tuesday to dismiss all but 117 of the approximately 7,500 suspect cases there. The remaining cases, he said, involve people with a history of violent crime and probation violations. Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe moved for dismissal of more than 1,000 cases. Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn said his office is seeking to throw out more than 1,500. Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said there are nine cases her office would prosecute again if a motion for a new trial were granted. Also affected were thousands of cases in Essex, Plymouth and Norfolk counties. While it's unknown how many cases Dookhan falsified, her conduct cast a cloud over the many thousands she worked on. As a result, in January, Massachusetts' Supreme Judicial Court said prosecutors would have to show that they could retry these cases without relying on evidence handled by Dookhan. Advertisement Prosecutors said Dookhan admitted testing only a fraction of a batch of samples, then listing them all as positive for illegal drugs. Her motive, they said, was to boost her productivity and burnish her reputation. For those who have completed their sentences, wiping away their convictions will help them in other ways, such as employment, housing or immigration status, said Daniel Marx, an attorney who argued for the dismissals. "Now, a majority of these wrongfully convicted individuals will have the opportunity to clear their records and move on with their lives," he said. Anthony Benedetti, chief counsel of the Committee for Public Counsel Services, said some of the defendants lost their jobs or homes and some have been deported. "In many respects the damage has been done," Benedetti said. "Justice delayed is justice denied." Associated Press writer Steve LeBlanc contributed to this report. Eight in 10 Americans think marijuana should be legal for medical use, and nearly half 49 percent approve of smoking pot for recreation purposes, according to a new poll designed to gauge the nation's opinions about cannabis. Commissioned by Yahoo! News and performed by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, the survey asked a representative sample of 1,122 adults nationwide via cellphones and land-line phones. It posed a series of questions delving into people's feelings and perceptions about a plant that has increasingly gained public acceptance, with voters in a growing number of states approving various marijuana-use laws. Advertisement The drug remains classified as a controlled substance under federal law. While the Americans surveyed mostly supported use of medical marijuana, 69 percent said they didn't think pregnant women should partake. Advertisement Most respondents, 70 percent, said they believe marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol and tobacco cigarettes. And 67 percent said taking opioids such as Vicodin and OxyContin for controlling chronic pain was a larger health risk than relying on medical marijuana. Only 26 percent of Americans said they had never tried marijuana while 52 percent said they have used it at least once. More than half said they believe marijuana is socially acceptable, and addiction did not rank very high on most respondents lists of concerns about weed use. The biggest worry, expressed by 30 percent of those surveyed, was that marijuana is illegal. Even among those who had never used the drug, only 10 percent said they thought sinsemilla was addictive; 19 percent said they thought using the drug could lead to use of other illegal drugs. Despite a growing scientific consensus that marijuana is is particularly risky for kids and young adults whose brains don't finish growing until they are in their 20s, 47 percent said doctors should be able to prescribe medical marijuana to children. In February, the Trump administration signaled it would take a tougher stance toward enforcing federal drug laws than the Obama administration did, leading some to worry that states such as Denver, and now California, which have legalized pot for recreational use, will soon face a backlash. Doing so would seem to be an unpopular move, according to the poll results which show than only 20 percent of Americans thought the Trump administration's enforcement actions should be tougher than the Obama administration's for medical marijuana and 30 percent for recreational use. Everyone else said the feds should handle the issue the same as the Obama administration did or even more liberally. paul.sisson@sduniontribune.com @paulsisson LOUISVILLE Earlier this week, before heading downstairs to speak to nearly three thousand Kentuckians, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., reminisced about his 2016 presidential campaign. After he had gained steam, and his rallies had become arena-size events, he was struck by the difference between his crowds and those at Democratic Party fundraisers. "We'd have a rally with five or ten thousand young people out, a great deal of energy," Sanders said between bites of a steak sandwich. "Then I'd walk into a room and there'd be a thousand people from the Democratic Party. You were in two different worlds - one full of energy, one full of idealism. And the other, full of good people - I don't mean to put 'em down - who are the bedrock of the Democratic Party." Advertisement At that moment, Sanders was on the second day of a week-long, cross-country speaking tour with Democratic National Committee Chairman Thomas Perez. The DNC was picking up half the bill for the 12-seat chartered plane as well as the venues, including the downtown Louisville Palace. As Sanders spoke, Perez was a block away, meeting with party leaders who - like most Democratic leaders - had backed Hillary Clinton for president. Later that evening, they would take a stage and praise Sanders, who is not a Democrat, for reinvigorating their party. A chairman who defeated Sanders's preferred candidate to run the DNC was now touring as his opening act. Advertisement "Our values are aligned on so many of the critical issues that confront the nation and the Democratic Party," Perez said in an interview. "When people actually look at the platform of the Democratic Party - they'll say, 'We need community college!' - well, look at the platform. When they say, 'We need a $15 minimum wage' - look at the platform." The first 24 hours of the tour revealed both the strength and the seams in the strategy. It began in Portland, Maine, on Monday evening, where a crowd wrapped around the State Theatre to see the "Come Together, Fight Back" tour. Maine's Democratic Party leaders flitted through the crowds with clipboards, encouraging fans of Sanders to sign up. They had competition. A group of rogue "Berniecrats" had brought clipboards of their own, with petitions encouraging the senator to run for president in 2020 as an independent. When the rally began, a mention of Perez was met with boos audible over mild applause; the loudest heckling came from a man whose T-shirt declared his support for the Green Party. Once onstage, Perez described his Democratic Party as a vessel for activists, with a platform they could love. It was activists, he said, who stopped the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. It was activists who had passed a minimum wage hike, which Maine's Republican governor had halted. "In these first 100 days, the most remarkable thing is not what Donald Trump did - the most remarkable thing is what you did across the county," Perez said. The chairman left the stage, and a disembodied announcer introduced Sanders. This time, there were no boos; over 48 minutes, Sanders mentioned Perez's DNC only once. "Our job is to radically transform the Democratic Party into a 50-state party," Sanders said. "Our job is to create a democratic Democratic Party, a grass-roots party, where decisions are made from the bottom up." Any Sanders supporter could crack that code. In 2016, especially after it became clear that he could not win the nomination, Sanders and his delegates waged a largely successful campaign to move the party to the left. Advertisement The platform Perez could not praise quickly enough had been altered to endorse Sanders's economic issues, as well as marijuana decriminalization and the end of a ban on federal money paying for abortion. A "unity commission," created to appease Sanders delegates who blamed "superdelegates" for skewing the primaries, had finally been impaneled - and Sanders was watching to see whether it followed his advice. Since Clinton's general election loss, there was little resistance inside the party to Sanders's politics. As the plane flew to Louisville, a Harvard-Harris poll was being released that found Sanders polling at 57 percent favorability with all voters. No politician in America was better-liked. "Sanders is an asset to the Democrats," said Mark Penn, a former Clinton pollster and strategist, in a statement about the poll. In Kentucky, where Clinton pipped Sanders in the primary, the senator's star power followed him to every stop. After he finished his steak sandwich, a souvenir-seeker raced to his half-empty plate and picked up a french fry, waving it at a table of his friends like a trophy. On a midday visit to Frankfort, where the millennial-focused news site Mic had convened a group of Kentucky voters, Sanders walked past posters from his 2016 bid that had never left the venue's windows; selfie-seekers waited more than an hour to see him. "The reason we are on this tour is to do nothing less than try to revitalize American democracy," Sanders said. Advertisement Doing so did not mean going easy on Democrats. In Frankfort, as in Monday's speeches, Perez and Sanders suggested that Democrats had lost voters to Trump's GOP because they had stopped talking to them. Perez and Sanders took turns explaining to the Mic-assembled panel that Democrats wanted to help them all - to provide free college education, to pay coal miners' pensions, to make health care cheaper. "I suspect that the Democratic Party here in Kentucky has not done the kind of job that it should have done in explaining [that] hundreds of thousands of people have received health care," Sanders said to a scrum of reporters after the panel. Perez, who has criticized Democrats for the same sins, took more shots at the Trump presidency. "The cost of one trip to Mar-a-Lago would fund the White House logs database for 13 years," he said, after a windup about the Trump budget's spending cuts. On the way back to Louisville, Perez suggested that Democrats had countless opportunities to portray Trump as a phony populist; the challenge was in focusing, and getting anyone to listen. "Your life is not going to improve if your family member, who has an opioid addiction, loses his health care," said Perez. "Your life isn't going to improve if an infrastructure bill doesn't have prevailing wage requirements." On Tuesday, as the tour continued, Perez and Sanders fell in and out of sync. Perez had spent weeks talking up Jon Ossoff, the Democrat trying to win the suburban Atlanta congressional district vacated when Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price joined the Trump administration. After a closer-than-expected April 11 defeat in a Kansas district, Perez thought Democrats needed to "swing at everything." Sanders was less interested in the Ossoff race. "He's not a progressive," he explained. He was endorsing Democrats based on their economic populism; they could differ from progressives on social issues, but not on the threat of the mega-rich to American politics. Soon, he said, the restored 5-4 majority on the Supreme Court was likely to make it legal for the wealthy to give unlimited sums to candidates, and the only way to fight back was grass roots politicking and small donations. Advertisement "If you are running in rural Mississippi, do you hold the same criteria as if you're running in San Francisco?" he said. "I think you'd be a fool to think that's all the same." Sanders had said this before, and each time, he'd sparked anger from a center-left ready to accuse him of abandoning women or nonwhite voters. On Thursday, he was set to campaign in Omaha for Heath Mello, a Democrat running for mayor who had previously backed a bill requiring ultrasounds for women considering abortion. But Perez and Sanders were on the same page about candidate diversity. "I live in the people's republic of Takoma Park," Perez explained. "If you demand fealty on every single issue, then it's a challenge. The Democratic Party platform acknowledges that we're pro-choice; but there are communities, like some in Kansas, where people have a different position." By Tuesday night, the tour was starting to click. There was just one heckler in the Palace, who yelled "corporate shill" at the chairman during a quiet moment. As in Maine, there was a standing ovation when the local member of Congress, a Democrat who had backed Clinton, endorsed Sanders's call for "single-payer," Canada-style health care. And there was a smoother stage show. Perez himself introduced Sanders, and the senator told their audience to "bring millions of people into the political process" and create "a political system not dominated by a handful of billionaires." After 45 minutes, Perez re-emerged from backstage, following Sanders to the place where a bluegrass band called Relic was playing "This Land is Your Land." The two of them clapped along, belting out Woody Guthrie's lyrics. From a distance, it looked like they were singing in harmony. Democratic candidate for Georgia's Sixth Congressional seat Jon Ossoff speaks to supporters during a special election night party in Atlanta, Ga., on April 18, 2017. (Erik S. Lesser / EPA) DUNWOODY, Ga. A Georgia congressional election is headed to a high-stakes runoff that's shaping up as a referendum on President Donald Trump ahead of crucial midterm elections next year. Democrat Jon Ossoff, a little-known 30-year-old former congressional staffer, fell a few percentage points shy of an outright victory Tuesday amid an 18-candidate scramble in Georgia's 6th Congressional District. His strong showing in the conservative district, driven by eye-popping fundraising numbers from out-of-state donors, underscored Democrats' eagerness to get a win against Trump as they strive to take back House control in 2018. Advertisement Republican Karen Handel, a former Georgia secretary of state, finished a distant second in the crowded field, qualifying for the June 20 runoff. Handel treated Trump gingerly throughout the campaign in a district he barely won in November. But the president called to congratulate her Wednesday morning, and Handel said she hoped he would come to campaign for her. Advertisement "I would hope so," Handel said on CNN. "I mean look, all Republicans, it's all hands on deck for us." Trump had attacked Ossoff in recent days and took to Twitter again Wednesday morning to crow about the outcome in Georgia following Democrats' failure to win a different special election in Kansas last week. "Dems failed in Kansas and are now failing in Georgia. Great job Karen Handel! It is now Hollywood vs. Georgia on June 20th," Trump wrote, alluding to celebrity donations that came in for Ossoff. The close outcomes in conservative Kansas and Georgia underscored Democrats' potential to capitalize on surging liberal energy following Trump's election, but also pointed to the limits of how far they can go in Republican-friendly districts. Republicans hold a 237-193 majority in the House so Democrats would need to pick up more than 20 seats to retake control in the 2018 midterm, an uphill climb. Another special election is coming up in Montana next month. Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez insisted Democrats have the momentum in the Georgia race, and made clear his party will not be shy about tying Handel to Trump. "She's the person who supports Donald Trump's efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. I wonder if Donald Trump and she are going to campaign on that issue in her district," Perez said on CNN. "We have a lot of wind at our back. The progressive energy out there is palpable," he added. The winner in Georgia will succeed Republican Tom Price, who resigned the seat to join Trump's administration as health secretary. Advertisement Leaders in both major parties agree the race offers a prime test run for 2018 elections, because the affluent, well-educated Georgia district is replete with the kind of voters Democrats must attract to reclaim a House majority and win more gubernatorial and Senate races. For Democrats, Ossoff's near win encourages the opposition movement that has flourished since Trump's election. A Republican has held the seat since 1979, and Price won 62 percent of the vote in November. "There is no doubt this is already a victory for the ages," Ossoff told his supporters, praising them for a campaign that has collected more than $8.3 million, most of it from well beyond Georgia. Having already endured several million in attacks from national Republican outfits, Ossoff said he's ready for more. "Bring it on!" he said. For Republicans, Ossoff's strong performance acts as another wake-up call alongside the closer-than-expected win in a House special election last week in archconservative Kansas. It also serves notice that GOP candidates may struggle to handle Trump, who engenders an intense loyalty among his core supporters but alienates many independents and even Republicans. "We know what's at stake here and I don't think this is about any one person," Handel said Wednesday. "We all have to rise above it, that it is about a district that has a long legacy of Republican leadership." Advertisement In fact, Trump arguably gave Ossoff his opening in the first place. The president barely edged Hillary Clinton here in November, falling short of a majority four years after Republican Mitt Romney got more than 60 percent of the presidential vote. Handel moved quickly to unite her fractured party, drawing immediate endorsements from some of her fellow GOP candidates and national party leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan. Republicans believe a two-candidate scenario will embolden conservative voters and make it harder for Ossoff to campaign above the fray as he has thus far. Republicans have made their own attempts at nationalizing the campaign. A political action committee backed by Ryan and other House GOP leaders funneled more than $2 million into attacks on Ossoff, tying him to national Democrats like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. The California Democrat remains an unpopular figure in the district. A GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb strikes an ISIS-K cave and tunnel systems in the Achin district of the Nangarhar Province in eastern Afghanistan at 7:32 p.m. local time April 13, 2017. (Department Of Defense) When terrorism raises its head, governments often take steps that are supposed to make us safer banning tiny knives from airplanes, putting metal detectors at stadium entrances, issuing "orange" alerts. Skeptics dismiss these measures as "security theater." They're a show, not a genuine obstacle to terrorists. The Trump administration, obsessed with imagery, has adapted this approach to national security. The president tweets bellicose warnings to North Korea. Vice President Mike Pence goes to South Korea to don a bomber jacket and stare implacably across the Demilitarized Zone. An aircraft carrier steams toward the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea or rather, President Donald Trump claims it is doing so even as it heads in the opposite direction, thousands of miles away. Advertisement U.S. Vice President Mike Pence looks at the North side from Observation Post Ouellette in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), near the border village of Panmunjom, which has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War, South Korea, onApril 17, 2017. (Lee Jin-man / AP) Anyone who heard Trump brag about his choice for defense secretary knows that half the appeal of Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis was his nickname, "Mad Dog," which the president mentioned every chance he got. Had Mattis been known as "Peewee" or "Mouse," he would have been passed over. With all the noise and spectacle, the Trump presidency often seems less like an attempt at governance and more like a rehearsal for a Broadway musical. It's just not clear whether it will be a comedy or a tragedy. Advertisement Some of the props are real. When the military dropped the biggest conventional bomb in the U.S. arsenal on an Islamic State position in Afghanistan, it came as a surprise. But you know the Pentagon had Trump at "mother of all bombs." Once he heard about it, he had to use it. The problem is that these gestures are no substitute for strategies. This sortie was meant to highlight our power in a way no one could miss. But what happens if you drop your biggest bomb and it doesn't win the war? Those on the other side conclude that they can take the worst you can inflict. The rest of the world sees the same thing. It's known as shooting your bolt. The most important question in fighting a war is often, "Then what?" It's one of many questions Trump doesn't spend hours contemplating. He certainly didn't let it delay his missile strike on a Syrian air base, which was supposed to punish President Bashar Assad's use of chemical weapons. That attack sent a couple of signals. The first is that if Assad resorts again to chemical weapons, the U.S. may respond with military force. The second is that if the Syrian dictator uses other methods as he has done in killing some 100,000 civilians he has nothing to worry about. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 20 President Donald Trump receiving a briefing on the Syria military strike from the National Security team via video teleconference on April 06, 2017, at the Mar-a-Lago estate in West Palm Beach, Florida. (White House / AFP / Getty Images) Assad can take a hint. In the week after the missile strike, according to the Voice of America, the Syrian Network for Human Rights noted an increase in his use of cluster munitions, incendiary weapons and barrel bombs, which killed at least 98 civilians, 24 of them children. The 22,000-pound bomb that hit a network of caves used by Islamic State in Afghanistan was said to have killed 96 enemy fighters while causing no civilian casualties. The latter claim invites skepticism. George W. Bush and Barack Obama both declined to use this weapon because of its indiscriminate effects. Bush considered it for taking out Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. In the end, the danger to innocent bystanders was deemed so great that it was left on the shelf until now. Trump clearly thinks that worrying about civilian casualties makes you look weak. Advertisement But indifference to collateral damage doesn't mean he will succeed in Afghanistan or Syria. One huge conventional bomb, or two or five, won't defeat Islamic State which isn't even our chief enemy in Afghanistan. And deploying it against the Taliban, who have a wider and deeper presence, would doubtless spawn more terrorists than it would kill. The missile strike and the giant bomb drop both amount to an admission of impotence. We can't win in Syria without dispatching a large number of ground troops, and so far Trump is not willing to do that. We haven't won in Afghanistan even with large numbers of ground troops. Trump's loud but ineffectual tactics confirm to Assad and Islamic State that winning matters more to them than it does to us. The North Koreans likewise understand that Trump has no good options for imposing his will. They are all likely to grasp that behind his act is a void. Trump blusters and bombs because he doesn't know what else to do. Steve Chapman, a member of the Tribune Editorial Board, blogs at www.chicagotribune.com/chapman. Download "Recalculating: Steve Chapman on a New Century" in the free Printers Row app at www.printersrowapp.com. schapman@chicagotribune.com Twitter @SteveChapman13 Advertisement Related articles: Chemical weapons aren't the real problem in Syria Dear Kim Jong Un: Watch out for Trump. He's even crazier than you. Why it's dangerous to have so many generals in Trump's Cabinet Can a China reset defang North Korea? Deal-maker Trump courts Xi Jinping David Lesperance is a Canadian-born lawyer who specializes in helping the super-rich secretly buy foreign citizenship so they can escape taxation at home. He calls his clients "Golden Geese" and says their net worth ranges from $25m to $19b. He says he's helped more than 300 US citizens acquire another citizenship to escape the IRS; these people give up their US passports. The countries that let the rich buy passports include Switzerland, Belgium, Portugal, Ireland and Italy. These countries offer sweetheart deals to tax-shopping ubermenchen, including 10-year tax holidays on their capital gains. Peter Thiel is not a Lesperance client, but he did secretly buy Kiwi citizenship. Lesperance "co-authored" a book arguing that countries shouldn't ask rich people to pay the same level of taxes as the rest of their citizens, lest these people hire someone like him to smuggle them to a tax haven. He got into the golden-goose game as a newly minted lawyer in 1990, when he was approached by a Detroit attorney who wanted to quit the United States for tax reasons. The client had already stowed part of his $15 million net worth in an "offshore bucket" and purchased citizenship in St. Kitts and Nevis. Lesperance helped him relinquish his US passport and set up permanent residency in Canada. For three years, the client commuted daily from Windsor to Detroit to wrap up his business while still fulfilling Canada's residency requirement. He then declared himself a nonresident citizen of Canada and moved to Australia, where a retiree incentive program permanently exempted his offshore trust from taxation. "I thought it was very cool and very cute," Lesperance says. He also thought it was a one-off. But referrals began trickling in, aided by a mid-1990s Forbes article naming two of his clients who had fled the taxman. Overall, expatriations of wealthy Americans averaged well under 1,000 a year until 2010, when the number abruptly doubled thanks to the expiration of the Bush tax cuts and the enactment of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, which made it difficult for Americans living abroad to conceal their foreign earnings from the IRS. These golden-goose expatriations hit 5,411 last yeara record high. Now Lesperance spends most of his time arranging new citizenships. One client, he told me, has collected nine passportsfor the bragging rights, mainly: "It had gone far beyond prudence." This Man Can Help You Escape the IRS Forever [Michael Mechanic/Mother Jones] (via Naked Capitalism) President Donald Trump, right, speaks as Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, left, listens at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., Monday, Feb. 20, 2017, where Trump announced that McMaster will be the new national security adviser. (Susan Walsh / AP) WASHINGTON Don't get me wrong: Some of the better appointments President Donald Trump has made are generals or lieutenant generals (e.g. H.R. McMaster). In part, that's because other picks suffer from egregious inexperience and ideological extremism. The lesson here should not be that generals make good civilian leaders. To the contrary, we are already seeing that a record number of generals in Cabinet-level ranks has its downsides. Generals are accustomed to barking commands and seeing subordinates salute and carry out their orders. Once a decision is made, they are used to unwavering and enthusiastic compliance. Civilian government and democracy do not work that way. Advertisement This culture clash was on full display when Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly arrogantly declared, "If lawmakers do not like the laws they've passed and we are charged to enforce, then they should have the courage and skill to change the laws. Otherwise they should shut up and support the men and women on the front lines.'' That rather stunning insult came in a speech in which he lashed out at a number of critics. The Post reports: "Several times in the speech, he took on critics of the agency, following months of complaints from Congress, civil rights groups and protesters that DHS is targeting Muslim travelers for unfair scrutiny... Advertisement "Kelly, a retired Marine general, said criticism of the agency's work is often misguided and based on inaccurate reporting. "Lawmakers, politicians and advocacy groups may hear 'a partial or inaccurate media report' and 'assume the men and women of DHS are intentionally abusing innocent individuals while breaking or ignoring U.S. laws or court orders, instead of assuming as they should that the men and women of DHS are carrying out their assigned mission in accordance with the law.' '' Kelly should know better than to bite the hands that appropriate funds to his department and conduct oversight. Moreover, his public tantrum underscores the Trump administration's anti-democratic disdain for dissent, a tenor that certainly flows directly from the president. One might dismiss the complaints of lawmakers who say Kelly is unresponsive as sour grapes from the opposition party. ("This is not boot camp,'' Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., said after a contentious private meeting with Kelly. "This is not newly inducted members of the Marine Corps. These are experienced lawmakers who understand the law.") However, the same kind of criticism has been raised even by Republicans when it comes to otherwise well-respected Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. Politico recently reported that in a dispute over Mattis' desire to hire former ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson, his highhandedness with Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., made matters worse: "Kevin Sweeney, Mattis' chief of staff, kept the Cotton staffers waiting and declined to invite them into his office, instead meeting with them briefly in an anteroom. He showed only a heavily redacted staff list and spent the meeting 'barking' at the staffers before 'storming out,' according to one national security source. "When [Vice President] Pence called Cotton days later, the senator relayed details from the meeting and signaled that he remained uneasy with Patterson's nomination. 'Had that meeting gone better, the vice president would have gotten a different message,' the national security source said. 'Sweeney did more to sink Patterson than the Muslim Brotherhood did.' (Sweeney did not respond to requests for comment.) ... " 'Everybody thinks very highly of him, but he doesn't have any political sense, and he doesn't think he needs any political sense,' said one former Bush administration Defense Department official. 'But it's quintessentially a political job.' " Like it or not, Congress, the press, outside experts and even those pesky voters will criticize Cabinet officials. If the latter react with contempt and arrogance, they will only increase criticism and undermine support for their department. A former State Department official who thinks highly of Mattis and Kelly told Right Turn, "It's part of the broader problem we're going to have from having a bunch of generals good guys though they may be in the positions they're in." Advertisement The greater danger, however, is an imbalance in our national security posture. Trump's preference for showy displays of hard power cannot be the sum total of our foreign-policy approach. We still lack a comprehensive policy for Syria. Trump has made a mess of our attempt to keep Turkey within the camp of Western democratic governments. Our North Korea policy consists of big talk, a lie ("The Trump administration is again facing questions about why it appeared to mislead or, at the very least, failed to correct the record about pervasive reports that the USS Carl Vinson was headed to North Korea starting 10 days ago") and the faint hope that China will "do something" about North Korea (something three presidents tried to achieve, with no success). Trump's decision to certify Iran as complying with the terms of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action after decrying the deal throughout the campaign was bracing for those who imagined that Trump would not follow the Obama administration's practice of turning a blind eye toward Iranian corner-cutting. (Conservatives have highlightedevidence of less than full compliance.) In short, a military plan is not a foreign policy. To be fair, Mattis and McMaster clearly have helped steer Trump back to a more "normal" national security approach (although Trump personally remains a Vladimir Putin fanboy in an administration of Russia hawks). That said, it is incumbent upon generals to recognize they are in civilian roles in which criticism and oversight go with the territory. They must adapt to new ground rules and become part of a comprehensive national security policy, of which hard power is only one element. Washington Post Jennifer Rubin is a Washington Post columnist. Related articles: The unmistakable anatomy of a President Trump flip-flop Advertisement Dear Kim Jong Un: Watch out for Trump. He's even crazier than you. Don't forget what really matters about Ivanka Trump Is Trump to blame for violence at his rallies? There may be revolution in the air in France, but not the Bastille kind. Winds of change are howling through the country from Calais to Cannes, and they could replace European unity with circle-the-wagons nationalism. More so than any other election in Europe this year, France's presidential ballot on Sunday is a referendum on the battered European Union. Though Brexit wobbled the bloc, it wasn't the existential broadside the French election could deliver. The shadow over the EU's future comes in the form of not one but two candidates far right nationalist Marine Le Pen and left-wing populist Jean-Luc Melenchon. Advertisement Standing in the way of an EU meltdown: 39-year-old centrist Emmanuel Macron, an ex-investment banker who believes France's prosperity is inextricably tied with Europe's. Sunday's contest is the election's first round. If no candidate wins a majority, the top two vote-getters square off in a second round May 7. Postwar European unity has never had it this rough. The debt crisis that roiled several southern European nations beginning in late 2009 was followed by the flood of migrants streaming into Europe from the Middle East and North Africa. Then last summer, the United Kingdom shocked the world by deciding to quit the EU. That, coupled with the ascent of Donald Trump, had European leaders bracing for a populist revolt at the polls this year across the continent. Advertisement In national elections in the Netherlands last month, the defeat of ultra-nationalist Geert Wilders was a victory for advocates of continued European integration. Still on tap: elections this fall in EU powerhouse Germany, where Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats face a challenge from the anti-EU party Alternative for Germany, though that group's popularity has dipped in recent weeks. On Wednesday, Parliament approved British Prime Minister Theresa May's call for early elections in June a bid to grow the number of lawmakers who prefer a smooth Brexit to a more sudden, economically disruptive one. For the U.S. and the rest of the West, an integrated, cohesive Europe is a stronger, more reliable partner. It was Europe working as a collective entity that sent thousands of soldiers to bolster American military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq. U.S. sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine would have had less bite without the EU joining in. Russian President Vladimir Putin pines for the day that Europe fragments into insular, self-interested nation-states that he can meddle with more readily. Le Pen, who flew to Moscow to meet Putin earlier this year, speaks the Kremlin's every-country-for-itself language. "The European Union will die!" she recently exhorted at a campaign rally in Lille. "The time has come to defeat the globalists!" The 48-year-old daughter of nationalist leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, who once called Hitler's use of gas chambers a "detail of history," Le Pen is staunchly anti-immigration, supports abandoning the euro and ultimately the EU, and touts protectionism to strengthen the French economy. Polling has her as a safe bet to make it to the second round: She's buoyed by strong support from French millennials frustrated with 25 percent youth unemployment. Ideologies aside, in many ways Melenchon's positions mirror Le Pen's. He also wants out of the EU and envisions France as a protectionist state. His advisers paint him as a French Bernie Sanders, though commentators have dubbed him a "French Chavez," and for good reason he has spoken admiringly of the late Venezuelan socialist leader. Melenchon's Robin Hood pledges include slapping a 100 percent tax on income earned over $425,000, lowering the official retirement age to 60, and trimming back the work week. Early on, he was at the back of the pack, but he's surged to compete with Le Pen and Macron. Macron, a former economy minister for Socialist President Francois Hollande's government, offers voters a distinct alternative: expansion of health services and vocational training for youth, support for an open door immigration policy, and an embrace of European unity. At a campaign speech earlier this year, he told the crowd France needs Europe "because Europe makes us bigger, because Europe makes us stronger." We hope French voters see the bigger picture the need for European cohesion, now more than ever. With Le Pen or Melenchon at the helm, the idea of France's exit from the EU becomes real and frightening. It would leave the bloc without any nuclear weapons, without a permanent seat at the U.N. Security Council, and without one of its heftiest economies. An EU collapse could follow. The West faces persistent terrorism and a resurgent Russia. A further fractured, weakened Europe would make the challenges more daunting. Become a subscriber today to support editorial writing like this. Start getting full access to our signature journalism for just 99 cents for the first four weeks. Michael LaPorta survived a gunshot to the back of his head in January 2010 while at the home of a friend, Chicago police Officer Patrick Kelly. Seven years later, he and his mother, Patricia, discuss his recovery and daily rehab. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune) (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune) "Pat Kelly never gets in trouble." That's what Michael LaPorta told Tribune reporters about his former best friend and college roommate, Chicago police Officer Patrick Kelly, whose service weapon was used to shoot LaPorta in the head in January 2010. Advertisement Kelly said LaPorta pulled the trigger in an attempted suicide. LaPorta is certain he didn't, but he can't remember what happened. The LaPorta family's federal lawsuit blames the Chicago Police Department for keeping Kelly on the force despite mounting evidence that he wasn't fit to be a cop. "Had the Chicago Police Department done its job without playing favorites, Patrick Kelly would not have been a police officer, would not have had a gun in the house and the incident would not have occurred," the LaPorta family attorney told reporters. More than seven years after the shooting, Kelly is still a cop. In his 13 years on the force, he's been arrested twice, declared mentally unfit for duty twice and named a defendant in six lawsuits. He's been investigated for misconduct 27 times and disciplined once. Advertisement The Tribune's Stacy St. Clair and Jeff Coen pieced it all together in a Sunday story. You can read it here. It's a case study in the failures of Chicago's police accountability system: Cops covering for cops. A disciplinary process that rarely finds officers guilty of wrongdoing and ignores patterns that could identify problem cops. Citizen complaints dismissed or declared unfounded and millions subsequently paid by taxpayers to resolve lawsuits. For those keeping a scorecard of promised reforms, it's a reminder of how much remains undone. Kelly's police career has been troubled almost from the start. He had barely finished probation and had already racked up four misconduct complaints when his girlfriend was taken to the hospital with multiple cuts and bruises and a gash in the back of her head. That was 2005. She said Kelly had beaten and choked her and hit her with a box fan; he said she attacked him. An investigator with the Police Department's Office of Professional Standards sustained a domestic violence complaint against Kelly, but its chief administrator overruled the finding. The girlfriend wouldn't press charges. Kelly got a pass. An arrest report dated June 12, 2006, gives a description of Chicago police Officer Patrick Kelly, who was charged with battery after allegedly throwing a TV remote control at his girlfriends brothers face. The case was dropped and no longer appears in court records. (Chicago Police Department) Months later, he was charged with simple battery after a fight with the girlfriend's brother. The charge was dropped, but a psychiatrist declared Kelly mentally unfit. He was stripped of his police powers for three months while his case went through arbitration, which he won. Over the years, he's been accused of hitting and kicking crime suspects, making false arrests and threatening to bring false charges. At least six cases were closed because the complainants wanted to remain anonymous. In 2013, Elaina Turner and Ulysses Green filed sworn complaints against Kelly after a confrontation outside their home, where their vehicle was being towed. Turner said Kelly shocked her with a Taser after she pretended to film him with her cellphone; she later had a miscarriage. She was charged with resisting arrest, Green with aggravated assault on a police officer. The Independent Police Review Authority, which had replaced the Office of Professional Standards, let their complaints languish for almost two years but eventually declared them unfounded. (It has since reopened the investigation.) A judge acquitted the couple. Now they're suing. Taxpayers have already shelled out $671,000 in settlements or jury awards in lawsuits involving Kelly and $2.4 million to pay private attorneys to defend him. Three cases are unresolved. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 16 Michael LaPorta stretches with the assistance of neurofitness specialist Creighton Goss during a physical therapy session on March 20, 2017, at the Next Steps rehabilitation center. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune) The only time Kelly was disciplined was after the LaPorta shooting. IPRA cleared him in the actual shooting, based on his account; LaPorta was in no shape to be interviewed. "There were two people in the room and one gave a statement," the investigator later explained. But Kelly got a 60-day suspension for failing to secure his service weapon and for his behavior at the scene, where a paramedic later said she was afraid he was going to hit her. He was charged with simple assault and later found not guilty for scuffling with a female police sergeant who wouldn't let him climb in the ambulance with LaPorta. His blood alcohol content was still above the legal limit seven hours later, when his fellow officers finally got around to testing it. The state crime lab estimated it was two to three times the limit at the time of the shooting. LaPorta's parents recall a young Officer Kelly describing suspects using racial slurs and boasting about roughing them up. They often wondered, they told reporters, "Who would give him a badge?" Advertisement Their lawsuit asks a different question: Why didn't someone take it away? Become a subscriber today to support editorial writing like this. Start getting full access to our signature journalism for just 99 cents for the first four weeks. The Tribune's editorial "Hail the status quo disrupters" touts Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey for his support of tuition vouchers, and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel for his support of a new graduation requirement for each student to develop a post-graduation plan. Both of these initiatives fall into the well-worn category of "feel-good efforts" programs that allow leaders to feel as if they are doing something while knowing full well that the efforts will do little or nothing to improve the quality of students' education. At the same time, proven strategies that we know help students learn more an investment in better curriculum and sustained support for better teaching are typically dismissed as "too little" and not "disruptive" enough. Advertisement Schools that make a serious commitment to improve instruction through improved curriculum, leadership and teacher support get results, in Chicago Public Schools and elsewhere. We need far less of the feel-good deception highlighted in the Tribune editorial and more support for tried-and-true efforts that will lead to better instruction in every CPS classroom every day. Only then will we see a true disruption in the status quo. Martin Gartzman, senior associate, UChicago STEM Education, University of Chicago, Chicago To celebrate Bicycle Day on April 19th, the date of Albert Hofmann's and the world's first LSD trip in 1943, we are publishing this excerpt from the forthcoming interview with Michael Horowitz the third installment of the Acid Bodhisattva series, coming soon to Timothy Leary Archives. Images: from Lysergic World (April, 1993): Albert Hofmann in 1977 (above), and the route of his famous bicycle ride on LSD through Basel, Switzerland on April 19, 1943, from Sandoz Laboratories to his house. Below, Leary's archivist Michael Horowitz reminisces about a car ride with Albert Hofmann and Timothy Leary in February 1972. "Tim and I took the train to Basel where Albert picked us up in his car. He drove, Tim sat in the passenger seat and me in back, trying to manage a super 8mm movie camera with one hand and a tape recorder with the other. Albert told us that we were driving the route of his first LSD trip in 1943, when he bicycled home with his Sandoz lab assistant after testing 250 micrograms. Tim cracked up when I asked Albert if he still had the bicycle. I knew it was gauche of me, but I couldn't resist. A short time later Albert pulled over." Here is an excerpt of the conversation between Albert and Tim, after they picked us up at the train station. On the way to Albert's estate we passed by his 1943 home. Albert: That house is where we lived at the time. I never thought I would get home that day. My assistant who had ridden with me at my request asked permission to leave. I told her fine, but in fact I was in a panic. My wife and children were away. It was just me. I barely managed to crawl to my bed. It was the first bad trip, too. There was no precedent. You must have thought you'd poisoned yourself. Albert: But in the end it was good. In the morning it was fantastic. Timothy: For me, the world changed forever. I would have remained a boring professional psychologist the rest of my life, making money and accomplishing nothing. Michael: Instead of being the most dangerous man in the world. Timothy: Right. Pharmacy lobbyists oppose a City Council proposal that would set limits on the hours and workloads of pharmacists. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune) Pharmacy lobbyists lined up Tuesday to oppose a City Council proposal that would set limits on the hours and workloads of pharmacists, saying the changes would be costly and cumbersome, while aldermen responded that the first consideration should be consumer safety. The measure, sponsored by Ald. Edward Burke, 14th, was inspired by a 2016 Tribune investigation that found 52 percent of 255 pharmacies tested in the Chicago region and nearby states failed to warn customers about drug interactions that could be harmful or fatal. Advertisement Garth Reynolds, executive director of the Illinois Pharmacists Association, told the Finance Committee chaired by Burke that the Tribune findings are "concerning and inexcusable" but that they don't represent what's happening throughout the industry. While consumer safety is paramount for pharmacists, Reynolds said, they face challenges under the current "economic environment" to balance a "sustainable practice and quality patient care." Advertisement Under the proposal, pharmacies in Chicago would be required to limit the hours pharmacists work, restrict how many prescriptions they could fill per hour, require they get meal and break time, and provide whistleblower protection when they flag problems. Reynolds testified he was concerned that the proposal would be difficult and costly to implement, points reflected by representatives for pharmacies that ranged from major chains to small independents to those that operate in hospitals. Pharmacy representatives have consistently argued that the changes Burke has proposed borrowed from a nearly identical bill in Springfield are unnecessary, citing changes Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner is urging following the Tribune investigation. Pharmacy lobbyists also have called Burke's proposal unconstitutional, arguing that their industry can be regulated only by the state. But Burke, citing Chicago's inroads on such workplace issues as minimum wage and paid sick leave, said the city has good legal argument to implement the ordinance. Ald. Jason Ervin, 28th, said Tuesday that a "good balance" must be struck on the issue but that a heavy emphasis should be placed on the safety of senior citizens and other constituents. He said so much is happening behind drugstore counters that "we sometimes miss things, and these errors can cause people great bodily harm." Facing a bank of opponents, Ervin said they conveyed a "lack of balance in this conversation that is all being swung" toward the pharmacies. Supporters of the proposal spoke at another Finance Committee hearing last month, when representatives of rank-and-file pharmacists maintained that changes are needed to cut down on prescription drug errors. In Illinois, pharmacies are required to conduct several safety checks, including whether the dose is reasonable and whether the medication might interact with other drugs the patient is taking. But the Tribune's investigation, published in December, found pharmacists frequently race through legally required drug safety reviews or skip them altogether. Advertisement Pharmacists also told the Tribune they felt overwhelmed by pressures at the workplace to work quickly and meet quotas. After the hearing, Burke said he may consider tweaks to the proposal but he anticipated a vote in the "near future." "The concept is there. This will encourage the legislature to move forward," Burke said. Among the seven pharmacy chains the Tribune tested, CVS had the highest failure rate at 63 percent of tests. Walgreens had the lowest, at 30 percent. Independent pharmacies had the highest failure rate overall, at 72 percent. CVS, Walgreens and Wal-Mart each have promised to take significant steps to improve patient safety nationwide. Combined, the actions affect 22,000 drugstores and involve additional training for 123,000 pharmacists and technicians. Wal-Mart had a 43 percent failure rate in the Tribune's tests. Following the Tribune report, Rauner proposed that pharmacists be required to counsel patients about risky drug combinations and other significant issues when buying a medication for the first time or when a prescription changes. Illinois now requires pharmacies to merely offer counseling, something often achieved by asking a question such as: "Any questions for the pharmacist today?" Advertisement At City Hall on Tuesday, Tanya Triche Dawood, vice president of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, pointed to the Rauner effort as making a significant difference in how pharmacies represented by her group would operate. "With Illinois changing its regulations, it's really going to change the face of how we interact with pharmacists," she said. The latest legislation nearing a vote in Springfield calls for a task force to examine the issue and come up with recommendations by Sept. 1, 2018. rlong@chicagotribune.com Twitter @RayLong When Double Door closed its doors last year after a long-winded legal battle over its eviction in Wicker Park, Chicago's music scene mourned the loss of a beloved venue. But now, a reason to rejoice: Double Door has found new life through a partnership with Logan Square's The Owl to host a free monthly concert series. The first concert will take place on May 8 featuring Chicago artists from Dark Circle Records, Luke Henry and Engine Summer. Henry recently played The Hideout and is set to release a new EP following last year's release of two songs, "Cleaning Out My Head" and "Movies." Punk trio Engine Summer has two albums under their belt, including 2016's "Yellow," released last August. Advertisement The performers will also DJ between and after their sets while you sip on $4 Breckinridge brews, $4 PBR cans or an $8 Jamo-shot and PBR comboaffectionately called a PB&J amongst the masses. Before the show, The Owl (2521 N. Milwaukee Ave. 773-235-5300) will hold its regular happy hour specials featuring half-priced cocktails and beer. The series comes from the owners of The Owl, David Halpern and Scott Spidale, as well as Double Door's former talent buyer and production manager, Jesse Ewan. Advertisement According to Ewan in a press release, The Owl seemed like a natural fit to "keep the Double Door flame alive after the eviction," because of the bar's "eclectic, live and local music events in the past. Future events will be held on Monday, June 5 and Monday, July 10 though no artists are attached yet. The event is free with doors opening at 6 p.m. and live sets beginning at 9 p.m. As always, the bar-turned-venue will be open until 4 a.m. @shelbielbostedt | sbostedt@redeyechicago.com A 22-year-old Aurora man has been charged with several felonies in connection with a police chase and crash in a stolen PT Cruiser Monday night on Aurora's East Side. Brandon L. Rogers, 22, of the 900 block of Second Avenue, is charged with two counts of receiving, possessing or selling a stolen motor vehicle, a class 2 felony; theft valued at less than $500 with priors, a class 4 felony; and aggravated fleeing a police officer exceeding 21 miles per hour over the speed limit, a class 4 felony, according to charges filed Tuesday in Kane County. Advertisement At about 6:21 p.m. Monday, police responded to a motor vehicle theft reported at the Downtown Transportation Center on the 200 block of North Broadway, where a man said his 2006 Chrysler PT Cruiser had been stolen sometime since he parked it in the lot at 5:50 a.m. and left keys inside the unlocked car, police said in a statement published to Facebook. As the officer was taking the initial report, a woman approached him and said someone had taken a rear tire and wheel off her car between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday while it was parked in the same lot, according to the statement. Advertisement An Aurora detective reviewed surveillance video and found information about both thefts, according to the statement. Hours later, at about 11:30 p.m. Monday, a community policing officer saw the stolen PT Cruiser with two men inside drive past him in the 1200 block of Second Avenue, police said. The officer tried to catch up to the other car, but the driver wouldn't pull over, police said. "The officer pursued it for a short while but saw it being driven recklessly and at high rates of speed, running several stop signs," police said in the statement. The officer reached speeds about 55 mph while the Cruiser was in excess of 70 mph, police spokesman Dan Ferrelli said in an email. In their statement, police said the officer terminated the pursuit near Kendall and Fenton, but kept the car in his sight as it continued northbound. The officer saw a cloud of smoke as the Cruiser's rear lights stopped moving around Kendall and Front Street, and continued on to find the car had crashed into an unoccupied parked car, police said. A witness to the crash told the officer the driver had fled the scene southbound while the passenger went westbound. A few minutes later, a police officer saw a man fitting the driver's description on the 1200 block of Grove Street and took him into custody, according to the statement. Advertisement A police dog deployed to track from the driver's side of the crashed Cruiser went directly to where the man who police identified as Rogers was being held, according to the statement. Police said they don't yet know the identity of his passenger. The theft charge against Rogers alleges he took the wheel off the woman's car. Police said he put the wheel on a car belonging to an acquaintance of his. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 100 Charge: drug induced homicide; Read more (DuPage County State's Attorney: Arrest does not imply guilt, and criminal charges are merely accusations. A defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty and convicted.) The only reported injury was a minor one, to Rogers' hand, for which he declined medical treatment, police said. Rogers is listed in custody at the Kane County jail, with bail set at $50,000, and a court date of 9 a.m. April 28 before Judge James C. Hallock in the Kane County Judicial Center. If found guilty of stealing the car, it wouldn't be the first time. In 2015, Rogers pleaded guilty to a 2014 class 2 felony charge of receiving, possessing or selling a stolen vehicle, also in Aurora, and was sentenced to five years of boot camp with credit for 165 days already served, concurrent with the sentences for a residential burglary later the same month and a burglary committed the month after the car theft, according to Kane County court records. Advertisement He has also completed jail sentences for prior convictions including theft and street gang contact while on probation, records show. hleone@tribpub.com Twitter @hannahmleone Audience members were instructed to wave green or red cards to express their opinions during a forum in St. Charles Tuesday night featuring U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-Plano). The cards were meant to discourage disruptions at the event, which was attended by about 750 people. (Linda Girardi / The Beacon-News) A large and lively crowd came out in St. Charles Tuesday night to hear U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren talk about a range of topics that drew a combination of jeers and applause. About 750 people came out to question the Plano Republican at the Arcada Theater. The line of people waiting for the Arcada doors to open for the event wrapped around the building on Riverside Drive to almost Illinois Avenue. Advertisement The nonpartisan League of Women Voters from five regions across Hultgren's 14th congressional district hosted the public question-and-answer session. The district covers parts of Kane, DuPage, Kendall, DeKalb, Lake, McHenry and Will counties. Audience members were instructed to check their political placards at the door and wave palm-sized green or red cards to discourage loud disruptions. However, the moderator repeatedly had to instruct the audience to stop the shouting and twice during the meeting warned they were prepared to shut down the session if the outbursts continued. Advertisement U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren, R-Plano, took part in a League of Women Voters forum at Arcada Theatre in St. Charles Tuesday night. (Linda Girardi / The Beacon-News) "I was surprised to hear the congressman had initiated the meeting," Lauren Underwood, of Naperville, said afterwords. "The congressman says that he values the dialogue and values hearing from his constituents. I think he heard from us tonight." On the Republican move to repeal and replace former President Obama's Affordable Care Act, Hultgren said the current system "isn't working right." "It's not enough to have coverage - you have got to make sure you have the care and that a doctor is willing to see you. It's a real problem that we are seeing right now. Sometimes under the coverage people have, they can't go to the hospital that is closest to them... premiums keep going up," Hultgren said. The audience objected when Hultgren said, "Ultimately what I want to see is a marketplace with an option of choices. To me, choices are a good thing and something that's been a great thing about our nation." Hultgren said he agreed that the current immigration and naturalization service is not working. "It is incredibly bureaucratic and ridiculous in the time it takes for us to be able to do the vetting and find out who is coming here to truly provide growth in America," he said. "We also have to recognize that sovereignty of a nation is important. Making the choice of saying who is coming in to bring benefit and add value to our nation is a positive thing." U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren, R-Plano, speaks to about 750 constituents at the Arcada Theatre Tuesday in St. Charles. (Linda Girardi / The Beacon-News) The audience reacted with shouting and red cards when the congressman said, "Right now, with the current system that we have, we don't really know who is coming across our borders." Hultgren said he supports better control at the nation's borders and airports. Advertisement Hultgren was asked about President Trump's approach to the situation in Syria, especially the missile attack following a use of chemical weapons in the country. "I support what the president did," Hultgren said, to boos from the crowd. "I can't imagine you would boo and support what Syria did to their own children," the congressman said. Hultgren said it was a targeted approach that went after an airbase. Hultgren said he supports congressional involvement in military action, but when it is "very measured in something like this it is the right thing to do." "If we go to war, you send your kids," shouted a woman. On the topic of campaign contributions, "Everything I have received is absolutely available online," he said. Advertisement U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren, R-Plano, speaks with constituents after a public question-and-answer session at the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles Tuesday night. (Linda Girardi / The Beacon-News) Hultgren had been asked about allowing internet service providers to sell private browsing and email history. He said at the end of the last administration many things were passed not by Congress but by executive order. "It was a significant overreach," he said to more boos. Hultgren was asked if he accepts the concept of global warming. "The climate is changing, absolutely... Our best solution ultimately is finding safe, clean energy that will take us into the future. I have been supportive of those things but I also think we need new discoveries that I hope we will see out of Fermilab and Argonne National Laboratory." Hultgren was asked about Trump's proposed cuts in science funding and how he would protect money for Fermilab and the jobs and economic contributions it brings to the district. He got lots of green cards and applause for saying he thought the president's proposed budget cuts were a mistake. Hultgren got a favorable response when he said that he would be open to a law that would require candidates to disclose their income taxes. Advertisement "Going forward, I think it is something we ought to talk about," he said. On Russia, "I absolutely don't trust Russia. They are not our friend," Hultgren said. "My allegiance is to you." As a follow-up question, Hultgren was asked if he would support and advocate for an independent prosecutor concerning ties between Trump and his staff and Russia. "I am open to it," he said. "The problem is that it could set the process back six months. The process is already going. We have people (on the intelligence committee) who are well respected from both sides of the aisle saying it is working. We will have real answers to bring to Congress. If something comes up that they literally can't do it, I would be open to it." Hultgren said input from constituents "ultimately does have an influence on my vote." "There are people in this room and people that I have seen that we disagree on a lot of things but we have some incredible conversations. I have learned from them and they have changed my way of thinking on some things," Hultgren said. Advertisement Underwood said she wasn't put off by the liveliness of the audience. "People have strong opinions about what is going on in our country today," she said. "I think Hultgren heard it and felt it. While there was some shouting, I think overall people were respectful. Some of these issues are a matter of life or death. To sit politely with hands clasped is not always possible with these issues." Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News An Oak Lawn woman accused of brutally slaying her 5-month-old granddaughter with a sledgehammer and kitchen knife is expected to be interviewed Thursday by a neuropsychologist who has studied domestic homicide, according to court records. Alfreda Giedrojc's public defender requested that the expert evaluate her to determine whether she is fit for trial. A judge ruled in October 2014 that Giedrojc could be tried after she previously was ruled unfit to stand trial. Advertisement Giedrojc was charged with first-degree murder for allegedly killing 5-month-old Vivian Summer in October 2013 in Oak Lawn after she was unable to quiet the baby. Dr. Robert Hanlon, an associate professor of clinical psychiatry and clinical neurology at Northwestern University, was scheduled to interview Giedrojc, a 64-year-old Polish immigrant, through an interpreter. Advertisement Messages left at Hanlon's Chicago office were not returned. Hanlon is the lead author of a Northwestern University study that found people who kill family members and intimate partners have a different psychological profile than those who kill strangers. The report, released in August, found those who killed their kin were more likely to have severe mental illness, lower IQ scores and cognitive impairment than those who killed people they didn't know. They also were less likely to have prior felony convictions, according to the research. For the study, Hanlon interviewed and evaluated 153 people who were either charged with or convicted of first-degree murder in five states, including Illinois. Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday > The new mental examination of Giedrojc was ordered in August. Her defense believes she is not mentally fit to face the charges against her. A judge declared Giedrojc mentally unfit to stand trial in July 2014, but the decision was reversed three months later. According to court records, Giedrojc was admitted to McFarland Mental Health Center in Springfield in August 2014. She was diagnosed with a history of "major depressive disorder" and went into remission after being placed on antidepressant and antipsychotic medication. An October 2014 evaluation described Giedrojc, who came to America in 1983 and has an eighth-grade education, as "quiet and submissive" who speaks little, according to court records. The same evaluation found that she understood the consequences of the charges against her and that she would need continuous medication. Authorities previously said Summers was left alone with Giedrojc, who beat the baby with a sledgehammer on the floor before retrieving a knife and cutting the infant's throat. Advertisement It was the first murder Oak Lawn in three years. Giedrojc has been held without bail by Cook County authorities since October 2013. Her next court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 20. Nick Swedberg is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Marian Catholic High School in a discrimination suit last month in which seven students alleged the school drug tested them because of their race. The students' parents filed the suit two years ago after their children were expelled from the Chicago Heights school for testing positive for cocaine and other drugs. Six of the students are black, and one is white. They sued because they believe the random selection drug testing program discriminates on the basis of race. Advertisement A district court dismissed the complaint and the appellate court unanimously upheld their decision. The court determined the complaint did not support a claim of racial discrimination, according to court documents. The court noted that the inclusion of the white student in the suit did not help the plaintiffs' racial discrimination case. Advertisement "Marian Catholic High School is pleased with the court's ruling and, out of respect for all involved, will not comment any further on this matter," the school replied in a statement to the Daily Southtown. The drug testing program at Marian, which was founded by the Dominican Sisters of Springfield, uses random hair sample testing to maintain a drug-free environment. Every student is tested once a year, according to court documents. All expelled students denied taking drugs. When they took outside urine tests, all tests drew negative results. The plaintiffs claimed Omega, the company that tested the hair, drew false positive results and that it's testing protocols were flawed. "Even if we assume that Omega was using poor scientific techniques in its testing, that is a far cry from alleging that it was systematically disadvantaging some sample providers on the basis of race," Chief Judge Diane Wood wrote. mmccall@tribpub.com @MatthewMcCall_ A psychological examination has found the Oak Lawn woman accused of brutally killing her infant grandchild fit to stand trial, said the judge in her case. On Wednesday, Cook County Judge Colleen Hyland set a bench trial date of July 16 for 65-year-old Alfreda Giedrojc. Prosecutors allege Giedrojc beat 5-month-old Vivian Summers with a sledge hammer before cutting the infant's throat with a kitchen knife. Advertisement "How long do you think the trial will take?" Hyland asked Wednesday. "One day, judge," said Cook County prosecutor Michael Deno. Advertisement Giedrojc's examination report, signed by Assistant Director Christofer Cooper of Cook County Forensic Clinical Services, specifically found the Polish immigrant fit to stand trial with medication. According to court records, Giedrojc had been found legally sane in October. A county-provided interpreter has been present at hearings and evaluations for Giedrojc, who was born in Poland and does not speak English fluently. Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday > In October 2013, Joe Summers of Bolingbrook, had left his daughter Vivian at Giedrojc's Oak Lawn home to visit his brother-in-law's house across the street, authorities said. Giedrojc allegedly killed the infant when she wouldn't stop crying, officials said. Prosecutors and her defense have spent years playing ping pong with Giedrojc's legal mental status. Giedrojc was ruled mentally unfit in July 2014 by the judge, who agreed with the conclusion of a doctor from Forensic Clinical Services, court records state. By October 2015, her defense attorney at the time sought another evaluation, court records state. The public defender brought Dr. Robert Hanlon, a professor with experience evaluating defendants in trial involving family members, to conduct a new examination. But in August 2016, Hanlon was told to turn over all materials related to his examination to Forensic Clinical Services. Giedrojc was found sane and able to understand her Miranda rights one month later. Giedrojc returns to court June 6 for a status hearing. Advertisement Nick Swedberg is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown. An Evanston man was sentenced to two years in state prison this week in connection with a case from last fall of illegally possessing a loaded sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun. Hari H. Lele, 20, of the 1200 block of Forest Avenue in Evanston, pleaded guilty to felony charges of not having a Firearm Owner's Identification card and was sentenced at the Skokie courthouse Monday. Advertisement He will serve the time at Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet, according to information from the Illinois Department of Corrections. According to Evanston police, on October 17, 2016, a patrol officer saw Lele walking in the 900 block of Greenleaf Street with a green backpack that appeared to have an object inside that was stretching the bag's material. Advertisement The officer reportedly knew Lele through previous contacts and had information that Lele was involved in ongoing narcotics sales in the area, police said. Police said that when Lele saw the officer, he started to walk in the opposite direction. When the officer asked about the backpack Lele was carrying, Lele denied owning it, police said. The officer then searched the backpack and found a loaded sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun. He was arrested and charged with felony aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, along with the no-FOID card charge. But the weapons charges were dismissed as part of Monday's plea deal. In March 2016 Lele was charged with delivery of a controlled substance, possession with intent to deliver marijuana and unlawful possession of marijuana, according to court documents. The status of those charges was unclear Monday. Lele received the two-year prison sentence despite his attorney asking the court for leniency. Advertisement The attorney said his client almost died of cancer when he was a child and that, due to the disease and treatment, Lele was immature for his age and did not fully understand the consequences of his actions. Brian L. Cox is a freelancer The home belonging to business man William Runzel IV, in the 2900 block of Payne Street in Evanston, is pictured in this April 13, 2017 photo. Over 200 pages of police reports document calls for service to this address from 2005 to 2015. (Genevieve Bookwalter / Pioneer Press) The lawyer for an Evanston business man recently released from federal prison says his client is a changed man, and based on copious police complaints related to his residence, neighbors hope so. William Runzel IV pleaded guilty last fall to federal charges of tax evansion, after he failed to report over $3 million in income from business dealings. Advertisement He was sentenced to 60 days in prison, and the 61-year-old walked out of the Federal Correctional Institution in Pekin on March 31. His attorney James Shapiro said Runzel also paid about $28,000 in restitution. Advertisement "People do this stuff, you know? People avoid the tax man all the time," Shapiro said. "He certainly didn't need the money. He has plenty of money. He gave a lot of it away." But in court documents filed during his sentencing phase, neighbors who wrote anonymously described Runzel's residence in a tony north Evanston neighborhood as a wild party house that the patriarch failed to control. "The Runzel house on Payne Street makes the disreputable Delta Tau Chi house in the film "Animal House" seem tame," one neighbor wrote, describing Runzel's son's "antics" of "flipping off our security cameras" and "mooning us while racing down our street." Through a Freedom Of Information Act request, the Evanston Review received about 200 pages of Evanston police reports detailing calls for service to his residence in the 2900 block of Payne Street. They included reports of alleged theft, parties, vandalism and drug deals, among other complaints. The police reports were dated from 2005 to 2015 and describe late-night parties with dozens of teenagers, barking dogs and alleged marijuana deliveries. Reports included "smashed" car mirrors and kicked-in front grills; loud music; stolen purses and backpacks; a couch on the front lawn; and a homophobic slur spray painted on a nearby orange construction sign, among other complaints. "I advised the homeowner that her residence is listed as a nuisance premise and would be cited if I observed any violations," a police officer wrote in a 2007 report. In 2009, officers said they watched a "drug transaction" in front of the home and found the car driver "had pills of Ecstasy in his center console," including "four plastic baggies with 25 pills each," a police report indicated. Advertisement A woman living at the home reported missing a pair of gold-and-diamond earrings, which she valued at $2,400, after a 2011 New Year's Eve celebration that included about 50 revelers, according to one of the police reports. Ald. Mark Tendam, 6th Ward, said he was well aware of the reported problems at the Runzel address and said the situation is exacerbated because the man's property stretches down the middle of the block, with homes on either side. A Google Earth online photo shows about 10 homes touching some part of the Runzel property. "When they have a party, it doesn't affect a few neighbors. It affects an entire block," Tendam said. The alderman said while he and neighbors were often bothered by the actions, there was some sympathy. "I didn't approve. These kids were largely self-governed," Tendam said. However, Runzel's first wife died of cancer a few years ago and "I gave them some slack." Advertisement As for the neighborhood disturbances, Shapiro argued that Runzel likes to help troubled teens. "He takes in a lot of strays," Shapiro said. Runzel and other co-owners of Bensenville-based Lake Cable, a wire and cable manufacturing company, sold scrap metal to Tri State Metals in Chicago and evaded paying taxes on over $3 million in income between 2006 and 2012, according to court documents. Shapiro and others described Runzel as a generous man who made a big mistake. "Bill deserves to walk away from this situation without punishment because he is charitable and kind. We all make mistakes in life," one Evanston neighbor wrote to the judge determining Runzel's sentence. In addition, Shapiro said, Runzel largely spent the money on others. He donated to charity, gave large tips to his hunting guides and treated his fiance very well. Advertisement Meanwhile Shapiro said he believed his client learned from and paid for his crimes in prison. "He learned a lot on how the other half lives," Shapiro said. "Even in Club Fed, you meet people on the other side of life." Nearby residents are hoping Runzel has also learned to be a bit more neighborly. gbookwalter@chicagotribune.com Twitter @GenevieveBook Sharanya Pastapur, a Lake Zurich Middle School North seventh grade, successfully spells two words after her final opponent in the Lake County Spelling Bee misspells comatulid. (Emily K. Coleman\News-Sun/Chicago Tribune) Sharanya Pastapur smiled as she heard the word deuteragonist. She knew this one. Advertisement Now, she just needed to spell that one word to win the Lake County Spelling Bee and a free trip to the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The Lake Zurich Middle School North seventh-grader had just struggled through spelling Keynesian, which she and her father had been pronouncing incorrectly in practice and so she didn't immediately recognize it. Advertisement Marlene Schaff, a home-schooled eighth-grader who had won last year's Lake County Spelling Bee but did advance past the preliminaries at Scripps, was standing off to the side after the judges ruled she misspelled comatulid, a tropical marine animal also called a feather star. She'd be called back and they'd keep going if Pastapur had gotten deuteragonist wrong. Pastapur ultimately spelled deuteragonist right, ending the bee for the night. However, on Tuesday the results of the event were challenged. Schaff's mother, Michele Schaf, sent a letter to the Lake County Regional Office of Education, which ran the county bee, Tuesday afternoon, arguing that the word-reader mispronounced her daughter's final word, asking that it review the matter. If officials agree the word was mispronounced, she said, they should declare the two girls co-champions. Michele Schaf said she asked for a moment at the bee Monday night, but wasn't given time to look for evidence showing that the word had been mispronounced. She said her daughter had spelled the word properly based on the pronunciation and the patterns of words with Latin origins. The request isn't about Pastapur, Michele Schaf said, describing the Lake Zurich girl as an amazing speller. She said it's about the integrity of the bee and the playing field is fair for all of the students, who give up hours of free time to practice. Regional Superintendent Roycealee Wood had not received Schaf's letter when the News-Sun reached out to her earlier in the afternoon and said she did not hear Michele Schaf ask for a review Monday night. Advertisement Kicking off with saxophone, the Lake County Spelling Bee ran about three and a half hours, with only two short breaks and two other challenges to words being ruled misspelled, one successful and one unsuccessful. It started with the 12 spellers drawn from 120 public and private schools. The bee lasted 46 rounds with judges going "off list," or using words not on the list provided to students, around round 35, Assistant Regional Superintendent of Schools Gary Pickens said. The students seemed a little more prepared this year than in previous years, said Mike Munda, who runs the Lake County Regional Office of Education's safe school program and has been helping with the bee for about five years. "The first round, they were all on top of it," he said. "In the past, they always asked for word of origin, pronunciation, but this time many went straight to spelling." It was only once the judges went off list that the spellers started using those questions to look for clues, Munda said. "If you don't know a word, the first thing I do personally would be to see if there are any alternate pronunciations," Pastapur said. Advertisement She pointed to when she was spelling hussar earlier in the bee. She had originally been thinking that the word was spelled with a "z," but when she heard an alternate pronunciation that used an s-sound, she recognized the word. If that doesn't help, she'll ask for the definition, which provides root words. Then she'll ask for part of speech, which provides the word's ending. Then, finally, she'll ask for etymology, which provides the patterns. Pastapur started doing spelling bees when she was about 6 years old after watching her sister, Aishwarya Pastapur, come in second at Scripps in 2009, she said. While little at the time, she remembers feeling stressed. "I like the challenge, and also you get to decipher the words by breaking them down," said Pastapur, whose favorite subject is science and who enjoys doing the Scholastic Bowl, gymnastics and playing the piano. She thinks doing the spelling bees has also helped improve her vocabulary. Her game plan before heading to Nationals, which will run May 28-June 3 near Washington, D.C., is continue practicing with her dad, going through past bees and finding lists online. Advertisement emcoleman@tribpub.com Twitter @mekcoleman Things were looking good for North Chicago aldermanic candidate Paula Carballido in January, when a city electoral panel ruled in favor of her challenge to incumbent Ald. Kathy January's nomination papers. January's name would not appear on the ballot in the April 4 election for 7th Ward alderman, the panel decided. As a result, January had to run as a write-in contender, and Carballido's was the only name on the ballot for the position. Advertisement Write-in candidates typically face an uphill battle because of their decreased visibility, and January only received five votes in the election, according to results posted by the Lake County clerk's office Wednesday morning that included provisional and late-arriving mail-in ballots. The only problem for Carballido? She received just three votes. Advertisement "It is unusual," said Lake County Clerk Carla Wyckoff, who said she couldn't recall ever seeing a race like the Carballido-January contest. Paula Carballido, whose candidacy for 7th Ward alderwoman in North Chicago garnered just three votes and failed to overcome her opponent's total of five votes. (Paula Carballido \ Handout) There are 426 registered voters in North Chicago's 7th Ward, according to Lake County Chief Deputy Clerk Debra Nieto. The eight votes cast in the April 4 election reflect a turnout of less than 2 percent, compared to a countywide turnout of 16 percent. January won the seat in 2013, when she was unopposed, with only 13 votes. And in 2009, nobody even ran for the position. January's husband, Charles January Jr., later won a 2011 race to serve out the unexpired two-year term, garnering six votes. "We did as best as we could," Carballido said. "Obviously, I'm disappointed. We worked on this for three months almost four months." Carballido said one reason for the low turnout is that many in the ward are associated with the Naval Station Great Lakes military training facility and so are temporary residents, often registered to vote elsewhere. Others are students at Rosalind Franklin University and are in the same situation. Still others are older military veterans receiving care at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center. "Some of them are older, and their health is deteriorating," Carballido said. "So they are not able to get out and vote. If you combine all that together, it makes for a very disappointing turnout." Attempts to reach Kathy January were unsuccessful. Sarah Brune, executive director at the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, said it's "up to elected officials and candidates in that area" to engage people in a way that gets them to the voting booth. "A lot of people don't understand how important these local races are, whether it's your local city council or mayor," Brune said. "These are really the people who are making choices that affect your everyday life." Advertisement Carballido said she sent out a campaign mailer to all of the registered voters in the ward, and 45 were returned because those residents had already moved since the November election. She said it was "disheartening" that all her door-knocking and hand-shaking wasn't able to get voters to the polls, but she added it was "a process I would do all over again." "It's not time that was wasted," Carballido said. "I enjoy meeting people in the community." Carballido works at Skokie Valley Laundry and Dry Cleaners in Highwood and ran as an independent. She previously worked as a community service liaison for the late Democratic state Rep. Eddie Washington of Waukegan, according to information she provided before the election, and has served on North Chicago's Zoning Board of Appeals. She has also served as president and on the board at the Exchange Club of North Chicago, a community service organization. Carballido moved to North Chicago more than four years ago, she said before the election. Before that, she unsuccessfully ran for township trustee in Waukegan in 2009, finishing sixth in a field of 12, from which voters chose four candidates. Carballido's objection to Kathy January's nomination petition was that January listed her address as being in the city of North Chicago, although her residence has a postal address of Great Lakes. Great Lakes, which has its own post office and ZIP code, is in the corporate limits of North Chicago, and Kathy January did mention Great Lakes in her street address. But the North Chicago Municipal Officers Electoral Board consisting of Mayor Leon Rockingham Jr., North Chicago Clerk Lori Collins and Ald. Ernest Fisher, 1st voted 2-1 in Carballido's favor, ruling that Kathy January "created voter confusion by listing a 'North Chicago' address on her petition sheets, instead of her 'Great Lakes' residence address." Collins cast the dissenting vote. The panel struck Kathy January's name from the ballot, and she became a registered write-in candidate. Advertisement Those seeking to be write-in candidates must file a "declaration of intent to be a write-in" at least 61 days prior to an election, according to the Lake County elections website. But when someone's nominating papers for a ballot candidacy are successfully challenged, that candidate can file to be a write-in up to a week before the election. Write-in votes are only tabulated for candidates who file the form. In other North Chicago races, Collins, Treasurer Kenneth Robinson and Ald. Carl Evans, 3rd, each ran unopposed and were re-elected. Rockingham was re-elected, as well, receiving 723 votes as the only candidate on the ballot. Write-in challengers Charles January Jr. and Anthony D. Coleman received 167 and 109 votes, respectively. Rockingham and January Jr. successfully challenged Coleman's name on the ballot because Coleman didn't file a statement of economic interest with the county, Collins said before the election. Rockingham said before the election that he challenged January Jr.'s candidacy, as well, and he withdrew because he knew the challenge would be successful. January Jr. had notarized some of his forms, but the notary didn't include a date in some instances, Rockingham said. Fisher, a Democrat, faced a challenge from independent candidate Terry Harris and won the race, 71 votes to 40. Turnout in that 1st Ward race was about 11.6 percent. In the 5th Ward aldermanic race, incumbent independent Torrance Markham's 129 votes were enough to fend off Democratic challenger Kenneth Smith, who received 102 votes. Turnout in the 5th Ward was about 15.5 percent. lhammill@tribpub.com Advertisement Twitter @lucashammill More residents have been leaving Chicago and Illinois than arriving in the recent past, highlighting the Prairie State's challenging employment profile. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune) Area demographers are giddy that Lake County's population growth has been relatively flat the past year. In fact, they're downright relieved we haven't lost more residents. This stagnant growth is despite the fact the county has the highest wage earners in the state, with an average gross income of $104,583, according to a recent report using Internal Revenue Service figures. Advertisement If we can't attract new residents with our relatively country-like quality of life or high pay, I say it's time to investigate what seems to be the problem. An area midway between two major cities should be exploding with new housing and jobs and people. President Trump, who skipped coming to Illinois this week, is not the cause of Lake County's static growth. Instead of stopping in this blue-leaning region, the president headed a few miles north to Kenosha County to praise the state of Wisconsin's industrial might. Advertisement And while Wisconsin always has been our competitor for jobs, cheese marts and summer cottages, it now appears Indiana is coming in a close second to where those of us in the Land of Lincoln really want to live. Another recent demographic report points out that every day 54 Illinois residents, citing a cheaper cost of living, pro-growth business climate, lower taxes and fireworks, made the choice last year to become Hoosiers. So much data to digest even as Illinois elected officials continue to ignore the flight of Illinoisans to locations near and far. As Lake County lost 366 people as of July 2016, Kenosha County gained 15 hearty souls. That's not a grand migration northward, but demographers caution about jumping to conclusions before the final population figures come rolling in from the 2020 U.S. Census. They also seem circumspect about Illinois' snowballing population losses. But that doesn't stop them from touting the exact preliminary Census Bureau figures that say Lake County's growth is flat and has Cook County losing 21,324 residents, the most loss in population of any county in the nation. They don't say much about states with the fastest job growth, but Illinois is not one of them. What the Prairie State is doing is trading jobs between the suburbs and Chicago. Where are the states with the fastest-growing jobs profile? According to the Kiplinger Report, the top five are Utah, Washington, Idaho, Nevada and Florida. Illinois doesn't make the top 10, not even among those of you who telecommute and work from home. But this is nothing new for a state stuck in neutral, idling in political gridlock. Meanwhile, life goes on elsewhere, especially among companies which continue to make decisions not in this state's best interests. Lake County News Sun Twice-weekly News updates from Lake County delivered every Monday and Wednesday > The most recent move was Caterpillar announcing late last month the Peoria-based heavy equipment manufacturer was closing its Aurora plant, laying off 800 workers. Some jobs will stay in Illinois, others are moving to Arkansas. I envision some Cat workers packing up like Steinbeck's Joads and heading to Arkansas, usually a favorite state for retirees because of its low taxes and inexpensive living costs. Advertisement So why should we care if the populations of Lake County or Cook County or Illinois continue to slide? The tax burden which will become greater in 2019 no matter who controls state government will grow heavier among the laggards who continue to stay in place, seeing the highest incomes in the state and region evaporate to pay for increasing services for a weakening population. It's time to get serious about people voting with their feet. Leave the silliness to the demographers. Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor. sellenews@gmail.com Twitter @sellenews Caterpillar Inc. will open its new global headquarters in Deerfield, rejecting the city of Naperville's and other municipalities' efforts to woo the construction equipment manufacturing giant. "We absolutely would have been thrilled to have Caterpillar, but we also knew that with businesses there's a lot that goes into making these selections," said Christine Jeffries, president of the Naperville Development Partnership. Advertisement The city presented Caterpillar with an information packet outlining the amenities Naperville could offer the company shortly after it announced it was seeking a location in the Chicago area to relocate its Peoria headquarters. "We certainly threw our hats in the ring, as I'm sure most communities in the area did," Jeffries said. Advertisement When it comes down to it, Jeffries said, DuPage County and Naperville have a lot to offer but it is hard to compete with Deerfield's proximity to O'Hare International Airport. Naperville always tries to lead with a "good faith effort" in attempting to attract businesses to the city, Naperville Mayor Steve Chirico said. "The incentive to coming to Naperville is what a great community it is," Chirico said, noting the city not often provide financial incentives to businesses. "It's a harder way to do it, but it's the right way." Chirico said he would have loved to have Caterpillar in Naperville, but "there's a lot of great companies out there and we're just going to keep working." Caterpillar announced its decision in a news release issued Wednesday. "Following a thorough site selection process, we chose this location because it is approximately a 20-minute drive to O'Hare airport and convenient to the city of Chicago via commuter train, achieving our goal to be more accessible to our global customers, dealers and employees," Caterpillar CEO Jim Umpleby said in the release. "This site gives our employees many options to live in either an urban or suburban environment. We know we have to compete for the best talent to grow our company, and this location will appeal to our diverse, global team, today and in the future." Caterpillar announced in January that it planned to move its headquarters to the Chicago area. About 100 employees will move to the area this year, and about 300 people to work at the new headquarters when complete in mid-2018, the company said. A large number of employees will continue to be based in Peoria and other nearby downstate communities. Advertisement The Chicago Tribune contributed to this story. ehegarty@tribpub.com A week after an online petition raised questions about too much pressure being put on Naperville students to succeed, representatives from the city's school districts, police department and social service agencies will meet to address the teen suicides that have occurred this year. While the student deaths have not been tied to academic pressure, what comes from the conversation could be a positive step toward what Naperville North junior Tessa Newman hoped to accomplish with her petition: changing a high school atmosphere heavily tied to perfectionism. Advertisement During Monday's school board meeting, Naperville District 203 Superintendent Dan Bridges said, "I have to be honest; we can't do it alone. "We need each other and our community partners people we can depend on to support us and provide us with the resources maybe that we don't have," he said. Advertisement Bridges and Indian Prairie District 204 Superintendent Karen Sullivan said they will meet this week with Naperville Police Chief Robert Marshall and community agencies, including 360 Youth Services and KidsMatter, to discuss ways to improve their outreach to students and the community. An essay Tessa wrote as part of the "Naperville North Pressure Culture Must Change" petition on Change.org suggests recent deaths and drug use by students in Naperville may be, in part, the result of kids being pressured to be perfect. Tessa was inspired to write the essay not only in response to the most recent death of a Naperville North student, but also by her high school's reaction. She said she dreaded attending school Wednesday because she believes the staff didn't really want to hear what she wanted to say. "All they want to hear is that we're OK," she said. The 1,458-word essay written in the wee hours of the morning was Tessa's response. "She wrote it because she was frustrated. It was her therapy," said her mother, Cheryl Newman. In the essay, Tessa said students often are pushed to take college-prep and Advance Placement courses and to participate in multiple extracurricular activities in leadership roles to improve their chances of getting into the best colleges. Students who don't follow that path or who don't excel are often looked down upon, and Tessa called out the school community to "stop paving the one true path to success." Advertisement Friends urged her to post her essay as a petition on Change.org. She was surprised how quickly it spread on social media and how it struck a chord not only with Naperville students and parents but with school districts with similar demographics in the Chicago area and across the county. Other than a perceived cold response from school officials, Tessa said the only real negative reaction she received was from students who've adapted to the culture of success. Tessa is no slacker, and she admits some of the stress expressed in her essay is of her own design. This semester she's taking two AP courses, and she's never had a full lunch period because of her desire to participate in both band and choir. She's also loaded with extracurricular activities, such as serving as drum major in the marching band, performing in the school musical and singing in five different choirs. And that doesn't take into account the music and voice lessons and theatrical productions that are a part her life outside of school. When she's felt overwhelmed with the pressure, Tessa said she's asked for assistance, sometimes for extra time to complete an assignment. Advertisement Growing up as a child actor has helped Tessa become accustomed to failure because she's been turned down numerous times for roles in film, television, theater and advertising. It's something she's always brushed off, she said. That changed when she entered high school. "I want to say it's OK to fail," Tessa said. "When I don't get there, it's invalidating." Her mother said the district does well to prepare students for college but questions if it might be too much. Cheryl Newman said her son is studying chemistry at the University of Alabama and has found the college course to be much easier than his class at Naperville North. "Should high school classes be harder than college classes?" the Naperville mom asked. Advertisement "It's extremely hard to be a parent," Newman said. "You want to raise a child who is kind and resilient. "And then you want the child to be happy. Every child is different. What does it take to make this child happy?" she said. subaker@tribpub.com Twitter @SBakerSun1 U.S. Rep. Bill Foster talks about the importance of federal funding for arts organizations. Also pictured, from left, are Rena Calabrese, president and CEO of Naper Settlement; Donna Sack; vice president community engagement and audience at Naper Settlement; Katie Arko, vice president of development at Paramount Theatre; and Brian Lynch, director of North Central College's fine arts program. (Erin Hegarty / Naperville Sun) President Donald Trump's proposed cuts to the National Endowment for the Arts would not only be felt by local theaters, arts organizations and museums, but by local businesses and community members, U.S. Rep. Bill Foster and local art leaders said. Foster, D-Naperville, hosted a discussion at Aurora's Paramount Theatre Tuesday to examine how a reduction in arts funding would affect local communities. Representatives from such groups as Naper Settlement and North Central College in Naperville, the Paramount and the Fox Valley Music Foundation participated. Advertisement Phones in his Washington, D.C., office have been "ringing off the hook" in response to the many federal budget cuts proposed, including arts grants, Foster said. "The National Endowment for the Arts distributes money to all 50 states and they try to do their best to distribute to rural and suburban areas," Foster said. "It's one of the great things about the program. It raises the awareness of culture throughout the population." Advertisement Steve Warrenfeltz, executive director of the Fox Valley Music Foundation, center, talks about the importance of art funding. Also pictured, from left, are Donna Sack, vice president of community engagement and audience at Naper Settlement; Katie Arko, vice president of development for the Paramount Theatre in Aurora; and Tim Rater, president and CEO of the Paramount. (Erin Hegarty / Naperville Sun) Arts grants don't just help fund projects and raise awareness, they also provide leverage when an organization is seeking donations and other grants because they carry a certain amount of prestige, said Rena Calabrese, president and CEO of Naper Settlement. "When a corporation is looking at donating, they're looking at who's getting grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for Humanities," Calabrese said. "They know that those projects go through a rigorous approval process and are vetted." There's a misconception that museums and arts organizations get all of their money on a silver platter from the federal government, Calabrese said. "It isn't the only source of funding. All of us look for funding in a lot of other places," including donors and sponsors, she said. And when cuts are made to arts, humanities and museum funding, it's the residents who pay the price, she said. "People often think when they cut funding, they're taking the money away from the museums, but they're taking it away from the community," Calabrese said. While Naperville's North Central College doesn't have any programs currently being funded by NEA grants, it has been able to bring several ballet programs to the school thanks to federal funding, said Brian Lynch, director of NCC's fine arts program. Brian Lynch, director of North Central College's Fine Arts program, talks about what cuts to the National Endowment for the Arts would mean locally. Also pictured, from left, are Steve Warrenfeltz, executive director of the Fox Valley Music Foundation; Tim Rater, president and CEO of the Paramount Theatre in Aurora; Rena Calabrese, president and CEO of Naper Settlement in Naperville; and U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Naperville. (Erin Hegarty / Naperville Sun) Such art events have secondary benefit of helping a community's economy, arts leaders agreed. "Where else can you get 1,800 people in one space and then they all leave hungry, ready to visit local restaurants," Lynch said. Cutting federal funding for the arts is "like cutting off a leg," Lynch said. "It's sabotaging a piece of the economic engine." Advertisement Foster agreed. "If you look at the economic return on investment, for every dollar you spend on things like productions at the Paramount Theatre, you get about $7 of economic activity back in your community," Foster said. "It makes our country wealthier, not only culturally, but economically." It is encouraging to know people are concerned about arts funding and that Foster is interested in hearing from local arts leaders, said Katie Arko, Paramount's vice president of development. It can be difficult for theaters outside of Chicago to raise money, Arko said. "But the National Endowment for the Arts doesn't care that we're a little outside of Chicago," she said. "They care about the work we're doing. It's allowed us to bring additional funding in for new programs." "Selling music outside of Chicago is equally as difficult," said Steve Warrenfeltz, executive director of the Fox Valley Music Foundation. Advertisement The foundation was founded in 2014, and shortly after received a small grant to help preserve and promote blues recordings done in Aurora's Leland Tower during the 1930s. The foundation is restoring sound quality in addition to preserving the work, Warrenfeltz said. The Paramount recently received a "modest" grant for a new musical, which allowed them to hire someone to work on the show's program, President and CEO Tim Rater said. Blues on the Fox, held annually at RiverEdge Park in Aurora, is also partially funded by grant money from the National Endowment for the Arts. Foster encouraged residents to contact their elected representatives about arts funding. "People come to the Paramount Theatre from six congressional districts, and every one of them should be contacting their representative saying when that appropriations letter from the NEA comes up, sign onto it," Foster said. "We do pay attention to constituents contacting us." ehegarty@tribpub.com Spread across several desks at Ridgewood High School on April 19 were parts of a 2000 Saturn engine an oil pan, a valve cover, fuel injector parts. Students have been learning to take apart the engine in a two-week class taught by Chuck Peterson, Ridgewood High Class of 1969. Peterson recalled taking apart and rebuilding an engine when he was a student in the school's automotive class. "In the old days, we didn't have this," he said, referring to the fuel injector parts. "We had a carburetor. It was all mechanical." Advertisement Peterson, retired from the village of Skokie Public Works Department where for many years he tended to the village's vehicles, returned to his old school to teach engines and circuits to some freshmen in the school's Engineering by Design course. A couple of years ago, Peterson was hosting a club for autos in the school's summer session. Carol Valentino-Berry, a teacher and the school's director of communications and community outreach, took notice and asked him whether he would like to teach a mini course during the regular high school year. Advertisement His approach is hands-on. Freshmen Vince Noe and Nicholas Sieka looked on as Peterson demonstrated use of a micrometer, a metal gauge used to measure small distances. "If you are building a race engine, you do everything by micrometer because you want to make it perfect as you can," explained Peterson, "because with the rpm, you're really pushing on it you're really beating on it hard, so that's why you want it be as close as it can be." Q. Some high schools like Ridgewood are showing renewed interest in such courses. A. A couple of teachers told me a few years back, Ridgewood was pushing everybody had to go to university. And then they realized that not everybody was cut out for that. Some people were cut out for the trades, and so then they started to realize, "OK, we need to get some of the kids doing different things in the trades and doing hands-on stuff," and so I think they're coming to a more balanced thing now, realizing that not 100 percent of the students are going to be going to a university. ... Many do, but some don't. I was a good example. I didn't like school very much. I sure loved automobiles. Most of my adult life was spent in the automotive industry. Q. Is there a special focus of your class? A. Yes, how does an engine work, how does a gasoline engine work, and then we're taking it apart piece by piece. They're [(the students] doing it, they're doing hand-on stuff, because you're going to learn faster, you're going to remember it. I'm sort of very strong on hands-on ... because the whole purpose of the class was give the guys a taste of something, whether it be a mechanic or maybe even an engineer designing engines. Q. How has the technology of cars changed from when you first started working on them? A. You pick up the hood of a car now and a lot of people just shake their head and ask where is it, where do I start, compared to the old cars, because everything is computerized. Everything on the car is computerized your heater, your lights, everything. Advertisement Q. Yet you believe students can master that aspect? A. I just say, even though I don't like math, it's something [working on cars] I like to do, so I was able to learn what I needed to learn for the job. I think motivation has a lot to do with it. Q. What are your hobbies away from the shop? A. I go to Texas a lot because my daughter is a missionary and she lives on a 400-acre ranch down there. So I go down there and work on cars. Because the people who are working there, they have cars and vehicles and equipment to take care of the property. So that is sort of my hobby. Q. That still sounds pretty much like cars to me. Ever hear the term "gear head?" A. Those were the guys I hung out with the gear heads. Because we enjoyed talking about it, enjoyed doing it, so that was just a part of it. Don Zabski is the director of buildings and grounds for Northbrook/Glenview District 30, where voters recently approved the money to tear down and rebuild Maple School. Zabski and his crew have not only maintained that building, but built many things inside it, including trophy display cases and frames for past class pictures, that he says will all go down with the building. But he still will have other legacies, such as the bunk-bed-like reading lofts in the first grade classrooms at Willowbrook School. He and his wife, Venessa the coordinator of business services in Glenview School District 34 live in Antioch. Advertisement Q: Where did you grow up? A: Silver Lake, Wisconsin. Right over the border. Small town, nice, quiet. There are more people in the Maple graduating class than in my (Wilmot) High School graduating class. Advertisement Q: As a child what did you want to be when you grow up? A: I wanted to be a scientist at Abbot Laboratories, until people explained to me just how much school it took to do that. Q: What was your first job? A: I worked at a marina disassembling old wooden boats (at the age of 15). I only did it for a summer. My first real job was at Jewel, as a bagger. Q: What's your favorite restaurant? A: I'm a Lou Malnati's guy. It has to be deep dish. Q: What's your favorite charity? A: Habitat for Humanity, for which I volunteered for a couple of items back in my past life (as a carpenter). Advertisement Q: If you could travel anywhere, where would you go? A: I'd like to go to Iceland. It just looks beautiful. Isolated, geothermal activity, blue lagoon. Q: If you could be on any reality show, which one would it be? A: 'Overhaulin'.' They take your car, and they lie to you that it was in a wreck, repossessed, and they turn it into a work of art in two weeks. Q: Do you have any pets? A: Three cats. One of the cats meets me at the door every day. They're like dogs, only you don't have to walk 'em. Advertisement Q: Tell me something about yourself most people don't know. A: I took flying lessons, and I actually soloed an airplane. I've been out of it for a long time (but) I think I'm not done yet. Q: Do you have any words of wisdom? A: Don't take life so seriously. Shout Out is a weekly feature where we get to know and introduce our readers to their fellow community members and local visitors throughout suburban Chicago. Check out more online at ChicagoTribune.com/ShoutOut. ileavitt@pioneerlocal.com Advertisement Twitter @IrvLeavitt A $50 million federal lawsuit filed by an Oak Brook family against Butler Elementary District 53 isn't about the money, said the mother of two boys who are students in the district and, according to the suit, have been subjected to cruel and unusual punishment related to allegations of cheating in a geography bee. The suit was filed April 14 in U.S. District Court Northern District of Illinois by Rahul Julka on behalf of his two sons, said Julka's wife, Komal Julka. Advertisement Komal Julka said the federal lawsuit was filed in an attempt to bring attention to the situation. "We don't even have an attorney for this federal lawsuit; we're doing it ourselves," she said. "It really isn't about the money, but if we filed the suit for $10, nobody would pay attention. We want people to know what's going on here." Advertisement Julka said she and her husband believed the federal lawsuit was necessary because a lawsuit filed last year in DuPage County Circuit court against District 53 and the school board, seeking to eliminate the sanctions and have letters and documents related to the district investigation removed from their sons' files, doesn't allow them an opportunity to tell their entire story. A hearing on the DuPage court case is scheduled for 9 a.m. April 25. "That case is an administrative review, which only allows for the court to look at the procedure the school district followed and not what happened because of their actions," Julka said. "This is a small community, and a lot of people presume we did something wrong when we didn't." A school district investigation determined that Komal Julka registered as a "fraudulent" home school provider, and her emails showed she paid for geography bee questions with her credit card after creating a school name and address, the Chicago Tribune reported based on court records when the DuPage County lawsuit was filed. The competition, known as the GeoBee, was slated to begin Jan. 19, 2016 at Brook Forest School. Word spread among parents that some families may have actual test questions, and administrators began receiving complaints Jan. 15, 2016. Rahul Julka withdrew his children from the competition that same evening, according to district records. The Julkas have denied any wrongdoing. The Julka boys, then in fourth and fifth grades, were banned from all academic competitions in District 53. The Julkas deny any wrongdoing. Their federal lawsuit states the resulting punishment caused the Julka boys to lose friends, bear the brunt of insults and lose "overall social interaction." Advertisement District 53 Superintendent Heidi Wennstrom called the lawsuit "frivolous" in a Wednesday text message. "It is unfortunate to see these frivolous lawsuits continue as they drain public resources and detract from our focus on achieving our core mission," she wrote in her message. "Butler school district is part of a strong community that is cherished and supported by wonderful families." cfieldman@pioneerlocal.com Twitter @chuckwriting An example of a pole-mounted Primary Flexibility Point cabinet used in AT&T's new fiber optic technology. (AT&T / Pioneer Press) Park Ridge city officials recently heard plans from AT&T to install new fiber optic cable throughout the city as part of a plan to bring higher speed internet to the customers. Keith Harn, area manager of design engineering for AT&T, described the new technology as an "ultra fast" internet platform called AT&T Fiber. In addition to installing new fiber optic cables on existing telephone poles, the rollout will include new connection boxes, or cabinets, that will be located on the ground or above ground on existing poles. Advertisement The technology allows the company to reach a larger area with each box, Harn explained. "I'm able to put these boxes in better locations, more aesthetically pleasing [locations]," he said. "I'm also able to maybe take a neighborhood, or two or three, put them together, and put in one of these boxes, resulting in less of them." Advertisement Most of the ground boxes will measure about 48 inches tall and 47 inches wide, Harn indicated. The above-ground boxes are smaller in size. Public Works Director Wayne Zingsheim said the city will approve the locations of the boxes and permits will be issued. The boxes are reminiscent of what AT&T proposed in 2013 when representatives approached the City Council with plans to expand its U-verse cable, internet and telephone services to the community. The boxes and infrastructure were ultimately never installed, Zingsheim said. This prompted acting Mayor Marty Maloney to question the likelihood of the new fiber optic system coming to Park Ridge. "Maybe I'm a little cynical here, but what are the odds that what we're talking about tonight moves forward?" Maloney asked during AT&T's April 10 presentation. "We went through it a few years ago. City staff spent a lot of time on it, [the City Council] spent a lot of time on it, and nothing ever came of it." Harn said the fiber optic system is being installed in other area communities, though specifics were not shared. AT&T's website indicates that AT&T Fiber is currently available in communities like Chicago, Arlington Heights, Norridge, Oak Park, Skokie and Wilmette. jjohnson@pioneerlocal.com Twitter: @Jen_Tribune The discovery of a key witness in a Lowell double murder case has forced the postponement of a jury trial that had been set to begin in less than three weeks. The defense team for Thomas Snow, 37, sought the delay after a witness was discovered, defense attorney Arlington Foley Sr., said. The witness is incarcerated in Illinois, and a deposition is planned next week at the prison, Foley said. Advertisement "It seems clear this guy has information on the case that is material for the defense," Foley said. Snow's trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 23 and is expected to last two weeks. Advertisement Anticipating that the witness would be testifying at Snow's trial, Foley said there would not be enough time in the eight business days after the deposition to file the necessary paperwork to have the man transferred to the Lake County Jail in time for the May 8 start of Snow's trial. Snow has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder in the 2013 deaths of his parents, retired Morton High School teacher Clifford Snow, 68, and Joyce Snow, 66, at the couple's home. The couple was killed between Sept. 11, 2013, and Oct. 18, 2013, when police conducted a well-being check and discovered their decaying bodies, according to court documents. Deputy prosecutor Mark Watson said the case, which was filed in 2014, was getting old and he is prepared for trial. There are about 60 prosecution witnesses. Ruth Ann Krause is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune. Midwestblast 2 will also have vendors on site, and there will be a hog roast on Saturday. Refreshments will be available on both days, with proceeds going to support Michiana Rocketry's launches. (Photo Provided by Midwestblast 2 / Post-Tribune) Take a family outing to new heights at Midwestblast 2. There is no admission fee for spectators at this high flying model rocketry event, and youth under age 18 can even launch a rocket for free. The event is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, with a rain date currently set for April 29 and 30. "We had several hundred people participate and several hundred rockets launched last year at our first Midwestblast. Part of the draw here is that there will be a lot of people with a lot of really neat rocket projects," said John Olevich, president of Midwest Rocketry, the club organizing the event. Advertisement Michiana Rocketry holds regular launches of model to high power rockets by novice to experienced members of a wide range of ages. The club also welcomes spectators and anyone interested in learning more about model rocketry. Their season began back in the fall after farm fields were harvested, making clearer spaces and better visibility for easier rocket recovery. For Midwestblast 2, the group has a special FAA waiver to accommodate more powerful and higher flying rockets, and for that reason model rocketry enthusiasts from across the Midwest and beyond are expected to again converge at the launch pad in Three Oaks, Michigan. Advertisement "We typically can launch up to 12,000 feet at our regular launches. What's different about this is that here, and I think at only one other location in the Midwest, there is the area, the space and the FAA waiver to launch to 16,000 feet. We'll have that window on Saturday. We'll not only have a lot of rockets, but this is also an event where you can see larger rockets, rockets with 8 to 10 inch diameters, and up to 12 or 14 feet tall," according to Olevich. Several other rocketry clubs are expected to attend, in addition to university-sanctioned rocketry organizations including groups from Purdue, Notre Dame and the University of Michigan, as well as aerospace bugs of all ages. In fact, attendees under age 18 can select and launch a rocket for free, an experience the club hopes will also launch or strengthen a young person's interest in science. Families with children who would like to launch a rocket should talk to a Michiana Rocketry club member, or go to the LCO (Launch Control Officer) table or the RSO (Range Safety Officer) safety inspection table where the club has a box of pre-built rockets. Kids can pick a rocket, and then the club has some motors and members who will help put it all together. Then, the countdown for their turn to launch begins. "There's a thrill to it. We've had kids, even 6 or 7 years old try it," Olevich said. "It's an especially nice experience for those who haven't been exposed to rocketry before." Adults launching rockets pay a daily or weekend launch fee ranging from $10 to $20. Midwestblast 2 will also have vendors on site, and there will be a hog roast on Saturday. There will also be hand wash stations and portable toilets on site. Club members successfully launched a portable toilet a few years ago, but rest assured, these will stay firmly on the ground. Refreshments will be available on both days, with proceeds going to support Michiana Rocketry's launches. "In the last couple years the club has invested in a wireless launch controller. I think now we have one of the best in the country," Olevich said. Olevich said that rocketry enthusiasts also invest their own money, in addition to their time in the rockets they launch, including the motors and recovery systems. Advertisement "These are big, heavy rockets, and we want to bring them down to use again. A lot of the fun is in the recovery. Some of them have altimeters that will have (para)chutes go out to bring them down slowly. On a windy day, I've had one land about 5-miles away. I would have never been able to find it in the past, but now a lot of the rockets also have GPS inside. Just within the last few years (GPS units) have been miniaturized enough to put in our rockets," Olevich said. While the GPS units may be small, many of the motors are not. "We have Levels 1, 2 and 3. Level 3 requires a lot of special knowledge and experience, but then you can build your own motor and take your aerospace bug to the next level. Some of the bigger motors can cost about $900 for one launch. We joke about money going up in flames, but you can say that about a lot of hobbies. What's nice about this is that there is a niche for everybody. If you have the money, the sky is the limit, but you can also do a lot without spending a lot," Olevich said. Admission for spectators is free. Olevich suggested going online to www.michianarocketry.org before coming out to check on the weather and launch conditions. He said that the rain date will be the following weekend (April 29 and 30), and since so many people are coming in from a long distance, the rain delay decision will be made by Wednesday (April 19). When all systems are go, bring a lawn chair, a hat, sunscreen and some water, and prepare to have a blast. To get to the field, take Interstate 94 east to Michigan exit 4A east. About one mile east of Three Oaks, turn right onto Avery Road and then, in about 1.5 miles, look for a farm road leading to parked vehicles on the right. Joan Dittmann is a freelance columnist for the Post-Tribune. A reward of up to $5,000 is being offered for information about an arson fire that killed three young children in Gary last December, according to a release from Gary police. The reward, being offered by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, along with the Gary Police Department, the release states, "for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for the arson fire." Advertisement "We are asking the community for help in solving this case in which three innocent children died," said Gary Police Chief Larry McKinley in the release. Cousins Jayden Mitchell, 5, Alaya Pickens, 4, and Yaleah Cohen, 2, died in the Oak Knoll Renaissance apartments fire that started around 11 p.m. Dec. 23 and went into the early hours of Christmas Eve in the on West 23rd Court in Gary. Advertisement As Gary Fire and Police departments arrived on scene, they discovered "an apartment fully engulfed in flames and that three small children were trapped on the second floor. After the fire was extinguished, the children were located and each, unfortunately, perished in the fire," the release states. Their deaths were ruled homicides, cause by "smoke inhalation complicated with thermal injury," according to Chief Deputy Coroner Scott Sefton. "This was a senseless act and the individual(s) responsible need to be apprehended and held accountable," said Celinez Nunez, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF Chicago Field Division, in the release. Anyone with information is asked to call the ATF at 800-283-4867, the Lake/Metro Homicide Unit at 219-755-3852 or the crime tip line at 866-274-6347. Callers may remain anonymous, the release states. An investigation by Gary fire, Gary police, Indiana State Fire Marshal's office and ATF concluded the fire was started by an accelerant and was ruled an arson, according to the release. A report from the Gary Fire Department said investigators found a gasoline container under a table, as well as burn and pour patterns on the floor in the living room, hallway and kitchen. An arson-sniffing canine indicated parts of the stairs "where an accelerant may have been used," the report states. The Fire Marshal and Gary fire portions of the investigation are complete, but due to the ongoing criminal investigation, the fire marshal's report would not be released yet, a spokeswoman said. Two adults made it out of the fire Willie and Yoasha Carter. Willie Carter was burned and hospitalized from the incident and has been recovering in the months since. Meanwhile, Yoasha Carter, the mother of Mitchell and Pickens, was charged in February in Columbia County, Wis., with first-degree reckless endangerment, intentionally pointing a firearm at another and disorderly conduct. Advertisement Yoasha Carter was visiting the Dells area when she stopped at a McDonald's in Poynette on Feb. 20, and while in an argument, pulled out a gun and cocked it at a friend, the Portage Daily Register reported. Carter had purchased a 9 mm Smith and Wesson the Friday before at a Gary sporting goods store, and the defense attorney in the case said that Yoasha Carter "had a license to get the firearm from the state of Indiana and got it because she was receiving death threats" after "somebody burned down her sister's house" in a fire that killed two of her children, according to the Daily Reigster. Yoasha Carter is scheduled for an arraignment hearing on April 27 in Wisconsin. rejacobs@post-trib.com Twitter @ruthyjacobs Gary schools chief Cheryl Pruitt has withdrawn her request for a protection order against school board member Carlos Tolliver. The petition to withdraw was filed on April 11, one day before an initial hearing was to be held in Lake Superior Court in Crown Point. Advertisement Pruitt filed a petition Feb. 22, accusing Tolliver of "verbal attacks," at the district's central administration office in 2016 and after a contentious school board meeting Feb. 14 at the Gary Career Center. Pruitt has been on medical leave since last month. She's expected to return later this month. Advertisement Pruitt, who has headed the school district since 2012, said in a statement that she reserves the right to file another action if the "threatening, harassing conduct" continues. "I believe that it is in the best interest of the thousands of children we serve, my Gary Community School Corporation family, and the Gary community to focus on educating our children," Pruitt said. "I am totally committed to our students and expect to return focused on a shared vision that will catapult this district to the next level." Tolliver, who denied Pruitt's allegations, said Tuesday he was pleased Pruitt withdrew the restraining order. Tolliver, a former teacher and union leader, joined the school board in January. Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune. Chesterton police said a woman was found slumped at the wheel of a Ford SUV Wednesday morning, April 19, 2017, behind the businesses in the 100 block of South Calumet Avenue downtown. Police have ruled the case a homicide. (Amy Lavalley / Post-Tribune) Police are calling the death of a woman found Wednesday morning slumped behind the wheel of a sport utility vehicle behind businesses in downtown Chesterton a homicide, the town's first in three years. Porter County Coroner Chuck Harris said an autopsy would be conducted Thursday. Advertisement Around 9:10 a.m., Chesterton police received a call from an employee who arrived for work at a business in the 100 block of South Calumet Avenue. The employee found the woman in the silver SUV, which came to rest against a couch and a large trash bin along Lois Lane, which backs Calumet Avenue. The woman, whose name has not been released, is white, with light brown hair and is in her 30s, Police Chief David Cincoski said, adding police have leads on her identification but don't have anything confirmed. Advertisement "It is being treated as a homicide," he said, adding the woman's injuries were not from the SUV striking the couch and the trash bin, which likely happened after the incident. "We're definitely looking at a weapon being involved." Investigators talk Wednesday morning, April 19, 2017, at the scene of a Chesterton homicide, behind businesses in the 100 block of South Calumet Avenue downtown. (Amy Lavalley / Post-Tribune) He declined to say what the weapon was, and added the SUV's driver's side window was ajar when police arrived. He estimated the SUV had been there no more than seven hours. "We have reason to believe it wasn't there when the bar upstairs closed," he said, adding the nearby Upper Deck closed at 3 a.m. "We don't believe there is anybody else at risk at this time, but if anyone saw something or heard something between 3 and 9 a.m., we would appreciate a call." The Chesterton Police Department can be reached at 219-926-1136. The Porter Police Department and the coroner's office are assisting with the investigation. Chesterton resident James Hammond was paying an insurance bill at an office in the 100 block of South Calumet Avenue when he heard about the homicide and wandered near the scene to see what was going on as investigators continued their work. "It's a scary thing," he said. "In a town like Chesterton, you don't expect something like this." Advertisement The last homicide in Chesterton was in 2014, Cincoski said. In that case, Felix Duron, an Afghanistan war veteran, pleaded guilty in the death of his 2-year-old son, Bentley Mihal, whom Duron admitted he had shaken. Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune. Live updates: Election Day 2022 in Pueblo, Colorado Follow the Chieftain's coverages of Colorado's 2022 election with live updates from before and after the polls close. China and Argentina are finding new common ground in a joint love for tango, the seductive and confrontational Argentinean dance that is finding new fertile ground in China. Shelly Hou (R) and Juan Berthier, a Sino-Argentinean couple, drive to their tango class in Buenos Aires, Argentina on April 13, 2017. China and Argentina are finding new common ground in a joint love for tango, the seductive and confrontational Argentinean dance that is finding new fertile ground in China. (Xinhua/Martin Zabala) Xinhua spent some time in Argentina with a Sino-Argentinean couple, Shelly Hou and Juan Berthier, who have begun gathering students in Buenos Aires. In the city's Salon Canning, the two dancers put on a "milonga," a space where tango lovers come to dance and give free rein to their passion. Hou, born in Shanghai, told Xinhua that her passion for tango began when she saw it performed on television. "After that, I took a holiday to Buenos Aires and moved here in 2013 to learn Spanish and tango," she said. She met Berthier at the National University of the Arts (UNA), where they began learning tango together. "We were friends for a year and ended up as a couple, dancing together," added her Argentinean partner. "We began practicing together and I was surprised to find he (Juan) knew a lot about China, such as traditional Chinese medicine and history. We have progressed together, we take classes, we practice and work together," explained Hou. According to her, "with the advantage of two cultures, we began giving regular tango classes in Buenos Aires, especially for Chinese people who live or travel here and want to learn tango. We speak about each other's experiences, in China and Argentina." Now, moved by their passion, Hou and Berthier receive many students from China, as well as the U.S., Canada and beyond. "The classes are not just about tango, and they are also a place to meet new friends, to share cultures, ideas and experiences together, especially between Argentineans and Chinese," said Hou. Asked about tango's appeal, Hou describes it as a "mysterious and beautiful dance which represents Argentina. Through tango, more Chinese like me are discovering this country, the culture and its people. It brings us together as a family." "I arrived here alone, without knowing anything or anyone. I began learning Spanish and tango and I began to discover the country. Tango is not just a dance from Argentina, and it also represents Argentina's culture," she said. Now, Hou and Berthier are preparing a trip to China. "We want to teach tango there," said the Argentinean man. You are here: Home An all-star lineup of Japanese actors are in China to meet Chinese filmmakers and movie fans as part of the China-Japan International Film Festival. Renowned Japanese actress Nozomi Sasaki attends a reception for Japanese movie industry representatives at the Japanese Embassy in China, April 17. [Photo by Zhang Xingjian/chinadaily.com.cn] Renowned Japanese actress Nozomi Sasaki and actor Sato Ryuji are among the delegation at the festival which kicked off on April 16. Japanese family film Kanon has been entered in the Beijing International Film Festival and is competing for the Jury Award on Sunday. Kanon tells the story of three sisters and the ups and downs in their lives and the choir they all belong to. When first asked about its chances of winning the award, director Toshiro Saiga said it was a 50-50 chance. But he was surprised by the warm and passionate response of Chinese people and raised the odds to 70 percent and 90 percent. Chinese companies' investment in countries along the Belt and Road rose again in Q1. From January to March, Chinese enterprises invested 2.95 billion U.S. dollars in 43 countries along the Belt and Road, according to the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) on Tuesday. The investment accounted for 14.4 percent of Chinese firms' total outbound investment in Q1, compared to 9 percent for the same period last year. Chinese enterprises signed 952 project contracts in 61 countries along the Belt and Road with a turnover of 14.4 billion dollars, nearly half of the total value of contracts in Q1, according to the MOC. Since 2013, China has invested more than 50 billion dollars in countries involved in the Belt and Road. A total of 56 economic and trade cooperation zones have already been built by Chinese businesses in Belt and Road countries, generating nearly 1.1 billion dollars in tax revenue and creating 180,000 local jobs. The latest data comes less than a month before the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, which opens on May 14 in Beijing. Thus far, 28 heads of state and government leaders have confirmed their attendance at the forum. Other delegates include officials, entrepreneurs, financiers and reporters from 110 countries, and representatives of 61 international organizations. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan makes statements in Istanbul, Turkey, on April 16, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua] Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan predictably won a referendum to expand presidential powers, which could probably keep him in office until 2029. The "Yes" campaign won 51.37 percent and "No" 48.63 percent in almost a mirror reflection of the Brexit vote. While the U.K. Brexit vote was about taking back control from an increasingly centralized Brussels, this vote was about centralizing power under Erdogan. Other political parties want to challenge the result, but the Turkish president's supporters say that replacing a Parliamentary system with a Presidential one would modernize and fast track the Turkish system. Previously, the Italian referendum under Matteo Renzi was done on a similar idea, however Renzi failed, and was forced to resign. For the first time in the country's history, the President will hold all the executive power, which will include, as the Guardian reported, the hiring and firing of judges and prosecutors, appointing the cabinet, abolishing the post of Prime Minister and making separation of powers not just between the different branches but between the state and religion extinct. In a modern version of a Caliphate, parliamentary scrutiny would be nonexistent as well. Erdogan, like Putin, would be able to run directly for a third term, should he so choose, which will keep him in power for over a combined total of 30 years. This was inevitable, and was surprising it took such a long time. When Erdogan came to power, the AKP made clear that he is not satisfied with the direction of Modern Turkey, which was established by Ataturk in 1921. In one of his famous early quotes, he said that one cannot be a secular and a Muslim. Nonetheless, in his early days he wanted to have a problem free foreign policy with neighbors. Whether it was rhetorical or opportunistic we will never know, but the fact remains that he wasn't happy with the secular liberal character of Turkey for the last hundred years and longed for the lost glory of Ottoman hegemony. The opportunity rose with the onset of the Arab Spring, when Erdogan positioned himself on the side of the Gulf countries pushing for regime change in Middle East and North Africa, and persuaded the West to back him as well. Erdogan also positioned himself as invaluable to Europe because Turkey was a launch pad of refugees. In a controversial statement recently he stated that the Turks need to have more babies in Europe as they will be the future of the EU. These are provocative statements and make him a despised despot within the ultra-conservative Central and Eastern block of EU. But the EU needs Erdogan because of a simple fact: Erdogan is part of NATO. And if he genuinely wants to flood EU with refugees, there is literally no way to stop the flow other than going to war with Turkey. It's a Catch 22 situation, and Europe is increasingly helpless to deal with him, and has no other way of dealing with him than to come to a deal. It is not Russia who has Europe in their grip, but it is Turkey. The optimism in Europe is dying of course. There was a time when Turkey was talking with EU about being members, that is dead. Also, dead is the chance of Turkey being a benign and genuinely neutral actor in Middle East. The optimism is replaced by a cynical acceptance that Turkey is increasingly authoritarian, and will have to be tolerated. Unfortunately the global situation changes very quickly. Turkey is not outside the international system, and the Turkish economy is heavily dependent on Europe. With the growing Christian conservatism within Europe, there's a chance that if not today, tomorrow, there will be a reactionary backlash. The Eastern part of Europe has traditionally been the most violent place in the planet for over two thousand years, and it is unlikely they will accept a neo-revanchist Turkish hegemony in the east. If EU doesn't deal with Turkey, those states will seek some other powers to balance, notably Russia. One thing is for certain, that the death of secular liberal Turkey is not hyperbole. Sumantra Maitra is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://china.org.cn/opinion/SumantraMaitra.htm Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors only, not necessarily those of China.org.cn. Flash Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou met with Chief Minister Pervez Khattak of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan, who is in Beijing to lead the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Road Show (April 17-18, 2017), in Beijing on April 18. [Photo / China.org.cn] Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou met with Chief Minister Pervez Khattak of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan, who is in Beijing to lead the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Road Show (April 17-18, 2017), in Beijing on April 18. The chief minister was accompanied by Pakistani Senator Shibli Faraz and Provincial Minister Energy & Power / Elementary Education, Mr. Atif Khan. Mr. Masood Khalid, Ambassador of Pakistan to China was also present during the meeting. Chief Minister thanked the Chinese government for supporting the Road Show. He praised long history of friendly relations between China and Pakistan which are rooted in history and based on mutual trust and respect. He underlined that all the political parties in Pakistan were on the same page regarding implementation of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is a flagship project of Belt and Road Initiative. Highlighting investment and business opportunities offered by the KP Government during the Road Show (85 projects), he identified communications, mining, tourism, industrial cooperation, energy, cultural exchanges, agriculture and urban development as priority areas for development in KP Province. He also said they had established 17 Special Economic Zones in the province and invited Chinese companies to take benefit of these business opportunities He assured Chinese government full security of the Chinese investment in KP Province. He highlighted the measures taken by KP government together with the Federal government in this regard. Welcoming the Chief Minister, Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou appreciated Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments initiatives of holding the Road Show and considered it a sign of strong consensus on CPEC in Pakistan. He expressed satisfaction of the Chinese Government in the implementation of CPEC. Recalling Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership and China-Pakistan Community of Shared Destiny, he mentioned that CPEC was advancing economic cooperation between China and Pakistan. He also showed readiness of the Chinese Government to also work with the KP Government in areas such as public health, education and poverty alleviation. He wished the KP Road Show a remarkable success. The chief minister also had a very interactive discussion earlier today during a luncheon meeting with Ambassador Lu Shumin, Executive Vice President, China People's Institute for Foreign Affairs. Both exchanged views on matters of mutual interest especially the Economic and social development and current status of implementation of CPEC in KP province. Promotion of cultural exchanges and people to people contacts were also discussed. By Xu Lin, China Daily | Apr. 19, 2017 About 80 travel agency and media representatives gathered in Beijing for a promotion event by Air Astana to get to know about the airline and the tourism resources of Kazakhstan. Launched in 2001, the airline currently operates direct flights from Beijing and Urumqi to Kazakhstan. The flights between Beijing and Almaty will be increased from five to seven per week from September 1, and those between Beijing and Astana will be increased from three to four per week from June 1. Meanwhile, for US$75, passengers can enjoy a pick-up, sightseeing and one night at a hotel at Almaty and Astana. Separately, as the official air carrier of Expo 2017 that will be held in Astana, the airline offers a free entrance ticket to the expo for those who arrive or transfer at Astana by an international flight between June 1 and September 10. One can apply for the ticket on its official website. According to Wang Shu, the sales manager of the airline's Beijing office, Chinese tourists who want to visit the country have to apply for visas from authorized travel agencies. The fee is US$20 per person. Technical workers assemble engines at a plant in Yiwu, Zhejiang province.[Photo provided for China Daily] Premier Li Keqiang called at a meeting on Tuesday for boosting the nation's economic transformation and pace of growth by promoting technological innovation, emerging industries and effective investment and consumption. Hundreds of governmental officials and well-known entrepreneurs were present at the meeting, which focused on enhancing new development concepts and new economic drivers. Among them, were Lei Jun, founder of gadget maker Xiaomi, and the automobile company BYD's chairman, Wang Chuanfu. Amid domestic structural conflicts and downward pressure, China's economy can no longer proceed with the old development model as it confronts a sluggish world economic recovery, the premier said. Li called for cultivating emerging sectors and upgrading traditional industries by focusing on technological innovation to enhance social productivity, he said. Effective investment and consumption should be enhanced to produce innovative products and services, while domestic companies should increase their competitiveness in the international market during a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, he said. BOE Technology Group Co, a supplier of internet technologies, products and services, invests 7 percent of its sales revenue into research and development for new technologies, Chairman Wang Dongsheng said. To achieve the economic transformation, the government should further transform its function and reduce taxes and fees while deepening administrative streamlining, the premier said. These are part of the supply-side structural reform with lower institutional costs and taxes to effectively improve that area and unleash greater vitality, he added. Meanwhile, the government will increase the vitality of new market entities with support for enterprises to boost business startups and innovation, Li said. Last year, 16.51 million new market entities were registered, up 11.6 percent year-on-year, according to the State Administration for Industry and Commerce. The number of new enterprises was up 24.5 percent to 5.52 million in 2016, administration figures show. Li said transformation and restructuring should lead to economic development, expanded employment and a continuous increase in residential incomes. A worker checks components at an engine plant of SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Co in Qingdao, Shandong province. [Photo by Yu Fangping/China Daily] The robust growth of the Chinese economy in the first quarter is a positive sign for the global economy, the head of a US business lobbying group said on Tuesday, calling for further progress in bilateral trade and investment relations. William Zarit, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, said that the members of his organization are upbeat about the prospects for the Chinese economy. Zarit called for progress in trade and investment, hoping that the recent meeting between President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump "will mark the start of tangible progress toward a healthier and more balanced relationship". In its annual American Business in China White Paper, the US business group acknowledged China's efforts to accelerate reforms and improve trade and investment facilitation through top-level policy designs and basic enforcement. AmCham China also warned about rising uncertainty in China-US relations as both countries are experiencing an economic transition. "We are experiencing a clear increase in uncertainty as the US-China relationship enters a new era," Zarit said. AmCham China called for further reform in China to promote greater trade facilitation through adjusting policies and optimizing procedures designed to assist customs clearance, as well as enabling firms to play an active role in reform. China so far has set up 11 free trade zones, which serve as platforms for opening investment and trade and boosting industrial upgrading. The US business group also called for greater transparency in China's regulatory environment and greater openness to foreign companies while applauding China's commitment to pro-competitive and non-discriminatory policies. China is the largest exporter of goods to the United States. Trade in goods between the US and China increased from $147 billion in 2002 to $579 billion in 2016, according to AmCham China. Thomas Luedi, a partner of AT Kearney Greater China, a global management consulting firm, said that China remains a major market for US investment despite its economic deceleration. "Despite its GDP growth deceleration, China has provided continuous high growth rates. To that end, American firms can benefit from the growth opportunity in China," he said. Luedi added that many US companies will be well positioned to capture investment opportunities in China in sectors related to sustainability such as technology, environmental protection and energy efficiency. A customer places a packet of Weetabix breakfast cereal into a shopping cart at a supermarket in Slough, UK. [Photo/Agencies] Shanghai-based food conglomerate Bright Food Group Co has confirmed it will sell the majority of its stake in UK cereal brand Weetabix to US cereal company Post Holdings, the group's spokesman told China Daily on Tuesday. The sale is projected to be worth $1.76 billion, according to Reuters. Bright Food will remain as a stakeholder in the brand and continue to help it expand in the Chinese market, according to the company. "The move will help Bright Food better leverage its financial and human resources for its globalization strategy," said Pan Jianjun, spokesman for the State-owned conglomerate, which has made several acquisitions globally in recent years. Bright Food acquired a 60 percent stake in private equity firm Lion Capital in 2012 for 1.2 billion pounds ($1.51 billion), making it the largest overseas deal made by a Chinese company in the food and beverage sector worldwide back then. Weetabix's overall sales declined by 1.6 percent to 346 million pounds by the end of 2015, according to the company's latest financial statements. The UK market accounted for more than 80 percent of its sales. Pan denied that the sale was due to the stagnant performance of the brand, adding that China has become the third-largest market for Weetabix in the five years since the acquisition. Statistics from Nielsen showed that sales of ready-to-eat cereals dropped at a combined annual growth rate of 1.5 percent from 2009 to 2014, while sales of overall breakfast foods are growing. Loris Li, senior food and beverage analyst with UK consultancy Mintel, said that for cereals, it's more a challenge of the deeply rooted culinary habits. Among Chinese consumers aged from 20 to 49 and interviewed by the consultancy in 2016, 67 percent opted Chinese traditional breakfasts like noodles or dumplings instead of Western foods. But a popular TV series featuring an Australian cereal brand named Weetbix (rebranded as Nutribrex this year) had boosted sales of the brand by 50 percent last year. Kellogg, the world's largest cereal company, has made three attempts to gain market share in China since 1993, either by itself or through joint ventures. WASHINGTON The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday raised its forecast for global economic growth in 2017, saying buoyant financial markets and a long-awaited cyclical recovery in manufacturing and trade supported the improved outlook. The IMF said the global economy will grow by 3.5 percent, an acceleration from 3.1 percent growth last year and an upgrade of 0.1 percentage point from its January projection. But it kept the forecast for growth in 2018 unchanged at 3.6 percent. "Our new projection for 2017 is marginally higher than what we expected in our last update. This improvement comes primarily from good economic news for Europe and Asia, and within Asia, notably for China and Japan," IMF chief economist Maurice Obstfeld told a press conference. JAKARTA Three Indonesian airlines will open six new routes to China starting June to attract more Chinese tourists, officials said on Tuesday. Sriwijaya Air commercial director Toto Nursatyo said it will launch three new routes in June for Jakarta to Nanning, Jakarta to Haikou, and Denpasar to Nanning. "China is our main target for international market. The three will add to our existing eight flights to China," Nursatyo told Xinhua. Last year, Sriwijaya carried around 600,000 foreign visitors, with 350,000 coming from China. It expects to double the number of its international passengers to 1 million in 2017 including 650,000 Chinese tourists, he said. In total, Sriwijaya is targeting overall passenger numbers to 15 million by year-end from 11.4 million passengers in 2016. Nursatyo said to achieve that goal, Sriwijaya is slated to welcome 13 new aircrafts this year, including two Boeing 777s. The company currently operates 52 aircraft on 55 domestic and international routes. Nursatyo said the main destinations for Chinese tourists are Bali, Jakarta, and Manado in North Sulawesi. The company also hoped to fly Chinese tourists to five more destinations including Bintan, Belitung, Lake Toba, Tarakan and Ternate by charter flights this year. Meanwhile, two other airlines, Garuda Indonesia and Indonesia AirAsia are also setting up for expansions in China. Garuda Indonesia CEO Pahala N. Mansury said it plans to fly from Denpasar to Chengdu this year. The state-owned airline currently operates regular flights between Jakarta and Denpasar to three Chinese cities including Guangzhou, Beijing, and Shanghai. Indonesia AirAsia CEO Dendy Kurniawan said it will fly from Jakarta to Shenzhen, as well as from Jakarta to China's Macao Special Administrative Region this year. "This is our real action to support the Tourism Ministry's program to bring in 15 million foreign tourists in 2017. If possible our company contributes 2 million foreign passengers," Kurniawan said. The airline will buy two aircrafts, an Airbus A320 and A330, to add to its existing 24 aircraft fleets. Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said of the total 11.4 million foreign visitors last year, AirAsia contributed 25 percent through its international flights. "On Monday I visited Garuda, AirAsia, and Sriwijaya to request the increase of flights, especially on new routes," said Yahya in a statement on Tuesday. In 2017, the government expects to receive 2.1 million tourists from China, higher than last year's figure of 1.43 million Chinese tourists, said the minister. NEW YORK The bilateral trade deficit "should not matter" in the development China-US relations, said an expert on US-China Relations. "I hope there's an understanding on the part of the Trump administration that bilateral trade deficits are not particularly meaningful," Stephen A. Orlins, president of the National Committee, told Xinhua in a recent interview at his office in downtown Manhattan. "I've been doing business with China for more than three decades. The US used to have trade deficits with Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia. What happened over these years is that a lot of the semi-finished goods would go to China (for China to export), so what's happened is the trade deficit we used to have with those other countries has been transferred to China. Now that is not China's fault and we should not blame China for that," said Orlins. Orlins said there are domestic factors in the US that better explain the trade gap. "It relates to a lot of these things that can be solved in part by America dealing with its own savings problem. So if we save more as a country, then we wouldn't need to import so much capital to do things. There are a lot of answers here which don't really relate to US-China relations. They relate to what the United States must do itself," he said. The China-US trade deficit is overstated, if judged from the perspective of the global supply chain. Headline figures suggest that China accounted for about half of the US trade deficit in 2015. But Deutsche Bank's economists have found that on a value-added basis, only 16 percent of that deficit came directly from China, slightly higher than the 13 percent which originated from Japan. "Having said that, there are many areas where China can open its market more to US goods and US investment. There are lots of tariff barriers and non-tariff barriers which can be reduced and will aid US exports to China," Orlins said. The amount of US service exports to China is often overlooked when calculating the balance of trade. In this area, the United States has a surplus with China. The US edge in service trade has huge potential to grow bigger in China as the world's fastest-growing consumer market is poised to open its service sector wider to the United States. Orlins, a strong advocate for constructive China-US cooperation for more than four decades, said that his early doubts and worries about the future development of the bilateral ties were dispelled following the successful meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump at the Mar-a-Largo resort earlier this month. "I think the relationship is really quite strong," said Orlins, who speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese. "There was real understanding that was developed (during the meeting)," he said. "The development of a relationship between President Xi and President Trump is important for US-China relations and for the world." Orlins said that a piece of direct proof is the one-hour telephone conversation made between Xi and Trump within five days after the meeting ended. "I would say that without the meeting, that telephone conversation would not have been as productive and constructive as it was, so that's already a symbol of the progress," Orlins said. Orlins noted that Trump's acceptance of Xi's invitation to visit China is also a "very good sign." "In my experience, when presidents of the United States visit China, they understand better how the Chinese government functions and the problems the Chinese government are confronting, and are able to craft policies which are more constructive to the US-China relationship," he said. Orlins emphasized that China-US bilateral relations are of global relevance as "there will be global problems in the future which require the two countries "to talk together to help resolve." The top two world economies have already set examples by working together in tackling major global issues like climate change, cyber security and counter-terrorism, he said. The creation of a new cabinet-level framework for negotiations, which includes dialogues on diplomacy and security, economy, law enforcement and cybersecurity, and social and cultural issues, "should help resolve issues" between the two countries, said Orlins. He said the latest positive development is that the US government decided not to brand China as a currency manipulator. "China is not and has not for many years been depreciating its currency, so President Trump simply realized the reality," he said. VILNIUS Lithuanian Agriculture Minister Bronius Markauskas on Tuesday said he expects to speed up procedures for Lithuanian food exports to reach the Chinese market. His comments came ahead of a visit to China by a delegation of Lithuanian meat and dairy producers. Markauskas highlighted that the Chinese market is attractive to Lithuanian food producers due to its size. "The Chinese market is one of the most profitable, and, of course, largest," Markauskas told local media. Last year, Lithuanian dairy producers received permissions to export their production to Chinese market and in recent months have sent trial products to China. Markauskas emphasized efforts to increase exchanges with the Chinese side in order to help Lithuanian companies in accessing Chinese market. In recent years, Lithuanian diplomats and officials have been trying to help food producers gain access to Chinese market amid efforts to diversify food exports. In 2014, Lithuanian food producers, especially dairy and meat companies, were hard hit by Russia's embargo on food imports from the European Union. Russia was one of the main exports markets for Lithuanian food companies. Car-hailing platform Yidao Yongche is rumored to have fallen into financial distress. [Photo/People's Daily Online] Car-hailing platform Yidao Yongche is rumored to have fallen into financial distress after its founder and former CEO claimed that 1.3 billion yuan ($189 million) was appropriated from the company by its top stakeholder, LeEco. Yidao Yongche founder Zhou Hang published a statement late on April 17, admitting that the company is dealing with some financial issues and claiming that the cause of these problems is LeEco. While Yidao Yongche and LeEco later denied the accusation in a joint statement, Zhou's assertion aroused a great deal of public attention, and many drivers went to the company's headquarters to withdraw their money from the platform, reported news site Caixin.com. Several drivers told Caixin that they haven't been able to withdraw money earned on the platform since January. The amount of money various drivers are owed ranges from 4,000 yuan to more than 10,000 yuan. According to the news site, several car rental companies have also complained about overdue payments from Yidao Yongche since last December. Overdue payments put Yidao Yongche in hot water with several other companies as well, the report stated, citing anonymous sources within Yidao Yongche. Meanwhile, the car-hailing app's user base has decreased dramatically. The number of active users per month in March was 3.2 million, down from a record of more than 8 million active users per month last August, reported Jiemian.com. Yidao Yongche and LeEco said in their joint statement that LeEco invested 4 billion yuan in Yidao Yongche. "In the hope of seeking profits for himself, Zhou issued a statement to provoke a disturbance and misguide users. He intended to affect the operations of both companies," the joint statement read. LeEco became the largest stakeholder of Yidao Yongche in 2015, when it purchased 70 percent of the car-hailing platform's stock. Zhou Hang said he stepped away from Yidao Yongche after LeEco took over the company he founded, although he retained the title of CEO. LONDON China's Hainan Airlines announced Tuesday it is to operate Boeing 787 Dreamliners on its route between Manchester and Beijing. Airport officials in Manchester said the Chinese carrier will use its flagship aircraft on the route from May 1. It follows the announcement last month that Hainan Airlines is to increase the frequency of its flights at Manchester from four per week to five. The airline's Boeing 787 Dreamliners are fitted with 36 business-class flatbed seats and 177 economy seats. "With state of the art technology, passengers will benefit from a quieter cabin and should feel more refreshed thanks to the better cabin pressure on board the aircraft," said a statement issued by Manchester Airport. Loic Gao, general manager for Hainan Airlines in Manchester, said: "We are very excited to see our very first Dreamliner landing at Manchester Airport from the 1st of May. Having announced our increased frequency, it makes perfect sense to operate the Manchester route with our flagship aircraft." Stephen Turner, commercial director for Manchester Airport, said: "It's great news that Hainan Airlines will be using their flagship aircraft on the Beijing service. Coupled with the news that they will be increasing frequency, it is testament to how successful the route has been performing." DUBLIN China and Ireland on Tuesday signed a formal protocol on beef exports to China that paves the way to access for Irish beef to China. The protocol is related to inspection, quarantine and veterinary health requirements for Irish frozen beef to be exported to China. This marks another major milestone in the process of getting Irish beef into the Chinese market, the Irish government said in a statement. China imposed a ban on Irish beef after Europe's mad cow disease outbreak in 2000. In order to complete the process to allow Irish beef exporters access to the Chinese market, a veterinary health certificate with China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) must be finalized, which will be followed by an inspection visit by the Chinese Certification and Accreditation Administration (CNCA) to approve individual processing plants for export, according to the Irish government. Beef consumption in China has increased almost six fold between 1990 and 2015 and is forecast to increase further over the coming years. However, Chinese beef production has not kept pace with rising demand. On Tuesday, the two sides also signed a protocol to facilitate trade in thoroughbred horses for an emerging racing sector in China. Irish agri-food exports to China have increased from about 240 million euros ($256.7 million) in 2012 to 780 million euros in 2016, a three-fold increase. This made China the third largest market for Ireland's agri-food sector in value terms after Britain and the United States in 2016. DUBAI As the US laptop ban on some countries in Middle East has weighed on traveling between Dubai and the US, passenger demand from China to Dubai has soared, a senior official of Emirates Airline said on Tuesday. Thierry Antinori, chief commercial officer of the airline in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), made the remarks while addressing the media ahead of the annual tourism fair, Arabian Travel Market in Dubai. "I do not want to go deep there as we will report annual results in May, but there are indications and quotes from industry experts, like from the CEO of Marriott Hotels Arne Sorenson, that the Middle East passenger demand for flights to the United States declined by double-digit rates," Antinori said. Large-sized electronic devices like laptops and tablet computers have been banned for six months from March 21 on direct flights to the US from 10 airports in eight countries, namely Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Turkey and Morocco. The state-owned carrier Emirates, the biggest airline in the Middle East, flies to 11 destinations across the US. Incoming travelers from China, on the other hand, "increased in the last month by 33 percent," he said. Earlier in the week, the UAE General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs said up to 265,698 Chinese tourists visited Dubai in the past five months since UAE began granting visa on arrival for Chinese citizens. New flights to Chinese cities Yinchuan and Zhengzhou as Emirates' fourth and fifth destination in China in May 2016 were fueling the success story, he added. Earlier in the year, the government-owned Dubai Tourism and Commerce Marketing said visitors from China to Dubai in 2016 stood at 540,000, up 20 percent from a year earlier. Dubai aims to attract at least 20 million visitors by 2020, when the state hosts the World Expo. SYDNEY The Sydney Royal Easter Show will end its two-week run on Wednesday, with record numbers having flocked to the show at the showground at Sydney's Olympic Park. The show primarily serves as a showcase for Australian primary industries, and since its first iteration in 1823, has boosted not only awareness for domestic agriculture, but also served as a means of broadcasting the quality of Australian produce around the globe. The annual show is run by the Royal Agricultural Society (RAS). RAS President of the New South Wales branch Robert Ryan, who also serves as the chairman of the Federation of Australian Wool Organizations, told Xinhua that he firmly believes the show provides a link between Australian producers and global consumers. "Well, we held the wool auctions here the other day, we sold just on A$20 million ($15.08 million) worth of wool over two days here, of which, a significant amount will go to China," Ryan said. Ryan, who has worked within the wool industry in Australia for the last 40 years, stressed the importance of events like the auctions held at the show, as they give the regular public insight into how the sale process of Australian primary goods works, while also allowing the buyers to interact with the broader community as a whole. "I think it is very important that we have those sorts of things here to make sure people understand how the chain of supply works, and how we sell our products, particularly into countries like China," Ryan said. Currently, most of the wool produced in Australia is sold at auctions similar to the one that took place at the show, with the majority then making its way to China, according to Ryan. "Something in the order of 75 percent of Australian wool goes to China for first stage processing, and of that, a significant amount remains in China," Ryan said. "Nearly 50 percent of that wool stays in China after first stage processing." With such large amounts of wool making their way to China from Australia, Ryan was emphatic that the ongoing and mutually beneficial trading relationship between the two nations was of vital importance. "It is very, very important. The Chinese are a significant customer of ours, and currently buy the most, and we are very, very excited about that," he said. PREY VENG, Cambodia A China-funded power transmission system was inaugurated here on Wednesday after three years' construction, officials said. Cambodian Minister of Mines and Energy Suy Sem and Chinese Ambassador Xiong Bo jointly launched the 160-kilometers project. According to a report by Keo Rattanak, director-general of Cambodia's state-owned Electricite du Cambodge, the project included two substations and a 115-kilovolt line stretching from southern Kandal province to southeastern Prey Veng and Svay Rieng provinces. "The line is capable of transmitting 150 megawatts electric power in its first phase, and its capacity will be doubled in the future," he said. He added that the project was built by the China National Heavy Machinery Corporation at the cost of $75 million which was a concessional loan from the Chinese government. "This project is crucial to ensuring the supply of electric power with reliability, quality, stability and sustainability in these provinces," he said. "Hundreds of thousands of people in the three provinces will get benefit from it." Suy Sem said the Southeast Asian country currently has 115 kV and 230 kV transmission lines in a total length of 1,525 km. He added that the electric power supply available in 2016 was 2,008 mWs, including 1,592 mWs taken from hydropower plants, coal-fired power plants, oil-fueled power plants, and solar power plants, and 416 mWs imported from Vietnam, Thailand and Laos. "The development of electric power sources and national grid is a key element for boosting economic development and reducing poverty," he said. "The inauguration of the 115 kV power transmission line today is another testament to the fruitful cooperation between Cambodia and China," the minister said. Most of electric power sources and transmission lines in Cambodia have been developed by Chinese firms. Ambassador Xiong said China is pleased to see the Chinese enterprises actively engaging in the development of electric power sources and national grid in Cambodia. "We believe that these achievements will greatly contribute to economic growth and living conditions for the Cambodian people," he said. Meanwhile, Xiong said that under the Belt and Road Initiative, China will continue to support Cambodia in all fields, especially in the development of connectivity infrastructure. KIEV Newly sown fields, well-kept houses and modern farms -- the rural area surrounding Koryukovka settlement shines like a pearl among the string of abandoned villages in a remote corner of Ukraine's northern Chernigov region. After experiencing labour force outflow for decades, Koryukovka gained new life in 2013, when it attracted the interest of investors from central China's Henan province. The Chinese State-owned Huangfanqu Farm entered into a joint venture called Fanda with a Ukrainian partner and has already invested more than $10 million in the development of farming in Koryukovka district, changing the lives of locals. Reanimation of livestock farm "Since the Chinese company started to finance us, we have significantly increased the number of livestock and boosted the productivity of our cattle," Olga Ruchko, a technician at the Koryukovka livestock farm, told Xinhua. Standing proudly in front of the modern farm, Ruchko was not trying to hide her pleasure with the Chinese investors. In 2013, the farm in Koryukovka faced a threat of closure because the previous owners failed to provide enough funds even for buying protein-rich feeds for cows to help the animals produce enough milk and gain weight. "Previously, we could not afford good feeds and our livestock has not got enough nutrition. But now, with Chinese financing, we buy everything we need -- oil cakes and concentrated feeding stuff for cows and mixed cattle feed for calves," Ruchko said. Due to better feeding and improved animal welfare after the renovation of the farm, the daily milk output per cow has increased from 10 to 22 liters. Chinese investment has helped double the livestock at the farm to 2,000 cows and calves and provided jobs to about 100 residents of Koryukovka. The farmers sell about 9 metric tons of fresh milk to local cheese producing plants per day. They also provide free milk to a local kindergarten. "Currently, we supply milk as a raw material, but the company plans to build its own processing plant to produce finished products," Viktor Yushchenko, chairman of Gorky enterprise, which runs the Koryukovka farm, told Xinhua. Decent life for villagers The farm at Koryukovka, nearly 300 kilometers north of the Ukrainian capital, is one of the two agricultural enterprises managed by Fanda. The other is located in Naumovka, a suburb of Koryukovka, just 15 minutes' drive away. Once a flourishing village during the Soviet times, Naumovka lost most of its younger generation, who left in search of better life in the city. Now, young people stopped moving out from Naumovka as the village offers them new employment opportunities. Chinese investment revived about 3,000 hectares of arable farmland in Naumovka, providing jobs to more than 130 villagers. In 2013, Volodymyr Metla, a 40-year-old resident of Naumovka, was considering moving to Kiev to take a job as a construction worker so that he could support his family. Metla's life has changed since Chinese investors came to his village and gave him a job as a tractor driver, while employing his wife as a junior accountant. "I have been working for the Chinese company for about four years and I like my job. Chinese managers pay the wages timely, they have good agriculture equipment and they are good people. We made friends with some of them," Metla told Xinhua. Farmers from nearby villages also came to work in Naumovka. "I am from Kholmy, it is 30 km away from here. I used to work for a local enterprise, but it had collapsed. Here I work as a driver of a combine harvester, a sowing machine and a truck," Sergey Onopchenko told Xinhua. Win-win cooperation Apart from managing livestock farm in Koryukovka and fields of corn, oats and lupine in Naumovka, Fanda rents a forest of 2,700 hectares, where it plans to raise wild animals, such as deer and hunting birds. Zhang Zhenhua, the director of Fanda, said that the agricultural cooperation between Chinese and Ukrainian enterprises is a win-win for both sides due to the complementary advantages of the two economies. China has experience and knowledge of modern farming technologies, its investors have financial resources, while Ukraine has fertile land and good farming infrastructure. "Before coming to Ukraine, we have visited many countries in Africa and Southeast Asia. Then we found out that agriculture is very well developed in Ukraine and decided to invest in this country," Zhang told Xinhua. The intention of the Ukrainian authorities to join the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative has reassured the Chinese farmers of prospects in Ukraine. Speaking of his dream, Zhang said it is simple: to further develop his enterprise to bring benefits for his employees and local people. To bring his dream to life, Zhang is seeking fresh investment for reconstructing a pig breeding complex, building a greenhouse for vegetables and fruits, and constructing a milk processing plant. "Throughout the world, agriculture works on the same principles: the cultivation of land and breeding of cattle does not make a big profit. To get more income, you need to process the products," Zhang said. Fanda is expected to invest more than $50 million in total. The projected capital injection will allow the company to create up to 1,500 new jobs in the Koryukovka district. Entertainment / Music by Agencies A few years ago during the /Ae //Gams Festival, a Zimbabwean stand-up comedian came to perform at the warehouse with Free Your Mind and almost brought the house down. Now he is back in Namibia for one night only at the LOFT and his name is Carl Joshua Ncube.Described by CNN as the new face of Zimbabwe comedy and by Comedy Central Africa and probably the funniest comedian to come out of Zimbabwe. This maverick comedian who is on a world tour will bet performing on the 27th of April at the Loft and you absolutely need to be there.Carl Joshua Ncube is currently on an EXILE tour around the world and is currently visiting NAMIBIA to tell his story about Zimbabwe to the world. Warehouse Theatre is really excited to have him perform his true, incisive, thought-provoking and wonderfully African perspective of stand-up comedy. Tickets are N$50. China's major co-working space company, UR Work, announced it will provide 100,000 desks with an area of 700,000 square meters for innovative companies in 32 cities worldwide over three years. "We expect to provide a platform for entrepreneurs to exchange new commercial modes with talents from other countries on the global stage," Mao Daqing, founder of UR Work, said at its second anniversary on Tuesday. By 2030, co-working spaces will make up 30 percent of the office market in China, according to a report released in March by the US-based real estate services provider Colliers International Group Inc. Founded in 2015, UR Work now has about 30,000 customers from 1,490 companies working in its spaces in 20 cities around the world, with a market valuation of up to seven billion yuan ($1.17 billion) after its second round of financing, Mao said. The company signed an agreement with Ali Cloud, a cloud computing service provider subsidiary to China's e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, involving its global strategy at the anniversary. The company will also cooperate with Shenzhen Deep Dive Education Co Ltd, which will organize training classes for entrepreneurs working at UR Work to improve their social, language and physical skills on the way to going global. Dai Wei, founder of ofo, a Chinese bike-sharing company, said its bike stations will be constructed near UR Work co-working spaces worldwide. Entrepreneurs working at UR Work will be given free access to ofo bikes from May 4, Dai said. Its cooperation with Beijing-based Wumart supermarket will establish linkage of consumption, content production and co-working spaces. LIMA - Through eight years of hard work, a large-scale property constructor from China has gained strong foothold in Peru, with new contracts rolling in, on the basis of its well-received finished projects. "The apartment for us, me and my husband, is comfortable. It is spacious and very safe," said Cristina Gamarra, a local in Lima who had just moved into a 20-storey apartment completed by the Yanjian Group from eastern China's Shandong province. The two high-rising commercial estates in the Jesus Maria district in the capital are the latest project that Yanjian has fulfilled since its entrance into the South American country in 2009. They did a good job for the district, said Miguel Aldaba, local administrator for the project. "So far we have not found any problem with water. The structure and design perpetually keep the water out," he added, referring to the wet weather in Lima. Exemplary projects Yanjian started exploring the Peruvian market in September 2009 with a refurbishing project of the state-owned Loayza Hospital in downtown Lima, a contract the company gained from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. Founded in 1924, Loayza has well-established reputation among patients, but its service has been compromised by the dilapidated infrastructure. Yanjian, a construction company with a history of 65 years, came to wield its wrists on the field, transforming the hospital's dining hall into an over 4,200-square-meter modern facility providing comprehensive treatment. It took only a little more than a year for Yanjian to finish the work. "With 65-year-long construction experience and consideration of the local demands, we pay much attention to the details of design and building to meet as many requirements as possible," General Manager of Yanjian Peru Wang Shuwei told Xinhua. Another landmark project completed by Yanjian is the China-Peru Friendship Hall, which was built to honor the long-standing relations between the two countries. "A lot of work has been done. It is coordinated, because Andrew (the Spanish name of Wang Shuwei) is a person who has had a very strong collaborating team," local engineer Armando Ramos told Xinhua. In 2015, Yanjian undertook the construction of Jose Maria Arguedas Primary School, a project that won the hearts of the parents of the school children in suburban Lima as the school helps sustain their children's education. Cracking difficulties like shortage of water and blocking hills and slopes, Yanjian completed the building process half a year ahead of the schedule. "The core demand and urgent nature for real estate building is perfect management. A stable structure needs to be guaranteed by harmonizing beams and columns to endure earthquakes and other occurrences," said Pedro Ortiz, one of Yanjian's local staff. From trailblazerto market winner For house building in Peru, quake resistance and water proof are the peculiar demands. To meet the target, Yanjian has paid much attention to the structure design, material selection, function consideration and construction management, which result in high quality building and win deep trust from the Peruvian government and local people. In February, the group won a bid to build a national emergency response center in Lima, which claims over 8,800-square-meter land with a command headquarters and a stimulation facility. Local employees are happy to see their Chinese employer prosper in Peru through hard work and quality service, for they have also benefited a lot from Yanjian's growth. "From its very beginning, I became involved (with Yanjian) in building houses ... As I have been developing my career, I grow interested in construction, a beautiful career to follow," said Ortiz. Nearly 1,200 new vehicles are exhibited at the Beijing auto show in April 2016, and this year's show in Shanghai will have a larger scale, with 1,400 cars to be displayed. LI WENMING / FOR CHINA DAILY Electric, plug-in hybrids and fuel-cell vehicles arrive to woo audiences, report Li Fusheng and Hao Yan. One thousand domestic and international exhibitors are showcasing 1,400 cars-including 113 world premieresat the biennial Shanghai auto show that opens today, hoping to woo the world's largest and possibly most competitive car market with the latest products and technologies. Although traditional cars account for the majority of new models, visitors to the eventwhich runs until April 28-will notice a futuristic air emanating from trendsetting new energy vehicles, both concept and production models. According to the event's organizers, automakers are exhibiting 159 electric cars, plug-in hybrids and fuel-cell cars this year, 12 more than those at the Beijing auto show last year. Jaguar Land Rover is showcasing an electric concept car, the Jaguar I-Pace SUV. According to the British premium carmaker, the vehicle, the first of its kind from Jaguar, will deliver a torque of 700 Nm, 400 PS and finish the 0-100 kilometer-per-hour sprint in around four seconds. The model will be available starting in the second half of 2018. Another British brand, Bentley Motors, is showing its electric concept car, called the EXP 12 Speed 6e. The automaker said one of its aims is to gauge public opinion in the Chinese market to help to shape its future strategy. "Bentley is fully committed to Chinait is a vital market for us. We are focusing on developing an electric model in the future that will meet the luxury mobility needs of customers right here and around the world," said Wolfgang Duerheimer, the marque's chairman and CEO. The luxury brand's electric car strategy for the next few years will also include plug-in hybrid models, starting with the Bentayga SUV in 2018. Volume brands are even more ambitious in their efforts to seize a share of the world's largest new energy car market, which sold half a million such vehicles in 2016 and is expected to sell even more this year. Volkswagen is displaying an electric crossover concept that features both coupe and SUV characteristics. The model is said to have a mileage similar to that of gasoline cars. The German automaker did not disclose when people will see the production model, but it has indicated it will launch 15 new energy cars in China in the next three to four years. Skoda's Vision E has won acclaim with its new design features, including counteropening doors and the absence of a B-pillar, when it was shown on April 17. The electric concept car, which also has autonomous driving features, is expected to have a range of 500 km. "We are giving an outlook on Skoda's future models with electric drive," said Skoda CEO Bernhard Maier. "In addition to plug-in hybrids, we will be launching five purely electric cars in the market in various segments before 2025," Maier added. By 2025, new energy vehicles are expected to account for more than 15 percent of total passenger vehicle sales in China, according to the Society of Automotive Engineers of China. Local brands The market has until now been dominated by Chinese brands, such as BYD, Roewe and BAIC Motor, and more startups are joining the race. NextEV, backed by Tencent nd investment firm Hillhouse Capital, is bringing 11 models to Shanghai this week, including the Nio EP9, which impressed the industry with its prototype debut last year in London. The Nio EP9 demonstrates NextEV's R&D ability, while the focus of the carmaker is to produce cars that are affordable for the public, according to William Li, its founder. Changan Automobile signed a deal to establish a joint venture with NextEV, not only in manufacturing, but also covering intelligent and new energy vehicle R&D, the supply chain and sales channels. The agreement followed JAC's 2016 deal to produce 50,000 of NextEV's upcoming volume models. Little-known carmaker Singulato Motors is bringing its "intelligent electric" iS6 to the show. The car will be outsourced to an original manufacturer, as the company has not started its production permit application. "We will apply for the permit for the plant in Tongling, Anhui province when the time is ripe," said Shen Haiyin, CEO of Singulato Motors. In addition to new energy cars, Chinese automakers are demonstrating strength in gasoline cars, especially SUVs, with those from Geely's Lynk & Co and Great Wall's Wey. The focus of the Lynk & Co brand is internet connectivity and innovative purchasing models in certain markets, targeting young professionals in megacities. The VV7 from Great Wall Motors' Wey brand will launch today as Wei Jianjun, chairman of China's largest SUV producer, promised later last year. The brand is positioned as an accessible premium SUV brand. Lu Shengyun (left) and Ron Zheng. Since 2013, the Chinese car-sharing market has experienced quick growth, both in terms of fleet size and subscribed users. Roland Berger's latest research found this market may maintain its rapid growth over next five years in terms of fleet size, maintaining its speed of 45 percent year-on-year. The expected growth will be mainly driven by three major factors: favorable government policies and regulations on "smart mobility", mature customers' attitudes toward the car-sharing concept, and fulfilling customers' needs through alternative solutions, including public transportation and taxis. Over last two to three years, newcomers have entered into the Chinese car-sharing market, such as traditional manufacturers Daimler, Changan and BMW, third-party providers backed by automakers including Global Sharing and Greengo, or third-party independent technology companies like Ezzy and CCClub. Business models are slightly different among these mentioned players and three major models exist: the round trip or A-to-A, station-based model, such as Car2share; the one-way trip or A-to-B station-based model, such as EVcard; or the free-floating or X-to-Y model, such as Car2go. Challenges Few players reach a break-even point after the launch of their business, largely because of insufficient revenues and a burdened cost structure. The first reason is mainly caused by alternative mobility solutions which have very competitive pricing (taxis or chauffeur-based vehicles with strong consumer incentives); the latter is mainly caused by car depreciation, upfront investment in offline solutions (maintenance team) and insurance. According to Roland Berger's model, based on selected key assumptions, the break-even point when the business reaches around 20 percent of daily utilization, equal to 4.8 hours' use or four to five rides of one hour. Almost all players are performing under this threshold in China. How to succeed In order to succeed in the car-sharing business in China, both external and internal conditions should be met by an operator. External conditions include proper partnerships and support from local governments. Chinese central and local governments are emphasizing the "sharing economy" concept and "smart mobility" programs. Operators should target regional markets where car-sharing is supported by local governments which help to optimize cost structure. For example, the Chongqing municipal government offered some free parking lots to Car2go in specific selected regions. Second, operating car-sharing businesses requires many resources which are not at the disposal of any one specific entity, such as an offline maintenance team, parking stations, call centers and more. Operators should keep an open mind and consider setting up external partnerships rather than running the business independently. For example, car-sharing businesses are welcomed because they also bring additional revenues for vacant parking lots. On the other hand, operators should also build up or reinforce their internal capabilities to operate car sharing efficiently in China. Roland Berger foresees five major challenges: first, having a clear vision of target customers and adapting product offerings; second, being innovative and thinking beyond cars; third, defining an appropriate pricing strategy in China; fourth, improving operational performance; and fifth, investing strongly in developing digital capabilities. Let's take the pricing strategy as an example: car-sharing operators are facing stronger competition from taxis and car-hailing services in China than other regions of the world, which means even lower prices are expected for car sharing. The writers are Ron Zheng, a principal of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, and Lu Shengyun, a senior consultant of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. Chinese automaker Geely's new car brand Lynk & Co debuts in Shanghai just before the biennial Shanghai Auto Show, which opened on Wednesday. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] Chinese automakers are showing strength and striving to compete in high-end cars, aiming to snag technology-savvy motorists in the world's biggest market. Geely Auto Group's new car brandLynk & Codebuted in Shanghai just before the biennial Shanghai Auto Show, which opened on Wednesday. The big show attracts domestic and international exhibitors to showcase 1,400 cars, including 113 world premieres. The medium-sized, tech-laden SUV was designed and developed by Geely's China Euro Vehicle Technology R&D center in Gothenburg, Sweden and built in China. The R&D center in Sweden has grown from nothing to more than 2,000 employees and consultants in just three years. "The new brand integrates advantages from both East and West," said An Conghui, president and CEO of Geely Auto Group, stressing the strong coordination, research and development ties between Geely and Volvo, which Geely acquired in 2010. He said that the new car brand's models use Volvo's compact modular architecture (CMA). "As a good product is the core of a new brand, it merges safety and high quality with modern technology." An Conghui, president and CEO of Geely, reveals the Chinese name of the new brand, Lynk & Co. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] When it comes to the reason behind launching the new brand, An explained, "Carmakers are market-oriented companies that follow customers' preferences and consumption trends." A total of 3.9 million passenger cars were sold in the first two months of 2017, breaking the bimonthly sales record of 3.6 million for the same period last year with year-on-year growth of 6.3 percent, according to statistics released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers on March 10. The data showed sport utility vehicle sales climbed 28.7 percent to 1.6 million sold. The rapidly-growing SUV segment has been serving as carmakers' profit source because production facilities and platforms are usually shared with the sedan models, but priced higher. "It will compete with mainstream high-end cars," An said, adding that the new brand is less luxurious than Volvo, but higher rated than Geely, and will go head-to-head with Volkswagen, Ford, Toyota and Hyundai. The design of the new Lynk & Co auto is distinct from concept cars, and has a modern European look. "This car has European DNA," said Peter Horbury, Geely's executive vice-president of design. "It shows the design language is versatile and flexible." "The brand targets tech-savvy drivers, especially young people in megacities like London, New York and Shanghai," Horbury added. Tim Clancy, from Australia, pays a bill with his smartphone at a restaurant in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, on Friday. [Photo provided to China Daily] Ant Financial Services Group said on Monday it will extend its indigenous mobile payment technologies to economies along the Belt and Road Initiative and unveil a number of Alipay-like services this year. The plan marks the company's accelerated pace in expanding globally, adding to the existing five Asian markets where the financial technology powerhouse has announced investment plans since 2015. "Technology exports will effectively save five to eight years' time of our local partners in developing new technologies and conducting feasibility tests," said Jia Hang, senior director of international business at Ant Financial. The firm is counting on partners outside China to bring its model of online finance and local services to emerging Asian markets, where a substantial number of the population have no access to banking services and are underserved by traditional financial institutions. Through strategic investments, the company can tap into the vast resources of one of the world's most populous regions, Jia noted. For instance, its investment in Thailand's Ascend Money, an arm of the agricultural-to-telecom conglomerate, can give them access to local users and merchants. In its latest overseas move, Ant Financial linked up this month with Indonesia's second-largest media firm Emtek to form a payment platform within BlackBerry's messaging service, which covers 63 million users in the country. The company hopes to serve 2 billion users globally within a decade. To achieve that goal, it provides a familiar payment option to Chinese outbound travelers and help foreign partners build technical infrastructure and solutions for local purposes. "In developed countries, we prioritize cross-border settlements for international merchants because of their unmet needs to sell to more customers. In developing areas we target underserved individuals," Jia said. Ant Financial's effort represents a genuine breakthrough in business know-how and putting the ideal of inclusive finance into practice, said Xu Yuan, a professor at the National School of Development at Peking University. The overseas expansion is creating synergies for its parent Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, whose e-commerce business, logistics networks and cloud computing services are all making inroads in Southeast Asia. Paytm, India's largest mobile wallet operator by user number, is on course to introduce a money market fund, a credit scoring system and other functions similar to the architecture of Alipay by 2020, its chief executive officer said. The next step toward building an all-round financial services app is the imminent launch of a payments bank, which is awaiting regulatory clearance from the Indian central bank, said Vijay Shekhar, Paytm's founder and chief executive officer. "No doubt we will have launched all that by 2020. This is in line with our goal of serving 500 million unbanked people in three years," Shekhar told a media briefing in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. Paytm is the first overseas Alipay-like payment system developed by Ant Financial Services Group. Capital injection and technology support from the Chinese fintech giant helped grow Paytm's user base from 30 million to 220 million within two years. "Working with Ant Financial is like taking a hands-on MBA course, where I learned a number of exciting cases on cross-border transactions and risk controls," he said. The development of Paytm Payments Bank will follow Ant Financial's own course in China, where the Chinese equivalent MyBank debuted two years ago with the objective of serving those not covered by the traditional banking system. "The aim is to build a new business model in the banking industry, focused on bringing financial services to hundreds of millions of unserved or underserved Indians," he said, adding users cannot lend via the bank and are subject to a cap on money transfers. India does not have an entrenched credit card culture, giving companies like Paytm the opportunity to educate users to jump from cash to mobile payments. "The wave of demonetization accords with the Indian government's push to combat the black market, increase transparency and digitize the economy," said Girish Ramachandran, Asia-Pacific president of Tata Consultancy Services. Paytm has ventured into the e-commerce arena through the creation of Paytm Mall, which is backed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Shekhar said e-commerce in India is still in its infancy, but Chinese majors can help build infrastructure and train merchants. Lei Jun shows Mi 6 in Beijing, April 19, 2017. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] A seven-year-old Chinese smartphone vendor Xiaomi unveiled its six-generation flagship device, Mi 6 in Beijing on Wednesday and announced that it would open 1,000 offline retail stores in first and second tier cities, in a bid to make all products more accessible. Lei Jun, founder of Xiaomi, said the Mi 6 was the first Chinese-made handset to be equipped with a Snapdragon 835 processor, along with the help of Qualcomm. He added the Mi 6 features include a 6G RAM, dual camera, curved glasses on all four edges and a stainless bezel. He said the Mi 6 was also water-proof and can protect eyes with its special screen. The Mi 6 also has the 4-pixel optical anti-vibration function, which exists on Mi 5 but does not show up on Mi 5s due to cost considerations. The updated release was in response to the consumers' wants and needs, Lei said. "The Mi 6 is a product with extreme attention to detail, showcasing Xiaomi's endless exploration," he said. Lei went on to give special credit to the engineers involved and said without innovation, Xiaomi, a company that started with a staff of about a dozen, would not have survived. "In the past seven years, hundreds of smartphone manufacturers have lost and disappeared," he said. In addition to technological breakthroughs, the company have found the business model transformation a complete success. Lei said the company, which gained strong presence in the country's smartphone sector via its web-only sales model, succeeded in cost control, enabling the same product at a bricks-and-mortar store, Mi Home,to be sold at the same price as their online peers. He expected the company to gain 70 billion yuan ($10.2 billion) from its Mi Homes over the next five years. Mi 6 devices with 64G ROM and 128G ROM will be sold starting April 28 in all Xiaomi sales channels at 2,499 yuan and 2,899 yuan respectively. A ceramic version will be sold at 2,999 yuan. Jin Di, a research manager with IDC China, said the Mi 6, however, was not on par with industry-wide expectations, especially on the backdrop of the Mi Mix a trend-setter on all-screen devices. She added this was not only a difficult time for Xiaomi but for other Chinese vendors as breakthroughs were increasingly hard to make. A vendor sells medicinal herbs at a market in Kaili city in Guizhou province. [Photo/Xinhua] Wang Zengshi's house is full of silk banners that have been presented to him by grateful patients; some hang on the walls of his home, while others have been spread casually on the floor. The practitioner of Miao traditional herbal medicine treats more than 30 patients a day at his clinic, and he often travels to other parts of the country to provide treatment. "Some people only come to me when the hospital doctors say they are doomed, but I never refuse to see them," said the member of the Miao ethnic group, from Wengtong, a village in Leishan county, Guizhou province. Wang's four-story complex is equipped with hospital beds, a pharmacy and a consulting room filled with patients' files. Even though the 59-year-old dropped out of primary school after the third grade, his area of expertise is the treatment of bone fractures and snakebites. However, he claims he can also provide relief from, or even cure, a range of ailments including cancer and infertility. "Patients come all the way to see me, so I have an obligation to look after them," he said, referring to the difficulty of reaching the village, deep in Leigong Mountain and only accessible to the outside world by a narrow, winding cement road. Last year, Wang's clinic generated income of 2 million yuan ($290,000), thanks to the rising popularity of traditional Miao medicine and treatment methods. The phenomenon is noticeable across the province. In 2015, the total sales value of Miao herbal medicine in Guizhou was 20 billion yuan, surpassing the combined figures for traditional Tibetan, Mongolian and Uygur treatments, according to figures from the Guizhou Department of Science and Technology. In the same year, a guideline issued by the provincial government pledged to accelerate the development of industries related to Miao herbal medicine and encourage the construction of new treatment centers in three nearby prefectures and in Guiyang, the provincial capital. To enable a larger number of Miao herbal medicines to gain acceptance as legal treatments, the provincial government is working to have more of them included in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, a list of approved medicines, the guideline said. Lin Ruichao, dean of the School of Chinese Materia Medica at Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, said 155 Miao medicines have already been approved for use by the China Food and Drug Administration. The inclusion of more Miao medicines in the pharmacopoeia would further increase the sector's influence, but local businesses still need to improve their products, he told a forum in July. News / National by Staff reporter Government will enact the Computers and Cyber Crime Bill, which will empower it to snoop into people's phones, before the country holds the eagerly anticipated 2018 elections.Information Communication Technology minister (ICT) Supa Mandiwanzira said enactment of the Bill into law should not coincide with the crucial polls.Mandiwanzira made these remarks while officially opening a Southern Africa media stakeholders' conference that was recently convened by the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe (Maz) under the theme, Promoting Internet freedom and free expression in southern Africa''."Consultations around the Cyber Bills are at an advanced stage and the ICT ministry will soon be tabling them before Cabinet," said Mandiwanzira."We do not want this process to be viewed as an attempt to curtail people's freedoms during the elections period and as such we will seek to conclude the process as soon as possible."Although the Bill, which critics say grants government access into citizens' lives, is viewed with suspicion by many, Mandiwanzira said people are free to make their contributions before it is taken to Cabinet and eventually Parliament where it will be passed into law."We have an open door policy at the ministry and continue to urge any citizen with submissions on the Bill to bring them forward so that we can address the concerns."At the end of the day we want laws that strike a balance between promoting citizens freedoms while protecting them."The former deputy minister of Media and Information also revealed that government is working with other countries in the Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc) in promoting Internet access, with an 80 percent Internet penetration target by 2020."As Zimbabwe we are aiming to supersede the regional target and we are aiming to reach 100 percent Internet penetration by 2020. We also want to be trendsetters in so far as implementing progressive cyber legislation in line with Sadc model law."He said that the uptake and use of ICTs in Zimbabwe has greatly increased in recent years and that government continues to invest in ICTs infrastructure development and education."Zimbabwe currently has an active mobile penetration reach of 94,8 percent and Internet penetration rate of 50 percent as of 31 December 2016."The government has developed information kiosks and community information centres for the less privileged members of society to have access to development information."He added that the ICT ministry was also committed to addressing the issue on the cost of accessing the Internet as evidenced by government's intervention in scraping the hikes to mobile data tariffs so that citizens are not priced off their right to speak and interact."The contribution of civil society in the ongoing consultations is greatly appreciated as it complements the capacity building exercises and awareness campaigns being carried out by Sadc and its member states," he said.Speaking at the same occasion, Maz programmes manager Nigel Nyamutumbu said there is need for southern Africa to collectively address common challenges curtailing the enjoyment of media freedom in the region."Southern Africa is faced with common media challenges particularly as it relates to the legal and policy framework, the safety and security of journalists, Internet freedom and even media professionalism," said Nyamutumbu.The conference was attended by various media stakeholders in the region including editors, journalists, government officials, online activists, media managers and civil society organisations among others. Xu Nannan and her daughter create feather artwork at their studio in Chongqing. [Photo By Tan Yingzi / China Daily] From a hobby to a business, a retired teacher and her daughter sell their works at home and abroad From a distance, it looks like a normal traditional Chinese ink wash painting, but up close, it appears to be a piece of embroidery stitched with silk thread. "This is feather art," Xu Nannan, the master of the artwork, said at her studio in the southwestern municipality of Chongqing. As early as about 2,500 years ago, during the Spring and Autumn (770-476 BC) and Warring States (475-221 BC) periods, the Chinese began to create pictures using bird feathers. This art form reached its peak during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), but due to various reasons, the skill was not handed down to subsequent generations. Xu, a retired kindergarten teacher, knew nothing about feather art until she saw her 6-year-old daughter, Gu Qian, use a chicken feather to create a butterfly. "Her feather creation was interesting and it inspired me," Xu recalled. Xu then started to use feather painting as a teaching tool in her classes, and her beautiful artwork won her first prize in a local handicraft competition in the 1990s. "I started it as a hobby, but many people encouraged me to take it seriously," she said. "At that time, no one made traditional Chinese feather art in China." With no textbooks or training materials on this subject, Xu tried to utilize similar skills used in the creation of straw patchwork and fishbone art. She also started to learn about traditional Chinese painting. She was named the Folk Art Master of Chongqing in 2001 and was invited to perform at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. Unlike other forms of feather art in China, which use brushes and ink to complete the artwork, Xu only creates with feathers. Wildlife ranger Liang Feng'en attends an event to promote the conservation of Siberian tigers. [Photo provided to China Daily] Early one morning, before sunrise and before nature has awoken, 59-year-old Liang Feng'en walked calmly through the forests in Suiyang town, Heilongjiang province, carrying his green-and-black GPS device, a camera, a diary and a medical kit. Decades ago, Liang was a well-known hunter in the region, but he now works as a ranger for Suiyang's forestry bureau, applying his knowledge to aid wildlife conservation in the country's northeast. His main duty is to find and record the tracks of wild Siberian tigers and their prey, such as deer and boar, which is essential work for big-cat protection. Liang has been living in the forests for more than 40 years and knows about all of the animals and trees in the region. "I had no idea about wildlife protection when I was young, and I never imagined that I would give up hunting, which was my family's way of life for decades," he said. Suiyang, a small town that borders Russia, is surrounded by dense forests. Liang said his family and neighbors all looked up to his father, who would bring home wild boars and deer even when the whole country was plagued by starvation in the 1960s. "Good hunters enjoyed respect and were even idolized," Liang said, adding that he inherited his father's talent and would hunt 60 to 70 wild boars a year by the time he was 20 years old. However, hunting traditions changed in 1998 when China implemented strict environmental protection measures, with Liang taking on an entirely new and unexpected role as a wildlife protector. In 2000, he received a phone call from conservation group World Wide Fund for Nature's China Office, inviting him to help protect wildlife in the region. "I thought it was ridiculous. How could a hunter suddenly be on the animals' side? I thought I would be a joke in the eyes of my friends," Liang said. But gradually, after learning more from the WWF about the significance of wildlife protection, he changed his mind and finally accepted a job as a ranger to help conserve wildlife in Northeast Asia, especially Siberian tigers - a species facing extinction. Hundreds of Siberian tigers prowled Heilongjiang's virgin forests in the 1960s, but they have since become rare due to a dramatic reduction in the size of their habitat. However, they are returning to the mountains of Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces from Russia's Far East region after a decade of reforestation. As part of China's improvements in wildlife protection, many former loggers and hunters like Liang have now become forest rangers. Their daily routine has changed from destroying the local habitat and wildlife to implementing anti-hunting measures, wildlife monitoring and raising public awareness of the tigers' plight. "The more I learned about the ecological balance and the importance of animal protection, the more I wanted to be a ranger," Liang said, adding that he now has an emotional connection with the forest. Walking an average of 30 to 40 kilometers through the forests each day with a backpack weighing about 20 kilograms, Liang not only records changes in the forests, but also removes dangers posed to wild animals by humans - he has cleared more than 1,000 traps during his time as a ranger. Liang is recognized by many as the region's top ranger due to his professionalism and dedication. He and his colleagues also encourage locals who know the forests well to join their team. The region had 200 rangers by early last year, but the number had soared to 600 by last month, according to official statistics. "Rangers are like our hands and eyes, collecting the information we need and taking care of the forests and animals. Our recent research shows that the number of wild tigers and leopards both witnessed an increase due to their efforts," said Liu Peiqi, a program director with WWF China. Yang Shaochen conducts a consultation via his smartphone. [Photo by Yang Jun/China Daily] Many practitioners of traditional herbal medicine in Guizhou province combine their therapies with modern methods of diagnosis as they seek to further improve the treatments they offer. Before he prescribes herbal medicine, Yang Shaochen, a practitioner of traditional Dong medicine in Kaili, a city in the province, asks patients to provide the results of hospital scans to aid diagnosis. "It is important for us to be informed by modern technologies," said the member of the Dong ethnic group. He added that comparisons of scan results before and after his therapies are applied often help patients to realize that treatment works: for example, if he treats a cancer patient and a subsequent scan shows that the tumor has reduced in size, or even disappeared completely. He also uses modern medical theory as part of his treatment and has studied the human body to improve his services. Yang's wife, who graduated from a regular medical school, has helped deepen her husband's knowledge of gynecology. Yang uses the internet for consultations with patients, asking them to send photos of their symptoms as a diagnostic aid. Wang Zengshi, who practices traditional Miao herbal medicine in Guizhou's Leishan county, has sent two of his children to medical school. He has two daughters and a son, so he decided to send one of the girls and the boy to study Western medicine. "Even though Western medical theories sometimes conflict with our practices, it is important to learn about the human body," he said. Wang has a poor educational background, so he is unable to give the scientific names of many of the herbs he uses every day, and he hopes his son and daughter will be able to combine the knowledge they will gain from him with modern medicine to better treat their future patients. "It takes a long time to learn about all the herbs used in Miao medicine. I have to teach the children from scratch and make sure they get the details right," he said. A vendor on Taobao, a Chinese eBay-like shopping website, demonstrates shared bikes mounted with extra child seats. [Photo: Taobao.com] The ongoing bike-sharing boom in China has led detachable front-mounted child bicycle seat to become a bestseller online, at the same time raising safety and legal concerns.Various bike-sharing companies have declared that carrying others while riding their bikes violates the one-user only agreement, warning that those who break the rule could assume full responsibility in case of accidents, The Beijing News reported. On Taobao, an e-commerce site run by China's Alibaba, such a child bicycle seat kit generally includes a support bar, a child bike saddle, a pair of foot guards, a front armrest and necessary clamps. The installation almost requires no tools, as the clamps can be simply attached on the bike's original seat post. Most of the Taobao vendors claim their seats are made of carbon steel, thus able to hold up to 60kg. Similar bike seat accessories are being sold by hundreds of sellers, usually priced between 40 and 60 yuan (about 5.8 to 8.7 USD) and mostly decorated with cartoon prints. Vendors with the highest sales volumes have reported over 500 orders within the past month. The seat kits are nothing new but have become popular soon after a recent bike-sharing fever swept across China, a seller on Taobao told The Beijing News. However, most of the vendors fail to provide legal quality certificates, and disclaimers are posted asserting the sellers won't be held responsible for any accidents involving the bikes and child seats. Online customer reviews show that many buyers claim the seats are "shaky" even after proper installation. Journalists with the Beijing News have consulted Mobike, ofo and bluegogo, three leading bike-sharing companies in China, and have been informed that a shared bike is a one-person only service, which means carrying others violates their user agreements. The companies said no extra mounts should be used on shared bikes, insisting that users should bear responsibility if related accidents occur. Tang Ning, a lawyer with the Beijing King & Capital Law Firm, supported the statements, adding that the sellers of the child seats may also be accused if accidents happen. BEIJING -- Zhang Xiao and her fellow students at Tsinghua University's School of Aerospace Engineering have an idea that could save more lives. The second-year graduate student and her colleagues developed a technology to painlessly detect diseases such as early-stage liver cancer.The technology has won several patents, but the students had no clue how to get it on the market. "It turned out that a startup company is the only way to protect our patents and make the best use of it. I also want to learn how to protect our intellectual property as a startup," says Zhang, a biomechanics major. Now she is taking an entrepreneurship course at Tsinghua's Beijing campus. The two-credit elective course-Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Silicon Valley Insight-was jointly launched by Tsinghua's School of Economics and Management, and Facebook. The 200 attendees from many fields of expertise get insights into Silicon Valley's latest innovations and entrepreneurial practices. Moreover, they must come up with their own business ideas and form a team of five to develop a business plan. The five members play the role of chief executive officer, chief marketing officer, chief design officer, chief brand officer and chief technology officer. Each team will make their final presentations and give project demos at the end of the course. Zhang has never studied business before. "My project in this course is actually from my lab. We basically solved a technical problem and now we need to commercialize it," she says. "Through this course, I am expecting to figure out how we can commercialize scientific achievements and the whole procedure." The Chinese government is keen to nurture entrepreneurship and innovation, and the Ministry of Education has instructed all colleges and universities to set up compulsory or elective innovation and entrepreneurship courses. Tsinghua University is a pioneer in this field. In 2013, it launched x-Lab, a university-based platform designed to foster student innovation and entrepreneurship. X-Lab operates under the auspices of the School of Economics and Management and links 14 schools and departments across the university. It aims to help students master the basics of innovation and business startups through courses, workshops and competitions. It also introduces student entrepreneurs to investors, mentors and team members. Mao Donghui, executive director of x-Lab, sees technology talent and scientific breakthroughs in abundance at Tsinghua. But many students tend to focus only on their research discipline and have a narrow base of knowledge, Mao says, and it's necessary to nurture awareness of how technology relates to innovation and the potential for entrepreneurship. "Some research findings by Tsinghua students are better than their international peers', such as Silicon Valley companies. And many of them have begun to recognize startup opportunities and to develop their technology-led ideas into early-stage businesses or commercial projects," Mao says. "The creativity of students is like a seedling in a pot. Only when the seedling is planted in good soil and well-nurtured can it flourish. We want to try every means to boost their understanding of innovation and startups." Although many universities recognize the importance of entrepreneurship education, questions remain. How should entrepreneurship courses be conducted? Who is qualified to teach these courses? In an open online discussion in March, Vice-Minister of Education Lin Huiqing said that inviting entrepreneurs and venture capitalists who have hands-on experience into classrooms will help improve entrepreneurship education. She said the Ministry of Education and local education sectors will build an online platform listing a talent pool of more than 10,000 innovation and entrepreneurship mentors by the end of 2017. Tsinghua has been exploring new ways to enrich their entrepreneurship education, including encouraging students to think with a global perspective. In 2016, Tsinghua invited US venture capitalist and entrepreneur Peter Thiel to teach a one-credit elective course "Start-Up Thinking". Thiel is famous for his start-up course at Stanford University. As well as bringing the latest ideas in innovation and entrepreneurship, he also encourages students to compare and analyze entrepreneurship and venture capital in China and the United States. Tsinghua has been updating entrepreneurial courses to incorporate new trends and to meet students' needs in starting businesses. X-Lab's Mao says Tsinghua's IP and Business Strategy course informs students how to protect intellectual property as a startup. "Students lack business experience and can overlook problems. Without proper patents, a startup can be less appealing for investors and even face patent-infringement lawsuits," says Mao. "In this course, we invite intellectual-property specialists as well as chief IP officers from world-leading companies such as Qualcomm, IBM and Tencent. "They discuss how these mature companies deal with intellectual-property issues, which is valuable for students planning startups." Entrepreneurship courses also create platforms for alumni networking. Hu Changran selected the Silicon Valley Insight course. The undergraduate majoring in electronic engineering has an idea for automatic composition, an artificial intelligence adaptation for music. He hopes to meet other entrepreneurial hopefuls through the course. "I want to discuss startup ideas with students from different disciplines, which will help give me a more comprehensive view," Hu says. "I also hope to find some future partners." The villagers he led only had hand toolsand explosives. He's the stuff of legendbut real. Huang Dafa is arguably an actual, modern incarnation of the ancient myth of Yu Gong. The saying yu gong yi shanor "the old man moves mountains"is a parable of persistence that seems foolhardy in the face of unimaginable odds. Fable says two peaks separated Yu Gong's home from the village. So, he decided to dig them away. Another elderly man mocked him. Yu Gong responded that while his descendants could dig for generations, the mountains wouldn't grow any higher. The gods were so moved by his determination that they moved the mountains for him. Huang enjoyed no such divine intervention. He had to rely on pure will. LHASA -- A stone lion the height of a man was recently unearthed in Lhasa, near what is believed to be a former ministerial office, according to local authorities. The stone lion, 169-cm tall and 104.7-cm wide, was excavated on March 22 by a team of construction workers on Dosengge Road in Lhasa's city center, according to a Tibet Autonomous Region cultural heritage bureau press release Wednesday. It said that experts from the bureau and Tibet's regional museum had spent weeks doing research before concluding that the statue was dated to the 18th century. The site was at the former office of grand ministers stationed in Tibet by emperors of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) to supervise local governance on behalf of central authorities. "Dosengge" means "stone lion" in Tibetan. "The road was named after the two stone lions that sat at the entrance of the grand minister's office," said Professor Tseten Tashi, Tibet University historian. The ministerial office was inaugurated on Dosengge Road in 1728, a year after the first grand minister was stationed in Lhasa, according to the professor. The unearthed statue was intact with traces of color and paint still visible, and is believed to be one of a pair. Cultural heritage authorities are organizing an excavation of the other lion. The area is off-limits to visitors for protection purposes. BEIJING -- Chinese government plans new tax cuts to reduce the burden on businesses, support innovation and stabilize growth. Tax cuts were approved Wednesday at a State Council executive meeting presided over by Premier Li Keqiang, after the government announced measures to reduce business costs in the first quarter. Value-added tax will be simplified, more small and micro companies will enjoy income tax incentives, and pre-tax deductions for innovation-based tech companies will rise, according to a statement made public after the meeting. Tax incentives for venture capital firms will expand, with pre-tax deduction of commercial health insurance nationwide and a package of tax-cuts due to expire by 2016 extended for another three years. A government work report released in March promised around 350 billion yuan ($51 billion) of cuts to corporate taxes and with business fees cut by around 200 billion yuan in 2017. After the new measures become effective, the total tax reduction will amount to more than 380 billion yuan this year, the statement said. The meeting ordered authorities to implement the policies as soon as possible and come up with more new measures to reduce business fees. The meeting also approved a draft law on public libraries, which will be forwarded to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for deliberation. A crackdown to regulate court officials' behavior while enforcing verdicts was launched Wednesday, China's top court said. The Supreme People's Court has taken verdict enforcement as a priority since last year, saying it has made efforts to speed up its implementation this year, as well as regulating enforcers' behavior. On Wednesday, it issued a guideline with 10 bans for judicial officials related to the enforcement department of Chinese courts, such as asking them not to release case secrets or improperly meet litigants during enforcement work. "Every enforcer cannot delete or withdraw information on those who do not comply with the verdict from the court's blacklist improperly," said Wu Shaojun, deputy director of the enforcement department under the top court. Living with, having meals or traveling with litigants are also banned for legal workers, he said, and they are ordered to strictly abide by all procedures to implement verdicts. He compared the 10 restrictions to "high-tension cables" for court officials, saying those disobeying them will be seriously punished. He said the guideline was made based on the top court's research in grassroots courts, in which it found some officials neglected their duties regarding enforcement. "As urging defaulters, such as debtors, to carry out verdicts as soon as possible, court work should be also regulated and improved," he said. Chinese courts should take initiative to play a role in enforcement, providing justice for litigants in a timely manner, he added. BEIJING -- Chinese military servicemen have unanimously voiced strong support for President Xi Jinping's instruction on a major military reshuffle. Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), met Tuesday with commanders of 84 newly adjusted or established corps-level units and issued instructions for them. All the units must adhere to the Party leadership and obey the CPC Central Committee and the CMC, Xi said. Identifying the 84 units as crucial parts of a new system, Xi called on them to safeguard China's sovereignty, security and developmental interests. All the officers and soldiers of the People's Liberation Army (PLA)pledged to obey the CPC Central Committee, the CMC and President Xi to enhance combat readiness and build an indestructible army. The PLA Army said that they would uphold the leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Xi as the core, follow orders and strengthen combat training. The PLA Navy said they would spare no efforts to build a powerful force to protect China's maritime rights and interests, and effectively respond to maritime security threats. The PLA Air Force said they would strengthen combat training, and strive to become a force of integrated air and space capacities competent for both offensive and defensive missions. The PLA Rocket Force said they would focus on building a world-class strategic force as envisioned by President Xi Jinping, eradicate the bad influence of Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou, corrupt former CMC vice chairmen, and concentrate on building an invincible army. The PLA Strategic Support Force said they would spare no efforts to make major innovation breakthroughs and cultivate a high-end talent pool to seize the strategic military high ground. All military serviceman vowed to greet the 19th CPC National Congress scheduled for later this year with outstanding achievements and a brand new look. China has pledged to make advances in reforming the military leadership and management system, as well as the joint battle command system by 2020. The PLA has experienced a series of historic changes in its organization and structure since 2015. The general command of the PLA Army, the PLA Rocket Force, and the PLA Strategic Support Force were established in late 2015. The previous seven military area commands were regrouped into five theater commands, and the four military departments -- staff, politics, logistics and armaments -- were reorganized into 15 agencies in 2016. News / National by Staff reporter Government's plan to introduce a law which allows parents to pay school fees with livestock and labour has become a butt of bad jokes on social media which has since gone viral as long suffering citizens make their views known in ways that provide comical relief.The Movable Property Security Interests Bill which floats the idea of using movable assets like goats, cattle, sheep and cars as collateral for bank loans - is seen as taking the country backwards.Primary and Secondary Education minister Lazarus Dokora told the State media last week that some schools had already entered into arrangements with parents who were failing to pay fees to provide either labour or livestock."Our schools have to be flexible and ensure those who do not have money to pay fees can work."For example, if there is a builder in the community, he/she must be given that opportunity to work as a form of payment of tuition fees."On the issue of livestock, the community has to arrange a market where everyone participates; from the school authorities, local leadership and parents themselves to avoid parents being duped," said Dokora.But the move has almost broken the Internet with unimpressed Zimbabweans using memes and butts of bad jokes to express their anger and disbelief.Outspoken activist lawyer, Fadzayi Mahere took to micro-blogging site, Twitter to share her thoughts."Cows and goats to secure bank loans. Cows and goats to pay school fees. Very soon we shall need a Reserve Kraal of Zimbabwe," tweeted Mahere.Another user, Prophet Cynic, tweeted a meme of a prominent charismatic preacher with the caption, "When your followers bring goats to pay as tithes and offerings..."Social influencer and businesswoman, Nomathemba Primrose Ndebele, also took to her Facebook wall in jest and wrote, "How are you paying? Swipe, Ecocash, Cash or Goat?"Renowned writer and filmmaker Tsitsi Dangarembga also tweeted, "If we had been told in 1970 'We are fighting to introduce cattle and goats as currency. Please help & die for this" what would we have said?"A joke circulating on WhatsApp has a picture of a goat and the words: "BREAKING NEWS: Zimbabwe introduces a new currency."Zimbabwe is in the throes of a huge economic crisis which has seen government failing to pay its civil servants on time on the back of dwindling revenue stemming from company closures and job losses.Mugabe - the only leader that Zimbabweans have ever known since the country got its independence from Britain in 1980 - stands accused of ruining the once-vibrant economy through bad policies. President's speech last year pointed to need for technological breakthroughs China has made significant progress in the use, governance and security of the internet in the year since President Xi Jinping made a landmark speech at a symposium on cybersecurity and informatization on April 19, 2016, according to experts interviewed by China Daily. Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, pointed to the need for breakthroughs in core technologies as soon as possible to ensure cybersecurity and safeguard national security. In his speech, Xi said that "in terms of core technology research and development, alliance between giants is better than fighting on their own". He also called for more cooperation between different cybersecurity enterprises. The speech put in motion changes at many levels. Internet security expert Xiao Xinguang said the speech changed the way his company does business. Xiao, founder and chief technology officer at Antiy Labs, a leading internet security firm in China, said that his company started to share analytical reports of security threats with another leading internet security company starting in January. "After General Secretary Xi raised the question of sharing data in his speech, we took (such cooperation) into consideration," he told China Central Television. He added that sharing such reports with other cybersecurity companies can save costs and improve efficiency. The high-profile symposium was held as the country's 731 million internet users were getting more say in social governance. Xiao was among 10 people internet experts, entrepreneurs and officials who gave suggestions at the meeting. In his speech, Xi said that the development of the internet in China should meet the people's expectations and demands. He called for more investment in internet infrastructure, especially in rural areas, and said online tools and services should be used to support poverty alleviation campaigns. "More people in poverty should have access to the internet. They can use it to sell their agricultural products, and their children can receive a high-quality education," Xi said. The president also called for "more tolerance and patience" toward netizens and welcomed online criticism, "whether mild or fierce", as long as it arises from goodwill. The emphasis is all part of the growth of informatization, which involves the use of new communications technology to boost society's development, experts said. Qin An, director at the Institute of the China Cyberspace Strategy, called Xi's emphasis on the role of the people in internet governance significant. "General Secretary Xi has required officials of all levels to get close to the public through logging on to the internet, because lots of people express their wishes and give their suggestions online," he said. Xi's central role on internet issues is not new. He headed up the Central Internet Security and Informatization Leading Group, established in February 2014. "The firm leadership helps guarantee cybersecurity and informatization, key for the nation's long-term development." said Zuo Xiaodong, vice-president of the China Information Security Research Institute. In the past year, Chinese authorities have made lots of progress not only in cybersecurity governance, but also in the development of internet and international cooperation on cybersecurity, experts said. In November, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, reviewed and adopted the Cybersecurity Law. In December, the National Cyberspace Security Strategy was released by the Cyberspace Administration of China. Cybersecurity was also among the issues on the discussion list during the meeting between Xi and his US counterpart Donald Trump in Florida this month. The two leaders later agreed to establish four high-level dialogue mechanisms on diplomacy and security, economy, law enforcement and cybersecurity, and society and culture. At the Third World Internet Conference in November, Xi's live-broadcast speech to the opening ceremony included a call for the collaborative creation of a cyberspace community of shared destiny. The online world should be built upon the notions of equality and respect, innovation and development, openness and sharing, and security and order, Xi said. Fang Xingdong, founder of Chinalabs, an internet strategy think tank, said the concept of the cyberspace community, an idea put forward by Xi, is a core idea for cyberspace development. "Only when we are open and inclusive and accept each other can we better administer cyberspace," Fang said. Tang Xujun, director of the Institute of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said: "China is transforming its role from a follower and a peer into a leader in the development of internet information." Xu Wei contributed to this story. New tax cuts to spur economic dynamism were approved at the State Council's executive meeting, presided over by Premier Li Keqiang, on Wednesday. Some pilot taxation incentives will be expanded, and the value added tax will be consolidated. They are the first tax incentives since the two sessions legislative and advisory meetings, "and they must be fully implemented in a timely manner," Li emphasized. Tax burdens on businesses will be eased by about 350 billion yuan ($50.8 billion), a goal set in this year's Government Work Report in March. The government will further streamline tax structures as part of a flatter and more transparent tax system. Li promised to cut businesses' taxes and the costs of internet, electricity and logistics by about 1 trillion yuan. Wednesday's meeting produced a series of tax measures: The nationwide value-added-tax reform will have a flatter structure. Starting in July, four VAT brackets will be streamlined into three, with tax rates of 17, 11 and 6 percent on different products. Tax incentives for small enterprises with limited profits are being applied to more companies between 2017 and 2019. Eligibility is extended to businesses with income under 500,000 yuan, instead of the previous 300,000. Pretax deductions for innovation-based tech firms will be expanded from 50 to 75 percent of primary research and development costs from 2017 to 2019. Tax incentives for venture capital firms will be available to fledging high-tech companies in eight designed locations as well as at Suzhou Industrial Park starting this year. Additional tax cuts for commercial health insurance will be applied nationwide, with an upper limit on deductions of 2,400 yuan per person. It also was decided that a package of tax cuts that expired in 2016 will be available for the next three years. The above measures are expected to cut taxes by 380 billion yuan this year. China's efforts to ease financial burdens for businesses are paying off, as figures released on Monday show GDP growth hit 6.9 percent for the first quarter, with investment picking up and retail rebounding. "At the same time, we must drop unnecessary nontax charges ... for enterprises for a greater competitive edge," Li said. Official agrees to look into WTO protocol issues raised in talks China urged the European Union on Wednesday to fulfill the provisions of the protocol on China's accession to the World Trade Organization as soon as possible. State Councilor Yang Jiechi made the remark after talks with Federica Mogherini, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy and vice-president of the European Commission. They led the seventh round of high-level strategic dialogues at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse. Under Article 15 of the protocol, WTO members were to end after Dec. 11, 2016, the organization's surrogate country approach regarding anti-dumping investigations of China. The date was exactly 15 years after China's admission. "About Article 15, the EU said it attaches importance to China's concern, will abide by the WTO rules and has started the process to amend laws," Yang said at a joint news conference after the talks. "China expects the EU to fulfill the provisions as soon as possible and send a positive signal of protecting a free and open trade system," Yang said. Yang said the EU will participate in the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, which will be convened in Beijing next month. China and the EU also will enhance cooperation in areas such as climate change and fighting terrorism. "China cherishes its ties with the EU. Regardless of how the European situation changes, China will as always firmly support the integration path that Europe chooses," Yang said. "We are willing to work with the EU to deepen the mutually beneficial, comprehensive strategic partnership. The policy will not change," he added. Yang and Mogherini said they also talked about hot spot regional and global issues, including Syria, the Korean Peninsula and Afghanistan. Mogherini, an Italian politician, said relations between the EU and China have become stronger than at any time in history. She said the two sides spent a long time discussing Syria. The top EU diplomat spoke highly of President Xi Jinping's keynote speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this year, saying it has provided new opportunities for Europe-China cooperation. Wang Yiwei, director of the EU Studies Center at Renmin University of China in Beijing, said conditions in Europe are bringing the EU and China closer, as both sides support multilateralism. "Now, the EU also attaches high importance to China's role on regional issues, aside from China's traditional efforts inside the UN Security Council," Wang said. Poster of film Kanon [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] The 2017 Japan Film Week is being held in Beijing from April 16 to 23 in celebration of the 45th anniversary of the normalization of Sino-Japanese diplomatic relations. A total of seven Japanese films have been brought to China to give Chinese audiences an inside look into Japanese society and culture. The films, covering various subjects, try to reflect modern Japan through a series of everyday stories. The movie Family Day seeks to redefine the word family. You Lie In April, an adaptation from the cartoon of the same name, reflects the youth and passion of high school students in Japan. Happy Wedding is a romance that renders movie-goers happiness and harmony. Please Please Please is narrated by a cynical young man about his life, love and view of the whole world. Good Morning Show is a philosophical film that gives a general picture of the "mid-life crisis" in Japan, while Honnoji Hotel is a time-travel film. "Film, a recording of changes of society, has played an important role in the friendly exchanges between China and Japan. Also, we have seen that China has witnessed tremendous growth in its movie market and more Chinese movie-goers can take a look at our culture through films," Japanese Ambassador to China Yokoi Yutaka said. [Photo provided to China Daily] The Shanghai Longines Global Champions Tour will be staged over April 28-30. Nearly 60 participants, including stars like Ludger Beerbaum, Scott Brash and Kent Farrington, will take part in the equestrian event. Four Chinese will also be part of the competition. Shanghai is the third stop of the 15-leg event this year, and it has hosted it annually since 2014. The Shanghai Tour features five-star show jumping, according to the organizer. A horse expo, photography and other events will be staged to spice up the visitor experience. A replica of a Czech town will also be set up at the event. Related: Ongkor Festival celebrated in Lhasa Barrel racing, cowboy cool gaining popularity in China Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May speaks at the annual Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, Britain, October 2, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] The announcement by British Prime Minister Theresa May on April 18 that she would, subject to a parliamentary vote, be calling an early general election to be held on June 8, has shocked the country's political establishment, and prompted new questions over the country's future outside the European Union. Brexit is May's official reason for reversing her earlier pledge not to hold an early election. The prime minister hopes to increase the number of Conservative members of parliament (MPs), and thus claim a fresh mandate for taking Britain out of the EU. A Conservative win would likely silence the numerous voices in Britain who currently argue that while the prime minister may have a mandate to trigger the process of leaving the EU thanks to last year's referendum result, she does not have a mandate to take the country out of both the EU and the bloc's single market the so-called "hard brexit". "The country is coming together but Westminster is not," she claimed, in a dig at members of both Houses of Parliament who remain opposed to brexit. The leaders of Britain's opposition political parties quickly hit the airwaves to claim they were ready for an election. But they are not, and Theresa May knows it. In fact, the main opposition parties the Labour Party and Liberal Democrats are woefully unprepared to take on the Conservatives. While British politicians usually claim they pay no attention to opinion polls, it's highly unlikely the prime minister is not motivated by recent polls which put her party 18 to 20 points ahead of the struggling Labour Party. The abysmal ratings of Labour's leader, Jeremy Corbyn, the divided state of his party, along with the shrunken Liberal Democrats, have made the temptation to try and cash in on the apparent opportunity too much to ignore. May faces limited and disorganized opposition and she intends to take full advantage. May will go to the country seeking a fresh mandate to deliver brexit, and her intentions to take the country out of the EU and the single market will be clear and easy to present to voters. For people who voted to remain in the EU, the election presents a new opportunity to debate the terms of brexit and oppose the "hard brexit" the Conservative Party intends to deliver. Yet voters looking to block brexit will struggle to find an effective party to support. Unless large numbers of Conservative remain supporters desert the prime minister over her brexit policy, voters opposed to the Conservatives will have to unite behind a single party to keep May out of Downing Street. This is unlikely. At present, the Liberal Democrats seem the best placed to offer a coherent alternative to the form of brexit May is offering. They have recently won a by-election and claim to have signed up thousands of new members since the June 24 referendum last year. Their leader, Tim Farron, is committed to keeping Britain in the single market. Yet they are tainted by their time working with the Conservative Party during the 2010-2015 coalition government, and currently hold just nine parliamentary seats compared to the Conservative's 330. Yet it's the Labour Party that seems certain to be the big loser of this election. Indeed, the lukewarm campaigning for the remain side during the referendum by the party leader has been singled out as a big contributory factor to the result. Corbyn, who is party leader thanks to the support of party members and its affiliated trade unions, but crucially not the party's MPs, will almost certainly face the end of his political career on June 9. And while many Labour MPs may be delighted to see Corbyn gone, the party will likely be reduced to a shadow of its former self. The one unlikely but vaguely plausible scenario that must surely concern the prime minister is that Labour and the Liberal Democrats both do better than expected resulting in a hung parliament no party wins enough votes to form a government. Out of this political mess, there might be the potential for some kind of pro-EU coalition to be cobbled together, perhaps with the Scottish National Party. However, Theresa May is set to fight an election against the weakest opposition since the 1980s. She will almost certainly win, although she should take nothing for granted. Certainties are being turned on their head all around the world, and polling is currently suffering a distinct lack of credibility.But when voters look at the choices on offer, they will see a party with a clear vision for a post-EU future, set against a Labour leader who cannot even command the support of his own MPs, and a number of smaller pro-EU parties. This prime minister is lucky, and the June election is hers to lose. James Skinner is a contributing editor at China Daily with an MA in International Relations. He has a particular interest in British and American politics, as well as global security issues. Police officers stand by during the investigation of a triple shooting on Tuesday morning, April 18, 2017 in Fresno, California, US. [Photo/VCG] LOS ANGELES - Three people were killed as a man went on a shooting spree in central Fresno, California on Tuesday and later surrendered to police, the Fresno Police Department said. The 39-year-old suspect, identified as Kori Ali Muhammad, was taken into custody. The shooting spree was a random act of violence and Muhammad shouted "Allahu Akbar" as police tackled him to the ground, Police Chief Jerry Dyer said. Muhammad has made posts against white people and expressed anti-government sentiments on Facebook and all of the victims were white men, said Dyer at a press conference. A woman shows her hand, which reads "Tayyip Erdogan", as she waits for the arrival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Monday. Provided By Reuters ANKARA - President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's tight victory in Sunday's referendum may not allow him to move freely in expanding his powers, analysts pointed out on Tuesday. An unofficial tally gave Erdogan's "yes" vote a narrow win, with 51.4 percent approving a series of constitutional changes converting Turkey's parliamentary system to a presidential one. But US President Donald Trump congratulated Erdogan on the referendum campaign in a phone call on Monday and vowed close cooperation on Syria and Iraq, Turkish presidential sources said. "I value our friendship, we have many important things to do together," Trump was quoted by the sources as saying in a statement. Total votes of the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, backers of the charter change camp, decreased more than 10 percent compared to the parliamentary elections in 2015. Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Tuesday called on the opposition to respect the result of the referendum, as the Republican People's Party prepared to apply to the country's highest electoral board to seek an annulation of Sunday's vote. 'A far clearer victory' On April 14, Erdogan predicted a far clearer victory as polls showed a 55-60 percent support to the amendments. Both Erdogan and the AKP officials were pressing for "at least 55 percent" support for the changes in order to be as comfortable as possible in implementing presidential powers, and in securing future presidential and parliamentary elections which require at least 50 percent of the votes, according to Hurriyet Daily News columnist Serkan Demirtas. "However, the fact that these changes could only be approved by a small margin means the opposition and civil society will be much more vocal in challenging governmental actions," he said. "The majority of our people said 'yes' to the presidential administration system. But the number of those who say 'no' is high in considerable amount. This should be well examined," Ilnur Cevik, adviser to the presidency said in his column in daily Yeni Birlik. "It is observed that the AKP has been weak in some places especially in Ankara and Istanbul and the votes are given to Erdogan's sake," the president's adviser stated. Three main cities, including the capital Ankara, western Izmir and the largest city Istanbul, looked set to vote "no", while 'yes' prevailed in Anatolia, conservative and religious heartland of Turkey. A belt along the Aegean and Mediterranean regions strongly rejected the proposed executive presidency. Less educated class and rural regions votes "yes" while urbanized class and more educated electorate voted against the presidential system according to initial assessments within the AKP, journalist Hande Firat said. Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May speaks to the media outside 10 Downing Street, in central London, Britain, April 18, 2017. British Prime Minister Theresa May called on Tuesday for an early election on June 8, saying the government had the right plan for negotiating the terms of Britain's exit from the European Union and she needed political unity in London. [Photo/Agencies] Theresa May, the British prime minister, said on Tuesday that she will call for a general election on June 8. She said she decided to call for snap polls reluctantly but felt she had no choice. In recent weeks, May and her office have keep saying that there would be no election until 2020. The ruling party has a majority of 17 in the current Parliament, which leaves May vulnerable to rebellions from her own party members, either those who are against Brexit or those for it. Justifying her decision, May said: "Our opponents believe that because the government's majority is so small, our resolve will weaken and that they can force us to change course. They are wrong. "They underestimate our determination to get the job done and I am not prepared to let them endanger the security of millions of working people across the country." A woman displays a bookies chalk board marked with odds, besides the Houses of Parliament, in central London, Britain, April 18, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] The latest opinion polls put May's ruling Conservatives as much as 21 points ahead of the opposition Labour Party. In order to call an election, the government will have to get a two-thirds majority in Parliament to overturn the Fixed Term Parliaments Act. May challenged the opposition parties to back the bill on Wednesday. May took over the leadership from David Cameron after he resigned last year following Britain's referendum decision to leave the European Union. This left her governing the country without a parliamentary mandate for Brexit and without the personal endorsement a general election victory confers on a party leader. The election means that British voters will get a second opportunity to show their feelings about Brexit, which could lead to greater clarity if May wins, or greater confusion if she has limited success. May is aided by the disarray in the Labour Party. Its leader, Jeremy Corbyn, is very unpopular in the country and he appears to lack interest in the machinery of British politics. copy@mail.chinadailyuk.com CANBERRA - More than 1,000 US Marines arrived in Darwin on Tuesday as part of a rotation of forces to be stationed in northern Australia. The 1,250 troops who arrived in the Northern Territory will soon be joined by 13 aircraft - four tilt-rotor Osprey helicopters, five Super Cobra helicopters and four Huey helicopters - in one of the largest deployments of US forces to Australia since World War II. Commanding Officer of Marine Rotational Force Darwin, Lieutenant Colonel Brian S. Middleton told journalists on Tuesday that "the aviation combat element is our most robust deployment to Darwin". "Being close to Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean, the Indo-Pacific position has always been important." Middleton said the Marines would conduct "important exercises alongside with Chinese partners" and Australia. Troops from the three countries are conducting annual joint exercises code-named Kowari since 2014. Brigadier Ben James, commander of Australia's 3,000-strong 1st Brigade based in Darwin, said he looked forward to working alongside with his US counterparts. The rotation is part of a deal struck between former US president Barack Obama and former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard in 2011. It is the first large-scale arrival of US troops since the arrangement was signed, with a small number of Marines having been sent to Darwin for training since 2012. Michael Gunner, the Northern Territory's chief minister, said the deployment provides an important economic boost to the territory. A report said the Marines would inject $3.7 million into the NT economy annually. US Marines disembark a plane as they arrive at Darwin, Australia, on Tuesday.Tomwestbrook / Reuters (China Daily 04/19/2017 page13) News / National by Staff reporter Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has challenged President Robert Mugabe to stop his warring ruling Zanu-PF's mindless bloodletting and instead focus on giving long-suffering Zimbabweans "real freedom" and a better life.In addition, Tsvangirai also reiterated in his independence message yesterday his recent assurance to the nonagenarian and fearful security chiefs that he would not seek retribution against them if the MDC sweeps next year's eagerly-anticipated national polls.At the same time, former vice president and now National People's Party (NPP) leader, Joice Mujuru, has described the country's nearly four decades of independence under Mugabe and Zanu-PF as "37 years of slavery and misery to Zimbabweans"."As we brace for next year's watershed election, I urge Zimbabweans to unite and put the country first."I urge Zimbabweans of all shades and political affiliation to prioritise Zimbabwe and to put the collective national interest above everything else."Whether Zanu-PF or MDC, or any other political party for that matter, every Zimbabwean must ask themselves whether we really deserve this suffering in a country for which so many paid the ultimate sacrifice," Tsvangirai said in his message."Let us put aside all our differences, harness our diversity and vote for the man or woman who will shepherd this country to the greatness it deserves, a leader who values our nationhood and collective dignity more than the colour of our party cards."We have seen how those in the seat of government have taught us to hate and kill each other and not to harness our differences for the greater national good," he added."Fellow Zimbabweans, let us use the opportunity next year to poise our country for growth, inclusion, unity and development. There has been so much hatred in the past, needless hatred that in 2008 cost us a glorious opportunity to move forward."Indeed, and as I have said before, none of us have any reason to fear the change that is now imminent upon this our beloved country in 2018."That change will be good for everyone. The benefits of that change will not be selective. That positive change will seek no retribution against anyone but will only spur us to live in harmony as Zimbabweans regardless of our ethnic and political diversity," Tsvangirai said.This comes as Zanu-PF has been accused of stalling the implementation of a raft of much-needed electoral reforms ahead of next year's polls.This has seen opposition parties coalescing under the banner of the National Electoral Reform Agenda (Nera) agitating for sweeping reforms that include the disbandment of the current Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) secretariat which they accuse of being a Zanu-PF appendage.Nera parties are also at odds with the government over its hijacking of the acquisition of biometric voter registration (BVR) kits, which they say could lead to a manipulated election next year.Tsvangirai beat Mugabe hands down in the 2008 presidential election, which saw results being withheld for a suspiciously long six weeks, amid widespread allegations of ballot fiddling and manipulation.When the widely discredited results of that poll were eventually announced, Tsvangirai was forced into a presidential run-off which he pulled out of following deadly violence against his supporters, hundreds of whom were murdered in cold blood.Mugabe would go on to stand in a widely condemned one-man race in which he declared himself the winner.However, Sadc and the rest of the international community would not accept the poll, forcing the nonagenarian to share power with Tsvangirai for five years, to prevent the country from imploding completely.Former State Security minister and one of the founders of the Zimbabwe People First (ZPF), Didymus Mutasa who was for decades a close confidante of Mugabe later lifted the lid on that election's rot, following his sacking from Zanu-PF.He revealed that the nonagenarian had only managed to remain in power at the time through chicanery and brute force.Yesterday Tsvangirai, who said he was looking to the future with optimism, also paid tribute to disaffected war veterans, who have been feuding with Mugabe since mid last year."True independence should translate into abundant opportunities and real freedom for the people, so that the day gains its true worth to the country's citizenry."I want to take advantage of this day to salute all war veterans, dead or alive, and say I and the party I lead will forever cherish what they did for this country."I want to promise that the new government we will create in 2018 will accord our war veterans their due respect and meet their deserved welfare requirements as we said they should get in the Constitution that we made ourselves as a people," the dogged former labour union leader said."Let us not allow the privatisation of this great day in a manner that diminishes its true worth. Let us not allow the stripping of our dignity by this uncaring Zanu-PF regime and the abandonment of the cause for which so many died."Indeed, we must always cherish the heroism of the people of this land and the brutal struggle we waged to reclaim our rights, particularly the right to vote," he added.On her part, Mujuru said the mooted grand opposition coalition was the only way of extricating the country from its economic problems."As NPP, we believe that what ought to be 37 years of independence has been turned into 37 years of slavery and misery to Zimbabweans."We believe we have capacity as Zimbabweans to extricate ourselves out of the social, economic and political mess we find ourselves in as a result of Zanu-PF's failed government."It is time that all progressive forces within the rank and file of opposition parties put their differences aside and face the failed Zanu-PF government as a united front by every constitutional means necessary come 2018."Our people never went to war so that the destiny of our country can be turned into political dynasties."Zimbabweans deserve to be free and that freedom has to be exercised now. To that end, as NPP we urge all the progressive forces within the rank and file of the opposition parties of this country to go back to the basics of the revolutionary ideals of oneness."It is our belief as NPP that what divides us as opposition political parties are smaller than what binds us as a country. Our motto should therefore be united we stand, divided we fall," she said.Tsvangirai and Mujuru have been working with other opposition parties behind the scenes to finalise the mooted grand opposition coalition.At the same time, analysts have said that a united opposition, fighting with one purpose, can finally bring to an end Mugabe's long rule, especially at a time that the nonagenarian is fighting to keep together his warring Zanu-PF.They have also consistently said Mujuru, whose liberation struggle nom de guerre was Teurai Ropa (Spill Blood), and whose late husband Solomon was the first black post-independence army commander, could provide the much-needed bridge that opposition parties have been missing to ensure the smooth transfer of power if they win the 2018 elections like they did in 2008. Washington will work with regional allies and Beijing on nuclear issue Visiting US Vice-President Mike Pence said in Tokyo on Tuesday that President Donald Trump is determined to work closely with Japan, the Republic of Korea, other allies in the region and China to achieve a peaceable solution and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Pence told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that Washington understands the severe security situation facing Japan and is behind its ally "100 percent". Abe said Pence's visit to Japan is "extremely timely given the severe state of the situation" surrounding the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Abe said Tokyo hopes for peaceful dialogue with Pyongyang, adding that pressure on the DPRK is crucial. "Dialogue for the sake of dialogue is meaningless," Abe said. The Japanese leader told Pence of Japan's appreciation for Trump's stance that all options, including military action, are "on the table" to pressure the DPRK to cease its nuclear weapon and ballistic missile development efforts. Foreign Minister Wang Yi called again for calm on Tuesday amid mounting tension on the peninsula, saying he believes that diplomatic solution is still the first choice of Washington. "The US has, in fact, emphasized and reiterated that it would prefer to solve the issue through diplomatic means, although it has said all options are on the table," he told reporters in Beijing. Doctrine 'is over' The US is deploying an aircraft carrier and accompanying vessels to waters near the peninsula amid indications the DPRK is planning its sixth nuclear test. During his visit to Seoul, Pence warned that the "era of strategic patience is over", referring to the doctrine former US president Barack Obama adopted to deal with the DPRK. Abe and Pence agreed to hold another "two-plus-two" ministerial-level security dialogue in the near future, according to the Kyodo News agency. An opinion poll by Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun on April 14-16 showed that 64 percent of the respondents supported US moves to increase military pressure on the DPRK. This far exceeded the 27 percent who said they did not approve of Washington' actions. Japan and the US kicked off the first round of their economic dialogue chaired by Japan's Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso on Tuesday, outlining a path forward for economic talks between the two countries. They agreed that the dialogue would focus on three areas: trade and investment rules and issues, cooperation in macroeconomic policy and specific industry sectors. Pence said Trump sees the talks as a way to improve business ties with Japan and is hoping for quick results. The dialogue was set up by Trump and Abe in February. "We want to take the lead in bolstering economies in the Asia-Pacific region and the world by developing Japan-US economic ties," Aso said at a joint news conference with Pence after their talks. Pence flew in on Tuesday from Seoul on the second stop of his 10-day Asia trip, which will also take him to Indonesia and Australia. caihong@chinadaily.com.cn (China Daily 04/19/2017 page13) Two new, shorter and closed-ended temporary visas will replace the 457 skilled migrants visa program CANBERRA, Australia - The country's skilled migrant visa will be abolished in favor of a new "Australians first" approach, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Tuesday. In a video posted on social media on Tuesday, Turnbull announced that the 457 skilled migrant visa program would be abolished in favor of two new visas which will require additional requirements for migrants to work in Australia. Currently, the 457 visa allows Australian employers to turn to overseas workers to fill shortages in skilled positions. Crucially, it is currently uncapped and, as of September 2016, there were 95,757 skilled workers in Australia. Turnbull said that under the new rules, Australians must be given the "first crack" at jobs, while skilled migrants would be brought in to "fill the gaps" in areas which are suffering a skills shortage. "We are putting jobs first, we are putting Australians first ... we are an immigration nation but the fact remains that Australian workers must have priority for Australian jobs," Turnbull said in the video. "Australian workers must have priority for Australian jobs, so we are abolishing the 457 visa, the visa that brings temporary foreign workers into our country. We will no longer allow 457 visas to be passports to jobs that could and should go to Australians. Two new, temporary visas will replace the 457 skilled migrants visa, and will be "very different" from the one which it replaces. In addition to the visas being shorter and closed-ended, applicants will require two years of work experience, as well as a proper police check and criminal check which Turnbull said was "not the case at the moment". Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said the new visas would be two and four years respectively, while they will both carry no "permanent residency outcome". "In many cases (the 457 visa) results in a migration outcome, that is, someone going into permanent residency and becoming a citizen, which is a significant attraction of the 457 visa," he told the press. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump on Tuesday was scheduled to sign an executive order directing federal agencies to recommend changes to a temporary visa program used to bring foreign workers to the United States to fill high-skilled jobs. The order will call on the federal government to propose reforms to ensure H-1B visas are awarded to the most skilled or highest paid applicant. H-1B visas are intended for foreign nationals in "specialty" occupations that generally require higher education, which according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services includes, but is not limited to, scientists, engineers or computer programmers. The number of applications for H-1B visas fell to 199,000 this year from 236,000 in 2016, according to UCIS. (China Daily 04/19/2017 page14) CAIRO - At least one policeman was killed and four other were wounded on Tuesday in an attack on a security checkpoint near Egypt's Saint Catherine's Monastery in South Sinai, state television reported. Unknown militants attacked the fixed security checkpoint, but the monks and priests inside the Monastery were not harmed, state-run Ahram newspaper reported on its website. The wounded have been transferred to Sharm El-Sheikh International Hospital. The attack came several days after two bombings on churches claimed by Islamic State (IS) group that killed 47 people. Egypt has been suffering anti-security attacks mainly in North Sinai, where IS takes a base of its attacks. Hundreds of security men have been killed in the attacks. Attacks in South Sinai, however, have been rare in recent years. Coroner Lyell P. Cook (R) examines the car of a fugitive, who police said posted a video of himself on Facebook killing an elderly man in Cleveland, is seen after he shot and killed himself following a brief police pursuit in Erie, Pennsylvania, US April 18, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] ERIE, Pa. - A murder suspect who police said posted a video on Facebook of the killing of a Cleveland man fatally shot himself after a "brief pursuit" by Pennsylvania State Police officers on Tuesday, police said. Steve Stephens was accused of shooting Robert Godwin Sr., 74, on a sidewalk on Sunday before fleeing in a car and uploading a video of the murder to Facebook, becoming the focus of a nationwide manhunt. Pennsylvania State Police officers found Stephens in Erie County, Pennsylvania, after getting a tip around 11 a.m. local time from a "concerned citizen" who saw Stephens at a McDonald's, Major William Teper Jr. of the Pennsylvania State Police told a news conference on Tuesday afternoon. Local media said an employee at the restaurant's drive-through window called police. Stephens had left the restaurant but stopped briefly when officers located his car nearby. He sped away, and police then hit his car with their vehicle, causing him to lose control and spin out, at which point Stephens shot himself, Teper said. Stephens, who had no prior criminal record, was not suspected in any other killings, Cleveland officials said. Stephens said in a separate video on Facebook on Sunday that he had already killed a dozen others. News / National by Staff reporter Morgan Tsvangirai the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change and former vice president Joice Mujuru the leader of the National People's Party today signed a Memorandum of Understanding ahead of the crucial 2018 elections. This deal could scuttle Dr Nkosana Moyo's plans to contest in the 2018 election, he indicated that he will tell the nation in 8 weeks time whether he will contest or not.The MOU signing ceremony took place at Tsvangirai's government funded residence in Highlands.Mujuru, who now leads the National People's Party (NPP) following a nasty fallout with Mugabe in 2014, recently told female party members in Masvingo that Tsvangirai had the political clout and commanded a large following."Between Tsvangirai and myself, we are working together, we have done some addresses together and right now, we are working on a MoU so that we are able to work together," said Mujuru."We signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Tsvangirai, which has a roadmap that we agreed on which outlines the strategy. We also tabled our differences and resolved them."Mujuru has been in coalition talks with Tsvangirai since last year when she was still Zimbabwe People First leader before the party split last month due to differences with former allies Rugare Gumbo and Didymus Mutasa.The agreement could see Mugabe facing a strong coalition for the first time in his long reign."We agreed that one opposition presidential candidate, representing all parties, will stand against Mugabe," she said."We also agreed on the leader of the coalition, the qualities, the expectations of that person before and after the polls. That person should be a unifier, someone who does not backtrack or sell out and should carry the ideals of the coalition. And that person should have the confidence of the majority."We said the MDC-T is better at mobilising people. There is no other party, apart from NPP and the MDC-T, that can mobilise a lot of people apart from Zanu-PF itself."There are a lot of parties, but some of the parties were created by some handlers in the government to cultivate a false sense of multi-party democracy, so whatever those parties do, they want to please their boss (Mugabe)."We know a coalition is the best to stop Zanu PF from rigging. If we go into the polls fragmented, as the opposition, we give leeway to Zanu-PF tricks."More to follow... Opinion / Columnist "Zimbabwe is subject to internal, sovereign dimensions of intra-state activities including corruption, the rule of law, toxicity, hatred, contested elections resulting in state failure and fragility," Tendai Biti, the President of PDP said in his Independence Day message to the nation.What he has pointedly refused to admit all these years is that it was him and his MDC friends who could and should have put an end to this teething problem of vote rigging. We have been stuck with with this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship for 37 years and counting because it has rigged elections to stay in power. All MDC had to do was to implement the democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections. They had five years to implement the reforms but failed to get even one reform implemented.SADC leaders warned MDC leaders not to contest the 2013 elections with no reforms in place but the warning fell on deaf ears. Samuel Sipepa Nkomo, one of Mr Biti's fellow MDC minister in the GNU has since admitted the party was warned and ignored the warning.Senator David Coltart, another MDC minister in the GNU, has also admitted that a few months before the 2013 elections it was self-evident that Zanu PF was going to blatantly rig the elections and if MDC leaders had withdrawn from the elections even then they would have forced the implementation of the democratic reforms. They all failed to do the logical thing and contested the flawed elections for one selfish reason greed."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."Mr Tendai Biti and his political party PDP was one of the opposition parties that have boycotted all by-elections since the July 2013 rigged election. "No reform, no elections!" they said. They had finally seen the sheer folly of contesting flawed and illegal elections!The party has since flip-flopped on boycotting the elections to force the implementation of reforms. PDP is going to contest the 2018 elections even though not even one democratic reform was implemented since the July 2013 rigged elections."I want to look the tyrant (President Robert Mugabe) in the eye!" Tendai Biti explained in a recent LIVE Zimeye panel discussion.Yes, Mr Biti you want to look the tyrant in the eye! But to what end and purpose? Last time you looked him in the eye you ended up singing his praises. You called him "Father of the nation, fountain of wisdom, unflappable, etc., etc." You were so engrossed in singing the praises you and all your fellow MDC leaders failed to get even one reforms implemented in five years.You were elected back in parliament after the 2013 elections and was there for a year. What reforms did you implement then?No Mr Biti you are not doing the people of Zimbabwe any favours by contesting these flawed elections; you are doing it for one selfish reason greed.Since the 2008 elections President Mugabe and Zanu PF have learnt that no matter how flawed the election get, they will have no legitimacy problem as long as they allow the opposition to win a few seats. You are not contesting the 2018 elections to "look the tyrant in the eye"; you, Mr Biti, have your beady eyes on the few bait gravy train seats!"Together Another Zimbabwe is Possible!" concluded Tendai Biti.Yes, another and better Zimbabwe is possible but it is certainly not going to happen as long as we continue to waste one golden opportunity to implement reforms after another. By contesting flawed election you and your fellow opposition politicians are not only forfeiting yet another chance to forces through reforms but are giving the vote rigging the democratic legitimacy it clearly does not deserve.By contesting in Zimbabwe's flawed elections you are saying do not know constitute free and fair elections and/or such elections are beyond our reach as a nation and therefore we should just lower the bar and accept the rigged elections. How then you expect any political change, is a mystery!If you have no clue what constitute free and fair elections after 37 years of first-hand experience of Zanu PF vote rigging and of 2 500 years of democratic history since the Greek invented democracy under your belt; then you are a hopeless case, you will never learn.If you, Mr Biti, with all your University Degree and world experience still have no clue what democracy is about, what hope is there that povo, in Zimbabwe's rural back waters will know any better! You are a representative sample of the best minds the country has on offer, creme de la creme, (and judging by your high profile and the high offices you have occupied in the past, Minister of Finance; you are top-man); then it is little wonder the country is in a total political and economic mess. What is worse, as long as the nation continue to follow blindly corrupt and incompetent leaders like you, the country has no chance of ever climbing out of the hell-hole it now finds itself in.With corrupt and incompetent leaders like you in charge, who will continue contesting in flawed elections hoping for a different result even after 37 years of rigged elections, a better Zimbabwe is impossible. OUT OF THE QUESTION! IMPOSSIBLE! (Photo : USAF) Fearsome Minuteman ICBM in its silo. Advertisement The U.S. Department of Defense is now in the midst of reviewing its Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), a process "to determine what the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. security strategy should be." The timing of the review is ominous, coming as it does against a backdrop of North Korea's stubborn refusal to abandon its nuclear weapons development program, and Washington's declaration it will consider all means -- including a military option -- to derail this program. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement NPR will take anal encompassing look at all aspects of America's military nuclear capabilities. The previous NPR was conducted in 2010 by the administration of former president Barack Obama. NPR will also review the technologies involved since the Pentagon will revamp its entire nuclear arsenal by adding new nuclear missiles and retiring old ones. Over the next few decades, the DoD will build more nuclear ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs); strategic bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons such as the proposed Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider and a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) to replace the LGM-30 Minuteman III, America's only land based nuclear missile. A key focus of NPR will be how the U.S. will respond to today's nuclear threats, especially those posed by North Korea, China, and Russia. Russia is especially worrisome and has undertaken an aggressive program to expand its tactical nuclear weapons to the point it now has more of these battlefield weapons than the U.S. and NATO combined. NPR, which is being led by Gen. Paul Selva, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work, will serve as a way for Washington to decide on its own path along the nuclear road distinct from that of the Obama administration. The U.S.' nuclear arsenal will cost some $400 billion over the next decade. The Pentagon plans to finish the NPR by the end of the year, but might end sooner. Gen. John Hyten, Commander of the United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), said the NPR might take only six months to complete. USSTRATCOM is charged with missile defense, space operations (such as military satellites), information operations (such as information warfare), global command and control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR), global strike and strategic deterrence (the United States nuclear arsenal), and combating weapons of mass destruction. Advertisement TagsU.S. Department of Defense, Nuclear Posture Review, NPR, nuclear missiles, intercontinental ballistic missile, United States Strategic Command (Photo : Krauss Maffei) PzH 2000. Advertisement Militarily feeble Lithuania continues to boost the fighting strength of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, and for the first time plans to acquire attack helicopters to attack the Russians in the event of a Russian invasion. The Lithuanian Armed Forces has no attack helicopters in its inventory but does have six Russian-made Mil Mi-17 transport helicopters operated by the Lithuanian Air Force. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Lithuanian Vice Minister of National Defense Giedrimas Jeglinskas said his ministry is considering the purchase of new transport helicopters with the aim to completely replace its helicopter fleet after 2020. He also revealed the plan to acquire attack helicopters. "We need new transport helicopters. It will be a big investment," he said. "However, I have to admit that we are considering various options, including (the purchase of) not only transport helicopters, but also armed ones." The ministry also plans to acquire more fighting vehicles for the inadequately equipped Lithuanian Land Forces (LLF), which only has 8,000 active duty personnel. The LLF operates no main battle tanks and its most formidable armored fighting vehicle (AFV) is the Boxer multirole AFV made by a German-Dutch consortium. By 2021, the LLF will receive an undetermined number of German-made Panzerhaubitze 2000 (PzH 2000) 155 mm self-propelled howitzer, considered one of the best of its type in the world. The army will also receive more Boxer AFVs, many of which will be armed with anti-tank guided missiles. It currently operates 88 Boxers. More important is the Lithuanian Armed Forces' acquisition of its first surface-to-air missile system, the NASAMS or the Norwegian Advanced Surface to Air Missile System. NASAMS is a distributed and networked medium to long range air-defense system. It's the first surface-based application for the U.S.-made AIM-120 AMRAAM (Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile). It will cost Lithuania $106.1 million to acquire NASAMS. All these expensive hardware acquisitions are being funded by Lithuania's $930 million defense budget, an amount that's 21 percent larger compared to the budget for 2016. This year, Lithuania plans to spend 1.8 percent of its gross domestic product on the Lithuanian Armed Forces. In 2018, the defense budget will reach 2.07 percent of GDP. Advertisement TagsLithuania, Lithuanian Armed Forces, Vice Minister of National Defense Giedrimas Jeglinskas, Lithuanian Land Forces, Boxer multirole armored fighting vehicle, Panzerhaubitze 2000, NASAMS, Norwegian Advanced Surface to Air Missile System (Photo : Getty Images) Djibouti's President Ismail Omar Guelleh (3rd R) holds talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao following a welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People July 18, 2012 in Beijing, China. Advertisement China continues to invest in Djibouti in Africa, fast pacing its construction of a military base and a $590 million port near the city. The country confirmed that the base was being constructed in 2015. The initiative will benefit not only the United Nations peacekeeping missions and counter-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden but also China's economic interests. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The base, which is expected to finish this summer, is located near Camp Lemonnier, a special operation outpost. Both Lemonnier and Djibouti strategically lie in the Horn of Africa, sitting on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which is the gateway to Egypt's Suez Canal, one of the world's busiest shipping corridor. China is connecting Djibouti on the Horn of Africa to Chinese President Xi Jinping's "Belt and Road" program. So far, the Export-Import Bank of China has invested on at least eight projects. These include a $322 million water pipeline reaching to Ethiopia, a $490 million Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway, and a $450 million airport in Bicidley. According to the country's 2015 defense white paper, its first military base in the East African city is part of Beijing's plan to continue with its "maritime military struggle" and overcome the idea that "land overweighs sea." However, the construction has raised red flags for the US military, which also has an outpost close by. Daily Caller pointed that China's statements on the alleged base are conflicting at times. China has earlier denied that the facility is a military base and called it as a "depot" or "logistical support facility" instead. But they also claimed that it will help conduct military missions and protect its "lawful" interests" in the area, with Foreign Minister saying that it was "reasonable and in line with international practice." Advertisement Tagschina, military base, Djibouti, Camp Lemmonier, Belt and Road, Horn of Africa (Photo : YouTube Screenshot) The upcoming Gionee M6S Plus smartphone will be available in White and Gold color. Advertisement Chinese smartphone manufacturer Gionee is set to launch its newest device called the Gionee M6S Plus in China on April 24. This information has been confirmed by the image of an alleged press invitation that surfaced online. The upcoming Gionee M6S Plus smartphone will feature a massive 6-inch Full HD AMOLED display screen with a resolution of 1920 pixels by 1080 pixels and 2.5D curved glass. Under the hood, the device is powered by an unnamed octa-core processor (expected to be Helio P20 chipset) clocked at a speed of 2GHz. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The Gionee M6S Plus smartphone will come with 6GB of RAM onboard and 64GB of internal memory storage, which can be further expandable up to 128GB with a dedicated microSD card slot. On the camera front, the M6S Plus will sport a 12-megapixel rear-facing camera with dual-tone LED flash support and an 8-megapixel front sensor for selfies and video chats. The Gionee M6S Plus smartphone runs on the Android 6.0.1 (Marshmallow) operating system out of the box, which is coupled with Gionee's latest customized Amigo OS user interface. The handset is fueled by a massive non-removable 6020 mAh capacity battery and will also house a fingerprint scanner, which is placed on its back panel. Other features the Gionee M6S Plus offers include Dual SIM, 4G VoLTE, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi (802.11 ac/a/b/g/n), a microUSB port, and GPS. Sensors on the phone are Gravity sensor and light sensor. The handset will measure a body dimension of 163 mm 80.8 mm 8.2 mm and will weigh around 212 grams. The will be available in two colors - White and Gold. Advertisement TagsGionee, gionee news, gionee m6s plus, china, gionee smartphone (Photo : Getty Images) Sri Lanka and India are poised to sign a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop Colombo's Trincomalee port. Advertisement Sri Lanka is aiming to counterbalance China's presence in the island nation as it will allow India to develop its Trincomalee port. The island nation has reportedly prepared a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the joint development of the project, and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi would likely sign it during his visit to Colombo. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement However, the Economic Times noted that India is not that interested in developing the Trincomalee port as it sees the project as not economically feasible. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa said that the country first considered and approached India for the Hambantota Port and China was only a second option. But India still expressed the same concern on the Hambantota port before. Now, Sri Lanka has permitted China to establish a special economic zone, which is poised to expand to the Mattala airport. However, strategic expert Brahma Chellaney noted that "Jointly developing the Trincomalee port with India cannot counterbalance the Chinese leverage over Sri Lanka but it can help Colombo build countervailing influence." The MoU will include plans to build a petroleum refinery at Trincomalee. And at least 73 of the 99 storage tanks will be managed under a new equity agreement between the two nations, Petroleum Minister Chandima Weerakkody said. "We want to ensure that we develop all our ports, and all these ports are used for commercial activity, transparent activity, and will not be available to anyone for any military activity," Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said. Advertisement TagsSri Lanka, India, china, Hambantota Port, Trincomalee Port (Photo : PLA) PLA infantry preparing to march in a parade. Advertisement The Communist Party of China (CPC) continues its ongoing purge of the People's Liberation Army Ground Force (PLAGF), this time reshuffling what it described as "84 corps-level units." The purge was ordered by Chinese president Xi Jinping, who is also chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) that controls the PLAGF and its mother unit, the People's Liberation Army or PLA. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Chinese state-owned media said Xi said the "reshuffle" was another major step in strengthening the PLA. It said the reshuffle was decided upon by the CPC Central Committee and the CMC. In the PLA concept of war, ground combat operations are conducted by PLAGF corps-level units under unified command. Two or more corps-level units comprise a PLAGF Group Army. In late March, the PLAGF said it will disband five of its 18 Group Armies in a wide-ranging reorganization intended to transform the cumbersome force into a more agile combat organization able to respond rapidly to military crises involving the United States and Japan. Chinese state-owned media says this purge was begun by Xi. To be disbanded will be the 20th and 27th Group Armies in the Central Theater Command responsible for the defense of Beijing; the 14th Group Army in the Western Theater Command in the southwest; the 16th Group Army in the Northern Theater Command in the north bordering North Korea and the 47th Group Army in the Western Theater Command in the west bordering India. As for the current reshuffling of the 84 corps-level units, Xi said the unit rotation will also have a profound influence on meeting the targets of building a world-class armed force. He said the 84 corps level units as crucial parts of a new system, and called on them to safeguard China's sovereignty, security and development interests. Xi ordered the newly reshuffled units to adhere to the CPC's absolute leadership and obey the command of the CPC Central Committee and the CMC, which he heads. He required the PLA to firm up its communist beliefs; abide by political discipline and stick to the correct political direction as set by the CPC. The military units should also ensure combat readiness and conduct more research to achieve that end. Xi said the goal of the PLA is to build "an indestructible combat force." Advertisement TagsCommunist Party of China, People's Liberation Army Ground Force, PLAGF, Xi Jinping, People's Liberation Army, Group Armies Opinion / Columnist As Zimbabweans celebrate 37 years of independence, the Daily News spoke to a number of people with diverse interests to find out how our journey has been so far.Zimbabwe's independence is celebrated on April 18 each year since President Robert Mugabe was voted into office in 1980.Over the years, however, Zimbabweans have become increasingly disillusioned as the promises made during the war and after independence are yet to be realised.The declining economy and political turmoil coupled with mismanagement and corruption has reduced the once-vibrant country to a basket case with unemployment as high as 90 percent which has forced thousands to migrate to foreign lands in search of jobs.Member of Parliament Jessie Majome said while we achieved the end of racial supremacy or "rather the domination of Negroids by Caucasians. Beyond that we have failed to translate it into meaningful improvement of the quality of life for the populace."It is as if our liberators freed us in order to capture us! Gross failure of a megalomaniacal government has not only destroyed the physical and economic infrastructure left by the minority white supremacists - instead of improving and expanding it to the majority of the population - it has impoverished even the black majority further."Majome believes the future is thankfully going to "be freed of this generation of the liberation war predatory narcissists that has held the nation captive to empty and toxic distorted nationalist rhetoric that has burned all in its path. It's just a matter of time."ZimRights director Okay Machisa said it has been 37 years' experience of gradual dictatorship, corruption, impunity, poverty, patronage, disregard of rule of law, intolerance, gross human rights abuses, and maladministration, social and economic genocide."Our leaders have squandered resources meant for future generations. Our leaders think about power and more power, not the welfare of citizens."The only achievement we have had so far is a new Constitution just on paper because there is no political will to implement it."Machisa said while as a country we have gone to the extremes our leaders still think they are the best and would not want to change both within the ruling party and the government. "We have a dark future and the only light can be brought by us Zimbabweans. We need to liberate ourselves."Mbira expert Albert Chimedza said: "We need mental reconstruction! Without it we won't go very far. The problems we have are not political or economic. Those are just the result of the mental condition."Our current state is the best proof that colonial education was a major disaster for the African psyche. Our current rulers, arts sector and its functionaries, are the direct products of that system, all the way to petty officials, sub chiefs, teachers, practitioners of religions, financial system, agriculture, attitudes to land and land allocation, legal system, the basis and rationale for policing etc."Fundamental education reform is needed. We can't change the country without changing the mindset. The problems we see and are obsessed with are merely symptoms of a huge problem of African mind and spirit."Human rights activist Ruvimbo Masanga said: "Our independence is a day to be honoured because obviously colonialism was atrocious. However, the only president we have had since independence got intoxicated by power and took the country down the rabbit hole."I am proud of the successes of the education for all endeavours, so that I celebrate that, but the last two decades have been disastrous."There are children who are now 20 years old who were born into the economic malaise and political quandary that Mugabe's clinging to power has created. The impact on social life that political violence, corruption and plundering of resources by the cabal can never be reversed."We can only hope that in 2018 we can move on."Masanga said the future looks bleak, totally bleak. "There is no hope unless the political leadership changes. There is no economy to talk about, no politics to talk about in a dictatorship and no social life at all, just a people scrounging to survive."Election Resource Centre director Tawanda Chimhini said as Zimbabwe celebrates 37 years since independence from colonial rule, one is reminded of that which inspired the waging of a war of liberation, that which compelled young people then, to take up arms and determine their destiny."There is no doubt that part of struggle of independence was for self-determination through an equal suffrage. The belief then was that the struggle, if won, would guarantee one-man one-vote."As we reflect as a generation, we must ask ourselves if we have remained true to that struggle and sacrifice that others before us paid through their lives. Is each of us' vote equal? Can we determine our future through a freely cast vote?"To many Zimbabweans the answer is a deafening no. The rules for our elections are skewed against free and fair participation, those running the elections are controlled by those running for election, at least in terms of the law, the environment in which elections are conducted is often characterised by suppression of free will."The celebration of Zimbabwe's 37th birthday must be marked by focused pursuit of constitutional, free, fair and credible elections through citizens' demand for a legal, administrative and election environment framework that guarantees each man's vote is equal to the next person's," said Chimhini.ZESN director Rindai Chipfunde-Vava concurred: "Today we celebrate the opportunity for one-man/woman one-vote' brought by the liberation struggle though we still need to see further improvements for the right to vote freely by all eligible voters is done in a conducive environment."Rashweat Mukundu said the media industry has changed over the 37 years as we now have more players both in print and broadcasting and media protection has improved especially sections 61 and 62 of the new Constitution."The media sector has grown in its confidence to challenge authorities, something hitherto a taboo in the 1980s. The media space is now more open to influence by the public through social media enhanced feedback."On the other hand the media has followed the political trajectory of Zimbabwe in its representation of issues. We have dominance of elite voices, elite political and economic issues and far less focus on public affairs and people's voices."In essence the mainstream media both private and state-owned is captured by the political elite."Media practitioner Faith Ndlovu said albeit with contradictions and attendant challenges, the media has to some degree brought to the attention of the public some of the worst excesses of poor governance and failure by those in authorities to be accountable, thereby exercising its watchdog role."The media has also to some extent played a positive role in giving visibility to the plight and challenges of marginalised groups and communities and helping mobilize resources and influencing policy changes around these like issues around child brides and child marriages, victims of flood disasters and droughts."Ndlovu said although we still have a number of legal provisions that can be used to criminalise journalism, the media has also played a critical role in enhancing the democratisation of the media space through challenging draconian laws such as the now repealed criminal defamation law. "The repealing of criminal defamation is a critical milestone in the battle for a free media in Zimbabwe."She added though that there are a number of challenges the media is faced with as well. "Issues around corruption in the media and polarisation have compromised the industry."The peddling of hate speech especially during election time among other ethical lapses have also compromised the media while women also remain largely remain marginalised as both news sources and subjects."Ndlovu said it is important to note that all this is happening "within a context whereby the media is facing unprecedented challenges some of a global nature and some local including shrinking newsrooms and budgets, digital disruptions and the explosion of citizen journalism, poor working conditions among other challenges."Arts practitioner Josh Nyapimbi said: "Achievements in the 37 years include new cultural policy and ministries and government agencies advancing creative industries. Shortfalls include repression on artistic freedom, declining consumption of art due to poor economy and outdated policies and lack of government funding." A policeman was killed and four others were wounded after the Islamic State terror group tried to attack the St. Catherines monastery in Sinai, Egypt this week. The attack on the Christian monastery was thwarted. "Had they succeeded it would have been discussed in the next 5,000 years of Church history," Johnnie Moore, founder and CEO of The KAIROS Company and human rights advocate, told The Christian Post. ISIS gunmen reportedly opened fire from a hilltop overlooking a police checkpoint near the entrance to the monastery. They fled the scene following the shootout, but killed one officer. Moore said the attempted attack is cause for great alarm throughout the global Christian community. "Today's incident is simply the latest in a drastic escalation of attacks across the world. An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us, and each of us must ask ourselves what more we can do to help." On Palm Sunday, radicals bombed two churches in Alexandria and Tanta, killing 45 Christians. They promised more attacks would follow. After the bombings, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said he would do more to protect Egypts Christian people. He declared a three-month state of emergency and deployed armed forces to guard churches in the country. Moore said al-Sisis actions are a start. "Threatened Christians need physical protection but they also need the protection of the rule of law. In countries like Iraq they not only need to be free of ISIS they need generous support from the public and private sectors to rebuild their homes, churches and lives," he said. Photo courtesy: Thinkstockphotos.com Publication date: April 19, 2017 Two weeks after killing 47 Egyptians in twin church bombings on Palm Sunday, the Islamic State claimed a fresh attack on the ancient monastery of St. Catherine on the southern Sinai peninsula. One policeman was killed and four injured during an exchange of gunfire at a checkpoint about half a mile from the monastery entrance. Police were eventually able to gain control and force the militants to flee, according to the Ministry of Interior as reported by Ahram Online. ISIS claimed responsibility in a terse statement via their official news agency, Amaq. However, local speculation suggested it may have been a result of skirmishes between disgruntled tribes and the government. St. Catherines is named after the fourth-century martyr from Alexandria, and was built in the sixth century by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian. The monastery belongs to the Greek Orthodox Church, and was declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 2003. In the mid-19th century, the fourth-century Codex Sinaiticus was ... 1 home World Assisted suicide in Netherlands goes up by 10 percent in 2016 The number of reported cases of assisted suicide in the Netherlands has increased by 10 percent in 2016, and it now represents four percent of all the deaths in the country, according to a report by the regional monitoring boards. There have been 6,091 reported cases of euthanasia last year, compared with 5,561 cases in 2015. As many as 87 percent of the cases in 2016 involved people with cancer, serious heart or lung problems, or nervous system disorders such as ALS, Dutch News reported. A total of 32 euthanasia cases involved people with dementia, most of whom were in the early stages of the disease, while another 60 cases involved people with sever psychiatric problems. Euthanasia rules were not properly observed in 10 cases, most of which involved a failure to consult with a second doctor. The opinion of a second doctor is required under the current law in the Netherlands. The Netherlands conducts a major study on euthanasia every five years. A study in 2010 indicated that 23 percent of all assisted deaths in the country have been unreported. There has been a 317 percent increase in assisted deaths since 2006, according to Life News. Monitoring committee chairman Jacob Kohnstamm explained that the increase in euthanasia cases could be due to the democratic make-up of the Netherlands, as well as a change of opinion among doctors. Assisted suicide became legal in the country in 2002 under strict conditions. A patient must be suffering unbearable pain, and the doctor must be convinced that the patient is making an informed choice before going through with the procedure. The government extended euthanasia for people with severe dementia in January 2016. In February, the Journal of Psychiatry published a report highlighting significant concerns about euthanasia for psychiatric reasons. The report cited a case in which a woman without health problems in her 70s chose to die by euthanasia after the death of her husband. Prior to her husband's death, the couple decided that they would not live without each other. According to a consultant, the woman "did not feel depressed at all. She ate, drank and slept well. She followed the news and undertook activities." Doctors have recently come out against a proposal that would allow euthanasia for people who feel their lives are complete, and not just for people who are suffering unbearable pain. "Such a radical proposal is not desirable for practical reasons and for reasons of principle," the Dutch Doctors Federation, which represents 59,000 practitioners and students, said in a statement. The doctors warned that approving the proposal would lead to "an erosion of the conscientious practice of euthanasia" and increase "the feeling of vulnerability among elderly people and the stigmatisation of old age." home World Only about seven families remain in Christian town in Iraq, says Franklin Graham Evangelist Franklin Graham has claimed that there are only about seven families currently living in what was once the largest Christian town in Iraq. On Easter weekend, Graham visited churches and towns that were devastated by ISIS in northern Iraq. One of the towns he visited was Qaraqosh, which used to be the center of Christianity in Iraq, before it was captured by the terror group in August 2014. "Yesterday we went to the city of Qaraqosh, in Iraq, which used to be home to some 50,000 Christians who were forced to flee for their lives in 2014. Now just a handful, about 7 families, remain," Graham wrote on Facebook on Easter Sunday. The evangelist recounted that among the ashes and the debris, he found a Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child shoebox that had once been given to a child. "I couldn't help but wonder where the child who received this box is today," he said. Graham was joined in his tour by former Fox News host, now NBC News anchor, Greta Van Susteren. Samaritan's Purse has released a short video to show the destruction caused by ISIS in the Nineveh Plains. In the video, Van Susteren showed an area outside the church in Qaraqosh where ISIS militants burned Bibles and other Christian books. "It's one thing to destroy the buildings, these can be built back but the Church right now is being persecuted and here is a great example of what's happening to the Church," Graham remarked. Graham and Van Susteren also found out that ISIS had used the pulpit of the church for target practice and used machine guns to shoot the crosses off the wall. The evangelist also noted the slogans written by the militants on the wall of the church. According to Graham, one of the slogans read, "You love life. We love death," while another stated, "We have come to drink your blood." The video also featured the life-saving work being performed by the medical staff and volunteers at the Samaritan's Purse field hospital just outside of Mosul. The hospital treats Iraqi-led coalition troops, civilians and even ISIS militants that were wounded in the battle to liberate Iraq's second largest city. Graham explained that what makes the field hospital different is that those who volunteer to serve in the facility do so because of their faith in Christ. Opinion / Columnist Tinashe Eric Muzamhindo is a development analyst and he writes in his personal capacity as the Director of Mentorship Institute of National Development and Sustainability (MINDS). He can be contacted at greatorminds@gmail.com Survival of many depend on economic activities. If we would take a critical analysis on how the economy has been performing we can barely say Zimbabwe has literally collapsed economically and there is need the Government of Zimbabwe to come up with stern measures to curb economic leakages to avoid turmoil and anarchy. The economy is bleeding because of structural gaps in our economy. We have to make an analysis on why we are in this mess. There is need for the parliament to move a bill that can bring viable economic solutions, in fact we need a tangible solution prior to the livestock show that Chinamasa proposed in parliament. Our country has become a circus because of such talk shows. Yes on paper it can work but reality on the ground it's not a solution.CorruptionOur economy is bleeding because of corruption. How then do we define an economy when we have a lot of corrupt elements who are walking scot free in Harare yet they looted millions of dollars? To make matters worse majority of them are senior Government officials so who really matters in this whole saga of the economy. Corruption should be addressed first if we are to be serious with economic matters in this country. We have an anti-corruption commission which is just a spectator in the whole thing. They have never arrested anyone who is corrupt yet they are draining tax payer's money. Since the Mazda willovale, Gmb saga, war veterans' compensation funds, Zimdef, diamonds, gold reserves nothing has materialised as far addressing corruption is concerned.Cutting ExpenditureThere are so many problems in our country including the income and expenditure issue. During Tendai Biti's era when he was the finance minister he bemoaned the issue of expenditure and drawing allowances from government coffers and all this fell on deaf ears. We don't eat what we kill. We have a big cabinet which is not necessary considering the size of our country and expenditure it is very difficult to fund such a big cabinet. Chinamasa must do something on the issue of expenditure. It is reportedly that we have ghost workers on the payroll which are purportedly to be youth officers. We don't need those people. It is widely believed that they are about 60 000 ghost workers who are draining the fiscus and imagine if this country would save something like 10 million towards economic revival we would be somewhere by now.Capital InjectionZimbabwe needs about 2 billion for a start in order to revive the economy for short term measures. We need 10 billion for long term measures. Who would want to lend Zimbabwe money when our country is on the international community for wrong reasons such as human rights issues and property rights issues? It is very difficult to have that kind of money. The issue of livestock is a laughing stock to our country. We don't need such policies, we need economic revivals that can bring growth and enhance development. How many people have goats and cattle in this country, maybe only 6% and the rest are vendors. More than 90% of our country largely depend on menial jobs and vending and it is very difficult to talk of livestock industry. Majority of people are starving and they are surviving on 5 rand a day or even less and then how do you curb such a problem?International Re-Engangement PlanIt is very important that Zimbabwe come up with quick re-engagement plan with the economic giants such as World Bank, IMF and US. These are the economic giants that can bail us out financially. It is always good to come up with plans to engange them because we still need them in future.Clearence of Local and External DebtsOur external debt is standing at 10 billion whilst our local debt stands at 2 billion and then how do we do business? We need to come up with plans to clear those debts internally and externally so that we can manage to borrow funds from IMF and World Bank. Our name is not in good standing as far as lending issues are concerned, most the investors are shunning Zimbabwe because of these issues of failing to repay its creditors. In steading of debating livestock payment bill, we should encourage our MPs to discuss on how we can settle our external debts so that we can start to receive meaningful funding from the international community.Sound Development PolicyOur policies are not in good shape. If you look at empowerment laws, land policy, agriculture policy, mining policy, taxation policies, they are not attractive to investors. Investors are not willing to do business with us probably because of our policies. They also need to protect their investments. What then we need to do is to revise our policies so that they are attractive to foreign and local investors. We have so many documents on paper such as Zim Asset, JUICE, TEN POINT PLAN, BUILD etc., so many of them but they have failed to yield anything. My proposal was the Government must invite all stakeholders such as MPs, economists, business community, community leaders, civic society, analysts, and politicians across political divide to participate in national development plan. The Government cannot go it alone but rather bring inclusive ideas that spear head economic growth. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Bloomberg took a look through last year's federal returns to find the U.S. County with the highest adjusted gross incomes. The answer might've been shocking to East Coasters, but Texans likely won't be as surprised: McMullen County, right here in the Lone Star State. Data from the Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, which uses federal tax returns, showed that the rural county northwest of Corpus Christi had an average adjusted gross income of $303,717 in 2015. RICHEST PEOPLE: Forbes reveals the richest Texas on 2017 That beat out Teton County, Wyoming's $248,949 and the $210,233 average adjusted gross income of New York County, home of Manhattan. And coming in fourth in the nation was Glasscock County, just outside Midland. The takeaway? Oil money beat out Wall Street wealth. "I joke that oil and gas finally made ranching profitable," Thomas Tunstall, research director for the Institute for Economic Development at the University of Texas at San Antonio, told Bloomberg. "A lot of old Texas families live on large ranches in McMullen County, and the older generation went through tough times prior to five years ago." HAND-DRAWN: Old map of Texas oilfields is a trip through time Experts who track rural land prices have said that land values have been driven up over the years by wealthy Texans who buy up property for country retreats. According to the TRAC data, other counties with high adjusted gross incomes were largely small, sparsely populated rural ones. Though oil prices took a dive in 2014, spurring job losses across the industry, and Texas' economy has become less dependent on energy in recent decades, oil is still a major driver of wealth here. HISTORIC PHOTOS: Here's what life was like in Texas during the oil boom According to the most recent census data available, Fort Bend, where ritzy Houston suburbs sprawl, and Midland were among the five Texas counties with the highest median incomes. Still, finance jobs aren't exactly shabby sources of income for Texans. While Collin County, a hub for financial services jobs, didn't crack the top 10 by adjusted gross income in 2015, it had the third-highest median income in the state: $86,217. And Rockwall County, another Dallas-Fort Worth suburb, came in second with a median income of $90,940. Agu Ramen Agu Ramen will join the mix of restaurants at Sugar Land Town Square in the next few months. A 2,501-square-feet space is being built out at 2130 Lone Star Drive near U.S. 59 and Texas 6. Houston police and firefighters headed Wednesday morning to a strip center in northwest Houston, where a man was found dead around 6 a.m. on the sidewalk by the parking lot. A passerby spotted the body in the 7200 block of Antoine Drive, said police department spokesman John Cannon. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A Houston police officer was relieved of duty following his arrest earlier this month on narcotics charges, officials confirmed Tuesday. James Norman, 34, was charged with possession of a controlled substance April 6 after a search warrant was served at his apartment in the 2500 block of Yorktown. On April 4, an undercover HPD narcotics officer met with a man identified as Abelino Lemm, 27, in a car parked outside the apartment. The officer gave Lemm - identified in court documents as Norman's "live-in roommate and romantic partner" - $1,200 and received 59 grams of methamphetamine. BUSTED: Former person of interest in 2016 slaying sentenced for trafficking suitcases full of cocaine Another HPD officer watched Lemm go back into the apartment he shared with Norman. Norman was in the apartment when the HPD officers served the warrant to search the two-story townhouse. They found two glass pipes - used for smoking methamphetamine - on a coffee table in the living room. "The pipes had residue consistent with drug use in them," the criminal complaint stated. The officers found mail in the apartment that was addressed to Norman, who worked a part-time security job at the complex. As the search continued, they spotted a blue container on a computer table that held 4.4 grams of methamphetamine along with a scale and plastic baggies typically used in narcotics trafficking, authorities said. GUILTY: Teen pleads guilty to smuggling humans, drugs in district court Norman admitted using methamphetamine earlier that day. The officers found another container in the living room containing traces of what later tested positive for the illegal narcotic, according to the criminal complaint. Norman was taken into custody and charged with possession of a controlled substance. He was later released after posting $10,000 bail in the case. Norman joined the Houston Police Department in 2013 and at the time of his arrest was assigned to the South Gessner Patrol Division. Lemm was charged with delivery of a controlled substance and was later released after posting $20,000 bail. A two-day killing spree had a gruesome start Monday morning, with the man killing his ex-wife and dragging her body across a driveway before he went on to shoot two other people, according to court documents. Deputies with the Harris County Sheriff's Office are on the hunt for 53-year-old Russell Cormier, who they suspect murdered two, including his ex-wife, and injured one earlier this week in northeast Harris County. "I'm going to shoot your son," Cormier yelled at 61-year-old Fannie McWhite, according to a sworn statement from the investigating deputy. DEPUTY SLAIN: Accused gunman says he has no recollection of shooting Goforth "No, no," McWhite responded. "Well, how do you like this?" Cormier responded, and fired two shots. Moments later, neighbors saw Cormier dragging McWhite's body toward the street. The exchange came about 6 a.m. Monday at McWhite's house, in the 12300 block of Greencanyon Drive. McWhite's son was inside the home and did not hear the argument. GRUESOME DISCOVERY: Body found on sidewalk in Northwest Houston Cormier abandoned McWhite's body in the driveway of a neighbor's house, across the street. He fled in a black Toyota, according to court documents. McWhite was dead by 6:20 a.m. In the next two hours, Cormier is suspected of setting a trailer in the yard of his home on Shotwell Street ablaze. He then wen to a business on Kindred Drive where he shot and killed 60-year-old Thornton "Jack" Bivens around 8 a.m. as he arrived to work, deputies said. The business is about five miles from McWhite's house. The following morning, Cormier is believed to have returned to Shotwell Street, where he shot and injured a neighbor around 4:30 a.m. The neighbor was transported to an area hospital and was in stable condition on Tuesday afternoon. COLD CASE: Texas offering reward for help solving 1981 slaying of realtor Murder charges were filed for McWhite's death on Tuesday. Cormier had not been charged for the other shootings, as of Wednesday morning. Cormier does not appear to have a criminal record in Harris County. But he and McWhite have a tumultuous history. The same year the couple's divorce was finalized in 2014, a judge granted a temporary restraining order for McWhite against Cormier. And Cormier had threatened McWhite's son before, the son told deputies. Deputies described Cormier as a 6-foot, 160-pound man last seen driving a late-2000s model black Dodge Stratus that was missing the front driver-side hubcap. Crime Stoppers has offered up to $5,000 for information in the case, asking for tips to be called in to 713-222-TIPS (8477). Scroll through the gallery above to see how likely you are to become a crime victim in Houston This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate With an initial investment of $500, Henry Bascom Everett opened Everett Cash Grocery at 108 Simonton in Conroe in 1908, selling fresh food, dry goods, livestock feed, hardware and other necessities of the era. Though the name of the store and goods it sold changed as it was passed down to other family members, from 1908 through its closure in 1997, it was a staple of commerce in Conroe community. About H.B. Everett H.B. Everett was born in Stewart Count, Georgia on Dec. 29, 1852. He attended Emory University where he received his law degree, according to a passage on H.B. Everett in the 1981 Montgomery County History book produced by the Montgomery County Genealogical Society. The passage was submitted by Mrs. Meta E. Stephan. On June 11, 1876 he married Iola Adela Boynton, also of Stewart County. In 1898, the Everetts came to Texas, first to Paris, Texas and then to Houston. In 1908, believing there was great fortune in Conroe, he moved north and opened Everett's Cash Grocery on May 21, 1908. An article about the 80th anniversary of the store states that H.B. Everett recorded $6.75 as the first day's sales. According to Stephan's passage, the store stayed open until after the Santa Fe train arrived late in the evening bringing customers from the saw mill at Fostoria. Stephan's reported that Everett would walk from the store to his home on North Frazier. Since he'd have to pass by drunks and saloons carrying the cash box from the store, he'd carry the cash box under his arm, a lantern in one hand and a gun in the other. In 1910, Mark Everett Sr. joined him in business. In 1911, the fire that devastated Conroe on Feb. 21, destroyed Everett's original store as well. In a Courier article celebrating the store's 50th anniversary, a passage said the wood-frame building that burned was replaced by a brick structure, that was stronger than ever. On June 11, 1926 the Everetts celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with a grand family reunion. Nine children were born to this union, five boys and four girls. They include Elma and Ruby who died in infancy; Mark Wilmot, Willard Boynton, Edward Carlyle, Lucy May, Henry Bascom Jr., Leland Boynton and Iola Boynton The Courier article stated times were hard during the Depression. H.B. Everett also passed away on Sept. 3, 1931. Iola Boynton Everett died Feb. 18, 1946. It's said that in 1931, shortly before making one of the biggest oil strikes in American history, George Strake came to Everett's for credit to purchase supplies because he was out of money. But the area's and Strake's fortune soon turned around when oil was discovered in December 1931. A growing and changing store The 50th anniversary article stated that the discovery of oil was a shot in the arm to both Conroe and to Everetts. "Business was good in 1932 as thousands flocked to the fabled Conroe oil field and Everett's held a steady pace since," the article stated. The dry goods portion was eliminated in 1941 and the grocery portion in 1950. After the 1950s, the primary focus was on a hardware store. Additionally Everett and Sons Feed Store operated in another location serving the area's ranchers and farmers. This unit eventually became Henderson Feed Store. In 1958, at the store's 50th anniversary, Mark Sr., Mark Jr. and Wilmot were involved in running the store. The business, now Everett & Sons Hardware, was considered one of the most well stocked and finest hardware stores in the area. The store sold standard plumbing, electrical and building supplies as well as tools and sporting goods. Facing increase pressure from national chains, the store affiliated with Tru-Value Hardware in the 1960s. Family run service In a previous Courier article, Patti Everett, great granddaughter of H.B. Everett, said there was always a sense of pride and integrity at the store. "I worked there at Christmas and during the summer months," recalled Patti. "But dad was hard on me because I was clumsy and had a habit of breaking more than I sold." She remembers as youth that a large bell hung in the store and Mr. Mark would ring it at precisely at 6 p.m. to let people know the store was closing. "It was a big honor to get to ring the bell," she said. "All of us kids wanted to be the one to pull the cord and make the bell ring." The bell signaled the closing of the doors, but Patti said that the store remained open until the last customer had an opportunity to conclude their business. "There was a lot of pride among the employees," said Patti. "They were very loyal and respectful of the family." The same was true between the Everett's and their customers. When a patron was behind in their credit payments, the family was very understanding of legitimate reasons and didn't apply pressure for payment. "If you were truthful, they were very understanding of the situation," said Patti. "But if people lied, well, they didn't react well to that at all." In 1941, Frank Elam entered the business, managing the hardware department and later taking on managing the entire store. According to a narrative of the story researched and compiled by Larry Foerster, Montgomery County Historical Commission Chairman, M.W. Everett, Sr. went to the store every day until he died in 1966. His brother and partner, Wilmot Everett retired in 1973, when M. W. Everett, Sr's son "Buddy Mark" became the sole owner. A family of community service The Everett sons were also very involved in community service, supporting Conroe in a number of ways. Mark W. Everett, Sr. served as the secretary of the Chamber of Commerce when it was organized in 1912 as the "Conroe Business League." He also served as a Conroe city council member in 1921-22. He was a director of First National Bank in 1951 and president of Conroe Federal Savings and Loan Association in 1961, having been an officer and on the board of directors since it was chartered in 1934. From 1961-1965, his son Mark W. "Buddy Mark" Everett, Jr. served as Conroe's mayor. Buddy Mark was also very active in the Rotary Club, the Conroe Chamber and the formation of the Conroe Industrial Park. The Chamber honored Mark W. "Buddy" Everett in October 2001 as a distinguished leader on its Wall of Honor. Leland B. Everett II, 1893-1976, was an early owner, editor and publisher of the Conroe Courier, and a business owner of Everett and Sons Hardware and Grocery store. The final years of Everett's Hardware Everett Tru Value Hardware celebrated 80 years in business at three locations in Conroe, Willis and Montgomery in May 1988. James Elam, son of longtime store employee and manger Frank Elam, bought the store that year from Buddy Mark Everett. On Feb. 1, 1997, the store closed for good. "Part of it was the pressure applied by retail giants like Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Lowe's," said Patti Everett. "But part of it was that it wasn't the same family business environment. The loyalty factor that used to be common just didn't exist anymore." In the years since the business closed, she said it was the pride and integrity there that she misses the most. The building has been used for storage and as an antique mall since. Prior reporting by Brad Meyer included in article. The Courier wishes to thank Montgomery County Historical Comission Chairman Larry Foerster for his assistance with this article. Mark Mitchell, incoming president of the Lake Houston Economic Development Partnership, sat down with outgoing president Charlie Dromgoole in a Facebook Live event Tuesday, April, 18. The two talked about the growth the area has seen, the partnership between Generation Park and the EDP, and future plans. "We've seen tremendous growth in this area. I think we have been growing at a rate of 12 percent a year, and that's phenomenal. The one thing that caused that is out here in front, Generation Park and the Beltway," Dromgoole said. Mitchell moved to the Lake Houston area in 2008, has lived in Summer Creek for about six years and is excited to assume the role of president, having seen the growth just in the short time he has lived here. "You see developments that makes sense. You see developments that add quality of life, especially with what we are looking at right now. It's been tremendous," Mitchell said. Mitchell said with the strong foundation already built for the EDP, there won't be any drastic changes to come. "A great foundation has been built. The strategic plan, as far as how growth is going to be planned out and managed, I believe is a sound one. I think now it's a matter of execution," Mitchell said. Dromgoole said it's been a great experience having worked with EDP for almost seven years. "We've always said this area has probably been the best kept secret in Houston, but the secret's out," Dromgoole said. This area is advantageously built in close proximity to the airport, which is in large part the reason for its growth and why Mitchell said he moved here in the first place. "We didn't know Humble ISD was as good as it was. We were very lucky that the school system that we moved into was fantastic, and so my boys are now both in Kingwood High," Mitchell said. According to the Lake Houston Area Chamber of Commerce, Mitchell has served in city, utility and state development and consulting roles in Michigan, Indiana and Texas. Meanwhile, Dromgoole has spent more than 40 years in the chamber industry, having recently stepped down from his role as CEO of the Lake Houston Chamber of Commerce in January. According to an article published at the time, during his tenure at the Lake Houston chamber, Dromgoole facilitated the startup of the Lake Houston Economic Development Partnership, which is a separate organization under the chamber focusing on growing businesses and attracting jobs to the area. Dromgoole has worked at chambers in Port Arthur, Sherman, Abilene and Round Rock. His final day as president of EDP will be Thursday, April 27. PRNewsFoto/Walt Disney Company/HO CEZANNE ET MOI: A chronicle of the lifelong love/hate relationship between two of the creative geniuses of the 19th century - painter Paul Cezanne and novelist Emile Zola. (R) FREE FIRE: Members of two Boston gangs meet in a warehouse in 1978 and things go poorly in director Ben Wheatley's action/comedy. (R) This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Three men are facing capital murder charges for the fatal shooting of a 29-year-old man in the parking lot of a Carl's Jr. earlier this month in east Harris County. Charges were filed Wednesday against 27-year-old Quincy Thomas and 22-year-old Tyre Hartley in the April 5 murder. They are scheduled to appear in court Thursday. THE CRIME: One dead, one injured in gun battle near a Carl's Jr. Charges were filed against Amir Yarbrough, 29, on April 6. The men are accused of ambushing 29-year-old Marquiet Davis around 6:30 p.m. on April 5. Davis was sitting alone in his car in the parking lot in the 15200 block of Wallisville near Interstate 45, according to a news release from the Harris County Sheriff's Office. FIRST ARREST: Man charged in fatal shooting outside fast food restaurant Yarbrough and Thomas are accused of hopping into Davis' car as Hartley waited in a Nissan Sentra nearby. Yarbrough shot Davis, Thomas grabbed a bag from the front seat of the car, and the two men ran to the Nissan, according to the news release. The three then drove away together, according to the release. All three men are being held without bond in the Harris County Jail. COLD CASE: Reward offered for help in 1981 slaying of realtor Thomas pleaded guilty in Harris County in 2014 to criminal mischief misdemeanor and possession of 1 to 2 ounces of marijuana. Hartley has no prior convictions in Harris County. SHOOTING SPREE: Investigators say man shot ex-wife, dragged her across driveway Yarbrough was charged in January with assault of a family member with a prior conviction. He has two prior 2014 convictions in Harris County for assault on a family member and was sentenced to six months in the Harris County Jail for his second conviction. Yarbrough also has two prior misdemeanor convictions, including possession of marijuana in 2012. Scroll through the gallery above to see how likely someone is to be a crime victim in Houston's suburbs Stacy Riendeau's heart swelled and tears came to her eyes as she watched one of her students put on his new pair of glasses for the first time. Riendeau, who is the nurse at Drew Elementary School, relayed this moving experience in a letter shared during the Crosby ISD school board meeting Monday, April 18. "Once the glasses were handed to him and he put them on, he looked around the room, squinting and adjusting his vision," Riendeau stated. "All of a sudden, he smiled and a look came over his face like he had just seen color for the first time. The student is not color blind, but the reaction he had was that of someone that is." This child was one of 65 Crosby ISD students who received a free pair of glasses as a part of the See to Succeed program. The glasses were delivered to school campuses across Crosby ISD on Thursday, April 13. This was the district's first year participating in the program, which is organized through the Houston Health Department. More than 70 Crosby ISD students traveled to the West End Health Center in January and received free vision screenings. Campus nurses determined which students were in need of the services. Crosby ISD's nurses perform eye exams on students annually, but not all students referred to get glasses are actually able to do so. For some students, a pair of glasses can mean the difference between academic success and struggle, according to Patricia Kay, assistant superintendent of student services in Crosby ISD. "If this effort helps them, there's no excuse for not getting them glasses," Kay said. "It makes me feel good because I know those kids are going to do better academically now. It means so much for these kids to be able to see the board, to see what they're doing and to see what their teacher is writing." The See to Succeed program not only gets students the correct prescription lenses, it allows the students to pick out their own stylish frames. "As I brought each student into our office to be fitted, I got to see the excitement on their faces and their eyes light up when (we) opened the box and showed them their special pair made just for them," Riendeau stated. The district plans to participate in the See to Succeed program again next school year. Campus nurses are already in the process of identifying students. Next school year, Crosby ISD also plans to participate in a similar program called Saving Smiles. Nurses will help identify second graders in need of dental care. "Second grade is a critical time when their back molars are coming in and there's a lot of activity going on in those mouths, so we're going to help these kids receive dental care," Kay said. "They will receive a screening when they take the field trip (to the West End Health Clinic), and they will be referred to a doctor in the city of Houston network that can help the parents with dental care." Additionally, Crosby ISD collected more than 400 teddy bears as a part of the Pay It Forward Pray It Forward Foundation's Teddy Bear Drive in December 2016. The teddy bears were donated to children at the Shriners Hospital and MD Anderson during the holidays. "These are for kids that are spending Christmas in the hospital," Kay said. "Our kids are aware of what they're giving a teddy bear for. All the schools took part, and even our technology department got into it." For more information about Crosby ISD, visit www.crosbyisd.org. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The scene at the River Oaks Country Club for the Salvation Army Women's Auxiliary "Reflections on Style" extravaganza is usually washed in red, the organization's signature hue. Shades of crimson typically blanket the social spaces inside the tony venue. But this year's "Classy and Fabulous" motif called for pink. Bright fuchsia lighting and table schemes wowed record attendees spillover from the ballroom were seated in the foyer who arrived ready to party with purpose. The three-part soiree Chic Boutique, runway show and luncheon begins with early-bird shopping for a handful of select guests. Chic Boutique Showroom co-chairs Diane '"Stick" Delaup, Pam Sengelmann and Dev Stern spent an entire year raiding the closets of Houston's most stylish philanthropists for designer cast-offs to sell in the River Oaks Country Club pop-up. Christian Dior's iconic "Lady Dior" handbag and other brand-name goods were ripe for the swiping. "I have been waiting for this day since we moved here in June," said Major Melody Davis, who recently joined the Houston chapter as associate area commander from Greenville, S.C. "The planning for this event really starts before the previous one ends," event chair Maureen Higdon said before introducing honoree Ann Bookout. Bookout acknowledged Lilly Andress, a past chair and honoree, and special guest Margot Perot then the lights dimmed. Models (accessorized with black ribbons and flapper headbands) hit the catwalk to show off vintage looks from Carolina Herrera, Gucci, Valentino and Oscar de la Renta during producer Lenny Matuszewski's fashion presentation. A few wonderfully sheer gowns, blouses and pants elicited murmurs from the conservative crowd. After lunch was served, event-goers queued up for a chance to purchase the ensembles seen on the runway. Early reports indicate that this year's efforts will cross the $1 million-mark; for some charitable retail therapy, visit the Chic Boutique Showroom in Uptown Park April 20-22. During Earth Month, Christ the King Evangelical Lutheran Church in Houston invites area Christians to gather in song at 6 p.m. Sunday, April 30, for a Creation Hymn Sing. The church will celebrate and give thanks for God's good creation in hymns and songs from various lands and traditions and hear anew the call to care for the creation. Attendees will sing well known and loved hymns as well as be introduced to some new musical friends. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Dennis W. Holder spent the last seven years of his life serving on the board of the Houston Firefighters' Relief and Retirement Fund, working to ensure firefighters received the benefits and resources they deserved. The Houston Fire Department assistant fire chief died Nov. 23, 1995, but in Holder's honor, his wife began the Dennis W. Holder Scholarship Fund in 1998 as a way to fund higher education scholarships for the children and grandchildren of city of Houston firefighters. The community is invited to enjoy delicious Cajun cuisine while supporting the Dennis W. Holder Scholarship Fund during the upcoming crawfish fundraiser for the city of Houston Firefighters Children and Grandchildren Scholarships at the Crawfish Shack in Crosby. Saturday, April 29, from 12 to 5 p.m., the Crawfish Shack in Crosby will donate 25 percent of all sales to the scholarship fund. Dan and Jennifer Meaux, owners of the Crawfish Shack in Crosby, serve many customers who are Houston area first responders, and they hope the fundraiser helps make a difference to Houston firefighters and their families. "We are going to donate 25 percent of our total restaurant sales, which is very significant on a Saturday," Dan Meaux said. "Customers are not going to be harassed for donations. All customers need to do is come, eat and we donate 25 percent." The fundraiser may be the first of an annual event. "We like to give back in many ways to local causes," Dan Meaux said. "This was something we wanted to help out with. It seems like a good opportunity to give back to a good cause." The Dennis W. Holder Scholarship Fund, also known as the Houston Firefighters Scholarship Fund, is a nonprofit 501c3 organization benefiting children and grandchildren of active, retired or deceased Houston firefighters. "We award upwards 250 to 300 scholarships each year," said Florence Dees, Dennis W. Holder Scholarship director. "Scholarships tend to be $550 to $750, depending on how much we raise. It's generally anywhere from $180,000 to $225,000 we give away every year." The organization holds regular events and fundraisers for the scholarship fund, although this is the first year it is partnering with the Crawfish Shack for this fundraising initiative. Representatives with the Dennis W. Holder Scholarship Funds will be onsite selling T-shirts and hats to raise money for the fund. Additionally, Dees said they may be raffling off a few items. Like Dan and Jennifer Meaux, Dees said she would love for this to become an annual fundraising event. Dees explained that firefighters often do not receive the benefits or compensation perhaps afforded to professionals in other careers. "We want to do what we can to help them out," Dees said. "We hope to see the community there, and we thank you for supporting our first responders." The Crawfish Shack is at 5822 FM 2100 Crosby, TX 77532. With the battle over admissions rules to the University of Texas and Texas A&M seeming to rage whenever politicians get together, it would be easy to assume the state's two flagship campuses are the most competitive to get in to. However a recent ranking from Niche shows that it's actually Houston's prestigious Rice University that takes the title of most selective school in Texas. The competition isn't even close. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Texas Equusearch announced Tuesday it will resume searching for University of Houston student, An Vinh Nguyen Wednesday morning. Nguyen, 27, was last seen on March 31 leaving a friend's house in Willowbrook. Authorities announced late last week they recovered the missing student's 2016 Jeep Renegade, but declined to say where it was found or what state it was in, citing the active investigation. Equusearch's director of search operations said last week a search could not be conducted until a vehicle was found. The search will focus on the Spring area. His brother, Loc Nguyen, told KHOU his brother has "no enemies, no illness, nor any reason to run." Nguyen was last seen wearing a light yellow T-shirt; he told his friend he was going home to finish a school paper, and was meant to fly to Florida the next day for a job interview. His family said he never boarded the plane. Nguyen is a hotel and restaurant management major at the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management at UH. "Every day that passes by is critical for us," Loc Nguyen, Nguyen's brother, told KTRK. "We worry a lot. Every night comes, I don't know where my brother is. It's really hard." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Virginia "Ginger" Freeman went to show a house the afternoon of Dec. 1, 1981. It was the last thing she was known to have done. Someone killed the 40-year-old realtor that day in Brazos County after a meeting at the home in the Bryan/College Station area. Now, the Texas Department of Public Safety is offering a $6,000 reward and Brazos County Crime Stoppers is kicking in another $1,000 for information leading to the arrest of the person or people responsible for Freeman's death. SEEKING HELP: Texas sheriff turns to retired detectives to aide with cold cases Freeman made arrangements to meet a man that day at a house on Greens Prairie Road. Police say the caller described himself as a cash buyer interested in the rural property. Freeman stopped at home around 3 p.m. and told her children about the potential sale, then went on to the meeting. An autopsy showed Freeman died at around 3:30 p.m. after being struck on her head, strangled and stabbed. After 7 p.m., Freeman's husband reported her missing. Deputies found Freeman's body behind the vacant house and her car parked out front. UNEXPECTED FIND: Kids playing in vacant building make ghoulish discovery To be eligible for the cash rewards, tipsters must provide information to authorities by calling the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-252-TIPS (8477). All tips are anonymous. People also can submit information to the Brazos County Crime Stoppers hotline at 979-775- TIPS (8477), through the Texas Ranger Cold Case website or by telephone at 1-800-346-3243 (DPS Missing Persons Hotline). Scroll through the gallery above to see other cold cases and unsolved slayings around Texas This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate This week Texans all over the world commemorate the Battle of San Jacinto, which occurred on April 21, 1836 near present-day Deer Park. Thousands of miles from where General Sam Houston accepted the surrender of Mexican General Santa Ana after a one-sided firefight between their two forces, there is a unique piece of history from the states early days as an independent country. HIDDEN HISTORY: See the last remaining international boundary marker for the Republic of Texas In London, England at 4 St Jamess Street sits the building which at one time served as the site of the Embassy of Texas. From 1842 until 1845, when Texas became a state, this spot near St James's Palace was where the Republic of Texas did business in England. Texas President Sam Houston sent Dr. Ashbel Smith, the republics secretary of state, to begin working on Texas international relationships as a sovereign country. (Technically its known as a legation, which is smaller than an embassy.) As Atlas Obscuras Luke Spencer notes, an embassy in Paris was also established later in 1842. There was also one in Washington, D.C. Spencer shared his photos of the London location with Chron.com this week. You can check out his piece on this small slice of Texas at the Atlas Obscura website. Texas British embassy was located above a wine shop, Berry Brothers & Rudd, which we hope was expert tactical planning on the part of the Texans. The wine shop owners were also the team behind Cutty Sark Scotch. This was a cushy job for Ambassador Smith, who was a tight friend and onetime roommate of Houston. Smith is known as the "father of Texas medicine" and the "father of the University of Texas" among many other things. FAR EAST TEXAS: What does a Texas-themed bar look like in Tokyo? Once Texas became a state in 1845 the site was abandoned, leaving a rent bill of 160 British pounds. A small gold plaque installed in 1963 down an adjacent alleyway marks the spot where the infant countrys overseas HQ once stood. Texas Legation in this building was the legation for the ministers from the Republic of Texas to the Court of St. James 1842 1845 reads the plaque. Physically its rather small, so locals might have been missing it all these years. In 1986 a group of Texans came by to settle the outstanding debt with the wine shop, after all those years. It was only right that the Texans settled up during the states sesquicentennial. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate This week, news broke of the first "DREAMer" being deported under the Trump administration. While many Americans were concerned about the implications of 23-year-old Manuel Montes being deported despite have legal permission to work in the U.S., one Iowa congressman was celebrating. "First non-valedictorian DREAMer deported. Border Patrol, this one's for you," tweeted Tea Party caucus member Steve King while displaying a mug of beer. TEA PARTY TEXAS: Groups blast Texas House over sanctuary cities, budget Montes was part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA, a program that allows immigrants who entered the country as minors to live and work without fear of deportation. The Department of Homeland Security says Montes' DACA protection expired in 2015, but Montes' lawyer said it was renewed in 2016 and was set to expire in 2018, according to The Washington Post. Montes had one prior convection of theft. At the time of his deportation he was attending community college and working as a farm laborer. RUDE AWAKENING: She thought Trump would deport 'bad hombres.' Instead, he's deporting her law-abiding husband. King's valedictorian tweet is a reference to an earlier comment he made in 2013 in which he argued undocumented immigrants "aren't all valedictorians" and that "for every one who's a valedictorian, there's another 100 out there who weigh 130 pounds" with "calves the size of cantaloupes because they've been hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert." King may be best known to non-Iowans for another tweet, where he praised Geert Wilders, a Dutch politician and white nationalist. Many considered his tweet racist. The Iowa representative has also made headlines for expressing opposition to birth control, calling it "not constructive to our culture and our civilization," and Planned Parenthood's over-the-phone patient care, which he believed would be used to provide "robo-Skype abortions." DOUBLING DOWN: Steve King defends anti-immigration tweet: 'I meant exactly what I said' In response to King's tweet about Montes, twitter users began searching for King's campaign contributors, which many suggested boycotting. Montes is suing the federal government in order to gather more information on his sudden removal from the country. Click through above to see how immigrants help make Texas great. A 19-year-old Houston man accused of fatally shooting his former girlfriend told police he knew she was pregnant, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. Jeffree Burks was arrested March 4 in the Feb. 22 death of Amber Flores, also 19, who was shot in the back as she rode in a car on Houston's southeast side, court records state. The car was driven by Dejaven Pratt, who was also shot in the back, as he and Flores returned to his house. HOLIDAY SLAYING: 2 teens indicted in Christmas Eve capital murder at arranged meeting Pratt, who survived, told police that he and Flores were on their way to his house when they nearly hit a light-colored sport utility vehicle southbound on Calhoun. The SUV driver displayed a pistol in his right hand, court records state. Pratt turned onto Van Fleet to avoid further conflict but the SUV followed them. At that point, Pratt saw a man he knew as Flores' ex-boyfriend lean out of the back passenger window and fire a rifle at them, striking their car several times. Flores lowered herself onto the floor on the front passenger's side but both she and Pratt received bullet wounds to the back, records state. Pratt's car crashed into a fence and stopped as it hit a tree in the 5000 block of Van Fleet, according to the arrest warrant. 4 LIFE TERMS: Death row inmate avoids execution with guilty plea after Supreme Court ruling Pratt later identified Burks as the shooter from a group of photos showed to him by police, the affidavit states. Pratt knew Burks by his nickname, AKA Greedy, and was familiar with his Instagram profile. Using that information, detectives found a photo of Burks wearing a Sterling High School shirt and consulted Houston school district officials, who knew Burks. On March 3, police located Burks, who agreed to give a statement about the incident. During the interview, he admitted knowing that Flores was pregnant, records state. According to KTRK, Flores' family members said she had begun picking out names for the baby. At her death, the baby was determined to be male, and the name she had selected for a boy was Noah, the family told KTRK. A GoFundMe account has been established to help the family with funeral expenses. According to the funding site, Flores is survived by her parents and four younger siblings. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate When she came home, Tu Huynh walked right into what she would later describe as a "heartbreaking nightmare." In the bedroom of the Newpark Drive home she shared with her husband and young daughter, she found the 34-year-old civil engineer shot to death on Feb. 2. "Nothing in life can prepare you for finding your husband dead," she told reporters Wednesday. Frantic, Huynh called 911, but after an interrogation - during which she says she was denied a lawyer - the 29-year-old found herself behind bars, facing a murder charge after police claimed she faked her husband's suicide. Three days later, friends and family bonded her out, but Huynh still lost her job and found herself plagued by negative publicity. "My face was splattered over the TV and newspaper accompanied rumors, assumption and speculations," she said. "I was accused of killing my husband to get insurance money." It wasn't until two months after the shooting that the medical examiner ruled Steven Hafer's death a suicide, and prosecutors dropped the charges against Huynh. "I want the record to be absolutely clear I do not know specifically what drove Steven to do what he did," she said this week. "But I pray that he's now in peace. I did not kill him. I did not shoot my husband." DROPPED: Murder charged dropped against nurse accused of staging husband's suicide At one point, prosecutors said that Huynh admitted to having an affair with an ex-boyfriend before her husband's death. Huynh said Wednesday that wasn't true, though she admitted the couple had their troubles and called the relationship "a work in progress." "I wish law enforcement had prioritized the finding of facts instead of an easy target to demonize. I wish the media took seriously the task of educating the public instead of reporting scandalous rumors and half-truths for shock value," she said. Her lawyer, David Armbruster, did not rule out the possibility of pursuing a civil action, though he did not shed light on what specific details of the medical examiner's findings prompted prosecutors to drop the case. "It was an absolute lack of evidence," he said. "In my opinion, I think law enforcement jumped to conclusions." Investigators initially became suspicious when they said Huynh kept changing her story about the shooting, prosecutors said. The shotgun had apparently been wiped clean and the trajectory did not match a self-inflicted wound, they said. Armbruster said Wednesday he thought investigators should have paid more attention to the trajectory and impact of the shot fired. Originally from Vietnam, Huynh immigrated to the United States in 2004 and was later granted citizenship. She eventually became a registered nurse and had once worked at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. She met Hafer, a Michigan native, through mutual friends in the Houston area. In 2014 the couple married and had a daughter. Josh Becker, one of Hafer's longtime friends, later said the couple's relationship had "a lot of intensity" but described Huynh as "almost angel-like." "Nothing would give a clue that something like this would happen," he said after the arrest. Now, two months later, the young mother is struggling to put her life back together. "Steven, the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with, the father of my child - suddenly he's gone," she said. "He will never come back. What will I tell my daughter?" If this Great Dane could talk, it would probably say "thank you" to the Dallas-area officer who saved it from a menacing wooden fence. The Cedar Hill Police Department posted video of one of its officers responding to an animal welfare call on Sunday. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate In February 1993, members of the Branch Davidian cult began a lengthy stand-off with federal police after an attempted raid following allegations of polygamy, sexual abuse and possession of illegal weapons. But 51 days later on April 19, the "wait-and-see" strategy endorsed by President Bill Clinton ended, and authorities followed through on a plan to fill the cult's compound with tear gas. A comprehensive 149-page report released by federal official seven years after the incident gives a detailed hour-by-hour look at the tragic and disturbing day. At around 6 a.m, FBI hostage rescue teams began to deploy armored vehicles and pump tear gas into the building. HoustonChronicle.com: ATF agents finally speak out, years after deadly raid Between 6:00 and 7:25 a.m., FBI agents intercepted the following statements from within the compound as it filled with gas: "Need fuel;" "Did you pour it yet?;" "David said pour it right?;" "Is there a way to spread fuel in there?;" "So we only light it first when they come in with the tank right ... right as they're coming in;" "That's secure ... we should get more hay in here;" "You have to spread it all so get started ok?" These statements were later used to prove that members of the cult did indeed start the fire, despite surviving members claiming otherwise. MORNING ROUTINE: College student 'shook' by Texas pledge, says Lone Star State 'is a cult' At 7:30 a.m., shots were fired at an armored vehicle. Roughly 15 minutes later, police asked permission to fire military-grade tear gas rounds at a concrete bunker within the compound. For the next few hours, authorities continued to intensify their efforts to pump gas into the building, until 11:17 a.m., when FBI agents again intercepted comments indicating that fires were being systemically lit around the compound: "Do you think I could light this soon?;" "I want a fire on the front ... you two can go;" "Keep that fire going . . . keep it." By around 1:00 p.m., the fire consumed the entire compound resulting in the deaths of 76 people, although 20 of the 76 who died were later revealed to have been shot in apparent mercy killings. BAD IDEA: Houston cult claims sodium chlorite drink can cure everything More FBI intercepts, later revealed that the Davidians "intended to prevent firefighters from approaching the complex" with gunfire, indicating "many of the Davidians did not want to leave the burning building." Click through above to see chilling photos of the Waco siege. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate AUSTIN -- The Texas Senate moved Wednesday to ban state officials from ever again imposing a cap on the percentage of students allowed to receive special education services. The chamber voted unanimously in favor of Senate Bill 160, putting the legislation just one step away from the desk of Gov. Greg Abbott, who already has indicated his support of the measure. That last step, a vote on the floor of the Texas House, is expected to take place soon. DENIED: How Texas keeps tens of thousands of kids out of special education The legislation was filed in response to "Denied," a 2016 Houston Chronicle investigation that exposed the state's decade-old cap and revealed that it had denied services like tutoring and therapy to tens of thousands of children with disabilities. As a result of the arbitrary 2004 policy, which the Texas Education Agency enacted while facing a $1.1 billion state budget cut and without notifying lawmakers, federal officials or the public, Texas now provides special education services to the lowest percentage of any state in the country -- by far. Now, with the Senate passage of Senate Bill 160, the state might be able to erase that ugly distinction, according to the proposal's sponsor, Senate Minority Leader Jose Rodriguez, D-El Paso. "Parents have a right to have their child evaluated for special education services, and to have a place at the table when schools design appropriate accommodations," Rodriguez said in a statement after the Senate vote. "Children deserve our best efforts to provide a quality education." RESIGNED: HISD administrator resigns after special education troubles uncovered In all, 16 bills were filed in response to the Chronicle investigation. Senate Bill 160 is the first to receive approval by a full chamber. The other proposals are at various stages in the process; several have not yet gotten a hearing. Disability Rights Texas, the advocacy group that was the first to discover the cap, a decade after it was implemented, said in a statement Tuesday that the Legislature's efforts would help many kids to reach their potential. "Countless children with disabilities in our state will have a fairer chance at completing their education, finding gainful employment, and living independently," the group said. The summers final Live on the Waterfront concert was held Wednesday evening at Prince Arthurs Landing. The popular series in Thunder Bay has completed nine weekly shows that began on July 13. Wednesdays concert was unique as it was held one hour later in the evening to mesh with the 10 p. 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. All-Conference WEC teams The All-Conference teams for the War Eagle Conference have been announced with multiple MMCRU and South OBrien volleyball players making... Crane signs off, for now I miss my ol' buddy, sportscaster Keith Crane on the sidelines. I miss his friendly smile, his dedication to his... Raptors end season in regional finals CHEROKEE - The Ridge View volleyball team faced Hinton in Cherokee last Wednesday for the Class 2A Region 2 championship... New Delhi, April 19: Veteran actress-turned-politician Hema Malini is honoured to be associated with a project like "Ek Thi Rani Aisi Bhi", saying it sends across a very strong message for women. The actress says the film puts across the message that women can achieve anything with determination. The film is based on the life and times of Vijaya Raje Scindia, popularly known as the Rajmata of Gwalior. "There are several messages (for women in the film), for instance what all you can do being a woman. The film also puts spotlight on what all she did for women," Hema Malini said at an event here. The actress talked about her film at a special screening held here on Tuesday night. It was hosted by Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scindia Smriti Nyas in association with Zee Classic. The film is based on the book "Rajpath se Lokpath par" written by Goa Governor Mridula Sinha. Talking about the film, Hema Malini said: "It is a very beautiful story of Rajmata. I am really honoured to be doing this film...You rarely get a chance to do such kind of a role." Presented by Zee Classic, "Ek Thi Rani Aisi Bhi" -- which also features Vinod Khanna -- will release on Friday. United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit. MIRIAM NINETH PERALTA DE ESQUIVEL, Petitioner v. ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondent No. 16-1386 Decided: April 18, 2017 Before: McKEE, Chief Judge,1HARDIMAN and RENDELL, Circuit Judges OPINION * Miriam Nineth Peralta De Esquivel petitions for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals order affirming the Immigration Judge's denial of her application for asylum under 8 U.S.C. 1158 and withholding of removal under 8 U.S.C. 1231(b)(3), as well as protection under the Convention Against Torture. Peralta has only appealed the IJ's denial of withholding of removal. For the following reasons, we will deny the petition for review. I. Peralta entered the United States in September 2007 and filed an application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture on in April 2012. Because her asylum application was not filed within one year of entry into the United States, and because she failed to show that she met any of the exceptions to the one-year deadline, the IJ deemed Peralta's application for asylum time-barred. Peralta claims that she came to the United States after her ex-brother-in-law, Gonzalo Lopez Cabrera, threatened her life. According to Peralta, Cabrera is a drug trafficker. She alleges that days after hearing an argument between her step-brother and Cabrera, during which Cabrera threatened her step-brother's life, her step-brother was murdered. At the funeral, Peralta confronted Cabrera, who threatened her, saying that she should not tell anyone about it or the same thing would happen to her. Later, when Peralta's sister divorced Cabrera, he told her he was going to kill her and her family. Peralta has had no contact with Cabrera since her step-brother's funeral. The IJ found that Peralta was credible and that she sufficiently corroborated these claims. However, the IJ concluded that Peralta failed to demonstrate that she had a well-founded fear of persecution based on a protected ground or that it was more likely than not that she would be persecuted if she returned to Guatemala. Accordingly, the IJ denied her application for withholding of removal and protection under the Convention Against Torture. The BIA found no clear error in the IJ's determinations and affirmed the IJ's decisions regarding asylum and withholding of removal. II. Our jurisdiction over a petition for review of a final removal order by the BIA arises under 8 U.S.C. 1252(a). We review the BIA's decision, and not the IJ's underlying order, unless the BIA merely affirmed based on the IJ's decision. The Court conducts its review using the deferential substantial-evidence standard. We will not reverse the BIA unless the evidence in the record compels' a different result. In order to be eligible for withholding of removal, Peralta must show that there is a clear probability that her life or freedom would be threatened if [she] is removed to Guatemala. A clear probability requires her to establish that it is more likely than not that she will be persecuted in her home country on account of her race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. The BIA held that because Peralta did not show that her alleged social group is socially distinct, she is not a member of a cognizable social group under the Immigration and Nationality Act. Furthermore, because she was unable to establish that it was more likely than not that she would be persecuted if she returned to Guatemala, she did not meet her burden of establishing eligibility for withholding of removal. The decision is supported by substantial evidence. Peralta originally alleged her social group to be Guatemalan women who are related to narcotics traffickers who physically abuse their wives and kill their wives' family members. However, a particular social group cannot be defined by the harm feared. Accordingly, the IJ considered only Guatemalan women who are related to narcotics traffickers. To obtain relief on this ground, Peralta needed to show that the identified group is (1) composed of members who share a common immutable characteristic, (2) defined with particularity, and (3) socially distinct within the society in question. The record provides substantial evidence that narcotics trafficking is ubiquitous in Guatemala, and therefore her claimed group does not have sufficient distinction within society. Thus, Peralta has not fulfilled her burden of showing that she is a member of a particular social group targeted for persecution. Moreover, we agree that she waived reliance on a new group, witnesses of crime, that she later claimed as the relevant social group for the first time on appeal to the BIA. Substantial evidence also supports the BIA's conclusion that there was no clear error in the IJ's finding that Peralta lacks an objective fear of persecution. An applicant can demonstrate that she has a well-founded fear of future persecution by showing that she has a genuine fear, and that a reasonable person in her circumstances would fear persecution if returned to her native country. Peralta's claim is based on her belief that Cabrera killed her step-brother in 2006, her allegation that Cabrera threatened to kill her if she told anyone about the murder, and her claim that he also threatened her family. However, there is no evidence that Cabrera threatened or tried to locate Peralta after she moved to Guatemala City, or that he has he tried to contact her family. We therefore agree that Peralta cannot establish that it is more likely than not that she will be persecuted by Cabrera if she returns to Guatemala. [T]hreats standing alone constitute persecution in only a small category of cases, and only when the threats are so menacing as to cause significant actual suffering or harm. The BIA's finding can be reversed only if the evidence presented [is] such that a reasonable factfinder would have to conclude that the requisite fear of persecution existed. Here, based on the amount of time that has passed since the threats, the lack of contact from Cabrera during that time, and the fact that Peralta's family has remained in Guatemala without harm, the record supports the BIA's order. III. For the foregoing reasons, we will deny Peralta's petition for review. FOOTNOTES . This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not constitute binding precedent. . Brief for Petitioner at 2. . Brief for Respondent at 5. . Brief for Respondent at 56. . Brief for Respondent at 6. . Brief for Respondent at 7. . Abdulai v. Ashcroft, 239 F.3d 542, 54849 (3d Cir. 2001). . See I.N.S. v. EliasZacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 48184 (1992). . Kang v. Att'y Gen., 611 F.3d 157, 164 (3d Cir. 2010) (quoting EliasZacarias, 502 U.S. at 481 n.1). . Mulanga v. Ashcroft, 349 F.3d 123, 132 (3d Cir. 2003) (quoting Lin v. I.N.S., 238 F.3d 239, 244 (3d Cir. 2001)); 8 U.S.C. 1231(b)(3) (2012). . I.N.S. v. CardozaFonseca, 480 U.S. 421, 430 (1987). . 8 U.S.C. 1231(b)(3)(A) (2012). . AR 5. . AR 172. . See Matter of W-G-R-, 26 I. & N. Dec. 208, 218 (B.I.A. 2014) (citing In re A-M-E & J-G-U-, 24 I. & N. Dec. 69, 74 (B.I.A. 2007)). . AR 55. . Matter of M-E-V-G-, 26 I. & N. Dec. 227, 237 (B.I.A. 2014). . AR 5. . Gao v. Ashcroft, 299 F.3d 266, 272 (3d Cir. 2002). . Li v. Att'y Gen., 400 F.3d 157, 164 (3d Cir. 2005) (quoting Lim v. I.N.S., 224 F.3d 929, 936 (9th Cir. 2000)). . EliasZacarias, 502 U.S. at 481. . See Lie v. Ashcroft, 396 F.3d 530, 537 (3d Cir. 2005) ([W]hen family members remain in petitioner's native country without meeting harm, and there is no individualized showing that petitioner would be singled out for persecution, the reasonableness of a petitioner's well-founded fear of future persecution is diminished.), superseded on other grounds by statute, REAL ID Act codified at 8 U.S.C. 1158(b)(1)(B)(i), as recognized in Macari v. Att'y Gen., 542 F. App'x 158, 160 & n.2 (3d Cir. 2013) (citing Long Hao Li v. Att'y Gen., 633 F.3d 136, 142 n.4 (3d Cir. 2011)). McKEE, Chief Judge. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a Florida mans latest appeal in a landmark case involving the seizure and destruction of his floating home. The justices denied without comment Fane Lozmans petition asking them to enforce their 2013 ruling by ordering the city of Riviera Beach to pay him about $365,000 for the homes value and legal fees. Lower courts also ruled against Lozman, and this was his last appeal. I am disappointed that the lower courts were allowed to ignore the clear ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in my case without any corrective action being imposed, Lozman said in an email. Equal justice under law, engraved above the entrance to the Supreme Court, unfortunately, did not happen this time around. The 2013 ruling set a new standard for floating homes and other structures. It meant strict federal maritime law could no longer be applied to disputes involving floating structures that have no traditional characteristics of a vessel, such as an engine, rudder or sails. The decision affected thousands of floating homes and business owners across the U.S., including floating gambling casinos docked on rivers. Justice Stephen Breyer, writing for the courts 7-2 majority, said the decision comes down to a simple proposition: Not every floating structure is a vessel. To state the obvious, a wooden washtub, a plastic dishpan, a swimming platform on pontoons, a large fishing net, a door taken off its hinges, or Pinocchio (when inside the whale) are not vessels, Breyer wrote. The dispute began after Lozman took up residence at a Riviera Beach marina in 2006. He became involved in a public battle with the city over its plans to turn the marina over to a developer, eventually leading to the seizure and destruction in 2010 of his floating home under maritime law. Riviera Beach argued that it shouldnt be forced to pay Lozman because it was acting in good faith under the applicable law at the time, before the Supreme Court decision. Now Lozman will focus on building a floating stilt home community on 25 acres (10 hectares) of mostly submerged land he purchased along the Intracoastal Waterway north of West Palm Beach and not far from President Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago resort. My noble fight to continue to fight political corruption in Palm Beach County will continue, Lozman said in the email. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Colorado is in store for an average to slightly below-average wildfire season this year, despite dry conditions and early outbreaks on the eastern plains, officials said Friday. But the fires will occur, said Michael Morgan, the director of state Division of Fire Prevention and Control. An average season in Colorado is about 45 wildfires burning a total of 160 square miles (415 square kilometers), Morgan said. The outlook is based on expected weather patterns and fuel the trees, grass, shrubs and other vegetation that can burn if a fire gets out of hand. Most of the plains have been in a drought or near-drought conditions since mid-October. Last month, a wildfire in northeastern Colorado blackened 50 square miles (129 square kilometers) and killed 200 cattle. But the mountains received heavy winter snowfall after a slow start. Most of the high country had average or above-average snowpack as of Friday. Gov. John Hickenlooper, who appeared with Morgan for a briefing at the state Capitol in Denver, said Colorado averages four times as many wildfires as it did 15 years ago. He blamed climate change, which he said has lengthened the fire season by about 80 days. Its no wonder that were having more fires, said Hickenlooper, a Democrat. Hickenlooper and Morgan said the state has set a goal of reducing the number of fires by 5 percent this year and 10 percent by 2019. Only about 7 percent of the states 2016 wildfires had natural causes, Morgan said. The rest were started by debris fires, campfires, prescribed burns, arson, mechanical failures or other causes, he said. The state has adopted an aggressive tactic of monitoring for wildfires when conditions are dangerous and attacking them quickly, from the air if necessary, when they are reported. Two years ago, the state rolled out two newly acquired aircraft equipped with infrared cameras, which officials said were so sensitive that one detected a campfire from 28,000 feet (8534 meters) in the air. Morgan said the aircraft detected 43 fires last year that were so remote no one else had reported them. Hickenlooper said Colorado is ready for fires and said he doubted any Western state other than California equaled the state in preparedness. Our preparedness is well beyond any of our contiguous neighbors, he said. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. A unanimous Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with Goodyear Rubber & Tire Co. in a dispute over a $2.7 million penalty the company was ordered to pay an Arizona family to reimburse their legal fees in a personal injury case. The justices sent the case back to a lower court to decide whether an Arizona family injured in a 2003 motor home accident is entitled to the entire amount. The family sued Goodyear after they were seriously injured when a tire failed on their motor home, causing it to flip off the road. After settling the case in 2010, the family discovered the company hadnt turned over key testing data. A federal judge said nearly all of the familys attorney fees could be blamed on the misconduct and he ordered the payment. A federal appeals court agreed. Justice Elena Kagan said such a penalty must be limited to the fees the family incurred solely because of the misconduct. She said Goodyears failure to disclose the data was not responsible for every legal expense incurred in the case. The Supreme Court ordered the lower court to apply the correct legal standard. Newly confirmed Justice Neil Gorsuch did not take part in the case, which was argued before he took his seat on the court. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. AKRON, Ohio - Detectives are searching for an Akron man who is charged in a fatal shooting in the city's North Hills neighborhood. Kenneth D. Lindsey Jr., 32, is charged with murder in the shooting that happened Wednesday morning on Pine Knolls Drive near Dan Street, police said. Lindsey is not in custody but a warrant has been issued for his arrest. Lindsey shot a 32-year-old man in the chest just before 7 a.m., police said. The victim died after paramedics took him to Summa Akron City Hospital. The Summit County Medical Examiner's Office has not released the victim's identity. Lindsey was last seen in a silver 2005 Chevy Impala with the Ohio license plate number GTJ5599. He should be considered armed and dangerous, police said. Anyone with information is asked to call the Akron Police Department's detective bureau at 330-375-2490, the U.S. Marshals Service at 1-866-4-WANTED, or the Summit County Crime Stoppers at 330-434-COPS. Tips can also be texted to 274637. To comment on this story, please visit cleveland.com'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. summer-flow.jpeg The Gorge Dam is believed to be the biggest impediment to a cleaner, healthier Cuyahoga River. Removing the giant obstruction would allow the river to clean itself and migratory fish to move freely once again. It would also open the river for recreation and generate tourism. (Summit Metro Parks) AKRON, Ohio - Summit Metro Park officials are hosting community events called "Free the Falls" to explain the benefits of bringing down the massive Gorge Dam. For years after Ohio Edison discontinued operations at the dam in 1991, officials searched for ways to once again use the structure for power generation. When no proposal proved viable, officials began to study demolishing the dam, which is situated between Cuyahoga Falls and Akron. The dam is believed to be the biggest impediment to a cleaner, healthier Cuyahoga River. Removing the giant obstruction would allow the river to clean itself and migratory fish to move freely once again. It would also open the river for recreation and generate tourism. A US EPA study conducted from 2009-2011 found the sediment behind the dam non-toxic, which meant sediment could be removed without requiring confined disposal. Now, the only barrier to removing the dam is securing the $70 million needed to demolish the 57-foot-high, 440-foot-wide mass of concrete and remove the sediment. Plans are in the works to lobby congressional and state representatives to sign letters of support for the project. Officials are hosting the following events: Free the Falls: Bringing down the Gorge Dam For 100 years, Gorge Metro Park has coexisted with a 420-foot-wide, 60-foot-tall dam. Now, that dam is being studied for removal. This presentation will examine the interwoven story of the Gorge Dam, the Cuyahoga River and the park itself, plus the benefits of dam removal. The tale is one of gravity and water, of scenic beauty and contamination, and of competing economies. The presentation will give an account of how the collective vision for the Gorge has evolved. Wednesday, April 19, 7 to 8 p.m. Cuyahoga Falls Library, 2015 3rd Street. The Cuyahoga River: A fiery past Many people recall the Cuyahoga River catching fire in 1969, but did you know the river burned many times throughout history? Walk along the Crooked River and learn its story of pollution and redemption. Saturday, April 22, 10 a.m. to noon, Gorge Metro Park, 1160 Front Street, Cuyahoga Falls. The history of Gorge Metro Park Join historians to learn about the exciting history of Gorge Metro Park. From roller coasters to dance halls, this park once had it all. You'll also learn about plans to remove the Gorge Dam and restore a free-flowing river. Thursday, April 27, 6 to 7 p.m., F.A. Seiberling Nature Realm Visitors Center, 1828 Smith Road, Akron. Gorge history hike Learn about past hidden treasures of the Gorge and discover some that are still here today. Thursday, May 18, 2 to 3:30 p.m., Gorge Metro Park, 1160 Front Street, Cuyahoga Falls Geology of the Gorge Join a naturalist to walk Glens Trail and learn how the gorge was formed, including the different types of rock layers found there. Saturday, May 20, 10 a.m. to noon, Gorge Metro Park, 1160 Front Street, Cuyahoga Falls A river day walk through time Enjoy an easy hike in the Upper Gorge. We will meet at the restored site of the 19th Century High Bridge Glens Park, which was once Northeast Ohio's most visited attraction, and see the results of dam removal elsewhere on the Cuyahoga River. Saturday, May 20, 2 to 3 p.m., High Bridge Glens Park, 1817 Front Street, Cuyahoga Falls. For more information on any of the events, or to schedule a presentation for a civic, school or church group call 330-865-8065 or visit Summit Metro Parks website. cleveland.com is a partner of the Greater Cleveland Food Bank. Every dollar buys four meals for the hungry. Click here to donate. Beachwood police vehicle.jpg Beachwood police dealt in recent days with several cases of theft. (file photo) Theft, Cedar Road: At 6:15 p.m. April 14, two Cleveland girls, ages 14 and 15, were arrested for stealing merchandise worth a total of $217 from Claire's at Dillard's, Aldo's Accessories and Victoria's Secret, all at Beachwood Place. Victoria's Secret was the lone store that pursued charges against the girls. Threat made, Shaker Boulevard: On the afternoon of April 21, a library vocational counselor reported that she was threatened by a client. The counselor did not wish to pursue charges, but wanted the threat documented. Theft, Chagrin Boulevard: At 4:40 p.m. April 12, police arrested a Cleveland woman, 31, for stealing merchandise worth $41 from Sally Beauty Supply, 24205 Chagrin Blvd. Theft, Cedar Road: At 7:25 p.m. April 12, a Cleveland girl, 16, was arrested for stealing $7.99 worth of merchandise from the H&M store at Beachwood Place mall, 26300 Cedar Road. Marijuana possession, Richmond Road: At 4 p.m. April 13, an officer stopped a driver for making an improper left turn. The driver, a South Euclid man, 40, was found to have marijuana in his car. The man was cited for the improper turn and marijuana possession and released. Theft, Cedar Road: At 11:35 a.m. April 13, two women and one man were arrested on felony theft charges after stealing from Beachwood Place stores. They were also charged with possession of criminal tools. One of the women was also charged, when apprehended in the mall lot, with felony receiving stolen property and driving under suspension. Arrested were women 40 and 37, and a man, 29. All reside in Cleveland. Warrant arrest, I-271: At 1:30 a.m. April 14, police arrested a Warrensville Heights woman, 31, on Interstate 271 southbound. The woman was stopped after it was found she was wanted on a warrant issued by police in Wickliffe. In addition, marijuana was found in her car. Theft, Cedar Road: At 2:50 p.m. April 15, a Euclid woman, 18, and her sister, 15, also of Euclid, were arrested for stealing six items from Dillard's at Beachwood Place. The merchandise stolen had a total value of $481. The older sister was also charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Theft, Chagrin Boulevard: At 1 p.m. April 15, two women were seen stealing merchandise from Sally Beauty Supply. The women made it out of the store with the goods and left in a car. Officers located the car and attempted to make a traffic stop, but the suspect vehicle did not stop. Police, who did not give chase, are investigating. If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our crime and courts comments page. BEREA, Ohio -- Lacrosse player Joe Cuddihy may be accustomed to face-offs on the field, but he entered an entirely different arena Monday night. He spoke to Berea City Council on behalf of himself and other student residents of a rental house in which they live on East Bridge Street near the Baldwin Wallace University campus. Cuddihy said several thousand dollars in city water charges have been assessed against them. "On Feb. 15, I was notified by our landlord about having received a water bill totaling $6,227.65," Cuddihy explained. "Around late October, we were told by an employee of the city of Berea water department to leave our water running. This was in a utility tub in an area of our basement that was seldom used. He did not specify a reason to have the water running, what volume to keep the water at or a timeframe." Cuddihy said Finance Director Dana Kavander told him it was against water department policy to recommend such an unusual action. "The facts remain that we were told to leave the water running," Cuddihy insisted, adding that a water department employee turned off the still-running faucet Feb. 2. "We have repeatedly stated we will take partial responsibility for this outrageous bill, but we have been told 'no.'" He said he feels the bill should be split equally with the city. Director of Public Service Paul Anzalone told council Monday night "the water has been used, there is no way our plant (employee) had said anything about letting the water run nor would we ever, or we would shut it off when we leave." The mayor later informed cleveland.com via text message that the landlord actually paid the bill last month, which means the issue now rests between the landlord and the student tenants. "I understand (Cuddihy's) concern ... but he is going to have to take it up with his property owner," Anzalone confirmed by phone Tuesday afternoon. cleveland.com is a partner of the Greater Cleveland Food Bank. Every dollar buys four meals for the hungry. Click here to donate. A Taoist man found "America" on the F train. The man, Jackie Summers, snapped a heartwarming photo of a Hasidic couple sitting next to a Muslim woman holding her baby onboard an F train on Easter Sunday and the image quickly went viral as social media users touted it as a symbol of New York City diversity. "A Taoist (me) gives up his seat so a Hasidic couple could sit together. They scoot over so a Muslim mother could sit and nurse her baby, on Easter Sunday," Summers captioned the photo, which had been shared over 31,000 times as of early Tuesday. "This is my America: people letting people be people," Summers added. A number of Facebook users praised Summers' sentiment and took slight jabs at President Trump, who has been accused of peddling racism and xenophobia since launching his historically divisive campaign. "THIS, is what makes America great and these days I've been struggling to find ways to feel good about America," Lisa Smith Zwart commented on the photo. "Thank you for restoring a little of my faith in humanity today, Jackie." The photo had Jessy Wilson, a Brooklyn native living in Tennessee, missing her hometown. "If only the whole country embraced this sort of diversity and inclusion," she tweeted. A Japanese government-backed fund and policy bank are considering a joint bid with Broadcom for Toshiba 's semiconductor business, a move that would vault the U.S. chipmaker into the lead to buy the prized unit, the Asahi newspaper said on Wednesday. A bid by Innovation Network Corp of Japan and the Development Bank of Japan with Broadcom would appear to be aimed at preventing Toshiba's chip technology from going to rivals in China or South Korea, the Asahi said, citing an unidentified source. INCJ Chairman Toshiyuki Shiga said on Tuesday the fund was looking at the chip auction although it had not participated in the first round of bidding. People familiar with the matter have told Reuters INCJ might invest in the business as a minority partner - a move that would help the government prevent a sale to bidders it deems risky to national security. INCJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside business hours. China's LeEco has lost the chief of its Uber-style ride-hailing operation Yidao after a stormy showdown between the heads of the two companies, in the latest blow to the cash-strapped media and technology group. LeEco, founded by Chinese billionaire Jia Yueting in 2004, made a splash on China's tech scene but has stumbled since, running up almost Rmb19bn ($2.7bn) in debts that have forced it to cancel several deals, including the planned purchase of television maker Vizio. The exit of Zhou Hang as Yidao chief was confirmed by the company on Tuesday after a fiery war of words between him and LeEco. The exit followed allegations from Mr Zhou late on Monday that LeEco had "misappropriated" Rmb1.3bn of Yidao's funds to cover LeEco's debts, leaving Yidao unable to repay its own borrowings. "As Yidao's founder and representing its original founding group and all of its clients, I strongly call on Yidao's effective controller LeEco's Mr Jia Yueting to prioritise his social responsibility and properly handle Yidao's problems," wrote Mr Zhou in a statement published on his social media accounts. Mr Jia, LeEco's outspoken chief executive, said in an open letter in November that his company had expanded too quickly, burning through cash at an unsustainable pace. A road is blocked by police tape after a multiple victim shooting incident in downtown Fresno, California, U.S. April 18, 2017. Three people were shot to death in less than a minute at separate locations Tuesday in Fresno, California, authorities said. A fugitive wanted in a previous homicide was arrested at the scene. The man, identified as Kori Ali Muhammad, 39, who investigators said used the alias "Black Jesus," was arrested and was being held awaiting at least four counts of murder, Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer told reporters. More from NBC News: Cleveland Facebook Killer: Steve Stephens Shoots Self Dead After Pursuit by Pa. Police, McDonald's Mark Zuckerberg Speaks for First Time on Cleveland Murder New Bill O'Reilly Accuser as Protesters Hit Fox News HQ In addition to the three people who were killed Tuesday, Muhammad had been wanted in connection with the shooting death of a security guard at a Motel 6 last Thursday, Dyer said. At least 16 rounds were fired in less than a minute at four locations, including a Catholic Charities facility, where the gunman killed a man in the parking lot, Dyer said. None of the victims worked at the charity, he said. From Immigration To Gentrification, New Pilsen Documentary Spotlights Neighborhood's Deep Activist Resolve By Stephen Gossett in Arts & Entertainment on Apr 19, 2017 2:35PM WTTW / 'My Neighborhood: Pilsen' Everything converges in Pilsen. In an ambitious new documentary project produced by WTTW about the neighborhood, the historically Latino enclave is a petri dish for a whole constellation of issues: immigration, affordable housing, changing community dynamics, land use, access to health care, DIY arts culture, you name it. But the hour-long filmwhich is called My Neighborhood: Pilsen and has a premiere screening on Thursday ahead of its public-television debut next weekplays like a celebration of the communitys grassroots activism and wellspring of human spirit more than catalog of roundtable-ready topics. The doc captures the neighborhoodand by extension, a broader political contextin its extended moment of transition, telling the story through the lens of primarily five Pilsen residents. Collectively, they chart multiple generations of Latino advocacy. Theres Alma Silva, a tireless community organizer at St. Pius V parish, who guides local mothers even as shes saddled with anxiety for her DACA-recipient children. Theres Raul Hernandez, co-founder of the iconic Resurrection Project, which helps develop affordable housing units for low-income people. Theres a young graduate of the Instituto Justice and Leadership Academy who actually never uses the g word but is hyper-aware of the gentrification signifiers that surround him. (Theyre vintage shops, not thrift shops anymore, he deadpans knowingly.) We wanted to spotlight the work of homegrown institutions and networks of empowerment, says Producer and Co-Writer Dan Andries. The documentary gives us a peek into the relentless mobilization of community pillars like Mujeres Latinas En Accion, the oldest Latina-serving not-for-profit social service group in the country, and Alivio Medical Centera place where, as Andries tells Chicagoist, you can walk in, speak Spanish, not have papers, not have insurance and get help. The documentary, which was filmed between August and mid-November last year, shows a particularly soft-touch deftness with how it approaches redevelopment in the neighborhood and the anti-immigration fears that soon become sadly realized by the election results. A tour inside the property of what once housed the beloved Yollocalli Arts Reach and is now a Giordanos pizzeria bears all the bemused gallows humor it should; and the incredible, very real scene of a mother explaining the bitter realities of then-candidate Trumps immigration policies is as potent as Andries warns me it is. WTTW / 'My Neighborhood: Pilsen' But the film goes beyond the traditional screen approach as well, encompassing a three-tiered initiative that will include a host of supplemental digital content, soon to be available here and community outreach. The goal of the larger framework is to initiate useful conversations across the city about community empowerment. We want to help generate engagement with solving the challenges that are inside different places in the city, Andries said. That self-empowered streak comes through in the films form, too. Theres no host, no narrator. All the voices in the documentary are the voices in the community, Andries points out, underlining the filmmakers attempt to not unduly impose their own narrative. Producers included alternating English and Spanish subtitles, also, so speakers of either language can follow regardless of which is being used at a given moment onscreen. Not that such a thing could hold any of the films subjects back anyway. As one Alivio coordinator puts it in the film, Were not at the mercy of anyone. People know that were all in this struggle together." Andries said he hopes to be able to produce similar neighborhood focuses for communities like Englewood, Chatham or Back of the Yards in the future with his team, which here includes veteran Chicago journalist Jackie Serrato as Assistant Producer and WTTW colleague Liz Reeves as Co-Writer and Associate Producer. Well see how this one goes. You can see for yourself when My Neighborhood: Pilsen debuts on Thursday, at Benito Juarez Community Academy (1450 W. Cermak Rd.) at 5:30 p.m. A panel discussion will follow. (RSVP here.) The film airs in Chicago on WTTW11 on Thursday, April 27 at 7 p.m. It will also be available to stream on the networks digital platforms. The documentary airs on Univision (WGBO 66) on Sunday, April 30 at 10:00 am. H. Armstrong Roberts | Getty Images The Sexist When you're interviewing for a job role, it's best that you don't completely offend the person interviewing you. It's also very important that you don't ask dumb questions. Take a lesson from Redditor russian2121, who explains how a perfectly good interview went downhill quickly. This guy went through five 30- to 60-minute interviews [for a DevOps role]. I thought he was great and was ready to hire him. Just as a formality, I asked MY boss to interview him. After 15 minutes, she walked out and told us to send him home. This is what he asked her: "I'm not sexist, but I know a lot of other people think women aren't great engineers. So my question is how is it that you go into such a high-level position? Was it luck?" Michael Cogliantry The Holy Reference Religion aside, if you're going to put someone down as a reference, it should always be a person who can be reached via telephone or email. Take it from Reddit user puzzlinggamer , who shares a story from his boss about a candidate putting Jesus Christ as a reference on a job application. My old boss told me that one of the applicants put Jesus Christ has a reference. He asked him, "How would we contact your reference?," since the applicant didn't put any contact info for Jesus, and my boss was curious as to how he would answer. Apparently the applicant told him, "Like this," and then he started praying. I forgot to ask him if he got the job or not since I couldn't stop laughing. H. Armstrong Roberts | Getty Images The Money-Hungry Applicant If you're embarking on a string of interviews, you can't expect that the company you're interviewing with will compensate you for your time and energy getting to the interview. You certainly shouldn't invoice them. Reddit user rulerofgummybears shares their first-hand experience. [I] had a guy who interviewed for a position. Seemed to do OK in the actual interview, but when he was not selected for the position, he sent us an invoice of a few thousand dollars. He charged us his "normal hourly rate" for his time and billed us for 50 hours. The interview was 30 minutes over the phone with a recruiter, and one hour-long onsite interview. He drove to the office which only took him about 30 minutes to drive. He did itemize the bill for us, and the bulk of those hours were for "preparation." We did not pay him. He tried to insist we pay him. We showed our lawyers, who just laughed, so we still did not pay him. The best part was he was interviewing for an HR position. H. Armstrong Roberts | Getty Images Amazon and Oracle don't much like each other. On Wednesday, two months after Oracle co-CEO Mark Hurd called Amazon's cloud infrastructure "old" and claimed his company was gaining share, Amazon Web Services chief Andy Jassy slammed Oracle for locking customers into painfully long and expensive contracts. "People are very sensitive about being locked in given the experience they've had the last 10 to 15 years," Jassy said on Wednesday on stage at Amazon's AWS Summit in San Francisco. "When you look at cloud , it's nothing like being locked into Oracle." Jassy was addressing a cultural shift in the way technology is bought and sold. No longer does the process involve the purchase of heavy proprietary software with multi-year contracts that include annual maintenance fees. Now, Jassy says, it's about choice and ease of use, including letting clients turn things off if they're not working. He specifically went after Oracle's core database business, saying that "over the last few decades, it has been a lonely place for customers" because of the high prices and vendor lock-in. "Customers are sick of it," he said. The companies, founded by two of the world's wealthiest and most outspoken businessmen, have become unlikely rivals since Amazon jumped into the computing services market and Oracle later started migrating to the cloud. AWS has emerged as the dominant supplier of cloud technology, with a bigger share of the market than about the next dozen players combined, according to Synergy Research Group. It's become a particularly sensitive battle to Oracle because when businesses turn to databases in Amazon's cloud, they to tend to favor products that are much cheaper and more flexible than Oracle's. Amazon's homegrown Aurora database "is the fastest-growing service in the history of AWS," Jassy said. Vice President Mike Pence started of his 10-day Asia tour with events in Seoul and Tokyo this week. For the trip, Pence's main objective was "to reassure our allies, given the comments made by (President Donald) Trump during the campaign," according to Bruce Klinger, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation and a former deputy division chief for the CIA. Pressing issues such as trade and North Korea were discussed during talks with Korea's acting president, Hwang Kyo-ahn, in Seoul and with both Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso. The North Korea 'problem' "North Korea is going to overshadow his first two stops; he will be wanting to explain to both our allies the perimeters of the recently completed trump policy on North Korea. And also seek their views on how best to address the North Korea threat," Klinger told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Wednesday. President Donald Trump has suggested he neglected to label China a currency manipulator because Beijing is assisting in "the North Korean problem," but Sean King, senior vice president of Park Strategies suggested otherwise: "I want to know what help China is giving us on North Korea because as far as I see it, they're not doing anything." King told CNBC on Tuesday that, instead, Japan will certainly support the U.S. against North Korea. "[Japan] is probably telling Pence, hey listen, we're behind you security alliance and all that. You protect the Senkakus, we're with you on North Korea. But if Trump has entered this so-called era of strategic impatience, just make sure if you do anything on the North, we don't end up as collateral damage." However, despite worries of North Korea's nuclear missile capabilities, Klinger said he believed the North Korea issue could be less serious than it seemed. "In my discussions with Trump administration officials, I get much less of a concern that we're about to do some kind of a military strike, then the view one gets from the public statements," he said. "Mr. Trump, the vice president and others have all made a series of really ominous statements that would seem to indicate we're on the cusp of some kind of military action. But I think behind the scenes, it's far more calm." Trade Baidu has opened up its driverless car technology for auto makers to use as it aims to be the default platform for autonomous driving in a bid to challenge the likes of Google and Tesla . The Chinese internet giant said on Wednesday that the new project named Apollo, will provide the tools carmakers would need to make autonomous vehicles. There would be reference designs and a complete software solution that includes cloud data services. Essentially, Baidu is trying to become to cars what Google's Android has become to smartphones an operating system that will power a number of driverless vehicles. A new class-action lawsuit claims high-end headphone company Bose has been tracking and distributing customers' data without telling them. According to the complaint, filed late Tuesday in the U.S. District Court in Chicago, the headphone company's Bose Connect app does more than just pair wireless headphones with the music in their devices it also connects the user's entire listening history with third-party data mining companies. More from NBC News: Jenna Bush Hager relates Mila's meltdown in front of Secret Service U.S. missile strike damage in Syria captured by Russian drone Buffett foundation to unveil plan to help girls of color A person's music and podcast listening history can likely reveal personal and identifying details, the lawsuit says. For example, if a user listens to a Muslim prayer service, it is likely the individual is Muslim, the suit notes. Other potentially revealing information such as sexual orientation or health concerns could also be gleaned from the data, the suit says. Attorney Chris Dore, whose firm Edelson PC is representing main plaintiff Kyle Zak, who paid $350 for his headphones, in the class-action suit, told NBC News that Bose never informed customers about the data mining. "One of the issues raised by this lawsuit is that it's not clear what's happening," said Dore. "The danger with undisclosed and unexplained data collection is, the world is open to these companies to do what they want." Dore said Bose Connect does have a privacy policy, but users aren't required to view or agree: "The user does not interact with it in any way when signing up for the app. It also doesn't disclose this data collection." The lawsuit alleges Bose broke a handful of federal and state laws including the Federal Wiretap Act, the Illinois Eavesdropping Statute, and consumer fraud and invasion of privacy laws. Zak and Edelson are demanding that Bose destroy all of the user data it has collected so far, and the lawsuit says that damages likely exceed $5 million. Bose did not immediately return requests for comment. The company's website offers several regulatory and compliance documents, but does not appear to refer to the Bose Connect app. There have been a numerous data-mining lawsuits of late as more and more companies have access to intimate user data through websites, apps, and Bluetooth-enabled devices sometimes referred to as the Internet of Things. In January, the Mississippi Attorney General sued Google over "unclear" policies regarding collecting the personal information and search histories of students. Even sex toy companies have been hit with lawsuits over user privacy: Edelson also sued adult product manufacturer Standard Innovation in 2016 over allegations that the company's We-Vibe app collected especially sensitive user data. Dore said data mining lawsuits are "something you're going to see a lot more of." "Some devices are more obvious than others about data collection, but your headphone is not an obvious concern," said Dore. "You're sitting in your house listening to a podcast about politics or religion, and you don't think that information is going to leave your headphones and go to a third party." According to the lawsuit, the Bose Connect app shares user listening information with Segment, a data collection and analysis firm. Segment's website features the phrase "Collect all of your customer data and send it anywhere" prominently on its main page. Segment's legal team did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Dore told NBC News that corporate mining of user data can be exploited; once a user clicks "agree" on a lengthy, complex form with fine print that says the company can share or sell user data, it's hard to tell how many times, and with whom, that data will be shared. "Data collection is a relative black hole at this point," Dore said. "Once you lose control of it, it can go to ten more companies and you won't know." Watch: How buyer's remorse created an audio empire The innovative Chinese digital advertising market is the second largest in the world after the U.S. China has a notorious reputation as a hub for counterfeits, but that's far from the case in its digital media scene, where a unique ecosystem has nurtured innovation. Tencent's Wechat, for example, is a significant evolution from a pure phone chat app, and it has become an all-in-one product that combines a Facebook-like social platform with mobile payment and other functions. Aldo Fumagalli, chairman of the Candy Hoover Group, pointed to Wechat as representative of a of "digital craftsmanship" in which China is excelling. Fumagalli was speaking at March's Boao Forum for Asia, where a key focus was technology, its evolution and its regulation in China. Asia's largest economy boasts the world's highest mobile transaction volumes. According to data from iResearch Global, over 10 trillion Chinese yuan ($1.45 trillion) changed hands over mobile payment platforms in 2015. This amount would more than double to 22 trillion yuan ($3.2 trillion) for 2017, the house projected. "Mobile payment has permeated all aspects of life and changed basic, everyday habits," Ogilvy & Mather and Ipsos said in a report on the Chinese mobile payment market last year, noting that even traditional cash gift-giving has gone digital. The Facebook CEO took the stage at the company's annual F8 developers conference a little more than an hour after news broke that the so-called Facebook Killer had killed himself. But if you were expecting a somber mood, it wasn't happening. Instead, he kicked off his keynote with a series of jokes. The proliferation of fake news and filter bubbles across the platforms meant to connect us have instead divided us into tribes, skilled in the arts of abuse and harassment. Tools meant for showing the world as it happens have been harnessed to broadcast murders, rapes, suicides, and even torture. Even physics have betrayed us! For the first time in a generation, there is talk that the United States could descend into a nuclear war. And in Silicon Valley, the zeitgeist is one of melancholy, frustration, and even regret except for Mark Zuckerberg, who appears to be in an absolutely great mood. It is spring in California and the rains have finally returned after years of absence. The grass is green, the hillsides are coated in yellow and orange and blue flowers, and the reservoirs are full again, hallelujah. Yet while the spring rains may have washed away the drought, they have done nothing to alleviate the sense of existential dread especially pervasive here in the techno-utopia of California that the world we built has perhaps gone badly awry. It was a stark disconnect with the reality outside, where the story of the hour concerned a man who had used Facebook to publicize a murder, and threaten many more. People used to talk about Steve Jobs and Apple's reality distortion field. But Facebook, it sometimes feels, exists in a reality hole. The company doesn't distort reality but it often seems to lack the ability to recognize it. The problem with connecting everyone on the planet is that a lot of people are assholes. The issue with giving just anyone the ability to live broadcast to a billion people is that someone will use it to shoot up a school. You have to plan for these things. You have to build for the reality we live in, not the one we hope to create. While Zuckerberg has charted a statesmanlike evolution over the years, he and the company he helms too often have a blind spot for the way the world will react to products it unleashes on them. Certainly, that seemed the case at F8 today where a slightly rain-soaked audience groaned through Zuckerberg's dad jokes and listened in anticipation as he teased what was to come. Then, abruptly, he shifted gears. "Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Robert Godwin Sr.," Zuckerberg said, referring to the 74-year-old victim. "We have a lot of work and we will keep doing all we can to prevent tragedies like this from happening." Then, as quickly as he hit the somber tone, Zuckerberg returned to platform optimism. More from BuzzFeed: Facebook's new camera could make it even harder to tell what's real We tried out Facebook's new social VR app at F8 Mark Zuckerberg just addressed the murder on Facebook Today's news was largely about the company's push into AR augmented reality. Think: digital layers we can place atop the real world. Facebook says there will be three main ways this will play out: the ability to display information on top of the world in front of you, the ability to add digital objects, and the ability to enhance or alter existing objects. Executive after executive took the F8 stage to show off how these effects will manifest themselves in the real world. Deborah Liu, who runs Facebook's monetization efforts, encouraged the audience to "imagine all the possibilities" as she ran through demos of a cafe where people could leave Yelp-style ratings tacked up in the air and discoverable with a phone, or a birthday message she generated on top of an image of her daughter, while noting that with digital effects, "I can make her birthday even more meaningful." And yet the dark human history of forever makes it certain that people will also use these same tools to attack and abuse and harass and lie. They will leave bogus reviews of restaurants to which they've never been, attacking pizzerias for pedophilia. If anyone can create a mask, some people will inevitably create ones that are hateful. "With augmented reality," Zuckerberg said, "you're going to be able to create and discover all sorts of new art around your city." Yes, someone can create a virtual painting, meant to beautify the city, or leave a virtual note to a loved one that reaches them at just the right moment, in just the right place. But someone else will probably leave a swastika. Because if there is anything to be learned about the modern internet, it is that if you build it, the Nazis will come. But Facebook made no nods to this during its keynote and realistically maybe it's naive to expect the company to do so. But it would be reassuring to know that Facebook is at least thinking about the world as it is, that it is planning for humans to be humans in all their brutish ways. A simple "we're already considering ways people can and will abuse these tools and you can trust us to stay on top of that" would go a long way. Instead Facebook went into the reality hole. It touted Facebook Spaces, a new social virtual reality thing that helps you escape the world while experiencing it, too. As Rachel Rubin Franklin, who used to be executive producer of Electronic Arts' "The Sims" game and now runs Facebook's social VR efforts, said of Spaces: "When your friends and family join your space, it's just like really being together." But it is not. Your avatar is not human, no matter how real it looks. The digital world is not flesh or blood, but it can have a tremendous effect on things that are. When Facebook announced live video almost exactly one year ago, Zuckerberg touted its ability to tap into the raw and visceral moments of life. But it didn't take long for those moments to become too raw, and too visceral. When Zuckerberg released a 6,000 word open letter in February, and sought to overtly inject values into the company's mission, he said he had been moved by a suicide broadcast on Facebook Live. But of course, the suicides keep happening. Facebook can't stop this, of course, any more than it can stop murder or mayhem or death. But the company can acknowledge that these things will happen, and it can do a far better job of planning for them. It can make it harder to use its platforms to harass others, or to spread disinformation, or to glorify acts of violence and destruction. As it rolls out this slew of new tools to augment reality, here's hoping that Facebook will also climb out of its reality hole and face the world we actually live in. In November 2012, my company launched a new subscription product unlike anything we'd created before. Each month, over a million millennials read our material on living a rich life, including finding a dream job, starting a business, or automating their finances. The only problem is, if you live in Tulsa, Oklahoma, or Durban, South Africa, you might be the only person you know who's interested in self development. Every morning, you're reading blog post after blog post on mindset, psychology, or relationships and you're the only one. That can be incredibly lonely. Imagine finally discovering a community of others who just "get it" people who don't think it's weird to want to improve yourself. For thousands of our readers, it felt like a big sigh of relief. It felt like coming home. When we launched this program which included a community where people could meet each other and push each other to be more ambitious we had no idea what would happen. To our surprise, from day 1, Ramit's Brain Trust was an instant success. People loved it. Within 30 days totally unplanned by us students had hosted meetups around the world, including Tokyo, London, Sydney, and NYC. Over the years, with thousands of readers happily paying $49/month, this program generated millions of dollars. So why did I close it down on December 30th, 2016? The invisible problems of a million-dollar product "What the hell is going on?" It was the winter of 2015, and my analytics manager just showed me the data on our RBT customers. It wasn't pretty. From the surface, Brain Trust was doing well: The community was highly engaged, with dozens (or even hundreds) of high-quality comments per day. We'd spent a lot of time creating community norms to encourage great back-and-forth conversations. Each month, we also released an interview with someone I admired the people from my "Brain Trust," including a retired Navy SEAL commander, the world's best piano saleswoman, a Jeopardy champion, a charisma expert, and many CEOs and authors. People consistently rated these highly. Plus, students were holding hundreds and hundreds of meetups around the world. Many people were meeting new friends sometimes best friends, which was a huge thrill for me through the program. Yet when we popped open the hood, here's what we saw: Ramit Sethi For the first time ever, our churn the number of customers leaving the product was greater than our growth. This was a huge problem. Imagine your job is to fill up a large bucket with water. You spend thousands of dollars choosing a clean well, testing the water quality, and painstakingly ladling each cup of water only to discover you've got a massive hole in your bucket! We sat down and did the math. As Andrew Chen points out: "successful public SaaS companies try to keep their monthly churn under 2%." Our churn rate or the amount of people who cancel every month was approximately 5 times higher! In other words, at our current churn rate, we'd lose nearly 100% of our students every year. By the way, this is more common than most people think. However, most businesses either don't talk about it, or they can't. Calculating churn requires sophisticated cohort analysis, and many companies don't have the resources. I put a dedicated team on it. They looked at the data, made their recommendations, and over the next year, we improved a BUNCH of stuff. What happens when we invest $100,000 to fix our churn We doubled down on the production value of the interviews. We improved the onboarding experience. From their very first day, we made sure each new member felt personally welcomed into the community. I even personally dropped in to as many meetups as I could. Feeling hopeful, I revisited the numbers a few months later. I opened the analysis, holding my breath Oh. These changes made zero impact on our churn. This was really frustrating. We were listening to customer feedback, iterating, using "best practices," and closely tracking our churn. Yet the number wouldn't budge. None of it made sense to me. No matter how we sliced the data, we couldn't figure it out until I got an email from one of our oldest RBT students. She'd been with the program since the beginning, she just canceled, and gave me some honest feedback: "I just canceled my RBT subscription and wanted to add a thought for your team I suspect I'm not the only advanced member of RBT to eventually leave because RBT felt small. I say this because I've seen many other people who joined RBT in the beginning (and are now doing big things) have since left." Wow. This was devastating to hear. Imagine you'd created a program that was a surprising success. You doubled down, grew itbut then you started to notice cracks in armor. Suddenly, nothing you tried worked. Your best customers eventually left because they outgrew the program. The new customers came in for a while, stuck around a bit, and eventually left, too. Meanwhile, your customers gave you increasingly aggressive feedback because they truly loved the program but you couldn't make it work. In one email, I learned what thousands of data points couldn't tell me: The oldest, most advanced members of RBT had outgrown the program. It wasn't valuable to them anymore, so they left. It was the 2017 version of Eternal September. Our very best customers didn't care if the interviews looked prettier or if onboarding was any better. (In fact, we found that the biggest value of our program was not the interviews which cost us tens of thousands of dollars but the community!) They needed another level of community and guidance in fact, they'd been telling us for months! but we didn't react in time. I can understand how frustrating this could be. For example, if you're new to a city, everything is exciting. Where should I go out tonight? What about that new bar? Have you tried the new dim sum restaurant? But after a while, you just want to hang out with your friends. And the difference between the older customers and newer customers continued to grow. We tried a variety of things to keep challenging them, but I also deeply understand that as the business grew, it became tougher and tougher to serve all the different people in the program. We had a mixed bag of beginners and advanced students, all of whom wanted something different for $49/month. Meanwhile, as we worked on the rest of the business, we quickly realized we were MASSIVELY growing in every area except for RBT. Imagine: one area of your business generates $100 in revenue, while over here, you're making $10,000 in another area. Where would you invest your time and money? In fact, what if that $100 program was also costing you $98 to run? Here's one snapshot of an analysis we ran: RBT interviews were totally different. We found fascinating people people who weren't on the typical podcast circuit and did extremely deep research on them. We flew them to NYC, put them up in great hotels, and shot the interviews in our studio. The result was interviews that were totally different than something you can find for free on a random podcast or YouTube show. As one of our students said: "So many people have podcasts. They give every guest the same questions, spend maybe 15 mins prepping, then 45 mins recording. I think people will be shocked to know the actual time it takes to make something truly excellent and that you aim for that rather than doing something quick and easy." In other words, the company spent 150 hours each month on a program that was generating a fraction of our revenues and many months, we only broke even! The millions of dollars in revenue were impressive. But it took serious digging to understand the mechanics underneath the numbers. This is exactly why you see restaurants in your neighborhood packed with a line out the doorand suddenly, one day, they just close. Once I had this analysis in front of me, it was obvious it wasn't just our students who outgrew Ramit's Brain Trust. We, as a company, had outgrown it, too. In hindsight, it's easy to say, "Duh Ramit, OF COURSE you should shut it down! Focus on your strengths!" Intellectually, that makes sense. But data won't tell you the whole story. Psychologically, it's not that easy to shut down a program you've loved for years and years. More importantly, our students loved that program. It connected thousands of people and gave them a community where they could be their weird selves. People made best friends. They met their boyfriend and girlfriend. For our readers, they felt like they'd truly found their peers. But it's the CEO's job to make the hard decisions. So in December 2016, I hit delete, and our multimillion dollar product disappeared. watch now As semiconductor stocks rally off supplier Lam Research's strong earnings report, Jim Cramer took to the charts of three cellphone chipmakers for a closer look at the sector's big winners. The "Mad Money" host turned to Strategic Portfolio Solutions' Suz Smith for her take on the daily charts of Microchip Technology , Micron , and Advanced Micro Devices , three high-performing semiconductor plays. All three charts showed the stocks gearing up for a rally that Smith said could push each name up nearly $10 from its current trading price. The chart of Advanced Micro Devices, the best performing semiconductor stock of 2016 that has flattened lately, showed the stock settling above its March lows. Like in the others, indicators showed the stock turning up out of oversold territory as well. "This year, though, because Apple and Samsung both have new, hot smartphones, the cellphone oriented chipmakers have gotten their mojo back, and that means AMD's stock has more competition," Cramer said, adding that AMD's upcoming earnings report could make or break its newfound gains. An employee checks a silicon wafer on the production line of Micron's plant in Asia. Seokyong Lee | Bloomberg | Getty Images On the topic of tech, Cramer spoke with the Ori Hadomi, CEO of Israeli company Mazor Robotics, which has been developing groundbreaking technology that helps doctors perform spine surgeries. Hadomi told the "Mad Money" host on Wednesday that using Mazor's technology during surgeries has proven reduce complications and lead to fewer revision surgeries, benefits that hospitals around the United States have eagerly embraced. "Hospitals really promote and market the procedure, and that's, in many ways, a result of the fact that we have sufficient data and sufficient clinical data to show them the effectiveness of this technology," the CEO said. The company is expanding rapidly, a leader in the space that sells its robots for over $1 million an piece and recently partnered with Medtronic, a giant spine-focused medical device maker. "The ability to have access, to walk together, with such a giant player in the spine [space], having access to all the biggest academic centers, hospitals around the world, both in the U.S. and out of the U.S., is something that is part of our growth strategy," Hadomi said of the partnership. Cramer also looked into turmoil in the pharmaceutical sector stemming from the FDA's rejection of a key rheumatoid arthritis drug developed by Incyte in partnership with Eli Lilly . Both of the drugmakers' stocks got hit hard by the surprise denial, with Incyte dropping from $140 down to $126 and Eli Lilly sliding from $85 to $82, trading as low as $80 on Wednesday. Cramer's take, however, was more optimistic than the majority of the Street because both companies' pipelines are strong, and they are centered in the hottest areas of biotechnology, Incyte in cancer immunotherapy, and Eli Lilly in diabetes. "Yes, both Incyte and its partner Eli Lilly did deserve to go down on the news. But at these levels, I think these stocks are worth buying," Cramer said. "Incyte for speculation, Lilly as a longer-term investment. Just be careful, you might get a chance to buy some Incyte even lower because once the company prices the big secondary offering that so many people are expecting, it has yet to occur." Pedestrians walk past the IBM building in New York. Scott Mlyn | CNBC Wall Street turned negative on IBM after the tech giant's earnings showed yet another year-over-year revenue decline, so Cramer examined the company's botched turnaround and compared it to three successful transitions that were marred by IBM's slide. Cramer said the company could take some hints from three others whose strong comebacks were lost amid the IBM-related chaos: Coca-Cola , McDonald's , and Wal-Mart . Not only do all three companies have juicy yields that give investors and incentive to wait for results, but all three of their CEOs focused on cutting costs and re-energizing the consumer giants, positioning them for growth in the coming years, Cramer said. "Unlike Coke, unlike McDonald's, unlike Wal-Mart, the fact that IBM's turn hasn't happened yet since [CEO Ginny] Rometty took over in 2012, makes me feel that if they don't get it right this year, then maybe the shareholder base, perhaps even largest shareholder Warren Buffett, will demand to bring in a new leader who can finally get the job done," Cramer concluded. Marine Le Pen, French National Front (FN) political party leader and candidate for the French 2017 presidential election, attends a campaign rally in Marseille, France, April 19, 2017. Robert Pratta | Reuters Donald Trump last week made the ominous proclamation that U.S. - Russia relations "may be at an all-time low." Given their recent antics, you'd think this would be cause for Democrats to celebrate. For months, dating back to the doomed Hillary Clinton campaign, the party's most enduring allegation against Trump was that he had been "compromised" by the Russian state, and therefore ought to be seen as a "puppet," "stooge," or "pawn" of the dastardly Putin. This meme dominated the presidential contest, and the resulting furor has engrossed much of the Democratic rank-and-file ever since, such that exercised liberal activists now routinely show up to town hall meetings accusing Trump of "treason" and screaming for retaliatory action against his purported foreign suitors. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) appeared to reflect a wider sentiment in the party when she suggested last month that elucidating Trump's sinister Russian 'ties' ought to be the "only" issue Democrats pursue: all else flows from it. Now, liberals who've spent the past nine months outraged at Trump's inchoate attempts to forge detente with Russia - or at minimum, not arbitrarily antagonize Putin - seem to have gotten their wish: Trump has suddenly reversed course and attacked Russia's client state, the Assad government, thereby aligning himself far more with the Clinton position vis-a-vis Syria than the one he espoused during the campaign. Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian prime minister generally regarded as among the most pro-Western of the Kremlin's ruling elite, went so far as to declare the two nations' relationship "ruined." Then last Thursday, the anti-Russia rhetoric emanating out of administration quarters ratcheted up further as CIA Director Mike Pompeo went on an extended tirade, vehemently denouncing WikiLeaks as a "hostile intelligence service" that had been "abetted" by Russia. He went on to declare Julian Assange a "fraud" and suggested that the Agency would undertake invigorated measures to hobble the publishing group. Riot Fest Announces Lineup: Nine Inch Nails, Queens Of The Stone Age, Jawbreaker, M.I.A. & More By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Apr 19, 2017 2:00PM Nine Inch Nails, photo via the band's Facebook page. Riot Fest just released their initial line up and, sure enough, its a doozy. The Chicago festival with strong DIY roots continues to expand its offerings beyond traditional punk rock with one of its most musically diverse collection of acts to date. The bold type big news is that this years headliners include heavy hitters like Nine Inch Nails and Queens of the Stone Age, as well as the re-formation of seminal 90s emo group Jawbreaker. New Order, Paramore, M.I.A. and the Rage Against The Machine-meets-Public Enemy supergroup Prophets Of Rage are other notable acts near the top of the bill. And Chicago industrial titans Ministry will be making their Riot Fest debut, and were sure that the volume and aggression of that groups set will blow minds and eardrums. And would it be crazy to hope for Nine Inch Nails Trent Reznor to join Ministrys Al Jourgensen to perform any of the duos collaborations from previous years? Probably, but we can hope. The line up includes numerous genuine surprises as well. Beastie Boys member Mike D will be performing a DJ set, Chicagos Vic Mensa, Wu-Tang Clan and Peaches all have us excited by their inclusion on the bill. The undercard also includes a number of unexpected delights, including Built To Spill, Dinosaur Jr., Death From Above 1979, TV on Tte Radio, LIARS, Fishbone and the reunion of that dog. And, we have to admit, we are excited to see that one of the best live acts weve personally encountered in the last year, Beach Slang, will be making an appearance as well. A live Peaches show is something to behold, photo by Jim Kopeny / Tankboy In fact as we dug through the first wave of bands, we were delighted to see that there is a healthy mixture of the old-school punk rock Riot Fest built their initial name on, with a healthy expansion into various other sub-genres that firmly embraces the fests credo. The idea of seeing X, Downtown Boys, The Menzingers and Buzzcocks all in the same weekend is pretty exciting, indeed. And, of course, GWAR and Andrew W.K. are on the billso stock up on ponchos and a dedication to PARTY PARTY PARTY. In keeping with previous years, a number of bands will be performing notable albums from their career, but we need to wait until April 20 to find out what those will be. Riot Fest will also feature over 40 food vendors, the usual carnival rides and diversions, and the Hellzapoppin Sideshow Revue. The second wave of acts is set to be announced later in May, and we're still holding out hope for a Jesse and the Rippers reunion. Riot Fest 3-day Passes go on sale today at noon. Get those browsers ready. The festival returns to Douglas Park, September 15 through 17. The full first wave of bands includes: Nine Inch Nails Queens of the Stone Age Jawbreaker New Order Paramore Prophets of Rage M.I.A. Wu-Tang Clan Mike D (DJ Set) A Day To Remember Gogol Bordello Taking Back Sunday Vic Mensa Dirty Heads TV on the Radio Ministry Dinosaur Jr. New Found Glory Death From Above 1979 Bad Brains FIDLAR Action Bronson Pennywise Built to Spill X Peaches The Lawrence Arms The Mighty Mighty Bosstones The Orwells Bayside Say Anything, Mayday Parade Streetlight Manifesto Dead Cross Minus the Bear The Menzingers LIARS GWAR Buzzcocks GBH Real Friends Hot Water Music Shabazz Palaces Andrew W.K. Fishbone The Story So Far State Champs Four Year Strong Beach Slang The Cribs that dog. Knuckle Puck Chon Slaves The Hotelier The Flatliners Dessa Saul Williams Nothing More Alice Bag TOBACCO Sleep On It Downtown Boys Engine 88 The Smith Street Band The Regrettes HDBeenDope Gazebos Kitten Forever A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell: Morgan Stanley In contrast to rival Goldman Sachs Tuesday, the firm beat Street estimates on both the top and bottom lines. It earned $1 per share, compared to a consensus estimate of 88 cents a share, in what CEO James Gorman called the firm's best quarter in years. The results were driven by a solid performance in investment banking. BlackRock The asset manager reported adjusted quarterly profit of $5.25 per share, well above estimates of $4.89 a share. Revenue did come in slightly below consensus. Higher investment advisory fees and an improvement in securities lending revenue helped drive results. US Bancorp The regional bank beat estimates by two cents a share, with quarterly profit of 82 cents. Revenue was slightly above forecasts. The bank's results were aided by loan growth. Textron The maker of Bell helicopters reported adjusted quarterly profit of 46 cents per share, one cent a share above estimates. Revenue missed forecasts, however, and Textron also cut its full-year forecast to reflect its acquisition of recreational vehicle maker Arctic Cat. International Business Machines IBM earned an adjusted $2.38 per share for the first quarter, three cents a share above estimates. Revenue fell short of forecasts, however, and declined compared to a year earlier for the 20th consecutive quarter. Profit margins fell across its various business units, including ones that the company is counting on for future growth. Intuitive Surgical The company reported adjusted quarterly profit of $5.09 per share, 12 cents a share above estimates. The surgical products maker's revenue came in above forecasts, as well, and the company raised its 2017 forecast for the number of procedures performed using its da Vinci surgical robots. Yahoo Yahoo came in four cents a share above estimates, with adjusted quarterly profit of 18 cents per share. Revenue was higher than analysts had anticipated. This should be Yahoo's last report in its current form, with the company expecting the sale of its core internet business to Verizon to close in June. UBS UBS was fined about $2 million by Switzerland's stock exchange for a late release of price-sensitive information. The fine stems from a change in strategy announced by the bank in October of 2012. Baidu Baidu will launch a self-driving car technology effort in July, as the China-based web services company expands its push into artificial intelligence. Broadcom The chipmaker may team with a Japanese government-backed fund to launch a joint bid for Toshiba's semiconductor unit, according to Japan's Asahi newspaper. Navient Navient has agreed to buy a roughly $6.9 billion student loan portfolio from JPMorgan Chase . The student loan servicer gets a portfolio consisting of $3.2 billion in private loans and about $3.7 billion in federal loans. JPMorgan has not originated any new student loans since 2013. Comcast , Charter Communications The two stocks are rated "buy" in new coverage at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey in a report on cable and telecommunications stocks. The firm said Comcast, the parent of NBCUniversal and CNBC, is well-positioned for continued market share gains in broadband, and that Charter is in the midst of a successful multi-year turnaround. 21st Century Fox Bill O'Reilly is unlikely to return to his Fox News show following his current vacation, according to multiple reports. Goldman Sachs Citi upgraded the investment bank's stock to "neutral" from "sell" on valuation, following yesterday's post-earnings tumble for the stock. Chesapeake Energy Evercore added the energy producer's stock to its "Tactical Outperform" list, praising the company's effort to shore up its balance sheet and adjusting its asset base. Sen. Elizabeth Warren said her biggest regret is that Donald Trump won the 2016 election. When the Massachusetts Democrat was asked Wednesday on ABC's "The View" if she regretted not running for president, Warren said: "Look, we all have a lot of regrets, but my biggest regret is that Donald Trump is president of the United States, period. That is where we are. That is where we are today." Warren also said she doesn't understand when people ask her if she thinks Bernie Sanders should have dropped out of the race earlier, explaining the Democrats had a "real primary going on." As for whether she should have thrown her weight behind Hillary Clinton sooner, Warren said she did her part. "Once it was clear how that primary was going to be resolved, I got in and I busted my tail to try to help her get elected and I wish it had worked. God dang, I wish it had worked," the senator said. Warren, known as a liberal firebrand, called Trump a "master of distraction," joking that his young presidency seems to have gone by in "dog years." She also accused the president of reneging on his campaign promises to protect the interests of middle- and working-class voters. Warren said the failed GOP health-care bill was "like the whole thing in one microcosm." She said Trump was not serving his constituents by endorsing a plan that would knock 24 million people off of their coverage to help finance a tax cut for the wealthy. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The financial offices of banks in the financial district of Canary Wharf, are pictured from Greenwich Park in London on January 17, 2017. The International Monetary Fund warned Wednesday that European banks cannot solely rely on a cyclical recovery to shrug off their problems. A combination of weak profits, lack of access to private capital and large debt burdens could spark further concerns over the stability of the financial industry, the Fund said in its latest Global Financial Stability report. "A cyclical recovery will likely be insufficient on its own to restore the profitability of persistently weak banks," the Fund said. Domestic banks are under particular stress given that nearly 75 percent of them had weak returns in 2016. According to the IMF, one of the main problems in Europe is overbanking - which means that there are too many banks for the number of customer available. "These features can result in limited lending opportunities or a high number of branches relative to the assets in the banking system, adding to costs and reducing operational efficiencies. Although measures are being taken to address profitability concerns, more progress needs to be made in reducing overbanking in the countries with the biggest challenges," the Fund said. The Washington-based institution noted that in Denmark, the Netherlands and Spain, institutions reduced their branches significantly. Such steps could represent savings of about $23 billion overall, the Fund estimated. Another key problem among European banks is the high level of non-performing loans. In his field, the IMF said that Portugal and Italy have done very little to address this issue. "The lack of progress on resolving nonperforming loans also reflects weak earnings and insufficient generation of capital and provisioning buffers," the IMF noted. As the U.K. prepares to leave the European Union, there could be risks to European banks although by spreading financial institutions over a wider geographic area could help with stability. "The challenges stemming from Brexit could undermine financial stability in ways that are difficult to estimate or predict at this juncture. However, it is also important to note that financial stability benefits could arise from a less concentrated banking system throughout Europe," the Fund noted. With U.K-based banks planning to move some operations to European soil, the IMF pointed out that this will raise uncertainty over their internal risk models. "Because uncertainty and operating costs will likely increase during the transition period, many banks may opt to exit or scale back the primary dealer business, leading to costlier and less efficient markets until new players enter," the IMF said. Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook. European officials have indicated a desire that the upcoming snap election in Britain will lead to a "strong" leadership in Westminster and bring more clarity to current Brexit negotiations. Capitals across Europe have been left surprised with the announcement by U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday, who called for an early election on June 8, but officials do not foresee any impact on the U.K.'s process to leave the European Union. One EU official, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the Brexit process, told CNBC Wednesday that May's announcement "does not change things". "This is a domestic matter for the UK. But we have some hope that this will lead to a strong leader in London that can negotiate with us with strong backing by the electorate," the official said. The EU is "ready" to discuss the details but due to the several steps in EU lawmaking its timetable points to sit-down talks in June, independently of the British vote. "The U.K. elections do no change our EU27 (remaining members of the EU) plans. We expect to have the Brexit guidelines adopted by the European Council on April 29 and following that the Brexit negotiating directives ready on May 22. This will allow the EU27 to start negotiations," a spokesperson for the European Council said Tuesday. Exxon Mobil , the company once ran by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, is seeking a waiver from U.S. sanctions on Russia, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The U.S. oil and gas corporation has applied to the Treasury Department to be exempt in a bid to resume its joint venture with the Russia oil giant PAO Rosneft in the Black Sea, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The newspaper said Exxon has been seeking permission to work with Rosneft in areas banned by U.S. sanctions. The State Department is one of the agencies that have a say on the waiver, the Journal said. The news came as the FBI investigates any possible connections between the Trump campaign and Russia after the 2016 U.S. presidential election. CNBC has reached out to Exxon and the Treasury Department for comment on the Journal's report. Read the full story from The Wall Street Journal here. CNBC's Jacob Pramuk contributed to this report. When U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May called for a surprise election this week, some readers of the BBC learned of the startling political news not from the news giant's website or Twitter feed, but from a piece of software known as a bot. Within minutes of the announcement, consumers who follow the BBC's Facebook page received an automated digital alert, delivered via the social network's Messenger service. And the bot, generated automatically by a piece of software from The Bot Platform, a London-based start-up, didn't stop at delivering the news. Like a good journalist, it added some context. Because it had been programmed to know that May's reasons for the move stemmed from Britain's decision to leave the European Union, it followed the alert with a question: Might the newly informed reader want to take a quiz on Brexit? A "yes" answer to that query in turn triggered another question: "Does the EU limit the size of coffins?" The question spoke to a concern of many pro-Brexit voters about over-reaching EU bureaucrats. But there is no such limit, so that concern at least was unfounded. A correct answer to the BBC survey question in turn generated a short GIF animation showing U.K. foreign minister Boris Johnson cheering the news consumer's political knowledge. The entertaining animation was an example of how developers are continuing to experiment with Facebook's emerging bots platform. The company made its first push into bots at last year's F8 developer conference, and announced on Tuesday that 100,000 have already been created, but acknowledged that it still has work to do getting those bots used by more people. One reason may be that a lot of developers have been trying to imitate human conversation. Former British finance minister George Osborne said on Wednesday he would stand down from parliament at June's national election, according to a letter to constituents quoted in the London Evening Standard newspaper. Last month Osborne, who had been tipped as a future prime minister until he lost his job as finance minister after helping lead the doomed campaign to stay in the European Union, was named editor of the Evening Standard. He has come under fire for taking on several jobs while remaining a member of parliament, including a part-time job at asset manager BlackRock. "I am stepping down from the House of Commons - for now. But I will remain active in the debate about our country's future and on the issues I care about," Osborne said in the letter. "I will go on fighting for that Britain I love from the editor's chair of a great newspaper. It's still too early to be writing my memoirs." President Donald Trump discusses the federal budget as Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin (R) looks on in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on February 22, 2017 in Washington, DC. Goldman Sachs said Wednesday that it doesn't expect tax reform until the first quarter of next year as Republicans continue efforts to pass health-care legislation. In a note to clients, the investment bank said GOP leaders appear intent on trying to pass a repeal and replacement of Obamacare. Goldman said passage of a new health bill, however, seems unlikely and sees Republicans possibly moving on to other issues by June. "The renewed focus on health care has once again delayed tax reform efforts, however," Goldman said. "We still believe tax legislation is likely to become law, but continued delays suggest that enactment is likely to slip to early 2018." The prediction came after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs banker, told the Financial Times earlier this week that the Trump administration's timetable for tax reform could be delayed after setbacks in health care. He told the newspaper the target of getting tax reform to President Donald Trump by Congress' August recess was "highly aggressive to not realistic at this point." "It started as [an] aggressive timeline," Mnuchin said in the interview. "It is fair to say it is probably delayed a bit because of the health care." Goldman also said that Trump's tax legislation is more likely to be a tax cut with "limited elements" of reform. "Namely a 25 percent corporate rate with provisions allowing for low-tax repatriation of foreign profits, incremental base broadening, and no border adjusted tax," the bank said. President Trump's message to immigrant communities is clear: We are coming for you, undocumented and authorized immigrants alike. Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order directing a 220-day review of the H-1B visa program, a temporary worker visa program for high-skilled workers. The review is aimed at creating stricter access to the visa program. If money talks, the White House's 2018 proposed federal budget echoes the president's hard-line stance on immigration. The proposed budget, which Congress will vote on at the end of April, requests $2.6 billion to fulfill Trump's executive order to build a wall along the southern border. More alarming is the request of massive funds to create the president's deportation force; a force which is already terrorizing immigrant communities across the country. The proposed budget requests $314 million for the hiring of 500 new Border Patrol agents and 1,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in 2018. That's in sharp contrast to the $6.6 million ICE requested to hire 100 new officers in 2017. In addition, the 2018 budget proposal requests an increase of $1.5 billion for expanded detention. Trump has not used the term, "deportation force" since taking office in January. However, the numbers don't lie if approved, the federal budget will create a deportation machine like we have never seen before. Under current policies, such as the Homeland Security Appropriations Act, there are Congress-mandated quotas for detention facilities to "maintain a level of not less than 34,000 detention beds," creating a clear incentive to detain. The proposed increase of $1.5 billion to expand detention facilities will most certainly mean increased levels of government-mandated quotas. According to Fox news (which is apparently the president's preferred news source), ICE already jails more than 42,000 immigrants in detention facilities across the U.S. (this figure has been verified with immigrant-rights organizations). For-profit-detention centers have been at the center of controversies surrounding their inhumane treatment of immigrants. Homeland Security's own advisory council called out "the inferiority of the private prison model from the perspective of governance and conditions." Yet the proposed budget would pump an additional $1.5 billion to expand for-profit detention facilities. Should Facebook Add An 'Emergency' Function To Report Live-Streaming Abuses? A County Commissioner Leads The Charge By Stephen Gossett in News on Apr 19, 2017 4:57PM Getty Images / Photo: Sean Gallup In the wake of perhaps the most gruesome instance yet of a crime being broadcast on Facebook Live, a Cook County Commissioner is calling on the social-media giant to add an "emergency" reporting function and keep outside parties from extracting clips of questionable content. Commissioner Richard Boykin on Monday sent a letter addressed to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg requesting the changes. Boykin drafted the request following the grisly, high-profile murder of Robert Godwin Sr., 74, by gunman Steve Stephens in Cleveland on Sunday, which the shooter recorded and posted on Facebook. Here in Chicago, several crimes have been broadcast on Facebook Live in the recent pastsome that simply happened to occur while a victim was streaming, others in which broadcasting the incident was intentional. A 15-year-old girl was sexually assaulted last month in an attack that Supt. Eddie Johnson said was viewed by at least 40 people, none of whom contacted police. Four people face hate crime charges in the notorious Facebook Live torture case from January, in which suspects streamed video of an assault of a bound schizophrenic victim. A 2-year-old boy and his uncle were shot and killed on Valentine's Day while the man's pregnant girlfriend, who was also shot, was broadcasting. "Facebook has an obligation and a responsibility to be a good corporate citizen by not allowing tragedies to be live streamed," Boykin wrote in his letter to Facebook. He called on the company to implement the following two changes, emphasis ours: "Facebook should create an Emergency button that is associated with its live streaming product that will allow users to alert Facebook administrators of potentially life-threatening activity being streamed on the platform. This button could signal Facebooks algorithm to halt the streamers video feed. Facebook should implement technology to prevent and block third party software from extracting videos containing criminal activity, unless these videos are being utilized to inform the perspectives of law enforcement officials." Boykin told Chicaogist that Facebook replied that they had received the letter and will get back with an appropriate response, but they did not offer an ETA. "We're going to keep the drumbeat on them, they're going to have to so something... Social media is helping to drive the violence in Chicago," Boykin told Chicagoist. "These videos should not stay on their platform for two to three hours," he added. Boykin also mentioned last year's resolution that chartered a social-media gang task force, noting that social media "has played a major role in driving threats and retaliation." Facebook does currently have monitoring capabilities. Users can flag objectionable content, but the process of removal can be long and flawed. The New York Times notes: "Because Facebooks network of users is so vast, the company relies on a combination of artificial intelligence, human moderators and alerts from users to flag objectionable content. If many people report an instance of offensive or harmful content at once, Facebooks algorithms will show the post to a global team of human content moderators, who will review it and decide if it violates Facebooks terms of service." At the same time, Facebook remains perpetually under the microscope for having flagged and/or removed content that serves a social or artistic functionlike the acclaimed Chicago photographer who saw her profile deleted "in error" last year. Add the giant ball of wax that is "fake news" and the overall issue appears trickier still. But at least in terms of Facebook Live video, Boykin argues that the braintrust should be able to negotiate a fix that doesn't unduly censor users. "They're a private company," he said. "They don't have the same rules government has. Nobody is allowed to yell 'fire' in a crowded theater. They can police content on their platform." "They have some of the smartest people working for them" who can develop such a solution, he said. Boykin said Facebook has a "moral obligation" to address the issue and that his office plans to keep the pressure on. Facebook did not immediately return a request for comment. This post will be updated as necessary. Closely watched strategist Mark Grant is again swimming against the tide, warning against investing in European stocks at a time when many Wall Street money managers are advising the opposite. "Too much risk in Europe," the contrarian investor said Wednesday, citing such concerns as a snap election call in Britain, Sunday's presidential voting in France, and dire financial situations in Italy and Greece. "I want nothing to do with investing there at present," the Hilltop Securities chief strategist told CNBC's "Squawk Box." While acknowledging technical and fundamental analyses make European stocks look interesting, "it's the event-driven horizon that's the scary part," Grant argued. Grant singled out the French presidential election as a real worry: "You have a nightmare scenario occurring in France." He said he's concerned about the policies of two of the leading candidates, far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon and far-right leader Marine Le Pen. "Melenchon wants to be able to borrow all the money he wants. ... Le Pen wants to leave the European Union altogether," he said. "Either of those two as the president of France would be a disaster for the European Union." In addition to Melenchon and Le Pen, conservative Francois Fillon and centrist Emmanuel Macron were all in the margin of error in the latest polls. If no candidate wins a majority on Sunday, the top two finishers face a runoff on May 7. Grant also called the Italian banking system "effectively a bust," and said the debt-to-GDP ratio in Greece is over 300 percent. The New York-based tech firm reported first-quarter revenue on Tuesday that fell short of expectations and marked the 20th consecutive quarter of year-over-year revenue declines. A reset may be coming for IBM 's stock, one bearish analyst says, as "unsustainable" factors like tax breaks struggle to mask a fundamental decline. IBM's adjusted earnings per share beat expectations. But the company has been helped by factors other than its core operations to keep earnings in line with expectations, Garcha said. For instance, the company has seen isolated tax benefits that left an effective tax rate of negative 23 percent in the first quarter of 2017, and negative 95 percent a year ago. That's compared to their adjusted ongoing effective operating tax rate of about 15 percent. The company has also focused on income from intellectual property, Garcha said. "Some of those levers are beginning to run out," Garcha said. "And when you start peeling away, and looking at the numbers, for example, last night, and you look at the underlying EPS, it could have missed Street estimates." Martin Schroeter, IBM's chief financial officer, told CNBC on Tuesday that the company was "not solely focused" on delivering earnings growth. He told analysts on a conference call that optimizing taxes is expected by shareholders, pointing out that this year's net tax benefit of nearly $500 million was less than last year's $1.2 billion Japanese tax refund. Still, Schroeter said: "One of our focuses and it always has been, now the timing is right is to get the returns for our investments. If you were to poll 100 IBM executives, it's something that they'd all say, now it's time to get the returns." The company's newer businesses have certainly seen a pop: Revenue from strategic imperatives like analytics, mobility and security grew 12 percent to $7.8 billion, while cloud revenue grew 33 percent to $3.5 billion. The company expects to earn about $13.80 per share this year, as business picks up in the second half of the year. "IBM [has] a very strong competitive 'moat' with enterprises," Garcha said. "They have the ear of [chief information officers] absolutely. Here's the issue: This is a company now where we are debating whether they can make $13.80 of earnings, when it was supposed to be doing $20 of earnings not so long ago. So the issue is: Could they stabilize...? Yes. But will their fundamentals do it at today's level of profitability? That's where we have some doubts." Garcha is much more pessimistic than the average analyst covering IBM: He has a $110 price target on shares of IBM, compared to the average in FactSet of $167.90. But IBM shares traded 5 percent lower midday on Wednesday. "This set of results fundamentally teaches us the multiyear transition, and the painful transition that IBM is going through," Garcha said. He later added: "Masking that decline is becoming increasingly difficult. ... There's a legitimate risk of a reset coming." Disclosure: Credit Suisse owns a greater than 1 percent stake in IBM, and IBM is an investment banking client. The FTSE 100 has wiped out all the gains made this year following Prime Minister Theresa May's announcement of snap general elections to be held on June 8th, but investors should not be put off from investing in the U.K.'s blue chips index, according to industry watchers. Alex Dryden, global market strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, says the election announcement adds to the political noise coming from Europe. "For U.K. investors, it certainly adds to the short-term noise, but what it might lead to is a softer Brexit," he told CNBC's Squawk Box Europe on Wednesday. "A bigger majority for Conservatives in the House of Commons might allow Theresa May to take a softer Brexit stance, which is why we started to see the pound nose up on the election announcement. "As a vegan brand, we are really not cool with animals getting sprayed in the face," said Song, who owns Snow Fox Skincare. "It sucks, because China is a huge market it's a lot of money. But she stopped cold after learning that the Chinese government mandated animal testing for imported cosmetics and skincare products. When entrepreneur Phoebe Song launched her organic, vegan skincare line, she had big plans to sell around the world, including in China , the world's largest consumer market. China requires skincare and cosmetics firms to submit to compulsory animal testing in government labs before regulators approve products for sale in the country. For brands like Song's Snow Fox, these regulations mean either allowing animal testing, or losing access to a market worth $29 billion last year, according to Euromonitor. Experts say all firms selling to Chinese consumers now undergo animal testing for their products, including major foreign brands L'Oreal , Estee Lauder , Shiseido , and Proctor & Gamble . None of those firms, among the top foreign cosmetics and skincare companies selling in China, responded to a request for comment. Those companies state online that they do not engage in animal testing, but insert language that indicates exceptions are made where required. For instance, Estee Lauder says it "does not test on animals and we never ask others to do so on our behalf," according to a statement on its website. "If a regulatory body demands it for its safety or regulatory assessment, an exception can be made." A 2013 estimate by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals found that China's mandatory regulations resulted in companies testing products on as many as 300,000 animals, according to the organization's senior vice president, Kathy Guillermo, who explained that an animal is killed after a test. While there are alternative ways of testing the safety of beauty products, for instance, by using 3-D tissue models, experts said China currently lacks the know-how. "They're just completely behind the curve in learning about the new science," said Erin Hill, president of U.S.-based Institute of In Vitro Sciences, which is training Chinese government scientists in new methods. IIVS also partners with companies, including foreign brands in China, to work on non-animal testing procedures. Some change is happening: Late last year, the government moved to accept safety data collected through a non-animal test method, the 3T3 phototoxicity assay, which measures the safety of a chemical after exposure to light. The government hasn't said if this test is yet in use. And in some provinces, companies domestically manufacturing ordinary products, like lotion and soap, can now apply to waive the animal testing requirements. L'Oreal is one of the firms taking advantage of this, and some of its products, such as shampoo and body wash, are no longer animal tested in China, according to its website. But China's murky regulatory environment is difficult to navigate and experts said getting such approvals can be spotty. "It's a big task to make this shift it comes down to having the right laboratories, the people skilled in these different methods, and also access to the equipment and the supplies you need," Hill said. Pressure is increasing for China to adapt, as animal testing gets banned in more jurisdictions, including Europe, Australia, India and Israel. In the U.S., it has long been abandoned from standard practice. Plus, if domestic Chinese firms want to sell abroad especially in countries where such testing is no longer allowed they'll need to substantiate the safety of their products via non-animal methods. National regulator China Food and Drug Administration didn't respond to a request for comment. For Hong Kong-based Song, she's simply decided not to sell her vegan products in China at the moment, despite the market potential. But sticking it out means sometimes, consumers don't cut her much slack. "They say, 'you're supposed to be a big global brand what global brand doesn't have sales channels in China?" Song said. "And we have to explain it's because we really don't want to torture some bunnies." Democrats and the rest of the virulently anti-Trump left got their hopes up again this week, only to have them crushed when the clock struck midnight. The latest example was a failed attempt to get a win for their candidate Jon Ossoff in a special House election in Georgia. He's now facing a run-off in June with Republican candidate Karen Handel, and she is narrowly favored to beat him, according to polling and data outfit FiveThirtyEight. That has the Democrats feeling more dejected than ever, with Politico summing it up best Wednesday with the headline: "Democrats begin ponder: When do we win?" Okay, here's the answer: The losing is going to continue unless the Democrats start taking some important advice... from a conservative Republican. Namely me. And it's the same advice I've been giving my liberal Democrat friends for over a year. But, wait a minute. Why is a conservative Republican like me offering the Democrats this golden advice? No, I'm not switching sides. But I am an American before I identify with party labels, and Americans need more and better choices when it comes to our politics right now. On a more selfish note, I'd like to see a Democratic Party that adopts a few of the policies conservatives support that could resonate with their own constituents. And I think that's possible. So let me boil it down to a top three: 1) Stop making it all about Trump In the run-up to Tuesday's special election in Georgia, a lot of Democrats and liberals made public statements about how the race was all about "angering President Donald Trump." And had Ossoff won, President Trump probably would have been angry... for a few hours. But a political party can't make its entire agenda about opposing the nation's elected leader. Not only does it distract the opposition from working on a real set of beliefs and policies to sell to the voters, it also tends to backfire. Democrats and Republicans in recent American history learned that lesson the hard way, and they just seem to keep forgetting it. In the 1980s, the Democrats made opposing and demonizing Ronald Reagan their obsession and the result was they lost three landslide presidential elections in a row and even dropped control of Congress for six years. In the 1990s, the Republicans obsessed over Bill Clinton and even successfully impeached him. But they couldn't remove him from office that way or at the ballot box in 1996 when they suffered their worst presidential election defeat in decades. The establishment GOP flubbed again by focusing so much on President Obama over the last eight years that they couldn't defeat him in 2012. As a result, they even lost control of their own party to the Trump insurgency last year. So Democrats need to stop making everything they say and do all about President Trump. Unless they want to lose again in 2018, 2020 and beyond. 2) Go back to your winning formula, but with a slightly more bipartisan twist Democrats really have the inside track in every election because whether they deserve it or not, a majority of Americans are convinced that they are the party that represents the "little guy." And no matter how strong the U.S. economy is at any given time, there are enough people who associate with being the relative little guy in society's grand equation. That winning formula was what fueled Senator Bernie Sanders' unlikely and impressive run for the White House last year. His campaign was very simply a return to the party's roots. The problem is that the Democrats won't do more than energize their base with the same old economic equality kind of messaging. Class warfare pits voters against each other, and that's a bad move. To win over enough swing voters, they have to re-jigger the message to make it more of an attack on corporatism and crony capitalism than the rich or upper middle class. A lot of conservatives and moderates hate crony capitalism and the government's sacrifice of our freedoms to please favored corporate interests. Illegal immigration is a great example of this. What so many liberals don't understand about the Trump voters' anger over illegal immigration is that it isn't about hating outsiders. It's about people feeling betrayed by a government that they believe is relaxing enforcement of the law just to give big employers a steady access to cheaper labor. So instead of railing about "the 1 percent" or focusing too much on raising personal income taxes, the Democrats can win by focusing on corporate misdeeds committed with government involvement or approval. That would include recent outrages like the United Airlines passenger dragging fiasco or Mylan Laboratories jacking up the price of its EpiPen products. These incidents unite the public in outrage and they make for a very natural platform for Democrats. And the beauty part is, the political capital comes from simply calling out these companies on a case by case basis. The Democrats don't even have to propose, let alone enact, any new laws or regulations. Remember how Sen. Elizabeth Warren scored points bashing Wells Fargo for ripping off its customers? Just playing the role of public watchdog gets the voters' attention and often scares the wrongdoing corporations into reversing their policies right away. 3) Start grooming some presidential candidates The Democrats were wise in 2004 to give then-Senate candidate Barack Obama such a prominent spot at their national convention. Not only did he speak well, but his youth and the fact that he was such a fresh face were major pluses. Last summer, they gave Senator Warren the same keynote slot and she wasn't as memorable in her delivery, nor did she provide any image contrast at all to their nominee Hillary Clinton. Warren is a powerhouse in the Senate for the Democrats, but not a viable presidential candidate as she showed during that generally forgettable speech. Mr. Obama proved that the Democrats don't need a bevvy of state governors or senior U.S. Senators to choose from to find a really strong new candidate for the White House. The Republicans had plenty of those in the last three presidential elections and the only time they won was with a business man who had never run for office before in his life. There have to be some decent Democratic candidates in the state legislatures all across the country right now. But all we're hearing is anti-Trump messaging from Democrats who can't or won't be running for president, like new DNC chair Tom Perez. The Democrat's base is already angry. What they and potential swing voters need now is a reason and person to get them excited. Oh, and they need to stay away from anything that looks like favoritism or cronyism in this endeavor. For example, the recent efforts to raise Chelsea Clinton's image with magazine covers and other media profiles is a serious mistake. Remember the lesson of point #2; the Democrats win when they present themselves as the party of the little guy, not some kind of hereditary political dynasty. Again, none of the above three pieces of advice will necessarily make solid Republicans or rabid Trump supporters change their minds and vote for the Democrats right away. But significant gains among swing voters are possible. More importantly, a Democratic Party that tones down its alarmist rhetoric, goes back to its roots, and finds new candidates to drain its own swamp will serve the very common purpose of moving America a bit further away from the cultural civil war we seem to be rushing toward right now. And since competitors tend to play up to their level of competition, it's very likely that an improved Democratic Party will make the GOP a lot better too. Commentary by Jake Novak, CNBC.com senior columnist. Follow him on Twitter @jakejakeny. For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence visits Indonesia on Thursday as part of his 10-day visit to Asia, and a range of topics will be on the docket. There, Pence will be meeting Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla, as well as celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the 40th anniversary of U.S. ties with the group. Indonesia is the first Muslim-majority country Pence will be visiting. But despite President Donald Trump's tough rhetoric about the global religion, one top analyst said the main focus will not be discussing religious issues, but rather discussing the bilateral trade relationship between the two countries. "In line with the political mandate of President Trump, we should watch for Mike Pence focusing part of his visit on expanding U.S. commercial ties within Indonesia," Meredith Sumpter, Asia director for the Eurasia Group, told CNBC's "The Rundown" on Wednesday. The bilateral trade rhetoric is the central theme of Pence's visit to Asia, which aims to spread the message that Trump is open to boosting U.S. trade in Asia, despite abandoning the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). "The vice president is well aware that the U.S. needs to do more in the wake of walking away from the TPP to message U.S. economic staying power," Sumpter explained. In his visit to Japan on Tuesday, Pence met with Japan's Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso to discuss the possibility of a two-way trade pact with Japan. While both sides agreed to eliminate unfair trade practices, there were no concrete agreements on bilateral trade relations. "When you look at the outcome of this initial economic dialogue channel with the deputies for both sides, what's notable is that there was no agreement to continue on with formal talks for a U.S.-Japan bilateral FTA," said Sumpter. "This is a signal that PM (Shinzo) Abe is certainly intent on pursuing the TPP 11 so this would be the TPP, absent the U.S. probably on account of a rising interest among the other TPP players to see what can be salvaged, even if the U.S. decides to continue to turn away from the TPP," she added. Despite this, Sumpter said that the bilateral trade talks will continue throughout Pence's Asia tour. "Washington is very intent on pursuing bilateral trade negotiations, not only with Japan, but with other trade partners in the region," she said. "As we heard in South Korea and Japan, what we are likely to hear in Indonesia and Australia is the U.S. vice president messaging that despite walking away from a multilateral trade regime, the U.S. recognizes that its economic ties with Asia are central, and that the U.S. is going to find ways to invest in those relationships, notably with trade, and with trying to expand access for U.S. firms in the region," she added. In addition to these trade talks, Sumpter said Pence is likely to discuss other issues surrounding national security, such as counter-terrorism and regional security issues. "So the rising Muslim populism aside, I would expect that during this trip, the vice president will focus on the bilateral relationship, on ASEAN, on counter-terrorism, and also doubling down on what could be done to strengthen commercial ties between the two countries," she said. Pence's visit to Indonesia is an important step "to reconfirm" the strategic partnership between the U.S. and Indonesia, Sumpter said. "Indonesia is a massively important market, this is 40 percent of ASEAN, and there is a notable U.S. private sector presence in Indonesia, but much more could be done to expand that relationship," she added. James Gorman is rubbing Goldman Sachs ' nose in it. Morgan Stanley 's chief executive didn't just hit his return target with a $1.8 billion first-quarter earnings showing. His fixed-income, currency and commodities traders virtually doubled their top line from what was a tough period for the industry last year, confirming that their chief rival made a mess of the first three months of the year. Morgan Stanley's 96 percent jump in fixed-income trading was easily the best of the batch of Wall Street's bulge-bracket results. Bank of America , Citi and JPMorgan each boosted their comparable division's revenue just shy of a fifth, which was enough to take them back to roughly what they were earning in the first quarter of 2015. A 2 percent drop in the top line, though, left Goldman's traders bringing in almost half what they managed two years ago. More from Breakingviews: Goldman fintech revolution can't come fast enough Bank of America return to health limited by DC drip-feed Private sector tells awkard truth on China growth Business mix explains part of the relative slump: currency and commodities markets Goldman specialties were slow, though others only mentioned foreign exchange as problematic. But Lloyd Blankfein's bank also blamed low volatility, "relatively light" client activity and a decline in rates and credit products. By contrast, Morgan Stanley claimed buoyant conditions fueled its outperformance, as did JPMorgan. Fixed-income trading was not the only battlefield where Morgan Stanley emerged victorious last quarter. Its equities traders held up better than Goldman's, registering a 2 percent decline year-over-year compared with its rival's nearly 7 percent. Gorman's teams also more than doubled underwriting revenue in equity and debt, compared with increases of 99 percent and 38 percent, respectively, at Blankfein's Goldman. Nigeria won't get out of a recession as a result of OPEC's actions and instead must focus on implementing the right type of economic policies, Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun told CNBC on Wednesday. Speaking to CNBC on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meeting in Washington, the minister pointed out that, oil revenues account for around 10 percent of Nigeria's overall GDP (gross domestic product). Therefore, Adeosun argued, the implementation of domestic policies would hold the key to a long term economic recovery. "I'm not sure that I agree that OPEC is the reason that we will get out of recession. We will get out of recession because we are following the right type of policies. Our objective is not just to get out of recession, our objective is to grow and grow sustainably," Adeosun said when asked about Nigeria's policy implementation. Nigeria's long-term reliance on oil has caused economic pain in recent years as internal problems meant the country was unable to match its historic production levels. This proved to be a key factor in the west African country securing exemption from OPEC's landmark 2016 deal to curb a global supply overhang. OPEC agreed to slash output by around 1.2 million barrels per day (b/d) from January 1 for six months in order to remove a supply glut. Eleven other non-OPEC countries, including Russia, subsequently agreed to limit supply by half as much. Beijing News reported that the online platform Xingqiu is suspected of organizing gambling in the guise of live broadcasts. It recruits young women to host online guessing competitions and attract people to bet with virtual currency that must be bought with real money. Some players have reportedly lost more than 1 million yuan ($145,180) within a few months. The newspaper comments: People, who are called "hosts", speak to their audiences through live video streaming platforms. [Photo/China Daily] The Criminal Law unambiguously prohibits gambling. With the development of the internet, in 2006, the Supreme People's Court issued a judicial interpretation that specified online gambling was also a crime. In 2010, the court further explained details about the judicial explanation. According to the criminal law and the interpretation, the organizers of the online gambling broadcasts have obviously committed a crime. In the Beijing News report, someone with the platform argued that it prohibits the players from exchanging their virtual money into real money so it is not really gambling. But that argument does not hold water because there is an underground chain for cashing in the virtual money, in which the news anchor, who gets the virtual money as gifts from gamblers, exchanges it for real money and gives it to them. In this way, those taking part can gamble and win or lose money. The platform itself is involved in the cashing in process. It even profits from that. With the whole thing uncovered, the judiciary will likely take an interest in the broadcasts. It is time we strengthened regulatory measures from the outside, as an essential cause of the chaos in the live broadcast industry is those supposed to be supervisors get involved in the illegal activities. Certain government departments must be given power and responsibility to better supervise these platforms to end the chaos in the live broadcast market. Qualcomm reported earnings for the second fiscal quarter that beat analyst expectations on Wednesday, as well as revenue that topped estimates amid better-than-expected sales in its technology division. Adjusted earnings were up 29 percent from the $1.04 per share reported a year ago, while adjusted revenues were up 8 percent from the $5.5 billion reported this time last year. Qualcomm 's widely used chips and designs are getting beefed up for the adoption of new technology and 5G connections. The flagship Samsung Galaxy S8, for instance, used one of Qualcomm's most high-end chips, and the company benefitted from higher-than-expected average prices during the quarter, executives said during a conference call with analysts. During the quarter, Qualcomm saw revenue in its licensing division grow 5 percent from a year ago, to $2.25 billion. Revenues for its technology division grew 10 percent from a year ago, to $3.68 billion. Analysts surveyed by StreetAccount expected the licensing division to report $2.24 billion in revenue, and the technology division to report $3.56 billion. But the company's sales bump comes amid intense scrutiny of the semiconductor company's business model. Qualcomm's earnings guidance range for next quarter fell around analyst expectations. But the company warned that a tiff with Apple could affect its outlook, as it expects underpayments from manufacturers: Apple's contract manufacturers reported, but underpaid, royalties in the second quarter of fiscal 2017. However, our revenues were not negatively impacted as the contract manufacturers acknowledged the amounts are due and the underpayment was equal to the amounts that Qualcomm has not paid Apple under our Cooperation Agreement that are currently in dispute. The Cooperation Agreement expired December 31, 2016. It is not clear whether Apple's contract manufacturers will underpay royalties owed under their contracts with us in the third quarter of fiscal 2017, which could have a negative impact on our financial results. Our guidance range for fiscal third quarter EPS is wider than our typical practice primarily due to this uncertainty. The remarks likely refer to $1 billion lawsuit from one of the world's most powerful companies, Apple , which argues that Qualcomm charges "at least five times more in payments than all the other cellular patent licensors we have agreements with combined." Qualcomm has filed a counterclaim against Apple for breaching agreements and throttling its processors in the iPhone 7. The "Apple situation" is not the only battle for Qualcomm. Qualcomm is fighting a fine of $868 million in South Korea, over high patent fees and refusing to offer licenses to some chip manufacturers. The earnings report also reflected a $974 million reduction to revenues over a dispute with BlackBerry. New processors and wider internet "pipes" have the promise to push forward technologies like virtual reality, cloud computing and video streaming, Qualcomm CEO Steven Mollenkopf said earlier this year. Plus there's the burgeoning self-driving car industry, which Qualcomm hopes to enter with its $38 billion agreement to acquire NXP Semiconductors. Qualcomm unveiled a new 835 Snapdragon processor, the first ever under 10 nanometers, earlier this year. The Snapdragon 820 and 821 are found in high-end Android smartphones like the Google Pixel, Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, LGV20, HTC 10, and BlackBerry's Android device. Executives told analysts that demand for 10 nanometer chips is exceeding supply. "We will continue to protect the value of our technologies, which enables today's robust mobile communications ecosystem, and invest in R&D that will drive the leading edge of mobile computing and connectivity for decades to come focusing on areas where our technologies will have the most impact and generate the best returns," Mollenkopf said in a statement on Wednesday. But up just 1.5 percent over the last year, Qualcomm shares have lagged the gains of rivals Intel and Nvidia. The company's China business also continues to be in focus, after softness in the region "The licensing business had a strong quarter ... the stronger market and improved licensing in China offset the impact of a new dispute with a licensee," Mollenkopf said during the conference call. President Derek Aberle added that the strength reflected "significantly increased" gains from a year ago in China. Advancements in the field of robotics have driven fears across the globe that many jobs could soon be displaced by machines. But that does not always have to be the case, according to Alex Hungate, president and CEO of airport ground-handler and catering solutions provider SATS . The company, which operates in 50 locations across 14 countries, has made large inroads in technological investments under Hungate's leadership. The investments seem to have paid off, with SATS reporting an increase in overall productivity across its business units while keeping labor costs in check. Speaking with CNBC's "Capital Connection" on Tuesday, Hungate said that robotics and automation technology implementations in companies often stumble due to a failure to allay employees' fears: "At SATS, we're technology-driven but we're people-led, so we try to encourage people to come up with the ideas about how we use technology and we remove the threat that you referred to by stating very clearly that we don't intend to reduce their jobs." "We intend to keep the same number of people over the long term and benefit from these growth trends," he added, emphasizing the importance of people-driven innovation at SATS. The company is also betting big on e-commerce in Southeast Asia, opening the SATS e-commerce Airhub in Singapore's Changi Airport recently in a bid to rapidly increase capacity to meet rising demand in the region. "E-commerce is one of the big stories of our age, you know, Southeast Asia is actually the fastest growing internet region in the world. E-commerce volumes (are) growing at about 30 percent per annum and (are) estimated to be $88 billion in value by 2025," Hungate said. To stay ahead of the curve, the adoption of technology has become a necessity for the company. "What we don't want is the top line increase to drop down, you know, to require hiring a lot more people so it doesn't drop to the bottom line," Hungate said. "By deploying capital in technology, in a high-tech facility like this, we're going from 500 mailbags per hour to 1,800 mail bags per hour today and then we have the ability to double that without hiring any people." Looking ahead, Hungate said technology is likely to continue playing an important role for the company. First off, know that you're not alone: About 10 percent of the population have chronic insomnia, meaning they've been experiencing sleep problems for over three months, according to Dr. Shelley Hershner, an assistant professor of neurology at Michigan Medicine's Sleep Disorders Center. And 30 percent of the population, she said, have some form of acute (shorter-term) insomnia. But what can you do if you wake up during the night, and can't seem to go back to sleep? "You can do just as much harm, if not more, by sleeping poorly than eating poorly or not exercising," Dr. Paul Doghramji, a family practice physician in Pennsylvania, told TODAY. Getting a good night's rest is essential for your health: According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) , insufficient sleep is associated with chronic diseases including diabetes, heart disease, obesity and even depression. The one major trick she recommends for falling back asleep? Something called the "sleep stimulus." If you can't fall back asleep after about 20 minutes, Dr. Hershner explained, you may want to try actually getting up, going to another part of the house that is dark and quiet, and then returning to bed when you're sleepy again. The reason why? If you remain in bed, you may start to feel a sort of "sleep pressure," where you grow frustrated about your inability to fall back asleep, Dr. Hershner explained. That sleep pressure then leads to the production of stress hormones, increased heart rate and general anxiety all of which just make it harder to fall back asleep, she said. Changing up your environment can calm this sleep pressure and actually make it easier for you to fall back asleep. For example, try relocating to a couch with a blanket and pillow. You may want to turn on some white noise, like a fan or noise machine, or meditate to help you relax. Another benefit? "These behavioral techniques can be very effective, and often, they're better than trying medications," Dr. Hershner said, noting that medications can often be habit-forming. If you still are having trouble, though, don't hesitate to reach out to a doctor, who can help you figure out if you have a sleep disorder, Dr. Hershner said. This article originally appeared on TODAY. Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff speaks to volunteers and supporters at a campaign office on April 17, 2017 in Atlanta. Democrat Jon Ossoff fell below the 50 percent level needed to claim an outright win against a mass of opponents in a closely-watched special election on Tuesday in Georgia's 6th congressional district, setting the stage for a runoff in June. Ossoff sought to parlay opposition to President Donald Trump into a victory that would rebuke the White House and embolden Democrats ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. With 100 percent of 210 precincts reported, Ossoff was at 48.1 percent, according to a live election update on the New York Times site, below the majority threshold required to win the race outright. At around 1:00 a.m. ET, news agency AP confirmed that the race would head to a runoff on June 20. Trump, who had called on voters to reject Ossoff, claimed credit in a tweet. Trump tweet Republicans nationally and in Georgia acknowledged before polls opened that Ossoff would top the 18-candidate field, which included Republicans, Democrats and independents on one primary ballot. The head of United Airlines met with the Chinese consulate in Chicago over the possible impact to bookings from a customer being dragged off a plane but it was too early to tell if business in China had been hit by the event, the company said. In the carrier's first quarter earnings call, United again apologized repeatedly for the incident in which Dr. David Dao was dragged from his seat on a United flight to make room for crew members. Dao accused officials of discriminating against him for being Chinese before he was hauled off the plane, according to a fellow passenger. Social media users across the United States, Vietnam and China called for a boycott of the airline over the incident. United has about 20 percent of total U.S.-China traffic and a partnership with Air China, the country's third-largest airline, according to analysts. You are here: Home The C919, the first large passenger aircraft designed and built by China passed the last expert assessment on Tuesday, its manufacturer announced. Photo taken on Nov. 2, 2015 shows the C919, China's first homemade large passenger aircraft, at a plant of Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. (COMAC), in Shanghai, east China. [Photo/Xinhua] The aircraft was given the go-ahead to begin a series of high-speed taxiing tests, the last step before its maiden flight. The process usually takes one to two months. According to Shanghai-based Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (COMAC), 25 experts from Chinese research institutes, civil aviation administration, and domestic jet makers formed Tuesday's assessment panel. They reviewed the preparedness of both the aircraft and ground services for the maiden flight. In March, the aircraft passed a major technical assessment. The C919, with over 150 seats and a standard range of 4,075 kilometers, is a medium-haul commercial aircraft. The Chinese jetliner was rolled off assembly line in 2015. COMAC said 21 customers had placed orders for more than 500 aircraft by the end of 2016, and it expects sales to exceed 2,000. China has invested heavily in commercial passenger jet manufacturing. The ARJ21, its first regional aircraft, began commercial operations in June 2016. April 19, 2017 The daughter of a veteran astronaut and an experienced fighter pilot have been announced as the finalists in a privately-conducted search for Germany's first woman to fly into space. Insa Thiele-Eich, a meteorologist and daughter of German astronaut Gerhard Thiele, and Nicola Baumann, a German united armed forces fighter pilot, were presented in Berlin on Wednesday (April 19) as the candidates for a privately- financed, ten-day flight to the International Space Station. In the course of their training over the next two years, one of the two women will be selected to launch to the orbiting laboratory, with the other serving as her backup. "Germany sends two outstanding women into the training as an astronaut," said Brigitte Zypries, Germany's Minister for Economics and Energy, in a statement. "They are good role models to inspire other young women." Die Astronautin finalists Insa Thiele-Eich and Nicola Baumann with jury members, including astronaut Ulrich Walter. (Die Astronautin) Thiele-Eich, 33, and Baumann, 31, were chosen as part of "Die Astronautin" ("The Female Astronaut") a campaign by the aerospace recruitment agency HE Space launched in 2016. A jury panel, including former German space shuttle payload specialist Ulrich Walter, selected the finalists from a pool of six candidates who had been chosen out of more than 400 applicants, in part based on medical screenings conducted by Germany's space agency, DLR. "I am proud we were able to accompany this project with our scientific expertise," Pascale Ehrenfreund, chair of the DLR executive board, said in a statement. "More women in space travel, we all want that." After the U.S. and Russia, Germany is tied with China for having sent more of its citizens into orbit than astronauts from any other country, a total of eleven since 1978. All of the German space travelers, and a twelfth now in training, have been men. Thiele-Eich and Baumann are expected to start training on a part-time basis later this year. A science coordinator at the Meteorological Institute of the University of Bonn, Thiele-Eich said earlier that her father, who flew on NASA's space shuttle Endeavour in 2000 on a NASA-DLR radar topography mission, did not take part in her application. The only advice that Gerhard Thiele gave his daughter was to "stay calm and have fun," Thiele-Eich told collectSPACE in March. Die Astronautin finalist Insa Thiele-Eich is the daughter of German astronaut Gerhard Thiele, pictured here at right on board the space shuttle Endeavour in 2000. (Die Astronautin/Klampackel / NASA) "It's an overwhelming feeling," said Thiele-Eich after being announced on Wednesday, according to Deutsche Welle, Germany's public international broadcaster. "It will take a bit to really sink in." "This is a gigantic moment," said Baumann, "my childhood dream come true." Baumann was already "mentally preparing" her application for the next European Space Agency astronaut recruitment when the Die Astronautin search was announced, she told collectSPACE in March. As a Bundeswehr pilot based in Norvenich, near Cologne, Baumann said she was eager to "learn, understand and actually fly a spacecraft." By launching either Baumann or Thiele-Eich to space, HE Space aims to inspire German women and girls to pursue technical professions and to study science. The campaign also intends its crew member to conduct experiments on the space station to add to the investigations about how the female body reacts in microgravity. Die Astronautin finalist Nicola Baumann. (Die Astronautin) For either finalist to launch, Die Astronautin will need to seek funds from the public and from commercial sponsors. A crowdfunding campaign launched in March has to date raised just over half of its 50,000 euro (about $54,000 US) goal to support the project's training program. The campaign has received in-kind backing from Nike and hopes for support from the German government, DLR and ESA. "When we started this more than a year ago, many people doubted whether we would find a suitable candidate at all. Today, I can say we even have two," said Claudia Kessler, CEO of HE Space. "Insa Thiele-Eich and Nicola Baumann are highly qualified women with strong personalities. We look forward to training the two as astronauts." "This brings us a big step closer to our common dream of a German Astronautin," said Kessler. For more information, see the Die Astronautin website. Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, poses for a group photo with chief military officers of newly adjusted or established corps-level military units in Beijing, capital of China, April 18, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua] President Xi Jinping asked People's Liberation Army commanders on Tuesday to focus on strengthening their unit's combat capability following the establishment of 84 large units. Xi, also chairman of the Central Military Commission, met commanders of these new units at the commission's headquarters in Beijing. The new units must prepare themselves for combat and study wars. They should concentrate on improving their joint operation capabilities and technology level, Xi said. The president also told the new forces to conduct more combat exercises and give priority to building "new-type" fighting capabilities. In PLA terminology, new-type fighting capabilities generally refers to capabilities of engaging in electronic, information and space operations. All 84 of the new units are at combined corps level, which means their commanders have or soon will be promoted to a rank of either major general in the Ground Force, Air Force and Rocket Force or rear admiral in the Navy. Though the PLA has not disclosed how these units were set up, it is likely that they were created through the regrouping of existing forces rather than recruiting new personnel, because the Chinese military is still engaged in cutting its troops by 300,000. The units' emergence also indicates the PLA's structural shake-up has taken effect. At a Central Military Commission conference in December, Xi ordered the military's structure to be adjusted and optimized, calling for a smaller but capable and flexible military. The establishment of the units is the latest move in a massive reform the PLA is undergoing. That unprecedented reform began in November 2015, when the Central Military Commission unveiled a blueprint for the PLA's development. The commission pledged to establish a leaner and more efficient command chain, to reduce the number of noncombatant personnel and departments and to build the PLA into a mightier force capable of winning modern wars. Since then, the PLA has set up a headquarters for its Ground Force, founded a Strategic Support Force dedicated to electronic, information and space operations, and established a Rocket Force to replace the former Second Artillery Corps. The previous four top PLA departmentsstaff, politics, logistics and armamentswere dismantled. Prof. Xie Xinzhou, dean of the School of New Media and Internet Communication at Peking University [Photo/pku.edu.cn] In the current age of rapid cyberspace development, when everyone becomes a potential publisher of what is called "self-media," the mainstream media inevitably feel a threat to their existence. Acknowledging the apparent growth of self-media, Prof. Xie Xinzhou from the prestigious Peking University, however, asserts that mainstream media outlets can still retain vitality as long as they stay credible. "High credibility with the public is the largest advantage of mainstream media," said Xie, dean of the School of New Media and Internet Communication at Peking University, and an expert on cyberspace studies and communications. His remark came one year after President Xi Jinping presided over the Symposium on Cyberspace Security and Informatization on April 19, 2016. There, President Xi, who is also head of the Central Internet Security and Informatization Leading Group, called for enhanced development of the Internet and its harnessing for the benefit of the country and all its people. Xi told the symposium that "a clean and healthy cyberspace is in the interests of the people, while a foul and unhealthy one benefits no one." To ensure high quality content with positive, mainstream energy, improvement must be made in cyberspace management, Xi said. The Chinese president's requirement for high-quality online content amounts to a timely encouragement for the mainstream media, which is more likely to adhere to the bottom line of truth and credibility. While ensuring credibility, however, mainstream media should also evolve to cope with the changes rapidly taking place in the internet age. "In other words, mainstream doesn't mean being obsolete. Mainstream media certainly need to develop their online services, and consider how to make their voice heard by more people in a faster way through cyberspace," said Xie. He went over a few successful examples of China's national media outlets gaining popularity on mobile apps and Chinese homegrown social networks including Weibo and WeChat. While celebrating diversified, new genres in information presentation, he cautioned that media integration "means more than a simple migration to the internet," as has been the case with some media outlets. Joplin hospital receives second complaint regarding pregnancy care Another EMTALA complaint has been lodged against Freeman Hospital in Joplin. The National Women's Law Center is requesting an independent investigation. Leaders Convened Special Session Without Required Notice Theyre elected to do the peoples business, so arent the people entitled to some notice of when and where theyre going to do it? A lawsuit filed Wednesday by Common Cause North Carolina and 10 Carolinians asks a state court to nullify two bills passed at a special session of the state legislature last December because legislative leaders provided no advance public notice of their meeting. The suit cites a provision of the North Carolina Constitution giving citizens a right to instruct their representatives, and to apply to the General Assembly for redress of grievances. The right of the people to instruct their representatives is meaningless if they have no notice and no opportunity to be heard, said Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause North Carolina. The defendants in the case are Lt. Gov. Daniel J. Forest, who was sued in his capacity as president of the state Senate, House Speaker Timothy K. Moore and Senate President Pro Tem Philip E. Berger, the top leaders of the state legislature. The Dec. 14 session was the last in a series of special legislative meetings called after the fiercely-contested November general election, as Republican legislative leaders were reeling at the election of a Democratic governor and residents struggled with the damage caused by forest fires in western North Carolina and by Hurricane Matthew in the states eastern counties. Democrat Roy Cooper unseated incumbent Republican Pat McCrory in the NC governors race. The special session was largely focused on shifting traditional gubernatorial powers to the GOP-controlled legislature. The session was announced at noon on Dec. 14 and convened just two hours later. There was no notice as to the possible legislative subjects of the session, nor any explanation for why a special session was needed, the suit notes. Before this announcement, no legislator had told the public or the media that there would be a Fourth Extra Session, or even that such a session was being considered. The special session lasted just a few hours, running on a schedule that dispensed with the usual rules that allow lobbyists and the public to comment on the bills being considered. The two approved bills made major changes in the structure of state government. One reconstituted the State Board of Elections to install a Republican chairman during major election years and give the legislature the power to appoint half of the boards eight members; all five members of the previous board has been gubernatorial appointees. The bill also converted the states non-partisan elections for seats on the State Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals to partisan contests. The second bill shifted the governors power to appoint leaders of key state agencies to the legislature. We feel like not having notification for the people that this was even a session that was happening is a really important point to make, Phillips told WNCN, the CBS affiliate in Raleigh. The legislation is a little bit of a secondary issue for us. ### While blockchain is among the hottest technologies in the enterprise security, data storage and file-sharing arenas, many experts question its use or even whether it's really as secure as billed. As marketplaces struggle with how best to deploy the distributed ledger technology, IT vendors are beginning to test it in their products -- in some cases, as a reaction to customer inquiries rather than a proactive move. "It's a very hot topic right now," said Zulfikar Ramzan, CTO of RSA Security, a subsidiary of the Dell EMC Infrastructure Solutions Group. "We are definitely getting a lot of inbound inquiries around blockchain and its implication within enterprise environments. I think it's driven largely by the fact that when there's a new technology out there, to some degree people want to be buzzword compliant with the latest and greatest." Ramzan said his customers are asking about blockchain for audit logging and or verifiable logs, which is viewed as a reliable way of tracking what happened in an organization to satisfy regulatory auditors. Other RSA customers are interested in it for user authentication to ensure users are accessing the correct digital records at the right time. "We're examining how blockchain can be used in that context," Ramzan said. "I think it's a very nascent technology. I think it's an area that has gotten a lot of hype, and now it's a question of whether that hype can be converted into reality." Blockchain and Bitcoin Blockchain is a decentralized electronic, encrypted ledger or database platform -- in other words, a way to immutably store digital data so that it can be securely shared across networks and users. While the technology has grown in popularity, mainly because it's the basis for the wildly hyped cryptocurrency and payment platform Bitcoin, many experts are still not sure exactly how it works. Even the founder of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, is a shadowy figure and no one appears to know with certainty who he is or if the name is a pseudonym for a group of developers. Nakamoto, however, holds one million bitcoins, or the equivalent to $1.1 billion. Angus Champion de Crespigny, a Blockchain Leader at Ernst & Young, called blockchain "overhyped" and said many business applications touted as beneficiaries of its use have regulatory or operational issues that can be difficult to solve via one technology alone. "We're seeing interest in using it to propagate security policies and identity access management, but it's early days. We're seeing more vendors producing business specific products, which is really what's needed," de Crespigny said. One problem facing blockchain's use, de Crespigny said, is a 'rip and replace' mentality now popular in enterprise environments, which may not be economical. "We do see identity management, however, as a real beneficiary, [since it] can help establish single customer views [and] streamline onboarding," de Crespigny said. "It's a technology paradigm, similar to saying relational databases: there are many different ways to implement it and different strengths and weaknesses to each implementation. Similarly, [that's true] with the different flavors of private and public blockchains." The real power of blockchain, de Crespigny said, is in public environments such as Bitcoin, but the environment is immature. "It's not to say there aren't benefits within enterprises, particularly when they work across legal entities." Decentralization a feature, not a bug One conundrum facing blockchain adoption is the technology's sheer complexity, which comes from it performing every function without a centralized source of management. "Blockchain's strength is in creating a decentralized, distributed ledger. If you're in an enterprise environment, in many cases you don't need that decentralization. You can achieve the same objectives in a centralized fashion and it's much easier if you use a single point of trust," Ramzan said. "That's partly what we're trying to help our customers understand. They understand the benefits of blockchain," Ramzan continued. "They have the why, but they don't necessarily have the understanding of the how or the what. Our goal is to help them make a determination [about whether] this is a better way to achieve their ends." For many, blockchain's complexity -- stemming from its decentralized structure -- is reason enough to give organizations pause in adopting it. "It's difficult to understand the way it performs encryption," said Serguei Beloussov, CEO of leading data backup provider Acronis. Beloussov has a PhD in computer science and has co-authored more than 200 U.S. technology patents. "I have several very smart computer scientists who tell me it's major overkill. And, if it's overkill, then it's secure but it's a way of securing something that's unecessary," Beloussov said in an interview. "Then I have several computer scientists who tell me it's really not secure -- they believe you can penetrate it." For his part, Beloussov believes blockchain - while extremely complex, is by its very nature secure. Acronis embraces blockchain In February, Acronis for the first time introduced blockchain technology in its True Image 2017 data backup software. The blockchain platform is also used as a data certification and verification element in True Image's ASign application -- an electronic document signing or notary service. Within a couple of months, Acronis also plans to introduce blockchain for data verification in its Acronis Backup 12 Advanced, its core backup product for small and mid-sized businesses. Currently, the company is running a public beta test on Backup 12. "We deal with data management, effectively we're backup, but eventually data management software, and data management software needs to make sure that the data is immutable and you can control access to data in some smart way," Beloussov said. "So it's about controlling access to data in a smart way." Beloussov sees Bitcoin's use of blockchain technology as its most basic capability -- as a way to make digital objects unchangeable. But eventually he sees it having merit as a way to efficiently create smart contracts. For example, HealthCoin is a blockchain-based database that can be used by physicians and other healthcare providers to confirm that patients are following treatment regimes to avoid complications from long-term diseases such as congestive heart failure and diabetes. That Healthcoin network creates a marketplace for employers, healthcare plans, hospitals and life insurers to financially reward employees for taking part in proven prevention methods. Employees' actions can be tracked through wearables and rewarded with the Healthcoins, which are placed in a digital wallet. Blockchain allows a set of users on unrelated servers to control digital records, which it calls blocks, in a distributed manner. Each block has a timestamp and is linked to a previous block, creating an unbroken chain -- meaning each block is its own unchangeable record linked to that user. Blockchain can only be updated by consensus between participants in the system, and when new data is entered, it can never be erased. The blockchain contains a true and verifiable record of each and every transaction ever made in the system. A constantly evolving technology Like the internet itself, blockchain's capabilities are continually evolving with new features or add-on applications. Since it is not regulated by a single control center as there might be with a system administration, there's no single point of failure. In an enterprise, theoretically, there would be no need for an IT professional to monitor security on a blockchain database. There are several general uses for blockchain platforms. There are public blockchains, which allow anyone to see or send transactions as long as they're part of the consensus process. There are consortium blockchains where only a pre-selected number of nodes are authorized to use the ledger. For example, a group of banks and their clearing house might use blockchain as part of the trade clearing process where each node is associated with a step in the verification process. And, then there are private blockchains, where the ability to write to a ledger is restricted to a single organization. Acronis' version of the distributed database software is based on Ethereum, a custom-built platform that was introduced in 2013 by developer Vitalik Buterin. At the time, he was just 19. The Ehtereum platform was originally used for verifying online payments, but its capabilities grew under the Swiss nonprofit Ethereum Foundation. In January, a report from Accenture claimed blockchain technology could reduce infrastructure costs for eight of the world's 10 largest investment banks by an average of 30%, "translating to $8 billion to $12 billion in annual cost savings for those banks." The savings, according to Accenture, would come in replacing traditionally fragmented database systems that support transaction processing with blockchain's distributed ledger system. That would allow banks to reduce or eliminate reconciliation costs, "while improving data quality." In February, Accenture, J.P. Morgan Chase and Microsoft were among 30 companies that announced the formation of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, aimed at creating a standard version of the platform for financial transaction processing and tracking. "Given the tremendous cost of data reconciliation -- which is part of every aspect of the capital markets industry -- it's no surprise that we've seen a significant amount of investment in blockchain technology, David Treat, managing director for Accenture's financial services industry blockchain practice, said a statement. "But, as with any emerging technology, understanding what these investments might yield is a challenge." This story, "Blockchain: 'Overhyped' buzzword or real-deal enterprise solution?" was originally published by Computerworld . A scoop for the Evening Standard. George Osborne, the papers editor and a former Chancellor of the Exchequer, is standing down as the MP for Tatton. In a letter to his constituency association he says: I am stepping down from the House of Commons for now. But I will remain active in the debate about our countrys future and on the issues I care about, like the success of the Northern Powerhouse. I want a Britain that is free, open, diverse and works with other nations to defend our democratic values in the world. I will go on fighting for that Britain I love from the editors chair of a great newspaper. Its still too early to be writing my memoirs. Osborne added: At the age of 45, I dont want to spend the rest of my life just being an ex-Chancellor. I want new challenges. Im very excited about the opportunity to edit the Evening Standard. Ive met the team there, and their energy and commitment to this great newspaper are positively infectious. He also promised his editorship would give the public straight facts and informed opinion to help them to make the big decisions Britain now faces about the kind of country we want to be. That starts with the coverage of this general election. No doubt Osborne will have considered that he had little prospect of a return to the cabinet in a May administration. His support for the UKs membership of the Single Market is very much at odds with the Government objectives in the Brexit negotiations. The General Election result is expected to secure a substantial Conservative majority and thus to strengthen the Prime Ministers authority. Osborne puts in a reference to his departure being for now but he evidently could not envisage the prospects of a comeback any time soon. Of course there was also plenty of criticism for Osbornes earlier intention to combine his roles of editor of a London newspaper with being an MP for the north west of England. Paul had earlier reflected on this conflict of loyalties. So Osbornes decision to stand down from Parliament is perfectly understandable. Yet it is also rather a pity for two reasons. First of all it is a victory for those with the misguided notion that being an MP should be a full time job. Secondly it means that one of the great politicians of our age will no longer be a member of the House of Commons. This is particularly unfortunate after the departure of David Cameron. It used to be the case that politicians who had achieved high office continued as MPs for many years later Jim Callaghan, Ted Heath, Denis Healey, Enoch Powell, Tony Benn and so on. That greatly enhanced Parliamentary debate. Osbornes decision is part of a regrettable trend. During the 2015 general election, some Labour figures complained that there seemed to be an unholy (and entirely unofficial) alliance between the Conservatives, the party of the Union, and the SNP. Then they were referring to the Tories breakthrough election gambit of warning voters in England and Wales that Ed Miliband would be propped up by the Scottish Nationalists a tactic they look set to repeat, if the Prime Ministers speech of yesterday is any indication. For Scottish Labour, this never ended. Scottish politics has continued to revolve ever more tightly around the constitution, with the Conservatives and SNP profiting as the clearest advocates of either side. So its not a surprise to see the Scotsman reporting that both Theresa May and Nicola Sturgeon intend to put the question of another independence referendum front-and-centre in their election campaigns north of the border. In fact, this election is the latest indication that the Prime Minister is pursuing the most muscular, confrontational, and possibly riskiest (or at least, least risk-averse) unionist strategy since John Majors. It will likely draw criticism from the devolutionary classes of Edinburgh, Cardiff, and Belfast alike but those bubbles are not their nations. It may go horribly wrong. Its hard, however, to see that May can be blamed for trying. After 20 years its plain that the more powers! strategy of buying the nationalists off year-by-year hasnt stabilised the constitution, bolstered Britain, or even improved the quality of administration. That so many unionists can only prescribe more of the same, with no clear case for why itll be different this time, is testament to the intellectual inertia that has set in since 1999. For good or ill, May seems to have snapped out of it. In fact, in an op-ed for the Scotsman shes even done the unthinkable and championed Westminster: This will be a United Kingdom General Election to elect representatives to our UK Parliament in Westminster. That institution is of huge importance to every part of our Union. Unique in containing representatives of every community in each of the four nations of our kingdom, it is the democratic embodiment of our Union of nations and people. Theres less consensus on how this will play out. Alex Massie strikes a pessimistic stance in the Spectator, arguing that calling an election puts paid to the Governments now is not the time tactic for delaying a second independence referendum. For what its worth, this isnt clear: a general election and an independence referendum are very different votes, and the rationale that Scots should see the post-Brexit world that Scotland will inhabit before they choose now to navigate it is still sound. It may be that the apparent double standard finally sparks the outrage-fuelled nationalist surge that pessimistic unionist-Remainers have been predicting continually for the last year, but given that most Scots still quite clearly dont want a vote that seems a stretch. Kenny Farquharson, perhaps surprisingly, paints a more optimistic picture for unionists, highlighting some of the challenges facing the SNP, not least of which is drawing even with their astonishing 2015 performance. Iain Martin sets out the thesis at greater length on Reaction. That the Nationalists will win the Scottish election very handsomely is no in doubt, but as Massies own readers will remember results are about perceived momentum as well as raw numbers. The SNP did very well in the 2016 Scottish elections, after all, but fell back from their previous high whilst a Tory surge became the story of the night. How will the Tories do? Ruth Davidsons statement was bullish, and she will almost certainly have been consulted before May made the decision to call a vote. Assuming that David Mundell can see off an SNP-Green pact in his constituency it seems probable there will be more Conservative MPs in Scotland than at present. Whats harder to judge is how many more. This map, which purports to show what would happen under unsourced current projections, is almost certainly over-stating things but nicely illustrates the areas where the Tories may pick up seats: the Borders and the North East, plus the special case of East Renfrewshire. This site will probably do a proper battleground survey before the election, but for now seats to watch include Berwickshire, Roxburgh, and Selkirk, where the SNP majority over the Tories was just 328 votes in 2015, and West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, which was a Conservative target last time. Although the SNP majority is solid Moray may be interesting too: not only is it home to Angus Robertson (the SNPs Westminster leader) but also came within a hairs breadth of voting Leave. The Tories slashed the Nationalist majority in its counterpart seat in the 2016 Holyrood elections as well. Such a scalp would put a big dent in the Nationalist narrative. Jeremy Corbyn ended not with a bang but a whimper. So anti-climactic was the end of his speech that it was impossible to know whether he had finished. He sat down, but it seemed possible that he was at last giving way to one of the Conservatives, and would in due course resume his remarks. Mark Francois (Con, Rayleigh and Wickford) rose on a point of order and asked: Is that it? The Speaker, John Bercow, indicated that to rule on this question would be to exceed his powers. One could see from the Labour benches that they wished never to see or hear from Mr Corbyn again. One beholds a legion of the damned, who know they are being led over a cliff, and have no idea how to stop. Even the Gadarene swine, it has been said, thought the going was good for the first half of the way. But most of these Labour MPs never for one moment thought Mr Corbyn was leading them in the right direction, and his performances at the Dispatch Box have only confirmed them in that view. During Prime Ministers Questions, Theresa May took a mercilessly efficient relish in pointing out that almost all the Labour MPs who asked questions have disowned Mr Corbyn. Hilary Benn (Lab, Leeds Central) closed his eyes as if in prayer. It must sometimes occur to him that if Labour is to be led by a Bennite, his late father, Tony Benn, would have played the role with a thousand times more flair than this poor, dim-witted acolyte will ever display. A Labour woman MP wore a look of blank despair and took refuge in her mobile phone. Most of the Labour women decided from the start of PMQs that electronic life was preferable to watching Mr Corbyns death throes. But Yvette Cooper (Lab, Pontefract and Castleford) showed a glimpse of the star quality which was so sadly elusive when she stood against Mr Corbyn for the leadership. She contested Mrs Mays claim that Parliament is making Brexit difficult: three-quarters of the Commons and two-thirds of the Lords had voted for it, so thats not true, is it? Sounding like a stern, old-fashioned, morally irreproachable school teacher, she concluded: We cant believe a single word she says. Labour cheered for a moment. But mostly, the Tories cheered. They raised an unusually hearty cheer as Mrs May entered the Chamber, went on cheering her at regular intervals, asked a number of shamelessly sycophantic questions, and just for variety, gave Mr Corbyn an occasional ironical cheer, far louder than anything provided by his own side. Angus Robertson, for the Scots Nats, always sounds more solid than Mr Corbyn, and today sought to embarrass the Prime Minister by asking her if she regards her opponents as saboteurs, a word used in the headline on the front of this mornings Daily Mail. Mrs May said a free press is important. Mr Robertson wanted to know why shes running scared of a televised debate with Nicola Sturgeon? Tim Farron, for the Lib Dems, posed the same question: What is she scared of? The Prime Minister asked, rather in the manner of one of the riddles which come out of a Christmas cracker, what Mr Corbyn, Mrs Sturgeon and Mr Farron have in common, and went on: They want to unite together to divide our country and we will not let them do it. That was as dismal a response as one usually gets out of a cracker. For it did seem to imply that all opposition is inherently disloyal. If one were to receive a pound for every time the Prime Minister mentions the words strong and stable leadership, or some variant of them, one would be a millionaire by the end of the general election. This Fuhrerprinzip sounds a bit alien to British ears, especially as Mr Corbyn puts up so little resistance to it. Our political tradition relies on leadership which however authoritative it may appear, is actually weak and unstable. For despite the intrusion of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act, a general election can be held at any time. Mrs May shows every sign of fighting this election at the top of her form, and with complete professionalism. Today she walked all over Mr Corbyn. It was not an edifying spectacle, but it was convincing in its way. And how many election campaigns can one remember which were edifying? CORNWALL, Ontario Firefighters were called to reports of smoke at a Fourth Street duplex apartment on the night of Tuesday, April 18. Firefighters were called when smoke was detected coming from a wall in the upstairs apartment of the duplex. They arrived on the scene just before 9 p.m. There were at least two fire trucks that responded to the call, as well as police and paramedics although no reports of injuries were available. Firefighters setup ladders to the upper floor of the duplex and were attacking the exterior of the wall with chainsaws to get at the fire. They were also spraying most of the upper floor with high pressure water hoses and power was turned off in the building. A resident of the duplex who did not wish to be named told Seaway News that the upstairs resident informed him of smoke in her apartment and that as far as he knew, everyone got out safely. We heard there was smoke coming from upstairs and I got my wife, kids and dog and we got out of there, he said. The resident said that it was an old building that had been built in the 1920s and that the property had been for sale for some time. Another passerby who was watching the fire crews at work said that this was the third major blaze on that part of Fourth Street West that year. He remembered another major fire just a few houses down that occurred around Christmas. Flash As the U.S. laptop ban on some countries in Middle East has weighed on traveling between Dubai and the U.S., passenger demand from China to Dubai has soared, a senior official of Emirates Airline said on Tuesday. Thierry Antinori, Chief Commercial Officer of the airline in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), made the remarks while addressing the media ahead of the annual tourism fair, Arabian Travel Market in Dubai. "I do not want to go deep there as we will report annual results in May, but there are indications and quotes from industry experts, like from the CEO of Marriott Hotels Mr. Arne Sorenson, that the Middle East passenger demand for flights to the United States declined by double-digit rates," Antinori said. Large-sized electronic devices like laptops and tablet computers have been banned for six months from March 21 on direct flights to the U.S. from 10 airports in eight countries, namely Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Turkey and Morocco. The state-owned carrier Emirates, the biggest airline in the Middle East, flies to 11 destinations across the U.S. Incoming travelers from China, on the other hand, "increased in the last month by 33 percent," he said. Earlier in the week, the UAE General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs said up to 265,698 Chinese tourists visited Dubai in the past five months since UAE began granting visa on arrival for Chinese citizens. New flights to Chinese cities Yinchuan and Zhengzhou as Emirates' fourth and fifth destination in China in May 2016 were fueling the success story, he added. Earlier in the year, the government-owned Dubai Tourism and Commerce Marketing said visitors from China to Dubai in 2016 stood at 540,000, up 20 percent from a year earlier. Dubai aims to attract at least 20 million visitors by 2020, when the state hosts the World Expo. CORNWALL, Ontario The Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario (CDSBEO) staff is proposing to close three cornwall schools in their final Pupil Accommodation Review report to their trustees for their May 2 meeting. The report proposes that Immaculate Conception Catholic School, St. Columbans Catholic School and Sacred Heart Catholic school all be closed between June 30, 2018 and June 30, 2019. Students from Immaculate Conception would be sent to Bishop Macdonell and St. Peters and that St. Columbans and Sacred Heart be combined into one Sacred Heart school in a new building possibly at a new location. The plan also proposes that all remaining elementary schools become Jk-to Grade 6 schools and that 7-8 students be sent to St. Joseph Catholic Secondary School. The report states that an addition to St. Joes may have to be added in order to accommodate all incoming 7 & 8 students. The report suggests that changes be made to the high school and elementary school boundries, so some students at schools not closing and who are not in Grade 7 & 8 might still get moved under this plan. Maps on the proposed boundary changes can be found here. The final proposed suggestion in the report is that St. Matthews Catholic school be moved to a new, bigger location so that it too may accommodate grade 7 & 8 students from its feeder schools. If followed through, the reports recommendations would eliminate 697 empty spaces in the CSDBEO in Cornwall, which translates into a 97 percent utilization rate through to 2029. The CDSBEO trustees will vote on this plan at their meeting on May 2. Flash Britain's former Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne quit Wednesday as a member of Parliament (MP). His decision was announced in the London Evening Standard, the newspaper which recently named him as its new editor. The newspaper said although Osborne is standing down as a politician he will carry on "fighting for that Britain I love" as editor of the Evening Standard. In a letter revealing his decision to Conservatives in his Tatton constituency in northwest England, he said he was thrilled to be taking charge of "a great newspaper". Osborne hinted he could make a political comeback in future, saying he was leaving Westminster "for now". He wrote: "I am stepping down from the House of Commons - for now. But I will remain active in the debate about our country's future and on the issues I care about, like the success of the Northern Powerhouse." Explaining his decision to step down, he said: "At the age of 45, I don't want to spend the rest of my life just being an ex-Chancellor. I want new challenges." Osborne has been an MP for 16 years and was the youngest Conservative MP of his generation in 2001. He served as Chancellor in David Cameron's government, but Theresa May fired Osborne after she succeeded Cameron at 10 Downing Street. After that Osborne became a back bench MP, taking on a number of external jobs. Continue Reading Below Advertisement In lieu of photos, try to picture the exact opposite of this. Gwen told us that after a while, you become desensitized. And once you lose enough of your soul, that's when the government lets you analyze videos of U.S. soldiers committing war crimes. "There's another video in which Hummers drive down the road and there are kids standing by the side, and they throw candy off to the kids as they pass, or in the road ahead. They do that because if the kids refuse to go pick up the candy from a certain spot, it means there's an IED there. Or if there is one and don't know, they run over and set it off -- which minimizes the likelihood that the Hummer and soldiers will sustain any injury, but they are also innocent kids. We don't do that anymore, though." Can't have child blood staining your Humvee, after all. Continue Reading Below Advertisement Gwen continues: "There's another practice we stopped using, they are called cluster bombs. It's a bombardment of a ton of can-sized bombs. Unfortunately, the unexploded ones look almost exactly like the cans of food that the UN delivers, so when kids run up to grab one, it goes off. But we are told this is all acceptable collateral damage." Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images Continue Reading Below Advertisement The families may tend to see it differently. It's one thing when you have to watch terrorists murder someone. But when the supposed good guys are murdering kids? That can really mess with your head. Is the Galaxy S8+ really as cool as Samsung wants you to believe? The CRN Test Center got its hands on the latest iteration of Samsung's flagship phone and the answer is pretty simple: Yes. The Galaxy S8+ hits stores Friday, along with the Galaxy S8. The major leap forward with the S8+ device is the display -- 6.2-inches -- which is enormous by iPhone standards. The giant display makes looking through an Excel spreadsheet or PowerPoint doc on a phone a viable experience and, for off-duty hours, watching Netflix or gaming makes more sense on the S8+ than on just about any other phone out there. Need to know more about DeX, a feature that allows the S8 or S8+ to turn into a desktop? How does the S8 stack up against the iPhone 7 or Google Pixel? Are you simply just curious about the battery life? The CRN Test Center has everything you need to know before making an upgrade decision later this week. Review: Samsung Blows Past Apple With The Galaxy S8+ The CRN Test Center went hands-on with the 6.2-inch smartphone, which is destined to be one of the best devices of 2017. 5 Things We Love About The Samsung Galaxy S8+ The CRN Test Center rounds up the best features of Samsung's new large-screened smartphone including a huge display and other premium specs. 10 Things To Know About The Samsung Galaxy S8 The CRN Test Center was on hand for a demo of the new devices in New York, which includes several new features and specs not found in the Galaxy S7 or Apple iPhone 7. 5 Business-Friendly Features Of The Samsung Galaxy S8 Samsung's new smartphones include new features such as DeX (for Android desktop computing), iris scanning, the Bixby virtual assistant and split-screen mode. Head-To-Head: Samsung Galaxy S8 Vs. Google Pixel The CRN Test Center compares the premium Android smartphone offerings from Samsung and Google. Here's how the Samsung Galaxy S8 stacks up with Google's Pixel. Head-To-Head: LG G6 Vs. Samsung Galaxy S8 The CRN Test Center compares two new smartphones with large, nearly border-free displays. Here's how the Samsung Galaxy S8 matches up with the LG G6. Channel programs News President Trump: Calls To End Abuses of H-1B Visa Program Are Being Answered For First Time Michael Novinson Share this President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday to look into addressing perceived abuse of the H-1B skilled worker visa program by IT outsourcing firms. "Right now, H-1B visas are awarded in a totally random lottery. And that's wrong," Trump told workers at Kenosha, Wis.-based tool manufacturer Snap-On Inc. "Instead, they should be given to the most skilled and highest-paid applicants." Trump said widespread abuse of programs such as the H-1B visa has resulted in American employees of all backgrounds being replaced by workers brought in from other countries for less pay. Programs like the H-1B visa should never be used to replace Americans, according to Trump. [RELATED: Solution Providers: Trump H-1B Visa Executive Order Could Raise Salaries, 'Hurt Productivity' -- Resulting In More Jobs Moving Overseas] "American workers have long called for reforms to end these visa abuses," Trump said. "And today, their calls are being answered for the first time." Trump said better enforcement of rules related to the visa program will give American workers a fair and level playing field for the first time in decades. All told, Trump said the visa reforms are aimed at ensuring jobs are offered to American workers first. The H-1B is the only guest worker program with no requirement to first search for U.S. workers, according to Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at the Economic Policy Institute. Both the H-2A unskilled agricultural visa and the H-2B unskilled non-agricultural visa require this, Costa told CRN in 2015, with a job registry database in place for the H-2B program. But the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a research group sponsored by several tech companies, said requiring applicants to advertise job openings for an extended period to conclusively prove that no U.S. workers are available could be so onerous that it renders the H-1B program ineffective. "We are talking about fast-moving industries. Companies get opportunities, and they have to jump on them," Robert Atkinson, ITIF's president, said in a statement. "Delaying them for too long would be bad for innovation, job creation and growth." A senior Trump administration official identified Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Cognizant as companies that benefit from the existing random lottery allocation system. The official told reporters during a briefing Monday that those three companies have an average wage for H-1B visas of between $60,000 and $65,000, well below the $150,000 earned by the median Silicon Valley software engineer. "Companies like Tata, Infosys, Cognizant will apply for a very large number of [H-1B] visas by putting extra tickets in the lottery raffle," said the official, who gave the briefing on the condition of anonymity. "You have contracting firms that are not skills employers, that oftentimes use workers for entry-level positions, and they capture the lion's share of H-1B visas." Tata, Infosys and Cognizant didn't respond to multiple requests for comment. Infosys and Tata were the two biggest users of the H-1B visa program in the U.S. government's 2016 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, applying for 25,405 and 13,134 visas, respectively, and offering an average salary of $81,705 and $76,099, respectively, according to U.S. Department of Labor data compiled by Myvisajobs.com. Cognizant, meanwhile, was the ninth biggest user of the H-1B program in 2016, applying for 5,370 visas and offering an average salary of $74,628. All told, 236,000 H-1B applications were submitted for 85,000 available slots in 2016. Solution providers, though, told CRN that Trump's executive order could ultimately resort in more tech jobs being moved overseas. Alpha NetSolutions President Tim Shea said the executive order will raise U.S. tech salaries and force the Millbury, Mass.-based solution provider to simply not fill job slots or move them to contract workers overseas. Another solution provider CEO, who did not want to be identified, said the executive order will hinder productivity and have a negative effect not only on the technology sector, but also various industries that are looking to hire software engineers. "Donald Trump wants to hire Americans," the CEO said, "but this is just another excuse [for U.S. companies] to outsource to other countries where they can get the labor less expensively." Cloud News New Docker Open-Source Projects Promote Wide Developer Collaboration Phil Harvey Share this Docker released two new open-source projects this week that help developers use and find specific components to add to their containerized software applications. The upshot of these in-the-trenches advances is that these new projects broaden the palette of options for solution providers helping enterprises modernize their IT infrastructure. The first project, dubbed The Moby Project, is a workflow tool that helps developers assemble container-based systems that are comprised of component libraries, frameworks and reference blueprints. Developers can work with even non-Docker components to help one another avoid "reinventing the wheel" when it comes to building specialized applications, according to Solomon Hykes, Docker's founder and CTO. The second project, called Linux Kit, helps developers quickly build a secure, lean, portable Linux subsystem. This follows a trend where developers are using just parts of the OS, allowing them to build embedded applications more easily. [Related: Q&A: Docker CEO Ben Golub On Transforming Enterprise IT -- And The Channel] Usually, a Linux OS distribution comes as a complete package, with tools, services and features bundled with the OS. With the Linux Kit users would be able to build a Linux subsystem using only the services and features they need for the application or service they're supporting. "Instead of starting from a traditional Linux distribution and trying to shrink it down and make it optimized for containers, we've started [Linux Kit] from nothing and added the bare minimum kernel, the bare minimum system libraries and container runtime and that's it," said Hykes during his keynote at DockerCon in Austin, Texas. "Everything else is optional because everything else is a container." Docker joins a wider community of companies looking to put their own stamp on Linux. As previously reported in CRN, CoreOS was the first company to strip down Linux to make it more efficient for use in distributed systems that were built with Docker containers. Later, Rancher Labs released what it called the world's lightest Linux distribution for servers by small footprint by eliminating Linux system libraries and utilities outside the kernel. "Increasingly our enterprise customers are seeing that the container is the platform, and they look at the Linux OS as a feature set that they'd like the platform to have," said Scott Johnston, Docker's COO. "Partners interested in selling Docker Enterprise Edition and Docker Datacenter and Linux Kit is our way to collaborate with the community to make our OS better, but also make others better." The volume of open-source software has helped speed up how quickly software development problems are solved. The competitive battle lines have shifted, too. Not all technology companies in the data center would declare that they're at odds with other players, but they are all competing for a finite amount of enterprise IT spending that shrinks each year as systems and technologies become more efficient. "This is not a Kubernetes versus Docker war," said Chris Ciborowski, CEO of Nebulaworks, a container-focused solution provider based in Southern California. "They're really competing against Pivotal, VMware, Red Hat and larger organizations that own the data center. To monetize and grab market share, you've got to have a Linux distribution. So how do you put a new skin on it to make it seem new and innovative?" Ciborowski added: "If you're using their Linux distribution, it removes another set of questions that are a barrier for adoption, and you can potentially shift that opportunity cost from one part of the data center to the other." During the keynote session at DockerCon, Linux Kit was used as part of a demo that showed a software developing building a specialized operating system, running in containers, on multiple computing environments Mac, Windows and bare metal. That was part of a demo showing how The Moby Project gave that developer a shortcut to pulling together Docker and non-Docker components quickly to create an application. These new projects do open the door for solution providers to become more involved with container tech development. That's a good thing, too, because often the problems solved and shared via open source by innovative technology companies like Docker and Google may not line up squarely with what an enterprise needs to do in their businesses. "The question I always ask is how much of these things are technologies looking for a problem to solve, versus a problem that needs a technology to solve it," Ciborowski said. Data center News IBM Reports 20th Straight Quarterly Revenue Drop, While Cloud Computing Grew 33 Percent Rick Whiting Share this IBM reported the 20th straight quarter of year-over-year revenue declines Tuesday as the company said that sales in its first quarter ended March 31 were down 2.8 percent, despite sales gains in the vendor's cloud services and other "strategic imperative" products and services. The company's stock dropped nearly 5 percent in after-hours trading on the news of the financial results, which significantly missed financial analysts' revenue expectations. IBM reported total revenue of $18.16 billion for the quarter, down 2.8 percent from $18.68 billion in the first quarter of 2016. That fell short of the $18.39 billion Wall Street analysts had been expecting, according to Thomson Reuters. [Related: From A Partner Program Perspective, IBM Says Its Cognitive Transformation Is Already Complete] Net income for the quarter was $1.75 billion, down 13 percent from $2.01 billion one year ago. GAAP earnings per share were $1.86 compared to $2.09 one year ago. IBM emphasized the first-quarter growth in its strategic imperatives including cloud computing (up 33 percent to $3.5 billion), analytics (up 6 percent), mobile (up 20 percent) and security (up 9 percent) product and service offerings. "In the first quarter, both the IBM Cloud and our cognitive solutions again grew strongly, which fueled robust performance in our strategic imperatives," said President and CEO Ginny Rometty in a statement. "In addition, we are developing and bringing to market emerging technologies such as blockchain and quantum, revolutionizing how enterprises will tackle complex business problems in the years ahead." Strategic imperatives have generated $33.6 billion in revenue over the last 12 months, according to IBM. In the first quarter, they generated $7.8 billion in sales, representing 42 percent of the company's total revenue. But IBM's challenge is that revenue from its older legacy businesses and product lines is declining, even as it spends resources to ramp up the new products and services. Most of the company's business segments recorded revenue declines during the quarter. Global Business Services was down 3 percent to $4.01 billion from $4.13 billion one year before; Technology Services & Cloud Platforms was down 2.5 percent to $8.22 billion from $8.42 billion one year earlier, and Systems was down nearly 17 percent to $1.40 billion from $1.68 billion one year ago. The Cognitive Solutions segment did see growth in the quarter, up 2 percent to $4.06 billion from $3.98 billion one year earlier. On an earnings call with analysts, Chief Financial Officer Martin Schroeter said IBM had seen good growth in the company's Watson services for vertical industries, such as financial services, health care and life sciences, as well as Watson in technology areas like security. "We also had good growth in Watson IoT," he said. But new product and service development have increased IBM's spending, holding down profitability. "We continue to invest in our strategic imperatives and build out our practices around cognitive, cloud, mobile and digital design," Schroeter said. "Over the last year, we've added nearly 8,000 resources to these businesses. There also continue to be accounts where we are investing more to deliver on important client commitment." IBM is expecting profitability to improve in the second half of 2017, Schroeter said. The CFO cited new systems products the company will bring to market, lower development costs associated with those products, the expected signing of some significant Global Technology Services contracts, and expected growth in Global Business Services revenue. Networking News Partners: Riverbed Hits SD-WAN Home Run With Plan To Acquire Xirrus Mark Haranas Share this Partners are cheering Riverbed Technology's move Wednesday to acquire wireless specialist Xirrus, saying it will give the channel more firepower in the fast-growing software-defined WAN market. "SD-WAN is one of the fastest-growing technologies this year. Riverbed is obviously seeing the opportunity as well and this Xirrus acquisition adds some really great capabilities," said Rob Steele, converged practice lead for RoundTower Technologies, a Cincinnati-based solution provider and Riverbed partner. Research firm IDC expects the SD-WAN market to grow at a 90 percent compound annual growth rate over the next four years, topping $6 billion by 2020. Research firm Gartner, meanwhile, said that by the end of 2019 30 percent of enterprises will have deployed SD-WAN technology in their branches, up from less than 1 percent in 2015. [Related: Riverbed To Acquire Xirrus To Boost SD-WAN And Cloud Networking Solutions] Riverbed said it plans to leverage Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based Xirrus' technology to extend Riverbed SteelConnect to the wireless network edge. San Francisco-based Riverbed touts SteelConnect as a differentiated SD-WAN offering that provides simplicity, network and application intelligence, and agility with centralized and unified management spanning the entire network fabric with policy-based orchestration. SteelConnect also provides connectivity to Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. "This could really enhance their portfolio and make SteelConnect a more complete solution," said Pat Grillo, president and CEO of Branchburg, N.J.-based Atrion Communication Resources, which partners with Riverbed. Grillo said Atrion is seeing more interest from customers around SD-WAN this year with businesses seeking SD-WAN solutions with advanced capabilities, which Xirrus is bringing to the table. "By combining the advanced Wi-Fi capabilities of Xirrus and SteelConnect's intuitive and powerful orchestration, we're taking a bold step to bring the power of policy-based network management out to the wireless edge," said Paul O'Farrell, senior vice president of the Riverbed SteelConnect, SteelHead and SteelFusion Business Unit, in a statement. Steele said RoundTower is helping customers transform legacy infrastructure into a software-defined data center to give business more flexibility and agility with their networks compared to traditional router-based WANs. SD-WAN also helps customers connect to cloud environments or to multiple locations while saving money on private connections, such as MPLS. "SD-WAN becomes a critical piece in this new architecture it allows customers to take advantage of multiple transport options, enhanced security and automated provisioning," said Steele. The SD-WAN vendor landscape is heating up with startups raising hundreds of millions in funding over the past year, including VeloCloud, who just nabbed $35 million in a Series D round in March. Master agents like WTG are also jumping into the SD-WAN market. With the SD-WAN industry moving at a rapid pace, partners are urging Riverbed to implement Xirrus technology into the company as soon as possible to give the channel a leg up on the competition in 2017. "It will ultimately come down to how fast Riverbed can integrate it and get it to market while others are currently out there already delivering more mature solutions," said RoundTower's Steele. "At the end of the day, though, it's software-defined, and it will only get better with time." Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Riverbed expects to close on the Xirrus deal in April. Security News Symantec Sues Zscaler For Seven Additional Patent Infringements Around Network Security Technologies Sarah Kuranda Share this Symantec is adding to the list of patent infringement allegations it has made against Zscaler, saying Tuesday it has filed a second lawsuit against the company for an additional seven patent infringements. Zscaler offers a security platform that uses a cloud-based firewall proxy architecture to deliver a portfolio of Software-as-a-Service web and network security offerings. The lawsuit, filed with the U.S. Federal District Court for the District of Delaware, alleges that Zscaler violated Symantec's patents around web security, security scanning, data loss prevention, intrusion prevention, and intrusion signature analysis. The network security technologies in this second lawsuit largely surround Symantec's acquisition of Blue Coat Systems, which was completed last summer. The lawsuit said the patent infringement predates the formation of Zscaler. [Related: Symantec Sues IT Cloud Security Vendor Zscaler For Patent Infringement] Symantec's first lawsuit, filed in December of last year, alleged Zscaler violated Symantec's patents around web security, data loss prevention, threat prevention, access control and antivirus. We are taking this additional action because we believe that Zscaler is continuing to infringe the intellectual property of Symantec and Blue Coat, said Scott Taylor, executive vice president, general counsel and secretary of Mountain View, Calif.-based Symantec, in a statement. Symantec has a responsibility to its shareholders and customers to protect the companys investments in innovative technologies. Symantec will continue to vigorously defend its valuable portfolio of patents and other intellectual property assets. Zscaler, San Jose, Calif., did not respond to CRN requests for comment on the latest lawsuit. Wade Wyant, CEO of Grand Rapids, Mich.-based ITS Partners, said he thinks Symantec stepping up to protect its brand and technology is a good thing. Symantec overall has been more active as a company in recent months, both around innovation and getting its name out in the marketplace, which is great for partners, he said. "I just think seeing some activity and fight inside of Symantec is good," Wyant said. "Seeing them be active is a good sign to me and a sign that the new leadership isn't standing on the sidelines. They're out there assuring their technology is differentiated. It's a positive thing to see." Wyant said he also sees the lawsuit as a way for Symantec to get its name out there and establish itself as a thought leader in the market and as a patent holder. Symantec said it could file additional claims as it continues to investigate the issue. Everyone knows the story of the three little pigs. Pigs #1 and #2 built houses of straw and wood; the wolf was able to blow their houses down, and presumably have them for a nice barbecue lunch. Pig #3 built his house out of brick and survived the wolfs attack. In fact, the wolf fell down the chimney and was lunch himself. Pig #3 built security into his house, whereas the others did not. This story provides a nice feeling for security professionals. We start with a good foundation and add walls and roof. Then we are safe. We are clearly as smart as pig #3. We will build security into our system and survive attack. Our program managers and developers will be satisfied. Yes, building security in has long been a goal for secure software systems. The question is: is this concept still relevant? This post argues that it is obsolete. Since innovation built on software is cutting across all industries, it is important to get this right. In security, the idea has been to build security in, as opposed to bolting it on. The FTC tells us to do the same thing with privacy. Since I have recently had the opportunity to research federal practices in this area, I will cite some of those references. A good site for historical information is Build Security In, an official website of DHS. This is a collection of best practice articles on the topic; most are from 2013, some go back to 2005. Another reference is NIST SP 800-64, Rev 2 (2008): "Security Considerations in the Systems Development Lifecycle". This document talks about building security into their IT development processes and build in security. SP 800-64 is especially aligned with the linear waterfall development process. The most recent NIST publication on systems security is SP 800-160 (2016): "Systems Security Engineering". This document takes a different approach and describes security as an emergent property of a system, meaning that system security results from many things coming together to produce a state or condition [of security]. For example, I consider the buoyancy of a modern military ship to be an emergent property of the ship. All of the components individually will sink. Put together the right way, operated the right way, maintained the right way and defended the right way, it floats. SP 800-160 says that you need to orchestrate a number of security processes correctly to build secure systems. Figure 4 in 800-160 outlines these 30 processes. You should review these to see if you are including them in your development life cycle. Pig #3 unfortunately did not take this approach. A group of wolves surrounded his house (wolves hunt in packs). Lacking an alarm system, pig #3 was not able to summon help. Then one of the wolves, in sheeps clothing, knocked on the front door, looking for a charitable donation. Pig #3 became lunch as well. Systems development teams face the same problems today. Threats are not built-in to initial risk analyses, they are constantly changing. If a new open source vulnerability shows up in your production code, how fast can you react? With sprints producing new releases every two weeks, and DevOps teams deploying them into production, you cant expect developers alone to build in security. They will need a whole ecosystem supporting that goal. Its time to start seeing your secure development processes as an interconnected systemor you may become lunch, too. Add your comments to our Facebook page if your house is secure that is. Chinas hand in the cookie jar? Nation state or corporate espionage? Some themes change and others stay the same, this theme continues to morph as the China, its state-owned enterprises and conglomerates with ties to the government continue to vacuum up global technologies. Why? Obtaining the fruits of the labors of others research and development via subterfuge and skulduggery is much more cost efficient than conducting principal research directly. Chinas efforts over the past 30 years have been extraordinarily effective, some might opine, textbook perfect. So, hows China doing? The most recent incident involves Siemens Netherlands. Siemens is the latest Chinese victim. In early April 2017, Dutch police arrested a 65-year old Siemens Netherlands employee as he was heading to China. The gents luggage, workplace and home were searched and physical files and digital storage devices were seized. Siemens Netherlands confirmed one of its employees was arrested, but declined to identify the employee by name or area of specialization. The Dutch Public Prosecutor shared, He is suspected of leaking corporate secrets, including patent rights, to a competitor in China in exchange for money. The engineer was an employee within the engineering division, working at the Siemens Netherlands office near Hengelo, within Twente (near the German border). According to the Siemens website, the division's multiple product groups, including smart grid, renewable energy and fossil power generation. How did Siemens discover the insider who had broken trust? Siemens compliance office received a tip via their company-wide whistleblower system. The system allows any Siemens employee to provide information on illegal or corrupt activities anonymously. The Dutch authorities were subsequently alerted by Siemens directly that their intellectual property was being purloined. The back story on Chinas nation state and corporate espionage efforts In March 2017, Chinese President Xi gave the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) a kick in the pants. According to the official web portal of the PLA, Xi told the PLA, We must have a greater sense of urgency to push for sci-tech innovation and advancement with greater determination and efforts." He went on to admonish the PLA to promote military-civilian cooperation and technology adoption and adaption. The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee established a central commission to integrate military and civilian development. As Yogi Berra famously noted, Its deja vu all over again. In 1986, China hit the gas on their technology acquisition efforts with their infamous Project-863. The purpose of Project 863, according to the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), was to meet the global challenges of new technology revolution and competition. MOST continues, in order to gain a foothold in the world arena; to strive to achieve breakthroughs in key technical fields that concern the national economic lifeline and national security; and to achieve 'leap-frog' development in key high-tech fields China's foot continues to be on the accelerator. Security awareness works Those who have poo-pooed the efficacy of security awareness programs, should take heed. Siemens did not detect the theft of the intellectual property via sophisticated data loss prevention technologies. They may have used those technologies to verify the employees activities, but it was one employee noting something was not quite right and reporting it in an appropriate and actionable manner. Self-policing at its best. If an employee does not exceed their professional brief, that is their normal and natural access necessary to conduct their duties, it is near impossible to detect their having broken trust with their employer, except through their non-technical behavior, which is observable by colleagues. (Also read: " 9 tips, tricks and must-haves for security awareness programs.") Does one need more evidence of the importance of educating ones workforce and empowering them to say something when they see something. Make sure your security awareness program includes a clear pathway for your employees/colleagues to report suspicious activity. This may be the most important part of every insider threat program. We can't seem to find the page you are looking for. You may have typed the address incorrectly or you may have used an outdated link. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Former Fairfield official pleads guilty in dumping scandal Police: Norwalk man caught with drugs and gun in traffic stop A VIP club of Connecticut billionaires and companies synonymous with the state helped redefine the term party favor for President Donald Trump. Sixteen contributors from the state gave a combined $2,078,200 to help foot the bill for Trumps glitzy inaugural festivities, a 510-page filing Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission shows. Greenwich hedge fund mogul Steven A. Cohen accounted for half that total with a $1 million donation to Trumps inaugural committee, which raised $107 million for the ceremonial Jan. 20 transfer of power. That was more than double the previous record of Barack Obama, who nonpartisan watchdog groups said abided by a traditional $250,000 cap on inaugural gifts. Trump eliminated that cap, offering specific levels of exclusive access to inaugural events based on the donor level. More Information Connecticut contributors to Trump's inaugural committee Source: Federal Election Commission Steven. A Cohen $1,000,000 Greenwich billionaire hedge fund mogul Impala Asset Management $325,000 New Canaan $2.2 billion hedge fund founded by Bob Bishop, former chief investment officer for George Soros Thomas Peterffy $150,000 Greenwich billionaire Hungarian-born founder of Interactive Brokers Craig Phillips $100,000 New Canaan former BlackRock Capital executive, now a counselor in Trump's Treasury Department Buford Alexander $100,000 Greenwich former director at consulting giant McKinsey & Co. Aetna $100,000 Hartford insurance company The Travelers $100,000 Hartford insurance company TRC Companies Inc. $100,000 North Windsor engineering, environmental consulting and construction management firm; gas pipeline expansion projects Leora Levy $25,000 Greenwich Republican National Committee member Thomas Kreitler $25,000 Fairfield head of hedge fund/public market strategies fundraising for Eaton Partners, which has an office in Rowayton Stanley Black & Decker $25,000 New Britain appliances and tools Rob F. Hyde $25,000 Avon founder & CEO of the Military Club of America Dominic Moross $2,500 Greenwich chief investment officer at Whitehall Financial Group Woody Bliss $300 Weston former first selectman Michael McLachlan $200 Danbury state senator Audrey Vicino $200 Avon See More Collapse For $1 million, you get to go to a leadership luncheon where you get to sit with members of the Cabinet and members of the House and Senate leadership, said Viveca Novak, a spokeswoman for the Center for Responsive Politics. The Washington, D.C., organization, which tracks the role of money in elections, gave Trump a pedestrian grade for transparency. Obama, they released the names of the donors in advance, Novak said. Trump kept the donors under wraps until now. A request for comment was left Wednesday with the White House. Not talking Cohen declined to comment through his spokesman, Jonathan Gasthalter. Its unclear whether the reclusive billionaire, whose Stamford-based hedge fund reached a $1.8 billion settlement with the Justice Department in 2014 for insider trading, attended the inaugural festivities. The second-largest contribution to Trumps inaugural committee from the state came from Impala Asset Management, a New Canaan hedge fund with more than $2 billion in assets under management. Founded by Robert Bishop, a one-time chief investment officer for George Soros, the firm gave $325,000. A woman answering the phone at the hedge fund brusquely ended the call Wednesday from Hearst Connecticut Media. Oh, hes not commenting about that to any newspapers so you can just take him off your call list, the woman said. Thomas Peterffy, the Hungarian-born Greenwich billionaire and founder of Interactive Brokers, gave $150,000. He is no stranger to political activism, having spent between $5 million and $10 million on a 2012 television ad blitz decrying what he characterized as the socialist direction of the country. One Connecticut underwriter of the inaugural, New Canaans Craig Phillips, was hired by Trumps Treasury Department last month as a counselor. The former BlackRock Capital executive gave $100,000 to the inaugural committee. Smaller contributions A pair of anchor Connecticut brands each gave $100,000 to Trumps inaugural insurance giants Aetna and The Travelers. Tool manufacturer Stanley Black & Decker, which is based in New Britain, gave $25,000. Another notable contributor was Leora Levy, a Republican National Committee member from Greenwich and top party fundraiser, who gave $25,000. But not all of Trumps underwriters were rainmakers. State Sen. Michael McLachlan, R-Danbury, a Trump delegate to last years Republican National Convention in Cleveland, chipped in $200. That was for inaugural ball tickets, said McLachlan, for whom it was the first inaugural that he attended. Former Weston First Selectman Woody Bliss gave $300. Watchdogs say its unclear how much of the $107 million raised by Trumps inaugural committee is left over, money the president pledged to give to charity. There certainly could be more transparency in terms of disclosure of how they spend the money and how much is left over, Novak said. An earlier version of this story listed the wrong donation amount for Stanley Black & Decker, which gave $25,000 to Trumps inaugural. nvigdor@hearstmediact.com DERBY -- Foreign exchange students may bring new youth and vitality to the old Marshall Lane Manor nursing home. David Guerrera and Feng Chen, founders of APEX International Education Partners, see it as a home and learning center for international high school students studying at places like Laurelton Hall in Milford, Christian Heritage in Trumbull and Notre Dame in Fairfield. They run a similar center at Chase Collegiate School in Waterbury. Most of our students are from China, Guerrera said. We have some from South Korea, one from France and we have an applicant from Viet Nam...Their families pay for their tuition at mostly Catholic high schools, as well as the stipend we pay to host families. This would give them another option. While the facility as a nursing home had rooms for 120 patients, Guerrera said they would probably start small with 20 or so students living there at first. He also said he would seek to hire Valley and preferably Derby residents to work as full-time assistants, cafeteria workers, tutors and maintenance workers. They also may hire drivers. We would like the community to get involved. People could come in and help the students learn English as a second language or learn the students language, Guerrera said. We also require our students to do volunteer work in the community in the spring and fall, he said. In the past week, he said some of his students helped clean up the Holy Land site in Waterbury and have done things like beach clean-ups in the past. On Tuesday night, Guerrera informally proposed his plan to the city Planning and Zoning Commission. Ted Estwan Jr., the commissions chairman, advised him the nursing home is located in a residential zone and there are no special exemptions that would permit him to immediately purchase the property and go ahead with the plans to board and feed high school students. If its not defined (in the regulations)...you have to assume its not allowed, Estwan said. This requires more than just a text change. Instead, he urged Guerrera to research the issue and come back with a proposal during the May 16 meeting, which could include a special exemption request to the R-3 zoning law or a zone change. We want something for the coming school year, Guerrera said. Whatever happens would require a public hearing, according to Leslie Creane, Mayor Anita Dugattos chief of staff and economic development director. Creane said she met with them Monday and advised them to approach the commission. There are a number of hoops they have to go through, Creane said. It all comes down to what the commission is inclined to do. Creane said the citys Plan of Conservation and Development moves high density residential facilities toward the downtown. Marshall Lane is a bit of a ways from downtown, sitting closer to Route 34 and not far from The Hops Company brewery and Lowes. It was back in 2015 that the Simonetti family closed Marshal Lane for financial reasons. At that time, Anthony Simonetti said his facility needed to be occupied at about 95 percent and it had only an 80 percent occupancy rate. Simonetti is the head of the Shelton Republican Town Committee and a first ward alderman. The family and Real Estate Two have put a $799,000 price tag on the sprawling one-story building which sits on nearly 3.5 acres with a large grassy area that was used for picnics. While Guerrera and Chen said they are interested, they also said they have not made an offer because they need reasonable assurance from Planning and Zoning that they will be able to house the high schoolers there. Guerrera is a Fairfield University magna cum laude graduate who worked for General Electrics Financial Management program before forming APEX in Watertown. He said the program has about 350 high school students, mostly from China, studying in Connecticut and Massachusetts. When asked if the nearby Hops Brewing Company would pose an issue, Guerra said it would not. None of the students are allowed to drive or have visitors, he said. These are not your typical teenagers. They are focused on their academics with the intention to go to college here. We often have to drag them out of their rooms for social events. He also said he runs a tight ship. We have 24/7 supervision, a time for study hours and a time for lights out. Guerrera said this facility is a good fit for them because it is in good shape, has a cafeteria and fitness room, individual living rooms and is close to high schools in Milford, Fairfield, West Haven and Hamden. It was a nursing care housing facility, Guerrera said. So there is not much of a difference in use except instead of the elderly we will be housing teenagers. Chen said they expect to spend $3 million to $4 million in renovations over time. Cuban Tourism Minister Assesses Preparations for FitCuba 2017 Submitted by: Juana Travel and Tourism Havana Holguin 04 / 19 / 2017 Cubas Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz toured on Tuesday the streets of Holguin to evaluate the construction process in that eastern city in preparation for the International Tourism Fair (FitCuba 2017). This years fair, dedicated to Germany as guest nation, will be held from May 2nd to the 6th at Playa Pesquero Hotel and coinciding with the Romerias de Mayo cultural event organized by the Hermanos Sainz Association as a chant to tradition and modernity. Marrero told the press he is satisfied with what has been developed so far and stated the necessary orientations for the successful outcome of the event. The construction of the Bodeguita del Medio Restaurant in the historic center of the eastern city is aimed at promoting traditional Cuban food. Work is also underway like the reparation of the covers, remodeling the spaces, atmosphere, replacement of equipment and furniture are some of the actions underway in Holguin to benefit the hotels belonging to Islazul hotel chain like Pernik, and the Mirador de Mayabe. Some other actions underway is the opening and revival of hotel, cultural and recreational installations in the tourism complex and in the coastal municipality of Gibara which was founded 200 years ago and which will be inserted in the Fair as a new tourism destination in Cuba due to its authentic heritage values. Marrero recognized in recent statements to ACN that Holguin is one of the regions that has achieved an impact in the different international markets and added that this is the reason why the International Tourism Fair will be held in Holguin. (acn) STORY LINK Can the GBP AUD Exchange Rate Hold onto its Election Rally? As discussed previously the Board is concerned about excessive household leverage which has been boosted by rising house prices. While this concern might be alleviated by a rate hike the real economy is in no shape to deal with higher rates. Like this piece? Please share with your friends and colleagues: Although some of Sterlings bullishness faded as markets adjusted to Theresa Mays surprise call for a snap general election the GBP AUD exchange rate remained on a stronger footing.Investors are betting that the Conservatives will be able to secure an increased majority in a June election, limiting the parliamentary push-back against the Prime Ministers Brexit plans.Even so, if opposition parties lose some of their leverage this could equally lead to higher odds of a hard exit from the EU if Eurosceptic Tory backbenchers gain a louder voice.While markets seem confident that there will not be a significant shift in political power at this juncture, however, a fresh surprise cannot be entirely ruled out.If the government ends up weakening its position this could create renewed uncertainty for the UK economy and Brexit negotiations, leaving the Pound on a weaker footing across the board.Despite a solid improvement in the Westpac leading index for March the mood towards the Australian Dollar remained muted during Wednesdays European session.The appeal of the Aussie was limited by a weakening in the ANZ Roy Morgan weekly consumer confidence index, which undermined optimism in the outlook of the domestic economy.Lower levels of consumer spending could hamper economic growth, particularly as Australia still looks to shift towards a greater focus on the service sector.With the outlook for the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) still looking dovish the GBP AUD exchange rate has found further support.Bill Evans, Chief Economist at Westpac, noted:Although the GBP AUD exchange rate is likely to remain vulnerable to any political developments in coming days the pairing is expected to hold onto some of its recent gains.Unless the polls point towards an increase in support for Labour or the Liberal Democrats then Sterling could maintain a more bullish outlook.Nevertheless, volatility could be in store if Fridays UK retail sales data proves disappointing.Any signs that consumer spending is faltering could give investors reason to sell out of the Pound, given that much of the economys resilience in the wake of the Brexit vote has been the result of strong sales activity.However, if sales are not found to have contracted on the month as forecast this could encourage greater confidence in the current health of the UK economy and support further GBP exchange rate strength. International Money Transfer? Ask our resident FX expert a money transfer question or try John's new, free, no-obligation personal service! ,where he helps every step of the way, ensuring you get the best exchange rates on your currency requirements. TAGS: Australian Dollar Forecasts Daily Currency Updates Noah David Norton, 40, of Menomonie passed away Friday, April 7, 2017, surrounded by family and loved ones. Within minutes of his passing, there was a Willie Nelson record on the turntable, and whiskey in the glasses of those around him, celebrating and toasting an extraordinary life. Noah was born Dec. 1976, in Lake City, Minn., the second boy to be born that day. His twin brother Josh was born at home, Noah in the local hospital. He graduated from Lincoln High School in Lake City, and after a year in Duluth, attended the University of Wisconsin-Stout, a place that he would professionally return to, becoming an Associate Professor and Program Director of Industrial Design. He received his graduate degree from the University of Illinois. As much as he was respected for his talent and dedication to his students, his compassion and sense of understanding were what made him so loved. He was quick with a joke, and had a smile that made it near impossible not to like him instantly. He was immensely kind, and had a depth of spirit that was hard to believe existed in just one person. He was an explorer and adventurer, traveling to places like Austria, Hawaii, Russia, Denmark and Spain, and jumping off of cliffs on Madeline Island. Playing in bands for most of his life, he collected everything from vinyl records and bass guitars to an impressive amount of KISS memorabilia. He loved reading comics in the bathtub, hikes with his wife and dog and long runs in the countryside. Hed meet you at a local tavern, or climb a tree in the middle of the night. Ever the competent canoeist, hed be ready in an instant for a trip down the Red Cedar or St. Croix. He made the world better, kinder and more humble, and struck a chord in those who knew him that will reverberate for the rest of their lives. Noah is survived by his wife, Dana Cowan; his brothers, Josh and Zack; his parents, Butch and Sara; and his sisters-in-law, Eliesa Woggon and Laura Burr. A Memorial is scheduled from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Saturday, April 22, at The Creamery in Downsville, Wis. Under a plea agreement, prosecutors will not be able to recommend a prison sentence beyond four years for a man who pleaded guilty to charges in the Nov. 29 drug overdose death in Chippewa Falls of 18-year-old Isaac C. Repetto. Dustin M. LeShock, 28, on Wednesday originally was charged with first-degree reckless homicide in Repettos death. Under the plea agreement, LeShock in Chippewa County Court on Wednesday instead pleaded guilty to charges of second-degree recklessly endangering safety and manufacturing/delivering Schedule I and II narcotics. Assistant District Attorney Roy LaBarton Gay declined comment on why prosecutors went with a plea agreement until after LeShock is sentenced by Judge James Isaacson at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 9. This case has been under discussion for several weeks, defense attorney Michael Cohen said. Isaacson cautioned he is not bound by the four year maximum prison sentence prosecutors recommend in the case, and that LeShock could face a maximum of 25 years in prison on both charges. Isaacson ordered a presentence investigation from the Wisconsin Department of Corrections. Cohen said he anticipates asking for an independent presentence investigation. Both investigations will have sentencing recommendations for Isaacson, who has the final decision. With the guilty pleas, Isaacson revoked LeShocks $2,000 cash bond. A criminal complaint filed in the reckless homicide charge said LeShock sold a tenth of a gram of heroin to Allyson K. Mayer, who later shared the drug with Repetto, her boyfriend. Repettos body was found after Chippewa Falls Police were called to 422 N. Grove St. Police said he overdosed on a combination of heroin and methamphetamine. Mayer, who has completed a drug treatment program, was arrested in the case but as of Wednesday has not been charged. LAFAYETTE Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Secretary Cathy Stepp on Tuesday disputed that her agency is soft-pedaling the true effect Chronic Wasting Disease is having on the states deer population. Stepp appeared at a meeting of the Chippewa County Economic Development Corporation at The View in the town of Lafayette. She responded to a Monday column in the Wisconsin State Journal by freelance writer Patrick Durkin that criticized a DNR press release about CWD, the infectious brain disease that kills deer. He said while the DNR didnt lie in the press release, it did omit how bad of a problem the disease has become by referring the public to its website. But even if you visit the DNRs website and type in CWD, its on you to put this puzzle together, he wrote, saying the agencys CWD webpage has roughly 20 tabs and even more options. One can argue its unfair to pin this on Gov. (Scott) Walker, but he handpicked Cathy Stepp as his DNR secretary, and she wont let her staff testify in the Capitol about CWD and other harsh scientific realities. And its her communications office that wont publicly discuss CWDs impacts on Wisconsins deer and its hunting heritage, Durkin wrote. Stepp said Durkin did not reach out to get her thoughts. What would you do? They never come up with solutions. They come up with attacks, she said of critics. Stepp has made available her high-level staff to legislators at any time. She said the DNR is looking at what exactly causes CWD and how it is spread. She pointed to a study from 2015 that said prions, the proteins that spread the disease, bind to plants. This makes controlling the disease much more difficult. During the meeting, Stepp also defended a decision to put an end to the DNRs printed magazine. She said the agency conducted an analysis of all of its activities. Out of that grew the recommendation to get rid of the magazine. Were overworked, she said. We dont have nearly enough people (like) we used to have. She said a much larger audience uses the agencys social media sites than subscribes to the magazine. Charlie Walker, president-CEO of the CCEDC, asked about communities such as Stanley and Cornell that face a high cost of replacing wastewater treatment plants. Walker said some in those communities say the DNR is forcing them to upgrade the plants. Thats actually a fair thing to say, Stepp said. She said before she took office, the DNR Board put in new rules so the amount of phosphorus could be measured. She said while the new rules did cut the amount of phosphorus, the amount needed to do that was staggering. Once you passed that restrictive standard, you cant roll it back, she said. She touted the steps the governors administration has done on water quality issues in northeast Wisconsin, including doing an extensive study on groundwater in Kewaunee County, which has had E. coli problems. She said the study showed nearly 50 percent of contaminated wells in that county had contamination from humans, such as failed septic systems. To find out those answers you need to dig deeper, she said. Perhaps the biggest surprise about Theresa May's bold call for a snap election was that it came as such a surprise to the inhabitants of the Westminster village. MPs were taken unawares. Seasoned political observers, when told the Prime Minister would make a statement after morning Cabinet, said they hadn't a clue what it would be about. One of the most eminent, Tory insider Lord Finkelstein, even suffered a Michael Fish-style 'hurricane moment', assuring his Twitter followers 20 minutes before the announcement: 'It won't be an election.' Theresa May addressed the country on the steps of Downing Street to announce that she is calling an early general election, with the UK set to go to the polls on June 8 Yet hasn't it been increasingly clear for months that calling a snap ballot was fast becoming the Prime Minister's only realistic option? Indeed, the Mail believes this was not just a brave and shrewd decision. It was also her only way of clearing the political air, ending the dirty tricks of her Remoaner enemies and maximising her chances of driving the best possible deal for our country in the Brexit negotiations. As for Mrs May's timing, it says much for her steadiness of character that she so long resisted going to the country and cashing in on Opposition disarray. She hesitated because, rightly, she believed voters wanted a period of stability after the General Election of 2015 and the referendum just 13 months later. Indeed, it is through no wish of hers that delaying the election has become increasingly unrealistic. As she made clear yesterday, the blame for this lies squarely with Remoaners at Westminster. Labour, Lib Dems, Scottish Nationalists and unelected peers all have seized on the slimness of the Government's majority to try to sabotage Brexit. Mrs May addressed the nation via a huge pack of reporters who scrambled to Downing Street after the surprise speech was announced at around 10am As the Prime Minister pointed out, bristling with controlled anger: 'What they are doing jeopardises the work we must do to prepare for Brexit at home, and it weakens the Government's negotiating position in Europe. 'If we do not hold a General Election now, their political game-playing will continue and the negotiations with the EU will reach their most difficult stage in the run-up to the next scheduled election.' The few weeks ahead, she said, offer a one-off opportunity to get a vote out of the way before the EU agrees its negotiating position and detailed talks begin. Of course, no election is a foregone conclusion and the pollsters, who give the Tories a seemingly unassailable lead, have proved wildly and repeatedly wrong. But while complacency would be foolish and Tory marginals in Remainer areas may be vulnerable to Lib Dems it is hard to imagine a more auspicious time for Mrs May to increase her majority. Theresa May has announced a snap general election will be held on June 8 in a shock revelation that stunned Westminster today. The PM said she needed a Brexit mandate that have her a strong hand in the negotiations with the EU As the IMF confirmed yesterday, when it doubled its growth forecast for the UK, the economy continues to perform robustly something that may no longer be so a year or two from now. Meanwhile, Jeremy Corbyn sinks ever lower, with another Labour MP yesterday giving up on politics in despair. Indeed, it is hard to remember a Labour leader who has looked more utterly unelectable. This is why the Mail is absolutely convinced the key to Mrs May's success lies in her ability to attract support from disaffected traditional Labour voters, particularly in the North, who switched to Ukip (whose main job is now done). With this in mind, we urge Mrs May to return to the themes she spelled out on her first day in Downing Street, when she pledged to devote herself to hard-working families who are 'just managing' and build a Britain that works for everyone, not just the privileged few. She must find the right narrative to persuade wavering Labour voters that they are as important to Britain's future as those in the South-East. She must show them she's determined to strike a better balance between their lack of prosperity and the obscene wealth in the City. She must let them know she wants their young to have every bit as good a chance of going to grammar school as pupils in the Home Counties. If she can ram this message home, this paper believes she has the chance of a victory that could change the landscape of British politics for years. Mrs May's election call was made in the knowledge a series of polls have shown the Conservatives with historic leads in a series of opinion polls. The most recent YouGov at the weekend showed a 21-point lead Meanwhile, another advantage of an early election is that the Tory manifesto will give Mrs May her chance to win a mandate for reintroducing selective state education, which gave so many bright working-class children a leg up in life before bien- pensant liberals kicked the ladder away. It will also be her opportunity to reform the Lords, an increasingly bloated house of cronies and dodgy party donors that is no longer fit for purpose. And is it too much to hope that at last we may see the end of David Cameron's catastrophic commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of national output on foreign aid? As this paper has long argued, it is inexcusable to squander taxpayers' billions abroad while social care patients suffer neglect at home. At this time of terrifying global volatility, this money should be reallocated to care and national defence. It is no secret that the Mail admires Mrs May. We were the first newspaper to support her leadership bid and we have liked what we have seen of her ever since. Her low-key style in which Cabinet ministers are encouraged to have views and she herself speaks only when she has something important to say could hardly be more different from the Cameron chumocracy, whose business activities since they left office speak volumes about the sort of people they were. So, yes, this is a wonderful opportunity for the lady to clear the air, while every vote she wins on June 8 will strengthen her hand in the vital EU negotiations ahead. This was the right decision for Britain. The Mail wishes her every success. A part-time glamour model and self-confessed 'diva' married a soldier almost ten years her junior just six months after a holiday fling on the party island of Ayia Napa. Verity, 29, from London, admits she's been called 'cougar' on the 5STAR show Badass Brides, which follows Verity and Army private Ash - who was still in his teens when the couple met - in the run up to their whirlwind wedding. With Ash, now 20, stationed 2,000 miles away in Cyprus, viewers see Verity blow a quarter of the couple's 2,000 wedding budget on three dresses because she can't decide which one to team with her vintage blue Armani cowboy boots - which she's had customised with the words 'I do' on the heels. The cameras also follow the bride's raucous hen party, which is in stark contrast to the more sedate family dinner Ash plans ahead of their big day. Self-confessed 'diva' Verity, 29, met Army private Ash (background) when he was still a teen Verity spends over 500 on three different wedding dresses, around a quarter of their overall budget of 2,000 After stressing about what to wear on her big day Verity lets her hair down during her very raucous hen do 'I've been called a cougar a few times,' Verity admits on the show, but she adds that the name calling won't stop her from marrying her toyboy. 'I came back from Ayia Napa and said to my grandma, "This is the one, I'm going to marry that boy,"' she tells the cameras. Ash, who was a teenager when the couple first met, didn't waste any time and after two months of a long distance relationship, he proposed and the wedding planning began. Verity's friends share their worries at the speedy nature of their nuptials during the programme, which follows demanding brides-to-be ahead of their weddings. 'I can't believe it,' her friend Stephen says. 'I can't get my head around that in April we were in Ayia Napa and now it's November a few months down the line and you're getting married. It's such a crazy decision in my opinion.' Their relationship is tested to the limits when they have a blazing argument over the phone - their only method of communication during the eight weeks they have been apart - that leaves Verity in tears. Ash accuses her of modelling for a porn website, in what turns out to be a misunderstanding. The couple met six months ago and had a whirlwind romance in Ayia Napa before Ash proposed two months into their long distance relationship Bride Verity plans her entire wedding to boyfriend of six months Ash, a private in the Army stationed 2,000 miles away on Cyprus Verity says she knows she's a 'diva' but doesn't care, as she sets about planning her big day Verity goes on to spend over a quarter of the couple's tiny budget on three very different styles of dress - a body-con number in knee-length lace, a meringue-style gown and a modest, Victorian-inspired frock. And just 12 days before the big day she is still undecided on which dress to team with her blue sequinned cowboy boots. 'I'm definitely a diva but I don't see it as a negative,' Verity explains, 'I love the Barbie look - the blonder I can be the better.' The big day goes without a hitch as the newlyweds - who hadn't seen each other for eight weeks - reunite at the altar That's exactly the look she goes for on her hen do - wearing a slashed-to-the-navel white dress - while, in contrast, her husband-to-be returns from working abroad to enjoy a quiet dinner with his grandmother and the rest of his family. But their registry office ceremony goes without a hitch, and the modest wedding buffet and homemade cake appear to go down a treat with the guests. Nobody is happier, however, than Ash who gushes over his new wife wearing the full-skirted gown she eventually plumped for. 'I think she looks stunning,' he says. 'She takes my breath away every time I see her.' Badass Brides starts on 5STAR tonight at 9pm It began with a pain in her leg before she went blind and lost her hearing. With her body uncontrollably shaking, she struggled to breathe as she began to vomit. Then doctors yelled 'code red' and put her to sleep. Just hours earlier, Kacey Butterworth, from Canberra, admitted herself to hospital, believing her waters had broken at 39 weeks pregnant. The 23-year-old had planned to welcome her second child via water birth - but her plans went horribly wrong. Kacey Butterworth (pictured with young son Isaac) 'felt like she was in hell' during a caesarean procedure. She has shared her harrowing story for people who believe it's the 'easier option' Isaac (pictured) is now seven months old after being born via a C-section delivery that went horribly wrong Doctors discovered her waters were still intact, but the baby was transverse and its heart rate abnormally low. 'Because bub was sideways, if my waters had of broken the cord could've come down before the head,' Ms Butterworth told Daily Mail Australia. 'The doctor said that if it had happened, the cord would've been crushed which would've killed bub and it could've caused major issues for me too.' Ms Butterworth and her husband Tim made the heartbreaking decision to opt for a caesarean delivery. 'We were just mentally and emotionally exhausted,' she said. Ms Butterworth admitted herself to hospital in September last year believing her waters had broken at 39 weeks pregnant Prior to the birth, doctors discovered the baby was transverse and it's heart rate was abnormally low The 23-year-old, from Canberra, had planned to welcome her second child via a water birth It was a Sunday and technically not an emergency, so the hospital could not immediately offer a C-section. But when the baby's heart rate dropped to 57, Ms Butterworth was rushed to theatre for a Category B emergency caesarean. Doctors inserted a spinal block, but the young mother became violently ill after suffering an incredibly rare reaction to the anaesthesia. 'When you have a general anaesthetic for surgery, you have the gas mask which puts you to sleep and then you are given a medication to help your organs slow down for the procedure,' the mum told Kidspot. 'The opposite happened for me. The spinal block went up, instead of down. It hit my brain, causing my lungs to slow down. 'It also explains the loss of sight and hearing and why I could feel everything from waist down, but not up,' she went on. 'I felt like I was in hell.' 'I was scared. I had no idea what was going on,' Ms Butterworth told Daily Mail Australia. 'It started with a pain in my leg... Then my arm started hurting, (it) felt like someone was stabbing me all over my left arm. 'Because bub was sideways, if my waters had of broken the cord could've come down before the head,' Ms Butterworth told Daily Mail Australia. Young Isaac is seen smiling for the camera. When his heart rate dropped to 57 in the womb, Ms Butterworth was rushed to theatre for a Category B emergency caesarean Young Isaac is pictured in a swimming pool with his father, Tim. His mother says he is a happy and healthy child 'Then I started getting fuzzy sight and my hearing started to go. I felt sick and felt my heart racing, then I started fitting and vomiting.' 'My chest started feeling like I was being crushed on the table. That's when I started panicking because I was struggling to breathe and I was fitting a lot - I thought I was dying. 'Then I heard them call out that it was "code red" and I needed to be put under a general straight away. They placed the mask over my face, telling me everything would be OK.' Ms Butterworth's husband Tim is pictured sleeping on the floor of the hospital the night prior to the C-section delivery Ms Butterworth recalled: 'It started with a pain in my leg... Then my arm started hurting, (it) felt like someone was stabbing me all over my left arm' Baby Isaac, now seven months old, is perfectly healthy and happy. Above he is pictured with his mother and father shortly after birth About an hour later, Ms Butterworth woke up in recovery and was wheeled to the special care nursery to see her son. 'It was honestly the most relieving feeling. I can't really put it into words. Just feeling his skin touch my skin and looking down at the tiny little human being that my husband and I had created was amazing. 'When they put me under the general anaesthetic, I didn't know what was going to be once I had woken up. She said: 'Then I started getting fuzzy sight and my hearing started to go. I felt sick and felt my heart racing, then I started fitting and vomiting' The couple's three-year-old daughter, Lexi is seen holding her younger brother, Isaac 'We were just mentally and emotionally exhausted,' Ms Butterworth said of her decision to opt for a C-section 'So just holding him, knowing that we were both okay - that was the best feeling in the world.' An anaesthetist later explained what had gone wrong in theatre. '(My reaction) was purely just an unlucky situation and the chances of it happening was a 0.086 per cent chance,' Ms Butterworth said. Ms Butterworth (pictured with her two children) praised hospital staff for saving her son's life Ms Butterworth (pictured with her smiling son) was told her reaction to the spinal block was incredibly rare 'Could it happen again? Maybe. It's very unlikely it would, but there is always that slim chance. Baby Isaac, now seven months old, is perfectly healthy and happy. 'I can't fault the care and expertise of the team at the hospital where I was. The care during the ordeal and the after care was simply incredible and I thank them with all of my heart for saving my son's life.' Ms Butterworth and her husband Tim also share a three-year-old daughter, Lexi. Ms Butterworth said: 'Could it happen again? Maybe. It's very unlikely it would, but there is always that slim chance' Hugo Ahern was nine months old when doctors noticed his legs were different lengths. The now one-year-old toddler was diagnosed with Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip (DDH) and had just started to commando crawl when he required surgery which left the little boy with a bright green spica cast around both legs and his hip joint. The cast, which was due to be removed on Wednesday at the half way mark of his recovery, will be replaced with yet another cast for a further six weeks. Hugo Ahern, one, has taken to his new spica cast well and will have it on for a total of three months Hugo's mother Megan Ahern, 28, can't believe how 'cheerful and unfazed' her son is at his current wide-leg stance Hugo's mother Megan Ahern, 28, can't believe how 'cheerful and unfazed' her son is at his current wide-leg stance. 'We're just going with the flow right now. He might need a rhino brace after the cast comes off in six weeks time but we won't know until we get there. 'He's a dream son and not at all bothered by it so we couldn't be more grateful,' Megan Ahern told Daily Mail Australia. Doctors at the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children in Perth were forced to perform closed reduction surgery on little Hugo twice after the first attempt failed to properly align his hip. Hugo had to have two closed reduction surgeries to realign his dislocated hip Leaving the hospital: 'We have to hire a special car seat that will accommodate Hugo and his wide load so we just have to wait for that,' Megan (pictured) said 'The hip has stayed in place in this extremely wide stance it's like he's doing a really wide sumo squat,' Megan wrote on Instagram after the cast was set. 'We have to hire a special car seat that will accommodate Hugo and his wide load so we just have to wait for that. 'The cast makes Hugo very heavy and very awkward to carry and move around so it's going to be challenging at first to get him settled and comfortable at home. 'He can no longer sit unassisted and he cannot roll over by himself so we are going to have to assist him with all of these things,' she wrote. 'He can no longer sit unassisted and he cannot roll over by himself so we are going to have to assist him with all of these things,' Megan wrote on Instagram The one-year-old's cast was fitted in place just a week before his birthday in March, pictured here with his mother Megan (left) and father Dan (right) What is DDH? Developmental dysplasia (or dislocation) of the hip (DDH) is an abnormal development of the hip joint. The ball at the top of the thigh bone (called the femoral head) is not stable within the socket (called the acetabulum). The ligaments of the hip joint which hold it all together may also be stretched and loose. Sometimes, the hips dislocate after birth and this may not be noticed until your child starts to walk. Advertisement The one-year-old's cast was fitted in place just a week before his birthday in March. Hugo passed all of the regular hip checks as a newborn, at six weeks and three months so doctors told the Ahern family this was a 'silent diagnosis', meaning the condition was there but remained undetected for some time. The Perth-based family have since purchased a 'spica table' which is specially formulated to slide around Hugo's cast. Megan documents her little boy's progress on Instagram with the hashtag #hugomilestones and #healthyhipshugoahern. The latter hashtag is in reference to Healthy Hips Australia, an organisation that raises much needed funds into the research of hip dysplasia. The company's national awareness week runs from April 23-29. Hugo (left) pictured here in his specially formulated spica table. It allows the toddler to sit upright comfortably Happy little Vegemite! According to Healthy Hips Australia more than 1 in 50 infants are currently being treated for DDH in Australia According to Healthy Hips Australia more than 1 in 50 infants are currently being treated for DDH in Australia. Not only are Megan's hashtags bringing light to the condition but they are also a way for the mum-of-two to keep visual memories of the life of her eldest child. Hugo became a brother over the Easter break as the Ahern family welcomed '#blobahernv2'. Little Hamish Ahern is a much loved addition to their family and a welcome distraction for Hugo. Hamish Ahern (left) was born over the Easter long weekend. He is pictured here with older brother Hugo (right) 'Hugo has taken to his little brother Hamish quite well, he's very intrigued by him and searches for him when he hears him crying. 'He's reaching out for Hamish and wants to touch him, has said bubba a few times around him but I'm certain he doesn't really understand the word. 'So far all seems to be going well between them,' Megan wrote on Instagram. Sometimes it's hard to see the wood for the trees - but in the case of this optical illusion, it's a single leaf that's proving elusive. Released to mark Earth Day this weekend, the puzzle challenges eagle-eyed players to spot the oddly shaped leaf in the tree's bright green foliage. Its creators at switchmybusiness.com say they included one leaf shaped like a 'foot' in the 'ocean' of leaves on its branches, to highlight how important it is to be aware of the footprint we leave on planet Earth. So can you spot it? Scroll down for reveal Can you find the 'foot shaped' leaf? SwitchMyBusiness.com created a new puzzle for Earth Day According to the Earth Day website, we lose over 15 billion trees each year. The Earth Day Network is working to reverse that trend by supporting global reforestation projects. Were you able to spot the single rogue shape among the identical leaves? It has been circled in white below if you're still struggling. There it is! The 'foot shaped' leaf has been circled on the tree and is in the middle on the right Hungarian cartoonist Gergely Dudas, better known as Dudolf, has hidden a single egg somewhere in this springtime scene. It is tucked away between the rabbits, chicks and tulips - but is fiendishly difficult to spot. Egg-stremely tricky: Cartoonist Dudolf has hidden an egg somewhere in this Easter scene The puzzle was shared on the cartoonist's Facebook page and quickly received hundreds of comments from followers who were left scratching their heads. One wrote: 'Took also longer than expected, but I found it'. Another said she had 'never taken so long' to complete a brainteaser. A third wrote: 'Took me a few seconds longer than usual.' Only the most eagle-eyed would have picked out the red egg poking out from behind a red flower in the bottom right-hand corner. Revealed: The red egg is seen tucked away behind a red tulip in the flower patch The cartoonist became an online sensation after his drawing of a panda hidden among a group of snowmen swept the internet in December 2015. He has since created a series of similarly tricky puzzles and will release a book of wintry 'seek-and-find' scenes in time for Christmas this year. The most recent head-scratcher was shared just days after florist Bloom & Wild released their own puzzle of an Easter egg hidden among some blooms. Blooming difficult! Another egg is hidden among this brightly-coloured spring bouquet Picking out the egg is almost impossible thanks to the clusters of colourful flowers. However, patient players may be able to spot the miniature egg in the top left hand corner of the image hidden behind a pale blue flower. The artist said: 'I knew I had to make it a busy enough image for someone's eyes, so people aren't drawn to the egg straight away, and it needed to be fun. Cracked it: The peach-coloured egg is behind a pale blue flower in the top left-hand corner 'I honestly thought everyone would find it within the first five seconds, maybe because I knew where I placed it, so it was hard for me to judge the difficulty myself.' The trend for mind-bending puzzles is showing no signs of stopping and with one diced themed brainteaser leaving players shaken up. This head-scratching brain teaser features dozens of dice, but only one with seven spots and netizens are being driven dotty while trying to find it. Take a gamble: A single die with seven spots has been hidden somewhere in this drawing The puzzle was created by gaming company Casumo, and features just one crooked dice traditionally used for cheating. However, there is no way to cheat in this puzzle and only those with great patience will be able to spot the odd dice out in the sea of spots. Those willing to scour the image should be able to spot the seven spotted cube in the bottom left hand corner - so did you spot it? One little girl got the thrill of a lifetime when a meet-and-greet with Beauty and the Beast's Belle turned into some extended one-on-one time, princess to princess. A Houston mom named Patricia could not have been more overjoyed when she saw her seven-year-old daughter Daisy get so much special attention. Daisy suffers from Achondroplasia, a form of Dwarfism, and was enjoying a trip to Disney World with her family thanks to the Make-a-Wish Foundation when the exciting experience unfolded. Scroll down for video Belle to Belle: Houston seven-year-old Daisy had her dream come true this week when she visited Disney World Little down, such a quite village: Daisy was thrilled to get extra time for Belle, who took her on a special tour of her part of Epcot A bit of fun: Daisy suffers from Achondroplasia, a form of Dwarfism, and was granted a wish by the Make-a-Wish Foundation According to E! News, Daisy's condition has meant a lifetime of surgeries so far, including ones on her head, legs, neck, and back. After being nominated for Make-a-Wish, which grants wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions, Daisy decided against meeting One Direction's Louis Tomlinson so she could enjoy her wish with the rest of her brother and sister, too. This month, they went to Disney World in Orlando, Florida as a family. For a day spent at Epcot, Daisy dressed up as her favorite character, Belle, donning a yellow dress and matching tiara. Epcot is divided into 'countries', and often cast members (the official name for park employees) dressed as characters can be spotted in their respective countries or parts of the world Aladdin in Morocco, Elsa in Norway, Mulan in China. Made her day: She was happy and emotional when Belle singled her out for a private tour Belle herself was in France when Daisy and her family stopped to take pictures with her. But Daisy got more than just a a minute or two with her hero. As they were leaving, Patricia told Belle that she was the reason Daisy picked Disney, and Belle took another step toward making their trip perfect. 'Belle asked if we had plans after... when we said no, she said "Great! What if I take you on a tour of France?"' Patricia wrote on Twitter. She included several heartwarming pictures of the pair, in which Daisy is seen crying with happiness. Heartwarming for all! Patricia said even Belle teared up when she said goodbye 'Daisy was jumping up and down from excitement and was balling her eyes out when Belle told her she would take her on the tour,' Patricia told E! News. 'Daisy was sobbing from happiness, and everyone around her was crying, too.' It was emotional for Belle, too. 'Disney characters never break character, but Belle almost started crying when she said goodbye to Daisy [at the end of the tour] because she was so touched,' she added. Patricia's tweet and a video of the exchange have gone viral on Twitter, and the happy mom has repeatedly thanked Disney World, Make-A-Wish, & Give Kids the World for making the trip so special. Pictured: Harry is cuddled by his mother Princess Diana on holiday in Majorca in 1987 Harry was just 12 years old on that terrible August day his mother died the same age my own son is now. And I know from experience what a tender, vulnerable age it can be for a boy; a time of great change and turmoil even in the most stable of families. No longer a child but not yet a man, there are seismic physical and mental changes under way. One minute theyre asking for cuddles, the next theyre telling you to wait two streets away, and preferably in disguise, so the other children dont see you picking them up from school. Boys this age (far more, in my experience, than girls) need the reassurance of a watchful maternal eye as they negotiate the complex and emotionally fraught passage into adulthood. Poor Harry was deprived of his beloved mother 20 years ago at this pivotal moment in his development, and whatever faults Diana may have had, she was, by all accounts, the most wonderful and intuitive parent. Instead of her love and encouragement, Harry suddenly found himself without the most important person in his life, and in the bleakest of circumstances. To make matters worse, he was forced to endure his grief in full view of the world. I will never forget watching in horror as those two boys processed down The Mall behind their mothers coffin. Even though I had no children of my own at that time, I thought it was unforgivable to submit them to such an ordeal exposing them to all those millions of prying eyes at the precise moment when they should have been protected. No one who truly loved them would ever have allowed them to be paraded in public like that. Unless, of course, they happened to subscribe to an especially strict doctrine of stiff upper lip. Perhaps that is why William added to his brothers revelations this week by calling for an end to that culture of repressed emotions. He and his younger brother have clearly suffered a great deal of pain because of it. No wonder William said he and Kate were determined to bring up George and Charlotte in a way that encourages them to speak openly about their emotions. Pictured: Harry walks behind his mothers coffin, between his father Prince Charles and his uncle Earl Spencer, in 1997 To some this might seem like wishy-washy therapy-speak. Its certainly not the sort of thing my parents generation would have a lot of time for. But while there is undoubtedly such a thing as emotional over-indulgence, Afghan veteran Harry is a long way from being the over-sensitive snowflake so many other young people seem to be today. Of course, status, wealth and a fine education have helped cushion the blows that life has thrown at him. But Im sure Harry would have given up all his privilege in a heartbeat to bring his mother back. And that is the real joy of the Harry we have seen this week. Because, in a funny kind of way, he has brought her back. The conversation he has engaged in with the nation is the same one that Diana first began when she spoke honestly about her own struggles with bulimia. Pictured: Prince Harry during an event for Heads Together - the mental health charity he launched with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge And today, we find her still blowing the cobwebs off that most arcane of organisations, the British Royal Family. It is this ability to engage with the public at the most human level that will prove Dianas legacy. And Harry, with all his energy and empathy, may turn out to be her greatest achievement of all. OUCH! WHAT A WAY TO SHOW YOUR LOVE, ELLIE Countryfile presenter Ellie Harrison honoured her partner of ten years, Matt Goodman, by having ten circles etched into her skin How very sweet of Countryfile presenter Ellie Harrison to want to honour her partner of ten years, Matt Goodman, a doctor, by getting something memorable for him. As a medical man, however, he might have been somewhat alarmed when she presented him with what to the untrained eye looks like a bad case of ringworm spreading up her arm. In fact, its called scarification and involves having a design in this case ten circles etched into the skin using a knife and then prolonging the healing process so the wound forms a visible scar. Apparently, its very painful and awfully mystical . . . Maybe. But if you ask me, a mini break in the sun and some aftershave would have done the job just as well. Gordon Brown always regretted not calling a General Election when he had the political advantage. Once again, Theresa May shows she has the cojones to beat the men at their own game. A BLACK MARK TO BEAR Bear Grylls has become the latest parent to advocate taking children out of school during term time. Thats all very well if your father is a wealthy Old Etonian TV star and your alternative a Boys Own-style adventure somewhere exciting and educational. But if youre a young girl being carted off to Pakistan to be married to a distant uncle or a kid being pulled out of classes that could make all the difference to your future just so your parents can get a cheap deal to drink lager on the beach while farming you out to the iPad, it might not be such a life-enhancing experience. Privileged middle-class parents might like to remember that its not all about them and that for some children, the rigours of school can be infinitely preferable to what awaits elsewhere. After a brief but glorious flowering, hopes for a flourishing liberal democracy in Turkey have withered after the countrys leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, narrowly won Sun-days referendum. He now has carte blanche to award himself sweeping extra powers and to consolidate the countrys transition from progressive secularism to cultural and religious intolerance. Whats really frightening, though, is how quickly he has managed it: its taken just three years. If it can happen there, it can happen anywhere. SAVE YOUR CASH, KATE Why are William and Kate sending Prince George to posh prep school Thomass Battersea when there are excellent schools just around the corner? I dont know why William and Kate are wasting nearly 17,000 a year sending Prince George to posh prep school Thomass Battersea. There are more than a few excellent schools just around the corner from their home at Kensington Palace, not least Fox Primary School (Ofsted rating: outstanding). Im sure most middle-class Londoners would sell a kidney to get their children into this successful school. And, crucially, young George might then actually get to meet some real people. Do they really want the Prince to grow up surrounded by the cosseted kids of Russian oligarchs and rich bankers? Wouldnt it be a lot better for him to have a slightly broader education in every sense of the word? Delegates at the National Union of Teachers conference in Cardiff have passed a motion asking for nursery age children thats two to five to be taught about transgender issues. With such blatant politicisation, not to mention brain-washing, going on in our schools, is it any wonder that more and more children are declaring themselves confused about their gender? First, he plays the Pope, Gods representative on Earth. Now hes taking on the role of the young Albus Dumbledore, the greatest wizard the world has ever known, in the Fantastic Beasts sequel. Is Jude Laws ego trying to tell us something? TEEN MISERY? IT'S NORMAL Barely a day goes by without another survey telling us how miserable our teenagers are, especially girls. This week, we were solemnly informed that in the UK one in six 15-year-olds is unhappy at school and that we, the parents, are to blame. Sorry, but teens miserable; parents to blame is not exactly headline news. Teenagers are supposed to be unhappy; its their USP. Along with pathological untidiness and knowing everything about everything even when they are proved irrefutably wrong by their long-suffering mothers. I've not watched ,the video of Steve Stephens, the so-called Facebook murderer, shooting dead 74-yearold Robert Godwin in the street. Nor do I intend to. To click play would be to somehow make me complicit in his murder just another s ick voyeur in a terrifying computer game that has somehow become reality. The idea that his senseless murder along with similar events such as the gang rape of a 15-year-old girl in Chicago earlier this year, also streamed live via Facebook could end up as viral click bait shows just how far the depravities of the internet have twisted humanity out of shape. Comedian Cal Wilson has spoken candidly about the horrific school bullying she suffered at the hands of her fellow peers. The 46-year-old, originally from New Zealand, said the girls at her high school would have to endure a ritual dubbed the 'barracuda' before being accepted as a 'cool kid'. Speaking on The Guilty Feminist podcast, Wilson, who now lives in Melbourne, recalled the terrifying moment she was held down by the 'popular' rugby players. 'I wasn't one of the cool kids at school, I was a nerdy drama kid and in the last year in high school I suddenly started to be on the periphery of the cool kids,' she said. Comedian Cal Wilson has spoken candidly about the horrific bullying she suffered in school The 46-year-old, originally from New Zealand, said girls at her school would have to endure a hazing ritual dubbed the 'barracuda' before being accepted as a 'cool kid' The television personality likened the 'barracuda' to something 'like getting the blue tick on Twitter the verification from the rugby team'. 'What happened was that if you were one of the girls the rugby players approved of in some sense, they would grab you and hold you down, and one of them would bite you on the a** hard enough to leave a bruise,' Wilson explained. 'They didn't take your pants off or anything like that... they'd bite you through your clothes.' The stand-up comedian remembered the vivid details of how the abuse took place that left her with a bruise for up to two weeks. 'I was thrown to the ground. I had my arms pinned, I had my legs pinned and I was bitten on the a**,' she said. 'I didn't know how to feel about it. It never occurred to me to go home to my parents and go: "I've just been assaulted by a rugby player". It just didn't occur to me that was something you could say.' The comedian recalled the moment she was held down by the 'popular' rugby players The 46-year-old said she felt 'vulnerable and powerless' when she was unable to escape And the suffering didn't stop there after a frightened Wilson said she faced another round of the barracuda. 'As they threw me to the ground in the common room, I had a rugby player holding my arms down and a rugby player holding my legs down, and the third guy was going to bite me on the a**,' she said. 'I just suddenly went "I don't want this to happen any more, I don't want to be bitten again". And so I started struggling, and then I had this realisation that I couldn't move, I was pinned down. 'I felt like I was struggling for my life, I had this fear of like: "s***, I've got to get out of this". I was struggling with all of my might and I could not move. '[Then] I had this horrifying, ugly epiphany that if I was in this situation for real - if I had three men holding me down... that I would literally be f***ed.' She said the boys were 'absolutely appalled' because she 'hadn't been a good sport after 'ruining the fun' for them when she started sobbing Wilson said she eventually broke down in tears, as she recalled feeling 'vulnerable and powerless' when she struggled to escape. She said the boys were 'absolutely appalled' because she 'hadn't been a good sport after 'ruining the fun' for them when she started sobbing. The well-known comedian said the second round of the barracuda actually put her back to square one after she felt like an outcast at school. 'I tried to talk to a couple of them [rugby players] about it to say what it felt like, but they were huge,' she said. 'The only way I could've made them feel as vulnerable was if I held a gun to their head. That would be the only way they could understand how it felt to be that powerless.' Well Installations and Filter Distributions Bring Relief GFA-supported workers provide disease-prevention systems and lessons to improve health, offer hope in World Water Day effort Contact: 972-300-3379, pressrelations@gfa.org WILLS POINT, Texas, April 19, 2017 /Christian Newswire/ -- Fresh water sources are freeing impoverished families in Asia from sickness and disease. GFA (Gospel for Asia)-supported workers dedicated new Jesus Wells in series of villages and communities to mark World Water Day, the annual World Health Organization global focus on the almost 2 billion people at risk from disease and often incapacitated by sickness because of having to use unclean water. Photo: Women collect fresh water from the new Jesus Well drilled in their village by GFA-supported workers and dedicated on World Water Day, to help reduce sickness and disease, and demonstrate God's care. Costing just $1,400 each and drilled down as far as 200 meters to ensure a year-round supply, the hand-pumped wells provide clean water to groups who previously had to rely on contaminated sources or walk a long way to fetch more usable water. With families often forced to use water from dirty ponds where animals and people alike bathe for cooking and washing, illness is commonplace. Many suffer from cholera, dysentery and typhoid. Grateful recipients of the latest Jesus Wells to become operational were taught about the importance of using clean water and the need to conserve supplies during the dedication ceremonies. "My children and family used to take baths in the ponds, which were very dirty, and they used to be sick all the time," said one father. "But thank God for the new Jesus Well." The World Water Day initiative also saw GFA-supported teams distributing sand-and-gravel water filters to individual families, and offering free medical checkups and treatment. The small filters costs cost only $30 each and can last for up to 20 years, filtering up to 25 liters of water an hour. Providing access to clean water is a long-term focus of GFA, whose founder and director, K.P. Yohannan, said, "In helping bring clean water to people we hope to be able to improve their physical health and well-being, while also demonstrating Jesus' love for them." One World Water Day filter distribution took place in a community where families live so far below the poverty line that children are unable to attend school and many residents have been sickened by their polluted water source. GFA-supported workers demonstrated how to use the Bio-Sand water filters before handing one to each family. "We belong to a poor family background and we cannot afford to buy a filter," said one recipient. "Thank you for providing us with a filter, it will help us to get pure drinking water." The importance of safe drinking water was emphasized in another location, where the visitors gave advice on using clean water for bathing, drinking, and washing clothes, and also offered free medical check-ups. Among those helped was an 18-year-old woman who had been abandoned by her husband because of her ill-health. "I got married at the age of 14 and I have been sick since three years, due to which my husband left me," she said. "But I am happy today to have received free treatment." "Clean water is simply essential for a full and healthy life," said Yohannan. "It's amazing how providing a fresh source can make such a big difference. We hope that those we assist understand that we do all this because of the love of Jesus." GFA (Gospel for Asia) has for more than 30 years -- provided humanitarian assistance and spiritual hope to millions across Asia, especially among those who have yet to hear the Good News. Last year, this included more than 75,000 sponsored children, free medical services for more than 180,000 people, 6,000 wells drilled, 11,000 water filters installed, Christmas presents for more than 400,000 needy families, and spiritual teaching available in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry. To schedule an interview with a GFA representative, contact pressrelations@gfa.org. Share Tweet From expensive lotions to getting eight hours sleep at night, women would do anything to slow down the ageing process. But skincare experts revealed there's a simple change you can make every day that will help you fight against the clock - ditch the cotton pillowcases! Australian-based cosmetic nurse Laura Lynch explained sleeping on cotton material can cause skin to create wrinkles. Skincare experts have claimed the position we sleep in could cause ageing (stock image) Cosmetic nurse Laura Lynch (pictured) sleeping on cotton can cause skin to create wrinkles 'Cotton doesn't allow for the skin to slide so it catches the skin, pulling it into a position and it doesn't really allow the skin to bounce back to its natural form,' she told Adelaide's Today Tonight. She suggested opting for silk pillowcases were ideal for a better beauty sleep. 'Silk is a natural fibre, it's hypoallergenic, it allows for the skin to breathe, and it allows the skin to slide over the surface,' Ms Lynch explained. 'So it doesn't pull at the skin - and therefore prevents these wrinkles from occurring.' Sleeping on our side can cause ageing (pictured an example of how faces look against pillow) Ms Lynch explains how lying face-down into the pillow or on the side could also cause ageing Pillow talk! Opting for silk pillowcases were ideal for preventing wrinkles (stock image) And not only is the popular cotton material adding years to our looks, but lying face-down into the pillow or on the side could also cause ageing. 'If you're creasing your face constantly against your pillow, you could also be causing a permanent wrinkle,' she said. 'If you're a side sleeper or a tummy sleeper, you can definitely find that those positions would cause creases or lines to form on your skin. 'Even though they may disappear couple of hours after you wake up in the morning, overtime, they can cause the development of lines and wrinkles.' Phoebe is a Sydney-based professional dancer and budding model who suffered from a debilitating eating disorder at just 15. She was admitted to Westmead Children's Hospital and diagnosed with anorexia but 'didn't admit to having it until the end' of her stint there. Now 17-year-old Phoebe, who follows a vegan lifestyle and no longer feels 'guilty' about food, is encouraging other sufferers to get help 'before your freedom is taken away'. 'Hospital was absolutely the worse experience of my life,' Phoebe told Daily Mail Australia. Phoebe is now a budding fashion model using her Instagram platform to encourage other girls with a mental illness to get help 'I was admitted through emergency and only then was I diagnosed with anorexia nervosa. 'I was dangerously underweight with a BMI of 12 (under 18.5 is considered very underweight), at risk of my heart stopping, and had terribly low blood pressure. 'I was being fed through a tube that went up my nose down the back of my throat and into my stomach (nasogastric tube). This tube stayed there for the whole five weeks I was admitted. 'My stay in hospital was hard. I was only allowed to see my family from 3-8pm each day but I had hardly any visits as it was very far away from where I live. 'Over the five weeks I suffered with severe depression, anxiety, vomiting, constant nosebleeds, chest pain, 25 blood tests sometimes two to three a day, my skin was so dry it was ripping, high temperatures from having the flu, tube fed every night that was over 1000 calories plus eating six times a day. The obsession with food began at just 14: Changing schools and trying to make new friends 'definitely didn't help' with her eating disorder 'My mum decided to pull me out of there once I was at a stable weight... Hospital was horrible but necessary, my weight restored and it was so bad that I will never go back,' she said. As a rising star and performing arts student, Phoebe's whole day previously 'revolved around exercising and thinking about food and calories.' 'When I was in my depths of my eating disorder I was so very miserable,' she said. 'It started when I was around 14 but didnt get really bad until I was 15. I started to eat only "healthy" foods. I was going to the extreme... I mean like putting every single fruit and vegetable in a smoothie (zucchini , spinach, kale with a fruit smoothie). 'As I started getting further into the depths of my eating disorder I started to cut out a lot more food and exercise way too much for the amount I was eating.' Phoebe received a scholarship at the Australian Performing Arts Grammar School (APGS). She said changing schools and trying to make new friends 'definitely didn't help' with her eating disorder. 'I started to eat "raw till 4" and would only eat fruit until dinner which meant I was not getting nearly enough calories,' she said. 'I was really struggling, so I left APGS and started doing online distance education. Since I was at home all day I had more time to exercise and prepare food. 'I wasnt socialising, I didnt leave the house, I went through a stage where I didnt even want to go to dancing. 'It was winter and I was wearing very baggy clothes. I feel as though thats why not so many people noticed,' the 17-year-old said. It wasn't until a dancing competition that required a costume of shorts and a crop top revealed her body and 'everyone starting noticing how thin I was.' 'I remember my mum crying that afternoon and everyone coming up and talking to her while I was in complete denial,' Phoebe explained. That's when, her body giving up, Phoebe was admitted to hospital. But the lonely and difficult five weeks she spent there has encouraged her to keep the weight on. 'As soon as I left hospital I was so afraid of going back that I knew I had to keep the weight up. Also by my parents setting goals of weights until I was able to dance again pushed me to get healthy. One day at a time: 'I still do get bad thoughts but to think of how far Ive come in the past year and a half makes me extremely proud,' she said 'I still do get bad thoughts but to think of how far Ive come in the past year and a half makes me extremely proud,' she said. Phoebe is now represented by Busy models and has a much different relationship with food and her body. 'Food is fuel. Do not be scared of it,' she said, 'Also being vegan has helped me as my eating is not harming anyone else. 'Admitting to having an eating disorder is extremely hard but beating it early and while you still have freedom will be a lot easier than being forced against your will later,' she said 'Admitting to having an eating disorder is extremely hard but beating it early and while you still have freedom will be a lot easier than being forced against your will later. 'Please if you are struggling out there contact the Butterfly Foundation. 'Anorexia Nervosa is not who I am it is something that I went through, something I had to deal with and continue to deal with and be aware of not to go back there. 'The more people that are open about having an eating disorder the easier it will be to realise that you have it and that you can beat it,' she said. If this article brings up any issues for you please contact the Butterfly Foundation on 1800 33 4673. A popular blogger who argued parents should be allowed to choose whether or not their children are vaccinated has sparked a social media firestorm. Leila Stead, who authors The Single Mum Diaries blog, hosted an Instagram live chat on Tuesday titled 'To Vax Or Not'. The Gold Coast blogger argued 'we can not take away a woman's right to choose what she feels is best for her children'. Leila Stead (pictured), who authors The Single Mum Diaries blog, hosted an Instagram live chat on Tuesday titled 'To Vax Or Not' Ms Stead, whose young daughter is fully vaccinated, vowed to continue to address 'taboo' subjects Her position was faced with heavy criticism by some participants of the live chat, which is no longer available. But Ms Stead, whose young daughter is fully vaccinated, vowed to continue to address 'taboo' subjects. 'I will continue to stand alone and speak my thoughts despite being told to "sit down and shut up'," she later wrote in a blog post. 'And I will always be that mother and woman that asks ''why''. I have never been a ''yes dear no dear'' type person and I have never followed a crowd so I am not about to start now.' She argued parents should be allowed to choose whether or not their children are vaccinated, sparking a social media firestorm 'I will continue to stand alone and speak my thoughts despite being told to "sit down and shut up'," she later wrote in a blog post Ms Stead said she was simply trying to start a conversation and educate herself on vaccination. 'I asked a question to my audience and it caused a divide that I never saw coming,' she wrote in an Instagram post. 'It's a topic I have never covered and one to be honest that I never knew was this controversial.' She added: 'The reason I wanted to bring this topic to light is for myself. I wanted to gather some more information and I wanted to get more educated on the topic from both sides of the fence.' The popular blogger said she didn't care if she lost some of her significant social media following because of her controversial views Ms Stead said she was simply trying to start a conversation and educate herself on vaccination Ms Stead said she didn't care if she lost some of her significant social media following because of her controversial views. 'If you choose to unfollow my journey because of my stance on this matter then I am comfortable with that, it never has been a blog for the masses,' she wrote. 'I will continue to talk about those topics in mama hood that others wouldn't dare mention because that's just me... and someone's gotta do it.' Regardless of your life stage, there are always some simple tips you can follow to get back on track with your finances. But for each key stage, the advice differs and the most common mistakes are usually very different. Here Sydney-based accountant and Fabulous but Broke author, Melissa Browne, has broken down these life stages and shared her top tips for those in each one to help them avoid falling into serious debt. 'My job is to help switch on the light and help remove some of the ick factor so we can start to talk about and deal with subjects that are often seen as beige, boring or sometimes even taboo,' Ms Browne says. Sydney-based accountant and author, Melissa Browne (pictured), has broken down life stages and shared her top tips for those in each one to help them avoid falling into serious debt STUDENTS Many students find themselves deferring a large portion of their life with 'easy credit and student loans'. But Ms Browne, the founder of A&TA, urges students not to do this. 'Yes, it's tough to work jobs and study but it's far better to walk away from uni with only a HELP debt rather than a stack of other debts you need to pay back,' Ms Browne says. Top Tip: 'If you're financially struggling maybe consider working full-time and studying part-time or working for a year, building up funds and then head to uni with more time and more dollars.' 'Yes, it's tough to work jobs and study but it's far better to walk away from uni with only a HELP debt rather than a stack of other debts you need to pay back,' Ms Browne says of students THOSE STARTING THEIR FIRST JOB Many believe that they are not earning enough in their first job to bother saving - but this isn't always a good idea. 'You've decided to enjoy your first year of work and save later. Before you know it, years have passed and you have nothing to show for all your hard work,' Ms Browne says. Top Tip: 'Sure, you want to enjoy life but get into the habit from the moment you start working to automatically transfer a percentage to a savings account you can't access.' 'Start working to automatically transfer a percentage to a savings account you can't access,' Ms Browne says of those starting their first job SINGLES Ms Browne says the biggest danger for singles is that they 'financially press pause until they meet a future partner'. 'Singles need to reject the money message that a partner is a financial plan and start building assets yourself,' Ms Browne explains. Top Tip: 'Forge ahead - consider taking in a boarder until you can manage a mortgage on your own or perhaps buy an investment property in your own name and renting instead.' 'Singles need to reject the money message that a partner is a financial plan and start building assets yourself,' Ms Browne (pictured) explains COUPLES After entering into a relationship, the last thing many couples want to is to have in-depth conversations about finance - but these topics are crucial. 'Nasty STDs (or sexually transmitted debts) can derail us. Money is the number one thing couples fight about so it's important to talk about it openly,' Ms Browne says. Top Tip: 'Insist on transparency and understand the financial ramifications of any financial product. This might be a phone you're purchasing your partner as a present through to signing a lease.' 'Nasty STDs (or sexually transmitted debts) can derail us. Money is the number one thing couples fight about so it's important to talk about it openly,' Ms Browne says of couples DUAL INCOME, NO KIDS (DINKs) These couples usually have more money than most as they are in a 'unique position financially'. 'Couples who are childfree often have higher discretionary incomes,' Ms Browne says. Top Tip: 'The trick is to ensure you are still enjoying life but also understanding what your goals, values and priorities when it comes to money are so you're tempted to save, not spend. This might include planned sabbaticals, extended trips away, helping nieces/nephews or starting a charity.' 'The trick is to ensure you are still enjoying life but also understanding what your goals, values and priorities when it comes to money are so you're tempted to save, not spend,' she says THOSE WITH A FAMILY It's often hard for those with kids to avoid spending a lot of money in order to 'keep up with the joneses'. 'When your friend's child is going to a private school and has the latest gadgets and your child starts asking for them, are you going to fall into the guilt trap?' Ms Browne asks. Top Tip: 'It's important to understand that getting yourself into trouble financially is not helpful for your family. It's important not to become financially stressed and put pressure on your family relationships by overextending yourself.' 'It's important to understand that getting yourself into trouble financially is not helpful for your family,' Ms Browne advises families THOSE GOING THROUGH A BREAK UP In many cases, lawyers are the ones determining the winners and losers in break up - but this doesn't have to be the case. 'It's important to receive great advice early on so you know what you should and shouldn't be doing but whenever possible, agreeing on a fair and equitable split early on means you can start again with more dollars in your pocket,' Ms Browne says. Top Tip: 'Don't do what I did and give the entire pot to charity so you start with a "clean slate". It sounds great in theory but it's all about looking after yourself financially for the long term.' Advertisement A pair of newlyweds risked their lives by braving freezing temperatures and a three day hike in order to capture their dream wedding photos atop two mountains in two different countries. Photographer Keow Wee Loong was asked by a couple in Taiwan to take the most extreme wedding photos of his career. Wayne and Amanda contacted Keow for help with their elaborate plan to have photos taken on both Mount Rinjani, a 3,726m active volcano in Indonesia, and Mount Kinabalu, a 4,095m peak in Malaysia. Newlyweds Wayne and Amanda braved freezing temperatures and a treacherous hike in order to capture their dream wedding photos on the side of a mountain. Pictured: on mount Rinjani, Indonesia Keow agreed to take part in the trek, which saw the trio journey across the two mountains. Keow said: 'We did a back to back climb in these two countries which was non stop carrying up all our gear.' As well as braving the extreme heights and adverse weather conditions, the trio also had the added burden of carrying all of the equipment, not to mention waiting for the perfect moment to snap the photo. Keow continued: 'We then had to prepare for the right moment when the fog had gone to capture the amazing view which unfortunately meant waiting in freezing cold temperature. With their photographer Keow Wee Loong the couple made their way across Mount Rinjani and Kinabalu, Malaysia (pictured) As well as braving adverse weather conditions the couple and the photographer had to carry all of the equipment up the mountains While the trek was highly dangerous the couple were able to achieve their dream wedding photographs 'I received a call from this couple from Taiwan that propose to me this idea that they wanted to do an extreme mountain shoot back to back in Indonesia and Sabah.' The photographer says that to his knowledge this is the most extreme wedding shoot ever performed by a photographer. He added: 'Nobody had done a wedding shoot this extreme on top of a mountain summit after a three day, two night climb only to then wear a wedding dress to capture such a beautiful photo. 'There was nothing casual about this and I loved the risk factor.' The couple had to wait for the right moment when the fog had lifted in order to capture the view from the mountains A video has captured the moment a yoga enthusiast proposes to his partner while balancing her entire body on his feet. Alec Horan, 25, took his partner, Steph Gardner, 24, to Oahu, Hawaii, where he popped the question during an yoga routine. The young photographer, from Pennsylvania, had the engagement planned for six months, and he managed to film the entire proposal on a picturesque Hawaiian beach. Steph can be seen immediately saying yes before the emotional couple share an embrace. Alec says that the proposal made perfect sense for them as a couple having spent their entire relationship practicing yoga. Alec said: 'I've been with Steph for two years and we do yoga together often. Alec Horan surprised his partner Steph Gardner when he popped the question mid yoga pose on a beach in Hawaii Alec planned the proposal for six months and managed to set up a camera to capture the moment when Steph said yes Alec even had the ring custom made in order to make the proposal even more romantic 'I planned a trip to Hawaii, this March, and also had the ring custom made, it was all planned out.' Alec said that Steph wasn't suspicious when he decided to film their routine as the pair often capture their yoga sessions together. He added: 'We love setting up the camera to get good yoga shots, it's intimate and a very good way for me and Steph to connect.' The pair regularly practice yoga together and so Alec could think of no better way to propose Steph and Alec like to set up a camera on a regular bases so that they can capture their ambitious moves Alec says that he found the process very emotional and that everyone who watched the video has also become choked up Alec said that he found the experience very emotional and that others who have seen the video have been known to tear up. 'Steph's surprised and emotional reaction was amazing, heck, even I teared up too. 'Because the love there is tangible, a lot of people who watch the video get choked up, but reactions have been extremely positive.' She has never been far from the limelight since splitting from Prince Andrew more than 20 years ago. And last night, Sarah Ferguson continued to make the most of her A-list credentials when she rubbed shoulders with stars including Kenneth Branagh at a book launch in London. Fergie, 57, joined the veteran actor at the launch of The Importance of Being Ernest the Earwig, a new children's book illustrated by Branagh's wife Lindsay which hits shelves tomorrow. Scroll down for video The Duchess of York chats to Kenneth Branagh at the launch of The Importance of Being Ernest the Earwig, a new children's book illustrated by Branagh's wife Lindsay, in Marleybone The Duchess of York, who is mother to Princesses Beatrice, 28 and Eugenie, 27, opted for a simple but chic black ensemble with a tailored blazer and kick-flare skirt, adding a touch of glamour with some patent pumps. The red-headed royal looked to be in good spirits as she hobnobbed with guests including RADA alumnus Branagh as well as actor Derek Jacobi, and posed with a giant cover of the new book at Daunt Books on Marleybone High Street. According to the Evening Standard Londoner's Diary, the mother-of-two also praised the efforts of Prince Harry for speaking out on mental health this week. Fergie posed with a giant cover of the new book at Daunt Books on Marleybone High Street, and guests reported she also spoke of her support of the royals' Heads Together campaign The royal has joined forces with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to launch their Heads Together campaign, and recently revealed he had endured two years of 'total chaos' as he came to terms with his mother Diana's untimely death. Fergie, herself a charity campaigner, told the newspaper: 'We need to listen more to young people. You have to breathe, and you have to build your confidence by understanding yourself. Our minds are so precious.' Back to black: The Duchess of York opted for a simple but chic monochrome ensemble with a tailored blazer and kick-flare skirt, adding a touch of glamour with some patent pumps The Duchess separated from Prince Andrew in 1992 after six years of marriage. They divorced four years later, but their continued closeness has often prompted speculation that they would rekindle their relationship. While his brother Prince Charles found happiness with his second wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Andrew has never remarried. Meanwhile, her ties to the royal family have been re-affirmed with every passing year and she recently cited her former mother-in-law the Queen as her 'role model'. After stepping out in a daring off-the-shoulder number yesterday, Queen Letizia once again showed off her style credentials today in a slim-fitting dress. The 44-year-old was perfectly poised as she hosted a lunch for Spain's literary stars ahead of a ceremony to present the Miguel de Cervantes Prize - the most prestigious writing award for works in the Spanish language. The mother-of-two chose a fitted knee-length dress with a colour-block pattern and stud detail to host the guests at the Royal Palace in Madrid, along with her husband, King Felipe VI. The 44-year-old was poised as ever in her colour block knee-length dress with stud detail Queen Letizia kept her jewellery simple today as she hosted a luncheon for representatives of the World of Literature The elegant royal accentuated teamed the slim-fitting dress with a pair of nude patent heels, and wore her dark hair loose around her shoulders. Queen Letizia kept her jewellery simple, finishing her look with classic pearl earrings. She and her husband King Felipe VI played host to the Spanish writer Eduardo Mendoza, who will receive the 2016 Miguel de Cervantes Award at a ceremony at the Alcala de Henares University tomorrow. The 44-year-old was perfectly poised in her colour block knee length dress in white, blue and navy The royal spoke with Spanish writer and 2016 Miguel de Cervantes laureate Eduardo Mendoza The petite royal held out her hand as she went to speak to guests at the Royal Palace in Madrid Created in 1974, the Miguel de Cervantes Prize is the most important award in Spanish literature. Candidates are nominated by a panel that includes former prize winners and the Spanish Royal Academy. Previous winners include Juan Goytisolo and Nicanor Parra, and the prize is open to all authors from Spanish-speaking nations. King Felipe VI of Spain (second from left) was also in attendance for the event today Queen Letizia and King Felipe were matching in their blue colours and smiled at the guests The Spanish royal accentuated her curves in the tight fitting white sleeved dress and wore her dark hair loose around her shoulders The royal couple were hosts for the afternoon at the event where Spanish writer Eduardo Mendoza will receive the 2016 Miguel de Cervantes Award The pair smiled as they worked the room and greeted their guests The Miguel de Cervantes Prize is the most important award in Spanish literature Just yesterday, Queen Letizia looked younger than ever in an on-trend white bardot top and flared black trousers. She took to the stage at the 'Gran Angular' and 'El Barco De Vapor' literature awards at Casa de Correos in Madrid, where she was on hand to present awards to the best authors in the country. As well as making a speech, Letizia also took the time to mingle with authors, publishers and guests alike. Just yesterday, Queen Letizia looked younger than ever in an of-the-minute white bardot top and flared black trousers Like policemen, doctors start to look younger as you get older. Dr Holly Lomas, 28, doesnt just look youthful, she looks exhausted. And defeated. Dr Lomas could not be more dedicated she has wanted to be a doctor since she was a teenager, and has worked hard to realise her dream. Shes no naive youngster with idealised expectations, either. Before embarking on her medical degree, Holly worked as a health care assistant, a pub manager and in the security industry. Emily Maile, 26, says there is not enough time to implement all the things she learned during her training So its devastating to hear her admit, at the end of a routine shift in a busy hospital A&E unit, that she is perilously close to being the sort of doctor she never wanted to be who sees patients as products on a conveyor belt. During her training she vowed that, above all else, she didnt want to get to the point where I forgot the patient. Just weeks into the job, and Holly is already at that point. Today I couldnt tell you a single thing about any of my patients, she says. If you lined them all up in front of me I couldnt name one. The very first patient Holly treated died a brutal introduction to the NHS front line. Since then, in her first month as a doctor, she has seen more than 300 patients and issued nearly a dozen death certificates. How many days has she left work on time? None, she says. Theres an idea that todays junior doctors work only 40 hours a week but Holly did nearly twice that in her first week. Im petrified of letting my patients down, she says, as long after her shift should have ended she ploughs through paperwork. Dr Sam Pollen, a young man who, at 24, has only ever wanted to be a doctor, is heartbreakingly candid about how difficult the job is. Its terrifying, is his summing up of his first day. By the end of the programme, he is filmed walking away from the NHS, not quitting yet but certainly taking a break, considering whether a job abroad, maybe in New Zealand, would suit him more The NHS is on its knees, and it is becoming more evident to me exactly how stretched all of our services are, she says. Later, a colleague will comment that if the NHS were any normal industry, facing the sort of future they all believe they are facing, everyone would be bailing out. Holly and her fellows at Northampton General Hospital are the subjects of a hard-hitting Channel 4 documentary, Confessions Of A Junior Doctor, which follows newly-qualified NHS medics. Allowing the TV cameras in to track rookies would reveal trials and tribulations in any environment. Here, though, the results are nothing short of harrowing. The programme describes the new medics as foot soldiers, but the message, loud and clear, is that they are losing the war and being used as cannon fodder in the process. For any potential NHS patient, the viewing experience is bruising and leaves you thankful that you are not one of the nameless souls on these harried doctors call sheets. Emily and Sam and their fellows at Northampton General Hospital are the subjects of a hard-hitting Channel 4 documentary, Confessions Of A Junior Doctor, which follows newly-qualified NHS medics But if you want to understand why one third of all junior doctors quit before their training is out, then this programme lays it bare. Even Holly admits she is wavering. The reason that we dont stop is because we care about patients and we put them first why would you work anywhere in the NHS if you didnt care about people? She says that yes, she is still enjoying being a doctor, but there have been days when I think twice. Dr Sam Pollen, a young man who, at 24, has only ever wanted to be a doctor, is heartbreakingly candid about how difficult the job is. Its terrifying, is his summing up of his first day. By the end of the programme, he is filmed walking away from the NHS, not quitting yet but certainly taking a break, considering whether a job abroad, maybe in New Zealand, would suit him more. We are doing our best. We are working our hardest, but it is just not enough. We physically dont have the time to give our patients. That is what frustrates me. We dont have the time to give the level of care that I have been trained to offer, and that I want to offer, and that I should be giving to my patients. You feel guilty about it. You feel guilty a lot of the time. Why? The short answer is that Sam feels that he cant keep afloat any more. We are doing our best. We are working our hardest, but it is just not enough, he says. We physically dont have the time to give our patients. That is what frustrates me. We dont have the time to give the level of care that I have been trained to offer, and that I want to offer, and that I should be giving to my patients. You feel guilty about it. You feel guilty a lot of the time, he says. Such talk wont be a shock to those in the medical profession. The crisis facing the NHS as a result of its inability to retain junior medics is well known. What is jaw-dropping about this programme is that it lays bare the consequences when doctors dont have the time to do their jobs properly. And, its also a story about patients, not just once-idealistic young doctors. In episode one, we meet a 20-year-old called Ryan who has been in and out of this hospital 17 times in the past year, with hospital staff unable to find out why he has lost almost half his body weight, slipping from eight stone to just over four. Ryan is alarmingly emaciated, but tests have revealed there is nothing actually wrong with him. Confusingly, he puts on weight when he is in hospital but loses it again when he is discharged. Is he the victim of a rare genetic condition? No, it is simpler than that. During the programme, Sam, who is working on the gastric ward, has a rare quiet day where he rejoices in being able to sit down and talk to Ryan about his lifestyle. He discovers that Ryan is a heavy cannabis user. The penny drops, and Sam explains gently that cannabis can be an appetite suppressant. Ryan then opens up about how, when he is smoking heavily, he often goes for days without eating anything more than a packet of crisps. Seventeen hospital admissions, and not one medic was able to get Ryan to talk about that earlier? Its a devastating example of where the system is failing patients. The crisis facing the NHS as a result of its inability to retain junior medics is well known. What is jaw-dropping about this programme is that it lays bare the consequences when doctors dont have the time to do their jobs properly. Pictured: Emily and Sam And, according to Sam anyway, Ryan isnt alone. We see patients like Ryan a lot. What they need from us as doctors is our time. But you physically dont have the time to sit with a patient for 20 minutes and listen to them, because I have 50 other patients to see by lunchtime, he explains, as he scurries off, holding a clipboard. Working in a system so overstretched is destroying any satisfaction in the job, he admits. It sours a lot of what you have worked so hard for all these years. The tales all these young medics have to tell are uncannily similar. Emily Maile is 26 and in her third year as a junior doctor. Again, you cant doubt that she is in the job for the right reasons. She has chosen to specialise in the difficult area of palliative care, mostly inspired by the fact that her own mother (also a doctor) was diagnosed with breast cancer three days before Emilys final exams. Although her mum recovered, Emily decided her future lay in oncology. Its a field where you might imagine there is more time to sit at a patients side holding their hand. Well, no. Emilys experience is brutal. Like Sam and Holly, she is filmed haring around corridors, bemoaning the fact that there simply is not enough time for her to implement all the things she was taught during her training. This job has broken me, she cries, close to tears after a particularly hard shift when her team is three nurses down and a 25-year-old patient with stage 4 throat cancer meaning it has spread around her body is left waiting four hours for a half-hour appointment. On the same shift, Emily has to tell another patient, Tracey, who used to work at the hospital, that her lung cancer treatment is no longer working. We would all want to have an Emily holding our hand as we die, but sadly the system no longer seems to allow for that. The experiences of both staff and patients are deeply troubling but perhaps the most shocking footage comes from the senior hospital staff, who have the clearest sense of how close to the edge their departments really are. It is widely accepted that in the NHS, the army of junior doctors 63,000 in the UK provide absolutely essential cover for hospitals struggling to cope. Each time a junior doctor decides they cannot continue in the job, another gap appears in the straining infrastructure. At Northampton General, Dr Lyndsey Brawn pores over the figures in front of her, and gulps. Out of 65 junior doctors we have ten gaps, she says. Next week, that is going to be more because two more are leaving, so there will be 12 gaps. How will they be filled? By doctors recruited in haste from abroad, she says. Lyndsey reveals, before dashing off to avert another crisis, that so pressed is this hospital that foreign doctors and medics with less experience than anyone would like are actually being recruited via the video-calling service Skype. Sometimes they have not done very much and it is a bit of a gamble, she admits. Her matter-of-factness about the prospect of the entire NHS sliding into the abyss is devastating. It feels as though we are on the edge of things cracking up, no doubt about that, she adds. Confessions Of A Junior Doctor has three episodes, and by the end of the first, the NHS already seems to have lost one of its most promising foot soldiers. Sam will now become one of the 6,000 junior doctors who apply to work overseas every year. How many of his colleagues will follow his lead, and what will the NHS do without them? That question should terrify us all. Confessions Of A Junior Doctor is on Channel 4 at 9pm on Wednesdays. Each week, we send a couple out for dinner and report back on their blind date, with a little advice thrown in to help the rest of us with affairs of the heart. This week we sent Meena Bedi and Tim Cadwallader to The Boot in Lapworth, Warwickshire. Meena has been single for some time after a couple of long-term relationships. She is settling back in the UK after travelling for many years and is looking for a man with joie de vivre who knows how to make her laugh and feel like a million dollars. She works in advertising sales. Tim is divorced with three children aged 16, 11 and nine. He lives in Birmingham and works in flight operations at Birmingham Airport. He is looking for someone quirky and fun. This week we sent Meena Bedi and Tim Cadwallader to The Boot in Lapworth, Warwickshire Meena, 59, says: I love a chivalrous man with good manners, but also someone who is fun and likes a laugh. Ive been a happy single person and really enjoy life, but feel I would love to share my life with someone special. However, I dont have much opportunity to meet people as I only moved back to the UK last month after ten years in France. Im living out of a suitcase between my parents house and my sisters in Solihull until I get settled. Its been a couple of years since I went on a date so I was nervous, but when I saw Tim at the bar I was relieved. He was very presentable and easy-going, and made me feel comfortable right away. Meena, 59, said: 'Its been a couple of years since I went on a date so I was nervous, but when I saw Tim at the bar I was relieved. He was very presentable and easy-going, and made me feel comfortable right away' I think he was probably nervous at the beginning, too, but we started chatting and were laughing immediately, so there was no awkwardness. Weve had similar life experiences, share interests such as travel and cooking, and both have stuff in storage, so that helped to break the ice. Im a dog lover, and Tim talked about how he adores his sisters pet, so it felt as if we were on the same wavelength the conversation flowed. I had a thoroughly enjoyable evening. It was a lovely country pub and the food was great. They looked after us so well. I loved the fact Tim was gallant and gentlemanly, opening doors and being very considerate. I was nervous about telling him I was older than him, but he said I looked great for my age and that it didnt matter. I dont feel (or act!) my age when I do a reality check on how old I am I sometimes get a shock. I live life to the full. We both felt our meal finished too quickly so we went for a nightcap at the bar, but he was working the next morning and driving home, so we had to leave, otherwise I think we would have kept on talking. I was going to get a taxi, but Tim very kindly drove me home. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy to be looked after so well. Its been a long time. Was there a spark? I dont know. I think sparks at my age are few and far between, but I try to look beyond that. If I felt he was interested, I would definitely meet up. We didnt make plans to meet again and just said goodbye with a kiss on the cheek. But even if Tim doesnt want to progress with it, Im fine with that because I had such a lovely evening. I have tried internet dating but found it soul-destroying, but this blind date with Tim has given me hope that there are some lovely middle-aged men out there. It was a heartwarming and positive experience. LIKE: Affable, easy-going and a gallant gentleman. REGRETS: None. CAB OR COFFEE: Coffee. VERDICT: 10/10 Tim, 52, says: Meena is stunning. When she walked into the bar I was so impressed. She is classy and beautiful with gorgeous eyes. I was gobsmacked when she told me how old she was. She looks at least ten years younger and I certainly didnt mind in the slightest. I had been really nervous beforehand, but within minutes of meeting we were laughing and relaxed in each others company. It was Meenas personality that made the date for me. Tim, 52, said: 'Meena is stunning. When she walked into the bar I was so impressed. She is classy and beautiful with gorgeous eyes' Ive never been on a blind date before and havent dated that much in the past few years. Ive been single for a while and feel ready to start dating again, but Ive found internet dating can be hard as people dont often turn out to be what they appear. The type of woman Im looking for is someone quirky with a great sense of humour, who doesnt take life too seriously. Meena was great as there was no awkwardness and we had a lot in common. Shes interesting, well educated and well travelled, so we were laughing and talking all evening. DATE DOCTOR'S VERDICT... It can be intimidating to date in later life. Our Dating Doctor, Alana Kirk, a single mother of three and a midlife dater herself, shows how one good date can give you the encouragement to carry on, regardless of the outcome. Dating disasters are the stories we like to tell. They are also the ones we often hear. Most of us dating again in later life have had disappointing experiences. It doesnt mean dating is bad or that you arent doing it right. It just means that particular situation didnt work out. You learn from it and keep getting more confident. Dating is not a one-show performance. It can take courage to get on the stage, take practice to talk easily and take lots of dress rehearsals before the curtain finally closes on a great night. But not all dates have to end in that spark of instant romance. Just getting the courage to go out, meet someone and feel great about yourself and dating be it attraction, chemistry or just plain human connection will all help to give you the incentive to keep going. Realising there are good people out there, and not just horror stories, will give dating a new lease of life. So lets go. Dare to date! Advertisement There was definite chemistry between us in terms of personality. Weve both lived abroad, each been between houses and have similar interests. I really felt we had a connection. Meena looked stunning with her lovely dark brown eyes and hair, but Im not sure that we had a physical spark. Shes just lovely, though. The Boot was really good. I had a spicy chicken starter, followed by steak, but we were too full to eat dessert. We could have stayed talking all night, though when it was time to go home I wasnt happy to leave Meena in the middle of the country to get a taxi, so I gave her a lift. We said goodbye with a little peck on the cheek, but didnt swap phone numbers. I would definitely like to see Meena again, though, because we connected on a personality level, but Im not sure about a spark. It was a great night and has encouraged me to think about dating. Ive been put off before, but after this date I know theres someone out there for me. LIKE: Her personality she is such great fun. REGRETS: Not at all it was a lovely evening. CAB OR COFFEE: Coffee. VERDICT: 8/10 Purdue Professor to Debate Anti-Abortion Activist April 24 Topic: Is abortion a moral injustice? Contact: Mark Harrington, 614-419-9000, Mark@CreatedEqual.org COLUMBUS, Ohio, April 19, 2017 /Christian Newswire/ -- On April 24th, Purdue Professor Dr. David Sanders and anti-abortion activist Seth Drayer will square off in Purdue University's Forney Hall to debate abortion. Director of Training for Created Equal, Drayer will argue that abortion is a moral injustice. Dr. Sanders, Purdue Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, will argue the opposing view. What: Formal Debate: Is abortion a moral injustice? Where: Purdue University, Forney Hall G140 (480 W Stadium Ave, West Lafayette, IN 47907) When: Monday, April 24th; 7:00 PM EDT Sponsored by: Purdue University Boilermakers for Life and College Republicans See the Facebook event page. The event will be broadcast live online at Facebook.com/CreatedEqual. Because of recent pro-life victories, abortion advocates are now willing to openly debate abortion. Defenders of abortion realize that the status quo is no longer good enough to ensure the "right to abortion." This debate should be an epic display of the positions of both sides. Debater comments: An all-male panel failed to repeal a Maryland policy forcing women to negotiate with their rapists over child custody after running out of time. Six men sat down to negotiate a new bill at the Maryland State House in Anniapolis Monday night last week as part of a special committee that didn't include any female members. Their negotiations lasted past 11 pm, meaning the bill couldn't be voted before the end of this year's session. Maryland is one of seven states that don't allow female victims of rape to terminate the perpetrator's parental rights. It was the ninth time female delegate Kathleen Dumais attempted to pass a bill to change this policy, the Baltimore Sun reported. Outrage: Maryland Delegate Joseph Vallario Jr (pictured) is one of six men appointed to a committee that failed to change the state's policy affecting female victims of rape Current rules in Maryland force women left pregnant after a rape to discuss custody arrangements with the attacker, or to consult the perpetrator if they wish to give up the child for adoption. This year, the bill had made unprecedented progress when it passed both the Maryland House and the state's Senate. A committee was tasked to come up with a final version of the bill because the texts approved by each house had significant differences. But they ultimately failed to complete the task before this year's legislative session ended, the Baltimore Sun wrote. One of the negotiators on the committee, Senator Bobby Zirkin, told the newspaper the State House's print shop couldn't print out copies of the text fast enough. Panel: Senator Robert Zirkin (left) was also tasked with naming the members of the committee, according to the Baltimore Sun. Senator Michael Hough (right) was among the negotiators Included: Delegate David Moon (left), Senator William Smith (center) and Delegate Brett Wilson (right) were all appointed to be on the committee too Dumais, the delegate who has pushed for the new law, was not asked to be on the committee. She seemed close to tears when it seemed like a consensus could not be reached on the bill, according to the newspaper. 'Although I have great respect for my colleagues, not having women on the committee was tone-deaf,' female Senator Cheryl Kagan said. She and another female lawmaker, senator Delores Kelley, oversaw the group of men as they negotiated but didn't take part in the talks. 'I wanted to watch as the conscience for women and rape survivors,' Kagan addedd. Members of the committee were picked by Delegate Joseph Vallario Jr and Senator Robert Zirkin, according to the newspaper. Both were included in the negotiators, along with Delegates David Moon and Brett Wilson as well as Senators William Smith and Michael Hough, the Daily Beast wrote. Long fight: It was the ninth time female delegate Kathleen Dumais (pictured in a file photo) attempted to pass a bill to change the state's current policy Not in: Female Senators Cheryl Kagan (left) and Delores Kelley (right) watched as the men discussed the bill - but weren't asked to sit on the panel Current rules in Maryland force women left pregnant after a rape to discuss custody arrangements with the attacker Vallario insisted the exclusively male committee was 'never intended that way' and told the Baltimore Sun he hadn't asked Dumais because she was the prime sponsor of the bill and he didn't think that would be impartial. Dumais, however, said she had previously been a member of committees related to bills she had sponsored. While Vallario made himself a member of the committee, he didn't attend the talks, according to the newspaper. Moon, meanwhile, told the Daily Beast he, along with Smith and Wilson, had 'desperately' tried to save the bill before the clock struck. But a supporter of the bill and director of the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault blasted Zirkin, the chairman of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, for the failure to change the current policy. 'Chairman Zirkin knows how to pass a bill and how to kill one,' Lisae Jordan said. 'If he wanted the Rape Survivor Family Protection Act to pass, it would have.' Explaining what she would have done differently had she been in charge, Dumais said: 'I would have scheduled [the conference committee] earlier.' Not everyone is impressed by the sugary-sweet taste of Starbucks' limited-edition Unicorn Frappuccino, but that hasn't stopped hoards of young women from gleefully posting pictures of it on social media. Today, the coffee chain jumped on the unicorn trend by debuting a pink and blue Unicorn Frappuccino, which is only available in stores in the United States, Canada, and Mexico through the end of the end of the weekend. Unsurprisingly, the colorful concoction has caught people's fancy, as unicorn lovers and Daily Mail Online flocked to Starbucks stores this morning to order the special treat. And a straw for a horn! Starbucks has debuted a new Unicorn Frappuccino How is it? Daily Mail Online tested out the new drink on camera Hmm... It doesn't change color as easily as the brand says, and reviews of the taste were mixed Sip sip: US Femail Editor Charlie Lankston put the sickly-sweet beverage to the test - but wasn't impressed with the flavor, despite being thrilled about how pretty it looked in pictures Made with mango syrup and a sour blue drizzle, then topped with whipped cream and pink and blue powder, the drink is meant to be fruity and sweet. It also supposedly changes color when mixed, with the pink and blue combining to make purple. However, FEMAIL found while testing out the new drink that it doesn't change color quite as easily as advertised, if at all. It's actually quite difficult to stir the partially-frozen drink in the cup. While the color-changing effects may not be foolproof, though, fans have still found the drink incredibly pretty and Instagram-worthy, with thousands posting pictures on the social media platform. 'Could not resist the allure of the #unicornfrappuccino because who can say no to edible glitter, amiright?' wrote one. Not impressed: Some people seem to have had bad reactions to the super-sweet taste Love! Others, however, are obsessed with the sugary concoction So shareable: Thousands of fans have flocked to the store today to get a taste 'As a white girl, it is my sworn duty to take an aesthetic photo of my @starbucks #unicornfrappuccino,' added another. The picture perfection is clearly not up for debate among those who have ordered the drink so far, though the drink's taste has earned mixed reviews. Many have called it delicious, tasty, and magical, with quite a few adding that waiting in line for it was 'worth it'. 'It tastes as beautiful as it looks,' wrote one fan online. It's like getting on a roller coaster the first time. It looks amazing, and you want it, but then you get it and it's death and destruction US News Feature Reporter Matthew 'I found the beverage to be delightful,' said US reporter Chris Spargo. 'It was sweet and tart and I would drink one every day if possible. I particularly enjoyed the combination of unicorn powder on whipped cream.' US News Feature Reporter Matthew Wright added: 'The Unicorn was like getting on a roller coaster the first time. It looks amazing when you are looking at it and you want it but then you get it and it's death and destruction. 'It's the perfect drink for Instagram, but not so much so for your stomach and taste buds.' Others, however, are less impressed with the taste, describing it as sickly-sweet and suggesting subbing the mango syrup for raspberry. Several have wondered why the flavor wasn't more unicorn-themed, like cotton candy or cake. Blink and you'll miss it: It is only available through the end of the weekend in stores in the US, Canada, and Mexico Magic in every sip: It's a mix of mango syrup and sour blue powder Color-changing: Swirling the drink - or mixing it - blends the pink and blue into a purple drink Fairy dust: The whipped cream is sprinkled with pink and blue powder 'It's a little gross, but still! It sparkles,' wrote one. Another added: 'It tastes like soggy fruity pebbles.' 'It's too sweet for me but I am obsessed with the colors!' posted an Instagram user. 'I couldn't distinguish any particular flavors; it was just overpoweringly sweet and sickly, and the sour blue part was incredibly tart,' said US Femail Editor Charlie Lankston. 'But it looks pretty and I feel like it brought me one step closer to fulfilling my dreams of one day meeting a real unicorn so I'm considering it $5 well spent.' 'The unicorn frapp is the perfect drink for Instagramming but no so much for drinking,' added US Assistant News Editor Jenny Stanton. 'It is sickly sweet and does not taste of anything natural. The drink becomes more and more sour as you get to the bottom if you can get to the bottom.' 'Sitting in Starbucks watching people's excitement turn to disgust after trying the #unicornfrappuccino is so entertaining,' a Twitter user chimed in. Another said, 'The unicorn frappuccino looks pretty but tastes like crap. Don't do it.' So pumped! Social media users are very excited about the new item Drink up fast! The news broke to great excitement and anticipation The drink, which is only available through Sunday, April 23, started earning buzz online even before Starbucks officially announced it, thanks to giddy baristas who couldn't keep the secret. Here to stay: Starbucks also officially added the Pink Drink to its menu after it became popular last summer Official pictures showed a blended pink drink with a squiggled blue line running through. It's topped with whipped cream, which is sprinkled with pink and blue powder. Starbucks says the specialty item is a mix of mango syrup and 'pleasantly sour' blue drizzle. In a press release, the brand explained that swirling the drink changes its color to purple, and the flavor evolves from sweet and fruity to tangy and tart. And while Starbucks has said that the drink will only remain on the menu for a limited period, there is a slim chance that it could make a more permanent return in the future. Recently, the coffee chain officially added the viral 'Pink Drink' a popular item from its 'secret menu' to its official beverage line-up. The blend of passion fruit, coconut milk, and strawberries was a hugely popular item last summer, thanks in large part to its picture-perfect appearance, which made it a hit with social media lovers the world over. Depression can be crippling, with symptoms ranging from lasting feelings of hopelessness to even physical aches and pains. The little-understood mental health condition may affect up to one in four people at some point in their lives. With varied evidence of available treatments' effectiveness, army veteran Vivian Cooke relies on botox to help combat her debilitating depression. Ms Cooke had tried numerous alternative therapies and medications without success before giving the unlikely cosmetic treatment a try three years ago. Although botox is typically associated with giving users youthful looks, it may help to ease mental health conditions by blocking the facial expressions that send signals to the brain and are linked to low mood. Botox may help to ease depression by calming the facial muscles linked to negative emotions COULD BOTOX TREAT DEMENTIA? Youthful looks may boost self-esteem, which could have a regenerating effect on the body. According to Dr Foad Nahai, professor of surgery, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia. Internalising stress about ageing can cause brain changes. Yet, other experts argue dementia cannot always be prevented or delayed. Additional experts highlight the importance of good general health to minimise your risk. Advertisement Ms Cooke said: 'I found overall my mood was better on a day-to-day basis. I had less problems with depression,' CBS News reported. She was participating in a clinical trial assessing botox in depression. The study has since completed, but Ms Cooke will continue to receive the injections. Dr. Eric Finzi, Chevy Chase Cosmetic Center, Maryland, said: 'Botox basically inhibits the muscle and calms it down, so it becomes more difficult to feel those negative emotions.' On 5 April 2017, pharmaceutical giant Allergan announced the results of its clinical trial assessing botox in depression were sufficiently encouraging to move the treatment on to the next stage of development. Dr Finzi said: 'Our hope is eventually it will form a place as one of the tools to treat depression.' Although associated with cosmetics, botox is also approved to treat headache and sweating Botox is a prescription drug that is injected into muscles to block their nerve signals. It is used cosmetically to temporarily improve frown lines between the eyes and crow's feet around the sides of the eyes. Its medical uses include treating bladder incontinence, severe sweating, headache and muscle stiffness. Researchers are also investigating botox's potential at treating social anxiety and bipolar disorder. A nurse born with two vaginas was left devastated after surgery to correct her rare condition means she will never have children. Nicci Triefenbach, 32, was left feeling like a 'circus freak' after being told she had a duplicate reproductive system more than a decade ago. It caused her endless misery, from constant pain in her teenage years to being chased by men who thought the idea of sleeping with her was a novelty. After eventually finding love in her husband Andy, she was left suicidal following three miscarriages in her desperate attempts to start a family. She then decided to have surgery in the form of a hysterectomy four months ago to try and improve her quality of life. Despite knowing they will never have their own children together, the couple are hoping to adopt in the future. Scroll down for video Nicci Triefenbach, 32, was left feeling like a 'circus freak' after being told she had a duplicate reproductive system (pictured with her husband, Andy) Mrs Triefenbach, from St Louis, Missouri, said: 'The condition affected my life pretty severely. The hardest thing about the whole process is not feeling like a woman. 'You feel like you're insane, then there is the whole "why me?" aspect. You feel isolated and abnormal - like a freak of nature.' 'Trying to explain it to partners before sex was embarrassing and I felt like some men only wanted to be with me because I was a novelty - they saw having sex with me as a challenge.' Mrs Triefenbach was also diagnosed with endometriosis, which can cause women difficulty in becoming pregnant. Alongside the physical pain caused by the condition, she also suffered a lot of heartache. She said: 'I have had three miscarriages and it wasn't possible for me to go further than 22 weeks. 'You get very desperate to have children and you just wonder "What am I doing wrong? Why am I going through this?" 'There were times when I thought about suicide but again with my support system it pulled me out.' Mrs Triefenbach added: 'I now have a normal vagina with one vaginal opening, no cervix now obviously and no uteruses. 'I've always wanted to be a mum and going ahead with the hysterectomy was a difficult decision to make but since the operation my quality of life has gotten so much better. It caused her endless misery, from constant pain in her teenage years to being chased by men who thought the idea of sleeping with her was a novelty After eventually finding love in her husband Andy, she was left suicidal after her desperate attempts to start a family were scarred by three miscarriages 'I don't think I could have even coped with the physical demands of looking after a child before but now I just have so much more energy - I basically have my life back. 'I want to adopt one day - hopefully soon. I was adopted myself and I'd love to give a home to a child who really needs it.' Mrs Triefenbach sought medical advice after she spent days at a time bed-ridden with cramps as a youngster. But it wasn't until she was 20 that she discovered the cause of the problem during an examination with a gynaecologist. The condition affected my life pretty severely. The hardest thing about the whole process is not feeling like a woman Nicci Triefenbach, 32 Known as uterus didelphys, the rare condition is believed to affect less than one per cent of women. It had caused her vaginal cavity to split in two - and that she had two wombs, two cervixes and two vaginas. Having two different menstrual cycles even caused her to develop the potentially deadly anaemia, as her body couldn't cope with the blood loss. Mrs Triefenbach said: 'There was the opening, a normal labia and then it funneled up and split off into a "Y" with two different vaginal canals. 'At the end of the canals, there was two little doughnut areas where the cervixes were and that divided off into two separate uterine bodies.' Mr Triefenbach said: 'Nicci is really strong. I commend her for being as strong as she was getting through all this. She then decided to have surgery four months ago to remove most of her sexual organs to improve her quality of life Despite knowing they will never have their own children together, the couple are hoping to adopt in the future 'Granted I don't have any vaginas but if I did, I don't know if I could have done the same thing. I can only imagine how hard it was for her.' And with the support of her husband, Mrs Triefenbach has learned to accept the condition and hopes to support others who are experiencing similar struggles. She said: 'For years I was ashamed but now I love my body for what it is capable of - rather than hating it for what it's not. 'I want to get rid of the stigma surrounding conditions like this and I want other women to love themselves and love their bodies. 'I have decided to go public with this because there is so many women out there that have anomalies and have endometriosis, and don't feel like they have anybody. 'You're not alone and you've got to be strong. If you have two vaginas, two uteruses, two cervixes, you're just different, you're not a circus freak.' Meet the British family who suffer from the same genetic condition that causes them to dislocate their bones. Gemma Coles-Hassan, 34, from Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) when she was 11 after years of misdiagnosis. Despite being told there was a 50 per cent of passing it on, all three of her children were found to be carriers. Only Mrs Coles-Hassan's husband Danny isn't plagued by the agonising condition, which weakens the collagen in their bodies. It leaves them all in pain from the frequent swelling that happens, and has stopped them from being normal children. Despite being told there was a 50 per cent of passing it on, all three of Gemma Coles-Hassan's children were found to be carriers (pictured with her husband, Danny, and the three children) Mrs Coles-Hassan, whose mother and sister are also sufferers, told MailOnline: 'It's been really hard, seeing the children upset and swelling and dislocating, those bits are the hard bits. 'There's nothing you can do apart from not having children. I'm hoping that they are going to have the same mind as I've got, we have to deal with it the best we can. 'It's about determination I think, it won't beat us put it that way, it makes things hard but it won't beat us. 'Some days you feel there is no end to the hard times then you have a good day and see the smiles on your children faces and their determination and positive attitude give you more fight.' Genetic testing after their first child Aydan's birth - the only way of diagnosis - found that the now 10-year-old was also a sufferer. It leaves them all in pain from the frequent swelling that happens, and has stopped them from being normal children Mrs Coles-Hassan said: 'The actual condition doesn't bother me, knowing that I've passed it on is really hard' The same procedure happened after Theo, seven, was born. Doctors said that it would be very unlikely that Maddison, now five, wouldn't be born without the condition. They were both found to have been passed the genetic condition which is believed to affect one in every 5,000 people. As a result of the condition affecting the muscles in his tongue, Aydan has speech and language issues and was mute from birth. The actual condition doesn't bother me, knowing that I've passed it on is really hard Gemma Coles-Hassan, 34 He also suffers from bowel problems and vision issues in controlling the movements of his eye muscles. Maddison's PE lessons are tailored, she doesn't do a full lesson like her peers but she understands the reasons why it's all about pacing and tailoring to the child. For some symptoms can be relatively mild, while for others their issues can be disabling. Some can even be life-threatening. The family have learnt to make the best of their difficult situation, which sees the children visit consultant every two months. Mrs Coles-Hassan says that having a positive mental attitude is key to coping with EDS and she tries to instill this in her children. Only Mrs Coles-Hassan's husband Danny isn't plagued by the agonising condition, which weakens the collagen in their bodies The family have learnt to make the best of their difficult situation, which sees the children visit consultants every two months The family use special tape to lift the skin away from the muscles and hold joints in place, reducing the chances of dislocations and swelling. They also have lots of adaption fitted into the home to make things easier for them all, including a full wet room, electric beds and stair lifts. She added: 'It's a condition that they have for life so they have to deal with it, we try to keep positive but obviously, it is a negative condition but my philosophy on it is that you have to keep control of it because if you don't, it will beat you. 'We hit it head on and take the bull by the horns but we could all be in a very dark place if not.' For more information, visit www.ehlers-danlos.org. Having a baby through IVF has no impact on the future health of the child, new research suggests. Ever since the first 'test-tube baby' was born in 1978, some scientists have raised concerns about potential birth defects. A host of other evidence has linked the fertility treatment to various health problems in infants as they grow older. But the British study now claims to show that any such fears over starting a family through IVF are 'largely unfounded'. New British research suggests that having a baby through IVF has no impact on the future health of the child Experts have described the findings as 'reassuring' for parents and said it should bolster confidence in the treatment which lets thousands of parents achieve their dreams of having children. King's College London researchers focused on epigenetics for the study - the biological mechanisms that regulate genes. These differences have been identified in common chronic diseases such as cancer, psychiatric disorders and diabetes. But lead author Dr Jordana Bell said: 'We found no such major epigenetic differences in babies conceived by IVF. 'Our results are reassuring for parents who used IVF, as our research suggests that technology has little impact on epigenetic changes, and potentially future health.' The researchers took blood samples from the umbilical cord in order to analyse epigenetic changes in 107 newborn twins. Ever since the first 'test-tube baby' was born using the fertility technique in 1978, some scientists have raised concerns about potential birth defects (stock) Of these, 47 were conceived through IVF while the others were fertilised naturally, according to the findings published in the journal BioMed Central. This research not only offers reassurance to the parents of IVF children, but to the children themselves Consultant gynaecologist Dr Luciano Nardo However, Dr Bell added that more research is needed to see if the small changes observed remain over time. Consultant gynaecologist Dr Luciano Nardo told MailOnline that 'there is absolutely no cause for alarm'. The medical director of Cheshire's Reproductive Health Group said: 'IVF has benefited millions of couples to date. Its been vital for so many families and a miracle of science. 'So this research not only offers reassurance to the parents of IVF children, but to the children themselves.' Researchers around the world have long reported a correlation between IVF and low birth weight in babies. But one reason for this is that fertility treatment is often associated with common risk factors of complications, such as being older mothers. HOW DOES IVF WORK? The menstrual cycle is first suppressed with medication before other drugs are used to encourage the ovaries to produce more eggs than usual. An ultrasound scan is carried out to check the development of the eggs, and medication is used to help them mature. The eggs are then collected by a needle inserted into the ovaries, via the vagina, before the eggs are fertilised with sperm. Finally the fertilised embryo is transferred into the womb to grow and develop. Advertisement However, those born through the fertility method face a potential health timebomb, a scientist warned last year. Dr Pascal Gagneux, based at University of California, San Diego, claimed that assisted reproduction is an 'evolutionary experiment'. He said that it could prove to be as big as a health disaster as junk food, leaving children at risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and premature death. And with problems potentially taking decades to develop, he warned that the consequences of artificial conception may yet to have emerged. The findings come as more and more couples are taking to IVF to have children as fertility rates continue to fall worldwide. In November, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) announced 250,000 babies have now been born in the UK through this method. Figures suggest that the tally of children conceived through IVF stands at around five million worldwide. Thousands of bacteria-infected mosquitoes were released in the wild Tuesday near Key West, testing a new way to kill mosquitoes that carry Zika and other viruses. The Florida Keys Mosquito Control District released 20,000 male mosquitoes infected by the Kentucky-based company MosquitoMate with naturally occurring Wolbachia bacteria. The offspring produced when the lab-bred mosquitoes mate with wild female mosquitoes won't survive to adulthood. Male mosquitoes don't bite, and Wolbachia is not harmful to humans. 'The eggs never even hatch,' said Stephen Dobson, MosquitoMate's founder. The infected mosquitoes were flown in cardboard tubes similar to ones used in paper towel rolls from Lexington, Kentucky, to Key West on Tuesday morning. Florida mosquito control have released 20,000 male mosquitoes infected with a bacteria that will kill their offspring At the Stock Island test site, about 25 acres with residential and commercial properties just north of Key West, district staff released them by shaking or blowing into the tubes, said Andrea Leal, the district's executive director. 'They liked the humidity,' Leal said. 'They were very happy mosquitoes.' The trial is expected to last about three months, with twice-weekly releases. Seven Wolbachia-infected males should be released for every one wild male in the field to drive down the mosquito population, Dobson said. The district has been exploring new ways to suppress Aedes aegypti mosquito populations, which thrive in urban environments and spread Zika, dengue fever and chikungunya. The Keys trial is MosquitoMate's second U.S. test with Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, after a similar trial in Clovis, California, last year. Stock Island is about 130 miles southwest of Miami, where Aedes aegypti mosquitoes were blamed for spreading the Zika virus last year. Keys officials are still considering a separate test of mosquitoes genetically modified by the British biotech firm Oxitec to produce Aedes aegypti offspring that die outside a lab. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration initially approved a trial in a residential neighborhood near Key West, saying the test would not significantly affect the environment, but outrage from anti-GMO activists and residents forced the district to find a new location. 'We're looking at these sterile insect techniques because our conventional mosquito control methods are costly and labor-intensive,' Leal said. MosquitoMate is awaiting permits from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to sell a related mosquito species, the Aedes albopictus or Asian tiger mosquito, infected with Wolbachia as a pest control service. Though these mosquitoes also can carry viruses, experts consider them less of a threat for triggering outbreaks than Aedes aegypti. The FDA is seeking public comment on a proposal clarifying which mosquito-related products it regulates and which ones would be regulated by the EPA. Currently, genetically engineering mosquitoes, as Oxitec does, is regulated by the FDA, while modifying mosquitoes through other techniques, such as MosquitoMate's bacteria, fall under the EPA as pesticides. According to the FDA proposal, the EPA would regulate any mosquito-related products controlling mosquito populations, while the FDA would regulate products making other claims, such as preventing disease. Oxitec has publicly supported regulatory changes that would expedite review of its mosquitoes 'in light of the ongoing Zika-related public health emergency.' It has asked both agencies to clarify how marketing claims would differentiate between suppressing mosquito populations and stopping diseases, 'particularly where the vector control product is pesticidal in its action to suppress mosquitoes that transmit human disease.' Dobson said he hopes the regulatory issues will be resolved quickly, so that mosquito controllers will have more tools to keep the viruses carried by invasive mosquito species from spreading, and more flexibility to address the public's concerns about human health. 'It might be in some places that people will say, 'We don't want Wolbachia,' or they'll say, 'We don't want GMO,' or they'll say, 'We don't want planes spraying overhead,'' Dobson said. Frontrunner: LK Advani A Supreme Court order on Wednesday restoring criminal conspiracy charges against 15 top BJP and RSS leaders in the Babri Masjid demolition case dented 89-year-old LK Advani's chances of becoming President. The ruling came on a request from the Central Bureau of Investigation in its case over the razing of the disputed structure on December 6 1992, that had sparked religious riots across the country in which 2,000 people were killed. Presidential elections are due by July this year when Pranab Mukherjee's term ends. Although the BJP has not announced any candidate yet, speculation was rife in the corridors of power that Advani was one of the frontrunners. But he will soon be slapped with the stringent criminal conspiracy charge that can attract jail term up to 10 years. The top court also directed the Lucknow trial court to hear the case on a day-to-day basis. So, a BJP decision to even project him for the top constitutional post may not augur well for the party's image. Police guarded the Babri Masjid mosque against rioting Hindus bent on razing it and erecting a Hindu temple to god-king Rama. Over 2,000 people died in the riots 'Yes, his chances for presidential candidature suffered the moment the CBI decided to demand restoration of criminal conspiracy charges against him, which has been endorsed by the apex court,' a lawyer in Advani's legal team told Mail Today. The demolition of the mosque followed a movement led by the BJP veteran for a Ram temple to be built on the same spot where the 16th century mosque was constructed by the Mughals. Indian President Pranab Mukherjee RJD chief Lalu Prasad went vocal with the issue, alleging that the Supreme Court order was well-thought-out politics by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to scratch out Advani's name from the race. 'It is well known that the CBI does what the government desires. The BJP doesn't differentiate between itself and others while playing dangerous politics against anyone considered opposed to Modi,' he claimed. Allowing the appeal of the CBI that conspiracy charges should be restored against BJP leaders, a bench of justices PC Ghose and Rohinton Nariman ordered framing of the additional charges against the BJP leaders within four weeks. Apart from Advani, other BJP and RSS leaders hit by the order are Uma Bharti, Murli Manohar Joshi, Vinay Katiyar, Sadhvi Ritambhara, Vishnu Hari Dalmia and eight others Kalyan Singh, being Rajasthan governor, gets constitutional immunity. But the court said charges will be framed against him once he relinquishes the post. Initially CBI had charge-sheeted Advani and 15 others only under minor sections for promoting enmity between classes and imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration. It had subsequently added charges under section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC which was quashed by a special sessions court. The decision was upheld by the Allahabad High Court. The special court had dropped framing of charges by a Lucknow magistrate court on a technical ground that the court was not set up as per a proper notification by the government and without concurrence of the Allahabad HC. The CBI had on May 21, 2010 challenged the high court order in the SC. How CBI nailed the BJP veterans The biggest takeaway of the Supreme Court judgment reviving criminal conspiracy charges against senior members of Indias ruling party was the CBI seeming to taking an 'independent' view. This was the same CBI which during the UPA regime tried to fudge coal scam reports to save Congress leaders and was given the tag of 'caged parrot speaking in its master's voice' by the Supreme Court. Detractors had suggested that the agency may not be inclined to press criminal conspiracy charges against the BJP and RSS leaders with the Modi government in power. But, they were proved wrong. Uma Bharti, Minister of Water resources, is one of the accused but denies any conspiracy The SC bench had issued the order after Modi government's ASG N K Kaul, who represented CBI, had painstakingly explained how there was prima facie evidence against all the BJP and RSS leaders named as accused and why the Allahabad High Court was wrong in dropping the conspiracy charges. The CBI told the court it has evidence that the BJP leaders, who made their speeches on a stage near the mosque on the day that it was razed, were part of the alleged plot to bring down the mosque. Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the party would study the verdict before commenting on the case The agency claims Advani and other BJP leaders met the night before the mosque was brought down and decided that it would be razed, which makes the alleged demolition a pre-meditated, deliberate event. It is to be noted that it was CBI under Manmohan Singh-led UPA government which moved the apex court in 2011, challenging the HC order discharging Advani and others and seeking its restoration. The CBI under Modi government surprised all by not withdrawing the appeal and continuing with the stand. Responding to the CBI's argument, the bench said 'this court has the duty to do complete justice in a case when found necessary. In the present case, crimes which shake the secular fabric of the Constitution of India have allegedly been committed almost 25 years ago. The accused persons have not been brought to book largely because of the conduct of the CBI in not pursuing the prosecution of the aforesaid alleged offenders in a joint trial, and because of technical defects which were easily curable, but which were not cured by the State Government'. 89-year-old Advani, who is a member of BJP's marg darshak mandal has denied his role in a criminal conspiracy to raze the Masjid in 1992. 'Is it a case that I conspired with one lakh kar sevaks? CBI cannot prove the criminal conspiracy charges,' his lawyer K K Venugopal had told the SC bench. Her face and body changed in an instant, permanently, and so did her life. Ghaziabad resident Sangeeta Verma, 36, was brought to Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital this week with 90 per cent burns after her husband and in-laws allegedly doused her with acid. The government school teacher says the attack followed years of harassment and torture over dowry. Terrible attack: Doctors at Safdarjung say chances of Sangeeta's survival are slim 'Papa, please help me get divorce from my husband,' she had told her father and family members many times. Though the payment of dowries for marriage is illegal in India, they remain widespread across caste, class and educational divides. Doctors at Safdarjung say chances of Sangeeta's survival are slim. Her two sons, 13-year-old Avni and Akash, who is a year younger, have no idea where their mother has been since last week. Sangeeta was going about her daily morning rituals last Thursday - getting the kids ready for school, cooking food for the family, etc. She was about to leave for work when an argument with the in-laws over the alleged Rs 25-lakh dowry demand turned ugly. The government teacher says the attack followed years of harassment and torture over dowry She narrated her trauma to Mail Today at the hospital with great difficulty. 'I had been pleading with my father and family to help me get divorced from my cruel husband for 15 years. 'The in-laws too always abused and tortured me for dowry to fulfil their desires. But none of my family members listened to me due to societal pressure. Now, see where I am' The government has made attacking someone with acid a specific offence with a minimum prison term of 10 years. It has also tightened controls on sales of some acids, but cleaning agents are still easily available. 'Sangeeta's in-laws had always been pressuring and torturing her physically and mentally for Rs 25 lakh dowry. The harrowing incident happened around noon, when I received a call from them saying that she had burnt badly,' said the victim's brother Pradeep Verma. Sangeeta before the attack 'We all rushed to her place and took her to a nearby hospital in Ghaziabad and looking at her extensively burnt body, doctors there referred us to Safdarjung Hospital.' 'Sangeeta's father-inlaw Richhpal Singh Nagar is a retired section officer from the ministry of urban development.He is absconding now along with his wife, Rambhuli,' said Pradeep. The victim was allegedly frequently threatened by her in-laws that if she spoke out about her harassment, her children would have to pay the price. 'Earlier, she was reluctant to tell the truth about her burn injuries. But, knowing that her chances of survival are slim, on Tuesday she gave a statement to the police in an FIR that she was burnt by her in-laws,' Pradeep said. Sangeeta had saved Rs 1.5 lakh for her children's school fees, new books and uniform, but this was allegedly used by her husband, Sanjeev Nagar, to buy liquor and on other revelries. A senior doctor in the burns unit, on condition of anonymity, told Mail Today, 'Sangeeta came to our department late Monday evening in a distressed state. She has little chance of survival. 'A police FIR has been done and Sangeeta's family members informed us about the arguments and fights between the husband and wife.' Sangeeta has an MSc degree in Botany and a BEd and wished to study further. 'Had we listened to her earlier, she would not have been lying here today,' said her sister Babita. Experts say the custom of dowry began in India largely because, under Hindu law, parental property was not allowed to be shared by female children. In compensation, parents would give daughter a gift at the time of her marriage. In time, bridegrooms and their families made handing over the gift as dowry an institutionalised demand. A North Korean defector who witnessed her first public execution aged just seven is convinced despot Kim Jong-Un would launch nuclear weapons against its enemies as a 'last stand'. Hyeonseo Lee, who escaped in a daring mission through China, says the despotic leader would 'certainly' launch his deadly arsenal if he faced defeat at the hands of the US. 'At the very last minute, when he finds out that he's going to lose all his power he's definitely going to use it,' she told MailOnline in a fascinating interview highlighting what life is really like inside the secretive state. 'There's a slogan in North Korea which goes: 'America dies, we die, we all die together'. 'He would launch missiles at South Korea, Japan and America. He's a dictator who'd have nowhere to go and there would be no way to stop him. Hyeonseo, now 37, went on to reveal how most North Koreans are 'brainwashed' into believing the regime's propaganda and how the thousands who are forced to attend military parades 'pee their pants' because they are forbidden from leaving. Scroll down for video Embracing the West: Hyeonseo Lee, now 37, escaped North Korea as a teenager in an astonishingly daring mission through China. She says the despotic leader would 'certainly' launch his deadly arsenal as a last stand if he faced defeat at the hands of the US Behind the curtain: Hyeonseo Lee cuddles into her mother in a picture taken inside North Korea when she was just a toddler. It is the only image that exists from her childhood inside the world's most secretive state Freedom is not free: Hyeonseo Lee has written movingly about how her mother, pictured above with her aunt, found it difficult to adapt to life outside North Korea because of the mental imprisonment the communist regime inflicts on its people North Korea has defied UN sanctions by threatening to launch nuclear missile tests 'weekly' and warned President Donald Trump it will 'annihilate' America if it provokes them. And this weekend Kim Jong-un paraded new ballistic rockets, tanks and his never before seen Special Forces units through the streets of Pyongyang in a show of strength against Trump, who has refused to rule out a preemptive strike should Kim reach for the nuclear button. It is so tiring [watching the parades] that it weakens your bones and joints... you can't even watch it at home, you have to go and watch it in person if you're living in Pyongyang. Even if you want to go to the toilet you can't, so we had to pee in our pants Hyeonseo Lee From the safety of her new home in the South Korean capital of Seoul, where she has lived for eight years, Hyeonseo says her former compatriots are tricked into believing Kim commands the most powerful military force on earth. 'The weapons they paraded this time were all new,' she said. 'Kim wanted the world to see they have more powerful bombs and rockets than ever before and he wanted to showing America they have they're ready to fight them. 'Most people in the country didn't - and might still not - know about how powerful the United States is. They think North Korean weapons are the best in the world and they're very proud of them. They believe they can protect the country from anyone.' She also revealed how the thousands who lined the streets and frantically waved flags at the annual Day Of The Sun parade are secretly 'sick and tired' of being forced to attend such events. Agony: Hyeonseo Lee told MailOnline she has no doubt that the deranged dictator Kim Jong-un will use weapons. 'At the very last minute, when he finds out that he's going to lose all his power he's definitely going to use it. There's a slogan in North Korea which goes: 'America dies, we die, we all die together'. Escape from hell: Years after escaping through China by pretending to be Chinese and passing stringent tests on its history and culture, Hyeonseo helped her mother and brother to escape in an extraordinary feat of bravery New home: Hyeonseo brought her mother through China by pretending they were deaf and dumb to fool border guards. Astonishingly she succeeded only to face huge hurdles when she got them to Laos, pictured above, where they were detained by local police Public execution: Hyeonseo has described being forced to watch a public execution aged just seven when a man was being strangled. What frightened me the most was the huge crowd. I was too young to really know what was going on but I was scared'. Pictured: North Korean special forces soldiers march and shout slogans during a military parade marking the 105th birth anniversary of country's founding father, Kim Il Sung last week 'It's all for praising the supreme leader [Kim], not about unity,' she said. 'People who didn't have money to spend on food and travel had to practice for countless hours just to wave flags and clap. 'The people in the crowd are sick of it [taking part in the parade]. They are still proud of the army but they don't want to take part in these events. Bestseller: Hyeonseo Lee's account of her experience has been read all over the world 'It is so tiring that it weakens your bones and joints... and you can't even watch it at home, you have to go and watch it in person if you're living in Pyongyang. 'Even if you want to go to the toilet you can't, so we had to pee in our pants.' Hyeonseo openly regards her country of birth as 'the most horrible on earth' but she once thought it was the greatest, as many of her former compatriots still do. The prominent defector, who has written a bestselling book about her extraordinary lifestory, even continued to believe her life was normal long after her school cancelled classes and forced students to watch a public execution when she was seven-years-old. 'It was the first time in my life I saw a public execution,' she said. 'These days they are killing people by shooting... the hangings were scarier because they were closer to the crowds. 'What frightened me the most was the huge crowd. I was too young to really know what was going on but I was scared that a man was dying in front of me, being strangled under the bridge. 'There's a rule that the victim's immediate family and relatives have to stand at the very front to see their family member dying in front of them.' New life: From the safety of her new home in the South Korean capital of Seoul, where she has lived for eight years, Hyeonseo says her former compatriots are tricked into believing Kim commands the most powerful military force on earth Safe at last: 'I'd see dead bodies on the street by day and nights were a black hole,' she said of her young life in North Korea. 'We always had power shortages in the country.' Pictured: Hyeonseo above with her mother Journey of desperation: In 1997, aged just 17, Hyeonseo trekked alone across the frozen Yalu River into China where she lived with distant relatives as an illegal immigrant for ten years before entering South Korea as refugee Ten times a year, she and her fellow pupils were pulled from their lessons and forced to stand in total silence among a crowd of thousands to watch someone killed for crimes they were too young to understand. But it was not until the famine of 1995 when a 15-year-old Hyeonseo saw dead, emaciated bodies strewn across the streets of her home city of Hyesan, in Ryanggang Province, that she knew North Koreans were being lied to. I'd see dead bodies on the street by day and nights were a black hole. We always had power shortages in the country Hyeonseo Lee 'I'd see dead bodies on the street by day and nights were a black hole,' she explained. 'We always had power shortages in the country. 'I was living right next to the border with China and it was the only country I could compare to my own. 'When I looked across the river it was a completely different world - there were no people dying. It looked like a place full of colour and that's what confused me.' In 1997, aged just 17, she trekked alone across the frozen Yalu River into China where she lived with distant relatives as an illegal immigrant for ten years before entering South Korea as refugee. Once settled and enrolled on a degree course, she risked being executed by venturing back into North Korea to rescue her mother, who now lives with her in Seoul, and brother who is studying at Columbia University in New York. So brave: Hyeonseo risked being executed by venturing back into North Korea to rescue her mother, who lives with her in Seoul, and brother who is studying at Columbia University in New York Rescue: Once settled and enrolled on a degree course, she traveled back across the Yalu river, above, into North Korea to rescue her mother and brother Hope: Hyeonseo realised something was very wrong when she looked across the Yalu river into China and saw a marked difference in the way people lived. She told MailOnline: 'It was a completely different world - there were no people dying. It looked like a place full of colour and that's what confused me' Escape: After smuggling her family into China, Hyeonseo led them on a grueling 2,000-mile journey to Laos, Vietnam So close: Hyeonseo's mother and brother were heading for the capital Vientiane when they were stopped by the police and imprisoned. Pictured: A guard post in China, across the Yalu river Kindness: Unable to afford the bribes to get them out, she was out of options until she was approached by and Australian man named Dick Stolp, above with Hyeonseo, who paid for their release. Pictured: North Korean women work in front of a building in Hyesan What weapons does Kim Jong-un have? Much has been made of whether Kim Jong-un has the nuclear capability to launch a nuclear strike against his enemies but the secretive and propagandist nature of his country make it difficult to be sure. The Institute for Science and International Security believed the secretive has as many as 21 weapons of mass destruction and four warheads. It estimated each of these weapons would have around half the power of the bomb the United States dropped on Japan in the Second World War. During the Day Of The Sun military parade over the weekend, Kim rolled out a vast array of 'new weapons' as a show of force against the United States. They included: KN-08 intercontinental ballistic missiles which can fly as far as 7,000 miles, within range of Los Angeles and New York New solid-fuel missiles which can be fired from land or under the sea. South Korea is particularly concerned about these rockets because they are difficult to detect Pukguksong missiles, which can be fired from a submarine and have a range of around 310 miles The Pukguksong-2, a land-based variant of the submarine-launched missile. Also known as the KN-15 Advertisement In 2009, she went back to north Korea to smuggle her mother and brother, her only remaining family members, into China. She led them on a grueling 2,000-mile journey to Laos, Vietnam, because China, historically one of North Korea's fiercest allies, does not accept its citizens as refugees. She fooled Chinese authorities by pretending her mother and brother were deaf and dumb but as they neared Vietnam's capital Vientiane, her family was arrested and imprisoned. Unable to afford the bribes to get them out, she was on the brink of tears in a backpacker cafe when she was approached by and Australian man named Dick Stolp. Stolp, who Hyeonseo is still close friends with today, withdrew a stack of dollars from an ATM and paid corrupt officials to free her family. Looking back on her life and miraculous escape from oppression Hyeonseo, who wrote of her life in the book, The Girl With Seven Names, says she is embarrassed by her home country. 'The dictator is embarrassing,' she said. 'The way the regime addresses and mocks the international community is embarrassing. Deprived: Looking back on her life and miraculous escape from oppression, Hyeonseo says she is embarrassed of her home country. Pictured: A North Korean woman carries water she collected from the Yalu river 'When I lived there... the regime told us all the time, through the media, that the international community are the enemies: United States, South Korea, Japan. 'If they heard the truth from their friends or relatives or defectors like me, they would have to keep it to themselves. 'They can't spread it to other people because Kim has too much power and he'd punish them with executions - which are becoming even more severe than in the past - and with labour camps.' April is Child Abuse Prevention Month -- Why Churches Need to Take Action CAROL STREAM, April 18, 2017 / The good news is churches can decrease the likelihood of a child being harmed and reduce the possibility of costly allegations by implementing an abuse awareness program like Video and training resources walk participants through an effective screening and selection process, common supervision scenarios that require thoughtful decisions, and insights on best practices that can most effectively reduce vulnerabilities. The newly-revised version of this program, which was published this month, is available on Closed-captioned videos (English)NEW. Nine newly-edited training videos to further help viewers retain what they've learned. Stream-lined Leader's Guide to easily facilitate trainingcomplete with sample training schedules, group discussion questions, and key points of emphasis for the training day. Updated Trainee Workbook featuring activities, discussion questions, and resources to help participants immediately apply the training. Electronically fillable screening formsavoid the hassle of distributing paper forms to participants or dealing with illegible handwriting. All support materials in a PDF formatprint as many or as few as you need, or share them electronically within your church. Insights and practical tips from leaders in the insurance and legal professions on liability concerns and how to set wise ministry policy guidelines. Contact: Sandra Hoekstra-Lower, 630-260-6200 ext 4224, shoekstralower@christianitytoday.com CAROL STREAM, April 18, 2017 / Christian Newswire / -- April is Child Abuse Prevention month, and we are reminded of the many children who have suffered from abuse. Churches should be the safest place on earth, yet according to church legal expert Richard Hammar, child sexual abuse allegations continue to be the number one reason churches end up in court.The good news is churches can decrease the likelihood of a child being harmed and reduce the possibility of costly allegations by implementing an abuse awareness program like Reducing the Risk . Created by noted legal expert Richard Hammar, J.D., LL.M., CPA, this established program, used by thousands of churches, includes everything needed to train pastors, staff members, and volunteer leaders every year with confidence and ease.Video and training resources walk participants through an effective screening and selection process, common supervision scenarios that require thoughtful decisions, and insights on best practices that can most effectively reduce vulnerabilities.The newly-revised version of this program, which was published this month, is available on ChurchLawAndTaxStore.com . Conveniently delivered on DVD, the Reducing the Risk training program includes: Christianity Today is a nonprofit, global media ministry centered on Beautiful Orthodoxystrengthening the church by richly communicating the breadth of the true, good, and beautiful gospel. Reaching over four million people monthly with various digital and print resources, the ministry equips Christians to renew their minds, serve the church, and create culture to the glory of God. Share Tweet The woman responsible for almost 24,000 drug cases being dismissed in Massachusetts in the single largest single largest dismissal of criminal convictions in U.S. history and who may have put thousands of innocent people behind bars was a woman with a long history of fabrication. Her husband, Surrendranath Dookhan, once warned a prosecutor, 'Shes a liar, shes always lying. She is looking for sympathy and attention.' And Dookhan, or 'Little Annie' as she was sometimes called, had long drawn suspicion from her coworkers for her overwhelmingly large testing numbers at the William A. Hinton State Laboratory Institute, at the time the state drug lab. One lab supervisor, Peter Piro, reported Dookhan as early as 2007 for what he thought was shoddy work and underhanded tactics, including forging a supervisor's signature and making up test results. But her supervisors paid no mind as 'superwoman' Annie was so valuable to the backed-up lab's testing numbers. In 2004, her first year on the job, Dookhan tested 9,239 samples, more than three times the average chemist in the lab, according to a 2013 story in The Boston Globe. The following year, she tested 11,232 samples, almost twice that of the next most prolific tester. At first, her colleagues assumed she was arriving early, not taking lunch or breaks, staying late, and taking work home. One colleague called her the 'superwoman of the lab.' But within a few years, some grew suspicion and reported dubious behavior. Piro said that long before the scandal broke, he caught her falsifying a chemist's signature, identifying samples as cocaine that were really heroin, not properly checking the accuracy of her scale, and making up lab test numbers. He also said that despite her staggering numbers, he hardly ever saw her in front of a microscope. Although he reported the incidents to supervisor Charles Salemi, Salemi handed off the problem to another supervisor named Julie Nassif, who apparently did nothing. Fellow chemist Michael Lawler told police that everyone 'had discomfort with Annie Dookhans monthly numbers.' When chemists were then ordered by law to testify to test results in court, numbers for the lab chemists dropped precipitously since they were now spending time out of the lab - all of them did except Little Annie, whose numbers were now six times that of the other chemists. Dookhan's fabrications were apparently not just limited to the lab. Her husband, Surrendranath Dookhan, who became angry about a somewhat overly-friendly relationship she had with a prosecutor, George Papachristos, sent a series of text message to him saying 'This is Annies husband do not believe her, shes a liar, shes always lying. She is looking for sympathy and attention.' Her relationship with Papachristos started with her saying she was a divorcee looking for love at the same time she would email her husband. 'I need someone to love me and make me laugh,' she told him. She also told him she was unlike the others in the lab. 'My work ethic is very different from my co-workers, I give 110 % in everything I do . . . I work hard,' she said. Eventually, she seems to have fessed up to being married, though she told Papachristos that she and her husband were having problems. Papachristos denies the two ever had an affair but he later resigned from his job as district attorney. Later, she would tell police that she'd been going through a long divorce, yet there is no record of a divorce filing for her or her husband. The two had a son, Branden, but she also suffered two miscarriages, which seemed to affect her profoundly. 'The miscarriages seemed to put some stress on the relationship,' said a brother-in-law who didn't want to be named. But the lying didn't start with the lab or with her marriage. It went far back. Born in Trinidad in 1977, Annie Sadiyya Khan, as she was known before her marriage, who would grow to be only four-foot-eleven, moved to the Boston area with her parents sometime around 1989. From the beginning, she was determined to stand out. At Boston Latin Academy, she ran on the track team and got an A for effort from her coach, if not her skills. 'Annies dedication was far greater than her ability,' said coach Ray Behenna. Despite being an A student, this wasn't quite enough for her. After she graduated in 1996, she put on her resume that she'd graduated 'magna cum laude' even though there is no such honor at the school. She left Regis College in Weston after two and a half years for mysterious reasons. She then went to University of Massachusetts Boston. Her biochemistry professor, John Warner, remembers her as one of the best students in class. 'She was really quite driven,' he said. One classmate remembers her saying she had to leave Harvard for financial reasons and that both of her parents were doctors, neither of which is true. The student said that Dookhan's attitude was that she was much smarter than everyone else in class. 'She was like, Oh, this is so easy. I finished my homework two weeks ago. Well the rest of us didnt think it was so easy,' the person said. She graduated cum laude with a bachelor of science degree in 2001, majoring in biochemistry. In 2002, she worked as a quality control analyst at MassBiologics Laboratory. Supervisor Aaron Weagle remembers her as 'clearly ambitious.' Another supervisor, Anthony Parham, remembers her driven more by prestige than money. 'She wanted to be able to say that she was an accomplished person,' said Parham. But he said he did find it a bit suspicious that she got results in half the time her colleagues did and subsequently came to suspect she may have done the same shenanigans in that lab as in the state lab. She also told several people she was working on a master's in chemistry at UMass. In reality, she wasn't even taking any extra classes. A year later, she claimed to have a doctorate from Harvard University. 'People were excited about that, saying what a genius she was, and someone put up a banner congratulating her,' said a colleague, Michael Gennaco. 'She was superproductive and supercompetitive and she took on a lot of responsibilities. She was going to run the lab. Well, we all got fooled, didnt we?' But she didn't have that either. She also inflated her salary, putting on her resume that she made $40,000, when it was $32,800. In November 2003, she moved on to the state lab and began racking up her astonishing testing numbers. But she would tell police she began 'dry labbing' in 2009. She said she did this to 'get more work done.' By the end of 2010, she had tested 10,933 samples compared to the mean of 2,230 by other chemists. Several workers again took their suspicions to lab supervisor Salemi, who checked Dookhan's paperwork but not her test results, and pronounced her work fine. He was given disciplinary action by the state. In 2011, Dookhan was found to have removed 90 drug samples from the evidence room without authorization. Despite that, she was not asked to return her key to the room for six months. However, the breach of protocol caught up with her when the Massachusetts State Police forensics unit took over running the lab and decided to look into the many issues with Dookhan. In August 2012, Dookhan was interviewed at home by police where she confessed to the 'dry labbing.' On September 28, she was arrested and by December she was charged with 17 counts of obstruction of justice, eight counts of tampering with evidence and one count each of perjury and falsification of records. The trial of two Canadian men from a fundamentalist sect that allows men to have multiple wives opened Tuesday with not guilty pleas being entered on charges of practicing polygamy. Winston Blackmore and James Oler each face one count of polygamy. Both men have served as bishops for the religious settlement of Bountiful, British Columbia which follows the teachings of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-Day Saints, often referred to as the FLDS. Oler is accused of having four wives. He pleaded not guilty. Blackmore remained mute and Justice Sheri Ann Donegan said a not guilty plea would be entered on his behalf. Blackmore, who is said to be Canada's biggest polygamist, is accused of marrying 24 women over 25 years. Scroll down for video Winston Blackmore (pictured with his daughters and grandchildren) pleaded not guilty to one count of polygamy in Bountiful, British Columbia. He is accused of marrying 24 women over 25 years as a leader with the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-Day Saints James Oler (above) also pleaded not guilty to one count of polygamy on Monday. He is accused of having four wives and is also a member of the fundamentalist sect Blackmore's lawyer, Blair Suffredine, said outside court his client chose to say nothing for religious reasons. 'He doesn't want to deny his faith. He doesn't feel guilty,' Suffredine said. 'The technical way around that is don't say anything and they'll enter the plea not guilty.' Special prosecutor Peter Wilson told the court his case includes marriage records seized from the church's Yearning for Zion Ranch in Texas, which were used in 2010 to sentence leader Warren Jeffs to life in a U.S. prison for sexually assaulting two young girls. FLDS members practice polygamy in arranged marriages, a tradition tied to the early theology of the Mormon church. The mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints renounced polygamy in 1890, but several fundamentalist groups seceded in order to continue the practice. Special prosecutor Peter Wilson told the court his case includes marriage records seized from the church's Yearning for Zion Ranch in Texas, which were used in 2010 to sentence leader Warren Jeffs (file above) to life in a U.S. prison for sexually assaulting two young girls. Blackmore (above), long known as 'the Bishop of Bountiful,' runs an independent sect of about 400 members in the town of Bountiful and is said to have 145 children Blackmore, long known as 'the Bishop of Bountiful,' runs an independent sect of about 400 members in the town of Bountiful. He once ran the Canadian arm of the Utah-based Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but was ejected in 2003 by that group's leader, Jeffs. Oler is the bishop of Bountiful's FLDS community loyal to Jeffs. Even though many of the town's residents are related or have same last name, followers of the two leaders are splintered and are not allowed to talk with each other. At the start of the trial, the judge released her reasons for rejecting an application from Blackmore to be tried separately from Oler, saying a substantial overlap in evidence against the two men means it is in the public interest for them to be tried together. Blackmore (pictured center) once ran the Canadian arm of the Utah-based Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but was ejected in 2003 by that group's leader, Jeffs Blackmore has long claimed religious persecution and denial of a constitutional right to religious freedom. Pictured above are his children, as he has also been accused of helping to arrange the cross border wedding ceremonies for child brides Blackmore has long claimed religious persecution and denial of a constitutional right to religious freedom The case has a long history dating back to the early 1990s when police first investigated allegations that residents of an isolated religious community were practicing multiple marriages. A lack of clarity around Canada's polygamy laws led to failed attempts at prosecuting Blackmore, followed by several efforts to clarify the legislation. The court ruled in 2011 that laws banning polygamy were constitutional and did not violate religious freedoms guaranteed in Canada's version of the bill of rights. The judge-alone trial is scheduled to last several weeks. In 2007, Blackmore was first arrested for polygamy, but those charges were later dropped over concerns of how the special prosecutor was selected, theSalt Lake City Tribune reported. Joe Biden thought that Hillary Clinton was playing ugly after she attacked his record to discourage him from running for the presidency against her. The former vice president told an aide: If she thinks shes going to force me out of a race like this, she had another thing coming to her. Biden felt that he had earned the space to make a decision without being s*** on by Clinton, Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign reveals. Biden was annoyed that Clinton had tried to blame her support for a Wall St friendly bill in 2001 on him. In an interview she said that she was concerned about its impact on women and children - but after being assured by Biden she voted for it. Hillary's people were quaking in their boots over the possibility of Biden running for president against her. Biden thought Hillary was playing ugly after she attacked his record to discourage him from running against her Such a comment was typical of Clintons approach to Biden, who her campaign staff saw as a DEF-CON 1 threat to her, according to Shattered. Speculation that Biden would run mounted in late summer 2015. But in October that year he said that he would not do so as he was still grieving the death of his eldest son Beau who had died in May of brain cancer. Biden would later say that he regretted not running against Clinton. Shattered reveals that Clintons entire campaign had been geared toward stopping any other Democrat from challenging her. With Biden she had tried since 2013 to box him in by recruiting donors and allies to her side. And speaking to a private group in Atlanta that year she contrasted her support for the raid that killed Osama bin Laden with his opposition. Biden thought that Obama's failure to come out in support of him during 2016 was a 'silent rebuke', Shattered claims. Biden felt that loyally serving the President for eight years meant he deserved his support - but Obama did not do so. Biden felt that loyally serving the President for eight years meant he deserved his support - but Obama did not do so The former Vice President was reportedly nearly persuaded to run for the Presidency by Beau who asked him to do so on his death bed. But amid his grief Biden became frustrated at how the Democratic race was playing out. Shattered says that Biden was irritated that 'the media focused so much attention on Hillary and her second bid for the presidency when he was sitting in plain sight in the White House'. The book says: 'He was also being overlooked by the president whom he had faithfully served, a painful if silent rebuke. 'Obama and his aides refused to take sides publicly, and some still had no appetite to help Hillary. But few thought Biden, who would turn seventy-four the month of the 2016 election, was the right person to represent Democrats in the campaign'. The devastated family of a mother bludgeoned by her husband of 20 years have said they hope he suffers a 'slow death' after he escaped a murder charge. Margaret Tannous, 46, was found dead at her Bankstown home in Sydney's southwest on February 17, 2014, after her husband George called an ambulance and said: 'I hit her because she made me mad.' Last year, the NSW Supreme Court found Tannous not guilty or murder by reason of mental illness and a forensic psychiatrist testified the 58-year-old had developed delusions his wife was flirting with other men. 'He tortured her for 18 years,' Ms Tannous's niece, Jessica Karam, told A Current Affair. Scroll down for video Margaret Tannous, 46, was found dead at her Bankstown home in Sydney's southwest on February 17, 2014, after her husband George (both pictured) called an ambulance and said he 'hit her' Last year, the NSW Supreme Court found Tannous not guilty or murder by reason of mental illness and a forensic psychiatrist testified the 58-year-old had developed delusions his wife (pictured) was flirting with other men 'I hope he dies a very slow death, like my auntie died a very slow death'. Ms Karam told the program she remembers when Tannous followed his wife to church mass and let out the air in all her tyres so she could not drive anymore. After 'years of torture' Ms Tannous took out an Apprehended Violence Order, but later withdrew it. Ms Karam said her aunt believed it was better to have Tannous in front of her than behind. 'She always felt like she was two steps ahead of him,' she said. 'But at the end it was checkmate, he got her'. Ms Karam said her aunt once told her to look after her children for her 'if anything were to happen'. Last year, a forensic psychiatrist testified during a brief judge-alone trial that the 58-year-old appeared to have limited insight into what he had done and his behaviour was consistent with the symptoms of a psychotic illness. Ms Tannous's niece, Jessica Karam (pictured), said she remembers when Tannous followed his wife to church mass and let out the air in all her tyres so she could not drive anymore. Ms Karam said her aunt (pictured with her mother) once told her to look after her children for her 'if anything were to happen' Last year, a forensic psychiatrist testified during a brief judge-alone trial that Tannous appeared to have limited insight into what he had done and his behaviour was consistent with the symptoms of a psychotic illness Prosecutors believe Mrs Tannous (pictured) told her husband she wanted a divorce and he beat her so viciously with a broomstick that it snapped Tannous was described in court as a controlling man who had developed delusions his wife was flirting with other men in front of him and had repeatedly been unfaithful. Yet all the evidence - according to Ms Tannous's friends, family, and the slain woman herself - suggested her 'infidelities' were figments of her husband's delusions. Prosecutors believe Mrs Tannous told her husband she wanted a divorce and he beat her so viciously with a broomstick that it snapped 'A piece of her skull was found in the bathroom, on the floor,' Ms Karam said. Ms Tannous died in hospital shortly before midnight. Justice Mathews ordered Tannous be detained indefinitely in a mental health facility. Morbid jealousy, also known as delusional jealousy, is a psychological disorder leaving a person obsessed with thoughts their spouse is cheating on them without having proof. Ms Karam (pictured in 2016) was present at court when Tannous was sentenced After two decades of working together, Clinton had come to regard Huma Abedin as something like her second daughter. Abedin was actually a disaster waiting to happen,' according to a blockbuster new book. Clintons closeness to Abedin blinded her to the fact that she was a major vulnerability because of her personal baggage. Abedins husband Anthony Weiner was the reason the FBI re-opened their investigation into Clintons emails less than two weeks before the election. And as a result Clinton faced the gut wrenching decision about whether she should put her own political survival above her vice chairwomans enduring loyalty. Twenty years of service to Clinton Inc was impossible to square with the fact that she may have just cost Clinton the Presidency, her lifes ambition. Abedin saved Clinton from making the choice and recused herself from the campaign temporarily. according to Shattered: Inside Hillary Clintons Doomed Election Campaign. Clinton's staff believed that Huma Abedin was 'a disaster waiting to happen, according to new book Shattered Hillary planned to use Anthony Weiner to play TRUMP in mock debates until his underage sexting scandal The fraught episode is detailed by political journalists Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes who say that it illustrated concerns about Abedin that Clintons staffers had for years. The book says that Abedin was such a powerful force within Clintonworld that few of her colleagues dared to cross her. The authors write: But some of them had always viewed her as a major vulnerability - even a national security threat because of her potential to prevent Hilary from winning the Presidency, as one of them put it. Aside from the scandals relating to her husband, Anthony Weiner, Abedin was being investigated by the State Department over her own emails and was at the center of Clintons email controversy. Regardless of her level of culpability - and her defenders says shes unfairly targeted because shes so close to Hillary - Huma was a disaster waiting to happen.' In any other political operation she would have been cast aside publicly and brutally long before this moment. Now her detractors fears were being realized and the risk could no longer be ignored. Clinton and Abedin had grown especially close since Weiner was exposed for sexting other women in 2011 and again two years later. Like Clintons husband Bill, Abedins husband was a high flying Democrat politician who had strayed in the most public way. And like Hillary, Huma stood by her man. According to Shattered Weiner had even been suggested as the person who could play Donald Trump in Clintons debate preparation - but the appointment was vetoed by her staff. Clinton and Abedin had grown especially close since Weiner was exposed for sexting other women in 2011 and again two years later. Like Clintons husband Bill, Abedins husband was a high flying Democrat politician who had strayed in the most public way. And like Hillary, Huma stood by her man. All hell broke loose when DailyMail.com revealed Weiner had been in sexting relationship with a 15-year-old high school girl last September and Comey reopened the investigation into Hillary's e-mails the following month Then last September DailyMail.com revealed Weiner had been in sexting relationship with a 15-year-old high school girl. On October 28 FBI director James Comey said that he was re-opening his investigation into Clintons use of a private email server when she was Secretary of State. Some of Abedins State Department emails were on the laptop that Weiner used for his communications, Comey said. According to Shattered, at that point Clinton knew she needed Huma to vanish but she could not say it to a woman for whom she felt a deep, almost maternal compassion. Clinton also realized there was more than a little chutzpah in her punishing another woman for her husbands sexual misconduct. In the end Abedin fell on her own sword and removed herself from the campaign trail, telling Clinton: Ill do whatever. Ill put my situation in your hands. According to Shattered, at the moment Comey announced he was reopening the email investigation Clinton was on a plane to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Among the first to hear the news was Robby Mook, her campaign director. He thought to himself: Weve worked so hard and come so close, so of course this just happened to us. What the f***? While attending a memorial at Ground Zero in New York to mark the September 11 attacks last year, Clinton felt unwell and was escorted to her waiting van. Only Huma knew what was wrong Clintons spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri was given the task of telling Clinton and broached the subject by saying: Youre never going to believe this Clinton rolled her eyes and said: Well, theres always something. Meanwhile at the Republican National Committee Headquarters the celebration was akin to the rebels reaction to the destruction of the Death Star, Shattered says. One person who was there said: Think of the command center when you hit the target and everyone cheers. Abedin first began working for Clinton in 1996 as an intern at the White House when Bill was President. She then became a personal assistant to the First Lady. Abedin has remained close with the Clintons ever since and 2009 she was appointed deputy chief of staff to Clinton when she became Secretary of State. She has also worked as a consultant for the Clinton Foundation and in 2013 she joined Clintons personal staff. Vogue has called Abedin Clintons secret weapon and Shattered says that no-one in Clintonworld was more in tune with Hillarys state of mind that Abedin. However an earlier episode had made clear the dangers of Clintons closeness to Abedin. While attending a memorial at Ground Zero in New York to mark the September 11 attacks last year, Clinton felt unwell and was escorted to her waiting van. A passer-by filmed her and the footage showed that she had to be supported by her aides and nearly collapsed as she got into the vehicle. The incident, which came just weeks before the election, raised huge questions about Clintons fitness to be President and was seized on by her critics who But it took hours for her campaign team to tell the world that Clinton was suffering from pneumonia - because Abedin was the only one of her top aides who knew about it. Had more people known about her diagnosis then it would have not have given her critics space to dredge up her coughing fits and a 2012 fall at her home to speculate she was not fit to be President. Shattered says that not only did Huma keep a tight lid on Hillarys schedule, she also acted as a lockbox for personal information about Hillary. The book says: That left the campaign without credible information to pass on to the press about what happened. A top campaign officer said that Jennifer Palmieri, Clintons spokeswoman, was p****d that they were having to mislead the press because Abedin had not told them about her illness. The episode made it look like Clinton had something to hide and was never being straight with voters. Other aides called the incident just a Huma disaster. Shattered was based on more than 100 interviews with sources who agreed to speak on background so long as they were granted anonymity. The overall judgement of the book is that Clinton repeated the same mistake as her failed 2008 run against President Obama which was marred by infighting. Despite numerous post-mortems her campaign in 2016 encouraged the denizens of Hillaryland to care more about their standing with her, or their future job opportunities, than getting her elected. Alabama could become the third state to allow death row inmates to be executed by nitrogen gas - an execution method that has so far never been used- under a bill approved Tuesday by the Alabama Senate. The Alabama Senate voted 25-8 to add nitrogen gas to lethal injection and the electric chair as allowable methods of execution in the state. The bill now moves to the Alabama House. 'No state has carried out an execution using nitrogen hypoxia,' said Robert Dunham of the Death Penalty Information Center. He said Mississippi and Oklahoma also allow execution by nitrogen gas but have not used it. Nitrogen gas (above) may be added to Alabama's list of acceptable execution methods for those on death row Sen. Trip Pittman says the method is 'humane' The pace of executions has slowed in Alabama, partly because of ongoing legal challenges to lethal injection methods. Senator Trip Pittman, the Republican bill sponsor, said Alabama needs another execution method as lethal injection faces court challenges. Pittman had originally proposed a firing squad as an execution method, but the bill was changed in committee. 'It's an important to have another option,' said Pittman, R-Montrose. 'I think nitrogen hypoxia is a very humane way to implement that sentence.' Under the bill, an inmate could choose to be put to death with nitrogen gas instead of lethal injection. Robert Dunham of the Death Penalty Information Center said no state has carried out an execution this way though it is already approved in Oklahoma and Mississippi Dying by this method, also known as nitrogen asphyxiation, would seal the doomed party in an airtight chamber into which nitrogen gas is pumped, causing death by lack of oxygen, according to Slate. Nitrogen is an invisible, tasteless and odorless gas that comprises about 80 percent of the air we breath but is lethal in concentrated doses. A handful of people die accidentally in the US this way every year. It's also been regularly used in animal euthanasia. It would also allow the state corrections commissioner to choose another constitutional execution method if electrocution, lethal injection and nitrogen gas are all found unconstitutional. The legislation met with pushback from some lawmakers who called it experimentation. 'It has never been tried before,' said Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile. Alabama senators also approved legislation aimed at shortening the time of that death penalty appeals take. The legislation, which now moves to the Alabama House, would require inmates to raise claims of ineffective counsel and the same time as the inmate's direct appeal claiming trial errors. The legislation is based on Texas' process which was recently upheld by the courts, said Sen. Cam Ward, a Republican from Alabaster. Advertisement Vice President Mike Pence warned North Korea not to test the resolve of the US military on Wednesday, promising it would give an 'overwhelming and effective' response to any use of conventional or nuclear weapons. Pence, who was visiting the US Yokosuka naval base in Tokyo Bay, announced that President Donald Trump's administration would continue to 'work diligently' with allies like Japan, China and other global powers to apply economic and diplomatic pressure on Pyongyang. He also said the President Donald Trump was going to overhaul and simplify the US tax code which 'will benefit every business represented here today'. In an address to the US Chamber of Commerce in Japan, Pence claimed the 'era of over-regulation was over.' But, he told the 2,500 sailors aboard the USS Ronald Reagan in a Japanese US naval base: 'As all of you know, readiness is the key. 'The United States of America will always seek peace - but under President Trump, the shield stands guard and the sword stands ready.' Vigilance: Vice President Mike Pence told 2,500 US and Japanese sailors on Wednesday that in the face of North Korean provocation, 'the shield stands guard and the sword stands ready' Pence was speaking to both US servicemen and Japanese Self-Defense Forces personnel on the flight deck of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, docked at the US Navy's Yokosuka base in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo Thumbs up: Pence took selfies with sailors and gave a thumbs-up to the crowd, but his message was more serious, in the wake of North Korea's latest attempt to launch a missile Crowds: The deck of the nuclear-powered cruiser was packed out by thousands of sailors who cheered Pence's promise to present a strong force towards North Korean aggression Peace: Pence (pictured with Japanese deputy prime minister and finance minister Taro Aso) said that the US and its allies - including Japan and China - would put pressure on Pyongyang for a peaceful resolution to the recent tensions 'Those who would challenge our resolve or readiness should know: We will defeat any attack and meet any use of conventional or nuclear weapons with an overwhelming and effective American response,' Pence said. He also said the US would protect freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, the sea lanes vital to global shipping where China has been staking claim to disputed territory. The US Pacific Command confirmed the USS Carl Vinson strike group will be heading to the Korean region in response to the growing instability on the Korean peninsula. A spokesman said the carrier strike group was being deployed to the western Pacific 'as a prudent measure'. From two continents, Pence and defense secretary Jim Mattis - who is in the Middle East - warned that North Korea's latest failed missile launch was a reckless act of provocation and assured allies in Asia that the US was ready to work to achieve a peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Mattis denounced North Korea's attempted missile launch as he began a Middle East tour, telling reporters traveling with him to Saudi Arabia: 'the leader of North Korea again recklessly tried to provoke something by launching a missile.' The term 'reckless' is one the North Koreans have used to describe ongoing large-scale US and South Korean military exercises, which the North calls a dress rehearsal for an invasion. The USS Carl Vinson, left, pictured with the Arleigh-Burke missile cruiser USS Michael Murphy and the USS Lake Champlain are set to be deployed to the Korean peninsula in response to Kim Jong-un's continued threats of weapons tests Mattis did not identify the type of missile used but said it was not of intercontinental range, meaning it could not reach US territory. He did not comment on what might have caused the missile to fail. Another official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an intelligence matter, said the missile was a Scud variant that the US calls a KN-17. Mattis credited China with trying to help get the North Korea situation 'under control' with the goal of denuclearizing the peninsula. Pence's speech on the aircraft carrier followed meetings Tuesday in Tokyo with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, where he noted that 'all options are on the table.' Abe said that it was a 'matter of paramount importance for us to seek diplomatic efforts as well peaceable settlements of the issue.' 'But at the same time,' the prime minister said, 'dialogue for the sake of dialogue is valueless and it is necessary for us to exercise pressure on North Korea so that it comes forward and engages in this serious dialogue.' 'Reckless': As Pence made his appearance before the forces, defense secretary Jim Mattis called the missile launch 'reckless' behavior on the part of Kim Jong-un Meetings: Prior to the visit, Pence had been in meetings with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, where he noted that 'all options are on the table' Posing: Pence also posing for selfies with the crew after his speech. His rhetoric was undermined slightly by the fact that the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier, promised to the Korean theater by Trump, was still languishing near Australia Pressure: Shinzo emphasized diplomacy, but said that 'dialogue for the sake of dialogue is valueless' and that pressure would have to be put on North Korea to come to the table. Pictured: Pence visiting a Buddhist Temple in Tokyo on Tuesday Dialogue: Also on Tuesday, Pence spoke to Aso (present, but not seen in picture) during the Japan-US Economic Dialogue at the prime minister's office in Tokyo Trump and Pence, who stopped at the Demilitarized Zone dividing North and South Korea on Monday, have signaled this week a forceful US stance on North Korea's recent actions. But it remains unclear what might come next. Behind the heated rhetoric, Trump's strategy in the region looks somewhat similar to predecessor Barack Obama's - albeit with the added unpredictability of a new president who has shown he's willing to use force. Pence told reporters Monday that Trump was hopeful China would use its 'extraordinary levers' to pressure the North to abandon its weapons program. But the vice president expressed impatience with the unwillingness of North Korea to move toward ridding itself of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. The talk of strength was undermined slightly by the announcement by Pentagon officials on Wednesday that the USS Carl Vinison, said to have headed to the Korean Peninsula on April 8, was still languishing in the ocean near Australia. Mattis had claimed on April 11 that the aircraft carrier's strike fleet was on its way to North Korea as a 'prudent measure' to deter further escalation. But Pentagon officials told CNN on Tuesday that the ships would finally set sail within 24 hours, and the strike group wouldn't be in the region before next week at the earliest. Meanwhile, other countries have reacted to the US's forceful stance in the Korean sea. In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters he hopes 'there will be no unilateral actions like those we saw recently in Syria and that the US will follow the line that President Trump repeatedly voiced during the election campaign.' China made a plea for a return to negotiations. Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said tensions need to be eased on the Korean Peninsula to bring the escalating dispute to a peaceful resolution. Lu said Beijing wants to resume the multi-party negotiations that ended in stalemate in 2009 and suggested that US plans to deploy a missile defense system in South Korea were damaging its relations with China. Force: Trump's strategy in the region looks much the same as Barack Obama's measured approach - but with the added unpredictability of a new president who has shown he's willing to use force Concerned: Pence's visit coincided with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov saying he hoped 'there will be no unilateral actions like those we saw recently in Syria' This will be the Brexit general election everywhere apart from Scotland, that is. North of the border, the campaign will largely be fought over a second referendum on breaking up the UK. The result will answer the two questions on which the survival of the Union depends: are the fortunes of Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP truly on the wane at long last, and can the Lazarus-like revival of Ruth Davidsons Scottish Conservatives be sustained? For Miss Sturgeon and her fellow separatists, the timing of Theresa Mays announcement is both good and bad. Scroll down for video For Miss Sturgeon and her fellow separatists, the timing of Theresa Mays announcement is both good and bad Good, in that the First Minister can go to voters asking for a direct mandate to hold another referendum and, if she secures a majority of Scotlands Westminster seats, will be able to claim democratic legitimacy for such a step. Bad, because the polls show most Scots do not actually want a second vote at least, not yet and because the high-water mark of the SNPs recent electoral success has probably passed. At the 2015 general election, the Nationalists won an unprecedented 56 of the 59 seats at Westminster. The Scottish Labour Party for decades the dominant political force and which produced such significant national figures as Gordon Brown, Alistair Darling and John Reid was humiliatingly reduced to a single seat, with the Tories and Lib Dems also securing one apiece. One year later, the SNP romped home in the 2016 devolved election, securing its third consecutive spell in government in Edinburgh. In local elections taking place on May 4, the party is expected to perform well again, and to take control of Glasgow, a long-time Labour heartland. And on June 8, the party is expected to retain most of its Westminster seats. Ruth Davidson has led the Scottish Conservatives back from the wilderness to the point where they are now the official opposition at Holyrood Over more than a decade, Sturgeon and her predecessor Alex Salmond have used all the tools high office provides in a bid to prise the UK apart, and have packed Scotlands institutions with SNP supporters to cement their power base for the long-term. However, the cracks are starting to show. Miss Sturgeons devolved administration has drawn fire for its anaemic performance, having failed to get to grips with the continuing decline in Scotlands schools, to tackle shaming health statistics, or deliver appreciable improvements in public services. Increasingly, opponents argue the SNPs independence obsession gets in the way of good day-to-day governance. Certainly, Miss Sturgeon saw the Brexit referendum result as a chance to further weaken the bonds binding the UK together. While 52 per cent of all British voters chose to leave the EU, 62 per cent of Scots voted to remain. The First Minister claimed this, and the significant and material change Brexit would mean to the UKs constitution, justified the re-running of the 2014 independence referendum. In a recent poll, Scots awarded Theresa May an approval rating six points higher than the one they gave Miss Sturgeon and they rated Miss Davidson five points above Mrs May It may have been a strategic miscalculation polls have subsequently shown that half of voters are opposed to another vote so soon, with only a third in favour. Nevertheless, Miss Sturgeon will fight this election arguing that only independence can save Scotland from a hard Tory Brexit. But she will not have it all her own way. She is not the only popular female politician in Scotland. Miss Davidson has led the Scottish Conservatives back from the wilderness to the point where they are now the official opposition at Holyrood. Her detoxification of the partys brand north of the Border remains a work in progress, but it is a remarkable achievement in a nation where Tory has largely been used as a term of abuse. The collapse of Labour under Jeremy Corbyn at a UK level has been mirrored at Holyrood, allowing the charismatic Miss Davidson to fashion her party into the most effective and credible vehicle for anti-SNP votes. In a recent poll, Scots awarded Theresa May an approval rating six points higher than the one they gave Miss Sturgeon and they rated Miss Davidson five points above Mrs May. Now Miss Davidson has a chance to demonstrate that the Conservatives tartan resurgence is real and sustained, and to further enhance her reputation as the only Scottish politician capable of standing up to the separatists. The Tories will hope to capitalise on this momentum and take a handful of seats from the SNP. Constituencies in the Borders, Perthshire and the North East the areas with the highest proportion of Scottish Brexit supporters will all be targets. While it is almost certain Miss Sturgeon will emerge the winner on June 8 it is also likely we will see fresh evidence of the SNPs electoral decline and the Scottish Conservatives revival. And while Miss Sturgeon may indeed find herself with the mandate to call another independence referendum, the truth is most Scots dont want one and, as of now, she would be likely to lose. Ruth vs Nicola: place your bets. As a father-of-three, Karl Stefanovic has plenty of experience at settling down restless children. But the Today Show host took things to a whole new level live on air this morning, picking up a little girl who was clambering all over her mother and grandmother to calm her down. Amelia Abignano was on the show to discuss the sacrifices she had to make when she fell pregnant at the age of 17. But her two-year-old daughter, Sophia, had little interest in sitting still as her mother and grandmother, Joanne Abignano chatted to Stefanovic and Sylvia Jeffreys. Amelia Abignano (left, with her mother, Joanne) was on the Today Show to discuss the sacrifices she had to make when she fell pregnant at the age of 17, but her daughter, Sophia, had other plans Karl Stefanovic stepped in, picking up the toddler in an attempt to calm her down Fortunately, Stefanovic was on hand to play with Sophia - but he appeared to forget about the girl's family as he focused on entertaining her over the live interview. Sophia was seen climbing over her mother and grandmother as they chatted about the challenges they faced raising a child when Amelia was so young. It soon became clear that the girl was not going to settle down, so Stefanovic stepped in to help. He beckoned the youngster over and picked her up, placing her on his knee as she pointed out the screens showing that she and her family were on television. The girl giggled as Stefanovic made her laugh, with Sophia realising she could see 'nanny and mummy' on TV. Sophia was so captivated by the Today Show host that she even brought over her doll for him to play with. Babysitting: It soon became clear that the girl was not going to settle down, so Stefanovic stepped in to help Karl beckoned the youngster over and picked her up, placing her on his knee as she pointed out the screens showing that she and her family were on television 'That's a pretty doll. And the dolly's got tattoos too. Are those tattoos?,' he asked. Sophia then leaped back onto his knee, leading Stefanovic to say: 'She's happy as Larry, this one!' At the end of the interview, Stefanvoic told the Abignanos that it was nice to meet them, but added: 'I paid absolutely no attention. Just a little sitting service over here.' Amelia had earlier explained how she had no regrets becoming a mother as a teenager, but admitted she had missed out on things that her friends had not. 'A lot of friends have the freedom that I don't really have anymore,' she said. 'I did plan to travel and I planned to do a lot of volunteer work so I've had to put that on hold. I hope that one day I hope to get to do that.' Sophia was so captivated by the Today Show host that she even brought over her doll for him to play with The family were on the Today Show in the wake of Jayden Lavender, 14 and Jenifer Morrison, 15, smuggling their newborn daughter, Aria, out of a Sydney hospital on Thursday Her mother added that Amelia had missed out on celebrating her 18th birthday because she was heavily pregnant at the time. 'A lot of her friends are travelling and she missed out on that. But she studies, she works and she's a great mother and I never doubted her.' The family were on the Today Show in the wake of Jayden Lavender, 14 and Jenifer Morrison, 15, smuggling their newborn daughter, Aria, out of a Sydney hospital on Thursday. On Tuesday, Jayden and Jenifer were briefly reunited with Aria for the first time since handing her back to medical staff at Nepean Hospital on Thursday afternoon after more than 12 hours in hiding. Fire has turned a Queensland bridal store into a creepy scene akin to a horror movie, leaving the shop strewn with eerie burnt mannequins and destroying almost 200 dresses. Emergency services were called to Brides Two Be in Ipswich on Tuesday night about 12.30pm. Owners Chris and Noi Stuart told Nine News they had been left with nothing. Scroll down for video Brides Two Be in Queensland has been left resembling the scene of a horror movie after a fire broke out, melting mannequins and destroying almost 200 dresses 'It's brought tears to my eyes. It's very hard to believe that something like this has happened so quickly,' Mr Stuart told The Today Show. 'This was our dream. Our income. This was it, you know. We've got nothing now. But we will rebuild. We've got no choice.' Fire authorities believe the blaze started in the shop's fuse box under the stairs. When firefighters arrived at the shop smoke was escaping the front and blocking the windows, reported the Courier Mail. The blaze destroyed more than 180 dresses and left the remaining stock 'a write-off'. In a statement posted on the shop's Facebook page on Wednesday morning, the owners said: 'Brides Two be will be closed till the fire damage has been fix (sic) we will try and work from home till it has been done.' Emergency services were called to the store in Ipswich on Tuesday night. They believe the fire started in a fuse box under the stairs in the shop When firefighters arrived at the store (pictured) smoke was escaping the front and blocking the windows The blaze destroyed hundreds of dresses (pictured) and damaged the remaining wedding dresses and bridesmaid dresses The fire destroyed more than 180 dresses and left the remaining stock as 'a write-off' Owner Chris Stuart (pictured) said: 'It's brought tears to my eyes. It's very hard to believe that something like this has happened so quickly' This domain was recently registered at Namecheap.com. Please check back later! Right-wing radio host Alex Jones had a gastronomic catastrophe when giving a deposition ahead of his custody battle with his ex-wife, a court heard Tuesday. His ex-wife, Kelly Jones, wants custody of their three kids, aged 9-14. They have lived with the Infowars boss in Austin, Texas, since the couple divorced in 2015. Things took an awkward turn on the first day of the trial when her lawyer claimed Jones had forgotten 'basic facts' about his kids during a deposition because 'he had a big bowl of chili for lunch,' Austin 360 reported. Scroll down for video Hot memories: Alex Jones (pictured Monday heading into court) said he forgot 'basic details' about his three kids because he had a big chili lunch, his ex-wife's lawyer claimed Tuesday Like father, like son: Jones currently has custody of son Rex (left), 14, and two daughters. But his ex-wife says she thinks he's turned them against her, and wants them back Jones was unable to recall what grade his children were in, according to a Buzzfeed reporter. It was unclear whether Jones had made the remarks in jest, or seriously. That wasn't the only eye-popping claim made by Kelly Jones' lawyer, Bobby Newman, on Tuesday. He also accused Jones of being diagnosed with narcissism and paranoia - and played a video clip of Jones disrobing down to his shorts while on camera as 'proof'. In the clip Jones said he wanted to show the effects of a 'vitality-increasing' formula sold on the Infowars website, as well as to reference FBI 'snooping' on private communications. Jones also complains that he didn't get a Pulitzer Prize or Nobel Prize for 'being right' about 'the Saudis' being involved in the 9/11 attacks during the clip. Newman also claimed in court that Jones would disrobe during therapy sessions. Jones' lawyers responded that the rant was 'satire' created as part of Jones' show, and not related to his parenting. 'Male vitality': Her lawyers also played a video of Jones derobing on Infowars to show off a body-building supplement, saying it proved he was paranoid and narcissistic His shows frequently focus on conspiracy theories, including claims that the Sandy Hook shootings were completely fabricated. Last month he apologized for spreading the fallacious 'Pizzagate' conspiracy, which culminated in a man firing a gun in a DC pizzeria because he thought a Democrat-backed child-trafficking ring was operating from inside. Judge Orlinda Naranjo told press the claims about Jones having 'narcissism and paranoia' were untrue. Contested: Kelly Jones (pictured) is demanding custody. The judge told press that Alex Jones was diagnosed with narcissistic tendencies, but not full-blown narcissism, and no paranoia Jones had no paranoid diagnosis, she said, and prior to the trial a discussion between lawyers centered around him being diagnosed with narcissistic tenancies, not full-blown narcissism. Newman then played a number of clips of Jones apparently drunk, and boasting that he could 'drink a whole jug of Jack Daniels and not even show it.' One clip - showing a party that Jones attended with his 14-year-old son, Rex, that featured a dart board with Hillary Clinton's face on it - was not allowed, in case it prejudiced pro-Clinton jury members. Rex, who has appeared on Infowars multiple times, is a key part of the case being made by Newman. They claim that Jones has engaged in a 'campaign' to turn the children against their mother, and that Rex in particular 'parrots' the supposed remarks made by his father. Jones' lawyers say those claims are nonsense, and that Kelly Jones has been slacking in her duties. She had the potential to 'earn' 50-50 co-parenting rights upon the couple's divorce, but had failed to do so, they said. 'Performance': Alex Jones' lawyer said his appearances on his Infowars show are 'performance art' and that he is 'playing a character' in his vitriolic, conspiracy-themed broadcasts The first witness called in the trial was Austin psychologist Allison Wilcox, who is the guardian ad litem - meaning she represents the children's interests. She said that she had been told by therapists to record conversations between the children and their parents, and that in one video Kelly Jones was being 'manipulative'. The 23-minute video showed her telling her kids it was okay to love their father, but they must not lie about her. He's playing a character. He is a performance artist Randall Wilhite, Alex Jones's lawyer, on his client She denied that the had been building a case to take Kelly Jones' kids away from her, and that 'I didn't have that much evidence of Mr Jones bad-mouthing Mrs Jones.' Wilcox isn't the only one whose claims have been questioned in the court. On Monday, in a pre-trial hearing, one of Alex Jones' lawyers, Randall Wilhite, said that his client is a 'performance artist' who is just 'playing a character' on Infowars. 'He's playing a character,' he said, according to myStatesman. 'He is a performance artist.' However, Jones walked back those claims in an Infowars broadcast Monday evening, in which he said he '110 per cent' believed the things he said in his show, according toThe Daily Beast. They've got articles out today that I say I'm a fake... total bull! ... I 110 per cent believe what I stand for Alex Jones on Infowars, hours after his lawyer said he was a performer 'They've got articles out today that I say I'm a fake, all of this other c**p. Total bull!' he said. 'The media is deceiving everywhere. I 110 per cent believe what I stand for. Were changing the world with you. 'The globalists are panicking and trying to shut us down and calling us fake news, just like Communist China does, because were kicking their ass.' The video, titled 'Alex Jones' Crucial Message to All Centipedes,' had apparently been deleted from the Infowars site as of Wednesday evening, but copies of the video had been uploaded to YouTube. 'Unstable': Jones is 'unstable,' claims his wife, who believes he may have committed a felony when he 'threatened' Rep. Adam Schiff in March Jones has made a name for himself as the beetroot-faced, lava-spitting host of far-right show Infowars. The show has featured 'reports' that the government was behind the 9/11 attacks and that the Sandy Hook murders were faked by the government. It's also become an outlet for Jones to make eye-popping claims including one that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are possessed by demons and smell of sulfur. His remarks are also known for taking a turn for the violent when he covers liberal celebrities - including a promise to 'break' Alec Baldwin's neck and telling J-Lo to go to Somalia, where she will be 'gang-raped so fast itll make your head spin.' You got that you goddamn son of a b***h? Fill your hand Alex Jones' remarks to Rep. Adam Schiff, which may constitute a felony More recently, on March 30, he called Rep. Adam Schiff a 'c**ksucker' and a 'fairy' after Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called for an investigation into Trump's Russia ties. He then threatened to 'beat' Schiff's 'goddamn a**,' before paraphrasing John Wayne in True Grit: 'You got that you goddamn son of a b***h? Fill your hand.' All three of those instances were cited by Kelly Jones as reasons why her husband is 'not a stable person' who should be entrusted with their kids. She is especially concerned as the threats against Schiff could constitute a crime, she told the court. Threatening a government official can carry a maximum of 5-10 years in prison. 'Character': The couple divorced in 2015 and Alex Jones got custody of their kids, aged 9-14. Their custody battle is currently in pretrial. Jones claimed his Schiff rant was 'tongue in cheek' 'I'm concerned that he is engaged in felonious behavior, threatening a member of Congress,' she said. 'He broadcasts from home. The children are there, watching him broadcast.' That makes her concerned for their son, 14, and daughters, nine and 12, who have lived with Alex Jones since their divorce concluded in 2015, she said. She also said that there is no difference between the Alex Jones that appears on the show and the one raising their children. 'I'm concerned that he is engaged in felonious behavior, threatening a member of Congress... The children are there, watching him broadcast Kelly Jones, Alex Jones' ex-wife But Jones's lawyer said that the claims aimed at his client were absurd - as ridiculous as judging Jack Nicholson's character based on his performance as the Joker in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman movie. Judge Naranjo said she had never heard of Jones before he appeared in her court, and listened to clips of Infowars episodes to decide whether they could be heard in court. She allowed two clips - one of him smoking marijuana in California, where it is legal, and one of him bringing his son onto the show. In the latter clip, first broadcast in July 2015, when his son was 12, Jones invites his son to play a video - one of 15-20 he had made with the Infowars team who had 'taken him under their wing'. 'He is undoubtedly cut out for this, and I intend for him to eclipse what Ive done,' Jones said. 'He's a way greater person than I was at 12. 'I love you so much, and I didn't mean to get you up here, sweetheart, and tell people how much I love you, but you're so handsome, and you're a good little knight who's going to grow up, I know, to be a great fighter against the enemy.' However, Naranjo said the jury would not be allowed to hear Jones's rant against Schiff, including its anti-gay slurs and threats of violence. 'This case is not about Infowars, and I dont want it to be about Infowars,' Naranjo said. Days after his anti-Schiff rant - and after the media pointed out that threatening a Representative is illegal - Jones walked back his comments on-air, in a rare retraction. He said the outlandish remarks were 'clearly tongue-in-cheek and basically art performance, as I do in my rants, which I admit I do, as a form of art.' 'When I say, "I'm going to kick your ass," it's the Infowar,' he added. 'I say every day we're going to destroy you with the truth.' Michael Bogdanov, died after a heart attack while on holiday Theatre director Michael Bogdanov, who sparked the Mary Whitehouse prosecution in 1982, died aged 78 while on holiday with friends last weekend. The Welsh theatre, opera and film director suffered a heart-attack while holidaying with friends in Greece, his publicist confirmed yesterday. He was known for his work with new plays, modern reinterpretations of Shakespeare, musicals and works for young people. In 1982, moral campaigner Mary Whitehouse brought the private prosecution against Bogdanov over the play Romans in Britain, which features a male rape scene, under the Sexual Offences Act 1956. Bogdanov went on trial at the Old Bailey accused of procuring an act of gross indecency likely to cause offence for his production at Londons National Theatre. The director, who faced up to two years in prison if convicted under the Act, spoke 30 years later of his enormous relief when the case collapsed and the prosecution withdrew its evidence on the third day of the hearing. The landmark case drew fears in arts circles that a victory for Mrs Whitehouse could lead to a return to severe censorship on productions or alternatively cause constant fear of prosecution amid artists and performers. The father-of-fives career spanned over 30 years. He has directed in many of the worlds leading theatres and companies including the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Royal Opera House, Sydney Opera House, Viennas Burgtheater, on Broadway and the West End. In 1986, he co-founded the English Shakespeare Company with actor Michael Pennington. When Bogdanov brought a play which included a male rape scene, Mary Whitehouse took him to court He directed the companys inaugural productions of The Henrys and, in 1987, the seven-play history cycle of The Wars of the Roses, which toured worldwide. For this ambitious programme he earned the 1990 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director. He was also an associate director of the Royal National Theatre for eight years and directed eight productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company. The father-of-five will have a family funeral in Wales, and will be followed by a memorial service in London at a later date. His publicist said on Tuesday: Michaels iconoclastic approach to Shakespeare influenced a generation of audiences and practitioners, he had a life-long commitment to education and creating shows for young people and his approach to theatre was to make it political, accessible, joyous and transformative. Musician and composer Mal Pope said that Bogdanov had changed his life and that of a number of now Hollywood actors. He said: You meet people in life who have an amazing effect on you and I can quite honestly say that Michael Bogdanov changed my life. He had an amazing love of Welsh theatre and wanted to see indigenous Welsh theatre thrive. He changed so many peoples lives. George Osborne remained silent last night as speculation mounted over his future as both an MP and newspaper editor. The former chancellor has yet to confirm whether he will defend his Cheshire seat in elections on June 8. But the announcement of a snap poll is awkward timing for the politician, who is due to take the helm at the London Evening Standard next month. If he decides to stand, the former Cabinet minister would have to divide his time between defending his seat and remaining in London to edit the paper along with four other job roles. Pressure on Mr Osborne grew last night as MPs demanded to know how he would edit a newspaper while fighting for his seat There are also questions over which way the Standard will lean as Theresa May sacked the former chancellor when she became Prime Minister. Pressure on Mr Osborne grew last night as MPs demanded to know how he would edit a newspaper while fighting for his seat. Conservative MP Nadine Dorries said: George Osborne must be a miracle worker to be able to edit a newspaper in London and campaign for his seat in Cheshire. I cant get my head round the logistics of taking on that job whilst doing a seven-day-a-week job fighting for your seat. I dont understand how he can split himself in two. Mr Osborne has a large majority in his Tatton seat, which is set to be abolished in a forthcoming boundary review. But although the leading Remainer has 58.6 per cent of the vote, some 51.2 per cent of his constituents voted to leave the EU. However, he has the support of his local Conservative Association, who endorsed his editorship of the Standard last month. Meanwhile, his decision to take on five jobs since leaving the Cabinet has provoked a furious backlash in Westminster. The former chancellor has yet to confirm whether he will defend his Cheshire seat in elections on June 8 He defended his roles in Parliament last month, telling MPs that Parliament was enhanced by having people of different experience. The former chancellor now faces up to five investigations into the string of lucrative positions that have made him one of the highest earners in the Commons. The MP earns 76,000-a-year representing his 65,000 constituents in Tatton. From next month, he will edit the Evening Standard four days a week. As a consultant for leading US investment firm BlackRock, he earns 650,000 a year for working one day a week. He has also taken an estimated 120,000-a-year academic position at the Arizona-based McCain Institute for International Leadership. He remains an unpaid chairman in charge of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, a body aimed at creating jobs in the north of England. His regular speeches to banks and other city institutions have made him close to 1million since leaving Number 11. Twitter users also mocked Mr Osborne following the announcement of the election yesterday. One, called J Durrant, said: Very quiet from George Osborne today... must be busy with his other well paid editorial jobs... how safe is Tatton? Billy Tweddell wrote: Surely hell have to stand down as an MP now? How will he survive with just the five jobs? Terence Dackombe added: Our hearts should be with poor George Osborne facing the challenge of standing for a seat in Cheshire whilst editing London Evening Standard. And Jane Symons wrote: I hope the constituents of Tatton tell George Osborne they want a full-time MP. A polar bear died suddenly at San Diego SeaWorld just weeks after her only companion was shipped away to take part in a breeding program. Szenja, a 21-year-old polar bear, was found dead yesterday a week after keepers noticed she was lethargic and not eating properly. The amusement park's only other polar bear, another female named Snowflake, was sent away to Pittsburgh zoo at the end of February. Szenja, a 21-year-old polar bear at San Diego SeaWorld, died unexpectedly on Tuesday, weeks after her companion Snowflake was sent away on a breeding program The pair had been kept together in the enclosure since the park opened in 1997. At the time thousands of activists signed a petition asking for them not to be separated, saying the move was cruel and unnecessary, given that 60 per cent of polar bear cubs born in captivity die. Snowflake was sent to Pittsburgh for breeding purposes once before, in 2014, but on that occasion Szenja traveled with her. PETA executive vice president Tracy Remain said Szenja died of a broken heart. In a statement to NBC San Diego, she added: 'After losing her companion of 20 years when SeaWorld shipped Snowflake to the Pittsburgh Zoo in order to breed more miserable polar bears, Szenja did what anyone would do when they lose all hope, she gave up. 'This should be a wake-up call to SeaWorld: Stop breeding and shipping animals around, close the animal exhibits, and retire the animals to sanctuaries. 'Until it does, this ship will keep sinking.' A spokesman for SeaWorld said keepers had noticed a change in Szenja's behavior and were monitoring her, but her death came as a shock. Thousands of animal rights campaigners signed petitions begging the zoo not to separate Snowflake (left) and Szenja (right), saying it was unnecessary and cruel Al Garver, SeaWorld San Diego's vice president, said: 'Szenja was a beloved member of our animal family, so this is a very difficult day for all of us. 'Szenja not only touched the hearts of those who have cared for her over the last two decades, but also the millions of guests who had the chance to see her in person. 'We're proud to have been a part of her life and to know that she inspired people from around the world to want to protect polar bears in the wild.' Her body is being sent away for an autopsy, but the park says it could be several weeks before the cause of death is known. Szenja was born at a zoo in Germany in 1995. Two years later, she was brought to SeaWorld when the park opened its Wild Arctic exhibit. Polar bears can live about 18 years in the wild and 20 to 30 years or more in captivity. The oldest polar bear in the United States, a female called Uulu, died last Friday at the San Francisco Zoo. She was 36. The former national security adviser to the Prime Minister has warned Australia not to underestimate the threat posed by North Korea, as U.S. marines and military aircraft touch down in Darwin 'ready to fight'. Andrew Shearer said North Korea was incredibly powerful and was worried that Australia was ignoring its nuclear and cyber threat. 'For decades we've been underestimating North Korea's technical prowess,' Mr Shearer told The Bolt Report on Tuesday. Scroll down for video Former national security adviser to the Prime Minister Andrew Shearer (right) told Andrew Bolt (left) Australia should not underestimate North Korea's powers Mr Shearer, who was a senior adviser to Prime Ministers John Howard and Tony Abbott, said North Korea had developed weapons that were far more sophisticated than anything currently used by the rest of the world. 'It's developed solid fuel missiles which are faster for it to put on their launchers, harder for the U.S. and other forces to detect, and therefore more survivable,' he said. 'That is a very troubling development.' Mr Shearer said North Korea was a force to be reckoned with and urged Australia to take the nation's capabilities 'very seriously'. North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (pictured) is the chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea 'We're seeing the North Koreans work to perfect the ability to launch a missile from a submarine. Again, that's a very technologically advanced thing to be able to do. And again, we should take very seriously its efforts to do that,' he said. Mr Shearer, who is now a senior adviser on Asia-Pacific Security, told The Bolt Report the 'North Korea crisis' was not US President Donald Trump's creation. 'Weapon development is quickening and it just so happens, within two or three years on Donald Trump's watch, North Korea is likely to have a long range intercontinental ballistic missile that can carry a nuclear weapon to the US,' he said. 'It's not surprising that Donald Trump and his administration are acting.' Mr Shearer told The Bolt Report the 'North Korea crisis' was not US President Donald Trump's (pictured) creation Over a thousand highly-trained U.S. Marines touched down in Darwin, Australia, on Tuesday Mr Shearer's call for vigilance comes one day after 1,250 U.S. Marines and 13 powerful military aircraft touched down in Darwin 'ready to fight'. The first of the Marines arrived in Australia's tropical north on Tuesday for a six-month deployment during which they will conduct exercises with Australian and visiting Chinese forces. The annual deployment program was started by former U.S. President Barack Obama in 2011 is part of the U.S. 'pivot' to Asia at a time of increased assertiveness by China. Marines' commander Lieutenant Colonel Brian Middleton (not pictured) said his troops stood 'ready to fight and win the night always' The decision to send 1,250 US Marines and 13 high-tech aircraft to Darwin comes as tensions in North Korea escalate (pictured, soldiers march during military parade in Pyongyang) 'The commitment that we've taken to put a task force here, with a conversation to get larger over the years, says that we do think this is an important region,' Marines' commander Lieutenant Colonel Brian Middleton said after the first troops arrived in the Northern Territory. 'Being close to south-east Asia and the Indian Ocean, the Indo Pacific position has always been important.' The deployment of 1,250 troops is half the number initially planned for this year, but the deployment of planes still represents the largest U.S. aircraft contingent to Australia in peacetime history. Lt Middleton said the 13 aircraft, including tilt-rotor Ospreys, Super Cobra helicopters and Huey helicopters, triple the four aircraft in past deployments, was a 'tangible kind of sign of our commitment to the region and to this partnership'. He said the decision to send the aircraft was made before the recent escalation in tensions over North Korea. 'Regardless, I think it is just a good move any time we can strengthen the long standing partnership and alliance between our two countries. We stand ready to fight and win the night always,' Lt Middleton said. U.S. President Trump has ordered the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group (pictured) to sail to near the Korean peninsula as a show of force The first of the Marines arrived in Australia's tropical north for a six-month deployment during which they will conduct exercises with Australian and visiting Chinese forces Pyongyang launched a failed missile test on Sunday and has warned Washington against taking military action against North Korea U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group to sail near the Korean peninsula as a show of force aimed at deterring North Korea from conducting more missile tests. Pyongyang launched a failed missile test on Sunday and has warned Washington against taking military action against North Korea. The Australia-US-China military exercises are also aimed at Australia charting a course between its most important security ally the United States and its biggest trading partner China. Australia has drawn rebukes from both superpowers as it tries to strike a balanced stance on the disputed South China Sea, with China criticizing Australian freedom-of-navigation flights in the area and a senior U.S. soldier calling on Australia to do more there. It comes as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has condemned the rogue North Korean regime as a 'reckless' and 'dangerous' threat to the security of Australia. 'The North Korean regime is a threat to the peace of the region,' he told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday. 'It is a threat to all of its neighbours in the region, and if it were able to develop a missile that could travel as far as the United States with a warhead, or as far as Australia, then it obviously could threaten Australia and, indeed, the United States. It comes as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has condemned the rogue North Korean regime as a 'reckless' and 'dangerous' threat to the security of Australia Turkey is threatening to unlock the gates to Europe, creating a fresh migrant crisis unless the European Union speeds up visa-free travel for Turkish citizens. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, fresh from victory in the weekend's referendum which boosted his powers, is urging the EU to hurry up with the deal. There are fears that if he does not get his way he will pull the rug from under the deal agreed last year under which Turkey promised to stop migrants from Turkey entering Greece and Bulgaria in exchange for aid and visa-free travel. This time last year hundreds of migrants and refugees, many of them from Syria, were crossing the Aegean from Turkey to Greece and travelling up through the Balkans en route to Germany Gianni Pittella, the Italian leader of the Socialist grouping in the European Parliament, said: 'We've always been very reluctant to ensure a visa-free regime to Turkey. In our opinion Ankara does not match the democratic criteria.' UKIP's Home Affairs spokesman Jane Collins told the Daily Express: 'Turkey has the EU over a barrel over this issue of migration because the EU is a magnet for illegal migration from Africa and the Middle East. 'The referendum result makes Erdogan's position even stronger and with Trump calling to congratulate him it's clear the EU will have no bargaining power besides money, which it also does not have.' Downing Street said Turkey must ensure it sustains democracy, the rule of law and fundamental freedoms while it enacts constitutional changes which will expand the presidents powers. Responding to the referendum, Mrs Mays official spokesman said: 'Turkey is a close ally and friend of the UK and we have a range of shared interests, we look forward to continuing our close engagement in the future. 'The referendum is an important moment for Turkey, millions of Turkish people turned out to express their views, that clearly opens the way to significant changes in Turkeys system of government. 'Whats important now is that Turkey enacts these constitutional changes in a way that sustains democracy, respects the rule of law, and protects fundamental freedoms in line with its international commitments.' Syrian children at a refugee camp near Gaziantep last spring. Many of these camps are now comfortable and Syrians are being encouraged to learn Turkish and stay in the country The migrant crisis has caused record numbers to come to Europe. A record 1.3 million applied for asylum in 28 EU countries, Norway and Switzerland in 2015. Hundreds of thousands of Syrian, Iraqi, Afghan and Eritrean refugees travelled to Greece from Turkey in small inflatable boats until the route was sealed off in March 2016. Tamecha Jean, 32, was arrested and charged with aggravated child abuse on Monday in Broward County A Florida mother-of-three is accused of burning her 9-year-old son with a hot iron for being forgetful. Tamecha Jean, 32, was arrested and charged with aggravated child abuse on Monday in Broward County. Investigators say Jean burned her son twice on the chest after she became upset that the child forgot to bring some paperwork to school, CBS Miami reported. Detectives with Pembroke Pines police department and Broward Sheriff's investigators said that Jean told them she was holding the hot iron and whipping her son with a belt and that the iron may have touched him by mistake. Capt. Al Xiques with the Pembroke Pines Police Department said: 'It's just outrageous to use a hot iron as a type of punishment. 'It seems more like a type of torture. Maybe she accidental burned him twice while trying to spank him with a belt.' The mother-of-three appeared in court twice on Monday, in which her attorney asked that she be released on a $1,500 bond as prosecutors demanded the amount be more. 'I'm sorry, the violence alleged in this case is just so aggravating that it completely outweighs any mitigating factors, your honor. I'm going to be requesting a $20 thousand bond,' said Prosecutor Eric Linder. However, Judge Christopher Pole said she would not have to put up any money. 'What I'm going to do is, I'm going to release her ROR to Level 2 pre-trial, released with a monitor,' Pole said in court. Investigators say Jean burned her son twice on the chest with a hot iron (file above) after she became upset that the child forgot to bring some paperwork to school 'I'm going to ask pre-trial to wave the cost of a pre-trial monitor. She is to have no contact in any form or manner with her three children until further order of the family court division,' said Judge Pole. During her second court appearance in family court, the judge said Jean could have supervised visits with two of her children, but no contact with her son. 'Your honor, the child is fearful of his mother,' a prosecutor said. 'We would ask for no contact with the mother. He is afraid of his mother.' From heavy falls to broken bones, skateboarding can be a dangerous sport at times. And one woman recently proved exactly why it should never be mixed with a moving car. Video captured the horrific moment the lady snapped her ankle after falling while attempting to be pulled along by a car as she balanced on a skateboard, in Sydney's CBD. Footage shows the woman stepping up onto the skateboard, while surrounded by encouraging friends. Dressed in a black skirt, leggings, a grey blazer and high-heel boots, it appears she's hardly ready to be taking on an extreme sport. As she holds onto the boot the vehicle begins to slowly drive off taking the woman with it. But just seconds into the trick disaster strikes, with the woman slipping off the board and falling to the ground clutching her ankle. Video captured the horrific moment a woman snapped her ankle after falling while attempting to be pulled along by a car as she balanced on a skateboard in a laneway in Sydney's CBD Dressed in a black skirt, leggings, a grey blazer and high-heel boots, the woman holds onto the boot the vehicle as it begins to slowly drive off before falling and badly breaking her ankle It's only when the video zooms in that the seriousness of the situation is realised, as the woman's ankle can be seen at right-angles to the rest of her leg. Her friends, who only moments earlier were laughing in hysterics, gasped in horror upon seeing the badly broken leg. The incident, which occurred in Wynyard Park, in central Sydney, has been viewed thousands of times online. Lars Maischak (above), a US history professor at Fresno State University in California, apologized for a tweet that said President Donald Trump 'must hang' to save democracy Fresno State University in California says an American history professor who tweeted that President Donald Trump 'must hang' will be on paid leave for the rest of the semester. The university says in a statement Tuesday that professor Lars Maischak has taken a voluntary leave of absence for the remainder of the spring semester. Maischak could not immediately be reached for comment. Last week, Maischak apologized for tweeting: 'To save American democracy, Trump must hang. The sooner and the higher, the better.' Far-right websites such as Breitbart News highlighted the tweet, sparking angry calls on social media for the professor to be fired. The university declined to say if Maischak would be back to teach in the fall, saying it was continuing to review the case. Maischak said last week he has temporarily left Fresno while the university is on spring break, after receiving death threats and hundreds of hate emails. 'I regret making these tweets,' Maischak said. 'I wrote them to an audience of 28 followers on Twitter under the assumption they would be read by people I know.' Maischak said he sent the tweet in February to voice personal despair over comments by Trump and actions by the current US government and was not trying to incite violence. The tweet said: 'To save American democracy, Trump must hang. The sooner and the higher, the better. #TheResistance #DeathToFascism.' 'I regret making these tweets,' Maischak said last week. 'I wrote them to an audience of 28 followers on Twitter under the assumption they would be read by people I know' Maischak deleted his Twitter account (above) on Wednesday and said he is prepared to take full responsibility for his statements Breitbart posted an article Saturday saying the tweet and others on Maischak's account showed opinions that 'explain why universities across the country are now viewed with disdain by the average, salt-of-the-earth Americans.' Maischak deleted his Twitter account on Wednesday and said he is prepared to take full responsibility for his statements. Fresno State has distanced itself from the comments, saying they reflect Maischak's personal views and not those of the university. Maischak said he sent the tweet in February to voice personal despair over comments by Trump (above) and actions by the current US government and was not trying to incite violence University President Joseph Castro said he appreciated Maischak's apology, calling it 'a first good step' in calming critics, the Fresno Bee reported. The university was committed to free speech and was taking the matter seriously, Castro said. He said officials had contacted federal authorities, adding his main concern is the safety of students and the campus community. Almost one in five payphones will be removed from the streets within three years, it emerged yesterday. BT has disclosed plans to scrap around 8,700 of the 46,800 payphones on streets across the UK. It said many payphones are barely used and are no longer needed. The rise of mobile phones and more latterly smartphones - has fuelled a 90 per cent decline in the use of payphones over the last ten years. BT is planning on scrapping a fifth of the phone boxes which are currently on the street across the UK But campaigners have argued that they are vital for communities in rural areas where mobile phone signals are poor, and can be a lifeline for motorists involved in an accident on remote roads. Many local authorities have objected to plans to get rid of certain payphones because of concerns residents may need them in emergencies. BT has been forced by telecoms watchdog Ofcom to consult with councils on removing any payphone where there is not another one within 400 metres. It had initially wanted to scrap 13,400 payphones, meaning 4,700 have been saved from the scrap heap. Many of these have been in remote areas such as the Scottish borders and the Highlands. BT is obliged to give into these objections despite arguing that not one call was made from more than 700 kiosks last year In its response to BT's consultation, Highland Council warned that removing some phone boxes could also have an impact on road safety, with long stretches of road without payphones. Motorists who break down could easily find themselves stranded if they break down or are involved in an accident and their mobile phone has run out of battery or they cannot get a signal. BT has argued that callers should be able to get through to emergency services even if they have poor reception or little credit. But Highland Council made the point that without reception emergency operators would not be able to call back people with zero reception. BT says 35,000 will remain open after its programme of closures The rise of mobile phones and more latterly smartphones - has fuelled a 90 per cent decline in the use of payphones It is not currently planning to get rid of 7,500 kiosks in public places such as supermarkets, train stations and airports. The move comes after BT was heavily criticised by Ofcom for providing a poor broadband service, while hiking prices. It has also been criticised for increasing landline charges, which the elderly and vulnerable tend to be more reliant on. A BT spokesperson said: 'BT is committed to providing a public payphone service, but with usage declining by over 90 per cent in the last decade, we've continued to review and remove payphones which are no longer needed. 'Any removal of payphones is carried out in strict adherence to the Ofcom guidelines and, where appropriate, with the consent of local authorities. 'In all instances where there's no other payphone within 400 metres, we ask for consent from the local authority to remove the payphone. 'Where we receive objections from the local authority, we won't remove the payphone.' Public servants being forced to relocate to a regional city have been given scripted lines to reel off when having 'BBQ conversations' about their impending move. Staff from Australia's Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority are being turfed out of Canberra and sent to Armidale, in the New South Wales Northern Tablelands. To help explain the agency's forced relocation, staff have been provided with a series of 'talking points' to recite to friends and family, The Canberra Times reported. Staff from Australia's Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority have been given scripted lines to reel off when having 'BBQ conversations' about their impending move (stock image) Staff were provided with different talking points, depending on whether they were 'not sure' or 'pretty sure' they will be relocating or if they won't be making the move north altogether. '[I'm not sure if I'll relocate to Armidale:] For the moment, I'm getting on with the job and considering the information on the transition as it's provided,' one of the talking points reads. Another says: '[I'm pretty sure I'll be relocating to Armidale] I'm listening to what our executive have to say about the transition, but for the moment I'm getting on with the job.' APVMA chief operating officer Stefanie Janiec wrote to staff on April 7 advising them of the conversations they should be having in social settings, including around a barbecue. Australia's Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority are being turfed out of Canberra (pictured) by the federal government and forced to relocate to a regional city in New South Wales The staff are being relocated to Armidale (pictured). The APVMA is currently in the process of establishing a physical presence in Armidale, with all staff expected to be relocated by July 2019 She said she herself had been asked several times about the move by her friends and was sure other staff were having similar conversations. 'These talking points have been crafted to help you with something we all refer to as the BBQ conversation,' she said. Ms Janiec added she wanted staff to feel confident answering questions from friends and relatives about the impending relocation and the Easter long weekend provided an opportunity to try out the scripted lines. The APVMA's move to heart of agriculture minister and deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce's electorate was announced in November 2016. The APVMA's move to heart of agriculture minister and deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce's (pictured) electorate was announced in November 2016 The move has been controversial with many staff refusing not relocate. The APVMA is currently in the process of establishing a physical presence in Armidale, with all staff expected to be relocated by July 2019. The move is part of a plan to help deliver 'substantial economic benefits to regional Australia'. York is to be declared the UK's first Human Rights city. The popular tourist location is most famous for its rich history and stunning buildings. But next week York will join more than 30 Human Rights Cities around the world, including Graz and Vienna in Austria, Seattle in the US and Edmonton in Canada. The Lord Mayor's formal declaration to be made next week means human rights must be put at the heart of policies and plans for York's future. York (pictured) is a popular tourist location due to its rich history and famous landmarks Organisations who are involved in the human rights pledge include the city council and North Yorkshire Police. Stephen Pittam, from the York Human Rights City Network (YHRCN) who have organised the move, said: 'York has the ambition to use human rights in decision-making, promote awareness and debate about human rights and ensure all residents' rights are respected. 'Each existing human rights city has built on its own particular history when seeking to give local content to the label. In both the past and present, York has a strong record of activity in the field of social justice. 'We want to act as a catalyst for York people, organisations and business to champion a vibrant, diverse, fair and safe city.' The Vikings who once occupied this northern outpost weren't known for their human rights and York was also the home city of Guy Fawkes, mastermind of the gunpowder plot who was tortured before signing a confession. But times have changed. York will join more than 30 Human Rights Cities around the world, including Graz and Vienna in Austria and Seattle in the US (pictured) The campaign to establish York as the UK's first Human Rights City was initiated by Professor Paul Gready, who is Director of the Centre for Applied Human Rights at the University of York. Prof Gready said: 'We live in uncertain and challenging times. International and national frameworks protecting human rights are under threat. 'Sadly, the UK is no exception to this trend. Those of us who are committed to human rights need to think creatively and act decisively.' Lord Mayor councillor Dave Taylor said the city sought to treat 'everyone equally, with fairness, dignity and respect.' Liberty director Martha Spurrier said: 'Human rights begin at home - and it's more important than ever that we celebrate and protect them.' A 57-year-old man accused of killing a 20-year-old British tourist in Israel has been pictured arriving at court. Jamil Tamimi, a Palestinian man from East Jerusalem, was arrested following the death of Hannah Bladon on Friday. She 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. Jamil Tamimi, a Palestinian man from East Jerusalem, was arrested following the death of Hannah Bladon on Friday Reports in Israel claim that Tamimi, who has a history of mental health problems, told police he attacked Miss Bladon because he hoped a soldier standing nearby would shoot him dead. Hannah Bladon, 20, (pictured) was stabbed to death on a Jerusalem train He was on his way from a mental health facility in northern Israel when he carried out the attack, The Times of Israel reports. Psychiatric tests were carried out on him on the orders of a court in Jerusalem, and he has been found fit to stand trial. It is claimed that Miss Bladon was standing close to Tamimi because she had given up her seat to a woman who was holding a baby. In a statement, her family 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.' 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 Ohio police officer who said he was shot during a traffic stop now says he made up the story to cover up a failed attempt to kill himself. The Tuscarawas County Sheriff's office says Newcomerstown police officer Bryan Eubanks claimed that individuals in a black Geo Tracker shot him April 11. Eubanks claimed that he spotted a mobile meth lab in the car and that he pulled over the Geo Tracker because it didn't have front or back license plates. He told authorities that as he approached the SUV, he heard two gunshots. 'I did not even make it to the driver himself, he was sitting there both hands on the wheel facing forward I just got to the door jam of his vehicle before I was shot,' Eubanks told NBC4 immediately after being released from the hospital showing off his arm wound from being shot. Scroll down for video Newcomerstown police officer Bryan Eubanks (pictured left and right) claimed he was shot during a traffic stop on April 11, but admitted on Tuesday that he made up the story to cover up a failed attempt to kill himself After the shooting, Eubanks told reporters: 'I think he was shooting to kill me because the gun was originally pointed at my face and I moved and that's how I got shot in the arm but yeah he was trying to kill me' Eubanks claimed that the passenger shot him by reaching behind the drivers seat and that the two males he said were in the car didn't say a word to him before shooting him. The 15-year veteran told reporters that he believed God was 'looking out for him because he moved at the right time.' 'I think he was shooting to kill me because the gun was originally pointed at my face and I moved and that's how I got shot in the arm but yeah he was trying to kill me,' he said after the shooting. Eubanks claimed to have run back to his car to call for backup, which then sent about 100 law enforcement officers in a frantic search for suspects. After further investigation, officers used an Automatic License Plate reader on the back of Eubanks' police cruiser to find witnesses that had passed his car at the time he said he was pursing the suspects. Tuscarawas County Sheriff Orvis Campbell estimated that about 100 law enforcement officers were all involved in a search for suspects in the hours and days following (scene above) After further investigating, Tuscarawas County Sheriff Orvis Campbell said Eubanks was brought in for questioning and admitted that he fabricated the story to cover up a failed suicide attempt (scene above). He ha since been terminated and could face charges None of the witnesses reported seeing the Geo tracker at the time Eubanks claimed he was pursing the vehicle on Johnson Hill Road, NBC4 reported. 'Some of the witnesses distinctly remember seeing Officer Eubanks standing on the bridge at River Street alone because they thought it was odd that the officer was just standing there,' Tuscarawas County Sheriff Orvis Campbell said during a press conference. 'One witness said she had direct eye contact with the officer. None of the witnesses recalled a Geo Tracker or any other vehicle near the scene.' Authorities took a man into custody that same day as a suspect in the shooting in Newcomerstown, about 100 miles south of Cleveland, but later released him. Investigators said Eubanks was brought in for more questioning, and that's when he admitted to fabricating the entire story to cover up a failed suicide attempt. Police say the 37-year-old, who was shot in the arm, was terminated as an officer Tuesday. Campbell added Eubanks, who reported his shooting as work-related, could face charges. He said: 'Officer Eubanks was involved in the investigation Newcomerstown's most recent murder case and we believe that was causing him a lot of undue stress as well as health issues.' Eubanks couldn't be reached for comment. No home telephone listing could be found for him. Adam Presley, 21, was tasered and arrested in Athens, Georgia while walking naked through a Wal-Mart. He told police that he had stabbed several people nearby and that he was high on LSD A 21-year-old man was arrested after he allegedly stabbed three people and walked naked through a Wal-Mart under the influence of LSD. Adam Presley was apprehended after police were called to the superstore on Lexington Road in Athens, Georgia, and discovered him walking the isles unclothed and covered in blood. After being tasered and physically subdued, he told medical personnel on the scene that he was under the influence of the psychedelic drug and had stabbed several people - and that 'there's nothing wrong with that,' according to police. Officers were simultaneously attending to the stabbing scene on the 400 block of Meadow Lane, just down the road from the Wal Mart, according to the Athens Banner-Herald. Three people were found in the home with stab wounds in the early hours of Saturday morning. His three alleged victims suffered stab wounds to their abdomen, face and back. One is said to still be in the intensive care unit from the incident on Saturday One male had a gash to his face, another had lacerations to his back, and a female had been stabbed in the lower abdomen. The identities of the victims have not yet been released - though one is said to have been admitted to the intensive care unit of an Athens-Clarke County hospital. Another victim's injuries were considered 'severe,' and the condition of the third victim could not be reported. Presley was apprehended after police were called to the superstore on Lexington Road in Athens, Georgia, and discovered him walking the isles unclothed and covered in blood EMS on the scene determined that the blood on Presley was actually his own and not that of his alleged victims. Investigators found that he had smashed a car window in the parking lot outside the Wal-Mart before entering, which was the cause of his injury. According to social media, he works at the Skate Park of Athens, located across the street from Wal-Mart and the Meadow Lane crime scene. Presley faces charges of three counts of aggravated assault and one count of aggravated battery. He is being held at Clarke County Jail without bond. After two days on the run, Facebook killer Steve Stephens' reign of terror came to an end on Tuesday morning - thanks to the bravery of two McDonald's employees. The workers, who haven't yet been identified, spotted Stephens, 37, as he pulled into their drive-thru on Buffalo Road in Erie, Pennsylvania, at around 11am. Recognizing him as the man who shot dead Robert Godwin, 74, on Sunday, they delayed him long enough for police to arrive and give chase - leading to Stephens' death by suicide. Now - if the police have their say - the workers will be splitting a $50,000 reward, TMZ reported. Scroll down for video Stopped: Steve Stephens (pictured left and right) was hunted across five states by the law for killing a 74-year-old man on Sunday - but it was two McDonald's workers who stopped him Brave: The brave employees, who worked here in Erie, Pennsylvania, got Stephens to wait while they called 911 by telling him that his fries weren't ready. Police arrived just as he fled Technically the money - which was pooled together by the FBI, ATF and US Marshal Service - was only for those who led to Stephens being arrested. But according to the site, local and federal law enforcement officers both agree that the workers were pivotal in stopping Stephens, and should get the reward anyway. There haven't been any meetings on the reward by the authorities yet, sources said. Henry Sayers, who manages the McDonald's franchise around 100 miles from where Godwin was shot down in cold blood, said his employees recognized Stephens as he made his order. The female attendant wasn't absolutely certain it was him, Sayers told Pix 11, but reports that Stephens' cell had pinged in Erie meant it was certainly possible. After Stephens ordered what would be his last meal - 20 Chicken McNuggets and a large order of fries for $5.35 - staff called 911. That meant fooling the killer - who had already shot at least one stranger in cold blood - into hanging around. Chase: After a chase from the restaurant, Stephens' white car (pictured, center) was run off the road and he shot himself. Cops now say the two workers should share the $50,000 reward 'We basically told him it would be a minute for his fries, which it wasn't really, we were just trying to make sure she got in contact with state police,' said Tom Ducharme Jr, who runs the franchise. Stephens was acting normal at first, Sayers said - so much so that you wouldn't believe he was a killer. But he began to get more nervous the longer he waited. 'I'm thinking at that point he might have been thinking someone in the store recognized him, and he was trying to get out of here,' Ducharme said. 'I can't wait! I need my McNuggets!' Stephens said before driving off. Sayers noted that he drove at a regular speed. But the plan had worked: Police arrived within 30 seconds of the call being made - just in time to catch him leaving the parking lot. They knocked him off the road with a 'precise immobilization technique' (PIT) maneuver after a two-mile chase, at which point he shot himself. Ducharme added that before making his order, Stephens had asked another employee, who was on break behind the building, for directions to the interstate - suggesting that he might have disappeared again if not stopped. He added that he was 'just so proud' of his crew and manager 'for how they handled everything'. Fled: Stephens shot Robert Godwin, 74, in Cleveland, Ohio, and died in Erie, around 100 miles away. Police are still working out what happened in the intervening two days The hunt for Stephens, a job counselor who worked with teens, which began after the shooting in Cleveland's Glenville neighborhood on Monday. It then expanded across five states before it ended abruptly on Tuesday. 'This started with one tragedy and ended with another person ending their life We would like to have brought Stephens in peacefully and talked to him about why this happened,' said police chief Calvin Williams. In the wake of Stephens' death, Angela Smith, the mother of two of Godwin's children, lashed at the killer for 'escaping justice' by committing suicide. Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, Smith described Stephens as a 'coward,' adding: 'If he was going to do that he should have done it right at the beginning. 'He was better killing himself than doing what he did. He shouldn't have taken my baby-father and robbed them of him.' Angela, 34, crying and screaming, added: 'He escaped justice. My kids ain't never gonna get closure. He should have given himself up to the police.' A trio of drifters who pleaded guilty to killing a Canadian tourist in a San Francisco park and a yoga teacher walking his dog have been sentenced to 100, 50 and 15 years in prison. Morrison Lampley, 24, was charged with first-degree murder in the brutal 2015 killings and on Tuesday was handed the lengthiest sentence of 100 years to life because he was the one who pulled the trigger in both cases. Lila Alligood, 19, was sentenced to 50 years to life, while accomplice Sean Angold, 25, got 15 years. Angold received the lesser sentence after agreeing to testify against the others. Scroll down for video Killers' tears: Morrison Lampley (left), 24, and Lila Alligood (right), 19, were sentenced on Tuesday to 100 and 50 years to life, respectively, for killing a Canadian tourist in a San Francisco park and a yoga teacher walking his dog in 2015 Witness: Accomplice Sean Angold, 25, pictured in court in September 2016, got 15 years after agreeing to testify against the others The trio admitted to killing Audrey Carey, a 23-year-old backpacker, in Golden Gate Park and Steve Carter, a 67-year-old yoga instructor, on a popular hiking trail in Marin County north of San Francisco. During a preliminary hearing in September 2016, prosecutors told the court how Lampley, Alligood and Angold killed Carey and robbed the tourist of her possessions after befriending her while she was camping in a remote part of Golden Gate Park to attend the annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. Two days after Carey's murder, the trio shot dead Carter after running into him while the victim was walking his dog, Coco. Carter's pet was also shot and has recovered. Emotions ran high at Marin County Hall of Justice during Tuesdays sentencing hearing, which was attended by family members of the victims who were given a chance to speak, or have their statements read aloud by prosecutors, reported San Francisco Chronicle. She trusted you, you three unspeakable monsters, said Isabelle Tremblay, Careys mother, in a statement read in the San Rafael courtroom by a prosecutor. And you stole her from me. You are proof that evil exists. Steve Carter's widow, Lokita, said the three defendants did not just kill her husband but also a part of herself, and no punishment seemed adequate. Mrs Carter, a breast cancer survivor, described the time period between her husband's slaying and his killers' sentencing as a 562-day nightmare that had her wishing for death, according to the station KTVU. Victims: Audrey Carey (left), a 23-year-old backpacker from Quebec, Canada, was shot dead and robbed on October 3, 2015. Two days later, yoga instructor Steve Carter (right), 67, was killed while walking his dog on a hiking trail in Marine County Carter's widow, Lokita, said in court Tuesday the defendants did not just kill her husband but also a part of herself This here is the beginning of your very own horror movie thats not going to end any time soon, Carter told the trio. Carters daughter, Emily Hansen, said that because of the defendants' actions, her father was not there to walk her down the aisle when she got married, and all because they wanted to steal a handful of cash and his station wagon. When I have kids, they will never be able to know their grandfather. And how do I tell them how he died? she wondered. Alligood, dressed in a tan-and-pink jail garb with her thick honey-colored hair twisted into a high bun, sobbed while listening to the victim impact statements, and Angold cried as well. Lampley, the gunman in both murders who was described by his defense attorney during the hearing as a dissolute youth whose life was marred by homelessness, abuse and mental illness, remained impassive throughout the proceedings and stared vacantly into space. His attorney later read a statement on his behalf in which the 24-year-old convicted killer said he wish he could go back in time and 'change things,' and expressed hope that the victims' loved ones would find peace someday. Drifters: This undated combination of file photos provided by the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office show, from left, Sean Michael Angold, Lila Scott Allgood, and Morrison Haze Lampley Angold also had his lawyer read a statement from him asking the families of Carter and Carey for 'a small measure of forgiveness.' I will spend the rest of my life thinking about the acts that I have done, he wrote. A teary eyed Alligood read her statement herself, telling the court she was truly sorry. Im so sorry for what I did, the decisions I made and the indescribable pain Ive caused others, she said. I'm so, so ashamed. Angold told the court during an earlier court hearing that he met Lampley and Alligood in late September after the pair had hitchhiked to San Francisco from San Diego, and all three of them came up with a plan to relocate to Oregon to farm marijuana. Authorities say the trio were living around San Francisco's Haight Asbury neighborhood near Buena Vista Park when they met Carey, who was visiting from Quebec. On October 3, Carey had just thanked the trio for being her friends when, according to testimony, Alligood tackled her and Lampley put a gun to her head and fired. Angold, who was in the process of restraining Carey's legs, said Lampley told him, 'She's dead, dude. Don't worry about it. Her body was later found in the park. On October 5, Steve Carter was walking his pet Doberman pinscher in the Loma Alta Open Space Preserve near Fairfax, about 20 miles from San Francisco, when the trio of drifters accosted and repeatedly shot him in the head, abdomen and leg for the purpose of stealing his Jetta station wagon. They also stole a fistful of cash from the victim's bullet-riddled wallet and used the blood-stained banknotes to buy cigarettes and fuel up Carter's station wagon. Alligood, pictured left in court last year and right during her sentencing, sobbed as she apologized for causing the victims' families 'indescribable pain' Prosecutors said Lampley shot both victims with a Smith & Wesson handgun stolen from an unlocked vehicle parked in San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf area. The defendants were arrested outside a soup kitchen in Portland, Oregon, after police tracked the GPS in the station wagon they had stolen from Carter. Investigators and the criminal complaint say they were found with the stolen gun, Carter's Volkswagen station wagon and Carey's tent, sleeping bag, day pack, passport and airline tickets. On Tuesday, Alligood's defense attorney, Amy Morton, blamed her clients participation in the carnage on heavy drug use and her 'twisted' relationship with her then-boyfriend, Lampley. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has been called 'Pocahontas' by President Donald Trump, but that's not nearly as bad as her favorite curse word 'poop.' In an interview Sunday with CBS, Warren revealed that 'poop' was her favorite curse word although she rejects the argument that it isn't that bad of a slur. 'Are you kidding?' Warren said when she was told by CBS interviewer Chip Reed that 'poop' is a 'goody two-shoes favorite curse word.' 'Have you ever seen a woman like me look you straight in the face after you've finished some long explanation of something and then just said poop?' Warren said on Tuesday that she has no plans to challenge Trump for the White House in 2020. In an interview Sunday with CBS, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren (above) revealed that 'poop' was her favorite curse word although she rejects the argument that it isn't that bad of a slur When asked on NBC's Today show whether she would seek the Democratic nomination against Trump in four years, the senator said: 'No.' 'I am running,' she added 'in 2018, for senator from Massachusetts.' Warren faces a re-election fight next year. Co-host Matt Lauer pressed her, saying 'a lot of people are already printing up those bumper stickers for 2020 that say 'she was warned, she was given an explanation, nevertheless she persisted'.' Warren grinned and stayed silent. Trump said last month during a Fox News Channel interview that running in 2020 against Warren would be 'a dream come true.' When asked on NBC's Today show whether she would seek the Democratic nomination against Trump in four years, the senator said: 'No' Warren has become a cult hero for liberals after she was silenced during a Senate debate over the nomination of Attorney General Jeff Sessions by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (above) 'I think she would lose so badly,' the president said then. Now the Massachusetts liberal is promoting her 11th book, 'This Fight Is Our Fight,' but says it isn't meant to be a launch vehicle for any presidential ambitions. Lauer's reference to Warren's accidental tag-line 'nevertheless, she persisted,' is a hat-tip to a February 7 episode that saw Warren silenced on the Senate floor. As a protest against the nomination of then-Senator Jeff Sessions to serve as attorney general, she read aloud a passage from a 1986 letter written by Coretta Scott King to complain about Sessions' nomination for a federal judgeship. The King letter said that as an Alabama federal prosecutor, Sessions had used 'the awesome power of his office to chill the free exercise of the vote by black citizens.' Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell squelched her, ruling that she had violated a rule against denigrating fellow senators. 'Sen. Warren was giving a lengthy speech. She had appeared to violate the rule. She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted,' McConnell said then. A judge has come under fire for delivering a 17-hour judgment over four days. New South Wales District Court Judge Garry Neilson read out the extraordinarily long judgment in May 2016 after hearing a six-day negligence case. Judge Neilson eventually awarded a man almost $340,000 in compensation after he was thrown from a horse alongside a road near Wagga Wagga, in south-west New South Wales, when a car drove past. New South Wales District Court Judge Garry Neilson (pictured) has come under fire for delivering a 17-hour judgment over four days Justice Ruth McColl, acting president of the NSW Court of Appeal, said there was 'no explanation' why Judge Neilson delivered the lengthy judgment The man alleged it was the driver's negligence which caused the horse to throw him off and that his injuries were suffered in a 'motor accident'. But the Court of Appeal this month disagreed and also delivered a scathing analysis of Judge Neilson's judgment, which totalled 138 pages. 'There is no explanation in either the transcript of the hearing, or the primary judge's reasons, as to why his Honour delivered a judgment of such length,' Justice Ruth McColl, acting president of the Court of Appeal, said. She queried why the lengthy judgment was delivered while sitting in court rather than Judge Neilson providing written comments, as was 'customary with a judgment of such length'. Justice McColl added the lengthy judgment imposed a significant cost burden on the parties involved in the case. Justice Mark Leeming agreed and noted there was also a public cost of such a lengthy judgment. Justice Ruth McColl delivered her scathing remarks on Judge Neilson's original judgment in the NSW Court of Appeal (pictured) 'It is difficult to see how the efficient disposal of the business of the court and the efficient use of available judicial and administrative resources are promoted by oral delivery of reasons over four days,' he said. 'There is a public cost in taking that course, in that a courtroom and court officers and court reporters are made unavailable for the hearing of other cases. 'There is a private cost, borne by both parties but in large measure by the losing litigant, of paying for representatives to attend over four days.' Judge Neilson has not responded to the comments. Authorities in New York investigating the case of a trailblazing New York state judge whose body was found floating in the Hudson River last week are treating the death as suspicious. The body of State Court of Appeals Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam was retrieved fully clothed from the Hudson by the NYPD harbor unit on Wednesday - one day after her husband of less than a year reported her missing. Initially, Abdus-Salaam was thought to have taken her own life after her brother and mother both committed suicide around Easter two years apart from each other, according to police. Now the NYPD says that it believes the case to be 'suspicious,' according to the New York Post. The NYPD said on Tuesday that the death of Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam, whose body was spotted floating in the Hudson River on Wednesday, is 'suspicious' The NYPD is asking the public to come forward with information on Abdus-Salaam's whereabouts in the hours leading up to her death 'Were looking it at as a suspicious death at this point,' NYPD spokesman Stephen Davis said. 'We havent found any clear indications of criminality, but at this point we cant say for sure. Were hoping if anyone could shed any light into the hours before her disappearance, it would help us establish what happened.' Investigators have so far been unable to piece together bits of information about Abdus-Salaam's movements in the moments leading up to her death, according to the Post. Police have pored over hours of surveillance videos, but they say that so far they have yet to find any CCTV footage from either a convenience store or a mass transit location that would give clues as to her final whereabouts. Abdus-Salaam, who was the first African-American woman to serve on New York state's highest court and a cancer survivor, began taking medication for 'darkening moods just a few weeks before her apparent suicide,' the New York Daily News reported. According to those who knew her, her life was also marked by personal tragedy as her mother committed suicide on Easter in 2012 aged 92, the New York Times reported. Two years later her brother shot himself to death around the same holiday. Despite being widely hailed in several published reports as 'the first female Muslim U.S. judge,' she was not a practitioner of Islam. She adopted the surname 'Abdus-Salaam' when she married her first husband, who was a Muslim. But a spokesman for the Court of Appeals told the New York Times that she was not Muslim. Authorities investigating the case said Thursday that they found her medications, as she did not leave behind a suicide note and there were no signs of foul play. Detectives are looking for surveillance video to see if it revealed her movements along her possible path. They are also looking to see if it supports the theory that she committed suicide. An autopsy performed on her body revealed that she had water in her lungs, which suggests that she was alive when she went into the Hudson River. While there was slight bruising on her neck, there was no bleeding in her eyes, which is normally consistent with strangulation. Absent definitive evidence of a suicide, police are now asking the public to come forward with any information - just in case. Investigators are 'worried a video could pop up where a guy has her in headlock, or is dragging her, and its not a suicide,' a source told the Post. 'God forbid someone a year from now says, "I killed the judge and this is how I did it",' the source added. 'Thats why theyre sending out these notices. Its to cover their bases.' On Thursday, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters, 'Obviously, we're still waiting for the full investigation, but to the extent that the challenges and the stresses in her life contributed to this, it's a reminder that even the most accomplished people still deal with extraordinary challenges inward, and we don't get to see that.' Sources told the Times that Abdus-Salaam, 65, had been stressed recently at work. She apparently had recently told friends and a doctor that she was suffering from stress. The 65-year-old judge (pictured with NY Governor Andrew Cuomo) was found fully clothed, with no obvious signs of trauma suggesting foul play Her close friend Dr. Marilyn Mobley told the Times that Abdus-Salaam had a 'heavy caseload and was in demand as a speaker'. She noted that the 65-year-old jurist may have had difficulty handling the pressure. 'What she shared with me is she had been under a lot of stress recently and that she was having trouble sleeping, 'Mobley, who saw the judge two weeks ago in New York for breakfast, stated. 'The truth is she was accomplished, resilient and strong, and she had a breaking point like everyone else. I fear it got there.' Hours before she disappeared, the 65-year-old woman called her chambers in Midtown Manhattan on Tuesday morning to notify the staff she would not be coming in because she was unwell. When the judge failed to show up for work the next day, her aide sent a text message to her husband, who then called 911 to report her missing. She was last seen alive leaving her office on Monday evening. Investigators were able to retrace her steps, determining that she took a No 6 train at around 8pm. Adbus-Salaam was dressed in a gray sweater over a T-shirt, black sweatpants and a pair of New Balance sneakers. She wore a white watch on her wrist and still had a MetroCard in her pocket. Witnesses noticed Abdus-Salaam's body floating in the water near 132nd Street and Hudson Parkway in Manhattan at around 1.45pm and called 911, police said. Abdus-Salaam was noted for being the first African-American woman to serve on New York's Court of Appeals when she was appointed by Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2013. The judge was divorced and recently remarried Reverend Gregory Jacobs in June Cuomo issued a statement on Wednesday, memorializing her as a 'trailblazing jurist whose life in public service was in pursuit of a more fair and more just New York for all'. He added: 'As the first African-American woman to be appointed to the State's Court of Appeals, she was a pioneer. 'Through her writings, her wisdom, and her unshakable moral compass, she was a force for good whose legacy will be felt for years to come. 'I was proud to appoint her to the state's highest court and am deeply saddened by her passing. 'On behalf of all New Yorkers, I extend my deepest sympathies to her family, loved ones and colleagues during this trying and difficult time.' New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also paid tribute, writing: 'Deeply saddened by the tragic passing of Sheila Abdus-Salaam. She was a humble pioneer. My thoughts are with her family.' The judge, who was twice divorced, remarried Reverend Gregory Jacobs of the Episcopal Archdiocese of Newark, in June, the Daily News reported. The couple were said to be very happy, and chose to live in separate homes, a neighbor said. Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio paid tribute to Abdus-Salaam, who was hailed as a 'humble pioneer' The 65-year-old had been reported missing, and her husband identified her body after witnesses called 911 Abdus-Salaam, who was born Sheila Turner in 1952, was one of seven children. She grew up in Washington DC with working-class parents and was inspired to pursue law after the civil rights attorney Frankie Muse Freeman visited her high school. The judge recounted the life-changing talk and said: 'She was riveting... she was doing what I wanted to do: using the law to help people.' Abdus-Salaam, who later referred to a career in law as 'God's work', graduated from Barnard College in 1974 and received her law degree from Columbia three years later. She was classmates with former US Attorney Eric Holder, who said during her swearing in ceremony in 2013: 'Sheila could boogie, but there was a seriousness about her, a strong sense of purpose at a relatively young age.' 'She never forgot where she came from,' he added. Abdus-Salaam, who traced her family's history and learned her great-grandfather was a slave in Virginia, marveled at the trajectory of her life in 2014. She said: 'All the way from Arlington, Virginia, where my family was the property of someone else, to my sitting on the highest court of the State of New York is amazing and huge. 'It tells you and me what it is to know who we are and what we can do.' Abdus-Salaam worked as an attorney before she began her career as a judge in the Civil Court of the City of New York in 1992. She joined the Supreme Court of New York County in 1993 before she was appointed to the highest court 20 years later, where she served until her death. Chief Judge Janet DiFiore said her colleague will be 'missed deeply.' The Trump administration has told Congress it will extend sanctions relief to Iran because the country is sticking to Obama's 2015 deal to curb its atomic program. However, in a letter sent late Tuesday to House Speaker Paul Ryan, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the agreement would now undergo a full review to see if it 'is vital to the national security interests of the United States.' 'Iran remains a leading state sponsor of terror, through many platforms and methods,' he wrote. Scroll down for video Under review: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the 2015 Iran nuclear deal will undergo a 'full review' - but for now the US is continuing to extend sanction relief The nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was signed in Vienna in July 2015. The certification of Iran's compliance, which must be sent to Congress every 90 days, is the first issued by the Trump administration. The deadline was midnight. As a candidate in the 2016 presidential election, Trump was an outspoken critic of the deal but had offered conflicting opinions on whether he would try to scrap it, modify it or keep it in place with more strenuous enforcement. Tuesday's determination suggested that while he agreed with findings by the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, that Iran is keeping to its end of the bargain, he is looking for another way to ratchet up pressure on Tehran. Despite the sanctions relief, Iran remains on the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism. It supports anti-Israel groups and is still subject to non-nuclear sanctions, including some for human rights abuses and for its backing of Syrian President Bashar Assad's government. Deal: The agreement was signed in July 2015 (pictured: John Kerry, front-left, and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, front-right) and requires a report every 90 days The nuclear agreement took 18 months of negotiations led by former Secretary of State John Kerry and diplomats from the other four permanent members of the UN Security Council - Britain, China, France and Russia - as well as Germany. Under its terms, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program, long suspected of being aimed at developing atomic weapons, in return for billions of dollars in sanctions relief. Opponents of the deal, including Israel, objected, saying it only delayed Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons and did not allow for the kind of inspections of its atomic sites that would guarantee it was not cheating. Obama, Kerry and others who negotiated the deal strenuously defended its terms and said the agreement made Israel, the Middle East and the world a safer place. Sales of Ivanka Trump's merchandise enjoyed a massive increase in sales after Kellyanne Conway hawked it from the White House on national TV, new statistics show. The stats, which come from online marketplace Lyst, show sales for February 9 - the day Conway promoted the items - up by 10,700 per cent on the same date the previous year. The new information comes on the same day that it emerged that Ivanka was given three trademarks in China, where sales of her products have skyrocketed, the same day that she met the Chinese president. That has inevitably lead to complaints that she is exploiting her position to benefit her business. Scroll down for video Dinner: Ivanka Trump is seen with (l-r) husband Jared Kushner, Chinese First Lady Peng Liyuan and Chinese president Xi Jinping on April 6. That same day Ivanka's brand received three provisional trademarks in China Hawker: Kellyanne Conway promoted Ivanka's brand from the White House on February 9, leading to a 10,700% increase in sales on the previous year on the online shop Lyst The push Conway gave Ivanka's goods in February was huge - particularly in red states, a Lyst spokesperson said - but short-lived. February 10 was almost as high as the day before, with an increase of 9,700 per cent on the 2016 date. The brand went from 550th most popular to 11th for that month. Sales dropped rapidly after that, but the increase was enough to leave the monthly average 771 percent up on February 2016. And although several stores have dropped her goods after the #GrabYourWallet online campaign tried to render the brands toxic, her business has recorded its best-ever year. A good part of that is thanks to a massive increase in sales in China for the brand, which Ivanka no longer manages, but still owns. That's why eyebrows were raised when it emerged Tuesday that her company was granted three provisional trademarks on April 6. That's the same day she dined with Chinese president Xi Jinping at her father's Mar-a-Lago resort. Song and dance: During the Mar-a-Lago meetings, Ivanka's daughter, 5-year-old Arabella stood sang a traditional Chinese song, in Mandarin, to President Xi Jinping (above) Those trademarks grant the company monopoly rights to sell Ivanka-brand jewelry, bags and spa services in the world's second-largest economy. Abigail Klem, who took over as president from Ivanka, said there was nothing unusual about the applications. 'We have recently seen a surge in trademark filings by unrelated third parties trying to capitalize on the name and it is our responsibility to diligently protect our trademark,' she said. And Ivanka's lawyer says that she does not 'weigh in on business strategy, marketing issues or the commercial terms of agreements' - and reserves the right to cancel agreements that create, or appear to create, a conflict of interest. Concerns: Although Ivanka doesn't run her company any more - she only owns it - critics worry it will compromise her ability to properly counsel her father But as her company grows in scope, critics are saying it diminishes her ability to give credible counsel to Trump on core issues like trade, intellectual property and the value of Chinese currency. That means critics are lining up to tell her to back off. 'Put the business on hold and stop trying to get trademarks while you're in government,' said Richard Painter, who served as chief White House ethics lawyer under George W Bush. 'Ivanka has so many China ties and conflicts, yet she and Jared appear deeply involved in China contacts and policy,' said Norman Eisen, who was Barack Obama's chief White House ethics lawyer. 'I would never have allowed it. For their own sake, and the country's, Ivanka and Jared should consider stepping away from China matters.' Her company currently has 16 registered trademarks and 32 pending trademarks in China, covering everything from cosmetics to shoes and cosmetic services. Publicly, Ivanka has taken a gracious, charming approach toward Beijing. During the Mar-a-Lago meetings, her daughter, 5-year-old Arabella stood in a gilded room and sang a traditional Chinese song, in Mandarin, to President Xi Jinping. The video, which was lavishly praised by Chinese state media, played over 2.2million times on China's popular news portal qq.com. Put the business on hold and stop trying to get trademarks while you're in government Richard Painter, chief White House ethics lawyer under George W Bush Kellyanne Conway made her infamous remarks after Nordstrom dropped Ivanka Trump-brand goods from its stores.'Go buy Ivankas stuff!' she said. 'I hate shopping, and I will go get some myself today.' She continued: 'It is just a wonderful line. I own some of it. I fully, I'm going to give a free commercial here. Go buy it today, everybody. You can find it online.' The promo resulted in the United States Office of Government Ethics requesting that she be investigated and potentially face disciplinary action. Ivanka's husband, Jared Kushner, has also come under criticism for perceived ties to China. Last year, Kushner pursued hundreds of millions of dollars in real estate investments from Anbang Insurance Group, a financial conglomerate with close ties to the Chinese state. After media reports about the deal, talks were called off. More than 80 Airbnb properties have been removed from the website in Victoria in the past year, with lobby groups complaining of parties in the rented homes. Horror stories have emerged of tenants damaging houses and causing havoc for neighbours while residing in short-stay accommodation. This week lobby group We Live Here spoke out against Airbnb, claiming there was no regard for neighbours who had to put up with 'perpetual parties'. A Victorian parliamentary inquiry into short-stay letting was opened to investigate the issue, and revealed that 81 Victorian properties were removed from the site for a wide range of reasons. This CCTV image of guests at a Melbourne apartment block in February has been submitted to the parliamentary inquiry into short-stay letting We Live Here director and building manager Marshall Delves said he and his neighbours were fed up with short-stay tenants who partied all night, blocked lifts and dealt drugs. The lobby group set up a petition to stop home owners from letting their properties to tenants for short periods of time. 'Stop our homes from being destroyed by the unregulated short-stay industry,' the petition said. We Live Here called for a minimum of 30-day stays in apartment buildings where units were leased out on sites like Airbnb. The lobby group set up a petition to stop home owners from letting their properties to tenants for short periods of time (Airbnb property pictured) We Live Here director and building manager Marshall Delves said he and his neighbours were fed up with short-stay tenants who partied all night The inquiry looks at the impact on apartment owners and owner corporations as well as individual people and families. A CCTV image of guests in swimwear and holding alcohol bottles in the lift of a Melbourne apartment building in February was submitted to the inquiry. Airbnb head of public policy in Australia and New Zealand Brent Thomas told the inquiry the site was making changes to make it easier for neighbours to report problems. Airbnb head of public policy in Australia and New Zealand Brent Thomas told the inquiry the site introduced a new tool on the website which allowed neighbours to report issues He said the site introduced a new tool on the website which allowed them to report problems. Mr Thomas said disruption to neighbours was rare, but when it was reported Airbnb took it seriously. 'We work very closely with our community to try and resolve them,' he told The Age. Airbnb advertises about 26,000 properties across Victoria alone. Lobby Group We Live Here represented about 200 apartment buildings in Melbourne. Airbnb advertises about 26,000 properties across Victoria alone (Airbnb property pictured) Consumer Affairs Minister Marlene Kairouz said Airbnb homes (pictured) helped to keep the Victorian tourist industry alive The Victorian government announced plans to introduce new laws in 2016 to crack down on landlords who allowed perpetual parties at their short-stay properties. While there was pressure from lobby groups and the state government, Consumer Affairs Minister Marlene Kairouz publicly fought for the short-stay accommodation industry. Ms Kairouz said it was vital for Victoria's tourism industry. 'Our bill is about ensuring we keep pace with the way people live and use their homes as well as crack down on unruly guests,' she told The Age. One-third of Australian voters approve of Pauline Hanson's performance in the Senate, according to a new poll. Almost half of people (48 per cent) disapprove of the One Nation leader, according to the Essential Media figures, released on Wednesday. But 32 per cent of those who responded to the poll said they approved of the senator, including nine per cent who 'strongly approve'. One-third (32 per cent) of Australian voters approve of Pauline Hanson's performance in the Senate, according to the Essential Media poll released on Wednesday Fifty-eight per cent of 'other party voters' approved of Ms Hanson, according to the poll. Less than one year ago, One Nation received just 4.29 per cent of the national vote in the July federal election, according to the AEC. The party has four senators in the Australia in the Upper House. Despite apparently surging support, many still disapproved of the One Nation Leader. A total of 48 per cent of voters 'disapprove' of her, including 33 per cent who 'strongly disapprove' of her. Ten per cent were 'not sure' and 11 per cent said they 'don't know enough'. A total of 48 per cent of voters 'disapprove' of Ms Hanson, including 33 per cent who 'strongly disapprove' of her (Ms Hanson is pictured in March) Less than one year ago, One Nation received just 4.29 per cent of the national vote in the July federal election, according to the AEC The question said: 'Do you approve or disapprove of the performance of the following minor party and independent senators?' Cross-bench senator Nick Xenophon had a total approval rating of 35 per cent. One-quarter of respondents disapproved of the South Australian. Derryn Hinch was approved by 35 per cent, with 27 per cent disapproving of his performance. Tasmanian Jacqui Lambie garnered support from 32 per cent of voters. Thirty per cent of respondents disapproved of her performance. Only nine per cent of respondents approved of David Leyonheljm. Ten per cent of respondents approved of Cory Bernardi, after he cut loose from the Liberal Party to form the Australian Conservatives in February. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Pauline Hanson and One Nation for comment. Essential Media has also been approached for comment. A crime kingpin has been attacked in a drive-by shooting as he left a mosque in Melbourne, just months after he was released from prison. Mohammed Oueida, 41, was walking with two associates when he was shot outside Coburg Islamic Centre just before 1pm on Monday, The Age reported. A silver BMW pulled up alongside them and four shots were fired out of the front passenger window before fleeing the scene, Victoria Police said. Oueida was shot in the abdomen and was taken to hospital by his two friends, aged 41 and 53, in a LS400 Lexus Sedan. Mohammed Oueida has been attacked in a drive-by shooting as he left a mosque in Melbourne, just months after he was released from prison. Pictured, a bullet hole in a fence nearby A silver BMW pulled up alongside them and four shots were fired out of the front passenger window before fleeing the scene, Victoria Police said Daily Mail Australia understands that he is still in a serious condition in hospital. Bullets also hit the fences of two homes nearby to the mosque. The BMW X5 used by the shooters was stolen earlier on Monday, police said. The motive behind the shooting is not known and no arrests have been made. Police want to speak to two men, thought to be in their 20s, who witnessed the shooting and spoke to police at the scene, but left without providing any details. Officers also want to track down a man seen wearing 'dark, full-length cultural attire' at the scene moments after the shooting. Oueida was jailed in 2012 after pleading guilty to trafficking and manufacturing methylamphetamine, as well as owning an unregistered semi-automatic rifle. The BMW X5 used by the shooters was stolen earlier on Monday, police said Police want to speak to two men, thought to be in their 20s, who witnessed the shooting Oueida, 41, was walking with two associates when he was shot outside Coburg Islamic Centre just before 1pm on Monday He was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison - spending time in a maximum security wing of a Victoria jail - but was released early. Oueida, who has been married four times, was arrested as he tried to flee Melbourne in his private plane in 2011, according to The Age. Police claimed that, as well as the plane, he owned a Ferrari, a $2.8million mansion and more property in Abu Dhabi, Lebanon, the Solomon Islands and Pakistan. He was also alleged to have $6million in a Swiss bank account. The Age also claims that Oueida is linked to the Comanchero motorbike gang. He was injured in a shoot-out in 2009 as he fought alongside the infamous Kheir and Haddara crime families. The grandmother of a baby born to two teen-aged parents feared the newborn's ice-using grandfather would come into their home and 'kill' his estranged partner, court documents reveal. Fresh details have emerged of the complex criminal history - spanning 14 years - of the Sydney newborn's grandparents less than a week after her teenage parents smuggled her out of hospital. Daily Mail Australia is unable to name the baby or any of her immediate family after a magistrate ordered on Wednesday afternoon that their identities be suppressed. The baby has been given the pseudonym 'AM' by the court. AM's teenage parents sparked a police search after they took their baby daughter from Nepean Hospital, Penrith, in the early hours of last Thursday. Court documents seen by Daily Mail Australia detail claims of fear and terror in the public housing home in western Sydney, where the teen parents live with the baby's grandmother, 47. In a bizarre twist, court papers also revealed the baby's grandmother told police her former partner was at one stage her 'foster son'. The couple later went on to have several children together, including baby AM's father. The grandmother of baby AM feared the child's grandfather (pictured), a user of the drug ice, would come into their home and 'kill her', court documents said The grandmother of AM (pictured), has been charged with multiple stealing offences and is due to face Blacktown Local Court on Thursday The grandparents (pictured) were once in a domestic relationship and are believed to have four children together, including AM's young father. Bizarrely, court papers also revealed the grandmother told police her former partner was also her 'foster son' The newborn girl's father (right), 14, and mother (left), 15, sparked a police search last Thursday after taking the baby from Nepean Hospital, Penrith, in the early hours of the night BABY AM'S FAMILY HISTORY Baby AM* was smuggled out of a Sydney hospital by her teen parents Her father, 14, and mother, 15, camped with the newborn in a tent overnight She was returned to hospital the next day and separated from family Baby AM's grandmother, 47, was in a relationship with her foster son, 31 Baby AM's father planned on taking her to a housing commission home in western Sydney to live with his grandmother - who is due to face court this week on multiple stealing charges A warrant was issued for the arrest of AM's grandfather for breaching an AVO Daily Mail Australia is unable to reveal the identity of the baby or any of her immediate family after a magistrate ordered that their identities be suppressed Advertisement In the latest incident before the courts, documents revealed police were called to baby AM's grandmother's home in early 2016 over several alleged incidents involving her former partner. Her grandmother told police she was left frightened and shaken after her former partner called her in January 2016 and told her he 'tried to electrocute himself'. Weeks before that self-harm incident, she had asked him to move out. 'I just want him to get better,' she told a police officer. 'I don't know why he is doing this but I feel like one day he's going to come home and kill me.' The grandfather reportedly suffered schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, the documents said, and used the drug ice - also known as methamphetamine - daily. Their dispute culminated in police filing a provisional AVO for the grandmother's protection. Court papers said police had dealt with 'seven similar situations' between the grandparents since 2003, but the grandmother had declined to press charges. But on February 14, 2016, the situation became violent, according to the police facts, after the grandfather allegedly tried to leave flowers at the home and then hid in the backyard. Court documents seen by Daily Mail Australia detail claims of fear and terror at the housing commission home in western Sydney, where the teen parents live with the The teen parents hid their newborn baby AM under a blanket and left Nepean Hospital. After handing her back that afternoon they didn't see her again until Tuesday In February 14, 2016, the situation between the baby's grandparents (right and second from left) became violent, according to the police facts, after he allegedly tried to leave flowers at the family home and then hid in the backyard When police arrived at the western Sydney property about midday that Valentine's Day, officers believed they could hear the sound of the grandfather clambering over the fence. When officers found him up the road and told him he was under arrest for breaching the terms of his AVO - which ordered him to keep 50m away from the property - he replied: 'Na no f***ing way', the facts said. He raised both of his arms to box the officers and one of the police punched him in the face. Baby AM's grandfather thrashed around kicking, with one officer having his legs, groin and right arm injured. He did not appear at his latest court appearance this week, with the court noting a warrant would be issued after prosecutors sought to revoke his community corrections order. On Wednesday morning, two people believed to be welfare officers visited the family home, but left when no one answered the front door. It is not clear what the purpose of the visit was. It comes a day after Daily Mail Australia revealed the grandmother is also due to appear in court this week on charges of stealing goods. Pictures show the yard of the house littered with up-turned shopping trolleys and abandoned cars, right near where children's play equipment including a trampoline is located The grandmother gushed with pride about her new granddaughter last week, sharing multiple photos to Facebook of the father cradling his baby girl The grandmother, who has four children and also acts as a guardian for baby AM's mother, is due to face Blacktown Local Court on Thursday charged with multiple offences. The parents intended to take baby AM back to her grandmother's commission home in the city's west once she was released from hospital. On Tuesday, the parents were briefly reunited with their daughter for the first time since handing her back to medical staff on Thursday afternoon after more than 12 hours. The father said he burst into tears when their family was briefly brought back together and it gave them hope she would be returned to them permanently. The young couple hid their newborn baby under a blanket and left the hospital in the early hours of Thursday, camping overnight in a tent purchased from Kmart. The grandmother spoke out in defence of the teenage parents last week, saying they only took AM from the hospital because they 'didn't want to be apart from their baby'. An overflowing skip bin, which neighbours say is largely filled with the family's trash, is located at the back gate of their western Sydney home She said the teens were both able parents and pledged to help them raise baby AM under her roof where they already set up a nursery in readiness for her arrival. Photographs show the backyard of the house littered with up-turned shopping trolleys and an overflowing skip bin, which is largely filled with the family's trash. The backyard where the grandmother's young children regularly play on a trampoline is filled with two dumped cars, while the grass is unmowed. Photographs of the front yard show where her home came under attack from arson in the early hours of last Friday as the grandmother, and AM's parents slept inside. A trail of burnt grass leads up to a heavily scorched and boarded-up door where the grandmother told Daily Mail Australia her home had been 'firebombed' by an unknown person hours after the teen couple returned home with AM. The teenagers (father is pictured with baby AM) were reportedly told they are 'too young to decide' what happens to the child and so decided to flee hospital, braving the elements in a Kmart tent The abolition of the 457 visas for skilled migrants not only risks affecting trade relations between India and Australia, it could also affect the number of Indian students studying at Australian universities. A quarter of all 457 visa holders in Australia are Indian, which is the highest of any nation, reported the ABC. As of March 2016 there were also 51,809 full fee-paying Indian student enrolments across schools, English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students (ELICOS), Vocational Education and Training (VET) and higher education. Abolition of the 457 visas for skilled migrants could also affect the number of Indian students studying at Australian universities (stock image) As of March 2016 there were 32,336 full fee-paying Indian students enrolled at a university in Australia. Migration agent Anisha Gupta said abolition of the 47 visa could affect students seeking degrees in the 200 professions the government is removing from the list Statistics from the High Commission of India in Australia show 32,336 of those students were enrolled at a university in Australia. Migration agent Anisha Gupta told the ABC the move could hurt Australian university's efforts to attract Indian students, especially those seeking degrees in the 200 professions the government is removing from the list of those eligible for skilled worker visas. Ms Gupta said the students may go to other countries that have a more favourable immigration policy for them. In a report from the Times of India, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay said the government was 'examining the consequences of the new policy in consultation with all stakeholders'. 'This is also a matter we will be looking at in the context of Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) negotiations,' Mr Baglay said. A quarter of all 457 skilled migrant visa holders in Australia are Indian, which is the highest of any nation. Indian nationals on the 457 visas are mostly hired as cooks, software developers and programmers While the largest number of 457 visa holders are from India, 19.5 per cent are from the UK and 5.8 per cent are from China. Ms Gupta told the ABC she was taking a lot of calls from people who had the 457 visa and people who were applying for it, questioning how the changes were going to affect them. Indian nationals on the 457 visas are mostly hired as cooks, software developers and programmers and government figures show nearly 10 per cent of 457 visas granted last year were for those roles. The move could also damage Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's attempts to re-start stalled free trade talks with India. When it comes to medical experts in sport, Australian Rules Football staff are among the best around. And a masseuse for the Gold Coast Suns appeared to work wonders for star player Brandon Matera over the weekend. Matera was forced off the field mid-match to get attention on his groin, before the 25-year-old returned to have arguably the best match of his career against Carlton on Saturday night. As Matera lay down on the turf on the sidelines at Etihad Stadium, Melbourne, he was attended to by a Suns trainer. Raising his right leg into the air, he begins to receive treatment high on his leg. But while the treatment to Matera was innocuous, the camera angle used during the coverage was nothing short of unfortunate. Shot low to the ground, the footage meant the trainer's hand was covered by his left leg, leading many viewers to question exactly where he was getting work done. One trainer for the Gold Coast Suns appeared to be going a bit too far over the weekend during a massage with livewire forward Brandon Matera (pictured) The unfortunate angle of the footage meant the trainer's hand was covered by Matera's left leg leading many viewers to think something inappropriate was going on After returning to the field Matera went on to have what many have considered the best game of his career. The dangerous forward had 29 disposals and kicked three goals in Gold Coast's 26-point win, with many quipping that his performance was due to the massage. Video of Matera getting an unusual rub-down has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times online. A Sydney man accused of using a secret camera to film more than 200 people, including children, in public bathrooms across the city intends to plead guilty to the charges. Benjamin Moorhouse, 40, appeared at Parramatta Local Court on Wednesday, charged with several counts of filming a person in a private act without consent 'for sexual arousal or sexual gratification'. Moorhouse is alleged to have installed hidden cameras in the toilets of North Sydney and Parramatta train stations, as well as a disabled bathroom at Westfield Parramatta, in February and March this year. Benjamin Moorhouse, 40, (at left) has been charged with several counts of filming a person in a private act without consent 'for sexual arousal or sexual gratification' When police arrested Moorhouse outside his home in Parramatta, they found him with a camera similar to those found at train station toilets It is also alleged Moorhouse 'engaged in a private act' without the consent of the victims. The 40-year-old ran away from media outside the court following his appearance on Wednesday. He used a hood and sunglasses to conceal his face. When police arrested Moorhouse outside his home in Parramatta, they found him with a camera similar to those found at the stations. Moorhouse (at left) is alleged to have installed hidden cameras in the toilets of North Sydney and Parramatta train stations, as well as a disabled bathroom at Westfield Parramatta, in February and March this year A number of items were seized for forensic tests following a search of Moorehouse's home, police said A number of items were seized for forensic tests following a search of his home, police said. Moorehouse's lawyer indicated he would plead guilty to all offences, including two instances when a child under 16 was filmed. Police allege Moorhouse installed a camera underneath the sink in the bathrooms. Almost 100 people were filmed at a Parramatta train station toilet between February 13 and 14, while another 23 were filmed on the morning of February 10 in a toilet at North Sydney station, it is alleged. It is also alleged Moorhouse (centre, back to camera) 'engaged in a private act' without the consent of the victims Almost 100 people were filmed at a Parramatta train station toilet between February 13 and 14, while another 23 were filmed on the morning of February 10 in a toilet at North Sydney station Police said the cameras were found by train staff. It is alleged about another 100 people were filmed in a Westfield Parramatta disabled bathroom between March 17 and 20. Moorhouse has been granted strict bail and is due to face court again on May 31. The first victim in a horrific racially motivated shooting in Fresno, California has been identified as 34-year-old Zackary Randalls The first victim in a horrific racially motivated shooting in Fresno, California has been identified as 34-year-old Zackary Randalls. The husband and father-of-two was shot dead while riding in the passenger's seat of a PG&E truck driving along Van Ness Avenue on Tuesday morning. He had recently taken the job and it was his first day out of the training classroom. Kori Ali Muhammad, 39, approached the vehicle around 10:40am and shot through the window where Randalls was sitting in a spree that left two more dead in a four-block span. Muhammad reportedly fired 16 rounds in under two minutes. He later told police that he hated white people and wanted to kill as many of them as possible. Randalls lived in Clovis with his two preschool children, and elementary school teacher wife Katie, to whom he'd been married for eight years, according to the Fresno Bee. Friends said it was especially heartbreaking to know that Randalls died in a racially motivated attack, because they knew him as an open-minded, non-judgmental person. 'That makes it even sadder because Zack was truly a person who never saw color in anybody,' his childhood friend Joey Contente said. 'Zack would be the first person to ask why we are judging him for his beliefs. He would say he (Muhammad) obviously had a mental issue, that his beliefs didn't cause this.' 'He was truly the best person I've ever known,' he continued. The husband and father-of-two was shot dead while riding in the passenger's seat of a PG&E truck driving along Van Ness Avenue on Tuesday morning Friends said it was especially heartbreaking to know that Randalls died in a racially motivated attack, because they knew him as an open-minded, non-judgmental person Muhammad has a long history of criminal activity and mental health issues, and court documents state that he has spent two stints in mental institutions. A friend and former employer of Randalls, Steve Spurrier, recalled an incident that showed the exemplary person that the deceased was. When Randalls witnessed a van roll over on Clovis and Shields Avenues, he immediately jumped in to save the two children that were inside, and waited with them until emergency services arrived. Spurrier offered him a job a couple of years ago so that he'd have a more stable work life and more time to spend with his family. 'He could always make you feel like you were his best friend,' Spurrier said. 'I bet at his funeral he will have 25 best friends.' Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer became emotional during a press conference after the shooting when he mentioned his meeting with Katie Randalls. Dyer called the shootings 'solely based on race,' and said that police are now investigating the incident as a hate crime. Muhammad, the self-proclaimed rapper who shot and killed three people in downtown Fresno because he 'hates white people' has been pictured being taken into custody Kori Ali Muhammad, 39, shot and killed three people on the streets of downtown Fresno on Tuesday was trying to murder as many white people as he could, authorities said Muhammad has a long history of criminal activity and mental health issues, and court documents state that he has spent two stints in mental institutions Kori Ali Muhammad, 39, approached the vehicle around 10:40am and shot through the window where Randalls was sitting in a spree that left two more dead in a four-block span 'These individuals who were chosen today did not do anything to deserve what they got,' Dyer said. 'These were unprovoked attacks by an individual that was intent on carrying out homicides today. He did that.' Identities of the other two victims on Tuesday have not yet been released. Muhammad was identified as a suspect in the murder of security guard Carl Williams at the Motel 6 in Fresno on Sunday after surveillance footage captured the killing on tape. Williams, 25, was unarmed and was killed after allegedly getting into an altercation with Muhammad. Michael Litwornia, 27, is facing charges after he fatally stabbed his mother and critically injured his father then barricaded himself in their Bridgewater, New Jersey home A 27-year-old man with special needs has been arrested after reportedly stabbing his parents at their New Jersey home on Tuesday. Michael Litwornia was unresponsive to police who arrived at the home around 8:20pm after a 911 call reported that someone had been stabbed outside the house on Washington Valley Road in Bridgewater. Authorities found Litwornia's 61-year-old father with stab wounds outside, trying to escape, who told police that his son was responsible. When they entered, they found the 61-year-old mother with significant injuries. She was later pronounced dead at the scene. The incident led to a three-hour long stand off with Bridgewater Police and Somerset County SWAT and Hostage/Crisis Negotiators, who eventually sent in a robot to communicate with Litowornia. The device showed him laying on a couch inside the home. When authorities eventually entered around 11pm, he tried to grab a 'sharp force instrument,' but was quickly apprehended. Authorities found Litwornia's 61-year-old father with stab wounds outside, trying to escapee, and he was able to tell police that his son was responsible. When they entered, they found the 61-year-old mother with significant injuries. She was later pronounced dead at the scene Officers found him with self inflicted wounds on his body, and transported him to a hospital, CBS New York reported. His father is also recovering in hospital and is said to be in critical condition. Litwornia reportedly suffers from some form of mental illness, though it has not been revealed what disorder specifically. Police are working to determine what could have motivated the attack. Australia's citizenship program could be changed to further social cohesion and enhance security. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Wednesday signalled possible reforms to the citizenship program, a day after the government scrapped the 457 visa for temporary foreign workers. Sky News understands there will be a limit of sitting the citizenship test no more than three times. Speaking at the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry breakfast in Canberra, Mr Turnbull said the government was making changes so 'those obtaining citizenship are consistent with our cultural values'. Scroll down for video Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Wednesday signalled possible reforms to the citizenship program, a day after the government scrapped the 457 visa for temporary foreign workers (Mr Turnbull is pictured on Tuesday with Immigration Minister Peter Dutton) 'Our changes to citizenship will also enable our migration program to contribute still further to our social cohesion while enhancing our security,' Mr Turnbull told the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Mr Turnbull said the government was making changes so 'those obtaining citizenship are consistent with our cultural values' 'Australia must continue to attract people who will embrace our values and positively contribute regardless of their nationality or religious beliefs. 'Citizenship must be valued and we are making changes so that the practices and principles of those obtaining citizenship are consistent with our cultural values.' Mr Turnbull said such reforms to the migration system were designed to benefit the economy further. 'They will also ensure that each new migrant has the skills and the outlook to contribute to Australia and our economy in the way we need them to. This ability to 'hit the ground running' will benefit both our migrants and our nation by helping them integrate into our culture and our workforce.' 'Our changes to citizenship will also enable our migration program to contribute still further to our social cohesion while enhancing our security,' Mr Turnbull told the Chamber of Commerce and Industry breakfast in Canberra The government has made sweeping changes to the citizenship test to stop new migrants depending on welfare, Daily Telegraph revealed in November last year. Mr Turnbull on Tuesday announced the 457 visa program for temporary foreign workers would be scrapped in favour of a tighter regime. 'We will no longer allow 457 visas to be passports to jobs that could and should go to Australians,' Mr Turnbull said in a video posted to Facebook. The 457 visa will be replaced initially by a new temporary two-year visa specifically designed to recruit the 'best and the brightest' in the national interest, Mr Turnbull said. He said Australia was a successful multicultural immigration nation, but it was time to put Australians first. The 457 visa will be replaced initially by a new temporary two-year visa specifically designed to recruit the 'best and the brightest' in the national interest, Mr Turnbull said 'The fact remains Australian workers must have priority for Australian jobs.' Under the government's plan the list of 650 occupation classifications that qualify for a temporary visa will be reduced by 200. The new visas will require applicants to have previous work experience. A second four-year visa will require a higher standard of English language skills as well as a proper criminal check. The new system would be 'manifestly, rigorously, resolutely' conducted in the national interest to put Australian jobs first, Mr Turnbull said. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said the new two-year visa would not allow permanent residency Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said the new two-year visa would not allow permanent residency. Anyone now in Australia on a 457 visa would not be affected by the new arrangements. 'They will continue under the conditions of that visa,' Mr Dutton said. Mr Shorten slammed the plan, tweeting: 'Make no mistake, the only job Malcolm Turnbull cares about saving is his own.' One Nation leader Pauline Hanson took some credit for the policy change. 'The government will deny their tough talk on immigration and plan to ban 457 visas is because of One Nation but we all know the truth!' the senator tweeted. Check you pockets - you might just have a winning lottery ticket worth $3.3million sitting in your wallet. Lottery officials are hunting down two lucky individuals who bought winning tickets in Sydney and Darwin. The two winners - plus a woman in Canberra who has already claimed her prize - will split the $10million jackpot three ways, putting them well on the way to retirement. Lottery officials are hunting down two lucky individuals who bought winning tickets in Sydney and Darwin. Pictured, the Sydney newsagent that sold a winning ticket One of the winning tickets was purchased at Leanyer Newsagency in northern Darwin The two mystery winners are yet to come forward following Tuesday's Oz Lotto draw, but each have $3,333,333.34 waiting for them. One of the tickets was bought from Five Dock Newsagency in Sydney's west, while the other was purchased at Leanyer Newsagency in northern Darwin. Neither of the lucky winners was registered to a Players Club card so lottery officials have no way of contacting them. NSW Lotteries spokesman Matt Hart called on lottery players to check their tickets, adding that the Sydney winners could be a local someone passing through the city. 'With more than $3.3 million to be claimed, it could pay for you to have a clean-up around the house, car or anywhere else you stash Lotto tickets,' he said. 'We recommend anyone who believes they are holding the division one winning entry to keep it in a safe place and contact NSW Lotteries as soon as possible on 131 868 to start the prize claim process.' Check you pockets - you might just have a winning lottery ticket worth $3.3million sitting in your wallet (file picture) Five Dock Newsagency owner Sally Tadros said it was the 'biggest prize' her shop had sold in years. 'We can't wait for the customer to check their ticket and discover the big news for themselves. We're ready to celebrate with them,' she said. The woman in Canberra, who has chosen to remain anonymous, only realised she had won her $3.3million prize after checking her lottery ticket on her lunchbreak on Wednesday. The public servant had returned to the newsagent she bought the ticket from to get a new one when she found out she was a millionaire. 'I came in to grab some lunch, check my ticket and get another ticket. So it's been a pretty rewarding lunchbreak,' she said. 'I think I need to pinch myself!' She added that she planned to use her windfall to retire early and help her family. 'I've got family members I want to help and I look forward to breaking the news to them - not that they're going to get all of it,' she joked. 'I might retire early too. Travel is also certainly on the cards. I might go travelling and keep going until Christmas.' For those frantically checking their tickets, the winning numbers were 42, 13, 33, 44, 39, 29 and 27. The supplementary numbers were 15 and 31. A Georgia congressional election is headed to a runoff that will intensify national attention on the race, which poses an early test for President Donald Trump and both major parties. Democrat Jon Ossoff, a 30-year-old former congressional staffer, and Republican Karen Handel, a former Georgia secretary of state, will meet in the June 20 runoff for the seat in Georgia's 6th Congressional District. But as they campaign across the northern suburbs of Atlanta, they will act largely as proxies for the political atmosphere in Washington and across the country. Ossoff led an 18-candidate field of Republicans, Democrats and independents, the entire slate placed on a single ballot to choose a successor to Republican Tom Price, who resigned to join Trump's administration as health secretary. But Ossoff fell just shy of the majority required to claim Georgia's 6th Congressional District outright, opening the door to Handel, who finished a distant second but ahead of a gaggle of Republican contenders. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO Democrat Jon Ossoff, a 30-year-old former congressional staffer, and Republican Karen Handel, a former Georgia secretary of state, will meet in the June 20 runoff election Intervention: Trump tweeted his delight at the win, which gives the Democrats a significant hurdle to cross Handel was one of 11 Republicans facing of in Tuesday's race against five Democrats and two Independent candidates. All candidates were placed on a single ballot to choose a successor to Republican Tom Price, who resigned to join Trump's administration as health secretary. The investigative filmmaker and former congressional staffer received 48.1 per cent of the vote on Tuesday - he needed 50 per cent to avoid a runoff. Handel, meanwhile, received 19.8 per cent of the vote. The rest of the vote was split between several other Democrats and Republicans, as well as two Independents. In total, Democrats received 49 per cent of the vote, Republicans received 51 per cent of the vote. 'We will be ready to fight on and win in June if it is necessary,' Ossoff told supporters on Tuesday night before the race was officially called. 'And there is no amount of dark money, super PAC, negative advertising that can overcome real grassroots energy like this. So bring it on.' Ossoff called the election a 'victory for the ages', as Trump said on Twitter that the night was a 'Big "R" win'. 'Despite major outside money, FAKE media support & eleven Republican candidates, BIG "R" win with runoff in Georgia. Glad to be of help!' Trump tweeted, after days of launching attacks against Ossoff on his Twitter. At her own election night watch party, Handel called for unity among the Republican party ahead of the runoff election. 'Tomorrow we start the campaign anew,' she said, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. 'Beating Ossoff and holding this seat is something that rises above any one person.' The 18-candidate 'jungle primary' came a week after Republicans sweated out a single-digit special congressional victory in Kansas. President Donald Trump attacked Ossoff on Twitter, calling him a 'super liberal' who wanted to raise taxes, protect criminals and allow illegal immigration 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. Back in Georgia, Republicans believe a two-candidate scenario will benefit them in a district that has been in Republican hands since 1978, when Atlanta suburbanites elected Newt Gingrich. 'I like her chances. She's probably the best candidate we could have chosen out of 11. She's a solid conservative, handles herself well,' South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said Wednesday on Fox and Friends. But Democrat Ossoff's campaign maintains momentum, fueled by more than $8 million in contributions from all over the nation, and liberal advocacy groups on Tuesday hailed his first-place finish as a success in its own right. 'I would rather be Jon Ossoff right now than Karen Handel,' Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez told MSNBC. 'There's a lot of energy out here right now, and that's how we went from Tom Price winning by 23 percent to Jon Ossoff on the verge of victory.' A frustrated Mika Brzezinski asked Perez on 'Morning Joe' what the plan is to get Ossoff over the top in June, when Republican support will have consolidated behind Handel. 'We have a party that needs some work, that needs to get back engaged with the American people in a way that they connect with those who feel left out,' she rebutted. Perez told her the DNC is getting back to the basics of party building with grassroots organizing. The recently elected party leader, who served as Barack Obama's labor secretary, said he's 'actually very optimistic' about Ossoff's chances in the run-off, despite the history of the district. 'The energy's palpable, and we're gonna translate that energy into more votes,' he said. Ossoff has pledged to be an 'independent voice' in Congress, and he defends his campaign as a grassroots success powered by small and medium donors. National leaders in both major parties agreed the Georgia race is a prime test run for the 2018 election cycle, because the affluent, well-educated district is replete with the kind of voters Democrats must win over to have any chance at reclaiming a House majority and winning more governor's races. The district includes many northern suburbs of Atlanta, and is made up of parts of eastern Cobb County, northern Fulton County and northern Dekalb County. At the least, the results of Tuesday's election suggest Republicans have no easy answer for how to handle Trump in down-ballot races. Ossoff's campaign maintains momentum, fueled by more than $8million in contributions from all over the nation, and liberal advocacy groups on Tuesday hailed his first-place finish as a success in its own right. National leaders in both major parties agreed the Georgia race is a prime test run for the 2018 election cycle. Pictured above, supporters of Ossoff at a special election night party in Atlanta Ossoff has tried to capitalize on the anti-Trump energy throughout his campaign while still appealing to independents and moderate Republicans He still engenders an intense loyalty among his core supporters but alienates many independents and even Republicans, leaving him unable to command a majority of the electorate. That was reflected in November, when Trump barely won the Georgia 6th over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, falling shy of a majority just four years after Republican Mitt Romney garnered more than 60 per cent of the presidential vote. Given those fundamentals, Ossoff has tried to capitalize on the anti-Trump energy while still appealing to independents and moderate Republicans in the conservative district. He demonstrated the tightrope through the final hours of the primary campaign. 'This is not about me... This is about the kind of community we want to live in. The kind of country we believe in,' Ossoff told supporters on Monday night, forgoing any mention of the president despite Trump attacking him on Twitter as a 'super liberal' who wanted to raise taxes, protect criminals and allow illegal immigration. 'Democrat Jon Ossoff would be a disaster in Congress. VERY weak on crime and illegal immigration, bad for jobs and wants higher taxes. Say NO,' Trump wrote on Twitter. Trump continued his Twitter barrage Tuesday, even as a White House spokeswoman insisted the race wasn't a 'referendum' on the president. 'Republicans must get out today and VOTE in Georgia 6. Force runoff and easy win! Dem Ossoff will raise your taxes-very bad on crime & 2nd A[mendment].' Handel (pictured at her election night watch party), meanwhile, called Ossoff Pelosi's 'hand-picked' candidate. A political action committee backed by current Speaker Paul Ryan funneled more than $2million into attacks on Ossoff Amy Peil, left, and Ginger Howard cheer as Republican candidate for Georgia's Sixth Congressional seat Karen Handel speaks at an election night watch party in Roswell, Georgia Sarah Huckabee Sanders made that case within hours of Trump urging 6th District Republicans to vote and mocking Ossoff for not living in the district. Ossoff acknowledged on Tuesday that he couldn't vote in the election because he lives a few miles south of the district. He said he lives in Atlanta, so that his girlfriend of 12 years is closer to Emory University's medical complex, where she is a full-time student. In a CNN interview on Tuesday he said, 'As soon as she completes her medical training, I'll be back up the street 10 minutes in the district where I grew up but I want to support her in her career and do right by her.' Republicans, meanwhile, have made their own attempts at nationalizing the race. A political action committee backed by current Speaker Paul Ryan funneled more than $2million into attacks on Ossoff, mostly tying him to national Democrats such as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Handel, meanwhile, called Ossoff Pelosi's 'hand-picked' candidate. Pelosi remains an unpopular figure in the district, which includes GOP-leaning territory in three metro Atlanta counties: Cobb, Fulton and DeKalb. Handel rarely if ever talked about Trump unless she was asked. But she also was careful not to criticize the new administration. Ossoff acknowledged on Tuesday that he couldn't vote in the election because he lives a few miles south of the district. He said he lives in Atlanta, so that his girlfriend 12 years (pictured with Ossoff above) is closer Emory University's medical complex, where she is a student 'I certainly support the president and will work with him where we agree,' Handel told the Associated Press at one of her final campaign stops before polls opened. 'But my job is not to go to Congress as a rubber stamp for anybody,' she added. 'My job is to be the representative for the people of the 6th District, and that's what I believe regardless of who is the president.' Handel left some of her Republican rivals to squabble over who would be more loyal to Trump. One of her closest competitors, technology executive Bob Gray, even donned hip waders for one television spot as he paid homage to one of the president's campaign signatures by, literally, draining a swamp Ahead of the June 20 runoff between Ossoff and Handel, some political focus is turning to Virginia, where many are backing Tom Perriello in a June 13 gubernatorial primary. There's also a special election in Montana on May 25, which many Democrats see as another shot at capturing a seat formerly held by a member of Trump's cabinet. The election was necessitated after Rep Ryan Zinke was appointed as the Secretary of Interior. Earlier this week, Bernie Sanders endorsed Democratic nominee Rob Quist in the election. Sanders has also endorsed Perriello. Advertisement Benjamin Sullivan's portrait, Breech!, captures his wife Virginia breastfeeding their eight-month-old daughter Edith A painting of a mother breastfeeding her baby daughter has been shortlisted for the BP Portrait Award 2017 which this year features an all-female line-up of sitters. The National Portrait Gallery has announced that Benjamin Sullivan, Thomas Ehretsmann, and Antony Williams are in contention for the prestigious first prize, which carries with it a sum of 30,000 for the winning entry, as well as a gallery commission worth 5,000. Sullivan's portrait, Breech!, captures his wife Virginia breastfeeding their eight-month-old daughter Edith. Ehretsmann's Double Portrait shows his wife Caroline at eight months' pregnant on a walk in the park. Williams has painted Emma, which shows a model who has sat for him for the past 11 years and has become a close friend. All three artists have been chosen previously for Portrait Award exhibitions, but this is the first time Ehretsmann and Williams have been shortlisted for first prize. Sullivan won third prize last year for Hugo, his portrait of the poet Hugo Williams. The winner of the second prize will receive 10,000 and the third prize offers 8,000, with the results announced on June 20. Entrants were invited to upload a photo of their portrait to the award website for judges to select which works they would like to see in person and then 53 were chosen to make up the Portrait Award 2017 exhibition, which was whittled down to the shortlist of three. Dr Nicholas Cullinan, chairman of the judges and director of the National Portrait Gallery in London said: 'It is always an enormous privilege to chair the judging panel of the BP Portrait Award and to see at first hand the extraordinary depth and breadth of contemporary portrait painting internationally. 'I am delighted with this year's shortlist and the final selection of works for the exhibition, all of which provoked an immediate response from the judges, whether that be a reaction to the skill displayed by a particular artist, or a more visceral connection with the sitter, subject matter or the mood conveyed.' Antony Williams painted Emma, which shows a model who has sat for him for the past 11 years and has become a close friend Thomas Ehretsmann's Double Portrait shows his wife Caroline at eight months' pregnant on a walk in the park There were 2,580 entries in total from 87 countries, including 1,214 portraits from the UK, and a BP Travel Award 2017 winner will be chosen from the 53 exhibited works. This is an annual award of 6,000 which allows artists to experience working in a different environment on a project related to portraiture and then show the work in the following year's exhibition. A separate competition, the BP Young Artist Award, will give 7,000 to an artist aged between 18 and 30. The exhibition, which will also tour to Exeter, Edinburgh and Sunderland, can be seen from June 22 to September 24 at the National Portrait Gallery. Previous winners and runners-up of the competition include Paul Emsley, painter of the controversial portrait of the Duchess of Cambridge which was labelled 'rotten' and 'ghastly' by critics. The artist is pictured with his work in January 2013 Previous winners and runners-up of the competition - which has been labelled 'the portraiture Oscars' by the Mail on Sunday - include Paul Emsley, painter of the controversial portrait of the Duchess of Cambridge which was labelled 'rotten' and 'ghastly' by critics, and Jonathan Yeo, painter of a naked and pregnant Sienna Miller. The biggest criticism of the painting of Kate was the generally ageing nature of the portrait, which took three and a half months to produce. Others thought it made the Duchess look at least 15 years older. Then there were the shadows and creases which gave her a rather baggy-eyed look, plus the squareness of her jaw and the rather coppery tint to her famously tumbling brunette locks. But Kate told Emsley at the time: 'It's just amazing. Absolutely brilliant'. And her husband, Prince William, concurred, saying: 'It's beautiful, it's absolutely beautiful.' Prime Minister Theresa May looks set to take part in a Question Time-style televised session after ruling out an election debate with rival leaders. The 60-year-old today said she will not take part in debates in the run up to the snap General Election and will instead hit the campaign trail and talk to voters in person. She faced mounting criticism over her decision amid accusations that she is trying to 'run away' from scrutiny. Theresa May has confirmed that she will not take part in the televised leaders's debates in the run up to the snap election. The PM said she will travel the country talking to voters rather than tour the TV studios The PM was quizzed about her decision not to take part in televised debates during an appearance on BBC Radio 4's Today programme. There have been calls for the debates to go ahead with her and for the broadcasters to 'empty chair' Mrs May But it seems she is set to appear on a question and answer style show, according to The Telegraph. Her aides confirmed that the Prime Minister is not against taking part in a 'longform television programme' when the audience asked her questions. Television channel ITV said it will defy the PM and hold a leaders' debate during the General Election campaign, as it did during the past elections in 2010 and 2015. It is understood that Julie Etchingham will host it, with the full details expected to be announced in early May. While a senior BBC journalist said they would not let a single politician stop a programme which was in the public interest. Jonathan Munro, BBC's Head of Newsgathering, told The Telegraph he did 'not want to get in a position where any party leader stops us doing a programme that we think is in the public interest'. He said: 'There is a proven track record over two elections and two referendums that debates reach huge audiences including a lot of young people who don't watch conventional political coverage in great numbers. 'We think it is very much in their interest that peak time debates go ahead. In 2010 and 2015 the number of young and first time voters going to the polls was up on previous elections. 'We believe there was a relationship between that and the audience the debates pulled in. It helps engagement with hard to reach audiences.' The Prime Minister today confirmed that she will not face Mr Corbyn and other party leaders in live TV debates in the run-up to the June 8 poll. Instead she said she will get 'out and about' and meet voters. Mrs May told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'We won't be doing television debates.' She added: 'I believe in campaigns where politicians actually get out and about and meet with voters. 'That's what I have always believed in, it's what I still believe and I still do it - as Prime Minister, as a constituency MP, I still go out and knock on doors in my constituency. 'That's what I believe in doing, that's what I'm going to be doing around this campaign.' TV debates were a major feature of last year's EU referendum battle but then PM David Cameron steered clear of taking part in a head to head The move is a clear rebuff of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who within hours of the election being called threw down the gauntlet to the Prime Minister with a direct challenge to a TV contest on Twitter. As the clear front runner Mrs May will be seen as having the most to lose from a TV debate as the format tends to benefit insurgent candidates the most. Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron accused Mrs May of 'bottling' the debates and urged broadcasters to 'empty chair' her if she refused to take part. 'The Prime Minister's attempt to dodge scrutiny shows how she holds the public in contempt,' said Mr Farron. 'The British people deserve to see their potential leaders talking about the future of our country.' Broadcasters have a 'moral duty' to stage debates, said the Lib Dem leader, adding: 'I expect the broadcasters to do the right thing, don't let the Conservatives call the shots. If the Prime Minister won't attend - empty chair her.' And Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood - whose profile received a major boost from her involvement in two of the 2015 broadcasts - said: 'Theresa May should be empty chaired if she doesn't show up to any planned TV debates.' Britain's first ever election debate took place ahead of the 2010 general election when (from left) David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Gordon Brown clashed on live TV Live TV debates took place for the first time in a UK general election in 2010, with three clashes between the leaders of the three biggest national parties, Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg. Following considerable wrangling over formats, the 2015 election campaign saw one debate featuring Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg alongside Labour's Ed Miliband and leaders of Ukip, the Scottish National Party, Greens and Plaid Cymru. A second debate with the five non-coalition parties and programmes in which Mr Cameron, Mr Clegg and Mr Miliband answered questions but did not debate face-to-face. A BBC spokeswoman said: 'We will set out our General Election coverage plans in due course.' Theresa May hinted at a huge clearout of David Cameron's legacy today as she refused to say whether pledges to cut immigration below 100,000 and spend 0.7 per cent of national income on foreign aid will be in the Tory manifesto. The Prime Minister denied she was seeking a 'blank cheque' from voters in the impending snap election as she dodged questions about her platform. Asked about Mr Cameron's target of bringing net annual inflows below 100,000, she merely insisted she wanted numbers at 'sustainable levels' and stressed she had spent six years as Home Secretary fighting to reduce them. The Prime Minister, pictured in the Commons today, denied she was seeking a 'blank cheque' from voters in the impending snap election as she dodged questions about her platform In the Commons, Mrs May pointedly declined to commit to keeping the 0.7 per cent aid target in future She also declined to say whether the Conservatives will repeat promises to spend 0.7 per cent of our national income - 13billion a year - on foreign aid, and keep the 'triple lock' on state pension increases. Many Tory MPs hate the aid budget, criticising it as too high and arbitrary. There is speculation that Mrs May might try to replace the annual goal with a wider target spanning a whole parliament - making it far more flexible. The evasive answers came as Mrs May said the election on June 8 will help achieve 'stability and certainty' during the fraught Brexit process. But ministers also portrayed the vote as a chance for the PM to put her mark on the government. Mrs May has insisted she wants to increase opportunities for the poorest in society, saying the Brexit vote had highlighted the way millions of people had been left behind despite the country's growing wealth. Key policies certain to feature in the manifesto include her flagship plans to expand grammar schools, which Mrs May says will allow bright children from poorer families to get top class education. There are also signs that the Conservatives will bite the bullet and scrap the 'triple lock' on the state pension - which means it rises by the highest out of earnings, inflation or 2.5 per cent. The policy is hugely expensive and widely regarded by economists as unsustainable. But Labour has promised to maintain the commitment, and scrapping it could be politically toxic. Mrs May upped her attack on Labour today, branding Jeremy Corbyn 'simply not fit to lead' . At PMQs in the Commons, Mrs May warned that the Opposition would borrow 500billion and hike taxes on families. PM DENIES 'RUNNING SCARED' BY REFUSING TO DO TV DEBATES Theresa May has denied 'running scared' as she confirmed she will not face Jeremy Corbyn in TV debates during the election. The Prime Minister said she believed campaigning should be getting 'out and about' meeting voters. There have been calls for TV broadcasters to 'empty chair' Mrs May in election-time leaders' debates if she refuses to take part. But she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'We won't be doing the TV debates. I will be facing Jeremy Corbyn later today in the House of Commons 'I believe in campaigns where politicians get out and about and meet the voters. 'I still do it.' Advertisement Explaining her volte face, Mrs May told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'When it came to triggering Article 50, around that time it became clear the extent to which the opposition parties in Westminster were intent on what I would describe as frustrating the Brexit process. 'Because Brexit isn't just about the letter that says we want to leave, it's about negotiating the deal, about getting the right deal from Europe.' She added: 'People have a unity of purpose. The public want us to deliver on leaving the European Union and they want us to build that stronger Britain for the future beyond leaving the European Union.' Mrs May said the EU might have used her lack of a sizeable majority as a 'weakness' during talks. In the Commons, she pointedly declined to commit to the 0.7 per cent aid target. 'We are meeting our UN commitments,' she said. A Downing Street spokesman added later: 'We are meeting our commitments now. 'In terms of the future manifesto, thats something which youll have to wait for the manifesto for.' In a dramatic statement on the steps of Downing Street yesterday, the Prime Minister fired the starting gun on a poll that she hopes will deliver her an unassailable majority to shape the country's future. She blamed opposition parties who have been trying to frustrate Brexit for her sudden change of heart after months insisting she will not hold an election - singling out Nicola Sturgeon's efforts to exploit the situation to tear the UK apart. The bold move took even Cabinet members by surprise, having been kept a closely guarded secret between a handful of the premier's closest allies and aides. Brexit Secretary David Davis and Chancellor Philip Hammond have been jointly pressing the PM to call an early vote for some time, and were informed of Mrs May's decision at a meeting on Monday. Meanwhile, Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Amber Rudd are understood to have been told yesterday morning shortly before the gathering of her top team in No10. Only the chief whip Gavin Williamson and Conservative Party chairman Sir Patrick McLoughlin are believed to have been in on the secret for more than a few days, as they had to start making preparations. The Prime Minister, pictured giving a BBC interview today, denied she was seeking a 'blank cheque' from voters in the impending snap election Labour under Jeremy Corbyn (pictured leaving home today) has been lagging badly in the polls, with the most recent surveys showing them 21 points behind the Tories The PM, pictured returning to Downing Street this morning, is taking the country to the polls in seven weeks' time David Cameron has welcomed the snap election, but swathes of his policies could be dropped in the new manifesto A British tourist pleaded with furious locals to 'put me down' when they tied him up after he ran across their homes in his underwear. The 'delirious' unidentified man was spotted scuttling across the roofs of houses in Pattaya, Thailand, on Tuesday night. The man, who had blood streaming from cuts on his face and arms, sent corrugated iron roof tiles crashing to the floor as he shouted incoherently. Outraged villagers eventually caught him and strung him up using rope to tie his hands and feet together. A British tourist begged furious locals to 'put me down' as they tied him up in his underwear after he ran across their homes in Thailand The 'delirious' man, who has not been named, was spotted scuttling across the roofs of homes in Pattaya, Thailand, on Tuesday night Police arrived shortly after as the man pleaded in a London accent with locals to 'put me down' and 'get off me'. But officers poured water over his head 'to try and calm him down' before he was arrested and carried into a police truck and taken to Banglamung district station. The bizarre scenes as the man tried to wriggle free while confused locals laughed at him were filmed by a Thai news reporter. Villagers said they believed the Brit was drunk and they could smell alcohol on him when he rampaged past their houses at 11.30pm. Onlooker Nat Charaporn said: 'Why are the foreigners so crazy? We see them a lot, doing the strangest things. I want to know, are they like this in their own country? Corrugated iron roof tiles crashed to the floor as the man shouted incoherently with blood streaming from cuts on his face and arms Outraged villagers eventually caught him and strung him up using rope to tie his hands and feet together The man tried to wriggle free while confused locals laughed at him 'Nobody knows who this man was or what he was doing here. He doesn't live here. He was drunk and we could smell alcohol on him. 'He was ranting and not in the correct state of mind. The police put water on him to make him relax but he was still shouting.' The man had not been identified this morning after police took him into custody to wait for him to calm down. Police Colonel Apichai Grobpet said they were looking into whether the man had got lost after partying at the popular party strip 'Walking Street' some 15 minutes away by taxi. He added: 'We haven't identified the man yet. He had no passport or details on him and he was not giving us any details about himself. 'He was causing a disturbance but the villagers in the local community came together to catch him and keep him under control.' Commuters were stunned to find they were sharing their peak-hour train carriage with a snake. The slippery passenger was spotted slithering along the overhead luggage rack on the 6.54pm NSW TrainLink service from Kiama to Central on Tuesday. The carriage was thrown into lockdown until it reached Sydney, where a snake handler pulled the legless passenger from harm's way. The children's python was spotted aboard the 6.54pm NSW TrainLink service from Kiama to Central 'Customers were moved from the carriage which was then locked off and arrangements were made for a snake handler to meet the train on arrival at Central Station,' a NSW TrainLink spokesperson said. The handler removed the children's python at 9pm but not before NSW TrainLink staff snapped up a storm with the snake. 'The train arrived at Central at 9:02pm and the snake was located on a luggage rack of the carriage before being taken away by the snake handler who's now looking after it.' Children's pythons are non-venomous and a popular pet. However it is unclear how the snake ended up on the train. Last year, police confiscated a metre-long python from a train when a man on a Central Coast train pulled the reptile out of his bag despite lacking a permit. This is the moment a Good Samaritan's attempt to help a pensioner cross the road spectacularly backfired when his car rolled into the elderly woman and knocked her to the ground. The driver was filmed on a dashcam getting out of his car and rushing over to help the frail lady who is walking slowly with the aid of two crutches. She tries to point out that the man's car is in neutral and is rolling perilously towards the pair behind him but he waves off her desperate pleas. The four-by-four vehicle careers into the elderly woman before knocking her to the road The driver can be seen attempting to stop the vehicle as two bystanders rush in to help the fallen pensioner A small crowd of people surrounds the woman in a bid to help her as she lays on the road The woman escaped the bump without serious injury after being checked over by paramedics A cyclist and another bystander then call over to the driver and he attempts to stop the moving vehicle with his foot. But it is far too late and the four-by-four careers into the elderly woman before knocking her to the road. The cyclist then rushes over to help the fallen pensioner to her feet and a small crowd surrounds the woman. The red-faced driver can then be seen giving her a hug of support in the clip which was recorded in Saare County, Estonia. The driver said: 'Everything appeared to be in order so I called an ambulance and left the scene' At one point the woman tries to point out that the man's car is in neutral and is rolling perilously towards the pair behind him but he waves off her desperate pleas Dashcam footage of the collision has racked up thousands of views after going viral with internet users remarking on the 'unfortunate' situation The pensioner was said to have been 'frightened' when she was knocked over in the collision He later said the pensioner was 'frightened' when she was knocked over in the collision which happened in February. But she escaped the bump without serious injury after being checked over by paramedics. The driver added: 'Everything appeared to be in order so I called an ambulance and left the scene.' Dashcam footage of the collision has racked up thousands of views after going viral with internet users remarking on the 'unfortunate' situation. The red-faced driver can be seen giving her a hug of support in the clip which was recorded in Saare County, Estonia Some commenters thought that the man was a passenger in the vehicle and that the car was being deliberately driven in to the woman in frustration Viewer tuttomuscoli90 said: 'He's just trying to help but his good intentions just seemed to cause more problems.' Another added: 'I love it how she tries to warn him that his car is rolling and he brushes her off.' Some commenters thought that the man was merely a passenger in the vehicle and that the car was being deliberately driven in to the woman in frustration. Viewer Imtheguyman said: 'That attempt to stop it with his foot though' UniversalFBI added: 'I hope she's okay.' Forget Bali, the Philippines is being billed as the latest must-see destination - as low cost airline, Cebu Pacific offers travellers one-way tickets for $110. The airline is hailing the Southeast Asian country as the 'alternative, affordable luxury destination to rival Aussie favourite Bali,' and encouraging visitors to take in the unspoilt attractions. 'Operating a direct flight from Sydney to Manila, taking only approximately eight hours, it's easy to see why so many people are deciding to visit the unspoiled tourist hot spots of the Philippines,' Cebu Pacific's vice president for corporate affairs, Atty JR Mantaring told Escape. The Philippines is being billed as the latest must-see destination - as low cost airline, Cebu Pacific offers travellers one-way tickets for $110 The airline is hailing the Southeast Asian country as the 'alternative, affordable luxury destination to rival Aussie favourite Bali One-way tickets from Sydney to the capital city of Manila start from $110, for people traveling between September 1, 2017 and March 31, 2018. 'From our Manila hub, travellers can fly on to a variety of great spots,' Mantaring said. 'Our popular seat sale enables us to offer Australian travellers the opportunity to immerse themselves in a world of paradise and we look forward to flying them to our shores.' Comprising of more than 7,000 islands, the Philippines offers a range of diverse activities for travellers tired of the usual Bali destination. Last year, the country was dubbed one of the top up-and-coming destinations by Flight Centre and in March this year was hailed the best value destination for Australian's looking for hotel bargains. Cebu Pacific Air's Seat Sale is on until Saturday, April 22. One-way tickets from Sydney to the capital city of Manila start from $110, for people traveling between September 1, 2017 and March 31, 2018 Last year, the Philippines was dubbed one of the top up-and-coming destinations by Flight Centre An exodus of Labour MPs continued tonight as Brexit champion Gisela Stuart became at least the seventh MP to confirm she would quit Parliament An exodus of Labour MPs continued tonight as Brexit champion Gisela Stuart became at least the seventh MP to confirm she would quit Parliament. Ms Stuart announced she would use the snap election to bring to an end a 20-year Commons career which reached a peak last year when she was the leading Labour campaigner for Leave. The Birmingham Edgbaston was joined on the sidelines today by veteran former minister Rob Marris who announced he was quitting just two years after winning back his constituency following a five year gap. Senior MP Iain Wright announced he was quitting this morning, joining Alan Johnson, Tom Blenkinsop, Andrew Smith and Pat Glass. Mayoral candidates Andy Burnham and Steve Rotherham are also likely to stand aside as they will have new jobs to go to if they win elections on May 4. Ailing leader Jeremy Corbyn launched his campaign in Croydon tonight a day after Theresa May's bombshell snap election call. Ms Stuart, who has held her Tory-Labour marginal seat since 1997, wrote to local members: 'I wanted you to hear from me that I have decided not to contest the Birmingham Edgbaston constituency at the general election in June. 'After 22 years of campaigning and 20 years of having had the privilege of being the MP for this diverse, forever surprising and wonderful marginal seat I know when it is time to stand down and pass on the baton. 'Together we have done amazing things; things we never expected when I became the first 'Labour gain' of the Labour 1997 landslide, as well as the first ever Labour MP for Bartley Green, Edgbaston, Harborne and Quinton. 'We won local battles, brought people together, challenged established assumptions about voters (and sometimes our own) and won elections against Tories that we didn't think were possible. But together we did it. We are Labour and our values are Labour.' Ailing leader Jeremy Corbyn launched his campaign in Croydon tonight a day after Theresa May's bombshell snap election call Mr Corbyn is facing an exodus of MPs, most of whom believe the election is unwinnable under his leadership The party's ratings under Jeremy Corbyn have been woeful - with the most recent showing it is 21 points behind the Conservatives. That could mean losing around 70 MPs, or a third of the current total. THE LABOUR MPs WHO HAVE ALREADY SAID THEY WILL STAND DOWN AT JUNE POLL Alan Johnson Tom Blenkinsop Pat Glass Iain Wright Rob Marris Gisela Stuart Andrew Smith Andy Burnham and Steve Rotherham are also due to leave Parliament if they win city mayor contests Advertisement Former leader Lord Kinnock warned today that he did not expect to see another Labour government in his lifetime. Repeating his previous dire assessment of the party's prospects, the 75-year-old told BBC Radio 5 Live: 'There haven't been the substantial changes that I would have wanted and therefore I'm as gloomy about my prospects of living to see another Labour government as I was then.' Mr Corbyn suffered a fresh humiliation when a member of his own front bench, John Healey, refused to say whether he would mention the leader in his election literature. Mr Healey said he had yet to write the material. Mr Healey also declined to say whether Mr Corbyn should stay on as leader, insisting he would not 'get into' an issue which 'may or may not be relevant'. Hartlepool has been Labour since the 1970s, but has become increasingly tight. Former home secretary Alan Johnson (left), Pat Glass (centre) and committee chair Iain Wright (right) are all leaving the Labour ranks Also quitting are Andrew Smith (left), Tom Blenkinsop (centre) and Rob Marris (right) are also leaving Parliament at June's election Mr Wright, 44, narrowly fought off a challenge from Ukip to secure a 3,000 majority in 2015 - but it appears he has concluded the Tory tidal wave will be too much to resist. In a statement today he said: 'It has been an enormous privilege to serve my home town in Parliament. 'I have now been an MP for nearly a third of my life. 'I would like to do other things and now is a good opportunity to do so. 'I would like to thank my constituents for giving me the honour of allowing me to be their Member of Parliament since 2004.' Former home secretary Alan Johnson and moderate MP Tom Blenkinsop both announced they would not be seeking relection yesterday as the implications of a snap election hit home. Andrew Smith - who gained notoriety as the MP who gave Mr Corbyn enough n nominations to feature on the ballot for Labour leader in 2015, has also said he will not stand again in Oxford East. 'This election is for a Parliament which is likely to run until 2022, when I would be over 71, so I think it is now time for someone else to take forward the work of serving local people as your MP. I will therefore not be a candidate in the election,' Mr Smith said. 'My belief and confidence in the values of fairness which Labour stands for are as strong as ever, and I will work tirelessly to help secure the election of a Labour MP for Oxford East, carrying forward the service which Oxford Labour gives our local community.' Mr Wright announced that he would not be seeking re-election in Hartlepool this morning The party's ratings under Jeremy Corbyn (pictured leaving his London home today) have been woeful - with the most recent showing it is 21 points behind the Conservatives Theresa May, pictured giving a BBC radio interview today, is hoping to gobble up Labour seats following her bombshell decision to call a snap poll The gulf between Conservative and Labour in the polls means that for the first time since 1997, scores of constituencies are in play rather than just a handful of marginal swing seats. Top Tory targets will include Brexit supporting Stoke on Trent South, Halifax and Middlesbrough South. Labour MP John Woodcock, defending a narrow majority in Barrow and Furness, said last night that he could not bring himself to vote for Mr Corbyn to become PM. Neighbouring Copeland fell to the Tories at a by-election in February. Gains from Labour will be crucial for Mrs May as she faces a different battle in a clutch of seats won by David Cameron in 2015 from the Lib Dems. Two years ago the Tories pulled off shock wins in Twickenham and Richmond in leafy west London, and Lewes and St Ives in Cornwall. All four were snatched from the Liberal Democrats and Mrs May will have to fight a different battle to keep hold of them. Labour grandee Alan Johnson is to stand down as an MP at the election, spelling more trouble for the party ' Former Auburn deputy mayor Salim Mehajer has been ordered to pay a cleaner more than $25,500 after being found to have given 'implausible' evidence. The Sydney property developer and construction manager was sued by Anping Yan over payment for cleaning work at a Lidcombe apartment block between September 2013 and July 2014. In the Downing Centre Local Court, Magistrate Jennifer Atkinson ordered Mr Mehajer to pay the $25,500 cleaning bill, plus interest, along with Mr Yan's legal costs. Scroll down for video Former Auburn deputy mayor Salim Mehajer (pictured) was ordered on Wednesday to pay a cleaner more than $25,500 after being found to have given 'implausible' evidence The Sydney property developer and construction manager was sued by Anping Yan (pictured) over payment for cleaning work at an apartment block between September 2013 and July 2014 Mr Mehajer had argued he did not owe the money, contending his company SM Project Developments subcontracted out the cleaning work to Downtown Project Developments, run by his sister Fatima Mehajer. The magistrate described various parts of Mr Mehajer's evidence as 'implausible', including his assertion he terminated the cleaning contract due to Mr Yan's lack of performance, yet did not say anything to his staff about it. She also noted he was cross-examined about an affidavit in which he stated his occupation was 'director' and that he was 'sole director' of Downtown Project. This was despite being banned at the time from acting as a director and not being a director of Downtown, she said. 'He explained that it was a typographical error,' she said. In the Downing Centre Local Court, Magistrate Jennifer Atkinson ordered Mr Mehajer (pictured pictured earlier this month) to pay the $25,500 cleaning bill, plus interest, along with Mr Yan's legal costs Mr Mehajer (pictured) was charged earlier this month with assaulting a television journalist after he allegedly slammed a car door on her outside a police station 'However, this necessarily raises concerns about his attention to detail as in that affidavit he was swearing that the allegations of fact contained in the further amended defence were true.' She also found Mr Mehajer had 'a poor recollection of a great deal of what occurred around the relevant time which was some years ago' and neither sibling produced any documents to support their version of events. Mr Mehajer was charged earlier this month with assaulting a television journalist after he allegedly slammed a car door on her outside a police station. The 30-year-old had already been charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and larceny over an early-morning argument with a taxi driver outside The Star casino. A man who robbed a popular Queensland pub at gunpoint and wearing a clown mask on Monday is still on the run. CCTV footage shows a man pulling a clown mask with green hair down on to his face as he enters the Racehorse Hotel in Booval about 8.15pm, and pull out what appears to be a rifle from his backpack. The video shows the man pointing the gun at a staff member's neck before another camera shows him collecting money from a cash register and stuffing it into a backpack. Scroll down for video A man robbed a popular pub in Booval, Queensland at gunpoint while wearing a clown mask with bright green hair on Monday night Police report the man had threatened a staff member with his firearm and demanded the cash before it was dispersed. Bizarrely, a witness has told the Queensland Times he told guests of the pub to 'have a good night' as he was leaving. The witness also said the man 'looked like he was s***ting himself more than what anybody else was - like it was the first time he'd done an armed robbery'. Luckily, the room was near empty, with only nine people present at the time - some of who reportedly had no inkling something was wrong. He entered the Racehorse Hotel (pictured) at about 8.15pm and demanded cash from the register A witness says he pointed a gun at a staff member's neck as he asked for the money, and told patrons to 'have a good night' as he escaped 'He wasn't talking very loudly because I don't think he wanted to draw any attention to himself,' the witness said. 'There were people in the pokie room who didn't even realise there had been a robbery.' The man fled the scene on foot through the back car park and managed to evade police, who are still searching for him. He was last seen wearing a dark jumper, light coloured shorts and holding a firearm. Anyone with information is urged to call CrimeStoppers on 1800 333 000. An 82-year-old mother was found locked outside of her home for three days in China after her children disagreed over the cost of her care. The youngest son along with the help of his wife threw his mother out of her house in Yangzhou, Zhejiang province on April 17 after she refused to hand over her pension. She was there for three days until local party members were forced to intervene. The woman was kicked out of her son's home for three days over a financial dispute According to reports, the woman was unable to move by herself and could be heard sobbing by passersby. Neighbours came to her aid offering to find her alternative accommodation but she refused. The pensioner has two sons and two daughters and has stayed with each son on alternate years following the death of her husband 18 years ago. The woman was unable to move by herself and could be heard sobbing by passersby She was left outside and comforted by passersby who got in contact with her daughters The brothers had a disagreement over the funding of her care as her health deteriorated. Upon hearing that their mother had been thrown out of the house, the two daughters rushed to the village to try and handle the situation. According to Sina, the youngest brother was concerned that if she died in his house then he would have to bear the cost of her funeral. With the assistance of party members, the children of the woman came to an agreement and she was allowed back into the house. Sordid details have emerged of Italy's 'orgy island' where Marquis Casati Stampa held wild parties so he could watch his wife have sex with younger men. The island of Zannone off the west coast of Italy between Rome and Naples became synonymous with sex parties for years up until a dark day in 1970. Having spent years practicing voyeurism and watching his actress wife Anna Fallarino fornicate with strangers, the nobleman snapped and shot her, her lover and then himself in a double murder suicide. Former actress Anna Fallarino, who would have sex with strangers while her husband watched on the island of Zannone, which became synonymous with wild sex parties in the late 1960s Marquis Casati Stampa (left) smoking a cigarette while his wife stands with an open booklet and holds a pair of white gloves The island of Zannone, which lies off the West coast of Italy between Naples and Rome, is now derelict but was once a hub of debauchery as the nobleman hosted his racy parties The rugged island is home to nothing but a white house and the dilapidated secret retreat of the sex-obsessed Marquis and his wife. But in the late 60s, it was a hub of adultery, heavy drinking and orgies. Locals knew the dark secrets of the racy goings-on at the villa in Zannone and its beaches. Former fisherman Giorgio Aniello told CNN: 'That's where the Marquis Casati Stampa held lavish sex parties,' pointing at the holiday home the peer rented from the state. 'He was a lewd man, a voyeur who liked to watch and photograph his starlet wife get kinky having sex with with other younger guys.' 'Then one day he got fed up of the threesome, shot the two lovers and killed himself.' Mount Pellegrino on Zannone island where billionaires, dukes and other VIPs would visit to take part in the wild parties laced with adultery and heavy drinking The former actress wife of the Marquis Anna Fallarino would bathe naked in the seas surrounding the island before picking men from the beaches to have sex with while her husband went out hunting The jealousy appears to be hugely out of character for the Marquis, who would go hunting while his wife would pluck younger men from the beach and have sex with them. A steady stream of visitors still visit the island to paddle in the same waters once graced by Anna Fallarino She would kill the time skinny dipping in the island's Roman pools and surrounding seas as barons, dukes, billionaires and countesses would to and fro on shuttle boats from the mainland. Masked parties that would end in orgies became the norm and there were even rumours of a mirrored room where people could watch a steamy sex session from behind the glass. Recent maintenance work backed up the stories told by locals when 1,500 nude photographs of Anna Fallarino - who was the first woman in Italy to get breast implants in February 1970 - understood to have been taken by her husband. Thousands of bottles were also discovered, matching the descriptions of the wild parties. The debauchery turned to bloodshed in August of 1970 when the former actress fell in love with one of her countless lovers. Marquis Casati Stampa came back to their house in Rome to find her in bed with a man in the attic. He snapped, shooting them both dead before turning the gun on himself. The erotic island's legend attracts a regular conveyor belt of tourists, who strip off to paddle in the same waters as Anna Fallarino. '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 toddler learned the power of music after he was overcome with emotion while listening to a moving aria from a Puccini opera. The two-year-old burst into tears after his parents started playing the famous piece 'O mio babbino caro'. It is a stirring aria from the 1918 one-act opera Gianni Schicchi in which the character Lauretta reveals her anguish and despair amid tensions between her father and the family of Rinuccio - the boy who she loves. The two-year-old bursts into tears as soon as his parents start playing the famous piece 'O mio babbino caro' Ed Selden, from Linkoping in Sweden, starts weeping almost immediately The child struggles to regain his composure as the sounds of the soaring soprano continue in the background The emotional piece features in a number of films including 1985 comedy-drama Prizzis Honor starring Jack Nicholson and the cinematic adaption of E.M. Room with a View. In adorable video footage little Ed Selden, from Linkoping in Sweden, bursts into tears almost immediately after his parents press play on the track as he is hit with the emotion of the aria. As he weeps the toddler's father Tor puts his arm around the child who struggles to regain his composure as the sounds of the soaring soprano continue in the background. His father said: 'It shows what kind of emotions beautiful music can create, even in small children.' Researchers have long theorized on the power of classical and 'sad' music on our emotions. Ed's father said: 'It shows what kind of emotions beautiful music can create, even in small children' When the two-year-old's parents press play on the track he is hit with the emotion of the aria One study in Berlin found most people experience more than three emotions when listening to sad songs, provoking a more complex reaction than happy pop songs. The study says that sad music stirs up a mixture of complex and partially positive emotions, including nostalgia, peacefulness, tenderness and transcendence. Nostalgia was the most common emotion experienced by listeners in Europe and the US, while people in Asia mostly reported feeling a peace. Much research has also been carried out on whether or not listening to classical music can boost brain power, with studies in favour of both sides of the argument. The long-held belief is that of all the composers, Mozart has the biggest impact on the developing brain, a claim which is thought to have emerged from a 1993 study. It is a stirring aria from the 1918 one-act opera Gianni Schicchi, pictured right, in which Lauretta reveals her anguish and despair. It was written by composer Puccini, pictured left Small studies with adults have claimed that listening to bursts of the Austrian prodigy can enhance memory, understanding and problem-solving. For infants, the effect has been touted as a way of boosting the IQ of babies by playing them sonatas and symphonies in the womb. Since the emergence of the claims a number of large studies looking at the combined results of numerous smaller experiments have claimed to debunk the effect, failing to reproduce the infamous Mozart effect under control conditions. However, the lack of clear scientific evidence in favour of the effect doesnt seem to faze parents, or the wider belief in the pop science effect, with sales of baby-friendly classical CDs going strong. A conman who stole a father's baby for as little as 100 has appeared on Grindr posing in police uniform following his release from prison. Chris Yates, 37, from Glasgow, was jailed for three years in June 2015 for his part in the twisted plot. But he was released after serving less than two years in jail and wasted no time in signing up to the dating site. Appearing in a police vest on Grindr, he said he was after 'M8s d8s bf hugs...looking for more than nsa [no strings attached].' Chris Yates, 37, from Glasgow, who stole a father's baby for as little as 100 has appeared on Grindr posing in police uniform following his release from prison Yates took part in the baby scam with his friend Vikki Gilmore. She had told Steven North, with whom she had a brief relationship in 2010, that she would be aborting their unborn daughter. But it later emerged she had kept the child so she could give it to Yates, who pretended to have received the child via a surrogate. Yates was registered as the girl's father and he looked after her from more than three years before the scam was exposed. At Perth Sheriff Court in 2015, Gilmore and Yates were found guilty of the baby plot. She was also jailed for three years. In June 2015 Yates (left) and Vikki Gilmore were both jailed for three years for their part in the twisted plot A local resident told the Daily Record: 'I saw the guy's profile on Grindr and I recognised him right away because he is notorious in Perth. 'Yates doesn't look very repentant because the first thing he's done after getting out of jail is get himself a police uniform and get on a dating site. 'You'd have thought he'd want to steer as far away from police as possible after what he did.' The extraordinary hoax began when Gilmore told Mr North she was pregnant with his child. When she told him she was having an abortion, Mr North tried to persuade her to change her mind. But Gilmore insisted she was having the termination. Even when Mr North noticed she was wearing baggy clothes when he saw her at the local pub, and asked her if she was pregnant, Gilmore denied it. Gilmore then disappeared for five months. At the same time, Mr North saw a Facebook post by Yates, which revealed he was going to be a father from a surrogate mother in Dundee. Yates and Gilmore then went to extreme lengths to back up their story. The court heard how the pair set up a fake Facebook profile for the fictional surrogate mother, whom they named Clare Green. They claimed she went on to give Yates full custody. Vikki Gilmore (pictured left) pretended she had aborted Steven North's (right) unborn child so she could 'sell' the little girl to her gay best friend But Mr North grew suspicious when the 'surrogate' baby was born in February 2011, five months after Yates's announcement. The truth emerged when a mutual friend went to visit the baby - and saw the birth certificate featured Gilmore's name. Despite that discovery, Gilmore continued to claim she did not give birth to the child at all. She later told council officials that she had gone through with an abortion, but fell pregnant for a second time after sleeping with Yates following a pub crawl to mark his birthday. After putting his name on the birth certificate, the pair persisted with their elaborate story, duping the NHS, the local registrar and council officials in a scam which rumbled on for nearly three years. As his suspicions grew, Mr North reported the fraud to police. But he was told to pursue the case as a civil, rather than criminal matter. He also tried to go through social services but had no parental right because he was not named on the birth certificate. But, in May 2013, when his girl was 27 months, Mr North finally won the right to a DNA test. That showed he was 99.99 per cent certain to be the father. In January 2014, Mr North was finally granted custody by Glasgow Sheriff Court and his daughter moved in with him and his wife Dana. Then, in June 2015, Gilmore and Yates were found guilty of deception following the week-long trial. Sheriff William Wood told them it had been 'an elaborate and cynical scheme'. Speaking after the trial, Mr North, a father-of-two said: 'How could a mother ever think up something like this? It's pure evil. The whole thing was a sick pantomime. Neither showed any remorse.' A doctor already in jail for raping children as young as eleven has been convicted of sexually assaulting three more girls while their parents waited outside his office. Robert Wells, 65, was jailed for 15 years in 2004 after he drugged two sisters, aged five and eleven, then filmed himself sexually assaulting the older girl. Another 11-year-old girl also told police that he strapped her to a polystyrene block he called Satan's pillow and filmed himself raping her in his mobile home. Wells has now admitted four more counts of indecent assault after three victims came forward about abuse that took place beforehand, in the 1980s. Robert Wells, who was jailed in 2004 (left) for sexually assaulting girls as young as 11, has now been convicted of four more offences while he served as a GP in the 1980s Cardiff Crown Court heard how he was seen as 'an upstanding pillar of the community' during his time as a GP at Caerleon Surgery, Wales. Prosecutor Matthew Roberts told the court the defendant would ask the children's parents to wait outside his consulting room while he examined them. When he was arrested, Wells told police he had treated more than 600 patients during his career and could not remember each one individually. Mr Roberts said: 'It is hard to imagine a more serious and grotesque breach of trust.' Roberts was jailed at Winchester Crown Court for rapes committed while he worked for an agency providing on-call forensic medical examiners for Hampshire Police. He had previously had sexual assault charges brought against him but they had not shown up on police checks because he had been cleared when the trial collapsed. Wells was arrested after he drugged two sisters, aged five and 11, and their mother became suspicious and reported him to police. The eldest girl had large amounts of benzodiazepine in her body and the younger girl tested positive for temazepam. In 2004, a victim described how he referred to a polystyrene block he strapped her to as 'Satan's pillow' (pictured) Police found both drugs present in his biscuit tin when they raided his home. They also found a timetable for drugging, filming and abusing the children. Officers then spoke to other families he had befriended, which was when another 11-year-old girl reported yet more shocking abuse. She told police that he strapped her to a polystyrene block he called Satn's pillow as he removed her Harry Potter pajamas then sexually assaulted her. He also made her dress up as a French maid, filmed her and massaged her with baby oil, the court heard. Police found shocking pornography on his computers, along with the video camera and polystyrene block in his mobile phone. Police, who were struggling to access certain information on his computer, said they feared there may be more victims and urged them to come forward. The victims in the most recent case came forward after hearing of his 2004 conviction, and relate to his time as a GP in the 1980s, before the other assaults. The court heard how the charges related to three girls who were Wells' patients, one of whom was driven to the brink of suicide by the emotional impact of the assault. In a statement read out in court, one victim said: 'He has destroyed my life.' During the case in 2004, the court heard how Wells filmed himself sexually assaulting one of the girls in his mobile home (pictured) One victim said the abuse had affected her ability to form relationships and caused her to suffer from depression. Another described the ordeal as 'terrifying' and said she had developed post-traumatic stress disorder. The third stated the abuse had caused her to self-harm and attempt to kill herself. She said Wells had been regarded as an 'upstanding pillar of the community'. Wells was a registered medical practitioner at the time, but has since been struck off by the General Medical Council. One of the girl's mothers had made a complaint to Caerleon Surgery at the time, but it was 'arrogantly dismissed', and she was 'told not to be so silly', Mr Roberts told the court. He described it as a 'gross failing of the system in the 1980s'. Mr Roberts said: 'All three suffered sexual abuse as children under the pretext of medical examination.' Police found the video camera that he used to film the sexual assault (pictured) inside He made some of the children he sexually assaulted dress up as maids, the court heard He added: 'He left South Wales in the late 1980s and went on to commit a series of depraved offences. 'The bond of trust between a doctor and a patient must be sacrosanct.' The defendant, from Cwmbran, pleaded guilty to four counts of indecent assault after the case was listed for trial. Robert Wells, pictured in 1989, when he was a GP at Caerleon Surgery Ieuan Rees, mitigating, stressed that meant the victims did not have to give evidence. Judge Jeremy Jenkins described the offending as a 'gross breach of trust' and noted the effect on each victim had been 'long-lasting and profound'. He added: 'In short, it was done for your own perverted sexual pleasure. It has destroyed their trust in the profession.' Wells was jailed for seven years and an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order was imposed. Detective Constable Chris Jayne, from Gwent Police, said: 'I would like to take the opportunity to recognise the bravery of the victims and their families in this case. 'Wells is a danger to children and the detrimental impact that he has brought to the lives of the victims from a young age through to adulthood has been incredibly significant. 'He abused his position of trust as a doctor in the most sinister and opportunistic way against his victims whom he should have been protecting and keeping safe. 'I hope the sentence given will help to bring some closure for the victims affected and their families.' Theresa May tonight warned of the risk of a 'coalition of chaos' if she fails to secure her expected big win at the snap general election. The Prime Minister insisted Britain needed 'strong and stable leadership' hours after SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon confirmed she would join a Labour coalition to lock the Tories out of No 10. The intervention will be toxic to swing voters in England and a similar pledge drove voters to the Tories in 2015. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn scrambled to rule out any idea of a coalition tonight in the latest blow to a campaign in which he starts 20-points behind. Mr Corbyn insisted the SNP ran a right wing government behind left wing rhetoric and insisted the party had no genuine interest in helping to run the UK as a whole. Theresa May tonight warned of the risk of a 'coalition of chaos' if she fails to secure her expected big win at the snap general election SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon addressed her MPs in Westminster today (pictured) to rally them for the snap general election on June 8 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn scrambled to rule out any idea of a coalition tonight in the latest blow to a campaign in which he starts 20-points behind On her first campaign stop in Bolton, Mrs May said: 'There's a very clear choice at this election. It is a choice between strong and stable leadership under the Conservatives or weak and unstable coalition of chaos led by Jeremy Corbyn. 'And that is very clear. The other parties are lining up to prop up Jeremy Corbyn. We have seen it with the Liberal Democrats. 'And we see it with Nicola Sturgeon's Scottish nationalists. They are very clear they want to do everything they can to frustrate our Brexit negotiations.' Her intervention came after Ms Sturgeon appeared at a Westminster rally. Asked if she would support a coalition to block Mrs May, she said: 'If the Parliamentary arithmetic lends itself to the SNP being part of a progressive alliance to keep the Tories out of Government then the SNP will seek to be part of that as we said in 2015. 'Now we are not sure that there are many people who think Labour will be in a position on their own or with anyone else to form a Government. 'There will be many people across England who will see that as a matter for regret. 'My job first and foremost is to stand up for Scotland. 'Only the SNP will stand between Scotland and an increasingly hardline and right wing Tory Government.' SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon confirmed she would join a Labour coalition to lock the Tories out of No 10 Ms Sturgeon and Mrs May have been locked in a constitutional grudge match over whether Scotland should vote again on independence after Brexit. The SNP leader slammed Theresa May's u-turn in calling the election but insisted it was an opportunity to prove the case for a new poll Mr Corbyn tried to stamp out talk of a coalition tonight. He said: 'The SNP may talk left at Westminster, but in government in Scotland it acts right. A genuinely progressive party would not refuse to introduce a 50p top rate of income tax on the richest. 'The SNP wants to break up the UK; it has no interest in making it work better. Independence would lead to turbo-charged austerity in Scotland not progressive politics. SCOTTISH MP FAINTS IN COMMONS TEA ROOM DURING PMQS Scottish nationalist MP Natalie McGarry collapsed in the Commons tea room during today's PMQs. An ambulance was called to attend to the MP, who sits as an independent after being suspended from the SNP. Ms McGarry later tweeted reassurance that she was fine, announcing she was pregnant. She said: 'Delighted to announce my husband and I are expecting a baby. 'I fainted earlier and I'd like to thank the medics who were called as precaution.' Ms McGarry later took part in the historic Commons vote on calling an election - voting No. Advertisement 'Nicola Sturgeon is trying to convince people in Scotland that you can get rid of the Tories by voting SNP. She couldn't be more wrong. Only Labour or the Tories can win this election and voting Labour is the only way to remove Theresa May from office.' The SNP leader also claimed whatever the results in England, an SNP victory north of the border would be a mandate for a new Scottish independence referendum. She slammed Theresa May's u-turn in calling the election but insisted it was an opportunity to prove the case for a new poll. Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson earlier claimed 'peak Nat has passed' as the Tories set their sights on winning a clutch of Scottish constituencies at the snap general election. At PMQs, Mrs May lashed the SNP for ignoring their 'day job' and obsessing about independence. Speaking in Victoria Tower Gardens next to the Palace of Westminster, Ms Sturgeon said: 'A vote for the SNP is a vote to protect Scotland's interests. Only the SNP stands between Scotland and an increasingly hard-line Tory government. 'It is a vote to end austerity and for investment in our public services. 'And it is a vote to ensure that the future of Scotland - the kind of country we are - will be decided, not here at Westminster but in Scotland, by the Scottish people. 'Make no mistake, if the SNP wins this election in Scotland - and the Tories don't then Theresa May's attempt to block our mandate to hold another referendum when the time is right, will crumble to dust.' In the Commons, Mrs May said: 'Now is the time to put aside their tunnel vision on independence and actually explain to the Scottish people why under the SNP they are not putting as much money into the health service as they've been given from the UK, they're not exercising the powers they've been given, Scottish education is getting worse. 'It is time they got back to their day jobs.' She was challenged by SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson who jibed: 'Can you tell the people why you are running scared of a televised debate with Nicola Sturgeon?' Ruth Davidson said the moment of 'peak Nat has passed' as the Tories set their sights on a clutch of Scottish constituencies The Scottish Tory leader appeared with Celine Sinclair, chief executive of The Yard Adventure Centre for children with disabilities (second left) at her local elections campaign launch today Ms Davidson's Tories have identified four top target seats they believe they can win in June's election Ex Lib Dem cabinet minister Sir Vince Cable told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the Lib Dems' aim was 'to get a substantial bloc of MPs into Parliament so that we can substantially affect the Brexit outcomes, hopefully stop a bad outcome if that's what happens'. IT'S ON! MPS BACK CALL FOR AN EARLY ELECTION Theresa May won her Commons vote on holding a snap election today Theresa May's dramatic call for a snap election was backed by MPs today as she kicked off the campaign by warning that Jeremy Corbyn is 'simply not fit to lead'. The House of Commons endorsed the PM's plan for a June 8 poll by a massive margin of 522 to 13. That is well over the two-thirds majority needed to overcome the Fixed Term Parliaments Act - which had dictated that the next election would be in 2020. The result came as Mrs May hit out at the Opposition leader during their first clashes since she rocked Westminster by announcing the ballot. Mrs May told the chamber that she had changed her mind on the election issue because it would help in the coming Brexit talks. 'A general election is the best way to strengthen Britain's hand in the negotiations ahead,' she said. Mr Corbyn is struggling to hold his party together with surveys showing it faces a rout on June 8 - losing up to a third of its MPs. Advertisement He said there was 'no prospect of us having an electoral deal' with Labour but added the Lib Dems would vote with 'like-minded' MPs in Parliament. 'It's utterly remote to believe that Jeremy Corbyn could become prime minister, in coalition or without,' said Sir Vince. 'I think it's just way beyond what's possible. 'I think our differences with him on substantive issues are so great that it is very difficult to see any form of coalition being formed.' The Tories have identified four top target seats they believe they can win in June's election and at least five other constituencies where they think they are the most likely alternative to the SNP. Labour and the Lib Dems are also preparing to run focused campaigns aimed at a small number of top targets. The parties will not focus significant resources on seats where another pro-Union party is judged to be best-placed to challenge the SNP. Miss Davidson said: 'We are organised and we are optimistic about the prospect of increasing our number of seats. 'Only a vote for the Scottish Conservatives will ensure we get the strong leadership we need to get the best Brexit deal for the whole country. Only a vote for the Scottish Conservatives will send a strong message that we oppose the SNP's divisive plan for a second referendum.' Miss Davidson informed by the Prime Minister at 9.30am yesterday of her decision to call an election went on: 'On Jeremy Corbyn's last visit to Scotland he said an immediate referendum on independence would be 'absolutely fine'. 'In the remote possibility he were to become Prime Minister at this election, it means Scotland would therefore be dragged back to a second referendum on Nicola Sturgeon's say-so. 'This is a deeply irresponsible position for the leader of the opposition to take. 'I am calling on Mr Corbyn and Kezia Dugdale to make it clear they support Theresa May in opposing the SNP's rushed referendum timetable. 'It's what Labour voters in Scotland want to hear.' All parties began the process of drawing up candidate lists yesterday and are expected to release details next week. At a group meeting at Holyrood, Miss Davidson told her MSPs that she would not stand to become an MP, adding: 'I want to be First Minister.' The Scottish nationalists won an unprecedented 56 of Scotland's 59 seats at the 2015 election (pictured) and will hope to use the June 8 election as a mandate for calling the second independence referendum In 2015 the SNP won 56 seats, while Labour, the Tories and the Lib Dems won one each. The SNP which appealed to pro-Union voters by insisting it would not use votes to progress its case for independence won 50 per cent of the overall vote, compared with 24.3 per cent for Labour, 14.9 per cent for the Tories and 7.5 per cent for the Lib Dems. But the latest poll about voting intentions in Scotland by Panelbase between March 13 and 17 found 47 per cent would vote SNP, 28 per cent Tory, 14 per cent Labour and 4 per cent Lib Dem. This result could leave the SNP with 54 seats, the Tories four and the Lib Dems one, while Labour would lose its only seat. Top Tory target seats include Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk; East Renfrewshire; Perth and North Perthshire; and West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine. The Lib Dems will hope to secure Edinburgh West, East Dunbartonshire and North East Fife, while Labour will target Glasgow East, East Lothian, Edinburgh North and Leith, and Aberdeen South. Nicola Sturgeon and Theresa May have been involved in a constitutional grudge match over Scottish independence in the aftermath of the Brexit vote Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie said: 'Our optimistic agenda is pro-UK, pro-EU and progressive. We will stand proud for a United Kingdom in the European single market.' Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said: 'The choice again will be clear: a Tory Party intent on a hard and damaging Brexit, or a Labour Party that will oppose a second independence referendum and fight for a better future for everybody.' A Baptist reverend born in Egypt says Australia needs to deport radical Islamists and stop taking in so many fundamentalist Muslims. While outspoken church leaders are saying conciliatory things about migrants, Sydney minister George Capsis said the large-scale migration of hardline Islamists from the Middle East was a threat to Australian democracy. He made a clear distinction between Islamist extremists, from places like Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria, and secular Muslims from Turkey who reject sharia law and fundamentalism. 'We can't have open slather like we used to. We've got to be more discerning,' he told Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday. 'We mustn't be afraid to be called Islamophobic. We've got to be more careful in our immigration policy. Scroll down for video Baptist church reverend George Capsis says Australia should close the door to Islamist extremists The Egyptian-born reverend said Australians shouldn't be afraid to be called Islamophobic 'If we do not protect the freedoms we have in this country, they'll be eroded.' Mr Capsis, a minister at Croydon in Sydney's inner west, said Islamist migrant preachers were radicalising the children of migrants and needed to be deported, echoing a call from Adelaide imam Sheikh Mohammad Tawhidi. 'We probably should deport some people who preach hate. You hate to do that but you've got to make a stand,' he said. His call comes only weeks after Hizb ut-Tahrir spokesman Uthman Badar, who was born in Pakistan, told a forum at Bankstown library, in south-west Sydney, that ex-Muslims deserved capital punishment. This same Islamist group, which wants a Muslim caliphate based on sharia law, also produced a video last week justifying domestic violence. Earlier this month, a Christian man claims a group of Muslim teenagers of Middle Eastern appearance ripped off his silver Greek Orthodox necklace during an alleged attack on a Sydney train to Bankstown. 'They ripped the cross off me, threw it to the ground, they said 'f**k Jesus, and then said they said 'Allah' after that,' the man, who chose to remain unnamed, told Daily Mail Australia. 'I thought I was going to die. The next victim might not be so lucky, they might be killed or seriously injured.' Sydney's west is home to the hardline Sunni Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah Association, whose preachers have described as sinful attending non-Muslim events, having non-Muslim friends and even using a public urinal. Hizb ut-Tahrir spokesman Uthman Badar said ex-Muslims deserved capital punishment This fundamentalist group runs the Bukhari House Islamic Bookstore at Auburn, which has been linked to Farhad Jabar, the 15-year-old boy who killed accountant Curtis Cheng outside police headquarters at Parramatta in 2015. Mr Capsis, the 70-year-old son of Greek Orthodox parents who moved to Australia at age four from Egypt, said Islamic fundamentalism had never been a success. 'Unlike Christianity, which has brought prosperity and civilization wherever it is established such as the U.S., the United Kingdom Australia, Islamic fundamentalism takes communities back to the dark ages,' he said. He added that Islamist fundamentalist migrants, unlike secular Muslims from places like Turkey, had no interest in integrating into Australian society. The Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah Association in Auburn hosts fundamentalist preachers like Abdulghani Albaf The Bukhari House Islamic Bookstore at Auburn has been linked to Farhad Jabar the schoolboy, 15, who killed accountant Curtis Cheng outside police headquarters at Parramatta in 2015 'The evidence is pretty clear: the red flag is waving in our faces,' Mr Capsis said. 'None of us want to be vilifying any race of people because every race has its good and its bad but unfortunately as a religion, it's very culturally based. 'Islam is now more culturally political than religious.' A tipping point with radical Islamism had been reached in Australia, he said, with many people determined not to follow examples set in Europe. 'The tide has turned. We're going to see more Christian leaders come out and make a stand,' he said. 'We've got to protect ourselves. Australian society is not going to tolerate this anymore.' Mr Capsis has previously spoken out about Muslim attacks on Christians in Sydney. A fed up parent was caught out by other drivers on Wednesday, after they failed to fold down their pram. The blue sedan was seen crossing an intersection in Warilla, near Wollongong, with an upright pram sitting in their open boot. A picture of the car was shared to the Facebook page of the NSW Police Traffic and Highway Patrol, who appeared to sympathise with the driver, captioning it: 'Do you know how hard these things are to fold down?!'. A fed up parent was caught driving through Warilla, in Wollongong, with a pram sticking out of the open boot of their car Luckily, the driver appeared to escape a fine. A spokesperson for the Traffic and Highway Patrol told Daily Mail Australia the picture was provided by a member of the public . 'As such no infringement notice was issued and we are unable to identity the vehicle involved,' they said. If caught, the driver could have copped a fine of $866, and lost six demerit points, for driving with an unsecured load and an obcsured number plate. Despite the grave potential consequences, many mothers commented on the picture, more than able to relate to the parent's dilemma. A picture of the car was shared to the NSW Police Highway and Traffic Patrol Facebook page, and attracted many sympathetic comments from mothers One woman wrote parents needed 'rocket scientist qualifications' to operate a collapsable pram. Another shared her own horror story of a pram that just would not fold, telling social media users she once had 10 other mums on the side of the road helping her try and fold a pram for more than an hour. And while most comments were sympathetic, one woman took a more proactive approach, and offered a very different solution. 'Throw the kids in the boot and put the pram in the back seat, problem solved,' she wrote. 'Noooooo officer you can't hear a baby crying in the boot, you must be tired and need a holiday.' A factory worker from southeast China put a half-a-metre long eel into his anus in a bid to cure his constipation problem. 49-year-old Mr Liu was rushed to the local hospital after claiming he had a stomach ache last week. Doctors were shocked when the found the Asian swamp eel in his stomach along with faeces and food residue. Mr Liu, from Guangzhou, 49, stuck a 1.64 ft long eel in his anus in a bid to cure his constipation Liu lied that the eel went into his anus by mistake when the doctor first spotted the fish According to a report on Guangdong Television, Liu visited the hospital claiming he had a constipation problem. Doctors diagnosed the man with bowel obstruction and recommended that he stay at the hospital for further treatment. Liu refused and decided to resort to ancient method of treating constipation by putting an eel into his anus to try and clear the blockage. However the eel caused a major stomach ache and he was rushed to Guangzhou Dongren Hospital. Doctors examined Liu's abdominal area and found a hole in the duodenum area. They were then shocked to find an eel in his intestines. They removed the half-a-metre (1.64 ft) long Asian swamp eel, weighing about 250g (0.55 lbs), with a head of three to five centimeters (1.18 - 1.97 inch) wide. They also found faeces and food residue in this body. Dr Zhao said the patient could have life-threatening risk if he came in later for treatment Liu said to have found a folk medicine belief that putting an eel in his anus could clear a bowel blockage Dr Zhao Zhirong, surgeon at the hospital told reporters that the patient didn't explain the cause of his stomach ache when he was admitted to the hospital. 'We asked Mr Liu when we spotted the eel in his stomach, he said the eel went into his anus by mistake. But after the surgery, he told us that he actually put an eel inside his anus himself,' said Dr Zhao. He also added that the situation could have been much worse had he waited to come to the hospital. Liu explained to the doctor that he used the eel to treat his symptoms instead of staying in the hospital. The eel was found dead when the doctors took it out, but it is unsure whether or not the eel was alive when Liu put it in. Liu is now recovering in the hospital. Georgetown University and the group of Catholic priests that founded the Washington, DC, school have apologized for selling slaves in 1838 in order to raise money to pay off the college's debts. The nation's oldest Catholic university has renamed a building in honor of a prominent African-American educator and another for one of the 272 people sold. Their descendants gathered on the Georgetown campus for a dedication ceremony Tuesday. One building is named Isaac Hawkins Hall in honor of the first person listed in documents related to the sale. Another bears the name of Anne Marie Becraft, a free woman of color who taught Catholic black girls in Georgetown. Scroll down for video Students walk past a Jesuit statue in front of the renamed Isaac Hawkins Hall (center) in honor of the first person listed in documents related to the sale of 272 slaves Another university building (pictured) bears the name of Anne Marie Becraft, a free woman of color who taught Catholic black girls in Georgetown Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States president Reverend Timothy Kesicki said during a prayer service that the group has 'greatly sinned' and is 'profoundly sorry'. 'Today the Society of Jesus, who helped to establish Georgetown University and whose leaders enslaved and mercilessly sold your ancestors, stand before you and say we have greatly sinned,' said Kesicki. 'With the pain that will never leave us, we resist moving on, but embrace moving forward with hope.' The university's slave-owning past drew national attention last year after a group of students demanded the school change the names of two buildings named after former school presidents who supervised the sale of slaves from Jesuit plantations in southern Maryland to a Louisiana plantation. Reverend Timothy Kesicki (above) said during a Tuesday prayer service that the Jesuits are 'profoundly sorry' for selling slaves in 1838 to pay off the school's debts Georgetown is also offering a preference in admissions to descendants of those sold - the same way it treats other legacy applicants. Some descendants believe the university should also offer scholarships, or establish a $1billion charitable foundation in the slaves' memory. Others want an on-campus memorial. But Jessica Tilson, descendant of Isaac Hawkins, said she is already grateful for what Georgetown has done. Tilson credits medical research at the university with saving the life of her daughter who was born with a rare disease that had previously killed her infant son. 'I know that Isaac and my other ancestors wouldnt want me to be angry. Because they know that what happened to them was horrible, but they know that their great-great-great-great-granddaughter benefited from their sale,' said Tilson. 'I ask that you, Georgetown University, continue extending a helping hand . . . continue with your research.' An on-campus ceremony Tuesday offered reconciliation to the descendants of the 272 people sold into slavery to pay off the school's debts More than a dozen American universities have recognized their ties to the slave trade, The New York Times reported last year. Yale University said in February that it would change the name of a residential college that honors a 19th century alumnus and former US vice president who was an ardent supporter of slavery, John C Calhoun. Last month, Harvard University publicly acknowledged that at least two of its early presidents brought slaves to live and work on campus. Columbia University in January issued a report examining its ties to slavery. Advertisement The heinous betrayal of a heroic Second World War woman spy who was executed in a German concentration camp has been revealed in a new book. Diana Rowden, an agent with the Special Operations Executive (SOE), was dropped into occupied France in June 1943 and worked for the French Resistance. She and a fellow agent planned the destruction of the Nazi-requisitioned Peugeot factory, where tank turrets and aircraft engine parts were made. Hunted at every turn by the Gestapo, Rowden worked tirelessly for the Allied war effort, providing the British military with vital intelligence via secret radio messages. The heinous betrayal of heroic Second World War spy Diana Rowden, who was executed in a German concentration camp, has been revealed in a new book Diana Rowden at the age of 20, with her brothers Maurice, 19, (left) and Cecil, 14. She was betrayed by Henri Dericourt (right), a French air operations man who was a double agent and alerted the Gustapo to their plans After being interrogated, she was moved to the the dreaded Natzweiler concentration camp (pictured) where she and three other lady agents were executed on the same night But she was betrayed by one of her own colleagues in the F Section of the SOE and sent to a concentration camp where she was executed by her captors aged 29. Henri Dericourt, the air operations man for France, was actually a double agent working for the Gestapo. He helped them infiltrate her undercover group, which led to her capture. The story of her betrayal is told in depth in Her Finest Hour, The Heroic Life of Diana Rowden, Wartime Secret Agent, by war historian Gabrielle McDonald-Rothwell. Rowden was born in Chelsea in 1915 and in the 1930s worked as a freelance journalist in France. At the outset of war, Rowden stayed in France and signed up for the Red Cross. She helped many people escape from France before the situation got so dangerous for British people that she reluctantly returned to England in mid-1941. She was determined to help out with the war effort in any way, first signing up for the Women's Auxiliary Air Force then being recruited to the SOE, which needed French-speaking agents on the ground ahead if the impending Allied invasion. The Gestapo headquarters at Lois-le-Saunier is where Diana was first interrogated by the Gestapo after her capture in a home nearby. She was uncovered after the Nazis captured an allied radio and sent her to meet a double agent Rowden was given the identity 'Juliette Rondeau' and was flown into France in June 1943. Her key role was as a courier, relaying messages to resistance groups and agents all over the country. The work was physically demanding and arduous, made all the more difficult by the constant presence of German roadblocks. Shortly before she was betrayed, she took part in a successful sabotage mission of a Peugeot factory which was a great propaganda coup, making it into the British papers. Her downfall came at the hands of a duplicitous double agent called 'Benoit' and was orchestrated by the German intelligence forces with the assistance of Dericourt. The Chateau d'Andelot was an empty castle in the Jura where Diana and other agents would hide out during their undercover operations/surveillance in the Jura region of France Robert 'Bob' Maloubier (third from left) was a Frenchmen who fled France then trained with Diana to be in the Special Operations Executive. Like Diana he was sent back to his homeland to carry out undercover surveillance/sabotage. The 12th century cloisters of Beaulieu in the New Forest, Hampshire, is where the F Section trainees were put through their paces before being sent to France. it was their 'finishing school' before live operation The British had no idea one of their officers, Frank Pickersgill, had been captured and that his radio was being used for receiving and conveying fake messages to London. As a result, the Germans knew that an agent was about to be dropped into Clairvaux called Albert Maugenet, a Frenchman who had escaped to England and been trained by the SOE with the code name Benoit. Dericourt, in charge of F Section's receptions on the ground, had alerted the Gestapo, who watched the plane land. The agents were followed and Maugenet was immediately arrested. He was interrogated and, under torture, revealed the details of the mission. After the interrogation, Maugenet, or a German agent, possibly a French collaborator, assumed his identity. The man put on Maugenet's leather jacket and took his suitcase containing his personal belongings, a large sum of money and his forged identity papers. On November 16 local resistance leader Raoul Janier-Dubry was in his office at the factory when he saw a car stop outside and a man get out. Manor House school in Limpsfield, Surrey, where Diana Rowden went when she was just a girl and living in England Diana Rowden is commemorated at the Runnymede Royal Air Force Memorial, Surrey (left), and at the Valencay Memorial, in France, which commemorates all SOE personnel who lost their lives The impostor greeted Janier-Dubry then said 'Je suis Benoit' and produced a message, supposedly from London, written in code on cigarette paper and concealed in a matchbox. Janier-Dubry fell for the ruse and introduced the double agent to Rowden. After meeting in the town, Benoit and Rowden walked back to Janier-Dubry's home unaware he had arranged for them to be followed. Yvonne Clerc, who sheltered Diana Rowden in St Amour, Jura, when she was working with the French Resistance The moment of her capture is described as follows: 'Diana and Benoit took the tacot (train) back to Clairvaux. 'Diana walked rapidly, anxious to get back, but for some reason Benoit lagged behind. 'She had no reason to suspect anything was amiss and did not see the man whom she had been with all day, the man whom she had taken to meet other resistants, the man whom she trusted, flashing a torch behind him. 'She would have had no inclination that he was laying a trail for the Germans to follow. 'These men had been lying in wait for them to alight from the tacot and would no doubt have had a prearranged plan with Benoit to follow them.' Janier-Dubry had gone home separately and was ambushed by SS officers on his doorstep. He said: 'Raoul was about to enter his own front door when he was pulled up short. 'Why were cars and people surrounding his house? What was a big crowd of Geheime Feldpolizie and SS doing at his place? 'He walked up to the door, perhaps thinking "this cannot be happening". 'All of a sudden with a sickening jar he felt a gun thrust into his back, the metal hitting against one of his ribs. 'Then a voice said quietly in German: "Just walk into the room - very quiet now and slowly". Number 1 Cornwall Mews (pictured, right), the flat in Knightsbridge owned by Mrs Rowden during the war, where Diana and friends of SOE Party 27Y gathered 'Then the gun was jabbed into his neck as the voice said, "now turn around". 'He was pushed roughly into the kitchen, where he saw members of his family standing against a wall, their faces etched with fear. Germans waved weapons about, shouting. 'Outside more Germans, believed to be Gestapo or SD, had climbed into the house, where Benoit and Diana were covered by German Carabines. 'Suddenly Benoit produced a gun. Shock registered on the faces of the Janier-Dubrys. What was the new agent doing brandishing a gun at them?' Rowden was taken to a French prison where she was repeatedly interrogated but she never cracked. 64 Baker Street, headquarters of the Special Operations Executive from 1940 onwards (left), and Telegraph House, in the South Downs, a former home of Mrs Rowden A plaque at 64 Baker Street that tells onlookers of the massive significance of the London building, once among the most important centres of intelligence for allied forces Her stock answer was: 'Je regrette, but as I have already said, I cannot possibly help you.' After a few months, she was moved to a prison in Karlsruhe, over the German border, then on to the dreaded Natzweiler concentration camp where she and three other lady agents were executed on the same night. The story of her betrayal is told in depth in Her Finest Hour, The Heroic Life of Diana Rowden, Wartime Secret Agent, by war historian Gabrielle McDonald-Rothwell On July 6, 1944, Rowden, Andree Borrel, Vera Leigh and Sonya Olschanesky were given a lethal injection then their bodies were set on fire. Following the war, Rowden was awarded an MBE and Croix de Guerre in recognition of her courageous work in the most perilous of circumstances. Mrs McDonald-Rothwell, said: 'I first heard of her from my mother's friend who told me he wondered why there had been so little written about her and we were both intrigued as to why this was so. 'I found out she had been murdered at Natzweiler Concentration Camp and decided in 2005 to visit. 'The story of Diana kept me awake at night and the more I researched her life I just knew I had to write her full biography. 'I must say that I am so proud that I have been given this opportunity to write the story of this amazing woman of the very finest character - her bravery, her spirit stands out more than anyone I have read about. 'Diana's mother summed up her character perfectly when she said Diana crowded more into her 29 years of life than do many people living twice or three times as long. 'She loved life, and every moment was to her an adventure. She was gay, vital, selfless and self-reliant. 'These words say it all. I wish I had met her. She deserves a monument in her name.' Her Finest Hour, The Heroic Life Of Diana Rowden, Wartime Secret Agent, by Gabrielle McDonald-Rothwell, is published by Amberley books and costs 20. Sherman Ip is accused of raping a fellow student. A court heard the woman did not report the alleged attack for a year A former Oxford University Phd student raped a young woman in his flat before texting her a year later to apologise, a court heard. Statistician Sherman Ip, 25, allegedly forced the victim onto his bed before launching the attack in 2013. The alleged victim fled in tears but decided not to go to police after sending him a message to tell him what he did was wrong. She was driven to make her allegations in October 2014 after receiving a text from IP saying: 'I am really sorry for raping you', jurors were told. Ip has a masters degree in physics from University College London and in 2015 moved to Oxford University for the first year of his Phd as part of the Oxford Warwick Statistics Programme. He is now at Warwick. Southwark Crown Court heard the victim was also a student at the time of the alleged attack. David Povall, prosecuting, said: 'It is the prosecution's case that Sherman Ip forced himself sexually on the woman. 'The rape took place on a day she cannot put a date on - for reasons that will become clear.' Prosecutors say Ip texted the woman apologising a year after it the rape said to have happened He added: 'She went to visit him at his home address - a flat, student accommodation, at Euston Square - to talk to him. 'But as they talked it was clear that what he wanted was to have sex.' After the alleged victim declined his advances, he forced her onto his bed and undressed her before raping her, the jury were told. Mr Povall said: 'She started crying during the sex and he obviously noticed that because he asked her if she was alright - but continued in any event. 'She felt frozen as it was happening and she explained she didn't resist to stop him. 'The sex ended and she remained there for a short time, then they both left. She later sent him a message to point out to him that what he did was wrong and not what she wanted. 'She didn't go to the police and carried on with her studies.' The court heard IP is 'bright and capable' and has studied at a number of top universities The alleged victim told her boyfriend in September 2013 but decided not to make a formal complaint. Mr Povall said: 'What drove her to go to the police was a message she received from him in October 2014.' The text read: 'I am so sorry for emotionally abusing you and manipulating you to do things you didn't want to do. I am really sorry for raping you. I am really sorry for hurting you. It's all my fault.' Ip, who has never been arrested before, made no comment in police interview. Mr Povall said: 'After a very long delay he was charged in very late 2015 with a single charge of rape - that explains why we are dealing with a 2013 case in 2017.' The prosecutor told jurors both the alleged victim and Ip are 'bright and capable young people.' Ip, of Maidenhead, Berkshire, denies rape. The trial continues. The public appeared to agree with a pensioner's withering 'not another one' response to Theresa May's call for an election. Brenda from Bristol was hailed as 'the voice of the nation' after a video of her exasperated reaction to finding out there would be a general election went viral. Theresa May shocked the UK yesterday when she announced voters will go to the polls yet again, this time on June 8, despite previously denying she planned to hold an early vote. A television interview of 'Brenda from Bristol' proved a hit on social media as she protested that 'there's too much politics' and the electorate should be given a break. MailOnline hit the streets of London with a clip of the video and most people seemed to agree with Brenda and are fed up with the number of elections in recent years. Mitchell Quelch, from Berkshire, (right) and John Rose, from London, (left) agreed with Brenda from Bristol Steve Walker, 46, a travel agent, from Twickenham, added: 'There's too much going on at the moment' But David Boyle, 63, a teacher from Yorkshire, who works in Central Asia, said: 'It's interesting to see this election. It's expensive but we really need to have a rethink of how we run this society' Mitchell Quelch, 23, an AV engineer, from Bracknell in Berkshire, said: 'I thought I was hearing things on the radio. It's a bit sudden. It came out of the blue. It's very, very soon. 'I don't think it's going to change much. She knows that she's got the country's support. She's trying to stamp down her authority. It's going to be an easy win. I would be very surprised if we didn't see another dominant Conservative win. 'We've all accepted Brexit now. I think we've just got to embrace it. After a while it'll be okay. 'I don't think it's good - it's another distraction. She did say it was a reluctant decision. I think it's a needless distraction because I don't think it's going to change much. 'I don't think any of the other parties are even remotely strong enough to take them on.' Yalda Mirzai, 49, who moved to Britain from California in 2006, also believed it was getting too much for the electorate: 'I agree with her (Brenda). I don't think it's a good time for the country. 'It's all becoming very complicated and I don't understand the motive. We've had enough and I am considering leaving the UK. It's affecting the job market and I think she (Theresa May) is disenfranchising people. 'I am a British citizen and I have earned that through working here over the years. 'My kids go to school here and if I have to leave I'm going to miss the UK. 'I don't know who I'm going to vote for as I know the Tory party has its own extremes. I'm American so I know we have to vote - that's how we're brought up.' Brenda said she cannot stand the prospect of another election Voters in Britain have endured a tumultuous few years in politics, voting in the general election, Scottish independence referendum and the EU referendum Mrs May addressed the nation via a huge pack of reporters who scrambled to Downing Street after the surprise speech was announced at around 10am The comments come after a tumultuous few years in British politics, with voters repeatedly called to the polling booth on big issues. The snap election comes less than a year after the EU referendum and London's mayoral vote, two years on from the last General Election and less than three years since the Scottish Independence referendum. George Amofah, 62, facilities manager, from Tottenham, said: 'I feel the same. It's too much. We had the refrendum. A lot of people they don't have time to go and come to vote and listen to everything. 'Things are piling up. It's too much. We had the referendum. SNP want another referendum, now we have another election. 'I'm very confused. I'm a Labour voter but I don't know how Corbyn is going to do. 'No matter what Labour is not going to win. They don't have somebody to stand as a Government. At this time I think it is bad for the country.' George Amofah said: 'Things are piling up. It's too much. We had the referendum. SNP want another referendum, now we have another election' MailOnline hit the streets of London with a clip of the video and most people seemed to agree with Brenda and are fed up with the number of elections in recent years MailOnline reporter Anthony Joseph speaks to Steve Walker, who echoed Brenda's thoughts on a snap election Logistics manager Alberto Ferreira, 41, from Camberwell, said: 'I'm totally with Brenda. It is going to create such a big problem. 'Theresa May is creating a frantic feeling in the country. There is a lot of confusion here.' John Rose, 59, from London, who works in local government, said: 'We've had a lot of elections really so, yeah I agree. 'I can see why Theresa May has done it. Labour are in turmoil.It secures another four or five years in power. I don't think it's going to be one of the major parties.' And Steve Walker, 46, a travel agent, from Twickenham, added: 'There's too much going on at the moment. 'I don't know who I'm going to vote for. She's trying to take people's minds off the Brexit thing. 'She's just playing politics. Corbyn is unelectable. I wasn't surprised. It's just going to be the same old thing - the Tories will get in. At the moment the UK has a Tory future.' BBC presenter Jon Kay praised the honest reaction of Brenda in a tweet, sharing this picture of the pair shortly after they met Voter Brenda airs her frustration at news of the early general election, complaining that there is too much politics at the moment Social media users shared Brenda's exasperation about yet another important public vote, a year on from 2016's EU referendum Speaking soon after news of the election broke, Brenda aired her frustration to the BBC's Jon Kay in a video which was posted on Twitter. Asked how she felt in response to the breaking news, she said: 'You're joking not another one. Oh for God's sake, honestly I can't stand this. 'There's too much politics going on at the moment, why does she need to do it?' Speaking in Bristol, Brenda added: I think the whole country has had enough of politics, politicians telling us this, that and the other, and to have us in June for a General Election, no, definitely not. Do you know Brenda? Fed-up voter Brenda has vented her frustration at Theresa May's plans for an early general election. She says there is 'too much politics' going on in Britain and electors want a break. Do you know Brenda? if so, get in touch with the Mail Online's newsdesk on 0203 615 3767. Advertisement The looming General Election is the latest development in one of the most dramatic periods of modern British political history. In September 2014, Scottish voters were asked to decide on the future of the United Kingdom in an independence referendum. Just eight months later, electors across the EU went to the polls for the General Election, which gave the Conservative Party a narrow majority in the House of Commons. But voters did not get much of a break as then Prime Minister David Cameron announced he would hold an historic referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union. Voters turned out again to cast their ballots in the EU referendum after a long and bruising campaign which resulted in Mr Cameron's resignation. While Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, has called for a second Scottish independence referendum in the wake of the Brexit vote. The election is an astonishing U-turn from the Prime Minister who has repeatedly said she would not call another ballot before 2020 - insisting it would cause instability and hurt the country. Sarah Burrell, 51, from Berkshire, said: 'I think it's hard to say (if I'm with Brenda). 'There's been speculation for quite some time so I'm not really surprised' Some people MailOnline asked were surprised at the call, but were glad about it. Sarah Burrell, 51, from Berkshire, said: 'I think it's hard to say (if I'm with Brenda). 'There's been speculation for quite some time so I'm not really surprised. 'I don't believe a word she says. I think it's been carefully calculated to create an advantage for the Tories so that doesn't surprise me either. 'I have a rough idea but I'm open for persuasion. I think there might be a rise of the Lib Dems. I'm definitely not voting for the Tories. 'It depends on who wins to see if someone can pull everything together again.' David Boyle, 63, a teacher from Yorkshire, who works in Central Asia, said: 'It's interesting to see this election. It's expensive but we really need to have a rethink of how we run this society. 'I don't like Corbyn, although I would be a Labour voter. 'I think she wants to say "This is what I want to do, show me I can do it". In the modern world of politics I think I would do it.' Housewife Andrea Chiles, 47, from Kensington, was not surprised and was delighted that Mrs May would have the chance to be elected by the country Housewife Andrea Chiles, 47, from Kensington, was not surprised and was delighted that Mrs May would have the chance to be elected by the country. She told MailOnline: 'No, I don't agree with Brenda. Theresa has her reasons - I think it's good for us. She can put all the things to bed about how she wasn't elected. 'She thinks it's a good time because she's riding high in the polls. There's never a good time, but she obviously thinks it is. 'I will be voting for Theresa. I think they need that power for them and the country.' The most recent polls suggest Mrs May could get a huge Commons majority of 140. She leads Jeremy Corbyn by more than 30 per cent when voters are asked who would make the best PM. Mrs May's election call was made in the knowledge a series of polls have shown the Conservatives with historic leads in a series of opinion polls. The most recent YouGov at the weekend showed a 21-point lead A survey carried out by ICM for the Guardian after the news was delivered this morning found 55 per cent of the public back her call for an early ballot. Just 15 per cent opposed it. The PM discussed her plans for an early election with Queen by telephone on Monday. Her Majesty is expected to dissolve Parliament ahead of the poll on May 3. MPs will hold a 90-minute debate today before voting on whether to scrap the timetable in the Fixed Term Parliaments Act - which would have meant no election until 2020. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said he will vote for an early election even though the polls suggest his party will be routed - making the vote a formality. It means Britain will go to the polls in just seven weeks, little more than two years after the last election in May 2015. Theresa May shocked the nation today when she announced voters will go to the polls on June 8, despite repeatedly denying she planned to hold an early vote Mrs May said: 'Our opponents believe that because the government's majority is extremely small that they can weaken our resolve and persuade us to change course. 'I am not prepared to let them endanger the security of millions of working people across the country.' Let us vote for an election... and let the people decide.' The premier added: 'If we do not hold a general election now, their political game playing will continue as the negotiations with the European Union will reach their most pivotal stage in the run up to the next general election. 'Division in Westminster will risk our ability to make a success of Brexit, and it will cause damaging uncertainty and instability to the country. 'So we need a general election and we need one now. The decision facing the country will be all about leadership.' She said: 'We need a general election and we need one now, because we have at this moment a one-off chance to get this done while the European Union agrees its negotiating position and before the detailed talks begin.' Theresa May has hit the campaign trail tonight in Bolton and urged voters to give her a 'mandate to fight for Britain'. The Prime Minister made her first stump speech of the seven week campaign just hours after the House of Commons overwhelmingly endorsed June 8 as polling day. She said Britain needed 'stable and secure leadership' and warned electing Jeremy Corbyn would open the door to a 'coalition of chaos'. Mrs May's first appearance in Bolton is a clear sign of her intent to raid Brexit heartlands held by Labour. Bolton North East is held by Labour with a majority of around 4,000 votes - potentially vulnerable given the Tory's commanding lead. Earlier, MPs voted by a massive margin of 522 to 13 to call the early election, well over the two-thirds majority needed to overcome the Fixed Term Parliaments Act - which had dictated that the next election would be in 2020. But nine Labour MPs defied Mr Corbyn to vote against the move, while dozens more joined the SNP in abstaining. Theresa May made her first campaign stop in Bolton this evening, pictured, as she embarked on a seven week battle to win a Brexit majority Mrs May said Britain needed 'stable and secure leadership' and warned electing Jeremy Corbyn would open the door to a 'coalition of chaos' Mrs May's first appearance in Bolton is a clear sign of her intent to raid Brexit heartlands held by Labour The Commons vote came as Mrs May hit out at the Labour leader during their first clashes since she rocked Westminster by announcing the ballot. At her first rally of the campaign, Mrs May said: 'Only you can give us the mandate, so vote for a strong and stable leadership in this country. 'Vote for strong and stable leadership this country needs. 'Give me the mandate to lead Britain. Give me the mandate to speak for Britain. 'Give me the mandate to fight for Britain. And give me the mandate to deliver for Britain.' The Prime Minister left without taking any questions. Earlier, Mrs May told the Commons that she had changed her mind on the election issue because it would help in the coming Brexit talks. 'A general election is the best way to strengthen Britain's hand in the negotiations ahead,' she said. Mr Corbyn is struggling to hold his party together with surveys showing it faces a rout on June 8 - losing up to a third of its MPs. Clive Lewis, one of the nine MPs to defy Mrs May's election call, told MailOnline: 'Theresa May is not just breaking her promises but breaking our politics. 'Once again she has cynically put the interests of her party above the interests of our country. 'They decided to change the constitution with fixed term parliaments as a cheap fix to keep the coalition together and now they are ripping it up when it suits their agenda. 'I want to send a clear message that we reject her squalid abuses of power and will fight for a Government that stands up for the whole country.' Mrs May told the chamber today that she had changed her mind on the election issue because it would help in the coming Brexit talks The Commons endorsed the PM's plan for a June 8 poll by a massive margin of 522 to 13 Several MPs have already announced they will not fight for re-election with Labour's prospects looking hopeless in many of its traditional heartlands. In the House of Commons today, Mrs May accused Labour of wanting to borrow 500billion and hike taxes to fund a spending spree. THE 13 MPs WHO VOTED AGAINST THE SNAP ELECTION Labour: Ronnie Campbell Anne Clwyd Paul Farrelly Jim Fitzpatrick Clive Lewis Fiona Mactaggart Liz McInnes Dennis Skinner Graham Stringer SDLP: Alasdair McDonnell Independents: Sylvia Hermon Natalie McGarry Michelle Thomson Advertisement She dismissed Mr Corbyn as 'simply not fit to lead' as she urged voters to give her a mandate to push through Brexit. Labour would 'bankrupt the country and weaken our defences', she warned. But Mr Corbyn said she was 'running scared' by refusing to face him in TV debates during the campaign. He asked why 'anyone should believe a word they say', accusing the Tories of 'breaking every promise' over the last seven years. Mrs May insisted she will be out campaigning and promoting the Government's record to voters as well as her plans to 'make Brexit a success and build a stronger Britain for the future'. On the issue of TV debates, Mrs May said: 'First of all I'd point out that I have been answering your questions and debating these matters every Wednesday that Parliament has been sitting since I became Prime Minister.' Of the 522 MPs who supported the election motion, 325 were Conservatives and 174 Labour. Eight of the nine Liberal Democrat MPs voted in favour of the motion, with former leader Nick Clegg the one not listed. A handful of Labour MPs in the chamber stubbornly stayed in their seats during the division. Speaker John Bercow repeatedly had to intervene in the session as tempers frayed. Jeremy Corbyn said the PM was 'running scared' by refusing to face him in TV debates during the campaign It is the penultimate PMQs before the House is dissolved for the general election on June 8 Mrs May insisted voters would have a 'real choice at this election'. 'They will have a choice between a Conservative Government that has shown we can build a stronger economy and a Labour Party whose economic policy would bankrupt this country.' At one point during the bad-tempered session, Yvette Cooper accused Mrs May of failing to be honest with the public saying people 'can't believe a word she says'. MP'S WEDDING PLANS ARE WRECKED BY SNAP ELECTION Labour's Clive Lewis has revealed that the snap election is wrecking his honeymoon. The Norwich South MP - tipped as a future leader - is due to tie the knot with fiancee Katy Steel on May 6. They had planned the big day to fall after the local polls, but it is now right in the middle of the general election campaign. The ex-frontbencher - who voted against holding the election in the Commons today - told the EDP newspaper the wedding would still go ahead. But he will spend what would have been his stag do canvassing in Norwich. The pair's honeymoon in Cornwall will also have to be curtailed. Mr Lewis said: 'Theresa May has thrown a clanger into my personal life! The honeymoon has had to go. 'I said to my other half 'how can I take a week off in Cornwall when there will be volunteers working their socks off for me?' 'There were wails of anguish when we realised... but it's one of those things. 'We'll probably have a couple of days away, but whatever happens, win or lose, we'll do something later on.' Mr Lewis said his stag do in the Cotswolds would be happening without him. 'They will go and send me pictures of my stag do while I'm out knocking on doors,' he added. Advertisement Labour MP Paul Farrelly accused Mrs May of having 'a loose and complicated relationship with telling the truth'. But he was ordered to withdraw his comments by Speaker John Bercow because they were unparliamentary. Labour veteran Dennis Skinner laid into the PM for letting Tory MPs caught up in the election expenses controversy stand again. Some 14 police forces have sent files to the CPS, which are understood to refer to more than 30 individuals, in relation to allegations of breaching spending limits in the 2015 general election. Bolsover MP Mr Skinner said the June poll risked turning into 'the most squalid election campaign that has happened in my lifetime'. But Mrs May said she stands by all her Conservative MPs. 'I stand by all the Conservative MPs who are in this House, and who will be out there standing again, campaigning for a Conservative government that will give a brighter and better future for this country,' she said. In a dramatic statement on the steps of Downing Street yesterday, the Prime Minister fired the starting gun on a poll that she hopes will deliver her an unassailable majority to shape the country's future. She blamed opposition parties who have been trying to frustrate Brexit for her sudden change of heart after months insisting she will not hold an election - singling out Nicola Sturgeon's efforts to exploit the situation to tear the UK apart. The bold move took even Cabinet members by surprise, having been kept a closely guarded secret between a handful of the premier's closest allies and aides. Brexit Secretary David Davis and Chancellor Philip Hammond have been jointly pressing the PM to call an early vote for some time, and were informed of Mrs May's decision at a meeting on Monday. Meanwhile, Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Amber Rudd are understood to have been told yesterday morning shortly before the gathering of her top team in No10. Only the chief whip Gavin Williamson and Conservative Party chairman Sir Patrick McLoughlin are believed to have been in on the secret for more than a few days, as they had to start making preparations. The EU said today that Brexit talks will start for 'real' after the election is held. European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said 'the real political negotiations on Article 50 with the UK will start after the elections foreseen for June 8'. The comments came after European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker spoke to Mrs May on the phone following her election announcement yesterday. Labour veteran Dennis Skinner berated Mrs May over the Tory election expenses controversy, saying it would be 'squalid' if MPs caught up in police probes were allowed to stand again. He later joined 12 other MPs voting against holding the snap election Theresa May tore into Labour at PMQs in the House of Commons today A sanitation worker has become an unassuming hero in China after being spotted putting a pair of new socks on a homeless man. The worker said the homeless man had told him that his feet felt cold, so he bought the socks for him, which cost six yuan (68p). The kind-hearted road cleaner decided to put the socks on for the homeless man because the man's hands are disabled, as he described. Heart-warming: The worker, from China, bent down to put the socks on for homeless man Unsung hero: The unnamed worker said the homeless man told him his feet were cold The moving scene was captured by a passerby in the morning of April 18 on a street of Changchun, north-east China. The passerby, named Zhao Hui, later submitted the pictures to New Culture Newspaper. The newspaper published the story on its front page today. The story was widely shared by web users and media, drawing much attention to the worker's kind behaviour. Ms Zhao, 39, described the homeless man to be in his 60s. He has been staying outside a fruit stall on the city's Minfeng Avenue for about a week. Ms Zhao passes that fruit stall everyday on her way to work. 'I was able to take the pictures because the sanitation worker spent four to five minutes putting the socks on,' Ms Zhao told MailOnline. 'The homeless man wasn't collaborating when the sanitation worker put the socks on. He didn't thank the sanitation worker either. I suspect he suffers from a mental illness,' she added. Kind behaviour: The touching moment was captured by pedestrian Zhao Hui yesterday Ms Zhao said she was touched by the scene and decided to submit the pictures to the press Ms Zhao said she saw the sanitation worker peeling the label off the new socks, then he bent down to put them on the homeless man. After taking the pictures, Ms Zhao had to rush off to work. Later on, she decided to share her pictures because she was so touched by the sanitation worker's action. 'To be honest, I don't think I could do it. To buy a new pair of socks for a homeless man is one thing, but to put them on him is another,' the woman explained. 'Normally, sanitation worker is considered a low-class occupation in China and the workers would often need help themselves. But this man is an unsung hero.' The sanitation worker told a reporter from the New Culture Newspaper that he went to buy the socks after the homeless man told him that his feet were cold. It rained in Changchun yesterday with the temperature being as low as two degrees Celsius. Ms Zhao said when she saw the homeless man today, he had received help from more people The man has been given a sofa bed and a thick coat by the others for him to use in cold weather The worker had seen the homeless man for a few days and gave him food often. After buying the socks, he put them next to the homeless man, who told him that his hands could not move properly and that he couldn't put them on by himself. 'Then I thought why not help him so that the socks could serve their purpose,' the sanitation worker told the reporter. 'It was a small thing.' Ms Zhao said when she saw the homeless man again today, she noticed that more people had helped him. She said the man had been given a new sofa bed as well as a big coat to help him cope with the weather. The homeless man was wearing the socks given by the sanitation workers when he was spotted today. A surgeon who cut off a four-year-old's penis while carrying out circumcision as the boy's father took photographs has been cleared of negligence, it has emerged (file photo) A surgeon who cut off a four-year-old's penis while carrying out circumcision as the boy's father took photographs has been cleared of negligence, it has emerged. The child had turned towards his father when the surgeon sliced through his penis which then fell to the floor of the operating room in Geneva, Switzerland. The Swiss doctor who carried out the procedure in July 2014 was accused of causing serious bodily harm through negligence. But the 59-year-old has since been cleared after a trial in Geneva after defence lawyers ruled the doctor could not be responsible for the 'unforeseeable act' of the boy turning to pose for photos. The incident happened in July 2014, when Algerian refugees in Geneva, who have not been publicly named, brought their son to the surgery to be circumcised. In many religions, a circumcision ceremony is celebrated, which was the case with the young boy and his family, who are believed to be Muslim. As the doctor was making his incision, the boy's father raised his hand to take a photo. His son turned toward him, moving his pelvis and causing the surgeon to slice off his penis, which fell to the floor. The boy's penis was finally re-attached, and three years after the procedure, is continuing to recover, it has been reported. In the months after the surgery, the boy couldn't urinate normally, with the spray splitting 'into two or three' streams, his mother said, according to Le Matin. She said that his penis shape is 'satisfactory' but 'a bit dented', adding that he's suffered loss of 'substance' in the glands. The boy has to wait until he's 18, however, to see if any further procedures on his reattached penis will be necessary. The family was taken to Geneva University Hospital (pictured above in a file photo). The penis was finally reattached at the facility Prosecutor Judith Levy Owczarczak had claimed that the doctor wanted to cover up what he had done, and spent hours 'running around Geneva trying to find a catheter' instead of taking the boy to the hospital, according to Tribune de Geneve. Defence lawyer Charles Joye, however, said that the doctor told the father to immediately take his son to the hospital. At the time of the operation, the doctor had performed 700 circumcisions, and since the incident, the number has increased to 2,500. Drastic action taken to combat alcohol related crime in the Kimberley region of WA has proved to be effective. After stationing uniformed police officers at every bottle shop in the region for the two days prior to the public holiday, Superintendent Allan Adams announced to the ABC there had been a significant drop in alcohol related crime. Officers checked the ID of every person who attended a bottle shop over the two days, and checked the criminal histories of some. Where there was a history of alcohol-related charges, they were denied service. A police operation which saw officers stationed in every liquor store in the Kimberley region of Western Australia saw a significant drop in crime over the Easter weekend Superintendent Adams announced through Twitter that of 8,200 customers, 1,200 were turned away. The operation was to investigate the effectiveness of a banned drinkers register, which would deny service of alcohol to a person with a certain number of violent alcohol related charges against them. Wyndham, the northernmost town in the Kimberley region, reported they had made zero arrests on Good Friday through Twitter - and were not too shy to suggest it had something to do with lower sales of alcohol. Superintendent Allan Adams (pictured) announced through Twitter that of 8,200 customers, 1,200 were turned away Superintendent Adams posted to Facebook in February asking for community input on how to deal with the 'real and considerable' influence of alcohol in assault-type offences. 'The Kimberley District clearly leads the state in the number of assault type offences as a proportion of population,' he wrote. 'Additionally, alcohol plays an active part in other acts of violence, self-harm, the caring of children and public disorder with a number of these issues regularly on display for the wider population to witness. 'This Kimberley situation is very evident in Broome and Derby and as I say, I am committed to reducing this harm in our community. 'In my mind, reducing the availability of alcohol to our most vulnerable is critical.' The operation signalled a banned drinkers register, which allows liquor stores to refuse service to problem drinkers as identified by their ID, would be successful If implemented, the register would be electronic, and take form in an ID scanner which alerted clerks to whether the customer was a problem drinker or not. A banned drinkers register has previously been used successfully in the Northern Territory. In late 2011, then Police Commissioner John McRoberts announced there had been a 16 per cent reduction in reported assaults in Alice Springs since the program began, reported the ABC. With more than 1,900 people on the register at the time, the Commissioner also announced a significant drop in anti-social behaviour and property offences. The policy was scrapped by the Country Liberals in 2012, but is set to be reinstated by the end of this year. George Osborne has revealed he will quit Parliament to 'fight for that Britain that I love' as Evening Standard editor. The Tatton MP revealed today he would not be standing in the snap general election that Theresa May called yesterday. His revelation missed the main print deadline for the Standard and was only run as a 'slip edition' in a few final copies. Mr Osborne came under fire for accepting the Standard job and insisting he could stay on as an MP last month. It fuelled speculation he dreamed of a future return to the political front line after his brutal sacking by Theresa May when she took over last summer. But he admitted today his political career was over 'for now'. There was no sign of George Osborne as PMQ's began but he arrived 28 minutes into the session just seconds before appearing on camera behind a question from Derek Thomas George Osborne has revealed he will quit Parliament to 'fight for that Britain that I love' as Evening Standard editor. Mr Osborne, pictured introducing himself to the Standard news room last month, had claimed he could edit the paper in the morning and attend Parliament after lunch Writing in the Standard, where he starts as editor next month, Mr Osborne said: 'I am stepping down from the House of Commons - for now. But I will remain active in the debate about our country's future and on the issues I care about, like the success of the Northern Powerhouse. 'I want a Britain that is free, open, diverse and works with other nations to defend our democratic values in the world. 'I will go on fighting for that Britain I love from the editor's chair of a great newspaper. It's still too early to be writing my memoirs.' Mr Osborne's remarks will be seen in No 10 as a warning to Mrs May that her rival will not hesitate to criticise her if she wins back power on June 8. The ex-Chancellor was a leading campaigner for Remain and spent his career on the liberal wing of the Conservative Party. Explaining his decision to step down, Mr Osborne said: 'At the age of 45, I don't want to spend the rest of my life just being an ex-Chancellor. I want new challenges. Mr Osborne, pictured outside the Standard offices after his appointment last month, today revealed he was leaving Parliament 'I'm very excited about the opportunity to edit the Evening Standard. I've met the team there, and their energy and commitment to this great newspaper are positively infectious.' In a BBC interview explaining his decision, Mr Osborne said the 'thrill' of politics and being elected had never left him. But he said: 'More than at any time in my life, I think the British people want from the media straight facts and world class analysis. 'That's what they are going to get from the Evening Standard, the paper I edit.' He vowed to assess Mrs May's government 'without fear or favour' and he now spoke as a newspaper editor. Mr Osborne said: 'I am very excited to be the editor of a great paper. It's been around for almost 200 years, has over a million readers. 'The exciting thing is not how you engage in the public debate but whether you engage in the public debate. 'I count myself as nothing other than incredibly fortunate - first of all to be an MP... also to be Chancellor for six years. 'For me as someone who years ago wanted to get into journalism this is an exciting departure.' Mr Osborne's remarks will be seen in No 10 as a warning to Mrs May that her rival will not hesitate to criticise her if she wins back power on June 8 Just last month, Mr Osborne defended his roles in Parliament, telling MPs that Parliament was enhanced by having people of different experience. George Osborne's still got FIVE jobs 1. Consultant - He also pockets 650,000 for four days-a-month at the American financial giant, BlackRock. 2. Editor - It was sensationally announced today he will become editor of the Evening Standard. His salary has not been revealed. 3. Academic - He also took an estimated 120,000-a-year academic position as the first ever Kissinger Fellow at the Arizona-based McCain Institute for International Leadership 4. Chairman - He was given the unpaid role in charge of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, a body aimed at creating jobs in the north of England. 5. Public speaker - The 45-year-old has made 786,450 from 14 speeches given mostly to banks and other City institutions since leaving Number 11. Advertisement The former chancellor now faces up to five investigations into the string of lucrative positions that have made him one of the highest earners in the Commons. The MP earns 76,000-a-year representing his 65,000 constituents in Tatton. From next month, he will edit the Evening Standard four days a week. As a consultant for leading US investment firm BlackRock, he earns 650,000 a year for working one day a week. He has also taken an estimated 120,000-a-year academic position at the Arizona-based McCain Institute for International Leadership. He remains an unpaid chairman in charge of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, a body aimed at creating jobs in the north of England. His regular speeches to banks and other city institutions have made him close to 1million since leaving Number 11. Mr Osborne Parliamentary career began 16 years ago when he was first elected in 2001. He was the youngest MP of his generation but enjoyed a rapid rise up the ranks before a six-year spell as Chancellor and defacto deputy to David Cameron. Advertisement They cost upwards of 75million each, can reach top speeds of 1,200mph and are capable of carrying nuclear weapons. Now six F-35A Lightning II fighters have been sent to Britain to boost Nato's strength and ward off any aggression from Vladimir Putin and Russia. Amazing images have emerged of the planes soaring through British skies after they landed last week at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk. Two squadrons - usually comprising 12-to-24 aircraft- of the jets are set to be based permanently in the UK from 2021 at Lakenheath. THE F-35A FIGHTER: AT A GLANCE Role: Stealth multirole fighter First flight: December 15, 2006 Unit cost (not including engine): F-35A - 78million F-35B - 82million F-35C - 92million Number built: 231 (as of March 2017) Length: 50ft Wingspan: 32ft Height: 13ft Max speed (F-35A): 1,200mph Projected life service: 2070 Advertisement Last year the RAF bought eight F-35B stealth fighters, which differ from the A model because they take off from aircraft carriers. They are set to enter service by 2020 once construction is complete on two new carriers. There are three categories of F-35s - As, which are capable of conventional take-off and landing; Bs, which are short take-off and vertical landing craft; and Cs, which have catapult-assisted take-off. As reported by MailOnline, the Ministry of Defence welcomed the arrival of the stealth fighters earlier this week. A spokesman said: 'The US decision to use RAF Lakenheath as the base for the F-35A Lighting II's first overseas training is a clear demonstration of the closeness of this partnership, as well as the US commitment to NATO and Europe. 'Training alongside each other will be beneficial for both the Royal Air Force and US Air Force.' The planes are also equipped with conventional weapons including laser-guided Paveway missiles and a four-barrel 25mm cannon. Colonel van Pettus, commander of 48th Fighter Wing, assigned to the US Air Force's European Headquarters, said: 'We are honoured to welcome F-35A to the UK for the first time. 'F-35 deployment will not only influence how we operate here at Lakenheath but also how our nations operate together.' A US Air Force spokesman said: 'The F-35A is a multi-role precision attack fighter with unmatched lethality, survivability and interoperability.' General Tod Wolters, USAF in Europe and Africa commander, added: 'This is an incredible opportunity for USAFE Airmen and our NATO allies to host this first overseas training deployment of the F-35A aircraft. 'As we and our joint F-35 partners bring this aircraft into our inventories, it's important that we train together to integrate into a seamless team capable of defending the sovereignty of allied nations. '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.' Six F-35A Lightning II stealth fighters have been sent by the US Air Force to RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, pictured, to boost Nato and take part in training drills across Europe in the coming weeks. The move comes during rising tensions between the US and Russia and has been seen as an attempt to reassure eastern European countries against aggression from Russia The jets, pictured, which cost upwards of 75million each, are capable of carrying nuclear weapons as well as conventional arms including laser-guided missiles and a four-barrel 25mm cannon. They can also reach top speeds of 1,200mph and can be re-fuelled in mid air Amazing images, pictured, have been released by the US Air Force of the planes taking their first flights in UK skies before they join Nato training drills over the coming weeks. It is understood two squadrons of the planes - comprising between 12 and 24 aircraft - will eventually be based at Lakenheath by 2021 The F-35s, pictured, presence in the UK has been welcomed by the Ministry of Defence, who called their arrival 'a clear demonstration of the closeness of this partnership' between the US and Britain. The F-35s were first built in 2006 and there are thought to be around 231 made so far The US is continuing order more of the fighters, built by American aerospace firm Lockheed Martin, and it is believed more than 2,000 have been ordered by the final delivery date of 2037. The fighters should have an operation life of more than 50 years, and are not expected to be retired until 2070 The fighter is pictured right being refuelled in mid-air above the Atlantic ocean from a 100th Air Refueling Wing KC-135 Stratotanker. The cockpit, left, comes fitted with an ejector seat while the pilot has a helmet-mounted display system that allows them to select and follow targets and means the plane does not have to be physically pointing at a target to hit it The stealth fighter, which is specially designed to evade radar through its radiation absorbent materials. The RAF added 'training alongside each other will be beneficial for both the Royal Air Force and US Air Force' Alongside the UK, Italy, Australia, Canada, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Turkey are all partnering with the US to develop the aircraft, pictured, and will receive squadrons in the coming years A US Air Force spokesman said: 'The F-35A (pictured) is a multi-role precision attack fighter with unmatched lethality, survivability and interoperability' RAF Lakenheath chiefs said they were 'honoured to welcome F-35A to the UK for the first time' and added that 'F-35 deployment will not only influence how we operate here at Lakenheath but also how our nations operate together' Dozens of the jets, pictured, are expected to make a permanent home in the UK from 2021 when the US sends two squadrons to the East Anglia air base A special event was held today at RAF Lakenheath to give the world's media a behind-the-scenes glance at the jets. Pictured is Air Marshal Stuart Atha briefing the press General Tod Wolters, USAF in Europe and Africa commander, said the arrival of the F35s was 'an incredible opportunity for USAFE Airmen and our NATO allies to host this first overseas training deployment of the F-35A aircraft' General Wolters added: 'As we and our joint F-35 partners bring this aircraft into our inventories, it's important that we train together to integrate into a seamless team capable of defending the sovereignty of allied nations' A teenage boy who missed out on his dream role in the Marines after being declared severely colorblind wept as he saw different shades for the first time using special filtered glasses. Brendan Sullivan had planned to join the forces but doctors discovered his vision deficiency during a medical examination. It means the 17-year-old is limited in the jobs he can do in the US Marines and so could miss out on a dream role. In heartwarming video teenager Brendan Sullivan is seen putting on the glasses and bursting into tears as he realizes he can finally distinguish different shades But that could all change after his best friend - who himself is in the armed forces - gifted him a pair of 'magic' Enchroma glasses bought using his first paycheck. They let the colorblind see far more like a person with perfect vision - including shades that were previously muddled and muted. In heartwarming video the teenager, from Phoenix in Arizona, is seen putting on the glasses and bursting into tears as he realizes he can finally distinguish different shades. He holds a blue and purple balloon together and can tell them apart - then it works with the colors red and green which he had previously been unable to see. His mother Jenny Sullivan emotionally asks him: 'Is that the first time you've seen color? Does it look different than you've ever seen before?' Through tears he replies: 'They're two completely different shades.' His mother Jenny Sullivan emotionally asks him: 'Is that the first time you've seen color?' Through tears he replies: 'They're two completely different shades' The family then all go outside together to look at the grass - which Brendan can see in its full vividness for the first time ever. Jenny added: 'My 17-year-old son just passed all the entrance exams to become a Marine. 'During his medical exam, they found that he has severe color blindness that will limit the jobs he'll be able to have in the Corp. 'One day he came home from school and there was a package outside the door. 'His best friend, who just recently graduated from boot camp himself, took his first Marine Corp paycheck and bought my son a pair of Enchroma glasses.' The system, called Digital Color Boost, works using a series of precise 'cutouts' along the spectrum of light. The Enchroma glasses let the colorblind see far more like a person with perfect vision - including shades that were previously muddled and muted. This image shows how shades appear differently to people who are colorblind. Protan and deutan are red-green color deficiencies By removing the wavelengths of light between the primary colors, Digital Color Boost amplifies the color signal sent to the brain. For wearers, colors appear brighter and more saturated. People report that their color discrimination is faster and more accurate, they are able to see more vibrant colors. They are more likely to notice objects that are differentiated against a background based on color (such as a flower against background of leaves), whereas without the lens those objects would have been overlooked. When people with normal color vision wear the Enchroma Cx glasses, they see a 'color boost' effect: colors appear to 'pop' with a super-ordinary vibrance. A New York man plunged to his death after tying bed sheets together and climbing out of an 11th-story window in an attempt to get away from police on Tuesday. Jamel Chandler, of Brooklyn, broadcast on Facebook Live just minutes before he took plunged from an apartment in the Fort Greene neighborhood of the borough at around 6pm. As police knocked the door of the apartment unit, Chandler, 21, tied together several sheets as a way to repel down the building. But the sheets couldn't hold his weight and he fell to his death after they gave way around the seventh floor, police said. Jamel Chandler, 21, of Brooklyn, broadcasted on Facebook Live just minutes before he took his fatal plunge from an apartment in the Fort Greene neighborhood on Tuesday As police knocked the door of the apartment unit, Chandler, 21, tied together several sheets as a way to repel down the building. But the sheets couldn't hold his weight and he fell to his death after they gave way around the seventh floor, police said Chandler, who police said was wanted as a suspect in a robbery of a delivery car, was taken to Brooklyn hospital, where he died of his injuries shortly thereafter. In a six-minute video filmed shortly before the incident, Chandler said: 'Cops is at my door. They looking for me right now. They about to arrest me... I'm about to get arrested, they're about to lock me up. Tune in, tune in, tune in.' Later in the video, which has since been taken down from Facebook, he said he wanted to jump out of the window. 'I'm about to go to jail... and I ain't been home a whole month,' he said. 'I'm about to jump out the window. I'm on the 11th floor. I'm about to jump, bro, jump. If you want to jump, let me know. They right there bro.' Police were not in the apartment when Chandler climbed out of the window, officials said. Neighbors said that Chad just finished a prison term and was staying on a friend's couch in the 11th-floor apartment When officials learned of the live Facebook video, two officers stayed outside the apartment door while a sergeant and two others ran outside to watch the incident unfold, sources told New York Daily News. Neighbors said that Chad just finished a prison term and was staying on a friend's couch in the 11th-floor apartment. He had served time in prison after biting a man in the face after a scam in Astor Place in which he asked the man to sign a fake petition and before stealing his wallet. When the victim noticed his wallet was gone, he confronted Chandler, a fight ensued, and Chandler bit him in the face. He was arrested weeks later after pulling a similar scam at nine other coffee shops. Chandler, who has a four-year-old daughter, was 18 at the time and had 29 prior arrests. He served a four-year prison sentence for the crime and after being released weeks ago, he was looking for a job. Far-right presidential front-runner Marine Le Pen said French people felt 'dispossessed' in their own country as her second-in-command declared the EU flag 'an oligarchic rag'. France's far-right National Front stepped up its anti-European Union rhetoric on Wednesday, days after toughening its stand against immigration, in an apparent bid to mobilise its core supporters ahead of Sunday's presidential election. Le Pen stressed the threats of immigration and terrorism while her party's number two Florian Pilippot hit out at the EU flag, which he said was a symbol of an oligarch - an adjective to describe a body that is governed by small group - poking fun at democracy in Brussels. After the European Commission's representative office in France tweeted, 'Proud of our flag, symbol of unity, solidarity and harmony between the peoples of Europe. Let's not hide it,' Philippot replied with, 'You'll see, we'll soon stuff your oligarchic rag in the cupboard'. Far-right candidate for the presidential election Marine Le Pen gestures at the end of her campaign meeting in Paris, France, Monday, April 17 The EU executive was referring to Le Pen's demand on Tuesday night that French TV station remove the blue, yellow-starred EU flag from the stage where she would be interviewed, leaving just the French blue-white-and-red flag. When asked to explain her demand, she told TF1: 'I want to be the president of the French Republic. I don't want to be European Commission president. 'I consider the EU has done a lot of harm to our country.' The far-right leader turned up the heat on the Wednesday, saying she would yank France out of the EU if elected, make it harder for people to gain French citizenship and come down harder on suspected terrorists. 'French people have the feeling of being dispossessed of their identity, of their social security system and their sovereignty,' Le Pen told BFM Television. Polls show a four-way race developing ahead of the first round of the election on Sunday between Le Pen, 39-year-old centrist Emmanuel Macron, conservative Francois Fillon and far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon. Two of them are expected to advance to a run-off vote on May 7. After a string of Islamist-inspired assaults in France since 2015, security concerns moved to the centre of the campaign Tuesday following the arrests of two French men suspected of preparing an attack to disrupt the election. Le Pen has proposed expelling any foreigner convicted of a crime or suspected of being radicalised. Convicted extremists with dual nationality would also be stripped of their French passports. 'The measures that I want to put in place would mean that many of these people (Islamist attackers) would not have been on our territory or living freely,' she told BFM, repeating a claim from a speech on Sunday night. Far-right presidential frontrunner Marine Le Pen (centre) said French people felt 'dispossessed' in their own country Marine Le Pen presidential campaigning in Paris, France, on April 17 as French flags are flown in the audience French voters have so far been more concerned about unemployment and their spending power than terrorism or security, polls show, though analysts warn this would change quickly in the event of violence. The two arrested suspects, who were found in Marseille with a cache of weapons and explosives, were being questioned in the southern city on Wednesday where Le Pen is set to appear later at a rally. Left-leaning Le Monde newspaper warned that Le Pen's claim that she would have prevented attacks that have claimed hundreds of lives was 'absurd'. 'You don't seek votes on the backs of dead people. It's a sort of moral red line,' the newspaper said. French Prime Minister Francois Fillon (right) and wife Penelope Fillon (left) Some analysts have also depicted the French election as a sort of referendum on the European Union, with Le Pen proposing to pull France out of the 28-member club and scrap the euro common currency. On Tuesday night, she insisted that the TF1 television channel remove the blue-and-yellow European flag from behind her before an interview. But Melenchon, her eurosceptic far-left opponent, sought to soften his position on Tuesday night, stating that he did not seek to end the European Union or the euro despite criticising the 'ultra-liberal' trading bloc for years. 'Don't believe what they tell you, 'He wants to leave Europe, the euro'... let's be serious,' he told supporters on Tuesday night. The Communist-backed candidate has pledged to renegotiate some of the founding treaties of the bloc, however, which would cast serious doubt on the viability of the postwar project of integrating the continent. Polls show that a majority of French people still support the EU and the euro. Veteran centrist Francois Bayrou, who has backed Macron, warned Wednesday that several possibilities were possible for the run-off vote on May 7. The election has been one of the most unpredictable in decades and takes place against a backdrop of rising rightwing nationalism, seen most notably in Britain's decision to leave the EU and Donald Trump's presidential victory in the United States. 'A second round Melenchon-Le Pen, it's terrifying for the country, for the image of the country and for its future, because the choices proposed are extremely risky,' Bayrou said. After claiming plastic bags will 'outlive Keith Richards', Waleed Aly is making a push to ban the bags in Australia, and is calling on three politicians to take a stand. The Project host challenged NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, and WA Premier Mark McGowan to 'ban the bag' during his 'Something We Should Talk About' segment on Wednesday night. 'It's estimated Australians use between four and six billion plastic bags annually. We use more than 10 million plastic bags, every day. And just since I've been speaking, Australians have dumped 7150 plastic bags into landfill.' Waleed Aly is making a push to ban the bags in Australia, and is calling on three politicians to take a stand South Australia, Tasmania, Northern Territory and the ACT have bans in place for plastic bags. Queensland is set to join their ranks in July 2018. 'In fact, just three people could see plastic bags banned in Australia. The premiers of NSW, Victoria and WA,' Aly said. Ms Berejiklian and Mr Andrews said they would support a ban, but want a ban across the whole of Australia. Mr McGowan also voiced his support to The Project, but rather than a national ban - he wants to see councils in WA to ban plastic bags. The Project host challenged NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, Victorian Premer Daniel Andrews, and WA Premier Mark McGowan to 'ban the bag' during his 'Something We Should Talk About' segment on Wednesday night The Project has teamed up with Clean Up Australia to create a petition, #BanTheBag in NSW, Victoria and WA NSW Labor Leader Luke Foley said if NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian didn't ban plastic bags, he would 'The reason these three support a ban, but won't pull the trigger in their own states is that they're scared of a possible backlash, but maybe their fears are misplaced?' Aly said. '80 per cent of South Australians, who have already been living with a plastic bag ban for eight years, strongly support the ban. 70 per cent of Canberrans feel the same way. Same deal for 73 per cent of Territorians. 'So what I'm saying is, these guys want to ban plastic bags, they're even ready to ban plastic bags, they're just waiting for you to give them a push. 'And unless we give them a push, nothing will change, and you and I will keep using plastic bags. But we can change this. You can change this.' Countries around the world including France, Italy, China, Ethiopia and Rwanda have implemented bans on plastic bags. On average, its estimated Australians use a single-use plastic bag (like youd find at Coles and Woolworths) for just 12 minutes South Australia, Tasmania, Northern Territory and the ACT have bans in place for plastic bags The hashtag #BanTheBag quickly became a trending topic on Twitter, with the majority of users on social media appearing to support the ban Managing director of Clean Up Australia told The Project about the devastating impact plastic bags can have on wildlife, a factor many on social media were passionate about Countries around the world including France, Italy, China, Ethiopia and Rwanda have implemented bans on plastic bags In South Australia, 81 per cent of consumers support the the plastic bag ban. As do 73 per cent of Territorians, and 70 per cent of Australians living in the ACT Managing director of Clean Up Australia Terrie-Ann Johnson told The Project about the devastating impact plastic bags can have on wildlife. 'Think about the poor animal in the marine environment that chokes or it starves because it's got a gutful of non-nutritious material. It's a horrible, horrible death,' she said. The Project has teamed up with Clean Up Australia to create a petition, #BanTheBag in NSW, Victoria and WA, encouraging Australians to voice their support and contact their states premiers. The hashtag #BanTheBag quickly became a trending topic on Twitter, with the majority of users on social media appearing to support the ban. Vice President Mike Pence, in a sit-down with CNN's Dana Bash, said he'll likely be releasing his 2016 tax returns. 'Well, during the course of the campaign we released our taxes,' the vice president noted. 'As I told you, it was a short read, we're a family of modest income.' 'I expect we'll continue that tradition.' As for his running mate, 'The president will make his own decision on how to handle that issue,' Pence added. Vice President Mike Pence told CNN that he expects to release his tax returns, even though the White House has said President Trump will keep his secret CNN's Dana Bash (left) quizzed Vice President Mike Pence (right) on taxes and the current status of a health care reform bill as they were aboard the USS Ronald Reagan However, it seems that Trump's decision has already been made. On Monday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said President Trump would not be releasing his 2016 tax returns because they're under audit, which is the reason candidate Trump gave for never releasing tax documents during the campaign. 'We're under the same audit that existed, so nothing has changed,' Spicer told reporters in the briefing room. In addition to businessman Trump's taxes being audited by an the Internal Revenue Service, the IRS automatically looks into the finances of the president and vice president, per a President Nixon-era law. On Easter Sunday, Trump grumbled at the thousands of protesters that marched in multiple cities around the country demanding his tax returns be released. 'I did what was an almost an impossible thing to do for a Republican-easily won the Electoral College! Now Tax Returns are brought up again?' Trump tweeted. 'Someone should look into who paid for the small organized rallies yesterday. The election is over!' But Democrats on the Hill are pointing to Trump's taxes as a way to drag their feet and not get tax reform done, which is the next agenda item after health care that the Trump White House and Congressional Republicans are pursuing. 'What I've said is it's going to be much harder to get tax reform done if the president doesn't disclose his taxes,' Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on a call with reporters. 'For the very simple reason that when there is a provision in the bill, people are going to say, "Oh, this is for President Trump and his business, not for the benefit of the American people."' 'Particularly when you have the sort of large real estate business that he has,' Schumer continued. 'There are all kinds of tax law that affect it.' 'If the president is interested in tax reform, he should release his tax returns because it's going to make it much harder to pass without it,' Schumer added. Trump's treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, already said this week that he expected a tax package to be delayed beyond his original deadline of this August. Talking to the Financial Times Monday, Mnuchin said, getting a tax bill on Trump's desk by August was 'highly aggressive to not realistic at this point,' blaming the health care reform hiccup on the delay. On Tuesday, Trump challenged Mnuchin publicly, at a stop in Wisconsin, saying that tax reform was 'on time,' as long as constituents contacted their members of Congress to get health care reform pushed through first. On both the agenda items, Pence seemed optimistic. 'The really good news on taxes is that as we move forward in this Congress, President Trump is committed to reducing taxes across the board for working family and small businesses and family farms,' Pence told Bash. The vice president said he was 'very encouraged' by the health care discussions happening as well, between the White House and Capitol Hill. 'I am very confident in the days ahead we will see Congress come together and take the first step to repeal and replace Obamacare with the kind of health care reform President Trump has envisioned,' Pence said. 'The president remains personally and directly engaged in these discussions,' Pence added. 'Make no mistake about it, this administration's in the promise-keeping business.' The mother of a black teenager killed by Chicago police in July 2013 has been awarded $350,000. A jury awarded Patricia Green the substantial damages after ruling that the fatal shooting of her 17-year-old son Christian Green in 2013 was unjustified. They found that Chicago cop Robert Gonzalez could not 'reasonably believe' that his life was in danger when he opened fire on the teen, hitting him in the back and his left side as he fled from police, the Chicago Tribune reports. Gonzalez, a 19-year veteran of the Chicago Police, showed no reaction as the ruling was read out in court. Christian Green (left and right), 17, died after he was shot in the back while fleeing cops in 2013 'Christian Green, my son, needed a voice, and I was his voice. He couldn't speak for himself, he couldn't fight for himself. So I had to do that for him. And I did whatever it took,' his mother Patricia Green told ABC 7. 'It was a long fought battle, but it was a battle that needed to be fought, and I'm glad we fought it and we'd do it again,' Victor Henderson, the family's defense lawyer said. The court had heard conflicting accounts from cops and a witness at the scene about the day of the shooting on June 4, 2013. Gonzalez has always claimed that Christian Green had turned and pointed a gun at him before he opened fire. His account was backed up by the three fellow officers at the scene that day. But jurors also heard from a civilian witness who said Green was running full-tilt away from the officers. Laticia Whitehead claims Green was fleeing from the officers and never turned before Gonzalez opened fire. She claims that once Gonzalez had shot the boy, he'd jumped out his car, and put a foot on Green's lifeless body, gloating; 'Motherf****r! You wanna run? Huh? Huh? You see how f***ing far you got?' A jury awarded Patricia Green (pictured) the substantial damages after ruling that the fatal shooting of her 17-year-old son Christian Green in 2013 was unjustified A jury found that Officer Robert Gonzalez (pictured) could not 'reasonably believe' that his life was in danger when he opened fire on the teen, hitting him in the back as he fled from police. The witness statement contradicts the official police report which stated that Gonzalez and his partner, Officer George Hernandez, were patrolling on July 4, 2013, when they responded to call from two fellow officers who were chasing an armed man. Surveillance video from a store showed Green trying to throw the gun into a trash can as he fled, but the gun bounced off the rim and landed on the sidewalk. Green was then seen doubling back to pick up the weapon before running off. Gonzalez claimed he saw Green pick up the weapon and had ordered him to drop the gun. At that point he testified he's seen the barrel of the teen's gun pointed at him from around 25 feet away, and had opened fire. 'I was just focused on the gun,' Gonzalez testified. 'That barrel was pointed right at me, and I fired my weapon as quickly as I could.' His partner, and two fellow officers, backed up his account. Officers investigate the scene of the police-involved shooting of Christian Green, 17, in the 5600 block of South State on July 4, 2013 Green was struck in the back, and the bullet punctured his lung and heart. He died on route to the hospital. However, early police reports wrongly stated that Green had been shot in the chest - something that was not corrected even when the officers were interviewed by the Independent Police Review Authority. The authority ruled the shooting justified in 2014. During the recent hearing defense attorney Victor Henderson said it was ridiculous to think a terrified teenage boy would turn around to try and confront police officers who were chasing him down with a gun. He added that there were lots of things that just didn't add up in Gonzalez's account, such as why he would miss ten out of 11 shots from supposedly just 25 feet away. And how Green's body could be found 150ft away from the cop's spent shell casings, when Gonzalez had claimed he could clearly see the barrel of the teen's gun pointed towards him. 'Officer Gonzalez is sitting here telling you guys a bunch of lies because he doesn't want to admit that he did something wrong,' Henderson said, during the trial. Gonzalez remains a tactical officer in the Wentworth District of the Chicago Police Department. While he declined to comment about the ruling, a law enforcement spokesman said the city was 'disappointed' with the jury's verdict. Patricia Green, 44, with a picture of her son Christian Green at home in Chicago Meanwhile, Gonzalez is facing further legal battles with two pending federal lawsuits alleging he helped frame drug suspects as part of a corrupt band of officers. He is also due to give testimony in two police shooting cases involving his partner Hernandez which bare an eerie similarity to his case. Both cases involve Hernandez shooting a black suspect in the back as he fled from officers. After the verdict was read out on Tuesday Henderson welcomed the damages saying they were an important symbol. 'The money doesn't bring Christian back, but... it shows that, yeah, he was somebody. Yeah, he mattered. Yeah, he counts.' He added that the case further highlighted serious concerns with how police shooting cases were dealt with. 'This investigation just fell short on every level,' Henderson said, adding that the $350,000 award represented a compromise between jurors who could not all agree the officer was at fault. Patricia Green admitted she had hoped the payout would be higher but said 'the money can't take the place of my son... I can never get him back.' An Oklahoma sheriff's deputy died yesterday after being shot while serving an eviction notice on a suspect who was later arrested after a manhunt. David Wade, 40, was shot several times, including in the face. He was taken to OU Medical Center, where he underwent surgery and later died. Wade was able to fire, Logan County Sheriff Damon Devereaux said, then radioed in to headquarters to say that he had been shot. The sheriff said Wade was 'a warrior'. Scroll down for video Nathan Aaron LeForce, left, is the chief suspect in the murder of Deputy Sheriff David Wade Video courtesy of KOKH: Deveraux said: 'He gave his life serving his community, and I don't think you can have a bigger honor than that.' Devereaux said Wade had served in the US Army and described him as personable and funny. Wade was married with three children and had worked for the sheriff's office about three years. Authorities said Nathan Aaron LeForce, 45, shot Wade just before 8.45am in Mulhall when he was serving eviction papers. LeForce then drove his patrol car about 25 miles to a convenience store near the town of Coyle, authorities said. There he stole another vehicle, which has since been found near Guthrie. Some schools in the area were put on lockdown while officers from multiple police agencies searched for LeForce for hours. LaForce was arrested after he stole Wade's patrol car and drove 30 miles to Coyle, Oklahoma LeForce was found in an outbuilding near Guthrie, where he surrendered to authorities, Oklahoma Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. John Vincent said. Vincent said police used technology to track LeForce, but he did not give details of the search. It wasn't immediately clear what charges LeForce might face. Devereaux said LeForce would be interviewed to get his version of events. Two other people were home Mulhall is about 50 miles north of Oklahoma City. An explosion has ripped through a north London suburban home, injuring a police officer and a man said to have clashed with bailiffs trying to evict him. Police, fire and ambulance services attended an address near Finsbury Park following reports of a dispute with bailiffs this morning. Local residents said bailiffs were trying to evict a 'reclusive' man, who armed himself with a knife and axe and ran into a basement flat before the explosion rang out. An explosion rocked a house which police were attending following a dispute with bailiffs More than 70 firefighters from around London were drafted in to deal with the blaze A witness told the London Evening Standard: 'When the bailiffs came the man chased them around with an axe and knife. 'The police were called and... he ran into the basement. That's when the explosion happened.' The property's resident is said to have lived there since the 1960s but recently became 'a recluse'. Neighbour Paul Craven said: 'He spiralled into a depression and became a total recluse when his dad died three years ago. He just won't speak to me or anyone anymore. 'He was a really bubbly and friendly bloke. But after his dad died he just wouldn't speak to anyone. 'He lived in the basement and doesn't talk to anyone.' Mr Craven said of the explosion: 'All I could see when I got out was the smoke coming from the basement of the house where Wilton lived. 'Someone said the explosion knocked the four coppers at the front door to the floor.' A helicopter was seen hovering above the street as fire crews tackled the flames Fire crews, police and paramedics went to the scene, where at least three people were injured A scaffolder who was working in the area at the time said: 'I saw all the windows of the house explode. It was a real powerful force. I felt it go through my chest. The windows only burst in that house. 'The police were at the house and were trying to get some guy out. 'As far as I know as soon as they tried to open then door the explosion happened. 'It was a gas explosion. After it happened you could smell the gas.' Some 10 fire engines and 72 firefighters and officers were at the scene of the explosion, London Fire Brigade (LFB) said. The basement of the terraced house, part of the ground floor and a shed in the rear garden were ablaze. Fire crews remain at the scene, with police saying no arrests have been made A hazardous area response team and an air ambulance were also dispatched. Scotland Yard said: 'Officers attended the location and, as they arrived at around midday, there was a localised explosion within the property. 'At this early stage, police are aware of two people injured. One man has sustained serious burns and a police officer sustained an arm injury. We await further details.' The LFB said one person left the house before crews arrived. The address has been evacuated and neighbouring properties are not believed to be affected, the Metropolitan Police said. The scene was later tapped off by police as the cause of the explosion was investigated Lindsey Masters, who lives nearby, said she could see smoke around a house, and that part of the road had been closed off to cars and pedestrians between the intersecting Granville Road and Albany Road. Police told her it was likely to remain closed for the rest of the day, the 33-year-old said. The incident, which is not being treated as terrorism-related, is ongoing and no arrests have been made. The cause of the fire is not yet known. An outspoken homeless campaigner who spoke warmly about his work when he met Prince Charles forged invoices to steal nearly 10,000 from a charity he ran. Jamie Nalton, 41, met Charles in 2012 when he worked for homeless charity C4WS in London, showing the Prince of Wales the work they did to help homeless people. The activist regularly speaks his mind about issues facing people sleeping rough and is cited in numerous articles, criticising benefits policy and the police. Jamie Nalton, 41, who met Charles in 2012 and spoke about his work with the homeless, has now admitted taking nearly 10,000 from the charity he ran He went on to land a senior job at Christian organisation The Simon Community as a director, overseeing the groups work to help homeless people in Camden. But Nalton has now pleaded guilty to taking nearly 10,000 from the group over four months last year and was bailed at Blackfriars Crown Court for sentencing on May 9. The father-of-one, from Green Leas, Sunbury-on-Thames, admitted stealing 2,068 from St Martin's Vicarage, in Kentish Town, between June 12 and September 13. Nalton also pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation between same dates, namely altering two invoices to make a gain, namely 7,800. Although his mitigation is expected to centre on medical problems suffered by his wife, Johanna, who was diagnosed with brain aneurysm in July 2014. Nalton runs a consultancy firm used by homeless charities and social enterprises and he has travelled to shelters all over the country offering advice. Speaking to Pavement magazine on homeless issues, Nalton said: 'Not everyone is aware of services and there may be reasons they feel unable to engage with them. Nalton regularly speaks his mind about issues facing people sleeping rough and is cited in numerous articles, criticising benefits policy and the police. 'Some services in Westminster, for example, are only available to people with a local connection. 'I think we really need to understand more about why people are begging. Arresting people and giving them a criminal record is absolutely not helpful. 'The police need a better understanding of the issues that they are dealing with here.' Criticising the government's policy surrounding benefits and how they effect the homeless, he once said: 'There is a lot of misunderstanding around welfare reform and people are being sanctioned and ending up with no money whatsoever.' The charity proudly announced Nalton's arrival in their Spring 2015 newsletter, noting: 'We are pleased to tell you that we have a new Director. 'Jamie Nalton joined us as an interim Community Manager last Christmas and has been with us since then. 'In February he was appointed as the new Community Director and is now officially in post. 'Jamie has a lot of experience in the homelessness sector that he gained through working for C4WS, the Camden Winter Shelter providers, who organised the church winter shelters in the borough. 'Jamie first came to us when he was working as a consultant who travelled the country advising night shelter providers on best practice.' Nalton himself said: 'I am honoured to work for the Simon Community, a charity that not only helps those without support, but also campaigns on their behalf.' He went on to land a senior job at Christian organisation The Simon Community as a director, overseeing the groups work to help homeless people in Camden But after his recent conviction, he is now a night-shift labourer on the Cheesegrater construction site in the City. The judge allowed the adjournment so that he could find legal representation. Nalton complained about being refused Legal Aid. 'It was refused due to high earnings, which I find hard to believe.' Regarding compensating The Simon Community he told the court: 'Absolutely. That's always been the case.' Recorder John Bate-Williams said: 'It's obviously important in a serious case like this that you are represented. You have got three weeks to get your case in order.' Much of his mitigation will centre on the medical condition of his wife Jhoana Nalton, 36, a weddings and home accessories designer. Jhoana, who has a daughter, Jessica, 5, with Nalton had a stent implant to ease a bulging in blood vessel in her brain. A California immigrant activist who was kidnapped in Mexico last week after posting a video pleading for help on Facebook has been found alive but badly beaten. Hugo Castro, a US citizen and activist based in San Diego, is in a 'delicate' condition in hospital where he is being treated for wounds tied to the apparent abduction, Mexico's attorney general said Tuesday, according to KPBS. He was found battered and dumped on a street in the north Mexican city on Tlalnepantla de Baz after the special prosecutor for missing persons got an anonymous tip off. The attorney general's office has now launched an investigation into the suspected kidnap. Hugo Castro, a US citizen and activist based in San Diego, posted the harrowing 20-minute Facebook live video on Thursday night saying he was being 'hunted' by a criminal gang 'In a country of disappeared, Hugo Castro, you will not be one more,' his partner Gabriela 'Gaba' Cortes wrote on Facebook after he went missing last week. 'You will not be a statistic.' Castro's hugely relieved family and friends are now planning a party for his return to Tijuana. Castro, a well-known activist for migrants rights charity Border Angels in Baja California, sparked panic after he posted a video on Thursday night saying he was being 'hunted' by a gang and feared for his life. He then disappeared. During the harrowing 20-minute Facebook Live clip, the father-of-four said he was stranded on the side of a busy highway on his way to Puebla, which is about 80 miles south-east of Mexico City. Castro said he was stranded on a highway on his way to Puebla. He was believed to be making his way to Chiapas to help migrants travel to the US-Mexico border. He has since been found alive in the north Mexican city on Tlalnepantla de Baz US consular officials in Mexico said on Monday they were helping authorities in the search for Castro and his family are spreading missing photos (above) on social media Castro, 45, said he had been followed for several days by a criminal organization believed to be from Tamaulipas and claimed drivers in freight vehicles had cornered him on the highway. Speaking in Spanish, he told those watching his Facebook Live video: 'Seriously, I was threatened, they want to kill me. 'It's like they're hunting me. I can't trust the police.' He added that he had been travelling on buses and taxis but was running out of Mexican Pesos and his phone battery would die soon. The footage was the last anyone heard from Castro before he disappeared. US consular officials in Mexico said on Monday they were helping authorities in the search for Castro, according to San Diego's KBPS. Castro's (left) partner Gaba Cortes (right) had said she didn't want him to become 'just another statistic' Castro, a father of four, is a well known volunteer with the San Diego-based non profit Border Angels 'The welfare of U.S. citizens is one of the Department's highest priorities,' the spokesman said. 'We stand ready to provide all possible consular assistance.' Castro had traveled to Mexico to take part in an effort helping migrants travel from Central America to the US-Mexico border. He was believed to be making his way to Chiapas to join the group when he was kidnapped. The effort was meant to draw attention to the alleged abuse suffered by refugees in Mexico. Border Angels founder Enrique Morones said it was not uncommon for volunteers to be threatened by smugglers who make money by preying on immigrants. 'About three weeks ago, Hugo was threatened,' Morones told NBC. 'He was trying to help these Haitians and people who were trying to take advantage of them said 'It's none of your business. Stay out of it'.' Kidnappings and people going missing is a huge problem in Mexico which reported 30,000 disappearances at the end of 2016 - largely related to drugs and gangs. Samir Hussain, 28, left a film screening in West Sussex when he was attacked and doused in sulphuric acid A thug who threw acid into the face of a shop manager after watching a late night screening of movie 'Straight Outta Compton' has been jailed for eight years. Michael McPherson, 27, threw drain cleaner into the face of Samir Hussain, 28, outside the cinema and warned him: 'You've seen a gangster movie, you can see real gangsters now.' The savage attack left Mr Hussain scarred for life as he underwent skin graft surgery and was forced to wear a mask for two years. McPherson was handed an eight year prison sentence after he admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent and assault. Hove Crown Court heard Mr Hussain had been watching the film with a friend when McPherson and his friend Lee Bates confronted him in the car park of Cineworld in Crawley, West Sussex. McPherson and Bates had thrown sweets at Mr Hussain during the movie, which chronicles the rise of the rap group 'NWA' that launched the careers of Ice Cube and Dr Dre. Following the sentencing, Mr Hussain, who works as a manager at a Three phone shop, said the jail term was too lenient. He said: 'It doesn't really make me feel better, but I just need to move on. 'I hoped it would have been more. I have to live with this for the rest of my life. I'm not a bad person, I did not deserve this. 'To say my life has been turned upside down is an understatement. 'I have been in physical pain ever since and I'm finding it difficult to cope with the psychological effects. I'm having sleepless nights. 'There is no end in sight. I'm normally a sociable and outgoing person. My social life has ended. I cannot face having to answer questions. 'When I look in the mirror, I realise I have lost the most precious part of my identity.' Mr Hussain, who has two sisters and is from Redhill in Surrey, was in agony as the acid burned into his flesh and said it was only because he shielded his face that he was not blinded Steven Talbot-Hadley, prosecuting, said the attack took place at 1am on August 30, 2015, in the car park of Cineworld. McPherson and Bates, 25, confronted Mr Hussain and his male friend in the cinema car park and asked them if they were a couple. They admitted throwing sweets at Mr Hussain and McPherson said 'you've seen a gangster movie, you can see real gangsters now' before Bates punched the victim in the face. Michael McPherson was handed an eight year prison sentence after he admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent and assault Mr Hussain then chased after Bates while McPherson grabbed a bottle of drain cleaner from his car and threw it into the victim's face. Mr Talbot-Hadley said: 'His face started to burn immediately. He went straight back to the car and phoned for an ambulance before pouring a bottle of water over his face and right arm.' Alex Goudie, representing McPherson, said his client had anger problems but was 'genuinely remorseful', describing the attack as 'completely and utterly stupid and out of character'. Judge Guy Anthony said he would be 'failing in his public duty' if he did not imprison McPherson, who has previous convictions for criminal damage and burglary. He added: 'There can be no excuse for throwing acid over the face of somebody.' McPherson, from Tooting Bec, in south London, must serve half of his sentence, with the 19 months he has already served taken into account. Bates, of Clapham, London, admitted common assault and was handed a two-year conditional discharge in February at Brighton Magistrates Court, East Sussex. Juan Manuel Montes, 23, was sent back to Mexico from Calexico, California, on February 18. He is pictured above at his aunt's house in Mexico afterwards The first of President Obama's Dreamers was deported in February despite promises from both he and President Trump that they were safe. Juan Manuel Montes, 23, was sent back to Mexico from Calexico, California, on February 18. He claims he is allowed to remain in the country until 2018 under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program which allows the children to of undocumented immigrants who came to the US as youngsters to stay in the US legally as adults. US Customs and Protection Agents say Montes was deported because his DACA status expired in 2015 and that he never renewed it. He insists that he did and that they never had grounds to remove him. But agents say they only picked him up and deported him after catching him trying to sneak back in to the US on February 19 by climbing the border fence in Mexicali. Montes does not contest that claim but says he only tried to jump the fence because he feared for his life in Mexico and wanted to come home to California. He says the ordeal began on February 17 in Calexico, California, where he claims he was stopped suddenly and 'aggressively' by a Border Patrol Agent on a bicycle as he walked to a taxi stand after spending the night at a friend's house. In a lawsuit filed against the government in California on behalf of the 23-year-old, lawyers said: 'The officer asked Mr Montes in an aggressive manner for identification but Mr Montes had accidentally left his wallet, which contained his California identification card and EAD (proof of eligibility to work) in a friend's car. 'The officer then called another agent or officer to the scene. Mr Montes was scared and confused that he had been stopped and felt threatened by the officer,' a lawsuit filed against the government reads. He claims he was then driven to a detention center and forced to sign papers in English which he did not understand. 'Mr Montes was not provided with the opportunity to see an immigration judge, seek the assistance of counsel, or review the contents of the documents that he was forced to sign. 'He was also not provided a copy of any of those documents and is unaware of the legal basis for this physical removal. 'At approximately 1am, CBP officers walked Mr Montes to the US-Mexico border (near Mexicali, Baja California)and physically removed him from the United States.' Two days later, on February 19, he was caught trying to sneak his way back in to the country. He claims he did so in fear of his life after being mugged at knife point in Mexico. After this incident, he was sent back to Mexicali where he remains. US Customs and Protections will not acknowledge the first alleged incident or comment on his claim that he renewed his DACA status in 2016. Montes is now suing the government, demanding it release records surrounding his case. Montes says he was picked up in the border town of Calexico (shown above) on February 17 The government has refused to answer to his claims he was deported on February 17. Border Agents confirmed he was removed from the country on February 19 after trying to hop the fence but would not comment on any of his other accusations, instead pointing to a theft conviction he has dating back to 2016. The young man's story spread across social media after lawyers in California filed paperwork on Tuesday demanding Border Agents reveal details of the incident. Agents had up until then been quiet on the issue, claiming its privacy policy restricted them from making the circumstances public. The way Montes tells it, he entered the US at the age of nine with his mother and has lived in the country ever since. He said he suffered a brain injury as a boy which left him with special needs. Despite his learning difficulties, he said he graduated high school in 2013 and later completed a welding course at community college. Border agents caught him climbing over the fence at the Mexicali border (above) two days later The 23-year-old's story swept social media, spawning the hashtag JusticeForJuan and inspiring a petition which has gained 12,000 signatures He has spent the last few years picking crops on farms in Arizona and California. He was granted DACA status sometime after the program was established in 2012. In its infancy, the program kept recipients in the country legally for two years. They then had to apply to renew their status. It now gives them three years in the country. PRESIDENT TRUMP'S SOFT SPOT FOR DREAMERS After campaigning on a harsh, anti-immigration platform, President Trump surprised critics in February by promising to carry on his predecessor's Dreamers program. Pro-business Trump said those enrolled in the program had little to worry about with regard to his plans for their status, describing them as 'incredible kids' whose hard work and dedication to employment he admired. 'We are gonna deal with DACA with heart,' he said at a February 16 press conference. While conceding the issue had been 'very difficult' for him, he said of the program's participants: 'They shouldn't be very worried. I do have a big heart," he added. 'We're going to take care of everybody.' The program was threatened by the businessman's tough stance on immigration throughout the presidential campaign. President Obama established it in 2012 and made a direct plea to his successor to protect it when he handed over the Oval Office. 'His message was, those are good kids who didnt do anything wrong,' a lawmaker said of the appeal in January. Advertisement Montes insists he reapplied in January and was granted permission to remain in the country. He said when border agents picked him up on February 17, they gave no reason for deporting him and would not let him retrieve proof of his renewal. USA Today reports that he has one conviction for shoplifting from 2016 and three convictions for driving without a license. None are serious enough crimes to disqualify valid DACA enrollment. In a statement on Wednesday morning, a US Customs and Protection spokesman told DailyMail.com: 'Juan Manuel Montes Bojorquez was apprehended by the Calexico Station Border Patrol after illegally entering the U.S. by climbing over the fence in downtown Calexico. 'He was arrested by Border Patrol just minutes after he made his illegal entry and admitted under oath during the arrest interview that he had entered illegally. 'His DACA status expired in Aug. 2015 and he was notified at that time. In addition, he has a conviction for theft for which he received probation.' The hashtag JusticeforJuan spread across Twitter on Wednesday as sympathy for the 23-year-old grew. Critics of the administration said his treatment was proof of its dishonesty and asked how immigrant families would be able to trust President Trump as a result. He has promised to carry on the program because it benefits hard-working young people. President Obama established the program in 2012. A university dorm is looking to ban the song 'Eagle Rock' from events after a student complained her male peers circled women and dropped their pants when the tune was played. Emily Jones, a student at Australian National University in Canberra, said she was dancing to the Daddy Cool song with a friend at a Burton and Garran Hall mixer last year when a group of male students approached them. 'Several male peers circled us and linked arms with one another effectively trapping us, and other women, in their circle,' she wrote afterwards in an article in the student newspaper, Woroni. ANU's Burton and Garran Hall in Canberra may ban the song 'Eagle Rock' from events after a student complained her male peers circled women and dropped their pants when the tune was played Emily Jones said she was dancing to the Daddy Cool (pictured) song at a mixer last year when the male students pulled down their pants, linked arms and 'trapped' women inside the circle 'These men then dropped their pants to their ankles, and many watched on hungrily as women in the circle stripped off their shirts and danced.' 'Though I tried to leave the circle, some of my male peers blocked me from doing so.' Unsettled by the incident, Ms Jones said she decided to write an article about it and detailed the reaction in a second Woroni article published this week. Ms Jones argued the 'tradition' encouraged the first-year boys to participate in behaviour that objectified women. Ms Jones said although she expected the article to draw some controversy, she never expected the backlash she received after it was posted to the university hall's Facebook group. She said heated online arguments and a barrage of comments ensued. While some people blasted the song in the dorm hallways in protest, Ms Jones said others told her she was overreacting. 'I was told that it was all 'just a bit of fun' and that I was attacking a much-loved B&G 'tradition' that was central to college culture.' After Ms Jones detailed the 'tradition' in the student newspaper, Woroni, the B&G Residents Committee drafted a policy banning the song from further events Under the policy, a warning alert would also sound before the song was played to warn students (pictured is Daddy Cool) Ms Jones said despite the backlash, she believed writing the article was the best decision she has made. For each negative reaction, she said she received several more comments from women who had their own 'Eagle Rock' stories. As a result, the B&G Residents Committee held an open meeting about the 'tradition.' A new policy for the song has been drafted as a result of the meeting, but has yet to be implemented, Ms Jones said. The police bans men from circling women during the 'Eagle Rock' and would ban it from being played at mixers, formal events and external venues, Ms Jones said. New students would also be alerted to the 'tradition' and if the song was going to be played, a warning alarm would sound to warn those who wanted to leave the dance floor. The song has yet to be played at any of the hall's events this year, Ms Jones said. Senator Lindsey Graham says he advised Donald Trump tell China that the US would act to prevent North Korea from developing an intercontinental ballistic missile if Beijing doesn't. One of Trump's fiercest critics within the Republican Party until this month, Graham said Wednesday that the sitting president has put the U.S. on a corrective course internationally. China and North Korea ought to take note, he said. 'Donald Trump is not going to let this nutjob in North Korea get a missile to hit America,' he told the hosts of Fox & Friends. If Trump thinks a preemptive strike on Kim Jong-un is necessary to protect the West Coast, Graham told NBC he would support it. 'If that's what it would take,' he told Today. Senator Lindsey Graham says he advised Donald Trump tell China that the US would act to prevent North Korea from developing an intercontinental ballistic missile if Beijing doesn't The Armed Services Committee senator with hawkish views was so deeply at odds with Trump prior to presidency that he voted third-party in the general election. A long-serving Republican lawmaker, Graham said he 'couldnt go where' the Trump wanted to take the party or the country. 'NUTJOB': 'Donald Trump is not going to let this nutjob in North Korea get a missile to hit America,' Graham said Wednesday in reference to Kim Jong-un Graham boarded the Trump train in early April once the commander-in-chief authorized air strikes on Syria. As he changed his mind, Graham declared the Republican leader has in the instincts of the late Ronald Reagan. He said today that he and Trump talk regularly. When they had lunch together, Graham says he advised Trump to threaten the Chinese with military action in North Korea if Beijing can't or won't use its economic influence to halt Kim's nuclear program. 'I said, "Do you want on your resume that during your presidency the North Koreans developed a missile that could hit the American homeland with a nuclear weapon on top of it?" And he said, "Absolutely not," ' the senator said. Graham said he told Trump to tell China's Xi Jinping, if you don't take care of North Korea, we will. 'If China can't stop the regime from building a missile that could one day hit the American homeland, we would do everything, including diplomatic sanctions and military strike to stop their missile program,' he said of the message. Putting it another way, the U.S. senator said on Today: 'Do you really want North Korea to have a missile that can hit California with a nuclear weapon on top of it?' The Armed Services Committee senator with hawkish views was deeply at odds with Trump in the primary and refused to vote for him in the general election - now they talk regularly, and Graham's comparing him to Ronald Reagan Twenty years ago, when Reagan was exiting office, Graham said North Korea wasn't nuclear capable. It ramped up its program during the presidencies of George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. 'Every Democrat and every Republican has screwed up North Korea,' he harped. 'They're close to getting a missile to hit the homeland.' Kim must be stopped - even if that means preemptively striking him, Graham argued. 'I'm not going to allow, with my vote in the Senate, North Korea to develop a missile with a nuclear weapon on top to hit America. Not gonna happen,' he stated. 'China can stop it if they want to, and if they don't I think President Trump will. I hope they're listening in North Korea.' Over at Fox & Friends, Graham was performing for another powerful leader with an army at his disposal: President Trump. 'I'm really please what he's done to rebuild our military, to restore our standing...He's got the best national security team I've seen since I've been in government,' he said. 'I am all in. Keep it up, Donald. I'm sure you're watching. Don't let these guys talk you out of being tough because you need to be tough,' he added. Graham described himself 'as like the happiest dude in America right now' as he talked up Trump's presidency, nearly 100 days in. Police in New York are looking for a man who is stealing wallets from people by cutting holes in their pants. The man has struck at least seven times in two month on the L train, which runs between Manhattan and Brooklyn. The thief waits until the victims are at their most vulnerable and usually strikes while they are napping during their journey. Video footage shows the suspect who is believed to have slashed open the pockets of several subway riders to rob them of wallets and cell phones Over the last month and a half, the suspected pocket slasher has stolen wallets and phones The first robbery happened February 18 shortly after 2am when the suspect, using a knife, cut a hole in a straphanger's pants while they slept. The suspect stole the victim's cellphone and credit cards without the person noticing. It then happened a further six times where the robber swiped items from riders without them noticing, usually between 2am and 5am. The suspect is a black male between the ages of 30 and 40, 5'8" to 6'0" tall, and 180 to 190 lbs In the early hours of April 2, three riders hat their wallets stolen. The suspect was long gone before they realized they had been targeted. Cops have now released CCTV footage of a man running down the sidewalk wearing a Yankees hat and a leather jacket. Investigators described the 30-something-year-old suspect as around 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighing about 195 pounds. The death of an autistic teenage boy from Connecticut has been ruled a homicide. The boy's mother, Katiria Tirado, 33, was charged earlier with intentional cruelty to persons in connection with her son's death in February. Hartford State's Attorney Gail Hardy told a judge Tuesday that the homicide ruling by the state medical examiner in the death of 17-year-old Matthew Tirado will likely result in increased charges against Tirado when she returns to court May 15. Katiria Tirado (above), 33, was already charged in connection with her son's death in February The cause of 17-year-old Matthew Tirado's (pictured) death was 'fatal child abuse syndrome with dehydration and malnutrition' A spokesman for the chief medical examiner told the Hartford Courant that the boy's cause of death was 'fatal child abuse syndrome with dehydration and malnutrition'. Police have said Katiria Tirado called 911 because her son was vomiting at an apartment on 519 Park Street in Hartford. The boy was pronounced dead hours later. 'My 17-year-old son I don't know what it is but he might have gall-gall stones because he's been vomiting for the past 24 hours. Now his belly is bulging. But he hasn't urinated anything. I mean, I used to have gall stones before and I know what it feels like and how it looks like,' Tirado said during a 911 call police released in March. The teen was taken to Hartford Hospital where he was pronounced dead hours later. Police said the boy was malnourished. He was 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighed around 84 pounds, according to WFSB. He also had cuts and bruises on his face, torso and arms, as well as three broken ribs that appeared to be an old injury, a cut to his head and bed sores. Matthew Tirado (right), who was autistic and nonverbal, was five-foot-nine and weighed 84 pounds at the time of his death. His mother (left) said she noticed her son losing weight Tirado said she noticed her son losing weight and, instead of seeking medical help, began giving him protein powder, according to court documents. Matthew Tirado's father, Pedro Gomez, said he had not seen his son since August. 'I don't know what happened, why she did it. I want to know what happened, why she did this if she did,' Gomez said. Family and friends said Katiria Tirado prevented them from seeing Matthew and that they did not know he was being abused. 'I'm still in shock to be honest. I had no clue what was going on. No clue,' family friend Eric Mendez told WFSB. The homicide ruling by the state medical examiner in the death of Matthew Tirado will likely result in increased charges against Katiria Tirado (center) when she returns to court May 15 Matthew, who was autistic and nonverbal, was a student at Oak Hill School in Bristol, which serves students with severe disabilities, but had not attended classes there for more than a year, according to the Hartford Courant. His mother had been on Connecticut's child-abuse registry for physically abusing and neglecting her son since he was in first grade, said Sarah Egan, the state's child advocate. Katiria Tirado is in police custody and her nine-year-old daughter is in the care of the Department of Children and Families. Police are searching for a man accused of ripping the headscarf off a Muslim teenager at a mall north of Atlanta. The 14-year-old girl was walking with a group of people around 9.40pm on Monday at Perimeter Mall when a stranger approached and snatched her hijab, while yelling 'terrorist' before fleeing, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Dunwoody Police Chief Billy Grogan said that police have labeled the case an assault. Police are searching for a man accused of ripping the headscarf off a Muslim teenager at the Perimeter Mall (pictured). The 14-year-old girl was walking with a group of people on Monday at the mall when a man approached and snatched her hijab, yelled 'terrorist' and fled Grogan said 'Dunwoody is a very diverse community, welcoming people of all faiths,' adding that the police department 'is committed to protecting our citizens and will conduct a thorough investigation'. The Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. CAIR-Georgia Executive Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said the attack has shaken the family of the victim, whose identity has not been released. He said the family will not press charges if the man comes forward and apologizes. 'We thank local law enforcement for pledging to investigate this despicable attack, which is the latest in a wave of anti-Muslim hate crimes across the nation,' Mitchell said in a news release. Mitchell was referring to the three death threats at Atlanta-area mosques last month. Local Jewish institutions have also received bomb threats. The state of Florida is on the verge of apologizing to the families of four black men who were beaten, raped, or murdered after they were wrongfully accused of raping a white woman almost 70 years ago. The men - who became known as the Groveland Four - were Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd and Ernest Thomas. They were accused of raping 17-year-old Norma Padgett in July 16, 1949. The teenager and her estranged husband told police the four men came across them after their car broke down on the side of the road. The claimed the quartet then climbed out of their car and raped Padgett. After the allegation was leveled by Padgett, a gang of about 1,000 men was formed to hunt down Thomas, who was killed in a hail of gunfire when he was found sleeping under a tree. The Florida House has moved closer to apologizing for one of the state's ugliest racist incidents, which became known as the Groveland Four. The men Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd and Ernest Thomas were falsely accused of rape. Thomas is not pictured as he was killed by a mob Pictured is Sheriff Willis McCall and Samuel Shepherd and Walter Lee Irvin, who were shot by the sheriff while being transported to stand trial after being wrongly accused of raping a white teenager. Irvin survived the attack by playing dead, and then accused McCall of shooting him and Shepherd in cold blood At the same time, white residents formed a mob and went to a black neighborhood and burned houses and fired guns into homes in a disturbance that took days to quell. Greenlee, Irvin and Shepherd were then convicted by an all-white jury despite dubious evidence. All three were beaten in prison to coerce confessions, according to the Miami Herald. After the US Supreme Court ordered a new trial in 1951, Lake County Sheriff Willis McCall shot Irvin and Shepherd, claiming the handcuffed men tried to escape as he transferred him from one prison to another. Irvin survived the shooting by playing dead. Incredibly, he pulled through despite an ambulance refusing to transport him because he was black. He later told investigators the sheriff shot them in cold blood, but was still convicted and sentenced to death again. He was eventually paroled in 1968 and found dead in his car while returning to Lake County for a funeral a year later. Samuel Shepherd and Walter Lee Irvin are pictured on the ground after they were shot. The two were part of the group that became known as the Groveland Four - all of whom were falsely accused of raping a white teenager in July 16, 1949 Walter Lee Irvin (second right) is pictured during his trial in 1952. Despite evidence against him being dubious and coerced through beatings, he was sentenced to death again. He was eventually paroled in 1968 and found dead in his car while returning to Lake County for a funeral a year later Greenlee was paroled in 1960 and died in 2012. His daughter Carol, 67, and son Thomas, 52, were at the Capitol on Tuesday to hear the state pass a bill that would pardon their father, as well as the other three men. 'Today, a part of it is forgiveness. And he would feel good about that,' Carol said. 'This means that something positive has come out of something so wrong and so negative and so bad.' Democratic Congressman Bobby DuBose also spoke about the case of the Groveland Four. 'This resolution, while seemingly minute, symbolizes the great state of Florida looking those families in the eyes - families, with children, who grew up not knowing their fathers but only knew their records,' DuBose said. 'This resolution is us simply saying "We're sorry" understanding that we will never know nor be able to make up for the pain we have caused.' Carol Greenlee, the daughter of Charles Greenlee, is pictured at the Florida House on Tuesday. She said the bill passed is a step towards 'forgiveness' Democratic Congressman Bobby DuBose (middle) spoke about the incident on Tuesday. 'This resolution, while seemingly minute, symbolizes the great state of Florida looking those families in the eyes - families, with children, who grew up not knowing their fathers but only knew their records,' DuBose said He then asked House members to stand with him, before they turned to the family members of the four men. 'As the state of Florida and the House of Representatives, we're truly sorry,' he said. The bill, HCR 631, passed unanimously with 116 co-sponsors. It also calls on Governor Rick Scott to 'expedite consideration of posthumous pardons'. The injustice served against the four men was documented in a 2013 book written by Gilbert King, Devil in the Grove. The injustice served against the four men was documented in a 2013 book written by Gilbert King, Devil in the Grove (pictured) It won a Pulitzer Prize and helped sparked the push for pardons and an apology. Republican Congressman Larry Metz, whose district includes Groveland, described the event 'a grave injustice.' 'Its never too late to do the right thing,' he told the Herald. In what was a day full of apologies, a resolution related to another of the state's darkest moments was passed. The other bill acknowledged decades of abuse at a Florida reform school. 'We stand here in solidarity saying, "We're sorry", and we apologize for the wrongs that happened to you,' Democratic Congresswoman Tracie Davis said to several men in the House gallery who were abused at the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in the 1950s and 1960s. After the votes, 70-year-old Robert Straley recalled his time at the Dozier school in Marianna, when he was 13 and weighed only 105 pounds. He was beaten his first night at the school and days later he was wakened by a man who covered his mouth and took him to what was called the 'rape room'. He has been in touch with hundreds of other survivors in recent years, most of who are brought to tears when the recall the abuse. He said Tuesday's apology helped. 'It felt like real justice. Florida had finally realized that things had been swept under the rug,' he said. Another resolution passed by the House acknowledged decades of abuse at he Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in the 1950s and 1960s. Roger Kiser, a former student, is pictured standing outside the 'White House' - where students were abused - in 2008 'This was such an outrageous event. We're talking about a town that was in leagues with a school that flogged boys for 68 years. Flogging is torture.' Straley is part of a group known as The White House Boys, named for the white cinderblock building where boys were taken and hit with a long leather strap, has worked to get the abuse recognized. Charles Fudge, a 69-year-old who was sent to the school with his three brothers in the early 1960s, told the Tallahassee Democrat the apology will have a real impact. 'That was a genuine thing that was heartfelt by all of the White House boys,' Fudge said. 'It means an awful lot for them to acknowledge the abuse that went on.' The house also passed another bill, HB7115, authorizing the construction of monuments to commemorate the victims. The school 60 miles west of the Capitol in Tallahassee was shut down in 2011. The University of South Florida recently exhumed the remains of 51 bodies in hopes of identifying boys buried in unmarked graves. More than 90 boys died there between 1900 and 1973. This monkey does not mess around when she is thirsty - well, there's no time for lids in the wild. A photographer in Nepal captured a mother monkey drinking out of her mouth-made drinking hole at the bottom of a bottle. However, her baby appears to be more clued up as he tries to show his mother how to unscrew the cap. A photographer in Nepal captured a mother monkey drinking out of her mouth-made drinking hole at the bottom of a bottle Puskar Nepal, 21, shot the video in Swayambhunath, more commonly known as Nepal's Monkey Temple. He said he was sitting on a bench when the thirsty monkey (left and right) snatched the water away from him Puskar Nepal, 21, a freelance photographer, shot the video in Swayambhunath, more commonly known as Nepal's Monkey Temple. He said: 'I was sitting on a bench with a bottle of water in one hand and a bag on the other hand. 'Suddenly a thirsty monkey snatched the bottle from my hand and the younger one joined her. It appeared the monkey's baby was more clued up than she was as he tried to show his mother how to unscrew the cap 'She made a small hole at the bottom of the bottle with her sharp teeth. 'It looked like the younger one was trying to open the cap on a number of occasions and teach his mom the right way to drink water from the bottle. 'I was too close to them capturing the moment and I was afraid of them snatching my camera.' Sasko Bezovski, pictured at Hammersmith Magistrates' Court today, admitted illegally selling the skulls of endangered species An 'animal loving' fashion guru who has dressed A-list stars today admitted illegally selling the skulls and shells of endangered species from his boutique. Sasko Bezovski, 48, of Maida Vale, West London, the co-owner of trendy label Kokon To Zai (KTZ), had spur thighed tortoise and green turtle shells on sale and a rare freshwater crocodile skull. The products, which included the bill of a knifetooth sawfish, were sold as fashion accessories alongside items from top designers including Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen. Hammersmith Magistrates' Court was told Bezovski - who is a vegan - was also displaying the skull of a North Sulawesi babirusa, a pig found in Indonesia. The designer has dressed the likes of Rihanna, Jay Z and Kanye West, although his most famous creation was the swan dress worn by Bjork to the 2001 Oscars. The illegal items were displayed among other fashion accessories at the store off Portobello Road including python and crocodile handbags worth up to 4,000 each. The items that were seized from his boutique included a freshwater false gharial crocodile skull on display for 420. The vulnerable species is native to the rainforests of South East Asia A nostrum from a knifetooth sawfish which lives in the Indo-Pacific from the Red Sea to Australia. The products were sold as fashion accessories alongside items from top designers Bezovski also had more than 45 illegal items including the skulls and shells, which he had purchased from antique fairs, markets and car boot sales. Carly Loftus, prosecuting, said: 'On July 15 last year officers from the wildlife crime unit attended Kokon to Zai, a shop that sells animal products. Bezovski, 48, is the co-owner of trendy clothing label Kokon To Zai in West London 'The defendant was not present at the time but officers spoke to a manager and a number of items were seized. 'The items that were seized were a false gharial crocodile skull on display for 420. Another was a knifetooth sawfish valued at 225 in the shop. 'A green turtle shell was also seized and valued at 450, several decades old. There was also a babirusa skull. He had bought them at antiques fairs. 'In interview the defendant maintained it was only a small part of his business and 45 items suspected to be on the endangered list were also seized, many of these items were listed on Annex B.' Bezovski, who appeared in court wearing a black suit jacket, pleaded guilty to offering for sale items listed in Annex A of endangered species regulations. His partner sat in the public gallery and kissed him on the head as they left the court. Judge Caroline Johnston heard that the shop had previously been raided by police in 2009 when officers seized three monkey skulls, but Bezovski was not prosecuted. Bezovski was also displaying the skull of a North Sulawesi babirusa, a pig found in Indonesia The illegal items were displayed among other fashion accessories at the store off Portobello Road (centre) in West London including python and crocodile handbags Ms Loftus said: 'Police attended his premises in May 2009 and seized three monkey skulls that were being offered for sale. 'The skulls were donated to the Natural History Museum. He was not prosecuted. He has continued to commit this offending.' She added: 'It is difficult to put a value on these items can gauge an idea from the price tags what the defendant was hoping to revive from them. 'Other items on sale in the shop including python and crocodile skin bags, those items came to around 4,000.' The false gharial crocodile is native to the rainforests of South East Asia and listed as a vulnerable species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list. The fashion labels most famous creation was the swan dress worn by Bjork to the Academy Awards in 2001 (left). It is also a big favourite with celebrities including Rihanna (right) The knifetooth sawfish lives in the Indo-Pacific from the Red Sea to Australia while the endangered green turtle is one of the world's largest sea turtles. The fashion label was set up by Bezovski and co-owner Marjan Pejoski and is a favourite with A-list stars including Katy Perry as well as DJs Diplo and A-Trak. Sunyana Sharma, defending, told the court: 'Mr Bezovski is extremely ashamed and disappointed to be standing before this court today. 'He prides himself on being an animal lover and has a number of rescue dogs as well as being vegan. He has a keen interest in natural items and antiques. 'They were not displayed in a clandestine fashion. He believed them to be legitimate and they were bought in Shoreditch, Portobello, Kempton and other well known car boots. The label was set up by Bezovski and Marjan Pejoski and is known as Kokon to Zai. It is a favourite with stars including Kanye West, who is pictured sporting KTZ gloves 'He wrongly assumed that he could sell them in them and was not aware that he needed certification.' Bezovski was fined a total of 4,255 after pleading guilty to one count of offering for sale or keeping for sale specimen of species listed in Annex A of the Control Of Trade in Endangered Species (Cotes) regulations at KTZ on July 15 last year. He was charged under regulation 8(1) and (8) of the Control of Trade in Endangered Species (Enforcement) Regulations 1997. Bezovski was ordered to a pay a 4,000 fine plus a Government surcharge of 85 and a victim surcharge of 170. He ran from the court into a car without comment. Chris Packham has been charged with assault after a confrontation with illegal bird trappers in Malta, it has emerged. The Springwatch star revealed he had spent two hours in a police station on the island of Gozo and faces a court appearance tomorrow. Packham, 55, was filming a documentary when he claims he was 'pushed around' by hunters who then accused him of attacking them. Chris Packham has been charged with assault after a confrontation with illegal bird trappers in Malta, it has emerged. He is pictured at a police station in Victoria on the island of Gozo Packham, 55, was filming a documentary when he claims he was 'pushed around' by hunters who then accused him of attacking them. He is pictured holding a rescued kestrel he said had been shot The Springwatch star revealed he had spent two hours in a police station on the island of Gozo and faces a court appearance tomorrow. Pictured is a Stone Curlew which the wildlife expert said had been illegally shot He posed for a picture at the police station, in Victoria, before posting a video message on Twitter accusing local officers of 'pushing him all the way up the street' rather than arresting trappers. He strongly denies assault. The star said: 'I have just spent the last two hours in this police station after we were instructed to come back here by the police. 'This is because two trappers who were present at the time claimed that I had assaulted them. I am completely innocent of these charges. 'Not only was I a victim of being pushed around but I was then pushed all the way up the street by a police man.' He is due to appear in court on Thursday charged with 'using force against any person with intention to insult or hurt them'. The wildlife expert was in Malta to film an independent documentary called Malta: Massacre on Migration. Packham is due to appear in court on Thursday charged with 'using force against any person with intention to insult or hurt them. He posted this picture of a Marsh Harrier that had been blinded in both eyes after being shot in Malta Packham claimed an area of the coast had been illegally closed by trappers. The wildlife expert was on the island to film an independent documentary called Malta: Massacre on Migration His agent told MailOnline Packham was with a representative of BirdLife Malta when they came across a cage full of mixed bird species 'ranging from protected species like Goldfinch and Collared Doves to other species like Moorhen, Starlings and Turtle Doves.' Police were called but were unable to officially confirm any wrongdoing without the presence of the Wild Bird Regulation Unit (WBRU), based in Malta, the spokesman said. But by the time the WBRU arrived hours later, the birds were no longer visible in the aviary. The spokesman claimed that while filming an interview on a public roadside, a vehicle appeared and two men jumped out shouting at Packham and his team, 'shoving them aggressively'. 'Instead of intervening on behalf of the innocent parties, the police immediately took the side of the aggressors and manhandled Chris and other members of the team off the site,' the spokesman added. In a tweet after his arrest, Packham added: 'You point out suspected criminals to the police... and you end up in court.' A young man heartbroken at the death of his girlfriend in a drunk driving crash that happened with him behind the wheel has been charged in her death. Roland Scott Moreno, 26, has been charged with intoxication manslaughter in the April 8 car crash that killed his girlfriend, 24-year-old Jessica Sun, who was a passenger in his car. First responders at the crash found the car overturned and Moreno weeping as he knelt over Sun's body, rocking her back and forth. Firefighters had to pry the young man off of her to put him in an ambulance, according to court documents. Roland Scott Moreno (left) has been charged with intoxication manslaughter in the April 8 car crash that killed his girlfriend, 24-year-old Jessica Sun (right), who was a passenger in his car Police found Moreno's car overturned on a grassy shoulder near this exit ramp to Interstate 35 'Their love was very real,' friend Ellie Geller told the Dallas Morning News. 'They were both amazing people, and it was just a tragic end to their love story.' The crash, around 11.15pm on a Saturday night, occurred after Moreno veered off the road in an attempt to let a car that was tailgating him pass, he told police. Slurring his words, Moreno said that the couple were coming from a bar and that he'd had 'too much' to drink, according to police. Geller, a close friend and colleague of Sun's at the restaurant where the young woman worked as a bartender, told the Morning News that the couple almost always took an Uber home after they'd been drinking, saying she had no idea why they didn't that night. Moreno did not respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com. Sun (left) and Moreno (right) met about a year ago through a mutual friend, and had been together since their first date. Friends expected them to someday be married Geller said the couple were introduced through a mutual friend a year ago, and had been together since going on their first date. They both said they couldn't imagine being with anyone else, and friends expected the pair to be married. The boyfriend, who was not seriously injured and was released from jail after posting bond, is 'torn up and heartbroken,' said Geller, who spoke with him after his release. 'She was infectious. you couldn't help but like her,' Geller said of Sun. 'Even if you didn't like her, you ended up liking her because it was so impossible not to.' Texas is currently the only state to identify 'intoxication manslaughter' as an independent category of homicide, though other laws cover similar offenses in other states. The Texas offense is a second degree felony, which carries a potential sentence of two to 20 years in prison. Richard Simmons, who was believed to have recently left his estate for the first time in three years this week, has actually headed out in Los Angeles several times over the years - but only while wearing disguises. The workout guru, who uses a cane due to a knee injury and has gained a little weight, dons hats and other low-key disguises while leaving his Hollywood Hills home, it is believed. He's been known to head to the Beverly Center, a shopping mall near his home, among other bustling areas of the the southern California city, sources told TMZ, adding that Simmons is 'totally normal'. Simmons was hospitalized for indigestion on Monday, which was reported to be his first appearance outside his Hollywood home in three years. Despite reports that Richard Simmons (above in November 2013) hasn't left his home in three years, it is now believed he would regularly leave his home while wearing disguises. Simmons has been hospitalized in California since Monday 'Richard Simmons was hospitalized on Monday at an undisclosed location in California,' his rep Michael Catalano told ABC News. 'After a few days of battling severe indigestion and discomfort while eating, we agreed it was best for him to seek treatment.' Catalono added: 'He's already feeling better and is expected to make a full recovery.' News of the hospitalization comes hot on the heels of a report stating that the fitness guru had just signed a lucrative deal with Prominent Brand + Talent. This new deal gives Prominent the rights to represent Richard Simmons for licensing, merchandising and endorsement opportunities around the globe. And it was set in motion by a 2016 DailyMail.com story about Simmons reclusive behavior that one year later was explored in the popular six-episode podcast 'Missing, Richard Simmons'. 'All I can say, at least for now, is it is possible,' Catalano said in an interview with The New York Times about Simmons after news of the deal. 'But it is yet to be determined, I would say.' Catalano's statement offered hope to those who followed the podcast detailing the odd game of hide-and-seek that Simmons is playing with the public. The workout guru, who uses a cane due to a knee injury and has gained a little weight, dons hats and other low-key disguises while leaving his Hollywood Hills home (pictured above) It was the most popular podcast for two straight months leading up to the final episode, but then ended without ever managing to speak to Simmons himself or getting an explanation of what brought about his behavior. Money however appears to talk much louder than public concern and a podcast host according to Catalano, who is not only Simmons' manager but also the co-founder of the company that has obtained the global rights to sell Simmons' products. In that role it would seem that he, more than anyone else, would benefit financially from Simmons coming out to help sell his products. In fact, even suggesting that he could possibly come out might help drum up interest in some vendors. The company does manage a number of other high-profile fitness brands as well, including Madonna's Hard Candy. 'Richard Simmons is a beloved American icon and a proven retail brand,' Dan Levin, a managing member of Prominent, told License Global. 'Everything he stands for has been the gold standard in health and wellness. He has paved the way for every subsequent fitness personality in this country, yet none of them have matched the impact of Richard's indelible imprint on America's psyche.' Simmons (above in December 2013) is expected to make a full recovery and is already feeling better following his hospitalization He later stated that the company 'plans to launch a global line of thoughtful motivation and inspiration-based products that will achieve the tenets Richard has always espoused - love yourself no matter what you weigh, make time to do good for others and laugh a little.' Dan Taberski, who was behind the hugely popular podcast, also spoke about his former pal Simmons' new popularity, and how he managed to somehow mastermind a perfect and massively lucrative comeback without doing a single thing . 'Telling his story was a huge part of the podcast,' said Taberski, who has never appeared to show anything other than a genuine concern for Simmons and desire to see him again. 'He changed lives, and he's a genius businessperson. If I had even the smallest part in reminding people of that, fantastic.' Catalano meanwhile bemoaned what he said were 'a lot of the mistruths' in the podcast, which he believes 'didn't really uncover or reveal anything new that hasn't been reported previously.' He was however excited that a new younger generation is aware of his client, saying: 'At the end of the day, if it helps deliver his message to people who were unaware of it previously, fantastic. That's what Richard's mission has always been.' Meanwhile, in the final episode Taberski was able to speak with Catalano, who told him: 'I can't say Richard feels better as a result of the podcast. Perhaps you do.' An angry mother is facing a two-hour bus trip every day after her children were allocated places at different primary schools - three miles apart. Charlotte Fox, 26, was left fuming after her sons were split up due to a controversial new policy introduced by her local council this year. Siblings Tyler, seven, and Scott, five, will now be three miles apart, meaning that Charlotte, who does not drive, will need to be 'in two places at once'. Charlotte Fox, 26, was left fuming after her sons were split up due to a controversial new policy introduced by her local council What a journey: Mother-of-three Charlotte said it would make much more sense if both her sons stayed in schools in Calverton The brothers currently study at Manor Park Infant and Nursery School in Calverton, Nottinghamshire. Mother-of-three Charlotte applied for Tyler to attend nearby Sir John Sherbrooke Junior School when he moves up to key stage two in September. But the youngster has instead been offered a place in an entirely different town at Richard Bonington Primary and Nursery School in Arnold, Nottingham. Today Ms Fox said she is now facing a 'hellish' journey, which will involve a half hour walk and two 20 minute bus rides - with an hour wait in between. She said: 'I got the email at half six yesterday morning. I couldn't believe it, it's just the worst possible outcome for us. 'At first I was angry but then I just started to worry about how I'm going to be able to do it. The brothers currently study at Manor Park Infant and Nursery School in Calverton, Nottinghamshire Mother-of-three Charlotte applied for Tyler to attend nearby Sir John Sherbrooke Junior School when he moves up from Manor Park (pictured) to key stage two in September 'The reality is that one of them is probably going to be often be late first thing in the morning, and one of them is going to have to wait for an hour after school. 'The council knows our situation - the application form asked if we had children in other schools and I thought that was something they were going to take into consideration. 'I genuinely do not know what I'm going to do. 'It's a very complicated and frustrating situation. 'We've spent the last couple of days just trying to get our heads around it..' Full-time mother Ms Fox, of Arnold, will have to embark on the nightmare commute while husband Cameron, 29, is at work at Halfords. The journey is complicated even further as she has to take 10-month-old baby Harry with her as well. She added: 'The reality is that I just can't take Harry on the bus when it's full of secondary school children being taken back home. 'I've tried it before and it's loud on there, and there isn't enough space for a buggy. 'So I have to wait an hour after picking the two of them for things to quieten down. 'But that will become much harder when they're at different schools. 'I'll have to pick up Scott first, because he's the youngest. 'Then we'll have to wait for an hour for the buses to clear out, which means that Tyler is going to be on his own for an hour. 'So we're facing a two hour journey two days a week, all because of this decision. 'I've wanted to go back to work for a while now, but the reality is that it's going to have to be part-time, or something that fits in with this nightmare schedule. 'Cameron and I have wanted to move to Calverton for years - we have friends and family there, and all the schools are close to one another.' Mother Charlotte wanted her son to go to nearby Sir John Sherbrooke but instead the youngster has instead been offered a place in an entirely different town Ms Fox now says she is writing a letter of appeal to Nottinghamshire County Council's decision in the hope of getting the decision reversed. She added: 'It's crazy and very frustrating. 'They've both been at Manor Park all of their lives, and Tyler is very shy. 'I don't know how he is going to respond to being moved away from his friends, who can stay in Calverton because their parents are in the catchment area. 'It's going be very hard for him, especially as he's going to have to wait around every single evening without me or Scott.' Over 164 parents have been offered a place at a school they did not include in their application after education bosses brought in a controversial change last year. The policy removes priority for out-of-catchment children who already have siblings at a primary school who are trying to secure a place there. Although the council reversed the decision in February, the controversial policy still applies to this year's academic offers. A 40-year-old dragged his brother out of bed and into a village square before tying him to a pole and chopping him to pieces because he was fed up of being teased. Villagers in Daundi Lohara, Chhattisgarh, were horrified when Suresh Kumar tied Chinturam, 45, up and hacked away at him. First he lopped off his elder brother's hands before beheading him after he told the gathered crowd he would kill them if they tried to intervene in the frightening incident in Balod district. Villagers in Daundi Lohara, Chhattisgarh in Balod disctrict (pictured) were horrified when Suresh Kumar tied Chinturam, 45, up and hacked away at him Eventually, Suresh calmed down, and he walked into a police station with the blood-drenched murder weapon and handed himself in, according to Times of India. It has emerged his brother Chinturam would playfully mock his younger brother by singing in a high-pitched tone. Fights between the two had become a regular thing and when they were sharing the same room to sleep in and the singing started again, Suresh snapped. He hopped out of bed and started beating Chinturam, which was a daily occurrence according to their wives. In an attempt to scare off his younger brother, the victim grabbed an axe, but it quickly turned sour when he was overpowered. Suresh frogmarched his brother down to the local square, which was bustling with people. Chinturam was tied up to an pole and his limbs and head were chopped from his body. In the frenzies attack, the killer lost a finger of his own and cut his head. Suresh Kumar has been charged with murder. China's Foreign Ministry has defended the government's handling of trademark applications in the wake of Ivanka Trump having five approved since her father became president. Beijing Foreign Affairs spokesman Lu Kang was asked about the trademarks Wednesday, a day after it was reported the president's daughter had won provisional approval for at least five January's inauguration. Three of those approvals were granted April 6, the day Ivanka Trump and her husband sat next to Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife for dinner at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida during a state visit to the US. Lu said China follows the law in granting trademarks and 'the principle of giving equal protection to foreign trademark holders.' China's Foreign Ministry has defended the government's handling of trademark applications in the wake of Ivanka Trump having five approved since her father became president. Ivanka and her husband are pictured with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago on April 6 Asked about the timing of the April 6 approvals, Lu said: 'There are perhaps some media engaging in hyping certain gossip to hint at something undisclosed. I can tell you that they will never succeed.' Beyond the provisionally approved trademarks, Ivanka Trump Marks LLC has 16 registered trademarks in China and more than 30 pending applications, according to China's Trademark Office database. They collectively cover a wide range of goods and services, including cosmetics, jewelry, leather handbags, luggage, clothes, shoes, retail, spa and beauty services. The trademarks grant the company monopoly rights to sell Ivanka-brand jewelry, bags and spa services in the world's second-largest economy. Other countries where the company has pending and registered trademarks include Japan, Mexico, Turkey, Israel, Canada and Saudi Arabia. Spokesman Lu Kang said Wednesday: 'There are perhaps some media engaging in hyping certain gossip to hint at something undisclosed. I can tell you that they will never succeed.' Ivanka Trump is pictured with her husband during a dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Mar-a-Lago resort on April 6 Sales of Ivanka Trump's brand, which she no longer manages but still owns, hit record levels in 2017 by some measures despite boycotts and several stores limiting her merchandise. US imports, almost all from China, shot up an estimated 166 per cent last year, according to Panjiva Inc, which tracks international imports to the United States. In a statement Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Ivanka Trump brand said the 2017 Chinese trademarks were filed defensively to prevent counterfeiters or squatters from using her name. Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, are trusted advisers to the president. Criminal conflict-of-interest law prohibits federal officials from participating in government matters that could impact their own financial interest or that of their spouses. Some argue that the more Ivanka Trump's business broadens its scope, the more it threatens to encroach on the couple's ability to deliver credible advice on core issues like trade, intellectual property and the value of the Chinese currency. A view of jewelry for sale at the 'Ivanka Trump Collection' shop in the lobby at Trump Tower on February 10, 2017 During the Mar-a-Lago meetings, Ivanka's daughter, 5-year-old Arabella stood sang a traditional Chinese song, in Mandarin, to President Xi Jinping Asked about Ivanka's role in US-China relations, Lu said: 'We always think highly of the people who are committed to promoting China-US friendship and cooperation, whether they are from the government or society, and we commend their efforts.' The Chinese comments came as criticism grew about the Trump White House and the ties connecting it to family business interests. It was revealed Tuesday sales of Ivanka Trump's products were up 10,700 per cent on February 9 this year compared to last year. Kellyanne Conway controversially promoted the president's daughter's products on February 9, saying during an interview: 'Go buy Ivankas stuff... It is just a wonderful line. I own some of it. I fully, I'm going to give a free commercial here. Go buy it today, everybody. You can find it online.' Online marketplace Lyst said the increase in sales was seen largely in Republican states, and although it was short-lived, it provided a huge boost on previously yearly performance numbers. Sales dropped rapidly after Conway's comment, but the increase was still enough to leave the monthly average 771 per cent up on February 2016. Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, pose for a picture with Donald, Melania, and Ivanka Trump on April 7 And although several stores have dropped her goods after the #GrabYourWallet online campaign tried to render the brands toxic, her business has recorded its best-ever year. A good part of that is thanks to a massive increase in sales in China for the brand. Her commercial interest in China is part of the reason there has been such outrage over the recent trademark decisions in her favor. 'Put the business on hold and stop trying to get trademarks while you're in government,' said Richard Painter, who served as chief White House ethics lawyer under George W Bush. 'Ivanka has so many China ties and conflicts, yet she and Jared appear deeply involved in China contacts and policy,' said Norman Eisen, who was Barack Obama's chief White House ethics lawyer. 'I would never have allowed it. For their own sake, and the country's, Ivanka and Jared should consider stepping away from China matters.' Bulgarian national Ivalina Hristova, 34, targeted vulnerable ladies including a 102-year-old woman and a blind person. She has now been jailed for 20 months A supermarket pickpocket who targeted vulnerable victims including a 102-year-old woman and a blind person has been jailed. Bulgarian national Ivalina Hristova, 34, targeted elderly women with open handbags in shops such as Waitrose, Wilkos and Iceland. Each of her 14 victims was aged over 70 except one, who was a 44-year-old blind woman. Jailing her for 20 months at Bournemouth Crown Court, Judge Brian Forster QC said: 'You targeted elderly and vulnerable victims. Easy targets.' The crimes were carried out in the Dorset towns of Bournemouth, Christchurch, Poole and Weymouth between August last year and January. A number of the incidents were captured on CCTV and she was eventually arrested at Stansted Airport in February after returning to the UK from Bulgaria. Branding her 'heartless', Judge Forster said it was clear that she had 'travelled to this area to steal'. Hristova, from Bournemouth, is said to have had the help of a male accomplice who provided 'security' while the money was stolen. The mother-of-two would pretend to browse for goods, bump into her victim and simultaneously take her purse or bag. In total she pocketed 1,050 from her spate of thefts. Her one-woman crime wave was brought to an end in January when she committed five thefts in one day and was caught. Judge Forster added: 'The lady, who was 102 at the time, describes how she has lived through two world wars and has not ever been a victim of crime.' Robert Grey, defending, said Hristova had come to the UK to send money back to her children, aged 10 and 15, in Bulgaria. Hristova was jailed for 20 months at Bournemouth Crown Court (pictured) by Judge Brian Forster QC, who branded her 'heartless' He also claimed she targeted open handbags rather than elderly people specifically. Mr Grey said: 'She comes to the UK, she tells me, to work to repatriate money back to Bulgaria where she has two children. 'She had a number of jobs, working as a kitchen assistant, a cleaner, a food preparation worker and she has never had benefits in the UK. 'She is ashamed and sorry for what she did. She may have been in thrall to a greater or lesser extent with this male she was with. 'She wants to return as soon as possible to Bulgaria to see her children.' You targeted elderly and vulnerable victims. Easy targets Judge Brian Forster QC Inspector Steve Houston, of Dorset police, said: 'Hristova engaged in a campaign of purse thefts across the county, systematically targeting elderly women with cold, brutal efficiency and showed no remorse for her actions. 'She would pretend to browse for goods, bump into her victim and simultaneously take her purse or bag. Hristova would then often remove the cash and dump the purse or handbag nearby. 'So confident and well-disciplined was she in her methods, she would target multiple stores and victims in one area within a short space of time.' Hristova admitted 14 counts of theft and one of fraud by false representation. Her alleged male accomplice escaped any charges. The new Christian Bale film 'The Promise' won't be out in theaters until Friday, but it's IMDB rating has already been tanked by tens of thousands of one-star reviews. In the film, set at the end of the Ottoman Empire, Bale plays an Associated Press reporter covering the Armenian genocide. While the atrocities are largely considered to be the first genocide of the 20th century, Turkey still refuses to use the term in reference to the mass killing. After hearing the topic of the film, trolls organized on a Turkish message board similar to 4Chan or Reddit to protest the movie by giving it one-star reviews on IMDB. WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGE - Scroll down for video The new Christian Bale film The Promise has yet to be released, but it has already received thousands of negative reviews on IMDB from trolls who deny the Armenian genocide By Wednesday, only 87 reviews remained on The Promise's IMDB page - most of them positive and few calling out the prior trolling 'Guys, Hollywood is filming a big movie about the so-called Armenian genocide and the trailer has already been watched 700k times. We need to do something urgently,' one user wrote. The Washington Post reports that the movie garnered more than 120,000 user reviews on the site, despite the fact that only a few hundred industry insiders have seen the film at festivals ahead of its release. 'All I know is that we were in about a 900-seat house [at the Toronto Film Fesitval] with a real ovation at the end, and then you see almost 100,000 people who claim the movie isnt any good,' producer Mike Medavoy told the Hollywood Reporter. Nearly 62,000 of those reviews were one-star ratings - the lowest you can give a film. The film depicts a love triangle between Bale's American journalist character, right, and the Armenian characters played by Charlotte Le Bon (left) and Oscar Isaac (center) One review read: 'The movie based on a lie so you know what to expect. I fell for the positive reviews without realizing they are written by armenians to push their political agenda on unsuspecting movie goers.' Before IMDB stepped in and took the reviews down, the negative feedback put The Promise as one of the top 10 worst-rated films on the site. As of Wednesday, only 87 reviews remained - many of them highly-rated and some of them protesting the earlier trolling. This isn't the first time that trolls have rallied to discredit something using IMDB or other sites with ratings. Amy Schumer's recent Netflix stand-up special was flooded with negative reviews from supporters of Donald Trump over the comedians left-leaning political beliefs. The all-female reboot of Ghostbusters also elicited negative reviews. The Promise's release on Friday falls just three days before the annual Armenian remembrance day for the mass killing. Henry Suggitt, 19, of Woking, Surrey, was visiting friends when he took the drug LSD A British teenager died in the Canadian wilderness after taking LSD as a 'one off' experiment just weeks before starting a degree, an inquest heard today. Henry Suggitt, 19, of Woking, Surrey, who had been due to start studying marine zoology at Bangor University in Wales, was visiting friends in Canada when he took the psychedelic drug. He had returned to the UK from a trip travelling in South East Asia, but left for North America soon after to visit friends he had made on the previous trip. And after taking the drug in Winnipeg in September 2015, Mr Suggitt started running around and throwing himself on the ground and in trees - before suddenly stopping and laying still. Reading a statement written by his father Chris, Surrey Coroner Darren Stewart described the teenager as fit and active, despite him having asthma and a peanut allergy. He had visited friends in Regina, Saskatchewan, before moving east to Winnipeg to meet up with his friend Bryce Duncan, whose evidence the coroner summarised. Mr Suggitt had returned to the UK from a trip travelling in South East Asia, but left for North America soon after to visit friends he had made on the previous trip Mr Stewart said: 'It would appear that on September 2 2015 Henry and Mr Duncan both got up to go to a cabin in the countryside. They arrived in the cabin about early afternoon at which point they consumed LSD. It was about 2.30pm to 3pm. 'There are no details on the amount of LSD they consumed. They had been drinking beer and continued to drink beer at the same time as they consumed the LSD. 'They subsequently went for a half-hour walk which took them out to a lookout point in a small clearing of the Canadian countryside. It was about that point in time, 35 minutes or so after leaving the cabin, they started to feel the effects of the drug. 'At that point they were just hanging out, drinking beers, laughing and chatting while looking out at a view over a valley. 'Subsequent to this Henry then started to go downhill and then laid down on the grass and look up at the sky. He then started to act in a bizarre fashion.' He continued: 'Mr Duncan identified mood swings and behaviour in a manner which was bizarre, almost demonstrating a manicness - running around, throwing himself on the ground and throwing himself in trees and bushes.' Mr Stewart described to the inquest how Mr Suggitt suddenly stopped his exertions and lay still on the ground, much to the concern of his friend. After failing to call an ambulance due to the lack of mobile phone signal, Mr Duncan briefly walked off to somewhere with better signal so he could alert the authorities. The inquest at Woking Coroner's Court in Surrey (pictured) was told how Mr Suggitt suddenly stopped his exertions and lay still on the ground, much to the concern of his friend 'He was in the process of doing so when he heard Henry scream out and became silent,' Mr Stewart explained. 'Mr Duncan then returned to where Henry was and found him unconscious. He tried to resuscitate him but was unsuccessful. He then administered Henry's EpiPen, thinking it was an allergic reaction, but that was to no avail.' Mr Duncan then went off to call paramedics, who arrived sometime later, but were unable to resuscitate him and pronounced him dead at the scene. 'Although Mr Duncan cannot give an indication as to what time it was, he said it was dark by the time the paramedics arrived,' the coroner added. A post-mortem examination carried out by pathologist Dr Susan Phillips in Winnipeg on September 3 gave the medical cause of death as LSD toxicity - something which Mr Stewart agreed with. He was found to have 1.3 micrograms of LSD in his system, for every microlitre of blood and 31mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood. 'There's no indication of the quantity of LSD that either Henry or Mr Bryce took on September 3,' he said. 'However the evidence from the post-mortem examination is clear in that it attributes Henry's death to being one of LSD toxicity. 'I accept those findings that the medical cause of death of Henry Suggitt was one of LSD toxicity and as a consequence record a conclusion of drug-related death.' Turning to his parents who both attended the inquest at Woking Coroner's Court, he added: 'I can only imagine how painful it must be to lose someone so young with such a promising future.' Since losing their son to what they said was a 'one-off' drug experiment, his parents have raised more than 20,000 for The Eikon Charity, which goes into schools and informs children about the dangers of taking drugs, even in isolated incidents. Describing her son, Brigitte Suggitt, 51, said afterwards: 'He was a very fit, healthy young man and he was not a normal drug-taker. 'This was a one-off but he chose to do it with his friend. For us we wanted to let others know about the dangers in that even one-off drug taking can have a devastating impact. We just want something positive to come out of all this.' For more information about his family's fundraising efforts please click here Sweeping changes will be made to the Australian citizenship test in a bid to test the values of migrants looking to settle in the country permanently. A set of questions determining if a potential citizen shares the same values as the nation will be added to the test, including questions on domestic violence and child marriage. Sample questions provided to the Daily Telegraph include: 'can you strike your spouse?', 'does Australia's principle of freedom of religion mean that in some situations it is permissible to force children to marry?' Applicants may also be asked: 'under what circumstances is it appropriate to prohibit girls from education?' Malcolm Turnbull will announce sweeping changes to the Australian citizenship test on Thursday, including adding questions about Australian values and a rigorous English test The values questions are intended to be put to the public for their opinion, and could include topics such as genital mutilation, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. There will also be an English test which requires the applicant to display reading, writing and listening skills. Prospective citizens with a permanent or enduring incapacity, as well as those aged under 16, would be exempted from the English reading, writing and listening test. Applicants will also have to demonstrate steps they have taken to contribute and integrate into their community, whether by employment, school enrolment or membership of community organisations. The test can only be taken by those who have held permanent residency for four years, whereas previously it was one. Behaviour inconsistent with Australian values will also be taken into account during the process, with a light shone on criminal activity - including domestic violence - and involvement in organised crime. Applicants can take the test three times, and then must wait two more years before taking it again. Previously, there was no limit to the amount of times the test could be taken. Sample questions include questions about child marriage and domestic violence, and will be put to the public for their opinion Cheating will result in an automatic fail. The move comes just two days after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced an overhaul of the 457 temporary foreign worker visa. 'Membership of the Australian family is a privilege and should be afforded to those who support our values, respect our laws and want to work hard by integrating and contributing to an even better Australia,' Mr Turnbull said. 'We must ensure that our citizenship program is conducted in our national interest.' Speaking on Wednesday at the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Breakfast, the Prime Minister said the changes are intended to help increase national security, as well as social cohesion. 'Australia must continue to attract people who will embrace our values and positively contribute - regardless of their nationality or religious beliefs,' he said. Would-be citizens must have had permanent residency for four years, and their criminal history will be looked in to as part of the process 'This is important for temporary visas and vital for permanent residency and citizenship. 'Citizenship must be valued and we are making changes so that the practices and principles of those obtaining citizenship are consistent with our cultural values. 'Our reforms are designed to get more out of our migration system, to realise its potential to contribute to our economy.' Mr Turnbull said five million people had committed to becoming Australian citizens since 1949, helping to secure and enrich the nation. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said the country should not be embarrassed to say it wants great people to call Australia home. 'We want people who abide by our laws and our values, and we should expect nothing less,' Mr Dutton said. The public have been warned not to approach a homeless man, following a stabbing attack. Officers have appealed to Daniel Carrington, also known as Daniel McKenzie or Macca, 40, following the attack that killed Benjamin Terry Egan, 38. Mr Egan was found with multiple stab wounds at a short-term accommodation facility in Northbridge at 1.15pm on Tuesday. He later died at Royal Perth Hospital. The public have been warned not to approach homeless man Daniel Carrington (pictured), following a stabbing attack The public have been warned not to approach Mr Carrington. Authorities have released an image of the 40-year-old to assist with their investigation. Detective Senior Sergeant Tom Mills says the two men were known to each other and had both lived at the accommodation facility. He says Mr Carrington has no fixed address, uses public transport often and frequents the Perth city area, Fremantle and Glendalough. Mr Egan was found with multiple stab wounds at a short-term accommodation facility in Northbridge at 1.15pm on Tuesday. He later died at Royal Perth Hospital (pictured) CCTV footage captured the moment a runaway tyre flew into a pharmacy and hit an unsuspecting customer. The unusual accident happened in southern Adana in Turkey after a car crashed near the shop on Friday. Two men, who were sat talking to pharmacy owner Abdulkadir Erdeve, were injured when the tyre burst in through the door. Witnesses said the tyre bounced across the road after it was separated from a car. It then hit a tree and changed direction towards the pharmacy CCTV footage captured the moment the runaway tyre flew into a pharmacy and hit an unsuspecting customer Witnesses said the tyre bounced across the road after it was separated from a car. It then hit a tree and changed direction at high speed, heading straight towards the pharmacy. Mr Erdeve added: 'The tyre bounced, the car continued down the road, the tyre continued towards the sidewalk, hit the verge [by the tree], jumped. 'Then it hit the step and went inside, it continued [towards the seats].' An 18-year-old who was convicted of leaving her newborn son to die in a trash compactor last year might be able to regain custody of her child in the future. Samantha Houston sobbed in court on Monday as she was sentenced to six months in jail for the March 2016 crime. The teenage mom's newborn baby was nearly crushed to death before people living at the apartment complex in Everett, Washington heard him crying and jumped into the compactor to rescue him. Samantha Houston, of Everett, Washington, sobbed in court on Monday as she was sentenced to six months in jail for leaving her newborn in a trash compactor in March 2016 At the time, Houston told police she gave birth in the shower on March 25, 2016, and panicked, wrapping the baby in a towel and placing him in the dumpster. The baby was placed into police custody, but year later, however, Houston has been granted weekly supervised visits with her son by a special Dependency Court and with approval from staff at the Department of Social and Health Services, according to KIRO. During her sentence, a Snohomish County judge said that Houston is 'on the track to' gain custody of the child if she follows all of the court's instructions, citing DSHS records. The baby was placed into police custody, but year later, however, Houston has been granted weekly supervised visits with her son. During her sentence, a Snohomish County judge said that Houston is 'on the track to' gain custody of the child 'I wish I could take back what happened,' Houston said through tears during court. 'What happened to him must be the worst possible thing that could have happened to a newborn. I wish I could take it back.' A prosecutor firmly objected the idea of Houston regaining custody of the child and wanted the judge to issue a no contact order that would prevent the teen from seeing her son when she is released from jail. 'All of this is: "Oh this is a mistake and she's a good kid" - It wasn't just a mistake,' the prosecutor said. 'A mistake is forgetting the diaper bag. This is throwing a baby away with the trash.' The judge is leaving the decision up the DSHS and did not grant a non-contact order. In Washington, mothers can leave their newborns - no questions asked - with a staff member or volunteer at any fire station, rural clinic or hospital emergency room. Star Wars star John Boyega has claimed he was stopped 'every time' he went to Los Angeles to audition before he became famous. The 25-year-old, who grew up in Peckham, London, became a huge name in the film industry after appearing as former Stormtrooper Finn in 2015's Star Wars: The Force Awakens. But he revealed he was subjected to 'random checks' at airports when he would fly to the US prior when challenging for roles before he hit the big time. John Boyega, left, has revealed he was 'stopped every single time' at airports in the US when going to auditions before he found fame in Star Wars, right He told the Evening Standard Magazine: 'I was hustling and auditioning for things in LA. I'd get cheap flights and stay there for two weeks or whatever. And every time I was getting these random checks. Every. Single. Time.' Boyega said he 'could not remember' the name of the airline he used and said the behaviour of the staff was 'not right'. He added: 'They said it was a problem Stateside, they gave me a latter and it stopped. But before that it was consistent. 'I understand that [these things] are for for our safety but when you fly a lot and it happens three or four times there's an element of "OK, I'm still not a terrorist.' Boyega, who will be appearing at the Old Vic in London in the title role for Cold War play Woyzeck in May and June, also opened up on the day schoolmate Damilola Taylor was killed in 2000. The actor was with the youngster shortly before he was attacked with a broken bottle by brothers Danny and Ricky Preddie at a Peckham estate and was later found bleeding to death in a stairwell. Boyega, pictured with Star Wars co-star Daisy Ridley, said: 'When you fly a lot and it happens three or four times there's an element of "OK, I'm still not a terrorist' Boyega said he had been 'merely walking' with Damilola before the attack and later found out about it when the police arrived. He added it was not 'his story' and said the incident 'did not represent Peckham' and its 'diverse spirits'. The star still lives in south London and said he visits Peckham market to shop for food 'near enough every day'. He also said he enjoys visiting Nigeria, his parents' home country, because he 'loves being in a country where I'm not in the minority'. Boyega, who won the Bafta Rising Star Award for his role in Star Wars, made his film debut in London-set alien thriller Attack the Block in 2011, and has also appeared in hit television shows including 24: Live Another Day and Law and Order: UK. He will reprise his role as Finn in the next installment of the Star Wars Saga - The Last Jedi - which hits UK cinemas in December. The Pentagon will begin testing anti-missile weapons to ensure they can defend against North Korean weapons. The US will conduct two major tests in May in the Pacific as part of the military's overall ballistic missile program to defend against North Korean or Iranian threats. A separate high stakes test will determine whether the US can shoot down a future North Korean intercontinental missile. The Pentagon will begin testing anti-missile weapons to ensure they can defend against North Korean weapons. Pictured, the USS Carl Vinson, left, with the Arleigh-Burke missile cruiser USS Michael Murphy and the USS Lake Champlain are set to be deployed to the Korean peninsula The US will conduct two major tests in May in the Pacific as part of the military's overall ballistic missile program to defend against North Korean or Iranian threats. Pictured, the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group that will sail to near the Korean peninsula as a show of force President Donald Trump salutes service members outside Marine One today. His Pentagon is looking into ways to show strength to the North Koreans That test involves long-range ground-based interceptor missiles that are based in Alaska and California. The tests come amid fears that North Korea has obtained between ten and 25 nuclear weapons. The program was started up over a decade ago, but only about half the tests have been successful, the Defense Department told CNN. Of the other two tests - one of them will test-fire an improved Standard Missile off a Navy ship, officials said. They are being conducted over the Pacific as the test ranges there are vast enough to accommodate then. A new version of the upgraded missile - which has been tested once before - has an improved booster and warhead. This means it could fire at greater ranges and have a better chance of shooting down an incoming North Korean missile. North Korean missiles were paraded down the streets of Pyongyang on Saturday to commemorate the birthday of Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong-un's grandfather The decision to send 1,250 US Marines and 13 high-tech aircraft to Darwin comes as tensions in North Korea escalate (pictured, soldiers march during military parade in Pyongyang) North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was photographed this week attending a military parade. Experts worry that is the U.S. knocks down one of his missiles he'll attack Japan or South Korea China has expressed 'serious concern' about North Korean nuclear development, after a top official said North Korea would continue to test missiles. North Korea's vice-foreign minister told the BBC that Pyongyang would launch a nuclear strike if it thought the US was planning an attack. Foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said: 'China expresses serious concern with recent trends about North Korea's nuclear and missile development. 'China is unswerving in its commitment to realising the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, maintaining the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula, and continue to solve matters through dialogue and negotiations.' It comes as more than 1,200 highly-trained U.S. Marines and 13 powerful military aircraft have touched down in Darwin 'ready to fight' as tensions in North Korea escalate. The first of the Marines arrived in Australia's tropical north on Tuesday for a six-month deployment during which they will conduct exercises with Australian and visiting Chinese forces. The annual deployment program started by Barack Obama in 2011 is part of the U.S. 'pivot' to Asia at a time of increased assertiveness by China. The Pentagon is currently looking at ways to strong arm the North Korean regime to stop its nuclear program, short of actually going to war, as Vice President Mike Pence traveled to the region this week. Marines' commander Lieutenant Colonel Brian Middleton (not pictured) said his troops stood 'ready to fight and win the night always' Over a thousand highly-trained U.S. Marines touched down in Darwin, Australia, on Tuesday The idea would be that the U.S. would intercept a missile test after the North Koreans hold another nuclear test, with the message being that the nuclear test was 'unacceptable,' as President Trump has said. However, uncorking such a bottle with North Korea could lead to disastrous consequences, as the nation could attack American allies like South Korea and Japan, military experts pointed out to the Guardian. 'I would see such an action as escalatory, but I couldn't guess how Kim Jong-un would interpret it,' Abraham Denmark, the senior Pentagon policy official Asia under President Obama, told the Guardian of the unpredictable North Korean leader. 'But I would be concerned he would feel the need to react strongly, as he would not want to appear week,' Denmark added of the 33-year-old Kim. This new plan is separate from the U.S.'s decision to supply South Korea with a missile defense system called THAAD, an acronym for Terminal High Altitude Area Defense. The U.S. deployed the first stage of the system in March, though it could take months for the whole thing to come online, according to Fox News. China hasn't been a fan of the South Koreans getting THAAD, though President Trump has been trying to persuade China's President Xi to join the Americans in pressuring North Korea to stand down. Footage captures the moment Kim Jong-un smiled and waved as cheering crowds watched a simulation of a US city being wiped out by a nuclear attack North Korea put on a musical show to mark the birthday of founding father Kim Il Sung which ended with a mock-up of rockets engulfing America in flames The singing was followed by footage of its test-firing of a missile in February which, in the video, was joined by other missiles shooting into sky, passing over the Pacific and exploding in giant balls of flames in the United States Huge crowds were in the building to watch the extravaganza with military personnel cheering as the propaganda video was shown Speaking more broadly about Kim Jong-un on Sunday's Meet the Press, Sen. John McCain pointed out, 'This guy in North Korea is not rational. His father and his grandfather were much more rational than he is.' McCain explained why the U.S. hasn't wanted to take Kim out militarily. 'I think you never want to do that ... because of the proximity of North Korean artillery to Seoul, a city of how many million people,' McCain said. 'But, at the same time, to risk a situation where they have [nuclear] ability and we rely on our ability to intercept,' he said, pointing to what could happen if North Korea made good on its threat of nuclear attack. 'This could be the first test, real test, of the Trump presidency,' McCain said. Knocking down a North Korean missile, at least one expert argued, could be the best option as Pyongyang thumbs its nose at the United States, and the United Nations, which says North Korea cannot do any missile or nuclear tests. 'North Korea is banned from testing missiles by the UN, so in that sense we should be shooting all of them down,' Robert Kelly, an associate professor at South Koreas Pusan National University, told the Guardian. 'But instead the world has turned a blind eye.' 'I don't think it would be a bad idea to shoot down a test missile, as an attack on North Korea itself would be too provocative,' he added. It comes after North Korea put on a musical show to mark the birthday of founding father Kim Il Sung which ended with a mock-up of rockets engulfing America in flames. The choral performance was attended by dictator Kim Jong-un, the elder of Kim's grandson, on Sunday, after a massive military parade in the capital. The singing was followed by footage of its test-firing of a missile in February which, in the video, was joined by other missiles shooting into sky, passing over the Pacific and exploding in giant balls of flames in the United States. Newly released photos of terror cleric Anwar al-Awlaki show the jihadist under special FBI surveillance on the very same day he visited the Pentagon to speak at a luncheon urging outreach and reconciliation toward Muslims in the months after the 9/11 attacks. The photos obtained by Fox News show that Awlaki was under close surveillance within weeks of 9/11, raising questions about why he was later invited to speak at the Pentagon and allowed to travel freely in and out of the US. Awlaki went on to become a prolific terror recruiter through online videos of his radical sermons, and was tied to the Fort Hood massacre and failed 'underwear bomber' plot. He was the first American to make the CIA's kill or capture list, and died in a drone strike in Yemen in 2011. Scroll down for video Terror cleric Anwar al-Awlaki is seen eating pizza with his son and wife in this still from surveillance footage taken just weeks after 9/11, on October 1, 2001 Stunning new images show Awlaki under close FBI surveillance on February 5, 2002, the same day he spoke at a Pentagon luncheon urging outreach and understanding toward Muslims Awlaki is shown in surveillance footage dressed in a brown overcoat on the same day as the Februrary 5, 2002 Pentagon event titled 'Islam and Middle Eastern Politics and Culture' Awlaki is seen in an undated surveillance photo with an unknown subject 'The FBI continues to obstruct and delay the production of records concerning their investigation of the dead terrorist spiritual leader of the 9/11 hijackers: Anwar Awlaki,' Chris Farrell, investigations director of Judicial Watch, which obtained the photos through a freedom of information lawsuit, told Fox. The latest photos of Awlaki are stills from video surveillance, and were seen in barely visible Xerox versions released several years ago. The earliest of the photos shows the infamous cleric enjoying pizza with his wife and son in a Washington, DC park on October 1, 2001, just weeks after the terror attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center. Awlaki's phone number was found in the apartment of a man tied to the 9/11 plot, and investigators suspected him of serving as a spiritual advisor to the hijackers of Flight 77, which struck the Pentagon. Incredibly, though, the surveillance photos show Awlaki was under investigation the same day he spoke at a Pentagon luncheon, on February 5, 2002. Titled 'Islam and Middle Eastern Politics and Culture', the luncheon featured smoked ham and turkey, and was attended by more than 70 people, according to an email obtained by Fox. Awlaki, then an imam at a mosque near Falls Church, Virginia, had condemned the 9/11 attacks in multiple press interviews, but his terror ties came under increasing suspicion at the FBI. Awlaki was the first American to make the CIA's kill or capture list, and died in a drone strike in Yemen in 2011 In June of 2002, a federal warrant was signed for his arrest on suspicion of passport fraud. But in October of 2002, customs agents holding Awlaki at JFK airport were ordered by an FBI agent to release him. The cleric later went on to live in Yemen, where he became a notorious radical proselytizer. The FBI has never fully explained its actions regarding Awlaki, and critics say the agency has fought any release of information regarding the now-dead terror cleric. 'Almost 16 years later [after 9/11 attacks], how are the interests of the American public served by the FBIs legal gamesmanship and excessive redactions?' Judicial Watch's Farrell said. In February, FBI interviews were released revealing cleric Awlaki's role in grooming the 'underwear bomber'. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, now 30, became known as the notorious 'underpants bomber' in 2009 after he attempted to take down a U.S. jetliner by detonating a bomb hidden in his underwear in a warped plan to carry out Islamic jihad. The plot failed when the bomb did not detonate as planned but burst into flames, setting the jihadi alight. Awlaki explained how 'the attack should occur on board a U.S. airliner' and had given him guidance on how to 'work through' the 'issues' of killing 300 innocent people. The would-be bomber was able to describe his time at the secret Al Qaeda training camp in Yemen and stay at Awlaki's home in such detail that the information was likley used in the US drone strike which killed the leading propagandist and recruiter for Al Qaeda on September 30, 2011. Awlaki was first American to be deliberately killed without an official trial or charges on the order of a president since the Civil War. Advertisement Opponents of the Venezuelan government vowed fresh huge protests on Thursday, a day after three people were killed during deadly clashes in the oil-rich but beleaguered nation. A teenager, a 23-year-old woman and a soldier died in the 'mother of all marches' in Venezuela, after it was revealed the country paid a larger sum than some corporations to Trump's inauguration. Hundreds of thousands marched through the streets of Caracas on Wednesday, as the country's opposition accuses President Nicolas Maduro of resorting to dictatorial measures to quash popular outrage over a deepening economic crisis. The teenager, Carlos Moreno, was shot in the head as he walked to football practice and died in the operating theatre as medics battled to save his life. The 17-year-old student did not plan to take part in the demonstration when government supporters approached an opposition gathering and fired shots, according to witnesses and a family member. Moreno was shot in the head by gunmen on motorbikes who also threw gas canisters into the crowd, they said. Last night another man, Paola Ramirez, 23, was killed by gunfire from pro-government groups circling protesters in the western city of San Cristobal, the town's mayor said. The university student died after being shot by armed men on motorbikes as she was leaving the protest, in the opposition hotbed of San Cristobal near the Colombia border relatives and witnesses said. Scroll down for video Thousands of demonstrators rally against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas on Wednesday. Clashes broke out between the protesters and police, and three people were killed Violence erupted when thousands of opposition protesters tried to march on central Caracas, a pro-government bastion where red-clad Maduro supporters were massing for a counter-demonstration. Pictured above, opposition supporters clash with police during protests The three deaths on Wednesday brought the number of people killed this month in a mounting political crisis to eight. Pictured above, demonstrators clash with the police during a rally against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro Demonstrators flee into a ravine in Caracas as clashes between protesters and police turned violent on Thursday as riot police fired tear gas to push back against the stone-throwing demonstrators Opposition leader Henrique Capriles (centre, wearing cap with Venezuelan colours) looks for refuge under a bridge as police throw tear gas during a rally An anti-government protester throws a molotov bomb at security forces in Caracas as demonstrators clashed with police on Wednesday A pro-government politician and reservist, Diosdado Cabello, said on his television show that anti-Maduro activists had also 'murdered' a soldier in San Antonio de los Altos, a town just south of Caracas, late Wednesday. Prosecutors confirmed the death. The three deaths brought the number of people killed this month in a mounting political crisis to eight. Authorities had previously reported five other people killed, including a boy of 13, in protests around the country earlier this month. Venezuela's chief prosecutor said she is investigating Wednesday's deaths. The opposition has accused Maduro of letting state forces and gangs of armed thugs violently repress demonstrators as he resists opposition pressure for him to quit. Some disturbances continued into the night, with reports of looted bakeries, supermarkets and food centers in western Caracas. Despite Wednesday's deadly violence, his opponents displayed their determination to ratchet up the pressure by calling for renewed protests on Thursday. 'Today there were millions of us,' senior opposition leader Henrique Capriles told a news conference late Wednesday. 'Tomorrow even more of us have to come out.' The opposition leader of congress, Julio Borges, and Maduro's vice president, Tareck El Aissami, traded blame for Wednesday's deadly violence. According to a survey by pollster Venebarometro, seven in ten Venezuelans disapprove of Maduro, whose term does not end until 2019. Thousands of people are marching in Caracas, as Venezuela is in the grips of a food and medicine crisis in a turbulent financial time A woman stands in front of the Bolivarian National Guard armoured vehicle, attempting to block its path on a major highway in Caracas Rescue workers tend to a demonstrator who fell into the Guaire River after he was hit by a tear gas canister fired by the Bolivarian National Guard A woman is carried out by friends after she is overcome by tear gas while protesting in the streets of Caracas Demonstrators flee as they are confronted by riot police, during continuing clashes. A young protester was shot dead An anti-government protester wears a mask to protect himself from tear gas throughout the mother of all marches in Caracas A looter runs with a computer taken from an office building as the marches turn violent throughout the city Opportunistic looters taken items from office buildings as thousands of people are faced with poverty and hunger Maduro said on Wednesday he was willing to face his opponents at the ballot box. 'I want to have elections soon... to seek a peaceful path so the Bolivian revolution can put the conspirators, murderers and interventionist right-wingers in their place,' he told a rally of supporters in central Caracas. Regional elections due in December were indefinitely postponed and there is still no date for local polls due this year. The next presidential election is due in December 2018. While President Maduro may be struggling to feed Venezuela it was revealed his socialist administration still managed to make a $500,000 donation to Donald Trump's inauguration, according to records released on Wednesday. Inaugural committee records filed with the Federal Election Commission show Citgo Petroleum, a U.S. affiliate of Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA, was one of the biggest corporate donors to events surrounding the swearing-in ceremony. The donation topped that of some U.S. corporate giants including Pepsi ($250,000), Walmart ($150,000) and Verizon ($100,000) and was on par with the likes of JP Morgan Chase and Exxon, which each donated $500,000. It came in under Bank of America's $1 million contribution. Even while accusing the U.S. of trying to overthrow him, Maduro has been careful not to antagonize the new U.S. president. But the Trump administration has recently stepped up criticism of Venezuela's government. In February, Trump met with the wife of a jailed opposition leader at the White House and on Tuesday the U.S. State Department issued a statement decrying violence against protesters. A number of anti-government protesters stop to catch their breath as the clashes begin to slow down, following a day of violence A protester sets his own backpack alight as he tries to fling a molotov cocktail ahead of him, as a demonstrator behind him winces and ducks aside A man prepares to throw a molotov cocktail at riot police as the city burns around him during continuing tensions Anti-government protesters bring down a fence to set up barricades in the ongoing protests against the president A youth aims a slingshot as tens of thousands of protesters storm the streets with homemade weapons in the clashes The split second after a molotov cocktail leaves the hand of a protester who is wearing a gas mask to protect himself from tear gas in Caracas Demonstrators cover their faces to avoid tear gas while rallying during the so-called 'mother of all marches' against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas 'Those responsible for the criminal repression of peaceful democratic activity ... will be held individually accountable for their actions by the Venezuelan people and their institutions, as well as the international community,' the statement read. Senators have previously said they are 'extremely concerned' with the violence in Venezuela and its impact on American security. In the culmination of a fortnight of violent demonstrations that have killed another five people, protesters around the country are demanding the government present a timeline for delayed elections, halt a security crackdown on protests, and respect the autonomy of the opposition-led legislature. Moreno, the student hit by gunfire, died in a clinic after undergoing surgery, according to three security officials who asked not to be identified. 'There was an exchange of words, the situation got complicated and, well, they shot the young man,' said Arhiam Cano, a graphic designer who witnessed the event. 'When they took him to (a nearby clinic), the government supporters left.' Waving the country's red, yellow and blue flags and shouting 'No more dictatorship' and 'Maduro out,' demonstrators clogged a stretch of the main highway in Caracas. Troops fired tear gas in Caracas neighborhoods, the border city of San Cristobal, the depressed industrial city of Puerto Ordaz, and the arid northern city of Punto Fijo. Maduro has charged that the opposition is trying to relive the 2002 coup against Chavez, his predecessor and mentor, by blocking roads with burning trash and vandalizing public property. A demonstrator throws back a tear gas canister during clashes with security forces at a protest in Caracas. The National Guard members are deploying tear gas on an opposition march Demonstrators run away from tear gas canisters thrown by the police during a rally against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro It emerged on Wednesday that although the country is in financial turmoil, it donated a huge sum of money to the Trump administration for the inauguration Police use tear gas to disperse the citizens during the riot. The revelation of the huge donation outstrips the money given by Pepsi An armed officer stands in the street next to a burning pile of wreckage. The riots have taken the life of seven Venezuelans, with two killed on Wednesday A youth, with a rosary around his neck, aims his sling during anti-government protests in Caracas A man covers his face while he storms down the street holding a flamethrower, which he prepares to launch at riot police On Wednesday afternoon he addressed a cheering red-shirted crowd in Caracas to declare that a 'corrupt and interventionist right-wing' had been defeated. 'Today the people stood by Maduro!' the president said, blasting his rivals as 'anti-Christs.' 'We've triumphed again! Here we are, governing, governing, governing with the people!' he added, before breaking into song. Recent marches have repeatedly ended in clashes between demonstrators and security forces. Youths throwing rocks have squared off against security forces spraying tear gas in melees that have dragged on well into the evening. 'We're scared but we've got to do this,' said Carmen Medina, a 55-year-old social worker in the middle-class district of El Paraiso, where demonstrators were beginning to gather. 'We're marching for the freedom of our country.' Maduro, who says recent protests have been little more than opposition efforts to foment violence and topple his government, has called on supporters of the ruling Socialist Party to hold a competing march in Caracas. He says the protests echo those of 2002 that led to a brief coup against his predecessor and mentor, the late socialist leader Hugo Chavez. That putsch led to a broad purge of the armed forces who now openly proclaim their backing for Maduro. The opposition is demanding early elections, the freeing of jailed politicians, humanitarian aid, and respect for the autonomy of the opposition-led legislature. Opposition leaders say the depth of the economic collapse in oil-producing Venezuela, in which millions struggle daily with food shortages, will prove a game-changer. Anti-government demonstrators huddle as they try to take cover from the advancing Bolivarian police officers A demonstrator wears a 'Guy Fawkes' mask as he stands alone on the street. Protests have killed six people in Venezuela Police have used tear gas to disperse protesters from the centre of Caracas, and some have take homemade weapons onto the streets Riot police officers confront demonstrators, using their shields to form a protective shell around themselves as they meet protesters A riot police officer fires tear gas at demonstrators during a rally against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as clashes broke out between the two sides Demonstrators wear gas masks and carry shields as they throwing flaming bottles at the rallies against the Socialist Party Prime Minister Demonstrators wear bright colours and flags as the huddle together to protect one another in the streets. The clashes have turned violent and five people have already been killed Demonstrators cover their noses and mouths with handkerchiefs as they run from tear gas, being deployed by the National Guard against the opposition A man in a gas mask and a large leather gloves carries protection as he walks past a small fire which has been left burning on the streets of Caracas 'This is a government in its terminal phase,' two-time presidential candidate Henrique Capriles said on Tuesday. 'This is going to escalate and force Maduro, and his regime, to hold free and democratic elections.' Maduro is under increasing pressure as falling prices for oil exports worsen a food and medicine shortage and deepen the country's financial crisis. His opposition has called on the military, a pillar of Maduro's power, to remove their support for the president. But the defence minister, General Vladimir Padrino Lopez, pledged the army's 'unconditional loyalty'. A Supreme Court decision in March to assume the powers of the opposition-led Congress sparked a wave of protests that have not ebbed, even though the court has partly reversed the measure in the face of international condemnation. Further spurring outrage was a decision by the national comptroller's office earlier this month to disqualify Capriles from holding office for 15 years, dashing his hopes for the presidency. 'I don't have any food in the fridge,' said protester Jean Tovar, 32, who held rocks in his hands ready to throw at military police in Caracas. 'I have a two-year-old son to support and I am unemployed, and it is all Maduro's fault.' Recent moves by Maduro to tighten his grip on power and ban Capriles from politics have escalated the country's political and economic crisis and sparked international cries of concern. A man prepares to thrown a homemade weapon into the streets, which are filling with smoke as the demonstrators continue to clash Protesters wear gas masks and hold shields as they battle the government authorities. Above, a man has just lit a weapon, as he holds his arm back to throw it A group of demonstrators scale a wall to escape tear gas as they take part in violent demonstrations between those who oppose the president and those who support him A financial crisis has left the country in the grips of a food and medicine shortage and the country's opposition fears Maduro is strengthening his grip on power Two men use a huge slingshot to launch stones at the opposition. President Maduro urged a counter protest and the call has led to hundreds of thousands of people being in the streets Two men stand behind a makeshift shield while another launches a molotov bomb at police. The opposition has been demanding a new election The opposition is demanding that jailed politicians be freed and humanitarian aid be given out. They met at around 12 places within the city at the start of Wednesday for the protests They have galvanized the often divided opposition in the recent protests in their efforts to force Maduro from power. 'We have to end this dictatorship. We're fed up. We want elections to get Maduro out, because he's destroyed this country,' said protester Ingrid Chacon, a 54-year-old secretary. The president in turn has urged his supporters, the military and civilian militias to defend the socialist 'Bolivarian revolution' launched by his predecessor Hugo Chavez in 1999. 'We are firmly with Maduro out of loyalty to our eternal commander' Chavez, said teacher Nancy Guzman, 50, demonstrating at Maduro's rally on Wednesday. The elections council, which is sympathetic to the government, has delayed votes for state governors that were supposed to take place last year. The opposition charges that this is because the ruling Socialist Party would be likely to fare poorly in such a vote. Eleven Latin American countries issued a joint statement this week calling on authorities to set a time frame for elections to 'allow for a quick solution to the crisis that Venezuela is living through.' Opposition supporters congregated at more than two dozen meeting points around Caracas and plan to converge on the office of the state ombudsman, a guarantor of human rights. Previous efforts to march there have been blocked by the National Guard, resulting in clashes. Authorities closed metro stations and set up checkpoints on highways, which critics called an effort to slow the opposition mobilization. A demonstrator lies on the ground overcome by tear gas, as she attempts to cover her nose and mouth with a handkerchief Madaro urged his own supporters to take to the streets and show their support for his Socialist Party, as the army continued to pledge allegiance Thousands pour onto a highway through Caracas. Despite six deaths, the protests are still attracting hundreds of people, including older generations The National Guard launch tear gas. One young woman said she had recently graduated but didn't have enough money to buy cooking oil Huge numbers have turned out each night as they seek to put pressure on the Socialist Party leader to allow for another election Demonstrators wearing skull masks duck for cover as something is flung at them from higher ground. There have been frequent violent clashes in Caracas The country's leader, Maduro, has even called upon his supporters to organise and rally in counter demonstrations to quash the opposition to him Six people hide in groups of three behind makeshift shields as they battle in rival demonstrations. Early reports indicate one person has been killed in Wednesday's clash Demonstrators also gathered in the southern city of Puerto Ordaz, home to Venezuela's struggling state-run mining companies, and in the border city of San Cristobal and the oil city of Maracaibo. 'I've just graduated and what I've got in the bank isn't enough for a bottle of cooking oil,' said Gregorio Mendoza, a 23 -year-old engineer in Puerto Ordaz. 'We're poorer every day.' Venezuela benefited for years from oil-fueled consumption and many poor citizens rose into the middle class. But the 2014 collapse in oil prices left the government unable to maintain a complex system of subsidies and price controls. Snaking grocery lines are now a common sight and people routinely say they skip meals and cannot find basic medication. Further spurring outrage was a decision by the national comptroller's office earlier this month to disqualify opposition leader and two-time presidential candidate Henrique Capriles from holding office for 15 years, dashing his hopes for the presidency. Socialist Party officials dismiss the opposition marches as efforts to destabilize the government, pointing to protester barricades and vandalism, and have called on supporters to rally around Maduro. 'They've got the right to march but marching isn't burning stuff, throwing rocks,' said Jahil Marcano, a 48-year-old construction worker who had joined the pro-government rally. 'They view us Chavistas with hatred.' International campaign group the Human Rights Watch has warned that the strengthening of the militia is an attempt to scare the opposition. Jose Miguel Vivanco, the Watch's Americas spokesman, said at a news conference in Washington: 'We know of no other similar case in Latin America of a government arming urban militias. By that I mean delinquents, gangs that act with total impunity and intimidate citizens, with power to shoot and make arrests.' Bill O'Reilly is out at Fox News. Rupert Murdoch announced that he was terminating the network's most popular host in a letter on Wednesday afternoon that was signed by himself and his sons, Lachlan and James. Rupert reportedly made this decision to fire O'Reilly after being pressured by his two sons. 'After a thorough and careful review of the allegations,the company and Bill OReilly have agreed that Bill OReilly will not be returning to the Fox News Channel,' 21st Century Fox said in a statement O'Reilly, who recently signed a multiyear contract worth over $20million a year, was halfway around the world at the time, having spent the morning meeting Pope Francis in Vatican City. The popular host was in St. Peters Square with his son for Pope Francis' weekly address, and afterwards stood in a VIP line to shake hands with the holy leader. Pope Francis likely had no idea whose hand he was shaking however as the pontiff has said in interviews that he does not watch television. He released a statement on Wednesday afternoon saying: 'It is tremendously disheartening that we part ways due to completely unfounded claims.' Scroll down for video Farewell friend: Bill O'Reilly (above last June) is out at Fox News after 20 years with the network Big day: O'Reilly was in Vatican City with his son on Wednesday where he met with Pope Francis (above) Time to go: Rupert Murdoch was reportedly pressured to fire the host by his two sons, James and Lachlan (l to r: Lachlan, Rupert and James Murdoch in March 2016) Decree: Rupert Murdoch made the announcement in a letter signed by himself and sons James and Lachlan (above) 'Over the past 20 years at Fox News, I have been extremely proud to launch and lead one of the most successful news programs in history, which has consistently informed and entertained millions of Americans and significantly contributed to building Fox into the dominant news network in television,' O'Reilly said in the beginning of his statement. 'It is tremendously disheartening that we part ways due to completely unfounded claims. But that is the unfortunate reality many of us in the public eye must live with today. 'I will always look back at my time at Fox with great pride in the unprecedented success we achieved and with my deepest gratitude to all my dedicated viewers. 'I wish only the best for Fox News channel.' Fox News announced that starting on Monday, Tucker Carlson will move to 8pm, 'The Five' will move to 9pm and Sean Hannity will stay in his 10pm slot. Eric Bolling will take over in the 5pm slot formerly occupied by The Five beginning on May 1, and Martha MacCallum will stay on in the 7pm hour. The new lineup of 'The Five' will feature six hosts: Kimberly Guilfoyle, Dana Perino, Bob Beckel, Greg Gutfeld, Jesse Watters and Juan Williams. WHO IS SARAH MURDOCH? Rupert Murdoch was reportedly convinced to fire Bill O'Reilly at the urging of his sons James and Lachlan. James had been against O'Reilly since the allegations of sexual harassment against the Fox News host became public, while Lachlan was reportedly swayed by his wife Sarah. Sarah, 44, was born in London but raised in Australia and prior to marrying Lachlan in 1999 was one of the most successful models in the world. She appeared in campaigns for the likes of Yves Saint Laurent and Ralph Lauren, twice appeared in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue and was featured in the film 'Head Over Heels.' Sarah was also the face of Wonderbra at one time. She and Lachlan have three children, sons Kalan (12) and Aidan (10) and daughter Aerin (7). Since their marriage she has packed in the modelling in favor of hosting, appearing for three seasons on the popular show Australia's Next Top Model. Sarah currently resides with her husband and children in Los Angeles. Advertisement Both 'Tucker Carlson Tonight' and 'The Five' will air live each night. New York magazine reported earlier in the day on Wednesday that executives at Fox News were reportedly discussing the best way to sever ties with O'Reilly ahead of a 21st Century Fox board meeting on Thursday, during which O'Reilly is expected to be the primary talking point. Fox News staffer reportedly felt that O'Reilly would be staying on last week, but Rupert is said to have had a change of heart after speaking with his two sons. James had wanted O'Reilly out from the start while Lachlan was on the fence. Lachlan then reportedly changed his mind on the matter when his wife Sarah convinced him that O'Reilly had to go. This comes one day after a new accuser came forward to make sexual harassment allegations against O'Reilly. Several unnamed Fox News employees are preparing to file additional complaints against the network, according to their attorney Doug Wigdor. He said the allegations will shed further light on the abhorrent, intolerable, and unlawful working conditions that our clients have been forced to endure. Wigdor told Dailymail.com on Wednesday that he expects to file a handful of complaints against the network in the coming days. He declined to comment on whether the specific allegations included sexual harassment. In a press statement, Wigdor also rejected claims by OReillys attorney that the Fox News host is the target of a smear campaign orchestrated by far-left organizations bent on destroying OReilly. Wigdor said he backed Donald Trumps presidential campaign and frequently watches Fox News. I can categorically deny, and find it offensive, that my Firm is being accused of being controlled by far-left organizations, he said. Wigdor is representing several current and former Fox News employees who are currently suing the network for racial discrimination. Moving on up: Tucker Carlson (above) will reportedly be taking over for O'Reilly at 8pm Welcome to primetime: The Five will tape live at 9pm every night starting Monday ( l to r: Hosts Kimberly Guilfoyle, Bob Beckel, Eric Bolling, Dana Perino and Greg Gutfeld) Gunning it: Jesse Watters (left) will join 'The Five' and Sean Hannity (right last week with Megyn Kelly) will stay in his 10pm slot Attorney Lisa Bloom told The Hollywood Reporter that the woman in question worked for another network back in 2008 but had a desk near O'Reilly's office, and claimed that he would refer to the African-American woman as 'hot chocolate' when he walked by during the day. The woman is not asking for any money, just 'accountability' according to Bloom. 'He would never talk to her, not even hello, except to grunt at her like a wild boar,' alleged Bloom on O'Reilly's treatment of this latest alleged victim. FOX NEWS LINEUP 5pm: Eric Bolling program TBD (premieres May 1) 6pm: Special Report with Bret Baier 7pm: The Story with Martha MacCallum 8pm: Tucker Carlson Tonight 9pm: The Five (with Kimberly Guilfoyle, Dana Perino, Bob Beckel, Greg Gutfeld, Jesse Watters and Juan Williams) 10pm: Hannity Advertisement 'He would leer at her. He would always do this when no one else was around and she was scared.' Marc E Kasowitz, attorney for Bill OReilly said in a statement: 'Bill OReilly has been subjected to a brutal campaign of character assassination that is unprecedented in post-McCarthyist America. 'This law firm has uncovered evidence that the smear campaign is being orchestrated by a far-left organization bent on destroying OReilly for political and financial reasons. 'That evidence will be put forth shortly and is irrefutable.' An earlier statement from O'Reilly's lawyer said: 'It is outrageous that an allegation from an anonymous person about something that purportedly happened a decade ago is being treated as fact, especially when there is an obviously orchestrated campaign by activists and lawyers to destroy Mr. O'Reilly and enrich themselves through publicity driven donations.' Efficient: Lachlan and James were also reportedly behind the decision to ax Roger Ailes for his perch as CEPO of Fox News (Lachlan and Rupert above last July) Key player: Lachlan was reportedly on the fence when it came time to decide if O'Reilly should be fired from his post (left in 2017 and right in 2016 with wife Sarah) Lend an ear: It was Lachlan's wife Sarah (far right in 2014) who reportedly convinced her husband that O'Reilly had to go Viewership of 'The O'Reilly Factor' dropped 26 per cent in the days after he went on vacation. Nielsen company figures show that so far Bolling did the best with his 3.11million viewership, down 16 per cent from O'Reilly's performance a week earlier. The 2.32million who watched Gutfeld on Friday was down 39 per cent from the previous Friday. O'Reilly's viewership spiked in the days following the report on the harassment allegations. O'REILLY 'SUBJECTED TO BRUTAL CAMPAIGN OF CHARACTER ASSASSINATION' Marc E Kasowitz, attorney for Bill OReilly said in a statement: 'Bill OReilly has been subjected to a brutal campaign of character assassination that is unprecedented in post-McCarthyist America. 'This law firm has uncovered evidence that the smear campaign is being orchestrated by far-left organization bent on destroying OReilly for political and financial reasons. 'That evidence will be put forth shortly and is irrefutable.' Advertisement In the week that followed, viewership increased to an average of 3.71 million, up 12 per cent from the week before the report and 28 per cent over the same week in 2016. It has still remained the most watched cable news show and won its timeslot. Bloom is also representing Dr. Wendy Walsh, who previously accused O'Reilly of harassment. Walsh said that in 2013 O'Reilly asked her to dinner one night at the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles and then made the network contributor an offer, telling her that he was friends with Roger Ailes and could make secure the lucrative position for the psychotherapist. It was after dinner when things began to shift according to Walsh, who said that O'Reilly asked her to come up to his hotel suite. She politely declined and decided to steer the two towards the bar, where she claims O'Reilly became hostile over drinks and said she could forget his career advice. Then, as a coup de grace, Walsh claims that O'Reilly said her purse was ugly. It was revealed earlier this month that five women had been paid by the network after making accusations against the popular host. Walsh was not one of those women and had never publicly accused O'Reilly until the release of The New York Times report. First case: The first known person to accuse O'Reilly of sexual harassment at Fox News was Andrea Mackris (above with her lawyer in 2004) The report claimed that close to $13 million had been paid to five women who accused O'Reilly of inappropriate behavior in the workplace: Rachel Witlieb Bernstein, Andrea Mackris, Rebecca Gomez Diamond, Laurie Dhue, and Juliet Huddy. It was Mackris' lawsuit that made headlines when it was settled back in 2004 by the network for a formerly undisclosed sum which over the weekend was revealed to be $9million. In her complaint, Mackris claimed she had been sexually harassed by O'Reilly and detailed their phone sex conversations in which he allegedly listed off his female conquests. O'Reilly also allegedly detailed a sex fantasy he had about Mackris using 'that little loofah thing' in the shower, but towards the end accidentally called it a 'falafel thing'. According to the complaint, O'Reilly called Mackris one night to inform her he was watching pornography and then began to engage in a phone sex fantasy about having her come to the Caribbean with him. 'So anyway Id be rubbing your big boobs and getting your nipples really hard, kinda kissing your neck from behind... and then I would take the other hand with the falafel thing and Id put it on your p***y, but youd have to do it really light, just kind of a tease business,' said O'Reilly according to court papers filed by Mackris. Her complaint went on to say that during his monologue O'Reilly also suggested Mackris perform oral sex on his 'big c***' and that 'it became clear that he was using a vibrator upon himself and had ejaculated.' When the two reached a settlement a statement was released from both parties that said 'no wrongdoing whatsoever' occurred while Mackris worked with O'Reilly. She was also not allowed to speak about the suit in public before or after the settlement, while O'Reilly was able to say that Mackris' complaint was 'the single most evil thing I have ever experienced' to his millions of viewers. Mackris was also written about negatively in a number of articles at the time. It was seven years until the next woman received a settlement, with Diamond being handed an unknown amount from O'Reilly himself according to multiple sources after confronting him with a recording of comments he had made to and about her while she worked as a host on the Fox Business Network show 'Happy Hour.' The payout was so secretive that 21st Century Fox was not even aware of the what had transpired between the two parties until last year, when it was revealed during an internal investigation into sexual harassment claims being brought against Ailes. Laurie Dhue, who worked as a reporter on the television show Geraldo at Large and was the host of Fox Report Weekend for eight years between 2000 and 2008 also received a payout after accusing Ailes and O'Reilly of sexual harassment. She received $1million over the summer from the network, shortly after she announced her plan to write a tell-all book. The network quietly paid Dhue (left) more than $1million in 2016 after the anchor claimed she was sexually harassed by both O'Reilly and Ailes while Huddy (right) got $1.6million Fox News also settled with Huddy for $1.6million back in September after she claimed that O'Reilly had tried to pursue a sexual relationship with her while she appeared on the network as a guest on his show. Huddy stated that O'Reilly would repeatedly call her at home in Long Island and once tried to kiss her, which caused her to fall over as she pulled away from the host. Soon after she stopped being asked to appear on O'Reilly's program. Both Dhue and Huddy's stories had been reported before, but it was not known Dhue had complained about O'Reilly's behavior in addition to Ailes. The fifth settlement came back in 2002 after O'Reilly reportedly screamed at junior producer Rachel Witlieb Bernstein, who left soon after with a settlement. That incident did not involve sexual harassment. O'Reilly fired back soon after the release of the report, releasing a personal statement on his website in which he said that he had to consider his children when settling these claims. 'Just like other prominent and controversial people, I'm vulnerable to lawsuits from individuals who want me to pay them to avoid negative publicity. In my more than 20 years at Fox News Channel, no one has ever filed a complaint about me with the Human Resources Department, even on the anonymous hotline,' O'Reilly began his statement. 'But most importantly, I'm a father who cares deeply for my children and who would do anything to avoid hurting them in any way. And so I have put to rest any controversies to spare my children.' He added: 'Those of us in the arena are constantly at risk, as are our families and children. My primary efforts will continue to be to put forth an honest TV program and to protect those close to me.' O'Reilly has a daughter Madeline, 18, and son Spencer, 13, with his ex-wife Maureen. The couple divorced in 2011, and it was in the years after that divorce that three of the five women who received settlements claimed they were sexually harassed by O'Reilly. He currently makes $18million annually as the host of his Fox News show, which he launched back in 1996 at the birth of the network. Rebecca Diamond (right) a host on the Fox Business Network, revealed her recorded conversations with O'Reilly after the network told her they would not be renewing her contract O'Reilly made comments similar to his official statement last year while appearing on 'Late Night With Seth Meyers' and defending Ailes after women began coming forward claiming he had sexually harassed them over the years. 'In this country, every famous, powerful or wealthy person is a target,' O'Reilly told Meyers. 'Youre a target. Im a target. Any time somebody could come out and sue us, attack us, go to the press or anything like that.' O'Reilly then began to say 'until America,' but quickly interrupted himself to explain what he has to deal with in his life because of his fame. 'It's a deplorable situation because I have to have bodyguards. I have to hire bodyguards, physical bodyguards.' He then continued with his previous thought, telling Meyers: 'Until the United States adopts the English system of civil law, whereby, if you file a frivolous lawsuit, and you lose, the judge has a right to make you pay all court costs.' 'Until we adopt that very fair proposition, we are going to have this out of control, tabloid society that is tremendously destructive.' O'Reilly also went after then co-worker Megyn Kelly on CBS This Morning back in November when she publicly accused Ailes of sexual harassment in her memoir. 'I'm not interested in basically litigating something that is finished that makes my network look bad. Okay?' said O'Reilly. 'I'm not interested in making my network look bad at all. That doesn't interest me one bit. ' Kelly, an actual victim of sexual harassment in the workplace, refused to be silenced or shamed by O'Reilly and fired back the following day, saying: 'I believe that Roger Ailes made the company look bad.' Ailes made a remarkably swift exit from the company back in July, packing up his office just three weeks after he was accused of sexual harassment in a lawsuit filed by former host Gretchen Carlson. He still managed to walk away with a reported $40million severance package after leaving his post, and maintains that the allegations being made by Carlson in her lawsuit are false. Carlson recounted a conversation she had with Ailes in September of 2015 in her court filing, during which he allegedly said to her: 'I think you and I should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago and then you'd be good and better and I'd be good and better.' That conversation allegedly occurred when Carlson went to speak with Ailes about what she believed were discriminatory practices at the network. The popular host of 'The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson' claimed in her lawsuit that her refusal to have a sexual relationship with her boss was why she was let go on June 23 after 11 years with the network. She was eventually awarded $20million, and told she could not speak about the lawsuit. Former Fox News event planner Laurie Luhn received a settlement following her relationship with Ailes, which she claimed required her to perform sexual acts with the man and for two decades and eventually caused her to suffer a mental breakdown. It was after that breakdown that Luhn decided to tell the network about the years of sexual harassment at the hands of Ailes and how he would allegedly tape her and once forced her to engage in bed with another women while seeking out younger women for him to meet. The network quickly responded by giving Luhn a $3.15million payout, and making her sign 'extensive nondisclosure provisions.' It was also revealed just last month that Tamara Holder and 21st Century Fox reportedly worked out a deal in February that awarded the lawyer and author $2.5million following an incident that occurred two years ago. Other clients: Bloom is also representing Dr. Wendy Walsh (above earlier this month) Holder, who joined the network in 2010 and has appeared on Hannity and guest hosted The Five, approached Fox News' executive vice president for business and legal affairs Dianne Brandi back in September and alleged that she had been sexually assaulted by Francisco Cortes. She alleged that Cortes, the vice president of Fox News Latino, tried to force her into performing oral sex on him when the two were alone in his office. Fox News also fired Cortes, who in 2004 was personally selected by Roger Ailes as the first member of the disgraced CEO's apprentice program. Kelly wrote about what she saw as problems with the way Ailes handled complaints in her memoir, saying that the 'entire structure was set up to isolate and silence' victims. Finally, there is Andrea Tantaros, who is still suing the company for $50million. The former Fox News host claims that Ailes and O'Reilly both subjected her to unwanted sexual advances while she was an employee. 'Fox News masquerades as a defender of traditional family values, but behind the scenes, it operates like a sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult, steeped in intimidation, indecency and misogyny,' claimed Tantaros in her lawsuit. Tantaros, 37, went on to claim in the suit that she was taken off the air when she complained about being sexually harassed by Ailes. She also claimed that Ailes once asked her to perform 'the twirl' for him; said 'come over here so I can give you a hug'; and told her 'I bet you look good in a bikini.' O'Reilly meanwhile invited Tantaros to his Long island home to stay with him, telling her it would be 'very private' she claimed in her lawsuit, also telling her that he could 'see [her] as a wild girl' and that she had a 'wild side.' Tantaros said that she and her agent told Shine, Scott, and Brandi about numerous examples of Ailes's alleged harassment. 'Ailes did not act alone,' claims Tantaros in her lawsuit. 'He may have been the primary culprit, but his actions were condoned by his most senior lieutenants, who engaged in a concerted effort to silence Tantaros by threats, humiliation and retaliation.' In a statement released over the weekend regarding the O'Reilly report, 21st Century Fox said: 'Notwithstanding the fact that no current or former Fox News employee ever took advantage of the 21st Century Fox hotline to raise a concern about Bill OReilly, even anonymously, we have looked into these matters over the last few months and discussed them with Mr. OReilly. 'While he denies the merits of these claims, Mr. OReilly has resolved those he regarded as his personal responsibility. Mr. OReilly is fully committed to supporting our efforts to improve the environment for all our employees at Fox News.' Fox News referenced the 21st Century Fox statement when asked for comment over the weekend. House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, made a surprising announcement Wednesday saying he would not be running for re-election next year. 'After long consultation with my family and prayerful consideration, I have decided I will not be a candidate for any office in 2018,' Chaffetz wrote on Facebook. He stated that his mantra has always been, 'get in, serve, and get out,' and that's what he was doing, though wouldn't take off the table a future political run. House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz shocked Washington this morning by announcing that he would not be running for re-election next year Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, used Facebook to explain his decision Wednesday, though said he could run for office sometime again in the future Chaffetz has been one of the most visible Republican members of the House of Representatives in recent years, winning election in 2008, despite Democrats being successful across the board. He famously leg wrestled, and lost to, Stephen Colbert in a segment for the Colbert Report in 2009, putting him on millennials' radar, and was one of the many Tea Party-branded lawmakers who pledged to save taxpayer money by sleeping on a cot in his office. In 2015, Chaffetz took over the reins of the House Oversight Committee, leading investigations into Democrat Hillary Clinton. The job also allowed him to annoy residents of Washington, D.C., a predominantly Democratic jurisdiction, often meddling in District affairs. He flip-flopped in his support of Trump, though noted in today's Facebook post that he had the 'full support of Speaker Ryan' to continue chairing the prominent committee and wasn't concerned about a primary challenger in his strongly red district. 'For those that would speculate otherwise, let me be clear that I have no ulterior motives. I am healthy. I am confident I would continue to be re-elected by large margins,' Chaffetz wrote. Early on in his congressional career, Jason Chaffetz (right) made headlines for 'leg wrestling' comedian Stephen Colbert (left) In reality, a Democrat in his district, Kathryn Allen, had already raised $400,000 to go up against Chaffetz next November, according The New York Times, while a primary challenger, Damian W. Kidd, also planned to go up against the congressman. 'That said, I have made a personal decision to return to the private sector,' he added. Chaffetz has long been viewed as a GOP rising star, though if he takes his name off the ballot in 2018, that means he'll also miss the next Senate race. However, Chaffetz has seen the writing on the wall and understands that 83-year-old Sen. Orrin Hatch will run for an eighth six-year-term in 2018, a Hatch aide told DailyMail.com on Wednesday. The aide, who requested anonymity to speak freely, said Chaffetz 'wants a Senate seat much more than he wants the governor's mansion, and that's not going to happen until at least 2024.' Chaffetz could only keep his committee chairman's gavel through 2020, due to Republican Conference term-limit rules. That would return him to back-bencher status during the years when he would need a high public profile to run for Senate next time around. Instead, he may be choosing to raise his profile back home in the Beehive State. Asked if there were any rumors of brewing scandals that may have sidelined Chaffetz suddenly, the aide said: 'Not that anyone has heard. That would be a real surprise.' Advertisement A photographer has put pen to paper revealing his heartbreaking stint on a migrant rescue ship spent saving drowning people and pulling corpses from the sea. Reuters journalist Darrin Zammit Lupi has been on board the Phoenix, operated by Malta-based MOAS, in the Mediterranean, since April 1. This past weekend, while people around the world celebrated Easter, he witnessed some of the most dramatic scenes of his career. Below is his account of his experience. An outstretched arm reaches towards the camera lens of Reuters journalist Darrin Zammit Lupi, whohas been on the Phoenix, a migrant rescue ship in the Mediterranean operated by Malta-based MOAS, since April 1. This past weekend, while people around the world celebrated Easter, he witnessed some of the most dramatic scenes of his career Two mothers lean up against the metal on board the Phoenix as tired-looking children cling onto them on their way to Italy A mother holding what appears to be a bottle of milk smiles in a life jacket as she clings onto her baby, who is wrapped in a yellow and grey coat-come-sack. Talking of the two, Darrin Zammit Lupi said: 'For many, Easter Monday is a day of hope. For me, that hope was incarnated in the smile of a Somali mother when we rescued her and her 12-day-old baby.' A massive group of migrants piled onto a tiny vessel about to fall off their rubber dinghy during a rescue operation in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. All 134 sub-Saharan migrants survived and were rescued by MOAS A little girl cries as two rescue workers help take her to safety from a wooden boat in the central Mediterranean The body of a dead migrant is carried off the Malta-based NGO Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) ship Phoenix after it arrived with migrants and bodies on board, in Augusta, Italy on April 19, 2017 They were three days of suffering, death and, most importantly, hope. From Good Friday to Easter Sunday, I experienced those raw emotions aboard a migrant rescue ship. We saved thousands of migrants, counted the dead, and covered the shivering. All in a day's work for the crew of the Phoenix, one of the rescue ships plying the waters of the southern Mediterranean trying to make the sea less of a cemetery. I started working on the migration story almost 19 years ago. In all this time, I've never experienced anything remotely close to what this Easter holiday weekend has been like. From the Phoenix, rescuers use Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats (RHIBs) to reach rubber dinghies or rickety wooden boats packed with migrants, usually from sub-Saharan Africa. In one episode, on Good Friday, a group of migrants were issued with life jackets and lined up on the edge of their dinghy, ready to transfer to an RHIB. Suddenly one of them slipped and fell into the sea, taking 10 others with him. Through my lens I saw two people going under. One stretched out a hand towards me from about 4 metres away. The rescuers jumped in and saved both. I put down my cameras and helped pull some on board. The next day was intense in a different way. Hundreds more people were taken on from rubber dinghies that surrounded the Phoenix, seeming at times like black beads of a large floating rosary. By nightfall, Phoenix was already packed to capacity but we had to take another 70 people off one of the boats because it risked going under. A migrant baby wearing a blue top and trousers is carried from wooden boat in the central Mediterranean off the coast of Libya Tears stream down a child stands up on the Malta-based NGO Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) ship Phoenix after being rescued off the Libyan coast As a group of migrants tip on top of a floating dinghy in the Mediterrenean Sea, other men panic as they attempt to reach the rescue boat where charity workers are waiting to save them A tiny baby in a red baby-grow is handed to its mother, who is holding a bottle of milk with a pink handle, having been rescued off the coast of Libya A migrant child is lifted onto the Malta-based NGO Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) ship Phoenix during a rescue operation from a wooden boat in the central Mediterranean in international waters off the coast of Sabratha in Libya on April 15 A group of people collapsed in a heap as they rest up on the Malta-based NGO Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) ship Phoenix after being rescued in the central Mediterranean off the Libyan coast, as the ship makes its way towards Italy on April 17 Rescue non-government organisations Sea-Eye and the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) carry out a joint rescue operation as some 20 migrants on a rubber dinghy drowned in the central Mediterranean in international waters off the coast of Libya, on April 16, 2017 Migrants celebrate with their arms aloft on a wooden boat as they wait to be rescued by the rescue by the Malta-based NGO Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) It was all hands on deck at this point. No time for photos. Cameras down, I was assigned to the rescue zone/embarkation doorway. One crew member called it the 'doorway to life'. Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta called the 'Door of Mercy', when he visited the ship before we set sail. My job was to clasp the hands of migrants who were on the rescue RHIBs and pull them up onto the Phoenix. I spent much of the rest of the night helping keep an eye on the new arrivals out on the bow, which is very rarely used for migrants as it's highly exposed to wind and water. On Easter Sunday, although overloaded with 450 migrants, we headed to the scene of another rescue operation. A child wraps his arms around the head of his father. Both are all smiles after being rescued as they sit under a foil blanket aimed at keeping them warm A child rests on the Phoenix after being rescued from a wooden boat in the central Mediterranean in international waters off the coast of Sabratha in Libya on April 15 A woman leans on a friend on the Malta-based NGO Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) ship Phoenix after being rescued from a rubber dinghy in the central Mediterranean in international waters some 15 nautical miles off the coast of Zawiya in Libya on April 14 We passed several empty life jackets and one dead migrant floating face down in the water. We would have to try and retrieve the body later. We needed to concentrate on the living. At the scene, we helped the rescuers of another NGO ship, the Sea-Eye, take bodies off a flooded dinghy. Those migrants had died waiting to be rescued. I covered the face of a dead woman with a discarded shirt and said a silent prayer. We took on seven bodies. Others may still be out there. As we sail towards Sicily to bring our human cargo to dry land, we are moving slowly. We are overloaded. The sea is not merciful today. If we move any faster, waves will break over the migrants, huddled and exhausted, on the bow. For many, Easter Monday is a day of hope. For me, that hope was incarnated in the smile of a Somali mother when we rescued her and her 12-day-old baby. Migrants on wooden boats and rubber dinghies wait to be rescued by the Malta-based NGO Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) in the central Mediterranean in international waters off the coast of Sabratha in Libya, on April 15 A rescued migrant climbs down from a Tunisian fishing vessel onto a rigid hulled inflatable boat (RHIB) of the Malta-based NGO Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) to be taken to the Dutch rescue ship Sea-Eye, after some 20 migrants on a rubber dinghy drowned in the central Mediterranean in international waters off the coast of Libya A man wearing a Barcelona football shirt with Neymar Jr's name on the back climbs down from a Tunisian fishing boat to be taken to a rescue ship Dozens of sleeping people huddle together on a packed deck on board the Phoenix as they are taken towards the island of Sicily A migrant reaches out for an emergency food ration block which has been thrown in his direction on board the Phoenix A group of migrants dangle their feet over the edge of their rubber dinghy off the coast of Libya as they wait barefoot to be rescued The frightening sight of migrants in a rubber d inghy hang on to ropes beneath the bow of the Panama-registered ship Tuna 1, after some 20 migrants on another rubber dinghy drowned in the central Mediterranean in international waters off the coast of Libya Sensational claims that the body of British backpacker Peter Falconio was cut up after his murder and then dumped hundreds of miles from where he disappeared have been made in an anonymous letter sent to Australia from Britain. The anonymous typed letter was sent to the Northern Territory News, which passed the information to police in Darwin, who have now started an investigation into the claims. The newspaper said the letter writer, an Australian ex-patriate now living in London, claimed that Bradley Murdoch, serving 28 years in jail for the murder, rang a criminal associate asking to meet him in the outback following the killing. Sensational claims that the body of British backpacker Peter Falconio (pictured) was cut up after his murder and then dumped hundreds of miles from where he disappeared have been made in an anonymous letter sent to Australia from Britain The anonymous typed letter was sent to the Northern Territory News, which passed the information to police in Darwin, who have now started an investigation into the claims. Pictured, the scrub where Peter and Joanne Lees were assaulted in 2001 The Northern Territory News said it knew the name of the alleged criminal associate but had not named him. 'Murdoch phoned (the associate) and ordered him to fly to Darwin at once, hire a car and meet him in the outback,' the letter states. 'When they met, Murdoch told (the associate) that he had murdered a guy in self-defence. At the time, (the associate) had no idea who the victim was. 'Murdoch had cut the body up and put it in two largebags that were watertight and smell proof.' The paper went on to say that the letter had described how Murdoch told the associate to go straight back to Perth, in Western Australia, and dissolve the body parts in acid. He was then to put what was left into the Swan River, which runs through Perth. The associate had been ordered by Murdoch to first drive to Adelaide, leave the car there and fly back to Perth. Claims were made that Murdoch had cut up Peter's body and put it in two large bags that were watertight and smell proof. Bradley Murdoch in 2003 being arrested by police THE ANONYMOUS PETER FALCONIO LETTER 'When they met, Murdoch told (the associate) that he had murdered a guy in self-defence. At the time, (the associate) had no idea who the victim was'. 'Murdoch had cut the body up and put it in two large ... bags that were watertight and smell proof. '(The associate) told me he went way past Geraldton and buried both the bags unopened in a nice spot and even made up a cross. 'Later he realised who he had buried and was in a bad way about it.' Advertisement The letter writer went on: '(The associate) told me he couldn't even open the bags he was sick and petrified. 'When he got back to Adelaide he didn't fly but got the Indian Pacific' - train - 'back to Perth, thinking that the two large bags would draw less attention on the train. 'Murdoch had connections with Geraldton and Broome [towns in Western Australia] they were always going up there to unload or buy stolen goods and drugs. '[The associate] told me he went way past Geraldton and buried both the bags unopened in a nice spot and even made up a cross. 'Later he realised who he had buried and was in a bad way about it. 'He knew I had a sister who worked in law and asked what I thought he would get if he went to the police. 'I told him I thought about five years for assisting Murdoch. This terrified him. 'But I did tell him better to go to the police now before Murdoch decides to tell the whole story. The paper went on to say that the letter had described how Murdoch told the associate to go straight back to Perth, in Western Australia, and dissolve the body parts in acid. He was then to put what was left into the Swan River (pictured), which runs through Perth 'After that I lost touch and never heard from him again.' The paper said the letter writer pointed out he he was once involved in criminal activity with the associate. At the start of the letter, the author stated: 'I regret I must stay anonymous, as you read on you will know why. I swear the following is the truth as far as I can recall it. 'I don't know every detail of times, dates, exact places but I know enough. '[The associate] knew and done deals with Brad Murdoch. '[The associate] was very scared of him because Murdoch had a lot on him. I never met Murdoch but [the associate] told me a lot about him.' The letter writer told the paper that it was wrong of him to betray the trust of the associate but he felt the Falconio family and Miss Lees deserved to know what happened to their loved one. Northern Territory Police, who have been handed a copy of the sensational claims, told the paper through a spokesman that officers were reviewing the contents of the letter 'to determine whether it contains material which should be investigated further.' Euan Snowie (pictured leaving court today) rushed to the property after a phone call from his eight-year-old daughter, who told him her mother was ill A tycoon who smashed a series of Georgian windows at his wife's farmhouse with a hammer has walked free from court after a judge questioned why he had even been prosecuted. Euan Snowie rushed to the property after a phone call from his eight-year-old daughter, who told him her mother was ill. The 49-year-old smashed his way into the farmhouse but was not jailed after a sheriff questioned if any criminality took place, as Snowie was reacting to what he thought was an emergency. Stirling Sheriff Court hear how Mr Snowie and his wife Claire, also 49, separated in February. Since then she has been living in a farmhouse on their country estate near Kippen, Stirlingshire, while he is occupying its multi-million pound mansion, Boquhan House. The court heard Mrs Snowie was at home with an elderly aunt, when she saw Mr Snowie outside. Prosecutor Laura Knox said: 'She saw him walk up to the back porch, and on seeing him approach she hid in the toilet. 'He was then observed by the aunt to be striking the porch door with a hammer, smashing six panes of glass in Georgian-style windows at the side of the door.' He then went into the farmhouse's garage to replace the hammer and 'simply left'. Mrs Knox said: 'It took Mrs Snowie's aunt two hours to calm Mrs Snowie down. 'She is described as having "flipped out", and was hyperventilating and she didn't want the accused to be there.' In 2008 Snowie and Claire (pictured together) fought and lost a landmark court battle to ban ramblers from entering sprawling Boquhan estate Mrs Knox said that Mrs Snowie had not phoned police immediately, and when officers arrived Snowie was no longer at the scene. He was detained two days later and told police he was concerned about his wife as a result of a phone call from his daughter. Snowie pleaded guilty to behaving in a threatening manner. An allegation originally in the charge that he had been intoxicated at the time was dropped. Solicitor-advocate Neil Hay said the incident had occurred purely because of the phone call from his young daughter. He said that Mr and Mrs Snowie, who have two other children, aged 18 and 21, were the owners of 'a number of properties in Stirlingshire'. Mrs Snowie had been 'very fragile for medical reasons' and had twice required the ambulance service since Christmas, on one occasion when someone found her unconscious. Mr Hay said: 'His daughter had phoned her Dad to say Mum was unwell, that she was in the bathroom, and could he come? 'He attended as quickly as he could, went to the door, found it wouldn't open, and went to an outhouse to find a tool, perhaps a screwdriver, to force it open somehow.' Mr Hay said that, unable to find a screwdriver, he found the hammer, and used it to smash the windows in the porch nearest the Yale lock to get in. However, at that point the door was opened by the elderly aunt, and Snowie left. Mr Hay said that Snowie 'found it odd in hindsight' that his daughter had made the call that she did when there was in fact another adult in the house, but put it down to the fact at the aunt was elderly. Since separating, Mrs Snoiw has been living in a farmhouse on their country estate near Kippen, Stirlingshire, while Snowie is occupying its Boquhan House (pictured) Sheriff Wyllie Robertson then interrupted: 'I'm having some trouble here. Just where is the criminality here? 'What if this had been a neighbour, receives a call from a young girl, mother very unwell? Neighbour comes, can't get in, goes and finds something, smashes the glass nearest the Yale, and then somebody that they didn't know was there comes to the door and says "it's all right, it's fine". 'Would there have been any prosecution?' After an adjournment, Mrs Knox, the depute fiscal, said Snowie's guilty plea had been accepted on the basis that he had been 'reckless' as to whether he caused fear and alarm. She said the Crown 'could not disprove' that the incident had been sparked by the daughter's phone call. Sheriff Robertson told Snowie he would be admonished. He said: 'In other circumstances where someone else had done this I doubt whether this would have come to the attention of the authorities. 'I don't understand the basis on which this prosecution has proceeded. 'On the basis of what has not been contradicted about the phone call, I'll simply admonish Snowie in relation to this matter.' The court heard that Snowie has no previous convictions relating to his wife. But he was fined 1,000 last summer for domestic assault on his then 20-year-old daughter Louise, by pushing her during an argument about a luxury car. And in February, allegations that he broke the law by shouting and swearing at Claire during a 'business' discussion were dropped by prosecutors. Outside court, Snowie was advised by his solicitor not to comment when asked by a reporter if he thought the sheriff had suggested that he was being 'picked on' by being prosecuted when he was merely responding to his daughter's phone call. Mr Snowie said: 'My comment is just, I'd take what the sheriff said on board. I'll leave it at that.' In 2001, Snowie's family business was paid 38 million for the disposal of millions of carcasses following the nationwide foot and mouth outbreak. Snowie and his brothers, Malcolm, Alistair, and Gordon, along with their mother Sheila, later sold the waste company for around 40 million. He now owns a number of businesses, including Snowie Solutions Ltd and Euan Snowie Holdings Ltd. In 2008 Snowie and Claire fought and lost a landmark court battle to ban ramblers from entering sprawling Boquhan estate under the Scottish parliament's 2003 Land Reform Act. In a face-saving declaration, the White House on Wednesday claimed the president's comments about the carrier strike group he'd deployed to the Korean Peninsula had been misinterpreted. President Donald Trump told Fox Business Network that 'we are sending an armada' in Kim Jong-un's direction. He did not say it was already on its way. 'The president said that we have an armada going towards the peninsula. That's a fact. It happened. It's happening, rather,' White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said today. If the people misunderstood Trump's comments - or his for that matter - that's on them, Spicer argued. In a face-saving declaration, the White House on Wednesday claimed the president's comments about the carrier strike group he'd deployed to the Korean Peninsula had been misinterpreted Trump's spokesman correctly noted that neither he nor the president claimed the Carl Vinson was on it's way to the Korean Peninsula. That was Trump's secretary of defense. Spicer commented merely on the carrier strike group as a deterrent. 'That's not what we ever said. We said that it was heading there. And it was heading there. it is heading there,' Spicer said at his briefing today. 'If there was impression...then there should have been clarification from the people who were seeking it.' But the White House official did mention the 'forward deployment' of the ships that were heading in the opposite direction of the Sea of Japan at that time, and he didn't set the record straight when news outlets reported that the strike group was on its way. Spicer had specifically been asked if 'putting that strike carrier group in the Sea of Japan, in that region, is that also a messaging circumstance? Or is that simply protective for our allies in Japan and Korea?' 'I think when you see a carrier group steaming into an area like that, the forward presence of that is clearly, through almost every instance, a huge deterrence,' Spicer said last a week ago on Tuesday. Asked about his comments today, Trump's spokesman said he was asked 'what signal did it send' that the ship was heading there. 'I answered that question correctly at the time,' he contended. 'You're asking me why you didn't know better. I don't know,' Spicer told a reporter who brought it up Wednesday. 'You're asking me why you didn't know better. I don't know,' White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told a reporter who brought it up Wednesday. The Navy on April 8 said it was directing a naval strike group headed by the USS Carl Vinson supercarrier to 'sail north' as a 'prudent measure' to deter North Korea amid rising tensions. It had not yet started sailing to the region yet, a U.S. defense official acknowledged Tuesday. Other Pentagon officials told CNN that the USS Carl Vinson supercarrier and its strike group won't arrive near Korea until the end of the month. Secretary of Defense James Mattis on April 11 said the Vinson was 'on her way up' to the peninsula, prompting news outlets to report that carrier group was barreling toward Kim. A Defense Department official on Tuesday said the ships remained off the northwest coast of Australia. A Navy photograph showed the Vinson off Java over the weekend, traveling through the Sunda Strait. 'They are going to start heading north towards the Sea of Japan within next 24 hours,' the official said on condition of anonymity. The official added that the strike group wouldn't be in the region before next week at the earliest. It is thousands of nautical miles from the Java Sea to the Sea of Japan. Truth about the 'armada': The USS Carl Vinson has only just crossed from the Indian Ocean where it was on exercise; the USS Ronald Reagan is in port in Japan; and the USS Nimitz is off the coast of Oregon A US defense official now says the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and her strike group remain off the northwest coast of Australia, although the Navy said 10 days ago that it was directing the group 'north' as a deterrent to North Korea Kim Jong-Un could have the last laugh if America's naval posturing encourages him to take greater risks in provoking U.S. military might in the region President Donald Trump said a week ago that he was sending 'an armada' in Kim's direction a Defense Department official on Tuesday said the ships remained off the northwest coast of Australia This U.S. government photo, released Monday, shows the Vinson transiting the Sunda Strait, away from Korea, on Saturday Asked about the decision to send the carrier group to North Korea on April 11, Spicer had said it would be a strategic deterrent. 'A carrier group is several things. The forward deployment is deterrence, presence. It's prudent. But it does a lot of things. It ensures our we have the strategic capabilities, and it gives the president options in the region.' Hit with claims that he and Trump mislead the United States' allies, Spicer refused to concede that he'd done anything wrong. 'What do you mean? What part was misleading,' he objected. 'I'm not the one who commentated on timing.' News that the U.S. hadn't followed through on its threat to North Korea was greeted in Chinese media with raucous laughter on Tuesday, according to The Washington Post. 'Tricked badly!' the Global Times chirped on its social media account. 'None of the U.S. aircraft carriers that South Korea is desperately waiting for has come!' The United States ratcheted up its rhetoric ahead of North Korea's military parade and failed missile launch over the weekend, and Vice President Mike Pence on Monday declared that the era of US 'strategic patience' in dealing with Pyongyang was over. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un responded with his own fiery warnings and threatened to conduct weekly missile tests. The carrier strike group had been conducting drills with the Australian navy in recent days, an official said. It has scrapped a planned port visit in Australia as a result of sailing north. A Russian journalist and outspoken critic of president Vladimir Putin has died after a savage beating in St Petersburg. Nikolai Andrushchenko died of his injuries six weeks after the attack, which has been linked to his coverage of corruption in the city. The 73-year-old co-founder of Novy Peterburg newspaper had been in a medically-induced coma since he was set upon by the gang. Nikolai Andrushchenko died of his injuries six weeks after the attack, which has been linked to his coverage of corruption in the city Two years ago he helped produce a controversial documentary about Vladimir Putin's rise to power. Announcing Mr Andrushchenko's death, Denis Usov, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Mr Andrushchenko co-founded, has claimed a series of articles about corruption prompted the attack. Andrushchenko, who built his reputation by reporting about human rights issues and crime, was attacked on March 9, and his attackers have not been identified. Mr Andrushchenko had been involved in making a documentary about Vladimir Putin's rise to power, which alleged that an alliance of criminals helped him become president The journalist has previously voiced concerns about the Putin regime, claiming secret services were becoming too powerful. In 2007 he was arrested and imprisoned over libel and extremism allegations, and was beaten up in November of that year. He claimed he was tortured in custody, and was found guilty in 2009. Andrushchenko worked on a critically-acclaimed documentary, Huizmisterputin, which alleged the Russian president came to power thanks to an alliance of criminals and the KGB. Even if President Trump skips the event as promised, the White House Correspondents' Dinner will have some special guests this year. The six high school students from Pittsburg, Kansas who investigated their principal's dodgy resume are getting an all-expenses paid trip to the April 29 event in Washington, DC. The annual dinner, known in political circles as the 'Nerd Prom', draws the ultra-elite of politics and journalism for an evening of humor and elbow-rubbing. 'We are pretty excited,' Emily Smith, advisor to the Booster Redux school newspaper, said in a statement to the Pittsburg Morning Sun. 'We are very honored they thought of us!' Pictured are student journalists Gina Mathew, Kali Poenitske, Maddie Baden, Trina Paul, Connor Balthazor and Patrick Sullivan (left-to-right). They have been invited to attend the White House Correspondents' Dinner on April 29 Actress Emma Watson is seen at last year's correspondents' dinner. Known as the 'Nerd Prom', the event draws the ultra-elite of politics and journalism for an evening of elbow-rubbing The Huffington Post has offered to pay all expenses for the trip. Late last month, the Booster Redux published a story exposing the holes in the resume of the school's new principal. Amy Robertson, the newly-appointed principal at Pittsburg High School in Kansas, had been approved for her new job by the local Board of Education on March 6. During their three-week investigation the six reporters discovered information casting doubt over the private college where their principal received both her Masters and Doctorate degrees. In an article, the students wrote that Corllins University - where Robertson studied, had been 'under fire in the national media for its lack of legitimacy'. The article went on to reference another story from an Oregon newspaper that referred to Corllins as 'a business that sells fake college degrees'. The story was published by the student newspaper last month, and the headline that it ran with is pictured The students also reported the private college is not accredited by the US Department of Education. Pittsburg's Community Schools Board of Education held a special meeting on April 4 in light of the stunning allegations, during which Robertson walked away from her new job - and its $93,000 salary. 'Amy Robertson felt it was in the best interest of the district to resign her position,' Superintendent Destry Brown said in a statement after the executive session, according to the Kansas City Star. Amy Robertson, a Kansas high school principal, was forced to resign after her dodgy education background was exposed by a group of student journalists 'I do feel it is my responsibility. As superintendent I feel like I let the teachers and the students down. I publicly admit that.' Despite resigning, Robertson defended herself against the allegations. 'The current status of Corllins University is not relevant because when I received my MA in 1994 and my PhD in 2010, there was no issue,' she told the Star. 'All three of my degrees have been authenticated by the US government. 'I have no comment in response to the questions posed by PHS students regarding my credentials because their concerns are not based on facts.' The student newspaper's editor, Trina Paul, said the team looked into Robertson to ensure they had the best principal possible. 'She was going to be the head of our school, and we wanted be assured that she was qualified and had the proper credentials,' the senior told the Star. 'We stumbled on some things that most might not consider legitimate credentials.' Amy Robertson, the newly-appointed principal at Pittsburg High School (pictured) in Kansas, was approved for her new job by the local Board of Education last month Another student, Maddie Baden, said the newspaper's student staff became concerned after it discovered articles online linking Robertson with an English language school in Dubai that had its license suspended. Robertson lived 'on and off' in Dubai for almost 20 years prior to taking the job in Pittsburg. Prior to moving back to the US, her most recent job had been as an education consultant with a firm called Atticus I S Consultants. The ousted principal earned her bachelors degree at the University of Tulsa. President Donald Trump has announced he will break from tradition and skip the dinner, which typically features a comedic roast of the sitting president. Mohammed Chaudhari (pictured) denies four counts of conspiracy to commit and eight further counts of fraud Fraudsters stole 1.1million from a 'soft' taxpayer-funded immigrant fund because the Home Office did not have the resources to scrutinise every document, a court heard today. Mohammed Chaudhari, 37, his sister Suraiya Alam, 43, and Victoria Sherrey, 66, allegedly raked in cash from schemes promoting 'social, cultural, and economic integration' in the UK. They are accused of fraudulently applying grants from the Home Office, between 2010 and 2015, when Theresa May was Home Secretary. Jurors were told the Home Office could not 'closely' inspect each application because of the lack of resources. As a result, they accepted fraudulent applications from the group's Birmingham-based business Inspire Futures and Accent on Training. Civil servants pumped cash from the EU Integration Fund into the companies' projects 'Integrating Communities' and 'Communities Welcome', which the defendants claim helped immigrants learn English. But Chaudhari, Alam, and Sherrey were arrested after their staff told the Home Office funds were not being used properly. Chaudhari is said to have provided false documents to the Home Office while working as a director of Accent On Training with Sherrey. Jurors heard Alam's company Perception Training and Consultancy, in Birmingham, gave 'independent assurance that the projects were using the funds appropriately'. The Home Office were unaware of her links to Chaudhari and Sherrey, Southwark Crown Court heard. Edmund Vickers QC, prosecuting, said: 'These three defendants fraudulently obtained over 1.13m in EU funds allocated to the businesses which they were running. His sister, Suraiya Alam (left) and Victoria Sherrey (right) allegedly raked in cash with Chaudhari after targeting schemes which promoted 'integration' in the UK 'They did so by applying for grants from the Home Office. The funds were part of the EU Integration Fund, an EU members' fund, in other words, public money. 'These funds, the EU integration fund monies, were administered by the Home Office in this country, and they were intended to help the social, cultural, and economic integration of third-country nationals coming into the EU, and specifically in this case the UK. 'The businesses that the defendants were running or were involved in became involved in targeting soft funding of grant money and those funds that they granted were obtained by fraud over a four-year period between 2011-2015.' Mr Vickers said funds were granted if suitable activities and appropriate document were submitted to the Home Office. He added: 'Unfortunately the Home Office didn't have the resources to really closely scrutinise every document that was sent in. 'And so the evidence that the Home Office was asking for, when it came in, if it purported to show where the money was going, that document would be accepted by the Home Office because they weren't able to scrutinise that document to say whether that document was false or genuine.' Southwark Crown Court (pictured) heard the Home Office could not 'closely' inspect each application because of the lack of resources Jurors heard the defendants were 'already experienced in applying for funds from different bodies' and were 'cynically taking advantage of the relative ease of granting funding'. Mr Vickers claimed they made convincing applications by 'providing false documents that appeared to be genuine and when audited by the Home Office they gave the appearance that they money was being properly spent'. He said: 'They were designed, the prosecution say, to mislead the Home Office civil servant overseeing the account into thinking that the money was being appropriately spent.' Chaudhari and Alam, both of Birmingham, West Midlands, and Sherrey, of Kidderminster, Worcestershire, each deny four counts of conspiracy to commit fraud. Chaudhari alone denies eight further counts of fraud. The trial continues. France is days away from producing proof that Bashar al-Assad's regime was behind a chemical strike which killed 87 people, the country's foreign minister has said. Syrian president Assad has denied responsibility for the atrocity, and last week suggested footage showing dead children and victims foaming at the mouth could have been faked. Senior Israeli defence officials believe Assad could possess up to three tons of chemical weapons, it was reported today. French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault rubbished Assad's denial, and said it will show evidence of the regime's guilt 'in a few days'. The Syrian president has questioned whether children, such as the twin babies pictured being held by distraught father Abdel Hameed Alyousef, 29, were actually killed in the attack Images of the aftermath, showing victims convulsing and foaming at the mouth, sent shockwaves around the world Tests have found sarin gas, or a similar toxin, were used in the attack in the Idlib province in Syria. British experts found sarin was used, the head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Ahmet Uzumcu has said. Ayrault said of the April 4 attack in Khan Sheikhun: 'We have elements that will allow us to show that the regime knowingly used chemical weapons. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has denied carrying out the attack on April 4 in the Idlib province French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault rubbished Assad's denial, and said it will show evidence of the regime's guilt 'in a few days' 'In a few days I will be able to bring you the proof.' Last week in an interview with AFP, Assad claimed the attack was a 'fabrication' to justify a US missile strike on Syrian forces. The Syrian leader faces calls to be tried as a war criminal, and last week Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning Assad and calling for a speedy investigation into the attack. Western leaders including US President Donald Trump accused Assad of being behind the attack in the rebel-held town, saying his forces used a chemical weapon during an air strike. The suspected attack killed at least 87 people, including many children, and images of the dead and of suffering victims provoked global outrage. The missile strike was the first direct US military action against Assad's forces since the start of Syria's civil war six years ago and precipitated a downward spiral in ties between Washington and Moscow. US President Donald Trump will host Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas at the White House May 3 for talks on efforts to revive the Middle East peace process, the White House said Wednesday. 'They will use the visit to reaffirm the commitment of both the United States and Palestinian leadership to pursuing and ultimately concluding a conflict-ending settlement between the Palestinians and Israel,' White House press secretary Sean Spicer said. Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas will visit the White House on May 3 for talks on efforts to revive the Middle East peace process The meeting would be Trump's first with Abbas, and follows a series of US contacts with the Palestinian leader. Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have repeatedly run aground despite periodic US efforts to revive them, most recently by former secretary of state John Kerry. But Abbas, who met in Ramallah recently with CIA chief Mike Pompeo and Trump's special representative Jason Greenblatt, has said Trump is 'seriously considering a solution to the Palestinian issue.' The US president held talks last week in Washington with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Jordan's King Abdullah. Shortly after taking office, Trump alarmed Palestinians by calling into question his administration's support for a two-state solution, a bedrock of US policy. But he has since warned Israel against 'unrestrained' building of settler homes in the occupied West Bank. Trump has also tasked his son-in-law Jared Kushner with coming up with a Middle East peace solution, one aspect of a portfolio which also includes reforming how the government works. An iron ball no bigger than a marble may be the best evidence yet as to the fate of a long lost civilization long thought to be mythical. Archaeologist Donald Blakeslee says the massive lost city of Etzanoa, glimpsed by Europeans for the only time in 1601, was located in Arkansas City, Kansas, a few miles from the Oklahoma border. If he's right, the site could be home to one of the largest former Native American settlements in North America, where Spanish conquistadors fought a pitched battle, mowing down a host of Indians with vicious cannon fire. 'The Spaniards were amazed by the size of Etzanoa,' Blakeslee, 73, told the Kansas City Star. 'They said it would take two or three days to walk through it all.' Blakeslee pins his determination on the massive quantity of Wichita Indian tools and pottery discovered in the area and, crucially, a piece of Spanish grapeshot discovered by high school freshman Adam Ziegler in the tiny Great Plains town. Scroll down for video Archaeologist Donald Blakeslee says the massive lost city of Etzanoa, glimpsed by Europeans for the only time in 1601, was located in Arkansas City, Kansas Shown is the suspected location of Etzanoa, which may have had 20,000 inhabitants Stone weapons and tools such as these have been found at the site in abundance The only recorded accounts of Etzanoa come from the expedition of Spanish conquistador Juan de Onate, who in 1601 led a party into the Great Plains in search of the fabled 'city of gold' Quiviria. The expedition came across a war party of 300 to 400 natives, whom Onate called 'Rayados', or striped ones, for their body paint and tattoos. They were almost certainly Wichitas. Onate tells of making peace with the group and being led to their settlement, Etzanoa. The conquistador was stunned by the city's size. Though the rest of the tribe had fled Etzanoa for hiding at Onate's arrival, he saw a sprawling settlement across thousands of acres along the bluffs of the confluence of two rivers. The only recorded accounts of Etzanoa come from the expedition of Spanish conquistador Juan de Onate, who in 1601 led a party into the Great Plains in search of a fabled 'city of gold' This map was drawn in 1602 by a Wichita Indian who was captured by the Spanish. The circular figures represent native settlements. Etzanoa is depicted by two circles with a diagonal line between them at the top center of the map. Onate is believed to have encountered Wichita people, whom he called 'Rayados' for their striped body paint. Shown in a 1927 file photo are Plains Indians in ceremonial dress Onate described finding a city of 2,000 beehive-shaped houses. Shown is a traditional Wichita grass house in a file photo from 1927 Fields of corn, beets and squash surrounded the settlement, with large granaries to store the foodstuffs. The Spaniard reported the city had 2,000 large, beehive-shaped houses, each large enough to house 10 people, for an estimated population of 20,000. That would make Etzanoa comparable in size to Cahokia, in Illinois, long considered the largest pre-Columbian settlement north of Mexico City. Growing nervous at the size of the population they stumbled across, Onate's party of roughly 100 men turned back, retracing their steps southward. But suddenly, the group came under attack from a group of more than 1,000 natives from another tribe. The Spaniards marshaled their small cannons as the attackers charged at them up a rocky ravine, according to the Europeans' account. The cannon shot mowed down the native peoples, and Onate's group returned to the south. Researchers conducting a surface survey of the suspected Etzanoa site mark the locations of stone flakes, points, and tools brightly colored flags High school student Adam Ziegler poses holding the iron ball he found with a metal detector. Part of a Spanish cannon cartridge, the ball is the first conclusive link showing that Arkansas City, Kansas is the site of the lost city of Etzanoa The city was never seen by Europeans again, and no group of Wichita peoples that size was ever documented. Experts believe that smallpox and other diseases may have raced through the dense settlement after contact with the Europeans, wiping out the city. Two years ago, the archaeologist Blakeslee was searching a rocky ravine that matched the accounts from conquistadors, but found nothing. Ziegler, the high school student, asked to borrow Blakeslee's metal detector when he left and continued searching. An hour or two later, Ziegler found something about four inches deep. It turned out to be a ball from a Spanish cannon. Blakeslee continues to dig, and is pushing for the creation of an information center or museum to develop tourism in the area. He's also been in touch with the modern-day Wichita, who number around 3,000. 'Were really proud that all this history happened here, and we want to share it with the world,' said Hap McLeod, who owns the property where the cannon shot was found. Victoria Morrison is facing felony fraud charges and had her four children taken away by child protective services after investigators discovered she had spent months faking her son's terminal illness and then his death in an effort to raise money Nevada authorities say a woman faces criminal charges after investigators say she faked her son's terminal illness, then his death, while seeking money on an online fundraising site. Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong says 31-year-old Victoria Morrison allegedly faked that her 10-year-old son had leukemia and died, helping her raise more than $2,000. She was arrested Friday at a motel and her four children turned over to protective services after a concerned family member contacted authorities about the 'bizarre' case. Morrison had created a GoFundMe page last summer seeking money to finance her 10-year-old son's 'bucket list.' On it, she said the boy had been diagnosed with leukemia and had 'made a list of things he wants to do before he gets too sick.' This month, law enforcement officers said, Morrison posted on social media accounts that her son had died, and she held a memorial service for him. Morrison was arrested for collecting money under false pretenses and filing a false report Morrison allegedly set up a GoFundMe account, since deactivated, to raise money in the wake of her young son dying of leukemia. When a suspicious friend asked the sheriff's office to do a welfare check on the family, deputies confirmed the boy was in fact alive A woman contacted sheriff's deputies after Morrison's husband, in response to her condolences, said the boy was fine. When deputies talked to Morrison, she initially told them that her boy was indeed dead and had been cremated. They then showed up at the Carson City motel where the family was staying and identified the boy. He had not attended school in months, the sheriff said, and had apparently been convinced by his mother that he had a serious illness. Authorities placed the son and Morrison's three other children in the custody of state protective services officials. 31-year-old Victoria Morrison, left, was arrested April 14 after the son she said had died was proven to be alive and not terminally ill Morrison had said last year that doctors didn't expect the boy to live until Christmas after being diagnosed with leukemia and a tumor in his leg The boy, believed to be ill, was a 'star' at December's Holiday with a Hero shopping event with local emergency officials in Carson City, Nevada Furlong says investigators determined that Morrison lied when she said her son had leukemia so she could solicit gifts including a helicopter ride for the boy. He says she raised the money on a GoFundMe site and later falsely claimed the boy died. Details are emerging that the boy had been diagnosed with a treatable childhood illness well over a year ago, but she used embellished medical information to convince the boy, the schools, and the public that he was terminally ill. Morrison, 31, is charged with obtaining money under false pretenses and child abuse or neglect. It was not clear Wednesday whether Morrison had a lawyer. The GoFundMe page collected about $2,000 in cash, gift cards and other donations from the account. A spokeswoman for the fundraising website says the campaign has been removed and all contributions will be refunded. Details are emerging that the boy had been diagnosed with a treatable childhood illness well over a year ago, but she used embellished medical information to convince the boy, the schools, and the public that he was terminally ill Secretary of State Rex Tillerson branded the Iran nuclear deal a failure Wednesday as President Donald Trump ordered a review of how Washington is countering the threat from Tehran. The State Department admits that Iran has so far maintained its side of the bargain it struck with world powers in 2015 to curtail its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. But Tillerson argued the accord had just been a way of 'buying off' the regime and would only delay its development of a nuclear weapon that could threaten its region and the world. 'The Trump administration has no intention of passing the buck to a future administration on Iran,' Tillerson told reporters. Failure: Rex Tillerson bluntly said that even though Iran was meeting the terms of the nuclear deal, the deal itself was a failure President Donald Trump is mulling whether to stick with the Iran nuclear deal or pursue a new agreement, like he said he would on the campaign trail. He's seen today on the South Lawn of the White House attending a ceremony for the New England Patriots The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed between Iran and world powers restricts its nuclear fuel enrichment for 10 years. Trump has between four and eight years left in office, depending on whether he wins a second term. Tillerson said the JCPOA 'fails to achieve the objective of a non-nuclear Iran' and was a product of 'the same failed approach of the past that brought us to the current imminent threat we face from North Korea.' Trump's spokesman Sean Spicer said the review would be conducted by US government agencies over the next 90 days and recommendations would be presented to the president as to whether to stick by the deal. The nuclear deal was reached in Vienna in July 2015 between Iran and Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States. It was implemented in January last year. The then US administration under president Barack Obama hailed it as a victory for diplomacy over the threat of another new war to disarm a rogue state in an already unstable region. But US allies like Israel and Saudi Arabia were concerned the JCPOA does not shut down Iran's nuclear industry entirely nor forever, and Obama's domestic critics accused him of appeasing a terrorist state. On the campaign trail, Trump was a strident opponent of the 'worst deal ever negotiated' and many of his supporters, including some in Congress, have been lobbying to re-impose sanctions on Tehran. Although Tillerson confirmed, at the end of a prior 90-day review period, that Iran is not cheating on the terms of the JCPOA, Washington has not ruled out breaking its own side of the agreement. And even if the United States does not reimpose the nuclear sanctions that it dropped under the deal, it could impose penalties on Iran for its alleged sponsorship of armed 'terrorist' movements in other countries. 'We have to look at Iran in a comprehensive way in terms of the threat it poses and all areas of the region and the world. And the JCPOA is one element of that,' Tillerson said. 'So we are going to review completely the JCPOA itself... It is another example of buying off a power who has nuclear ambitions and we buy them off for a short period of time and someone has to deal with it later.' Trump had asked agencies handling the six-nation accord to conduct a study of the agreement that includes information on his options. In a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan, Tillerson said the agreement would now undergo a full review to see if it 'is vital to the national security interests of the United States.' The nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was signed in Vienna in July 2015 by Iran and five other nations, including the United States. Deal: The agreement was signed in July 2015 (pictured: John Kerry, front-left, and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, front-right) and requires a report every 90 days Controversial: The deal, which was signed under Barack Obama's tenure, was controversial. Iran is still subject to non-nuclear human rights sanctions and Tillerson says it sponsors terror Tillerson's letter to Ryan served as certification of Iran's compliance, which must be sent to Congress every 90 days. It was the first check on the deal issued by the Trump administration. The deadline was midnight. The Trump administration told Congress it will extend sanctions relief to Iran because the country is sticking to Barack Obama's 2015 deal to curb its atomic program. It suggested that sanctions for other illicit behavior could come down, though, 'Iran remains a leading state sponsor of terror, through many platforms and methods,' Tillerson wrote. As a candidate in the 2016 presidential election, Trump was an outspoken critic of the deal that was intended to halt Iran's nuclear program. He's offered conflicting opinions on whether he would try to scrap it, modify it or keep it in place with more strenuous enforcement. Asked Tuesday by DailyMail.com if Trump wants to pursue a new deal and how he'd go about getting it, Spicer said, 'That's why we're undergoing this inter-agency review.' Part of this is to get the...entire team to...look at it as part of...the next 90-days review that is required under the deal,' Spicer explained. 'So we will have recommendations that will be presented to the president on where the deal stands and how to act further.' Tillerson's Tuesday's letter suggested that while the administration agrees with findings by the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, that Iran is keeping to its end of the bargain, Trump is looking for another way to ratchet up pressure on Tehran. Despite the sanctions relief, Iran remains on the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism. It supports anti-Israel groups and is still subject to non-nuclear sanctions, including some for human rights abuses and for its backing of Syrian President Bashar Assad's government. 'I would put sanctions on the regime for violating the United Nations' resolution on missile tests, humiliating our sailors and being a state sponsor of terrorism,' Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told the Today show. Spicer declined to comment Wednesday on the potential for new sanctions. He acknowledged, though, that Iran could walk from the deal entirely if Trump OKs additional punishing actions. 'We're well aware of any potential negative impacts that an action could have. And so, regardless of whether it's an economic, political or military action, you always weigh all those kind of options,' Spicer said. The nuclear agreement took 18 months of negotiations led by former Secretary of State John Kerry and diplomats from the other four permanent members of the UN Security Council - Britain, China, France and Russia - as well as Germany. Under its terms, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program, long suspected of being aimed at developing atomic weapons, in return for billions of dollars in sanctions relief. Opponents of the deal, including Israel, objected, saying it only delayed Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons and did not allow for the kind of inspections of its atomic sites that would guarantee it was not cheating. Obama, Kerry and others who negotiated the deal strenuously defended its terms and said the agreement made Israel, the Middle East and the world a safer place. Trump is not convinced that's the case. His interagency review will take a hard look at Iran's behavior since the deal was negotiated, including the potential for violations. 'If he didn't, if he thought there were, that everything was fine, he would've, you know, allowed this to move forward,' Spicer said Wednesday. 'I think he's doing the prudent thing by asking for a review of...the current deal and what's happening.' For a second night in a row, Russian bombers flew within miles of Alaska in an apparent show of intimidation. Two U.S. officials who spoke with Fox News say two long-range bombers flew north of the Aleutian Islands, and got as close as 36 miles from mainland Alaska Tuesday night. The Russian planes appeared to have stayed in international airspace the entire time. The United States begins 12 nautical miles off the coast of Alaska. The previous night, the U.S. Air Force scrambled fighter jets to intercept another set of Russian jets when they came within 100 miles of Alaska's Kodiak Island. The US military intercepted two Russian TU-95 bombers in international airspace off Alaska's coast Tuesday night, for the second day in a row. Above, a TU-95 Bear bomber in 2012 The U.S. Air Force sent an E-3 surveillance aircraft (one pictured above in 2006) to watch the bombers until they turned around and flew back to Russia This time however, no fighter jets were sent to escort the bombers away from American land. Instead, a single E-3 Sentry early warning aircraft was sent to make sure the two bombers weren't concealing any smaller flying underneath them. The aircraft stayed with the bombers for a few hours, until they reached about 36 nautical miles off the coast of Alaska and turned around. The Russian planes reportedly took off from Petropavlovsk airbase and then returned five hours later to Anadyr airbase. Both are located about 1,000 miles away from Alaska in eastern Russia. The mid-air incident comes just days after secretary of state Rex Tillerson said US and Russian relations had reached a 'low point'. Tillerson made the remark while seated with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The two met in Moscow during the secretary's visit, during which Russian bombers also caused a similar incident near Japan. The above map shows where the bombers flew Monday and Tuesday When the two bombers got close to Alaska Monday night, two F-22s were sent out to intercept the planes. No fighter jets were sent out Tuesday night The Japanese military scrambled 14 fighters after a trio of bombers was spotted off the coast. Monday's incident marked the first time in almost two years since Russian bombers last came so close to the American coast. The previous confrontation in the skies took place on July 4, 2015, as President Vladimir Putin seemingly wanted to deliver a message to the US. The bombers were off the coast of Alaska and California. 'Good morning, American pilots. We are here to greet you on your Fourth of July Independence Day,' the bombers told US officials, CNN reported at the time. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Wednesday that every illegal immigrant in the U.S. is at risk of being deported even those who were protected during the Obama administration by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Sessions defended the Trump administration's immigration priorities following the deportation of a 23-year-old thief whose parents snuck him into America when he was 9. 'DACA enrollees are not being targeted,' Sessions insisted during a Fox News Channel interview, while saying: 'I dont know why this individual was picked up.' 'Everybody in the country illegally is subject to being deported, so people come here and they stay here a few years and somehow they think they are not subject to being deported well, they are.' Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Wednesday that anyone in the U.S. illegally has the potential to be deported at any time Sessions' words seemed to contradict the spirit of the Obama-era 'DACA' policy, which guaranteed a temporary amnesty for people who were snuck across the border as children Juan Manuel Montes, 23, was sent back to Mexico last week. His attorneys say he was enrolled in the DACA program in 2014, ensuring that he could remain in the U.S. without fear of deportation. They also say his DACA status was renewed in 2016, but Customs and Border Protection officials say that permit expired in 2015. They also point to a that Montes was convicted on a theft charge while he was in the U.S., suggesting that the criminal activity might have made him a priority for expulsion from the U.S. But Sessions said he didn't know why Montes was deported; he also denied DACA beneficiaries are being targeted for deportation. Juan Manuel Montes, 23, was sent back to Mexico from Calexico, California, on February 18. He is pictured above at his aunt's house in Mexico afterwards President Donald Trump has not been clear about his intentions for the DACA program. He said during his White House campaign that he would end the amnesty, but said more recently that so-called 'DREAMers' should not worry. Sessions said Wednesday that the government's priority is to enforce federal laws currently on the books 'to end the lawlessness at the border, stop the additional flow of illegals into the country, then to prioritize those who have gotten in trouble with the law, recent arrivals, people who have been deported previously, drug dealers and other criminal activists.' 'But we cant promise people who are here unlawfully that they arent going to be deported.' Federal agents say they only picked up Montes and deported him last week after catching him trying to sneak back into the U.S. on February 19 by climbing a border fence. Montes does not contest that claim but says he only tried to jump the fence because he feared for his life in Mexico and wanted to come 'home' to California. He says the ordeal began on February 17 in Calexico, California, where he claims he was stopped suddenly and 'aggressively' by a U.S. Border Patrol agent on a bicycle as he walked to a taxi stand after spending the night at a friend's house. In a lawsuit filed against the government in California on behalf of the 23-year-old, lawyers said: 'The officer asked Mr Montes in an aggressive manner for identification but Mr Montes had accidentally left his wallet, which contained his California identification card and EAD (proof of eligibility to work) in a friend's car. 'The officer then called another agent or officer to the scene. Mr Montes was scared and confused that he had been stopped and felt threatened by the officer,' a lawsuit filed against the government reads. He claims he was then driven to a detention center and forced to sign papers in English which he did not understand. 'Mr Montes was not provided with the opportunity to see an immigration judge, seek the assistance of counsel, or review the contents of the documents that he was forced to sign. 'He was also not provided a copy of any of those documents and is unaware of the legal basis for this physical removal. 'At approximately 1am, CBP officers walked Mr Montes to the US-Mexico border (near Mexicali, Baja California)and physically removed him from the United States.' Two days later, on February 19, he was caught trying to sneak his way back in to the country. He claims he did so in fear of his life after being mugged at knife point in Mexico. After this incident, he was sent back to Mexicali where he remains. US Customs and Protections will not acknowledge the first alleged incident or comment on his claim that he renewed his DACA status in 2016. Montes is now suing the government, demanding it release records surrounding his case. Montes says he was picked up in the border town of Calexico (shown above) on February 17 The government has refused to answer to his claims he was deported on February 17. Border Agents confirmed he was removed from the country on February 19 after trying to hop the fence but would not comment on any of his other accusations, instead pointing to a theft conviction he has dating back to 2016. The young man's story spread across social media after lawyers in California filed paperwork on Tuesday demanding Border Agents reveal details of the incident. Agents had up until then been quiet on the issue, claiming its privacy policy restricted them from making the circumstances public. The way Montes tells it, he entered the US at the age of nine with his mother and has lived in the country ever since. He said he suffered a brain injury as a boy which left him with special needs. Despite his learning difficulties, he said he graduated high school in 2013 and later completed a welding course at community college. Border agents caught him climbing over the fence at the Mexicali border (above) two days later The 23-year-old's story swept social media, spawning the hashtag JusticeForJuan and inspiring a petition which has gained 12,000 signatures He has spent the last few years picking crops on farms in Arizona and California. He was granted DACA status sometime after the program was established in 2012. In its infancy, the program kept recipients in the country legally for two years. They then had to apply to renew their status. It now gives them three years in the country. PRESIDENT TRUMP'S SOFT SPOT FOR DREAMERS After campaigning on a harsh, anti-immigration platform, President Trump surprised critics in February by promising to carry on his predecessor's Dreamers program. Pro-business Trump said those enrolled in the program had little to worry about with regard to his plans for their status, describing them as 'incredible kids' whose hard work and dedication to employment he admired. 'We are gonna deal with DACA with heart,' he said at a February 16 press conference. While conceding the issue had been 'very difficult' for him, he said of the program's participants: 'They shouldn't be very worried. I do have a big heart," he added. 'We're going to take care of everybody.' The program was threatened by the businessman's tough stance on immigration throughout the presidential campaign. President Obama established it in 2012 and made a direct plea to his successor to protect it when he handed over the Oval Office. 'His message was, those are good kids who didnt do anything wrong,' a lawmaker said of the appeal in January. Advertisement Montes insists he reapplied in January and was granted permission to remain in the country. He said when border agents picked him up on February 17, they gave no reason for deporting him and would not let him retrieve proof of his renewal. USA Today reports that he has one conviction for shoplifting from 2016 and three convictions for driving without a license. None are serious enough crimes to disqualify valid DACA enrollment. In a statement on Wednesday morning, a US Customs and Protection spokesman told DailyMail.com: 'Juan Manuel Montes Bojorquez was apprehended by the Calexico Station Border Patrol after illegally entering the U.S. by climbing over the fence in downtown Calexico. 'He was arrested by Border Patrol just minutes after he made his illegal entry and admitted under oath during the arrest interview that he had entered illegally. 'His DACA status expired in Aug. 2015 and he was notified at that time. In addition, he has a conviction for theft for which he received probation.' The hashtag JusticeforJuan spread across Twitter on Wednesday as sympathy for the 23-year-old grew. Critics of the administration said his treatment was proof of its dishonesty and asked how immigrant families would be able to trust President Trump as a result. He has promised to carry on the program because it benefits hard-working young people. President Obama established the program in 2012. Peter Capaldi (pictured) announced last month that he was stepping down from his role on the popular show Doctor Who The BBC has reportedly written to a worried Doctor Who fan to 'assure' them that actor Peter Capaldi's replacement will not be a woman. Capaldi, who famously played Malcolm Tucker on the hit BBC comedy series The Thick of It, announced last month he was stepping down from Doctor Who. Fans of the science-fiction show have been trying to guess who will be the new Time Lord in the series which first appeared on British television screens in 1963. Bookmakers penned their own list of potential replacements, and by Wednesday night, My Family and Love Actually star Kris Marshall was the favourite to be the new star. Meanwhile, other candidates included Bad Education and Fleabag actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Homeland actor David Harewood and Broadchurch star Olivia Colman. But according to The Sun, the BBC has said there are 'currently no plans' for a female to replace 59-year-old Capaldi. It comes after an avid viewer of the hit show filed a complaint to the broadcaster regarding the new Doctor. The man wrote that they were concerned changing the gender would be confusing for his children, according to the paper. Remarkably, a BBC staff member replied and put his mind at ease by confirming the replacement would be a man. Joanne Coyne, a complaints officer, wrote: 'We appreciate that you're a big Doctor Who fan and you have concerns that the programme would change should there be a female doctor. 'Be assured there are currently no plans to have a female Doctor Who.' Bad Education and Fleabag actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge (pictured) is currently the second favourite to be the next doctor, according to the bookies MailOnline has contacted the BBC and a spokesman said: 'No casting decisions have yet been made on Series 11.' It comes after Capaldi said he felt 'sad' after announcing he would be stepping down from his Time Lord role. He 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. Facebook killer Steve Stephens demanded a sachet of BBQ sauce with his $9 chicken nuggets even though he knew police were on the way. The ruthless gunman became aware that he had been spotted as he waited in his car for his nuggets and fries and told staff at a drive-through McDonald's: 'I gotta go.' He had to leave the fries after being told there would be a delay and had established he had been busted by the food counter staff. But before he sped off with police in pursuit, he asked for the BBQ sauce which was collected and placed in the bag along with his double order of nuggets. The full details of the last few minutes of Stephens life were revealed today as the staff member who alerted police was told she should receive the $50,000 reward which had been placed on his head. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO Last meal: This was the drive-thru window at the left where Steve Stephens placed his order, then was delayed by the heroic staff as his server realized who she was and dialed 911 while the owner tried to slow him down when he drove to the pick-up window on the right Stopped: Steve Stephens (pictured left and right) was hunted across five states by the law for killing a 74-year-old man on Sunday - but it was two McDonald's workers who stopped him Chase: After a chase from the restaurant, Stephens' white car (pictured, center) was run off the road and he shot himself. Cops now say the two workers should share the $50,000 reward Rewarded: Thomas DuCharme Jr, the owner of the Erie, PA, McDonald's, was part of the attempt to slow him down as he ordered McNuggets. He said the true hero was the server who took his ordered and realized who he was. She does not want to be named, DuCharme said. Detectives are still trying to solve the mystery of where Stephens went immediately after Sunday's murder and who he came into contact with. Stephens had been on the run for 48 hours after the random murder of 74-year-old Robert Godwin who was killed as he walked past the gunman's Ford Fusion car last Sunday in Cleveland. The evil killer then posted a video of Godwin being blasted to death on Facebook and blamed the reasons on his ex-girlfriend. He turned fugitive, but emerged at the McDonald's in Buffalo Road, Harborcreek Township, Erie yesterday morning and joined the vehicle line for a meal. After he had edged his car towards a speaker phone and ordered his meal through his drivers' window, he moved into the first of two service cubicles. While accepting his money, the first assistant recognized him from police appeals. Stephens, 37, had done little to disguise his appearance except for trimming his heavy beard. The McDonald's staff member, a married woman who had clocked on at 9am for her six hour shift, was an experienced worker who has been at the outlet for five years and received training to maintain calm in potentially stressful public situations. She quietly dialed 911 on her phone and at the same time informed her manager : 'I think that's the Facebook killer.' He was already in such a hurry to receive his food from the second window delivery point, he didn't wait for his change which amounted to $5 or $6. The outlet's owner Thomas DuCharme Jr. took over the order and approached Stephens at the food collection counter, which is a few yards on from the payment window. DuCharme told him his fries might be delayed by a minute. But Stephens took fright at the arrival of the owner and another member of senior staff and decided to leave without the fries. 'It happened so fast. It wasn't like everybody got freaked out or tensed up it literally could not have been more than a minute,' DuCharme said. 'Everything happened so fast. And it wasn't like he hung around and as soon as I said that (the delay in delivering the fries) he said 'I gotta go'. 'He said he wanted the BBQ sauce, so we put it in the bag for him. He wasn't waiting and he had to go.' He said the killer realized his game was up when told about the delay in his fries and his reaction was one of 'OK something is going on'. Drama: The Erie McDonald's was back to business as usual after its extraordinary part in ending the Facebook killer's time on the run Fled: Stephens shot Robert Godwin, 74, in Cleveland, Ohio, and died in Erie, around 100 miles away. Police are still working out what happened in the intervening two days Victim: Godwin (left) was stopped by Stephens apparently at random. Stephens then shot him dead while filming the encounter, then uploaded the video to Facebook The police were on their way to the restaurant before Stephens reached the collection counter and sped after the killer as he drove off. He took his McNuggets and whipped out of the parking lot, nearly hitting Gail Wheeler, 54, a retail operations manager from Erie who was on her way home from the grocery store. 'Two seconds later, I hear these sirens, and they come whipping past me,' she told The Associated Press. Wheeler followed behind for a couple miles. She said the chase slowed suddenly from 50 mph to about 20 mph when the road narrowed from four lanes to two. One of the pursuing troopers picked his spot - in front of an abandoned school - and hit Stephens' bumper to get him to stop. The Ford Fusion did a half-turn and came to rest at the curb. Police were starting to get out of their cruisers when 'I heard a shot. It was loud and distinctive,' Wheeler said. 'The next thing I know, they're approaching the car. The one officer just shook his head. He was closest to the car. ... They had their guns out but when he shook his head, they lowered their guns.' Cleveland police chief Calvin Williams said: 'As the officers approached that vehicle Steve Stephens took his own life. 'We would have preferred that it had not ended this way.' Angela Small, the 34-year-old girlfriend of Godwin, with whom she had two children, said Stephens was a 'coward' and by committing suicide had denied her and the kids full closure from the episode. DuCharme said the hero women who spotted Stephens had asked to remain 'totally anonymous' and was not interested in talking about her spotting the public enemy. It had been reported that Stephens' cell phone signal had been picked up in Erie, around 100 miles from Cleveland, on Monday and local folk had been aware of the possibility that he may have moved onto Pennsylvania. A $50,000 reward had been offered for information leading to his capture and appears likely to go to the McDonald's staff. DuCharme added: 'It if was up to me, it should all go to her.' He said he was proud of her immediate reaction and swift dialing of 9/11, but she had been 'shaken up' by the ordeal. But the owner, who has three other McDonald's in the area,said that she might be in for a pay raise and added: ' She is a great employee and she seems to be doing well.' A quick-thinking five-year-old boy from Arizona has been praised as a hero for saving his mother's life after she suffered a seizure and blacked out while showering. After seeing his mother bleeding from her head in the bathtub last month, Salvatore Cicalese, of San Tan Valley, grabbed his infant sister and ran for help to a neighbor who called 911. Salvatore's mother, Katelyn Cicalese, survived the seizure and has since recovered, and on Friday, a month after her close call, her son was honored for his bravery by the Rural Metro Fire Department. Mom's rescuer: Katelyn Cicalese, pictured left with her infant daughter, has her 5-year-old son, Salvatore (pictured right with his sister) to thank for saving her life last month in Arizona Close call: Cicalese shows where she suffered a seizure while showering and collapsed in the tub after putting her children to bed on March 14 The incident that earned the toddler the nickname 'Super Sal' took place at around 8pm on March 14, just after his mother had tucked him in and put his 2-month-old sister to bed. Mrs Cicalese went to take a shower but shortly after starting the water, she experienced a seizure and collapsed, striking her head against the tub. Her son was drifting off to sleep in his bedroom when he heard a thud and went to check on his mom, finding her lying motionless in the shower, with blood trickling from her head wound, reported San Tan Valley News. Believing that his mother was dying, the boy wrapped his 2-month-old sister in a blanket, placed her on the couch and went to open the garage door, which he reached by climbing a bar stool that he had dragged form the kitchen. After seeing his mother motionless and bleeding in the tub, Sal grabbed his baby sister and wrapped her in a blanket The 5-year-old reenacts how he dragged a bar stool from the kitchen and used it to reach the garage door latch (pictured) Sal, holding his sister in his arms, ran to his neighbor Jessica Penoyer (pictured) for help He then went back for his sister and carried her to the nearby home of Jessica Penyoer. Penyoer told ABC15 she was surprised to find her young neighbor on her doorstep at night, and she initially thought he was telling her that his dog died. He said, No, my mom died in the shower. Can you take care of us?" recalled Penoyer. The woman summoned help and went to the Cicalese family's home, where she found her neighbor Katelyn lying unconscious in the shower, with the water still running. Pint-sized hero: Sal Cicalese was presented with an honorary firefighter certificate Honestly, he saved my life, his mom said. I was under the faucet. If he wouldn't have gotten help, I would I would have drowned. Mrs Cicalese has made a complete recovery, but she said her son stills asks her every day if she is OK, or if she is going to die. On Friday, a Rural Metro Fire truck showed up outside the family's home in San Tan Valley and department spokesperson Shawn Gilleland presented the grinning Sal an honorary firefighter certificate, a patch, a shirt and a helmet in tribute to his valiant actions. Phillip Gale, 50, (pictured) allegedly stabbed his love rival four times when he found him giving his wife cocaine A dentist knifed his love rival four times after returning home to find the man had been drinking and taking cocaine with his wife, a court was told yesterday. Phillip Gale, 50, stabbed Andrew Smith in the chest and back then told police, 'Arrest me, I know what I've done', the jury heard. It was said Gale later told officers he attacked Mr Smith for giving his wife Jayne Masters cocaine, and asked them: 'Is that b****** still alive?' The husband was described as 'proud and boastful about what he had done'. Smith was taken to hospital but survived. The dentist, who claims he acted in self-defence, went on trial yesterday accused of attempted murder. Gale and his wife of 13 years had each had extra-marital affairs and 'lived separate lives'. But in the weeks before the attack they had agreed they would not bring lovers back to the house, Preston Crown Court was told. During a 'clearing the air conversation', Miss Masters, 48, had admitted an ongoing relationship to her husband, the jury heard not with Mr Smith, but with another lover. Describing the wife's 'complicated' relationship with Mr Smith, Mark Ryan, prosecuting, said: 'Miss Masters says or suggests the relationship was not sexual, describing them being like two girlfriends, who stayed up talking, drinking and sometimes taking cocaine into the early hours. 'She was very comfortable with him. She would sometimes be with him in her underwear or would go to the toilet in front of him.' However, as to whether the relationship had been sexual at all, Mr Smith claimed there had been 'a dabble once or twice', the court was told. Mr Ryan added: 'Phillip Gale strongly objected to this relationship, possibly because of Mr Smith's habit of taking cocaine and giving cocaine to Miss Masters. 'Whatever the precise nature of the relationship, everyone seems to agree that they were very close and would be very flirtatious towards each other. 'Rightly or wrongly, Phillip Gale believed something sexual was going on.' Giving evidence yesterday Miss Masters said she and Gale had continued to live together 'as husband and wife' at their five-bedroom detached house. 'Just because we didn't share a bedroom doesn't mean we didn't have a marriage,' she said, adding that they had decided 'we'll just be honest to each other so it doesn't cause any arguments'. Mir Smith (pictured) was stabbed by dentist Phillip Gale but survived after he was rushed to hospital The court heard Gale found his wife and Mr Smith asleep together on the sofas or in her bedroom on a number of occasions when the pair had been drinking into the early hours. 'My husband didn't like his lifestyle,' Miss Masters said. 'He didn't like his reputation and that is why he didn't want him in our home My husband is a professional person. We had a beautiful home. I blame myself.' A few days before the attack last October, Gale had withheld his wife's housekeeping money after discovering she had invited Mr Smith into their home in Foulridge, near Colne, Lancashire, the court heard. On another occasion, Gale pushed Mr Smith from a dormer roof after catching him trying to climb inside through an upstairs window, it was said. Miss Masters, 48, (pictured) had admitted an ongoing relationship to her husband, the jury heard, but the man was not Mr Smith On October 16, Gale was on a day trip to Blackpool with friends. Miss Masters invited Mr Smith to the house and the pair spent the afternoon drinking and taking cocaine, the trial heard planning that he would leave before Gale returned. But they lost track of time, and when Gale arrived shortly after 9pm the jury heard he 'flew into a rage'. The court was told that when Miss Masters heard her husband at the door, Mr Smith told her: 'Let him in. I want to know why he doesn't like me.' In the kitchen, Gale told Mr Smith to leave, and moments later stabbed him with a carving knife. Mr Smith suffered four wounds described as life-threatening. He underwent emergency surgery and spent time in intensive care. When emergency services arrived they found Gale smoking a cigarette on the sofa while his wife cradled Mr Smith's head in her hands. 'Phillip Gale at that time was proud and boastful about what he had done,' said Mr Ryan. He added that Gale held his hands in front of him and told officers: 'Arrest me. I know what I've done.' In custody, he asked: 'Is that b****** still alive? He was giving my wife cocaine. That's why I knifed him.' He later claimed he acted in self-defence. But Mr Ryan said: 'Although Phillip Gale was seriously provoked his intention was to kill.' Cross-examining Mr Smith, Mark Stewart suggested there had been a scuffle and that he had pushed Gale. Mr Smith said he could not remember a lot of details but recalled that Gale had 'picked up the knife and asked me to get out of his house'. He said he was leaving when Gale stabbed him in the back. Gale denies attempted murder and wounding with intent. The trial continues. Theresa May will place a triple lock on Brexit in the Tory manifesto to stop obstruction by diehard Remainers. Tory sources say she is set to include specific pledges to overcome opposition within her party and in the Lords. The manifesto is expected to commit the Conservatives to ending EU free movement and pulling out of both the single market and European Court of Justice. Senior Tories see the three measures as essential in delivering last year's referendum result. Theresa May (pictured) will place a triple lock on Brexit in the Tory manifesto to stop obstruction by diehard Remainers Mrs May took her campaign straight to the battleground of Bolton last night, delivering her stump speech for the first time and greeting supporters The rally came after the penultimate Commons clash between Mrs May and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn before the election, pictured One insider said Tory Remainers would be required to sign up to the package, 'locking them in'. Including the pledges in the manifesto will also make it much harder for peers to block Brexit. Mrs May is expected to use the manifesto to ditch a number of high-profile policies from the Cameron era. Yesterday she left the door open to watering down or even scrapping Mr Cameron's flagship vow to spend 0.7 per cent of national income on foreign aid. Ministers refused to say whether the costly 'triple lock' on pensions will be retained, or whether the pledge to reduce net migration to the 'tens of thousands' will be kept when the manifesto is published in a fortnight. The move came as: MPs voted by 522 votes to 13 to back a snap election on June 8; Mrs May kicked off her campaign with a warning of a 'coalition of chaos' led by Jeremy Corbyn, Nicola Sturgeon and Tim Farron; Downing Street moved to calm the row over Mrs May's refusal to participate in TV debates with Jeremy Corbyn; Labour threatened to hit 1.6million higher earners with higher taxes; George Osborne finally bowed to pressure to quit parliament; Commons Speaker John Bercow said he would stand for another term; Gisela Stuart, a prominent Leaver, led an exodus of Labour MPs choosing to quit rather than campaign for Mr Corbyn. Setting out her 'Brexit prospectus', Mrs May said: 'When people voted to leave the EU they did vote to end free movement as it has been they voted for us to have control of our laws so we are not subject to the ECJ. 'We will be ensuring we negotiate the best possible deal with the EU a deal which will cover the various issues that people are really concerned about in terms of ensuring control of our borders, control of our laws, control of our money.' A Tory source said: 'All Conservative candidates will have to stand on the manifesto it will lock them in and provide a much stronger mandate. It will also send a message to the House of Lords that they cannot get in the way.' Under the so-called 'Salisbury convention', the upper house cannot block legislation enacting pledges made in the manifesto of the governing party, although it can delay it for a year. Tory grandee Sir Desmond Swayne yesterday said senior peers, including former cabinet secretary Lord Butler and leading human rights lawyer Lord Lester, had told him 'we would not leave the European Union because they were in a position to prevent it and would do so'. He added: 'The policy the Prime Minister announced, of pursuing a general election and securing a mandate in this house and a mandate to bind the other place to the Salisbury convention, is therefore essential.' Dominic Raab, a former Tory justice minister, also welcomed the plan, saying: 'It is a sensible move, which is consistent with the pledges the PM has made. Mrs May (pictured leaving No 10 today) is set to use the manifesto to ditch a number of policies which were introduced when David Cameron was in charge The manifesto is expected to commit the Conservatives to ending EU free movement and pulling out of both the single market (pictured, the European Parliament) 'It's important to make sure we get the strongest possible mandate to deliver the best deal with our European friends. 'It will also give us a clarity of position which should be respected across both houses of parliament.' The move will leave prominent Tory Remainers, such as Nicky Morgan, Anna Soubry and Kenneth Clarke in a potentially awkward position. Miss Soubry yesterday insisted that a bigger Commons majority would make it easier for the Prime Minister to face down Tory Brexiteers and compromise with Brussels. She said: 'A bigger majority will enable the PM to see off the Hard Brexiteers. She is clear she wants a deal.' But she and others could now find themselves having to sign up to a manifesto incorporating key elements of so-called 'hard Brexit'. Speaking at an election rally in Bolton last night, Mrs May said: 'Give me the mandate to fight for Britain and give me the mandate to deliver for Britain.' Senior Tories see the three measures as essential in delivering last year's referendum result which saw the UK vote to leave the EU (pictured, the European Parliament) Mr Corbyn, who will launch his campaign today, dismissed Mrs May's argument that she needs a fresh mandate to deliver Brexit, and taunted her over her refusal to agree to a live TV debate. In her statement announcing her plan for a snap election on Tuesday, Mrs May said Britain would go to the polls on June 8 specifically to strengthen her mandate to deliver the result of last year's historic EU referendum. She singled out opposition to Brexit from Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the SNP and the 'unelected' House of Lords as her reason for going to the polls. Bonfire of the chumocracy's legacy: Cameron's cherished aid target set to be ditched by May so she can spend billions more on the Armed Forces Theresa May is considering ditching David Cameron's foreign aid target and pouring billions more into the armed forces. Aid is one of a series of Cameron-era pledges that could either be abandoned or significantly adjusted in the Tory manifesto. Downing Street is also reviewing the pledges to cut net migration to the 'tens of thousands' and to maintain the pensions 'triple lock'. Mrs May yesterday refused to endorse the commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of national income on aid every year. It was put into law by Mr Cameron and Nick Clegg but has been blamed for leading to hugely wasteful expenditure. And last night she cancelled an appearance with Microsoft founder Bill Gates a leading advocate of the 0.7pc target who hours earlier had called for the pledge to be kept. Theresa May is considering ditching David Cameron's foreign aid target and pouring billions more into the armed forces In the Commons, the Prime Minister was asked explicitly whether she backed both the aid target and the Nato goal of spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence. She endorsed maintaining defence spending but pointedly refused to back the aid target prompting speculation it will be ditched. With international agreement, money spent on military action to help support fragile states in Africa and elsewhere could also be counted as aid. Such a move would be resisted by International Development Secretary Priti Patel, who says the pledge is key to the Government's 'Global Britain' brand post-Brexit. The aid pledge could also be adjusted. Another less radical option would be to allow aid to be 'smoothed out' over a parliament, giving ministers more discretion about when to spend the money. But this would mean the budget would carry on rising in line with national income. There are growing calls among Tory MPs for the aid target to be abandoned. The hugely expensive pledge to increase pensions every year by a set amount the so-called triple lock is also likely to be adjusted. It means the state pension must rise by the highest out of earnings, inflation or 2.5 per cent. Work and Pensions Secretary Damian Green has hinted that increasing state pension payments so sharply is unsustainable. There was also speculation that Mrs May could drop, or amend, the pledge to reduce net migration to the 'tens of thousands' in the manifesto. In a BBC interview, the PM was asked to endorse the pledge to bring net annual inflows to under 100,000, which has been Tory policy since 2009. Aid is one of a series of Cameron-era pledges that could either be abandoned or significantly adjusted in the Tory manifesto She instead said she wanted migration to be at 'sustainable levels'. But she reinforced her determination to cut numbers stressing she had spent six years as Home Secretary fighting to reduce them. Leaving the EU will mean the end of free movement, handing government full control over migrant numbers from inside the bloc. Net migration currently stands at 273,000 and has not been below 100,000 since the mid-1990s. At Prime Minister's Questions, Tory backbencher Richard Benyon asked Mrs May to commit to both the Nato and aid targets, saying he was proud of the Government's record on both. But Mrs May endorsed only the Nato pledge. 'We have committed to meet our Nato pledge of 2 per cent of GDP being spent on defence every year of this decade,' she said. 'We are delivering on that. We have got a 36billion defence budget that will rise to almost 40billion by 2020-21 the biggest in Europe and second largest in Nato.' On aid, she said the ministers 'are meeting our UN commitment'. She added: 'I can assure him that we remain committed, as a Conservative party, to ensuring the defence and security of this country and to working for a stronger world.' Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said: 'We need to spend the amount we need to spend rather than setting targets. The 0.7 per cent target was always arbitrary. We need an aid budget for emergency support, but the rest should be charity or private investment. The aid target and a promise to put it in to law was included in the 2010 Tory manifesto as part of Mr Cameron's attempts to 'detoxify' the party. Also a Lib Dem commitment, it became law in March 2015. Tracey Spicer has revealed she was groped by one of her television bosses at a work Christmas party and was told she had a 'nice a***'. Ms Spicer, 49, claims the 'sickening' sexual assault occurred while she was one of Australia's most recognised television journalists. She did not reveal the company or name of the man, but told Woman's Weekly she felt his hand on her right buttock. 'He groped around for a second or two and said, "Looking good, Trace. Lost a bit of weight, eh?" Scroll down for video Tracey Spicer has revealed she was groped by one of her television bosses at a work Christmas party and was told she had a 'nice a***' Ms Spicer is pictured with a copy of her book, Good Girl Stripped Bare - out on Thursday through Harper Collins. 'I actually turned around to slap him, but realised it was one of my bosses. So I just lowered my arm. I said, "Yeah, after my mother died, I didn't feel like eating." 'He mumbled, "Nice a***" and staggered off,' she told Woman's Weekly. Ms Spicer said the sexual assault was among the most 'unpleasant and uncomfortable' experiences of her life. She famously sued Network Ten after 14 years for unfair dismissal when her contract was terminated weeks after she returned from maternity leave for the birth of her second child, Grace. Ms Spicer is pictured as a young journalist from her days television reporting in the country 'I actually turned around to slap him, but realised it was one of my bosses. So I just lowered my arm. I said, "Yeah, after my mother died, I didn't feel like eating",' she described (Ms Spicer is pictured) Ms Spicer alleged Network 10 had also tried to move her aside after the birth of her first child, 12-year-old Taj, and was returned to her position. She reached an undisclosed settlement, rumoured to be $250,000. Ms Spicer is well known for speaking out against industry sexism and the struggles women face in television journalism. The mother-of-two is one of Australia's most decorated media personalities as a newsreader and columnist, with a career spanning decades at Network Ten, Sky News and Nine News. She now freelances for ABC, Fairfax, and is the National Convenor for Women in Media. Ms Spicer's book, Good Girl Stripped Bare, is out on Thursday through Harper Collins. Ms Spicer is pictured with her two children, Taj and Grace Ms Spicer famously sued Network Ten after 14 years for unfair dismissal when her contract was terminated weeks after she returned from maternity leave for the birth of her second child A successful Hollywood manager and producer, known for his role in bringing The Hangover trilogy and We're the Millers (2013) to the silver screen, has passed away. JC Spink was found dead on Tuesday in his West Hollywood home at the age of 45, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Spink was the co-founder of Benderspink, the management-production company responsible for several blockbuster movies over the past two decades. JC Spink was found dead on Tuesday in his West Hollywood home at the age of 45 by his brother; he is seen here at the Los Angeles premiere of Red Eye in August 2005 Chris Bender made up the other half of the founding team. The two both graduated from Lewisburg, Pennsylvania's Bucknell University and worked together at Zide-Perry Productions in Los Angeles. They later became roommates and started their own lucrative venture. 'We had a third bedroom, and the company just started out of there,' Spink previously said. 'I think it probably cost $35,000 a year or $40,000 a year to run it. We were just putting it on credit cards.' Chris Bender (L) and Spink (R) are seen here on the red carpet for the Los Angeles premiere of A History of Violence in September 2005 The line of credit wasn't required for too long, as within their first year of operations they had sold over 20 scripts and helped bring 1999's American Pie to fruition. That film alone grossed $235 million across the globe. A few of his many producing credits include The Butterfly Effect (2004), A History of Violence (2005), Cats & Dogs (2001), The Ring (2002) and the Ride Along films. Spink left Benderspink in May 2016. The duo released a statement about the split on May 17. 'We started Benderspink in our late 20s almost 18 years ago,' the pair said. 'We could not be more proud of what weve worked on together and are excited for the next chapter in each of our lives.' As co-founder of Benderspink, Spink was known for his role in bringing The Hangover trilogy and We're the Millers (2013) to the silver screen; Zach Galifianakis (L), Bradley Cooper (C) and Ed Helms (R) are seen here in a still from 2009's The Hangover Spink also had a guest starring role in two episodes of The Goldbergs, his only acting credits. The show's creator, Adam Goldberg, was also a classmate of Spink's, but from childhood. 'Ever since we were kids on the school bus, JCwas a passionate, driven and brilliant guy who put his friends first,' Goldberg said in a statement, as reported by Deadline Hollywood. ' He mastered the spec [script sales] game by his 30s, but even more impressive, he gave countless writers a start in the business. One of my best memories on The Goldbergs was when I cast JC to play our angry bus driver from our childhood. It was so surreal and incredibly fun. He really will be missed.' Spink was listed as a producer on the live-action feature version of Disney's Mulan, now in pre-production and set to release in 2018. His brother, Brian Spink, called in his death to authorities on Tuesday. '[JC Spink] was found unresponsive at the scene at the residence on 1200 Green Acre last night at 8.18pm [Pacific] by his brother,' said Los Angeles County Coroner Ed Winter. 'It was reported to us as possible natural causes, and we are looking into it.' An autopsy has yet to be performed but is planned. JC Spink is survived by his brothers, Brian and Daniel; his parents, Marsh and Helyn; his sisters-in-law Jessica and Holly; his niece Campbell; and his nephew Bennett. Elite police marksmen are ready to shoot to kill any lorry driver attempting to use his vehicle in a terrorist attack, a senior officer said last night. The rule book that says such strikes would be too dangerous has been torn up after a series of atrocities, added Deputy Chief Constable Simon Chesterman. He revealed officers now have powerful weapons that are accurate through glass and bodywork. He was speaking weeks after Khalid Masood killed four people when he mowed them down in a hired SUV on Westminster Bridge before fatally stabbing a policeman outside Parliament. Elite police marksmen are ready to shoot to kill any lorry driver attempting to use his vehicle in a terrorist attack A photograph shows the lorry which ploughed through a Christmas market in Berlin in December of last year Mr Chesterman, who is responsible for all firearms policing, said the UK will soon have the most potent armed response in modern times. By next April, forces will be able to call on at least 10,500 officers nationwide to respond to the threat of marauding terrorists and armed criminals. Before the Westminster outrage last month, attacks in Paris, Nice and Berlin led chief officers to consider how they would respond to a vehicle attack. As a result, top-level firearms officers train to work side-by-side with special forces in response to the heightened threat. This includes scenarios involving passenger jets, boats and trains after an Islamist attempted to open fire on a rail service from Amsterdam to Paris two years ago. French police forces and forensic officers stand next to the truck which rammed into a crowd in Nice celebrating Bastille Day in July The lorry involved in the Stockholm attack in April is towed away. Four people were killed in the rampage, while at least 15 were injured As far as lorries are concerned it would be different we used to talk about not shooting at a moving vehicle, Mr Chesterman said. But if the vehicle is being used as a weapon in the first place, there are a number of options available to stop it, particularly a large lorry. We need to shoot the driver. Islamic State has been urging its followers to use heavy vehicles to cause carnage in busy streets and shopping areas, and has provided advice online about how to do this. On Bastille Day in Nice last July, 86 people were killed and hundreds injured when a rented lorry was driven at speed down a packed seafront promenade. Six months later 12 were left dead when a failed asylum seeker hijacked a lorry and drove it into crowds at a Christmas market in the German capital. Mr Chesterman, head of armed policing for the National Police Chiefs Council, said: As often happens, the terrorists keep adapting their tactics. Khalid Masood (pictured) launched a murderous rampage in a rented 4x4 We have seen some horrible and different tactics lately using vehicles and lorries. As far as our training is concerned that is no different to any other tactics that we use and the weaponry that the officers carry now has the ability to penetrate doors and windows. One of the biggest challenges to us is penetrating glass accurately and vehicle glass clearly has a variety of different makes and consistency. So getting the right ammunition to defeat glass has been a challenge. I am confident that with the work we have done and the ammunition we carry, an armed response vehicle officer has the ability to fire at the cab of a lorry to bring it to a stop. Many counter-terrorist specialist firearms officers including the Metropolitan Polices elite unit are now equipped with the lightweight SIG 516 assault rifle, which fires 5.56mm Nato rounds. These are a more powerful alternative to the 9mm pistols or carbines they usually carry. Mr Chesterman has overseen a 150million effort to strengthen the police firearm response since the November 2015 Paris attacks in which terrorists murdered 130 people in a series of attacks. So far around 640 additional officers have been trained to carry guns and the total number of armed police will rise to around 7,000 by next April. In addition, police chiefs said roughly 3,500 marksmen protecting the railways, nuclear and military sites and the National Crime Agency are now able to work alongside them. However, Mr Chesterman said officers remain concerned about being treated as suspects rather than professional witnesses in the event of a fatal shooting. A Maryland couple were charged with injecting a 15-year-old girl with heroin and forcing her into prostitution. The couple, Paul Thomas Owen, 26, of Greensboro and Darlene Louise Allen, 35, of Federalsburg, who were dating at the time of the alleged crimes, were indicted on with human trafficking and child abuse charges on April 4, according to a Caroline County police statement on the Caroline Circle. The pair allegedly injected the teen with heroin several times, coerced her to perform sex acts with men at a Denton hotel in exchange for money and drugs and drove her to Delaware to perform a sex act in exchange for money. Paul Thomas Owen, 26, was charged with sex trafficking and child abuse after police say he and his then-girlfriend coerced a 15-year-old girl into prostitution after injecting her with heroin Darlene Louise Allen, 35, was also charged along with Owen in what police say was a case of charging men to have sex with the teen girl in a Best Western motel in Denton The acts took place while the trio were staying at the Best Western Hotel in Denton between December 17 and 20, 2016. Allen was also engaging in prostitution and Owen was having sex with the underage girl, according to cops. The pair are then alleged to have driven the girl to Delaware for her to have sex with an elderly man for money. Owen (above) and Allen allegedly also drove the girl to Delaware to have sex with an elderly man in exchange for money The couple, who may have been broken up by the time of the arrests, are charged with a slew of offenses including benefiting financially from human trafficking, second-degree child abuse, reckless endangerment, contributing to a certain condition of a child that results in a violation, neglect of minor, third-degree sex offense, sexual solicitation of a minor, sex abuse of a minor, possessing drugs other than marijuana, possessing drug administration equipment and possessing drug paraphernalia. Also arrested was Lori Lynn Griffith, 43, of Ridgely, who police say was involved and charged with neglect of a minor. Owen and Allen are being held without bail. According to his Facebook page, Owen is a roofer who used to work at Food Lion. A mother and her newborn baby are both fighting for their lives after the infant was delivered via emergency C-section hours after the mother suffered critical abdominal injuries in a car crash. The 24-year-old Hallam woman was travelling in a car that collided with a truck at the intersection of Princes Highway and Princes Domain Drive in Melbourne at 2.55pm on Wednesday. She was transported to hospital and her baby was delivered by emergency caesarean section. Both mother and baby are in a critical condition on Thursday, a Victoria Police spokesman told Daily Mail Australia. A young pregnant woman has had her baby after suffering critical abdominal injuries in a car crash in Melbourne. File photo The car's driver, a 52-year-old woman from Hallam was taken to hospital with injuries that aren't said to be life-threatening. The truck driver, a 50-year-old man from Tynong, was not hurt in the crash. The crash came minutes after another serious collision on the Princes Highway that left one woman dead and a man fighting for his life. The two injured passengers were both airlifted to hospital after the accident in Cann River. The woman later died. Two cars, containing two occupants each, collided head-on between Box Ridge Track and Butter Track on the highway at 2.45pm. The two drivers were also taken to hospital, with one in a serious condition. Tucker Carlson is rising quickly through the ranks at Fox News as he's expected to take over Bill O'Reilly's coveted prime-time slot just three months after he took over Megyn Kelly's spot following her swift exit from the network. Fox News announced a new weeknight schedule on Wednesday after it was declared that O'Reilly was leaving the network in the midst of numerous sexual harassment allegations. Carlson's show, Tucker Carlson Tonight, originally debuted at 7pm in September, before moving into the 9pm slot in January that was previously occupied by Kelly. The 47-year-old anchor has had consistently sky high ratings after the seamless move to 9pm making him a vital player at the network since he bested Kelly's ratings as the second-most watched host on cable. Scroll down for video New prime-time king: Tucker Carlson (above) is rising quickly through the ranks at Fox News as he's slatted to take over Bill O'Reilly's coveted prime-time slot just three months after he took over Megyn Kelly's spot following her swift exit from the network Fox News announced a new weeknight schedule on Wednesday after it was announced that O'Reilly (above) was leaving the network in midst of numerous sexual harassment allegations Nielsen data reported that on March 2, Carlson had the fourth-highest ratings in all of television, according to Western Journalism. TUCKER CARLSON'S RISE AT FOX NEWS Tucker Carlson previously hosted shows on CNN, MSNBC and PBS until he joined Fox News as a contributor in 2009. The conservative provocateur went on to have a smaller role on the channel as one of the three hosts on the weekend edition of Fox & Friends. But Carlson, a married father-of-four, earned his shot at Fox's prime-time lineup by doing well as a replacement for Greta Van Susteren during her 7pm slot on the network after she left her long-running program, On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, to take a job at MSNBC. Carlson's show, Tucker Carlson Tonight, which features spirited debates with guests from across the political and cultural spectrum, first appeared in the 7pm slot. But with the departure of Megyn Kelly, his show moved into her 9pm spot, shooting him straight to stardom at the network. Now that O'Reilly has been ousted at the network, Carlson has quickly risen to become the network's new prominent anchor with his show moving into the 8pm slot previously occupied by The O'Reilly Factor. Advertisement Even more impressive, Carlson more than doubled the ratings of Kelly's 9pm segment during his first week in January after she departed Fox News on January 3 for a new job at NBC News that she has yet to begin. In January, Carlson performed with a 95 per cent increase in the demographic of 25 to 50 year-old viewers, compared to the same time period last year when The Kelly File was on air. Measuring the same time frame from January 11 to 22, Carlson had garnered an average of 775,000 viewers, which nearly doubles Kelly's 398,000, according to The Hill. The conservative provocateur, who is a married to his high school sweetheart and a father-of-four, previously hosted shows on CNN, MSNBC and PBS. Carlson, who is the co-founder and former editor-in-chief of The Daily Caller website, formerly co-hosted CNN's Crossfire and was the youngest anchor on the network ever and remained there until 2005. He joined MSNBC after to host an early evening show called Tucker, that was cancelled in 2008 due to low ratings. The California native, who is the elder son of Richard Warner Carlson, a former Los Angeles news anchor and U.S. ambassador to the Seychelles, joined Fox News as a contributor on the network in May 2009. The Trinity College graduate had a smaller role on the channel beginning in 2013 as one of the three hosts on the weekend edition of Fox & Friends. Carlson's show originally debuted at 7pm in September, before moving into the 9pm slot in January that was previously occupied by Megyn Kelly But Carlson earned his shot at Fox's prime-time lineup by doing well as a replacement for Greta Van Susteren during her 7pm slot on the network after she left her long-running program, On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, to take a job at MSNBC. Carlson's show, which features spirited debates with guests from across the political and cultural spectrum, first appeared in the 7pm slot, but with the departure of Kelly and now O'Reilly, he has quickly risen to become the network's new prominent anchor. Back in January, Executive Chairman of 21st Century Fox and Executive Chairman of FOX News Rupert Murdoch said of Carlson: 'In less than two months, Tucker has taken cable news by storm with his spirited interviews and consistently strong performance. 'Viewers have overwhelmingly responded to the show and we look forward to him being a part of Fox News' powerful prime-time line-up.' FOX NEWS LINEUP 5pm: Eric Bolling program TBD (premieres May 1) 6pm: Special Report with Bret Baier 7pm: The Story with Martha MacCallum 8pm: Tucker Carlson Tonight 9pm: The Five (with Kimberly Guilfoyle, Dana Perino, Bob Beckel, Greg Gutfeld, Jesse Watters and Juan Williams) 10pm: Hannity Advertisement Carlson's move into the 8pm slot is huge for the network, as The O'Reilly Factor was the network's highest-rated program for 68 consecutive quarters, averaging 4 million viewers per episode during the first quarter of 2017. O'Reilly's show generated $446 million in advertising revenue between 2014 and 2016, according to Kantar Media. In addition, his show brought in an estimated $110.8 million in advertising revenue, according to iSpot.tv. 'By ratings standards, Bill O'Reilly is one of the most accomplished TV personalities in the history of cable news,' a statement from the Murdochs about O'Reilly's departure reads. 'We have full confidence that the network will continue to be a powerhouse in cable news.' Carlson, who is married to his high school sweetheart, has yet to comment about O'Reilly's departure from the network. A city in China has launched a new method to help tackle jaywalking. The traffic police bureau in Shenzhen City, south-east China has installed a face-recognition system at a crossroad to help catch any jaywalkers. The technology dubbed as 'robocop at crossroads' will put the offender's image on a loop on the screen and save it in the police department's database. New facial recognition technology has set up in China's Shenzhen city to catch jaywalkers Watch out! Traffic light displays on the road to remind pedestrians to cross at the right time Shenzhen traffic police hopes to roll out the technology to the whole city promoting road safety According to the People's Daily Online, the technology was set up at a crossroad near Peking University Shenzhen Hospital on April 15 as part of a trial run. The cameras operate 24 hours. A display screen has been installed at the side of the road and at the pedestrian island. Chief officer Li Qiang at Shenzhen Traffic Police Technology Department told reporters that the technology mainly relies on the camera to detect a pedestrian crossing during the red light. By using face-recognition technology, the camera captures the offender's face and sends it to the display screen, as well as the police bureau's database to run diagnostics to identify the person. 24-hour operating cameras will capture any jaywalkers' image and display on the monitor Any jaywalkers captured by the camera will display on a loop, showing the number of times crossing road illegally The monitor display is operating in real-time meaning that head-shots of any offenders will upload instantly and run on a loop. The system will also record the number of times a person has run a red light. The new facial recognition technology has brought an effect of public shaming, however, officer Li said it serves as a function of giving out a warning, sourcing evidence and promoting road safety. Shenzhen traffic police department released a press release on March 16 showing a record of 123,200 cases of jaywalkers throughout 2016. Officials are hoping to roll out the technology to the whole of Shenzhen city in the near future to help reduce the figures. A temperate, rocky 'super-Earth' planet has been discovered transiting in front of a small star located about 39 light years away from Earth. The planet is around 1.4 times the size of Earth but is more than seven times heavier, suggesting it is probably made of rock with a dense iron core. This super-Earth, dubbed LHS 1140b, may be astronomer's best candidate yet in the search for alien life, the researchers claim. Scroll down for video This artist's impression shows the exoplanet LHS 1140b, which orbits a red dwarf star 40 light-years from Earth and may be astronomers' best chance at finding alien life. A team of astronomers discovered the super-Earth orbiting in the habitable zone around a faint star CHANCES FOR ALIEN LIFE ON LHS 1140B For alien life to exist on a planet, it must have liquid surface water and retain an atmosphere. When red dwarf stars are young, they are known to emit radiation that can be damaging for the atmospheres of the planets that orbit them. In this case, the planet's large size means that a magma ocean could have existed on its surface for millions of years. This seething ocean of lava could feed steam into the atmosphere long after the star has calmed to its current, steady glow, replenishing the planet with water. Advertisement 'The LHS 1140 system might prove to be an even more important target for the future characterisation of planets in the habitable zone than Proxima b or TRAPPIST-1,' two members of the international team, Drs Xavier Delfosse and Xavier Bonfils, said. 'This has been a remarkable year for exoplanet discoveries!' The researchers propose that LHS 1140b probably formed in a manner similar to Earth. They suggest that the small size of the host star and its proximity to us mean that telescopes might be able to search for specific gases in the planets atmosphere if it has one. LHS 1140b orbits in the habitable region or 'Goldilocks zone' around a faint red dwarf star named LHS 1140. Red dwarfs are much smaller and cooler than the Sun and, although LHS 1140b is ten times closer to its star than the Earth is to the Sun, it only receives about half as much sunlight from its star as the Earth. The exoplanet therefore lies in the middle of the habitable zone of the star, meaning it has many of the conditions needed to grow alien life. 'This is the most exciting exoplanet I've seen in the past decade,' said lead author Dr Jason Dittmann of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The MEarth-South telescope array, located at Cerro Tololo observatory in Chile, searches for planets by monitoring the brightness of nearby, small stars. This photograph shows the array, comprising eight 40-cm telescopes, at twilight THE 'GOLDILOCKS ZONE' In astronomy and astrobiology, the habitable zone is the range of orbits around a star in which a planet can support liquid water. This habitable zone is also known as the Goldilocks zone, taken from the childrens fairy tale. The temperature from the star needs to be 'just right' so that liquid water can exist on the surface. The boundaries of the habitable zone are critical. If a planet is too close to its star, it will experience a runaway greenhouse gas effect, like Venus. But if it's too far, any water will freeze, as is seen on Mars. Since the concept was first presented in 1953, many stars have been shown to have a Goldilocks area, and some of them have one or several planets in this zone. Advertisement 'We could hardly hope for a better target to perform one of the biggest quests in science - searching for evidence of life beyond Earth.' 'The present conditions of the red dwarf are particularly favourable - LHS 1140 spins more slowly and emits less high-energy radiation than other similar low-mass stars,' explains team member Dr Nicola Astudillo-Defru from Geneva Observatory, Switzerland. For alien life to exist on a planet, it must have liquid surface water and retain an atmosphere. When red dwarf stars are young, they are known to emit radiation that can be damaging for the atmospheres of the planets that orbit them. In this case, the planet's large size means that a magma ocean could have existed on its surface for millions of years. This seething ocean of lava could feed steam into the atmosphere long after the star has calmed to its current, steady glow, replenishing the planet with water. The discovery was initially made with an array of eight autonomous telescopes at Harvard University's MEarth facility at Cerro Tololo observatory near La Serena, Chile. Long-exposure photograph of the MEarth-South telescope array, which helped to find the exoplanet LHS 1140b. The temperate, rocky planet orbits in the habitable region or 'Goldilocks zone' around a faint red dwarf star named LHS 1140 This long-exposure photograph shows MEarth-South telescopes observing at night; the blurred telescope is slewing from one star to another in its search for habitable planets MEarth is a planet hunting facility, designed to monitor the nearby low-mass M dwarfs for transiting planets. The telescopes detected telltale, characteristic dips in light as the exoplanet passed in front of its star. The orbit is seen almost edge-on from Earth and as the exoplanet passes in front of the star on each of its orbits it blocks a little of its light every 25 days. Follow-up observations from telescope facilities across the globe have since confirmed the presence of the super-Earth. In future, observations with the Nasa Hubble Space Telescope will assess exactly how much high-energy radiation is showered upon LHS 1140b. This high-energy radiation, like that from Earth's sun, could ultimately determine the planet's capacity to support life. The first scientific evidence of a 'higher' state of consciousness has been found in people tripping on acid. Increased brain activity was recorded in scans of people who had taken magic mushrooms and ketamine, psilocybin and LSD, in a new study. However, scientists stress that the higher state does not mean it is a 'better' or more desirable. The researchers said the findings could help inform discussions gathering momentum about the carefully-controlled medical use of such drugs, for example in treating severe depression. Scroll down for video Images created using brain imaging technology show changes in neural signal diversity while under the influence of LSD. The red areas indicate higher levels of random brain activity than normal which happens when people take psychedelic drugs THE DANGERS OF LSD The effects of LSD are unpredictable. Users often experience sleeplessness, tremors, a loss of appetite and extreme changes in mood. Other experiences include horrific thoughts and feelings as well as intense fear of insanity and death. Users struggle to work out which sensations are illusions created by the drug and which are real which means they often put their lives at risk without realising it. A 'bad trip' can last for up to twelve hours and some people never recover from the LSD-induced state. Users can also experience flashbacks long after taking the drug and it has been connected to long-term psychoses and even severe depression Advertisement LSD gurus have always claimed taking psychedelic drugs led users to a fabled 'higher state of consciousness.' The claims were regarded as a myth by the mainstream scientific community during the 'Turn on, tune in, drop out' era of the 1960s when LSD was popularised by the likes of Timothy Leary, described as 'the most dangerous man in America' by then US President Richard Nixon. But now scientists at Sussex University have observed a 'sustained increase' in neural signal diversity - a measure of the complexity of brain activity - in people under the influence of psychedelic drugs, compared with when they were in a normal waking state. Previous studies have found decreases in signal diversity when consciousness fades, for instance in sleep, anesthesia or in the vegetative state. But this is the first study into brain-signals that allow people to reach a higher state of consciousness . 'This finding shows that the brain-on-psychedelics behaves very differently from normal', said Professor Anil Seth, Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science at the University of Sussex. 'During the psychedelic state, the electrical activity of the brain is less predictable and less 'integrated' than during normal conscious wakefulness - as measured by 'global signal diversity',' he said. Neuroscientists re-analysed data previously collected by Imperial College London and the University of Cardiff in which healthy volunteers were given one of three drugs known to induce a psychedelic state: psilocybin, ketamine and LSD. Image created using brain imaging technology, showing changes in neural signal diversity while under the influence of (left to right) psilocybin, ketamine and LSD. Researchers measured the activity of neurons in peoples brains as the drugs took hold Using brain imaging technology they measured the tiny magnetic fields produced in the brain. They found that across all three drugs their measure of consciousness was reliably higher. This does not mean that the psychedelic state is a 'better' or more desirable state of consciousness, the researchers stress. Instead, it shows that the psychedelic brain state is distinctive. Silicon Valley has a long history of psychedelic drug use to boost creativity: Technology stars Steve Jobs (left) and Bill Gates (right) both famously experimented with LSD Dr Suresh Muthukumaraswamy from the University of Auckland who was involved in all three initial studies commented: 'That similar changes in signal diversity were found for all three drugs, despite their quite different pharmacology, is both very striking and also reassuring that the results are robust and repeatable.' The findings could help inform discussions gathering momentum about the carefully-controlled medical use of such drugs, for example in treating severe depression. HOW LSD AFFECTS THE BRAIN How does LSD affect the brain? Researchers found it caused the visual cortex to receive a flood of information from other regions (stock image) A landmark study last year revealed that people experiencing drug-induced hallucinations 'see' with many parts of the brain, not just the visual cortex that normally processes information from our eyes. Researchers at Imperial College London found LSD also had the effect of breaking down the barriers separating brain networks that perform functions such as vision, movement and hearing so that they form a more holistic state. This may underlie religious or spiritual feelings of 'connectedness' often reported by users of the drug, the scientists believe. Other results showed that music can have a strange effect on the brain's visual system under the influence of LSD. It caused the visual cortex to receive information from a brain region called the parahippocampus which is associated with mental images and personal memory. The more the parahippocampus communicated with the visual cortex, the more people reported experiencing complex visions, such as scenes from their lives. Advertisement 'The present study's findings help us understand what happens in people's brains when they experience an expansion of their consciousness under psychedelics', said Dr Robin Carhart-Harris of Imperial College London. 'People often say they experience insight under these drugs - and when this occurs in a therapeutic context, it can predict positive outcomes', he said. 'The present findings may help us understand how this can happen.' The research team are now working to identify how specific changes in information flow in the brain underlie specific aspects of psychedelic experience, like hallucinations. 'We found correlations between the intensity of the psychedelic experience, as reported by volunteers, and changes in signal diversity', said Professor Seth. 'This suggests that our measure has close links not only to global brain changes induced by the drugs, but to those aspects of brain dynamics that underlie specific aspects of conscious experience', he said. Advertisement Dream of returning to your childhood home or your favourite holiday spot? Now Google has found a way of letting people visit anywhere in the world without even leaving the house. The firm has released an upgraded version of Google Earth VR with a feature that lets you search for any destination in the world using just an address. Scroll down for video The firm has released an upgraded version of Google Earth VR with a feature that lets you search for any destination in the world using just an address (pictured) GOOGLE EARTH VR SEARCH FUNCTION The firm has released an upgraded version of Google Earth VR with a feature that lets you search for any destination in the world using just an address or location name. The programme works like Google Earth or Google Street View, except it is beamed directly into the user's eyes in three dimensions. 'We also know people want to quickly find and revisit the places that mean the most to them, whether it's a childhood home or favorite vacation spot,' said Joanna Kim, product manager at Google VR. 'So, today were launching an update to Earth VR that gives you the ability to search. Just type an address or location name, and you can quickly visit anywhere in the world.' Advertisement The programme works like Google Earth or Google Street View, except it is beamed directly into the user's eyes in three dimensions. 'When we first launched Google Earth VR, we knew there was something powerful about being able to point anywhere in the world and start flying,' said Joanna Kim, product manager at Google VR. 'You could soar over landscapes and cities, and discover locations you didn't even know existed. 'But we also know people want to quickly find and revisit the places that mean the most to them, whether it's a childhood home or favorite vacation spot. 'So, today were launching an update to Earth VR that gives you the ability to search. 'Just type an address or location name, and you can quickly visit anywhere in the world.' The firm also announced that the technology will work on Oculus Rift with support for Oculus Touch controllers, as well as the HTC Vive. And Google has added dozens of new locations to explore in mesmerizing detail. Although viewers can access any address using the headset, only a selected number of locations are truly immersive. In these locations, users can glide through a seemingly 3D world. Google added 27 new destinations including Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany, the inspiration for Disneylands Sleeping Beauty Castle Google has found a way of letting you experience what it is like to be in even the most distant parts of world, without even leaving your house. Yellowstone National Park is pictured 'Weve also added 27 new hand-picked locations to help you discover some of the world's most incredible places. 'You can check out Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany (the inspiration for Disneylands Sleeping Beauty Castle), stand on the top of Table Mountain in South Africa, fly over Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina, and much more,' it announced. Google also allows users to experience cinematic tours of particularly popular tourist destinations. 'Earth VR comes with cinematic tours and hand-picked destinations that send you to the Amazon River, the Manhattan skyline, the Grand Canyon, the Swiss Alps, and more.' Travelling around the world is many people's dream, but few have the means to be able to make it happen - or at least to visit every destination on their list. Christ the Redeemer, the statue of Jesus Christ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is pictured The project allows users to walk around the likes of the Hong Kong Stadium or Rome's historic Colosseum, or climb the Matterhorn. Having been rebuilt for room scale VR, Google Earth also lets users fly around each destination. Being able to zoom in and rotate the Earth, and even fly through space is expected to give users first-person views that would be almost impossible to achieve in real life. The Google Earth VR app is available to download for free from the Steam store and Oculus store. The project takes things to the next level, allowing users to walk around the likes of the Hong Kong Stadium or climb the Matterhorn, a mountain of the Alps on the border between Switzerland and Italy, pictured It works like the standard Google Earth or Google Street View programs - only it is beamed directly into the user's eyes in three dimensions. The Colosseum in Rome is pictured As Earth has a lucky escape from 'The Rock' which passed close by this morning, researchers have revealed what could have happened - and exactly how an asteroid impact could kill millions. While scorching heat, flying debris and towering tsunamis would all occur, experts say that violent winds and shock waves are the most dangerous effects produced by Earth-impacting asteroids. Researchers for the first time ranked the effects from most to least deadly, or how many lives were lost to each effect. Scroll down for video Researchers for the first time ranked the effects from most to least deadly, or how many lives were lost to each effect. While scorching heat, flying debris and towering tsunamis would all occur, experts say that violent winds and shock waves are the most dangerous effects produced by Earth-impacting asteroids. HOW YOU WOULD DIE Wind blasts and shock waves were likely to claim the most casualties, according to the study. In experimental scenarios, these two effects accounted for more than 60 percent of lives lost. Shock waves arise from a spike in atmospheric pressure and can rupture internal organs, while wind blasts carry enough power to hurl human bodies and flatten forests. Advertisement The study explored seven effects associated with asteroid impacts--heat, pressure shock waves, flying debris, tsunamis, wind blasts, seismic shaking and cratering--and estimated their lethality for varying sizes. Overall, wind blasts and shock waves were likely to claim the most casualties, according to the study. In experimental scenarios, these two effects accounted for more than 60 percent of lives lost. Shock waves arise from a spike in atmospheric pressure and can rupture internal organs, while wind blasts carry enough power to hurl human bodies and flatten forests. 'This is the first study that looks at all seven impact effects generated by hazardous asteroids and estimates which are, in terms of human loss, most severe,' said Clemens Rumpf of the University of Southampton, who led the new study published in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union. Rumpf plans to present his study at the 2017 International Academy of Astronautics Planetary Defense Conference in Tokyo, Japan, later this year. He hopes it could help hazard mitigation groups better prepare for asteroid threats because it details which impact effects are most dominant, which are less severe and where resources should be allocated. Though studies like his are necessary to reduce harm, deadly asteroid impacts are still rare, Rumpf said. 'The likelihood of an asteroid impact is really low, but the consequences can be unimaginable.' Earth is struck by an asteroid 60 meters (more than 190 feet) wide approximately once every 1500 years, whereas an asteroid 400 meters (more than 1,300 feet) across is likely to strike the planet every 100,000 years, according to Rumpf. 'The likelihood of an asteroid impact is really low,' said Rumpf. 'But the consequences can be unimaginable.' Rumpf and his colleagues used models to pepper the globe with 50,000 artificial asteroids ranging from 15 to 400 meters (49 to 1312 feet) across- the diameter range of asteroids that most frequently strike the Earth. The researchers then estimated how many lives would be lost to each of the seven effects. The research could help hazard mitigation groups better prepare for asteroid threats because it details which impact effects are most dominant, which are less severe and where resources should be allocated. HOW LIKELY IS IT? Earth is struck by an asteroid 60 meters (more than 190 feet) wide approximately once every 1500 years. An asteroid 400 meters (more than 1,300 feet) across is likely to strike the planet every 100,000 years, according to Advertisement Land-based impacts were, on average, an order of magnitude more dangerous than asteroids that landed in oceans. Large, ocean-impacting asteroids could generate enough power to trigger a tsunami, but the wave's energy would likely dissipate as it traveled and eventually break when it met a continental shelf. Even if a tsunami were to reach coastal communities, far fewer people would die than if the same asteroid struck land, Rumpf said. Overall, tsunamis accounted for 20 percent of lives lost, according to the study. The heat generated by an asteroid accounted for nearly 30 percent of lives lost, according to the study. Affected populations could likely avoid harm by hiding in basements and other underground structures, Rumpf said. Seismic shaking was of least concern, as it accounted for only 0.17 percent of casualties, according to the study. Cratering and airborne debris were similarly less concerning, both garnering fewer than 1 percent of deaths. HOW BIG IS A LETHAL ASTEROID? Only asteroids that spanned at least 18 meters (nearly 60 feet) in diameter were lethal, the simulations found. Many asteroids on the lower end of this spectrum disintegrate in Earth's atmosphere before reaching the planet's surface, but they strike more frequently than larger asteroids and generate enough heat and explosive energy to deal damage. A meteorite contrail is seen over Chelyabinsk on Friday, Feb. 15, 2013. A meteor streaked across the sky of Russia's Ural Mountains, causing sharp explosions and reportedly injuring around 100 people, including many hurt by broken glass. For example, the meteor involved in the 2013 impact in Chelyabinsk, Russia, was 17 to 20 meters (roughly 55 to 65 feet) across and caused more than 1,000 injuries, inflicting burns and temporary blindness on people nearby. The majority of the injuries in the Chelyabinsk impact were caused by broken glass sent flying into the faces of unknowing locals peering through their windows after the meteor's bright flash. Advertisement 'This report is a reasonable step forward in trying to understand and come to grips with the hazards posed by asteroids and comet impactors,' said geophysicist Jay Melosh, a distinguished professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana. Melosh, who wasn't involved in the study, added that the findings 'lead one to appreciate the role of air blasts in asteroid impacts as we saw in Chelyabinsk.' The majority of the injuries in the Chelyabinsk impact were caused by broken glass sent flying into the faces of unknowing locals peering through their windows after the meteor's bright flash, he noted. The study's findings could help mitigate loss of human life, according to Rumpf. Small towns facing the impact of an asteroid 30 meters across (about 98 feet) may fare best by evacuating. However, an asteroid 200 meters wide (more than 650 feet) headed for a densely-populated city poses a greater risk and could warrant a more involved response, he said. 'If only 10 people are affected, then maybe it's better to evacuate the area,' Rumpf said. 'But if 1,000,000 people are affected, it may be worthwhile to mount a deflection mission and push the asteroid out of the way.' You can now tell your ex they might have a sexually transmitted infection (STI) with a simple text message. Under a new scheme being tried in Teesside, patients who test positive for an STI will be offered the chance to have their previous sexual partners notified that they are at risk - anonymously. Virgin Care's Teesside Sexual Health Service is piloting the new 'digital partner notification tool', in partnership with SXT, to help cut the spread of STIs. You can now tell your ex they might have an STI with a simple text message. Under a new scheme being tried in Teesside, patients who test positive for an STI will be offered the chance to have their previous sexual partners notified that they are at risk STI TEXT MESSAGE People using the service will need to provide mobile phone numbers or email addresses of previous partners at the appointment or online. Previous partners will then receive a text message or email to let them know they are at risk of an infection, and that they need to be tested. The text contains a link to find nearby sexual health services where they can book an appointment. It also includes a unique code which, when put into the SXT website, provides more information on the infections they may be at risk of. Advertisement The group hopes to increase the number of at-risk people getting tested in the area. The pilot is running for three months at Virgin Care's Teesside Sexual Health Service, which operates from four main hub clinics in Middlesbrough, Redcar, Stockton and Hartlepool. Steve Giles, service manager for Teesside sexual health, said: 'Notifying partners has always been an important part of the battle against the spread of sexually transmitted infections. 'This new tool is faster and potentially a more effective way of ensuring people who are at risk get themselves tested, and don't end up passing infections on. 'It's hoped the opportunity to add further partners using a private online system from the comfort of home will mean people who test positive will feel more confident at notifying everyone they have had sexual contact with.' People using the service will need to provide mobile phone numbers or email addresses of previous partners. These partners will then receive a text message or email to let them know they are at risk of an infection, and that they need to be tested People using the service will need to provide mobile phone numbers or email addresses of previous partners at the appointment or online. Previous partners will then receive a text message or email to let them know they are at risk of an infection, and that they need to be tested. The text contains a link to find nearby sexual health services where they can book an appointment. It also includes a unique code which, when put into the SXT website, provides more information on the infections they may be at risk of. Facebook has revealed the first details of a secretive project to develop a radical 'mind reading' system that would allow people to communicate via thought and 'hear' through their skin. It is developing optical sensors to allow people to type at speeds of 100 words per minute simply by thinking, and radical touch interfaces that transmit information by putting pressure on skin, rather like a 'super braille'. 'We want to create products that recognise we are both mind and body, said Regina Dugan, the head of Facebook's secretive building 8. Scroll down for video The social network's secretive Building 8 project is also working on radical touch interfaces that transmit information through skin, boss Regina Dugan at the firm's developer conference. 'What if you could type directly from your brain? It sounds impossible, but its closer that you might realise,' she said. Dugan outlined a 'silent typing' system, and said it could mean an end to constantly checking our phones. 'In my entire career I've never seen something as powerful as the smartphone that doesn't have unintended consequences,' she said. 'It has allowed us to connect to people far away from us too often at the expense of people sitting right next to us. According to Dugan the system would allow users to 'text a friend without taking out your phone, or send an email without leaving the party'. 'To be clear, we are not talking about decoding your random thoughts,' she said. If we put these two things together, they suggest one day it may be possible for me to think in Mandarin, and for you to feel it instantly in Spanish 'You take many photos, you choose to share some of them. 'Similarly, you have many thoughts, you choose to share some of them.' The project has only recently begun, she revealed. 'Six months ago we had the idea this might be possible, and today we have a team of 60, and we are just getting started,' she said. 'Together we have a goal of typing 100 words per minute straight from your brain.' However, Dugan admits that much of the technology needed simply doesn't yet exist. Regina Dugan, the head of Facebook's secretive building 8, revealed the project at Facebook's annual F8 developer conference in San Jose 'We'll need new, non invasive sensors to measure brain activity. 'No such technology exists today, and we think optical imaging is the best place to start. 'In a few years we expect to demonstrate a real time system. 'That would be crazy amazing - but its only the beginning of what's possible. 'Your brain also contains semantic information that tells us what a world means. Understanding this means one day you could choose to share your thoughts independent of language. Dugan showed a patient using an implant system - but said Facebook's would not require surgery 'If we can make it possible to communicate directly from your brain, what if you could hear through your skin? 'People can learn to interpret bumps as language with braille, we are wired to communicate and connect - what if we could transmit information via skin.' Dugan shows off a system using actuators on a researcher's arm that transmits words via skin, with the researcher learning to associate touches with words. 'It's amazing,' she said. 'If you ask Francis what she feels, she says she has learnt to feel the acoustic shape of an object on her arm. The social network's founder took to the stage at the firm's annual F8 developer conference at San Francisco's Bill Graham Civic Center to show off new AR software and confirm rumours of a new neural 'mind control' interface. 'If we put these two things together, they suggest one day it may be possible for me to think in mandarin, and for you to feel it instantly in Spanish 'Imagine the power this would give to people who can;t read or write, but can think and feel,' before admitting 'these things are still a few years away'. It comes a day after Mark Zuckerberg unveiled Facebook's augmented reality system - and confirmed rumours the firm is developing a 'mind control' brain interface. The social network's founder took to the stage at the firm's annual F8 developer conference at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center to introduce what he called the 'second act' in Facebook's camera strategy - a new platform to allow developers to build AR apps that intensifies its battle with Snapchat. He also hinted at the firm's more distant future, confirming rumours it is developing a radical mind reading computer interface - and promised more details on the project 'soon'. 'We're building further out beyond augmented reality, and that includes work around direct brain interfaces that one day will let you communicate using only your mind, although that stuff is pretty far out,' he said. Zuckerberg also addressed the tragedy in Cleveland, saying 'our hearts go out to the family and friends of Robert Godwin Sr, we have a lot of work to do and we'll do everything we can to help prevent these tragedies.' He first unveiled a new augmented reality platform allowing developers to build AR apps. FACEBOOK GOES VR WITH SPACES Facebook also revealed its first VR app, called Faces, for the firm's Oculus Rift. It uses a virtual avatar, and allows to users to virtually meet and interact with friends. It will be available from today in beta form. Facebook Spaces launches in beta for Oculus Rift and Touch today, and lets users interact with friends in a virtual environment The system uses AI to choose an avatar for people, before allowing them to customise it. It showed off the system with demos including people showing off holiday destinations and even new apartments. 'Spending time with friends and family creates many of our most meaningful memories, but its impossible to always be physically near the people we care about, said Facebook's Rachel Franklin. The VR software even includes a virtual selfie stick so participants can capture their time together Users can draw or write messages using Facebook's Oculus Touch Controllers 'Thats where the magic of virtual reality comes in. 'Today, were introducing a new VR app where you hang out with friends in a fun, interactive virtual environment as if you were in the same room. ' Facebook Spaces launches in beta for Oculus Rift and Touch today. Advertisement Zuckerberg said new phone-based applications might include creating a three-dimensional scene from a single two-dimensional photo or splattering the walls of your house with colorful (virtual) art. 'We're gathered here for the second biggest event called F8 this week,' said Mark Zuckerberg, referencing the release of the hit film F8: The Fast and the Furious. 'You may have noticed we rolled out cameras across our apps, that was act one,' he said. Today, we're going to talk about act two - augmented reality. 'We know where we want this go eventually - glasses or contact lenses that overlay this,' Zuckerberg said. 'We know where we want this go eventually - glasses or contact lenses that overlay this,' Zuckerberg said. 'This will help us mix the physical and digital in new ways, and make reality better'. 'I used to think glasses would be the firm major firm factor. But we are seeing versions with out phone cameras'. 'Giving developers the power to build for augmented reality. MESSENGER BOOSTS SHARING Facebook also announced a bevy of updates to Messenger, its increasingly independent messaging app. Messenger head David Marcus claims the app has become the de facto "white pages" of messaging, since people can find and chat with friends without knowing their phone number. Now, Messenger wants to do the same for businesses, creating a "yellow pages" of sorts that let companies communicate with their customers. Messenger will also let people chat with outside businesses as a group. That would, for instance, allow groups of friends to share Spotify playlists or to make a restaurant reservation through OpenTable that keeps everyone on the same page. The idea is simplify what might otherwise require a flurry of texts and sharing of links. Advertisement 'We'll start today with basic effect such as face masks. You'll have thousands of options.' However, Zuckerberg said the system will be more complex than simple snapchat-style filters. Last year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled Facebook's 10-year road map that calls for powerful technologies to radically alter how people connect with friends and family and the world at large. Uswers without VR headsets can use Messenger to appear in a video window in the VR chats Facebook also revealed its first VR app, called Faces, for the firm's Oculus Rift. Zuckerberg said games were likely to be a key component, and showed off a demo of a game turning a table into an AR game, allowing children to interact with objects on it. 'This isn't going to happen overnight, over time I think this will change how we use our phones, and eventually all of our technology,' he said. 'Even if we were a little slow to add cameras to our apps, I'm confident we will move this along.' The social network's founder took to the stage at the firm's annual F8 developer conference at San Francisco's Bill Graham Civic Center to show off new AR software. Zuckerberg showed several demos of possible Facebook AR apps Zuckerberg also confirmed the firm was developing a 'mind computer interface' that will one day allow users to communicate machine,, and said more details would be made available about the project soon. In April, the site revealed the existence of a new division, known only as 'Building 8' which is dedicated to creating ground-breaking products at the intersection of hardware, software, and content. And a new job advert posting suggested that the mysterious division could be working on mind-reading technology. One advert is for a 'brain-computer interface engineer' to work on a '2-year B8 project focused on developing advanced BCI technologies.' Details on what the job will involve are limited, but the advert adds that one of the key responsibilities will be applying 'machine learning methods, including encoding and decoding models, to neuroimaging and electrophysiological data.' The second advert is for a 'neural imaging engineer' who will be responsible for 'a project focused on developing novel non-invasive neuroimaging technologies.' Both jobs are based at the Menlo Park site in California. These limited descriptions suggest that Building 8 might be working on monitoring how brain activity changes when looking at pictures or videos. It has been deemed the next big thing in Army aviation. The S-97 Raider is a light tactical prototype helicopter capable of carrying six troops and external weapons, all while reaching speeds of more than 220 knots. Based on Sikorskys Collier Award-winning X2 Technology, the war machine recently took to the skies to show off its co-axial rotor and push propeller design. Scroll down for videos S-97 RAIDER is a prototype helicopter capable of carrying six troops and external weapons, all while reaching speeds of more than 220 knots. Based on Sikorskys X2 Technology, the war machine recently took to the skies to show off its co-axial rotor and push propeller design S-97 RAIDER RAIDER can reach speeds that are double that of conventional helicopters. It is designed for high and hot operations and is capable of reaching altitudes of 10,000 feet in 95 degrees Fahrenheit heat. The helicopter boasts a low acoustic signature, agility for close air support and fly-by-wire controls. Strapped to the sides are hellfire missiles and rockets, RAIDER also packs a .50 caliber gun with 500 rounds and a 7.62 mm gun. Advertisement RAIDER was designed and built by Sikorsky, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin. Although the firm created the cutting-edge helicopter with the US Army and Special Operations in mind, it has the potential to be used by the US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps to carry out their specific missions. Because the X2 Technology is at the heart of RAIDER, it can carryout a variety of military missions including light assault, light attack, armed reconnaissance, close-air support, combat search and rescue, and unmanned applications. This machine is said to be a game changer for the military, as it can reach speeds that are double that of conventional helicopters. It is also designed for high and hot operations and is capable of reaching altitudes of 10,000 feet in 95 degrees Fahrenheit heat. Sikorsky updated the craft with improved hovering capabilities and an internal aux fuel tank for extended range to 34 miles for increased endurance, New Atlas reported. And RAIDER is designed to refuel while in the air. The helicopter boasts a low acoustic signature, agility for close air support and fly-by-wire controls. But its weapons are what makes it the ultimate war machine. Strapped to the sides are hellfire missiles and rockets, RAIDER also packs a .50 caliber gun with 500 rounds and a 7.62 mm gun. RAIDER was designed and built by Sikorsky, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin. This machine is said to be a game changer for the military, as it can reach speeds that are double that of conventional helicopters Because the X2 Technology is at the heart of RAIDER, it can carryout a variety of military missions including light assault, light attack, armed reconnaissance, close-air support, combat search and rescue, and unmanned applications The debut of RAIDER comes just days after Lockheed unveiled a concept for another craft that could soon replace the Blackhawk helicopter. Dubbed SB>1 Defiant, the fly-by-wire concept, designed with two coaxial rotors and a pusher propeller, is said to speed through the air at nearly 300 mph and hover like a hummingbird. The concept craft is also based on X2 Technology, allowing it to focus on speed, maneuverability and scalability. It is also designed for high and hot operations and is capable of reaching altitudes of 10,000 feet in 95 degrees Fahrenheit heat. 'The primary advantage that Defiant's going to offer over a traditional helicopter is, it's got twice the speed, two to three times the range, and is just an extremely maneuverable and agile platform,' said retired Marine Maj. Frank P. Conway, Boeing's experimental test pilot for both the SB>1 and the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor. The Defiant shown in the clip would cruise at 250 knots and hover at altitudes of 6,000 feet, David Szondy with New Atlas reported. This is more than a hundred miles an hour faster than the UH-60M Blackhawk transport, as it maxes out at 183 miles an hour. Dubbed SB>1 Defiant (pictured), the fly-by-wire concept, designed with two coaxial rotors and a pusher propeller, is said to speed through the air at nearly 300 mph and hover like a hummingbird It will also have the strength and power to carry more cargo than the average helicopters, but Lockheed is not giving all of its secrets away it has yet to release the range and payload capacity. However, the firm is boasting about the machine's innovated design. The 'warcopter' would be equipped with foldable, ridged composite rotor blades that create less downwash when it lowers to the ground to drop off or pick off soldiers and supplies. Defiant is currently being designed and built by Sikorsky, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin. The craft shown in the clip would cruise at 250 knots and hover at altitudes of 6,000 feet And the pusher propeller and active rudders will provider pilots with more stability when hovering, as a well a helping them quickly accelerate and decelerate while in flight. Defiant is designed to be more efficient when transporting soldiers the cabin seats 12 people comfortably or eight medivac pallets - the Blackhawk can only carry 11 soldiers. The 'warcopter' would be equipped with foldable, ridged composite rotor blades that create less downwash when it lowers to the ground to drop off or pick off soldiers and supplies And there is weapon employments in all modes of flight. Lockheed also shared that the Defiant can also 'dramatically reduced acoustic signature', which means it is much quieter than traditional helicopters and can go undetected by surrounding enemies. Lockheed Martins Sikorsky and the Boeing Co. are still fabricating parts for the first Defiant, which is their entrant in the Army-run Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstration (JMR TD) program. A bioterrorist attack which could wipe out 30 million people and be more devastating that a nuclear attack is increasingly likely, Bill Gates has warned. Speaking ahead of speech at the Royal United Services Institute in London (RUSI), the Microsoft founder said terrorists could recreate diseases like smallbox to create havoc. 'Bioterrorism is a much larger risk than a pandemic,' he told The Telegraph. Speaking ahead of speech at the Royal United Services Institute in London (RUSI), the Microsoft founder said terrorists could recreate diseases like smallbox to create havoc. 'All these advances in biology have made it far easier for a terrorist to recreate smallpox, which is a highly fatal pathogen, where there is essentially no immunity remaining at this point. Earlier this year he warned world leaders in Munich that a pandemic could wipe out millions of people, and said there is a 'reasonable probability' of this happening in the next 10 to 15 years. 'When you are thinking about things that could cause in excess of 10 million deaths, even something tragic like a nuclear weapons incident wouldn't get to that level,' he said. 'So the greatest risk is from a natural epidemic or an intentionally caused infection bioterrorism events. 'Whether the next epidemic is unleashed by a quirk of nature or the hand of terrorist, scientists say a fast-moving airborne pathogen could kill more than 30 million people in less than a year. So the world does need to think about this.' THE RISK OF CRISPR Last year the Nuffield Council of Bioethics warned that garage scientists could unleash dangerous genetically modified organisms into the environment using unregulated technology which is already available online. Scientists are concerned that a new technique, called CRISPR-Cas9, is now so cheap and widely available that amateurs will start experimenting. The technique, that a leading expert says could lead to an end to cancer, uses tags which identify the location of the mutation, and an enzyme, which acts as tiny scissors, to cut DNA in a precise place, allowing small portions of a gene to be removed CRISPR-Cas9 is a tool for making precise edits in DNA, discovered in bacteria. The acronym stands for 'Clustered Regularly Inter-Spaced Palindromic Repeats'. The technique involves a DNA cutting enzyme and a small tag which tells the enzyme where to cut. By editing this tag, scientists are able to target the enzyme to specific regions of DNA and make precise cuts, wherever they like. It has been used to 'silence' genes - effectively switching them off. When cellular machinery repairs the DNA break, it removes a small snip of DNA. In this way, researchers can precisely turn off specific genes in the genome. Advertisement Gates said global travel could mean a pandemic would be even more deadly than the Spanish Flu outbreak in 1919 which killed up to 100 million people because of increased global travel. The deadly flu virus attacked more than one-third of the world's population, and within months had killed more than 50 million people three times as many as the World War I and did it more quickly than any other illness in recorded history. 'We will have epidemics in the next 20 years far worse than the ebola epidemic, or the Zika epidemic and there is some chance it would be a form of flu,' said Gates. Bill Gates at the conference alongside German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen today The richest man in the world has previously said that biological warfare is not being taken seriously enough. Ahead of his speech at the Munich Security Conference, Gates said bioterrorism could wipe out far more people than nuclear weapons. He stated: 'With nuclear weapons, you'd think you would probably stop after killing 100million. 'Smallpox won't stop. THE 1918 FLU OUTBREAK - THE WORLD THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN Lacking a reliable cure, public health groups concentrated on prevention The deadly flu virus attacked more than one-third of the world's population, and within months had killed more than 50 million people three times as many as the World War I and did it more quickly than any other illness in recorded history. Most influenza outbreaks disproportionately kill juvenile, elderly, or already weakened patients; in contrast the 1918 pandemic predominantly killed previously healthy young adults. To maintain morale, wartime censors minimized early reports of illness and mortality in Germany, Britain, France, and the United States. However, newspapers were free to report the epidemic's effects in Spain, creating a false impression of Spain as being especially hard hit - and leading to the pandemic's nickname Spanish flu. The close quarters and massive troop movements of World War I hastened the pandemic and probably both increased transmission and augmented mutation, researchers believe. Members of the Red Cross Motor Corps, all wearing masks against the further spread of the influenza epidemic, carry a patient on a stretcher into their ambulance in Saint Louis, Missouri, October 1918. The global mortality rate from the 1918/1919 pandemic is not known, but an estimated 10% to 20% of those who were infected died, with estimates of the total number of deaths ranging from 50-100 million people. Advertisement 'Because the population is naive, and there are no real preparations. That, if it got out and spread, would be a larger number.' He believes breakthroughs in genetic engineering will make it easier for terrorists to plot attacks on a massive scale, but claimed security services 'haven't been following biology'. He told the audience at the conference: 'Whether it occurs by a quirk of nature or at the hand of a terrorist, epidemiologists say a fast-moving airborne pathogen could kill more than 30 million people in less than a year. 'And they say there is a reasonable probability the world will experience such an outbreak in the next 10 to 15 years.' The multi-billionaire added that the most effective way of preparing for a natural pandemic is to get ready for an act of bioterrorism. He said: 'Getting ready for a global pandemic is every bit as important as nuclear deterrence and avoiding a climate catastrophe. Innovation, cooperation and careful planning can dramatically mitigate the risks presented by each of these threats.' Advertisement These underwater images are truly breathtaking as they show a daredevil free-diver smashing a new world record using nothing but his lungs, a thick wetsuit and an ability to block out the cold. Arthur Guerin-Boeri, 32, from France, journeyed to the wilds of Finland to set a record for the longest freedive under ice on March 11. The frozen sheet he plunged below was 19 inches thick. Images captured by his cameraman companion, Alex Voyer, show the pro swimmer taking a deep breath and psyching himself up, before plunging into the frigid waters and propelling himself along with no air. Mr Guerin-Boeri's silhouette can be seen in the chilly blue light as he swims using a guide line to prevent him from losing his direction. A monofin helps his body stay streamlined. Incredibly he managed to swim 575 feet in one breath. Mr Voyer told MailOnline Travel that another important piece of kit is a mask, as visibility is poor in the icy depths and the cold water could 'burn your eyes'. He added: 'The temperature just under the surface is between zero and one degree Celsius... luckily we had a little sauna van to recover in.' Back in warmer waters, Mr Guerin-Boeri also set the record for being the first person to freedive 984 feet - the equivalent to six lengths of an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Going under: These freezing underwater images are truly breathtaking as they show a daredevil freediver smashing a new world record using nothing but his roomy lungs, a thick wetsuit and an ability to block out the cold Into the blue: Arthur Guerin-Boeri, 32, from France, journeyed to the wilds of Finland to set a record for the longest freedive under ice on March 11. The frozen sheet he plunged below was 19 inches thick On the move: Images captured by his cameraman companion, Alex Voyer, show the pro swimmer taking a deep breath and psyching himself up, before plunging into the frigid waters and propelling himself along with no air Frozen landscape: Mr Voyer said he is used to taking photographs in cold water and he has been working with Mr Guerin-Boeri for the past two years Looking up: Mr Guerin-Boeri's silhouette can be seen in the chilly blue light as he swims using a guide line to prevent him from losing his direction Kitted out: A monofin helps the swimmer's body stay streamlined as he moves through the icy pool Safety precautions: Cameraman Mr Voyer told MailOnline Travel that another important piece of kit is a mask, as visibility is poor in the icy depths and the cold water could 'burn your eyes' Layered up: Mr Guerin-Boeri wore a thick wetsuit for the challenge, with a hood to keep added heat in Lost in thought: The freediver says around 80 per cent of what he does is about mental preparation, the rest is physical Making an entrance: Mr Guerin-Boeri and his team used a chainsaw to cut through the 19-inch thick ice Laying out the lane: The freediver and his support team measured out a swimming path before he took the plunge As languages go, German does have a particular tendency to sound funny to Brits. And the names of some of these towns and villages prove no exception. Some are simply amusing by way of their phonetics - W**kendorf, for example, a 700-year-old town in the northern reaches of Germany. Some locations are simply amusing by way of how they sound - W***endorf, for example, a 700-year-old town in the northern reaches of Germany Others take a comic spin when they're translated into English. Case in point? Kotzen, a tiny town in Bradenburg, which literally means 'to vomit'. Other examples rounded up by The Local De include the ancient Bavarian town of Titting, and one called Rammelsbach, which loosely translates to 'screwing creek'. Dummer, a town in the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern region of Germany, holds another somewhat unfortunate name. W**kbahn is actually a cablecar system that whisks people up The W**k - a mountain in southern Germany popular with hikers Dummer, a town in the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern region of Germany with a somewhat unfortunate name This town in Thuringia is so tiny, it's home to only around 260 people - and shares its name with German leather breeches Fickmuhlen, a town in Niedersachsen, is another example of a somewhat strange name. In German, the word 'fick' translates to the English curse 'f**k', and muhlen means mills. Put them together and you've got 'F**k mills'. The town of Lederhose, in Thuringia, is so tiny it's home to only around 260 people - and happens to share its name with the iconic German leather breeches. Kotzen, a tiny town in Bradenburg, literally means 'to vomit' In German, the word 'fick' translates to the English curse 'f**k', and Muhlen means mills. Put them together and you've got 'F**k mills' Wasserkuppe has a rather unappetising name that translates to 'water soup' in English but actually means 'Pasture mountain'; while Todendorf, in the northern region of Schleswig-Holstein, means 'dead village'. Perhaps worse is Deppenhausen, in the region of Baden-Wuerttemberg, which translates into English as 'idiot's home'. But potentially the most amusing is The W**k - a mountain in southern Germany popular with hikers, and tourists who can't help but giggle. He's just been called a 'd**khead' on social media for referring to himself in third person on Seven Year Switch. And fans of the show have also struggled to comprehend Sarge's obsession with his fridge, which has caused arguments with his partner Stacey Louise. On Tuesday's show, Sarge told new partner Tracey that he and Stacey buy their own food and separate their goods because he's 'OCD' about his fridge. Scroll down for video Causing a stir! Seven Year Switch's Sarge is slammed by fans as he reveals he's 'a bit OCD' about his fridge (pictured with new partner Tracey) 'I'm a bit OCD with my fridge,' Sarge told Tracey, who couldn't believe what she was hearing. He previously argued with his blonde girlfriend about his fridge demands, telling her: 'Like, there is such a systematic approach to fridges and you just mess it up!' One fan of the show slammed Sarge, Tweeting: 'Sarge: "She just needs to loosen up, have fun." Awkward! He's just been called a 'd**khead' on social media, for referring to himself in third person on Seven Year Switch 'Sarge: "Mess up the fridge system and I will end you!" Another added: 'Sarge: "I do think it's mainly her." Also Sarge: "Don't eat food off my shelf." Another said that the fridge issue is 'weird.' Sarge was also labelled a 'd**khead' by fans after Tuesday's show, when he spoke about his and Stacey's relationship problems and referred to himself in third person. 'I will end you': Fans slammed Sarge on social media for revealing his fridge habits Protective: One fan said that perhaps his OCD about the fridge is why he and his partner have issues 'The thing is I'm scared that I will, that we will break up, then she will think in her head, without Sarge, that maybe [she will say] "Well, I'm doing so good you don't need Sarge" is the issue,' he said. 'And then all of a sudden, Sarge is no longer her boyfriend.' Stacey - who owns a business with her man - has been matched with Tracey's partner Johnny. Sarge recently described his relationship with Stacey as 'purely business with some sex on the side'. New 'husband': Stacey Louise - who owns a business with her man - has been matched with Tracey's partner Johnny Stacey meanwhile, recently told New Idea about when their connection began to fade, blaming issues from his army days. She said Sarge having post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the main problems. She recalled finding 'papers in their house' detailing his diagnosis and how she still doesn't know exactly what caused the serious condition. Struggles: Stacey Louise meanwhile, recently told New Idea about when their connection began to fade, blaming issues from his army days, saying he has PTSD 'He's never spoken to me about it, so it's not something [I'm meant to] know,' she said. 'I'm here to support him, but you can only keep things from each other for so long.' At the time, before his 'OCD' was revealed, she hinted he had the condition. She explained how he comes from a 'broken family' which has resulted in him demanding order in every situation, including arranging the food in their fridge. 'I don't know that it's OCD, but it's definitely his way or the highway,' she stated. 'He likes things done in a particular way.' Sinitta made a very risky wardrobe decision when she arrived braless to judge a 3K talent show dubbed 'Archer Street's Got Talent' in a London bar on Tuesday. All eyes were on the 53-year-old songstress when she brazenly revealed a little too much in the sheer see-through top without a care in the world. Leaving nothing to the imagination, she flaunted her toned abs in a floral maxi skirt which was cinched in at the waist with a belt. Scroll down for video She should have brought the palm leaves: Braless Sinitta, 53, made a boob in see-through top to judge 3k talent show in London bar on Tuesday... (though it wasn't exactly X Factor) On this occasion, Simon Cowell's former lover would have been better off if she had brought her daring X Factor palm tree leaves ensemble. The TV personality left Cowell gobsmacked when she dared to bare all with only leaves to cover her body in one of the most memorable scenes in X Factor history. When she arrived on set for the Judge's Home final auditions, she said: 'Hi guys, I wanted you to have fun!' Wow thing: Leaving nothing to the imagination, she flaunted her toned abs in a floral maxi skirt which was cinched in at the waist with a belt That's one way to do it: Once inside the venue, the So Macho singer was seen cooling off with a fan Shocking scenes: The TV personality left Cowell gobsmacked (in Los Angeles 2009) when she dared to bare all in one of the most memorable scenes in X Factor history While her fellow judges at the time Cheryl and Dannii Minogue told her 'we love it', Cowell wasn't so keen on her racy ensemble. He said: 'I actually can't do this with you standing there like this, walk backwards, I'm being serious I can't do this.' Wearing a huge smile, she showcased her ample assets in the skimpy see-through crop top with the same oozing confidence during the 2009 X Factor episode. Pass her a jacket: Sinitta showed off even more as whipped off her jacket once inside the venue, before cooling down with a fan in the packed bar Forget the palm leaves: The singer showcased her ample assets in the skimpy see-through crop top with the same oozing confidence during the 2009 X Factor episode No doubt her equally risque attire got tongues wagging as she took on the top role of judging a London-based singing competition. But proving killer accessories make an outfit, the former X Factor judge teamed her barely-there top with massive hoop earrings as a statement. Having the time of her life, Cowell's former flame flaunted her figure as she showed off her best dance moves with a fan in the packed bar. She oversaw the contestants battle it out over the microphone for a 3K prize fund. Overseeing: She judged a singing competition where the contestants battled it out over the microphone for a 3K prize fund Mark Hamill has revealed he has one big regret about The Force Awakens. The Star Wars star wishes that Luke Sykwalker, Princess Leia and Han Solo could have had one final scene together in the film before Han's death at the hands of Kylo Ren. Hamill, 65, described it as 'a great missed opportunity' in an interview with Fandango.com at the Star Wars Celebration in Orlando, Florida. Scroll down for video 'A great missed opportunity': Mark Hamill wishes there could have been one final on-screen reunion of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Han Solo in The Force Awakens The actor reflected on how close the trio of characters were in the first three films, now known as Episodes IV, V and VI. He suggested that having them reunite one last time would have carried 'so much emotional resonance into the next film.' 'When I was reading (the script), I thought if Leia is trying to mentally contact me and she is unsuccessful, shell rush to his [Hans] aid and get into some dire situation, and thats when I show up,' he told Fandango.com. 'I save her life, and then we rush to Han, and then we are in the same position that Rey and Finn and Chewie are too late to save him, but witnesses.' Alternate plot: 'I save (Leia's) life, and then we rush to Han, and then we are in the same position that Rey and Finn and Chewie are too late to save him, but witnesses,' he suggested Poignant: The actor, 65, argued that He suggested that having the three original characters reunite one last time would have carried 'so much emotional resonance into the next film' Of course, no on-screen reunion is now possible, with the death of Harrison Ford's character in The Force Awakens and the death in real life of actress Carrie Fisher. During the Star Wars Celebration this past weekend, Hamill recalled how he and Fisher had attended an early screening of A New Hope in 1977 and how some in the audience heckled the movie. 'At the end of the trailer it said: A billion light years in the making. And its coming to your galaxy this summer. Somebody in the balcony yelled out: Yeah and its coming to the Late Show two weeks after that.' he said, according to NME.com. 'Nobody enjoys a well-placed, snarky remark more than I do. So we both laughed, but after we laughed, we kind of went, Uh oh,'' he added. Meanwhile, the scifi blockbuster franchise is at Episode VIII with The Last Jedi set to open in movie theatres on December 15. Hamill will play a much more prominent role in the upcoming film which also stars Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Adam Driver. Fans are STILL in uproar at George Lucas forcing him to shoot second. So Disney has moved to Star Wars buffs that Han Solo's name is NOT being changed as well. CEO Bob Iger confused everyone last week when he hinted the upcoming standalone film would explore how the smuggler 'got his name' suggesting he previously had another. 'It's obviously his name': Lucasfilm has assured Star Wars fans that Han Solo IS his real name... despite Disney confusingly hinting otherwise But speaking to MTV on Monday, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said she 'wasn't sure that that's entirely what Bob meant'. 'There's more to Han Solo's name, but it's not that it's not his name,' she sort-of-clarified. 'It's obviously his name. It will always be his name,' she added. Speaking about the impending and not-yet-titled 'Young Han Solo' film at a press event last Thursday, Iger revealed to Variety that the plot would follow his life from the age of 18 through 24, including him 'acquiring a certain vehicle and meeting a certain Wookiee' - Obviously referring to the Millennium Falcon and Chewbacca. Say what? CEO Bob Iger confused everyone last week when he hinted the upcoming standalone film would explore how the smuggler 'got his name' suggesting he previously had another (new cast pictured) But speaking to MTV on Monday, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said she 'wasn't sure that that's entirely what Bob meant' But he then cryptically added: 'Youll also discover how he got his name.' The film sees Alden Ehrenreich replace Harrison Ford as the young Han Solo, with Atlanta's Donald Glover taking over from Billy Dee Williams as fellow scoundrel Lando Calrissian. It also stars Emilia Clarke and Thandie Newton in undisclosed roles. Woody Harrelson meanwhile plays Beckett - a new character to the Star Wars universe - which is information the actor let slip to Jimmy Fallon on the Tonight Show last month. New guy: The film sees Alden Ehrenreich replace Harrison Ford as the young Han Solo, 'I play a guy named Beckett whos kind of a criminal and a mentor to Han. Thats all I can say, thats it,'he said. 'I'll be there [London] until the end of July,' he said about the Star Wars filming schedule. Besides the saga films The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and the as-yet-untitled Episode IX Disney also has three anthology films in the mix: Rogue One, the young Han Solo Film, and a mystery third, with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Boba Fett among the potential subjects. She recently experienced an embarrassing encounter with a trolley of fruit while doing a live cross. And on Wednesday, weather reporter Natalia Cooper, 32, encountered another cringe worthy moment when she suffered a wardrobe malfunction - catching her colleague Karl Stefanovic somewhat by surprise. During the live feed in Surfers Paradise, Natalia was picked up and twirled into the air by a male dancer, who took to the role with such vigour her dress blew up to expose a little more than she had probably hoped. Oops! On Wednesday, weather reporter Natalia Cooper, 32, encountered another embarrassing moment when she experienced a wardrobe malfunction Surprised: Natalie's colleague Karl Stefanovic was caught somewhat by surprise Natalia was quick to smooth down her dress, but not without a cheeky grimace on her face. Her colleague Karl was equally bemused and appeared to find the whole incident somewhat amusing. It's not the first time, Karl has teased Natalia. Dancing! During the live feed in Surfers Paradise, Natalia was picked up and twirled into the air by a man who took to the role with such vigour her dress blew up to expose a little more than she had probably hoped On set: Natalia has experienced several mishaps during live feeds The last incident occurred when a market worker lost his load of fruit after he became distracted by Cooper during a live cross. Cooper was giving her forecast from a Sydney fruit market early on Wednesday morning as workers pushing trolleys of food passed by. Cooper stood out from the crowd, wearing a high-vis vest over a leopard print top. Cringe: Earlier this year, a market worker lost his load of fruit after he became distracted by Cooper during a live cross And one man appeared so distracted by Cooper that he lost his trolley of fruit. The market worker could be seen in the background looking at the reporter and the camera crew before Cooper shouted out: 'Oh no spilled fruit.' Karl said: 'You distracted him it was the high-vis.' Cooper finished her broadcast by helping the embarrassed man pick up his fruit. Awkward: A market worker could be seen in the background looking at the reporter and the camera crew before Ms Cooper shouted out: 'Oh no spilled fruit' She celebrated her birthday with close friends over the past two days. But on Tuesday Jennifer Garner returned to her mommy duties as she was joined by her son, Samuel, five, for breakfast at Beaming Organic Superfood Cafe in Brentwood. The star - who turned 45 the day before - was all smiles despite filing from divorce from her ex Ben Affleck one week earlier. Beaming beauty! Jennifer Garner was all smiles while grabbing breakfast with her son Samuel, five, at Beaming Organic Superfood Cafe in Brentwood on Tuesday The Golden Globe winner opted for a laid-back look during her outing with her youngest child. She looked relaxed in a dark navy sweatshirt and light wash distressed jeans which bore a hole in one knee. Her figure-hugging denims encased the Dallas Buyers Club starlet's long slender legs. Picture perfect: The star - who turned 45 the day before - playfully posed during her morning outing Happy home: The mother-of-three was all smiles despite filing from divorce from her ex Ben Affleck one week earlier Jennifer added white sneakers and dark tortoise shell sunglasses that shielded her eyes from the southern California rays. She swept her silky honey tresses back in a ponytail and went make-up free, highlighting her natural beauty and flawless complexion. Little Samuel looked adorable in a plush forest green zippered jacket with white tee and colorful printed bottoms. Laid-back look: The Golden Globe winner looked relaxed in a dark navy sweatshirt and light wash distressed jeans which bore a hole in one knee Natural beauty: Jennifer swept her silky honey tresses back in a ponytail and went make-up free, highlighting her youthful appearance and flawless complexion Her appearance comes after it was claimed that Ben has moved out of their family home in LA and has started dating someone new. Jennifer finally filed for divorce last week, following a lengthy separation. Jennifer and Ben, who have remained on great terms since their split, were said to have not started to think about dividing their assets until now, as they were attempting to make things work. Shaded: Jennifer added white sneakers and dark tortoise shell sunglasses that shielded her eyes from the southern California rays Little looker: Samuel looked adorable in a plush forest green zippered jacket with white tee and colorful printed bottoms According to TMZ, the pair had no prenup so will now embark on the lengthy process of working out the financial details. The site claims their divorce could take over six months due to the amount of property they share. It is also reported that Ben has been dating someone - albeit 'not seriously' - with an insider alleging, 'He's ready to move on.' Their romance has been fraught with troubles - complete with an arrest for assault, blazing rows and mud-slinging from both sides. Yet Stephanie Davis is proving things are well and truly on the up with on-off love Jeremy McConnell, with whom she shares four-month-old son Caben Albi, as it has been claimed that she wants to marry him. Sources told The Sun the former Hollyoaks star wanted to wed her beau when he departs rehab, just hours before she shared an incredibly sweet snap with their son ahead of a swimming session while Jeremy, 26, was seeking therapy for 'demons'. Scroll down for video Better days: Stephanie Davis is proving things are well and truly on the up with on-off love Jeremy McConnell, with whom she shares four-month-old son Caben Albi, as it has been claimed that she wants to marry him Stephanie and Jeremy's love story began when they starred together on Celebrity Big Brother in January 2016 before becoming embroiled in a toxic romance which ended in April a month before she announced she was expecting. After persistently denying the paternity, Jeremy vowed to step up when he discovered he was the father although last month's assault arrest left fans aghast although kind-hearted Stephanie vowed to stand by the star. While Jeremy has now headed to rehab, Stephanie persists in documenting life with Caben on social media, with Tuesday being no exception as they cosied up in the sweet snap while she wore a dressing gown ahead of the dip. Shortly before her swimming session, sources revealed to The Sun that Stephanie was determined to marry recovering Jeremy as she believes the root of all their woes was drink and drugs. 'He's a nightmare, but he's my nightmare': Sources told The Sun the former Hollyoaks star wanted to wed her beau when he departs rehab, just hours before she shared an incredibly sweet snap with their son ahead of a swimming session The insider said: 'Steph believes all the problems in their relationship were down to Jeremys drinking and drug-taking. Shes convinced that once he gets professional help, theyll be able to be happy again... 'As soon as Jeremy leaves rehab, she wants him to move to Liverpool where she can keep a close eye on him and make sure he doesnt slip back into old habits. After everything theyve been through. 'Steph is dreaming of a fairy-tale ending and that includes getting married. She believes a wedding would mark a fresh start and be the perfect chance to put the past behind them'. Fuelling speculation: Stephanie had got fans talking after sharing a photo of a diamond ring on her finger 'I am not engaged': She was recently forced to deny rumours she and Jeremy are set to wed on Twitter Last month, Stephanie had to deny rumours she and Jeremy were engaged, as fans began to speculate after she was pictured wearing a diamond ring on her finger. Steph responded: 'I am not engaged guys. One day' (heart emoji) This weather is amazingggg but there's too many wasps and bees about #anxietycentral' Over the weekend, she professed her love for Jeremy and was continuing her adoring assault on social media on Easter Sunday as she shared a snap of Caben while thanking his father for his nautical-style ensemble. The actress took to Instagram to share the sweet image while wishing her 771,000 followers a Happy Easter on her four-month-old son's behalf. Adorable: On Saturday, the stunning star sent a gushing message to Jeremy, shortly before delighting her fans with her sweet snaps of Caben in which she thanked Jeremy for buying an outfit for their son On Saturday, the stunning star sent a gushing message to Jeremy, shortly before delighting her fans with her sweet snaps of Caben in which she thanked Jeremy for buying an outfit for their son. She added a caption reading: 'Happy Easter Everyone... This is my first Easter! I got lots of eggs which my mummy is helping to eat.. hehe. I love my outfit off my daddy, it makes my eyes look extra blue! Thanks daddy! Hope you all have a great day'. In her sweet snap the day before, Stephanie insisted she will 'stand by' her on/off boyfriend no matter what while publicly declaring her love for the Irish model in an emotional Instagram post. She branded Jeremy a 'nightmare' in her tribute, but claimed he was 'her nightmare' as she brushed off their tumultuous past and looked ahead to their future as a couple. 'He is my soul mate and I love him': The former Hollyoaks star branded Jeremy a 'nightmare' in her tribute, but claimed he was 'her nightmare' as she brushed off their tumultuous past and looked ahead to their future as a couple Taking to the photosharing site, Stephanie uploaded two photos of herself and Jeremy that had been taking during their time together in the CBB house. The duo are cuddling in one shot and looking adoringly at each other in the second. Captioning her photo, Stephanie threw her support behind Jeremy - who is currently seeking treatment in rehab - and professed her undying love for the father of her child, Caben-Albi. She penned: 'No matter what people say, no matter what people feel.. we have been though the most major ups and downs. He's been wrong, I've been wrong.. but I LOVE him. 'I met him un expectedly on cbb, but what you seen was TRUE LOVE!! When you go though that, with money and media, anyone in the industry would understand... ours was just played out in front of the nation. 'I will stand by him always and love him unconditionally': Stephanie is supporting Jeremy through his rehab stay after he voluntarily checked himself in to receive help for his issues 'He is my soul mate and I love him, you never give up on the one you love do you.... Jezz got a little lost, but who hasn't f**ked up in life?? 'I know I have.... Just so happens ours is played through the media. And no we haven't been adults about it a lot, and it's been wild, but when your so in love with someone, passion gets the best of you! (sic)' Stephanie continued: 'He's my rock my soul mate and I love him with ALL my heart!! Do you think we would put each other through this for fun?????? No... its because we match. And u seen us fall in love. 'And forever I will always love him. I'm proud [of] him! [It's] this change to get better, no matter what anyone says. I will stand by him always and love him unconditionally, he may seem a nightmare but [he's] my nightmare. Family unit: The couple are parents to their three-month-old son Caben-Albi who was born in January earlier this year 'My best friend, my everything. Words couldn't describe the love I have for him! I love u baby and so proud of you. U will make Caben proud and can't wait for us to be a family again. I LOVE you!!!! Your baby, stephanie @jeremymcconnellcooke.' Stephanie's tribute to Jeremy comes after the pair recently reunited following their bitter split last year. He had confessed to cheating on Stephanie while they were together and shortly after their split, the starlet announced she was expecting Jeremy's baby. At first, Jeremy contested Steph's paternity claims, but following Caben's birth in January earlier this year, he undertook a DNA test that proved he is the dad of Stephanie's little boy. Supportive: Stephanie has insisted she is 'proud' of Jeremy for seeking treatment - his rehab stay came after he was arrested for allegedly assaulting her Keen to form a relationship with his son and re-connect with Stephanie, Jeremy had reunited with his ex-girlfriend and later shared a photo of little Caben to his Instagram page, along with the caption: 'Happiest man alive, my new focus.' However, his reunion with Stephanie was rocked by allegations that he assaulted her and Jeremy had been arrested. Following his release, he sought help to battle his demons by checking himself into rehab. 'I just never handled fame': Jeremy shared a lengthy statement addressing his decision to check into rehab Stephanie had told fans she was 'proud' of Jeremy for making the step to address his issues, while he posted a statement to social media explaining his reasons for seeking treatment. Jeremy explained that he 'hasn't handled fame very well' and acknowledged he had 'let his family, friends and management down' with his behaviour. The reality star insisted he is a 'good guy with a good heart' and claimed he is hoping to 'fix' his issues by taking the 'appropriate action'. Penning her heartbreak: Stephanie has recalled her tumultuous history with Jeremy in a new song that includes the lyrics: 'Drowning out the pain cos you're not mine anymore, I was a chore but I adored you' Stephanie, meanwhile, has recounted her heartbreak over her relationship with Jeremy in a new song. Turning her attentions back to her music, the mum-of-one has penned a track to release the emotions she has of the last year. The lyrics give a raw account of her feelings and include the lines: 'I've been missing spending time with your drinking and let me hear what you wanna say.. sipping on my liqueur cos it tastes so fine drowning out the pain cos you're not mine anymore, I was a chore but I adored you.' Making reference to her latest music material on Twitter, Stephanie wrote: 'Started a new sound cloud. Songs to upload soon. Copyright enjoy :)' He was recently spotted in Mexico, reuniting with girlfriend Jasmine Yarborough, 33, for her brother Josh's 30th birthday. But Karl Stefanovic, 42, was back on the Today Show set, on Wednesday, where he offered up a cheeky question about 'vibrating machines' while chatting to fitness guru Sam Wood. Karl was interviewing the former Bachelor star and personal trainer about the release of his new book 28 By Sam Wood when, throwing to a commercial, he proffered a comment that had the cast in stitches. Scroll down for video Good vibrations: Karl Stefanovic offered up a cheeky question about 'vibrating machines' while chatting to Sam Wood on Wednesday's Today Show 'Still to come, vibrating machines - do they work,' Karl said as he, co-host Sylvia Jeffreys, reporter Erin Molan and Sam erupted in laughter at the facetious comment. The ribald joke started innocently enough as Erin Molan, wrapping up the chat with Sam asked: 'the vibrating machine you stand on - does that work or not?' Sam replied with: 'No they're a load of rubbish,' before Karl telegraphed his clanger with: 'We'll get to the answer to that after the break.' Risque: 'Still to come, vibrating machines - do they work,' Karl said as he, co-host Sylvia Jeffreys, reporter Erin Molan and Sam erupted in laughter at the cheeky comment The Bachelor heart-throb was on the show to promote his new fitness book, 28 By Sam Wood - an adjunct to his popular online health program of the same name. Sam developed the online program last February and has since seen more that 60,000 people sign up. The program asks that people devote 28 minutes to exercise a day with Sam taking participants through each session, step-by-step in the accompanying app. The book acts as an adjunct to the online component, offering new recipes, training programs and plenty of motivation from Sam. Bookish charm: Bachelor heart-throb Sam Wood was on the show to promote his new fitness book, 28 by Sam Wood - an adjunct to his popular online health program of the same name. Workout: Speaking to the Daily Mail about his book's launch on Tuesday, Sam said it offers participants more flexibility Speaking to the Daily Mail about the book's launch on Tuesday, Sam said it offers participants more flexibility. 'The book gives people more flexibility to do the programs and have all of the advice at their fingertips,' he said. 'It has the same philosophies as my online program but may appeal to a different market.' Meanwhile, The Daily Telegraph reported on Wednesday that Karl spent his week-long Easter break in Mexico, reportedly reuniting with girlfriend Jasmine for her brother's 30th birthday celebrations, with the popular host spotted in family Facebook photos, taken during the festivities. Globetrotting: Meanwhile, The Daily Telegraph reported on Wednesday that Karl spent his week-long Easter break in Mexico, reportedly reuniting with girlfriend Jasmine She has been candid about her sexuality, since coming out as bisexual last year. And after the demise of her latest relationship, Marnie Simpson has once again opened up as she revealed in a Twitter question and answer session that her romance with love rat Lewis Bloor could see her date women once again. The 25-year-old Geordie Shore star split with the former TOWIE cast member earlier this year amid claims he cheated with 'every Tom, Dick and Harry' and she is now adamant she is on the hunt for a new girlfriend rather than boyfriend. Scroll down for video Open and honest: Marnie Simpson has once again opened up as she revealed in a Twitter question and answer session that her romance with love rat Lewis Bloor could see her date women once again Marnie and Lewis' relationship came to a bitter end after it was revealed he cheated on his ex on several occasions. After returning from a friendly trip to Dubai which ended in a blazing public row, Marnie later stated that if she were to tell all about her ex, he would be 'ruined'. Writing in her column for Star, she said: 'Lets just say if people knew the truth of whats gone on and how Lewis has treated me, it would ruin him. But I couldnt do that to him, even though he deserves it. Karma will do my dirty work for me.' Elaborating further on the shocking developments, she replied to a fan who asked if she liked guys or girls better with: 'After the last guy defo girls.' Despite Marnie's heartbreak, she went on to say: 'Ill keep going until I find Mr Right and get married and have kids.' Slammed: Her comments come after she and Lewis were caught on camera in the midst of a blazing row in Dubai as Marnie accused her former beau of taking her bank card Her comments come after she and Lewis were caught on camera in the midst of a blazing row in Dubai as Marnie accused her former beau of taking her bank card. Admitting that she was mistaken in her accusation, she wrote of the incident: 'Wed been drinking all afternoon and had been arguing for a good hour. 'To clear things up, Lewis didnt steal my bank card. I thought hed taken it so I couldnt storm out of the hotel. I was so angry.' 'It was karma ten times over': Admitting that she was mistaken in her accusation, she wrote of the incident: 'Wed been drinking all afternoon and had been arguing for a good hour In her column she touched upon the Twitter spat they had last week, after their return to the UK. The toxicity bubbled to the surface when Lewis took to the micro-blogging site to deem himself a 'mug' after seeing pictures that appeared to show brunette beauty Marnie getting close to her ex Aaron Chalmers as she shot season 14 of her show. Lewis dredged up an old loved-up tweet he'd written about Marnie as she filmed her show, which read: 'Spoke to my lovely gf today really cheered me up. Shes ok.. i can imagine its tough living with exes.. cant wait to get my arms round her.' (sic) Sharing the old tweet with his 409,000 followers, he wrote: 'How jokes when i tweeted this and she was doing that... what a mug. #PotKettle.' (sic) His words soon met the wrath of his fiery ex, who struck back: 'U we're tweeting me when u were s***ging every Tom dick and harry! R u crazy.' (sic) While Lewis, who admitted to cheating on Marnie during their relationship when he kissed another girl, later deleted the tweet, his ex wasn't finishing ranting. But rather than directly reveal further details surrounding their ill-fated coupling, she opted for a more cryptic route as she added: 'If people knew the truth. That is all.' During a recent interview, Marnie lamented over her own cheating past and insisted her romance with Lewis has taught her a 'valuable lesson'. Make or break: Despite Marnie revealing she and Lewis had 'salvaged a friendship' on their Dubai holiday, she has since claimed the trip made her realise their relationship was 'not worth fighting for' Marnie and Lewis had split in February after footage emerged of him kissing another girl on Valentine's Day. He later confessed to cheating on Marnie during a trip they had taken to Barcelona at the beginning of their relationship and she has since revealed that Lewis is the first person to have cheated on her. Marnie, meanwhile, has been unfaithful in the past to former boyfriends and speaking about her messy split with Lewis, she claimed that it had been 'karma' for her previous wrongdoings. In an interview with Daily Star, Marnie lamented: 'Lewis was my karma, but it was karma ten times over. War of words: Their Twitter spat last week was ignited when Lewis tweeted about snapshots apparently showing Marnie getting close to her ex Aaron Chalmers while they were together 'That's fine, but I've learned a valuable lesson... 'I'll never ever do to anyone what Lewis did to me. Ever.' Marnie went on to explain that she and Lewis are now completely over, after failing to rekindle their relationship during a make or break trip to Dubai. She claimed that the break had made her realise that there 'was nothing left to fight for' when it came to Lewis. While away, she had taken to Instagram to tell fans that she and Lewis had 'salvaged their friendship' on the getaway, but their holiday was left on a sour note after footage emerged of Marnie in an explosive row with her former boyfriend - accusing him of 'stealing her bank card'. Happier times: The pair had embarked on a romance after starring alongside each other on Celebrity Big Brother in August last year - before splitting six months later Lewis denied the claims and branded them 'absolutely ridiculous'. Now, Marnie has claimed that there is more to her split with Lewis than meets eye. Hinting that not everything that happened between them has been made public knowledge, she cryptically said: 'If I was honest about what happened between Lewis it would ruin him... But I am the bigger person.' Fans of the duo saw Marnie and Lewis get together while starring on Celebrity Big Brother in August last year. Serious: They had continued their love affair after the show and Marnie had even moved away from her hometown of Newcastle to live with Lewis in London After just ten days in the Elstree compound, Lewis had claimed he was 'in love' with Marnie. They were forced to defend their relationship against claims they were putting on a 'showmance' and had continued their love affair on the outside. Marnie had even moved away from her hometown of Newcastle to live with Lewis in London. Her latest comments come after Lewis appeared to make a dig at his ex-girlfriend while proving he is now moving on from their failed romance. Pucker up! The former Celebrity Big Brother star was seen receiving a kiss from both Made In Chelsea's Daisy Robins and Love Island star Tina Stinnes as he attended the same showbiz party as Marnie on Wednesday night While attending the same showbiz bash as Marnie on Wednesday night, Lewis shared a photo of himself sandwiched between reality beauties Daisy Robins (of Made In Chelsea fame) and Love Island's Tina Stinnes. The girls were seen draped over Lewis and in one photo even planted a kiss on either of his cheeks. Lewis suggested that he is keen to embrace single life again and teased alongside his snap of the trio: 'Summer's always funner.' It seems there is a lot of protein in his Leftovers. For Justin Theroux took great pride in showing off his muscular arms in a sleeveless top after getting pumped in Los Angeles on Tuesday. The actor looked like he had just enjoyed an intense, sweaty session at the gym as he headed back to his car in the trendy West Hollywood area. The joy of flex: Cunning Justin Theroux subtly showed off his bicep by curling his backpack as he headed back to his car after a gym visit in Los Angeles on Tuesday Pumped: The metrosexual star looked like he had enjoyed an intense sweaty session Justin, 45, looked every inch the miniature Sylvester Stallone as he ambled back to his car in his tight sleeveless top, cunningly holding his backpack in a position that allowed him to subtly flex his right bicep to impress passersby. However it seems Mr Jennifer Aniston, who once confessed he 'never regrets visiting a gym,' is not so keen when it comes to working his legs, as he showed off his slender pins in a pair of extremely tight jeans. Of course the metrosexual star is often seen going on lengthy hikes in country parks, so perhaps he prefers to avoid carrying too much extra bulk. While he loves drawing attention for his arms, Justin has confessed he apologized to his The Leftovers co-stars when shooting in Australia last year due to the stir among the local media due to his marital status. Pin-credible: While Justin has muscular arms he seems to prefer having slender legs Pose de resistance: He flexed his other arm by using an underhand grip to open his car door Look away now Louis: His beanpole documentary maker cousin is surely envious of Justin's bulging biceps The HBO star said: 'You can't fight it so if it's going to rain that day, it's going to rain that day 'I usually apologise (to the cast) and they say don't worry about it'. But he pointed out that no matter how used to the distractions he is, shooting intense scenes can be problematic for the other actors. 'I have gotten more used to it but when people who arent used to it have to act and they might be doing something emotional... it can be annoying.' Trouble in paradise: Justin and his more famous wife Jennifer Aniston no doubt fight over the mirror first thing in the morning They are one of Hollywood's hottest couples. And despite their celebrity status, Chris Hemsworth and Elsa Pataky maintain a relatively low-key lifestyle in Byron Bay. Elsa, 40, appeared on Today Extra on Wednesday where she insisted to hosts David Campbell and Sonia Kruger the attractive pair aren't camera-ready all the time. Scroll down for video Natural beauty: Elsa Pataky appeared on Today Extra on Wednesday where she insisted her and husband Chris Hemsworth aren't always camera-ready David told the Spanish-born beauty he has three young children like her and her husband then asked, 'How do you and Chris do it and still look so good?' 'We don't, we don't,' she replied with laughter. 'Make-up is like a miracle.' She then described how manic their household can be and reiterated how the photogenic lovebirds juggle hectic schedules like all parents. 'In the mornings we don't look like that and for sure not at night, because when you go to sleep you're really tired after a lot of work,' she explained 'In the mornings we don't look like that and for sure not at night, because when you go to sleep you're really tired after a lot of work,' she explained. 'It's amazing. It's all worth it but it's crazy, as you know,' she continued. The hosts asked the actress, who was recently named an ambassador for L'OREAL products, how her children are enjoying living on their lavish Byron Bay property. Family ties: The hosts asked the actress, who was recently named an ambassador for L'OREAL products, how her children are enjoying living on their lavish Byron Bay property Down to earth: She explained how she grew up in a 'big city' and thus her dream was to raise her kids 'in nature' Au naturel: David told the Spanish-born beauty he has three young children like her and her husband then asked, 'How do you and Chris do it and still look so good?' 'They're good, they're good,' she gushed. 'They run around naked, all over the property. They're totally wild kids in nature,' she continued. She then explained how she grew up in a 'big city' and thus her dream was to raise her kids 'in nature'. She shared a nude photo in honor of her 38th birthday just hours earlier. But Kourtney Kardashian kept things PG-rated when she celebrated the milestone at Disneyland in Anaheim, California on Tuesday. The reality star hit up the popular amusement park with ex Scott Disick, her three kids and niece North West. Scroll down for video Birthday babe! Kourtney Kardashian celebrated her 38th birthday at Disneyland in Anaheim, California with her ex Scott Disick, 33, and kids The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star was all smiles while enjoying the iconic the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride. She sat in the front seat with daughter Penelope, four, as Scott, 33, sat in the seat behind with their eldest son Mason, seven. Kourtney opted for a laid-back look in baggy black sweatshirt, with her silky raven tresses styled in relaxed waves. Beaming beauty! The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star was all smiles while enjoying the iconic the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride Family fun day! Kourtney sat next to daughter Penelope, four, as ex Scott sat alongside Mason, seven Hot mama! The mother-of-three went with barely there make-up, highlighting her youthful appearance and flawless complexion Laid-back look: Kourtney opted for comfort in a black sweatshirt, with her silky raven tresses styled in relaxed waves Baby mine: She took the kids for a flight with Dumbo The mother-of-three went with barely there make-up, highlighting her youthful appearance and natural beauty. The daughter of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, three, looked adorable in pigtail buns. She wore cute denim cutoffs with a white sweatshirt and was beaming while riding around on a carousel. Keep him sweet: Reign got plenty of treats to keep him happy, including a Mickey lolly Represent: Mason rocked a Mickey shirt for the day that was in it Bonus: Reign later got his hands on a tasty churro too Walking is overrated: The youngster also enjoyed a ride on his mommy's hip for most of the day Pant-wearer: While Kourtney took the lead, Scott followed dutifully behind Beaming: The birthday girl certainly seemed to relish being in the 'happiest place on Earth' Meanwhile, Kourtney headed to the 'Happiest Place on Earth' just hours after flaunting every inch of her figure on Instagram. 'Birthday suit,' the E! star captioned the eye-popping image which revealed her breast. She is seen emerging from water with her curvaceous figure leaving little to the imagination. Tied up tresses! North West, three, looked adorable in pigtail buns Carousel cutie! The daughter of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West wore cute denim cutoffs with a white sweatshirt while riding around on a merry-go-round Mommy and me! Kourtney's youngest child, Reign, 2, sported Vans shoes as he sat with his mom on the carousel Kourtney and Scott's outing comes just days after she posted a photo of the former flames on a Hawaiian family vacation. The exes have been attempting to maintain a friendship after ending their nine-year relationship in July 2015. So far they seem to have made a success of co-parenting, but the two have made it clear they don't see themselves getting back together. 'Mom and Dad back at it again with the coparenting skills,' Kourtney captioned the selfie with the self-proclaimed 'Lord Disick.' Plenty to smile about: The doting mother looked happy and relaxed as she wandered around with her adorable family Yum! Little Penelope tucked into a Mickey Mouse-shaped ice cream as they strolled between the park's many amusements 'Birthday suit': The reality star shared a nude photo of herself in honor of her 38th birthday just hours earlier Toned tummies! Kourtney's close friend and hair stylist, Jen Atkin, posted several photos with the star How to live longer: The Big Think Rating: There's an hour of your life you won't get back. Nobel prize-winner Sir Paul Nurse promised to reveal a few secrets of immortality in How To Live Longer: The Big Think (BBC4) but the title, like much of the science he served up, was misleading flummery. If you'd come for practical information, you were in the wrong place. Not a word of advice about living longer, just a succession of boffins injecting baby brain cells into rats and chopping lumps of DNA out of fruit flies. These experiments were great successes, enthused the presenter, though when the techniques were tried on people, it seemed the patients generally died. Nobel prize-winner Sir Paul Nurse promised to reveal a few secrets of immortality in How To Live Longer: The Big Think This show didn't have much sympathy for the unlucky subjects, either rat or human. It was a hymn of praise to the men with high foreheads and receding hairlines, peering into microscopes as they clicked their ballpoint pens. Their failures were unimportant: what mattered were the great things they would soon achieve. A third of babies born today, Sir Paul proclaimed, will live to be 100. Not one speck of evidence was supplied for this grandiose statement, but let's face it none of us will be around long enough to find out if he's right. Our Nobel prizewinner was using the same trick as a fairground palm reader, who tells your fortune and scarpers. From the filler shots in this show, it's plain what scientists like Sir Paul really think of the rest of us. They were typical of so many science documentaries: anonymous crowds walking in slow motion on a shopping street, just a mass of bodies and blurred faces. The camera pulls back and we see the Visionary Scientist, staring above the heads of the crowd, seeing something they cannot. A half-smile plays on his lips. He is not part of the herd he is a superior being. Among white-coated technicians singled out for applause was a team from something called the Francis Crick Institute, who were experimenting on human embryos up to a week old. By a remarkable coincidence, though not one acknowledged by the documentary, the director of the Francis Crick Institute is . . . go on, have a guess. It's Nobel prizewinner Sir Paul Nurse. First Dates (C4) Rating: While the scientists were busy dissecting lab rats and frogs, 22-year-old Sameer, a gay Muslim from Birmingham, was on the look-out for an 'otter' on First Dates (C4). And why not? Romantic wildlife documentaries have been all the rage this week, what with Chris Packham's feature on that good-looking gorilla in Kyoto Zoo who gets proposals of marriage from lovesick Japanese girls. But Sameer wasn't pining for Tarka. An otter, he explained, is 'a toned, slim, young man with lots of body hair'. Two hopeful daters who took part in Chanel 4's First Dates Sure enough, when his new boyfriend turned up, he ordered the fish. How anyone gets served a meal at the First Dates restaurant is a mystery, because the waiters do nothing but linger at the tables, eavesdropping, before gathering in huddles to gossip and flirt. Manager Fred Sirieix doesn't notice they are doing nothing, because he's flitting through the room offering gems of romantic wisdom in his Sacha Distel accent. 'Tell err yoo like err,' he growled at one nervous patron, Will. 'I'll trust you,' stammered the young man, 'because you're French.' There's naivety for you. On the other table, Sameer didn't need any extra encouragement. He looked as if he had one thing on his mind. Lock up your otters. She has not appeared in the popular swash-buckling franchise since its third installment back in 2007. But Keira Knightley confirmed she will be reprising her role as Elizabeth Swann in the new Pirates Of The Caribbean film on Tuesday, by appearing in its international trailer. The actress, 32, was seen sporting her trademark curls and corseted dress as she returned to her beloved character in the new promo clip for Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. Scroll down for video She's back! Keira Knightley confirmed she will be reprising her role as Elizabeth Swann in the new Pirates Of The Caribbean film on Tuesday, by appearing in its international trailer Like old times: The actress, 32, sported her trademark corseted dress as she returned to her character in the new promo clip for Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Keira returns to the famous series after ten years, having skipped its fourth installment On Stranger Tides in 2011. With the trailer showcasing the upcoming Pirates film in its usual action-packed but witty style, fans were most excited by Keira's cameo - which had not been confirmed until now. In a very brief appearance, the actress is seen staring wistfully at the ocean as her character Elizabeth in the trailer - clad in a typical period floral gown and a smattering of jewellery. Back to her best: In a very brief appearance, the actress is seen staring wistfully at the ocean as her character Elizabeth in the trailer - clad in a typical period floral gown Hero: The trailer then flicks to Orlando Bloom, who is also reprising his role as Will Turner alongside Keira (above) Only featuring for a second in the clip, the trailer then flicks to Orlando Bloom, who is also reprising his role as Will Turner, before focusing back on beloved leading man Jack Sparrow himself - Johnny Depp. The film, set for release in May, follows Sparrow in a war against an old rival Armando Salazar - with the Pirate hunting for the legendary Trident of Poseidon in order to defeat him. Keira was first rumoured to be returning to the series back in December, but producers have remained quiet about her cameo until this trailer. Man of the hour: With the pair only featuring for a second in the clip, the trailer then focuses back to leading man Jack Sparrow himself - Johnny Depp New mission: The film follows Sparrow in a war against an old rival Armando Salazar - with the Pirate hunting for the legendary Trident of Poseidon in order to defeat him Just before Christmas it was reported the actress had filmed scenes for the flick on Queensland's Gold Coast, Australia, in secret. TooFab went on to claim her role was simply a 'small cameo during the end credits' - however it is thought to be a vehicle for her more significant lead in the series' already-confirmed sixth chapter. After filming Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End, the actress was adamant she wouldn't be reprising her role as the proper young lady turned swashbuckling pirate. Action hero: She has not appeared in the popular swash-buckling franchise since its third installment, At World's End, back in 2007 (above) Undercover queen: Just before Christmas it was reported the actress had filmed scenes for the flick on Queensland's Gold Coast, Australia, in secret Speaking in 2014, she confessed: 'No, I dont think so. It was an amazing point in my life, but it was a good five year chunk. I cant really imagine going back to it.' The film follows a string of hit projects for Keira, who took some time away from acting in recent weeks after welcoming her daughter Edie. She finished shooting new post WWII drama The Aftermath in the Czech Republic at the start of this year, before going on to star in the Comic Relief special of iconic rom-com Love Actually. The star only made two films across 2015 and 2016 - in light of giving birth to her now 22-month-old Edie, with Klaxons frontman husband James Righton. She was announced to play the role of Flamenco Dancer in an upcoming animated film about emojis. And in real life, Sofia Vergara has the legs of a veteran performer. On Tuesday, the star showed off her shapely gams in a pair of ultra-slimming skinny jeans during a shopping trip in West Hollywood. Great gams! On Tuesday, Sofia Vergara showed off her shapely legs in a pair of ultra-slimming skinny jeans during a shopping trip in West Hollywood Sofia looked lovely in a slouchy, tan sweater. The Latina beauty added extra height to her 5ft 7in frame with a pair of brown platform heels. The Hot Pursuit star wore her brunette tresses down and parted to the middle. Her make-up featured a soft smokey eye and bold lip. Gorgeous gal: The Hot Pursuit star wore her brunette tresses down and parted to the middle. Her make-up featured a soft smokey eye and bold lip Perhaps Sofia was looking to update her bedding, as the 44-year-old stopped by Versai Fine Linen. The comedic talent was joined by a pal for her outing, and took to Instagram to share a fun moment from her trip. In the Boomerang clip, the actress did a quick dance that seemed to pay tribute to her recent announcement. Preparing? The comedic talent was joined by a pal for her outing, and took to Instagram to share a fun moment from her trip, which included a quick dance That same day, Sofia announced that she was going to play Flamenco Dancer in the upcoming The Emoji Movie. 'Excited to be Flamenco Dancer in @emojimovie !!! #emojimovie,' she wrote. In an interview with People, the wife of Joe Manganiello opened up about her upcoming role, and the comparison she receives. 'I thought it was a great adventure and who doesn't like an emoji? I thought it was going to be a perfect role for me because people are always saying that I look like her!' Reese Witherspoon celebrated Easter in Los Angeles on Sunday. And the 41-year-old star had more to celebrate as she looked flawlessly chic stepping out in New York City on Tuesday. The Big Little Lies star was the epitome of sophistication as she rocked a classic black ensemble visiting Milk Studios. Elegant: Reese Witherspoon, 41, stepped out in a classic black ensemble in NYC on Tuesday The southern belle kept a classic twang to her outfit as she donned a tailored black topcoat over a white top. Reese matched the coat with tight black pants that accentuated her trim legs. Her tasseled black loafers were in line with the sophisticated look. The mother of two carried a stylish black purse and kept her trademark golden tresses long and loose. Stylish: The southern belle kept a classic twang to her outfit as she donned a tailored black topcoat over a white top Walk it: Her tasseled black loafers were in line with the sophisticated look On Sunday, the Oscar winner looked absolutely stunning in a pastel mini dress as she headed to church service with her family. The Legally Blonde actress was definitely in the spirit of Easter as she beamed while joined by husband Jim Toth along with sons Tennessee and Deacon. It was a busy Easter Sunday as earlier in the day the Little Big Lies star was seen out for a walk with her four-year-old son Tennessee in the posh Los Angeles neighborhood of Brentwood. Flawless: The mother of two carried a stylish black purse and kept her trademark golden tresses long and loose Glamour: The Big Little Lies star was the epitome of sophistication as she rocked a classic black ensemble visiting Milk Studios The party didn't stop as Reese helped friend Jennifer Garner celebrate her birthday that evening in Malibu. Jennifer - who finally filed for divorce from Ben Affleck days ago - was joined by Reese and a group of girlfriends, according to People. The group seemed to have a blast as they continued laughing and chatting on their way out from Little Beach House. Reese made it home on time to catch a flight to NYC the very next day. Bonding time: Reese Witherspoon was joined by her family as they headed to Easter Sunday church service in Los Angeles Behati Prinsloo looked casual chic as she stepped out in Malibu Thursday. The Victoria Secret model was seen attending Rosie Huntington-Whiteley's 30th birthday party at SoHo House in Malibu. The blonde bombshell decided to wear a pair of mom jeans and a revealing black bodysuit that showed off her lower obliques. Scroll down for video Lovely: Behati Prinsloo looked casual chic as she stepped out in Malibu Thursday She added a knitted bold green cardigan that fell to her ankles as she accessorized with a pair of chic black booties. Her long mermaid style tresses were left in messy waves as she added a black beret and dark shades to complete her look. She was seen bringing some goodies to the party, including some birthday presents and shopping. Behati took to Instagram to congratulate her fellow model and friend. Model look: The Victoria Secret model was seen attending Rosie Huntington-Whiteley's 30th birthday party at SoHo House in Malibu She posted a cute and candid picture of Rosie spooning peanut butter from the jar with a cheeky pose. She captioned it: 'Forever my favorite picture of you!!!! Can't believe we are going to be moms together soon, doing mom things lol, specially since we've known each other since we were just babies!!! Love you. Happy birthday. @rosiehw.' Behati, who is married to Maroon 5's Adam Levine, has been married to her husband since 2014. Stylish: The blonde bombshell decided to wear a pair of mom jeans and a revealing black bodysuit that showed off her lower obliques They have an adorable daughter called Dusty Rose, who was born on September 21. Meanwhile, Rosie is expecting her first child with boyfriend Jason Statham. She shared the news via Instagram by sharing a picture of her sizeable baby bump in a bikini snap. She wrote beside the picture: 'Very happy to share that Jason and I are expecting!! Lots of love Rosie x Photo by @jasonstatham' She wed fellow Channel Nine journalist Peter Stefanovic earlier this month. And Sylvia Jeffreys has recently revealed that she goes to bed fully clothed. 'I'm not a sexy bed person,' the 30-year-old admitted to Rachel Corbett on her latest podcast. Not a sexy bed person: Sylvia Jeffreys has recently revealed that she goes to bed fully clothed 'I dress heavily for bed. I hate being cold,' the blonde added. She said of sleeping in the nude: 'It's unhygienic.' Sylvia also admitted she drools and snores in bed admitting: 'I occasionally wake myself up snoring. The truth is we're all a bit gross.' No naked sleeping for Sylvia: She said of sleeping in the nude: 'It's unhygienic' Bed fellow: She wed fellow Channel Nine journalist Peter Stefanovic earlier this month The presenter recently returned to work after spending her honeymoon with husband Peter Stefanovic in Fiji. Sylvia wed at Ooralba Estate in the Kangaroo Valley earlier this month, describing the day on her Instagram as the 'best day of our lives.' High-profile nuptials: Sylvia wed fellow Channel Nine journalist Peter Stefanovic at Ooralba Estate in the Kangaroo Valley earlier this month And at her hen's night, while some brides celebrate their last days of singledom with penis straws and a night of dancing, the media personality instead opted for some clean fun with her girlfriends. The high-profile couple tied the knot in front of 160 guests, with attendees including Peter's brother Karl Stefanovic and Today show stars, Lisa Wilkinson and Richard Wilkins. Sylvia stunned in a custom Rebecca Vallance gown, which featured a plunging neckline, layered tulle and intricate beading. Following the nuptials, Sylvia and Peter enjoyed a lavish honeymoon in Fiji, opting to stay at the $18,000-a-night Kokomo Private Island resort. They may appear on rival TV networks, but that didn't stop Ita Buttrose defending Karl Stefanovic during an episode of Studio 10 on Wednesday. The 75-year-old, along with fellow panellists Sarah Harris, Joe Hildebrand and Jo Casamento, were dissecting the media scrutiny surrounding the Today show host, after pictures surfaced of him and new girlfriend Jasmine Yarbrough spending time with her family in Mexico. Karl jetted off to the US last week during a break from his Channel Nine breakfast program, meeting up with the model and shoe designer. Scroll down for video A friend in need: They may appear on rival TV networks, but that didn't stop Ita Buttrose defending Karl Stefanovic during an episode of Studio 10 on Wednesday Discussion: The 75-year-old, along with fellow panellists Sarah Harris, Joe Hildebrand and Jo Casamento, were discussing the media scrutiny surrounding the Today show host's love life He also attended the birthday bash of his new girl's brother at a five-star Mexican resort, all while his ex wife Cassandra Thorburn was seen packing up the former couple's marital home following the sale of the property shortly after their split. When Harris reasoned whether Karl was being insensitive towards his estranged wife, Buttrose said the cheeky TV star was no 'different from the rest of us' and everyone should give then him a break. Not so sure: Meanwhile, Harris was not so convinced, reasoning that the public had become very invested in his long-term marriage to Cassandra, especially after he gushed about his wife of 21 years during his Logie Awards acceptance speech in 2011 'Why is everyone picking on poor, wretched Karl? Hes separated. Lots of people separate,' she ranted. 'People get separated and divorced. We all move on. Karl is no different from the rest of us and we should get off his back.' Meanwhile, Harris was not so convinced, reasoning that the public had become very invested in his long-term marriage to Cassandra, especially after he gushed about his wife of 21 years during his Logie Awards acceptance speech in 2011. 'I suppose we were all invested when he accepted his Gold Logie and got up there and spoke glowingly of his and we felt like we were able to be invested in that,' Harris said. 'I say those things about my husband too but relationships change,' Buttrose interjected. Taking a hit :The panel explained that the Today's ratings had taken a hit in regional Australia where people have 'stronger family values' 'I agree. Ive known Karl for a very long time and hes always been very decent to me, but there are media analysts who say this will hurt him and damage his image,' Harris retorted. Meanwhile, Hildebrand explained that Today's ratings had taken a big hit in regional Australia, where people have 'stronger family values' and not quite as accepting of Karl's new relationship. 'I think Today is still winning in Sydney and Melbourne, but it has taken a hit in the country,' he explained. 'So there is an argument that perhaps in regional Australia, where people have a stronger and more traditional family values, they don't like it.' Karl and Jasmine became romantically linked in December, two months after his split from wife of 21 years Cassandra Thorburn. The couple have since enjoyed a series of romantic outings in Sydney, Brisbane, Los Angeles and Mexico. A family affair: Overnight pictures surfaced of Karl and new girlfriend Jasmine Yarbrough spending time with her family in Mexico On Tuesday, the pair looked smitten as they posed for snaps alongside Jasmine's family. It comes as New Idea reported earlier this week that Karl is looking towards a future with his new flame. While the father-of-three 'stopped short of proposing until his divorce is final' from ex Cassandra, he reportedly let Jasmine know he intends to marry her in the near future. 'Karl said he spent the entire 14-hour flight from Sydney to LA thinking of Jasmine and how he couldn't wait to one day make her his wife,' an insider said. 'And as soon as he saw her at the airport, he couldn't wait to tell her just that.' North West and her cousins were in for a treat on Tuesday. The daughter of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West went to Disneyland for her auntie Kourtney's 38th birthday. The famous family celebrated the milestone at the magical theme park in Anaheim, California. Lucky girl: North West went to Disneyland for her auntie Kourtney's 38th birthday Tied up tresses! North West, three, looked adorable in pigtail buns Kourtney might have shared a nude photo in honor of her 38th birthday just hours earlier but she kept things PG-rated for her day out with the kids. North, three, looked adorable in pigtail buns, which seemed to be channeling Mickey Mouse. She wore cute denim cutoffs with a white sweatshirt and was beaming while riding around on a carousel. Fun times: The daughter of Kim went on another ride with Scott and her cousin Mason but this time opted to sit on her Uncle's lap Cutie: North, three, looked adorable in pigtail buns, which seemed to be channeling Mickey Mouse Time of their life: They were seen enjoying themselves on the Dumbo ride The daughter of Kim went on another ride with Scott and her cousin Mason but this time opted to sit on her Uncle's lap. They were seen enjoying themselves on the Dumbo ride. North had the best view as she sat in the front row perched on Scott's lap. Keeping her close: Scott made sure to carry North around the park Birthday babe! Kourtney Kardashian celebrated her 38th birthday at Disneyland in Anaheim, California with her ex Scott Disick, 33, and kids Beaming beauty! The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star was all smiles while enjoying the iconic the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride Family fun day! Kourtney sat next to daughter Penelope, four, as ex Scott sat alongside Mason, seven Hot mama! The mother-of-three went with barely there make-up, highlighting her youthful appearance and flawless complexion Laid-back look: Kourtney opted for comfort in a black sweatshirt, with her silky raven tresses styled in relaxed waves Baby mine: She took the kids for a flight with Dumbo North West was joined by her three cousins, Mason, Penelope and Reign. The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star was all smiles while enjoying the iconic the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride. She sat in the front seat with daughter Penelope, four, as Scott, 33, sat in the seat behind with their eldest son Mason, seven. Keep him sweet: Reign got plenty of treats to keep him happy, including a Mickey lolly Kourtney opted for a laid-back look in baggy black sweatshirt, with her silky raven tresses styled in relaxed waves. She added a pair of white sneakers to make sure she could walk around the amusement park all day. The mother-of-three went with barely there make-up, highlighting her youthful appearance and natural beauty. Represent: Mason rocked a Mickey shirt for the day that was in it Bonus: Reign later got his hands on a tasty churro too Walking is overrated: The youngster also enjoyed a ride on his mommy's hip for most of the day Pant-wearer: While Kourtney took the lead, Scott followed dutifully behind Beaming: The birthday girl certainly seemed to relish being in the 'happiest place on Earth' Mommy and me! Kourtney's youngest child, Reign, two, held on tight as he sat with his mom on the carousel 'Birthday suit': The reality star shared a nude photo of herself in honor of her 38th birthday just hours earlier Toned tummies! Kourtney's close friend and hair stylist, Jen Atkin, posted several photos with the star The 2017 Symphony Fashion Show is where country stars come to shine. And Kelsea Ballerini did just that as she arrived to the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville looking radiant on Tuesday. The 23-year-old dazzled in a Zac Posen original, whose 2017 Fall Collection was featured at this year's annual fundraiser. Princess: Kelsea Ballerini, 23, arrived at the 2017 Symphony Fashion Show wearing a Zac Posen original in Nashville on Tuesday Kelsea turned heads as she walked the catwalk in an iridescent gown by the famous women's wear designer. The shimmering cornflower blue strapless number flowed beautifully on the petite country music starlet. An intricate design covered the bodice and continued into the ruche that cascaded onto the floor. Catwalk: Kelsea turned heads as she walked the catwalk in an iridescent gown by the famous women's wear designer Inspiration: The country star dazzled in a Zac Posen original, whose 2017 Fall Collection was featured at this year's annual fundraiser Ballerini was as captivated by the gown as was the audience when she arrived on stage to perform according to The Tennessean. 'Playing guitar in this dress is a sin,' she told the crowd. 'Its worth more than my car.' 'I feel like just like music, fashion is another form of art and a way of expressing yourself,' she said before the show. 'Its really cool when youre able to combine different kinds of art to celebrate each other,' she continued. Smiles: The shimmering cornflower blue strapless number flowed beautifully on the petite country music starlet She started with her current Top 10 hit Yeah Boy and then performed a cover of the classic Make the World Go Away. She closed by welcoming members of the Nashville Symphony on stage to perform Peter Pan along with her. Proceeds from the show help support the Symphonys artistic, education and community engagement programs. Pose: Television Personality Savannah Crisley and fashion show host Allison DeMarcus joined Kelsea on the red carpet She plays new trophy wife Julia Banks in the thriller, Unforgettable. And on Tuesday, Rosario Dawson was quite the golden girl at the Los Angeles premiere of her new film, which opens Friday. While there, the actress had a mini reunion with a few of her former co-stars from the 2007 movie, Grindhouse. Sparkling: On Tuesday, Rosario Dawson, 37, was quite the golden girl at the Los Angeles premiere of her new film, Unforgettable For her big night, Rosario chose a floor-length, strapless gown. The gold sequin dress featured a heart-shaped neckline and a thigh-high slit, layered over a lace mini. The 37-year-old stunner wore her long brunette locks in tight waves. For make-up, Rosario chose a heavily lined eye paired with a pale lip. Evening attire: For her big night, Rosario chose a floor-length, strapless gown Details: The gold sequin dress featured a heart-shaped neckline and a thigh-high slit, layered over a lace mini Glam: For make-up, Rosario chose a heavily lined eye paired with a pale lip While at the premiere, Rosario caught up with her former Grindhouse co-stars, Zoe Bell and Tracie Thomas. The trio appeared in the 2007 horror thriller, directed by five people including Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. The lovely ladies wore coordinating ensembles, with Zoe in a long sleeve yellow gown and Tracie choosing a dark print dress with gold accessories. Curl appeal: The stunner wore her long brunette locks in tight waves Girls' reunion! While at the premiere, Rosario caught up with her former Grindhouse co-stars, Zoe Bell, 38, and Tracie Thomas, 41 Pure fun: The women were quite the characters together, laughing and having a good time 10 year reunion! The trio appeared in the 2007 horror thriller, directed by five people including Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez In Unforgettable, Rosario plays the new wife of a husband who's ex is out to terrorize her. Katherine Heigl, Cheryl Ladd and Geoff Stults also star. The film hits theaters on Friday. The perfect trio: The lovely ladies wore coordinating ensembles, with Zoe in a long sleeve yellow gown and Tracie choosing a dark print dress with gold accessories Smooches! Rosario joined tiny co-star Isabella Kai Rice, 10, on the red carpet, where she planted a sweet kiss on her cheek Holding hands: Kai and Rosario held hands as they walked together at the premiere Shannon Purser, known to Stranger Things fans as Barb, revealed on Twitter this Tuesday she's 'recently come out as bisexual to my family and friends.' In an emotional message screen-capped and posted to the site, she wrote: 'It's something I am still processing and trying to understand and I don't like talking about it too much.' She'd previously shared with fans some of the pain she experienced while coming to terms with her sexuality in a series of tweets last week. Scroll down for video Cat's out of the bag! Shannon Purser, known to Stranger Things fans as Barb, revealed on Twitter this Tuesday she's 'recently come out as bisexual to my family and friends' This week's coming-out Twitter message was a response to backlash she'd received after she'd commented on a same-sex 'ship' between two characters on Riverdale. An apparently since-deleted tweet had been perceived as a knock against some of the fans who imagine Riverdale characters Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge as a couple, 'Beronica.' Shannon's Twitter message insisted: 'I'm very very new to the LGBT community. I have never even heard the term "queerbaiting" in my life until today. That being said, I have never wanted to alienate anyone and my tweet was thoughtless.' 'It's something I am still processing': In an emotional message, she wrote: 'It's something I am still processing and trying to understand and I don't like talking about it too much' She clarified: 'I wasn't referring to all the beronica shippers, just the ones who had been particularly cruel to me personally.' Yet and still, 'Either way, it wasn't a wise or kind thing to say and I'm disappointed in myself, especially as a Christian who has always been taught to speak love to others.' She closed with a 'Thank you to all the people who kindly reached out to me and educated me about the reality your feelings about queerbaiting and I apologize to those who were hurt. Much love- Shannon.' 'Much love': Shannon's Twitter message insisted: 'I'm very very new to the LGBT community,' as she handled backlash over an apparently since-deleted tweet A week ago, she'd held forth on Twitter about coming to terms with her sexuality, though back then she hadn't been specific about what that sexuality was. 'I know what it's like to have anxiety about it,' the 19-year-old star wrote amid several tweets last Tuesday, April 11. 'Especially trying to come to terms with it and my faith. It can be really scary.' Shannon also urged people who are finding themselves in the same situation to take to their time with the process. Opening up: Last week Shannon had shared with fans some of the pain she experienced while coming to terms with her sexuality (pictured in January 2017) 'Getting comfortable with your sexuality is a process. It's going to be ok. I wish I'd known that sooner,' she first tweeted. 'Another thing I wish I'd known about sexuality is to take it slow. It can define you as much as you want it to,' she added. She ended things with, 'But it's gonna be ok. You're going to be ok. No, you're going to be great.' Last year Shannon bravely confessed she used to self-harm. 'You're going to be great': Shannon provided words of encouragement for fans who are in the process of coming to terms with their own sexuality as well Personal: Last year Shannon bravely confessed she used to self-harm (pictured January 2017) Shannon posted a photo of a razor blade on Twitter and admitted, '*TRIGGER WARNING* I haven't self-harmed in years, but I kept this around, "just in case." I forgot it was there & now it's in the trash.' She also tweeted: 'Recovery is possible. Please don't give up on yourself.' Shannon is perhaps best known to audiences for her role of fan favorite Barb Holland in the Netflix series Stranger Things. Confession: Shannon posted a photo of a razor blade on Twitter and admitted, '*TRIGGER WARNING* I haven't self-harmed in years, but I kept this around, "just in case." I forgot it was there & now it's in the trash' 'Recovery is possible': The star urged fans not to 'give up on yourself' She has roles in the upcoming films Wish Upon and Sierra Burgess Is A Loser. Shannon is also starring opposite Melissa McCarthy in the upcoming film Life Of The Party, which is directed by the comedienne's husband, Ben Falcone. The comedy is set to be released on May 11, 2018. The TV Week Logie Awards are Australia's TV night of nights, a glittering evening known for attracting screen stars and A-list media personalities. Anxious celebrity nominees will arrive at Melbourne's Crown complex on Sunday in their best red carpet ensembles, with hopes of walking away with a silver or gold Logie. However, all nominees, presenters and performers are set to become winners, with an impressive gift bag valued at $4500 to be presented to every celeb guest. Scroll down for video Star arrivals: Anxious celebrity nominees will arrive at Melbourne's Crown on Sunday in their best red carpet ensembles in hopes of walking away with a silver or gold Logie. Pictured actress Jessica Marais who is up for the Gold Logie award The gift bag, put together by Celebrity And Hollywood Gifting, is significantly larger than last year's $1400 offering. The full contents were revealed by the company to TV Week on Tuesday, which included a luxury three-night stay at Bali's Menjangan Dynasty Resort. For celebrities to make the most of their Bali escape, they've also added a voucher for Bali's Finns Beach Club, a day at the Canggu Club in Bali (which has a water park, trampoline centre and Strike Ten Pin Bowling) and a spa day at Bali's Body Temple Spa. Luxury holiday: The gift bag includes three nights accommodation in a luxury beach camp safari tent at Balis Menjangan Dynasty Resort To keep the A-listers relaxed and beautiful, they've filled the bags with beauty and spa treatments, including a dermal face lift mask and a skin-tightening laser treatment. For the adrenaline seekers, a one-day car racing experience has been offered. Treats, such as doughnuts, chocolates, cookies and lollies are likely to sweeten the deal for those unsuccessful nominees. Perfume: Gift bag recipient also receive a 100ml Delta by Delta Goodrem fragrance Of the more bizarre contents, Logies special guests will also receive eco-friendly bamboo socks, a power bank charger and an Orbit key finder. Presenting the awards on the evening, include Dave Hughes, Hamish and Andy, Rachel Griffiths, Carrie Bickmore, Dannii Minogue, Tina Arena, Ita Buttrose, Pete Helliar and Sam Pang. Performing during the ceremony will be James Blunt, Andy Grammer and Jessica Mauboy. Famous faces: Performing during the ceremony will be James Blunt, Andy Grammer and Jessica Mauboy (pictured) It's been widely reported that Channel Seven has secured the talent for their morning coverage after the event, despite Channel Nine have exclusive rights on the award night's ceremony. The coveted Gold Logie nominees for Best Personality On Australian TV are Grant Denyer, Jessica Marais, Peter Helliar, Rodger Corser, Samuel Johnson and Waleed Aly. The 2017 Logie Awards will be held at Crown Melbourne on Sunday April 23 and will exclusively air on Channel Nine. The new build architecture of Dubai was exchanged for comparatively historic surroundings on Tuesday afternoon as Bella Hadid enjoyed a day out in Paris. The American supermodel, 20, caught the eye in a rather distinctive blue corduroy varsity jacket and generously cut flared bottoms as she strolled through the picturesque French capital with a female friend. Making her way across a busy side street, Bella displayed her slender torso in a fitted white crop top while quickly adjusting her matching ensemble. Scroll down for video Bonjour! American supermodel Bella Hadid displayed her slender torso in a fitted white crop top as she stepped out in Paris on Tuesday afternoon Completing her look with retro Nike running shoes and heavily tinted sunglasses, the younger sister of fellow model Gigi Hadid was a typically stylish sight during her latest appearance in Paris. Fresh from a recent trip to the sun-drenched United Arab Emirates, Bella showed off a bronzed skin tone while taking in her European surroundings. Having worked up an appetite the young model later took the weight off her feet by taking a seat outside the Palais de Tokyo, where she enjoyed a lunch comprised of macaroons washed down with champagne. Striking: The American supermodel, 20, caught the eye in a rather distinctive blue corduroy varsity jacket and generously cut flared bottoms as she strolled through the picturesque French capital Her trip to France comes following a brief stay Dubai, from where she posted an array of idyllic snaps and videos across social media. One such image captured the brunette in a skimpy blue bikini while sitting on a boat with some of her model friends. Captioning the snap, she wrote: 'I'm so lucky.' The good life: Having worked up an appetite the young model later took the weight off her feet by taking a seat outside the Palais de Tokyo, where she enjoyed a lunch comprised of macaroons washed down with champagne Behind the group of women could be seen the Atlantis resort on Palm Jumeirah island providing a stunning backdrop. The model also shared an exhilarating video of herself enjoying a skydive over the stunning Arab Playground. 'Jumped out of a plane today!!!' she wrote alongside her clip of the experience. 'I've never felt so calm in my life. Flying with the angels!!!!! Thank you @skydivedubai Greg and Maha! best sky diving experience of my life!!!!' Idyllic: Her trip to France comes following a brief stay Dubai, from where she posted an array of idyllic snaps and videos across social media, including one in which she poses in a blue bikini alongside her model pals She's been mostly found soaking up the sun with her glamorous sister Lauryn since arriving in the Maldives a few weeks ago. But Chloe Goodman cut a very sexy solo figure as enjoyed a day of paddle boarding in the idyllic tropical nation in the Indian Ocean on Tuesday. The 25-year-old Ex On The Beach star absolutely sizzled as she flaunted her ample assets and sensational curves in a bright orange keyhole swimsuit while frolicking in the ocean. Scroll down for video Beach babe: Chloe Goodman flaunted her ample assets and sensational curves in a bright orange keyhole swimsuit as she continued her Maldives getaway Fun-filled day: The Ex On The Beach, 25, star enjoyed a day of paddle boarding in the idyllic tropical nation Chloe proved to be an absolute vision in the eye-catching swimwear which boasted a large sexy cut-out - paving way for her busty assets. The one-piece rested high on her hips, flaunting her long, lean legs as she manoeuvred across the sandy terrain. The reality star donned a pair of cool tinted shades and opted for a natural slick of make-up, letting her wavy brunette tresses do all the talking as they effortlessly caught the wind. Clearly in the mood for a more action packed day, the beach babe went on to flaunt her fabulous form further as she got to grips with the paddle board. Sizzling: Chloe proved to be an absolute vision in the eye-catching swimwear which boasted a large sexy cut-out Sending temperatures soaring: The saucy detailing paved way for her busty assets Pins on parade: The one-piece rested high on her hips, flaunting her long, lean legs as she manoeuvred across the sandy terrain Stunner: The reality star donned a pair of cool tinted shades and opted for a natural slick of make-up Keeping cool: Chloe ensured to keep herself hydrated in the sunny climates as she gulped down an icy beverage Chloe flaunted her pert derriere as she climbed onto the board on all fours - ensuring that she nailed her balance before standing up. After honing down her technique, the sizzling star looked like the ultimate pro as she used her paddle to make her way through the glistening waters. Chloe soared to fame in 2014 when she starred on the inaugural series of MTV's Ex On The Beach before hitting screens once again on Celebrity Big Brother a year later. She made her big TV comeback last year when she appeared on the All Stars edition of EOTB, yet was left red faced after she was ejected following a series of aggressive arguments with CBB victor Stephen Bear. Extended holiday: The sizzling star has been lapping up the sun for nearly three weeks now Mane attraction: She let her wavy brunette tresses do all the talking as they effortlessly caught the wind Making the most: Before hitting the ocean, Chloe enjoyed her sun-kissed sandy surroundings Water beauty! Clearly in the mood for a more action packed day, the beach babe went on to flaunt her fabulous form further as she got to grips with the paddle board Bottoms up! Chloe flaunted her pert derriere as she climbed onto the board on all fours Taking no chances: She ensured that she nailed her balance before standing up Stepping out of her comfort zone: The activity proved to be a bit of a risk-take from her usual sun-batching displays Professional: After honing down her technique, the sizzling star looked like the ultimate pro as she used her paddle to make her way through the glistening waters Easy peasy! Chloe didn't seem to break a sweat as she headed deeper into the ocean Chloe's reality appearances have always been steeped in controversy, starting with her locking lips with Ashley Cain in the inaugural series of Ex On The Beach, despite his ex Talitha being present. She also appeared on Celebrity Big Brother and hit the headlines following a devastating incident, in which she was groped by fellow housemate Jeremy Jackson, 35 - after which she revealed she felt unsafe living in the house. In the infamous scenes from the series, Chloe was seen running out of the bathroom in tears after heading in to comfort the worse-for-wear Baywatch star. She later revealed he had pulled back her robe to indecently expose her. Famous: Chloe soared to fame in 2014 when she starred on the inaugural series of MTV's Ex On The Beach before hitting screens once again on Celebrity Big Brother a year later Reality star: She made her big TV comeback last year when she appeared on the All Stars edition of EOTB, yet was left red faced after she was ejected following a series of aggressive arguments with CBB victor Stephen Bear Drama: Chloe's reality appearances have always been steeped in controversy, starting with her locking lips with Ashley Cain in the inaugural series of Ex On The Beach, despite his ex Talitha being present Hitting headlines: She also appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in which she was groped by fellow housemate Jeremy Jackson, 35 - after which she revealed she felt unsafe living in the house Reflecting on the incident, the Ex On The Beach star explained on This Morning: 'It affected me because I was really comfortable, you're in a show that you've got security, you've got producers, you know you think nothing can touch me in here.' She continued: 'Then to feel so secure and safe, then to go... I felt like my kindness was seen as weakness a little bit with Jeremy.' Chloe was joined by Michelle Visage and Cami Li in comforting the star, who was concerned he'd be sick after mixing rum and vodka. But Chloe revealed she believes his motives were not genuine as she explained: 'Then as soon as he had me on his own in the bathroom I felt like he was waiting for Michelle and Cami to leave to go ahead and do what he did. That's why I felt really vulnerable quite quickly and then after that I didn't feel the same in the house.' 'It affected me because I was really comfortable in the show': She recently reflected on the incident on This Morning Squad: Chloe was joined by Michelle Visage and Cami Li in comforting Jeremy, who was concerned he'd be sick after mixing rum and vodka. 'I felt like he was waiting for Michelle and Cami to leave': Chloe revealed she believes his motives were not genuine She is known for her androgynous look and high fashion campaigns. And Lara Stone looked unrecognisable in her latest shoot for Love magazine, stripping off for a rather racy edit. The 33-year-old model went topless in the teaser snap shared on the publication's Instagram account, with a tangerine sticker covering her chest. Buxom beauty: Lara Stone looked unrecognisable in her latest shoot for Love magazine, stripping off for a rather racy edit She was wrapped up in an eye-catching orange skirt, with a bright hued wig completing the look. Lara's outfit was topped off with a white flower crown and dramatic false lashes. The Dutch model is thought to be dating fellow model Jordan Barrett, 20, who is 13 years her junior. New romance? The Dutch model is thought to be dating fellow model Jordan Barrett, 20, who is 13 years her junior The pair have been seen in each other's company several times since 2016, most recently attending a V magazine event in Paris together. Lara was previously married to Little Britain comedian David Walliams, with whom she has three-year-old son Alfred. The two tied the knot in 2010, however, split in 2015. Date nights: The pair have been seen in each other's company several times since 2016, most recently attending a V magazine event in Paris together Meanwhile Jordan has been seen out and about with a string of beautiful female celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Hailey Baldwin, Megan Blake Irwin and Kate Moss. Having made her catwalk debut for Givenchy back in 2006, Lara saw her success spiral - landing an exclusive contract with Calvin Klein before gracing the cover of Vogue Paris the following year. She went on to win Model of the Year in 2010, and even made fashion history when she was the first model to front all three of Calvin Klein's largest campaigns. He inadvertently found himself at the centre of the Best Picture mix up at this year's Academy Awards. And Warren Beatty confessed he doesn't understand the level of publicity the faux pas garnered across the globe, branding it a little 'silly'. In February, the Hollywood veteran, 80, and Faye Dunaway announced the winner of Best Picture was La La Land, but it was in fact Moonlight - leading to utter mayhem on the stage. Scroll down for video Speaking out: Warren Beatty confessed he doesn't understand the level of publicity his Oscars faux pas garnered across the globe, branding it a little 'silly' Warren stopped by the Lorraine studios on Wednesday morning to chat about his new film Rules Don't Apply, and was quizzed about the incident. He said: 'It seemed kind of silly. Some poor guy made a mistake. In some ways the mystery is kind of goofy. 'They just gave me the wrong envelope. I look at it and think - this is mysterious - maybe it's a misprint.' 'My obligation was to hand it to Faye so she could read it... and she did. Awkward: In February, the Hollywood veteran, 80, and Faye Dunaway announced the winner of Best Picture was La La Land, but it was in fact Moonlight - leading to utter mayhem on the stage Chat: The star spoke to Christine Lampard on Wednesday morning's installment of Lorraine He said: 'It struck me as kind of funny that this moment was so overly dramatised. But then... stuff happens' Veteran star: Warren cut a youthful figure in a leather jacket and jeans 'It struck me as kind of funny that this moment was so overly dramatised. But then... stuff happens.' Warren also paid tribute to his wife Annette Bening, who co-stars in his new comedy. He enthused: 'I dont think theres a better actress alive than Annette. And she is just terrifically supportive and a smart cookie. I do as Im told.' Sharing his thoughts on his fellow co-star Lily Collins, Warren praised the actress' character. Still smitten: Warren also paid tribute to his wife Annette Bening, who co-stars in his new comedy Rules Don't Apply TV appearance: This comes after Warren spoke about the debacle for the first time when he appeared on Friday night's The Graham Norton Show He enthused: 'She is a pleasant dream. She's beautiful, witty and smart. She has a high level of integrity.' This comes after Warren spoke about the debacle for the first time when he appeared on Friday night's The Graham Norton Show. He told show host Graham: 'I guess you could say it was chaos.' The cause of the mishap was that the pair had been given the Best Actress envelope instead of the Best Picture envelope. Before the storm: Warren and Faye Dunaway accidentally awarded the Best Picture award to La La Land, when in fact Moonlight was the correct winner. 'It was chaos,' Warren admitted Epic mix up: The cause of the mix up was that organisers had handed the pair the envelope for Best Actress instead of Best Picture Explanation: Host Jimmy Kimmel rushed onstage to explain away the blunder and Warren told the audience that he had been given the wrong envelope Graham asked if the mix up was the talk of the evening, but Warren insisted it wasn't. He said: 'No, that's not true. People talk about themselves!' The host seized the opportunity to question the legendary Bonnie And Clyde actor about the myths that exist around him. Graham interrogated him about his Lothario past, asking: 'Is it true that you and Jack Nicholson had a private tunnel to the Playboy mansion?' Warren dismissed the rumour as nonsense: 'No, it's not true. To build a tunnel from Jack's place all the way to Hefner's would have cost a billion dollars!' Next, the host asked if Carly Simon's hit song You're So Vain was about the Hollywood star who she dated in the early 1970s. Inspiration? Carly Simon's hit song You're So Vain has long been rumoured to be about Warren, who dated the singer in the early 1970s Starry line up: Warren appeared on The Graham Norton Show with actress Keeley Hawes and comedian Miranda Hart 'I don't know that,' Warren replied. Carly has in the past said Warren was one of the three men who inspired the track describing a vain man who walks into a party like he was walking onto a yacht. Graham's final question was the one everyone wanted an answer to: is it true that Warren has slept with 13,000 women? The star laughed. 'That was a busy month!' He added: 'You'd have to live a long time to do that.' The actor, who dated Julie Christie, Joan Collins and Madonna, finally settled down with his wife Annette Bening, 58, whom he married in 1992. High profile romances: The legendary actor has enjoyed a host of high profile romances and Madonna - 21 years his junior - was one of his girlfriends Old Hollywood glamour: The actor also dated Joan Collins who admitted she couldn't keep up with the star's sex drive The couple have four children together and Warren revealed that fatherhood was the reason that new film Rules Don't Apply was his first movie in 15 years. 'We have four kids who are all more interesting to me than any 50 movies, but now we are approaching the empty nest period I'm maybe going to make some movies.' He said that despite his astonishing film experience, he still gets nervous on set and even compared making films to vomiting. 'I have sometimes compared it to vomiting. I don't like to vomit and I rarely vomit, but something builds up, you think about it for a long time, you try to avoid it but finally you think you will feel better if you go ahead and throw up!' She's the Indigenous model, known for her shapely pins and glowing complexion. And Samantha Harris, 26, wowed onlookers at the Botanicals Fresh Care Ambassador Launch in Sydney on Wednesday. The statuesque beauty dazzled in a blue floral-print jumpsuit, which showed off her seemingly endless legs and naturally cinched waist. Scroll down for video Leggy lady! Samantha Harris, 26, wowed onlookers at the Botanicals Fresh Care Ambassador Launch in Sydney on Wednesday She paired the chic look with nude block sandals and a designer chain-link bag. Her luscious ombre-coloured locks were worn loosely and styled in elegant romance curls. She wore flawlessly-applied evening makeup, consisting of foundation, mascara and pink lip gloss. Chic: The statuesque beauty dazzled in a blue floral-print jumpsuit, which showed off her seemingly endless legs and naturally cinched waist Fashionista: She paired the chic look with nude block sandals and a designer chain-link bag Model behaviour: Her luscious ombre-coloured locks were worn loosely and styled in elegant romance curls Samantha opted to attend the star-studded event solo, as her husband Luke Hunt, 30, was not present. Samantha and Luke celebrated their three-year wedding anniversary this month, and took to Instagram to share a never-before-seen photo of their nuptials. 'Happy Anniversary' she captioned the snap, in which she was seen dressed in a white Carla Zampatti bridal gown accented by a black bow around her tiny waist. Flawless: She wore flawlessly-applied evening makeup, consisting of foundation, mascara and pink lip gloss Solo: Samantha opted to attend the star-studded event solo, as her husband Luke Hunt, 30, was not present The couple tied the knot two months before Luke started a two-year jail term, after the pair were involved in a tragic accident that resulted in the death of Kenneth Lay, 78. Samantha posted a photo of the pair on their happy day, smiling into the camera as they signed their marriage certificate. The couple held hands as they both gripped the same pen used to sign the certificate. Wedding bells: Samantha and Luke celebrated their three-year wedding anniversary this month, and took to Instagram to share a never-before-seen photo of their nuptials The brunette beauty revealed to Marie Claire in October last year that she married Luke privately out of respect for the late Kenneth Lay's family. The Sydney grandfather was killed in May 2012 when Sam and Luke's Commodore crashed into his Hyundai Lantra in Narraweena on the Northern Beaches. Private wedding: The brunette beauty revealed to Marie Claire in October last year that she married Luke privately out of respect for the late Kenneth Lay's family She attended an intimate lunch as ambassador for L'Oreal's Botanical hair care range. But in snaps taken upon leaving the event in Sydney on Wednesday, Elsa Pataky perfected her best role yet as mother to India Rose, four. The 40-year-old held her precious daughter, shared with actor husband Chris Hemsworth, close to her chest. Scroll down for video Hands-on mother! Elsa Pataky, 40, doted on precious daughter India Rose, four, at L'Oreal's hair care launch in Sydney on Wednesday After stunning at the exclusive event in a chiffon halterneck floral frock, Elsa covered her petite frame in a woollen trench coat. Leaving Sydney's Centennial Homestead, the Spanish actress carried daughter India Rose to a waiting car, wrapping her arms tightly around the precious tot. India Rose looked cute-as-a-button in a white sweater, teamed with star patterned leggings and silver sneakers. Her brown locks were swept back off her face in a plait and appeared to sport face paint on her cheeks. Adorable: Leaving the exclusive event, the Spanish actress carried India Rose to a waiting car, wrapping her arms tightly around the precious tot Cute: India Rose was a picture of content as she held onto her famous mother, at one stage seen playfully pulling at Elsa's locks India Rose was a picture of content as she held onto her famous mother, at one stage seen playfully pulling at Elsa's locks. Elsa, clearly happy to be back with her family, gazed back adoringly at the youngster. The Fate of the Furious star shares India Rose with husband Chris Hemsworth, 33. The couple also share twin sons Tristan and Sasha, three. Famous clan: The Fate of the Furious star shares India Rose with actor husband Chris Hemsworth, 33 The Madrid-born beauty recently opened up about raising her profile in Australia, rather than just being known as Chris Hemsworth's wife. 'We live in Australia and I want to do things here and start working, and for people to know me a little bit more than as Chris' wife,' she told The Daily Telegraph's Stellar. Elsa also talked about being married to one of Hollywood's hottest leading men. 'He's like, "I'm the Sexiest Man Alive" and I'm like, "I was the sexiest in Spain for years! You have just one (title)''.' COLUMBUS The December 2006 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid of a Grand Island meatpacking plant left 250 schoolkids with no home to return to that night. Their parents were detained and many of the undocumented workers would eventually be deported in the aftermath of the ICE raid at the Swift & Company plant. ICE raided six Swift plants in the Midwest that day. The raid in Grand Island left a lot of homeless children, Columbus Public Schools Superintendent Troy Loeffelholz told district board members before asking them to reaffirm the districts commitment to creating a safe and supportive learning environment regardless of immigration status. The board on Monday evening voted 5-0 to adopt the resolution. Weve got two parents being deported this week, said Loeffelholz, adding that CPS has students from 900 families with parents born outside the United States. Harsh rhetoric during the 2016 election from President Donald Trump about deporting millions of people living in the country illegally and building a wall along the southern border has created anxiety among many CPS families. Theres a lot of fear out there about deportation, Loeffelholz said. Well do everything in our power to protect students and their families from deportation. The resolution adopted by the board Monday pledges: the district will continue to enforce its policies against bullying, intimidation and discrimination against any student, including those born outside the U.S. or for whom English is a second language. the district will continue to seek opportunities to increase and enhance programs and partnerships that support and assist all students, including immigrant students and families. CPS employees will continue to follow the policy for any enrolled or enrolling student not to ask about a students or parents immigration status. the district will support ICEs policy of restricting enforcement actions around schools, and reminds school employees they shall not assist immigration enforcement efforts unless legally required and authorized to do so by the superintendent. We need to convey the message that this (school) is a safe place, board member Mike Goos said. School should be a welcoming environment. Were here to educate young men and women. In other business, Kim Kwapnioski of the Columbus Public Schools Foundation announced the nominees for the 2017 Educator of the Year and Operations Employee of the Year awards that will be presented May 12 at the annual CPS Employee Banquet. The four teachers nominated for the award, which includes a $1,000 cash prize for the winner and $500 for the runner-up, are Teresa Hausmann, Joni Ebel, Annie Sokol and Christina Nilson. The four operations employees nominated for the award, which includes a $500 cash prize sponsored by Bob Markham (CHS Class of 1976) and his wife Chris, are Denene Owens, Traci Seim, Kandy Bos and Allen Rerucha. She was pictured tending to Matt Damon's daughter Stella last week, after the six-year-old was stung by a jellyfish in Byron Bay. And Elsa Pataky, 40, was given unsanitary advice on how to treat jellyfish stings by Peter Helliar, during an interview on Wednesday night's edition of The Project. The Spanish actress was asked about the incident, which occurred during the Damon family's holiday Down Under with the Hemsworths, and she was left giggling when The Project co-host made a bold suggestion. Unsanitary advice: Elsa Pataky, 40, was given unsanitary advice on how to treat jellyfish stings by Peter Helliar, during an interview on Wednesday night's edition of The Project 'I've heard that if you get stung by a jellyfish you're supposed to do a wee on the sting - did anyone try doing that, did Matt Damon try doing that?' Peter asked. A laughing Elsa replied: 'No we didn't I know everyone says that and the kids were saying 'that's what you're supposed to do' and we're like 'well we're not sure about that.'' She also joked that while the incident may leave foreigners cautious about travelling to Byron Bay, that would not necessarily be a bad thing as it would mean fewer people in the beachside town. 'I've heard that if you get stung by a jellyfish you're supposed to do a wee on the sting - did anyone try doing that, did Matt Damon try doing that?' Peter asked. A laughing Elsa replied: 'No we didn't I know everyone says that and the kids were saying 'that's what you're supposed to do' and we're like 'well we're not sure about that'' Painful: Matt Damon's daughter Stella, six, was left in tears after she was stung by a jellyfish during the family's Byron Bay holiday last week The interview comes after it was revealed that Matt Damon, 46, 'panicked' after seeing his little girl covered with welts 'all over her body' after the painful sting, according to The Daily Telegraph. Stella, who is the youngest of three daughters, was 'crying and screaming' after the incident which prompted Matt to call paramedics. '(She) came up to the showers crying and screaming due to a painful jellyfish sting which was all over her body,' eyewitness Margot Peterson told the publication. Close bond: The Damon family have reportedly been staying with the Hemsworths during their Australian holiday Fun-filled holiday: The two families have recently been pictured enjoying helicopter rides, beach outings and lunch dates in Byron Bay 'Her parents looked stressed but were very comforting to their little one. They asked me to call an ambulance and she was checked out and recovered.' The Damon family have reportedly been staying with the Hemsworths during their Australian holiday. The two families have recently been pictured enjoying helicopter rides, beach outings and lunch dates in Byron Bay. She finally plucked up the courage to walk away from her on/off beau Marty McKenna. But the arrival of Italian reality star Elettra Lamborghini has led to feelings Chloe Ferry had for her former flame surfacing again. And while she broke down over her dead-end romance with her co-star, Marty was busy getting VERY steamy in the shower with Geordie Shore newcomer Elettra. Scroll down for video Daring to bare: Marty McKenna sported his birthday suit to join Geordie Shore newcomer Elettra Lamborghini in the shower on Tuesday night's episode of the show Geordie Shore has seen a bevy of newcomers to the show this time round and Marty had set his sights on Elettra following her explosive arrival in episode three of the show - where she kissed Chloe and Marnie Simpson on her first night. He managed to lock lips with the raven-haired beauty shortly after she snogged his female co-stars, and despite the fallout it had for himself and Chloe, Marty was seen trying his luck with Elettra once again on Tuesday's episode of Geordie Shore. He joked: 'Every night I'm getting closer. I see weddings, I see doves, I see little Marty lamboghinis and page boys running around. I think me and Elettra are getting very close.' Elettra's smooch with his ex-girlfriend Sarah Goodhart hadn't even seemed to put him off and he was seen willing the girls on as they puckered up to each other, before kissing Elettra himself. Three's a crowd: Marty was seen ogling over his ex-girlfriend Sarah Goodhart kissing Elettra in front of him Moving on: Chloe Ferry appeared to get past her failed romance with Marty by kissing show newcomer Bentham Breaking down: Chloe confronted Marty after he broke his promise not to get with anyone else in the house in front of her Their extremely amorous display in the club led to Chloe breaking down in tears and she vented her frustration to best friend Nathan Henry. Chloe explained that Marty had promised her 'he wouldn't get with anyone in the house', but then did so right in front of her face. The 21-year-old had also been left confused by Marty after he appeared to stick up for her to show newcomer Sam Bentham just the night before. Chloe had kissed Sam on his first night in the house, but Marty jumped in to have a go at Sam for being 'disrespectful' when he said he would 'crack on with someone else' when Chloe refused to join him in the sh*g pad. Chloe insisted that she wanted an apology from her ex-beau and when she confronted him, Marty claimed he knew he was 'wrong' for kissing Elettra in front of her. But that didn't stop him ramping up his flirty antics with Elettra when the gang arrived back at the house. Thirsty Nathan? The reality star was seen sucking vodka from Elettra's cleavage as they continued the party back at the house 'Get off me bird, mate!': After seeing Nathan and Elettra's hot tub antics, Marty wanted a piece of the action and dove straight in with no clothes on She had been getting very touchy feely with her co-stars in the hot tub and viewers saw Nathan sucking vodka out of her cleavage as they frolicked around in the water. Not wanting to miss out, Marty dived in completely naked - prompting Chloe to leave the tub and head inside - and later followed Elettra (still unclothed) into the shower. He was seen asking the newbie for a cuddle before the pair were locked into a steamy clinch. And seeming to enjoy her dalliance with a nude Marty, Elettra teased: 'My shower with Marty is so fun. He is completely naked. Marty doesn't have a baby p****s he has sausages.' However, she wasn't prepared to have sex with Marty, despite his efforts, and claimed: 'Marty want to f**ky f**ky but baby no. You have to wait.' Had enough: Chloe was quick to exit the hot tub following the nude arrival of her ex-beau Locking lips: Marty, meanwhile, didn't seem to notice as he quickly puckered up to Elettra and picked up where they had left off in the club Heating up: Marty took his fling with the show newcomer to another level as he joined her for a VERY steamy shower - completely naked Too much information? Elettra couldn't resist going into graphic detail about Marty's manhood on the show: 'My shower with Marty is so fun. He is completely naked. Marty doesn't have a baby p****s he has sausages' Elettra, meanwhile, has been subject to some backlash from some viewers over her antics since joining the show, with many claiming she shouldn't be part of the cast as she is originally from Italy. Her family are related to Ferruccio Lamborghini, the founder of the luxury car and Elettra has been branded the country's Paris Hilton. She also appeared in Super Shore - a Spanish version of the MTV reality show - where she confessed she is known as the 'Italian killer' because she 'fights with everyone'. Sharing their thoughts on Elettra, fans tweeted: 'Can't stand Elettra on Geordie Shore...she's not from Newcastle it doesn't make sense at all. 'Still unsure why Elettra's been put in the house #GeordieShore. Not tonight! The raven-haired beauty rejected her co-star's advances and refused to sleep with Marty after their naked shower 'She's not from Newcastle?': Fans hit out at Elettra's addition to the cast as she is not from Newcastle and based in Italy instead 'At first I thought that Elettra seemed a right laugh, but after this ep, she has a dead personality. 'Why is Elettra on this show? She ain't no Geordie! 'I don't get why Elettra is in the house when she's not even Geordie tho. Others, meanwhile, were all for her outrageous displays on the show. They penned: 'Loved tonight's Geordie Shore! Elettra is hilarious, true Geordie at heart. 'Lol to Marty being in love with Elettra already. Dividing viewers: While some fans didn't appear too impressed by Elettra, others insisted she will 'shake things up' on the show 'EVERYONE NEEDS AN ELETTRA IN THEIR LIFE. 'I think Elettra is going to shake things up in the house.' Fans also insisted that Elettra had every right to be on the show despite not being from Newcastle herself, with one reasoning: 'There are lots of pp watching GS around the world just bc of the queen Elettra & all this pp do is complain about it. F**k off.' Another added: 'This new lass, Elettra may be an Italian bird, but she maybe lives in Newcastle or near Newcastle.' Jaime King opted to make a humanitarian statement while shopping in Beverly Hills on Tuesday with her two sons and nanny in tow. The Mistletoe Promise actress - who turns 38 this Sunday - donned a 'Refugees Welcome' T-shirt beneath a grey coat, black leggings, and Mary Jane flats. The make-up mompreneur also dressed her boys in white T-shirts, with three-year-old James in floral pants and 21-month-old Leo in neon leggings. Political: Jaime King opted to make a humanitarian statement while shopping in Beverly Hills on Tuesday with her two sons and nanny in tow Birthday girl: The Mistletoe Promise actress - who turns 38 this Sunday - donned a 'Refugees Welcome' T-shirt beneath a grey coat, black leggings, and Mary Jane flats Casually-clad: The make-up mompreneur also dressed her boys in white T- shirts, with three-year-old James in floral pants and 21- month-old Leo in neon leggings Later, King - who boasts 1.4M followers - wrote on Facebook: 'Last night my 3 year old son asked me to read him The Maddie Diaries as his bedtime story! NO joke! We love it and you Maddie Ziegler!' On Sunday, Jaime made sure both her children got up close and personal with the Easter Bunny, whom they warmly embraced. The Nebraska-born blonde will impressively celebrate a decade of marriage with her Fanboys director-turned-husband Kyle Newman on November 23. The Hart of Dixie alum has been hard at work playing the female lead, Abigail Ross, opposite Sylvester Stallone's Ray Breslin in the 2018 flick Escape Plan 2: Hades. Later, King wrote on Facebook: 'Last night my 3 year old son asked me to read him The Maddie Diaries as his bedtime story! NO joke! We love it and you Maddie Ziegler!' 'Happy Easter Bunnies!' On Sunday, Jaime made sure both her children got up close and personal with the Easter Bunny, whom they warmly embraced 'My wife is a babe': The Nebraska-born blonde will impressively celebrate a decade of marriage with her Fanboys director-turned-husband Kyle Newman on November 23 Director Steven C. Miller is helming the sequel to the 2013 prison flick, which also features 50 Cent, Dave Bautista, and Jesse Metcalfe. King will also begin filming a big-screen adaptation of Jessica Hendra's memoir How to Cook Your Daughter in November - according to Deadline. Meanwhile, Jaime's 41-year-old man wrote and directed an hour-long live audio drama event Star Wars: Smuggler's Revenge last Saturday during Celebration Orlando. Italian stallion: The Hart of Dixie alum has been hard at work playing the female lead, Abigail Ross, opposite Sylvester Stallone's Ray Breslin in the 2018 flick Escape Plan 2: Hades On the set: Director Steven C. Miller (R) is helming the sequel to the 2013 prison flick, which also features 50 Cent (L), Dave Bautista, and Jesse Metcalfe Next gig: King will also begin filming a big-screen adaptation of Jessica Hendra's memoir How to Cook Your Daughter in November - according to Deadline It's just the latest chapter of their long-standing made-for-TV feud. On Tuesday night's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, Matt Damon can be heard doing a voice-over for United Airlines, the company that recently found themselves in hot water over the forcible removal of a passenger on April 9. 'I know what it's like to get bumped. Trust me, I've been bumped for Jimmy's show for the last eight years,' Matt can be heard saying in the fake ad that uses stock video of United Airlines employees. Fake feud: Jimmy Kimmel and Matt Damon have been 'going at it' since 2005, on Tuesday they continued the fight in a new skit, parodying a United Airlines ad, here they are in 2011 Jimmy then interrupts Damon and says, 'We need the seat.' 'What do you mean you need this seat? I'm doing a voice over for your company,' Matt replies. 'We need your cooperation sir, we need the seat,' Kimmel continues. Disgraced: Damon does a voice over for the company, which landed itself in hot water after a passenger was forcibly removed from an overbooked flight on April 9 The clip: At the end Kimmel takes over the tells people to fly the friendly skies 'What do you mean Sir? I'm Matt Damon,' he then says. A struggle breaks out where Damon can be heard saying, 'Get your hands off me.' Jimmy gains defeat over Matt and finishes the ad saying 'Hi, I'm Jimmy Kimmel, inviting you to come fly the friendly skies.' Bad blood: The pair are seen doing a bit at the 2016 Primetime Emmy Awards where Jimmy was host Matt gets the last word, though, screaming, 'You guys are animals.' The passenger who was dragged from an United Airlines flight is 69-year-old grandfather Dr David Dao. Footage of the Vietnamese-American being hauled off the overbooked flight at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport caused outrage. Dr Dao was heard in videos captured of his shocking eviction saying he needed to get home to Louisville so he could see patients. Before the beating: The passenger who was dragged from an United Airlines flight is 69-year-old grandfather Dr David Dao United CEO Oscar Munoz released a statement that doubled down on his airline crew's decision to remove an elderly passenger, claiming he was 'disruptive and belligerent.' United's stock dropped sharply, causing the airline to then apologize. It has been claimed Dr Dao intents to sue the company. The late-night talk show host and the Bourne Identity actor's friendly feud began during season 3 of Jimmy Kimmel Live. 'We had a bad show. The guests were bad, and I was feeling pretty bad about myself at the end of the program,' the 49-year-old comedian explained to NPR. In order to amuse his producer, Kimmel ended the program by saying, 'I want to apologize to Matt Damon. We ran out of time.' It became an ongoing gag that Kimmel used to end each episode and eventually Damon caught wind of the bit, coming on the show - only for Kimmel to tell Damon they ran out of time for him. The two have kept their fight alive for the past thirteen years with Damon making a series of comedic stunts on Live. The issue of cyber-hacking has been making headlines across the country after Home And Away actress Samara Weaving became the latest target of a notorious website. Now, Chris Hemsworth's wife Elsa Pataky, 40, has weighed in on the issue of privacy, admitting that she would be devastated is she was ever to be targetted by photo hackers. Speaking to The Daily Telegraph this week, the actress said: 'It would kill me and it is something we really have to be careful with.' 'If you have private things and photos, don't keep it in your phone': Chris Hemsworth's wife Elsa Pataky, 40, has weighed in on the issue of privacy and internet hacking 'If you have private things and photos, don't keep it in your phone because you could lose your phone. I try to be very serious with that. The fashion blogger added: 'You have to keep as much as you can private for you and yourself.' Elsa and Chris are known to go out of their way to maintain the privacy of their three children, opting to photograph them from behind so as to obscure their faces on social media. 'I try to be very serious with that': Elsa revealed that she takes precautions to avoid having her personal data leaked Cyber smart: 'If you have private things and photos, don't keep it in your phone because you could lose your phone. I try to be very serious with that,' she went on Despite their fame, the couple have managed to maintain a relatively low profile since moving from Hollywood to sleepy Byron Bay in 2014. Speaking to Modern Luxury about the relocation from Tinseltown, Chris said: 'I love what I do as an actor, but when you are surrounded by it constantly, it becomes a bit suffocating,' he said. 'It's nice to have conversations with people and be a part of a community that doesnt live and breathe that world. Under wraps: The fashion blogger added: 'You have to keep as much as you can private for you and yourself' 'We were living shoulder to shoulder in the suburbs and thought that's not how we want our kids to grow up. Moving to a kind of farm setup back here on the coast in Australia has been the best thing.' Chris and his family reportedly splashed out on a $7.2 million property in Byron Bay in September 2014. Chris previously told Daily Mail Australia: 'I definitely want the kids to grow up (in Australia) and spend time here.' 'We were in California a lot I missed it here and my wife missed it too so that was our goal to get back here.' She rose to international fame with her portrayal of Lorna Morello in Netflix series, Orange Is the New Black. But Sydney-born Yael Stone revealed in The Daily Telegraph's on Thursday, that her priority is to continue working in Australia. 'That's a priority of mine, to really have my feet on the ground here for a significant time,' the 32-year-old told the publication. 'My priority is to stay here': Sydney-born Orange Is the New Black Star Yael Stone, 32, told The Daily Telegraph's Confidential, that she won't turn her back on Australia 'I'm trying to make it that I'm an Australian who works in Australia, and happens to work in the USA as well. 'It's important to engage with Australian stories, it's important to continue to connect with an industry that you value,' she continued to explain. The brunette has returned Down Under to film Foxtel series Picnic At Hanging Rock. She will also take to the red carpet for the annual Logie Awards on Sunday night. Stardom: The brunette rose to international fame with her portrayal of Lorna Morello in Netflix series, Orange Is the New Black Despite her star continuing to rise, Yael is not so comfortable with the concept of celebrity. Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald in September last year, the personality admitted she would prefer to be invisible. 'I'm very uncomfortable with being a known entity,' she told the publication. Contradiction: Despite her star continuing to rise, Yael is not so comfortable with the concept of celebrity. Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald in September last year, the personality admitted she would prefer to be 'invisible' 'I think, "Oh dear, what do people expect of me?" I'd rather just be invisible in the corner most of the time."' Yael also admitted that she separates acting with the publicity part of the job. 'I separate those two jobs. There's the creative work I do, and that's where I find my joy. Then there's the other half of it.' The girls have been put through their paces on the catwalk and in front of the camera. But Britain's Next Top Model host Abbey Clancy has a different challenge in store for the remaining contestants on Thursday's new episode of the hit show. The host and top model is seen waking the aspiring catwalk stars from their slumber for an early morning boot camp, in a MailOnline exclusive sneak peek. Task master: Britain's Next Top Model host Abbey Clancy has a different challenge in store for the remaining contestants on Thursday's new episode of the hit show The video shows the models peacefully sleeping in their shared apartment only to be woken up by a very loud Abbey. 'The first thing I heard was a really aggressive whistle,' Tallulah says, as Abbey is seen banging on doors and shouting for the girls to wake up. 'I can't believe you lazy cows are still in bed,' she yells before breaking the news that the girls are in for a morning boot camp. Wake up call: The host and top model herself is seen waking the aspiring catwalk stars from their slumber for an early morning bootcamp, in a MailOnline exclusive sneak peek After running to the local park, the group are greeted by Abbey's personal trainer brother Sean Clancy and his business partner Kieron Owens from KO8. Sean starts to teach the girls some hardcore workouts, as Abbey tells them: 'We're going to put you through your paces today, so I hope you're ready to work.' In an interview with Hello! magazine earlier this year, Abbey revealed that her whole family are into fitness but admits genes have helped her and her siblings along: Rise and shine: The video shows the models peacefully sleeping in their shared apartment only to be woken up by a very loud Abbey Ouch! 'The first thing I heard was a really aggressive whistle,' Tallulah says, as Abbey is seen banging on doors and shouting for the girls to wake up Here we go: The aspiring models don their fitness gear to run to the local park 'My family's all quite thin, so we're quite blessed genetically that way, but you shouldn't just exercise to feel skinny or thin,' she explained. 'It puts you in a healthy mind-set. It clears your mind and makes you feel strong; it's not all about losing weight for me.' Meanwhile the BNTM dream came crashing down for Talulah-Eve Brown last Thursday as she became the latest contestant to be booted off the cut-throat modelling contest. Ready to work: While they have smiles on their faces, the ladies look a little apprehensive as they find out what their challenge is The 5ft 8in beauty queen, from Burton-on-Trent, was eliminated by judges in dramatic scenes - and in a poignant interview the transgender model told FEMAIL she had to 'work harder' than her fellow contestants. 'There were times when I really envied them and thought, I wish I could wear those leggings without a bulge. But I tried not to let that show,' she said. 'I had to work a lot harder. And I felt that pressure sometimes.' Work it: Some of the girls show off their skills in the park, while others are not quite as keen 'And I had to think hard about the way I was coming across because I was representing a whole community.' 'It was a tough job. But I think I've done okay.' Talulah-Eve, who underwent full gender reassignment surgery after filming had wrapped up, was devastated to learn she was leaving the reality show because, at 23, she was at the top of the age limit and she felt this was her 'last chance'. Britain's Next Top Model continues on Thursday at 9pm on Lifetime Viewers saw her break down in tears on Loose Women back in January while discussing her bankruptcy woes. But Gail Porter appeared to be getting herself back on track as she cut a content figure while out in West London on Wednesday. The TV presenter, 46, was seen smiling as she headed out in the capital dressed causally in a black roll-neck top and turned-up denim shorts. Scroll down for video Content: Gail Porter was seen bearing a smile as she stepped out in West London on Wednesday following an appearance on Channel 5's The Wright Stuff Gail paired her shorts with black tights underneath and threw a quilted bomber jacket over her ensemble. On her feet, she opted for a pair of grey trainers and toted her essentials in a fabric backpack that she threw over one shoulder. She sported a pair of specs that rested on her head and Gail added a touch of glamour to her getup by sporting flawlessly applied make-up - that boasted a dewy complexion. Her appearance in London came after Gail joined former I'm A Celebrity star Matthew Wright on his Channel 5 show The Wright Stuff. Laid-back look: The TV presenter was dressed casually for her outing in a pair of turned-up denim shorts and a black roll neck Support: Host of The Wright Stuff Matthew Wright told Gail seeing her 'looking so fab' had been the 'best thing' about his week He had tweeted her following the live broadcast and said: '@Gailporter seeing you this morning looking so fab is the best thing to have happened to me this week. Huge hugs from the wrights xx.' Gail re-tweeted his message and responded by telling the host it was 'great to see him'. Her appearance on the show came three months after she publicly confessed she had been declared bankrupt. Recalling the difficult time on Loose Women three months ago, Gail explained: 'I was an idiot. I kept getting bills and instead of dealing with them, I would just put them under my pillow unopened.' Bankruptcy woes: The former Celebrity Big Brother star had a difficult start to the year as she confessed live on Loose Women to being declared bankrupt She added that being sectioned six years ago was the catalyst for her financial troubles as she wasn't working and therefore couldn't pay her bills. 'I ran away from everything and things got worse. They weren't huge bills.' When asked about reports she had slept on a park bench, Gail replied: 'It was ages ago. I couldn't afford anywhere, I was on Hampstead Heath.' After losing her hair completely in 2005, alopecia sufferer Gail - who found fame on Blue Peter, Top Of The Pops and Live & Kicking - found that her work opportunities faded rapidly - causing her outgoings to be far greater than her income. She has said that she believes being sectioned under the Mental Health Act in 2011 has also affected her chances of landing work. Speaking to Closer magazine in February, the former Celebrity Big Brother star claimed: 'TV is a visual industry and they want you to look a certain way. 'The truth is I'm not pretty and I don't have hair. I'd get work offers, but then it'd go quiet.' A pleasant Easter break with the family was consigned to memory as Benedict Cumberbatch slipped into character on the set of his forthcoming new drama on Wednesday. The British actor, 40, looked focused as he prepared for another days work on The Child In Time, a TV adaptation of celebrated author Ian McEwans 1987 novel of the same name. Walking across the exterior set on Londons South Bank, Cumberbatch who plays childrens author Stephen Lewis in the dystopian drama sported a low key denim shirt beneath a casual windbreaker jacket. Scroll down for video Back to work: A pleasant Easter break with the family was consigned to memory as Benedict Cumberbatch slipped into character on the set of forthcoming new drama The Child In Time in London on Wednesday whilst wearing a Barbour jacket Staid blue trousers and conventional black shoes added to the look, while heavily tinted sunglasses shielded his eyes from the morning sun. No doubt in anticipation of a long day on set the actor carried a pre-packed sandwich under one arm as he mingled with members of the production team. Cumberbatch was back on set after enjoying a peaceful Easter break with wife Sophie Hunter, 39, and their two sons - Christopher, one, and baby Hal, who was born in March. On set: The British actor looked focused as he prepared for another day's work on the show, a TV adaptation of celebrated author Ian McEwans 1987 novel of the same name Casual: Walking across the exterior set on Londons South Bank, Cumberbatch who plays childrens author Stephen Lewis in the dystopian drama sported a low key denim shirt beneath a casual windbreaker jacket The star hasn't been seen in public for a few weeks as he makes the most of his time with his newborn. In true thespian style, The Imitation Game actor named his boy after a Shakespearean hero. Hal was the nickname Henry V had before he became the hero of Agincourt. But in choosing the name, Cumberbatch could also be acknowledging his affection for fellow screen star Tom Hiddleston. Hungry star: No doubt in anticipation of a long day on set the actor carried a pre-packed sandwich under one arm You're surrounded: Cumberbatch chatted to members of the production team as he idled on set between takes The pair starred together in 2012 in The Hollow Crown, an amalgamation of Shakespeares history plays in which Cumberbatch played Richard III and Hiddleston took the role of Hal. They have been close pals ever since meeting on the set of Steven Spielbergs film War Horse in 2010. Benedict and Sophie welcomed their first son Christopher in June 2015, just a few months after their Valentine's Day wedding. The actor has previously said he hoped to add to his brood, joking he might 'go for a (Cumber)batch of boys.' She jetted off for a whopping total of 18 trips abroad over the course of 2016. And Millie Mackintosh appears to be on course to break her jaw-dropping record, as she announced her arrival in Monaco on Wednesday - her sixth getaway this year. The former Made In Chelsea star showed that she swept into the glitzy enclave in style, taking to Instagram to share a shot of herself exuding Grecian goddess glamour in an ivory halterneck satin gown as she prepared to step out for an event. Scroll down for video On the go in Monaco! Millie Mackintosh shared a shot of herself preparing to step out for a glamorous bash in Monaco on Wednesday evening Work work work: Millie had good reason for jetting to the United Arab Emirates last month, however, as she was surprising Hugo while he worked on his sunglasses brand Taylor Morris The 27-year-old beauty, who runs her own eponymous fashion line, posed with her hands on her hips as she posed before a breathtaking Mediterranean backdrop. With her sleeveless gown sweeping the floor of a sprawling deck, the erstwhile reality TV star's voluminous brown tresses were swept back into a sleek style, while gold hoop earrings and a glittering rings served as her minimal accessories. And she kept her fans informed of every step of her glamorising process, as she shared an Instagram story of herself getting a facial, compliments of cosmetics giant Lancome, whose glittering bash Millie attended. Progress: As she prepared for the night, she took to Instagram to share a story of her progress Glam: After her facial, the erstwhile reality TV star showed herself getting her makeup applied Stunner: She finally showed off her finished look - complete with gold hoop earrings Stepping out: She also uploaded a black-and-white image of the back of her stunning dress Millie's trip to Monaco comes weeks after her surprise visit to meet her boyfriend Hugo Taylor during his working trip to Dubai, shortly after visiting South Africa, two trips to Paris and a stay in Los Angeles. In January she kicked off the year with a trip to South Africa, before heading to Paris in both February and March. March has been a particularly fruitful time for the starlet, jetting not just to the French capital but Los Angeles and now Dubai. It appears she is now on track to rival her record of taking a whopping 18 trips abroad in 2016. Enjoying the view: She also shared a series fof snapshots of her breathtaking surroundings A room with a view: The brunette beauty's room looked out over the Mediterranean Going swimmingly: She also shared an image of a glistening swimming pool nestled in the hills Holiday lover: The 27-year-old former recently arrived home from a surprise visit to meet her boyfriend Hugo Taylor during his working trip to Dubai, shortly after visiting South Africa, two trips to Paris and a stay in Los Angeles Millie had good reason for jetting to the United Arab Emirates, however, as she was surprising her boyfriend Hugo whilst he worked on his sunglasses brand Taylor Morris. Giggling in an Instagram Stories video recently, the model uploaded the moment she caught her businessman boyfriend off-guard at the Jumeirah Al Naseem hotel and completely took his breath away. Enticingly, Millie was dressed in just a silk robe when she waited patiently on his balcony, overlooking the famous landmark Burj al Arab. Hugo is in Dubai showcasing his newest Taylor Morris collection as part of the #TaylorMorrisTravels series, which recently took him to Beachcomber's luxury Trou Aux Biches resort in Mauritius. Jump for joy: In January she kicked off the year with a trip to South Africa, before heading to Paris in both February and March Living it up: March has been a particularly fruitful time for the starlet, jetting not just to the French capital but Los Angeles and Dubai Loved-up: It appears she is now on track to rival her record of taking a whopping 18 trips abroad in 2016 COLUMBUS Whether they were talking about employment opportunities, the people or local attractions, one word was used the most to describe the community good. That single word is part of the new brand for Columbus, a project undertaken about two years ago. A Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce committee and team of designers and artists came up with the brand Something Good Columbus. It was unveiled Tuesday during the chambers annual celebration at Columbus High School. We kept asking people what it is about Columbus they were proud of. It just kept coming back to good opportunities, good jobs, good people, good values. Just the quality of whatever they identified with, said Amanda Polacek, the chamber's marketing director. She said the brand will be used as another way to promote Columbus. It's also available as a recruiting tool for local employers. I think people dont just want to work somewhere or live somewhere because of a job anymore. The people want to know where they can send their kids to preschool and where they can go running, where they can grab ice cream," Polacek said. "People can live and work anywhere today. They can work remotely, so why pick here? We have to show them the quality of life here." Chamber President K.C. Belitz said it's a great time for Columbus to develop its own brand because of the completion of several major projects in recent years, including the new CHS and STEM Academy, Columbus Wellness Center and East Central District Health Department building. There has never been a better time to tell the story of Columbus, Nebraska, than right now, he said. Branding became a strategic priority for the chamber in 2015. Instead of hiring an advertising agency, a group of eight freelance artists from the area came aboard to brainstorm and come up with a brand based on community surveys and creative sessions. Those artists are Yara Ramos, Dave Harrington, Tammy Feagin, Scott Margheim, Cassie Rief, Sara Keeler, Taylour Kumpf and Chase Gronenthal. Kumpf, a Scotus Central Catholic graduate who works for a branding company in Omaha, said branding is more than a logo and tagline. Branding is really a feeling. Its the emotional response you have when you think of brands like Disney, or Target, or Apple. You immediately love them, hate them, think quality, think childhood, think affordability, she said. Kumpf said the Something Good Columbus brand is the embodiment of the feeling people have when they think of the community. About 100 ideas were batted around over the past several months before Something Good Columbus was selected. The design with solid Os and a solid D in good is intended to pique interest. Its a modern design. Its kind of tricky on your brain. You might not see it right away but I think that is fine. We went safe with the wording and a little riskier with the design and what it looks like, Polacek said. The brand is available for anyone to use, including businesses, organizations, clubs and individuals. The website www.somethinggoodcolumbus.com has a brand guide with examples of how it can be utilized in different ways. Logos can be downloaded from the website through a usage agreement. The branding project was completed through sponsorship and fundraising. Gathering input from the eight designers and artists not only saved money on the project, but also provided an authentic look at the community, Polacek said, because they all have their own experiences living in Columbus. Something Good Columbus isnt replacing the citys "Power and Progress" tagline. It is building upon it. It is similar to how the Good Life is the Nebraska state slogan but Visit Nebraska, Visit Nice was a campaign of Nebraska tourism. We arent changing the city tagline. We looked at concepts that tried to combine those, but people have mix reviews on what progress means, Polacek said. His first leading role in a blockbuster saw him pegged as a Hollywood pin-up boy. But Heath Ledger had no desire to be 'that guy' and even 'refused' to be coerced into becoming a conventional star by studio executives. 'He was pushed to be a heartthrob,' the late actor's childhood friend and hip-hop artist N'fa Forster-Jones told WHO magazine. Scroll down for video 'Not that guy': Heath Ledger refused to be a Hollywood heartthrob and even butted heads with a 'studio head' about his rebellious attitude 'He told me about a big meeting where he told some studio head he refused to be that guy and was prepared to lose everything,' the 38-year-old rapper explained. The 1200 Techniques frontman, who grew up in Perth alongside Heath, also added that the 10 Things I Hate About You star was 'happy to live on a beach with very little' despite his stellar career. Heath, who fathered 11-year-old daughter Matilda with his former partner Michelle Williams, became a star when he was cast in the rom-com 10 Things I Hate About You in 1999. A simple life: Heath's childhood friend and rapper N'fa Forster-Jones told WHO magazine the late actor was 'pushed to be a heartthrob' by Hollywood excecutives Break through star: The Perth-raised star, who died in 2008 at age 28, shot to Hollywood fame when he was cast as Patrick in 10 Things I Hate About You He then followed up with A Knight's Tale, starring alongside on-screen love interest Shannyn Sossamon. Meanwhile, in 2001, following his meeting with the studio head mentioned previously, the Subiaco-born hunk veered away from his heartthrob roles and starred in the thriller Monster's Ball. N'fa's comments come ahead of the highly-anticipated release of the documentary I Am Heath Ledger, set to air on Spike TV on May 17. Veering from his roles as the leading hunk in romantic comedies, Heath went on to star in the thriller Monster's Ball in 2001 The film's co-director Derik Murray has also revealed the star's inability to switch off his manic energy. 'He'd sleep either zero or two hours a night for years,' co-director Derik Murray told the New.com.au. Derik revealed Heath's manic energy had plagued him for years. 'He'd sleep either zero or two hours a night for YEARS': The late actor's manic energy was revealed by Derik Murray, as documentary delving into the actor's life is set to premiere 'He'd sleep either zero or two hours a night for years. He would call people up in the middle of the night,' he shared. Musician and friend Ben Harper told of a similar occurrence, to be shown in the documentary. The 47-year-old tells of how the A Knight's Tale star would often show up unannounced at his house, for breakfast, at six in the morning. Approval: Insisting on getting Michelle Williams' approval for the film, producer Matt Amato noted: 'She said, ''We should do something now. Matilda (their daughter) is curious''' 'This is definitely more the truth than anything else that's out there,' long-time friend and producer of I Am Heath Ledger said of the documentary, set to air on May 17 I Am Heath Ledger, tells of the star's friendship with Matt Amato, 49, the pair having co-founded production company, the Masses. Nine years following the tragic death of Heath, Matt decided to open up about his friendship in the documentary. 'This is definitely more the truth than anything else that's out there,' Matt told news.com.au. Insisting on getting ex-partner Michelle's approval, he noted: 'She said, ''We should do something now. Matilda (their daughter) is curious''.' US Vice President Mike Pence (C) is expected to offer a renewed commitment to Japan's security amid a growing threat from a nuclear armed North Korea US Vice President Mike Pence arrives in Tokyo on Tuesday bringing a renewed commitment to Japan's security amid a growing threat from a nuclear armed North Korea. Throughout his bareknuckle election campaign, US President Donald Trump repeatedly called into question a mutual defense treaty between Japan and the United States, suggesting Tokyo should pay for its own security. But now, Pence will try to reassure his jittery hosts that those decades-old security commitments are ironclad, a necessity made more acute as tensions rise over Pyongyang's latest missile test and Washington's refusal to rule out military action against the regime. Defying international pressure, the North on Sunday test-fired another missile and fears are growing it may also be preparing a sixth nuclear test. North Korea could react to a potential US strike by targeting South Korea or Japan, and officials in Tokyo and Seoul have been ill at ease with the more bellicose language deployed by Trump's administration. During a visit to the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea on Monday, Pence pointed to the new president's recent strikes on a Syrian airbase and an Islamic State complex in Afghanistan as a warning to Pyongyang not to underestimate the administration's resolve. "All options are on the table" in pushing for an end to Pyongyang's nuclear programme, Pence said, adding that the era of US "strategic patience" in dealing with the regime was over. Washington is worried that North Korea may soon build a nuclear-tipped missile that could reach the United States. Like South Korea, Japan already faces a direct threat from the secretive regime. In February, the North simultaneously fired four ballistic missiles off its east coast, three of which fell provocatively close to Japan, in what it said was a drill for an attack on US bases in the country. Pence's Japanese hosts will likely be cautious about any US military action that could trigger a broader regional conflict. Their hope is that the White House will focus on pressuring China, Pyongyang's only major ally and biggest trade partner, to redouble its efforts to rein in the regime and prompt North Korea to return to the negotiating table after it abandoned the six-party talks in 2009. "With close coordination, I expect we will strongly demand North Korea to refrain from taking provocative actions and to adhere to UN Security Council resolutions," said Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga. Pence's trip will also feature a heavy economic focus. Trump's decision to scrap a 12-nation trans-Pacific trade deal was a blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who expended substantial political capital to get the deal passed at home. In Tokyo, there is still hope that the core of the agreement, thrashed out between the United States and Japan and intended to counterbalance China's regional economic power, can be salvaged in some form. But US officials say expectations of an ambitious bilateral trade deal may be premature. The clash between humans and leopards, experts agree, is mostly due to humanity's expanding footprint, especially in Africa, whose population is set to expand by more than a billion before mid-century The leopard population in a region of South Africa once thick with the big cats is crashing, and could be wiped out within a few years, scientists warned on Wednesday. Illegal killing of leopards in the Soutpansberg Mountains has reduced their numbers by two-thirds in the last decade, the researchers reported in the Royal Society Open Science journal. "If things don't change, we predict leopards will essentially disappear from the area by about 2020," lead author Samual Williams, a conservation biologist at Durham University in England, told AFP. "This is especially alarming given that, in 2008, this area had one of the highest leopard densities in Africa." The number of leopards in the wild worldwide is not known, but is diminishing elsewhere as well. The "best estimate" for all of South Africa, said Williams, is about 4,500. South Africa's leopards in danger What is certain, however, is that the regions these predators roam has shrunk drastically over the last two centuries. The historic range of Panthera pardus, which includes more than half-a-dozen sub-species, covered large swathes of Africa and Asia, and extended well into the Arabian Peninsula. Leopards once roamed the forests of Sri Lanka and Java unchallenged. Today, they occupy barely a quarter of this territory, with some sub-species teetering on the brink of extinction, trapped in one or two percent of their original habitat. Leopards were classified last year as "vulnerable" to extinction on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of endangered species, which tracks the survival status of animals and plants. South Africa recently suspended trophy hunting of leopards, though experts agree this is not a major cause of the population decline. - Bleak findings - South Africa recently suspended trophy hunting of leopards, though experts agree this is not a major cause of the population decline A 2008 census of leopards in the 6,800-square kilometre (2,600-square mile) Soutpansberg Mountains found a robust population of nearly 11 adult cats for each hundred square kilometres (39 square miles). To find out how the carnivores had fared since then, Williams and his team set up four dozen motion-triggered camera traps across the area, and left them in place from 2012 to 2016. The cameras captured a total of 65 individual leopards during the four-year period: 16 adult males, 28 adult females and 21 younger cats. They also fitted eight adults with GPS collars to track their movements -- or lack thereof. Only two of the GPS-tagged leopards survived the monitoring period. Three were done in by snares, one was shot by a local resident whose cattle had been attacked, and two went missing, probably killed since they also disappeared from camera surveillance. A statistical analysis of the results showed "a 66 percent decline over a period just over 7.5 years," the study concluded. Lake Fundudzi sits among the foothills of South Africa's Soutpansberg Mountains in the northern province of Limpopo Ironically, the bleak findings helped conservationists and local officials raise money to hire a "community engagement officer." "One of the things he does is help local people adopt non-lethal techniques" to prevent leopards from attacking cattle and other livestock, including the use of guard dogs, Williams added. But the clash between humans and big carnivores, experts agree, is mostly due to humanity's expanding footprint, especially in Africa, whose population is set to expand by more than a billion before mid-century. As a result, the habitats of most wild megafauna are diminishing, and getting chopped up into smaller and smaller parcels. "It is extremely alarming that the trends that we are reporting exemplify trends in large carnivores globally," Williams said. Studies in Africa of lions, black-backed jackals and bat-eared foxes have showed similar rates of decline. US Vice President Mike Pence ramped up the rhetoric as he stood on the deck of the USS Ronald Reagan, pledging an "overwhelming" response to any North Korean attack The United States will counter any North Korean attack with an "overwhelming and effective" response, Vice President Mike Pence vowed Wednesday, as he stood on the deck of a massive American aircraft carrier docked in Japan. Donald Trump's deputy is in the region to reassure allies fretting over Pyongyang's quickening missile programme, and its apparent readiness to carry out another banned nuclear test in its quest to develop an atomic weapon that can hit the US mainland. Pence, whose visit started in South Korea the day after the failed launch by North Korea of what analysts said could have been a new missile, described the threat from the isolated regime as growing. Aboard the USS Ronald Reagan, the vice president, adopting a Churchillian tone, told troops he was there as "storm clouds gather on the horizon" of Northeast Asia. "North Korea is the most dangerous and urgent threat to peace and security in the Asia-Pacific," Pence said. But, "we will defeat any attack and meet any use of conventional or nuclear weapons with an overwhelming and effective American response." North Korea has once again emerged as a key geopolitical flashpoint Pence's comments come after a senior North Korean official warned the regime had no intention of dialling down its missile programme, pledging weekly tests and threatening "all-out war" if the US took any action against it. That kind of rhetoric has unnerved allies in Japan and South Korea, who would be at the sharp end of any North Korean response. Seoul, the South Korean capital, is just 35 miles (56 km) away from the military demarcation line that splits the Korean peninsula, and is within easy range of North Korean long-range artillery. The Ronald Reagan, whose home port is Yokosuka in Japan, is part of the Seventh Fleet and is regularly deployed around the western Pacific. - Treaty allies - The Navy had said earlier this month that a strike group led by the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson had been ordered to "sail north" as a warning to Pyongyang. Pentagon chief Jim Mattis also said the Vinson was "on her way up" to the peninsula, while Trump said an "armada" had been dispatched, adding fuel to already rising tensions. But a defence official told AFP on Tuesday that the group of ships was still off the northwest coast of Australia and would soon begin heading to the Sea of Japan (East Sea). But it would not arrive until next week at the earliest given the vast distance. At the time of the strike group's deployment, many media outlets reported the ships were moving towards North Korea, suggesting a looming showdown, when in fact they had temporarily headed in the opposite direction. Wearing a green flight jacket, Pence also sought to reassure jittery allies -- who have seen Trump call into question decades-old mutual defence treaties -- of America's commitment. The United States, Pence said, would be unwavering in its alliances and unyielding in its resolve. In a veiled warning to China, Pence added that "our treaty (with Japan) covers all the territory administered by Japan, including the Senkaku Islands" -- a disputed and uninhabited archipelago in the East China Sea that is controlled by Japan but claimed by Beijing. There was also a warning to China regarding the South China Sea, where Beijing has built reefs and islets into fortified islands capable of hosting military assets to bolster its claim to sovereignty over the sea. Pence said the United States would defend the right to freedom of navigation through the waterway, one of the most important shipping channels on the planet. He also vowed that more of America's most advanced military assets would be deployed to the Asia-Pacific. About 47,000 US troops are stationed in Japan and a further 28,000 are in South Korea. Philippines bus accident The death toll from a Philippine bus that plunged into a ravine rose to 31 with signs that overloading contributed to the crash, a police official said on Wednesday. The accident, which saw the bus come off a winding road to fall 24 metres (80 feet) into a ravine in the upland province of Nueva Ecija on Tuesday, also left 46 injured with four still in a critical condition, said Senior Superintendent Antonio Yarra. "The wheel burst and that caused the bus to fall into ravine. It seems that it (the bus) was overloaded. Because of the overloading, it was beyond the capacity of the wheel to hold," Yarra, the provincial police chief told AFP. He said a count determined there were 77 passengers on board, much higher than earlier estimates. He declined to say who might be held responsible as the investigation was ongoing. Road accidents are common in the Philippines, where old, badly maintained buses often drive on poorly lit roads. In February, 13 students and a driver were killed while on holiday in a mountainous region when their bus slammed into a post. Mainland Chinese tourists wave upon their arrival at Taiwan's northern Keelung harbour Taiwan said on Wednesday it has rejected a political asylum application from a Chinese tourist, reportedly an anti-corruption campaigner who has spent time in a mainland prison. Zhang Xiangzhong arrived on the island on April 12 for an eight-day holiday but left his tour group the next day. He was identified by local media and a human rights group as the same person who was part of a movement calling for Chinese government officials to disclose their assets. Self-ruling Taiwan, which China sees as a renegade province awaiting reunification, does not grant political asylum to Chinese citizens but instead offers "permanent residence for political consideration" in special cases. Zhang had to prove he was a prominent leader in a democratic movement and would be in immediate danger of persecution if he returned to China. But Taiwanese authorities decided he did not qualify and he had left the island with his tour group, the Mainland Affairs Council said in a statement. "It is difficult to recognise that the person matches with the existing regulations for long-term residence for special cases," the council, Taiwan's top policymaking body on China, said. "Zhang fully understood our explanation and agreed to depart with his original tour group at the end of the trip." Allowing Zhang to remain in Taiwan would have further soured relations between Beijing and Taipei, which have deteriorated since China-sceptic President Tsai Ing-wen won Taiwan's leadership last year. Zhang was jailed by a Beijing court in 2014 on a credit card fraud charge and released last July, according to documents he submitted to Taiwanese authorities. He said he was motivated to leave the mainland by the wife of detained Taiwanese rights activist Lee Ming-cheh, according to a Radio Free Asia interview. In a case that has drawn international scrutiny, Lee Ching-yu pledged she would "rescue" her husband, who is under investigation in mainland China for suspected activities "endangering national security". An Iraqi Yazidi woman carries a paraffin torch outside Lalish temple, the holiest shrine of her faith, on April 18, 2017, on the eve of Yazidi New Year Thousands of Yazidis flocked to a shrine in northern Iraq to mark the New Year on Wednesday, in the minority's biggest gathering since it was targeted for genocide by jihadists. Wearing traditional Yazidi clothes, holding candles and paraffin lamps, they started gathering in the holy town of Lalish on Tuesday for celebrations ahead of their New Year. The event, known by the ethno-religious minority as "Carsama Sari Sali", is meant to commemorate the creation of the universe by the angels and celebrate nature and fertility. But the mood was sombre among the faithful gathered in Lalish, every one of whom was affected by the violence that erupted nearly three years ago when the Islamic State group took over their traditional homeland. "I'm not happy, it's not like before, because there are those who are still in the hands of Daesh (IS)," said Zoan Msaid, a Yazidi woman from the Sinjar area who now lives in a camp for displaced people. "We cannot forget our customs and traditions but I just want those who are still held to come back, that's all. We ask for nothing more." Iraqi Yazidis light candles and paraffin torches outside Lalish temple, the holiest shrine of their faith, during a ceremony on April 18, 2017 to mark the eve of Yazidi New Year Yazidis are neither Arab nor Muslim and when IS swept across northern Iraq in 2014, it carried out massacres against the minority which the United Nations said qualified as genocide. Most of the several hundred thousand members of the minority live in northern Iraq, mainly around Sinjar, a large town which anti-IS forces have now retaken but was extensively destroyed. IS jihadists captured Yazidi women and turned them into sex slaves to be sold and exchanged across their self-proclaimed "caliphate". Around 3,000 of them are believed to remain in captivity. Incumbent Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama is facing a Muslim challenger, in a neck-and-neck race to lead the teeming capital of 10 million people. Jakarta's Christian governor on Wednesday lost heavily to a Muslim former government minister in an election run-off, private polls indicated, after a divisive battle that has damaged Indonesia's reputation as a bastion of tolerant Islam. Anies Baswedan, who was accused of pandering to hardliners to win votes, and his supporters cheered as news came through that surveys showed him winning by over 10 percentage points against Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who was fighting for his job while standing trial for blasphemy. Official results are not expected until early May but the private pollsters, who count a sample of votes, are usually accurate. The vote was seen as a test of whether the moderate Islam traditionally practised in the world's most populous Muslim country is under threat from hardliners, who have led a series of mass demonstrations against Purnama over allegations he insulted the Koran. Jakarta's Christian governor It came against a backdrop of rising religious intolerance that has tainted the image of the diverse Indonesian archipelago as a pluralistic country in recent years, with a surge in attacks on minorities. Baswedan, a former education minister, thanked Jakarta's voters for supporting him and hinted that he would move to heal the divisions in the capital after the bitter poll, if his victory was confirmed. "We celebrate diversity... We are all ready to work together again," the 47-year-old said. Purnama, the city's first non-Muslim governor for half a century and its first ethnic Chinese leader, congratulated Baswedan and his running mate, adding: "We are all the same, we want a good Jakarta, because it is our home." The defeat is also a blow for President Joko Widodo, whose party had backed Purnama. - 'Stay unified' - The incumbent had long been a shoo-in to win re-election after gaining popularity due to his determined efforts to clean up Jakarta. But the governor -- known by his nickname Ahok -- lost a once-unassailable lead after a controversy erupted last year over claims that he had insulted Islam, a grave charge in Indonesia. His troubles began in September when he lightheartedly said in a speech that his rivals were tricking people into voting against him by using a Koranic verse, which some interpret as meaning Muslims should only choose Muslim leaders. The allegations drew hundreds of thousands of conservative Muslims onto the streets of Jakarta in major protests, and led to Purnama being put on trial for blasphemy in a case critics see as politically motivated. Purnama won in the election's first round in February but Baswedan was seen as the favourite in the run-off because the votes from a third, Muslim, candidate who was knocked out were expected to go to him. Opinion polls in the run-up to the vote indicated that the race was neck and neck but in the event Baswedan strongly defeated Purnama, the pollsters indicated. They showed him with about 57 percent to Purnama on 43 percent. More than 7.2 million people were registered to vote in the polls, which are also important as politicians view them as a potential stepping stone to the presidency in 2019. The vote for Jakarta governor is seen as a test of whether the moderate Islam traditionally practised in the world's most populous Muslim country is under threat from hardliners After an anti-Purnama protest last year turned violent, authorities were taking no chances and over 60,000 security force personnel had been deployed but there was little sign of unrest. Purnama's long-running blasphemy trial began in December. Prosecutors are due to recommend a sentence on Thursday, and a verdict is expected within weeks. Many voters still supported Purnama due to his performance as governor since 2014. He had won praise for cleaning up once-filthy rivers and creating more green spaces, although his acerbic style had upset some. A bus has swerved off a mountain road and plunged into a deep ravine in a Himalayan region of northern India, killing at least 44 people, an official said on Wednesday. The bus with 56 passengers on board plunged into a river in northern Himachal Pradesh state, around 115 kilometres (70 miles) from the capital Shimla. 'A preliminary report shows that a private bus fell into a gorge and has killed more than 40 people. The latest report given to me shows 44 people have been killed,' Rohan Chand Thakur, district commissioner of Shimla, told journalists. The bus swerved off a mountain road and plunged into a deep ravine, killing at least 44 India bus accident Police rushed to the scene where rescue efforts were underway, he added. It was not immediately clear what caused the accident, or whether any of the survivors were injured. India has some of the world's deadliest roads with more than 150,000 fatalities annually due to poor roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving. In February, 16 people were killed and more than 50 injured when a truck carrying churchgoers overturned in a hilly region of northeast India. Survivors said the driver was manoeuvring recklessly and lost control of the vehicle in the rugged terrain. A month earlier 13 people - mostly children aged between seven and 14 - were killed when a school bus collided with a truck in northern India. Police surround a protester outside parliament during an anti-pension reform demonstration in Taipei on April 19, 2017 Taiwan's leader called for calm after violent protests over pension reforms outside parliament Wednesday saw scores of demonstrators scuffling with police and politicians. The rallies were staged as parliament began reviewing controversial bills which are designed to stop the struggling pension system from collapsing but are expected to hit nearly 500,000 civil servants and teachers. Several lawmakers and politicians said they were pushed, punched and had water splashed on them as they tried to enter the legislative complex in central Taipei, which was guarded by barbed-wire barricades and a heavy police presence. President Tsai Ing-wen vowed to press ahead with the changes despite a recent string of protests and said her government would not tolerate violence. "Intentionally causing conflicts will not deter the (government's) determination for reforms... our urgent task is to bring the pension system back from the brink of bankrupcy," she told reporters. Anger has been mounting among public-sector workers and retirees as the government unveiled draft bills aimed at reducing their pensions and phasing out a special savings rate for them which pays 18 percent interest. The government has warned that various pension funds are likely to go bankrupt within three to 14 years unless the system is overhauled. More than 100,000 civil servants, teachers and servicemen demonstrated last year against the planned reforms -- the largest street protest since Tsai became president. There was also chaos inside parliament Wednesday as opposition lawmakers temporarily seized the podium and demanded the government hold public hearings on the issue. The pension issue is the latest challenge to Tsai, who has seen her popularity ratings fall rapidly since taking the helm in May last year as her government tackles a range of domestic issues -- from gay marriage to judicial reform. The Pension Reform Oversight Alliance, an organiser of Wednesday's protests, criticised the government's "rough and irresponsible" methods and vowed to stage bigger demonstrations. "The Tsai government blames us but it is their incompetence that is forcing many people, not just civil servants and teachers, to take to the streets," said Lee Lai-hsi, a spokesman for the alliance. Last December parliament plunged into chaos with opposing lawmakers brawling in the chamber while labour activists set off smoke bombs outside in protest at proposed holiday cuts. Taiwan's parliament, once notorious for its mass brawls, had been relatively peaceful under the previous government, except for fights over a contentious China trade pact and a new nuclear plant. Taiwan's pension schemes vary for different occupations. Public-sector retirees typically receive more generous packages than other workers. The government also aims to improve the pension system for around 10 million non-public sector workers in its reform bills. Judges and lawyers were left scratching their heads over the meaning of an order issued by an Indian court in a dispute between a landlord and his tenant Anyone dealing with India's overburdened legal system knows that the wheels of justice move slowly. But in one case, they have ground to a halt completely after Supreme Court judges said they were throwing out a lawsuit that used so much jargon it was incomprehensible. "We will have to set it aside because one cannot understand this," the Hindustan Times daily quoted MB Lokur and Deepak Gupta as saying on Wednesday. Even the lawyers representing the two sides in the row between a landlord and his tenant said they were unable to understand the original order issued by a lower court. "We normally prepare an appeal in two days' time. However, in this case I took more than a week because the facts of the case were unclear," the landlord's lawyer, EC Agrawala, told the Hindustan Times. The property dispute dates back to 1999 when the landlord filed a petition to evict his tenant for not paying rent. In a nearly two-decade struggle, the landlord finally took his matter to the country's top court after the Himachal Pradesh High Court favoured the tenant. But even that much would be hard to glean from the original order. "(The)...tenant in the demised premises stands aggrieved by the pronouncement made by the learned Executing Court upon his objections constituted therebefore... wherewithin the apposite unfoldments qua his resistance to the execution of the decree stood discountenanced by the learned Executing Court," it read. OPEC members agreed in November to cut production by 1.2 million barrels per day for six months beginning from the start of the year Oil-exporting cartel OPEC is confident that production cuts agreed with non-members to prop up prices will lead to a recovery in the market, its chief said on Wednesday. "We are optimistic that the policy measures we have taken already place us on the path of recovery," OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo said at an energy forum in Abu Dhabi. OPEC members agreed in November to cut production by 1.2 million barrels per day for six months beginning from the start of the year. Some non-cartel producers, led by Russia, joined in December by committing to cut output by 558 million bpd. The OPEC chief did not take a position on whether oil ministers from participating countries would extend the cuts when they meet in Vienna next month. "These 24 countries, I believe, will take a decision that will be in the best interest of not only producers but also consumers and the global industry in general," he said. OPEC and non-OPEC producers said after talks in Kuwait last month that they were looking into extending the output cuts, as compliance with the agreement has increased. UAE energy minister Suhail Al-Mazrouei told reporters at the forum that it was "still premature to make any decision" on the cuts. "The market is correcting itself. So far we have not seen huge fluctuation in the price, which is a good thing," he said. "We want stability in the market," he added. Barkindo said the joint action has put OPEC and other producers in the "driving seat" to dictate events instead of "reacting to market developments." The cuts were agreed to help restore market stability "by addressing one variable, which is stock," he said. OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo of Nigeria speaks during the Third GCC Petroleum Media Forum on April 19, 2017 in Abu Dhabi "As a result of the rising stock over the past years, the equation has gone out of balance." All producers taking part in the cuts are committed to restoring stability, he said. Oil prices have dropped by around half since 2014 and currently hover just above $50 per barrel. The 16th-century Babri mosque in northern India has long divided Hindus and Muslims India's Supreme Court said Wednesday three senior members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should face trial over the demolition of a mosque a quarter of a century ago. Here are five things to know about the long-running dispute. - What is the dispute about? - Hindus and Muslims have for decades been bitterly divided over the 16th-century Babri mosque in Ayodhya, a city in India's northern Uttar Pradesh state. Hindus believe the mosque was built on the ruins of an ancient temple dedicated to their god Ram. Tensions boiled over in 1992 when a Hindu mob tore the mosque to the ground, sparking religious violence that left about 2,000 dead across India. - How long has it been a flashpoint? - Hindus believe a Muslim conqueror razed the Ram temple in the 1500s to make way for the mosque. The British erected a fence in the 19th century to separate places of worship so that Muslims could worship in the inner court and Hindus the outer. But in 1949, idols of Lord Ram appeared inside the mosque, allegedly placed by Hindus. Muslims objected and both parties went to court, beginning a decades-long legal fight over the right to worship at the site. - Who was behind its destruction? - In 1984, a group of Hindus formed a committee to "liberate" the birthplace of Ram and build a temple -- or mandir -- at the disputed site The movement was headed by L K Advani, a senior figure in the ruling BJP, now headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Its supporters began travelling to the site to demand a temple be built, and even today the cause remains a rally cry for Hindu nationalists. - When did tensions escalate? - On December 6, 1992 a huge Hindu crowd converged on the mosque site to symbolically and provocatively lay the first stone of the new temple. The 200,000-strong mob broke through police cordons, first smashing three domes to rubble before reducing the rest of the historic mosque to ruins. The destruction triggered some of the worst religious riots since India's bloody partition in 1947. The violence culminated in 2002 when a trainload of Hindu activists were burned alive as they returned from Ayodhya, sparking retaliatory riots in Gujarat state that left upwards of 1,000 mostly Muslims dead. - Where does it stand legally? - In 2002, three High Court judges began hearings to determine who could lay claim to the contested site. An important ruling came in 2010 when a High Court ruled that Muslims and Hindus should split the site -- albeit unevenly, with Hindus granted the lion's share. A Muslim group appealed and the Supreme Court in 2011 overturned the lower court's ruling, leaving the issue unresolved. In March, the Supreme Court said charges against Advani and other top BJP leaders could not be dropped, indicating the case could be revived. African black-footed penguins have been rated as endangered since 2010 A court in South Africa Wednesday dropped the case against two students who freed a penguin from a marine park and released it into the sea as protest against animal captivity. Adrian Donian, 22, and Emile du Plessis, 24, were arrested in September 2016, after they broke into Bayworld oceanarium in Port Elizabeth and snatched "Buddy", an endangered African black-footed penguin. The magistrate said he had dropped the case because the prosecuting authority had taken too long to decide whether to prosecute the two or not. Their lawyer, Craig de Lange, had argued that the two be placed in a "rehabilitation programme because they are students and not hardcore criminals". The animal was wrapped in a shirt and bundled in a car during a nighttime raid. He was then taken to the coast where he was released into the Indian Ocean. Officials at the centre had raised concerns that the three-year-old penguin who had lived most of his life in captivity would not survive in the open ocean. Security camera footage showed the men entering the penguin enclosure and taking selfie photographs before stealing Buddy and later releasing him at the nearby Pollock Beach. "They believe animals should not be kept in captivity and so they thought they were doing the right thing by releasing the penguin into the wild," said de Lange. Buddy has never been found since the incident. African black-footed penguins, also known as jackass penguins due to their braying noise, have been rated as endangered since 2010 after suffering from commercial fishing and shortage of prey. Red beacons on cars in India are perceived as a symbol of privilege and arrogance, used by ministers and top bureaucrats to cut through traffic India said Wednesday it will ban ministers and senior officials from using red beacons on their cars to cut through traffic, a longstanding privilege that has caused resentment and accusations of elitism. From May 1 only emergency services will be allowed to use the flashing beacons to move swiftly through India's notoriously congested streets. "We are removing the rule which allows state and central government to specify who can use the red lights," finance minister Arun Jaitley said at a news conference in New Delhi. "From May 1, no vehicle will have a red light. There will be no exceptions." The red beacon, perceived as a symbol of privilege and arrogance, is used by ministers and top bureaucrats to cut through traffic while on official business. But often even lower-level politicians and officials misuse the beacons to show off their importance, especially in smaller towns. It is also common for policemen to put up barricades and block routes to allow free passage to dignitaries while the rest have to wait for the roads to open. "It's a huge democratic decision," said road transport minister Nitin Gadkari. Delhi's Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took the lead in 2015 by asserting he would not have the red beacon on his car. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the son of a tea-seller who takes pride in his humble beginnings, often breaks protocol to shake hands and pose for photos with the public. Ex-French consular officer Pascal Mazurier was arrested in June 2012 after his Indian-origin wife accused him of raping their daughter, and was tried in a court in the southern city of Bangalore An Indian court on Wednesday acquitted a French consular official of raping his three-year-old daughter, the embassy in New Delhi told AFP. Pascal Mazurier was arrested in June 2012 after his Indian-origin wife accused him of raping their daughter, and was tried in a court in the southern city of Bangalore. "We confirm that (Mazurier) was acquitted in the first instance by the Bangalore court," said a diplomatic source, confirming Indian media reports. Mazurier, who was working in the French consulate in Bangalore when he was arrested, had always denied the charge. His trial had been going on since 2014 and received much publicity in India, with his wife and some media accusing France of trying to protect him. His lawyers Clement Witt and Pierre-Olivier Sur told AFP it was the "end of a nightmare". "It is a victory of truth over lies," they said in a WhatsApp message. Mazurier said his acquittal was an "enormous relief". "My hope now is to reconstruct a relationship with my children, make up for the lost time," he told AFP by phone from Bangalore. Mazurier's estranged wife Suja Jones told Indian television news that the acquittal "means my daughter did not get justice". Jones said she would file an appeal, which could add several months or years to the legal process if followed through. Saudi King Salman (R) sits next to an interpreter during a meeting with US Defence Secretary James Mattis in Riyadh on April 19, 2017 The United States wants to see a strong Saudi Arabia, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said during talks Wednesday aimed at reinvigorating the Riyadh-Washington alliance. Mattis, meeting the most powerful figures in the Saudi capital, also hinted that President Donald Trump could visit the kingdom, a longtime US ally which has welcomed Washington's firmer line against common adversary Iran. "It is in our interest to see a strong Saudi Arabia," Mattis said at the start of talks with Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the defence minister, pointing to the country's "military security services and secret services." Later, however, Mattis gave no indication whether President Donald Trump's administration was considering an increase in its limited support for a Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-backed rebels in Yemen. He said his Riyadh talks "could actually open the door possibly to bringing our president to Saudi Arabia." The retired four-star Marine general earlier met King Salman at Al-Yamama Palace in Riyadh, where he told the monarch: "It's good to be back." Mattis commanded troops during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He arrived in the kingdom on Tuesday afternoon to listen to Saudi leaders and learn "what are their priorities," an American defence official said. The United States and Saudi Arabia have a decades-old relationship based on the exchange of American security for Saudi oil. But ties between Riyadh and Washington became increasingly frayed during the administration of president Barack Obama. Saudi leaders felt Obama was reluctant to get involved in the civil war in Syria and was tilting toward Riyadh's regional rival Iran. The Sunni Muslim kingdom "felt marginalised" during international negotiations on a nuclear accord with Shiite Iran, the defence official said. US President Donald Trump and Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman shake hands before lunch at the White House in Washington, DC, on March 14, 2017 That deal, signed in July 2015 by the Obama administration, saw the lifting of international sanctions in exchange for guarantees that Tehran would not pursue a nuclear weapons capability. - New Iran sanctions - Saudi leaders worry about Iran interfering in Arab countries by using local Shiite communities, as in Bahrain, Lebanon and Yemen. Bordering Saudi Arabia, Yemen has been torn for more than two years by a civil war between Iran-backed Huthi rebels, their allies, and pro-government forces aided by a Saudi-led military coalition. A Saudi-led coalition began air strikes in Yemen in March 2015 in support of the internationally recognised government in its fight against Iran-backed Huthi rebels The Saudis have found a more favourable ear in Washington under Trump, who has denounced Iran's "harmful influence" in the Middle East. In February, Trump imposed new sanctions on Tehran after a ballistic missile test launch, and in response to its support for Yemen's rebels. Prince Mohammed told Mattis that Saudi Arabia and the United States are working to counter challenges in the region, including "the malign activities of Iran" and to bring stability "to the most important straits." The US military is watching Huthi activities along the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait connecting the Red Sea with the Indian Ocean. Yemeni rebels in late January attacked a Saudi warship in the Red Sea, and they are also believed to have fired missiles towards US warships in the area. The United States accuses the rebels of deploying coastal defence missiles and other weapons which threaten free navigation in the waters which are vital to global trade. Trump's Yemen focus has so far been on a major escalation of attacks against jihadists from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. But after talks with Prince Mohammed, Mattis warned of Iranian efforts to create a Yemeni militia "in the image" of Lebanon's Hezbollah. Washington provides intelligence as well as aerial refuelling to coalition warplanes conducting air strikes against the rebels in Yemen with American-supplied weapons. Pentagon officials are convinced that further military pressure will force the rebels back to peace talks, a strategy which other analysts are sceptical of. "Our goal is to push this conflict into the UN brokered negotiations to ensure that it ends as soon as possible," Mattis told reporters travelling on his first Middle East tour since taking office. After Saudi Arabia, Mattis travels Thursday to Egypt and then to Israel before returning to the Gulf for talks in Qatar. Local officials said the bomber crossed through the border town of Kerawa Three people were killed and four others wounded on Wednesday in a suicide attack in Cameroon's restive Far North, a local official said. "Just before 10:00 am, a suicide bomber who crossed from Nigeria entered Kolofata and blew himself up," a source from the town's vigilante committee said. "The blast killed three people -- a police officer and two civilians," he said. The bomber also died in the explosion which left another four people injured. The toll was confirmed to AFP by a source close to the security services. The local official said the bomber crossed into Cameroon through Kerawa, a town which lies on the border with Nigeria. Kolofata, which lies 10 kilometres (six miles) from the border with Nigeria, is located in a region of the same name which has been regularly targeted by Boko Haram extremists. In September 2015, between 20 and 40 people lost their lives in a double bombing in Kerawa -- one of the deadliest attacks on Cameroonian territory. A woman holds the portrait of a Palestinian prisoner during a rally in the West Bank city of Ramallah to show support to Palestinians detained in Israeli jails after hundred of them launched a hunger strike on April 17, 2017 Palestinian leaders on Wednesday denounced Israel's refusal to negotiate with Palestinians on hunger strike in Israeli jails, warning of a "new intifada" if any of them die. Some 1,500 Palestinian prisoners have joined the hunger strike that began Monday, according to Issa Qaraqe, head of detainees' affairs for the Palestinian Authority. Contacted by AFP, Israel's prison service declined to comment on the number. The hunger strike has been led by prominent prisoner and popular Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life sentences over his role in the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising. The prisoners have made a range of demands, from better medical care to access to telephones. Some 6,500 Palestinians are currently detained by Israel for a range of offences and alleged crimes. Around 500 are held under administrative detention, which allows for imprisonment without charge. Palestinian prisoners have mounted repeated hunger strikes, but rarely on such a scale. Qaraqe said the strike followed months of attempts at negotiations with Israeli authorities. "If their demands are not met, more prisoners will join the strike," he said. "We have asked the international community and the UN to intervene immediately." He added that if prisoners die, "that could lead to a new intifada." Israeli officials have vowed not to negotiate with the hunger strikers, with Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan on Tuesday calling them "terrorists and incarcerated murderers." Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said that authorities "would not hesitate to implement the law which authorises the force-feeding of detainees". The controversial law passed in 2015 concerns hunger strikers whose life is deemed in danger. Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said he wanted to take the approach of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who publicly refused to accede to the demands of IRA hunger strikers in 1981, 10 of whom died. Qaraqe accused Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, of "incitement" against the prisoners. Shawan Jabarin of Palestinian rights group Al-Haq said invoking the force-feeding law would be "tantamount to torture." Barghouti is popular among Palestinians, with polls suggesting he could win the Palestinian presidency. While many Palestinians view him as a hero, Israelis point to the bloody suicide attacks of the second intifada of 2000-2005 and his role in the uprising. He was convicted of attacks that killed five people, though declined to defend himself and did not recognise the court's legitimacy. For Palestinians, the prisons have become a stark symbol of Israel's occupation. Some 850,000 Palestinians have been incarcerated since the start of Israel's occupation 50 years ago, Palestinian leaders say. A video grab from April 13, 2017 footage courtesy of the Department of Defense shows a GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb striking an IS cave and tunnel systems in the Achin district of Afghanistan's Nangarhar province Fighting was still ongoing Wednesday near the site in eastern Afghanistan where the US dropped a massive bomb on an Islamic State group stronghold six days ago, a NATO spokesman said. Security forces have denied access to residents and media to the area where the US military dropped its GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast, dubbed the "Mother of All Bombs" and used in combat for the first time on April 13. The target was caves and hideouts being used by the jihadist group in the Achin district of Nangargar province. The blast triggered shockwaves which residents said they felt miles away. The Afghan defence ministry has said it killed at least 95 militants, including some IS commanders and foreign fighters, but no civilians. The statement could not be independently verified. "We are still engaged in active combat with the enemy" in the area, Captain Bill Salvin, a spokesman for NATO's Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan told AFP late Wednesday. Fighting was ongoing, he said, and there are a "lot of IEDs (improvised explosive devices)". A spokesman for Afghan special forces said the presence of landmines and "pockets of resistance" on top of mountains had slowed down operations in the area. He did not specify if the fighters were Islamic State. AFP correspondents said they saw no sign of fighting in the immediate area Wednesday, but were turned away by security forces before reaching the site. Salvin refused to confirm or deny the toll given by Afghan authorities, but said NATO had a "very high confidence" there had been no civilian casualties, adding security forces had warned families 48 hours before the strike. An assessment of the area could be "going on for a while", he added. Ahmad Jan, a resident of Achin who fled IS fighting and moved with his family to the provincial capital Jalalabad before the bomb was dropped, told AFP he had no idea whether his house or relatives survived the attack. "No one can go there, they have completely blocked the area. I don't know if my house is destroyed. They have not even shown any dead bodies to anyone," he said. Some Afghans have condemned the use of their country as what they called a testing ground for the weapon, and against a militant group that is not considered as big a threat as the resurgent Taliban. Analyst and retired general Atiqullah Amarkhail told AFP the US military needed time to analyse the impact and clean the debris. "It was not an ordinary bomb. It carried a special kind of explosives, it was tested in a mountainous area for the first time, I believe a team of US experts are now working on the ground to assess the effects and impacts," he said. 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 steadily lost ground in the face of heavy pressure both from US air strikes and a ground offensive led by Afghan forces. "What we understand is that Interpol has already issued a 'red notice' for criminal suspect Guo Wengui," foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China confirmed Wednesday that Interpol has issued a "red notice" for Guo Wengui, a real estate kingpin and outspoken critic of the ruling Communist Party. "What we understand is that Interpol has already issued a 'red notice' for criminal suspect Guo Wengui," foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regular briefing without giving details. A red notice is a "request to locate and provisionally arrest an individual pending extradition," according to the Interpol website. Citing sources briefed on the notice, the South China Morning Post reported Tuesday that Guo is suspected of paying 60 million yuan ($8.72 million) in bribes to disgraced former state security vice-minister Ma Jian, with whom he has been linked. Guo, who has made allegations of high-level corruption against Communist Party officials, has lived abroad since leaving China two years ago. "This (red notice) is suicidal behaviour coming from truly corrupt officials who fear that I will expose their crimes," Guo wrote on Twitter Wednesday. "This will only strengthen my determination to fight these bad guys until the end. Everything is just getting started!" Using the alias Miles Kwok, Guo noted that Interpol is merely an "organisation, not a government" and that he has not had Chinese identification papers for several years. Countries are not legally compelled to arrest the subject of a red notice and must decide for themselves how to proceed. The president of Interpol, Meng Hongwei, was previously China's vice minister of public security -- the first Chinese official to hold the post. His election last November sparked concern he would give Beijing more leverage to use the agency to track down dissidents abroad. Guo's tweets this month indicated that he has been in the United States and Britain, neither of which have extradition treaties with China. In an interview last month with the New York-based Mingjing TV, the billionaire property tycoon described in detail the catalyst for his departure from China: an alleged business dispute with relatives of former top party official He Guoqiang. He, which has now retired, was the highest-ranked leader in charge of investigating graft within the party's ranks. Government corruption is rampant in China and President Xi Jinping launched a much-publicised anti-graft campaign after coming to power in 2012. A 'huge threat to food security', fall armyworm has made its way to Rwanda Rwanda's government announced on Wednesday it had discovered fall armyworm on its crops, making it the third east African country afflicted by the plant-eating pest also recently spotted in Kenya. Uganda confirmed last month that fall armyworm had entered its borders after devastating crops in several southern African nations in what the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation said was a "huge threat to food security." Telesphore Ndabamenye, head of crop production at the Rwanda Agriculture Board, told AFP the harmless-looking brown caterpillar had afflicted most of Rwanda's 30 districts but said the outbreak was "not bad." "It is under control, there is big effort devoted to control it," Ndabamenye said. Meanwhile, Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper reported Monday the disease had struck maize crops in 11 of the country's 47 counties, in a blow to farmers whose profits have already been hit by a devastating drought. Though native to the Americas, the brown caterpillar first appeared in Nigeria and Togo last year, with some experts blaming commercial air travel for its spread. Agriculture is the backbone of many east African countries including Rwanda, where about 80 percent of the population depends on farming. Armyworm eats food sources like maize, wheat, millet and rice along with crops like cotton, potato, soybeans and tobacco. It has already taken a toll on Uganda where the government said this week the pest had spread to nearly half of the country's districts and that losses from crop destruction could top $193 million (180 million euros). While pesticides are effective, fall armyworm in the Americas has developed resistance to the chemicals. In a statement, Rwanda Defence Force called the bug "a real threat to national food security," and announced it had airlifted about 4,500 litres of pesticides used to counter it around the country. Prisoners in Kenya have been registering for the August presidential and parliamentary election Six Kenyans urged a court Wednesday to suspend a controversial decision by election officials to scrap a tender process and directly procure an electronic voting system for the August polls. The petition is the umpteenth disruption to already chaotic election preparations, a sensitive process in a country where accusations of rigging accompany almost every vote. The tender was awarded to French defence and biometrics company Safran last month, pushing aside another French company Gemalto, which was lined up to win the contract in a bidding process launched in December. In court documents seen by AFP, the six petitioners argue that the entire process was "manipulated and rigged... to culminate in an artificial crisis that would then be used to justify the single sourcing". The two companies were among 10 vying for a contract to provide biometric equipment to identify voters on the day of the August 8 presidential and parliamentary elections, and send results electronically to a central hub. The aim of the system is to prevent fraud through double voter registration or impersonation which are rife when manual voter registers are used. Accusations of fraud after 2007 elections fuelled post-poll violence that left more than 1,100 people dead and hundreds of thousands displaced. Gemalto was the only company to pass preliminary technical evaluations, however on March 22 the electoral commission (IEBC) cancelled the tender, arguing that Gemalto's offer was too expensive and that they doubted it would be able to deliver the technology on time. The IEBC then directly awarded the contract to Safran. Safran is no stranger to Kenyan elections. In 2013, the company provided kits to register voters -- large black boxes equipped with digital fingerprint readers. However the country's first taste of high-tech elections turned into a fiasco as massive technical problems on voting day forced officials to revert to manual voter identification. Losing candidate Raila Odinga cried foul, however urged his supporters to remain calm, avoiding a repeat of 2007 violence. This year incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta -- son of Kenya's founding father Jomo Kenyatta -- is seeking re-election. However it is unclear whether he will once again face off against Odinga -- son of the doyen of Kenyan opposition Jaramogi Oginga Odinga -- in another round of a long rivalry between the two political dynasties. Several opposition parties have united in a coalition to try to unseat Kenyatta, but with just over three months to go they are still agonising over who will be their flag-bearer. Former president Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso was ousted after 27 years in power Former Burkina Faso president Blaise Compaore goes on trial next week over the deadly crackdown against the popular uprising that toppled him, in what has been branded a "witch hunt" by his supporters. Thirty-three people were killed when the authorities crushed street protests against the long-serving Compaore in October 2014, according to an official toll. Compaore, who now lives in exile in the Ivory Coast, and 32 of his former ministers are being prosecuted for "murder, beating and deliberate wounding and complicity" in the April 27 trial. "We have no illusions, the dice have been thrown," Compoare's Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP) said in a statement Wednesday, accusing the government of using the country's institutions to "settle political scores" in a "witch hunt". The regime is being prosecuted for only seven of the deaths and the wounding of 82 people. The trial in the impoverished West African country will focus on a meeting when ministers authorised the use of force by the army against the protesters, the supreme court prosecutor said in February. All 32 former ministers on trial face the death penalty. Those who remain in Burkina Faso have been banned from leaving the country. After 27 years in power, Compaore had attempted to modify the constitution to allow him to serve a fifth mandate, sparking the popular revolt that led to his ouster. The former Burkina leader has taken Ivorian citizenship and is a long-time ally of Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara. In September 2015, soldiers still loyal to Compaore launched a failed coup against the transitional government, and in October last year the authorities said they had thwarted another attempt to seize power. The former French colony has been blighted by numerous coups and mutinies since gaining independence in 1960. US Defence Secretary James Mattis bids farewell to Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (C-R) following their meeting in Riyadh on April 19, 2017 US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis warned Wednesday of Iranian efforts to create a Yemeni militia "in the image" of Lebanon's Hezbollah, after talks with officials in Saudi Arabia. The kingdom leads an Arab coalition which for two years has been fighting in support of Yemen's government against rebels backed by Iran. Saudi officials have accused Tehran and the Lebanese Shiite militant group, which Iran supports, of aiding the Huthi rebels. Mattis told reporters of the need to overcome Iran's efforts "in destabilising yet another country and create another militia in the image" of Hezbollah. Washington alleges that Iran, Saudi Arabia's regional rival, has shipped missiles to Yemen but Tehran denies the charge. A United Nations panel in January reported that it "has not seen sufficient evidence to confirm any direct large-scale supply of arms" from Iran. Analysts from the International Crisis Group also said there has been "very little hard evidence" of Iranian arms to the Huthis, who are allied with troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Pentagon officials believe members of the Quds Force, the foreign operations wing of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, are in Yemen to help the Huthis. Hezbollah, a powerful political movement in Lebanon, is fighting alongside government forces in Syria and has been declared a "terrorist organisation" by Riyadh. Washington provides intelligence as well as aerial refuelling to coalition warplanes conducting air strikes in Yemen with American-supplied weapons. But after talks with Saudi Arabia's King Salman and Defence Minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Mattis did not indicate if President Donald Trump's administration was considering an increase in that support. Rights groups have repeatedly criticised the coalition bombing campaign in Yemen for causing civilian casualties. "Our goal is to push this conflict into the UN brokered negotiations to ensure that it ends as soon as possible," Mattis told reporters on his first Middle East tour since taking office. Seven ceasefires alongside UN-brokered peace efforts have so far failed to stop the fighting. Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe reviews the guard of honour during the country's 37th Independence Day celebrations at the National Sports Stadium in Harare April 18, 2017 Zimbabwe's main opposition and the party led by the country's former deputy president Joice Mujuru on Wednesday signed a pact to work together to topple long-ruling President Robert Mugabe's party in 2018 elections. "This is just the beginning of the building blocks towards establishing a broad alliance to confront ZANU-PF between now and the next election in 2018," said Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) "This is our collective struggle and I call upon the people of Zimbabwe to join us in working together... so that we can reclaim our country, our freedom and our dignity," Tsvangirai told journalists after signing the agreement. Mujuru, who leads the National People's Party, was fired from Mugabe's government and the ruling ZANU-PF party in December 2014 and later formed her own party. She said she was looking forward to working with Tsvangirai and that discussions had been on the table for a while. "This is something we have discussed since last year," she said. "We have taken more than six months to say the least, of consulting, discussing...." The two leaders would not divulge the terms of their agreement, but Tsvangirai revealed that he was planning to enter into similar agreements with other smaller political parties. Mujuru, a former ally of Mugabe was expelled from ZANU-PF after Mugabe's wife, Grace, accused her of plotting against the president and fanning factionalism in the party. She has denied the charges against her. A united coalition would be the first to challenge the dominance of Mugabe's ZANU-PF at the polls, after years of vote rigging allegations against the party which has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980. ZANU-PF has endorsed Mugabe who turned 93 in February as its candidate for next year's election but the liberation movement has recently been hit by factionalism over Mugabes succession, with two main factions jostling to succeed him in the event of his death. Although Mugabe has refused to name a successor, his wife Grace and vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa have been touted as potential replacements. A member of the Iraqi forces fires a rocket-propelled grenade towards Islamic State group fighters in the old city of Mosul on April 15, 2017 Several Iraqi troops required medical treatment following a chemical weapons attack by the Islamic State group over the weekend, a US official said Wednesday. Saturdays' attack saw IS launch some sort of low-level chemical agent at the Iraqis in western Mosul as they worked alongside US and Australian military advisors, Major General Joseph Martin said. "The Iraqi security forces ... were in the vicinity of one of the strikes. They were taken back to the appropriate level of medical care to make sure that they were alright," said Martin, who is the commanding general for the US-led coalition's land component. Martin said the agent was being tested, adding there was no confirmation that the Australians and Americans were exposed. "Nobody's died ... and the good news is that nobody has been impacted significantly by this," the general said. IS has periodically carried out attacks using chemical weapons, but both the toll and the impact on military operations has been minimal and the jihadists' bombs and bullets are far deadlier. Martin said all forward-deployed troops have the "appropriate equipment" to deal with chemical threats, but he did not say if this was used in Saturdays attack. The chemical was delivered by "indirect fire," which means by a mortar or shell of some sort. Iraqi forces are fighting to recapture west Mosul from IS after retaking the eastern side earlier this year, while soldiers and pro-government paramilitaries are also operating west of the city as part of the operation. The jihadist group overran large areas north and west of Iraq in 2014, but Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes have since regained much of the territory they lost. A general view of the Monastery of St. Catherine in Egypt's south Sinai, where a policeman was killed and three others wounded on April 18, 2017 Egyptian security forces killed a gunman suspected of shooting dead a policeman near St Catherine's monastery in the Sinai Peninsula, the interior ministry said on Wednesday. Three other officers were wounded in Tuesday's attack in South Sinai province at a checkpoint near the ancient site, the ministry said. The shooting, which the ministry said Tuesday was carried out by "a number of gunmen", was claimed by the Islamic State group. "Security forces in South Sinai, in cooperation with bedouin elements tracked the perpetrators' escape route and closed roads that would be used to escape," the scene of the shooting, the ministry said in a statement. It said the suspect began firing after he was found by security forces, "which required the forces to quickly deal with him, injuring him leading to his death." Security staff found an automatic weapon and ammunition, adding that "investigations are ongoing to identify the terrorist." St Catherine's monastery, a Christian site 500 kilometres (300 miles) southeast of Cairo in the south of the Sinai attracts thousands of visitors a year. Tuesday's attack comes nine days after Palm Sunday services at Coptic Christian churches in the cities of Tanta and Alexandria were struck by twin bomb attacks claimed by IS, killing 45 people. IS has threatened to carry out more attacks on Copts, which makes up about 10 percent of Egypt's population of more than 90 million people. Egypt has battled a jihadist insurgency in North Sinai province that has killed hundreds of policemen and troops since the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. In October 2015, IS claimed the bombing of a Russian airliner carrying holidaymakers from the popular South Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, killing all 224 people on board. US Vice President Mike Pence will visit the largest mosque in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation, Indonesia, a symbolic gesture for the deputy in an administration accused of stoking Islamophobia US Vice President Mike Pence will visit the largest mosque in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation -- Indonesia -- on Thursday, a symbolic gesture for the deputy in an administration accused of stoking Islamophobia. Pence will tour the Istiqlal Mosque and hold a multi-faith dialogue during the first day of a visit to Jakarta, the White House said. Pence's visit represents the Trump administration's most high-profile outreach to Muslims since coming to office and echoes a similar trip by Barack and Michelle Obama in 2010. About 90 percent of Indonesia's 255 million inhabitants are Muslim. Since becoming president almost 100 days ago, Donald Trump has hosted leaders from majority-Muslim Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. But his administration has also tried to ban travellers from several Muslim-majority nations, citing concerns about terrorism -- an effort currently being challenged in US courts. As a presidential candidate, Trump often appeared to flirt with the far right as he railed against "radical Islamic terrorism". Pence's visit has been welcomed by his hosts, who said they hoped it reflected a shift in US attitudes to Islam. Maruf Amin, the head of the Indonesian Ulema Council, the country's top Muslim clerical body, told AFP: "The US is a big country, with major influence, so it should present itself as a country which is friendly to everyone." "Hopefully Pence's visit indicates a change in attitude, at least that they are moving away from the stance that they don't like Islam much." Adam Mulawarman, the Indonesian foreign ministry's director of American affairs, said he believed "the visit to Istiqlal reflects the desire of the US to open itself to Islam, to engage in interfaith dialogue." Although Indonesia has long been held up as an example of inter-faith tolerance, religious intolerance has been rising in recent years, with a surge of attacks by Islamic hardliners on minorities. Critics say the case of Jakarta's Christian governor, who has been put on trial for blasphemy for allegedly insulting the Koran, has highlighted how religious freedoms are under threat. On Wednesday, a Muslim challenger appeared to have bested the Christian incumbent in a religiously charged Jakarta gubernatorial election. The presumptive winner Anies Baswedan was accused of pandering to hardliners to win votes. - Smoothing rough edges - Pence is currently on a tour of South Korea, Japan, Indonesia and Australia that is aimed at smoothing some of the rougher edges of Trump's rhetoric. In South Korea and Japan, Pence played down protectionist declarations of "America first" and reaffirmed US treaty commitments to the security of the two countries as tensions rise over Pyongyang's nuclear programme. But analysts say Pence's Muslim outreach in Indonesia, while welcomed, will likely not be enough to assuage fears that the Trump administration is anti-Islam. "President Trump's hostile pronouncements on Islam and Muslims have done considerable damage to his reputation in the Islamic world. It would take more than a visit to repair the damage," said Fawaz Gerges, an expert on the Middle East and Islam from the London School of Economics. In Jakarta, Pence will also meet President Joko Widodo who has been trying to reform the Indonesian economy and boost infrastructure projects. That agenda could provide some common ground. The Trump administration also wants to slash red tape and introduce a plan to fix America's creaking infrastructure. According to a White House foreign policy advisor, Pence will also praise Widodo's "leadership on counter-terrorism". Indonesia has long struggled with Islamic militancy. The talks are also likely to touch upon tensions in the South China Sea after recent clashes between Indonesian and Chinese vessels in waters near Indonesia's Natuna Islands on the fringes of the disputed waters. Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff speaks to his supporters on April 18, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia Republicans faced a sobering reminder of Donald Trump's unpopularity Wednesday after a young Democrat forced a run-off election in a conservative congressional district, highlighting the vulnerability of the president's party as opponents draw inspiration for fierce battles ahead. Harnessing clear frustration and dissatisfaction with the new president, 30-year-old Jon Ossoff came in first by a wide margin in a crowded field of candidates in Georgia's 6th district, securing 48.1 percent of the vote. But he fell just short of an outright majority in Tuesday's special election to fill the seat of now-Health Secretary Tom Price, setting the stage for a June 20 face-off against the second-place finisher, Republican Karen Handel. The race is seen as an early test of strength for the president, and Ossoff insisted his performance in a district held by Republicans since 1979 showed Trump's party is beatable on their own turf in the current political landscape. That is crucial if Democrats are to have a shot at reaching their stated objective: reclaiming control of the House of Representatives in next year's mid-term elections. "We defied the odds and shattered expectations -- and we are ready to fight on and win in June. Onward to victory," Ossoff, a documentary filmmaker and former congressional aide who campaigned on the idea he would be a check against Trump, said Wednesday on Twitter. Handel, Georgia's former secretary of state, won 19.8 percent of the vote. But there were numerous Republicans in the race, and in aggregate they secured 51 percent, compared to 49 percent for Democrats, a sign Ossoff has a challenge before him to flip the district. Ossoff was quick to declare "a victory for the ages" for Democrats. But Trump, his political brand at stake, painted an opposing picture. "Dems failed in Kansas and are now failing in Georgia," Trump tweeted, referring to last week's congressional race in a Wichita suburb where the Democrat fell short of an upset. "It is now Hollywood vs. Georgia on June 20th." Trump and top Republicans pointed to high-profile liberals and out-of-state Democratic groups funneling millions of dollars into a race showcasing their effort to nick the president and his party, only to come up short. "They ran to win last night and they lost," White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters. "They came up short." Spicer left open the possibility that Trump campaigns in Georgia ahead of the run-off. - 'Progressive energy' - Supporters of Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff wait for election returns Democrats still hope Ossoff can capitalize on Trump's lackluster popularity -- his poll numbers lag at around 40 percent, a record low for a new president. As they see it, a win in Georgia could jumpstart efforts to retake the House in 2018. "I'd rather be Jon Ossoff than Karen Handel right now," Tom Perez, the Democratic National Committee chairman, told CNN. "The progressive energy out there is palpable." Liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org in a statement called Ossoff's first-place finish in the relatively wealthy, conservative Atlanta suburbs "a huge triumph for the Resistance and for progressives." "The reason is clear: voters are rejecting Trump and his policies." Part of what is fueling Democratic excitement about the race is that while Trump won Georgia by six percentage points, the district that Ossoff seeks to win supported Trump by barely one point over Democrat Hillary Clinton. Voters cast their ballots for Georgia's 6th Congressional District in a special election "This is a Republican district but it is not a strongly Trump district," House Republican Tom Cole said of the sixth district, home to many well-educated voters who are reliably Republican but frustrated by the new president. "It does tell you this is the kind of seat that Democrats would and should focus on," he told CNN. While Democrats can savor the moral victory of nearly snatching a seat outright in a Republican stronghold, they will need to translate anti-Trump fury and substantial fundraising into concrete ballot-box results if they are to mount a viable comeback. Last week in Kansas, a Democrat came within seven points of winning the race for CIA Director Mike Pompeo's old seat, in a district that Trump won by 27 points in November. Another congressional battle will play out late next month in conservative-leaning Montana, where voters will pick a replacement for Republican Ryan Zinke, who has become Trump's US interior secretary. LINCOLN Bob Evnen said Monday he would support legislation to require voter photo identification in Nebraska if he is elected secretary of state next year and he'd review registration procedures to assure that only citizens can cast a vote. Evnen formally announced his candidacy at an event in the Capitol Rotunda that attracted a gathering of high-profile Republican figures, including U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer. The show of party support, combined with his previously demonstrated fundraising skills, stamp Evnen as a formidable front-runner in the 2018 race to succeed John Gale as secretary of state. Evnen told Monday's gathering that he would "put Nebraskans' safety first" in performing his accompanying duties as one of three members of the State Board of Pardons. A Lincoln attorney, Evnen was a co-founder and leader of Nebraskans for the Death Penalty, an organization that mounted a successful 2016 referendum drive to repeal the Legislature's earlier action eliminating capital punishment. The former member of the State Board of Education said that a voter ID requirement is "just common sense," and assurance that only citizens can register to vote is "essential for citizens' confidence" in Nebraska elections. A longtime party activist, Evnen is assistant Republican state chairman and previously served as the party's general counsel. He has been campaign treasurer for Fischer since 2011. Among high-profile Republicans on hand for Evnen's announcement were Attorney General Doug Peterson, former Gov. Kay Orr and former State Board of Education member Mark Quandahl, a former GOP state chairman. Evnen has the endorsement of Reps. Jeff Fortenberry and Don Bacon, along with former Gov. Charles Thone. Immediately following his announcement, Evnen embarked on a statewide campaign tour that will take him to 16 communities, including a stop Wednesday in Columbus. State Sen. John Murante of Gretna has introduced and prioritized a proposed constitutional amendment (LR1CA) to create voter ID requirements in Nebraska elections. Murante, along with Sen. Jim Smith of Papillion, are viewed as potential candidates for the Republican nomination for secretary of state. Gale announced last month he will not be a candidate for re-election after serving as the state's top elections official since 2000. As secretary of state, Evnen said, he would work closely with Gov. Pete Ricketts on efforts to expand Nebraska's global exports, particularly in terms of agricultural products. As protocol officer for the state, he said, the secretary of state serves as Nebraska's ambassador to the world. Evnen is a partner in Woods and Aitken Law Firm in Lincoln, where he has specialized in labor and employment law representing business clients. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson charged that the Iran nuclear accord would only delay its development of a weapon that could threaten its region and the world US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson branded the Iran nuclear deal a failure Wednesday as President Donald Trump ordered a review of how Washington is countering the threat from Tehran. The State Department admits that Iran has so far maintained its side of the bargain it struck with world powers in 2015 to curtail its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. But Tillerson argued the accord had just been a way of "buying off" the regime and would only delay its development of a nuclear weapon that could threaten its region and the world. "The Trump administration has no intention of passing the buck to a future administration on Iran," Tillerson told reporters. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed between Iran and world powers restricts its nuclear fuel enrichment for 10 years. Trump has between four and eight years left in office, depending on whether he wins a second term. Tillerson said the JCPOA "fails to achieve the objective of a non-nuclear Iran" and was a product of "the same failed approach of the past that brought us to the current imminent threat we face from North Korea." Trump's spokesman Sean Spicer said the review would be conducted by US government agencies over the next 90 days and recommendations would be presented to the president as to whether to stick by the deal. The nuclear deal was reached in Vienna in July 2015 between Iran and Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States. It was implemented in January last year. - 'Worst deal' - The then US administration under president Barack Obama hailed it as a victory for diplomacy over the threat of another new war to disarm a rogue state in an already unstable region. But US allies like Israel and Saudi Arabia were concerned the JCPOA does not shut down Iran's nuclear industry entirely nor forever, and Obama's domestic critics accused him of appeasing a terrorist state. On the campaign trail, Trump was a strident opponent of the "worst deal ever negotiated" and many of his supporters, including some in Congress, have been lobbying to re-impose sanctions on Tehran. Although Tillerson confirmed on Tuesday, at the end of a prior 90-day review period, that Iran is not cheating on the terms of the JCPOA, Washington has not ruled out breaking its own side of the agreement. And even if the United States does not reimpose the nuclear sanctions that it dropped under the deal, it could impose penalties on Iran for its alleged sponsorship of armed "terrorist" movements in other countries. "We have to look at Iran in a comprehensive way in terms of the threat it poses and all areas of the region and the world. And the JCPOA is one element of that," Tillerson said. "So we are going to review completely the JCPOA itself... It is another example of buying off a power who has nuclear ambitions and we buy them off for a short period of time and someone has to deal with it later." A picture taken on February 18, 2016 shows a general view of the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako renovated three months after a deadly attack that left 19 people dead A state of emergency that has been in force almost non-stop for 17 months in Mali was extended by 10 days from Thursday, the government said. The measure has been renewed several times since jihadists stormed the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako in November 2015, killing 20 people in an attack claimed by Al-Qaeda's regional branch. The west African nation's troubled north has witnessed a spate of jihadist strikes despite the emergency. On Tuesday armed men killed five soldiers and injured 10 others in an attack on an army post in the tense Timbuktu region. "Almost every day we receive reports of abominable acts of terrorism committed by enemies of peace and enemies of the country and its people," Mahamat Saleh Annadif, the head of the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, said on Tuesday. The government on Wednesday said the extension was needed as the "security situation in Mali and in the sub-region is still characterised by the continued threat of terrorism and serious attacks on people and their belongings." The decree hands extra powers to security forces and restricts public gatherings. Mali's north fell under the control of jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda in 2012 who hijacked an ethnic Tuareg-led rebel uprising, though the Islamists were largely ousted by a French-led military operation in January 2013. But jihadists continue to roam the country's north and centre, mounting attacks on civilians and the army, as well as French and UN forces still stationed there. YOLA, Nigeria (AP) - It may take years to find all the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by the Nigeria-based Islamic extremist group Boko Haram, the country's defense minister warned Tuesday. Boko Haram kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from a secondary school in the northeastern town of Chibok in April 2014. Some escaped and 21 were released last year after negotiations with Boko Haram, but 195 remain missing. Nigeria's military is searching Boko Haram's hideouts in the Sambisa Forest, a vast area covering parts of three states in the northeast, Gen. Manir Dan Ali told Voice of America's Hausa language service. He said even the United States needed a long time to find Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. "It took the U.S. up to seven, eight, up to 10 years before they could get to bin Laden," he said. "We are continuing our campaigning in the Sambisa Forest in all its nooks and corners." Ali spoke after Nigerians last week marked the third anniversary of the schoolgirls' abduction. In 2014, Boko Haram had seized control of much of northeastern Nigeria but it has been driven back by a military campaign. Failure to find the girls would translate into a victory for Boko Haram, said Sheikh Nuru Khalid, a member of a group that tries to encourage peace between Nigerian Muslims and Christians. "We can never allow the terrorists to win the war. If they got (away) free with those girls, then they have relatively won the war," he said. The government needs to address the psychological trauma suffered by victims of Boko Haram, human rights lawyer Abdu Bulama Bukar told VOA. "Married women have been made single again. Kids have been orphaned. Homeowners are without shelter," he said. "Nigerians have been turned into refugees in their own homeland." NEW YORK (AP) - A Brooklyn-based poet has won a $50,000 prize given for "exceptional talent" that merits greater recognition. Patricia Spears Jones is this year's recipient of the Jackson Poetry Prize, Poets & Writers told The Associated Press on Tuesday. Judges praised Jones, whose previous honors include a Pushcart Prize, for her "sophisticated and moving" work. "Patricia Spears Jones' poems are made of fever, bones, and breath. The fever of eros, the bones of family and friends, and the breath of everyday existence. She is an accessible poet, but never boring," the citation reads. "More of us should know who she is, and even more should read her." Among her books are "Painkiller," ''Femme du Monde" and, most recently, "A Lucent Fire: New and Selected Poems." Jones is also a playwright, contributor to BOMB magazine and a writing teacher who has led workshops at Cave Canem and Poets House and is on the faculty of Bloomfield College. Poets & Writers is a nonprofit literary organization founded in 1970. Previous winners of the Jackson prize include such acclaimed poets as Elizabeth Alexander and Claudia Rankine. HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Newtown Board of Education members hoped a newly elected President Donald Trump would speak out against a famous conspiracy theorist and others who question the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. Two months later, they have yet to receive a response. The school board sent a one-page letter in February, asking Trump to denounce the lies because the comments of those who deny what happened are still hurting the community, said Keith Alexander, board chairman. The letter singled out Alex Jones, a radio host whose "Infowars" programming has alleged the mass shooting was a hoax. As a candidate, Trump voiced admiration for Jones during a December 2015 interview, telling Jones: "Your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down." The school board wrote to Trump: "We are asking you to intervene to try to stop Jones and other hoaxers like him," urging him to "clearly and unequivocally" recognize that 20 children and six adults were killed at the school more than four years ago. In response to questions from The Associated Press about the school board's letter, the White House said: "President Trump has been quite clear that we, as a nation, are united in condemning hate and evil in all its forms." Messages were left seeking comment with Jones through the Infowars website and the radio network that produces his show. Alexander said the school board had not heard back from Trump as of this week. "I do hope that we will receive a direct response at some point," he said. In the days following the mass shooting, Trump used Twitter to express condolences to the Newtown families, saying it was "heartbreaking " to see the photos of the young Sandy Hook victims and saying "it was a horrible day for Newtown, CT and our country." Since the shooting on Dec. 14, 2012, several victims' relatives have been accosted or harassed by conspiracy theorists, including some who say it was staged to erode support for gun rights. The question of how to address conspiracy theorists has been a sensitive one in Newtown. Many don't want to talk about it publicly, fearing it will stir up more provocations. One parent whose child was killed at Sandy Hook, and who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of the fear of harassment, said many victims' families opposed the letter being sent to Trump for that reason. Leonard Pozner, whose 6-year-old son Noah was killed in the shooting, once had a caller leave a voicemail message telling him: "You gonna die, death is coming to you real soon." A Florida woman has been criminally charged in connection with voicemail and email threats to Pozner. A man accused of approaching the sister of slain Sandy Hook teacher Victoria Soto and angrily claiming the massacre hadn't happened was sentenced a year ago to two years of probation. A Newtown teacher told a court in September that he had brought a weapon to school because he feared for his safety after receiving threats from conspiracy theorists. Pozner said he doubts the school board's appeal to Trump will do much to sway anybody who believes the shooting that killed his son was some kind of hoax. "I don't think the president can do anything about this conspiracy theory, even if he wanted to," Pozner said. "The origin of conspiracy theories is a mistrust of government." While he believes there is little any government official can do, Pozner has been working since 2015 to keep conspiracy theories from gaining such prominence on the internet. His HONR Network encourages the public to contact advertisers on Google and social networks to raise awareness of how ad revenue is being used to support false news. Alexander said the school board sent the letter in hope that it would help. "The town of Newtown suffered a tragedy that brought with it more than its own direct consequences and the comments of those who deny the events only further harm our community," he said. "I believe the board of education action was intended to limit further harm from that behavior." FRANKLIN, W.Va. (AP) - West Virginia authorities say a law enforcement officer has fatally shot a person there after a chase that began in Virginia. West Virginia State Police Senior Trooper J.M Hebb says the pursuit started around 1 p.m. Tuesday in Rockingham County, Virginia, then crossed the state line and ended in West Virginia's Pendleton County. Hebb said West Virginia State Police, Pendleton and Hardy counties sheriff's officials and the state Division of Natural Resources took over the pursuit, which ended southeast of Franklin, where the driver was fatally shot. Hebb didn't know what prompted the chase to begin. Neither the person who was shot nor the officer has been identified. Hebb said the Pendleton County Sheriff's Office was investigating. BOSTON (AP) - The Latest on the dismissal of thousands of drug cases in Massachusetts because of misconduct by a former state drug lab chemist (all times local): 10:10 p.m. The American Civil Liberties Union says prosecutors are recommending more than 21,000 drug convictions in Massachusetts be dismissed because they were tainted by a former state drug lab chemist who pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence and falsifying tests. FILE - In this Nov. 22, 2013 file photo, former state chemist Annie Dookhan sits in Suffolk Superior Court in Boston. Dookhan pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence and falsifying thousands of tests in criminal drug cases, calling into question evidence used to prosecute the defendants. The state's highest court ordered the district attorneys in Massachusetts to produce lists by Tuesday, April 18, 2017, indicating how many of the approximately 24,000 tainted cases they would not or could not prosecute if new trials were ordered. (David L Ryan/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool, File) The ACLU said Tuesday night the final tally is 21,587 cases. The state Supreme Judicial Court had ordered district attorneys in eastern Massachusetts to produce lists by the end of Tuesday indicating how many of the approximately 24,000 involving Annie Dookhan they'd be unwilling or unable to prosecute if new trials were ordered. Dookhan pleaded guilty in 2013 to charges of obstruction of justice, perjury and tampering with evidence and was sentenced to three years in prison. ___ 8 p.m. More than 19,000 drug convictions in Massachusetts are being recommended for dismissal by prosecutors after they were tainted by a former state drug lab chemist who pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence and falsifying tests. The number could rise as additional district attorneys make recommendations. Annie Dookhan pleaded guilty in 2013 to charges of obstruction of justice, perjury and tampering with evidence and was sentenced to three years in prison. The state Supreme Judicial Court had ordered district attorneys in eastern Massachusetts to produce lists by the end of Tuesday indicating how many of the approximately 24,000 affected cases involving Dookhan they'd be unwilling or unable to prosecute if new trials were ordered. ___ 4:30 p.m. Prosecutors in Massachusetts are moving to dismiss thousands of drug convictions tainted by a former state drug lab chemist who pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence and falsifying tests. Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley said Tuesday his office has notified the state's highest court that it will seek dismissal of all but 117 of approximately 7,500 affected cases in the district, which includes Boston. Conley says many of the defendants in those cases have "significant criminal histories." Annie Dookhan pleaded guilty in 2013 to charges of obstruction of justice, perjury and tampering with evidence and was sentenced to three years in prison. The state Supreme Judicial Court had ordered district attorneys in eastern Massachusetts to produce lists by the end of the day on Tuesday indicating how many of the approximately 24,000 affected cases involving Dookhan they would be unwilling or unable to prosecute if new trials were ordered. ___ 2:17 p.m. District attorneys in Massachusetts are moving for the dismissal of thousands of drug cases tainted by the misconduct of a former state drug lab chemist. The state's highest court ordered the prosecutors to produce lists by the end of day Tuesday indicating how many of the approximately 24,000 affected cases they would not or could not prosecute if new trials were ordered. Those cases would be dismissed. Annie Dookhan pleaded guilty in 2013 to charges of tampering with evidence and falsifying thousands of tests in criminal drug cases. The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts estimates about 20,000 cases will be thrown out, which the group says would make it the single largest mass dismissal of criminal convictions in U.S. history. Dookhan served three years in prison. ___ 12:39 a.m. District attorneys in Massachusetts are facing a key deadline as they continue to deal with the damage caused by the misconduct of a former state drug lab chemist. The state's highest court ordered the DAs to produce lists by Tuesday indicating how many of the approximately 24,000 tainted cases they would not or could not prosecute if new trials were ordered. Those cases would be dismissed. Annie Dookhan pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence and falsifying thousands of tests in criminal drug cases, calling into question evidence used to prosecute the defendants. The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts estimates some 20,000 cases will be thrown out, which the group says could make it the largest mass dismissal of criminal convictions in U.S. history. Dookhan served three years in prison. TIMBO VIEJO, Argentina (AP) - President Donald Trump appears to have soured on Argentine lemons - at least on his predecessor's decision to end a 16-year ban on imports of the fruit. In December, President Barack Obama's administration said it would lift the ban on Argentine lemons, which had been imposed following complaints by producers in California that they carried diseases. But a month later Trump's administration issued a 60-day stay on the decision. That stay was recently extended for two more months, stalling the return of imports from one of the world's top producers of the fruit. In this April 10, 2017 photo, workers select lemons at a plant in Tucuman, Argentina. Lemons will be a top trade talking point when U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Argentine President Mauricio Macri in Washington on April 27. Growers in the South American country say the ban on imports of Argentine lemons is about Trump protectionism not sanitary standards. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) Lemons will be a top trade talking point when Trump welcomes Argentine President Mauricio Macri in Washington on April 27, with growers in the South American country saying the ban is more about Trump protectionism than sanitary standards. The two leaders have a personal relationship from their days as businessmen, which the center-right Macri hopes to leverage to bolster Argentina's relationship with the U.S. after years of anti-American posturing by his left-leaning predecessor, Cristina Fernandez. The 2001 ruling by a California court banning Argentine lemons imports did not block the entry of its lemon derivatives, including oil and juice, and exports to the U.S. and other international markets totaled about $800 million last year. The U.S. government decided to lift the ban a month before Obama left office as a sign of goodwill to Macri, who had reached out to Washington. But that didn't sit well with many California producers. "The Argentines have a problem as far as we are concerned with citrus black spot," Joel Nelsen, president of California Citrus Mutual, told The Associated Press about the disease that affects the crops and stains the fruit's peel. "The main reason we're against it is a pest and disease issue," Nelsen said. "The California citrus industry is the sole source of fresh citrus for the U.S. Florida is dying because of a disease. Texas is dying. And we're fighting hard against disease in California." Argentine farmers say they have complied with all the regulations and deny there are any sanitary problems with their fruit. Instead, they point to Trump's promise to buy and hire American in his inaugural speech. He has also vowed to impose punitive tariffs on goods from countries that he thinks harm American workers by flouting trade rules. "They have an animosity toward our product," said Jose Carbonell, the president of the Federcitrus Argentine Citrus chamber. "This is not a technical or a commercial issue." Argentina produces about 1.5 million metric tons of lemons a year, of which 95 percent are exported. Its main market is the European Union and its top growing region is located in Tucuman, about 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) north of Buenos Aires. It's Argentina's second-smallest province but the source of about 80 percent of its production The constant rain and frost-free conditions have turned the town of Timbo Viejo, on the outskirts of Tucuman's capital, into a hub for Argentine lemons. Augusto Battig, who manages farms owned by the Fruta Citrica SRL, one of Tucuman's top-producing companies, said "we've been working for many years and with lots of effort" to meet the conditions the U.S. is demanding. Lemons harvested between February and May undergo a pre-wash using sodium bicarbonate and other products. They are then separated according to quality and color and packed by hand in crates for their sale. "I think we're up to the situation and can meet all standards," Battig said. Bernardo Piazzardi, a professor at the Agribusiness and Food Center at Argentina's Austral University, said the EU allows imports of Argentine lemons and it "never hesitates to put barriers up if there is a plague or disease." But Nelson of the California citrus producers said the Obama administration's decision to lift the ban was done quickly to satisfy a political agenda and "we're not going to be a trading chip." "The President campaigned on a platform of protecting American industries from trade negotiations that create unnecessary vulnerabilities for domestic production, business, and jobs," he said. "The President's swift action in regard to the Argentine lemon rule is a clear signal that he intends to keep his campaign promise." __ Associated Press writer Luis Andres Henao contributed to this report. This April 10, 2017 photo shows lemons growing in a citrus orchard in Tucuman, Argentina. The Barack Obama administration lifted a 16-year-ban on imports of Argentine lemons a month before he left office as a sign of goodwill to President Maurico Macri who had reached out to Washington. But that didn't sit well with many California producers. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) This April 10, 2017 photo shows a citrus orchard in Tucuman, Argentina. President Donald Trump appears to have soured on Argentine lemons, at least on his predecessor's decision to end a 16-year-ban on imports of the fruit. In December, President Barack Obama's administration said it would lift the ban on imports of Argentine lemons, which had been imposed following complaints by producers in California that they carried diseases. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) This April 10, 2017 photo shows crates of freshly harvested lemons in a plant in Tucuman, Argentina. Argentina exports about 1.5 million metric tons of lemons abroad each year. Its main market is the European Union and its top growing region is located in northwest Tucuman, 800 kms (1,287 miles) north of Buenos Aires. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) TOKYO (AP) - The Latest on U.S. Vice President Mike Pence's trip to Asia (all times local): 5:45 p.m. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is wrapping up his visit to Japan with a stop at a youth baseball and softball event outside Tokyo. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, center, speaks to U.S. servicemen and Japanese Self-Defense Forces personnel on the flight deck of U.S. navy nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan at the U.S. Navy's Yokosuka base in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) Pence signed baseballs for players and was presented with two jerseys at Wednesday's gathering with dozens of young ballplayers. Pence was joined by American softball star Monica Abbott and Japanese player Akinori Iwamura. ___ 3:30 p.m. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is making a pitch for President Donald Trump's economic policies, telling U.S. and Japanese business leaders that a tax overhaul and cut in regulations will help business on both sides of the Pacific. Pence is speaking in Tokyo to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Japan. He says the Trump administration's plans to simplify the U.S. tax code and cut the corporate tax rate will "benefit every business represented here today." He also says the era of over-regulation "is over" and Trump aims to bring in a new era of jobs and growth. Pence was joined by U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Toyota President Akio Toyoda and executives from General Motors, 3M and Aflac. ___ 2:30 p.m. The U.S. military says an aircraft carrier participated in curtailed training with Australia before starting its journey north toward the Korean Peninsula. The U.S. Pacific Command said in a statement Wednesday that the USS Carl Vinson strike group is heading to the western Pacific "as a prudent measure." The U.S. is trying to ratchet up pressure on North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. Vice President Mike Pence said on an Asian tour this week that the era of "strategic patience" with North Korea is over. The Pacific Command statement said the Carl Vinson canceled a scheduled visit to Australia after leaving Singapore on April 8, but completed a shortened training exercise off northwestern Australia before heading north. The Navy said earlier that the carrier will arrive in the Korean region next week. ___ 11:05 a.m. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has once again pledged the Trump administration's commitment to defending its allies in Asia from North Korea and any other threats. Speaking to U.S. and Japanese troops on board the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier Wednesday, he called North Korea the most urgent and dangerous threat to the peace and security of the Asia-Pacific region. He said that under President Donald Trump, the U.S. will stand up to its enemies with its allies. Pence also said the U.S. would protect freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, the sea lanes vital to global shipping where China has been staking claim to disputed territory. The American vice president is on a 10-day trip to Asia that has been dominated by the North Korea issue. ___ 9:30 a.m. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is on board an American aircraft carrier stationed in Japan amid heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula. A ship bell signaled his arrival Wednesday morning on the USS Ronald Reagan at the U.S. Yokosuka naval base south of Tokyo. The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier is undergoing scheduled maintenance at its home port. Pence told the ship's captain that he had spoken to President Donald Trump, and Trump "wishes he were here." The vice president is on a 10-day tour of Asia. He visited South Korea earlier and will head to Indonesia after his stop in Japan. The trip so far has been dominated by U.S. and allies' concerns about North Korea's nuclear and missile development efforts. U.S. servicemen and Japanese Self-Defense Forces personnel wait for the arrival of U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on the flight deck of U.S. navy nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, at the U.S. Navy's Yokosuka base in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) U.S. servicemen and Japanese Self-Defense Forces personnel wait for the arrival of U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on the flight deck of U.S. navy nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, at the U.S. Navy's Yokosuka base in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, left, and his wife Karen, second from right, with their daughters Audrey, right, and Charlotte visit the main shrine of Sensoji Buddhist temple in Tokyo, Tuesday, April 18, 2017. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama) U.S. Vice President Mike Pence visits the main shrine of Sensoji Buddhist temple in Tokyo, Tuesday, April 18, 2017. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama) U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, left, and Japanese Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso listen to a question from a reporter during their joint press conference at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, Tuesday, April 18, 2017. After meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Pence held talks with Aso on a new U.S.-Japan "economic dialogue" to be led by the two. The new forum for trade talks was launched by U.S. President Donald Trump and Abe during the Japanese leader's visit to the U.S. in February. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, left, and Japanese Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Taro Aso, right,walk in the venue of the joint press conference at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, Tuesday, April 18, 2017. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, left, and Japanese Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Taro Aso, third right, attend during Japan U.S. Economic Dialogue at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, Tuesday, April 18, 2017. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool) Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, right, and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence shake hands prior to a luncheon hosted by Abe at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo, Tuesday, April 18, 2017. Pence arrived in Japan for talks Tuesday expected to focus largely on trade with America's anchor ally in the region. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, right, and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence shake hands prior to a luncheon hosted by Abe at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo, Tuesday, April 18, 2017. Pence arrived in Japan for talks Tuesday expected to focus largely on trade with America's anchor ally in the region. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool) U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, center left, waves with his wife Karen, center right, and daughters Audrey, top left, and Charlotte, top right, on their arrival at U.S. Navy's Atsugi air facility in Ayase, southwest of Tokyo, Tuesday, April 18, 2017. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama) U.S. Vice President Mike Pence waves before leaving for Japan, at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Tuesday, April 18, 2017. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man) WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - New Zealand announced Wednesday that it is introducing tougher requirements for skilled overseas workers as it tries to control immigration numbers that have reached an all-time high. The changes come a day after Australia said it would scrap a temporary visa for skilled overseas workers and after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an order he said should help American workers whose jobs are threatened by skilled immigrants. New Zealand's Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse said in a speech that the government was unapologetic that industries relying on overseas workers are finding it harder to recruit people from abroad. FILE - In this Jan. 26, 2017, file photo, New Zealand Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse, left, smiles as he interacts with refugee students during his visit to the UNHCR Tzu Chi Education Centre in Selayang, outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. New Zealand announced Wednesday, April 19, 2017, that it is introducing tougher requirements for skilled overseas workers as it tries to control immigration numbers that have reached an all-time high. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, File) "We are absolutely committed to the principle of kiwis first," he said, using an informal term for New Zealanders. The changes include new income thresholds. To qualify as skilled, immigrants will need to get a job in which they earn at least the median income. To qualify as highly skilled, they will need to earn at least 150 percent of the median income. Other changes include a new three-year limit for workers with lower skills. Woodhouse said the changes would control the number and improve the quality of immigrants. It is the second time New Zealand has tightened its immigration rules in the past six months and the latest changes come during an election year, when many people have expressed alarm at the immigration rate. In the year ending in February, net immigration reached a record 71,300 people, equivalent to 1.5 percent of New Zealand's total population of 4.8 million people. That's a big swing from five years earlier, when net immigration was negative as more people left the country than arrived. Part of the turnaround can be attributed to the nation's healthy economy, which is growing at more than 3 percent a year and is attracting back some New Zealanders who had moved abroad. The largest numbers of new migrants to New Zealand are coming from China, India and the United Kingdom. The South Pacific nation's median annual wage is about 49,000 New Zealand dollars (U.S. $34,400). KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghan officials say 14 Taliban fighters, including the shadow governor of the northern Baghlan province, have been killed in heavy fighting with Afghan forces. Amir Gul Hussainkhil, the deputy provincial chief police, said Wednesday that Afghan security forces launched a large-scale attack on the insurgents the night before in the western part of the province, setting off five hours of intense fighting and killing Taliban shadow governor Mawlavi Lal Mohammad. Hussainkhil said the dead also included a number of expert bomb makers. He says no government forces were killed. The Taliban have not commented on the fighting. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Unofficial results showed the minority Christian governor of the Indonesian capital was resoundingly defeated Wednesday by his Muslim challenger, after a campaign that cracked open religious and racial divides in the world's most populous Muslim nation. So called "quick counts" by 10 research companies show former Cabinet minister Anies Baswedan winning between 55 and 60 percent of votes with more than 80 percent of ballots counted. Incumbent Gov. Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama is on trial for blasphemy and hundreds of thousands protested against him in Jakarta, deriding his Chinese ancestry and calling for him to be imprisoned or killed. Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama who is seeking for his second term in office shows his ballot during the runoff election in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Residents of the Indonesian capital are electing a governor after a polarizing campaign that undermined Indonesia's reputation for practicing a tolerant form of Islam. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana) Baswedan, highly educated and with a moderate Muslim background, capitalized on the backlash against Ahok by courting the support of conservative clerics and figures on the radical fringe who opposed electing a non-Muslim. The polarizing campaign gave hard-line Islamic groups a national stage and has undermined Indonesia's reputation for practicing a moderate form of Islam. Ahok's defeat is a setback for his political patron, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, who on Thursday hosts Vice President Mike Pence on the Indonesian leg of an Asian tour. Ahok's rival Baswedan was supported by the political and business elite that Jokowi unexpectedly bested in the 2014 presidential election and who will be seeking to unseat him in 2019. Baswedan told reporters that he is committed to maintaining the diversity of Jakarta and will emphasize social justice. Ahok, who was Jakarta's first ethnic Chinese governor and first Christian in half a century, has been popular with middle-class Jakartans for his efforts to stamp out corruption and make the overflowing polluted capital more livable. But his brash manner and evictions of slum communities alienated many in the city of 10 million. Opponents seized their moment last year when a video surfaced of Ahok telling voters they were being deceived if they believed a specific verse in the Quran prohibited Muslims from electing a non-Muslim as leader. Hard-line groups drew huge crowds to protests in Jakarta, shaking Jokowi's centrist government. On Thursday, prosecutors will make their sentencing demand in Ahok's trial. Blasphemy is a criminal offense in Indonesia and punishable by up to five years in prison. Opinion polls released earlier in the week seriously miscalled the outcome of Wednesday's vote, showing Baswedan and Ahok neck-and-neck. In the west Jakarta neighborhood of Kebon Jeruk, Annisa Karolina, a 29-year-old restaurant cashier, said voting for a non-Muslim would be a sin, but she also believes Jakarta will be better run without Ahok. A couple standing near her at the polling booth nodded in agreement. "Yes, we need a new governor, a well-mannered Muslim governor who isn't pro-tycoons and businessmen, but who is also helping the poor," one of them, Faturrachman, said. More than 7 million people were eligible to vote and thousands of police and military personnel were deployed to secure the 13,000-plus polling places. ___ Associated Press writers Niniek Karmini and Ali Kotarumalos contributed to this report. Gubernatorial candidate Anies Baswedan, center, is mobbed by the press after giving his vote during the local election in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Millions of Indonesians in the capital Jakarta are electing a governor Wednesday in a poll that pits the minority Christian incumbent, Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, against Baswedan, a former Cabinet minister who has courted the support of conservative clerics who oppose electing a non-Muslim. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara) An electoral worker writes down votes during the runoff election in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Residents of the Indonesian capital are electing a governor after a polarizing campaign that undermined Indonesia's reputation for practicing a tolerant form of Islam. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) An electoral worker shows off a ballot paper with images of candidates to witnesses while counting ballots during the runoff election in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Residents of the Indonesian capital are electing a governor after a polarizing campaign that undermined Indonesia's reputation for practicing a tolerant form of Islam. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) Electoral workers help an elderly woman cast her ballot at a makeshift polling station under a bridge during the runoff election in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Millions of Indonesians in the capital are electing a governor Wednesday after a polarizing campaign that undermined the country's reputation for practicing a tolerant form of Islam. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana) Indonesians give their votes at a polling station during the local election in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Millions of Indonesians in the capital Jakarta are electing a governor Wednesday in a poll that pits the minority Christian incumbent, Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, against Baswedan, a former Cabinet minister who has courted the support of conservative clerics who oppose electing a non-Muslim. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara) Indonesians queue up give their votes at a makeshift polling station under a bridge during the runoff election in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Residents of the Indonesian capital are electing a governor after a polarizing campaign that undermined Indonesia's reputation for practicing a tolerant form of Islam. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana) PARIS (AP) - Far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen vowed on Wednesday to end the fear of terrorism in France and stamp out the "poison" of Islamic radicals, holding her final rally in the southern port city of Marseille, where police arrested two men a day earlier on suspicion of plotting an attack around this weekend's vote. Independent centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron, who was at the top of a recent poll, reached out to the Muslim community for solutions. With four days until Sunday's first round of the presidential election, candidates blanketed the country ahead of the nail-biting election. Tight security was the order of the day for Le Pen and other top candidates. Supporters of far-right leader and candidate for the 2017 French presidential election Marine Le Pen waves flags during a meeting in Marseille, southern France, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Le Pen and centrist Emmanuel Macron are among four leading candidates seen as most likely to progress from Sunday's first round and to reach the May 7 runoff between the top two. Supporter on right wears a shirt with the pictures of Che Guevara on it. (AP Photo/Michel Euler) The populist Le Pen, a leading candidate, called for a "national insurrection, peaceful and democratic ... to give France back to its people." Police scuffled with ultra-left and anti-Le Pen protesters heading to her rally. Gaspard Flamant, 26, said he feared Le Pen could win. "We saw (President Donald) Trump, we saw Brexit ... so I'm mistrustful," he said. Le Pen has in the past expressed hope that the anti-system momentum would rub off on her. However, she has recently lost the leader's edge in polls. Socialist candidate Benoit Hamon promised that if he won France's presidency he would give asylum to Edward Snowden, the former U.S. National Security Agency contractor who has taken refuge in Moscow since revealing details of secret U.S. government eavesdropping programs in 2013. Crowds danced on a Paris plaza at what was seen as a last-chance rally for Hamon, polling a distant fifth place ahead of Sunday's vote, which will send the top two vote-getters to a decisive runoff election May 7. A defeat by Hamon could crush the party of unpopular Socialist President Francois Hollande, who chose not to seek a second term. Le Pen, the anti-immigration and anti-EU candidate, used her final appearances to highlight a nationalist agenda in which "the essentials" are security, illegal immigration and the French identity, which she says is being lost as Islamists try to usurp French civilization and multiply the threat of terrorism. Ahead of his final event in the western city of Nantes, Macron met with the country's RAID intervention force accompanied by Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian. He also met with the head of the main Muslim federation, saying the group is fighting on a "common front" alongside the state against Islamic extremism. Le Pen dismissed as "folly" government statements that France, which has been subjected to multiple deadly attacks in recent years, must be prepared to live with the threat of terrorism. "This immense army in the shadows who want us to live in fear .... is not a fatality," she told the cheering crowd. In Marseille. She reiterated her plan to expel all foreigners in a suspect file and strip dual national suspects of their French nationality. But, she said, her first job as president would be to pull France out of the borderless Schengen agreement and give the nation back its borders, which she called a "sieve" for the entry of terrorists who she said travel Europe like tourists. She assailed recent governments for failing to stop attacks and warned on BFM television earlier in the day; "We are all targets - all the French." Le Pen and Macron have jostled for the lead in opinion polls, with conservative candidate Francois Fillon third and far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon fourth. However, Le Pen has lost some ground as Fillon and Melenchon closed the gap. A poll by the BVA firm published Wednesday evening said Macron led with a one-point advantage over Le Pen, with Fillon and Melenchon four points behind. Hamon, the Socialist, trailed in fifth. After his meeting with Anouar Kbibech, head of the French Muslim federation CFCM, Macron issued a statement insisting on the importance of respecting France's secular traditions but saying those shouldn't be used to target Muslims. Some Muslims feel unfairly targeted by French laws banning headscarves in schools and full-face veils in public. Le Pen has said she would extend the law banning "ostensible" religious signs to the streets of France. The Grand Mosque of Lyon issued an appeal urging Muslims to cast ballots instead of isolating themselves, "so that all the children of France, regardless of their skin color, their origins or their religion, are fully involved in the future of their country." Le Pen, who wants to withdraw France from the European Union and do away with the euro currency, defended her decision to force national news network TF1 to take down the EU flag during an interview Tuesday night. She said that "I am a candidate in the election for the French republic" and the EU is acting like France's "enemy." France and Germany are the top two economies in the EU and an exit by France would devastate the bloc and upset financial markets. ___ Associated Press writers Angela Charlton in Paris and Milos Krivokapic in Marseille contributed to this report. A supporter of French centrist presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron glues a campaign poster in Bayonne, southwestern France, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. The two-round presidential election is set for April 23 and May 7. (AP Photo/Bob Edme) Supporters of far-right leader and candidate for the 2017 French presidential election Marine Le Pen hold flags and a poster as they wait outside to attend a meeting in Marseille, southern France, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Le Pen and centrist Emmanuel Macron are among four leading candidates seen as most likely to progress from Sunday's first round and to reach the May 7 runoff between the top two. (AP Photo/Michel Euler) Christophe Sanz, a supporter of French centrist presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron, glues a campaign poster next to a poster of far-right candidate Marine le Pen, in Bayonne, southwestern France, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. The two-round presidential election is set for April 23 and May 7. (AP Photo/Bob Edme) Francois Fillon, right, former French Prime Minister, member of the Republicans political party and 2017 French presidential election candidate of the French centre-right, is greeted by supporters as he arrives to attend a campaign rally in Lille, France, Tuesday, April 18, 2017. (Christian Hartmann/Pool photo via AP) Francois Fillon, right, former French Prime Minister, member of the Republicans political party and 2017 French presidential election candidate of the French centre-right, is greeted by supporters as he arrives to attend a campaign rally in Lille, France, Tuesday, April 18, 2017. (Christian Hartmann/Pool photo via AP) A hologram of French Left party leader and candidate for the 2017 French presidential election Jean-Luc Melenchon speaks to supporters who gathered in Grenoble, southeastern France, Tuesday, April 18, 2017. Melenchon held a rally in Dijon and his hologram was projected by satellite to six other cities. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani) WARSAW, Poland (AP) - European Council President Donald Tusk spent more than eight hours behind closed doors Wednesday being questioned by Polish prosecutors, emerging from the proceedings to say the case in which he appeared as a witness is of a "highly political character." Military prosecutors are investigating allegations of secret illegal contacts between Polish and Russian intelligence officials during the period when Tusk was Poland's prime minister. Former top intelligence officials are suspects in the case. Tusk told reporters as he left the prosecutors' office in Warsaw that he cannot give details about his closed-door testimony, which is secret, but that he was treated hospitably to "tea, coffee and water." European Council President Donald Tusk tells reporters the case in which he was questioned for over eight hours as a witness in Warsaw, Poland, is of highly political character, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. The investigation deals with alleged secret illegal contacts between Polish and Russian intelligence officials at a time when Tusk was Poland's prime minister from 2007-2014. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski) "The whole case has a highly political character," Tusk said. Before speaking to reporters, he shook hands and gave autographs to a large group of people waiting outside the prosecutors' office. Tusk is not a suspect, but only a witness in the investigation. The alleged illegal activity took place during his 2007-2014 tenure as prime minister. Many see his questioning as part of a larger attempt by Poland's nationalist government to discredit a political foe by linking him to scandals. With backing for Tusk still strong in the country, he could prove to be a serious rival to the ruling party in the 2019 parliamentary election and in the 2020 presidential election. Tusk's lawyer, Roman Giertych, told private broadcaster TVN24 that Tusk is "treated by the current ruling team as a serious political threat, and for that reason the case has a political character." Giertych, who was present for the questioning, said it took so long partly because the minutes were taken by hand. Tusk said he appeared for the questioning "out of respect for the Polish state." But he said he also informed the prosecutors he would invoke his diplomatic immunity as a top EU official, if he comes to the conclusion that the proceedings are intended to keep him from doing his current job. Last month, Poland's current government tried to block his re-election to the top EU-job, for motives rooted in the political rivalry. Tusk also has been accused by Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz of treason in another matter, the handling of the aftermath of the 2010 plane crash in Smolensk, Russia, that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski. An agitated crowd of both faithful supporters and angry opponents greeted him when he arrived at Warsaw's main train station on Wednesday morning to testify. Emotions at the train station ran high. Tusk's supporters carried EU and national flags and chanted, "Donald, we are with you!" Opponents hurled accusations of crimes and of Tusk having hurt Poland's interests. One detractor raised a large mock-up photo depicting him in striped prison garb. In the current case, prosecutors have not revealed details of the alleged illegal contacts, but they are investigating whether the heads of Poland's intelligence neglected their obligation to seek Tusk's approval for cooperating with foreign intelligence agencies. Polish media reports say the deal was aimed at allowing Polish investigators probing the president's plane crash to operate on Russian soil. Tusk's lawyer confirmed the case seemed to center on events that followed the crash. "I have no reservations as to the work of the (special) services," Tusk said before his meeting with prosecutors. Poland's current ruling conservative party, Law and Justice, is led by the late president's twin brother, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, a nationalist politician who is a long-term political rival of Tusk's. Kaczynski and others accuse Tusk of failing to oversee proper security for the presidential flight. They also fault Tusk for letting the Russians carry out the main investigation and for failing to get the wreckage back. Following centuries of troubled relations, Poles harbor mistrust toward Russia. Kaczynski drove the failed effort last month to block Tusk from getting a second term as head of the European Council. Only Poland opposed Tusk's re-election, which was approved by the 27 other EU members. Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council waves as he arrives at the prosecutor office in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. He has to testify in an investigation into an alleged secret deal between Polish and Russian intelligence officials. Tusk is to be questioned by prosecutors in Warsaw as a witness. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski) Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council arrives at Warsaw Central train station in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Tusk has to testify in an investigation into an alleged secret deal between Polish and Russian intelligence officials. Tusk is to be questioned by prosecutors in Warsaw as a witness..(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski) Supporters of former Polish Prime Minister and European Council President Donald Tusk gather at the Central Railway Station in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Tusk has to testify in an investigation into an alleged secret deal between Polish and Russian intelligence officials. Tusk is to be questioned by prosecutors in Warsaw as a witness. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski) Supporters of former Polish Prime Minister and European Council President Donald Tusk gather at the Central Railway Station in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Tusk has to testify in an investigation into an alleged secret deal between Polish and Russian intelligence officials. Tusk is to be questioned by prosecutors in Warsaw as a witness. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski) European Council President Donald Tusk tells reporters the case in which he was questioned for over eight hours as a witness in Warsaw, Poland, is of highly political character, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. The investigation deals with alleged secret illegal contacts between Polish and Russian intelligence officials at a time when Tusk was Poland's prime minister from 2007-2014. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski) Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council walks with supporters as he arrives at the prosecutor office in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. He has to testify in an investigation into an alleged secret deal between Polish and Russian intelligence officials. Tusk is to be questioned by prosecutors in Warsaw as a witness. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski) European Council President Donald Tusk tells reporters the case in which he was questioned for over eight hours as a witness in Warsaw, Poland, is of highly political character, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. The investigation deals with alleged secret illegal contacts between Polish and Russian intelligence officials at a time when Tusk was Poland's prime minister from 2007-2014. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski) Supporters of former Polish Prime Minister and now European Council President Donald Tusk gather at the Central Railway Station in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Tusk has to testify in an investigation into an alleged secret deal between Polish and Russian intelligence officials. He is to be questioned by prosecutors in Warsaw as a witness. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski) Supporters of former Polish Prime Minister, European Council President Donald Tusk gather at the Central Railway Station in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Tusk has to testify in an investigation into an alleged secret deal between Polish and Russian intelligence officials. Tusk is to be questioned by prosecutors in Warsaw as a witness. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski) Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council arrives at the prosecutor office in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. He ha to testify in an investigation into an alleged secret deal between Polish and Russian intelligence officials. Tusk is to be questioned by prosecutors in Warsaw as a witness. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski) Supporters of former Polish Prime Minister and European Council President Donald Tusk gather at the Central Railway Station in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Tusk has to testify in an investigation into an alleged secret deal between Polish and Russian intelligence officials. Tusk is to be questioned by prosecutors in Warsaw as a witness.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski) Supporters of former Polish Prime Minister and now European Council President Donald Tusk gathered at the Central Railway Station in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Tuske has to testify in an investigation into an alleged secret deal between Polish and Russian intelligence officials. He is to be questioned by prosecutors in Warsaw as a witness. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski) Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council walks with supporters as he arrives at the prosecutor office in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. He has to testify in an investigation into an alleged secret deal between Polish and Russian intelligence officials. Tusk is to be questioned by prosecutors in Warsaw as a witness. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski) MOSCOW (AP) - A cargo ship carrying grain from southern Russia to Turkey capsized Wednesday during a storm in the Black Sea and one of the 12 crew members on board has been rescued, Russian emergency services said. A search was underway for the remaining crew members, but emergency services said that high waves and strong winds were hampering the operation. The Russian marine transport agency said that the crew of the Turkish-owned Heroes of Arsenal included nine Ukrainians, two Russians and one Georgian, Russian news agency Tass reported. The rescued sailor was from Ukraine. The ship left the port city of Azov loaded with grain and capsized early Wednesday near the Kerch Strait. The vessel was carrying up to 30 tons of oil products in its hold, raising concerns of environmental damage, Tass reported. Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today: 1. GEORGIA HOUSE SEAT STILL UNDECIDED A June 20 runoff between Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican Karen Handel is an early barometer for Trump and both parties ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, center right at bottom, takes a selfie with U.S. servicemen on the flight deck of U.S. navy nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, at the U.S. Navy's Yokosuka base in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) 2. 'THE SHIELD STANDS GUARD AND THE SWORD STANDS READY' From the deck of a massive aircraft carrier off Tokyo, Vice President Mike Pence warns North Korea not to test the resolve of the U.S. military. 3. TRUMP SHAKING UP STATUS-QUO IN NORTH ASIA In trying to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, Pyongyang sees more volatility, China calls for calm and Japan weighs a retaliatory capability. 4. WHAT MAY HAVE MOTIVATED FRESNO SHOOTER Before he shot to death three people at random, Kori Ali Muhammad, a 34-year-old black man, told police he wanted to kill as many white people as he could before he was captured. 5. MANHUNT ENDS IN UNLIKELY FASHION Facebook slaying suspect Steve Stephens was undone when a worker at a McDonald's near Erie, Pennsylvania, recognized him at the drive-thru window. 6. WHERE TRUMP SUPPORT IS STRONG Residents of Androscoggin County, Maine, backed a Republican for president for the first time in decades because many support his views on immigration, AP finds, even though the town has been bolstered by immigrants. 7. AP: PERU BACKSLIDING ON ILLEGAL LOGGING The 2015 impoundment of a freighter in Houston carrying tons of Amazon rainforest wood represents a rare victory in the battle to preserve tropical forests. 8. HOW NAVY IS ADDRESSING FEMALE SAILORS Defense contractor Electric Boat is designing what will be the first U.S. fleet of Navy submarines built specifically to accommodate female crew members. 9. NO SPINNING THIS ONE Viewership of Fox News Channel's "O'Reilly Factor" drops without its vacationing and scandal-riddled host, Bill O'Reilly. 10. WHO'S WONDERING WHETHER HE'LL 'GET THAT ITCH AGAIN' Michael Phelps hasn't gotten the urge to return to swimming, but the winningest athlete in Olympic history hasn't ruled out yet another comeback. This undated photo provided by the Fresno Police Department shows Kori Ali Muhammad a suspect in the Fresno, Calif., shooting on Tuesday, April 18, 2017. Muhammad was arrested on Tuesday shortly after the deadly morning rampage that left several dead according to police. (Fresno Police Department via AP) KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) - Years of growing animosity at Chinese traders turned into a protest by hundreds in Uganda's capital on Wednesday against what local businesses called unfair competition, while the mayor warned against the tensions turning into xenophobic attacks. Hundreds of Ugandan traders protested in Kampala, some carrying placards urging Chinese traders to leave. Many Ugandans accuse Chinese traders of moving to this East African country as serious investors but then setting up businesses in small trade. Many Ugandan merchants want the Chinese restricted to large business ventures. Kampala Mayor Erias Lukwago, who supported the protest, said the government must protect local traders to prevent the protests from escalating into attacks against foreign traders. FILE--In this a Tuesday, June 23, 2015 file photo, ofChinese national Wei Kun as he adjusts a display as he waits for customers at his shoe shop in Kampala, Uganda. Years of growing animosity at Chinese traders turned into a protest by hundreds in Uganda's capital on Wednesday April 19, 2017 against what local businesses called unfair competition, while the mayor warned against the tensions turning into xenophobic attacks. (AP Photo/Stephen Wandera-File) "We are likely to have xenophobia here. That's where we are heading, unless they come up with measures to protect indigenous traders," the mayor said. Inexpensive Chinese goods have long been popular in Africa, and in the last decade Chinese merchants have started eliminating the middleman and setting up retail outlets of their own, much to local merchants' chagrin. Calls to the Chinese embassy rang unanswered. Ugandan police spokesman Asan Kasingye called Wednesday's street protest illegal and "should not be accepted by law-abiding people," because it targeted a specific group of foreigners. Chinese merchants operating with valid papers will be protected, Kasingye said. Ugandan immigration officials routinely deport groups of Chinese found operating without valid work permits. Many others operate legally across the country. Perspective foreign investors in Uganda must provide evidence of $100,000 in planned investment and obtain the necessary trade licenses, according to official guidelines. In 2011, riots in Kampala largely targeted foreign merchants, echoing the 1972 expulsion of the country's Indian middle class by dictator Idi Amin. BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) - Hungarian lawmakers began debating a draft bill on Wednesday that critics say is meant to intimidate non-governmental organizations which receive foreign financing. Among other conditions, NGOs getting more than 7.2 million forints ($24,600) a year from abroad would have to register with the courts and identify themselves as being foreign-funded on their websites and publications. Failure to comply could lead to fines or termination of the groups. The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, one of the affected NGOs, said that the law was "devastating." Co-chairman and parliamentary faction leader of LMP (Politics Can Be Different) green-liberal party, Bernadett Szel, speaks during the general debate regarding the proposed legislation on the transparency of foreign-funded NGOs at the parliament in Budapest, Hungary, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. (Szilard Koszticsak/MTI via AP) The proposal "is another attempt by the government to silence public opinion on public matters," the organization said. "The bill ... is devastating. It will have a chilling effect on independent opinions on the government's affairs and it hands the government a tool to suppress differing opinions." Lawmakers from Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party said that the only aim of the law was to achieve greater transparency in the civil sector. Fidesz claims that some of the NGOs in question, like rights advocate the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and corruption watchdog Transparency International, are "foreign agents" and part of a network financed by billionaire George Soros to influence Hungarian politics. "The Soros empire set out to promote the cause of migrants and mass migration," Orban said Sunday on state radio. "This is now about the security of the Hungarian people, the security of Hungary, the protection of the borders, public security and terrorism. On this there can be no compromise." Orban is staunchly anti-migration, with Hungary building razor-wire fences on its southern borders in 2015 to stop the flow of migrants passing through the country on their way to Western Europe. The Helsinki Committee, for example, has earned the government's wrath because it offers legal counsel to asylum-seekers and recently represented two men from Bangladesh who won a judgment against Hungary at the European Court of Human Rights after they were expelled illegally to Serbia in 2015. Members of the opposition compared the legislation to similar rules introduced in Russia and efforts by Hungary's communist regime, which ended in 1990. "This law not only wants to make enemies of the civic groups but also seeks to destroy them morally," said Erzsebet Schmuck of the green party Politics Can Be Different. Religious and sports organizations, as well as certain funding received from the European Union would be exempt from the law, expected to be passed next month. The NGO law comes on the back of amendments to a law on higher education, passed two weeks ago, which were seen as targeting Budapest-based Central European University, founded by Soros in 1991. The U.S. State Department, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, as well as hundreds of Hungarian and foreign academics and dozens of universities protested the "lex CEU," which opposition lawmakers announced they would appeal to the Constitutional Court. The recent legislation has also earned criticism from conservative groups usually supportive of Orban and even U.S. backers of Hungarian causes. "Regrettably ... the Hungarian government has chosen to focus energy on the ill-conceived legislation attacking NGOs and the prestigious American university, CEU, which is quickly deteriorating bilateral relations," said Maximilian Teleki, president emeritus of the nonprofit Hungarian American Coalition based in Washington. "This is yet another unforced error that is deeply concerning to the Hungarian-American diaspora." Numerous rallies over the past weeks in Budapest opposing the two laws have been presented by the government as proof that despite the opposition's criticism of Orban's increasingly authoritarian tendencies, Hungary remains a healthy democracy. FILE - In this April 12, 2017 photo people gather to protest in Heroes Square in Budapest. Hungarian lawmakers have begun debating a draft bill seen as meant to intimidate non-governmental groups which receive foreign financing. Deputies from Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party said Wednesday, April 19, 2017 that the only aim of the law is greater transparency in the civil sector. (Zoltan Balogh/MTI via AP,file) Deputy faction leader of Fidesz - Hungarian Civic Alliance, Gergely Gulyas, participates in the general debate regarding the proposed legislation on the transparency of foreign-funded NGOs during the plenary session of the parliament in Budapest, Hungary, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. (Szilard Koszticsak/MTI via AP) Istvan Szavay of the oppositional right-wing party Jobbik participates in the general debate of deputies regarding the proposed legislation on the transparency of foreign-funded NGOs during the plenary session of the parliament in Budapest, Hungary, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. (Szilard Koszticsak/MTI via AP) SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Unpredictable. Unhinged. Dangerous. Many South Koreans are using those words to describe the president of their most important ally, rather than the leader of their archrival to the North. They worry that President Donald Trump's tough, unorthodox talk about North Korea's nuclear program is boosting already-high animosity between the rival Koreas. No matter whether Trump succeeds at getting North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons and missile programs, his actions, comments and tweets are changing how the region views the long-running conflict. Senior North Korean officials see their relations with Washington as even more volatile than before. China is appealing for calm, and possibly re-examining its role. Japan is weighing a retaliatory strike capability against the North. FILE - In this April 7, 2017, file photo, U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he and Chinese President Xi Jinping walk together after their meetings at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. After decades of failure to stop North Korea's march toward a nuclear arsenal, some see Trump's bluster as a shrewd attempt to press China, the North's most important ally and trading partner, into pressuring North Korea more aggressively over its nuclear program. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File) ___ CHINA After decades of failure to stop North Korea's march toward a nuclear arsenal, some see Trump's bluster as a shrewd attempt to press China, the North's most important ally and trading partner, into pressuring North Korea more aggressively over its nuclear program. Trump has said he's willing to make trade and economic concessions to China in return for its help with North Korea. "A trade deal with the U.S. will be far better for them if they solve the North Korean problem!" Trump said on Twitter, recounting what he told Xi while hosting him this month at his Palm Beach, Florida, resort. Pulling back from a campaign promise, Trump has also said he would not declare China a currency manipulator, as he looked for help from Beijing. The rhetoric seems to be blurring the lines between North Korea and economic ties with China, issues that previous U.S. administrations had kept separate. If such persuasion falls short, Trump has suggested he might use more coercive methods. So-called secondary sanctions on Chinese banks that do business with North Korea could also be in the offing, officials have said. "Trump is posing a hard choice to Beijing - do something, something about North Korea and hope it generates some effects, or face American economic retaliation," said Dean Cheng, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. "Whether that works or not, it's a very different strategy from the last three presidents." Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University, said that the way U.S. officials describe "maximum pressure and engagement" suggests that the Trump administration wants to ease Chinese fears about a collapse in North Korea, something that prevented Beijing from aggressively pressuring the North in the past. "If the United States and China can set the tone, there will also be more opportunities for dialogue. It seems Trump could be more willing to cut a deal with North Korea than Obama was," Koh said. ___ SOUTH KOREA South Koreans may be uneasy about North Korea's expanding arsenal of weapons, but many doubt that the country's leader, Kim Jong Un, wants to start a war that would likely end in the destruction of his government and the ruling elite. Donald Trump is another story, judging by widespread concern posted on Twitter. Some see him as a hot-tempered, unpredictable leader who might attack North Korea before it masters the technology to build a nuclear-tipped missile that could hit the U.S. mainland. North Korea is moving steadily toward that goal, and some experts believe it could achieve it during Trump's presidency. U.S. strikes earlier this month against Syria, coupled with Trump's dispatching of what he called an "armada" of U.S. warships to the Korean region, touched off fears that the United States was preparing for military action, though it was revealed this week that the flotilla was taking a roundabout path to Korean waters and has yet to arrive. Lim Eul Chul, a North Korea expert at South Korea's Kyungnam University, doesn't think Trump wants to attack North Korea but said he appears eager to send a message that war is possible. That has driven North Korea to issue its own threats and begin preparations for "even a 1 percent chance that the U.S. will launch pre-emptive strikes," Lim said. "That's just how the authoritarian Kim government survives." The Kyunghyang Shinmun newspaper said recently that Trump is playing a "dangerous card" with his verbal threats, risking a miscalculation by Pyongyang and a war on the peninsula. "Trump seems capable of doing anything, and he might choose to strike the North before it's technologically able to strike back," said Ray Kim, a 39-year-old Seoul resident. "Even if a war breaks out, it's not like that war will take place on U.S. soil. Trump has much less to lose." ___ NORTH KOREA Trump is clearly on the mind of the North Korean leadership. A senior Foreign Ministry official told The Associated Press last week that Pyongyang has been watching Trump's actions - including his recent order for the strike on a Syrian air base and his many tweets about North Korea - and determined that his administration is "more vicious and more aggressive" than that of his predecessor, Barack Obama. In response, Pyongyang is promising it will continue to build up its "nuclear deterrent" and respond in kind to any hostile moves, perceived or real. North Korean fury at Washington was rising well before Trump took office, in particular over reports that annual U.S.-South Korean military exercises now include training for precision strikes on the North's leadership or nuclear and military facilities. Pyongyang's regime has called that "a red line," and has since begun its own training for pre-emptive strikes and speeded up its testing of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles. ___ JAPAN Japan is drawing up emergency responses in case of a North Korea missile strike. A number of municipalities are testing community alarm systems and planning evacuation drills as concerns run high around U.S. military bases. Both Japan and South Korea are home to tens of thousands of U.S. troops. The rising tension has opened the door to debate about once-taboo subjects in Japan, where the disastrous World War II experience and a postwar constitution that renounced the right to use military force have created a strong pacifist streak. Japan's ruling party recently urged the government to introduce advanced missile-defense equipment such as a land-based Aegis or Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, which is being introduced in South Korea. Ruling party defense experts have even proposed that Japan lift a self-imposed restraint on conducting a retaliatory strike if attacked, rather than relying solely on the U.S. military. The steady turning up of the heat on all sides has increased the possibility of a miscalculation that could result in an incident that escalates too quickly to be contained, or even outright conflict. ___ Associated Press Writers Eric Talmadge in Pyongyang, North Korea; Christopher Bodeen in Beijing; Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this story. FILE - In this April 17, 2017, file photo, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence looks at the North side from Observation Post Ouellette in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), near the border village of Panmunjom, which has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War, South Korea. U.S. strikes earlier this month against Syria, coupled with President Donald Trump's dispatching of what he called an "armada" of U.S. warships to the Korean region, touched off fears that the United States was preparing for military action, though it was revealed this week that the flotilla was taking a roundabout path to Korean waters and has yet to arrive. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File) FILE - In this April 15, 2017, file photo, soldiers march across Kim Il Sung Square during a military parade in Pyongyang, North Korea, to celebrate the 105th birth anniversary of Kim Il Sung, the country's late founder and grandfather of current ruler Kim Jong Un. North Korean fury at Washington was rising well before U.S. President Donald Trump took office, in particular over reports that annual U.S.-South Korean military exercises now include training for precision strikes on the North's leadership or nuclear and military facilities. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) BEIJING (AP) - An elusive overseas billionaire who for months publicly threatened to expose high-level corruption in China's ruling Communist Party was named in an Interpol arrest notice before he appeared live on a U.S. broadcaster, which abruptly cut off the interview just as he hinted at his allegations. Guo Wengui gave a Chinese-language interview with the U.S.-government-funded Voice of America for about 80 minutes late Wednesday before the hosts cut short the program, which was to be three hours. The cutoff raised heckles from VoA's online audience and questions about Chinese political interference behind the scenes, which the broadcaster denied. The interview was less than six hours after foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang announced that Interpol had issued a "red notice" seeking Guo's arrest. Lu gave no details about Guo's alleged crimes, but The South China Morning Post reported that he is suspected of bribing a disgraced top intelligence official. A real estate tycoon, Guo disappeared from public view in 2014 but resurfaced in recent months, claiming in interviews with overseas Chinese media and in a stream of Twitter posts that he held damning evidence about elite corruption and would expose it for the good of China. In messages to The Associated Press earlier Wednesday, Guo said he believed the Interpol notice was intended to pressure him to drop out of the VoA interview later in the day. Guo did not respond to questions about his relationship with the former top intelligence official but dismissed the Interpol notice as a meaningless ploy from the Chinese leadership. "It's all lies, all threats," Guo said. "It shows they are scared of me leaking explosive information." Chinese political watchers say Guo's potential leaks could rock the jockeying between internal Communist Party factions before the party Congress expected this fall, when a new generation of party leaders will be chosen. Interpol's "red notice" for Guo could also revive concerns over the election of a top Chinese police official as Interpol's president in November. Guo is believed to be in the U.S. or Britain, two countries that do not have extradition treaties with China. Guo's transformation from humble roots in the central province of Henan into a billionaire developer with bare-knuckle business tactics and notable projects such as one in Beijing's Olympic Park has been described in lurid stories in domestic media. He reportedly worked with Ma Jian, the disgraced intelligence chief, to obtain a sex tape of a deputy Beijing mayor who blocked Guo's high-profile real estate project in 2006, leading to the city official's downfall. Guo is suspected of giving $8.8 million in bribes to Ma, a former vice minister of state security who was charged with corruption in February, The South China Morning Post reported, citing anonymous sources briefed on the Interpol notice. As Guo's live interview with VoA began late Wednesday, the program's hosts told viewers that Chinese officials had summoned VoA representatives in Beijing to warn them against giving Guo a platform for unsubstantiated allegations. The program abruptly ended just as Guo launched into a meandering description of the intrigue and mutual suspicions gripping senior party leaders, including President Xi Jinping and one of his closest allies. The on-air VoA host said they needed to immediately stop "due to certain kinds of reasons." Twitter soon lit up with commentary among overseas Chinese dissidents and political observers about possible political interference. Guo took to Twitter himself to say that China's foreign ministry was behind the sudden cut. In a statement, VoA spokeswoman Bridget Serchak said a one-hour interview was planned to be simulcast live on TV, radio and social media, and any additional material was meant to be packaged for editing. "We had multiple plans to conduct additional interviews with the subject for social media and late yesterday made the editorial decision to record this material, edit and post it in the coming days," Serchak said. "In a miscommunication, the stream was allowed to continue beyond the first hour. When this was noticed the feed was terminated." Bill Bishop, a Chinese political watcher who publishes the Sinocism newsletter, said party leaders appear to be increasingly concerned that Guo will reveal information that would cripple high-level officials who are being lined up for key jobs at the party congress. "A bombshell that screws up the personnel arrangement is exactly the kind of thing that Beijing does not want," Bishop said, adding that Guo's allegations of rampant corruption involving even the top official in charge of the party's anti-graft agency has thoroughly undermined the party's propaganda efforts. Guo allegations have highlighted "the real issue that corruption unfortunately appears to be in the DNA" of China's system, Bishop said. Guo was not listed on Interpol's website and agency officials declined comment, saying that Interpol does not comment on specific cases without the agreement of the member country involved as a matter of policy. Rights advocates have warned that the abuses and lack of transparency within China's legal system meant there was the potential for Interpol to be misused to attack Beijing's political opponents. "Our warnings about the risk of political instrumentalization of Interpol after putting high ranking (Chinese Communist Party) official at the top were not overblown," Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty International's regional director for East Asia, wrote Wednesday on Twitter. Days before the Interpol notice for Guo, The New York Times published a report citing corporate registration documents and interviews that appeared to corroborate at least some of Guo's claims about business dealings among party elites. A "red notice" issued by the Lyon, France-based International Criminal Police Organization is the closest instrument to an international arrest warrant in use today. Interpol circulates those notices to member countries listing people who are wanted for extradition. China's Ministry of Public Security declined to comment on Guo's case. ___ Associated Press writer Lori Hinnant in Paris contributed to this report. CHICAGO (AP) - The trial is underway of a man accused in the 2010 death an off-duty Chicago police officer. Prosecutors say Bernard Williams is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Officer David Blake. During opening statements Tuesday, prosecutors said the now 25-year-old Williams lured Blake to a quiet neighborhood on Chicago's southwest side and killed him. Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Patrick Morley said it was part of a plan to steal Blake's gun collection. Williams' attorneys noted that no physical evidence tied Williams to the killing. Assistant Public Defender Dylan Barrett told jurors investigators targeted Williams "because of the pressure they felt to solve this crime." Authorities say Blake, who was in a relationship with Williams' sister, had previously shown Williams the gun collection he kept at his home. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Two people were shot dead as opponents of President Nicolas Maduro flooded the streets of Caracas and other Venezuelan cities Wednesday, battling security forces in what's been dubbed the "mother of all marches" against the embattled socialist leader. Tens of thousands of protesters made an unsuccessful attempt to march to downtown Caracas as security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowd. Dozens even had to slide down a concrete embankment and into the Guaire River to escape the noxious fumes. Carlos Romero, just three days away from his 18th birthday, was walking to play soccer with friends when he bumped into pro-government militias stalking a pocket of protesters, family spokesman Melvin Sojo told The Associated Press, based on the accounts of two people who rushed Romero to the hospital after he was hit by gunfire. Anti-government demonstrators take cover from advancing Bolivarian Police officers during protests in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Opponents of President Nicolas Maduro called on Venezuelans to take to the streets in marched against the embattled socialist leader. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos) "This was supposed to be a happy moment but instead I came home to see my brother die," said Sojo, who grew up in the Romero home and returned Tuesday from Ecuador, where he had been living the past year. There was no immediate confirmation that the militias shot the boy, and some government officials cast doubt on the account, saying Romero was killed during an attempted assault. In the western city of San Cristobal, a 23-year-old woman identified as Paola Ramirez was shot dead by similar groups, according to Mayor Patricia Gutierrez, who said the groups circled demonstrators on motorcycles as they were heading home from the demonstration. The two killings bring to seven the death toll since protests began three weeks ago over the Supreme Court's decision to strip the opposition-controlled congress of its last remaining powers, a move that was later reversed but not before enraging the opposition and causing a storm of international criticism. The charges that Venezuela is moving toward a full-blown dictatorship come against the backdrop of an ever-deepening economic crisis. As night fell, a few thousand people were still gathered in a plaza in wealthy eastern Caracas as residents in nearby buildings banged pots and pans in a show of support. A group of youths with their faces covered tore down street signs and billboards for makeshift barricades. They then launched rocks and Molotov cocktails against lines of police and national guardsmen who responded with tear gas in cat-and-mouse skirmishes likely to last deep into the night. The Supreme Court's decision energized Venezuela's fractious opposition, which had been struggling to channel growing disgust with Maduro over widespread food shortages, triple-digit inflation and rampant crime. They've called for another day of protests Thursday. "We'll see each other tomorrow at the same place and same time because our fight for democracy doesn't end," former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, who the government last week barred from running for public office, said at an evening press conference to announce the opposition's next steps. Opponents are now pushing for Maduro's removal through early elections and the release of scores of political prisoners. The government last year abruptly postponed regional elections the opposition was heavily favored to win and cut off a petition drive to force a referendum seeking Maduro's removal before elections late next year. Maduro, addressing supporters at a large countermarch, seemed open to some sort of electoral showdown. He said he was "anxious" to see elections take place sometime "soon" and repeated his call for dialogue, saying he had a proposal he wanted to make the opposition. "Today they attempted to take power by force and we defeated them again," said Maduro. Opposition marchers included Liliana Machuca, who earns about $20 a month holding two jobs teaching literature. Although she doesn't expect change overnight, she said protesting is the only option the opposition has after what she says are scores of abuses committed by the government. "This is like a chess game and each side is moving whatever pieces they can," said Machuca, her face covered in a white, sticky substance to protect herself from the noxious effects of tear gas. "We'll see who tires out first." A short block away, a sea of red-shirted government supporters marched by calmly, some dancing to a salsa band that tried to provide an air of normalcy to the otherwise tense political standoff that has paralyzed Venezuela the past few weeks. Many were state workers like Leidy Marquez, who was bused in from Tachira state, on the other side of the country, along with co-workers at state-run oil giant PDVSA. "The opposition is trying to provoke a conflict but they aren't going to achieve their goal," said Marquez, wearing a shirt emblazoned with the eyes of the late Hugo Chavez, a symbol of revolutionary zeal in Venezuela. The government has responded to the near-daily protests with its own show of force: jailing hundreds of demonstrators, barring Capriles from running for office and standing by as pro-government groups violently attack opposition members of congress. The president also signed orders on TV late Tuesday activating the "green phase" of enigmatic military plans to defend Venezuela against what he describes as U.S.-backed attempts to sow chaos and overthrow him. He also said authorities in recent hours had rounded up unnamed members of an underground cell of conspirators at Caracas hotels, including some who were allegedly planning to stir up violence at the march. Maduro didn't provide evidence to back his claim that a coup attempt was underway, and the opposition rejected his comments as a desperate attempt to intimidate Venezuelans from exercising their constitutional right to protest. "We're convinced the country knows who the true coup mongers are and it's against them we will march," the opposition said in a Tuesday late-night statement. Foreign governments are also warning about the increasingly bellicose rhetoric and repressive stance of the government. Maduro this week said he was dramatically expanding civilian militias created by Chavez and giving each member a gun. There's also criticism that the government isn't doing enough to restrain the collectives - motorcycle-driving militants - that have operated like shock troops firing on protesters as security forces stand by. "We're a peaceful people, but we're also armed," Energy Minister Luis Motta Dominguez told state workers gathering for Wednesday's rally. The U.S. State Department said those who commit human rights abuses and undermine Venezuela's democratic institutions would be held accountable. "We are concerned that the government of Maduro is violating its own constitution and is not allowing the opposition to have their voices heard, nor allowing them to organize in ways that expresses the views of the Venezuelan people," Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters Wednesday. ___ Joshua Goodman on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APjoshgoodman ___ More Associated Press reporting on Venezuela's problems can be found at https://www.ap.org/explore/venezuela-undone Demonstrators run from tear gas and charging police officers during anti-government protests in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Tens of thousands of opponents of President Nicolas Maduro flooded the streets of Caracas in what's been dubbed the "mother of all marches" against the embattled president. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos) Anti-government protesters march along a highway in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Tens of thousands of opponents of President Nicolas Maduro flooded the streets of Caracas in what's been dubbed the "mother of all marches" against the embattled president. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos) A demonstrator returns a canister of tear gas towards security forces during anti-government protests in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Tens of thousands of opponents of President Nicolas Maduro flooded the streets of Caracas in what's been dubbed the "mother of all marches" against the embattled socialist president. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano) A protester is carried after being injured in clashes with security forces during anti-government protests in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Tens of thousands of opponents of President Nicolas Maduro flooded the streets of Caracas in what's been dubbed the "mother of all marches" against the embattled president. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos) Opposition leader Henrique Capriles, center, takes cover under an overpass from tear gas launched by security forces during anti-government protests in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Tens of thousands of opponents of President Nicolas Maduro flooded the streets of Caracas in what's been dubbed the "mother of all marches" against the embattled president. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos) Demonstrators wade across the Guaire River as they run away from security forces during anti-government protests in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Tens of thousands of opponents of President Nicolas Maduro flooded the streets of Caracas in what's been dubbed the "mother of all marches" against the embattled president. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos) Bolivarian National Guard launch tear gas at anti-government protesters in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Tens of thousands of opponents of President Nicolas Maduro flooded the streets of Caracas in what's been dubbed the "mother of all marches" against the embattled president. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos) A demonstrator throws stones during anti-government protests in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Tens of thousands of opponents of President Nicolas Maduro flooded the streets of Caracas in what's been dubbed the "mother of all marches" against the embattled president. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano) A demonstrator picks up a canister of tear gas launched by security forces during anti-government protests in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Tens of thousands of opponents of President Nicolas Maduro flooded the streets of Caracas in what's been dubbed the "mother of all marches" against the embattled president. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos) A demonstrator returns a canister of tear gas towards security forces during anti-government protests in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Tens of thousands of opponents of President Nicolas Maduro flooded the streets of Caracas in what's been dubbed the "mother of all marches" against the embattled socialist president. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano) A demonstrator lies on the ground overcome by tear gas during anti-government protests in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Tens of thousands of opponents of President Nicolas Maduro flooded the streets of Caracas in what's been dubbed the "mother of all marches" against the embattled socialist president. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos) A police officer guides an armored vehicle during clashes with anti-government protesters in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Tens of thousands of opponents of President Nicolas Maduro flooded the streets of Caracas in what's been dubbed the "mother of all marches" against the embattled president. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano) Ant-Government protesters tear down an iron gate in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Tens of thousands of opponents of President Nicolas Maduro flooded the streets of Caracas in what's been dubbed the "mother of all marches" against the embattled president. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano) An anti-government protester wearing a mask carries a shield during clashes with security forces in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Tens of thousands of opponents of President Nicolas Maduro flooded the streets of Caracas in what's been dubbed the "mother of all marches" against the embattled president. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos) A demonstrator returns a canister of tear gas towards security forces during anti-government protests in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Tens of thousands of opponents of President Nicolas Maduro flooded the streets of Caracas in what's been dubbed the "mother of all marches" against the embattled socialist president. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos) Anti-government protesters rest during a break in clashes with security forces in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Tens of thousands of opponents of President Nicolas Maduro flooded the streets of Caracas in what's been dubbed the "mother of all marches" against the embattled president. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos) Tear gas wafts over anti-government protesters in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Tens of thousands of opponents of President Nicolas Maduro flooded the streets of Caracas in what's been dubbed the "mother of all marches" against the embattled president. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos) A youth aims his sling during anti-government protests in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Tens of thousands of opponents of President Nicolas Maduro flooded the streets of Caracas in what's been dubbed the "mother of all marches" against the embattled president. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano) An anti-government protesters throws a molotov bomb at security forces in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Tens of thousands of opponents of President Nicolas Maduro flooded the streets of Caracas in what's been dubbed the "mother of all marches" against the embattled socialist president. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano) Demonstrators take cover with a piece of corrugated tin roofing during anti-government protests in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Tens of thousands of opponents of President Nicolas Maduro flooded the streets of Caracas in what's been dubbed the "mother of all marches" against the embattled president. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano) WARSAW, Poland (AP) - Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo and members of the country's Jewish community have taken part in observances marking the 74th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. They gathered Wednesday in the former ghetto at a monument that honors those who died in the courageous but doomed revolt against the Nazi Germans who occupied Poland during World War II. Across the city people also pinned small yellow paper daffodils to their clothes in a symbolic gesture of remembrance. About 750 Jews with few arms and no military training rose up on April 19, 1943, against a powerful German force that was about to send the ghetto's last survivors to death camps. The revolt was crushed the following month, and the ghetto was razed to the ground, most of its residents killed. ISLAMABAD (AP) - Pakistan's army chief has signed off on the death sentences for 30 militants, including some convicted for the 2014 Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar that killed 144 schoolchildren. The militants were tried in military courts set up by authorities after the school attack. In cases of capital punishment handed down by military courts, in trials conducted behind closed doors, the army chief is required to confirm the sentences. Opposition parties and rights groups have criticized Pakistan for the trials by military courts. After the Peshawar assault, the government also lifted the ban on the death penalty. An official statement says the army chief, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, signed the death sentences on Wednesday. The Peshawar attack killed a total of 150 people, most of them schoolchildren. BOSTON (AP) - In death, Aaron Hernandez may not be a guilty man in the eyes of the law. Under a long-standing Massachusetts legal principle, courts customarily vacate the convictions of defendants who die before their appeals are heard. Hernandez, a former NFL star, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd, a semi-professional football player who was dating the sister of Hernandez's finance. FILE - In this Wednesday, April 12, 2017, file photo, former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez blows a kiss to his daughter, who sat with her mother, Shayanna Jenkins Hernandez, Hernandez's longtime fiancee, during jury deliberations in his double-murder trial at Suffolk Superior Court in Boston. Hernandez was acquitted of those crimes on Friday, but hanged himself in his prison early Wednesday, April 19, 2017, where he was serving a life sentence in the 2013 killing of semi-professional football player Odin Lloyd. (Keith Bedford /The Boston Globe via AP, Pool, File) Massachusetts prison officials said Hernandez was found hanging in his prison cell early Wednesday. His death came less than a week after he acquitted of murder charges in the shooting deaths of two men in Boston in 2012. Hernandez's attorneys can move to have the conviction in the Lloyd case erased, said Martin Healy, chief legal counsel for the Massachusetts Bar Association. "For all intent and practical purposes, Aaron Hernandez will die an innocent man, but the court of public opinion may think differently," said Healy. The legal principle is called "abatement ab initio," or "from the beginning." It holds that is unfair to the defendant or to his or her survivors if a conviction is allowed to stand before they had a chance to clear their names on appeal, in case some kind or error or other injustice was determined to have occurred at trial, Healy said. "It's a surprising result for the public to understand," he added. All first-degree murder convictions in Massachusetts trigger an automatic appeal. Hernandez's appeal had not yet been heard by the state's high court. Gregg Miliote, a spokesman for the district attorney's office which prosecuted the Lloyd case, would not comment on the possibility of the conviction being vacated. Removing a conviction after the death of a high-profile defendant is not without precedent in recent state history. The child molestation conviction of former Roman Catholic priest John Geoghan, a key figure in the clergy sex abuse scandal that rocked the Boston archdiocese, was vacated after he was beaten to death in 2003 in his cell at the same Massachusetts maximum-security prison. John Salvi, who convicted of killing two abortion clinic workers and wounding five other people during shooting rampage in Brookline in 1994, also had his convictions tossed after he killed himself in prison. WILLISTON, Fla. (AP) - Police say a family of four from Georgia died in a small plane crash at a north Florida municipal airport. Williston police in a news release posted on its Facebook page identified the family as 37-year-old pilot Nathan Enders, his wife 42-year-old Laura Enders and the couple's two children, 7-year-old Jaden Enders and 5-year-old Eli Enders. The family's vintage, 1948 Cessna 170 crashed after attempting a takeoff at 3:10 pm. Saturday at Williston Municipal Airport, but wasn't noticed by more than 20 pilots who flew out of the same airport. It was reported 21 hours after the crash. Police say Nathan Enders was an experienced pilot and the family lived in Williamson, Georgia, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) south of Atlanta. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - A Florida state senator who used racial slurs and obscene insults during an after-hours conversation with other lawmakers is being stripped of his chairmanship. Senate President Joe Negron removed Republican Sen. Frank Artiles as chairman of the Communications, Energy and Public Utilities Committee on Wednesday. Artiles, a Cuban-American, was expected to publicly apologize for the insults hurled at African-American Democratic Sens. Perry Thurston and Audrey Gibson at a private club near the Capitol on Monday night. He used a variation of the "n-word" during a private conversation at the Governors Club. PITTSBURG, Kan. (AP) - Six Kansas high school journalists who published a story that led to the resignation of their school's new principal will be special guests at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. The Pittsburg High School students and their teacher, Emily Smith, are receiving an all-expenses paid trip to the April 29 dinner in Washington D.C., courtesy of the Huffington Post. The group made national news after a story published last month in the student newspaper questioned the credentials of Amy Robertson, who had been hired to become principal at the school. The questions eventually led Robertson to resign. Pittsburg Superintendent Destry Brown told the Pittsburg Morning Sun (http://bit.ly/2o3IAaJ ) he's excited the students will get a "once in a lifetime" experience. The students will be in Washington from April 28 to April 30. ___ Information from: The (Pittsburg, Kan.) Morning Sun, http://www.morningsun.net The shootout, often a ballet, is a battle royale in Ben Wheatley's "Free Fire." When the bullets start flying, Wheatley's arms-deal-gone-wrong 1970s shoot-up comes to a crawl. There's a total absence of slow-motion cartwheels. No one miraculously walks through a wall of fire to kill the bad guys with three precise shots. Not a single Scarlett Johansson roundhouse kick is in the house. Instead, people get maimed, bloodied and dead. There's no subsequent chase or flight from the police, just bickering and trench warfare ... for the majority of the 90 minute film. The movie is 100 percent O.K. Corral. This image released by A24 shows, from left, Armie Hammer, Brie Larson, Cillian Murphy, Sam Riley and Michael Smiley in a scene from "Free Fire." (Kerry Brown/A24 via AP) It's a formally impressive feat - set nearly entirely in the same rundown warehouse - but a thin and tedious one. The film, the British director's sixth, spends its first third gathering an ensemble of retro-outfitted characters under the glistening wet of a dark Massachusetts night. The setting and colorful, comic banter would fit into a George V. Higgins novel, or Peter Yates' 1973 adaptation of "Friends of Eddie Coyle." It's an international, much-mustachioed array of characters. A handful of Irish Republican Army agents (Cillian Murphy, Michael Smiley) are meeting gun sellers (Sharlto Copley's South African; Babou Ceesay's former Black Panther). The deal has been brokered by a pair of savvy Americans (Brie Larson's Justine, Armie Hammer's turtle-necked Ord) and then there are a couple locals, Stevo (Sam Riley) and Bernie (Enzo Cilenti) brought in to carry the crates of assault weapons. The latter two, sort of the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of the bunch, play a minor role in the meet-up but a pivotal one in its descent into orgiastic violence. Stevo, with a bruised face from the previous night's exploits, ends up face-to-face with the man he tussled with and, well, all hell breaks loose. All of them, while of various degrees of level-headedness, are self-consciously playing a role as street toughs. Best is Copley's arch Verne, a self-described "rare and mysterious jewel," most concerned with the stitching of his new suit. But once everyone takes cover throughout the abandoned factory and sporadically exchange fire in between snatches of ironic conversations, telling who's on which side becomes impossible for us and for them. Nearly everyone is eventually hobbled by a gun wound; they collectively spend more time inching around on the floor than the stars of "Babies." The channeled spirit here - irreverent and violent - is undoubtedly "Reservoir Dogs"-era Quentin Tarantino. But "Free Fire" reminded me more of a short by its executive producer, Martin Scorsese. His 1967 six-minute "The Big Shave" showed a man who keeps cutting himself shaving until his face is a bloody mess - the Vietnam War in a nutshell. "Free Fire," too, would seem to be a satirical metaphor on warfare, where guns plus an international group of posturing wannabe tough-guys equals mutual destruction. But Wheatley's devotion is less to any such critique than to his movie's hermetic form. He is clearly enjoying himself, stretching his high-concept, criss-crossing chaos to the comic limit, even while his characters limp along behind. At one point in the melee, one character speaks of the "golden rule" that one has an hour and a half before a bullet wound becomes fatal. Wheatley's film, too, comes in exactly at that length. After 90 minutes of occasionally inspired dialogue and labored if compelling anarchy, it bleeds out. "Free Fire," an A24 release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for "strong violence, pervasive language, sexual references and drug use." Running time: 90 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four. ___ MPAA definition for R: Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. ___ Follow AP Film Writer on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP This image released by A24 shows, from left, Noah Taylor, Jack Reynor, Sharlto Copley and Armie Hammer in a scene from "Free Fire." (Kerry Brown/A24 via AP) This image released by A24 shows, from left, Sharlto Copley, Brie Larson and Armie Hammer in a scene from "Free Fire." (Kerry Brown/A24 via AP) This image released by A24 shows Brie Larson in a scene from "Free Fire." (Kerry Brown/A24 via AP) GLEN ROCK, N.J. (AP) - A gay New Jersey police officer who claimed he was fired because of his sexual orientation will soon be reinstated to the force, officials announced Wednesday. Glen Rock officials said they reached a settlement with Matthew Stanislao, who sued the town after he was fired in October 2014, alleging a hostile work environment. The agreement calls for Stanislao to be reinstated to his patrol officer post with back pay. He and his attorneys also will receive a $750,000 settlement. The town is responsible for $150,000 of that amount, which officials say will be included in this year's budget. Its insurer will pay the rest. Neither party admitted fault or liability as part of the settlement. Stanislao claimed he was harassed by other officers who used derogatory comments and made lewd gestures. The suit also claimed Stanislao was never recognized for his meritorious service, which included rescuing two people from a mostly submerged car. "We welcome Mr. Stanislao back to the police force in a spirit of reconciliation and a clean slate on all sides," Mayor Bruce Packer said. Stanislao lawyers' say he's looking forward to his return. "Laws against discrimination make merit the only acceptable factor in employment decisions and are part of the reason New Jersey has one of the country's highest-paid and most well-trained workforces, both private and public. Officer Stanislao looks forward to the new leadership of the department directing his skills towards serving the community once again," his lawyers said in a statement. CINCINNATI (AP) - A Mexican mother of four U.S.-born children living in southwest Ohio has been returned to Mexico. Attorney Kathleen Kersh of Advocates for Basic Legal Equality says they are "disappointed and outraged" about the Wednesday deportation of Maribel Trujillo Diaz (MAHR'-uh-behl troo-HEE'-yoh DEE'-ahz). A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement statement says courts have "uniformly held" that she had no legal basis to remain in the U.S. Immigration officials say she entered the country illegally in 2002. Diaz had been moved to an immigration detention center near Jena, Louisiana, after a federal appeals court on April 11 dismissed her bid for an emergency order. Religious leaders and community supporters had called for her to be reunited with her family in Butler County. The administration of Republican President Donald Trump has pledged stepped-up immigration enforcement. RENO, Nev. (AP) - The Latest on a Nevada woman accused of faking her son's death to get money through fundraising website (all times local): 12:45 p.m. A Nevada woman has appeared in court after being accused of faking her son's death to solicit gifts from sympathizers and money through a fundraising website. Victoria Morrison of Carson City made her initial appearance in state district court Wednesday on charges of obtaining money by false pretenses and child abuse or neglect. A judge set another hearing for next month. Prosecutor Melanie Brantingham says Morrison's 10-year-old son is alive and that his mother "falsely told him he was dying of leukemia." She says that's the basis for the child abuse charge. The public defender's office appointed to represent Morrison had no immediate comment. Her preliminary hearing is set for May 4. ___ 12:25 p.m. Nevada authorities say a woman faces criminal charges after she faked that her 10-year-old son had leukemia and died, helping her raise more than $2,000. Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong says Victoria Morrison was arrested last Friday at a motel in Nevada's capital city. Authorities placed the son and Morrison's three other children in the custody of state protective services officials. Furlong says investigators determined that Morrison lied when she said her son had leukemia so she could solicit gifts including a helicopter ride for the boy. He says she raised the money on a GoFundMe site and later falsely claimed the boy died. Morrison, 31, is charged with obtaining money under false pretenses and child abuse or neglect. It was not clear Wednesday whether Morrison had a lawyer. RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The top attorneys from 16 states and the District of Columbia say President Donald Trump's revised travel ban would hurt their higher education and medical institutions and have a chilling effect on tourism. The attorneys general urged the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a brief Wednesday to uphold a ruling that blocked the travel ban targeting six predominantly Muslim countries. The attorneys general say the executive order seeks "to fulfill the president's promise to ban Muslims from entering the country." The full 4th Circuit will hear arguments in the case May 8. The attorney generals who signed on to the brief are from Virginia, Maryland, California, Oregon, Connecticut, New York, Delaware, North Carolina, Illinois, Rhode Island, Iowa, Vermont, Maine, Washington, Massachusetts, New Mexico and the District of Columbia. MILFORD, Pa. (AP) - The Latest on the trial of a survivalist charged with ambushing two troopers at a Pennsylvania state police barracks (all times local): 6:45 p.m. The governor of Pennsylvania is applauding the guilty verdict against a survivalist who ambushed two troopers at a state police barracks, killing one. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf says "justice was served" Wednesday when a jury convicted Eric Frein (freen) of first-degree murder and other counts in the 2014 attack. He says the verdict means "a brutal murderer will be held accountable for his heinous and cowardly acts." Frein led authorities on a 48-day manhunt through the rugged Pocono Mountains before he was captured. Uncontested evidence of his guilt was presented at trial. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Frein, who killed Cpl. Bryon Dickson II and seriously injured Trooper Alex Douglass. Defense lawyer Bill Ruzzo says he'll appeal to jurors to spare Frein's life. ___ 6 p.m. A prosecutor says he will be seeking "full justice" for a Pennsylvania survivalist convicted of capital murder in the ambush slaying of a state trooper. Pike County District Attorney Ray Tonkin spoke to reporters after Wednesday's verdict finding Eric Frein guilty of all 12 charges, including murder of a law enforcement officer and terrorism. Tonkin is seeking the death penalty. Frein's attorney, Bill Ruzzo, says he will be trying to save his client's life. He says the defense team "can't make him a holy man" but they're "trying to make him a man." The penalty phase of Frein's trial begins Thursday. ___ 5:25 p.m. A Pennsylvania survivalist who hid in the forest under cover of night and opened fire with a sniper's rifle has been convicted of capital murder in the ambush slaying of a state police trooper he targeted at random. A jury convicted 33-year-old Eric Frein (freen) on Wednesday following a two-week trial in northeastern Pennsylvania. Authorities say Frein was trying to spark a revolution when he attacked the Blooming Grove state police barracks on Sept. 12, 2014. Cpl. Bryon Dickson was killed, and a second trooper was shot through the hips and left debilitated. The jurors found him guilty of all 12 charges, including murder of a law enforcement officer, terrorism and two weapons of mass destruction counts related to bombs he left in the woods while eluding a 48-day police dragnet. He faces a potential death sentence. ___ 1:30 p.m. Jurors are deliberating the case against a survivalist who killed a Pennsylvania state police trooper and critically wounded a second trooper in a 2014 ambush at their rural barracks. The outcome of Eric Frein's trial is not in doubt. The defense offered no evidence or testimony and conceded the government's overwhelming case for conviction. If the 33-year-old is convicted of first-degree murder, the defense will shift its focus to trying to persuade the jury to spare his life. Prosecutors presented more than 500 pieces of evidence tying Frein to the attack. District Attorney Ray Tonkin says Frein was a terrorist and a cold-blooded killer who was "literally hunting humans" when he opened fire on the Blooming Grove barracks Sept. 12, 2014. ___ 11:45 a.m. Jurors have heard closing arguments in the trial of a survivalist charged with ambushing two troopers at a Pennsylvania State Police barracks. Pike County District Attorney Ray Tonkin called Eric Frein (freen) a "terrorist" who targeted police in an attempt to spark a revolution. Tonkin is seeking the death penalty. Frein's attorney, Michael Weinstein, conceded to the jury Wednesday that prosecutors have offered a "mountain of evidence" pointing to his client's guilt. Cpl. Bryon Dickson II was killed and Trooper Alex Douglass was critically wounded in the 2014 attack. Frein eluded capture for 48 days before U.S. marshals arrested him at an abandoned airplane hangar. Seattle Mayor Ed Murray on Wednesday denied knowing or having sex with a 46-year-old man who has accused the mayor of sexually abusing him when he was a teenager. In new court filings Wednesday, the man suing Murray over alleged sex abuse in the 1980s publicly identified himself as Delvonn Heckard, from the Seattle suburb of Kent. Heckard told The Seattle Times he decided to go public because he has nothing to hide and did nothing wrong. He thinks doing so will prompt people to believe his claims. Reached by telephone, Heckard declined to speak to The Associated Press. The AP typically does not identify alleged victims of sex abuse, but Heckard said he wants his name made public. Seattle Mayor Ed Murray (left) on Wednesday denied knowing or having sex with Delvonn Heckard (right), a 46-year-old man who has accused the mayor of sexually abusing him when he was a teenager Murray has vigorously denied Heckard's claims and told reporters earlier this month that he did not know who 'D.H.' was after the lawsuit was filed. In a written statement Wednesday, Murray said: 'I can state categorically that I have never had a sexual relationship with this individual, Delvonn Heckard, of any kind or at any time.' The mayor also said he has never paid for sex and has never had sex with a minor. Murray says he just learned of Heckard's name Wednesday and that 'his name is not familiar to me.' Heckard's lawyer, Lincoln Beauregard (above), denied the mayor's claims that Heckard's accusations were politically motivated The mayor said it's possible that he met Heckard since he has encountered thousands of people during his decades of public service. Heckard was identified only by his initials in the original lawsuit filed earlier this month against Murray. In the lawsuit, Heckard said that the mayor 'raped and molested him' over several years beginning in 1986 when Heckard was a 15-year-old crack cocaine addict and Murray was in his 30s. Two other men told The Times they met Murray while living in a center for troubled teens and that he paid them $10 for sex in the 1980s. 'Once people hear me talk, they'll be able to feel my spirit, and they'll have no doubts that what I'm saying is true,' Heckard told the newspaper in an interview. Murray, who faces a re-election campaign this year, has said the allegations are politically motivated by gay rights foes. During his 18 years as a state lawmaker, Murray was the prime sponsor of Washington state's gay marriage law, spearheaded an effort to protect LGBTQ youth in public schools and led the state's push to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation. Heckard's lawyer, Lincoln Beauregard, denied in the amended lawsuit that Heckard's claims were politically motivated. It said Heckard 'is an openly gay man with no real political inclinations.' DENVER (AP) - Two Denver jail deputies and a supervisor are being disciplined in the death of a black, homeless jail inmate who suffocated while being restrained during a psychotic episode. The city announced Wednesday that the three would be suspended without pay for between 10 and 16 days. The deputies also must undergo remedial training in the use of force. Fifty-year-old Michael Marshall died in 2015 after he was restrained in a prone position for several minutes after he became aggressive toward another inmate and ignored commands. He choked on his own vomit and suffocated. FILE - In this Nov. 11, 2015 file still frame from surveillance video at Denver's Downtown Detention Center, released by the Denver Department of Safety via the law firm Killmer, Lane & Newman, LLP, 50-year-old homeless man Michael Marshall is placed into a restraint chair by Denver sheriff's deputies during a psychotic episode. He later died. Denver announced Wednesday, April 19, 2017, that two deputies and a supervisor were being disciplined in Marshall's death. (Denver Department of Safety/Killmer, Lane & Newman, LLP via AP, File) Experts say the common but risky tactic can be lethal, especially on those with medical problems and the mentally ill, whose distress is sometimes confused with resistance. Prosecutors declined to file criminal charges, saying the deputies weren't trying to hurt Marshall. WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump's pick for deputy commerce secretary has withdrawn from consideration. Todd Ricketts, a co-owner of the Chicago Cubs and son of TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts, was unable to resolve conflict-of-interest issues in taking the No. 2 job at the department. Ricketts says in a statement that he is "deeply honored" that Trump nominated him for the post, a selection he made at the end of November. FILE - In this Nov. 19, 2016 file photo, then-President-elect Donald Trump shakes hands with Todd Ricketts at Trump's National Golf Club Bedminster clubhouse in Bedminster, N.J. Ricketts, President Donald Trump's pick for deputy commerce secretary has withdrawn from consideration. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File) "I offer my continued support for President Trump and his administration, and the important work they are doing to promote economic opportunity," Ricketts said. During the presidential campaign, Ricketts helped raise at least $66 million for outside groups called Future 45 and 45 Committee -a nod to Trump as the incoming 45th president. But before helping Trump, Ricketts belonged to a super political action committee that spent more than any other trying to stop Trump from winning the Republican presidential nomination. Ricketts' withdrawal was first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times. The 47-year-old has diverse business interests - from a bicycle shop in Chicago to sitting on the board of directors at TD Ameritrade. He would have served under Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. Neither a spokesman for Ross nor the White House immediately responded to requests for comment. Trump has filled his administration with wealthy, high-profile business leaders who came with larger-than-usual business conflicts. The picks have had to work with the Office of Government Ethics to resolve them, a process that involves either selling off assets or agreeing to sit out discussions that directly involve their financial interests. In most cases, the new employees have reached ethics deals. For example, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson divested his holdings at Exxon Mobil, where he was chairman and chief executive officer, before taking his position. The move cost him about $7 million from his retirement deal, although he'd been set to leave the company even before taking the post. But Ricketts joins a few other wealthy nominees in concluding their new positions didn't make financial sense for their families. Philip Bilden, a venture capitalist and Trump's first pick for Navy secretary, withdrew from consideration in February, citing inability to meet the ethics agreement. "After an extensive review process, I have determined that I will not be able to satisfy the Office of Government Ethics requirements without undue disruption and materially adverse divestment of my family's private financial interests," he said in a statement at the time. Earlier, Trump's choice for Army secretary pulled out for similar reasons. Like Ricketts, Vincent Viola, a billionaire businessman and founder of the trading firm Virtu Financial Inc., offered to continue supporting the administration even after deciding he couldn't be a part of it for financial reasons. PHOENIX (AP) - The federal government's bid to dismantle the police department in a polygamous community on the Arizona-Utah border has been rejected by a judge. But the towns will still be under court supervision for the next decade as punishment in a religious discrimination case. Under orders issued Tuesday by a federal judge, the chief marshal in Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah, will be supervised by a court-appointed mentor who will offer advice on the operations of the police department. Police officers will have to undergo training every year on constitutional protections and town officials will be barred from any involvement in internal affairs investigations. The towns are home to a polygamous group run by Warren Jeffs, who is serving a life sentence in Texas for sexually assaulting girls he considered brides. LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Arkansas' attempt to carry out its first execution in nearly 12 years wasn't thwarted by the type of liberal activist judge Republicans regularly bemoan here, but instead by a state Supreme Court that's been the focus of expensive campaigns by conservative groups to reshape the judiciary. The court voted 4-3 Monday night to stay the executions of two inmates who were part of an unprecedented plan to put eight men to death in 11 days. The decision by the court was only the latest preventing this deeply Republican state from resuming capital punishment in recent years. The possibility that justices could now spare the lives of the other killers scheduled to die this month has left death penalty proponents wondering whether executions will remain in a holding pattern for years longer. FILE - In this Aug. 18, 2015 file photo, Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, R-Benton, speaks at a legislative subcommittee meeting at the Arkansas state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark. Arkansas' attempt to carry out its first execution in nearly 12 years wasn't thwarted by the type of liberal activist judge Republicans regularly bemoan here, but instead by a state Supreme Court that's been the focus of expensive campaigns by conservative groups to reshape the judiciary. "I have ultimate respect for the court and I'm not going to question individual decisions but I would say there is frustration among the Legislature as to the court's continued refusal to allow an execution to go through," said Hutchinson, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston, File) "I have ultimate respect for the court and I'm not going to question individual decisions but I would say there is frustration among the Legislature as to the court's continued refusal to allow an execution to go through," said Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee. Since the last execution in 2005, the state Supreme Court has at least twice forced Arkansas to rewrite its death penalty law. One of those cases spared Don Davis, who again received a stay Monday night. The legal setbacks at one point prompted the state's previous attorney general, Dustin McDaniel, to declare Arkansas' death penalty system "broken." But unlike the earlier decisions, this stay came from a court that had shifted to the right in recent elections. Outside groups and the candidates spent more than $1.6 million last year on a pair of high court races that were among the most fiercely fought judicial campaigns in the state's history. Arkansas was among a number of states where conservative groups spent millions on such efforts. The candidates backed by the conservative groups won both races. One of those winners voted for Monday's night stay. The two stays, along with one granted earlier, have whittled down the execution list to five, and Arkansas officials are vowing to move ahead with them before their supply of midazolam, one of the execution drugs used, expires at the end of April. It's unclear whether the new execution obstacles would have any political fallout for the court. Only one of the seven justices is up for election next year, and the filing period for challengers doesn't begin until next month. Polling has shown strong support for the death penalty in Arkansas. The judge facing re-election, Courtney Goodson, lost her bid for chief justice last year after conservative groups blanketed the state with ads attacking her. The groups accused her of being close to trial attorneys and for the court's decision to strike down Arkansas' voter ID law. None of the campaign material mentioned the death penalty. But while Goodson voted to stay the executions Monday, so did the conservative-backed candidate who beat her in the chief justice race, Dan Kemp. Goodson had touted her commitment to conservative values, while Kemp said in a campaign ad he would be guided by "prayer, not politics." The other two justices who favored stopping the executions were Robin Wynne, who was touted as tough on child predators when he was elected in 2014, and Josephine Linker Hart, who ran as a "no-nonsense judge" in 2012. The court had indicated earlier this year that it might view the death penalty more favorably, ruling to allow Arkansas to keep many details of its lethal injection drugs secret. The court also barred an anti-death penalty circuit judge from participation in cases or laws involving the issue. The court didn't explain its reasoning in its one-page stay-of-execution order Monday. Attorneys for the inmates said the executions should be put off until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on a pending case involving inmates' access to independent mental health experts. One of the three dissenting judges issued a blistering criticism of the ruling. "The families are entitled to closure and finality of the law," wrote Justice Shawn Womack, a former Republican legislator whose rival last year was also targeted by conservative groups. "It is inconceivable that this court, with the facts and the law well established, stays these executions over speculation that the (U.S.) Supreme Court might change the law." The situation is a familiar one for Rebecca Petty, whose daughter's killer was granted a reprieve by federal courts hours before his execution in 2004. "I just feel like, once again, these families have been re-victimized," said Petty, now a state representative, who said she was stunned by the latest ruling. ___ Follow Andrew DeMillo on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ademillo TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Kansas regulators on Wednesday rejected the proposed sale of the state's largest electric company to a Missouri firm, concluding that the $12.2 billion price was too high and would leave the combined utility financially weaker than the separate companies. The Kansas Corporation Commission issued its order against a proposal from Kansas City, Missouri-based Great Plains Energy Inc. to buy Topeka-based Westar Energy Inc. after consumer advocates and the commission's own staff criticized the acquisition. Opponents argued that Great Plains was paying far too much and regulators could be forced to boost rates to keep the combined company stable. "The Commission agrees that based on their geographies a merger makes sense. But not this merger," the commission said in its unanimous order. "The proposed transaction is not a merger of equals, but an acquisition with an excessive purchase price." Kansas Corporation Commission Chairman Pat Apple, left, alongside Commissioner Jay Emler, wrap up a hearing on Wednesday, April 19, 2017, in Topeka, Kan., after unanimously voting down the approval of a merger between Westar Energy and Great Plains. (Chris Neal/The Topeka Capital-Journal via AP) The commission's order doesn't necessarily doom the merger, but it will at least delay the transaction. Great Plains is the parent of Kansas City Power & Light Co., and its proposed acquisition of Westar would give it 1.5 million customers from central Kansas to central Missouri. Great Plains and Westar argued the deal would create nearly $2 billion in operating efficiencies over the next decade to keep electric rates in check. But the commission questioned the companies' estimates for potential savings, calling them "too speculative" to show that the new, combined company could pass savings onto its customers. The commission also concluded that the deal likely would lead to a downgrade in Great Plains' credit ratings, potentially increasing its future borrowing costs. "What this means to Jane and Joe is that we're going to continue with Westar and KCP&L in the manner that they've done before," said David Nickel, consumer counsel for the Citizens' Utility Ratepayers Board, a state agency representing small businesses and residential customers. "That's been a good deal for the consumer." Westar and Great Plains stockholders overwhelmingly approved the deal last year, but the companies also needed approval from regulators in Kansas, Missouri and the U.S. government. The Missouri Public Service Commission has had hearings but has yet to rule. In Kansas, the companies could ask the state's appellate courts to overturn the commission's order. The companies said they were reviewing the order before deciding how to respond. "We are disappointed with the order," said Chuck Caisley, a Great Plains vice president. "KCP&L and Westar have served customers in Kansas and Missouri for more than 100 years as neighboring utilities, and as a combined company we would create significant operational efficiencies and cost savings that would benefit our customers and our communities." The companies have acknowledged the deal would lead them to trim their workforces, but they promised that Westar would retain its Topeka headquarters. They companies told the Kansas commission that they included more than 40 provisions in their deal to protect consumers from the financial risks associated with it. "We have been working really hard toward this transaction," said Westar spokeswoman Gina Penzig. "We think that it was going to bring a lot of benefits to customers." Under the deal, Great Plains would acquire Westar's $3.6 billion in debt, and critics argued that it would be paying as much as $4.9 billion more than the book value of Westar's assets. The commission noted that in offering $60 per share for Westar's stock, Great Plains was promising to pay $4 more a share than another bidder. Critics also said achieving the promised savings in operating costs would require Great Plains to shutter generating plants and cut more than 600 full-time jobs by 2020. ___ Follow John Hanna on Twitter at https://twitter.com/apjdhanna . Brian Fedotin, the deputy general council for the Kansas Corporation Commission, walks through reasons why the merger of Westar Energy and Great Plains should not go through prior to the commissioners voting on the merger on Wednesday, April 19, 2017, in Topeka, Kan. (Chris Neal/The Topeka Capital-Journal via AP) PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - A new National Palace will be built over the next several years to resemble the iconic 90-year-old structure smashed during Haiti's cataclysmic 2010 earthquake, authorities announced Wednesday. President Jovenel Moise, who took office in February, launched a palace reconstruction commission that includes Haitian architects and historians. He pledged that the Parliament and the Palace of Justice will also be rebuilt during his five-year administration. "The new National Palace will make the connection between the history, the culture and the future of the Haitian nation," Moise said at the site of the former structure, where peacocks wander the grounds and officials conduct day-to-day operations in pre-fabricated buildings. FILE - In this Jan. 17, 2010 file photo, the remains of the presidential palace are seen after the earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Haitian authorities said on Wednesday, April 19 2017, that they will rebuild the country's National Palace to resemble the iconic 90-year-old structure that was smashed during the country's 2010 earthquake. (AP Photo/Tyler Anderson, File) The planned presidential residence and offices would be at least the fifth National Palace at the Port-au-Prince site. One palace was destroyed in 1869 when rebels ignited munitions. Another was leveled by a bomb blast in 1912. The most recent presidential residence was designed by Haitian architect Georges Baussan but finished in 1920 by U.S. naval engineers during a 19-year U.S. military occupation of Haiti. The enormous complex with three domes and pillars was larger than the White House. Following the magnitude 7.0 earthquake in 2010, it became a twin symbol of the devastation and of the shattered government's dysfunction. The caved-in structure was one of thousands of buildings toppled or badly damaged in the capital and surrounding areas. The severely damaged palace overlooking Champ de Mars square was demolished in 2012 by the J/P Haitian Relief Organization, a nonprofit group started by Hollywood actor Sean Penn. Clement Belizaire, executive director of the government's agency for public buildings, said a revived National Palace will "absolutely" be completed before the close of 2020. He said it was too early to say precisely what will follow but added that the Beaux Arts architectural concepts of the old complex will be retained. The palace project, part of an ambitious plan for an "administrative city" covering 30 hectares (75 acres) in downtown Port-au-Prince, is expected to go to a competitive bidding process later this year. There are no estimates of how much reconstruction will cost. Some Haitians welcomed the reconstruction plan, noting Moise's declaration that it will mean local jobs. "The National Palace is the most important symbol for our nation. Rebuilding it shows the state is functioning," said Alexis Josue, a technician at the Ministry of Finance. But Nathanael Merceus, an aspiring mechanic, called the idea a waste of money, particularly when chronically struggling Haiti is facing so many other deep challenges. "We don't need more big government buildings when there are a lot of Haitian people suffering," he said. ___ David McFadden on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dmcfadd REGINA, Saskatchewan (AP) - A woman has been charged with human smuggling after Canadian police last week intercepted a vehicle carrying nine refugee claimants who authorities believe crossed the border from the United States, officials said Wednesday. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the woman was stopped Friday night on the Canadian side of the border between the North Portal and Northgate crossings, the legal entry points into the Canadian prairie province of Saskatchewan from North Dakota. Police said nine people from West Africa were in the vehicle. RCMP Inspector Donovan Fisher said the nine were released and have applied for refugee protection. He would not confirm the ages, gender or nationalities of the claimants. The police statement said an investigation into organized human smuggling in southeastern Saskatchewan began in December after border office officers said there was evidence to suggest smugglers were bringing foreign nationals into Canada from the United States. On Friday, American border authorities identified a suspect in the investigation as he entered the U.S., the statement said. They notified their Canadian counterparts, who in turn alerted the RCMP "that a smuggling attempt may be imminent." The vehicle was stopped that night. A home in Regina was searched Saturday and a significant amount of foreign currency was found, the RCMP said. Michelle Omoruyi, 43, has been charged with human smuggling and conspiracy to commit human smuggling. She is to appear in court May 15. Police said the U.S. Border Patrol has arrested other people related to the same investigation, but no details have been released. Fisher wouldn't say if anyone else is involved in the alleged smuggling or if the woman charged is a Canadian citizen. There has been an influx of refugees crossing into Canada from the U.S., but Fisher said it's the first case this year in which the RCMP has intercepted migrants entering Saskatchewan without authorization. Figures released Wednesday by the federal government show the RCMP intercepted 887 people crossing at official border points in March - up from 658 in February and 315 in January. Of those stopped in March, 644 were picked up in Quebec, 170 in Manitoba and 71 in British Columbia. There were lone crossers in Alberta and New Brunswick. Some of those coming to Canada in spots such as Emerson, Manitoba, have said they were motivated to leave the U.S. because of the new administration, fearful that their asylum claims wouldn't be treated fairly or that general anti-immigrant sentiment was rising. Others all along had Canada as their intended final destination, obtaining U.S. visas solely for the purpose of coming here. WASHINGTON (AP) - Exxon Mobil is seeking permission from the U.S. government for approval to resume drilling around the Black Sea with a Russian partner, state-owned Rosneft, according to a person familiar with the matter. The oil giant's request is being reviewed by the Trump administration and is certain to draw extra scrutiny because it involves a company formerly run by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who cultivated close ties with Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin. The drilling venture was blocked when the U.S. imposed sanctions on Russia in 2014. Exxon applied to the Treasury Department for a waiver from the sanctions in 2015, during the Obama administration, according to the person, who spoke anonymously because the application process is confidential. Exxon has publicly disclosed licenses for other work in Russia that required waivers. FILE - This Jan. 30, 2012, file photo, shows the sign for the Exxon Mobil Torrance Refinery in Torrance, Calif. A person familiar with the matter said Wednesday, April 19, 2017, that Exxon Mobil is seeking permission from the U.S. government for approval to resume drilling around the Black Sea with a Russian partner, state-owned Rosneft. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File) An Exxon spokesman said the company declined to comment on ongoing issues. The Treasury Department, which would handle Exxon's application to drill around the Black Sea, did not respond to a request for comment. A State Department spokesman said Tillerson has recused himself from any matters involving Exxon for two years and is not involved with any decision involving the company before any government agency. Tillerson retired as Exxon CEO at the end of last year. He has known Putin for about two decades - the Russian president awarded Tillerson a special honor in 2013. Irving, Texas-based Exxon disclosed in regulatory filings in 2015 and 2016 that it received three licenses from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control to conduct "limited administrative actions" with Rosneft. The company said it was complying with all sanctions regarding investments in Russia. The sanctions were imposed after Russia annexed the Crimea region of Ukraine in 2014. Among other things, U.S. companies were prohibited from transferring advanced technology used to drill offshore and in shale formations. Exxon was ordered to stop drilling in the Kara Sea off Russia's northern coast. The head of Exxon's Russian partner, Rosneft, was personally blacklisted. As Exxon CEO, Tillerson opposed the sanctions, telling shareholders in 2014 that sanctions were usually ineffective and caused "very broad collateral damage." Tillerson and Exxon agreed to the venture with Rosneft in 2011. The Russia sanctions have cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars. Exxon reported in 2015 that its potential losses related to the Rosneft venture could run to $1 billion. If the sanctions are lifted Exxon could push ahead with lucrative exploration and production opportunities in the Black Sea, Siberia and the Russian Arctic. Exxon's ambitions could be complicated, however, by concern over what U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded were Russian cyberattacks to interfere with the U.S. presidential election last year. Congress is also investigating possible ties between aides to then-candidate Donald Trump and Russian officials. Exxon's critics said that if the Trump administration approved Exxon's request, which was reported first by The Wall Street Journal, then Congress should block it on environmental and national-interest grounds. A Greenpeace official, Naomi Ages, said approving Exxon's request to drill in the Black Sea would give momentum to drilling in the Arctic and "would also send a message to Russia that it can intervene in any country, including the United States, with no consequences." UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The U.N. special envoy for education warned Wednesday that years of neglect have left 260 million children out of school and another 400 million functionally illiterate - and if a better way isn't found to finance education more than 800 million young people will leave school without the skills to get a job in 2030. Gordon Brown told a press conference that this represents half the world's 1.6 billion children. If action isn't taken now, he said, the U.N. goal of ensuring that every child has a quality secondary school education by 2030 won't be met, even in 2050 or in 2100. Brown proposed the creation of a new International Finance Facility for Education which he said would unlock nearly $10 billion annually for new investments in education and would help achieve the U.N. goal by 2030. Under the proposed facility, he said developing countries will be asked to sign a compact with donors to raise the educational outcome for students to the level of the top 25 percent of best performing countries in the world, and to increase their investment in education from the current 4 percent average of national income to 5.8 percent. In return, Brown said donor countries will raise the share of their aid budget earmarked for education from 10 percent to 15 percent and provide new guarantees to multilateral development banks enabling them to increase their support for education. Brown explained that education aid at the moment amounts to about $12 billion annually, "so we're effectively trying to double education aid." If the new facility could get $2 billion of guarantees from countries including current donors, and if they can back that up by $2 billion in grants "to buy down loans and convert them into credits," he said, "then we could ... increase education expenditure for that investment by about $9 billion to $9.5 billion a year." Brown said if this kind of funding isn't found, "then millions of children will remain on the streets rather than in schools." "And girls will be the majority of those who lose out on education, and in conflict zones the vast majority of children will not have the chance of education," he said. Brown strongly backed a new inquiry on "Protecting Children in Conflict" sponsored by Save The Children and the children's charity Theirworld being announced this week at the United Nations. It will look at the adequacy and effectiveness of existing international laws and their enforcement, and consider what may be done to strengthen them and bring the perpetrators of atrocities against children to justice, he said. "We want to find out, for example, whether there's a case for an international criminal court for children's cases," he said. The US will not relent until it achieves its objective of ensuring the Korean Peninsula is free of nuclear weapons, Vice President Mike Pence has said while visiting Japan. After meetings with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other leaders, Mr Pence told reporters that President Donald Trump was confident that economic and diplomatic pressure has a chance of compelling North Korea to cooperate. It is our belief by bringing together the family of nations with diplomatic and economic pressure we have a chance of achieving a freeze on the Korean Peninsula, Mr Pence said. We will not rest and will not relent until we obtain the objective of a denuclearised Korean Peninsula, he said. Earlier Mr Pence visited the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man) The Trump administration has signalled a more forceful US stance toward North Koreas recent missile tests and threats, including a warning from President Trump that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has gotta behave. So Mr Pence struck a stern tone after arriving at a US naval base from South Korea. We appreciate the challenging times in which the people of Japan live with increasing provocations from across the Sea of Japan, he said. We are with you 100%. On Monday, Mr Pence travelled to the tense Demilitarised Zone dividing North and South Korea, where he warned North Koreas leaders that after years of testing the US and South Korea with its nuclear ambitions, the era of strategic patience is over. A senior North Korean official then accused the United States of bringing the countries to the brink of thermonuclear war. Mr Pence, on a 10-day Asia trip that will also take him to Indonesia and Australia, said President Trump hopes China will use its leverage to get its long time ally North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program and ballistic missiles. In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made a fresh appeal for calm. Turkeys main opposition party has filed a formal request seeking the referendum to be annulled because of voting irregularities. Bulent Tezcan, deputy chairman of the Republican Peoples Party, announced the move at the Ankara offices of the electoral board. He said the results of the referendum on constitutional changes are illegitimate and the party would use all legal paths to challenge it. Mr Tezcan said that we demand the cancellation of this referendum. A supporter of the main opposition Republican People's Party protests outside Istanbul's Court House (Petros Karadjias/AP) The opposition has listed a series of irregularities, but has been particularly outraged by an electoral board decision announced late on Sunday to accept ballots that did not bear the official stamps used to verify they are genuine, as required by Turkish law. Monitors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, who also listed numerous problems, said the move undermined important election safeguards. That drew a harsh rebuke from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and criticism from Prime Minister Binali Yildirim. Efforts to cast a shadow on the result of the vote by spreading rumours of fraud are futile and in vain, Mr Yildirim said. The will of the people was freely reflected into the ballot boxes and this business is over. Everyone and all sections - and the main opposition party in particular- must show respect. It is wrong to speak after the people have spoken. Supporters of Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ( Burhan Ozbilici/AP) Opposition CHP head Kemal Kilicdaroglu accused the electoral board of bias and of favouring the governing party. It is clear that the High Electoral Board is not receiving its power from the people, the law or the constitution but rather from a specific centre, a specific political authority, he told his partys politiicans during a speech in Ankara. He accused the board of changing the rules mid-game. In Ankara, hundreds of people were queuing outside the election boards offices to submit petitions requesting the board reverse its decision to accept the ballots without official stamps. In their petitions, the residents of Ankara said the decision and other reported irregularities were in open violation of the law. Similar queues were also reported in front of an election board office in Istanbul. 'No' supporters protest in Istanbul (Emrah Gurel/AP) Sundays referendum allows President Erdogan, who has ruled Turkey first as prime minister and now as president since 2003, to fulfil his long-held ambition for a presidency with executive powers. The referendum approves 18 constitutional amendments that allow the president to appoint ministers, senior government officials and to hold sway over who sits in Turkeys highest judicial body, as well as to issue decrees and declare states of emergency. The new system takes effect at the next election, currently due to take place in November 2019. Other changes are to be implemented sooner, including scrapping a requirement that the president not be a member of any political party. (Press Presidency Press Service via AP, Pool) This would allow President Erdogan to rejoin the governing AK Party he co-founded, or to lead it. In Istanbul, hundreds of no supporters demonstrated in the streets on Monday night, chanting thief, murderer, Erdogan and banging pots and pans. US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, ignored the concerns about voting irregularities and congratulated President Erdogan on his referendum victory. UK teenagers are less happy with their lives than those in many other nations, including the US, Germany and Latvia, an international report has found. It puts the UK 38th out of 48 countries in terms of youngsters life satisfaction. Students from the UK were also much more likely to face exam anxiety and to report that they have been bullied than the global average, according to the latest report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Pupils sitting an exam (David Jones/PA) Most teens are happy w/their lives, but schoolwork anxiety & #bullying are issues: #OECDPISA. Compare countries, see https://t.co/Fr81uOGPXR pic.twitter.com/0A39ruXscd OECD Better Policies for Better Lives (@OECD) April 19, 2017 The study based on the OECDs Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) tests, which are taken by 15-year-olds around the world shows that the UK is lagging behind internationally in terms of young peoples social and emotional lives. It found that, on a scale of one to 10, British pupils had an average satisfaction of 6.98, compared with the OECD average of 7.31. This puts the UK behind nations such as France (7.63), Germany (7.35), Spain (7.42) Latvia (7.37) and the US (7.36), but ahead of others such as Japan (6.80) Turkey (6.12) and Korea (6.36). Among those with the highest ratings were Mexico (8.27) and Finland (7.89). Overall, the UK took 38th place for life satisfaction, out of 48 OECD countries, and partner nations. Among OECD countries alone, it was 23rd out of 28. Only 28% of UK students were very satisfied with life short of the 34% OECD average. Around 540,000 students took part in the latest Pisa tests, representing around 29 million 15-yer-olds in 72 participating countries and economies. The findings also show that British pupils time at schools is more regularly marred by bullying, with almost a quarter of British students (24%) having fallen victim to any type of it. This figure is 5% higher than average, according to the research. What does students life after school look like? See new #OECDPISA report https://t.co/90sG2i6YHs pic.twitter.com/MKMeMKg8WV OECD Education (@OECDEduSkills) April 19, 2017 Where bullying was rife, performance was affected, as schools in which more than one-tenth of pupils fell victim to it scored an average of 38 points lower on science than schools with the lowest episodes, the study found. Anxiety was also found to be permeating the British classroom, where 72% of students reported worrying about tests even if they were well-prepared, compared with 55% on average. Just over half (52%) also said they became very tense during their studies, above the 37% international mean. But the reported lack of happiness teenagers have in British schools is offset by their high ambitions, the report found. Well-being is a dynamic & fragile balance, what happens outside school, affects how children feel inside of school & vice versa @gabramos OECD Education (@OECDEduSkills) April 19, 2017 The vast majority of pupils (90%) claimed they wanted to be the best in their every endeavour, dwarfing the 65% international average. Similarly, 76% said they wanted to be the best in their class, outstripping the 59% average. Confidence appeared to spell better results as students in the top quarter of the reports motivation index achieved an average of 29 points higher in science than those in the bottom quarter. UK teenagers also have a high level of support from their parents, with 93% saying that their mothers and fathers encourage them to be confident, and 84% saying their parents are interested in what they do at school. A Department for Education spokeswoman said: These findings show young people have the motivation and desire to go as far as their talents can take them and that their parents are supporting them throughout their time at school. British Formula 4 driver Billy Monger has undergone amputations on both of his legs after being involved in a high-speed crash at Donington Park on Sunday which left him fighting for his life. Mongers JHR Developments team set up a JustGiving page on Wednesday afternoon with the aim of raising 260,000 and the target was reached within hours. https://t.co/C4wW9w9KNF OFFICAL STATEMENT: This is Billys official "Just giving" page. All donations will go directly to Billys future. 1/2 JHR Developments (@JHRdevelopments) April 19, 2017 Former Formula One world champions Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button have backed the fund. Donington Park Hey guys this fellow racer Billy Monger had a big shunt this past weekend at Donnington and https://t.co/ljuNg4bydM Jenson Button (@JensonButton) April 19, 2017 The 17-year-old from Charlwood, Surrey was injured in a collision with the Carlin car being driven by Finnish driver Patrik Pasma which appeared to have stopped on the racetrack. Onboard footage from a camera on Mongers JHR car showed him seeming to run into the back of Pasmas stationary car. 2/2 From all of us at JHR and the Monger family, we gratefully appreciate any donations no matter how big or small. Thanks for your support. JHR Developments (@JHRdevelopments) April 19, 2017 After being trapped in his car for an hour and a half at the Leicestershire circuit, the British driver was airlifted to the nearby Queens Medical centre in Nottingham. JHR Developments made an announcement via Twitter to say that all donations would go directly to Billys future. A statement on the JustGiving page says: After being involved in one of the most horrific crashes motorsport has seen Billy Monger is a teenager that needs little introduction. Thousands of people have already watched the haunting footage of the crash which left Billy fighting for his life. Sadly Billy has had amputations to both legs. Well known in motorsport for being not only an extremely talented young driver but for also being a truly special 17-year-old loved and admired by his team, fellow competitors, supporters and of course his devoted family. Having always been a fighter Billy has already overcome big hurdles in his career struggling for budget Billy has fought his way into top flight motorsport, however, we now need your kindness and support to help give Billy and his family the best chance to fight these injuries that will affect Billys life so massively. STATEMENT: Update on the condition of Billy Monger. https://t.co/ntjuz0eh1A pic.twitter.com/g5yFIyHs2f ROKiT British F4 (@BritishF4) April 19, 2017 The post, which is signed by Steven Hunter/JHR Developments and the Monger family, continues: We are in the process of establishing a trust to receive, hold, manage and expend funds for Billys benefit. In the meantime you can help start the process by donating online. Donations will be used to fund the care, treatments and therapies required by Billy in the immediate future and going forward, helping him to return to a full and active life. Theresa May vowed to support Ukraine in the face of the threat from Moscow as she welcomes Petro Poroshenko to Downing Street. She told the Ukrainian president the UK stood ready to support his country. Mrs May said she would continue to press for sanctions to remain in place against Russia until the Minsk agreement on a political settlement was fully implemented. Prime Minister Theresa May hosts Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko for talks at 10 Downing Street She said: We recognise of course the threat from Russia not only seen in the annexation of Crimea but also in activity in eastern Ukraine. We continue to stand ready to support you against this threat, both through our bilateral security and defence co-operation but also in other ways. We will continue to press for sanctions to remain until the whole Minsk agreement is fully implemented. PM hosted President @poroshenko of Ukraine at 10 Downing Street for their first bilateral meeting. Find out more: https://t.co/JVKigvEhKu pic.twitter.com/UchLqOzgud UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) April 19, 2017 At the start of talks in Number 10 Mr Poroshenko thanked Mrs May for the very firm support for Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of the illegal annexation of the Crimea and Russian aggression. He invited Mrs May to visit Ukraine but acknowledged we know that now you have a busy schedule an apparent reference to the Prime Ministers decision to call a snap general election in June. They met as the International Court of Justice rejected Ukraines request for measures aimed at blocking Russian support for rebels in eastern Ukraine, but imposed measures to rein in discrimination by Moscow against ethnic Tatars and other minorities in Crimea. The UN court said it expects both Moscow and Kiev to work to implement the Minsk agreements that were designed to bring peace to conflict-ravaged eastern Ukraine. Barcelona could not conjure another famous Champions League revival after Juventus held firm to secure their semi-final place thanks to a 3-0 aggregate victory. The Catalan giants hit back from a 4-0 last-16 first-leg deficit to down Paris St Germain six weeks ago and they needed a comeback of similarly epic proportions at the Nou Camp on Wednesday after shipping three goals in Turin. Barca fail to score at home for the first time in 21 #UCL matches. pic.twitter.com/8Ajf8kBvtG UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) April 19, 2017 Lionel Messi twice missed the target with gilt-edged opportunities in either half but in the end, Barcelona left themselves with too much of a mountain to climb after being humbled last week. A brace from Paulo Dybala and a goal from Giorgio Chiellini put Juventus on the brink of a last-four place, but they would have been well aware of their opponents comeback capabilities. Juventus' Leonardo Bonucci celebrates victory after the final whistle Having been down and out against PSG, Barcelona produced one of the best attacking displays the competition has ever seen to triumph 6-5 on aggregate last month. But Juve, who had conceded only two goals in nine Champions League matches this season before Wednesday night, proved far more disciplined at the back. They served notice they would not be content to simply sit back as Gonzalo Higuain lashed over after the ball had rebounded back into his path from Sergio Busquets attempted interception. Juan Cuadrado then saw his overhead volley go over in an enterprising start for the visitors but Barcelona gradually started to gain a foothold of proceedings, pushing plenty of numbers forward. Proud of the team pic.twitter.com/G43WR5AHjv FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) April 19, 2017 They should have gone ahead in the 19th minute when a cross took a touch off Luis Suarez and rolled perfectly into the path of the oncoming Messi but he could only put his effort wide from 12 yards. It was a significant let-off for Juventus and they were forced to sit deep as Barca continued to create chances with Neymar and then Sergi Roberto their matchwinner against PSG volleying over. Barcelona's Lionel Messi attempts a shot But Barcelona were being given precious little space in the final third and although Messi finally tested Gianluigi Buffon, who parried away the deflected effort, Juventus rarely looked overexerted. Indeed, they perhaps should have gone ahead at the interval but Higuain could not direct Miralem Pjanics lob past Marc-Andre ter Stegen. The hosts ended the half in a foul mood after Neymar was booked for an impetuous barge on Pjanic, whose aerial challenge on Messi seconds earlier led to the Argentinian faceplanting the floor. Their mood nearly worsened just after the interval but Cuadrado, in acres of space on the right, dragged his strike across goal while at the other end Messi cut onto his left foot and fired just wide of Buffons right hand post. A fourth Barcelona forward in Paco Alcacer was introduced just before the hour mark as boss Luis Enrique went for broke. And Juventus were given another warning in the 67th minute when the luckless Messi volleyed over with Buffon in no mans land after failing to cut out a corner, with Barcelona, by this point, dominating possession and territory. Neymars cross just evaded the touch of substitute Javier Mascherano but Buffon still needed to get down quickly to push to safety and slowly Barcelona began to run out of steam. They had scored three times in the final seven minutes against PSG but there was no hint of anything similar this time as Juventus cruised into the last four. By Karen Lema and Neil Jerome Morales MANILA, April 18 (Reuters) - The Philippines re-branded its economic agenda on Tuesday and promised "audacious policymaking" by President Rodrigo Duterte under an ambitious programme named "Dutertenomics", showcased at a high-profile event he did not attend. Duterte's ministers said the Philippines had lagged its Southeast Asian peers largely due of its dilapidated infrastructure and high taxes, but a big-spending overhaul was underway that would draw investment, create jobs and help rebuild its manufacturing sector. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez praised Duterte's decisive leadership and said "Dutertenomics" was about creating more public discussion of reform plans and a reaching a "broader base of support". Dominguez did not elaborate on why the government needed to better explain its plan. It was not clear why Duterte did not attend. The move comes as he pushes Congress to pass a tax reform programme aimed at attracting businesses and boosting private spending. "This is the time to move decisively. Fortunately, we have a leader capable of much audacity," Dominguez said in opening the event. "We have a leader of vision and intense love of country. All the favourable factors are present. It is time now for a breakout." The Philippines is one of the world's fastest growing economies and expanded 6.9 percent in 2016, its quickest pace in three years. The 2017 forecast is the midpoint between 6.5-7.5 percent. The maverick former mayor Duterte by his own admission takes a hands-off approach to the economy, leaving it to what he calls the "bright guys" in his cabinet. His presidency has so far been defined by a war on drugs that has killed thousands of Filipinos, and profane diatribes against high-profile critics at home and abroad. His economic chiefs are pinning growth plans on infrastructure works to create jobs, stimulate the economy and attract manufacturers put off by high power prices and poor roads and ports that create transportation bottlenecks that eat into profits. The government has targeted infrastructure spending of 5.4 percent of GDP this year, rising to 7.4 percent of GDP by 2022, through highways, bridges, ports, ports, airport upgrades and rural and city train lines. Dominguez said public-private partnerships would be expedited by having the state build projects itself, then later transfer operations to the private sector. But much of that rides on the a tax reform bill which may face resistance, particularly for its proposed hiking of duties on fuel. Dominguez told reporters the infrastructure plan was the only way forward, but it could be derailed if the tax measures were not passed. "Do they want the country to move forward or do they want us to stay in the shadows?" he said of Congress. Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said "Dutertenomics" was neither a new concept, nor an attempt to deflect attention away from Duterte's war on drugs, to which opposition has been slowly building at home. "This is really a question of focusing on what has really been happening since day one," he said. "It's always been there, except that people have decided to focus on other things." (Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Kim Coghill) BRASILIA, April 18 (Reuters) - Congressional police in riot gear used tear gas to drive back hundreds of members of federal police unions who tried to invade the Brazilian Congress on Tuesday to protest a pension reform bill that would reduce their benefits. The demonstrators broke glass doors before being pushed back in a violent clash that underscored the unpopularity of the pension reform President Michel Temer's government is proposing to balance Brazil's overdrawn public accounts. The lower Chamber of Deputies, where debate on the bill will begin at committee level on Wednesday, said in a statement that 500 demonstrators, most of them off duty police officers, tried to invade the building but were repelled with no injuries reported. The controversial reform sets a minimum retirement age of 65 years in a country where public sector employees work on average to 54 before retiring in a generous social security system that is the main cause of Brazil's unsustainable budget deficit. The police went ahead with their protest despite the announcement of concessions that will dilute the fiscal savings of the bill at least one fifth by setting lower retirement ages for women, teacher, rural workers and police. The changes reduced the proposed age of retirement for police officers to 60 from 65 years. The 27 federal police unions behind the protest said the bill fails to reward the risk involved in police work. (Reporting by Maria Carolina Marcello; Writing by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Chris Reese and Diane Craft) By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA, April 19 (Reuters) - Progress has been made in tackling diseases that blind, disable and disfigure millions of poor in tropical areas each year, but drug companies need to step up donations of medicines, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday. One billion people, mainly in Asia, Africa and Latin America, are still treated each year for at least one of 18 neglected tropical diseases known as NTDs, it said. Dengue, onchocerciasis (river blindness), and sleeping sickness are among those carried by mosquitoes or flies that are spreading from rural areas to urban slums, the WHO warned. "There is no group of diseases that is so intimately linked to poverty," Dr. Dirk Engels, director of WHO's department of control of neglected tropic diseases, told a news briefing. "A number of companies have accompanied us in the scaling up by making more medicines available. Is that enough? No, there are still diseases that are neglected and we still have problems with access to basic medicines," he said. GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis and Sanofi are among major donors, WHO says. Merck said earlier it was developing a children's formula of its drug to treat schistosomiasis, a parasitic worm disease which kills 280,000 a year in Africa. New products need an access plan for patients "because just counting on the commercial mechanisms wont work", Enders said. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is backing research and development into NTDs. Bill Gates met with CEOs of major pharmaceutical companies in Geneva on Tuesday. "Good progress, some of these diseases are on track to be done (eliminated) by 2020, some by 2025. Some will take longer than that," Gates told a news conference, noting that there were only 3,000 cases of sleeping sickness last year. EXPENSIVE MEDICINES Needs remain huge despite the fight over the past decade and a 2012 London meeting to galvanise attention and set targets, WHO said. "Cutaneous leishmaniasis, for instance. It doesnt kill so it attracts less attention, but it is really disfiguring and it causes a lot of stigma and a lot of mental problems," Engels said of the disease spread by female sandflies. "The medicines exist...They are too expensive and (neither) people nor countries have the ability to pay." Drugs companies currently have 109 research and development projects for medicines or vaccines for NTDs, which typically take 10-15 years to develop, the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) said. "There are quite a number of new medicines and diagnostics in the pipeline, which may actually further change the perspective for these neglected tropical diseases and hopefully allow us to go further towards eliminating or near eliminating these diseases by 2030," Enders said. Only 25 human cases of Guinea worm disease were reported last year, "putting eradication within reach", he added. "We have just acknowledged the first African country that has eliminated lymphatic filariasis as a public health problem - Togo - so that may be a start of a number of them," Enders said. The mosquito-borne infection, also known as elephantiasis, causes enlargement of limbs and genitals from adult worms in the lymphatic system. (Editing by Gareth Jones) By Agustinus Beo Da Costa and Fergus Jensen JAKARTA, April 19 (Reuters) - A former Indonesian education minister won the race for Jakarta governor on Wednesday after a polarising campaign that cast a shadow over Indonesia's reputation for practicing a tolerant form of Islam. Anies Baswedan won with 58 percent of the votes versus 42 percent for Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, known by his Chinese nickname as "Ahok", based on 100 percent of the votes in an unofficial "quick count" by Indikator Politik. Other pollsters showed similar results. The national elections commission will announce official results in early May. The turbulent campaign featured mass rallies led by a hardline Islamist movement, which has strengthened in recent years in a country long dominated by a moderate form of Islam. More than 80 percent of Indonesia's population professes Islam. "Going forward, the politics of religion is going to be a potent force," said Keith Loveard, an analyst at Jakarta-based Concord Consulting and an author of books about Indonesian politics. Baswedan's huge margin of victory was surprising since opinion polls in the run-up to the election had pointed to a dead-heat. Purnama won the first round of voting for governor in February in a three-way race. Indonesian social media users likened the election outcome to the shock results of the U.S. presidential vote and the Brexit vote of last year. One Twitter user, @fuadhn, said Indonesians "can feel what US and British citizens feel now. Welcome populism..." The election came on the eve of a visit by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, as the Trump administration seeks to engage the world's fourth-largest nation and largest Muslim-majority country as an emerging regional power. Pence is scheduled on Thursday to visit the biggest mosque in Southeast Asia, Jakarta's Istiqlal Mosque. 2019 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION The Jakarta election will be seen as a barometer for the 2019 presidential election, given the city's outsized importance as both the nation's capital and commercial centre. Purnama is backed by President Joko Widodo's ruling party. Baswedan is supported by a retired general, Prabowo Subianto, who narrowly lost to Widodo in a 2014 presidential vote and is expected to challenge him again. Police said 15 people were detained following reports of disturbances at several polling stations in the city of 10 million people, after what the Jakarta Post this week dubbed "the dirtiest, most polarising and most divisive" election campaign the nation had ever seen. Security appeared light at several polling stations, though police said 66,000 personnel were deployed across the city. Religious tensions have been an undercurrent in the campaign, with Purnama on trial for blasphemy over comments he made last year that many took to be insulting to Islam. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims took to the streets late last year to call for his sacking and to urge voters not to elect a non-Muslim leader. One person died and more than 100 were injured after one protest turned violent. Some voters may have been reluctant to vote for Purnama because of worries about "five more years of protests on the streets by Muslim hardliners," Loveard said in a telephone interview. Ismail Yusanto, spokesman for one of the groups, Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, said the election showed Jakarta voters didn't want a non-Muslim leader. "It is forbidden under Islamic law, to have an infidel leader," he told Reuters. RECONCILIATORY TONE Baswedan, a respected scholar who many viewed as moderate, drew widespread criticism during the campaign when he aggressively courted the conservative Islamic vote, appearing publicly with hardline Islamic leaders during anti-Purnama rallies. Baswedan, surrounded by his political patrons including Prabowo, struck a reconciliatory tone at a news conference after unofficial results came in, pledging to "safeguard diversity and unity". His platform has focused on improving public education, providing no-deposit home loans for low income groups and opposing a giant seawall in Jakarta Bay that Purnama has advocated. Baswedan has denied he plans to implement Islamic sharia law in Jakarta if elected. Baswedan will officially take over as governor in October. Purnama congratulated his rival in a news conference. "We still have six months (in office) until the new governor is inaugurated and we will finish up our homework," Purnama said. "We hope that in the future everyone can forget the campaign period." Purnama's blasphemy trial resumes on Thursday and he faces up to five years in jail if convicted. Investors in Indonesian markets are likely to return to fundamentals such as corporate earnings, now that the political uncertainties surrounding the divisive Jakarta election have diminished, analysts said. "As long as there are no security issues, the election outcome should not significantly stall the reform programme of the national government, in our view," Citigroup said in a note. It maintained its year-end target of 6,150 points for the Jakarta stock exchange, which represents an 8 percent upside. (Additional reporting by Cindy Silviana, Eveline Danubrata, Fransiska Nangoy and Gayatri Suroyo; Writing by John Chalmers; Editing by Bill Tarrant) Following are news stories, press reports and events to watch that may affect Poland's financial markets on Wednesday. ALL TIMES GMT (Poland: GMT + 2 hours): DATA Poland's statistics office to release employment and corporate sector wages data for March at 1200 GMT. DINO Polish retail chain Dino to debut on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in the biggest initial public offering in the past few years. PEKAO Polish lender Pekao to hold annual shareholders meeting at 0930 GMT. ORANGE Orange Polish unit to hold annual shareholders meeting at 0800 GMT. AZOTY, TAURON Poland's state-run chemical group Azoty plans to revive its project of coal gasification that is likely to be joined by power producer Tauron, Rzeczpospolita daily said. ****Reuters has not verified stories reported by Polish media and does not vouch for their accuracy.**** For other related news, double click on: Polish equities E.Europe equities Polish money Polish debt Eastern Europe All emerging markets Hot stocks Stock markets Market debt news Forex news For real-time index quotes, double click on: Warsaw WIG20 Budapest BUX Prague PX (Reporting by Warsaw Bureau) MANILA, April 19 (Reuters) - Satisfaction in the Philippines with President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs declined in the first quarter this year, a survey showed on Wednesday, with opinions split about police accounts that the drug suspects they killed had resisted arrest. Seventy-eight percent of 1,200 people surveyed by Social Weather Stations (SWS) said they were satisfied by the government's crackdown on illegal drugs, down from 85 percent in a similar poll in December last year. The number of dissatisfied respondents rose from eight percent to 12 percent. Almost 9,000 people, many small-time users and dealers, have been killed in the Philippines since Duterte took office on June 30. Police say about a third of the victims were shot by officers in self-defence during legitimate operations. Human rights monitors believe many of the remaining two thirds were killed by paid assassins operating with police backing or by police disguised as vigilantes - an accusation the police deny. A Reuters special report published on Tuesday cited two senior law enforcement officials saying the police had received cash for executing drug suspects, planted evidence and had carried out most of the killings they had blamed on vigilantes. Reuters was unable to independently verify if the police are behind vigilante killings. The SWS survey on the anti-drugs campaign included questions on "extrajudicial killings", a term the government and police strongly object to, insisting no such killings have taken place. The latest poll was conducted from March 25 to 28 and showed 73 percent of Filipinos were worried that they, or someone they know, would be a victim of extrajudicial killing. Ninety-two percent said it was important authorities captured drug suspects alive rather than killed them. About a fifth of respondents felt police were "probably" telling the truth about circumstances behind their killing of drug suspects, while 14 percent believed they were "definitely" lying. Forty-four percent of respondents were undecided. Those who said they "definitely" believed police were truthful fell from nine percent in December to six percent in the latest survey. "This is a black eye for the Philippine National Police," said Ramon Casiple, head of the Institute for Electoral and Police Reforms. "I don't think this will impact on the president, it's more on the police whose members were seen and perceived to be more involved in crimes and in the killings. They should do more and convince the public about reforms not by words but by actions." Asked by reporters about the fall in satisfaction rating for the anti-drugs campaign, Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella said: "There seems to be consistency in the way the public appreciates the efforts." (Reporting by Manuel Mogato; Editing by Martin Petty, Robert Birsel) SOFIA, April 19 (Reuters) - These are some of the main stories in Bulgarian newspapers on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. -- The newly elected 44th parliament will have its initial session on Wednesday. The national assembly is summoned with a decree of President Rumen Radev and the eldest MP present - Socialist party's Toma Tomov, will unveil it (Trud, 24 Chasa, Standart, Monitor) -- Passenger traffic at Sofia Airport grew by 52 percent to 515,857 on an annual basis in March, the airport operator said. Passengers on domestic and charter flights increased by 60 percent and 46 percent respectively. (Trud, Standart, Monitor) -- The total average income and expenditure per household member in Bulgaria in 2016 rose by 4.3 percent and 1.9 percent respectively compared to the previous year, the statistics office data showed. The annual total income average per household member in 2016 was 5,167 levs ($2,833.72), while spending stood at 4,755 levs (Capital daily, Trud) -- Almost 90 percent of Bulgarian households are living in dwellings that they own and 6.3 percent live in rent-free dwellings, the national statistics office's report showed. Some 8.2 percent of Bulgarian households own a second home (Trud, Standart) -- Bulgarians cut down on buying bread while consuming more fruit and vegetables - and they drank a bit less alcohol, buying fewer cigarettes too in the past eight years (2008-2016), the statistics office's report showed (Trud, Capital daily) ($1 = 1.8234 leva) By Leigh Thomas and Simon Carraud PARIS, April 14 (Reuters) - Marine Le Pen has brought the National Front from fringe status into the political spotlight and made herself a real contender to be France's first woman president and its first far-right leader since World War Two. Since taking the helm in 2011, Le Pen has sought to rid the party of the anti-Semitic image it acquired under the nearly 40-year leadership of her father, ex-paratrooper Jean-Marie Le Pen. The twice-divorced mother of three has positioned the party instead as an anti-immigrant, Eurosceptic force offering protectionist policies to shelter French workers from globalisation. Polls have consistently shown Le Pen as one of the favourites to get through the April 23 first round and contest the May 7 runoff. That would be a step further than her first attempt in 2012, when she failed to reach the second round, and equal the achievement of her father, who reached the second round in 2002, only to lose by a landslide to conservative Jacques Chirac. While polls suggest the younger Le Pen would also lose in the run-off, they point to a much closer fight this time. A strong performance by a candidate who wants a referendum on France's membership of the European Union could unnerve financial markets, worried by the prospect of another upset after Britons voted to leave the EU last year. With her trademark gravelly voice, the 48-year-old never hesitates to lock horns with journalists or rivals on televised debates as she takes on the political establishment. Her plans to ditch the euro and force the French central bank to fund state spending remain deeply unorthodox although she says her economic policies are more in tune with the anti-globalisation sentiment that propelled Donald Trump to the White House and fuelled Britain's Brexit vote last year. Le Pen pursued the softer image even at the expense of her relationship with her father, disowning his comments that Nazi gas chambers were a "detail" of history. She had him expelled from the party over his views in 2015. But she too has shown she can touch a raw nerve, provoking outrage this month when she denied the French state's responsibility in the German-ordered roundup of 13,000 Jews by French police in Paris during World War Two. Lenders have refused to bankroll her run for the presidency, putting her at a financial disadvantage to other candidates. The former lawyer is also under investigation over the alleged misuse of EU funds to pay party assistants and for tweeting pictures of Islamic State violence. She says these are politically motivated attempts to derail her presidential bid. Le Pen is an admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who granted her an audience in the Kremlin in March. She entered politics by joining her father's party at 18 in 1986. In 1998, she abandoned her law career to provide legal advice to the party and was first elected to political office in 1998 as a regional councillor in northern France. She later had the same role in the Paris region before returning to the northern rust belt in 2010. She has also been a member of the European Parliament since 2004. Living and breathing politics from her youngest years, Le Pen has said her childhood was deeply marked by the explosion of a bomb that destroyed the family apartment when she was eight years old in an incident that remains unsolved. (Reporting by Leigh Thomas and Simon Carraud; Editing by Adrian Croft) MOSCOW, April 19 (Reuters) - The following are some stories in Russia's newspapers on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. VEDOMOSTI www.vedomosti.ru - A draft bill on demolishing Soviet-era apartment blocks in Moscow will violate the basic constitutional rights of citizens to private property and their freedom to choose where to live, the daily says, referring to the conclusions of a presidential commission on legal issues. - The daily is worried that Russia's working pensioners will move into the shadow economy after what it calls a discriminatory move by the state to cut their pensions. Almost half of older people continued to work after reaching retirement age in 2014 because of the low level of pensions, it says. KOMMERSANT www.kommersant.ru - Russian tourist interest in Tunisia and Cyprus has sharply increased after the country's aviation regulator mooted a possible ban on charter flights to Turkey, the daily says. - Dmitry Amunts, former deputy chief of Russia's tourism board, has been sentenced to seven years in prison for aiding Sergei Pugachev, former owner of Mezhprombank, who is accused of stealing 29 billion roubles ($516.39 million) from the bank. Pugachev denies wrongdoing. IZVESTIA www.izvestia.ru - Russia's Defence Ministry has equipped its military bases and other military sites with special systems designed to protect them from electronic eavesdropping, the daily reports. NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA www.ng.ru - Russia's state statistics agency, Rosstat, has said that real incomes fell by 2.5 percent in March year-on-year. Incomes are now falling for a fourth consecutive year, the daily says. - President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree authorising state structures "to monitor and analyse all complaints coming from the population and organisations," the daily says. The move may be a response to March 26 protests across the country, the daily says. But the upshot may not amount to much more than a public relations boost, it says. ($1 = 56.1593 roubles) (Reporting By Tatiana Ustinova; Editing by Andrew Osborn) ROME, April 19 (Reuters) - Italy has called for the release of an Italian journalist who has been held in custody in Turkey for more than a week since he was detained while doing research for a book. Gabriele Del Grande was arrested on April 9 close to Turkey's border with Syria and transferred to a migrants centre in the city of Mugla. The Italian foreign ministry said it was working to ensure that Del Grande, who has not been charged with any crime, can receive legal assistance, a visit from the Italian consulate, and be allowed to communicate with his family. "But obviously this is not enough, because the foreign ministry requests that Del Grande be released, in full respect of the law," it said in a statement late on Tuesday. There was no one immediately available for comment from Turkey's foreign ministry on Wednesday. Amnesty International has said it is concerned by Del Grande's situation and that Italy has not done enough to get him freed. (Reporting By Gavin Jones) ULAANBAATAR, April 19 (Reuters) - Mongolia launched its first satellite on Wednesday, part of its efforts to make use of new technology to diversify its resource-dependent economy. The 1,227-megahertz satellite, called Mongol Sat-1, will help landlocked Mongolia expand its television, telecoms and broadband services, according to a video posted on the official website of Mongolia's parliament . The satellite was launched in partnership with Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS), a telecoms and broadcast provider for the region. No details about the cost of the satellite and the launch were provided, and government agencies could not be immediately reached for comment. "The project that began over 10 years ago has been finally accomplished," said Parliament Speaker Miyeegombo Enkhbold in a meeting with ABS Chief Executive Officer Thomas Choi at the satellite's launch. "This is a historic advance, and we are proud that Mongolia sends its first satellite off into space." Enkhbold said the satellite would also be used to help with space research, map making and with preparing for natural disasters. Mongolia has been adopting new technologies to help connect its most remote and inaccessible regions, and dozens of new television broadcasters have also been launched in the last decade. Mobile phones have also become an essential part of life for Mongolia's traditional nomadic herders, providing remote settlements with access to banking and weather alerts. The International Monetary Fund has urged Mongolia to diversify its economy as part of a $5.5 billion bailout. Mongolia plunged into an economic and financial crisis last year after a collapse in commodity prices eroded growth and sent its currency, the tugrik, plummeting. (Reporting by Terrence Edwards; Editing by David Stanway and Robert Birsel) By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA, April 19 (Reuters) - The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Western countries and drug companies pledged fresh support on Wednesday to wipe out diseases that blind, disable and disfigure millions of poor in tropical areas each year and urged new donors to join the fight. Some 1.5 billion people, mainly in Asia, Africa and Latin America, are infected with one of 18 neglected tropical diseases known as NTDs, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said. One billion of them are receiving treatment, half of them children. "The best thing with these diseases is not to debate whether they are neglected or not, but to proceed to make them history," Bill Gates told a global partners' meeting held at WHO. "We need a broader, deeper bench of investors... so that by 2030 we can achieve the goal of reaching 90 percent of the people who need treatment. I know this is achievable." Gates, who has supported the initiative for over a decade with $1 billion, pledged $335 million over the next 4 years, including $42 million to continue efforts to wipe out Guinea-worm disease. The crippling disease, transmitted by contaminated water, can lead to a 100 cm long (40-inch) worm growing in the body. "Guinea worm is one of our great success stories, even though we're not absolutely at zero, we are down to very small numbers. Thirty years ago over 3 million people in over 20 countries were afflicted," Gates said. Only 25 cases of Guinea-worm disease were reported in six countries last year, "putting eradication within reach", the WHO says. The Carter Center, set up by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, has worked for more than 20 years to wipe it out. "We are close to finishing off this debilitating disease," Carter said, speaking by video from Atlanta, Georgia. "We cannot be complacent, we must be creative and persistent. The Carter Center will not give up until the last Guinea worm is gone." Dengue, onchocerciasis (river blindness), and sleeping sickness are among those carried by mosquitoes or flies that are spreading from rural areas to urban slums, the WHO warned. "NTDs are really the diseases of neglected people, they are diseases of poverty and inequality that affect the most vulnerable among us," World Bank President Jim Kim said by video. "Now we have the largest drug donation programme in history with 1.5 billion treatments in 2015 alone," he said. GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis and Sanofi are among major donors, WHO says. Merck said on Tuesday it was developing a children's formula of its drug to treat schistosomiasis, a parasitic worm disease which kills 280,000 a year in Africa. Britain's Minister of State for International Development, Lord Bates, said the UK government was committing an additional 250 million pounds ($321.35 million) to NTD programmes. Belgium's deputy prime minister Alexander de Croo pledged 25 million euros ($26.81 million) through 2025 to eradicate African sleeping sickness. "Today the stars are aligned to eradicate it completely," de Croo told the talks. "The pay-off is huge". ($1 = 0.7780 pounds) ($1 = 0.9326 euros) (Editing by Gareth Jones and Pritha Sarkar) By Wesley Langat ELENERAI, Kenya, April 19 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - N orah Chepkulul, a single mother of two young sons, stands outside her home, a grass thatched hut surrounded by cactus-like euphoria trees on the dusty Maasai Mara road in Kenya's Rift Valley. She has just finished milking her four cows and has asked the boys to keep an eye on the goats corralled in the little compound. A few years ago, a single mother taking sole responsibility for her family would have been a rare sight among the pastoral Kipsigis and Maasai communities. Traditionally, the predominantly herder societies are patriarchal and men are the decision-makers and managers of land and stock. But over-grazing and the sub-division and privatisation of land and its transfer to agricultural use has forced herder communities to accept and adopt new land strategies, including applying for security of tenure and women in land transfer and inheritance. "Getting married these days is no longer a priority," Chepkulul told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "I am not married and being a single mother is not easy. I stay at home with my four children as a mother - and as a father, too." Deeply-rooted obstacles in society, along with the big gap between new laws against gender discrimination and local custom and tradition however continue to be a problem for women. Chepkulul, is one of the lucky ones. Her family acknowledged her daily battle to feed, house and educate her children and gave her a plot of land to work, flying in the face of cultural traditions. "My family members saw the economic challenges I faced in bringing up my children, felt pity, and gave me a small portion of land to farm and put my house on," she said. "Sometimes when there is a financial challenge at home, for example hospital bills for the parents, you're told to sell that cow and any other assets. "For my brothers that is considered the last option - there is no equality at all. I wish they could realise that my children are the same as theirs." CHANGING ATTITUDES Local priest, Mathew Sigilai, believes that the combination of economic pressure and new gender equality laws in Kenya is slowly eroding deep-seated cultural beliefs. "Things have changed and the population has grown and nowadays, getting married is not guaranteed," he said. "As a parent, if my daughter is not married, I will not chase her away. Instead I give her a farm or a cow to earn a living and start off her life like a son." Chepkulul's neighbour, 56-year-old Juliana, recalls her youth, a time when things were even tougher for unmarried women. "When you were not married, it was difficult to find accommodation or a home. You would not be allowed to stay with your parents. Sometimes a neighbour sympathised with you and offered you an old house," she said. "But later, when they wanted it back, you had to leave and find another place ... that was life for unmarried women, they were considered outsiders." A 2014 World Bank report, Gender at Work, showed that legal discrimination against women on inheritance and property rights remains common in many areas of the world, including the Middle East, North Africa, parts of South Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. However, between 1960 and 2010, the report said, Kenya had slashed the number of discriminatory laws against women's property ownership and rights by more than half. ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT Purity Wawerua, a retired Kenya Wildlife officer who belongs to a different tribe agreed there had been important progress in women's inheritance rights among the Maasai. Land used to be a major source of disputes, particularly after long marriages ended in divorce, she said. "When (the woman) goes back to her parents' home, it becomes a problem," she said. "Thanks to the new Kenyan constitution, equal rights are given to both genders." However, according to Mitchelle Oyuga, of the Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya (FIDA-Kenya), there is still room for improvement. "People have become quite aware that children are equal and it's a provision in the new constitution," she said. "You are allowed to farm, to do any kind of work on that farm, but when it comes to selling the farm, women are given secondary rights," she said. At her home in the Rift Valley, Chepkulul agrees and says that speaking up for themselves remains the most difficult hurdle for many women. "When you despair you feel like speaking out but no one can understand what you're going through," she said. "Sometimes I have been thinking ... that if God had really created human beings equally, there would be no discrimination on gender and all people would have been the same." (Reporting by Paola Totaro, Editing by Paola Totaro and Andrew Bolton; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit news.trust.org) BANGKOK, April 19 (Reuters) - A string of bomb and gun attacks killed two people in southern Thailand late on Wednesday and wounded three others, a senior military spokesman said. The attacks took place in 11 districts in Narathiwat, Pattani and Songkhla provinces near the border with Malaysia. The region has seen a long-running separatist insurgency: more than 6,500 people, most of them civilians, have died in separatist violence since 2004, when resistance to Buddhist rule flared up. Thailand is mostly Buddhist but parts of the south are majority Muslim. The attacks on Wednesday targeted security forces, including police and troops, and civilians, a spokesman for the military said. "This is the work of people who want to cause chaos. It looks like their intention wasn't to kill but rather to cause disorder," Colonel Yutthanam Petchmuang, a spokesman for the Internal Security Operations Command, told Reuters. As of Wednesday evening, no group had claimed responsibility. Talks between the Thai government and a handful of shadowy insurgent groups began in 2013 under the civilian government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, but have stalled since the military overthrew her in 2014. Earlier this month Thailand's military junta rejected a conditional offer from the main Muslim separatist group fighting in the south to enter into formal peace talks. (Reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre, Panarat Thepgumpanat and Surapan Boonthanom; Editing by Mark Trevelyan) By Nelson Banya HARARE, April 19 (Reuters) - Two of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's chief rivals said on Wednesday they were allying to deny the 93-year-old another term in office. Morgan Tsvangirai, 65, who was Zimbabwe's prime minister in an uneasy coalition government with Mugabe from 2009 until 2013, said he and Joice Mujuru, who was Mugabe's vice president for a decade until she was fired in 2014, would seek to form a coalition government to bring political change. "This is just the beginning of the building blocks towards establishing a broad alliance to confront ZANU PF between now and the next election in 2018," Tsvangirai said, referring to the party led by Africa's oldest leader. Mugabe, one of the last of the generation of African nationalists that sough the overthrow of white colonialists, has run Zimbabwe since 1980. He was first prime minister then, in 1987, became president. In December his ZANU PF party confirmed him as its candidate for the next presidential election expected in mid-2018, when he will be 94. Tsvangirai, a three time loser to Mugabe, said he expected similar deals to the one with Mujuru would be struck with other political groups. Tsvangirai, who lost the 2013 presidential vote against Mugabe, is now leading MDC-T, a faction of the Movement for Democratic Change, that was formed after the party was weakened by splits over how to confront Mugabe. The MDC, evicted from the unity government after its crushing defeat in the 2013 election, has been split over whether to dump Tsvangirai before the next vote in 2018. Mujuru, who formed a new National People's Party in March last year, said the two parties had worked on the agreement for the last six months and would now start negotiating specific details to strengthen their alliance. Critics accuse Mugabe of wrecking one of Africa's most promising economies through policies such as violent seizures of white-owned commercial farms and money printing. He and his party say the economy has been undermined by western powers. The turmoil within the opposition has been a boost for Mugabe, whose party has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980 amid charges of rigging recent elections. Mugabe has rejected the claims. The southern African nation's economy stagnated last year following a devastating drought while its budget deficit exploded as Mugabe's administration struggled to pay its workers, which helped fan anti-government protests. (Writing by James Macharia Editing by Jeremy Gaunt) GUATEMALA CITY, April 19 (Reuters) - Javier Duarte, the former state governor of Mexico's ruling party who was arrested in Guatemala at the weekend, said in court on Wednesday he would not agree to be extradited until his lawyers were able to study a formal extradition request. "At this time, I can't agree (to extradition) until the formal extradition request arrives," said Duarte, who faces prosecution for embezzlement and organized crime in Mexico, where he was the governor of Veracruz state until last year. Duarte has denied any wrongdoing. (Reporting by Sofia Menchu) Solar energy is derived from the radiation emanated by the Sun and this is why it is cheaper and eco-friendly. While Sri Lanka has initiated its Battle for Solar Power locally known as Soorya Bala Sangramaya the general public is encouraged to make use of solar energy for their daily activities. As our non-renewable resources are set to decline in the years to come, it is important for us to move towards renewable sources of energy like wind, hydropower, biomass and tidal. The main benefit of solar energy is that it can be easily deployed by both home and business users as it does not require any huge set up like in case of wind or geothermal power. Solar energy not only benefits individual owners, but also benefit environment as well. Listed below are a few advantages of using solar energy: Renewable Energy Source: among all the benefits of solar panels, the most important thing is that solar energy is a truly renewable energy source. It can be harnessed in all areas of the world and is available every day. We cannot run out of solar energy, unlike some of the other sources of energy. Cut down electricity bills: This is a huge concern among consumers in Sri Lanka. The highly priced electricity and water bills add up to their cost of living and by using alternatives such as solar energy, you will be able to save a few more rupees on your electricity bill. Diverse applications: Solar power can be used for various applications, the most important of them being generating electricity.Solar energy can be used to produce electricity in areas without access to the energy grid and to distill water in regions with limited clean water supplies. In Sri Lanka drought-stricken areas such as Hambantota could effectively use solar energy for the above mentioned purposes. Low maintenance costs: Solar energy systems generally dont require a lot of maintenance. You only need to keep them relatively clean, so cleaning them a couple of times per year will do the job. Reduce pollution: Solar energy is an alternative fossil fuel as it is clean, reliable and also a renewable source of energy. It doesnt pollute the air by releasing harmful gases such as carbon dioxide. So the risk of damage to the environment is reduced. Solar energy also doesnt require any fuel to produce electricity and therefore avoids the problem of transportation of fuel or storage of radioactive waste. If you too are looking at investing on electric power as means of conserving energy, United Tractors is a recommended source. Many large scale buildings and industrial facilities in the country are powered by Cat Generators. Hospitals and five star hotels too rely on Cat Power for energy conservation purposes. By Kamanthi Wickramasinghe It is bad when small-time politicians make up stories to mislead village folk. It is far worse when those with professional qualifications fabricate stories to mislead a gullible nation. This short piece is to shed light and present the facts on a recent incident, actually two incidents, of the latter kind that received significant airtime particularly on social media. Recently, former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Dr. Nalaka Godahewa, currently on bail for corruption charges related to alleged fraudulent misappropriation of SEC funds, speaking at an event in Colombo had levelled a series of allegations against the government. While glorifying himself as a doer who claims to have been hand-picked - not by one, but all three first brothers of the previous regime - to turn around many an SOE; Sri Lanka Insurance, ala Mahinda Rajapaksa; UDA ala Gotabhaya Rajapaksa for whom the favour was returned with Lanka Hospital; Sri Lanka Tourism and Sri Lankan Airlines Catering, ala Basil Rajapaksa, has mocked the current government in rather inglorious language and by and large endorsed the deceitful way of doing things as in the past. The stupid government of Sirisena and Wickremesinghe? Replete with fabrications and falsehoods and an unusually cock-eyed economic analysis the learned former public official, now full blown politician seen and heard at the Viyathamaga events sponsored by his favourite three brothers, has accused the present members of the government as being stupid and deceitful. To call someone namesis easy, but at a professional level one would assume that before saying so, relevant research would have been done to establish the facts. Of the many allegations, I wish to focus on only one in this piece. It is about the growth rate of the economy. The accusation is that the present government revised the growth rates of the economy to show that the GDP grew slower than what the then government actually achieved. This, it is alleged, was done for purely political reasons. The result is, as argued, that the credibility of the country has been destroyed. Perhaps he was building on the same allegation made a few weeks prior to that by his political ally and a former CB Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal. As reported in local print media, he had criticized what he had termed recalculation of the GDP. He says thus: It is not only the physical change (the difference in the GDP figures); the reason was that we lost our credibility. By recalculating (the GDP) we disturbed the serenity of the Central Bank and the Census and Statistic Department. In retrospect, I think we made a huge mistake. Godahewa, unlike Cabraal, is brutal in his attack. This is what he says I want to explain to you how the government committed hara-kiri by challenging its own credibility. They started this by challenging the information provided by the Central Bank. To show that 2014 growth was not as high as what the previous administration claimed, the new government changed the base year from which the GDP growth rate is calculated. By doing so, they were able to bring down the reported GDP growth rate of 2014 from 7.4% to 4.9%. Can anyone be stupider than this? You show the world that yours is not a high growth economy and yet expect foreign investors to get excited about it? On the other hand, will foreign investors trust the information provided by Sri Lankans when the Government itself challenges the statistics reported by the Central Bank? So, this short-sighted politically motivated behaviour did a lot of damage to the credibility of our country. There are two points in the above statement that I wish to highlight: One, that the changing of the base year was a political decision of the new government to show that the economy did not grow as fast as claimed by the previous government during their time; and two, even if the data is wrong and is known to be wrong you should continue to pretend they are correct to impress foreign investors. The entire speech was somewhat of a viral phenomenon on social media with many an arm chair critic forwarding the alternate truth to multiple databases. Let me now provide the facts behind the so-called adjustment of the GDP calculation. Calculation of GDP and DCSs role GDP is one of the most important macroeconomic indicators of any country. It is the most widely used measure of the size of a countrys economy. Simply defined GDP is the monetary value of the goods and services produced in a year by the residents of that country. It is essential that the GDP is calculated accurately as is used to express various important ratios; revenue, expenditure, deficit and debts, which are indicators of the general health of an economy. Sri Lanka, until year 2007, compiled the countrys GDP in three approaches; production, expenditure and income. This was done by both the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL). However, since 2007, the national accounts estimates for Sri Lanka has been compiled only by the DCS. Currently led by Dr. Amara Satharasinghe, the department employs a large number of professional statisticians and experts in survey research and produce all statistical data necessary for policy makers, businesspeople, academics and students interested in the movement of socio economic variables of the nation. It is the DCS that conducts the population census every decade as well as the national household income and expenditure survey every four to five years as well as quarterly labour force surveys, industry and other surveys. It also conducts monthly cost of living and poverty surveys that directly impacts salary adjustments and subsidy payments. Thus, it is the most capable agency of the government to undertake the annual survey to calculate GDP. International comparability of GDP figures: The role of the UN Internationally the best practice is where GDP is calculated by respective Central Statistical Offices of countries (not Central Banks) based on methodologies adopted by the United Nations (UN). The reason for this is because GDP growth is the most widely used indicator of comparative measurement of economic performance of countries. Recommendations of the UN on compiling national accounts are given in the System of National Accounts (SNA) and are adopted by almost all countries in compiling their National Accounts. This has been revised from time to time to incorporate changes in structures of economies. Base year for calculating GDP: Why change, or why not change? What is a base year? In the simplest of definitions, base year is a year used as an index for some phenomenon measured in other years. How is it used in GDP calculations? In Sri Lanka, in recent times, that is until the year 2014, GDP was estimated taking the base year as 2002 by following guidelines and recommendations of SNA of 1968 and 1993. But, since 2002, the structure of the economy and relative prices went through significant variations. These changes must be captured to reflect the most accurate assessment of the economy. For instance, usage of mobile phones and number of outlets selling phone cards or the number of three wheelers on the streets or the number of tutories or the number of beauty parlours/salons down a typical urban street changed dramatically during this period. So did relative prices/charges; to take a simple example, between a cost of a one minute call vs a kg of rice, were vastly different in 2010 as opposed to 2002. The list is long. Therefore, to account for the wide structural changes and changes in relative prices that took place in the Sri Lanka economy since 2002, the national statistical office took steps to change the base year from 2002 to a more recent year. The DCS decided on 2010 as the base year after comprehensive analysis along with technical assistance from international specialized agencies such as the World Bank, ADB and the IMF. At that time, that is in 2011, not 2015 as accused by the disruptive elements, DCS submitted the following as reasons why the rebasing exercise was necessary. I. Base year 2002 was no longer correct to measure national accounts as many structural changes had taken place in the economy. Many new types of services had entered the market in that decade and many others had disappeared. The objective is to reflect the reality of the structure of the economy as close as possible when calculating the GDP. II. International recommendation is to revise the base year at least at five-year intervals. That is because, when the base year is outdated, the estimates calculated based on that base year for the years that follow, are not accurate and does not show the reality of the economy. Sri Lanka had not revised the base year for almost twice that amount of time. III. By the year 2010, the UN had released its latest version of SNA, that is SNA 2008 by giving due consideration to the changes in structures of economies in countries and introducing new compilation methodologies etc. Therefore by 2011, Sri Lanka was ready to make the adjustment. The work began on moving the base year from 2002 to 2010 during the previous government. In fact, the work was very much completed before the change of government in January 2015. As senior officials of the then administration as Chairman SEC and Governor CBSL, Godahewa and Cabraal were fully aware of this fact. However, Godahewas assertion that they should have been hidden so that false figures, that were higher than the actuals could be presented to international investors as true figures, perhaps gives a clue why the truth was hidden until the election was lost by the dishonest government. It was not just the true GDP figures that were hidden this way, but also debt figures. Almost a Rs.1,000 billion of borrowing was not accounted for in the Treasury, but hidden away in loss making SOEs even though ultimately serviced by the Treasury. GDP: DCS ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN THE REBASING EXERCISE Moving the base year from 2002 to 2010 was not the first rebasing of National Accounts in Sri Lanka. Rebasing had been done previously; in 1958, 1963, 1975, 1990 and in 2002. But under the most recent rebasing exercise, number of other improvements were also carried out besides the changing the base year from 2002 to 2010. Some such improvements, according to DCS: (a) expansion of the production boundary by covering new economic activities, (b) use of the new and advanced techniques in compilation procedures, (c) use of more accurate data sources (d) adoption of United Nations System of national accounts 2008 and (e) improving international comparability of our GDP estimates. Another important point to note is that some of the previously uncaptured informal economic activity, particularly in the services sector have been brought in to the calculation of GDP. COMPARISON OF GDP COMPILED UNDER OLD (2002) AND NEW (2010) BASE YEARS: STUPID? The following table presents annual GDP growth rates compiled with respect to base year 2002 and 2010 for the period of 2011 to 2015. It can be seen that GDP growth rates with respect to base year 2002 is lower for the years 2011 and 2012 compared to the growth rates with respect to base year 2010, While it is other way round for the years 2013, 2014 and 2015. Analysing the reasons why the then government was unable to sustain the post-war growth spurt even after large geographical areas were added to the formal economy particularly in agriculture and why the politically driven debt financed bubble burst at the end of 2012 and the economy tanked in 2013 and grew only sluggishly in 2014 resulting in a massive challenge for the new government in 2015 is for another day, but the fact is that the picture that professionals of the ilk of Godahewa and Cabraal attempted to paint that the economy was racing ahead only next to China was an absolute falsehood. Be that as it may, having gone through a brief yet technically sufficient discussion on the rebasing of the GDP series from 2002 to 2010, let us go back to the stupid comment by the learned doctor; To show that 2014 growth was not as high as what the previous administration claimed, the new government changed the base year from which the GDP growth rate is calculated. By doing so they were able to bring down the reported GDP growth rate of 2014 from 7.4% to 4.9%. Can anyone be stupider than this? I leave it to the educated public of this country to decide for themselves whether it was justified to mislead the public the way they did. It is also noteworthy that many other countries also rebased their GDP around the same time including almost all EU countries (with much less lag), and some large economies such as India and Nigeria. GDP CALCULATIONS: THE TRUTH The professional and technical decision to revise the base year from 2002 to 2010 was taken in the year 2011 by the DCS by following the best practices and international guidelines and in consultation with all relevant stakeholders including Central Bank of Sri Lanka. It was not a political decision of the new government elected in 2015. The only difference between the two governments was that the previous government decided to hide the truth and continue to mislead the people of this country, international investors and multilateral development partners. The new government, true to its word of transparency has presented the truth. If the base year is not revised regularly and the international guidelines are not followed, it will affect the credibility of the national accounts as the National Accounts so compiled will not reflect the accurate picture of the economy. The base year will need to be changed again quite soon. That is the truth. The writer, Dr. Harsha de Silva is the present Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and MP for Colombo District. A development banker, international consultant, successful entrepreneur, and lately a grassroots politician. He has a PhD in Economics from the University of Missouri and executive training at MIT. Dr. de Silva has taught financial economics at universities both in Sri Lanka and in the US. He has several publications, focusing particularly on technology and economic development in peer reviewed international journals. He is a Global Eisenhower Fellow. Kelani Cables PLC provided knowledge in electrical wire manufacturing to a team of electrical technicians representing the Batticaloa district recently. Training was provided under the Kelani Visura CSR programme to a selected team of 50 technicians representing Akkaraipattu, Batticaloa and Kalmunai. They were provided with transport by the company to travel from Batticaloa and return to their hometown. They were taken to two biggest Kelani Cables factories in Kelaniya and Siyambalape to provide comprehensive knowledge in manufacturing various types of wires and their production processes. In addition, a workshop to upgrade their knowledge with newest methods practiced in the electrical technical sphere was conducted by B. Sudakaran, the chief engineer of water treating plant in Batticaloa. Kelani Cables PLC Sales Manager (Distribution) Chaminda Waidyatilleke and Sales Controller Ralph Roshan subsequent to doing a research with Zonal Sales Manager V. Aravindan have found out, electrical technicians in the vicinity having nominal knowledge in electrical wire manufacturing process. Thus the team has decided to bring these technicians to Colombo to offer them with the opportunity to witness diverse wire manufacturing processes. Anil Munasinghe, General Manager Sales, Kelani Cables commented, Our company via Kelani Visura CSR programme provides knowledge to electrical technicians on an island wide basis. Nearly 20,000 electrical technicians have obtained Kelani Visura memberships already. They with their family members enjoy benefits of Kalani Visura throughout the year. This is the second occasion we entertained electrical technicians at our factories with the object of letting them witness electrical wire manufacturing processes. He added, When we communicated with these electrical technicians, we got to know they have very little knowledge in wires though they have been working in the sector for many years. They lacked knowledge as regards, how to select wires with quality, what goes into the manufacturing process as raw material and tactics to safeguard wires. Thus we offered them this opportunity to visit our factories to witness wire manufacturing process. We intend to provide this opportunity to electrical technicians all over the island. DAILY MAIL, 18th APRIL, 2017-An Australian magazine has made bizarre claims that Kylie Minogue has been quietly dating Prince Andrew for several weeks. New Idea have alleged that the close friends got in touch after Kylies relationship with fiance Joshua Sasse ended in February. At the moment theyre inseparable - Andrew is 100 per cent smitten, a palace source apparently told the magazine. The magazine goes on to claim Andrew, 57, reportedly contacted Kylie, 48, and offered his condolences after her relationship ended with Joshua, 29, earlier this year. Since then the pair have been inseparable, with Kylie reportedly spending several nights in the past two weeks with Andrew. Daily Mail Australia has contacted both Kylie and Andrews representatives for comment. The magazine also claims that all eyes will be on the guest list for Kate Middletons sister Pippas nuptials and whether Kylie will attend as a guest of Andrew. Earlier this year, Kylie was presented with the Britain-Australia Society Award for 2016 by Prince Phillip, a private ceremony at which senior royals are alleged to have given their approval to the match. The Disaster Management Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa had called for explanations from the District Secretary and the Divisional Secretary over the incident where inferior quality coffins were used for the burial of the Meethotamulla victims. Media spokesman for the Minister said the ministry had allocated required funds for the burial of the victims. He said the District Secretary and the Divisional Secretary had informed the ministry that they had faced difficulty in finding a proper place to purchase coffins due to the festival holidays and managed to find the best possible coffins available. (Ajith Siriwardana) Video by Buddhi Deputy Minister of Public Administration and Management Susantha Punchinilame and his family who were staying at the Parliamentarians holiday home in Nuwara Eliya came under wasps attack recently. Another group of persons who were occupying the same premises were attacked. Two security personnel of the deputy Minister, two close associates of an MP from the Gampaha district, the cook and another person were treated at the Nuwara Eliya hospital following the wasps attack. The Deputy Minister who recalled the incident and said that the nests of these Wasps had caused a serious threat to those who are occupying this place, which had been continuing for some time, and he is considering bringing this matter before the Parliament in due course. (Sujith Hewajulige) Damas Company (Pvt.) Ltd Managing Director Abdulla Salih and Walkers CML Group Executive Vice President and Head of Business Development Lal Perera at the contract signing ceremony Walkers CML International (Private) Limited, a subsidiary of MTD Walkers PLC, yesterday said it has secured its first luxury residential project in the Maldives. Walkers CML International, established and operating in the Republic of Maldives, signed the contract agreement for the One Avenue project with Damas Company Private Limited, a reputed property developer in the Maldives, for the construction of a 10-storey luxury residential apartment complex consisting of 95 apartments, located in one of Hulhumales most tranquil neighbourhoods overlooking the scenic yacht marina. Securing this project in Hulhumale is a step in the right direction of achieving our groups strategy to expand regionally, said MTD Walkers PLC Executive Deputy Chairman Jehan Amaratunga, while explaining that Walkers CML International was incorporated in order to capitalize on the opportunities present within the construction industry in the Maldives. Being awarded this contract is an achievement of our efforts to increase our presence in the Maldives and Walkers CML Group will continue to seek further business opportunities in the Maldives, added Amaratunga. Whilst there have been many challenges in setting up our local operations here in the Maldives, Walkers CML International was able to draw upon Walkers CML Groups experiences and expertise to secure the One Avenue project, said Walkers CML International Country Head Hiran Bibile, adding that the local construction partner, Vanquisher Construction Company, also played an important role in securing the project. This project contributed to the overall development objectives of the group and we will continue to make further efforts to establish our presence here in the Maldives whilst working alongside the stakeholders of the local construction industry to ensure that we contribute to the overall development objectives of the Government of the Republic of Maldives, Bibile said. The following are the gist of representations made by me before the Peoples Commission to formulate a policy framework for international trade and treaties appointed by the Professionals National Front. The commission headed by former Vice Chancellor of Colombo University W. D. Lakshman has seven members, former Attorney General Palitha Fernando, Dr. Anula Wijesundara, former Director General of Commerce Department P. D. Fernando, Former Director General of Inland Revenue R. P. L. Weerasinghe, and former Chairman of Industrial Development Board Dr. Bandula Perera while former Director General of Pension Department K. A. Thilakaratne has been appointed as the Secretary to the Commission. There is every prospect of developing the Hambantota Port as a profitable enterprise by 2020, by adopting a comprehensive strategy. The previous government ensured that investors would be required to pay a minimum of US dollars 50,000 as lease rent per hectare per year, with a 3% increase each year 1. The alienation of national assets should be contemplated with the greatest reluctance, and in all cases as the last resort. Every other avenue should first be explored to manage and deploy these assets as a viable commercial venture in the national interest. 2. There is every prospect of developing the Hambantota Port as a profitable enterprise by 2020, by adopting a comprehensive strategy. The previous government ensured that investors would be required to pay a minimum of US dollars 50,000 as lease rent per hectare per year, with a 3% increase each year. Companies had to pay for export of their finished goods, as well as for the raw materials imported through the port. There was a payment levied for each container. Additionally, investors were required to bring in US dollars 1,100 million. Bunkering was to be developed as a lucrative enterprise, and royalty payments were also to be levied. 3. In any event, no provision detrimental to the sovereignty of the country should be included in an agreement with a foreign country or company. Decisions relating to admission of vessels and security of ships, personnel and cargo within a port should always be within the competence of the Sri Lankan State. 4. The right of the State to take decisions with regard to the economic development of the country, should in no way be compromised or diminished. The clause in the proposed Hambantota port agreement, preventing the Sri Lanka Ports Authority from establishing a terminal within a 100 km radius, until the Hambantota port accomplishes 50% of its total capacity, is unacceptable. 5. Valuation of the asset must be done scientifically, in keeping with proper criteria, in an entirely transparent manner. In the case of Hambantota port, the valuation is based solely on construction cost, and leaves out of account the land value and commercial value. The result is a horrendous distortion. At the point of acquisition of shares by the Chinese company, there is no valuation by reference to international standards, but when the shares are transferred to a Sri Lankan company within 10 years, payment by the latter has to be on an international evaluation. This is a double standard, very much to our detriment. At the point of acquisition of shares by the Chinese company, there is no valuation by reference to international standards, but when the shares are transferred to a Sri Lankan company within 10 years, payment by the latter has to be on an international evaluation. This is a double standard, very much to our detriment. 6. The proportion of shares has to be carefully considered, with the national interest in focus. Our agreement with China Harbour was on the basis of 65% shares for SLPA, and 35% for the Chinese company. The proposed agreement with China Merchant envisages 80% for the Chinese company, and only 20% for SLPA. In fact, the transaction is even more adverse. SLPA is required to make investments pro rata, when the Chinese company incurs expenditure for expansion and development of the port. If SLPA is unable to do this, the share percentage for the Chinese company increases, while the SLPA percentage of shares is reduced. The estimated cost of the 3rd Phase of development of Hambantota port is 2,000 million U.S. dollars. The 1/5 share of SLPA, then, is 400 million U.S. dollars. This sum is clearly not within the means of SLPA. The result is that the share distribution will be about 90% for the foreign company, and 10% for SLPA. 7. The land to be leased out within the port is grossly undervalued. There are 2,000 hectares within the Hambantota port. 500 hectares are to be leased out. If the foreign company pays upfront, it secures a lease of 500 hectares (approximately 1,200 acres) for 99 years for Rs. 12,100 million. When tenders were called for a lease of 6 acres within the Port of Colombo, the private sector offered Rs. 60,000 million for the leasing of 6 acres for a period of 33 years. The disparity is glaring. LAUGFS GAS pays a lease rental of U.S. dollars 50,000 per year for 1 hectare within the Port of Colombo. This works out to Rs. 18,750/- per perch. By contrast, the Chinese company pays only Rs. 611 per perch for their lease of land in Hambantota Port. This is far from equitable. 8. An international trade agreement must necessarily be governed by the principles of mutuality and reciprocity. The proposed Hambantota agreement is palpably one-sided, with the foreign company acquiring all the assets but taking on none of the liabilities. 9. The principle of employment security is of crucial importance. The workers in Hambantota port have no assurance of continuity of their employment. The contractual stipulations confer on the foreign company the discretion to make decisions in this regard. 10. There must be a clear assurance of financial viability. The effect of the proposed Hambantota agreement is that there will be no income accruing to the SLPA at all for 15 years; and, even after that period, an income would be forthcoming only if the Chinese company declared a dividend. However, in the meantime, the debt to the Chinese continues, and will have to be serviced. There is no debt-equity swap. The government has admitted that the funds received from the Chinese company will not be utilized to retire the debt, but will be credited to the Central Bank and used for other expenses. This means that the public will be burdened with further taxes to generate the funds required to settle the continuing debt, with interest. 11. The issue of legal competence (or vires) is paramount. There is a written Legal Opinion by the previous Attorney General Palitha Fernando, PC, to the effect that the SLPA is not legally competent to be a signatory to an agreement of this nature, without an appropriate amendment to the SLPA Act. All statutory authorities must act strictly within the limits of their powers. On Thursday April 6, US President Trump ordered US warships in the Persian Gulf to launch a unilateral and totally unexpected cruise missile strike on a Syrian airbase in Idlib in retaliation for Syrias alleged use of chemical weapons in the rebel-held province. The attack was undertaken without consulting Russia a major player in the Syrian civil war The Daily Mirror in its editorial on April 10, 2017 said, The attack on Syria did not make the world a safer place a world defined by Mr. Trumps impulses cannot be a safe one On the day the editorial was published, Trump deployed the Carl Vinson strike group, which includes an aircraft carrier to provide a presence near the Korean peninsula in reaction to the North Korean regime firing missiles into the sea off Japan a unilateral action in a region well away from the US, further upping tensions in the Asian region. While the head of the Catholics Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of prisoners including three women at a maximum security prison in Italy symbolising the sowing of love among peoples, another so-called Christian, the US president, hours later without warning or provocation dropped a hitherto untested bomb which the US itself describes as the Mother Of All Bombs and only second to a nuclear weapon in its destructive power in Afghanistan. Another instance of the democratic West testing its weaponry on vulnerable people of a different colour, religion and in an area where the fallout does not adversely affect Americans. Yesterday, April 17 US Vice President Mike Pence visited the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas and warned North Korea not to test US military might by pursuing its nuclear weapons programme, citing recent strikes in Syria and Afghanistan as proof of American strength and resolve. Unlike President Donald Trumps unpredictability and his positions on North Korea and Russia which are causing global instability, according to Jean-Pierre Raffarin, a former French prime minister, North Koreas nuclear programme while being a source of concern over the years, is neither unpredictable nor irrational. In fact North Korea has stubbornly progressed with its programme of developing a nuclear deterrent. With monotonous regularity it has threatened its enemies with dire consequences. It has tested nuclear devices and carried out missile tests quite a few ending in failure. But it has never used missiles or nuclear weapons against its arch-enemies South Korea or Japan. Quite in contrast to the US which live tested its first nuclear weapon on a helpless civilian Japanese population during the closing stages of World War II which killed hundreds of thousands of civilians in a matter of minutes and left hundreds of thousands of others injured and two cities completely destroyed. The North Korean presidents have proved to be more mature than their US counterparts despite the fact their nuclear programmes have been at the cost of the North Korean peoples own well-being. On the other hand Trumps unpredictability is a major source of worry to China. The unilateral strike in Syria created a precedent and the Chinese fear that the US under Trump could unleash a similar attack on North Korea. The Chinese realize the North Korean leaderships reaction would be hugely different to that of the Syrians.China is aware of what North Korea can do. It also knows that it cannot control or manage a North Korea risk. To the Chinese the greatest risk, as former French prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin sees it is Trumps instability factor. Trumps comment to CNN at the White House Egg Roll that North Korea has gotta behave clearly shows his gung-ho attitude towards the Asian people. He appears ready to trigger a nuclear confrontation in that region. The US dropped its atom bombs on Japanese civilians killing hundreds of thousands in seconds. Today it seems the US needs a place to check out its anti-missile systems, even though it may be at the cost of more Asian lives. To Mr. Trump, to the people of the US and the arms dealers, who back this US president and are egging him on, we say ASIAN LIVES MATTER get your battleships, nuclear carrying submarines, air force, and army out of our part of the world. The days of battleship diplomacy are long gone. A nuclear conflagration will leave no winners only a planet destroyed. North Korea has threatened to launch weekly missile tests after US Vice President Mike Pence warned that the era of patience with Kim Jong-un is over. Vice Foreign Minister Han Song-Ryol has ramped up the tension between the two nations by saying: Well be conducting more missile tests on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis. He also said that an all out war was a possibility if the US responded by taking military action against Pyongyang. The secretive states deputy U.N. ambassador has also accused Washington of turning the Korean peninsula into the worlds biggest hotspot and creating a dangerous situation in which a thermonuclear war may break out at any moment. Kim In Ryong told a news conference today that U.S.-South Korean military exercises being staged now are the largest-ever aggressive war drill. He said North Koreas measures to bolster its nuclear forces are self-defensive to cope with the US vicious nuclear threat and blackmail. Before adding that his country is ready to react to any mode of war desired by the US. The statement of intent comes after Pence, speaking in the perilous Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea, reiterated that all options are on the table to deal with the threat posed by Kim Jong-uns administration. Pence said President Donald Trump are hopeful that China will now use its extraordinary levers to pressure the North to abandon its nuclear and ballistic programme. This morning he warned Kim Jong-un not to test the resolve of the President and insisted any use of nuclear weapons by the secretive state would be met with an overwhelming and effective response. DAILY MAIL, 18th APRIL, 2017 Sometimes, it is better to study a text for its meaning than for its truth. Spinoza Power dynamics and their self-revelatory nature were much in evidence in the decision taken by President Trump to launch 59 Tomahawk missiles on the Syrian rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlip province in NW Syria, giving him a rare popularity boost. These missiles cost US$ One million each. The payload for the missiles is manufactured by the American private sector, the delivery and guidance systems are provided by the US Navy. Every missile launched gives the manufacturer obscene profits. It is interesting that the launch was limited to 59 missiles, this being a prime number. There are international laws and conventions which guide the mechanics of a sovereign state taking offensive action against another. None of them was adhered to: the Presidents macho decision to launch the missile attack on a sovereign state was an unilateral one. The UN, being an internationally consecrated body to safeguard and validate these laws and conventions, was ignored. The UN was founded in the aftermath of WW II. A similar international body preceded it, founded after WW I, called the League of Nations. It failed, because the then powerful nations - Japan, Italy - unilaterally declared war on Manchuria, which was part of China and Abyssinia (current Ethiopia) respectively. The League was unable to take effective action, either to prevent this aggression or penalise the aggressors. The result was that the credibility of the League was questioned. When issues of greater moment later arose, the League was toothless and collapsed. It could not prevent WWII, which started with an unilateral attack on Poland by Germany. 34 million, including 20 million Russians died in WWII. One of the greatest crimes inflicted on humanity was to have allowed the League to collapse. President Trump, the hawk armed with a Tomahawk has two areas of concern for his governance, one, his domestic agenda and managing the sub-set, the political turmoil in the White House and, second, of the turbulent international situation. His domestic agenda was xenophobic, a full throated America first policy and conducted with upholding a withdrawal of all progressive measures taken to support the weak and vulnerable - women, blacks, Latinos. ABOLISHING OBAMACARE The primary aim of the domestic agenda was the abolition of Obamacare. Within 50 days of his taking oaths, Congress indicated that it was not in favour of this naive and unpopular proposal. Trump, who never held elective office, was learning that business was not the same as politics. He suffered the indignity of withdrawing the proposal, and that too in his honeymoon period! A successful abolition would have provided leverage to get his other proposals accepted and also provide him with enforced budgetary savings which would have enabled him to finance other parts of his domestic agenda. These openings are now staunched. The failure to carry through abolition, has placed Trumps balance legislation proposals in limbo. WALL ALONG SOUTHERN US AND MEXICO BORDER The second component of his domestic agenda, was to build a wall along the Rio Grande, separating the Southern US from Mexico. This is a 2,000 mile stretch, its construction is currently estimated to cost about US$ 12 billion. Trump had no idea how this was going to be financed, expecting Mexicans to do it, which the Mexicans scoffed at. This was Trumps bluster, passing off as policy. TAX REFORM The third proposal was tax reform. This is a highly regressive proposal, the rich having to pay less taxes and the middle classes more, the main revenue coming from a Border Import Tax, which the WTO will not agree with. It is unlikely that it will be passed. The fourth proposal is for a US$ One Trillion budget, to be spent over ten years on infrastructure- roads, bridges, airports. While this investment is highly necessary, Trump has no idea of how it will be financed. When pull comes to push, Trump was all bluff and bluster. The fifth proposal was to impose a ban on travellers from selected Muslim majority countries from coming to the US. This was imposed as an Executive Order but the Courts rejected it. TWO FACTIONS OF WHITE HOUSE A critical sub-feature in implementing Trumps agenda is Trumps inability to have a working White House. The White House has two factions, bitterly railing against each other. One is Steve Bannon, the ideologue keeper of the conscience of the conservative Republicans. He is the chief strategist of the White House, unsparing in his criticism of those, he felt had reneged on the Republican agenda, the main culprit being Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of Trump. A White House divided against itself cannot stand. Although differences between the two have been papered over, it is obvious that eventually the son-in-law will gain the upper hand. Colleagues who cause schisms on ideological grounds are unforgiving. Bannon will continue to be humoured but retained, on the earthy management principle laid down by President Lyndon Johnson for retaining Edgar Hoover - the dangerous head of the FBI - it is better to keep him in the tent pissing out, rather than having him outside, pissing in. The second main area for Trumps concerns are foreign policy. The US has a particular responsibility since her war budget is more than the total of the war budgets of the next eight nations, which include Britain, France, China and Russia. Trumps domestic agenda achievements are minimal in the eighty days of his administration. There were mutterings of impeachment, of Trump overstaying his welcome. He faced a grave possibility of being sent out into the cold. A US President is unhampered by any restrictions on actions on foreign issues. The chemical attack by Syria on Khansheikhoun was a god-sent. Trump - toxic masculinity personified - sent in his 59 Tomahawks, first taking the precaution of informing Russia, and when the Chinese President was being entertained by him. President Trump came in from the cold. The writer is a former member of the Ceylon Civil Service. Politics, rather than science, is playing an important role in marine fisheries governance especially in South Asian countries, said Maarten Bavinck, a Dutch scientist, whose research projects include providing space for small scale fishers of India and Sri Lanka. The dispute between India and Sri Lanka over the fishing activities in the Palk Bay remain unsolved mainly due to political reasons, he said while delivering a lecture on Tropical Marine Fisheries Governance: The Way Forward, organised by the Marine Biological Association of India (MBAI) at the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) on Tuesday. Bavinck, a professor at the University of Amsterdam in Netherlands s aid the Tamil Nadu Government should initiate steps to reduce its fishing fleets in the Palk Bay to resolve the conflict in the region. Trawling needs to be contained in the Palk Bay, where fishing activities across the international boundary line have been causing social and economic hardship for around 25,000 small scale fishermen and their families in Northern Sri Lanka. This has led to political tensions between the neighbours, he said. Interacting with the CMFRI scientists, Bavinck said science-based guidelines are needed to ease the tension in the region. For this, Indias CMFRI and Sri Lankas National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA) should conduct joint studies and make coordinated efforts to find a science-based solution, he said. The Dutch scientist said solid ecological and marine biological studies were required to estimate the damage caused to the rich resources in the Palk Bay due to intensive trawling. Fisheries administrators should prioritise employment and the distribution of income among the fishing community as the sector is a very important livelihood option in India. According to him, the number of fishermen is still growing in India because they are unable to find alternative employment. Economic development in India is centred around the cities and the IT sector, he said. With marine resources largely concentrated on the continental shelf, there is no reason to go for larger scale operations in the country, said Bavinck. (Indian Express) The reports on the investigations carried out by the PRECIFAC into three petitions including the the misappropriation of government funds at the opening ceremony of the Hambantota Port would be handed over to the President this week, sources said. Several people including former minister Rohitha Abeygunawardena, former SLPA Chairman Priyath Bandu Wickrama and artistes Jackson Anthony, dancers and choreographers Channa and Upuli Wijewardene were questioned in connection with the misappropriation of funds belonging to the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA). A spokesman for the Presidential Commission of Inquiry to Investigate and Inquire into Serious Acts of Fraud, Corruption and Abuse of Power, State Resources and Privileges (PRECIFAC) said the second report was on the inquiry carried out by the commission into the petition on the misappropriation of Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) funds to pay salaries, allowances and privileges to employees recruited to the SLTB illegally and the misuse of a van. The third report was regarding the inquiry into the misappropriation of funds allocated for the Road Network project of the Road Development Authority (RDA) to purchase a Land cruiser Jeep worth Rs.32 million. (Ajith Siriwardana) A group of residents of Karadiyana today staged a protest against the move to temporarily dump garbage collected in Colombo at Karadiyana. The protestors obstructed several garbage tractors and Lorries that came to dump the garbage at Karadiyana. The Kesbewa Magistrate issued a court order to dump the garbage collected at Colombo to Karadiyana temporarily. (Muditha Dayananda) Video by Bimal Shaman Jayasinghe AFP, 18th APRIL, 2017-Hundreds of students clashed with government forces in Indian Kashmir during protests against a police raid on a college, as tensions ran high in the restive region. Around 100 students were injured as police used batons and tear gas to try to quell the protests, which broke out in the main city of Srinagar before spreading to other parts of the Kashmir valley. Teenagers in school uniform and women students wearing white headscarves were among the protesters, who chanted anti-India slogans and threw stones at government forces. A student union had called for protests after police on Saturday tried to raid a college in the southern district of Pulwama to round up suspects in recent violent demonstrations, sparking clashes in which at least 60 students were injured. Indian-administered Kashmir has been tense since April 9, when eight people were killed by police and paramilitary troops during election day violence. A rumour that a certain former Diyawanna member had committed suicide recently sent shock waves through some parts of the country. A rebel-turned politico, this worthy prominently figured in the war theatre in the East before entering the council. The security authorities who immediately launched investigations had learnt that the former Diyawanna member had gone missing after leaving his Colombo residence a few days ago. It had come to light that the politico had had a serious quarrel with his wife, who had accused him of having an affair with another woman. He had left home saying he was going to commit suicide. Having entertained the worst fears when she failed to hear any news about the missing husband for several days, the highly distraught wife had made an appeal to Police to at least trace her husbands body. The authorities, who had gone into action in response to the appeal of the wailing woman, had traced the politico to a house in Batticaloa where he was found very much alive and kicking. By Henry Meyer, Ilya Arkhipov (c) 2017, Bloomberg Apr 17, 2017 - Russian state television has no doubt who is unpredictable enough to bring the world to war in the North Korean crisis, and its not the reclusive communist dictator Kim Jong-Un. According to Dmitry Kiselyov, the Kremlins top TV mouthpiece, the riskiest is Donald Trump, the man Russian officials and propagandists hailed just a few weeks ago as just the kind of leader the world needed. In the latest sign of the Kremlins abrupt about-face on its erstwhile American hero, Kiselyov pronounced Trump more dangerous than his North Korean counterpart. Trump is more impulsive and unpredictable than Kim Jong Un, he told viewers of his prime-time Sunday Vesti Nedelyi program, which earlier this year carried paeans to Trump for his pledge to warm up relations with Russia. Kisleyov and his colleagues on other channels also went after Trumps family, noting that Kim hadnt given his four-year-old daughter an office in his residence, in contrast to Trumps appointment of his 35-year-old daughter, Ivanka, to a White House role. Russian officials arent so harsh in public. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Monday urged the U.S. to avoid any unilateral use of force against North Korea, warning this would be a very risky course of action and comparing it to the U.S. missile strike earlier this month on Syria, which Moscow denounced as aggression. Lavrov spoke after U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said the era of strategic patience is over, while on a visit to the demilitarized zone between South and North Korea Monday. While Russia condemns the brinkmanship of the ballistic missile tests by the isolated Communist state in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions, this doesnt justify breaking international law, Lavrov said. So I really hope that the same unilateral actions we saw in Syria wont happen. Russia maintains close ties to North Korea, with which it shares a border, but isnt an ally to the regime like China. The U.S. attack in Syria, against Russian ally President Bashar Assad, fueled deepening disillusionment in the Kremlin with the Trump Administration. State media, whose messages are closely controlled by senior officials, are a bellwether of the shift. Ivanka already convinced Trump to bomb Assad, what if she convinces him to bomb Kim, warned NTVs main newscaster, Irada Zeynalova. A highly anticipated visit by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to Moscow last week -- the first by a top official of the new administration -- did little to reassure the Russian leadership. The world is a hairs breadth away from a real nuclear war with all its catastrophic consequences, Kiselyov warned his viewers. Other state-TV presenters offered a ray of hope for Russians, pointing out that the radioactive fallout from a possible conflict on the Korean Peninsula likely would be carried eastward by prevailing winds, away from Russia. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on whether Kiselyovs view reflected official policy, saying only that its usually close, though not every time. The Kremlin called for all sides to show restraint and not take actions that could be perceived as provocative. Kiselyov is known for sometimes extreme statements, such as when he warned that Russia could turn the U.S. into radioactive ash. The message of disappointment with Trump has been building on state media for several weeks. A survey conducted by the state-run pollster VTsIOM released Monday found that 39 percent of Russians hold a negative opinion of Trump, versus only 7 percent in March. In a sign of the tensions, Lavrov hit out at U.S. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster for saying the Trump administration will have tough discussions with Russia. The top Russian diplomat said Moscow wont pay attention to the words of an adviser since Trump has said hes committed to dialogue. McMaster, who replaced the Kremlin-friendly Mike Flynn after his ouster over undisclosed Russia contacts, praised Chinas unprecedented decision not to join Russia in vetoing a U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria last week that demanded Assad co-operate with an investigation. President Xi Jinping was courageous in isolating the Russians and Bolivians, who also voted against the measure, the security adviser said on ABC television on Sunday. For the first time in Sri Lanka, the United Nation Vesak Day celebration will be held in Colombo and Kandy from May 12 to 14 with the participation of large number of local and foreign delegations, Justice and Buddhasasana Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said today He said the UN Vesak Day celebration will be held for the 14th time this year and this is the first time Sri Lanka has been given the opportunity to host this festival. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the chief guest of the opening ceremony which will be held at BMICH in Colombo while Nepali President Bidhya Devi Bhandari will attend for the closing ceremony which is scheduled to be held at the Sri Dalada Maligawa premises in Kandy. The UN Vesak Day celebration was held in Thailand for the eleventh time and Vietnam held it twice. We have invited delegations from more than 85 countries and 72 countries had already confirmed their participation. A special Vesak zone will be held at Diyawanna on May 12 while the academic conference is scheduled to be held on May 13 at the BMICH. A cultural show will be held at Nelum Pokuna. Minister Rajapakshe said the delegation will leave for Kandy on May 14 by trains for the closing ceremony . Special expositions of the Sacred Tooth Relic for the delegates will be held at the Dalada Maligawa and a special Dalada Perahera will also be held on May 14, he said. The UN General Assembly in 1999 declared an International Day of Observance for Vesak on the initiative of the then Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgama. In 2000, for first time the UN Day of Vesak Celebration was solemnly held at the United Nations Headquarters, New York, with representatives of Buddhist traditions from 34 countries. Meanwhile, Minister Rajapakshe said that addition to the UN Vesak celebration, a State Vesak festival is also to be held at the Wattarama Rajamaha Viharaya in Kegalle on May 9 with the participation on President Maithripala Sirisena and the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. The Minister said a replica of the Shakya Kingdom is being constructed at Kahapola in Piliyandala. He said construction of some of the segments had been completed. Accordingly, the Suddhodana and Lumbini area will be declared open on May 11. (Darshana Sanjeewa) One wonders what is India's Maldives policy a strategically important neighbour, a Saarc member, a tiny Indian Ocean archipelago where foreign powers like China and Saudi Arabia have been lengthening their shadows, and a country which has been witnessing turbulent domestic politics for past over five years since the exit of its first democratically elected president Mohamed Nasheed. For reasons best known to the Ministry of External Affairs, India has maintained a stoic silence as the island nation has travelled from crisis to crisis in last five years. So far, so good. But what happened on April 13, 2017 has puzzled all the power centres in Maldives, including the opposition. On that day, Indias top diplomat foreign secretary S Jaishankar paid an unannounced day-long visit to Maldives which set tongues wagging among the people of Maldives who number less than four lakh. Even the ever-vigilant opposition led by the Maldivian Democratic Party or the MDP was bamboozled by Jaishankars low-profile, unpublicised Maldives visit. They were not aware of the visit till Jaishankar was there. He confabulated only with the government of president Yameen Abdul Gayoom and returned home without meeting a single leader from the opposition. Why didnt he meet the opposition leaders during his brief visit to Maldives? Why didnt he meet the opposition leaders during his brief visit to Maldives? (Credit: PTI photo) Does it mean letting down the MDP, the biggest opposition party? Here is an attempted explanation. The Maldives opposition is presently a united alliance comprising a majority of PPM members and MPs supporting former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, together with the largest opposition party the MDP, the Jumhooree Party (JP), the Adhaalath Party (AP) and a number of popular political figures. This has triggered reports that the combined opposition alliance now represents more than 80 per cent of the voting population of the Maldives. Since the coup of February 7, 2012 in Maldives, India had not found it appropriate to grant official recognition to the constitutionally formed opposition in Maldives, and hasnt facilitated an official meeting with any government officials in India, whereas other regional countries as well as leaders of the rest of the world have given due recognition to the Maldives opposition. Ahmed Naseem, a senior MDP leader and foreign minister in the Nasheed government, didnt hold his punches when I asked him for his reaction to Jaishankar's sudden visit. This is what he said. I am surprised that the Indian foreign secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar did not find it appropriate to meet the Maldives opposition during his visit to the Maldives." I was in Maldives a few days ago and the overwhelming sentiment in the Maldivian political space was that India seems to have lost its plot. The argument goes that while earlier the Maldivian government was wary of India, now with this development of Jaishankar going back home without meeting a single opposition leader has riled the opposition too no end. The opposition sentiments need to be taken seriously by India. This is not the first time it has happened. India cannot be putting all its eggs in one basket, particularly when the Yameen government's popularity and credibility have been eroding fast. Maldives is set to have local council elections in a few weeks. These polls, already deferred thrice, are being seen as a veritable semifinal before next years presidential elections. Moreover, the opposition-sponsored no-confidence motions against the speaker and deputy speaker of the People's Majlis, Maldivian Parliament, are round the corner. Obviously, Jaishankar conveyed a message when he didnt meet a single opposition leader during his brief visit. The message was: India is supporting the Yameen government and purposely avoiding the opposition. Interestingly, Jaishankar's visit, has come at a time when the combined opposition was eagerly waiting to brief India about the latest political situation in Maldives. But this was not to be. The MEA didnt issue any statement before or during or after the Indian foreign secretarys hush-hush visit to Maldives. His choice of not meeting any opposition leader could well have been dictated by the Maldivian government. This can be politically dangerous. India needs to take the entire Maldivian political space on board. (Credit: PTI Photo) India needs to take the entire Maldivian political space on board. Jaishankars act of not meeting any opposition leader during his day-long trip can harm Indias political and strategic interests, particularly when the Yameen government seems to be having one foot on the banana peel. By ignoring the opposition, India may be committing a strategic blunder. India had committed a similar strategic blunder in Afghanistan two decades ago when it had cultivated only Ahmad Shah Massoud and steadfastly ignored the Taliban. The mistake proved to be costly as Massoud was eventually assassinated and the Taliban stormed into power in 1996. Well, the comparison is only in political sense, and it definitely doesnt equate the Yameen government with Massoud and the Maldivian opposition with the Taliban. The only point in citing the Afghanistan example is to highlight the fact that India cannot afford to keep all its eggs in one basket. This too in the case of a hundred per cent Muslim nation like Maldives, which has been giving jitters to the international community over the possibility of this tiny, but strategically located nation falling to the designs of dreaded jihadist forces. Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif's claims that all faith enjoy equal rights under the constitution in the country fell flat when a 23-year-old student, Mashal Khan, was lynched by a frenzied mob inside the campus of Abdul Wali Khan University in Khyber Pakhtunwa (KP) province last week over allegations of having spoken in favour of the Ahmadi sect. He was also accused of posting blasphemous content on social media. The attack was most inhuman as the perpetrators kept on kicking the lifeless body displaying high level of intolerance and brutality. Before he was shot, the deceased was forced to recite Quranic verses and allegedly made to hurl abuses on the Ahmadi sect. This sensational killing and its rippling effects have exposed Pakistan's claims of protecting its minorities. It's also evident that there are visible signs of state's complicity in such hate killings. Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif's claims that all faith enjoy equal rights under the constitution fell flat. (Credit: Reuters photo) Earlier, a new wave of persecution and killings of the Ahmadis came to the fore after an Islamabad High Court judge, Shaukat Siddiqui, known to be a "sworn bigot and hate monger", took a position on religious matters of an individual. The religious extremism penetrating into the judiciary, is a disturbing development, diminishing all chances of ensuring minority security. It will also be pertinent to point out that Siddiqui is the same judge who had allegedly described constable Mumtaz Qadri as Ghazi (hero and holy warrior for upholding the teachings of Islam). And significantly, it may be recalled that Mumtaz Qadri had assassinated his minister Salmaan Taseer whom, as his bodyguard, he was supposed to protect. You made a mother go through this. God's watching and he's gonna come for you.#MASHAL pic.twitter.com/ne9ilkejmx Hamza Akhtar (@hamzaakhtar786) April 16, 2017 Those who were torturing the dead body of #Mashal were animals but the worst animals were standing quietly & watching them #ShameOnAllOfThem #Quetta (@Shahid_Qazi1) April 13, 2017 It's unthinkable that a sitting judge would label a killer a hero and a martyr (Quadri was later executed). Sadly, the judiciary in Pakistan has not been able to keep itself away from the profound impact of growing extremism in Pakistan. Human rights watchers recommend a foolproof system in place to check and occasionally scrutinise the fairness of the justice system so that it does not stay unbridled and continues to award sentences with unbiased justice. In the absence of any monitoring, Siddiqui continues to try cases of alleged blasphemy and he is directing the authorities to ban the accused persons accounts on Facebook, Twitter and internet confirming the extent of intolerance Pakistan is reeling under. Ahmadis remain harassed and ostracised in a Pakistani society and continue to suffer humiliation and intimidation at the hands of the religious extremists. Emboldened by the indifference of the establishment and also on part of the majority, several members of the Ahmadi community were gunned down in the recent past. A prominent member of the sect and lawyer of repute, Malik Saleem Latif, was shot dead in Nankana Sahib on Mrach 30. And soon after, a 68-year-old social activist Ashfaq Ahmed was killed in Lahore on April 7. The atrocities don't end here. Minorities are gripped with fear and uncertainty and there are no evident signs of any let-up at least in the near future. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has finally gained a legal cover to overhaul the system of governance in the country on a scale not witnessed before in its republican history. The result of the referendum held on April 16 says that the Turkish people have voted albeit with a narrow margin to give the presidency sweeping new powers. From appointing cabinet ministers to judges and prosecutors, and from declaring a state of emergency to dissolving Parliament, the Turkish president will have powers at his disposal that no other president in developed democracies has. A supporter of the 'no' vote, (Hayir in Turkish) chant slogans during a protest against the referendum outcome, in Istanbul. (Credit: AP photo) However, despite Erdogans argument that the debate over whether or not to confer such sweeping powers to him should now be over, there is hardly any reason for and little sign of that happening. Firstly, a constitutional referendum is not like a presidential election where a candidates victory with a margin of few percentage points is normal constitutional amendments should be backed by broadest possible national consensus. In this referendum, the proposed changes to the constitution have been approved by just 51.4 per cent of the voters. This figure exposes how deeply divided the Turkish society is, particularly on this issue. Ignoring the concerns of the 48.6 per cent of the voters who disapproved the proposed changes would create social unrest in the country, which will only do irreparable damage to the social fabric of an already deeply polarised nation. Secondly, and more importantly, not only the referendum was held as concluded in the preliminary report by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on an unlevel playing field, there are evidence of outright fraud on the referendum day. In many polling stations around the country, election officers have been seen stamping yes on unsealed ballots, which were accepted by the Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) as valid ones an hour after the counting started. Sanlurfa'da eline 'tercih' muhrunu alan bir sahsn birden fazla birlesik oy pusulasna 'evet' muhru bastg goruluyor#sandikseninleguvende pic.twitter.com/ST4lugys1W Kars Gazete (@KarsiGazete) April 16, 2017 Notably, given the difference between the yes and no votes is just 1.3 million and the number of unsealed ballots accepted at the last moment were 1.5 million, there is a strong possibility that this move swung the vote in favour of the yes camp. It was to facilitate this vote-rigging that the YSK stopped giving live data to the opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP) during the counting of ballots and removed the representatives of the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) from polling stations in southeast Turkey for security concerns. As someone who watches Turkey closely, I can say that the Erdogan regime had to pressurise the YSK to take these frantic measures to save the day for them because they themselves did not expect such a close result. They expected a 55 per cent to 60 per cent favourable votes, and therefore, not much was done beforehand to rig the referendum. Synthomer plc operates as a specialty chemicals company. It operates through four segments: Performance Elastomers, Functional Solutions, Industrial Specialities, and Acrylate Monomers. The company offers pressure sensitive adhesives, acrylic polymers, acrylic dispersions, saturants, release coatings, and other adhesives; water-based carboxylated styrene butadiene rubber, redispersible powder, flooring adhesive, and additives for construction applications; and impregnation binders, styrene butadiene copolymers, dispersions, polymer binders, and butadiene-based binders for textiles applications. It also provides binders for various carpets; synthetic binders for graphic, packaging, and specialty paper coating applications; paper coating additives and plastic pigments; binders, dispersions, water-based and solvent-borne resins, and other products for various coating applications; foamed bedding products and footwear; elastomeric modifiers for thermoplastics and friction components; reinforcement resins for rubber compounds; and latex for tire cord. In addition, the company offers compounds and aqueous curing pastes for carpets and other applications; acrylic monomers for enhancing the performance characteristics of polymer formulations; antioxidant products; latices for medical examination, clean room, food handling, chemotherapy drug handling, chemical laboratory, and medical device and balloon applications; and nitrile latex, which enhance performance of industrial and fabric-supported gloves. Further, it provides liquid polybutadienes, polyvinyl alcohol suspending agents, polyvinyl acetates, thermosetting resins, butyl ethyl propanediol, and inorganic materials for various industrial applications; and coalescing agents for enhancing the properties of coatings. The company was formerly known as Yule Catto & Co. plc and changed its name to Synthomer plc in 2012. Synthomer plc was founded in 1863 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. SAP SE, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an enterprise application software company worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Applications, Technology & Support; Qualtrics; and Services. It offers SAP S/4HANA, an ERP suite with intelligent technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and advanced analytics; SAP SuccessFactors Human Experience Management provides cloud-based solutions, such as a human resources management system for core HR and payroll, talent management, employee experience management, and people analytics; and intelligent spend management solutions, including products branded under the SAP Ariba, SAP Concur, and SAP Fieldglass names. The company also provides SAP customer experience solutions; SAP Business Technology platform that enables customers and partners to extend and customize SAP applications in a cloud-native way; and SAP Business Network that enable companies to extend their ecosystem, react to supply chain disruptions, discover new trading partners, and find new opportunities. In addition, it offers business process intelligence solutions aim to help customers analyze their operations, understand their process bottlenecks, and improve their business process landscape; Experience solutions; SAP's industry cloud provides modular solutions addressing industry-specific functions; and SAP's ecosystem build, sell, service, and run SAP solutions and technology, as well as sustainable business solutions, services, and partnerships solutions. SAP SE was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Walldorf, Germany. Energizer Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, and distributes household batteries, specialty batteries, and lighting products worldwide. It offers lithium, alkaline, carbon zinc, nickel metal hydride, zinc air, and silver oxide batteries under the Energizer and Eveready brands, as well as primary, rechargeable, specialty, and hearing aid batteries. The company also provides headlights, lanterns, and children's and area lights, as well as flash lights under the Energizer, Eveready, Rayovac, Hard Case, Dolphin, Varta, and WeatherReady brands. In addition, it licenses the Energizer and Eveready brands to companies developing consumer solutions in gaming, automotive batteries, portable power for critical devices, LED light bulbs, generators, power tools, household light bulbs, and other lighting products. Further, the company designs and markets automotive fragrance and appearance products, including protectants, wipes, tire and wheel care products, glass cleaners, leather care products, air fresheners, and washes to clean, shine, refresh, and protect interior and exterior automobile surfaces under the brand names of Armor All, Nu Finish, Refresh Your Car!, LEXOL, Eagle One, California Scents, Driven, and Bahama & Co; STP branded fuel and oil additives, functional fluids, and other performance chemical products; and do-it-yourself automotive air conditioning recharge products under the A/C PRO brand name, as well as other refrigerant and recharge kits, sealants, and accessories. It sells its products through direct sales force, distributors, and wholesalers; and through various retail and business-to-business channels, including mass merchandisers, club, electronics, food, home improvement, dollar store, auto, drug, hardware, e-commerce, convenience, sporting goods, hobby/craft, office, industrial, medical, and catalog. Energizer Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Saint Louis, Missouri. By: Erin Shea, @BH_EShea While ending up in the winner's circle is ultimate goal for Thoroughbred owners, one partnership tries just as hard to find homes for former charges once their racing days are over. Ten Strike Racingwhich is run by Marshall Gramm and Clay Sanders, plus 25 other partnerscampaigns graded stakes placed Allied Air Raid and already counts more than 80 wins since officially combining operations under the Ten Strike umbrella in early 2016. The group strives to find good homes for their retired runners and hopes to set an example for other owners. "We love to win races, but we love to make sure these horses are cared for when they are done (racing)," said Liz Crow, stable manager for Ten Strike Racing. "We do make sure it is known (to the partners) that aftercare is very important to us, and that these horses will find a home, one way or another, when they are done racing," she said. Since the outfit mostly runs claiming horses, with approximately 25-30 running at one time, Crow said tracking their runners is key to make sure they end up in good homes when they retire. Tracking claiming horses can be difficult, but the group makes an effort that has already paid off for one horse. A 4-year-old gelding named I'mdrinkingdoubles was quickly claimed off of Ten Strike after running at Oaklawn Park and was shipped to Emerald Downs. Since Crow kept tabs on him and noticed he was vanned off the track in his last start, she made some calls to see what could be done to get the horse retired. "I called the trainer and owner and asked if I could help him retire the horse," she said. "(The trainer) was blown away that I would be calling him for that, and was really nice about it. We ended up retiring him out in California and donated money to get him retired. He was so blown away that someone cared enough to call him." Also knowing that she could turn to the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA) when looking for a legitimate retirement facility on the West Coast was another key for Crow. "A lot of times these horses retire up at New York, or Parx, or California, and you don't want to ship them all the way across the country to a facility, so what's nice about the TAA is you can call them up and say, 'I have a horse in Texas, or California, do you have an accredited farm nearby that we could use?' And (the TAA) gave me five options, and one of the farms had a spot." To show their appreciation for the TAA's efforts, Ten Strike recently helped raise awareness through the sponsorship of a race at Oaklawn Feb. 20 and a check presentation. The group hopes they caught the attention of other racing owners to encourage them to think about aftercare. "I explained (how the TAA helped retire I'mdrinkingdoubles) to Clay and Marshall and they said, 'We should really do something at Oaklawn that helps show that we're a big organization (and) we care about aftercare.' So we did a big presentation with the hopes that maybe a few owners at the races that day would see it and think (about it)." Majestic Dude, a former Ten Strike runner, enjoys life off the track. Photo: Liz Crow While the group hasn't been officially incorporated long enough to have too many of their horses in second careers yet, knowing that their horses are well cared for off the track is satisfaction enough. "The reason that we're in this game is because we love horses," Crow said. "They're such amazing animals and without them we don't have anything. "I think that it's so important to make sure that we treat them well and make sure they have retirement homes. I think it's something that our industry is getting better about, but we still have a long way to go." Democrat Tom Perriellos fundraising haul of $2.2 million in the first three months of 2017, the highest among all candidates in Virginias governors race, was powered in part by several six-figure checks from outside the state, including $385,000 from billionaire investor George Soros and his sons and $200,000 from a New York-based nonprofit Perriello co-founded a decade ago. Perriello, a former congressman and diplomat who shocked Virginias Democratic establishment by jumping into the governors race in January, raised more than Lt. Gov. Ralph S. Northam, his Democratic primary rival who took in $1.4 million between January and March, and Republican frontrunner Ed Gillespie, who raised nearly $1.9 million over the same period, according to reports that were due to the state Monday and compiled by the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project. A former chairman of the Republican National Committee who more recently worked as a political consultant, Gillespies fundraising remained far ahead of his two rivals for the GOP nomination. Corey Stewart, chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, raised a little more than $300,000, while state Sen. Frank W. Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, took in just under $60,000. As of March 31, Northam had roughly $3.3 million in cash on hand between his campaign and PAC accounts, while Perriello had $1.7 million. Gillespie had a little more than $3 million, compared with nearly $410,000 for Stewart and $372,000 for Wagner. With polls showing a much tighter race between Northam and Perriello, the fundraising reports reveal new details about the national versus local contours of the Democratic primary, with Perriello looking to ride a broader wave of progressive energy fueled largely by opposition to President Donald Trump and Northam relying on in-state relationships built over a decade in politics. Perriellos campaign has pointed to its strong fundraising quarter as a sign of growing momentum two months before the June 13 primaries, while Northams campaign has said the lieutenant governors numbers show strong grass-roots support despite Northam being barred from raising money during the 46-day legislative session earlier this year. According to VPAP, 89.1 percent of Northams funding came from donors with a Virginia address, compared with 43.4 percent for Perriello. When Perriello announced for governor on Jan. 5, Northam had already locked in the support of the states Democratic establishment, forcing Perriello to rely on a few deep-pocketed donors to raise money to get his campaign off the ground. On the day he officially launched his campaign, Perriello received $200,000 from Avaaz, a globally focused online advocacy group Perriello helped launch in 2007 that described itself as a global web movement to bring people-powered politics to decision-making everywhere. An affiliated entity, the Avaaz Foundation, also made $12,570 in in-kind contributions, listed in the report as covering costs for the Perriello campaigns salaries, travel and meals. Perriello, who grew up outside Charlottesville and represented Virginias central 5th District for one term before losing the seat in 2010, also received a $500,000 contribution from Charlottesville philanthropist Sonjia Smith on the day he launched his campaign, the largest donation Perriello received in the reporting period. Perriellos second-largest contribution was the $250,000 from Soros, a major liberal donor viewed by the right as a shadowy benefactor behind a wide variety of left-wing causes such as the Center for American Progress, the liberal think tank Perriello worked for after leaving Congress. Perriello received an additional $125,000 from Alexander Soros and $10,000 from Jonathan Soros, who, like their father, have a history of contributing to progressive and Democratic endeavors. Nearly half of Perriellos total came from his top four contributors. Northams top donation for the period was $100,000 from Gov. Terry McAuliffes political action committee, Common Good VA, and he received five-figure checks from several other prominent Virginia-based Democratic donors, including $50,000 from Charlottesville investor Michael Bills, the husband of big Perriello backer Sonjia Smith. Northam, a pediatric neurologist from the Eastern Shore who served in the state Senate before becoming lieutenant governor in early 2014, received roughly $16,000 from executives at energy giant Dominion Resources, including a $5,000 contribution from Dominion CEO Thomas F. Farrell II. Perriello, who opposes the Dominion-backed Atlantic Coast Pipeline, has sworn off contributions from Dominion, the states top political donor, which regularly contributes to politicians from both parties. Farrell also contributed $5,000 to Gillespies campaign. An ex-aide to former President George W. Bush, Gillespie attended a Texas fundraiser with Bush in late March. Records show Gillespie received $25,000 from Bush and $25,000 from former Bush adviser Karl Rove. Lieutenant governor On the Republican side, state Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel of Fauquier County led Sen. Bryce E. Reeves of Spotsylvania County and Del. Glenn R. Davis Jr. of Virginia Beach in fundraising. Vogel took in $209,367, including $100,000 from her father, William B. Holtzman. Her ending balance was $549,390. Reeves took in $170,512. He transferred in $230,000 from his Senate campaign committee and transferred in $21,000 from his PAC, Revitalize Virginia, for a total intake, including interest, of $421,520. His ending balance for his campaign committee and PAC combined was $448,896. Davis took in $45,880 and gave himself $83,300 in loans. His ending balance was $31,553. On the Democratic side, former federal prosecutor Justin Fairfax took in $289,531 and had a balance of $145,682. Former lobbyist and party activist Susan Platt took in $136,805, which included a $20,000 loan from her husband. Her balance was $97,788. Former federal prosecutor Gene Rossi took in $124,773, which included $50,000 in loans from himself and his brother. His balance was $62,626. Attorney general Attorney General Mark R. Herring, a Democrat, took in $406,736 for the reporting period and his political action committee, One Commonwealth, took in $116,165. His ending balance for both committees combined was close to $1.4 million. He received $25,000 from Common Good VA and $10,000 from Dominions PAC. Republican challenger John Adams, a lawyer with McGuireWoods in Richmond, took in $427,298 during the period. Of that, more than half $250,000 came from the Republican Attorneys General Association. Adams had an ending balance of $560,530. Chinese President announces military restructure of PLA Published: April 19, 2017 Chinese President Xi Jinping has announced a restructure of the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) with an aim to make it as a leaner fighting force with enhanced joint operations capability. President Xi Jinping is the chair of the Central Military Commission, and also commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The present restructure is the second major phase of President Xis reforms. Earlier in September 2015, President Xi announced a reduction in the number of military personnel by 300,000. Those reforms also included establishing a joint operational command structure by 2020. Xi is also seen rooting out corruption in the military by jailing dozens of senior military officers. China is also rapidly upgrading its military hardware owing to its increasingly assertive stance about its sovereignty claims in the South China Sea and its plans to expand its military influence overseas. Salient highlights The new structure of PLA will have 84 units. All the 84 units will be at the combined-corps level so that the commanders will hold the rank of major-general or rear-admiral. The members of the units would likely be regrouped from existing forces. All the 84 units will be placed under 15 agencies. The military restructure will be carried out by placing greater emphasis on new capabilities including cyberspace, electronic and information warfare. Impact Though, the impact of the restructure on PLAs fighting capabilities are not clear, experts feel that restructure could aid in breaking up the PLA into more modular units. It is expected to make the units small enough to be transportable and agile Peoples Liberation Army is the worlds largest standing military. Month: Current Affairs - April, 2017 Topics: China International Latest E-Books MANASSAS Authorities in Virginia say they've arrested one man and are searching for other suspects in the fatal shooting of a Manassas man. Manassas Police said in a statement that 20-year-old Denis Alexander Sanchez was arrested in connection with the shooting death of 25-year-old Wilfredo Guardado-Huezo near a restaurant Monday. Officials say they're also looking for two other suspects: a man and a teenager. A reward of up to $1,000 is being offered for information in the case. Donald Trump signs executive order tightening H1-B visa programme Published: April 19, 2017 Donald Trump has signed an executive order to enforce and review the H-1B visa programme. He has ordered the countrys federal agencies to tighten the H-1B visa programme, widely used to bring high-skilled foreign workers to the US. This order is aimed at fulfilling his campaign pledges to put America First. In the document titled Buy American and Hire American order, Trump seeks to make modifications in government procurement that would give a push for purchases of American products in federal contracts. Earlier, Trumps administration had rolled out policy shifts to clamp down on H-1B visa programme. It included a warning to employers not to discriminate against US workers. The issue of executive order also reveals Trumps heavy dependence on executive orders to fulfil his electoral promises. Till date, Trump has no major legislative achievements to boast of. His attempts to overhaul healthcare and tax law has not become successful so far in the Congress, controlled by his fellow Republicans. Need H-1B visa programme is accused of taking away jobs from Americans. Also, Trump wants a more merit-based way of giving visas to highly skilled workers instead of the present lottery system. In his new order, trump has asked agencies to propose ideas to direct visas to the most skilled and highly paid applicants without resorting to the lottery system. In fact, several bills have been proposed in Congress to end the lottery system. Impact The move is a deterrent to Indian IT companies which sends a huge number of software engineers to the US on H1-B visas. As per a report published by Bloomberg, companies like Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp and Mphasis Corp. would likely have fewer visas approved once the changes proposed by Trump are adopted. H1-B Visas The H visas are for temporary workers. The H1B Visas are for foreign skilled workers in occupations that generally require higher education, including science, engineering or computer programming. The H1B visas are given through a lottery system. Every year, the US government awards 65,000 H1B visas and randomly distributes another 20,000 to graduate student workers. Month: Current Affairs - April, 2017 Topics: immigration policies India-US International US Latest E-Books Union Cabinet decides to ban use of red beacon by VIPs from May 1 Published: April 19, 2017 The Union Cabinet has put a ban on the use of red beacons atop cars of VIPs. Only three categories were exempted from the ban. They are the President, Vice-President and Chief Justice of India. The exemption also applies to the emergency service vehicles. Accordingly, fire brigade, ambulance services, police vehicles and other emergency services will be allowed to use the blue beacon . The decision will come into force from May 1, 2017. In effect, the ban is applicable to the prime minister, union ministers, chief ministers, state cabinet ministers, bureaucrats and judges of the High Court and Supreme Court. The decision was taken to end VIP culture . As per the existing practice, a red light beacon can be used atop of vehicles of high dignitaries specified by the Central and State government. As per the notification issued by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways in 2005, the following dignitaries were eligible to use red light with a flasher. They are the President, Vice-President, Prime Minister, Former President, Deputy Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India, Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Cabinet Ministers of the Union, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Former Prime Ministers, Leaders of Oppositions in the Rajya Sabha & Lok Sabha, Judges of the Supreme Court. As per the present decision, neither the state nor the central government can nominate any members to use the red beacon. Need The Supreme Court in 2013 directed States to amend the Motor Vehicle Rules to restrict the use of the red beacon. It had stated that only constitutional authorities should be allowed to use the red beacon. The decision of the cabinet assumes significance in the aftermath of the attack on the Parliament in 2001 . During the attack, the terrorists entered the Parliament complex through a vehicle fitted with a red beacon. With this decision, it would be easier for the traffic authorities to nab violators illegally using red beacons and prevent the repeat of 2001 incidents. Recently, the Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab decided not to use the red beacon on their official cars. Month: Current Affairs - April, 2017 Topics: National Supreme court Union Cabinet Latest E-Books During their meeting on Tuesday night, the Farmington Board of Education swore in three members to the board after certifying the April 4 election results. Howard Hoehn and Angela Hahn both took the oath of office once again as the two incumbents kept their seats on the board. But for Jerry Freeman, the newest member of the board, Tuesday evenings swearing-in ceremony was a first. This was the first time the local business man has ever ran for public office. I am very excited about getting to work, Freeman said. I hope to do a good job for the Farmington patrons and the school district. I cant thank the voters enough, and I am very appreciative and will do the best I can. After the three board members took the oath of office, the board chose new leaders to take them into a new year. Replacing outgoing board president Jeff Lawson will be Kerry L. Noble who has served the previous year as vice president. Taking the helm as vice president for the next year is Joan Sullivan and Angela Hahn will fill the treasurer position. Shortly after the special meeting was adjourned, the boards monthly meeting was called into session with a busy agenda. Under operational and bond issue updates, Wade Welch, with Hoener Associates, Inc., gave his final update on the bond issue construction projects that he and his company have worked on for the district over the last four years. The board listened to two presentations. The first was the Dual Credit Report and the second was on the group insurance recommendation. Don Eaton, director of business services, spoke to the board about districts proposed group health and life insurance plan for next year. We knew over the last year or so that our loss ratios were running high. The past couple of years actually, Eaton said. We knew this year was going to be a challenge when renewing the group health." For the district, not a lot of good options means the cost of group health will increase by 8 percent or $225,000 leaving the final cost of the plan at $2.65 million. The district is still going to have a base plan where the district will pay 100 percent of the premium for the employee, Eaton said. But in order to make the plan affordable we had to make some changes to the plan. The employee will see higher deductibles, a $5 increase on their office copay, and we had to go to a $100 prescription drug deductible before the copay would kick in. According to Eaton and Superintendent Matt Ruble, employees will need to be educated on the changes and should come to a meeting the district will hold for the employees toward the end of the school year. In other business, the board heard high schools college program director, Andrea Richardson and Dr. Nathan Hostetler, the schools principal, deliver a the high schools Dual Credit report. During Richardsons presentation, she informed the board how successful the program has become since its inception. In May, when the graduating class of 2017 crosses the stage, 31 of the students will be graduating with an associate degree from Mineral Area College as well. In addition, Richardson shared some statistics about the program. In addition to the 31 students graduating with an associate degree, 504 students out of 1,120 students, 45 percent, have some college credit. Furthermore, the students at the high school have taken, collectively, 10,101 college credit hours. According to Hostetler, 73 percent of the seniors will be graduating with college credits. It is a fantastic program and we are very proud of it, Ruble said. But more importantly, it is an opportunity for all of our students who want to take advantage of the opportunity of getting some college credits out of the way, and with the cost of college tuition skyrocketing, this could really help with the cost of their education. For more in-depth coverage of the board meeting, read the Thursday edition of the Farmington Press. There are plans in the works for the former Mineral Area Regional Medical Center and the new owner will take ownership of the building on April 26. On April 13, the Farmington City Council addressed an issue on their agenda related to a subdivision of the property where the former hospital most recently known as Parkland Health Center-Weber is located. A public hearing was held requesting a resubdivision of the property from east to west by putting a new property line from the south boundary on Wallace Road to the north boundary of the property near the main entrance of the former hospital. The sale of the property, being purchased from Parkland Health Center, was scheduled to be final on Monday, but there was only a first reading done during the meeting. A second reading and council action on the proposed boundary change is expected to take place during the April 24 Farmington City Council meeting. Sharo Shirshekan will take ownership of the building two days later and he said this project is very complicated. It requires a permit from not only from the city of Farmington for zoning, but also from the state. What I hope to do ... it doesnt mean it will happen ... but everything starts with a hospital, said Shirshekan. You have to be licensed as a hospital and you set it up based on your desire or what you can afford. Thats how a hospital works. If they allow me to open it back up as a hospital, then I have to ask if I can specialize in certain areas. Shirshekan gave an example of how the process works. He said if he were to ask the state if he can have Intensive Outpatient (Psych) Therapy or IOP and they say yes, then he would ask if they would allow him to do it for children up to 18 years old. They would ask what qualifications your people have, whats the space you have and whats the safety, explained Shirshekan. OK Ill let you do it for children, then I ask, can I do it for adults? Well how are you going to separate them from the children? I would have to explain how I would do it. Shirshekan said geriatrics is a separate issue from adults. He said they want them separated because they are more vulnerable to get hurt sometimes. Just under one therapy I have to get three different permissions and then once I get the permission and the government says I can do it, then I go to the insurance company, explained Shirshekan. I tell the insurance company I have IOP here and see if they will approve me. I ask if somebody has Blue Cross/Blue Shield would you approve me to give them therapy? Shirshekan added he would ask what the limit is and the rate they would pay him for the services. He said its the same thing with Medicare, Medicaid and VA insurance. Its a really long, exhausting process, said Shirshekan. Right now, I just want to open it back up as a hospital and in the future, once I know what the state would allow me in the next 90 days then I can discuss it in more detail. Shirshekan stressed this project is pending state approval. Right now he is just asking the government if they will allow him to reopen the hospital that closed voluntarily. They are going to ask me, OK, they gave us the following reason to close it, whats your reasoning to reopen it, said Shirshekan. I have got a good reason and good explanation to reopen it. They want me to have a policy and a staffing structure. That is the very first step. I have to own it first and then I can talk to them. Shirshekan said he has several plans for the building if he cant get it reopened as a hospital. Technically the hospital is still operating, so they never lost their planning and zoning, explained Shirshekan. They are still doing billing over there on the top floor and the medical examiner is still there doing autopsies for 26 counties. Shirshekan said BJC will remain there until they are ready to move. He added they are remodeling another building and then their billing department will move out of there. BJC donated the nutrition center and the grassy area across from the ambulance district has been donated to the city of Farmington and the one-story medical building has been donated to the county, said Shirshekan. I want to be a good neighbor. Shirshekan said he is going to ask for 50 beds, the hospital had been a 129-bed hospital. It was shut down last year when they voluntarily gave up there license to receive patients and all their patients were transferred to Parkland Hospital, said Shirshekan. I am going to try to reopen it as a hospital pending state approval. Shirshekan stressed there will be no duplication of services that are being offered at Parkland Health Center. TRAI's recommendations of lowering of Spectrum Usage Charges to one per cent and reduction of licence fee to three per cent. New Delhi: Industry body COAI today said the government should address the issue of financial plight of the telecom sector with "utmost urgency" and made a renewed push for lower levies as mooted by the regulator. "We are glad that RBI has taken note of our contention that the industry is in financial stress. We had warned continuously that companies are hard pressed to make payments to the government and the banks," COAI Director General Rajan Mathews told PTI. Mathews' comments come in the wake of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today asking banks to make higher provisioning for loans to the telecom sector that is facing financial stress and closely monitor their exposure to avoid any adverse impact on businesses. The telecom sector has a debt of about Rs 4.6 lakh crore and is facing pressure on revenue and profitability in wake of competition intensified by the entry of newcomer Reliance Jio. COAI also urged the Telecom Department to consider recommendations of TRAI on lower spectrum and licence fee charges. "TRAI's recommendations of lowering of Spectrum Usage Charges to one per cent and reduction of licence fee to three per cent, needs to be looked at. In addition, focus should be on adoption of revised definition of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR)," Mathews added. It may be recalled that earlier this year, the inter- ministerial body Telecom Commission in a letter to TRAI had warned of a loan default by operators. It had asked the regulator to revisit its tariff orders and free promotional offers of firms like Reliance Jio. The then Telecom Secretary J S Deepak, who headed the Telecom Commission at that point, had flagged the serious impact of promotional offers on the financial health of the sector and the capability of the companies to meet their contractual commitments, including payment of instalments for spectrum purchased and repayment of loans. Last month, TRAI hit back at Telecom Commission's contention of free offers playing havoc on finances of telecom companies saying its policies are aimed at promoting competition and lower tariffs that benefit consumers. TRAI in its recent letter to Telecom Secretary P K Pujari also drew the attention of the government to its past recommendations and specifically to its suggestion of allowing spectrum as collateral to relieve stress of telecom and banking sectors. Recommendations such as these and others pertaining to methodology for estimation of revenue for levying licence fee and spectrum usage charges and increased duration and instalments for payment of spectrum fee, would go a long way in addressing the concerns of the sector, TRAI had said. New Delhi: Reliance Industries today said it has commissioned the world's largest and most complex ethane plant at its Dahej petrochemical complex in Gujarat in record time, costing about USD 1.5 billion. The company will import large volumes of ethane from North America and use them as feedstock in its cracker to produce petrochemicals. "Reliance is pleased to announce successful and flawless completion of its ethane project including commissioning of its ethane receipt and handling facilities and ethane cracking at its Dahej manufacturing facility in Gujarat in a record time of less than 3 years," a company statement said. Ethane, a natural gas component, is expected to be produced in large volumes in North America due to the shale gas revolution, which has generated an abundance of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and cooking gas LPG. Ethane is primarily used as a petrochemical feedstock to produce ethylene by steam cracking.Reliance plans to ship 1.5 million tonne a year of ethane from its US shale joint ventures to its chemical complex in Gujarat. The firm has two joint ventures in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale - one with Chevron, in which it has invested USD 1.7 billion, and another with Houston-based Carrizo Oil & Gas, in which it has invested USD 392 million. The entire chain included securing ethane refrigeration capacity in the US Gulf coast, delivery of dedicated Very Large Ethane Carriers (VLECs) to carry ethane from the US Gulf Coast to the West Coast of India, construction of ethane receipt and handling facilities, pipelines and upgrade of crackers (to receive ethane) at Dahej, Hazira and Nagothane manufacturing facilities. The VLECs are to transport liquefied ethane from the US to the Dahej terminal in Gujarat, which will be used to supply feedstock for RIL's crackers in Dahej, Hazira and Nagothane. "This successful start-up underlines our ability to build world-scale capacities and infrastructure using complex technologies... The execution of this project at this scale and magnitude is a first in the world," RIL said. With the phenomenal growth of shale gas industry in North America in last five years, ethane prices have fallen. "The supply of ethane to our crackers at Dahej, Hazira and Nagothane will provide feedstock security and flexibility enabling us to select the most optimal feed mix based on market conditions. "This will improve the cost competitiveness of our existing crackers and enable us to optimise the portfolio in a volatile market environment," the statement said. New Delhi: The meeting of NITI Aayog's Governing Council, the apex decision making body headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will be held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Sunday. The Council, which comprises all chief ministers, administrators of union territories and NITI Aayog members, will deliberate upon the 15-year road map for development. "This time the meeting of the Governing Council will be held at Rashtrapati Bhawan," a senior government official said. The council, with all chief ministers on board, will also discuss 3-year action plan and 7-year development strategies. Since the government has done away with five-year plans with effect from April 1, it is imperative that the new three- year action plan is put in place at the earliest to guide various central ministries, departments and states to achieve the goal envisaged in the 'Vision 2030' document. The 12th Five-Year Plan, the last in the series, was terminated on March 31. The new three-year plan will also provide in detail the government's expenditure classification on the basis of capital and revenue categories. The government has also done away with the classification of Plan and non-Plan expenditure. The policy-making body had been mandated to come up with a 15-year vision document for a period up to 2030, which will be co-terminus with sustainable development goals. The NITI Aayog has also been working on a 7-year strategy starting from the current financial year 2017-18 to 2023-24 to convert the vision document into implementable policy and action as part of the National Development Agenda. It has also prepared a draft of the 3-year action plan for 2017-18 to 2019-20 which will be aligned with the 14th Finance Commission award period. New Delhi: NITI Aayog vice chairman Arvind Panagariya has asked states to play a proactive role in enacting reforms relating to state subjects, especially land leasing. Panagariya, who was speaking at 'National Workshop on Status of Land Leasing Reform and Way Forward' also recalled the pro-reform views of various states in the meeting held in the past which led the government think-tank NITI Aayog to begin working on the Model Agricultural Land Leasing Act, 2016, a statement said. Principal Secretaries (Revenue) from the states and their counterparts from the Department of Agriculture or their representatives participated in the meeting, an official statement said. The statement added that several states shared their initiatives related to land leasing reforms. The prominent ones among them were Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Uttarakhand. Telecom sector is reporting stressed financial conditions, and presently interest coverage ratio for the sector is less than one. Mumbai: The RBI today asked banks to make higher provisioning for loans to the telecom sector that is facing financial stress and closely monitor their exposure to avoid any adverse impact on businesses. The sector has a debt of about Rs 4.6 lakh crore even as it is faces pressure on revenues and profitability in the wake of cut-throat competition following entry of Reliance Jio. The Reserve Bank said banks have been asked to put in place a Board approved policy for making provisions for standard assets at rates higher than the regulatory minimum, based on evaluation of risk and stress in various sectors. "More immediately, as the telecom sector is reporting stressed financial conditions, and presently interest coverage ratio for the sector is less than one, boards of directors of the banks may review the telecom sector latest by June 30, 2017...," it said in a notification. Interest coverage ratio indicates capacity of an organisation to service the debt and ability to repay it over the tenure of the loan. It further asked banks to "consider making provisions for standard assets in this sector" at higher rates so that necessary resilience is built in the balancesheets "should the stress reflect on the quality of exposure to the sector at a future date". Besides, banks should also subject the exposure to the telecom sector to closer monitoring, it added. The RBI further said bank boards should frame policy on making provisions for standard assets at higher rates at least once a quarter. The review should be to access performance of various sectors of the economy to which the bank has an exposure to evaluate the present and emerging risks and stress therein. "The review may include quantitative and qualitative aspects like debt-equity ratio, interest coverage ratio, profit margins, ratings upgrade to downgrade ratio, sectoral non-performing assets and stressed assets, industry performance and outlook, legal and regulatory issues faced by the sector, etc. The reviews may also include sector specific parameters," the RBI added. In another notification, the RBI has prescribed a format for banks to disclose in the 'Notes to Accounts' to the financial statements. This, the RBI said, is being done to ensure greater transparency and promote better discipline with respect to compliance with income recognition, asset classification and provisioning (IRACP). Country Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Canada Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cuba, Republic of Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Dominican Republic Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Haiti, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Jamaica Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Mexico, United Mexican States Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu US Virgin Islands Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland United States Minor Outlying Islands United States of America Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe Washington: The radical idea of giving free money under a universal basic income plan to reduce poverty can work in India only if the plethora of welfare schemes are phased out, Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian has said. Subramanian -- who had mooted the idea of universal basic income or a uniform stipend paid to every adult and child, poor or rich, in the annual survey of the economy this year -- said such a move will have to be completely financed from within and implemented at a mass scale. Universal basic income (UBI) will guarantee all citizens enough income to cover their basic needs and would be easier to administer than the current anti-poverty schemes, which are plagued by waste, corruption and abuse. According to The Economist, India's proposal to give every citizen a cash transfer using the digital platform Aadhaar could reduce absolute poverty from 22 per cent to 0.5 per cent. "The Indian setting is completely different in two three different ways. One is that this is not going to be donor financed at all (like in some African countries). It is going to be completely financed (from) within," Subramanian said in his appearance at the Center for Global Development, a top American think-tank. "So the issues that come up, relate to is do we have the fiscal space to do? Secondly, if it happened this is going to be kind of a scaled-up version. It's not going to be 80 villages, what is the impact and then we think about scaling up. It will be a scaled-up kind of a thing," he said, observing that this was something that does not necessarily need to be implemented by the centre like one scheme. States can start on their own, noted Subramanian, who is currently in the US to attend the annual Spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Observing that providing UBI would amount to between four and five per cent of GDP, he said the Indian government cannot afford that. "So the only way it can work is to potentially we can phase down some of the existing programmes, otherwise it does not work," he said. "Then you get into the political economy of questions like can you phase down other subsidies...the fertilizer subsidy, the employment guarantee scheme. Can you phase those programmes politically or now? When you can't phase it down an extra four-five per cent of GDP is not very meaningful," he said. Subramanian also noted that some people think that India has built in a reasonably well social welfare programme in terms of giving away subsidised food. "Would this undermine that? And the third big question is, is the infrastructure to implement this...the whole biometrics, financial inclusion and mobile," he said in response to a question. "India currently has 1.1 billion people covered under biometrics. At the same time 250 million have banking financial accounts and about 60 per cent of those are linked to the AADHAAR numbers," Subramanian said. In terms of mobiles, 250 million people have smart phones, 300 million people have regular phones and 350 million people have no phones, he noted. Ideally one would like to have the biometric number, bank account and mobile phone linked with each other, he said. "That is the kind of dream, we call it the JAM (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile) infrastructure. At the moment, it is very patch in the way it is developed," he said. Noting that in principle nothing prevents a state government from going on its own, Subramanian said, what some of the states, which are thinking about it seriously, do want is federal money for this. The states might ask for untied money from the Centre, he said. "That is the kind of conversation that is beginning to happen, because that would make it easier for the state governments to finance this," Subramanian said. One of the starting points for this in India is the various social welfare schemes, like the employment guarantee scheme, the food or kerosene subsidy are very leaky and they do not do a very great job in reaching the poor, he said. UBI can easily be an improvement on that, the chief economic adviser said. Responding to a question, Subramanian said that it would be very difficult to phase out the existing subsidy programmes, because of the potential political opposition to it. "That's true across the world, very difficult to withdraw entitlements," he said. "So unless you phase down existing programmes...you can't really (implement UBI)...because the magnitude is so big," he said. MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday asked banks to make provisions at higher rates in respect of advances to stressed sectors of the economy. While power, infrastructure, steel and real estate are witnessing high level of delinquencies, the Reserve Bank in its circular has specifically mentioned the telecom sector which is experiencing a dip in operating margins due to aggressive bidding and tariff war. More immediately, as the telecom sector is reporting stressed financial conditions, and presently interest coverage ratio for the sector is less than one, Board of Directors of the banks may review the telecom sector latest by June 30, 2017, and consider making provisions for standard assets in this sector at higher rates so that necessary resilience is built in the balance sheets should the stress reflect on the quality of exposure to the sector at a future date, RBI said. The banks have also been asked to subject the telecom sector to close monitoring. The central bank said that the provisioning requirement mentioned in its earlier circular is the regulatory minimum and banks should make provisions at higher rates to ensure adequate provisions for loans and advances at all times. For standard loans, the banks set aside provisions of 5 per cent, which goes up in case the company fails to service its loans with in a prescribed time. Banks have been asked to put in place a boardapproved policy for making provisions for standard assets at rates higher than the regulatory minimum, based on evaluation of risk and stress in various sectors. The policy should be reviewed at least on a quarterly basis. The review may include quantitative and qualitative aspects like debt-equity ratio, interest coverage ratio, profit margins, ratings upgrade to downgrade ratio, sectoral non-performing assets/ stressed assets, industry performance and outlook, legal/regulatory issues faced by the sector among others. The reviews may also include sector specific parameters, RBI added. Raveena Tandon's 'Maatr' and Sonakshi Sinha's 'Noor' are set to clash at the box office on 21 April. Mumbai: Sonakshi Sinha-starrer 'Noor' has received a U/A certificate from Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) after making the changes advised by the censor board. The CBFC had asked the makers of 'Noor' to remove words like 'dalit', Barkha Dutt and a liquor brand's name. "We have raised objection to use of certain words like dalit and sex toy to be replaced by 'adult site'," an official from CBFC told PTI. 'Noor' is based on Saba Imtiaz's novel 'Karachi, You're Killing Me!' and narrates the tale of scribe-writer Noor's misadventures and love life as she navigates her way through Mumbai. Director Sunhil Sippy told PTI that they have accepted CBFC's decision. "The objection raised by CBFC over certain words was not affecting the narrative of the film. So we have accepted it. We were told the use of Dalit is in reference to a community so it's asked to be removed. We have got U/A certificate," he told PTI. Another film which has been facing troubles with CBFC is Raveena Tandon's 'Maatr'. The movie is based on the sensitive issue of rape and the censor board refused certification owing to some gruesome scenes and usage of foul language in the film. The makers have, however, submitted the revised version of the movie and CBFC will consider it for giving the certificate. "Before we could take a decision the applicant themselves have submitted a revised version of the film. So the earlier file has been closed. So the film will be examined again. "We have not seen the revised version probably it must have been edited. The revised version will be treated as a fresh film," the official said. "If the producer anticipates difficulty in clearing the film then they should apply well in time. In this case time was sufficient. "If they would have gone to tribunal they would have missed their release date and so they sent the revised version of the film for certification. We will facilitate the process faster," he added. According to sources close to the project, the CBFC has asked to delete the word dalit, and reduce the length of the rape scene from 13 minutes to three or four minutes. "They (CBFC) has asked to tone down the language and scenes of the film and the team has done that and submitted a revised version of the film." Both 'Noor' and 'Maatr' are scheduled to release this Friday. Mumbai: When a reputed awards function did not recognise Akshay Kumars performance in Airlift, people got upset. And now that he has won, that too the prestigious National Award, they say it was all because of his friendship with the Chairman of the National Awards committee Priyadarshan. But Raveena Tandon is unfazed by what others think and fully supports her Mohra co-star. While chatting with a website about her comeback revenge drama Maatr, Raveena was asked about her opinion on the ongoing controversy and if National Awards is losing its credibility, to which the versatile actress replied. I dont think so, why should it lose its dignity, every year there is a controversy. People who dont win create the controversy. Right after the announcement was made, social media users started accusing both Priyadarshan and Akshay of foul play. Upon learning about the loud whispers, the director did not mince his words either. He was quoted as saying, "I have heard of all that and I will answer it in a simple way. When Ramesh Sippy was jury head, Amitabh Bachchan won. When Prakash Jha was head of jury, Ajay Devgn won. So none questioned at that time. So why all these questions are cropping up today. Raveenas comeback film Maatr is slated to release on April 21 and is about the menacing subjects of rape and molestation. While Irrfan Khan promotes his new film Hindi Medium without his Pakistani leading lady, Salman Khans Tubelight leading lady Zhu Zhu is all set to join her superstar-hero in India for the promotion of their film. Informs director Kabir Khan, Yes, Zhu Zhu is going to join Salman to promote Tubelight. What a gorgeous woman and a lovely actor! She was such a positive presence on location. Kabir reiterates Zhu Zhus primacy in the film. She is not just a side character. She has a major role. She plays a very important part. Does she speak Hindi in the film? I leave that for audiences to discover. The filmmaker, who makes male-centric dramas, feels the women are no pushovers in his cinema. He said, Whether its Katrina in Ek Tha Tiger and Phantom or Kareena in Bajrangi Bhaijaan and now Zhu Zhu in Tubelight, the women in my films always have strong parts to play. I had told Kareena during Bajrangi Bhaijaan, You may have lesser screen time. But you are the voice of the film. Likewise Zhu Zhu has less footage than Salman but shes central to the plot. Mumbai: Getting set for her big budget fantasy based tri-lingual drama titled Sangamithra, the gorgeous and committed actor Shruti Haasan is leaving no stone unturned to get every nuance of her character right. All set to be a warrior princess, Shruti is believed to be undergoing rigorous physical training for the same in London. Says an insider source, "Shruti's totally gearing up for her role as Sangamitra. The role is a complex yet fierce character that is believed to be an expert battle fighter. In order to make sure she leaves no stone unturned and gives her performance all it needs, Shruti has been training with a professional sword fighting expert and action choreographer in London. He started training her with basic movements and manoeuvres and then brought in the aspect of precision and physical agility. That was accompanied by some intense mind mapping techniques followed by true blue swords men to make sure she had every nuance she needed for a perfect on screen showcase." A still from one of her films. Mumbai: A top Malayalam actress' recent abduction and alleged assault and molestation had shocked people and sent the authorities and cops into a frenzy. Bollywood celebrities and their south counterparts had proclaimed solidarity with the actress, who herself had bounced back within a few days, joining her film set. The condemnable issue had sparked a fresh controversy on the safety of women in the country. However, not everyone seems to be empathising with her ordeal. Tamil actress Varalaxmi Sarathkumar brought back horrible memories of the previous incident into people's minds. A sinister picture of the actress tied to a bed, gagged and tied up went viral on the internet, accompanied by a caption saying the actress has been kidnapped. A PR further added fuel by confirming the news, and people were alarmed at the latest 'development'. But when the reaction of the people became increasingly concerned, Varalaxmi and the makers of her upcoming film revealed that it had all been a promotional activity, much to the disgust of the people. Im absolutely fine..thank u for urconcern..its a part of our movie promotion.. announcement at 6pm..!!. she tweeted. The makers also instantly went into damage control mode, asserting, Sweet surprise to @varusarath for her movie promotions...she wasn't aware of this..All is well and always well for @varusarath. The actress might not get a respite from this sensational misjudgment any time soon. Ever since Abhay Deols social media post on celebs endorsing fairness creams, naming their campaigns as demeaning, false and racist, a debate on the issue has been sparked off across film industries north and south. Talking to DC, actress Shriya Saran, who was recently in Chennai, weighed in on the debate even admitting that shes not proud of the fairness cream advertisements she had endorsed in the past. To be honest, I think its a fair argument to ask actors not to endorse fairness products. We dont need to be fair in this country, and theres a whole lot of madness about being fair. Many advertisements are projected in a manner that if you arent fair, you dont get married and when you get fairer with the creams, you do! I think thats a little troubling. There are also films that Im not proud of... but there are two ads that Ive done that Im particularly unhappy with. I once endorsed Fair and Lovely and then Coca-Cola, said the actress, who was in the city to be a part of Quaker Feed, a feeding drive that provided meals for underprivileged kids from Smile Foundation. When asked if she was cutting down the number of films shes taking up, the Sivaji actress replied, No, thats not true. But yes, Ive been trying to look for good scripts, but otherwise Ive been working. I had Manam, Gopala Gopala, Gautami Putra Satakarni in the recent past, and have Anbanavan Asaradhavan Adangadhavan coming up. Theres also Tadka in Hindi that will release soon. While film industries in the country are witnessing a surge in women-centric cinema, Shriya says she doesnt believe theres anything like a female-centric film You dont ask if an aircraft is being flown by a man or a woman if it flies, it means its doing the job it is meant to. The same is with cinema, and all that matters is whether the film works or not. New Delhi: The CPI(M) on Wednesday issued "warning" to former Kerala minister EP Jayarajan and party MP PK Sreemathy over the controversial appointments of their relatives to various posts in government corporations. CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the party's central committee took the decision on the basis of a report submitted by its Kerala state committee and explanation given by Jayarajan and Sreemathy. "The two comrades have also given their explanation and expressed regret. On the basis the report and their explanation, the central committee has issued warning to them," Yechury told reporters after the central committee's meeting in New Delhi. Asked why Jayarajan and Sreemathy have been issued only a "warning" when the party had in 2007 suspended Pinarayi Vijayan and V S Achuthanandan from the politburo for criticising each other in public, Yechury said that "past history is not the point to evaluate". Jayarajan had last year resigned from the council of ministers after a controversy erupted over the appointments of his relatives Deepthi Nishad and Sudhir Nambiar in Kerala Clays and Ceramics Products Limited (KCCPL) and Kerala State Industrial Enterprises Limited (KSIEL), respectively. Nishad is the daughter-in-law of Jayarajan's brother. Nambiar is the son of Jayarajan's sister-in-law Sreemathy. In the wake of the row, Nambiar's appointment as director general of KSIEL was cancelled, while Nishad had resigned from her post in KCCPL. New Delhi: The charges for which BJP stalwarts L K Advani, M M Joshi, Uma Bharti and other VVIPs will be tried in the politically sensitive Babri Masjid demolition case, entails a punishment ranging from two to five years imprisonment. Uma Bharti, who earlier on Wednesday said that she is ready to sacrifice her life for construction of Ram temple, cancelled her visit to Ayodhya hours after making an announcement in this regard. Bharti, who had planned to go to Ayodhya from Delhi on Wednesday night, decided against it after a meeting with BJP chief Amit Shah, according to a report in NDTV. Shah asked her to call off her trip following Modis instruction to partys core leader to be cautious while reacting to the Supreme Courts verdict. The Supreme Court on Wednesday restored the offence of criminal conspiracy which was originally invoked against them along with other charges in the case. They will be tried under Indian Penal Code offences for allegedly promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion etc, imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration and statements conducing to public mischief of the IPC for which the maximum punishment is five years. Other charges of injuring or defiling place of worship with the intent to insult the religion of any class entails maximum sentence of two years, while for the offence of deliberate and malicious acts intending to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs, carriesa maximum penalty of a three-year jail term. Besides Advani (89), Joshi(83) and Bharti (57), others who will face trial are Champat Rai Bansal, Satish Pradhan, Dharam Das, Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, Mahamadleshwar Jagdish Muni, RamBilas Vadanti, Vaikunth Lal Sharma and Satish Chandra Nagar. Those who have since died include Bal Thackeray, Giriraj Kishore, Ashok Singhal and Paramhans Ram Chandra Das. In the other case, charges framed against unknown karsevaks involve dacoity, which entails minimum 10 years jail or life imprisonment. Other charges include robbery which entails a punishment of seven years, causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others and trespassing which carry two year and one year imprisonment. The remaining charges are the same as that of the VIPs. Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh unit of the BJP, putting up a brave face, said it has full faith in the judiciary after the apex court allowed a CBI plea seeking trial of top party leaders for criminal conspiracy in the Babri Masjid demolition case. "We will go to the trial court. This does not make us convicts," state BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi told PTI here hours after the Supreme Court restored the criminal conspiracy charges against L K Advani, M M Joshi and Uma Bharti. "We will present evidence before the trial court, where it will be examined and cross-examined," he said. Bengaluru: A Bengaluru court on Wednesday acquitted former French diplomat Pascal Mazurier, who had been accused of raping his three and a half years old daughter. According to a report in The Newsminute, a sessions court judge said that there were nor enough evidence to convict the 44-year-old ex-diplomat. "The Honourble court has taken the evidence into consideration and given the judgment. The police has done a fantastic job," Mazuriers lawyer said, following the judgment. The complaint was filed by Mazurier's ex-wife Suja Jones in 2012. "The allegations were the most heinous of a kind a father would face, so ultimately based on the material and the defense we have taken, the honorable court came to a right conclusion that the offences have not been proved and ordered the acquittal of Mr. Pascal," his counsel told ANI after the hearing. Speaking to ANI after his acquittal, Pascal admitted that it was mental trauma to be falsely accused, to be separated from his children and to stay for so long out of his country, during which time, he lost some dear ones. "So yes its joy today to finally see the truth. It's almost a five year long battle, so I'm happy. Let me get the copy of judgment, then we will take the next step. Not so many people supported me. I was not in my country, I was alone. All I had was my lawyers," he added. Despite the Vienna convention stating that a diplomat cannot be arrested or detained, Mazurier, however, was arrested on on June 15, 2012. An FIR was registered against Mazurier, who was the deputy head of chancery at the French Consulate in Bangalore, under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (punishment for rape) at the High Grounds police station. On February 11, 2014, a sessions court in New Delhi had framed charges against Mazurier, after it earlier refused to discharge him on ground that there was sufficient evidence for him to face trial. Police filed an additional charge sheet against Mazurier in January 2013, with a detailed report of doctors who said the accused sodomised and raped his daughter for two years. In 2014, he had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking his intervention for expediting the trial in the case. In a letter to Modi, Mazurier made an appeal to put the case on fast track as his grandmother was on death bed and wanted to see him. New Delhi: A Border Security Force (BSF) jawan, who posted a clip on social media complaining of bad quality food being served to the troops, was today dismissed from service following an inquiry. Officials said Tej Bahadur Yadav was sacked by the border guarding force on the basis of a report of a staff court of inquiry (SCoI). The inquiry, they said, found the constable-rank jawan guilty of making false charges. "The action of dismissal of the jawan has been taken under the Border Security Force Act that is applicable to all the personnel serving in the paramilitary force," a senior officer said. "Yadav has been found guilty on certain charges of indiscipline including uploading the said video in violation of laid down procedures and rules. He has an option to appeal against the verdict within three months time," he added. Responding to the action taken against him, Yadav said he will now appeal in high court. "Hope I get justice, I have full faith in judiciary. This is what happens when you say the truth? Happening for years now," he said. Yadav, in January this year, had alleged in his video post that bad quality food was being served to the soldiers. While the government procures essentials for the soldiers, the higher-ups "sell them off" in an "illegal" manner in the market making the lower level personnel in the force suffer, he had alleged. The jawan, who was part of a BSF unit posted along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, had also said in the video that a watery soup-like dal, which he claimed had only turmeric and salt, and a burnt chapati were served to them. Yadav was serving in the 29th battalion of the force and had been transferred to a BSF battalion in Jammu during the inquiry. CHENNAI: A high-level team from the Delhi Police has reached the city to question AIADMK deputy general secretary TTV Dhinakaran and take the bribery case registered against him to its "logical conclusion", informed sources said on Tuesday. The team reached the city on Tuesday evening and is likely to question Mr Dhinakaran on Wednesday with regard to the case registered following the arrest of middleman Sukesh Chandrasekhar. The Delhi Police on Monday filed a case against Mr Dhinakaran for attempting to bribe Election Commission officials for getting a favourable order for his faction in the "Two Leaves" symbol case. A case was filed against Mr Dhinakaran under Section 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, which deals with taking gratification, by corrupt or illegal means, to influence public servant and Section 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code. Mr Dhinakaran, who returned from Bengaluru on Tuesday morning, held consultations with his lawyer Jeenasenan and a few others to discuss strategy on how to handle the Delhi crime branch case. "The Delhi Police team will question Mr Dhinakaran and take the case to its logical conclusion. There is enough evidence to nail him in the case," the source said. Sukesh had apparently promised Dhinakaran of AIADMK's Sasikala faction that he would influence Election Commission to obtain a favourable order for them in lieu of consideration of Rs 50 crore, Madhur Verma, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime), Delhi Police, had said on Monday. Chennai: Admitting that there was a revolt against him in the AIADMK, Sasikalas nephew TTV Dhinakaran on Wednesday said that he would have to consult Sasikala before resigning as the deputy general secretary of the party. However, he added, I have stepped aside in the interest of the party, so there is no question of resigning. Admitting that AIADMK had turned against him, Dhinakaran said that the revolt might have been due to some fears. I have no regrets because I dont have any expectations, Dhinakaran said. Dhinakaran also said he has no problem with the possible merger of AIADMK factions if it benefits the party. Earlier today, Dhinakaran had claimed that there was no revolt against him and that all AIADMK MLAs were with him. The AIADMK (Amma) faction had on Tuesday decided to sideline Dhinakaran and Sasikala, in an attempt to unite the group with the faction led by former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam. Panneerselvam had said the ouster of Sasikala and Dhinakaran was one of the conditions for merger of the warring factions. The department here had conducted multiple searches few days back and had raided the premises belonging to Tamil Nadu Health Minister C Vijayabaskar and others. (Photo: Representational Image) Chennai: The Income Tax department on Wednesday launched searches at about 80 locations in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala in connection with a tax evasion case. Officials said the raids are being conducted against a city-based chit fund company and its associates and at about 43 locations in Tamil Nadu, 29 in Kerala and six in Karnataka apart from few others. They added that the department was acting on some "vital" inputs on black money being stashed and generated by the chit fund or ponzi route and hence the searches were launched early morning today. It was not immediately clear if the latest action had any connection to some politicians or their associates in Tamil Nadu. The department here had conducted multiple searches few days back and had raided the premises belonging to Tamil Nadu Health Minister C Vijayabaskar and others, days before the April 12 bypolls at RK Nagar Assembly constituency, which have now been postponed by the EC after reports of illegal money power being allegedly used to influence the polls. Bengaluru: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Wednesday directed immediate and complete shutdown of industries around Bengaluru's Bellandur lake where a mound of garbage was set on fire earlier in February. Expressing displeasure over the steps taken by the different state government agencies for revival of Bellandur lake in Bengaluru, the National Green Tribunal asked the Karnataka government to clean the lake within a month. The National Green Tribunal also raised questions as to why action was not taken to block the entry of sewerage water despite repeated reminders from the State Pollution Control Board. It further directed the state government to set up a committee headed by the Urban Development Department (UDD) to monitor the rejuvenation of the Bellandur lake. The highly polluted Bellandur lake caught fire earlier on February 17 due to toxic effluents in it. Bellandur lake, the largest of the 262 lakes and tanks in Bengaluru, receives about 40 percent of the city's sewage. In this March 29, 2016 photo, journalists look a image of Indian naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav. (Photo: AP) New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed the plea seeking direction for the Centre to approach the International Court of Justice for securing release of Kulbhushan Jadhav from Pakistan. During the hearing, the Counsel for the Centre said, "This is a serious matter and the whole country is united for it. The MEA is doing their best for Jadhav. Both houses of Parliament have also given their support to the government. Even the government has also given a statement in the houses." The High Court also expressed its displeasure with the petitioner for giving the petition copies to the media and bringing this matter in public domain before the court. The petitioner Rahul Sharma sought the intervention of court on the issue of release of Jadhav and also requested it to sought response from the Centre on the possibility of seeking legal remedies through International Court of Justice for Jadhav's release. The Pakistan Army has ruled out any consular access to alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, saying he is not eligible for it as per the laws. "Kulbhushan is not eligible for consular access nor will be granted consular access," said Pakistan Armed Forces spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor. He alleged that Jadhav, caught on anti-state activities, was trialed under court martial. "This was purely an act by the Army to which the Army as an institution said we will not compromise on his sentence," he said. The Pakistan Army had earlier said there will be 'no compromise' on the issue of death sentence awarded to Jadhav. Jadhav was awarded death penalty on April 10 in an unprecedented decision that triggered diplomatic spat between the two hostile neighbours. Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had earlier warned Islamabad that it risked damaging bilateral ties with New Delhi if it went ahead with the execution of Jadhav. Jadhav was arrested in March last year in the restive Balochistan province and accused of being a Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) agent. India has, however, so far categorically denied such charges. New Delhi: India on summoned the Pakistan deputy high commissioner on the issue of death penalty being given to Kulbhushan Jadhav by a military court there and made a fresh demand for consular access to the retired Indian navy officer. Pakistan's Deputy High Commissioner Syed Haidar Shah was called by the external affairs ministry that reiterated that Jadhav was innocent and false charges were framed against him, according to sources. Shah's summoning comes five days after Indian envoy Gautam Bambawale had met the Pakistan foreign secretary and sought a certified copy of the charge sheet and the army court order in the case, besides consular access to the retired Indian navy officer. "We definitely want to appeal against the judgement but we cannot do it unless we have the details of charges and a copy of verdict. So, my demand was that the details of the charge sheet and a copy of the verdict be provided to us," Bambawale had said after the meeting. Expressing disappointment over Pakistan turning down India's request for consular access to Jadhav, the Indian envoy had also 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 the international law and on humanitarian grounds as he is an Indian national." Rampur (UP): Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan has stoked another controversy by asking Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to reinstate 'sati pratha', an obsolete Hindu tradition where a widow immolated herself on her husband's pyre, before banning triple talaq in the state. "Who is stopping him from legislating on triple talaq? But first tell me which Muslim opposed ' Sati pratha'? 'Sati pratha' is a part of the Hindu culture. Make it applicable, first," Khan told ANI. His remark came after Adityanath said that those silent on the triple talaq issue were equally 'guilty' as the ones practising it. "People maintaining silence are equally guilty," Adityanath said while addressing a launch of book on former prime minister Chandra Shekhar Singh. The Chief Minister further said, "If our criminal suits and marriages are similar, then what is harm to implement Uniform Civil Code in the country." Citing the example of Mahabharata's Draupadi's 'Cheer-haran', he said that the society would also be equally guilty if it does not utter a single word on the issue. The fresh impetus to impose a ban on triple talaq came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly spoke against the issue. "Our Muslim sisters deserve justice. We should try to solve this issue at the district level. We should also proceed on the formula of a new India. We can't simply move forward on a slow pace, but charge ahead with full speed," he said during the BJP National Executive Meeting in Bhubaneswar. Chennai: Beleaguered AIADMK (Amma) Deputy General Secretary TTV Dhinakaran on Wednesday said none in the party were against him, asserting that all party MLAs stood behind him. "There is no opposition to me in the party," he said, breaking his silence since influential section of Ministers revolted against him last night and decided to keep General Secretary V K Sasikala and him out of the party. According to 'Jaya Plus' Tamil TV channel, Dhinakaran said a "good decision" will be taken in the interest of the party. Party sources indicated that he was expected to appear at the Economic Offences court in Chennai later in the day on a case against him for alleged violation of FERA regulations. Dhinakaran has called a meeting of party MLAs and District Secretaries at 3 pm today. New Delhi: Unfazed by apex court order that she be tried for "conspiracy" in the Babri mosque demolition case, Union minister Uma Bharti today said she is ready to sacrifice her life for construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya. "Grand Ram temple in Ayodhya is my dream. Ready to go to prison or be hanged for India and Ram Mandir," the senior BJP leader told reporters here. She said she will go to Ayodhya tonight and visit the makeshift temple to seek 'Ram Lalla's blessings'. Asserting she was "proud, unapologetic" and does not repent her role in the Ram Janmabhoomi campaign, Bharti said she is ready to face whatever punishments come her way as she fights for the construction of Ram temple. The Water Resources Minister was speaking after the Supreme Court today allowed the CBI's plea seeking trail under "conspiracy" charges against BJP leaders L K Advani, M M Joshi and her in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case. She dismissed the conspiracy charges. "There was no conspiracy. Everything was in the open. I took part in Ram temple campaign with pride and confidence. I had given up the post of Chief Minister for the sake of the tricolour. "I will do whatever it takes to see the Ram temple is constructed...Ram temple will be built, koi maai ka laal use rok nahi sakta (no one has the power to stop it from being built)," Bharti said, adding she was present at the mosque site on December 6, 1992. The Babri mosque was demolished on the day by a rampaging mob. On the Congress party, Bharti said she will not reply to any of its allegations on the issue. "Sonia Gandhi was at Rajiv Gandhi's home when the 1984 Sikh riots happened. Does this mean Soniaji was part of conspiracy?" she asked. Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday directed that summer holidays of schools should start from today, five days ahead of schedule, in view of oppressive heat in many parts of the state. The CM felt that it was not desirable to send the children to school in this weather, a release from Rao's office said in Hyderabad. The Chief Minister asked the Education Department to ensure that summer holidays are declared for government as well as private schools from today, five days in advance. Hyderabad and several other parts of the state are reeling under heat wave, with mercury soaring above 40 degrees Celsius in some places. The highest temperature recorded in the state yesterday was 44.5 degrees Celsius, according to IMD. Maximum temperature is likely to be above normal by two to four degrees at many places, it said. Hyderabad: Recent decision of the Telangana government to increase the quota for backward Muslims would not stand the scrutiny of law, the BJP floor leader in the state Legislative Assembly G Kishan Reddy said in Hyderabad on Wednesday. "The Sudhir Commute (constituted by the Telangana government to study condition of Muslims) and the Backward Classes Commission recommended six per cent hike in reservation. But, he (Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao) made it eight per cent. "On what basis, he (the CM) made it (reservation) eight per cent? You can now make it that this government does not have sincerity," Reddy told reporters. The Telangana legislature on April 16 passed a bill, raising the reservation for backward Muslims and Scheduled Tribes in government jobs and educational institutions. Under the bill, quota for STs will be increased to 10 per cent from the existing 6 per cent, while that for BC-E category (the backward sections among the Muslim community) will go up to 12 per cent from the existing 4 per cent. The total reservations in the state, consequently, will go up to 62 per cent from the existing 50 per cent cap set by the Supreme Court. "Under no circumstances, this bill is going to stand, either in high court or Supreme Court. The reports for the bill are totally defective. Sudhir Committee does not have legal status. Sudhir Committee's report does not have legal status. "100 per cent reservation is provided to Muslim brethren in Telangana (by raising the quota to 12 per cent). It is not going to stand. Only STs and SCs have 100 per cent right for quotas as per Constitution," Reddy said. The reservation is provided to backward sections among Muslims under Backward Classes (BC)-E category, but there is no proper data on this, he said. Stating that 'sab ka sath, sab ka vikas' is the policy of the BJP, Reddy said that backward sections among Muslims should be benefited through other measures. The reservation issue would be on the BJP's agenda in the 2019 Assembly polls, Reddy added. Delhi BJP President Manoj Tiwari with newly joined party member Arvinder Singh Lovely (left) at a press conference in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: Former Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely on Tuesday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and lashed out at the leadership of his former party, which he said has "died" under them. A key minister in the erstwhile Sheila Dikshit government in Delhi, Lovely raked up allegations of bribery in ticket distribution for the MCD polls by the Congress and claimed after meeting BJP chief Amit Shah that many senior Congress leaders are feeling "suffocated" as the party is no longer what it used to be. Lovely, who hails from the Sikh community, joined the saffron party along with Delhi Youth Congress chief Amit Malik. "The child is dead. Congress is finished," he told reporters, expressing his unhappiness with its leadership, including vice president Rahul Gandhi. He heaped praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah, saying the two have redefined politics. Lashing out at Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken, he said somebody who lost his election deposit, a reference to Maken's heavy loss in the city's Assembly polls, was foisted on the party. He also referred to the allegations made by A K Walia, a Congress veteran in the city, that tickets for MCD elections were being sold by party leaders, lamenting that the party leadership did not even look into his complaints. The BJP believes Lovely's shift to it will boost its prospects in the MCD polls, especially in areas with sizeable Punjabi population. He said the scams were blamed for the UPA's loss in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and it was strange that the Congress even in opposition is accused of corruption. New Delhi: Those who have "looted the poor and the middle classes will have to return what they have looted," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today, on a day businessman Vijay Mallya was arrested in London on loan default charges. "Indeed. There is no place for corruption in India. Those who looted the poor & middle classes will have to return what they have looted," he tweeted. He was responding to a tweet by a follower who wrote that "...corruption not only robs us of hard earned money but also of our dignity." Mallya, who has been declared a proclaimed offender, was arrested in London by Scotland Yard on India's request for his extradition in a loan default case. Senior Indian officials described his arrest as the first salvo in the case, which will now involve a legal process in the UK to determine if Mallya can be extradited to India to face charges in Indian courts. In response to another tweet, Modi wrote, "Indias farmers are the nations pride. Their hard work feeds millions. We are doing everything possible for their welfare." Hyderabad: The TRS on Wednesday sent out a veiled warning to the BJP that law will take its own course if the partys national president Amit Shah indulges in provocative statements in the Old City of Hyderabad that could trigger tension in the area. The TRS leadership is on alert in wake of Amit Shahs three-day tour of the city from May 23 to 25 during which the BJP has planned an exclusive meeting in the Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency presently represented by MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi. Amit Shah is also planning to make a second trip to Hyderabad in September, it is learnt. When Amit Shah visits Old City, he is bound to make provocative statements. This could trigger law and order problem. The law will take its own course, Dr S. Venugopala Chari, TS government representative in New Delhi told DC. The BJP national president will be camping in Hyderabad from May 23 to 25 to strengthen the party and prepare it for the 2019 elections. Besides Assembly seats, the BJPs main target is 17 Lok Sabha seats, including the Hyderabad seat. BJP is planning to implement the UP agenda, by indulging in communal divide to win Lok Sabha seats. Unlike UP, the situation is different in Telangana. People are with the TRS government since Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has implemented the partys poll promises, Dr Venugopala Chari said. Meanwhile, senior BJP leader Muralidhar Rao said in New Delhi that Amit Shah has laid special focus on strengthening the party in TS where RSS has strong foothold. He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modis view on Muslim reservation is different from what Mr Chandrasekhar Rao has understood. Amit Shah plans to take BJP to every house in TS. The booth committee meeting is aimed at this. He will choose one district, camp there and visit households. He will also visit a village and chat with the people, he explained. Besides Telangana, Amit Shah will also tour Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Odisha and AP. BJP national executive will meet in Vizag on July 15 and 16. Patna: The re-opening of Babri demolition case and revival of conspiracy charges against BJP leader L.K. Advani and others is being viewed by the RJD as a political conspiracy. Speaking on the issue, RJD chief Lalu Yadav created a stir by saying that premier investigating agency was used in the case by a faction in the BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and RSS to stop BJP veteran L.K. Advani who was in the final lap of the presidential race. In todays episode, I strongly smell a conspiracy. I have heard that Mr Advani was in the presidential race and after the courts order, his chances are finished. Prime Minister has very neatly cut his cord. Presidential elections are due in July and though BJP has not yet declared any candidate there was a buzz in the political circle that a section in the party may strongly propose his name. Sources also claimed that several political parties including some regional leaders were also planning to support the BJP veteran. It was the CBI which said that the criminal conspiracy case should be initiated against Advani and others. Now when such an appeal is being made then what else is left to say or do, Lalu Yadav said. This slip will not be able able to be carried away by the voter, as it will drop in a box. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: In a major electoral reform aimed at the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Union cabinet on Wednesday cleared the proposal to introduce paper trail machines for voting, which apart from being an innovative move, will also bring in transparency in the system. According to official sources, Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleared the proposal to purchase 16,15,000 Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) units which will cover all the voting stations of the country, at a cost of Rs 3,174 crore over a period of two fiscals, i.e. the current financial year as well as the next one. They further added that efforts are on to ensure that all the VVPAT units are procured by September, 2018. These machines will allow a voter to confirm that his or her vote has actually gone to the party against which the button has been pressed, as a paper trail or a receipt will come out once the button is pressed. This slip will not be able able to be carried away by the voter, as it will drop in a box. Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao will seek Prime Minister Narendra Modis support for implementing the enhanced quota for Muslims and STs in the state when the two meet on April 23. Mr Rao would be leaving for New Delhi on April 22 to participate in the NITI-Aayog general council meeting, to be chaired by the Prime Minister. Mr Rao will utilise the opportunity to brief the PM on the Bill passed recently by the state government increasing quota in jobs and education for Muslims from 4 per cent to 12 per cent as per the TRS election promise and from 6 per cent to 10 per cent for STs. The BJP leadership, especially Union minister M. Venkaiah Naidu, has strongly opposed reservations for Muslims saying that quotas based on religion were unconstitutional. Mr Rao will also take up pending state issues with the PM, including release of more funds for development of backward classes, irrigation and other projects, bifurcation issues like division of High Court, those listed in the 9th and 10th schedule of the AP Reorganisation Act, sharing of Krishna waters, among others. Mr Rao is also likely to meet Water resources minister Uma Bharti and other Union ministers. Hyderabad: Political parties in the state on Wednesday welcomed the Supreme Court order on reviving of conspiracy charges against BJP senior leaders in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case. L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Union minister Uma Bharti and others will now face charges. However, Kalyan Singh will get immunity from facing charges in his capacity of being Rajasthan Governor. MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi said demolition of Babri Masjid is a national shame and people responsible for it were running the government. Gandhis killers were convicted and hanged while the Babri accused have been made Union ministers and conferred Padma Vibhushan. The judicial system moves slowly. Mahatma Gandhi assassination case was completed in two years while the Babri masjid demolition, which is more serious than the Gandhi assassination, has not been decided yet, he said. In a series of tweets, Mr Owaisi said: 6 December, 1992 was a shameful day, in fact Black Day for Indian democracy and will always be remembered when rule of law was demolished. Will Kalyan Singh resign and face trial or hide behind cover of being Governor? Will Modi government remove him in interest of justice? I doubt. Now Supreme Court has said conspiracy charge will be added against the accused, will Padma Vibhushan be taken back from them? TS BJP spokesman Krishna Saagar Rao said the party will respect the Supreme Court decision on framing of charges against senior party leaders. In multiple trials over the last 25 years, our senior leaders were exonerated by both CBI court and Allahabad High Court. We are very sure of the dismissal of these baseless charges on them after this trail too. Our leaders have the courage to face the trial and come out clean for the larger cause they have been fighting, he said. TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy welcomed the Supreme Court directive. Leader of the Opposition in Legislative Council Mohd. Ali Shabbir said action should be taken against the guilty and trial should be completed as per specified period. Hyderabad: TS TD working president and MLA A. Revanth Reddy on Wednesday faced a tough time reaching Chintamadaka in Siddipet district, the native village of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, to console the family members of Nagamani, a woman farmer who committed suicide nine days ago following crop loss. Mr Reddy, in a convoy of nine vehicles, along with TD workers and leaders left for Chintamadaka in the afternoon. However, police officials stopped the convoy at Siddipet and told Mr Reddy that in view of likely law and order problems in the village, they couldnt allow the entire convoy to proceed. Mr Reddy agreed and proceeded towards the village in a three-car convoy. However, after reaching Sitarampuram, he was stopped again by the police and told that he couldnt be allowed to proceed. After a heated argument, Mr Reddy along with his supporters left Sitarampuram in one vehicle that too was stopped at the entrance of the village. Several villagers and TRS workers staged a dharna at the entrance of village, saying that they wouldnt allow the TD leader to enter. Police intervened at this stage and convinced Mr Reddy that they will bring the family members of the suicide victim to him so that he can console them and leave the place. Mr Reddy said that he may be allowed to enter the village alone and added that he was prepared to walk to the house of Nagamani. This too was refused by the cops, who said that presence of hundreds of villagers opposing the MLA may lead to a problem. After a few minutes, the family members of Nagamani reached the entrance of the village where Mr Reddy promised to provide aid from the NTR Trust for them, besides better education for the victims children. It was then revealed to Mr Reddy that the state government has already offered compensation to the family of the victim two days ago. Speaking to newsmen, Mr Reddy slammed Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for not allowing him to visit his native village as if he was a foreigner or a terrorist. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath listening to problems of people during his Janata Darbar in Lucknow on Wednesday. (Photo: PTI) Lucknow: Women, who have been victims of the triple talaq system, will now be entitled to relief from the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh. UP minister for womens welfare, Dr Rita Bahuguna Joshi told reporters that Muslim women who have been victims of the triple talaq practice and also Hindu women who have suffered domestic violence will be provided relief from the Rani Lakshmi Bai Samman fund. She said that women belonging to all communities would also be provided financial relief if they have suffered domestic violence. The Rani Lakshmi Bai fund had been set up in the state by the Akhilesh government last year. She said that the state government would prepare its representation within two weeks which will be submitted to the Supreme Court on the triple talaq issue. We are talking to Muslim women from all sections of society before we submit our views before the apex court, she said. Family members of the deceased, Dimplae Das who hailed from Balijan village, did not wait for a hospital van to reach the nearest civil hospital in Garamur. (Photo: DC) Guwahati: A visual of a man from Assam, carrying the dead body of his 18-year-old brother on a bicycle due to absence of a motorable road, has triggered widespread anguish. The incident took place in Majuli, the constituency represented by Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal. However, soon after visual was telecast by the local television channel, Assam chief minister ordered a probe and directed the health officials to rush to the spot. The officials on Wednesday said that the deceased Dimplae Das hailed from Balijan village in neighbouring Lakhimpur district. The family members left with the body on their own, instead of waiting for hospital van. What we have found is that the patient belongs to a village that falls under Lakhimpur district. But his family members decided to bring him to the civil hospital in Garamur, which is closer. Apparently, their village Balijan does not have a motorable road link, and they have to cross a makeshift bamboo bridge to reach the main road to Garamur, the health officials said. Informing that the patient, who had severe respiratory problem, was brought on a bicycle that caused more injury to the patient, the health officials said that the patient died soon after he was brought to the hospital. Though, hospital had a hearse van, the family members left the hospital with the body on the bicycle, the health officials added. Expressing his deep concern over the incident, Sonowal directed the Director, Health Services, to go to Majuli and immediately carry out an inquiry into the incident. In August 2016, a visual of a tribal man, Dana Majhi, from Kalahandi, Odisha, carrying his wife's body on his shoulders for nearly 12 km had rocked the nation. He carried his wife's body on his shoulder as he had no money for a hearse van. The Majuli deputy commissioner P G Jha told reporters that they are also looking into the incident and probing if there was any lapse on part of hospital authorities. To the uninitiated, the sight of a motley bunch of around three dozen odd foreigners men, women and children piling on to a train in Zurich might not have appeared extraordinary. But there was a crowd on the platform. Some of them were well-wishers. Others felt the passengers headed to the German border were effectively criminals. Europe was in the throes of an unprecedentedly bitter war that had already cost millions of lives. And these passengers were mainly Russians whose passage through Germany was being facilitated by the authorities in Berlin. Someone within the train waved a red banner from one of the windows as the train pulled out. The key passenger was a man little known outside strictly socialist circles in Europe. Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov had vociferously opposed the war ever since it broke out, accurately perceiving it as essentially an imperialist conflagration between powers competing for colonial conquest. He was bitterly disappointed when all too many components of the Second International, the main European repository of Marxism, responded to the conflict with retrograde patriotic zeal. The man best known even then as Lenin was not only disinclined to make the same mistake, but saw the potential for revolutionary defeatism in other words, exploiting military setbacks to spark a transformation of society. News of the February Revolution in 1917 had struck Lenin as a thunderbolt. After the events of 1905, he hated the idea of being away from his homeland once more during a transformational upsurge. Whats more, the relatively liberal successor regime that had replaced the Tsar was determined to persist with the war, in which Russia was allied with Britain and France against the Germans. A former comrade called Alexander Helphand, once known to his radical associates as Parvus, had established himself as a wheeling-dealing capitalist in Germany, and by 1917 had been striving for a couple of years with the Berlin authorities to facilitate Lenins return home as a means of thwarting the Russian war effort. Lenin did not want to have anything to do with Parvus any more, but he was desperate to get to Petrograd (now known as St Petersburg, but named Leningrad after Ulyanovs premature demise). He did not have too many qualms about supping with the devil to achieve his objective, not least because he was convinced, correctly, that Germany would anyhow lose the war and, whats more, that the kaiser would be overthrown by a proletarian revolution. Although the kaiser was indeed unseated by an uprising following the armistice in November 1918, a socialist revolution was ultimately thwarted. An alternative outcome in Germany may well indeed have transformed the future of Europe. Historians agree that February would not have led to October but for Lenins presence at the coalface. There are times when someone has got to seize the moment and, in anglophone parlance, be a bit more bolshie than everyone else. By arrangement with Dawn FBI warned that Patel, who stabbed his 21-year-old wife Palak Bhadreskumar Patel multiple times with a large knife, should be considered armed and extremely dangerous. (Photo: FBI Twitter) Washington: The FBI on Tuesday added a 26-year-old Indian national on its top 10 "Most Wanted List", two years after he went missing after allegedly killing his wife inside the kitchen of a Dunkin Donuts restaurant in the US. The FBI offered up to USD 100,000 for any information that leads to the arrest of Bhadreshkumar Chetanbhai Patel. The agency warned that Patel, who stabbed his 21-year-old wife Palak Bhadreskumar Patel multiple times with a large knife, should be considered armed and extremely dangerous. Palak was found beaten to death inside the restaurant kitchen in Hanover, Maryland on April 12, 2015. Both the husband and wife were Dunkin Donuts employees. "The extremely violent nature of the crimes allegedly committed by Bhadreshkumar Patel earned him a place on the FBI's Top Ten List," Gordon B Johnson, the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Baltimore Field Office, said in a statement. The valuable assistance of the public cannot be overstated, as shown by the ongoing success locating fugitives placed on the Top Ten list, the official said. "The ongoing efforts of our investigators, coupled with the publics assistance, will lead to the capture of Bhadreshkumar Patel. We will never forget, and will not rest until he is located, captured and brought to justice." A video released by the FBI shows both Bhadreshkumar and his wife working on the day of her death, walking off screen behind some racks in the kitchen together. He then re-emerges back on camera without his wife, turning off an oven and leaving the scene, The Capital Gazette reported. Bhadreshkumar's been charged with first- and second-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault, and a weapons offence in connection with her death. A federal arrest warrant was issued a week after Palak's death as Bhadreshkumar was charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. Investigators said he was last seen taking a hotel shuttle to Newark Penn Station in New Jersey on April 13, 2015 around 10 AM. Police said Bhadreshkumar, originally from Kantrodi Ta Viramgam, Gujarat, India, had a visa to be in the US, but it had expired and there was no indication he was able to legally leave the country, the report said. Investigators believe that Palak wanted to return to India, though her husband was against the idea. "Palak Patel was murdered in a depraved act of domestic violence," Anne Arundel County police Chief Tim Altomare said in a statement. "Numerous and overwhelming efforts have been made in attempts to locate Bhadreshkumar and none of the efforts to date have been met with success," the official said. "In cooperation with the FBI the Anne Arundel County police believe we will certainly locate Bhadreshkumar and provide justice for Palak that her family desperately seeks in order to find closure," the official added. Washington: Hillary Clinton apologised to the then President Barack Obama shortly after conceding defeat to Donald Trump on election night, according to a new book. "Mr President, I'm sorry," Clinton told Obama over phone as her unexpected election loss became a reality, according to a Washington Post review of the book 'Shattered' which is about the Democratic presidential candidate's failed 2016 campaign. The book 'Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign' reveals how in a flurry of calls the White House urged Clinton to concede defeat. "You're going to come up short," Steve Schale, the best vote-counter the Democrats had in Florida, told campaign officials. The call with Schale marked the beginning of a riveting account of the final, dreadful hours of Clinton's long pursuit of the presidency, as told by reporters Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes in their insidery new book. Shortly after 11:00 PM on election night, after Wisconsin was called by Fox News, Allen and Parnes report that the campaign fielded a series of calls from the White House pushing Clinton to concede, even though the margins in many states were extraordinarily close. President Obama thought it was over and did not want a messy recount. First came a call from White House political director David Simas to Clinton's campaign manager, Robby Mook. "POTUS (President of the United States) doesn't think it's wise to drag this out," Simas was quoted as saying. But as Clinton was dragging it out, she got a call from Obama. "You need to concede," urged Obama, who repeated the message in a follow-up call to Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta, according to the book. At last, Clinton said, "Give me the phone." And then the first woman who was going to be president got her opponent on the line and said two words she never expected to say, "Congratulations, Donald." Moments later, Obama was back on the phone, this time making a consolation call. This is when Clinton apologised to him as Obama's legacy and her dreams of the presidency lay shattered. 'Shattered' leaves open the question of how Clinton lost. She and her campaign are convinced that FBI Director James Comey was the pivotal factor -- and there is evidence to support that view. Comey had publicly announced a reopening of the Clinton email investigation in late October. But the Comey episode does not address why the race in the reliably blue Rust Belt was so close to begin with or what Clinton could have done to alter it. The victims happened to be on the same block at the same time but had no known connection to each other or Muhammad, police chief Jerry Dyer said. A man arrested for a shooting spree in the central California city of Fresno on Wednesday in which three white men were killed saw himself as part of an ongoing race war, according to family and police. The suspect, a 39-year-old African-American named Kori Ali Muhammad, shouted Allahu Akbar God is great in Arabic as he was being taken into custody. The black gunman told police he wanted to kill as many white people as possible before he was captured, authorities said. The victims happened to be on the same block at the same time but had no known connection to each other or Muhammad, police chief Jerry Dyer said. These were unprovoked attacks, he said.This was a random act of violence, Mr Dyer said. These were unprovoked attacks by an individual who was intent on carrying out homicides today. There were no indications to suggest it was a terrorist-related crime and a probe was under way to determine if the murders qualified as a hate crime. He said Muhammad, who used the alias Black Jesus and was wanted in the killing last week of an unarmed security guard outside a motel in the city, had indicated in postings on his Facebook page that he hated white people and the government. He said all the victims were white males and there was every reason to believe Muhammad had acted alone. Muhammads father, Vincent Taylor, told The Los Angeles Times that his son was convinced he was part of an ongoing war between whites and blacks, and that a battle was about to take place. A Facebook page for a Kori Ali Muhammad in Fresno featured images extolling black nationalism and making repeated references to white devils, the daily said. The airlines has signed up to a new system to track its planes minute-by-minute, three years after the unexplained disappearance of one of its aircraft carrying 239 people, the providers of the satellite-based system said in a statement. Malaysia Airlines has become the first carrier to sign up to a new satellite flight tracking system for its fleet.The airlines has signed up to a new system to track its planes minute-by-minute, three years after the unexplained disappearance of one of its aircraft carrying 239 people, the providers of the satellite-based system said in a statement. Flight MH370 went missing on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March 2014. Australia, Malaysia, and China called off a two-year underwater search for the aircraft in January. The new space-based tracking system, due to be operational from 2018, was developed by US-based Aireon, which is working with FlightAware on plane tracking. Instead of sending tracking signals to ground stations which means planes locations can be lost over oceans or remote areas the new system will beam them to satellites providing global coverage. It uses existing data from planes and so does not require any modifications to aircraft. Paris: Far-right presidential frontrunner Marine Le Pen said Wednesday that French people felt "dispossessed" in their own country as she stressed the threats of immigration and terrorism in the final days of campaigning. The 48-year-old former lawyer has spent years trying to broaden support for her National Front party, but she has signalled a return to the core concerns of many of her supporters in recent speeches. Speaking on BFM television on Wednesday, Le Pen emphasised how she would pull France out of the European Union, slash immigration, make it harder to get French nationality and crack down on suspected Islamists. "French people have the feeling of being dispossessed of their identity, of their social security system and their sovereignty," Le Pen told the channel. Polls show a four-way race developing ahead of the first round of the election on Sunday between Le Pen, 39-year-old centrist Emmanuel Macron, conservative Francois Fillon and far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon. Two of them are expected to advance to a run-off vote on May 7. After a string of Islamist-inspired assaults in France since 2015, security concerns moved to the centre of the campaign Tuesday following the arrests of two French men suspected of preparing an attack to disrupt the election. Le Pen has proposed expelling any foreigner convicted of a crime or suspected of being radicalised. Convicted extremists with dual nationality would also be stripped of their French passports. "The measures that I want to put in place would mean that many of these people (Islamist attackers) would not have been on our territory or living freely," she told BFM, repeating a claim from a speech on Sunday night. French voters have so far been more concerned about unemployment and their spending power than terrorism or security, polls show, though analysts warn this would change quickly in the event of violence. The two arrested suspects, who were found in Marseille with a cache of weapons and explosives, were being questioned in the southern city on Wednesday where Le Pen is set to appear later at a rally. Left-leaning Le Monde newspaper warned that Le Pen's claim that she would have prevented attacks that have claimed hundreds of lives was "absurd". "You don't seek votes on the backs of dead people. It's a sort of moral red line," the newspaper said. Future of EU at stake Some analysts have also depicted the French election as a sort of referendum on the European Union, with Le Pen proposing to pull France out of the 28-member club and scrap the euro common currency. On Tuesday night, she insisted that the TF1 television channel remove the blue-and-yellow European flag from behind her before an interview. But Melenchon, her eurosceptic far-left opponent, sought to soften his position on Tuesday night, stating that he did not seek to end the European Union or the euro despite criticising the "ultra-liberal" trading bloc for years. "Don't believe what they tell you, 'He wants to leave Europe, the euro'... let's be serious," he told supporters on Tuesday night. The Communist-backed candidate has pledged to renegotiate some of the founding treaties of the bloc, however, which would cast serious doubt on the viability of the postwar project of integrating the continent. Polls show that a majority of French people still support the EU and the euro. Veteran centrist Francois Bayrou, who has backed Macron, warned Wednesday that several possibilities were possible for the run-off vote on May 7. The election has been one of the most unpredictable in decades and takes place against a backdrop of rising rightwing nationalism, seen most notably in Britain's decision to leave the EU and Donald Trump's presidential victory in the United States. "A second round Melenchon-Le Pen, it's terrifying for the country, for the image of the country and for its future, because the choices proposed are extremely risky," Bayrou said. Extra safety measures are being put in place for the balloting after the extremist attacks in the country that have made security one of the major issues of the presidential campaign. (Photo: AP) Paris: French police thwarted an imminent "terror attack" and arrested two suspected radicals on Tuesday in the southern port city of Marseille, the interior minister said just days before the first round of France's presidential election. The two men allegedly "intended to commit an attack on French soil in the very short term, which is to say in coming days," Interior Minister Matthias Fekl said during a brief news conference. France votes on Sunday in the first round of its two-stage election. Extra safety measures are being put in place for the balloting after the extremist attacks in the country that have made security one of the major issues of the presidential campaign. The men, both French, are "suspected of wanting to commit, in an imminent way, a violent action on the eve of the French presidential election," the minister said. Fekl gave no details about potential targets or motives. The suspects, Mahiedine Merabet, 29 and Clement Baur, 23, were both detained under arrest warrants for terrorist criminal association, according to a police document obtained by The Associated Press. President Francois Hollande hailed the "remarkable" arrests and the work of police. Agents from the French domestic security agency, backed by elite police units, conducted the arrests. Searches are also underway, Fekl said. France's fight against home-grown and overseas Islamic extremism has been one of the main campaign topics for presidential candidates. Candidates on the right have been especially vocal, seeking to appeal to voters traumatized by Islamic State group-inspired attacks that have killed at least 235 people in France since January 2015, by far the largest casualty rate of any Western country. With the terror threat "higher than ever," Fekl said "everything is being done" to secure the election, the candidates, their election headquarters and rallies. He said more than 50,000 police, gendarmes and soldiers will be deployed in France and its overseas territories on Sunday and for the decisive second-round vote on May 7. UK PM Theresa May needs to bolster her narrow majority of 17 seats ahead of likely tortuous talks with Brussels that could re-open old wounds within her Conservative Party. (Photo: AP) London: Britain's parliament will vote on Wednesday on holding a snap election in June, as Prime Minister Theresa May seeks to make strong gains against the opposition ahead of gruelling Brexit negotiations. May, who made the shock call for an early election on Tuesday, needs to bolster her narrow majority of 17 seats ahead of likely tortuous talks with Brussels that could re-open old wounds within her Conservative Party. The small Liberal Democrats opposition party is meanwhile hoping to emerge as a haven for pro-European voters distraught after last June's referendum to quit the European Union, gearing up to campaign against a "hard Brexit" that would take Britain out of Europe's single market. The main opposition Labour Party is in a weaker position ahead of the proposed June 8 election, experts say, bitterly divided over both its leftist leader Jeremy Corbyn and how to respond to Brexit. Opinion polls put the Conservatives -- who currently hold 330 of parliament's 650 seats -- way ahead of Labour, who have 229. Three polls released over the weekend show May's Conservatives around 20 points ahead. Britain's second female prime minister, who took over last summer following her predecessor David Cameron's failure to convince voters to back the EU, also appears to have won strong popular support for her handling of the political earthquake unleashed by Brexit. "May heads for election landslide," read The Times' front page on Wednesday. The Telegraph reflected the nation's surprise at the imminent election: "May's bolt from the blue". Labour's embattled Corbyn meanwhile faces speculation that a dismal performance in the election could spell the end of his time at the helm of the fractured 117-year-old party. So far, Labour's stance has been to allow the government to go ahead with the EU divorce -- but only under certain conditions, such as retaining strong economic ties with the bloc. That approach has left neither of the party's key constituencies particularly happy. "Core voters in the north who voted for Brexit are not convinced, and metropolitan liberal voters aren't convinced by that either," political expert and author Eliza Filby said. Many of Labour's traditional working-class supporters voted to leave the EU, particularly in areas that have seen an influx of eastern European immigrants in recent years. May had for months ruled out an early election, but switched tack Tuesday saying it was needed for "certainty and stability" ahead of the Brexit negotiations. "We need a general election and we need one now," she said. "We have at this moment a one-off chance to get this done while the European Union agrees its negotiating position and before the detailed talks begin." The announcement caught British political observers off guard as well as financial markets, which retreated as investors reacted cautiously to May's speech. Britain's next election had been scheduled for May 2020, but a two-thirds majority vote in parliament could overrule that in Wednesday's vote, which British media reported could come at around 1300 GMT after an hour and a half of debate. Labour has already said it supports an early election. May explained her policy U-turn with an attack on her domestic political opponents, many of whom support Britain's continued membership of Europe's single market, accusing them of "game-playing" over Brexit. In a newspaper interview published Wednesday, she said holding talks with Brussels in the run-up to a 2020 general election could damage London's negotiating position. "I think the Europeans might have seen that as a time of weakness when they could push us. Now we will be much freer," she told The Sun. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who is pressing for an independence referendum, said May was making a "huge political miscalculation" that would bolster her Scottish National Party. Scotland voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU and Sturgeon argues it should now be allowed to break off from Britain to hold on to close ties with the bloc. If the election goes ahead, parliament would be dissolved on May 3 and the campaign would begin in earnest, just days after EU leaders hold a special summit to agree a negotiating strategy for Brexit on April 29. The Brexit negotiations are expected to start in June. The snap election caps a tumultuous few years in British politics that has seen two historic referendums -- one on Brexit, one on Scottish independence -- and a prime ministerial resignation. An early election would therefore be the fourth big vote in four years after the general election of 2015. The FSB did not say whether the arrest attempt was linked to the April 3 attack on the Saint Petersburg metro that killed 14 people, which was allegedly carried out by a bomber born in Kyrgyzstan. (Representational image) Russias FSB security force on Wednesday said that it had killed two men from Central Asia suspected of preparing attacks, while trying to arrest them in the Vladimir region east of Moscow. As a result of clashes during attempted detention, two citizens of a Central Asian state were neutralised by FSB officers, the agency said in a statement. The men, born in 1987 and 1991, were in contact with recruiters from international terrorist organisations and showed an interest in techniques for homemade explosive devices and expressed readiness to commit terrorist attacks in Russia, the FSB said. They found bomb-making ingredients and weapons during the raid in the Vladimir region, about 200 km from Moscow. Local media outlets published a video of two men lying dead in a bedroom of a large brick house in the countryside. A Kalashnikov lies next to one of them.The FSB did not say whether the arrest attempt was linked to the April 3 attack on the Saint Petersburg metro that killed 14 people, which was allegedly carried out by a bomber born in Kyrgyzstan. The agency has detained another man born in Kyrgyzstan on suspicion of helping orchestrate the metro bombing. The spokesperson for the Jamaat Ahmadia Pakistan said it appeared Malik was killed because of her faith as she had no enmity with anyone. (Photo: Representational/File) Lahore: A professor belonging to the persecuted Ahmadi community was found murdered at her residence in Lahore, in the third such attack on the religious minority in the last three weeks. Punjab University's Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics professor Tahira Parveen Malik, 61, lived alone at her official residence in the varsity campus. "Prof Malik was found murdered in her house yesterday morning when police and a varsity official reached there. Her daughter informed the varsity administration that her mother was not picking up her phone since the previous night," Punjab University spokesperson Khurram Shahzad said. When police broke into the house, they found her lying in pool of blood with multiple stab wounds, the spokesperson added. Khurram said Malik's daughter resided in Karachi. "The university officials have not found evidence of robbery," he said. The spokesperson for the Jamaat Ahmadia Pakistan, Saleemuddin, said it appeared Malik was killed because of her faith as she had no enmity with anyone. "Some extremist groups are active in targeting Ahmadis," he said. Senior police officer Haider Ashraf said, "We are investigating this case from all aspects including faith-driven." Tahira Malik had joined the PU Centre for Applied Molecular Biology in 1984 as research scholar. She did her MS (equivalent to M Phil) from California University Riverside, USA in 1990. She later joined Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics in 2004 and retired on August 15, 2016 and later rejoined it on contract. Early this month, Ahmadi doctor Ashfaq Ahmed, 68, was killed by unidentified men in the city. Late last month, well-known advocate Malik Saleem Latif, the cousin of Nobel laureate scientist Dr Abdus Salam and president of Jamaat-e-Ahmadiya Nankana Sahib district, was shot dead by unidentified attackers. IS-linked militant organisation Lashkar-e-Jhanghvi had claimed the killing, saying it has sent another "infidel" to hell. Saleemuddin said the government has failed to rein in elements spreading hate openly against the Ahmadi community. Pakistans Supreme Court will announce its verdict on Thursday in the Panama leaks scandal against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs family which the rivals hope will force the Prime Minister to quit. A five-member bench, headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, and comprising justices Ejaz Afzal Khan, Gulzar Ahmed, Sheikh Azmat Saeed and Ijazul Ahsan, had reserved the judgment on February 23 after the defence and prosecution completed their arguments. Justice Khosa, on the conclusion, said this judgment would be remembered after 20 years. Anyway, it would be historical judgment and set the future course. Experts said the Panama judgment was important in the context of the general elections being held next year. All the parties, including the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), hope to use the verdict in their election campaigns in the 2018 polls. PTI and many believe the decision will be against Nawaz Sharif and his family and the PM would be disqualified and sent home. The decision is only about disqualification of the Prime Minister on the basis of his speeches to the nation and on the floor of the National Assembly. The court would also have to see whether the PM could be disqualified under Articles 62 and 63 of the constitution as he omitted some facts in his speeches. So far there is no direct evidence to implicate Nawaz Sharif directly in the cases. Mr Sharif and his children had accepted that the London flats are theirs, but they had come into their custody after 2006. The PTI in this regard did not produce any document that these flats were into the custody of Nawaz Sharif or his sons prior to 2006. The PTI has also failed to produce direct evidence that the flats were purchased through ill-gotten money, while the PML-N in defence relied upon the Qatari letter. The court could order further investigation for authenticity of the letter and cant outrightly reject it, the experts believe. There is another issue of Maryam Safdars ownership of Mayfair flats. The trust deed also needs further probe. The dependency issue of Maryam Safdar on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also requires some investigation. In a blow to Indian IT industry and professionals, US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order for tightening the rules of the H-1B visa programme to stop its "abuse" and ensure that the visas are given to the "most-skilled or highest paid" petitioners. Acting on his 'Buy American, Hire American' pledge, Trump signed the order that calls for an overhaul of the programme at the Kenosha, Wisconsin, headquarters of tool-maker Snap-on Inc yesterday. "Right now, widespread abuse in our immigration system is allowing American workers of all backgrounds to be replaced by workers brought in from other countries to fill the same job for, sometimes, less pay. This will stop," Trump told an enthusiastic audience in Wisconsin before signing the order. He said the order sets in motion the first steps to initiate "long-overdue" reforms to end "visa abuses". "Right now, H-1B visas are awarded in a totally random lottery, and that's wrong. Instead, they should be given to the most skilled and highest-paid applicants, and they should never, ever be used to replace Americans," he asserted. "No one can compete with American workers when they're given a fair and level playing field, which has not happened for decades," he said. Trump said his administration is going to enforce 'Hire American' rules that are designed to protect jobs and wages of workers in the United States. "We believe jobs must be offered to American workers first. Does that make sense?" he said. But the New York Times noted that Trump's announcement came at a jittery time for the White House, as he faces the 100th day of his presidency without much to show for it in the way of legislative accomplishment, after the defeat of his health care overhaul. "And his two high-profile executive orders cracking down on immigration from predominantly Muslim nations have been stymied by the courts," the paper pointed out. Trump's executive order also declares that American projects should be made with American goods. "No longer are we going to allow foreign countries to cheat our producers and our workers out of federal contracts. Everyone in my administration will be expected to enforce every last 'Buy American' provision on behalf of the American worker, and we are going to investigate every single trade deal that undermines these provisions," he said. According to the executive order, the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Labour, and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall suggest reforms to help ensure that H-1B visas are awarded to the most-skilled or highest-paid petition beneficiaries. In a statement, the White House said H-1B visas are supposed to bring the highest skilled and paid labour to the United States. But according to studies, 80 per cent of the approved applications were for the two lowest wage levels allowed. "Currently, companies routinely abuse the H-1B visa programme by replacing American workers with lower paid foreign workers," it said. Reforming the H-1B visa system was one of the major election promises of Trump. As per several US reports, a majority of the H-1B visas every year are grabbed by Indian IT professionals. India accounts for the highest pool of qualified IT professionals, whose services go a long way in making American companies globally competitive. As mandated by the Congress, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) every year issues 65,000 H-1B visas and another 20,000 to those applicants having masters and higher degrees from a US educational institution. This month USCIS received 199,000 H-1B visa petitions and as a result, the federal agency had to resort to a computerised draw of lots to decide the fate of successful applicant. Betsy Lawrence, the director of government relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told CNN that, "Although released with ceremonial flair, the order will have no immediate impact on H-1Bs." "Many of the changes to the H-1B programme contemplated by the administration would require legislative action or rule-making and would take time to go through the necessary processes," he said. Meanwhile, some US lawmakers said the executive order signed by Trump calling for a review of H-1B visas was too little and too late. "This does nothing," said Senator Charles Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader. "Like all the other executive orders, it's just words - he's calling for new studies. It's not going to fix the problem. It's not going to create a single job." "We already know H-1B visa abuse hurts American workers. Simply reviewing the programme is too little, too late," Senator Dick Durbin said. US lawmakers have already tabled more than half a dozen legislations in the Congress with specific proposals to reform and improve the H-1B visas systems. Many of those proposals, as per industry body Nasscom, are discriminatory and are targeted towards Indian IT companies. The US tech industry and corporate sector, however, has welcomed the "much-needed" review of the H-1B visa programme and expressed confidence that it would help them bring in the best and the brightest from across the world. Upping the ante, China has for the first time announced "standardised" official names for six places in Arunachal Pradesh, days after it lodged strong protests with India over the Dalai Lama's visit to the frontier state. The state media here said the move was aimed at reaffirming China's claim over the state. China claims the state as 'South Tibet'. "China's Ministry of Civil Affairs announced on April 14 that it had standardised in Chinese characters, Tibetan and Roman alphabet the names of six places in 'South Tibet', which India calls 'Arunachal Pradesh', in accordance with the regulations of the central government," state-run Global Times reported today. The official names of the six places using the Roman alphabet are Wo'gyainling, Mila Ri, Qoidengarbo Ri, Mainquka, Bumo La and Namkapub Ri. The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488 km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC). While China claims Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet, India asserts that the dispute covers Aksai Chin area which was occupied by China during the 1962 war. The two sides have so far held 19 rounds of talks with Special Representatives to resolve the boundary dispute. China's move comes just days after the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, which was seventh since he fled from Tibet through Tawang and sought refuge in India. During the 81-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader's Arunachal Pradesh visit, China had warned India that it will take "necessary measures" to defend its territorial sovereignty and interests. Commenting on the standardisation of the names of six places, Chinese experts said that it was a move to "reaffirm the country's territorial sovereignty to the disputed region", according to the daily. "The standardisation came amid China's growing understanding and recognition of the geography in South Tibet. Naming the places is a step to reaffirm China's territorial sovereignty to South Tibet," Xiong Kunxin, a professor of ethnic studies at Beijing's Minzu University of China, was quoted as saying. Xiong said that the legalisation of the regions' names is a part of the rule of law. "These names have existed since ancient times, but had never been standardised before. Therefore, announcing the names is like a remediation," Guo Kefan, a research fellow at the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences, said. Standardising the names from the angles of culture and geography could serve as a reference or leverage when China and India negotiate border issues in future, Guo said. "The South Tibet region is located alongside China's southwestern border and India's north-eastern border where Sino-Indian border disputes are cantered," the report said. It claimed that India "abruptly announced that it was officially designating the region as 'Arunachal Pradesh' but the Chinese government has neither recognised India's occupation of the region, nor the legitimacy of the province". During the Dalai Lama Arunachal Pradesh visit, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju, who accompanied the Tibetan spiritual leader, had asserted that that Arunachal Pradesh is "an inseparable part of India". China had lodged a diplomatic protest with India over the visit and warned that it would have a negative impact on the efforts to resolve the border dispute. After the nine-day visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang had said that India should not use the Tibetan spiritual leader to undermine China's interests. "We urge the Indian side to observe its commitment on Tibet related issues and implement our consensus namely they should not use Dalai Lama to undermine the interests of China," Lu had said. "Only in this way can we create a good atmosphere to the settlement of the boundary question," he had said. This is not the first time that the Dalai Lama has visited "South Tibet" or referred to the region as Indian territory, which means he is committed to separating the nation, Zhu Weiqun, head of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, told Global Times. Beleaguered AIADMK (Amma) Deputy General Secretary T T V Dinakaran today said none in the party were against him, asserting that all party MLAs stood behind him. "There is no opposition to me in the party," he said, breaking his silence since influential section of Ministers revolted against him last night and decided to keep General Secretary V K Sasikala and him out of the party. According to 'Jaya Plus' Tamil TV channel, Dinakaran said a "good decision" will be taken in the interest of the party. Party sources indicated that he was expected to appear at the Economic Offences court here later in the day on a case against him for alleged violation of FERA regulations. Dinakaran has called a meeting of party MLAs and District Secretaries at 3 pm today. The Income Tax Department carried out raids throughout the country at around 78 locations on Wednesday. Raids were carried out at offices belonging to Sree Gokulam Chit Fund and Finance Private Company owned by a Chennai based businessman. Around 500 officials were part of the raids that were carried out at 37 locations in Chennai and five locations in Bengaluru. The raids started as early as 5:00 am Wednesday. It is learned that Sree Gokulam Chit Fund and Finance Private Company established in 1968, was then inaugurated by MG Ramachandran (MGR) showing it's close association with the AIADMK party. It is also learnt that since there was a political turmoil in Chennai on Tuesday, the IT raids continued the next day which has become a 'norm' these days, said a source privy to developments. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said investigative agencies are doing their best to ensure extradition of controversial businessman Vijay Mallya, who was arrested in London yesterday and later released on bail. "I think the government and all the investigating agencies are certainly putting (in) their best efforts because the agencies do believe that an offence has been committed for which the person (Mallya) is required in India," the minister told reporters here.The minister further said Mallya's extradition is part of the "judicial process" in the UK. "It's part of the judicial process in that country and the judicial process functions on certain considerations," he said in response to queries regarding Mallya's extradition. Mallya, who has been declared a proclaimed offender by Indian courts, was arrested in London by the Scotland Yard yesterday on India's request for his extradition on fraud charges. He was, however, released on bail a few hours later on a bail bond worth 650,000 pounds. He is required to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on May 17. The 61-year-old liquor baron has to face charges in Indian courts in connection with loan default cases. Mallya, whose now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines owes more than Rs 9,000 crore to various banks, had left India on March 2, 2016. The Indian government has since revoked his Indian passport, but he has repeatedly dismissed all charges against him. In January, an Indian court ordered a consortium of lenders to start the process of recovering the loans. India had placed a formal extradition request for Mallya as per the Extradition Treaty between India and the UK through a note verbale on February 8. Earlier in January this year, a CBI court had issued a non-bailable warrant against Mallya in the Rs 720-crore IDBI Bank loan default case. He is the owner of a Formula One team. While handing over the request, India had asserted that it has a "legitimate" case against Mallya and maintained that if an extradition request is honoured, it would show British "sensitivity towards our concerns". In a move to ensure better nutrition to people of Karnataka, the state government on Wednesday invited innovative ideas from start- ups to tackle malnutrition. The Karnataka IT- BT, start up cell, jointly with IKP Knowledge Park, launched the Fourth Call for proposals under the grand challenges- Karnataka Intiative. Interested can send their applications to www.impact-karnataka.org on or before May 31. The Grand Challenge- Karnataka is an initiative of the Start- Up Policy, which looks for new technologies or innovations that can solve long standing problems of Karnataka in priority areas like urban development, agriculture, health, education and nutrition. The programme aims to channelise innovations for social impact and support growth of start- ups, said IT- BT minister Priyank Kharge on Wednesday. Later in the day Kharge and chief minister Siddaramaiah also awarded cheques to selcted candidates under the Grand Challenges- Karnataka Call 1 and Call 2 categories. Under Call- 1, which was to build a technology enabled system for solving the issues of monitoring sewage discharge in urban areas the selected candidates are Lab4life Bioresearch private Limited, Phoenix Robitox private Limited, Greenvironment Innovation and marketing Private Limited. Agribasket Solutions Private Limited, AgNext technologies Private Limited, university of Agricultural Science, Dharwad and Bengaluru and IISc have been selected under Call- 2 category. This category proposes innovative solutions for a technology enabled system to detect and provide physiological and morphological parametres for early detection and warning of plant diseas and pest infestations in different crops across the state. There were two sets of cases relating to the demolition of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. The first involved unnamed karsevaks or volunteers, the trial of which was taking place in a Lucknow court. The second set of cases relate to senior BJP leaders including L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti in a Rae Bareli court. With todays Supreme Court's order, both these cases are merged and will be heard in Lucknow. The apex court ordered clubbing the two trials. The senior BJP leaders will be tried under the composite charge sheet filed by the CBI on October 5, 1993. The two criminal cases were registered in Faizabad after the 16th century Babri Masjid was demolished on December 6, 1992. The clubbing of the two cases in Lucknow was strongly opposed by lawyers for Advani and his colleagues on the grounds that they involve different people as the accused. Senior advocate K K. Venugopal objected to the courts proposal to use its formidable powers under Article 142 to club both Babri cases. He submitted that a joint trial would now delay justice for his clients. The first case ( Case No. 197,1992) was filed against lakhs of kar sevaks for demolition of the masjid. The FIR invoked various sections under which the maximum punishment for an offender could be 10 years in prison. The second case ( case No. 198, 1992) was filed against BJP and Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) leaders for "inciting communal violence." In September 1997, the CBI judge, perusing the composite chargesheet of the agency file in October 1993, had found prima facie evidence against 13 persons, including Advani and Joshi, for criminal conspiracy. However, the cases received their first setback in February 2001 when a single judge of the Allahabad High Court found a technical default. Though the single judge upheld the CBI chargesheet and agreed there was evidence of conspiracy, he had pointed out that the state government had not sought the permission of the Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court while first transferring the Rae Bareilly case to Lucknow in August 1993 for a joint probe by the CBI. The technical default in the transfer of the Rae Bareilly case to Lucknow in 1993 was curable by the State government. But it did not do so. In May 2001, Advani and other politicians challenged the conspiracy charge. A lower court subsequently dropped the charge and the Rae Bareilly case eventually returned to the Rae Bareilly Magistrate. After nearly a decade, the CBI appealed to the Allahabad High Court for its revival. The Allahabad High Court disagreed with the CBI about criminal conspiracy charges against the senior BJP leaders before the Rae Bareli court. In 2010, the CBI appealed against that decision in the Supreme Court. Despite the change of government at the centre in 2014, the CBI maintained that Advani and other BJP leaders met the night before the mosque was brought down and decided that it would be razed, rendering the demolition a "pre-meditated, deliberate event." The CBI also mainted that Advani and other leaders like Joshi, Uma Bharti, Vinay Katiyar and Kalyan Singh made incendiary speeches from a dais close to the mosque, which motivated the volunteers to raze the structure. In Rajasthan's tribal district Banswara, a couple was allegedly thrashed and then paraded naked in a village after a khap-like diktat was issued. As per the police a video of the act was also allegedly made and circulated on social media. Police said that the incident happened in Shambhupura village in Banswara where the villagers started assaulting Kachru (20) and his cousin on Sunday. Both were alleged in a relationship. Hence being an unacceptable thing in the society, police said that the villagers also stripped both the man and the woman following which they were paraded inside the village. Station House Officer at Kalinjra police station, Ravindra Singh told DH, "Both Kachru and his 18 year old cousin was in a relationship. They also fled to Gujarat, (which shares border with Banswara), but villagers brought them back and assaulted." Police who also got to know about the incident through a video posted on social media reached the village on Tuesday. "After reaching the village we were able to spot the man, whom we brought to police station to record a statement," Singh said. The case has been registered against five individuals and around 10-12 unidentified people under relevant sections of the IPC and the Information Technology act. However police said that they are still investigating the case and also arranged proper security for men and women in the village. Meanwhile they confirmed that the members of the village had put pressure on families of both the man and woman. "Family members have recorded a statement that a Khap Like order was issued by the villagers to teach the couple a lesson because they were in a relationship in spite of being cousins," SHO added. In the statement recorded in police station members of the family have said that they were helplessly watching their children, when villagers asked them to parade naked. Police has also detained few people. However no arrest has been taken place till now. Also the man who sustained several injuries was admitted in a government hospital in Banswara while the medical test of the woman has been conducted by the government doctors. A day after it was rapped by the Supreme Court for remaining silent over rape and murder charges against its personnel in Manipur, the Army today said the judicial probes conducted into these charges were "biased" and slanted against them due to local factors. It alleged that the district judges, who were locals, had conducted the judicial inquiries into the alleged killings and local factors came in the way of the probe reports which went against the armed forces. "The problem in every case is that the slant of judicial inquiry was against us. Judicial inquiries which have been done by a district judge proceeded against us by the virtue of their local apprehensions or local positions. Army's job is not to kill its own people," Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told a bench of Justices M B Lokur and U U Lalit. Citing an example, Rohatgi said if the Army goes after two terrorists holed up in a civilian area and in cross-fire some people are killed, then it cannot be held guilty for these casualties. "We are in our own country. If army is disbelieved, then the whole system will go haywire and cannot work. The inquiry officers were biased due to their local considerations," Rohatgi said, adding the judicial probes were not conducted by the High Court which had tasked the district judges to inquire into the allegations of extra-judicial killings. He said the Army in Manipur was operating in a very difficult situation and needed to be trusted as it cannot stage-manage the killing of its own people. "Army is operating in insurgency-prone areas of Manipur in difficult circumstances and it cannot be disbelieved. It cannot be said that I have stage-managed to kill my own people," he said, adding that compensation has been paid wherever the High Court has directed. To this, the bench said "compensation cannot be a substitute for everything". Rohatgi responded to the remark saying none of the kin of the victims have complained and compensation was paid to their satisfaction. "In criminal law, victim compensation is immaterial and the victim satisfaction can only be considered when there are compoundable offences," the bench said. The Attorney General urged the apex court that no decision should be taken on the judicial inquiry reports of district judges due to their local bias. Rohatgi cited the case of Thangjam Manorama, a Manipuri woman who was allegedly killed in the custody of the Assam Rifles on July 10, 2004, after being picked up on suspicion of working for the People Liberation Army (PLA). He said the appeal in the case was still pending in apex court which had directed an ad hoc compensation of Rs 10 lakh to be given to the kin of victim. Rohatgi said there were variations in the findings over the sequence of arrest given in the reports of judicial inquiry and Court of Inquiry (CoI) in the Manorama case. The bench after perusing the reports of CoI remained unsatisfied and said that the questions asked to the witness prima facie showed that an attempt was made to pressurise him. "If we are to believe that the inquiry reports was biased then we need to be satisfied from all aspects," the court said. The hearing remained inconclusive and will continue tomorrow. The apex court had yesterday pulled up the Army asking why it had remained silent over allegations of rape and murder against its personnel in Manipur and questioned the state government for not proceeding with these cases against them. It had questioned the Manipur government to explain whether it was "sheer helplesness" on their part or a "tacit understanding" that they did not proceed against the Army personnel despite there being serious allegations of rape and murder against them. The court is hearing a PIL seeking probe and compensation in alleged 1,528 extra-judicial killings in Manipur from 2000 to 2012 by security forces and police. During the hearing, the court was earlier told that there were 265 cases of deaths which have to be examined and there were various reports of the commission of inquiry in which serious allegations have been levelled against armed forces personnel. The apex court had earlier asked the Centre to segregate the cases related to the armed forces from the list of 265 incidents of extra-judicial killings in Manipur, which it would deal with first on a plea seeking probe into such alleged fake encounter killings. It had also asked the Manipur government to separate the cases relating to the state police. There are 35 matters related to commission of inquiry and 37 cases of judicial inquiry or high court matters. Similarly, 23 matters of National Human Rights Commission would be heard along with 170 cases based on written complaints. The Centre had said that out of the 282 cases, which were referred to it for verification, 70 matters were found to be related to the Army and Assam Rifles, while the rest concerned the state police. In July last year, the apex court had directed a thorough probe into the alleged fake encounter killings in Manipur saying the use of "excessive or retaliatory force" by the armed forces or police was not permissible in 'disturbed areas' under the controversial Armed Force Special Powers Act. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has issued a fresh warning to the private schools against 'coercing' parents to buy books, stationary, uniforms, school bags and other items from their campus or the vendors selected by them. It has been brought to the notice of the board through various complaints received from parents and other stakeholders that still schools are indulging in commercial activities by way of selling of books and uniforms etc within the school premises or through selected vendors, the school board said in a circular on Wednesday. "The schools are directed to desist from the unhealthy practice of coercing parents to buy text books, note books, stationary, uniforms, shoes, school bags etc from within the premise or from selected vendors only," it added. The Rule 19.1 (ii) of CBSE affiliation bye-laws mandates that the society/ Trust /Company registered under section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956 shall ensure that the school is run as a community service and not as a business and that commercialisation does not take place in the school in any shape whatsoever, the board said. The Board has taken serious note of the complaints received from the parents. Hence, once again your attention is drawn that educational institutions are not commercial establishments and their sole purpose is to provide quality education. The school management shall ensure strict compliance of the rules, the CBSE added. A large number of corporates, including Tata, Godrej, Adani and Patanjali, have shown interest in buying embattled Sahara groups 30 properties estimated to be worth Rs 7,400 crore. The properties, mostly land parcels being auctioned by real estate consultant Knight Frank India, have also generated interest from several real estate developers including Omaxe and Eldeco, as also from HNIs and at least one public sector firm Indian Oil, sources familiar with the process said. Besides, Chennai-based Apollo Hospitals has shown interest in acquiring Sahara Hospital in Lucknow. Sources, however, said that the sale process and the valuation could get impacted due to a hurry in getting the deals closed within a short time because of an urgency on part of Saharas to get the money and deposit the same with the regulator Sebi as per the Supreme Court directions. All prospective buyers are asking for two to three months for due diligence, which is considered to be normal period of time in the high-value real estate transactions, sources added. When contacted, a Sahara group spokesperson declined to disclose the names of prospective buyers, saying deals are in process and will materialise soon. He also said the details have been submitted to the Supreme Court. Godrej Properties Executive Chairman Pirojsha Godrej said, We are looking at part of one of the Pune land parcels for which Knight Frank is running the bidding process. It is still at a preliminary stage. Omaxe CMD Rohtas Goel also confirmed that his company was interested in some properties. As a prudent business organisation, we always keep exploring growth opportunities, he said. Eldeco MD Pankaj Bajaj said they are interested in some properties but would not be like to share the exact details at this stage. An Apollo Hospitals spokesperson said, The Apollo has submitted an expression of interest for Sahara Hospital and (we) are conducting our evaluation and due diligence process. Tata Housing declined to comment, while there were no replies to specific queries made to Adani Group and Patanjali. Industry body Nasscom on Wednesday warned that the US move to replace the lottery system for issuing H-1B work visas with a merit-based approach could have unintended consequences even as it sought to downplay any immediate impact on IT companies this year. Under a new executive order signed by US President Donald Trump, America is reviewing its visa programme for foreign workers, while ensuring a crackdown on visa abuse and frauds. The H-1B visa programme is most sought-after by Indian IT firms and professionals to work on customer sites. Every year, the US grants 65,000 H-1B visas, while another 20,000 are set aside for those with US advanced degrees. No new changes are being implemented immediately... Nothing is being proposed that would impact or change the FY18 H-1B lottery that is currently underway, Nasscom said in a statement. Any change in visa norms can affect the movement of labour as well as spike operational costs for IT players. Most Indian IT companies get over 60% of their revenues from the North American market. The Indian government, on its part, has said it will take up the issue with the American authorities during the upcoming visit of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to the US. These (IT industry issues) are matters of discussion with the appropriate authorities there. Once I do discuss and get an opportunity, I will let you know, he told reporters when asked whether he would take up the concerns of the Indian IT sector with the US administration. Assocham also expressed concern over the tightening of the visa norms. No major impact Nasscom also said that the Australian governments move to eliminate the 457 visa category would not have a major impact on visas granted to Indian IT workers. It is a surprise and seems to have been driven by domestic political compulsions where we are seeing immigration as a matter of huge political concern within the current geo political environment, Nasscom said in a statement. Australia has abolished a visa programme 457 visa used by over 95,000 temporary foreign workers, majority of them Indians, to tackle the growing unemployment in the country. Privacy Overview This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful. Online slot booking for registration of immovable properties and access to Encumbrance Certificates (ECs) will soon be a reality in Karnataka. The Stamps and Registration department is creating a software called Sulabha Nondani (easy registration). Citizens can book their slots for property registration in advance using the software. The existing system of waiting in the queue for the registration will be done away with once the software is introduced. Inspector General of Registration and Commissioner of Stamps Manoj Kumar Meena said the new system will be rolled out in two months. Infrastructure Development Corporation of Karnataka (iDECK) has developed the software and, currently it is being tested. Registration of properties will become a lot easier for people once the software is introduced, he added. The state government had first announced the introduction of Sulabha Nondani in 2015. The new system is being introduced as a part of ease of doing business in the state. The state has slipped in the ease of doing business ranking from 9th position in 2015 to 13th in 2016. Meena said there is no provision for introducing online registration of properties under the Indian Stamp Act, which is a Central Act. The state government had in the past urged the Centre to amend the Act to enable it to introduce online registration system, but there was no response. The Act has made it mandatory for both the seller and the buyer of a property to be present at the time of registration, he added. Stamp duty payment However, a provision will be made for online payment of stamp duty and registration fee in Sulabha Nondani software. Besides, people will be able to obtain ECs online using the software. Payment of fee for ECs can also be done online. Currently, one has to go to the particular sub-registrars office and apply for an EC by paying the fee in cash, Meena said. People will also be able to obtain certified copies of registered documents online. Standard documents of agreement of sale and rent agreement will also be made available. People can download and use them for all their transactions, he added. The department has, however, decided not to extend the anywhere registration system across the state following complaints of its misuse. The system was introduced on a pilot basis in Gandhinagar sub-division in Bengaluru in 2011. People were free to register their properties in any of the nine sub-registrar offices in the sub-division under the system. The urban development department has expressed reservations on the Karnataka Lake Conservation and Development Authoritys (KLCDA) proposal to bring 176 live lakes of Bengaluru under the Wetlands Rules, 2010. A senior KLCDA official said they were implementing the Supreme Courts orders and directions of the Ministry of Environment and Forests. The apex court in February had directed the Union government to bring over two lakh wetlands across India under its ambit. We want all citys lakes to be a part of this wetlands list before they are encroached upon and lost. This is the reason why we had sought the opinion of various custodians of city lakes. Except the UDD and some politicians, others are backing us, a KLCDA official told Deccan Herald. Chief Secretary Subhash Kuntia too has sought a clarification on the lake boundaries before taking the proposal any further. Lake custodians include Bangalore Development Authority, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, Revenue and the Forest Department. After going through the draft report submitted by KLCDA, the UDD and some political leaders have been demanding to see the wetland boundaries. KLCDA has thus sought a detailed report from the custodians at the earliest so that there is no scope for disagreement, he said. The officer explained that according to Wetlands Rules, a wetland boundary is the mean of the last 10 years when the water level was the maximum. Once the boundary is defined and the proposal is accepted by the MoEF, then the state government cannot change the lakes land use. Even for improvement of the boundary or minor alterations, the Centres permission will be mandatory. At present, lakes are protected as per the KLCDA Act, which the state can repeal. According to KLCDA records, there are 210 lakes in the city, of which 19 are in disuse and 15 are smaller than the prescribed format. The apex court has proposed to include water bodies whose area is 2.25 hectares and above under the Wetlands Rules. In parallel, KLCDA is also working on water bodies in other districts. The Government of Karnataka on Wednesday welcomed the Centres decision to do away with using red beacon on top of all kinds of vehicles. The Central Motor Vehicles Rules is binding on all the states in the country. So it will be applicable to Karnataka as well. But the department is yet to get any official communication from the Centre in this regard, Transport Commissioner B Dayananda said. In Karnataka, red beacon is allowed for vehicles that carry governor, chief minister, high court judges and chief justice, presiding officers of both the Houses of the Legislature and ministers. However, police officers and senior bureaucrats in Karnataka have been using blue light with flasher. Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy welcomed the Centres decision. Red beacons are not necessary for everybody. The state government has done away with red beacon long ago. The Centre is only following in the footsteps of the state, he claimed. He also said he stopped using red beacon light on his car long ago. I am not using it despite being a minister. I dont need it, he stated adding that it is necessary for certain category of officials, including the police. Water Resources Minister M B Patil also said he will welcome the Centres decision. Home Minister G Parameshwara said he is not aware of the reason behind the ban on red beacon. The red beacons have both advantages and disadvantages, he added. Law Minister T B Jayachandra said, The ban on use of red beacons atop vehicles of dignitaries including the prime minister. We have no option, but to implement it. After almost five years, former French consular official Pascal Mazurier (44) has been acquitted of raping his three-year-old daughter on the grounds of lack of evidence. The judgment was delivered by a special sessions court here on Wednesday. Mazurier, then head of chancery in the Consulate of France in Bengaluru, was arrested on June 19, 2012, on the basis of a complaint filed by his wife, Suja Jones Mazurier. The broad grounds would be that the entire case is highly improbable in the manner in which it is alleged and no father can do it to his child at that tender age. Apart from that, the medical evidence does not even remotely point out anything suggestive of him to have committed the crime, his lawyer B Mahesh told Deccan Herald. None of the over 26 witnesses examined by the court was related to the prosecutions case, the senior counsel said. All the statements recorded, including that of the child, are general in nature and there is basically nothing in particular pointing to the offence. The entire process took five years and no one should abuse the law to implicate an innocent person, he added. Eager to meet my kid Mazurier was elated at the verdict. Its been a long battle and I am very happy about the verdict. To meet my daughter again is what kept me going, he told journalists. She is going to be nine, and all these years I dont know what the mother had told her. Though he looked relieved, he said he was upset that it took him almost five years to get justice as three judges were changed during the course of the trial. Wife to go in for appeal Suja Jones Mazurier, through her counsel, confirmed that she is going to challenge the verdict in a higher court. My daughter has been denied justice, she said. Suja had filed the complaint at the jurisdictional High Grounds police station, saying she got to know about the incident through her maid. The case drew widespread media attention and resulted in Mazuriers suspension from the consulate. He was arrested and lodged in the central prison at Parappana Agrahara after the Ministry of Home Affairs confirmed that he did not enjoy any diplomatic immunity. He was later released on bail by the High Court of Karnataka on the grounds that the forensic report did not prima facie indicate rape. A police constable travelling to Hyderabad to trace a missing teenage girl died while a probationary sub-inspector was injured when their car toppled in a road accident in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh early on Tuesday. A close relative of the girl, who was driving the car, also perished in the accident. Suresh (26), a constable attached to the HAL police station, and probationary sub-inspector Srinivas were travelling in a Toyota Innova to trace a 19-year-old girl whose disappearance had been reported to the HAL police station two months ago. Jayanna (30), a relative of the girl, was at the wheel. The group had left for Hyderabad after police received information on Monday night about the girls whereabouts. Jayanna lost control of the car near Dhone Junction railway station. The automobile crashed into a road divider, spun off the road and toppled on the other side of the road before screeching to a halt. Both Jayanna and Suresh, who was sitting next to him, died on the spot. The front of the vehicle was fully smashed and police had to extricate the bodies. Srinivas sustained injuries on the neck and was taken to a hospital in Kurnool where he is said to be out of danger, according to the Bengaluru police. Suresh, a native of Telesanga village in Athani taluk of Belagavi district, had joined the police in 2011. His body has been sent to his hometown where his last rites will be held on Thursday, police said. Jayannas mortal remains were brought to Bengaluru and handed over to his family. The National Green Tribunals (NGT) order on cleaning the polluted Bellandur lake within a month has given a new ray of hope to local residents. They expect the state government to shut down the industries seen as the biggest source of sewage flow to Bengalurus largest lake. K Jagannath, a former president of Bellandur gram panchayat, said the NGT order could not have come at a more opportune moment as the government was dragging its feet over reviving the lake in spite of admonition from the high court. We are happy that the NGT has ordered the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) to shut down the industries as they are the biggest source of sewage flow to the lake, he added. Srinivas R, a resident of Yemalur, said the government could clean up the lake in two or three weeks if it showed intent. A large amount of silt needs to be removed from the bottom of the lake, he added. Local residents say the lake gets sewage not only from industries in Bellandur and the adjacent areas but also from Koramangala, Mysuru Road and Indiranagar. The amount of sewage entering the lake is estimated at 400 MLD (million litres per day). A slap for BBMP Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Chandrasekhar, too, lauded the NGT order. In a statement on Wednesday, he said the order was a slap for the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and the Urban Development Department (UDD) which, despite having been exposed multiple times, continue to be a front for builders and not the interest of the city and voices of the people. I have witnessed the crass violations by government agencies and builders despite the area being declared ecologically sensitive. (The) effort to save Bellandur lake was started many years ago by ordinary citizens who had repeatedly raised concerns and frustrations at the government, he added. The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) Chairman, Lakshman, said the decision on closing down the industries would be taken only after they examined the NGT order. The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), which is responsible for the lakes upkeep, is preparing to draw an action plan for the waterbodys revival, an official said. The Supreme Court on Wednesday slammed the CBI for not challenging a 2001 Allahabad High Court order striking down the Uttar Pradesh governments notification for a joint trial in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case. A bench comprising Justices P C Ghose and R F Nariman said the agencys failure had derailed plans of a joint trial and resulted in simultaneous and fractured prosecution at two places, based on a joint charge sheet filed by the CBI. There were two classes of accused, namely, leaders who were on the dais exhorting the kar sevaks at 200 metres from the mosque and the kar sevaks themselves. Two FIRs stand registered in connection with the demolition, one in Lucknow and the other in Raebareli. In Lucknow, the accused, mainly the kar sevaks, faced charges of demolition, whereas those in Raebareli were being tried for instigating the crowd through their speeches. The CBI sought a joint trial and in October 1993, filed a consolidated charge sheet against both sets of accused in Lucknow. But the cases could not be clubbed for want of sanction from the high court before setting up a special court to try the FIRs as one case. In 2001, the Allahabad High Court affirmed the decision that the governments notification of October 8, 1993, was invalid due to lack of approval from the high court. Since no new notification was issued by the state government after this judgement, the Lucknow court dropped proceedings against 21 people, including Advani and Kalyan Singh, the incumbent governor of Rajasthan. While Advani and seven others continued to face trial at Raebareli, 13 others, including Singh, were let off since no charges were pressed separately against them at Raebareli after their exoneration in Lucknow. The CBI appealed against the high court order, and sought trial of all the 21 accused under criminal conspiracy charges, apart from other offences. The apex court allowed the plea for a joint trial against the 2010 judgement of the high court, which had upheld dropping of the criminal conspiracy charges against Advani and others. The top court said that the evidence for all these offences is almost the same and these offences, therefore, cannot be separated from each other. India on Wednesday asked Pakistan to facilitate the visit of the members of the family of former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav to the neighbouring country to meet him. Syed Haidar Shah, Islamabad's deputy envoy to New Delhi, was summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs headquarters, where senior diplomats conveyed to him Indias displeasure over Pakistans delay in granting consular access to Jadhav. They also conveyed to him New Delhi's request for facilitating the visit of the members of Jadhav's family to Pakistan so that they could meet the former Indian Navy officer, who is being held in an undisclosed location in Pakistan. Jadhav, who hails from Maharashtra in India, has of late been put on death row after a military court in Pakistan convicted him of being involved in sabotage and espionage in the neighbouring country. Shah, the Deputy High Commissioner of Pakistan in New Delhi, was also asked to share with Government of India the medical certificates detailing the health conditions of Jadhav, sources told the DH. Senior diplomats also conveyed to Shah New Delhi's concerns as Islamabad so far shared no information on whereabouts and physical conditions of Jadhav. India has sternly conveyed its displeasure to Canada over a provincial assembly resolution, which described the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in India as a genocide. Defence Minister Arun Jaitley communicated this to his Canadian counterpart Harjit Singh Sajjan, during a delegation-level talks here. Jaitley told Sajjan, there was considerable amount of disquiet in India over the resolution as the language used in the document showed a highly unreal and exaggerated analysis of the situation in India. The resolution was a private members motion moved by Harinder Malhi, a member of Ontario provincial Parliament, near Toronto. It received support from 34 members. During the bilateral talks on Tuesday, Jaitley expressed the governments concern over the resolution, which went against the spirit of the India-Canada relations. Sajjan, on his part explained that since it was a private members resolution, nothing much should be read in to it as local political factors are behind that motion. The resolution reflects neither the views of the Canadian federal government nor the provincial government, said the visiting defence minister, who explored several ways to expand the defence cooperation between India and Canada. Cathedral Catholic High School recently completed work on its 1.1 megawatt solar system on campus, housed on carports over the school parking lot. The system is expected to help the school achieve savings of $80,000 to $100,000 a year in its electrical energy costs. The project was commissioned on Valentines Day in February and the school held an official ribbon cutting and blessing of the solar system on March 14, reinforcing Cathedrals mission of educating students about the importance of caring for the earth and its people through the use of renewable energy and other smart environmental strategies. Were focusing on being a green school. We want to be responsible citizens and good caretakers of the earth. Thats part of our commitment as Catholics, Cathedral Catholic President Stevan Laaperi said. The savings we realize as a result of going solar will reduce our energy costs and help keep tuition increases to a minimum. This will enable broader community access to the amazing education we provide here at Cathedral Catholic. The Catholic Diocese of San Diego had asked Cathedral to look into solar as a possibility, particularly if they could find outside funding. Baker Electric Inc. offered Cathedral creative financing for the system through a power purchase agreement. With the agreement, the school hosts the system that is paid for and owned by a third party, purchasing energy at a lower rate Cathedral has the option to purchase the system outright in six years. Over the last two years, Baker has been responsible for all of the civil, electrical and structural design of the project, made to complement the schools building colors and facade,including the incorporation of brick. Were were very pelased by the asethetics of the project, Laaperi said, noting they are not obtrusive structures and blend with the schools Tuscan architectural style. According to Scott Williams, director of commercial solar for Baker Electric, the Cathedral project is one of over 22 solar projects for educational facilities they have completed in San Diego County. By the end of 2017, they will have built an estimated total of 5.89 megawatts. As Cathedrals system is 1.1 megawatts, it shows how significant the project is. Its the largest photovoltaic system weve built for a school in San Diego County, Williams said, noting that they have built larger PV systems for other schools outside of San Diego and have built larger utility scale projects as well. Were proud of helping schools lead positive change in the community, endorsing clean energy and reducing their electric bill so they can use those funds saved to develop educational programs, Williams said. The benefit of schools installing solar is that they set a great example of environmental stewardship and the positive use of renewable energy. The solar installation builds on the schools previous environmental endeavors such as installing 80,000 square feet of artificial turf and switching to efficient LED lighting, which consumes 90 percent less power than old-style incandescent bulbs. They also installed car chargers available for faculty, staff and students during the school day and to the community at large in the evenings. Our bills have been substantially lower so its already doing what its supposed to do, said Laaperi, noting that their typical SDG&E bill had hovered around $40,000 a month and the last one received was about $4,000. Cathedral is not the only local school taking advantage of solar power. Canyon Crest Academy down the street installed a solar system over the carports in its parking lot in 2010. As of last year, the solar systems at CCA and La Costa Canyon High School had paired to save the district more than $3.4 million in energy costs. Solar also factors into the construction of San Dieguito Union High School Districts new Earl Warren Middle School campus, set to open this fall. At neighboring Solana Ranch Elementary School, the Solana Beach School District is realizing approximately 60 percent off-set with its solar installation. Solar panels reduce overall operating expenses at the school, are a good alternative renewable energy source, and will continue to generate power for 20-plus years with low maintenance costs, said Caroline Brown, the districts executive director of capital programs and technology. Solar projects are planned for each of the Solana Beach School Districts projects funded by their general obligation bond Measure JJ. Solana Pacific Elementary School, located in Carmel Valley, is scheduled for a solar panel installation this summer. Brown said they will expect approximately 45 percent off-set by installing solar canopies in the parking lot. Solana Highlands Elementary School in Carmel Valley is also scheduled to receive solar panels on the south-facing roofs and with an expected off-set of approximately 40 percent. Skyline Elementary School in Solana Beach is undergoing a complete reconstruction during the 2017-18 school year and is scheduled to receive solar panels in the parking lot as well over the student lunch area. The district anticipates a 60 percent off-set at Skyline, according to Brown. The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ are finally here, and are priced at Rs. 57,900 and Rs. 64,900. Not only have they been heavily anticipated by worldwide users and critics, even Samsung has a lot relying on the Galaxy S8s shoulders. And, true to all the previous renders and photographs, Samsungs new flagship smartphone is stunning to look at. Focusing on the Galaxy S8+ here, the 6.2-inch display is flanked by sleek slices of glass to the top and bottom, set on a metal frame. With the Always On display glowing in darkness, the Galaxy S8+ looks like a vast expanse of glass floating in air. In terms of ergonomics, the Galaxy S8+ fits the large display with dual curved edges into a 5.5-inch smartphone frame. The photograph below will give you a fair idea of its dimensions. The rear of the smartphone looks a bit underwhelming, particularly considering how stunning the front of the phone looks like. It is certainly built well, but the rear panel looks exactly like how previous Samsung smartphones have looked like. The fingerprint sensor has been moved to the rear, just beside the primary camera lens. This is certainly an odd placement for the fingerprint sensor, and I often needed to look for the sensor or alternatively smudge the camera lens. Samsungs own interface warns against smudging the lens because of the sensors placement - in Samsung Health, if you attempt to measure your heart rate or stress level. Surprisingly, the fingerprint failed to pick up my heart rate even once after multiple attempts, giving me prompts to place the finger in the middle of the sensor. The same problem persists with registering fingerprints, where you are repeatedly asked to place the finger in the middle of the sensor. The placement, though, could not be helped. With a bleeding edge design that leaves no room for paraphernalia up front or at the edges, the only expanse left to Samsung is on the rear. In order to negate your reliance on the fingerprint sensor, the Galaxy S8+ (and S8) house iris recognition, which uses an infrared module to scan and authenticate irises even in pitch darkness. The iris recognition is fast and easy to set up, and is uber accurate - it can even recognise irises in pitch darkness in fractions of a second. It is this mode of biometric authentication that Samsung wants you to use, and only rely on fingerprints as a secondary authentication mode. Coming back to the display, the 6.2-inch Infinity Display offer a rather tall aspect ratio of 18.5:9, and is set to Full HD+ (2220x1080 pixels) by default. You can downscale the effective resolution to HD+ (1480x720 pixels) or upscale to QHD+ (2960x1440 pixels), alongside adjusting the blue filter (to make the display warmer), or choose AMOLED viewing modes for more vivid colours. At its brightest, the Samsung Galaxy S8+ measures 750 lux on the luminance scale, which is a bit brighter than the Apple iPhone 7 Plus. Watching videos on this display is a treat, although colours do retain a slight sense of oversaturation. Being an AMOLED panel, the Samsung Galaxy S8+ does exhibit shifts in hues, and there is a very notable red tint when you tilt the display forward by about 45 degrees. This seems to be a widely acknowledged issue, and Samsung will hopefully address this in near future. With 4GB of RAM on board and powered by the Exynos 9 processor, the Samsung Galaxy S8+ also seems quite fast. Although we are yet to tax the device heavily, most apps load smoothly, and the fast performance combines with the brilliant display to make content consumption a great experience on the smartphone. Some swipes, like opening Bixby, in-game menus of Asphalt 8 and opening the Facebook homepage still exhibit split-second delays, but for the most part, the Galaxy S8+ fares smoothly. Heres how the benchmarks fare on the Samsung Galaxy S8+: The 12MP Dual Pixel camera not shoots more balanced colours than the Galaxy S7 edge, alongside retaining decent details and superior low light photography. Paired with an f/1.7 lens, Samsung has abstained from software-induced background defocus or dual-camera structure, and you do not miss either of them. The f/1.7 lens does well to produce softer backgrounds when shooting macro, and coupled with decent white balance adjustment, colour accuracy and sharpness, the camera seems set to challenge for the best phone camera crown, yet again. The front camera also gets an f/1.7 lens with wide field of view. An upgrade to the front sensor sees the resolution being bumped up to 8 megapixels, and Samsungs revamped camera app now hosts a large number of stickers and filters. This can be fun, at times, particularly for selfie aficionados. On to the next notable big feature - Bixby. Touted heavily since launch, the Bixby AI assistant replaces the news feed to the left. It also gets a dedicated physical button, on which you can double tap to activate Bixby. You get a card view here, which you can arrange by pinning the most important card to the top. That, though, is the only customisation you get, and the rest of the arrangement is contextual. For instance, Bixbys present feed shows the recently shot image gallery at the top (that was the last action we performed on the phone), followed by weather and a news feed powered by Flipboard. Yesterday night, the same feed showed me reminders for today at the top, my activity stats for yesterday, and then the news feed with highlights of the day. Bixby can also be integrated with the camera to use it for image searches on Pinterest. For instance, you can point the camera at a dress that you just liked and tap on Bixby Vision, and Bixby will show you the closest matches on Pinterest. These matches have not been very consistent yet, but that also has a lot to do with Pinterests comparatively limited gallery. Samsung also states that it has tied up with Pinterest only as of now, so we remain hopeful that such integration will steadily improve in near future. The 3500mAh battery on the Galaxy S8+ gets adaptive quick charging, taking up 30 minutes to charge up to 50 percent. It is certainly too early to comment on battery life right now, but the phone lasted from 4pm yesterday till 2am in the morning with active usage, lasted on idle for the entire night and spent an hour of web browsing in the morning before hitting the 5 percent battery mark (without any battery saver mode switched on). This equates to nearly 11 hours of usage time with 72 percent battery. The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+, to sum up, is the best that Android has ever looked to date. The display up front is gorgeous, although it does have a few niggles in terms of hue shifts. The performance seems to be what you should expect from a flagship, and Samsung has also continued on a good note with the camera. Bixby will take some time of usage to produce refined results, and the battery life seems promising too. The Galaxy S8 is all about majorly improving on the design and user experience front, and it does so in style. It is now time for its rivals to come up with an answer, and the task certainly seems uphill. Buy Samsung Galaxy S8 from flipkart at Rs 57900. Shares in Altitude surged over 30% after the technology service provider announced it had won two US supply agreements for an undisclosed sum. The AIM-listed company will power New York-based Market Brands branded web stores for small businesses with its technology and fulfilled by its partner Aprinta, a provider of screen printing services. Market Brands is aiming to recruit 100 new sales staff who will target the creation of tens of thousands of branded web stores for small businesses throughout the US. Altitude will be remunerated through a percentage of the sales value of every order. The second contract will see Altitude supply print, signage and photo book products with a tier one manufacturer in the US. Altitude said that this deal will give it access to the $100bn US print market and the manufacturer has a peak output of more than 100,000 orders per day, which is expected to create substantial value for the company and its resellers. Altitude executive chairman Peter Hallett said: "Our strategy is to create a compelling offering for promotional product distributors to enable them to create online brand stores for every customer. The agreement with Market Brands will accelerate our ability to engage with the SMEs who are the end users of the products that pass through our network. "The addition of print products is a natural extension to the promotional product offering and increases our addressable potential market four-fold without the need for substantial technology development or investment. The companys 2016 results will be published around 8 May. Shares in Altitude were up 31.58% to 78.95p at 1009 BST. Analysts at Berenberg hiked their target price on shares of Prudential , telling clients not to let the opportunity pass. Historically, the stock tended to track embedded value, appraisal value and profits, which between 2014 and 2016 had risen by 34%, 34% and 48%, respectively. Yet over the past two years it had stopped doing so, in effect 'taking a breather' and in turn creating a "very substantial valuation discount", the broker explained in a research note published on 19 August but dated the day before. "The upward trajectory of the key metrics has continued, however, and the shares now have both excellent compounding and re-rating potential." Several factors had dented sentiment in the meantime, including capital controls in China, slower sales of variable annuities in the States and net outflows at M&G, analyst Trevor Moss said. However, Moss expects all of the above to improve going forward, resulting in better 'news flow' around the shares. As well, it's likely that perhaps even the entire UK annuity book will be hived off in due course, freeing up a lot of cash that can be used "for a variety of corporate purposes", he said. Berenberg also highlighted the insurer's strong net flows and margins and the still favourable tailwind from FX movements in the second half of 2016. Moss upped his target price from 1,783p to 2,200p, mainly as he rolled forward his assumptions and due to the large appreciation seen in the currencies accounting for the majority of his valuation, while reiterating his 'Buy' recommendation on the shares. "The forward-looking P/E ratios look shockingly low relative to (near) ex-growth peers in our opinion, while the shares remain heavily discounted against our fundamental valuation." ITV has confirmed it will host at least one television debate for the snap election despite Prime Minister Theresa May saying she will not take part. The broadcaster said it will host a debate ahead of the election on 8 June to be chaired by Julie Etchingham, as it had done for the 2010 and 2015 general elections, and will release details in due course. In the run-up to the 2010 election three televised debates were held by the BBC, ITV and Sky featuring the leaders of the Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat, SNP, Ukip and Green parties. May's predecessor David Cameron initially refused before eventually appearing in one televised debate in 2015. The Prime Minister on Wednesday ruled out a television debate but was criticised by Labour for running scared of a live debate. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said at Prime Minister's Questions: If she's so proud of her record, why won't she debate it on TV?" Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron accused May of attempting to dodge scrutiny. I expect the broadcasters to do the right thing; dont let the Conservatives call the shots. If the prime minister wont attend, empty chair her. Corbyn can defend her position as they seem to vote the same on these matters. You have a moral duty to hold these debates, he said. This was echoed by SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon and Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood for the Prime Minister to be empty chaired if she is not persuaded to take part. May told the BBC that she preferred to go out and knock on doors for the campaign. US gasoline inventories rose unexpectedly last week as refineries continued to ramp-up, but the resulting drawdown in oil stockpiles was also less than anticipated. Gasoline stockpiles rose by 1.5m barrels to 237.7m barrels during the week ending on 14 April, while those of distillate fuels shrank by 2.0m barrels, according to the Energy Information Administration, the US Department of Energy's statistical arm. Commercial crude oil inventories in the States on the other hand also fell, shrinking by 1.0m barrels to reach 532.3m barrels. Yet that also took analysts - who had expected a 1.4m barrel draw - by surprise. The unexpected news sent WTI futures reeling; as of 17:50 GMT they were off by 1.5% to $54.08 a barrel on the ICE. Thomas Pugh, a commodities economist at Capital Economics, pointed out a 0.2m barrel decline in stockpiles held by the US government's Strategic Petroleum Reserve, adding that the SPR's holdings of black gold had fallen by nearly 4.0m barrels over the past month. Demand for gasoline also dropped back a little, Pugh added. Wednesday's data was broadly similar to the latest figures from the American Petroleum Institute released during the previous session. According to the EIA, refineries continued to increase their production with the degree of capacity in use rising to 92.9%. In parallel, imports declined by 68,000 barrels a day last week to 7.8m barrels, while domestic oil output rose slightly. Most markets in Asia finished lower on Wednesday, taking cues from a red session on Wall Street overnight. Japans Nikkei 225 was almost flat, managing a 0.07% rise to 18,432.20, while the broader Topix finished down 0.01% at 1,471.42. Commodity traders were under pressure, with Itochu down 0.83% and Mitsubishi off 1.18%. Technology firm Sharp rocketed ahead 7.44% while its struggling peer Toshiba was up 4.87%, after reports emerged that Sharp was considering an investment in Toshibas valuable memory chip business. Toshiba has been courting suitors for the division in recent months, in a bid to help solve a cash crisis caused by its failed US nuclear development arm Westinghouse. The yen was weaker against the greenback, last retreating 0.42% to JPY 108.89 per $1. On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite lost 0.79% to 3,171.31, while the smaller Shenzhen Composite was down 0.72% at 1,932.46. South Koreas Kospi was off 0.47% at 2,138.40, while Hong Kongs Hang Seng Index was 0.41% softer at 23,825.88. Geopolitical tensions between the US and a belligerent North Korea were still hanging in the air, with American Vice President Mike Pence arriving in Tokyo after spending time in South Korea and at the demilitarised zone which divides the peninsula. In Japan, he reassured the country of the US commitment to keep North Koreas ballistic and nuclear plans in check, adding that recent American strikes in Afghanistan and Syria were proof of its resolve on the international front. North Korea had recently tested a number of nuclear and missile tests, despite UN sanctions and concern from various neighbouring countries. Oil prices were higher, with Brent crude last up 0.42% at $55.12 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate adding 0.3% to $52.57. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 ended down 0.56% to 5,804.01, with some resources stocks coming under pressure. Newcrest was down 0.54% and BHP Billiton was virtually flat in Sydney, after Citi reiterated its bearish outlook on iron ore on Tuesday - though it did raise its forecast to $70 a tonne from $65 for 2017. Newcrest was also under pressure from a research note from Morgans on Tuesday, which referred to a large seismic event at its Cadia East property last week. Morgans analysts assumed a two-month production interruption as a result, adding that Cadia was responsible for 31% of Newcrests production and 49% of its EBITDA. New Zealands S&P/NZX 50 was down 0.2% at 7,218.52, with one of the countrys largest companies Fletcher Building losing 3% amid fears it was vulnerable to a corporate raid. The down under dollars were both weaker against the greenback, with the Aussie retreating 0.54% to AUD 1.3298 and the Kiwi weakening 0.35% to NZD 1.4253 per $1. FTSE 100 defence group BAE Systems has been awarded a 1.4bn contract by the UK's Ministry of Defence to deliver the next Astute class submarine to the Royal Navy. The first three Astute class submarines HMS Astute, HMS Ambush and HMS Artful are currently in service with the Royal Navy with a further four in various stages of construction at BAE's Barrow-in-Furness site in Cumbria,. Agamemnon will be the sixth of seven nuclear-powered attack submarines designed and manufactured at the companys Barrow site. Will Blamey, managing director of BAE Systems Submarines, said: "Securing the contract for the sixth Astute class submarine is a significant milestone for BAE Systems and the result of many years of hard work by our highly skilled workforce. "The Astute class submarines are amongst the most highly capable and technologically advanced in the world and were immensely proud to build them for the Royal Navy. BAE Systems is the prime contractor responsible for the design, build, test and commissioning of the seven Astute class nuclear-powered attack submarines. At 1610 BST, the shares were down 0.9% to 631p. Subscriber content preview SEATTLE Metropolitan Grill announced it will close June 19, but don't worry, red-meat lovers, it's just for renovations. The downtown steakhouse is making improvements that will enhance both the guest dining experience and work environment for our teams, said Jim Rowe, president of the company that owns the restaurant, in a statement. . . . Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. Two intrepid adventurers are aiming to climb 26 of Ireland's highest peaks in record time in a challenge that gets underway tomorrow (Thursday, April 20). Shaun Stewart from Ards, Creeslough and Lonan OFarrell from Galway will climb Irelands 26 High Peaks aiming to beat the fastest known time of 87 Hours & 50 mins. They will start their challenge on Mweelrea Mountain in Co. Mayo, work their way around Ireland from the west and finish at Mount Errigal in Co. Donegal on Saturday 22nd. The conditions will be challenging says Shaun, who comes from Ards in Creeslough, but we believe that we can do it in record time. We have a fantastic team on board to help with sponsorship, organising and support crew. Arthur McMahon from Team Donegal Oil along with Rory Kennedy have been instrumental to working out the logistics, navigation and getting everything we need for the challenge prepared in advance. "Donegal Road Trekkers Denis Ferry, Leslie ODonnell and Paul Doherty will crew with us and they are no strangers to taking on challenges like this and we are delighted to have their experience on board. We also are delighted that Colm Dillon from Manor Motors Opel will provide us with a Opel Vivaro which will house everything we need for the journey. Our aim is to complete the challenge in approx 72 hours, and we are hopeful that we can do it. A GPS tracker has been set up so the duration of the challenge will be shared on social media so everyone can track their performance online in realtime. As Mount Errigal will be their last mountain to climb & they hope that there will be a huge show of support at the picturesque Donegal Gaeltacht in Co. Donegal when they will reach the top of Mount Errigal to complete the challenge & record their time. They will also be raising money for charities. Lorcan is supporting The Play Therapy Galway and Shaun is fundraising for Crumlin Childrens Hospital as his little niece Cara was born with a condition called Proximal Femoral Focal Deficiency (PFFD). This is a rare birth defect that affects the pelvis, particularly the hip bone, and the femur. You can follow their progress on www.facebook.com/highpeaksfktchallenge. The former Deputy First Minister of the North, Martin McGuinness, who was laid to rest in Derry last month, was remembered by MLA, Conor Murphy at the Easter address in Drumboe, Stranorlar, on Sunday afternoon. In the keynote speech, the MLA and said his party had lost a hero in recent weeks. Martin McGuinnesss death on 21st March came as a huge shock and loss to the party and his comrades, the people of Ireland and of course his wife Bernie and close family circle. Martin was a towering pillar of strength and his commitment and determination never once faltered over forty years of struggle. His leadership alongside that of Gerry Adams, and our collective leadership has brought us to the position of political strength that we are in today as the biggest party on this island and the leaders of progressive political change, north and south. He added: I had the personal honour of serving alongside Martin in the Assembly and through many negotiations over the last two decades, and I want to pay tribute to Martin and to his family, to which he was devoted, and which stood behind him through all those difficult years. To them he was a husband, father and grandfather. To his fellow republicans he was a legendary leader. He said it was a great honour for him to be in Drumboe to honour all those who have struggled for Irish freedom in every generation. He continued: In particular, in this place we remember four brave volunteers of Oglaigh na hEireann who came to Donegal to continue the fight for the Republic, a 32-county Republic, and tragically were cruelly murdered by the counter revolutionary forces who led the Free State. I especially want to welcome the families and friends of our patriot dead here today. Our task today, and for the time ahead, is to secure the dream, to realise the Republic declared in the Proclamation, to create the type of Ireland that does justice to the sacrifice of those who gave their lives for its freedom. Easter 1916 was so hugely significant in both Irish and republican history because it captured not only the public imagination, but also the spirit of generations since, who have for over a century of revolutionary struggle worked, fought and died for Irish freedom, he said. The MLA went on: On Easter Monday, April 24th, 1916, Padraig Pearse marched with a small number of comrades to the General Post Office and read aloud the Proclamation of a new Republic. The 1916 Easter Rising was a declaration of freedom heard all around the world. The patriots of 1916 believed that a better Ireland is possible. So do we, he said. And to achieve it to win their freedom to win our freedom - they put everything on the line - including their own lives. A century on, Irish republicans continue to strive towards the new Republic as imagined by the Citizen Army and Irish Volunteers of 1913 and Cumann na mBan in 1914, the leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916, the First Dail and the Democratic Programme of 1919 and the modern-day republican icons of 1981. He added: The ending of partition, a British government disengagement from the North and the restoration to the Irish people of the right to exercise sovereignty, independence and national self-determination remain the only political solution for everyone on this island concerned with its future. The Dothan City Schools system will now offer signing bonuses to science and math teachers for its middle and high schools. The city school board voted on Monday to allow principals to offer bonuses to new science and math teachers. Funds for the bonuses will come from the school fund at each school, which consists of revenue derived from concessions, fundraisers and other activities. Principals use these funds to meet the individual needs of their schools. Dothan City School Superintendent Chuck Ledbetter said Tuesday that secondary science and math teachers are in short supply, and that competition to recruit these educators is fierce. We were recently at a university and their total graduating class only had 15 math and science teachers, he said. Ledbetter said signing bonuses could help Dothan get a leg up on recruiting the small number of qualified math and science teachers available. Ledbetter said the policy approved Monday allows principals to offer bonuses in exchange for an agreement to teach at their school for a set period of time. Teachers who leave before the contract term ends would have to give back some of the bonus. The policy allows principals to determine the amount of the bonus and the time period. Ledbetter said that most bonuses would likely be between $1,000 and $3,000 and contract periods would likely range from one to three years. We want them in there for at least enough time to learn the system and to make a difference, he said. According to the U.S. Department of Education, a teacher shortage crisis may be impending. Department of Education Data shows that enrollment in teacher preparation programs nationwide has dropped from 725,518 in 2009-10 to 465,536 in 2013-14. Many new teachers leave the profession within a few years of joining. The U.S. has an attrition rate among teachers of about 8 percent per year. Teacher shortages appear to be acute in science and math. According to the Learning Policy Institute, 40 states and Washington, D.C. all reported teacher shortages in science in 2015-2016. A chance encounter with a young American couple while waiting for a bus in Dublin City last weekend has reminded me how deep and lasting are the roots of people who lived in Dundalk town over the past 100 years and more. The couple had a fair bit of luggage, the young woman wore a shiny, new looking engagement ring and it seemed to me that that they might be on their honeymoon. The young man told me that they were awaiting a bus to Balbriggan, but when I mentioned that I was waiting for a bus to Dundalk, the young woman seemed to pick up interest and remarked that her grandfather had been born in Dundalk in 1907. They then revealed that they came from near Richmond, Virginia and it became clear to me that they were in Ireland to try and trace their ancestors! They went on to say that they intended going to Dundalk later to try to find out more about the girl's grandfather who had been a James Kilpatrick who had lived at 44, Park Street, according to the 1911 Irish Census, and had emigrated to Philadelphia with his mother when he was quite young. The young woman said that her great-grandfather had been a Thomas Kilpatrick who was listed in the 1911 Census as the head of household and as an hotel waiter. His wife had been a Nelson who had come from Armagh (she pronounced 'Armagh' in a strange way which made me think she had not been to Ireland previously). When they mentioned that they were going to Dundalk eventually, I told that them that the only notable hotel in the Park Street area at the time was the Imperial and suggested that, maybe her great grandfather was employed there (This was not strictly true, as there were several other hotels in Park Street and nearby streets at the beginning of the last century but I believe that they were mostly small, family run, businesses who would have been unlikely to employ professional waiters). The young man remarked 'That's a clue we did not have before!'. I recommended that, when they came to Dundalk, they should contact either the County Museum or the County Library; I mentioned the County Documents office at the Crescent but told them that it might be harder to find. They thanked me for my advice as my bus arrived and I wished them luck. I was so intrigued by their story that I immediately looked the 1911 Census on the internet when I got home and found that there was, indeed, a family named Kilpatrick living at 44, Park Street at the time and there was a boy, aged three, named James Nelson Kilpatrick. His mother was Margaret (formerly Nelson), who was from County Armagh. His father Thomas was listed as aged 51, from County Down, and they also had a younger woman Sara Nelson, aged 39, living with them who was listed as 'sister-in-law'. This information interested me even more as I could not ever remember coming across the name 'Kilpatrick' living in Dundalk in my own lifetime but I knew that there were plenty of Nelsons around. The 1901 Census showed that there had been a family named McGuinness living at 'House 44' in Park Street, so the Kirkpatrick must have arrived there after that date. Then I realised that the house numbers on the census return might not correspond to the actual numbers of the houses in Park Street at the time and this was confirmed by the fact that, in 1911, their neighbours, living in 'House 45', was a Laurence Goodman, a cattle dealer, who is listed in the Tempest's Annual of 1915 as living at 'No. 17 Park Street' and I further realised that Laurence Goodman was the grandfather of the present cattle baron and multimillionaire, Larry Goodman. I know that this Laurence Goodman had opened a butcher's shop at 17, Park Street about the time of the First World War, so it looks as if Thomas Kilpatrick had lived at 16, Park Street, beside the Bank of Ireland. There was no census in 1921 but the 1923 Tempest's Annual lists a 'Mr. Kerr' in the house occupied by the 'Y.M.C.A. Association' at No 16, so the Kilpatricks must have been gone to America by then. Indeed, the 1919 Tempest's Annual shows that Laurence Goodman had a victualler's shop (butcher's) at No. 17 but there is no 'Kilpatricks' so they may have been gone by 1916. My short researches have raised more questions about the Kilpatricks than I was able to find answers. For instance, had Thomas Kilpatrick died by 1916 and, as result, did his younger wife and child go off to America and did her sister Sara go with them? I hope the young couple will find more answers than I did but, anyway their family story seems very interesting. Perhaps it is typical of the many people who have passed through Dundalk without leaving a permanent memory. It may have stirred the memories of some of my readers, at home or abroad? Anyway, it goes to show that Dundalk people, when they emigrate, still keeps visions of their ancestors. Repeating the stories to their children they are still hungry to find out as much as they can about them, whether it is good, bad or indifferent. There are calls from the start-up community for the Federal Government to clarify its plan to abolish 457 visas and address concerns the reform could create a skills gap, especially in the technology sector. Dynamic Business was provided with comment on yesterdays announcement by the leadership of Shippit, Weploy, SafetyCulture, QUT Creative Enterprise Australia, Schedugram and Sail Business Loans. Offshoring and brain drain Logistics start-up Shippit employs 16 people, including an engineer on a 457 visa. The companys co-founder, Rob Hango-Zada, said putting Australian jobs first is a great mantra but questioned whether the reforms would prevent jobs from being sent offshore. In the corporate world and more specifically in the tech space off-shoring is a common practice, and in recent times 457 visas have meant that at least offshoring for specialised jobs is minimised, he said. The government needs to provide specific information about how this would impact key areas such as engineering and development. Its good to see that skilled workers will still be catered for with the new TSS visa. I would like to understand how the government can assist with recruiting for key areas with skill gaps. We need to establish Australia as a destination for skilled workers, where Australia falls short, in order for us to really own the innovation agenda on a global stage and prevent local brain-drain from Australia to the US and UK. Access to the right talent Nick La, co-founder of on-demand recruitment platform Weploy, which employs fewer than ten 457 visa workers, described the reforms as a great initiative that could advantage start-ups seeking the right talent. [The reforms] can provide many more working opportunities to Australians who are looking to step into a career, he said. From experience, typically 457 visa holders take the current lower-skill/ labour-based temporary work purely because its all that theyre being accepted or considered for (which narrows job availability for Australians in this cohort). However, they would much prefer to be able to continue their expertise in temporary capacities, something that is difficult for them to do right now. By deploying skills to the right areas and addressing shortages, the change will free up more opportunities to our Australians whether it be building up work experience or simply earning a living. La said the rollout of new temporary visas, with a greater focus on specialised skill sets, will enable Australia to attract international talent so businesses can up-skill where required. He continued, This will hopefully motivate Australians to succeed even more and help to drive our innovation agenda by giving founders access to the right talent to grow start-ups. La said it was important for the government to present employers with a strong case for the abolishment of 457 visas and its benefits. He added that the reforms need to be well-communicated to the public to avoid the spread of negative assumptions. Supply and demand Luke Anear, founder and CEO of SafetyCulture, which employs 12 of its 100 staff on 457 visas, is concerned the reforms will leave employers without suitably trained workers. It comes back to supply and demand, he said. We need a significant amount of skilled workers in order to support all industries being disrupted by technology. The 457 program was a way for us to fill the gap between lack of skilled workers in Australia and finding experienced workers from overseas. The best and cheapest option is to have suitably trained workforce in Australia from Australia but we just dont have it yet. We need to be able to continue to meet the demand and also provide the labor force to meet Australias current opportunity. SafetyCulture is competing on the global stage during a tech boom. Aussie companies need to be a manufacturer of products to export around the world and not just a consumer. We need to be a leader in the technology-enabled age. An innovation-driven economy According to Anna Rooke, CEO of QUT Creative Enterprise Australia, the announcement seems at odds with the notion of building an innovation-driven economy that can be flexible and responsive to needs of all businesses. She continued, The uncertainty and lack of clarity around the implications and timing for changes is placing companies in a difficult situation. For instance, at CEA we have specialist positions that our start-ups, and ourselves as an accelerator, have recruited overseas for because of shortages in specific technical skills in Australia. The implication that this announcement may jeopardise those workers, and the start-up community more generally, is a significant issue until greater clarity is provided. Implications for tech companies Hugh Stephens, director of Dialogue Consulting and founder of Instagram scheduling tool Schedugram, fears the reforms will leave technology businesses at a disadvantage. Its still not clear what the new visa class will mean for companies hiring technical staff, he said. This uncertainty is going to make doing business in Australia more complex, and increase the costs of doing business for start-ups that have better ways to spend their capital. Australia has a well-documented lack of technical talent, and local start-ups are increasingly desperate for high-quality software engineers, analysts and general IT talent. 6,590 people were granted 457 visas for IT-related occupations in 2015-16, and the government is crazy if it thinks that Australian businesses will be able to fill these roles from the existing dry pool of talent and the comparatively small number of graduates. We need to ensure we dont cause a skills gap by not letting into Australia those who have skills we need. The talent gap is very real Yanir Yakutiel, CEO and Founder, Sail Business Loans said the reform could potentially deal his fintech start-up a big blow. Just this month we began the formal process of seeking approval to sponsor overseas workers to help take our business to the next level a big investment for a new business like ours, he said. In fact, we had recently extended an offer on the condition of the applicant receiving sponsorship and we planned to hire three to four others with skills and experience across technology, finance marketing and product development. Now, that growth may be in jeopardy. Especially if the Government decides to de-prioritize the skills we need most. Its unclear, at this point, which occupations will be cut, so it is hard to know exactly what the impact will be. Yakutiel said that while it is important to create opportunities for Australians, the talent gap is very real, especially within the technology sector. It is critical that we make it easier, not more difficult, to attract and retain top talent and leverage their skills to compete in a global market, he said. Breeding uncertainty with these changes and cutting off pathways to permeant residency or citizenship is counterintuitive to that process. We have seen a significant skills gap in the roles we need most and these changes will cause more confusion and de-incentivise foreign workers who might have considered bringing their skills and experience to Australia. Talent is critical to growth, especially in the early stages of a business. In just a few months, we have created around a dozen jobs and supported small businesses all over Australia and now, our growth may be stifled by isolationists policies that are counter to the Governments promise to support SMBs and Australias technology sector. Just make it stop! The Way I See It When you walk up the stairs in my house, you arrive at a landing on the second floor. To your right is an antique chest of drawers. Above it is... A true legend, if ever there was one Other Voices I once told Vince Dooley that two great things happened in 1964. I was born and he came to Georgia. He laughed at my attempt at humor. But I was... My mom was born and raised in Cagayan Valley, but from birth til now I havent been there. Thanks to Ropali Motors for organizing Partakan Festival , a motor tourism and music festival up North of the Philippines which has been going on for 4 years now. It paved the way for me to finally step foot on my moms hometown / province because Earthlingorgeous is a media partner of the event. Why I havent been at Cagayan Valley at all? I was born and raised here in Manila. Since birth, my mom rarely visit her province. The only time I remember mum went with my sister was when I was 5 or 6 years old and I was living with my Aunt Ninang then . After that I dont remember an attempt to go there. It was the relatives in Cagayan Valley who comes to Manila and they come by the dozen and more! Bringing with them crops harvested from our family farm like sacks of vegetables, nuts and corns. Because of that I never bothered asking to go. Fast forward to today, on a Holy Week, I came, I saw and conquered Cagayan Valley! After 21 hours of tiring but fun, long, winding butt deflating road trip Manila Sta.Ana Cagayan Valley with my blogger friends. Normally during the Lenten season, I stay at home. It was what I was used to when mum was still herself and dad was still alive . This was because of some Catholic beliefs / pamahiin and traditions. We all endured staying at home watching 10 Commandments or Jesus Christ Superstar on TV. It was a habit. A habit I finally broke since I am now one of the decision makers at home. How to get to Sta. Ana Cagayan Valley? By Plane: PAL and Cebu Pacific has limited flights to Tuguegarao, capital of Cagayan Valley. Flights are normally at 10am, 3pm and 6pm but not daily. Flight is just an hour frim Manila. From Tuguegarao it will take you 3 hours ride to reach Sta.Ana Cagayan Valley. Depending on which hotel or resort you are staying add 20-30 minutes more ride to reach Anguib Beach in Sta.Ana Cagayan Valley. By Land: If you have a smartphone use Google Maps. From Mandaluyong to Sta.Ana Cagayan Valley estimated time of arrival is 13 hours plus regular pit stops to eat, pee break and stretching = total of 16 hours. But because we were part of Partakan Festival it took us 21 hours to reach destination. We had at least 10 pit stops along the way. With some pit stops taking us for a longer route to reach Cagayan Valley. Pitstops / Stopovers on our Roadtrip Manila Sta.Ana Cagayan Valley: 1. Shell Malolos Following Google Maps and the initial direction I have from Ropali, our first stop was the Shell Malolos Station. From Shell Malolos we were suppose to visit Barasoin Church and take a selfie/ groufie as part of the challenge. Unfortunately, nobody was manning the supposed Partakan Festival booth at Shell Malolos, so we left and went to the next stopover I initially got. 2.Ropali Cabanatuan Around 6-7 am we reached Ropali Cabanatuan and fortunately there was someone there manning the booth to assist us. From this stopover we were finally given our race kits, Motor Adventure Passports and the next challenge we need to do next. It was also in this station where we got free water, snacks and candies. 3. Stopover in Cabanatuan for Breakfast We were all awake since the night we left, meet up was 130am our driver arrived 2am and we left Manila at 230am. We have to stop for breakfast at the only local food stop carinderia we saw in Cabanatuan along the highway. I think its Mamasaid or something with Mama. Food was not good but we were hungry. They have a good yema cake though for Php90 one whole cake size of a loaf bread. 4.Shell San Jose It was closed so we just passed by it to our next stop. 5.Stetching and buttocks exposure to the bondocks Our driver needed to relieve himself and stretch, it was a long drive from our next stopover. We stopped by the hillside where we saw a store and a makeshift toilet with the back side with an opening almost exposing your buttocks to the bondocks when you sit and take a piss. 6. Eat all you can for Php99/100 and 10peso break Our breakfast was not that good most of us were hungry. I saw a sign for an Eat All You can somewhere in Nueva Ecija / Nueva Vizcaya or Cabanatuan. I enjoyed my lunch here as I had vegetables, esalada,okra and adobong manok. Others had fish, lechon kawali, etc. We also had fruit shakes. Their watermelon shake has milk! This is also where most of us need to go take a #2. They have paid toilet where piss is Php5 and dump is Php10. Since then we call #2 10pesos as most of us had not done so since we went on this roadtrip. 7.Ropali Solano We got another challenge from this stopover, we should go to an eco tourism park and buy tupig along the way. But first lets take a selfie/groufie. 8. Lower Magat Eco Tourism Park We were suppose to buy tupig but missed the sellers along the checkpoint. As we reached the park we took groufies and #OOTDs. Place is huge we didnt get to roam around though. It was ironic that we hardly see a Tupig vendor along the way when they said it is the one town one product of Solano, Isabela? We skipped all other Shell stopover because there were virtually nobody manning each stop. We decided to go straight to Tuguegarao instead. Passing through, Isabela, we saw this Ibanag statue. Passed through Callao bridge and finally saw the border of Tuguegarao,Aparri, to Echague. 9.Pancit Cabangon and Pancit Batil Patong Hopeful to buy Tupig we stopped by a street where I thought I saw a tupig vendor. Unfortunately it was just grilled corn. Across it was a store. We decided to have snacks there and tried their local pancit. It was good and a real comfort food! For 70pesos per bowl! Yum! We had a good pre-dinner sometime around 5 to 6pm. So we decided to go straight to Tuguegarao with no stops. Sun is setting fast. Almost everyone was falling asleep. The driver and I were the only man awake in the van. Sitting beside our driver Kuya Lito I have to keep him company. He has been driving 18 hours straight. I had him tell me stories about his life as a driver and it was interesting. Good thing I was seated in the front seat I just chatted our way across Tuguegarao to Sta.Ana. Finally after 21 hours drive, we arrived at Sta.Ana Cagayan stopping over at Country Inn Suites for late dinner. How to survive the roadtrip Manila Sta. Ana Cagayan Valley: Get a good automobile that doesnt break down easily. Make sure to gas up, full tank to be sure. If possible get an extra driver rellebo so the other has time to rest 21 hours is no joke. If no rellebo available make sure to assign a navigator and a companion to keep your driver awake, alert , entertained and guided. Wear comfy clothes that you can move around with inside the van. Have a travel pillow and blanket the van gets cold after a while even when it is full. Have a water bottle with you keep hydrated. Have a source of entertainment like books, music, games to play while in the van, stories to tell everyone, or like Ruth and Rodel they have their laptop with then to watch movies or edit videos and photos along the way if not on a dizzy spell or on a zigzag bumpy road. Lots of stopover to have your toilet break, stretching, and most of all eat. Snacks or candies in between meals or to keep awake. choose your road trip companions well. Good friends and funny companions (walang kj) to keep your cool and cheer you up in spite of bumps and obstacles along the way. Expect the wort, prepare for mishaps, but make the lost of the entirr ride. What else did I miss? If you have questions, comments and suggestions let me know at the comment section below. Meanwhile you can watch the vlog below showing our 21 hour roadtrip in a nutshell. How is Anguib Beach in Sta.Ana Cagayan Valley? I will show you in another post. Stay gorgeous everyone! Extra Help to Buy in Bishops Stortford Free financial advice and Help to Buy equity loans will be on offer for Bishops Stortford home buyers this weekend (April 22/23). Award-winning Redrow is selling a choice of one and two-bedroom apartments off plan at Regents Court in the town. With Help to Buy equity loans available to reduce the initial cost and the size of deposit needed to secure a property, the apartments are ideal first homes. To explain more about the Government-backed scheme, Redrow is hosting a special Help to Buy event at Intercounty estate agents this weekend (April 22/23). Potential purchasers will be able to speak to independent financial advisors and the sales team about their options.. Kerry McCoubrey, sales director for Redrow Homes (Eastern), says: Buying your first home can seem daunting - theres so much to think about from if youve saved enough for a deposit, if youll meet the criteria for a mortgage, the cost of Stamp Duty and thats before you start looking for furniture and home essentials. We want to make setting up home simple and straight forward for our customers and so were inviting aspiring homeowners to join us at Intercounty estate agents where they will be able to speak to mortgage specialists who can assess their finances and guide them through the buying process. For example, buyers may not realise that Help to Buy is exclusive to new build homes and could enable them to buy sooner than they anticipated. Two-bedroom apartments at Regents Court are available from 324,995 or an initial price of just 259,996 with Help to Buy. The lower price includes a deposit of 16,250 (5%) plus a mortgage for 243,746 (75%). The remaining 64,999 (20%) is covered by the equity loan. Open plan layouts maximise the potential of the space available in the apartments, with combined kitchen, living and dining rooms. Kitchens will be complete with integrated top brand name appliances; while bathrooms will feature sleek modern fixtures and fittings. In two-bedroom designs the master bedroom will benefit from an en-suite. Those who reserve during the event will receive flooring throughout their new home. All of the apartments have allocated parking and selected properties include Juliet balconies. Bishops Stortford town centre, home to a selection of independent and high street stores including Fat Face, Next, Pandora and upmarket supermarket Waitrose, is less than a 10-minute walk from the apartments. The train station is also really convenient. Residents could be whisked into London Liverpool Street in just 46 minutes, including walking to the station. The M11 is just 10 minutes away; while the M25 is also close by, offering easy access to Cambridge. For international travel, Stansted Airport is just 13 minutes away by car. To find out how Help to Buy could enable you to purchase an apartment at Regents Court, visit Intercounty estate agents in Bishops Stortford this weekend (April 22/23). For more information see redrow.co.uk/regentscourt. Energy customers in the East of England worst hit by big six price hikes New MoneySuperMarket analysis reveals EDFs price rise last week combined with the other recent hikes from five of the Big Six energy companies could cost British bill payers 1.2bn collectively. Households on standard variable tariffs in the East of England will be worst hit by rising bills, totalling 1,263 on average higher than any other area in the UK. Bill payers on standard variable tariffs with five of the Big Six suppliers have been informed of price hikes ranging from one to ten per cent. According to MoneySuperMarket, affected households will be paying 97 more a year for exactly the same amount of energy. Before the price rises, bill-payers would have had an extra 600 kWh of energy for the same amount of money, which could power the following: An LCD TV for two years A microwave for six years A vacuum cleaner for eight years A low energy lightbulb for 30 years Regional winners and losers Those in the East of England will be worst hit, with bills for those customers on standard variable tariffs typically totalling 1,263 the highest in the country. Almost a quarter (23 per cent) of households on Big Six tariffs in this area are with npower, which announced the highest price rise at 10 per cent, while a third (33 per cent) are with Scottish Power, which increased prices by eight per cent. Five per cent are with EDF, which this week announced another round of price hikes. Households in the East of England could save 389 by switching to a fixed rate tariff. Households in the North West will see the biggest direct rise following the price rises at 102 on average but could save 386 by switching to a fixed deal. What does this mean for bills? On average, households affected by the price rises could save almost 400 by shopping around and switching providers, totalling 7.4 billion collectively. Those in the South of England could stand to save the most at 390. While British Gas customers might feel lucky to escape a rise, with a freeze on standard variable tariffs applying until August 2017, those customers are still typically paying 1,174 annually - 34 per cent more than those on one of the cheapest fixed deals on the market. Stephen Murray, energy expert at MoneySuperMarket, said: EDF Energy dealt bill-payers another staggering blow yesterday by raising prices once again. At the start of March it hiked electricity bills by 8.4% - and it has now announced a further 9% to electricity and 5.5% to gas, meaning customers will see dual fuel bills rise to 1,160. EDF customers arent alone though. The message is loud and clear for the millions of people hit by Big Six price rises: shop around if youre on a standard variable tariff, or if youre on a fixed deal thats coming to an end. Collectively, customers could save 7.4bn by standing up to price rises and shopping around - thats well worth the seven minutes it takes to switch deals. CORVALLIS Bolstered by a $25 million donation, Oregon State University officials on Wednesday announced plans for a performing arts and education complex on the south side of campus. The project, announced at the Portland Art Museum, involves expanding and enhancing the LaSells Stewart Center, 875 SW 26th St. in Corvallis. The new facility will house OSU's music and theater programs and other initiatives as well, said Larry Rodgers, dean of OSU's College of Liberal Arts. The $25 million gift comes from an anonymous donor in the Portland area. The total project is estimated to cost $60 million. OSU officials said they would launch a campaign to raise an additional $5 million and plan to approach a future Legislature for approval of $30 million in state bonds. The current timeline calls for the project to be completed in 2022, Rodgers said in an interview. "This is a watershed investment in our university," said OSU President Ed Ray in a press release. "The arts drive the culture of creativity, innovation and diversity that is essential to a thriving research environment. I believe with all my heart that a relationship with the arts is integral to the human experience." In an interview, Rodgers said that the "big missing piece" at Oregon State "is really a building for the arts." Although much work remains to be done in terms of designing the complex, it is expected to feature performance spaces including a new concert hall and a revitalized auditorium as well as a smaller black box theater that could be configured in different ways for performance and teaching. The facility also is expected to include classrooms, practice rooms and spaces for choir, symphony and band rehearsals, shop space, faculty offices and seminar rooms. Rodgers said he hopes the new facility will offer opportunities to explore and research ways in which the arts can interact with science, the humanities and technology. A primary idea driving the project, Rodgers said, is that the new center would be much more than a spot for community members to gather for cultural events. "This has to be for the students," he said. "If the community benefits from that, then it's a win-win for everyone." "This is for all of us," Ray said, the campus community and the community at large. "That's what a university should be doing, elevating all of us." And Ray, in a brief telephone interview after the Portland event, talked about another reason why the arts were important to him personally: Growing up in New York City, he had little exposure to the arts until he attended college, the first member of his family to do so. In college, he said, he took classes on art and music appreciation, and "I was totally transported. ... It was like my whole universe just got bigger." About 26 percent of OSU's students are the first members of their families to attend college: Ray wants those students to be able to have an arts experience similar to what he experienced. "The arts are the closest thing we have for one soul to talk to another without interruption and without needing words," he said. Rodgers said a committee headed by Steven Zielke, OSU's director of choral studies, will begin to tackle design and preparation details. Rodgers said OSU officials continue to have conversations about placing a stand-alone art museum in the vicinity of the performing arts center. The LaSells Stewart Center hosts more than 1,660 events, including performances and conferences, each year. Rodgers said the details of how to reschedule those events during construction have yet to be determined. Our website uses cookies We are always working to improve this website for our users. To do this, we use the anonymous data provided by cookies. Learn more about how we use cookies President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a long-anticipated executive order that addresses a campaign promise to begin shifting the country toward the Buy American, Hire American strategy that appealed to much of the industrial working class population in the Rust Belt states. The order calls on the U.S. government to shift purchasing toward domestically produced goods. It also sets in motion a change in immigration policies, which could exclude many qualified foreign professionals from Silicon Valley firms. Trumps speech and signing ceremony Tuesday afternoon followed his appearance at the Snap-On Tools headquarters in Wisconsin, a state he narrowly won despite its usual role as part of the Democratic Partys blue firewall in the upper Midwest. For too long weve watched as our factories have been closed and our jobs have been sent to other faraway lands, Trump told attendees at the event. More than 70,000 U.S. factories have been lost since China joined the World Trade Organization, he noted. End the Lottery The executive order will end the practice that allowed Buy American programs to be circumvented by excessive waivers and endless exemptions, Trump said, noting that American workers have been losing out in an economic environment that has favored cheap, subsidized foreign goods. Trump touched briefly on the H-1B visa issue during his speech, noting that visas are granted in a totally random lottery system, and saying that was the wrong approach. Instead, they should be given to the most-skilled and highest-paid applicants, and they should never, ever be used to replace Americans. No one can compete with American workers when they are given a fair and level playing field, he said. If the present system is flawed, its not clear what an effective replacement would look like, however. Large technology companies want more highly educated foreign candidates for H-1B, and many hope that a study would help them, said Peter Vogel, a partner in Gardere, Wynne Sewell. Many potential candidates lose out in the current complex lottery system, he told the E-Commerce Times. Best and Brightest Many Silicon Valley firms hire workers from India through the H-1B visa program, and they recruit them directly when they complete their engineering studies at major American colleges and universities, noted Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT. One concern among IT vendors is that if the H-1B program is highly restricted, it would damage their ability to hire the best and the brightest minds to their workforce, no matter what their country of origin, he told the E-Commerce Times. Trump has made a wide range of statements about the program, King added, sparking concerns about its future funding, confusion over the actual implications of the executive order, and worries about the long-range implications for existing workers and their companies. Call to Action The Consumer Technology Association on Tuesday called on Congress to take immediate action to address visa and immigration reform. CTA President Gary Shapiro praised Trump for calling attention to abuses in the program, and said the program needs to focus more on merit. Congress should take the lead by passing reforms that are fair, effective and efficient, he urged.Legislators need to show leadership to help the technology industry support about 15 million American jobs and billions of dollars contributed to the U.S. economy. Privacy advocates and consumer groups are fighting back against the U.S. Senates Thursday vote to undo privacy restrictions on Internet service providers. In a 50-48 party line vote, the Senate approved the Congressional Review Act, S.J. Res. 34. If the House of Representatives gives it the green light, it then will go to the president to be signed into law. Were working actively with a coalition of other consumer groups pushing to defeat the resolution in the House, said John Simpson, director of the Consumer Watchdog Privacy Project. If the consumer groups dont succeed in the House, we will remind President Trump that he has expressed concerns about invasions of his own privacy, and call upon him to veto the resolution to protect consumers, Simpson told the E-Commerce Times. Meanwhile, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has put up a Web page urging consumers to call their members of Congress about the resolution. The Center for Democracy & Technology also has pledged to fight the resolution. Without the FCC rule, Americans will have no real privacy protections online because of current limitations placed on the Federal Trade Commission by Congress and the courts, said Katharina Kopp, policy director at the Center for Digital Democracy. For example, an ISP could infer a subscriber was unemployed, based on online usage patterns, and sell this information to predatory financial vendors, which can have unforeseen consequences, Kopp told the E-Commerce Times. What the Legislation Provides The Senate resolution lifts the FCC privacy rules adopted last fall. The rules require, among other things, that ISPs get opt-in consent from consumers before sharing such sensitive information as geolocation data; financial data; health data; childrens personal information; Social Security numbers; Web browsing and app usage history; and the content of communications. The resolution enables ISPs to profit by collecting and selling consumer information without prior consent or notification, said James Scott, senior fellow at the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology. Further, ISPs will continue to operate without associated liability, culpability, and accountability for the irresponsible collection, dissemination and exposure of consumer data the resolution will enable, Scott told the E-Commerce Times. Redlining and other discriminatory practices in housing and loan pricing could be facilitated, noted Consumer Watchdogs Simpson, and drug companies could assemble extremely personal health information and use it to target consumers without running afoul of HIPAA. Psychographic big data algorithms are powerful enough to precision-target and leverage pretty much anyone being targeted, ICITs Scott warned. Get ready for turnkey nation state perception steering and psychographically targeted propaganda unlike anything weve seen before. Can Consumers Protect Themselves? Consumers will have to encrypt all their traffic, using either a virtual private network or Tor, advised EFF Senior Staff Technologist Jeremy Gillula. You cant just install Privacy Badger or browse in incognito or private mode, he told the E-Commerce Times. However, VPNs usually cost money, and you have to trust your VPN provider not to spy on you instead, Gillula pointed out, while Tor users frequently encounter excessive CAPTCHAs and other impediments to browsing freely since websites often treat Tor users differently. Forever and Ever, Oh Man! The FCC cant do anything if the Congressional Review Act is signed into law, because CRAs prohibit an agency from passing a new regulation in the same form or one that is substantially the same, Simpson observed. Further, because the FCC reclassified broadband access providers as common carriers to enact Net neutrality, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission would have no jurisdiction, he noted. There would be no privacy rules, said Simpson, and nobody could enact them. Blog Archive June 2021 (1) May 2021 (77) April 2021 (77) March 2021 (82) February 2021 (68) January 2021 (64) December 2020 (67) November 2020 (66) October 2020 (66) September 2020 (67) August 2020 (74) July 2020 (83) June 2020 (92) May 2020 (86) April 2020 (104) March 2020 (105) February 2020 (74) January 2020 (75) December 2019 (75) November 2019 (70) October 2019 (89) September 2019 (69) August 2019 (81) July 2019 (77) June 2019 (73) May 2019 (110) April 2019 (110) March 2019 (102) February 2019 (85) January 2019 (123) December 2018 (116) November 2018 (112) October 2018 (121) September 2018 (107) August 2018 (150) July 2018 (163) June 2018 (190) May 2018 (145) April 2018 (112) March 2018 (124) February 2018 (113) January 2018 (164) December 2017 (150) November 2017 (144) October 2017 (169) September 2017 (171) August 2017 (135) July 2017 (131) June 2017 (147) May 2017 (160) April 2017 (138) March 2017 (156) February 2017 (143) January 2017 (203) December 2016 (208) November 2016 (185) October 2016 (173) September 2016 (194) August 2016 (232) July 2016 (225) June 2016 (238) May 2016 (231) April 2016 (215) March 2016 (246) February 2016 (226) January 2016 (252) December 2015 (230) November 2015 (250) October 2015 (234) September 2015 (222) August 2015 (253) July 2015 (275) June 2015 (279) May 2015 (223) April 2015 (226) March 2015 (243) February 2015 (258) January 2015 (281) December 2014 (292) November 2014 (296) October 2014 (413) September 2014 (472) August 2014 (506) July 2014 (483) June 2014 (488) May 2014 (512) April 2014 (497) March 2014 (531) February 2014 (482) January 2014 (535) December 2013 (482) November 2013 (441) October 2013 (416) September 2013 (491) August 2013 (521) July 2013 (491) June 2013 (470) May 2013 (457) April 2013 (426) March 2013 (420) February 2013 (414) January 2013 (489) December 2012 (433) November 2012 (504) October 2012 (469) September 2012 (430) August 2012 (427) July 2012 (360) June 2012 (336) May 2012 (362) April 2012 (322) March 2012 (263) February 2012 (224) January 2012 (291) December 2011 (295) November 2011 (325) October 2011 (330) September 2011 (319) August 2011 (333) July 2011 (318) June 2011 (387) May 2011 (373) April 2011 (389) March 2011 (375) February 2011 (335) January 2011 (400) December 2010 (445) November 2010 (395) October 2010 (312) September 2010 (262) August 2010 (277) July 2010 (323) June 2010 (386) May 2010 (360) April 2010 (333) March 2010 (351) February 2010 (336) January 2010 (384) December 2009 (353) November 2009 (300) October 2009 (308) September 2009 (350) August 2009 (298) July 2009 (255) June 2009 (203) May 2009 (193) April 2009 (186) March 2009 (197) February 2009 (173) January 2009 (148) December 2008 (181) November 2008 (197) October 2008 (236) September 2008 (304) August 2008 (314) July 2008 (273) June 2008 (27) May 2008 (1) April 2008 (6) October 2007 (1) May 2007 (1) April 2007 (6) March 2007 (2) February 2007 (1) October 2006 (1) September 2006 (1) August 2006 (4) July 2006 (4) June 2006 (1) July 2005 (1) May 2005 (2) March 2005 (1) June 2004 (2) May 2004 (1) April 2004 (4) March 2004 (2) February 2004 (2) July 2003 (2) June 2003 (5) Its a big week for me. Monday was the official publication date of Climate of Hope, my new book co-authored with former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg. The books premise is that climate solutions now constitute an enormous short term opportunityhealthier communities, greater prosperity, enhanced securityfor both the U.S. and the world community. The key to seizing that opportunity is to understand that the climate crisis is a symptom of multiple market failures and political follies, not a single free-standing problem; that leadership in implementing solutions is already emerging not so much from national governments as from cities, businesses and citizen activists; and that this bottom up leadership is the key to continuing to accelerate the pace of progress and the prospects for avoiding catastrophic risks to the climate. Climate of Hope is now out there being reviewednot always favorablyso I thought Id use this blog to give my perspective on why Mike and I believe this approach does, in fact, offer a solid pathway out of the climate crisis. The main criticism thus farand I expect this to continueis that we are wrongly arguing that national governments dont matter, and that cities and businesses alone can correct our climate follies. We dont, make that argument, and they cant do it alone. A number of our key approaches clearly require national actionlike redirecting agricultural subsidies away from encouraging overproduction of cotton and corn towards supporting regenerative agriculture which can suck carbon out of the atmosphere, where it is a climate threat, and into the soil, where it becomes a fertility and water storage enhancing asset. But others, like modernizing building codes to ensure that any house built after 2020 is hyper-efficient, powered by its own renewable generation, so its owners dont have to pay a utility bill and dont pollute the atmosphere when they turn on the lights, are intrinsically the business of local (and state) governments. And in the U.S. political context some that sound nationallike encouraging the rapid replacement of internal combustion cars with electric drivemay actually emerge from a combination of city and state action. Led by Los Angeles, a coalition of 30 U.S. cities recently announced they would jointly bid out purchase orders for up to 114,000 electric drive vehicles at a cost of $10 billion, while California and 12 partner states made clear they would move forward with their zero emission vehicle mandate. So the cities are providing electric-drive vehicles with the scale needed to bring down prices and improve performance, while the states are guaranteeing that the market for these vehicles will continue to grow far beyond what city fleets alone could guarantee. Similarly, the center piece of the Trump administration assault on President Obamas climate legacy, the suspension of the Clean Power Plan (CPP), assumes that the future of Americas electric sector depends on a top-down national mandate, because utilities will otherwise cling to their existing fossil fuel dependent facilities. But while the CPP envisaged cutting utility emissions by only 30 percent by 2025, citizen action and market forces had already slashed power plant carbon pollution by 25 percent at the end of 2016, and we are on track to cut these emissions by almost 50 percent, not 30 percent, by 2025, through market forces and public pressure. On the other hand, cleaning up methane emissions from oil and gas drilling on public lands, another Obama rule Trump would like to quash, cant be replaced by state and local initiativesthe federal government ultimately must become part of the solution. But just as during the Progressive era at the start of the 20th century it was cities and states and forged the new policy instruments that eventually became the New Deal, rather than waiting for Washington, just so Mike Bloomberg and I believe that political leadership on climate in the United States, and elsewhere, will come from below, not from national elites which remain in thrall to the fossil lobby and other entrenched interests. (Remember those crop subsidies? Shifting them to protect the climate would be good for farmers, but bad for pesticide and fertilizer interests.) The essential message of Climate of Hope, however, is that every one of the separate market and political failures that threaten the climate has its own unique source and solutioneach requiring a different approach and reform, all making us better off. CFCs, for example, cooling and refrigeration chemicals were deployed to replaced ozone depleting predecessors with inadequate testing. Because of their extraordinary ability to prevent solar radiation from bouncing back into space, they loomed as a huge future climate risk. But just as an international treatythe Montreal Protocolgot rid of the risk of ozone depleting chemicalsthe ozone layer is now healingan amendment to that same treaty is now going to replace HFCs with climate safe alternatives. Carbon emissions from deforestation mostly stem from illegal loggingso ending corruption and cracking down on the trade in contraband timber are key climate solutions. Methane emissions from rice paddies require better irrigation and cropping practices in rural areas, while methane from urban trash can be prevented by cities deciding to compost garbage instead of dumping it in landfills. Nitrous oxide emissions are soaring because nations subsidize over-fertilization instead of helping farmers figure out how much fertilizer their crops can really utilize. Black carbon from diesels will end as soon as we require all the worlds fuels to be refined to eliminate sulfur contamination, something cities and ports are initiating. But black carbon from biomass cooking in developing countries demands giving poor families access to clean cooking fuelseither ethanol from crop wastes or LPG gas currently being wasted and flared. That diversity of solutions requires a diversity of leadersyes, presidents, prime ministers and diplomats, but also mayors, CEOs, school board members, architects, procurement officers, rural co-op directors, governors, municipal utility executives, hedge fund managers, college trustees and rear admirals. And properly chosen climate solutions will make each of those jobs easier, and enable those who hold them to deliver better results. The Albany Police Department wants residents to be aware of an increase in thefts from vehicles in the city. So much so that on Tuesday morning the department issued a bulletin on Nixle, the text-based public safety notification system, reading, "Crime Alert! Thefts from vehicles on the rise: LOCK your CAR! TAKE your KEYS! HIDE your VALUABLES!" The bulletin came on the heels of two such crimes, both of which took place Monday. The first occurred in the 1000 block of Broadway Street Northwest, between 8:30 p.m. and 7 a.m. The car was locked and the back window had been smashed out. The suspect took a collection of tools. The other theft involved tools as well. This time the victim was a member of the crew working on the new Albany Police Department station. That theft happened in the 2900 block of Moraga Avenue southeast. There, the suspect broke into a GMC van and took a large amount of construction tools. Albany Police Lt. Marv Hammersley said the department issues these warnings not just when it experiences a larger-than-normal volume of related calls but also when the weather creates opportunities for such crimes. In colder months, victims may leave their cars running to warm up. In warmer months, people may leave their windows down or doors unlocked. Officials discourage residents from leaving valuables in their vehicles, and advise them to make sure they are parked and secure in a safe, well-lit spot. Kentucky, like most of the Appalachian region, has been in economic distress since the bust of the coal mining industry. But, new hope for jobs and the ravaged environment may come in the form of the states largest solar farm. The company spearheading the initiative, Berkeley Energy Group, used to be a coal mining company and still owns thousands of acres of land in the area, including the abandoned mountaintop removal site in Pike County, Kentucky, just outside of Pikeville in the heart of coal country. Berkeley Energy is working with EDF Renewable Energy and former Democratic state Auditor Adam Edelen to build a 50-100 megawatt farm right on top of the old mine. The project was announced on Tuesday. This is really a history-making project for the region, said Ryan Johns, an executive with Berkeley Energy Group. Bringing together major players in both coal and renewable energy to build a solar farm on a mountaintop removal site, creating opportunity for out-of-work miners, is a once-in-a-lifetime project, Edelen told the Herald-Leader. Coal production has drastically dropped over the last few years since the boom of natural gas and lower installation costs for renewables. According to Kentuckys Energy and Environment Cabinet, in 2016 alone, coal production in the region, including Pike County, dropped by 40 percent from 2015, and the number of coal jobs in the county decreased by 30 percent. We have the opportunity to combine the strengths of both companies to bring jobs and economic development to Appalachia, Doug Copeland, EDF development manager, said. Though the developers arent sure how many jobs would be supplied by the solar farm, the project would be a massive undertaking and several hundred acres would be used to operate the facility. Pike County is in eastern Kentucky, which doesnt get quite as much annual sunlight as western parts of the state. But, building it in this specific location would help the developers work with the electric grid supplied by PJM, an electric company that works with homeowners to allocate renewable energy resources. But, before they can establish anything with PJM, the developers must complete geological and energy studies to measure the potential for solar on the property. EDF said this could take until the end of the year. But, Johns said, if it can be done, well get it done. A Silicon Valley venture capitalist said he is willing to spend millions to convince Elon Musk to dump Donald Trump over his disastrous climate change policies, and he is pressuring the Tesla/SpaceX CEO to withdraw from the presidents business councils. Doug Derwins $2 million campaign includes billboards, TV ads and full-page ads in newspapers. On Monday, he launched ElonDumpTrump.com, a website that features videos of Tesla owners upset over Musks ties to Trump. Musks support for Trump, and his failure to speak out against Trumps policies, are inconsistent with Teslas values, a campaign petition states. Over the past month, Derwin has deployed mobile billboards around the offices of Elon Musks various companies. Photo credit: Doug Derwin Musk is one of the most admired leaders in tech and is very outspoken on the dangers of climate change. But in December, Musk caught some flak when he joined the Strategic and Policy Forum, an advisory board for the president on business issues. Bloomberg reported that Derwin decided take action after learning that Musk was meeting with the new president, who is a climate change denier and is rolling back critical environmental regulations. Derwin, who was actually in the process of purchasing a Tesla, decided to cancel his order and donated the $150,000 for the cost of the car to the American Civil Liberties Union. Trump was using Elon to legitimize himself, Derwin told Bloomberg. It says a lot to low information voters that Trump cant possibly be that bad because here is Elon Musk hanging on his every word. Thats why I canceled the order. A principled opposition is important here. Derwin told the Guardian he is particularly incensed by the presidents onslaught of environmental regulation rollbacks. I want Musk to speak up against Donald Trumps climate change policies, he added. His failure to do so sends the message that its not really a big deal and not worth his time. Photo credit: Doug Derwin Derwin plans to set up information booths at college campuses to persuade young engineers to avoid working at Musks companies. He also said he will pay people whove made deposits for the upcoming Tesla Model 3 to cancel their orders. Derwin said he will stop the campaign and donate one million dollars to a charity of Musks choice if he severs ties with the administration and speaks out against the president. In previous statements, Musk said he is committed to pushing Trump on issues like immigration and climate change but was also uncomfortable about the criticism he has received for joining the committees. Really dont want to get in politics. I just want to help invent and develop technologies that improve lives. Feels so bizarre, Musk tweeted in February. In response to recent scientific consensus on giraffes vulnerability to extinction, five wildlife protection groups today petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect Earths tallest land animal under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. The legal petition, filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Humane Society International, The Humane Society of the United States, International Fund for Animal Welfare and Natural Resources Defense Council, seeks endangered status for the species. Facing mounting threats from habitat loss, hunting for meat and the international trade in bone carvings and trophies, Africas giraffe population has plunged almost 40 percent in the past 30 years and now stands at just more than 97,000 individuals. Giraffes have been dying off silently for decades, and now we have to act quickly before they disappear forever, said Tanya Sanerib, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. There are now fewer giraffes than elephants in Africa. Its time for the United States to step up and protect these extraordinary creatures. New research recently prompted the International Union for the Conservation of Nature to elevate the threat level of giraffes from least concern to vulnerable on its Red List of Threatened Species. Yet giraffes have no protection under U.S. law. Species designated as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act receive strict protections, including a ban on most imports and sales. The U.S. plays a major role in the giraffe trade, importing more than 21,400 bone carvings, 3,000 skin pieces and 3,700 hunting trophies over the past decade. Limiting U.S. import and trade will give giraffes important protections. Previously, the public was largely unaware that trophy hunters were targeting these majestic animals for trophies and selfies. In the past few years, several gruesome images of trophy hunters next to slain giraffe bodies have caused outrage, bringing this senseless killing to light, said Masha Kalinina, international trade policy specialist with the wildlife department of Humane Society International. Currently, no U.S. or international law protects giraffes against overexploitation for trade. It is clearly time to change this. As the largest importer of trophies in the world, the role of the United States in the decline of this species is undeniable, and we must do our part to protect these animals. Known for their six-foot-long necks, distinctive patterning and long eyelashes, giraffes have captured the human imagination for centuries. New research recently revealed that they live in complex societies, much like elephants, and have unique physiological traits, including the highest blood pressure of any land mammal. I was lucky enough to study giraffes in the wild in Kenya many years ago. Back then, they seemed plentiful, and we all just assumed that it would stay that way, said Jeff Flocken, North American regional director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare. Giraffes are facing a crisis. We cannot let these amazing, regal and unique creatures go extinctit would be a dramatic loss of diversity and beauty for our planet. This listing petition is rallying the world to help save the giraffe. The IUCN currently recognizes one species of giraffes and nine subspecies: West African, Kordofan, Nubian, reticulated, Masai, Thornicrofts, Rothchilds, Angolan and South African. Todays petition seeks an endangered listing for the whole species. I cantand wontimagine Africas landscape without giraffes, said Elly Pepper, deputy director of NRDCs wildlife trade initiative. Losing one of the continents iconic species would be an absolute travesty. Giving giraffes Endangered Species Act protections would be a giant step in the fight to save them from extinction. The Fish and Wildlife Service has 90 days to review and respond to the petition and determine whether a listing may be warranted. Like any arbitrary benchmark, the 100-day point of a new presidents term normally tells us only so much about whats to come. In the case of President Trumps all-out assault on our environment and health, however, weve already seen more than enough. In his first three months on the job, Trump has acted again and again to undo half a century of bipartisan progress in protecting our rights to clean water, air and lands. Hes moved to part ways with longstanding American values of conservation in the public interest. And hes betrayed the covenant weve forged with our children to leave them a livable world. Thats not a plan to put America first. Its about putting industrial polluter profits firstand putting the rest of us at risk. Presidents dont get to roll back generations of hard-won gains with the stroke of a pen. Working with his fellow Republicans in Congress, Trump has already killed rules to protect coal communities from mountaintop demolition that destroys forests and streams. And he may expose more public lands to the ravages of coal mining. Much of what hes ordered, though, can be halted, slowed or turned back aroundin the court of public opinion or in a court of law. To do that, well have to stand together and give real voice to truth against a president intent on using the full powers of his high office to try to eliminate the tools we need to protect our families and communities from ongoing harm. From his first week in office, Trump and congressional Republicans have attacked the commonsense safeguards we all depend on to protect the water we drink, the air we breathe, the lands that grow our food and the wild places we share. Hes put the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the thumb of Scott Pruitt, an avowed foe of the agencys mission, while proposing to gut the EPA budget and staff. Hes taken on the very notion of responsible public oversight with an unlawful and baseless order to scrap two existing regulations for every new one put in placeas though we can cope with emerging threats only if we pretend the old ones no longer exist. And hes sounded an ignominious retreat from the essential progress were making in the fight against global climate change. Any one of these tacks would be cause for national alarm and public rebuke. Taken as a whole, the Trump broadside attack on the nations environment and health demands the united and concerted opposition of every American, from red state and blue, who cares about our common future. Whatever our political leanings, we all should be shocked at this radical campaign to roll back environmental safeguards, abandon important national goals and hobble our environmental steward, the EPA. Trumps reckless attempts to do just that run wildly at odds with the will of the people, as a raft of recent polling proves. A solid 61 percent of the country disapproves of Trumps big polluter agenda, an April poll by Quinnipiac University found. Just 19 percent want the EPA weakened or eliminated, according to a January Reuters poll, with 61 percent saying the agency should be strengthened, expanded or kept at its current strength. Trump, though, has proposed slashing the agencys budget by 31 percent, taking it back to 1990 funding levels and cutting staff by 20 percent. In one policy area after another, in fact, the disparity between Trumps actions and public opinion is striking: Protecting Our Waterways Drinking Water: Nationally, fears over water pollution hit a 16-year high in March, with 63 percent of Americans telling the Gallup polling organization they worry a great deal about drinking water pollution. Who could blame them? Trump has directed Pruitt to dismantle the Clean Water Rule, put in place to protect wetlands and streams that feed drinking water sources for one in every three Americans. Great Lakes: Trumps cuts would end federal funding to reduce industrial and municipal waste, toxic contaminants and other pollution in the Great Lakes, the largest surface freshwater ecosystem in the Western Hemisphere. Whos with Trump on that one? Not the people who understand it the most. In Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and nearby states, 86 percent of the public supports the federal effort to clean up the Great Lakes. Chesapeake Bay: Trump has proposed killing, also, a multi-state plan to clean up the nations largest natural estuary, the Chesapeake Bay, which is being strangled by the toxic runoff from a 64,000-square-mile watershed that reaches nearly to Canada. That flies directly against the interests of those who live at the mouth of the bay: 94 percent of Virginians support the federal bay cleanup program, according to an April poll by Christopher Newport University. Energy Development Clean Energy: What about Trumps belittling disdain for American clean energy innovation and enterprise? Turns out 71 percent of the country favors wind, solar and other alternative energy over oil, gas and coal, with all the damage and danger they bring, according to an April Gallup poll. Dirty Energy: Fully 59 percent of survey respondents say environmental protection should come ahead of fossil fuel development, with just 23 percent preferring dirty energy to clean water and air. The 26-point gap between the two, by the way, is the largest margin since Gallup began asking the question 15 years ago. Fuel Economy Trump has directed the EPA to weaken or eliminate standards to clean up the cars and dirty power plants that together account for 60 percent of the U.S. carbon pollution thats driving global climate change. Thats a stone-cold loser in the public mind. Drivers like saving billions of dollars a year at the pump, and an April poll by Quinnipiac found that 76 percent of the public is somewhat concerned or very concerned about climate change, with 62 percent saying Trump should not backtrack on standards and rules put in place to fight it. Climate Climate Action: Far from supporting Trumps retreat from the climate fight, 59 percent of poll respondents say the country needs to be doing even more to fight the carbon pollution thats causing seas to rise, turning croplands to deserts, and contributing to raging wildfires, flooding, droughts and storms. Jobs: Fully 68 percent of Americans understand that we can fight climate change and support economic growth, like the gains that have put three million Americans to work helping us to become more efficient, building all-electric and hybrid cars and getting more clean power from the wind and sun. Research: The Quinnipiac poll found that 72 percent of Americans say its a bad idea for Trump to slash funding for the scientific research we need to better understand climate change and other threats to our environment. A hundred days into Trumps presidency, weve already seen more than enough. Its time to gather as one and speak out against his senseless campaign to turn back the clock on 50 years of environmental gains and stanch the promise of more progress to come. On Saturday, April 29, Ill travel, along with thousands of others, to Washington, DC, to march with the Peoples Climate Movement. I hope youll join us, in the nations capital or in any of dozens of sister marches across the country, to show Trump just how far out of step his policies are with the will of the people he serves. Lets put Donald Trump on notice. Lets show him what we believe. We wont back down from this challenge. We wont back down from this fight. Well defend our health and environment. Well hold fast to the values we share. Well stand up for our childrens future and their right to a livable world. (Photo: Reuters / Osservatore Romano)Pope Francis (R) talks with Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at the Castel Gandolfo summer residence, south of Rome March 23, 2013. Pope Francis travelled by helicopter from the Vatican to Castel Gandolfo for a private meeting with former Pope Benedict XVI. REUTERS/Osservatore Romano Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is returning to the Vatican, to live alongside his successor Pope Francis in his retirement. Benedict on February 28 became the first pontiff to voluntarily step down more than 600 years. The 86-year-old German emeritus pontiff left the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo, in the hills south of Rome by helicopter on Thursday. Benedict was last seen in public on March 23 looking frailer than when he left his at the end of the previous month. Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, noted that the retired pope is not afflicted by any ailment. "He is a man who is not young: He is old and his strength is slowly ebbing," Lombardi told journalists week. "However, there is no special illness. He is an old man who is healthy." When he announced his retirement Benedict left the Vatican almost immediately after his resignation keeping himself away from the process of electing his successor. The Vatican said Benedict will reside at the "Mater Ecclesiae" Monastery which has been undergoing renovation since November 2012, and until then was inhabited by Visitation nuns. Pope Emeritus Benedict will reside with his secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, and four long standing staff members. When he left on February 28, Benedict told those who greeted him at Castel Gandolfo was now a "a simple pilgrim" in the last stage of his earthly journey, but that he was not leaving the Church and would remain with it in spirit and prayer. On his final day in the papacy Benedict stressed he would leave his jobs pledging his "unconditional reverence and obedience" to his successor who had not yet been chosed. He repeated his committment when Francis joined him for lunch on March 23. The retired pope's residence has a small library and a study along with a guest room where he will continue to wear his white papal cassock. (Photo: L'Osservatore Romano)Pope Benedict XVI addresses cardinals in the Vatican's Clementine Hall hours before becoming the first pontiff to step down voluntarily in 600 years. Pope Benedict XVI left the Vatican on Thursday for the last time as leader of 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, his helicopter cheered by onlookers in St. Peter's Square. The Pope, who official was to end his papacy at 8 p.m. (Central European Time) flew to Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer palace south of Rome that overlooks a lake. Unresolved issues such as transparency of the Vatican and an inability to deal fully with sex scandals of prelates dating back decades that were covered up, dogged the pontificate of Benedict who is the first pope in 600 years to step down voluntarily. Earlier Benedict bade farewell to 144 cardinals saying, "Among you, among the College of Cardinals, there is also the future Pope, to whom, here today, I already promise my unconditional reverence and obedience." Benedict said, "As I said yesterday to the thousands of the faithful who filled St Peter's Square, your closeness and your advice has been of great help to me in my ministry. "In these eight years we have lived with faith the most beautiful moments of radiant light on the Church's journey, alongside moments when several clouds had gathered in the sky. We sought to serve Christ and his Church with profound and total love, which is the heart and soul of our ministry." The Pope spoke to his closest advisers in the Vatican's Clementine Hall for his final greeting before leaving the papacy vacant and allowing a secret conclave that will be convened to elect a new pontiff. The president of the Lutheran World Federation, Bishop Munib Younan and the LWF general secretary, Rev. Martin Junge sent a joint letter to Pope Benedict expressing gratitude for his contribution to the goal of Christian unity. "We felt encouraged by the way you have been promoting the value of profound and honest theological discernment in ecumenical dialogues, because the quest for visible unity of the church belongs also to the foundational vocations of the Lutheran World Federation," they said. They said they cherished the memory of meeting Benedict in December 2010 and the way the Pope underscored the shared vocation of Lutherans and Catholics, while urging reflection on their ongoing journey towards unity. "With your leadership the Roman Catholic Church has strengthened the discussion on new evangelization and challenged also other Christian churches to reflect on their participation in God's mission in today's world," they added. Nikkei Asian Review Survey Shows Japans Outside Directors Woefully Underpaid Japan Inc. may be shortchanging some key executives. Outside board members in Japan seem to be underpaid, considering that they are now expected to play a central role in the reform of the country's corporate governance. One survey showed that Japanese outside directors are paid on average about 75% less than their U.S. counterparts. A key reason for the gap in compensation appears to be working hours. A survey conducted that Japanese companies spend about 24 hours annually on board meetings, while U.S. companies spend roughly twice that. But outside board members in Japan are now shouldering a growing workload, as they are expected to become more closely involved in management as members of so-called nominating and compensation committees. A growing number of companies are forming these committees to discuss personnel affairs of executives and remuneration. Hideaki Tsukuda, leader of Egon Zehnder's Tokyo office, said the debate will further intensify over remuneration hikes and payment methods in Japan amid the growing importance of outside board members. Full Story: Survey shows Japan's outside directors woefully underpaid (April 11, 2017). To build the largest and most complete Amateur Radio community site on the Internet - a "portal" that hams think of as the first place to go for information, to exchange ideas, and be part of whats happening with ham radio on the Internet. eHam.net provides recognition and enjoyment to the people who use, contribute, and build the site. This project involves a management team of volunteers who each take a topic of interest and manage it with passion. The site will stand above all other ham radio sites by employing the latest technology and professional design/programming standards, developed by a team of community programmers who contribute their skills to the effort. The site will be something of which everyone involved can be proud to say they were a part. We welcome your comments. The eHam.net Team, Revision 07/2020. North Korea will continue to test missiles, a senior official has told the BBC in Pyongyang, despite international condemnation and growing military tensions with the US. "We'll be conducting more missile tests on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis," Vice-Foreign Minister Han Song-ryol told the BBC's John Sudworth. A ceremonial groundbreaking was held Tuesday afternoon for a new $19 million remodel and addition to the Mennonite Home on the Mennonite Village campus, 5353 Columbus St. S.E. This is a real milestone for Mennonite Village. Were preparing for the needs of the future, said Ron Litwiller, Mennonite Village president and CEO. The project, expected to be completed in fall 2018, will increase the privacy of residents at the nursing home facility by creating suites and rooms with bathrooms. Private rooms with private bathrooms are expected today, Litwiller said. Ruth Gulyas, CEO of the advocacy group Leading Age Oregon, said the project will enhance the dignity of residents the Mennonite Home serves. Roughly 60 percent of the cost of the project will be covered by 600 donors, Litwiller said. We are extremely grateful to all those who contributed in one way or another, he added. Albany Mayor Sharon Konopa said that the Mennonite Village was a model facility nationwide and a great community asset. The remodel and addition were much-needed, she added, as its difficult to find skilled nursing beds. Janet Steele, CEO of the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce, touted the Mennonite Villages important economic impact of millions and millions of dollars. Steele's parents moved to Mennonite Village 12 years ago after searching for retirement spots in several different states. I cant speak more highly of the facility that Ron and his staff run, she said. The project will include the removal of the north wing at the Mennonite Home, and the construction of a new 50,000-square-foot building to replace it. That structure will have 42 suites, as well a community room, beauty salon, chapel, therapy center and more. The rest of the original structure will be remodeled and semi-private rooms will be converted into suites with private toilets and showers. The total bed count of 95 for the Mennonite Home will not change. More than 100 people attended the groundbreaking, including city councilors, county commissioners and local business leaders. Residents of Mennonite Village also celebrated the occasion. After the groundbreaking, attendees were encouraged to pick up golden shovels, move dirt and pose for pictures. Dorothy Gillett and Sidney Harrison, who both live in assisted-living apartments in Quail Run at Mennonite Village, were among those to take part in a second, unofficial groundbreaking. This is terrific, Gillett said. We really needed it, Harrison added. I think its a plus for everybody to have private bathrooms. Mennonite Village will celebrate its 70th anniversary this summer. The organization started in 1943 when Lydia Stutzman left her $6,000 estate to nephew Frank Kropf to be used for the construction of an old folks home. Over the next four years, Kropf and his brother Levi Kropf designed, raised funds, obtained materials and built the Mennonite Home for the Aged on five acres of donated land. The $40,000 project was dedicated on July 27, 1947, and the home could accommodate 25 residents. Mennonite Village now has about 700 residents on its campus, including people who are completely independent and those who require 24-hour care. Tribunal dismisses sex discrimination case against Constabulary An employment tribunal has dismissed a case of sex discrimination against the Isle of Man Constabulary made by a former officer. Kerry Best claimed the Manx police force didn't make proper allowances when she was dealing with a disability during her pregnancy. She also reported not to have been given time to meet with an advocate in her lunch hour to sign documents relating to a house sale. Mrs Best further alleged of other instances of bullying, and described the Constabulary as not compassionate or sympathetic to family and domestic situations. However, the tribunal found Mrs Best had waited too long to file her claim, having left the Constabulary in 2015. She didn't file the claim sooner because she was unaware of Manx employment law, but the tribunal found it was unfair to expect the police to defend claims going back over two years. Oct. 21, 1925 April 14, 2017 Betty was born in Corvallis. She was oldest of two children of Zola and Hazel Burres. She was a descendant of the Burres, Heins, and Zeek Oregon pioneer families. She passed peacefully at home with her family at her bedside after 91 years of life well lived. Mother married Harold Rictor Sr. in 1942. A short time later she and Harold moved to a small farm in the Irish Bend area 12 miles south of Corvallis with Harolds father Tune and Harolds three boys Harold Jr., Jack, and Larry. Tune (Pop) played an important role in helping a very young mother adjust to her new life. They were life long friends until his death in 1963. Mother had three more sons; Joe, Dan, and Bob, and adopt her brother-in-laws son Alan (Skip). She cooked, canned, cleaned, washed, folded and ironed clothes for her family of ten. As her boys grew, she worked various jobs in the fields driving heavy equipment and as the field boss for the hoeing crews. She also worked as cashier and meat cutter at Mories Market. In the 1980s and 90s, mother worked at Rictors Comic Heaven in Corvallis. After 40 years together, Harold passed away in 1982. Mother married Eugene Reeves in 1988. They later divorced. Mother was a voracious reader and loved to travel. She and her friend Dick Nale traveled to Alaska three times with her son Joe and his wife Jane that included a trip to Kodiak Island where they rented an airplane and flew over many Kodiak bears. Mother was known for her generosity and her ability to make everyone around her smile and laugh. She will be dearly missed. Betty is survived by her sons Jack (Wanda), Larry (Linda) and Joe (Jane); her friend Dick Nale; 18 grandchildren and many great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by both husbands, her brother Joseph Burres, and her sons Harold Jr. Dan, Bob (Charles) and Skip. At her request no services with be held. Special thanks to her caregivers Betty Lou, Katana, and Evergreen Hospice for their assistance. Please leave condolences online at www.mchenryfuneralhome.com. A pair of representatives from the Oregon Department of Transportation recently dutifully attended a meeting of the Benton County Board of Commissioners in part to answer this question: What would it take to expand Highway 20 between Albany and Corvallis to four lanes? Here was the short answer: $125 million to $150 million for a project that likely would take 25 years or more to complete. As they left the meeting, we like to imagine, the ODOT representatives muttered something like this to each other: "That was a fun conversation, but it's never going to happen." Well, never is a long time. But the truth is that expanding this stretch of Highway 20 to four lanes does seem like a project that's decades away: After all, look at the fuss that has accompanied the efforts to place a bike path in that general area. Multiply that controversy by a factor of, oh, a thousand or so, and you'll start to understand a bit of the challenges facing this particular project. There are plans in the works for some improvements on the highway: ODOT has said it anticipates receiving funding for about $8.2 million in projects between 2018 and 2021, including a two-way turn lane between the Childrens Farm Home and Merloy Avenue, a left-turn acceleration lane at Granger Road, widening of the shoulder between Granger and Garland Nursery, additional warning signs, and upgrades to traffic signals at Circle and Conifer boulevards. Those projects should help matters, but we are doubtful that they will do much to fix the fundamental issue: You have a two-lane highway in place over a nine-mile stretch that has become increasingly congested. And dangerous: An ODOT safety study completed in December counted 301 crashes on that stretch of road between 2010 and 2014, including 15 that resulted in serious injury or loss of life. Before any four-lane Highway 20 project could be approved, ODOT would need to launch an environmental study as required by the National Environmental Policy Act. That alone would cost $5 million and take years to complete, and that's just for openers: ODOT's earliest estimates are that the project would cost in the range of $125 million to $150 million and would require decades. That lengthens the odds against the project happening anytime soon, but here's the clincher: It's not as if the state has a pot of money just waiting for communities to line up and receive the cash to pay for these projects. Any proposal for Highway 20 would compete against other requested projects in the region, and this region of the state already has a backlog of $4 billion in other proposals. And that's the rub: The guess here is that those other projects already have gained the support of their communities, and that leaders in those communities consistently have advocated for them for years. A project to widen Highway 20 would have to take its place near the bottom of the list and we'd have to be sure that the mid-valley's political leadership is ready to play a long-term game to make sure the project remains on ODOT's list. First, though, residents need to decide if this is something we even want. If there is support for the project, the next step would be to incorporate it into Benton County's transportation system plan. The county is preparing to update its transportation system plan now, a process county officials said would take about 18 months and would involve considerable community outreach. The commissioners agreed that the question of widening Highway 20 should be part of that discussion. But starting the discussion, as we know in the mid-valley, is a long ways from consensus. The path toward improving Highway 20 looks like a long one. It makes sense to start the journey now. (mm) Tunisia and the NATO are about to complete the plans for the development of a new Tunisian Intelligence Fusion Centre as announced by the Alliance in July 2016. Following the announcement by NATO Secretary-general Jen Stoltenberg, both sides have continued high-level negotiations for establishment of the new centralized intelligence center. The new international body will provide support to Tunisias security services as well as training for Tunisian Special Operation forces. This decisive step towards the completion of the center highlights NATOs increasing interest and operational footprint in the North African country and follows on the 2014 Individual Partnership and Cooperation Program that saw Tunisia and NATO promising cooperation across a range of areas, including border-security, cyber defense as well as the fight against terrorism. The 2015 visit of Tunisian Prime Minister to NATOs headquarters in Brussels further cemented the deal and were followed by regular visits by NATO vessels to Tunisian ports. Both sides have also organized numerous joint naval exercises. The completion of the new Intelligence Fusion Centre is poised to boost Tunisias strategic importance for the Alliance and strengthen NATOs growing presence across North Africa and sub-Saharan countries. There are also assumptions that the planned center will be a NATO base, which Tunisian authorities have denied. However, there are still unanswered questions over the exact command-and-control over the center and whether it will ultimately serve as an intelligence unit belonging to NATO. Since the 2011 Tunisian revolution that gave rise to the so-called Arab Spring, the country has witnessed an increase in militant activity that has killed more than 100 soldiers and police, some 20 civilians and 59 tourists over the past few years. Written by ACM *Strasbourg/Rhenus Hall (Facing EU Parliament)/Angelo Marcopolo/- Today, also for Europe's sake, we Urgently Need to Turn on in France the Best Engine for Action, which is in People's Heart, (Targetted nowadays even by islamist Terrorists) : Pride for their common Culture, Both French and PanEuropean, including Art and Science, but also Humanistic Values, and Refusing to be Undermined by a "Multi-Culti" Sly Trap, stressed with an Inspired Speech in Strasbourg, Fosusing at the Franco-German Core of the EU and uroZone, (more Necessary Today than ever, particularly after the recent BREXIT), a Front-Runner Candidate for the Crucial April-May 2017 Presidential Election, representing the Mainstream Center-Right "Republican" Party and well beyond, Experienced former Prime Minister, Francois Fillon. For that purpose, inter alia, he also Proposed a landmark Franco-German Project, and almost ...Invented a New French Flag, by Calling to Join its Colors with Europe's Stars, before Saluting, Briefly but Warmly, several surprized People, including "Eurofora", (see Infra)... ----------------------------------------- - At an Interesting Introduction, Luc Chatel, Experienced former Minister and currently President of Main Opposition "Republican" Party's National Council, observed the "Change" marked "since Trocadero" March 2017 Meeting in Paris, (where Fillon appealed to the People for Support Facing an Unprecedented series of various Acusations by State Authorities suddenly at the last minute, eve of the crucial 2017 Presidential Election, against the frontrunners of the Right, while, on the Contrary, those of the Left remained all untouched : See, f.ex. : http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/filloncallstofightislamictotalitarism.html , http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/allrightcandidatesinfrenchelectiontargetted.html , etc), and Started speaking on Economy, Following by Politics, but Concluded with Culture : - Particularly Germany, but also the UK, have much Better Results for Economic Growth and against UnEmployment, than OutGoing "Socialist" French President Hollande, and France should Inspire itself by those 2 Big EU Member Countries, "Stopping to always Blame Sarkozy, Merkel, and/or the Global Economy", he urged. + As for the uro, it Helped to Avoid Bankruptcy, while, on the Contrary, eventual Devaluations of a National Currency would, inter alia, also Oblige to Pay much More in order to Reimburse our Debts, the French Politician Warned. - Meanwhile, the "Socialists" are always Trying to Divide the Right, since a Long Time ago, by pushing the "FN" Rightists of Marie Le Pen., he Denounced. But, already, here, in Strasbourg's "Great East" Region's Elections, Back on December 2015, the Socialist Party (which had come 3rd), had Decided to Maintain its List of Candidates even at the 2nd Round, Taking the Risk to let "FN"'s Rightists eventualy Win that Race, he observed. Nevertheless, Fillon has much Better Chances than Macron to Win versus Le Pen, he pleaded. >>> But, Now, it's "the Last Chance for a Revival (a Renaissance)" of France and Europe : A Task for which Macron (Fillon's Center-Left Competitor, a Socialist) lools like "a ... Sorcerer's Apprentice", (by his Young Age and the Fact that he has Not yet participated in any Election), while, on the Contary, "Fillon is Solid, Resilient and Able", as he said for the former Prime Minister. => For that purpose; "the 1st Tool is Culture", i.e. "History, Language, Values, Cartesian Way of Thinking", etc, stressed Chatel (who has also served as a Minister for Education, himself), Reminding, by the way, that "on the 18th Century, Europe spoke French since the Enlightnement", and Fustigating competitor Macron (former Socialist Minister) for having reportedly Claimed that - "There is No such thing as a <>" !... --------------------------------------------- - "Who is going to Deal with USA's Trump, and with Russia's Putin ?", Wondered Philippe Richert, President of Strasbourg's "Great East" Mega-Region, former Minister, and New Head of France's Nation-Wide Union of Regions, pointing also on Fillon's Political Experience, compared with his main Competitors' Lack of it. - "They (the Establishment) Tried to Undermine and Stop him, but he Succeeded to Firmly Hold on, and this Stimulates the People !", added Richert, making a point which really appears to be True, Judging also by the Number, Energy and Vivacity of Popular Applause, whenever was evoked Tonight the Issue of notorious Attempts to Slander Fillon, by Systematicaly Launching more and more Accusations, in order to Push him to Abandon the Electoral race, (See also Infra)... - Because "Fillon is Courageous, and has a Serious Plan" for France and Europe. Otherwise, "If there was No Fillon (in the 2017 French Presidential Election), then, we'd be Condemned to have to choose between the Socialists and the Rightists (FN)", and that would be "a Catastrophe", so that "we Must Strive to Prevent such Risky Adventures", he Warned. - From one Side, they (i.e. the Out-Going "Socialist" Government) have Distanced the French Economy from that of Other European Countries where Things Go Better", f.ex. on "Growth", Employment, etc., and from the Other Side (i.e. that of "FN"'s Rightists) they push towards an "Isolation" of France vis a vis the rest of Europe, which would be "Catastrophic", President Richert Denounced, Urging to Prevent such Dead End, Schyla-Haribdy Dillemas. ------------------------------------------- Fillon : - "Ich Bin Elsascher !"... -------------------------------------------- Surprizing with an unusual : - "Ich Bin ...Elsacher !", ( - "I am an Alsacian !" : Hommage to Strasbourg's Historic Region Alsace), Francois Fillon started by Slaming an Exceptionaly Dangerous, Repeated and Vicious Attack from 2 Sly Aggressors, Striking against him 5 Times in a Row, that he curiously Faced when he Arrived at the Meeting Room, (See full Facts at : ....). - "As you have just Seen, a Few Minutes ago, I am the Target of a Merciless Relentlessness. They make Any Attempt to Discourage me, Even the Most Shabby (Miserable)", he Denounced, Triggering a Strong and Wide Applause, with Cries, by a Lot of Motivated People, with their Combativity obviouysly Stimulated by that Exceptionaly Sly Incident, (See full Facts Infra). - "But I'm Firmly Holding on, Thanks to You !", Fillon replied to the Popular Applause, "Thanking" his Fans "for Your Resistance and your Faithfulness : They Seeked to Silence You (the People), to make you walk in the Shadows. But, Everywhere, throughout our Country, I see Growing this (Popular) Will to be Respected, and to Smash those Claims of Scenarios prepared in Advance", (by some Fake and/or Misleading Polls similar to those which had Faced the New US President Don Trump just Before he Unexpectedly but Brillantly Wins at the Hard-Fought November 2016 US Presidential Election)... - "French People are Free, and, when the Time will come, its Verdict will Surprize !", Fillon pointed out, in this regard, Lively Applauded, before Mentioning most Politicians Present Today in this Strasbourg Meeting, including several MEPs, as, among others, also Alain Le Talec, (former Minister and a Gaullist from Brittany), Anne Santer (from Strasbourg), Nadine Morano (another former Minister and mainstream Center-Right "UMP" Party f. Spokeswoman, from nearby Lorraine), as well as Joseph Daul, currently President of the European People's Party/Christian Democrats, Headquarted in Brussels, and Experienced former Long-Time Chairman of EU Parliament's ChristianDemocrat/EPP Group of MEPs, (etc). ---------------------------------------------- >>> "I came to Strasbourg in order to Speak to you about the Culture that we Share, our Roots, our History, and the Links which Weave our (National and/or European : See Infra) Identity", Fillon anounced from the outset, in his main Speech. - Also Because Here, "at Strasbourg's (Historic) City Council, Rouget de l' Isle sang "the Marseilleuse" (France's National Anthem) for the 1st Time", (inspired by "the Rhine's Army", before it was Transmitted Southwards to Marseilles City, from where Armed People went to Boost the 1789 Revolution in Paris, singing that same Song, which became Famous when they Succeeded to Help Free the Country from the Medieval Regime, towards a Modern Democracy recognizing Basic Human Rights). + And Strasbourg's Central "Square Kleber, reminds that ... Alsace (Region) gave to the Young Republic (of 1789, i.e. during the Century of the Enlightenement) some among its Most Brave Officers, Leading the Armies of Rhine or Moselle", and "Fighting for the National Borders at Valmy, Longwy or Mainz", etc, he recalled, (making also an indirect but unavoidable Link with General Kleber, to whom even German Chancelor Angie Merkel had referred, reminding taht he had Fought, Together with Napoleon, in Egypt, Facing the Ottoman-Turk Empire's attacks, when she made a Symbolic Gift to former Long-Time French President Jacques Chirac, back on 2007 in Berlin, at the Conclusion of an EU Summit, organized during the German EU Presidency and Focused on "Lisbon Treaty"'s Charter of Fundamental Freedoms and Democratic Liberties : Comp. "Eurofora" Co-Founder's NewsReports from the spot, Published then partly at "TCWeekly"+). + But, it's also "Here", that "the Reconciliation of Jewish, Protestant and Catholic (Religious) Communities was (initialy) melted in the Crucible of the Republic", Fillon added. -------------------------------- >>> However, nowadays, "there is a Strange Taboo" : People "doN't Dare, anymore, even pronounce the Words "Nation", "Fatherland", "Roots", "Culture", etc., except, perhaps, by "Lowering their Voice", he Denounced. - Some, "by Ideological Weakness .. or Chlorophorm, have Become so Blind that they even Claim that : - "There is No such Thing as French Culture !", Fillon Criticized, making a Reference to Emmanuel Macron, former Socialist Minister, and one of his Main (Center-Left) Competitors in the present, 2017 French Presidential Election of April/May 2017... + He also Dismissed Rightist "FN" Leader Marine Le Pen's claims against "Globalisation", explaining that "it's Not an ideology, but a Reality", which "Obliges us to Change, in order to remain Competitive", "But, caN't be addressed just by Hidding Behind a "Maginot Line", without Fighting and waiting for a defeat", instead of "Believing", on the Contrary, "that we are a Major Player in the World Today, Able to Have a Say, and with sufficient Arms to Defend ourselves", as he said. >>> But, in Fact, "the Ideology against which I Fight, is More Pernicious : It Pleads for Self-Denial, sometimes even Self-Hatred", and "Sees in Our Culture a Shameful, Dangerous Accessory" : => "It's called <>, in Fact, a Flattening of Culture", Fillon Denounced. (I.e. he brandissed the Same Ideological Arm, as German Chancelor Angie Merkel, former French President Sarkozy, and UK Prime Minister Cameroon, already since 2009-2010, which made them Win the 2009 EU Parliament Elections, as well as the British 2010 and 2015 National Elections, and the 2009 and 2013 German Federal Elections, (Comp. f.ex. Merkel's landmark Speech, at the Beginning of her Electoral Campaign, on August 2013, at Ludwigshafen : See "Eurofora"s NewsReport from the spot at ..., even if that was Forced to be at least partly abandoned, when, later-on, she was Obliged, after December 2013, to Accept a Delicate "CoHabitation" in a "GroKo" with the Socialists, just because of a Strange Disappearance, at the Last Minute of the Electoral Results' counting overNight, of Only 4 MPs, initialy attributed to her ChristianDemocrat/EPP Party, but Afterwards Taken Back)... - "During the Last 35 Years, that Ideology (of "Multi-Culti") Undermines us", and "Makes Feel Guilty those who Felt themselves as Patriots", he criticized. "It makes them believe that Loving their Country would be a kind of Rejection of Others", and "that such a Feeling would be Shameful", while "a Country would be nothing else than an Aggregate of Individuals". => "I do Not want any more of such a Credo ! It makes People Doubt about themselves" and "about the Future of their Nation". It's "an Ideology of Nihilism, which does Not bear Any Collective Progress, but Kills the People's Souls", Fillon slamed "Multi-Culti". + And "How could anyone Integrate himself inside a Country for which some Claim that it would have No Culture (Comp. Supra), and Not any Identity ?", he Wondered. - Both for France and all Europe, "That Claim, which Condemns our Common Heritage, is Irresponsible", he Denounced. >>> - "Worse : It makes of us, a Perfect Prey for Radical Islamism, which has well Understood that this was the "Western World's Weakness", "Its Achilles' Heel". In Fact, "it Abuses of our Humanistic Values, in order to better Deny them. If we sketch the Slightest Reaction, it Cries about Victimization and Discrimination. This Aberration was made Possible by our Cowardice". Because, "when we Retreated in Front of Communautarist Revendications, in the name of a so-called "Right to be Different", we have Betrayed Ourserlves, Betrayed Citizenship, Betrayed Equality, Brotherhood", he Strongly Criticized. => But Now, on the Contrary, "I want to Express the Voice of Miliions of French a.o. People, who are Proud of their Country. Who Want to form a Nation Together. Who Want to Succeed Together" : - "We Must Wake Up, and Protect our Civilisation !", Fillon Urged. - "The two Drifts which Threaten our Civilisation are the Barbary of an Abusive Islam, which has sworn to Ruin us, and Destroys the Gems even of its own Civilisation, Monuments, Libraries, Ancient Millenary Heritage", and "that of a (banalizing) Boredom", he Warned. - But, "Today, the Situation requires from us to Stand Firm against Barbarism, and to Stay Awake against Extremistm's sirens, both those of the Far Right, and of the Far Left, or even that Demagoguery of an "Extreme Centre"... - "We are at a Moment of Truth" : - "I am Alone, among the Candidates in this (Presidential 2017) Electoral Campaign, to Stress that it's Urgent to Speak about History, Transmission of Heritage and Culture" : "Transmission is a Golden Thread running through Generations", "it's to Pass the Torch, from Hand to Hand, and Preserve our Humanity from Obscurantism". It's too Refuse "to Sacrifice the Fate of Future Generations". => Indeed, "one of the Central Issues in this (2017 French Presidential) Election is -<> - "My Reply is to give New Foundations to our Republic, from School, Family, and Culture", Fillon proposed, Strongly Applauded by the People. - "I propose to embody the Nation in a Story", with its concrete Heroes. F.ex.: - "Liberty is Joan of Arc (Historic Leader), Lucie Aubrac and Germaine Tillon (Anti-NAZI Resistants), the General De Gaulle", etc. Equality is Olympe de Gouges, Rousseau (Philosopher), and Julles Ferry !" (Politician and Founder of Educational Policies, with a Succesful Integration). "Brotherhood is Abbe Pierre (Philanthropist), Doctors without Borders", (Humanitarian NGO), etc. I.e., a Nation is composed by its Heroes", he evoked, following France's well known National moto. - But, "we have Lost the Thread of our History, by Forgetting that it has been Incarnated in Men and Women of whom we are Heirs, and who have Buld the Country with their Courage". "Our System of Education Teaches History cut in separate Pieces", while f.ex. the "Chinese Children Learn by Heart the List of Dynasties which have Ruled their Country for 3.000 Years, and Feel Proud of Belonging to a Great Civilisation !", Fillon compared. => In fact, "we Need to ReDiscover our Historic Heritage !", he Urged. For that purpose, We must "SaveGuard ... the Language Learning", the "History Teaching from the Primary School", and "Train Citizens", "Able to adhere to Long Term Political Projects", thanks to "the Story of the Nation, that Schools must Not Abandon", he advised. - Among by Competitors, (in the 2017 French Presidential Election), for the Leftists and/or Rightists, such as Melenchon, Hamon or Le Pen, the Nation is a Groundless Entity, Living in Autarchy, in an Utopian way". - But "for (Center-Left) Macron, the Nation is an Old-Fashioned idea", since "the Future is a Giant Co-Working area", where "Identity is a Straightjacket, Heritage is a Brake", and, f.ex., "the French History is Too Narrow", Opposed to "an Ideology of generalized Movement, Ennemy of anything Permanent", "against even the Idea of a French Culture", he described. - On the Contrary, "Instead of Self-Denial, I propose a Self-Knowledge. Instead of a Negation of Roots, I propose a Shared Memory. Instead of Marketing Emptiness (the Void), I propose to Appropriate a Truth in our Hearts". => So that, "this (2017) Electoral Campaign, should ReEstablish a Broken Link" : Let's "Dive deep in Our Culture and our Knowledge", "inviting to a most Exciting Adventure" : That "of Charles Peguy's project, for a Culture Incorporated into Every Citizen" ! - "For that purpose, we should approach, f.ex., the French Culture, from the Wide Viewpoint of Malreaux, with the Curiosity of Michel Leiris, and the Militant Passion of Albert Camus" : "This Alchemy accompanies a vibrant History", where "Culture Starts when Superstitions, Myths, Customs, get Out of the Dark, Becoming Litterature, Religion, Paintings, Arts, Shows", he suggested. >>> In fact, "Cultures Live, Thrive or Die" : "They Might Disappear", "But they Die mainly because of Barbarism and/or Indifference, as, f.ex., at Palmyra, on 2016", in Syria, notoriously Attecked Twice by ISIL's Deadly and Destructive Islamist Terrorists, (before being Liberated and at least partialy Reestaured by the Syrian and Russian Armies in 2016 and 2017). - But, in Fact, "All those islamists, Even if they might still manage to Destroy that Great Arch of Triumph and Athena's Lion, nevertheless, they won't Never Destroy what that Civilisation brought as Original and Unique" : Since "it's by Being more Unique, that one Becomes more Universal, Because Irreplaceable", Fillon pointed out. + And, "as General De Gaulle used to say : -"Deep inside (Great) Alexander's Victories, we Always Find (the more Ancient Greek Philosopher) Aristote", Because "Great Achievements are Always Fed by an Education, a Memory, and Values which are Guiding the People. Great Cultures stem, First of all, from Peoples' Genius. They are Born there where Geography and History allowed them to Take Roots". - Thus, f.ex., "the Chinese Culture, has Nothing to do with Turkey", Fillon observed, (apparently with a Subtle Sense of Humour)... And "the French Culture is Not Alike the Indian Culture, No more than with the Engishs or Russian". Since "Each one of them is Exceptional, and stems from the Depths of a People". Because "Culture is the Oxygen that we Breath. It's What We Are". - F.ex., "the French Culture is Born out of 20 Centuries of Research" : "What have in Common, Pascal and Voltaire, Hugo and Claudel, Poussin and Manet, Mansart and Le Corbusier ?", he wondered. "They Share that Certainty, which Belongs to French People, to Complete the World by Adding Reason, Justice, Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood" : "Progress originates always from a Heritage, a stock of Knowledge, a Know-How, on which the Following Centuries Take Roots". So that, "whoever does Not Like his Culture, or is indifferent, sill Never become Able to call himself "Modern", he pointed out. => In Consequence, "a French Way to Culture exists, which, If it was Silenced, could Not be Replaced by Anything Else". So that, "Its Survival Concerns us all : We Must Pass on the Land of Richelieu, the Language of Victor Hugo, the Reasoning of Montesquieu, the Vision of Claude Monet, and of All those who have Lived, Loved and Defended the French Vibration", for which "Many Envy us" : - "With our 1.000 Museums, which welcome Twice more Visitors than the Rest of Europe", "our Heritage of 40.000 Churches", "our Castles", our Global (Artistic) Rendez-Vous (such as Cannes and Deauville : Cinema, Avignon and Montpellier : Theater, Arles and Montpelier (etc), while "83 Millions of Foreign Visitors came Last Year (2016) to See our Heritage". + "But our Cultural Model is much More than that : It's also the Belief that Culture must also be a Public Service, which is Taught and Learned, and ... must be Everywhere Accessible to All the People", Fillon added. That's why "I want to Restore our Cultural Policy", "at First through Education", (f.ex., "by Integrating Better the Teaching of Arts .. already from the Nursery School", and "Beter Articulating the History of Art with the General History, during College and Lyceum), But also by "Protecting our Heritage" : "400 Millions per Yea, in order to Restore and Stop Degrading the Monuments and Artworks", he promissed. "Finaly, let's Help the Ministry of Culture to remain the Motor of our Cultural Model, since the considerable Work done during Malraux's times : F.ex., "Local Communities, and Cultural Industries emerged, as well as Patronage, that we must Harmonize and Find an adequate way for Private Cultural Sector, he proposed. - Moreover, "Intellectuals" and "Inspired Minds", belong to "our History", and are "still Needed" in order "to EnLighten" our ways, so that, "those who are Involved in Action, may Rely on those who Observe it and Think about it". - Last, but not least, Fillon also urged tro "Defend the French Language", observing that "on 2030 there will be 600 Millions of French Speaking People accross the Planet", so that Books, Dictionaries and Education should Complete the Roles played, since Centuries, by Explorers, Scientists, Religious People, or Soldiers, etc., in Developing, Defending and Spreading that protective "Wall, LightHouse, Castle and Forum", as he called the Linguistic tool, (pointing at an Issue of Vital Importance also for several Other Important Historic Languages in Europe, whose Model is quite Pluri-Linguistic). --------------------------------------------------------------- - "I am Convinced, Today, that EU's ReVival (Recovery) comes through a Cultural Awareness (Realization, Consciousness)", stressed Fillon. - Because, "We (Europeans) have a common Heritage, which Forges Europe's Soul", (a term that German Chancelor Angie Merkel had used at her landmark Speech, in EU Parliament in Strasbourg, when she Chaired the EU, already as Early as since 2007) : Thus, "Honour our Roots, it's pay Honour to Our European Heritage : Greek and Roman, Ancient and Medieval, Christian : All that Humanist Heritage which enlightened the World", he recalled. - "Our Continent Always was a Prodigious Source of Creation and Knowledge", also with "Millenary Universities, as those of Bologna (Italy), Sorbonne (France), Heidelberg (Germany), etc., which, through their Networks of Intellectuals, Artists, and Scientists Travelling around, have Founded a Land of endless Pioneers, inter-Linking All our National Cultures", Fillon observed. ------------------------- => That's why, inter alia, f.ex., "I proposed to (the German Chancelor) Angela Merkel, to Build here, in Strasbourg, a Franco-German Foundation to remind that (Historic Cultural) Renaissance, (Christian) Reformation, (Moral) Humanism, and (Philosophical) Enlightenment, were Born by Converging Minds and Artists of this (European) Continent", he anounced. "Such a Museum should celebrate this Saga of Many Centuries", "be Alive, with ArtWorks Circulating among Big European Museums", so that "the Message of European Humanism can be supported by the most Eloquent Master-Pieces", "and Radiate from Here : Strasbourg, Capital of Europe and Heir of the Republic of Humanistic Litterature". + Such a Precious Tool could also Become a Vital Source for European Scientific Research, stressed to "Eurofora" Strasbourg University's Communication Professor Hertzel, an Elected MP accompagnying Fillon, who has a Rare Experience as former Senior Official in the French Ministry for Universities and Research, (and even some Long but Real Family Links with the Historic Publisher of World-Famous Science Fiction Writer Jules Verne)... ---------------------- - "That Humanism faced Dire Hardhsips : Twice, during the 20th Century, it Risked to Disappear, and Europe with it". So that, "After the Atrocities of the 1st World War, we had to Re-Think that Humanism, previously thought to be intouchable". But "tyhe 2nd World War's shock was even Worse : After the unlimited Barbary of Auschwitz and Goulag, how was it possible to call itself, anew, as "Humanist" ?". - "However, European Humanism survived from those Death Camps, there where so many Artists, from all Europe, Lost their Lives....On the Ruines of War's Aftermath, Europeans accepted, Together, to ReStart anew to Write Poetry, Play Music, and Create, after having met an Abyss". => So that "I don't know a Bigger Message of Hope from such a ReVival (Rebond) that European Civilisation proved to be Able of", Fillon stressed. And "this Heritage gives us (Europeans) a Huge Responsibility". - Particularly "Today", when "Europe is Threatened to Break Down, to Divide itself", and "faced a serious Economic Crisis", while "it is challenged, Now", also "by a serious Political Crisis", he acknowledged. => Therefore, "if we want for the Next Generation too see in the Blue Stared Banner, something Else than just an ephemerous Perenthesis, we Must Act Fast", he urged. For that Purpose, "the European Nations", as he called EU's Member States, have to play an Important, but Original Role, according to Fillon : - "It's now 60 Years that France Builds Europe side by side with the European Nations", he noted. And "this Construction produced Huge Successes, But revealed also some Obvious Insufficiences" : - In this regard, the Historic Top Political Leader "General De Gaulle had, however, Warned us : - "Each People is Different, with a unique Personality". So that, "If you want for the Nations to Unite themselves, Do Not seek to Integrate them as we Mix ChestNuts in a Puree !"... >>> In Fact, "the European Construction is Made by States, and, First of all, by France and Germany", Fillon firmly stressed Today, Symbolicaly speaking in Strasbourg, Near the Franco-German Borders' central area at the Rhine river, Facing the adjacent EU Parliament and CoE's Buildings, close to Shenghen's Secretariat and "EuroCorps" Army Staff Headquarters, "ARTE" Franco-German RadioTV, etc. => That's why, "Europe's Reality are its Member States, its Nations", and, Nowadays, "the Priority is to resettle (to put Back in Working Order) its Franco-German Motor, which is suffering since 5 Years" (2012-2017), he Urged. - But, "it's True that I am the Only Candidate, in this (2017 Presidential) Electoral Campaign to propose to Revive Europe in a Realistic way", Fillon observed nowadays : - Indeed, "for some, Europe is the Cause of all Evils, an ideal Scape-Goat for our weaknesses and failures : Marine Le Pen (of the Rightist "FN"), Melenchon (of the Left/NeoCommunists), and others, Dream to put an End to 60 Years of Cooperation" in Europe, "But, in view of What ?", he Wondered : - Perhaps, just in order "to Return Back to <>, in front of 7 Billions of Inhabitants in our World ?"... What "they propose" is just "a Foolish Return Back to the Franc currency, to Limit the Weekly Working Hours to 32, the never-ending Deficits ?" And, perhaps, "to Sail Away on a Ship, when our Creditors arrive to Ask what we Owe them ?"... In fact, such an "End of Europe, would not only be a Betrayal of Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman's projects", but almost a Suicide, as "Jumping into the Void" : "The appeal of the Worst", and "Not my Choice". - But, Fillon also Criticized "those who claim to be pro-European, But", in Fact, "do Not want to Change anything". F. ex., "Macron" (the main Socialist/Center-Left Competitor) "proposes to Continue to Dream on Europe", and "Invites the 27" EU Countries "to Dream Together", "in a great "Democratic Convention, for New Foundations", from where, "he Hopes that, One Day, a Project would emerge out of such a great Contemplative Meditation"... But, such "attitudes have Pushed Europe to the Wall !". Since, "5 More Years of Immobility, would Condem Europe for ever", he Warned. >>> Because, in Fact, nowadays, "the World is Waiting for a European Leap Forward !", Fillon urged. => "And it's up to France to Help Boost that move", he Firmly stressed, Pointing, at the Same Time, at the Franco-German EU Motor (Comp. Supra), here, in Strasbourg, where he said to be "Glad to bring that Message at the Capital of Europe", which "didn't have any Bridges over the Rhine, 70 Years Ago", but "Afterwards we Built the <> (Linking France and Germany), while, "just in a Few Days Time, we shall see even the 1st StreetCar Cross the Border up to Kehl's Railway Station", he anounced. - While, "You Know", best of all, "what Europe brought us, and still brings us", (as he said in an Adress to Strasbourg region's People, who have notoriously Suffered by Conflicts and Wars for Generations, but were also the First to Benefit from the Franco-German reconciliation and cooperation during More than Half a Century). >>> But, Now, "there is some Tension at (EU's) Rome Treaty's Anniversary", (Comp. "Eurofora"s NewsReport from the March 2017 EU 27 Heads of State/Government Summit in Rome : ....), since, "for its 60 Years of Age, Europe is Faced with a Choice : ReAct, or Disappear !", he warned. - Pointing at the "BREXIT" and EuroScepticism symptoms, closely Followed by "Bilateral Conflicts, which had Vanished inside the EU, such as about Gibraltar, Scotland", etc., Fillon stressed that "We Must put a full Stop to the Dislocation (Break down) of Europe, the Soonest !". => In Fact, "Europe Needs a fully Determined President in France", and "I am Committed to help ReVive that Initiative which is France's and Germany's Responsibility to undertake, since the BREXIT", he promissed. >>> - "The Europe of the Future must be Political, and Focused on its Strategic Priorities", Fillon Highlighted. - "My Priority is to make uro-Zone a Real Economic Power in the World, Able to ensure its Economic Sovereignity and Prosperity", by "a real Economic Government gathering Heads of State/Government", the "ambitious Aim to ensure Fiscal Convergence among its Members by 2025", and by "Making our Common Currency a Reserve and Payment Currency, as the American Dollar", with which "uro must have the Same Crediblity on the Global Financial stage in Ten Years", i.e. 2027, he anounced. + Meanwhile, Fillon called "for a Europe with Lucidity on its Economic Interests, Daring practice a European Preference for their Defense vis a vis China and USA", in "Trade", which "is the New BattleField of Globalisation", by "equiping us (EU) with New Rules, based on the Principle of Strict Reciprocity". "The European way is Not about lifting Walls, ... but No more about Yielding to a Free-Trade gone Wild, withOut Rules, Neither Checks and balances !". Because "We (EU) have to Defend our Businesses, our SMEs, Jobs and Agriculture", by "Stopping Yielding to Trade Negotiations", and by "Refusing those Free Trade Agreements which are Opposed to the Interests of our (EU) Economies and Jobs", he pointed out, speaking After the recent New US President Don Trump's moves in that area. - At the same time, "We (EU) must be as Strict as the Americans are vis a vis our Businesses, regarding Foreign Multinational Companies operating inside our (Common) Market", as long as "Hundreds of European Businesses are Threatened by American Sanctions absolutely Unjustfied vis a vis the International Law and European Rules", he added, (Citting f.ex., the case of "a French Bankn Fined 9 Billions $ for allegedly breaching the American Laws"). - "This Must Stop !", he urged, calling for the "Adoption of the Necessary (Legal) Tools in order to Enforce our Rules and Procedures, our Requirements and Fiscal Laws, vis a vis all those Multinationals which want to operated in our internal Market", while also "Asking from our (EU) Partners a Rigorous Reciprocity in Public Procurement". Because "it's Unacceptable for Europe to Open up its Public Procurement Markets to 95% of Foreign Businesses, while it's Not the case but Only 30% in the USA", he criticized. - "European Capitalism" built around the river "Rhine, is Singular and Different from the Economic Neo-Liberal Model of the Rest of the World", because "Europe has also a Special Model of Market Economy Based on Markets, But more Respectful of Workers' Social Protection, and of the Environment" : ... "We (EU) are for Freedom, but in a Framework serving the General Interest", Fillon reminded. F.ex., even "Among us", the EU "Directive on Posted Workers", has progressively installed a real Social Dumping between our (EU) Nations", he Denounced, (speaking of a Topical Issue which was Recently examined at EU Parliament in Strasbourg). But, "Within each (EU) Member State, for Equal Work, Wages must be Equal, and Social Contributions as well". So that we (EU)'d have to "Re-Negotiate the whole (EU) Directive on Posted Workers, in order to Enforce that Principle". Otherwise, "We (EU)'d Suspend its Application", he Warned. --------------------------------- + Moreover, Fillon confirmed a "Call to Build a New Union for Security" : "We (EU) have to make a Deep Reshuffle of "Schengen" system's Acquis", and "Unite our Forces in order to Ensure our (EU's) External Borders' Protection", so that "we (EU) can Deal Together with Asylum-Seekers, and Send Back Home those who don't get it". - "Advancing Further, the Cooperation in the Fight against Illegal Immigration must become a Priority for (International) Cooperation" : "It's No more Possible to Ask Europe's Help, and Refuse to Cooperate in the Fight against Illegal Immigration", he stressed. "France and all Europe must Stop Tresspassing, and this makes Necessary to Develop an Immigration Policy based on Quotas", and "a Policy which puts as a Condition for Welfare Benefits to have at least 2 Years of (Legal) presence" here. ++ "Last, but not least, it still remains to Build Europe's Defence". Particularly Now, that "our American Friend is in the process of Closing its Umbrella" : "Are we, or Not, Europeans Ready to Defend ourselves, or Mere Vassals, Consumers, Naive Pacifists, Unable to Protect Peace ?", he wondered. "All Europeans must dedicate to their Defence ... 2% of GDP", and "Ensure their Strategic Autonomy", by "'Maintaining in our Continent a High-Tech Military Industry, rather than systematicaly Buying American or Russian", as well as "Operate Together, when Europeans' Interests converge". "F.ex. in Sahel" : "France canNot Fight always Alone, when it defends, in fact, the Interests of All Europeans". - "Bilateral Cooperations are More Relistic, on such Topics, than the Large-scale Projects by 27" EU Member States", so that, After the "2010 Lancaster House Treaty signed with the UK, we(ll Need to sign also Others, with the Necessary Countries, and obviously Germany : ... The BREXIT, by Taking Out of Europe 1/3 of its Military Capabilities, made Obvious that a New Military Alliance for Defence, able to allow Europe to become Master of its own Destiny, is for France and Germany to build !", he concluded. ------------------------------------------------------ - "But, all this, won't be really Possible, unless France is Strong inside : No European Revival, withOut French ReVival !" => I.e., "a France with its Budget in Order : My Goal is to Cut 100 Billions of Public Expenditure, in 5 Years, to Avoid Bankruptcy". "Free the Economy and Employment", by "Massive Cuts on Businesses' Contributions, by Dropinng the 35 Hours Weekly Work" Limitation, "and making the Labour Market more Flexible, in order to Gain Full Employment". + Also "a France with a Restored Authority for the Republic : I'll restore the Minimum Penalties" for Criminals, "Ill' Modernize our Police and Gendarmes' Forces", etc. --------------------------------------------------------- >>> However, "for Europe's sake, we Need to Turn on, in France, the Best Engine of Action : I.e. what is in Your Heart : ...Pride !" => - "Be Proud ... for our Culture, our History", and "because there is nothing more Noble than a People who Stands up to Seize its Future Destiny". - "Be Proud of Your (National) Flag, and Join its three Colors with Europe's Stars...", Fillon interestingly proposed, in an Artful Symbol, (Comp. f.ex. relevant Photo). - "Let's Make" of French People's "Pride", "a Spark to Light up all the Prides around us" in Europe : "Turn them On, Unite them, Set them in Motion, and, All Together, all those Willing to Act, let's Grow the Lights of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, and We Shall Win !", Fillon optimisticaly urged in conclusion, He was widely Applauded, (before Singing France's National Anthem, and Exchanging with several persons among those present, including some Press and, briefly, "Eurofora", etc., among a lot of People Eager to Meet him, in a generalized but Lively and Sympathetic broo-ha-ha)... (../..) We use cookies and external services on our website. Some are necessary, others enhance your user experience or help us improve this website. You can change your privacy settings any time by clicking privacy policy. Well, since you (the applicant) will have to a) sit the English language assessment tests (IELTS only... PTE is not acceptable as it is in Australia) b) have your academic qualifications assessed (Indian university qualifications are of a lower standard to Canadian qualifications so please do not be surprised if your Bachelor's degree or Masters degree isn't assessed as equivalent to a Canadian Bachelors/Masters) c) gather your work history/references d) get your financial information sorted e) get your criminal records checks done etc., etc., etc. there's very little that an immigration consultant can do for you that you're not going to have to do yourself - basically you do all of the work and hand over a stupid amount of to the consultant while he/she sits on their bottom and offers you "advice" that you could find for yourself [usually for free] on the Internet, if you do lots and lots of looking. We are happy to try to help you here as well... this branch doesn't have the same volume of traffic as the Australia branch but if you ask your question(s), someone should be able to help you (the speed of response isn't guaranteed but someone should come along to reply). Also keep in mind that there is no way that an immigration advisor anywhere can get you a job in Canada or an interview for a job in Canada... it doesn't work that way in Canada (employers want to review an applicant's CV first before offering an interview and, unless you have a skill set that isn't readily available in Canada, an interview is held before a job is offered) and if they say that they can, my advice to you is to run away - the consultant just wants your hard earned . Ultimately, the choice to go with an advisor or go it alone is yours. The fraud trial of San Antonio entrepreneur Brian Alfaro ended Tuesday after his lawyers chose not to mount a defense against investors claims that they were defrauded. Alfaro attorney Patrick Schurr said after court Tuesday that it was a tactical decision not to call any witnesses to testify on behalf of Alfaro, his companies and other defendants. Schurr declined to elaborate on the strategy. A group of 28 investors sued Alfaro for $44 million in damages, saying he operated a Ponzi scheme and used their money to fund a lavish lifestyle that included expensive homes and pricey automobiles. Alfaro has disputed the allegations. The damages are triple the amount the group collectively invested and lost in Alfaros Primera Energy, an oil and gas company. The case will be decided by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Craig Gargotta instead of a jury, and it may take weeks before he issues a verdict. The judge has given both sides the opportunity to present written closing arguments, which probably wont be submitted until late May or June. The investors originally sued Alfaro and his companies in Bexar County district court, but the case was transferred to bankruptcy court in San Antonio after Primera filed for Chapter 11 in June 2015. After the investors lawyers rested their case Tuesday, the civil trials sixth day, Alfaro lawyer James Pikl asked the judge to issue a judgment for Alfaro, Primeras founder and former president, and the other defendants. Pikl said the investors lawsuit has been frivolous from the beginning. The lawsuit was brought in bad faith to harass Mr. Alfaro and for no other reason, Pikl said. Its time to end this travesty before more time and resources are wasted. Among other arguments, he said the evidence presented during the trial shows the money paid by the investors to Primera became Primeras money. All of the arguments about the investor money being used by people to buy cars and things like that is false, Pikl said. In fact, Mr. Alfaro himself testified, without contradiction, that he never received a dime from any of the investors. Mr. Alfaro, instead, was paid by Primera with Primeras money. The investors got what they paid Primera for working interests in oil and gas wells, Pikl said. Pikl said if there were any overpayments to Alfaro emphasizing that he wasnt saying there were those legal claims would be held by Primera and not the investors. Lawrence Morales II, a lawyer for the investors, disputed the notion that Alfaro the individual can be separated from Alfaro as president of Primera. Every day nearly, hes draining money out of this company knowing that its incurring millions and millions of dollars of obligations, Morales said. Yet he seems not to take any responsibility for it whatsoever. Alfaro took $5.5 million in compensation from 2013 to through 2014 and at least 90 percent of it came from investors, Morales said. He added that many of the plaintiffs suing Alfaro are 75 or older. Older people, unfortunately are preyed on by people who want to take advantage of them, Morales said. I dont think its any coincidence that Mr. Alfaros client base is largely elderly. Gargotta denied Pikls motion. He then asked Alfaros lawyers if they were ready to put on their case. Voter Guide: What to know for the midterm election Your guide to the Texas and San Antonio races and candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot. The defendants rest, your honor, Schurr replied. pdanner@express-news.net Twitter: @AlamoPD This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SHANGHAI On April 6, Ivanka Trumps company won provisional approval from the Chinese government for three new trademarks, giving it monopoly rights to sell Ivanka brand jewelry, bags and spa services in the worlds second-largest economy. That night, the first daughter and her husband, Jared Kushner, sat next to the president of China and his wife for a steak and Dover sole dinner at Mar-a-Lago. The scenario underscores how difficult it is for Trump, who has tried to distance herself from the brand that bears her name, to separate business from politics in her new position at the White House. As the first daughter crafts a political career from her West Wing office, her brand is flourishing, despite boycotts and several stores limiting her merchandise. U.S. imports, almost all of them from China, shot up an estimated 166 percent last year, while sales hit record levels in 2017. The brand, which Trump still owns, says distribution is growing. It has launched new activewear and affordable jewelry lines and is working to expand its global intellectual property footprint. In addition to winning the approvals from China, Ivanka Trump Marks LLC applied for at least nine new trademarks in the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Canada and the U.S. after the election. The commercial currents of the Trump White House are unprecedented in modern American politics, ethics lawyers say. They have created an unfamiliar landscape riven with ethical pitfalls, and forced consumers and retailers to wrestle with the unlikely passions now inspired by Ivanka Trumps midmarket collection of ruffled blouses, shifts and wedges. More Information Retailers and Ivanka Trump Retailers are doing a delicate dance when it comes to handling the Ivanka Trump brand. Here's a list of some of the retailers who carry the brand and those who have scaled back or dropped the label: Amazon: Carries a diverse assortment of products. Buy Buy Baby: The baby accessories chain owned by Bed, Bath & Beyond says it will carry Ivanka Trump baby products in some stores where justified by demand. The products including diaper bags have disappeared from its online site. Belk Inc.: Carries Ivanka Trump products in its stores but no longer online. Burlington Coat Factory: Quietly removed Ivanka Trump products on its website in February but still carries them in its stores. Dillard's: Carries clothes and accessories. Lord & Taylor: Carries clothes, shoes and other accessories. Macy's Inc.: Both Macy's and Bloomingdale's carry clothes, shoes and other accessories. Neiman Marcus: No longer carries Ivanka Trump high-end jewelry collection because the brand has phased out the line in favor of a more affordable collection. Nordstrom Inc.: Will no longer carry the brand's clothing and accessories after the spring selling period because it says sales had declined. Perfumania: Carries Ivanka Trump fragrances. Saks Off Fifth: Quietly eliminated its products online but still carries items in stores. TJX Cos.: Continues to offer Ivanka Trump merchandise at T.J. Maxx and Marshalls stores, but has said it's mixing up the brand with other labels on the racks. Zappos.com: Carries handbags, shoes and other accessories. Ivanka Inc. goes to D.C.: A timeline July 20: Ivanka Trump forms four new companies in Delaware to handle licensing contracts for baby products and costume jewelry. July 21: Donald Trump accepts Republican nomination for president. July 22: "Shop Ivanka's look from her #RNC speech," @IvankaTrump tweets, along with a link to her collection's $138 blush sheath dress at Macy's online. Sept. 29: Her company announces two new licensing agreements, for affordable fashion jewelry and baby accessories. Nov. 8: Donald Trump wins the election. Sales of Ivanka merchandise on Lyst.com, a large e-commerce platform, bump 46 percent higher for the month. Nov. 13: Ivanka Trump appears on "60 Minutes" to discuss her father's electoral win. Her jewelry company emails a "style alert" to reporters noting that she wore one of her "favorite" bangles, a $10,800 bracelet from her own collection, on the show. Ensuing criticism prompts the brand to apologize. Dec. 4: The New York Times reports that Ivanka Trump sat in on a meeting with her father and the prime minister of Japan, as her company negotiated a licensing deal with a firm the Japanese government owned a large stake in. The deal was put on hold, according to Abigail Klem, who now runs Ivanka Trump's brand. Dec. 27: Ivanka Trump Marks LLC applies for five new trademarks covering purses, wallets and other leather goods in Puerto Rico, and clothing, including swimsuits and lingerie in the U.S., public records show. Jan. 11: Ivanka Trump announces she will take a "formal leave of absence" from executive positions at the Trump Organization and her lifestyle brand. Jan. 20: Donald Trump becomes the 45th president of the United States. Feb. 8: Ivanka Trump's company applies for two more clothing trademarks in the Philippines, where it already holds three marks, according to the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines. Feb. 9: Speaking on the morning show "Fox and Friends," White House counselor Kellyanne Conway encourages viewers to, "go buy Ivanka's stuff," boasting about giving the brand "a free commercial." It apparently worked, sparking a 771 percent surge in the brand's sales that month on Lyst.com over February 2016. The White House later "counseled" Conway for inappropriately promoting the brand. Feb. 13: Ivanka Trump meets with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the White House. Feb. 20: Ivanka Trump Marks wins preliminary approval for a trademark covering branded leather handbags in China, where the company has 52 pending or registered trademarks listed in the government trademark database. Feb. 22: Ivanka Trump Marks applies for another trademark, covering perfume, among other things, in Canada, where it holds 22 pending or registered marks, according to the Canadian Intellectual Property Office. March 1: Ivanka Trump Marks applies for another new trademark in the Philippines, covering clothes and shoes. March 3: Ivanka Trump is photographed disembarking from Air Force One in a stripe asymmetrical skirt from her own collection, available on Lyst.com for $45. March 29: Ivanka Trump joins her father's administration as an unpaid employee. April 6: Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, sit next to Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, at a state dinner at Mar-a-Lago. That same day, China grants her company preliminary approval for three trademarks that confer monopoly rights to sell Ivanka brand jewelry, bags and spa services in the world's second-largest economy. See More Collapse Using the prestige of government service to build a brand is not illegal. But criminal conflict of interest law prohibits federal officials, including Trump and her husband, from participating in government matters that could affect their own financial interest or that of their spouse. Some argue that the more her business broadens its scope, the more it threatens to encroach on the ability of two trusted advisers to deliver credible counsel to the president on core issues including trade, intellectual property and the value of the Chinese currency. Put the business on hold and stop trying to get trademarks while youre in government, advised Richard Painter, who served as chief White House ethics lawyer under George W. Bush. To address ethical concerns, Trump has shifted the brands assets to a family-run trust valued at more than $50 million and pledged to recuse herself from issues that present conflicts. She is also no longer running her design business and has given day-to-day responsibility to Abigail Klem, president of the brand. Meanwhile, her husband has taken steps to distance himself from his sprawling New York real estate business, divesting some of his business interests including his stake in a major Fifth Avenue skyscraper. Ivanka will not weigh in on business strategy, marketing issues, or the commercial terms of agreements, her attorney, Jamie Gorelick, said in a statement. She has retained authority to direct the trustees to terminate agreements that she determines create a conflict of interest or the appearance of one. In a recent interview with CBS News, Trump argued that her business would be doing even better if she hadnt moved to Washington and placed restrictions on her team to ensure that any growth is done with extreme caution. China, however, remains a nagging concern. Ivanka has so many China ties and conflicts, yet she and Jared appear deeply involved in China contacts and policy. I would never have allowed it, said Norman Eisen, who served as chief White House ethics lawyer under Barack Obama. For their own sake, and the countrys, Ivanka and Jared should consider stepping away from China matters. Instead, the first daughter and her husband have emerged as prominent interlocutors with China, where they have both had significant business ties. Last year, Kushner pursued hundreds of millions of dollars in real estate investments from Anbang Insurance Group, a financial conglomerate with close ties to the Chinese state. After media reports about the deal, talks were called off. Publicly, Trump has taken a gracious, charming approach toward Beijing. During the Mar-a-Lago meetings, her daughter, 5-year-old Arabella stood in a gilded room and sang a traditional Chinese song, in Mandarin, for Chinas president, Xi Jinping. The video, which was lavishly praised by Chinese state media, played over 2.2 million times on Chinas popular news portal qq.com. The week of the summit, 3.4 tons of Trump handbags, wallets and blouses arrived in the U.S. from Hong Kong and Shanghai. U.S. imports of her merchandise grew an estimated 40 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to Panjiva Inc., which maintains and analyzes global shipping records. Painter, the former Bush administration lawyer, recommended full recusal from issues related to trade with China. That is likely to be difficult because trade is so deeply embedded in the U.S.-China relationship and has been linked with other matters, including North Korea. The danger is that with any discussion with the Chinese, one party or the other may try to bring up trade, he said. Thats a slippery slope that may require her or Jared to step out of the room. Gorelick, Trumps attorney, said Trump and her husband would steer clear of specific areas that could affect her business, or be seen as conflicts of interest, but are under no legal obligation to step back from huge swaths of policy, including trade with China. Under the rules, Trump would recuse herself from conversations about duties on clothing imported from China, Gorelick said, but not broad foreign policy. In between, you have to assess it case-by-case, she said. Trademarks can be signs of corporate ambition, though many countries such as China, where trademark squatting is rampant also allow for defensive filings to prevent copycats from using a brand. Trademarks pose ethical, and possibly legal, implications for government employees because they are granted by foreign states and confer the monopoly right to sell branded product in a particular country an entitlement that can be enormously valuable. Intellectual property lawyers say trademarks are also a crucial prerequisite for cutting licensing deals, which form the basis of both Ivankas and Donald Trumps global business strategy. The brand has filed, updated, and rigorously protected its international trademarks over the past several years in the normal course of business, especially in regions where trademark infringement is rampant, said Klem in a statement. 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. Today, Ivanka Trump Marks LLC has 16 registered trademarks in China and 32 pending applications, along with a total of four marks granted preliminary approval since the inauguration, according to Chinas Trademark Office. Altogether, they cover a wide range of goods and services, including cosmetics, jewelry, leather handbags, luggage, clothes, shoes, retail, and spa and beauty services. There is no sign the recent approvals were particularly swift. Chinas Trademark Office did not respond to a request for comment. Globally, the company has more than 180 pending and registered trademarks in countries including Canada, India, Japan, Israel, Mexico, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, as well as the U.S. and Europe, public records show. In December, the company applied for five trademarks, covering handbags and wallets in Puerto Rico, and lingerie and other clothes in the U.S. After the inauguration, the company filed four more applications, for branded clothing and shoes in the Philippines, and perfume and other items in Canada. Ivanka Trump did not sign off on the new trademark applications, her brand said in a statement, adding that they are not necessarily an indication that the brand is planning to launch a category or a store in a specific territory. Whatever the future plans, right now sales are growing helped, some argue, by the glow of Ivanka Trumps political rise. The G-III Apparel Group Ltd., which makes Ivanka Trump clothes, said net sales for the collection increased by $17.9 million during the year that ended Jan. 31. The overall brand itself says revenues rose 21 percent last year, with early February seeing some of the best performance ever, according to a statement by Klem. Because it is privately held, the brand does not have to declare its earnings or where revenues come from. The actual corporate structure of Ivanka Trumps retail business remains opaque. Kushners financial disclosure form lists two dozen corporate entities that appear directly related to his wifes brand. Ivankd Trump herself has yet to file a disclosure. Data from Lyst, a massive fashion e-commerce platform, indicates some of this growth coincided with specific political events. The number of Ivanka Trump items sold through Lyst was 46 percent higher the month her father was elected president than in November 2015. Sales spiked 771 percent in February over the same month last year, after White House counselor Kellyanne Conway exhorted Fox viewers to Go buy Ivankas stuff. Conway was later reprimanded. The bounce appears somewhat sustained. March sales on Lyst were up 262 percent over the same period last year. You cant separate Ivanka from her role in life and from her business, said Allen Adamson, founder of BrandSimpleConsulting. Her celebrity status is now not only being fueled by her wealth and her family connection, but by her huge role in the White House. All that buzz is hardwired to her products. That, he added, is a competitive advantage other brands just cant match though it does come with risk. Things could easily cut the other way for the first daughter. Ashley King, 28 of Calabasas, California, bought Ivanka Trump black flats and a cardigan several years ago. But King, who voted for Hillary Clinton, said she believes Ivanka Trumps role in the White House represents a conflict of interest. This is bothering me more and more, she said. As for the Ivanka Trump items in her closet, she said, I will be donating them. Ten people are running for City Council in District 9, which covers the fast-growing North-Central Side, where traffic control, neighborhoods, property crime prevention and preservation of park space are among the major issues. The incumbent, Joe Krier, who was appointed in 2013 and elected in 2014, is not seeking re-election. Marco Barros has been president/CEO of the San Antonio Area Tourism Council, a private enterprise dedicated to enhancing opportunities in the local visitor industry, for nearly 20 years. In 2015, Barros was elected chairman of the San Antonio Airport Advisory Commission, which advises the city on aviation issues. His campaign platform has included improved traffic-signal synchronization, better planning for growth, increased maintenance of aging streets and infrastructure, and expansion of park space. He also has emphasized fiscal responsibility and enhancements in public safety. Bert T. Cecconi, who has made unsuccessful past bids for City Council, has stated in a recent mailer that he would advocate use of Texas 130, a toll-road from Austin to Seguin that has struggled financially, as a toll-free highway for trucks only, as a means to reduce traffic on Interstate 35. He has said the city should delay all proposed annexations until all council districts are adequately served. He also supports expanding the number of council districts, and moving city elections from odd to even years, to save election costs. More Information District 9 candidates John Courage Age: 66 Occupation: Educator Education: Bachelor's in American Studies at UTSA Family: Married, four children Elected or appointed service: Alamo Colleges board David "Doc" Cohen Age: 70 Occupation: Physician Education: MD degree, Washington University, St. Louis Family: Married with five sons, one grandson Patty Gibbons Age: 57 Occupation: President of survey and map company Education: Graduate of Woodbridge High School in Ohio Family: Married with six grown children, five grandchildren Elected or appointed service: San Antonio Housing Trust, 2017 Bond Advisory Committee Lynlie Marie Wallace Age: 33 Occupation: Chief of Staff for State Rep. Lyle Larson Education: Bachelor's in government from Angelo State University Matthew Sean Pina Age: 30 Occupation: Inside sales Education: Bachelor's and master's degrees in political science from UTSA Marco A. Barros Age: 59 Occupation: President/CEO, San Antonio Tourism Council Education: Bachelor's in journalism Family: Married with two sons, one granddaughter Patrick Von Dohlen Age: 47 Occupation: business owner Education: Bachelor's from Texas A&M University Family: Married with nine children Adam Goodman Age: 40 Occupation: Managing partner Bert T. Cecconi Age: 81 Occupation: Air Force colonel, retired Education: Doctor of Dental Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Family: Married, three children, five grandchildren Sandra Martinez-Deyarmond Age: 43 Occupation: Mental health clinician Education: Bachelor's in political science; master's in marriage and family therapy Family: Married, two sons See More Collapse David Doc Cohen has touted his background in the military, health care, state disaster planning with the Texas State Guard and involvement with local universities as experience that would benefit the district. His campaign has emphasized public health and safety, job creation, school district consolidations in Bexar County and efforts to hold down taxes and utility rates. He believes that toll roads do not alleviate traffic congestion and are unfair in punishing some residents with tolls while other residents live and work in toll free areas. John Courage, a former trustee of the Alamo Colleges District board, has emphasized public safety, transportation, infrastructure maintenance, neighborhoods and education in his campaign. His website mentions continued efforts to reduce euthanasia of stray cats and dogs, without spending more, by working with nonprofit groups. If elected, Courage has said he will would advocate: bringing the police department to full strength; better coordination between the city and local utilities, to avoid damage to newly repaved streets; creation of a citywide education foundation; and preservation of green space. Patty Gibbons, president of Gibbons Surveying & Mapping Inc., a company she started with her husband in 1991, has been active in local conservative politics for more than 30 years. On her campaign website, Gibbons has focused on public safety in local neighborhoods and on the streets; proper planning of new subdivisions to provide adequate access and minimize future traffic congestion; responsible spending through funding priorities, based on constituency input; and better communication, to connect people of different religious backgrounds and help seniors and families that have fallen on hard times. Adam Goodman, who listed his occupation on filing forms as a managing partner, did not respond to requests from the Express-News seeking information and a photograph. He ran an unsuccessful race for City Council District 8 in 2015. Sandra Martinez-Deyarmond, a former legislative aide for state Sen. Leticia Van De Putte, has touted her experience as state parole officer and Child Protective Service investigator. Martinez-Deyarmond, a licensed professional counselor, has been a political activist for over a decade, with a focus on domestic violence, criminal justice and mental health. She ran unsuccessfully for District 2 in 2004, and after the tragic fatal shooing at Fort Hood in 2009 focused her efforts on studying marriage and family therapy. Her campaign website calls for better law enforcement, careful spending and minimizing tax burdens. Matt Pina said he has pretty much had it with the status quo politics. According to his campaign website, Pina would cast a skeptical eye on any project that cannot be justified through cost/benefit analysis, and would focus, if elected, on economic growth, transportation, public safety and careful planning to meet future water and energy needs. He believes the citys current policy of aggressive annexation, which seeks short-term tax revenue growth at the expense of long-term unfunded liabilities for maintaining these new areas, is not in our best interest, the site states. Patrick Von Dohlen lists, as the first issue on his campaign website, accountability and transparency. He touts a record of having worked to ensure taxpayers had a voice in matters and protecting property owners from unfair zoning practices that benefited special interests. He also lists fiscal responsibility, infrastructure and public safety as key concerns. When I am elected, I am committed to continue similar efforts to make it easier for voters to keep checks and balances on their representatives, Von Dohlen said in his campaign material. Lynlie Wallace, chief of staff to state Rep. Lyle Larson, who represents a large portion of northern Bexar County in the Legislature, faces a legal challenge from Von Dohlen regarding her residency in the district. Along with fiscal discipline, workforce development, transportation and law enforcement, Wallace has discussed her hopes of creating a simplified regulatory environment, by eliminating regulatory impediments that keep businesses from thriving. She also has touted efforts to reduce reliance on the Edwards Aquifer for drinking-quality water, calling the Vista Ridge pipeline a forward-looking project that secures water we will need in the future at todays cost, according to her campaign website. shuddleston@express-news.net Twitter: @shuddlestonSA This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate As travelers streamed through Terminal B at the San Antonio International Airport on Wednesday, Claudette Casiano and Henry Lee Parrilla greeted them with a bossa nova beat and a Happy Fiesta! The two were among the numerous musical acts that are part of the airport's 2017 Fiesta Musical Festival, which offers mariachis, dancers, artists and other entertainers in both terminals through Friday. Fiesta is an important part of San Antonios culture, so we want passengers to get a taste of the party as they arrive or depart our beautiful city, said Russ Handy, the citys aviation director. Spokeswoman Tonya Hope said this is the first year the airport has included more than bands at their Fiesta event, which gives travelers a glimpse of the citys largest extravaganza of the year. The 11-day festival that commemorates the heroes of the Alamo and the Battle of San Jacinto. with 110 events takes place across the city, featuring food, music, sports, royalty galore, military pageantry and patriotic observances. Fiesta events are sponsored by more than 100 area nonprofits and military units. Fiesta Fiesta, HeART in the Park, is the official kickoff event, set to begin at 5 p.m. today at Hemisfair, concluding with fireworks from the Tower of the Americas at 8:50 p.m. Previously, the opening event has been in front of the Alamo, but organizers said it has outgrow that space. At Fiesta Fiesta, there will be appearances by Fiesta royalty and 100 vendors at Pin Pandemonium, where guests can buy, give away and trade coveted Fiesta medals. Local artists will create live art pieces that will be available to buy at the end of the event. And then theres the fun Peoples Parade, with journalist and fashion guru Michael Quintanilla leading the pack of revelers as grand marshal. Back at the airport, the featured entertainers are happy to participate. San Antonio is our hometown, Casiano said. Both of us want to give back, be part of our roots and entertain the city that we love. The sound of Casianos violin, Parillas keyboard and their blended voices drew travelers from the upstairs terminal. Delia Pettway, 55, was looking for a place to rest before catching a flight back to Seattle, Washington, when she heard the music. She followed the tunes to the baggage area, where she swayed and nodded her head to the rhythm. San Antonio really knows how to do it, she said. It takes a load off after a long travel and lightens things up. vtdavis@express-news.net WASHINGTON Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said Tuesday that lawmakers and other critics of President Donald Trumps aggressive new deportation policies should change the nations immigration laws or shut up. If lawmakers do not like the laws that we enforce, that we are charged to enforce, that we are sworn to enforce then they should have the courage and skill to change those laws, Kelly said. Otherwise they should shut up and support the men and women on the front lines. In a combative speech, his first since Trump picked him to lead the nations immigration and border security forces, Kelly painted a picture of a disheartened department facing a dangerous world. Make no mistake, he said, we are a nation under attack. The speech, highlighting the dangers of transnational criminal organizations, homegrown terrorism, cyber attacks and drugs, came as he and Attorney General Jeff Sessions prepare for a trip to the Mexican border Thursday in El Paso. Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general, said he inherited a workforce demoralized by the politics of the immigration debate. For too long, the men and women of my department have been political pawns, he said. They have been asked to do more with less, and less, and less. Speaking to an audience of diplomatic and national security officials at The George Washington University, Kelly said immigration and border patrol agents have been caught up in the nations conflicting strains on illegal immigration. In many ways similar to the treatment suffered by law enforcement over the last few years, they are often ridiculed and insulted by public officials, and frequently convicted in the court of public opinion on unfounded allegations testified to by street lawyers and street spokespersons, he said. My people have been discouraged from doing their jobs for nearly a decade, disabled by pointless bureaucracy and political meddling, and suffered disrespect and contempt by public officials who have no idea what it means to serve. He praised Trump for turning that around. All of this stopped on January 20, he said. It stopped with President Trump. It stopped with me. Kelly also credited the administrations aggressive new enforcement posture for a dramatic reduction in illegal border crossings. While Kelly has previously said that immigration officers are not targeting those without criminal records, the administration has come under increasing criticism for recent immigration raids that have netted people with no known criminal violations. Kellys remarks came as over 700 prominent clergy have signed a nationwide open letter from Faith in Public Life urging him to stop the deportation of Maribel Trujillo Diaz, an Ohio mother of four U.S. citizens who is scheduled to be deported on Wednesday. Houston activists also have highlighted the case of Jose Escobar, a father of two from Pearland who was detained after reporting for an immigration appointment in February and sent back to El Salvador, a country he left as a teenager. Christina Sisk, an immigration scholar at the University of Houston, said that Trumps strict adherence to federal immigration statues could create further social, domestic, and local law enforcement problems, particularly in Houston, which she called the deportation capital of the U.S. Theres a broad consensus that immigration reform is necessary, but its not going to happen anytime soon, because the country is in the middle of a culture war, she said. A recent Washington Post analysis found that Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests of non-criminals have doubled under Trump, even as border arrests have declined sharply. Donald Trump talks about going after the bad hombres, said Frank Sharry, executive director of Americas Voice Education Fund. But the evidence and stories from across the country tell a very different story. This administration is purposefully targeting formerly low priority undocumented immigrants who are deeply rooted in American families and American communities. Sharry also took aim at Kellys admonishment of administration critics: We live in a democracy, Secretary Kelly. We pay our taxes, our taxes pay your salary, and you are accountable to the people who make up our nation. Telling us to shut up and support the men and women on the front lines is not how it works, even in the Trump era. Trumps policies are a departure from those of former President Barack Obama, who gradually focused enforcement efforts on criminals and gang members. According to the Migration Policy Institute, he continued the Bush era growth in the number of Border Patrol agents, but presided over a slowdown in the number of deportations. Some analysts said the drop in deportations reflected a historic slowdown in illegal immigration, a trend that appears to be continuing under Trump. While some immigration rights activists still dubbed Obama the deporter in chief, he was attacked on the right for offering temporary legalization to Dreamers immigrants who were brought into the country illegally as children. Since Trumps Jan. 25 order mandating strict enforcement of immigration laws, arrests of illegal border crossers have shown a markedly downward trend, particularly in the Rio Grande Valley. The Customs and Border Protection department has reported a sharp decline in the number of people apprehended along the entire Southwest border, as well as a decrease in those found inadmissible at ports of entry. In March, 16,600 people were arrested or deemed inadmissible, a 30 percent decrease from February, and a 64 percent decrease from the same month last year. Kelly suggested that the public listen to the official version of events, rather than the critics: We will never apologize for enforcing and upholding the law, he said. We will never apologize for carrying out our mission. Kelly also took an indirect swipe at the past enforcement policies, noting that the Homeland Security workforce Obama left behind was rated as having the lowest morale in the U.S. government. Our DHS folks who enforce these lawsprimarily ICE and CBPknow they have a job to do, are trained to do it, and are doing it humanely, and in accordance with the laws as passed by the U.S. Congress, Kelly said. These dedicated and selfless men and women have the knowledge, the training, and the resources, andand this is a big onethey know that they have an administration and a department that have their back. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Before the railroad first arrived on Feb. 16, 1877, San Antonio was the last major city in the United States without train service. Even San Francisco, on the West Coast, had been connected to the rest of the country since completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869. But if the city was late getting rail service, it wasnt for lack of trying. Its often said that freight companies which were the long-haul truckers of their day conspired to keep the railroads out of San Antonio, according to Hugh Hemphill, general manager of the Texas Transportation Museum and author of The Railroads of San Antonio and South Central Texas. But thats a myth, he said. The reality is much more interesting. After Texas declared its independence in 1836, the Gulf Coast, connected to the rest of the world by ship, boomed. Meanwhile, San Antonio, far inland and still on the edge of the wild frontier, was becoming increasingly isolated. Without any native industry, there was no obvious reason to connect it to the rail lines that were spreading, like spider webs, across the country. To gain a lifeline to the outside world, city and county leaders in 1850 decided to spend a total of $100,000 to invest in a 130-mile rail line planned to connect San Antonio to the Gulf Coast cities of Indianola and Port Lavaca. It was to be called the San Antonio and Mexican Gulf Railroad. This was how things were done in those days, Hemphill explained. To get rail services, most cities had to pay railroads to build tracks to connect them to other rail lines. Tracks had reached only to Victoria by the time the Civil War broke out 11 years later, halting the work and bankrupting the rail company. In fact, the Confederate government later pulled up the tracks, fearing the Union Army would use them in an invasion of Texas. Badly burned, city leaders sued to get their money back. Their suit was unsuccessful and so, for the next few years, the idea of investing in a rail line was anathema to those in charge. At least until the city of Austin, chosen as the new states capital, scored a railroad connection in 1871. Soon after, the U.S. Army, based in San Antonio since the citys earliest days, decided to decamp to Austin and its superior railroad connections. Chastened, the city approached the recently bankrupted Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railroad and offered $500,000 to extend its tracks, which reached almost halfway from Houston to San Antonio, the rest of the way. When the first passenger train of the renamed Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railroad arrived in San Antonio in 1877, it was met by a crowd estimated at about 8,000 people half the citys population at the time. In the meantime, to lure the Army back, the city offered a huge tract of land that eventually became Kelly Field, later Kelly AFB. The Army brass declined the offer, saying theyre rather have land near where the GH&SA, slowly making its way west to the city, would have its terminus. And thats why Fort Sam Houston has been an Army post since soon after the railroad arrived. In January 1881, a second rail line, the International & Great Northern, arrived in San Antonio and, within a year, its tracks had reached Laredo. At about the same time, the GH&SA line, which had been purchased by the Southern Pacific, began building tracks westward, and in 1883 connected with a line being built from the west. Its difficult to overstate the effect the arrival of railroads had on the development of San Antonio. By 1900 everything was different, Hemphill wrote in The Railroads of San Antonio and South Central Texas. The railroads had transformed Texas. Tracks radiated out from San Antonio to Houston and New Orleans, Corpus Christi, Laredo, El Paso and all the way west to Los Angeles, Kerrville, Austin, Fort Worth, Dallas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas and Missouri. San Antonio truly became the crossroads of America, he said. The railroads arrival was met with all the hype and enthusiasm of a presidential visit. With her railroad in operation, crowed the Feb. 20, 1877, Daily Express, a precursor to the Express-News, San Antonio can now take a position in the great family of first-class cities of the American continent, and more grandly on to that greatness and prosperity that could never have been reached without the aid of the iron horse. Prior to this time, San Antonios population never exceeded 20,000. Within three years it had reached 31,000. And by the turn of the century, 54,000. The railroad turned San Antonio into a modern city, Hemphill said. Within a year of the railroads arrival, the city had a horse-drawn trolley system. Clay pipes shipped in on trains meant the city could build its first-ever underground sewage system. Now that building materials such as concrete, brick, iron, steel and glass could be delivered by rail, construction of multi-story buildings boomed, including the Joskes department store built in Alamo Plaza in 1888. Indeed, on Feb. 16, 1877, the Daily Express reported that a Maj. Kampmann had the honor of receiving the first car load of freight over the new railroad, some 5,000 feet of lumber. People could buy merchandise from the Sears catalog and it would be delivered cheaply by train, Hemphill said. Now they could wear fashionable clothing, like hats and shoes, so they didnt look like rubes living on the edge of the frontier. Also with the railroad came tourists, who could stay in the brand-new hotels and eat in the fancy new restaurants being built. And the railroads influence is still being felt. Most of the lines originally laid down during those early days are still in use and Toyota decided to build its factory on the South Side of San Antonio in part because it could ship in parts and ship out completed cars via rail. Following a series of tragic accidents in the early years of the 21st century, Union Pacific, which through a series of mergers and acquisitions over the years became the dominant freight carrier in the area, opened a state-of-the-art, $100 million freight yard on the Southwest Side in 2009. Unless you live near the tracks or get stuck at a grade crossing watching a freight train pass by, to most people the railroad in San Antonio is all but invisible, said Hemphill. But without the railroads, the San Antonio we know today couldnt exist. NOTE: This story has been updated to correct Hugh Hemphills name. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Despite President Donald Trumps push to reduce immigration and deport millions of immigrants here illegally, a majority of Texans believe immigration helps the state more than it hurts, oppose a plan to build a border wall and favor a pathway to citizenship if certain conditions are met. In fact, a whopping 90 percent support allowing immigrants here illegally to become citizens after a long waiting period, payment of taxes and a penalty, passing a criminal background check and showing English proficiency, according to a poll released Tuesday. It was one of the polls few policy areas that captured an equal share of Republican and Democrat support. The annual statewide survey by the Texas Lyceum, a nonprofit for young Texas leaders, focused on immigration and polled 1,000 adults in early April with a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points. It tends to portray a less conservative perspective than most political polls which survey registered voters. Republicans generally have higher voter participation rates. Across the nation, 80 percent of Americans agree with a similar path to citizenship for certain immigrants, according to a McClatchy-Marist Poll in February. But the overwhelming approval of such an idea seemed surprising in redder-than-red Texas where most respondents cast immigration and border security as the states No. 1 problem. By comparison, a poll last summer by the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin found that just 49 percent of Texans, and only 29 percent of Republicans, support comprehensive reform including a pathway to citizenship for most immigrants here illegally. Joshua Blank, research director for the nonpartisan Texas Lyceum, said the findings indicate that attitudes over the issue are highly partisan. What you see in immigration reform is that its very similar to the Affordable Care Act. All the partisan predisposition that goes with the health care law comes into play, Blank said. Republicans are against it and Democrats are for it. But when you look at the actual provisions of what it may entail, Republicans are generally pretty favorable. He noted that 13 percent of Texans say their primary concern over illegal immigration is that immigrants should follow the legal process. But if you have a waiting period, a penalty, a requirement to pay taxes, all of a sudden people say, Yeah, were OK with this, Blank said. Mark Jones, a political scientist at Rice University, said the answer indicates that there is a middle ground for compromise. The trick is finding it, and having politicians with the courage and conviction to resist efforts to undermine the reforms from both the left and the right, he said. He noted that most people agree with such a general statement, but that key partisan divisions exist over some of the terms. How long should a waiting period be, for instance? If it becomes 15 years rather than five, such a proposal would lose Democratic support. Similarly many Republicans would oppose a shorter path to citizenship. The 2013 bipartisan reform was very similar to that, Jones said. What we saw was that the left and the right cant agree on what the definition of long is, what constitutes a significant criminal record, and what is a sufficient penalty and acceptable level of English these are the building blocks of reform. Nevertheless, it does indicate a broad consensus that some type of solution is needed. Congress has been stuck on the issue since President Ronald Reagan granted some 3 million immigrants amnesty in 1986. But Jones noted that the survey found 31 percent of Texans support Trump deporting millions of immigrants here illegally a figure much larger than the 10 percent who dont favor a pathway to citizenship, suggesting an incongruence. The findings also suggest why congressional gridlock over the issue has persisted for so long. Fifty-nine percent of GOP voters, for example, said they support large-scale deportations, nearly twice the amount of Texans who do. A Republican member of Congress is going to care far more about the 59 percent of Republicans in support of deportation than the 90 percent of Texans who broadly support general reform, Jones said. Thats because only one Texan member of Congress has a competitive seat, U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, a San Antonio Republican whose district includes a large swath of the border and which was previously represented by Pete Gallego, a Democrat. Bill Hammond, a lobbyist who headed the Texas Association of Business for 18 years and vocally supported comprehensive immigration reform, said the high support for a path to citizenship in the survey represents the disconnect between mainstream Texans and GOP primary voters. The people typically are ahead of the politicians on some of the issues, he said. The fear of doing something and being criticized by Republican primary voters overtakes the support on this from the mainstream. Rick Figueroa, a Houston businessman on Trumps Hispanic advisory council, said the proposal described in the survey is reasonable. The question is how to get to it, he said. But I think its coming ... I think there are some brave Republicans who are willing to do it. He said the polls finding that 61 percent of Texans oppose Trumps proposal to build a southern wall is not surprising in this border state. Its just a shiny object that distracts from the bigger issue, he said. If you solve a guest worker program, the wall becomes an ancillary issue. On state level issues, however, Texans were more supportive of restrictive immigration policies. They favored keeping state border security funding at current levels despite Republicans in the White House and Congress who have promised more federal funding on the issue. About half of all Texans, and 86 percent of Republicans, said local law enforcement agencies should hand over immigrants here illegally to federal officials. The level of GOP support for that policy only helps lawmakers in Austin pushing for a law that would ban so-called sanctuary policies in the state. Any polling in the mainstream of Republicans and independents shows about the same thing, said state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, the Senates GOP majority leader. Elections have consequences and, yes, with a Republican majority in the Legislature I think this poll shows support for the bills that are passing. I think were in a sweet spot on these issues, with what most of the voters want. But the poll also found that 61 percent of Texans support allowing immigrants here illegally to pay in-state tuition at state universities. Thats an increase from when the poll asked the same question in 2011, when only 52 percent favored it. The survey suggests harsh attitudes on immigration may change in coming years. Eighty percent of respondents between 18 and 29 said immigration helps the U.S. more than it hurts. Only 46 percent of those 65 and older, however, said immigrants were a boon to the U.S. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate More than 100 activists rallied outside of U.S. Congressman Will Hurd's office on the North Side on Tuesday afternoon, protesting President Donald Trumps refusal to release his income taxes returns. With signs and posters held high, the crowd lined the curb outside of Hurds office building, cheering motorists who honked their car horns in solidarity with their cause. One or two drivers lowered their car windows and yelled out taunts opposing the march. This past weekend, more than 150 marches took place across the nation as part of a wave of similar protests set up at taxmarch.org. Hurd is not in San Antonio this week. Protesters said that the doors to the congressmans office were locked, preventing march representatives from talking to an aide. Speakers Rosey Abuabara and Alejandro Guzman energized the crowd, voicing their displeasure that Hurd or a member of his staff was not present to hear their complaints. He doesnt want to meet us, Guzman yelled to the crowd through a megaphone. He works for us! We deserve to be heard by our elected official! Hurds campaign manager, Justin Hollis suggested that the crowds claims might not be on target. If the DCCC and the Texas Democratic Party would have done their homework, Hollis wrote in an email, they would know that Congressman Hurd called on President Trump to release his taxes back in January. The event was sponsored by several groups, including Mi Familia Vota, Planned Parenthood, Service Employees International Union and the Texas Organizing Project. Janet Oglethorpe, with TX23 Indivisible, was among the contingent that included retirees, college students, Moms Demand Action members and several youngsters and toddlers. Oglethorpe said Hurd needs to stop voting with Trump and represent all members of his 23rd Congressional District. We need that transparency, she said, and I want him to pass that along to Donald Trump. Rabbi Samuel M. Stahl said his wife alerted him to the rally. Im very concerned that our current president has not followed the practice of his predecessors and released his tax returns, the rabbi said. Im concerned about what hes hiding and why hes been so resistant to following the wishes of the people. Stahl worries that people might tire of protests, but he is hopeful that hasnt happened yet. We dont want justice fatigue to set in, he said, above shouts of No more secrets, no more lies from the crowd. The chants and sign waving subsided briefly as organizers inflated a large mascot, Chicken Don, thats been featured at rallies around the nation. The large, balloon caricature of Trump bobbed above protesters who posed for photos and let laughter replace their ire for a few moments. Linda Lowman walked through the assembly bearing a triangle-shaped shadow box, with a folded American flag displayed beneath glass in memory of her father, World War II veteran Melville M. Hughes Jr. She said her father taught her that Americans can all do their part for their country by paying their taxes. Heres Mr. Trump, who has been blessed with more money than most of the people in the United States make, and yet hes looking for loopholes so he doesnt have to pay, she said. If he was here now, my father would be appalled. vtdavis@express-news.net Two Texans vying for the same U.S. Senate seat swung through San Antonio on Tuesday, offering public appearances with few mentions of the other politician. While Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, touched on school choice, border protection, and the situations in Syria and North Korea at a Tuesday roundtable at Mi Tierra Restaurant, his challenger U.S. Rep. Beto ORourke, D-El Paso, struck a more fiery note in his own address six hours later in front of a supportive crowd just a few miles away. ORourke, 44, announced his Senate campaign almost three weeks ago in El Paso and has since stopped by Dallas, Austin, Longview and Houston on his one-man tour. Standing in the center of a 200-person crowd outside Southerleigh Fine Foods in the Pearl, he called San Antonio a city on the rise and compared his evolving Senate campaign to his youthful days as a member of a punk rock band. Its about taking back Texas, about taking back this country, and doing it the right way, he said, as supporters cheered. Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at The University of Houston, said at this point ORourke essentially needs to rally the base with core party issues while introducing himself as a candidate who is willing to work across the partisan divide, but that his reputation as an underdog who has punched above his weight class and personal touch could take him far. He needs to walk a fine line between talking liberal to Democrats who care about those issues and being labeled as an unrepentant liberal, Rottinghaus said. Cruz, on the other hand, needs to reassure his base that hes the same stalwart conservative they elected in 2012, according to Rottinghaus. The election will be a base election so Cruz needs to go back to the well to reassure hard-core Republicans thats hes still committed to the conservative cause, Rottinghaus said. With a sizable war chest already, Cruz has an advantage when it comes to message distribution. Earlier Tuesday, Cruz paid a visit to the San Antonio Toyota manufacturing facility, then met with members of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for the Mi Tierra roundtable. When asked about ORourke, Cruz answered his main priorities are repealing Obamacare and pushing for tax reform that can help small businesses thrive. He spoke about school choice, stating that within the Hispanic community support for measures such as tax credit scholarships and others tops 60 percent. Competition is good for quality, Cruz, 46, said. He also discussed border security, saying hes in favor of building a wall, advanced technology and boots on the ground. ORourke contradicted Cruzs sentiments, saying the United States is not going to wall ourselves off. After his prepared remarks, ORourke said he was aware the junior senator from Texas also came to San Antonio that day. I know hes also not conducting town halls, he added. He then took questions from the crowd. Fellow Democrat and U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D- San Antonio, who may also join the race for Senate, is expected to speak Wednesday night here.. frahman@express-news.net Trump's America First economic nationalism agenda has been almost entirely abandoned, courtesy of by the Wall Street crew he's turned the presidency over to and, in retrospect looks like it was never anything more than a shiny lure laced with racism and xenophobia to win votes in the hard-hit industrial Midwest where Hillary's dull centrism wasn't resonating. Wisconsin is a good example. No one believed Trump would win there, but his America First messaging caught on with enough people to give him a narrow 1,405,284 (47.22%) to 1,382,536 (46.45%) over Clinton-- just 22,748 votes. Neither Hillary nor Trump was popular in Wisconsin. Trump lost the primary to Ted Cruz 531,129 (48.2%) to 386,370 (35.1%). Bernie did best of all-- beating Hillary 567,936 (56.6%) to 432,767 (43.1%). Bernie won every county in the state but one. Keep in mind, Obama beat McCain 56-42% in the state and beat Romney 53-46% there. Yesterday Trump went to Kenosha in Paul Ryan's district to sign an executive order at the headquarters of Snap-On Tools that pushes the abandoned agenda-- buying American products and hiring American workers. Maybe no one bothered to tell Trump that his party has killed it in the House. In fact, it was Paul Ryan who killed it. The same Paul Ryan who managed to avoid being in Kenosha with Trump yesterday. Trump's executive order primarily rails against low wage workers coming into the country-- something which the Establishment Republicans will protect with their dying breath regardless of what Trump wants-- and seeks to make changes to a visa program that brings in high-skilled workers . The second part asserts that government agencies will be held strictly accountable for buying products made in America-- so no products made by Trump's own companies. "President Trump has tasked the Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross [part of Team Putin] with revealing all the agency findings and submitting a report to his desk within 220 days. This report and its recommendations will serve as a blueprint for additional executive and regulatory actions to further strengthen Buy American as well as guide possible legislative proposals." Kenosha has long been a strong Democratic bastion but last November Hillary managed to lose it to Trump 36,025 (47.5%) to 35,770 (47.2%). Bernie had taken the county 57-42% in the Democratic primary. He took 14,612 votes there to Trump's 11,139. In 2012 Obama won Kenosha 56-43%, Tammy Baldwin won it 54-42% and progressive Democrat Rob Zerban won the county against Ryan 41,101 (52%) to 36,092 (46%). Zerban won there despite cold-hearted DCCC efforts to sabotage him and protect Ryan. Marquette Law School's latest poll shows Trump with a 41% approval rating in Wisconsin-- with 47% disapproving of his job performance so far. Among independents, 44% disapprove and 38% approve. Asked what they would like to see Congress do about the 2010 health care reform law, 6 percent favor keeping the law as it is, 54 percent would keep and improve it, 28 percent favor repealing and replacing the law and 8 percent would repeal and not replace the law. ...Sixty-six percent of respondents say undocumented immigrants who are currently working in the United States should be allowed to stay and eventually apply for citizenship. Seventeen percent say these immigrants should be able to stay as guest workers but not apply for citizenship and 14 percent say they should be required to leave the U.S. In October, 62 percent supported eventual citizenship, 19 percent favored a guest worker status and 16 percent thought undocumented immigrants should be required to leave the county. Asked about the administrations steps to accelerate the deportation of people in the country illegally, including those who may not have committed a serious crime, 43 percent support deportations while 50 percent do not. Support for deportations is 85 percent among those who think undocumented immigrants should be required to leave the country, 60 percent among those favoring a guest worker program and 30 percent among those who think there should be a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Asked about building a wall along the entire border with Mexico, 37 percent support constructing a wall while 59 percent oppose doing so. Among those who approve of the job Trump is doing as president, 75 percent support the wall while 20 percent oppose it. Among those disapproving of Trumps handling of his job, 8 percent support the wall and 91 percent oppose it. It would have been embarrassing-- if any of these people were capable of embarrassment-- for Ryan to have been at the event yesterday. He has successfully been purging Buy American provisions from procurement legislation and union members are aware of that. In December Ryan was able to take Buy American provisions out of a major water infrastructure bill. When I asked another Wisconsin congressman, Mark Pocan (D-Madison) he was still angry about it. "It is unthinkable," he told us, "why Congressional Republican Leadership removed the permanent 'Buy America' requirement that was voted on and passed by the Senate in the water infrastructure bill. Wisconsin has one of the highest percentages of its workforce employed in the manufacturing sector. Foundries across the state like the Neenah Foundry are scratching their heads wondering why Republicans would want to send taxpayer dollars to companies that ship jobs overseas. Republicans claim to care about keeping jobs here in America, yet consistently rally around legislation that help ship jobs overseas." Soon after Pocan drafted and sent a letter to Trump asking him to live up to his campaign promises about protecting American workers from the excesses of GOP extremists. He was joined by 19 colleagues in urging Trump "to strongly enforce Buy America provisions in government procurement policies and promote Buy America rules in legislation advanced during your administration." He told the press that if Trump "is concerned with livelihood of American workers, he should take steps to ensure the Buy America Act is strongly and meaningfully enforced. Last week, House Republican leadership removed a provision to permanently require American steel and iron be used in our countrys water infrastructure. It is unthinkable for House Republicans to eliminate these Buy America requirements after they were voted on and passed by the Senate. President-elect Trump can and should ensure that enforcement of the Act is strengthened. It is his duty to stand up to Congressional Republican leadership when the allow taxpayer dollars to go to companies that ship jobs overseas. Wisconsin has one of the highest percentages of its workforce employed in the manufacturing sector. Foundries across the state are scratching their heads wondering why Republicans would want to send taxpayer dollars to companies that ship jobs overseas. House Republicans claim to care about keeping jobs here in America, yet consistently rally around legislation that costs our country jobs. I hope President-elect Trump will ensure what happened to the Water Resources bill doesnt happen again- we need a firm commitment from both parties to buy American." Pocan says neither Trump nor anyone from his Regime responded to his letter. "Reviewing Buy America policies does little to keep the promises Trump made to Wisconsin workers. Many people in our state are feeling economically strapped and a short visit to my hometown of Kenosha to shake some hands will not ease that stress. We desperately need immediate, strong, and meaningful Buy America policies to ensure that American tax dollars go to companies that employ American workers. But in his first months as President, weve yet to see Trump take meaningful action on Buy America. While Trump is announcing this Executive Order in Speaker Paul Ryans District, Republicans in Congress remain firmly opposed to expanding our Buy America standards. Instead of standing up for American workers, they consistently rally around legislation that strips these requirements and sends taxpayer dollars to companies that ship jobs overseas. I hope that the President will stand up to Speaker Paul Ryan and follow this review of Buy America policies with real action that will help the hardworking families find economic stability." Gwen Moore, who represents Milwaukee, also signed onto Pocan's letter. Not only did't Ryan, but none of the Wisconsin Republicans in Congress did. Trump can toss around the slogans all he wants-- and maybe he'll fool some of the "poorly educated" he claims to love and base his "movement" on-- but the reality is that Ryan and the House Republicans are killing the very agenda Bannon persuaded to Trump pretend he believes in. 2018 could be a good electoral cycle for Wisconsin Democrats. But the DCCC has nixed backing any candidates in the state. Once again, they won't allow anyone to run against Ryan and have discouraged candidates against Sensenbrenner, Duffy, Grothman and Gallagher. It's who they are, what they are and what they will always be. It's why the lose and lose and lose and lose and why losing is built into the organization's DNA and why everyone who ever works for them is re-egineered to be a loser. The DCCC-- the best thing that ever happened to the Republican Party. Grothman & Duffy cluelessly basking in the Trumpiness This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Mayor Ivy Taylors State of the City address Wednesday offered an annual retrospective on San Antonios successes in a sprawling, 27-minute speech that also reaffirmed the need for local unity and support for immigrants. The address, presented to an audience of about 1,000 largely from the local business community, comes just a few days before early voting in the May 6 general election is set to begin. It was Taylors third annual address to the citys united chambers of commerce. Though she didnt mention her opponents by name, Taylor took a few moments in her speech to recast the narrative thats been spread by opponents Ron Nirenberg, the District 8 councilman, and Manuel Medina, the boisterous chairman of the Bexar County Democratic Party. Contrary to some accounts, the evidence shows that not only is the state of our city incredibly strong, but the future of our city is blindingly bright, Taylor said early on. Nirenberg has accused Taylor of lacking leadership to move San Antonio forward. More Information The mayor's speech See More Collapse A few minutes later, Taylor underscored the need for the upcoming $850 million bond proposal, which among other things will help implement the SA Tomorrow plan a blueprint for addressing the massive growth expected for San Antonio in the coming decades. As a parent, I know that when you love someone as much as you do your children, you plan for them, she said. You plan for their future to ensure that they have access to all kinds of opportunities. Medina has railed against the bond and efforts by the mayor and others to plan for the future. Wearing a crisp white pantsuit, Taylor offered the requisite platitudes that are a mainstay of such addresses. She noted that without support from her husband, Rodney, she wouldnt be able to be mayor. And I certainly wouldnt look so good doing it, she said with a laugh, a tacit acknowledgment that her wardrobe has been assembled almost completely by her husband. She recognized City Manager Sheryl Sculley, he council colleagues and her office staff. Later in the speech, she spent a couple minutes honoring council members Joe Krier and Mike Gallagher, both of whom have been strong allies for the mayor but who chose not to seek re-election this year, and Ray Lopez, who is wrapping up a fourth and final term on council. Personally, I can say without a doubt that without his generosity and love for our city, I would not be standing here today as mayor, she said. Thank you, Ray, for all you have done for our city. That statement harkens back to the literal birth of Taylors mayoral tenure. In 2014, when then-Mayor Julian Castro declared he was leaving the dais early to go serve in President Barack Obamas Cabinet as housing secretary, the 10 council members were faced with selecting his replacement from among themselves. On the day of the vote, Taylor and Lopez emerged with the same number of votes from their colleagues. Its possible that the 10 council members might have started all over and considered colleagues who hadnt originally expressed interest in the position. Or they might have not selected a replacement at all, opting instead to allow the rotating mayor pro tem to lead the body. Facing that uncertainty, Lopez acquiesced, withdrawing from contention and switching his vote to support Taylor. Lopez said after the speech Wednesday that he was taken aback by Taylor taking the time to highlight his service. Late in the speech, Taylor took on tough issues around racism and immigration. As our region grows and we work toward economic prosperity for all, there is a tough issue where we need everyone to pull together, she said. We must come together with one voice to affirm the positive historical impact of immigrants from all over the globe to San Antonio. In particular, we all know that positive trade relationships with Mexico will continue to benefit San Antonians, she said. She challenged the elected officials, bureaucrats and business leaders in attendance to work with their counterparts at the state and federal levels to ensure that we dont undo the progress and relationships created over hundreds of years, and in particular, the achievement of NAFTA. Taylor noted that shed struck a deal last year with the San Antonio Police Officers Association on a new contract, thanking union leader Mike Helle for meeting her halfway. She then called on the San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association to come to the table and work on reaching a new deal for the citys firefighters and paramedics. Taylor finished her speech by acknowledging the efforts of San Antonians who came together earlier this year when the city was in need. Tornadoes had ripped across the city, and Taylor said she witnessed neighbors helping neighbors, teens giving up their Saturday to help with clean up efforts, and church members offering aid. You dont need to look any farther than how San Antonians responded to this disaster to know that we truly are a city with a heart, una ciudad con corazon, she said. Courtesy photo City elections are right around the corner, and ExpressNews.com sat down with each of San Antonio's mayoral candidates some known, some unknown for exclusive video interviews in an effort to make you, the voter, knowledgeable about your options for Election Day on May 6. Get to know the contenders as we roll out the video interviews each weekday in reverse ballot order. Today, we focus on Michael "Commander" Idrogo. Idrogo did not respond to multiple requests from ExpressNews.com to set up a video interview. From time to time, the United States identifies individuals who are important to the operation or specific agenda of a terrorist organization. In all cases, these are people who have committed, or are deemed to pose a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism. Occasionally, the designated individual is already in custody. This is the case of Anjem Choudary, who was named by the U.S. State Department as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. Choudary was arrested in 2014, and sentence to prison in 2016 for pledging allegiance to ISIS, and for acting as a key figure in the groups recruitment drive. Along with Choudary, four other men were Designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorists. They include Sami Bouras, a Swedish national of Tunisian descent and a member of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, who is known to have planned suicide terror attacks; Shane Dominic Crawford of Trinidad and Tobago, who fights for ISIS in Syria and acts as an English language propagandist for the group; and Mark John Taylor of New Zealand, who has been fighting in Syria with ISIS since the fall of 2014, and appeared in a 2015 ISIS propaganda video to encourage terrorist attacks in Australia and New Zealand. The final member of this group is El Shafee Elsheikh, a member of a group of brutal ISIS operatives, dubbed The Beatles for their heavy British accents, who were put in charge of foreign-born hostages held by ISIS. Elsheikh and the other three members of The Beatles were markedly more brutal than other guards, using extreme methods to torture the prisoners. To date, they have executed at least 27 prisoners. A number of these executions were videotaped and posted on the Internet by ISIS. On March 31st, these five men were marked by the U.S State Department as Specially Designated Global Terrorists under Executive Order 13224. Their assets within U.S. reach are now frozen, and no U.S. citizen or company may conduct business with them. Designations expose and isolate organizations and individuals, and result in denial of access to the U.S. financial system. Moreover, designations can assist or complement the law enforcement actions of other governments. Spring has finally arrived. Flowers are blooming in an array of beautiful colors, birds are chirping, grass is growing, and soon the cows will be grazing on pastures. While lying in bed last week, when I should have been sleeping, I was thinking of how things have changed and wondering what the future of agriculture will be. Recently I had a friend share with me that they paid less than $2 a gallon for milk in the store. My thoughts immediately; as a producer we dont even get $2 per gallon. This then led to a very good discussion with her that made me realize how removed the general population is from the industry. Dairy farming is an extremely difficult profession right now, which is why you see many farms going out of business. I was born and raised on a dairy farm, and currently live on an active dairy farm today. I say this to help give credibility to some of the statements that I may make. First, I would like to recognize that farming is a choice. Farmers chose this as their career, just as those that choose the military, or being a surgeon, etc. With that comes the good and the bad, and none of us should expect pity or special treatment for our choices. Dairy farming is 24/7, no benefits, no holidays, no sick days and no vacation days. The cows need to be milked and fed whether there is a flood, tornado, or blizzard with below zero temps. The market is extremely volatile and you are always at the mercy of Mother Nature. However, farming is not just a career, it is a way of life. A farmers voice I would like to include some excerpts from an article written by a farmer in Wisconsin, I am a proud dairy farmer: Yes, I am a dairy farmer. Its my job, my life, my career, my religion, my passion, my home all rolled into one. Most people are too busy to get to the basics of life, too busy trying to get rich quick. I get to deal with the basics of life every single day: birth, death, soil, sun, growth, mud, storms, calm, parched, wet, and, above all, stress. I tend a herd of dairy cows that produce what evolution has chosen as the most naturally nutritious food for the most developed animals in the food chain people. Evolution took thousands of years of trial and error, millions of genetic events to decide that milk is it. Its nutritional value puts milk above coffee, energy drinks, beer or soda. Milk is it! Today the American farmer feeds 144 people every day. Fifty years ago, each farmer fed 22 people. Weve come a long way. The American farmer is expected to feed, fuel, and clothe the world, take all the risk with no guarantee of receiving fair compensation for their hard work. One hundred percent of the people on this planet eat food. Where do they think this food comes from? Not from the store, its from a farm. Yet, the farmer is the least appreciated person on earth. Not many people become famous for milking cows, but a lot of famous people couldnt do what we farmers do. Professional athletes make tens of millions of dollars per year and contribute little to society. The world population is growing. Where is their food going to come from when more farmers are getting out? The average age of the American farmer today is the oldest in this countrys history. Dairy farmers work extremely hard just to survive. What industry works for less than minimum wage, puts in hours well beyond the traditional eight-hour work day, seven days a week, with no overtime pay, no benefits of any kind, and no retirement fund? How many? Farmers have no control on the price we receive for our products; we have to take what the processor gives us. Is that fair? We do it because we have passion for the land and what we do. I believe this summarizes how many dairy farmers feel. The joy of seeing the success of a bumper crop, of watching that new baby calf buck around in their pen, or the smell of the freshly mowed alfalfa, thats what keeps them going. Understanding They only ask for respect and understanding. Realize that the spreading of manure is a necessity for all livestock operations. This is a natural fertilizer and must be applied at certain times and on specific conditions as to ensure proper water quality. As we continue to move forward, please educate yourself of the importance of agriculture to the state of Ohio. According to dairy facts provided by the American Dairy Association, the dairy industry alone contributes an average of $2.35 billion annually to Ohio, which generates more than 14,400 jobs. Current milk prices parallel what they received in the early 90s, however, the inputs and costs for utilities, feed, labor, vet bills, and on and on are not at a level equal to those of the 1990s. The global economy fuels a large portion of our pricing. Foreign trade agreements deeply affect the price of milk for our American producers and determine at times if they can remain in business or not. The current milk price of around $13 to $15 per hundredweight equates to the farmer getting $1.20 per gallon of milk produced, before expenses. Most are losing money and struggling to survive let alone support their families. Its not a career that the next generation jumps to want to do. What will happen if our producers continue to go out of business and the next generation doesnt carry on the farming tradition? This will have a huge negative effect on our ways of life, food, and most importantly our jobs and economy. So the next time you want to complain about the odor from a farm or the inconvenience of having to follow farm equipment up the road; stop and think about the fact that this is their job and livelihood and that you benefit tremendously. If you want to continue to have cheap food, clean water, and milk that is not imported from another country then you will need to develop respect and appreciation for the American farmer. Their voices are few, and their time is limited. If you have questions or concerns, go to the producers directly. Farmers love to share their passion, they simply dont have a lot of time to get out. It is a very real concern that dairies will continue to decline, especially small family farms. Very few young people want to start up their own dairy farm, and the reality is that they could never afford to do it on their own. On the other hand, children of dairy farmers should not be expected to continue operating the family dairy. So how can we keep the dairy industry thriving and viable? What can you do? Pause and think Society takes time to send thank yous or show appreciation by tipping those that do our hair, give massages, serve us at a restaurant, deliver our paper, but have you ever once thanked a farmer for protecting our valuable resources and providing beautiful scenic crops and animals grazing on a hilltop, or for providing an abundant, safe food source? Coupled with the immediate introduction of infringement notice financial penalties, some breaches of the new code could incur potential fines of up to $54,000 if the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) decide an offence is serious enough to take an offender to court, rather than issue a notice. The current serious deficit of trust between Russia and the United States, as well as the stated desire by both countries to improve relations, was recently on display in Moscow. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a press conference after Secretary Tillerson met with Mr. Lavrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The worlds two foremost nuclear powers cannot have this kind of relationship, Secretary Tillerson said. He and Russian leaders discussed approaches to improving channels of cooperation. Although Russia remains the most powerful ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who, Secretary Tillerson said, could be charged with war crimes for his actions against the Syrian people, both the United States and Russia recognize the importance of denying a safe haven [in Syria] for terrorists who want to attack both of our countries. Mr. Tillerson said he and Mr. Lavrov also believe in a unified and stable Syria, and both are open to further discussion of possible political solutions to the Syrian conflict. However, Secretary Tillerson reiterated the U.S. position that the Syrian regime planned and executed the April 4th chemical weapons attack at Khan Sheikhoun on April 4. And during their talks, the Secretary did not agree to a Russian proposal to create a new investigative mechanism to address the Syrian chemical weapons attack. The United States believes that the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the United Nations already have existing and effective mechanisms in place to address chemical weapons allegations in Syria. On North Korea, the United States and Russia agreed that the DPRK has to be denuclearized, and the two sides discussed the constructive role Russia can play in encouraging the regime in North Korea to change its course. Regarding Ukraine, Secretary Tillerson urged Russia to fully implement the Minsk Agreements by de-escalating violence and taking steps to withdraw separatist armed forces and heavy weapons, so that OSCE observers can fulfill their role. Until full progress is made under the Minsk Agreements, he said, the situation in Ukraine will remain an obstacle to improvement in relations between the U.S. and Russia. The U.S. and Russia agreed to establish a working group aimed at stabilizing their fraying relationship. We need to attempt to put an end to this steady degradation, Secretary of State Tillerson said, which is doing nothingto make progress on the issues of the greatest importance to both of us. The usual blog post of this kind is ten things readers dont know, but my life is an open book, and I blog regularly, so I think many readers know a lot. But here are ten things that may or may not be new and may offer new details. Judy Alter Despite strong ties to Texas, I am not a native. I grew up in Chicago, in the Hyde Park-Kenwood neighborhood, moved to Missouri for graduate school, and ended in Texas only because my then-husband accepted a surgical residency here. He moved on, and has since died, but Ive lived in Texas over fifty years. Love it, hate the politics, but I cant imagine living anywhere else. I wrote my first short story at tenand have now lost the copies. But it was about a 19th-century spinster lady and her blonde cocker spaniel (I wanted a blonde cocker spaniel so badly) who got her into all kinds of trouble. My main mission in life is to be a mom, even though my chickens are now in their forties. When I was young and newly married, I never thought about having children. If it happened, so be it. It didnt happen, and my then-husband desperately wanted children. We adopted four children, and I always wanted more. He moved on, and they were the focus of my life, still are today. I adore them, relish any time I can spend with them, think they are the coolest people in the universe. I used to raise show dogs. We had litters from champion Cairn terriers and Irish wolfhoundsthe big and little of it. I was a bust in the show ring. As someone said to me once, The judge is interested in the dogs legs, not yours. But I cannot imagine life without a dogIve had collies, Aussies, mixed breeds, labs, and now my bordoodle. Dreamt the other night I got a labradoodle. Hmmmm. I hold a Ph.D. in English, with a special interest in the literature of the American West. I have a B.A. from the University of Chicago, where they told me I could never go on to graduate school; I earned an M.Ed. from Truman State University (Kirksville MO) and the Ph.D. from TCU in Fort Worth. Never wanted to teach, but the Ph.D. stood me in good stead as director of TCU Press. I won lovely awards from Western Writers of America and the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Museum for my books about women of the American West and for my short stories. I am proud of those awards and particularly of the Lifetime Achievement Award from Western Writers of America. I am agoraphobic, which translates to a fear of fear, and Im afraid of a lot of thingsheight, water, driving on the highway (though Im a willing passenger). Ive spent a lot of my life overcoming those fears. In recent years, they morphed into a fear of losing my balance (probably fueled by neuropathy and a disintegrating hip joint). Learning to walk unaided again after surgery is difficult, but I will do it. In another life, I would be a chef. By the time I came to that conclusion, I was nearing sixty and neither my feet nor back would hold up to the long hours on a hard floor required of both a chef-in-training and a chef at work. I always thought the combination of being a writer and a chef would be golden. I have done a bit of food writing and have published three food booksCooking My Way Through Life with Kids and Books, Texas is Chili Country, and Extraordinary Texas Chefs. I am inordinately proud of my Scottish heritage (registereed member of the MacBean Clan) and a trip driving across Scotland, stopping in villages, with two of my children, was one of the major highlights of my life. I long to go back, and my youngest daughter would like to chaperone me. Id also like to write about Scotland. I am Pollyanna, one of the happiest, most fortunate women youll ever know. I enjoy almost every day of my life, love my family (seven grandchildren), my writing career, my friends, my dog, my cottageyou name it. Amanda Bynes is being lined up to return to television screens. Amanda Bynes The troubled actress removed herself from the limelight two years ago after she suffered a very public meltdown but it looks like bosses at Nickelodeon - the network that gave the star her first big role - are desperate to get her back on the channel. A source told the New York Post newspaper's Page Six column that producers have been trying to "reach" the 31-year-old beauty to discuss the possibility of starring in a new show and they are keen that they can find a way to "work with her again in a positive and healthy way. She has a tremendous amount of talent." Amanda is certainly no stranger to the popular US children's network as she first worked with the bosses there at the age of 10 when she bagged a role in 'All That' and then later starred as herself in 'The Amanda Show' from 1992 until 2002. However, it's not known if the brunette beauty would be willing to jump back into television as she's just completed a second year at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Orange County, California, after she enrolled after a rehab stint. Amanda hasn't had the easiest few years as she was busted for Driving Under the Influence in 2012 and that kickstarted somewhat of a downward spiral for her. A few months later she was charged with two hit and runs although these were later dismissed following a financial settlement between her and the victims. In 2014, Amanda's DUI charge was dropped and she was sentenced to three years probation as part of a plea deal. She also had her licence taken away. She found herself in hot water once again later that tear when she was caught whizzing around the streets of Los Angeles in a car with a suspended licence. During this time she was also arrested at her home for possession of marijuana, attempting to tamper with evidence and reckless endangerment. She also raised a few eyebrows following a series of bizarre rants on Twitter and was later placed on psychiatric hold and under the conservatorship of her mother. She was released from the facility early and went on to focus on her fashion dreams. Jessica Chastain won't take jobs unless she knows what her male co-stars are making. Jessica Chastain The 'Interstellar' star is unimpressed with the gender wage gap in Hollywood and will not "allow" herself to take roles where she knows she is being paid far less than her male counterparts. She said: "I'm not taking jobs anymore where I'm getting paid a quarter of what the male co-star is being paid. I'm not allowing that in my life. "I don't care about how much I get paid; I'm in an industry where we're overcompensated for the work we do. But I don't want to be on a set where I'm doing the same work as someone else and they're getting five times what I'm getting." And the 40-year-old actress admitted to turning down a role in a huge film because she wasn't prepared to accept the lower wage. She added to Variety magazine: "I turned it down, and they didn't come back. I remember afterwards I was like, 'What did I do? Maybe it was a mistake.' But it wasn't, because everyone in the studio system heard what I did. "So what you're doing is creating a reputation: Don't bring Jessica something where she's not being fairly compensated compared to the male actor. Even though I lost that film, I've created a boundary. I drew a line in the sand." Meanwhile, Jessica previously revealed she was once told by a director that she "talks too much about all of this women stuff". She said: "I had one male director say to me that I talk too much about all of this 'women stuff'. This is a person I love, and maybe he was concerned I would hurt my career. "I'm not attacking anyone. I'm trying to create more inclusiveness, compassion and empathy - which in turn makes better movies, better art." Directed by Michael Cuesta, new movie American Assassin will follow the rise of CIA Black Ops recruit Mitch Rapp (Dylan OBrien), whos working under the instruction of Cold War veteran Stan Hurley (Michael Keaton). Enlisted by CIA Deputy Director Irene Kennedy (Sanaa Lathan) to investigate what look to be a series of random attacks on civilian and military targets, the film looks to be a chaotic, emotional and action-packed ride. Taylor Kitsch stars in American Assassin Together, all three will discover a pattern in the violence taking place, which leads them into a joint mission with a lethal Turkish agent (Shiva Negar), with all four intent on taking down a mysterious operative (Taylor Kitsch) whose only plans are to start a World War in the Middle East. You can check out the brilliant first-look trailer for the upcoming movie below: Based on the Mitch Rapp books, American Assassin hits cinemas across the UK on September 15, 2017. by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk find me on and follow me on Directed, written by and starring Warren Beatty, the hugely enjoyable and compelling Rules Dont Apply centres round an aspiring actress (Lily Collins), her driver (Alden Ehrenreich) and the wildly unpredictable billionaire, Howard Hughes (Warren Beatty). As the film nostalgically depicts 1950s Hollywood as well as the instant attraction between Marla Mabrey (Lily Collins) and Alden Ehrenreichs character, we thought that this would be a perfect opportunity to round up some of the most timeless and classic romances in film. Rules Don't Apply Casablanca (1942) Casablanca is centred around an American expatriate who unexpectedly encounters a former lover in Casablanca during World War Two, and it is considered not only one of the best romances but one of the greatest films of all time. The legendary Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman are as charismatic as ever and possess some of the most authentic chemistry seen on screen. Not to mention the fact that Casablanca features some of the most beloved quotes in cinema history; heres looking at you, kid. Gone with the Wind (1939) This is another staple of American cinema, and focuses on the turbulent relationship between a roguish man and a strong-willed woman during the American Civil War and the Reconstruction period. For many, this story is one of the most intense romances ever put to screen, depicting a frustrating and seemingly impossible love between two strong-minded egos. Roman Holiday (1953) Two legendary actors star in this American romantic comedy (Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn) and they possess a palpable but unique on-screen chemistry in Roman Holiday. Set in the ideal location of Rome, the film follows news reporter Joe Bradley who falls in love with Princess Ann, who has escaped her guardians. The Apartment (1960) When it comes to classic Hollywood romances, theres nothing quite like The Apartment. Director Billy Wilder creates a romance where Shirley MacLaines melancholic heroine Fran Kubelik is the perfect counterpart to Jack Lemmon at his wryly-humorous best. Rules Don't Apply Rules Dont Apply is about an aspiring young actress (Lily Collins) and her ambitious young driver (Alden Ehrenreich) struggle hopefully with the absurd eccentricities of the wildly unpredictable billionaire (Warren Beatty) whom they work for. Its Hollywood, 1958. Small town beauty queen and devout Baptist virgin Marla Mabrey (Collins), under contract to the infamous Howard Hughes (Beatty), arrives in Los Angeles. At the airport, she meets her driver Frank Forbes (Ehrenreich), who is engaged to be married to his 7th grade sweetheart and is a deeply religious Methodist. Their instant attraction not only puts their religious convictions to the test, but also defies Hughes #1 rule: no employee is allowed to have any relationship whatsoever with a contract actress. Hughes behaviour intersects with Marla and Frank in very separate and unexpected ways, and as they are drawn deeper into his bizarre world, their values are challenged and their lives are changed. Rules Dont Apply is released in cinemas this Friday 21 April. Paul Burrell hasn't spoken to Princess Diana's sons since her death 20 years ago. Paul Burrell The 58-year-old former butler to the late royal has revealed that he lost complete communication with Prince William, 34, and Prince Harry, 32, after Diana passed away in 1997 in a car crash in Paris, but he would love to meet with them again. He would also wishes to tell William's wife, Duchess Catherine, how Diana made being a royal in the public eye "more comfortable". Speaking on Australia's Channel 7 show, 'Sunrise', he revealed: "I haven't spoken to them since their mother died in 1997," he told the programme. "But I'd love to speak to them. "And I'd love to tell Catherine about the incredible woman who changed all the rules to make her life more comfortable. "To give her a better life as a royal. It's what Diana did." Burrell - who recently came out as gay when he married his partner of 10 years Graham Cooper - doesn't have a bad word to say about the British royal family and isn't sure why they've lost contact. Asked why they haven't been in touch, he said: "I don't know why (they haven't contacted me). "(But) think about the system. The whole establishment is up against me because I'm the outsider. "I belong in Diana's world. I'm the one who got away. "You've never heard me say anything disrespectful about the royal family or the Queen. "We have a wonderful monarch. She's 91 on Friday (21.04.17), long may she reign." Burrell also praised William and Harry for continuing their mother's legacy with their charity work and following her "hopes and dreams". He said: "I think they are wonderful. "They are following in their mother's footsteps. She had them for long enough to instil her hopes and dreams and ideals. They are now the product of Diana." Any travel that involves the prospect of animal encounters has me clutching at my passport and when the exotic animals can be seen in the wild Im all in! Sabrina Chakici Last month I was lucky enough to interact with some of the most intelligent and charming creatures in the world, the amazing Orangutan. I traveled to Malaysia to see the playful primates at the Sepilok Rehabilitation Centre in Sabah, Borneo. One of the worlds most famous locations to see a rescued and rehabilitated Orangutan in his or her own natural environment. As an endangered animal the chances of seeing these human like mammals are incredibly rare so people, like myself, travel to Malaysia from all over the world to enjoy this truly unmatchable experience of a lifetime. As we were staying in Borneo for a number of nights we opted to stay at the stunning Shangri-La Rasa Ria in Kota Kinabalu. This five star luxurious resort was also home to Orangutans until just last year when the resort completed a full circle rehabilitation project in the on-site nature reserve. We flew from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan on the first morning flight and arrived early to the Sepilok centre full of anticipation and excitement to potentially come face to face with an Orangutan. The endangered primates live in the centre as part of a rehabilitation program and although the animals are aware of the feeding times and facilities they are under no obligation to stay within the grounds as they are fully wild after a certain age, therefore there is never a guarantee of seeing them in the wild. We were, however incredibly lucky because within half an hour we spotted a cheeky fellow hanging out in the trees for us all to marvel at. We actually saw 4 different orangutans throughout the morning, and cheerfully watched on as they climbed, swung and nibbled away for us all. Being so close to them was a truly magical experience that I doubt will ever be matched on the awe scale! I am always the biggest advocate of interacting and witnessing animals in the wild when travelling and this experience on it's own was enough to put Malaysia at the top of my recommendations for travel in 2017. After taking close to a thousand pictures of the Orangutans the visiting hours were over and we headed back to our hotel, The Shangri La Rasa Ria. The next morning the hotels nature reserve team treated us to a breakfast in the clouds in the very same spot as where some of their resident Orangutans that have now been released fully into the wild once ate. Malaysia is a beautiful country, the beaches are stunning and the climate is deliciously appealing to us westerners but the dedication the country has to restoring and revitalizing their nature is truly remarkable, I hope to re-visit sometime very soon. Written by Sabrina Chakici, TV Host & Travel Expert Follow Sabrinas travels on Instagram @sabrina_chakici Virgin Start-Up backed ARC Marine is giving everyone the opportunity to leave a legacy by helping to build an artificial reef which will help save the UKs endangered white-clawed freshwater crayfish. The Torbay-based company is building the worlds first modular artificial reef at Vobster Quay, an inland water site and former quarry, near Radstock, Somerset, and is asking the public to back its current crowdfunding campaign in order to fund the structure and prove the viability of artificial reefs in ocean conservation. Tom Birbeck a marine-expert and co-founder of ARC Marine tells us how artificial reefs will help to save the UKs endangered wildlife. ARC Marine Habitat regeneration Many of the UKs complex, natural marine ecosystems have been lost due to overfishing, habitat destruction and pollution. Native creatures, like the white clawed freshwater crayfish, are suffering from a lack of suitable habitat to breed and take shelter from the invasive American signal crayfish. Illegal fishing prevention Illegal and unreported fishing contributes to the overexploitation of the worlds fish stocks and is a hindrance to the recovery of declining fish populations and the ecosystems they need to survive. By deploying our reef structures on the seabed in marine protected areas, it becomes impossible for towed fishing gear to move across the seabed. The introduction of these sleeping policemen provides a permanent solution that needs minimal monitoring by the environmental agencies saving time and money. Boost fish stocks - Valuable fish stocks, and other marine life, are severely threatened by overfishing. The global fishing fleet is 2-3 times larger than our oceans can sustainably support. 53% of the worlds fisheries are fully exploited, and 32% are overexploited, depleted, or recovering from depletion. Increase biodiversity - Creating complex reef structures encourages a wide variety of marine life to inhabit the area. In Lyme Bay the pink sea fan and seahorse are both in drastic need of protection and would directly benefit from artificial reefs which shelter them from destructive fishing methods. Citizen science - A national project to create artificial reefs will encourage a new generation to seek out citizen science opportunities. The worlds water ways are crucial to all life on earth, and recreational divers can pay a key role in collecting data and helping to monitor the finished reef sites. This is a huge step in protecting and monitoring endangered species for generations to come. Legacy - Artificial reefs have a life expectancy of over 500+ years. After 5-10 years (possibly sooner) the artificial reef will be unrecognisable as a manmade creation, and the life that adheres to it will have transformed it into a thriving habitat. Waste plastics producing instead of polluting - It is now believed that there are 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic debris in the ocean. ARC Marine uses recycled waste plastic to produce moulds. Marine-friendly concrete is then poured into these moulds to produce artificial reef structures known as ARC modules. These moulds are reusable, and will have a unique, long-life, assisting reef building for years to come. New era of fishing methods - Artificial reefs can be sustainably farmed to produce a fish source which doesnt include damaging their habitat. Destructive fishing practices currently destroy vast areas of the seabed including rocky reefs and seabed habitat, which are breeding, and nursery grounds for juvenile marine species. Multi purpose - Our artificial reefs also serve as an anti-trawling device, a mooring and anchor point (to avoid anchoring which damages the delicate seabed) and will prevent scouring on sub sea structures such as offshore wind turbines. Its this multi purpose use that we believe can incorporate artificial reefs into established markets and start protecting endangered species whilst serving an immediate use for humans as well. About the Author: Tom Birbeck is co-founder of ARC Marine creators of the world's first multi-functional artificial reef solution. http://www.arcmarine.co.uk/ Social Media: Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/arcmarine/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/arc_marine Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Arc-Marine-553495558135887/ We all need a reliable shampoo and conditioner- but it can be tricky to find prodcuts that are both vegan and cruelty free. Here are our top picks so you can rest assured your hair care is always animal friendly. Image courtesy of Pixabay Rhyme & Reason available at Boots now CELF Haircare- www.celfhaircare.com Olew Cleansing Shampoo Olew Clarifying Conditioner Lore Bar Azure Healthy Shine Azure Smooth and Curl Azure Amplify Azure Rescue and Repair Thicker Fuller Hair Shampoo- https://thickerfullerhair.co.uk Thicker Fuller Hair Conditioner- https://thickerfullerhair.co.uk Grow Gorgeous Balance Shampoo and Conditioner- www.growgorgeous.com Moo Hair Shampoo Moo Hair Conditioner Lore Originals Cleanse + Purify Shampoo, www.loreoriginals.com Lore Originals Condition + Restore Conditioner, www.loreoriginals.com The Hair Boss Balayage Shampoo The Hair Boss Overworked Shampoo The Hair Boss Virgin Hair Shampoo Iles Formula Natural Fusions Shampoo National Fusions Conditioner Grown Alchemist Shampoo-Showcasebeauty.com Grown Alchemist Conditioner- Showcasebeauty.com Flora and Curl African Citrus Blossom Superfruit Shampoo- www.floracurl.co.uk Tints of Nature Shampoo Tints of Nature Conditioner Only Curls Shampoo- www.onlycurls.co.uk Only Curls Conditioner-www.onlycurls.co.uk Shine Bar- www.shineshampoobars.co.uk Ishga Shampoo Ishga Conditioner Yaoh Shampoo and Conditioner- www.yaoh.co.uk Monat Shampoo- www.monatglobal.com/uk Monat Conditioner- www.monatglobal.com/uk Tropic Nourishing Hair Cleanser- www.tropicskincare.com Tough Cookie Conditioner- Noughtyhaircare.co.uk. Tough Cookie Shampoo- Noughtyhaircare.co.uk. Green People- www.greenpeople.co.uk. Shea Moisture ocado.com, danielgalvinjunior.com and myonlife.co.uk ocado.com, danielgalvinjunior.com and myonlife.co.uk Organic Shop- www.tesco.com Organic Shop- www.tesco.com Organic Shop- www.tesco.com Organic Shop- www.tesco.com www.aldocoppola.co.uk www.aldocoppola.co.uk www.aldocoppola.co.uk www.aldocoppola.co.uk Shea Moisture Multi Benefit Shea Moisture Multi Benefit Shea Moisture Fruit Fusion Shampoo Shea Moisture Fruit Fusion Conditioner Shea Moisture Curl and Shine Shampoo Shea Moisture Curl and Shine Conditioner Dead Sea Spa Magik Shampoo- www.shopforspa.com Dead Sea Spa Magik Conditioner- www.shopforspa.com Clean hair wash - May Chang May Chang Clean Hair Wash- www.satyalife.co.uk Noughty- Superdrug Vernon Francois Curl Command - https://uk.vernonfrancois.com/ Odylique Shampoo Odylique Conditioner The range is available at Net-a-Porter and on Vernons website: https://uk.vernonfrancois.com/ KMS California Moist Repair Shampoo KMS California Moist Repair Conditioner Arbonne Shampoo- www.arbonne.com Arbonne Conditioner- www.arbonne.com Biofresh Shampoo- www.justbeauty.co.uk Biofresh Conditioner- www.justbeauty.co.uk Benecos Conditioner Benecos Shampoo Faith in Nature Aloe Vera Faith in Nature Rosemary Urtekram Shampoo- Tesco Urtekram Conditioner- Tesco Cocolicious Conditioner - Sainsburys Cocolicious Shampoo- Sainsbury's World renowned beauty expert Shahnaz Husain opens up like never before on things close to her heart. One moment that changed your life? When I entered the international market for the first time during the Festival of India in 1982 and was given a counter at Selfridges, London. I stood alone and sold our ancient civilization in a jar. Our entire consignment sold out in three days. I have never looked back since. An experience that you cant get out of your head? I wanted a permanent counter at Galeries Lafayette, the famous Paris store. We had to achieve a certain sales figure. I had an ingenious idea! I called my office in Delhi and asked my secretary to fly to Paris with four Kashmiri carpets. I offered a carpet as a gift for purchase of 20,000 francs and above. There was a stampede and we had our permanent counter! Is there something you know you do differently than most people? I have followed unique business strategies. I started an integrated system of salon chains and range of products, relying on each other and then extended the salons to a franchise system. My products grew out of clinical usage in salons. I also never relied on commercial advertisements. How do you let go of things? I work very hard during the day and then I love to unwind by going out for coffee with close friends and family. Even in Paris, I would work very hard, putting in many more hours than I should, and then spend the entire evening walking down the Champs-Elysees, or just sipping coffee at a wayside cafe, long past midnight. If you ever realise that everyone you know was going to die tomorrow, what would you do? I would try my best to prevent it, because I dont believe in destiny. You can do and be whatever you will yourself. Do you believe in rebirth? These are aspects that we human beings dont really know. There are some answers that are beyond the knowledge of mere human beings. Have you ever had an other worldly experience? My commitment to humanitarian causes, like skill development for under-privileged women and my free beauty courses for the speech and hearing and visually impaired, have been like spiritual experiences because they have given me inner strength and resilience to face life. My philanthropic work has remained the nerve centre of my entrepreneurial success. How do you connect with God? I connect with God through my humanitarian causes. I have always believed in God. My philosophy is Do your best and leave the rest to the will of God. Whatever is beyond our control is the will of the God. We have no right to question or challenge it. Just realising this truth makes me feel very humble. It has helped me to face insurmountable tragedies with inner strength. How do you meditate? I have been practising yoga and pranayama for a long time. Deep breathing helps meditation. One does not have to adopt a yogic posture. I sit in a comfortable chair, close my eyes, and begin breathing, slowly and with ease. Allowing the mind to focus on breathing actually, helps to induce relaxation, because it quietens the mind. How do you connect to your soul? Spirituality has nothing to do with success, name or fame. It is an inner consciousness, an inner strength. Happiness and sadness, success and failure are different aspects of life. They are transient, ever-changing. What remains constant is inner spiritual strength. My humanitarian work and social causes connect to my soul and my spiritual self. Last year Sam Tucker, Dogan Eraslan and Serkan Tarm kayaked from Antalya to Fethiye raising 6000TL in sponsorship for Fethiye childrens charity, FIG (Fethiye International Group). If you missed the On Turkish Tides adventure you can read about it here. How is the money being spent? FIG have visited a number of schools in the area and highlighted projects where the money will be spent to benefit them in both educational and practical terms. The first project took place this week. Kayack School, marine conservation and a boat trip On Tuesday, pupils from Kayack School, experienced a different sort of school day a visit to Fethiye where a day of learning and fun was planned. FIG/FETAV arranged the day with TURMEPA (Turkish Marine Environment Protection Association) and was planned so it would be both educational and fun. Educational The first activity of the day was a session at the TURMEPA office in Fethiye. The session was run by Ersin Ozer and the TURMEPA team and taught the children about the importance of keeping the seas clean and the effect of pollution on marine life. The children had an opportunity to see some of the things found in the sea that are on display in the foyer of the TURMEPA office. Things you find in the sea! Everything on display at TURMEPA has been fished out of the sea along the Mediterranean and Aegean coastline. This dolphin was made from bottles all from the sea! What about the sea life? These photographs, on display in TURMEPA, are a graphic reminder of the terrible injuries caused by rubbish in the sea! Learning in a fun way Next was a boat trip to Sovalye Island where the children took part in a mini beach clean up. They had the chance to see for themselves the types of rubbish that wash up from the sea. Sadly, they also saw some of the rubbish discarded by people. TURMEPA led the children in some educational games on the beach. Learning the fun way for Kayack school at Sovalye Island from fethiyetimes on Vimeo. Lunchtime Then it was back to the boat for a lunch of chicken, pasta and salad. Afiyet olsun! Time for art After lunch it was time for art activity and the children painted cards with a colourful picture of a turtle. Written inside the card was a message for the children to take away.along with their memories of a lovely day. Dunyamz temiz tutalm Copumuzu cope atalm! (Lets keep our earth clean Lets throw away our rubbish!) The people who made it possible Thank you from FIG to the people for making the day such a huge success. Ersin Ozer and TURMEPA Semsi Toprak and FETAV Sharon Baltac and Kate Topcu for their support with the art session Sibel Ilmec Kaymakc and the Sunkissed team All the volunteers who came along on the day Special thanks go to Sam Tucker, Dogan Eraslan and Serkan Tarm for their incredible effort to raise the money making possible for the children of Kayack school to have such an amazing day. A final word about TURMEPA Since 2006 the Fethiye branch of TURMEPA have educated more than 70,000 people in Marine Conservation. They also carry out a programme of beach clean ups and their boats collect rubbish from the sea. TURMEPA also have a range of environmentally cleaning products available from Migros Click here to visit TURMEPA on Facebook Click here for more information about FIG Iran has introduced measures to systemise import of foreign clothing brands. The measures which require customs post-clearance audit for several foreign clothing brands are designed to support domestic garment industry and prevent smuggling. Clothes had the largest share of the commodities smuggled into Iran during the fiscal March 2015-16. The measures by the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration were unveiled during a meeting attended by representatives of the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade, the Association of Textile Industry Producers, Irans Apparel Union and customs officials, according to a report in Iranian media. The report said that customs post-clearance audit would now be carried out for several foreign clothing brands. Customs post-clearance audit refers to controls undertaken after the clearance of the goods and is designed to verify the accuracy of the data declared and confirm the proper implementation of customs and other legislation, the precise payment of duties, taxes and other charges. Iran has introduced measures to systemise import of foreign clothing brands. The measures which require customs post-clearance audit for several foreign clothing brands are designed to support domestic garment industry and prevent smuggling. Clothes had the largest share of the commodities smuggled into Iran during the fiscal March 2015-16.# It said the order registration of clothes would be carried out by the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade only after the license holders register the imported brand. Brand registration is only possible through collaboration with the parent company. Likewise, order registration certificates will only be issued for the official license holders. Authorities would also prevent installation of billboards advertising clothing trademarks or brand-names that do not have a license holder retailer in Iran. Importers are also required to record the global trade item number for branded items of clothing and their official prices as set by the parent company. GTIN is an identifier for trade items used to find out product information in a database The uniqueness and universality of the identifier are useful in establishing which product in one database corresponds to which product in another database, especially across organisational boundaries, the report said. The measures also say that order registration procedures must be conducted in the name of license holder retailer and the value of all brand-name garments must be announced in the database of IRICAs Single Window System. The importers of trademarked clothing must register by September 22 their orders. IRICA has already banned the import of clothes through land and water borders in separate guidelines. Recently, the customs administration announced that customs controls will be exercised and customs duties will be collected at the ports of entry of free trade zones. Customs and border protection equipment were only installed at FTZs ports of exit up until now. According to the Headquarters to Combat Smuggling of Goods and Foreign Exchange, clothes had the largest share among all the commodities smuggled into Iran during the fiscal March 2015-16, accounting for $2.36 billion or 41 per cent of all the smuggled goods. Over 8.5 million items of clothing were seized during March 2016-17 compared to 9.9 million confiscated a year before. (SV) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India Thailand is the second largest B2C e-commerce market in Southeast Asia in terms of sales and is projected to maintain this rank through 2025 due to a strong double-digit growth rate, according to a recent report. The development of online retailing is spurred by growing internet penetration and projects aimed at improving payment and delivery infrastructure. The report titled 'Thailand B2C E-Commerce Market 2017' published by yStats.com says that Thailand is the second largest economy in Southeast Asia, behind Indonesia, and also ranks second in B2C e-commerce sales. Although online shopper penetration is still in single-digits, a strong B2C e-commerce sales growth rate is expected in the coming years, allowing Thailand to maintain its position as the runner up in regional online retail sales. Thailand is the second largest B2C e-commerce market in Southeast Asia in terms of sales and is projected to maintain this rank through 2025 due to a strong double-digit growth rate, according to a recent report. The development of online retailing is spurred by growing internet penetration and projects aimed at improving payment and delivery infrastructure.# Mobile and social commerce are the two most important e-commerce market trends in Thailand. Smartphones have become the gateway to internet connectivity, reaching nearly the same penetration rate as internet and leading among devices utilised to go online. Thailand is the regional leader in share of online shoppers making purchases via mobile. M-commerce sales are projected to approach a 50 per cent share of total online spending within the next several years, yStats.com's report reveals. Furthermore, social media has emerged as the most important platform for online sellers in Thailand. With more than one-half of online shoppers making orders through social networks, thousands of e-commerce sellers maintain accounts on popular social media such as Facebook, Instagram and Line to transact with their customers. Lazada, an e-commerce retailer and marketplace controlled by Alibaba Group, is the leading online shopping platform in Thailand, attracting three times more visits to its Thai website than the nearest two competitors combined. Other players attempt to challenge Lazada's leadership by increasing investments into their e-commerce operations. The Central Group acquired online clothing retailer Zalora and planned expansion of omnichannel and logistics capabilities for 2017. Furthermore, South Korea-based 11street is a fast growing market player: since its launch in Thailand December 2016, the company has already registered thousands of sellers and more than a hundred thousand buyers on its platform by early 2017, according to information cited by yStats.com. (KD) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India Premium leather goods manufacturer Hidesign is planning to open 15 stores in airports and malls in cities across India this financial year. Nine of the planned stores are expected at airports and remaining in malls. Airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kochi have already been selected for the exercise which will require an investment of Rs 20 crore. Hidesign plans to open 15 stores, nine of which will be in airports, and about five-six will be across malls, the companys president Dilip Kapur told a news agency. The company would invest Rs 20 crore in the exercise. Stores would be opened at the airports of Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kochi while some more would be opened at tier-I cities, Kapur said. The brand has 80 stores across the country and abroad. Hidesign has greatly benefitted from the surge of e-commerce and has already made strong inroads into the US market, where it entered in 2014. Premium leather goods manufacturer Hidesign is planning to open 15 stores in airports and malls in cities across India this financial year. Nine of the planned stores are expected at airports and remaining in malls. Airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kochi have already been selected for the exercise which will require an investment of Rs 20 crore.# Hidesign markets and distributes competitively priced bags and small leather goods in the US through online as well as high-end independent retailers. E-commerce has aided us greatly in our expansion in the US. Selling directly through e-commerce is very useful and building a brand is much easier, Kapur said. There are also plans to overhaul Hidesigns India-oriented lifestyle brand Holii in 2017 in terms of product mix, and price points. Founded over 35 years ago, Hidesign has 80 exclusive stores, and also sells products through several independent stores and major department stores in international markets. Premium brand Louis Vuitton owns a minority stake in the company. (SV) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India Brazilian exports of textiles and clothing to the Arab World has surged during the first two months of 2017, increasing by 87.5 per cent compared to the same period in 2016. Huge demand for synthetic fabric and sisal rope used in ships and rigs led to the increase in total sales reaching $3 million up from $1.6 million in January and February 2016. The export figures have been announced by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC). The Brazilian Textile and Apparel Industry Association (ABIT) reported that sales from rope exports accounted for $1 million, while beachwear, textile yarns and inner garments also rose during the two months. ABIT's survey of exports include various parts in the production chain including raw materials such as fibers, yarns and filaments as well as technical and non-fabric industrial textiles and clothing. Brazilian exports of textiles and clothing to the Arab World has surged during the first two months of 2017, increasing by 87.5 per cent compared to the same period in 2016. Huge demand for synthetic fabric and sisal rope used in ships and rigs led to the increase in total sales reaching $3 million up from $1.6 million in January and February 2016.# Arab countries continue to be one of Brazil's largest markets for clothing, particularly for segments such as party wear, children's and beach wear. Based on ABIT's latest data, the UAE has the highest imports of Brazilian textiles and clothing during this period, followed by Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Lebanon. To boost the Brazilian textile and apparel industry exports, ABIT and the Brazilian Trade and Investment Agency (Apex-Brazil) have launched the Texbrasil program which serves to benefit affiliated exporters. Statistics showed that companies which have participated in the program expanded their export markets to Arab countries by 40 per cent in 2016, valued at $2.9 million in 2015 to $4.1 million in 2016. "Brazil's textile exports performance during the first two months of the year signify the steady growth of the country's market share in the sector as the Arab World continues to look for quality materials, not only in raw materials but also with finished goods. The Arab consumer base has a discerning taste for luxury and exclusivity in clothing and apparel and this segment remains promising for the Brazilian export sector. It is worth noting that the continued support of industry groups coupled with innovative business strategies, have played an important role for the growth of the Brazilian textile in the Arab region," said Michel Alaby, Secretary General and CEO, ABCC. (KD) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India In the first fortnight of April, only a few trades were registered in the Brazilian cotton market and that too mainly for short term deliveries. Growers remained firm were firm in terms of asking prices, although quality of cotton was low, while cotton processors were cautious regarding new purchases, all of which slowed down trade in the fortnight.In order to meet demand, the user textile industry resorted to purchases from trading companies and traders. In the first fortnight of April, only a few trades were registered in the Brazilian cotton market and that too mainly for short term deliveries. Growers remained firm were firm in terms of asking prices, although quality of cotton was low, while cotton processors were cautious regarding new purchases, all of which slowed down trade in the fortnight. # The CEPEA/ESALQ Index for cotton type 41-4 in 8-day payment terms and delivered in Sao Paulo, declined 0.8 per cent between March 31 and April 13, closing at BRL 2.7429 per pound on April 13.Data released by CONAB on April 11 informed that despite the 2.6 per cent reduction in the cotton planted area in the 2016/17 season in Brazil, production may increase by 14.3 per cent compared to the previous season, as productivity is expected to increase 17.3 per cent, resulting in yield of 1,583 kilos per hectare. (AR) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India The future of textile industry will be discussed at a forum in Urumqi during May 16-18, 2017. The forum, the future of the new textile industry: a dialogue between Xinjiang, China and Europe, will retrace the Silk Road to open a new dialogue between the Asian continent and the Mediterranean Sea. It is expected to be attended by international business leaders and creative people. The dialogue is being organised by Santex Rimar Group, Leading Group Office for Development of Employment-Centered Textile and Apparel Industry in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and China Textile Information Centre. At the forum, international textile business leaders and creative influencers will explore the growth of cutting-edge textile industry from Xinjiang through the new Silk routes. Speakers will focus on textile business, garments and home textiles industries and sustainable development. The future of textile industry will be discussed at a forum, 'the future of the new textile industry: a dialogue between Xinjiang, China and Europe' in Urumqi during May 16-18, 2017. The forum, to be attended by key business leaders and creative people, will retrace the Silk Road to open a new dialogue between the Asian continent and the Mediterranean Sea.# Speakers to address the forum include Giovanni Bonotto, creative director, Bonotto; Francesco Dalla Rovere, president, Sinv Holding; Arthur Huang, CEO and founder, Miniwiz; Pietro Pin, head of new technologies research and development, Benetton Group; Cristiano Seganfreddo, artistic director, Krizia; Calvin Woolley, global supplier development leader, Ikea; Gao Yong, the party committee secretary and secretary-seneral, CNTAC; Liang Yong, deputy secretary-general of Peoples Government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and director of Leading Group Office for Development of Employment-Centered Textile and Apparel Industry In Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. One of the participants at the event is Bonotto, a textile manufacturing company based in Italy, which is managed by one single family of businessmen now in its fourth generation. Its mill has a Style Centre in Molvena (Vicenza, Italy), whose staff is continuously engaged in researching, and creating new kinds of performances, producing more than 1000 new fabrics every year and the Slow Factory, where blankets, samples and production pieces are manufactured. Another participant Sinv is an Italian company which specialises in ready-to-wear apparel. It was founded in 1975. It first came to market with its own brand, Daily Blue, developed with Adriano and Rossella Goldschmied, but, after 10 years, its focus changed to the newly-borne licensing business. In 1985 it started collaborating with Krizia for the launch of Krizia Jeans, and since then has partnered with fashion houses such as Moschino, Cavalli, Valentino, Alexander McQueen, Chloe, Donna Karan, and Yohji Yamamoto. The other participants include Miniwiz, which exists to make the circular economy a reality in everyday consumption by turning recycled material into high-performance applications, Benetton Group, one of the best-known fashion companies in the world with a watchful eye to the environment, human dignity and a society in transformation, and Cristiano Seganfreddo, innovator and a creative entrepreneur who has taught aesthetics in fashion design at Politecnico di Milano and has been scientific director of Corriere Innovazione of Corriere della Sera. (SV) Fibre2Fashion News Desk China On the occasion of Germanys leading textile machinery manufacturer, Karl Mayers 80th anniversary, the company is hosting an in-house show at its headquarters in Obertshausen, Germany, at the beginning of July 2017. The company will be demonstrating its progress-orientation by a series of events to take place, among others, at the companys headquarters. During these days, the guests will have the opportunity to visit the companys ultra-modern manufacturing department and the recently inaugurated assembly hall. This will be a good chance to get an impression of the companys state-of- the-art premises. Karl Mayers machinery show is meant to reveal the companys expertise in meeting its customers various requirements and to show its innovative strength. Every business unit will be displaying certain representative machines belonging to the latest machine generations. The exhibits from the warp knitting business unit a HKS 3-M in a working width of 210, a brand-new Jacquard Raschel machine, a MJ 52/1 S, and a RD 7 EN, will be showing their skills while producing stylish, functional fabrics for outerwear and sportswear. Besides, the visitors can expect to see new developments and gain fresh inspiration for the latest hot athleisure trend, and for the growth segment of shoe fabrics. The exhibition machines feature impressive flexibility, high speeds, and maximum precision. The company will also display the WEFTRONIC II HKS, a high-performance warp knitting machine with weft insertion to match the courses. It enables the efficient production of extremely lightweight fabrics which are suitable to be used as interlining. Besides, Karl Mayer is a competent partner of the composite sector. The visitors of the warp preparation business unit can have a look at the PROSIZE sizing machine and at the MULTI-MATIC. The PROSIZE features a novel, well-thought out process guiding, thus, offering highest efficiency in weaving and smallest possible sizing liquor volume. In this way, it makes a significant contribution to the concept of sustainability. In December 2016, Karl Mayer officially opened its new assembly hall, which is a real factory of the future. The building is 13,500 square metres state-of- the-art. The new assembly hall stands for consistent production line operation with four ultra-modern rail systems and the latest generation of handling solutions. (GK) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India Lenzing, supplier of high-quality, botanic cellulose fibres like wood pulp and specialty fibres, to the textile and nonwovens industry, has announced that its biochemicals acetic acid, furfural, and magnesium lignosulfonate, manufactured in the biorefinery of the company have bagged the Biobased Product Label by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).The prominent certification is further official proof that the above-mentioned products of the Lenzing Group are derived 100 per cent from the natural and renewable raw material, wood. Lenzing, supplier of high-quality, botanic cellulose fibres like wood pulp and specialty fibres, to the textile and nonwovens industry, has announced that its biochemicals acetic acid, furfural, and magnesium lignosulfonate, manufactured in the biorefinery of the company have bagged the Biobased Product Label by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).# The Lenzing Group produces dissolving pulp at its sites in Lenzing, Austria and Paskov, Czech Republic. All the valuable raw materials are extracted from the wood within the framework of a cascading use. Acetic acid is derived from beech wood in the pulp production process, is recovered in several process steps and processed into high quality, food-grade acetic acid, for example for the food industry. Furfural is a product utilised as a solvent in the refining of lubrication oil, to name one example. Magnesium lignosulfonate is found in animal food or fertilisers.On this basis of this award, Lenzing once again underlines its very high ecological standards. Recently, Lenzing Modal fibres and Lenzing Viscose fibres, including all product families, were also given the USDA Certified Biobased Product Label. The particularly environmentally compatible TENCEL fibres have already been certified as bio-based since the year 2011.The certification of bio-based products is part of the BioPreferred program implemented by the USDA. It is designed to motivate government institutions and companies to purchase bio-based products or those which largely consist of biological materials.Lenzing CEO Stefan Doboczky said, Lenzing stands for a responsible approach to nature. For this reason, we use 100 per cent of the natural resource wood, from the core to the bark as pulp, bioenergy, and biochemicals such as acetic acid. That is why we are very pleased that our pioneering role with respect to the issue of sustainability has gained worldwide recognition. (GK) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India As absurd as it may sound but an old video of late Bollywood actor Om Puri's 'ghost' spotted wandering outside his house in Mumbai has gone viral on the internet. Apparently, the video which was first played by Pakistan's Bol News dates back to 14th January this year where anchor Aamir Liaquat claims that Om Puri's ghost was spotted outside his Mumbai house. In the purported video aired by the channel, a man wearing a white kurta is seen appearing and is claimed to be Om Puri's ghost. Further the anchor is seen claiming that Om Puri's ghost was seeking revenge against India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. While the video is 3 months old, it recently went viral on social media after an Indian TV news channel allegedly played it over the weekend. Since then the Twitterati went beserk reacting to this telecast. Veteran actor Om Puri passed away due to heart attack on January 6 this year at his Mumbai residence. The Teaser Poster Of Tubelight Salman Khan shared the teaser poster of the film on his Twitter handle and captioned it as, "Kya tumhe yakeen hai ? Agar tumhe yakeen hai then 'Back his Back'." In the said poster, the actor is seen standing with his back towards the audience. Did You See The Sneak-Peek Of Tubelight? Yesterday, the makers had released a teaser promo of the film where the video contained the voiceover of kids shouting 'Jal Jaa, Jal Jaa' while we see a flickering light which finally lits up to reveal the social handle page Shahrukh Khan's Cameo In Tubelight Superstar Shahrukh Khan has a guest appearance in this Salman Khan starrer. A leading daily quoted director Kabir Khan as saying, "I've known Shah Rukh for a long time and the equation with him hasn't changed at all. It's still fun. I was actually very close friends with Gauri, his wife, so we've always been very warm and friendly. When I took the idea of this cameo in Tubelight to him, he readily agreed. I didn't have to convince him at all." He further added, "Trust me, it's a great cameo and a fantastic character. Shah Rukh is someone I've always looked up to as a senior. He is also probably the most well read person in the industry." Sohail Khan's Role In Tubelight Reportedly Sohail plays Salman Khan's mute younger brother in the film. Earlier while talking to a leading daily he had said, ""I am only doing 'Tubelight' so that I can be around Kabir and Salman bhai, there is so much to learn from them." Raghava Lawrence, is a household name in Tamil Nadu for various reasons and a fairly recognizable personality in Telugu states as well. Lawrence who started his career as a choreographer later turned himself into a director, actor and a philanthropist. He has admirers and fans for his dance, directorial movies in mass genre in Telugu and horror-comedy genre movies which seldom sees himself as an actor and director in both Telugu and Tamil languages. His humanitarian nature of providing food, shelter and education to certain number of kids on a daily basis and his proactive support and involvement in the recent 'jallikattu' protest in Tamil Nadu has made him an even bigger star amongst the youth. However, it was not a bed of roses for the Muni hero when he ventured himself into the industry, and it was these two Legends of Indian cinema who were influential in chiselling out a beautiful career for the ace choreographer-actor. Back in 1991, a young lad who had dancing abilities carried out odd jobs to cater his daily needs. Being a car assistant to Super Subbarayan, the stunt master of Tamil cinema, the young kid had fancy dreams of making it big in the cinema industry. During a film shoot, Super Subbarayan urged Lawrence to show his expertise in dance by flexing a couple of moves in front of none other than his matinee idol, Superstar Rajinikanth. Post the performance, Thalaiva was not seen uttering a word or expressing appreciation to the budding talent but instead walked to his car straight away. However, knowing Thalaiva, he just did not walk out of the set, but asked Lawrence to report to his residence the next day. Rajinikanth's secretary handed over a recommendation letter to Lawrence which got him placed comfortably in the dance union which was being managed by Prabhu Deva. This opened the doors for Raghava Lawrence to realize his dreams. Our Sivalinga hero made use of the provided opportunity to its maximum extent. He knocked the doors of the neighbouring states and the call was answered by none other than Megastar Chiranjeevi who is known as the synonym of dance. Chiranjeevi offered him with an opportunity with his 1997 blockbuster, Hitler, which was followed by his subsequent movie, Master. Pleased with his work, the Megastar of Telugu cinema repeated Lawrence as his main choreographer till almost 2007 and it was Indra's Veena step which brought in a lot of accolades and appreciation to the star choreographer. Lawrence, claimed to have been an individual choreographer by himself by 1995-96 period where he had stated that blessings from Superstar Rajinikanth was sought before he ventured out as a dance master. One can even spot the fan boy moment of Raghava Lawrence during many film related functions where the star is seen mentioning his Thalaivar's name on a frequent basis and not to mention his small cameo with the Superstar in Baba's 'Maya Maya' song. With both Superstar and Megastar having showered abundantly in their own ways, the Tamil and Telugu industries have been blessed with this multifaceted personality. Kartik Leaves For Work Kartik goes out for an urgent work. Before leaving her warns Naira not to open the door until she is sure about the person. Plumber At Naira's House A plumber knocks the door. But Naira doesn't open the door. The plumber then assures her by getting a lady that he is there for work and will not harm her. Goons Attack Naira! Later, goons enter the house. Naira will be seen fighting with the goons. The plumber also tries to save Naira, but in vain. Naira Co-incidentally Calls Goenka House! During the fight, coincidentally, the call goes to the Goenka house. Apparently, Naira would have made a last call to Suvarna and apologised to her. Naira Would Have Made A Last Call To Suvarna Naira tells Suvarna that she couldn't fulfil her promise. She also tells her that she can't hurt Kartik anymore. Since this was a last call, the call by chance, goes to the Goenka house. Who Saves Naira? Who saves Naira from goons, is yet to be known. But this will have a great impact on Kartik as Naira gets hurt. He recalls his past and decides to return to the Goenka house. Kartik Recalls His Mother's Incident! Apparently, similar case would have happened with Kartik's mother. When his mother was in trouble, no one was around to help her. Kartik fears that Naira might get into trouble again and tells to himself that he can't let the same thing happen with her. Kartik Family Happy With Kartik's Return Singhania and Goenka family members are happy that Kartik decides to return to the Goenka house.At the Goenka house, the family members decorate the house with 108 diyas to welcome Kartik and Naira. Dadi's Gets Upset! But because of a diya the pooja thali' gets burnt. Suvarna and others pour water to put out fire. Dadi, who is superstitious, senses something wrong and cries. But, they do not show their worries in front of Kartik and Naira. Dadi and others welcome KaIra back home! DUBLIN, Apr. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Africa Diesel Genset Market (2017-2023): Forecast by KVA Ratings, Verticals, Countries, Import Statistics and Competitive Landscape" report to their offering. Africa diesel genset market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 4.6% during 2017-23 In Africa, diesel gensets with rating 5KVA-75KVA accounted for majority of the market volume share due to low electrification rate, growing residential and construction sector. 5KVA-75KVA rating gensets are expected to maintain their dominance in the market throughout the forecast period in-terms of market volume. Growth in mining and oil & gas exploration in countries such as Tanzania, Ghana and Nigeria would also spur demand of diesel gensets in Africa. Establishment of SEZs, EPZ's government infrastructure projects such as tech cities, railway, expansion of state & national highways as well as rising demand for power are expected to fuel the market for diesel gensets in Africa. According to Mega Development Goals (MDG), the African countries aims to develop megacities to accommodate the increase in working age population, which would boost the demand for diesel gensets in the country. Amongst all verticals, the manufacturing vertical accounts for key share in the overall Africa diesel genset market. Retail, commercial offices, hotels and hospitals are the other key revenue contributing verticals. The report thoroughly covers the Africa diesel genset market by KVA ratings, verticals and countries. The report provides an unbiased and detailed analysis of the on-going trends, opportunities/high growth areas, market drivers which would help the stakeholders to device and align their market strategies according to the current and future market dynamics. Markets Covered The report provides the detailed analysis of the following market segments: By KVA Rating: - 5-75 KVA - 75.1-375 KVA - 375.1-750 KVA - 750.1-1000 KVA - Above 1000 KVA By Verticals: - Retail and Logistics - Oil & Gas and Power Utility - Commercial Offices (Hospitality, BFSI, IT & ITES) - Manufacturing - Rental - Residential - Others (Telecom, Hospital, Mining, Government & Transportation, Education, Construction) Key Topics Covered: 1. Executive Summary 2. Introduction 3. Global Diesel Genset Market Overview 4. Africa Diesel Genset Market Overview 5. Africa Diesel Genset Market Dynamics 6. Africa Diesel Genset Market Trends 7. South Africa Diesel Genset Market Overview 8. Angola Diesel Genset Market Overview 9. Kenya Diesel Genset Market Overview 10. Nigeria Diesel Genset Market Overview 11. Egypt Diesel Genset Market Overview 12. Uganda Diesel Genset Market Overview 13. Ghana Diesel Genset Market Overview 14. Algeria Diesel Genset Market Overview 15. Tanzania Diesel Genset Market Overview 16. Africa Diesel Genset Market Opportunity Assessment, 2016 17. Competitive Landscape 18. Company Profiles 19. Key Strategic Recommendation 20. Disclaimer Companies Mentioned - Atlas Copco AB - Caterpillar Inc. - Cummins Inc. - FG Wilson - Himoinsa S.L - Mikano International Ltd - MTU Onsite Energy Corporation - Perkins Engines Co. Ltd - SDMO Industries - YorPower Ltd. For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/j3qvzs/africa_diesel About Research and Markets Research and Markets is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 Regulatory News: United Company RUSAL Plc (Paris:RUSAL) (Paris:RUAL): Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited take no responsibility for the contents of this announcement, make no representation as to its accuracy or completeness and expressly disclaim any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from or in reliance upon the whole or any part of the contents of this announcement. UNITED COMPANY RUSAL PLC (Incorporated under the laws of Jersey with limited liability) (Stock Code: 486) CONTINUING CONNECTED TRANSACTIONS REPAIR SERVICES Reference is made to the announcements of the Company dated 2 July 2015, 24 January 2017, 2 February 2017 and 28 February 2017 in relation to the Previously Disclosed Repair Services Contracts. The Company announces that on 18 April 2017, members of the Group entered into contracts/additional agreements with associates of En+, pursuant to which the associates of En+ agreed to provide repair services to the members of the Group. THE NEW REPAIR SERVICES CONTRACTS Reference is made to the announcements of the Company dated 2 July 2015, 24 January 2017, 2 February 2017 and 28 February 2017 in relation to the Previously Disclosed Repair Services Contracts. The Company announces that on 18 April 2017, members of the Group entered into contracts/additional agreements with associates of En+, pursuant to which the associates of En+ agreed to provide repair services to the members of the Group (the "New Repair Services Contracts"), details of which are set out below. No. Date of contract/ additional agreement Customer (member of the Group) Contractor (associate of En+) Term of contract Repair services Estimated consideration payable for the year ending 31 December 2017 excluding VAT (USD) Payment terms 1. Additional agreement dated 18 April 2017 to the original contract dated 10 January 2017 Limited Liability Company "Russian Engineering Company" Joint-Stock Company "Irkutskenergoremont" Up to 31 December 2017 Production equipment maintenance and repair works 14,157 Payment within 30 calendar days of signature by the customer of the performed works certificate based on the invoice 2 Additional agreement dated 18 April 2017 to the original contract dated 10 January 2017 Limited Liability Company "Russian Engineering Company" Joint-Stock Company "Irkutskenergoremont" Up to 31 December 2017 Production equipment maintenance and repair works 19,199 Payment within 40 calendar days after the signing of the performed works certificate based on the invoice 3 Contract dated 18 April 2017 JSC RUSAL Achinsk Bratskenergoremont Up to 31 December 2017 Performance of work upon overhaul of the turbine and the generator 917,308 A prepayment of 50% of the consideration shall be paid according to the monthly financial schedule set out in the contract up to the 5th day of the month, the remaining 50% to be paid within 10 calendar days from receipt of the original invoices Total estimated consideration payable for the year 2017 950,664 The consideration under the New Repair Services Contracts is to be paid in cash via wire transfer or set-off of counter obligations. THE ANNUAL AGGREGATE TRANSACTION AMOUNT The contract price payable under the New Repair Services Contracts has been determined with reference to the market price and on terms no less favourable than those prevailing in the Russian market for repair services of the same type and quality and those offered by the associates of En+ to independent third parties. The basis of calculation of payments under the New Repair Services Contracts is the price of contract offered by the associate of En+ which is based on the estimated costs (including labour costs and the necessary materials) for the relevant repair works. The Company invited several organizations to take part in the tender in relation to the required repair services and chose the contractors offering the best terms and conditions (taking into account the price and availability of professionals with the required skill and experience) and then entered into the contract/additional agreement with the chosen contractors. Based on the terms of the New Repair Services Contracts and the Previously Disclosed Repair Services Contracts, the annual aggregate transaction amount that is payable by the Group to the associates of En+ for the financial year ending 31 December 2017 is estimated to be approximately USD12.899 million. The annual aggregate transaction amount is estimated by the Directors based on the amount of repair services expected to be received and the contract price. THE AGGREGATION APPROACH Pursuant to Rule 14A.81 of the Listing Rules, the continuing connected transactions contemplated under the New Repair Services Contracts and the Previously Disclosed Repair Services Contracts should be aggregated, as they were entered into by the Group with the associates of the same group of connected persons who are parties connected or otherwise associated with one another, and the subject matter of each of the contracts relates to the receipt of repair and maintenance services by members of the Group. REASONS FOR AND BENEFITS OF THE TRANSACTIONS The Directors consider that the New Repair Services Contracts are for the benefit of the Company, as the contractors offered a competitive price. The Directors (including the independent non-executive Directors) consider that the New Repair Services Contracts have been negotiated on an arm's length basis and on normal commercial terms which are fair and reasonable and the transactions contemplated under the New Repair Services Contracts are in the ordinary and usual course of business of the Group and in the interests of the Company and its shareholders as a whole. None of the Directors has a material interest in the transactions contemplated under the New Repair Services Contracts, save for Mr. Deripaska, Mr. Maxim Sokov, Ms. Olga Mashkovskaya and Ms. Gulzhan Moldazhanova, who are directors of En+, being the holding company of each of Joint-Stock Company "Irkutskenergoremont" and Bratskenergoremont. Mr. Deripaska is also indirectly interested in more than 50% of the issued share capital of En+. Accordingly, Mr. Deripaska, Mr. Maxim Sokov, Ms. Olga Mashkovskaya and Ms. Gulzhan Moldazhanova did not vote on the Board resolution approving the New Repair Services Contracts. LISTING RULES IMPLICATIONS Each of Joint-Stock Company "Irkutskenergoremont" and Bratskenergoremont is held by En+ as to more than 30% of the issued share capital and is therefore an associate of En+ which is a substantial shareholder of the Company and thus is a connected person of the Company under the Listing Rules. The estimated annual aggregate transaction amount of the continuing connected transactions under the New Repair Services Contracts and the Previously Disclosed Repair Services Contracts for the financial year ending 31 December 2017 is more than 0.1% but less than 5% under the applicable percentage ratios. Accordingly, pursuant to Rule 14A.76 of the Listing Rules, the transactions contemplated under these contracts are only subject to the announcement requirements set out in Rules 14A.35 and 14A.68, the annual review requirements set out in Rules 14A.49, 14A.55 to 14A.59, 14A.71 and 14A.72 and the requirements set out in Rules 14A.34 and 14A.50 to 14A.54 of the Listing Rules. These transactions are exempt from the circular and the independent shareholders' approval requirements under Chapter 14A of the Listing Rules. Details of the New Repair Services Contracts and the Previously Disclosed Repair Services Contracts will be included in the next annual report and accounts of the Company in accordance with Rule 14A.71 of the Listing Rules where appropriate. PRINCIPAL BUSINESS ACTIVITIES The Company is principally engaged in the production and sale of aluminium, including alloys and value-added products, and alumina. Joint-Stock Company "Irkutskenergoremont" is principally engaged in activities for supporting of operability of thermal power plants. Bratskenergoremont is principally engaged in activities for supporting of operability of the equipment, production of electric installation, all-construction works and others. DEFINITIONS In this announcement, the following expressions have the following meanings, unless the context otherwise requires: "associate(s)" has the same meaning ascribed thereto under the Listing Rules. "Board" the board of Directors. "Company" United Company RUSAL Plc, a limited liability company incorporated in Jersey, the shares of which are listed on the main board of the Stock Exchange. "connected person(s)" has the same meaning ascribed thereto under the Listing Rules. "continuing connected transactions" has the same meaning ascribed thereto under the Listing Rules. "Director(s)" the director(s) of the Company. "En+" En+ Group Limited, a company incorporated in Jersey, a substantial shareholder of the Company. "Group" the Company and its subsidiaries. "Listing Rules" the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities on the Stock Exchange. "Mr. Deripaska" Mr. Oleg Deripaska, an executive Director. "percentage ratios" the percentage ratios under Rule 14.07 of the Listing Rules. "Previously Disclosed Repair Services Contracts" the repair services contracts between members of the Group and associates of En+, pursuant to which the associates of En+ agreed to provide repair services to members of the Group during the year 2017, as disclosed in the announcements of the Company dated 2 July 2015, 24 January 2017, 2 February 2017 and 28 February 2017. "Stock Exchange" The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited. "substantial shareholder" has the same meaning ascribed thereto under the Listing Rules. "USD" United States dollars, the lawful currency of the United States of America. "VAT" value added tax. By Order of the Board of Directors of United Company RUSAL Plc Aby Wong Po Ying Company Secretary 19 April 2017 As at the date of this announcement, the executive Directors are Mr. Oleg Deripaska, Mr. Vladislav Soloviev and Mr. Siegfried Wolf, the non-executive Directors are Mr. Maxim Sokov, Mr. Dmitry Afanasiev, Mr. Ivan Glasenberg, Mr. Maksim Goldman, Ms. Gulzhan Moldazhanova, Mr. Daniel Lesin Wolfe, Ms. Olga Mashkovskaya, Ms. Ekaterina Nikitina and Mr. Marco Musetti, and the independent non-executive Directors are Mr. Matthias Warnig (Chairman), Mr. Philip Lader, Dr. Elsie Leung Oi-sie, Mr. Mark Garber, Mr. Dmitry Vasiliev and Mr. Bernard Zonneveld. All announcements and press releases published by the Company are available on its website under the links http://www.rusal.ru/en/investors/hkse/http://rusal.ru/investors/info/moex/ and http://www.rusal.ru/en/press-center/press-releases.aspx, respectively. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170418006309/en/ Contacts: United Company RUSAL Plc Box, Inc. (NYSE: BOX), a leader in cloud content management, today announced that Fujitsu has become an official Box reseller in Japan. The reseller relationship, started in March 2017, will enable Fujitsu to help accelerate sales of Box in the country. It also strengthens the relationship between the two companies who are working on additional ways to partner in the cloud content management space. "We're thrilled that Fujitsu has come on board as a Box reseller to help deliver transformative software to Japanese businesses in every industry," said Katsunori Furuichi, President and managing director at K.K. Box Japan. "Selling through Fujitsu will enable us to help even more organizations to benefit from entirely new ways of working, by providing technology which enables secure cloud content management." In addition, in December 2016, Fujitsu launched its FUJITSU Enterprise Application Digital Global Communication Service to support rapid implementation of communication platforms. The service includes Box as the cloud content management tool. Becoming a Box reseller in Japan is the first part of the strategic partnership previously announced by Box and Fujitsu, and the companies are exploring additional areas for collaborating, including developing Fujitsu solutions that integrate with Box. Box makes it easy for more than 71,000 organizations around the world to share, access, and collaborate on files securely. The company serves 64% of the Fortune 500, including global enterprises like AstraZeneca, Daiichi Sankyo, General Electric, P&G, Schneider Electric, Shiseido, and more. About Box Box (NYSE:BOX) is the cloud content management company that empowers enterprises to revolutionize how they work by securely connecting their people, information and applications. Founded in 2005, Box powers more than 71,000 businesses globally, including AstraZeneca, General Electric, P&G, and The GAP. Box is headquartered in Redwood City, CA, with offices across the United States, Europe and Asia. To learn more about Box, visit http://www.box.com/. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170418005755/en/ Contacts: PR contacts: Box, Inc. Titus Thomson, 44 (0)7598029952 titus@box.com CLICHY (dpa-AFX) - Cosmetics and beauty products giant L'Oreal Co.(LRLCY.PK) reported that its total sales for the first-quarter 2017 rose 7.5 percent to about 7.05 billion euros from 6.55 billion euros last year. Like-for-like, i.e. based on a comparable structure and identical exchange rates, the sales growth of the L'Oreal Group was 4.2%. The Group is continuing its acceleration in digital, both in marketing and in e-commerce, which posted 27% growth during the quarter and accounted for 6.8% of total sales. At the end of March, the Active Cosmetics Division continued to grow, at +7.6% based on reported figures and +2.8% like-for-like. In the Western Europe, First-quarter growth amounted to +2.8% like-for-like and +1.6% based on reported figures. The North America Zone reported growth of +3.8% like-for-like and +11.7% based on reported figures. The strategic acquisition of CeraVe strengthens the brand portfolio and the positions of the Active Cosmetics Division. Asia, Pacific: the Zone is growing by +7.1% like-for-like and +8.9% based on reported figures. The company said it is confident in its ability to achieve another year of sales and profit growth in 2017. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. PILSEN, Czech Republic, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Creating the latest models of steam turbines and the most resistant materials, precise components, and more accurate software - all of these projects are being realised in Doosan Skoda Power's cutting-edge experimental laboratory in PlzeA, Czech Republic, Central Europe. JiAi Fiala's team tackles complex research projects on steam turbines, for the whole of the parent Doosan Group. (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/489260/Doosan_Skoda_Power_Logo.jpg ) (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/489259/Doosan_Skoda_Power_experimental_laboratory.jpg ) For four years now, Doosan Skoda Power's R & D centre has been carefully monitoring global trends in steam turbine development to be able to flexibly respond to the customers' and the market's requirements. "The information obtained is the basis for the strategic plan of research, in which Doosan Skoda Power invests approximately 3% of its turnover," says JiAi Fiala, head of the Global R&D Centre at Doosan Skoda Power. The PlzeA-based R&D centre's business can be summarised in several categories. One of them is the design and development of the new types of steam turbines, which are in high demand on the market. "We design new smaller steam turbines for industrial use as well as large turbines featuring super-critical parameters of inlet steam and outputs of up to around 1,000 MW. These already are requirements for high parameters, for example, pressures of 250 to 280 bar and temperatures of 600 to 620C," he adds, describing this activity. Another line of research involves the development and application of new materials that must withstand ever higher operating parameters. The recently developed welded rotor is made ofmaterials capable of coping with inlet temperatures of up to 700C. Material research also covers new surface finishing technologies, such as those for steam valve spindles and, most recently, those for coating inlet blades of turbines to help the blades better resist the impact of the mechanical impurities contained in steam. A very important part of research is the development of components for steam turbines, in particular the development of new high-efficiency blade types. "It is said that the sophistication of a steam turbine manufacturer can be told by the longest last-stage blade that they are able to develop successfully. To date, the most challenging project for this R&D centre has probably been the development of a unique last-stage blade of titanium with a length of 1,370 millimetres. For the sake of illustration, each blade will be loaded by a centrifugal force of approximately 550 tonnes in operation. This is approximately the same as the take-off mass of the well-known Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet," JiAi Fiala explains. Turbine component development does not only include blades but also the development and testing of bearings and special types of contactless seals and glands. But research is not just about engineering diagrams and drawings. R & D experts also develop software for a more accurate and quicker calculation and design of their turbines. Most of the newly developed components are tested in the experimental laboratory on the company's own test stands. You can read more on http://www.doosanskodapower.com/en/intro/researchdevelopment.do http://www.doosanskodapower.com/en/media/news/news_view.do?page=1&pressSeq=20170315092842322621&parSrchTxt= www.doosanskodapower.com Overview of the TMEC Hydrogen Station Artist impression of the completed hydrogen station Public Affairs Division Global Communications Department Toyota Motor Corporation Tel: +81-3-3817-9926 SHANGHAI, Apr 19, 2017 - (JCN Newswire) - Toyota Motor Corporation will send two "Mirai" fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) to China in October 2017 to conduct demonstration tests in the country. Coinciding with the start of these tests, Toyota will also establish a hydrogen station at TMEC, its Chinese research and development base.Toyota is participating in the Accelerating the Development and Commercialization of Fuel Cell Vehicles in China2 project, and will carry out demonstration tests on the Mirai FCV for three years between 2017 and 2020. Specifically, Toyota will conduct research into vehicle performance within the environment in China, research into the quality of China's hydrogen, as well as a variety of quality and durability evaluations. Toyota will engage in promotional activities and attempt to gauge how receptive Chinese consumers are to the vehicle, such as by exhibiting the Mirai at domestic events in China, and to also undertake activities which are aimed at improving public understanding of FCVs.There are presently five hydrogen stations in China which are centered in the metropolitan regions of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The hydrogen station which Toyota plans to construct at TMEC will be the first of its kind in Changshu. Through this project, Toyota will work together with the Chinese government and other business organizations within the industry to explore the potential for the creation of a hydrogen-based society.For Toyota, the Mirai is the ultimate eco-car: its zero CO2 emissions result in outstanding environmental performance; it boasts the same convenience as a gasoline powered vehicle in terms of refilling time and cruising range; and it provides the joy of driving in abundance. Between December 2014 and February 2017, an approximate total of 3,000 units of the Mirai sedan has been sold across Japan, the United States and Europe-regions and countries where hydrogen infrastructure is expanding. Toyota is also proceeding with demonstration tests in countries such as Australia, the U.A.E., and Canada.For years, Toyota has advanced the development of various types of eco-cars such as hybrid vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles and FCVs in a manner that leverages the strengths of the different systems. At the same time, Toyota has also been actively engaged in efforts to encourage the widespread ownership of these environmentally-friendly vehicles.In October 2015, Toyota commenced sales in China of the Corolla Hybrid and Levin Hybrid models, both of which features Chinese locally produced hybrid units. As of the end of March, Toyota has sold a total of 90,000 units of both the hybrid models, and this corresponds to 15% in sales of both the Corolla and Levin models together. Plug-in hybrid variants of the Corolla and Levin are scheduled for release in 2018. In addition, Toyota is currently in the process of formulating plans for the introduction of electric vehicles in the Chinese market in the future.Overview of the TMEC Hydrogen Stationhttp://www.acnnewswire.com/topimg/Low_OverviewTMEC%20Hydrogen.jpgArtist impression of the completed hydrogen stationhttp://www.acnnewswire.com/topimg/Low_ToyotaHydrogenStation.jpg(1) Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (China) Co., Ltd.(2) One of the projects funded by the United Nations Development Project and the Global Environment Facility in order to provide support to developing countries. Started in 2003, the project has initiated FC bus services in China, Brazil, Mexico, Egypt, and India. The third phase is scheduled to expand the scope of the project to include passenger vehicles.About ToyotaSupported by people around the world, Toyota Motor Corporation (TSE: 7203; NYSE: TM), has endeavored since its establishment in 1937 to serve society by creating better products. As of the end of December 2013, Toyota conducts its business worldwide with 52 overseas manufacturing companies in 27 countries and regions. Toyota's vehicles are sold in more than 170 countries and regions. For more information, please visit www.toyota-global.com.Source: ToyotaContact:Copyright 2017 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved. HONG KONG, Apr 19, 2017 - (ACN Newswire) - Daniang Dumpling Catering Group Co., Ltd. ("Daniang Dumpling"), one of the largest Chinese fast food restaurant chains, recently announced that GreenTree Inns Hotel Management Group ("GreenTree Group") completed the acquisition of Daniang Dumpling from CVC Capital Partners, and GreenTree Group has become the controlling shareholder of Daniang Dumpling. As such, Daniang Dumpling has transitioned back to corporate holding from private equity holding, which is a milestone in the history of the company. GreenTree Group operates medium to high end business hotel chains with strong value to consumers and innovative operating and service concepts. By becoming the controlling investor of Daniang Dumpling, GreenTree Group will support Daniang's future development by providing its resources in hotel and catering industries, which is expected to bring explosive growth to Daniang Dumpling. Mr. Wu Guoqiang, the founder of Daniang Dumpling agreed by saying, "Catering enterprises, especially fast food restaurant chains, have their innate driving power for sustainable and healthy development, which cannot be replaced by mere capital investment, instead, we need advanced management concepts and innovative ideas. GreenTree Group's strategic acquisition allows the business to return to corporate business management. With this, I believe Daniang Dumpling will thrive again, and move forward steadily according to our operation philosophy as a classic brand." GreenTree Group and Daniang Dumpling both agree that the top priority is to provide consumers with quality products and services while ensuring food safety. They also focus on supporting their franchisees and partners to ensure stable revenues and strong returns, so as to achieve a win-win partnership. Finally, both Daniang Dumpling and GreenTree Group will continue to adhere to their "people first" principles, as an outstanding team is the key to company success. Both companies are committed to providing their staff, especially front line staff, with strong career opportunities. About Daniang Dumpling Founded in 1996, Daniang Dumpling is one of the largest restaurant chains in China and one of the largest and most recognizable Chinese dumpling brands. Leveraging a uniquely integrated business model covering food production, restaurant operations, central kitchen, brand franchising and frozen food sales, Daniang Dumpling has a network of more than 400 stores in over 100 cities and 17 provinces across China with more than 7,000 employees. Daniang Dumpling has consistently been ranked as one of China's Top 10 Famous Fast Food Brands and one of China's Top 100 Catering Enterprises. About GreenTree Group Founded in 2004, GreenTree Group operates cost-effective business hotel chains with innovative operating and service concepts. Its properties include GreenTree Eastern Hotel, GreenTree Inn, Vatica Hotel and GreenTree Alliance Hotel. After 12 years of development, GreenTree Inns operates over 2,600 hotels in more than 400 cities in five countries. Copyright 2017 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved. Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de Mitsubishi Motors Public Relations Department http://www.mitsubishi-motors.com +81-3-6852-4275 TOKYO, Apr 19, 2017 - (JCN Newswire) - Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) announces today that it has decided to transfer production of the RVR (or ASX / Outlander Sport in some markets) compact SUV from its Okazaki Plant to Mizushima Plant, effectively from the end of this December.This decision was driven by MMC's measure to optimize its domestic production system in order to start production of the Eclipse Cross, MMC's new compact coupe SUV, at Okazaki Plant.In parallel at Mizushima Plant, the production of the Lancer (or Galant Fortis in Japan) for export is scheduled to end in December. Through this production transfer of the current RVR, MMC ensures the production operation at the Mizushima Plant until the introduction of the next-generation RVR.Outline of Mizushima Plant / Okazaki Plant (as of April 2017)Mizushima PlantModels produced: Lancer for export, i-MiEV, eK Wagon, eK Space, etc.Production capacity: 355,000 units/year (2 shifts)Location: Kurashiki, Okayama, JapanEmployees: 3,334Okazaki PlantModels produced: Outlander, Outlander PHEV, RVR (ASX or Outlander Sport in some markets)Production capacity: 234,000 units/year (2 shifts)Location: Okazaki, Aichi, JapanEmployees: 3,041About Mitsubishi MotorsMitsubishi Motors Corporation is the fifth largest automaker in Japan and the fifteenth largest in the world by global unit sales. It is part of the Mitsubishi keiretsu, formerly the biggest industrial group in Japan, and was formed in 1970 from the automotive division of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.Throughout its history it has courted alliances with foreign partners, a strategy pioneered by their first president Tomio Kubo to encourage expansion, and continued by his successors. A significant stake was sold to Chrysler Corporation in 1971 which it held for 22 years, while DaimlerChrysler was a controlling shareholder between 2000 and 2005. Long term joint manufacturing and technology licencing deals with the Hyundai Motor Company in South Korea and Proton in Malaysia were also forged, while in Europe the company co-owned the largest automobile manufacturing plant in the Netherlands with Volvo for ten years in the 1990s, before taking sole ownership in 2001.Source: Mitsubishi MotorsContact:Copyright 2017 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved. Hitachi Ltd Corporate Communications Tel: +81-3-3258-1111 TOKYO, Apr 19, 2017 - (JCN Newswire) - Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501) and Hirotsu Bio Science Inc. (HirotsuBio) today announced that they have entered an agreement to collaborate on research for the practical application of cancer screening using nematodes. The two companies will conduct collaborative research to realize the practical application of HirotsuBio's "N-NOSE" cancer screening method using nematodes by automating the test process employing the new technology developed by Hitachi to automate the analysis of cancer tests using nematodes. This research will enable the large-scale testing required for future clinical assessment and thus, contribute to the early detection of cancer.http://www.acnnewswire.com/topimg/Low_HitachiHirotsuBioScience.jpgCurrently, cancer-related expenses including indirect costs have reached approximately 10 trillion yen per year in Japan, and become a significant burden on society. Thus, there is a need to not only improve the precision of conventional cancer detection and diagnosis technology, but also for a simple but highly precise new screening method for early detection.HirotsuBio, a venture company from Kyushu University, is aiming to develop a practical application of their newly developed cancer screening method, N-NOSE, based on chemotaxis(1) exhibited by nematodes. Nematodes were found to migrate towards the urine of cancer patients and move away from that of healthy people. N-NOSE has the advantage of being a testing method which can detect various types of cancer early and accurately(2) as well as uses urine, an inexpensive and easily sampled specimen. A large-scale clinical assessment is under plan in collaboration with medical institutions for the practical use of N-NOSE.Hitachi on the other hand, has collaborated with Hitachi Health Insurance Society (Hitachi-Kenpo) to develop automated analysis technology using nematodes in cancer screening. This technology automatically performs a series processes for chemotaxis assays; from collecting and cleansing the nematodes, placing the nematodes and urine sample on a chemotaxis plate, to observing the chemotactic migration of the nematodes. During the observation process, images of the plate are captured to derive the number of nematodes from the brightness of the image. This method realized the quantitative analysis of nematode reaction and the automatic evaluation of chemotaxis assay results without conducting conventional visual counting. Further, continuous imaging allows the degree of migration to be measured. As the results of cancer screening using nematodes may be affected by factors such as the state of the nematodes, by using the degree of migration as a quality control standard, it is possible to quantitatively assess the quality of all test samples. Hitachi applied this technology to develop an automated analysis equipment prototype for cancer screening using nematodes. When urine samples provided by women who participated in Hitachi-Kenpo medical check-ups, and those purchased from overseas biobanks were tested using the prototype, an equivalent level of accuracy in identifying cancer patients was found compared to tests conducted manually by medical technicians.This agreement for collaborative research will allow Hitachi and HirotsuBio to combine their respective strengths to establish automation technology for large-scale cancer screening using nematodes and contribute to the early detection of cancer.(1) Chemotaxis: movement towards or away from a chemical stimulus by cells or microorganisms(2) The latest clinical result from HirotsuBio: Specificity in detecting cancer in patients is 93.8%.About Hitachi, Ltd.Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, delivers innovations that answer society's challenges with our talented team and proven experience in global markets. The company's consolidated revenues for fiscal 2014 (ended March 31, 2015) totaled 9,761 billion yen ($81.3 billion). Hitachi is focusing more than ever on the Social Innovation Business, which includes power & infrastructure systems, information & telecommunication systems, construction machinery, high functional materials & components, automotive systems, healthcare and others. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at www.hitachi.com.Source: Hitachi, Ltd.Contact:Copyright 2017 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved. LOS ANGELES, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/19/17 -- Blow & Drive Interlock, Corp. (OTCQB: BDIC) Dear Shareholders, The beginning of 2017 is off to a great start as we have materially leased all the units we have produced, and our year over year revenue increased by 1000% however, we are losing out on a lot of business as our phones are ringing off the hook and we are limited in the number of units we can provide and install. Unfortunately, we did get several hundred units returned by our distributor that needed minor repairs, which did affect our year end numbers. These units have been repaired and will be deployed into cars this month as well as an additional one thousand units slated for retail installations and set for deployment in stages within the next 3-6 weeks. It is important for shareholders to understand that manufacturing the equipment is only the very first step in the effort it takes to build a nationwide interlock company. Interlock clients want convenience. Gaining meaningful and significant market share in the ignition interlock industry demands much more than just units, it requires a blanket of service centers in each state. To compete on a level playing field we must have a location every 5-10 miles throughout each state. Each service center must be provided with calibration equipment, a dedicated computer and professional training, not to mention all the back-office logistics necessary for state required reporting. Just as the regulations for interlocks are becoming tougher for DUI offenders so too is the state oversight of the manufactures or vendors licensed to do business. Each unit must be properly installed, calibrated and inspected monthly by a licensed technician in an authorized state sanctioned service center. Therefore, a single service center is limited by space & time to a finite number of installations or calibrations or removals in a single day. With the amount of current sales and demand for new installs, multiple locations must be opened and trained professionally to compete on a national and eventually international basis. The analysis and plan for growth and market share is simple. BDIC must invest in a nationwide infrastructure to build out and to grow revenue. Infrastructure expansion when coupled with the cost of building new equipment makes the capital requirements for such an endeavor at around $50,000,000. We could theoretically deploy 30,000-80,000 within the next couple of years if we have adequate infrastructure. We are confident that, if sufficiently capitalized we could quickly expand into many more states and perfectly position the company into other areas of criminal offender monitoring like ankle bracelet monitoring. The result of our analysis is that with increased capital investment we can quickly capture more & more market share away from our competitors and create very healthy returns for our shareholders. I am proud to say that this is a real testament to the underlying practical economics of what BDIC has and will accomplish, in addition to saving lives every day, which I always like to point out to shareholders. BDIC has avoided new debt-financing entirely and our analysis is that any dilution from new stock issuance will be a net-positive to shareholders, further compounded by my commitment to shareholders to retire my 8,000,000 free-trading shares, which I assure shareholders I will do at the earliest opportunity. Finally, I wanted to draw interested shareholders to BDIC's new 5 Star Morningstar rating. Morningstar Research, a leading provider of independent investment research, has upgraded BDIC's common shares to Five out of Five Stars in their quantitative Morningstar equity ratings and equity research reports to OTCQX and OTCQB companies and their investors. Morningstar's quantitative equity ratings for BDIC is displayed on the company's quote page on www.otcmarkets.com/stock/BDIC/quote, providing investors with Morningstar's estimates of the stock's fair market value Sincerely, Laurence Wainer CEO Blow & Drive Interlock Corp. About BDIC Blow & Drive Interlock Corp. (BDIC) based in Los Angeles, California, that manufactures and distributes its Ignition Interlock Device Model# BDI-747 across the United States is a publicly traded company on the American Ventures Marketplace. The BDI-747 is a state of the art ignition interlock device, breath-alcohol testing device approximately the size of a smartphone. The ignition interlock device requires the driver to exhale into the device prior to starting the vehicle. The device will prevent the vehicle from starting if the driver's blood-alcohol content exceeds a predetermined set level. Interlocks are required for use by DUI or DWI ("driving under the influence" or "driving while intoxicated") offenders as part of their mandatory court or motor vehicle department program. The individual subject to the court or motor vehicle order pays for the installation/removal and monthly lease of the ignition interlock device. The Company will provide monitoring of the device at predetermined intervals per state guidelines. Data will be collected and made available to the appropriate authorities for review. The data will show all breath tests performed and/or missed tests as well as any attempt to bypass or circumvent the system. For states that require a picture or GPS location of the person performing the test, the device is equipped with camera & GPS technologies. Safe Harbor Statement This news release contains statements that involve expectations, plans or intentions (such as those relating to future business or financial results, new features or services, or management strategies) and other factors discussed from time to time in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings. These statements are forward-looking and are subject to risks and uncertainties, so actual results may vary materially. You can identify these forward-looking statements by words such as "may," "should," "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "intend," "plan" and other similar expressions. Our actual results, such as the Company's ability to finance, complete and consolidate acquisition of IP, assets and operating companies, could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors not within the control of the company such as a result of various factors, including future economic, competitive, regulatory, and market conditions. The company cautions readers not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. The company disclaims any obligation subsequently to revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events. Contact information: Laurence Wainer Chief Executive Officer 5503 Cahuenga Blvd., #203 Los Angeles, CA 91601 www.blowanddrive.com 877 238-4492 LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Victrex plc (VCT.L), a provider of high performance polymer solutions, announced Wednesday that Jakob Sigurdsson will join the Company on September 1 as Chief Executive-designate. He will succeed David Hummel, who has notified the Board of his intention to retire after 24 years as Chief Executive. Hummel, 59, will retire from the Company on March 31, 2018. He will step down as Chief Executive on September 30, 2017, but to enable an orderly transition he will remain on the Board as an Executive Director, reporting to the Chairman, until Victrex's AGM in February 2018. Sigurdsson will succeed Hummel as Chief Executive and join the Board on October 1, 2017. Sigurdsson, aged 53, is the former Chief Executive of polymer manufacturer Promens. The company noted that under Hummel's leadership, Victrex has delivered significant shareholder value. Revenue increased to over 250 million pounds in 2016 from 31 million pounds in 1995, with earnings per share growing at more than 10% CAGR. Larry Pentz, Chairman of Victrex, said, 'As we communicated at our recent Capital Markets Day, our Polymer & Parts strategy provides a strong platform for growth and the focus is all about execution. Consequently, with Jakob's track record of making markets and delivering growth, as well as his diverse experience in both private and listed companies, the Board believes this appointment is a strong fit with Victrex and will serve us well.' Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. TOKYO, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Britishmodern heritagebrand Belstaffopens its firstflagshipstore in Tokyo,withinthe47,000mretail space'GinzaSix',the cutting edge of modern development andthe biggest retail launch in Tokyothis decade. (Photo:http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/490281/Belstaff.jpg) A private opening event was held in the store, ahead of the public opening on the 20thApril. The store holds the first offering of the women's line in Tokyoand the first complete offering of menswear from the brand. This follows Belstaff's launch intothe Japanese market in 2016,with retail spaces openedinMatsuzakaya Nagoya, IsetanTokyo and Kobe. The opening of a flagship inTokyo showcases the brand's development in Japan and its continued international expansion and dedication to retail.Global Ambassador and Hollywood A-lister Liv Tylerjoined press and guests for the opening. Liv Tyler the internationalstyle and beauty icon,mother of three and daughter of Steven Tyler, has an established career spanning two decades. Liv began modeling at 14 beforestarringin many films including 'Armageddon' and 'Lord ofthe Rings'. Liv first worked withBelstaff as Executive Producer onthe film'Outlaws' starring David Beckham.Liv then starred in 'Falling Up', a short Belstaff film following the steps of AmeliaEarhart, a female pioneer who embodies thespiritof the modernBelstaff woman. Alongside Creative Director Delphine Ninous,Livhasco-designed and produced two collections for Belstaff, and her latest Spring Summer 17 offering will be available in Ginza Six. The flagship launches in the same month Belstaff exhibitsits first Archive exhibition, 'Hollywood Legends'in the iconicDaikanyama Tsutayabookstore. This is a celebration of Belstaff's iconicdesign whichinfluencedmany Hollywood films, including: 'The Aviator' starring Leonardo DiCaprio, 'Ironman', 'Dark Knight, 'I am Legend', 'Twilight' etc. TheTokyostore itself will offer an exclusive 'Ginza Capsule' collection oflighterweight pieces and the firsteyewear collection from the brand, all hand made with the finest materials in Japan.The 100sm storeis the secondbiggest retailspace in Asia, after Macau, and the biggest retaillaunch since the flagship in New Bond Street, London. Gavin Haig, Belstaff CEO said:"Ginza Six,our fourth opening in Japan,shows ourfastand strategicexpansion in this important market. The Japaneseinfluence onfashion and stylecan be felt globally,which is why we selected thisgreatcountry as a key pillar market for Belstaff. TheJapanese appreciationand appetite for modern heritage is keyto our success here.Weare also a brand that continues toinnovate,with functionality as important as style. Oursuccessful launch of theongoing partnership with SOPHNET,showcaseda more street style influenced collection, which is synonymous withTokyo,and was well receivedall over the world." "The first launch of our women's business in Japan is at Ginza Six, with AmbassadorLiv Tylerattending and representing our modern Belstaff Woman.Ginza Six epitomises the new luxury by offering shoppers anexperience of the highest quality. We are thrilled to be a part of this historic opening,an important milestone in the brand's 93 year history." About BELSTAFF Belstaff is a modern British heritage brand steeped in the spirit of adventure, protecting independent spirits to venture free. In Belstaff, the fearless explorer and the stylish alike will discover clothing for a contemporary lifestyle influenced by Belstaff's rich 93 year history, yet firmly rooted in the present and forever forward-looking. Belstaff is headquartered in London and showrooms reside there and in New York and Munich. Belstaff is currently sold through its flagship on New Bond Street, and12 stores in Europe, the United States and Asia, through select wholesale distribution worldwide and onhttp://www.belstaff.com. Pilot study demonstrates FAIMS technology is able to detect patients inadequately prepped prior to colonoscopy with 100% sensitivity Owlstone Medical, a diagnostics company developing a breathalyzer for disease, today announced it has entered into collaboration with Mayo Clinic, the leading US non-profit medical practice, education, and medical research group. The company's FAIMS technology is being used in a clinical trial to evaluate its performance as a rapid, point-of-care test to non-invasively assess the adequacy of bowel preparation prior to colonoscopy. Colonoscopies are one of the most common gastrointestinal endoscopic procedures with approximately 14 million procedures performed annually in the USA. It is estimated that up to a quarter of these procedures have inadequate bowel preparation, resulting in the need for repeat colonoscopies or increasing the risk that diagnosis of disease, such as colorectal cancer, will be missed. In a pilot study, volatile organic compound (VOC) biomarkers emitted from pre-procedural stool samples were captured and analyzed using Owlstone Medical's ATLAS Headspace Sampler and Lonestar VOC Analyzer, a Field Asymmetric Ion Mobility Spectrometer (FAIMS) sensor platform. Results demonstrated that the company's technology is able to rapidly and effectively identify patients inadequately prepped for colonoscopy with 100% sensitivity and 80% specificity. Following the successful pilot study, Mayo Clinic and Owlstone Medical have embarked on a larger clinical trial under the guidance of gastroenterologists, Liam Zakko, M.D. and Kenneth Wang, M.D. The trial aims to evaluate FAIMS technology as a pre-endoscopic test to ensure that colonoscopies are only performed when patients are adequately prepped, thus reducing the number of unsuccessful colonoscopy procedures and enabling disease such as colorectal cancer to be diagnosed more effectively. The results of the pilot study are to be presented at Digestive Disease Week 2017 in Chicago on 6-9 May 2017. Billy Boyle, co-founder and CEO at Owlstone Medical, said: "It is a privilege to be working with one of the leading cancer centers in the US and to have achieved such promising results from our initial pilot study together. The work not only validates our technology for use in clinical practice but also demonstrates its scope for wide medical application using other biospecimens in addition to breath." To find out more about Owlstone Medical visit: www.owlstonemedical.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170419005545/en/ Contacts: Zyme Communications Sarah Jeffery, +44 (0)7771 730 919 sarah.jeffery@zymecommunications.com ATLANTA, GA--(Marketwired - April 19, 2017) - The Arbor Company, the South's premier operator of outstanding senior living communities, today announced it is publishing a resource to assist seniors and their families in starting important legal planning. The e-book, Step-by-Step Guide to Legal Planning for Seniors, is available for free download at https://www.arborcompany.com/step-by-step-legal-planning-ebook. Legal planning for seniors may vary from situation to situation; however, one piece of advice is constant: Starting early is always a wise strategy. Decisions about estate planning and end-of-life care are difficult to make, which is why they are so often put off or never made. The longer seniors and their families wait, the more difficult the decisions become. Timely legal planning avoids problems later, especially if unexpected medical events occur. Arbor's new guide provides a comprehensive overview of what seniors, and their family members, should do to get their legal affairs in order. Among the e-book's features: A timeline of major life events after which seniors should start or continue legal planning The people whom seniors should include in the conversation when considering estate planning and end-of-life care A checklist of important legal documents that seniors and their families should have on hand or should have drawn up "Starting the legal planning process for seniors can be daunting and intimidating," says Chris Harper, The Arbor Company's Director of Communications. "Nevertheless, following with important steps to get legal affairs in order brings peace of mind to both seniors and their families. Moreover, failing to plan can leave family members in the difficult position of guessing what a loved one's wishes were in the event of an unexpected medical emergency. Our new e-book provides seniors and families the tools and information they need to approach, navigate and complete the legal planning process." To download this e-book or learn more about The Arbor Company's senior living communities, visit www.arborcompany.com. About The Arbor Company The Arbor Company is an Atlanta-based operator of more than 25 independent living, assisted living and memory care communities, serving seniors in nine states. With nearly 30 years of dedication and experience, The Arbor Company strives to deliver the highest-quality care and service to residents and their families. The company's innovative Engaged Living program creates meaningful moments through structured activity programs and spontaneous interactions, filling each day with the right balance of purpose and fun. More information about The Arbor Company is available at www.arborcompany.com. Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2017/4/17/11G135961/Images/Screen_Shot_2017-04-17_at_11.14.06_AM_(2)-27d03468339a8f2cb2ebe75a9ac2c2d4.jpg Chris Harper Vice President of Communications The Arbor Company 404-237-4026 SAN DIEGO, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --Today, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Babraham Bioscience Technologies Ltd (BBT) and BioMed Realty, a Blackstone portfolio company,have announced a partnership that will see BioMed Realty signing a long-term lease on approximately eight acres of BBSRC-owned land at the Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge, U.K. The investment will enable the ground-up construction of two new buildings for growing bioscience-based companies at the campus. The Babraham Research Campus is a leading hub of bioscience research and innovation that supports early stage and growing biomedical enterprises. At the centre of the Campus is the world-class Babraham Institute, which receives strategic funding from BBSRC, and BBT, its trading subsidiary, through which the campus is being managed and further developed. Derek Jones, BBT Chief Executive, said, "Over the years, we have had a very good relationship with BioMed Realty at Granta Park, recognising the potential synergies between the two sites. This is a natural extension of that relationship. This inward investment in buildings on the site will support those growing scale-up companies who wish to be part of our campus community but are seeking larger premises than we are currently able to provide. We are excited by the opportunities this brings to continue to grow and develop the campus, and to support the world-leading life science businesses in the Cambridge region." BioMed Realty, a leading provider of real estate solutions to the life science industry, owns and operates an existing presence in Cambridge at its Granta Park campus. The company plans to invest approximately 35 million to construct two buildings comprising up to approximately 108,000 square feet of integrated laboratory and office facilities. The buildings will host life science companies requiring grow-on space and take advantage of the distinct environment and community at the campus. After construction, which is anticipated to begin by the end of 2017 and be completed in the second quarter of 2019, it is expected that BBT will manage the property on behalf of BioMed Realty. "We are very excited about our partnership with BBSRC and the BBT to expand the Babraham Research Campus and our presence in the world-renowned Cambridge, U.K., life science market," said Tim Schoen, CEO and President of BioMed Realty. "Our commitment to Cambridge was forged in 2012 at Granta Park, which we have since enlarged by 250,000 square feet. We pledge to assemble the strongest, most knowledgeable team in the industry to deliver exceptional, state-of-the-art research facilities to foster the ground-breaking science happening at the Babraham Research Campus." About BioMed Realty BioMed Realty invests in the highest quality institutional real estate to meet the needs of the growing demand across the life science industry. The company owns or has interests in properties comprising approximately 12 million rentable square feet.Additional information is available atwww.biomedrealty.com. Follow us on Twitter @biomedrealty. About: Babraham Bioscience Technologies and the Babraham Research Campus. The Babraham Research Campus is a freehold estate of the BBSRC, housing more than 60 biomedical organisations and the Babraham Institute. The aim of the campus is to support U.K. bioscience through academic research, but also with facilities and capabilities for early-stage and growing commercial organisations. The campus is managed and developed by BBT on behalf of the BBT shareholders, BBSRC and the Babraham Institute. www.babraham.co.uk Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/491540/Cambridge_Research_Facility.jpg WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Subway has filed a $210 million lawsuit against Canada's national broadcasting network, alleging that the broadcaster aired an erroneous report about its chicken products, the New York Post reported. The sandwich chain claims that a CBC report broadcast in February showed a scientific test that found the chicken products contained only about 50 percent chicken, and the rest could be mostly soy. In a lawsuit filed in an Ontario provincial court, Subway reportedly alleged that CBC encouraged man-on-the-street testers to lie about its chicken products. CBC, during a Chicken Challenge segment on its Marketplace show, conducted DNA testing on chicken sandwiches from a number of major chains. The report said the Subway's products had the lowest chicken DNA, and that its chicken was potentially a restructured product. The CBC report was partly based on DNA testing done by Trent University. CBC reportedly said the meat was tested twice at a Trent University lab, testing five pieces of chicken and five orders of chicken strips each time. Meanwhile, Subway co-founder Peter Buck told that adding soy filler would make the chicken more expensive. According to a copy of the lawsuit obtained by the Post, Subway said the report is false, and that it has suffered special damages as a result of sales losses in the Subway stores following the broadcast. The chain accused that the CBC was reckless and malicious, and that the tests lacked the scientific rigour to be accurate. Following the broadcast, Subway last month sent CBC a notice saying it disputed the findings and intended to sue over the report. In a statement, a CBC spokesman said, 'CBC intends to defend our position accordingly and as this is now a matter before the courts, we have no further comment.' The CBC is expected to reply to Subway by May 1, the Post said. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de DUBLIN, Apr 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "India Propylene Market Study, 2011-2025" report to their offering. This report studies the market size and share of various segments and sub-segments of propylene market in India during 2011-2025. Propylene is an important raw material used in the production of various organic chemicals, and has virtually no direct use. In India, strong demand for propylene derivative chemicals by various end user industries, increasing discretionary income and rapid industrialization are expected to drive India propylene market during 2016-2025. Moreover, booming automotive, FMCG and furniture sectors is anticipated to aid the country's propylene industry during forecast period. The Government of India launched the Automotive Mission Plan 2016-2026 in 2016 with an aim to increase the contribution of automotive sector in the country's GDP to 12% by the end of 2026. Hence, booming automotive sector is expected to positively influence the market of propylene in India during forecast period. The market dynamics section of the report elaborates the factors that are driving the market as well as the challenges inhibiting growth. The research study also includes insights of the key market trends, a detailed analysis of the changing competitive landscape, and revenue forecasts for each segment and sub-segment. All this information is provided to assist the established market players and new entrants in taking their strategic decisions, thereby aiding them in strengthening their market position in a highly competitive propylene market in India. India Propylene Market Study, 2011-2025 report elaborates the following aspects of propylene market in India: - India Propylene Market Size, Share & Forecast - Segmental Analysis - By Application (Polypropylene, Propylene Oxide, Acrylonitrile, & Cumene), By Region - Market Attractiveness Index Analysis - Competitive Landscape - Leading Customer Analysis Key Topics Covered: 1. Product Overview 2. Research Methodology 3. Executive Summary 4. India Propylene Production Outlook 5. India Propylene Market Outlook 6. India Propylene Market Attractiveness Index 7. Pricing Analysis 8. Import-Export Dynamics 9. Competitive Analysis 10. Customer Analysis For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/zzjx3n/india_propylene Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwired - April 19, 2017) - As the first quarter of 2017 wound down, property managers indicated it was easier to find qualified renters and that resident turnover had declined compared to the same time last year. A new survey from TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) SmartMove also found that six in 10 landlords said it is more profitable and attractive to be a landlord now than it was five years ago. TransUnion SmartMove provides tenant screening solutions, such as credit, criminal and eviction reports, leasing recommendations and resident scoring, to millions of independent landlords and small property managers in the U.S., primarily those with a few properties to rent. SmartMove provides consumers with a secure and fast online process that protects sensitive information such as Social Security numbers. Compared to last year, landlords found it less difficult or about the same to find qualified renters. Only two in 10 (21%) landlords found it more difficult to find qualified renters, but SmartMove data show that more landlords utilized rental screening solutions to evaluate prospective tenants in the past year. "Our survey shows it is a landlord's market as the number of rental applications rises even as current renters remain in their units longer. As a result, landlords are using sophisticated tools and screening solutions to help evaluate potential long-term renters with greater certainty," said Jason Norton, vice president of TransUnion SmartMove. "In the last year alone, TransUnion SmartMove has seen a 29% increase in total number of applications." Six in 10 landlords reported that renters are remaining in their units for longer than they were a year ago. To help ensure these residents are good prospects, the majority of landlords (90%) conduct credit checks and criminal background checks on all of their potential renters. Approximately 85% of landlords review eviction reports for all applicants. A previous TransUnion analysis found that prior evictions and rental-related collection records are highly predictive of future evictions. Landlords who did not conduct tenant screening on their residents said they saw no red flags about the applicant (39%), trusted their gut (36%) or did not know about tenant screening as an option (21%). "Landlords ranked eviction history as one of the most concerning items on a rental applicant's history, but not all landlords are using eviction reports," said Norton. "To make smarter decisions about applicants, landlords should review eviction reports for every renter. In addition, rental fraud is an increasingly prevalent problem in the industry, and landlords should no longer only trust their instincts to select trustworthy and reliable residents." Landlords who use tenant screening solutions saw value in the solutions. Nearly all (96%) landlords said tenant screening enabled them to rent to higher quality tenants. "Tenant screening is valuable for both landlords and consumers. During the application process, tenants often hand over sensitive information such as a Social Security number to their new landlord. Using screening solutions such as SmartMove, tenants can feel more comfortable knowing their private information is safe and secure," added Norton. To learn more about TransUnion SmartMove and its solutions for landlords, visit https://www.mysmartmove.com/. About the Survey The survey was conducted in March 2017 and included responses from 689 landlords. Respondents included landlords with one property (21%), two to 10 properties (52%) and more than 10 properties (28%) and were dispersed across the U.S. About TransUnion SmartMove TransUnion SmartMove is the independent landlord's tenant screening solution for great reports, great convenience, and great tenants. Landlords receive a TransUnion credit report formatted exclusively for rental screening purposes, a criminal report drawing from hundreds of millions of national and statewide criminal records, a national eviction report, a ResidentScore, and a reliable leasing recommendation. Renters get the peace of mind that only TransUnion has access to their personal identifying information. About TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) Information is a powerful thing. At TransUnion, we realize that. We are dedicated to finding innovative ways information can be used to help individuals make better and smarter decisions. We help uncover unique stories, trends and insights behind each data point, using historical information as well as alternative data sources. This allows a variety of markets and businesses to better manage risk and consumers to better manage their credit, personal information and identity. Today, TransUnion has a global presence in more than 30 countries and a leading presence in several international markets across North America, Africa, Latin America and Asia. Through the power of information, TransUnion is working to build stronger economies and families and safer communities worldwide. We call this Information for Good. http://www.transunion.com/business Contact Dave Blumberg dblumberg@transunion.com 312-985-3059 CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/19/17 -- Athabasca Oil Corporation (TSX: ATH) ("Athabasca" or the "Company") advises that on page 3 of its Information Circular - Proxy Statement dated March 24, 2017 ("Circular"), which was filed on SEDAR on April 3, 2017, the Company mistakenly stated that no person or company beneficially owned or controlled more than 10% of the outstanding common shares of Athabasca as of March 24, 2017. As reported in an Early Warning Report filed by Statoil Canada Ltd. ("Statoil") on February 2, 2017 on SEDAR, Statoil beneficially owned, and continues to own, 19.7% of the outstanding common shares of Athabasca. About Athabasca Oil Corporation Athabasca Oil Corporation is a Canadian energy company with a focused strategy on the development of thermal and light oil assets. Situated in Alberta's Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, the Company has amassed a significant land base of extensive, high quality resources. Athabasca's common shares trade on the TSX under the symbol "ATH". For more information, visit www.atha.com. Contacts: Media and Financial Community Matthew Taylor Vice President, Capital Markets and Communications 1-403-817-9104 mtaylor@atha.com www.atha.com TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 04/19/17 -- Star Navigation Systems Group Ltd. (CSE: SNA)(CSE: SNA.CN)(OTCBB: SNAVF) ("Star" or the "Company) is pleased to provide an update on various corporate developments and initiatives. Change of Exchange On April 5, 2017, the Company voluntarily requested that its common shares be delisted from the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSX-V"), where they had been previously been halted following a short delay in filing financial statements and a subsequent TSXV reinstatement review. The Board of Directors of the Company determined that, for ease of administration and an early return to trading, an application to transfer trading to the Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE") was indicated. Trading of the Company's common shares commenced on the CSE April 7, 2017. Sales Refocus For several years, the Company has considered the Middle East, South-East Asia and China to be excellent sales prospects for the STAR-A.D.S. System due to rapid growth, expanding air transport industries and the increasing number of passenger miles flown. However, although several contracts were entered into with small regional carriers in these areas, management changes, financial issues and priorities and local regulatory problems resulted in a lack of completion of the contracts. Enforcement options were limited by both differing legal environments, as well as customer relations considerations. One of the major impediments to sales in this area has been our inability to persuade the Government of India to allow the use of the Iridium satellite communication system in their airspace. As the STAR-A.D.S. System utilizes Iridium to provide worldwide satellite communications, sales and ongoing operations in India will not be possible until there a change in the Government's position. The Company continues its efforts in this regard. The Company has now determined that an emphasis will be placed on North American and European sales, while continuing to work with existing sales prospects and partners overseas. Current Sales Development Work on the sale of the STAR-A.D.S System to a VVIP operator in the Middle East (see press release May 3, 2016) is proceeding on schedule. Installation is complete and awaits only completion of G3 box certification (expected shortly), final post "C" check testing and STC sign off in order to go live. STAR-A.D.S. Division Product Development i. STAR-T.T.T Star's intermediate product, the enhanced STAR-T.T.T, is nearing full commercialization, with completion of design and manufacturing drawings, prototyping, testing and approval of the certification plan by Transport Canada. While expressions of interest have been received from several sources, certification will be completed as resources permit. ii. Star-V-trk Star's entry product, Star-V-trk, is also nearing full commercialization, pending only completion of certification. iii.Certification Unfortunately, resource constraints have delayed final certification of these 2 products. However, an improvement in the Company's cash flow position is expected to allow this process to resume and see certifications finalized at or near fiscal year end. STAR-M.M.I. Division MMI continues to receive and process orders from its four major customers for the repair and refurbishment of existing displays, as well as for new units. Its customer base is slowly expanding, with many military users electing to extend the service life of aircraft currently flying rather than purchasing newer versions. Research and Development Projects Star and its research partners continue their work on improving Emergency Medical Services (EMS), starting with Air Ambulance transport, by providing real-time direct transmission to the ground medical dispatch center of patients' vital signs, along with visual assessment and geo-positioning. Other R&D initiatives utilizing the STAR- ISMS technology are at various stages of development and will be announced if and when they become viable. About Star Navigation: Star Navigation Systems Group Ltd. owns the exclusive worldwide license to its proprietary, patented In-flight Safety Monitoring System technology, STAR-ISMS, the heart of the STAR-A.D.S. System. It is the first system in the world to feature in-flight data-analysis, monitoring and diagnostics with a real-time connection between aircraft and ground. Its real-time capability of tracking performance trends and predicting incident-occurrence enhances aviation safety and improves fleet management while reducing costs for the operator. Star's MMI Division designs and manufactures high performance, mission critical, flight deck flat panel displays for defence and commercial aviation industries worldwide. Certain statements contained in this News Release constitute forward-looking statements. When used in this document, the words "may", "would", "could", "will" and similar expressions, as they relate to Star or its management are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect Star's current views with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause Star's actual performance or achievements to vary from those described herein. Should one or more of these factors or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Star does not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this release. Contacts: Star Navigation Systems Group Ltd. Viraf Kapadia, CEO (416) 252-2289 Ext. 230 viraf.kapadia@star-navigation.com www.star-navigation.com RENO, NV--(Marketwired - April 19, 2017) - Klondex Mines Ltd. (TSX: KDX)(NYSE MKT: KLDX) ("Klondex" or the "Company") is pleased to report its preliminary operating results for the first quarter of 2017 for its Nevada and Canadian operations. First Quarter 2017 Operating Highlights and Annual Outlook: Mined a total 57,633 gold equivalent ounces (1) , in line with Company expectations , in line with Company expectations Produced and sold a total of 34,454 and 33,737 gold equivalent ounces, respectively In Nevada, ore from Fire Creek was stockpiled due to heavy snowfall limiting our ability to transport ore to the Midas mill Built a significant stockpile in Nevada of 30,890 tons at an average grade of 0.94 gold equivalent ounces per ton containing 29,142 gold equivalent ounces (2) . This is an increase of approximately 18,000 tons from the end of 2016. These tons will be processed at the Midas mill in the second quarter . This is an increase of approximately 18,000 tons from the end of 2016. These tons will be processed at the Midas mill in the second quarter Forward sold 20,000 of the stockpiled gold ounces in the first quarter at an average realized price of $1,250 per ounce As planned, the Company continued to ramp up True North in Canada towards full production, which is expected to occur in the second half of the year The Company's initial mineral resource estimate at Hollister is expected to be completed in the second quarter. Development work continued with ore silling in the Gloria zone; stockpiled ore is expected to be processed at the Midas mill in the third quarter The Company remains on track to meet its annual production guidance of 210,000 to 225,000 gold equivalent ounces, up 36% from 2016 The Company will report its financial results for the first quarter of 2017 after market close on Thursday, May 4, 2017. (1) Mined ounces are calculated using tons hauled to surface multiplied by the assays from production sampling. (2) End of month surveys are used to account for tonnage. Grade of material is based on weighted average of representative samples taken during mining. A metallurgical balance, using mined and milled numbers, is performed to determine final stockpile balances. Mr. Paul Huet, President and CEO commented, "Despite difficult weather conditions in Nevada, our underground mining activities performed as expected in the first quarter. We have built a substantial stockpile at the Midas mill that will be processed in the second quarter." Mr. Huet continued, "First quarter production was largely from two mines, Fire Creek and Midas in Nevada. Our True North and Hollister operations will contribute more in the second half of the year as they continue to ramp up towards full production. We are well positioned to deliver on our annual Company-wide production guidance of 210,000 to 225,000 gold equivalent ounces." First Quarter 2017 Operating Results Three months ended March 31, 2017 ----------------------------------------------------------- Fire Nevada True Creek Midas Hollister Total North Total ----------------------------------------------------------- Ore tons mined 31,730 40,153 6,950 78,833 28,686 107,519 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Average gold equivalent mined grade (oz/ton)(1) 1.19 0.35 0.29 0.68 0.14 0.54 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gold equivalent mined (ounces) (1) 37,605 14,065 2,047 53,717 3,916 57,633 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gold mined (ounces) 37,193 9,279 1,885 48,357 3,916 52,273 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Silver mined (ounces) 28,258 328,767 11,142 368,167 - 368,167 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ore tons milled 21,659 39,308 - 60,967 28,936 89,903 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Average gold equivalent mill head grade (oz/ton)(1) 0.95 0.32 - 0.55 0.14 0.41 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Average gold mill head grade (oz/ton) 0.94 0.22 - 0.47 0.14 0.37 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Average silver mill head grade (oz/ton)(2) 0.84 7.43 - 5.09 - 3.45 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Average gold recovery rate (%) 93.4% 92.0% -% 93.0% 96.1% 93.4% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Average silver recovery rate (%)(2) 83.2% 84.2% -% 84.2% -% 84.2% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gold equivalent produced (ounces)(1) 19,201 11,453 - 30,654 3,800 34,454 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gold produced (ounces) 18,981 7,873 - 26,854 3,800 30,654 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Silver produced (ounces) 15,109 245,989 - 261,098 - 261,098 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gold equivalent sold (ounces)(1) 16,540 12,782 - 29,322 4,415 33,737 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gold sold (ounces) 16,378 8,781 - 25,159 4,400 29,559 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Silver sold (ounces) 11,145 274,855 - 286,000 1,000 287,000 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (1) Gold equivalent ounces ("GEO") and grades are computed as the applicable gold ounces/grade plus the silver ounces/grade divided by a GEO ratio. GEO ratios are computed by dividing the average realized gold price per ounce by the average realized silver price per ounce received by the Company in the respective period. Preliminary GEO ratios for each respective segment are as follows: GEO Ratio 68.7 68.7 68.7 68.7 68.8 68.7 (2) The Company does not track this silver statistic at True North due to silver being trivial to that operation. Fire Creek and Midas in Nevada: At Fire Creek and Midas, the Company mined 71,883 ore tons in the first quarter at an average mined head grade of 0.72 gold equivalent ounces per ton. First quarter 2017 production in Nevada was impacted by heavy snowfall that limited the ore mined from Fire Creek from being transported to the Midas mill. As such, the Company shut down the mill for just over two weeks to perform preventative maintenance originally scheduled for later in the year. The Company's mining activity performed as planned which resulted in 51,670 gold equivalent ounces mined. The Company built a significant ore stockpile containing 29,142 gold equivalent ounces at the end of the first quarter. The Midas mill has excess processing capacity so the stockpiled ounces will be processed in the second quarter of the year. Hollister in Nevada: At Hollister, sill development work began in the Gloria zone. The Company expects tons mined and mill head grades to progressively increase throughout the year as it transitions to bulk mining in the form of long-hole, cut-and-fill and selective shrink stoping. Stockpiled ore is expected to be processed at the Midas mill in the third quarter after metallurgical test work is completed. In-fill drilling in the Gloria zone continues. During the first quarter, the Company completed 31 drill holes totaling 11,775 ft. Results are pending and the Company expects to generate a preliminary mineral resource and reserve estimate in the second and third quarter, respectively. True North in Canada: At True North in Canada, the mine continues to ramp up towards full production. First quarter production was primarily from lower grade areas on the 16 Level and the 2603 ramp where development was already in place. The Company also experienced lower than expected underground equipment availability in the first quarter and consequently accelerated planned mill maintenance originally scheduled to occur later in the year. The Company expects 2017 production and grades to progressively increase throughout the year as mining activity moves to the higher grade 710 incline and decline zones, with 2017 production heavily weighted in the second half of the year. 2017 Guidance: The Company reiterates its 2017 consolidated production guidance of 210,000 to 225,000 gold equivalent ounces. 2017 production is weighted more heavily in the second half of the year as True North and Hollister continue to ramp up towards full production. Please see the 2017 GEO Production Forecast graph HERE. Webcast and Conference Call Klondex will report its financial results for the first quarter of 2017 after market close on Thursday, May 4, 2017. A conference call and webcast will be held the following morning on Friday, May 5, 2017 at 10:30am ET/7:30am PT. The conference call telephone numbers are listed below. Canada & USA Toll Free Dial In: +1 800-319-4610 Toronto: +1 416-915-3239 International: +1 604-638-5340 Callers should dial in 5 to 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time and ask to join the Klondex call. The webcast will be available on the Company's website or by clicking http://services.choruscall.ca/links/klondex20170505.html. About Klondex Mines Ltd. (www.klondexmines.com) Klondex is a well-capitalized, junior-tier gold and silver mining company focused on exploration, development, and production in a safe, environmentally responsible, and cost-effective manner. The Company has 100% interests in three producing mineral properties: the Fire Creek Mine and the Midas Mine and ore milling facility, both of which are located in the state of Nevada, USA, and the True North Gold Mine (formerly known as the Rice Lake Mine) and mill in Manitoba, Canada. The Company also has 100% interests in two recently acquired projects, the Hollister mine and the Aurora mine and ore milling facility (formerly known as Esmeralda), also located in Nevada, USA. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Information This news release contains certain information that may constitute forward-looking information or forward-looking statements under applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation (collectively, "forward-looking information"), including but not limited to the production and exploration potential at Fire Creek, Midas, Hollister and True North, future exploration and production plans of Klondex and timing relating to the Company's expected releases of mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates. This forward-looking information entails various risks and uncertainties that are based on current expectations, and actual results may differ materially from those contained in such information. These uncertainties and risks include, but are not limited to, the strength of the global economy; the price of gold; operational, funding and liquidity risks; the degree to which mineral resource estimates are reflective of actual mineral resources; the degree to which mineral reserve estimates are reflective of actual mineral reserves; the degree to which factors which would make a mineral deposit commercially viable are present; the risks and hazards associated with underground operations; and the ability of Klondex to fund its substantial capital requirements and operations. Risks and uncertainties about the Company's business are more fully discussed in the Company's disclosure materials filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada and United States available at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov, respectively. Readers are urged to read these materials. Klondex assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from such information unless required by law. Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2017/4/19/11G136222/Images/Klondex_G136222-d13c54f60d7fbebab7f6b1f2e0690e9b.jpg For More Information John Seaberg Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Development O: 775-284-5757 M: 303-668-7991 jseaberg@klondexmines.com Send a Message to John Seaberg SAN DIEGO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/19/17 -- Global Payout, Inc. (OTC PINK: GOHE) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that its wholly owned subsidiary, MoneyTrac Technology, Inc. ("MTT") has selected the Virtu Network Solutions ("VNS") brand to provide MTT with the financial technology platform MTT will utilize to service their clients in the alternative banking sector. VNS offers a banking and payment platform uniquely tailored for companies and businesses in industries often viewed as "high-risk," such as those in the cannabis industry, which is at the core of the MTT's target market, and offers a state-of-the-art web-based platform for electronic payment processing, banking integration and e-wallet capabilities. In addition to these features, the VNS banking and payment platform also provides users with a "virtual currency type network" system that features stringent compliance and regulatory processes that the Company believes is an ideal solution for numerous cannabis-related businesses across the U.S. that are currently in need of payment processing solutions outside of those offered by traditional banks. "Payment processing and financial compliance for many cannabis-related businesses remains a significant challenge, particularly given the fact that many banks continue to view these businesses as 'high-risk' and in some cases, refuses to extend their services to them," said MoneyTrac, COO Vanessa Luna. "In having had the opportunity in recent weeks to meet with several different owners of cannabis-related businesses, I have gained a better understanding of the obstacles and impediments they are faced with from a payment processing standpoint, and as such, I truly believe that the VNS platform is a powerful solution that can help guide them through these challenges, while also solidifying their internal financial compliance responsibilities," Ms. Luna further remarked. MTT intends to continue to structure and position itself as a premier service provider in the alternative banking sector by targeting a client base in the burgeoning cannabis industry where the need for payment processing and compliance technologies continues to increase at a steady pace. Furthermore, although no assurances can be provided that definitive agreements will result, MTT has already begun to leverage their strategic position in the alternative banking sector as they are in the process of finalizing Letters of Intent with various cannabis-related businesses for their financial services, which will now also include the use of the VNS platform. About Global Payout, Inc. Since the Company's inception in 2009, Global Payout, Inc., www.globalpayout.com, has been a leading provider of comprehensive and customized prepaid payment solutions for domestic and international organizations distributing money worldwide. In 2014, Global introduced its first online payment platform called the Consolidated Payment Gateway (CPG), which allowed its enterprise clients to transfer money to international bank accounts, mobile accounts, and prepaid card accounts. The development of the CPG became the foundation for the introduction of its new, state of the art FINTECH payment system in 2017, for both online and mobile applications to allow account holders to maximize an expanded suite of financial services and minimize operational costs. Global will continue to offer their FINTECH payment system to many vertical markets for support of foreign currency exchange and digital currency, including ongoing support of the banking industry and international governments. About MoneyTrac Technology MoneyTrac Technology, Inc. is a pioneer in offering a full-service solution for alternative banking and electronic financial solutions and provides all aspects of financial technology including E-Wallet and mobile apps services for businesses and companies in various "high-risk" industries. MoneyTrac's technology platform allows for its clients to access their financial information from anywhere in the world, in addition to providing tracking and compliance to help them manage and control the flow of all revenue through their business. Forward-Looking Statements Disclosure: This press release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. In this context, forward looking statements may address the Company's expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "seeks," "will" and other terms with similar meaning. These forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain. Although the Company believes that the assumptions upon which its forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, it can provide no assurances that these assumptions will prove to be correct. Also, forward-looking statements represent our management's beliefs and assumptions only as of the date hereof . Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements publicly, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future. All forward-looking statements in this press release are expressly qualified by such cautionary statements, risk, and uncertainties, and by reference to the underlying assumptions. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Global Payout, Inc. www.globalpayout.com MoneyTrac Technology, Inc. www.moneytractechnology.com Virtu Network Solutions www.virtunetworksolutions.com CONTACT: Public Relations and Media Contact: LCG Headquarter Office 702.333.4886 www.lcginfo.com TIRAT CARMEL, Israel, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Funds will be used to complete the development of first ever point of care platform to distinguish bacterial from viral infections MeMed Ltd. announced today that it has been awarded a contract by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), a branch of the US Department of Defense (DoD). The contract, totaling up to $9.2M, will fund the completion of MeMed's pioneering point of care platform for distinguishing bacterial from viral infections. (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/451805/MeMed_Ltd_Logo.jpg ) (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/491163/MeMed_second_generation_test.jpg ) "We are excited by this vote of confidence. DTRA's recognition of our work further positions MeMed as a world leader in immune-based diagnostics of infectious diseases," said Eran Eden, PhD, MeMed's CEO. "This joint effort, and our growing collaboration with other international stakeholders from industry and government, will facilitate the global availability of our tests aimed at combating antimicrobial resistance." In the past eight years, company co-founders Kfir Oved, MD/PhD and Eran Eden, PhD collaborated with leading researchers and clinicians from around the globe to study the changes that take place in the human immune system when it is fighting infections, in order to develop a human immune signature that accurately recognizes the difference between bacterial and viral infections. ImmunoXpertA''A'AA'AA'AA...AA''A'A, the first generation of this novel test, is already in use and has been validated in thousands of patients*. The second generation of the test involved development of a new point of care platform that is easy to use and takes only 15 minutes. "This collaboration will allow us to expedite completion of our point of care platform program," said Kfir Oved, MD/PhD, MeMed's CTO. "In addition to allowing measurements of our bacterial versus viral test within minutes, the new platform also opens the way to a variety of rapid multiplex-protein measurements at the point of care with lab-quality precision, which has broad applications." "The project will also evaluate and expand our test menu to detect early infections, even at the pre-symptomatic stage of a disease - currently a major challenge in our ability to control infections and epidemics", said Tanya Gottlieb, PhD, MeMed's VP Scientific Affairs. *Oved et al. Plos One, 2015; Eden et al. Journal of Infection, 2016; van Houten et el. Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2016. About the Defense Threat Reduction Agency The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) was founded in 1998 to integrate and focus the capabilities of the Department of Defense (DoD) that address the threat by weapons of mass destruction (WMD). DTRA's mission is to safeguard the United States and its allies from global weapons of mass destruction and improvised threats by integrating, synchronizing and by providing expertise, technologies and capabilities. For more information on DTRA, visit http://www.dtra.mil. About MeMed MeMed is dedicated to improving patient lives through research, development and commercialization of pioneering tests that monitor the body's immune state. Its tests decode the immune system's distinct responses to different health and disease states. The company focuses on providing rapid, accurate and actionable diagnostic solutions for acute infectious diseases and inflammatory disorders in the hospital and community. Its first-generation test, ImmunoXpertA''A'AA'AA'AA...AA''A'A, has demonstrated the ability to accurately detect whether a patient has a bacterial or viral infection, with the aim of empowering physicians to make better informed antibiotic treatment decisions. ImmunoXpert is cleared for clinical use in the European Union, Switzerland and Israel. It is currently in pilot distribution in these territories with a broader commercial roll-out underway. MeMed's second-generation test for rapid (within minutes) point-of-care testing is under development. For additional information, please visit http://www.me-med.com. Media and Business Development Contact: Asi Cohen-Dotan, PhD Phone: +972-4-8500302 asi.cohen@me-med.com TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 04/19/17 -- Nighthawk Gold Corp. ("Nighthawk") (TSX VENTURE: NHK) is pleased to announce encouraging preliminary results from its ongoing metallurgical test work program on the Colomac Gold project. Testing was completed at Bureau Veritas in Richmond, BC, and audited by Starkey & Associates Inc. in Oakville, Ontario. Three drill core bulk samples from various portions of the Colomac gold deposit were assayed and tested for grindability using the SAGDesign methodology. A master composite was then amalgamated from the bulk samples and used for additional metallurgical testing. Initial results indicate that gold recoveries of up to 96.5% may be achieved and the rock is amenable to all standard gold recovery technologies. This represents a significant increase in recovery over the historic production results of 88.1% (1994 to 1997). Additional testwork is expected to yield further optimization and confirmation of these results. Highlights include: -- Variation in rock hardness of the three bulk samples was minimal indicating that the material is relatively homogeneous; -- The master composite sample, having a head grade of 1.81 grams per tonne gold measured by fire assay, generated favourable recoveries for all process options, including heap leaching, flotation, and gravity separation; -- Gold extraction by flotation ranged from 94.1% - 95.5% with maximum recoveries achieved at a feed size F80of 151 microns; -- Cyanide heap leaching of minus 12,700 micron material reported up to 81.8% gold recoveries, perhaps an option for lower grade material which would otherwise be considered waste; -- Cyanidation of ground rock increased gold recovery significantly up to 96.5%. "Results from this initial metallurgical testing have significantly exceeded our expectations in comparison to Colomac's known historical recoveries", commented Nighthawk President & CEO, Dr. Michael Byron. "In particular, Colomac material shows excellent grind characteristics, exceptional gold recoveries and responsiveness to all standard gold recovery technologies, comparing favourably to similar projects in North America. It's also important to note that the rock is exceptionally clean as no deleterious materials were detected that could otherwise adversely affect processing, or impact the environment. We are very pleased with the initial results, and expect the final testwork to confirm these findings". The three drill core bulk samples, totalling 119.5 kilograms of split drill core, were of similar mineralogical characteristics. In addition to hardness testing (Table 1.0), they were also used to address the spatial and grade variations of the quartz diorite host rock (Table 2.0). Each sample was assayed and tested to obtain individual grinding parameters. Grinding tests indicate that all samples exhibit a consistent high hardness, and minor variability, presenting no milling issues. The average SAG Grindability for the three samples was measured as 13.31 kWh/tonne (Grinding from F80 6" to P80 1.7 mm) and 14.25 kWh/tonne for the Bond Ball Mill Work Index on SAG ground rock. A master composite sample was subsequently blended from the South Zone and Deep bulk samples in an effort keep the head grade as high as possible for the metallurgical testing. The North Zone sample was omitted from the master composite due to its lower grade. Table 1. SAGDesign Test Summary ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sample WSDT Sd-BWI Information SG Solids (kWh/t) (kWh/t) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- South Zone 2.76 12.32 14.28 North Zone 2.73 13.52 14.38 Deep 2.70 14.07 14.10 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Average 2.73 13.31 14.25 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table 2. Head Assays of Colomac Samples ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fire Assay Sample Information (g Au/t) Screen Metallics Assay (g Au/t) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- South Zone 1.16 1.32 North Zone 0.35 0.90 Deep 0.65 1.69 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The master composite, reporting a head grade of 1.81 grams per tonne gold, was tested for gold recovery amenability, specifically by cyanide leaching, flotation, and gravity separation. Favourable recoveries were achieved for all process options. Gold recoveries by flotation ranged from 94.1% - 95.5% with maximum recoveries achieved at a feed size F80 of 151 microns. Cyanide heap leaching of minus 12,700 micron material reported up to 81.8% recoveries; however, given the deposit's northern location, this may only be an option for seasonal processing of lower grade material which would otherwise be considered waste. Highest recoveries were achieved by cyanidation of ground rock with an impressive 96.5% recovery. A summary of that metallurgical test work is shown in Table 3. Table 3. Master Composite Test Results ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Au Recovery Test Description Particle Size P80(microns) (%) ---------------------======================================================= Flotation Fine 75 94.9 ------------------------------------------------------- Medium 105 94.1 ------------------------------------------------------- Coarse 151 95.5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gravity (Centrifuge) Fine 75 33.3 ------------------------------------------------------- Medium 105 45.0 ------------------------------------------------------- Coarse 150 25.9 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leaching Heap -12,700 81.8 ------------------------------------------------------- Whole Ore 148 96.4 ------------------------------------------------------- Gravity + Leach 105 96.5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Future Testing Although the findings of this testwork program indicate the Colomac deposit is amenable to all standard recovery technologies, the flowsheet developed on the master composite is viewed as preliminary in nature. Future testwork is planned on samples which are more representative of the various gold zones within the deposit; in particular, the high-grade zones such as Zone 1.5, which is to be sampled during the current drill program. The main purpose is to confirm that metallurgical responses observed in this testwork apply over a broader range of head grades. However, given these excellent initial recoveries reported for the lower grade material it may be expected that similar, or possibly better recoveries may be achieved with the higher grade material. Quality Control The technical information disclosed herein was prepared under the supervision of Dr. Alice Shi of Bureau Veritas and qualified person, Mr. John Starkey of Starkey & Associates Inc. Mr. Starkey has supervised the metallurgical work reported on and has reviewed and approved the technical disclosure contained in this news release with respect to such work. Dr. Michael J. Byron, Ph.D., P.Geo., President & Chief Executive Officer of Nighthawk, who is the "Qualified Person" as defined by NI 43-101 for this project, observed the collection of the samples for metallurgical testing, reviewed the progress on the metallurgical testing on multiple occasions and has also reviewed and approved of the technical disclosure contained in this news release. About Nighthawk Nighthawk is a Canadian-based exploration company focused on acquiring and developing gold mineral properties in the Northwest Territories. Including the mineral claims and leases of the Colomac Gold Project, Nighthawk's Indin Lake Gold Property comprises a total land package of 222,203 acres in the Indin Lake Greenstone Belt, located approximately 200 kilometres north of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories and includes an Inferred Mineral Resource estimate, prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101"), of 39.815 million tonnes with an average grade of 1.64 g/t gold for 2.101 million ounces gold using a cut-off grade of 0.6 g/t gold. Nighthawk also holds a 100% interest in the property known as the Superior Project, which covers 39,015 acres approximately 85 kilometres north of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Forward-Looking Statements Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the timing of future drilling, the expansion of the mineralization, and the remediation of historic reclamation sites. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of Nighthawk, including, but not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions, volatility of commodity prices, risks associated with the uncertainty of exploration results and estimates, currency fluctuations, dependency upon regulatory approvals, the uncertainty of obtaining additional financing and exploration risk. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. This press release is not, and is not to be construed in any way as, an offer to buy or sell securities in the United States. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Contacts: Nighthawk Gold Corp. Dr. Michael J. Byron President and CEO (705) 560-2382 info@nighthawkgold.com Nighthawk Gold Corp. Suzette N. Ramcharan VP, Corporate Development (647) 284-5315 info@nighthawkgold.com NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, England, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- -Klamt reinvents the paperclip on its 150th anniversary- Just as National Stationery Week launches later this month (24th - 30th April 2017), a stalwart of the stationery cupboard has received a 21st Century makeover. A British inventor has reinvented the paperclip, which celebrates the 150th Anniversary of its invention on 23rd April 2017. Klamt, which combines the best of a paperclip and a staple in a single device and has taken 10 years to develop, will be launched in the UK on the same day. Samuel B Fay patented the first paperclip on this day in 1867, the year Queen Victoria laid the first foundation stone for the Royal Albert Hall. Inventor of the Klamt, Cambridge engineer and entrepreneur Julian Peck said, "We were going to call it the StapleClip, but Klamt is snappier and it says what it does. Like everything else these days, it has push-button operation - press at the front to snap it securely onto any document, press firmly in the middle and it springs open to release the pages. "Initial feedback is that users love the precise sound and feel of the Klamt - it's reassuringly positive, and you know it's something you can rely on." The Klamt will hold up to 30 sheets of paper securely and unlike staples, doesn't puncture the document and won't spring off like the original paperclip. It is protected by patents in Europe, the USA, China, India and Japan. Peck set up Innoverce Engineering Ltd to develop and commercialise the Klamt. To find out more about Klamt, please visit the website: http://www.klamt.co and to find out more about Innoverce Engineering Ltd, please visit: http://www.innoverce.com. Please click here for hi res images of Klamt. NOTE TO EDITORS: The Klamt inventor Julian Peck is also available for interview on request. Background information on the 1867 invention and history of the paperclip can be found at: Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_clipHistory Early Office Museum: http://www.officemuseum.com/paper_clips.htm https://youtu.be/E7jxvoc3aBI DUBLIN, Apr 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Global Gloves Market 2017-2021" report to their offering. The global gloves market to grow at a CAGR of 10.50% during the period 2017-2021. The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global gloves market for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated from the sales of gloves at the manufacturer level. The report also includes a discussion of the Key vendors operating in this market. The major industries that use gloves for protection of personnel include oil & gas, military, chemicals, construction, medical and manufacturing. The latest trend gaining momentum in the market is use of green and recyclable material. Glove manufacturers continue to emphasize on green manufacturing processes, technologies, and sustainability. The hand protection product manufacturers, regulators, and marketers are stressing on green manufacturing such as the use of green resources like sun and wind power. This can minimize the costs of the use of water and decreases consumption of non-productive electricity. According to the report, one of the major drivers for this market is increase in rubber production. The global natural rubber production is rising by 0.2% every year. The production went up in three countries - Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam, but fell in China, Malaysia, and India. The major increase was witnessed in EMEA where the production of natural rubber grew by 6% in 2015 compared to 2014. Production in APAC grew by 1% and by 0.3% in the Americas during the same period. Further, the report states that one of the major factors hindering the growth of this market is use of chemicals in glove production. Gloves are subjected to a series of steps before the final product comes. The process begins right from the collection of latex from rubber trees to packaging and shipment of the gloves. Usually, the manufacturing plants are located near the rubber plantations to save on logistics. Though the process may differ in terms of the material of the glove, the overall procedure followed is the same. Key vendors Honeywell Ansell Healthcare 3M Top Glove Other prominent vendors Lakeland Industries W.L. Gore and Associates and Associates Bennett Safetywear HexArmor Key Topics Covered: Part 01: Executive summary Part 02: Scope of the report Part 03: Research Methodology Part 04: Introduction Part 05: Market landscape Part 06: Market segmentation by product Part 07: Market segmentation by end-user Part 08: Geographical segmentation Part 09: Market drivers Part 10: Impact of drivers Part 11: Market challenges Part 12: Impact of drivers and challenges Part 13: Market trends Part 14: Vendor landscape Part 15: Key vendor analysis Part 16: Appendix For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/52nw6m/global_gloves Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 Felicis Ventures joins existing investors to help Sapho accelerate the future of work and expand its global enterprise sales team SAN BRUNO, California, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --Today, Sapho announced that it has closed $14M in Series B funding led by Caffeinated Capital. The new funds will be used to build a global sales team and further Sapho's goals of tripling the productivity and effectiveness of the enterprise workforce. Sapho empowers employees with a modern portal experience that surfaces relevant tasks and data using micro apps. Sapho micro apps - built by IT on top of existing systems and delivered to any device, intranet, or messenger - simplify workflows and data access, allowing employees to complete work faster and make better decisions. "Employee productivity has been stagnant for 20 years, despite advancements in hardware and software," said Bill Coleman, CEO of Veritas, former Founder and CEO of BEA Systems, and Sapho board member. "It is clear, a new relationship with enterprise software - not simply software that is run on smaller devices or in the cloud - is needed to help the workforce get more done in less time. Two years ago, I saw that Sapho was doing something special to enable employees to make smarter decisions and complete tasks based on enterprise systems that were already in place. Today, their solution is effectively becoming an operating system for work, creating the connective tissue between systems of record and the end user." Enterprises like Boral, HCL, and Turner Broadcast Systems use Sapho to modernize their legacy systems, simplify workflows, and enable smarter, data-based decisions by making their enterprise systems more user-friendly and accessible. Organizations that use Sapho experience increased software utilization, lower helpdesk costs, reduced license costs, and fewer system bottlenecks as employees benefit from a single view into all the systems they need to excel at work. "Prior to implementing Sapho, our sales workforce was not realizing the full value of our existing enterprise systems, even though these systems had the information they needed to successfully engage new prospects and close new business," said Brian Below, President of Light Building Products, a division of Boral Industries. "Now we use Sapho to provide our sales teams with a single, simple interface that pushes workflows to them while also allowing them to access all of their system data and tasks. The results have been impressive. Sapho has enabled us to drive our weekly software utilization to over 90 percent, and getting the right information and tasks to our team has decreased our sales cycle, increased conversion rates, and provided better data on the effectiveness of our marketing initiatives." "While today's enterprise systems of record are great at storing and manipulating data - they are not great at presenting that data and associated work flows back to employees in an easy-to-use way," said Fouad ElNaggar, CEO and Co-Founder of Sapho. "While current systems of record have rock solid back ends, if employees hate the front end and refuse to use them, the systems themselves become useless for a majority of workers. This is why a new system of engagement is needed - one that sits on top of systems of record and aggregates data and tasks and delivers it to employees. Sapho is this new system of engagement: it provides employees a modern portal experience with the personalized information and tasks they need to improve their productivity and effectiveness. Employees love it because Sapho makes work as easy as using Facebook and IT departments love it because it works with the existing systems they know how to maintain and manage. For our customers, this means major productivity gains from their IT investments which have already been depreciated on their balance sheets." This funding comes on the heels of significant momentum for Sapho since its launch in June 2016. The company saw 320 percent revenue growth and 200 percent customer growth in 2016 and in 2017, has completed integrations with companies like Microsoft and IBM to further modernize the workplace for enterprise customers. To take this growth to the next level, Sapho is also announcing that Mike Carpenter, CrowdStrike President of Global Sales and Field Operations will join the Sapho advisory board to help Sapho build out a global sales organization. In addition to Caffeinated Capital, new investor Felicis Ventures joins the round with expanded investments from Alsop Louie Partners, SoftTech VC, Morado Ventures, AME Cloud, and Bloomberg Beta. "I have seen Sapho's traction firsthand with Fortune 500 customers looking to modernize their existing systems and improve employee productivity," said Raymond Tonsing, Founder and Managing Director of Caffeinated Capital. "As someone who is always on the lookout for transformational companies with exceptional founders and a world-class team, I believe Sapho is in the right spot to transform enterprise systems while also fundamentally improving how people work. I was the first angel investor in Sapho over three years ago and when I saw an opportunity to deepen my relationship with the company, I leapt at it." About Sapho Sapho empowers the enterprise workforce with a modern portal experience that triples productivity and accelerates the speed of business. Using micro apps that surface personalized and relevant tasks from existing systems to any device, intranet, or messenger, Sapho gives employees a single view into the important information they need to complete work faster and make better decisions. Sapho is used by customers in all industries to streamline their internal workflows, enable smart decision-making, and increase employee effectiveness and productivity. Sapho was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in San Bruno, CA. For more information, visit www.sapho.com. Connect with Sapho: Read our blog: http://blog.sapho.com/ Follow us on Twitter: https://www.facebook.com/saphoapp/ Connect with us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/3772537/ Like us on Facebook: https://twitter.com/sapho For Media Inquiries Please Contact: InkHouse Media & Marketing Sapho@inkhouse.com DETROIT, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Stratview Research announces the launch of a new research report onGlobal Aerospace Floor Panel Market by Aircraft Type (Narrow-Body Aircraft, Wide-Body Aircraft, Very Large Aircraft, Regional Aircraft, and General Aviation), by Core Material Type (Nomex Honeycomb, Aluminum Honeycomb, and Others), by End-User Type (OEM and Aftermarket), and by Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of the World), Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2017 - 2022. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160831/402975LOGO ) This strategic report, from Stratview Research, studies the floor panel market in the global aerospace industry over the period 2011 to 2022. The report provides detailed insights on the market dynamics to enable informed business decision making and growth strategy formulation based on the opportunities present in the market. Floor Panel Market in the Global AerospaceIndustry: Highlights As per Stratview Research, the global aerospace floor panel market offers a healthy growth opportunity of 5.8% CAGR during the forecast period of 2017 to 2022 and reach an estimated $468.8.6 million in 2022. The author of the report stated that increasing production rates of key commercial and regional aircraft, such as B737, B787, A320, A350XWB, and C Series; upcoming commercial and regional aircraft, such as Comac C919 and Mitsubishi MRJ; requirement of lightweight aircraft flooring, advancement in flooring technology; and increasing global aircraft fleet size are the major growth drivers of the market. The research's findings suggest that narrow body aircraft is expected to remain the largest segment for global aerospace floor panel market during the forecast period of 2017 to 2022, whereas wide-body aircraft type is likely to witness the highest growth in the same period, driven by an increasing demand for wide-body aircraft, such B787 and A350XWB in developing economies, such as China and India. In terms of material type, Nomex Honeycomb has been the growing choice for a wide range of applications throughout the aerospace industry including floor panels and is likely to be the fastest growing core material type over the next five years. All major aircraft type including narrow-body and wide-body aircraft are heavily relying on this unique material as it offers enormous advantages over competing materials. As per the study, North America is projected to remain the largest aerospace floor panel market during the forecast period driven by presence of small to large OEMs in each aircraft category and major floor panel manufacturers to support OEMs for the development of advanced products meeting airline requirements. However, Asia-Pacific is expected to witness highest growth in the same period mainly driven by largest commercial aircraft fleet size; gradual shift of manufacturing/assembly plants of OEMs; and upcoming indigenous commercial and regional aircraft, such as Comac C919, ARJ21, and MRJ, fuelled by increasing passenger traffic will continue to drive the Asia-Pacific market in coming years. Some of the major companies in the global aerospace floor panel market are The Gill Corporation, Triumph Group, B E Aerospace (now Rockwell Collins), Hexcel Corporation, EnCore Aerospace Group, and Zodiac Aerospace. New product development, adoption of advanced lightweight materials, and collaboration with OEMs are some of the key strategies adopted by major companies to gain a competitive edge over others. Click Here and Request for Free Sample on Aerospace Floor Panel Market Report Features This report provides market intelligence in the most comprehensive way. The report structure has been kept such that it offers maximum business value. It provides critical insights on the market dynamics and will enable strategic decision making for the existing market players as well as those willing to enter the market. The following are the key features of the report: Market structure: Overview, industry life cycle analysis, supply chain analysis. Market environment analysis: Growth drivers and constraints, Porter's five forces analysis, SWOT analysis. Market trend and forecast analysis. Market segment trend and forecast. Competitive landscape and dynamics: Market share, product portfolio, product launches, etc. Attractive market segments and associated growth opportunities. Emerging trends. Strategic growth opportunities for the existing and new players. Key success factors. This report studies the floor panel market in the global aerospace industry and has segmented the market in four ways, keeping in mind the interest of all the stakeholders across the value chain. The following are the four ways in which the market is segmented: GlobalAerospace Floor Panel Marketby Aircraft Type Narrow-Body Aircraft (Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , APAC, and RoW) Wide-Body Aircraft (Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , APAC, and RoW) Very Large Aircraft (Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , APAC, and RoW) Regional Aircraft (Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , APAC, and RoW) General Aviation(Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , APAC, and RoW) GlobalAerospace Floor Panel Marketby CoreMaterial Type Nomex Honeycomb (Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , APAC, and RoW) Aluminium Honeycomb (Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , APAC, and RoW) Others(Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , APAC, and RoW) Global AerospaceFloor Panel Marketby End-User Type OEM (Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , APAC, and RoW) Aftermarket(Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , APAC, and RoW) GlobalAerospace Floor Panel Marketby Region: North America (Country Analysis: The USA , Canada , and Mexico ) Europe (Country Analysis: Germany , France , Russia , The UK, Spain , and Rest of the Europe ) Asia-Pacific (Country Analysis: Japan , China , India , and Rest of the Asia-Pacific ) Rest of the world(Country Analysis: Latin America , Middle East , and Others) Stratview Research has number of high value market reports in the global aerospace & defense industry. Please refer to the following link to browse through our reports: Click Here for Other Reports from Stratview Research in the Aerospace & Defense Industry Some of our other premium market reports in the aerospace & defense industry: Global Aerospace & Defense Ducting Market by Aircraft Type, by Application, by Pressure Type, by Materials Type, and by Region, Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2016 - 2021 Global aerospace & defense ducting market was estimated at $1.7 Billion in 2015, and is likely to grow with a CAGR of 5.9% over the next five years to reach $2.5 Billion by 2021. in 2015, and is likely to grow with a CAGR of 5.9% over the next five years to reach by 2021. Increasing revenue per passenger kilometer due to growing worldwide economy and passenger traffic, increasing commercial and regional aircraft deliveries, increasing share of wide body aircraft in aircraft deliveries, and increasing commercial aircraft fleet size are some of the major growth drivers of the aerospace & defense ducting market. The market is moderately consolidated with more than two dozen players active in the market and top five players capturing close to 52% of the market in 2015. Global Aerospace Galley Trolley Market by Aircraft Type, by Platform Type, by Trolley Type, by Fit Type, by Region; Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2016 - 2021 Global aerospace galley trolley market was estimated at $220 Million in 2015, and is likely to grow with a CAGR of 5.6% over the next five years to reach $322 Million by 2021. in 2015, and is likely to grow with a CAGR of 5.6% over the next five years to reach by 2021. Increasing commercial and regional aircraft deliveries, increasing wide body aircraft share in the total commercial aircraft deliveries, and growing commercial aircraft fleet size are some of the major growth drivers of the aerospace galley trolley market. The global aerospace galley trolley market is highly consolidated with top 5 players captured 83% of the market in 2015. About Stratview Research Stratview Research is a global market intelligence firm providing wide range of services including syndicated market reports, custom research and sourcing intelligence across industries, such as Advanced Materials, Aerospace & Defense, Automotive & Mass Transportation, Consumer Goods, Construction & Equipment, Electronics and Semiconductors, Energy & Utility, Healthcare & Life Sciences, and Oil & Gas. We have a strong team of industry veterans and analysts with an extensive experience in executing custom research projects for mid-sized to Fortune 500 companies, in the areas of Market Assessment, Opportunity Screening, Competitive Intelligence, Due Diligence, Target Screening, Market Entry Strategy, Go to Market Strategy, and Voice of Customer studies. Stratview Research is a trusted brand globally, providing high quality research and strategic insights that help companies worldwide in effective decision making. For any enquiries, Contact: RiteshGandecha Stratview Research E-mail:sales@stratviewresearch.com Direct: +1-313-307-4176 Feel free to drop an enquiry with us in the below page and our team will get back to you very soon: http://www.stratviewresearch.com/register.php MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 04/19/17 -- Nouveau Monde Graphite Inc. (TSX VENTURE: NOU)(OTCQB: NMGRF)(FRANKFURT: NM9) ("Nouveau Monde") is pleased to announce that it is presently planning to build a demonstration plant (the "Plant") in the community of Saint-Michel-des-Saints, Qc. The Plant will have a capacity to produce 1,000 tonnes of natural graphite concentrate per year using mine representative mineralization from Nouveau Monde's West Zone deposit, part of its Matawinie graphite Property. The Plant is expected to be operational in the first half of 2018 providing related permits and financing are received in a timely manner. The goals of this operation are the following: 1. Produce graphite concentrate aimed at the traditional industrial market as well as value-added products including purified spheronized graphite used in the expanding lithium ion battery market; 2. Validate and optimize the technological choices used during ore processing in advance of the commercial scale construction planned in 2020; 3. Qualify and homologate our natural graphite products for potential North American, European and Asian customers with the goal of securing an offtake agreement for the commercial operation. Furthermore, Nouveau Monde has recently established its product marketing strategy based on a detailed study produced by a group of in-house experts who hold extensive experience in natural graphite marketing and mining in North America, Brazil and China. One notable contributor to this market study, Armando Farhate, brings over 25 years of professional experience, including six years in the graphite industry, in positions such as Managing Director, COO and Vice President of Sales. Mr. Farhate was employed by numerous national and multinational companies including Imerys Graphite & Carbon and Nacional de Grafite. Nouveau Monde experts listed a total of over 100 potential customers from around the globe. This thorough study was based on the West Zone deposit flake size distribution and the concentrate purity detailed in the Press Release dated April 12, 2017, as well as in the Preliminary Economic Assessment published in June 2016 (see Press Release dated June 22, 2016). The potential customers will be contacted in the upcoming months to provide product parameters and needs in term of natural graphite material and purified spheronized graphite. Eric Desaulniers, President and CEO of Nouveau Monde commented, "Nouveau Monde has the advantage of having excellent graphite concentrate flake size distribution and high purity grades after a simple flotation process. Different flake sizes are best suited for different applications. So flake size distribution is very important as it lets you access the largest customer base, thereby increasing your chances of effective market penetration and reducing dependence on the growth of any one industry." Mr. Desaulniers continued, "Our deposit is located in the same geological province and only 120km away from the depleting Imerys Lac-Des-Iles (Qc) mine which has serviced customers in North America for years. This demonstration Plant will enable us to reach out to customers and offer them a reliable, long term and cost effective North American alternative right in the window when they will be looking for a new supplier for both industrial and lithium ion battery applications." About Nouveau Monde In 2015, Nouveau Monde discovered a graphite deposit on its Tony claim block, part of its wholly owned Matawinie graphite Property. This discovery resulted in the publishing of a Preliminary Economic Assessment, completed according to NI 43-101 guidelines, in June of 2016. This study demonstrated strong economics with a planned production of 50,000 tpy of high purity flake graphite over a period of 25.7 years which is expected to provide a solid operational margin and relatively low capital expenditures (see press release dated June 22, 2016). The Mineral Resource Estimate has since been updated, the current resource stands at 32.9 Mt grading 4.50% graphitic carbon (or "Cg") for the Indicated Category and 0.2 Mt grading 4.84 % Cg in the Inferred Category (see Press Release dated March 2, 2017). The project is located in the Saint-Michel-des-Saints area, some 120 km north of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It has direct access to all needed infrastructure, labour as well as green and affordable hydroelectricity. Nouveau Monde is developing its project with the highest corporate social responsibility standards while targeting a low environmental footprint (targeting a net zero carbon emission operation). Follow the link below to subscribe to our stakeholders news feed: http://nouveaumonde.us12.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=f5e3304c32bfb54992fd9acce&id=603de466df Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Except for historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those anticipated by such statements. Nouveau Monde will not update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof. More detailed information about potential factors that could affect financial results is included in the documents filed from time to time with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities by Nouveau Monde. Contacts: Eric Desaulniers, M.Sc., P.Geo. President and Chief Executive Officer of Nouveau Monde (819) 923-0333 www.nouveaumonde.ca RALEIGH, NC -- (Marketwired) -- 04/19/17 --Percona, the company that delivers enterprise-class MySQL and MongoDB solutions and services, today announced major enhancements to Percona XtraDB Cluster 5.7. The new release, version 5.7.17-29.20, substantially increases performance for a variety of scenarios and use cases, improves tracking and monitoring capabilities and increases stability. These ongoing improvements in performance, along with full support for ProxySQL, Percona XtraBackup, Percona Monitoring and Management and operating Percona XtraDB Cluster over Docker, solidify the position of Percona XtraDB Cluster as the premier high-availability solution for scaling MySQL. An active/active cluster solution, Percona XtraDB Cluster 5.7 is freely available, open source software that combines Percona Server 5.7 and Codership Galera Replicator 3.17 to create a high-availability solution for MySQL 5.7. Downloaded more than 970,000 times since its launch in April 2012, Percona XtraDB Cluster ensures the highest possible uptime and scalability for MySQL deployments. New Features and Benefits of Percona XtraDB Cluster 5.7.17-29.20 Performance - Up to 10x increase in performance means businesses can deliver an improved customer experience and more cost-effectively scale their businesses. Tracking - The ability to track the progress of an incremental state transfer of data to a recovered or joining node provides additional visibility during maintenance and disaster recovery scenarios. Monitoring - A new variable that lets users know whether a node is in flow-control provides additional information during troubleshooting (specifically, when nodes are falling behind in replication). Stability and ease-of-use - Changes to gcache keep_page settings make it easier to set Galera configuration parameters. Full compatibility with MySQL-5.7.17 Quotes Peter Zaitsev, Co-founder and CEO of Percona "With modern applications continuing to increase in scale and complexity, organizations need to ensure performance and reliability even in the most demanding environments. The latest release of Percona XtraDB Cluster 5.7 reflects Percona's commitment to providing our users best-in-class tools that deliver the performance, user control and data protection they need via free, easy-to-deploy, open source software." About Percona With more than 3,000 customers worldwide, Percona is the only company that delivers enterprise-class solutions for both MySQL and MongoDB across traditional and cloud-based platforms. The company provides Software, Support, Consulting, and Managed Services to large, well-known global brands such as Cisco Systems, Time Warner Cable, Alcatel-Lucent, Rent the Runway and the BBC, as well as smaller enterprises looking to maximize application performance while streamlining database efficiencies. Well established as thought leaders, Percona experts author content for the Percona Database Performance Blog and the Percona Live Open Source Database Conferences draw attendees and expert technical speakers from around the world. For more information, visit www.percona.com. Percona, XtraBackup, TokuDB and Fractal Tree are registered trademarks of Percona LLC or its subsidiaries. All other registered and unregistered trademarks in this document are the sole property of their respective owners. Company Information Press Contacts Brigit Valencia For Percona (360) 597-4516 Email Contact CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/19/17 -- Every other year social researcher's from across the province gather to celebrate Alberta's most innovative homelessness research. The event brings together researchers, service providers, government officials, and many individuals interested in gaining more knowledge on why homelessness research matters, and how we can transform research into action. Coordinated by Calgary Homeless Foundation (CHF), the 4th Biennial Homelessness Research Symposium is a platform where researchers, communities, and agencies gain new insights, identify gaps in knowledge and discuss opportunities for improved practice. This event is important because it creates collaborative efforts focused on ending homelessness and providing a better homelessness-serving system of care. There will be seventeen presentations over the two day event covering diverse elements of homelessness research. This year's event will feature keynote addresses from Kahente Horn-Miller Ph.D. and MP Calgary Centre and Minister of Veterans Affairs, the Honourable Kent Hehr. Dr. Kahente Horn-Miller has spent her life theorizing issues that indigenous peoples face as a way to find solutions as well as putting these theories in to practice. Minister Hehr has a focus in Veterans Affairs and is also an advocate for funding public education and equal rights in the LGBTQ community. Both Keynote speakers will provide unique insights on homelessness and how their respective areas are working to create real results. "It's really exciting when the researchers tell the rest of us what they've been working on. It's equally important when community then tells researchers what they think of the research," explains Nick Falvo, Director of Research and Data at Calgary Homeless Foundation. "This is a great opportunity to bring community and researchers together for two days." "There is a wealth of knowledge in the homeless-serving research community and that wealth is always growing as we ask new questions, research them, and use that information to guide us when we pioneer new programs and program models," says Diana Krecsy, President & CEO of the Calgary Homeless Foundation. "When we come together as a collective and share our best and most innovative practices, we transform research into action, and ultimately provide a better system of care." The event runs all day Wednesday and Thursday and is sold out. Anyone interested in finding out more information about any of the presentations please visit Calgary Homeless Foundation's website http://calgaryhomeless.com/info/research-and-data/homelessness-research-symposium/. A summary, presentations, and video will all be posted online after the event. About CHF The Calgary Homeless Foundation is a catalyst and enabler for Systems and Service Agencies to optimize client success. CHF focuses on four strategic pillars of work; Research and Development, Community Mobilization, Funder of Outcomes and Impact, and Public and Political Will. CHF addresses gaps and identifies best practices to improve the system of care. Through mobilization of collective impact, CHF is committed to moving forward in partnership with the many homeless-serving agencies, the private sector, government partners, the faith community, other foundations and all Calgarians to end homelessness in Calgary. CHF is gaining an international reputation as a leading contributor to applied homelessness research, while also establishing itself as a partner on some of the world's most important research on homelessness. Making evidence-based decisions and planning based on research is a key tenet of CHF's role as System Planner for Calgary's Homeless-Serving System of Care. A key ingredient to this approach has been the Homelessness Management Information System (HMIS) which we are constantly looking to expand and enhance. For more information, visit calgaryhomeless.com Contacts: Media Inquiries Calgary Homeless Foundation Kara Layher Communications Specialist Media Line: 403.615.7607 karal@calgaryhomeless.com TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 04/19/17 -- Editors note: There is one photo accompanying this press release. RTDNA Canada is privileged to announce that Stuart McLean will receive the RTDNA's prestigious President's Award. The award will be presented posthumously to Mr. McLean's sons at the President's Reception on May 26 during the 2017 RTDNA National Conference & Awards Gala. The President's Award, which is the highest honour bestowed by the association, acknowledges an individual who has brought recognition and distinction to the field of electronic and digital journalism. In making the announcement, RTDNA President Ian Koenigsfest said, "This is truly an emotional and landmark choice allowing the RTDNA to acknowledge and pay tribute to Stuart's amazing and memorable catalogue of journalistic and storytelling work." Koenigsfest added, "As Canada celebrates its 150th anniversary we recognise a true Canadian icon who brought joy to Canadians from coast to coast to coast." Susan Marjetti, Executive Director of Radio and Audio for CBC, said, "Stuart connected with listeners in a way that few have before him. A masterful storyteller, he was able to make Canadians laugh and cry with the turn of a phrase. His stories are now part of the very fabric of Canada and they have connected us from coast to coast to coast throughout the years." Marjetti added, "Stuart was also part of our CBC Radio family. He is, and always will be, missed. CBC Radio extends special thanks to the RTDNA for honouring Stuart's forty year career as a journalist, documentary maker, host and humourist." About RTDNA RTDNA Canada is the voice of electronic and digital journalists and news managers in Canada. The members of RTDNA Canada recognize the responsibility of broadcast and digital journalists to promote and to protect the freedom to report independently about matters of public interest and to present a wide range of expressions, opinions and ideas. The RTDNA Canada Journalistic Code of Ethics, adopted by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, is used to measure fairness and accuracy in our profession. Become a Member: https://rtdna.wildapricot.org/join-us WEBSITEhttp://www.rtdnacanada.com/general-information-2017-national-conference/ To view the photo accompanying this press release, click on the following link: http://www.marketwire.com/library/20170418-RTDNAa.jpg Contacts: Ian Koenigsfest President RTNDA Canada president@rtdnacanada.com Joanna Rose RTDNA Canada Awards info@rtdnacanada.com MOUNTAIN VIEW (dpa-AFX) - Google has redesigned Google Earth, bringing guided tours and 3D view to Chrome browsers and Android devices. Google's service, known for showing satellite imagery, topography and 3D buildings, introduced new mobile-friendly features on Tuesday allowing users to see 3D maps of specific locations, and to learn about random places around the world. Google Earth is partnering with organizations like BBC Planet Earth, NASA, Sesame Street and the Jane Goodall Institute for interactive guided tours. Google Earth's guided tours, led by scientists, documentarians, and other experts, are interactive, helping users learn about the world. According to Google, more than 50 tours are available already, under the service's new Voyager section. The service includes video journeys to six different habitats produced by BBC Earth, and a kid-friendly jaunt to Mexico with Sesame Street muppet Lola, to learn about Mayan ruins. An I'm Feeling Lucky button that features 20,000 curated places also adds to the new service, suggesting unique locations. While clicking the button, the service will take users somewhere unexpected, from opera houses in Italy to hot springs in Japan, and also will show a knowledge card of interesting facts. The users can see the location in three dimensions in one's browser or on mobile device, using the service's new 3D feature. Google Earth also suggests Points of Interest based on what the users searched for on the past. The new Google Earth is now available in Chrome or on Android, and will be coming to iOS and other browsers in the future. Google said the revamping of Google Earth was in making for two years. Gopal Shah, Google Earth product manager, reportedly said, 'Google Maps is for finding your way. Google Earth is for getting lost. Google Maps is sort of my personal assistant to get me around a place...[With] Google Earth we want to take you where you're not...It's about exploring the world.' Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de OTTAWA (dpa-AFX) - Loblaw Companies Ltd. (L.TO) and Brookfield Business Partners L.P. (BBU, BBU.UN.TO) said they have entered into a definitive agreement whereby Brookfield Business Partners, and its institutional partners, will acquire 100 per cent of Loblaw's gas station operations for a purchase price of about C$540 million. The gas station network is one of the largest in Canada and includes 213 retail gas stations and associated convenience kiosks adjacent to Loblaw-owned grocery stores across the country. Completion of the transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to occur in the third quarter of 2017. Loblaw expects to use the proceeds for general corporate activities. Brookfield is entering into an agreement with Imperial Oil to rebrand the gas station portfolio to the Mobil fuel brand. This will mark the introduction of the Mobil fuel brand in Canada. The gas stations will continue to offer Loblaw's PC Plus loyalty program. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. COLOGNE, Germany, June 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- TUV Rheinland, a global leader and independent testing services provider, today announced that it now offers information security testing for the automotive industry. Based on the Trusted Information Security Assessment Exchange (TISAX), the company can now verify that manufacturers and service providers within the automotive supply chain meet the VDA ISA information security standard. With this announcement, TUV Rheinland becomes one of the first organizations authorized to perform information security testing in accordance with the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA ISA, Information Security Assessment) standards. The assessment criteria used for security testing is based on the requirements of the VDA, which contains essential features of the Information Security Management Systems (ISMS) in accordance with the international ISO/IEC 27001 standard. Information security is a critical success factor in the automotive industry. It affects not only the exchange of construction data in the processes of development, but also the functional safety of manufacturing processes, automated data exchange of networked production systems, and the availability and reliability of production. With the rise of the connected car, service providers and part suppliers must prove to their customers, at regular intervals, that they are adhering to automobile information security standards. "We are delighted to support the TISAX initiative. Thanks to our 140+ years of experience in industrial security, we are uniquely positioned to assist our clients in making the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) more secure," said Frank Luzsicza, Executive Vice President, Information and Communication Technology, TUV Rheinland Group. "Many of our manufacturing clients and suppliers have already been conducting information security assessments on their own. With TISAX, they now have an established assessment with an industry-wide recognition." To learn more about information security assessments of automotive service providers and suppliers, and how TUV Rheinland can assess their offerings, please visit www.tuv.com/en/tisax. TUV Rheinland is a global leader in independent inspection services, founded more than 140 years ago. The group maintains a worldwide presence with 19,700 employees; annual turnover is more than EUR 1.9 billion. For more than 15 years, TUV Rheinland has been supporting the private and public sector with comprehensive consulting and solution expertise in IT, cyber security and telecommunications through digital transformation processes. Core business areas include IT services and cyber security, telecommunications solutions and HR services, management consulting, data center services and R&D management. With more than 600 specialists around the world, TUV Rheinland provides strategic consulting, design and process optimization through to implementation, operation, and certification of systems. A high level of technological expertise, comprehensive experience in key industries and strategic partnerships with market leaders enable them to create innovative and future-proof ICT solutions. More information is available online at www.tuv.com FORT LAUDERDALE, FL -- (Marketwired) -- 04/19/17 -- VPR Brands, LP (OTC PINK: VPRB) announces the launch of its new online retail portal www.vaporstoredirect.com in conjunction with the opening of our new on-site retail location. The launch is just in time for 4/20 we will now be offering all of the products available in our brick and mortar store online for both wholesale and retail customers alike. The company has made sure that the diverse array of products can be a one stop shop for vape shops, smoke shops, and head shops as well as any connoisseur that is on the market for the latest in smoking & vaping accessories. "Our new website mall is a natural extension of our product offering which will catalog and offer for sale all of our brands along with the top selling brands in the industry across all categories from vape to smoke and more. In addition to shipping from our warehouse, we have supplier relationships with the largest distributors in South Florida as well as across the nation to drop ship orders directly from their warehouses and out of their stock in order for us to capitalize on their inventory thereby saving time and money," says Kevin Frija CEO of VPR Brands LP. "Our team has put together a great assortment of products offered in our brick and mortar store, from an amazing selection of vape products to the best in glass and smoking accessories. The launch of our new website www.vaporstoredirect.com will be a great one-stop shop for many customers as well as resellers in an easy to navigate, user-friendly environment. www.vaporstoredirect.com will be a well-diversified online storefront and updated often with the latest and greatest products," says Dan Hoff COO. About VPR Brands, LP: VPR Brands is a technology company, whose assets include issued U.S. and Chinese patents for atomization related products including technology for medical marijuana vaporizers and electronic cigarette products and components. The company is also engaged in product development for the vapor or vaping market, including e-liquids. Vaporizers and electronic cigarettes (also known as e-cigarettes) are devices which deliver nicotine and or cannabis through atomization or vaping, and without smoke and other chemical constituents typically found in traditional products. For more information about VPR Brands, please visit the company on the web at www.vprbrands.com. Forward-looking statements: This news release contains statements that involve expectations, plans or intentions, and other factors discussed from time to time in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings. These statements are forward-looking and are subject to risks and uncertainties, so actual results may vary materially. The company cautions readers not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. The company disclaims any obligation subsequently to revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events. VPR Brands, LP Kevin Frija CEO and CFO (954) 715-7001 info@vprbrands.com http://vprbrands.com/ MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 04/19/17 -- Midland Exploration Inc. ("Midland") (TSX VENTURE: MD) is pleased to announce that several new drilling targets have been identified following an OreVision IP ("OreVision") induced polarization survey conducted on its La Peltrie gold project. This property with strong gold potential is wholly owned by Midland and is located approximately 25 kilometres southeast of Zone 58N, a high-grade gold zone in the Lower Detour area held by Detour Gold Corp. ("Detour Gold"). The La Peltrie property consists of 517 claims totalling approximately 286 square kilometres and covers, over more than 25 kilometres, a series of interpreted NW-SE-trending subsidiary faults to the south of the regional Lower Detour Fault. This new OreVision survey, totalling approximately 65 kilometres, was completed in March 2017 on lines at a 200-metre spacing in the west part of the La Peltrie property. The survey was mainly designed to cover an iron formation with anomalous gold values, which has seen very little drill-testing, over a distance of more than 1.5 kilometres. The OreVision survey identified a new high-priority drilling target, characterized by a chargeability anomaly defined over approximately 600 metres, associated with an interpreted NW-SE-trending structure which has never been drill-tested. This anomaly cross-cuts the gold-bearing iron formation, and two historic drill holes, respectively located 250 metres east and 250 metres west of the structure, yielded gold-bearing intercepts grading 0.24 g/t Au over 19.50 metres (drill hole 11-493-01) and 0.35 g/t Au over 9.30 metres (drill hole 11-493-02). Several other new OreVision anomalies were also identified along this iron formation, as well as another very similar gold-bearing iron formation located approximately 3.5 kilometres further west, where historic drill holes yielded anomalous gold values up to 0.14 g/t Au over 19.0 metres (drill hole 1180-97-09). In 2014, Detour Gold announced a series of significant drilling results from the Lower Detour area (Zone 58N), located about 6 kilometres south of its Detour Lake mine. Near-surface mineral reserves at the mine total 14.38 million ounces of gold, including 89.2 million tonnes in proven reserves at a grade of 1.26 g/t Au for 3.60 million ounces of gold ("Moz Au") and 351.6 million tonnes in probable reserves at a grade of 0.95 g/t Au for 10.78 Moz Au. Best results obtained so far in drilling in Zone 58N in the Lower Detour area include values of 11.82 g/t Au over 32.40 metres, and 12.74 g/t Au over 28.0 metres (see press release by Detour Gold dated June 2, 2014). Phase 2 drilling results include gold values reaching 14.22 g/t Au over 13.0 metres and 28.14 g/t Au over 9.0 metres. Detour Gold completed more than 67,000 metres of drilling in 2016. Based on the geological interpretation of the deposit, several potential ore lenses were defined, from the bedrock surface to a depth of approximately 800 metres. The deposit remains open beyond 800 metres depth. A new drilling campaign totalling approximately 30,000 metres was launched in January 2017 in order to better define the geometry and grade of the deposit from 250 to 450 metres depth (see press release by Detour Gold dated January 30, 2017). Midland cautions that the mineralization on the Detour Gold project may not be indicative of the mineralization that may be identified on the La Peltrie property. The La Peltrie property mainly covers the contact between calc-alkaline mafic to felsic volcanic rocks of the Brouillan Group and tholeiitic mafic rocks of the Enjalran Group. It is located about 20 kilometres west of the former Selbaie mine, which historically produced 56.5 million tonnes of ore grading 1.9% Zn, 0.9% Cu, 38.0 g/t Ag and 0.6 g/t Au. The La Peltrie property is also located about 25 kilometres northwest of the B26 deposit held by SOQUEM, which contains indicated resources estimated at 3.93 million tonnes grading 0.88% Cu, 0.38% Zn, 0.34 g/t Au and 12.40 g/t Ag (open pit) and 2.78 million tonnes grading 1.32% Cu, 0.69% Zn, 0.54 g/t Au and 13.32 g/t Ag (underground), as well as inferred resources estimated at 3.95 million tonnes grading 1.57% Cu, 0.84% Zn, 0.38 g/t Au and 10.22 g/t Ag (underground) and 3,000 tonnes grading 1.18% Cu, 0.02% Zn, 0.14 g/t Au and 4.30 g/t Ag (open pit). Midland cautions that the mineralization at the Selbaie Mine and B26 projects may not be indicative of the mineralization that may be identified on the La Peltrie property. Figures showing the location of the La Peltrie property and the new drilling target areas may be consulted using the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1092054_Figs.pdf About Midland Midland targets the excellent mineral potential of Quebec to make the discovery of new world-class deposits of gold, platinum group elements, base metals and rare earth elements. Midland is proud to count on reputable partners such as Agnico Eagle Mines Limited, Teck Resources Limited, SOQUEM INC., Osisko Mining Inc., Altius Minerals Corp., Japan Oil and Gas and Metals National Corporation and Abcourt Mines Inc. Midland prefers to work in partnership and intends to quickly conclude additional agreements in regard to newly acquired properties. Management is currently reviewing other opportunities and projects to build up the Company portfolio and generate shareholder value This press release was prepared by Mario Masson, VP Exploration for Midland, certified geologist and Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. For further information, please consult Midland's website: www.midlandexploration.com. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This press release may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to vary materially from targeted results. Such risks and uncertainties include those described in Midland's periodic reports including the annual report or in the filings made by Midland from time to time with securities regulatory authorities. Contacts: Midland Exploration Inc. Gino Roger, President and Chief Executive Officer 450 420-5977 450 420-5978 (FAX) info@midlandexploration.com www.explorationmidland.com MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 04/19/17 -- PyroGenesis Canada Inc. (http://pyrogenesis.com) (TSX VENTURE: PYR)(OTCQB: PYRNF), a high tech company (the "Company" or "PyroGenesis" or "PCI") that designs, develops, manufactures and commercializes plasma based systems and plasma torch products, is pleased to announce today that, further to its press release of September 14, 2016, PyroGenesis has, in coordination with the US-based Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), successfully completed long-duration performance tests using the Company's tactical Plasma Arc Chemical Warfare Agents Destruction System ("PACWADS" or the "System") using surrogate chemical warfare agent material. These tests supported the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Agnostic Compact Demilitarization of Chemical Agents (ACDC) program and far exceeded minimum requirements with over 99.9999% destruction efficiency. "DARPA's mission is to make pivotal investments in breakthrough technologies, to affect transformational change instead of incremental advances. In the scope of this project, PyroGenesis' System is the key to revolutionizing the mobile destruction of Chemical Warfare Agents (CWAs)", said Jean-Rene Gagnon, Process Engineering Lead at PyroGenesis. "The Company is proud to be working with such a prestigious partner on such a challenging project." PyroGenesis' PACWADS is a stand-alone thermal treatment device, with a liquid scrubber system. This mature technology is designed to be easily transported and deployed in a field setting, close to where threats may be found, to rapidly and safely destroy a wide range of chemical warfare agents. The System successfully underwent CWA simulant testing at the PyroGenesis facility in Montreal, Canada, in January and February of 2017. The System demonstrated greater than a 6-log reduction in CWA simulant and the effective scrubbing of acid gases. Under the DARPA ACDC program, SwRI designed a scrubber system that neutralizes toxic CWA decomposition products and acid gases into non-hazardous components by safely incorporating these compounds into soil and changing their state. The system is a modular and mobile unit. After the chemicals are destroyed, exhaust gases are passed through a soil-based scrubber beds where the byproducts of combustion are captured and further baked using a novel soil-based pollution abatement system. The soil, after use, remains non-hazardous and useful. In February 2017, the SwRI soil-based scrubber module was connected to the PyroGenesis PACWADS plasma combustion chamber exhaust and tested. CWA simulants were destroyed by the plasma torch in a series of tests emulating destruction of CWA agents sarin (GB), soman (GD), and mustard (HD). The two modules - plasma torch front end, and ACDC soil scrubber back end - demonstrated a more than 99.9999% efficiency in CWA simulant reduction and the effective scrubbing of acid gases within a soil medium. "If successful, PACWADS will be one of the few technologies in the world certified to destroy CWAs. PyroGenesis anticipates that receiving this certification will open the door to additional opportunities, such as the safe destruction of Ebola contaminated material, just to name one", said Philippe Beaulieu, Senior Project Manager at PyroGenesis. "A successfully developed system would safely destroy chemical warfare agent stockpiles onsite without having to transport these highly toxic chemicals to a remote location for processing," said P. Peter Pascali, President and CEO of PyroGenesis. "Successfully completing this contract reflects the significant advances that we, at PyroGenesis, have achieved, and which we expect to continue to achieve in the area of defense and chemical warfare agent destruction. This, coupled with the fact that our plasma based waste destruction system is specified in the design of the new generation US aircraft carrier, with two systems already having been delivered, further solidifies our position within the US military as being the 'go-to' supplier of plasma-based solutions." Separately, PyroGenesis announces today that a series of warrants previously issued by the Company has been fully exercised. The warrants were issued in connection with a private placement offering completed on November 26, 2014, which terms were subsequently amended to effectively reduce the exercise price from $0.55 to $0.195, and to extend the expiration date from November 26, 2016 to November 26, 2017. As a result of such exercise, the Company received an aggregate amount of $417,857.12, and issued 2,142,857 common shares in its share capital. PyroGenesis is also pleased to announce that it recently became a member of the 8020 Connect community. 8020 Connect (www.8020connect.com) is the investment industry's newest social investor network, developed to deliver corporate information to shareholders, investment industry experts and like-minded investors, while enabling these group members to interact with one another and with the company's corporate management team. Through the 8020 Connect shareholder and investor network, PyroGenesis can communicate its corporate message and update advancements and financial information to all shareholders and investors in a timely and effective fashion. The 8020 Connect social media component provides direct interaction with shareholders, allowing the company to respond to questions and inquiries directly or through our private investor group forums. The 8020 Connect network will also allow PyroGenesis to expand its audience to interested investors and industry experts worldwide. About PyroGenesis Canada Inc. PyroGenesis Canada Inc. is the world leader in the design, development, manufacture and commercialization of advanced plasma processes. PyroGenesis provides engineering and manufacturing expertise, cutting-edge contract research, as well as turnkey process equipment packages to the defense, metallurgical, mining, additive manufacturing (3D printing), oil & gas, and environmental industries. With a team of experienced engineers, scientists and technicians working out of our Montreal office and our 3,800 m2 manufacturing facility, PyroGenesis maintains its competitive advantage by remaining at the forefront of technology development and commercialization. Its core competencies allow PyroGenesis to lead the way in providing innovative plasma torches, plasma waste processes, high-temperature metallurgical processes, and engineering services to the global marketplace. Its operations are ISO 9001:2008 certified, and have been ISO certified since 1997. PyroGenesis is a publicly-traded Canadian company on the TSX Venture Exchange (Ticker Symbol: PYR) and on the OTCQB Marketplace (Ticker Symbol: PYRNF). For more information, please visit www.pyrogenesis.com This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements containing the words "may", "plan", "will", "estimate", "continue", "anticipate", "intend", "expect", "in the process" and other similar expressions which constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements reflect the Company's current expectation and assumptions, and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, our expectations regarding the acceptance of our products by the market, our strategy to develop new products and enhance the capabilities of existing products, our strategy with respect to research and development, the impact of competitive products and pricing, new product development, and uncertainties related to the regulatory approval process. Such statements reflect the current views of the Company with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties and other risks detailed from time-to-time in the Company's ongoing filings with the securities regulatory authorities, which filings can be found at www.sedar.com, or at www.otcmarkets.com. Actual results, events, and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements either as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange, its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) nor the OTC Markets Group Inc. accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release. SOURCE PyroGenesis Canada Inc. Contacts: Rodayna Kafal, VP Investor Relations and Communications (514) 937-0002 ir@pyrogenesis.com rkafal@pyrogenesis.com MOSCOW, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Andrey Guryev, CEO of PhosAgro and President of the Russian Association of Fertilizer Producers, was unanimously elected chairman of the Russia-Argentina Council of Entrepreneurs This Business Council, which has been part of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry since 2003, is a partner of the Argentinean Argentine-Russian Business Council (headed by Antonio Estrany y Gendre, President of the Inter-American Council for Trade and Production and Co-Chairman of the Mercosur-EU Business Forum). The Council's main tasks are the development of business ties and the establishment of mutually beneficially cooperation between Russian and Argentinean companies. It offers assistance to companies from Russia and Argentina in the search for business partners in both countries and increases trade turnover between countries through specific projects in the field of trade and investment. The event was attended by Vice President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce Vladimir Padalko; Executive Vice President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Victor Cherepov; Director of the Latin American Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Aleksandr Shetinin; Deputy Director of the Department for Asia, Africa and Latin America of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia Sergey Nosov; CEO of PhosAgro Andrey Guryeev; Deputy CEO for Government Relations of PhosAgro Valerii Fedorov; and representatives of the business community. Commenting on his election as head of the Russia-Argentina Council of Entrepreneurs, PhosAgro CEO Andrey Guryev noted that he sees his main task in the post to be the consolidation of services for Russian businesses, improving the effectiveness of interactions with Argentina, in line with the work of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation and the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, where he is already the chairman of the Russian-Argentine business dialogue. He said: "The task is not only to increase trade turnover between Russia and Argentina, but also to improve technology exchange in traditional, hydro and nuclear energy; oil, gas and chemical industries; and enhance the effectiveness of business cooperation, particularly in the agricultural sector. "As you well know, one of the most important and largest areas of trade between Russia and Argentina is in agro-industrial products and mineral fertilizers, necessary for increasing production efficiency. For the Russian mineral fertilizer industry, in addition to our domestic market, Argentina and the whole of Latin America represents one of the priority sales regions. In 2016, the volume of Russian fertilizers exported to Argentina increased 1.6 times to 521 thousand tonnes compared with 2015, and accounted for 43% of Russia's total exports to Argentina. "A further increase in fertilizer exports to Argentina could be facilitated by the removal of import duties on high quality DAP fertilizers made in Russia, which do not contain harmful elements. Our clean and pure products are subject to import duties, while fertilizers containing harmful impurities are imported duty-free. Until recently, similar restrictions were applied in Brazil, but, thanks to the joint efforts of Russian authorities and fertilizer producers, the duty was abolished in 2014. If Argentina follows this example, Argentine farmers will stand to benefit from the opportunity to buy at least an additional 200-300 thousand tonnes of safe, contaminant-free fertilizers. "I also know that there are issues that require quick solutions in other industries, within the framework of business associations of the two countries." The Director of the Latin American Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Alexander Shetinin, noted that "the Russia-Argentina Council of Entrepreneurs, created 14 years ago, is called upon to facilitate the establishment of a direct business dialogue between the two countries. The election of Andrey Guryev as its chairman opens up new opportunities for intensifying such cooperation. "Argentina is an important political and business partner for us and our cooperation has long historical roots, significant achievements and a promising outlook. We have already achieved a lot, but we can do much more. To this end, Russia's major economic forums will be useful. First and foremost, this is the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, within which, for the fourth year, we will organise a regional section with the participation of representatives of political and economic blocs. This year with the partnership of UNIDO." Deputy Director of the Department for Asia, Africa and Latin America of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia Sergey Nosov stressed that "the effectiveness of such associations is at its highest when the initiative comes from business. Within the framework of the Inter-governmental Russian-Argentiain Commission on Trade-Economics and Scientific-Technical cooperation, we are actively interacting with business circles, since it is very important for us to have a direct dialogue with the business community and support specific company projects. "We have to work on the qualitative improvement of our trade relations and diversification of commodity flows. The current structure of trade puts a high dependence of trade turnover on external factors, including the conjuncture in world markets." Vladimir Padalko, Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that "when the council was created in 2003, it was a unique structure through which Russian entrepreneurs could interact with the Argentinian market. Then this activity stopped. Now, with new qualitative changes in the structure of the Business Council, we hope that we will be able to intensify Russian-Argentine cooperation within the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry." Viktor Cherepov, Executive Vice President and Managing Director of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, said that "the initiative for this appointment came from the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and in fact, for the first time in history, the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and the Chamber of Commerce has united in its efforts at the Business Council. This should become an effective movement that can solve existing problems and increase cooperation between the two countries, in particular in increasing trade turnover." Notes to Editors PhosAgro is one of the leading global vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers. The Company focuses on the production of phosphate-based fertilizers, feed phosphate and high-grade phosphate rock (P 2 O 5 content of not less than 39%). The Company is the largest phosphate-based fertilizer producer in Europe, the largest producer of high-grade phosphate rock worldwide and the third largest MAP/DAP producer in the world (excluding China), according to Fertecon. PhosAgro is also one of the leading producers of feed phosphates (MCP) in Europe, and the only producer in Russia. It is Russia's only producer of nepheline concentrate. PhosAgro's main products include phosphate rock, 33 grades of fertilizers, feed phosphates, ammonia, and sodium tripolyphosphate, which are used by customers in 100 countries spanning all of the world's inhabited continents. The Company's priority markets outside of Russia and the CIS are Latin America, Europe and Asia. PhosAgro's shares are traded on the Moscow Exchange, and global depositary receipts ("GDRs") for shares trade on the London Stock Exchange (under the ticker PHOR). Since 1 June 2016, the Company's GDRs have been included in the MSCI Russia and MSCI Emerging Markets indexes. BLAINVILLE, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 04/19/17 -- Maya Gold & Silver Inc. ("Maya" or the "Corporation") (TSX VENTURE: MYA) is pleased to present its 2017 strategic development plan and announces the start of a new surface diamond drilling campaign at its Zgounder Silver Mine in Morocco. The 2017 drilling campaign will be designed and supervised by GoldMinds Geoservices of Quebec, Quebec who will also lead the Mineral Resources & Mineral Reserves update of the mine. The exploration program will consist of approximately 6,000 metres of diamond drilling, percussion drilling, geological mapping and geophysical survey for a global exploration budget of USD2M. The exploration program will be funded by the cash flow generated from the Zgounder Mine. The objectives of the drill program are twofold: refine the quality of the mineral resources to enable conversion to reserves as well as increasing the total amount of identified resources on the property for an analysis of a larger mining operating plan. The Corporation in moving forward on its strategic development plans to increase its milling capacity from 187 tpd to 500 tpd by the beginning of 2018 with the development of its potential and additional resources surrounding the Zgounder Mine. Based on the underground drilling over the years since the 2014 Pre-Feasibility Study ("PFS") and the 2015 surface diamond drilling program, the Zgounder Millennium Silver Mining technical team has identified a mineral target of 35 to 45 Million ounces of silver at a grade range of 125 to 150 g/t within 8 to 12 million tonnes above 50 g/t Ag. The potential quantity and grade reported as Mineral target, is conceptual in nature, as there has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource and that it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the target being delineated as a mineral resource. In 2015, the Corporation completed a successful drilling campaign. The primary target of the new drill program is to test the mineralization intersected in hole ZG-EXT-06 about 80m East of existing underground workings. The drill program aims at defining two mineral resources blocks from surface 2225m to the 2000m level. The complete drill program will be disclosed once compilation and integration of all underground drilling data will be assessed with the consultant. Hole ZG-EXT-06 was aimed to test the eastern portion of the main zone. Highlights were as follow: -- 348g/t Ag over 19m (from surface to 19m) within an overall intersection of 228g/t Ag over 31.5m (from surface to 31.5m) -- 946g/t Ag over 4m (from 77m to 81m) -- 189g/t Ag over 3.5m (from174m to 177,5m) -- 172g/t Ag over 5m (from 200.5m to 205.5m) The Corporation also intend to update the status of its mineral reserves-resources at the Zgounder Millennium Silver Mining Company ("ZMSM") operating the mine. As reported since its beginning of operations in 2014, Zgounder mill has processed ore identified in the 2014 Pre-Feasibility Study ("PFS") as well as mineral resources and mineralized material not identified in the PEA & PFS studies. The Corporation wishes to highlight it has maintained the total amount of resources to similar level since beginning of its operations as underground exploration and development work has increased, discovered, and found additional silver mineralization to replace the material being processed. The Preliminary Economic assessment ("PEA") mineral resources press released of March 20, 2014 stood as base case measured resources total 1,400,000 ounces of silver (142,000 tonnes averaging 304 g/t), indicated resources are 4,600,000 ounces silver (400,000 tonnes averaging 357 g/t), inferred resources total 5,300,000 ounces of silver (353,000 tonnes averaging 463 g/t) using a cut-off grade of 125g/t Ag. From these mineral resources, the Mineral Reserves were prepared and stood at: Mineral Reserve Estimate (see press release of May 22nd 2014) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proven Probable Proven + Probable ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tonnes Ag g/t Ounces Tonnes Ag g/t Ounces Tonnes Ag g/t Ounces ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 152,000 281 1,371,000 421,000 330 4,474,000 573,000 317.3 5,845,000 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The technical team of the Mine has prepared a compilation and the statement report is dated March 27th 2017 and incorporate the information's at the end of February. From the report 39,337 tonnes at 364 g/t Ag for 460,455 ounces have been extracted from proven and probable reserves supported by the 2014 PFS which is still consider current. The remaining material processed at the mill up to now were not identified in the 2014 statement as not accessible at that time. The new mineralized zones identified with underground percussion drilling as well as 2015 surface diamond drilling as renewal of mineral resources will be officially incorporated in 2017. "I am confident that the recent underground works carried out by Zgounder's technical team that led to the discovery of new mineralized zones, thus have renewing the mineral resources of the mine, which will be validated by Goldminds" said Noureddine Mokaddem, President of Maya. The Corporation aimed at providing a Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") on a large-scale scenario and a Pre-Feasibility Study ("PFS") with reserves with update reports by November 2017 in accordance with NI 43-101. Installation of the Flotation Cell Units The flotation cell units have been delivered to the port of Casablanca in Morocco and the transportation of the 26 containers to the Zgounder Mine site is now in progress. Qualified Persons The technical content of this news release has been prepared and reviewed based on the information's received from the ZMSM by Claude Duplessis Eng. Geological Engineer from GoldMinds Geoservices Inc, independent Qualified Person under NI 43-101 standards. ABOUT MAYA Maya Gold & Silver Inc. is a Canadian publicly listed mining corporation focused on the exploration and development of gold and silver deposits in Morocco. Maya is initiating mining and milling operations at its Zgounder Mine owned by Zgounder Millennium Silver Mining ("ZMSM"), a Maya 85% owned joint venture with l'Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines ("ONHYM") of the Kingdom of Morocco (15%). Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward looking information Zgounder Silver Mine The decision to commence production at the Zgounder Silver Mine was not based on a feasibility study of mineral reserves demonstrating economic and technical viability, but rather on a pre-feasibility study. Accordingly, there is increased uncertainty and economic and technical risks of failure associated with this production decision. Production and economic variables may vary considerably, due to the absence of a complete and detailed site analysis according to and in accordance with NI 43-101. Forward-looking statements This news release contains statements about our future business and planned activities. These are "forward-looking" because we have used what we know and expect today to make a statement about the future. Forward-looking statements including but are not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work and analyses. Forward-looking statements usually include words such as may, intend, plan, expect, anticipate, and believe or other similar words. We believe the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable. However, actual events and results could be substantially different because of the risks and uncertainties associated with our business or events that happen after the date of this news release. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. As a general policy, we do not update forward-looking statements except as required by securities laws and regulations. Contacts: Maya Gold & Silver Inc. R Martin Wong CPA CA Interim Chief Executive Officer 450-435-0700 mwong@mayagoldsilver.com Maya Gold & Silver Inc. Noureddine Mokaddem President 450-435-0700 nmokaddem@mayagoldsilver.com Maya Gold & Silver Inc. Nathalie Dion Investor Relations 450-435-0700 ext. 202 ndion@mayagoldsilver.com TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 04/19/17 -- Duran Ventures Inc. (TSX VENTURE: DRV) (BVL: DRV) ("Duran" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that due to a return to normal climatic conditions in northern Peru, operations at the Company's 80% owned Aguila Norte flotation plant ("Aguila Norte" or the "Plant") will restart shortly. As previously announced (see Company's new release dated March 16, 2017) extremely heavy rain falls and floods in northern Peru due to the El Nino effect resulted in the temporary suspension of operations at the Plant. The Regional Government of La Libertad in Northern Peru declared a state of emergency for the region on February 9, 2017. Highways and roads throughout Northern Peru were affected by the severe weather conditions which caused the collapse of many bridges along the coast and in the mountainous regions. Mineral shipments and consumable material for the Plant were not available and/or were considered too dangerous to transport during this time. Plant operations were briefly halted after the first week of March and it was decided to suspend operations on March 15th when the highway and roads nearby the Plant became impassable. The Company is also pleased to announce that 91.17 metric tonnes ("mt") of zinc concentrates and 23.26 mt of lead-silver concentrate was shipped from the Plant and has arrived at the Impala Terminals in the port of Callao, Lima. The concentrates are 100% own by Aguila Norte and represent the first sale of concentrates produced from wholly-owned purchased mineral. The Company entered into an agreement with mineral trader Ocean Partners to purchase the concentrates. The Company expects to continue purchasing and processing this mineral. Third party mineral currently on site is expected to be processed by the end of the month once the circuit, pad and equipment have been thoroughly inspected and approved for processing. The third party mineral is not owned by the Company and the mineral supplier is charged a processing fee, or "Maquila", for each metric tonne processed. The Company has received several expressions of interest from nearby mineral suppliers in the region. Over the next few months the Company expects to continue processing third party mineral during and after the Plant commissioning phase but at the same time will focus on establishing long term relationships with mineral suppliers by entering into profit sharing agreements. The Company will also purchase mineral for processing and later sell to certain mineral buyers. Relationships with these buyers, or traders, have been established and short term loan agreements will be set up to assist the Company in mineral purchases. Jeffrey Reeder, CEO and President of Duran commented "The recent extreme weather in Peru affected the operations during this crucial startup phase. This rare severe El Nino effect last occurred in Peru in 1997 and I have personally witnessed the effects of this natural phenomena both times. While constructing the Plant Duran took this into consideration and consequently only minor repairs are required to certain areas of the Plant affected by the heavy rains. We are very excited that our very first owned concentrates have arrived at the Impala Terminals in the port of Callao and are awaiting payment. The produced concentrates show that the flotation circuit at the Plant is functioning as expected." The Company is also pleased to announce that the Don Pancho property sale transaction with Tartisan Resources Corp. ("Tartisan") closed on March 30, 2017. The Company received CDN$50,000 and 500,000 shares of Tartisan and retains a 2% net smelter return royalty, of which half (1%) can be purchased by Tartisan for US$500,000. Jeffrey Reeder, P.Geo., a qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101, is responsible for all technical information contained in this news release. About Duran Duran Ventures Inc. is a Canadian exploration company focused on mineral processing and the exploration and development of precious and base metal properties in Peru. Duran Ventures Inc. is a Canadian resource companylisted on the TSX Venture Exchange and the Bolsa de Valores de Lima: Symbol "DRV" Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Disclosure Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains certain "Forward-Looking Statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. We use words such as "might", "will", "should", "anticipate", "plan", "expect", "believe", "estimate", "forecast" and similar terminology to identify forward looking statements and forward-looking information. Such statements and information are based on assumptions, estimates, opinions and analysis made by management in light of its experience, current conditions and its expectations of future developments as well as other factors which it believes to be reasonable and relevant. Forward-looking statements and information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements and information and accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on such statements and information. Risks and uncertainties are more fully described in our annual and quarterly Management's Discussion and Analysis and in other filings made by us with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and available at www.sedar.com.While the Company believes that the expectations expressed by such forward-looking statements and forward-looking information and the assumptions, estimates, opinions and analysis underlying such expectations are reasonable, there can be no assurance that they will prove to be correct. In evaluating forward-looking statements and information, readers should carefully consider the various factors which could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward looking statements and forward-looking information. Contacts: Jeffrey Reeder (647) 302-3290 Oscar Pezo (011) 511 422-1467 Website: www.duranventuresinc.com Email: info@duranventuresinc.com Keepixo, a leading provider of software-based head-end solutions for IPTV and OTT TV, and IRT, the research centre of the public broadcasters in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, today announced a complete CMAF demonstration at NAB 2017. CMAF, MPEG's Common Media Application Format, aims at unifying the two OTT TV leading standards which are Apple's HLS and MPEG-DASH today. Technically, with CMAF, both HLS playlists and DASH manifests are allowed to reference the same fragmented MP4 (fMP4) chunks. This allows any recent Apple device (iOS10, tvOS, MacOS) to playback the exact same media segments as DASH players. That brings immediate business benefits to operators deploying CMAF over their competitors: Light packaging infrastructure: only one OTT packaging system is required, and only one flavor of media chunks needs to be built. Better viewer experience: HTTP caches in the delivery network are much more efficient, as only fMP4 chunks need to be cached, instead of both MPEG-TS and ISOBMFF. The same fMP4 can be shared for viewers on Apple devices or Android smartphones, PCs or tablets. Previously, different chunks needed to be cached in parallel for DASH and HLS, possibly leading to network congestion and a degraded viewer experience. Lower storage costs: if the operator offers any delinearized services such as nPVR, timeshift, or start-over, storage needs are divided by 2, and no later "re-packaging" infrastructure is needed. Improved cross-platform delivery of subtitles and captions in one package. CMAF also provides a number of technical improvements to HLS devices over legacy TS chunks, such as a framework for Common Encryption (CENC), and extended text- or image-based subtitling modes. "At Keepixo, we're always striving to add the latest features that the TV industry needs." says Jerome Blanc, COO of Keepixo. "The recent addition of CMAF to our OTT packager is the perfect example of how we can address the entire OTT TV spectrum, and help operators reduce their costs and improve their subscribers' experience." Keepixo's packager is a flexible, feature-rich live OTT packager, which can be provided as a stand-alone solution or integrated within Keepixo's live multirate OTT transcoder. "IRT investigates alternative streaming methods to legacy HLS or MPEG-DASH-delivery to find more efficient and thus less expensive workflows while targeting broadcast-quality also for IP-based distribution." says Thomas Schierbaum, Head of Public Relations at IRT. "Besides well adopted mechanisms for adaptive media transport, also the joined carriage of program-associated data like subtitles is evaluated. In this context CMAF provides a lot of promising options." A demonstration of Keepixo's OTT encoder-packager with CMAF content playing on iPhone SE, Android tablet, and Windows PC, will be available on Keepixo's stand (SU9102CM) at NAB/Las Vegas, April 24-27, 2017. _____________________________________________________________________ About Keepixo Keepixo, the spin-off of Allegro DVT's broadcast business, is a leading provider of software-based and cloud-ready head-end solutions for IPTV OTT. Keepixo offers live encoders, file-based video transcoders and delivery solutions featuring advanced functions such as Catch-Up, Start-Over and nPVR. Keepixo solutions are used by more than 150 customers including 40 tier-1 operators worldwide. For more information, visit Keepixo's website or contact us at info@keepixo.com . http://www.keepixo.com/ About IRT With its head offices in Munich, the IRT supports broadcasting on a national and international scale with its spectrum of services. Its associates are the broadcasting companies ARD, ZDF, Deutschlandradio, ORF and SRG/SSR. The IRT is also cooperating with numerous clients from the broadcasting, media, communications and information technology industries as well as various research institutions and academies. Since its foundation in 1956, the IRT has been committed to preserving broadcasting and accompanying the adjustment of the broadcasting idea to new market environments and requirements. For more information, please visit IRT's website: https://www.irt.de/en/ View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170419005671/en/ Contacts: Keepixo Philippe Loussararian, +33.4.57.42.20.00 info@keepixo.com VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/19/17 -- IDM Mining Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: IDM)(OTCQB: IDMMF) ("IDM" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Ryan Weymark, P.Eng, PMP as Project Director, effective May 1, 2017, for the Red Mountain Underground Gold Project, located 15km east of Stewart, B.C.. In this role, he will be tasked with managing the transition of the project from the Feasibility Study, which is currently nearing completion, to final design, detailed engineering and preparing the project for potential construction and operations. This work will include ensuring alignment with the overall project schedule, contract management, cost control, supporting project permitting and health, safety and environmental management. "With our Feasibility Study nearing completion, we welcome Ryan's experience and enthusiasm to manage the detailed engineering required for Mines Act permitting and construction for our high-grade, bulk mineable underground deposit at Red Mountain," said Robert McLeod, President and CEO of IDM Mining. "Similar to my own background, he is a third-generation miner from British Columbia, and we look forward to working with him as we advance the Project to a construction decision." "Ryan represents a key addition to the Red Mountain project development team," said Michael McPhie, Executive Chairman of IDM Mining. "An experienced mining engineer with a strong record of project execution success, he will play an important role in realizing our vision of creating BC's next high grade underground gold mine." Ryan Weymark, P.Eng, Project Director Mr. Weymark is joining IDM from Ledcor Contractors Ltd., where he was most recently a Project Manager responsible for leading and reviewing estimates, contract and subcontract negotiations, First Nation engagement, and managing operational projects in the mining and telecommunications sectors. He was previously with Teck Resources Ltd., where he worked as a Mining Engineer, Project Manager and Short and Long Range Planning Engineer at several of Teck's mines in British Columbia. He started his career with SNC-Lavalin as a Mining Engineer in training, working in a variety of sectors for this EPCM firm. Mr. Weymark is a Professional Engineer with a B.A.Sc. from UBC in Mining and Mineral Process Engineering, and is a Project Management Professional (PMP). About Red Mountain The 17,125 hectare Red Mountain Gold Project is located in northwestern BC, 15 km northeast of the Town of Stewart. IDM is advancing a Feasibility Study for a high-grade, underground gold mine, which envisions primarily bulk underground mining methods and the production of gold dore on site. The Project is advancing through the provincial and federal environmental assessment processes, with comprehensive, thorough, and ongoing consultation with Nisga'a Nation. Additional information, including the Company's NI 43-101 Technical Reports for the Red Mountain gold project, is available at www.idmmining.com and at www.sedar.com. ABOUT IDM MINING LTD. IDM Mining Ltd. is a mineral exploration and development company based in Vancouver, BC, Canada. The Company's current exploration and development activities are focused on precious metals in British Columbia, with a primary focus on the high-grade, underground Red Mountain Gold Project, which is advancing through the BC and Canadian environmental assessment processes. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD of IDM Mining Ltd. "Robert McLeod" President, CEO and Director "Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release." Forward-Looking Statements: Some statements in this news release contain forward-looking information or forward-looking statements for the purposes of applicable securities laws. All statements in this release, other than historical facts, that address events or developments that the Company expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and generally, but not always, identified by the words "expect", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expression, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could", or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Contacts: Robert McLeod 604-681-5672 direct 604-617-0616 cell rm@idmmining.com Investor Relations: Shobana Thaya st@idmmining.com 416-807-1009 Alex Horsley ah@idmmining.com 604-618-3058 GRAND BAIE, MAURITIUS -- (Marketwired) -- 04/19/17 -- Alphamin Resources Corp. (TSX VENTURE: AFM) ("Alphamin" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Alphamin Bisie Mining Project ("the Project") has commenced the construction of the mine box cut and upgrade of the access road following the mobilisation of two earthworks contractors to site, and the appointment of the mining contractor. Alphamin is also pleased to announce the appointment of two experienced directors, Bernard Swanepoel and Paul Baloyi, to the Company's Board. The appointments are subject to regulatory approval. The recent completion of the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) program and associated Control Budget Estimate (CBE) by DRA Projects (DRA), the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the project, confirmed the robust economic metrics and potential of the Project, and its development into North Kivu's first commercial mine, and a new premier global tin producing mine. A comprehensive process for estimating capital costs was followed and the CBE results illustrated that the Project has the potential to remain strongly profitable at lower tin prices, as well as at increased prices for key consumables. The completed FEED and CBE increase proven and probable reserves to 4.67 Mt at 3.58% Sn containing 167.3 Kt of tin, while also increasing the life of mine (LoM) to 150 months or 12.5 years. The optimised process flow sheet resulted in 6% higher annual average plant throughput rates, and an increase in tin recoveries to 73%. The borehole drilling to prove the current reserves and provide mine planning has been carried out to a depth of 550 meters below surface and 720 meters down plunge. This results in a current planned life of mine of 12.5 years producing an average of 373,800 tonnes of Rom per annum. The Logistical challenge of locating a deep drilling rig on site restricted the evaluation of the resource to a proven reserve below this Level. The confidence of the drilling to date and the geological model indicates that the resource continues at depth. If this deep drilling is successful, management believes that it should allow for the current life of mine estimate for the Project to be increased. A cash margin of some US$ 11,040 per tonne of tin sold is foreseen, yielding a LoM annual average EBITDA of approximately US$ 110 million (constant 2017 terms), and robust economic performance indicators of a Net Present Value (8%) of US$ 402.2 million, a real, after tax, Project IRR of 49.1%, and a projected payback period of 17 months from first tin production. CONTRACTORS MOBILIZED, EXCAVATION OF BOX CUT AND UPGRADE OF ACCESS ROAD COMMENCED Alphamin has appointed Kongo River SA and VRSC SARL (VRSC) as the Project's earthworks contractors, and Reliant Congo SARL ("Reliant") as the Project's Phase I mining contractor. The appointment of these contractors followed a stringent due diligence process and evaluation of each potential contractor's safety records, submitted schedules, DRC experience, technical capacity and price. VRSC has worked on the construction of both Banro Corporation's mines in South Kivu & Kibali in the North-Eastern corner of the DRC. Reliant operates in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia, and have a strong track record of safety and production. Reliant have worked for Glencore plc (Glencore) in the DRC & and continue to mine for Glencore in Zambia, and Vedanta Resources plc in India. Reliant are in the process of mobilising their equipment to begin developing the decline in early July 2017 in accordance with the project implementation schedule. "It is very encouraging that work has commenced, and subject to finalisation of the full funding solution, the Project is expected to be completed on time, and within budget by the end of Q1 of 2019." says Boris Kamstra, CEO of Alphamin Resources Corp. "Alphamin has appointed three contractors following an extensive tender process and the early works have commenced at the Alphamin Bisie Mining Tin project," explains Kamstra. "A total of 22 heavy earthmoving machines, their operators, management, and support have been deployed for work at the Mpama North site and on the access road. The work on the box cut and the continued upgrading of the 34km access road has already commenced, following the completion of the initial 9km of the access road upgrade to enable the carrying of normal traffic. The access road is expected to be completed by December 2017," states Kamstra. In addition, the return airway has advanced to 97m, and the orebody is expected to be intersected at 120m. The camps and associated infrastructure to house the project implementation team, has been completed. The development of the Project will be a catalyst for regional economic growth. "Alphamin is committed to contributing to the stability and economic activity in North Kivu, bringing significant benefit to the community and other stakeholders alike," says Kamstra. "We are cognisant of the importance of managing and delivering on community expectations. We have been careful in positioning ourselves as a catalyst for change, not as the source or sole reason for change," he says. "We are particularly confident that the recent establishment of the government committee, CAIMB, will help Alphamin in both the development of the project and addressing the communities' concerns". Community development activities are implemented via the Lowa Alliance (a not-for-profit foundation funded by the Company's DRC subsidiary, Alphamin Bisie Mining SA. (ABM) in collaboration with the Walikale local community) and include the recent inauguration of the flagship Luuka Primary School at Logu in February by the North Kivu Minister of Mines and the Deputy Ambassador of South Africa, and the commencement of a further 10 development projects for 2017 out of the 115 envisioned for the first five years of the Bisie Tin Project. SOLID PROGRESS MADE ON FUNDING PACKAGE Alphamin is also pleased to announce that significant progress has been made towards finalising the funding package for the Project. Funding will include a combination of debt, equity and an equity standby facility. It is anticipated that the total funding package will be finalised within the next four weeks, and further announcements will follow in this regard as appropriate. APPOINTMENT OF NEW BOARD DIRECTORS Bernard Swanepoel and Paul Baloyi, seasoned business executives with significant experience and expertise, have accepted invitations to join the Board of Directors of Alphamin, subject to regulatory approval. Charles Needham, Chairman of Alphamin Resources Corp. expressed his delight at the Board appointments, stating: "We welcome the new board members and look forward to their contribution. The calibre and top level experience of the two gentlemen will stand Alphamin in very good stead. Not only do they enjoy international business clout and respect, but their expertise will add value to the Board as it guides the Alphamin business into a prosperous future." Bernard Swanepoel holds a BscEng (Mining) and BCom (Hons) (FinManagement), and currently serves on the boards of Impala, Zimplats, AREP (a clean energy company), eXtract Limited and African Rainbow Minerals Limited. He is a partner in THINKspiration (a leadership and strategy consultancy), founder of To-The-Point Growth Specialists (active in the junior mining space), Chairman and managing partner of MMC, a privately-owned manganese value added producer, and recently created a R1bn resources investment fund in partnership with eXtract and other investors. He is also the Chairman and co-owner of the annual Joburg Indaba (SA's premier Mining conference), as well as President of the AHi (SA's SME Business Chamber). Bernard has over 30 years experience in local and international mining, and mining project development. He started his career at Gengold, moving to Rand Mines in the mid-nineties, where he remained as CEO of Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited until 2007. Paul Baloyi, the Industrial Development Corporation's representative on the Company's Board, holds an MBA (University of Bangor Manchester), MDP, AMP (INSEAD) and SEP (Harvard), and currently serves on the Boards of Old Mutual South Africa, Basil Read Limited (Chairman), Bidcorp Limited, ENX Group Limited amongst others. Paul has over 35 years of experience in the international finance sector, having served as Chief Executive Officer of the Development Bank of Southern Africa (including the DBSA Development Fund), Managing Director of Nedbank Africa, and holding senior positions within Standard Bank. He is a past member of the Institute of Bankers and the Institute of Directors. Paul Baloyi commented on his appointment to the Alphamin Board "I am very very pleased and excited for the opportunity to join the best team assembled on what is increasingly proving the be great project . I am looking forward to adding value on the development of the mine." MORE INFORMATION ON ALPHAMIN RESOURCES CORP.: Alphamin is a tin exploration and development company with the vision to be respected in the international tin sector by unleashing the full profit and potential of its world-class tin asset in North Kivu, DRC currently under development. Alphamin has the vision to become a premier tin producer by: -- Leading a world-class, profitable mining company in North Kivu, delivering results for the benefit of all stakeholders and viewed with respect by the communities and Government. -- Becoming a profitable tin producer, while continuing with exploration to increase life of mine. ABM intends to operate a profitable tin mine in a safe environment while uplifting the local community. Alphamin is striving to develop the first, low-cost per tonne tin, industrial mine in North Kivu, while at the same time making a marked, positive impact on the communities surrounding the mine. We intend to be a tin mining company that excels at the production of tin and provides leadership for the region in terms of safety, health, environment and community development. -- Delivering on the commitment to develop the first large, industrial tin mine in North Kivu - giving Alphamin credibility locally and abroad - and becoming a business transformation reference in the tin mining industry. -- Creating value for both shareholders and the community. -- Committing, from the date of production, to spend 4% of its in-country operating and administrative expenses on community development. This investment will be governed with representative input from local communities and managed by the Lowa Alliance, a GDRC-regulated not-for- profit foundation. Alphamin will continue to preserve its legal rights to develop Bisie and explore ways to assist artisanal miners to transition from illegal to legal status, conflict-free sites elsewhere in the region. -- Implementing community projects, supported by the Lowa Alliance, being selected following an in-depth survey of the 13 500 households (approximately 70 000 residents) across the 44 communities closest to Bisie. Representative committees have prioritised a range of projects to promote social and economic development to which they, local authorities and potentially external donors, will also contribute. These projects would provide incentives for income beyond illegal artisanal mining while also providing educational and health infrastructure and services like potable water, malaria reduction and treatment and primary health care capacity building, agricultural and infrastructure capacity investment. CAUTION REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS Information in this news release that is not a statement of historical fact constitutes forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements contained herein include, without limitation, statements relating to costs of production, success of mining operations, the ranking of the project in terms of cash cost and production, economic return estimates, social, community and environmental impacts, and continued positive discussions and relationships with local communities and stakeholders. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable at the time such statements are made. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Although Alphamin has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from expected results described in forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: Alphamin's ability to secure sufficient financing to advance and complete the Bisie Tin Project, uncertainties associated with Alphamin's resource and reserve estimates, uncertainties regarding global supply and demand for tin and market and sales prices, uncertainties associated with securing off-take agreements and customer contracts, uncertainties with respect to social, community and environmental impacts, adverse political events, uncertainties with respect to optimization opportunities for the Bisie Tin Project, as well as those risk factors set out in the Company's Management Discussion and Analysis and other disclosure documents available under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this news release and Alphamin disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws." Contacts: Alphamin Resources Corp. Boris Kamstra Chief Executive Officer Grand Baie, Mauritius +230 269 4166 boris.kamstra@alphaminresources.com Alphamin Bisie Mining SA Richard Robinson Directeur General/Managing Director +243816065577 r.robinson@abmdrc.com Logu au croisement de la Nationale N3 et de la route menant a Bisie Walikale, Nord - Kivu Republique Democratique du Congo LEXINGTON, MA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/19/17 -- They are household names, some more than a century old. Ford Motor Company, Aetna, Johnson & Johnson, Singtel, Adobe, Xerox, Netflix, Intuit, Brigham Young University-Idaho. They come from different industries and span the globe, but have one thing in common: each has confronted threats to its business model and the need to radically change its business in the face of major disruption. Big disruptions have upended markets for mobile handsets, personal computers, cameras, newspapers, books, magazines, music, broadcast television and so on -- felling a long list of well-known companies along the way. The most viable response to such radical disruption, according to the authors of the book Dual Transformation: How to Reposition Today's Business While Creating the Future (Harvard Business Review Press, April 2017), is a two-track process: transforming the core business to enhance and extend its life, while building a new and different business to power the future. This kind of "dual transformation" depends on leveraging an established company's unique difficult-to-replicate assets such as brand, scale, and decades of accumulated know-how. By sharing these capabilities and assets between the efforts, the established can come out on top, and help define the future. Consider the challenge facing automakers: autonomous vehicles and web-based ride-share services are threatening their traditional business model. In response, the 113-year-old Ford Motor Company is evolving from a "car company" into a "mobility services" business. "Cars" will be just one component of a very different business model. "In every mature industry, incumbent leaders are extremely vulnerable to competitors offering greater simplicity, convenience, and affordability," says Scott Anthony, managing partner at growth strategy consulting firm Innosight. "And those at the top of their game are most vulnerable." "Dual transformation offers a way to fortify a core business that has brought past success -- maximizing its relevance and resilience," says Anthony. "But it's also a way to leverage disruption and find strong growth in a new and under-served market. Growth that will power the company into the future." DUAL TRANSFORMATION: THE RIGHT RESPONSE TO DISRUPTION Dual Transformation helps executives spot the signs of unfolding disruption, devise a strategy to address it and manage the crises that arise during the transformation process. To demonstrate the challenge -- and the power of the dual transformation solution -- the authors tell the stories of companies that have transformed themselves, creating the next version of themselves that may ending up in a very different place from where they started, such as: Adobe: Cloud-based "software-as-a-service," with greater affordability and flexibility, revolutionized the computer software business. To survive, and find new growth, Adobe had to transform: Its core business became subscription software services (for content creation), with growth powered by a new digital marketing business (for content distribution). Aetna: Anticipating a radical shift toward wellness-based and value-based health care, Aetna is transforming its business model: away from "insurance," toward population health management, disease prevention, and pricing for value. Singtel: In response to radical change, the Singaporean telecomm company, and Southeast Asia's largest mobile provider, transformed its core business model from voice to data, and launched a venture investment division to exploit growth opportunities in new technologies and applications. "Dual transformation is very different from typical CEO challenges, like restructuring, or downsizing, or a new product innovation," says Clark Gilbert, co-author and president of Brigham Young University-Idaho. "It forces the CEO to work deep in an organization's culture to build two truly new business models simultaneously." DISRUPTION IS COMING -- AND NO ONE IS SAFE There is no such thing as a safe incumbent. Radical innovation is creating new markets, and new products and services, every day. The ripple effects will be felt in every corner of every enterprise, public and private, including some unexpected places: Auto insurance: Driverless cars should have far fewer accidents. What does that do to the business model of insurance companies whose revenues depend on the auto market? Long-distance shipping: When 3D printers make small-scale local manufacturing cost effective, what happens to companies that ship millions of tons of manufactured goods over long distances? Consumer banking: With e-payments offered by a wide range of non-bank companies, how soon will consumers "cut the cord" with banks, like they're doing with cable TV companies? White-collar work: Professional jobs are being lost to robots and algorithms in insurance claims, securities trading, medical diagnostics. Today even robots are writing the news. OPTIMIZE FOR THE FUTURE -- NOT THE PAST Dual transformation addresses one of the biggest mistakes that today's business leaders make: a present-forward view of strategy that is based on the assumption that the future will resemble the past. As a result, their growth strategy becomes rooted in today's business and today's data. When change is too incremental, businesses sooner or later end up defending an obsolete business model. Dual transformation builds on a "future-back" view of strategy, by contrast. This begins with the assumption that tomorrow will be different than today, involves looking at powerful trends that hold transformational potential, coming to consensus about the future environment, and developing shared aspirations about the company's future state. "Business leaders have to imagine the future and begin creating it, today, in both the core business and the new growth business," says Mark Johnson, co-founder and senior partner at Innosight. "They have to imagine what the company's markets will look like in five, or ten, or twenty years; design a company that can be successful in that future; and transform today's company right now, so it can still lead when that radically different future finally arrives." For more information, a copy of Dual Transformation: How to Reposition Today's Business While Creating the Future or an interview with Mark Johnson and Scott Anthony of Innosight or Clark Gilbert of BYU-Idaho, please contact Katarina Wenk-Bodenmiller of Sommerfield Communications at +1 (212) 255-8386 or Katarina@sommerfield.com. ABOUT SCOTT D. ANTHONY Scott D. Anthony is the Managing Partner of Innosight. Based in the firm's Singapore office, he leads its Asian consulting operations and its venture-capital investment activities (Innosight Ventures). He has worked with clients ranging from national governments to companies in industries as diverse as health care, telecommunications, consumer products and software. He is the author of The First Mile (Harvard Business Review Press, 2014), The Little Black Book of Innovation (Harvard Business Review Press, January 2012) and The Silver Lining (Harvard Business Review Press, 2009). He is the co-author of Seeing What's Next (Harvard Business Review Press, 2004) and The Innovator's Guide to Growth (Harvard Business Review Press, 2008). ABOUT MARK W. JOHNSON Mark W. Johnson is Cofounder and a Senior Partner of Innosight, which he co-founded with Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen. He has been a strategic advisor to both Global 1000 and start-up companies in a wide range of industries, including automotive, health care, aerospace/defense, enterprise IT, energy and consumer packaged goods. He has also advised Singapore's government on innovation and entrepreneurship. He is the author of the best-selling book Seizing the White Space: Business Model Innovation and Growth and Renewal (Harvard Business Review Press, 2010). ABOUT CLARK G. GILBERT Clark G. Gilbert is the 16th and current president of Brigham Young University-Idaho. He served previously as the CEO of both the Deseret News, Utah's longest running business and one of the nation's fastest growing businesses, and Deseret Digital Media. Clark is a former Professor of Entrepreneurial Management at Harvard Business School and an associate academic vice president at BYU-Idaho. He is also a founding partner of Innosight Ventures, where he has served as a founding director of several health care and media startups. ABOUT INNOSIGHT Innosight, the strategy and innovation business of global professional services firm Huron, helps organizations design and create the future, instead of being disrupted by it. Acquired by Huron in 2017, Innosight is the leading authority on disruptive innovation and strategic transformation. The company collaborates with clients across a range of industries to identify new growth opportunities, build new ventures and capabilities, and accelerate organizational change. Learn more at www.innosight.com and www.huronconsultinggroup.com. Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3130898 Contact: Katarina Wenk-Bodenmiller Sommerfield Communications, Inc. (212) 255-8386 Katarina@sommerfield.com CALGARY, AB--(Marketwired - April 19, 2017) - Cenovus Energy Inc. (TSX: CVE) (NYSE: CVE) will release its first quarter 2017 results on Wednesday, April 26, 2017. The news release will provide consolidated first quarter 2017 operating and financial information. Financial statements will be available on the company's website, cenovus.com. A conference call and webcast to discuss the results will be held for the investment community at 9 a.m. MT (11 a.m. ET). To participate, please dial 888-231-8191 (toll-free in North America) or 647-427-7450 approximately 10 minutes prior to the conference call. The webcast link will be available at cenovus.com or via the following URL: http://event.on24.com/r.htm?e=1408853&s=1&k=0A35EA52D972B03CB70B35E0D73494F6 Cenovus's annual meeting of shareholders will be held the same day at The Westin Calgary, Grand Ballroom, 320 -- 4 th Avenue S.W. at 2 p.m. MT (4 p.m. ET). The webcast link and presentation slides will be available via Cenovus's website, cenovus.com. Cenovus Energy Inc. Cenovus Energy Inc. is a Canadian integrated oil company. It is committed to applying fresh, progressive thinking to safely and responsibly unlock energy resources the world needs. Operations include oil sands projects in northern Alberta, which use specialized methods to drill and pump the oil to the surface, and established natural gas and oil production in Alberta and Saskatchewan. The company also has 50% ownership in two U.S. refineries. Cenovus shares trade under the symbol CVE, and are listed on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges. Find Cenovus on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram. CENOVUS CONTACTS: Investor Relations Kam Sandhar Vice-President, Investor Relations & Corporate Development 403-766-5883 Graham Ingram Manager, Investor Relations 403-766-2849 Media Brett Harris Media Lead 403-766-3420 Media Relations general line 403-766-7751 PUNE, India, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new market research report "eClinical Solutions Market by Product (CDMS, EDC, CTMS, eCOA, Analytics, RTMS, eTMF, Safety), Delivery Mode (On-Demand, On-premise, Cloud-based), Clinical Trial Phases, End User (Pharma/Biopharma Companies, CROs, Hospitals) - Global Forecast to 2022", published by MarketsandMarkets', this report studies the market over the forecast period of 2017 to 2022. The market is expected to grow to USD 7.61 Billion by 2022, at CAGR of 12.4% during the forecast period. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 ) Browse 72 market data Tables and 40 Figures spread through 163 Pages and in-depth TOC on "eClinical Solutions Market" http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/eclinical-solutions-market-553.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. The report analyzes and studies the major market drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Rest of the World (RoW). Increasing operational costs and regulatory requirements associated with clinical research studies, government grants to support clinical trials, and increasing R&D expenditure by pharma-biotech companies with augmented IT budgets for drug development are some of the major driving factors for the global eClinical solutions market. The growing number of clinical research activities in emerging Asia-Pacific countries and a shift from manual data interpretation to real-time data analysis during clinical studies also offer high growth opportunities for market players. On the other hand, high implementation costs associated with eClinical solutions is restricting the growth of this market. Based on the type of product, the global eClinical solutions market is divided into ten segments, namely, electronic data capture (EDC) and clinical data management systems (CDMS), clinical trial management systems (CTMS), clinical analytics platform, randomization & trial supply management systems (RTMS), clinical data integration platforms, electronic clinical outcome assessment (eCOA), safety solutions, electronic trail master files (eTMF), regulatory information management solutions (RIMS), and others (coding systems, institutional review board (IRB) systems, and core lab integration solutions). Speak To Analyst: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/speaktoanalyst.asp?id=553 The eClinical solutions market has also been segmented on the basis of delivery mode into web-hosted (on-demand), licensed enterprise (on-premise), and cloud-based (SaaS) solutions. Based on the clinical trial phase, the market is divided into four segments phase I, phase II, phase II, and phase IV. On the basis of end users, the global eClinical solutions market has been segmented into pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies, contract research organizations, consulting service companies, medical device manufacturers, hospitals, and academic research institutions. North America was the largest regional segment in the global eClinical solutions market in 2016, followed by Europe. The Asia-Pacific market is expected to grow at the highest CAGR from 2017 to 2022. A number of factors, including increasing government funding to support clinical trials, presence of less stringent regulatory guidelines compared to developed nations, availability of a large patient base and faster patient recruitment for clinical trials, and growing number of pharmaceutical companies and CROs are stimulating the growth of the eClinical solutions market in the Asia-Pacific region. Download PDF Brochure@ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=553 Oracle Corporation (U.S.), Medidata Solutions, Inc. (U.S.) PAREXEL International Corporation (U.S.), BioClinica, Inc. (U.S.), CRF Health (U.S.), DATATRAK International, Inc. (U.S.), ERT (U.S.), Merge Healthcare Incorporated (U.S.), OmniComm Systems, Inc. (U.S.), MaxisIT Inc. (U.S.), Bio-Optronics, Inc. (U.S.), and eClinical Solutions, Inc. (U.S.) are some key players operating in the global eClinical solutions market. Browse Related Reports: Healthcare Analytics/ Medical Analytics Market by Application (Clinical, RCM, Claim, Fraud, Supply Chain, HR, PHM), Type (Prescriptive), Component (Service, Software), Delivery (On-premise, Cloud), End User (Hospital, Payer, ACO, TPA) - Forecasts to 2021 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/healthcare-data-analytics-market-905.html Bioinformatics Market by Sector (Molecular Medicine, Agriculture, Forensic, Animal, Research & Gene Therapy), Product (Sequencing Platforms, Knowledge Management & Data Analysis) & Application (Genomics, Proteomics & Metabolomics) - Global Forecast to 2021 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/bioinformatics-39.html About MarketsandMarkets': MarketsandMarkets' is the largest market research firm worldwide in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to a multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets' are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical infographics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers. We at MarketsandMarkets' are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository. Contact: Mr. Rohan MarketsandMarkets' 701 Pike Street Suite 2175, Seattle, WA 98101, United States Telephone No: +1-888-600-6441. Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Visit our Blog @ http://mnmblog.org/market-research/healthcare/healthcareit Connect with us on LinkedIn @http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets SHANGHAI, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- World's Most Connected Brand Strengthens Commitment to Revolutionise Car Buying and Ownership Introduces New Model: the 03 Concept Reveals 01 Production Model Watch Film From Shanghai Launch atyoutube.com/c/LYNKCO Geely Auto Group launches its LYNK & CO global car brand in China with an international auto show debut in Shanghai, and introduces an all-new model - the 03 Concept - a bold and sporty sedan. Also confirmed in Shanghai is the LYNK & CO 01 as 'production ready'. (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/491760/LYNK_and_CO_03_Concept.jpg ) (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/491759/LYNK_and_CO_Shanghai_Auto.jpg ) (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/491758/LYNK_and_CO_01.jpg ) Alain Visser, Senior Vice President of LYNK & CO, said: "Having launched LYNK & CO in Europe just five months ago, we are ready to roll-out our unique brand of connected mobility with a number of new models featuring the world's first digital in-car share button. Our promise of a new dimension of vehicle connectivity and shareability, coupled with a revolutionary approach to buying and ownership, is further strengthened with both free connectivity and lifetime warranties as standard with LYNK & CO." Executive Vice President of Design, Geely Auto Group, Peter Horbury, said: "With the 03 Concept, we started with some clear defining ambitions: to look solid, have an imposing presence and to make a striking visual impression. The result isour first LYNK & CO sedan - which encapsulates muscular solid volumes, our unique brand elements and intricate, high-tech details resulting in a design that is bold and sporty." The 03 Concept has been in development for more than two years, and in keeping with the brand's commitment to doing things differently, is the second model debuted, following the 01 shown in October. The 02 will be revealed in due course, completing a three-car line up when the first LYNK & CO models go on sale later this year. Further models are also in development, and will follow the 01, 02, 03 nomenclature. LYNK & CO products are designed and engineered in Sweden for the global market, with the first models going on sale in China later this year, followed by Europe and the U.S. in 2019. About LYNK & CO LYNK & CO is a brand from Geely Auto Group, a subsidiary of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group - the owner of Volvo Cars and London Taxi Company. Geely Auto Group is one of China's largest car manufacturers. Visit us at http://www.lynkco.com WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Amid ongoing complaints about a lack of transparency from the White House, Congressman John Sarbanes, D-Md., accused President Donald Trump's family of setting 'a new standard of ethical blindness.' 'Just when you think you've seen it all, Trump offers something else that's even more outrageous and even more troubling,' Sarbanes said in an interview with CNN on Tuesday. CNN noted the comments by Sarbanes come following reports Trump's daughter Ivanka secured two patents in China for her clothing line following a dinner meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Sarbanes, a member of the House Oversight Committee, told CNN almost all of the questions about the Trump family's global financial ties could be answered if the president would release his tax returns. 'We don't know what the potential of that is because there is so little transparency,' Sarbanes said. 'This thing with Ivanka, you can kind of view it as a tip of the iceberg.' Earlier this week, White House Press Secretary said Trump would still not release his returns because of an ongoing IRS audit. Trump repeatedly cited the audit as a reason for not releasing his returns during the presidential campaign, although the IRS has said an audit would not prevent him from releasing his returns. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. DUBLIN, Apr. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Bearings Market Analysis By Product (Ball Bearings, Roller Bearings), By Application (Automotive, Agriculture, Electrical, Mining & Construction, Railway & Aerospace, Automotive Aftermarket), And Segment Forecasts, 2014 - 2025" report to their offering. The global bearings market is expected to reach USD 172.2 billion by 2025 The market is anticipated to witness a healthy growth, ascribed to achieve energy efficiency coupled with high demand across the automotive sector. The increasing demand for commercial vehicles is anticipated to propel demand across the automotive sector over the coming years. Bearings are necessary in nearly all applications that involve motion, so all industries, ranging from household appliances, automobiles, and industrial machinery to aerospace, using machinery or related motor-driven linkages use bearings. The global bearings market is mature with a dynamic market demand closely related to the state of engineering industries and capital goods. Manufacturers in the bearings industry invest in R&D to address the rising competition by offering innovative products. The technological advancements, such as smart bearings and lubrication technology, incorporating sensor units in bearings, are estimated to offer high growth opportunities to the market. Companies are offering integrated products that drastically reduce the number of bearings required in an assembled product and minimize the overall cost of the equipment. Moreover, it improves the reliability and shelf-life of the product. Further key findings from the report suggest: The development of bearings that enable cost-effective wind energy generation has led to their increased adoption across wind turbine applications that help increase energy production, enhance turbine performance & reliability, and reduce lubricant consumption Roller bearings are expected to outpace ball bearings, as the largest product segment over the next few years, owing to their capacity to carry heavy loads and shock or impact loading The railway & aerospace segment is anticipated to witness the fastest growth at a CAGR exceeding 8% over the forecast period, owing to their rising demand in applications including gearboxes, shock absorbers, tilting mechanisms, doors, among others The Asia Pacific region is expected to emerge as the fastest growing region with a CAGR exceeding 5% over the forecast period on account of the increased demand for fuel-efficient passenger vehicles, swift infrastructure development, and industrialization across the region region is expected to emerge as the fastest growing region with a CAGR exceeding 5% over the forecast period on account of the increased demand for fuel-efficient passenger vehicles, swift infrastructure development, and industrialization across the region The key purveyors comprise NSK, Schaeffler, Timken, SKF, JTEKT, and NTN. Several leading vendors are investing in high-level R&D to come up with innovative bearing solutions. These solutions are focused not only on improving the overall quality of the end-product, but also on being cost-effective. Key Topics Covered: 1. Methodology and Scope 2. Executive Summary 3. Bearings Market Variables, Trends & Scope 3.1. Market segmentation & scope 3.2. Market size and growth prospects 3.3. Value chain analysis 3.4. Market dynamics 3.4.1. Market driver analysis 3.4.1.1. Increased application of high capacity bearings in wind turbines 3.4.1.2. Increasing demand for bearing in energy-efficient vehicles 3.4.2. Market restraints/challenges analysis 3.4.2.1. Counterfeit products 3.4.2.2. Increasing raw material prices 3.4.3. Market opportunity analysis 3.4.3.1. Integration of electro-mechanical features into bearings for medical applications 3.5. Penetration & growth prospect mapping 3.6. Bearings market - Porter's analysis 3.7. Bearings market share analysis, 2015 3.8. Bearings market - PEST analysis 4. Bearings: Product Estimates & Trend Analysis (USD Billion) 4.1. Global Bearings Market Share by Product, 2015 & 2025 4.2. Ball bearings 4.3. Roller Bearings 5. Bearings: Application Estimates & Trend Analysis (USD Billion) 5.1. Global Bearings Market Share by Application, 2015 & 2025 5.2. Automotive 5.3. Agriculture 5.4. Electrical 5.5. Mining & construction 5.6. Railway & Aerospace 5.7. Automotive aftermarket 5.8. Others 6. Bearings: Regional Estimates & Trend Analysis (USD Billion) 7. Competitive Landscape Brammer PLC Harbin Bearing Manufacturing Co., Ltd. HKT Bearings Ltd. JTEKT Corporation NBI Bearings Europe NSK Global NTN Corporation RBC Bearings Inc. Rexnord Corporation RHP Bearings Schaeffler Group SKF Corporation The Timken Company For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/tt4v3h/bearings_market Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Donald Trump has frequently utilized Twitter to attack his political opponents and critics, but the results of a new Quinnipiac University poll found that a majority of American voters think the president-elect should stop tweeting. Fifty-nine percent of voters said Trump should shut down his personal Twitter account, while 35 percent think he should be keep his personal account. Trump recently came under fire for using Twitter to attack the cast of the hit Broadway musical 'Hamilton' for delivering a statement directly to Vice President-elect Mike Pence after a recent performance. The billionaire-turned-politician claimed 'Hamilton' is highly overrated and demanded the cast and producers of the musical apologize to Pence. Trump also recently used Twitter to attack the New York Times as a 'failing' publication that has inaccurately covered him with a nasty tone before meeting with reporters and editors from the paper. 'Voters tell President-elect Donald Trump, 'You've got the job. Now be a leader not a tweeter,' said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. The poll also found that voters have mixed views regarding whether Trump will be a 'good' president or a 'bad' president. Seventeen percent of voters said Trump will be a 'great' president and 32 percent said he will be a 'good' president, while 17 percent said he will be 'not so good' and 26 percent said he will be 'bad.' Quinnipiac noted that Trump is also widely seen as a strong and intelligent person with good leadership skills, although most say he is not honest or level-headed. While voters also said Trump will improve the economy and create jobs, they don't expect him to get Mexico to pay for a border wall or take out the terrorist group known as ISIS. The Quinnipiac survey of 1,071 voters was conducted November 17th through 20th and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. (Photo: Gage Skidmore) Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 04/19/17 -- Teranga Gold Corporation ("Teranga" or the "Company") (TSX: TGZ)(ASX: TGZ) announced today that it will release its first quarter 2017 financial and operating results on Thursday, April 27, 2017 at approximately 6:00 a.m. ET. The release will be followed by a conference call and audio webcast later that morning at 8:30 a.m. ET. where management will review the Company's results and discuss the quarter's highlights. Those wishing to listen can access the live conference call and webcast as follows: Date & Time: Thursday, April 27, 2017 at 8:30 a.m. ET Telephone: Toll-free +1-877-291-4570 Local of International +1-647-788-4919 Please allow 10 minutes to be connected to the conference call. Webcast: The webcast can be accessed on Teranga's website at www.terangagold.com/q12017. Replay: The conference call replay will be available for two weeks after the call by dialing +1-416-621-4642 or toll-free at +1-800-585-8367 and entering the conference ID 8769805. Note: The slide presentation will be available for download at www.terangagold.com for simultaneous viewing during the call. About Teranga Gold Teranga is a multi-jurisdictional West African gold company focused on production and development as well as the exploration of more than 5,000km2 of land located on prospective gold belts. Since its initial public offering in 2010, Teranga has produced more than 1.2 million ounces of gold from its operations in Senegal. Following its recent acquisition of Gryphon Minerals, the Company is fast-tracking the completion of a feasibility study for the Banfora Project. Concurrent with its production and development activities, exploration programs are underway to seek to increase the Company's reserve base through resource conversion and making new discoveries. Teranga has a strong balance sheet and the financial flexibility to continue to grow its business. Steadfast in its commitment to set the benchmark for responsible mining, Teranga operates in accordance with the highest international standards and aims to act as a catalyst for sustainable economic, environmental, and community development as it strives to create value for all of its stakeholders. Teranga is a member of the United Nations Global Compact and a leading member of the multi-stakeholder group responsible for the submission of the first Senegalese Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative revenue report. Teranga's 2015 responsibility report, which is available on the Company's website, is prepared in accordance with its commitments under the United Nations Global Compact and in alignment with the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines. Contacts: Teranga Gold Corporation Trish Moran Head of Investor Relations +1-416-607-4507 tmoran@terangagold.com The company welcomes hundreds of healthcare professionals to participate in educational development and industry networking opportunities during the four-day gathering KANSAS CITY, Mo., 2017-04-19 18:01 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pulse Systems, Inc., an industry-leading provider of Electronic Health Record (EHR), Practice Management (PM) and Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) solutions, today announced its 15th annual User Group meeting, that will kick off this week in Nashville, TN. Taking place April 19-22, the event will bring together Pulse users from across the United States to deliver key industry insights and information to clients about prevalent topics in healthcare IT, including MACRA, advanced reporting and navigating the new payment structure. Pulse's User Group meeting, also referred to as "PUG," offers more than 24 sessions, educating users at all levels - introductory to advanced - about industry regulations, including in-depth courses on the Quality Reporting Program and implications of MACRA, as well as a variety of programs about patient engagement, population health, compliance and more. In addition, users can participate in focus groups and attend sessions to learn about best practices utilizing Pulse's solutions, including its EHR and PM platforms. Courses will take a deep dive into advanced features, for example, code mapping and the use of care plans in the Pulse Complete EHR session, and showcase tips and tricks to get the most out of each solution. "The healthcare industry is growing increasingly complex, making it challenging for providers to do it all - manage new regulations and requirements, optimize practice management and deliver safe and efficient patient care," said Chris Walls, President and CEO of Pulse. "At Pulse, we strive to arm our clients with the resources, information and tools needed for operational, clinical and financial success, regardless of industry challenges. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to bring together a diverse group of Pulse users for the 15th year in a row and provide valuable guidance and tips to help clients meet their unique business needs, deliver better patient care and ultimately excel during this transitional period in healthcare." Attendees will also have the opportunity to learn from guest speaker Pamela Ballou-Nelson, Senior Consultant at MGMA Health Care Consulting Group, in a session covering fraud prevention and meeting OIG standards for medical practice offices. As part of the event, members of Pulse's Client-Product Steering Committee will be united for its bi-annual meeting. The group is comprised of Pulse client users, including physicians, nurses and administrative professionals, as well as Pulse executives, who gather twice a year to discuss Pulse solutions, enhancement opportunities, current industry trends, certain market challenges and other related topics. "Pulse's Users Group conference is not only a great opportunity to get together and work directly with Pulse employees, trainers and software support managers, but it also provides us with the ability to network with other like size/specialty groups to get the most out of our solutions. By attending this conference, it allows us to continually grow our knowledge base about the industry and impacts to our organization," said Derek Armstrong, CEO of Midwest Orthopedic Center. "As a 5-year veteran of the meeting, I can confidently say Pulse's ongoing support and commitment to ensuring the success of its clients is rare and truly makes the difference in a successful partnership." PUG 2017 will take place April 19-22 at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel. For more information, please visit www.pulseinc.com/events/pug2017/. About Pulse Systems, Inc. Pulse provides certified, integrated, electronic health care management systems to thousands of providers across more than 40 specialties nationwide. Pulse's award-winning, interoperable technology platform includes easy-to-use, cost-efficient EHR, Practice Management and Revenue Cycle Management solutions. Pulse is committed to helping our physician partners gain greater workflow efficiencies, reduce costs and achieve Meaningful Use incentives - all supported by our best-in-class client support, training and implementation services. Pulse is part of the Cegedim Healthcare Software division, owned and operated by Cegedim, a global healthcare technology company. To learn more or to request a demonstration of Pulse's solutions, please visit us at www.pulseinc.com or call 1.800.444.0882. About Cegedim Founded in 1969, Cegedim is an innovative technology and services company in the field of digital data flow management for healthcare ecosystems and B2B, and a business software publisher for healthcare and insurance professionals. Cegedim employs more than 4,000 people in 11 countries and generated revenue of 441 million in 2016. Cegedim SA is listed in Paris (EURONEXT:CGM). To learn more, please visit: www.cegedim.com. Press Contact Scott Sperry, Director of Marketing Pulse Systems, Inc. 316-928-8214 ssperry@pulseinc.com Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de Americas clinical sales up 43%, reflecting increased focus on new pay-per-use model Q1 includes 6 new consignment agreements and 2 purchased Cellvizio systems in U.S. Global sales down 18% to 1.6 million Regulatory News: Mauna Kea Technologies (Euronext: MKEA, OTCQX: MKEAY) inventor of Cellvizio, the multidisciplinary confocal laser endomicroscopy platform, today announced its sales for the first quarter ended March 31, 2017 and provided an update on its business. The Company will host a conference call today to review the first quarter 2017 results (information below). Sacha Loiseau, Ph.D., Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Mauna Kea Technologies declared: "During the first quarter, our primary corporate focus was on transitioning to our recently launched Cellvizio pay-per-use business model, supported by the reimbursement level in the U.S. We are encouraged that our legacy North American sales team secured 6 new consignment contracts as well as 2 system sales in the quarter, primarily at GERD-focused ambulatory surgical centers (ASC). We are disappointed by the weaker first quarter sales performance in APAC and EMEA, where uptake from our distributor partners has been slower than expected early in the year. We continue to closely monitor country-level product support activities to ensure that patient needs are being addressed and opportunities are being pursued. Our relationship with Cook Medical in urology remains strong and continues to present significant promise. They are still working on finalizing internal logistics that have limited their progress to-date, but we expect that these issues will be resolved in the near future, allowing the collaboration to advance in-line with our original vision. As previously communicated, the Company is also evaluating alternative commercial strategies for its preclinical business, however, capitalizing on the substantial market opportunity in the U.S. remains our highest near-term priority." First Quarter 2017 Revenue by Category (in thousands) IFRS Q1 2017 (March 31, 2017) Q1 2016 (March 31, 2016) Change Systems 684 920 (26%) Consumables 535 682 (22%) Services 380 353 7% Total Sales 1,599 1,954 (18%) In the first quarter, the Company sold 6 Cellvizio systems (one system was a conversion to sale of a consignment system placed in 2016) and secured contracts for 6 new systems under consignment in the U.S., compared to 9 systems sold and 1 consignment system shipped in the first quarter of 2016. Consumable probes unit volume was 125 units, compared to 197 probes in the first quarter 2016. The number of probe reorders (probes sold to existing customers) was 115 in the first quarter 2017, compared to 167 in the first quarter 2016, reflecting relatively stable volume in the U.S. and lower volume in other markets. First Quarter 2017 Revenue by Geography with Split by activity Clinical Pre-clinical sales. (in thousands) IFRS Q1 2017 (March 31, 2017) Q1 2016 (March 31, 2016) Change Americas 850 809 5% Clinical 871 610 43% Pre-clinical (21) 199 (111%) Asia-Pacific 202 668 (70%) Clinical 171 424 (60%) Pre-clinical 31 244 (87%) EMEA 547 477 15% Clinical 219 445 (51%) Pre-clinical 328 33 902% Total Clinical Sales 1,261 1,478 (15%) Total Pre-clinical Sales 338 476 (29%) Total Sales 1,599 1,954 (18%) The company's core clinical business declined 15% in the first quarter 2017. Clinical sales in the Americas region increased 43%, driven by continuing positive momentum in the U.S. and the Company's transition to a consignment model in this market. Clinical sales decreased 60% in the Asia-Pacific region and decreased 51 in the EMEA region. First quarter 2017 sales were also impacted by lower sales for the preclinical business, which decreased 29% as the company continued to focus its resources on the growth of its core clinical business in the U.S. Mauna Kea Technologies will host a conference call today at 7:15 PM (CET Paris time) 1:15 PM (ET New York time) to discuss the Company's Q1 2017 sales results and to provide a business update. The conference call will be hosted by Sacha Loiseau (CEO) and Benoit Jacheet (CFO). To access the conference call, please use one of the following dial-in numbers at least 5 minutes prior to the scheduled start time and follow the instructions: USA: +1 646-722-4909 UK:: +44 2033679454. Following the conclusion of the live call, a replay will be available for 90 days. To access the replay, please dial one of the following numbers: USA: +1 8776423018 UK: +44(0)2033679460. The passcode for the replay is: 308329#. About Mauna Kea Technologies Mauna Kea Technologies is a global medical device company focused on eliminating uncertainties related to the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and other diseases thanks to real time in vivo microscopic visualization. The Company's flagship product, Cellvizio, has received clearance to sell a wide range of applications in more than 40 countries, including the United States, Europe, Japan, China, Canada, Brazil and Mexico. For more information on Mauna Kea Technologies, visit www.maunakeatech.com Disclaimer This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning Mauna Kea Technologies and its activities. Such forward looking statements are based on assumptions that Mauna Kea Technologies considers to be reasonable. However, there can be no assurance that the anticipated events contained in such forward-looking statements will occur. Forward- looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties including the risks set forth in the registration document of Mauna Kea Technologies registered by the French Financial Markets Authority (Autorite des marches financiers (AMF)) on June 13, 2016 under number R.16-054 and available on the Company's website (www.maunakeatech.com), and to the development of economic situation, financial markets, and the markets in which Mauna Kea Technologies operates. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are also subject to risks unknown to Mauna Kea Technologies or that Mauna Kea Technologies does not consider material at this time. The realization of all or part of these risks could lead to actual results, financial conditions, performances or achievements by Mauna Kea Technologies that differ significantly from the results, financial conditions, performances or achievements expressed in such forward-looking statements. This press release and the information it contains do not constitute an offer to sell or to subscribe for, or a solicitation of an order to purchase or subscribe for, Mauna Kea Technologies shares in any country. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170419006166/en/ Contacts: Mauna Kea Technologies Benoit Jacheet CFO investors@maunakeatech.com or United States Zack Kubow Lee Roth The Ruth Group 646-536-7020 / 7012 zkubow@theruthgroup.com lroth@theruthgroup.com or U.S. Media Kirsten Thomas The Ruth Group 508-280-6592 kthomas@theruthgroup.com or France and Europe NewCap Investor Relations Florent Alba +33 (0)1 44 71 94 94 maunakea@newcap.fr BOSTON, MA--(Marketwired - April 19, 2017) - Xceedance, a global provider of insurance technology, analytics and consulting services, is pleased to announce the company has joined the American Association of Insurance Services (AAIS) as an associate member. AAIS is a national advisory organization that develops policy forms and rating information used by more than 700 property and casualty (P&C) insurers who are regular members of AAIS. In addition, reinsurers, service providers and software vendors who support AAIS member companies regularly access AAIS information, resources and marketing opportunities through a membership program. "We welcome Xceedance to our associate program as a leading, insurance-focused managed services provider," said Ed Kelly, president and CEO of AAIS. "Our associate members tell us that direct access to AAIS materials provides timely and complete information on program changes, and allows them to better serve their clients. Associate members also participate in our annual event and collaborate with AAIS on offering thought leadership and best practices guidance to insurance organizations." As an associate member, Xceedance will have access to forms, manuals, bulletins, and educational materials, including direct access to, and support from, AAIS program and service staff through the AAISdirect online service. "Xceedance is pleased to join AAIS as an associate member, and we look forward to connecting and collaborating with the AAIS community," said George Freimarck, vice president, business development for the Americas at Xceedance. "Our company provides strategic consultancy and managed services, focused solely on the insurance industry. Clients tell us our industry focus is what they value most, and Xceedance is delighted to be part of an association of insurers and industry stakeholders dedicated exclusively to the advancement of its members. The online access to forms and manuals provided via AAISdirect, in particular, will help Xceedance streamline operational processes and allow us to serve our clients more quickly and efficiently, while staying current on the programs our clients use." About Xceedance Xceedance is a global provider of insurance analytics and consulting services to insurers, reinsurers, brokers, managing general agents and program administrators. With offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Poland and India to serve a diverse community of clients, Xceedance partners with insurers to launch new products, drive operations, implement cutting-edge technology, and deliver advanced analytics capabilities and process optimization. The company deploys teams of experienced insurance professionals to help insurers worldwide enhance policyholder service, enter new markets, boost workflow productivity and improve profitability. For more information, visit www.xceedance.com. About AAIS Established in 1936, AAIS continues to serve the Property & Casualty insurance industry as the only national non-profit advisory organization governed by its member companies. AAIS offers innovative products including standardized policy forms, program rules, and loss costs for rate making for 34 programs, industry leadership in research and data development, and unrivalled customer service, value, and efficiency. Over 700 insurers, including most of the largest national carriers, rely on AAIS. For more information, please visit www.aaisonline.com. Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2017/4/19/11G136269/Images/George_Freimarck-e6e2a10ba9a8945a854d41cc15fad38d.jpg Media Contact: Jennifer Overhulse St. Nick Media Services 859.803.6597 jen@stnickmedia.com Shell International Finance B.V. and Royal Dutch Shell plc 19 April 2017 Publication of Prospectus Supplement The following documents (the "Documents") are available for viewing: Prospectus Supplement dated 11 April 2017 Royal Dutch Shell plc Annual Report and Form 20-F for the year ended 31 December 2016 The Documents must be read in conjunction with the Information Memorandum dated 9 August 2016, as supplemented by the first supplement dated 24 August 2016, the second supplement dated 7 November 2016 and the third supplement dated 13 February 2017, relating to the Programme. The Information Memorandum constitutes a base prospectus for the purposes of Article 5.4 of Directive 2003/71/EC as amended. Full information on Shell International Finance B.V. and Royal Dutch Shell plc is only available on the basis of the Information Memorandum. The Documents are available for viewing at the 'Financial Publications' section of Shell's website. To view the Documents, please paste the following URLs into the address bar of your browser. Prospectus Supplement dated 11 April 2017 http://www.shell.com/investors/financial-reporting/euro-medium-term-note-programme.html Royal Dutch Shell plc Annual Report and Form 20-F for the year ended 31 December 2016 http://www.shell.com/investors/financial-reporting/annual-publications.html Other content available on Shell's website and the content of any other website accessible from hyperlinks on Shell's website is not incorporated into, and does not forms part of, this announcement. The Documents have also been submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will shortly be available for inspection at http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/nsm. Enquiries: Shell Media Relations International, UK, European Press: +44 (0)207 934 5550 Shell Investor Relations Europe: + 31 (0)70 377 3996 DISCLAIMER - INTENDED ADDRESSEES Please note that the information contained in the Information Memorandum may be addressed to and/or targeted at persons who are residents of particular countries (specified in the Information Memorandum) only and is not intended for use and should not be relied upon by any person outside these countries and/or to whom the offer contained in the Information Memorandum is not addressed. Prior to relying on the information contained in the Information Memorandum, you must ascertain from the Information Memorandum whether or not you are part of the intended addressees of the information contained therein. This publication does not constitute an offering of the securities described in the Information Memorandum for sale in the United States. This is not for distribution in the United States. The securities have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act") or under any relevant securities laws of any state of the United States and are subject to U.S. tax law requirements. Subject to certain exceptions, the securities may not be offered or sold within the United States or to or for the account or benefit of U.S. persons, as such terms are defined in Regulation S under the Securities Act. There will be no public offering of the securities in the United States. Your right to access this service is conditional upon complying with the above requirement. Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has revealed President Donald Trump's administration is conducting an interagency review of the nuclear agreement with Iran. In a letter sent to House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., on Tuesday, Tillerson said the State Department has certified that Iran is compliant with its commitments under the agreement but also raised concerns about Iran's role as a state sponsor of terrorism. Tillerson said Trump has directed a National Security Council-led interagency review that will evaluate whether suspension of sanctions on Iran pursuant to the deal is vital to the national security interests of the U.S. During the presidential campaign, Trump was highly critical of the nuclear agreement with Iran, repeatedly calling it 'the worst deal ever negotiated.' The agreement negotiated between the U.S. and Iran along with China, Russia, France, Germany and the U.K. lifted international sanctions in exchange for the Islamic republic scaling back its nuclear program. Tillerson told Ryan the administration looks forward to working with Congress on the issue when the interagency review is completed. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. Technavio's latest report on the global tobacco packaging marketprovides an analysis on the most important trends expected to impact the market outlook from 2017-2021. Technavio defines an emerging trend as a factor that has the potential to significantly impact the market and contribute to its growth or decline. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170419006277/en/ Technavio has published a new report on the global tobacco packaging market from 2017-2021. (Graphic: Business Wire) The research study by Technavio on the global tobacco packaging market for 2017-2021 provides detailed industry analysis based on the material used (paper box packaging and film packaging) and geography (APAC, Europe, the Americas, and MEA). The purpose of packaging is to protect tobacco products from external impacts during transportation. Tobacco packaging involves the use of films, paper boxes, and other materials. Technavio analysts forecast the global tobacco packaging market to grow to USD 16.5 billion by 2021, at a CAGR of close to 3% over the forecast period. Looking for more information on this market? Request a free sample report Technavio's sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report including the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more. The top three emerging trends driving the global tobacco packaging market according to Technavio transportation and logistics research analysts are: Technological innovations Sustainable packaging Demand for alternate tobacco products Technological innovations "The packaging industry has a huge scope of innovation, which vendors can capitalize on to introduce attractive packages to attract more buyers. Packaging, when done right, appeals to a larger consumer base and drives the marketsays Sharan Raj, a lead analyst at Technavio for packaging research. MeadWestvaco, a prominent vendor in the tobacco packaging market, designed light-up cartons with a magnetic lid for Kent brand of cigarette boxes. This kind of packaging creates strong brand awareness and manage to grasp the market of affluent and early adopting consumers. Sustainable packaging Tobacco packaging companies are currently focusing on adopting creative packaging solutions that are sustainable and energy efficient. This focus is expected to lead to a move to renewable energy sources using energy and cost-effective manufacturing strategies. Vendors are also involved in the development of flexible and recyclable cigarette packaging that is more attractive to consumers while better protecting the tobacco within. Companies are closely monitoring the overall environmental performance of the cigarette packaging, including the raw material sourcing, manufacturing, products to be packaged, and pack shape. The continued adoption of such measures from more vendors will sustain the market competitiveness. Demand for alternate tobacco products "Vendors in the tobacco market are understanding of the consumers who are trying to quit and are introducing cigarettes which are a hybrid between analog and e-cigarettes. These cigarettes negate the adverse health impact of normal cigarettes, which is leading to their growing adoptionsays Sharan. Packaging companies are expanding their business and technology to satisfy the upcoming and innovative needs of tobacco product manufacturers. To this end, tobacco manufacturers are spending on the R&D for the development of alternate products and their packaging. Browse Related Reports: Corrugated Box Market in the US 2017-2021 Global Tube and Stick Packaging Market 2017-2021 Global Molded Fiber Packaging Market 2017-2021 Become a Technavio Insights member and access all three of these reports for a fraction of their original cost. As a Technavio Insights member, you will have immediate access to new reports as they're published in addition to all 6,000+ existing reports covering segments like tags and labelstransportation and distribution; and warehouse and storage. This subscription nets you thousands in savings, while staying connected to Technavio's constant transforming research library, helping you make informed business decisions more efficiently. About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies. Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, resellers, and end-users. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170419006277/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 630 333 9501 UK: +44 208 123 1770 www.technavio.com LONDON, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Humaniq, blockchain company secures $3M in funding within 72 hours with their Initial Coin Offering (ICO) Banking for social-good startup Humaniq (https://humaniq.co/), joins Rise, created by Barclays, in London after successfully raising over $3m in ICO (Initial Coin Offering) funding. Humaniq, co-founded by blockchain technology and crypto-currency visionary Alex Fork along with successful Artificial Intelligence and DeepTech expert and entrepreneur Dmitry Kaminskiy, is breaking crowdfunding records in the fintech industry. Fork is the author of books such as "Bitcoin. More Than Just Money", editor of "Exponential Organization" by Salim Ismail (Russian edition) and "Value Web" by Chris Skinner (Russian edition), founder of Future FinTech Accelerator. Kaminskiy is an innovative entrepreneur and investor who is active in the fields of BioTech, FinTech, BlockChain and Artificial Intelligence. He is cofounder and managing partner at the Deep Knowledge Ventures investment fund, focused on AI and DeepTech, globally known as the first company to appoint artificial intelligence to its board of directors. At the helm of this innovative venture is CEO Dinis Guarda, a leading Fintech and Blockchain author, lecturer and entrepreneur, who has successfully founded ventures including IntelligentHQ.com, TradingFloor.com (for Saxo Bank) and BlockchainAge.com. Dinis also has experience in working with organisations such as the United Nations, MasterCard, Saxo Bank and Greenpeace. Furthermore, Dinis teaches in Copenhagen Business School and Groupe INSEEC / University of Monaco. Becoming a Rise Resident allows Humaniq to work closely alongside other startups and global organisations with influence and business relationships in global locations such as NY, Mumbai, Tel Aviv, Cape Town and across the United Kingdom. The Rise London site also host programmes like the Barclays Accelerator, powered by TechStars, which Humaniq could potentially enter. "We're really excited to have Humaniq joining Rise London, as they're breaking new ground in the world of digital currencies. Their fundraiser in Bitcoin is a prime example that the future of the financial industry will have to adapt and develop. Our whole community thrives when thought leaders in a topic join us. So we're sure that Humaniq is going to feel right at home with us in Shoreditch" - says Magdalena Kron, Head of Rise London. Furthermore, co-founder Dmitry Kaminskiy has partners at Cambridge and Oxford Universities through his company Deep Knowledge Ventures. These opportunities and networks provide immense access to knowledge, finance and technology to Humaniq, all of which will be invaluable to its growth. Dinis Guarda, Humaniq CEO says: "We have a deep respect for Barclays' ThinkRise. Joining Rise will allow us to scale and work faster on our mission to develop the best product and services for financial inclusion and education around the world. The expertise of the Barclays' ThinkRise team and associated network will allow us to build a global network of collaborators and networks whilst we focus on creating a solid set of products and services." As an organisation with a long history of global financial leadership and now leading as well with its fintech accelerator, Barclays' ThinkRise is an exciting place at the forefront of the fintech transformations taking place in finance, technology and business worldwide. Being in this place Humaniq can better develop its foundations and be part of a leading network of innovations and industry developments. Alex Fork, Humaniq Founder and President says: "Working close to a leading global accelerator such as Barclays' ThinkRise will allow Humaniq to get both the expertise and financial network of a global leading bank that is working on both core finance services and innovation and will better enable us to build next generation tech for social good to serve the two billion people with no access to banking facilities to do the things many of us take for granted." Humaniq is on an ambitious mission to bring new mobile financial inclusion and education services to help the two billion unbanked people around the globe who have limited or no access to the digital economy. Our goal is to help lift people out of poverty by providing them with a financial inclusion circular economy P2P platform using the Ethereum blockchain and biometric technology. Humaniq's financial application will give users access to microloans, donations, peer to peer lending services and a digital work ecosystem, similar to Fiverr or Amazon Mechanical Turk, where they could multitask on their phones. Humaniq is building the new world of financial inclusion, industry 4.0 and education. It leads a social good movement gathering the best people focused on converting the most advanced tech for sustainable development in the undeveloped world. Developing deep impact for social good on a global scale! For more information, visit https://humaniq.co/. Or email: media@humaniq.co CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/19/17 -- Veresen Inc. ("Veresen") (TSX: VSN) announces that its Board of Directors has declared a cash dividend for April 2017 of $0.0833 per common share. The dividend will be paid on May 23, 2017 to shareholders of record at the close of business on April 28, 2017. This dividend is designated an "eligible dividend" for Canadian income tax purposes. About Veresen Inc. Veresen is a publicly-traded dividend paying corporation based in Calgary, Alberta that owns and operates energy infrastructure assets across North America. Veresen is engaged in three principal businesses: a pipeline transportation business comprised of interests in the Alliance Pipeline, the Ruby Pipeline and the Alberta Ethane Gathering System; a midstream business which includes a partnership interest in Veresen Midstream Limited Partnership which owns assets in western Canada, and an ownership interest in Aux Sable which owns a world-class natural gas liquids (NGL) extraction facility near Chicago and other natural gas and NGL processing infrastructure; and a power business comprised of a portfolio of assets in Canada. Veresen is also working to advance Jordan Cove LNG, a 7.8 million tonne per annum natural gas liquefaction facility proposed to be constructed in Coos Bay, Oregon, and the associated Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline. In the normal course of business, Veresen regularly evaluates and pursues acquisition and development opportunities. Veresen's Common Shares, Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares, Series A, Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares, Series C, and Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares, Series E trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols "VSN", "VSN.PR.A", "VSN.PR.C" and "VSN.PR.E", respectively. For further information, please visit www.vereseninc.com. Contacts: Veresen Inc. Mark Chyc-Cies Vice President, Corporate Planning & Investor Relations (403) 213-3633 investor-relations@vereseninc.com VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - April 19, 2017) - Lumina Gold Corp. (TSX VENTURE: LUM) (the "Company" or "Lumina") is pleased to announce that it has been granted 13 new concessions by the Ecuadorian Ministry of Mining, covering 40,647 hectares. These concessions, which are spread throughout the country, are in addition to the ones that were announced on November 16, 2016 and December 22, 2016. The new concessions, which were awarded through the Government's auction process, consolidate Lumina's position along trend with its existing Condor project, Lundin Gold's Fruta del Norte project and Tongling's Mirador project. Concessions on the prolific northwest oriented Apuela Batholith, close to world class discoveries such as Codelco's Llurimagua and SolGold's Cascabel, are expected to add additional value to Lumina's prospective portfolio. The following table, map and descriptions outline Lumina's new and previously existing concessions in Ecuador. Lumina has commenced extensive geological mapping, soil and stream sediment sampling to focus the Company's efforts on the mineralized areas of these new concessions. This work will enable Lumina to identify high-priority drill targets in addition to the current 12,000 meters of infill drilling that is ongoing at Cangrejos. Diego Benalcazar, Lumina's in-country Senior Vice President, commented: "The concessions Lumina has added since November have made it the second largest concession holder in Ecuador, and one of the leading gold explorers in the region. Our technical team of 15 geologists has already commenced work across this portfolio of highly prospective concessions." Countrywide Concession Summary: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Area Name Number of Concessions Hectares Province ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Key Projects ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cangrejos (including Cangrejos 20) 6 6,374 El Oro ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Condor 7 8,269 Zamora-Chinchipe ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Previously Announced Concessions - Nov 16, 2016 and Dec 22, 2016 Press Releases ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pegasus A / Pegasus B 14 66,525 Cotopaxi & Bolivar ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tres Picachos 1 4,828 Zamora-Chinchipe ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Orquideas 1 4,743 Zamora-Chinchipe ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- La Canela 1 3,187 Zamora-Chinchipe ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- New Concessions Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Palma Real (1) 4 19,775 Esmeraldas ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cascas (1) 2 9,998 Zamora-Chinchipe ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tarqui (1) 2 4,817 Morona-Santiago ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quimi (1) 2 2,731 Morona-Santiago ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yawi 1 1,494 Zamora-Chinchipe ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Escondida 1 1,204 Zamora-Chinchipe ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Santa Elena (1) 1 628 Zamora-Chinchipe ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 43 134,573 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Santa Elena (628 hectares) Santa Elena is located along strike with the regionally significant Las Penas Fault Zone, which forms the principal structural control for the Fruta del Norte epithermal gold-silver deposit. Similar cover rocks, particularly the Misahualli Formation, as well as an elaborate and local gold mineralized fault zone have also been detected. TVX defined a greater than one kilometer long gold anomaly in 1998, the scale and tenor of which has been confirmed by first quarter 2017 field work with pan concentrate sampling. Concentrates, derived from stream sediments and fault rocks, reveal up to 120 coarse, angular gold particles per pan. About Lumina Gold Lumina Gold Corp (TSX VENTURE: LUM) is a Vancouver, Canada based precious and base metals exploration and development company focused on gold and copper projects in Ecuador. The Company's Cangrejos Gold-Copper project is located in El Oro Province, southwest Ecuador, and its Condor Gold-Copper project is located in Zamora-Chinchipe Province, southeast Ecuador. The Company also holds a large and highly prospective land package in Ecuador consisting of 134,573 hectares. The Company has an experienced management team with a successful track record of advancing and monetizing exploration projects. Lumina intends to continue to identify, acquire and advance mineral exploration properties that have large scale potential. Further details are available on the Company's website at https://luminagold.com/. LUMINA GOLD CORP. Signed: "Marshall Koval" Marshall Koval, President & CEO, Director Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information Certain statements and information herein, including all statements that are not historical facts, contain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such forward-looking statements or information include but are not limited to statements or information with respect to conducting extensive geological mapping, soil and stream sediment sampling on the concessions. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements or information can be identified by the use of words such as "will" or variations of that word and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "will" or are "intended to" be taken, occur or be achieved. With respect to forward-looking statements and information contained herein, the Company has made numerous assumptions including among other things, assumptions about general business and economic conditions, the prices of gold and copper, and anticipated costs and expenditures. The foregoing list of assumptions is not exhaustive. Although management of the Company believes that the assumptions made and the expectations represented by such statements or information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that a forward-looking statement or information herein will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking statements and information by their nature are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. These factors include, but are not limited to: risks associated with the business of the Company; business and economic conditions in the mining industry generally; the supply and demand for labour and other project inputs; changes in commodity prices; changes in interest and currency exchange rates; risks relating to inaccurate geological and engineering assumptions (including with respect to the tonnage, grade and recoverability of reserves and resources); risks relating to unanticipated operational difficulties (including failure of equipment or processes to operate in accordance with specifications or expectations, cost escalation, unavailability of materials and equipment, government action or delays in the receipt of government approvals, industrial disturbances or other job action, and unanticipated events related to health, safety and environmental matters); risks relating to adverse weather conditions; political risk and social unrest; changes in general economic conditions or conditions in the financial markets; and other risk factors as detailed from time to time in the Company's continuous disclosure documents filed with Canadian securities administrators. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2017/4/19/11G136341/Images/G136341_image-e7051baa6bd7892aabbf51e814e381b2.jpg For further information contact: Scott Hicks shicks@luminagold.com T: +1 604 646 1890 VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/19/17 -- United Hunter Oil & Gas Corp. ("Corporation") (TSX VENTURE: UHO)(FRANKFURT: A118VK) announces the appointment of Miles Nagamatsu as Chief Financial Officer of the Corporation, effective immediately. Mr. Nagamatsu previously served the Corporation in a similar capacity and we welcome his services once again. A Chartered Professional Accountant, Chartered Accountant with over 35 years of experience who serves as Chief Financial Officer and director of public and private companies primarily in the mineral exploration and investment management sectors. Mr. Nagamatsu has over 35 years of experience in accounting, management, lending, restructurings and turnarounds. Since 1993, Miles has acted as a Chief Financial Officer of public and private companies primarily in the mineral exploration and investment management sectors. For over 25 years, Mr. Nagamatsu has served as volunteer Chair of the Finance Committee and Director of Cystic Fibrosis Canada. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McMaster University and is a Chartered Accountant. Furthermore, the Corporation would like to announce the appointment of Mr. Alec Robinson, as a new member to the Board of Directors. Alec brings an extensive level of experience encompassing the many senior level executive positions that he held within a major oil company and the work efforts he held with several junior exploration companies. His experience includes several international, onshore and offshore, exploration and production projects, which span from South America to Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He has a Master's Degree in petroleum geology from Imperial College, London. Timothy Turner, CEO of the Corporation, stated that "United Hunter is pleased to welcome both Miles Nagamatsu, as the new Chief Financial Officer, and Alec Robinson, as a new Board Member, to the Corporation. I have had the opportunity to work with Miles in the past and I know that he will bring a high level of energy and work ethic to this position and to our organization. Also, we are pleased to welcome Mr. Alec Robinson to the Board of Directors. We anticipate that Alec's worldwide exploration and production experience will deliver an additional level of experience so as to continue our efforts to locate scalable projects for the Corporation and look forward to his contribution to the Corporation's future successes. He will be a significant asset to our Board and we look forward to working with both gentlemen well into the future." Both appointments will require filing the necessary regulatory paperwork to the TSX Venture exchange. Certain statements in the documents referred to in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning (i) the acquisition of the Property Interest; and (ii) potential results from the Property Interest. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward looking terminology such as "outlook", "objective", "may", "will", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "should", "plans" or "continue", or similar expressions suggesting future outcomes or events. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by such statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in the statements including, without limitation, the risks that: (1) UHO may not achieve the results currently anticipated; and (2) UHO may not be able to obtain financing in the future. Although UHO believes that the expectations reflected in its forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking information because UHO can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. In addition to other factors and assumptions which may be identified in this press release, assumptions have been made regarding and are implicit in, among other things, the timely receipt of required regulatory approvals. Details of the risk factors relating to UHO and its business are discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Management Discussion & Analysis dated November 22, 2016, a copy of which is available on UHO's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive of all factors and assumptions which have been used. Forward-looking information is based on current expectations, estimates and projections that involve a number of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by UHO and described in the forward looking information. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is made as of the date hereof and UHO undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by applicable securities laws. The forward looking information contained in this press release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Contacts: Timothy Turner CEO (832) 487-0813 info@unitedhunteroil.com Mr. Miles Nagamatsu CFO miles.nagamatsu@gmail.com TARRYTOWN, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 05/04/17 -- Westcon-Comstor has expanded its distribution agreement with Symantec, giving solution providers access to Symantec's full enterprise Integrated Cyber Defense portfolio, supported by experienced, knowledgeable security-focused resources, through Westcon-Comstor's Security Solutions practice. The extended relationship gives Symantec partners exceptional capabilities for bringing enterprise-class security solutions to customers by leveraging Westcon-Comstor's vast pre-sales technical resources, evaluation/proof-of-concept opportunities, expert training and post-sales, installation and support services. Another area of opportunity underway is integrating Westcon-Comstor's BlueSky cloud and service management platform, providing new cloud routes to market. Initial launch is underway in Australia and New Zealand, with plans to expand to other countries. "Our goal is to transform the businesses of our vendors and solution providers, providing them with all they need to create an exceptional customer experience," said Dolph Westerbos, CEO of Westcon-Comstor. "As a global leader in the security distribution market, we are well positioned to build on our current success with Symantec." Security Focus Spurs Success The expanded agreement strengthens Westcon-Comstor's Security Solutions practice, which delivers a robust security solutions portfolio, tools and support needed to safeguard clients' information and reputations. The Security Solutions practice also offers vendor-specific security training, state-of-the-art lead generation and management tools, and extensive market analyses to help our vendor partners and solution providers differentiate themselves in the market. The extended relationship stems from Symantec's acquisition of Blue Coat Systems and solidifies Westcon-Comstor's status as a leader in the value-add security distribution space. Westcon-Comstor already has a significant number of certified Blue Knight technicians, the highest Symantec technical channel certification. "Westcon-Comstor's global reach, as well as our ability to support network security solutions such as those Symantec gained through its acquisition of Blue Coat, have solidified a reputation among vendors and solution providers as the security leader in the value-added distributor space," said Patty Gray, vice president of global vendor management at Westcon-Comstor. "We look forward to accelerating our market growth with Symantec and enabling more partners to sell enterprise-class security solutions." "We are enthusiastic about the expanded partnership with Westcon," said Torjus Gylstorff, vice president of worldwide partner sales at Symantec. "Westcon has an excellent track record as a skilled enterprise security distributor. Their capabilities will be valuable to partners and to customers as we work together to secure the Cloud Generation." About Westcon-Comstor Westcon-Comstor (WestconGroup Inc.) is a value-added technology distributor of category-leading solutions in Security, Collaboration, Networking and Data Center. The company is transforming the technology supply chain through its capabilities in Cloud, Global Deployment and Services. Westcon-Comstor combines expert technical and market knowledge with industry-leading partner enablement programs. Westcon-Comstor delivers results together through its deep partner relationships. The company goes to market under the Westcon and Comstor brands. Toronto, April 19, 2017 (TSX: LUN; OMX: LUMI) Lundin Mining Corporation ("Lundin Mining" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the completion of the sale of its indirect interest in TF Holdings Limited ("TF Holdings") to an affiliate of BHR Partners, a Chinese private equity firm, for $1.136 billion in cash. TF Holdings is a Bermuda holding company that owns an 80 percent interest in Tenke Fungurume Mining S.A. ("Tenke") located in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Lundin Mining held an indirect 30 percent interest in TF Holdings and therefore, an effective 24 percent interest in Tenke. Under the terms of the agreement previously announced on November 15, 2016, the Company could also receive contingent consideration of up to $51.4 million, consisting of $25.7 million if the average copper price exceeds $3.50 per pound and $25.7 million if the average cobalt price exceeds $20.00 per pound, both during a 24-month period beginning on January 1, 2018. Concurrently with the completion of the sale, the Company paid approximately $14.2 million to CMOC Ltd. (together with its affiliates, "CMOC") as reimbursement for payments made by CMOC in connection with a settlement agreement among La Generale des Carrieres et des Mines ("Gecamines"), Tenke, TF Holdings, Freeport-McMoRan Inc., CMOC, the Company and BHR to resolve all claims brought by Gecamines against TF Holdings and several other parties (other than Lundin Mining) related to the sale of TF Holdings. Mr. Paul Conibear, President and CEO of the Company commented: "The completion of the sale of our minority interest in Tenke will enable Lundin Mining to focus on its majority-owned operations and projects and in parallel, advance our strategy to grow the company while maintaining a strong balance sheet. Lundin Mining is proud to have been part of Tenke's successful record. We wish the shareholders of Tenke every success in the future. " About Lundin Mining Lundin Mining is a diversified Canadian base metals mining company with operations in Chile, the United States of America, Portugal, and Sweden, primarily producing copper, nickel and zinc. In addition, Lundin Mining holds an indirect 24 percent equity stake in the Freeport Cobalt Oy business, which includes a cobalt refinery located in Kokkola, Finland. On Behalf of the Board, Paul Conibear President and CEO The information in this release is subject to the disclosure requirements of Lundin Mining under the EU Market Abuse Regulation and the Swedish Securities Market Act. This information was publically communicated on April 19, 2017 at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time. For further information, please contact: Mark Turner, Director, Business Valuations and Investor Relations: +1-416-342-5565 Sonia Tercas, Senior Associate, Investor Relations: +1-416-342-5583 Robert Eriksson, Investor Relations Sweden: +46 8 545 015 50 Cautionary Statement in Forward-Looking Information Certain of the statements madeand information contained herein, other than statements of historical fact and historical information, is "forward-looking information" within the meaning ofapplicable Canadian securities laws. Such statements include, those with respect to focus and strategy. Words such as "contingent", "could", "focus", "if", and "strategy", or variations of these terms or similar terminology or statements that certain actions, events or results "could" occur or be achieved are intended to identify such forward-looking information. Although the Company believes that the assumptions, estimates and expectations reflected in the forward-looking information contained herein are reasonable, these statements by their nature involve risks and uncertainties, and are not guarantees of future performance. Forward-looking information is based on a number of assumptions, and subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, those described in the Risks and Uncertainties section of the Company's most recently filed Annual Information Form and in the Managing Risks section of each of the Company's management discussion and analysis. Forward-looking information is also based on various assumptions including, without limitation, the expectations and beliefs of management, the assumed long term price of cobalt, copper, nickel, lead and zinc; and that the political environment where the Company operates will continue to support the development and operation of mining projects. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward- looking statements, except to the extent required by applicable law. ? Attachment: https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=626026 Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de SAN MARCOS, CA--(Marketwired - April 19, 2017) - Brookfield Residential and California West have announced the start of the prequalification process for homes at Rancho Tesoro in San Marcos. This is the first step interested home seekers can take in owning one of the 346 single-family homes at the new master-planned community. Starting today, April 19, home shoppers are invited to visit liveranchotesoro.com and join the interest list to start the prequalification process. "Rancho Tesoro represents a rare and timely opportunity to purchase a new home in what I believe to be a very underserved San Marcos market," says Robert Thorne, chief executive officer of California West. "The combination of award-winning school districts, the surrounding natural open space, and community amenities ensure life outside of our homes is as active as inside. Most importantly, the exciting new architecture at all four neighborhoods will make Rancho Tesoro a community of significant importance. The rapid growth of our interest list demonstrates this interest and popularity for Rancho Tesoro." The community is scheduled to debut in early June. With framing currently underway, home shoppers can explore floor plans online now. In addition, home shoppers who join the interest list and start the prequalification process will be contacted by neighborhood sales representatives for more information on how to secure a new home. At completion, the nature-oriented community of Rancho Tesoro will span more than 250 acres with three private parks, open space and a trail system with direct access to Discovery Lake's catch-and-release fishing, playgrounds, picnicking and more. Future residents will enjoy exclusive access to The Cabana, a resort-style recreation area with swimming pool, lawns for picnicking, a tot lot for play dates and a BBQ pavilion for get-togethers with neighbors. The new community will offer four neighborhoods: Terracina, Vientos, Westerly and Candela, three of which will be set behind private gates. Homes at Rancho Tesoro will range from 2,211 to 3,565 square feet with four to five bedrooms, two- to three-car garages and private yards. Pricing is anticipated from the $600,000s to the $800,000s. Rancho Tesoro is located near Twin Oaks Valley Road and Village Drive in San Marcos, just south of State Route 78 and a hop away from coastal Carlsbad. Edwards Stadium 18 Cinema Complex is nearby as well as Old California Restaurant Row, boasting 14 dining options. The new community also offers close access to Cal State University San Marcos as well as the high-performing schools within the San Marcos School District. About Rancho Tesoro Opening in June 2017, Rancho Tesoro is a new master-planned community crafted by developer and homebuilder Brookfield Residential. This nature-oriented community spans more than 250 acres with dedicated open space and convenient access to nearby San Marcos Unified schools, Cal State University San Marcos, and State Route 78. Both California West and Brookfield Residential will offer single-family homes across four neighborhoods, three of which will be behind private gates, plus private pool and park amenities including a direct connection to Discovery Lake. For more information and to join the interest list, please visit LiveRanchoTesoro.com. Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2017/4/19/11G136320/Images/PHOTO_2_Westerly_street_scene_II_copy-e3c07ab8c9f5ab2197dfc6ec5fc943d9.jpg Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2017/4/19/11G136320/Images/Photo_2_Candela_Plan2B-199f922d51fca9a0a30fc3793c8c515e.jpg MEDIA CONTACT: April Harter Enriquez WordPop Public Relations (805) 816-4833 april@wordpoppr.com Alert Labs Inc., a Kitchener, Ontario, Canada-based designer of cellular-connected home protection technology, raised a funding round of undisclosed amount. Backers included Intact Ventures, the strategic venture arm of Intact Financial Corporation, Canadas largest provider of property and casualty insurance, BDC Capital, Garage Capital, Hedgewood, and several angel and private investors. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate marketing activities and scale business operations. Led by George Tsintzouras, CEO, Alert Labs provides an IoT technology company which builds affordable monitoring solutions for residential and commercial property owners. Its sensors can be placed on water meters, sump pumps, near toilets and other appliances to detect water leaks, floods, power issues, abnormal temperatures, and other events. Customers receive real-time alerts and insightful data analytics via SMS, email, and the Alert Labs app. FinSMEs 19/04/2017 Anthemis and Exponential Ventures, the innovation arm of MMI Holdings, have launched an incubator dedicated to financial wellness. Based in London, the incubator will identify business opportunities, refine business models, source talent and scale financial wellness startups. The financial wellness incubator deepens an existing collaboration between Anthemis and Exponential Ventures. In June 2016, Anthemis Exponential Ventures (AEV) launched with a mission is to invest in early stage companies that improve the financial wellness of individuals and SMEs. To date, AEV has invested in four financial wellness startups, including: Abaka, an intelligent savings platform for employers to improve the financial wellbeing of their workforce; Monese, an online banking service for individuals and businesses; Qapital, an everyday banking app that allows users to create goals and rules to drive saving habits; and Payoff, a financial wellness company applying science, psychology and technology to help members improve their relationship with money. Industrial designer and serial entrepreneur Erica Young, who joined Anthemis in 2015, will lead the financial wellness incubator operational team and report to the Anthemis-Exponential Ventures executive board. . CityMD, a urgent care provider in the New York Metro area, received a majority investment from funds affiliated with Warburg Pincus. The amount of the deal was not disclosed. The company intends to use the proceeds to accelerate its expansion through new site openings and strategic acquisitions and partnerships. Co-founded by President and CEO Dr. Richard Park and other physician partners in 2010, CityMD offers a wide range of comprehensive care by qualified physicians, as well as other clinical and support staff. The coompany also provides an innovative Aftercare Service to assist patients with follow-up care including referrals, pre-approvals and other appointments. Today, CityMD has over one million patient visits per year and operates 68 locations in New York, New Jersey and Washington State with a growing team of over 300 medical professionals and providers. FinSMEs 19/04/2017 Portal Finance, a Bogota, Colombia-based fintech startup, won Magma Partners recent FinTech competition. The company was awarded with an equity investment and is now part of the Magma Partners portfolio. Co-founded by Diego Caicedo, Felipe Puntarelli and Nicholas Bohorquez, Portal Finance provides proprietary technology that allows small and medium sized businesses to find the most business friendly terms from factoring companies. The platform evaluates electronic invoices from companies and provides information to investors, which allows investors to make financing offers quickly and transparently. The company also has an office in Santiago, Chile. Magma Partners is a seed stage investment fund with offices in Los Angeles, California and Santiago, Chile, which, since 2014, has partnered with over 30 companies to help them grow their businesses via private capital investments, mentorship, and acceleration. The firm invests in Latin America based companies whose primary market is the US and Europe and business to business companies that target the Latin American market. FinSMEs 19/04/2017 Humaniq, a London, UK-based blockchain company, secured $3m in funding with its Initial Coin Offering (ICO). Co-founded by blockchain technology and crypto-currency visionary Alex Fork along with Artificial Intelligence and DeepTech expert and entrepreneur Dmitry Kaminskiy, and led by CEO Dinis Guarda, a Fintech and Blockchain author, lecturer and entrepreneur, Humaniq uses the Ethereum blockchain and biometric technology to develop a financial application which will give users access to microloans, donations, peer to peer lending services and a digital work ecosystem, similar to Fiverr or Amazon Mechanical Turk, where they could multitask on their phones. Fork is the author of books such as Bitcoin. More Than Just Money, editor of Exponential Organization by Salim Ismail (Russian edition) and Value Web by Chris Skinner (Russian edition), founder of Future FinTech Accelerator. Kaminskiy is an innovative entrepreneur and investor who is active in the fields of BioTech, FinTech, BlockChain and Artificial Intelligence. He is cofounder and managing partner at the Deep Knowledge Ventures investment fund, focused on AI and DeepTech, globally known as the first company to appoint artificial intelligence to its board of directors. Guarda founded ventures including IntelligentHQ.com, TradingFloor.com (for Saxo Bank) and BlockchainAge.com. He also has experience in working with organizations such as the United Nations, MasterCard, Saxo Bank and Greenpeace. Furthermore, he teaches in Copenhagen Business School and Groupe INSEEC / University of Monaco. The company is now joining Barclays ThinkRise to work closely alongside other startups and global organizations with influence and business relationships in global locations such as NY, Mumbai, Tel Aviv, Cape Town and across the United Kingdom. FinSMEs 19/04/2017 Torchys Tacos, an Austin, Texas-based fast-casual restaurant serving untraditional tacos, received a significant minority investment from General Atlantic, a growth equity firm. With the investment, whose amount was not disclosed, General Atlantic joined the five founding partners of the restaurant chain as shareholders. Founded in 2006 by former corporate chef Michael Rypka, then joined by Farrell Kubena, Vice President of Business Development, Rebecca Kubena, Vice President of Finance, Jason Wald, Vice President of Operations, and Alfonso Angelone, Vice President of Technology, Torchys serves innovative, untraditional tacos to customers in 46 locations across three states. In conjunction with General Atlantics investment, Todd Diener, restaurant industry veteran and former President of Chilis, a leading brand of Brinker International, one of the worlds leading casual dining restaurant companies, will join the Torchys Board of Directors. Andrew Crawford and Shaw Joseph, both senior leaders on General Atlantics Global Retail & Consumer sector team, will also join the Board. FinSMEs 19/04/2017 Vizor, a Helsinki, Finland-based virtual reality software provider, raised $2.3M in funding. The round was led by The Venture Reality Fund (The VR Fund) and co-led by Inventure with participation from Boost VC, Lifeline Ventures and Sisu Game Ventures. In conjunction with the funding, Marco DeMiroz of The VR Fund and Ekaterina Gianelli of Inventure will be joining the companys Board of Directors. The company intends to use the funds to enhance the development and functionality of its platform. Led by Kaarlo Kananen, founder and CEO, Vizor has just launched the private beta of its VR creation and hosting platform, which allows users to produce 360-degree tours, stories and WebVR experiences onto a website or Facebook feed by dragging and dropping media components. Tools include instant preview, drag-and-drop features, text editor with web font support, etc. FinSMEs 19/04/2017 New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today indicated that he would take up the visa issue with the US authorities during his visit to America. "These (IT industry issues) are matters of discussion with the appropriate authorities there. Once I do discuss and get an opportunity, I will let you know," he told reporters when asked whether he would take up the concerns of the Indian IT sector with the US administration. The Indian IT industry has expressed serious concerns over the US government moving towards tightening the rules for grant of H-1B visa, mainly used by domestic IT professionals for short-term work. US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order for tightening the rules of the H-1B visa programme to stop its "abuse" and ensure that the visas are given to the "most-skilled or highest paid" petitioners. Jaitley is leaving tonight on a five-day visit to the United States to attend the Spring Meetings of the World Bank and IMF as well as deliberations of G20 nations. During his stay in Washington and New York, he will hold meetings with American CEOs and institutional and pension fund investors, where he will pitch India as a favourable investment destination. The finance minister is also slated to hold a meeting with the US Treasury Secretary. India has time and again flagged its concerns over tightening of the visa regime in the US which targets the movement of professionals particularly in the IT sector. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in specialised fields. Indian technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year for their US operations. The US market accounts for about 60 percent of the revenue of the Indian IT industry. Chennai: Beginning 14 May, fuel outlets in eight states will be shut every Sunday following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call to conserve oil, a fuel pump owners' body said here on Tuesday. "We had planned to shut our outlets on Sundays a few years back. But oil marketing companies had then requested us to reconsider our decision. Now we have decided to shut the outlets on Sundays," said Suresh Kumar, an executive committee member of the consortium of Indian petroleum dealers. He said the association's decision was made in view of the Prime Minister's call during his recent Mann ki baat programme to conserve oil to save the environment. Kumar, also the vice-president of Tamil Nadu Petroleum Dealers Association, said nearly 20,000 outlets in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra and Haryana would be shut for 24 hours on Sundays, starting 14 May. "In Tamil Nadu, we expect a business loss of Rs 150 crore if we do not operate on a Sunday. But we have been seeing a decline in sales on Sundays by up to 40 percent," he said. Asked if the association's decision was supported by the oil marketing companies (OMCs), he said, "We will communicate our decision to them shortly." Kumar said the fuel outlets which normally have about 15 staff each would have one staff member on the holidays to provide fuel if there was an emergency situation. On the issue of OMCs hiking the margins to petroleum outlets, he said the association was discussing it and would soon make an announcement in this regard. "That struggle is going on. We are meeting our association members shortly. We will announce our decision soon," he said. American President Donald Trumps policy to protect jobs by imposing restrictions on H-1B visas is unlikely to be of any help to that country and may hurt US interests, say experts. What Trump is seeking to protect are entry level jobs that are being phased out by the tech majors, with automation, artificial intelligence and robotics paving the way to increased productivity. Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys are emphasising investments in areas such as machine learning and robotics to stay relevant. The jobs at the entry level will simply be not there anymore, said Ankur Bisen, Senior Vice President, Teknopak Advisory Services. It is not just Indian interests that will be hurt by the tightening of US policy. The ramifications will be for both sides the IT services providers and the US economy. Skilled foreign workers who come to work in the US by the route of H-1B visas dont just directly supplement the US IT industry with specialised skill sets, they also contribute indirectly to other industries in the US. Often H-1B workers bring their families along and thereby bring additional business for other industries like Real Estate, Banking, Hospitality to name a few, said Sanchit Vir Gogia, Chief Futurist, Founder and CEO of Greyhound Knowledge Group. While 20 percent of H-1B visa quotas have been set aside for start-ups and small employers with 50 or fewer employees, there is no denying that this will be a dampener to the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship. Gogia points out that the minimum salary requirement of US $130,000 is not too far from the current average and hence not a prohibitive figure to match. The current average salary of a skilled foreign worker employed via H-1B visa is $100,000. The newly announced minimum salary requirement of $ 130,000 is not prohibitive and can be managed by way of creative salary restructuring and including Per Diems, benefits and other allowances as part of base package. Trump, fulfilling his campaign promise, has signed the order on Tuesday calling for an inter-departmental review of the H-1B visa program, which allows companies to bring in skilled foreign workers to work in the US. The order was signed at Kenosha, Wisconsin, headquarters of tool maker Snap-on Inc yesterday. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in specialised fields. Under the H-1B visa programme, US-based companies hire highly skilled foreign workers, up to a maximum of 85,000 a year. Of these 65,000 are hired from abroad and 20,000 from foreign nationals studying in the US. To be fair, Trump has not banned outsourcing jobs or visas at all. How will this impact the industry where a large number of Indian IT companies have a strong presence? The policy has not defined the threshold. The jobs that are vulnerable will be the $30,000 to $40,000 yearly salaried jobs, says Bisen. India accounts for approximately 67 percent of the $124-130 billion US IT market. The sector is expected to grow at a rate of 12-14 percent in 2016-17 in constant currency terms and is expected to triple its current annual revenue to reach $350 billion by FY 2025. In 2015, Indias exports to the US was $108 billion, a Brand Equity Foundation report said. The Indian IT sector gets over 80 percent of its revenues from the US and Europe while the remaining comes from Asia and the domestic market. At a shareholders meet in February, Vishal Sikka, CEO, Infosys, had said, If we sit still, there is absolutely no doubt that our jobs are going to be wiped out by artificial ingtelligence or AI 60-70 percent over the next 10 years, or maybe less than 10 years, of the jobs that we do today are going to be replaced by AI unless we continue to evolve ourselves, unless we continue to develop better technology and faster automation, Sikka said. As per Greyhound Research estimates, post this restructuring average margin hit for an IT Services provider will be in the range of 5-10 percent year-on-year depending on the total base of employees currently on H-1B, the existing compensation and need for onsite in near-term. Critical to note, a hit beyond this number will force these firms to either renegotiate contracts with existing clients or else the street will act ruthlessly and these firms stand to lose potential ground on market capitalisation. Indian IT firms have been accused of hiring Indians even in job roles that could have had local hires in the countries they operate from. Recently, IT doyen Narayan Murthy too pointed out to this anomaly while supporting the Trump administrations decision to tighten H-1B visa issuance. I think by and large, the Indian mindset is always to take the soft option. Becoming multi-cultural is a very, very hard option, it's not easy," he said. Cost is a major factor for not taking in local hires which many say does not ring true anymore with salaries being at par in the IT sector in the US. One of the reasons is cultural. Indians are willing to work late hours and can be contacted on phone or the internet. In the US, the work culture is such that employees largely do not respond to calls or mails after office hours and weekends, too. The IT services companies in India are known for long working hours, much beyond the nine-hour shift. "We have survived tougher challenges in the past like the Y2K and the Lehmann crisis. I am confident this will not derail our growth, says Harish HV, Partner, India Leadership Team, Grant Thornton India LLP. He feels the growth estimates for the next two quarters may get impacted with these restrictions. (Data inputs Kishor Kadam) It is not likely that Vijay Mallya will get extradited back to India in the immediate future, and the whole process may take even up to two years provided investigators present enough evidence to convince the UK courts about the merits of the case, according to legal experts (read a Firstpost story here) ). Before the case comes up for next hearing on 17 May, Mallya and his battery of lawyers have enough time to prepare the ground for a strong legal battle, that will make the task tough for Indian authorities. The entire process may take a very long time. But, heres what the arrest by London Police will do to fugitive Mallya. It will considerably weaken the billionaires longstanding argument that he is being framed by banks and investigators for no fault of his in the Rs 9,000 crore loan default case. The very fact that UK authorities found merit in Indias argument of Mallya being an economic offender, enough to execute his arrest, snatches away the victim card Mallya has used so far to insulate him from investigations in the Kingfisher case. The bail, secured in just about three hours of arrest, is only a temporary victory for Mallya. He is no longer the business man who is personally targeted by banks and sleuths for no fault of his but for business failure. He is an absconder and a suspect who was arrested on charges of engaging in serious financial irregularities in his home country. A bail, as legal experts pointed out, doesnt free him from the charges or prove that he is not guilty. Its just that the law will take its course to bring Mallya's case to a logical end. Even though multiple Indian courts had issued summons and warrants against Mallya, till now, the tycoon was not obliged to answer to any UK authorities about the alleged wrongdoings in the Kingfisher loan case, but the arrest in the UK court makes him answerable to the charge to the government and legal system of that country. Mallya has, all along, blamed the Indian authorities and media of launching a witch hunt on him. In January, this year too, the businessman repeated this complaint on Twitter. I am kind of getting used to these witch-hunts coming from all directions with no legal basis whatsoever. Shows what the government machinery can do," Mallya tweeted then. Till this minute, there is no final judicial determination on what KFA owes to banks and what I may owe in my personal capacity after trial," Mallya tweeted. With Mallyas repeated statements that he is being hunted for what is essentially a business failure, the businessman had found some sympathizers in the industry and even among a section of bankers. But, all of these arguments cease to have much value with the UK arrest. Of course, Vijay Mallya isnt the only one who has taken the banking system, neck-deep in bad loans, for a ride. There are many others, some with even bigger liabilities. But, over time, Mallya has gained a poster boy image representing all large loan defaults by wily promoters, also thanks to the public exhibition of wealth and continuous defiance to banks and investigators. A final development in the Kingfisher case, will, surely set the precedent for other high profile loan default cases, where crony promoters have fooled the banking system by wilfully defaulting on loans. For this reason, it is even more critical now for the Modi-government to not give up on the Mallya case. It should seek all legal channels to ensure India has enough evidence, a foolproof case, to defeat the billionaire fugitive's arguments in the UK courts. The core of Mallyas arguments against banks and investigators has been that he hasnt borrowed the money personally, but his airline did, hence the default cannot be his personal responsibility. This is not true. Banks have time and again stated in courts that the Kingfisher loan was given to Mallya on his personal guarantee and assurance. In case of loan default, the guarantor must pay back the money. Mallya cannot escape from this responsibility. Arguably, the Modi government failed to foresee the possibility of Mallya fleeing the country even when cases are pending against him in various courts but the way the government followed up the case post-Mallyas exit shows its determination and persistent approach in the case, both diplomatically and legally. This is commendable. But, one shouldnt forget that getting back Mallya is only one step in the ultimate battle. The main task is to make the industrialist pay back the money he owes to the banks. Putting Mallya in jail alone wouldnt help bankers get back their money. We have the Sahara case as an example where inspite of the promoter being jailed, the group is yet to pay back the investors in full. In the Kingfisher case, Rs 9,000 crore due to banks is public money ultimately and whether the money was lent to Kingfisher or Mallya, the money needs to be returned. With very little assets left with Kingfisher, banks can recover the money only from the guarantor. Beyond the charges of financial fraud, Mallya must answer when this money will be paid back in full to banks. Either way, the billionaire cant play the victim card any longer After former liquor baron Vijay Mallya's arrest and immediate bail in the United Kingdom (UK) court on Tuesday, the Indian government may face some hurdles with regard to extradition of the fugitive billionaire, legal experts said. According to UK laws, it might take anywhere between 6 months to 24 months for the case to be resolved in the local courts there. Ever since India signed the extradition treaty with UK in 1992, it has succeeded in getting just one accused home. A accused in the 2002 Gujarat riots, Samirbhai Vinubhai Patel was brought back in October 2016, the Hindustan Times reported. In Mallya's case, the Indian government and investigative agencies will now have to prepare for a long-drawn legal battle to prove evidence that can get Mallya back to the country. Legal experts decode the case to Firspost: Majeed Memon, criminal lawyer: The fugitive is stranded and cannot move or slip away to another country with the court having issued a warrant against him. After he was arrested, he had to execute a bail bond in the Westminster local magistrate which was imposed on him. The normal condition is that he shall not leave or exit the country and shall attend police station once or twice a week. He must have been asked to appear before concerned magistrate at an appointed day soon hereafter. The government of India through officers of the Crown Prosecution would initiate extraordinary proceedings against him by laying all papers before designated magistrate who is expected to examine the proprietary and legality of the request made by the Government of India to hand over the fugitive Vijay Mallya as he faces certain extraditable charges. Mallya, as we know, is a highly resourceful person and is expected to defend himself and oppose extradition plea. The magistrate has limited powers of only outwardly examining whether the request made by the Government of India is in order. The magistrate cannot go into the merits of the case or weigh the evidence. If evidence is being challenged, which Vijay Mallya is expected to do in all probabilities, the matter will have to be heard in full length by court of appeal. The court of appeal is Crown Court of Justice in London where process of appreciating evidence may begin on merit. If this happens, which is very likely, then it may take quite some time and also incur sufficient expenses. The judicial hierarchy in England is that even once the Chief Justices court pronounces the final order for fugitive Vijay Mallya, he can seek leave to appeal. Thus, it does not seem possible to get Mallya bodily in India very soon. The government of India must demonstrate the evidence in a satisfactory manner. Past cases where extradition failed: In the Nadeem Saifee case, it was contested right up to the House of Lords but was not successful and extradition was not possible. In the Lalit Modi case, no chargesheet has as yet been filed in Indian courts. In the Iqbal Mirchi case, proper evidence wasnt presented. Mahesh Jethmalani, advocate: The India government's efforts to extradite Vijay Mallya is extremely serious. The Mallya case is a about cheating and money laundering. The government is well represented in the Crown of England. We have a lot of very competent people who know local laws in the UK. It is difficult to say how long will the extradition process take. I dont share the governments optimism that it will be possible in a month's time or even two months. I think it would take anywhere between six months to two years before Mallya can be extradited. The case is clear. Mallya entered into a corrupt deal with IDBI and got a Rs 800 crore loan which he shouldn't have. Public sector officers who conspired to give Mallya the benefit have committed an offence under Section 13 of the Indian Penal Code. The case against IDBI and Mallya is that he entered into a corrupt deal. The loan was given on the pretext that Mallya would restructure his debt. However, he siphoned off around Rs 300 crore for personal use. The Enforcement Directorate stepped in and said he has diverted money. This is a case of money laundering. There is a CBI chargesheet in the case and it shows the money trail. What Mallya did was to move the money from office account to his personal account. Once Mallya is brought into the country, he will be behind bars for a very long time as the offence is severe. He is also an absconder who is costing the government a lot to extradite him. Extradition is an expensive procedure. Dinesh Tiwari, advocate: Bail is given to an accused if he is not needed for the purpose of investigation. That does not mean the accused is not guilty. Vijay Mallyas arrest and bail does not clear him of any charges against him. The case will go up for trial in the concerned magistrate court and the appellate court. It is a standard procedure. This will take some time. The kind of charges against Vijay Mallya and his conduct so far can be favorable for the Indian government to bring him home under the extradition treaty. Looking at the nature of allegations and the huge amount of money that Mallya has borrowed and not repaid to the banks is a good enough case against him. Even if Mallya is brought back to India he will be in the custody of the courts for at least a year if not more. He will be arrested from the airport itself and will be taken for investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation. After that case, he will be hauled across states like Mumbai, Delhi and others where there are cases filed against him. No matter who he hires in India to fight his case, it will be a pretty long-drawn out matter. There are many cases of Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) violations against Mallya. Even if he gets bail in one case, he will be not be able to get out of jail as he is wanted in so many other cases in India. The system in India has changed and the courts will take a hard view of the case. Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) is a draconian law. There are many cases of accused behind bars. Chhagan Bhujbal is a case in point. The recent Supreme Court ruling in PMLA is that bail should not be granted to people under the Act. Ramesh Vaidyanathan, Managing Partner, Advaya Legal: Vijay Mallyas arrest is definitely a step forward, but one among many to be traversed before getting anywhere close to his extradition to India. Mallya is merely showing off his bravado with his tweets and being dismissive. Bail is a matter of procedure. He was to be arrested in this case and bail is a requirement of law. There is nothing unusual about it. The good part is that a prima facie case has been made out in the extradition request made by the Government of India earlier this year and a district judge in the UK has found merit in this request. This was possible largely due to the emphasis in the request on the cheating and money laundering aspect of the CBI chargesheet in the IDBI Bank loan sanction issue. A pure civil wrong of loan default of the borrower or the guarantor would not have entitled an extradition request to the UK authorities. Mallya would have got a copy of the charges by the government of India and has now a chance to file his reply. On 17 May, his lawyers will argue the case. After the hearing, a decision will be taken on extradition. If extradition is ordered, Mallya can go to Secretary of State for confirmation and there too he gets a chance to be heard. Then he can file an appeal in the High Court. He could even go to the Supreme Court. Mallya will exhaust all legal remedies. Even then, the magistrates order will not be easy. Even in the case of money laundering, if he says that all the money he borrowed was for the company, the government of India will have to establish evidence such as bank statements, show he money trail and that funds were diverted for personal use. The concerned bank officials may be called too in the case. All this does not mean it can substitute for cases in India against Mallya. Conviction is not a case for extradition. It will be based on merits of the case. Mallya will have the ability to access due process under the UK law, which will include a full hearing before the district court, hearing before the Secretary of State, High Court and the Supreme Court (in fit cases). He will also be entitled to be let out on bail for now upon certain conditions. India does not have Category One status like the USA or Europe which also delays extradition process. Countries like India have to be satisfied with Category Two status because of our legal system which is exceedingly slow. Vijay Mallya can make light of his arrest and his being released on bail and detractors of Prime Minister Narendra Modi can huff and puff about why India has not demanded deportation and settled for extradition. The fact is he was arrested by Scotland Yard. And there is now a case registered against him. There is nothing cheerful or happy about being taken into custody because there is now a file on you and the paper chase has begun. That is a granite rock. And the hard place is helplessly watching his possessions and property being shunted off, it's not a nice place to be in. Not just that but the system has him on a string and that string can be pulled at whim. Much as Mallya may pretend its no big deal and blame the media for hyping it all up he cannot get away from the clutches of the law. Between now and the next hearing on 17 May, Mallya is under observation, his time consumed by lawyers and the preparation for the next major step. He is now a person of interest and it is up to the police and the magistrate to decide the course of your life over the next 28 days. That is not pleasant or comfortable and things can begin to go wrong. You are hounded every moment of the day and it wears you down. For the next four weeks even travel is a major hassle and it can be denied. The official British conditions for bail read as under: - living at a particular address - not contacting certain people - giving your passport to the police so you cant leave the UK - reporting to a police station at agreed times, for example, once a week Behind all that bravado, Mallya can sense the earth moving. Think of it. The bail can be revoked any moment and you can be arrested. It hangs over your head like that damoclean sword. It can be physically and mentally exhausting to play knock knock; who's there whenever someone comes over it could be cops. You can be called in for questioning, you are under constant scrutiny and the hell with being innocent till proven guilty. By the very acceptance of the Indian governments plea and the charge against you, the pressure has been applied. So those who are trying to make the Modi government look small and ineffectual over this case like members of the Congress, they are not cutting any ice. Stop carping and detracting from the initiative. After all, it is a sobering thought that during the Congress years not one extradition was agreed upon. There is always a first time and Vijay Mallya sits helplessly in London watching his empire fragment and strangers walk his home. It must be a terrible sensation to have your privacy invaded in this fashion. And now this arrest. For those who think Mallya is a happy camper and has fooled the Indian authorities, think again. The vital difference is that he was not called in for questioning. He was arrested. Somewhere down the line there will be a seat on a plane back to India. The loading has begun and there is no getting away from that. The British legal system is very strict and arrests are not made casually. Clearly there is enough prima facie evidence and the odds favour the case going to trial when the May 17 hearing decides to either extend his bail, end it and arrest him or let him go. The third is the most unlikely. The wisdom of Indias leftists knows no limits. They see and perceive things common people cant. No wonder they call themselves the protectors of common men and the saviors of the downtrodden. So it was in tune with their unmatched ingenuity that they coughed up a hair-raising theory when Prime Minister Narendra Modi demonetised high-value currency in November 2016. They accused Modi of trying to mop up common mans money and pump it into the banks that had been robbed of cash by high-flying loan defaulters like Vijay Mallya. Left geniuses take to Twitter, but common people take to Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). The verdict in the assembly elections that voters delivered in March was that Modi was punishing the rich and helping the poor. Modis pro-poor image is at an all-time high now. So it is in tune with the common mans perception of Modi that he must crack down on Vijay Mallya, a process his government has begun with an earnestness that was seen rare in the previous governments. It must be said to the credit of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley that he did a good job of persuading the British authorities to launch extradition proceedings against Mallya who fled to London in March last year after defaulting banks to the tune of Rs 9,000 crore. Mallyas arrest in London on Tuesday and his release on bail are fine. But what the common man wants to see is the return of the money that he owes the government banks which, by extension, mean the tax-payers. This process no longer depends on the whims of either the Indian or the British government. Its before a London court. What Modi and Jaitley must ensure is that the case in London doesnt get derailed. There are many ways in which it can. As Patrick Barkham of The Guardian explains: Extradition from Britain is reputed to be difficult to secure ... often simply because of the complex judicial procedure an extradition must go through. As for now, India can only take comfort from the fact that the UK government has certified its request for extraditing Mallya and that a district court in London is convinced that prima facie a crime has been committed that might call for extradition under the 1993 Extradition Treaty between the two countries. On 17 May, the judge will conduct a detailed hearing, during which he needs to be convinced that the crime Mallya committed in India is considered a crime in the UK as well and, equally importantly, extraditing him would not breach his human rights. Since the UK courts would not accept a companys loans as the responsibility of the individual who owns the company, India needs to convince the judge that a large part of the loans Mallya had taken was laundered for purposes other than what it was intended for. This wont be difficult. Mallya could also argue that he had offered to repay nearly Rs 7,000 crore of his outstanding loans but the banks had been unwilling to accept that offer. India needs to prove that Mallya had been bluffing, and that may be a bit difficult. After this, the legal process wouldif Mallya gets an extradition order and he chooses to appeal, which he will, of courseinvolve rulings by the Secretary of State, the High Court and the Supreme Court. At any stage, especially when the matter reaches the Secretary of State, proof of political motivation or even a mere suspicion of it on the part of the Indian government could jeopardise the extradition proceedings. There lies a danger. Will Mallya raise a political bogey before the UK court? Beginning with the district judge who will hear him on 17 May, Mallya can talk about how he became a member of Indias Rajya Sabha twice with the help of many parties including the BJP whose government at the centre now wants him extradited with ulterior motives. In case he chooses to reveal details of his largesse to the various parties based in Karnataka, he would only confound the matters for the prosecutors. The British law is touchy about words like unjust and oppressive. Though India inherited its political and judicial systems from Britain, ignorance in that country of how India works can come in handy for Mallya and his smart lawyers. When Malayalam cine actor and nominated MP Suresh Gopi met the Queen in Buckingham Palace in February this year, she asked him whether he was a member of the Senate. Mallya indeed helpedand was helped bymany parties. Both the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) of Deve Gowda facilitated his entry into the Rajya Sabha in 2002. When he entered the Upper House a second time in 2010, it was with the support from JD (S) and BJP. All the parties with a base in Karnataka, where the liquor and aviation baron had political ambitions, benefitted from his generosity, and they returned the munificence to him in good measure. But there is no doubt that, though Mallya got his sundry licenses for his proposed Kingfisher Airlines when BJPs Atal Behari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister, it was during the regime of the Congress-led UPA that banks bent backwards to patronise the tycoon. The airline was launched in 2005 and it went bust in 2013. Both Manmohan Singh and the civil aviation ministers of that periodPraful Patel, Vayalar Ravi and Ajit Singhhave a lot to answer. Forgetting that it was the UPA dispensation that allowed Mallya to commit the financial crimes, the Congress and the Left intellectuals are now accusing the BJP of letting Mallya escape. In case Mallya raises the political bogey, the government must effectively counter it, though it might amount to washing Indian dirty linen on British soil. The blame game that goes on on TV channels no longer interests the common man and would interest the British courts even less. All that matters now is that Modi has taken a serious step to get Mallya extradited, and his government must do everything it can to take the case to its logical conclusion in Britain. The government must not only get him back to India, it must also get back from him every rupee he owes banks. (The author tweets @sprasadindia) When you walk into a theatre to watch a film directed by Aparna Sen, starring herself, Shabana Azmi and Lillete Dubey, you expect the film to be exceptional. When you learn that it is adapted from a play written by Mahesh Eklunchwar, you are intrigued to know how the story will play out on the big screen. Sadly, Sonata is just not as impactful as one expects. Sonata chronicles the events that take place one evening in Dolon Sen and Aruna Chaturvedi's apartment in Mumbai. Dolon Sen, played by Shabana Azmi, is an affluent banker who is very friendly and loving, while Aparna Sen's Aruna Chaturvedi is a reserved professor and writer. Their friend Subhadra Parekh (Lillete Dubey), a journalist who "lives life to the fullest", drops in after her lover beats her up. The trio is to be visited by an old college friend. In isolation, the characters are very interesting and layered. Sadly, the way that they are portrayed seems forced, making them look flat and uni-dimensional. It is as though the actors were given bullet points of traits and told to focus on them, so as to differentiate them from each other. There are moments when the characters seem genuine and one is able to form a connection with them, such as when the characters are laughing and realising that they have not laughed that hard in a very long time, or when Subhadra is throwing heavy objects through the window at her lover and Dolon offers her a wine bottle. When they are not over-analysing their own selves and their deepest emotions are brought to the forefront, one is able to empathise with them. The one character whose depth is displayed is Aparna Sen's own Aruna Chaturvedi. She has directed herself commendably well. Guarded and largely removed from excessive emotion, she is very honest about her disposition and does not feel the need to defend herself. She is particularly endearing when she tries a sip of wine; the expression on her face is a mix of guilt and naughtiness, which seems completely in character. For a film that is so heavily dependent on conversation, Sonata's writing seems verbose at times, and engaging at others. Notably, this film is adapted from a play, and perhaps the lines where Dolon appreciates how beautiful Aruna looks when she is listening to Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata' or when Aruna says that Shakespeare and Kalidasa are some of her closest friends would seem more natural if they were said on stage. In a film, these lines like, "Does one really need a man to understand what Subhi is going through?" seem like they are being forced into the speaker's mouth. Another part of the film that seemed a little less believable is the way that Dolon and Aruna make small talk. One would imagine that after living together for over two decades, they would get used to each other. It is the kind of comfort one shares with a spouse or family member, where everyday conversations are undramatic and without frills. It seems a little odd that Dolon and Aruna would invest so much energy at the end of a tiring work day discussing philosophies about life. But there are scenes in the film when the conversational ping-pong will make you laugh, such as the argument Dolon and Aruna have over the former's looks. Aruna corrects Dolon when she says that she is still beautiful, insisting that she used to be good looking, and Dolon finally agrees with her after throwing a fit. Another instance that is particularly funny is when they discuss how their house help dissed them for not understanding what it is like to have children. Sonata is a meditation on happiness and compromises; here is a trio of women who decided not to settle down with men but do not seem unsettled. They acknowledge that there is no point of asking 'what-if' questions, because life has passed them by and because they are quite content. The film also discusses how demons of the past can continue to haunt us in the present and future, but that love and friendship can help us to better deal with them. In this respect, the film is a success because it made a 21-year-old connect to the crises that middle-aged women were undergoing. The film has an inconclusive ending, which can be interpreted as how we often live life occupied by our struggles, not realising that it can end suddenly and without notice. This is why it is important to reflect on life and be honest about how we want to live it, in order to feel happy and satisfied. I was once told that the mark of a good poem is that you emerge a different person after having read it. This, I believe, is true of any kind of art, however good or bad. With its premise and the sheer talent of its cast, I was disappointed by Sonata because it did not leave me feeling any different. The Prince of Tollywood has set the film industry down south buzzing this summer with his new film, Spyder. When Mahesh Babu signed the flick with ace director A R Murugadoss (ARM) in 2016, there was palpable excitement amid fans of the Tollywood star as well as the director. Though many had reported last year that this film was a remake of the directors hit film Thuppakki with Vijay, it clearly isnt. And with the first look of their film, Spyder, releasing recently, expectations have gone sky high. What makes this project interesting and has the audience rooting for it is the combination of the Mahesh Babu and Murugadoss. With Ramana, Ghajini, Thuppakki and Kaththi (and their success), Murugadoss has proved that he is made for action films. So it wasnt surprising when Mahesh Babu decided to join hands with him for an espionage action film, in which he plays a secret agent a la James Bond. In Mahesh Babus career, action films have been key to his success. Okkadu, which was remade in Tamil as Ghilli, catapulted him to a different league while Pokkiri showed that he wasnt a flash in the pan where the action genre was concerned. Dookudu was another feather in his cap but the Tollywood star also realised he needed to be more versatile. Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu, Srimathudu and Brahmotsavam showed Mahesh Babu as a man who wants to do good for society and believes that the family is most important. Now with Spyder, Babu is back to doing what he does best action. As in most of Murugadoss films, a lot of attention has been given to the lead actors characterisation. In the first look that was released, Mahesh Babu looks suave, sophisticated, stylish and smart. Theres a good blend of the international look with Indian localisation. One of the biggest highlights of this film is that Mahesh Babu has done all the stunt sequences himself. In fact, production designer Rupin Suchak told the media that some of the stunts he has performed havent been done by any actor so far. Some key action sequences have been shot in Vietnam (its the first Telugu film to be shot there) and local stunt guys have been hired to spice up these scenes. Given the actors love for action sequences and how he has aced them in many of his previous films, this will be a treat for the audience. In most Indian films, theres always a protagonist and an antagonist. Director Murugadoss threw a curve ball when he roped in director-actor S J Suryah as the villain for this film. Incidentally, S J Suryah has directed Mahesh Babu in Naani, a 2004 Telugu film. Knowing Murugadoss, S J Suryahs role is expected to be a defining one in his acting career. He is said to have worked hard on a six pack for the role and gotten a clean-shaven, macho look for this film. Music director Harris Jayraj has composed for Mahesh Babu for Sainikudu in 2006 and he is back a decade later with him on this project. Murugadoss and Harris have been a winning combo (Ghajini, Holiday, 7aum Arivu and Thuppakki). With this ARM-Mahesh Babu-Harris combo, all eyes are now on the audio launch of the film on May 28. Spyder is being made in Tamil and Telugu and in fact, is the first straight Tamil film for Mahesh Babu. Having grown up in Chennai, the actor speaks Tamil and is going to be dubbing for this film as well. Touted to be made on a budget of Rs 100 crore, Spyder looks all set to be another hit flick for Mahesh Babu and A R Murugadoss. Will it be one of the biggest blockbusters of 2017? Well just have to wait till the films release on June 23. Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad lost his cool again, only this time, a State Bank of India employee in Latur, Maharashtra was at the receiving end. According to India Today, Gaikwad lashed out at the bank for playing foul and protecting the interests of a few customers. A video that's doing the rounds shows the bank manager trying to explain to Gaikwad why the ATM was not dispensing cash, but Gaikwad was not in a mood to listen. #WATCH: Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad argues with a police officer in Latur (Maharashtra) during a protest over a non-functioning ATM pic.twitter.com/k1rCa12aGc ANI (@ANI_news) April 19, 2017 Some of the customers, however, were happy with the Shiv Sena MP's intervention which led to the functioning of the ATM machines. Gaikwad had gloated on 23 March to the media that he repeatedly assaulted Air India duty manager R Sukumar, 60, with his slipper over a row over the lack of business class seats on a Pune-Delhi flight. The incident led to Air India and all private airlines banning Gaikwad. The ban has since been lifted. With inputs from IANS New Delhi: Defence Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday strongly raised with his Canadian counterpart Harjit Singh Sajjan India's "anguish" over the Ontario legislative assembly passing a motion recently describing the 1984 anti- Sikh riots as "genocide". In his talks with Sajjan, Jaitley condemned the passage of the motion saying it triggered outrage in India and it was a total exaggeration of facts. The issue was raised strongly in the meeting. It was conveyed to the visiting Canadian minister that there has been considerable anguish and disquiet in India over calling the riots as "genocide", sources said. Later talking to reporters, the India-born Canadian defence minister said it was a resolution by a private member and Canadian government and people do not at all subscribe to such a view. According to reports, the motion was passed with 34 MPPs voting in favour and just five against. The 1984 riots broke out in the wake of assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. In the meeting, both sides deliberated on ways to deepen defence cooperation. Sajjan said Canadian defence firms were very interested in participating 'Make in India' initiative for defence production. He said Canada can offer a lot in join production of various military hardware and platforms. Jaitley and Sajjan also explored ways to boost maritime cooperation and research between defence research organisations of the two countries. The possibility of regular military exercises between defence forces of the two countries were also discussed at the meeting. Addressing a press conference, Sajjan termed the talks "fruitful" and said both sides resolved to deepen overall defence and security ties. The Asian College of Journalism (ACJ) in Chennai will offer students a financial journalism programme, that will teach students the latest skills in writing, editing, digital and multimedia reporting, ethics, investigative reporting, fundamentals of finance and government reporting. According to a report in Business Standard, this programme will be started in association with Bloomberg News. 'ACJ-Bloomberg Postgraduate Program', the course will begin in July, and the college has started accepting applications for the same. "There is no business and financial reporting programme in India and it is a data driven field. So, there was an opportunity for us to do something," Parry Ravindranathan, managing director, international, Bloomberg Media Group, was quoted as saying in the report. The report added that Bloomberg has been involved with putting the curriculum together, and will also make available 12 of its renowned terminals for the students to access. This apart, the media behemoth will also bring in experts to work as guest faculty on the course. "The Bloomberg terminals are a luxury for the students. Bloomberg will bring in experts for students; Mint is delivering some modules. The Hindu Business Line and several other papers are supporting the programme," Sashi Kumar, chairman, ACJ, was quoted as saying. He also added that unlike its current plain vanilla journalism course, the ACJ-Bloomberg one has the potential to attract mid-career journalists as well, who may want to shift to financial writing. New Delhi: China's dispute over Arunachal Pradesh with India has just become more complicated with a name-game. Beijing has announced through state media that it was renaming or "standardising" the names of six places in Arunachal Pradesh, that it calls "South Tibet". The territorial dispute with China has now spilled over from the map to the realms of the cultural and linguistic. This follows Beijing's objections to the visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal. The Dalai Lama returned from the North East Indian state on 13 April. The first name mentioned in the report Wo'gyainling probably refers to the Urgyenling monastery, near Tawang town. It is obviously a reassertion of China's claim over the Kameng division in western Arunachal. The sixth Dalai Lama (1683-1706), reputed to have been a colourful personality with a taste for wine and women and writing poetry and composing music, is said to have been born in the Urgyenling monastery. He was from Arunachal's Monpa tribe. Now, the 14th Dalai Lama the current has just returned (13 April) from Tawang. China protested against his visit vehemently. But the protests were limited to statements from its foreign ministry. It is now apparent that Beijing has put more state muscle without using its military so far behind its claims over Arunachal Pradesh. The Global Times report said the announcement of the standardisation of names was made through the website of the Chinese ministry of civil affairs, and not by the foreign ministry. Ambassador Phunchok Stobdan, senior fellow with the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA), New Delhi, former diplomat, author and expert on Tibetan affairs, spoke to Firstpost to give a quick rundown of what the announcement of the standardisation of the names means. Stobdan identifies most of the six names as places such as mountains and passes. There are two that may have a direct reference to towns Urgyenling (as it is spelt in India) and Mechuka (as spelt in India), where the Indian Air Force has just upgraded an Advanced Landing Ground (ALG), a forward airstrip where its military cargo planes land and take-off from. In the Chinese state media, these places are romanised as Wo'gyainling and Mainquka. Mechuka is roughly translated from the Tibetan by Stobdan as "mouth of fire". Mila Ri ri meaning mountain in Tibetan says Stobdan, is probably a feature named after a Tibetan saint Mila Respa. Qoidengarbo Ri translates to White Stupa Mountain. Stobdan could not immediately identify the place in Arunachal that it may be referring to. But says that the use of the word 'ri' indicates it is a high on a mountain. Bumo La is likely Bumla. About an hour-and-a-half's drive above Tawang, this was one of the routes that the Chinese army had taken in 1962 when they overran Arunachal before withdrawing unilaterally. It is now an officially designated meeting point for the Indian and Chinese armies. The border is demarcated by a heap of stones called just that: "Heap of Stones". There are military buildings on both sides of the line called "huts" where the official meetings take place. The armies meet here to exchange pleasantries on ceremonial occasions (such as Independence Day and Diwali) as well as to lodge complaints or file evidence of deliberate or indeliberate incursions. The last named place, Namkapub Ri, probably refers to another high feature over the Namka Chu. The place, about 60 kilometres west of Tawang, holds a historical lesson for India. The Namka Chu, a river, flows through a gorge here. In September-October 1962, the Indian Army's 7th Infantry Brigade commanded by Brigadier JP Dalvi was smashed by Chinese troops and the brigadier himself was taken prisoner of war. This is where the origins of then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's "forward policy" lie and in some ways, the origins of the war can be traced to the Thagla Ridge here, according to Neville Maxwell in his book India's China War. The Chinese claimed that the Thagla Ridge was in Tibet, on their side of the border. The Indians claimed that it was on their side of the McMahon Line, according to the frontier demarcated by the British. Following the forward policy, Indian troops were ordered to set up posts ahead of the line, provoking the Chinese. What is important now is that these historical reminders are being served now, following the visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh. India, too, has played the name-game before. In 1987 it converted the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA) into the state of Arunachal Pradesh. "We have Sankritised or Hindi-ised names Arunachal is a Sanskritised name and they are Tibetanising names because they claim Arunachal to be 'South Tibet'," says Stobdan. Name-games are not exclusive to only the foreign policies of India and China. Both countries have changed names of cities and towns to reflect a certain politics; think Bombay to Mumbai in India and Peking to Beijing in China. China has also toyed with the romanised spelling of its tallest communist leader, Mao Tse Tung or Mao Zedong. China's latest act of provocation on Arunachal Pradesh has added more hindsight and fresh layers of importance to the first face-to-face interaction India just held with HR McMaster, perhaps the most important official in the Donald Trump administration. No sooner did the US national security advisor leave Indian shores after a series of meetings with Narendra Modi and key figureheads of his administration, media reports emerged that China has unilaterally "renamed" six places in Arunachal Pradesh in 'standard Chinese' to reaffirm its claim over India's northeastern state. The move, at once silly, brazen and ominous for stability in the Asia-Pacific region, wouldn't escape McMaster's notice. In his first visit to the subcontinent spanning Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, the US NSA did make all the right noises at least from the Indian perspective. In President Ashraf Ghani's struggles with Afghan Taliban whose resurgence owes to a large degree on Pakistan's machinations McMaster indicated that the US will stand by Kabul. In a widely publicised interview with Afghan TV channel ToloNews, the US NSA identified that "what is necessary at this point is to consolidate gains and to deal with what is a big security problem now" and went on to say that the Taliban "will have to be defeated on battlefields," and Washington is "committed to give the Afghan state, the Afghan security forces, the strength they need." His words on Pakistan indicated a much tougher US line than Trump administration has so far taken on Pakistan. An indication of this was perhaps evident in McMaster's choice of delegates on this visit. His entourage included Lisa Curtis, whose recent paper on the need for US to revise its Pakistan policy and hold it accountable for its actions, not words, on fomenting terrorism has generated much debate. In the ToloNews interview, as The New York Times has noted in a report, McMaster leaned on Pakistan to end its proxy war against Afghanistan through its funding and sanctuary of Afghan Taliban operatives. "As all of us have hoped for many, many years we have hoped that Pakistani leaders will understand that it is in their interest to go after these groups less selectively than they have in the past The best way to pursue their interests in Afghanistan and elsewhere is through the use of diplomacy, and not through the use of proxies that engage in violence." If these words signify convergence with India on the issue of Pakistan's use of terrorism as foreign policy, the US media statement following McMaster's Islamabad visit will further cement the impression that in McMaster, India has a sympathetic ear in Washington. Couched in the officialese of the US Embassy release, are unmistakable signs that Islamabad will be held to a stricter standard. "McMaster expressed appreciation for Pakistan's democratic and economic development, and stressed the need to confront terrorism in all its forms," read the release, prompting Pakistan Army to retort through its spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor on Twitter that "Pak itself is victim of state sponsored terrorism, it strongly rejects allegations of employing proxies from its soil." US NSA meets COAS. "Pak itself is victim of state sponsored terrorism, it strongly rejects allegations of employing proxies from its soil". pic.twitter.com/xMjgM1uasi Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) April 18, 2017 Though these are early days in Trump administration, it seems McMaster is steering US foreign policy back to within its conventional moorings from the precipice of early adventurism. After a brief period of intense flirting, US is now back to hating even the shadow of Russia, Bashar al-Assad has been made the target of Tomahawk missiles, the Mother of All Bombs has been dropped on Afghanistan and McMaster has indicated that US is not ready to shut shop in Afghanistan yet. These markers signify that Trump administration is slowly coming round to the realisation that foreign policy cannot be subjected to rapid strategic revisions. The implications of this curve cannot be overstated. India will hope that the US doesn't overnight abandon its role as the guarantor and provider of security architecture in Asia Pacific region even as it grapples with the throes of isolationism and economic conservatism under a president whose foreign policy is more unstable than even an Uranium isotope. If America shows a lack of commitment in 'Asia rebalance' strategy, China would be more than ready to step in. It has already spent considerable amount of time and energy in chalking out a revised policy initiative which stems from a core resentment that most Asian countries rely on China for economic sustenance while leaning on America for security. The outcome of considerable Chinese brainstorming on this issue is a recently published white paper on 'Chinas Policies on Asia-Pacific Security Cooperation' published in January this year. As Timothy Heath points out in The Diplomat, "building on the countrys economic strength, China is challenging US power in Asia at its source: Americas role as a security provider" and has outlined a "three-part strategy to build an alternative architecture, normalise US acceptance, and enforce regional compliance with Chinese leadership preferences through rewards and punishments." This would permanently alter the power equilibrium in Asia Pacific region. The current differential in economic, geopolitical and military power between Asia's largest neighbours is so vast that New Delhi cannot seek to contain Beijing's expansionism on its own. It needs the US by its side. McMaster delivered encouraging signs in his very first India visit that US values India as a strategic partner and the relationship will be key in maintaining stability in the region. Side by the side, the statements released by both sides reveal a synergy that was missing during McMaster's Islamabad visit. The US Embassy said, "The two sides discussed a range of bilateral and regional issues, including their shared interest in increasing defence and counter-terrorism cooperation NSA McMaster emphasised the importance of the US-India strategic relationship and reaffirmed Indias designation as a major defence partner," calling the meeting "productive". India's statement read: "Prime Minister recalled his positive telephonic conversations with President Trump that reaffirmed the importance attached by both sides to the strategic partnership and to stepping up India-US engagement across the board." Views were also exchanged on how both countries can work together to effectively address the challenge of terrorism and to advance regional peace, security and stability. Read between the lines, there is enough indication that McMaster would look to continue the 'rebalance' strategy outlined by the Obama administration. In some ways, his appointment as NSA represents a continuance in US foreign policy. Even staunch critics admit that roping him in America's national security framework has been one of Trump's biggest achievements. The Lieutenant General has huge battlefield experience, is a man of deep intellect and is known to speak truth to power. He hasnt wasted much time in booting out Steve Bannon, Trump's right-wing ideological gadfly from US National Security Council. Trump's tenure in the White House has so far seen a stress on ad-hocism and personalised approach in foreign policy. Deals are made outside the institutional framework and personal relationships are valued higher than an approach based on strict protocol. India must be nimble-footed in its US policy and if need be, prepare to invest more in US NSA McMaster. The sagacity and knowledge that he brings to the table will work to our advantage, especially at a time when our relationship with China is going through more troughs than crests. Noida: One of the accused in the Dadri lynching case was on Tuesday released from jail after getting bail from the Allahabad High Court. Accused Punit was released this evening. Villagers celebrated his release as he reached his village. Punit and another accused Arun were granted bail by the high court on 6 April. Both were lodged in a jail in Greater Noida. Arun's bail documents are expected to reach the district in next two days and till then he will remain in jail. The two are accused in the murder of Mohammed Akhlaq in Bisada village in Dadri tehsil of Gautam Buddh Nagar district in September, 2015. Akhlaq was beaten to death by a mob on suspicion of cow slaughter after they barged into his house. His son Danish was critically injured in the attack. A case was registered against more than a dozen persons, including the son of a local BJP leader, in connection with the attack. Islamabad: Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale is expected to meet Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua on Wednesday to discuss the issue of Indian prisoner on death row Kulbhushan Jadhav. Sources in the Foreign Office here said that Bambawale has sought the meeting with the Foreign Secretary. "The meeting is expected in the evening," they said. They said that the issue of Jadhav is likely to be the focus of the meeting as India has been seeking consular access to its convicted citizen. Pakistan has denied India's request for consular access to Jadhav over a dozen times in the last one year. Pakistan army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor has already rejected any chance of granting consular access to Jadhav who was sentenced to death for espionage and subversive activities. It would be Bambawale's second meeting in less than week with the foreign secretary, showing increasing concern of India about the fate of Jadhav. He told media after his previous meeting on 14 April that he had asked for list of charges and authentic copy of verdict of military tribunal against Jadhav to launch appeal against his conviction. He also said that India was seeking consular access on the basis on international law humanitarian grounds. FO in statement issued after the meeting said that the Foreign Secretary told Bambawale that during the period of trial of Jadhav, due judicial process was followed and he was provided a lawyer in accordance with relevant laws and the Constitution of Pakistan. Jadhav, 46, was awarded death sentence by the Field General Court Martial last week, evoking a sharp reaction in India which warned Pakistan of consequences and damage to bilateral ties if the "pre-meditated murder" was carried out. Pakistan claims its security forces had arrested Jadhav from the restive Balochistan province on 3 March last year after he reportedly entered from Iran. It also claimed that he was "a serving officer in the Indian Navy." The Pakistan Army had also released a "confessional video" of Jadhav after his arrest. However, India denied Pakistan's contention and maintained that Jadhav was kidnapped by the Pakistan authorities. India had acknowledged that Jadhav had served with the navy but denied that he has any connection with the government. Students behind the wide spread protests in the valley say that they are fighting the heinous and brutish acts of forces, being committed against Kashmiris and will continue to do so in the future. The students organization, All Jammu and Kashmir Students Union (JKSU), was behind the Monday protests and its members say that the call was given for peaceful protests in the universities and colleges. While many people in Kashmir were apprehensive about this organisation but the presiding body claims that they are not affiliated to any political group or ideology. We started this organisation since 2013 when Kashmiri students, who had gone to study on prime minister scholarship, were being harassed outside the valley. We meet Junaid Matoo but that make us students wing of National Conference, because they have their own, Syed Tajamul Imran, an MBA student in Chandigarh, told Firstpost. Earlier the banned Kashmir University Students Union had also called for protests but the protests were made successful by AJKSU due to their widespread network across the colleges and universities in valley. After many decades protests were organised across colleges and higher secondary schools in the Kashmir valley. This mobilisation shook the political, security establishment and surprised everyone in the valley. On Monday, thousands of college students and university students took to the streets of Kashmir to protest the security forces' 'excesses' in Pulwama Degree College, last week, in which 50 students were injured in clashes with local police and paramilitary forces; some were hit by pellets. The state government reportedly attacked the principal of the Pulwama college. The sudden emergence of All Jammu and Kashmir Students Union also raised questions, and the people behind it. Most of the people who spoke to Firstpost said the man behind the organisation is Awami Ittehad Party Engineer Rashid but the president of the Union denies these allegations. When Khurram Pervaiz the human rights activist was in jail we were protesting against his detention when a person from Engineer Rashid came and joined us and we later found he was affiliated with AIP. But does that mean we are affiliated with his organisation or Pervaizs? he added. In 2009, the Kashmir University authorities officials bulldozed the office of the Kashmir University Students Union, which earlier used to be Jammu and Kashmir University Students Union, for their pro-freedom stand. In the latest activities the union never had a presiding body nor any office bearers, the internal rivalry also between the moderate faction of the union and the ideologically extremist oriented students, became a problem. Today the union works unofficially and has a wide following inside the KU campus. National Conference Students and National Students Union of India (NSUI) both have a membership of less then two dozen students. On Wednesday, protests against the forces accesses across the Kashmir valley refused to die down, with clashes erupting after police used force to disperse protesting students, who had gathered on the National Highway connecting Srinagar with Baramulla in north Kashmir. Women hostellers in Kashmir University also staged a protest on Tuesday, demanding action against the police for assaulting students. The students shouted pro-freedom slogans and were prevented by the varsity authorities from marching outside the hostel premises. In Banihal town, students held a demonstration and blocked the Srinagar-Jammu highway for hours. Hundreds of students in universities, colleges and higher secondary schools held massive protests. Forced to act, the Jammu and Kashmir government closed all higher educational institutions across Kashmir. Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir, Baseer Khan, had on Monday evening ordered that all universities, colleges and higher secondary schools would remain closed on Tuesday. The schools till Class 8 were open. The government ordered closing down all the colleges and universities shall remain suspended on Wednesday as a precautionary measure. An official handout said, classwork in Kashmir University campuses shall remain suspended on Wednesday but all examinations will be held as per schedule. AJKSU is going to hold peaceful protests in coming days as well until the genuine demands of students are not fulfilledshutting down college will not address the problem. AJKSU will continue holding peaceful protests, said a statement issued by the group on Tuesday. An attempt to murder case has been registered against the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel after a video surfaced in which paramilitary force personnel were found shooting dead a teenager who had pelted stones on them at a polling station on 9 April during the by-election for Srinagar parliamentary seat. According to police officials, a case has been registered at Beerwah police station against the ITBP personnel as they allegedly fired with an "intention'' to kill the youth. On 9 April, 16-year-old Akil Wani, had gone out to get medicines for his ailing mother. In the video that went viral, the youth was seen indulging in stone pelting along with some other boys. He died in the firing after security forces foiled the youth's attempt to disrupt the polling process. Fayaz Ahmad Shah, sub division police officer (SDPO) Magam, said that they have registered an attempt to murder case under Section 307 of RPC against the ITBP personnel. He said that they could further upgrade the offence to murder case as the investigation progresses. Sources added that the ITBP personnel, deployed for duty outside the polling station in Atnoo, were brought from Punjab. The police have also registered a case of kidnapping against the Army after a youth was tied to the bonnet of an Army jeep, while being paraded around as a warning to dissuade "people from pelting stones.'' On 9 April, the video of Farooq Ahmad Dar tied to the Army jeep went viral which drew widespread criticism across Kashmir. According to police sources, Army personnel from the Beerwah camp had picked up the youth from Utli Gam, strapped him to their jeep and paraded him around. SP Vaid, director general of police, said the FIRs have been registered after the videos surfaced and the investigation was going on. Akil's cousin, Gulzar Ahmad Paul, said that they have given their statement to the police in which they described Akil's death as "cold blooded murder." "We dont want anything short of a murder case registered against the ITBP personnel. We have already informed the police that Akil had gone out to get medicines for his mother, but was shot in the head. In the video, it is visible that the ITBP personnel outnumbered the boys who started pelting stones. There were around seven to eight boys and the ITBP personnel was double the number. The personnel could have easily used some non-lethal weapon or arrested Akil, but they didn't do so," he said adding that when they had gone to the Beerwah police station to lodge a complaint, they were informed that a case has already been registered. "We have also sought the copy of the FIR,'' he said. Akil's father, Mohammad Amin Wani, said that they are seeking exemplary punishment against the personnel who were involved in the incident. "We hope justice is served. It was a brutal murder,'' he said. A police official said that they have sought details of the ITBP personnel who were deployed for duty at the Atnoo polling station, where the incident took place, from the nodal officer of the by-election. A letter has been sent in this regard. New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea seeking direction to the government to approach the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for securing the release from Pakistan of alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav. A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Anu Malhotra refused to interfere with the government's steps being taken to secure the release of Jadhav, who has been sentenced to death by a special military court in the neighbouring country. The bench said: "Every possible endeavour is being made by the government of India to secure the life of the citizen (Jadhav)... the matter best deserves to be left to the expertise of the government. No intervention by us is called for." The plea had said an Indian citizen had been illegally detained and wrongly sentenced to capital punishment by a Pakistani military court without providing him a fair trial. Pakistan has not made public copies of the chargesheet against Jadhav and the copy of the judgment sentencing him to death, said social activist Rahul Sharma who approached the court. In his petition, he demanded that the Indian government challenge the violations of international law by the Pakistan government by taking the matter to the International Court of Justice. Jadhav, sentenced to death on 10 April 10, faced seven charges including espionage and waging war against Pakistan. Islamabad has rejected Indian requests for consular access to Jadhav. Ravinder Kaushik doesnt occupy a place in the pantheon of Indian iconoclasts. His name would draw blank stares even among non-government officials with expertise in Indian diplomacy. His birthplace, of Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan, isnt exactly the epicentre of Indias geopolitical discourse. But this border town with Pakistan unknowingly played a key part in Indias covert spy game against its arch nemesis. There is no public record of Kaushiks service to India, no public acknowledgement by a government ministry, in fact it would be strange if that were the case because Kaushik was indeed one of Indias most successful spies. The recent death penalty handed to "alleged Indian RAW agent" Kulbhushan Jadhav has regurgitated massive discussions of the nefarious covert warfare many nations indulge in. For the subcontinental nations of India and Pakistan, that continuously view each other through a forbidding lens, the idea is far from far-fetched that such practices are routine. But before diagnosing the facts or rather the lack of facts against Jadhavs arrest, lets revisit and understand Kaushik's case. Kaushiks earliest moorings were in Sri Ganganagar, which is a Punjabi speaking part of Rajasthan. His fluency in the language and the natural Punjabi accent made it easy for him to blend in among the more dominant sect of Pakistanis. But the deal clincher came when he was spotted by Indian intelligence officials, performing at a theatre festival. His performances impressed them so much so that he was immediately recruited, at the age of 23. His training was exhaustive and included understanding the topography of the country, polishing his Urdu language skills and acquainting him with religious texts. He was then launched into Pakistan via UAE, where he took on the alias of Nabi Ahmed Shakir. He even completed a Law (LLB) degree from Karachi before enlisting in the Pakistan Army. He rose to the rank of major, married a local girl and even had a daughter. Such was Kaushiks prowess and penetration that he earned the sobriquet of Black Tiger (Salman Khans Ek Tha Tiger allegedly picked up veiled references from the Kaushik episode). But when you play with fire, one gets burnt. Kaushiks identity was compromised by another Indian agent, who was captured by Pakistani forces and succumbed under duress. Though Kaushik's death sentence was suspended, he languished in various Pakistani jails until his untimely death. His letters of pleas went unanswered, and he was never rescued or acknowledged. A closer post-mortem of the Jadhav saga shows how the Pakistani allegations of him being a spy dont hold much water. The Pakistani version is parroted along the lines of an Indian naval officer who set up shop in Chabahar, Iran, from where he routinely snuck into Balochistan, Pakistans most fissiparous state, in order to cause "mischief" (as some Pakistani generals on news channels have described it). The ludicrous allegation of painting all of Balochistans decade-long instability on one individual is only the tip of the iceberg. Pakistani authorities released an alleged confessional video last year, showing Kulbhushan admitting to being a RAW agent and committing espionage against the Pakistani state. Furthermore, a widely circulated photograph showed Jadhavs Indian passport, which has the alias of Hussain Mubarak Patel. This has set the noxious conspiracy theorists in Pakistan screaming "Aha! Gotcha!" Now, this is where any modicum of evidence Pakistan has gets completely unravelled and any Janus-faced duplicity gets inflated. Firstly, India has acknowledged that Jadhav is indeed an Indian citizen. This here is elementary spy craft. Countries seldom openly claim or acknowledge the identity of captured spies. Secondly, Jadhav is a retired Indian naval officer. While Pakistan feels they have hit the jackpot apprehending an Indian national with links to the defence establishment, other geopolitical analysts have pointed out the unlikelihood of RAW recruiting naval officers. Not to speculate on surreptitious agency recruiting, but the ministry of external affairs (MEA) has even gone on to acknowledge that he was once a serving naval officer, before he took a premature retirement. Had there been an iota of truth in Pakistans allegations, the Indian government wouldnt have acknowledged a once upon a time naval officer accused of espionage. But the coup-de-grace in Pakistans loosely concocted story is juxtaposed with what Pakistan claims to be the silver bullet an Indian passport with an alias showing a Muslim name. In a line, spies do have aliases but they wouldnt doctor their passport to be of the very country that they are trying to conceal. There would have been more gravitas had his alias appeared in the green crescent of a Pakistani passport. Indias strong counter is that Jadhav, a businessman based out of Iran, was kidnapped by Taliban operatives in cahoots with the ISI, an agency known for such nefarious dealings. It is perhaps for this reason why Pakistani authorities have repeatedly denied Jadhav consular access (14 times). Pakistani establishment handling this case have not only acted like dastardly cowboys but their brazenness came through earlier this month after Jadhav was given the death sentence on account of being found guilty in a farcical military court proceeding. What exacerbates the scenario is that Pakistan is said to be guilty of violating various norms of both the Geneva and the Vienna conventions, of which Pakistan is a signatory. Juxtapose this to the much-protracted court trial of known Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab. While Kasab was caught firing away and creating havoc all over South Mumbai; on his apprehension, he was provided fair legal representation, allowed consular access and his appeals reached even the highest authority in the land. If the Pakistani military is so convinced that it has caught a unicorn, then why withhold that evidence, or any evidence at all? The irony here that further sinks Pakistan into its own quagmire is that if this "alleged video confession" was so brazenly made public, then why are the details of his trail so hush-hush? The ISPRs (ISIs Public Relations wing) press releases and Pakistani media cant even decide on the right name. Frequent alternations between Yadav and Jadhav? Kolbhoshan and Kulbhshan have been witnessed. If they cant accurately decide on his name, the facts surely arent their forte. Pakistans High-Commissioner to India, Abdul Basit, in his first media interview since the verdict, even went so far as to defend the farcical legal proceedings of known terrorists and lead architects of the heinous Mumbai terror attacks. Basit defended both Hafeez Saeed (who walks around Lahore freely even after the US placed a bounty on him) and Zaki-Ur-Rehman Lakhvi, stating in Pakistan, legal proceedings take their own course. Former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan, G Parthasarathy, accosted the Pakistan high commissioner in a public forum, when he revealed that Lakhvi s detention was so benevolent, that he was even allowed conjugal visits and was able to father a child, while in captivity. Pakistan says they have used this military court proceeding to try even Pakistanis accused of "terrorism". This may be true, but a closer inspection shows that the militarys definition of terrorism is what clearly impacts Pakistan and the Pakistani Army first. A similar military tribunal was introduced to try and convict those responsible for orchestrating the December 2014 Peshawar massacre. While the military courts rightly cracked down on those who abetted such heinous attacks, clearly the military authorities dont hold the same standard for the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack. And surprisingly, Jadhav, a man against whom no concrete evidence has been presented, has been handed the death knell. There are further unconfirmed reports that Jadhavs trial was done hurriedly so that he could be a pawn in a swap exchange with a Pakistani colonel gone missing and allegedly captured by Indian agencies. Even during the height of the cold war, the US and the USSR showed civility to spies caught on either side and even saw peaceful swap exchanges. To say Pakistans handling of the Jadhav case is negligent would be an understatement. India hasnt minced any words when the MEA has said this would be treated as premeditated murder, if Pakistan chooses to uphold Jadhavs sentence. Former RAW chief AS Dulat is optimistic that sanity will prevail, but he forewarns that Pakistan has shown contempt for the law in the past when hanging an elected prime minister. As much as New Delhi hopes for rational dialogue with Islamabad, foreign policy cognoscenti know only too well that the real headquarters operates out of Rawalpindi (army headquarters). As Shashi Tharoor once eloquently stated that, with most countries, the state has an army, but in Pakistan, the army has a state. So if the military has decided to hang Jadhav, can the civilian government or even the Supreme Court overrule the military? Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif knows only too well, of what it means to be on the receiving end of a generals wrath. The cabinet may decide on buying Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines ahead of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections, said news reports. CNN-News18 also reported that the Election Commission claims it has asked for 16 lakh paper trail machines. It also said that around Rs 3,000 crore will have to be cleared by the cabinet for 16 lakh VVPAT machines. The Delhi High Court on Tuesday had declined Aam Aadmi Party's request to use second-generation EVMs with paper trail in the 23 April civic polls in the national capital. Justice AK Pathak had refused immediate relief to the ruling party, saying that "nothing can be done at the eleventh hour". "We cannot stay the election nor pass an order to use electronic voting machines which are not there," the court had said while seeking a response from the Election Commission of India and the Delhi State Election Commission by Friday, the next date of hearing. The AAP and its candidate Mohammad Tahir Hussain have approached the high court for using second-generation EVMs attached with a VVPAT in the elections to the capital's three municipal corporations. The court's order came after State Election Commission counsel Sumeet Pushkarna opposed the plea on the ground that the MCD elections are slated for 23 April and changing all EVMs with VVPAT is not feasible in four days. The counsel said the EVMs to be used in the civic polls are the same that were used in 2015 Assembly elections, after which the AAP came to power. With inputs from PTI The Narendra Modi Cabinet has taken a decision to stop the use of red beacon lights atop official VVIP vehicles. The decision will come into effect from 1 May, according to media reports. Once this comes into effect, the report in The Financial Express said, only officials of five categories prime minister, president, vice-president, Chief Justice of India, and the Lok Sabha Speaker will be allowed to use the beacons. "In a historic decision, the Cabinet has decided that beacon lights will be removed from all vehicles, barring emergency service vehicles, from 1 May," Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said. Gadkari showed the way by becoming the first minister to take the beacon off his official vehicle after the Cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It has been decided to do away with beacons of all kinds on top of all categories of vehicles in the country. The minister said "this government is a government of common masses and has decided to abolish VIP culture of beacon lights and sirens". The government has taken the decision with a view to strengthening "healthy democratic values" in the country. "The government is of the considered opinion that beacons on vehicles are perceived symbols of VIP culture and have no place in a democratic country. They have no relevance whatsoever," Gadkari reasoned. Beacons, however, will be allowed on vehicles concerning emergency and relief services, ambulance, fire service etc. Prime Minister Modi took to Twitter to thank the people who applauded his decision. Thank you. These symbols are out of touch with the spirit of new India. https://t.co/xCMaSn48mc Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 19, 2017 It should have gone long ago. Glad that today a strong beginning has been made. https://t.co/25BxLdlDpp Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 19, 2017 Every Indian is special. Every Indian is a VIP. https://t.co/epXuRdaSmY Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 19, 2017 In light of the decision, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways will make necessary provisions in law. According to Gadkari, this is start of a healthy culture and tradition as blaring of sirens and blazing of beacons used to anger the masses. In many states, even MLAs blatantly used beacon lights, he said, adding that some of them had the practice of using detachable beacons. Even use of sirens by ministers is not legal as these can be used only by pilot police vehicles, he pointed out. The step is bound to increase faith and respect of common masses in the Narendra Modi government, he hoped. Asked what will be the punitive measures in case of violations, the minister said action will be taken as per provisions. He said a detailed notification in this regard will be issued soon and there is no need for any amendment in the Motor Vehicles Act. "We can issue the notification under respective rules and before that, a notice will be issued for public hearing," he said. The decision comes just days after the Amarinder Singh government in Punjab had issued a formal notification on 15 April, prohibiting the use of red beacons on all vehicles barring those belonging to a few high dignitaries, a step aimed to end the VIP culture in Punjab. The Punjab government's notification, issued by the Department of Transport under Rule 108 of Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, supersedes all previous notifications on the use of red and other coloured beacon lights, an official spokesperson had said. As per the notification, red lights with flashers can now be used only by a few high dignitaries, including the Punjab governor, and the chief justice and judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. According to Hindustan Times, in March, a video had gone viral in which power and irrigation minister Rana Gurjit was heard expressing his resentment against the government's decision of banning beacon lights. There were reports saying beacon lights were being allegedly bought by ordinary people in order to gain easy access. The reports said the beacon lights were easily available in car accessory shops for Rs 2,500 per piece. With inputs from PTI New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday rapped the Army asking why it had maintained silence over allegations of rape and murder against its personnel in Manipur and questioned the state government for not proceeding with these cases against them. The apex court asked the Manipur government to explain whether it was a "sheer helplesness" on their part or a "tacit understanding" that they would not proceed against the Army personnel despite there being serious allegations of rape and murder against them. "You may have two alleged rapists. Why you have kept quiet," a bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and U U Lalit asked Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, who was appearing for the Army and the Assam Rifles. Responding to the query, the Attorney General said, "these are allegations only. The question is whether rape was committed by the Army personnel". The court posed this query to Rohatgi after it was told that there were allegations against two Army personnel that they had raped a 15-year-old girl in 2003 following which she had committed suicide. The bench was also told that an inquiry commission report had also indicted some officials of Assam Rifles in a separate case in which a woman was allegedly sexually assaulted before being shot dead in Manipur. When Rohatgi said an inquiry was conducted on the allegations of rape, the bench shot back, "we would want to know what kind of inquiry you have conducted. We would like to see the inquiry report also". The Attorney General also said that state government had set up a commission to inquire into these matters but it had no power to do so. During the hearing, the counsel appearing for Manipur told the bench that "in cases where personnel of armed forces are involved, we have stopped from proceeding ahead". To this, the bench said, "the reports clearly suggest that the girl was subjected to rape. You are creating a stonewall and you do not want to break that stonewall. You have not tried anything. You have not asked the Army to handover the custody of the alleged culprits". "Is it just a sheer helplessness or is it a tacit understanding that you will not proceed against the Army personnel. You see, she was a young girl and there are no allegations that she was an insurgent. She was working on a farm where two people came and raped her. She committed suicide and you are saying what can we do. Are you saying that let Army people come and rape," the bench said. The court is hearing a PIL seeking probe and compensation in alleged 1,528 extra-judicial killings in Manipur from 2000 to 2012 by security forces and police. During the hearing, the court was told that there were 265 cases of deaths which have to be examined and there were various reports of the commission of inquiry in which serious allegations have been levelled against armed forces personnel. Dealing with a murder case of a woman, who was allegedly subjected to sexual assault by army personnel, the bench asked the Centre as to whether it was their case that "alright some Army personnel have committed the murder, so what". The Centre's counsel said it was not their case and they have also given Rs 10 lakh compensation to the victim's family as per the apex court's order. "Don't you want to inquire even if somebody makes such allegations against your people (Army personnel)? Are you saying whatever was done was legitimate," the bench asked. Responding to this, the Centre's counsel said, "It was a bonafide military operation based on intelligence input. Army is not averse to conducting an inquiry." He claimed that allegation of sexual assault was not substantiated during the inquiry and it was found that there was some violation of laid down procedure in conducting the operation. On the issue of payment of compensation by the Centre, the bench asked whether the government was supposed to pay Rs 10 lakh as compensation for violation of procedure. "Government of India do not have so much money that they can say okay, there is some violation of procedure, so we will pay the compensation. Rs 10 lakh is a big amount," the bench said. The apex court had earlier asked the Centre to segregate the cases related to the armed forces from the list of 265 incidents of extra-judicial killings in Manipur, which it would deal with first on a plea seeking probe into such alleged fake encounter killings. It had also asked the Manipur government to distinguish among these the cases related to the state police. There are 35 matters related to commission of inquiry and 37 cases of judicial inquiry or high court matters. Similarly, 23 matters of National Human Rights Commission would be heard along with 170 cases based on written complaints. The Centre had said that out of the 282 cases, which were referred to it for verification, 70 matters were found to be related to the Army and Assam Rifles while the rest may be concerning the state police. In July last year, the apex court had directed a thorough probe into the alleged fake encounter killings in Manipur saying that the use of "excessive or retaliatory force" by the armed forces or police was not permissible in 'disturbed areas' under the controversial Armed Force Special Powers Act (AFSPA). PTI ABA MNL SJKAlmost 14 years after the 2004 Manorama rape and murder episode, Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Army why it chose to maintain silence despite Commissions of Inquiry set up by the Manipur government over the alleged rape and murder against its personnel in Manipur during the insurgency. According to The Hindu, a Bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and UU Lalit recalled the murder case of Manipuri girl, Thangjam Manorama, in 2004. The judicial inquiry report alleged she had suffered brutal torture by a 17 Assam Rifles team. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi who was in the hearing on the Army's side, however, did not agree to a reinvestigation saying that the Army did not come within the jurisdiction of a Commission set up by the Manipur government. United Nations: The United Nations will issue special stamps commemorating the International Yoga Day on 21 June this year. "Releasing soon. @unstamps Special Event sheet to commemorate International Day of Yoga," India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin tweeted. Releasing soon.@unstamps Special Event sheet to commemorate International Day of Yoga. Contact unpanyinquiries@un.org to book a copy. pic.twitter.com/jXgNJKu53d Syed Akbaruddin (@AkbaruddinIndia) April 18, 2017 The UN postal agency, UN Postal Administration (UNPA) will issue the new special event sheet to commemorate Yoga Day that has been marked annually since 2015. The special sheet consists of stamps with images of the sacred Indian sound "Om" and various yogic postures. The first International Yoga Day was commemorated at the UN in 2015 with aplomb, with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj leading the celebrations along with then UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard. Ban and his wife had joined hundreds of students and yoga practitioners to perform asanas and mediate under the guidance of Shankar during the yoga day celebrations. In December 2014, the UN General Assembly had adopted a resolution with a record number of 177 co-sponsoring member states to commemorate the International Day of Yoga every year on 21 June. United Nations stamps are issued simultaneously at UN offices in New York, Geneva and Vienna. Each issue carries a related design theme, with different denominations for each office. Usually six new commemorative issues are released each year and remain on sale for 12 months only. UN stamps have illustrated the aims and achievements of the United Nations and its family of organisations, the UNPA website said. With the announcement of formation of Anti-Romeo Squads in the Uttar Pradesh Police meant to be aimed at the young boys and men harassing or troubling women across the state came the risk of misleading of policemen by youth organisations affiliated to various factions of the Right, as well as some self-styled ones acting under the BJP umbrella. Incidents of harassing of even consenting adult couples since then, especially by men from the Hindu Yuva Vahini (HYV) founded by present chief minister Yogi Adityanath in 2002 have become common across the state, even though the media has only reported a handful of them. After vigilantism by members of the HYV and some members of the Vishwa Hindu Mahasangh (VHM) Adityanath is chairperson of the India chapter of the organisation, in one case beating up a Muslim youth in Meerut for allegedly being close to a Hindu girl, the chief minister has now appealed to members of the outfits to report such cases to the concerned authorities instead of taking the law into their own hands. Jayant Singh, a member of the HYV from Meerut, said, "We only acted based on complaints from the people of the (Shastri Nagar) locality (in Meerut) that Muslim boys were harassing Hindu girls from the locality. We want to assist the police in nabbing such culprits." If sources in the government are to be believed, the wish of people like Singh might soon come true. "We are planning to offer people from civil society organisations roles of 'police sahayaks (helpers)' so that instead of taking the law into their hands they are able to aid the police if and when required and the police can take action based on their complaints thereafter," a senior BJP leader from western Uttar Pradesh said on the condition of anonymity. In short, much like the dreaded Gau Sevaks in Haryana, who have been given identity cards-cum-licences in huge numbers authorising their illegal acts such as indulging in frequent attacks on suppliers of meat, the members of various right-wing organisations in the state could very soon have licences or identity cards that would empower them to interfere in the daily lives of young couples anywhere in the state. While the police would eventually be called in, that the vigilantes will possess officially-approved identification cards will effectively give them extrajudicial powers. This kind of encouragement, while still not approved and put on paper, has been giving the young vigilantes from the HYV and other smaller right-wing organisations like the Hindu Raksha Dal the opportunity to indulge in arson and violence across the streets of the state. In Noida, the HYV has already carried out several rallies around various colleges and educational institutions 'educating' them on Hindu culture and roughing up men they alleged were indulging in eve-teasing, although no woman ever filed a complaint against them. The Hindu Raksha Dal has also indulged in stone-pelting in many areas of the city where it alleged 'Indian culture' was being insulted because liquor and meat were being served in bars and restaurants. "We have been keeping a tight watch on them and have curbed all their attempts to disturb the peace, but there are only so many policemen. We also cannot arrest them unless there are specific complaints or evidence against them, since arrest on suspicion will only invite a more violent response from them, especially in the current political scenario," a senior official of the Noida Police said. A majority of the men who are part of these right-wing vigilante groups got their training under the BJP cadres during the 2012-2014 period when the party raised the issues of 'love jihad' and cow slaughter vehemently ahead of the Assembly polls in the state and later the Lok Sabha polls. These men were 'educated' on the strategies Muslim boys and men were using to 'lure Hindu girls' and convert them to Islam. Mohit Sharma, from Hapur town in Meerut, said, "We have had enough of Muslim boys kidnapping our Hindu girls or fooling them into converting to Islam only to increase their population in the country. The lack of proper policing has also led to spread of a hippie culture that is eroding Hindu values. We intend to put an end to all of it." By his own admission, Sharma has indulged in attacks on Muslim boys and men (and in some cases even on Dalit men) in Meerut and Ghaziabad for many years when it was suspected that they were close to Hindu girls. He is a trained software engineer and worked with an IT firm in Delhi before quitting ahead of the 2014 polls to head the local social media team and the vigilante group of the BJP. He was personally involved in attacking several Muslim men in Hapur in 2013, when allegations of forced conversion of a Hindu girl to Islam at a local madrassa surfaced; the girl later said she had not been forced to convert, but the damage had already been done. Apart from the men from these groups, the Uttar Pradesh Police has also deployed young men from the force who were earlier part of the police teams that dealt with complaints relating to the kidnapping of Hindu girls and alleged forced conversions in madrassas across western Uttar Pradesh. A retired police officer who was in charge of a huge western Uttar Pradesh zone till last year, said, "These young (police) men are almost all Hindus and have a mental tilt towards aggressive Hindutva propagated by the right-wing organisations. The same men have now been put on such duties (in Anti-Romeo Squads) and are spreading terror in the streets as has been visible within the government's first month in power. A dangerous precedent is being set." Sources in the Uttar Pradesh Police said that such men and senior policemen who also have a pro-BJP tilt have been chosen from across the state to be promoted or transferred to important posts in the state. While many transfers have already been made, many others are expected in the coming weeks, after which a call on managing of the youth organisations like the HYV will be taken. A large number of party leaders, however, have made it clear to their higher-ups that while it is important to not take law into their own hands, it will also be important to indulge them since they form an important voter base as well as the ground-level cadre that mobilises when required. "Some of them are young and so can get carried away, but the fact is that they play an important role in keeping the environment in the streets and localities calm and safe. A majority of the leaders support the call that senior men from among them be given ad hoc recognition and power to act against perpetrator of a crime until the police can take over," the senior BJP leader quoted above said. Sources in the party say that the chief minister is yet to give his nod to the proposal but that the senior party members and most of the ministers have already consented to it and that 'in-principle' approval has been given. "Yogi just has to take the final call on it now," added the senior party leader. One month after the Uttar Pradesh government embarked upon its anti-Romeo drive to make the state's colleges a safer place for its women students, things seem to have fizzled out. According to a report in Hindustan Times, the scenes outside Meerut's girls' colleges have begun resembling the pre-drive days once again. The boys are back on their bikes and the police seem to be staying away. Meerut has gone back to status quo. Outside RG Girls' College, Sajida Qureshi, a BA student, was quoted as saying: "Do din ka khumaar thaa bas (It was just a hype of two days)." Anti-Romeo squads were one of the first moves undertaken by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath after he took charge of India's largest state on 19 March. As reported by CNN-News18, the squads were given an five-point agenda by the BJP administration: - Each team to consist of two policemen; one male and one female - Multiple teams could be deployed in the jurisdiction of one police station depending on the number of schools and colleges in the area, which have larger numbers of women - Their task is to identify troublemakers in a crowd. They will move around in uniforms and also in plain clothes - The teams would comprise constables, head constables, ASI and SI - Anti-Romeo squads can let off miscreants with a warning, inform parents, and even initiate criminal action depending on the seriousness of the case However, the squads went too far in certain cases, like in one instance where they shaved the head of a man caught for allegedly molesting a woman and tonsured his head. The Uttar Pradesh police had then issued directives to not resort to blackening of faces or making people conduct squats. But all that seems to have fizzled out if the reports emerging from Meerut are to be any indication. Admitting the scaled down presence of police in this drive, a top police official told Hindustan Times: "After the first two days, there were written orders from the top to act only when a complaint is received. The squads do exist, but they act only after a complaint. We have been told not to act against random youngsters or couples." Vijay Mallya, former liquor baron who is currently holed up in England, has once again expressed his willingness for the second time in 2017 to resolve what he considers lifes most contentious issue. Reliable sources in Bengaluru, home to the United Breweries, a company Mallya part-owns (latest data put his share in the company at 7.9 percent), confirmed the presence of a London-based advocacy agent in India to meet up with top ministers and government officials to negotiate what could be "an acceptable solution for the Indian government" to resolve the long, pending crisis of dues totalling a whopping Rs 9,000 crores. The representative, who had last year petitioned Mallya's case with the Ministry of Finance without much success, is in the Indian Capital to explain what he claims is the seriousness of the former liquor baron in making an "upfront payment" to the Indian government and return home with dignity and honour. Previous attempts to reach out to the Indian government have not yielded any success for Mallya. In private conversations, Mallya has expressed his willingness to return to India and work on new business plans. The "king of good times", a title he gave himself, wanted to be seen in India as an "honest man whose business failed". It was not immediately known how the Indian government would react to the offer. It is reliably learnt that Indian High Commission officials in London had explained to their counterparts in New Delhi about the painstaking extradition process and how it could eventually delay the process of recovery of cash from Mallya. The officials further explained how Britains priority would be to see a peaceful election and not issues like extradition of Mallya, who was granted bail by a London court within hours after he was arrested by the extradition unit of Metropolitan Police on Tuesday. Mallya is scheduled to appear for another hearing next month. The British home secretary is expected to take the final call on Mallyas extradition, provided the judge hearing the extradition case approves the request for Mallya to be sent back to India. Mallya, who has previously disputed accusations that he fled India to avoid bad debts, has told his friends that prolonged court proceedings could mean a life in isolation and a stigma of lifetime. He wants to resolve the case, quickly and amicably. But the main crisis revolves around the amount that the former liquor baron is ready to offer. His emissary has indicated that the amount hovered in the region of Rs 4,500 to Rs 5,500 crores, and could be offered by the embattled tycoon the moment he gets a green signal from the banks and the finance ministry. What is interesting is that the offer is much less than the Rs 6,868 crore Mallyas emissaries had once offered, arguing if public sector banks could offer a one-time settlement to other borrowers, why shouldn't be Mallyas offer be accepted. But the banks in India had rejected the offer, arguing the former liquor baron needed to pay the complete amount of Rs 9,000 crore due from him. It is also understood that Mallya is wary of the criminal investigations against him. The CBI has found that sometime in 2011, while banks were executing a debt restructuring plan, Mallya may have availed of a commission on personal guarantees for further loans that were given to him. The excess funds were given by the banks in an effort to bail out the companies under Mallyas control, including the long-ailing Kingfisher Airlines. As per the bailout plan, Mallya was not supposed to avail of any commissions for providing any guarantees. The CBI is probing whether he violated any of these agreements as well as if there exists any conspiracy to defraud the banks. A similar charge has already appeared in the CBIs January 2017 chargesheet on money borrowed by Kingfisher Airlines from IDBI Bank. Arrests were made in the case. In Mallyas case, all decisions to approve the loans till 2011 were taken by the head of the State Bank of India, from its head office in Mumbai. The SBI has the largest stake in the corpus loaned to Mallya. Mallya, it is learnt, is apprehensive of being kept in custody for quite some time if he lands in India because of the criminal cases filed against him. His back would be up against the wall till he also reaches a settlement in the debt recovery cases. The flashy tycoon had even tweeted what looked like his frustration with the Indian banks, Mallya wanted the Supreme Court to intervene and push the banks to settle for one time cash. "Public-sector banks have policies for one-time settlements. Hundreds of borrowers have settled. Why should this be denied to us?," Mallya had tweeted in March 2017. Mallyas appointed representative, considered close to a host of politicians cutting across all parties, is expected to start negotiations soon, the sources claimed. The person is expected to present a blueprint of Mallyas assets in India and abroad to dispel doubts in the minds of many about its actual value and the amount of cash he was ready to offer. The need to talk about his assets, claimed sources, emerged after the countrys apex court in March 2017, had asked the former liquor baron about the "truthfulness" of his disclosure of assets and transfer of the $40 million to his children. "You answer us whether you have disclosed your assets truthfully? Did you violate the Karnataka High Court order (restraining Mallya from transferring and alienating assets) by transferring $40 million, a bench of Justices AK Goel and UU Lalit had asked Mallya's counsel. The apex court had reacted after Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi blamed Mallya for taking Indian courts "for a ride". There are other issues bothering the banks. Recently, the consortium of 17 banks, led by the countrys largest, State Bank of India, failed to attract bidders in its efforts to auction Mallya's plush Kingfisher House in Mumbai and Kingfisher Villa in Goa last month, despite lowering the reserve price for the fourth and third time, respectively. The banks, expectedly, are wary. The consortium has said it will see whats on the plate before commenting whether or not the offer is acceptable. "Let him send us a letter and explain how much he wishes to pay, Indian banking is not done through twitter," consortium's counsel SS Naganand said in a telephonic interview. Bank officials, speaking on conditions of anonymity, said they want a settlement done at the earliest because they fear a severe backlash from investigation agencies. In January this year, the CBI arrested former IDBI Bank chairman Yogesh Aggarwal and eight others, including Kingfisher Airlines' former chief financial officer A Raghunathan in the Rs 750-crore loan fraud case. Mallya, who has been in Britain, since he left India on 2 March 2016, must come up with some quick answers if he wants to return home. The choice entirely lies with him, and his battery of lawyers in India and London. Mumbai: At least 10 Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) activists were arrested for allegedly creating a ruckus in a showroom of apparel brand Zara at Lower Parel area in Mumbai to oppose the sale of "Pakistani brands" of clothes. Those arrested included MNS corporator Datta Narvankar and three women, who were later released on bail, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone-III) Pravin Padwal on Wednesday. The activists barged into the showroom inside Phoenix mall on Tuesday after coming to know of the outlet selling the apparel and accessories of "Pakistani brands", said the official. The activists shouted slogans against Pakistan and threw out the stock of Pakistani brand garments, he said. According to the officer, the activists also warned the shop management not to sell apparels of Pakistani brands. The personnel from NM Joshi Marg police station rushed to the showroom and detained 10 MNS activists. They were brought to the police station and subsequently arrested, he said adding they were later released on bail. A case under section 143 (unlawful assembly) of IPC was lodged and the probe is on, he added. Despite the hype about the openness of the contemporary world we inhabit, mental health continues to remain globally a stigmatised and tabooed subject. Against this backdrop, when a high profile royal celebrity like Prince Harry speaks out about the mental torment that he underwent after the sudden death of his mother Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, that frank admission can become a potential catalyst to breaking at least temporarily the silence around mental illness. Prince Harry, at the time of his mothers death, was 12 years old. In an interview with the UK-based newspaper Telegraph this Monday, the prince disclosed that he shut down all his emotions for nearly two decades after his mother died even though his brother, Prince William, repeatedly urged him to seek help to deal with his grief. After experiencing two years of total chaos when he was in his late twenties, Harry finally sought counselling. He talked at length to the British journalist Bryony Gordon, who has written about her own battles with depression. He also happened to be the first guest on the Telegraph podcast Mad World, a series based on conversations around mental health. I have probably been very close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions, when all sorts of grief and all sorts of lies and misconceptions and everything are coming to you from every angle, Harry said in the interview. Besides bringing to the fore an issue that is rarely publicly talked about, his admission to coping with depression also signalled a new direction for the usually reticent British royal family. My way of dealing with it [his mothers death] was sticking my head in the sand, refusing to ever think about my mum, because why would that help? Harry said in the podcast. He believed there was no point talking about the loss since it would only make him sad, and was not going to bring her back. He believed in not letting his emotions be part of anything. But after twenty-odd years of struggling with grief, the prince decided to go public with his emotional turbulence. Not just that he, along with his brother William and his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, has just launched a campaign called Heads Together, with the aim of de-stigmatising mental illness. In the interview Prince Harry said: I can safely say that losing my mum at the age of 12, and therefore shutting down all of my emotions for the last 20 years, has had a quite serious effect on not only my personal life but my work as well. Explaining that not talking about emotional stress and suffering was only ever going to make it worse, the prince encouraged people go for help. You will be surprised, firstly, how much support you get, he said. The much talked about interview provides us with an occasion to revisit the daunting challenges around mental health that we confront at home. According to the latest World Health Organisation report on depression released two months ago, nearly 7.5 percent of Indians suffer from major or minor mental disorders calling for expert intervention. The WHO prevalence report underlines what Indian psychiatrists have been saying: the burden of depression cannot be ignored. In October 2016, the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in Bengaluru released a mental health survey that said that the incidence of depression is roughly one in every 20 Indians or 5 percent of the population, stated a Times of India report from February 207. Drawing attention to a worldwide increase by 18 percent in depression between 2005 and 2015, the WHO report says: Nearly half of these people live in the South-East Asia Region and Western Pacific Region, reflecting the relatively larger populations of those two regions (which include India and China, for example.) Besides the prevalence of large-scale stigma acting as a deterrent to seeking help, several other constraints come in the way of mental health patients accessing healthcare in India. Some of the main impediments to ensuring effective mental health facilities include lack of resources and a dearth of trained health-care providers. According to the Times of India report: India, for instance, has less than 4,000 psychiatrists to treat its mentally ill people. However with Parliament approving the Mental Health Care Bill earlier this month, a welcome change could be in the offing. As Mohan Rao and Anindya Das observed in an article in Scroll.in that this changes the approach to mental healthcare from the previous Mental Health Act, 1987, that primarily focussed on administrative aspects of care in mental hospitals to a more human rights based approach for people living with mental illness. A beginning may have been made. But much more needs to be done at all levels for mentally ill patients to feel comfortable about reaching out for help. Curtains came down on the 'Great BJP Show' in Bhubaneswar on Sunday. But the show will resume three months from now: The partys next National Executive will be held in the coastal city of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. Why Visakhapatnam? No prizes for guessing. After what it deems a successful session of the National Executive in Odisha, the party will shift strategic meetings to the South, beginning with Andhra Pradesh in July. At the same time, the party continues to do everything it can to storm into Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala, but finds that the challenge is tougher than it had imagined. In Andhra Pradesh, the BJP rides piggyback on its ally, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). The other Telugu-speaking state of Telangana is posing a different kind of challenge for the BJP. There, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, known as KCR, of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi claims to be more saffron than the BJP he holds yagnas and the like and indulges temples like some Hindu maharajas of yore. He is now wooing Muslims too with 12 percent reservations and driving BJP leaders up the wall. In Tamil Nadu, all will depend on how the drama over AIADMK (Amma) honcho TTV Dinakaran (also spelled as Dhinakaran), who is charged with a notes-for-votes scandal and also accused of attempting to bribe the Election Commission will unfold in the coming days. (Note: At the time of writing, Tamil Nadu finance minister D Jayakumar had announced the ouster of Dinakaran and his aunt Sasikala from the party). As for Kerala, where Muslims and Christians together form 45 percent of the population, the BJP gained a toehold in last years Assembly election and is not sure of how to turn it into at least a foothold. But when the going is tough, the tough get going. And Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah are the toughest of them all, or at least they imagine they are. They know their toughest challenge lies in the two Telugu-speaking sibling states. A reluctant ally of Telugu Desam Continuing to ride pillion on an electoral horse will never give a party the reins. The BJP is aware of that. In Andhra Pradesh, the party is now grappling with the same conundrum it faced in the early 1980s in Karnataka when it joined forces with the Janata Dal. Its real growth began only after it went solo, and it took more than two decades for it to come to power in the state. Andhra Pradesh chief minister and TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu backed NDA at the Centre in 1998 and broke away from it after the 2004 elections. Only a day before polling in 2014, he rejoined it, provoking protests from the cadres of both TDP and the BJP in the state. The same tension continues between local leaders of both parties even now over sundry issues, though TDP has two ministers at the Centre and the BJP has two in the Naidu team. The BJP is also aware that, in 2014, the difference between the vote shares of TDP and the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) was a mere 2.6 percent. It also knows that actor Pawan Kalyan, who supported the TDP-BJP alliance and who may have weaned away significant votes from his Kapu community to the combination in 2014, is now attacking both the parties via Twitter. YSRCP, led by YS Jaganmohan Reddy (known as Jagan) is, meanwhile, taking the liberty of spreading stories that the BJP will dump TDP and form an alliance with it. But for now, it is safe to presume that the BJP will continue with TDP and try to do the best it can. The Andhra Pradesh Assembly will go to the polls in 2019 along with the Lok Sabha elections. BJP banks on Hindu vote in Telangana KCR supported the BJP in the 2008 elections, became cool to it later, then began to woo the party after 2014. Having failed in that most recent effort, the party is now taking on the BJP in full blast. Going out of his way to cultivate conservative Hindus by pampering temples and holding yagnas and the like and, at the same time, by indulging Muslims with a 12 percent reservation, the Telangana chief minister is confusing the hell out of the BJP. The BJP will be left with no choice other than to take on the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), which is strong in at least a score of constituencies, attempt to polarise the Hindu vote in its favour and wean away upper castes from KCR. The Telangana Assembly will go to the polls in 2019 along with the Lok Sabha elections. Tamil Nadu strategy depends on Dinakaran drama The BJP is desperate to see a merger between the factions of Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswamy of AIADMK (Amma) and former chief minister O Panneerselvam of AIADMK (Puratchi Thalavi Amma), the latter backed by Sasikala and her nephew Dinakaran. The BJP was wooing the united AIADMK led by Jayalalithaa for nearly ten years till her death in December 2016. After supporting the NDA and famously backing out in 1998, she was in and out of alliances with the BJP, Congress and Third Front, but remained non-aligned since the 2014 elections. The BJP warmed up to her even more after Modi became prime minister in 2014 and after her death in December 2016, cosied up to her friend Sasikala who seemed like her heiress-obvious. The realisation that the popularity of scam-tainted Sasikala, who is now in a Bengaluru jail, was limited to some two dozen legislators and didnt extend to people at large, followed by a split in the AIADMK, was an obvious cause of worry for the BJP. Then came the I-T raids on 7 April on a minister close to Dinakaran, which allegedly proved that he had distributed Rs 89 crore to voters in the run-up to the (later rescinded) RK Nagar by-election. The Delhi Police case against him on Monday added a new twist: He was accused of attempting to bribe the Election Commission to get the united AIADMKs seized 'two-leaves' symbol for his faction. All this could lead to a possible merger between the two factions. A reunited AIADMK, minus Sasikala and her family, would be ethically and electorally an ideal entity with which the BJP could align. And it would be naive to believe that the BJP is a mere spectator in his drama it's a catalyst from outside, if not an agent provocateur from inside. The Tamil Nadu Assembly went to the polls in May 2016. Much could depend on Deve Gowda in Karnataka Last weeks defeats in the Gundlupet and Nanjangud Assembly by-elections might not be a pointer to the outcome of the election to the 224-seat Karnataka Assembly next year, but they are a warning to the BJP that it cant take a victory in 2018 for granted. Much will depend on, among other things, what Janata Dal (Secular) chief Deve Gowda is up to. Characteristically, he is giving out baffling signals as to whether he will join hands with the Congress. Besides fathoming the unfathomable Gowda and dealing with him, BJP needs to get its own organisational act together in Karnataka, come up with a credible agenda as an alternative to the directionless administration of the Congress and get its caste matrix right before being reasonably sure about winning. It cant depend on the Modi magic and defectors from the Congress alone. On the hunt for partners in Kerala too The BJPs defeat in the Malappuram Lok Sabha by-election on Monday was a foregone conclusion. The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a constituent of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), which, in 2014, won the constituency where Muslims form 70 percent of voters, has retained it. But what is somewhat noteworthy is that the BJPs votes rose by only about 1,000 compared to the 2014 figure. More importantly, its votes dropped by around 8,000 from its 2016 tally in the Assembly segments that come under Malappuram. Any strategy by the BJP to expand its base in Kerala cant ignore the backward Ezhavas (23 percent of the population), a good number of whom continue to support the CPM that leads the Left Democratic Front (LDF). The efforts to woo that community by joining forces with an Ezhava outfit last year having failed, the BJP must find other ways to wean them to its side. As in other states, the BJP is also trying desperately to woo some Congress leaders into the party. Gods Own Country will take a long while before it becomes BJPs own, if it ever does. The Kerala Assembly went to the polls in May 2016. The author tweets @sprasadindia After former chief minister O Panneerselvam revolted against former AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala in February and was forced to resign, two factions were formed. One was led by Sasikala's loyalists, including Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswamy, while the other a group comprising of Panneerselvam's supporters. However, after Supreme Court's ruling on the disproportionate assets case which sent Sasikala to a Bengaluru prison, AIADMK (Amma) reigns landed in the lap of the tainted leader's nephew TTV Dinakaran (also spelled as Dhinakaran). AIADMK suffered a split, with some MPs and MLAs joining the Panneerselvam camp even as Palaniswamy, a Sasikala loyalist, survived a confidence vote in the Tamil Nadu Assembly. Almost a month and a half after that, the party is witnessing a three-way split with one faction supporting OPS, another backing EPS and the third putting its weight behind Dinakaran, although reports have said that the numbers in his favour are dwindling. Simmering conflict between the Panneerselvam faction and Palanaswamy faction have dominated the last couple of months. Here's how things have unfolded since February: Fight for AIADMK symbol; Election Commission cancels R K Nagar bypolls The Election Commission froze AIADMK's 'two leaves' symbol after the two factions led by Sasikala and Panneerselvam staked claim to it. The bypoll to the R K Nagar Assembly constituency in Tamil Nadu was scheduled for 12 April, but the EC cancelled it, saying the electoral process had been "seriously vitiated" by parties through the use of money power. Dinakaran was the candidate of the Sasikala faction. The seat fell vacant after the death of then chief minister J Jayalalithaa on 5 December. The panel said both groups shall be known by such names as they may choose to show, if they so desire, linkage with their parent party AIADMK. Both the groups shall be allotted different symbols from a list of free symbols notified by the EC for the purposes of the current by-election from Radhakrishnan Nagar assembly constituency in Tamil Nadu. Both the AIADMK factions are desperate for a unity because they realise they will find fighting the next civic body elections tough against the DMK in the absence of the familiar "two leaves" election symbol. In March, the AIADMK faction led by Panneerselvam met Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi to stake claim to the party symbol of 'two leaves' for the RK Nagar seat by-election. Panneerselvam had said "Amma had always been against the family rule. However, the Sasikala group has again established family rule by nominating (her nephew) Dinakaran." The Election Commission had reserved its order after hearing day-long arguments from rival AIADMK factions in Tamil Nadu on the allocation of the "two leaves" party symbol, one of the petitioners said. The poll panel has three options: Allot the symbol to Sasikala or to Panneerselvam faction, or in the worst case scenario, freeze the symbol. Unity efforts gain momentum Efforts to unite the AIADMK factions picked up speed after Delhi Police filed a case against Dinakaran for trying to bribe the Election Commission to allot his faction the now frozen "two leaves" election symbol. The crime branch of Delhi Police booked Dinakaran for allegedly trying to bribe an Election Commission official to get the 'two leaves' poll symbol in the by-election to the R K Nagar Assembly seat. He was booked following the arrest of Sukesh Chandrasekhar, a middleman, from a five-star hotel in Delhi on Tuesday. The leader of the Sasikala faction of the ruling party also claimed he did not know Sukesh Chandrasekhar, a middleman arrested by the Delhi police in this matter. Dinakaran on 12 April denied speculations that some state ministers had revolted against him. He was responding to a query on speculations that some of the AIADMK ministers had revolted against him and wanted him to be removed as the party's deputy general secretary. Merger talks between factions begin Sources said it was Panneerselvam who had first sent out signals of a possible rapprochement between the rival factions, a move which was promptly welcomed by the Sasikala camp followers. Senior Tamil Nadu ministers held urgent consultations on 17 April amid talks of merger of the rival AIADMK factions led by Sasikala/Dinakaran and Panneerselvam. The unscheduled meeting on Monday night, chaired by electricity minister K Thangamani, was underway at his official residence at the Greenways Road. Ministers including health minister C Vijayabaskar, who is under the income tax scanner, were present at the meeting. Palaniswamy did not attend the meet, party sources said. Sasikala loyalists revolt against Dinakaran An influential section of Sasikala loyalists led by Palaniswamy on 18 April revolted against the AIADMK general secretary, resolving to "delink" the party and the government from her family, and extending a hand of friendship to the rival Panneerselvam camp. "There was a consensus to delink the government and the party from Dinakaran and the family he belongs to. This is the view of the basic partymen, district secretaries, MLAs and ministers," finance minister D Jayakumar told reporters after a "consultative" meeting chaired by Palaniswamy and attended by several ministers. The development came on a day when Panneerselvam made merger talks between the two camps conditional to the ouster of Sasikala and Dinakaran, who is standing in for his jailed aunt as her deputy. According to Panneerselvam, MGR never involved his brother in party affairs when he founded the AIADMK and then ruled Tamil Nadu for a decade until his death in December 1987. He said Jayalalithaa admitted only Sasikala into the party and none of the latter's family. The Sasikala faction hit back. Palaniswamy said if Panneerselvam placed such conditions, then unity talks cannot proceed further. Sasikala faction legislator Vetrivel questioned how a group of ministers discussed a patch-up without the consent of party Dinakaran, a nephew of Sasikala. He said in Chennai that the meeting of the ministers was "unofficial" and only those meetings held at the AIADMK office were "official". Sasikala ousted, committee to run party Jayakumar announced on 18 April that 20 ministers have decided to oust Sasikala and Dinakaran from the party.He further informed that the decision to oust Sasikala and family was "unanimous" and based on the views of all ministers, including chief minister, MLAs, MPs and the public, reports said. "A panel will be formed for the day-to-day functioning of AIADMK," the Tamil Nadu minister announced after a meeting that was held at Tamil Nadu chief minister's residence. With inputs from agencies Click here for Live updates on the issue Chennai: In a sudden turn of events, Tamil Nadu Finance Minister D Jayakumar on Tuesday announced that ministers have decided to keep out jailed AIADMK leader VK Sasikala, her nephew TTV Dinakaran and his family out of the party. Jayakumar also said a committee will be formed to run the party when asked about the General Secretary's position. Sasikala was elected as AIADMK's General Secretary last December. Jayakumar, who made the announcement after meeting Chief Minister E Palaniswamy, told reporters that the AIADMK was bowing to the wishes of party cadres, people, lawmakers, ministers and others to keep Dinakaran, the Deputy General Secretary, and his family members out of the party. "We will run the party and the government," he said. "We want to save the party and the government from the clutches of one family." Reacting to the announcement, Sasikala faction legislator Vetrivel told a television channel that Jayakumar did not have the power to make such an announcement. The AIADMK split into two after former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's death. One faction is led by Sasikala and the other by former chief minister O Panneerselvam. When the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government was formed in 1998, with LK Advani as the home minister and Murli Manohar Joshi as the human resource development minister, it was faced with a dilemma whether or not to work towards dropping the criminal conspiracy charges filed against its top party for the demolition of the Babri mosque in 1992. The popular opinion within a section of party leaders at the time was that since the conspiracy charges were "concocted", the government, or the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in particular, should seek a withdrawal of these charges in the designated court of law. The other option was to take a moral stand on the issue and not interfere with the functioning of the CBI, and other law enforcing agencies, irrespective of the fact that the accused were top leaders in the ruling dispensation. An argument in favour of this stance was that the cases against Advani, Joshi, Uma Bharti, Vinay Katiar, Sadhvi Rithambra, Acharya Giriraj Kishore, Ashok Singhal and Vishnu Hari Dalmia among others did not have any merit and would thus fall flat in the court of law. As we know, the Vajpayee government decided to follow the latter course. Advani was subsequently elevated to the position of deputy prime minister in 2002. Later, the Raebareli court hearing the case absolved Advani, Joshi and other leaders of all conspiracy charges. The Lucknow High Court, subsequently, upheld the lower court's verdict. Another case, against "unknown persons" for their alleged role in the Babri mosque demolition (except for conspiracy charges) continued to be heard in a Lucknow court. The Supreme Court, on Wednesday, allowed the CBI to revive the conspiracy charges levelled against the leaders in 1992, essentially turning back the clock. The apex court has clubbed two cases, the one fought in Raebareli court with the other case filed in a Lucknow trial court (minus the criminal conspiracy charges). The apex court has issued a two-year deadline, starting sometime in the next four weeks, to the designated court, directing it to hold daily proceedings without any adjournment. Given the intensity and gravitas of the Supreme Court verdict, Advani, Joshi and others could very well be ruing their 1998 decision of not imploring the then BJP government to contest the charges levelled against them. After all, there have been several instances in the past when Congress governments have not shown great enthusiasm in pursuing cases related to its leaders. It seems that BJP's decision to take the moral high ground 19 years ago has come back to haunt Advani, Joshi, Uma and others. In 1998, the leaders assumed high offices at the Centre even as the charges levelled against them continued to hold. Subsequently, they were acquitted by the Raebareli court. But on Wednesday, as the apex court turned back the clock, they were placed yet again under the accused category by the CBI, albeit this time under the Modi government at the Centre. It should be noted that criminal conspiracy charges were not part of the original case filed against BJP and Sangh Parivar leaders after the demolition. This raises some pertinent questions: Could CBI have diluted its argument or pleaded for the dropping of charges, had the circumstances been different? Was CBI acting on its own or was it working with a 'hidden guidance' from the government? Though the reasons behind its move are based purely on conjecture, the fact remains that something did propel the CBI to push for the reopening of the trial. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, whose advice on legal issues weighs heavily on the central government and BJP, said, "This matter is on since 1992... the status remains the same." He also ruled out Bharti's resignation and rejected Congress' demand for the same by saying that if a chargesheet was enough to act on, then many Congress ministers and chief ministers would be in trouble. Wednesday's Supreme Court order has inadvertently brought the focus back on the Ram temple issue and has set the tone for renewed public discourse on the subject. The issue had already come to the fore, with BJP's landslide victory in the recent Uttar Pradesh Assembly election. Advani and Joshi have not spoken on the issue and it remains to be seen how they will respond. There is immense public curiosity around the case, as it will be interesting to see how the CBI would argue its case and how hard it would push for the prosecution of Advani, Joshi, Uma, Katiar and others. The Supreme Court has directed the CBI to ensure that at least one prosecution witness appears daily in the trial court for the recording of his/her testimony. This is where the problem lies for the Modi government. The Ram Mandir issue has for long been an article of faith for the BJP. Advani was not just the architect and charioteer of the infamous Ram Rath Yatra from Somnath to Ayodhya, but was also the founding father of the BJP. He made it possible for the party to catapult from a negligible two seats in the Lok Sabha in 1984, to 85 in 1989, to 120 in 1991 and then on to becoming the single largest party with 187 seats in 1996 (forming a 13 day government) and then to forming a coalition government in 1998. Advani is still honoured in the party and is frequently seen sharing the stage with Modi and party president Amit Shah in all meetings. It wouldn't augur well for the BJP to force prosecution for Advani, Joshi and others. The argument that the CBI was just following an old case and was acting autonomously isn't very convincing. More so, Advani turns 90 in November. The optics generated from him appearing in courts and being prosecuted by the CBI will have its own damaging implications. Recent electoral successes prove that a large number of people are buying the BJP's philosophy of mixing Hindutva with development. In short, the Modi government cannot be seen taking an official position against its own margdarshaks, especially on an issue that brought the Hindutva debate to the forefront. Bharti has already taken a strong position and is going to Ayodhya on Thursday, to walk from the River Sarayu to the disputed site in Ayodhya, for a darshan of Ram Lala, and then onto Hanuman Garhi, to "express gratitude" for what she has achieved. "There was no conspiracy... everything was khulam khula (out in the open). I was present there and participated in the Ayodhya movement, but that can't be a reason to charge me with conspiracy case. If that is the case, then Sonia Gandhi should be prosecuted on conspiracy charges for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots." The Modi government would be wise in handling this issue carefully, as it has a tricky situation at hand. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with senior ministerial colleagues in Delhi on Wednesday, hours after the Supreme Court ordered restoring of criminal conspiracy charge against top BJP leaders L K Advani, MM Joshi and Uma Bharti in the Babri Masjid demolition case. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and Information and Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu were among those who attended the meeting, sources said. The political situation in the country was understood to have been discussed at the meeting, the sources said but did not specify the issues. The meeting took place hours after the Apex Court allowed the CBI plea to restore the criminal conspiracy charge against Advani, Joshi and Bharti in the 1992 Babri demolition case. The top court also clubbed the trial in the matter pending against the leaders and 'karsevaks' and ordered day-to-day trial with the proceedings to be completed in two years. "We have allowed the CBI appeal against the Allahabad High Court judgement with certain directions," a bench comprising Justices P C Ghose and R F Nariman said. After the ruling, opposition demanded Bharti's resignation from the Cabinet but she refused to step down. Jaitley also virtually ruled out Bharti's resignation and described as "hypothetical" the possibility of the SC ruling having any bearing in selection of candidates for presidential and vice presidential polls. "This case is going on since 1993. Somehow it is going on and no new situation has arisen. So the situation which was prevailing will continue," Jaitley told reporters. He was asked whether the ruling would mean resignation of Bharti, the Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, from the Union Cabinet and Kalyan Singh as Rajasthan Governor. Asked whether Singh and Bharti should resign following the charge sheet in the case, Jaitley shot back, saying if that is the criteria then some of the current Congress chief ministers will have to quit. "There have been ministers, there have been deputy prime ministers... If charge sheet is the rule (to resign), then just calculate, how many Congress chief ministers will (have to go)," he said. When asked whether today's apex court ruling will impact selection of candidates for the posts of president and vice president, Jaitley merely said "it is hypothetical." While the term of President Pranab Mukherjee is coming to an end on 24 July, the term of Vice President Hamid Ansari ends on 10 August. There has been speculation that Advani and Joshi, both BJP veterans, could be considered as possible candidates for the two top constitutional posts. But there has been no official word so far from the ruling NDA in this regard. New Delhi: A team of Delhi Police left for Chennai on Wednesday to serve a notice to AIADMK leader TTV Dinakaran for joining the probe in a case involving the bribing of an EC official to get the 'two-leaves' symbol for his faction. On Tuesday, Delhi Police had issued a lookout notice against the leader. Praveer Ranjan, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) confirmed that a team has been sent to Chennai to serve notice to Dinakaran to join the investigation in Delhi. The lookout notice was issued in the wake of inputs that Dinakaran was an NRI and could try to flee the country, police said. The AIADMK (Amma) deputy general secretary is already facing the heat as the K Palaniswamy cabinet revolted against him last night and decided to keep him and his family out of the party and the government. Dinakaran has convened a meeting of party MLAs in Chennai. Ranjan confirmed that the lookout notice has been issued and said it was a preventive action. Immigration officials have been alerted, police said. Dhinakaran also questioned the need for the lookout notice, saying how could he flee the country when his passport was "in court" for 20 years. Earlier, the crime branch had arrested an alleged middleman, Sukesh Chandrashekhar here in connection with the matter. He claimed that he had told Dinakaran that he will get a favourable verdict from the Election Commission of India in the party symbol case, he said. The 27-year-old had told Dinakaran that he has contacts in the Election Commission and his contacts will help the Sasikala faction get the AIADMK's poll symbol of two leaves in a bypoll to the RK Nagar Assembly seat in Tamil Nadu. Police got on Chadrashekhar's trail after they received a tip-off from an informer about certain Election Commission officials being approached. It has been learnt that he had struck a deal for Rs 50 crore for helping the AIADMK faction keep the 'two leaves' symbol. Till now, the middleman had allegedly got Rs 10 crore of the deal amount and the remaining amount was to be given to him in a time-bound manner. He had allegedly received money through some Chandni Chowk-based hawala operators and police is probing the hawala link. Yesterday, Sukesh was taken to Chandni Chowk by the crime branch officers to identify the hawala operators. Few politicians live as much on extreme edges of political paradoxes as Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar does. But he has an illustrious predecessor from a century ago Mahatma Gandhi, who walked on Bihars Champaran to acquire the status of "sainthood". Gandhi had deftly negotiated with paradoxes and was always guided by his conscience that he often referred to as his "inner voice", and emerged unscathed. Ironically at a time when Nitish has been carrying the message of the Mahatma and his Champaran struggle, his silence on scams involving Lalu Prasad Yadav, Rabri Devi and family appears quite amusing if not intriguing. Even the Centres stoic silence on an open-shut case is self-incriminating. Now look at the details that have come up to squarely indict Lalu, Rabri and their sons Tejashwi and Tej Pratap, who serve as deputy chief minister and a cabinet minister respectively in Nitish's government. Metaphorical journey of the Lalu Prasad Yadav family from Chara (fodder) to LARA LARA (acronym for Lalu-Rabri) Projects LLP a company in which former chief minister Rabri and her two minister sons are shareholders and directors owns prime land in Danapur where Bihar's "biggest shopping mall" worth Rs 500 crore is coming up. One of sale deeds shows that 105 decimal of "agricultural" land (later converted) was sold (Deed no 1490, Khata number 94, plot number 55, Danapur) to Delight Marketing Company Limited on 25 February, 2005 for Rs 15.85 lakh by two Patna residents, Harsh and Vinay Kochhar. The entry of Lalus family in the murky deal Lalu's family first became shareholders of the company in 2010-11 with transfer of shares to Rabri and one share to Tejashwi by Sarla Gupta (wife of former RJD MP and ex-minister of corporate affairs in the UPA government Prem Chand Gupta), the then stakeholder of the company. Later, all the shares of the company went to mother and son. The book value of Rs 2.3 crore went to Lalu's family for a song merely Rs four lakh as per the value of shares Rabri and Tejashwi held at the time of the company takeover. The change of ownership In 2014, when Lalu's family took over the company that has a New Friends Colony, New Delhi address. The existing directors Deoki Nandan Tulshyan and Gaurav Gupta (Prem Guptas son) resigned on 11 February, 2014 and another director Vijay Pal Tripathi resigned on 26, June 2014. While Tej Pratap and Tejashwi were appointed additional directors of the company on 6 January, 2014, Lalu's daughters Chanda and Ragini were appointed to the role on 26 June, 2014 and 5 August, 2016 respectively. Daughters divested of the charge When the company got converted to LARA Projects LLP on 14 February, 2017, Lalu's daughters were dissociated with the company and Rabri was inducted as designated partner of the new company along with their two sons. The new company interestingly changed its objective from export-import to infrastructure development in order to facilitate the construction of the mall. The trail that exposes a scandal and quid pro quo of Lalu and Prem Gupta A year after Harsh Kochchar (the owner of Patnas Chankaya Hotel) gave this land to Delight Marketing Company, Kochchar was given two prime pieces of land in Ranchi and Puri on a 25-year lease by the Railways. These pieces of land were meant for hotel construction. Lalu was then Union railway minister while Prem Gupta held the corporate affairs portfolio. The manner in which the transactions were held needs a thorough probe. Critical factor: Tej Pratap and Tejashwi, both ministers in the Bihar government, have concealed the information of their ownership of this prime land in their respective affidavits filed before the Election Commission on declaration of their properties. Metaphorically, the journey from chara (fodder) to LARA is complete. Insiders in the government admit that what has come out is a tip of the iceberg. Another dubious transaction of land to Lalu's family has also come to light from a liquor manufacturer. If a genuine survey is done, hundreds of benami properties or pieces of land acquired through dubious method would get exposed," admits a senior leader from Bihar. As Nitish has been busy spreading the message of the Champaran Satyagrah, it will serve him well if he takes a lesson from the anecdote recounted by the Mahatma's grandson and eminent personality Gopalkrishna Gandhi in his anthology on Gandhi. During his stay in South Africa (1895), Gandhi was so busy with his activities that he could not get time to attend to his domestic affairs. He called his 'bully' friend Sheikh Mehtab in the fond hope that he was reformed. One day when Gandhi returned home, he found Mehtab in the company of a prostitute. He asked him to immediately leave the place lest he call the police. Gopalkrishna who attended Nitishs Champaran function mentions in his book on Gandhi, "Only rarely and only between the like natures, can friendship be altogether worthy and enduring". He seems to have forgotten to give this advice to Nitish. Gandhi kept the company of affluent and paupers, bullies and meeks, sacred and profane but negotiated paradoxes of life in the most conscientious manner. The manner in which he came out unscathed is exemplified by the way he treated Mehtab. Nitish is no Gandhi and yet, he is carrying Gandhis messages most vociferously these days. He is among the rarest breed of politicians who at least try to live up to certain ideals set by Gandhi. He revived the Lalu brand of politics in the 2015 state Assembly election in the fond hope that Lalu might have changed. But a series of recent exposes shows that the RJD chief has not changed a bit. Far from being embarrassed, he wants Nitish to be a party to his brazen indiscretions. If Nitish follows Gandhis example, there is a fair chance of him being politically marginalised and losing the government. He will lose his lifes political capital if he is known as Lalus companion. For Nitish, this paradox is not easy to negotiate. After AIADMK suffered a split, with some MPs and MLAs joining the former chief minister O Panneerselvam (OPS) camp, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E K Palaniswamy (EPS), a V K Sasikala loyalist, survived a confidence vote in the Tamil Nadu Assembly. In the last couple of months, a merger seemed likely as Panneerselvam first sent out signals of a possible rapprochement between the rival factions, a move which was promptly welcomed by the Sasikala camp followers. Both the AIADMK factions are desperate for reuniting the two warring groups because they realise they will find fighting the next civic body elections tough against the DMK in the absence of the familiar "two leaves" election symbol. In March, the AIADMK faction led by Panneerselvam met Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi to stake claim to the party symbol of 'two leaves' for the RK Nagar seat by-election. Panneerselvam had throughout maintained, "Amma had always been against the family rule." The merger talks began but gave way to Panneerselvam camp's certain conditions. OPS supporters' demands According to News 18, Panneerselvam supporters said he should return as the chief minister. His faction has argued that OPS was chosen by Jayalalithaa as her political heir in her will and was regarded as the former chief minister's Man Friday. Secondly, OPS and his supporters said an inquiry commission should be set up to probe the circumstances of Jayalalithaas death. Panneerselvam's most important demand for a merger was the ouster of Sasikala, who is currently in a Bengaluru jail, her nephew Dinakaran (also spelled at Dhinakaran) and their family members from the ruling AIADMK. Panneerselvam said no one from the Sasikala family should interfere in the functioning of the AIADMK. Panneerselvam wants the duo to resign from their respective party posts of general secretary and deputy general secretary. According to Panneerselvam, the war for justice would continue "till the main goal is achieved". On Wednesday, he said the ouster of the rival AIADMK faction's two leaders was his faction's first victory in the "dharma yudh". How EPS camp sees the demands As this Firstpost article noted, while OPS projected himself as having been Jayalalithaa's chosen one on more than one occasion, EPS was hoping to stay the chief minister while allowing OPS to become party chief. Offering the post of deputy chief minister to EPS is an option the OPS camp is mulling but there is no clarity if the chief minister will agree to a demotion. Also, a Thevar (OPS) replacing a Gounder (EPS) caste person as the chief minister may not go down very well with the latter caste. The narrative being spun by the mainstream media with active inputs from the OPS social media team was that the EPS camp legislators were flocking to the OPS camp and this was another hurdle for the EPS supporters. For the Palaniswamy camp, this results in humiliation since they are now the ruling formation. The merger also means a group of 25 MLAs, who are personally loyal to Sasikala and Dinakaran will have to choose their sides since some of them are quite suspicious of Panneerselvam's connection with the BJP leadership in Delhi. According to The Hindu, welcoming Panneerselvam's ''call'' for unity, Finance Minister D Jayakumar said the AIADMK lawmakers discussed ways to unite the party and get back the 'two Leaves' symbol frozen by the Election Commission. Jayakumar had gone on to say it is like a sibling fight and they will join hands soon. He added that all 128 AIADMK MLAs were united and supporting the idea of a merger. There are some like health minister Vijayabaskar or even senior MLA Senthil Balaji who do not see a ministerial chair for themselves in the new arrangement and are therefore not excited about the merger. Many also feel they owe their political career to Jayalalithaa and Sasikala and do not see any reason to worship a new rising sun in the party for their political future. There have also been reports of some in the EPS camp want to replace one D (Dinakaran) with another D (Dhivakaran) and are sure OPS that he will not hold a party post but only be a guiding force from behind the scenes from the Mannargudi family. Palaniswamy has, however, said talks will be held and conclusions arrived at "as per the desire of people." Dinakaran's view Dinakaran, who had earlier welcomed the idea of expelled leaders such as Panneerselvam coming back to the party, said he had no problems with a possible merger of the factions now headed by Palaniswami and his predecessor Panneerselvam. "I am not against the merger... If the chief minister takes a decision, it should not affect the party in future also. It doesn't matter whom he joins with," he said. Dinakaran on Wednesday said the state ministers have decided to keep him out of the party due to some fear. Speaking to reporters he said: "Due to some unknown fear, the ministers have taken the decision." With inputs from PTI New Delhi: The government has "utterly failed" to protect the interests of the Indian youth seeking job opportunities in the US and Australia after the two countries tightened rules for work visas. Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said the decision of the Donald Trump administration to tighten the rules of the H-1B visa programme was "disappointing" as India was its biggest beneficiary. He rued that various countries were disinclined towards globalisation of labour even though they wanted globalisation of capital. "The silence of this government has been absolutely deafening and we do hope that this government realises that young Indians are not forgiving to those who do not honour their promises and complete it. "Rather than wasting their time on absolutely medieval, reactionary and symbolic issues, this government needs to understand the economic crisis which is engulfing this country and they need to work with the international community to find innovative ways," he said. Tewari said the Trump Administration's decision to drastically scale back on H1B Visa programme and the Australian government's move to scrap the 457 temporary Work Visa is "extremely disappointing". "But what is even more disappointing is the fact that the NDA government, which had made tall promises to young Indians in the 2014 election campaign, has completely failed to work with both the American and the Australian governments to try and convey to them the Indian point of view," he said. He said since the H1B programme started in 1990, India has been the single biggest beneficiary of it as also of the 457 temporary work permit issued by the Australian government. "So, therefore, these barriers to entry which are going up while you want to have globalisation of capital, globalisation of labour is something which should have been rigorously taken up by the current government," he said. The Congress leader said India needed to create about 350 million jobs to meet the flow of about a million young Indians who join the employment stream every year, but the NDA government has so far created only 4.4 lakh jobs in the last two years. Citing a report by a civil society group, he said the situation is very alarming as it states that in the past three years India has lost 55,000 jobs per day. He also cited a World Bank report that says that 69 per cent of all manufacturing jobs in India are threatened by automation and robotisation. "Here is the Prime Minister talking about Make-in-India. With empirical statistics put out by the World Bank, to rather than Make-in-India adding jobs, there is a possibility that 69 per cent of the jobs in the manufacturing sector over the next one decade will be lost to automation," he said. Tewari said this government has completely and absolutely failed to preserve and protect it despite NASSCOM and other industry bodies making noise over the last two months trying to independently lobby the US government on H1B visa programme. By the recent turn of events, it is almost clear that the heydays of Sasikala and her Mannargudi clan are almost over. It is difficult to predict if Sasikala, phoenix-like, will rise again to take control of the AIADMK, but, for the time being, her power play in the party has virtually come to an end. Clearly, corruption has done her and her extended family in. Sasikala is already in jail in the disproportionate assets case, after her conviction by the trial court was upheld by the Supreme Court, overturning the decision of the Karnataka High Court. But just before the Supreme Court decision came as a bolt from the blue for her, Sasikala had taken control of both the AIADMK party as well the government; she had been elected though the electoral process was questioned as the general secretary of the party and the leader of its legislative wing as well; she had staked claim before the governor to be invited to be the chief minister. But before she could be sworn in, the Supreme Court declared her guilty and she was sent to jail. Sasikala had to choose someone to nominally run the party and the government till she came out of jail after three and a half years. She could not have chosen her husband M Natarajan as he had earned the wrath of J Jayalalithaa who had expelled him and he is the most reviled man in the public eye. But Sasikala was brazen enough to choose her nephew, TTV Dinakaran, who had also been expelled by Jayalalithaa, to warm her place as party chief during her incarceration period. In all likelihood, Sasikala would have chosen Dinakaran to head the government as well, but for the surprise revolt of O Paneerselvam, the caretaker chief minister, who had resigned the post after Sasikala was elected the legislative party leader. Paneerselvams rebellion had split the party, though only a small minority of the party MLAs (less than 10 percent) had sided with him. Sasikala, despite having an overwhelming majority of MLAs on her side, did not want to take the risk of foisting Dinakaran on the government. She chose one of the loyal ministers, E Palaniswami, to become the chief minister. Her game plan was quite clear. After Jayalalithaa's death, Sasikala did not immediately manouver to become chief minister herself; she ensured that Paneerselvam, whom Jayalalithaa had chosen as interim chief minister on two occasions when she was imprisoned, stepped in for the third time. But in two months, Sasikala consolidated her position and showed Paneeselvam the door. It is obvious that a similar game plan was on the anvil with Dinakaran being chosen to contest the prestigious RK Nagar seat earlier represented by Jayalalithaa (Sasikala would have contested from this seat had she not been jailed); had the election gone through and if Dinakaran had won (the Election Commission cancelled the bypoll because of excessive money play; Dinakaran had apparently spent Rs 79 crore to win the Assembly election) he would have been pitchforked to the hot seat of the chief minister. Palaniswami and his brood of ministers were acutely aware of the sinister game plan; they waited for their chance and revolted when the Delhi police announced an FIR against Dinakaran on charges of corrupt practices and his arrest looked imminent the endgame for Sasikala and Dinakaran. The question is: will a similar situation unfold for Lalu Yadav and his family soon? When Lalu Yadav went to jail in the fodder scam case in 1996, he chose his illiterate wife, Rabri Devi, as his successor and as the chief minister of Bihar. He had no trouble in doing so, as there was no revolt in the party. During his various stints in and out of jail, Lalu Yadav served as the proxy chief minister of Bihar. After his conviction in the fodder case, he was debarred from holding positions for six years. So in 2015, he chose his son, Tejashwi Yadav, who at 26 had come of age, to succeed him. Tejashwi is now the deputy chief minister of Bihar; he is young and he has a long innings in politics. But, the recent revelation of his association with a shell company to acquire a plush house in elite New Friends Colony of Delhi has brought him under a thick cloud. It has been revealed that a company called AB Exports was constituted in 1996 with the avowed objective of doing import and export business. But it never made any business deals and it never had any employees. The only transaction it made was to buy a residential building in the trendy New Friends Colony in 2008 for Rs 5 crore. It was shown that five big jewellery companies contributed Rs 1 crore each to the promoters of AB Exports to buy the house. Between 2010 and 2014, the shares of the company (AB Exports) were transferred to Tejashwi and his brother and sister were made directors. Through this shady deal, Yadav and family have become the owners of a property which is valued at Rs 50 crore at current market prices. What puts Tejashwi Yadav in a spot is that he had not declared the ownership of this property in the affidavit submitted to the Election Commission when he contested the Assembly election in November 2015. It is likely that Tejashwi will land in jail for the dubious dealings through a shell company. There is a striking parallel in the situation between Dinakaran and Tejashwi. Their guardians, Sasikala and Yadav, have been already indicted and imprisoned on corruption charges. But, more importantly, both face an insurgent BJP which is on a prowl to expand its footprint across the country. Dinakarans plight would not have come about had the BJP government at the Centre not forced the hands of the Enforcement Directorate and the Delhi police to come down heavily to expose the shenanigans of Dinakaran. Sasikala and Dinakaran had no public enmity with the BJP. But the BJP leadership is convinced that its best friend to make inroads into the Tamil territory is O Paneerselvam and everything it must do to help him get back to power. That explains the rapidly changing political script. But Lalu Yadav is a sworn enemy of the BJP. The BJP would go to any length to discredit the Lalu clan. The current episode of the familys association with a shell company and dubious acquisition of a prime property through it can clearly build up into a big scandal if the BJP government lets loose the Enforcement Directorate and Delhi police to unravel the case on a priority basis. Given the ferocity and aggression of the BJP to demolish its opponents and expand its influence, it is not unlikely. It is possible that we would soon witness the Lalu Yadav clan go the way of Sasikala clan drown in the corrupt cesspool of politics. The crisis engulfing the All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) party in Tamil Nadu seems to be heading towards a conclusion, with expelled former deputy general secretary TTV Dinakaran scheduled to appear in the Egmore Court in Chennai on Wednesday, in the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (Fera) case. According to a report in DNA, the Madras High Court had refused to defer Dinakaran's trial in the money laundering-cum-foreign exchange violation case, agreeing with the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) contention that Dinakaran would have to undergo trial. The judge denied reprieve to Dinakaran while hearing his petition against the court's order which had refused to defer his trial by six weeks, the report mentioned. Dinakaran, who is the nephew of former party general secretary VK Sasikala, was also supposed to meet his aunt who is lodged in a Bengaluru jail following her conviction in a disproportionate assets case. The meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, didn't take place, according to a report in Economic Times, and there are chances that the duo might meet on Wednesday to try and work out a solution. The article also mentioned that aunt and nephew aren't on the best of terms, and Dinakaran's decision not to use Sasikala's pictures in party material after she was jailed apparently didn't go down well with her. Party insiders said the death of another nephew of Sasikala, Mahadevan, while he was on pilgrimage to a temple a few days ago, has rattled the family. Dinakaran was ousted from the party, and AIADMK leader and Tamil Nadu Finance Minister D Jayakumar had announced that a new committee would soon be formed to discuss what shape the party will take in the future. Dinakaran, who is said to have the support of only 20 MLAs, has called for a meeting with them and also district secretaries at the party headquarters in Royapettah on Wednesday afternoon. Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will be on a day-long visit to Jhansi to review various developmental works of the state government including provision of drinking water and wheat purchase in backward Bundelkhand region. Official sources said Adityanath may also inspect the various ponds constructed for the purpose of water conservation in the perennially arid zone of the state bordering Madhya Pradesh. Bundelkhand covers a geographical area of around 70,000 square kilometres and includes seven districts of UP and six districts of MP. It comprises 13 districts in all Jhansi, Lalitpur, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Mahoba, Banda and Chitrakoot (all in UP), and Datia, Tikamgarh, Chhatarpur, Panna, Sagar and Damoh (all in MP). His visit to Jhansi on Thursday assumes significance as it will be his first visit to the parched region of the state after assuming office, almost a month ago. The BJP in its Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra (manifesto for 2017 UP Assembly elections) had said that it will constitute Bundelkhand Development Board to ensure all-round development of region. The manifesto also mentioned that the party will form Pond Development Authority (Talab Vikas Pradhikaran) to ensure conservation and revamping of various ponds. In a major decision announced on 2 April, the Adityanath government approved Rs 47 crore-package to ensure immediate availability of drinking water to Bundelkhand region. The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister had said that if needed, the state government would make available additional funds under this head, but there should not be any problem of drinking water for the people and the cattle in Bundelkhand region. The chief minister had said that Budelkhand was continuously ignored in the last 15 years and no step had been taken to ensure the development of the region when SP and BSP were in power. Adityanath had said he was aware of the hardships faced by the people of the region. The backwardness of Bundelkhand region was a key election issue, during the recently held assembly polls. On May 23, 2019, when the results for the Lok Sabha elections were declared, it was the first time in 48 years that an incumbent prime minister heading a majority government came back with a majority. Narendra Modi was elected by the republic of India as its Prime Minister for the second consecutive term. rnIn 2014, when he was declared the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate, BJP won 282 seats in the Lok Sabha and it was the first time in three decades that any party had an earned an absolute majority.rnrnBorn on 17 September 1950 to Heeraben and Damodardas Modi in Vadnagar, Mehsana district of Gujarat. Before assuming the office of Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi had served as the Chief Minister (CM) of his home State Gujarat for four consecutive terms. He first became the Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2001.rnrnAccording to his official website, at the age of 17, he left his home and travelled across India. In 1972, he joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and in 1974 he participated in Navnirman Movement that was launched against corruption in Gujarat. Narendra Modi also participated in the anti-emergency movement in 1975 after the national emergency was imposed by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.rnrnIn 1978 Narendra Modi got his first official responsibility in RSS when he was appointed Vibhag Pracharak. In 1987 he joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as Organization Secretary of Gujarat Unit and just seven years later, he became BJPs National Secretary and moved to Delhi. In 1998 he was appointed BJPs National General Secretary (Organization) and then the Chief Minister of Gujarat on October 07, 2001.rnA postgraduate in Political Science from Gujarat University, Modi was appreciated for his Development Model in Gujarat during his 14 year long tenure (2001-2014) as chief minister of the state. During Modis tenure, Gujarat became a preferred destination for investment because of its business-friendly policies.rnrnIn 2013 a delegation of parliamentarians and businessmen from the United States of America (USA) visited Gujarat. The 18-member- delegation, led by Republican Congressmen from Illinois Aaron Schock accepted that people in the USA were keen to work with Gujarat as they were impressed by the way the state has facilitated investment.rnAs reported by the Economic Times during the Vibrant Gujarat Summit held in 2015, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to World Bank Chairman Jim Yong Kim appreciated Modis development model and called him the driving force behind India's phenomenal growth story. rnApart from giving big push to economic development through big infrastructure projects and investments, women empowerment and youth welfare was another area that was of major importance for Gujarat government under Narendra Modis chief ministership.rnrnAfter assuming the office of Prime Minister of India, he focused on ensuring basic amenities to people. Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) launched by Modi on August 15, 2014, was a financial inclusion program that aimed at ensuring bank account to every household and was targeted at ensuring affordable access to financial services such as bank accounts, remittances, credit, insurance and pensions to those people who were out of the formal banking net. Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) was launched to provide LPG connections to women of BPL families. Apart from this several other schemes like skill development program, Mudra Yojna (providing easy loans to small business) Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, to name few, were all meant to ensure basic amenities to people who were devoid of these basic amenities even after more than seven decades of independence. rnThese programs not only led to tangible changes in terms of new infrastructure but also led to massive behavioural changes. Like Swachh Bharat Abhiyan did not limit itself with building toilets and making the country open defecation free (ODF). It also led to major awareness among people about the benefits of sanitation and cleanliness.rnAnd to ensure these behavioural changes, Narendra Modi started communicating with people directly through different conventional media and new media channels. On the one hand, through his monthly radio broadcast program Mann Ki Baat, Narendra Modi attempted to reach the remotest areas of the country and on the other hand, he used his massive presence on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook to enter each and every household with his messaging on the efforts that people of this country have to make to realize the dream that is 'New India'.rnOn March 31, while interacting with lakhs of people at more than 500 locations across the country through video conferencing, under the "Main Bhi Chowkidar" campaign, Modi had said that he spent five years (of his first term as Prime Minister) in fulfilling the country's requirements and his next five years will be focused on addressing the countrys aspirations.rn By Phil Stewart | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON When U.S. President Donald Trump boasted early last week that he had sent an "armada" as a warning to North Korea, the aircraft carrier strike group he spoke of was still far from the Korean peninsula, and headed in the opposite direction.It was even farther away over the weekend, moving through the Sunda Strait and then into the Indian Ocean, as North Korea displayed what appeared to be new missiles at a parade and staged a failed missile test.The U.S. military's Pacific Command explained on Tuesday that the strike group first had to complete a shorter-than-initially planned period of training with Australia. But it was now "proceeding to the Western Pacific as ordered," it said.The perceived communications mix-up has raised eyebrows among Korea experts, who wonder whether it erodes the Trump administration's credibility at a time when U.S. rhetoric about the North's advancing nuclear and missile capabilities are raising concerns about a potential conflict."If you threaten them and your threat is not credible, it's only going to undermine whatever your policy towards them is. And that could be a logical conclusion from what's just happened," said North Korea expert Joel Wit at the 38 North monitoring group, run by Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. The U.S. military initially said in a statement dated April 10 that Admiral Harry Harris, the commander of Pacific Command, directed the Carl Vinson strike group "to sail north and report on station in the Western Pacific."Reuters and other news outlets reported on April 11 that the movement would take more than a week. The Navy, for security reasons, says it does not report future operational locations of its ships.Defense Secretary Jim Mattis initially appeared to play down the deployment on April 11, saying the Vinson was "just on her way up there because that's where we thought it was most prudent to have her at this time." "There's not a specific demand signal or specific reason why we're sending her up there," he said.But even Mattis initially misspoke about the strike group's itinerary, telling a news conference that the Vinson had pulled out of an exercise with Australia. The Pentagon has since corrected the record, saying the ship's planned port visit to Fremantle, Australia, was cancelled - not the exercise with Australia's navy. On April 15, the U.S. Navy even published a photo showing the Vinson transiting the Sunda Strait. hereFrom April 16-18, the website www.gonavy.jp/CVLocation.html reported that the Vinson was in the Indian Ocean.A U.S. military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Vinson carried out the exercises after passing through the Sunda Strait and wrapped them up this week. (Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Peter Cooney) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Beijing: Upping the ante, China has for the first time announced "standardised" official names for six places in Arunachal Pradesh, days after it lodged strong protests with India over the Dalai Lama's visit to the frontier state. The state media in Beijing said the move was aimed at reaffirming China's claim over the state. China claims the state as 'South Tibet'. The state media said the move was aimed at reaffirming China's claim over Arunachal Pradesh. China claims the state as 'South Tibet'. "China's Ministry of Civil Affairs announced on 14 April that it had standardised in Chinese characters, Tibetan and Roman alphabet the names of six places in 'South Tibet', which India calls 'Arunachal Pradesh', in accordance with the regulations of the central government," state-run Global Times reported on Wednesday. The official names of the six places using the Roman alphabet are Wo'gyainling, Mila Ri, Qoidengarbo Ri, Mainquka, Bumo La and Namkapub Ri. Standardisation of Chinese names to six places in Arunachal Pradesh is a "legitimate" action, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang said at a briefing. The Dalai Lama's activities are against Indian government's commitment to China, he said. Asked about the timing of the announcement, he said China is now doing a second census of names of localities and an important part of it is to standardise names in ethnic language. The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488 km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC). While China claims Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet, India asserts that the dispute covers Aksai Chin area which was occupied by China during the 1962 war. The two sides have so far held 19 rounds of Special Representatives talks to resolve the boundary dispute. China's move comes just days after the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, which was seventh since the 81-year-old spiritual leader fled from Tibet through Tawang and sought refuge in India. During the Dalai Lama's Arunachal Pradesh visit, China had warned India that it will take "necessary measures" to defend its territorial sovereignty and interests. Commenting on the standardisation of the names of six places, Chinese experts said that it was a move to "reaffirm the country's territorial sovereignty to the disputed region", according to the daily. "The standardisation came amid China's growing understanding and recognition of the geography in South Tibet. Naming the places is a step to reaffirm China's territorial sovereignty to South Tibet," Xiong Kunxin, a professor of ethnic studies at Beijing's Minzu University of China, was quoted as saying. Xiong said that the legalisation of the regions' names is a part of the rule of law. "These names have existed since ancient times, but had never been standardised before. Therefore, announcing the names is like a remediation," Guo Kefan, a research fellow at the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences, said. Standardising the names from the angles of culture and geography could serve as a reference or leverage when China and India negotiate border issues in future, Guo said. "The South Tibet region is located alongside China's southwestern border and India's north-eastern border where Sino-Indian border disputes are cantered," the report said. It claimed that India "abruptly announced that it was officially designating the region as 'Arunachal Pradesh' but the Chinese government has neither recognised India's occupation of the region, nor the legitimacy of the province". During the Dalai Lama Arunachal Pradesh visit, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju, who accompanied the Tibetan spiritual leader, had asserted that that Arunachal Pradesh is "an inseparable part of India". China had lodged a diplomatic protest with India over the visit and warned that it would have a negative impact on the efforts to resolve the border dispute. After the nine-day visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu had said that India should not use the Tibetan spiritual leader to undermine China's interests. BEIJING Chinese President Xi Jinping has announced a restructure of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to transform it into a leaner fighting force with improved joint operations capability, state media said.Centred around a new, condensed structure of 84 units, the reshuffle builds on Xi's years-long efforts to modernise the PLA with greater emphasis on new capabilities including cyberspace, electronic and information warfare. As chair of the Central Military Commission, Xi is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces."This has profound and significant meaning in building a world-class military," Xi told commanders of the new units at the PLA headquarters in Beijing, the official Xinhua news agency said in a report late on Tuesday.All 84 new units are at the combined-corps level, which means commanders will hold the rank of major-general or rear-admiral, the official China Daily reported on Wednesday, adding that unit members would likely be regrouped from existing forces given the military was engaged in cutting its troop strength by 300,000, one of a range of reforms introduced by Xi in 2015.Those reforms include establishing a joint operational command structure by 2020 and rejigging existing military regions, as well as streamlining troop numbers particularly in non-combat roles. The previous seven military area commands were regrouped into five, and the four military departments - staff, politics, logistics and armaments - were reorganised into 15 agencies last year. The 84 units will come under the 15 agencies.Retired PLA Major-General Xu Guangyu, a senior researcher at the Beijing-based China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, said the restructure represented the second major phase of Xi's reforms."Since military reforms started it has been one step at a time," Xu told Reuters. "The high-level framework is now in place, now this is the second phase targeting the entire mid-ranking levels of the military." With details on the reform limited, foreign military analysts are still guessing at the impact it could have on the PLA's fighting capabilities.Richard Bitzinger, coordinator of the Military Transformations Program at the S.Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said the change appeared significant in that it could aid in breaking up the PLA into more modular units."They would be small enough to be very transportable, agile," Bitzinger said. Observers see China consistently taking cues from the U.S. armed forces as it modernises. If similar to trends in U.S. military organisation, Bitzinger said the new Chinese units could be equipped to be self-sufficient, possibly with their own intelligence units, artillery, engineers, or other capabilities.But he said it would likely take time for any changes to be effectively implemented.Beijing also has been moving rapidly to upgrade its military hardware as it grows increasingly assertive about its sovereignty claims in the South China Sea, and as it seeks to expand its military influence overseas.Chinese media reports have speculated that the country's second aircraft carrier - and its first built at home - will be launched on Sunday, the navy's founding anniversary.Xi has also made rooting out corruption in the military a top priority. Dozens of senior officers have been investigated and jailed. (Reporting by Philip Wen and Michael Martina; Editing by Michael Perry, Robert Birsel) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Ned Parker, Jonathan Landay and John Walcott | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON A Russian government think tank controlled by Vladimir Putin developed a plan to swing the 2016 U.S. presidential election to Donald Trump and undermine voters faith in the American electoral system, three current and four former U.S. officials told Reuters.They described two confidential documents from the think tank as providing the framework and rationale for what U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded was an intensive effort by Russia to interfere with the Nov. 8 election. U.S. intelligence officials acquired the documents, which were prepared by the Moscow-based Russian Institute for Strategic Studies [en.riss.ru/], after the election.The institute is run by retired senior Russian foreign intelligence officials appointed by Putins office. The first Russian institute document was a strategy paper written last June that circulated at the highest levels of the Russian government but was not addressed to any specific individuals.It recommended the Kremlin launch a propaganda campaign on social media and Russian state-backed global news outlets to encourage U.S. voters to elect a president who would take a softer line towards Russia than the administration of then-President Barack Obama, the seven officials said. A second institute document, drafted in October and distributed in the same way, warned that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was likely to win the election. For that reason, it argued, it was better for Russia to end its pro-Trump propaganda and instead intensify its messaging about voter fraud to undermine the U.S. electoral systems legitimacy and damage Clintons reputation in an effort to undermine her presidency, the seven officials said.The current and former U.S. officials spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the Russian documents classified status. They declined to discuss how the United States obtained them. U.S. intelligence agencies also declined to comment on them.Putin has denied interfering in the U.S. election. Putins spokesman and the Russian institute did not respond to requests for comment. The documents were central to the Obama administration's conclusion that Russia mounted a fake news campaign and launched cyber attacks against Democratic Party groups and Clinton's campaign, the current and former officials said. Putin had the objective in mind all along, and he asked the institute to draw him a road map, said one of the sources, a former senior U.S. intelligence official. Trump has said Russias activities had no impact on the outcome of the race. Ongoing congressional and FBI investigations into Russian interference have so far produced no public evidence that Trump associates colluded with the Russian effort to change the outcome of the election.Four of the officials said the approach outlined in the June strategy paper was a broadening of an effort the Putin administration launched in March 2016. That month the Kremlin instructed state-backed media outlets, including international platforms Russia Today and Sputnik news agency, to start producing positive reports on Trumps quest for the U.S. presidency, the officials said. Russia Today did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Sputnik dismissed the assertions by the U.S. officials that it participated in a Kremlin campaign as an absolute pack of lies. And by the way, it's not the first pack of lies we're hearing from 'sources in U.S. official circles'," the spokesperson said in an email.PRO-KREMLIN BLOGGERS Russia Today and Sputnik published anti-Clinton stories while pro-Kremlin bloggers prepared a Twitter campaign calling into question the fairness of an anticipated Clinton victory, according to a report by U.S. intelligence agencies on Russian interference in the election made public in January. [bit.ly/2kMiKSA]Russia Todays most popular Clinton video - How 100% of the 2015 Clintons charity went to ... themselves - accumulated 9 millions views on social media, according to the January report. [bit.ly/2os8wIt]The report said Russia Today and Sputnik consistently cast president elect-Trump as the target of unfair coverage from traditional media outlets." The report said the agencies did not assess whether Moscows effort had swung the outcome of the race in Trumps favour, because American intelligence agencies do not analyse U.S. political processes or U.S. public opinion. [bit.ly/2kMiKSA]CYBER ATTACKS Neither of the Russian institute documents mentioned the release of hacked Democratic Party emails to interfere with the U.S. election, according to four of the officials. The officials said the hacking was a covert intelligence operation run separately out of the Kremlin.The overt propaganda and covert hacking efforts reinforced each other, according to the officials. Both Russia Today and Sputnik heavily promoted the release of the hacked Democratic Party emails, which often contained embarrassing details.Five of the U.S. officials described the institute as the Kremlins in-house foreign policy think tank. The institutes director when the documents were written, Leonid Reshetnikov, rose to the rank of lieutenant general during a 33-year-career in Russias foreign intelligence service, according to the institutes website [bit.ly/2oVhiCF]. After Reshetnikov retired from the institute in January, Putin named as his replacement Mikhail Fradkov. The institute says he served as the director of Russias foreign intelligence service from 2007 to 2016. [bit.ly/2os4tvz]Reuters was unable to determine if either man was directly involved in the drafting of the documents. Reshetnikovs office referred questions to the Russian institute. On its website, the Russian institute describes itself as providing expert appraisals, recommendations, and analytical materials to the Russian presidents office, cabinet, National Security Council, ministries and parliament. [bit.ly/2pCBGpR] On Jan. 31, the websites of Putins office [bit.ly/2os9wMr] and the institute [bit.ly/2oLn9Kd] posted a picture and transcript of Reshetnikov and his successor Fradkov meeting with Putin in the Kremlin. Putin thanked Reshetnikov for his service and told Fradkov he wanted the institute to provide objective information and analysis.We did our best for nearly eight years to implement your foreign policy concept, Reshetnikov told Putin. The policy of Russia and the policy of the President of Russia have been the cornerstone of our operation. (Reporting by Ned Parker and Jonathan Landay, additional reporting by Warren Strobel and Arshad Mohammed; Editing by David Rohde and Ross Colvin) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. In the summer of 1967, hippies from across North America and beyond, gathered at San Francisco, and finally caught the medias eye. The hippie phenomenon had been gaining steam for sometime, with the youth wanting to cast off conservative social values and experiment with drugs. The USA was in political turmoil as it was in the midst of the Vietnam War. The year came to be termed summer of love was an outlet for the young hippies to spread their message of love, peace and kindness. Now, 50 years later, the De Young Museum in San Francisco is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the summer of love and hope to spread the same message of love. The Summer of Love Experience: Art, Fashion, and Rock & Roll, puts up for scrutiny one of the most important decades in American history. Bengaluru: A city court on Wednesday acquitted a suspended French consular official here of the charge of raping his minor daughter, on the grounds that he was "falsely implicated" and was innocent. Special court judge BS Rekha held that there was no evidence to prove that Pascal Mazurier had committed the crime and he was innocent as the DNA test was negative. His estranged wife, Suja Jones Mazurier, had filed an application in the court to charge Pascal for committing unnatural offences on his minor daughter. The daughter in 2012 was three years old. Suja and Pascal were married in France in 2001 and have three children. The family had moved to Bengaluru in 2008. She had also submitted a medical report from the Collaborative Child Response Unit of the Baptist Hospital, confirming the child was raped. Judge of the special court for child rights Shubha Goudar had on 11 February framed charges against Pascal for allegedly raping his daughter, under IPC section 376 (punishment for rape). The court had on 7 January refused to discharge Pascal, ruling there was sufficient evidence for him to face trial. Pascal had filed an application seeking discharge from the case contending there was no necessity of a trial since the investigation had not proved his involvement in the offence. He also had written a letter in 2014 to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking speedy disposal of case. Pascal was arrested on 19 June, 2012 based on the complaint filed by his wife, a Keralite. PARIS France said on Wednesday it was imperative the United Nations Security Council apply more pressure on North Korea to prevent it jumping another hurdle towards an effective nuclear weapons capacity that could lead to a dangerous military escalation.Amid heightened tension on the Korean peninsula, North Korea has escalated a war of words with the United States, warning of full-out nuclear war if Washington takes military action against it over its nuclear and missile ambitions. "We have to avoid all military escalation," Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told LCP television. "This threatens nuclear proliferation in the region, but also directly threatens North America. It's a major danger."Ayrault, who was in China last week and whose country has no diplomatic representation in North Korea, said it appeared that Beijing was increasingly worried by the behaviour of its neighbour. "China is scared of chaos and destabilisation of the regime that would result in millions of refugees in the region so we can make progress through international pressure ... sanctions and discussions between the Security Council members to take measures," he said. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Wednesday that Washington would work with its allies and China to put economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea but added that America would defeat any attack with an "overwhelming response"."There is no time to lose because all of the money North Korea has is being used for nuclear investment and research which would enable the country to jump another hurdle," he said. (Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Andrew Callus) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Agustinus Beo Da Costa | JAKARTA JAKARTA Millions of Indonesians will head to the polls in Jakarta on Wednesday to choose between a Muslim and a Christian candidate for governor, as religious tensions run high in the capital of the worlds third-largest democracy. Polls open at 7 a.m. (0000 GMT) in what is expected to be an unusually close race between the incumbent, Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama the citys first Christian and ethnic Chinese leader and a former education minister, Anies Baswedan, who like 85 percent of Jakarta residents, is Muslim. Security is also unusually tight for the poll. Police say about 66,000 personnel will be deployed throughout the city of some 10 million people to prevent voter intimidation and civil unrest. The election is viewed as a test for Indonesias young democracy and record of religious tolerance. Given Jakarta's outsized importance as both the nation's capital and commercial centre, the election is also viewed as a barometer for a 2019 presidential election.Purnama is backed by President Joko Widodo's ruling party.Baswedan, is backed by a conservative retired general, Prabowo Subianto, who lost to Widodo in a 2014 presidential vote.Both sides have raised concerns about intimidation and warned against voter fraud. About 7 million people are eligible to vote by 1 p.m. (0600 GMT), when polling stations close. Private pollsters, approved by the national elections commission, are expected to announce an unofficial tabulation of a sample of votes, known as "quick counts" within a few hours of polls closing. The elections commission is expected to announce official results by the first week of May.The loser, however, can contest the results in Constitutional Court, which could prolong political uncertainty for weeks.DEAD HEAT Several opinion surveys have showed the candidates in a statistical dead heat.President Widodo and his government have called for calm, unity, and a transparent election. To all the people of Indonesia ... do not be easily tempted by racial issues that weaken our nation, Widodo said on Tuesday. Dont be afraid to resist acts of intolerance and violence, no matter why it is carried out." Citing security concerns, police on Monday blocked plans by thousands of members of hardline Islamic groups, including those from outside the city, to stand guard at polling booths. Authorities in neighbouring provinces on Java island have urged the public to refrain from non-essential travel to Jakarta. Police in Central Java raided private cars and public buses on Tuesday for sharp objects and explosives.We are making checks on public transport and suspicious individuals, said police spokesman Djarod Padakova. We are trying to prevent violence, and trying to prevent people from becoming victims or instigators. We will not allow movement of masses towards Jakarta. Incumbent governor Purnama is on trial for blasphemy over comments he made last year that many took to be insulting to Islam. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims took to the streets late last year to call for his sacking and to urge voters against electing a non-Muslim leader.Purnama faces up to five years in jail if convicted of blasphemy. His trial will resume on Thursday, when prosecutors will submit their sentence request.Click tmsnrt.rs/2lwXW5V for graphic on Jakarta governor election (Editing by Bill Tarrant and Robert Birsel) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Rome: The Islamic State jihadist group has taken credit for a deadly ambush at an Egyptian police checkpoint near the iconic Saint Catherine's Monastery in Sinai late Tuesday, US terrorist-tracking organisation SITE reports. IS claimed the attack in a message published by its Amaq news agency, SITE said. The attack the first Islamic State has staged against a monastery comes ahead of a visit to Egypt by Pope Francis later this month. An Egyptian policeman was killed and four were injured during the firefight with Islamic State gunmen, several hundred metres from the monastery's entrance, Egypt's Interior Ministry said in a statement. The remote 6th-century monastery is located in the desert at the foot of Mount Sinai in the southern part of the volatile Sinai Peninsula. St Catherine's is one of the oldest Christian monasteries in the world and a Unesco world heritage site. Egyptian President Abdul-Fattah al-Sisi declared a three-month state of emergency after 45 people died in Palm Sunday attacks against Christian churches in the Nile Delta city of Tanta and the coastal city of Alexandria on 9 April. The Sinai Province Egyptian branch of Islamic State claimed the Palm Sunday attacks and the group has vowed further attacks against Egypt's Coptic Christian minority, which makes up 10 percent of the population. MANILA A Philippine senator called for a probe on Wednesday into allegations by senior officers in a Reuters report that police received cash rewards for executing drug suspects, while a police spokesman challenged the claims but said they would be investigated.Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said in a statement that the Philippine National Police (PNP) should take "drastic measures" to verify the allegations made by two senior police officers, and punish those who have "broken their vow to protect the Filipino people."In a Reuters report published on Tuesday, the two officers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said PNP officers received cash for killing suspects in President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war, planted evidence at crime scenes and carried out most of the killings they have long blamed on vigilantes. [nL3N1HR19B]One of the men, a retired intelligence officer, authored an unpublished 26-page report that provides granular detail on the alleged methods deployed in the drug war, as well as the campaign's masterminds and perpetrators. The report, which said it is based on the accounts of 17 serving and former officers, does not contain any documentary evidence.Gatchalian said the "integrity" of the police was "at stake," and called on PNP chief Ronald dela Rosa to "unmask the truth.""The PNP leadership should look into these serious allegations made by two officers from within their ranks. While the charges lack documentary evidence, these cannot simply be swept under the rug with a blanket denial," he said. PNP spokesman Dionardo Carlos said he encouraged the two police officers interviewed by Reuters to come forward and publicly air their allegations. "There's no problem if they will tell the truth, backed up by evidence," he said.Carlos said claims that cash rewards were being paid for killing drug suspects were implausible, because police would not have that kind of money at their disposal and such acts would be unlawful."First of all, that's illegal, prohibited. Second, we are short on funds and nothing was allocated," he told reporters. VIGILANTE KILLINGS Close to 9,000 people, mostly drug users and small-time dealers, have been killed since Duterte took office almost 10 months ago and promised an unrelenting campaign to rid the Philippines of illicit narcotics. Police say about a third of the victims were shot by officers in self-defence during anti-drug operations. Human rights groups believe many of the remaining two thirds were killed by paid assassins cooperating with the police or by police themselves, disguised as vigilantes. Police reject that.The two officers said that most of the drug-war killings are orchestrated by the police, including those they say are carried out by vigilantes. Reuters was unable to independently verify if the police are behind vigilante killings.One of the officers, an active-duty police commander, also said that officers plant drugs and guns at the scene of deadly narcotics busts.Gatchalian said the officers who spoke to Reuters should present concrete evidence to support their claims. "Accusations of this kind should have solid backing," he said.Senator Panfilo Lacson, a former national police chief, said in a text message to GMA news, one of the leading media organizations in the Philippines, that unless Reuters identified the two police officers and they could provide "convincing proof of their allegations," he would dismiss the report as "gossip." (Reporting by Martin Petty and Manuel Mogato. Edited by Peter Hirschberg.) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. BEIRUT A general from Iran's Revolutionary Guards assumed the post of ambassador to Iraq on Wednesday, in a sign of the key role the military force is currently playing in its neighbouring country.Iraj Masjedi previously worked as adviser to Qassem Soleimani in Iraq, according to the Tasnim news site. Soleimani is head of the Quds Force, the branch of the Revolutionary Guards responsible for operations outside of Iran.Since Islamic State took control of swathes of Iraq in 2014, Soleimani worked with top Iraqi security officials to fight the militant Islamist group, primarily through a Shi'ite volunteer force known as Popular Mobilization Units. "Iran wants an advanced, powerful, secure and unified Iraq," Masjedi said on Tuesday in Baghdad, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). Iran has sent dozens of military advisers and fighters to Iraq and neighboring Syria, where it is supporting Syrian president Bashar al Assad.Masjedi has more than 35 years' experience in the Guards and a deep knowledge of Iraq, according to the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA). During the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, Masjedi was a commander at the Revolutionary Guards' Ramezan base in Western Iran, which was a centre for Iraqi opposition groups planning and carrying out military operations against Saddam Hussein's forces on Iraqi soil, according to the Iranian judiciary's news site Mizan Online.The heads of some of those armed groups are now senior officials in Iraq. (Reporting By Babak Dehghanpisheh; Editing by Hugh Lawson) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Joyce Lee and Farah Master | SEOUL/MACAU SEOUL/MACAU South Korea's first casino resort has been unlucky with the timing of its grand opening this week as a diplomatic spat scares off gamblers from neighbouring China who usually account for about half of Korea's foreigner gaming revenue.The country's largest casino operator, Paradise Co Ltd (034230.KQ), and Japanese slot machine maker Sega Sammy Holdings Inc (6460.T) will open Paradise City on Thursday, 5 minutes' drive from Seoul's Incheon International Airport, just 329 km (204 miles) across the Yellow Sea from China.But blunting the benefits of proximity is a ban on Chinese travel agents selling tours to South Korea to protest a planned anti-North Korea missile defence outside Seoul. To offset any revenue drop, Paradise and Sega Sammy said they will target consumers in Japan and Southeast Asia."It's a pity that, because of the missile issue, there might be fewer Chinese mass customers at first than expected," said analyst Yoo Seung-man at HMC Investment & Securities, referring to non-VIPs. "But it's Northeast Asia's first such resort so it could draw customers that wouldn't otherwise visit South Korea."TRAVEL BAN South Korean casinos have benefited from Chinese policies for over two years, as a campaign against shows of wealth by public officials triggered an exodus of high rollers from Macau, China's only legal casino hub.But after South Korea secured land for its missile system in February, Chinese government officials gave travel agents a "7 point" verbal directive to cease tours to the country, showed a South Korean document seen by Reuters. Publicly, state media called for a boycott of all things South Korean.Chinese visitors to South Korea subsequently fell 39 percent in March from a year earlier, after an 8 percent rise in January and February, South Korean data showed. Paradise said many big-spending Chinese hold multiple citizenships so can easily visit the country regardless of the diplomatic situation. But its March revenue still fell 11 percent from a year prior to 39.3 billion won ($34.54 million)."There are concerns about the Chinese market," Paradise said in a statement. "But we don't expect the missile issue to continue in the long term."Meanwhile in Macau, overall gaming revenue rose 18 percent in March, exceeding analyst forecasts. Casino executives and junket operators attributed the surge to the diplomatic row. CHINESE RELIANCE To lessen any blow at such a critical time, Paradise and Sega Sammy said they would also market Paradise City's hotels, convention halls and other non-gaming amenities to South Koreans who cannot enter the casino - as most casinos in the country are foreigner-only.A Paradise spokeswoman said the resort will also offer exclusive space for junkets to boost junket income, which it expects to make up 5 to 10 percent of initial casino revenue."Casinos' reliance on Chinese visitors is still on the high side," said analyst Kwon Yoon-gu at Dongbu Securities. "So (Paradise's share price) can't but be sensitive." (Reporting by Joyce Lee in SEOUL and Farah Master in MACAU; Editing by Christopher Cushing) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. The dropping of the never-before-used "Mother of all Bombs" in Afghanistan by US forces is likely to lead to another shuffling of the jihadi pack that operates under the banner of the Islamic State in the country. The motto of this group could well be "Now you see me, now you don't" given the permutations and combinations it has undergone and is likely to again in the future. The story of the Islamic State in the region reads like nothing less than a 'spy versus spy' thriller. In 2014, the Pakistan Army was bombing tribal villages from the air and with artillery, in an operation to wipe out the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which had long operated from these areas. Unlike India, Pakistan's counter-terrorism strategy paid little attention to collateral damage. Entire villages were flattened as an air campaign using F-16s was unleashed on the hapless tribals. Many fled to Afghanistan, while others moved inwards into urban areas. In late 2014, a group headed by Khan Saeed, a former commander of the TTP, together with some rather lacklustre commanders of the TTP pledged bayah (oath of allegiance) to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the then Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Some theologians like was Abdul Rahim Muslimdost were also part of the group. An ex-Guantanamo detainee, he was originally from Nangarhar in Afghanistan, but resident in Peshawar, where he was known more as a poet and author, than for any jihadi prowess. As news of the declaration of allegiance spread, other TTP commanders from Peshawar, Kunar, Lakki Marwat and adjoining areas hastened to declare their loyalty. Another member was a representative of the Lal Masjid of Islamabad, which had once challenged General Pervez Musharraf. A few days later, the declaration of bayah was accepted in an audio by the spokesman of the Islamic State in Syria who announced the formation of the Islamic State of Khorasan (ISK). The Islamic State had arrived in South Asia. A domino effect followed as more disparate groups in Pakistan joined up. This included the Jundullah, a group that had claimed responsibility for some horrific attacks against Shias, the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, which had emerged from the splintering Tehrik-e-Taliban, and a relatively unknown group, the Ansar ul Khilafat wal Jihad. Some of these were rank opportunists, who were probably lured by the Islamic State "seal of approval" and the promise of a financial windfall. Others were united in their hatred of the Pakistan Army. Whatever their motivations, Pakistan was soon witness to a series of attacks in urban areas like Karachi, Peshawar, and Lahore. Every second attack was against Pakistani security forces including the Frontier Corps, the police, the army, and in the worst attack of all, against the cadets of a police training centre. The attacks confirmed the fears of the Pakistani intelligence, which more than a year ago, had warned of the emergence of the IS in the country, and that it had the army in its sights. Oddly though, despite continuing attacks that climbed in 2017, Pakistan continued to publicly deny the existence of IS on Pakistani soil, even while it privately expressed alarm. Meanwhile, matters followed quite a different course in Afghanistan. By early 2014, fleeing fighters had already moved across the border into Nangarhar along with their families. Apart from considerable amounts of weaponry, these groups were reportedly flush with funds, and did not prey on the local population. In many parts they were welcomed as saviours from the brutality of the Taliban. Schools were reopened and only the sale of narcotics was stopped. In a very short time, they were able to push outwards to dominate at least three districts, and even parts of Logar. To Islamabad, one part of the border with Afghanistan, was now in the hands of elements hostile to the Taliban and to the Pakistan Army. Retaliation was swift. The Taliban and affiliated groups launched attack after attack on IS bastions, even while it denounced the Islamic State as false. In 2016, an entire level of ISK leaders were declared as killed. Unknown leaders replaced them. More surprisingly, ISK suddenly showed a surprising capability to strike deep into Afghanistan, attacking the Hazaras, hospitals and courts. Some attacks were claimed by IS, others were only attributed to the group. The brutality of these attacks left the Taliban looking like saints. In July 2016, Muslim Dost left the group, declaring that the IS had become another stooge of Pakistani intelligence. By the end of 2016, some analysts were openly charging Pakistan with supporting the ISK. In the aftermath of the US bombings, reports indicate that of more than 84 killed, around 15 to 22 were Indians. Local news has reported that Lashkar-e-Taiba militants had also been present. Clearly, the area was becoming another prime spot for the training of jihadis of all hues that threatened not only Kabul, but also India, and other democracies. The fact that the ISK radio station is still operating indicates that this may have been located across the border into Pakistan. What are the likely outcomes of the US strike? First, the statements by US NSA HR McMaster during his recent visit to Afghanistan indicated that the Donald Trump Administration will no longer tolerate safe havens for terrorists. Since the biggest safe havens are in Pakistan, this is at best, a warning to Islamabad. A little to the West, and it would have been Pakistani sanctuaries that would have been flattened. Second, the bombing will do little to reduce instability in the region. The Taliban and its affiliate, the Haqqani Network continue with their depredations, with assistance from the Pakistan military. Third, fleeing ISK cadres are likely to drift towards other groups with more financial muscle. This could be the LeT that is already present in the area, or even the TTP, if it has the funds. Another shifting and process of "rebranding" can be expected. The irony would be if the ISK drifts into Pakistan itself, and revives its original anti-Pakistan Army charter. Fourth, the biggest beneficiary of the ISK in Nangarhar was the Taliban. Russia, apparently spooked by the ISK (or so it says), is virtually in support of the Taliban, and is also back in its "Near abroad" ostensibly for defence against terrorism. Other actors like China and Iran have also drifted to the Taliban as a panacea for Afghan instability, relative to the IS. The US, whose fears that fleeing IS fighters from Syria may resettle in Afghanistan, has been recently seeing the Taliban with a mild eye. From a group that supported Osama Bin Laden, and continues to shelter foreign fighters of the Al-Qaeda, the ISK phenomenon has transformed that Taliban into a "moderate" force. If ISK disappears completely in Afghanistan, the Talibans value as an alternative force may reduce, particularly if it continues with its bombing and killing sprees. Finally, Pakistans brutal counter-terrorism efforts are bearing some fruit. A leading light of the TTP/Jamaat ul Ahrar is said to have surrendered to the Pakistan Army. More may follow. However, attacks against the Pakistan Army and security forces are unlikely to reduce any time soon. There are just too many within Pakistan itself who hate their guts. The author is former director of the National Security Council Secretariat Hes finally done it - Donald Trump has signed an executive order on stricter enforcement and review of the H1B visa - popular in the technology industry to bring "highly skilled" foreign workers into the US, typically at a price advantage. How the "highly skilled" has been defined has been at the heart of rising anger with American 'victims' lashing out at how H1B bodyshops are gaming the system to import low grade, low paid toiling masses into their mainland. Full text of Trump's latest Executive Order titled "Buy American, Hire American" After months of screw tightening measures, the H1B visa got hammered some more - this time by the US President Trump on a gorgeous, wind swept spring afternoon in Wisconsin as he ratcheted up his old campaign war cry of Buy American, Hire American in front of a 500 strong gathering of workers and local stars, including the White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, a Kenosha native. Trump won an upset victory against Hillary Clinton here in Wisconsin and this latest executive order comes at a difficult time for the White House unable to show much in terms of legislative overhaul and the sweeping 'Muslim ban' blocked by courts. Although we will continue to hear pundits say that Trump's H1B move is all talk and the sheer complication involved in implementing real change is a mirage, fact is that the H1B has already been hammered even without this executive order. Since Trump took office in January this year, the H1B has come in for a three pronged attack from the Justice Department, Department of Homeland Security and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. H1B workers and the body shops that contract them out to clients in the US are sweating, this much is clear. More from Firstpost on the H1B: The 85,000 H1B cap How the H1B is getting skewered Speaking to workers at Snap-On Tools in Kenosha, Wisconsin which falls on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, Trump made his most pointed remarks yet on the H1B, turning the knife in, showing he has done his homework and/ or been briefed in great detail by his innermost circle. Trump's dishevelled chief strategist Stephen Bannon, just the man who may have scribbled this sort of 'nationalist' headline grabber, marked attendance in WI. Trump has put his official stamp on the H1B lottery is bad idea and going by how much has become tougher in the last few months for H1B workers even without Trump speaking on the topic, this is a clear indication that the H1B lottery system will be the next one for the meat cleaver. we are going to enforce the Hire American rules that are designed to protect jobs and wages of workers in the United States. We believe jobs must be offered to American workers first. Does that make sense? Right now, widespread abuse in our immigration system is allowing American workers of all backgrounds to be replaced by workers brought in from other countries to fill the same job for sometimes less pay. This will stop. American workers have long called for reforms to end these visa abuses. And today, their calls are being answered for the first time. That includes taking the first steps to set in motion a long-overdue reform of H1B visas. Right now, H1B visas are awarded in a totally random lottery -- and that's wrong. Instead, they should be given to the most-skilled and highest-paid applicants, and they should never, ever be used to replace Americans. No one can compete with American workers when they're given a fair and level playing field, which has not happened for decades. Link to Donald Trumps latest H1B remarks On the campaign trail and in his tough talking inaugural address, Trump promised an "America First" method. Less than 100 days into his Presidency and faced with rising anxiety among his voter base that hes gone soft on the hard choices, Trump Wisconsin speech shows a certain hark back to the campaign in a bid to win back the base. Remember that Trump is already collecting money for his 2020 run and no other President has done that so early into their first term. This is a base Trump wont want to lose to even another Republican, forget about Democrats. Already being flayed for ousting Stephen Bannon from his prized National Security Council, Trumps H1B remarks will warm the heart of his hardcore voters faraway from the more hip New York and Washington D.C. Indian nationals are the largest single group of recipients of the 65,000 H1B visas issued yearly to new applicants under a Congress mandated cap. Exemptions on the cap are available to up to 20,000 applicants who have a US masters degree. The actual number of Indian nationals working in the United States under the H1B programme is significantly higher, however, because H1B visas typically roll over in a three year plus three year cycle. From the time George W. Bush signed into law the Immigration Act of 1990 which opened the H1B floodgates for Indians till 2016, never before has the H1B been in such sharp focus as it has been in the last 100 days. As it turns out, the H1B backlash is the one 'America First' campaign promise that Trump has delivered on for his vote base. Everything else - from Obamacare to tax reform is meeting a dumpster fire in Congress. Ankara: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet Donald Trump in May, the Turkish foreign minister said on Wednesday, after the US president congratulated the Turkish leader for winning a referendum on enhancing his powers. "We will determine a date for the two presidents to meet in May before the NATO summit as previously confirmed by the leaders," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Ankara. The NATO summit is scheduled to be held in late May in Brussels and Trump is due to attend. Cavusoglu did not specify if the meeting would take place on the sidelines of the summit or at another venue. After Erdogan's narrow win in Sunday's referendum on creating an executive presidency, Trump congratulated the Turkish leader in a phone call on Monday, in contrast to the muted reaction of European leaders to the result, which has been challenged by the opposition. Cavusoglu said that during their call the two leaders had expressed a common desire to meet in Washington "to improve bilateral relations". Turkey hopes ties with the Trump administration will improve after relations soured between the NATO allies during Barack Obama's term over Syria and Turkey's calls for US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen to be extradited. Gulen is accused of ordering last July's failed coup and Ankara has repeatedly called for his extradition. The preacher vehemently denies Turkey's accusations. Last month, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson became the most senior American official to visit Turkey since Trump took office in January. Tillerson met Turkish leaders and discussed the six-year Syrian civil war and the fight against the Islamic State group (IS). The US believes Kurdish militia are the most effective fighting force against IS in Syria but Ankara claims they are terrorists linked to outlawed Kurdish militants waging an insurgency inside Turkey. These tensions have cast a shadow over the relationship and also raised questions over whether Turkey would take part in any US-led operation to oust IS jihadists from their de-facto capital of Raqa. In an interview with CNN, Erdogan was upbeat on the new US administration, as tensions rise between Ankara and the European Union. "The way president Trump is approaching these matters makes us happy," he said. "We can resolve significant problems. We do not have any difficulties on that front," Erdogan added. UNITED NATIONS The United Nations said 16 members of its peacekeeping mission in Democratic Republic of Congo had been released safely after being taken hostage earlier on Tuesday by unarmed South Sudanese refugees demanding to be moved to a third country. "The camp is quiet and under full control of MONUSCO (the peacekeeping mission)," U.N. peacekeeping spokeswoman Ismini Palla said. "All staff have returned safely to their homes. No casualties have been reported. The mission is investigating the incident." (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. RIYADH U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Wednesday that Iran was playing a destabilising role in the Middle East but its influence would have to be overcome to bring about an end to the conflict in Yemen.At least 10,000 people have been killed and more than 3 million displaced in the war in Yemen, now in its third year. Millions of people are also struggling to feed themselves."Everywhere you look if there is trouble in the region, you find Iran," Mattis told reporters in Riyadh after meeting senior Saudi officials. "We will have to overcome Iran's efforts to destabilise yet another country and create another militia in their image of Lebanese Hezbollah, but the bottom line is we are on the right path for it," Mattis added.Officials have said the United States is considering deepening its role in the conflict in Yemen by more directly assisting its Gulf allies, who are fighting Iranian-supported Houthi rebels there. U.S. officials speaking on condition of anonymity said the situation in Yemen came up in their meetings with Saudi officials, including with King Salman and Deputy Crown Prince and Minister of Defense Mohammed bin Salman. Officials said U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition was discussed including what more assistance the United States could provide, including intelligence support.The Iran-aligned Houthis control the Yemeni capital Sanaa and large swathes of territory. The United States backs the Saudi-led coalition which is trying to restore the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, including through a devastating aerial bombing campaign.Speaking earlier in the day before the start of a meeting with the deputy crown prince, Mattis said he hoped his trip could potentially open the door for U.S. President Donald Trump to visit Saudi Arabia. (Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Alison Williams and Hugh Lawson) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. London: British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday appealed to the public to trust her decision to call for an early general election on 8 June, saying the move will strengthen her hand in the complex Brexit negotiations. Her plea came as MPs prepare to vote on the motion in the House of Commons. The move is expected to receive the two-thirds majority it requires for May to overturn the UK's Fixed Term Parliaments Act, which would have seen an election being held only in 2020. "I trust the British public. I am asking them to put their trust in me and if they do that, if they give me a mandate for these negotiations for the plan for Brexit that the Government has, the plan for a stronger Britain beyond Brexit that we have, then I think that will strengthen our hand," 61-year-old May said. "I genuinely came to this decision reluctantly having looked at the circumstances and having looked ahead at the process of negotiation. I want this country to be able to play the strongest hand possible in those negotiations and be in a position to get the best possible deal. That is in our long-term interest. That is what this is about," she said. The UK prime minister had stunned the country when she called for a snap poll in an announcement on Tuesday. May has framed the election, in which her ruling Conservative party could win as many as 100 extra seats, as a way of securing the best possible Brexit deal for the UK. Political pundits in Britain are also attributing the move as a direct attack on a weakened Opposition, the Labour party under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership. The Scottish National Party (SNP) has signalled its MPs will abstain in the vote and Labour and the Liberal Democrats, while accusing May of political opportunism, have welcomed the prospect of an early election. May, who had taken charge as UK prime minister just weeks after Britain's voted to leave the European Union in June 2016, had repeatedly dismissed the idea of an early election. However, on Tuesday she said she had a "change of heart" in order to bring unity within the political corridors of Britain. She has categorically denied the 8 June poll will be a sort of re-run of last year's referendum, saying there could be no "turning back" on the Brexit decision but if she was re-elected, it would be a vote of confidence in her government's central goals of gaining "control" of the UK's laws, borders and money. May has also ruled out taking part in TV debates with Corbyn and her other political opponents, saying she believed elections were all about "getting out and about and meeting voters" and, in her words, "knocking on doors". US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Tuesday he had informed Congress of plans to review whether the lifting of sanctions against Iran under the nuclear deal was in the United States' national security interests. "President Donald J Trump has directed a National Security Council-led interagency review of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that will evaluate whether suspension of sanctions related to Iran pursuant to the JCPOA is vital to the national security interests of the United States," Tillerson said in a statement. The statement comes just days after Iranian president Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday, in what appeared to be a defiant response to US efforts to hamper the Iranian military, that Iran will ask "no one's permission" to build up its missile capability. 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. 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 US Senate due to concerns about the presidential election. Iran says its missile tests are not covered by the nuclear deal. A new study by the World Wildlife Federation Australia is documenting the lives of Minke and Humpback Whales in the Southern Ocean. Scientists have attached digital tags with suction cups on to the whales to monitor their behaviour and movements. The whales face threats from climate change and the increase in krill fishing in the Antarctic. Dr Ari Friedlaender, marine ecologist from the Oregon State University said, Non-invasive tags remain on the whales for 24 hours. They provide us with both video and sensor data, helping us understand where the animals go, when and how often they feed and how they interact with their environment and other animals. This provides volumes of information that we can share to promote education, conservation and protection of whales and the most remote, unique and beautiful wilderness on the planet, Antarctica. President Donald Trump is ready to crack down on the infamous, money-making MS-13 gang, after a violent quadruple homicide in Long Island, N.Y. last week left four teenagers dead and badly beaten. Trump is promising to remove the gang from U.S. streets fast. The weak illegal immigration policies of the Obama Admin. allowed bad MS 13 gangs to form in cities across U.S. We are removing them fast! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 18, 2017 MS-13, a group that was started by Central American immigrants in Los Angeles in the 1980s, is known for its ruthless and violent tactics. Most of the founding members were from El Salvador and fled to the U.S. during the countrys civil war that lasted 12 years, from 1980-92. Since then the gangs membership has ballooned to at least 10,000 members in the United States and more than 30,000 worldwide, according to the FBI and Treasury Department. [MS-13] is one of the most dangerous and rapidly expanding criminal gangs in the world today, Philip Holloway, a legal analyst and former police officer, told FOX Business. MS-13s mottos is Mata, roba, viola, controla (Kill, steal, rape, control), he noted. The gang has managed to expand its business tentacles into a variety of illegal activities, despite sanctions levied against the group by the U.S Treasury Department under the Obama administration. They are involved in multiple crimes including murder, racketeering, drug trafficking, sex trafficking and human trafficking including prostitution, Holloway said. MS-13 also uses violence as a means for extortion, which constitutes much of its income, University of Houston sociology professor Luis Salinas told FOX Business. A lot of the violence is part of the extortion and prostitution. Once they get here they get these individuals and extort money from their families. Theyre also into extortion for protection of this neighborhood or that neighborhood, Salinas said. In 2015 the U.S. Treasury Department froze the assets of three members of the gang who were funneling funds back to higher-ups in El Salvador from prison. These actions were an attempt disrupt MS-13s financial network by cutting off profits from illegal activities in the United States, the Treasury Department said. In 2012 the Obama administration designated MS-13 a transnational crime organization and implemented sanctions against six members in 2013. While the U.S. government attempts to target MS-13s earnings, targeting its culture is proving more difficult. The fierce loyalty among members is unique, Ron Hosko, former assistant director of the FBIs Criminal Investigative Division, told FOX Business. They're very cohesive and often directed by imprisoned bosses in El Salvador to recruit and expand in American communities. That tends to mean there's an aggressive internal enforcement mechanism which equates to internal discipline involving physical violence and murder for disrespect or betrayal, he said. Membership in street gangs showed no signs of decreasing, according to the FBIs 2015 National Gang Report, and MS-13 was identified as one of the top gangs involved in cross-border crimes. Recently, law enforcement has taken a tougher stance on making arrests; a move spurred by Attorney General Jeff Sessions focus on illegal immigrant crime, Hosko said. MS is a clear example [of illegal immigrant crime]. Affiliates would cross the border and make their way to American enclaves where they found friends and relatives living here already, he said. Citizenship is a combination of American born (many to illegals) and illegal immigrants. Salinas said about 60-70 percent of current U.S. members in MS-13 are immigrants, the majority of which could be illegal. On Tuesday during an interview on Fox News, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he believes the gang could qualify as a terrorist group. In El Salvador, MS-13 has already been designated as a terrorist organization. Hosko said President Trumps administration is changing the narrative quickly for both gang members and law enforcement in the United States. [The FBI] believed that claiming of credible fear of persecution, gang retaliation, other bad acts in their homeland to immigration authorities likely resulted in widespread release of bad actors into the U.S. as their claims were being evaluated. With Obama, that was acceptable risk. I think that's changing fast. Tom Ridge, the former Homeland Security secretary and Pennsylvania governor, argues that the countrys growing drug problem cant be cured until the U.S. closes loopholes in the postal system that allow illegal and deadly synthetic drugs to be shipped undetected -- through the regular mail. [Drug dealers] are sending drugs through the domestic postal service in packages that are not required to provide the same electronic data that they would have to provide if they sent them through a private express carrier like FedEx (NYSE:FDX), UPS (NYSE:UPS) and DHL, Ridge told FOX Business. According to Ridge, who is also a member of a bipartisan coalition called Americans for Securing All Packages, a majority of these illicit drugs, including designer fentanyls the highly addictive opioid which is similar to morphine but is 50 to 100 times more potentare being mailed to the U.S. from China. China is the major culprit. Its open season there. Just send it through your postal service and chances are it will get through without detectionwhich is lethal, Ridge said. Americas death toll involving drug overdosesparticularly opioidshas quadrupled since 1999, with more than a half a million lives lost to ODs since then, according to the CDC. President Trump has created a special drug task force to combat the nations addiction crisis during his first 100 days of office. While on the campaign trail, he addressed the potential for illegal drugs being delivered via the mail. We will close the shipping loopholes that China and others are exploiting to send dangerous drugs across our borders in the hands of our own postal service. These traffickers use loopholes in the Postal Service to mail fentanyl and other drugs to users and dealers in the United States. A Trump administration will crack down on this abuse, and give law enforcement the tools they need to accomplish this mission, Trump said last October during a campaign rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Some lawmakers in Washington are again circulating legislation they say will close any loopholes, and tighten international shipping security checks. In February, Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) reintroduced a bipartisan bill called the Synthetics Trafficking & Overdose Prevention (STOP) Act to amend the Tariff Act of 1930 and ensure that merchandise arriving through the mail shall be subject to review by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and mail must require advance electronic information. A spokesperson for the U.S. Postal Service told FOX Business that they share the same goal of those calling for expanding efforts to keep illicit drugs and other dangerous materials out of the hands of the American public and maintaining the safety of our nations mail system. USPS told FOX Business it has already been enforcing new regulations set in place earlier this year by the Universal Postal Union (UPU) to enhance its ability to require foreign posts to send electronic data. For example, the Postal Service is working with Customs and Border Protection to pilot a program called Air Mail Advanced Screening to aid in the effort to detect foreign-origin contraband. The USPS is also collaborating with other foreign postal operators to increase the proportion of electronic data on inbound international postal shipments. This has been a key priority for Postal Service management and we are actively pursuing this agenda in multiple fora and bilateral negotiations with foreign postal operators, USPS told FOX Business. Shares ofOmnicom Group(NYSE: OMC)declined 3% Tuesday after the marketing and communications specialist announced first-quarter 2017 results, punctuated by modest organic growth and continued macroeconomic and geopolitical headwinds. But Omnicom is happy with its performance. The company doesn't typically provide financial guidance, but management noted during the subsequent conference call that revenue exceeded their internal estimates. So let's take a closer look at how Omnicom kicked off the year, as well as what investors can expect going forward. IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES Omnicom Group results: The raw numbers DATA SOURCE: OMNICOM GROUP, INC. What happened with Omnicom Group this quarter? Revenue growth was comprised of 4.4% organic growth -- which excludes currencies, acquisitions, and divestments -- a 0.7% decline in revenue from acquisitions, and a 1.2% headwind from foreign currency exchange. Organic revenue growth included a 6.4% increase from advertising, 2.1% growth from CRM, 1.8% growth from public relations, and 3.3% growth from specialty communications. On a geographic basis, organic revenue climbed 1.1% in North America, 8.1% in the United Kingdom, 8.2% throughout Europe, 9.1% in Asia-Pacific, 5.4% in Latin America, and 37.9% in the Middle East and Africa. Earnings before interest, taxes, and amortization of intangibles (EBITA) rose 4.7% to $440.3 million. Net debt at the end of the quarter was $2.457 billion, including $4.943 billion in total debt and cash and investments of $2.486 billion. Quarterly free cash flow was $355.3 million. Acquired a majority interest in U.K.-based creative agency Lucky Generals through TBWA Worldwide. Omnicom extended its streak of returning more than 100% of net income to shareholders through dividends and repurchases. Omnicom's net cash returned to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. IMAGE SOURCE: OMNICOM GROUP, INC. What management had to say During this quarter's conference call, Omnicom CEO John Wren stated: Looking forward Omnicom once again declined to provide formal financial guidance. But CFO Philip Angelastro did suggest that, based on the company's most recent projections, foreign exchange is expected to negatively impact revenue by 2.2% in the second quarter, and by roughly 1.2% for the full year. Of course, that's a very rough estimate given the current unsteady state of the markets in which Omnicom operates. But in the meantime, with shares trading roughly flat over the past year, investors will need to trust that Omnicom will continue doing everything it can to solidify the competitive position of its agencies, continuously improve its business, and seize the opportunities within its control. When these headwinds abate, Omnicom should be better positioned to succeed and create value for its shareholders. 10 stocks we like better than Omnicom GroupWhen 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 Omnicom Group 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 Steve Symington has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Omnicom Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Most people reasonably think of Altria Group (NYSE: MO) for its Marlboro brand of cigarettes, which has gained worldwide renown and is a marketing colossus. Yet what many people don't know about Altria is that it owns a wine business, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. Although Ste. Michelle is quite small compared to its tobacco operations, Altria still sees substantial sales and profit from the unit, and it provides useful diversification. Below, you'll find five things you should know about Altria's wine business. 1. What is Ste. Michelle Wine Estates? Ste. Michelle Wine Estates is a group of estate wineries, with a concentration in the Pacific Northwest. The namesake Chateau Ste. Michelle winery in Woodinville, WA dates back more than a century, built on the estate of Seattle lumber baron Frederick Stimson. Now, the company boasts 18 different wineries in the Pacific Northwest, along with seven in California. Image source: Chateau Ste. Michelle. Ste. Michelle Wine Estates also has partnerships with partners in the U.S. and internationally. With exposure to wineries in Spain, New Zealand, Chile, and numerous other wine-growing regions of the world, Altria's wine unit has a commanding view of the industry. 2. How did Altria come to own Ste. Michelle? Ste. Michelle became part of Altria when the tobacco company bought smokeless tobacco company UST in 2008. Overall, the deal cost Altria $11.7 billion, but the acquisition allowed Altria to expand beyond cigarettes, adding the key Copenhagen and Skoal brands to the company's portfolio. In many ways, Ste. Michelle seemed like an afterthought during the transaction. Altria's statements about the offer focused on the impact of the acquisition in complementing its tobacco offerings, and only brief mentions were made about the wine business. Yet the fact that Altria has held onto the business is a sign of its value to the tobacco giant. 3. What relationship does Altria have with Ste. Michelle? There's always concern among customers that when a major corporation takes over a smaller business, quality will be a casualty. Some wine connoisseurs are far from pleased with Altria's ownership of Ste. Michelle, but the tobacco giant has largely taken a hands-off approach toward the wine unit. In particular, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates has a philosophy it refers to as the "String of Pearls." In essence, Ste. Michelle believes that each winery is unique, and allowing each winery to make its own business and wine-making decisions ensures that the company's diversity will continue. Chateau Ste. Michelle has a special place as "our first pearl," in the words of unit President and CEO Ted Baseler, but from Washington State to the Willamette Valley in Oregon and the Napa region of California, different traits give each of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates' wines its own character. 4. How successful is Ste. Michelle? Ste. Michelle is among the top 10 producers of premium wines in the U.S. currently. Brands like Columbia Crest and 14 Hands have joined Chateau Ste. Michelle in gaining acclaim, and a host of other properties appeal to wine connoisseurs both in the U.S. and around the world. From a business perspective, Ste. Michelle is profitable and has produced significant growth. With $721 million in sales in 2016, the wine business makes up less than 4% of Altria's overall revenue. But pre-tax profit of $164 million gives Ste. Michelle an operating margin above 20%, and the unit's profits have nearly doubled over the past five years. 5. What's ahead for Ste. Michelle? Altria doesn't talk a lot about Ste. Michelle in its earnings calls, preferring to leave the company as independent as possible. But the company is proud about its success with wines, noting in a recent discussion with analysts that the winery had received more than 260 ratings of 90 or better for the second consecutive year. Altria doesn't get a huge amount of money from its wine business, but Ste. Michelle Wine Estates is a valuable asset in its arsenal. With Chateau Ste. Michelle celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2017, investors should keep an eye on Altria's wine business to see how it will affect the tobacco giant going forward. 10 stocks we like better than Altria GroupWhen 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 Altria Group 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 Dan Caplinger 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. Akzo Nobel , the Dutch paint maker trying to fend off a 24.6 billion euro ($26 billion) takeover by U.S. rival PPG Industries Inc , on Wednesday fleshed out its alternative plan to separate its chemicals business and pay shareholders 1.6 billion euros in extra dividends this year. Setting out its strategy to investors in London, Akzo said it would sell or list the business, which accounts for about a third of sales and profits, within 12 months. Analysts have valued the division at roughly worth 8 billion euros, based on its 2016 operating profit of 629 million euros. "This strategy will create substantial value for shareholders with significantly less risks and uncertainties compared to alternatives," said Akzo Chief Executive Ton Buechner. Buechner said that the company, whose brands include Dulux paint, may use proceeds of the spin-off to fund acquisitions, but the "vast majority" would be returned directly to shareholders. Akzo has twice rejected takeover proposals from Pittsburgh-based PPG, despite strong encouragement from many of its shareholders to engage in merger talks. Investors and analysts have largely been skeptical of whether Akzo's alternative plan can rival PPG's proposed offer of 90 euros per share in terms of value. Akzo shares gained 1 percent to 79.08 euros by 1050 GMT. COST CUTS While PPG has said it sees merger synergies of at least $750 million, Akzo said on Wednesday it would cut costs by 200 million euros in 2017, of which 50 million would result from the separation of chemicals. The company, which employs around 46,000 people, declined comment on possible job losses resulting from its plans. Buechner set a new target for Akzo's operating margin to improve to 15 percent by 2020 from 12 percent at present. Buechner said the company's paints and coatings divisions will each grow at 4 percent annually on the strength of its global brands such as Dulux, one percentage point better than the market. At the chemicals division to be disposed, the company said it would increase operating profit, as measured by earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), and before incidental costs, by 250 million euros by 2020 and another 200 million euros by 2022. Earlier on Wednesday, Akzo reported better than expected first quarter earnings and forecast a 100 million euro increase in operating profit for the full year. Akzo has argued that PPG's bid does not adequately address concerns of other stakeholders, including employees. Buechner said the company has not yet decided whether it will agree to a request by a significant number of shareholders to hold an extraordinary general meeting to debate and vote on the dismissal of Chairman Antony Burgmans. Under Dutch law, shareholders representing 10 percent of a public company's shareholder base have the right to summon such a meeting, though they may need to petition a judge if the company refuses. (Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Susan Fenton/Keith Weir) A person familiar with the matter says Exxon Mobil is seeking permission from the U.S. government for approval to resume drilling around the Black Sea with a Russian partner, state-owned Rosneft. The oil giant's request is being reviewed by the Trump administration and is certain to draw extra scrutiny because it involves a company formerly run by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who cultivated close ties with Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin. The drilling venture was blocked when the U.S. imposed sanctions on Russia in 2014. Exxon applied to the Treasury Department for a waiver from the sanctions in 2015, during the Obama administration, according to the person, who spoke anonymously because the application process is confidential. BlackRock, the world's biggest asset manager, on Wednesday reported a 31 percent rise in quarterly profit as investors continued to plow money into its index-tracking funds. Investors poured $64.5 billion into BlackRock's iShares exchange-traded funds business during the quarter, up from $24.3 billion a year earlier. That helped the company end the quarter with $5.4 trillion in assets under management, up from the preceding quarter, when managed assets totaled $5.1 trillion. BlackRock's net income rose to $862 million, or $5.23 per share, in the first quarter, from $657 million, or $3.92 per share, a year earlier. Excluding items, the company earned $5.25 per share. That beat the $4.89 forecast of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. The investment management industry is being reshaped by a move of investors toward cheaper products, especially index funds. Yet BlackRock has been rewarded by Wall Street in part because its iShares franchise offers relatively low-cost funds that are in high demand. Still, BlackRock's higher-fee business of actively picking individual winners in the market is under pressure. Last quarter, BlackRock's active funds posted $1.8 billion in withdrawals. The asset manager announced a plan last month to cut jobs and fees while relying more on computers to assemble its investment portfolios, a flurry of changes meant to jumpstart its lagging stockpicking franchise. (Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Additional reporting by Diptendu Lahiri in Bengaluru and Simon Jessop in London; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Alden Bentley) Oil fell to a two-week low on Wednesday, after a surprising build in U.S. gasoline inventories and a rise in domestic crude output that is partially offsetting cutbacks by other countries trying to reduce a global glut. U.S. crude futures settled down $1.97 to $50.44 a barrel, a 3.8 percent drop, the biggest one-day decline since March 8. Brent crude settled down 3.6 percent, or $1.96 a barrel, to $52.93. U.S. crude stocks fell 1 million barrels in the latest week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said, a smaller draw than expected. Gasoline stocks posted a counter-seasonal build of 1.5 million barrels, despite heavier refining activity. The surprise gasoline build, along with an increase in U.S. production and imports from OPEC nations, pressured prices. Weekly imports from OPEC nations rose by 900,000 barrels, the EIA said. Inventories remain stubbornly high," said Gene McGillian, manager of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. He added that as the United States is approaching the summer driving season, "the build in gasoline points to the fact demand isnt as strong as we expected. The global crude glut has persisted even as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producing countries have worked to reduce output almost 1.8 million barrels per day in the first half of 2017. Rising U.S. production levels are offsetting more than a third of the six-month agreement of the 1.8 million barrel-per-day cut, McGillian said. "It's the warning bell to the strength of the market. "They drop production, we add production, and so at end of the day it's ugly," said Robert Yawger, energy futures strategist at Mizuho Americas. U.S. production rose to 9.252 million barrels a day in the latest week, highest since August 2015. Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston, said some in the market were concerned about the rapid recovery in shale production. "Perhaps the amount coming out of the ground might be more than we anticipate, he said. Expectations for tighter supply boosted front-month futures contracts earlier this year against later-dated contracts. That trend has reversed. On Wednesday, front-month Brent was 53 cents cheaper than the next month Wednesday; it was 29 cents at the beginning of the month. This condition, known as contango, suggests traders are less confident the glut is being reduced. "Why is the whole curve in free-fall when supplies are supposedly tightening? It gets reported endlessly that the situation is rebalancing and the Brent curve continues to go deeper into contango," he said. (By Julia Simon; Additional reporting by David Gaffen in New York, Henning Gloystein in Singapore and Libby George, Amanda Cooper and Alex Lawler in London; Editing by David Gregorio and Lisa Shumaker) 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. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. 2022 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. FAQ - New Privacy Policy Massive changes to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - or the financial reform law that established it - could hurt U.S. mortgage borrowers who use the agency to fight erroneous charges and foreclosures, according to Trulia, an online real estate marketplace. President Donald Trump recently ordered a review of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law that created the CFPB after the 2007-09 financial crisis to protect individuals from fraud and bad lending, with an eye to cutting it down. Meanwhile, Congress is considering legislation to radically reorganize the CFPB in a way that many bureau supporters say would defang it. "That could be a blow for thousands of mortgage borrowers who have used the CFPBs dispute resolution to act as an intermediary in their cases," the managing editor of Trulia's economics research team, David Weidner, wrote in an analysis released on Wednesday. Using complaint data from the CFPB spanning Dec. 1, 2011 through April 10, 2017, Trulia found that borrowers in housing markets hardest hit by the mortgage crisis and those in expensive areas rely heavily on the CFPB for help in dealing with their loans. The complaint rate was highest in Miami, Florida - with 1.6 percent of mortgage holders turning to the bureau compared to 0.46 percent nationally. Even though members of the armed services only represent 1.2 percent of the working age population, they made up 5 percent of all mortgage complaints. In the same vein, people 62 or older represented 10 percent of complaints. That was a high proportion given that roughly 80 percent of Americans own their own homes by the time they turn 65, Trulia said. The researchers also found that since 2012 complaints for Veterans Affairs, Federal Housing Administration and reverse mortgages have spiked. The first two are part of federal programs intended to make housing more affordable for veterans and low-income workers. Reverse mortgages are payments financial services firms make to people who own their homes, with the principal, interest and fees deducted from the future sale of the house. They are increasingly popular among retirees who may own real estate but are short on cash. For all three types of loans, complaints more than doubled in just four years, according to Trulia, which said the high rate was caused by the lack of expertise lenders and servicers may have in the specialized products. (Reporting by Lisa Lambert; Editing by Cynthia Osterman) Snap-on Chairman and CEO Nick Pinchuk said Tuesday he was pleased with President Trumps Buy American, Hire American speech at the companys headquarters in Wisconsin. We think we are one of the most quintessential manufacturers More than just a phrase, it [Buy American, Hire American] creates and draws attention to the essential nature of American manufacturing to our countrys way forward, said Pinchuk during an interview on FOX Business After the Bell. The Snap-on executive said people no longer have respect for manufacturing jobs. From a Snap-on point of view, we think the seminal issue of our time is the upskilling of the American work force, he said. One of the reasons why the middle class has shrunk is because manufacturing jobs have reduced. Thirty percent have been lost in the last several decades. Pinchuk believes that part of the problem is less people are aspiring to work in the manufacturing industry. Manufacturing has a PR problem People are looking at manufacturing jobs as a consolation prize. Skilled workers, which is the essential to winning the global competition to jobs, are in scarce supply. Fox News is cutting ties with Bill OReilly, the biggest star in its 20-year history, after mounting allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior prompted the network to end his program. After a thorough and careful review of the allegations, parent company 21st Century Fox said in a statement, the company and Bill OReilly have agreed that Bill OReilly will not be returning to the Fox News Channel. Wednesday's decision seemed unimaginable a few short weeks ago, given OReillys long reign as the top-rated host in cable news. " ... the company and Bill OReilly have agreed that Bill OReilly will not be returning to the Fox News Channel." Statement from 21st Century Fox But the climate shifted dramatically after The New York Times reported on April 1 that OReilly or Fox had paid $13 million to settle five cases against him alleging sexual or other harassment. More than 50 advertisers withdrew from his prime-time show, and 21st Century Fox asked a law firm to investigate a complaint from a woman who said OReilly dropped efforts to make her a contributor in 2013 after she turned down his invitation to visit his hotel room. O'Reilly said in a statement Wednesday: It is tremendously disheartening that we part ways due to completely unfounded claims. But that is the unfortunate reality many of us in the public eye must live with today. I will always look back on my time at Fox with great pride in the unprecedented success we achieved and with my deepest gratitude to all my dedicated viewers. I wish only the best for Fox News Channel. OReilly, 67, had not previously commented on his status since leaving on vacation last weekhe met Pope Francis Wednesday in a VIP line at the Vaticanbut his lawyer issued a blistering statement Tuesday accusing his liberal opponents of a smear campaign. The statement said OReilly has been subjected to a brutal campaign of character assassination that is unprecedented in post-McCarthyist America. Starting Monday, Fox will air Tucker Carlsons show an hour earlier, in OReillys 8 p.m. ET slot, and move the popular ensemble show The Five from 5 to 9 p.m. On May 1, Five member Eric Bolling will debut a one-hour program at 5 p.m., and Martha MacCallum will make her First 100 Days show permanent at 7 p.m. OReillys departure comes nine months after Fox News founder Roger Ailes was forced out as chairman following a sexual harassment lawsuit by former host Gretchen Carlson and allegations by at least a half-dozen women, all of which he denied. One of them was Megyn Kelly, who also clashed with OReilly and who decided to leave Fox for NBC last December. The net result is not just a transformation of Foxs prime-time lineup, which has trounced the cable competition, but an effort by Rupert Murdoch and his sons, James and Lachlan, to change the companys culture and make clear that harassment is unacceptable. That became increasingly difficult, and spawned resentment among some female staffers, as OReillys problems became a dominant news story. Fox had recently signed OReilly to a new multi-year contract, even as executives knew the Times story was coming. The OReilly Factor has spawned a cottage industry, with the host, who was part of the channels original lineup in 1996, producing a slew of best-selling books and finding himself in demand for lucrative speaking engagements. It has been a cash cow for Fox News Channel, generating about $178 million in ad revenue in 2015, according to an estimate by Kantar Media. And his ratings remained stratospheric by cable standards, averaging just under 4 million viewers in the first quarter of this year and rising even after the allegations published by the Times. OReilly has survived controversial episodes in the past. One of the settlements cited by the Times drew extensive publicity in 2004, when one of his former producers, Andrea Mackris, accused him of sexually explicit phone calls. OReilly countersued before both sides settled the case. Two years ago, OReilly came under attack for having claimed to cover the 1982 Falklands War although he had not actually been on the Falkland Islands. He blamed liberal critics for using semantics to falsely accuse him. Most of his positions were conservative, and he maintained a cordial relationship with President Trump after having been consistently tough on President Obama. But OReilly styled himself an independent, sometimes took moderate stances and supported Obamas My Brothers Keeper initiative aimed at helping black youth. And there was a strong populist streak to his commentary, whether he was assailing rap music, media bias or what he branded the "War on Christmas." Even most of his critics acknowledged that OReilly, a former correspondent for CBS and ABC and onetime host of Inside Edition, is an extraordinary broadcaster whose blustery, sometimes confrontational style kept putting people in the seats. Richard Gere once enjoyed the life of a studio A-lister with classic films, like American Gigolo and Pretty Woman, but he's now insisting that his political activism has led to a new life as an actor tackling indie cinema and hes perfectly happy to be there. DALAI LAMA: MY FAVORITE RICHARD GERE MOVIE IS... According to The Hollywood Reporter, it all started in 1993 when he went off-script at the Academy Awards and protested Chinas occupation of Tibet and its horrendous, horrendous human rights situation. Susan Surandon and Tim Robbins also went off script to speak on behalf of Haitian refugees. This resulted in Gil Cates, the shows producer, to vow and ban all three from future Oscars broadcasts. Gere continued to speak out. In 2008 he called for a boycott of the Beijing Olympics, and he still supports the cause through his two foundations. Today, the now 67-year-old actor has been banned for life from China. RICHARD GERE CRITICIZES ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS There are definitely movies that I cant be in because the Chinese will say, Not with him, said Gere to the publication. I recently had an episode where someone said they couldn't finance a film with me because it would upset the Chinese. There was something I was going to do with a Chinese director, and two weeks before we were going to shoot, he called saying, Sorry, I cant do it, he added on being ousted from an independently financed, non-studio film that never aimed for a Chinese release, but had a Chinese director. We had a secret phone call on a protected line. If I had worked with this director, he, his family would never have been allowed to leave the country ever again, and he would never work. However, Gere insisted that Hollywoods relationship with China hasnt affected him professionally. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS The studios are interested in the possibility of making huge profits, he explained. But Im still making the same films that I was making when I started. Small, interesting, character-driven and narrative-driven stories. It hasnt impacted my life at all. These days, Gere actually prefers smaller films. Im not interested in playing the wizened Jedi in your tentpole, he said. I was successful enough in the last three decades that I can afford to do these [smaller films] now. RICHARD GERE: GOOD GENES OR GOOD DOCS? Still, he doesnt regret the success he experienced during the 80s, which he described as a more permissive era. I was doing things in Gigolo and even Officer and a Gentleman, and it was pretty sexy, said Gere. I suppose all of us were highly influenced by European films. It was much freer. And we felt like, were out there in the wilds of Hollywood. And one movie that continues to touch Gere from his heyday was his 1990 romantic comedy, Pretty Woman. "Gary Marshall was a Svengali, said Gere. The cast was just right. Julia [Roberts] was magic. It just happened. It was one of those alchemical things that cannot be repeated or manufactured." Street cart vendors in Bangkok, Thailand-- and those who love them-- are none too pleased this week, as the world-famous stalls have officially been outlawed by Thai authories. And the government plans to act quickly, saying it will clear the streets by the end of this year. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) says the citys numerous street food vendors pose a health hazard, block pedestrian paths and contribute to chaos in the roads. The BMA is now working to get rid of the street vendors from all 50 districts of Bangkok and return the pavements to the pedestrians. ... No exceptions, Wanlop Suwandee, a chief adviser to Bangkoks governor, said in a statement to the Nation Monday. THESE 15 CITIES HAVE THE WORST RUSH HOUR TRAFFIC IN THE WORLD Bangkok district chief, Boontham Huiprasert, said in an interview with the South China Morning Post that the vendors are being asked to clear out in order to fight traffic congestion, poor air quality and the build-up of garbage. Just dont sell on the sidewalks, Boontham advised vendors. In 2018, violators could be fined up to 2,000 baht (or $57). But the thousands of food vendors say they cant afford rent in brick and mortar restaurants, and that they pay rent in the form of small monthly under-the-table payments to city officials. Street food is a big part of daily life, Nont Nontiskul, 29, a stockbroker who lives in the Thonglor neighborhood, told ithe South China Morning Post. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS Even people who eat at pricy restaurants every day cant avoid street food. Its faster, tastes better, and costs less than half the price. Tourists and fans of the region took to social media to express their horror about the vendors leaving the bustling streets. Over the years, Bangkok's street food scene has garnered famous fans worldwide, including celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain who is modeling an upcoming food hall in New York City based on the experience of walking through these bustling markets. A Canadian brewery is releasing a new beer featuring President Donald Trump on the can-- but it's not exactly celebrating the American leader. The craft brew, called Fake News Ale, is described by Toronto-based Northern Maverick brewing as an easy-drinking beer, perfect for long discussions over world events with friends, and pairs well with small hands, striking comb overs, HUUUUGE egos, and all things Mexican. And it's a mild 5 percent ABV, comparable to Budweiser. Jason Kaptyn, founder Northern Maverick told Fox News, that each can sells for $2.23 (or three Canadian dollars). "I was watching the news then "Saturday Night Live," while drinking six Ontario craft tall boys, and wondering if I could write a few jokes and raise money for a great cause at the same time," Kaptyn says. The company is donating five percent from every can sold of Fake News Ale to what they're saying will help reverse a questionable policy" being promoted by the president. The brewer intends to invite customers to nominate worthy causes on its site in the coming weeks to determine which charities will receive the proceeds. ATLANTA BRAVES STADIUM TO SELL BEER MADE WITH BASEBALL BAT SHAVINGS "We are going to provide a list of charitable causes on our website that can be voted on by the public. People can also write in a cause if they wish," Kaptyn says. As for the other charitable beers, Northern Maverick hasn't decided on a cause or a focus for the next one. Kaptyn says that additional philanthropic ales will be released in six to 18 month increments. The beers tagline is Make beer great again," and Kaptyn adds that, "No free speech was harmed or sent out of the press room in the making of this beer." This isnt the first time someone has come up with a way to food-troll a politician. Averys beverages created sodas for the presidential candidates running in 2016. Trump's was an acidic, bold grape flavor that tasted more like the actual fruit than the usual purple soda. 7 RULES FOR BUYING BEER AT A GROCERY STORE Avery also offered a Hillary Clinton-themed beverage, called Hillary Hooch-- a berry-flavored soda with a classified marking on the label (get it?). Despite the confidential nature of the drink, it was a combination of raspberry and strawberry flavors with a hint of lemon. A Baja California, Mexico-based beer, Cerveza Cucapa, also figured out a way to trick then candidate-Trump supporters into buying beer for Mexicans. Cucapa brewed up a batch of blue t-shirts emblazoned with a picture of the presidential candidate, smiling, with his thumbs up, with the words I Support Donald beneath it. The shirts were sold along beach boardwalks in southern California, and the proceeds went to buying a few rounds of beer for customers in Mexico. When the sun hit the shirts, however, a red clown-nose appeared on Trump's face. Nevada won a temporary reprieve from the Interior Departments plans to enforce sweeping restrictions on land use as a means of protecting greater sage grouse habitat, but failed to convince a federal judge to put those plans on hold entirely. In a recent opinion, Nevada federal Judge Miranda Du ruled Interior agencies erred in preparing environmental impact statements for 2.8 million acres of land primarily in Eureka and Humboldt counties and must prepare a supplemental statement, but she denied a request to issue an injunction that would have blocked the federal land agencies from implementing burdensome resource management plans. The suit was brought by the state of Nevada, nine counties, several mining companies and a ranch. Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, who filed the suit on behalf of the state, said of Dus ruling, The federal governments greater sage-grouse land-use plan obstructs Nevadas growth and development, and harms our ranchers, miners and recreation workers. The courts decision demonstrates the importance of the state joining this lawsuit, which affords us the opportunity to represent Nevadas interests in court and at the negotiating table. We are encouraged by the fact that the court accepted our argument that the greater sage-grouse plan was fatally flawed in one of its central respects namely, the courts finding that the sagebrush focal areas violated that National Environmental Policy Act. We will continue to study the opinion and evaluate next steps. In denying the sweeping injunction, Du fell back on an old Catch-22 that has foiled other challenges to federal public land policies, saying there has been no final agency action and therefore the legal challenge is not ripe. The problem with that is the agencies never take final action, because they deem every decision to be appealable and changeable at some point in the future even though their current enforcement is already hampering economic development. In the past the order to rework the environmental impact paperwork would have been a futile gesture because the final outcome under the Obama administration would have ended in the same paperwork, but President Trumps Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke might make a difference. As a Montana congressman Zinke strongly opposed the Obama administration plan to protect the grouse without formally listing it under the Endangered Species Act. At a 2015 hearing, he asked why would Washington, the bureaucracy, given there are no sage grouse here ... decide what is best for Montana or the western states, that have a deep, traditional concern for wildlife management? Just a month ago, Zinke told a gathering of Western ranchers that the Interior Department hasnt been the best neighbor, adding that they would probably like changes he is planning for those sage grouse protection plans. Were going to manage our properties just like you [ranchers] would manage your private lands, Zinke said, according to published reports. Washington, D.C., needs to understand that we work for the people, not the other way around. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service must rework their maps because they were severely flawed. Judge Du noted, for example, that in Eureka County the agencies incorrectly designated the town of Eureka, US Highway 50, State Route 278, County landfill, power lines, multiple subdivisions of homes, farms with alfalfa field and irrigations systems, and hay barns as priority habitat management areas for grouse. There is much at stake for Nevada and the other Western states facing land use restrictions for mining, grazing, oil and gas exploration, recreation and other beneficial uses. In Humboldt, Judge Du noted that livestock grazing would be reduced by 25 percent. The countys landfill also was labeled priority habitat. The Interiors sage grouse draft environmental impact statement for just Nevada and five other states issued in December estimated that its proposed restrictions would reduce economic output in Nevada each year by $373.5 million, cost $11.3 million in lost state and local tax revenue and reduce employment by 739 jobs every year for the next 20 years. For the 20-year life of the land restrictions, the six states would lose $16 billion in economic output and 38,700 jobs, as well as $520 million in tax revenue. The problem with that is the agencies never take final action, because they deem every decision to be appealable and changeable at some point in the future ... Don't bother with those dainty panfish, target the bulls Small, dink bluegills are insufferable. Giant gillstrue bullsare another story entirely. I can recall with perfect clarity every hump-headed, 12-plus-inch bluegill that I have ever caught. The list requires one hand to index. The last occurred on a fishery known to grow 2-pounders. The battle was tremendous. No jumps; just powerful, determined runs. My anticipated large bass morphed into Brutus. He measured 12.5 inches and weighed 2.1 pounds. So, what can be done to tempt more bulls? Try these tactics this spring. 1. THINK BIG Upsizing your lures can increase your odds of connecting with some of the largest bluegills in any fishery. During the pre-spawn period, when large male gills first move onto the flats to stake out their future spawning grounds, soft-plastic swimbaits will provoke strikes from territorial bulls. Favorite lures in this category include Storms Suspending WildEye Swim Shad. At 3 inches, these baits are outside the experience of most panfish anglers, but they are just large enough to cause a reaction from bulls. At ounce, they cast well on light line, and their suspending nature helps keep them from snagging bottom on a slow retrieve. The technique used with these swimbaits is simple. Locate 2- to 6-foot flats adjacent to traditional spawning sites. Fan cast the flats by making long casts toward the shoreline. Retrieve the lure just fast enough to keep it off the bottom, with an occasional twitch of the rod to vary the action of the paddletail. Big bluegills will chase down these baits from a distance. 2. GO DEEP Once bulls are in full spawning mode, they are less likely to chase horizontally moving lures and are best left alone to spawn the next generation of trophies. With the spawn completed, big gills vacate the flats and push off to deep outside weed edges. In these areas, you can target bulls by casting parallel to the edges with sinking lipless rattling baits, blade baits, and tailspin lures. These can be fished with a yo-yo retrieve to cover multiple depth ranges. Top-producing lures include a -ounce #5 Rapala Rippin Rap, -ounce Rat-L-Trap, -ounce Johnson Thin Fisher, -ounce Big Dude Blade Bait, and Biwaa Divinator Mini. The size, flash, and/or noise of these lures will draw large bluegills out of the weeds. In lakes that lack weeds, the biggest gills in the system are often pelagic and key on rock structure. Nomadically wandering in open water, they opportunistically feed on minnows and young-of-the-year panfish that get pushed against mid-lake humps and points, as well as on bottom-dwelling crayfish and hellgrammites. At 10 inches or bigger in size, bulls have no fear. They are no longer prey for bass or walleyes. Instead, they have reversed roles and are now predators of young-of-the-year fish. Bull bluegills are not schoolers. Instead, they travel in small pods of similarly sized fish, often accompanied by several bass. Target these bulls in the same manner you would bassby drop-shotting. While finesse plastics can be used to occasionally fool savvy deep-water bulls, nothing outproduces a lively whole nightcrawler or leech nose-hooked with a size 8 VMC Spinshot hook. Use the lightest weight possible to maintain bottom contact, and no-stretch braided line for maximum sensitivity. Bluegills are suction feeders and can breathe in and spit out a bait in a blink of an eye. For a more active approach in deep water, employ a spoon and bait. Top spoons for this approach are compact rattling spoons such as the Acme Rattle Master, VMC Rattle Spoon, and Clam Rattlin Blade Spoon. Tip them with either live bait or the more durable and heavily scented Gulp! Waxies. Work spoons by allowing them to sink to the bottom. Give them a couple of quick pops to get the spoon rocketing 3 to 4 feet off the bottom, then slow down the retrieve by hopping the spoon back to the boat about 6 to 10 inches off the bottom with each hop. Continue working the spoon until it is directly under the boat. With the spoon suspended a few inches off the bottom, shake the rod tip to get the spoon rocking back and forth. This slight rocking motion is often enough to draw a strike. 3. WATCH THEM FALL Panfish anglers often forget that they need to impart lively action to their jigs by changing up materials in order to vary their fall rates. Whether its marabou, rabbit, or deer hair, no particular jig material works under every conditionhowever, there are dramatic differences among them that astute panfish anglers can use to their advantage. Marabou is a popular panfish jig material due to its soft undulating action in the water. Made originally from fine stork feathers and now from less exotic chicken feathers, marabou compresses with each pull of the jig and expands out on the pause. Contracting tightly on the fall, marabou has minimal water resistance to slow the jigs descent. The resulting fast fall rate helps get your lure to the bottom quickly for deep-water bulls while avoiding smaller suspended gills. To slow the fall rate slightly and bulk up the appearance of jigs, add a plastic trailer like a Slab Jiggies Realistic Minnow. At times, bigger is better. Rabbit hair jigs are coveted by top bluegill anglers who fish cold water. Rabbit hair breathes less than marabou and, therefore, maintains its shape better in the water, falls more slowly, and fishes big for its weight. Tip these jigs with a large leech or half a crawler for the ultimate slow sinking jig-and-bait combination. Top quality rabbit hair jigs include - or -ounce Mr. Derks Buggy jigs. While originally designed for steelhead, these high-quality jigs are deadly on trophy gills and crappies. Somewhere between the fall characteristics of marabou and rabbit is deer hairgenerally referred to as bucktail. Bucktail holds its shape in water, is durable, and has a moderate fall rate. The most famous of all panfish bucktail jigs is likely the Original Pinkie jig by Little Atom. These have a darter-style head that imparts a side-to-side action to them with each twitch of the rod. While the descent rate of jigs is important for garnering the attention of bulls, equally important is the look of fishing jigs at rest on the bottom. Trophy bluegills are like a magicians worst heckler. They will race up to a suspended jig and then stop on a dime inches from the bait. With pectoral fins waving, they hover in placemeticulously examining every minute detail of the offering. Their unblinking eyes search for any mistakes in the presentation. However, by laying a jig on the bottom, theres less chance that flaws will be detectedsuch as they might with a jig that is spinning or moving in an unnatural manner or suspended just a little too high or too low. Instead, bulls following the offering on the fall are presented with naturally breathing fibers and a wiggling live bait on the bottom, where most of their food naturally resides or originates. A vulnerable bait is often too much for them to resist. 4. THINK LIKE A BASS ANGLER Giant gills have different feeding habits and a different mentality than small ones. Once they get big enough that they dont fit into a bass mouth, they begin to feed like bass. They are up earlier than small gills and cruise the flats looking for smaller fish that have yet to react to the changing light. Bull bluegills also feed later into the evening for the same reason. Smaller fish are susceptible to being eaten, whereas bulls are not on the menu. Topwater baits like a Storm Hopper Popper or Heddon Tiny Torpedo play to the curious nature of gills, and the disturbance they create on the surface will draw the bigger, most aggressive fish. By thinking of bull bluegills the same way you would about bass, you can better decipher their locations and figure out how to catch them. A 22-year-old man who set off a rash of overdoses last year in West Virginia was sentenced by a federal judge Monday to more than 18 years in prison, concluding a case that drew national attention and focused wider attention on the danger of synthetic opioids. Bruce Griggs, of Akron, Ohio, who faced a maximum sentence of 20 years, had reached a plea agreement with prosecutors after being arrested in connection with the episode, during which 26 people were reported to have overdosed within a few hours in the city of Huntington. Griggs acknowledged distributing heroin later found to have been laced with synthetics including fentanyl and carfentanil and causing multiple overdoses. The exact sentence was 220 months, or 18 years and 4 months. He was sentenced in Huntington. Ahead of the sentencing, Griggss family had appealed to Judge Robert Chambers for leniency, saying that Griggs was a devoted family man with three young children who had helped his own single mom raise his three younger siblings. They said he began dealing drugs because he fell in with the wrong crowd. More From Stat News A rash of overdoses in West Virginia made national news. This is the story of the man who caused it Read more: A rash of overdoses in West Virginia made national news. This is the story of the man who caused it His attorney, Carl Hostler, contended Griggs never intended to hurt anyone and was unaware that the heroin he was dealing contained fentanyl and carfentanil. Hostler argued that the real culprit in the overdoses was the person who mixed the drugs, whose identity Griggs does not know. Giving Griggs a strict sentence is not going to alter supply and demand for heroin or make any dent in the opioid epidemic, Hostler wrote in court documents. But some in Huntington, including family members of people who overdosed, called for the maximum sentence, noting that whatever Griggss intentions, he still threatened the lives of dozens of people. Just hours after Griggs sold drugs near a public housing complex in Huntington last August, 26 people overdosed, all of whom survived. But in the following days, authorities reported two fatal overdoses and initially said they were investigating if they were connected. As part of a deal with prosecutors, Griggs pleaded guilty to a charge of heroin distribution. The plea agreement did not mention the fatal overdoses. Every woman dreads the terrible diagnosis of breast cancer, the leading cancer in women worldwide. Wanting to catch abnormal signs early, many women heed their doctors recommendations and get yearly mammograms. Depending on which doctor they see, however, patients may find differing opinions about when breast cancer screenings should start. Doctors Dont Agree. While doctors understand how beneficial mammograms are in detecting early breast cancer, many debate the efficacy of the tests for women in their forties. A recent report published in JAMA Internal Medicine revealed these varying opinions. To analyze the debate, the Breast Cancer Social Networks national survey requested data from over 800 doctors. The survey received an unusually high number of responses. Of the doctors who responded, 81 percent recommended mammograms during ages 4044, 88 percent during ages 4549, and 67 percent after age 75. Clearly, doctors support breast cancer screening, but not all recommend them as early as 40. Why the Debate Because mammograms do catch problems early, one would think that all doctors would agree on early screenings. Why do they debate the subject then? Over-Diagnosis Some studies suggest problems with screening for breast cancer at a young age. One problem that may happen more often with these early screenings is over-diagnosis. Any abnormalities may prompt doctors to order tests, including biopsies, only to find that the cells were normal. In the meantime, the tests will cause unnecessary anxiety and stress while costing patients money. In other cases, doctors will find cancer. However, the type of cancer found would have actually never turned into a problem for the patients. Because the tests did find cancer, patients may then undergo surgeries and therapy to eliminate the risk. Survival Rates At the same time, professionals reason that these early tests do not improve survival rates. For example, one Canadian study showed a 22 percent over-diagnosis of cancer and little improved survival rates due to early breast cancer screenings. Citing studies such as these, some doctors just dont see the benefit of scaring patients and treating harmless abnormalities. Repeated X-Rays Some women choose to forgo early breast cancer screenings because of the repeated exposure to radiation. While causing breast cancer from multiple x-rays does not happen often, many do have concerns about this risk. Before patients decide to start screening regularly, they should talk over the risks and benefits with their doctors. How Mammograms Help On the other end of the debate, the majority of doctors still encourage early mammograms. Every 1 out of 8 women born today will get breast cancer at some time in her life. While over-diagnosis due to early breast cancer screenings may inconvenience some women, these doctors understand the real goalsaving lives. In this goal, studies do give varying results about mammograms reducing cancer deaths overall. Still, even the most modest numbers show that screening reduced death rates by at least 23 percent. In some studies, the rates were reduced by over 60 percent. Simply put, receiving regular mammograms will save lives, even during patients early forties. The tests can detect breast cancer as early as stage one. Such an early diagnosis will greatly improve the patients chances of survival, helping doctors to act more quickly at the beginning. In reality, many women will choose to forgo early screening even if their doctors do recommend it. They do not need encouragement to skip testing. Because studies dont show a decrease in survival rates due to early mammograms, doctors should recommend early breast cancer screenings. They should talk over the benefits and risks with their patients and then let the patients decide for themselves. While new reports show differing opinions on early breast cancer screening, many doctors do recommend it as early as age 40. These doctors understand the danger of putting off mammograms until later years. Some women will be inconvenienced by the testing, but one screening could mean the difference between life and death for someone else. In the end, saving these lives matters most of all. This article first appeared on AskDrManny.com. Las Vegas is probably not the first place one thinks of when asked to name a U.S. city that is fast becoming a leader in public health initiatives. But as the nations opioid epidemic continues to ravage Sin City, residents and activists are looking for ways to reduce heroin-related deaths in the town but also cut skyrocketing infection rates of diseases like HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, which are common among intravenous drug users. Enter vending machines. Inspired by successes in places like Europe and Australia, Trac-B Exchange, the Southern Nevada Health District and the Nevada AIDS Research and Education Society are set to begin a pilot program that will install three syringe-dispensing vending machines across Las Vegas in the hope of reducing drug users needle sharing. The opioid epidemic has led historically to many deaths, but it also has led to the spread of many diseases because of people sharing needles, Chelsi Cheatom, program manager for Trac-B Exchange, told Fox News. Trac-B, a needle-exchange store in Las Vegas, will house one of the three vending machines. The other two will be at similar drug-rehabilitation facilities across the city. The machines are going to be located inside the facilities so that if people have questions about the kits or want to discuss going into recovery, they will have somebody to talk to, Cheatom added. To use the vending machines, users must first fill out a form supplied by the sponsoring groups and obtain an eight-digit identification number to ensure both confidentiality and track their use. Each kit which is valued at $5 but will be free to drug users will contain sterile needles and syringes first-aid supplies, safe-sex supplies and a compartment where used needles can be stored before being disposed at the machines. "Providing clean needles and supplies is a proven method for limiting disease transmission in a community," Joe Iser, chief health officer of the Southern Nevada Health District, said in a statement Wednesday. The three vending machines, which retail for around $15,000 each and will be funded by the Southern Nevada Health District along with private donations, will go into operation in the next few weeks, and the pilot program will run for six months. The total cost of the project including laboratory buildouts, machines and art design is estimated to be just over $238,000. Were hoping that this program will be a success because we think it can really lower the rates of HIV and hepatitis infections, Cheatom said. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention assert that needle exchange programs are effective in preventing the spread of disease. There are currently 228 syringe service programs in 35 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, according to the North American Needle Exchange Network. While needle and syringe possession was illegal in Nevada up until 2013, the state that year passed SB 410 that among other things allowed syringe exchange programs like Trac-B to operate and gave birth to the idea of the vending machines. This is an idea that came about years ago, Cheatom said. But now we have a lot of support from local politicians because it is the law. Track-B estimates that there are 5,800 injection drug users in Clark County, the home of Las Vegas, and in 2015 4 percent of new HIV diagnoses were associated with injection drug use. Prescription opioid deaths in Nevada climbed 16.2 percent between 2014 and 2015, and heroin deaths rose almost 23 percent during the same period, claiming 82 lives. In the Selena Gomez-produced Netflix series Thirteen Reasons Why based on Jay Ashers New York Times bestseller of the same name young Hannah Baker has committed suicide, and the reasons why are contained in a series of cassette tapes she has mailed to her classmates. While the show has received a substantial amount of acclaim, it has also generated controversy: The Australian mental service Headspace recently warned it may be dangerous for teens due to its portrayal of Hannahs suicide. Meanwhile, viewers and critics alike have praised the program, which is rated MA15+, for raising awareness of the issue. MAYBE INSTAGRAM ISN'T A TOTAL DISASTER FOR TEENS' WELL-BEING All of that begs the question: Is the show harmful or helpful for teens? Experts say it depends. The media is doing us a favor by bringing these important issues to light, Dr. Susan Lipkins, a school psychologist and CEO of Real Psychology, told Fox News. She noted that many contemporary programs, including Thirteen Reasons Why, are highlighting awareness about emotional problems and psychological issues, which helps stimulate conversation about these topics. On the other hand, she noted that such programs also need to accurately show alternatives to suicide, and give viewers hope that they can turn to people they trust to deal with such issues. Bullying (like the type Hannah Baker endured) does not always lead to suicide: Lipkins noted that most often, those who commit suicide are suffering from some underlying psychiatric disorder that is triggered by environmental issues. TV programs need to take care not to oversimplify the case. YES, FACEBOOK MAY BE MAKING YOU MORE LONELY And then theres the element of contagion, David Palmiter, a psychology professor at Marywood University in Pennsylvania, told Fox News. In Palmiters experience, when kids who are suffering from depression are thinking about suicide, certain portrayals make it more likely. Those media portrayals are ones where suicide is often unintentionally romanticized, Palmiter explained. For instance, the deceased teen in the program may receive a lot of affirmations about how important he or she is, which could send a signal to the mind of a depressed teen that there is something tragically poetic about suicide. That, in turn, could be the little sliver of information that pushes someone in the wrong direction, Palmiter said. To avoid romanticizing suicide, programs have to characterize accurately how it feels to be depressed, and show teens what they can do about that depression. Depression is a hostile agent in the body like diabetes, but more deadly, Palmiter said, but through interventions like cognitive behavioral therapy, teens and their families have a shot of overcoming that illness. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS Still, awareness is key, and if Thirteen Reasons Why can stimulate important conversations, all the better: Its incredibly difficult to get kids who are in middle school and high school to pay attention to these kinds of issues, Lipkins said. If this series can do that, and then can be used in a powerful and positive way to show that theres hope and alternatives to suicide, then it can be great. Do you find yourself sniffing and reaching for tissues all year round even when it isnt allergy season and you dont have a cold? You may want to take a look at the air around you, quite literally. Air pollution has been linked to inflammation in the nasal and sinus tissues in a new study. The inflammation can leave you with a runny nose all year round, scientists discovered. TO SOLVE YOUR SLEEP PROBLEMS, TAKE THIS STEP FIRST In tests on mice researchers from John Hopkins University School of Medicine in the US found air pollutants damaged the upper respiratory system. It has long been known that these pollutants and smog raise rates of respiratory problems like asthma but this is the first time it has been linked to the sniffles. Dr Murray Ramanathan, lead author of the study, said: In the US, regulations have kept a lot of air pollution in check, but in places like New Delhi, Cairo or Beijing, where people heat their houses with wood-burning stoves, and factories release pollutants into the air, our study suggests people are at higher risk of developing chronic sinus problem. To test their theory they exposed 38 eight-week-old mice to either filtered or unfiltered air from the city of Baltimore five days a week for 16 weeks. RED MEAT CAN BE HEALTHY IF YOU EAT IT THIS WAY The mice that were exposed to pollution presented with a higher white blood cell count after that time, indicating they were suffering from higher levels of inflammation. They also had higher levels of messenger RNA the blueprints of DNA needed to make proteins in the genes associated with inflammation. Dr Ramanathan added: Inflammation that attracts eosinophils [a type of white blood cell] is what happens in the lungs of people with asthma, so essentially the chronic exposure to air pollution in mice is leading to a kind of asthma of the nose. Further tests showed the surface layer inside the nose of the mice who had breathed in the pollution was 30 to 40 per cent thicker than those who hadnt. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS They also found much higher levels of the protein serum albumin in the mice that breathed in the polluted air, which indicates the pollutants had broken through the barrier in the nasal passage and sinuses. Dr Ramanathan said: Weve identified a lot of evidence that breathing in dirty air directly causes a breakdown in the integrity of the sinus and nasal air passages in mice. Keeping this barrier intact is essential for protecting the cells in the tissues from irritation or infection from other sources, including pollen or germs. First published on The Sun. Editor's note: The following column originally appeared in The Hill newspaper and TheHill.com. Last week, in the wake of President Trumps airstrike on Syria, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) urged Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to call the House back in session immediately to debate any decision to place our men and women in uniform in harms way. A CBS poll shows Pelosis call for Congress to vote on any future military attack on Syria has the support of 69 percent of Americans, including a majority 53 percent of Republicans. But the House was in recess last week and there are no plans to bring it back this week. Scheduling is not the issue. The real problem is that Congressional Republicans run for the exit when they hear calls for a vote to authorize military action. They fear having to explain such a vote if the war effort goes badly. At the moment, the Republican majority in Congress is happy to take no responsibility. They simply praise Trump for taking bold action and moving away from the cool, considered approach of President Obama. That politically expedient response to the horror in Syria fits in perfectly with the two-faced behavior of Trump himself. In 2013, he tweeted out his opposition to Obama taking military action in Syria. Now, confronted with the same problem although this latest chemical attack by Syrian leader Bashar Assad is smaller than the one that brought Obama to the brink of military action Trump is telling voters he had to act after he saw babies dying. Babies were dying in 2013. So what did Trumps missile strike accomplish beyond a symbolic, ineffectual use of force? One key difference is that Trump has decided the U.S. is no longer focused on getting Assad out, in the words of Nikki Haley, Trumps U.N. ambassador. That policy announcement might have led the Syrian leader to believe the U.S. would not respond when he resumed using chemical weapons. The incoherence of the Trump policy for dealing with Assads brutality more than 400,000 people have been killed in the Syrian civil war allows Congress to escape its constitutional responsibility to vote for or against authorizing U.S. military action and declaring war. Members of Congress are gun-shy because they know about the political backlash that followed congressional authorization for the Iraq War and the Vietnam War. This political cowardice on the part of Congress is why the United States has not formally declared war against another country since the Second World War, 75 years ago. It is also why the Congress hasnt issued the less forceful substitute of an authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) by the president against another country since the second Iraq War, 14 years ago. To his everlasting credit, Obama did send the Republican Congress an AUMF to fight ISIS back in 2013. Congress promptly ignored him, not even bothering to hold a vote. They said they wanted a battle plan to prevent giving the president unlimited power. Now, with Trump as commander-in-chief, the GOP majority in Congress is happy to look the other way while the missiles take flight. Republican voters, meanwhile, are allowing Republican politicians to neglect their duty. Four years ago, only 22 percent of Republicans, according to a Washington Post-ABC poll, supported Obamas proposed airstrikes against Assad to punish him for using chemical weapons. Now that there is a Republican in the White House, 86 percent of Republicans, according to a new Washington Post-ABC poll, support airstrikes to punish Assad for the same crime. That is not the only big dose of hypocrisy. A Post-ABC 2012 poll found that 67 percent of Republicans supported U.S. military involvement in Syria before Obama drew a red line against the use of chemical weapons. It was only when Assad actually used the chemical weapons and Obama asked Congress to approve firing missiles into Syria that support from Republican voters sank to the 22 percent level. In fact, 98 House Republicans put their signature on a 2013 letter to Obama to warn against airstrikes against Syria without first getting authorization from Congress. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), now a supporter of Trumps airstrikes against Syria, denounced Obama. A vital national security risk is clearly not at play, there are just too many unanswered questions about our long-term strategy in Syria, McConnell explained. This crass display can only be described as partisan politics with no conscience or outright hypocrisy. There is one voice of responsibility emerging on Congress proper role in warfare. It comes from the Pentagon. I would take no issue with the Congress stepping forward with an AUMF. I think it'd be a statement of the American people's resolve," Secretary of Defense James Mattis told a Senate Committee last month. "I thought the same thing for the last several years, I might add, and have not understood why the Congress hasn't come forward with this, at least to debate." Trump was elected on a promise to change the way Washington works and to respect the Constitution of the United States. What better way for him to demonstrate both and prove he is different from all of his predecessors than to demand Congress come back into session today and hold a vote to authorize further U.S. military action in Syria? In late spring 2016, 12-year-old Ola died of starvation in Madaya, a small Syrian town that the regime of Bashar Al-assad has besieged since July 2015. Madaya has virtually no outside to food, medical supplies, or other basic services. Ola was not the first person there to starve to death. She is far from the last. In Madaya alone, 65 people have starved to death under the siege. The international community has watched passively since then as many more civilians in Madaya and elsewhere succumbed to countless horrors, including sniper bullets, diseases unrelieved by medical care, and the most effective weapon of all, hunger. To keep Madayas residents confined in a five square-mile area, some 12,000 landmines were planted around the town and 65 checkpoints established to make sure absolutely no food was allowed in. So far as medical treatment was concerned, the only facility in operation for all 40,000 residents is run by my organization, the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS). United Nations-sponsored attempts to deliver more than meager amounts of aid to the besieged town have been blocked by the Assad regime, and U.N. protests have changed little or nothing. Madaya is a case study in the brutal strategy of the regime, which is summed up bluntly: starve or kneel. An estimated 1 million Syrians are suffering under similar conditions around the shattered country. The overwhelming majority are besieged by the regime. This horrifying situation is hardly new, and neither is our failure to stop it. In the process we are watching not only the death of countless innocents, but also the death of humanitarian lawthe rules that are supposed to limit such atrocity, but instead reinforce and encourage it, when nothing is done to give that law meaning. Instead, we brandish words. In 2014, the U.N. Security Council expressed grave alarm at the significant and rapid deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Syria, in particular the dire situation of hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in besieged areas, most of whom are besieged by the Syrian armed forces and some by opposition groups, as well as the dire situation of over 3 million people in hard-to-reach areas, and [deplored] the difficulties in providing, and the failure to provide, access for the humanitarian assistance to all civilians in need inside Syria. In December, 2015, the Security Council stated that the United Nations has only been able to reach 3.5 per cent of people in besieged areas with health assistance and 0.7 per cent of people with food assistance per month. Since then, there have been other U.N. resolutionsand many more people starving to death, or dying of treatable illnesses, or bleeding to death from illegal bombing attacks, or choking to death from bombs loaded with illegal poison gas. Now, the brutal starve or kneel policy is leading to a new round of atrocities. Late last month, an agreement was reached between the Syrian regime and some non-state armed groups covering the towns of Madaya and Zabadani, besieged by the Syrian regime and its allies, and Fuaa and Kefraya, two towns besieged by these non-state armed groups. Last week civilians from the so-called Four Towns lined up to board buses intended to evacuate them to Idlib and Homs. Not long after they got underway, buses carrying around 5,0000 evacuees from Foah and Kafrayya were hit by a bomb that killed more than 100 civilians and injured 275, including five paramedics. The attack on the convoy happened at A-lRashdeen checkpoint where residents from Madaya were also awaiting the arrival of their relatives. Civilian casualties were from all four towns. Thousands of Madaya residents, and their counterparts in Zabadani, are still going to be evacuated from their homes. But they are now headed to a destination that may be worse than what they are leaving behind--.a town that was not starved to death, but is only a few kilometers from the town of Khan Skeikhoun where more than 80 people were killed with gas containing the nerve poison sarin. The U.S. bombing of an Assad air base in retaliation for that attack has done nothing to change the monstrous strategy of besiegement that now includes the forcible displacement of those on the verge of mass starvation. The use of starvation as a weapon in Syria is a war crime," then-U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in January 2016, after a limited number of U.N. convoys arrived in Syrian towns to deliver token amounts of food to malnourished residents. Later that year, at the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, I presented then-Secretary General Ban with a list of names of the first 100,000 victims of the war in Syria, and told him that victims wanted accountability for these heinous crimes against humanity. He made it clear that in 2015 he attempted on a numerous occasions to advance these files to the International Criminal Court, but his efforts were aborted by the dysfunctionality of U.N. Security Council. The crimes continue. Residents of Madaya, like those in its sister cities of Daraia, Mouadamia, Homs, and Aleppo, know that nobody is willing to save themand it appears that nobody is willing to protect humanitarian laws. No crime should go unaccounted for. The next U.N. resolution should, at a minimum, refer Syrias case to the International Criminal Court. More passiveness from the international community will only lead to one thing: the continued suffering of the Syrian people. It's time for the world to take a stand once and for all. As a newly unified government has begun tackling a range of health care, tax, and regulatory reforms, Conservatives are continuing to champion another area in need of legislative updates for the twenty-first century: criminal justice reform. Republicans have ever been defenders of fiscal conservatism, strong court systems, and basic human dignity, yet our support for thoughtful criminal justice reform efforts is often under-reported. In one of the clearest examples of our bipartisan leadership in criminal justice reform, I, Doug Collins, have been proud to work with colleagues on both sides of the aisle, including my fellow Congressman Bobby Scott, to pass reform legislation, including the Comprehensive Justice and Mental Health Act. I introduced this legislation to strengthen our mental health system at its intersection with criminal justice, and it became part of the landmark 21st Century Cures Act, which former President Obama signed into law this December. Conservatives understand the balance between keeping our communities safe from people who are, in a word, scary and remembering that the American narrative has always made room for new beginnings. Criminal justice reform is, at its heart, rooted in our confidence in redemption and that giving second chances to those who deserve them yields benefits across society. One of those benefits is, of course, saving taxpayer dollars. When we review the state of our criminal justice system, we realize that 95 percent of prisoners will eventually be released from prison, and, with a recidivism rate of approximately 50 percent for federal offenders, it is clear that the status quo is not working. Instead of continuing unsustainable practices that endanger our communities and waste resources, we must strengthen opportunities for prisoners to re-enter society without returning to prison. Such criminal justice reforms address all aspects of the prison pipelineincluding sentencing reforms, re-entry reforms and rehabilitation measuresand have made our communities safer, saved taxpayer dollars and allowed those who have paid their debts to society an opportunity to break the cycle of crime and focus on providing for their families and contributing to our communities. As conservatives in Congress work to make our justice laws smarter and stronger, FreedomWorks has labored alongside lawmakers and groups that value liberty to prioritize collaboration on further criminal justice reform efforts. With successes at the state levelmost recently in Ohio, where a civil asset forfeiture bill just passed the state legislature with strong supportFreedomWorks is applying proven strategies to help pass reform at the federal level as well. In 2016, bills FreedomWorks specifically championed in the House, such as the Recidivism Risk Reduction Act, the Sentencing Reform Act, the Due Process Act and the Criminal Code Improvement Act, all successfully passed the Judiciary Committee with bipartisan approval. As a member of that committee, I, Doug Collins, understand that we have work to do in passing these reforms into law and look forward to revisiting these opportunities in the 115th Congress. Thoughtful criminal justice reform also means that Republicans commitment to standing with law enforcement is unwavering. As the son of a Georgia state trooper, Im proud that my state and other so-called red states are leading the way in sustainable criminal justice reform. For example, the work of Governor Nathan Deal and state lawmakers led Georgia to a tremendous reduction in its prison population, and the Governor continues to work with the state legislature to enact reforms to further reduce recidivism. Some of the most impactful initiatives include mandatory minimum sentencing reforms, offering programs that help inmates achieve a high school diploma, banning the box to promote employment opportunities and sweeping juvenile justice reforms. Successful mental health reforms in correctional institutions and innovative law enforcement training across the state also inspired Congressman Collins federal legislation. States like South Carolina, Texas and Oklahoma have joined Georgia in enacting reforms that are returning offenders to their communities as productive members of society. Not only have these reforms saved taxpayers money, but the states that have enacted reforms have also seen their crime rates decline. For example, Texas, after an initial investment in drug court diversionary efforts, saw a decline in its prison populations of 14 percent and a drop in crime rates of 29 percent. Now Texas has its lowest crime rate since 1968, and recidivism is 7 percent less than it was before the 2007 reform effort. Realizing this, Republicans and Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee continue to collaborate on their criminal justice reform initiative. As Chairman Bob Goodlatte explains, Criminal justice reform is not a liberal or conservative issue; its an American issue. While congressional Republicans have been able to pursue productive reforms through bipartisan collaboration, they are also eager for the opportunity to work with a new administration that has made helping our citiesoften the greatest beneficiaries of criminal justice reform effortsa national priority. We are part of a burgeoning movement that is overcoming partisanship with evidence-based policies to shape criminal justice reform, and we will not stop advocating for changes that protect our law enforcement officers and communities while providing offenders with a smarter path forward. In the special election for Georgias Sixth District Congressional seat, Democrat Jon Ossoff has fallen short of the 50 percent threshold needed to win the seat out-right, triggering a runoff in June. Ossoffs candidacy and failure to secure the seat in the first round of voting, despite holding an $8.3 million war-chest, is the quintessential example of why the Democrats strategy of resisting Trump at every step is imprudent and that the more effective way to win in a solidly Republican district is with a positive agenda of change. Today, the Democratic party is deeply fractured. While some pragmatic leaders continue to fight for the traditional Democratic values which have long-defined our party, the resistance to President Trump is more concerned with obstructing Republicans and has no plans to enact the economic policies or health care reforms that hard-working Americans deserve. In his Congressional campaign, Jon Ossoff has generally said the right things, often appears to be positioned as a moderate, and has even suggested that he would not be campaigning across the district talking about Donald Trump at every event. However, these aspects of Ossoffs candidacy do not change the underlying narrative that has catapulted his campaign to national prominence. Above all, Ossoffs digital media campaign has centered on the slogan, Make Trump Furious, which has summarily helped him raise millions of dollars from nearly 200,000 individual donations. Uniquely, these donations are primarily in small dollar amounts averaging $43 and have come in from out of state. Ossoff needs more than a negative, anti-Trump message to emerge victorious in June. It is clear that this election will be more about message than money and Karen Handel, Ossoffs June opponent and former Georgia Secretary of State, is independent of President Trump and will not be associated with him at all. In terms of Ossoffs positioning though, if not for President Trumps extraordinarily low approval ratings in the first 100 days of his administration, Ossoff would likely be nowhere. Further, now that Ossoff has been unable to attain 50 percent of the vote despite Democrats getting maximum attention for their turnout in recent special elections, Ossoffs chances in a head-to-head race against Handel are limited. After all, going back to 1979, Georgias sixth district has been represented by three of the states most prominent Republicans: Speaker Newt Gingrich, Senator Johnny Isakson, and Secretary Tom Price. In November 2016, Price won this solidly Republican district by more than 20 points and President Trump narrowly won the district as well. In the coming months, the Trump resistance movement may continue to get broad attention and liberal voters may be more mobilized than they were in November 2016, but their unflinching desire to obstruct is not an effective governing strategy. In the past, Republicans have offered compelling, alternative policies when faced with a Democratic majority, most notably through the 1994 Contract with America, as well as the more recent Tea Party Movement. The current Democratic minority does not seek to offer alternatives to Republican policies in this way, but instead promotes resistance at every step and blocking anything that comes from the White House. If not by 2018, certainly by 2020, this non-strategy will not only destabilize the Democratic partys future, but also cripple our nation in the process, leaving key constituencies to suffer the consequences. What was supposed to be a routine anti-drugs operation turned into a pitched battle on Sunday, highlighting the growing risk facing Spains security forces as they try to combat drug smugglers bringing in hashish by boat from Morocco . Three Spanish Civil Guard officers and four members of the National Police found themselves under attack from around a hundred people who hurled stones at them, allowing criminals to unload their shipment onto a beach between the communities of El Tonelero and El Burgo, some five kilometers north of Gibraltar. All seven officers were injured in the incident and a patrol vehicle had its windows smashed. The attack is just the latest in a similar series of incidents in recent days in the area around Gibraltar, known as Campo de Gibraltar. What happened is nothing new. In recent days there have been attacks on a number of officers in the area, says Jose Encinas, a regional representative of the AUGC Civil Guard labor union, adding that there have been four incidents between police and drug traffickers on land and at sea recently. A Civil Guard patrol boat was harried by four boats occupied by drugs traffickers Civil Guard representative Jose Encinas Later on Sunday evening, two local police officers in the nearby town of San Roque were injured after a car deliberately crashed into them while they were chasing another vehicle they suspected was carrying drugs. Encinas says that over the last week, other officers have been attacked in the area bordering Gibraltar, a well-known delivery point for drug shipments brought by motor launches from Morocco. A Civil Guard patrol vessel was harried by four high-speed semi-rigid boats occupied by around a dozen drug traffickers, he adds. He explains that there has been an upsurge in such incidents, and blames a lack of resources and personnel." The AUGC says that low-level officers at the Civil Guards nearby Algeciras Command Station needs to be increased from the current 1,100 by 30%, with a 40% increase in senior investigating officers. The SUP police union has also expressed its concern at what it sees as the lack of resources that is putting officers at risk when tackling drug traffickers. Encinas is calling for immediate measures so as to avoid worse damage, which would involve declaring the affected part of the coast a special conflict zone, meaning that it would be given greater resources. But it has been known for some time that more resources are needed, and the authorities have done nothing, says the AUGC. English version by Nick Lyne. Expect more craziness this weekend. Earth Day is Saturday. This years theme: Government must do more about climate change because consequences of inaction are too high to risk. They make it sound so simple: 1) Man causes global warming. 2) Warming is obviously harmful. 3) Government can stop it. Each claim is dubious or wrong. This weekend at a movie, I was surprised to be assaulted again by former Vice President Al Gore. In a preview, a puffy-looking Gore suddenly appeared, attacking Donald Trump and mocking critics of his previous movie, An Inconvenient Truth, the deceitful documentary that spreads fear in classrooms today. Yes, teachers play it in class. Now Gore claims the most criticized part of the film was his assertion that the 9/11 memorial site would flood. Then, during Hurricane Sandy, it did! But Gore creatively misremembers his own movie. He had claimed the World Trade Center would flood because of a permanent 20-foot sea-level rise. Actual scientists called that nonsense. It would take hundreds of years for such a thing to possibly happen. But since the area flooded, briefly, Gore spins that as confirmation of his exaggerations. This preview was the first I learned that theaters will soon show a sequel to Gores film. Google tells us that An Inconvenient Sequel got a standing ovation at the Sundance Film Festival. Trendy Hollywood is so dumb. At least critics whove watched it gave it poor reviews. Lets go back to points 1, 2 and 3: 1) Mans greenhouse gases contribute to warming, but scientists dont agree on how much. Of 117 climate models from the 1990s, 114 overpredicted warming. 2) Warming is harmful. Maybe. But so far its been good: Over the last century, climates warmed, but climate-related deaths dropped. Since 1933, they fell by 98 percent. Life expectancy doubled. Much of that is thanks to prosperity created by free markets. But some is due to warming. Cold kills more people than heat. Carbon dioxide is also good for crop growth. Even The New York Times admits, Plants have been growing at a rate far faster than at any other time in the last 54,000 years. But what if Al Gore is right? Maybe our greenhouse gases will eventually cause Greenlands icecaps to melt and flood our cities. Shouldnt government act now? No. 3) Nothing we do today will stop global warming. The Obama regulations that Trump recently repealed, horrifying the Earth Day crowd, had a goal that amounted to a mere 1 percent reduction in global CO2. And that was just the goal. Of course, some think any cut is better than nothing. But cuts are costly. They kill jobs, opportunity. All to accomplish... nothing the earth will notice. If warming does become a problem, were better off if our economy is very strong when the science tells us clearly that action will make a difference. We should be especially wary of expensive government projects given how often alarmists were wrong in the past. As Catos Pat Michaels says, I've lived through eight environmental apocalypses ... overpopulation ... resource depletion ... Silent Spring ... global cooling ... acid rain ... the ozone hole ... global warming ... the next one is going to be ocean acidification. In the 70s, environmentalist Paul Ehrlich won fame with his book The Population Bomb. Ehrlich predicted: "I would take even money that England will not exist in the year 2000." Oops. Ehrlich now admits: When you predict the future, you get things wrong. But he says theres a grain of truth in his prediction, because: If you look closely at England, what can I tell you? They're having all kinds of problems. Give me a break. Saturdays Earth Day nonsense will include a March for Science. The media will hype it, claiming Trumps proposed budget will poison the earth. It wont. The alarmists claim theyre marching for science, but theyre really marching for a left-wing religion. Instead of celebrating Earth Day Saturday, Ill celebrate Human Achievement Hour. The think tank behind it, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, says Human Achievement Hour pays tribute to our basic human right to use energy to improve everyone's quality of life. Some ways to celebrate: --Use your phone or computer --Drive a car --Take a hot shower Good idea! Lets celebrate progress instead of attacking it. My father-in-law was a rugged man, a man of duty and honor. He wore Levi jeans and scuffed boots, dirtied from years of chores on the family farm in Iowa. He had no romantic notions about farm life, or about his years as a decorated Army Ranger captain. There were hard years, really hard years. There were foxholes. And death. He didnt talk much about it, and though we wished he would have, we respected his silence. He simply kept his hand on the barn door, the tractor wheel, and the hymnal on Sunday mornings. But the image none of us will ever forget is this one: those same calloused hands held dainty teacups. The distinguished Army captain was the most gracious host of tea parties, which he held in honor of his granddaughters. This is one of the fondest memories that my girls have of their Grandpa Paul. Hed sit cross-legged with them on the porch of his house, under the shade of a giant tree. Hed stir muddy water, and engage in polite conversation, and pretend to eat cookies, which were actually landscaping rocks set upon fragile saucers. I was always struck by the tenderness and humility of my father-in-law. Looking back on it now, I know that the same core values motivated both his service in the military, and his impromptu tea parties: A deep love of people and of country. I thought about all of that again this week when a friend sent me a link to a story about a Marine dad who took part in a magical tea party with his 4-year-old daughter. The tea party came with an accompanying photo shoot. It was all a surprise for the dad, a U.S. Marine Corps drill instructor. His wife told reporters that he was hesitant at first. But he did it anyway, and we can all thank him for that. The images are truly heartwarming. In uniform, the Marine folded himself into a tiny chair, across the table from his dimple-cheeked girl. He poured tea from a kettle. He kissed her hand. She beamed. Shell never forget it, Im certain of that. Shell never forget her brave daddy sitting across the table from her. Looking at the photos, I remember a truth about the bravest people I know. They arent too afraid to make themselves small. They understand that humility and kindness arent signs of weakness, but virtues of the brave. The bravest people I know arent too big to sit in child-sized chairs and sip tea, with the sole aim of making someone elses heart soar. Our daughter Anna doesnt remember much about her Grandpa Paul. She was only four when he died the same age as the girl in the photo shoot. Of the handful of memories that Anna does have, the tea parties are the most prominent. Grandpa Paul died in 2009 of leukemia. He was 67. His doctors said his illness was brought on by all of the Agent Orange that he was exposed to during the Vietnam War. Like most soldiers, he didnt go down without a fight. On a January morning in Iowa one mile south of his farm, in the church where his sturdy hands held the hymnal -- an American flag was draped over his casket. We walked out the back of the church behind the pallbearers. His old military buddies were standing there waiting for us. I dont think Im imagining the tears in their eyes. And if I am imagining the tears, well let me believe they were real. Paul Lees tour of duty had ended. His American Legion pals with their navy-blue hats, trimmed in gold -- folded that flag into a triangle and handed it to his wife. Those men were grandpas and retired farmers and members of the church choir. They probably hosted a few tea parties themselves, over the years. Heres what I believe about men and women like that: I believe that you dont lose your Bravery Card when you show up at a tea party. When you hand a grieving widow a flag, with tears in your own eyes. When you take the time to be tender. When you simply love. Yeah, Im just a person who watched those tea parties from a distance, while standing beneath a shade tree. But I do know this: the tenderest moments of our lives are likely the moments our loved ones will carry the longest. And that tenderness doesn't weaken our warrior spirit. It strengthens it. On behalf of the United Macedonian Diaspora (UMD), I am responding to recent political machinations emanating from Albania that are making anything but melodious sounds across its border in the Republic of Macedonia. First, Gjovalin Shkurtaj of the Academy of Sciences of Albania recently penned a highly misleading op-ed. The article repeatedly uses patently false information as well as derisive rhetoric that, together, are meant to delegitimize Macedonia. The article derogatorily refers to Macedonia as a made-up republic. As a member of the Academy of Sciences of Albania, surely the writer should know that all nation-states including Albania -- are artificial constructs to varying degrees. Mr. Shkurtajs offensive comments seem aimed to further fan the flames of ethnic division. Mr. Shkurtaj, an ethnic Albanian, also claims repeatedly that the Albanian minority in Macedonia makes up more than 25 percent of the population. However, there is no current factual evidence to support that claim. Macedonia has not had a census since 2002. Furthermore, based on official government social health system registrations, approximately 17 percent of the registrants identify themselves as of Albanian ethnicity. Thats a far cry from 25 percent. Mr. Shkurtaj also knowingly uses previously retracted statements of U.S. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher. He does so in spite of the fact that the congressman issued a press release on February 21, 2017, in which he said, among other things that, Upon reflection, I see that some of [my] statements did not accurately convey my intent. This release clarifies my position. Macedonia is a legitimate country with the right of self-determination and sanctity of borders. Second, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has threatened to block Macedonias NATO membership Macedonia, the very country that, along with Croatia, helped Albania when it was critically lagging in terms of its own NATO membership aspirations. This, in spite of the fact that, in 2013, Mr. Rama acknowledged the full human rights of ethnic Albanians in Macedonia, as well as, conversely, Albanias failure to grant such rights to its own ethnic Macedonian minority. Perhaps Mr. Rama needs to be reminded that, while political winds may change, neighbors are forever, and they do not forget. So, why are Albanian leaders using Macedonias current domestic challenges as an opportunity to pile on? I see at least a couple of possibilities. First, it seems that their statements are meant to eventually create a greater Albania, at the expense of Macedonia and its other Balkan neighbors. In that regard, the unprecedented and perfidious meeting in December, in Tirana (which took place just two days after Macedonias elections), between ethnic Albanian political party leaders of Macedonia and Albanian Prime Minister Rama, supports the view that Albania is meddling in the internal affairs of a neighbor state for its own long-term irredentist aims. Second, perhaps Mr. Rama and his team find it convenient to distract their own countrys voters by raising specious issues from across its borders in Macedonia. Or, maybe both of these reasons explain Tiranas provocations. In any case, Mr. Rama and his fellow propagandists would be well advised to act responsibly and honorably, for instability knows no borders and does not discriminate. . . as they should well remember, given the not too distant past when Albania faced its own political and ethnic demons and was on the cusp of disintegration. If United Airlines crucified or even dragged Christians off a plane during their holy week, would the world pay attention? Its hard to believe that, within the same holy week that 50 Christians were bombed and murdered in their churches on Palm Sunday, the media and most of the world has already moved on to other news. Like United Airlines treatment of a passenger. No airline passenger should be treated that way. At the same time, no Christian, Jew, Yazidi or any person should be tortured, sold into slavery, crucified, or beheaded for refusing to renounce their faith. But that is whats happening now, at the hands and blades and guns of ISIS and other radical Islamists. While we pray for the speedy recovery of the United passenger, we must not forget about the suffering of tens of thousands of Christians suffering which continues throughout this holy week. Egypts Christians are still reeling from church bombings and mourning their dead. Pakistans churches are nearly empty on major holidays following the Youhanabad attacks of 2016. Boko Harams rise in Nigeria caused Christian persecution to rise more than 60 percent in less than one year. And, throughout the Middle East, Christians are being erased from the birthplace of Christianity. Pockets of Islamist control throughout Egypt are suffocating the Church. When I was in Egypt in early 2016, I visited a region where villages truly are either Christian or Muslim. I traveled with a Muslim and two Christians from Cairo and they pointed out each village we drove by, proving that its not difficult for an Islamist to know exactly which villages to attack if their target is Christians. Specifically, I remember the color green enveloping the small Christian villages. I was told that green is the color of Islam and so the Islamists will purposely build their mosques and buildings laced with green lights to sit over and all around the Christian villages just to remind them who they answer to. The vast indoctrination from a Muslim Brotherhood dominated education system is one reason why many Egyptians are growing up with Islamist supremacy beliefs and fundamental resentment of Christians. So how can you help persecuted Christians? Christians throughout Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan and elsewhere have personally told me that each day they attend church they know could be their last. Mona, an Egyptian Coptic Christian, stated that my people have suffered under the yolk of Islamization of culture for so long. Our priests encourage us to spend our times in worship preparing for martyrdom and being reminded that we must never give up our hope in Christ no matter how many times we are told to renounce our faith. But what this past holy week represents is far more powerful than any bomb or terrorist mob. Coptic Christians and believers throughout the world base their faith on what Easter represents resurrection and redemption. This gives Christians in Egypt and throughout the world the hope and strength to keep their faith. On this season of Easter it is time for Christians everywhere to take up the cause of the persecuted Church. Because a genocide is happening on our watch a genocide against Christians. Especially during the most sacred holy week of the Christian year, let us focus on the realities of the men, women and children who are being tortured, murdered, and persecuted for keeping their faith. That is a story that deserves to be told. On May 23, the film "Faithkeepers" will be released in churches, theaters and communities across America. It will show the uplifting personal stories of persecuted Christians and other minorities who suffered, but refused to renounce their faith. In their stories, just like the story of Easter, we can all strengthen our own faith. Two Maryland women have been charged with a hate crime in connection with the burning of a Donald Trump presidential campaign sign, according to fire and police officials. The State Fire Marshals Office said Monday that a second arrest was made in connection with the April 14 incident on Marylands Eastern Shore. The office has identified the suspect as Joy M. Shuford, 19, of Owings Mills, Md. Shuford surrendered to authorities one day after the incident and faces multiple charges including second-degree arson, malicious destruction of property and the commission of a hate crime. The second suspect has been identified as D'Asia R. Perry, 19, of Baltimore. Perry was found on the University of Maryland Eastern Shore campus and taken into custody. She faces 14 charges in connection with the incident including arson and commission of a hate crime, according to police. Police also say Shuford and Perry set fire to the billboard because of political differences with the sign's content. Each has been released on a $20,000 unsecured bond. The sign was near a shopping center, and the fire spread to a nearby field, causing an estimated $800 in damage. Investigators said they connected Perry and Shuford to a newer-model silver Volkswagen Beetle reportedly spotted near the crime scene. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Attorney General Jeff Sessions vowed Tuesday to "devastate" the Central American gang MS-13, calling the group "one of the most violent gangs in the history of our country, no doubt about it." Sessions spoke to Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" hours after President Trump blamed what he called "the weak illegal immigration polices" of the Obama administration for allowing MS-13 to spread to cities across the U.S. TRUMP: ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CRIMINALS ARE 'GETTING THE HELL OUT' Sessions told host Tucker Carlson that he had "no doubt" that Obama's policies led to the group's growth, saying "so many of these people are illegally here, and they came without proper authority. And with a good, lawful border, many of them would not be here." The attorney general said that law enforcement had made progress against MS-13 until Obama took office, but "they've come back aggressively in recent years." Sessions added that under the last administration, gang members "were directed how to enter, if they came, and claim themselves as a minor and the Obama administration let them come in the country and took them to their destination city and turned them over to some relative that claimed to be a relative." FOUR BODIES FOUND IN LONG ISLAND PARK MOST LIKELY VICTIMS OF MS-13, OFFICIALS SAY According to Sessions, MS-13 "could qualify" as a terrorist group due to the violence of its members. "They use machetes, they kill children, they put children into prostitution at age 12 ... Theyre involved in the kinds of activities that can be identified and they can be prosecuted," Sessions said. "I believe if we stay at it, we can devastate this organization and thats going to be our goal." Democratic lawmakers in Sacramento want California to become the nation's first sanctuary state. Republicans tried to stop it Tuesday with legislation of their own. "California's Democrat politicians have been promoting a policy of sheltering criminals in our state who are in here illegally," said California Assemblyman Travis Allen, R-Huntington Beach. "Californians don't want criminals who are here illegally to be sheltered in their communities." Allen's bill did three things. First, it stopped state funds from going to any jurisdiction that claims to be a sanctuary or has sanctuary policies in place. Secondly, it mandated state law enforcement to cooperate directly with federal immigration officials. Third, it prohibited the use of tax money to defend criminal aliens. Allen unveiled the bill alongside Agnes Gibboney, whose son Ronald da Silva was fatally shot by a previously deported illegal immigrant in 2002. "I don't want another family member to live the hell, with pain and suffering that I live with every day," Gibboney said. "There was no second chance for my son. Where is his sanctuary city? Where was his protection?" Allen's bill countered SB 54, which probits local law enforcement from communicating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in almost all cases. The only exception involved is convicted violent felons. Allen believes that's troublesome because that means everyone else -- including those deported in the past, those convicted of prior or multiple misdemeanors, and those who plead guilty to lesser offenses -- would be protected. "We're not talking about someone's grandmother sitting at home," Allen said. "Child abusers, drug abusers, stalkers, people guilty of sexual battery. These are serious, serious criminals and we shouldn't we be using state funds to protect those criminals in our communities." Just hours after being introduced Tuesday in Sacramento, the Assembly Committee on Public Safety squashed an Allen's bill. He and others expected it. Republicans have almost zero power in the State Legislature. Allen said he introduced the bill to influence public opinion and urge the Trump Administration to clarify who among the nation's 11 million undocumented immigrants should be deported. Hawaii has now introduced a nearly identical sanctuary bill that protects criminal aliens, save the most violent convicted felons. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the outspoken Utah Republican and influential chairman of the House oversight committee, announced Wednesday he will not seek re-election in 2018. The conservative lawmaker, whos been in Congress since 2009, confirmed the decision on Facebook. After long consultation with my family and prayerful consideration, I have decided I will not be a candidate for any office in 2018, he wrote. Chaffetz, a longtime fixture in Utah politics, has hinted before at potentially running for governor in 2020, and his announcement could be the first step toward that goal. He also has faced an early Democratic challenge for the House seat. In an exclusive interview on "Your World With Neil Cavuto," Chaffetz said he may run for office again in the future, but for now he's going into the private sector. "I want to go back to the private sector," he said. "I want to reintroduce myself to my family." He also reiterated while he enjoyed his work in Congress on "this issues," his family was the motivation in his decision. "My family is more important and I love them more than I love being a member of Congress or the Senate," Chaffetz said. Chaffetz also discussed the possibility of an open U.S. Senate seat in Utah in the event that Sen. Sen. Orrin Hatch doesn't run for an eighth term. "Mitt Romney, there couldn't be anybody better, I don't know if he would do it," he told Fox News' Neil Cavuto, adding "If I wanted to run I'd be very competitive." "I preach you want to serve, get in, get out, and that's what I'm doing," he said. Chaffetz arrived in Congress nearly a decade ago under rather testy circumstances, defeating GOP Rep. Chris Cannon in a 2008 primary runoff. Cannon refused to meet with Chaffetz after that. Chaffetz was more recently a leading figure in Congress investigations into 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clintons use of a private email and server as secretary of state. He hounded the Secret Service over multiple security incidents and scandals during the Obama administration; amid those tensions, the agency even apologized to him after officials wrongly accessed personal information about him. He was a frequent critic of government waste, and showed no hesitation about lambasting alleged culprits who appeared before his committee. In his role this year, he's also had to navigate how to address ethical complaints about the current Trump administration. And he faced an emerging challenge in 2018 from Democrat Dr. Kathryn Allen, who has been on a fundraising spree after seizing on controversial comments he made suggesting low-income people should prioritize health care over buying iPhones. Like many of his colleagues, Chaffetz recently encountered a raucous town hall in his home state. Chaffetz said he's announcing his decision now "to give prospective candidates time to lay the groundwork for a successful run." Fox News' Chad Pergram contributed to this report. Republican Sen. Joni Ernst told constituents at a town hall on Tuesday that President Trump has a number of character flaws and spends too much time at Mar-a-Lago. Though the Iowa Republican backed Trump throughout the campaign, she made clear she backs his policies more than him, personally. Ernst spoke bluntly when asked at a town hall in Wall Lake, Iowa, how she could support a man that treats women the way Donald Trump does. Would you say theyre character flaws? Ernst responded. I think he has a number ofI think we have a president who has a number of flawsI support a majority of the policies versus the actual person. Ernst stood by then-candidate Trump last fall following the release of a 2005 video in which Trump made lewd remarks about women, even as other Republicans were distancing themselves. The senator did, however, say that she was fighting for her country, not Trump, and would support the Republican ticket due to her disagreements with Hillary Clinton. Ernst also took the town hall opportunity Tuesday to address her concerns with the presidents frequent travel to the southern White House. I do wish he would spend more time in Washington, D.C. That is what we have the White House for, Ernst said. We would love to see more of those State Department visits in Washington D.C. I think its smart that he does business in Washington D.C. Ernst suggested other Republican lawmakers feel similarly about Trumps visits to his property in Palm Beach, Fla. I have not spoken to him about the Florida issue yet, but that is something I think has been bothering not just me, but I think other members of our caucus, Ernst said. So I think that is going to be a conversation that we have when we get back to Washington D.C. Ernst's senate office reiterated the senator's overall support for the president. Press Secretary Brook Hougesen told Fox News in a statement: "Senator Ernst very much supports President Trump. These were questions she received at a town meeting, she didnt bring them up proactively. She would like to see more fiscal responsibility with respect to the visits to Mar-a-Lago. Regarding the comment on flaws, her point is simply that one would be hard-pressed to find a perfect president that one would always agree with on everything. However, she does agree with the president on many policy items." According to FiveThirtyEight, Ernst so far has voted in line with President Trumps position and policies 100 percent of the time. EXCLUSIVE: A former CIA officer spared jail time in Italy tells Fox News that despite her commutation, she may be forced to testify to Italian lawmakers about the secret post-9/11 rendition program and warns the testimony could be extremely "damaging." "The Italian Intelligence Oversight Committee has contacted my lawyer in Italy asking that I come testify on a CIA operation," Sabrina de Sousa said. "Several members have been pushing the Italian intelligence services for release and declassification of documents related to this case." De Sousa is speaking out about her decade-long ordeal, which started when an Italian court convicted her in absentia -- along with two-dozen others -- connected to the 2003 U.S. government-sanctioned kidnapping of cleric Abu Omar. Under President George W. Bush's rendition program, Omar was snatched from Milan, Italy, and flown to Egypt, where he claimed to be tortured. De Sousa says the evidence was weak and Omar was eventually released, but she is still living a legal nightmare. In February, after CIA Director Mike Pompeo and others in the Trump administration intervened, de Sousa's case seemed to be near a resolution. The Italian president reduced her sentence from four years to three, in turn opening the door to non-prison sentences, and de Sousa returned to the U.S. But De Sousa said she must still return to Italy to do community service, which has been described by her lawyer as the equivalent of house arrest in that country. And once back in Italy, she expects to be called to testify before the Italian government's version of the Senate intelligence committee about U.S. government secrets. "I think it will be damaging for both countries because at this point, right now, Italy, the previous Prime Minister Renzi, asserted state secrets over everything Italian, and in the U.S. everything's classified," de Sousa explained. President Trump is scheduled to meet with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni on Thursday, and de Sousa said shes making a personal plea to President Trump for resolution." She said the issues are bigger than her case: "It sets a precedent, a precedent where the U.S. allowed convictions of intelligence officers and U.S. diplomats overseas by foreign courts." De Sousa said she is thankful for the help of former Republican Rep. Pete Hoekstra who has stuck with the issue and raised her case with the Trump White House as well as Pompeo. De Sousa's American lawyer Victoria Toensing said resolving the case will send a strong message to current and prospective intelligence officers that the U.S. government has their back. "The United States government authorized this operation at the highest levels. Moreover, the United States government assured Sabrina that this operation had the blessing of the Italians and what happened? After her conviction the Obama administration completely abandoned her," Toensing said. Toensing further claimed that de Sousa was singled out because she was public about her opposition to the rendition. "The people who did get pardoned, did not speak out," she said. In March, a former senior intelligence official disputed claims that the Obama administration did not work behind the scenes on the ex-officers behalf. "There was an extensive effort by the entire U.S. government to push the Italians to pardon these individuals," the official said. De Sousa, who was born in India and holds both American and Portuguese passports, left the CIA in 2009 and moved to Portugal in April 2015 to be near family. In October 2015, she was detained at Lisbon's airport on a European arrest warrant tied to the Italian case, while attempting to travel to India. She was later released but ordered to remain in Portugal. De Sousa had been warned by the CIA not to travel to Europe. In 2016, Italy sent Portugal a letter saying de Sousa's conviction was final, and no retrial would be granted. In a move that shocked de Sousa and others in the intelligence community, Portugal's high court ordered her immediate extradition, before her partial reprieve. "Personally it has cost me and my family a lot," de Sousa said. "Professionally it has cost me my career." Fox News' Cristina Corbin contributed to this report. Without the proper context, the sight of a staircase leading down into a great hole in the ground might not look like much. But this hole is part of an archeological dig that has uncovered an enormous building dating back 2,500 years, part of the famed Tartessos culture. The find was made in the western Spanish region of Extremadura, a rural land renowned for its cork oak plantations , its scorching summers, and for being the birthplace of conquistadors. In the fifth century before the Christian era, there was a massive two-story building standing here, in the demarcation of Las Vegas del Guadiana, in Badajoz province. The building the first surviving one of its kind from that era to be discovered had a monumental staircase rising two-and-a-half meters. And it was made with materials and techniques that researchers thought had not been in use in the Western Mediterranean until much later. There was a great celebration held at the site, right before the building was destroyed Half of the steps were made by stacking up large, rectangular blocks, but the builders did not use hewn stone as the Greeks did. Instead, they used a mortar made with calcium oxide and powdered granite, which was probably poured into molds, in something like an early form of cement. Except that this took place a full century before the first documented cement-like material, opus caementicium, began to be used in the Roman Empire. The Turunuelo de Guarena site, where digging began in 2015, has already yielded several surprises because of its sheer size (at one hectare, it is the biggest known Tartessian-era site), the wealth of the artifacts that have turned up, and their extraordinary state of conservation. All kinds of jewelry, lance tips, containers, seeds, fabric fragments, bronze grills and enormous pots have emerged from the earth, promising to shed new light on a pre-Roman civilization that occupied the southwest of the Iberian peninsula in the first millennium before the Christian era. Remains of two horses sacrificed at Turunuelo. SANTI BURGOS All kinds of myths and legends have sprung up around the Tartessians, particularly because of their mysterious decadence and abrupt end. This is partly due to the shortage of physical evidence that they left behind. But a team led by two archeologists from Spains Higher Center for Scientific Research (CSIC), Esther Rodriguez and Sebastian Celestino who is also director of the Merida Archeology Institute is fast making up for the dearth of Tartessian cultural remains. And only 10% of the building has been unearthed so far. A staircase is a unique architectural element of something that we didnt think they were capable of executing, explains Rodriguez. There were stairs in use during the Peninsulas early history, but at a later date. All we were aware of from this period was the odd set of two or three stone-and-adobe steps to make up for the sloping ground. In this case, however, there are at least 10 steps (more could still turn up) measuring over two meters across, 40 centimeters wide and 22 cm high. The top five steps are covered with slabs of slate, and the bottom ones are made with the granite-and-lime mortar described earlier. A staircase is a unique architectural element of something that we didnt think they were capable of executing Esther Rodriguez, dig co-director The most surprising part was its depth, adds Celestino. Two-and-a-half meters means that there is another floor underneath, and that we are now accessing the top floor. There had been some speculation as to the existence of these types of buildings during Tartessian times, based on biblical descriptions. But none had ever been found. This will be the first building to conserve both floors, says Celestino. To one side of this astounding staircase, archeologists found the bodies of two horses placed in an anatomical position, wearing all of their apparel, which clearly suggests a ritual sacrifice: these animals were a sign of luxury at the time, and not killed for food. On the other side of the staircase, however, there are the remains of a cow, which dwellers apparently feasted on. All of the above has investigators positing that there was a great celebration held at the site, right before the building was destroyed. Most of the buildings from the era were located in the middle valley of the Guadiana River, an area that went through a deep economic crisis in the 6th century BC, then sustained large waves of immigration emanating from the central nucleus of Tartessos on the Guadalquivir, in modern-day Huelva. In the late 5th or early 4th century, faced with the imminent arrival of Celtic tribes from the north, the local residents decided to raze their own buildings rather than watch them get pillaged by the invaders. The building in Turunuelo de Guarena was set on fire and buried under layers of mud retrieved from the riverbed of the Guadiana. But its formidable structure, with walls several meters deep, allowed it to remain standing in spite of everything. This building has some of the traits of a palace, but also of a great funeral monument Now, the excavation team whose work has the backing of regional and local authorities, and financial support from the province of Badajoz will keep plumbing the depths of this gigantic construction. The next effort will take place in May, when researchers will attempt to understand what the building was used for, and what the farewell celebration was like. There is an added difficulty in that this is uncharted territory: the building is unlike any other Tartessian construction found in the area so far, such as the sanctuary of Cancho Roano in Zalamea de la Serena; or La Matain Campanario, which played more of an economic role. This building has some of the traits of a palace, but also of a great funeral monument. The upper level, with its various altars, has a crystal-clear ritual function, but religion was mixed in with everything else back then, explains Celestino. There are elements that make one think about burials, such as the fact that there are no built floors, despite the lavishness of every other element. Yet the fact that there were two floors suggests something else. The answers will come when the other 90% of the building emerges from amid the fields of tomato plants in Las Vegas del Guadiana. English version by Susana Urra. A special election in Georgias Sixth Congressional District failed to produce an outright winner Tuesday, forcing a June 20 runoff between upstart Democrat Jon Ossoff and former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel. Ossoff garnered 48 percent of the vote, falling just short of the majority threshold required in the so-called jungle primary. Handel was the top GOP vote-getter at 20 percent, finishing comfortably ahead of technology executive Bob Gray, who received 11 percent of the vote, and former State Senators Judson Hill and Dan Moody, who each received 9 percent of the vote. We are going to rally around Karen Handel, Gray tweeted late Tuesday as it became clear he would not make the runoff. We wish her Godspeed. The winner of the runoff between Handel and Ossoff will succeed Tom Price, who resigned to become Trump's health and human services secretary. Ossoff, a 30-year-old documentary filmmaker and former congressional aide, had sought to parlay opposition to President Donald Trump into an outright victory that would have emboldened Democrats ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. His run attracted more than $8 million in donations, which largely came from outside the state. Republicans nationally and in Georgia acknowledged before polls opened that Ossoff would top the slate of 11 Republicans, five Democrats and two independents who appeared together on one primary ballot. Earlier Tuesday, the GOP hit Ossoff hard for living outside the district, and sought to portray him as a conservatives' nightmare who would increase taxes and take away guns. "These liberal Democrats failed to inspire voters with a candidate who couldnt even vote for himself, received 97 percent of his donations from outside the district, and consistently lied about his own weak resume," the Republican National Committee said in a statement. Ossoff acknowledged Tuesday that he lives just south of the district, in Atlanta, so that his girlfriend is close to her work at Emory University's medical complex. Republican groups ran a blitz of ads trying to tie Ossoff to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; a political action committee backed by House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. has spent more than $2 million on those and other attacks. Trump himself posted several messages on Twitter encouraging Republicans to vote in the special election and recorded a get-out-the-vote call, saying "Liberal Democrats from outside of Georgia are spending millions and millions of dollars trying to take your Republican congressional seat away from you. Dont let them do it. Trump posted another tweet early Wednesday, saying Despite major outside money, FAKE media support and eleven Republican candidates, BIG "R" win with runoff in Georgia. Glad to be of help! National attention on the Georgia race, already significant, intensified after last week's closer-than-expected GOP victory in a Kansas special House election. Trump did not perform as well as other Republicans last November in the Georgia district, an affluent, well-educated swath of Atlantas northern suburbs filled with the kind of voters Democrats need if they hope to reclaim a House majority next year. Handel has maintained her distance from Trump, rarely discussing him unless asked. Polling day took a bizarre turn in the district when key electronic voting logs were swiped from a Cobb County poll workers pickup truck. The chairman of the countys Republican Party told Fox News the theft raised the specter of fraud. However, there were no reports of voting irregularities at Cobb County polling places Tuesday. Fox News Joseph Weber and Christopher Wallace contributed to this report. The Associated Press also contributed to this report. Democrats put their hope in political upstart Jon Ossoff to deliver a rebuke to President Trump in Tuesday nights Georgia congressional election. It didnt quite work. Now, after forcing the front-runner into a June 20 runoff, Republicans are vowing to unite and defeat the Democrats chosen candidate in two months. Trump, who used a robocall and his Twitter account in the contests closing days to push Republicans to the polls, taunted Democrats on Wednesday morning, casting the upcoming final contest as Hollywood vs. Georgia. Ossoff was the clear leader once the dust settled in Tuesdays crowded special election for the Georgia House seat once held by Republican Tom Price, now Trumps health secretary. He garnered 48 percent. Top Republican vote-getter Karen Handel, former Georgia secretary of state, got just 20 percent. But Ossoffs haul fell short of the majority threshold required to outright win, despite him getting support from prominent Democrats and celebrities and attracting millions of dollars in outside donations. He raised over $8 million, compared with Handel's roughly $460,000. Under the so-called jungle primary system, the top two candidates Ossoff and Handel will head into the June runoff. The two-candidate race immediately changes the dynamics in the contest. Heading into Tuesday, 18 candidates were competing -- 11 Republicans, five Democrats and two independents. Democrats mostly consolidated support behind Ossoff, a 30-year-old filmmaker and former congressional aide. Republicans, by contrast, were sharply divided and split their vote among several contenders. With just two candidates in the race, Republicans are vowing to close ranks behind Handels candidacy. Republicans are united and ready to do everything we can to elect Karen to Congress, National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Steve Stivers said in a statement. Handel told Fox & Friends on Wednesday morning that shes already spoken to most of her GOP competitors in a push to unite the party. This district has a long legacy of Republican leadership, she said. Whats at stake here is bigger than any one person, and we will unite. She credited Trump with helping get out the vote and vowed, I will prevail. Ossoff is sounding equally confident. At an Atlanta rally Tuesday night, he said, We will be ready to fight on and win in June if necessary. He slammed Republicans for their dark money and negative ads Handel countered that most his funding came from outside the district, and reprised criticism that Ossoff doesnt even live in the Sixth District. Ossoff has acknowledged he lives just outside the district, so his girlfriend is closer to work. The result Tuesday night tees up another hard-fought contest in June likely to draw even more national interest. Some Republicans have suggested Trump could personally campaign in Georgia now that its a two-person race, while Democrats plan to keep up the pressure after falling short in another recent House special election in Kansas. Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez said in a statement Wednesday morning that the Georgia outcome showed voters are fed up with Republican leadership. Jon Ossoff is in a strong position to become the first Democrat to represent the Georgia 6th in nearly 40 years. And while Republicans have their backs against the wall, Democrats will keep their foot on the gas through Election Day because the residents of Georgias 6th district deserve a representative who will fight for them, he said. Fox News' Jason Donner contributed to this report. The Trump administration notified Congress Tuesday that Iran is complying with the landmark nuclear deal negotiated by former President Obama, and has extended sanctions relief given to Tehran in exchange for curbs on its atomic program. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, in a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis, said that the administration has undertaken a full review of the agreement to evaluate whether continued sanctions relief is in the best interest of the U.S. "Iran remains a leading state sponsor of terror, through many platforms and methods," Tillerson wrote. He said the National Security Council-led interagency review of the agreement will evaluate whether it "is vital to the national security interests of the United States." Tillerson noted that Iran is still considered a leading state sponsor of terrorism and that President Trump had ordered the review with that in mind. The certification of Iran's compliance, which must be sent to Congress every 90 days, is the first issued by the Trump administration. Trump criticized the Iran nuclear deal during his presidential campaign, but had not made it known whether he would scrap it, modify it or keep it in place with tougher enforcement. The nuclear deal was sealed in Vienna in July 2015 after 18 months of negotiations led by former Secretary of State John Kerry and diplomats from the other four permanent members of the U.N. Security Council Britain, China, France and Russia and Germany. Under its terms, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program, long suspected of being aimed at developing atomic weapons, in return for billions of dollars in sanctions relief. Opponents of the deal, including Israel, objected, saying it only delayed Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons and did not allow for the kind of inspections of its atomic sites that would guarantee it was not cheating. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Judicial Watch said Wednesday it is suing the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to get records showing nearly $5 million in American taxpayer money went to the Macedonian branch of George Soros Open Society Foundations. The conservative watchdog group filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the State Department and USAID after both failed to respond to a Feb. 16 FOIA request seeking records related to grants or payment authorizations, records of communication between State Dept. or USAID officials and the Open Society Foundations. The group had also asked for responsive records of communication sent from Jess L. Baily, an Obama-appointee and former U.S. ambassador to Macedonia, and similar records of the political activities of the Open Society Foundation-Macedonia. The USAID website reported that between Feb. 27, 2012, and Aug. 31, 2016, USAID gave $4.8 million in taxpayer money to Soros organization. The USAIDs website links to one of the Open Society Foundation websites, which says the project trained hundreds of young Macedonians on topics such as freedom of association, youth policies, citizen initiatives, persuasive argumentation, and use of new media. The Obama administration seemed to bust taxpayer budgets in an effort to fund the Soros operation, said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. The Trump State Department and USAID should get their act together and disclose the details of the Obama-Soros spigot. A State Department spokesperson told Fox News that "the Department does not comment on matters under litigation." But an Open Society Foundations spokesperson told Fox News in a statement that: "The Open Society Foundations spends nearly a billion dollars of its own money a year promoting democracy, human rights and good governance around the world. Our local foundations administer a miniscule amount of US aid. When USAID chooses an Open Society national foundation to administer USAID funds -- which go on to NGOs in the field -- it is because we have a reputation for transparency, efficiency and professionalism. The work the Macedonia foundation supports has helped the Macedonian people by strengthening healthcare, education, community activism and journalism in the country -- often in partnership with the European Union, the United States and the Macedonian government." The activities of Baily and USAIDs funding of Soros group came under Congressional scrutiny earlier this year. Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., led a group of House lawmakers in writing to Baily demanding answers about whether U.S. tax dollars were being used to fund Soros projects in the small, conservative-led Balkan country of Macedonia. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, also expressed concerns about USAID money going to Soros Open Society Foundations as part of a broader concern that the U.S. embassy had been taking sides in party politics. I have received credible reports that, over the past few years, the U.S. mission to Macedonia has actively intervened in the party politics of Macedonia, as well as the shaping of its media environment and civil society, often favoring groups of one political persuasion over another, Lee said in his January letter. In February, Louie Gohmert, R-Tex., Smith and others called on the Government Accountability Office to conduct an investigation and audit of the State Department and USAIDs activities in Macedonia, including funding of Open Society Foundations entities. According to Judicial Watch, there was also potential interference in domestic Macedonian political affairs in potential violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Fox News' Adam Shaw contributed to this report. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has long advocated redistribution. Apparently that principle goes for both wealth and quotes. Sarah Palin is calling out the liberal Massachusetts senator after Warren tweeted the catch phrase "fight like a girl" on Tuesday, below a picture of her posing with the Fearless Girl statue in New York City. Fight like a girl. pic.twitter.com/qGTn46jS9W Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) April 18, 2017 Problem is, the same quote has been used repeatedly over the years by the former Alaska governor. And the Republican firebrand says it doesn't have the same punch coming from Warren. I dont know. Coming from liberals who urge women to claim victimization, Fight like a girl just doesnt sound the same as when legit fighters for equality say it, mean it, live it, and will never give it up, Palin told Breitbart News. Palin has been most associated with the phrase in recent years, and even used it as a Facebook caption on Jan. 15 three months before Warrens post. Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended the Trump administrations immigration policies Wednesday in response to criticism over the deportation of a 23-year-old DREAMer who was brought to the country illegally when he was 9. In an appearance on Fox News Happening Now, Sessions was asked about the case of Juan Manuel Montes, who says he qualified for the Obama administrations Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, but was deported to Mexico in February after being stopped by a police officer in California. Montes is suing the federal government. "Everybody in the country illegally is subject to being deported." WATCH: @JennaLeeUSA's full interview with AG Jeff Sessions. pic.twitter.com/C2XgqmWuzT Fox News (@FoxNews) April 19, 2017 Montes attorneys say he qualified for DACA in 2014, and was renewed in 2016. But U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials say his permit expired in 2015 and was not renewed. They also note that Montes had been convicted for theft. Sessions said he doesn't know why Montes was deported, and denied that DACA recipients are being targeted for deportation. But he warned against illegal immigrants thinking they are safe from deportation just because they have lived in the country for a long time. "DACA enrollees are not being targeted, I dont know why this individual was picked up," he said. "Everybody in the country illegally is subject to being deported, so people come here and they stay here a few years and somehow they think they are not subject to being deported -- well, they are." President Trump has not been clear about his intentions for DACA recipients. While he pledged during the campaign to end DACA, so far he has not done so, and has said in interviews that DACA recipients should not be worried. But Sessions warned that while the administration is focused on certain types of illegal immigrants, they werent ruling out deporting anyone here illegally. "Our priority is to end the lawlessness at the border, stop the additional flow of illegals into the country, then to prioritize those who have gotten in trouble with the law, recent arrivals, people who have been deported previously, drug dealers and other criminal activists, they need to be deported first, he said. "But we cant promise people who are here unlawfully that they arent going to be deported. Montes' case swiftly was taken up by Democratic lawmakers and progressive groups, who cited the deportation as an example of a cruel immigration policy. "The Trump Administrations cruelty toward the DREAMers disgraces our values as a nation," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement. "Shame on them." Secretary of State Rex Tillerson ratcheted up criticism Wednesday of the Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran, publicly confirming the Trump administration is conducting a comprehensive review and declaring they have no intention of passing the buck. In some of his toughest language yet, Tillerson said at a brief press conference that the Iran deal fails to achieve the objective of a non-nuclear Iran, and only delays it becoming a nuclear state. He faulted the agreement for buying off a foreign power with nuclear ambitions, saying: We just dont see that thats a prudent way to be dealing with Iran. The statement comes after he said in a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis, that the administration has undertaken a full review of the agreement to evaluate whether continued sanctions relief is in the best interest of the U.S. In the same notification, the administration said Iran is complying with the landmark nuclear deal negotiated by former President Obama, and the U.S. has extended sanctions relief to Tehran in exchange for curbs on its atomic program. But Tillerson noted in his letter, and repeated during his appearance Wednesday, that Iran continues to foment violence around the world. Iran spends its treasure and time disrupting peace, he said Wednesday. Irans nuclear ambitions are a grave risk to international peace and security. While not saying definitively whether the administration is inclined to uphold or scrap the deal, Tillerson said they will meet the challenge of Iran with clarity and conviction once the review is done. The Trump administration has no intention of passing the buck to a future administration on Iran, he said, claiming the deal represents the failed approach of the past. Tillerson also likened Iran's behavior to that of North Korea. He said an unchecked Iran could pursue the same path as Pyongyang "and take the world along with it." As a candidate in the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump was an outspoken critic of the deal but had offered conflicting opinions on whether he would try to scrap it, modify it or keep it in place with more strenuous enforcement. Tuesday's determination suggested that while Trump agreed with findings by the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, that Iran is keeping to its end of the bargain, he is looking for another way to ratchet up pressure on Tehran. The nuclear deal was sealed in Vienna in July 2015 after 18 months of negotiations led by former Secretary of State John Kerry and diplomats from the other four permanent members of the U.N. Security Council Britain, China, France and Russia and Germany. Under its terms, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program, long suspected of being aimed at developing atomic weapons, in return for billions of dollars in sanctions relief. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Tax reform may be the most maddeningly complicated Rubiks cube that Washington tries to solve. There are so many arcane rules and deductions at stake, so many possible combinations of varying rates for businesses and individuals, so many lobbyists swarming around each provision that its the mother of all political headaches. There are untold numbers of winners and losers, and they all fight like hell. So I barely blinked when the Trump administration let it be known that it wouldnt be able to meet the goal of passing tax reform by August. It took Ronald Reagan about two years. But the problem with that timetable is that it may be a long time before the president puts some legislative points on the board, as the upcoming blizzard of 100-day stories will undoubtedly point out. First, of course, Trump was going to repeal and replace ObamaCare. He may go back at that, but the entire effort seems in limbo. He has also raised the possibility of combining tax reform with a big infrastructure package, suggesting a sort of grand bargain with Democrats who would trade spending on roads and bridges for some tax-cut formula that would also help the middle class. The problem, at this point, is that Trump doesnt have a tax reform bill. So theres nothing to negotiate with Congress. Trumps campaign plan was to slash the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent, and lower the top individual rate from 39.6 percent to 33 percent, with fewer brackets. The president now faces a choice. He can go for straight tax cuts, scrap a few deductions and declare victory, hoping that lower rates are what people care about. (The problem there is blowing up the deficit without offsetting spending cuts.) Or Trump can tackle a full-blown reform agenda, which would drag on for many months with no guarantee of success. The New York Times brands tax reform another faltering campaign promise: It is becoming increasingly unlikely that there will be a simpler system, or even lower tax rates, this time next year. The Trump administrations tax plan, promised in February, has yet to materialize; a House Republican plan has bogged down, taking as much fire from conservatives as liberals; and on Monday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told The Financial Times that the administrations goal of getting a tax plan signed by August was not realistic at this point. That GOP plan, by the way, includes such controversial measures as a border adjustment tax. The Times story plays up the Democratic argument that Trumps refusal to release his own tax returns is an obstacle to reform. Thats a good talking point, but it seems to me if both parties could make a deal in their own self-interest, the Trumpian returns wouldnt stand in the way. Still, this paragraph jumped out at me: Lawmakers do not want to pass an overhaul of the tax code that unwittingly enriches the commander in chief and his progeny. Those who are worried about conflicts of interest point to the potential repeal of the estate tax or elimination of the alternative minimum tax as provisions that would enrich Mr. Trump. The AMT, started by Congress in 1969 after 155 super-wealthy people were found to have paid no tax, now affects several million taxpayers who dont consider themselves rich. Most of them make less than $200,000 a year. Congress has been grappling with this problem for a very long time. Would lawmakers really not act on that provision, or others, because it might benefit Donald Trump? The paradox for the president is that Republicans control the House and Senate as well as the White House. But when it comes to the prickly issue of tax reform, even one party can find itself paralyzed. A decade ago, when then-Prime Minister of Turkey Tayyip Erdogan consolidated power with a sweeping electoral victory giving his Justice and Development Party almost 47 percent of the vote, both supporters and opponents loudly spoke out. Whether they loved or hated him, there was no denying one out of two people you see in the street voted for Erdogan, in the words of his jubilant supporters. Nearly a decade later, that sense of jubilation has been tempered among some Erdogan supporters. Because while preliminary official results showed 51.4 percent of the Turkish electorate voted on Sunday to change the constitution in a move that critics say will give Erdogan nearly dictatorial powers, this time the feeling was more one of rejection by nearly half of those Turks in the street 48.6 percent. In fact, the no votes won out in three of Turkeys largest cities Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. Erdogan also lost in his old parliamentary constituency of Uskudar, one of the busiest commercial and residential districts on the Asian side of Istanbul. The reported Uskudar no vote of 53.3 percent the figure could have been much higher, say Erdogan critics who are contesting the national results delivered a blow to the ego of the leader who typically takes great pride in collecting votes from even the most remote parts of Turkey. Some appear to disdain the results, Erdogan said late Sunday. Dont even try; He who grabbed the horse has already passed Uskudar, he added, referring to a Turkish proverb and indicating he had already moved on to planning his consolidation of power in the aftermath of the referendum. Many took to social media to remind him that literally passing Uskudar wasnt so easy this time around. He who grabbed the horse has already passed Uskudar he says, but he could not even win the district, said one tweet. Others were reminded of much-publicized incident from 2003 (https://twitter.com/hhseyinylmz/status/853946057583153152) where Erdogan was thrown from the back of a horse, which proceeded to promptly kick him in the groin as it ran off. He says he passed Uskudar with a horse, but neither the horse nor Uskudar accepted him, another social media user tweeted. The no vote extended to other, formerly more reliable Erdogan areas like the Turkish capital of Ankara, home of Erdogans much-maligned 1,150-room presidential palace, and to the mega-metropolis of Istanbul, where his tenure as mayor in the 1990s catapulted Erdogan to greater national prominence. Levent Gultekin, a prominent Turkish journalist and columnist, said despite having the convenience of exploiting all state institutions to reach their goals, the yes camp still could not exceed 51 percent. They lost Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Adana, Diyarbakr, and Mersin, said Gultekin, Despite all the pressure, all the threats, all the lies and the media bombardment, 49 percent of the country resisted them The people refused to grant everything he wanted, to do anything he wanted, to own everything forever. Critics also note that Erdogan jailed or exiled many opposition figures in the run-up to the referendum, including the co-leaders of pro-Kurdish HDP opposition party. The HDP managed to secure more than five million of a total of 49 million votes in Turkeys last general elections, in November 2015, despite a series of bombings and accusations of having ties with the Kurdish separatist group, the PKK. That already-heavy hand of Erdogans control on Turkish media and other institutions, particularly since an aborted coup attempt last year that resulted in the arrest or detention of more than 100,000 Turks, actually left more of his opponents almost claiming victory in the results. He dissected the entire country, and terribly polarized it, said Hasan Cemal, another Turkish journalist, who said the large no vote was a victory for the anti-Erdogan camp, despite all the oppression and all the pressure. This 49 percent is what gives me hope for democracy, law, and the future of freedom. The United Nations' renewed efforts to play a lead role in settling the Syria crisis have only renewed questions about the world body's shortcomings keeping a check on the Assad regime so far. The U.N. and Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons an independent organization that works with it led the operation to remove and destroy Syrias chemical weapons in 2013 under an agreement between the Obama administration and Russia. Then-President Barack Obama chose the U.N.-led option after Bashar Assad used chemical weapons near Damascus in 2013. In his 2014 State of the Union address, Obama hailed the process as a diplomatic victory, proclaiming "Syrias chemical weapons are being eliminated." The declaration was premature. Following a chemical weapons attack in Idlib province earlier this month, which the U.S. believes was carried out by the Assad regime, the Trump administration responded by launching strikes on an Assad-controlled airfield. But despite the apparent failure to oversee a complete weapons purge, Russia once again wants the U.N.-OPCW to take the lead. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last week called on the groups to investigate the use of chemical weapons in Idlib and the site of the U.S. strikes. We think that it is absolutely necessary to conduct a thorough, objective, professional, and unbiased investigation, Lavrov said. We will insist that the OPCW and the U.N. in New York urgently send inspectors both to the site of the incident and the airfield itself, where, according to Western experts, the munitions were loaded with chemicals. Reuters reported that the OPCW already has dispatched investigators to Turkey to collect samples. The mission reportedly will determine if chemical weapons were used, but will not assign blame. The results are expected in May and will be be passed to a U.N.-OPCW investigation. An OPCW spokesman declined to comment on ongoing investigations to Fox News. U.N. special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura also says a U.N.-led negotiation process is the only way out of the Syrian nightmare. Addressing the Security Council last week, he said Russia and the United States must find a way to work together to stabilize the situation, and the U.N. is ready to lead. But some have expressed skepticism about the U.N.'s ability to act on that front as well, at least without a shift from Russia. "I think the U.N. Security Council is a diplomatic dead end as long as Russia blocks any effective action with its veto," Jim Phillips, senior research fellow for Middle Eastern affairs at The Heritage Foundation, told Fox News. Back in 2014, the U.N. voiced confidence about its Syria efforts. In April of that year, Sigrid Kaag, who was appointed by then-Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to oversee the joint mission, said all but 8 percent of weapons had been removed. In order to produce, to prepare, to launch [chemical weapons], you need the production facilities, you need the munition and filling capability, you need the tactical munitions all those have been destroyed, Kaag told the BBC. "So what remains at one site are elements of chemical weapons, but the chemical weapons program of Syria, as per the current declaration of Syria under the Chemical Weapons Convention, is no longer in existence. In June came the Mission Accomplished moment when the U.N.-OPCW mission announced that 100 percent had been removed. Kaag noted in an interview that the 100 percent number only referred to the chemicals declared by Syria, and noted at the time there were still questions about Syrias declaration. However, she hailed the moment as a major milestone. Then-Secretary of State John Kerry declared victory, and said in a statement that 100 percent of the declared chemicals are out of war-torn Syria. Kerrys clarification of declared chemicals was not repeated in a "Meet the Press" appearance in July where he said: we struck a deal where we got 100 percent of the chemical weapons out. In January 2017, former National Security Adviser Susan Rice also made a qualified statement. We were able to find a solution that didnt necessitate the use of force that actually removed the chemical weapons that were known from Syria. ... We were able to get the Syrian government to voluntarily and verifiably give up its chemical weapons stockpile, she said in an interview with NPR. However, there had been doubts about the "100 percent" figure almost as soon as it was announced. Even in its congratulatory statement, the Obama White House noted questions about omissions and discrepancies in Syrias declaration to the OPCW and about continued allegations of use. In a July 2016 report, the OPCW also noted an increase in a number of outstanding issues requiring clarification from the Syrian government. The report noted that samples at multiple locations revealed the presence of unexpected or undeclared chemical compounds that could indicate undeclared chemical warfare agents. It concluded that as a result, the OPCW was not sure if the declaration could be considered accurate. At present, the Secretariat is not able to resolve all identified gaps, inconsistencies and discrepancies in Syrias declaration, and therefore cannot full verify that Syria has submitted a declaration that can be considered accurate and complete in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention or Council decision dated 27 September 2013. The worst nightmare has just become a reality for illegal immigrants in the US under a federal protection program called DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. On Tuesday, a dreamer (as these individuals are popularly referred to) named Juan Manuel Montes Bojorquez was sent back to Mexico despite being a beneficiary of the DACA program, introduced by former president Barack Obama as a way to protect the children of illegal immigrants. A border patrol car along the California border. AFP More information Deportado sin juicio un dreamer que tenia proteccion con Obama Montes was shipped to Mexico through an expedited removal procedure on February 18, and did not get so much as a trial. The case came to light on Tuesday, after attorneys filed a complaint in California. Montes, 23, had been living in the US since the age of nine. He is one of around 750,000 individuals who are eligible for social security numbers and work permits under DACA. This is the first known deportation of a youngster belonging to what should be the most protected group out of all undocumented migrants living in the US. CBP did not provide Mr Montes with any documentation or record of his removal Complaint filed in court The complaint was filed by lawyers from the National Immigration Law Center and three other firms before the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. According to the complaint, Montes was walking down the street in Calexico, California, in search of a taxi on February 17, close to midnight. A customs and border protection (CBP) officer came up to him and began interrogating him aggressively, then called a colleague. Montes did not have his wallet, which contained his DACA permit; he said he had left it inside a friends car. Montes was placed inside a patrol car and taken to the border station of Calexico, where he was interrogated and asked to sign some documents. He was not given copies of the same. An anti-deportation march in Seattle on February 17. AFP He was not provided the opportunity to see an immigration judge, seek the assistance of counsel, or otherwise present his DACA paperwork or work authorization before he was removed from the United States, reads the complaint. He decided to try to get back into the US by jumping the fence, as he had seen other people do The complaint seeks to force the CBP to release agency records improperly withheld that formed the basis for his expedited deportation. CBP did not provide Mr Montes with any documentation or record of his removal. Through counsel, Mr Montes has repeatedly attempted to obtain documentation, but there has been no response to his inquiries. At 1am, Montes found himself on the other side of the border. He phoned his friend and asked him to take the DACA papers over to the CBP, and spent the night at another friends house in Mexicali. A few days later, he was beaten by a group of thieves as he walked down the street. He decided to try to get back into the US by jumping the fence, as he had seen other people do, he told USA Today. But he was deported again on February 20, after signing another set of documents whose content he did not understand, and copies of which he did not receive. His attorneys note that Montes suffers from a cognitive disease after a traumatic brain injury, but completed his elementary and high school studies in a special education program. He was currently enrolled in a community college and had previously worked as a crop picker in California and Arizona. Montes applied for DACA in 2013, one year after the program was created. It was granted in in 2014 and renewed for a further two years in 2016, according to his lawyers. That would make him a recipient until 2018. President Donald Trump signed his anti-immigrant executive order on January 25, five days after taking the oath of office. That order, and the regulatory guidelines issued later by Homeland Security, effectively ended the priority system for deportations in place under Barack Obama. Since then, any undocumented migrants who run into immigration police may be subject to deportation, regardless of their record or years of residency. The order meant that nobody is safe anymore. But there was still the issue of the dreamers. During the campaign, Trump sent out contradictory messages regarding his own intentions. They were not mentioned in the executive order. In television statements, he said that DACA recipients had nothing to fear. But there is nothing down on paper. And there are at least two cases of dreamers who were arrested for deportation. English version by Susana Urra. The U.S. Navy said on Tuesday that it did not move the USS Carl Vinson toward North Korea despite President Trumps earlier comments he made on Fox Business that he was sending an armada to deter Pyongyang. "We are sending an armada, very powerful. We have submarines, very powerful, far more powerful than the aircraft carrier, Trump told the Fox Business Networks Maria Bartiromo last week. We have the best military people on Earth. And I will say this: he (Kim Jong Un) is doing the wrong thing. The New York Times reported that while Trump made the comments, the carrier and three warships were sailing in the opposite direction, and instead headed toward the Indian Ocean to take part in a joint exercise with the Australian Navy. The Navy was criticized for taking a week to correct the report. A senior White House official reportedly said the pentagon did not realize the mistake until Tuesday.At the end of the day it resulted in confused strategic communication that has made our allies nervous, Bonnie Glaser, senior adviser for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., told The Wall Street Journal. If you dont have a consistency with your actual strategy and what youre doing with your military, that doesnt seem terribly convincing." The Vinson is not expected to arrive near the peninsula until next week. After building a solar-powered plane to help deliver internet access nearly two years ago, Facebook is once again building another aircraft to deploy the internet -- this time, in the form of a helicopter. Unveiled at its F8 developer conference, the Mark Zuckerberg-led social network said the helicopter, known as the "Tether-tenna," would provide internet access and could be deployed for months in the case of an emergency. FACEBOOK LAUNCHES REVIEW OF VIDEO CONTENT AFTER HORRIFIC CLEVELAND KILLING "It's a small helicopter tethered to a fiber line and poweressentially, insta-infrastructure," Facebook's Yael Maguire, wrote in a blog post. "If the fiber line is still good to a certain point, we can make a virtual tower by flying a Tether-tenna a few hundred feet from the ground. When completed, this technology will be able to be deployed immediately and operate for months at a time to bring back connectivity in case of an emergency ensuring the local community can stay connected while the in-ground connectivity is under repair." Facebook did not say whether it would build more helicopters or if it would partner with other companies to do the work. Tether-tenna is part of Facebook's Telecom Infra Project, which includes the aforementioned solar plane, known as Aquila, as well as Terragraph, which helps boost internet signals in dense urban areas. Police were alerted to the shooting rampage in downtown Fresno, California, on Tuesday by a sophisticated gunfire detection technology. Three people were killed in the shooting spree that police think was racially motivated. All the victims were white males. The ShotSpotter gunfire detection system, which uses a network of sensors to listen for shots being fired, immediately alerted police to the shooting. FRESNO SHOOTING RAMPAGE: SUSPECT WHO SHOT DEAD 3 WANTED TO KILL AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE, POLICE SAY A total of 16 rounds were fired according to our gunshot detection system, and all of those occurred in approximately a minute to a minute and a half, said Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer. As a result, what we know is that three people were shot and one person shot at in less than a two-minute timeframe. The shooting spree began around 10:45 a.m. local time, when one person was shot in a PG&E utility truck, a second person was shot on Fulton Street and a third person was shot in the parking lot of Catholic Charities, FOX 26 News reported. All three shooting locations were close to each other in the downtown area. Dyer said that, without the ShotSpotter system, more people may have been killed. INCREDIBLE TECH DETECTS GUNFIRE ACROSS AMERICA Within its area of coverage, ShotSpotter can tell police where the shot was fired, how many shots, and the number and type of weapons involved. Fox News Jonathan Hunt and Allison Barrie contributed to this report. An eyebrow-raising new study assesses the extent of distracted driving, with stats revealing just how many people use their cellphones while behind the wheel. "Damn near everybody damn near all the time," Wired concludes after reviewing the Zendrive report, which the driving analytics company says is the biggest distracted-driving study done so far. (Even Zendrive CEO Jonathan Matus admits to Wired he's checked out his phone while driving "more than I care to admit.") Three months' worth of data was culled from more than 3 million unnamed drivers who took over 570 million car rides over 5.6 billion miles, and the numbers are staggeringly worrisome: Drivers used their cellphones on 88 percent of the trips they took, with average phone use coming in at 3.5 minutes per every hour of driving. Just over three minutes may not seem like a huge chunk of time, but a 2015 Oregon State University study cited by PCMag.com found that taking your eyes off the road for only two seconds can up your chance of an accident by anywhere from four to 24 times. The study's sample means that over the whole US there may be up to 600 million trips each day that fall under the "distracted" umbrella. If you're planning a road trip anytime soon, Vermont ranks as the state with the most distracted drivers, while Oregon drivers pay the most attention to the road. Zendrive offers some good news: There seems to be correlation among states with laws banning handheld phone use by drivers and states with the lowest level of drivers actually using their phones behind the wheelthough such a law hasn't kept Vermont from its prime-offender spot. (Texting mars our "sixth sense" while driving.) This article originally appeared on Newser: 'Damn Near Everybody' Uses Phones While Driving The "Star Wars" universe is about to get a little bigger, according to a few Disney Imagineers and Lucasfilm luminaries. On Saturday, the group of creators revealed all new details of the upcoming Star Wars Land park at both Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif. and Disney World in Orlando, Fla. In February, Harrison Ford shared a few key details of the new land as part of "The Wonderful World of Disney: Disneyland 60" celebration, including that the park will have three all new rides instead of two thanks in part to the latest film's astonishing success. But now, the creators of the project say it will be much, much more than a few rides. Star Wars Land will be more of an immersive experience than ride, according to Mashable. It will all take place at an "outpost" planet that doesn't exist yet in the Star Wars universe and is located "somewhere on the Outer Rim -- lying on the edge of the Unknown Regions." Disney Parks Blog shared even more tantalizing details of the new planet's backstory: "The remote village was once a busy crossroads along the old sub-lightspeed trade routes, but the prominence of the outpost has been bypassed with the rise of hyperspace travel. Now home to those who prefer less attention, it has become a thriving port for smugglers, rogue traders and adventurers traveling between the frontier and uncharted space. It's also a convenient safe haven for others intent on avoiding the expanding reach of the First Order." LucasFilm and Disney Parks have yet to spill the name of the Outer Rim planet, but did note that park attendees will have the opportunity to choose between good versus evil by working for either the Resistance or choosing the dark side with the First Order. "There are going to be a ton of opportunities to help out and support the Resistance, lots of smugglers and bounty hunters who are looking for a little bit of help and might be willing to offer you up a side job, and for those of you who are interested in supporting The First Order, that will absolutely be an opportunity as well," Disney Imagineer Asa Kalama said at the panel. The experience will also come with a few intelligent design details, including the use of RFID wristbands, which Disney World already employs to allow characters throughout the park to learn about guests as they walk through the park. The experience is set to open in 2019. Malaysia Airlines which lost a jetliner with 239 people on board in 2014 in one of aviations greatest mysteries has become the first carrier to adopt a satellite flight-tracking system. The airline will use a soon-to-be-launched satellite network to monitor its fleet in areas where there is currently no surveillance, including polar regions and remote areas of the oceans, BBC reported. Real-time global aircraft tracking has long been a goal of the aviation community. We are proud to be the first airline to adopt this solution, Malaysia Airlines Chief Operating Officer Izham Ismail said in a statement to Bloomberg. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS The airline reached a deal for the service provided by US-based Aireon, FlightAware and SITAONAIR. Planes deviating from a flight path will be able to be identified more quickly with the system, SITAONAIRs portfolio director Paul Gibson told the BBC. This article originally appeared in the New York Post. President Donald Trump congratulated Turkey's president for sweeping up more power. He hailed Egypt's strongman leader as a "fantastic guy." When China's president visited, Trump touted a burgeoning friendship and made no public mention of Beijing's dismal human rights record. Since taking office, Trump has displayed a striking willingness to embrace autocrats as potential partners in his "America First" agenda, even if it means ignoring their heavy-handed tactics and repression at home. It's a posture he also took toward Russian President Vladimir Putin until a dispute over Syria led him last week to declare U.S.-Russian ties at an "all-time low." Trump is hardly the first U.S. president willing to look the other way in dealings with governments that flout democratic values. For decades, Republican and Democratic administrations have cooperated closely with Saudi Arabia and China. President Barack Obama opened new diplomatic channels with Iran and Cuba, despite concerns about their repressive rulers. But rarely are U.S. presidents as warm and unabashed about their relationships with autocrats. Trump's comfort level seems to stem in part from his background in business, where the details of a deal mattered more than the negotiating partner and flattery can get results. When they were forced to deal with imperfect allies, Trump's predecessors, including Obama and President George W. Bush, made a point of using the moment to promote American ideals. They often followed meetings with statements about human rights or gathered separately with advocates or opposition leaders. On Monday, as international monitors and European allies voiced concerns about the slanted political playing field in Turkey's referendum, the White House said Trump called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to congratulate him on a victory that grants him more power. The message was at odds with Trump's own State Department, which expressed unease about a referendum that allows Erdogan to fulfill his long-held ambition for a presidency with executive powers. Erdogan government has imprisoned scores of Turkish journalists. And since a failed coup last year, Turkey has arrested thousands of others accused of possible involvement. "The president's number one job is to keep Americans safe," Trump spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday. "And if he needs to work with countries like Turkey and others to do that, that's his priority and what his focus is." The White House's readout of the Trump-Erdogan call focused its concerns on the Islamic State and Syria's civil war, which the U.S. and Turkey are coordinating efforts on. Turkey is a U.S. key ally against IS, even if its poorly controlled border had been a contributing factor of the group's expansion across Syria and Iraq. Rachel Rizzo, a NATO and Europe expert at the Center for a New American Security, said the Trump administration sees its Turkey relationship "purely as a national security issue in terms of needing their help fighting ISIS and with the migration crisis in Europe." "It seems they're willing to look past human rights abuses," she said. Trump has praised Chinese President Xi Jinping since hosting him at his Palm Beach, Florida, resort after sharply criticizing China's economic policies as a candidate. He has linked his warmer approach toward Xi with his effort to secure greater help from Beijing in stopping North Korea's nuclear program. "A trade deal with the U.S. will be far better for them if they solve the North Korean problem!" Trump said on Twitter, recounting what he told Xi. Trump has also locked arms with Egyptian President Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi, a former general who toppled the democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood member. Obama never outwardly condemned el-Sissi's takeover. But Obama kept Egypt's leader at arm's length, admonishing Egypt's human rights record and suspending some U.S. military aid. After winning November's presidential election, Trump offered el-Sissi a different relationship. And when el-Sissi visited Washington this month, Trump told reporters the Egyptian president would be someone "very close to me." A post-meeting statement cited their mutual commitment to fighting terrorism and strengthening Egypt's economy, making no mention of el-Sissi's crackdown on domestic opponents that has been widely condemned by international rights monitors. The pattern may have been set by Trump's vociferous support for Putin. As a candidate and in his first weeks as president, Trump applauded Putin's strength as a leader and expressed a desire to work closer with Moscow, despite the cloud of an FBI investigation into allegations of Russian meddling in the presidential election. Even before this month's Syrian chemical weapons attack and retaliatory U.S. cruise missiles, Trump's administration had been souring on the Kremlin. Last month, it condemned Russia's crackdown on anti-government protesters last month that included 1,000 arrests. "Detaining peaceful protesters, human rights observers and journalists is an affront to core democratic values," a statement said at the time. But Trump's tack on Turkey appeared to undermine his own State Department, which before the Erdogan call spoke of "irregularities" in the Turkish referendum and "an uneven playing field during the difficult campaign period." The White House's statement on Trump's call to Erdogan made no mention of those concerns. Turkey's strategic location between Europe and the Middle East, and its unique role as the only Muslim-majority NATO member, have long made it an indispensable American partner. Obama, too, sought a close relationship with Erdogan, viewing him as a possible model for a new generation of Muslim leaders. He traveled to Turkey in his first year in office and spoke frequently with the Turkish leader. But as Erdogan moved to consolidate power in Turkey, his relationship with Obama worsened. ___ Follow Vivian Salama at http://twitter.com/vmsalama and Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC Police said the man who killed three people on a shooting spree in downtown Fresno, California, on Tuesday while shouting "Allahu Akbar" wanted to kill as many people as possible after a warrant was released for his arrest in the murder of a motel security guard last week. Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said Kori Ali Muhammad, 39, knew he was being searched for and he "decided he was going to kill more people." Chief Dyer said Muhammad goes by nickname "Black Jesus" and said Ala Akbar when arrested https://t.co/IoSLNSOspb pic.twitter.com/ttAJbjAnPb Fox26 News (@KMPHFOX26) April 18, 2017 According to Dyer, Muhammad surrendered to officers at the scene and told police "you guys are looking for me." Police do not think the shooting spree was tied to terrorism and was "solely based on race" as all the victims were white males. Muhammad went by the nickname "Black Jesus" and has made posts against white people and the government on his Facebook page. "These individuals who were chosen today did not do anything to deserve what they got," Dyer said. "These were unprovoked attacks by an individual that was intent on carrying out homicides today. He did that." The shooting spree began around 10:45 a.m. local time, when one person was shot in a PG&E utility truck, a second person was shot on Fulton Street and a third person was shot in the parking lot of Catholic Charities, FOX 26 News reported. Dyer said the victims were aged 34, 37, and 58. Police said Muhammad also pointed his gun at two woman and a toddler in a car but did not shoot. All three shooting locations were close to each other in the downtown area. Around 16 shots were fired during the shooting spree, police said. What we know is that this was a random act of violence, Dyer said. There is every reason to believe he acted alone. Stephen Hughes, 66, said he and his wife rushed home after receiving a frantic call from a neighbor. Hughes came home to see a body draped in a blanket on the sidewalk leading to his front door. He first thought the shooting was gang-related, but then he noticed the bag of groceries near the body. "This guy doesn't look like a drug guy. It looks like a guy carrying his groceries home from the store," Hughes said. Muhammad was already wanted in connection to the killing of an unarmed security guard at a Motel 6 last week, police said. He now faces four counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder, according to court records. It's too soon to say whether Muhammad, who was homeless, had ties to any militant groups or causes, Dyer said. Muhammad has a criminal history that includes arrests on weapons, drugs and false imprisonment charges and making terrorist threats, police say. He had been associated with gangs but was not a validated member. On what appeared to be Muhammad's Facebook page, he repeatedly posted "#LetBlackPeopleGo" and encouraged "black warriors" to "mount up." A flurry of posts emerged in the past day. He wrote that his "kill rate increases tremendously on the other side" and also posted about "white devils." On several occasions, he wrote updates that included the phrase "Allahu Akbar," meaning "God is great" in Arabic. "Our thoughts are with all involved in the incident that occurred in Fresno today," PG&E said in a statement. "Public and employee safety is always our top priority. We are still gathering information on what happened, and will work to support first responders and law enforcement in their efforts." Dyer said Fresno police have called the FBI to assist in the investigation. FBI officials told Fox News the agency is not treating the shooting as an incident of terror, but is sending agents to the scene at request of local police. Fresno Mayor Lee Brand said it was "a sad day for us all" in a statement to FOX 26. "My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims. None of us can imagine what they must be going through. I am grateful for the quick and decisive response of our Police Department in preventing further senseless violence," he said. "If there were ways to prevent tragedies like this in the future, I would not hesitate in using them. Again, my heart goes out to the families that lost loved ones today." Muhammad made other statements to police, but Dyer did not disclose what they were. The imam of the Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno told the Associated Press that Muhammad was not a member of his center. Seyed Ali Ghazvini told the AP that he and other faith leaders are trying to identify gunman. "We're kind of shocked and surprised for what happened," Ghazvini told the AP. "We are very sorry for this to happen. We offer condolences for the victims, we pray for the victims and their families." One of the shooting scenes happened outside a Catholic Charities building, but officials don't believe the suspect was tied to the nonprofit organization. Teresa Dominguez, chancellor for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno, told the Fresno Bee the diocese is providing support for those who witnessed the shooting. The diocese will be present to the needs of all those serving as witnesses to this violent and traumatic event, she told the newspaper, such as counseling and pastoral care, and Bishop Ochoa asks for the prayer of all the faithful for the victims of this violent crime and their families, and that law enforcement will be successful in the their investigation in identifying the perpetrator. Following the shooting, Fresno city spokesman Mark Standriff said county offices were placed on lockdown, and people were urged to shelter in place. Read more from FOX 26 News. Read more from The Fresno Bee. Fox News' Jake Gibson and The Associated Press contributed to this report. The Russian bombers that buzzed American airspace twice this week arent exactly state of the art, but neither was the American response in a drama that been repeated over Alaskan skies for decades. The Tu-95 Bear bombers that flew off the Alaska coastline this week are propeller planes, not Russia's sleeker, more sophisticated TU-160 which goes roughly twice as fast though it has shorter range. Fox News visited Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson (JBER) in November, 2015, where photos of Russian planes that have buzzed U.S. shores from the Cold War to the present line the wall along a corridor in the base, a short drive north of Anchorage. These intercepts are not meant to be provocative. They are not looking to escalate. Air Force Col. Harlie Bodine officials explained the Russians' rationale for sending the older, slower plane toward American shores and The typical aircraft as you see in the pictures as you walk down the hallway is the Tu-95 Bear," said Air Force Col. Harlie Bodine, commander of the 611th Air Operations Wing. "Thats the aircraft that generally we run these intercepts against. The very age of the bombers sends a signal that the action is not meant to threaten, he said. These intercepts are not meant to be provocative," Bodine said. "They are not looking to escalate. If the Russians send a different bomber, or a Tu-95 with fighter escorts without advance warning, it would represent a surprise both sides seek to avoid. If the Russians are going to send bombers with fighter escorts they realize that would be nonstandard, that would be a different tactic for them to use," Bodine said. "And that's why typically they would make us aware if that's going to be the case. In the second incident this week, JBER did not scramble F-22 Raptor stealth fighters. Only a single E-3 Sentry radar aircraft took off to keep tabs on the Russian jets' movements, according to the Pentagon. There was never a chance the Russian planes would not be immediately detected. Air Force officials showed Fox News 15 long-range radar stations ringing Alaska that have been maintained since the Cold War, each able to comb the skies out to 250 nautical miles. So any air traffic coming into and out of Alaskan airspace gets detected by these radars, Col. Frank Flores told Fox News while standing outside in -30 degree Fahrenheit weather in Cape Lisburne, Alaska, north of the Arctic Circle, just 150 miles from Russia. The radar picks up a signal, sends it through satellite back to Anchorage, and then controllers monitor that signal, and provide information to decision makers who decide what to do next. Those first-line decision makers are at the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) in Anchorage. When Fox News visited NORAD during a Russian intercept drill, technicians from the U.S. and Canada were looking at monitors with red and blue blips Russian and American circling each other over maps of Alaska. American sovereign airspace extends approximately 12 miles out from land. The radar installations are designed to cover the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), which extends 200 miles further. Its our buffer between international air space prior to reaching sovereign air space, where we want to identify an aircraft so that it's not going to be a threat as it gets closer towards land, said Sgt. Vince Rice, a NORAD weapons technician from Newfoundland, Canada. Thats not a lot of ground to cover for a plane traveling around 400 miles per hour. Depending on the flight path, it can take from 30 minutes up to a couple of hours to cover the distance, said Rice. Every minute of every day of the year, the U.S. Air Force keeps an alert cell of F-22 stealth fighters on station at JBER, postured to respond to any type of threat to our sovereignty, said Bodine. During the 2015 visit, the Air Force showed Fox News what a response to a Russian Bear intercept would look like. It was a flurry of flashing blue lights, sirens, airmen running and pilots sliding down a fire poll. Seconds count, because of the need to get to the Russians planes before they cross the distance from the ADIZ to our sovereign ground. It takes a lot of time to get out there, so every second that we can make up on the ground we can get closer to whatever is out there, said Col. Dave Piffererio, a F-22 pilot commanding the alert cell that day. The F-22s are fully armed and ready to go at a moments notice. During an intercept, a 25-airman team aboard an E-3 Sentry AWACS radar plane provides command and control for the F-22 fighters. During the drill, technicians were clearly planning for a Russian intercept. We're going to be looking at MIG-29s, SU-34s. So I'm going to get up to bandit for MIG-29s and Neutrals for the SU-34s, representing those Russian aircraft, said one technician as the plane backed out amid klaxons. But there are concerns the E-3, a Cold War era platform, is old and vulnerable. The technology that we have on the aircraft is probably '80s technology and we're starting to modernize, said Lt. Col. Eric Gonzalez. It is an old airframe. What makes this very capable, though, is not necessarily the equipment. It's the training that we receive to employ that equipment in an awesome manner. As for the F-22s, the Air Force has stopped production at 187 aircraft, far below the number originally envisioned during the Cold War. It's tough when they shut down a line, said Piffarerio. You could probably ask any combatant commander, and the demand is out there. Washington has looked at scrapping and upgrading from the E-3s and even re-starting F-22 production, but no decisions have been made. Washington has also not concluded what were facing with the Russians is tantamount to a new Cold War, something Bodine was mindful of two years ago. We have some of the most amazing individuals who have been labelled before as the 'most clairvoyant,'" Bodine said. "They're able to constantly study this environment, constantly study not only Russia, but what other countries are doing in the Arctic, to gain a better insight to what might be coming around the corner and what the future might hold. Many of the service members Fox News spoke to brought up Col. Billy Mitchell, the father of the U.S. Air Force, and one of the most influential military leaders in history. Billy Mitchell was one of the first ones to say that Alaska is the most strategic place on this Earth, said Piffarerio. You can get to basically anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere inside of 12 hours. Tennessee lawmakers are pushing several bills that would require seatbelts on new school buses. The bills follow last year's deadly Chattanooga school bus crash that took the lives of six elementary school students and injured 20 others. The driver of the bus, 24-year-old Johnthony Walker, was traveling at high speeds on an unauthorized route after picking up 37 students from Woodmore Elementary School. Walker swerved and hit a mailbox, which caused the bus to flip and hit a tree. A State House committee approved a measure Tuesday that would require all new school buses to be equipped with seat belts. School buses usually weigh below 10,000 pounds, which requires them to have a restraint system, according to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) from the National Transportation Safety Board, or NTSB. The restraints include lap, or lap and shoulder belts. These same restraint systems are not required for buses that weigh over 10,000 pounds. Buses above this weight distribute crash forces differently than smaller buses or vehicles. As a result, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) uses compartmentalization to protect passengers. This requires that the interior of large buses provide occupant protection such that children are protected without the need to buckle-up," the NHTSSA website reads. "Through compartmentalization, occupant crash protection is provided by a protective envelope consisting of strong, closely-spaced seats that have energy-absorbing seat backs. This year, 28 states introduced bills that address seat belts on school buses. Arkansas, California, Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, and Texas have passed similar seat belt laws for school buses in the past, but funding became an issue in some states. There are more than 9,000 buses in Tennessee. Out of those, 1,885 buses currently have restraint systems. The national average costs for a bus with no restraints is $100,00 on average, with $10,000 extra to have installed restraints. The new bills will require any school buses purchased after July 2019 to have restraints approved by the NTSB. In the latest public relations headache for the US airline United, a Mexican man traveling from Cancun to New York with his daughter was taken aside and questioned by immigration officials after a fellow passenger shared her concerns with authorities over the fact that he and the three-year-old girl he was traveling with had different skin colors. United Airlines aircraft. EFE The incident which took place against a backdrop of increased persecution of Mexicans living in the United States under President Donald Trump began when the mans wife, Maura Furfey, received a phone call from a US border protection officer as she was driving to Newark International Airport to pick up her family. A man describing himself as a sergeant told her there had been an incident on the flight. My heart was in my throat I couldnt even bring myself to respond because my mind was racing to grasp all of the possibilities of what could have happened, Furfey said in an article published on the news website The Huffington Post. Maura Furfey says she and her family will never travel on United Airlines again The officer attempted to calm Furfey, explaining that both her husband and her daughter were safe and well but that another passenger had accused her husband of child trafficking after noting that my fair-skinned daughter didnt look like her Mexican father. This passenger had no basis for this claim, nor any evidence to back it up, said Furfey, adding that the female passenger who had made the accusation was obviously inebriated and had displayed a strange obsession with her daughter during the flight. When the plane landed at Newark, Port Authority and Customs and Border Patrol officers boarded and escorted Furfeys husband and daughter from the aircraft before the other passengers had disembarked. They then asked Furfeys husband for details of his daughters place of birth and wanted to know where her birth certificate had been issued. During this interrogation, her daughter began to cry uncontrollably, Furfey recounts. All of Furfeys husbands papers were in order and he was carrying a notarized letter stating that he had permission to take her daughter to Mexico on a family visit. On the phone, Furfey corroborated her husbands responses and authorities appeared satisfied. But they said it wasnt worth investigating the mental state of the passenger who had made the initial accusation. We never thought flight attendants on United would take the passengers observation seriously Maura Furfey Furfey later complained to the customer service department of United, and received a $100 travel voucher. But she has said that she and her family will never travel on the airline again. We never thought [...] that flight attendants on a major airline United Airlines would choose to take such an observation [from a passenger] seriously, she said of the incident. This was a terrifying experience for us, Furfey added. In this hateful political climate, we have been prepared, or so I thought but we could never have been prepared for this. Recently, United Airlines made international headlines when a man was violently dragged by police from an overbooked flight after he refused to give up his seat so that United staff could travel. The airline has since apologized, introducing rule changes concerning overbooking on its flight, which it says will prevent a repeat of the damaging incident. English version by George Mills. The death of the first female Muslim U.S. judgewho was found dead last week on the banks of New Yorks Hudson River--- is still being investigated and is reportedly considered suspicious. Sheila Abdus-Salaam's body was discovered along the riverside near Harlem on Wednesday, a day after she was reported missing, police said. Police said her body showed no obvious signs of trauma. Police sources told CBS2 that family and friends have said she was struggling with depression. Police told the station that although her death is being considered suspicious, there are no signs of criminality. Abdus-Salaam, who was 65 years old, graduated from Barnard College and received her law degree from Columbia Law School. She started her career as a staff attorney for East Brooklyn Legal Services and served as a judge in Manhattan state Supreme Court for 14 years, according to the state Office of Court Administration's website. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who appointed Abdus-Salaam to the state's Court of Appeals in 2013, called her a "trailblazing jurist." "As the first African-American woman to be appointed to the state's Court of Appeals, she was a pioneer," Cuomo said. "Through her writings, her wisdom and her unshakable moral compass, she was a force for good whose legacy will be felt for years to come." Chief Judge Janet DiFiore said her colleague will be "missed deeply." "Her personal warmth, uncompromising sense of fairness and bright legal mind were an inspiration to all of us who had the good fortune to know her," DiFiore said. Former Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman said he knew Abdus-Salaam for many years. He said her death of was "difficult to understand." "The court has suffered a terrible blow," he said. The Associated Press contributed to this report A suspected drunk driver was arrested in Pennsylvania on Thursday, but police found another subject of intoxication in the car: the drivers three-year-old Chihuahua, Maxwell. Drunk Chihuahua found in DUI suspect's car recovers after allegedly drinking spilled liquor https://t.co/NKYwzozqXI pic.twitter.com/gZarbW3Qwd Eyewitness News (@ABC7NY) April 18, 2017 Police found Thomas Bloedel, 44, behind the wheel of his car, with the keys in the ignition, engine running and car in gear. He paired two Vicodin with the bottle of vodka he had in his lap which was spilling out into the console of the car. DOG GETS MIRACULOUS RESCUE Maxwell was spotted lapping up the vodka in the console and was taken to an emergency veterinarian where he was treated for alcohol poisoning after the arrest of his owner, KDKA reports. He was stumbling around like a person who was drunk, said Dimitri Brown of University Veterinary Specialists. His pupils were dilated. After being treated overnight, the dog was already back to his normal self. MICHIGAN MAN ARRESTED ON 14TH DUI CHARGE Maxwell was picked up from the vets office and taken to an animal control officers house to stay until further notice now that he is medically cleared. Bloedel was taken to Allegheny County Jail and was charged with driving under the influence, animal cruelty, and terroristic threats. Police say the suspect threatened to shoot and kill the arresting officers on scene. It is unclear if Maxwell will return to Bloedels care. Police said Wednesday that the man who killed three white men in a Fresno, California shooting spree was a racist filled with hate and has shown no remorse for the murders. This is a hate crime based on race and gender, Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer told reporters at a news conference. Thirty-nine-year-old Kori Ali Muhammad, who is black, wanted to kill as many white people as possible after a warrant for his arrest was released in the murder of a 25-year-old Motel 6 security guard Carl Williams last week. Muhammad told investigators he killed Williams because he felt disrespected by him during an altercation at the motel. He said he fled the scene and hid out on a nearby 7/11 rooftop while police conducted an investigation. Chief Dyer said when the suspect realized he was wanted in the murder of Williams, he didnt want to go down as someone who just shot a security guard but wanted to shoot as many white people as possible before his arrest. Muhammad told police he did not like white men and said they were responsible for keeping black people down. On Tuesday, Dyer shot and killed thirty-four-year-old PG&E worker Zachary David Randalls, Mark James Gassett, 37, who was walking in the neighborhood, and 58-year-old David Martin Jackson outside a Catholic charity office. Police said the firearm used in the crime was allegedly stolen by a hispanic man who spoke with Muhammad after the shooting spree and is urged to turn himself in. Chief Dyer told reporters that it's "very rare" for a homicide suspect to cooperate with investigators in recounting the killings and he believes Muhammad was "proud" of what he did. Dyer said Muhammad told police that he gave himself up because he respects Fresno officers, didn't want them to shoot him and is not a "coward." Muhammad yelled "Allahu akbar," or "God is great," during his arrest and described himself as Muslim but says he practiced voodoo rituals and prays to seven different gods. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Police said the man who killed three people on a shooting spree in downtown Fresno, Calif., on Tuesday while shouting "Allahu Akbar" wanted to kill as many white people as possible. Kori Ali Muhammad, 39, knew he was being searched for and he "decided he was going to kill more people," Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said. During his arrest, Muhammad shouted "Allahu Akbar," but Dyer said the shootings had "nothing to do with terrorism in spite of the statement he made." "This is solely based on race," Dyer told reporters. FBI officials told Fox News the agency is not treating the shooting as an incident of terror, but is sending agents to the scene at request of local police. Fresno Mayor Lee Brand said it was "a sad day for us all" in a statement to FOX 26. Muhammad first walked up to a utility truck and shot a Pacific Gas & Electric Co. employee sitting in the passenger seat. The driver of the truck, who is Latino, sped off to the police department for help, but the worker, a 34-year-old white man, died. Muhammad then shot at another person and missed, police said. He aimed at a third, killing the 37-year-old on the sidewalk as he walked with a bag of groceries. The final victim, 58, was gunned down in the parking lot of a charity building, authorities said. Dyer said Muhammad approached a vehicle in between shootings, but he spared the lives of two Latina women who were in the car with a child. These were unprovoked attacks by an individual that was intent on carrying out homicides today. He did that," Dyer said. Police had put out a news release hours before the shootings Tuesday, saying that Muhammad was armed and dangerous and wanted in the shooting death of a security guard at a Motel 6 last week. The guard, 25-year-old Carl Williams, was white. Muhammad told officers at his arrest that he was the guy they were looking for, Dyer said. "I did it. I shot them," Dyer said Muhammad told officers. Police are searching for the revolver Muhammad said he tossed into a pile of clothing. The gun may have been picked up by someone else, Dyer said. Muhammad faces four counts of murder and at least two additional charges of assault with a deadly weapon. Stephen Hughes, 66, said he and his wife rushed home Tuesday after receiving a frantic call from a neighbor. Hughes came home to see a body draped in a blanket on the sidewalk leading to his front door. He first thought the shooting was gang-related, but then he noticed the bag of groceries near the body. "It looks like a guy carrying his groceries home from the store," Hughes said. On what appeared to be Muhammad's Facebook page, he repeatedly posted "#LetBlackPeopleGo" and encouraged "black warriors" to "mount up." A flurry of posts emerged in the past day. He wrote that his "kill rate increases tremendously on the other side" and also posted about "white devils." On several occasions, he wrote updates that included the phrase "Allahu Akbar," meaning "God is great" in Arabic. Muhammad has a criminal history that includes arrests on weapons, drugs and false imprisonment charges and making terrorist threats. He had been associated with gangs but he was not a confirmed member, police say. Muhammad was charged in 2005 with possessing cocaine with intent to distribute, court records show. Federal prosecutors said at the time that he was also in possession of a 9mm semi-automatic handgun and two rifles after being convicted of a felony. He claimed insanity, and his attorney requested a psychiatric examination for his client, saying Muhammad "appeared eccentric with some bizarre beliefs." A psychiatrist who examined Muhammad believed he had psychosis, Muhammad's attorney said in the court filing. He also "suffered auditory hallucinations and had at least two prior mental health hospitalizations," according to court documents. His attorney said that Muhammad had "paranoia" and thought the justice system and his defense attorney were conspiring against him, court papers said. The attorney who represented Muhammad in that case did not return a call for comment Tuesday. Public records list Muhammad as Cory Taylor and other aliases with addresses in Fresno and Sacramento. Fresno's police chief said his former name was Cory McDonald. A woman who identified herself as Taylor's grandmother said Tuesday that the family last saw him on Easter Sunday. She hung up the phone before giving her name. "I never would have thought he would do anything like this," sad Muhammad's brother, who asked not to be identified by name. "I'm just kind of shocked." He described his brother as a funny and intelligent man. Police say two of the victims may have been clients of Catholic Charities, which provides a variety of services for refugees, the homeless and those with disabilities. The Associated Press contributed to this report next Image 1 of 3 prev next Image 2 of 3 prev Image 3 of 3 A funeral has been held for one of four young men found brutally slain in a Long Island park in what police suspect was the work of the MS-13 street gang. About 200 mourners, many of them young, attended the Mass on Wednesday in East Patchogue (PACH'-awg) for 16-year-old Justin Llivicura (yee-vee-KUHR'-uh). The Rev. Martin Curtin says Llivicura was a "nice, solid kid" with a passion for working on cars. His family is active in the parish. Llivicura attended a youth group there with his sister. Police kept a low-key presence around St. Joseph the Worker Church. So far, they have not identified any suspects. The killings last week are among 11 that have struck the working-class immigrant communities of Brentwood and Central Islip (EYE'-slihp), on eastern Long Island, since September. One Cincinnati inmate thought he had a get-out-of-jail-free card that would work like a charm impersonating a judge over the phone. James Eagle, 23, was initially arrested on April 10 for leaving the scene of a crash and stealing a license plate to put on his car afterward, Fox 45 reports. Once in jail, he made several calls while posing as Judge Richard Bernat -- all of which were recorded. He told courthouse staff to give Eagle O.R. bonds, meaning a cash bond was not necessary for him to be released as long as he promised to return to court. AP DEMANDS FBI NEVER AGAIN IMPERSONATE JOURNALIST The judge and sheriffs office were notified, yet no one spoke to Eagle about his judge persona. I dont think anyone did anything wrong, Mike Robinson of the Hamilton County Sheriffs Office said. At the end of the day, his scheme did not work." Eagle ended up paying 10 percent of a $5,000 bond and was released. But his impersonation schemes were far from over. MICHIGAN TEEN FACES JAIL IN PHONY COP STUNT TO WOO HOOTERS GIRLS On Friday, a detective went to sign warrants against Eagle for his phony judge call caper. After the detective left, Eagle called the Warrants Department, according to an affidavit. He said the detective and the warrants were a mistake a believable statement because the warrants were entered in the system. Mr. Eagle is not as slick as he thinks he is once apprehended, he faces three additional charges, Robinson said, charges that now include impersonating a police officer. On the original charges, he may have faced a few months in prison. Now, he could face a few years. There is a $1,000 reward for any information about where Eagle is hiding, as police have yet to find him. A New Hampshire prep school graduate convicted of sexually assaulting a classmate has appealed a judge's ruling denying him a new trial to the state supreme court. Owen Labrie of Tunbridge, Vermont, was acquitted in 2015 of raping a 15-year-old classmate the previous year as part of a game of sexual conquest at St. Paul's School in Concord. He was convicted of misdemeanor sexual assault and child endangerment, as well as using a computer to lure the girl for sex, a felony requiring him to register as a sex offender. The 21-year-old Labrie is appealing his conviction. A judge last month denied his request for a new trial, calling some of his claims of ineffective counsel absurd. Labrie's lawyer appealed that decision last week, saying issues raised on appeal are of "broad public interest and present novel questions of law" that haven't been addressed in court. The federal government's bid to dismantle the police department in a polygamous community on the Arizona-Utah border has been rejected by a judge as too drastic and expensive. But the towns will still be under court supervision for the next decade as punishment in a religious discrimination case. The sister cities of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah, are home to a polygamous group run by Warren Jeffs, who is serving a life sentence in Texas for sexually assaulting girls he considered brides. A closer look at the Tuesday ruling and what it means: ___ WHAT WILL THE COURT SUPERVISION LOOK LIKE? Under the judge's orders, the chief marshal will be supervised by a court-appointed mentor from a nationally recognized law enforcement organization who will offer advice on the operations of the police department. Police officers, including the chief marshal, will have to undergo training every year on constitutional protections and the cities must buy body cameras for officers. Town managers and city council members will be removed from a police hiring committee and barred from any involvement in internal affairs investigations. Jeff Matura, an attorney representing Colorado City, said the towns had already undertaken some of the changes such as reviewing police policies and offering more training for officers. ___ WHY DIDN'T THE JUDGE DISBAND THE POLICE AGENCY? U.S. District Judge H. Russel Holland acknowledged that the department suffers from a high rate of officer decertification and deficient training but said the problems in the community aren't so grave that the agency should be folded and its duties handed over to outside agencies. Holland said the U.S. Justice Department has investigated police departments accused of misconduct that led to serious injuries and deaths, yet none of those cases led to agencies being shuttered. He called disbandment a last resort if the towns fail to comply with his orders. ___ ARE THE MANDATED CHANGES ONLY FOR POLICE? No. Holland also ordered the appointment of an official to review municipal decisions involving housing rights and make sure the changes ordered by the court are carried out. The monitor will review the way the towns handle utility applications and building permits, change city ordinances, and deal with citizen complaints about fair-housing rights. City council members and other officials must undergo training on the requirements imposed by the court, constitutional protections and fair-housing. The judge required the towns to create a website containing information found on most municipal sites, such as contact information for elected officials and applications for building permits. It must also contain language and a link to the judge's order about making changes after the communities were found to have committed religious discrimination. ___ WHY IS THE COMMUNITY BEING PUNISHED? The decision was a response to a 2016 jury verdict in Arizona that found the towns denied nonbelievers police protection, building permits and water hookups. Federal authorities said the towns were operating as an arm of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a radical offshoot of mainstream Mormonism, which disavowed polygamy more than 100 years ago. Jurors concluded officers arrested nonbelievers without probable cause and made unreasonable searches of their property. The judge in the case said police employees communicated with and provided financial support for church leader Warren Jeffs while he was a fugitive. ___ WILL THIS CHANGE THINGS? The U.S. Department of Justice touted the jury verdict and supervision order as evidence that religious discrimination won't be tolerated in the United States. But the agency's statement Wednesday didn't weigh in on the judge's choice to order oversight rather than disbandment. Amos Guiora, a University of Utah law professor who has studied the church, said Holland's decision to base his ruling on what's been done in other municipalities is understandable from a legal perspective but overlooks the fact that the community is fundamentally different. "That's a lovely legal argument but with respect to this particular community, with this particular way of life, and this entrenched lack of separation of church and state, is an argument that I think falls short," Guiora said. "This is not a normal place." ___ McCombs reported from Salt Lake City. ___ Follow Jacques Billeaud at twitter.com/jacquesbilleaud. His work can be found at https://www.apnews.com/search/jacques%20billeaud. Six student reporters from Pittsburg High School in Kansas have been invited to the White House Correspondents Dinner for calling into question their incoming principal's credentials. The students earned the invitation to the April 29 event following an article they wrote that examined the qualifications of Amy Robertson, who had been hired as the schools principal. An investigation and subsequent report by the schools Booster Redux newspaper led to revelations that Robertson had obtained her education credentials from Corllins University, an institution known for allowing students to purchase degrees. According to The Morning Sun, Robertsons degrees were made up. She subsequently resigned from her position. Students Patrick Sullivan, Connor Balthazor, Trina Paul, Maddie Baden, Kali Poenitske and Gina Mathew will now attend the annual dinner all expenses paid, courtesy of the Huffington Post. Itll be a great experience, said Pittsburg Superintendent of Schools Destry Brown. I think its a great opportunity for them. My gosh, its a once in a lifetime experience. We are pretty excited, said Emily Smith, the Booster Redux adviser. We are very honored they thought of us! The dinner is hosted by the White House Correspondents Association. A Georgia man has been convicted of killing another man over a rape that may not have happened. Media outlets report 42-year-old Philip Pugh was convicted Tuesday of shooting 50-year-old Vincent Newsome in 2014 outside a motel near Snellville. Pugh was arrested two days later in Mississippi. Weeks before the shooting, Pugh filed a police report claiming Newsome had raped Pugh's wife. The woman told police she and her husband were drugged one morning in a motel they were living in and that she later saw a cellphone video of Newsome raping her. The Gwinnett County District Attorney's Office says no evidence emerged to support the claim. Pugh was found guilty but mentally ill. He was sentenced to life in prison. A former Madrid premier is among the 12 individuals who were arrested on Wednesday as part of a raid against corruption at the regional water management corporation Canal de Isabel II, which covers the water needs of six million Madrilenos. Ignacio Gonzalez, who served as regional premier with the Popular Party (PP) between 2012 and 2015, is the latest politician to be ensnared in a case that has been dogging the conservative party for some time. Former Madrid premier Ignacio Gonzalez in a file photo. Luis Sevillano Dubbed Operation Lezo, the investigation is headed by Judge Eloy Velasco of the Audiencia Nacional, Spains central High Court. Velasco is trying to determine whether public funds were channeled from the water company to benefit members of Gonzalezs administration. Other sources said that the court is also investigating alleged illegal party financing through Canal de Isabel II, and purchases made by the water company in Latin America, where it allegedly overpaid for business acquisitions. The arrests prove that Spanish institutions are doing their job Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido, also of the PP, said that the arrests prove that Spanish institutions are doing their job and are the greatest guarantee that there is no impunity. On Wednesday, Gonzalezs home and office were searched for evidence of wrongdoing. His brother Pablo was also held in connection with the case, and is believed to have acted as the ex-premiers frontman. Another suspect, Edmundo Rodriguez Sobrino, is considered Ignacio Gonzalezs man in Latin America. Maria Fernanda Richmond, the former financial director at the water company, was also arrested. Sources familiar with the case linked Rodriguez Sobrino with the acquisition of companies for sums above market prices. His name showed up in connection with several offshore companies created in Panama. The entrance to the Madrid water management company. Claudio Alvarez Under Gonzalez, Canal de Isabel II acquired controlling shares in more than 20 companies in the Americas. Current premier Cristina Cifuentes ordered the water company to divest itself of a dozen of them after detecting anomalous procedures, and even sent prosecutors a report asking for an investigation. In 2013, for instance, Canal de Isabel II purchased a Brazilian company named Emissao. In March of this year, opposition parties at the Madrid Assembly sent prosecutors a report showing that the water company paid 21.5 million for the Brazilian firm; just one month later, Emissao was worth half that amount, a year later it was worth a fourth, and it is currently in the red. Gonzalez has been involved in a number of unresolved scandals over the years. In February of last year, it emerged that his government allegedly used money from two government agencies to pay for work to improve the online media profiles of Gonzalez and two top aides. The allegations were part of a larger investigation into the Punica graft case, which affects former officials in Madrid and other parts of Spain. Ignacio Gonzalez and Esperanza Aguirre in 2014. Alvaro Garcia He was also involved in a spy case in which leading PP politicians were allegedly wiretapped. But his most serious problem to date had been his purchase of a penthouse in Marbella for 300,000 from a dummy corporation based in Delaware, Maryland. Gonzalez was summoned to testify over the purchase, believed to be a cash payment for favors rendered to the construction company Martinsa in connection with the rezoning of land in Arganda del Rey (Madrid). Journalists involved Meanwhile, the editor and president of the conservative newspaper La Razon, Francisco Marhuenda and Mauricio Casals, have become official suspects in Operation Lezo, legal sources have confirmed. Both men have been summoned to appear in court on Thursday at noon for a deposition. Edmundo Rodriguez Sobrino, Gonzalezs nephew, is also CEO of the company that publishes La Razon. Sources familiar with the investigation said that Marhuenda and Casals allegedly pressured the current Madrid premier, Cristina Cifuentes of the PP, to prevent her from reporting irregular activities at the water company activities that Rodriguez Sobrino was involved in. Cifuentes was called in to testify as a witness on Wednesday to provide additional information that may be relevant to the case. English version by Susana Urra. Facebook slaying suspect Steve Stephens was undone by a 20-piece Chicken McNuggets and an order of fries. The man who police say shot a Cleveland retiree at random and posted video of the killing on Facebook pulled up to the drive-thru window of a McDonald's restaurant outside Erie, Pennsylvania, and waited for his order. It was late Tuesday morning, almost lunchtime, and authorities were in the third day of an intensive manhunt for Stephens. Now, more than 100 miles from the shooting, his time on the run was nearly up. The attendant who took his money recognized the suspect and dialed 911. Stephens pulled up to the next window, where restaurant owner Thomas DuCharme Jr. and a supervisor tried stalling him by telling him his fries were delayed. Stephens didn't want to wait. He took his McNuggets and whipped out of the parking lot, nearly hitting Gail Wheeler, 54, a retail operations manager from Erie who was on her way home from the grocery store. "Two seconds later, I hear these sirens, and they come whipping past me," she told The Associated Press. Wheeler followed behind for a couple miles. She said the chase slowed suddenly from 50 mph to about 20 mph when the road narrowed from four lanes to two. One of the pursuing troopers picked his spot in front of an abandoned school and hit Stephens' bumper to get him to stop. The Ford Fusion did a half-turn and came to rest at the curb. Police were starting to get out of their cruisers when "I heard a shot. It was loud and distinctive," Wheeler said. "The next thing I know, they're approaching the car. The one officer just shook his head. He was closest to the car. ... They had their guns out but when he shook his head, they lowered their guns." Stephens killed himself, authorities said. State police Major William Teper Jr. said the trooper who bumped Stephens' car "saw him pull the gun out and shoot himself." A Mexican mother of four U.S.-born children living in southwest Ohio has been returned to Mexico. Attorney Kathleen Kersh of Advocates for Basic Legal Equality says they are "disappointed and outraged" about the Wednesday deportation of Maribel Trujillo Diaz (MAHR'-uh-behl troo-HEE'-yoh DEE'-ahz). A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement statement says courts have "uniformly held" that she had no legal basis to remain in the U.S. Immigration officials say she entered the country illegally in 2002. Diaz had been moved to an immigration detention center near Jena, Louisiana, after a federal appeals court on April 11 dismissed her bid for an emergency order. Religious leaders and community supporters had called for her to be reunited with her family in Butler County. The administration of Republican President Donald Trump has pledged stepped-up immigration enforcement. Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday warned North Korea not to test the resolve of the U.S. military, promising it would make an "overwhelming and effective" response to any use of conventional or nuclear weapons. "Those who would challenge our resolve or readiness should know, we will defeat any attack and meet any use of conventional or nuclear weapons with an overwhelming and effective American response," Pence said. Pences comments come as the White House deals with a controversy over inaccurate information given by President Trump and his officials over the USS Carl Vinsons mission in the region. GORKA ON 'HANNITY': GOING FROM SMOKE AND MIRRORS COALITION TO A REAL ONE 'SOLELY ON RACE' The man who killed three people on a shooting spree in downtown Fresno, Calif., on Tuesday while shouting "Allahu Akbar" wanted to kill as many white people as possible, police said. Kori Ali Muhammad, 39, knew he was being searched for and he "decided he was going to kill more people," Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said. THE TRUMP EFFECT A special election in Georgias Sixth congressional district failed to produce an outright winner Tuesday, forcing a June 20 runoff between upstart Democrat Jon Ossoff and former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel. With 88 percent of the precincts reporting, Ossoff had garnered 48 percent of the vote, falling just short of the majority threshold required in the so-called jungle primary. 'THE O'REILLY FACTOR': POLITICAL REACTION TO THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SESSIONS ON FOX Attorney General Jeff Sessions vowed Tuesday to "devastate" the Central American gang MS-13, calling the group "one of the most violent gangs in the history of our country, no doubt about it." Sessions spoke to Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" hours after President Trump blamed what he called "the weak illegal immigration polices" of the Obama administration for allowing MS-13 to spread to cities across the U.S. (WATCH FULL INTERVIEW) FOX NEWS OPINION SENS JERRY MORAN AND JOHN MCCAIN: We are proud that Congress unanimously passed and President Trump will sign into law our Veterans Choice Improvement Act legislation that extends the Veterans Choice Program and ensures our veterans wont have to wait weeks or months, or drive long distances, to get the care they need when they need it. FOX BUSINESS GASPARINO: With the Democratic invasion of the White House, Mark Cuban starts to warm up to Trump presidency 'TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT' MARK CUBAN ON TRUMP COMING UP ON FNC NOON ET: White House press briefing with Sean Spicer 2: 30 PM ET: Tom Brady and the New England Patriots meet President Trump at the White House. COMING UP ON FOX BUSINESS 7: 20 AM ET: John Sculley, former Apple CEO 8 AM ET: Sen. Lindsey Graham 8:30 AM ET: Ray Kelly, former NYC police commissioner next Image 1 of 3 prev next Image 2 of 3 prev Image 3 of 3 Three men were having a seemingly ordinary day in downtown Fresno, California, before they were singled out at random and killed by a black gunman targeting white victims, police said. The men happened to be on the same block, but had no known connection to each other or to the shooter, Kori Ali Muhammad, who told police he wanted to kill as many white people as he could before he was captured. One victim, a 34-year-old father of two preschoolers, was on the job when he was shot Tuesday in the passenger seat of a Pacific Gas & Electric utility truck. The driver wasn't hit and sped toward the police department, but his partner couldn't be saved. Another victim, a 37-year-old man, had just picked up a bag of groceries Tuesday at a Catholic Charities building when he was gunned down. Stephen Hughes, 66, said he and his wife rushed home Tuesday after receiving a frantic call from a neighbor to find a body draped in a blanket on the sidewalk leading to his front door. "It looks like a guy carrying his groceries home from the store," Hughes said. The third victim, a 59-year-old man, was gunned down in the parking of the Catholic Charities building. "These were unprovoked attacks," Fresno police Chief Jerry Dyer said. Two Latina women and a child crossed paths with Muhammad but were luckier. Muhammad pointed the gun at them as they sat in their car trying to flee, but didn't shoot. Muhammad, 39, is in custody and is expected to be charged with four counts of murder for Tuesday's three victims and 25-year-old Motel 6 security guard, Carl Williams, another white man who Muhammad shot last week. He also faces at least two additional charges of assault with a deadly weapon. Police had been looking for Muhammad in the Williams killing, and Muhammad said seeing his own name and picture in a press release Tuesday morning helped spur the rampage. Muhammad had shorn off the braids featured in his wanted pictures and YouTube videos, fired 16 rounds in less than two minutes at four places within a block. "I did it. I shot them," Muhammad told officers as they arrested him, according to the chief. During the arrest, Muhammad shouted "Allahu Akbar," but Dyer said the shootings had "nothing to do with terrorism in spite of the statement he made." "This is solely based on race," Dyer said. Police are searching for the revolver Muhammad said he tossed into a pile of clothing. The gun may have been picked up by someone else, Dyer said. On what appeared to be Muhammad's Facebook page, he repeatedly posted "#LetBlackPeopleGo" and encouraged "black warriors" to "mount up." A flurry of posts emerged in the past day. He wrote that his "kill rate increases tremendously on the other side" and also posted about "white devils," themes he dwelled on in hip-hop videos that he posted on YouTube. Muhammad has a criminal history that includes arrests on weapons, drugs and false imprisonment charges and making terrorist threats. He had been associated with gangs but he was not a confirmed member, police say. Muhammad was charged in 2005 with possessing cocaine with intent to distribute, court records show. Federal prosecutors said at the time that he was also in possession of a 9mm semi-automatic handgun and two rifles after being convicted of a felony. He claimed insanity, and his attorney requested a psychiatric examination for his client, saying Muhammad "appeared eccentric with some bizarre beliefs." He also "suffered auditory hallucinations and had at least two prior mental health hospitalizations," according to court documents. His attorney said that Muhammad had "paranoia" and thought the justice system and his defense attorney were conspiring against him, court papers said. The attorney who represented Muhammad in that case did not return a call for comment Tuesday. Public records list Muhammad as Cory Taylor and other aliases with addresses in Fresno and Sacramento. Fresno's police chief said his former name was Cory McDonald. A woman who identified herself as Taylor's grandmother said Tuesday that the family last saw him on Easter Sunday. She hung up the phone before giving her name. "I never would have thought he would do anything like this," sad Muhammad's brother, who asked not to be identified by name. "I'm just kind of shocked." ___ Contributing to this report are Associated Press writers Sophia Bollag in Fresno; Kristin J. Bender, Olga R. Rodriguez and Janie Har in San Francisco; Jonathan J. Cooper and Don Thompson in Sacramento; Mike Balsamo in Los Angeles; and researcher Jennifer Farrar in New York City. Georgia police are searching for a man who forcefully yanked a headscarf from a 14-year-old Muslim girl and yelled the word "terrorist" multiple times. Police in Dunwoody said on the evening of Good Friday, as the teenager, friends and an adult left Maggiano's restaurant at Perimeter Mall, the man yelled out "terrorist" multiple times, then ripped the headscarf from the teenager so forcefully she almost fell to the ground. Police said the man took off with and stole the teenager's headscarf. The man is wanted on charges of simple assault and theft. "To have this happen in our community is a shock to us," said Sgt. Aaron Belt with Dunwoody Police, who said an event like this has never happened in their diverse, middle to upper-middle-class suburb just north of Atlanta. GROUP CALLS FOR FBI INVESTIGATION AFTER MUSLIM TEEN FOUND HANGING FROM TREE IN SEATTLE Investigators are combing through mall surveillance to find an image of the subject, who can only be described as an older white male. Police consider the man dangerous, as he was willing to ambush and assault a teenage girl. "The daughter took it in stride. She was strong-willed, she was not deterred from continuing to dress how she wants to dress," said CAIR-Georgia executive director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, who said the teenager's mother was distraught over the ordeal. Click here for more from Fox 35. Police are searching for a man accused of ripping the headscarf off a Muslim teenager at a mall north of Atlanta.. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (http://on-ajc.com/2oNgo91) the 14-year-old girl was walking with a group of people Monday night at Perimeter Mall when a stranger approached and snatched her hijab, while yelling "terrorist" before fleeing. Dunwoody Police Chief Billy Grogan says in a news release police have labeled the case an assault. The George chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. CAIR-Georgia Executive Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell says the attack has shaken the family of the victim, whose identity has not been released. He says the family will not press charges if the man comes forward and apologizes. Jurors have heard closing arguments in the trial of a survivalist charged with ambushing two troopers at a Pennsylvania State Police barracks. Pike County District Attorney Ray Tonkin called Eric Frein (freen) a "terrorist" who targeted police in an attempt to spark a revolution. Tonkin is seeking the death penalty. Frein's attorney, Michael Weinstein, conceded to the jury Wednesday that prosecutors have offered a "mountain of evidence" pointing to his client's guilt. Cpl. Bryon Dickson II was killed and Trooper Alex Douglass was critically wounded in the 2014 attack. Frein eluded capture for 48 days before U.S. marshals arrested him at an abandoned airplane hangar. For the second consecutive night, Russia flew two long-range bombers off the coast of Alaska on Tuesday, this time coming within 36 miles of the mainland while flying north of the Aleutian Islands, two U.S. officials told Fox News. The two nuclear-capable Tu-95 bombers were spotted by U.S. military radar at 5 p.m. local time. Unlike a similar incident Monday night, this time the U.S. Air Force did not scramble any fighter jets. Instead, it launched a single E-3 Sentry early warning aircraft, known as AWACS, to make sure there were only the two Russian bombers flying near Alaska, and not other aircraft flying underneath the large bombers. U.S. territorial waters extend 12 nautical miles from shore. Two Russian bombers flew within 100 miles of Alaska on Monday night. The Russian bombers took off from an airbase in Petropavlovsk, Russia and returned five hours later to an airbase in Anadyr. Both locations are in eastern Russia, some 1,000 miles away. Last week in Moscow, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said U.S.-Russian relations were at a low point during a news conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. While Tillerson was in Moscow, a trio of Russian bombers flew near the east coast of Japan, forcing the Japanese military to scramble 14 fighter jets at various times to intercept the bombers. A Russian spy plane traversed Japans west coast. Before Monday's flight near Alaska, the last time Russian bombers flew near the U.S. was July 4, 2015, when a pair of Russian bombers flew off the coasts of Alaska and California, coming as close as 40 miles to Mendocino, Calif. Russian President Vladimir Putin called then-President Barack Obama to wish him a happy Independence Day while the bombers cruised the California coastline. In February, a Russian spy ship sailed up and down the East Coast of the U.S. while remaining in international waters. Seth Rogen has gone from battling a fraternity to joining one. The actor who played a new dad doing battle with a rowdy fraternity in "Neighbors" has officially joined the Pi Kappa Alpha chapter at the University of Vermont. Rogen paid a visit to the fraternity Monday after the brothers raised $32,000 for his Hilarity for Charity, which helps fund Alzheimer's research. After going bowling with the fraternity, he was inducted as an honorary member in what the school calls a "top-secret ceremony." Rogen writes on Twitter that he's "proud to be a Pike." Video shows him sharing drinks with fraternity members. The trial is underway of a man accused in the 2010 death an off-duty Chicago police officer. Prosecutors say Bernard Williams is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Officer David Blake. During opening statements Tuesday, prosecutors said the now 25-year-old Williams lured Blake to a quiet neighborhood on Chicago's southwest side and killed him. Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Patrick Morley said it was part of a plan to steal Blake's gun collection. Williams' attorneys noted that no physical evidence tied Williams to the killing. Assistant Public Defender Dylan Barrett told jurors investigators targeted Williams "because of the pressure they felt to solve this crime." Authorities say Blake, who was in a relationship with Williams' sister, had previously shown Williams the gun collection he kept at his home. 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 The widow of a World War II veteran who was fatally shot by California deputies during a welfare check last September filed a lawsuit against the county this week. The lawsuit, filed Monday, claimed that Santa Clara deputies used excessive force and violated due process when they performed a welfare check at Eugene Craig's home on Sept. 12, 2016. DISABLED ARMY VETERAN FIGHTS OFF INTRUDER AT GEORGIA HOME Craig, 86, and his wife, Harue, 90, heard noises outside their home and thought intruders were trying to break in, according to the lawsuit. Craig retrieved his .38 caliber revolver and stood in front of his wife to protect her. Despite a neighbor offering to help officers get in contact with the elderly couple, the lawsuit alleges that deputies forced their way into the house. They shot Craig multiple times as his wife "cowered behind him." Officials from the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office said after the shooting, deputies spent nearly an hour calling the couple before breaking down a side door, according to Mercury News. Craig ignored the deputies when they asked him to drop his gun, officials claimed. The family said the shooting was "excessive and unreasonable" because the couple wasn't a threat to the officers. VET: I LOST MY LEGS BECAUSE MY GOV'T WAS AFRAID TO USE BOMBS The complaint said Harue Craig suffered from emotional stress watching her husband die in front of her. She also had to deal with funeral and burial expenses because of the incident. She seeks damages for his wrongful death including compensation for the expenses and financial support that incurred. A spokesman for the Santa Clara County's Sheriff's Office said the department could not comment on pending litigation, FOX 8 reported. Serbian police have arrested eight people suspected of smuggling migrants from the border with Bulgaria to the European Union. Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic says the "criminal group" arrested Wednesday is suspected of smuggling more than 200 migrants for a fee of 250 euros ($270) each "over a long period of time." Police say that seven Serbs and one Afghan citizen have been arrested. Two additional suspects are on the run. Thousands of migrants have been stuck in Serbia after its EU neighbors Hungary and Croatia shut their borders to prevent their entry in March 2016. Many of the migrants arriving in Serbia have turned to people smugglers to try cross into the EU illegally. Industrial paints and chemicals company AkzoNobel says it plans to spin off its Specialty Chemicals unit within 12 months to boost growth and reward its shareholders. The shake-up at the Dutch multinational comes after it recently rejected two unsolicited takeover bids by American rival PPG Industries. In a move aimed at keeping shareholders happy and loyal, AkzoNobel says it will boost its dividend by 50 percent and return the "vast majority of net proceeds" from the separation of its Specialty Chemicals unit to shareholders. CEO Ton Buechner says, "Now is the right time to create two focused, high-performing businesses." AkzoNobel on Wednesday said first-quarter net profit was stable at 240 million euros ($257 million) as revenue rose by seven percent to 3.66 billion euros ($3.9 billion). An Austrian court has found a former Croatian general guilty of embezzling millions of euros and sentenced him and an associate to two years in prison. The court in the southern city of Klagenfurt determined Wednesday that the ex-general, Vladimir Zagorec, and Guenter Striedinger were involved in diverting loans from the now-defunct Hypo Alpe Adria Bank. Striedinger was a bank board member. Judge Michaele Sanin said the damages caused by the two amounted to over 17 million euros ( $18 million.) The bank was nationalized to prevent bankruptcy in 2009 and its assets are being sold to pay off creditors. Lawyers for both men say they are appealing the verdict and sentence. A third man whom the court did not name also was found guilty and given a suspended prison term. Burberry shares plunged Wednesday after the U.K. luxury goods maker reported disappointing sales figures. The company said Wednesday that second-half sales fell 1 percent after stripping out the effect of favorable moves in currency exchange rates. While Burberry reported double-digit growth in sales at its European division, it saw a decline in the Americas. The pound weakened after the U.K. voted to leave the European Union, making Britain an attractive shopping destination for travelers spending dollars and euros. Burberry also continued to struggle in Asia, where rising sales in mainland China were offset by declines in Hong Kong and Korea. The company reported a "low single-digit" increase in retail sales from the Asia-Pacific region as a whole. Shares in Burberry plc were down 5.2 percent at 16.12 pounds. Canadian police have charged a woman with human smuggling after intercepting nine refugee claimants crossing the border into Canada from the United States. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police says a 43-year-old woman driving north into the Canadian prairie province of Saskatchewan was arrested after being stopped Friday with nine people from West Africa in her vehicle. Michelle Omoruyi is charged with human smuggling and conspiracy to commit human smuggling. Police Inspector Donovan Fisher said Wednesday that a significant amount of cash was found in a Regina, Saskatchewan, home that was searched the following day. Police say the U.S. Border Patrol has arrested several other people related to the same investigation, but no details have been released. There has been an influx of refugees crossing into Canada from the U.S. next Image 1 of 2 prev Image 2 of 2 A senior Cuban official is warning foreign countries against meddling in the internal affairs of Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro is facing down mass protests. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez says foreigners should avoid any interference that could encourage violent extremism, including a coup. Rodriguez, whose government has close relations with Maduro, said during an official visit to Lisbon, Portugal, on Wednesday that Venezuelans fear foreign action against their country. Maduro late Tuesday charged the U.S. State Department with encouraging a military intervention. Human rights organizations and countries including the United States have accused Venezuelan security forces and pro-government groups of using excessive violence against protesters. Members of the Organization of American States have also criticized what they view as Venezuela's turn toward authoritarianism. next Image 1 of 3 prev next Image 2 of 3 prev Image 3 of 3 French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen says all the presidential contenders and all French people are potential attack targets. The candidates for France's first-round presidential election Sunday have increased security in recent days. Authorities announced Tuesday that they had arrested two Islamic radicals suspected of plotting a possible attack around the vote. While prosecutors haven't identified the potential targets, Le Pen said on BFM television that "we are all targets. All the French." Le Pen also defended her decision to force national French news network TF1 to take down the European flag during an interview Tuesday night. She said Wednesday that "I am a candidate in the election for the French republic" and said Europe is acting like France's "enemy." The Islamic State may be on the brink of defeat in Mosul, but the radical Muslim terror group isn't giving in without a bloody and blistering pushback. More than two dozen Iraqis stationed with U.S. and Australian military advisers in the Mosul vicinity required treatment after being hit Sunday by a chlorine gas attack. A day earlier, seven Iraqi soldiers were documented to have been injured in a similar attack in the Abar neighborhood of western Mosul. However, one Iraqi soldier positioned around the Mosul attack site dismissed the latest incidents as "not a big deal and insisted that there has been no significant fallout. Iraqi Major Gen. Abdul Ghany Alasady, too, denied accounts of a chemical assault. "There was no use of chemicals in recent days," he told reporters, adding that the Daesh, as ISIS is commonly referred to in the Middle East, is just publicizing the use of toxic materials to rally its own troops after an onslaught of deaths and defeats. Furthermore, a U.S. military spokesperson for Operation Inherent Resolve, the official name of the ISIS abolition mission in Iraq, told Fox News the coalition is aware of reports of low-grade chemical attacks on our partnered forces. He said the attacks were largely ineffective and further displays the desperation of ISIS as they seek to hold an untenable position in Mosul. Accounts of chemical attacks early last month were also extinguished by the top brass. Iraqs U.N. ambassador, Mohamed Ali Alhakim, said there was no evidence of chemical warfare. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi flatly denied the chemical allegations as wrong, stating that what happened actually (was) just a mixture of smoke and gas, which has a limited impact. Others, however, remain skeptical. One Kurdish official, not authorized to speak to the media, expressed concern that facts and figures are being obscured. The official said multiple gas attacks did take place over the past week and that the military casualties were not known, but that coverage on the issue was being squashed. And Tony Schiena, founder and CEO of Multi Operational Security Agency Intelligence Company (MOSAIC), which has long operated in the region, affirmed that chemicals were deployed this past week and that the jihadist faction "continues to use chemical weapons, and since the recent use of sarin in Syria, it has spurred ISIS to increase their use of it." "Chlorine is easily obtainable, created and stored. They have mustard gas stockpiled as well as radioactive material that can cause cell phones to go haywire when brought close to it," Schiena told Fox News. "It would glow on the ground as well as on the bodies of the affected soldiers." So is there anything to the discrepancies? A source connected to Iraqi intelligence told Fox News that what is of paramount importance right now is simply "maintaining the psychological state of the soldiers," thus implying that by illuminating such attacks in the press, it could be perceived as making ISIS appear more powerful than it is and playing into the groups propaganda. Nonetheless, there is no denying that chemical weapons have become something of a staple in ISIS' devastating arsenal. According to IHS Conflict Monitor, a London-based intelligence and analysis service, ISIS used chemical weapons sulfur and chlorine at least 52 times in Syria and Iraq since the ISIS battle began. A number of U.S.-led airstrikes have also targeted supposed chemical weapons depots and manufacturing facilities. AFTER US STRIKES, TRUMP'S SYRIA PLAN STARTS COMING INTO VIEW IRAQI PRIME MINISTER AL ABADI SAYS ISIS MILITARY DEFEATED 'WITHIN WEEKS' ISIS CHILD SOLDIERS ARE LATEST CASUALTIES OF BRUTAL TERRORIST ARMY One female ISIS operative captured and imprisoned by Kurdish authorities for treating wounded ISIS fighters at a hospital in her home city of Qayarra told Fox News that a brick factory and smaller dwellings scattered near that hospital had become known hubs for chemical weapons manufacturing. Luqman Ibrahim, battalion leader of the Yazidi forces in the Sinjar Mountain region, also explained that several types of chloride bombs had been used. He said those bombs wounded more than 50 of his men over the course of the long battle. The bombs were of various types: ISIS had used sophisticated Russian-made bombs, ones developed by former Iraqi Ba'ath Party Army officials and then two types of homemade chloride bombs. One type is a rocket that disseminates the synthetic agent; another is a chloride-filled rocket with a propane gas can attached. For Karwan Saeed, a 37-year-old Kurdish Peshmerga soldier who was one of the very first victims of an ISIS chemical attack, those agents will forever haunt. Stationed just outside Mosul in July 2015, Saeed detailed the moments that had dismantled his life. "I went to inspect a Katyusha rocket that had fallen a little way in front of us," he told Fox News. "But I did not know of the chemical element attached." Now, Saeed's eyes perpetually swell and his skin constantly erupts in rashes that no bar of oatmeal soap the only treatment he has been able to obtain -- can appease. "I can't sleep. I am allergic to everything," he added, contorting with agitation as if he was a prisoner inside his own gnawing flesh. "And there is nothing to make this go away." North Korea is a conundrum: seemingly barren and with Third World living conditions, yet it just held a grandiose military parade reminding the world that the country is locked and loaded. As detached as North Korea appears to be from the rest of the globe, the country is maintaining a stream of revenue from somewhere to finance its impressive slew of intercontinental ballistic missiles. Where does that money come from? A myriad of places. North Korea has both an overt and covert economy through which it gains money, said Bruce Klingner, a Heritage Foundation senior fellow who suggests North Koreas money flow is very diverse. The overt economy is predominantly sales of natural resources, he said. The covert economy is harder to estimate, but consists of weapons sales, the counterfeiting of U.S. $100 bills . . . production and distribution of illegal narcotics, cigarettes and pharmaceuticals, including Viagra, insurance scams, money laundering, and cybercrime. According to Klingner, that laundry list of dubious activities extends to skimming the wages of North Korean workers overseas and North Korean diplomats involved in illegal sales of wildlife, rhino horn and ivory. It is nearly impossible to have a dialogue about North Koreas finances without mentioning China. Without China, North Korea would be in a state of collapse, explained Nicholas Eberstadt, an American Enterprise Institute scholar and North Korea expert. China is the huge and dominant actor in exports and imports for North Korea. North Koreas main activities include developing weapons of mass destruction so China supports that, of course. Along with illicit activities such as counterfeiting and drug sales, Eberstadt suggested another possible point of supply. Other things we dont follow terribly well are overseas sources of wealth that belong to the Kim family stashed in Macau and other places, he said. 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 The Latest on the Syrian conflict (all times local): 12:25 p.m. Syrian state TV says an explosive device has gone off in the northern city of Aleppo, killing six people and wounding others. It did not provide further details on Wednesday's blast in the government-held Salaheddin neighborhood. Opposition media groups, including Aleppo Today, say the explosion occurred near a mosque during the funeral of government fighter. Aleppo was divided between government and rebel-held districts for years, but government forces managed to drive rebels from the city in December with a Russian-backed offensive. Some contested areas remain. ___ 10:45 a.m. Syria's military media says the evacuation and transfer of thousands of Syrians from four besieged areas has resumed. The reciprocal evacuations from two pro-government villages and two opposition-held towns was disrupted by a bombing Saturday that killed more than 120 pro-government evacuees, mostly children. The Central Military Media says 3,000 residents of the pro-government villages, Foua and Kfarya, left Wednesday in 45 buses bound for government-controlled Aleppo. Another 11 buses carrying opposition fighters left Madaya and Zabadani, near Damascus, heading toward the northern rebel-held Idlib province. The opposition-run Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported the transfer, which it says includes 800 armed men from both sides. The population exchange has been criticized by rights groups, which say it rewards siege tactics and amounts to forcible displacement. next Image 1 of 3 prev next Image 2 of 3 prev Image 3 of 3 The Latest on the French presidential campaign (all times local): 6:20 p.m. French Socialist presidential candidate Benoit Hamon is holding a rally and concert in Paris four days before a vote likely to devastate his once-powerful party. Hamon is polling a distant fifth place ahead of Sunday's first-round election and has little chance of reaching the decisive May 7 runoff. He pledges a universal income, tax on robots and legal cannabis. Crowds converged for a concert and Hamon speech at Place de la Republique, which has become a symbolic rallying place for the French left. Some Socialist heavyweights are joining him at the event, though others are urging voters to choose centrist independent Emmanuel Macron instead. Hamon won the Socialist primary but the party is deeply divided, and Socialist President Francois Hollande is so unpopular that he's not seeking a second term. ___ 10:45 a.m. French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen says all the presidential contenders and all French people are potential attack targets. The candidates for France's first-round presidential election Sunday have increased security in recent days. Authorities announced Tuesday that they had arrested two Islamic radicals suspected of plotting a possible attack around the vote. While prosecutors haven't identified the potential targets, Le Pen said on BFM television that "we are all targets. All the French." Le Pen also defended her decision to force national French news network TF1 to take down the European flag during an interview Tuesday night. She said Wednesday that "I am a candidate in the election for the French republic" and said Europe is acting like France's "enemy." Spain's King Felipe VI has inaugurated a meeting of mayors and civic groups from across the world to discuss possible solutions to extremism and violence in cities. The three-day first World Forum on Urban Violence was proposed by the mayors of Madrid and Paris following the jihadi attacks in the French capital in 2015. Organizers said Wednesday that cities are the settings for many types of violence, including terrorism, gang and gender violence, and they need to find new ways to address these issues through education and dialogue. The forum brings together some 100 mayors from cities including Durban, La Paz, Montreal, Rome and Tripoli as well as international bodies and social and educational organizations. Organizers hope its conclusions Friday may help cities curb urban violence. A man suspected in one of the two Palm Sunday bombings of Coptic Christian churches in northern Egypt has turned himself in to authorities. Mahmoud Mohamed Ali Hussein is believed to have played a role in the bombing of St. George Church in the city of Tanta that killed 27 and injured 78, according to Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram. He turned himself in at a prosecutors office in the Qena governorate where most of the suspects are believed to be from. Authorities said they have arrested 13 members of a terrorist cell that was plotting attacks against more churches in the country, according to the newspaper. A second explosion which Egypts Interior Ministry says was caused by a suicide bomber who tried to storm St. Mark's Cathedral in the coastal city of Alexandria -- left at least 17 dead, and 48 injured. The attack came just after Pope Tawadros II -- leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria -- had concluded liturgical services. The cleric was unharmed. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks via its Aamaq media agency, following the group's recent video vowing to step up attacks against Christians, whom the group describes as infidels empowering the West against Muslims. The blasts came at the start of Holy Week leading up to Easter and just weeks before Pope Francis is due to visit Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country. In the wake of the attack Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi accused unnamed countries of fueling instability in the country, adding "Egyptians have foiled plots and efforts by countries and fascist, terrorist organizations that tried to control Egypt." El-Sisi also ordered the immediate deployment of troops to assist police in protecting vital facilities across the country. He also declared a three-month state of emergency. Europe's salamanders could be decimated by a flesh-eating alien species that has already wreaked havoc in some parts of the continent, scientists said in a study published Wednesday. Researchers who examined the impact of the alien invader a fungus native to Asia on fire salamanders in Belgium and the Netherlands found it to be lethal to the amphibians and almost impossible to eradicate. The study published in the journal Nature Research provides a drastic warning to North America, where the fungus hasn't yet taken hold. "Prevention of introduction is the most important control measure available against the disease," said An Martel, a scientist at the University of Ghent, Belgium, who co-authored the study. The B. salamandrivorans fungus, which likely was imported to Europe by the pet trade causes skin ulcers, effectively eating the salamander's skin and making it susceptible to secondary bacterial infections. Martel and her colleagues began studying the effect of the fungus in early 2014, four years after it was first recorded in Europe. Within six months, the population of fire salamanders at the site in Robertville, Belgium, had shrunk to a tenth of its original size. Two years later less than one percent of the distinctive yellow-and-black patterned amphibians had survived, according to the study. Sexually mature salamanders appeared to be particularly prone to becoming infected with the fungus due to their contact with other individuals, preventing them from producing new generations. Furthermore, researchers found the fungus was able to form spores with thick walls that allowed it to survive for longer and spread further, including on the feet of water birds. Other amphibian species, including newts and toads, were also susceptible, either making them carriers of the fungus or ill themselves. Finally, infected animals failed to develop an immune response that might allow some of the salamander population to survive and ultimately prevail against its new foe, which has already been detected in 12 populations in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Conservationists in the United States are already monitoring wetlands for signs of the fungus . "For highly susceptible species like fire salamanders, there are no available mitigation measures," Martel told The Associated Press. "Classical measures to control animal diseases such as vaccination and repopulation will not be successful since there is no immunity buildup in these species and eradication of the fungus from the ecosystem is unlikely." In a separate comment published by Nature, Matthew C. Fisher, an expert in fungal epidemiology at Imperial College London who wasn't involved in the study, backed the researchers' suggestion that the only way to save Europe's salamanders may be to keep a healthy population in captivity at least until a cure is found. "It is currently unclear how (the fungus) can be combated in the wild beyond establishing 'amphibian arks' to safeguard susceptible species as the infection marches relentlessly onwards," said Fisher. ___ Follow Frank Jordans on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/wirereporter next Image 1 of 3 prev next Image 2 of 3 prev Image 3 of 3 Hundreds of emotional people gathered on a train platform in Warsaw to await the arrival of Donald Tusk, president of the European Council and former Polish prime minister, who is to testify in an investigation into an alleged secret deal between Polish and Russian intelligence officials. The mood was tense as they awaited Tusk's arrival on Wednesday, with supporters holding EU flags and his detractors holding up signs accusing him of crimes. Tusk is to be questioned by prosecutors as a witness. Many see his questioning as part of a larger attempt by Poland's nationalist government to discredit him and perhaps imprison him eventually. He has been accused by the defense minister of treason in another matter, the handling of the 2010 plane crash that killed the Polish president. Turkey's foreign minister says President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. President Donald Trump will meet next month. Speaking at a news conference Wednesday, Mevlut Cavusoglu said the two leaders would meet in May ahead of a NATO summit. Cavusoglu says he and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will finalize the date according to the two presidents' schedules. Trump called Erdogan Monday to congratulate him on his victory in the referendum on expanding presidential powers in Turkey. The two also discussed developments in Syria and the U.S. response to a chemical attack in Idlib province in early April. The U.S. Air Force is dismissing a family's claim that low-flying fighter jets scared a pet pony to death in the United Kingdom, reports said. Naomi Brown, 24, said her 3-year-old daughter's pony was roaming the field in Cornwall last week when two F-15 Eagles flew by, the Daily Mail reported. "The horses were galloping around fine at 12:30 p.m., at about 3:30 p.m. the low flying planes were spotted in the area and at about 4:30 p.m. our pony was found in a very bad state," Brown told the Daily Mail. "He had twisted his gut and died before the vet could arrive." The family said the low-flying jets "spooked" the pony. Other reports claimed several horses also had to be put down after the aircrafts flew by the area at low altitude, according to the Daily Mail. The U.S. Air Force, however, said on Tuesday the jets couldn't have flown low enough to harm the animals, according to Stars and Stripes. These aircraft were flying in accordance with the rules and limitations of the UK Low Flying System and would have been no less than 500 feet above the ground, the Air Force said in a statement to Stars and Stripes. The case was referred to the U.K. Defense Ministry Office. A young man who was taking part in a protest against the Venezuelan government was killed by gunshot on Wednesday morning. Witnesses told Fox News the protester was lying on a pool of blood after he was shot in the neck and forehead. The man was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he died during surgery. He was identified by El Nacional as 17-year-old Carlos Jose Moreno Baron. "A colectivo [pro-government armed group] arrived and started shooting, the witness said. People responded with stones. A couple of motorcyclists, both wearing red, shot to the crowd and hit the boy, said the witness, who requested anonymity. Some people left [the march], but most stayed and kept walking, albeit their mood was visibly low. VENEZUELA PROTESTERS THROW EGGS, OBJECTS AT PRESIDENT DURING RALLY AS UNREST GROWS Venezuela's chief prosecutor said she is investigating the shooting incident amid conflicting reports over the cause of death. Top officials claim the boy was assaulted while walking home from a soccer game, but the director of Hospital Clinicas Caracas where the teen was taken told Fox News there was no doubt the boy came from a rally concentration in western Caracas. "He came with vital signs, but those wounds have a high mortality rate," said Dr. Amadeo Leiva. "He was in San Bernardino, in a point of concentration of the opposition and he was shot by men on motorcycles." The mother of all marches kicked off at 10 a.m. ET from 26 designated points of Caracas, with the goal of meeting up at the Ombudsman's Office to demand full respect for the opposition-controlled Parliament and an electoral timetable to replace the embattled President Nicolas Maduro. In different points of the city, protesters started off the day burning effigies of Maduro, the handpicked successor of late President Hugo Chavez whose socialist rule is blamed for the crippling economic crisis. Tomorrow begins a new stage of the struggle, which will not stop until we have elections," said the opposition leader Henrique Capriles on Tuesday. VENEZUELA'S MADURO TO PROVIDE GUNS TO 400,000 LOYALISTS AMID PEAKING TENSION Some of the demostrators hit the streets equipped with Malox (an antacid that reduces the effect of the tear gas), bicarbonate in water, gloves to return bombs and some will wear masks. We just want to assert our rights," he said. FIFTH PROTESTER KILLED AS VENEZUELA UNREST INTENSIFIES Wednesdays events are the culmination of a violent wave of protests started on April 1, triggered by the Supreme Court's decision to strip the legislature of its last remaining powers. Six people have died, dozens injured and more than 200 have been detained in the latest spark of violence. On Tuesday evening, Maduro activated Plan Zamora, a military, police and civilian operation aimed at defeating an alleged coup against him "operated by the U.S. State Department and the Venezuelan right." "Attention: Activate the green phase of Plan Zamora to defeat the coup d'etat, the escalation of violence under the military, police and civil structure of the state," the president said, addressing the Armed Forces in a meeting with the high political and military command. In addition to Plan Zamora, President Maduro is counting on the "unconditional support" of hundreds of thousands militiamen civilians loyal to the government who have been handed Russian rifles for the "defense of the country." Congressman Diosdado Cabello, a powerful Chavista leader, has warned the opposition demonstrators wont reach their destination and announced a counter rally of more than 60,000 motorcyclists that will make their way from Petare, east of the city, to downtown Caracas. Along the route, there will be a couple of exit points that will intersect with the opposition rally. "They wont enter Caracas, dont provoke us, Cabello warned. Be careful if, we may go there (to the opposition protest)." The Nashville area will be getting five more Gold's Gym locations thanks to a new agreement between the fitness franchisor and multi-unit operator Tennessee Fitness, LLC. Robert Dennis, Andrew Davis, and John Davis currently own and operate seven of the gyms in the Tennessee market. Their new locations will open throughout five counties in the Middle Tennessee region. Brothers Andrew and John Davis had their first Gold's Gym experience in their home state of Alabama. They were impressed by the brand and decided to look into franchising. Robert Dennis was working for Gold's Gym as a real estate broker and assisting the Davis brothers with identifying their first location. Robert had plans to open his own franchise and decided to partner with the brothers. "Since opening our first Gold's Gym in Murfreesboro in 2009, we have seen tremendous success and wanted to keep that momentum going," said Andrew Davis. "The fitness industry is constantly evolving, which is why we're happy to partner with Gold's Gym. As one of the most recognizable brands in the world, we have access to the some of the most accomplished experts in the industry and unparalleled franchisee support to ensure the success of our business." With 18 new locations opened in the first quarter of this year, Gold's Gym plans to continue its development and expansion in states such as New York, Texas, and California, as well as internationally in Jordan, Egypt, India, Japan, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia. Gold's Gym now has 720 locations in 38 states and 23 countries around the world. Turkish Writer Exposes Persecution of Jews in Turkey By Harut Sassounian Publisher, The California Courier www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com Israel National News published an extremely interesting article written by Turkish journalist Uzay Bulut on the discrimination and persecution that Turkish Jews have suffered since the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923. This is an important expose since the Turkish government has gone to great lengths for many decades to deceive the international community that there is great tolerance for Jews in Turkish and that Jews lived in a democratic society which protected their civil and religious rights. The aim of this Turkish propaganda campaign was two-fold: To keep Israeli leaders and American Jews happy so they would support Turkish interests in Washington and enlist the political lobbying clout of American Jews in Washington to counter congressional efforts to recognize the Armenian Genocide. The Turkish government back in 1992 commemorated with a big splash the 500th anniversary of Jews fleeing from Spain and relocating in Turkey. Ankara co-opted many of the Jewish community leaders, including the Chief Rabbi, into propagating this false historical narrative. When I wrote an editorial back then exposing the lies of that celebration, I got a letter from the head of the commemorative events, asking why I wanted to cast a negative light on their celebration. Interestingly, that Jewish leader did not contest any of the facts in my article on the persecution of Jews in the Ottoman Empire throughout the centuries. Buluts article is significant because it describes the persecution of Jews not centuries ago but during our own times in modern Turkey! The article begins with a news item from the Turkish Milliyet newspaper reporting that dozens of historic Jewish synagogues run the risk of disappearing forever. One of the main reasons why these synagogues are disappearing is that the majority of the Jewish community of Turkey has departed from Turkey fleeing from systematic discrimination and campaigns of forced Turkification and Islamization. Bulut reports that in 1923, at the beginning of the Turkish Republic, there were 81,454 Jews in Turkey. That number has dwindled to fewer than 15,000. The last of Jewish schools was shut down by the Turkish government in 1937, according to Bulut. Here is the list of the major episodes of Turkish persecution and discrimination against Jews and other non-Turkish minorities in recent decades, as compiled by Turkish journalist Bulut: -- The Turkish Law of Family adopted in 1934 forced Jews and other non-Turks to abandon their ethnic names and adopt Turkish sounding names. -- Jews were deprived of their freedom of movement at least three times: in 1923, 1925 and 1927. Bulut also mentions that during the Holocaust, Turkey opened its doors to very few Jewish and political refugees and even took measures to prevent Jewish immigration in 1937. -- Hate speech and anti-Semitic comments are very prevalent in Turkish society and the media. Activities in support of Israel by the Jewish community were banned by the Republic of Turkey. -- The Turkish government has assigned secret code numbers to individuals of Jewish, Armenian and Greek descent. That way the government can track them down and expose their background when necessary. -- Laws that excluded Jews and other non-Muslims from certain professions: The Republic of Turkey banned these minorities from holding government positions. Thousands of non-Muslims lost their jobs, according to Bulut. -- Prohibition of the use in public of all languages except Turkish. The Citizen Speak Turkish campaign in the first years of the Republic mainly targeted the Jewish community, according to Rifat Bali, the leading scholar of Turkish Jewry. -- The Jews of Eastern Thrace were targeted by pogroms from June 21-July 4, 1934. These began with a boycott of Jewish businesses, and were followed by physical attacks on Jewish-owned buildings, which were first looted, then set on fire. Jewish men were beaten, and some Jewish women reportedly raped. Terrorized by this turn of events, more than 15,000 Jews fled the region. -- The conscription of non-Muslims in the Turkish Army (1941-42). On April 22, 1941, 12,000 non-Muslims (also known as the twenty classes), including Jewish men -- even the blind and physically disabled -- were conscripted. But instead of doing active service, they were sent to work in labor battalions under terrible conditions for the construction of roads and airports. Some of them lost their lives or caught diseases. -- On Nov. 11, 1942, the Turkish government enacted the Wealth Tax Law, which divided the taxpayers in four groups, as per their religious backgrounds: Muslims, non-Muslims, converts (donme), i.e. members of a Sabbatean sect of Jewish converts to Islam, and foreign nationals. Only 4.94 percent of Turkish Muslims had to pay the Wealth Tax. The Armenians were the most heavily taxed, followed by Jews. According to the scholar Basak Ince, the underlying reason was the elimination of minorities from the economy, and the replacement of the non-Muslim bourgeoisie by its Turkish counterpart. -- During the 6-7 September 1955 government-instigated attacks against non-Muslim communities in Istanbul, Turkish mobs devastated the Greek, Armenian, and Jewish districts of the city, destroying and looting their places of worship, homes, businesses, cemeteries, and schools, among others. -- Murders of Jews: Yasef Yahya, a 39-year-old Jewish dentist was brutally murdered on August 21, 2003 in his office in the Sisli district of Istanbul, many Jewish lawyers and doctors in Istanbul removed the signs on their offices in order not to have the same fate as Yahya. This list of continued harassment and persecution of Jews and other minorities should be sent to the international media each time that the Turkish government misrepresents its record of mistreatment of the Jewish community in Turkey. It is a shame that the Israeli government does not whisper a single word of criticism in the face of such persecution of fellow Jews in Turkey. On the contrary, Israeli officials cowardly buckle under pressure from Turkey to deny the Armenian Genocide and ban this crime against humanity from Israeli TV and academic conferences. A week in August has been set aside for the trial of two men accused of killing 21-year-old Heather Ciccone in Spotsylvania County in December 2015. Joshua Christopher Williams, 29, of Spotsylvania and Jonathan Julian Vejarano, 28, of Fredericksburg, are charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and using a firearm in the commission of a felony. Vejarano is also charged with possessing a firearm as a felon. Both men were arraigned in Spotsylvania Circuit Court on Tuesday and a joint trial was set for Aug. 1418. Attorney Mark Muggerridge has been appointed to represent Williams, and attorney John Spencer was formally named Tuesday to represent Vejarano. Ciccone was shot in the back of the head late Dec. 5, 2015, in a driveway on Piney Branch Road. She was sitting in her Kia near a home where the residents were not familiar with her. The Sheriffs Office investigated for 15 months before naming Williams and Vejarano as the suspects. Other than the arrests, almost no information about what tied the two men to the crime has been released, including which man police believe fired the single shot that killed Ciccone. Nearly all of the multiple search warrants executed during the investigation remain sealed. On Tuesday, Spencer said he will make a motion to have the possession of a firearm as a felon charge not be part of the August trial. He said it would be prejudicial for a jury to know that Vejarano is a felon as they consider evidence in the murder case. Spencer said he is considering other motions as well, including seeking a change of venue and to have a separate trial from Williams. If a venue change is granted, the trial would be held somewhere other than in Spotsylvania. Rarely do I use this space to thank people for their contributions to the community, but today is the exception, because Rochelle Gardner deserves it. Though I am pulling for her to get better, Gardner is fighting stage-four cancer and I want to be 100 percent sure she receives this sincere thank you. Her name may be unfamiliar to many. The personal commitments and contributions made by this caring Stafford County mother of three were mostly anonymous. But mention the kind-hearted womans address130 Cranes Corner Roadand thousands of people will smile. Thats because from 1993 until last year, the 57-year-old Pennsylvania native has spent two months of every year decorating her yard for Easter, Halloween and Christmas. The tradition started because her late son, Matthew, was handicapped and couldnt go out to enjoy the holiday displays of others. Gardner was determined that Matthew and other children wouldnt be denied the joy of seeing holiday decorations. With help from her husband Steven Gardnera career Army soldier who was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan for many of those yearsRochelle Gardner turned her yard into a miniature Disneyland for the three holidays. Halloween and Christmas were the big ones, the former taking two to three weeks to set up, the latter taking a full month. Making many of her decorations and learning how to repair the ones she bought, the determined mother, who also has two daughters, came up with different schemes every year. Initially thought of as the yard where people could turn around after seeing the big display down the street, Gardner soon enough made her own yard the attraction that brought people to the neighborhood. Every year Id come with a new plan for each of the holidays, said Gardner, who fought breast cancer a few years back and has seen it spread to other parts of her body. For Halloween, I always had a theme like Children of the Corn or Scream Acres. And I made many of the decorations myself, using everything from costumes to five-gallon jugs and every color of duct tape I could find. Along the way, she learned how to anchor everything from an inflatable balloon to dozens of blow-ups in her yard with stakes and metal rods. She fell off the roof taking Christmas decorations down one year and shattered her foot, said Steven Gardner, shaking his head. I thought that would keep her from decorating that next year, but she was right out there. I asked Rochelle Gardner what motivated her, aside from making sure Matthewwho died in 2007and daughters Jennifer and Bonnie got to enjoy the decorations. When I was growing up in Greenville, Pa., we didnt have much, but I always loved traveling to see neat decorations at that time of year, said Gardner. I knew what that means to kids. And so shes provided that for the community each year, estimating that on the busiest night of the year, Christmas Eve, 1,000 cars come down her lane, loop through her circular driveway, and peer out the windows. We were out there most nights, and I could see the childrens faces aglow in the Christmas lights, she said. Thats why we did it, seeing them so happy. It was always my idea of Christmas. Some years, she and her husband went to a discount store and bought toys, passing them out to kids as they pulled through the display. On Christmas Eve, the family would usually dress up as Santa, Mrs. Claus and their helpers, and on special nights, they served visitors popcorn, hot chocolate and other treats. One night, we had a bus come through with a choir in it, she said. Hearing them sing as they rode through in a bus was so special. Gardner said she isnt giving up, and will fight the cancer with everything shes got. But she also realizes that she may well not be able to do the decorating for Halloween and Christmas. Steven Gardner is a 34-year Army vet, retired on disability, so he says theres a chance he may need to hire someone to decorate. We have people from all over who visit friends here at the holidays and always come through to look at Christmas, said Steven Gardner. Families from Florida or Pennsylvania come back each year, along with all the local folks. He added that one Christmas years ago, before there was a light where Cranes Corner Road meets U.S. 1, Stafford deputies were assigned to handle the backup of cars waiting to drive down and see the wonder that was 130 Cranes Corner Road. Because of everything shes done, lets offer our prayers, good wishes and most sincere hope for a recovery to this woman who for decades demonstrated the true meaning of caring by giving of herself at the holidays to create joy for others. No one deserves it more than this very special lady. A man wrongfully convicted of capital murder 16 years ago in Culpeper County Circuit Court will participate in a panel discussion, Speaking of Injustice, today at the University of Virginia School of Law. A federal judge vacated the conviction of Michael Hash in 2012, citing ineffective counsel and outrageous misconduct on the part of local law enforcement. He spent nearly a dozen years in prison for the 1996 slaying of 74-year-old Thelma Scroggins, a church organist, after a Culpeper County jury found him guilty in the shooting death in 2001. Hash maintained his innocence and filed various appeals until the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project took up the case and helped win his freedom. Author John Grisham will host todays public forum in Charlottesville at 5:30 p.m. in the law schools Caplin Pavilion. Slate Senior Editor Dahlia Lithwick will moderate the panel. The event is a fundraiser to cover the significant costs of investigating claims of innocence from Virginia convicts, according to a U.Va. Law School news release. Hash, formerly of Culpeper, was 15 at the time of the murder that occurred in Scroggins lifelong home and 19 when he was arrested. Also charged were Eric Weakley and Jason Kloby, who was acquitted at trial. The trio became known as the Culpeper Three. The U.Va. School of Lawss Innocence Project Clinic believes Weakley, who was 15 at the time of the crime, falsely confessed after prolonged interrogations by local authorities. He ultimately pleaded guilty to and was convicted of second-degree murder, and served more than six years in prison. Weakley, who has since recanted his confession, also is participating in Thursdays discussion at U.Va. as various lawyers continue to seek clemency for the local man. Three others wrongfully convicted in other casesRobert Davis, Thomas Haynesworth and Beverly Monroewill also discuss their experiences and the valuable role that innocence efforts played in winning their freedom, according to the news release. The pro bono clinic is an important component of our overall innocence efforts, allowing law students to investigate potential cases of wrongful convictions in Virginia, said U.Va. Law professor Jennifer L. Givens. It also provides students with experience in the drafting of legal pleadings and clemency documents on behalf of innocent clients. Six months after the federal judge overturned Hashs conviction, gaining national media attention, a special prosecutor, Fairfax County Commonwealths Attorney Ray Morrogh, dismissed the charges against him in August 2012 in the same Culpeper courtroom where he was found guilty years earlier. Weve interviewed upwards of 40 people and continue to seek out evidence in the case, but at this point we have insufficient evidence to try Mr. Hash or anyone on these charges, Morrogh said at the time. Hash spoke about his years in jail following that 2012 hearing at which he was exonerated for a second time. To be innocent of a crime and then to be charged, convicted and actually sitting in prison, thats a real hard pill to swallow, he said. Five years ago, Hash commented on how the world had changed since his 2001 conviction. Before I got locked up, they had Blockbuster with VHS tapes and now you dont see them anymore, he said. It takes some getting used to because life has so far gone and past its just unbelievable. Hash got married in 2015, has a job and a family happy to have him home. Jeff Hash, Michael Hashs father, said in an email that he thinks it is good that his son is participating in todays forum. He, like many other people across this country have been wrongly convicted and its going to keep happening. There are police and prosecutors who knowingly do wrong and theres others that do make mistakes which I believe get caught up in the heat of the moment, Jeff Hash said. Unfortunately what is usually printed in the newspaper about a crime is only part of the story. The real known facts are not usually disclosed until the actual court proceedings takes place and we do know that even at that point the facts [evidence] may not be totally disclosed. We the people must have laws and justice for all. Lets not be afraid to admit a mistake when we make one, were just human. Forgiveness is Gods blessing. With Charlottesville officials now directed to arrange a sale of the citys statue of Robert E. Lee, the citys top attorney is preparing to argue in court that a state law that prohibits localities from disturbing memorials to war veterans does not apply to the Lee statue. On Monday, the Charlottesville City Council voted 32 to sell the statue. The sale statue is pending the outcome of a legal challenge against the councils assertion that it can move the statue. In spite of the contested vote on selling the statue, the council unanimously agreed Monday to rename Lee Park. The council also determined that Jackson Park, home to a statue of Gen. Thomas Stonewall Jackson also will be renamed. Charlottesville is currently facing a lawsuit over its intention to remove the Lee statue and redesign the two parks, which would include adding a memorial to the enslaved population that once lived in the city. As they did in February, when the council voted on whether to remove the Lee monument, Mayor Mike Signer and Councilor Kathy Galvin on Monday voted against moving the statue. That opinion is still where I am on thisto add, rather than subtract. I entirely respect my colleagues and the passion they brought to this and the community, Signer said during Mondays council meeting before being interrupted by Councilor Kristin Szakos. With all due respect, Mr. Mayor, that decision has already been made and council has taken a position on it, she said. Last month, a coalition made up mostly of local residents and the Virginia division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans sued the city, alleging that the councils vote violates Virginia Code 15.2-1812 because the Lee and Jackson monuments are memorials to the War Between the States.The state law, adopted in 1950, authorizes localities to build and permit monuments to veterans of any war or major conflict. However, it also says that it shall be unlawful for the authorities of the locality, or any other person or persons, to disturb or interfere with any monuments or memorials so erected According to a court filing that City Attorney Craig Brown submitted to Charlottesville Circuit Court on Monday, the city is asking that the court dismiss the lawsuit against the city over the City Councils decision to remove the statue. Virginia Code 15.2-1812 was not in existence at the time the Lee statue and [Thomas Stonewall Jackson] statue were erected in Lee Park and Jackson Park, respectively, and therefore has no application to either statue or park, Browns court filing says. Last fall, in a memo that was submitted to a community panel created by the council to assess whether the Lee statue should be removed, Assistant City Attorney Lisa Robertson cited a Danville Circuit Court case revolving around a Confederate monument and the Virginia statute on war memorials. After the city of Danville passed an ordinance in 2015 that prohibited Confederate flags from being flown on city property, a group called the Heritage Preservation Association sued the city. The association alleged that the Danville City Council violated the state war memorial statute by prohibiting the group from flying the Third National Flag of the Confederacy on a flagpole over an obelisk on the lawn of the Sutherlin Mansion, a site thats known as the last capitol of the Confederacy. The Danvile Circuit Court ruled in 2015 that the monument at the mansion is not protected by the war memorial statute. The decision was appealed, but the Virginia Supreme Court in 2016 declined to review the lower courts decision. Robertson wrote in September that a local circuit court decision can provide helpful analysis, but its not binding on courts elsewhere in Virginia. Regarding Charlottesvilles Lee and Jackson monuments, Robertson said, a court would review factual information individually, with respect to each statue, and would consider circumstances of how the statues originally came to be placed in the city parks and evidence of the intentions of the parties involved in that process. The lawsuit against the city says removing the statue and redesigning the parks would violate the terms of the deed that led Charlottesville native and philanthropist Paul Goodloe McIntire to gift the land and the statues to the city. Brown dismissed those claims in his filings, saying that the only conditions in the terms for the gifts stipulate that the properties be used in perpetuity as public parks, and that no buildings be erected thereon. The complaint fails to identify any actions taken or contemplated by the defendants that would violate either condition, Brown wrote. The citys motion to dismiss the case asserts that the city is allowed to redesign and rename the two parksthe litigants suing the city claim that Charlottesville has no authority to rename and redesign the parks because Virginia restricts localities from enacting laws or taking actions that the state has not expressly permitted. The litigants are currently seeking a court injunction to prevent the city from disturbing the Lee statue before the suit is settled. Charles Weber, a spokesman for the group, said a court hearing on the motion for an injunction is scheduled for May 2. After the council meeting Monday, City Manager Maurice Jones said its unlikely that staff will be ready with a request for proposals to purchase the Lee statue before then. Happy anniversary, Superintendent Benson Dr. W. Bruce Benson began his job as Stafford County Public Schools superintendent on April 1, 2014, and presented the schools funding request that evening. With the same poise and steadfast confidence he displayed that day, Benson has led SCPS on an upward trajectory for the last three years. Committed to real engagement, Benson meets monthly with teacher and parent advisory groups. Each year, Benson visits all 31 schools at least once, co-teaches classes and engages with individual students. Data-driven decision-making is Bensons mantra. Every fall, a detailed class-size report is prepared. Comprehensive and quantitative staffing standards provide a plan to reduce class size. Only SCPS engages in annual, in-depth employee climate surveying. Compensation models in key areas are being re-assessed and re-formulated. Efficiency and shared services studies were conducted and are being implemented. Of course, there have been challenges. Benson was forthcoming about the discovery of unanticipated savings, two years ago, and an outside audit was conducted. The budget process is now focused on use of actual expenditures, not estimates. A new financial management system is in place. Addressing operational challenges has consumed these years, but a new focus is coming into playrestructuring of the instructional delivery model. From a strategic plan, to the formation of the divisions C5W program, to increased professional development, Stafford County is poised to offer every student a learning experience that will prepare them for their future. Dr. Benson has brought new ideas, processes and analysis to the division. This is a welcomed leadership approach in SCPS. Both the School Board and the Board of Supervisors have praised the superintendents efforts, and he has also earned our trust. We look forward to his leadership in the years ahead. Holly H. Hazard, chairman C. Scott Hirons, vice chairman Nanette Kidby, immediate past chairman Irene Egan, immediate past vice chair Stafford County School Board The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago the next best time is now, or so the proverb goes. For farmers with marginal land and one eye on the future, now might be the time to examine the business case for tree planting. While bureaucracy is being blamed for stunting tree progress in some parts of the UK, the political will and financial incentives to increase new plantings across is strengthening. See also: 9 reasons to plant trees on your land Woodland and forestry is catching the eye of landowners at a variety of scales, particularly as businesses are exploring alternative income streams. Scottish incentives Example cashflow for new planting of 100ha of conifers in target area, deer and rabbit fenced. This shows what the planting in Scotland would return to the landowner. The income is purely funded by grants, no capital input required. Year Income Expenditure Cashflow Cumulative 1 299,000 (223,000) 76,000 76,000 2 24,480 (27,000) (2,520) 73,480 3 24,480 (18,100) 6,380 79,860 4 24,480 (21,750) 2,730 82,590 5 24,480 (14,300) 10,180 92,770 Scotland is leading the way in incentivising landowners to plant trees. The Scottish government recently announced a planting target increase from 10,000ha a year to 15,000ha a year by 2025 equating to an additional 11m trees taking root annually. In line with the announcement, grant funding to stimulate action has been strengthened, topped up with region-specific incentives. Andrew Kennedy, business development manager at Scottish Woodlands, says landowners in the hotspot areas of central-southern Scotland could receive significant funding. Landowners in the Central Scotland Green Network can tap in to an extra 2,500/ha (up to 40ha) on top of any other forestry grant scheme, he said. That could take the amount you receive to between 6,000 and 9,000/ha and you can continue to collect your BPS payment once the woodland is planted. See also: What the new Countryside Stewardship Scheme can offer farms Further north, some marginal hill farm units have made that decision. This month a farmer has asked me to start the process to get consent for a 300ha parcel. We are in talks with another over 260ha and we have just been involved in a 364ha parcel. A report last year by the Scottish Agricultural College compared the financial returns from 20,000ha of established forests and sheep farming before subsidy. It found that forestry was three times more profitable. Mr Kennedy said: Farmers are looking at the economics of hill farming versus forestry and are seeing that they can plant large areas with zero inputs to create a long-term, tax-free capital growth sheltered by inheritance tax relief with a sought-after asset. A different approach in England/Wales While land values make the commercial case for large-scale plantings in England more difficult, the incentives available for planting are comparable to Scotland. The Conservative government has committed to planting 11m trees during its five-year term in power and recently announced a 19m Woodland Carbon Fund to stimulate commercial plantings. The application window for tree-planting grants under Countryside Stewardship is closed, but has been offering farmers with areas exceeding three hectares 1.28/tree plus a premium if the trees are planted in a shelter belt. John Clegg from woodland and forestry firm John Clegg & Co said a generational change in agriculture was encouraging some farmers to look at new ideas. The typical example is an upland farm where there may be no succession or somebody is looking at the future wanting to expand and diversify. Assuming youre in the right areas close to a mill with good access and no land use restrictions that land could well go in to forestry. Mr Clegg said the plantable land doesnt need to be huge to be commercial. If youve got a good site you can run a commercial thing on something quite small. With 4ha of quality conifers you can be very commercial. Generally youre looking to go a bit larger because of all the machinery you need, so you get economies of scale. Long-term forecasts for demand for timber and wood products is good. The UK has huge housebuilding targets to achieve which will increase the demand for home-grown timber. Standing prices of hardwood for firewood range from 30/t to 40/t double what it was 10 years ago, driven largely by the wood-burning stove market. Biomass boilers are also a big driving force after subsidies became available under the renewable heat incentive. I think the overall projection is that there is not enough timber to meet the demands of new production and also the biomass scheme is taking some of it out of the market, says Savills director Marc Liebrecht. Its all good market forces coming in to play and keeps the market buoyant. He added that where plantings in England and Wales are mainly small-scale, it is for biodiversity reasons or to create sporting potential. Flood mitigation is also a key driver there are flood mitigation maps. There are some people doing big planting schemes but its not the norm. There are a lot of upland farms and a big demand for timber in Wales because of its infrastructure is but a lot of whether hill farmers consider forestry seriously will depend on where subsidies go. Richard Liddiard, rural partner said planting on marginal land can have numerous benefits. Once established, the woodland can provide a useful belt of shelter to protect livestock. Equally, the trees can help to reduce soil run-off, effectively mitigating against erosion. Economically speaking, the prospect of home-grown wood fuel is always welcome. However, landowners should investigate other profit options. If the wood can be sold as solid fuel or, if a processing and drying facility can be established, as woodchip, an additional income flow can be carved out. Barriers to progression There are, undoubtedly, issues with the bureaucratic nature of the application process in England and Wales. Forestry experts say that this is the principle reason why only 700ha were planted in England and 100ha in Wales last year. Stuart Goodhall, chief executive of forestry body Confor, said the industry is hugely frustrated by the slow progress. We think 11m trees is pretty modest. Its only 1,000ha of planting a year. There is funding within countryside stewardship for up to 2,500ha every year. Theres funding and ambition, but its not happening in practice. He added farmers are turned off by the cumbersome process of applying to Natural England and the Forestry Commission for the grants. The application process for a big scheme over 100ha could take two years or more, he said. See also: Free online learning Academy How to plant trees on your farm What grants are available? England The two primary sources of grant funding for planting are through Countryside Stewardship (CS) and the Woodland Carbon Fund. New planting grants under CS are for areas exceeding three hectares. These are eligible for 1.28/tree plus 1.60/tree if they are part of a shelter. An annual maintenance payment of 200/ha is paid for 10 years from planting. Additional funds are also paid for fencing and gates. Applications must go through Natural England. The application window is closed but is expected to re-open in February 2018. Alternatively, the Woodland Carbon Fund is targeted at commercial forestry and pays a similar amount per tree for plantings greater than 30ha with a minimum block size of 10ha. There is no maintenance payment and the application window is fully open now, operated by the Forestry Commission. Scotland Grant support applications fall in to one of nine woodland creation options and are fully open now through Scotlands Forestry Grant Scheme. There is an initial planting payment and an annual maintenance payment for five years. There are also a range of capital grants available for operations such as fencing and tree protection. Planting conifers in a non-target area attracts a grant of nearly 3,000/ha which increases to 3,300/ha in target areas identified by the Scottish government. Land owners in Central Scotland, Ayrshire and parts of Fife could be eligible for an additional initial payment of 2,500/ha on top of selected new woodland planting options. Wales Funding comes from the Glastir Woodland Creation scheme which will close at midnight on 1 May 2017. The next window is expected to open in 2018. Payments range from 3,000 to 4,500/ha depending on the species and category of woodland being created. An annual maintenance payment of 60/ha is available for 12 years, and fencing grant rates are 3.48/metre. You can bet online at TwinSpires.com from California but will need to provide your social security number in order to do so. Online racebooks licensed outside the state also accept customers from California without the need to provide a social security number. Sites like Americas Bookie (established 2006) offer generous welcome bonuses and lightning fast payouts (max bonus $2000) . California has the largest population in the United States and six main race tracks. These include: Del Mar, Santa Anita, Fairplex in Pomona, Fresno Race Track, Los Alamitos, and Golden Gate Fields in Albany. Four of these are centered around LA while another is near San Francisco and the other remaining track outside San Diego. This leaves plenty of the California population with little other choice but to bet the races online and the great news is you can bet on races at over 50 US tracks. Americas Bookie vs. TwinSpires AMERICAS BOOKIE TWINSPIRES.COM 10 Percent Cash Back on Monthly Net Losses No Cash Back $2000 Signup Bonus $100 Signup Bonus Does Not Require Social Security # Must Provide Social Security # Does Not Report Wiinings Reports Tax Info to Government Offers Betting on Hundreds More Events Limited to Horse Betting Betting on Over 50 Race Tracks Betting on Over 50 Race Tracks Online Casino Does Not Require Downloading - Also Live Dealer No Online Casino On The Water: You might need a bigger boat for Transpac 2023 Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021. An opportunity for foodies and beer lovers to get lost in a world of food and drink from a hand-selected range of food trucks and breweries from around New Zealand. Article Protecting the worlds oceans an important goal of Germanys climate diplomacy The worlds oceans are vital to our survival. They regulate the global climate and are a source of food and income for billions of people. Only a very small part of the seas enjoys legal protection, however. Our diplomats are working in New York right now to change this state of affairs. A new app by Matrix Cellular for travellers News oi -Priyanka The company is aiming at getting 1 million subscribers on its app by the end of 2017. With an aim to provide multiple services by using a single app, international Sim card provider, Matrix Cellular has launched new travel app on Wednesday. The new 'Matrix Travel Companion App' is a one- stop source which covers brands like international shopping discounts and shopping VAT reclaims, ticket, hotel and apartment booking, ticket booking for attractions, restaurant reservations, ride bookings, travel insurance, prepaid cards and reloading forex on prepaid cards among other. Gagan Dugal, Founder & Director, Matrix Cellular said, "there are 20 million outbound travelers from India of which 8 million are Business Travellers and close to 1.5 million travel to Europe. We realized that clients weren't aware of solutions that can add value to their travel so we came up with an app which offers convenience and gives access to best deals to travelers without having them to use multiple apps. Matrix Travel Companion APP is another contemporary product embedded with the host of services to make users stay memorable while traveling abroad." Talking about the App, Gul Panag, Independent Director, Matrix Cellular, said, "I am excited to be part of this new venture by Matrix. While traveling abroad it becomes important to know about the destination and what it must offer. Matrix Travel Companion APP is an excellent choice for people who want to explore the place and be economical at the same time. The app's interface is very simple and intuitive and brings all relevant information for users at one place." Jio submits 'Dhan Dhana Dhan' offer with telecom regulator: Reports Meanwhile, the company is aiming at getting 1 million subscribers on its app by the end of 2017. The App is also offering the convenience to book a SIM card, get foreign currency and foreign Currency debit card (which one can even reload while traveling). Here are the features of the app: Shopping The App is offering discounts over 850 best lifestyle stores in the world included 10 percent - 35 percent on luxury & semi-luxury brands. Attractions Travelers can book over 150000 attractions including Eiffel Tower, London Zoo, Grand Canyon, Madame Tussauds, Louvre Museum, amusement park tickets like Disneyland, Legoland, Thorpe Park and much more. Hotels & Restaurants The app provides access to over 500,000 hotels and apartments and 10000 restaurants to book from and in a case of restaurants in Singapore & Bangkok, enjoy 10 percent - 50 percent discounts. Shopping Vat Refunds This also allows additional savings via Shopping VAT refunds in select countries like UK, Germany, Spain, France & Italy. Users can save up to 19 percent when they shop in Europe and claim VAT refund within a week. Best Mobiles in India Feeling lucky Just like Google, this Earth application also has one. When you click, it will take you to some random location from opera houses in Italy to hot springs in Japan, before showing you a "knowledge card" of interesting facts. While you are at the location, you can check out the places in 3D on your web browser or mobile. Aircraft in flight In here, we can also try to capture the image of the plane flying mid-air as well. Google made it more interesting by the fact that every time it updates the satellite image of the planes in different places. SEE ALSO: Get these amazing Backgrounds for your mobile and desktop Take a tour One of the most useful ways to use Google Earth is to take a tour around the world. With audio tour guides and fly-through routes, you can experience the seven wonders of the world all from your chair at home. Beyond Earth Once you are done with earth, you can also opt for universe simulation programs like Space Engine, where it lets you fly freely around the night sky to trace constellations, learn about exoplanets, and much more. Flight simulation If you are bored, you can take up the flight simulator, scan the world and cruise down the coast. You'll get your pick of an SR22 hobbyist plane, or if you're feeling fancy the F22 is available for pilots too. Microsoft Windows 10 update will bring effective battery saving feature for PCs News oi -Samden Sherpa Microsoft's new Power Throttling feature should help many users see a nice boost in battery life. The major problem with portable devices is the battery life. While many companies are working on improving the battery life of their products, it looks like Microsoft is also taking another angle to solving this biggest pain point. In the company's recent blog, Microsoft discusses how battery life is drained due to multiple apps running in the background. Further, the tech giant has announced that it is coming up with a solution that will effectively help users save battery while using their laptops. Thus, according to the company in the upcoming Windows 10 Insider Preview build, Microsoft will be introducing a new Power Throttling feature that will save overall battery usage in laptops. Microsoft may launch Google Chromebook rival on May 2 Microsoft has said, that in the latest Insider Preview build (Build 16176), the company has leveraged modern silicon capabilities to run background work in a power-efficient manner, thereby enhancing battery life significantly while still giving users access to powerful multitasking capabilities of Windows. "With "Power Throttling", when background work is running, Windows places the CPU in its most energy efficient operating modes - work gets done, but the minimal possible battery is spent on that work," the company explains on its blog. The Power Throttling feature that will probably be rolled out with Microsoft Windows 10 Preview Build 16176 will provide up to 11 percent savings in CPU power consumption even in most "strenuous use cases." However, it looks like the Power Throttling feature will currently be made available only for processors with Intel's Speed Shift technology, available in Intel's 6th-gen (and beyond) Core processors. On the other hand, the company has stated that it is working on expanding support to other processors as well over the next few months. Microsoft may come up with Surface Cloud How does it work? Microsoft says that the company has built a sophisticated detection system into Windows. "The OS identifies work that is important to you (apps in the foreground, apps playing music, as well as other categories of important work we infer from the demands of running apps and the apps the user interacts with)," Further, Mircosoft says that if users face any issue with the feature then they can do three things. Firstly users can provide feedback. Basically, they will have to run the Feedback Hub and file feedback under the Power and Battery >Throttled Applications category. Secondly, users can manually control system-wide throttling by using the power slider. This can be found by clicking the battery icon on the taskbar. Microsoft Windows 10 Creators Update is free: Here's how to download the update Lastly, users can also manually opt-out specific apps from power-throttling by going to Battery Settings in Settings > System > Battery > Battery Usage by App. Users will have to select the app they want to switch off power throttling and after selecting the app they can toggle Manage by Windows to off. Users will then need to uncheck the "Reduce work app does when in background" checkbox. Alternatively, Microsoft says that the title Power Throttling is just the testing name. It could change with the next official release of Windows. Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications 6.3 millions of Xiaomi phones sold this March: Report News oi -Shilpa This made them set high target for this year. We all know how Xiaomi phones are doing nowadays. Especially by providing high-end specs at an affordable price, it has seen a big rise in its sale. Do you want to know the number of units got sold this march? Its 6.3 million according to one well-known analyst and industry insider @Kevin Wang diary. He confirmed this number on Weibo. It is a great time for this Chinese company to celebrate this success. They are not stopping here now. They have set a high aim this year and plans to sell 70 million by the end of 2017! Xiaomi to announce new products with Mi 6 They are thinking of improving their business by setting this high hopes as well as restructuring few operations. For now, no much information is available regarding this plan. As a support to Wang's statement, the Xiaomi Chief Executive Officer Lei Jun have recently commented the similar thing. Lei Jun confirmed that the company is now trying to focus on three key points to improve its core business this year. They are quality, innovation, and delivery. According to them by providing breakthrough technologies to the users in their smartphone, they can improve their quality and sale structure. Xiaomi Mi Max 2 leak reveals new design Even the company's top executive gave some hint regarding this. He mentioned that the company has made up its mind to change the business strategy which is said to be the reason for their growth recently. If we see the way by which they grew, we can expect them to reach 70 million targets with no disturbance. Even last year, the firm sold approximately 41.5 million units which is not a bad figure. Let us wait and see how Xiaomi changes its operations and how it helps it in reaching the high target set by them. Source Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Samsung Galaxy S8, S8+ launched in India at Rs. 57,900, Rs. 64,900 with Bluetooth 5 and more News oi -Abhinaya Prabhu Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus have been launched in India at premium price tags. The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ have been launched in India at the ongoing event in New Delhi. These smartphones are priced at Rs. 57,900 and Rs. 64,900. The smartphones will make their way into to the retail market (online and offline) from May 5, 2017 while they will be listed for pre-order today itself. These smartphones will be available from Flipkart and Samsung Shop. Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S8 and S8+ at the Unpacked event on March 29. Despite the Note 7 fiasco, Samsung still owns its reputation among its users. We say this as the Galaxy S8 and S8+ pre-orders were a massive success in the South Korea exceeding that of the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge in 2016. The Galaxy S8 and S8+ have several highlights. These are the first smartphones to have the Bluetooth 5 connectivity standard, facial recognition feature, and the Bixby digital assistant. As it was known earlier, Samsung has launched the Exynos 8895 variant of the Galaxy S8 and S8+ in India instead of the Snapdragon 835 variant. Hybrid dual SIM support Samsung has released the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus with dual SIM in the country. These variants will support a hybrid SIM slot. Usually, Samsung smartphones will not have dual SIM support but just a SIM card slot and a micro SD card slot for expandable storage. This is a welcome feature for those who seek more flexibility in using their smartphone. First smartphone with Bluetooth 5 Bluetooth 5 wireless standard has many serious improvements to its functionality. Bluetooth 5 has several implications for the future IoT devices and connected home. Bluetooth lets you connect the phone to your wearables, speakers, headphones, cars, and more. Apparently, it can be said that Bluetooth 5 on Galaxy S8 and S8+ will make these smartphones future-ready as connected devices are a thing of the future. Infinity Display The Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus feature something called Infinity Display. The Galaxy S8 has a 5.8-inch screen whereas the S8 Plus has a 6.2-inch screen. Despite the huge screen size, these smartphones look and feel like any other normal-sized phone. The reason is the Infinity Display. These smartphones hardly have bezel around the display. The display is bright and clean and mirror-like. These screens are a QHD 2960 x 1440 pixel Super AMOLED panels. Facial recognition Authentication through facial recognition is nothing new in smartphones. But, this is the first time that Samsung has attempted to use this technology. The addition of facial recognition in the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus is an added layer of security. Specifications The Exynos 8895 SoC is paired with 64GB storage and 4GB RAM. Running on Android 7.0 Nougat, these Samsung flagship smartphones feature a 12MP Dual Pixel rear snapper with LED flash and an 8MP selfie camera with 80-degree wide-angle lens. The smartphones have IP68 rating making them dust and water resistant. There is a 3000mAh battery in the S8 while the bigger S8+ has a 3500mAh battery to keep the lights powered. These batteries support wireless charging and fast charging as well. Other features The Galaxy S8 and S8+ have 4G VoLTE, NFC, MST, Bluetooth 5.0 LE, an iris scanner, a fingerprint scanner, and Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection on top of the display. Best Mobiles in India COAI wants Govt to address financial crisis in telecom industry News oi -Priyanka The sector is in under pressure due to increasing pressure after the entry Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio and a debt of about Rs. 4.6 lakh crore. Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has said that the Government should address "utmost urgency" the financial crisis in the telecom industry, PTI reported. "We are glad that RBI has taken note of our contention that the industry is in financial stress. We had warned continuously that companies are hard pressed to make payments to the government and the banks," said COAI Director General Rajan Mathews The reports say that his comments come after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) asked banks to make higher provisioning for the telecom sector starting from the current quarter as the sector is in under stress due to a financial crisis. The sector is in under pressure due to increasing pressure after the entry Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio and a debt of about Rs. 4.6 lakh crore. Jio's new offer will have cascading impact on Government revenue, says Rajan Mathews of COAI Rajan in a recent interview to GizBot also mentioned that the new offer by the Jio will continue to eat the revenue stream and is going to have a cascading impact on Government revenue, payments to banks as well as equipment manufacturers and service providers to the industry. To recall, former Telecom Secretary JS Deepak has written a letter to Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI) of India asking it to restrict the period of 'promotional offers' by telecom players, as the government loses Rs. 800 crore revenue. The central bank's notification said the bank boards should review the telecom sector loan by June 30, "and consider making provisions for standard assets in this sector at higher rates so that necessary resilience is built in the balance sheets should the stress reflect on the quality of exposure to the sector at a future date." "There appears to be an urgent need to revisit and review its tariff orders in the larger interest of the government revenues as well as the telecom sector," Deepak has written in his letter on February 23 to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman RS Sharma.' The letter also explains how the government revenues from just the license fee have fallen from Rs. 3,975 crore in the June quarter to Rs. 3186 crore in the December quarter of the current financial year. "Besides, banks should also subject the exposure to the sector to close monitoring," the RBI notification said. While reviewing the sector, the banks should review quantitative and qualitative aspects like debt-equity ratio, interest coverage ratio, profit margins, ratings upgrade to downgrade ratio, sectoral non-performing assets/stressed assets, industry performance and outlook, legal/ regulatory issues faced by the sector, etc. Besides, sector specific parameters should also be taken into consideration, the notification said. Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Jio submits 'Dhan Dhana Dhan' offer with telecom regulator: Reports News oi -Priyanka The plan was filed last (Monday) evening. Jio had until the end of the week to file it Within seven days of announcing its new plan, 'Dhan Dhana Dhan' Reliance Jio has finally submitted its plan with Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). "The plan was filed last (Monday) evening. Jio had until the end of the week to file it," ET reported. The report said that Jio did not respond to the email regarding filing the plan, however TRAI Chairman, RS Sharma said, that "Telcos can make plans and file within seven days, so several hundred plans come to us, but I won't comment on any individual plan. Whenever telecom companies file a plan, we examine it and decide on it - it's the normal procedure, so I can't comment on a plan or its nuances." COAI wants Govt to address financial crisis in telecom industry To recall Reliance Jio has started its 4G services on September 5, 2016, with Jio Welcome offer which gave unlimited data, voice and video calls and messaging access for the first three months. After that, the Welcome Offer was replaced by the Happy New Year offer and gave same offers including free voice calls, video calling, messaging and data. The free services offered by the company were supposed to end on April 1, 2017. But on March 31, 2017, the telco announced the new " Summer Surprise" offer for its JIO PRIME members in which the company offers three months free services to its Prime Members if they make their first paid recharge prior to April 15 using Jio's Rs. 303 plan (or any higher value plan). The paid tariff plan will be applied only in July after the expiry of the complimentary service. The company has also extended its Prime membership services until April 15. But TRAI has advised, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio to withdraw its new "Summer Surprise" offer. However, the company officially announced the withdrawal of the offer. Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Overall, dont let the bhoot mislead you, nothing bhootiya about this story. Had the makers tried to push the envelope, the idea could have been outstanding for a bhootiya comedy. Inherent Resolve Strikes Target ISIS in Syria, Iraq From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release SOUTHWEST ASIA, April 19, 2017 U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, conducting 33 strikes consisting of 124 engagements, 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 yesterday's strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports. Strikes in Syria In Syria, coalition military forces conducted 21 strikes consisting of 28 engagements against ISIS targets: -- Near Abu Kamal, five strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed three ISIS oil equipment materials, an ISIS vehicle and an ISIS wellhead. -- Near Dayr Az Zawr, five strikes destroyed five ISIS barges and five ISIS wellheads. -- Near Raqqa, eight strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units; destroyed three vehicle-borne bombs, two fighting positions, two command-and-control nodes, an ISIS bridge, an anti-air artillery system and a weapons cache; and suppressed a mortar team and an ISIS tactical unit. -- Near Tabqah, three strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units, destroyed two fighting positions and suppressed an ISIS tactical unit. Strikes in Iraq In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted 12 strikes consisting of 96 engagements against ISIS targets: -- Near Mosul, eight strikes engaged six ISIS tactical units; destroyed 11 fighting positions, six rocket-propelled grenade systems, five anti-air artillery systems, four medium machine guns, four vehicle-borne bombs, a weapons cache, a front-end loader, an ISIS vehicle and a command-and-control node; and suppressed four fighting positions, four ISIS supply routes and four ISIS tactical units. -- Near Qaim, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a dump truck. -- Near Rawah, a strike destroyed an anti-air artillery system. -- Near Rutbah, a strike destroyed an ISIS bunker. -- Near Tal Afar, a strike destroyed a weapons cache. 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 Redlegs train on new M777 Howitzer By Spc. Brianne Kim April 19, 2017 JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. -- The breach opens, a pair of cannon crewmen load one 155 millimeter caliber artillery round into the chamber of the 35 foot weapon. The smell of gunpowder lingers in the air as the team prepares for the inevitable blast that will shake the nearly five ton M777 Howitzer backwards and forwards. The gun chief screams ready, the lanyard is tightened and with a quick movement, the 95 pound round is shot nearly four miles over the Joint Base Lewis-McChord impact area and with a thunderous boom the round makes impact and dirt and dust fly up into the sky. It's just another day of doing what the Redlegs from 2nd Battalion, 146th Field Artillery Regiment do. For many though this is the first time they have fired the M777. Part of the on-going Stryker transformation called for the unit to trade their M109 tracked howitzers for the more versatile towed behind M777. "It's been a little bit easier [transition] than we thought it would be," said Lt. Col. Jack Mushallo, battalion commander, 2nd Battalion, 146th Field Artillery Regiment. "The M777 has a lot of the same systems as the M109 with the biggest difference being that the new howitzers require more manual operations than the old M109." The M109 Howitzer is much like a tank - soldiers sit inside and simply stop if they need to deploy any rounds. The M777 must be towed and is completely inoperable until it is assembled. "The biggest change is probably that everyone's involved, it's a young man's game because it's physical," Mushallo said. "Before the [M109 Howitzer] they did it all aside from lifting the rounds in, you didn't have to traverse any wheels or dig spades in and it wasn't as physical. This is a lot more physically demanding than the [M109]." Even with the increase in manual labor, soldiers of the 146th are still excited about the new equipment, learning how to operate it and getting to work as a full team to operate the M777. "It's something new, it's something exciting," exclaimed Sgt. Gerardo Najera. "This is my first time actually firing one of these and being a chief on it so it's exciting." The gun chief is responsible for overseeing his crew's operation of their howitzer. "I have to make sure everything is on point. If anything gets messed up it's on me so I pretty much have to verify my whole gun section," Najera explained. "I verify that we use the right fuse, right ammunition and right powder. I verify that we're laid right, I verify anything pretty much that has to do with the fire mission; I verify everything." A gun crew consists of seven to 10 soldiers who must work together cohesively to properly operate the new M777. The amount of communication required when operating the new weapons is vitally important, leading to better teamwork and stronger bonds throughout the 146th. "Now every single soldier that's on this crew has a job, and it takes all of them working together to operate the howitzer effectively," said Mushallo. "It's like a symphony, the conductor needs to know what everyone is doing and everyone is working together as one team, one unit." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN investigators unearth 17 mass graves in Congo Iran Press TV Wed Apr 19, 2017 12:41PM The United Nations says its investigators have discovered 17 mass graves in the central Democratic Republic of the Congo, increasing the number to 40 documented in an area that witnessed clashes between the army and a local militia. The UN said in a statement issued on Wednesday that the graves were reportedly dug by Congolese army after fighting with Kamuina Nsapu militia in Kasai Central province in late March. "At least 74 people, including 30 children, were reported to have been killed by soldiers as a result of these clashes," the statement added. The government has not commented on the report, but it has previously rejected the notion that soldiers have used disproportionate force against militia fighters and claimed the militia had dug the sites. The Kamuina Nsapu uprising has become the most serious threat to President Joseph Kabila, whose refusal to step down following a defeat in the latest polls stoked chaos in the vast central African country. Kabila's presidential term expired on December 19, 2016, but ruling officials have effectively prolonged his mandate until 2018, claiming that the government would not be able to arrange elections before then. The government of Kabila reportedly reached an agreement with opposition parties to end the political crisis in the country over his decision to stay in power. Under the accord struck on December 30, 2016, by political parties in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kabila will leave office following elections due to be held by the end of 2017. The fighting between Congolese troops and militia has escalated after government forces killed their chief tribal leader, Kamuina Nsapu, in late August 2016. More than 400 people have been killed since then. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Trump's 'armada' was not headed to Korean Peninsula despite White House claims Iran Press TV Wed Apr 19, 2017 7:40AM A US military strike group that American officials said had been dispatched to the Korean Peninsula in a "show of force" against North Korea was in fact heading in the opposite direction at the time, highlighting the dysfunction that has come to symbolize the administration of US President Donald Trump. No less a top official than President Trump himself had been saying over the past weeks that the strike group was deployed to the Korean Peninsula amid rising tensions with North Korea. "We are sending an armada, very powerful," tweeted Trump, attempting to look strong in the face of increased military nuclear activities by North Korea. The pronouncements about the dispatching of the vessels comprising the large Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and several support vehicles along with North Korean counter-threats worked to significantly ratchet up tensions. Several regional countries, including North Korean ally China and adversary Japan, called for restraint. China even made an unprecedented offer to protect North Korea in the future if Pyongyang agreed to give up its military nuclear program, which had initially provided the pretext for hyped-up US rhetoric. China also suspended flights to Pyongyang. To all of these countries and to observers the world over, war looked increasingly likely. Except that it wasn't. On Monday, the US Navy raised eyebrows when it posted a photo of the Carl Vinson on its website with a caption that said the strike group was heading south through Sunda Strait near Indonesia to later take part in a joint drill with the Australian Navy in the Indian Ocean. That would be more than 5,600 kilometers southwest of the Korean Peninsula, where US officials claimed the vessels had been dispatched to. White House officials were subsequently contacted by the media for an explanation, but they declined to comment, referring all inquiries to the Defense Department, where, it came to light, officials had apparently been going ahead with a previously-scheduled mission for the strike group that would take it in the opposite direction. A timely show of force that wasn't The strike group, then in Singapore, had in fact been deployed toward the south for the scheduled drill with Australia rather than to the north, in the Western Pacific, where the Korean Peninsula is located. Sailing toward the Indian Ocean meant that the strike group would be unavailable in the Korean Peninsula for another two weeks even as White House officials were saying that it had already headed for the peninsula. But Pentagon officials, apparently not given actual instructions to have the strike group sail to the peninsula ahead of schedule, did not reveal the current timetable, leaving everyone to think that the strike group was in fact heading to the Korean Peninsula as White House officials said it was. Apart from President Trump, an array of other senior officials, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster and others, had been busy touting what they thought was a dispatch to the Korean Peninsula as a well-timed, strong signal to North Korea. A lack of coordination also reportedly meant that the actual mission schedule of the strike group would remain unchanged for the time being. And, by the time the US president posted the "armada" tweet, and as tensions skyrocketed, the Pentagon officials established that revealing the actual timeline could complicate things, continuing to keep the schedule to themselves. But the unwitting posting of the photo by the US Navy finally brought the timetable to light. And as the story has now unfolded, the US administration has taken corrective steps, ordering the strike group to head north toward the Korean Peninsula. The embarrassment is likely to persist, however. Such confusion caused by a lack of coordinated policy has not been a new feature of the young Trump administration. It began before he took office, with a messy transition that continues to take its toll on governance. Infighting, firings, a failure to fill key cabinet positions, policy reversals, and a disregard for protocol have also all been constant features of the White House since Trump took over as president in January. But the latest debacle involving the strike group, which came after all the ostensibly tough posturing against North Korea, may be the first to have taken ironic proportions. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US stealth fighters intercept Russian bombers near Alaska Iran Press TV Tue Apr 18, 2017 10:33PM The US military has intercepted a pair of Russian bombers flying off the coast of Alaska, a Pentagon official says amid escalating tension between Moscow and Washington over a recent US strike on Syria. Pentagon spokesman Commander Gary Ross made the announcement on Tuesday, saying that two US Air Force F-22 Raptor aircraft had intercepted the Russian TU-95 Bear bombers within 160 kilometers of Alaska's Kodiak Island a day earlier. The American stealth fighters escorted the Russian long-range bombers for 12 minutes before they reversed course and headed back to their base in eastern Russia, according to the official. Ross said the intercept was "safe and professional," and there was no violation of US airspace and any international norms. The Pentagon spokesman noted that Russia's TU-95s are capable of carrying nuclear weapons, but there was no indication that the planes were armed. The provocative move comes at a time when the US and Russia are at odds over a six-year conflict in Syria and Russia's engagement in fight against the Daesh terrorist group (ISIL) in the Arab country. In a recent development on April 7, US President Donald Trump ordered two US Navy destroyers to fire Tomahawk cruise missiles from the Mediterranean Sea at Syria's al-Shayrat airfield, in retaliation for a deadly chemical incident in Khan Shaykhun, which American authorities have blamed on the Syrian air force without providing any evidence. Damascus and Moscow argue that the incident was a result of an air strike hitting a chemical depot belonging to militants fighting the Syrian government. At least 87 people were killed in the town on that day. This is while the Syrian government turned over its entire chemical stockpile under a deal negotiated by Russia and the US back in 2013. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address At Least 13 Daesh Leaders Killed in US MOAB Attack in Afghanistan Sputnik News 18:05 19.04.2017 At least 13 key leaders of the Daesh terrorist group were killed in last week's US airstrike in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, involving the GBU-43 bomb, media reported Wednesday citing sources in the Ministry of Defense. MOSCOW (Sputnik) A US aircraft dropped a 21,600-pound GBU-43 Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB) last Thursday on a Daesh cave and tunnels, killing at least 90 militants. The Khaama news agency reported that the Daesh leaders were identified as Mumtaz, Afsar and Aftab from Pakistan, former Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Shahidullah Shahid, Mohammad and Alogita from India. Tajik militants identified as Sediqi, Noorak, Hamid, and Haji Saeed, residents of Afghanistan were also killed in the airstrike. Afghanistan is in a state of political and social turmoil, with government forces fighting the continuing Taliban insurgency. The instability has persisted in the country since the 2001 US-led invasion to defeat the Taliban and al-Qaeda in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in the United States. The lack of control and instability turned the country into home to the largest opium poppy production and distribution network in the world. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address As Venezuela Girds for Massive Demonstrations, Maduro Accuses US of Plot By Alvaro Algarra April 19, 2017 With Venezuela's capital girding for massive demonstrations Wednesday, President Nicolas Maduro is accusing the United States of trying to overthrow his leftist government. In an address from the national palace in Caracas Tuesday evening, Maduro complained of "a State Department push" to "provoke an imperialist intervention" in the South American country, with pro- and anti-government demonstrations as a backdrop. Venezuela's center-right opposition is organizing "the mother of all marches" to protest Maduro's administration, and the Venezuelan leader is rallying his supporters to turn out for a counter-march. Over the last several days, he has ordered military troops to fan out across the country and announced plans to vastly expand the country's civilian militia to half a million members from its current 100,000. The U.S. State Department on Tuesday issued a statement warning that the "international community" would join in any response to the "criminal repression of peaceful democratic activity..." The statement, put out by spokesman Mark C. Toner, urged nonviolent demonstrations. "We deplore the use of violence against unarmed protestors," it said. Using the abbreviation for the ruling United Socialist Party, it particularly warned against using "colectivos armed bands under the political control of PSUV party leaders to repress protestors while the security forces idly stand by." Security forces and members of the judiciary, the statement continued, have "legal and constitutional responsibilities to protect, not prevent, peaceful demonstrations." Maduro rejected the statement, saying the State Department in essence had announced a coup against Venezuela. "Whoever wants to see the script written to generate violence, death read the statement. There is the plan," he said. Weeks of protest At least five people have been killed in over two weeks of protests, with security forces firing rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons. The turbulence erupted after the Venezuelan Supreme Court's March 30 announcement that it would strip the opposition-controlled National Assembly of its legislative powers. The court stacked with appointees of Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez reversed its position in the wake of domestic and international outcries about an attempted power grab. Thousands of Maduro's opponents are expected to turn out Wednesday, converging on central Caracas to pressure his administration to respect the assembly's autonomy, schedule long-delayed elections, free political prisoners and restore other democratic norms. Unidad Venezuela, a coalition of opposition parties, also is organizing marches in each of the country's 24 states, according to the group's Twitter account. Demonstrators also are expected at the Venezuelan embassy in Washington. Diosdado Cabella, a Maduro backer and vice president of the ruling United Socialist Party, said he anticipated about 60,000 motorcyclists to join marchers in support of the government. "We are going to mobilize, to fight, to continue fighting to prevent any intention of the right to subvert the constitutional order," added Cabella, a lawmaker in the National Assembly. Conflicting messages But the leftist government's opponents also are appealing to military and civilian troops to back their cause. "We know that behind those shields are Venezuelans who accompany us in this struggle for a change," the National Assembly's president, Julio Borges, said in a tweet Tuesday. The National Socialist Party has ruled Venezuela for 17 years. Economic pressures have mounted in recent years, especially since the price of oil Venezuela's chief export began falling in 2014. Venezuelans face chronic, severe shortages of food, medicine and other basics in what once was Latin America's wealthiest country. Wednesday's mass protest falls on a significant date for Venezuelans: On April 19, 1810, Venezuelans began their quest for independence from Spain. Concern over bloodshed Maduro faces intensifying pressure, from internal political foes and from international bodies such as the Organization of American States, to back off from violence. "We view with serious concern the militarization of Venezuelan society. We call for good sense," Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said in a tweet Tuesday, according to the AFP news service. Colombia is among 11 Latin American countries including Brazil, Argentina and Mexico urging peaceful demonstrations. They called upon Venezuela's government to respect the constitutional right to peaceful protest. On Tuesday, the Venezuelan Penal Forum, an NGO, said security forces in the country have carried out 538 arrests since early April. It said that as of Monday, 241 people were being detained. It also reported multiple instances of torture and cruelty to detainees. VOA Spanish Service intern Goldy Fogel contributed to this report from Washington NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 'Sword stands ready,' Pence warns North Korea Iran Press TV Wed Apr 19, 2017 5:45AM US Vice President Mike Pence has threatened North Korea with an "overwhelming" response to any use of conventional or nuclear weapons. Speaking on the deck of a massive US aircraft carrier on Wednesday, Pence cautioned North Korea against testing the resolve of the US military. "Those who would challenge our resolve or readiness should know, we will defeat any attack and beat any use of conventional or nuclear weapons with an overwhelming and effective American response," Pence told 2,500 sailors aboard the USS Ronald Reagan at the US Yokosuka naval base in Tokyo Bay. "The United States of America will always seek peace but under President Trump, the shield stands guard and the sword stands ready," he added. His remarks come after Pyongyang carried out a missile launch on Sunday that the US said was a failure. Pence also said that the US would work with its allies and China to exert more economic and diplomatic pressure on the North and increase its military presence in the region. "The United States will strengthen its presence in the Asia Pacific," he said. "Japan will assume a larger role and responsibility in our alliance in the years ahead." Pence arrived in Tokyo on Tuesday from South Korea where he started his 10-day trip to Asia on Sunday hours after the North Korean missile test. The vice president met Japanese officials, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and reassured them of the US commitment in the face of possible threats posed by North Korea. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has said he would expand America's nuclear arsenal to ensure it is at the "top of the pack" amid a heated war of words between the US and North Korea. Pyongyang has threatened the US with an "all-out war," asserting that it will continue to test missiles on a regular basis. The North has said such launches are an act of deterrence against a potential invasion by the US or South Korea. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pence Vows 'Overwhelming' U.S. Response To North Korea RFE/RL April 19, 2017 U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has warned North Korea not to test the resolve of the United States, promising it would make an "overwhelming and effective" response to any attack. Speaking on April 19 aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan docked in Japan, Pence said North Korea was "the most dangerous and urgent threat to peace and security in the Asia-Pacific" region. He said that President Donald Trump's administration will continue to "work diligently" with other countries to apply economic and diplomatic pressure on Pyongyang, and that the United States "will always seek peace." But Pence also warned that "those who would challenge our resolve or our readiness should know: We will defeat any attack and meet any use of conventional or nuclear weapons with an overwhelming and effective American response." "The shield stands guard and the sword stands ready," he said. Pence's comments during his tour of the region come days after North Korean tested on April 16 a missile that blew up almost immediately after launch, according to the Pentagon. "The leader of North Korea again recklessly tried to provoke something by launching a missile," U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on April 18, adding that the United States was "working closely" with China to engage Pyongyang. North Korea has accelerated its nuclear and missile tests in recent years, despite international condemnation and UN sanctions. China expressed concern on April 19 over comments made by North Korean officials warning of further missile tests and the possibility of nuclear war. Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Beijing was resolutely opposed to any words or actions that could contribute to raising tensions. In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called on all sides to "show restraint and common sense," saying the situation surrounding North Korea is "fraught with unpredictable tensions." Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov condemned North Korea's "reckless nuclear actions" in comments on April 17, but said he hoped the United States would not take "very risky" unilateral military action against Pyongyang. North Korea has accelerated its nuclear and missile tests in recent years, despite international condemnation and UN sanctions. Amid rising tensions over the country's nuclear ambitions, Trump said early last week that an "armada" was being sent as a warning to North Korea. The U.S. military said on April 10 that the aircraft carrier strike group Trump was referring to had been ordered to "sail north and report on station in the Western Pacific" after departing Singapore. However, it has emerged that the USS Carl Vinson and other warships did not sail toward the Korean Peninsula, but went in the opposite direction. On April 15, the U.S. Navy published a photo showing the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson transiting the Sunda Strait between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra. And the website www.gonavy.jp/CVLocation.html reported that from April 16-18 the Carl Vinson was in the Indian Ocean. The U.S. military's Pacific Command announced on April 18 that the strike group had completed a shorter-than-initially scheduled training with Australia off its northwest coast. It added that the group was now "proceeding to the Western Pacific as ordered." Based on reporting by AFP, Reuters, and TASS Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/pence-vows-overwhelming -us-response-to-north-korea/28438602.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 US Strike Force Delay Complicates North Korea Policy By Brian Padden April 19, 2017 Analysts say confusing or deceptive messages about a U.S. naval "armada" heading to waters off the Korean peninsula undermines the United States' credible threat of military force against North Korea. The White House and the U.S. military's Pacific Command were not quite accurate in early April when they said the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier group was en route to the Sea of Japan to respond if needed to a North Korean provocation. Delayed deployment The naval strike force is still far south in the Indian Ocean, where it was engaged in training exercises with Australia. The Pacific Command said on Tuesday the strike group will now proceed to the Western Pacific as ordered. The earlier reports of the U.S. carrier group moving toward Korea raised concerns that Trump might launch a unilateral military strike to prevent or retaliate against a possible North Korean nuclear test on April 15, the birthday of the nation's founder Kim Il Sung, that is often celebrated by a provocative weapons test. U.S. President Donald Trump said on April 12, "We are sending an armada. Very powerful." North Korea did not conduct a nuclear test that weekend but instead held a massive military parade and attempted a missile test that failed. The perceived communications mix-up discredits some of the tough rhetoric coming from the Trump administration. "If you threaten them and your threat is not credible, it's only going to undermine whatever your policy toward them is," said North Korea expert Joel Wit at the 38 North monitoring group, run by Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. Vice president's stern warnings U.S. Vice President Mike Pence did not mention the delay in sending the Carl Vinson group Wednesday when he addressed American military forces aboard the USS Ronald Reagan, a Nimitz class aircraft carrier undergoing maintenance in Yokosuka, Japan. Pence instead repeated stern warnings to Pyongyang that he made earlier in Seoul and Tokyo, not to test America's resolve. He again referenced Trump's decisions to launch missile strikes in Syria and Afghanistan, and said the United States is fully prepared to use military force if needed. "Those who challenge our resolve or our readiness should know, we will defeat any attack and meet any challenge and use conventional or nuclear weapons with an overwhelming and effective American response," the vice president said. Emerging North Korea policy The U.S. policy on North Korea as articulated by the vice president is to use the threat of military force to increase pressure on Pyongyang to unilaterally dismantle its nuclear and missile arsenals, and to urge China, for the most part, to take stronger measures to force its economically dependent ally to capitulate or face total collapse. For this policy to be effective the threat of force must be credible, said analyst Bong Young-shik with the Yonsei University Institute for North Korean Studies in Seoul. "Without taking the risk of military action on the Korean Peninsula you cannot really dissuade the leadership in Pyongyang from continuously pursuing and possessing nuclear weapons and missile programs," he said. However, Northeast Asia analyst Daniel Pinkston with Troy University in Seoul, said this policy of increased military pressure is not only weakened by mixed messages over deploying a naval strike force, but also by widespread opposition among important allies such as Japan and South Korea. "They are not going to support some military adventurism to take a gamble with the execution of some preventive military operation against North Korea. It's just not going to happen," said Pinkston. For all its provocative missile and nuclear tests the Kim Jong Un government has not yet attacked another country. If the Trump administration were to launch a preemptive or preventive strike against North Korea under the current conditions, Pinkston said, it would likely lead to disastrous results: drawing the region into war, terminating regional alliances, and isolating the United States in the U.N. Security Council. Despite the tough rhetoric there have also been contradictory statements coming from other Trump administration officials who have downplayed the possible use of force. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster Sunday said, "It's time for us to undertake all actions we can, short of a military option, to try to resolve this peacefully." Youmi Kim contributed to this report NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address India's ruling BJP politicians to face trial in mosque case Iran Press TV Wed Apr 19, 2017 1:16PM A top court in India has ruled that three senior members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should face trial over the demolition of a historical mosque by Hindu extremists in 1992. The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that the three, including a government minister, are accused of inciting Hindu zealots to pull down the 16th century Babri mosque about 25 years ago. The court said government minister Uma Bharti, former deputy prime minister L K Advani and M M Joshi, all senior members of the Hindu nationalist party, should face criminal conspiracy charges. The latest ruling came after a lower court dropped the charges brought against the three by India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The decision prompted a series of appeals and counter-appeals. "We have allowed the CBI appeal against the Allahabad High Court judgement with certain directions," local media outlets quoted Supreme Court judges as saying. The court also ruled that Kalyan Singh, a fourth senior BJP politician, should face criminal conspiracy charges. Singh was the leader of Uttar Pradesh at the time of the incident. Singh's trial, however, will be delayed until his stint as governor of Rajasthan state is over. The position gives him immunity from prosecution. There was no immediate reaction from the governing party. Sanjay Jha, a spokesman for the opposition-led Congress, however, said the ruling party had "tried every trick in the book" to ensure that Advani, Bharti and Joshi did not face charges. "What they (Supreme Court) have said today means there's clinching evidence that needs to be now argued out in the court," the spokesman said. Babri mosque in Ayodhya in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh was pulled down by Hindu zealots on December 6, 1992. The demolition led to widespread riots in which thousands of people died. The destruction of the mosque marked the culmination of a virulent campaign led by the now ruling BJP. A number of Hindus maintain that the mosque was only built after the destruction of a temple. Some in the BJP want to build the temple on the ruins of the razed mosque. The plan continues to horrify India's significant Muslim minority. Several incidents of violence against Muslims and other minority groups have fueled concerns as religious intolerance is growing under the Hindu nationalist government. India's history is pockmarked by horrific Hindu-Muslim communal clashes in the past. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Indian Navy Expected to Push for Second Aircraft Carrier Funding Sputnik News 17:04 19.04.2017 The Indian Navy will approach the government for funding to build its second aircraft carrier in a couple of months. New Delhi (Sputnik) The Navy is said to be willing to submit a re-prioritized procurement plan to the government to make funds available for the second aircraft carrier. This could mean holding back on other big-ticket purchases in favor of the carrier. "There is a lot of positivity, both from the government side as well as the Navy. I am sure within two-to-three months; we should be able to take it up, second aircraft carrier plan, with the ministry to get the funds. It is a very big-ticket item, it will have to be at the expense of things, we need to take these calls before we can go about doing it," Controller of Warship Production and Acquisition, Vice Admiral DM Deshpande said. Indian armed forces are managing procurement at low-level budgetary allocations against the projected demand for the services. "The budgetary allocations for capital acquisition have declined for the three services not only since 2015-16. Similarly, against a projection of $21.96 billion for the capital budget in 2017-18, only $13 billion have been allocated from annual budget 2017-18 for various Services (Army, Navy, Joint staff, Air force, DGOF, R&D and DGQA). This decline in the allocation for the capital acquisition will definitely affect several procurement proposals and contracts which are to be finalized in 2017-18," observed a parliamentary panel report on defense. The procurement plan for capital modernization schemes may have to be reviewed and re-prioritized based on available funds, sources in the Defense Ministry said. Indian Navy has set a target to finalize the deal worth $9 billion deal including minesweepers vessels, Landing Platform Dock by end of this year while it has recently signed a deal worth $2 billion for Barak 8 missile from Israel. The Navy will commission the country's first indigenous 40,000-ton aircraft carrier Vikrant, currently being constructed at Kochi, by end-2018. The project has been delayed for many years and it revised the estimated cost to $2.9 billion. After decommissioning of aircraft carrier Virat, the Indian Navy is dependent on the recently acquired INS Vikramaditya (the former Admiral Gorshkov of the Russian Navy). Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Indian Navy Expects $2.6 Bln Deal for Amphibious Transport Dock by Year End Sputnik News 09:00 19.04.2017(updated 09:10 19.04.2017) The Indian Navy has set its target to finalize a $2.6 billion contract for Landing Platform Docks with private Indian shipbuilders by the end of this year. New Delhi (Sputnik) "If all goes well, then the Navy is expected to close the LPD contract by end of this year," Vice Admiral DM Deshpande, Controller of Warship Production and Acquisition, Indian Navy, said in New Delhi. Indian Navy has planned four 20,000 ton LPD for induction in the next decade. India's private manufacturers Reliance Defence and Engineering Limited (RDEL) and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) have cleared the financial and technical tests and have submitted commercial bids to the Indian defense ministry. L&T has a tie-up with Navantia of Spain and RDEL with DCNS of France. Earlier, the government had planned to give the contract to private as well government-owned shipbuilders but reworked it and decided to give all four shipbuilding contract to private players as the public sector shipbuilder had too many orders. Vice Admiral Deshpande said India aims to emerge as a defense manufacturing hub in the future; thus the Navy seeks the support of industry, researchers, DRDO and government organizations. He added that proactive government policies aimed at easing business rules would help forge a collaborative environment. According to the Indian Navy tender issued in 2013, LPD should not be more than 215 meters long and have a draft no more than 8 meters in full load conditions. The ships will be powered by electric propulsion systems. The proposed LPD will have the capacity to carry six main battle tanks, 20 infantry combat vehicles and 40 heavy trucks. Each ship is expected to carry 1,430 personnel, 470 sailors and 900 troops. The Indian Navy is strengthening its amphibious warfare capabilities to counter growing Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean Region. The Indian Navy operates former US-owned, Austin-class LPD Trenton. It was acquired by India in 1997 and renamed INS Jalashwa. Currently, India's amphibious warfare capability is burdened with nine older tank landing ships of various sizes and capabilities. The 5655-ton Shardul class ships are the latest ones which are a hybrid of LST and LSD designs. They are an evolution of the Magar class amphibious landing ships. Shardul and Magar class can carry 10 armored vehicles, 11 armored personnel carriers and more than 500 troops. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran's military strength benefits region IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Belgrade, April 19, IRNA -- Iran's military strength is in the service of peace, stability and security in the region and reinforcing defense cooperation, Iranian military attache in Serbia said. Colonel Rasoul Heidari made the remarks on the occasion of Iran's Natioanl Army Day which was held on Tuesday. Heidari pointed to the role of Iran's Army in the region, saying that any government requires powerful and organized armed forces to maintain independence, security and territorial integrity. Iran has never been after aggression, but it is always on alert. Tehran has always announced that bolstering Iran's armed forces' defense power just aims at defending the country and it would never be used against any country, he said. Islamic Republic of Iran aims to maintain peace, security, legitimate authority, defending national interests and rights and helping the oppressed people of the region and the world, he noted. 9376**1771 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Leader calls for massive turnout in May 19 elections IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Tehran, April 19, IRNA -- Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on Wednesday urged officials to do their best to hold a healthy and secure election across the country with massive turnout. Referring to the upcoming presidential and city council elections to be held on May 19, he cautioned against the enemies' sabotage in the elections, and urged the nation to vigilantly move forward in this regard. The Leader called the military forces one of the elements of country's security. He underlined the role of country's economic, scientific, educational and cultural apparati in preventing enemies to reach their goals. Economic issues are country's top priority and officials are responsible to pursue the Resistance Economy policies to resolve people economic problems, including the unemployment, Ayatollah Khamenei said. The Supreme Leader urged officials to prevent enemy's misuse of country's economic vulnerability. Bullying powers, in particular the US, are certainly hostile to the Iranian nation, the Leader said. Ayatollah Khamenei noted that they have been always hostile to all governments in Iran after the revolution. The Leader said that the nation should continue its authority towards the US and some European states and do not afraid of enemy. Holding a healthy and secure election across the country with massive turnout will protect the country against enemies' conspiracies, he added. "I have always reiterated that today, the aggressive big powers are used to intimidate other states." The Leader said that the aggressive powers, who want to interfere everywhere, are exaggerating about their power to intimidate other states. "Do you remember the frowns of some previous US governments," he said, adding that the new officials have adopted similar approach. The worst situation for a country is that the officials of that country become fearful of enemies' frown, threats and exclamations, he added. Ayatollah Khamenei noted that if the officials of a country are frightened of enemy's threats, in fact they have opened the doors for its entrance and aggression. "For sure, works should be done based on wisdom, logic and intelligence but it should be done with courage." Being frightened and worried of the world powers is the beginning of misery, he said. The Leader noted that if one wants to be fearful of enemy, no problem, but he should not be afraid on behalf of people. The nation stood against enemy and if they have not stood, there would have been no trace of Iran and Iranians since 1979, he said. The Leader said that the enemies, in particular the US, cannot do a damn thing against a governing system which is well-connected to its people, love them and they love it. Every year Iran commemorates the National Army Day on April 18 or 17, throughout the country with the presence of military and civil high-ranking officials. On April 18, 1988, the US Navy in the Persian Gulf threatened Nasr and Salmaan oil platforms to make the staff abandon the installations; however, the Iranian Army staff present there refused to do so and were proudly martyred by the invading US Navy. 9191**2050 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran complying with commitments under nuclear deal: Tillerson Iran Press TV Wed Apr 19, 2017 4:10AM The Donald Trump administration has notified Congress that Iran has been compliant with its commitments under the 2015 nuclear agreement, and that the administration is reviewing whether a continued suspension of the sanctions serves the national interests of the United States. In a letter to Rep. Paul Ryan, speaker of the House of Representatives, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the administration has undertaken a full review of the nuclear accord known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). "President Donald J. Trump has directed a National Security Council-led inter-agency review of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that will evaluate whether suspension of sanctions related to Iran pursuant to the JCPOA is vital to the national security interests of the United States," Tillerson said in a statement Tuesday. The White House must send certification of Iran's compliance with the JCPOA to Congress every 90 days, and it was the first issued by the Trump administration. Tillerson, however, accused Iran of being "a leading state sponsor of terror, through many platforms and methods," and noted the administration would review the nuclear deal with that in mind. Similar accusations leveled by US officials have in the past drawn strong reactions from Iranian authorities. Early this month, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi advised US Defense Secretary James Mattis against making such "unwarranted and malicious accusations against Iran." He said Washington should instead oblige its regional allies to halt their widespread financial, ideological, and military support for the terrorist outfits that have been plaguing several countries. As a candidate in the 2016 presidential election, Trump frequently criticized the JCPOA as "the worst deal ever negotiated," but offered conflicting opinions on whether he would try to scrap it, renegotiate its terms or keep it in place. Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council - the US, France, Britain, Russia and China plus Germany sealed the JCPOA in July 2015 following 18 months of intense negotiations. Under the deal, which took effect in January last year, Iran undertook to put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions imposed against the Islamic Republic. Iran has warned that it would restore its nuclear activities to the pre-JCPOA level, if the US fails to keep its end of the bargain. At an international conference on nuclear policy in Washington last month, European Union Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini strongly defended the JCPOA, pointing out that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had confirmed Iran's compliance five times. Opponents of the JCPOA, including Israel and its allies in the US Congress, accuse Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons and insist that the deal would not guarantee that the country was not striving to that end any longer. Iran has always said that it seeks to allay international concerns about its nuclear program which is peaceful and civilian. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. Says Iran Is Complying With Nuclear Deal, Extends Sanctions Relief April 19, 2017 The U.S. State Department notified Congress late on April 18 that Iran is complying with last year's nuclear deal with global powers, and said it has extended sanctions relief given to Tehran under the agreement. The certification of Iran's compliance, which must be sent to Congress every 90 days, is the first to be issued by the Trump administration. In a letter to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, however, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the administration has undertaken a full review of the agreement to evaluate whether continued sanctions relief is in the interest of the United States. The agreement lifts sanctions previously imposed by the United States, United Nations, European nations, and others in exchange for Iran curbing its nuclear activities. Tillerson noted that Iran remains a leading state sponsor of terrorism and that President Donald Trump had ordered the review with that in mind. Based on reporting by AP and Reuters Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/us-says-iran-complying-nuclear-deal- extend-sanctions-relief-review-for-future/28438275.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 Trump Directs National Security Council to Review Iran Nuclear Deal Sputnik News 05:48 19.04.2017(updated 06:08 19.04.2017) Donald Trump has directed a National Security Council-led review of Iran nuclear deal. US President Donald Trump directed a National Security Council-led interagency review whether the Iranian nuclear deal met the US interests, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a letter to Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan. "Notwithstanding, Iran remains a leading state sponsor of terror through many platforms and methods. President Donald J. Trump has directed a National Security Council-led interagency review of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that will evaluate whether suspension of sanctions related to Iran pursuant to the JCPOA is vital to the national security interests of the United States. When the interagency review is completed, the administration looks forward to working with Congress on this issue," Tillerson said on Tuesday. He has also said that US confirms Iran is fulfilling its obligations under the deal, but believes that the country is supporting terrorism. On July 14, 2015, Iran and the P5+1 group of countries, comprising Russia, China, the United Kingdom, the United States, France and Germany, signed the JCPOA to ensure the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program. Under this agreement, Iran stated that it would not further seek to develop or acquire nuclear weapons in exchange for the gradual lifting of international sanctions. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Trump Orders Review of Iran Nuclear Deal By VOA News April 19, 2017 U.S. President Donald Trump has directed the National Security Council to review the international agreement on Iran's nuclear program and evaluate whether suspending sanctions "is vital to the national security interests of the United States." Secretary of State Rex Tillerson revealed the review in a letter Tuesday to House Speaker Paul Ryan. Tillerson said that as of Tuesday, Iran is complying with its responsibilities under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which it agreed to in 2015 after negotiations with the U.S., Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany. "Notwithstanding, Iran remains a leading state sponsor of terror through many platforms and methods," Tillerson wrote. The JCPOA focused on Iran's nuclear program and allegations that it was working to develop nuclear weapons. The Iranian government repeatedly denied those accusations. Low-level uranium enrichment allowed The United Nations as well as individual nations, including the United States, imposed economic sanctions on Iran in an effort to try to get the country to abandon any nuclear arms ambitions. Those sanctions badly hurt the Iranian economy, particularly limiting its ability to sell oil on the global market, and led to nearly two years of hard-fought negotiations before the two sides reached an agreement. In exchange for relief from the sanctions that targeted its nuclear activity, Iran agreed to take a number of steps, including affirming that it will under no circumstances "seek, develop or acquire nuclear weapons." Iran is also allowed to conduct only low-level uranium enrichment, and only so much of it, while also shipping out all of its spent nuclear fuel, turning higher-enriched uranium into reactor fuel, and converting a pair of nuclear sites into facilities used for peaceful research. Process set to resolve disputes The International Atomic Energy Agency is in charge of monitoring the implementation of the agreement, and a joint commission set up between Iran and the group of six world powers has been established to address any issues that come up. The JCPOA stipulates that if either side believes the other is violating the agreement, they can launch a dispute resolution process, the final step of which is a U.N. Security Council vote on whether to continue lifting the sanctions. A U.S. move to reimpose sanctions could cause Iran to pull out of the deal. "Iran has stated that if sanctions are reinstated in whole or in part, Iran will treat that as grounds to cease performing its commitments under this JCPOA in whole or in part," the agreement says. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US, Saudi Arabia Affirm Cooperation in Countering 'Iran's Mischief' By Carla Babb April 19, 2017 The United States is pledging support for Saudi efforts to counter Iran's destabilizing activities in the region. During talks Wednesday in Riyadh, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis emphasized to his Saudi counterpart, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the importance of cooperating and boosting Saudi security in order to "reinforce Saudi Arabia's resistance to Iran's mischief." "We are not leaving this region, but at the same time it is in our interest to see a strong Saudi Arabia military, security services and secret services," Mattis told reporters. "So what we can do here today could actually open the door possibly to bringing our president to Saudi Arabia." The Arab kingdom is Mattis' first stop on a week-long Middle East tour, that includes Egypt, Israel and Qatar. Earlier on Wednesday, the U.S. defense secretary met with Saudi King Salman. The visit comes a month after U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Prince Mohammed at the White House, with both leaders noting the "importance of confronting Iran's destabilizing regional activities while continuing to evaluate and strictly enforce the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action," according to a March 15 White House statement. On Wednesday, the Saudi defense minister told Mattis, "we greatly value the leadership of President Trump." He also said the two countries will work to "curb and counter all the challenges in the region, either when it comes to the curbing of the fighting terrorist organizations or the malign activities of Iran that continues to unsettle the world." In remarks to Pentagon reporters following Wednesday's talks with Saudi officials, Mattis praised Saudi Arabia's regional leadership role in restoring stability in the Middle East. The U.S. defense secretary also said the U.S. is watching Iran's impact across the region, from its support for Hezbollah to the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad. "Everywhere you look, if there is trouble in the region, you find Iran," Mattis said. "So, right now, what we are seeing is the nations in the region and others elsewhere trying to checkmate Iran and the amount of disruption, the amount of instability they can cause." Iran sends flotilla to Gulf of Aden The comments come amid reports Iran dispatched a a flotilla of warships from the country's southern port city of Bandar Abbas for the Gulf of Aden on Monday. Iranian authorities say Iran's 46th naval fleet, comprised of Sabalan destroyer and Lavan logistic warship, embarked on the voyage in a bid to maintain the Islamic Republic's power in the high seas. "The timing of this mission, and also increasing number of naval missions conducted by Iranian navy in that region is very uncommon and seems to be a muscle flexing toward Saudis," Hooshang Aryanpour, a Virginia based retired Iranian Rear Admiral told VOA. "The fleet is tasked with maintaining security for Iranian ships and countering Iranophobic plots and campaigns launched by the enemies of the Islamic Republic," the Iranian government said in a statement. According to Rear Admiral Sayyari, the Iranian naval forces are making efforts to improve security in the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb, considering security of those regions as a top priority. Iranian authorities say that the naval forces have so far escorted 3,850 Iranian commercial and tanker ships as well as 25 foreign vessels in the Bab el-Mandeb and the Gulf of Aden regions where pirates are active. U.S. marine administrators in the region have repeatedly complained about Iran's hostile nautical maneuvers in the region in the recent months and warned that some provocative naval actions increase the chances of miscalculation and unintended confrontation. "[The] Iranian navy's increasing presence in this specific region is evocative and could be interpreted as showing teeth to Saudis who are in a proxy war with Iran in Yemen and have zero strength in the sea," said Aryanpour. Mehdi Jedinia contributed to this report NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraqi forces kill Daesh deputy ringleader in Mosul missile strike Iran Press TV Wed Apr 19, 2017 2:25PM Iraqi government forces have reportedly killed the deputy ringleader of the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group in western Mosul as they are engaged in joint operations with volunteer fighters from the Popular Mobilization Units to drive the extremists out of their last urban stronghold in the country. Federal Police Forces Commander Lieutenant General Raed Shaker Jawdat said Abu Abdulrahman, identified as the second-in-command of Daesh and a very close aide to its purported leader Ibrahim al-Samarrai aka Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed on Wednesday after Iraqi troops lobbed a barrage of missiles at a militant position in the Zanjili neighborhood of western Mosul, Arabic-language Shafaaq news agency reported. Jawdat added that his forces also launched a number of rockets at predetermined targets near Omar al-Aswad Mosque in the al-Farouq district of the Old City of Mosul, killing a high-ranking Daesh militant figure and four other Takfiri terrorists. The commander was later identified as Abu Walid al-Tunisi. Moreover, Iraqi police forces fired several artillery rounds into western Mosul's Ras al-Jadah neighborhood, killing Abu Maria al-Roumi, a Daesh commander of Russian origin. The self-proclaimed Daesh director of tribal affairs, Abu Abdullah al-Shabaki, was also reportedly killed in a US-led airstrike in Zanjili neighborhood. The United Nations says nearly half a million civilians had fled fighting since the offensive to retake Mosul from Daesh terrorists started on October 17, 2016. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Monday that 493,000 people had been displaced from the city, located some 400 kilometers north of the capital Baghdad. As many as 500,000 civilians are still trapped in Daesh-controlled neighborhoods of western Mosul. Iraqi army soldiers and pro-government fighters from the Popular Mobilization Units, commonly known by the Arabic name Hashd al-Sha'abi, have made sweeping gains against the Takfiri elements since launching the operation to retake Mosul. 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 Russian foreign minister questions OPCW's Syria probes Iran Press TV Wed Apr 19, 2017 9:1AM Russian Foreign Minister Segei Lavrov has questioned the impartiality of probes being carried out by an international organization into accusations of a chemical attack in Syria. A fact-finding mission was set up by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) into allegations that a Syrian government gas attack killed over 80 people in the town of Khan Shaykhun in Idlib Province on April 4. Damascus has denied the allegation, explaining that it gave up its entire chemical arms stockpile as part of a US-Russia deal in 2014. The single mission later split into two separate groups. One is now being led by Steven Wallis, a citizen of the United Kingdom, who works in contact with the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and the other is being headed by Wallis' fellow countryman Leonard Phillips, according to Russia's Permanent Representative at the OPCW, Ambassador Alexander Shulgin. The latter group deals with the claims filed by Syrian militant groups, who are fighting to overthrow Assad. Both groups interview survivors and gather bio-metric samples from the site of the April 4 incident. On Tuesday, Lavrov said the fact that both groups were being headed by UK citizens raised questions of bias. "I would like to remind you that we have pointed out a very strange coincidence: that the two groups of the OPCW Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) on the potential use of chemical weapons in Syria are chaired by UK citizens." He questioned the "strange coincidence" and described it as "contrary to the principles of an international organization, the structures of which must be maximally balanced." The impartiality of the OPCW's investigatory work had been questioned by Russia before, too. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said last Friday that "Moscow believes that the conclusions formulated by the fact-finding mission in Syria are politically motivated, biased and requiring further clarification." He said Russia was "very skeptical" of the work they did. In a missile strike that the US said was in retaliation for the alleged gas attack, US Navy destroyers fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles from the Mediterranean Sea at Syria's al-Shayrat Airfield on April 7. Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Tuesday that London would most probably support the US if it decided to launch further attacks on Syrian government positions. Lavrov further said in his Tuesday remarks that "many players in Syria, among the external opposition and in many countries in and outside the region" were trying to use the situation "to place the blame squarely on Bashar al-Assad." The Syrian government says during the April 4 incident, a conventional airstrike hit a chemical depot belonging to militants, causing the leak of the gas and the deaths. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkey Defends Against Referendum Fraud Allegations By Dorian Jones April 18, 2017 Turkey's prime minister hit back Tuesday at European monitors who said more than 2 million votes could have been manipulated in Sunday's closely contested referendum on expanding presidential powers. Binali Yildirim, responding to criticism from the Council of Europe's observer mission, said debate over the outcome of the referendum was "over," and that "the people's will had been reflected at the ballot box." He spoke in response to calls from the council to investigate alleged vote irregularities that several official observers said allowed as many as 2.5 million uncertified ballots to be counted. Alev Korun, an Austrian member of the council's observer mission, said the number of uncertified ballots would almost double the margin of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's victory an electoral win that vastly broadens the power of the presidency. Another observer, German lawmaker Andrej Hunko, told The New York Times "it seems credible that 2.5 million were manipulated, but we are not 100 percent sure." Separately, European monitors alleged that those who campaigned against Erdogan's push for expanded powers faced numerous obstacles, including a lack of freedom of expression, intimidation and access to the media. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe also alleged misuse of administrative resources by Erdogan ahead of Sunday's vote. Dramatic shift signaled Sunday's vote created a powerful executive presidency that largely sidelines the Turkish parliament and abolishes the Cabinet and the office of prime minister. Ministers will be directly appointed by the president, who also will set the national budget. The president also will appoint judges to the high court and the constitutional court. The constitutional amendments also end the official neutrality of the presidency, allowing a president to lead a political party and declare states of emergency. Critics argued the reforms were tantamount to creating an elected dictatorship, while Erdogan and his supporters said they would create a fast and efficient system of government better able to confront terrorism and a sluggish economy. Unstamped ballots Opposition complaints and calls for a new vote centered on a decision by electoral officials to use and tally ballots that did not have an official stamp, despite a 2010 law that requires such official validation. Additional complaints included the barring of nearly 200 opposition members from serving as election monitors and the temporary detention of other election observers. On Monday, the head of Turkey's electoral board, Sadi Guven, strongly defended his decision to allow the controversial ballots, citing high demand for ballots and saying similar procedures had been followed in the past. "This is not some move we've done for the first time," said Guven, speaking to reporters Monday in Ankara. "Before our administration took over, there had been many decisions approving the validity of unstamped ballots." Trump congratulates Erdogan U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday congratulated Erdogan on his referendum victory. The White House said in a statement the two leaders spoke by phone, with their conversation also including the need to hold Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accountable for a recent chemical attack. It further said the two leaders discussed the fight against Islamic State and "the need to cooperate against all groups that use terrorism to achieve their ends." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UK Parliament approves early general election Iran Press TV Wed Apr 19, 2017 2:18PM The British Parliament has voted almost unanimously in favor of an early general election proposed by UK Prime Minister Theresa May. Lawmakers in the House of Commons voted 522 to 13 on Wednesday to support the motion put forward by May a day earlier. The election will be held on June 8, nearly a year after 52 percent of Britons voted to leave the European Union (EU). The parliament will dissolve on June 3. On Tuesday, May made a unexpected announcement that she would seek a "snap" election less than halfway through her government's five-year term, with the goal of gaining a stronger mandate for Britain's withdrawal from the European Union. She said holding an election as previously scheduled in 2020 will not give the UK "certainty and stability" as it negotiates its exit from the EU. May said an early election will bolster the UK's position in talks over Brexit and is in the country's national interest. "I want this country to be able to play the strongest hand possible in those negotiations to get the best possible deal because that's in our long-term interests," she said. "That's what this is about, it's about asking the people to trust me, to trust us in government, to give us that mandate to go and get that really good deal for the UK." May's call for an early election came after firm assurances that she would not seek a new election before 2020. She had resisted calls for an early election from within her own party for months. The latest polls predict an easy win for May. The premier has already backed out from televised debates. During Wednesday's weekly session of Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the main opposition Labour Party, urged May to take part in a televised debate ahead of the election, but May maintained she had no interest in doing so. Unlike May, her predecessor David Cameron took part in high-profile election debates in 2010 and 2015. Cameron stepped down after the Brexit referendum. During the Prime Minister's Questions, May accused opposition lawmakers of trying to sabotage the Brexit process. "What the British people -- what the people of the United Kingdom -- voted for last year was for the UK to leave the European Union. We have set that process in motion, there is no turning back." The European Commission says Brexit talks will be held in June after the elections in Britain. London triggered article 50 of the Lisbon treaty on March 29 to formally start negotiations on leaving the EU. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address ICJ Rejects Kyiv's Call To Halt Russian Support For Separatists Alan Crosby April 19, 2017 The International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague has refused Ukraine's request to impose provisional measures against Russia to block what Kyiv says is Russia's monetary and military support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. But the court on April 19 did issue a provisional ruling calling for a halt to what it says is "racial discrimination" against Crimean Tatars and ethnic Ukrainians in Russia-occupied Crimea. "The conditions required for the indication of provisional measures," as requested by Ukraine in order to block Russian support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, "are not met," the United Nation's highest court said in its April 19 ruling, read out by ICJ President Ronny Abraham. Moscow seized control of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and has supported the separatists in a war that has killed more than 9,900 people in eastern Ukraine since April of that year. When it lodged its case in January, Kyiv said that Russia has stepped up its interference in Ukraine's affairs since 2014, "intervening militarilyfinancing acts of terrorism and violating the human rights of millions of Ukraine's citizens, including, for all too many, their right to life." It said Ukraine was seeking "full reparations for...acts of terrorism the Russian Federation has caused, facilitated or supported," citing bombardments of residential areas and the July 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which killed all 298 passengers and crew. Racial Discrimination While Ukraine was unsuccessful in its attempt to have Russian funding of the separatists temporarily halted, the ICJ did rule in its favor on part of the case involving an international treaty against racial discrimination. The court granted a provisional ruling for Russia to stop what the court described as "racial discrimination" against Crimean Tatars and ethnic Ukrainians in Crimea since Russia's takeover of the peninsula, which followed the deployment of troops and a referendum denounced as illegitimate by Kyiv, the United states, and a total of 100 UN member countries. "The Court finds that Russia must refrain from imposing limitations on the ability of the Crimean Tatar community to conserve its representative institutions, including the Mejlis, and ensure the availability of education in the Ukrainian language," an ICJ statement issued after the ruling said. Ukraine has asked the court's 15 judges to rule that "the Russian Federation bears international responsibility" for "acts of terrorism committed by its proxies in Ukraine." Moscow rejects the allegations. It has said the terrorism claims are "neither factual nor legal" and argued that the ICJ does not have jurisdiction over the case. Russia has denied sending troops or military equipment to eastern Ukraine, despite what Kyiv and Western countries say is incontrovertible evidence. Ukraine lodged the request for provisional protection measures because it can take months for the ICJ to even decide whether it will hear a case. In that interim application, Ukraine had asked for an urgent court order demanding Russia refrain from "any action which might aggravate or extend the dispute" or make it more difficult to resolve, including a halt to the alleged pumping of money, weapons, equipment and personnel into the east. The United States, European Union, and other countries have imposed sanctions on Russia in response to its seizure of Crimea and its interference in Ukraine, which has badly damaged Moscow's relations with both the West and Ukraine. Although the ICJ's rulings are final and binding, it has no means of enforcement. Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-icj-rejects-call-russian -support-separatists/28439362.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 Something went wrong, please try again later. Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Never miss the latest local news again by signing up to our Daily Newsletter There are fears that long-awaited work on a notorious stretch of the A417 could be delayed as the Government faces a near-1billion funding gap in their road investment plans. Concerns have been raised over whether construction on the notorious Air Balloon bypass a scheme dubbed the A417 Missing Link - will now take place in 2021 as planned. A report by the National Audit Office reveals ministers face an 841million hole in funding for the Governments 11billion road building project which was set to cover 112 upgrades in five years from April 2015 According to last years report, 16 upgrades to motorways or A-roads could be shelved or face significant redesign and 19 projects could be delayed to after 2020. Liberal Democrats have raised concerns about what this means for the future of the Missing Link project, as have UKIP. But the Conservatives say the A417 is not linked to any of the projects mentioned in the report and have accused the Lib Dems of electioneering. Councillor Paul Hodgkinson, leader of the Liberal Democrats on Gloucestershire County Council, (Bourton & Northleach), said: The Missing Link has been a problem for Gloucestershire for more than 20 years. It is often very heavily congested seeing up to 45,000 vehicles a day and there are frequent tragic accidents with more than 340 casualties in the past 15 years. The National Audit Office is also stating that 19 projects could be delayed until after 2020 - this may include the A417 Missing Link or mean it goes further down the queue of projects. It is extremely worrying and once again throws up lots of uncertainty as to whether this stretch of road will ever be fixed. The stretch between the Air Balloon roundabout and Nettleton Bottom is notorious for collisions and a bypass has long been called for to relieve congestion. A public consultation is set to be launched for a road-building scheme to propose a solution to the 'Missing Link' by 2018. Richard Ford, chairman of Gloucestershire UKIP, said the report shows the national roads project was just a cosmetic exercise by the Conservative/Lib Dem coalition in order to try and win extra votes. He said: It is ironic that this information should now come to light ahead of the 2017 General Election. I very much hope that the voters of Gloucester and elsewhere in Gloucestershire will remember when they go to the polls on 8th June that the Conservatives' manifesto commitments are worthless, just as this 2015 manifesto commitment has proved to be." The Green Party, however, has said building bigger and more roads has resulted in air pollution and congestion. Sarah Lunnon, Stroud Central councillor for the Green Party, said: We do not need a motorway, a M417 across the Cotswolds, we do need a transport system that works for people and our economy. It's time to stop using solutions that have continually failed - an immediate and relatively cheap solution to many of the A417 problems would be the use of fixed speed cameras to even out traffic speeds and flows at junctions. This would have the added benefit of reducing noise and air pollution without scaring our countryside. The cost could have been met by the funds Gloucestershire County Council have already ploughed into a scheme that would see the Cotswold become a link road between the Midlands and London. Is that what we want for our county? The NAO report scrutinises the Governments Roads Investment Strategy, which runs until 2020 which the Conservatives say does not include the A417 Missing Link. Councillor Nigel Moor, the councils cabinet member for infrastructure (C, Stow-on-the-Wold), said: "The A417 isn't remotely connected to these projects, the Liberal Democrats know that, and are just making things up in advance of the elections. Thanks to the Conservatives, the project to fix the A417 Missing Link is moving ahead on schedule. Councillor Mark Hawthorne, leader of Gloucestershire County Council (C, Quedgeley), added: For years a key stumbling block to sorting the A417 was the Lib Dem MP for Cheltenham, who refused to back the plan. The Lib Dems have some cheek to complain about slow progress that they caused themselves. The only risk to the project I see is if Martin Horwood is somehow re-elected and goes back to blocking this vital scheme." The Department for Transport said it is considering the findings of the report. A spokesman for the department said: This government is taking the big decisions for Britains future, and we are investing a record 15 billion on road schemes which will cut congestion, speed up journeys, and boost the economy across the country. As this report acknowledges, we have made significant progress in managing our major roads more efficiently, and we are confident Highways England will deliver safe and reliable roads that deliver value for money for the taxpayer. Something went wrong, please try again later. Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Get our weekly round-up of the best things to do and see with What's On in Gloucestershire Rise up Pizza fans! Fat Toni's has officially opened in Cheltenham. It has been a long wait for fans of the pizza place, which already has popular takeaways in Stroud and Gloucester. The eatery has become well-known for its giant 20 inch pizzas, the equivalent of nearly three regular sized pizzas. Based on Regent Street next to Japanese restaurant Koj, the doors were officially opened at 5pm. Over the next month the building will be transformed into their first sit-down restaurant, where customers will still have the option to take their pizzas away. The business is owned by brothers Darren and Jason Orsi. Darren said: "We have wanted to come to Cheltenham for a while. It's just been a case of finding the right time and the right location. It is the place to be." The pair have been inspired by when they set up their first Fat Toni's in Stroud five years ago. "We are keeping it old school," Darren explained, "People can't order the pizzas online or over the phone, instead they have to come in. "It's such a fun part of the job meeting the customers, and it's a chance for them to see what goes in to making a true, authentic pizza. It means that we can get their feedback." Kitted out with a brand new oven, walls of pizza boxes and a 30 item menu, foodies across the town are going to be looking for a slice of the action. As well as their infamous ginormous pizzas, the brothers also offer vegan, vegetarian and gluten free options - as well as a real authentic experience. "In North Tuscany, where we're from pizza isn't seen as street food," Darren explains, "there families will go to their local pizzeria, they will share a giant pizza and there's a bit more of a sense of occasion with it. Getting a small pizza each just isn't the same. "It's also a great chance to try different toppings, if you can't decide on just one." For more information, or to order a Fat Toni's pizza in Stroud or Gloucester visit their website. A glamour model who fraudulently claimed thousands of pounds in disabilty benefits despite starring in a Playboy film has been ordered to repay 50,000. Julia Martinez, 45, claimed over 44,000 over a three-year period -- despite earning money from photo shoots and movies while running a successful photography company. Martinez, of Wellesley Road in Cheltenham, claimed income support of 27,908.67, disability benefit of 14,112 and a council tax relief claim of 2,178.63. Police found Martinez held bank accounts in the UK and overseas, including the Isle of Man and Jersey, after raiding her home in 2012, a court heard. She pleaded guilty to five charges for falsely claiming benefits over a three year period and received a nine-month jail sentence, suspended for one year, in January 2015. At Bristol Crown Court today (Wednesday) Martinez was slapped with a confiscation order in the sum of 50,000 under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. George Threlfall, QC, prosecuting, told the court Martinez had shown a "pattern of mendacity" for the last two years since her conviction. He claimed her available assets were "greater than" she had declared, including the sale of a Spanish property she inherited from her father which sold for 110,000 Euros. Mr Threlfall also claimed Miss Martinez had bank accounts in Spain, Jersey and the Isle of Man which "she failed to provide details for". He said: "Her available assets we say are much greater than what we can actually establish. "The fact is she has been hiding assets that in itself really casts a shadow. "She sold a property in Spain for 110,000 Euros and we don't know what happened to the money. "As you know she is still in breach of a restraining order made on September 18, 2012 in which she was directed to repatriate those sums of money - she had never done it. "If you come to equity, you have to come with clean hands. "There has been no repayment of the monies obtained fraudulently which of course is part of the purpose of these proceedings to make sure public funds are not out of pocket in consequence to the activities of a fraudster. "As you know, this could have all been resolved some years ago had Miss Martinez chosen to repay the money." The court heard that Martinez had a successful acting, modelling and photographic career. Mitigating, Lisa Freeman said "assumptions" cannot be made on the extent of Martinez's wealth. She said: "It was accepted that Miss Martinez was sentenced on the basis that the application was not fraudulent from the outset. "It must mean that some of those monies, she was entitled to. "March 2010, that's the date she attributes there was a change in her circumstances of which the DWP should have been informed - that's when the two other benefits kicked in. "First period from 2008 to 2010, it was only income support. "The proposition that Miss Martinez has identified the source of those monies, and the source of those monies is prima facie not criminal." Judge William Hart said: "The particular criminal conduct figure uplifted by the application of the retail price index reduces the figure to 52,000. "That, I'm satisfied is a proper starting point as for deciding what her benefits had been. "Her claim that it was not dishonest from the outset, there is no actuarial evidence to substantiate that." A court previously heard that inspectors found she had "appeared in a Playboy film". Details of the film were not disclosed, but it was released on DVD. Martinez had a successful acting, modelling and photographic career and used an alias to send money to Spain in a bid to avoid detection. She had told benefit officials she was unable to work because of sickness. Martinez even went to the lengths of changing her name and sending money to Spain to avoid getting caught. She was given a confiscation order in the sum of 50,000, which she has three months to pay, under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. A judge ruled 2,100 will be deducted from the full amount and paid as compensation to Cheltenham Borough Council. She will also be forced to pay 8,050 in costs. If Martinez fails to pay 50,000 within three months she will be jailed for nine months. We have more newsletters Something went wrong, please try again later. Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Never miss the latest local news again by signing up to our Daily Newsletter The Prime Minister's move to call a General Election has been praised by Cheltenham's MP. Theresa May will go to the House of Commons today to win support for a vote on June 8. And according to Alex Chalk it is all about stability. He said in a post on his Facebook page: "This is a brave and decisive move by Theresa May. "Our country needs strong and stable leadership at a time like this. "Only by re-electing Theresa May as Prime Minister can that strength and stability be delivered." Pointing to his own record in Parliament, Mr Chalk he said the town's voice is being heard. "Just as importantly, it's vital that Cheltenham continues to have influence at the heart of government," he said. "I'm hugely proud of what has been achieved in such a short period. "For example, we won the race to be one of just two national cyber innovation centres and earlier this year we won a 22m investment for the next generation centre, which will turn our town into a centre of excellence, bringing jobs and opportunity locally. "We've gained increased resources for our local NHS in areas like peri-natal mental health and cancer treatment. "I'm proud too that Cheltenham is leading the national debate regarding the impact of social media on children's mental health, and we hosted the first ever Facebook Live event where Facebook execs came to Bournside to be quizzed about this vital issue." Something went wrong, please try again later. Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Never miss the latest local news again by signing up to our Daily Newsletter More Gloucestershire primary school children will learn about staying safe, thanks to a funding boost from a supermarket giant. The NSPCC and Lidl UK have announced a new 3million partnership which aims to keep children safe from abuse. Over the past year, there were 58 school visits in Gloucestershire, involving 9,624 pupils. But it wont stop there, with the NSPCC aiming to visit every primary school. In the Speak out and Stay Safe assemblies, pupils learn about the different forms of child abuse in an age appropriate and interactive way, how they can spot the signs and who they can talk to about any worries they may have. The partnership, which is the NSPCCs first with a major supermarket, was the result of a vote among 20,000 Lidl UK employees who work in its 650 stores and 11 distribution centres across the UK. Staff will be given the opportunity to volunteer with the NSPCC to see the work the charity does with children and teenagers first hand, and observe the Speak Out Stay Safe programme in person in a school. Peter Wanless, Chief executive of the NSPCC, said: We are delighted Lidl UK has chosen us as its charity partner. Their support means we will be able to train enough volunteers to deliver our schools service to every primary school in the UK, enabling us to reach one million children with crucial advice on how to stay safe and happy. This is especially important when you consider that two children in every classroom have suffered some form of abuse, a state of affairs that is completely unacceptable and cannot be allowed to continue. Lidls long-term commitment to support the NSPCC will help us tackle this problem and ensure many more young people are given the opportunity to enjoy a happy childhood. Christian Hartnagel, CEO of Lidl UK, added: We feel proud that we are in a position to give back to those local communities by enabling the NSPCC to expand its Schools Service to every primary school in the UK. This isnt just a commitment from the business, but one from all of our employees who voted for our new charity partner. We were all incredibly inspired by the work that the NSPCC does and, together, we are dedicated to helping them provide the vital support needed to keep children safe so that they can grow up healthy and thrive. Uber drivers are delivering Kroger groceries. Two Richmond-area Kroger stores at 3507 W. Cary St. in Carytown and at 7000 Tim Price Way in the Stonebridge shopping center in Chesterfield County are testing grocery home delivery service. The cost for the delivery service is $11.95, which includes the $4.95 ClickList fee. The delivery service began last Wednesday. Our customers dont always have the time to shop in store but still want to bring quality items into their homes and onto their tables, said Anne Jenkins, spokeswoman for the Kroger Mid-Atlantic division. For us, home delivery is the solution and a natural progression for ClickList. To use the service, customers log into ClickList and select one of the two stores participating in the pilot as their preferred store. They then see an option to select curbside pickup or home delivery. If they select home delivery, they type in their address to see if delivery is available. If it is, the customer selects a delivery time, proceeds to shop, places the order and pays online. Once an order is placed, a Kroger store employee sets up the delivery with Uber. There is no specific distance where deliveries are made. Rather, delivery zones are set up by ZIP codes, and Kroger has to be able to deliver in under 30 minutes for food safety reasons, said Jason Talerico, e-commerce specialist with Kroger Mid-Atlantic. Kroger is seeing how traffic patterns work, Talerico said. They are still tweaking that a little bit. Online payment is required for delivery, and customers must be home to accept groceries. Neither pharmacy prescriptions nor alcohol are eligible for delivery. The minimum lead time that we have right now is the same as we had for same-day pickup, Talerico said. Its still a four-hour lead time. Thats the minimum we need in order to make sure the order is selected and together. And the max that they can (order) is up to three days in advance. Kroger Co.-owned Harris Teeter grocery stores in Newport News, Norfolk and Virginia Beach began offering grocery delivery using Uber drivers earlier this year. Richmond and Dallas are the two test markets for the delivery service under the Kroger brand. Once we get out of this testing phase between Dallas and Richmond, theyll (Kroger) look at and see how successful it is and how hopefully we will be able to expand going forward, Talerico said. Uber is a ride-hailing service in which customers request and pay for rides using a mobile app. Uber drivers use their personal vehicles to provide transportation. Uber recently launched UberEats in the Richmond area, with Uber drivers delivering for restaurants. Were continuing to build technology that helps power delivery logistics for businesses to offer more convenience for their customers delivering what they need, when they need it, an Uber spokesperson said in a statement. Another recent update to the ClickList service is the rollout of online pay at select stores allowing a faster checkout time upon arriving to pick up groceries. In Richmond, five stores are testing online pay. Lawyers on both sides of a Missouri church-and-state case were set to argue Wednesday before the U.S. Supreme Court, despite debate about whether Gov. Eric Greitens' announcement that religious organizations should be allowed to apply for state resources had rendered the case moot.The court is scheduled to hear arguments on a case that began about recycled rubber but has morphed into a constitutional debate about whether state money can be used to aid religious organizations.Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Mo., applied for a state grant to get recycled rubber to resurface a playground.The state's Department of Natural Resources under previous Gov. Jay Nixon denied the church's application. The church sued, and the resultant legal arguments hinge on the constitutionality of the "Blaine Amendment" in place in Missouri and 37 other states that bars state resources from going to religious groups.Meanwhile, the entire Missouri attorney general's office on Tuesday recused itself from the case. That announcement by newly elected Attorney General Josh Hawley's office marked a day of legal maneuverings leading into the hearing of the highly anticipated case.On Wednesday, James Layton, former solicitor general under previous attorney general Chris Koster, will make the arguments on behalf of Missouri in the case of Trinity Lutheran vs. Pauley.The reason the case should go forward, John Sauer argued for Missouri, and David Cortman argued for the church, is that governors change and so do policies. But questions remain about the constitutionality of the state's position in Trinity Lutheran vs. Pauley, they said."It is the opinion of the attorney general's office that the recent change in policy does not render this case moot," Sauer wrote the court in a letter dated Monday. He is first assistant and solicitor in the office of attorney general. "This court has held that a defendant's voluntary cessation of challenged conduct moots a case only if it is absolutely clear the allegedly wrongful behavior could not reasonably be expected to recur."Cortman, representing Trinity Lutheran, said the court previously "made clear that 'a defendant's voluntary cessation of a challenged practice does not deprive a federal court of its power to determine the legality of the practice.' ""In sum," Cortman wrote the court in a letter hand-delivered and emailed Tuesday, "Governor Greitens' eleventh-hour policy change does not moot the case and this Court should proceed to a decision on the merits."However, the American Civil Liberties Union argued in its own letter to the court that Greitens' announcement put the state and the petitioners on the same side of the issue, negating any reasons to argue the case.It urged the court to dismiss or remand Trinity's case to a lower court of appeals."The state will now permit religious institutions to receive grants from the Department of Natural Resources. As a result, petitioner Trinity Lutheran Church has received all the substantive relief that it sought in its complaint. The case is therefore moot," ACLU lawyers Daniel and Richard Katskee wrote.Separation of church and state advocates say the Blaine Amendment, a 19th century act that was passed to prohibit public money from going to religious institutions, imposes impossible restrictions that amount to religious discrimination. The Blaine Amendment was widely adopted as a response to increased Catholic immigration to the United States.Hawley criticized the state's Blaine Amendment while running for his job last year. He recused himself from the Trinity case because he had performed work for Trinity Lutheran as a private attorney before taking office in January.Tuesday, after writing the letter to the court saying the case should continue, Sauer, Hawley's first assistant, issued a statement:"Last Thursday, Governor Greitens issued a directive prohibiting state agencies from denying public grants to religious groups on account of their religious nature," Sauer said. "Because the attorney general's office will be called upon to defend this new policy, the office has recused itself from any further participation in this case. ... Office recusal is now important to preserve the attorney general's ability to vigorously defend the governor's policy."Sauer said Layton "will represent the Department of Natural Resources going forward in this case and in the oral argument on Wednesday."In this arrangement, a former state official will be defending Missouri policies that the state's current governor, Greitens, has labeled "prejudiced" against religious organizations. Greitens announced last Thursday that Missouri's Department of Natural Resources would allow religious organizations to apply for and receive grants like the ones denied to Trinity under Nixon's administration."Before we came into office, government bureaucrats were under orders to deny grants to people of faith who wanted to do things like make community playgrounds for kids. That's just wrong," Greitens said in a statement.He said his announcement should not affect the case because it was not specifically directed at Trinity.The day after the governor's announcement, the Supreme Court's clerk asked both parties to submit their views on whether the case was affected by Greitens' announcement.Cortman offered veiled criticism of Greitens' entry into the process, even though Greitens' announcement tacitly backs Cortman's legal arguments against Missouri's claims."The governor's policy change comes late in the day, on the eve of oral argument, thus casting doubt on its permanence," Cortman wrote the court."A change in administration could readily lead to a resumption of the State's former policy of excluding churches from the Scrap Tire Program or the Governor could simply change his mind due to political pressure," Cortman continued. "The state briefed this case with a vigorous defense of the Department of Natural Resources ... and has defended the case on that basis for over four years."The ease with which the Department's policy was changed, the fact that it occurred only after an intervening election and change in administration, and the vigorous defense of the policy at all levels for the last four years make it impossible for the state to make it 'absolutely clear' that the former policy of excluding churches from the Scrap Tire Grant program will not be revived," Cortman wrote. "That is particularly true given the last-minute nature of the policy change."The Trinity case also is getting widespread attention as one of the first major arguments before a court that had been missing a justice for 14 months.For more than a year, politics kept the Republican-controlled Senate from filling the position left open after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. But Neil Gorsuch, the justice nominated by President Donald Trump and confirmed by a divided Senate, has become the ninth justice, filling the court. Tainted by former Massachusetts chemist Annie Dookhan, thousands of drug cases are set to be dismissed.Advocates for the dismissal of the tainted cases, including the ACLU of Massachusetts, said they expect it to become the "single largest dismissal of wrongful convictions in the nation's history."State district attorneys in seven Massachusetts counties on Tuesday were filing lists of drug cases they plan not to prosecute as a result of Dookhan's falsification and fabrication of evidence.The seven counties are Suffolk, Essex, Bristol, Middlesex, Plymouth, Norfolk and Cape & Islands.The moves set a legal precedent in the ongoing case of a separate state crime lab chemist, Sonja Farak, who potentially tainted thousands of drug cases in Western Massachusetts.Farak admitted to stealing cocaine she was tasked with testing. There is no current public list of Farak cases, advocates said.Dookhan worked at the Hinton State Laboratory, a state Department of Public Health drug-testing facility in Boston. Her job was to test substances seized by police, and when state officials uncovered her role in tainting the cases, Dookhan went to prison and was paroled in 2016.Around 95 percent of Dookhan cases are expected to be dismissed, according to the ACLU of Massachusetts. The organization had pushed for a blanket dismissal.The organization demanded five years ago the dismissal of the tainted cases. "That demand was ignored by district attorneys," said Carl Williams, the ACLU staff attorney.Prosecutors say they were proactive.But the ACLU and other organizations filed a lawsuit in 2014 on behalf of three individuals whose cases were tainted by Dookhan, which led to the state's Supreme Judicial Court in January ordering the district attorneys to make a lists of cases that should be dismissed and should be re-prosecuted. The number of cases for re-prosecution is expected to be small, around 500 or 600, according to the ACLU of Mass.Suffolk County, anchored by Boston, has a large number of the cases expected to be dismissed. The office of Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley said they are moving to dismiss the cases of 7,500 defendants and 15,570 drug convictions.Conley said in a statement that his office had already moved to release the defendants held on bail and serving sentences based just on Dookhan's analysis, and if there had been any evidence the other defendants had been innocent, they would "not have hesitated to dismiss the case outright.""Importantly, none of the defendants whose cases were dismissed today is serving a committed sentence solely on a Dookhan-related drug conviction," Conley's office said. "Few, if any, who were charged only with low-level, non-violent drug offenses served even a single day behind bars."But some of the people whose cases are being dismissed have already lost jobs and their homes, or have been deported, according to ACLU attorneys.And a $30 million reserve fund for handling the fallout from the Dookhan scandal has already been exhausted, they added.Conley's office is focusing its re-prosecution efforts on 117 defendants."The average defendant has more than 60 entries on his record," Conley said in his statement. "When given the opportunity for rehabilitation in a community setting, these defendants have violated probation an average of seven times each. They are neither low-level nor non-violent, and they stand at the intersection of drugs and violence."According to the Associated Press, Bristol County Thomas Quinn is moving to dismiss more than 1,500 cases and maintain 112 convictions.The Middlesex County District Attorney's office said they were dismissing all but nine remaining cases for re-prosecution. That comes out to 4,351 charges dismissed or approximately 3,000 defendants."These cases were identified in close collaboration with our local police departments and are Superior Court cases involving serious drug offenses, where sufficient independent evidence remains available for retesting," Marian Ryan, the district attorney, said in a statement.The numbers from the other counties were expected to come in late Tuesday afternoon. Gov. Larry Hogan signed a series of new laws Tuesday designed to make it easier to prosecute rape cases.The most sweeping is a "no means no" measure that removes a centuries-old requirement that rape victims demonstrate they tried to physically resist their assailants.In some jurisdictions, sex crime investigators sometimes disregarded rape cases as "unfounded" and not fit for prosecution when victims could not prove they tried to fight off an attacker.Another new law forbids police from destroying rape kits for at least 20 years, creating a statewide standard to replace what The Baltimore Sun revealed last year is a patchwork of local policies that could hamper prosecution.A third new law, which like the others takes effect in October, removes the distinction between vaginal rape and other types of sexual assault, a change its proponents say won't alter penalties but helps victims by making the law match people's everyday definition of rape.And yet another new measure, pushed by the governor, expands the definition of sexual abuse to include child sex traffickers."Our focus has been on victims," Hogan said before the bill signing ceremony in Annapolis.The sexual assault bills were among 211 newly passed laws to receive a final signature from Hogan, a Republican, and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and House Speaker Michael E. Busch, both Democrats.In addition to sexual assault bills, Hogan signed a law that would grant a bigger income tax break to an estimated 12,500 retired law enforcement, fire, rescue and emergency personnel who live in the state. The governor this year championed the proposal, which has been pushed by Montgomery County Democratic Del. Sheila Hixson since 2006. The new law will exempt up to $15,000 in retirement income for such "hometown heroes" 55 and older.The governor also signed a bill that would grant up to $500,000 statewide in tax breaks to small businesses that hire veterans.The new rape laws follow several high-profile assault cases nationally and a renewed political emphasis on women's rights, particularly among Democrats, advocates said."Women are reacting to the larger political climate, and women are watching," said Lisae C. Jordan, director of the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault.She said this year, she was inundated by calls and emails and social medial requests from people volunteering to help."They're not content making slow progress over time," Jordan said.Jordan and retired Judge Barbara Kerr Howewere tapped by Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamentz last fall to review three years worth of rape cases ruled "unfounded" after a BuzzFeed News report revealed the agency had a high rate of such cases. The report found Baltimore County investigators routinely set aside rape allegations because victims could not prove they tried to fight off their attacker.The independent review, released in February, found that none of the 124 "unfounded" cases from 2013-2015 could have been prosecuted under existing law. But about a third could have been prosecuted if Maryland's definition of rape was changed.Kamenentz, a Democrat mulling a run for governor, promised to change how rape cases are investigated in Baltimore County.A Baltimore Sun review of public records in December found police across the state left more than 3,500 rape kits untested. Some destroy them after a year if the case is deemed unfounded, though some never do.Under the new law, such forensic evidence must be kept for at least 20 years, and victims must be notified before they are destroyed.Speaking broadly, Hogan said in a statement that "making Maryland safer begins with making sure that we have a criminal justice system that holds offenders accountable for their actions and the harm they cause, while also supporting victims and the community in the process of healing."Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby attended the bill signing and said the "no means no" provision is "a major victory for all victims of sexual assault.""For far too long in Maryland, we've been promoting a sort of rape culture," Mosby said.The city police department's handling of rape cases was criticized by U.S. Department of Justice investigators in their report last August. Federal authorities said the department "seriously and systematically under-investigates reports of sexual assault."The consent decree approved by a judge this month addresses way the city handles sexual assault cases.One of the top priority for sexual assault advocates -- stripping rapists of parental rights to children conceived during the assault -- failed in the final hours of this year's session. But Miller, the Senate president, said Tuesday the measure should be brought up if the General Assembly convenes a special session on other matters.Maryland is one of 16 states without a law allowing rape victims to terminate the parental rights of their assailants. The bill has failed for nine years in a row as lawmakers disagree on technical legal details about how to strip parental rights from someone who has been accused but not convicted of a rape in criminal court.In recent years, disagreement has centered on whether the proceedings would be sealed, whether the identities of mother and child would be published, whether the alleged rapist would be entitled to a lawyer and whether anything said in the civil proceeding could be used in a criminal case. The annual legislative session adjourned last week before negotiators had reached agreement."It needs to be addressed in the next session or the special session," Miller said. Description GIS - 19 april 2017: China is reaching out to the world and is opening the global economy with innovative concepts and Mauritius salutes the Belt and Road initiative and is proud of its association with the Peoples Republic of China. The Prime Minister, Mr Pravind Jugnauth, made this statement this morning at the opening of a symposium on Enhancing Mauritius-China relations organised by the Embassy of the Peoples Republic of China in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade. Mr Jugnauth highlighted the strong economic and cultural partnership that Mauritius shares with China. He enumerated the various major projects that have changed the economic landscape of the country thanks to the support and collaboration of the Peoples Republic of China. China is a reliant partner for the development of the African continent, he said adding that Mauritius will continue to look to China as a privileged partner for future economic development, mostly in the sectors of tourism, trade and civil aviation. The symposium marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Mauritius and the Peoples Republic of China. A delegation from China led by the Vice-Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference National Committee, Dr Han Fangming, is participating in the symposium in partnership with Global Finance Mauritius. The following themes are the core of the symposium: Past and Future Mauritius Relations; the Belt and Road Initiative and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road; Mauritius as a bridge to route investment in Africa; and how Technology will influence business in Africa. Its no secret I am a huge fan of Mark43 . Ive gotten to know them over the last couple of years and have a ton of respect for their product, culture, and the impact they are having on the way policing is done in this country. The founding team was kind enough to take some time to talk about how they went from a class project to a juggernaut in the public safety space in a very short period of time. All three co-founders joined the interview.In the spring of 2012, Scott, Flo, and I were students at Harvard. We were all apart of the same business strategy class and were presented with a client and a specific problem. Our assignment was to recommend a strategy or solution to solve the specific problem.Lucky enough, the client was the Massachusetts State Police. Our professor, who was in the Reserves, had actually served with them in the Middle East. These Massachusetts State Police had been fighting insurgents in the Middle East, and they said, You know what? All these tactics that were using to fight insurgents, they could be used to fight violent gang members. These gang members behave very much like insurgents in the Middle East. So, they brought these tactics back and started deploying this new policing model in Springfield, MA.The new policing model was designed to target the gun and heroin trade along the East Coast. In Boston, its really hard to get firearms, but actually relatively easy to get opioids. In some places, like New Hampshire and elsewhere, its actually the opposite. Easier to get guns, more challenging to get opioids. Historically, police have applied the breaking down doors, physical approach to fighting the trade. The new model, however, was much more about engaging with community leaders, trying to reduce open-air drug dealing. Reducing the amount of graffiti thats been posted, or how long graffiti stays up.By the time they showed up in our class, they had seen some anecdotal success. People said, Oh, things feel safer. And things seem better. But their issue was that they didnt have any hard numbers to really understand if crime had gone down or changed in any meaningful way based on deploying this model.Our professor at the time volunteered our class to help. He told them, Ive got 12 kids, they can pretty much come into the field for this entire semester and learn about how crime has changed in the community and do some sort of analysis. So, we went in. Our group was part of the software group. We started out by building an application that did some basic analysis. However, as we started trying to collect all this data that would be used to inform our analysis, we realized that the software the police officers had was total garbage.You expect to see all of the crazy technology that you see on CSI but that doesnt exist. It doesnt exist in any way, shape or form. After seeing the garbage software, our professor was awesome and said, You guys run off in your own direction. Try to build them something that could help them out somehow, some way. So, we did that and Mark43 was born.The first problem that we were kind of trying to solve was this social networking problem, and not social networking in the way of Facebook and Twitter. More about how people communicate and how people know each other, and how you can use that to kind of inform police initiatives. Effectively trying to connect criminals through common networks.We had some success with that. We continued working on it after our junior year (of college), over the summer. Right before graduation, we won the presidents challenge, a entrepreneurship challenge across Harvard. And then simultaneously, right before graduation, we raised about $2.2 million from Spark Capital, General Catalyst, Lowercase Capital, and other small angel investors. The capital was intended to determine if there was a real need in the market, and to understand whether police officers could really benefit from an injection of new technology.From there we went out to Torrance, CA, and we were working with the Torrance Police Department. We would sit with the gang unit in their trailer in the back of the department and watch and observe everything. Then we would go back to our apartment, build a bunch of things, and come back and get feedback and then continue building out the application. This cycle went on for about five months.We had some real success there. It was exciting to see some crimes actually solved using the applications we had built. And I think thats kind of what got us excited to stay in the industry. I think thats ultimately what keeps us coming back.Scott was literally walking into a final our senior year and the Chiefs Special Assistant from Washington, D.C., called and said, Hey Scott, we heard that you guys have some technology that youre putting together. Wed like to see if it can fit into the quilt of technology that we have at DC, or fix some of the problems that were currently having. Scott said, How about in the Fall? Thats a good time for us to come out there. So we went out and in September we did the first demo for the Washington, D.C., police department. It was this networking application that we had been working on with the Massachusetts State Police and with Torrance, and they said, Okay, this is really cool. This is sexy. But what we really care about How do you submit the defense report? How do you write an arrest report? How do you do a traffic crash, or something like that?Yep. Thats the unit of work that police departments really need. What we learned right then and there was that these records management systems, those are the tier 1 applications that they need. The tier 2 stuff is all the analysis. The analysis is cool if you can do it, but you basically need the tier 2 things pulling great data from the tier 1 things. So we said, You know what, were kinda dismayed that we dont have this, and we still want to work with you guys. Well come back in a month, well show you how quickly and agile a software company can move, and we will build the basic features that you described here.So we went back to California, worked like crazy people for a month, and then went back in November and showed off this new application. The Chief said, You know what? You guys put your money where your mouth was, so lets kick this off officially.We designed it with an officer-focus in mind. After we signed on with D.C., we spent months on the streets with D.C. Metro Police officers. We went on hundreds of ride-alongs, working with detective units, records units, IT, to really figure out how to build an RMS for 2015. When we launched Washington, D.C., we launched over 10,000 users in one night, and it was instantly a success.And that sort of thing never happens in this business. These are super complex systems that are very hard to articulate well. Since launching in D.C. our product was able to reduce arrest reporting times by 50% and incident offense reporting times by 80%. Thats the equivalent of saving them 238,000 hours a year or the equivalent of adding 110 new patrol officers to the force.We want to become the complete public safety platform. We want a department to be able to use our system for all of their digital functions. They should be able to tie in any hardware that they want. That means working with systems for the courts, the prosecutors, the jails, and tying all that together. We want to give everyone a complete and accurate picture of the health of a city.I definitely would. I think the changes weve made in the design of the system are significant. The way they create their data and investigate cases is so different than whats currently done. What we found is that these old record management systems are pretty much replicating paper based processes. There was nothing designed for the digital age. Thats not how it should be working. What weve seen now is that when you actually rethink some of these things for the digital age, you can create a whole new category of record systems.Absolutely.Thats exactly it. We had to show the end users the value of actually getting the data into the system. We had to make it as easy as possible for them to just do their job. And for a lot of reasons, police officers were spending a ton of time writing paper reports or hand jamming data into an old legacy system five times in five different places. So, we designed something to get rid of those useless processes and just made the input process much easier for the officer.On my moms side, a lot of her family was in the NYPD and FDNY back in the 60s and 70s. From a young age, I think probably all of us were very much instilled with this kind of idea that our first responders are heroes, and that we need to do whatever we can to support them.And I think, speaking for Matt and for Flo, when we started getting to know the state troopers in Massachusetts, it became far more than just an interesting problem. It became a true mission for us in figuring out how we can help them.We actually have this conversation pretty often, especially when we are hiring new people. On a new hires first day we talk about our core values really understanding the stakes of our work. I love consumer applications as much as the next person. I use Snapchat, and Facebook, and Twitter, and those are all fun and I get a value out of them. But, if theres a bug pushed to somebodys timeline, or a bug in a filter on Instagram, its not going to be debilitating. Its not going to necessarily hurt somebody. But for us, if something gets pushed into our applications and isnt right, it can be catastrophic. For example, If our product were to delay a police car getting to the scene of a crime, thats serious. Thats really, really serious.Yeah, exactly. It requires the team to really understand the criticality of the stuff that were working on. And when they push code, where thats actually going. Its going to the hands of police officers in Camden, NJ, a city that has 6.5x the national violent crime average. Its serious stuff that people are dealing with.Yes, we have to be pretty careful about how we manage releases. Some agile startups in the consumer space will just push code as its ready, and if theres a bug, theyll pull it back and fix it up. We dont have that luxury. We have a rigorous process of two week releases where theres lots of QA involved. We actually go test the features on the clients data and make sure that everything is buttoned up. I dont think we could do business without it.To an extent. We just have to be more cautious. So if were doing data analytics, we want to be really sure that if were helping departments identify criminals, that the code is correct. Were building tools to help detectives or public safety do their work. Were not doing it for them.First, one thing in our favor is that the bar for police technology is so low. Which means the things that we have to do, at least at the outset, arent crazy to get done. The rule of thumb that we have been operating on is that were not necessarily doing any analysis thats telling police officers what to do. Its more about presenting the right information and giving them more contextual knowledge that they wouldnt have had otherwise. Enabling them to make the right decisions.Its not about us saying that the person is doing right or wrong. Were trying to present as much information as possible. The main issue of course is what we discussed at the beginning. So many of these systems have really poor data input functions. They have even worse data output functions. We think the ability to seamlessly input data into the system and then subsequently extract contextual knowledge out of the application is a key differentiating element for us.We have a voting process. Weve selected a constituent group of product managers, a representative from support, a representative from our client solutions team, and a representative from business development. People who represent a broad set of customer needs from different perspectives. Every product roadmap meeting, everybody gets a hundred points to distribute across features that you think are important. And by the end of that we have a collective discussion and debate, and then all buy into where we are headed.As you grow larger theres just a lot of organization and structure you need to put in place. On top of that changing structure, communication down to the rest of the employees gets way harder. You start thinking about things like, Whats the right management structure? What levels do we have in the company? Whats our cadence for our meetings? How many times do we meet with the managers, how do we meet with the directors, how do we work with them to message things to the team?I think every company should go through a lot of iterations on this kind of stuff, because if you dont get that right, if you dont make sure people are motivated, if you dont make sure that they have great mentorship, then the company wont have fantastic retention. Thats one of the things were really proud of at Mark43, our retention. I think that comes from working through the challenges of organizational structure.Its one of the main things we are working on right now, how do you get 100 people all moving in the same direction, pulling together and working as efficiently as possible. We had that same problem when we were three people, and the same problem when we were 20 people. The solutions to those problems are a little different at each level. With three people you have a chat, with 20 people you have an all hands, with 100 people you actually have some structure to disseminate that information.We try to hire quickly, but with quality, too. As the adage goes, you want to be quick to fire and slow to hire. Weve heard plenty of horror stories about bringing somebody on too quickly just because you need to fill the position. Thats a situation weve tried to avoid, and have pretty much done so up until this point.They have to care about the mission. Its hard work here. If you dont care about the mission, its going to create problems. Its very complex work. This is not a test features very rapidly, very fast, break things fast kind of place. Its mission critical. People here need to feel deeply connected to the officers and the mission. Its one of the things that I love about our team, people connect emotionally to the first responders we work with. And it makes them so much more effective at their jobs and so much more invested in the company.$40 million.I think weve raised a good amount. I think weve done a good job kind of spacing out the rounds and setting good criteria to raise the next round. This business will always be a very capital intensive business. When youre building big enterprise platforms for public safety, it takes significant capital. I dont have many regrets about how we raised money. We have phenomenal investors. We have people who are specialized in public safety, government, procurement, and most importantly, people who know how to grow a business. The composition of our investors is so good.I dont think theres any way we would have closed a deal like D.C. without the legitimacy that our venture investors bring. I dont think the client wouldve felt comfortable going with us without otherwise.Yep.Yeah. That helped us land D.C. and without them, we wouldnt be where we are. So, everything kind of came together. We owe a lot to the faith of Chief Cathy Lanier in D.C.Getting the D.C. agreement in place, without that everything looks much different. Subsequently, the D.C. launch had to go well. Literally, if that doesnt go well, the company is over. The client, our investors, our team looked at that as a binary point of failure. That launch had to go right. I need to say this about Chief Cathy Lanier; she is one of the best police chiefs in the country. And probably in history. The woman is incredibly forward thinking. She is smart, shes decisive, she knows how to run a department. When she made this choice it was considered to be a risky choice. And if we had failed during that deployment, it wouldnt have been good for anyone involved. But, it went great and here we are.One of the other big moments was the seed round. At that point, we really only had a proof of concept, at best. They trusted us and the capital gave us the ability to get going.Hiring the wrong people. The most important hire we made early on was a great VP of Engineering. We looked at almost 100 candidates who were well-qualified. But, we never settled. Even though we had this pressure from D.C. Metro Police, and at the time literally didnt have the team to build it out. We still waited a long time to get the right VP of Engineering. I think a lot of founders will rush to hire people. Especially engineers. If you rush to hire it effects everything.Another thing I would add, is people say, Oh, itd be fun to start a company. It would be fun to build a company and have the startup lifestyle.Until youre sure that you either have funding or your product has legs, theres a ton of stuff that you can do on nights and weekends, to prove out the concept. We were lucky in a way because we were still in school when we started the company. We had a bit of a safety net in school and really nothing else to think about besides school and this company. I think understanding timing around starting a company is super important.One of the big mistakes we made early on was just underestimating the complexity of the systems we were trying to replace for D.C. We had this concept of an MVP, and that just doesnt hold up in public safety. Our clients are used to having a really, really wide swath of functionality. Even if none of its very good, its all pretty shallow, but theyre used to having it all.The challenge for us was finding all those different user groups that use the application in different ways and do different things and making sure that we can actually satisfy their needs. Then building a proper product around all of those use cases. We could have done more investigation up front.My biggest piece of advice is be respectful and humble with your clients. These people are the experts. Theyre the knowledge base. You need to be able to leverage them, especially if youre not coming from government. One of the biggest problems I see with young founders in this space is an arrogance that they can do no wrong. That just doesnt fly in this space. When youre dealing with 20 year veteran that is a subject-matter expert, you have to respect that.I would say that the sales cycle can be long and procurement is interesting, but the more unique product you have, the easier it is to sell. I think that the industry perception that sales take so long is simply that its undifferentiated market. I think that one of the best things you can do is build a unique enough product that no one else can replicate it, which results in the sales cycle actually getting shorter.I agree with that statement. A better product will accelerate the sales cycle. Its a lot easier for a purchasing entity to be enthusiastic and excited about a product that they know is going to make a measurable difference. I do want to go back to that point that you made about a customer base thats uninformed. I agree with that assertion. Its not incumbent upon the customer base to make themselves more informed. Its incumbent on the vendors. Theres not a lot of vendors in the government space trying to educate their customers.I think its really dependent on your investors. I think all of our investors are in this for the long game. They see the long-term opportunity here is so massive, that the market is so ripe for disruption. Its very attractive long-term opportunity for them. But, you really have to have the right investors.I think its important to have investors who have been successful. They understand how to build a successful company and they have the processes in place. Our investors have been the absolute best partners.The product roadmap is locked in for at least a quarter. Its loosely planned out for over a year. You have to be flexible on your roadmap. Its really your client building out your roadmap beyond the immediate priorities.On the financial side, we try to plan out a year. Thats really as much as you can predict at this scale of a startup. At some point well try predict it out multiple years in advance. But predicting out a year, is the most honest way to do it, anyone who tells you predict more than a year in a startup is bullshitting you.You dont want to be operating with only a week of vision, but you have to be agile. You dont want to constantly be redesigning the plan.You have to find a way to create a groundswell of support inside of the department. You have to find a way to captivate other people that you work with. Lean on the vendor, ask them to do presentations to more people. You have to find other people internally to support you. Industries of the Future by Alec Ross. Its fantastic. The Netflix Culture Deck. Thats been formative for me, I read that often. Cincinnati City Manager Harry Black will tell you in no uncertain terms that his mission to make city government run smarter has been working. Shortly after taking the reins as the citys chief administrator in September 2014, Black, with the backing of the mayor and council, began to build a data analytics and performance monitoring framework into the fabric of daily operations.Now, some three years on in this process, he has released a retrospective paper on the methodologies behind the efforts and just what they have meant to Cincinnati government. The paper, published April 18, is, as Black detailed, a look how the municipal government went from missing opportunities for public service to improving efficiencies and holding departments accountable.And Black said the Cincinnati story differs from many others trying to make a go of measured governing. The support of the mayor and council in moral and budgetary matters has made all the difference in effectively breaking down the stovepipes of city operations.The supposition is that the Cincinnati performance management story is unique based on our approach and methodology, the city manager told. A lot of places, you might have an innovation lab and that is it. You could have a [statistics] process, but it may not talk or relate back to the [innovation lab] process. Its a stovepipe approach.The support of city leaders also allowed for the restructuring and integration of new city functions that took the form of the CincyStat , the Innovation Lab within the Office of Performance and Data Analytics Metrics-based performance agreements with all city department heads ensure accountability to the overarching mission and timely identification of deficiencies. We have moved away from level of effort management orientation to a performance and outcomes orientation to everything that we do, Black said.In addition, the charge of and strategy behind the office is tied directly to the city budget to make sure the appropriate funding is provided to the various initiatives.The bottom line is that we are able to provide service better and faster and in a more transparent way for our customers.The result of these efforts has been substantial, according to Black. Where once departments like public works grappled with substantial work request backlogs, personnel are better equipped and better able to address issues in shorter order.We went from what might have taken 30 or 40 days to turn a request around on average to maybe six days today, Black explained. Were generating significant cost savings of at least $4 million since the inception of the program. Were looking at cost avoidance, and were looking at significant productivity efficiencies.Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld, who identifies as the tech-focused council member, said the way the city has been doing business should be the norm in 2017 a time when data analytics and openness are more accessible than ever.As he sees it, local government should follow the lead of the private sector when it comes to embracing more efficient tools.Too often in government, there is this sense that it is acceptable for there to be a gulf between how we do things in the public side and how a tech company in California might do things, I dont buy that and I dont think it needs to be that way, Sittenfeld said. We need to be making decisions with maximum transparency and maximum visibility, and we increasingly live in an age where we have the tools to do that. Roughly five years after its online debut, the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF) has updated and dramatically expanded a mapping application that tracks food-related data, services, initiatives and institutions throughout Maryland.The center, which works with students, educators, researchers, policymakers and advocates to build a healthier, more equitable and resilient food system, launched the new Maryland Food System Map on April 12.The result of a collaboration with Web and mobile map builder Blue Raster , a business partner of Redlands, Calif.-based Esri , the new map took around a year to develop, and its impact isnt yet clear. Neither is its cost. But in terms of size, data aggregation and versatility, the multilayered site is an exponential step forward.The map it replaced had generated a significant following among researchers, advocates and government officials and averaged more than 8,200 users per year. But half a decade later, its age and technology were showing.Searches that could have been virtually instantaneous took minutes to complete, according to Kevin McMaster, senior project manager at Blue Raster, who noted: Unless youre a very dedicated researcher, youre probably not going to wait that long.In addition, Google Chrome has begun restricting older Flex-based applications like this one and while it only hosted around 30 data indicators, adding more further slowed it down. In the old maps final months, McMaster said, some of its existing functionalities had begun to fail.The biggest part was it was becoming difficult to maintain the older applications as things were starting to break, he said, noting that the print function didnt always work.As its grasp diminished and the limits of its reach became clear, CLF Program Officer Caitlin Fisher, the manager of the map, said the organization also realized that finding and downloading data from the old site wasnt always easy and that once shared, broken links were not uncommon.The solution involved a redesign powered by modern JavaScript and HTML, using ArcGIS Desktop to gather and consolidate data into one service, and ArcGIS Online as part of its open data framework solution. Blue Raster also used Esris new Vector tiled Basemaps to enable smoother searchability that can zoom and label data dynamically; and its Open Data framework to make data more discoverable and useable in outside maps and analyses.Consolidating data let the app reach all information streams with one call-up when it opens instead of making multiple call-ups and identifying layers through keyword tags eliminated broken links.Using this type of data to unify those food deserts or gap analysis studies, thats one of the driving forces of this application, McMaster said. I live in Maryland. It was really exciting working with a locally based organization. The website also was transitioned to a more secure HTTPS Web address.The application is much faster than the previous version, and its also mobile friendly and responsive. That was a priority for us, to make sure the mapping function could be accessed and used on mobile devices, Fisher said.Other CLF priorities included expanding the search function to include keywords and letting users share the URLs for maps they created.The new maps arrival is so recent that even dedicated users havent fully explored it yet but Maryland Food Bank Chief External Affairs Officer Meg Kimmel said it has tremendous value in a coverage area -- all but two of the state's counties -- where 491,000 people are considered food insecure, meaning they have irregular or unequal access to nutritious food on a continuous basis.I think the functionality is greatly improved, the user experience is terrific, its a beautiful product and the number of data sets they have available on this map is commendable, said Kimmel, whose organization worked closely with CLF to populate a custom overlay on the maps old version with data showing where and how the Maryland Food Bank distributes.That overlay will continue to be available on the new map, said Kimmel, who praised CLF for other newly expanded indicators showing food desert areas not just in Baltimore but statewide.Theres nothing else out there," she said. "I hope the general public is using it because I think its a really valuable piece of information."Overall, the redesign gave CLF the ability to realize the websites potential, showing all available data and helping it identify and fill gaps in coverage. Now, maps display a spectrum of data across 10 categories including Food Retail, which documents everything from the extent of the Baltimore-area food desert to the locations of supermarkets and take-out and fast-food restaurants. Farmers markets appear under Alternative Food Retail, while oyster sanctuaries and public shellfish areas are charted under Aquaculture.Schools, hospitals, universities and colleges are listed and mapped under Institutions; mortality, heart disease, diabetes and obesity rates are located under Health; and free and reduced-price school meals, food pantry and free meal sites are cataloged under Nutrition Assistance. Under Projects, maps feature everything from urban farms to mobile markets to an interactive story map about the Baltimore Orchard Project.The entire site is now searchable via a smartphone, making it a potential boon to Maryland residents who can use it to instantly look for markets, restaurants and hospitals by area or address.But Fisher said CLF is hopeful the new maps increased functionality and hundred more data streams will also stimulate development by advocates, nonprofits, governments and communities to make a difference in the lives of residents. The center will likely spend the next year working with different groups to educate them about the map's powerful new tools.What we hope to have happen is that our users are able to use that information to create policies and programs grounded in data, and better understand what the public food system looks like, and its connection to public health and the environment, she said. Surprise Ballmer is my favorite Ballmer https://t.co/sUUDTjs9kX Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) April 18, 2017 Retired Microsoft CEO Steven Ballmer has been keeping busy these past few years, and now the world can see just what hes been working on: Today, April 18, Ballmer and his team unveiled the public USAFacts database . Perhaps the first collection of its kind, the site is a nonpartisan project by top economists and educators to paints a fuller picture of government spending at all levels.The goal was to gather enough data to create a government version of a Form 10-K, an annual report that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission requires companies to submit to share a comprehensive summary of its financial performance.You know, when I really wanted to understand in depth what a company was doing, Amazon or Apple, Id get their 10-K and read it, he said in an interview with. Its wonky, its this, its that, but its the greatest depth youre going to get, and its accurate.So far, many have taken to social media to praise this effort in the uncertain times of fake news and government transparency issues.The fledgling database features clearly labeled and supported numbers, outlining the spending and revenue in the local, state and federal governments. The data covers everything from general population demographics to the specifics of things like the Disability Insurance Fund. (TNS) -- A look at Bloomington's race for fiber infrastructure:Sunday: IU experts provide a technical look at fiber how it works and why we want it.Monday: Internet providers share their service plans for the city.Today: Technology and business leaders explain the importance of fiber.Wednesday: Mayor John Hamilton discusses his plans for a citywide network.A Bloomington-wide fiber network would benefit the real estate, business and technology industries, according to leaders of each sector.Each has its own idea of what benefits a citywide fiber network might have in store for economic and residential development. Whether its an expectation or an essential, the general consensus is one of change.If we had fiber, I would say we would be one of the few towns in the country let alone Indiana that would have the whole town wired, said Mike Trotzke, co-founder of SproutBox and CEO of CheddarGetter, two local tech-based companies. Thats huge in the tech industry. That home connectivity and speed equals productivity, and thats significant and meaningful for tech companies.Trotzke outlined some of the technical benefits of such a system, noting how fiber can provide symmetrical upload and download speeds that allow tech startups to give as much as they demand; how fiber responds to the growing trend of telecommuting employees; and how ubiquitous broadband gives employees parallel service between work and home.Trotzke said he supported the citys partnership with Canadian fiber infrastructure provider Axia because of its company policies.He said the company, which has international experience, brings both expertise and a push for universal coverage to its broadband projects. Trotzke believes Axia will want to make sure Bloomington is a shining example, since it will be the companys first project of its kind in the United States. Axia built a version of a citywide fiber network in Massachusetts.Mayor John Hamilton gave Axia a three-week extension for its engineering feasibility study deadline. That study is now due to be released Friday and is expected to provide cost estimates, a map and a statement as to whether Axia will go through with the multimillion-dollar project.Should Axia pull out, Trotzke is still optimistic.Even if this entire thing fails, were already seeing the benefit here, Trotzke said, noting Comcast and AT&Ts recent efforts at marketing gigabit speed internet in Bloomington. The only reason theyre pushing those services here is because were ahead of other markets.According to Lynn Coyne, president of the Bloomington Economic Development Corp., Bloomingtons status relative to other communities isnt a matter of they win, we lose, or vice versa. Instead, Coyne said, a fiber infrastructure will allow Bloomington to take advantage of its own opportunities.Access to high-speed fiber enables many things, and unless youve actually used it, you may not know youre missing it. Thats part of the problem, Coyne said. Part of it is an awareness of the advantages it brings, and how it can be used. Its moving forward every aspect of a communitys well-being.Coyne listed businesses in the advanced manufacturing, software and life sciences development sectors as each having their own interest in a fully fiber-wired city. Others cited businesses in data analytics, medical teleconferencing, robotics, augmented and virtual reality, telecommuting, fulfillment centers and many other areas as benefiting from such an infrastructure.In modern economic development, a robust broadband infrastructure is an essential component, Coyne said. So much of what is going on in commerce today is driven through the internet. A high-capacity broadband fiber infrastructure is an enabler of economic development.Non-business uses might mean easier access to educational resources in an increasingly digital classroom, or real-time video conferencing with a physician.Those things are going to make day-to-day life better, and less expensive, Coyne said.To Jeb Conrad, president and CEO of the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce, a ubiquitous fiber infrastructure is a way to efficiently take advantage of whats already available in the city.We dont have a workforce of 1.5 million to pull from like (Indianapolis), but our universities generate that workforce, Conrad said. I think (fiber) is an opportunity to capture a portion of the student population who really enjoy the environment here. We currently dont have enough opportunities to do that.Conrad added most of the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerces members are happy with their ability to get the internet speeds and capacity they need, but said fiber will serve as a marketing gem for new business development.Theyre glad the option being considered by the city is a private investment infrastructure versus a public infrastructure, Conrad said. That seems to be a relief to the business community, to not be under a government entity.Luckily, according to Jim Regester, owner/broker of Re/Max Realty Professionals, office space is the most plentiful type of space available in Bloomington especially when compared with industrial and retail commercial properties. That should be ideal for tech-based companies, dependent upon a few factors.Smithville and Comcast and AT&T have been able to meet the needs of business, to a certain degree, depending on location, Regester said. One issue, historically, has been if a facility doesnt have it (fiber) in the building already or its a bit of a distance away, the user bears that cost of extending the private entitys infrastructure, which can be a barrier. In todays market, if they dont have fiber, they write off that location, and that can affect the occupancy rate of commercial spaces as well as the employment rates of the community.Regester said citywide fiber coverage with space near downtown amenities would put Bloomington in an extremely competitive position to field opportunities and be a bit selective.He said a vibrant downtown is also attractive to workers, which influences where companies locate.Eventually the (downtown) Trades District will fill up and well see redevelopment along the B-Line (Trail) continue, so its critical to think out not just 10 or 20 years, but 50 years so we dont diminish the potential of our future with this infrastructure, Regester said.Jeff Franklin, a Realtor with F.C. Tucker, said employees look for complementary supports within a community, such as the draw of a relatively low cost of living and a university.Especially with an educated population, fiber is absolutely paramount to anyone who has to be connected to the computer, Franklin said. It would be like telling someone they couldnt have access to a cellphone or a landline; its like oxygen for someone who works from home. It becomes a nonstarter. We dont even see a house if its not available. In my business, its a process of elimination. If theyre going down a checklist of different municipalities, theyre going backward and checking off the boxes. You look for reasons for them to say yes and not reasons for them to say no.At times, Franklin said, a fiber internet connection isnt just a benefit; its expected.A lot of my clients move from other university cities. Oftentimes theyre from larger places, like Portland or Austin, and they have certain expectations associated with a major university, Franklin said. This is probably going to be something as vital as running water and electricity. Because of the different programs at (Indiana University) that rely on this, I think its an expectation, and the more we get ahead of that, the better. Require dispensers to notify the state Department of Health and Senior Services (HSS) within 24 hours of filling a prescription, either electronically or by paper. Require collection of information about patients prescriptions including quantity, dosage and whether a prescription is new or a refill; as well as patients names, addresses, dates of birth and an identification number, which could include a drivers license number, or government or insurance ID number. Keep all prescription information confidential and not subject to public disclosure, with specified exceptions. Make unlawfully and knowingly accessing or disclosing private information regardless of whether a person is authorized to handle such information a Class E felony. Fine dispensers $1,000 for failing to notify HSS that a prescription has been filled, or for providing incorrect information. Require HSS to notify authorities if it believes the law has been violated or professional standards breached. Keep dispensation information from being used to deny anyone the right to get or own a firearm. Less than two months remain in the legislative session, but some who are familiar with the wrangling over an online Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) say local pressure could finally force Missouri lawmakers to create statewide tracking similar to those used in 49 other states Missouri lawmakers have debated a state PDMP for around 12 years, differing most seriously on privacy: who would have access to patients private medical information and under what circumstances.This year, Rep. Holly Rehder, R-Sikeston, introduced House Bill 90 to enact the Narcotics Control Act, which she told Government Technology would give medical professionals the information they need to accurately prescribe.Meanwhile, state Sen. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, sponsored Senate Bill 74, the Prescription Drug Monitoring Act, which he toldwould restrict sensitive data to a handful of people.On Tuesday, April 4, Schaaf who had filibustered against Rehders bill in previous years said he would drop his opposition provided the bill is amended with a provision that physicians be required to use the database.I am simply asking, since this is designed to help break the scourge of addiction and because it cannot help if it is not used, that it include a provision that it be the standard of care to use it before prescribing a controlled substance, Schaaf said in The Missouri Times After about four hours of concerted debate, Rehders bill cleared the state Senate on Thursday, April 13 headed back to the House, where it will likely undergo review by a Conference Committee comprising House and Senate members. Both chambers are expected to have to vote on it again to pass it before adjourning May 30.But this year as never before, local agencies six cities and 12 counties including St. Louis, the states largest have already taken the law into their own hands and are creating their own PDMP. St. Louis County , which spans more than 500 square miles and is home to around 1 million people, will go live on Tuesday, April 25, with the first phase of its PDMP, with second and third phases scheduled to be approved by local legislation and go live on July 1 and Oct. 1, respectively.A total of 17 other agencies are participating with St. Louis County as subscribers, meaning they have passed their own local legislation and user agreements to join. These include the cities of St. Louis, Kansas City and Columbia; and the counties of Lincoln, Cole and Stoddard.St. Louis Countys ordinance commits to monitoring prescribing and dispensing of schedule II-IV controlled substances with the goals of improving prescribing, identifying high-risk patients and reducing the number of people who misuse, abuse or overdose.The county selected Appriss Inc., a major PDMP provider to other states, to stand up its program at an estimated cost of $320,000, Sarah Patrick, deputy director for St. Louis County's Department of Public Health, toldearlier this year.Similar to the bills advanced by Rehder and Schaaf, the countys database would require reporting parties and members of the medical community to prove who they are before granting access, while law enforcement would need a subpoena and be working on an active case.Rehder toldlocal momentum behind a county-level PDMP has given her bill more momentum than Schaaf stepping aside, pointing out that the counties combined represent around 53 percent of the states population.If the Legislature passes HB 90, she said it would set the stage for the state to simply assume the Appriss contract and continue the program already in place at a cost of around $1 million per year. Some of that, she said, could likely be funded by federal grants.I think that the main push has been that the counties are passing this. Regardless were going to have a PDMP across this state. I just think its Which one do you think is the best version and where is the best place for it to be kept? And I would argue the state is the best place for it to be kept, said Rehder, whose family members have battled addiction.St. Louis County Council member Dr. Sam Page, who testified to the state Senate earlier this year in support of Rehders bill, agreed.I think the main point is that were going to have a PDMP in Missouri either through a network of counties or through a state bill and its going to happen this year, Page said. This is one of the most important tools you can have to make good decisions on how to treat patients who are in pain or may have addiction problems.Among its provisions, HB 90 would:The state Senate approved amendments including a mandatory data purge every 180 days to preserve privacy; a six-year sunset; and, according to, only requiring medical professionals to report opioids and benzodiazepine drugs like Xanax.Rehder said she thinks the debate and amendments show several state senators involved dont understand addiction.We need to address addiction, we need to address the root of the problem not on the back end when were putting people in jail, the babies are being removed from the home. Its a bit short-sighted, she said.Page said the House will be difficult to sell on an amendment that focuses on opioids and benzodiazepines, but described the state bill as having a lot of momentum. (TNS) -- The Louisiana State Police Crime Lab is preparing to expand its criminal DNA testing to include a controversial technique known as familial searching, a tool that could breathe new life into aging cold cases by identifying close relatives of suspects.Louisiana intends to join a growing list of states that over the past decade have cautiously adopted the technique, which has been hailed by detectives as a potential game-changer in solving crimes but has been assailed by critics as ethically and legally questionable.The testing, at least initially, will be reserved for the most violent cases, including killings and sexual assaults, in which DNA was collected from a crime scene but failed to match any of the millions of genetic profiles in the national criminal database.Joanie Brocato, the State Police lab's DNA manager, said officials hope to acquire software that will allow analysts to scan the database for promising "partial matches," or profiles that share several genetic markers with a suspect.The analysis focuses on the Y-chromosome, which is passed down along the male line, potentially leading investigators to a perpetrator's father, brother or son."It's really about benefiting victims and law enforcement," Brocato said in an interview at the Baton Rouge lab. "Our hope is that we'll have it up and running this year."State officials apparently have concluded that no new legislation is required for the crime lab to begin familial DNA searching. But last week, state Rep. Helena Moreno, D-New Orleans, introduced a resolution that would direct the lab to study and make recommendations on implementing the testing, citing its potential to resolve cold cases and exonerate the wrongfully convicted.Moreno said she was approached by a rape victim whose assailant has not been identified through traditional DNA testing because his genetic profile was not found in the FBI's Combined DNA Index System, the national criminal database known as CODIS.Moreno said the victim was interested in familial searching and hoped it would provide new leads to solving her case."When you're talking about catching rapists, it's not like they do this one time," Moreno said. "If they're not identified and captured, they're still out there and they're going to do it again."Although proponents tout the crime-solving potential of familial DNA searching, the method has raised a host of privacy concerns in the jurisdictions that have implemented it. The testing can be invasive, critics charge, and in some cases, it may run afoul of Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure.Familial searching differs significantly from traditional DNA testing in that, rather than directly identifying a suspect, investigators work backward to develop new leads, examining a series of partial matches, or profiles that share a number of common alleles, meaning forms in which a gene for a specific trait can occur.The testing generates a list of candidates whose DNA rules them out as a suspect but at the same time indicates they may be closely related to the person who committed the crime.The technique was first employed by law enforcement agencies in Great Britain, where authorities used it to crack a 2003 case in which a man threw a brick through the windshield of a moving car, causing the driver to suffer a fatal heart attack.Investigators found DNA on the brick but no genetic match for it in a national database of criminals. Rather, they compiled some two dozen similar genetic profiles, including that of the suspect's brother, the closest partial match, and ultimately elicited a confession from the brick thrower.The best known use of the testing in the United States is the case of Lonnie Franklin, a serial killer known as the " Grim Sleeper " who was sentenced to death last year for killing nine women and a teenage girl in California. In that case, investigators identified strong similarities between crime scene evidence and the DNA of Franklin's son, who had been convicted of a felony weapons charge."We know crime runs in families. That's the reality," said Rock Harmon, a former prosecutor in Alameda County, California, who is an outspoken proponent of familial searching. "You're looking at criminal history, geography and trying to focus on which of the family members you can then investigate."Louisiana, in particular, could benefit from familial searching due to its "incredible number of connected, unsolved homicides," especially involving women, Harmon said.Among other cases, he pointed to a string of 10 unsolved strangling and beating deaths in Baton Rouge between 1996 and 2002, several of which occurred within a mile of North Street Park."Nobody's ever advocated doing familial searching on each and every case," Harmon added. "You're picking the high-end cases."But critics caution that familial searching expands DNA testing far beyond the function envisioned by jurisdictions that compel criminal defendants to submit DNA samples.Not only does the technology raise privacy concerns, but it could be misused in the absence of clearly defined guidelines, said Erin Murphy, a professor at the New York University School of Law who has written extensively about the technique.Many states lack formal rules for the use of familial searching by law enforcement."I think the chief concern is that it will put people under police suspicion causing police to investigate people's lives and livelihoods in ways that might be disruptive on the basis of imprecise genetic information," Murphy said. "People who otherwise would have no reason to be swept up into an investigation will now be the subject of an investigation simply because of this guess on genetics."As a cautionary tale, Murphy pointed to the case of a New Orleans filmmaker, Michael Usry Jr., whose DNA ultimately cleared him as a suspect in the 1996 killing of a girl in Idaho. Authorities there, after scanning a private DNA database and obtaining a court order for its contents, identified Usry's father as an exceptionally strong partial match to a semen sample left at the crime scene, indicating a close family member of his likely was the suspect.Investigators ultimately tested Usry's DNA and determined he was not, in fact, the killer, but not before he was misled and interrogated by law enforcement in an ordeal he recounted in detail to The Advocate in 2015.Brocato, the manager of the State Police crime lab, said a number of steps need to be taken before the lab is equipped to perform familial DNA searching. Aside from acquiring the software, it intends to begin drafting and implementing a series of policies and procedures governing its use."The other piece of all this would be a tremendous training effort that would have to take place," Brocato said, referring to law enforcement officials who communicate with the lab.Local detectives are accustomed to receiving notifications from the lab that a piece of forensic evidence has matched a DNA profile of a known criminal. But familial searching is an altogether different approach to solving crime."In this case, we'd be calling with the name of a potential biological relative of a perpetrator," Brocato said. (TNS) -- UTICA, N.Y. Millions of people use social media to keep in contact with loved ones and keep them updated on changes in their lives.When those same people use sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to discuss crimes they've committed or, in rare cases, stream them live it can be a boon and a headache for law enforcement.Oneida County District Attorney Scott McNamara said local law enforcement is lucky that it hasn't seen any cases similar to Sunday's killing of 74-year-old Robert Godwin Sr. by Steve Stephens in Cleveland, which was recorded and posted to Facebook. But McNamara noted that social media is "definitely" part of the office's investigations. In the Cleveland case, Stephens killed himself Tuesday after a car chase with Pennsylvania authorities.In cases involving illegal gun possession, for example, investigators have come across Facebook photos of defendants posing with the weapon in question a "surprising" amount of times, he said. Additionally, McNamara said a defendant's own words concerning alleged crimes can be an advantage to prosecutors in court or could be potentially used to exonerate defendants."It's very, very valuable," McNamara said. "Typically what happens after someone is arrested is that they try to come up with a story or a version of facts that's beneficial to them. What we try to show is that what they claimed took place actually didn't. Historical Facebook posts are an advantage."In one example of a local case that heavily featured social media, a 41-year-old Ilion man faced state and federal charges last year after he posed as a teenager online in order to solicit nude photos from his 14-year-old daughter. He eventually was sentenced to 26 years in state prison.The Observer-Dispatch is not naming the father to protect the identity of the victim. Herkimer County District Attorney Jeff Carpenter could not be reached for comment on the case.As part of court proceedings, the father admitted to creating an online persona of a 16-year-old from Watertown in order to start a relationship with the girl and pressure her into sending compromising photos. Eventually, his conduct escalated to sexual assault.Evidence used by law enforcement included pages of online conversations between the victim and her father as well as the photos he pressured her into sending.But social media isn't always an advantage to law enforcement, McNamara said.The department has run into situations where a victim who was previously unaware of the identity of the perpetrator will track down the suspect on Facebook and inform law enforcement of their find. McNamara said that adds a "whole new level of complications" to eyewitness identification procedures, given that police aren't involved and it could be questioned by the defense in court."It's an interesting change we never had to deal with," he said. Felipe Massa has called a close to the latest controversy surrounding Max Verstappen. In Bahrain, the Dutch teenager hit out at Brazil as a nation following a qualifying run-in with Felipe Massa. Massa responded angrily, and the Red Bull driver duly apologised via social media. When asked about the apology, Massa said on Tuesday: "To tell the truth, he was hot headed and said things he should not have. "But I get along really well with him, I have no problems with him and to be honest, I was only playing with him," Massa is quoted by Brazil's Globo. "And I think he understood, because he apologised and that's the way it should have gone. He's a cool guy, a great driver and I'm sure with age, he's going to get better," the Williams driver added. (GMM) Force India boss Vijay Mallya was arrested in London on Tuesday. The news follows the Indian government's attempts to have the former billionaire extradited on corruption and fraud charges relating to huge debts. India's Hindustan Times newspaper claims the 61-year-old was bailed on a 650,000 pound bond "within hours". An Indian politician was quoted as saying: "Will it take another dozen years, 15 years, 30 years or our entire lifetime before Mallya is brought back?" (GMM) GREENSBORO Theres a new twist in the legal struggles of the former First Family of local auto sales: Robert Bobby Dunn Jr. has countersued his father, Robert Bob Dunn Sr. In a suit filed earlier this month in N.C. Business Court, Bobby Dunn says his father owes him millions after taking more than his share from various family businesses. It also says Bob Dunn knew about and even encouraged the familys practice of moving money between companies to cover up financial irregularities, mismanagement and Bob Dunns personal loans. The suit doesnt outline how much Bobby Dunn wants. Demanding the money he is due is something Bobby Dunn never wanted to happen and avoided for nearly 30 years, according to his attorney, Amiel Rossabi of Rossabi Reardon Klein Spivey. Bobby always held back from doing what he had to do, Rossabi said. He loves his dad. He appreciates his dad. He respects his dad. The countersuit is a response to a $4.3 million suit Bob Dunn filed in January, also in N.C. Business Court. It accuses Bobby Dunn of mismanagement and fraud, including taking more than $1 million from Bob Dunn Hyundai from 2013 to 2015. Bobby Dunn denies those claims in his countersuit. Bob Dunn and, later, Bobby Dunn gained wide-spread notoriety in the Triad for their colorful TV commerials for Fords, Subarus, Hondas and Hyundais. They always ended with the catchphrase Were dealin! The Dunn Automotive Group at one time owned dealerships in Raleigh, Boone and Greensboro, including Bob Dunn Hyundai. In 2000, Bob Dunn started to transition away from running the company and into retirement in Florida, where he continues to live. Bobby Dunn was vice president from 1998 to 2002, when he took over for his father as president and chief operating officer. He owned 25 percent of the business, and his father owned the rest. They sold the company in 2015 to Raleigh-based Capital Automotive Group for $5 million. According to the filing, Bobby Dunn says he found a buyer willing to pay $2 million more than Capital. The offer came from a well established Triad-area auto dealer who had both the actual intent and the ability to make the purchase, it says. His father rejected the offer out of hand, the filing says. Rossabi declined Tuesday to name the dealership. Bobby Dunn also says his father borrowed $1.9 million, interest-free, from the company in 1993 to pay for his divorce from his second wife. For 17 years, according to the court filing, the company concealed the loan on its books at Mr. (Bob) Dunns insistence and direction. He didnt repay any of the loan until 2010, it says. The divorce loan was typical of the way Mr. (Bob) Dunn viewed and treated the Dunn companies monies, the filing says. That is, if he desired money for any reason, he would take it or demand that Bobby and Jeff (Dunn, Bobbys brother) have it transferred to him. Bobby Dunn also says he loaned the company $3.5 million from 2004 to 2008. The filing says the cash infusions were either loans that should be repaid, or investments that boosted Bobby Dunns ownership share beyond 25 percent. The filing says Bobby Dunn didnt pressure his father for repayment, or for him to repay the $1.9 million divorce loan, out of loyalty to his family and the company. Bobby Dunn also disputes his fathers claim that he had little knowledge of the companys finances, and how the Dunns moved money between their various companies. His filing includes a 17-page handwritten letter, purportedly written by Bob Dunn to him and Jeff in July 2013. It details the financial problems and alleged faulty accounting among those companies. If I was writing a textbook, I would have to say that many problems were caused by improper accounting, lack of accounting, accounting which was not in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, and poor business decisions, the letter says. If I was writing a novel, I would have to say that many problems were caused by greed, egos, and/or too much use of the words I, Me, Mine. Darren McDonough of the firm Ivey McClellan Gatton and Siegmund is representing Bob Dunn and the dealership. On Wednesday, McDonough said his client denies many of Bobby Dunns assertions in the countersuit. He also said theyre very confident that their own assertions will be supported by the evidence, while those made by Bobby Dunn will not. McDonough said that confidence is bolstered by two statements in Bobby Dunns countersuit, including his admission that he used $30,000 of company funds to pay Rossabi for personal legal matters. McDonough also cited Bobby Dunns acknowledgment that his father started the businesses, and were it not for those efforts and the things he gave to both of his sons none of it would have ever been possible. Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong (R) and Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe (Source: VNA) The Party chief spoke highly of the outcomes of the earlier talks and meetings between PM Wickremesinghe and Vietnamese leaders, adding that the CPV and Vietnamese people always attach importance to the long-standing friendship and multifaceted cooperation with Sri Lanka. He suggested the two sides take specific measures to effectively deploy already-signed agreements and wished that the bilateral relationship would continue growing practically and effectively for the benefits of their people. The Party leader also conveyed his profound condolences to families of victims in a recent garbage mountain collapse that left at least 26 dead and dozens missing in the suburb of Colombo capital city. PM Wickremesinghe, for his part, noted that Sri Lanka always places importance on promoting the time-honoured friendship, people-to-people exchange and multifaceted cooperation with Vietnam. He hoped that the two nations would continue reinforcing bilateral ties and mutual support at multilateral forums, making practical contributions to maintaining peace, stability and development in the region and the world. The PM highly evaluated Vietnams great achievements in national construction and development and believed that the country would continue developing strongly in the time to come./. Photo: Karl Baron/CC/flickr Diners who cant pay will be pressed into furniture-assembly duty. Ikea visits are terrific catalysts for two things: discovering your significant other has a dark side no Arstid light fixture will fix, then dealing with this by gorging on Swedish meatballs in the afternoon. For those whod rather just skip straight to eating the meatballs, youll be happy to hear Ikea is seriously contemplating opening stand-alone restaurants. Weve always called the meatballs the best sofa-seller, Gerd Diewald, the exec who runs the companys U.S. food division, tells Fast Company. Because its hard to do business with hungry customers. Apparently, some crazy data out there shows that nearly a third of the people you see eating at an Ikea are not there to shop at all theyre braving Ikea solely for the lox and chicken strips. The company has had success already experimenting with pop-ups in London, Paris, and Oslo, and claims it currently feeds about 650 million customers worldwide every year thats equal to everybody in America twice. The company is also Swedens biggest lingonberry exporter all by itself, and was harassed so thoroughly by vegans that it rolled out veggie meatballs in 2015. So how did it not see potential for stand-alone cafes before now? According to Fast Company, the furniture side is so vast (as in $36.5 billion in sales last year vast) that nobody was paying food much mind. Michael La Cour, the managing director of Ikea Food, says when he finally compared their $1.8 billion in 2016 food sales to other fast-food companies, he realized the number was not that small. La Cour says another bonus is restaurants require infinitely less space and dont have to be built by an outlet mall in the suburbs. A slightly alarming thought for the worlds limited lingonberry supplies in particular, but La Cour tells Fast Company his real hope is that in just a few more years people will say, Ikea is a great place to eat and, by the way, they also sell some furniture. Indias supreme court recently banned alcohol sales within 500 meters of a major highway. Intended, in theory, to reduce drunk driving, its been a real drag for poorly located bar-and-restaurant owners, who essentially get to decide if theyd rather uproot their businesses, or stop serving booze entirely and be out that revenue. Enter the genius who owns this roadside bar in the coastal city of Ernakulam according to local media, a few days before the law went into effect, a crew erected a 250-meter-long maze out of prefabricated concrete that tripled the distance you have to travel to get from the street to the bars door. Kerala bar's ingenious idea to beat SC order: A twisted maze to the entrance https://t.co/m8Vi3uQVaZ pic.twitter.com/oH0XbCcGru TheNewsMinute (@thenewsminute) April 7, 2017 We have constructed an extended way to reach the bar, the manager of the bar, called Aiswarya, informed the Times of India. Now it is 520 meters from the highway. The story says the government has little recourse, since, by definition, Aiswarya is now more than 500 meters from the highway. We do no measure the aerial distance but only the walking distance, an official conceded, although he did add that the owner will be fined for altering the entrance. Apparently, lots of restaurateurs are now attempting to set up a temporary maze-like structure of their own to subvert the governments order. Several Martinis today will make the tax woes go away. Photo: Paul Wagtouicz It is Tax Day. Possibly, youre lucky, got some money back, and want to go spend your newfound wealth on a celebratory drink or three. Maybe you had to fork over a few more bucks to Uncle Sam, and would like to soften the blow a bit. Whatever camp youre in, there are plenty of new bars and established great ones with new menus for you to celebrate or mourn Tax Day at. Here, a dozen drinks for a day like today. The Cohan Sour Where: The Rum House Price: $15 Those who work in midtown and cant wait to drink should head to the Rum House, where the spring menu includes this sour, made with two Plantation-brand rums (the dark and O.F.T.D.), plus pineapple, lemon, and a floater of Cabernet. Steakhouse Martini Where: Diamond Reef Price: $12 Then again, you can just drown your tax sorrows in Martinis, like Diamond Reefs double-extra-dirty version, made with apple-cider vinegar, caper, onion, olive, and pepperoncini brine. Overproof Martini Where: Atla Price: $14 Or if youre more of the margarita type, Enrique Olveras new spot is making this extra-strong version with overproof Tapatio Blanco 110. The Orchid Room Where: Gloria Price: $14 The team behind this new pescatarian restaurant used to work at Contra and Wildair, so you know its a solid place to drink wine. But along with grape juice, theyre making cocktails like the fizzy Orchid Room, with Diplomatico Anejo, Demerara, Campari, tangelo citrus, and soda. The Moga Where: Bar Moga Price: $14 Double up on your booze with this new Japanese bars namesake cocktail, made with Japanese whiskey, rhum, and plum liqueur. Michelada Primavera Where: Leyenda Price: $13 In the event that a plain old Michelada isnt strong enough, theres Leyendas new mezcal espadinspiked Michelada Primavera. But even if the tax gods were good to you this year, a Michelada with some mezcal is a good thing. The New Colossus Where: Villanelle Price: $15 Everybody could use more Cherry Heering, which is paired in this drink with tequila and Benedictine. Tamarind Julep Where: Empellon Price: $16 Alex Stupaks restaurants have always served exciting drinks (not just ace margaritas), and thats true of his new midtown spot, too. Go for the Tamarind Julep, made with Bains Cape whiskey, Von Humboldts tamarind cordial, lemon syrup, and Carpano Antica. Missionarys Downfall Where: Suffolk Arms Price: $10 If youre feeling the squeeze, theres Suffolk Arms recently debuted happy hour, with its encyclopedic list of 100 cocktails for $10. This kind of weather calls for a drink like the Missionarys Downfall, rum doctored with lime, pineapple, peach, and mint. Pomegranate Martini Where: abcV Price: $14 Maybe youre less of a dirty-Martini drinker, and more someone who secretly longs for the days of appletinis. (Your secret is safe here.) Or maybe you want to pretend like your cocktail is good for you. Make a beeline for abcVs bar, then, where the vodka is mixed with pomegranate and raw coconut water. I Just Crush a Lot Where: Until Tomorrow Price: $13 The Clinton Hill bar plays loose with tiki, mixing gin, tequila, and chartreuse in this drink thats also made with lime, grapefruit, and cucumber oleo saccharum, for a refreshingly savory note. Prima Dona Where: De Maria Price: $13 Sometimes, all you need with your fire-dragon bowl is a good old-fashioned cocktail: just some gin, vermouth, bitters, and a second round on the way. Although Google Maps Timeline feature isnt brand new, starting today, iOS users will also be able to access this feature directly from the iOS version of the app. Previously, the only way for iOS users to see this was by logging into a desktop and signing into the appropriate Google account. Google has been collecting this information for years at this point, but if the idea that Google has a record of your whereabouts bothers you, you can always turn the feature off. Weve certainly referred to the timeline when we cant recall the name of a restaurant or if we were trying to recall how something went down on a particular day. Timeline menu and filtering You can access the Timeline by opening Google Maps on your iOS device and tapping on Your timeline. You can even filter the timeline by activity to only show you when you drove, or walked, or flew, or even when you were out catching Pokemon. You can also ask Google to send your monthly summary emails of the places visited that month. To access these settings, open the settings tab within the Timeline screen. Just know that the only person who can see this information is you, if you dont want anyone peeping at your location history or Google Photos backups, make sure you keep your Google account secure. Google has so much of our information nowadays, it is certainly a good idea to keep your personal Gmail account password out of the wrong hands. Source | Via Of late, users of Microsoft OneNote have been experiencing sync issue with the software giant's cloud storage service OneDrive. Now, the company has officially confirmed the issue, saying that the root cause has been identified and they are working on a fix. The issue is that OneNote has stopped syncing to OneDrive, giving errors like We can't complete this task. Try again or You don't have permission to edit this file and the sync has stopped. Contact the owner. "The service side interruption started impacting customers sometime week of April 10, 2017 and may impact other Office Mobile apps as well," the Redmond, Washington-based company explained on its website. The issue affects Windows Phone 8.1 devices. Microsoft hasn't mentioned when the fix will arrive, and there are currently no workarounds as well. Source | Via These are the best offers from our affiliate partners. We may get a commission from qualifying sales. Aalsmeer Flower Auction (Photo: Netherlands Tourism) Situated near the Schiphol International Airport in the capital Amsterdam, Aalsmeer town, with an area of over 32 square kilometres, is the site of some 60% of the flower trade in the world, up to nearly 50 million flowers each day. Apart from flowers planted in the Netherlands, flowers from European, central American or African countries are transported to the town by air and are auctioned at 7 a.m everyday, before being further transported to customers across the world. Focusing on investment in agriculture, especially hi-tech agriculture, the Netherlands helps farmers gain greater values from traditional products. In addition, the Netherlands exports technologies in agriculture, bringing high economic value. Each year, the Netherlands agriculture earns EUR50 billion, accounting for 10% of GDP, while only 2% of the labour force work in the agricultural sector. Impressed by the strength of the Netherlands agriculture, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung expressed his hope that Vietnam and the Netherlands will set up close and deep cooperation to increase Vietnamese agricultural products values and bring greater income for farmers. On the same day, the Deputy Prime Minister visited and talked with staff of the Vietnamese Embassy in the Netherlands, as well as representatives from the Vietnamese community in the Netherlands./. Job Archive July 2021 (524) June 2021 (681) May 2021 (698) April 2021 (659) March 2021 (688) February 2021 (615) January 2021 (698) December 2020 (714) November 2020 (671) October 2020 (631) September 2020 (690) August 2020 (713) July 2020 (713) June 2020 (690) May 2020 (713) April 2020 (690) March 2020 (713) February 2020 (667) January 2020 (713) December 2019 (713) November 2019 (687) October 2019 (711) September 2019 (689) August 2019 (711) July 2019 (707) June 2019 (688) May 2019 (2002) April 2019 (1978) March 2019 (2039) February 2019 (1688) January 2019 (2251) December 2018 (2095) November 2018 (1932) October 2018 (1984) September 2018 (1914) August 2018 (39) July 2018 (72) June 2018 (44) May 2018 (76) April 2018 (65) March 2018 (16) February 2018 (32) January 2018 (201) December 2017 (352) November 2017 (381) October 2017 (600) September 2017 (1211) August 2017 (1655) July 2017 (1590) June 2017 (1506) May 2017 (1902) April 2017 (1965) March 2017 (1417) February 2017 (1808) January 2017 (1807) December 2016 (1593) November 2016 (1376) October 2016 (1408) September 2016 (1317) August 2016 (1499) July 2016 (1504) June 2016 (1421) May 2016 (1391) April 2016 (1340) March 2016 (1476) February 2016 (1396) January 2016 (1474) December 2015 (1409) November 2015 (1367) October 2015 (1478) September 2015 (1441) August 2015 (1467) July 2015 (1465) June 2015 (1410) May 2015 (1057) April 2015 (1269) March 2015 (1132) February 2015 (1151) January 2015 (1152) December 2014 (1156) November 2014 (1267) October 2014 (81) It is not a bad thing for us, that the route known as the Goldene Strae or the Golden Road as we will get to know it- has escaped the attention of so many. It has been spared being overrun by hordes of tourists and as you will discover the Login or sign up to follow actresses, movies & dramas and get specific updates and news Login Sign Up New Ad-free Subscriber Login Email Password Password Username Your E-mail will only be used to retrieve a lost password. Stay logged in Help F1 teams are back in action this morning in Bahrain for day 2 of the in-season test at Sakhir F1i is live again today, delivering real-time commentary for the entire duration of the session. You can access our commentary on our 'Live' page. And you can also check out the driver line-up for the two day test here. There's value in being a retired Formula 1world champion as 2016 title holder Nico Rosberg would readily admit. The former Mercedes driver donated a pair Mercedes overalls to the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation The foundation's primary objective since its inception in 2012 is to raise public awareness about the dangers of water, teaching children preventive measures, and teach them to swim. The historical piece of memorabilia, which Rosberg donated to the foundation to support a campaign helping children in Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countries in the world. The artifact fetched a cool 45,000! A result which surprised the German driver, who tweeted the spectacular result. FBI Investigating Radical Terrorists in All 50 States as Threats Hit Peak Terrorists inside America plotting attacks 'each and every single day' by Adam Kredo, Washington Free Beacon, April 17, 2017 Federal authorities have open investigations into radical Islamic terrorists in all 50 states, according to the Department of Homeland Security, which is warning that the threat of terrorism in the United States has reached an all time high with radicalized individuals in the country plotting to strike "each and every single day." The FBI has "open terrorist investigations in all 50 states," according to DHS Secretary John Kelly, who disclosed on Tuesday that there have been at least 37 "ISIS-linked plots to attack our country" since 2013, a number that shows no signs of diminishing. Kelly, in his first wide-ranging public address on the threat of terrorism in America since taking office, warned that America's borders remain wide-open and that there is evidence terror-linked individuals are exploiting these national security weaknesses and entering the United States. "We dont know their intentions," Kelly said during an address at George Washington University. "We dont know why theyre here or why theyre coming. We are completely blind to what theyre capable of." Terrorist also continues to sprout inside American communities across the country, according to Kelly, who said that in just the past year, there have been "36 homegrown terrorist cases in 18 states." "Weve seen an unprecedented spike in homegrown terrorism," Kelly disclosed. "These are the cases we know abouthomegrown terrorism is notoriously difficult to predict and control." Terrorists in the United States are plotting attacks "every single day," according to Kelly. "I tell you, without exaggeration, they try to carry out this mission each and every single day and no one can tell you how to stop it. No one," he said. The United States, he continued, is "under attack" from a wide variety of bad actors, including "failed states, cyber-terrorists, vicious smugglers, and sadistic radicals." "And we are under attack every single day," he said. "The threats are relentless." Those who slip over the border undetected, including criminals and potential radicalized terrorists, pose an unparalleled threat to the country. "We dont get to vet them," Kelly said. "We dont know their intentions. We dont know theyre here. They slip into our country unnoticed, living among us, and we are completely blind as to what they are capable of." These threats just scrape the surface of the danger posed to America by terrorists inside and outside of the country, Kelly said. "This is all bad news, but it gets much worse," he explained. "Experts estimate that perhaps 10,000 citizens of Europe have joined the caliphate in Syria and Iraq. Thousands more are from nations in Asia, Africa and the Western Hemisphere. They have learned how to make IEDs, employ drones to drop ordnance, and acquired experience on the battlefield that by all reports they are bringing back home." These highly trained terrorist fighters are likely to return to their countries of origin and "wreak murderous havoc" across Europe, Asia, and the United States, among other countries. America lacks the ability to properly vet these individuals when they attempt to enter the country, according to Kelly, who warned that scores of radicalized individuals are trying each day to enter America. "Many are citizens of countries in our Visa Waiver Program, they can more easily travel to the United States which makes us a prime target for their exported violence," he said. The threat to America "has metastasized and decentralized, and the risk is as threatening today as it was that September morning almost 16 years ago," Kelly warned. "We are under attack from terrorists both within and outside of our borders," he said. "They are without conscience, and they operate without rules. They despise the United States, because we are a nation of rights, laws, and freedoms. They have a single mission, and that is our destruction." Rich States, Poor States, 10th Edition by Dr. Arthur B. Laffer, Stephen Moore & Jonathan Williams, ALEC, April 18, 2017 Introduction: The 10th Edition of Rich States, Poor States: ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index reveals a pro-growth trend across the nation for 2017. Rich States, Poor States examines the latest movements in state economic growth. The data ranks the 2017 economic outlook of states using fifteen equally weighted policy variables, including various tax rates, regulatory burdens and labor policies. The ninth edition examines trends over the last few decades that have helped or hurt states economies. Used by state lawmakers across America since 2008, Rich States, Poor States: ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index, is authored by economist Dr. Arthur B. Laffer; Stephen Moore, distinguished visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation; and Jonathan Williams, vice president of the ALEC Center for State Fiscal Reform. PDF: Rich States, Poor States Economic Outlook: Hawaii Ranks 43rd Hawaii is currently ranked 43rd in the United States for its economic outlook. This is a forward-looking forecast based on the states standing (equal-weighted average) in 15 important state policy variables. Data reflect state and local rates and revenues and any effect of federal deductibility. Hawaii Current Economic Outlook 43rd From the 2017 edition of Rich States, Poor States. These values are the most recent available at the time of publication. Hawaii Economic Performance Rank -- 26th Hawaii is currently ranked 43rd in the United States for its economic outlook. This is a forward-looking forecast based on the states standing (equal-weighted average) in 15 important state policy variables. Data reflect state and local rates and revenues and any effect of federal deductibility. METRIC VALUE RANK Cumulative GDP Growth, 2005 2015 37.2% 24st Cumulative Domestic Migration, 2006 2015 -43,856 33rd Non-Farm Employment Growth, 2005 2015 5.54% 23st read Hawaii Report PBN: Hawaii near the bottom in terms of economic outlook The U.S. Hotel Industry's War Plan to Beat Airbnb by Mark Kolakowski, Investopedia, April 18, 2017 (excerpts) After years of downplaying the threat from Airbnb Inc., the $1.1 trillion U.S. hotel industry has mapped out a concerted game plan to combat the fast-growing home and apartment sharing service, The New York Times reports. Traditional hotels argue that Airbnb has achieved an unfair competitive advantage by skirting a myriad of laws, regulations and taxes, and the big lodging chains are mounting an intense political lobbying campaign at the state and local level that targets Airbnb for noncompliance. Since its founding in 2008, over 150 million travelers have stayed in about 3 million dwellings listed on Airbnb in over 191 countries, according to statistics from that company cited by the NYT. Not only has Airbnb drawn customers away from hotels, it also has exerted downward pressure on hotel prices and profits. The competitive losses are particularly bad during peak periods such as holidays, conventions and major events, as Vijay Dandapani, CEO of the Hotel Association of New York City, told the NYT. The campaign against Airbnb by the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA) rests on the contention that Airbnb is a short-term, for-profit lodging service that should be bound by the rules applicable to hotels, a spokesman told the NYT. The war plan focuses on lobbying politicians and state attorneys general, with the main points of contention being: many Airbnb hosts are turning residential building into de facto unregulated, untaxed hotels; states and municipalities are losing hotel tax revenues, which are not collected by most Airbnb hosts; most Airbnb listings do not conform to the fire, health, safety, security, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and anti-discrimination regulations applicable to hotel operators. In Washington, last July Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) and Diane Feinstein (D-California) have asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate Airbnb's impact on rising housing costs, at the AHLA's urging, according to a document from that organization obtained by the NYT. Ms. Feinsteins office referred requests for comment to Mr. Schatzs office. Mr. Schatzs office and Ms. Warrens office did not respond to requests for comment. The AHLA already has scored legislative and regulatory successes that restrict the ability of Airbnb to operate in Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as in the states of Virginia, Tennessee and Utah, the NYT reports. Additionally, a New York State law enacted in October imposes big fines on Airbnb hosts who break local housing rules, and various jurisdictions outside the U.S. have passed restrictive laws. The AHLA has a $5.6 million annual budget for regulatory work, the NYT says. According to the full text of AHLA's plan as published in the Times, the key targets for their lobbying efforts in 2017 will be cities that they list as critical, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Washington, D.C. and Miami, as well as the states of Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, Colorado, Louisiana, Florida, Indiana, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New York, Virginia and West Virginia, where they believe that precedent-setting legislation can be passed. In Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Utah and Virginia, the AHLA is battling Airbnb's support for "pre-emption" legislation that would allow short-term rentals throughout those states, regardless of local laws. Besides, lobbying, the association also is funding academic research to prove that Airbnb hosts routinely break local laws, including "millionaire Airbnb landlords" who are large-scale commercial operators dodging hotel taxes. This is intended to explode the Airbnb narrative built around middle class "mom and pop" casual listers. Interestingly, in some locales the AHLA is encouraging officials not to legitimize Airbnb by collecting lodging taxes from hosts, the Times reports. Apparently, the AHLA is playing for larger stakes in those places, looking to have Airbnb shut down entirely. Additionally, the AHLA is joining forces with tenants' groups, affordable housing campaigners and neighborhood associations, the NYT adds. These constituencies are opposed to the reduced availability and increased price of apartment space resulting from the conversion of dwelling units into de facto hotel space listed through Airbnb. They also are concerned about reports of rowdy and destructive Airbnb renters. Furthermore, the AHLA is making common cause with hotel unions, who fear lost jobs and wages as Airbnb makes inroads into hotel occupancy rates and profits. For politicians, the above constituencies are orders of a magnitude larger, and more vocal, than the number of people who list dwelling spaces for short-term rental through Airbnb. In an email quoted by the Times, Airbnb spokesman Nick Papas said that "the hotel cartel is intent on short-sheeting the middle class so they can keep price-gouging customers." He also said that "With more than 250 government partnerships over the last year, we have shown our seriousness of purpose when it comes to putting in place fair rules." read The New York Times ShareBar Comments must be on-topic and civil in tone (with no name calling or personal attacks). Any promotional language or urls will be removed immediately. Your comment may be edited for clarity and length. (HedgeCo.Net) The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced fraud charges and an emergency asset freeze obtained against a Michigan-based pastor accused of exploiting church members, retirees, and laid-off auto workers who were misled to believe they were investing in a successful real estate business. The SEC alleges that Larry Holley, the pastor of Abundant Life Ministries in Flint, Mich., cloaked his solicitations in faith-based rhetoric, replete with references to scripture and biblical figures. Holley allegedly told prospective investors that as a person who prayed for your children, he was more trustworthy than a banker with their money. According to the SECs complaint, Holley held financial presentations masked as Blessed Life Conferences at churches nationwide during which he asked congregants to fill out cards detailing their financial holdings, and he promised to pray over the cards and invited attendees to have one-on-one consultations with his team. He allegedly called his investors millionaires in the making. According to the SECs complaint, which also charges Holleys company Treasure Enterprise LLC and his business associate Patricia Enright Gray, approximately $6.7 million was raised from more than 80 investors who were guaranteed high returns and told they were investing in a profitable real estate company with hundreds of residential and commercial properties. According to the complaint, Gray advertised on a religious radio station based in Flint and singled out recently laid-off auto workers with severance packages to consult her for a financial increase. Gray allegedly promised to roll over investors retirement funds into tax-advantaged Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA) and invest them in Treasure Enterprise. The SEC alleges that no investor funds were deposited into IRAs, and Treasure Enterprise struggled to generate enough revenue from its real estate investments to support the business and make payments owed to investors. Treasure Enterprise owes investors an estimated $1.9 million in past due payments, according to the SECs complaint. As alleged in our complaint, Holley and Gray targeted the retirement savings of churchgoers, building a bond of trust purportedly based on faith but actually based on false promises, said David Glockner, Director of the SECs Chicago Regional Office. According to the SECs complaint, Holley, Gray, and Treasure Enterprise were not registered to sell investments. The SEC encourages investors to check the background of anyone offering to sell them investments by doing a quick search on the SECs investor.gov website. The SEC has obtained a temporary restraining order in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan that freezes the assets of Holley, Gray, and Treasure Enterprise. The courts order also appoints a receiver and imposes other emergency relief. Greater Helsinki alone is believed to be home to hundreds of asylum seekers who are employed in the shadow economy. Numerous asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants are being paid no more than a couple of euros an hour for cleaning shops, schools and activity centres, and cooking and washing dishes in restaurants in Finland, reports Helsingin Sanomat . One such employee, an Iraqi asylum seeker who has appealed the decision to deny him asylum in Finland, revealed to the newspaper that he has worked in a restaurant in Helsinki for more than six months for an hourly wage of 2.5 euros. He typically works six to seven days a week, often as much as 12 hours a day. For every job, theres one hundred willing workers in the reception centre. Employers can find new workers at any time, he said. Such employees are extremely dependent on their employers and may even live at the workplace, according to Helsingin Sanomat. Researchers have warned that the exploitation of migrants and undocumented immigrants could contribute to the development of a permanent underground labour market in Finland. Paivi Nerg, the state secretary at the Ministry of the Interior, has admitted that a share of unsuccessful asylum seekers are expected to seek to stay in the country illegally, thus possibly contributing to the growth of the shadow economy. The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) has reported that it rejected 51 per cent of the roughly 28,000 asylum applications it processed in 2016. An additional 14 per cent of the applications were either withdrawn by the applicant or dismissed on grounds that the applicant disappeared from the reception centre. Helsingin Sanomat also calls attention to another similar case, that of four asylum seekers from Iraq. The four men were recruited as part of a group of seven from the Evitskog Reception Centre in Kirkkonummi by a business owner based in Southern Finland in mid-2016. The men began their training periods in hopes of ultimately being offered paid jobs and, thus, being able to apply for employment-based residence permits. Four of the seven asylum seekers were finally offered an employment contract in December, but their epmloyer continued to neglect to pay the 1,200-euro wage agreed upon in the contract. Helsingin Sanomat writes that in March, after repeated demands from both the employees and the reception centre staff, the employer paid three of the men 500600 euros for work performed between July, 2016, and March, 2017. A pre-trial investigation has been opened into the case. The business owner is tentatively suspected of extortionate work discrimination. Aleksi Teivainen HT Photo: Vesa Moilanen Lehtikuva EK reveals in a press release that roughly 6,500 of the employees of its member companies participated in a total of 71 instances of industrial action in 2016, most commonly in protest of lay-offs, management practices, re-organisation plans or personnel policy. The Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) demands that the punishments for unlawful industrial action be toughened notably. The strikes and lockouts resulted in a loss of approximately 6,600 working days, according to EK. The number of both industrial conflicts and lost working days decreased notably from the previous year. EK, however, reminds that the decrease was largely a consequence of the massive demonstration held in protest of austerity measures and the strikes held in protest of collective bargaining talks in the postal sector in the second half of 2015. Ilkka Oksala, the director of working life at EK, believes tougher punishments for unlawful industrial action would reduce the incidence of strikes in Finland. The number of working days lost due to industrial action remains notably high in Finland, when compared to Germany or Sweden, for instance. Between 2006 and 2015, Sweden lost an average of five working days a year due to industrial action, Germany an average of seven and Finland an average of 44 for every 1,000 employees, he says, referring to statistics released by the Cologne Institute for Economic Research. We still have some catching up to do. EK also highlights that all but two of the 60 strikes faced by its member companies last year were unlawful. One example of such a strike was the walkout organised by roughly a hundred train conductors and railway station service personnel between March and April. The Labour Court of Finland determined that the walkout was unlawful, as it was a protest against an existing collective bargaining agreement. EK reminds that the one-day walkout inflicted losses of roughly one million euros and halted practically all long-distance rail services in Finland. Yet, it adds, the 14 trade union branches involved in the walkout were fined only for a total of 11,200 euros and the trade union for a total of 5,000 euros. The high incidence of unlawful strikes stems from fundamental problems associated with the industrial peace system of Finland, according to EK. Even though a collective agreement should guarantee industrial peace, the low compensatory fines of no more than a few thousand euros imposed on trade union branches and/or trade unions make it possible to hold strikes even if a collective agreement is in place, laments Oksala. In Sweden, he adds, even individual employees may be deemed liable for compensatory damages for participating in unlawful strikes. This has for its part limited the willingness to strike, he views. We could easily improve the competitiveness of domestic businesses by reducing the number of unlawful industrial conflicts and the subsequent losses. The punishments handed down for unlawful industrial action must be toughened considerably in order to accomplish this, concludes Oksala. Aleksi Teivainen HT Photo: Lehtikuva Source: Uusi Suomi Marginalisation is the greatest threat to the internal security of our country, she writes in a guest contribution to Pohjalainen . Paula Risikko (NCP), the Minister of the Interior, has revealed that security will be the main focal point, followed themes such as caring and employment, of the upcoming mid-term session of the Finnish Government. We must find ways to raise the employment rate and develop our education and innovation system in order to reduce the sustainability deficit in the economy. These are important tools also for preventing growing inequalities, argues Risikko. The urgency to address security-related concerns, she admits, has increased in the aftermath of the recent tragic events in St. Petersburg, Russia and Stockholm, Sweden. In St. Petersburg, 14 people lost their lives after an explosive device was detonated on a metro train on 3 April. In Stockholm, four people died after a lorry was driven into a crowded department store on 7 April. We cannot and must not shut our eyes to the changes in our security environment, stresses Risikko. Finland, she adds, remains one of the safest countries in the world in many respects but must continue to take action to ensure the powers, capabilities and other resources of security authorities remain sufficient for responding to contemporary threats. Both authorities and decision-makers must have a common operational picture. The Ministry of the Interior is, together with the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Justice, drawing up measures to promote security in order to meet these preconditions, she tells. The Ministry of the Interior is currently working on updating the intelligence legislation, overhauling rescue services, developing the contingency plans of provinces, responding to hybrid threats and promoting co-operation between various authorities. Aleksi Teivainen HT Photo: Markku Ulander Lehtikuva Source: Uusi Suomi HENLEY MP John Howell has welcomed the Prime Ministers decision to call a snap general election. The country will go to the polls on June 8 following Theresa Mays surprise announcement on Tuesday. Mr Howell said: In the first instance this is about strong and stable leadership in a confusing world. We have North Korea, Syria and the situation with Russia. Its absolutely essential and in the British interest to have strong and stable leadership, which she can provide. If you think about the alternative being Jeremy Corbyn, we will have a very clear picture. Having a strong and stable leadership is a prerequisite to doing anything in the world. The decision taken is a very commendable one. In 2015 Mr Howell retained his seat for the Conservatives with a majority of more than 25,000 votes. He said: I am continually campaigning and pressing the Conservative cause in the constituency because I dont think you can take anything for granted. Liberal Democrats candidate Laura Coyle said: This election is a huge opportunity for voters in Henley to change the direction of our country and prevent a disastrous hard Brexit. People in the Henley constituency voted decisively to remain in the EU and certainly did not vote for the extreme form of Brexit that Theresa May has imposed on us after being backed by Labour. For all those who want to protect our local economy by staying in the Single Market and ensure the people have the final say over what comes next, this is your chance. Reading East MP Rob Wilson will be standing for re-election. Mr Wilson, whose constituency includes Caversham and Emmer Green, said: I have worked tirelessly on behalf of my constituents to drive growth in jobs, apprenticeships and training opportunities; support local businesses so that our economy is robust and enterprise can flourish; secure vital funding for new and existing schools, transport infrastructure and our NHS services and accelerate unprecedented progress towards a third Thames bridge. At the 2015 election he won a majority of almost 7,000. A student caused more than 2,000 of damage to a taxi when he jumped all over it in a "moment of madness" after drinking on a night out. Jack Doyle (21) had also been taking medication and did not remember shattering the car's windscreen. Judge Timothy Lucey adjourned the case after saying he would leave Doyle without a criminal record if he pays full compensation to the driver. Doyle, of River View, Virginia, Co Cavan, pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage to the taxi. Dublin District Court heard that the incident happened on Harcourt Street, Dublin, at 3.50am last September 21. The driver was sitting in his taxi and was available for hire when the defendant app- roached. Doyle jumped on the bonnet, the windscreen and the roof of the car, causing considerable damage. He was apprehended shortly afterwards by security staff at a nearby nightclub and gardai were called. He was acting in a very aggressive and agitated way when they arrived and it was clear he was intoxicated, the court heard. Embarrassed He remained aggressive in the patrol car while he was taken to Pearse Street Garda Station, but then calmed down and apologised. The total cost of the damage was 2,083. Doyle had no previous convictions. Alcohol was a "significant factor" in what happened, the defendant's barrister said. The accused had recently finished studying business studies and a course in personal training, his barrister said. He did not remember the incident but accepted the garda evidence. The accused was active in the community and what happened had been a "wake-up call" for him. Doyle was extremely apologetic and embarrassed to be before the court. He had family in Australia and hoped to travel. He also had ambitions to join the gardai. His lawyer asked Judge Lucey not to let the defendant's future career be affected by what happened. "A mixture of alcohol and medication led him to act in a way which was extremely out of character," the lawyer said. Judge Lucey said he would strike the case out if the compensation is paid by September. 'The accused assaulted the doorman, causing bruising to his eye, after he was refused admission to a nightclub' (stock photo) A young man punched a doorman and spat at him when he was refused re-entry to a nightclub so he could get his jacket, a court heard. Shane Porter (25) became "frustrated" and assaulted the bouncer, but his recollection of what happened was "vague". Judge Gerard Jones struck the case out, leaving him without a conviction, after he paid 500 to the victim. Porter, of Barnhill Road, Dalkey, pleaded guilty to assault. Dublin District Court heard that the incident happened on the Rathmines Road on March 27 last year. The accused assaulted the doorman, causing bruising to his eye, after he was refused admission to a nightclub. Apologised He hit him with his fist and spat at him, the court was told. He had no previous convictions of any kind. After the incident, Porter made contact with Rathmines Garda Station and apologised for what had happened. His recollection of the incident was very vague. He had been out with friends, they had been inside the premises but, when he went out, Porter was not allowed back inside because of the state he was in, his lawyer said. He had left his jacket inside and became "frustrated". When he woke up in the garda station, he was able to retrace his steps and his friends told him what happened. British PM Theresa May at Downing Street, announcing that she is seeking a snap election on June 8 Photo: Reuters Taoiseach Enda Kenny held a 15-minute phone conversation with British prime minister Theresa May last night after she called for a snap UK election to be held on June 8. The leaders agreed that their public commitments regarding Irish issues ahead of the Brexit negotiations remain "unchanged" despite the political upheaval in the UK. A spokesperson for Mr Kenny said both governments are still prioritising the protection of an open border between the Republic and Northern Ireland and the retention of the Common Travel Area. Trading They also discussed the need to recognise the "close trading links between our intertwined economies". Mr Kenny emphasised to the prime minister that a return to direct rule in Northern Ireland should not be contemplated. Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan said he is "concerned" about the impact the Westminster elections will have on talks to form a Northern Ireland Executive. Stormont has been without a power-sharing government since March 2 as the DUP and Sinn Fein have struggled to reach a deal. Speculation is now mounting that voters in the North could face a second round of Assembly elections to coincide with the UK vote in June. However, Mr Flanagan said the Irish Government will be pushing to avoid such a scenario. He discussed the situation with Secretary of State for Northern Ireland James Brokenshire yesterday. "The secretary of state told me that his intention, announced last week, remains unchanged - namely, to bring forward legislation at Westminster in the coming days which will include a provision to allow a Northern Ireland Executive to be formed in early May," Mr Flanagan said. Meanwhile, Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar has played down the possibility of an early election here. The front-runner to replace Enda Kenny as Taoiseach argued that circumstances in Britain are "very particular", given the huge lead Mrs May's Conservative Party has in the polls. "I'm sure, or I hope, the new leader of Fine Gael will give the party a bounce. I don't think we'll be 20 points ahead in the polls," said Mr Varadkar. "We're in a very different situation as well where we've entered a partnership with Independents. "I think it would be wrong for the new leader of Fine Gael to pull the rug out from under people we've made a partnership with. I wouldn't anticipate an early general election in Ireland." Domestic Sources last night indicated the Irish Government intends to "stay out" of the British election. During the Brexit referendum, ministers did campaign for a Remain vote, but sources said the election is "purely an internal British decision". "It's a domestic matter for Britain and there's a long-standing tradition that we don't comment directly on that," a source said. Mr Varadkar has warned that the widely-held expectation that Mrs May will win a large majority in the House of Commons could prove wrong. "Elections are funny things. They can start off with one expected result and finish with something else," he said. The scene at Cherry Orchard Avenue in Dublin following the incident A gang of dangerous criminals is being blamed for destroying a sophisticated CCTV system by ramming it with a stolen truck. The truck was driven on to a grassed area at Cherry Orchard Avenue in west Dublin before being reversed at speed into the metal pole on which the surveillance system was mounted. Pictures show how the pole was left uprooted by the impact and the truck abandoned at the scene. The incident happened at about 7.40pm on Monday. Homeless The camera system, which was installed by Dublin City Council, was being used to monitor a construction site across the road, where an estate of modular houses for homeless families is being built. There has been trouble at the site in the past, when protests took place and violence flared as some local groups opposed the construction of the houses. However, local sources have said they do not believe the people who knocked down the CCTV system are involved in any of the groups opposed to the housing. "This is much more sinister. This isn't local hoods, it's the action of a gangster and warlord," said one person. Also commenting on the attack on council property, local Sinn Fein councillor Daithi Doolin branded it "unacceptable and very dangerous". "The action was an attempt to undermine the good work going on in Cherry Orchard. These criminals will not succeed in stopping progress. Their intimidation will not work," he told the Herald. "These actions in no way represent local people. Families here are working hard to improve the community for their children and neighbours. "There's great work going on right across Cherry Orchard. "We have the building of new homes for local families. We have new and exciting plans to develop Cherry Orchard. "None of this will be stopped by the actions of a few criminals. "I would ask that all of us, local political representatives, gardai and residents redouble our efforts to ensure this behaviour does not divide or distract from the good work we have been doing." Mr Doolin is set to raise the incident at a meeting of the council's South Central Area Committee today. His motion states that the committee condemns in the strongest possible terms Monday's attack on security cameras in Cherry Orchard "This criminal action is unacceptable and dangerous. The damaged pole and camera must be repaired as a matter of urgency," he will say. Gardai have confirmed that the incident is under investigation by officers at Ballyfermot Garda Station. Arsonist "A rigid body truck, which has been reported stolen, was used to demolish a pole fitted with a CCTV system and equipment," said a garda spokeswoman. "No arrests have been made and the matter is under investigation." Last September, the building site was severely damaged by vandals who drove a car through the fencing and left it to burn out on the site. The premises were being prepared for the construction of 72 homes for homeless families currently in emergency accommodation. In December, a construction worker was set on fire when his digger was targeted by an arsonist. A garda spokesperson at the time said the man wasn't injured in the attack, but he was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure. Cox casts his ballot and more Election Day live updates Need help looking up candidates? Here's a breakdown of the critical seats across the state. Ellinair resumes flights from Kharkiv to Thessaloniki from May 27 Ellinair airline (Greece) on May 27 will resume seasonal charter flights from the Kharkiv International Airport to Thessaloniki (Greece). "The flights will be serviced until end of September by BAe Avro 146-RJ85 and Airbus 319 planes twice a week. In the previous season the flight was serviced once a week," the airport told Interfax-Ukraine. Ellinair is a Greek air carrier, founded in 2013. It is owned by ouzenidis Group. The Kharkiv airport has a runway with a length of 2,220 meters and a width of 50 meters. It has two passenger terminals with a capacity of 100 and 650 persons per hour. The airport is operated by DCH through New Systems AM. Former economic development and trade minister of Ukraine Aivaras Abromavicius heads the supervisory board of Ukrainian Corporate Governance Academy that was recently created. Members of the board are also International Monetary Fund (IMF) Resident Representative Jerome Vacher, Managing Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for Eastern Europe and the Caucasus Francis Malige and International Finance Corporation (IFC) Country Manager for Ukraine Olena Voloshyna. "This will be a non-commercial project supported by international financial institutions (IFIs). The goal is to teach people corporate governance both from the private and public sectors," Abromavicius told Interfax-Ukraine. According to the public register, nongovernmental organization Ukrainian Corporate Governance Academy was registered early March 2017. Its founders are a member of the Group of Strategic Advisors for Support of Reforms in Ukraine and a member of the committee appointing heads of state-owned companies Andriy Boitsun, a managing partner of Odgers Berndtson recruiting company Roman Bondar and former head of the target team of public property management reform at the Economic Development and Trade Ministry Adomas Audickas who heads the academy as president. Boitsun told Interfax-Ukraine that members of the supervisory board are also Horizon Capital Investment Company CEO Lenna Koszarny, Director of the Investment Promotion Office Daniel Bilak, Director of the Investment and Banking Division at Dragon Capital Investment Company Brian Best and ex-member of the National Commission for Securities and the Stock Market of Ukraine who recently joined the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Olyana Gordiyenko. "The founders and members of the supervisory board of the academy are people who were pioneers of corporate governance in Ukraine," Abromavicius said. He recalled that IFC under management of Voloshyna financed corporate governance development projects in 2003-2004. Boitsun drew up corporate governance reform concept for Naftogaz Ukrainy in 2014, and jointly with Gordiyenko and Malige the corporate governance action plan for this company in 2015. Boitsun said that Abromavicius and Audickas launched the corporate governance reform for Ukrainian state-owned enterprises and create the committee appointing heads of state-run companies in 2015. Bondar searched for candidates for the posts of directors of various state-owned companies and members of the supervisory board of Naftogaz. Horizon Capital actively supported and financed the process. "The idea of creating the academy appeared when we faced a problem of search for members of supervisory board who could transform large state-run enterprises. We believe that good corporate governance starts at the top. Today there is a real need in strengthening top managers of companies with practical corporate governance knowledge," Malige told Interfax-Ukraine. Abromavicius said that the academy will start operating from hosting a specialized conference preliminarily scheduled for June 2017. Boitsun said that along with the educational goal the academy sets goals to develop networking and policy in corporate governance in Ukraine. "The latter concerns private and state-owned enterprises," he said. Abromavicius said that the academy plans to participate in drawing up legislative documents in this area. During an official visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko met with representatives of business circles of the country, the press service of the Ukrainian president has said. The Ukrainian president spoke about the introduction of reforms in Ukraine over the past three years and the main results that have been achieved up to date. Considerable attention was paid to creating an investment climate, conducting of judicial reform, fighting corruption, reforming of the banking and energy sector. The president also announced the launch of an electronic public VAT refund register since early April 2017. The president said that he believes in the promising future of the trade and investment Ukrainian-British partnership. According to him, the UK has become one of the largest foreign investors in Ukraine with more than $2 billion, having created tens of thousands of workplaces. Poroshenko noted the successful cooperation of the Ukrainian company Antonov and the British company Dowty Propellers in the creation of the An-132D transport aircraft. The president also welcomed the interest of British companies in Ukraine, in particular, the international company Unilever, which opened a tea factory in the Kyiv region, and the international company Hutchison Ports, which plans to enter the domestic container shipping market in the short term. "The success of these projects in our country will certainly be a good example for other investors, as well as an important signal of confidence in Ukrainian reforms," Poroshenko said. "The president invited the British business to invest in Ukraine," a report says. This site uses cookies from Google to deliver its services, to personalize ads and to analyze traffic. Information about your use of this site is shared with Google. By using this site, you agree to its use of cookies. Learn more here Grand Prize Winner: Donna Rickey Blog Winners: A Song for her Enemies by Sherri Stewart: Mary Ann Hake Spies & Sweethearts by Linda Shenton Matchett: Connie Ruggles Sword of Trust by DebbieLynn Costello: Brenda Walters Justice for Julia by Donna Schlachter: Natalya Lakhno Party Prize winners: Sherri Stewarts Winners A Song for her Enemies: Angie Pool Bottle of Dutch Syrup: Carol Koch Alscheff Corrie ten Boom book: Deb Gramie Burgess Linda Shenton Matchetts winners: $5.00 gift card to online retailer or choice (Kobo, B&N, AppleBooks, Amazon): Karen Hadley A Bride for Seamus: Carol Osterhouse Wotring DebbieLynn Costellos winners: Sword of the Matchmaker: Melissa Planas Sword of Forgiveness: Paty Hinojosa Gomez Shattered Memories: Charlene Zall Capodice Sword of the Perfect Bride: Licha Haney Donna Schlachters winner: Leather Journal: Lisa Turley GIVEAWAY RULES Winners must leave their email address and will be notified by email and the winners name will be announced in the days comments. No one under 18 can enter our giveaways. No purchase is necessary. All winners have one week to claim their prize. USA shipping only. Offer void where prohibited. Odds of winning vary due to the number of entrants. UNICEF has saved $17 million for Ukraine in procurement of vaccines using the funds of the 2016 national budget, Deputy Health Minister Oleksandr Linchevsky said at a government meeting on Wednesday. "If we look at UNICEF in vaccine procurement we have $17 million of saved funds only on vaccines," he said. Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said that the funds will be sent to buy new medicines. "If not for the new procurement system via international organizations no one would save any kopeck. This $17 million would be distributed to the pockets of various businessmen who for years made money off this. This $17 million will go to procure new medicines for Ukrainian citizens," he said. The State Audit Service of Ukraine jointly with the Economic Development and Trade Ministry will analyze the financial and economic operation of Ukroboronprom State Concern. Sources in the government told Interfax-Ukraine that the decision was made at a government meeting on Wednesday. "The authorized agencies are also instructed to inform the government on the results of the analysis and draw up proposals to improve operations of Ukroboronprom," the source said. At present, participants in Ukroboronprom, created by the president decree in December 2010, are 112 enterprises of the Ukrainian defense industry, including Ukrspecexport and its subsidiaries. Another 21 enterprises of the state concern are located in the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea and Donetsk and Luhansk regions that are not controlled by Ukraine. 12:30 19.04.2017 Interfax-Ukraine to host press conference 'Fanchi-Invest: How Can a Village Enter International Arena and Successfully Combat Lawlessness of Local Law Enforcement Agencies?' AddThis Sharing Buttons 1 min read On Wednesday, April 19, at 13.00, the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency's press center will host a press conference entitled "Fanchi-Invest: How Can a Village Enter International Arena and Successfully Combat Lawlessness of Local Law Enforcement Agencies?" Participants will include Director of LLC Fanchi-Invest Roman Stefanchyshen (8/5a Reitarska Street). Registration requires press accreditation. More information by phone: (050) 840 80 63 (Fedir Levchenko). 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/ True to form, the Chinese have pushed up their claim over Arunachal Pradesh to another level. The English daily Global Times said in a news item today that Chinas Ministry of Civil Affairs announced on April 14 that it had standardised in Chinese characters, Tibetan and Roman alphabet, the names of six places in South Tibet, which India calls Arunachal Pradesh in accordance with the regulations of the central government. So, Bum La, the pass that marks the Line of Actual Control (LAC) north of Tawang has become Bumo La and Namka Chu, through which the current LAC runs and where the fighting first began in October 1962, has become Namkapub Ri and Menchuka, a small town in West Siang district, has become Mainquka. China has long mastered the art of lawfare or the system through which legal claims are put forward to delegitimise adversaries. Renaming places is not something new. So the Chinese call the Paracel Islands and Spratly Islands in the South China Sea as the Xisha and Nansha islands or the Senkaku islands which they dispute with Japan as the Diaoyu islands. So Aksai Chin which India claims as being part of Jammu & Kashmir is occupied by China and is said to be the southwestern part of the Hotan Prefecture of Xinjiang. According to the daily, the aim is to reaffirm the countrys territorial sovereignty to the disputed region. The paper cited a Chinese specialist Xiong Kunxin to say that the renaming and standardisation were part of Chinas growing understanding and recognition of geography in South Tibet. Indias claim on Arunachal Pradesh rests on the Simla Convention of 1914 which it arrived at with the Tibetan authorities which marked the border through what was known as the McMahon Line. The great monastery of Tawang thus became a part of India, though it was administered by Tibetan monks till 1951 when an Indian patrol team led by Major R. Khating sent them away. China says that its representative had not agreed to the Simla Convention, though the record says that he initialled it. Further in ensuring years, the Chinese authorities did not raise any issue with regard to the McMahon Line. Even though China claimed a boundary on the foothills of the Assam plains from the outset, it did not press its claims. In 1962, following the defeat of the Indian Army, China occupied all of Arunachal Pradesh, but voluntarily withdrew thereafter. Earlier in 1960, Premier Zhou Enlai offered to trade Chinese claims in Arunachal with Indias claims in Aksai Chin which China was occupying. This offer of a swap was repeated again by Deng Xiaoping in the early 1980s. However, since the mid-1980s, the Chinese have been saying that India should concede Tawang to them. And now, following the most recent visit of the Dalai Lama, which China warned would spoil Sino-Indian relations, Beijing has taken this additional step. However, in 2005, in signing the agreement on the Political Parameters and Guiding Principle for the Settlement of the India-China Boundary Question, China accepted under its Article VII that In reaching the boundary settlement, the two sides will safeguard due interests of their settled populations in border areas. Indians assumed that the Chinese were willing to again forgo their claim on Tawang, but a year later China disavowed this as well. Last month, Dai Bingguo who was Beijings top negotiator on the border dispute with his Indian counterparts between 2003 and 2013, said in an interview with the China-Indian Dialogue magazine that The disputed territory in the eastern sector of the China-India boundary, including Tawang, is inalienable from Chinas Tibet in terms of cultural background and administrative jurisdiction. Indeed, he had the chutzpah to suggest that India was blocking Chinas reasonable requests in not offering Tawang up as part of a border settlement. Indian negotiators have repeatedly told the Chinese that bringing up Tawang is a deal breaker. Now, it is not just Tawang, clearly the Chinese are hardening their claim on the entire state of Arunachal Pradesh. And the prospects of a border settlement look remote. But this is not just something that affects India. Across their periphery, whether in the Senkaku/Diayou islands, or the South China Sea, Chinas position on its borders has become more assertive and inflexible. Manoj Joshi is distinguished fellow, Observer Research Foundation The views expressed are personal Brexit is the cloud that keeps on raining on British politics. In calling a snap general election, Theresa May is taking not just a gamble driven by opinion polls - which have got every major ballot of the past three years wrong - but tacitly admitting she and her cabinet cannot deal with the intricacies of leaving the European Union in the face of nuisances like democratic protest, opposition and diplomacy. Why has she taken this step? Well, the main threat - and I use that term loosely - of the left wing Labour Party, can not only be neutralised, but smashed, if the 21-point lead the Conservative Party currently has plays out across the country. She is effectively saying that she wants more bodies to man the pump, to roll deep like a South London street gang; that her 17-seat parliamentary majority is simply not enough to deal with such a big issue. Who expects leaders to be able to handle things they campaigned for, after all? This is an act of cowardice and opportunism on a grand scale. For someone who took the big chair, based on a deep seated love of the Brexit ethos, this move illustrates what little progress she has made and how ill-equipped she is to handle it. This is the person who banged the drum for the Fixed Term Parliament Act (FTPA) under David Cameron, someone who might have had a thing or two to tell her about calculated risks. Her statement on the steps of Number 10 Downing Street was the very place last year where, as the new PM, she said there would be no early election, and that the FTPA was sacrosanct in its diktats of elections every five years. Somehow she sees the reversal of an important policy as an issue for her previous avatar, a lowly promise held by a player in a different game with a different set of rules. Then Brexit happened, and caused the sort of pandemonium that a Brexit-supporting prime minister should simply not have to deal with. Be under no illusions, her election call, like Erdogans in Turkey, is about amassing power. And it is as much a warning klaxon to the (many) dissenters in her own party as it is to the opposition parties such as Labour - which itself is in a civil war over Brexit; because its leader, Jeremy Corbyn, favours it (with caveats) while most of his fellow MPs do not. Add to the mix the Scottish National Party, which led the Caledonians in voting overwhelmingly to remain in the EU, the anti-Brexit Liberal Democrats, parties in Northern Ireland who were also largely in the Remain camp, and a divided Welsh set of parties, and you have the perfect recipe to further disunite the Kingdom. Two-thirds of the House of Commons need to vote yes in order to endorse the snap election, and it is hard to see how Mays adversaries can shy away from an open battle. But she is claiming that Brexit cannot be reversed and the only alternative to her is a ramshackle coalition - but what if she loses and the next PM calls another referendum; theyre apparently very popular at the moment. With opponents talking of an anti-Brexit bloc, only the people of the UK can answer - and Id be a fool to try and predict which way theyll swing. Chaos as usual. Saptarshi Ray is a British journalist who worked at the Guardian in London and was UK Correspondent for Outlook. The views expressed are personal The tall, seemingly shy Theresa May is known as a tough, no-nonsense politician who does not do small talk. Everyone believed her when she repeated several times that there would be no mid-term election. But that was until Tuesday morning, when, just as people were returning to work after a sunny Easter and bank holiday weekend, she sprang a surprise that not even the most cued in political nerds in Westminster were aware of: a mid-term election on June 8. Being hard to read is the latest layer on her political profile. On the face of it, there is no real need for a mid-term election: there is no crisis or war; neither is the opposition demanding it. But scratch the surface and you see a cold political calculation. The ruling Conservatives have a thin majority in the House of Commons, ever hostage to threats from its own rebels and the opposition. The pro-EU House of Lords, where the party is not in a majority, is not exactly enamoured of her Brexit plans. She often faces the charge of being an unelected prime minister, having succeeded David Cameron, who led the party to power in 2015 but quit after losing the EU referendum. The objective is clear: to capitalise on the disarray in the Labour ranks, the growing ratings for her and the Conservative party in recent opinion polls, and set at rest many political fires inside and outside Westminster by winning a bigger majority. It is an ambush laid for Labour, and in particular for its leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who insists he is running but is not moving an inch in gaining popular support. May has displayed characteristic confidence that the ambush will work, allowing her to carry on the Brexit process in Brussels, unhindered by carping criticism. In short, she is seeking a blank cheque to put her stamp on Brexit and the way the UK sees itself and the way the world sees it in future. There is already a sense of weariness across the United Kingdom some say a dis-United Kingdom that the country faces the fourth election in four years: the Scotland independence referendum in 2014, the general election of 2015, the EU referendum in 2016, and now the mid-term election. In many ways the outcome of each of the three rounds is linked to the June 8 election. Brexit is hardly on top of the agenda all over the UKs four countries, and weariness over the domination of Brexit in public discourse may well lead to a low turnout. Going to the people is a time-tested device in a democracy. But given that we are in an age of upstart election results, anything is possible, and pollsters and opinion polls have not exactly enhanced their reputation in recent elections in the UK and elsewhere. The June 8 election is already seen as a Brexit election and an opportunity to reverse the vote to leave the EU. Can Labour, Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party, along with others, topple the Tories to form a coalition government? June 9 may well see the next chapter in the age of upstart results. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON With reunification moves between the warring factions of the AIADMK picking up steam, the talks that were hitherto held as back channel discussions have moved to a formal platform. TTV Dinakarans announcement to step aside, after the majority group within the Sasikala camp decided to keep her family away from party affairs has set the stage for the merger. The single major issue between the two groups had been O Panneerselvams (OPS) insistence that no one from the Sasikala family should have anything to do with the party affairs. While a number of ministers and MLAs from the Sasikala faction had come around to the view that both Sasikala and Dinakaran needed to be eased out of the party, they were still divided on how to go about achieving it. Many of them owed their MLA seats to Sasikala and so preferred an amicable parting of ways rather than a showdown. At stake is the future of the state government which could fall if the Sasikala camp is able to command the support of 18-plus MLAs and wishes to go for a showdown. On Tuesday, after the ministers announcement, only eight MLAs trooped to Dinakarans residence in a show of support. On Wednesday, Dinakaran announced that he would stay away in the interests of the party and it does look like the family has decided to avoid a confrontation for now. So there may be no immediate threat to the government. The key issues that now remain relate to who holds the powerful posts in the government and the partythe Tamil Nadu chief minister and AIADMK general secretary. Vettrivel, an MLAs in the Sasikala camp has alleged that OPS had made several demands, including plum ministerial portfolios for his men. Significantly when asked if Dinakaran would continue to remain the deputy general secretary of the party, Jayakumar said that the issue was not discussed and never once affirmed his support for Dinakaran or Sasikala. Ministers who were asked the question on Tuesday also continued to remain non-committal on the issue. If the factions reunite as expected, the chances of the party general secretary post being with one group and the chief ministers post with the other group remain a likely possibility. There is also speculation on having a deputy chief minister from a rival faction and plumping for a party elder as the general secretary. The pressure has now shifted on to OPS. Now that his main demand has been conceded and his second major demand of a probe into the demise of Jayalalithaa is also likely to be granted, he will be seen as being ambitious and a spoiler if he holds out just for the chief ministers chair. Also the support of the 11 MLAs with him cannot be taken for granted anymore now that the Sasikala family is not in the picture. The present AIADMK government has another four years of its term still to run with the late Jayalalithaa having led the party to victory in May last year. The primary focus of both sides now is to prevent a split in the party that could threaten the survival of the Government. In the wings waits the DMK with 89 MLAs in the assembly. They will surely sense an opportunity if the easing out of Sasikala family from AIADMK does not go smoothly and the party splits. The DMK has been out of power for six years and faces another four more in the opposition, a prospect that it hardly fancies. The role of the central government and the ruling BJP in orchestrating the events in Tamil Nadu has been widely discussed. The relentless pressure being put on the Sasikala camp with the IT raids on health minister Vijayabaskar, the EC charge of money distribution in the now-cancelled RK Nagar bypoll and the Delhi Police charge of Dinakaran allegedly trying to bribe the EC for the partys two leaves symbol have taken a toll on the ministers and senior leaders of the party who have come to believe that the pressure would be maintained as long as the family was running the party. Some ministers feared they would be the next target and so may have moved quickly to jettison Sasikala and Dinakaran. Over the coming week there will be some hard bargaining but it is in the interests of both sides that an amicable settlement is arrived at, and expectations are that it will be. Theres also the matter of governance which has taken a back seat for the last several months thanks to all the politicking. A plethora of issues needs urgent government attention and it is high time the AIADMK government focuses again on governing the state. (Author is a Chennai-based political analyst. Views expressed are personal) The upper house of the parliament of the Netherlands (Senate) proposes to hold debates on the issue of ratification of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union on May 23. According to the Senate website, the committees for foreign affairs, defense, development and European relations propose to Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders to take part in the plenary debate that may be held on May 23. It says that if this date isn't suitable for the minister, the debate will be postponed to June 6. As reported, the lower chamber of the Dutch Parliament - the House of Representatives - on February 23 officially confirmed the ratification of the Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine. The ratification was backed by 89 out of 150 members of the House of Representatives, while 55 voted against it. To complete the procedure, the agreement should pass the Dutch Senate, after which ratification documents should be submitted to the King of the Netherlands for signing. Then they should be sent to Brussels. Yami Gautam has completed five years in the Hindi film industry and she couldnt be happier that this year has given her the biggest success of her career with Kaabil. The actor talks to HT Cafe about her career, image and changed attitude. Its been five years since your debut film Vicky Donor (2012). How has the journey been? I feel that I have grown a lot, not just as an actor but even as person. Today, I have priorities and I know what I am doing, so I am in a happy space. With experience and confidence, my attitude has changed. Moreover, I have been through a phase not that it can never happen again in the future where your films dont do well. When that happens, you feel embarrassed to talk to the media, wondering what to say, about comparisons, etc. But today, I feel I am over that feeling. I think failure is important in life as it helps you understand the value of things. The moment you get confident and dont shy away from it, you become stronger. Glimpses from last night #IPL :) Full performance video link: http://iplt20.com/video/92638/yami-gautam-sets-the-stage-on-fire-with-a-rocking-performance A post shared by Yami Gautam (@yamigautam) on Apr 16, 2017 at 4:12am PDT The film industry is a tough place, right? No, it is a very tough place. But as it gives you recognition at a global level, it cant be easy to make it here either. How are you feeling after Kaabils success? A films success is always amazing but Kaabil was one of the rare films that got success and respect at the same time. The feeling where people talk with respect about the subject, the execution, the actors makes it special. It was a huge takeaway for me and Ill always cherish it. Loving d love! This only means so many people smiled, laughed, cried and celebrated with us! Thank u #celebrateKaabil @hrithikroshan @kaabilthemovie A post shared by Yami Gautam (@yamigautam) on Feb 4, 2017 at 9:49pm PST With your girl-next-door image, was it a surprise for you to be offered a grey role in your next film, Sarkar 3? I was surprised but I was excited too. As an actor, I want to be as versatile as possible but not for the heck of it. A different but random role wont help because the right projection of your character is important. This film has a niche fan following and to get a substantial role is the best thing. Ramu sir (director Ram Gopal Varma) said, the audiences wont expect you to shoot in the film, so it will be exciting. I cant wait to see the reactions as we have tried something different. Gladly presenting #Sarkar3Trailer REASING APRIL 7 2017 Link in bio @amitabhbachchan @eros_now A post shared by Yami Gautam (@yamigautam) on Mar 1, 2017 at 4:08am PST SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON When actor Yami Gautam went to audition for the film Vicky Donor (2012), she had a hard time believing the story. The first time I went to give the audition [for Vicky Donor], I asked the casting director what the film was about and she just smiled and said it was based on sperm donation. I thought it was some kind of a joke. I rechecked and asked her to tell me seriously what it was all about. The only thing I heard was that Shoojit Sircar was directing it, and I knew he was a very sensible director, recalls Yami, who played Ayushmann Khurranas love interest in the film. Although Yami is proud of the character that she played in Vicky Donor, she says that the films theme made people nervous initially. When my dad asked me what the film was about, I gave the script to him, and said, You read it [yourself]. I didnt know how to put it across, but they [my family] loved the script and the final film. The best part was that Shoojit knew what he was dealing with and showed through the film that we had progressive minds around us, adds the actor. FUN FACT.. Whenever I go to Delhi for any event, I am reminded of shooting for Vicky Donor. I used to go for shopping on my own. I remember turning into a foodie, and I always had a memory of Annu Kapoor Ji being very thin from Mr. India (1987) days, but the paunch he has in this film is real and hes too is a big foodie, she says. Follow @htshowbiz for more SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Actor Raveena Tandon has denied rumours that the Central Board Of Film Certification (CBFC) has banned her film Maatr. Reports suggested that the board was not impressed with the film, which is about a mother taking revenge for her daughters rape. There were also rumours that the board members walked out of the films screening. However, Raveena clarifies that the CBFC has been very cooperative and wanted to see the film a second time to suggest final changes and cuts. She says that the film will release on the scheduled date, April 21. There was never a walk out. Plus, they never banned the film. I dont think they even have the authority to ban a film according to their laws. They can refuse certification and then a filmmaker can approach the tribunal or the court. But that was not the case with my film. Since it is such a hard hitting subject, there were some women members of the board who wanted the film to go as it is and there were some men, who wanted cuts. This is why they decided to watch the film again, says Raveena, adding that the film has been cleared now and the certificate will be handed over to the makers tomorrow. The board has suggested some cuts, which dont bother Raveena. There are a few scenes which we have been asked to delete. It is a hard-hitting subject and we were expecting many more cuts. I feel it is a positive step that the CBFC has agreed to release the film. The impact of the film will still be the same even with these cuts, says Raveena. The actor says that although at times filmmakers have a genuine reason for going against the board, there are also times when the board has been needlessly blamed. It is a witch-hunt...these problems with the censor board have happend so many times. A lot of people do this to give publicity to their films too. Of course, some people have a genuine reason, she says. However, Raveena doesnt blame the CBFC for its stringent guidelines. Look at what happened in Chennai. A girl eloped with her boyfriend because she saw this in a film. The Chennai court has questioned the Censor Board for this. This is not fair. How is the board responsible? They are held up for such things, which is why I dont blame them for the decisions they take sometimes, she says. Follow @htshowbiz for more. Comedian Vir Das has collaborated with Netflix for its first ever Indian comedian special on April 25. The trailer for the show has been released online. Titled Abroad Understanding, the show marks the debut of an Indian original production on Netflix, making this a tremendous feat featuring Vir Das. The Netflix Comedy Specials have previously been shot with the likes of Kevin Hart, Amy Schumer, Russell Peters, Chris Tucker to name a few. The show was shot last year in November in two cities, New Delhi and New York City in front of live audience. The show speaks about cultures, politics, religion and much more as one can make out in the nearly-90-second trailer. Follow @htshowbiz for more In a blow to Indian IT industry and professionals, US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order for tightening the rules of the H-1B visa programme to stop its abuse and ensure that the visas are given to the most-skilled or highest paid petitioners. Acting on his Buy American, Hire American pledge, Trump signed the order that calls for an overhaul of the programme at the Kenosha, Wisconsin, headquarters of tool-maker Snap-on Inc yesterday. Right now, widespread abuse in our immigration system is allowing American workers of all backgrounds to be replaced by workers brought in from other countries to fill the same job for, sometimes, less pay. This will stop, Trump told an enthusiastic audience in Wisconsin before signing the order. He said the order sets in motion the first steps to initiate long-overdue reforms to end visa abuses. Right now, H-1B visas are awarded in a totally random lottery, and thats wrong. Instead, they should be given to the most skilled and highest-paid applicants, and they should never, ever be used to replace Americans, he asserted. No one can compete with American workers when theyre given a fair and level playing field, which has not happened for decades, he said. Trump said his administration is going to enforce Hire American rules that are designed to protect jobs and wages of workers in the United States. We believe jobs must be offered to American workers first. Does that make sense? he said. But the New York Times noted that Trumps announcement came at a jittery time for the White House, as he faces the 100th day of his presidency without much to show for it in the way of legislative accomplishment, after the defeat of his health care overhaul. And his two high-profile executive orders cracking down on immigration from predominantly Muslim nations have been stymied by the courts, the paper pointed out. Trumps executive order also declares that American projects should be made with American goods. No longer are we going to allow foreign countries to cheat our producers and our workers out of federal contracts. Everyone in my administration will be expected to enforce every last Buy American provision on behalf of the American worker, and we are going to investigate every single trade deal that undermines these provisions, he said. According to the executive order, the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Labour, and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall suggest reforms to help ensure that H-1B visas are awarded to the most-skilled or highest-paid petition beneficiaries. In a statement, the White House said H-1B visas are supposed to bring the highest skilled and paid labour to the United States. But according to studies, 80 per cent of the approved applications were for the two lowest wage levels allowed. Currently, companies routinely abuse the H-1B visa programme by replacing American workers with lower paid foreign workers, it said. Reforming the H-1B visa system was one of the major election promises of Trump. As per several US reports, a majority of the H-1B visas every year are grabbed by Indian IT professionals. India accounts for the highest pool of qualified IT professionals, whose services go a long way in making American companies globally competitive. As mandated by the Congress, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) every year issues 65,000 H-1B visas and another 20,000 to those applicants having masters and higher degrees from a US educational institution. This month USCIS received 199,000 H-1B visa petitions and as a result, the federal agency had to resort to a computerised draw of lots to decide the fate of successful applicant. Betsy Lawrence, the director of government relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told CNN that, Although released with ceremonial flair, the order will have no immediate impact on H-1Bs. Many of the changes to the H-1B programme contemplated by the administration would require legislative action or rule-making and would take time to go through the necessary processes, he said. Meanwhile, some US lawmakers said the executive order signed by Trump calling for a review of H-1B visas was too little and too late. This does nothing, said Senator Charles Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader. Like all the other executive orders, its just words - hes calling for new studies. Its not going to fix the problem. Its not going to create a single job. We already know H-1B visa abuse hurts American workers. Simply reviewing the programme is too little, too late, Senator Dick Durbin said. US lawmakers have already tabled more than half a dozen legislations in the Congress with specific proposals to reform and improve the H-1B visas systems. Many of those proposals, as per industry body Nasscom, are discriminatory and are targeted towards Indian IT companies. The US tech industry and corporate sector, however, has welcomed the much-needed review of the H-1B visa programme and expressed confidence that it would help them bring in the best and the brightest from across the world. The NSUI, Congress student wing, is aiming to expand its base in colleges of Uttarakhand following a humiliating defeat its parent organisation faced in the state poll and amid a surge in the ABVPs popularity. We are working to expand our base in universities and colleges of Uttarakhand by running a membership drive..., National Students Union of India (NSUI) state unit president Shyam Singh Chauhan told HT. The aim is to attract youngsters to the ideologies of our students wing as well as our parent party on a large scale, Chauhan said, adding that the drive was receiving sizeable response. The NSUIs expansion plan, however, is being viewed as an apparent bid to counter the growing popularity of the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) among youngsters. The ABVP holds sway in students unions of most of the colleges of the hill state. Just like its parent party, the NSUI, too, is fast losing its base among students. Both last years student union polls and this years assembly election have proved that nationalistic fervour is getting stronger among youngsters and our popularity is growing, Siddharth Rana, an ABVP leader, said while targeting the NSUIs expansion plan. In students union elections last year, the ABVP had won most of the polls including those at the DAV (PG) College - the biggest government-aided college in the state. Besides, the ABVP won elections in colleges at Doiwala, Vikasnagar, Rishikesh, Purola and Srinagar. The NSUI - which had managed to win presidential elections at the DBS (PG) College in Dehradun and in some other colleges in Pauri, Chamoli and Rudraprayag - refused to accept the assembly results as a benchmark for a partys popularity among youngsters. We will give them (ABVP) a stiff competition this time, Chauhan said. Earlier this year, the Congress won 11 seats in the election to the 70-member Uttarakhand assembly. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON DEHRADUN: Forest minister Harak Singh Rawat has ordered a fresh probe in the last years seizure of five tiger skins and 125 kg bones in Haridwar forest division, after a report suggested poor investigation by foresters. Rawat directed head of forest force RK Mahajan to investigate and submit a report within one month. He ordered camera traps be installed again. After Rajeev Mehta of The Eye of the Tiger Trust submitted a report, the minister admitted efforts made by the forest department to investigate the case were weak. Five skins and 120 kg tiger bones were seized which proves that many more tigers were killed. I have ordered investigation and asked them to reinstall camera traps of Wildlife Institute of India (WII), he told Hindustan Times on Wednesday. Ram Chander alias Chander, who was caught with the consignment of tiger skins and bones, reportedly told the police that he along with Mukhtiyar and Ram Bhagat killed two tigers in Kotdwar. Another three were killed in the same area. The accused told interrogators that the skins and bones were kept hidden in trenches in Kothkadar in Uttar Pradesh. Later, two more were arrested in the case Mehta accused forest officers of not carrying out a transparent investigation. I was a part of the investigation. At Kothkadar, we found 32 trenches, bones, flesh, and blood-stained clothes. All these items were taken by the chief wildlife warden and the Corbett director, but were not handed over to the police for investigation, he said. Dry bones of a tiger weigh between 15 kg and 17 kg. Therefore, the consignment of 125 kg bones means that more than seven tigers were killed, Mehta said. Later, a tiger skin and 24 kg bones were seized from Raiwala. After WII confirmed that four of the five skins were of tigers once photographed in Corbett, the forest department stopped association with the institute, sources said. The department tried to cover up the episode even as the then union forest minister Prakash Javedakar wrote to the government to take cognizance of the matter, Mehta said. Why is he questioning the investigation after a year now? He attended two State Board for Wildlife meetings after this incident and never did he raised this agenda before us, chief wildlife warden Digvijay Singh Khati said. Mahajan said he was travelling. We will conduct a transparent investigation and will take action accordingly, he added. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The campaigning for the municipal elections heated up on Wednesday after Aam Aadmi Partys Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan alleged that unidentified persons fired three rounds at him late Tuesday night in south Delhis Jamia Nagar area. Khan claimed that the assailants shot at him in police presence, but he had a miraculous escape. The police said that the Congress has made similar allegations against AAP workers but neither party has filed any complaint. No one was found injured on the spot and no information about anyone hospitalised with gunshot injuries was received either. Both parties were asked to give written complaint but till now we have not received any such complaint. Action will be taken as per their complaints, said Romil Baaniya, DCP (South-East), on Wednesday morning. Amanatullah Khan said that he had received a call from local AAP party workers that some Congress workers were fighting with them near Batla House Chowk in Jamia Nagar area. I went to sort out the issue and at the same time called the area SHO. A sub-inspector arrived and was looking into the matter when suddenly unidentified men fired three rounds at me and fled, he alleged. Police said they had first received a call about the quarrel between the two party workers at 12.10am on Tuesday. Around 45 minutes later, they received another call from the MLA about the firing at him. On enquiry, both parties blamed each other of firing, said the DCP. Khan had been in the news last year when two women had accused him of sexual harassment. He had been arrested separately in both the cases and had spent time in jail. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has served notices to DPS Mathura Road and DPS RK Puram for a number of violations, including the re-appointment or extension of their principals. The board has also asked DPS Mathura Road why its permanent affiliation should not be withdrawn. The showcause notice served by the board to DPS Mathura Road says that the school had conducted a number of violations, including re-appointment of its principal. For DPS RK Puram, the board has issued a letter for violating affiliation bylaws in extending the service of its school principal. The school has been asked to take corrective measure and inform the board within seven days. Officials said action under the affiliation bylaws will be initiated if the school fails to reply. According to a senior official, Delhi Public School, Mathura Road, was granted permanent affiliation in 1969 subject to the condition that the school will abide by the provision of the affiliation and examination bylaws. An inspection was conducted by a team of CBSE members on March 8 this year and it was served a notice highlighting the alleged misconduct of the principal and violation of CBSE affiliation bylaws. The school was also asked to nominate CBSE nominees in the school managing committee. The school sent us a reply to all the violations we had brought to their notice and they have been found to be unsatisfactory. The school had issued a circular misinforming the parents and students that CBSE had started a new language policy, which created chaos. This violation can lead to punitive action. The school managing committee also reemployed the principal for a period of two years and seven months, who superannuated on 2.9.2016 without quoting any rule. This too is a violation, said a senior CBSE official. The showcause further states that the principal being head of school is also custodian of public money received in the form of fee in schools. Therefore, government and CBSE has emphasized for transparent selection process of the principal thus DPS has exceeded its powers.. with malafide intention to promote faavouritism and to have control over the public money of the school through the principal. The manager of DPS Mathura Road has been served with a showcause notice as to why permanent affiliation up to secondary level should not be withdrawn. The school has been given 15 days to reply to this. In case of DPS RK Puram, CBSE has alleged that the school had extended the services of the principal beyond the academic session. Hence, the school management has taken the decision at their own level and flouted the rules intentionally for personal benefits, the CBSE official said. The notice further states that the DPS society extended the service of the principal beyond the age of superannuation without any legal provision under the state act or bylaws of CBSE. This practice breeds nepotism in an organization and diverts resources of schools from academics to personal gratifications. It is pertinent to mention that one of the major sources of revenue for schools is fee, which is public money and therefore the onus lies on school and its management for its judicious utilization, the official added. DPS R K Puram principal Vanita Sehgal said she has not received the showcause notice and refused to comment. DPS Mathura Road principal Manohar Lal said his extension as principal was done as per proper process prescribed by DSER, 1973. I was re-employed as per the directorate of education and DESR rules, he said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Vadym Prystaiko told about the possible schedule of a visa-free regime waiver with the European Union for Ukraine; the nearest consideration is scheduled for April 26. "April 26 is the next date when, most likely, the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the EU, the so-called COREPER, will confirm the results of the trialogue of European institutions on granting visa-free regime to Ukraine [...] On May 11 this issue will be submitted for approval by the EU Council and in the near future, most likely on May 15-16, possibly on May 18, it will be signed," he told a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers in Kyiv on Wednesday. Prystaiko also reminded that after signing by the Maltese presidency and publishing of the documents in the official EU magazine, Ukrainians will receive a visa-free regime with 30 European countries, including 26 EU members (all except Ireland and UK), as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Norway. Sixty passengers aboard a Jet Airways (Dehradun-Delhi) flight had a close shave when the aircraft developed a problem in its nose wheel soon after landing at Delhis Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA). The flight landed at runway 29 at 4.30pm and had to be towed away due to which the runway was blocked for around two hours. Sources said the operations were shut on the runway from 4:48pm to 6:38pm as the plane was stuck there. Read more: AI flight to New York grounded at Delhis IGI airport after technical snag Jet Airways flight 9W 2882, an ATR 72-500, from Dehradun to Delhi of April 19, 2017, experienced a nosewheel malfunction after landing, resulting in a steering problem. All 60 guests and five crew members have been safely deplaned. Guests are being looked after by the airlines guest service teams and the aircraft is being towed away for maintenance. Jet Airways regrets the inconvenience caused to guests and is making alternate travel arrangements for the affected guests, said an airline spokesperson. An inquiry has been ordered in the matter. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Posing as a cyber cell officer, an unidentified man has been taking the access of Facebook accounts of people, particularly from the glamour industry in Delhi and NCR, and blackmailing them to cough up money. According to several victims, the man calls from a number and claims he is calling from the cyber cell of the Delhi Police. Since his Truecaller id reads Cyber Cell, most victims do not question his identity. The number is mentioned in the police report. HT is not revealing the number because the matter is pending investigation. He tells his victims that their Facebook account or Page has been reported by several Facebook users for certain problems and he would be sorting out the problem for which he needs the OTP generated by clicking on Forgot Password. Once the victims share the OTPs, the man has little problem in accessing their Facebook accounts or pages. He then changes the primary email id and phone number associated with that account or page, taking complete control of it. After that, he makes no attempt to conceal his real intentions. He again calls up the victims, informs them that they no longer have control over their Facebook accounts or page and demands a sum of Rs 2,100 to get the access back. A victims account One such victim was Deepak Bansal, a Delhi-based man who is into 3D model-making business. His Facebook account was hacked by the same man using the same modus operandi on April 4. He claims to have been working for the Prime Ministers initiative, Make In India, and said his Facebook chats contained confidential information related to his work. I coughed up Rs 2,000 in three installments. At his instructions, I transferred the amount to his PayTM account that is registered with the same phone number that he called me from, Bansal told HT. But the fraudster refused to transfer the access to his Facebook account, instead demanding more money. His first priority being to get back the control to his Facebook account, over the next three-four days, Bansal then used his own skills to hack into the cheats gmail account and retrieve control of his Facebook account. User who lost her page But his friend, Pooja Sonik Shukla, a Gurgaon-based freelance make-up artist was not as lucky. She too had lost control of her Facebook account as well as Page on April 4 after receiving a call from the man. She transferred a total of Rs 1,000 to the mans PayTM account in a desperate bid to get back the access, but it was not to be. Bansal used his skills to help her get access to her Facebook account, but wasnt able to help her get the page back. She had been using her Facebook page Pooja Sonik Hair And Makeup for business. My page had almost 8,000 likes and great reviews. He has used the settings to ensure no one can even see my page anymore. All my hard work and popularity on social media has been undone, she said. Bansal and Shukla visited the cyber crime cells of Delhi Police and Gurgaon Police respectively on April 6 and submitted their complaints, but the culprit continues to roam free. HTs call to the suspect on the given contact number was met with a volley of verbal abuses. The concerned Delhi Police officers remained unresponsive on the status of Bansals complaint. The two victims told HT they know about 20 people from the glamour industry such as fashion designers, make-up artists and photographers from Delhi and NCR who have been duped in the same fashion over the last one month. One of the victims coughed up Rs 20,000, but could not get the access back to his Facebook page. Another make-up artist had over 1 lakh likes on her page, but she no more has control over it, said Bansal. Faizan Patel, a Delhi-based professional photographer, said he too received a call from his number, but he sensed it was a fraudster. But one of my photographer friend fell in the trap and lost his Facebook page that had around 20,000 likes, Patel said. A search on Facebook threw up dozens of similar complains about calls from this particular phone number. While a few of them had refused to share their OTPs, others were tricked into giving in to the mans demands and regretting it later. Karl Marx is lying on his shoe rack. Italo Calvino is on his double bed. Federico Garcia Lorca is beside a little guitar. Amitav Ghosh, VS Naipaul, Salman Rushdie, Ernest Hemingway and Mirza Ghalib are on a long table. They are stacked with many other authors including Arundhati Roy and Manan Kapoor. And, we are lucky enough to be in Manan Kapoors room. Besides being a novelist, he is also a postgraduate student in Delhis Ambedkar University. Kapoors first novel, The Lamentations of a Sombre Sky, was set in strife-torn Kashmir. It made its debut in 2016. He is now working on a new novel, something to do with memories of a man. Kapoor is 23. We are visiting his one-room apartment in north Delhis Shakti Nagar to get a sense of the literary influences of a writer whose published life has begun, we think, a tad too early. Ive been told many times that Im too young to publish a book that concerns something as delicate as Kashmir, says Kapoor, who graduated from Panjab University and moved to Delhi only a few months ago. Many people are intrigued by the fact that I managed to finish a book. But their tone is interrogative. I dont think they would ask the same questions to perhaps a 35-year-old writing about Kashmir. And, I understand where they come from since Ive learned to write only through my reading of others works, breaking down the books to see how an author creates an effect. A large poster of the cover of Orhan Pamuks The Museum of Innocence is plastered on the wall. Kapoor is deeply attached to the Turkish writer. He read this novel twice. He is also fond of Milan Kundera. We spot two Shakespeare plays late night in August last year Kapoor got drunk on beer with a friend in a Hauz Khas Village cafe and they both stood at the villages gate loudly reciting Macbeths lines: Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,/Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,/ To the last syllable of recorded time Most of the literary posters on Kapoors wall are gifts from his girlfriend, a student in Mumbais St Xaviers College. One poster is a page torn off from a magazine dated February 1987. It has two brief news stories on Kashmir and Assam. Sitting sits down on his writing desk crowded with a laptop and a bottle each of Captain Morgan and Chenin Blanc, Kapoor starts to roll a cigarette. He smokes 15 cigarettes daily. Kapoors first novel was about three Kashmiri teens. Deeply influenced by Basharat Peers Kashmir memoirs Curfewed Night, he nevertheless wanted his novel, unlike Peers, to go beyond the regions politics and to intimately touch upon the private lives of its people. Published by Bombay-based publisher, the novels launch took place in Kapoors home town, Chandigarh. The evening was co-hosted by Chandigarh Literary society. Everything went well (there was tea and bruschetta) but the novelist regrets not having Peer as chief guest, who was in London at the time. Kapoor has a collection of 600 books at his Chandigarh home, many of which belong to his mother, an English teacher. This small library in Delhi is merely a work of a few months. He never goes to first-hand bookstores. Unlike most Delhi writers, he has no relationship with Khan Market bookstores. Most books here have come from Jacksons, a charming used-book store in the backpackers district of Paharganj and from the famous Sunday book bazaar in Daryaganj. One precious book in Kapoors library is 60 Indian Poets, a poetry anthology edited by Jeet Thayil. It has Thayils inscription. Kapoor met him last year as a fellow invitee at Under-25 Lit Fest in Bangalore. If Id published the same book five years from today, it would have been a better book for I would have read more, understood the world in a better, more comprehensive way, says Kapoor of his novel. There are days when I hate the book, there are days when I wish I never published it. But it serves as a reminder, a testament of how far I have come if nothing else. As we begin to leave, the young author gently reminds us that Keats died at 25 and Rimbaud published Une Saison en Enfer when he was nineteen. An NRI passenger from Spain missed his flight to Mumbai on April 13 after he picked up a bottle of liquor from a duty-free shop at Terminal 3 and started drinking. The passenger, who was travelling to Mumbai by an Air India flight, even refused to pay $49 for the Johnnie Walker Black Label bottle saying he did not have the money. The employee at the shop then called the mans relative, who paid for the bottle, but between all this chaos, he missed his flight and had to wait for another six hours for the next flight. Few hours after this incident, British Airways offloaded two drunk passengers at Delhis Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) as they were insisting on playing a musical instrument inside the flight. The two Canadian nationals had to spend eight hours at the airport before they were sent in another flight. According to sources, the Central Industrial Security Force had to help the airline in controlling the passengers. Also, the pilot of the plane refused to fly with them. At 2.15am on April 13, the passengers were offloaded by the British Airways. They were heading to London by BA 142, which was scheduled to depart at 1.50am. They were in an inebriated state and created nuisance inside the flight. They were taken to the transfer area with the help of security personnel, said an airport official. Ruckus over demonetised notes On Monday evening, a passenger created ruckus as he was unable to exchange the demonetised currency. The passenger, who had come from Melbourne by an Air India flight, started making a video at red channel of customs area after they refused to exchange his old currency of 29,000. Investigations revealed that the passenger had come out from the terminal, approached his wife and collected old currency. He again entered through arrival exit gate and approached Customs for exchange of old currency on the pretext of being an NRI. Customs officials called Delhi Police and handed him over to them. Delhis heterogeneous fabric is often celebrated for the unique social and cultural mix it offers. On the civic front, however, it poses a huge challenge making Delhi an amalgamation of vastly different microcosms, each with its unique problems and requirements. A Delhi municipal ward, for example, may comprise affluent urban neighbourhoods as well as underdeveloped villages. Add to this, the low voter turnout in several the posh localities in the MCD elections and the existence of reliable vote banks in the adjoining impoverished areas. It leads to question of reconciling the two ends and deciding which issues will take precedence. Hindustan Times breaks down some of these problems. More voters in urban villages Many urban villages are more densely populated than the adjoining posh colonies. This means while there are tens of thousands of potential voters in urban villages, the planned urban neighbourhoods have a few thousands of votes to spare. Sarita Vihar ward in south Delhi, which has 70,124 voters, is home to the famous New Friends Colony (NFC) and also less privileged areas like Taimoor Nagar, Haji Colony and Gaffar Manzil. NFC has approximately 5000 voters, just over 6% of the total voters in the ward while Taimoor Nagar, Haji Colony, and Gaffar Manzil, together offer more than double the amount of voters. So, people in posh colonies presume that their votes would hardly make any difference. Even during the assembly elections, the total voters from New Friends Colony were 10,000 while voters from neighbouring Taimoor Nagar, Khizrabad and Bharat Nagar areas were approximately 1.20 lakh, said Chitra Jain, an RWA member from New Friends Colony. Last time, (Greater Kailash-II) was clubbed together with Chirag Dilli. They said it was done to equalize the areas and bridge the development gap. The councillors were more interested in the village than our neighbourhood. However, at the end of the day, the village area saw no major improvement and our issues were also neglected, said Chetan Sharma, chairman of the federation of GK-II complex Resident Welfare Associations. Lack of faith in political machinery Many residents in such high-income areas are plugged in to the whos who of the national capital and in many cases, they do not see the need for a councillor to help fix their problems. Ashutosh Diskhit, president of Citizens Alliance, Alaknanda, stated that most of the people living in affluent areas dont believe in political mechanism. For them, there are various ways to resolve their issues and approaching the local councillor will be their last option, he said. To put it in a simple way, if the roads are damaged in Greater Kailash, then residents will write to the commissioner or deputy commissioner because they know that allocation of funds needs administrative approval. Moreover, they can also take help from the judiciary if they dont get a satisfying response or if their projects get delayed unnecessarily, he explained. Many of these people dont need to rely on government services either and can afford to hire private service providers. Fed up of apathetic attitude of the civic agency to collect garbage on a daily basis, we established a system for making compost out of kitchen waste with the help of sponsors. This has reduced the amount of garbage going to dumping site by 50 %. Residents are also contributing money for beautification of their parks, Geeta Bhargava, general secretary, Defence Colony RWA. The residents of some of the more working class areas, however, find themselves wholly dependent on their councillors to get water supply, or to fix broken roads or the drainage system. Even the local representatives are aware of the fact thats why they prefer to have their offices in these areas where people consider them as godfather, said Dikshit. Low voter turnout This also means that only a small percentage of voters from such areas turn up to vote. Statistically, though some of the more posh colonies in Delhi enjoy higher per capita incomes and higher literacy rates, their voter turnout, especially during civic body polls, leaves much to be desired. Only 43% of the voters from Vasant Vihar turned up to vote during the 2012 MCD elections. In areas such as Greater Kailash, Vasant Kunj, Safdarjung Enclave, and Hauz Khas to the voter turnout was between 37% and 46%. Lack of representation Not only do residents in these areas not vote, most do not contest elections either. In East Delhis ward of IP extension, only two out of the six contesting candidates are from IP Extension- BJP candidate Aparna Goel and independent candidate Dharamveer Singh. All the others are from the neighbouring village of Ghazipur. There are two possible reasons for this. First, many of the residents in affluent areas, already have high paying jobs or lucrative businesses and do not think they have the time to indulge in politics. It is a full-time job, where one actually needs to get on streets to address the peoples problem starting from overflowing drains and sewer to potholed roads, lifting of garbage and what now. And I dont think everyone would be comfortable doing this in their day-to-day life, said Keswanand, Federation of Group Housing Societies, Indraprastha Extension. The outgoing councillor of Vasant Kunj is Congress Om Wati, who is from the neighbouring Masoodpur. Though six out of the contesting candidates in Vasant Kunj this year are from Vasant Kunj itself, some of them like independent candidate Vijay Malik, have strong ties to the neighbouring village. I grew up in Masoodpur, and have lived in Vasant Kunj for years now. This means I know and understand the problems on both sides, said Malik. Second, vote bank politics also dictate that the contestants representing major political parties in the municipal wards with such diverse populations are also most of the time from the villages rather than the posh neighbourhood. In affluent areas, even if your neighbour knows you very well, there would be little chance that they will come out and vote for you. They have their own priorities. Also outside your posh locality how many people actually knows you that is also a point worth thinking before taking the decision to contest elections, said Akriti Sharma resident of GK II. Huge disparity in civic issues Even if a candidate, who understands the problems on both ends of the spectrum, gets elected it could prove difficult to work on issues of both sections at the same time as they are hugely different. While we crib about better security, pavements, beautification of park and market areas, people in our neighbouring areas dont have even basic facilities. So it is quite natural that a councillor or an MLA would give preference to these rural or working class areas, said Naveen Mittal, an RWA member from Civil Lines area. This dissuades the RWAs of affluent areas to even participate in the town hall meetings called by their councillors or MLAs. We had participated in constituency meetings called by MLA Amanatullah Khan and there we felt guilty bringing up our problems. While we were asking for improved sanitation and fogging services in the area during rainy seasons, there were people from Taimoor Nagar and Shaheen Bagh who were complaining about people dying of chikungunya and how there was no fogging done for days, said Chitra Jain, a resident of New Friends Colony. This, however, does not mean they will stop demanding for their rights and better services. At least 38 residential colonies fall into A and B categories, which pay the maximum property tax. And people living in these upper-class neighbourhoods find themselves entitled for better civic services even if they dont vote (or contest elections), said Anil Gautam resident of Vasant Vihar. With the Aam Aadmi Party releasing its manifesto for the MCD elections, the stage is now set for a fierce battle on Sunday the polling day. Looking back at the manifestos of the three major parties in the fray, it is clear that all the AAP, the BJP and the Congress are hinging on house tax as their trump card. Even as 26% to 30% of the revenue earned by the three municipal corporations comes from property taxes, the AAP has promised to finish the system altogether and even waive off all dues. The Congress said it would exempt senior citizens and those who have not rented out their properties, while the BJP plans not to increase the taxes. The sop indicates it is the rich whom the parties are trying to woo the most. While one-third of the Capitals population lives in slums and illegal colonies, 69% houses in the city are actually owned by Delhiites. For AAP, this is crucial as it feels confident about winning the one-third population its key vote bank and now it had to reach out to the house-owning voters. Naturally, after chief minister Arvind Kejriwals announcement, the other two parties too jumped into the wagon. One thing that is different in the AAPs manifesto is that it has made it similar to its Outcome budget by setting a deadline for many of its promises. It says it would make Delhi garbage free in one year and that the city would be dengue and chikungunya free by 2020 among other things. The Congress, like AAP, has also promised to shut landfill sites. But the latter has set 2019 as the target while the former states how it will be done. On the financial crisis plaguing the MCDs, Delhi state unit president Manoj Tiwari said, The party will develop a mechanism for direct flow of funds from the Centre to municipal corporations. On the other hand, AAP convener Kejriwal said it would turn the MCDs into a profit making bodies in just a years time. When asked how he aims to do it, he said, I will give you four-five examples and you will be convinced that MCDs can be made profitable. Delhi government made a flyover of Rs 3.25 crore near Pitampura in Rs 2 crore and that too before time. MCD is making one Rani Jhansi flyover since 2006, they have crossed their budget and are still building it. The attitude needs to change. Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken has promised to solve the issue by ensuring a collection of Rs 1,600 crore annual from toll tax. Besides, we would control the parking mafia, push outdoor advertisement and effectively issue municipal bonds. Giving licences to street vendors will also generate Rs 600 per year, he said. The parties have also approached the health sector quite differently. While the BJP manifesto talks of providing health cards to people, the AAP, like in Delhi government set-ups, has promised to make all tests and medicines free in MCD dispensaries and hospitals. The Congress preferred to focus on augmenting facilities already available in the citys Primary Health Centres (PHCs). While the issues in MCD polls remain the same, the three parties have ideated completely different approaches in dealing with the problems of sanitation, finances and civic infrastructure. It would be interesting to see whose manifesto appeals the most to Delhi and how much of it is actually implemented. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON It is nearly a month since the Uttar Pradesh government chief minister Yogi Adityanath rolled out an order to shut illegal slaughterhouses. Meat shops that were running without necessary registrations were closed. In Ghaziabad, the district officials have so far been able to issue a licence to only three meat shops, which comply with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) guidelines. As per an official estimate, there were nearly 500 meat shops that were operating without renewing the licence, under the five municipal zones of the city. Shop owners were asked to comply with the guidelines of the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Business), Regulations of 2011. Apart from the three meat shops, we received NOCs for 16 shops from the corporation but these have been held up due to objections. These objections included proximity to religious places and vegetable markets, lack of proper drainage and waste disposal system, Ajay Jaiswal, designated officer, food safety department, said. Shop owners such as Haji Yasin are still trying every trick in the book and also approaching religious leaders for reopening their shops. The shutters of my shop have been down since Day one (of the crackdown). My shop has been located close to a masjid near Chopla market in the old city for nearly 50 years now. In all, there are five shops in the vicinity and I have no alternate place for conducting business, which has completely stopped now. I also got a letter issued by the Imam of the masjid, who wrote that there is no objection if the shop is opened but the officials denied permission, stating non-compliance of guidelines, he said. As per the process laid down by district authorities, the shop owners, most of whom are not well educated, are required to apply and submit fees online. The documents are deposited with the food safety department, which processes and forwards the applications to Ghaziabad municipal corporation. We have processed each registration within a maximum period of two days. But the corporation takes nearly a week or ten days to process applications further and send it back to us. To speed up registrations, we plan to hold camps for shop owners, Jaiswal said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON For over a month now, Delhi has been witnessing a bizarre protest at Jantar Mantar. The protesters, who are farmers from Tamil Nadu, have used strategies never heard before from wearing skulls, eating mice, conducting mock funerals to even stripping at Raisina Hill. Adding to their eyeball popping agitation this week, a man dressed as Prime Minister Narendra Modi flogged the farmers with a whip. The farmers said the idea was to show Centres insensitivity to their plights. By ignoring us, it is like Modi is whipping us and trying to beat us out of Delhi Sometimes I think if we get arrested it might be better. Jail would be better than this, said P Ayyakkannu, the state president of the National South-Indian Rivers Linking Farmers Association. At the outset, 25 farmers had volunteered to participate in the flogging, but soon after it began 23 of them backed out. One protester even reportedly fainted because of the pain. Prakash, who carried out the flogging wore one of the popular Modi masks and was dressed in the PMs trademark jacket and kurta. A protester bites on to a mouse to depict loss of livelihood due to drought. (Saumya Khandelwal/HT PHOTO) These farmers have been in Delhi for 37 days now and are in no mood to leave. Their protest is aimed at getting a relief package from the Centre and having their loans waved off as their crops were ruined in a severe drought and a subsequent cyclone. Their loans from cooperative banks have already been written off, under orders of the state government and the Madras High Court. They have also asked for revised drought packages, that would allow them to buy seeds for the next harvest cycle and also compensate their losses. Protesters use skulls and noose to depict suicides by their fellow farmers. (Saumya Khandelwal/HT FILE) With he mercury going up in the Capital, the protests have also become more taxing. Ayyakkannu shows us the blisters on his thighs from the heat. We are sleeping on hot tar while the PM sleeps in an air conditioned room, said Palanichamy, a farmer who has been at Jantar Mantar since the beginning of the protests. The farmers claim that they have not been able to meet the Prime Minister. This is how they are treating farmers; like slaves, said Prakash, who used to work in marketing for rice products in Tamil Nadu, before coming over to join the farmers at Jantar Mantar. Protesters strip outside South Block after being unable to meet the President with their demands. (HT FILE) The farmers have, though, met many political leaders, including finance minister Arun Jaitley, water resource minister Uma Bharti, home minister Rajnath Singh and agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh. However, Modi seems to be the one they want to meet. Modiji, Modiji. Jantar Mantar aaoji, rings across the protest grounds. Meanwhile, they are not short of bizarre protest ideas yet. The next in line, is a literally deranged act where they will try to showcase the impact of their current state. By wearing torn clothes and acting unstable they will depict how they have lost their minds in this long battle at Jantar Mantar. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The political battle within the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in Tamil Nadu appears to be heading in the right direction. In the early hours of Wednesday the rebel faction of the partys MLAs headed by former chief minister O Panneerselvam joined hands with a majority of MLAs in the opposite camp, now headed by current chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, to sideline party general secretary VK Sasikala and TTV Dinakaran, Sasikalas nephew and the AIADMKs deputy general secretary. Since the demise of AIADMK leader and chief minister J Jayalalithaa in December, Sasikala and her family members have taken over the party structure, or what little of it that exists. This was a move widely opposed by the party cadre. Politically, the continuation of Sasikala or any member of the infamous Mannargudi mafia comprising her family members in the AIADMK should be a concern of the party. But because there isnt a clear church-state separation, it is most likely that party leaders would meddle with the free functioning of a democratically-elected government. Thus, the sidelining of Sasikala and Dinakaran in the AIADMK is a positive move. One could argue that there could be better ways of handling this crisis, but theres little doubt that the ouster of leaders charged with corruption will send the right message to the rank and file of the party. It is hoped that with this internal churning the ruling party in the southern state gets a grip on itself and turn its focus on governance. While the ruling partys legislators were gravitating from one power centre to the other, in the national capital the protest by drought-hit farmers from Tamil Nadu entered its 38th day. The protest is just an indicator of the dire situation in the state. Tamil Nadu is facing a severe drought with alarmingly low levels of water in reservoirs and power outages becoming a regular feature. It is time the ruling AIADMK and its MLAs gave a break to midnight caucuses and turned their attention to the people. New Delhi: From industry-prepared courses to mandatory shop floor training to imparting managerial and entrepreneurial knowledge, Indias apex technical education regulator, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), is now ready with a set of must haves for technical colleges to improve their graduates employability. For years, the technical education sector in India has faced criticism for lack of quality training and for its graduates not having the required efficiency to become productive at work from day one. Though the AICTE revamp is still pending despite a government panel recommending it two years back, the regulator is now trying to be pro-active in implementing some basic but much required changes in technical colleges. As per the AICTE plan, every technical college will now be required to have an industry consultation committee to rework the curriculum of each subject taught there. Every year, the committee will revamp the coursework by December so that revamped courses can be taught from the next academic year, according to official documents reviewed by Mint. Each institution, while applying for approval, shall certify completion of this process, which will be mandatory, it underlined. The human resource development (HRD) ministry-controlled AICTE regulates more than 10,000 technical colleges, including engineering and business schools. The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) dont come under the purview of AICTE. An HRD ministry official, requesting anonymity, said the effort made by AICTE is to make technical education institutions contemporary and their graduates job-ready. Various studies have showed that less than one-third of technical school graduates are job-ready in the country, which is a hurdle for the industry in hiring them and expecting productivity from the beginning. In order to improve industry readiness, all students graduating undergraduate courses shall be imparted the required job skills, including managerial skills, entrepreneurial skills, leadership skills, communication skills and team-working skills. The training will start at the time of admission. Every student, on admission, shall be put through a mandatory Induction training to reinforce the fundamental concepts and the language skills required in their choice of subject. After that students in technical schools have to undergo three internships of four to eight weeks each before completing their undergraduate course, as per the documents. Right now students do only one summer training. In fact, in many engineering and management schools, they either dont undergo any internship or have to use their own contacts to find one. AICTE is now mandating that colleges must help find a suitable industry or organization for students internship programs, the HRD ministry official quoted above said. Besides, AICTE will impress upon technical schools to make their annual exams focus more on clarity of concepts. It will soon share a model exam pattern that each institution can adopt individually. Besides, AICTE will give five years time to each college to achieve accreditation for at least 50% subjects taught in the colleges. The National Board of Accreditation will accredit individual subjects. Institutions that fail to do so will have an impact on getting AICTEs approval. AICTE-regulated colleges will also make their teaching staff undergo an annual training course and get updated via the governments massive open online platform. President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has said that Russia does not fulfill its promises and is not interested in peace in the east of Ukraine. "Moscow is not just rejecting the world order, it is trying to build an alternative reality based on alternative values: tyranny instead of democracy, intolerance instead of respect," he said at the Chatham House in London on Wednesday. According to the president, Russia violated all bilateral agreements according to which Moscow used to recognize and guarantee the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. "Today, it violates its innumerable promises within the framework of the Minsk process. There is no effective ceasefire regime, no hostages' release and illegally detained persons, no access [to the uncontrolled territory] for international humanitarian organizations. Nobody is to blame of this, except Russia. It continues sending troops to Ukraine, heavy weapons and ammunition, it is turning Crimea into the largest military base in the world," Poroshenko said. According to him, there is no peace in Ukraine for one reason - Russia is not interested in this. The president of Ukraine said that during the recent negotiations in the 'Normandy format' Russia again gave its next "empty promises." In a reported burglary, around 2,000 American dollars ($) and Rs40,000 were taken from a Congolese students residence in Sector 53 on Tuesday, the police said. The victim, Haomie Kayenbe, 22, is a second-year engineering student at Apeejay Stya University located on Palwal-Sohna Road and lives in Saraswati Kunj of Sector 53, the police said. The incident reportedly took place around 2.30pm, when Kayenbe, who lives alone, was away from her place. Apart from cash, no other valuables were missing from her home, the police said. In her complaint to the police, Kayenbe said that the window of her house, which is on the first floor, was broken and unidentified persons entered her residence and took the money that she had kept inside her wardrobe. We have noted the complaint and an investigation is on. We are trying to collect footage of CCTV cameras to identify the culprit, inspector Darshan Aharodia, station house officer, Sushant Lok police station, said. An FIR was lodged by Sushant Lok police under sections 457 (lurking house-trespass) and 380 (theft in dwelling house) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). In another incident, Rs70,000, silver glasses and a gold bracelet were stolen by unknown persons from a residence in C block of Sushant Lok on Monday. The victim, Naveen Satija, filed a complaint with the police and stated that unknown persons broke into his house around evening, while he was away, and made away with the valuables, police said. A case has been lodged under sector 454 (trespassing) and 380 (theft in dwelling house) of (IPC). The police said that number of thefts under the Sushant Lok jurisdiction is increasing and they are trying to trace those responsible. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Only 47% students cleared the test for admission to private schools under the economically weaker section (EWS) quota for children of below poverty line (BPL) families, as mandated in Section 134 A of Haryana School Education Rules, 2003. Of the total 459 applicants, 397 students took the test, and 189 passed. Students have to secure 55% marks in the test to be eligible for admissions under EWS quota in private schools. Parents have been protesting this condition and demanding its removal. The parents were left angered with the results that came out on Tuesday evening, said advocate Ramphal Sheoran, legal advisor of Haryana Abhibhavak Ekta Manch, a front contesting fee hikes in private schools. Around 50 students qualified for class two and 77 for class three. These are the highest number of students to have qualified for a class. For all other classes, not more than 15 students made it. Only seven students have qualified for class eight. These figures are disheartening, he said. He added that agitated parents wanted to see the answer sheets of their children, but were not allowed to do so. I have been doing the rounds of the district education office for the last three years and now I want my child to go to a good school. But when I asked officials to show me his answer sheet, they refused, said Vicky Sharma, a distressed parent. Parents whose children have cleared the test are expected to receive the admission papers on Thursday and the admission process is expected to start on Friday. Neelam Bhandari, district education officer, did not respond to requests for comment on the matter. The Haryana cabinet approved the demand for a university at Kankrola village, 24 kilometers from Gurgaon city, on Tuesday, but city residents will have to wait for two more years to get the institution as there is no space available to start a temporary campus of the university. Rao Narbir Singh, Haryana public works department (PWD) minister and an MLA from Gurgaons Badshahpur constituency, had pushed for a university at Kankrola village that falls under his constituency. Singh had pursued the matter with the state government, following which chief minister (CM) Manohar Lal Khattar had announced on April 10 last year that a varsity would be set up in the village. Almost an year later, on April 2 this year, Singh announced at a public function that the foundation stone of the university would be laid this month, but refrained from announcing a date. His spokesperson said the date would be announced after consultation with the CM and completing other formalities. The chief minister had announced that the university would be set up across 50 acres at a cost of Rs 400 crore. Although the city has three government colleges with 20,000 students, thousands of students still have to move to other cities for higher education. Parents and the students had welcomed the announcement as many end up joining universities in various parts of Delhi-NCR for higher studies. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A war of letters has erupted in the Haryana unit of the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) following local MLA Umesh Aggarwals consistent attacks in the past few months on chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and the functioning of the state government. On Monday, a group of block-level leaders wrote to the state leadership and the BJP high command alleging that Aggarwal had various vested interests and he has been speaking against the CM and the state leadership because some of his requests were denied by the local administration. Following this, on Tuesday another group of local leaders, backing Aggarwal, shot off a letter to party president Amit Shah stating that the MLA was working for the local residents and he spoke out only because the state government was not paying attention to local issues. On Wednesday, five state MLAs also met at Aggarwals residence and assured him of their support. Aggarwal had on Saturday launched an acerbic attack against Khattar when he was on a visit to the city to review various development projects. Local MLAs were not told of his visit and Aggarwal had alleged that the state was suffering for last two and half years as Khattar was not meeting the expectations of the public. On Tuesday, an FIR was filed against Aggarwals brother and nephew at Ganaur police station in Sonepat district regarding a case of fraud regarding land and cheating. Calling the FIR a conspiracy, he said, These are tactics of the government to suppress my voice... The government wants to divert attention from corruption and issues of development raised by me. He said that he has also told state party in-charge and national general secretary Anil Jain about him being targeted by the government. He also held a meeting at his residence on Wednesday with Rewari MLA Randhir Singh Kapriwas, Pataudi MLA Vimla Chaudhary, Narnaul MLA Om Prakash Yadav , Kosli MLA Vikram Singh Thekedar and Mullana MLA Santosh Sarwan. Earlier in February and March, around a dozen MLAs, including Aggarwal, had expressed anger against the state government and the CM. However, dismissing Aggarwals stand, GL Sharma, BJP leader and chairman of Haryana dairy development cooperative federation said, He (Aggarwal) has some vested interests in the city that were harmed because the administration refused to engage in wrongdoings. When the administration denied land registries on an illegal plot, the MLA targeted the former deputy commissioner and even the CM. Kulbhushan Bhardwaj, former district president of Gurgaon BJP, said Aggarwal wanted to blackmail the government for his vested interests and he was not interested in raising issues of the public. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Hundreds of commuters are facing tough time commuting on the sector 17/18 dividing road, adjacent to Udyog Vihar due to frequent jams. Commuters said missing dividers were leading to haphazard traffic flow on the stretch. The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram ( MCG) is expanding the 2.2km road at a cost of Rs 5.9 crore. The work on the project started in March last year and is scheduled to be completed by this June. According to the MCG officials, upgrading the dividing road will resolve congestion issues on this busy stretch connecting Iffco Chowk and Old Delhi-Gurgaon Road. The stretch will be upgraded to a four-lane road with a central verge and streetlights. Footpaths and other street infrastructure will also be built to ensure smooth traffic. The commuters and residents of Sector 17B, Iffco Colony, Palam Vihar, Sector 5 and Udyog Vihar are the most hit as the road connects to NH-8 near Iffco Chowk. Every day, it takes more than 40 minutes for a commuter to cross the stretch as the construction work in progressing at a slow pace. There is no provision to control the traffic flow on the stretch, said Rohit Sirohi of Palam Vihar. During peak hours, almost 15,000 passenger car units (PCUs) cross this junction and the bumper-to-bumper traffic means that pedestrians and cyclists do not get any share of the road space. When motorists try to overtake on the single-lane road, traffic comes to standstill for hours. The traffic movement is slow and the traffic police has to deploy their personnel there to ensure the route is cleared, said Vivek Joshi of Sector 3. A non-functional bus stand that was developed by the MCG towards the Jaipur side of the road compounds the problems at Iffco Chowk. The traffic police had asked the civic body to maintain it several times but in vain. The result is that people wait for buses on the service lane that is already encroached upon by vendors. The MCG officials said the traffic congestion would continue until June-end by which time the road widening work will be complete. Dharamvir Malik, executive engineer, MCG, said, The work is in progress and will be completed by June -end. We are trying to ensure the work is done at night when the traffic volume is low. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON One billion people were treated for at least one neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) because of the efforts of the worlds biggest government, industry and donor partnership in public health, announced the World Health Organisation (WHO) at the Global Partners Meeting on NTDs in Geneva on April 19. These diseases, which include kala azar, leprosy, lymphatic filariasis, intestinal worms such as hookworm, roundworms and whipworms, affect the poor and marginalised, are controllable and curable infections that deform, disable and kill if left untreated. WHO has observed record-breaking progress towards bringing ancient scourges like sleeping sickness and elephantiasis to their knees, said WHO Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan. Over the past 10 years, millions have been rescued from disability and poverty, thanks to one of the most effective global partnerships in modern public health. In 2012, international partners endorsed a WHO NTD Roadmap, committing additional support and resources to control, eliminate and eradicate of 10 of the most common diseases. Good progress, some of these diseases are on track to be done (eliminated) by 2020, some by 2025. Some will take longer than that, said Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which pledged $335 million over the next four years to fight NTDs. Over the five day conference, governments and donors pledged US$ 812, with nine drug companies including Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis and Sanofi pledging to donate drugs and treatments till WHOs NTDs elimination and eradication targets are met. Once widely prevalent, these diseases are now restricted to tropical and sub-tropical regions with unsafe water, inadequate hygiene and sanitation, and poor housing conditions. Poor people living in remote, rural areas, urban slums or conflict zones are most at risk, with more than 70% of countries reporting NTDs being low or lower-middle income economies. Around 556 million people received preventive treatment for lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis), more than 114 million people for river blindness (onchocerciasis) and 56 million for trachoma, the worlds leading cause of blindness that was eliminated in Mexico, Oman and Morocco. Only 25 human cases of Guinea-worm disease were reported in 2016, putting eradication within reach; sleeping sickness (human African trypanosomiasis) fell from 37,000 new cases in 1999 to well under 3,000 cases in 2015; and rabies deaths was brought down to in the Americas in 2015, bringing the region close to its target of eliminating rabies in humans. Vector control, safe water and sanitation are key to control, said Dr Dirk Engels, Director of the Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases. The WHO estimates that 2.4 billion people still lack basic sanitation facilities such as toilets and latrines, while more than 660 million continue to drink water from unimproved sources, such as surface water. Follow @htlifeandstyle for more SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON We knew Orlando Bloom was returning for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, or Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazars Revenge as it is known in India. We also knew the film would introduce his son, played by Brenton Thwaites. But did you know Keira Knightley was returning as well? A new Japanese trailer for the fifth Pirates film, starring Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow, contains a brief shot of Knightley, who played Elizabeth Swann in the first three films. While that one shot of her is all that we get, it makes sense for her to return considering that both her husband and son are in the movie. In addition to spoiling the return of Keira Knightley, the trailer also has a few extra moments of action that we hadnt seen before. Theres more Johnny Depp - which the US marketing is shying away from - more quips, and more glimpses at naval warfare. Now its time to wait and see if that Beatles/Rolling Stones crossover is possible with that rumoured Paul McCartney cameo. Pirates of the Caribbean 5 is scheduled for a May 26 release. Follow @htshowbiz for more Actor Amber Heard is looking forward to settling down and starting a family with her boyfriend and tech tycoon Elon Musk, says her father. After her bitter divorce from actor Johnny Depp, Amber is already making plans to marry Musk. In an interview with Grazia magazine, Ambers father David talked about her daughter and her plans to settle down, reports dailymail.co.uk. Actor Amber Heard takes part in the Pride and Prejudice conference sponsored by The Economist in New York. (REUTERS) He said: Amber and Elon are both very serious about each other. She would love to get married. One of the things they want to do is settle down and have a family. They are making plans for that. Amber was first linked to Musk, 45, last year, after the pair was spotted together on several occasions both in London and Miami. Follow @htshowbiz for more Were you confused by the title of the new Star Wars movie? Rian Johnson, director of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, while talking to ABC news, revealed that The Last Jedi is singular and, for him, refers to Luke Skywalker, reports The Independent. During the Star Wars Celebration event, he said, Its so funny when people started asking that. I had never even pondered that question. In my mind, its singular. In my mind it is. As to whether Luke is the Last Jedi, they say in The Force Awakens hes going to find the last Jedi temple and Luke is the last Jedi. Many fans of Star Wars have debated whether The Last Jedi is singular or plural, when it was officially announced. Meanwhile, Mark Hamill, also speaking at Star Wars Celebration said he was disappointed that Han Solo and Luke were never reunited in the new trilogy. Star Wars: the Last Jedi stars Mark Hamill, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac and John Boyega in pivotal roles. The film is scheduled to release on December 15. Follow @htshowbiz for more BJP patriarch LK Advani calls himself the eternal yatri, or traveller. The moniker probably sits well on the 89-year-old BJP veteran who built his political fortune and that of his party through yatras, or travels undertaken to mobilise public support for what he thought were nationalist issues. The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked him and other party colleagues to stand trial for criminal conspiracy in demolition of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya 25 years ago, an order that sealed his political career. What happened on Wednesday, too, can be traced to the most famous of his yatras. His Ram Rath Yatra from Somnath in Gujarat to Uttar Pradeshs Ayodhya in 1990 changed the course of Indias politics, sharpening the religious divide between Hindu and Muslims. The yatra, a precursor to the demolition of Babri mosque in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992 by a Hindu mob, helped the BJP and Advani tremendously. Advani emerged as the undisputed leader of the BJP, which saw its influence grow many fold. Between 1989 and the 1991 Lok Sabha polls, the BJPs vote share grew from 11 to 20%. Its seats in the Lok Sabha went up from 85 to 120. The yatra firmly established Advani within the BJP, the Sangh Parivar and countys politics. He emerged as an undisputed Hindu leader, with a sizable following. It wont be an exaggeration to say what Narendra Modi is to Hindus today Advani was to them in the 1990s. Today, the BJP is the largest political party in the country, thanks to the journey that began from Somnath during the Navaratri of 1990, reads a post on the BJPs website. The procession that began with a handful of nationalists led by an uncompromising nationalist is today a roaring stream of nationalist fervour. The pilgrimage will be over the day Ram Lalla finds his rightful place in a temple commemorating the sacred site of his birth, says the post, referring to the partys promise of building a temple to god Ram at the disputed site in Ayodhya. The awesome tidal wave of nationalism unleashed by the yatra unnerved the pseudo-secularists and Jai Shri Ram became more than a traditional greeting. The demolished mosque resurrected his fortunes and those of his party and on Wednesday, possibly destroyed Advanis presidential ambitions. President Pranab Mukherjees term ends July and Advani was seen as a contender for the top post. It is will be difficult for the BJP and its ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, will push for a candidate who will be tried on the orders of the Supreme Court in a case associated with the countrys worst communal violence that left 3,000 people dead. The order will also give Advanis detractors a chance to deny him a shot at presidency. The razed 16th century mosque may just have slammed shut the doors of the Rashtrapati Bhawan on the eternal yatri. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The organizers of a march ordered and paid for by the Russian Federation to discredit Ukraine have been apprehended in Odesa. Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) office chief Oleksandr Tkachuk during a briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday said they thwarted the shenanigans by arresting the organizers of the Russian-backed meeting and march, which was organized in support of ethnic Bulgarians. He said ultra-right groups were to have taken part in the event, despite the fact no ethnic Bulgarians backed the event. "Organizers of the provocation wanted ultra-right demonstrators to attack the procession," Tkachuk said, adding the SBU has information the event was planned for the beginning of May in southern and eastern cities of Ukraine. As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) grows from strength to strength, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is scouting for a possibly ally in Arvind Kejriwals Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). On Wednesday, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal met his Kerala counterpart, Pinarayi Vijayan, hours before the CPI(M) central committee decided to go for a campaign on peoples issues and rope in more parties for the cause. There is a need for an alliance of all good people to fight the BJP, Kejriwal said after his breakfast meeting. Announcing its mass campaign against issues like curtailment on PDS and Mnrega jobs and making Aadhaar mandatory for social benefits, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said, We will consult first with non-Congress secular parties, laying the red carpet for AAP, a bete noire of the Congress. Secular supervision Yechury also set the possible tone for a fight in the upcoming Presidential election. For our country... the secular supervision of the President is very important, Yechury said after a meeting of the Central Committee. Although he said that President should be decided by consensus, secular supervision indicates that Opposition will not agree to an RSS nominee. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON PATNA Barely an hour after the Supreme Court revived the conspiracy charge in the Babri Masjid demolition case against BJP stalwarts like LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Kalyan Singh, Uma Bharti and Vinay Katiyar, RJD chief Lalu Prasad, on Wednesday, came out with his own explanation of the turn of events. This development smacks of a conspiracy scripted within the BJP, Prasad alleged, pointing out that the prosecuting agency in the Babri case, the CBI, was under the control of the Prime Minister and implying this may have had something to do with the development of the day. When the CBI says in the court that the conspiracy case against the Advani and other BJP leaders should be pursued, what else remains to be said? he added, welcoming the apex court verdict Prasad, who had stopped Advanis Somnath to Ayodhya rath yatra in Bihar, in October 1990, at the peak of the BJPs movement for constructing a Ram temple at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, seemed to imply a deliberate effort to undermine the position of the veteran BJP leader. There was a lot of talk in the market about Advani as a prospective candidate for the post of President of India, the election for which is scheduled to be held in July. Following the court verdict, Advanis chances are gone in a single stroke, he pointed out. Prasad said: Anyone can read the turn of events, leading to this situation. But then, in the RSS and BJP, anything is possible. They dont spare anyone. It was Advani who had helped Narendra Modi (remain Gujarat CM) in the wake of the 2002 Gujarat riots, but today he knows best what has happened, Prasad told reporters at his residence. Union law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who was in Patna, on Wednesday,however, asked the RJD chief to reply to serious allegations of corruption levelled against him and members of his family, over the past several days, by BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi. Modi has been holding press conferences over the past several days, questioning how members of the RJD chiefs immediate family had secured ownership of a couple of companies, which possessed valuable tracts of land at Patna and other places. The union minister also urged Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar to take action in the matter. Ravi Shankar Prasad, however, did not say anything about Wednesdays apex court verdict in the Babri case. I have not seen the judgment. Advaniji, Joshiji and all others are our respected leaders. I will not make any comment without studying the order, as I am the law minister, he added. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Terming the Babri Masjid demolition as more serious than the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday deplored the delay in concluding the trial. He also said those responsible for the nations shame in 1992 are now running the country. Mahatma Gandhi assassination trial completed in 2 years & Babri Masjid demolition which (is) more serious than MK Gandhi killing not yet decided, the Hyderabad Lok Sabha member tweeted. Gandhis killers were convicted (and) hanged & Babri accused have been made Union Ministers, conferred Padma Vibhushan, justice system moves slowly, he said. His comment came after Supreme Court allowed the CBIs plea to restore criminal conspiracy charge against top BJP leaders LK Advani, MM Joshi and Uma Bharti in the Babri Masjid demolition case. The apex court, however, noted that Rajasthan governor Kalyan Singh enjoys Constitutional immunity and can be tried only after he ceases to hold the office. Kalyan Singh was the chief minister of UP in 1992. Its 24 years late. 24-25 years have passed. But at last the Supreme Court has taken the decision that the conspiracy charge should be there. But I hope the Supreme Court will also decide the contempt petition (pending since 1992), Owaisi told PTI. The contempt petition has to be decided by them (SC), he said. 6 December 1992 was a shameful day infact Black Day for Indian Democracy and will always be remembered when rule of law was demolished Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) April 19, 2017 In a series of tweets, he said, Will Kalyan Singh resign & face trial or hide behind cover of being Governor, Will Modi govt remove him in Interest of Justice I doubt. Attacking the Narendra Modi government, Owaisi said, Demolition of Babri Masjid is a nations shame people responsible for this shame are now running the nation. Now Supreme Court has said conspiracy charge added against accused will Padma Vibhushan be taken back from accused, he said. I think BUT for Supreme Court giving permission for Kar Seva Babri Masjid wouldnt have been demolished & Supreme Court yet hear Contempt pet(ition), he said. The apex court had permitted a symbolic kar sewa on November 28, 1992 following an undertaking by the Uttar Pradesh government that it would be peaceful. Days later on December 6, the 16th century mosque was pulled down by kar sewaks. The Supreme Court will on Wednesday decide if senior leaders of the ruling BJP, including LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti, should be tried for conspiring to bring down the 16th century Babri mosque. The Central Bureau of Investigation has petitioned the court for restoring criminal conspiracy charges against these leaders for the demolition of the Mughal-era mosque on December 6, 1992 by a Hindu mob which sparked one of Indias worst communal riots that left more than 3,000 people dead. A bench of justice PC Ghose and justice RF Nariman will pronounce the verdict at around 10.30am. Justice Nariman, who had termed the protracted legal battle as evasion of justice, has authored the judgment. During the previous hearing, the bench had indicated ordering a time-bound day-to-day trial, to be completed preferably within two years as the case hasnt progressed in the past 25 years. The court had hinted at reviving the criminal conspiracy charge that were dropped on technical grounds 16 years ago. The mosque in Uttar Pradeshs Ayodhya was demolished by kar sevaks or supporters of the right-wing Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). Many Hindus believe that god Ram was born at the spot where Babur, the first Mughal emperor, had built the mosque. The disputed site, comprising 2.7 acres, remains Indias most potent religious flashpoint. There were two sets of cases. The first involved unnamed kar sevaks and a Lucknow special court is trying the case. The second set relates to several BJP leaders, including Advani, Joshi, Bharti and then Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh. A Rae Bareli court is hearing the case in which these leaders and others are charged with making inflammatory speeches that provoked the kar sevaks to pull down the mosque. A Lucknow court had set aside charges of criminal conspiracy against the senior BJP leaders on technical grounds. One party cannot take advantage of a technical defect. We need to do justice in cases like these, the Supreme Court had said on the last hearing in response to the BJP leaders opposition to the transfer. The accused can easily contest the conspiracy charges made by the CBI in the court but no one can be allowed to go scot-free due to technical glitches, it said. The top court was also unhappy with the tardy progress of the trial in Rae Bareli. Only 57 witnesses have deposed so far. In Lucknow, where 47 kar sevaks are facing trial, 185 witnesses have been examined, with 800 more to go. The SC indicated it may shift the trial from Rae Bareli to Lucknow. The CBI said it was not averse to clubbing the two trials. The central investigating agencys case against 13 leaders, including Advani, fell flat in May 2001 when the Lucknow court dropped the criminal charges. It said there were two FIRs and the one pending before it under the criminal conspiracy section did not name them. The CBI went to the Allahabad high court, which in May 2010 upheld the lower courts order. The agency approached the top court almost a year after the high court verdict. The impugned order of the Allahabad high court upholding the lower court order dropping the charge of conspiracy ought to be set aside, the CBI told SC. Senior counsel KK Venugopal, representing Advani, 89, and the other leaders, contested the CBI plea. He said the leaders were old now, and reopening the case would require fresh cross-examination of witnesses. But the bench disagreed. In the interest of doing justice, the Supreme Court can exercise its power under Article 142 to overcome a couple of procedures that have suffered due to technical glitches. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Pascal Mazurier, the French diplomat who was accused by his Indian wife Suja Mazurier of raping their three-year-old daughter in 2012, was acquitted by a local court in Bengaluru on Wednesday. Although the order of the court is not yet available, lawyers connected with the case said the judge did not find enough evidence to establish rape. Emerging from the court, Pascal who was the deputy head of the chancery in the consulate of France here before his arrest said he wanted to put the incident behind him and meet his children. He also accused his estranged wife of being a criminal. Suja, on the other hand, accused the Bengaluru police of colluding with Pascal and the French mission in suppressing evidence, something she has maintained all along the five-year trial. She said the judgment will be challenged in the high court. When the story first broke on June 14, 2012, it appeared to be an open-and-shut case as Sujas complaint to the police was accompanied by a medical report from the Collaborative Child Response Unit (CCRU) of the baptist hospital here. The CCRU report, which was widely circulated in the media, said the child bore tell-tale marks of sexual abuse and there were traces of semen on her clothes. Subsequent tests conducted by the Bowring (government) Hospital on June 15 confirmed that the child had been abused but doctors there had said it would be difficult to connect the crime to Pascal using biological evidence as much time had lapsed. Pascal was let off by the police the same day after he claimed he had diplomatic immunity. He was arrested again five days later after it was established that he could not claim immunity and spent four months in jail before being granted bail by Karnataka HC. The case took several twists and turns after this, with the French expat community accusing Suja of fabricating evidence. The Centres ruling Bharatiya Janata Party said on Wednesday it will study in detail the Supreme Courts verdict allowing the trial of its top leaders for criminal conspiracy in Babri Masjid demolition before commenting on the case. Its senior leader and law minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, however, asserted that his party highly respects veteran leaders such as LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, who will be tried following the apex courts decision. Advani, Joshi and Union minister Uma Bharti are accused of inciting Hindu zealots to pull down the 16th century Babri mosque in 1992, igniting one of Indias most explosive religious disputes in which thousands died. The court also clubbed the trial in the matter pending against the leaders and karsevaks, and ordered day-to-day trial with the proceedings to be completed in two years. The apex court, however, noted that Rajasthan governor Kalyan singh enjoys constitutional immunity and can be tried only after he ceases to hold the office. Singh was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1992. The court said separate trials being conducted in trial courts at Raebareli and Lucknow will be clubbed and conducted in the Uttar Pradesh capital of Lucknow. Putting up a brave face, the Uttar Pradesh unit of the BJP said it has full faith in the judiciary after the apex court allowed the CBI plea seeking trial of Advani, Joshi and Bharti, among others. We will go to the trial court. This does not make us convicts, state BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said. We will present evidence before the trial court, where it will be examined and cross-examined, he said. Many Hindus believe the Babri mosque was only built after the destruction of a temple that marks the birthplace of their god Ram. Some in the BJP, which recently won elections in Uttar Pradesh, want to build a temple to Ram on the ruins of the razed mosque -- an idea that horrifies the states significant Muslim minority. During the Mughal rule, a religious structure was built demolishing the feelings of the Hindus. It was subsequently demolished by the Hindus. And we have proved ourselves in the court of people, Tripathi said. The BJP is committed to the construction of a grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya within the framework of the Constitution, he said. Lalus salvo RJD chief Lalu Prasad said senior BJP leader Advanis last dream to become President of India was not possible any more after the Supreme Court order. Advani is now out of race for the Presidents post. He was projected as a strong candidate for the top constitutional post, but it is not possible anymore, Lalu said. Lalu attacked the BJP, saying that Advani was made a scapegoat (bali ka bakra) in the Babri case. Lalu said the CBI was under the control of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who used it to sideline and oust Advani from the race for the President in a well-planned political strategy. Meanwhile, the Congress and the NCP welcomed the revival of conspiracy charges against the BJP leaders. The law of the land has prevailed. We hope that there will be speedy trial and all the guilty will be punished and face the consequences, Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha said. NCP national spokesperson Nawab Malik said: We welcome the decision of the Supreme Court. In the wake of it, Uma Bharti must be sacked from the (Union) ministry. The Border Security Force (BSF) dismissed a soldier, who took to Facebook to complain about the poor food at a camp along the India-Pakistan border in Jammu and Kashmir in January, from service on Wednesday after an internal inquiry found him guilty of making false accusations and neglecting orders of the force. Tej Bahadur Yadav, who was deployed with the forces 29th battalion, had alleged troops were served bad quality food and even had to sleep empty stomach at times, prompting the border guarding force to initiate an inquiry. The BSF said in a statement that Yadav was dismissed from service by the summary security force court (SSFC) that commenced from April 13 and concluded on April 19. During the proceedings, it was charged that he indulged in an act prejudicial to good order and discipline of the force in which he made false allegations on social media regarding the quality of food and did not adhere to formal grievance redressal mechanism of the force, the statement said. It added that all opportunities were given to Yadav for his defence during the proceedings. It was also alleged in the court of inquiry that he neglected to obey general orders of the force in which he carried two mobile phones while on operational duty against the SOP and also posted photographs in uniform on social media in contravention of instructions, it said. He was found guilty of all the charges and awarded dismissal from service. As per BSF act and rules, he can now submit an appeal against the punishment to the higher authorities within 3 months. During the court of inquiry, Yadavs colleagues did not support his claim of sub-standard food at the camps. The issues of disobedience framed against him (Yadav) pertained to going on hunger strike and carrying a mobile phone while on duty. He was asked to eat but he did not follow the instruction. As far as mobiles are concerned, there is a general order for all BSF troopers, which prohibits them from carrying mobile phones while on duty, a senior official said on condition of anonymity as he was not allowed to talk to the media. In four different videos uploaded on Facebook, Yadav claimed that while government procured essentials for them, the higher-ups and officers sold it off in an illegal manner in the market. We only get a parantha and tea as breakfast and this is without any pickle or vegetables... we slog for 11 hours and at times we have to stand throughout the duty hours. For lunch, we get dal (pulses) which only has haldi (turmeric) and salt ... With roti. This is the quality of the food we get ... How can a jawan do his duty? he said in one of the videos. The Prime Ministers Office sought a detailed report from the home ministry and the BSF after his video went viral on social media and drew criticism from the opposition as well as the common people. A petition was also filed in the Delhi high court seeking a direction to the government to depute senior officers to supervise cooking of proper healthy food and its distribution. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Union cabinet on Wednesday accorded its approval to the proposal for purchase of devices that leave a paper trail of votes cast on an electronic machine for use in future elections in the country. The clearance for purchase of voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines was given during a meeting of the cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after a brief discussion. The cabinet nod comes at a time when opposition parties are demanding the Election Commission to go back to the paper ballot and discontinue the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs), alleging the devices can be tampered with. Both the government and poll panel have denied the charge and said EVMs were completely safe. The EC had requested the government for immediate release of funds to procure VVPAT machines after opposition parties raised their pitch for abandoning EVMs for paper ballots. In a terse letter to the law ministry, the election watchdog made an oblique reference to the skepticism over the use of EVMs by the opposition parties. It is felt that the process of procurement of VVPATs cannot be delayed any longer given prevailing environment, the commission said in its letter on March 22. Sources said it was the 11th reminder for the release of funds for VVPAT machines since 2014 to the government, though EC officials did not confirm this. It had also reminded that the VVPAT machines have to be used for the 2019 general elections along with EVMs. The EC had sought Rs 3174 crore from the Centre for the purchase of over 16 lakh paper trail machines that allow voters to see the name and symbol of the candidate they have voted for to cover all polling stations across the country. The results are visible for 7 seconds on a paper slip that is then recorded in the machines and can be used to verify the result shown on the EVM in the case of any dispute. The Cabinet has so far cleared two tranches of Rs 1,009 crore and Rs 9,200 for the commission to buy new EVMs. The Supreme Court has directed the poll panel to use VVPAT machines for the next general elections in 2019 and while hearing a contempt petition, sought to know the approximate time within which the entire system could be introduced. The commission had informed the apex court that the required number of VVPATS can be manufactured from the date of release of funds in 30 months as per current capacity of the two manufacturers - Bharat Electronics Ltd and Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. The commission needs over 16 lakh paper trail machines to cover all polling stations for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A Chhattisgarh man allegedly hacked his 45-year-old elder brother to death for singing in the morning and disturbing his sleep, said police on Wednesday. The crime was reported on Tuesday from Balod district. The accused, Suresh Kumar, tied his brother, Chinturam, to an electric pole and chopped off his hands and head with an axe. Later, Kumar went to Mangchuwa police station with the murder weapon and confessed to the crime, said police. Assistant superintendent of police, Balod, JR Thakur, said Kumar was sleeping in the morning when Chinturam started singing. The brothers lived in the same house but kept to their sides owing to differences. When Chinturam started singing, an enraged Kumar got into a scuffle with him before killing him, said Thakur. Chinturam died on the spot. The accused has a criminal background, Thakur added. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON China has unilaterally renamed six places in Arunachal Pradesh in an apparent retaliation against the Dalai Lamas visit to Indias easternmost state, with experts saying the move is aimed at reaffirming Beijings territorial sovereignty to the region. Changing the names was a legitimate action done in line with Chinese law, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday, adding it supported Beijings territorial claim. State-run Global Times tabloid reported on Tuesday the civil affairs ministry had standardised in Chinese characters, Tibetan and Roman alphabet the names of six places in South Tibet, which India calls Arunachal Pradesh, in accordance with the regulations of the State Council. The report added, The official names of the six places using the Roman alphabet are Wogyainling, Mila Ri, Qoidengarbo Ri, Mainquka, Bumo La and Namkapub Ri. Naming the places is a step to reaffirm Chinas territorial sovereignty to South Tibet, Xiong Kunxin, professor of ethnic studies at Beijings Minzu University of China, told the tabloid. The legalisation of the names is part of the rule of law, Xiong said. Foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang defended the move at a news briefing on Wednesday: To issue these names, it is actually carried out in accordance with our regulations about the names of localities and it is a legitimate action by the Chinese government. He added, These names reflect from another side that Chinas territorial claim over South Tibet is supported by clear evidence in terms of history, culture and administration. Long Xingchun, director of the Centre for Indian Studies at the China West Normal University, told Hindustan Times: This is a very strong signal from China. It seems to be because of the Dalai Lama visit. China could have been prepared to this and was waiting for the right time and opportunity. India seems to have miscalculated Chinas response (to the visit). Though no details were provided by the government, Wogyainling is likely to be the new name for Ugyen Ling monastery, the birthplace of the sixth Dalai Lama in Tawang district. Similarly, Qoidengarbo Ri is likely to be Choten Karpo Ri, Mainquka is likely to be Mechuka in West Siang district and Bumo La is likely to be Bumla, located a short distance from Tawang. The civil affairs ministry carried out the name changes on April 13, a day after the Dalai Lama left Arunachal Pradesh following a nine-day high-profile visit. The visit angered China, which calls the Dharamsala-based Tibetan spiritual leader a separatist out to carve an independent homeland within the Chinese mainland. India turned down repeated Chinese calls to cancel the visit, saying the Dalai Lama had gone to Arunachal Pradesh in the past and was free to travel across the country. The Chinese state media had on several occasions warned India of consequences for allowing the Dalai Lama to visit the disputed area. Beijing says Arunachal Pradesh, on the 3,488-km disputed border, is part of South Tibet with close Buddhist links to the Tibet Autonomous Region. Official Chinese maps show the state as part of South Tibet. Speaking on the timing of the name changes, spokesperson Lu said: China is now doing second census of names of localities and an important part of it is to standardise names in ethnic languages. In the next step, we will also step up our study of those names in Tibetan ethnic languages and in the next step we will announce more standardisation of these names. According to Lu, the names were passed on from generation to generation by people who have lived there for generations, the Tibetan ethnic and Monpa ethnic groups. Changing the names could be an indication of China hardening its stand and claims on Arunchal Pradesh, especially Tawang. Guo Kefan, research fellow at the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that standardising the names from the angles of culture and geography could serve as a reference or leverage when China and India negotiate border issues in future. He described the standardisation as an act of remediation. The Global Times reported Sino-India border disputes were centred in South Tibet. The Chinese government has never recognised Arunachal Pradesh, it added. Spokesperson Lu laid bare Chinas anger at the Dalai Lamas visit and the unsaid link between the trip and the step to change the names. Let me stress that about the Indian governments indulgence of Dalai Lama activities in disputed eastern section of the India-China boundary and also about his anti-China activities; this is something we are firmly against. These activities are also against the Indian governments commitments to China, he said. President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko during his official visit to the UK has met with members of the British parliament and discussed with them issues of Ukrainian-British cooperation with the NATO and the course of implementing the program of structural reforms in Ukraine. Poroshenko met with the leader of the ruling Conservative Party faction, David Lidington, chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Ukraine in the British parliament, Sir Gerald Howarth and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Crispin Blunt, the official website of the Ukrainian president said on Wednesday. The sides highly appreciated the active nature of the inter-parliamentary dialogue between Ukraine and the United Kingdom, in particular, contacts through the bilateral parliamentary "friendship groups." Poroshenko positively noted the visit of Donbas by the delegation of the committee of the House of Commons of the British parliament and the recommendations prepared on the results of this trip on the need to continue the sanctions regime against the Russian Federation. A special attention during the meeting was paid to strengthening of inter-human contacts between the two states and mastering English. Poroshenko called on British parliamentarians to liberalize the visa regime for Ukrainians. Concerned over the disturbed situation in the Valley, the Congress on Wednesday formulated a policy-planning group for Jammu & Kashmir to take forward the peace initiative in the state. The Congress has been critical of the Centre as well as the PDP-BJP coalition government over the handling of the situation in J&K since July last year. The policy-planning group is chaired by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and includes P Chidambaram and CWC members Karan Singh and Ghulam Nabi Azad, besides the J&K Congress in-charge Ambika Soni. Congress president Sonia Gandhi has constituted a policy-planning group for Jammu & Kashmir under the chairmanship of Dr Manmohan Singh, AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said in a statement. Sources said the group will study and assess the ground situation and make initiatives for restoring normalcy to the state, which is facing unrest for quite some time now. Meanwhile, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday met a delegation of Congress and National Conference leaders. They later met President Pranab Mukherjee and apprised him of the current situation prevailing in the state. Keen on holding internal elections in the party, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has asked its leaders to strictly follow the poll schedule and ensure that the entire process is completed by the election commissions deadline of December 31. In a meeting with around 50 Congress leaders on Tuesday, Rahul expounded on how organisational elections hold the key to internal democracy and insisted that pradesh returning officers who are responsible for conducting organisational elections in states adhere to the poll plan. As per the fresh poll schedule circulated by the Congress central election authority to all state units and office-bearers, elections to the post of party president will take place between September 16 and October 15. Seventy-year-old Sonia Gandhi holds the record for being the president of the 131-year-old party for almost 19 consecutive years, after taking over from Sitaram Kesri in 1998. Once the party chief is chosen, elections to the Congress Working Committee (CWC) the partys highest decision making body will be held at a plenary session in November or December. The Congress partys constitution stipulates that while 12 of the 25-member CWC have to be elected by All India Congress Committee (AICC) members, the rest can be appointed by the party chief. The last Congress plenary its 83rd session was held at Burari in New Delhi in December 2010. No CWC elections have been held since 1997, when Kesri was at the helm of the party. Prior to that, organisational elections were conducted in the party after a two-decade gap in 1992 during Narasimha Raos tenure as the Congress chief. Since 1997, all appointments in the Congress party have been through nominations. The fresh poll schedule is divided into five phases, and the party has already declared that the ongoing membership drive will close on May 15. While the first stage comprising enrolment of new members will end on August 20, the second phase for electing block presidents will conclude on September 4. The third segment, ending on September 15, will involve electing district presidents. This will be followed by the election of state chiefs from September 16 to October 15. The plenary session will mark the completion of the fifth and final phase of the organisational elections by the year-end. However, Congress leaders suggest that as the plenary could coincide with the assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, there was a possibility of the CWC meeting anytime before that to take a call on Rahuls elevation. At the last CWC meeting on November 7, Congress members had expressed their unanimous and strong sentiments for 46-year-old Rahuls immediate elevation. They also sought Sonias approval in this regard. A senior Congress functionary referred to the party constitution to suggest that a change of guard could happen anytime. The Congress constitution gives the CWC special power to take any decision, including the appointment of the party chief, on the condition that the move is ratified by the AICC within six months. It was on March 14, 1998, that the CWC exercised this provision to appoint Sonia as the Congress president in Kesris place. The AICC then ratified the move on April 6, 1998. The entire process can be completed in one day, with the CWC passing a resolution in the morning and the AICC ratifying the move soon afterwards. In Sonias case, the formalities were completed in less than a month. However, a section of the Congress wants Sonia to remain at the helm till March next year, so she can complete a record 20 years as its party chief. Through her tenure, Sonia had to face competition for the post of party president only once. She defeated Jitendra Prasada a former Congress vice-president who had served as political advisor to former prime ministers Rajiv Gandhi and PV Narasimha Rao by a huge margin on November 9, 2000. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Supreme Court has revived the criminal conspiracy charge against BJP leaders LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti and nine others in the Babri mosque demolition case. The court, which had in the last hearing expressed unhappiness over the tardy progress in a related case, issued a string of instructions Wednesday to ensure the trial is completed in two years. Here is what the court said: 1 The court allowed the CBI plea for reviving criminal conspiracy charge against the senior BJP leaders. The investigating agency had challenged an Allahabad high court verdict upholding an order of a Lucknow court that dropped the charges on technical ground. 2 The case will be shifted from Rae Bareli to Lucknow and the trial will open in four weeks. A Rae Bareli court is hearing a case against these leaders and others for making inflammatory speeches that provoked the kar sevaks to pull down the mosque. 3 This case and the one being heard by a Lucknow court will now be clubbed and hearings held in the Uttar Pradesh capital. There will be no fresh trial. 4 There were two sets of cases. The first involved unnamed kar sevaks, which was being tried in a Lucknow court, while the second was the one in Rae Bareli. 5 There shall be no adjournments in the case and the trial judge in Lucknow will hold day-to-day hearing, a bench of justice PC Ghose and justice RF Nariman has said, setting a two-year deadline for the trial to be completed. 6 The judge hearing the case will not be moved out till the trial is completed. 7 The Central Bureau of Investigation will have to ensure the presence of at least one prosecution witness on every hearing. 8 The case shall not be adjourned for want of witnesses, the court has said. 9 Any party can approach the SC if its directions on the trail are not followed. 10 Rajasthan governor Kalyan Singh has been spared, for now. Singh enjoys constitutional immunity since he is a governor but charges will be framed against him once he ceases to hold the position, the court has said. Singh was the Uttar Pradesh chief minister when the Babri mosque was brought down on December 6, 1992 by a mob of kar sevaks. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A dead rat was found in Wednesdays midday meal at a government-run primary school in Jamla village in Kalol taluka of Gandhinagar district, just before the food was to be served to the students, officials said. The rat was found at the Jamla Adarsh Primary School, and the government has ordered an inquiry into the matter. A dead rat was found in the midday meal supplied to the school. The teacher spotted it before it was served to the students, commissioner of Midday Meal, RG Trivedi, said. Congress MLA from Mansa constituency, Amit Chaudhary, who rushed to the village after learning about the incident, said, When a teacher took out the food for tasting before serving it to students, he noticed the tail of a rat in his food. When he opened the container, a dead rat was found in it. Luckily for students, the rat was found before the food was served to them. Incidentally, Jamla Adarsh Primary School was declared as a model school by the state government. There are 242 students in the school, he said. Chaudhary said that nearby schools to which the food was to be supplied, were informed and food was not served to those students as well. The food is supplied to government-run primary schools by NGO Akshay Patra. Soon after learning about this, district officials, including the deputy collector and mamlatdar went to the school to investigate the matter. Trivedi said, The midday meal food prepared by the same supplier was also supplied to the schools in three adjoining talukas, but no complaint was received from there. We have sought a report from the district administration as to how the dead rat landed in the food. We will take action after getting the report. Here are the top news stories of the previous day: 1) Vijay Mallya arrested by Scotland Yard in London, gets bail Scotland Yard arrested fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya on Tuesday morning and a London court granted him bail within hours, commencing the legal process to send him to India that may be drawn over months, if not years. The 61-year-old businessman was the subject of an extradition request from India for alleged financial irregularities such a loan defaults and money laundering. After getting bail, Mallya tweeted Usual Indian media hype. Extradition hearing in Court started today as expected. Read the full story here. 2) Vijay Mallyas extradition: Why Indian authorities have a long road ahead Unless there is a fresh approach in London to extradition requests from New Delhi, its unlikely controversial Indian businessman Vijay Mallya will actually be extradited to India anytime soon, given past experiences and the long-drawn legal process. Mallya is not the first high-profile Indian based in the United Kingdom wanted in India. Previous individuals sought include Lalit Modi (for alleged financial offences), Ravi Sankaran (the Indian Navy war room leak case), Nadeem Saifi (the Gulshan Kumar murder case) and Tiger Hanif (Gujarat blasts). The process to extradite Mallya is long, with several options for appeal. Read the full story here. 3) Islamabad says India abducted retired Pakistani army officer to secure Jadhavs release A Pakistani retired army officer was lured to Nepal with a job prospect before being seized by Indian intelligence, which hopes to use him to secure the release of an Indian agent sentenced to death by Pakistan, security officials said on Tuesday. According to two senior security officials, Indian agents abducted Lt Col Mohammad Habib, who went missing on April 6 after arriving in Nepal. They said Habibs abduction was aimed at pressuring Pakistan to release Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian naval officer convicted of espionage who was sentenced to death on April 10. Read the full story here. 4) Trouble-hit AIADMK eyes merger of warring factions, sidelines Sasikala and family Tamil Nadus ruling AIADMK party on Tuesday distanced itself from jailed general secretary VK Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dinakaran, brightening prospects of a truce with the O Panneerselvam faction that had rebelled against her leadership. The decision was unanimous and based on the views of all ministers, including chief minister E Palaniswami, legislators, MPs and the people, state minister D Jayakumar said, stressing that a committee will now run the party. The Sasikala clan will be completely kept away from the party and the government, which should not be controlled by one family, Jayakumar said. Read the full story here. 5) Yogi Adityanaths anti-Romeo drive fizzles out in Meerut Almost a month after Uttar Pradeshs new chief minister Yogi Adityanath launched his anti-Romeo squad initiative to crack down on sexual harassment of women at public places, Meerut has slipped back to its usual self. But revisiting the same spots that witnessed the crackdown nearly a month later revealed no traces of the frenetic police activity. April 21 will mark one month since Adityanath announced the measure to bolster womens safety. Not a single policeman was spotted at RG Girls College on Monday, though some men sauntered around rather suspiciously. Read the full story here. 6) Now, Australian PM Turnbull abolishes visa programme popular with Indians Australia will abolish a temporary work visa popular with foreigners and replace it with a new programme requiring better English-language and job skills, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Tuesday. The move to abolish the popular work visa used by over 95,000 foreign workers, majority of them Indians, is apparently aimed at tackling the growing unemployment in the country. The majority of the visa holders were from India followed by the UK and China. The programme known as 457 visa allows business to employ foreign workers for a period up to four years in skilled jobs where there is a shortage of Australian workers. Read the full story here. 7) Amit Shahs 95-day countrywide tour to expand BJP footprints will begin this month BJP president Amit Shah will go on a 95-day countrywide tour, starting this month from Jammu and Kashmir and spending at least two days in each state to review the partys organisational activities. The trip is significant as the BJP rules 13 states, shares power in four, and is pushing to broaden its national footprint in regions that are not its traditional strong-points. The itinerary, prepared by a team of senior leaders, will give him an opportunity to get first-hand ground reports necessary to construct his election strategies. Read the full story here. 8) NGT, not Art of Living, should be fined for Yamuna floodplain damage: Sri Sri Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Tuesday said the Centre, Delhi government and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) should be held responsible for allowing his foundation to organise the World Culture Festival on the Yamuna floodplains in March 2016 if any environmental damage was caused. If, at all, any fine has to be levied, it should be levied on the Central and state governments and the NGT itself, for giving the permission. If the Yamuna was so fragile and pure, they should have stopped the World Culture Festival, said Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in a statement issued on Tuesday. Read the full story here. 9) IPL 2017: Chris Gayle, Yuzvendra Chahal power RCB to 21-run win vs Gujarat Lions Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle slammed half-centuries to help their team score 213/2. In reply, Gujarat Lions could score 192/7, with Yuzvendra Chahal taking 3/31, in the Indian Premier League clash at Rajkot. Read the full story here. 10) Chris Gayle reaches historic milestone, becomes first to score 10,000 T20 runs Chris Gayle, the entertaining Jamaican hard-hitter, is now in an elite club of his own one for those with 10,000 T20 runs. Gayle might end up being the only one in the 10,000 club in T20s for a long time. No other batsman has crossed 8,000 runs in T20s with the second highest run-scorer after Gayle being Brendon McCullum (7596). Brad Hodge has 7338 runs to his name while David Warner has 7156 runs. Read the full story here. The government decided on Wednesday to ban red beacons atop cars of all ministers, politicians and bureaucrats, ending a privilege that was seen as the ultimate status symbol. The ban, effective from May 1, doesnt exempt even vehicles of the countrys top dignitaries such as the President, Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India. But ambulances and vehicles of the fire service, police, and army will be allowed to use blue flashing beacons to cut through traffic. About six categories of beacons primarily red, blue and yellow are in use in India. But the red, or the coveted lal batti, has been drawing maximum attention as an elitist VIP symbol since the British rulers introduced it. Road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari called the decision historic, and tweeted: Usage of red beacon tied us back to colonial legacy. With lal batti removal PM Narendra Modis vision of new India took a step forward. Every Indian is special. Every Indian is a VIP. https://t.co/epXuRdaSmY Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 19, 2017 The decision was taken at a meeting of road transport officials with the prime ministers office on April 15. The Prime Minister informed his cabinet about the move on Wednesday. We have decided to remove the clause from the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, that gave the Centre and states the power to decide who should be allowed to display red beacons. The road ministry will shortly notify the amended rules, finance minister Arun Jaitley said. The Centres move follows decisions by the Uttar Pradesh and Punjab chief ministers, Yogi Adityanath and Captain Amarinder Singh, to discard beacons from official cars in their states. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal took the lead in 2015 by asserting he would not have the red beacon on his car. Union ministers such as M Venkaiah Naidu and junior home minister Kiren Rijiju have never used one since they joined the Modis council. Gadkari and Jitendra Singh, junior minister in the prime ministers office, removed theirs on Wednesday. The opposition Congress welcomed the step, but took a swipe at the BJP, saying it was good to see the ruling party catch up with the progressive policies of the previous government. The Supreme Court had given its verdict on December 10, 2013 about which cars be allowed and which ones not for use of red beacons. If after three-and-a-half years the BJP is trying to do politics over this and blow the trumpet of morality, then there can be nothing more laughable..., Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said. The top court called beacons atop cars of ministers and bureaucrats ridiculous and synonymous with power, and said these should be removed immediately. It advised the Centre and states later to amend the motor vehicles act to trim the list of people who can use beacons. The road ministry had proposed limiting the privilege to five constitutional authorities the President, Vice President, Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India, and Speaker of the Lok Sabha. The proposal was not approved. According to the government, vehicles with beacon lights have no place in a democratic country. People often saw these flashing lights as shining examples of power and VIP status, more than security aids. Even lower-level politicians and officials misuse the beacons to show off their importance, especially in smaller towns. (with agency inputs) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The external affairs ministry on Wednesday summoned Syed Haider Shah, Pakistans deputy high commissioner to India, and reiterated its position that formal naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav was an innocent Indian national framed by the neighbouring country. The ministry also raised its demand for consular access to Jadhav during the meeting. India has so far made 14 requests for gaining consular access to Jadhav, who has been sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court for espionage and sabotage. According to sources, Shah was told that not according consular access to Jadhav amounted to violating principles of international law. Ministry officials also pointed at the fact that the two countries had signed a bilateral pact that provided for such a facility. On Tuesday, Pakistan officials said a retired army officer from the country was lured to Nepal with promises of employment before being captured by Indian intelligence agents. New Delhi hopes to use him to secure Jadhavs release, they alleged. Pakistan and India have a history of bitter relations, and Jadhavs death sentence has further strained bilateral ties. India has denounced Jadhavs trial as a farce, insisting he was abducted from Iran and that his subsequent presence in Pakistan was never credibly explained. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON US President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order for tightening the rules of the H-1B visa programme, the most sought-after by Indian IT firms and professionals, to stop visa abuses. The order directs the agencies to suggest changes to help ensure that the visas are awarded to the most skilled, best-paid immigrant workers. Right now, widespread abuse in our immigration system is allowing American workers of all backgrounds to be replaced by workers brought in from other countries to fill the same job for, sometimes, less pay. This will stop, Trump told an enthusiastic audience in Wisconsin before signing the order. He said the order sets in motion the first steps to initiate long-overdue reforms to end visa abuses. Heres all you need to know on the visa, the changes and the affect on Indians: What is the H-1B visa programme? * The H-1B visa is an employment-based, non-immigrant visa category for temporary workers. An employer must offer a job and apply for your H-1B visa petition with the US Immigration Department. * The programme is open to a broad range of occupations, including architects, professors and even fashion models. * It is meant for jobs requiring specialty skills that cannot be filled by a US worker. Many of these jobs happen to be in tech. * According to the US Labor Department, the top three H-1B occupations are computer systems analysts, application software developers and computer programmers and those three account for roughly half of the departments H-1B certifications. * The tech industry says companies have trouble filling positions with American workers and must turn to other countries through this programme. Why does US President Donald Trump want to cut number of visas? * Critics of the H-1B programme argue it is being used by companies to hire temporary foreign workers on low salaries to displace local American workers on higher salaries. * They have targeted Indian IT companies such as Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro accusing them of gaming the system by cornering a large portion of the annual disbursement of H-1Bs with a large number of applications. * A White House statement on Wednesday said H-1B visas are supposed to bring the highest skilled and paid labour to the US. But according to studies, 80% of the approved applications were for the two lowest wage levels allowed. * The Trump administration says more of the jobs performed by those people could and should be filled by Americans. How are the visas allocated? * The programme is capped at 85,000 new H-1B visas each year65,000 to foreigners and 20,000 more are granted to those with advanced degrees. * However, more than 100,000 workers are allowed in annually because of exemptions for university-related positions. * Recipients can stay up to six yearsthe visa is good for three years and can be renewed for three more years * Demand is usually higher than the cap, so the US government holds an annual lottery. * This year, nearly 200,000 applications were received in less than a week. Who employs H-1B visa holders? * The biggest employers are Indian companies such as Wipro Technologies, Infosys, Tech Mahindra and Tata Consultancy Services. * The American companies include Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook and Qualcomm. * Thousands of Silicon Valley startups. What are the changes? * The order doesnt change existing rules, but the objective is to modify or replace the current lottery for H-1B visas with a merit-based system that will restrict the visas to highly skilled workers. * The US secretary of state, the US attorney general, the US secretary of Labour, and the US secretary of Homeland Security will suggest the reforms. How will Indians be affected? * The biggest beneficiaries of H-1B visas are Indians, followed by the Chinese. In 2014, 70% of total H-1B petitions approved were from Indians. *Nearly 86% of the H-1B visas issued for workers in computer occupations go to Indian workers, according to a Computerworld analysis of government data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. * One expected change in rules is the doubling of the minimum salary of H-1B visa holders to $130,000. * Should that happen, Indias software services industry, already facing pressures on profitability and revenue, will be forced to make fundamental changes in their business strategies, including hiring more American workers at the cost of Indian employees usually deployed on client sites in the US *Such a move can crimp operating margins by as much as three percentage points at companies such as Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Infosys and Wipro. (With inputs from agencies) Neha Gayal, an engineer seeking to immigrate to the United States, is trying to look at the positive side of President Donald Trumps executive order restricting the use of H-1B visas. A day after Trumps move, Gayal said the order will mostly impact students from poorly ranked engineering colleges. Many companies used to employ people passing out of mediocre engineering colleges on low wages and take them to US, said the 22-year-old graduate from a government college in Pune. This will probably stop now, improving the chances of others who studied in renowned institutions and have advanced degrees. Others were not so optimistic. I-T professional Mangesh Joshi feels the buy American, hire American order will adversely affect Indian job-seekers. The order seeks highest skilled-and paid labour to America, said Joshi, adding that the US will block visa applications that show low wages. Thousands of Indian professionals are employed by American companies annually through these time-limited work permits meant for scientists, engineers and computer programmers sought by Silicon Valley. The Trump administration says the order which will need legislative approval is aimed at stopping the abuse of the H-1B visa programme and giving jobs back to Americans, one of his major campaign promises. The United States offers 85,000 H-1B visas every year, most of which are snapped up by Indian outsourcers whose employees fill a skill gap in US engineering. Applications are vastly oversubscribed and visas are allocated via a lottery system. It is this lottery system which the Trump administration says is misused by Indian companies, a charge denied by industry body NASSCOM. So far reactions in India are mixed. Akash Rathi, a fresh graduate from Pune, too said the new changes might help Indians. While Indians have been the biggest beneficiaries of H-1B visas, the expected change of substantial increase in minimum salary level might force IT companies to take away US jobs elsewhere to countries like India. But IT professional Darshan Srinivasan, who has visited the US and other countries for onsite projects, said the order has come as a blow to workers in the sector. Morale of employees has taken a visible hit, he said in Bengaluru. Srinivasan said service-based companies were to blame for violations related to H-1B visas. Product-based companies have to suffer as a result, he said. According to Kishore Kumar Kovuru, a software engineer who returned to India after working in the US for a decade, Indians who were getting extension of H-1B visa every two years might find it difficult now. With the US government firm on restricting foreigners in regular jobs, there will be serious review of the H1-B visa holders when they apply for extensions, he told HT in Hyderabad. So is the case with fresh applicants. Unless the US government is satisfied that the applicants are highly-qualified and the US companies cannot find alternatives to them, it will be difficult to get visas. Ramesh Loganathan, former president of Hyderabad Software Exporters Association, however, said there is absolutely no need to panic about the latest order as it will benefit highly skilled Indians in the long run. Hitherto, many Indians obtained H-1B visas through various methods to join bogus companies. The present order will affect such people, he said. But for highly skilled and highly paid Indians like architects and software developers, it is, in fact, a good development unless the US government reduces the number of H-1 B visas, which is very unlikely. According to Loganathan, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh account for 40-45% of the total number of 60,000 H-1B temporary visas from India every year. NASSCOM on Wednesday cautioned the US government that hindering access to needed talent could only harm American companies. Any onerous additional restrictions on the H-1B...would hurt thousands of US businesses and their efforts to be more competitive by hindering access to needed talent, NASSCOM said in a statement. NASSCOM president R Chandrashekhar said the body was against selective targeting of Indian companies, which account for only 20 per cent of the visas. Any such move will not benefit the American worker, which is the intention behind the move, he said, adding that using salary levels as the metric is not necessarily the best indicator of benefits to the US economy. Betsy Lawrence, the director of government relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told CNN that, Although released with ceremonial flair, the order will have no immediate impact on H-1Bs. Many of the changes to the H-1B programme contemplated by the administration would require legislative action or rule-making and would take time to go through the necessary processes. (With inputs from Sanjeev Ahuja in New Delhi and agencies) More Indians living in the US want a job back home after Donald Trump became the president of the worlds largest economy. The number of Indians in the US searching for jobs in India has gone up more than 10-fold between December and March, according to an analysis by consulting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Pvt Ltd, shared exclusively with Mint. There were approximately 600 US-based Indians seeking jobs in India in December 2016. By the end of March 2017, the number had gone up to approximately 7,000, Deloitte analysis said. This data comes amid a crackdown by the Trump administration on job visas for skilled workers, including software engineers from India. US Citizenship and Immigration Services said employers seeking H-1B work visasa non-immigrant visa allowing American firms to employ foreign workersfor 2018 declined for the first time in five years. Trump signed an executive order that called for a review of the H-1B visa programme, saying they should never be used to replace American workers and be must given to the most skilled and highest paid applicants. A Bloomberg report on Tuesday cited companies such as Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp and Mphasis Corp. as examples of outsourcing firms that would likely have fewer visas approved once the changes are adopted. The H-1B work visa programme channels thousands of foreign workers to the US technology industry. While US companies will find some tech talent in the US, the numbers might be less than what are required to meet their needs. Add to that, the wages they need to pay to US employees will be much higher than what they pay to H-1B visa holders, said CK Guruprasad, a consultant with executive search firm Spencer Stuart. On Tuesday, Australia abolished the 457 visa programme used by over 95,000 temporary foreign workers, the majority of them Indians, to tackle unemployment. Experts see global in-house centres (GICs) as a viable option for companies to not only retain Indian talent but also address the anticipated shortage in the required volume of workers in the US. According to Parag Saigaonkar, principal at global consulting firm Deloitte in India, while the initial thrust of GICs was on moving job roles from a high-cost to low-cost centre to get a competitive edge, firms are now looking at non-linear values that GICs can add to the business things that Indian GICs can produceand supporting the parent organisation. With the seemingly shifting dynamics towards options between outsourcing and local hiring, companies with GICs in India could move Indian talent from the US to India and also hire locals into the GICs and thus sidestep the restrictions of outsourcing to third party companies, Guruprasad said. According to KSViswanathan, vice-president for industry initiatives at lobby group Nasscom, while the purpose of GICs so far has revolved around cost and skills arbitration advantages and talent consideration, it is now expected to change. (Published in arrangement with Livemint) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Ukrainian anti-terrorist operation (ATO) headquarters reported 35 attacks on Ukrainian positions on Tuesday. "Two Ukrainian defenders suffered injuries over the past day," the HQ said on Facebook. According to it, militants fired 82mm mortars, anti-tank grenade launchers and heavy machineguns on Ukrainian army positions near Krasnohorivka in the Mariupol sector. Grenade launchers of various types, heavy machineguns, and infantry combat vehicle weapons were engaged in attacks in Vodiane and Hnutove, and a ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft gun was used near Vodiane. Militants fired grenade launchers on Ukrainian strongholds near Starohnativka, Talakivka and Shyrokyne; and heavy machineguns were used near Chermalyk and Pavlopil. Snipers were active in the vicinity of Novotroitske and Mykolaivka. In the Donetsk sector, Ukrainian army positions were attacked near Avdiyivka, Kamianka and Zaitseve with the use of grenade launchers of various types and heavy machineguns. In addition, heavy machineguns were fired in Pisky and Opytne, the HQ said. In the Luhansk sector, Ukrainian army positions came under attack of automatic grenade launchers and 120mm and 82mm mortars near Katerynivka. Positions near Krymske were attacked with 82mm mortars, and small arms were used near Stanytsia Luhanska and Size, the report said. India accounts for 60% of the worlds new leprosy cases, the WHO says, and New Delhi is among regions that recorded an increased prevalence of the curable disease which often attracts social ostracism because of ignorance. The country registered more than 127,000 confirmed cases of leprosy in 2015, show data in the Fourth WHO Report on Neglected Tropical Diseases released on Wednesday. Four states, Delhi, Lakshadweep, Chandigarh and Odisha, reported increased prevalence over the past year, though they had earlier achieved elimination, a health ministry official said. India has not recorded a drastic fall in new cases since successfully eliminating leprosy less than one case for 10,000 people in December 2005. The annual new case detection and prevalence rates, indicators of the eradication programmes success, have not improved since 2005, largely because India stopped active surveillance after reaching elimination levels. Leprosy data World: 210,758 India: 127, 326 Brazil: 26,395 Indonesia: 17,202 Democratic Republic of Congo: 4,237 Bangladesh: 3,976 Ethiopia: 3,970 Source: Fourth WHO report on Neglected Tropical Diseases Read more: Neglected tropical diseases control gets pharma, donor push India now relies on voluntary reporting, which may lead to many cases being detected late or people getting treated after disability has set in, the ministry official said. New cases have gone down marginally over the past decade: from 139,000 in 2006 to 127,000 in 2015. But 118 districts still have to reach the elimination level. Chhattisgarh and Dadar and Nagar Haveli are the worst affected. The number of new cases with Grade 2 disability affecting the eyes, hands and feet has gone up from 3,015 in 2005-2006 to 5,851 in 2005-2016, shows Union health ministry data. The last push in disease control is the hardest, and India must continue to actively detect and treat leprosy to stop new infections and disability, the official said. Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by mycobacterium leprae that mainly affects the skin, peripheral nerves, eyes and the mucous membrane of the windpipe. It is completely curable using multi-drug therapy available free in public hospitals and treatment in early stages prevents disability. Leprosy, also known as Hansens disease, was regarded as incurable in the past, and patients often became social outcasts. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON India said on Wednesday it is in touch with the governments of the United States and Australia over new restrictions imposed by the two countries on work visas and is making an assessment of the impact of these changes. The governments response came after two significant international developments on Tuesday US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to tighten rules for the H-1B visa programme to stop its abuse, and Australian premier Donald Turnbull announced plans to abolish a popular work visa used by more than 95,000 temporary foreign workers, a majority of them Indians. The government is in touch with the governments of the United States and Australia on these matters and is also making full assessment of the impact of these recent changes, in consultation with all stakeholders, the external affairs ministry spokesperson said in a brief statement. The cap for the H-1B visas had remained at 65,000 since December 2004, when the H-1B Visa Reform Act of 2004 was enacted by the US Congress, the spokesperson said. The changes announced by the Australian government replace one scheme with another, the spokesperson said. Senior Australian officials have conveyed to us that the impact of the changes will be negligible on Indian workers, most of whom fall in the high-skill category, the spokesperson added. The spokesperson further said the governments foreign policy had helped expand the workforce within the country through flagship programmes such as Make in India, Skill India and Digital India by delivering large technological partnerships and enhanced foreign direct investment. India and France had also agreed last year to allow Indian students at the masters level and above to extend their stay in France for two years, the spokesperson added. At the signing of the executive order, Trump said his administration will enforce Hire American rules to protect the jobs and wages of American workers. The executive order asks the secretaries of state, labour and homeland security and the attorney general to suggest reforms to ensure that H-1B visas are awarded to the most-skilled or highest-paid applicants. Though H-1B visas are supposed to bring the highest skilled workers to the US, studies have shown 80% of approved applications were for the two lowest wage levels, the White House said. Currently, companies routinely abuse the H-1B visa programme by replacing American workers with lower paid foreign workers, it said. Reforming the H-1B visa programme was one of Trumps key election promises. Several US reports have said a majority of H-1B visas are grabbed by Indian IT professionals. Turnbull said Australias 457 visa programme, which allows businesses to hire foreign workers for up to four years in skilled jobs where there is a shortage of local workers, should not be passports to jobs that should go to Australians. We are an immigration nation, but the fact remains: Australian workers must have priority for Australian jobs, so we are abolishing the 457 visa, he said. The country will adopt a new Australians first approach to skilled migration, he said. The majority of 457 visa holders were from India, followed by nationals of the UK and China. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON India and Russia are working on a new format of military exercises involving their armies, navies and air forces, a first for both countries. Defence ministry sources said on Wednesday the first such exercise in a tri-service format could be held in Russia by the year-end. As of now, Indo-Russian joint military drills called Indra are either army-to-army, navy-to-navy or air force-to- air force. The two countries have been holding the Indra series of exercises since 2003. Details are being worked out. The first exercise in the new format could be held in October-November, the official said. India conducts bilateral drills with other countries, including the US and the UK, in a service-to-service framework, say army-to-army or navy-to-navy. A commonality of military platforms operated by the Indian and Russian militaries helps smoothen the conduct of bilateral drills. India and Russia will have two more rounds of talks to arrive at the new format of exercises. Last year, Russia conducted its first ever military exercise with Pakistan, triggering concerns in India. Interestingly, Russian troops landed in Pakistan for the drills on the day when India and Russia had kicked off Indra-2016 in Vladivostok. The Indian Army sent 250 soldiers from the Kumaon Regiment for the exercise, while Russia was represented by 250 soldiers from the 59th Motorised Infantry Brigade. Meanwhile, defence minister Arun Jaitley will travel to Russia next week to attend the Moscow Conference on International Security. An Indian defence minister is taking part in the conference for the first time with previous editions being attended by junior ministers (minister of state for defence) The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) plans to undertake next month the first developmental flight of a game-changer rocket capable of launching four-ton class of satellites from Sriharikota spaceport, says its chairman AS Kiran Kumar. ISRO rockets (launch vehicles) at present have the capability to launch satellites up to 2.2 tons; it depends on international launchers to orbit satellites heavier than that. Next month, we have scheduled the launch of GSLV-Mk III-D1, Kiran Kumar told PTI. The Bengaluru-based space agency plans to undertake the second developmental flight within a year. By the time two developmental flights are over, we will be working towards making more launches so that it (GSLV-Mk III) becomes operational, he said. ISRO views operationalisation of this rocket as a game-changer for it, he said. Once we build our own four tonne capacity, we will be able to significantly reduce our launch from outside; then we are also looking at building satellites within that four-tonne capacity, so that you can do all the launches within the country, Kiran Kumar said. The GSLV-Mk III-D1 launcher would carry GSAT-19 satellite which has a mass of 3,200 kg. The satellite would carry Ka and Ku band payload along with a Geostationary Radiation Spectrometer (GRASP) payload to monitor and study the nature of the charged particles and influence of space radiation on spacecraft and electronic components. The satellite would employ advanced spacecraft technologies including bus subsystem experiments in electrical propulsion system, indigenous Li ion battery and indigenous bus bars for power distribution, among others. PATNA A minor girl died and her elder sister received critical burn injuries, when they were set on fire by a man whose desire to wed the elder girl, was rebuffed by their parents. The incident took place in West Champaran district of north Bihar, about 180 km north of the state capital, on Wednesday. Confirming the incident, West Champaran SP Vinay Kumar told HT that the incident took place when the two sisters, including Deep Mala, 15, were fast asleep in their house at Pokharbhira village under Muffasil police station of West Champaran. Kumar said the accused, Navneel Niraj, who gave karate lessons to the sisters, poured petrol and set their room on fire. While Deep Mala died of burn injuries,her elder sister had been admitted in a private nursing home at Motihari, in adjacent East Champaran district. Police said the accused sprinkled petrol through ventilator and set the room alight. The fire soon engulfed the thatched roof of the house, leaving the two sisters inside with severe burn injuries, to which Deep Mala succumbed. The accused, a resident of Ghorahia under Sri Nagar police station, was infatuated with elder sister and wanted to marry her but, a few days before the incident, the parents of the two girls had flatly rejected his marriage proposal, angering him. Earlier, on February 27, the karate teacher, along with five miscreants on Bolero vehicle, had abducted Deep Malas elder sister when she, along with her mother, was on way to the Meena Bazar locality in Bettiah, on her way back from college. The incident took place near New Colony and they were taken to the Sukh Sagar guest house at Lalbazar, with an intention to force a wedding upon the girl. Somehow, the victim and her mother managed to escape from the spot, despite manhandling by the abductors. Later, an FIR was lodged at the Mufassil police station of Bettiah on February 28 but till date no one was arrested in connection with the abduction. Family members said that the wedding of the elder girl was fixed elsewhere recently fixed, which further infuriated the accused who threatened to kill the girl. This information was passed on to investigating officer of the case Anil Kumar Singh but to no avail. If the accused had been arrested soon after we lodged a case against him, my granddaughters life would have been saved, Laxman Thakur, the girls grandfather, said. The suspect has been absconding after the incident and the police have launched a manhunt to arrest him.. We expect to arrest him soon. We are also trying to record the statement of the surviving fire victim and her mother to speed up the investigation, said Vinay. Kumar, the SP. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A cross vote by an independent legislator during the legislative council elections in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday has driven a wedge between the ruling coalition partners, the PDP and the BJP. The PDP was banking on the support of Zanskar legislator Syed Mohammad Baqir Rizvi for the victory of its candidate Abdul Qayoom Dar on one of the two legislative council seats for which polling was held April 17. However, Rizvi dumped the PDP at the last minute and voted for BJPs Vikram Randhawa. His vote resulted in a tie between the PDP and the BJP, which later won the seat in a draw of lots. In the 87-member House, the PDP has 28 legislators and the BJP 25. Both the parties also have one nominated member each with voting rights. Both Dar and Randhawa bagged 29 votes each. Besides Rizvi, the BJP candidate was also supported by two legislators of the Peoples Conference, headed by Sajjad Ghani Lone. Upset over the development, the PDP leadership has decided to take up the issue with the BJP at the highest level. It is very unfortunate. We have taken a serious note of it and we will take up the matter with the BJP leadership, PDP spokesperson Mehboob Beg told HT. At Tuesdays cabinet meeting, CM Mehbooba Mufti expressed her annoyance over the betrayal by the BJP. Sources said she said the BJP did not adhere to the coalition dharma that resulted in a loss of a key seat for the PDP. However, the BJP for its part maintained it cannot be blamed if the PDP failed to muster support from the independents. Soon after the results were declared, the PDP-led government sacked Rizvi from the post of vice-chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board and withdrew the status of Minister of State (MoS) given to him last year. On the other hand, a combined opposition ensured the victory of Congress candidate Thakur Balbir Singh who bagged 31 votes. What seems like a squabble over a legislative council seat is also an indication of internal rumblings in the ruling coalition that have resurfaced. Sources in the BJP and the PDP admit that the precarious ties are being tested once again by the ongoing turmoil in the Valley. The renewed and intensified incidents of violence have put a strain on the coalition that came to power in 2015. After the now-on-now-off situation that the alliance found itself in soon after PDP founder and former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeeds death, the two sides had eased into a working relationship. But the current round of violence and the anger on the streets has again brought to fore the differences that both sides are trying to overcome, a senior BJP leader said. The disagreement over how to overcome peoples disenchantment with the establishment is a case in point. The BJP wants the state government to opt for drastic solutions, pointing out how it has not shied away from meeting fiscal demands; but the PDP has been insinuating that statements from the BJP leadership and the army have stoked raw nerves. Kashmiri youth are upset by generalisation. The youth feels alienated. PM Narendra Modi asking them to choose between terrorism and tourism and army chief General Bipin Rawats statement about stone-pelters have ruffled feathers, said a PDP leader. The PDP also has a grouse that New Delhi is not doing enough to meet regional aspirations, a charge denied by the BJP leadership. Does the fresh round of bickering mean the alliance is again at the brink of collapsing? Leaders of both sides are unanimous that it is unlikely. They admit there is no option for the PDP, but to continue the alliance as its position in the state is not so good . Growing clamour for Governors rule Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said on Saturday that there was a growing clamour for Governors rule in Jammu and Kashmir. Glad more people have realised PDP-BJP government is a disaster, Chidambaram said in his tweet. The honourable course for... CM of J&K (Mehbooba Mufti) is to snap the coalition with BJP and make peace with the people, he added. If that means a spell of Governors rule, so be it, Chidambaram said. (With inputs from Ravi K Khajuria) The Delhi high court on Wednesday refused to direct the government to approach the International Court of Justice for the release of death row convict Kulbhushan Jadhav from Pakistani jail, saying the government was taking necessary steps. A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Anu Malhotra said the government was best placed to take a decision and safeguard the life and liberty of its citizens. All steps are being taken by the government. There cannot be any intervention by this court, the bench said, adding that it does not want to interfere in the governments measures to secure the release of 46-year-old Jadhav from the Pakistani prison. The court accepted the stand of Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Sanjay Jain that Union of India was making every possible endeavour to get Jadhav back. Observing that it would be inappropriate to openly discuss the sensitive issue, the bench said revelation in open court about steps being taken by the government may jeopardise the sensitive efforts to secure his release. The high court also rejected the petitioners prayer for issuance of protocol to release Indians abducted/kidnapped in other countries, saying there cannot be a straight-jacket formula that may be adopted for different situations. The court had reserved its verdict after the ASG said it was not a public interest litigation. The ASG had also said the issue should be left to Parliament and its members as it was a rare occasion that members of both the Houses, cutting across party lines, have condemned the act of the Pakistan military court. The court was hearing a petition filed by social activist Rahul Sharma who sought direction to the ministry of external affairs and the ministry of home affairs to approach the Hague-based ICJ to provide consular access to Jadhav, saying the former Naval officer has not only been illegally detained but also wrongly awarded capital punishment. The Pakistan army chief had on April 10 confirmed the death sentence awarded to Jadhav, a former Naval officer, by a Pakistani military court after he was convicted of espionage. A 70-year-old woman, who collapsed in searing heat while standing in a bank queue in Amilia area, 572 km north east of Bhopal, died waiting for an ambulance that never arrived. Sidhi collector Abhay Kumar Verma has ordered an inquiry. Talking to the Hindustan Times Verma said, A team of district administration is holding an inquiry. I will comment only after seeing the report. The woman Badamiya Kevat, a resident of Parsona village in Sidhi district went to Madhyanchal Gramin Bank on Monday to withdraw her pension amount with her son Raju Kevat on a bicycle in the afternoon. When she fell unconscious, her son called the emergency helpline number 108 for an ambulance. The woman died on the spot after sometime. After more than three-hour wait for the ambulance, Rajus acquaintance Ramkumar Patel saw them and helped carry the body home on his bike. This is not the first incident in the state when an ambulance hasnt reached a patient. In September 2016, a man had to carry the body of his mother-in-law on his bicycle in Shahdol. In October same year, a man in Bhind district carried the body of his son on a motorcycle as hospital authorities allegedly denied him an ambulance or a hearse . SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The heat is on in Maharashtra and its not just because of the rising temperature. Voting for 201 seats in three municipal corporations Latur, Parbhani and Chandrapur in Maharashtra started at 7.30am on Wednesday. While the Congress has a majority in the Latur municipal corporation, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) control Parbhani and Chandrapur civic bodies, respectively. The BJP is aiming to gain control over the Latur and Parbhani civic bodies. Around 7.93 lakh voters will cast their vote which will decide the future of the 1,285 candidates in the fray. The results of the elections in all these corporations will be declared on April 21. The state election commission (SEC) has extended the deadline for voting by 1 hour in the wake of the rise in temperature in the cities going to polls. The SEC has ordered arrangement of drinking water and shades at all 1,019 polling booths in the three corporations. State election commissioner JS Saharia said the commission has tried to put in place facilities such as ambulances and ramp and wheelchairs for the physically challenged at all polling booths. After Congress lost its control over the district council to BJP in the recent elections, the latter is using all its might to win the urban civic body . Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, union transport minister Nitin Gadkari and party spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain held rallies and wooed voters with promises of quality roads and drinking water. Latur has sizable population of Muslims, Dalits and Lingayat voters. The entry of AIMIM is likely to eat into Congress votes. Read more: BMC polls success: Is Maharashtra turning into a new BJP bastion? The Congress has 49 sitting corporators in the 70-member body, while the BJP has no corporator in the outgoing civic body. In Parbhani, the BJP has hardly any presence as the party has no powerful leader in the district. Woman and child welfare minister Pankaja Munde, who hails from neighbouring Beed, has been ask to spearhead the Parbhani election, as the corporation jurisdiction has sizable voters from the Wanjari community to which Munde belongs. The BJP got its mayor in the Chandrapur municipal corporation two years ago, after 11 Congress corporators defected to the BJP, who staked claim to the post. The municipal corporation was set up in 2011 and went to polls in 2012. While the Congress won 26 seats, BJP stood second with 18 seats. Despite internal rumblings,the BJP looks confident about a triumph, after its impressive victory in the recent district council elections. State finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar and union minister Hansraj Ahir are leading the party in the district, while factional fights within the party has weakened the Congress. How they fared in 2012 Latur (70 seats): BJP (0), Shiv Sena (6), NCP (13), Congress (49) Parbhani (65 seats): BJP (2), Shiv Sena (8), NCP (30), Congress (23) Chandrapur (66 seats): BJP (18), Shiv Sena (5), NCP (4), Congress (26) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A 22-year-old man who was injured during clashes between protestors and security forces on polling day in Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday. With his death, the toll in the bypoll violence has climbed to nine. Muzaffar Ahmad Mir, a resident of Kulgam district in south Kashmir, succumbed to injuries at SKIMS Hospital early on Wednesday, a police official said. He said Mir had sustained multiple bullet injuries in his chest and leg during clashes at Barsoo in Ganderbal on April 9. The United Nations International Court of Justice (The Hague) has ruled to introduce measures to protect and secure the rights of Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars on the territory of Crimea temporarily occupied by Russia pursuant to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, but these measures will not be similar to those that were requested by Ukraine. "As regards the testimonies given to the court, some of them fall under the definition of discrimination, for example, in the part of getting education in the Ukrainian language for ethnic Ukrainians. At the moment, the court concluded that Crimean Tatars and ethnic Ukrainians in Crimea remain vulnerable. In this context the court takes into account the report on the situation with human rights in Ukraine," President of the International Court of Justice Judge Ronny Abraham said on Wednesday. However, having considered the provisional measures requested by Ukraine, and the conditions of this case, the court decided that the measures which will be applied should not be identical to those requested by Ukraine. After a bitter blame game over the Srinagar by-poll fiasco, the Election Commission (EC) and Union home ministry smoked the peace pipe on Wednesday and discussed security arrangements for the Anantnag by-poll in the violence-hit Kashmir Valley. Union home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi held an hour-long meeting with Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi and senior colleagues to discuss requirement of security forces for holding Anantnag parliamentary constituency by-poll. The election was originally slated for April 12 but was deferred to May 25 following the violence-marred election in the neighbouring Srinagar parliamentary constituency on April 9 that left eight people dead. The abysmally low 7% polling in Srinagar amid incidents of damaging and looting electronic voting machines (EVMs) sparked a war of words between the home ministry and the EC. Home ministry officials said the EC didnt consult it before announcing schedule of the by-polls in Jammu and Kashmir and the EC retaliated by saying it is not duty-bound to hold consultation with the ministry. EC officials had also said that the ministrys brief is limited to providing central forces. The home ministry had provided around 30000 additional security personnel for Srinagar and Anantnag by-polls as demanded by the EC but on the hindsight that number may have been inadequate. Read more: EC discusses violence, poor voter turnout in Kashmir bypolls Besides, sources say, many of the companies reached only one or two days before the polling and they didnt get any time to familiarise themselves with the mood of the Valley. So we saw, jawans returning from poll duty being heckled and slapped by protestors. Jawans were not properly prepared to deal with the situation. This time we will give enough time to security forces to reach the Valley for the Anantnag by-poll to acclimatise, said a home ministry source. The EC will specify its requirements in terms of security personnel early to give enough time to the ministry to move the forces. The priority is now to hold Anantnag by-poll peacefully, only then the timing of Panchayat polls in Jammu and Kashmir will be decided, a senior home ministry official said on condition of anonymity. Home ministry sources said a call will be taken soon on a visit by Union home minister Rajnath Singh to the Valley to engage the civil society there. Singh had visited the Valley twice last year amid unrest following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. Assembly polls are over. The parliament session has also ended. So a decision might be taken on the home ministers visit to the Valley now, said the source. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON At least 5 people were killed and another was seriously injured after a fire broke out at a crackers shop in Ranipura area of Indore on Tuesday afternoon. Indore collector P Narhari ordered an inquiry into the incident. According to police, about 25 vehicles were gutted. The fire broke out in a crowded market in the afternoon. Police said fire tenders got delayed in reaching the spot due to narrow lanes. A man was found dead at the gutted shop and seven others were seriously injured. Four victims succumbed to their injuries at the MY Hospital. The death toll may rise, said police sources. Police are investigating the incident to ascertain the cause of the fire. District administration will also initiate a process to shift firecracker shops from the busy market, said official sources. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandaris visit to India has been very fruitful and significant, Foreign Affairs Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat said here on Wednesday. This visit has been fruitful in enhancing the relations and goodwill between the two countries, said Mahat, who was a member of the high-level delegation accompanying President Bhandari during her state visit to India. The Minister, who returned to Kathmandu on Wednesday, was speaking to media persons at Tribhuvan International Airport here. He said Indias President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leaders of various political parties, during their meetings with President Bhandari, highlighted the significance of Nepal-India ties and extended best wishes to Nepal in its efforts towards implementing the Constitution and holding of local elections. They have also expressed the commitment to support Nepal in its development endeavours, Mahat was cited by Himalayan Times as saying. To a query on President Bhandari being received at the airport by an Indian minister of state, Mahat made it clear that there was nothing lacking in the honour the Government of India accorded to Nepals President. The Guard of Honour that India gave to Nepals President at Rashtrapati Bhawan is an important thing. The Indian President, Prime Minister and distinguished personalities were present on the occasion, he said. Mahat explained that President Bhandari went to the airport when Indian President Pranab Mukherjee arrived on a state visit to Nepal as Nepal has the tradition of presenting the Guard of Honour at the airport itself. The Minister for Foreign Affairs returned home on Wednesday after the formal programmes and high-level meetings scheduled for the President on the first two days of her visit in New Delhi concluded on Tuesday night. Meanwhile, President Bhandari, who is on a five-day state visit to India, wrapped up her meetings and programmes in the Indian Capital and left for Rajkot, the fourth-largest city in the state of Gujarat on Wednesday. In Gujarat, the President will pay homage at the Somnath Temple and other pilgrimage sites. She will also attend a luncheon to be hosted by Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani in her honour. President Bhandari is scheduled to visit Odisha on Thursday. Amid deaths of two soldiers in accidental discharge on the Line of Control in Poonch sector, on Wednesday, the Pakistan army opened heavy fire on Indian posts along the de-facto border in the said sector. Pakistan army initiated indiscriminate firing of small arms, automatics and mortars at 11:15 am on Indian army posts along the LoC in Poonch sector, said an army spokesperson. The Indian army retaliated in equal measure. Exchange of fire stopped at around 1:30pm, he added. Top BJP leaders discussed on Wednesday the political and legal fallout of the Supreme Court verdict on the Babri mosque demolition that has come as a setback to the partys sidelined veterans including LK Advani. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah, union ministers Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and M Venkaiah Naidu were huddled for two hours at Modis residence but a senior party leader played down the meetings significance, saying it had a number of issues, including the Kashmir crisis, on its agenda. The meeting was held against the backdrop of the apex court verdict allowing the CBI to put Advani, 89 , Murli Manohar Joshi, 83 , and Uma Bharti, 57 , on trial after restoring the criminal conspiracy charges against them. A senior leader insisted that it was a pre-scheduled meeting. It is understood that the apex court verdict and its implications - political as well as legal - were discussed with the leadership exploring ways to deal with it. Bharti, who had earlier in the day said she would go to Ayodhya on Wednesday night, cancelled her visit apparently after being advised by the party leadership. Some BJP leaders said the party would not like the message to go out that the heroes of its most resonant Hindutva movement, spearheaded by Advani in early 90s, were tried for criminal conspiracy when it was in power at the Centre as well in Uttar Pradesh. For the record, senior leader and law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the party will study in detail the court verdict before offering comments. Prasad asserted that BJP highly respects its leaders like Advani and Joshi. The party has held the position that the demolition of mosque was not planned but a spontaneous act of agitating kar sevaks and there was no conspiracy behind its razing on December 6, 1992 at the disputed site in Ayodhya. The uneasy relationship that Modi and Shah share with Advani and Joshi also does not help the party. Many critics of the BJP leadership have alleged that the verdict suits the partys interest as it gives them a reason not to consider either of two veterans for the post of the President or the Vice-President. Echoing this sentiment, RJD chief Lalu Prasad, who as Bihar Chief Minister had ordered Advanis arrest during his rath yatra, alleged that it was Modis well thought-out politics to rule out Advanis name for the Presidents post. Todays court order that the trial be completed in two years means that a verdict in the case will come around the time of the next Lok Sabha polls due in 2019, and may result in bringing back BJPs core issue of Ram temple construction into limelight. How Advani and Joshi will react to the development in the coming days is also an issue in the party. A couple of leaders said their criticism of the party leadership since Modi took over as prime minister and Shah as its chief did not cut much ice with either the cadres or the masses. It could be different this time around as the Ram temple movement remains an emotive issue in the BJPs core constituency. The development has also given a chance to Hindutva outfits to pressure the government over the issue. VHP international president Pravin Togadia demanded that the central government appeal against the court verdict and also take measures to pave the way for the temples construction. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have a packed schedule of foreign visits from next month till July, starting with a trip of Sri Lanka. Besides Sri Lanka, he is expected to travel to Israel, Russia, Germany, Spain and Kazakhstan. PM modi may also visit the United States, but this has not been finalised. Officials say Modi will visit Sri Lanka in the second week of May, mainly to participate in the celebrations marking the UN Vesak Day, the most important in the Buddhist calendar. The Indian Prime Minister has confirmed his visit, Sri Lankas Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe told reporters in Colombo on Wednesday. During the trip, his second to Sri Lanka since becoming Prime Minister, Modi is also likely to visit Jaffna and Kandy, officials said. Modi had visited the country earlier in 2015. The International Day of Vesak celebrations, to be held in Colombo from May 12 to 14, will include an International Buddhist Conference in which over 400 delegates from more than 100 countries are expected to participate. Vesak, the most important day in the Buddhist calendar, commemorates Lord Buddhas birth, enlightenment and passing away. Read | PM Narendra Modi to cut down foreign trips in 2016 After Sri Lanka, the Prime Minister will be travelling to St Petersburg in Russia to attend the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) to be held from June 1-3. Along with that, he is expected to travel to Germany and Spain on bilateral visits, the officials said. Afterwards, Modi will be visiting Kazakhstan to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meet to be held in Astana on June 7-8. Significantly, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is also expected to attend the Summit of the SCO, a grouping which includes Russia, China, Kazakshstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Thereafter, the Prime Minister is slated to travel to Hamburg in Germany to attend the G-20 Summit scheduled to take place on July 7-8, the officials said. He will also be travelling to Israel in July, for which dates are being finalised, sources said. Modis foreign trips have been criticised in the past by opposition parties who accused the BJP leader of neglecting domestic issues. His trip comes weeks after leading his BJP to a massive victory in Uttar Pradesh. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The lal batti can work wonders in India: Traffic gets cleared, toll plaza barriers are lifted and duty officers smarten up to salute. But, come May 1, the colour Red loses its magic. The government has decided to ban the use of all beacons red, amber, blue, yellow, white atop vehicles of dignitaries and government officials, including the Prime Minister and the president. The ban extends to the vice-president, the Chief Justice of India, Union ministers, chief ministers, state cabinet ministers, bureaucrats and judges of the high court and Supreme Court. Such is the fetish with beacons that giving them up is made to appear like the ultimate sacrifice. The Aam Admi Party was the first off the block to ban beacons on VVIP cars in 2014, followed by Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh who put an end to the beacon culture in one of the first orders on taking over office this year. The unease among his ministers was such that richest legislator and power minister Rana Gurjit Singh complained, We worked very hard for it for many years, and now you say remove it. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath went halfway to ban sirens but retained the ultimate status symbol. He, however, took dozens of retired bureaucrats and politicians off the privilege list. But, will VVIP culture go with the beacon lights? One needs to wait and watch. Red light with flasher President Vice president Prime Minister Former president Deputy prime minister Chief Justice of India Speaker of the Lok Sabha Union cabinet ministers Deputy chairman planning commission Former prime ministers Leaders of opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha Judges of the Supreme Court Red light without flasher Chief election commissioner Comptroller & auditor general of India Deputy chairman Rajya Sabha Police have arrested three persons in Khammam district of Telangana for allegedly conducting sex determination tests and resorting to illegal abortion of female foetuses by taking money. The cops also sealed the three hospitals: Sri Sri Nursing Home, Meenakshi Super Speciality Hospital and Spandana Hospital following a sting operation conducted by the medical and health department officials in coordination with the Khammam police on Tuesday. While the hospital owners managed to escape, the police arrested three persons, Sheik Gaffar, head compounder of Meenakshi super-specialty hospital, S Ashok, manager of Sri Sri Hospital and Arvapalli Srinivas Rao, owner of a medical shop According to police, authorities, under the aegis of district medical and health officer Dr A Kondal Rao, deputed some pregnant women to these hospitals to seek sex determination. The hospital authorities agreed to their requests to reveal the sex of the foetus and also agreed to terminate their pregnancy in case the foetuses turned out to be female. When one of the women, who was in the advanced stage of pregnancy, expressed apprehensions over the complications in termination of pregnancy, the hospital authorities said she could go ahead with the delivery, and after the birth of the girl child, they assured to get the infant sold to needy couples. In all the three cases, the hospital authorities demanded up to Rs 15,000 from the women for termination of their pregnancies. The entire conversation between the women and the hospital authorities was recorded secretly in hidden cameras. Based on the evidences, we raided the hospitals and seized the records. It was revealed that these hospitals are being run not by qualified doctors, but other business people who have hired the doctors to conduct operations and tests, Khammam commissioner of police Tafseer Iqbal told HT. We have lodged cases against them under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Determination of sex Act (PCPNDT Act), Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971, and Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code, the commissioner said. He said there have been reports of several hospitals in Khammam district indulging in sex determination and termination of pregnancies. We will take action against them whenever such instances come to our notice, Iqbal added. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A young sepoy of the Indian Army lost his life after being allegedly hit by a sniper bullet fired by Pakistani troops along the Line of Control (LoC) in Bhimber Gali (BG) sector in Poonch on Tuesday, in the second such incident in 24 hours. Around 1745 hours (5.45 pm) on Tuesday, sepoy Ravinder Singh (20) of 21 Punjab D-Coy deployed at Damu post was hit by a sniper fire from Jhanda post of Pakistan on other side of the LoC, which is being manned by 650 Mujahid Regiment of Pak Army, said an intelligence source. However, defence spokesman, Lt Col Manish Mehta maintained that Ravinder Singh died of accidental discharge. His death comes close on the heels of another similar death of a soldier, Manmohan Budhani of 20 Kumaon Regiment in Balnoi area of Mendhar tehsil in Poonch district along the LoC on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday. While police called it a sniper fire from across the LoC, the army had maintained that it was an accidental fire. A new recruit, Ravinder Singh had joined the army one year and four months ago, and is survived by his parents Balkar Singh and mother Manjeet Kour, hailing from Kanakwal village in Sangrur district in Punjab. On March 9 this year, sepoy Deepak Jagannath Ghadge of Maharashtra died after he was hit by a similar sniper fire by Pakistani troops in Gulpur area of Poonch. On April 2, a JCO was killed in an IED blast near the LoC in Poonch district. It was suspected that the mine was planted by rogue elements from Pakistan inside the Indian territory to inflict casualties. The BSF had also lost DIG OP Tanwar in an IED explosion near a forward post in Samba sector on November 16, 2009 when his vehicle was blown away by a powerful IED planted by Pakistani ultras. Rattled by such incidents along the LoC, the then GOC-in-C, Northern Command, Lt Gen KT Parnaik, on January 15, 2013 had admitted that frequent accidental blasts in KG sector of Poonch were actually mines planted by Pakistan to target and eliminate Indian soldiers. States can relax rules framed by the Centre under the special law meant to protect Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday, upholding a Bihar government notification authorising officers of the rank of police inspector, sub-inspector of police and assistant sub-inspector of police to investigate cases under the SC/ST Act. A bench headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar did not find the notification inconsistent to the central government rules that empowers only a deputy superintendent of police-rank officer to probe such cases. It said the law conferred upon the state the power to further delegate the authority to arrest, investigate and prosecute cases. The top courts order came on the Bihar governments petition challenging the Patna high court order that did not find any infirmity with the notification, but had declared those probes vitiated that were taken over by the junior rank officers before the notification was enforced. The HC had said the consequential prosecutions conducted in furtherance of such investigative processes would be a nullity. The accused too had assailed the order before the top court since it did not agree with his contention claiming the executive order was inconsistent with the rules Centre framed under the law. The United Nations' International Court of Justice has ruled in Ukraine's lawsuit against Russia that Russia should ensure observance of the rights of the Crimean Tatars in Crimea, allow the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people to operate and ensure availability of the Ukrainian-language education. The court believes that Russia in Crimea should refrain from imposing limitations on Crimean Tatars and their community, preserve their institutions, including the Mejlis, and ensure availability of Ukrainian-language education, presiding judge Ronny Abraham said at the court hearing in The Hague on Wednesday. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday launched an oblique attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party, saying one section of a religious group and the sister organisations of the ruling party at the Centre have engineered a hate campaign against her. The chief minister, however, did not name the BJP in a long post on Facebook. ... In the recent past and also in the recent days, one section of religious group, belonging to a political party ruling at the Centre and also in the name of their sister organizations and others (either in their real names or fictitious names are distorting my views, opinions, sayings and thus misleading people with my photos through some fake accounts. I strongly condemn such scandalous activities by the so-called #Hindu zealots, she wrote. Her blistering attack on the BJP has come days after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed an FIR against 12 Trinamool leaders in the Narada sting case and slapped sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act (POCA). Banerjee even tweeted the links to the fake Facebook accounts. This type of communal forces, with their political vendetta, is maligning people. The members of minority communities, SC, ST, OBC, backward communities, general class, and women are not being spared. I am sorry to say that the current situation is a horrifying signal of dark future of our country in their hands, she added. The chief minister also spoke against the premier probe agencys action against the leaders of her party in Puri in Odisha and described the investigation into the Narada case as a political conspiracy. We are against the ideology of BJP. They are also against us. The Narada case is a conspiracy as we dont subscribe to BJPs ideology, she told reporters in the beach town. Banerjees outburst also comes in the midst of an overheated political atmosphere in the state over the saffron camps aggressive push over their Hindutva agenda. The Trinamool leader has been targeted on social media in profane language over her stand on various issues. Some have even portrayed her in a hijab and addressed her as Mumtaj Begum in an obvious dig to her controversial policy of minority appeasement. We do not need to take lessons on Hinduism from them ... Hindu religion is not the monopoly of the so-called Hindus, she wrote on Facebook. She also appealed people to not to believe in rumours or gossips. My official Facebook and Twitter are already available, and whenever I need to convey anything, I meet the Press also, she said. Her visit to Puri was marred after a servitor of Puris Jagannath Temple opposed her entry to the temple on the ground that she is not a proper Hindu as advocates the consumption of beef. West Bengal where Banerjee returned to power with a thumping majority last year has seen mounting clashes between state forces and right-wing elements, who say the Trinamool is biased towards Muslims and is anti-Hindu. Banerjee has picked on the BJP on several issues, including that of cow slaughter and consumption of beef. She said in public meetings on a number of occasions that she will not tolerate cow politics in the state. The chief minister has repeatedly said that whatever people eat is entirely a matter of personal choice. A Delhi Police team served a summons to AIADMK leader TTV Dinakaran at his upscale Chennai residence late on Wednesday. An ACP-rank officer, along with a team of crime branch sleuths, served the notice asking him to appear before police on Monday. Delhi Police have booked the AIADMK deputy general secretary for allegedly trying to bribe an Election Commission official to get the partys two leaves symbol allotted to his group. The symbol has been frozen by the poll panel after two warring AIADMK factions staked claim to it. Dinakaran allegedly paid bribe to middleman Sukesh Chandrashekhar, who is involved in multiple cheating cases across Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai. Dinakarans name was mentioned in the FIR that Delhi Police registered on Sunday night after Chandrashekhars arrest. Delhi Police personnel, who were inside Dhinakarans house for about 20 minutes, declined to speak to the waiting media while leaving the premises. Anxiety and tension, meanwhile, prevailed for a while as a party worker tried to allegedly set himself ablaze to protest the police action. The self-immolation bid was thwarted by other cadres and some plainclothesmen. Dinakaran had soon after the arrest of Chandrasekhar asserted that he will face the matter legally. He had denied any knowledge of Chandrasekhar. On Tuesday, Delhi Police had issued a lookout notice against Dinakaran. The lookout notice was issued in the wake of inputs that Dinakaran was an NRI and could try to flee the country, police said. Dinakaran virtually questioned the need for the lookout notice, saying how could he flee the country when his passport was in court for 20 years. The AIADMK (Amma) deputy general secretary is already facing the heat as the K Palaniswami cabinet revolted against him Tuesday night and decided to keep him and his family out of the party and the government. Dinakaran has convened a meeting of party MLAs in Chennai on Wednesday. (With PTI inputs) The Rashtriya Swayamnsevak Sangh on Wednesday reacted cautiously to the Supreme Court ruling that senior BJP leaders LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharati would face conspiracy charges in the Babri mosque demolition case but the hardline Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) was belligerent in its reaction. We respect the judiciary. But we are also unable to understand that how could it be a conspiracy when all that happened was the action of a huge mob gathered at the site? a senior Swayamsevak told HT. We would not be able to react at this moment but speak only after getting details of the Supreme Court order, he added. Former RSS spokesperson and ideologue M G Vaidya said, Nobody knows how much time it will it take for the case to settle down. Whoever has made allegations must prove the same. Vaidya, however, said that the Supreme Courts decision has to be accepted by everyone. The Apex Court on Wednesday directed the sessions judge of Lucknow to conduct the trial in the Babri mosque case on a daily basis and that the judge would not be transferred. It also ruled out a fresh trial in the case and that trial must be completed in two years. While the RSS reaction was measured, the VHP was typically belligerent. It said Hindus will fight legally and in democratic ways the SCs decision to restore conspiracy trial. Pravin Togadia, head of the VHP, one of the main participants in the Ram Temple movement in Ayodhya, said if the demolition of a structure that was built by a foreign invader by demolishing original Hindu structure in Ayodhya is treated as a criminal conspiracy then the governments at the Centre and in Jammu and Kashmir should approach the apex court to treat the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits as the worst ever criminal conspiracy. The CBI had petitioned the court for restoring criminal conspiracy charges against the senior BJP leaders for the demolition of the Mughal-era mosque on December 6, 1992. Not only the 1989-90 attacks on Hindus in Kashmir, but also in various states where Hindus had to run away en mass due to terrorization and attacks by Muslims has to be treated as conspiracy, Togadia said in a statement. The VHP and the other RSS affiliates have been steadfast that the mosque in Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Rama came up at the site where a Ram temple stood, which was razed by Babur. These rightwing outfits have been pressing the government to bring in a law in Parliament to build the temple at the disputed site. As for the Ayodhya case, snatching from Hindus and then demolishing Ram Temple to build Babri structure and then keep on justifying that action even now itself was criminal conspiracy by Babur then and now by Muslims Togadia said. Sunrisers Hyderabads Kane Williamson kicked off his IPL 2017 campaign with a magnificent half-century against Delhi Daredevils at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal on Wednesday. (SRH vs DD: LIVE UPDATES) After electing to bat, SRH lost skipper David Warner cheaply but Shikhar Dhawan and Williamson piled on runs at will, punishing all loose balls coming their way. (SRH vs DD: LIVE SCORECARD) The 26-year-old began his innings on a cautious note as he hit just one boundary by the end of powerplay overs. In the seventh over, Williamson broke the shackles as he smashed consecutive sixes off Angelo Mathews. First, he picked the length early and smacked over square leg. The second one was a slower delivery, Williamson came down the track and lofted it over long-off. With Dhawan also going well, Sunrisers Hyderabad played just four dots between over 7 and 10. The New Zealand captain played the aggressors role in the partnership and brought up his second IPL half-century off 33 balls. The duo put on a 136-run partnership - the 10th century stand for SRH in IPL. Warner was involved in each of them before this game. Williamson was finally dismissed for 89 by Chris Morris when he tried to flick but instead got a top edge and Shreyas Iyer completed a stunning catch at deep mid-wicket. Dhawan also lost his wicket to Morris for 70. SRH put on 191/4, courtesy the duo. DD, in reply, could manage only 176/5 in 20 overs. In the first six overs, Williamson scored just 12 off 14 balls. After powerplay, he hammered 77 off 37 with five fours and as many sixes, at a strike rate of 208.10. Jaipur: By delaying the Barmer refinery project by four years, the state has suffered revenue loss, job loss and business loss, which together combined is much more than 40,000 crore that the BJP government in Rajasthan claims to have saved by inking a fresh deal with HPCL, former chief minister Ashok Gehlot said Wednesday. The Congress leader also accused Union Minister for Petroleum Dharmendra Pradhan of speaking half truths and asked him to get the two memorandums of understanding (MoUs) one signed during Gehlots tenure and the other by Vasundhara Raje government --- probed. The Union minister was here to announce the revised MoU, but he did not explain how 40,000 crore was saved. He did not mention when the project will start making profits. The Union minister should have made the contents of the MoU public. What was stated Tuesday by Pradhan and CM Raje had no facts, Gehlot said during a press conference at his residence. Rajasthan government and HPCL Tuesday inked a revised MoU of Rs 43,129 crore for setting up the refinery in Barmer district, which will produce BS-VI-compliant fuel. Under the new terms and conditions, the refinery cost has come down to Rs 16,845 crore, which was Rs 56,040 crore in the previous MoU done by the Congress government in 2013, Pradhan had said. The project was delayed by four years resulting in revenue loss for state and delay in employment generation. It also delayed setting up of ancillary units and related businesses. Gujarat earned 1,500 crore in VAT every year due to this delay. This loss combined together is much more than 40,000 crore that state claims to have saved, Gehlot said. He said the BJP government was forced to start the refinery project keeping in mind the state polls in 2018 and added people will not forgive them for the crime. He said Raje had questioned why state had only 26% equity share in the original MoU. Even the revised MoU has fixed states equity at 26%, he said. The state share has not increased, rather refinery cost has escalated by 6,000 crore. From the revised MoU it is unclear what the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) will be. When we inked the MoU, RRI was 15%. If the RRI is less in the revised MoU, then the state will earn less profit, he said. He further said that instead of misleading people by presenting partial facts, the union minister should direct the HPCL to get the both MoUs investigated to let the truth come out. Gehlot said, the original MoU had put a condition that to avail 3,736 crore interest free loan every year for 15 years, the joint venture company --- HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Limited --- would have to maintain the commercial production of at least 9 million metric tonne (MMT) per annum. In case of less production, the quantum of loan was to be reduced proportionately, he added. Hitting out Raje, the former chief minister said, She was never interested in the refinery project. We had asked Cairn India in 2003 to set up the refinery and even initiated talks with the ONGC. However, Raje didnt take it up after coming to power in 2004. The Allahabad high court on Tuesday dismissed the petition of UP Shia Waqf Board chairman Waseem Rizvi seeking reprieve in a case of alleged misappropriation of funds and fraudulent transfer of waqf property. The bench comprising justice Tarun Agarwala and justice Rajul Bhargava refused relief to the petitioner who sought quashing of the FIR lodged against him in Bareilly and stay on his arrest. The petitioner contended he was falsely implicated in the case and the complaint against him was politically motivated. Earlier too, FIRs were lodged against Rizvi in various cases of misappropriation of funds and fraudulent transfer of waqf property. The CB-CID is investigating the cases. VERDICT RESERVED IN HATHRAS MURDER CASE The Allahabad high court on Tuesday reserved its judgment in Hathras murder case where a boy was killed during an attack on Chiragveer Upadhyay, son of former UP minister Ramveer Upadhyay, on February 8 this year. The bench comprising chief justice DB Bhosale and justice Yashwant Varma passed the order on a writ petition filed by Ramhari Sharma, father of the deceased Pushpendra. Sharma has challenged the transfer of the investigation of the case to the crime branch. The petitioner lodged an FIR against sitting SP MLA, Devendra Agarwal, and 11 others in connection with the killing of his son in the indiscriminate firing by 20-25 armed people on the fateful day. During the investigation, police also added the names of 15 other accused in the case. The petitioner alleged that police were not arresting the accused persons. The counsel appearing for state informed the bench that three accused had been arrested and that the investigation had been transferred to the crime branch. WILL ENSURE LAWYERS WELFARE: AG Uttar Pradesh advocate general (AG), Raghvendra Singh, on Tuesday said he would make all efforts to ensure welfare of lawyers. He further said he would also see to it that lawyers got the dignity they deserved. Singh expressed these views while addressing a programme organised by the High Court Bar Association (HCBA), Allahabad, to felicitate him on this first visit to Allahabad after assuming charge. The programme took place at the library hall of the high court.Singh was appointed the advocate general by the state government on April 13. He has also worked as president of the Awadh Bar Association. Earlier, he was accorded a warm welcome by office-bearers of the HCBA and lawyers in large numbers. Amid the hue and cry over a Pakistani military courts decision to execute former Indian Navy personnel Kulbhushan Jadhav, an RTI activist has initiated an effort to know the current status of other Indian prisoners languishing in jails across the border. Pradeep Kumar, who is also an associate professor with the department of law in Bareilly College, has approached the ministry of external affairs, through an RTI plea, to know about others Jadhavs in Pakistan jail. When in 2013 Kumar had moved a similar plea, he was told that as many as 224 civilian Indian prisoners and 212 fishermen were lodged in Pakistan jails. Interestingly, while the government now is making all efforts to get Jadhav free, the external affairs ministry had then admitted the fact the government of India was providing no legal aid to free these prisoners. While the Pakistan governments stand on Jadhavs case is inhuman and unethical, I am not sure what efforts we had initiated back then to get him and other Indian prisoners free, said Kumar whose RTI plea had played a crucial role in the release of Indian prisoner Yashpal from Pakistan way back in 2013. Yashpal was lodged in Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore and his release was initiated only after the activist highlighted his plight through the information he managed to get via the RTI. With Jadhav case in focus now, Kumar on Tuesday filed a fresh RTI asking the ministry of external affairs to make public the list of Indian prisoners and their status in Pakistani jails. I have asked them the details like total number of Indian prisoners in all jails across Pakistan, their names, addresses, status of nationality, sentence awarded and date of completion of sentence, Kumar told Hindustan Times. In the RTI, he has also sought to know the numbers of Indian prisoners acquitted by Pakistan. I have also sought to know as to how many unsound Indian prisoners are lodged there and what legal aid is being provided to such undertrials, said Kumar. On his 2013 RTI plea, the ministry of external affairs had revealed that as many as 224 civilians and 212 fishermen were lodged in Pakistan Jail. Of the total 224 civilians, according to the RTI, the Pakistan authorities have acknowledged only 55 Indian prisoners. Read more: Allahabad HC order on release of Kulbhushan Jadhav from Pakistan SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON When Union power minister Piyush Goyal arrived at Lucknow on April 14 for a meeting with chief minister Yogi Adityanath, he was so overwhelmed by the sight of the mahant that he lowered his head and bent 90 degrees from the waist. Adityanath greeted him with his signature smile on his face, both hands folded in a pranam. Raghuraj Pratap Singh, former minister in Samajwadi Party government, did the same on Tuesday. The erstwhile muscleman, whose writ runs large at Kunda in Pratapgarh, would not even look into the mahants eyes while greeting him. This is nothing unusual for Adityanath, who finds everybody from BJP national president Amit Shah to opposition leaders greeting him with reverence from time to time. His followers, on the other hand, lie on the floor in complete prostration. Though the body language may seem similar to that of the AIADMK cadre, who used to lie flat on the floor to greet late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, the sentiment behind the act is markedly different. While sycophancy was presumably the factor that generated such reverence for Amma in the southern state, it is a matter of spirituality and religious faith in this case. When former Samajwadi Party member Raghuraj Pratap Singh met Uttar Pradeshs yogi chief minister. (HT Photo) The yogi completes one month in the chief ministers office on Wednesday. However, despite his political success, its Adityanath the mahant who continues to overshadow Adityanath the chief minister as far as his followers are concerned. Adityanath himself responds quicker when addressed as maharaj-ji than CM sahab. The aura of Gorakhnath peeth has now reached Lucknow and the CMs office, says PK Mall, state general secretary of the Hindu Yuva Vahini. Though Adityanath epitomizes a successful mix of religion and politics, his role of peethadheeshwar always meant more for his followers than his status as a parliamentarian. According to Mall, devotees of the Gorakhnath Math worship him as much as they revere the sacred place. The chief ministers chair may be glamorous for other politicians, but not for the yogi. For him, it is the peeth thats more dominant, says a follower, attributing Adityanaths rise in political fortunes to the social welfare schemes he carried out as a religious head. The Gorakhnath math, which represents the Nath Sampradaya, has been at the centre of religious activities in the region including the Ram Temple movement. The reverence shown to Adityanath is completely at odds with his counterparts such as Andhra Pradeshs Chandrababu Naidu who prefers to be referred to as a chief executive officer instead of chief minister. And, in an age where sycophancy is frowned upon, images of people prostrating before the Uttar Pradesh chief minister could easily set tongues wagging. In fact, quite a few eyebrows were raised when firebrand BSP national president Mayawati began encouraging people to touch her feet. Soon after she became the chief minister of a majority government in 2007, one look at her extended feet was enough to send people scurrying towards them. Other chief ministers known to encourage the unwarranted tradition were Kamlapati Tripathi, HN Bahuguna and ND Tiwari. Even young chief minister Akhilesh Yadav had MLAs lining up at the Vidhan Sabha to touch his feet. The issue, however, assumes a different hue in Adityanaths case. In Uttar Pradeshs Brahmin culture, touching the feet of a spiritual leader is required of everybody irrespective of caste and age. For them, reverence comes before respect. It is for this very reason that many in the opposition may muster the guts to oppose Adityanath the chief minister, but not Adityanath the mahant. At best, they will hold their peace. The Uttar Pradesh government led by chief minister Yogi Adityanath has constituted a committee to suggest steps for mobilisation of additional resources to fund development projects in view of rising expenditure and increasing debt. State finance minister Rajesh Agarwal will head the committee that will have economists and experts from various fields as its members. Another committee, to be headed by the finance minister, will be constituted to suggest measures to check tax evasion. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath issued directives for the constitution of the committees during the presentation made at a high-level meeting on Tuesday evening. The committees will recommend steps to be taken by the government to augment revenue, said Agarwal. The CM said the chief secretary should review the realisation of tax and non-tax revenue to ensure there was no shortfall. The state government will have to mobilise additional resources to fund development projects and implement the promises that the BJP made ahead of the 2017 assembly election. The BJP governments decision to waive loans of small and marginal farmers and implement the recommendations of the seventh pay commission has put an additional burden on the already strained exchequer. The state government will have to bear an additional burden of Rs 36,359 crore for loan waiver. It has decided to float Kisan Rahat Bonds to mobilise funds for loan waiver. The total debt of Uttar Pradesh has reached Rs 3,75,049.45 crore as on March 31, 2017 and more borrowings may push the state further in the debt trap. The state government will require additional funds to the tune of Rs 30,000 crore in 2017-2018 to clear arrears and pay increased salaries as per the recommendations of the seventh pay commission. The CM has also asked the state finance department to discontinue schemes that were similar to the ones being run by the central government. Only central government schemes will be run for the benefit of the people, the CM said. He also issued directives to constitute a task force to rein in land mafia and remove encroachments on government lands. Read more| Top 16 decisions in 30 days: Yogi Adityanaths first month as Uttar Pradesh CM SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON While Egyptian woman Eman Ahmed, who was once the worlds heaviest, is all smiles after losing 250kg, there is some good news for the rest of Mumbai too -- you can travel between Borivli and Thane in 10 minutes using the SGNP tunnel. But dont expect any respite from Uber, Ola surge pricing for at least two months. Also, three lost their lives to a car crash, while a man was stabbed five times for refusing to pass a glass of water. HTs top five picks: 1. Three dead, six hurt after car crashes into tree on Mumbai-Pune Expressway Three people, including a nine-year-old girl, died after their car hit a tree on the Mumbai Pune Expressway early on Wednesday. Six others suffered injuries and were admitted to a local hospital. 2. Soon, travel between Borivli and Thane in 10 minutes using underground SGNP tunnel Soon, Mumbai residents will be able to travel between Borivli and Thane in 10 minutes owing to an 11-km underground tunnel passing through the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP). The state wildlife board recently gave the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) permission to carry out an on-ground survey at the national park. 3. In pics: Eman Ahmed, worlds heaviest woman, slimmer and smiling after losing 250 kg Egyptian woman Eman Ahmed, who came to Mumbais Saifee Hospital for treatment, is 250kg lighter and happier. Wonder how the woman, who was once the heaviest in the world at 504kg, looks after the transformation? Heres a glimpse. 4. Mumbai commuters wont get respite from Ola, Uber surge pricing for at least two months While the Maharashtra government came up with rules to regulate and check surge pricing by Ola and Uber in Mumbai a month ago, the app-based taxi aggregators are yet to apply for a licence, which would make it mandatory for them to follow the rules. This means, you will have to continue paying extra during peak hours, when the demand is hight, for at least two months. 5. Man stabbed five times in Mumbais Bandra for refusing to pass glass of water A man was stabbed five times outside a hotel in Bandra (West) for refusing to pass a glass of water to a stranger in Bandra (West) on Friday. He is currently recuperating in the intensive care unit of a local hospital. Mr. Hyneman will join the panel of judges at the engineering startup competition, the Vernadsky Challenge. The Vernadsky Challenge has been held since 2015. The challenge, named after the prominent Ukrainian scientist Volodymyr Vernadsky, allows talented engineers and inventors to present their projects and compete for a 2-million UAH grant. Over the 3-year history of the Vernadsky Challenge, 576 startups have participated in the event and the winners have received a total of 3 million UAH in grant funding. Participating startups are not exclusively limited to Ukraine. At least 10% of all projects come from countries, such as the US, Israel, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and India. Vernadsky Challenge 2017 has attracted applications from 230 startups. The challenge expert committee will examine each submission and select the top 10 startups that will present at the finals. The committee consists of 45 scholars from leading Ukrainian universities and 20 executives from companies that support Association Noosphere. At the finals, startups will present their projects to the panel of judges headed by competition founders Dmitry Sholomko, Google Ukraine director, and Noosphere Ventures founder Max Polyakov. The panel of judges for the competition will also include co-founder of Association Noosphere and head of the Vernadsky Challenge organizing committee, Michael Ryabokon; director of National Center of Control and Testing of Space Vehicles, Volodymyr Prysyazhnyy; founder and CEO of the design firm ARTKB, Alex Nesterenko; "Innovation & Capacity Building" program manager at the American Councils for International Education in Ukraine, Adrian Erlinger; physicist and popular blogger, Anton Senenko; and others. Jamie Hyneman will join the panel as well, and will evaluate the engineering innovativeness and commercial potential of each startup. Jamies overwhelming engineering experience, gained through years of working in the special effects industry and 15 seasons of mythbusting, will allow the panel to more accurately assess each project and choose a worthy winner. Leading up to the Vernadsky Challenge finals, on April 21 at 11:00 am, Jamie Hyneman and Michael Ryabokon will hold a press-conference at the Interfax Ukraine conference-hall in Kyiv at 8/5a Reitarska Street. The conference live stream will be available on the official Interfax Ukraine Youtube channel.at the National Aerospace Educational Center of Ukrainian Youth at 26 Haharina Avenue. The event schedule includes a Q&A session with competition experts and an autograph session with Jamie Hyneman. The event will start at 10:00 am. There will be free entry with advance registration http://vernadskychallenge.com/ Accreditation requests can be sent in free form to pr@vernadskychallenge.com Association Noosphere Press Secretary Tetyana Snopko +38 (068) 111 14 14 tsn@noosphere.com | vernadskychallenge.com The Vernadsky Challenge is an engineering startup competition that helps to turn ideas into reality. The Vernadsky Challenge is an open competition - everyone who has an innovative idea and the desire to implement it is welcome to apply. Whether a solo engineering-enthusiast or a team of developers, anyone can compete for the main prize, a 2-million UAH grant. Startups in the following fields are encouraged to participate in the Vernadsky Challenge: space technologies, alternative energetics, agroindustrial equipment, medical equipment, robotics, new materials in metallurgy and electronics, geological exploration, effective environmental management, military equipment, transport management, data processing, storage and transmission.| m5industries.com Jamie Hyneman (James Franklin Hyneman) is an American special effects expert, co-host of the television series MythBusters alongside Adam Savage, and the owner of M5 Industries - the special effects workshop where MythBusters was filmed. Jamie Hyneman is also known among Robot Wars devotees for his robot entry, Blendo, which, for a time, was deemed too dangerous for entry in the competition.| noosphereglobal.com Association Noosphere is a non-governmental, non-commercial organization established for scientific research and information provisioning. The mission of Association Noosphere is to facilitate knowledge discovery, use and sharing, and to increase scientific interest. Association Noosphere unites scientists and researchers in order to promote science and technology in the business environment on a global scale.| noosphereventures.com Noosphere Ventures is an international asset management firm with the strategic vision and capital to transform high-potential companies into definitive market leaders. Headquartered in Menlo Park, USA, Noosphere Ventures has regional branches in 17 countries and has established a global community. The company has created a number of social initiatives, including educational events, conferences, workshops, and competitions in technical sports. A magistrate court recently convicted a former ward boy of a south Mumbai private hospital for stealing medicines from the hospital and selling them outside. The court, however, took a lenient view while awarding a sentence to the accused, as the trial in the case went on for ten years. The court observed, The trial went on for a decade, a lenient view in awarding sentence of imprisonment is warranted. The court sentenced the convict, Ashokkumar Dubey, for one year of rigorous imprisonment for stealing the medicines, along with three years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) for assisting in concealment of stolen property. The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 7000 on Dubey. As per the case registered with Azad Maidan police station on July 3, 2004, a man named Manojkumar Mishra was caught taking a box out of the hospital by the watchman on July 3, 2004. When asked about the box, Mishra said he was taking it to the old building of the hospital. Suspicious, the watchman, Prakash Salvi, followed him and saw him going towards the taxi stand, and caught him red handed. Mishra was acting on the instructions of the ward boy of the hospital, Dubey. After arresting Mishra, the police found 84 types of medicines in the boxes. The total value of the medicines was calculated as Rs 5000. The prosecution claimed that Dubey used to take the medicines out of the hospital during the night when other employees were sleeping, and hand them over to Mishra to sell it outside. The chief pharmacist of Bombay Hospital, in his statement, had said that there has been large scale theft of medicines from Bombay Hospital. In the year 2003-04, medicines worth Rs 9.57 lakhs were stolen, but the management did not report the matter to the police and tied to handle the problem by transferring the employees concerned. The court considered all the evidence along with the evidence of the staff members to prove that Dubey was working with Bombay Hospital and had access to the store room. However, Mishra was absconding during the trial. Hence, the trial against Dubey was separated and continued. The court, after considering all the witnesses, convicted Dubey. Public prosecutor R. Y. Suryawanshi sought for maximum punishment while defence lawyer K. M. Barsagade prayed for his release on the bond of good behaviour under Probation of Offenders Act. The court refused to grant him relief under Probation of Offenders Act. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Western Railway has announced a 12-hour mega block on Sunday for work to be carried out on the extension of the line till Goregaon from Andheri. The block will begin from Sunday midnight on north-bound slow line between Andheri and Goregaon stations, according to a WR release. Slow trains on the line will be diverted on the north-bound fast line. Passengers may face trouble as some trains will be cancelled and most others will be running late. The railway has also decided that fast trains will halt at Jogeshwari station that day. Fifteen-car locals have been exempted from the rule. Ravindra Bhakar, chief public relations officer of WR, said that a portion of the existing slow line platform will be demolished. Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation has also planned a few more blocks to extend the Harbour line till Goregoan station. There will be series of mega blocks to extend the Harbour line till Goregaon. The12-hour block on Sunday will be the longest mega block, said Bhakar. In Tuesdays meeting with the state government, railway minister Suresh Prabhu has set a December 2017 deadline for commissioning of the railway line between Andheri and Goregoan. READ MORE Mumbai railway train commute is as noisy as an alarm clock ringing constantly Soon, Mumbais suburban stations to get 100-plus escalators SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Egyptian woman Eman Ahmed, who came to Mumbais Saifee Hospital for treatment, is 250kg lighter and happier. Wonder how the woman, who was once the heaviest in the world at 504kg, looks after the transformation? Heres a glimpse: Eman Ahmed with her doctor. (HT) The images, shot on April 18, show 242-kg Eman Ahmed sitting in a wheelchair for a long period of time, something that was impossible for her three months ago, say doctors. Eman underwent a bariatric surgery on March 7. Dr Muffazal Lakdawala, who operated on her, said she has lost approximately half her weight within two months of coming to India. Most of her obesity-related problems such as severe hypothyroidism, lymphoedema, right-sided heart failure, severe obstructive respiratory disease, renal failure and congestive liver problems are under control, although she is still on medication for those Although the treatment will continue, Eman has now been shifted out of the room specially designed for her onto a normal hospital bed. Eman had suffered a stroke three years ago which left her right side paralysed. She suffers occasional seizures and is unable to swallow liquids or speak properly. Eman Ahmed at Saifee Hospital. (HT) We will get a CT scan of her brain done as soon as she fits into the machine. The scan will help us understand her neurological status, said Dr Lakdawala. After six months, she will be put on a trial drug for her monogenic obesity. Doctors said they are trying to get the drug from a pharma company in the US. She may or may or may not need a second stage bariatric surgery after two years, doctors said. Eman and her sister Shaimaa in Egypt last year. (HT File Photo) For now the entire focus of the doctors is on neurological rehabilitation. She hasnt walked. The stroke left her bound to the bed. Our team of physiotherapists and occupational therapists are trying to mobilise her. We hope to see her walk someday, although we cant determine the exact timeframe yet, said Dr Lakdawala The Bombay high court recently directed the Central Bureau of Investigation - Interpol to issue a red corner notice (RCN) an international arrest warrant against a London resident, who failed to give his estranged wife custody of their minor son, in violation of an August 2015 family court order. Justice Rajesh Ketkar also asked Interpol to issue a yellow corner notice to ensure that the child is brought back to Mumbai. Read: Cruel to separate child from mother, says SC, orders man to hand over infant The couple got married in February 2010. In 2014, the woman moved the family court, seeking divorce on various grounds. In August 2015, the court allowed her divorce petition. The court granted the woman custody of her son and directed the husband to pay her a monthly maintenance of Rs20,000 from October 2014. On realising that her husband was unwilling to abide by the family courts order, the woman approached the Bombay high court seeking action against him for contempt of court. The high court granted the man opportunities to acquit himself, but he did not respond. The court suggested that he send the child to India, accompanied by a relative. However, he failed to respond to this request too. Read: Ask Vodafone to trace man who fled to Italy with adopted child, Bombay HC tells cops Instead, his counsel kept contending that the family courts order could be executed in London under provisions of the Foreign Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act, 1933. It offered to pay for the woman to travel to England so she could continue the litigation. Justice Ketkar, however, said the husband had violated the family court order. He added that the man was given another opportunity to acquit himself of the contempt charge by bringing the child to India during his holidays between April 3 and April 17 but he failed to do so. Neither did he pay his wife the maintenance fee. Workers from the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) barged into a showroom of clothing brand Zara at Palladium mall in Lower Parel on Tuesday for allegedly selling clothes made in Pakistan. According to a source, the workers led by Rita Gupta, said the showroom must close down the section. They said they were doing so as Kulbhushan Jadhav, a former Indian Navy officer, had been sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on the grounds of espionage. Here, Jadhav has been unjustly been prosecuted and we have shops dedicating sections to selling Pakistani clothes. This is simply not acceptable, said Gupta. She warned that MNS will resort to its style (violent methods) if the clothes were not discarded. The MNS in the past few days have been aggressive, putting up hoardings across the place, pleading for action against Pakistan on the Jadhav issue. Jadhav is a Maharashtrian and a resident of Mumbai. The management of the showroom had not commented on the incident at the time of going to press. Following the Uri terror attacks in September 2016, of which 18 army jawans were killed in the ambush, the MNS issued an ultimatum of 48 hours to Pakistani artistes to leave India. After this, the MNS workers also launched an agitation outside film-maker Karan Johars Andheri office as he had defended his casting of Fawad Khan in his movieAe Dil Hain Mushkil. Read more: I wont engage with talent from Pakistan in future: Karan Johar SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Becoming number one in the information technology sector in India is one of Maharashtras goals for the next 15 years. Various departments of the Maharashtra government have set administrative and development targets for the next 15 years under the Vision 2030 programme of Niti Aayog. The targets will be finalised within a few weeks and submitted to the Aayog. The official said Maharashtras targets in the IT sector are impressive. All departments are working on the programme for more than six months. Along with administrative and development targets, the departments have also set revenue targets for the next 14 years. The housing department has its own target under the housing-for-all programme, while the public health department aims to reduce maternal and infant mortality rates. Maharashtra is always ahead of the national average in maintaining low mortality rates, said an official from the planning department. Cabinet ministers have been asked to submit their recommendations on the goals set for their department. Vision 2030 is based on the guidelines issued by Niti Aayog, which is responsible for helping achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs). SDGs have been evolved through a long inclusive process for achievements set for the next 15 years. SDGs cover 17 goals and 169 related targets resolved in the UN Summit meet in September 2015. Read more: Mumbai is first WiFi city in India, gets 500 hotspots Niti Aayog close to finalising 3-year action plan SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A man was stabbed five times outside a hotel in Bandra (West) for refusing to pass a glass of water to a stranger in Bandra (West) on Friday. He is currently recuperating in the intensive care unit of a local hospital. Read: Pet dog dies saving woman from knife-wielding intruder in Mumbai Police arrested the accused, Afroz Khan, 37. Police said the incident took place at 10.30 pm on Waroda Road in Bandra (West). The victim was drinking water when Khan approached and asked him to pass one of the glasses of water inside the hotel. The victim responded rudely, which enraged Khan, who grabbed a knife from the hotel and stabbed the victim. Read: Woman stabbed to death, Mumbai cops suspect husbands role Police registered a case under section 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means) of the Indian Penal Code. They said it was difficult to trace Khan initially, as he is homeless. They relied on their network of human intelligence to track him. A round-table conference of prominent Maratha leaders on Wednesday formed a high power committee, which will articulated its various demands, including reservation and an amendment to the atrocities Act, to the government. The formation of committee assumes significance as the Devendra Fadnavis government has been asking the names of representatives with whom it can discuss the issue. Representatives of Sakal Maratha Samaj, which organised a huge protest march all over the state a few months ago, were present at the meeting in Kolhapur, which was called by Kshatriya Maratha Chamber of Commerce. Chhatrapati Sambhajiraje, a Rajya Sabha member, was also present at the meeting. The conference decided that the committee would take all decisions on behalf of Maratha community in the future. It specifically resolved that nobody should organise any programme or agitation under the banner of Sakal Maratha Samaj or Maratha Kranti Morcha. Various protests in Maharashtra were organised under the two banners. Addressing the meeting, Sambhajiraje insisted that the committee should not have any politician. The committee should prepare a comprehensive draft which can be discussed with the government, he said. The meeting also decided to appoint a coordinator for every district to avoid any confusion. The coming together of various Maratha leaders also scotched speculation that community leaders were divided. Protests by Marathas swept Maharashtra after the Kopardi rape and murder case. The Marathas have been demanding an amendment in the atrocities Act, implementation of Swaminathan Comimission recommendations, loan waiver to farmers, uninterrupted and free power supply to farmers and reservation for the community in education and employment. READ In Mumbai: Jan 31 Maratha rally postponed to March 6 Maratha protesters block several roads in Maharashtra ahead of silent rally in Mumbai The Thane police have uncovered details of transactions worth crores of rupees done by Sagar Thakkar alias Shaggy, the alleged mastermind of the Thane fake call centre scam. Shaggy was produced in court on Wednesday and has been remanded in judicial custody for 14 days. Police said transactions worth Rs15 crore were done from seven bank accounts in India. The money was sent to other countries and all the seven companies under which the accounts have been registered are fake. We are investigating the documents that were submitted to set up the accounts. According to the police, Shaggy also holds an account at Shanghai, Hong Kong, under a fake company Top Jane Limited. A police officer said,When our team went to Gujarat, we found a passbook and other documents related to the account at the Hong Kong bank. We have sent a letter to the police there, asking for more details of the account and the transactions that have taken place. Shaggy said that the accounts were set up to secure loans for his company. But yet we have not found anything like what Shaggy says. Apart from this, the police team which had been sent to Gujarat have got physical evidences but need to properly investigate to produce in court added officer. The crime branch arrested Shaggy earlier this month after raids last October on his fraud call centres in Thane. The probe that followed found the centres were used as a front to cheat loan defaulters in the United States The employees would pose as revenue officials to target loan defaulters. Sources said Thakkar took just 15-20% of the scam money, while the remaining went to his partners and employees. Read Thane call centre scam mastermind reveals his mentors name SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON After demanding that he gets a bungalow at Malabar Hill, mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar is now eyeing the civic chiefs house at Carmichael Road. Talking to HT on Tuesday, he said that he would be happy to shift either to a bungalow in Malabar Hill or the civic chiefs bungalow, but not at Byculla. I want the civic administration to select an apt location. Shifting to Byculla zoo will not be ideal because the mayor keeps hosting events, which cannot be done in a silence zone. I will be happy with the civic chiefs bungalow or one at Malabar Hill, he said. On Monday, Mahadeshwar wrote to civic chief Ajoy Mehta, asking for a Malabar Hill bungalow, next to a water reservoir. The bungalows that he suggested as his choices are occupied by additional commissioners of the civic body. Allotting them to the Mayor is not going to be easy as one of the bungalows has been allotted Praveen Darade, an IAS officer, said civic officials. If the Mayor is allotted the Malabar Hill space, then Darades bungalow will be used for residential purposes and the other bungalow, where additional municipal commissioner Sanjay Mukherjee lives now, for official work, as it has a lawn where events can be hosted, said officials from the mayors office. READ MORE From Murli Deora to Manohar Joshi and Chhagan Bhujbal: Mumbai mayors who made it big The mayors bungalow at Shivaji Park will be converted into a memorial of Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray. So, the civic administration is renovating a colonial bungalow on the Byculla zoo premises. Mahadeshwar is not happy with the idea. In his letter, Mahadeshwar has said that the Byculla bungalow is smaller. has refused to move a bungalow being readied for him in the premises of Byculla Zoo and instead wants one at Malabar Hill in south Mumbai. On Monday, Mahadeshwar wrote a letter to civic chief Ajoy Mehta demanding to shift his official residence to plush bungalows of additional municipal commissioners at Malabar Hill next to a water reservoir. Mahadeshwar has suggested that both the bungalows should be allotted to him which are currently occupied by two additional commissioners of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). After demanding Malabar Hills bungalows, Mahadeshwar is also eyeing civic chief Ajoy Mehtas bungalow. Mahadeshwar, said, I want the civic administration to select appropriate location for citys Mayor as shifting to Byculla zoo will not be an ideal move. Mayor keeps on hosting several events in his premises which cannot be done in a silence zone, so I will be happy to move either to civic chiefs bungalow or to Malabar Hill, whatever the administration feels appropriate. The famous mayors bungalow at Shivaji Park will be converted into a memorial of Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray. As such, Mayor Mahadeshwar will be shifting to other official residence. The civic administration is in the process of renovating a colonial bungalow in the premises of the zoo but Mahadeshwar is not amused with the idea. In his letter to Mehta, Mahadeshwar has also pointed out that the Byculla bungalow is smaller and thus it will be a cause of inconvenience apart from this area falling under silence zone. However, Mayors move to these plush areas is not going to be easy, as all these bungalows are occupied by IAS officials. Currently, there are two bungalows next to Malabar Hill water reservoir and near Kamala Nehru Park, which mayor had mentioned in his letter that fall under Hydraulic Engineering department and two existing additional municipal commissioners, (Projects) Sanjay Mukherjee and (City) Pallavi Darade reside there. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) meets with Federica Mogherini, EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, as well as vice president of the European Commission, in Beijing, capital of China, April 18, 2017. (Xinhua/Zhang Duo) BEIJING, April 18 -- China firmly supports European integration and hopes for a united, stable and prosperous European Union, Premier Li Keqiang said on Tuesday. Li made the comment when meeting with Federica Mogherini, EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, as well as vice president of the European Commission. China attaches importance to China-EU relations and the EU's commitment to delivering its international obligations and is willing to promote practical cooperation, Li said. "China is willing to work with the EU in the spirit of mutual respect and treating each other as equals to advance bilateral investment treaty talks and the feasibility study of the free trade agreement," Li said. "China will work with the EU to handle differences properly and to better the China-EU relations within the rule-based international order and contribute vitality to world economic growth," the premier said. Given the complex and changing international landscape, rising anti-globalization and protectionism, China and the EU should abide by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, Li said. He called on both sides to send a positive signal to maintain regional stability and world peace, tackle global challenges, reform and improve the international governance and champion economic globalization and free and fair trade so as to address the uncertainties of the international landscape through stable cooperation between China and the EU. Mogherini said the EU and China share the responsibility of maintaining international order, tackling global challenges such as terrorism and climate change and promoting global peace and development. The EU attaches importance to maintaining multilateral system and delivering its international obligations and will work with China to strengthen cooperation and properly handle differences and facilitate the progress in bilateral investment treaty negotiations, Mogherini said. A Kandivli blood bank attached to the municipal corporation wasted 856 liters of blood between 2009 and 2017, reveals data from the Mumbai District AIDS Control Society (MDACS). The organisation that compared its data with the information given by the blood bank linked to Shatabdi Hospital in Kandivli said that there was a difference in the figures, suggesting that the hospital tried to fudge figures on blood waste to avoid punitive action. MDACS data till February 2017 shows that the blood bank which serves Shatabdi and Bhagwati municipal hospitals collected about 19,163units (6,707.05l) of blood during the period out of which 12% (about 2,300 units) expired. Statistics maintained by the hospital, however, showed that 22,198 units (7,769l) of blood was collected out of which 1,336 units (467.6l) got spoilt because of non-usage. A senior doctor from the hospital said that MDACS data is reliable because its maintained by independent representatives who prepare monthly reports. Its common for blood banks to manipulate records, to issue blood free of cost, on recommendations of local corporators or politicians. Also, showing fewer expiries protects them from action from higher BMC authorities, said the doctor on condition of anonymity. He added that showing documents claiming lesser wastage of blood also helps the blood bank authorities to escape the ire of the food and drug administration (FDA). In its annual inspection, which lasts for a few hours, the FDA largely relies on hospital records and not MDACS reports because of lack of coordination. Dr P Jadhav, chief medical superintendent of municipal periphery hospitals said that the figures are not worrying. Wastage of 100 litres of blood a year is not an unexpected amount. At times blood is also brought for patients from other blood banks but they expire from not being used within a limited time period, said Dr Jadhav. Right to Information (RTI) activist Chetan Kothari, who accessed the documents through a RTI query said that the wastage could be reduced if the blood had been sent for separation into components. While whole blood has a shelf life of 35 days, its by-products like freshly frozen plasma (FPP) can be stored for 36 months. After component separation, fractioning of plasma produces important drugs like albumin, which is essential in the treatment of cancer, liver ailments and burns, said Kothari. Applications of nearly 80 per cent of the dance bars, which had applied for a fresh license following a Supreme Court order in November last year, have been rejected by the Mumbai police, even as the hearing on the contentious issue of allowing dance bars to operate in Maharashtra is scheduled to resume in the Apex Court on Thursday. A senior Mumbai police official told HT on Monday that following the SC ruling on November 24asking the government to consider granting license to dance bars if they stood at a par with the three dance bars that have already been granted license, on the concept of paritythe police had received 76 applications, till a fortnight ago. Of those, 60 applications have been rejected following inspection of their premises by senior inspectors of police stations in the areas where the bars are located. The senior inspectors have been authorized to conduct checks to find out whether the applicants have fulfilled the 26 conditions imposed by the government, and file a compliance report before the Theatre branch, which issues the license. These conditions have been approved by the Supreme Court, the official said, adding that reports on the 16 remaining applications are likely to be received before the matter was heard in SC on April 20. Meanwhile, a dance bar owner, whose application is pending for approval, said that the police were just not interested in issuing licenses and are making excuses to reject applications. To ensure fairness, we are going to urge the Court to appoint an independent authority, instead of police, to conduct inspection of our premises and file the compliance report before the court, said the bar owner, requesting anonymity. Sources said that failure to follow conditions like maintaining a distance of five feet distance between customers and performance area, less than 3 feet height of the barricades around the performance, improper installation of CCTV cameras were mostly the reasons attributed for rejection of the applications. Apart from fulfilling the 26 conditions, the police also asked the bars to obtain a fire compliance certificate from the city fire brigade, a move which has been assailed by the bar owners as another pretext to deny license. Following n SC order in December 2015 to clear licenses to dance bars, the state government came out with a set of 26 conditions in the license to regulate the functioning of the dance bars. The conditions included sharing live feed of the dancing area with the local police station, no serving of alcohol in the area where dance was performed, 11.30 pm closure time among other things. The police administration, through an order, asked senior police inspectors at police stations to conduct an audit of the bars which had applied for license in their respective jurisdiction to verify if they had followed the conditions. The licenses were to be allotted only after the receipt of a positive compliance report from the local police. The process of audit ran into a controversy after it was found that four police officers from as many police stations had prepared false compliance reports even though the applicant bars had not adhered to the police conditions. These police menthree inspectors and an assistant police inspector (API)were suspended by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis subsequently. READ: 32 dance bars fail to comply with norms imposed by Mumbai police Dance bars: 10 more licenses sought after SC order SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Pollution levels in the city dropped to its lowest in 2017 so far, on Wednesday. As a result, the city recorded its cleanest air day for the year and one the most clearest days in the past two years. According to the System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), AQI levels for particulate matter (PM2.5) pollutant small pollutant particles of 2.5 micron size that can easily enter the respiratory system and cause ailments were recorded under the good category at 59. SAFAR predicted that pollution levels will further decrease to 53 on Thursday. AQI levels between 0-100 fall under the good category, 101-200 is moderate and 201-300 is poor. Additionally, levels of PM10 slight larger pollutant particles with 10 micron size were also recorded under the good category at an AQI of 74, which is expected to remain the same on Thursday. The last time Mumbai recorded AQI levels between 50 and 60 was during the monsoon season last year, when rain disperses pollutants. Researchers from SAFAR said Mumbai generally observes clean air during the summer, but Wednesdays AQI was exceptionally good. The wind pattern over the city owing to the sea breeze and temperatures being above normal have forced the boundary layer of pollutants to be dispersed very fast during the early hours of the day, said Gufran Beig, project director, SAFAR. There was a significant improvement in visibility levels. We expect AQI levels to be in the good category through the rest of the month. On Wednesday, nine of 10 locations recorded good air quality and Navi Mumbai was the only spot that recorded moderate air. Malad recorded the cleanest air in the city with an AQI of 34. Citizens welcomed the clean air, but hoped the city observed similar air quality through the year. While it is good that pollution levels have reduced significantly, it should remain constant throughout the year. This time last year, we were breathing toxic air owing to the Deonar fires, said Rajkumar Sharma, Chembur resident. The variation in the air quality through the year needs to be controlled. . Meanwhile, both day and night temperatures dropped to a degree Celsius above normal, both in the suburbs and south Mumbai on Wednesday, as compared to high temperatures on Tuesday. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The anti-narcotics cell (ANC) of the Mumbai police on Tuesday, arrested two drug peddlers in separate cases for possessing Mephdrone (MD) or Meow Meow, a popular party drug, in commercial quantity . Acting on a tip-off, DCP Shivdeep Lande from the Ghatkopar unit arrested Shakil Ahmad Vaeesh Mohammad Chaudhari, 39, near Parijat building near Tilak Nagar railway station. He was carrying 100 grams of MD worth Rs 2 lakh. Chaudhari is a resident of Mohili Village in Sakinaka. In the second case, the ANC unit arrested Zaheer Mehmood Khan, 27, a resident of Malad (West) for possessing 70 grams of MD worth Rs1.4 lakh near Swagat Park bus stop in Malad (West). In 2015, MD was added to the list of drugs banned under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. A 45-year-old scrap dealer from Tardeo accidentally drank phenyl on Monday afternoon, after he picked up what he thought was his water bottle. The man, Gamerchand Jain, was immediately taken to Motiben Dalvi Hospital in Gamdevi. He is currently recuperating. Jain, his son, and other workers were cleaning his shop at the time of the accident. Jains workers had kept a plastic bottle containing phenyl next to his water bottle. Jain was so engrossed in his work, he blindly reached for the wrong bottle and drank from it. He realised it wasnt water only when he went to take a second sip, said an officer from the Tardeo police station. On realising what had happened, Jains son persuaded him to vomit. However, he realised that vomiting could damage his fathers internal organs and so took him to hospital. Hospital authorities said timely intervention is what saved Jains life, added an officer from the Tardeo police station. Hospital authorities informed the local police station of the case at 6.30 am on Tuesday. Police said they suspected foul play and so asked Jains son and other workers to record their statements. We havent registered a case yet. Investigations are ongoing, said sub-Inspector Poonam Jadhav from Tardeo police station. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON In a major decision, the state government and ministry of railways decided to buy 47 air-conditioned (AC) locals under the third phase of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP-III), on Tuesday. Under this project, the city will get 20 more AC trains. Read: Launch of Mumbais first air-conditioned local delayed by 6 months The state government also gave in-principal approval for sharing the cost of Rs4,300-crore Communication Based Train Control, commonly known as the Cab Signaling project, on the Harbour line. The number of services on the Harbour line will also go up by 50%. Significantly, the Asia Development Bank has agreed to fund the Rs14,400-crore CST-Panvel elevated corridor. Just a day after the BEST undertaking shut its AC bus operation in the city, chief minister Devendra Fadanvis and railway minister Suresh Prabhu took the decision to buy the AC trains for Rs10,500 crore under the MUTP III , in a joint meeting held to review major railway projects. Read: Mumbai will soon get its first AC local Under the MUTP III project, which received the union cabinet nod in November last year and a budgetary allocation of Rs636 crore, Railways had planned to procure 47 locals trains. But in a bid to reduce deaths because of overcrowded trains, the solution of introducing closed doors or AC locals was discussed. Prabhat Sahay, chairman managing director of Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC), said the AC locals under MUTP III would be upgraded from the existing AC locals. The trains will be fully vestibule trains with automatic doors and other modern facilities. Now we will work out cost estimates, but each train is expected to cost around Rs80 crore, he said. Although Mumbai already received an AC train last April, it is still going through trials. Sahay said that after receiving final approval for the cab signalling project, they would forward the proposal to the Railway Board that governs all regional railways. Cab signaling is expected to increase train frequency on harbour line by 50%. Once sanctioned, it will take three years to overlay the new signalling system on the existing and next two years for getting it fully functional, said Sahay, adding that they will add 20 new AC trains on the line under the project. DK Sharma, general manager of Central railway, who is also holding additional charge of WR, said the railway minister has set a March 2018 deadline to commission the first phase of Belapur-Seawood-Uran line till Kharkopar. Similarly, the deadline for Parel terminus is March 2019 and for Kurla-Parel terminus 5th and 6th line is March 2021. Harbour line will get extended till Goregaon before December 2017. He said the state has not yet signed a state support agreement for the Bandra-Virar elevated corridor project. Hence, railway has asked the state government to reword the agreement, which they would forward to railway ministry for approval. Before the meeting, Prabhu said this was the first time Asia Development Bank, one of major funding agencies, has agreed to fund railway projects. The Asian Development Bank will fund CST-Panvel elevated corridor, said Prabhu. Railway officials said the issue of funding the ambitious elevated corridor project has been sorted out as ADB agreed to fund 50% of the Rs1,44,00 crore project. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Glen Martis, 45, was worried after his son, Alston, was diagnosed with acute anaemia. He, however, found solace in one thing. He knew if his son ever developed convulsions in his absence, his neighbours at Tambawala Trust building a chawl at Dongri would rush to his sons aid, arrange for help and would even wait at any hospital. Martis situation symbolises Mumbais chawl culture where one floor of a multi-storied building comprises houses in a single row with a common verandah and toilets. Think of a joint family, but one in which its members are not related by blood. All residents, despite their small skirmishes, would celebrate festivals together and lend a helping hand to each other in times of crises. But all this is set to change, as chawls in the city have begun to give way to skyscrapers following government orders. Those who lived in cramped, 100-200-square feet houses for decades are to be shifted to 260-square feet apartments with toilets For Martis, it is a tough choice as he is worried whether one can retain the same kind of kinship he enjoys now. But then, with his building in a dilapidated state and the surrounding clamour for big houses, which offer both privacy as well as accommodate a growing family, shifting to a new place is imperative. When it all began Chawls were first built in 1900, when the then British government encouraged many traders to set up textile mills here. These mills needed labour and the workers mostly from the coastal Konkan region made a beeline for jobs here. In order to ensure houses for these labourers close to their mills, these dwellings were constructed in 100-200 square-feet areas by mill owners. Taking advantage of this situation, many landlords also constructed chawls as rent was a source of lucrative income for them. As Mumbai grew, the workers then started bringing their families to the city and lived with them in these chawls. The children were sent to municipal schools. Freedom fighter Lokmanya Tilak started the Ganeshotsav festival from Keshavji Naik chawl in Girgaum with the whole aim of bringing people together. In the freedom movement, chawls played a vital role with many youngsters jumping into it. Rents in chawls range from Rs 50 to Rs 200 a month. (Illustration by Shrikrishna Patkar) The chawl culture These chawls had a large verandah as well as a big ground where children could play. In the night, adults would take a stroll in the compound, which also served as a meeting point for the residents. In these chawls, various festivals like Ganpati, Dahi Handi and Diwali were celebrated with gusto. In case of weddings and functions, as people could not afford halls, a pandal used to be erected at the ground and the whole function used to take place there. In case of a celebration at someones house, all the women in the chawls would come together and cook for the guests. The exchange of commodities like sugar, milk and other eatables is commonplace in these chawls. The chawl culture also played its role in Marathi literature and theatre. The workers theatre also gifted a number of playwrights and actors to Marathi theatre. The chawl culture has been portrayed in the works of several Marathi litterateurs like P L Deshpande. Socialist and leftist parties also got tremendous support from the tenants of these chawls for a few decades since the 1940s and 50s. The story of Mumbais multi-storey chawls Chawls are rows of rooms with a huge verandah in front. A chawl consists of two to four storeys with at least 40 rooms A typical room, popularly called kholi, is a 100-sq ft to 200-sq ft area and comprises a hall and kitchen Rents in chawls range from Rs 50 to Rs 200 a month Chawls go back to British rule when traders set up textile mills in Mumbai and hired workers To house these workers close to textile mills, these humble dwellings were constructed The textile boom and dip Most chawl dwellers worked in the textile mills. Many of them also managed to get their children jobs in these mills once they grew up. The Shiv Sena, which was started in 1966, was able to attract youths from these chawls. Top leaders like Manohar Joshi, Vithal Chavan, Dattaji Nalawade, Wamanrao Mahadik and Suryakant Desai all trace their origins to these chawls. But, in January 18, 1982, the entire textile sector went on strike, which proved to be a death knell and the strikes direct effect was borne by chawls. As the strike lingered on, many mill workers sold their houses and returned to their villages or went to the distant suburbs. Many unemployed youths began to get attracted to the underworld. Chawls like Dagdi Chawl at Byculla and 144 tenements at Chinchpokli gained notoriety as it became a recruitment place for gangsters At present Currently, chawls pose to be lucrative real-estate for builders. From the governments point of view, chawls offer a great opportunity to offer affordable houses after rehabilitating the existing tenants. The BDD chawls spread across 92.86 acres in prime areas like Lower Parel, Worli, Naigaon and Sewri promises to be a well-designed township with all modern amenities for its residents. Next on the block are the 133 Bombay Improvement Trust (BIT) chawls located in prime areas such as Mumbai Central, Agripada, Sion, Parel and Mazgaon another potential goldmine in the space-starved city. Apart from these are the chawls owned by textile mills, which are also set to be redeveloped. The chawls owned by landlords are also on the revamp radar, but now the recession in the real-estate market has slowed down the entire process. For how long the remaining chawls will survive is anybodys guess. What does Mumbai mean to you? Over the next few weeks, we are celebrating our favourite things about the city? We will trace the roots of Mumbais most popular street foods, drop in at its maidans, explore the workings of its stock markets and that grand dream machine that is Bollywood. We would like to hear from you too Tweet, Instagram your favourite pictures of the city with #MumbaiMeriHai, or write to us at @htmetro@hindustantimes.com Three people, including a nine-year-old girl, died after their car hit a tree on the Mumbai Pune Expressway early on Wednesday. Six others suffered injuries and were admitted to a local hospital. Police said the victims are all Kandivli residents. They were returning from Pune in a Maruti Suzuki van. As they crossed Pansil village near Rasayani around 5.30 am, the driver lost control of the car and crashed into a tree. It appears that the driver tried let another car overtake him as the driver was honking repeatedly. However, he lost control, said an officer from Rasayani police station. Read Three injured as SUV topples on Mumbai-Pune Expressway 71-year-old man dies in accident on Mumbai-Pune Expressway Cross Mumbai-Pune Expressway, but take precautions, say cops Two fully grown Portia trees (Thespesia populnea) near Hutatma Chowk (Flora Fountain) that have dried up recently could have been poisoned, an environment group has said. The trees located in front of the neo-classical four-storey Ismail building that was restored last year have mysteriously dried up while the remaining trees in the area have their foliage intact. The building will soon house a major Spanish clothing store. NGO Vanashakti filed a complaint with the municipal corporation, state environment department and police on Tuesday, alleged that the trees could have been poisoned during the restoration work. The purpose of damaging the trees was to improve the visibility of the building, said Stalin D, project director, Vanashakti. After speaking to the civic bodys tree department, we were told that one of the trees was dead. However, all the trees are alive and are desperately trying to recover. Stalin urged the civic body to act immediately and ensure that the trees grow back. We are not asking for action to be taken against the violators since it is a wasted exercise and the BMC will file FIR against unknown people. We are requesting the civic body to water the trees properly before they die, he said. Experts said that foul play cannot be ruled out. The Thespesia populnea is a native tree to coastal areas and is a hardy tree that does not dry up easily. If the roots of the tree come in contact with saline water then there are chances of drying. However, if that was the case all trees at the site would have had the same result, said Marselin Almeida, expert botanist. There needs to be a proper study and unlawful activities need to be checked by the police. Municipal officers said that they had already alerted the police about the issue. We have written to the tree department and lodged a complaint with the local police to check with experts. They have not got back to us, said an official from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporations A ward. The conservation architect who restored Ismail building, which is listed as a grade IIA protected structure under municipal heritage rules, refused to comment regarding the issue. Officials from MRA Marg police station said that they were investigating the issue. The officer in-charge is unwell and has not contacted the experts yet. We will send our response to the civic body by the end of this week, said Sukhlal Varpe, senior inspector, MRA Marg police station. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Thousands of Mumbai commuters consider BEST buses affordable, but a recent right to information (RTI) query reveals that they might be unsafe. As many as 1,150 of BESTs 3,800-strong fleet do not have a fire extinguisher on-board. Read: 20,000 commuters to sweat it out as BESTs AC buses go off Mumbai roads from today Though the BEST administration had decided to install fire extinguishers in all buses, starting with those running on compressed natural gas (CNG), it installed extinguishers in only 2,648 buses by January 2017, revealed the RTI. As the 1,150 buses run on diesel, the transport commissioner exempted us from installing extinguishers in them. CNG-operated buses get first preference, said Hanumant Gophane, BEST spokesperson. Read: Mumbai: BEST commuters to feel the heat as 25 AC bus services shut down Sharique Raza Shaikh, the activist who filed the RTI, said he asked the transport body how it planned to ensure the safety of women and senior citizens during emergencies. BEST reserves seats for women and the elderly, but has not made arrangements for their safety. Several buses do not have first aid boxes and have not listed emergency helplines for senior citizens, said said. Read: BEST no longer the best for Mumbai? Several BEST buses have caught fire in the past. Recently, eight passengers had a narrow escape after a BEST bus travelling towards Chakala in Andheri (East) caught fire earlier this year. The BEST administration had ordered a probe into the incident. It is mandatory to install a fire extinguisher in each bus under the Motor Vehicles Act. But, most of the buses do not have one, said Ravi Raja, BEST committee member. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON DUBLIN, April 18 -- China and Ireland on Tuesday signed a formal protocol on beef exports to China that paves the way to access for Irish beef to China. The protocol is related to inspection, quarantine and veterinary health requirements for Irish frozen beef to be exported to China. This marks another major milestone in the process of getting Irish beef into the Chinese market, the Irish government said in a statement. China imposed a ban on Irish beef after Europe's mad cow disease outbreak in 2000. In order to complete the process to allow Irish beef exporters access to the Chinese market, a veterinary health certificate with China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) must be finalized, which will be followed by an inspection visit by the Chinese Certification and Accreditation Administration (CNCA) to approve individual processing plants for export, according to the Irish government. Beef consumption in China has increased almost six fold between 1990 and 2015 and is forecast to increase further over the coming years. However, Chinese beef production has not kept pace with rising demand. On Tuesday, the two sides also signed a protocol to facilitate trade in thoroughbred horses for an emerging racing sector in China. Irish agri-food exports to China have increased from about 240 million euros (256.7 million U.S. dollars) in 2012 to 780 million euros in 2016, a three-fold increase. This made China the third largest market for Ireland's agri-food sector in value terms after Britain and the United States in 2016. A majority of small-scale and marginal owners of meat shops are likely to down shutters permanently as they are finding it tough to comply with the guidelines of the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Business), Regulations of 2011. The district authorities in Ghaziabad had started the process of registering meat shops under the guidelines issued by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), but shop owners are sceptical of meeting the necessary conditions. It has been over a month now since I shut my shop. The entire family is tensed as there is no money flowing in. Students have to start their next academic school session but we have delayed paying their fees and purchasing books due to the fund crunch. Although we have run the shop properly for three decades and have also applied online, the new guidelines have become a barrier for restarting the business, said Yaad Ilahi Qureshi, a meat shop owner at Raj Nagar. Officials say that meat shop cannot be allowed as it is located near a halwai shop. We have operated from here for the last three decades and nobody objected to it. Still, officials say that guidelines have to be followed, he said. Another shop owner said that a delegation will be going to Lucknow for attending a protest proposed on Thursday. Many shop owners renovated their shops, put up tinted glasses, made arrangements for drainage and other facilities but the guidelines are tough to adhere to. Roadside vendors will go out of business and we are also against their operations. But what about those who have been running a shop for years? said Chand Qureshi, a shop owner. Under the guidelines, the shop owners cannot slaughter birds or animals on the premises and have to maintain regular hygiene, besides making arrangements for procuring meat from licensed slaughterhouses. My shop has been located near a masjid for the last 50 years, but the officials have denied permission, on the basis that it is near a religious place. I also obtained a letter from the Imam of the masjid, that he has no objection, but it did not make a difference. It has been nearly a month since I shut shop. We are uneducated and dont understand the intricacies of the guidelines, said Haji Yasin from Meat Vyapar Sangh. Shop owners also blamed the corporation for allowing their operations without renewing their licence. There is no option left. Some shop owners are thinking of shutting shop permanently while some are trying to relocate their shops elsewhere. However, the major problem that we have no earning as we have stopped the sale of meat, said Jameel Qureshi, a shop owner. District magistrate Nidhi Kesarwani said that the guidelines have to be followed at any cost by the shop owners and there can be no relaxation for any shop owner. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The four-storey building in which a fire broke out due to a spark from a short circuit on Wednesday, killing six employees, did not have an adequate fire safety system in place, the police said. The gate that leads to the terrace, on the third floor, was locked. As a result, employees couldnt escape. Those who fled downstairs are safe but the six persons who tried to escape by running upstairs were burnt. If the gate had not been locked, six lives could have been saved, Akshay Sharma, chief fire officer of Ghaziabad, said. Officials said that even the basement, which is meant for car parking, was being used for storing electrical products. Fire in a manufacturing unit in Sector 11, Noida. Unit owned by Excel Greentech pvt. ltd.@htTweets pic.twitter.com/jiDKS573cI HT Noida & Ghaziabad (@htnoidagzb) April 19, 2017 A company that deals with electrical products had shifted into this newly-built building six months ago. Before granting permission to a company for occupying a building, the Noida authority conducts an inspection, which also includes a check of fire safety system. However, Sheeshpal Kumar, a survivor, said that no water sprinkler functioned when a spark from a short circuit led to the fire. Amit Mohan Prasad, the chief executive officer of the Noida authority said he has ordered a probe into the incident. I have ordered a probe into the incident. How was the building issued an occupancy certificate if the firefighting system was not in place? he said. Around 20 newly-built residential complexes in Noida that house thousands do not have fire systems in place and are running without obtaining a no-objection certificate from the fire department. Fire department and the Noida authority issued clearances without bothering about fire safety systems in the building. Officials who issued the OC should be punished because they are also responsible for the incident, Ashish Kumar, an employee of the company, said. There are 8,000 industrial units, small and large-scale, in Noida. However, sources said that the authorities do not take issuing fire clearances seriously. Noida is home to around 1,200 highrise societies, but it does not have a 72-metre hydraulic machine to douse fires in tall towers. The Uttar Pradesh fire department had suggested that Noida should have a helicopter to douse fires, but the proposal was rejected by the Noida authority, citing financial issues. We called fire staff from Hapur and Ghaziabad to douse the fire as soon as possible, said Aman Sharma, deputy director, Uttar Pradesh fire department. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Amid the ongoing agitation by parents against arbitrary fee hike, the subdivisional magistrate of Loni ordered a private school to roll back hiked fee or reply within a week. Officials said that the school will face action under Section 133 (conditional order for removal of nuisance) of CrPC and Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of IPC if it fails to respond. The notice was issued by subdivisional magistrate Prem Ranjan Singh to Salwan Public School in Tronica City on Wednesday. He said that protests by parents could also cause a law and order issue. This the first time that Section 133 of CrPC is being used with regard to the fee hike issue. The section has been used following complaints that the school arbitrarily hiked the fee by 17% this year. In the order, we have asked to roll back the fee hike or justify the grounds for the hike, Singh said. However, it is not the first time that officials have tried using provisions of CrPC into the issue of the fee hike. In April 2014, then district magistrate, SVS Ranga Rao, had ordered FIRs against schools if they failed to comply with an October 2011 government order, which restricted the fee hike to 10%. The order of then district magistrate had also stated that FIRs would be lodged against erring schools for violation of Section 144 of CrPC. State government officials of the Samajwadi Partys government, however, had shot down the DMs order, terming that the order was uncalled for and the issue of fee hike should not have been connected to the law and order issue. Section 133 of CrPC was also used to expedite the construction of a rail overbridge at Banthla a fortnight ago. A notice was issued to railway officials as the construction work had slowed down and was resulting in long jams. Residents and commuters had protested on the issue, which led to altercations between the two groups. The order speeded up the construction work. Another such notice was also issued to the state public works department to expedite patchwork and road repair of the Banthla railway crossing. It also brought desired results. We will see if such an order can work on the issue of fee hike, Singh said. The schools authorities could not be contacted on the two numbers listed on the school website. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Noida Entrepreneurs Association (NEA) has demanded the inclusion of two industrialists on the Noida authority board. The industries body feels that industrialists can play an important role in formulating the industrial policy and addressing problems faced by them. Noida is an industrial development authority with a presence of over 8,000 factory units, which employ around 6 lakh workers. A delegation of NEA led by its president, Vipin Malhan, on Wednesday met the chief executive officer (CEO), Amit Mohan Prasad, who took over the reins of Noida authority on April 13. They submitted a memorandum to the CEO, demanding resolution of the issues that have been adversely affecting industries in Noida. We have demanded that two persons associated with Noida industries are on the board of Noida authority, for highlighting the issues faced by us. Noida is an industrial city and industrialists must have a say in the policies made for them, said VK Seth, general secretary, NEA. He said that the Noida authority should not have a problem in including industrialists, who are stakeholders in the citys industrial growth, on its board. In the brief interaction with the new CEO, we could gather that he wants to encourage industrial activity in Noida, said Seth. The NEA delegation also urged Prasad to allow more time for allottees of industrial and IT plots to pay hiked land compensation to the farmers. As per a high court order, farmers are to be given 64% hiked compensation for land acquisition. Industrialists say that Noida authority is refusing to give them permission to mortgage their property, time extension for using the allotted plot or transfer of property and change in constitution from the Noida authority unless the allottees pay the hiked compensation. Industry is going through a bad patch. We are only urging the Noida authority to be a little considerate and recover the land compensation amount from industrialists and IT plot holders in half-yearly, annual or more instalments, and give permissions to the allottees so that it does not hamper their functioning, said Malhan. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The project settlement policy has failed to address the concerns of homebuyers in Noida and Greater Noida. Around 40 realtors in Noida and 20 in Greater Noida had applied for relief under the policy, which was approved on December 13, 2016, but the authorities have failed to revive even one sick project. The policy gives realtors an exit route from projects they are unable to execute, as well as benefit homebuyers who are waiting past the deadline for delivery of their flats. Under the policy, a builder can exit a housing or commercial project in which construction on the allotted plot is yet to be started. The project settlement policy was touted as the only solution for homebuyers issues. The then chief executive officer of the Noida and Greater Noida, Deepak Agarwal, had met the confederation of real estate developers association of India (CREDAI) several times on the issue but there has been no development so far. We are yet to do dispose of any of the housing projects under the project settlement policy. It takes time to decide on such big issues, said Santosh Kumar Singh, officer on special duty (OSD), group housing department, Noida authority. Many major realty firms have applied to surrender their group housing land, so that struck housing projects can be revived by interested parties. The land that they want to surrender to the Noida authority is yet to be developed but flats have been sold out to buyers. In Noida, the investments of around one lakh homebuyers in 50 delayed projects are stuck. There are 95 under-construction realty projects in Greater Noida. Around one lakh homebuyers in 80 of these projects are estimated to be impacted. Under the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA), 20 builders have failed to complete their projects and the investment of around 20,000 homebuyers is at stake. However, none of the realtors had applied for surrendering land under the project settlement policy. No realtor has come forward to take benefit of the project settlement policy till date. The policy has failed to bring any relief to homebuyers so far, Arun Vir Singh, chief executive officer of YEIDA, said. Noida, Greater Noida and YEIDA are to recover a total of around Rs25,000 crore from builders in land dues. Many have turned defaulters, citing a dip in sales of flats. Homebuyers were hopeful that the new government in the state will provide them relief under the new policy but there has been no development so far. In the last five months, the UP government and the officials of the authorities have taken no effective step to solve our problems. We are badly affected by the persisting situation, said Danish Khan, a homebuyer. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The police have identified three bodies of the six persons who had died in the fire in Sector 11 on Wednesday afternoon. The bodies identified were of Jasmeet Kaur, 20, Vivek Kochar, 35, and Indrabahan Singh,38. Kaur was from Mohali in Punjab, Vivek had come from Laxmi Nagar in Delhi and Indrabhan was from Lucknow. Fire in a manufacturing unit in Sector 11, Noida. Unit owned by Excel Greentech pvt. ltd.@htTweets pic.twitter.com/jiDKS573cI HT Noida & Ghaziabad (@htnoidagzb) April 19, 2017 Kaurs body was identified with the help of a gold ring that she wore on her finger. Her family identified the body at Noidas district hospital in Sector 30. The ring was gifted to Kaur on her 20th birthday, on April 17, by her mother. She called her mother in the afternoon and told her to call the police as a fire had broken out in her building and they were unable to contact the local police. We called the police and rushed to Noida. We didnt imagine that she would die like this, IP Singh, Kaurs uncle, said. He said that it was her first job after she graduated from Punjab University and had joined the company six months ago. Meanwhile, Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate NP Singh has ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident. Dinesh Yadav, the superintendent of police, Noida, said, So far, three bodies have been identified by their family members. After cross checking, we will hand over the bodies to the families. We are trying to find out the list of employees who were working with the company. There is a possibility that some employees are out of Noida and their family members would have no information about the incident. We are trying to reach out to families of all employees. On hearing the news of a fire, many people rushed to the district hospital in Noida, where the bodies are being identified, amid heavy police presence. Noida MLA Pankaj Singh said that the doctors have been directed to conduct a post-mortem examination of the bodies at the earliest. The families are in trauma. Hence, I have asked the medical staff to complete the post-mortem examination soon. I have also asked them to complete the DNA sampling process, Singh said. The additional district magistrate, chief fire officer and city magistrate will probe the incident so that such incidents are not repeated in future, said district magistrate NP Singh. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Canadian minister Harjit Sajjan reaches Punjab; police and radicals welcome him at Amritsar airport Canadian defence minister Harjit Singh Sajjan landed at Sree Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport at Rajasansi in Amritsar around 6 pm on Wednesday. On his first visit to native Punjab after becoming a minister in Canada, Sajjan is to be in the state for April 21 and 22. Read the full story here Busted militant module was in touch with Sikh radicals abroad, gangsters: police A day after the police claimed to have busted a militant module with the arrest of three persons, the counter intelligence (CI) wing on Wednesday said the accused were in touch with gangsters to take their help in spearheading terror activities. Read the full story here Liquor to flow at marriage palaces along Punjab highways The Punjab government is set to remove restrictions on serving of liquor at marriage palaces located along the highways in the state. A decision is expected soon following Punjab advocate general Atul Nandas legal opinion that marriage palaces are not covered by the Supreme Courts judgment banning liquor vends within 500 metres of national and state highways in the state. Read the full story here 44 dead as bus plunges into Tons river in Himachal The passengers were killed on Wednesday when a private bus carrying more than 50 passengers fell into the Tons river near Chopal, 95 km from Shimla, in Himachal Pradesh. Read the full story here In pictures | How wheat is harvested by man and machine: A set of shots from the fields of Jalandhar, where harvesting of what is at its peak. Click for photos To stay informed, follow us on Twitter and Facebook || For more stories, visit www.punjab.ht Canadian defence minister Harjit Singh Sajjan began his two-day visit to his native state Punjab on Wednesday evening with no representative of the state government receiving him at the Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport at Rajasansi in Amritsar, where he landed around 6.30 pm. Only a sub-divisional magistrate led officials who were present to receive him, while some radical Sikh organisation members standing at the airport gates in solidarity with Sajjan who has been dubbed a Khalistani sympathiser by Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh also raised slogans for him upon his arrival. On his first visit to native Punjab after becoming a minister in Canada, Sajjan is to be in the state for April 21 and 22, during which he is to visit the Golden Temple and also his native village Bombeli, 15 km from Hoshiarpur. Members of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) with welcome signs for Harjit Sajjan outside the Amritsar airport on Wednesday evening. (Gurpreet Singh/HT) Even the deputy commissioner of Amritsar, Kamaldeep Singh Sangha, and police commissioner Nageshar Rao were not present. As for Ajnala SDM Anupreet Kaur who was deputed to receive him, sources said Sajjan did not even notice her, nor did he shake hands with any of the officials. He got off the plane and rushed straight to the exit. He was late by around an hour and a half. There was heavy security deployment with 150 cops led by deputy commissioner of police Amarjit Singh Bajwa at the airport; besides troops of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and security officials of the Canadian embassy from New Delhi. As soon as he came out, members of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), Sikh Youth Federation (Bhindranwale) and some factions of Damdami Taksal started shouting slogans of Bole So Nihal, Sat Sri Akal to welcome him. He responded by raising his hand before he sat in his car to leave for his hotel. The activists also wanted to honour him with siropas (robes of honour) and garlands but the police did not let them. Curiously, opposition party Shiromani Akali Dal, which had flayed the CMs Khalistani barbs and welcomed Sajjan in media statements, did not send its any representative to welcome him. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) will honour him at the Golden Temple, and had put up welcome hoardings along the road from the airport to the hotel where he is staying. Sajjan is scheduled to reach Golden Temple at 8 am on Thursday. He will also visit Pingalwara, a noted shelter home for the destitute. Sikh Youth Federation (Bhindranwale) members were among those standing outside the airport for welcoming Canadian defence minister Harjit Singh Sajjan in Amritsar on Wednesday, April 19. (Gurpreet Singh/HT) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Punjab and Haryana high court on Tuesday dismissed a plea by seven hotel and restaurant owners challenging the UT administrations decision to not rename Madhya Marg as a major district road. The petition was listed before the HC bench of justices Rajesh Bindal and HS Sidhu. On March 16, the UT had redesignated several state highways as major district roads, leaving out the Madhya Marg. On March 29, a HC bench had upheld the UTs decision, paving way for the administration to allow more liquor vends in its excise policy 2017-18 and bar licences. These petitioners had argued that the UTs decision was discriminatory. The effect of the notification is that thy had, effectively, been thrown out of business. In the present case, similarly-situated premises in other parts of city are carrying on the business, whereas petitioners have been restrained from selling any liquor, which has put their very viability in question, they had argued. WHAT IS THE ISSUE On March 16, the UT had redesignated several state highways as major district roads, leaving out the Madhya Marg. On March 29, a HC bench had upheld the UTs decision, paving way for the administration to allow more liquor vends in its excise policy 2017-18 and bar licences. These petitioners had argued that the UTs decision was discriminatory. There is no rationality or intelligible criteria on the basis of which the premises situated on the Madhya Marg have been differentiated with other similarly situated premises, the court was told. The HC is yet to release its detailed order. The 2005 notification of naming certain category of roads as state highways was modified in March 2017 and state highways renamed as major district roads, following the Supreme Courts order directing all states and union territories to not allow serving of liquor up to 500 metre from the edge of a state or national highway. The Madhya Marg neither touches Mullanpur on Punjab side nor Panchkula on Haryana side. The road between Transport Chowk and PGIMER is called Madhya Marg. It is not a road between two states, the petitioners had argued. However, court did not agree with the arguments. Padma Shri Dr Mukut Minz, who performed the complicated kidney transplant operation of external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi, thanked her for trusting an Indian doctor and a government-run hospital for the surgery. Dr. Minz, who has successfully performed over 3400 kidney transplants in his 30-year-long career, said on Wednesday, She (Swaraj) could have gone anywhere across the globe for her treatment. I am proud of the fact that she chose an Indian doctor for her surgery. In Ranchi to attend a felicitation ceremony organised by the Ranchi Jesuit Society, Dr Minz, who comes from a humble tribal family of Odisha, said that it was indeed an honour and pride not only for him but for the entire Indian doctors fraternity. Soon after her recovery, the Union minister had thanked Dr. Minz through a tweet on December 19. She, however, is yet to meet him since her recovery. Thank you very much for my surgery Dr. Minz. I am proud India has surgeon of your eminence in kidney transplant surgery, her December 19 tweet said. Read more: Swaraj undergoes successful kidney transplant at AIIMS Many Indian politicians go abroad for medical care. Some Indian doctors associations in the past had alleged that it showed their lack of faith on medical facilities and doctors in India. In 2009, former Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh flew to Singapore for his kidney transplant. In 2011, Congress president Sonia Gandhi underwent a surgery at a New York hospital. Her medical condition, however, was not disclosed. Dr. Minz was conferred the fourth highest civilian award for his services towards health by President Pranab Mukherjee on April 13. Talking to the media for the first time since getting the award, Dr. Minz said that there was no added pressure on him while operating the external affairs minister. I took it as a challenge. For a doctor, every patient is same. Obviously, this was an exception due to all the media coverage and attention, he said. Sharing his experience from the day he got a call from the government of India about his Padma Shri nomination, he said that it took him some time to let it sink in. I first called my wife, but she didnt receive the call. Then I spoke to my son. It took me a while to realize that I had actually won the award. My hard work for the past three decades paid off, said Dr. Minz. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON (Xinhua) 09:59, April 19, 2017 GUIYANG, April 18 -- Standing under the world's largest radio telescope, Yang Tianjue can still make out the site of his old house, which was removed 10 years ago to make way for the project. "There was once a water cellar and I planted an osmanthus tree beside it," said Yang, 42, pointing somewhere near the feed cabin of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), which was put into use in September 2016. The telescope is located at the Dawodang depression, a natural karst basin under Kedu Town of Pingtang County in Guizhou Province. Dawodang was once inhabited by 12 families who were relocated after the site was chosen for the telescope over a decade ago. On April 13, 12 former residents paid a visit to Dawodang at the invitation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the provincial government of Guizhou. "The feed cabin collects all the information gathered by the telescope, helping people better explore the mysterious universe," explained Peng Bo of the National Astronomical Observatories and a leader of the FAST project. Peng told Xinhua that Dawodang was chosen out of more than 900 depressions, and the decision was made after the National Astronomical Observatories spent 10 years investigating and analyzing. "More than 10 years ago, several scientists came to Dawodang and we heard that a big cauldron would be built here, and we would be able to see outer space through it," Yang said. Yang was so thrilled at the news that he lost sleep for several nights. "I volunteered to show the scientists around as they carried out their survey," he said. He remembered that the survey lasted for three years. The villagers had doubts that the project would actually come to be until one day some engineers brought five drilling machines to Dawodang. The beginning of construction meant that the local farmers had to leave their hometown. "Of course it was hard to say goodbye to the place we had lived for seven or eight generations," Yang said. However, the relocation allowed them to lead better lives. Yang said Dawodang was once a remote and underdeveloped place with no road connecting it to the outside world. There were only about 20 mu (1.3 hectares) of paddy fields, which couldn't feed everyone. They were forced to cultivate the barren mountains nearby. Some farmers raised pigs, but it was hard to get the pigs out of the mountains to sell them since there was no adequate transportation, he said. When they moved out of Dawodang, each of the 12 households was given a three-story house in Kedu Town and a subsidy ranging from 520,000 yuan (75,486 U.S. dollars) to 3 million yuan, depending on how much land they previously held. Yang opened a store selling tires, and the store is now the largest of its kind in the town with an annual revenue of some 300,000 yuan. According to the county government, besides the 12 households in Dawodang, more than 8,000 residents within five kilometers of the telescope should also be relocated. Currently, more than 2,300 people within a radius of three kilometers have already moved out. Liu Pinyang, an official of Jinke Village of Kedu Town, said that a decade ago, more than half of the villagers were living in poverty, but now more than 90 percent of them are no longer poor since relocation. The villagers will also benefit from the development of tourism, he said. Earlier this year, Guizhou Province announced that 5 billion yuan will be spent on building a tourist resort there. A dozen projects including a learning center on radio astronomy, a geological park and a science fiction-themed hotel will be built. Huang Zhangqing, 54, was formerly a teacher of a primary school in the county. Both his home and the school were relocated. Huang is preparing for the opening of a family inn, hoping to cash in on the tourism boom. "The telescope can open up the eyes of human beings, and moving out of the mountains has opened up the eyes of locals," Yang Tianjue said. It was widely reported that Naga Chaitanya and Samantha Ruth Prabhu will tie the knot in a dream destination wedding later this year. Although it has been confirmed that the wedding will take place in October, we have learnt that it will take place in Hyderabad. The couple was supposed to get married in Bali or Bangkok, according to previous reports. However, sources close to the couple have confirmed that the plan has been dropped. Post wedding, both Chaitanya and Samantha have agreed to star in two new films and have also wowed to get married only after wrapping up their current commitments. While Chaitanya is busy working on a yet-untitled project with Kalyan Krishna and has a film with Chandoo Mondeti in his kitty, Samantha is busy shooting for Raju Gari Gadhi 2 with her soon-to-be father-in-law Nagarjuna. I love this pic of #chaisam. So much in love!! pic.twitter.com/8oVkmEAFXW Nagarjuna Akkineni (@iamnagarjuna) January 30, 2017 Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop After her brilliant performance as a folk dancer in National Award winning director Balas Thaarai Thappattai, Varalaxmi Sarath Kumar made headlines for openly talking about casting couch in Tamil filmdom. The actor even started a campaign called Save Shakti to fight against sexual harassment against women. Just when Varalaxmi was being branded as a bold and daring actor fighting for women empowerment, the recent promotional strategy of the makers of her upcoming film Echarikkai has tarnished her image. On Tuesday, Echarikkais PR team had unveiled a picture of Varalaxmi tied on a bed with her mouth gagged on Twitter and wrote #VaralaxmiGotKidnapped. Though the hashtag trended instantly, the actor received a lot of backlash for the cheap promotional strategy. Netizens called it a cheap attempt to grab the attention of audiences. Understanding the seriousness of the situation, Varalaxmi quickly apologized on Twitter. Im absolutely fine.. thank u for ur concern..its a part of our movie promotion.. announcement at 6pm..!!. I wasnt aware of this promotion as Im in Delhi representing my Save Shakti petition to the Law ministry..Sorry for the trouble..!! (sic). I'm absolutely fine.. thank u for ur concern..it's a part of our movie promotion.. announcement at 6pm..!! varu sarathkumar (@varusarath) April 18, 2017 I wasn't aware of this promotion as I'm in delhi representing my Save shakti petition to the Law ministry..Sorry for the trouble..!! varu sarathkumar (@varusarath) April 18, 2017 Cheapest promotion ever!These ppl screamsaveshakthi on one hand and promote this sorta crap on social media. #VaralaxmiGotKidnapped Yuck! Rj (@ranj4pz) April 18, 2017 How is #VaralaxmiGotKidnapped 'sweet'? It's atrocious. You can't take followers' concerns 4 granted. I'm sorry, I'm boycotting this movie. https://t.co/9fi73sJsVP Uday Senan (@UdaySenan) April 18, 2017 Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop AIADMK (Amma) deputy general secretary TTV Dinakaran will convene a meeting with loyal MLAs and office-bearers on Wednesday afternoon in a desperate attempt to retain the political clout enjoyed by the VK Sasikala clan in the party until a few days ago. The ruling party had ejected Dinkaran and his aunt, Sasikala, from active participation in its affairs on Tuesday night. At the same time, around eight MLAs and a few of Dinakarans die-hard supporters dwelt on ways to thwart the proposed merger between the rival AIADMK factions at his residence. Soon afterwards, Perambur MLA P Vetrivel told mediapersons around 1 am that a handful of ministers had no power to take decisions on behalf of the AIADMK (Amma) without the knowledge and concurrence of party in-charge Dinakaran. All 122 MLAs are with us, he claimed, dismissing reports of a potential merger between the AIADMK (Amma) and the AIADMK (Puratchi Thalavi Amma) as mere talk. However, several MLAs of the ruling group failed to turn up at Dinakarans residence on a day when a police team from Delhi arrived in the city to grill him in connection with the alleged attempt to bribe election commission officials for securing the partys original two-leaves symbol. Dinakaran is also scheduled to appear in the Egmore district court in connection with a FERA case on Wednesday. The court has asked him to appear in person. There is no revolt in the party. All MLAs are with me, Dinakaran told mediapersons before leaving for the court appearance. According to government sources, police may be asked to prevent him from holding a meeting inside the party headquarters. Meanwhile, the decks have been cleared for formal talks between the two AIADMK factions despite Dinakarans resistance. The ruling group led by chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami has announced that Sasikala and her family would be kept out of government and party affairs, one of the preconditions laid down by the O Panneerselvam faction for merger talks to move ahead. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Belize, the Bahamas and Playa del Carmen, Mexico have been named some of the best places to live along the coast. Coastal Living magazine, a brand owned by Time Inc., published its 20 Best Places to Live 2017 list, which considers everything from the coastal lifestyle to urban and community design, expat life, ease of transition, real estate ownership, location and quality of destination. Its a list tailor-made for retirees looking for property along water-front, sun-soaked coastlines in North America and the Caribbean, or ocean lovers and water babies looking to live near its wildness. Destinations are divided into different categories. For those in search of a smaller coastal town, the list includes Fernandina Beach and Sarasota in Florida. Theres also Grand Haven in Michigan, Langley in Washington and Orleans in Massachusetts. More dynamic destinations in the cities category include Boston, San Diego, Santa Barbara and St. Petersburg, Florida. For those looking for something more exotic and tropical, experts singled out Ambergris Caye in Belize, Harbour Islands in the Bahamas and Playa del Carmen, in Mexico. For the full list visit here. Follow @htlifeandstyle for more Meghan Markle will reportedly attend Pippa Middelton and James Matthews wedding with boyfriend Prince Harry. The 32-year-old royal will reportedly be taking his girlfriend to a portion of the couples wedding on May 20, but will be flying solo for the ceremony at St. Marks church in Engelfield, England, reported People magazine. Markle will not attend the main wedding as the protocol prohibits unmarried and un-engaged partners to attend the nuptials, but the 35-year-old is expected to attend the party that evening. The report comes after Prince Harry jetted off to Toronto, Canada, where Markle lives, just before Easter weekend. Follow @htshowbiz for more A professor belonging to the persecuted Ahmadi community was found murdered at her residence in Lahore, in the third such attack on the religious minority in the last three weeks. Punjab Universitys Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics professor Tahira Parveen Malik (61) was living alone at her official residence in the varsity campus. Prof Malik was found murdered in her house yesterday morning when police and a varsity official reached there. Her daughter informed the varsity administration that her mother was not picking up her phone since the previous night, Punjab University spokesperson Khurram Shahzad told PTI. When police broke into the house, they found her lying in pool of blood with multiple stab wounds, the spokesperson added. Khurram said Maliks daughter resided in Karachi. The university officials have not found evidence of robbery, he said. The spokesperson for the Jamaat Ahmadia Pakistan, Saleemuddin, said it appeared Malik was killed because of her faith as she had no enmity with anyone. Some extremist groups are active in targeting Ahmadis, he said. Senior police officer Haider Ashraf said, We are investigating this case from all aspects including faith- driven. Tahira Malik had joined the PU Centre for Applied Molecular Biology in 1984 as research scholar. She did her MS (equivalent to M Phil) from California University Riverside, USA in 1990. She later joined Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics in 2004 and retired on August 15, 2016 and later rejoined it on contract. Early this month, Ahmadi doctor Ashfaq Ahmed, 68, was killed by unidentified men in the city. Late last month, well-known advocate Malik Saleem Latif, the cousin of Nobel laureate scientist Dr Abdus Salam and president of Jamaat-e-Ahmadiya Nankana Sahib district, was shot dead by unidentified attackers. IS-linked militant organisation Lashkar-e-Jhanghvi had claimed the killing, saying it has sent another infidel to hell. Saleemuddin said the government has failed to rein in elements spreading hate openly against the Ahmadi community. A professor from the persecuted Ahmadi community was found stabbed to death in her house in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, the third member of the religious minority to be killed in the past three weeks. The body of Tahira Abdullah was found lying in a pool of blood with multiple stab wounds in the residential colony of the University of Punjab on Tuesday. It is feared this was a targeted killing based on the victims faith. Abdullah, 61, had been working on a contract after retiring from the varsitys molecular genetics department. She was teaching cell biology, DNA replication and repair, biochemistry and plant biotechnology at the postgraduate level. She had been living alone in the house granted to her by the university and her husband had died a few years ago. Abdullah was found murdered when police and a university official reached her home, University of Punjab spokesperson Khurram Shahzad told PTI. Her daughter informed the varsity administration that her mother was not picking up her phone since the previous night, he added. Saleemuddin, the spokesperson for the Jamaat Ahmadiyya Pakistan, said Abdullah was an Ahmadi and it was very likely she was killed because of her faith. On March 30, well-known advocate Malik Saleem Latif, the cousin of Nobel laureate Abdus Salam and president of Jamaat Ahmadiyya in Nankana Sahib district, was shot dead by unidentified attackers. A veterinary doctor from the community was killed in Lahore on April 7. The banned militant group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for the earlier killings. A constitutional amendment in 1974 declared Ahmadis non-Muslims. Several militant groups consider them heretics and members of the community have often been targeted by terrorists. Chinas foreign ministry said Wednesday that Interpol has issued a red notice seeking the arrest of Guo Wengui, a Chinese billionaire who has threatened to expose corruption at the highest levels of the ruling Communist Party. Foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang gave no details about Guos alleged crimes when announcing the Interpol notice. The real estate tycoon disappeared from public view in 2014 but resurfaced in recent months, claiming in two interviews with overseas Chinese media and a stream of Twitter posts that he held damning information about party elites. Guos case has been closely followed by Chinese political watchers, who say his leaks could be potentially damaging as internal factions jostle for power in the months leading up to the 19th Party Congress expected this fall, when a new generation of party leaders will be chosen. Guo has been linked to Ma Jian, a former deputy head of Chinas intelligence service who was charged with corruption in February. He is believed to be in the U.S. or Britain, two countries that do not have extradition treaties with China. In brief messages to The Associated Press on Wednesday, Guo dismissed the Interpol notice as an empty threat from the Chinese leadership. Its all lies, all threats, Guo said. It shows they are scared of me leaking explosive information. He added: Dont worry, this is a good thing. Guo was not listed on Interpols website and agency officials declined comment, saying that Interpol does not comment on specific cases without the agreement of the member country involved as a matter of policy. A red notice for Guo would revive concerns over the election of a top Chinese police official as Interpols president in November. Rights advocated had warned that the abuses and lack of transparency within Chinas legal system meant there was the potential for Interpol to be misused to attack Beijings political opponents. Our warnings about the risk of political instrumentalization of Interpol after putting high ranking (Chinese Communist Party) official at the top were not overblown, Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty Internationals regional director for East Asia, wrote Wednesday on Twitter. He noted that Guo had recently given an interview to the New York Times in which he repeated his claims to have evidence of corruption among high-ranking officials. A red notice issued by the Lyon, France-based International Criminal Police Organization is the closest instrument to an international arrest warrant in use today. Interpol circulates those notices to member countries listing people who are wanted for extradition. China has sought to enlist Interpol in its ongoing campaign to capture Chinese officials and business people accused of corruption who have fled abroad. Returning those suspects to China is part of President Xi Jinpings broader campaign against corruption in the government and ruling party, which itself has raised questions about Xis political motives. Guo said that earlier this week he and the U.S.-government-funded Voice of America had received threats from Chinese agents warning them against releasing an interview in which he promised to dish information about Chinese leaders. The interview will be streamed late Wednesday in Beijing as planned, Guo said. Despite his humble roots in the central province of Henan, Guos transformation into a billionaire developer and his bare-knuckle business tactics have been the subject of sensational stories in domestic media. He reportedly worked with Ma, the disgraced intelligence chief, to obtain a sex tape of a deputy mayor of Beijing who blocked Guos high-profile real estate project in 2006, leading to the city officials downfall. At the center of Guos recent corruption allegations are claims that relatives of He Guoqiang, a former member of Politburo Standing Committee, Chinas most powerful decision-making body, were secretly stakeholders in Founder Securities, a company that Guo sought unsuccessfully to purchase a stake in in 2014. Citing corporate registration documents and interviews with relatives, The New York Times reported earlier this month that Hes family did indeed have extensive ties to Founder, substantiating at least some of Guos claims. US president Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday that directs federal agencies to review and change a temporary visa programme for high-skilled foreigners to ensure preference was accorded to the most-skilled and highest-paid. The change, when it becomes effective, is likely to benefit Silicon Valley tech giants who are willing to pay top dollars for the best talent. Critics of the programme have said these organisations get crowded out by outsourcing companies that are mostly from India. The United States grants 85,000 H-1B temporary visas to high-skilled foreigners every year -- 65,000 hired from abroad and 20,000 from those enrolled in US colleges. Because of the high demand, a lottery system is used to pick qualifying petitions. Right now, H1-B visas are awarded in a totally random lottery -- and thats wrong, Trump said at the signing at a factory in Wisconsin. Instead, he added, they should be given to the most-skilled and highest-paid applicants, and they should never, ever be used to replace Americans. Called the Buy American, hire American executive order, it mandates government agencies to review and change rules that come in the way of Buy American policies, a campaign promise to re-energise manufacturing. On H-1B, which would be of immediate concern to Indians, the order said it would be policy of the administration to rigorously enforce and administer laws regarding foreign workers in order to create higher wages and employment rates for workers in the United States, and to protect their economic interests. To that end, the order added, the departments of state, justice, labour and homeland security (of which the US Citizenship and Immigration Services that runs the H-1B programmes is a part) will propose new rules and guidelines to protect American workers from fraud and abuse. Also, the four federal agencies will suggest reforms to help ensure that H-1B visas are awarded to the most-skilled or highest-paid petition beneficiaries. Critics of the programme have argued that the H-1Bs were being used by outsourcing firms to bring in low-skilled workers on low wages who land up displacing Americans and not the best and brightest as was originally envisioned. An analysis released by AP on Tuesday showed computer science hires who make up three-quarters of the H-1B recipients receive about 9% less, on average, than US workers with similar positions. Foreign workers, the study went on to show, in non-computer science occupations receive an average of 58% more. The US has already moved on addressing this issue by announcing a new set of guidelines for those qualifying for H-1B visas. Among the guidelines, computer programmes with no additional qualification will not be acceptable as speciality occupation. Outsourcing companies are accused of flooding the USCIS with applications for relatively basic-level skills in the hope of landing visas through the lottery system and crowding out American companies. The timeline for the H-1B-related review and changes was not clear in the executive order, which merely said they should be wrapped up as soon as practicable. But the administration has already started making changes, and didnt wait for the order. It has suspended premium processing of applications, for instance, changed the guideline for defining speciality occupation and has issued warning against abuse. NASSCOM, a trade body representing Indian IT industry told Reuters that it backs efforts to root out H-1B abuses, but said the idea that H-1B visa holders are cheap labour is inaccurate. US President Donald Trump will host Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas at the White House May 3 for talks on efforts to revive the Middle East peace process, the White House said Wednesday. They will use the visit to reaffirm the commitment of both the United States and Palestinian leadership to pursuing and ultimately concluding a conflict-ending settlement between the Palestinians and Israel, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said. The meeting would be Trumps first with Abbas, and follows a series of US contacts with the Palestinian leader. Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have repeatedly run aground despite periodic US efforts to revive them, most recently by former secretary of state John Kerry. But Abbas, who met in Ramallah recently with CIA chief Mike Pompeo and Trumps special representative Jason Greenblatt, has said Trump is seriously considering a solution to the Palestinian issue. The US president held talks last week in Washington with Egypts President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Jordans King Abdullah. Shortly after taking office, Trump alarmed Palestinians by calling into question his administrations support for a two-state solution, a bedrock of US policy. But he has since warned Israel against unrestrained building of settler homes in the occupied West Bank. Young people of the Tsou aboriginals perform a folk dance in the Ali Mountain of Jiayi County, southeast China's Taiwan, April 18, 2017. Young people of the Tsou aboriginals living on the Ali Mountain devoted themselves to demonstrating local culture to tourists. (Xinhua/Liu Junxi) The Middle Easts biggest airline said on Wednesday it is reducing flights to the United States because of a drop in demand caused by tougher US security measures and attempts by the Trump administration to ban travellers from a number of Muslim-majority nations. Emirates said the reductions will affect five of its 12 US destinations, starting next month. It called the move a commercial decision in response to weakened travel demand in the three months since President Donald Trump took office. Twice daily Emirates flights to Boston, Los Angles and Seattle will be reduced to once a day. Daily flights to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando will be pared down to five per week. The Trump administrations restrictions on carry-on electronic devices on planes coming to the US have hit hundreds of Indians who regularly transit through airports in the Middle East where the new rules are applicable. Many Indians who fly to the US via the Middle East travel on Emirates. Under the US department of homeland securitys rules, passengers travelling from 10 airports in Muslim-majority countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, have to bring devices such as tablets, laptops and cameras in their checked baggage. The airports affected by the restrictions are served by nine airlines Royal Jordanian Airlines, Egypt Air, Turkish Airlines, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Kuwait Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad Airways that earlier flew directly to the US about 50 times a day. Jon Ossoff, a young Democrat, nearly pulled off what could have a been a stunning victory in a special congressional election in a heavily Republican district in Georgia that had turned into something of a referendum on President Donald Trump. Ossoff won 48.3% of the votes, more than all the other candidates, but had needed to win 50% for an outright win. He now faces a runoff in June, against one Republican candidate and not 11 that were in fray this time, which may not be as generous to him. The special election sort of a bye-election was held to replace the congressional districts last incumbent Tom Price who vacated the seat when he joined Trumps team as his secretary for health and human services. This is already a remarkable victory, Ossoff, a 30-year-old former congressional aide and documentary filmmaker, said in a statement. We defied the odds, shattered expectations, and now are ready to fight on and win in June. But Trump, who had seemed personally invested, claimed credit and called the result a victory in a post on Twitter: Despite major outside money, FAKE media support and eleven Republican candidates, BIG R win with runoff in Georgia. Glad to be of help! Trump had indeed seemed aware the election was as much about him as those in the fray, and had seemed engaged in a stream of tweets through the day on Tuesday as the district voted. Democrat Jon Ossoff would be a disaster in Congress, he tweeted early in the morning. VERY weak on crime and illegal immigration, bad for jobs and wants higher taxes. Say NO. The White House, which monitored the elections closely, pushed back against the suggestion it was a referendum on Trump. I wouldnt use the word referendum, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, adding, I think (Trump) hopes to have a Republican elected to that seat, and hopefully it will be someone to follow in Tom Prices footsteps and be a leader from that district. A gunman who went by the nickname Black Jesus killed three white men in downtown Fresno, California, on Tuesday, and fired at another before he was taken into custody while shouting Allahu Akhbar, police said. The suspect, 39-year-old Kori Ali Muhammad, was also wanted in connection with the fatal shooting last week of an unarmed security guard at a Motel 6 in Fresno, police chief Jerry Dyer told reporters at a press conference. Dyer said Muhammad fired at least 16 rounds from a large-caliber handgun in less than a minute at four downtown Fresno locations at about 10:45am local time before he was spotted running through the streets by a police officer. Immediately upon the individual seeing the officer he literally dove onto the ground and was taken into custody and as he was taken into custody he yelled out Allahu Akhbar, Dyer said. The term means God is great in Arabic. He does not like white people, Dyer said, citing the suspects statements after being arrested and his Facebook postings. The chief said Muhammad, who is African American, used the nickname Black Jesus. A road is blocked by police tape after a multiple victim shooting incident in downtown Fresno. (Reuters Photo) All four of the men killed on Tuesday were white, as was the security guard and the other man Mohammad shot at but missed. Dyer said it was too early to rule out terrorism and that his department had contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate, but portrayed the incident as a random act of violence. These individuals who were chosen today did not do anything to deserve what they got, he said. These were unprovoked attacks by an individual who was intent on carrying out homicides today, and he did that. Dyer said Muhammad had been identified quickly as the prime suspect in the Motel 6 shooting on April 13 and that police had been urgently seeking him across the Fresno area since then. Fresno is an agricultural hub in Californias central valley, about 170 miles southeast of San Francisco. Muhammad has a criminal history that includes weapons and drug charges and had spent time in state prison, Dyer said. County government buildings were placed on lockdown during the shooting spree and residents were urged to shelter in place. Local television images showed what appeared to be a body covered in a yellow tarp in a street near where police tape marked off several crime scenes. President Donald Trumps executive order signed Tuesday aims to end fraud and abuse of a temporary visa programme for high-skilled foreigners and ensure only the best and the brightest benefit from it, but some are warning against going too far. Once Tuesdays executive order becomes effective, American companies willing to pay top dollar for the best talent from around the world will benefit. Critics of the H-1B visa say the programme has helped outsourcing firms, mostly from India, crowd out global talent. Nasscom, a body representing Indian information technology industry, lashed out in a statement saying the current campaign to discredit our sector is driven by persistent myths, such as the ideas that H-1B visa holders are cheap labour and displace American workers. In the US, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a non-partisan think-tank, and fwd.us, a body representing IT giants Facebook, Google and others, cautioned this order should not lead to making legal immigration harder and expensive. The US grants 85,000 H-1B temporary visas to high-skilled foreigners every year 65,000 hired from abroad and 20,000 from those enrolled in US colleges. Because of the high demand, a lottery system is used to pick qualifying petitions. Right now, H1B visas are awarded in a totally random lottery -- and thats wrong, Trump said at the signing of the executive order at a factory in Wisconsin. Instead they should be given to the most-skilled and highest-paid applicants, and they should never, ever be used to replace Americans. Called the Buy American, Hire American Executive Order, it also mandates government agencies to review and change rules that come in the way of Buy American policies, Trrumps campaign promise to re-energise local manufacturing. On H-1B, which would be of immediate concern to India and Indians, the order said it would be the policy of the administration to rigorously enforce and administer laws regarding foreign workers in order to create higher wages and employment rates for workers in the United States, and to protect their economic interests. The order directs the departments of state, justice, labor and homeland security (of which the US Citizenship and Immigration Services that runs the H-1B programmes is a part) to propose new rules and guidelines to protect American workers from fraud and abuse. Also, the four federal agencies will suggest reforms to help ensure that H-1B visas are awarded to the most-skilled or highest-paid petition beneficiaries. While the intent to end fraud and abuse and attract only the best and brightest was not contested by anyone, the order was greeted with scepticism in many quarters, specially in the US tech industry and in India, which is likely to be impacted. Information Technology Innovation Foundation said in a statement it welcomes proposals to make H-1B visa selection process merit-based the efforts to root out abuse, as we continue to welcome highly qualified STEM workers. In support of its argument, the foundation cited an earlier study it did that showed 46% of the most important US innovators are immigrants or the children of immigrants. And Todd Schulte, head of Facebook-baked fwd.us, said in a post on Twitter: We hope any changes are not part of any broad effort to make legal immigration harder, more expensive. Critics of the programme have argued that the H-1Bs were being used by outsourcing firms to bring in low-skilled workers on low wages who land up displacing Americans and not the best and brightest as was originally envisioned. An analysis released by Associated Press on Tuesday showed computer science hires who make up three-quarters of the H-1B recipients receive about 9% percent less, on average, than U.S. workers with similar positions. Foreign workers, the study went on to show, in non-computer science occupations receive an average of 58% more. The US has already moved on addressing this issue in part by announcing earlier this year a new set of guidelines for those qualifying H-1B a computer programme degree with no additional qualification will not be acceptable as speciality occupation. Outsourcing companies are accused of flooding the USCIS with applications much in excess of their need, for relatively basic-level skills, in the hope of landing more of them through the lottery system, crowding out American companies. The timeline for the H-1B-related review and changes was not clear in the executive order, which merely said they should be wrapped up as soon as practicable. But the administration has already started making changes, and didnt wait for the order. It has suspended premium processing of applications, for instance, changed the guideline for defining speciality occupation and has issued warning against abuse. Pakistans National Assembly on Wednesday passed a bill endorsing compulsory Quran education for all Muslim students studying in government schools from class 1 to 12, a move apparently aimed at weaning away children from religious seminaries. The Compulsory Teaching of the Holy Quran Bill 2017 was tabled before the house by state minister for federal education and professional training Balighur Rehman. The bill provides that students from class 1 to 5 will learn to read the Arabic text of the holy book, while students from class 6 to 12 will also learn to read the Arabic text with simple Urdu translation. The minister clarified that this piece of legislation is only meant for the Muslim students. The bill will need President Mamnoon Hussains signature to become law. It will lead towards spreading goodness and auspiciousness and towards ending chaos and uncertainty, according to the bill. The law will be applicable to all federal educational institutions in the country but it will be mandatory for Muslim students. The provinces can separately legislate on teaching of the Quran. Islam is Pakistans state religion and the government is bound to take steps to help people learn the teaching of Islam. Experts say the legislation could be an effort to wean away students from religious seminaries where they are just taught the Quran. Pakistan is awaiting with growing suspense the Supreme Courts verdict in the Panama Papers case on Thursday, with talk in Islamabad even suggesting the ruling could force Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to step down and make way for an interim premier from his party. At a meeting of the PML-N party held in Islamabad on Wednesday and chaired by Sharif, leaders debated whether the party should go for early elections or for an interim prime minister, in which case the choice of candidate would have to be finalised. The two favourites for the position are finance minister Ishaq Dar, related to the Sharif family through marriage, and Nawaz Sharif's younger brother, Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif. Other candidates are also being considered, PML-N officials said. The case pertains to leaked documents from the Panamanian law firm of Mossack Fonseca that showed Sharifs children, including heir apparent Maryam Nawaz, owned offshore assets worth millions of dollars. The Supreme Court has raised questions about Maryams finances. Anticipating an adverse verdict, the Karachi Stock Exchange, the premier bourse, continued to fall. At the end of trading on Tuesday, the Pakistan Stock Exchanges (PSX) benchmark index recorded a fall of 250.75 points to end at 46,874.37. The market also registered a fall when it reopened on Wednesday morning. Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah, a close aide to chief minister Shahbaz Sharif, said the PML-N is quite optimistic that the apex courts decision will not affect the prime minister since his name was not in the Panama Papers case and there was no evidence of wrongdoing against him. However, in case the decision somehow affects the premier, I am of the view that we should go into the polls as per schedule in 2018, Sanaullah told a local newspaper. At the same time, PML-N leaders have started making arrangements for a spike in political activity in the coming days. Banners have gone up eulogising Prime Minister Sharif and the party. A PML-N leader told the media on Wednesday that the party would not give the field to Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party to cash in on the Panama Papers verdict. Though we are sitting silent right now, we have our plans to deal with the post-Panama verdict situation, he said. PTI, the main petitioner in the Panama Papers case, said it is excited and hopeful that Sharif would be sent home on Thursday. We are expecting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs disqualification in the light of evidence presented against him in the court, PTI secretary general Jehangir Tareen told Dawn newspaper. The executive order signed by President Donald Trump calling for a review of H-1B visas is too little and too late, US lawmakers said, even as more half a dozen legislations on reforming the programme remain pending in the House of Representatives and the Senate. We already know H-1B visa abuse hurts American workers. Simply reviewing the program is too little, too late, Senator Dick Durbin said after Trump signed a the order directing his administration to review the functioning of the system. US lawmakers have already tabled more than half a dozen legislations in the Congress with specific proposals to reform and improve the H-1B visas systems. Many of those proposals, as per industry body Nasscom, are discriminatory and are targeted towards Indian IT companies. Trumps long-awaited executive order drew sharp reactions from the opposition Democrat lawmakers and the sponsors of these legislations, but drew applause from the treasury benches. I applaud President Trump for his efforts to spur job creation, economic growth, and American competitiveness by improving our countrys high-skilled immigration programs, said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte. The Presidents Buy American, Hire American Executive Order directs the Secretaries of the appropriate agencies to examine the H-1B visa program and identify reforms that will root out fraud and abuse to ultimately make the program more workable for American businesses while protecting American workers, he said. The H-1B visa program allows US employers to hire foreign specialty workers in technical and highly-skilled fields, like engineering, medicine, mathematics, and science. These workers receive a non-immigrant visa that can last as long as six years. Congressman Bill Pascrell, Ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade, alleged that the executive orde is yet another broken promise from Trump, who told the American people that he would end the H-1B visa program. For far too long the H-1B visa has been abused by some as a cheap way to replace American workers. With no mandated timeframes and no changes to the law, todays executive order cannot solve the underlying problem, Pascrell said. I have introduced bipartisan, comprehensive reform legislation to improve the H-1B visa program to ensure foreign workers are not underpaid and Americans are sought to be hired first. Real reform must happen legislatively. The Administration should come to the Congress and work with us on changing the law, Pascrell said. Senator Chuck Grassley, an author of legislation to reform the H-1B and L-1 skilled work visa programs, said it is time to take action against the abuse of H-1B visa system. The H-1B program was designed to fill gaps in Americas workforce with highly-skilled foreign workers, but as weve seen in recent years, the program has been abused and exploited at the expense of American workers and most- qualified foreign workers, he said. Weve seen companies use the program to fire American workers and replace them with lower-paid foreign counterparts. The visa lottery system makes this problem worse by rewarding visas randomly, instead of prioritising foreign workers with greater experience, skill, and qualifications, he added. Ive introduced bipartisan legislation with Senator Durbin to address these problems, and Ive expressed to President Trump the need to take action to restore the integrity in the H-1B Program, Grassley said. Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown meanwhile applauded Trump for the executive order. At least 14 Taliban fighters, including the shadow governor of the northern Baghlan province, have been killed in heavy fighting with Afghan forces, officials said Wednesday. Amir Gul Hussainkhil, the deputy provincial police chief, said Afghan security forces launched a large-scale attack on the insurgents the night before in the western part of the province, setting off five hours of intense fighting and killing Taliban shadow governor Mawlavi Lal Mohammad. Hussainkhil said the dead also included a number of expert bomb makers. He says no government forces were killed. The Taliban confirmed that the shadow governor was killed and said four other fighters died in the clashes. Elsewhere in Afghanistan, a roadside bomb killed a district police chief and his driver in the southern Zabul province late Tuesday, according to Gul Islam Sial, spokesman for the provincial governor. He said four police were wounded in the blast. In the northern Takhar province, Taliban fighters killed a senior border police officer and wounded four police in an ambush early Wednesday, police spokesman Khalil Aseer said. An Asiatic black bear died after being dropped from the helicopter transporting it to freedom earlier this year because the pilot feared they would crash into a cliff, a Thai newspaper reported on Wednesday. Khao Sod English quoted a ministry of natural resources and environment investigator as saying that human error and an unauthorised flight plan caused the death of the bear, who was on the way to be released in the Khao Yai National Park in February after spending a decade in wildlife rehabilitation. The pilot admitted to unhooking the bear hanging from the helicopter because they were approaching a cliff and needed to lessen the load. If they hadnt, they would have crashed into the cliff, Adisorn Nuchdamrong told the newspaper. He added that national park flight officials did not obtain necessary authorisation to fly the bear, and did not file a flight plan detailing all the people who would be on board including a reporter. Under wildlife rehabilitation injured, orphaned, or sick animals are treated and taken care of so that they can be released back to the wild. Asiatic black bears have been classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), mostly because of deforestation and hunting for its body parts. We are sending an armada, President Donald Trump told a TV news interviewer last week about the US response to provocations from North Korea. Very powerful. We have submarines. Very powerful, far more powerful than the aircraft carrier. Actually, a fleet of US warships an aircraft carrier accompanied by two destroyers and a cruiser had been deployed, but in the opposite direction from the Korean peninsula. They were headed for a naval exercise with Australia. For a few days it had seemed that after raining Tomahawks on Syria, Trump was prepared to punish North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who had stepped up missile launches and firings in a thinly disguised attempt to test the new administration. White House press secretary Sean Spicer said having the US warships in the Sea of Japan within striking distance of North Korea gave Trump options in the region. Other US officials sounded issued equally dire warnings. The flotilla, led by aircraft carrier Carl Vinson, had left Singapore for an undisclosed destination on April 9, just days after Trump ordered missiles into Syria, and it was assumed to be headed for the Korean peninsula. But it was actually on its way for a prescheduled exercise with Australians, some 5,600 km away. This would have gone unnoticed but for a picture of Carl Vinson posted online by the US Navy, sailing south through the Sunda Strait, which separates the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra. It was taken on Saturday, and the White House said it was in the Sea of Japan. While House officials have since said their account was based on guidance from the Defense Department, according to The New York Times. Leaders of 28 countries will attend the Belt and Road (B&R) Forum for International Cooperation next month, another major "home diplomacy" event for China after the Hangzhou G20 Summit in 2016. The B&R Forum for International Cooperation will be held on May 14 and 15 in Beijing, and Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to attend the opening ceremony and host a round table summit of the leaders, Wang said Tuesday morning, the Xinhua News Agency reported. "Since the start of the B&R initiative in 2013, the initiative has undergone three years' development, so we are at the key stage to comprehensively promote it, and this is the main reason why China is holding the forum" said Lin Minwang, a professor at the Institute of International Studies of Fudan University. At the invitation of Xi, 28 heads of state and government leaders will attend the forum, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, and Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni. In attendance will be academics, entrepreneurs and finance and media industry experts from 110 countries, and other guests include nine vice prime ministers, seven foreign ministers and 190 ministerial-level officials, and 89 heads and representatives from 61 international organizations. The total number of attendees will surpass 1,200. This is another large-scale "home diplomacy" event for China after the Beijing Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in 2014 and the Hangzhou G20 Summit in 2016, Wang Yi said. Although major Western leaders, except for Italy, will not attend, it will not affect the influence of the forum because the B&R initiative is intended to boost developing countries, helping them to achieve modernization, industrialization, and better participate in globalization, said Wang Yiwei, senior research fellow of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at the Renmin University of China. In May, there are also some important international events, such as a NATO Summit in Brussels, Belgium and the G7 Summit in Taormina, Italy, so the overlapping timing is also a reason why major Western leaders cannot attend the forum, Wang Yiwei added. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not attend the forum. India has some concerns about the B&R initiative. For instance, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will go through Kashmir, a region disputed between India and Pakistan, so it makes India feel that the B&R initiative does not respect its sovereignty, Lin said. Indian elites also consider China's invitation to cooperate in the B&R initiative presents New Delhi with a dilemma: on one hand it wants to cooperate with China on maritime issues, but on the other hand, it needs to restrain China's influence in the Indian Ocean, Lin noted. Open to all The B&R initiative does not have geographic boundaries, because essentially it is an initiative of international cooperation, and it could and should be open to every member among the international community, Wang Yi said. In the past, people thought the B&R initiative's goal was to link Asia and Europe, and so it was not aimed at the rest of the world. This is wrong, said Jiang Shixue, a professor at Shanghai University and deputy director of the Institute for European Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. This time we see that leaders from Latin American and African countries like Argentina, Chile, Kenya and Ethiopia will attend the forum, so this proves that the B&R initiative has no geographic boundaries. It welcomes every country's participation and it will be welcomed by countries in any continent, Jiang stressed. The essential elements are "communication on policies, connection via infrastructure, fluid trade, fluid financing and fluid people-to-people exchanges," Jiang said, adding that any international cooperation could be covered by the initiative as long as it fits with these elements, so there is no need to use geographic boundaries to limit international cooperation. "This initiative is not a 'members-only club' but a 'circle of friends' we are all equal partners as long as we all agree to the spirit of the Silk Road. Different countries can use their own way to join this initiative and share the benefits from the development," Wang Yi said. The White House raised the possibility on Wednesday of Donald Trump meeting Pope Francis during the US presidents trip to Italy in late May, although it stressed nothing has been scheduled. We will be reaching out to the Vatican to see if an audience with the pope can be accommodated, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said. We would be honored to have an audience with his holiness. Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said Pope Francis would welcome a request for an audience and do his best to ensure it happened. As of the end of last week we had not had an official request for an audience but for sure we would welcome it, Burke told AFP, adding that he did not anticipate any scheduling clashes which could prevent a meeting taking place around the dates Trump is due to be in Italy. Trump is scheduled to participate in the G7 summit of leaders on May 26-27 in Taormina, Sicily. Prior to that, he is expected to attend a NATO summit in Brussels. World leaders normally give the Vatican at least several months notice of requests for a papal audience, which are almost invariably granted if logistically possible. In Trumps case, the request will be coming in barely a month before he is due in Sicily for the G7 summit and after months of will-he, wont-he speculation about a possible meeting centered on the two mens very different world views. While campaigning in February 2016 to become the Republican Partys nominee for the White House, Trump and the pontiff had a heated and extraordinary exchange through the media. Anyone, whoever he is, who only wants to build walls and not bridges is not a Christian, Pope Francis told journalists, responding to a question about the real estate moguls anti-immigrant stance. Trump retorted: For a religious leader to question a persons faith is disgraceful. Trump later softened his tone, saying the pope was misinformed, unaware of the impact of the drugs coming into the United States and a range of security issues that made it necessary to build a wall along the southern US border. On a visit to Mexico in February 2016 Francis held an open-air mass on the US-Mexico border, where he described forced migration as a human tragedy. When he was sworn in as president on January 20, Pope Francis offered his cordial good wishes and hoped that Trump would be granted wisdom and strength in the exercise of his office. But he also implored the former reality TV star to continue to help those who suffer the most -- the poor, the outcast and those in need who, like Lazarus, stand before our door. Britains parliament votes Wednesday on holding a snap election in June, as Prime Minister Theresa May seeks to make strong gains against the opposition ahead of gruelling Brexit negotiations. May, who made the shock call for an early election on Tuesday, needs to bolster her narrow majority of 17 seats ahead of likely tortuous talks with Brussels that could re-open old wounds within her Conservative Party. The small Liberal Democrats opposition party is meanwhile hoping to emerge as a haven for pro-European voters distraught after last Junes referendum to quit the European Union, gearing up to campaign against a hard Brexit that would take Britain out of Europes single market. The main opposition Labour Party is in a weaker position ahead of the proposed June 8 election, experts say, bitterly divided over both its leftist leader Jeremy Corbyn and how to respond to Brexit. Opinion polls put the Conservatives -- who currently hold 330 of parliaments 650 seats -- way ahead of Labour, who have 229. Three polls released over the weekend show Mays Conservatives around 20 points ahead. Britains second female prime minister, who took over last summer following her predecessor David Camerons failure to convince voters to back the EU, also appears to have won strong popular support for her handling of the political earthquake unleashed by Brexit. May heads for election landslide, read The Times front page on Wednesday. The Telegraph reflected the nations surprise at the imminent election: Mays bolt from the blue. Labours embattled Corbyn meanwhile faces speculation that a dismal performance in the election could spell the end of his time at the helm of the fractured 117-year-old party. So far, Labours stance has been to allow the government to go ahead with the EU divorce -- but only under certain conditions, such as retaining strong economic ties with the bloc. That approach has left neither of the partys key constituencies particularly happy. Core voters in the north who voted for Brexit are not convinced, and metropolitan liberal voters arent convinced by that either, political expert and author Eliza Filby told AFP. Many of Labours traditional working-class supporters voted to leave the EU, particularly in areas that have seen an influx of eastern European immigrants in recent years. Game-playing on Brexit May had for months ruled out an early election, but switched tack Tuesday saying it was needed for certainty and stability ahead of the Brexit negotiations. We need a general election and we need one now, she said. We have at this moment a one-off chance to get this done while the European Union agrees its negotiating position and before the detailed talks begin. The announcement caught British political observers off guard as well as financial markets, which retreated as investors reacted cautiously to Mays speech. Britains next election had been scheduled for May 2020, but a two-thirds majority vote in parliament could overrule that in Wednesdays vote, which British media reported could come at around 1300 GMT after an hour and a half of debate. Labour has already said it supports an early election. May explained her policy U-turn with an attack on her domestic political opponents, many of whom support Britains continued membership of Europes single market, accusing them of game-playing over Brexit. In a newspaper interview published Wednesday, she said holding talks with Brussels in the run-up to a 2020 general election could damage Londons negotiating position. I think the Europeans might have seen that as a time of weakness when they could push us. Now we will be much freer, she told The Sun. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who is pressing for an independence referendum, said May was making a huge political miscalculation that would bolster her Scottish National Party. Scotland voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU and Sturgeon argues it should now be allowed to break off from Britain to hold on to close ties with the bloc. If the election goes ahead, parliament would be dissolved on May 3 and the campaign would begin in earnest, just days after EU leaders hold a special summit to agree a negotiating strategy for Brexit on April 29. The Brexit negotiations are expected to start in June. The snap election caps a tumultuous few years in British politics that has seen two historic referendums -- one on Brexit, one on Scottish independence -- and a prime ministerial resignation. An early election would therefore be the fourth big vote in four years after the general election of 2015. A 75-year-old man in the US has died peacefully after his ex-wife lied to him that President Donald Trump was impeached from his office, according to media reports. Michael Garland Elliott, a keen follower of the news, would regularly voice his disapproval of Trump, until ill- health left him unable to communicate. He died peacefully on April 6 after his ex-wife and best friend Teresa Elliott informed him that Donald Trump has been impeached, his obituary in The Oregonian said. Teresa, 68, said she lied to him over the phone from her Austin, Texas home. I knew it was his very, very last moments, Teresa Elliott. I knew that would bring him comfort and it did. He then took his final breath, Teresa was quoted as saying by the New York Daily. Michael died from congestive heart failure after his health had declined over the years, she said. The obituary also said he passed away ... surrounded by people who loved him dearly and cared for him selflessly during the last months of his life. She described Michael as a news junkie who had expressed his disapproval of the President frequently until he could not communicate it verbally. He hated his effing guts, she said of Michaels attitude towards the President. Though the pair divorced 20 years ago, Teresa said she always cared for Michael and would visit him often. Asked whether she regretted telling Michael of the false news, Teresa Elliott replied: Oh God no. If I could leave him with a happy piece of news then why wouldnt I?. And maybe in the end it wont turn out to be a lie, she added. After winning a major legal battle to force the British government to seek parliamentary approval before triggering the process to exit the European Union, Gina Miller on Wednesday launched a funding drive to campaign for tactical voting against a hard Brexit in the June 8 mid-term election. Miller, 52, who was born to Indian-origin parents, is seeking to raise 10,000 through crowd-funding, of which more than 5,000 were quickly raised. She and her group intend to use the funds to travel around the country to support candidates who are against a hard Brexit. Prime Minister Theresa May announced the snap election - dubbed a Brexit election - on Tuesday, taking the country and the political establishment in Westminster by surprise. There were indications people would vote more according to their support or opposition to Brexit, than on party lines. Miller said: We will support candidates who campaign for a real final vote on Brexit, including rejecting any deal that leaves Britain worse off. We will support parliamentary candidates who commit to keeping the options open for the British people. We will fight to make the Brexit deal process transparent, honest and democratic, and tour marginal seats to make sure the next government has no mandate to destroy our rights and our relationship with Europe. The future of our country is in the peoples hands. In January, Miller won her case seeking a direction to the government to seek parliamentary approval before beginning the Brexit process. It was later upheld in the Supreme Court. The notification to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty was sent to Brussels on March 29 after Parliament gave its approval. The Brexit process has already begun and under the provisions of Article 50, it has to be formalised and completed within two years, by the end of March 2019. However, doubts have been expressed if the two-year timetable can be adhered to, given the complexity of the process and the need for parliaments of 27 EU member-states to ratify the final deal. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON With U.S. troops gone from South Vietnam, China made a move at sea in 1974, and the ripple effects are still being felt. On Jan. 11, 1974, South Vietnamese officials received reports of Chinese activity on two of their islands in the Paracel Island chain. Two days later, naval headquarters ordered frigates Ly Thuong Kiet HQ-16 and Tran Khanh Du HQ-4 to investigate. HQ-16 arrived off Robert Island on Jan. 16 and found it occupied by Chinese fishermen from two boats anchored offshore. The ships commander ordered the Chinese to depart and fired warnings shots to make sure they understood his intentions. He then shelled and destroyed the Chinese flags and a fish-processing site the supposed fishermen had placed there six days earlier. HQ-4 arrived Jan. 17 and put a 40-man South Vietnamese SEAL unit on Robert Island and nearby Money Island to remove the Chinese flags. On Jan. 18, the two frigates rammed a Chinese fishing trawler, No. 407, forcing the heavily damaged craft to leave the area. South Vietnamese frigate Tran Binh Trong HQ-5 and minesweeper Nhat Tao HQ-10 arrived later. Saigon believed it had blocked Beijings latest attempt in a six-month intimidation campaign to take the western half of the Paracel chain. Armed Chinese fisherman had all but driven South Vietnamese fishermen from the area, and at least two Chinese fishing boats had been caught operating in waters claimed by South Vietnam. The latest Chinese activity, however, was the start of a new phase in an effort to seize all of the Paracels. This time the fishermen were members of the Peoples Maritime Militia, a paramilitary arm of the Chinese navy. The two fishing boats off Robert Island reported to Chinas South Sea Fleet headquarters. On Jan. 16, the fleet ordered two Hainan Island-based Kronstadt-class subchasers to rush Maritime Militia to the scene, officially to protect fisherman but more likely as part of a force buildup. China also ordered the deployment of two ocean-going minesweepers. Beijing had decided to solve the Paracel Islands territorial dispute by force if the opportunity presented itself. The Paracel Archipelago consists of 130 coral islands, reefs and banks distributed across 5,800 squares miles of maritime area almost equidistant from Chinas Hainan Island (162 nautical miles) and Vietnams port of Da Nang (200 nautical miles). The total land area is about 3 square miles. Most of the islands are grouped in the northeast Amphitrite Group or the western Crescent Group, which are separated by 39 nautical miles. The Amphitrite Groups Woody Island, about 530 acres, is the largest of the Paracel islets. Although both Vietnam and China trace their claims on the Paracel Islands to long-ago imperial dynasties, the roots of the modern Sino-South Vietnamese dispute lie in the 1930s and Frances colonial ambitions. France, a colonial power in Vietnam since 1858, established its claim on the Paracels and the nearby Spratly Islands in 1932 but wasnt initially concerned about actually occupying them. That changed in 1937 as Japans war with Chinastarted in 1931 with Japans seizure of Manchuriaescalated when the Japanese pushed farther into China. The French, concerned that either China or Japan might seize the islands, put a Franco-Vietnamese garrison of about 100 men on Woody Island in 1938 as a buffer to extend the defensive perimeter of Frances Indochina colonies. British authorities encouraged the French move because it also extended the defense perimeter of Britains Malaya colony. Both nations believed Japans war with China was merely a preliminary step toward seizure of European colonies in Southeast Asia. But instead of deterring a Japanese move into the South China Sea, the French occupation of the Paracels provoked Japan, which landed a small naval infantry unit on Woody Island in 1938 just months after the French occupation. The French garrison surrendered without a fight. Japan annexed the Paracel and Spratly islands in 1941, claiming they were part of Japanese-occupied Taiwan. After the U.S. atomic bomb drops on Aug. 6 and 9, 1945, Japan started removing its forces from the islands, completing the withdrawal by the end of August. The Nationalist Chinese Kuomintang government occupied the Amphitrite Group two months later and put a garrison on Woody Island in January 1946. France, after failing to drive the Nationalist Chinese from the Amphitrite Group in a naval show of force, laid claim to the Crescent Group and landed a Foreign Legion platoon on the groups Pattle Island to deter Chinese occupation. The Nationalist Chinese government reiterated its claim to the entire South China Sea in 1947, issuing a map that placed its territorial claims inside a nine-dash line on the outer edge of the sea. In 1949, Communist Chinese forces drove the Nationalist Chinese government to Taiwan. Japan relinquished its claims to all South China Sea islands at the 1951 San Francisco Peace Conference but did not surrender its control specifically to any other claimant, leaving the islands ownership unresolved. The Communist Peoples Republic of China assumed the Nationalist governments South China Sea claims as its own. South Vietnam, however, occupied the Crescent Group in 1954 and placed a small garrison on three islands. Communist China took possession of the Amphitrite Group and Woody Island in 1956. Chinese fishermen landed on the Crescent Groups Duncan Island in 1959, but the South Vietnamese government evicted them. As the fighting in the Vietnam War escalated, Saigonconfident of American naval supportwithdrew its island garrisons. By 1967, the South Vietnamese presence had been reduced to a single weather service station. China seemed to accept the status quo. Two developments in the 1970s changed the dynamics in the South China Sea. Reports of potential oil deposits in the region surfaced in mid-1972, and the Paris Peace Accords of January 1973 ended U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. Asian leaders suddenly saw the South China Sea disputes as not just a political and administrative matter but also as an economic development issue. Mao Zedongs inner circle calculated that the probable economic rewards outweighed the risks of a possible military confrontation. Moreover, those risks were diminishing. Mao recognized that an American government withdrawing from South Vietnam lacked the will to risk another conflict and wanted Chinas support against an increasingly assertive Soviet Union. The Chinese leader concluded that the Saigon regime had little prospect of U.S. support and its days were numbered. His inner circle also knew that North Vietnam still needed Chinese assistance in its drive to conquer the South, and Hanois other ally, the Soviet Union, did not have forces on the scene to interfere with Chinas actions in the islands. Mao ordered a series of steps to pressure South Vietnam to abandon the Paracels. Oblivious to Beijings intentions, Saigon declared its administrative control over the Crescent Group in August 1973 and one month later authorized contracts to explore the surrounding waters for oil. The first incursions of the Chinese fishing fleet had occurred in late July. Many of the fishermen were armed, and at least one of the boats had improvised armor, but they retreated whenever South Vietnamese naval units arrived. Saigon placed small platoon-strength garrisons on three of the islands. In October, Chinese fishing trawlers 402 and 407 landed crewmen on Duncan Island, establishing a supply point with shelters and planting Chinese flags around the island. South Vietnam seized several Chinese fishing boats in November and arrested their crews. The men were taken to Da Nang where they made televised confessions of wrongdoing and crimes against the Vietnamese people before being released. But Chinese fishing boat attacks on South Vietnamese fishermen continued. Meanwhile, Mao had ordered his navy to prepare for military actions in support of Chinas fishermen. On Jan. 10, 1974, a group of those fishermen had begun to process their catch on Robert Island in the Crescent Group. The fishermen themselves had been seen three days earlier by South Vietnamese fishing craft that fled the scene but couldnt make contact with South Vietnamese authorities until the crew reached Da Nang on Jan. 11. Beijing issued a statement the same day reiterating its indisputable sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly islands as well as Macclesfield Bank, a submerged atoll about 70 nautical miles east of the Paracels. Recognizing the implications, Saigon dispatched frigates HQ-16, HQ-4, HQ-5 and the SEAL-carrying minesweeper HQ-10 to Robert Island. Two of the frigates were converted World War II seaplane tenders with the seaplane-support equipment removed, and the third was a converted destroyer escort. All were in poor condition, suffering a variety of engineering and weapons problems that limited their speed and firepower. After their arrival on Jan. 16, the South Vietnamese vessels quickly drove off the Chinese fishermen. Trawler 407 reported HQ-16s arrival to the Maritime Militia headquarters in Yulin on Hainan Island the morning of the 16th. The message reached Beijing a few hours later. That evening, the Chinese navys South Sea Fleet sent two Kronstadt-class subchasers, 271 and 274, to pick up a Maritime Militia company of four 10-man platoons on Woody Island and take them to the Crescent Group. Beijing tried to rush reinforcements to the scene, but like their South Vietnamese counterparts, the Chinese navys warships were in bad shape. Chinas Cultural Revolution, a purge of anti-socialist influences and Maos opponents, had all but demolished the countrys shipyards. More than 2 million scientists, engineers, educators, skilled workers and administrators were imprisoned or killed, including those who built and maintained the countrys ships and the rail systems that delivered material to the shipyards. Consequently, the Chinese navys best warships, the Type 065 destroyers, were unable to get underway at all. The 271 was fresh out of the yards and had to yet to finish its sea trials, while the 274s diesel engines poor condition precluded speeds above 18 knots. Still, they were faster and better armed than the South Vietnamese vessels. Two Shenyang J-6 fighter planes (Chinese copies of the Soviet MiG-19) provided air cover for the subchasers but lacked the range to remain overhead after the ships arrived on scene the evening of Jan. 17. At dawn on Jan. 18, the Chinese ships landed one Maritime Militia platoon on Drummond Island, another on Palm Island and two platoons on Duncan Island. Those troops spent the day digging in and placing mines and booby traps in front of their positions. Two Guangzhou-based Type 10 ocean minesweepers, 389 and 396, were ordered to reinforce Kronstadt subchasers 271 and 274. They arrived late in the morning. Chinas only other operational warships, two Hainan-class subchasers, had to deploy from Shantou, more than 476 nautical miles away. They sped toward the Paracels at top speed, refueling in Zhajiang, south of Hong Kong, and in Yulin. The Chinese ships were instructed to support the Maritime Militia trawlers with the following rules of engagement: Dont stir up trouble. Dont fire the first shot. But if combat erupts, win it. In the early morning of Jan. 19, the flotilla leader organized his ships into two groupsfour in the forward group, led by the Kronstadt subchasers, and the rear group, formed of the Hainan-class subchasers, once they arrived. He was ordered to respond to any threat to the militia fishing trawlers and support the fishermen on the islands if required. The South Vietnamese also organized into two groups. The first consisted of frigates HQ-4 and HQ-5. They circled around Money and Antelope islands from the south and approached Duncan Island. The second group, minesweeper HQ-10 and frigate HQ-16, cut across the Crescent Group lagoon from the northwest. The two Chinese Kronstadt subchasers positioned themselves to monitor the HQ-4 and HQ-5, while the Type 10 minesweepers shadowed HQ-10 and HQ-16. The captain of the HQ-16, seeing what he believed to be an opening, accelerated past the Chinese minesweepers, and 14 South Vietnamese SEALs were launched in two rubber boats to retake Duncan and Palm islands. HQ-16 rammed and heavily damaged minesweeper 389, whose crewmen fired their small arms at HQ-16s bridge and forward gun mount, killing or wounding most of the sailors there. The fighting that followed went almost entirely Chinas way. The SEALs, with their intended naval support now entirely engaged against the Chinese ships, went ashore in daylight to face the larger, dug-in enemy on both Duncan and Palm islands. They were quickly repelled. The SEALs withdrew to their boats under heavy fire as the South Vietnamese naval units formed a line abreast and advanced toward the Chinese formation, firing on the enemys pilot houses and maneuvering to turn the engagement into a battle of long-range guns. Unfortunately for the South Vietnamese, their lack of speed meant the faster Chinese ships would get to determine the range at which the battle would be fought, and the Chinese flotilla leader ordered, Speed forward, fight close and hit hard. Knowing his ships were ill-equipped and outgunned for a long-range duel, he had decided to employ knife fight tactics. Within 10 minutes the combat, which had been taking place at a range 2 to 3 miles, dropped to just a few hundred yards. The Kronstadt subchasers concentrated their fire on HQ-4, while the Type 10 minesweepers focused their 37 mm cannon fire on HQ-16, targeting the pilot house, combat information center and radars. Heavily damaged, HQ-16 withdrew. The minesweepers then shifted fire to HQ-10, striking its aft magazine. The resultant explosion crippled the ships forward engineering plant. The minesweepers got within 10 yards of HQ-10, and by then the South Vietnamese ships remaining cannons could not engage the lower-lying, smaller enemy vessels that were moving in close to the hull. The Chinese crews raked the main deck and pilot house with small-arms fire, killing the ships captain and most of the navigation team. The battered HQ-16 tried to come to HQ-10s aid but was driven off by Chinese fire. It retreated to the southeast as HQ-4 and HQ-5 withdrew to the south. Chinas two Hainan-class subchasers arrived shortly after noon on Jan. 19 and opened fire on the HQ-10, sinking it by 1 p.m. Meanwhile, Beijing was worried that Saigon might dispatch reinforcements to South Vietnams remaining garrisons, containing a pair of infantry platoons on Robert, Pattle and Money islands and the surviving SEALs. Chinas South Sea Fleet scrambled, putting together a patchwork force of all units that could get underway: a frigate, five torpedo boats and eight small patrol boats. Organized into three amphibious transport flotillas, the ships boarded nearly 500 troops in three infantry companies, a peoples militia company and an armed reconnaissance group. The flotilla deployed in the order its ships could get underway. The first flotilla consisted of four patrol boats and Maritime Militia trawlers 402 and 407, carrying a single 100-man infantry company. The second flotilla carried one infantry company and an amphibious reconnaissance team spread out on four patrol craft and minesweeper 389. The frigate Nanning, a former Japanese destroyer escort, constituted the third flotilla with one infantry company aboard and was designated the command ship for the operation. The first flotilla assaulted Robert Island, shelling the defenders to drive them away from the beach and then landed the infantry using rubber boats and sampans. The island fell in about 10 minutes. The second flotilla attacked Pattle Island, driving its 30 defenders toward the center of the island where they surrendered after an hour of fighting. In the Pattle Island battle, the Chinese also captured the major commanding South Vietnams garrisons in the Paracels and an American adviser from the U.S. Embassy. The SEALs on Money Island abandoned their positions before the Chinese navy initiated its assault and avoided capture for several days. By late evening Jan. 20, all of the Paracel Archipelago was in Chinese hands. More than 100 South Vietnamese had been killed or wounded, and 48 South Vietnamese soldiers and an American liaison officer were captured, compared with 18 Chinese dead and 67 wounded. It was an overwhelming victory for the Chinese navy: One South Vietnamese minesweeper sunk and three frigates heavily damaged versus two Chinese subchasers, one minesweeper and a fishing trawler heavily damaged. China spent the next two weeks increasing its naval presence around the islands and strengthening their defenses, including the deployment of a Romeo-class submarine and three Chengdu-class guided missile frigates equipped with Styx anti-ship cruise missiles. Tactically, the South Vietnamese naval units outgunned their Chinese opponents, but a lack of functioning fire-control radars meant they had to fire over open sights, greatly reducing their prospects for hitting fast targets like the Chinese patrol craft. Although the poor condition of both combatants ships precluded action at full speed, the Chinese boats enjoyed a 7- to 10-knot advantage that enabled them to dictate the range of the engagements. Once they closed within a half-mile of the South Vietnamese ships, the Chinese vessels rapid-firing light weapons and better agility gave them a significant advantage. The battle became decisive at about 200 yards. South Vietnams command, navigation and communications spaces faced accurate close-range fire, and its heavy guns were useless at that range. The countrys ships had no choice but to withdraw, leaving the island garrisons without the naval gunfire support they needed. South Vietnam threatened retaliation but recognized the balance of naval power favored China. Moreover, Saigon had more pressing concerns. Its intelligence services were tracking North Vietnamese supply and troop movements into Laos and eastern Cambodia. The force buildup along South Vietnams border was a troubling sign of Hanois intentions. At the time, Hanoi protested Beijings moves, but took no action. Communist North Vietnam still needed Chinas support to reconstitute its forces for the final assault to take control of South Vietnam. After unifying the country in April 1975, Hanoi quickly occupied the islands held by South Vietnam in the Spratly chain. In the postwar years, Vietnam has continued to protest Chinas seizure of the Paracel Islands and maintains its claim to those islands and much of the Spratly Islands as well. Vietnam, however, has never attempted to retake the Paracel Archipelago. It suffered naval defeats in the 1980s when China attacked three Vietnamese-controlled reefs in the Spratly Islands. In those engagements and more recent actions, Beijing has repeated the tactics it employed in 1974 in the Paracels. First, fishing boats enter the disputed area, some of which are armed Maritime Militia trawlers that drive away the competition. Chinese Coast Guard vessels are positioned nearby to come to the trawlers aid if required, while farther back is a small naval task group standing by to support the Coast Guard, if necessary. Neither the Chinese Coast Guard nor the naval units will fire the first shot, but if fighting breaks out, they fight to win. China has also established a military airfield on Woody Island and stationed troops on several recently seized atolls in the Spratly Islands. Vietnam has responded by arming its fishing boat crews and establishing military partnerships with India and Japanand is seeking more military cooperation with its former enemy, the United States. With six other nations disputing Chinas claims, the South China Sea has become a hot spot and triggered a regional arms race that some fear may spark a new war. Carl O. Schuster is a retired Navy captain with 25 years of service. He finished his career as an intelligence officer. Schuster, who lives in Honolulu, is a teacher in Hawaii Pacific Universitys Diplomacy and Military Science program. First published in Vietnam Magazines June 2017 issue. It is October 1918. The multi-ethnic Austro-Hungarian Empire, riven by the First World War, is crumbling. A group of Czechoslovak nationalists proclaims independence from Austria-Hungary and establishes a new entity, the Republic of Czechoslovakia. The terms of the 1919 Versailles settlement formalize Czechoslovakias autonomy, and the newly fledged state makes its entry into the community of European nations. Ironically, although Czechoslovak nationalists had repudiated the multi-ethnic Austro-Hungarian Empire, the new republic is no less so itself. As of 1921, it consists of 64 percent Czechoslovaks and a polyglot of Germans, Ruthenians, Hungarians, and Poles, of which ethnic Germans by far constitute the largest minority at 3 million23 percent of the new nations population. Flash forward to 1938. Egged on by Adolf Hitlers Germany, a German nationalist movement swells in western Czechoslovakia, which the breakaway faction dubs the Sudetenland. On orders from Berlin, these nationalists place a list of deliberately unacceptable demands before the Czechoslovakian government, with the barely veiled objective of fanning a crisis Nazi Germany can exploit. The gambit works. In May 1938, alarmed by the massing of German army units on military exercises near the border, Czechoslovakia mobilizes its own army. France and Russia publicly affirm existing treaty obligations to Czechoslovakia. Great Britain warns that it cannot guarantee that it will stand aside should the Germans intervene. Hitler temporarily backs down, but by September 1938 rioting has broken out in the Sudetenland, the Czechoslovakian government is declaring martial law, and war is looming between Germany and Czechoslovakia. Seeking to defuse the situation, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain flies to Germany three times in two weeks, feverishly working toward a formula that will avert war. The French government, led by Edouard Daladier, follows suit, and by the end of September, at a conference in Munich, the two great European powers impose a solution upon the hapless Czech government. In exchange for assurances of peace, the British and French force the Czechs to relinquish the Sudetenland to Nazi Germany. The political concept that underpins this solution is appeasementthe theory that giving a disgruntled party a portion of what it wants avoids greater problems down the road. Chamberlain triumphantly returns to London, announcing that the Munich agreement guarantees peace in our time. Our time lasts less than a year. In March 1939, Hitler grabs the remainder of Czechoslovakia and divides his conquest into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and a puppet Slovak state. Appeasement has failed. Hitlers next target is likely Poland, also home to a significant German minority. Britain and France belatedly guarantee that they will go to war against Germany if Poland is invaded. The stage is set for World War II. The above scenario is, of course, precisely what occurred historically. In the glare of hindsight, the decision to appease Hitler by giving him the Sudetenland seems an obvious and catastrophic mistake. Prior to Munich, appeasement had no negative con notations. But since then the word has become synonymous with supine weakness, and the Munich settlement may be the 20th centurys most overworked historical analogy. It has become standard practice for opponents to portray any foeSaddam Hussein, for instanceas constituting a threat equivalent to Hitler and to excoriate any response short of military action as appeasement. But what if the British and French had held firm at Munich? Two basic responses were possible. The less interesting answer is that Hitler actually preferred a war over Czechoslovakia to a diplomatic settlement, that the Germans had a detailed planCase Greenfor such a war, and that if Chamberlain and Daladier had rebuffed Hitler, he would probably have executed that plan. But this prospect terrified Hitlers senior generals, who believed that Germany was not yet ready for a major war. In all probability they were correct. The Czech army alone could have fielded 19 active and 11 reserve divisions against 37 active German divisions. Assuming that the British and French launched a full-scale assault against German defenses along the Siegfried Line, which in 1938 barely existed, the result would have been a prompt defeat for Germany. Even a more limited military response by the Western Allies would have resulted in a war of attrition that Germany would have eventually lost. To military historians this result is practically self-evident, which is why it is less interesting. The more interesting answer centers on what would have occurred if Hitler had held off on executing Case Green: more interesting because good counterfactuals illuminate aspects of a historical event that might otherwise be overlooked. In this scenario, Hitler would have continued to rearm, wary of launching Case Green until the Wehrmacht could defend western Germany successfully while overrunning Czechoslovakia. The problem, Hitler would have discovered, was that Germany lacked the financial, economic, and military resources to rearm to the level that it historically reached by September 1939 (the campaign in Poland) and May 1940 (the invasion of the Low Countries and France). This is because historically, the March 1939 occupation of Czechoslovakia made a pivotal difference in German rearmament. Historian Williamson Murray forcefully argues this case in his 1984 book The Change in the European Balance of Power, 19381939: The Path to Ruin. Financially, Hitler acquired $28.3 million in gold when he overran Czechoslovakia. Economically, in combination with the March 1938 annexation of Austria, the absorption of Czech industry raised Germanys percentage of world industrial production to 15 percent, equal to that of the United States. Militarily, Germany also acquired two major arms complexes, particularly the world-renowned Skoda Works. Czech arms plants began to churn out weapons for the Wehrmacht, and by occupying Czechoslovakia, Germany acquired 1,502 aircraft, 469 tanks, 500 antiaircraft guns, 43,000 machine guns, a million rifles, three million rounds of artillery ammunition, and a billion rifle rounds. In theory this was enough to equip 30 German divisions, though in practice the Germans sold much weaponry to countries such as Romania, further enriching themselves. Even so, Murray estimates that approximately 10 German divisions received either a portion or all of their arms as a direct result of the occupation of Czechoslovakia. The Germans also dismantled Czech fortifications for reuse in the Siegfried Line and, later, to augment the Atlantic Wall. The de facto annexation of Czechoslovakia thus made the difference between a Nazi Germany with the resources to win decisively against Poland and the western Alliesas it did historically between September 1939 and June 1940and one able to achieve, at best, limited gains on a path to defeat. The failure to stand firm at Munich was thus even more calamitous than most students of World War II appreciate. Originally published in the December 2013 issue of World War II. To subscribe, click here. Gumption and flexibility enabled German troops to claw their way out of jams. The enduring image of the wartime German army is of troops charging relentlessly across Belgian canals, through French villages, down Russian roads, over Libyan dunes. Yet in contrast to the first 38 months of the war in which German forces were on the offensive, from November 1942 on the Wehrmacht was either stationary or in retreat. But in many ways the Wehrmacht fighting in retreat makes for a more fascinating tale than that of the same forces on the attack. Time and time again in the second half of the war, the German army pulled off feats that would have done Harry Houdini proud. Had the Wehrmacht shouldered its way out of tough corners merely a time or two we might credit luck. However, the Germans slipped the noose so often the witness of history must infer a phenomenon. Too frequently historians have sought to blame Allied commanders over-cautious approach, rather than crediting Wehrmacht leadership, tactical doctrine, and iron-clad discipline. Rocked back on their hobnailed heels, the Germans consistently responded with fierce counterattacks that kept foes off balance while, if necessary, allowing comrades to organize the mechanics of flightsecuring and defending bridges, highways, and other conduits, marshaling troops and transport vehicles, staging and conveying materiel, and maintaining discipline under duress. For when the Fuhrer allowed it, the Germans were masters of escape. Very often, of course, Adolf Hitler was his troops worst enemy, meddling as deeply as the regimental level when not barking Fuhrerbefehle (Fuhrer orders) that his soldiers stand or die on the battlefield, as in his grandiose diktat to Field Marshal Erwin Rommel on the last day of the battle of El Alamein (see Hitlers Blunders, March/April 2011). It will not be the first time in history that a strong will has triumphed over the bigger battalions, Hitler telegraphed the Afrika Korps commander. As to your troops, you can show them no other road than to victory or death. (Sensibly, Rommel showed his troops the road to Tunisia.) Contrary to Hitlers binary view, his army often had a third option: namely, to retreat tactically, and then counterattack pursuers momentarily wrong-footed by their own careering advance and either retake the lost ground or make possible a getaway. Students of history are commonly warned against using the word inevitable, since in history nothing is inevitable nothing, that is, except German counterattack. Withdrawal might not have been in the plan, but in the field Wehrmacht officers and non-coms discerned between orders and assumptions from on high and what would work then and there. They were trained to command two levels up and to always, always strike back effectively. This left Allied commanders rightly wary of German forces in withdrawal, which not only propitiated German retreats but in time led historians to miscredit Allied timidity for successful German pirouettes out of peril. Capital invested in counterattack was well spent. If in 1943 Germans had been captured on a scale anything like the Poles were in 1939, or the French in 1940, or the Russians3.5 million of themin 1941, the Third Reich could not have stayed a military power into 1944. Yet even on the defensive in 1943 and 1944 the Germans generally did not relinquish masses of men, save when Hitler ordered last-ditch stands. Most German commanders saw a duty to withdraw units while they still were able to retard an enemys advance at the next forest or gorge or town. Behind every hill theres another river, a weary Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark said of the Italian Campaign, and behind every river theres another hill. And beyond every one, Wehrmacht men waiting to pounce. Sometimes there was no way out. Surrounded at Stalingrad, 91,000 Axis troops surrendered in February 1943. Three months later in Tunisia another quarter million capitulated. And in Belarus in July 1944, Operation Bagration cost a total of 513,000 German soldiers. These episodes aside, however, when cornered the Wehrmacht usually engineered a means of running away to fight another day. This pattern held more or less consistently until January 1945. But why? Historians fiercely debate the extent to which the Germans were punching above their weight, and over the decades the Wehrmachts World War II reputation has waxed and waned. At one time not a few academics were in agreement that the German army deserved high marks. In a detailed 1977 analysis, American military historian and West Point man Trevor Dupuy calculated that German combat effectiveness in 194344 exceeded that of the Americans and the British by 20 to 30 percent. On a man-for-man basis, Dupuy wrote, German ground soldiers consistently inflicted casualties at about a 50 percent higher rate than they incurred from the opposing American and British troops under all circumstances. This was true when they were attacking and when they were defending, when they had local numerical superiority and when, as was usually the case, they were outnumbered, when they had local air superiority and when they did not, when they won and when they lost. Other historians contested Dupuys methods and interpretation both immediately and over the long haul, and continue to offer data in counterpoint to the notion that Germanys military possessed a singular aptitude for war. Whatever the nature of combat effectiveness, it only begins to explain how sensational escapes became almost commonplace. An early example came in 1943 at Sicily. The Allies, having begun on July 10 to invest the island with 450,000 troops, expected to scoop up 350,000 defenders, a third of them Germans. That hope foundered on the rock of German skill reinforced by German willnot to fight to the death, but to ensure the absconding of men and materiel. When the Allies reached Sicily, filling the sea to the horizon, as military historian Basil Liddell Hart recorded, Italian defense units on the south coast surrendered en masse, leaving Italian field divisions behind them to be, as 15th Army Group commander General Harold Alexander put it, driven like chaff before the wind. Nearly all the burden of defending southern Sicily fell to two German divisions, reinforced by two more. The Wehrmachts performance at Catania, midway up the eastern side of the triangle that is Sicily, embodied German escape-through-counterattack. Defenders in the ports vicinity parried Field Marshal Bernard Montgomerys Eighth Army for more than a week, and spirited Wehrmacht counterstrikes nearly reached the southern invasion beaches. On June 11, near Gela, the Hermann Goring Division and a detachment of new 56-ton Tiger tanks poured onto the plain in groups that overran American outposts. Only well-directed naval gunfire prevented these tankers from repelling the Allies in their area, whereupon the Germans moved off to attack the British sector near Catania. On July 14 the German 1st Parachute Division was dropped a bit less than two miles behind the Axis line south of Catania. In a typically bold scheme, General Karl Student, commander of the 11th Air Corps, had wanted to put his paratroops behind Allied lines. Hitler countermanded Students order, but fate lent a hand, as Student recalled after the war: the 1st Parachute Division landed almost simultaneously with the British parachute troops who were dropped behind our front to open the bridge across the Simeto River. It overcame these British parachute troops and rescued the bridge from their hands. The British needed three days of stiff fighting to recapture the bridge and open the plain of Catania for their armor. By then all German units south of the Simeto had withdrawn north. As German forces consolidated there, the Allied advance collided with Wehrmacht reserves fiercely defending the coast road to Messina. The reserves willingness to counterattack, along with German paratroops kindred grit, bought time for fellow soldiers at the rear to withdraw by forcing Montgomery and his forces to detour west around Mount Etna. Nor were American forces able to cut off the enemy; on July 22 Lieutenant General George S. Pattons Seventh Army captured Palermo, but could not keep German units from retreating toward Messina and poising to flee 60 miles across the Straits to the mainland, at Reggio. On August 1, the Allies reinforced Sicily, landing two new divisions from North Africathe U.S. 9th and the British 78th bringing their complement to 12 divisions. The Germans also reinforced, with the 29th Panzergrenadier Division and elements of the 14th Panzer Corps, all under General H. V. Hube. Hubes seemingly insurmountable task, ordered by Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, was to extricate intact from the island as many Axis forces and as much of their equipment as possible. Earlier, on the surmise that Italy would defect, Hubes splendidly named colleague, General Fridolin Rudelin Theodor von Senger und Etterlin, had planned and begun to implement that escape. Trying to snag the Germans, Patton sent three amphibious attacks behind German lines, and Montgomery one. Each time the Wehrmacht rear guard eluded attackers. Over six days and nights, protected by antiaircraft gunners, German vessels shuttled between Messina and Reggio, carrying men, equipment, and supplies. Historian Peter Caddick-Adams labels Sengers scheme and Hubes implementation of it an exemplar of tri-service, multinational coordination and ingenuity. The move saved four divisions from fiasco with no serious interception or significant loss. Entering Messina at 6:30 a.m. on August 17, an American patrol found a ghost town emptied of nearly 40,000 Germans (including 13,500 wounded) and 62,000 Italians, as well as 9,500 vehicles, 47 tanks, 94 guns, and 17,000 tons of fuel, ammunition, and other materiel. Caddick-Adams ranks the episode alongside the 1940 British cross-Channel elopement from Dunkirk, calling it an achievement that did not bode well for the Allies in the months ahead. The Germans followed the lessons of their Sicilian escape for the next 18 months. The drill varied, but its essence was to respond to a successful enemy assault by counterattacking to throw off the foes advance, meanwhile capturing and holding key bridges and other transport nodes, preventing flanking attacks, exploiting terrain, especially in mountainous regions, evacuating swiftly (often by night), and taking risks. Replicated on battlefields as disparate as Normandy, the Ardennes, and the Soviet Union, these tactics kept hundreds of thousands of Germans fighting instead of languishing as POWs. Long after the war, Senger, who had gone on to command the XIV Panzer Corps at Monte Cassino, had a suggestion for British military historian Michael Howard, who was himself awarded a Military Cross for valor at Salerno. Next time you invade Italy, Senger told Howard, dont start at the bottom. Once the Allies landed on Italys toe in September 1943, they began a fighting trek north against a foe making maximum use of topographical advantage and expertly improvising rear-guard actions while backing grudgingly and violently along the Apennine range. Repeatedly, it was the Germans who chose when they would retreat. Allied troops, made fearful of booby traps, gave chase warily. In his recent book Monte Cassino: Ten Armies in Hell, Caddick-Adams tells the grisly story of the Liri Valley, the last major geographical obstacle before Rome. The valleys houses, built of bulletproof travertine, made the Germans intensely hard to dislodge. In one of many fights, a 38-man paratroop unit assembled by Lieutenant Jupp Klein held a farm, tying down a British battalion and destroying 13 tanks before being savaged. Klein led the survivors to safety through enemy lines, duping sentries by shouting Polish soldiers! in the dark. As late as May 17, the eve of Monte Cassinos fall, German defenders were ambushing Allied pursuers on narrow mountain roads. Screams pierced through clouds of smoke as the Germans poured their fire into the exposed men and machines, American war correspondent Will Lang wrote about the ambush of a French column.The tank exploded with a roar and belched a mass of flame and smoke as the ammunition inside caught fire. Other vehicles were catching fire as their frantic, crazed occupants scrambled out, running up the road. Rome fell on June 5, 1944, but in the two weeks preceding both General Heinrich von Vietinghoffs 10th Army and General Eberhard von Mackensens 14th Army dodged the Allied drive, with Mark Clark generally blamed for failing to cut off Vietinghoff and the seven divisions he extracted by way of a major highway. A day after taking Rome, the Allies rocked the Reich by invading Normandy. German soldiers unlucky enough to be at the beaches enjoyed no miraculous escape, and many who attempted to surrender after hours of cutting down Allied men on the strand encountered no mercy. But inland the Germans pulled off another remarkable coup of deliverance. In early August 1944, Allied forces surging east and south from Normandy nearly enveloped Army Group B, led by Field Marshal Gunther von Kluge, at Falaise. Obedient to an order by Hitler, who was on the mend after the July 20 assassination attempt, Kluge counterattacked at Mortain (see Danger Zone, July/August 2013). Beginning on August 7, this underpowered, unsuccessful six-day stand set up the German 7th Army in and around Falaise to be encircled and destroyedassuming British, Canadian, and Polish forces along the northeast flank and American troops on the southeast could close a pincer movement. But fear of friendly fire from the other Allied claw slowed the American advance. The Americans then withdrew, in the process leaving an eastward corridor all the way to the Seine. On August 16, Hitler demanded another counterattack. Kluge refused. Hitler agreed to a withdrawal but sacked his general. Kluges replacement, fellow Field Marshal Walther Model, ordered the 7th Army and 5th Panzer Army out of Falaise. As historian Rick Atkinson notes, Models favorite question was Cant that be done faster? and his pet quote was a line by Goethe:I love the one who craves the impossible. Model meant to cross the Seine. So his men could reach the bank, he sent cobbled-together SS panzer elements to hold back the Allies and keep open an east-west route 20 miles long and 10 miles deep while other SS men secured 60 points along the river. As Allied gunners zeroed in, Model began moving his men by any means necessary. Atkinson quotes an observer who saw panzergrenadiers near the Dives River clinging like burrs to tanks. The gauntlet claimed many Germans; most of those who survived were able to traverse to safety. They did not travel elegantly and they had to abandon their heavy tanks, but they made it, floating on makeshift rafts and dead cows. Others crossed aboard 24 improvised ferries too light for Tigers but substantial enough to haul out of harms way (for the moment) 25,000 lighter vehicles, a third of the Germans other equipment including many 88mm guns, and four of five corps commanders. Falaise was a significant Allied victoryPanzer Group West sustained around 50,000 killed, wounded, and captured to the Allies 29,000but the German talent for taking a powder whisked as many as 100,000 Wehrmacht troops free of a trap that ought to have ensnared them. Retreats produce victory no more than do evacuations, as Winston Churchill observed after Dunkirk. Yet Wehrmacht morale remained strong; loyalty to brothers-in-arms was a powerful thing. So was Nazi fanaticism, the desire to protect the Fatherland, and faith in the Fuhrer to deploy some new secret war-winning superweapon. But above all, as British historian Max Hastings has written, many Wehrmacht officers abandoned coherent thought about the future and merely performed the immediate military functions that were so familiar to themnotably, extricating their men from dangerous situations with minimum acceptable casualties. The Fuhrers last slap at the Allied tide was a 500,000-man surprise attack through the Ardennes, undertaken in several feet of snow. Orders were to be delivered solely by motorbike, the way shown by searchlights beamed at clouds, turning night to day. The dense overcast grounded Allied planes, and as long as the cloud cover lasted, the offensive worked, almost reaching the River Meuse. But once the sun emerged and Allied pilots could fly again the German capacity for escape melted. Against determined Anglo-American resistance, the Ardennes counterstroke crumbled. Fierce and enterprising Wehrmacht divisions were out of gas, literally and figuratively, unable to muster one last miracle. German troops began surrendering en masse, a pattern that accelerated after the Allies crossed the Rhine in March 1945. Overall, the Wehrmacht excelled at attackas the long shadow of the swastika over much of continental Europe from 1939 to 1943 attestsbut was superb at defense. Had a superior German strategistsuch as Erich von Manstein, Gerd von Rundstedt, Erwin Rommel, or Heinz Guderianbeen allowed to command there can be little doubt that the Wehrmacht would have fared far better. In the realm of withdrawal and counterattack, luring foes into range of punishing counterstrokes, the Wehrmacht often merely needed the Fuhrer to recuse himself. All too frequently, however, Fuhrerprinzipthe Nazi axiom of Hitlers infallibilityprevailed. Hitlers promises that no one could stop his armies barred his propaganda machine from acknowledging retreat, and, as always when party and army interests diverged, the army lost out. A German commander in chief not fettered to fanaticism might have won the Second World War. By hobbling the Wehrmachts genius for strategic withdrawal Hitler proved an invaluable aid to the Allies. Originally published in the October 2013 issue of World War II. To subscribe, click here. Triumph of the Will (1935) Moviemakers have copied Leni Riefenstahls propaganda film so often youd think it would lose potency. But Triumph remains scarily effective, climaxing with the Nuremberg Rally, captured from hundreds of angles, with its massed columns of storm troopers unblinking in their reverence for Adolf Hitler, the short, unimpressive leader being made to look godlike. Casablanca (1942) Even if you dont know this movie, you know this movie: Bogie and Bergman steam up Ricks Cafe Americain, drummer Dooley Wilson pretends to tickle ivories he couldnt actually play, Peter Lorre snivels. Claude Rains rounds up the usual suspects. And Paul Henreid stands tall as a Czech Resistance leader in Vichy-controlled Morocco. Yes, its a romance, but the atmospherics clicked with audiences from the moment Warner rushed it into theaters on the heels of the Allied invasion of North Africa. Heres lookin at you, kid. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) POWs march defiantly into a Japanese prison camp whistling the Colonel Bogey March, then build one magnificent bridgethe best British engineering (and director David Leans crew) could manage. Alec Guinness plays their commanding officer, so intent on besting Japanese counterpart Sessue Hayakawa and preserving morale that hes blind to the consequences of working for the enemy. The story is based on that of the Burma Railway, which a little more than a decade earlier had cost tens of thousands of laborers their lives. One of the screens great epics. The Longest Day (1962) Working docudrama-style in black and white, five directors and thousands of actors recreated D-Day. The Sixth Fleet assisted, and there were Allied and Axis military consultants behind the scenes and portrayed on screen by a stellar cast that seems to have included every able-bodied actor of the day, from John Wayne to Paul Anka. Das Boot (1981) German submarine crewmen listen to Allied sonar ping. Depth charges rattle the sub (and the theater audience). To attain two-plus hours of claustrophobic terror, director Wolfgang Petersen used models for nearly every exterior shot. Would you believe those depth charges that looked just-this-side-of-nuclear on screen were firecracker pops in real life? Das amazing. Saving Private Ryan (1998) Steven Spielbergs depiction of Omaha Beach in the first 27 minutes is probably the most intensely realistic rendering of combat committed to celluloid. Beyond the War: Harold and Maude (1971) I share a birthdate with Bud Cort Harold of Harold and Maude, and my psychic twin. You know how your mind fixes you at a certain age? Mine froze me circa 1971, as it did Cort. I didnt see his name on screen again until 2000, in the credits for Pollock. I thought, Wha? And it hit me: The pudgy, bald art collector was Harold, grown old, while I. Well, lets say illusions die hard. Bob Mondello has reviewed more than 1,000 films for NPRs All Things Considered. His broadcast essays have ranged from digital animation to Hollywoods take on atomic weapons. His father served with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Europe and in Korea. Originally published in the October 2013 issue of World War II. To subscribe, click here. 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. Seal-carving artist Li Puyi demonstrates his skills in his shop in Luoyang, Henan province. Li's family has been in the seal-carving business for more than 80 years, and Li's shop has been open for over two decades. Li acknowledged that the traditional skill of seal-carving has begun to lose its competitive edge since the advent of computer-designed seals, but he still hopes to pass on his skills to the next generation. (Photo/People's Daily Online) T he popular seaside town of Hove has emerged as the top choice for young professionals to buy a home, according to a new report on the 20 most popular postal districts. The East Sussex town on the south coast of England has an idyllic seaside location, good sized-homes and a family-friendly vibe. While the average house price in the BN3 postcode is 380,000, three-bedroom houses priced between 700,000 and 1 million are the most sought-after homes, says associate director at Hamptons International's Brighton & Hove branch, Paul Taggart. He says: "Generally speaking, these requests are coming from Londoners looking for a lifestyle change. People are looking for a less populated area than Brighton, with a more laid-back vibe. Properties in Hove have a slower turnover because people put down roots." Hove also gets off lightly compared to neighbouring Brighton in terms of the number of tourists descending on the area every summer, plus there's a good gastro-pub scene and great state and private schools. Hove also offers direct train links to Victoria in just over an hour. Nevertheless, Brighton's BN1 district, which stretches from the sea into the South Downs national park, is the seventh most popular postcode with workers aged 25 to 44, thanks to its buzzing nightlife, forward-thinking cultural scene and direct train links to London in under an hour. Homes there are just 4,000 more expensive than in Hove, reveals the report by Lloyds Bank, which based its house price figures on Land Registry transactions in the 12 months to February this year. HOW DOES LONDON FARE? South-west London is particularly popular with professionals aged 25-44, with nine areas in this part of the capital making the list. With average prices of 763,000, Wandsworth's SW18 is the most popular postcode within Greater London, and the second most popular area in England and Wales. SW16 in fast-rising Streatham is the cheapest of the SW postcodes, with average house prices of 468,000, while SW6 in Fulham is the most expensive, with prices just topping 1 million. Hampstead's NW3 postcode is the most expensive district in the capital to make the list. Kilburn, Paddington, Hammersmith and Fulham and Chiswick, all in west London, also appear in the top 20. Tower Hamlets is the sole representative of the East, with the E14 postcode ranking as the sixth most popular area, in part due to its 526,000 house price average, which is significantly cheaper than the majority of London's most popular postcodes. THE BEST OF THE REST Reading, west of London in Berkshire, and Didsbury in Manchester are the only two other locations outside London to make the top 20. In 18th position, Reading offers direct 30-minute train journeys to the capital and the average property price is 265,000. With Crossrail due to connect the city to central and east London from next year, it's also increasingly popular with Londoners looking for more space and better value. Didsbury just sneaks on to the list, taking the 20th spot. Averaging 260,000, homes in the area are the cheapest on the list, with young urbanites drawn to its independent shops and trendy bars and restaurants. T he ripple effect, that well-known phenomenon where buyers move from the centre of London to the suburbs and take rising prices with them, is moving out to the commuter belt. A new study on top-performing locations in Berkshire reveals buyers are gravitating towards Crossrail, the Elizabeth line, which will slash journey times to central London. Families are invading the suburbs, pushing up property prices just outside the main Elizabeth line towns rather than within them. The Savills study shows Berkshires new hotspots are all within easy striking distance of stops on the line, which will be fully up and running in 2019. Fun on the water: holiday cruisers at Ray Mill Island, Boulters Lock park on the Thames, Maidenhead / Alamy Stock Photo 1. BURNHAM A SLOUGH SATELLITE The star performer is Burnham, which will have its own Crossrail station. This small, semi-rural village, not yet entirely consumed by urban sprawl from neighbouring Slough, has seen prices rocket 49 per cent since 2012 to an average 334,831. Trains to Paddington currently take 41 minutes. Burnhams a good place to hunt down period homes. A four-bedroom Twenties detached home is 750,000 to 800,000, with a four-bedroom Victorian semi for about 500,000, and a two-bedroom flats about 300,000. The villages Dropmore Infant School is rated outstanding by Ofsted and theres a small, basic high street and a couple of pubs. But locals head to nearby Maidenhead or pretty Marlow High Street for an evening meal. 2. FURZE PLATT, NEAR MAIDENHEAD With a countryside feel and on the rise, Furze Platt is just north of Maidenhead. Average property prices have grown 45 per cent to 427,182, and the commute to Paddington takes 47 minutes. Local estate agent Michael OFlaherty puts Furze Platts appeal down to its having its own station, but commuters can make the hop to Maidenhead in minutes for London trains and, in a couple of years, Crossrail. The property stock is mostly houses, and the local infant, junior, and senior schools, all rated good by Ofsted, are parent magnets. You are also close to the Buckinghamshire border so if your child does well enough in the 11-plus, you can send them to Sir William Borlases Grammar School in Marlow, which is a big draw to north Maidenhead, says OFlaherty. In Furze Platt you could buy a big, five-bedroom Victorian or Edwardian semi for about 750,000, a three-bedroom semi for about 500,000 or a purpose-built two-bedroom flat for about 300,000. The areas downfall is its lack of facilities. It is near Maidenhead town centre, but its a sprawling area with no real high street. Maidenhead is essentially a commuter town with excellent road and rail links, but not a vast amount to do in the town itself. However, there are lovely pubs and restaurants in surrounding villages including The Fat Duck at foodie Bray while summer walks by the river are lovely, and you could row on Dorney Lake. 3. TILEHURST AND 4. THEALE READINGS NEAR NEIGHBOURS Well placed: St Michaels Church in Tilehurst, close to the Elizabeth line / Alamy Stock Photo Tilehurst and Theale, near the Elizabeth line western terminus at Reading, have both enjoyed 48 per cent price growth in the last five years. The average price of a home in Tilehurst is now 336,865, while the figure for Theale is 310,041. Tilehurst trains reach Paddington in 41 minutes, and you can add a minute from Theale. Great for country lovers, Tilehurst and Theale are both west of Reading, at the tip of the North Wessex Downs. These good-looking, characterful spots a couple of miles apart have decent high streets and several pubs apiece. As well as good train links from Reading, they are handy for the M4 and Heathrow airport. Theale CE Primary School gets top marks from Ofsted, but Theale Green School, for seniors, requires improvement. Tilehurst primaries include Westwood Farm Infant School and Birch Croft Primary, both outstanding, while Little Heath School and Denefield School, for seniors, get good Ofsted reports. 5. READING WEST Making up the top five is Reading West, Berkshires most pocket-friendly commuter option with average prices of 280,175, up 37.5 per cent in five years. Reading West is already a great commuter location, with 37-minute Paddington trains. It looks like you've reached a page that doesnt exist (anymore). Please use the navigation or search above to find content on Hospitality Net. Go back to home JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. You should upgrade or use an You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.You should upgrade or use an alternative browser Well here some good news for Prince fans. New unreleased music is on the way! To commemorate the one-year anniversary of Princes untimely passing this Friday (April 21), Rogue Music Alliance will release a 6-track EP of unreleased Prince cuts titled Deliverance, which is available now for pre-order on iTunes, along with its title track (see below). According to their press release, the 6-tracks were recorded between 2006 and 2008 with his engineer Ian Boxill, and following Princes passing, Ian went back in the studio to finish it up. The songs were written and recorded when Prince was an independent artist, protesting what he saw as an unjust music industry, the press release reads. In the spirit of that independence, and in supporting Princes opinion of major label contracts, Deliverance is being released independently via RMA. All profits from this release will reportedly go to Princes estate. However, Complex reports that Princes estate isnt too happy with the EP and is now suing the engineer Boxill over five unpublished Prince songs, including the title track Deliverance. ABC affiliate KSTP reports that the plaintiffs are accusing Boxill of trying to exploit one or more songs for his personal gain at expense of the Prince Estate. The filing states Boxill had signed an agreement that all recordings he did with the legendary artist would remain Princes sole and exclusive property, and he would not use any recordings or property in any way whatsoever. Nonetheless, the EP is still dropping this Friday only in the United States though due to licensing laws. Stream the title track, Deliverance, (below) and pre-order the EP here on iTunes. Prince Guard dogs at China's Kunming Changshui International Airport have played a significant role in the airport's quarantine work. In 2016, the dogs tracked down over 1,300 forbidden objects, accounting for more than 65 percent of the total objects seized. According to Guan Haowen, an employee of the Kunming Airport Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, the airport introduced the dogs in 2005, becoming the first airport in Southwest China to adopt the security measure. Over the last 10 years, canine guards have rendered many valuable services, Guan said. One of the airport's six dogs, nicknamed Kaixin, managed to detect two caches of fruit and seeds within 10 minutes. Kaixin's instructor, Li Kaijun, told Chinanews.com that the dog has been in training since it was 6 months old, and it began working at 9 months. Now, Kaixin has already worked for four years. According to Li, a three-month training program is essential before the animals begin their official service. In order to enhance their ability to identify different smells, the dogs are exposed to single scents, mixed scents, unpleasant scents and complicated scents. Even once they begin working, the dogs still receive training every day. At some point they also return to the training base for a one-month refresher course. "Though their job mainly consists of sniffing, they still face certain pressures," Li explained. In order to guarantee their health, the dogs work in shifts, resting every 30 minutes. They also get rewards after they successfully sniff out contraband. "The dogs are more than our colleagues," said Li, stressing that they are also like friends and family. Most importantly, they do their part to guard the country, he added. The Gorillza hype machine went into overdrive in Limerick yesterday when a local music shop and an artists got together to create a monster sized mural of the band's Noodle on a giant wall in the city docks. This article can only be read with a Premium Account Please Log In or Subscribe to continue reading Over the past decade, the internet has redefined how we consume media. The nature of social media, click-based advertising, and the need to grab the attention of people who seem to have a decreasingly short attention span has meant that the most lurid, shocking, attention-grabbing stories are the ones that are most likely to attract an audience. This shift towards what is essentially a new, intense kind of tabloidisation has led to a flood of inflammatory, eye-catching stories that are, at least in the minds of their creators, precision-engineered to grab the capricious attention of the internet audience. The effect? Clickbait was born and facts became optional. Misleading headlines and fabricated stories have, rather sadly, proven to be a great way to generate page impressions. So too has that old tabloid staple of pandering to prejudice and flirting with moral outrage. Message to people wondering how they are ever going to handle all their student loans: Be tough. Pay up. Don't expect the federal government to play Mr. Nice Guy. In a surprising twist after a presidential election in which young adults pleaded for relief from $1.3 trillion in student loans, the Trump administration doesn't look like it's going to coddle federal student loan borrowers. In fact, it's rolling back Obama-era reforms that would have made it easier on borrowers. The U.S. Department of Education under Obama had discovered through numerous studies that people with student loans were getting awful service - even incorrect information - when they called student loan call centers to find out what to do with their loans. Reforms, which were outlined but not yet implemented, were supposed to fix the problems. Among the problems: Student loan call centers not answering phone calls from borrowers at convenient times, not telling borrowers how to make payments they could afford, and not warning borrowers about extra fees. Instead of providing customer service, the staff taking borrower calls often simply shoved them through the system, according to the studies. Borrowers reportedly were pushed into skipping payments instead of being told how to handle their obligations. In frustration, many borrowers have been giving up and walking away from student loans without paying anything. Studies claim this is a major driver of defaults, and a burden for taxpayers. Federal loans totaling $137.4 billion are in default. Yet, with a new administration in charge of student loans, the reforms aimed at curing those ills were aborted in a memo this past week from Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. What she plans to do instead of the reforms isn't clear. The department didn't respond to my request for information. But consumer advocates are worried she will allow old practices to continue and leave student loan borrowers without the help needed to avoid defaults. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's take on the change is: "The Department of Education has decided it does not need to protect student loan borrowers." Madigan's office is suing one of the largest companies with a government contract, Navient Corp. The lawsuit claims that instead of serving 12 million borrowers with $300 billion in student loans and helping them onto the right track for paying their loans, Navient incentivizes its employees to get rid of callers quickly. "Only time will tell if the government is on the side of borrowers or servicing companies," said Rohit Chopra, a fellow of the Consumer Federation of America. He has been a critic of past practices. The system, he said, has been "working well for the student loan industry and failing borrowers, taxpayers and the economy." Navient is not the only servicer that has been criticized in student loan servicing studies, but it is among the largest. The Consumer Federation of America said government data suggest Navient has had a poor track record on getting students into affordable payment plans. Navient spokeswoman Patricia Nash Christel said the company has been effective in putting borrowers into affordable plans. In response to the Illinois lawsuit, Christel said the company "will vigorously defend against these false allegations and continue to help our customers achieve financial success." With reforms now on hold and the future unclear, borrowers may continue to face inattentive staff and even inaccurate information if they are struggling with their loans. Chopra said it's important for people with student loans to understand that they can get their monthly payments reduced if their incomes are too low to handle full payments. Read about income-based repayment plans here: www.tinyurl.com/q8u77e2. A study by the GAO in 2015 said that half of people making their student loan payments would have qualified to pay less under government rules that take income into account. But only 13 percent of the borrowers knew to ask for the lower payments. Whether your servicer helps you or not, use this form to apply for affordable payments: www.tinyurl.com/m5e6hrk. Beware of private firms offering to help you get loan payments reduced. There are a lot of predators taking advantage of borrower confusion. Chicago Tribune This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WHITE OF THE WEEK 2014 Domaine Laporte Le Grand Rochoy Sancerre Overall score: 18.1 (9.1 for quality, 9 for value) Our tasters: Gave it a unanimous recommendation with a high score of 9.5. "Classic grassy, gooseberry and grapefruit notes. Tart and elegant." My score: 9.1. "Lively mouth-puckering minerality." Varietal/blend: 100 percent sauvignon blanc. Alcohol: 13 percent. Winery/vineyards: Founded in 1850 in the French village of Saint-Satur, the certified-organic winery was owned by the Laporte family until 1986, when Rene Laporte sold it to another respected Sancerre winegrower, Henri Bourgeois. Today, Bourgeois' two grandsons oversee the cellar and 75-acre property, the centerpiece of which is the 25-acre Domaine du Rochoy vineyard. Its prized flinty soil, called silex, is responsible for the expressive minerality in the wine. Winemaking: Rene Laporte pioneered low-yield production and modern cellar techniques in the region, and the Bourgeois brothers have further refined every aspect of the process. Winemaker notes: "A fruity, juicy and lemon-flavored wine. There is a strong mineral element, giving a crisp texture. The perfumed character and the intense fruit set this wine apart." More Information About our recommendations Eight to 12 tasters, a mix of industry professionals and knowledgeable consumers, convene once per month to sample 40 to 50 wines with Dale Robertson, the Chronicle's wine columnist. The grape varietals are identified, but the labels are covered. A 10-point scale is used, with a taster's score of 8.5 or higher considered a recommendation. The quality score is the average of the tasters' scores. The value score and, hence, the overall score are determined by Robertson once a wine has been selected to receive a recommendation. Value is based on the price listed. See More Collapse Critical acclaim: 93 points from the Wine Enthusiast, which named it a "Cellar Selection." Pairings: Salad greens with capers and tomatoes in a vinaigrette. Sauteed white fish, oysters, smoked salmon and lighter foods flavored with fresh herbs. The sauvignon blanc grape is classic with goat's milk cheeses, such as Crottin de Chavignol. Price: $36.79 at Spec's RED OF THE WEEK 2013 Sartori Amarone Overall score: 18.5 (9 for quality, 9.5 for value) Our tasters: Gave it a unanimous recommendation with a high score of 9.2. "Round, ripe red fruit with hints of cinnamon and tobacco. Nice herbal notes." My score: 9.1. "Spot on. Everything you want from an Amarone." Varietal/blend: corvina (50 percent), corvinone (30), rondinellla (15), cabernet sauvignon (5). Alcohol: 15 percent. Winery/vineyards: In 1898, Pietro Sartori bought the Villa Maria vineyard in the heart of the Veneto's Valpolicella appellation to provide fruit for wines he had made to serve in his hotel. Pietro's great-grandson is in charge today with Veneto native Franco Bernabei, who has been the consulting winemaker since 2003. Winemaking: Hand-picked grapes are air-dried on wooden racks for 100 days. Traditional pressing and fermentation are followed by a minimum of three years in Slavonian oak casks. Winemaker notes: "Color: Shimmering ruby. Bouquet: Dried fruits, raisins, cherry compote with cocoa notes. Taste: Round and full-bodied; deep fruit flavors, and supple tannins; a cinnamon spice finish." Pairings: Pork, veal and poultry. Traditional pairing dishes from the region include Pasta e Fasoi, a pasta and bean soup; calf's liver; braised beef with Amarone risotto; and Bigoli col'Anara, a fresh pasta in a duck sauce. Also, intensely flavored cheeses. Price: $47.49 at Spec's ALSO RECOMMENDED 2015 Bonterra Sauvignon Blanc Overall score: 18.9 (8.9 for quality, 10 for value). Our tasters gave it a unanimous recommendation with two scores of 9 or higher. "Citrus with a lively, grassy finish." My score: 9. "Delicious grapefruit. Fresh and crisp." Winemaking: The Mendocino Coast grapes are farmed organically. Alcohol: 13 percent. Price: $10.39 at Spec's 2014 Shafer Merlot Overall score: 17.4 (8.9 for quality, 8.5 for value). It didn't work for one taster, but another awarded a score of 9.4. "Well-balanced. Age-worthy." My score: 8.8. "Red cherry and plum flavors. Hint of licorice." Winemaking: Shafer farms 200 acres in California's Stags Leap District, Carneros and Oak Knoll. Alcohol: 15 percent. Price: $50.99 at Spec's AVAILABLE ONLINE 2015 Martin Ray Chardonnay Bald Mountain: 18 (9 for quality, 9 for value). Our tasters gave it a unanimous recommendation with a high score of 9.5. "Excellent minerality. Elegant. I really like this wine!" My score 9. "Well-integrated oak. Fresh and lively." The winery is in Sonoma County, but Bald Mountain is in the Santa Cruz range south of San Francisco. Alcohol: 13.8 percent. $45 from store.nexternal.com/mrw. 2013 J. Lohr Signature Cabernet Sauvignon: 17.7 (9.2 for quality, 8.5 for value). Our tasters gave it a unanimous recommendation with a high score of 9.4. "Beet root and black cherries. Well-structured with a long finish." My score: 9.2. "Bright fruit and chocolate notes. Great mouth feel." The blend includes 18 percent merlot plus a little petit verdot. Alcohol: 14.5 percent. $100 from winestore.jlohr.com. 2014 Canvasback Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon: 18.6 (9.1 for quality, 9.5 for value). Our tasters gave it a unanimous recommendation with seven scores of 9 or higher. "Round, ripe black fruit. Touch of cinnamon." My score: 9. "Big, layered and juicy." Founding winemaker Brian Rudin calls Red Mountain, in Washington's Yakima Valley, "one of the best places on earth to grow cabernet." Alcohol: 14.5 percent. $39.99 from wine.com. 2015 Medlock Ames Sauvignon Blanc: 17.9 (8.8 for quality, 9 for value). Our tasters gave it a unanimous recommendation with two scores of 9. "Rich, well-balanced." My score: 8.8. "Fresh and simple. Easy drinking. A spring sipper." The California winery's Bell Mountain Estate is known for its well-drained, gravelly clay soil with an underlying layer of volcanic ash. Alcohol: 14.1 percent. $29 from medlockames.com. About our recommendations Eight to 12 tasters, a mix of industry professionals and knowledgeable consumers, convene once per month to sample 40 to 50 wines with Dale Robertson, the Chronicle's wine columnist. The grape varietals are identified, but the labels are covered. A 10-point scale is used, with a taster's score of 8.5 or higher considered a recommendation. The quality score is the average of the tasters' scores. The value score and, hence, the overall score are determined by Robertson once a wine has been selected to receive a recommendation. Value is based on the price listed. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Fifty-one years ago before he became "Dr. Frazier," before he went to work developing a device to completely replace the human heart, before he set the record as the world's most prolific heart transplant surgeon Bud Frazier was a 25-year-old medical student trying desperately to save a young man's life. It was 1966. Frazier was studying at Baylor College of Medicine under Dr. Michael DeBakey, a pioneer of heart surgery who by then was drawing patients from across the world. One of them, an 18- or 19-year-old Italian, helped set the course of Frazier's life. The man needed his aortic valve replaced. Frazier, who scrubbed in as an assistant on the operation, had spent time with the patient the night before, talking about his life back in Italy, about his health struggles, about the relief he'd felt when he learned DeBakey could fix him. The surgery went as planned, but shortly after he'd been wheeled into a recovery room, the man's heart stopped suddenly. The medical team quickly reopened his chest and paged for DeBakey. Someone told Frazier to massage the man's heart. Without hesitating, he reached in, and as Frazier rubbed the organ essentially hand-pumping blood through his body the man stirred to life. "I'll never forget it," Frazier said. "He actually woke up, and I remember him lifting his arm, like he was trying to get up." A nurse gave the man morphine while another readied defibrillator paddles. Between jolts of electricity, Frazier continued to massage, and for a moment, he thought he might be able to save him. Soon DeBakey walked in and told Frazier to knock it off. It was a waste of time, he said. The man was dead. Frazier, now 77, tells the story frequently. The moment taught him the sting of losing a young patient. But perhaps more importantly, it also planted an idea in his mind, one he would spend years pondering, first during a tour as a flight surgeon in Vietnam, and again after he'd returned to Houston to work under DeBakey's crosstown rival, Dr. Denton Cooley. "As long as I was massaging that kid's heart, he would wake up," Frazier said recently. "I thought then, and I've often returned to this: If my hand can keep this kid alive, why couldn't we make a device to do the same?" The question has driven Frazier for five decades. Now he believes he's finally found his answer. *** Marie D. De Jesus/Staff The titanium heart fits in Frazier's palm. It's called BiVACOR, and although it looks like a metal paperweight, it's so much more than that. It contains a single moving part, a central impeller suspended inside by magnetic levitation and controlled by electrical sensors that can adjust blood flow based on the body's needs. "It's a very intelligent design," Frazier said. "Sort of amazing to think about." His weathered hands have held many devices over the years that promised to replicate the work of the human heart. He helped develop and test many of them here at the Texas Heart Institute. All have fallen short of the ultimate goal. More success has come from the development of heart pumps, like the left ventricular assist device Frazier pioneered in the 1980s, which mimic the action of the left and right ventricles, keeping patients alive long enough to receive heart transplants or giving a few extra years of life to those who aren't candidates for a donated organ. "The trouble is, even though the number of organs donated has increased, there still aren't nearly enough to meet the need," said Dr. Luiz Sampaio, the director of Cullen Cardiovascular Surgery Research Laboratory at the Texas Heart Institute. "So we can bridge people to transplant with the devices we have now, but there still aren't enough organs for all of them." The Holy Grail a mechanical device to fully replace the human heart, keeping patients alive for years or even decades has eluded Frazier and others, despite hundreds of millions of dollars and decades of research. Similar problems have doomed each effort: Artificial hearts have generally been too large for most patients. The devices haven't been dynamic enough to respond to the body's need for more or less blood flow, depending on the patient's activity. And simulating the human heart rhythm - tens of thousands of beats each day - strains the devices, severely limiting their durability. The BiVACOR, developed by Australian engineer Daniel Timms and brought to Houston four years ago, addresses each of those issues. It's small enough to fit in children but powerful enough for adults. Its internal sensors collect more than 20,000 data points a second, sending information to an external computer and automatically adjusting blood flow to match the need more if the patient is walking up stairs, less if she's sleeping. And instead of beating, its single moving part pushes blood through the circulatory system with a "continuous flow," building on Frazier's work from three decades ago, when he proved the body didn't necessarily require a pulse. "It's an engineering masterpiece," said Sampaio, who's helping oversee the project. "And Dr. Frazier really is the one who, over his many years of work, has paved the way for us to get to this point." *** Marie D. De Jesus/Staff Nobody can say for sure if the BiVACOR will work as designed in humans, but the initial results seem promising. Frazier and his colleagues have implanted the device in several cows over the past few years, each time keeping them alive for about three months before removing the device and studying its effects on the animals' organs and circulatory system to better understand how it might work in a human. The origin of the research model for artificial hearts: Bud Frazier. Sampaio is hesitant to overstate the BiVACOR results so far or even estimate when the device might be ready for testing in people. Animal studies are notoriously imperfect predictors, and the decadeslong quest to create an artificial heart has seen many promising solutions fall short. Frazier, though, has never been more optimistic. He thinks often about that Italian patient from 50 years ago. With the technology that exists today - the technology he helped develop - Frazier knows he could have kept him alive for at least a few years, maybe longer. And with the BiVACOR? Who knows how long. "We're going to find out," Frazier said. "In 18, maybe 24 months, we'll be ready to put it in a human." ___ Mike Hixenbaugh writes about health care and medicine for the Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. Send him tips at mike.hixenbaugh@chron.com. AUSTIN - Calling it "a thoughtful proposal," Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday praised a House bill that would prohibit cities, counties and public school districts from enforcing non-discrimination ordinances when they involve multi-occupancy rest rooms or locker rooms. While Abbott did not side with the House measure, authored by Rep. Ron Simmons, R- Carrollton, or a more wide-reaching Senate bill, the governor pledged to help find a compromise between both chambers' legislation in the nearly 40 days remaining in the session. Local authorities in Zhengzhou, Henan province have changed their inconvenient office design after images of the office's poorly designed service windows were posted online. In the images circulating online, several clients can be seen squatting or bending down in uncomfortable poses at the service windows of the citys social insurance agency while talking to staff. The windows have been criticized as disrespectful to the public, indicating a perceived superiority on the part of the public servants. In response to the criticism, the Party chief of the Zhengzhou social security bureau told Thepaper.cn that chairs are normally placed in front of the service windows, but they had been removed when the photos were snapped. In order to formally address the problem, local authorities have removed the windows that previously separated service staff from clients, and have installed more seats for the latters convenience. In a commentary published on April 19, China Youth Daily called for more compassion to be shown to the public, adding that officials and cadres should take peoples feelings into consideration. A popular narrative in Texas, this deepest of red states, is that government waste is a liberal thing. And surely, the narrative is correct just as correct as saying it's a conservative thing. And a moderate thing. And a tea party thing. And basically an anybody-in-government-who-enjoys-unchecked-power thing. While there are some out there who do the right thing when nobody's looking, good government follows Ronald Reagan's sage advice: trust, but verify. Sadly, Texas government sometimes lags on that last part. One rather tense exchange in Austin last week illustrated just how much. State Rep. Sarah Davis, R-University Place, who chairs the House Committee on General Investigating and Ethics, grilled officials with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission about taxpayer-funded trips to exotic locales and sloppy record-keeping that showed former employees still assigned state cars, along with other abuses of resources. How did Davis and other state officials become aware of the myriad problems? Not through any audit or internal investigation, but by the good, old-fashioned reporting of the Texas Tribune's Jay Root. That's right. An "enemy of the people" exposed the real enemy of the people: government waste. Happens all the time, folks. Sometimes, a reminder is good. And I'm choosing to laud a competitor, so you know my intentions are pure. Over the past month, Root has exposed how the agency charged with the buzz-kill mission of regulating alcohol actually has been partying hard on the taxpayer's dime and cozying up with the industry it regulates a culture illustrated in a flyer produced on state time but apparently not actually used in an agency presentation. It depicted TABC staff, including the agency's head, the licensing director, a former analyst and a former contractor, in an airplane, guzzling beer on the way to a 2015 national conference. "Here we come California!" it read. "Woo hoo!!!" One of Root's stories revealed how the state's top liquor regulator, Sherry Cook, got "hazardous duty pay" typically provided to state employees for risky work while attending industry conferences at resorts in Hawaii, Florida and California, simply because she's a trained peace officer. The designation also qualifies her and others with more pay, a state car and free gas. Following the series of articles, and a fiery line of questioning at last week's hearing, lawmakers cut the agency's travel budget and Cook abruptly announced she was stepping down from her $153,503-a-year post. She called it a "retirement." Gov. Greg Abbott applauded the move, Tweeting: "It's time to clean house from regulators not spending taxpayer money wisely. This is a good start." Davis on Tuesday agreed that it was a good first step. "But it shouldn't be the last," she told me in a text. "I hope Governor Abbott continues to examine the top TABC officials, including the gubernatorial appointed commissioners, when 'cleaning house' because, after all, the TABC is an executive agency." Journalists to thank Ultimately, the governor is responsible for any appointees who may have engaged in behavior similar to that of which Cook was accused. He shouldn't stop until he truly uproots the wasteful culture that, to be fair to Abbott, was likely decades in the making. Now back to my point: that wasteful culture would be continuing undisturbed if not for a nosey journalist. "If the media hadn't reported on the story," Davis said, her committee "may have never known what was going on." That much is clear. When Davis and others asked Andy Pena, head of the TABC's Office of Professional Responsibility, about the allegations reported by Root, he said he had asked agency officials about it. "They were able to explain to me that 'we were on state time, and this is what we were doing,' and I accepted that," said Pena, whose job is similar to the head of internal affairs at a law enforcement agency. Agency in the dark He divulged an ongoing investigation related to other allegations but seemed in the dark about routine extravagances. "Did you know the agency employees were going to Hawaii before you read the articles in the Texas Tribune?" Davis asked a bit later. "No, ma'am," he responded. "Did you know that they were going to any conferences or executive board meetings all over the country from Chicago and Florida, California before you read those articles?" "No ma'am." "Do you think that's something you should have been aware of or you should have known?" Davis pressed. "Well, there were no allegations of misconduct. There had been no hint to my office " "So you had no idea that they were just traveling all over the place?" "That's correct." At another point, Davis asked him about a vehicle accounting system that was full of inaccuracies about who was driving what state-owned car. "Today was the first time I heard that," Pena said. "Well, add that to your list," Davis responded. Davis told TABC officials in the hearing that their actions "are why people no longer have faith in the government and our institutions." Let this story be one more reason you can still have faith in journalism. WASHINGTON - Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said Tuesday that lawmakers and other critics of President Donald Trump's aggressive new deportation policies should change the nation's immigration laws or "shut up." "If lawmakers do not like the laws that we enforce, that we are charged to enforce, that we are sworn to enforce - then they should have the courage and skill to change those laws," Kelly said. "Otherwise they should shut up and support the men and women on the front lines." In a combative speech, his first since Trump picked him to lead the nation's immigration and border security forces, Kelly painted a picture of a disheartened department facing a dangerous world. "Make no mistake," he said, "we are a nation under attack." The speech, highlighting the dangers of transnational criminal organizations, homegrown terrorism, cyber attacks and drugs, came as he and Attorney General Jeff Sessions prepare for a trip to the Mexican border Thursday in El Paso. Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general, said he inherited a workforce demoralized by the politics of the immigration debate. "For too long, the men and women of my department have been political pawns," he said. "They have been asked to do more with less, and less, and less." Speaking to an audience of diplomatic and national security officials at The George Washington University, Kelly said immigration and border patrol agents have been caught up in the nation's conflicting strains on illegal immigration. "In many ways similar to the treatment suffered by law enforcement over the last few years, they are often ridiculed and insulted by public officials, and frequently convicted in the court of public opinion on unfounded allegations testified to by street lawyers and street spokespersons," he said. "My people have been discouraged from doing their jobs for nearly a decade, disabled by pointless bureaucracy and political meddling, and suffered disrespect and contempt by public officials who have no idea what it means to serve." He praised Trump for turning that around. "All of this stopped on January 20," he said. "It stopped with President Trump. It stopped with me." Kelly also credited the administration's aggressive new enforcement posture for a dramatic reduction in illegal border crossings. While Kelly has previously said that immigration officers are not targeting those without criminal records, the administration has come under increasing criticism for recent immigration raids that have netted people with no known criminal violations. Kelly's remarks came as over 700 prominent clergy have signed a nationwide open letter from Faith in Public Life urging him to stop the deportation of Maribel Trujillo Diaz, an Ohio mother of four U.S. citizens who is scheduled to be deported on Wednesday. Houston activists also have highlighted the case of Jose Escobar, a father of two from Pearland who was detained after reporting for an immigration appointment in February and sent back to El Salvador. Christina Sisk, an immigration scholar at the University of Houston, said that Trump's strict adherence to federal immigration statues could create further social, domestic, and local law enforcement problems, particularly in Houston, which she called the "deportation capital of the U.S." "There's a broad consensus that immigration reform is necessary, but it's not going to happen anytime soon, because the country is in the middle of a culture war," she said. A recent Washington Post analysis found that Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests of non-criminals have doubled under Trump, even as border arrests have declined sharply. "Donald Trump talks about going after the 'bad hombres,'" said Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice Education Fund, an advocacy group for immigrants. "But the evidence and stories from across the country tell a very different story. This administration is purposefully targeting formerly 'low priority' undocumented immigrants who are deeply rooted in American families and American communities." Sharry also took aim at Kelly's admonishment of administration critics: "We live in a democracy, Secretary Kelly. We pay our taxes, our taxes pay your salary, and you are accountable to the people who make up our nation. Telling us to 'shut up and support the men and women on the front lines' is not how it works, even in the Trump era. " Trump's policies are a departure from those of former President Barack Obama, who gradually focused enforcement efforts on criminals and gang members. According to the Migration Policy Institute, he continued the Bush-era growth in the number of border patrol agents, but presided over a slowdown in the number of deportations. Some analysts said the drop in deportations reflected a historic slowdown in illegal immigration, a trend that appears to be continuing under Trump. While some immigration rights activists still dubbed Obama the "deporter in chief," he was attacked on the right for offering temporary legalization to "Dreamers" - immigrants who were brought into the country illegally as children. Since Trump's Jan. 25 order mandating strict enforcement of immigration laws, arrests of illegal border crossers have shown a markedly downward trend, particularly in the Rio Grande Valley. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection has reported a sharp decline in the number of individuals apprehended along the entire southwest border, as well as a decrease in those found inadmissible at ports of entry. In March, 16,600 individuals were arrested or deemed inadmissible, a 30 percent decrease from February, and a 64 percent decrease from the same month last year. Kelly suggested that the public listen to the official version of events, rather than the critics: "We will never apologize for enforcing and upholding the law," he said. Kelly also took an indirect swipe at the past enforcement policies, noting that the Homeland Security workforce was rated as having the lowest morale in the U.S. government. "Our DHS folks who enforce these laws - primarily ICE and CBP-know they have a job to do, are trained to do it, and are doing it humanely, and in accordance with the laws as passed by the U.S. Congress," Kelly said. "These dedicated and selfless men and women have the knowledge, the training, and the resources, and - and this is a big one - they know that they have an administration and a department that 'have their back.'" This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 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 state's standards. Current Texas law includes only race, color, disability, religion, sex, national origin and age as protected classes. 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. Staunch opposition 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, 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 Wednesday's hearing, drew sharp rebukes from big-city officials, LGBT rights organizations and the state's 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. Jeff Coyle, San Antonio's 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 preempts our locally-adopted ordinances." Keeping Texas open 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. Dallas City Councilman Lee Kleinman said the initial ordinance and the recent changes reflect his community's desires. "We're against it because we have a non-discrimination ordinance, and we certainly don't want it preempted by the state," he said. "This is yet another one of these legislative sessions where they're just so adverse to municipalities; it's unfortunate, and I don't understand it." 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 group's 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, House Speaker Joe Straus' office declined to comment on the bill. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey won a much-disputed referendum that will cement his autocratic rule over the country and, in the view of many experts, erode Turkey's democratic institutions. Of course, President Donald Trump has a soft spot for dictators and authoritarians, so he called him to congratulate him. One has to wonder if Trump is looking out for America's interests, or his own interests, since he has Trump Towers in Istanbul. He even acknowledged last year that he has a conflict of interest because of the property. Click the slideshow below for many more cartoons. How do you defend the indefensible? If you're Harris County, you hire a professional. Commissioners Court voted last week to hire famous Washington D.C. lawyer Charles Cooper to aid 15 county judges in the ongoing lawsuit alleging the county's bail system is unconstitutional. Cooper has an impressive resume for any litigant aspiring to be on the wrong side of civil rights history. Most recently, he unsuccessfully tried to defend a ban on same-sex marriage before the U.S. Supreme Court. Now he's lined up to advocate for Harris County's miserable bail system - a system that most of Commissioners Court will admit unfairly penalizes the poor. Consider it a preemptive move. Cooper will only work on appeals stemming from a potential pre-trial suspension of the current bond structure. Your property taxes already pay for the county's in-house legal department, headed by duly elected County Attorney Vince Ryan, a Democrat. That hasn't stopped most misdemeanor court judges from asking for a $550-per-hour attorney to supplement the $2 million already spent on outside law firms in the case. Judge Darrell Jordan, the lone Democrat on the county's misdemeanor bench, wants to settle. If Harris County leaders had been willing to spend that kind of money on indigent defense and diversion programs in the first place, this whole lawsuit would be utterly unnecessary. But that's how politics works: Commissioners Court can find spare cash to spend on Cooper, who formerly was named the national Republican Lawyer of the Year. Funding defense attorneys for the poor in Harris County is a nonstarter unless someone threatens a lawsuit. If only those busted for trespassing or driving without a license had a Super PAC. Maybe then we'd have a bail system that targets people based on their danger to the public, rather than the size of their wallets. More than 75 percent of the 10,000 inmates in Harris County jail haven't even been convicted of a crime - they're just waiting for trial. Nearly 80 percent of people charged with a misdemeanor will spend time in jail. And about a quarter of those folks are stuck simply because they can't afford a $500 bond. Faced with the choice between quick freedom or waiting for a trial, plenty of poor Houstonians will end up pleading out instead of insisting on their constitutional right to a trial by jury. The threat of losing a job, being separated from family and having to endure a decrepit and dangerous jail is enough to convince people to fess up to a crime even if they didn't do it. The danger that lurks behind bars isn't reserved for the guilty. A majority of the 1,100-plus who died in Texas jails over the past decade were simply awaiting trial. More than 50 of them were from Harris County. For far too many Houstonians, $500 can mean the difference between life and death. But for Charles Cooper and the Harris County commissioners who authorized his employment, it is just another hour at work. As an organization that strives to bring equity to Houston's African American community and other communities of people of color, the Houston Area Urban League, Inc. has much to ask the Texas Legislature when it comes to matters of economic justice. In this current session, one is particularly simple: Passing the Houston pension solution brought forth by Mayor Sylvester Turner. This compromise proposal will bring sustainable change to the city of Houston's budget and stave off significant layoffs and cuts to city services, which would more profoundly affect people of color. The pension plan Turner has pitched to the Texas Legislature would call for the city's three pension systems to cut $2.5 billion in their own benefits. The city, which owes the pension boards more than $1 billion from past underfunding, would issue $1 billion in bonds to pay them back. An innovative corridor concept serves as a cap on the city's contribution. In 30 years, the existing $8.1 billion unfunded liability will be fully paid off. The failure to pass meaningful pension reform will result in adding another $130 million to the city's expected deficit for fiscal year 2018. Those funds are more than just dollars and cents on a budget ledger. They represent lost opportunities and a failure of the city's capability to deliver services to neighborhoods where they are most needed. President Donald Trump's proposed budget zeroes out programs such as the Community Development Block Grant, which has been used to improve the quality of life providing economic opportunity to African Americans and other under-resourced populations. While we hope to ultimately preserve these programs, we anticipate there will be cuts. With fewer federal dollars going to our neighborhoods, we need local government institutions to be as strong as they can be. If the Legislature does not pass the mayor's proposal to fix pensions, it will severely weaken the city. Failure to pass the mayor's proposal would mean city services would be cut to the bone. Such a significant deficit would erase any progress we have made. The resulting damage to the city's credit rating would mean fewer improvements on the horizon. The result would be devastating to neighborhoods of people of color, which have long suffered the far-reaching impacts of neglect. Fewer police officers will be available to patrol our streets. Fewer firefighters and paramedics will be available to respond to our calls. Our neighborhoods, many of whom have seen their schools close, will see their libraries reduce hours and even shutter. Parks will become dilapidated, and children will find new and potentially dangerous places to spend their time. City-operated health care clinics will no longer offer preventative services, which will lead to more emergency room visits at the expense of taxpayers. Every neighborhood would feel the consequences of the failure to pass House Bill 43. But the neighborhoods least able to afford these cuts would suffer the most. Damage to neighborhoods would not be the only way people of color would be negatively affected by the failure to pass pension reform. The city is one of the five largest employers in the Houston region and one of the most diverse. Houston's municipal workforce is 34 percent Anglo, 34 percent black, 25 percent Latino, 5 percent Asian and 2 percent of other races or unidentified. The city employs nearly 7,000 women. If the Legislature fails to pass the Houston pension solution, the resulting layoffs would mean the city's longstanding commitment to diversity in hiring results in more women and minorities in the unemployment line, struggling to provide for their families. The Mayor's proposal was born of compromise and shared sacrifice. It is supported by the pension boards of Houston police officers and municipal employees, who have agreed to cut their own benefits in order to create a sustainable defined benefit system. It is also supported by the Greater Houston Partnership, which has made its passage the No. 1 priority of the group's lobbying efforts this Legislative session due to its impact on the economy. Organizations like the Houston Area Urban League understand the economic impact from a different perspective. The failure to pass the Houston pension solution would disproportionately affect those who need the city at its strongest. Economic justice can only be achieved with public institutions able to deliver services to those needing it the most, and the city of Houston can only deliver with the passage of the mayor's pension solution. The Texas Legislature must act. Robinson is president and CEO of Houston Area Urban League, Inc. Houston Schools is exploring more vocational options for its students. The school board heard a presentation during last Tuesdays monthly meeting from Jim Laughary of the South Central Career Center in West Plains. The institution provides training to 11 school districts in the fields of agriculture, automotive collision, automotive technology, carpentry, commercial and advertising art, culinary arts, drafting technology, family and consumer science, health sciences, practical nursing, surgical technology and welding. Dr. Allen Moss, superintendent of Houston Schools, said he has been exploring options to give local students more opportunities. I think its evident to everyone that while we have some great vocational programs, they dont meet all the needs of our students or the community, Moss said. Students who would potentially attend the SCCC would take classes in Houston as well as spending half their day in West Plains. Moss said the district is looking into sending a group of sophomores and juniors to tour the campus. Houston would be the 12th district to join the SCCC. The institution serves students from West Plains as well as Alton, Bakersfield, Dora, Koshkonong, Lutie, Mountain View-Birch Tree, Summersville, Thayer, Willow Springs and Winona. Moss said sending students to West Plains would meet a huge need while saving money. He said the district will be advertising for a part-time welding instructor for next school year, but it cannot meet every need the SCCC can provide. The cost of starting one program here at Houston would be $20,000-30,000 for a half-time position just for the teacher, let alone the space and equipment, he said. Although the school board did not vote on the measure, Moss said he hopes to have something in place by the start of the 2017-18 school year. To me, its too important to put off another year, he said. We have needs for our students and this community. Also during the meeting, school board members: Filled a filled a vacancy on the high school football coaching staff as Shane Wright was hired as an assistant coach. He will also teach high school physical education, coach the track program and assist with summer weights. HHS head football coach Eric Sloan said Wright, who is coming from Corning, Ark., will be the teams defensive coordinator. Approved hiring Rod Gorman (part-time high school physical education instructor, summer weights, high school boys basketball), JuliAnna Rodgers (middle school science, middle school volleyball and middle school softball), Michelle Williams-King (high school English and language arts), Andrea Williams (middle school English), Reagan Caldwell (speech-language pathologist), Tara Blankenship (substitute bus driver) and Shelly Mutzebaugh (middle school BETA sponsor). Blankenships hiring was immediate pending a background check. The rest are for the 2017-18 school year. Accepted resignations from Amber Lange (high school English, high school student council), Lindsey Barnes (high school yearbook, high school speech/debate) and Alyssa Wildhaber (elementary paraprofessional) at the end of the current school year. Certified the most recent election results. After dissolving the board, Jo Holland, Christie Koch and Darren Ice were administered the oath of office. Voted on board positions: Jo Holland, president; Jennifer Scheets, vice president; Leon Slape, secretary/treasurer; and Tanya Bathon, executive board secretary. Heard from citizen Jessica Dzurick, who asked that high school softball be moved to the spring. Several patrons also commented on the situation. No action was taken. Approved an insurance rate renewal of $477.37 for the base plan with the district paying 100 percent. Other steps are available. Recognized the middle school student of the month nominees: Parker Stilley, Zander Scholz and Gracie Tottingham. Congratulated HHS junior Kaitlyn Root for a perfect score on the constitution test, which is required by the state. ONLINE Read the official minutes from the school board meeting at www.houstonherald.com. The following are excerpts from reports generated by the Houston Police Department: Bryana M. Chambers of 227 Green St. in Licking was cited for failing to obey a traffic signal on April 10. Charles G. Fulcomer, 45, of 8573 U.S. 63 in Houston, was issued a citation for stealing under $750 after allegedly swiped $35 out of a womans purse April 10 at Walmart. Fulcomer allegedly turned the purse in at the service desk, and the 31-year-old Raymondville woman who it belonged to discovered the cash missing from it. Surveillance video reportedly showed Fulcomer removing something from the purse and putting it in his pocket. He admitted taking it. Jeremy D. Flewelling, 29, of 902 Hiett St. in Houston, was cited for allowing an animal to run at large on April 10 after an officer observed three dogs running loose at Ozark Street and King Street at about 7:45 a.m. Patrick A. Dodson, 36, of 309 S. Second St. in Houston, was arrested at about 11:45 p.m. April 4 for having an active Texas County warrant for three counts of felony drug charges and a traffic infraction. An officer made the arrest at a Steffens Street residence after being advised Dodson was there. He was taken to the Texas County Jail where he was unable to post $75,000. Dodson also had an active City of Houston warrant for stealing under $500. Rex Franklin, 33, of 915 Highway 17 Terrace in Houston, was arrested April 4 for having an active Texas County warrant for assault and endangering the welfare of a child. An officer made the arrest in the Houston Police Department parking lot after Franklin came there after hearing an officer wanted to speak to him. He was taken to jail and was unable to post $200,000 bond. David T. Korrok, 27, of 777 Highway 17, Apt. 4, in Houston, was arrested April 10 for having an active Texas County warrant for distribution of a controlled substance. An officer who knew of the warrant made the arrest after observing Korrok in the Walmart parking lot. He was taken to jail and was unable to post $250,000 bond. The 2016 election brought big victories for republicans at the U.S. presidential level, in the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House, and multiple races in Missouri. Incumbent U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, a democrat, hopes voters will keep her in office in 2018. The Senator fielded questions in Springfield Friday on everything from Obamacare to North Korea to the federal deficit. McCaskill worked to portray herself as a moderate to voters gathered at the town hall meeting. Also that Im willing to work with this administration, that Im getting a positive response, even when I told some of the people that wanted me to be totally anti-Trump today that, No, Im not going to do that, they didnt yell at me, so thats always a good sign, McCaskill said, laughing. The democrat acknowledged Missouri is a red state, citing Trump won it handily, by 19 percentage points. She said she hopes those who voted for her last time will show up again. Ive been a supporter of McCaskill since she was a state auditor, said Jack Hembree who attended the town hall. I was excited to hear an elected official answer questions from their constituents, said Lexi Amos, also at the town hall. McCaskill told the crowd she believes there is a chance her vote against the newly-confirmed U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch could cost her the election, but based in part on some of his previous rulings, she believes it was the right thing to do. No question Im an underdog. No question about that. Im most comfortable as an underdog, McCaskill said. KY3 NEWS An online exclusive is an article or story that does not run in the print edition of the Houston Herald. Typically 2-3 are posted online every Wednesday morning. Its another feature designed for users who purchase full web access from the Herald. Click here to subscribe for print, digital or both. China's top court launches campaign to root out corruption among law enforcers (Xinhua) 20:29, April 19, 2017 BEIJING, April 19 (Xinhua) -- China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) on Wednesday announced a campaign to expose corruption and other irregularities among law enforcers. The campaign, scheduled to last until November, will target passive, selective, wayward and corrupt law enforcement, which hampers public trust in the judicial system, said Wu Shaojun, deputy director with the SPC's law enforcement bureau. Wu said the move aimed to tackle major problems by rectifying and standardizing law enforcement and the exemplary punishments for a batch of violators. The SPC also plans to establish a long-term mechanism to deal with passive and wayward law enforcement. Justice Neil Gorsuchs first week on the Supreme Court bench features an important case about the separation of church and state that has its roots on a Midwestern church playground. The outcome could make it easier to use state money to pay for private, religious schooling in many states. The justices Wednesday will hear a Missouri churchs challenge to its exclusion from a state program that provides money to use ground-up tires to cushion playgrounds. Missouri is among roughly three dozen states with constitutions that explicitly prohibit using public money to aid a religious institution, an even higher wall separating government and religion than the U.S. Constitution erects. Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Missouri, contends its exclusion is discrimination that violates its religious freedoms under the U.S. Constitution. If the justices agree, the decision could have implications far beyond scrap tires and playgrounds, said Michael Bindas of the Institute for Justice, which is backing the church. It has the potential to remove one of the last legal clouds hanging over school choice. That prospect worries groups of public-school teachers and others who oppose vouchers and other forms of public aid for private schooling. Adding to the intrigue is the long delay between when the Supreme Court agreed to hear Trinity Lutherans appeal, a month before Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016, and the argument. The span of more than 15 months suggests the justices were concerned they might divide 4-4. Indeed, the case wasnt scheduled for argument until after President Donald Trump nominated Gorsuch for the seat. The timing of the argument heightened our concern that the court has held this case for so long, said Alice OBrien, general counsel of the National Education Association, which opposes state aid to private schools. Missouris new governor, Republican Eric Greitens, injected some uncertainty into the high-court case Thursday, when he directed state agencies to allow religious groups and schools to receive taxpayer money for playgrounds and other purposes. The court Friday asked the church and the state to tell it whether the governors announcement affects the case. A lawyer for the church said the case would be unaffected because Greitens policy change does not resolve the legal issue. But a top aide to state Attorney General Josh Hawley said state lawyers were evaluating whether the new policy would affect the case. The empty playground is seen at Trinity Lutheran Church in Columbia, Mo. Justice Neil Gorsuchs first week hearing Supreme Court arguments features a case thats giving school-choice advocates hope for an easier use of public money for private, religious schools in dozens of states. The long-delayed argument deals with whether Missouri should pay for a soft surface at the church playground. If the court decides to go forward, Gorsuchs votes and opinions in religious-liberty cases as a judge on the federal appeals court in Denver would seem to make him more inclined to side with the church and potentially provide the decisive, tie-breaking vote if the rest of the court is divided between liberals and conservatives, Bindas said. The case arose from an application the church submitted in 2012 to take part in Missouris scrap-tire grant program, which reimburses the cost of installing a rubberized playground surface made from recycled tires. The money comes from a fee paid by anyone who buys a new tire. The churchs application to resurface the playground for its preschool and daycare ranked fifth of 44 applicants. But the states Department of Natural Resources rejected the application, pointing to the part of the state constitution that states no money shall ever be taken from the public treasury, directly or indirectly, in aid of any church, sect or denomination of religion. A recycled scrap tire is not religious, the church said in its Supreme Court brief. It is wholly secular, the church stated. Leslie Hiner, vice president of programs at Ed Choice, a school voucher advocacy group said, It is difficult to understand that a little school could not participate in a safety measure determined by the state because somehow safety of children is conflated with religious purpose. But the question of where the dividing line should be between church and state is complicated, said the NEAs OBrien. The Supreme Court has upheld some school-voucher programs, and state courts have ratified others. But in many instances, challenges to voucher programs have succeeded based on state court views that their constitutions draw a different line than does the federal constitution, OBrien said. Thirty states and the District of Columbia have some form of school choice, including vouchers, tax credits and education savings accounts, according to Ed Choice. The justices themselves could draw a line that decides the case in Missouri without saying anything more broadly about school choice. But that issue already is looming at the court in appeals from a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that blocked the nations first county-initiated voucher program in Douglas County, Colorado. The Missouri church and some of the groups backing it have invoked what they describe as anti-Catholic bias that motivated the adoption of the Missouri provision and similar measures in other states in the late 1800s. They are similar to the proposed 1875 Blaine Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would have prohibited the allocation of public school funds to religious institutions. Both the Colorado and Missouri Blaine Amendments share discriminatory, anti-Catholic origins that make their contemporary use to compel religious discrimination particularly unacceptable, lawyer Paul Clement wrote on behalf of the Colorado county. But 10 legal and religious historians said in a court filing there is no evidence anti-Catholic or anti-religious animus played a role in the adoption of the Missouri constitutional provision. And they said anti-Catholicism was a minor factor behind the Blaine Amendment. The broader debate was about the future of American education, they said. ASSOCIATED PRESS An online exclusive is an article or story that does not run in the print edition of the Houston Herald. Typically 2-3 are posted online every Wednesday morning. Its another feature designed for users who purchase full web access from the Herald. Click here to subscribe for print, digital or both. Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print. Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition. If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create. (Xinhua) 20:30, April 19, 2017 BEIJING, April 19 (Xinhua) -- While some say that China still relies on its traditional growth boosters for its strong results, the world' s second largest economy is making strides far beyond its expectation-beating growth. Taking a closer look at China's 6.9-percent economic expansion in the first quarter, it is the increasing role of the consumption and service sectors, rather than infrastructure spending and credit growth, that deserves attention. First-quarter GDPgrowth accelerated from 6.8 percent in the previous quarter, and 77.2 percent of it was driven by consumption, 12.6 percentage points higher than the 2016 level, according to official data. Meanwhile, the service sector rose 7.7 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, outpacing a 3-percent increase in agriculture and 6.4 percent in the secondary industry. It accounted for 56.5 percent of the overall economy. The Chinese economy has not only been able to avoid a "hard landing," but is stabilizing and improving with better structure and more jobs, according to Chinese Premier Li KeqiangTuesday. Mao Shengyong, a spokesperson with the National Bureau of Statistics(NBS), said the Chinese were spending more on services, and the domestic wave of innovations and entrepreneurship had brought in new businesses and new methods of consumption. Innovation and start-ups are also a steady source of new jobs and income increase, with 3.34 million new jobs created in the first quarter and the surveyed unemployment rate staying under 5 percent. The per capita real disposable income of Chinese nationwide increased 7 percent year on year in real terms, outpacing the GDP growth rate in the period, while that of rural residents rose at a faster pace of 7.2 percent. The pickup in China's economic growth was not a result of short-term monetary stimulus, but rather increasing demand triggered by urbanization and supply-side structural reform, said Zhang Liqun, a researcher with the Development Research Center under the State Council. Xu Hongcai, economist with the State Information Center, said the highlight of the first-quarter data was a pickup in private investment, which climbed 7.7 percent year-on-year, a significant increase from the 3.2 percent growth in 2016. The reforms and other measures taken by the government to encourage private investment since the second half of 2016 have paid off, he said. China has shifted away from pursuing breakneck expansion to facilitate further reforms as the government trimmed this year's growth goal to around 6.5 percent from a range of 6.5 to 7 percent for 2016. At the same time, the country has set ambitious targets regarding structural adjustment such as creating 11 million new jobs and slashing steel production capacity by around 50 million tonnes and coal by at least 150 million tonnes. China must speed up replacing old growth drivers with new ones to transform and upgrade the economy, said Premier Li, citing a challenging world economic recovery and relatively heavy downward pressure in the domestic economy. The World Bank said in a report last week that China's transition to slower but structurally rebalanced growth had continued, and it expected the Chinese economy to slow gradually as it rebalanced toward consumption and services. "Chinese policymakers will manage the balancing act," which means that they will continue with long-term structural reforms, support new growth engines and facilitate the economy transitioning towards services and high value-added products, said Sudhir Shetty, chief economist of the World Bank's East Asia and Pacific Region. Mao said it was "no big deal" if economic growth slipped by a few tenths of a percentage points in the near future, noting that China's economic growth rate had become less volatile in recent years, with 6.9 percent for 2015, 6.7 percent for 2016 and 6.9 percent for the first quarter of 2017. Other than spurring growth, the priority for China's economic policies must now be given to furthering supply-side structural reform to lay a solid foundation for medium and long-term development, said Zhang Liqun. For the 20,000 workers currently on the minimum wage of $15.75 per hour, it means on July 1, they will move to at least $19 per hour, a 21 per cent pay rise, Coleman confirmed. For a full-time worker, this means they will be taking home around an extra $100 a week, which is over $5,000 a year. Existing workers will be transitioned to positions on the new pay scale which reflect their skills, and their experience. For new workers employed after July 1, wages will be based on an individuals level of qualifications. A care and support worker on the minimum wage with three years experience and no qualifications will receive a 27 per cent increase in their hourly wage rate moving from $15.75 to $20 per hour from July 1. That rate would progressively increase to $23 by July 2021 and would rise further if they attain a higher qualification. According to Coleman, the $2.048 billion settlement will be funded through an increase of $1.856 billion to Vote Health and $192 million to ACC. ACC levies are set for the coming years, but may possibly increase over the next decade to support this. However, that is not definite. There may also be an increase in costs for people in aged residential care facilities, whose assets keep them above the subsidy threshold. This will be determined through the annual Aged Residential Care contract negotiations. HR needs to be a strategic partner with the leadership team and the board because this needs to be taken up as a leadership issue from the very top, she stresses. They need to be championing this in their communications and messaging so everyone knows its serious. Another simple but remarkable effective step employers can take is setting up a dedicated diversity and inclusion council, says Doughty. Pull people from your workplace who are really interested in making a difference or making a contribution and get them together to start working on a common objective, she tells HRM. Importantly, Doughty says all types of employees should be welcomed into the council as a variety of viewpoints can bring about better results. These things need to be fully inclusive to anyone male or female and lowest to highest in the organisation thats really critical, she stresses. A mesmerizing video out of a factory in China shows just how fast automation might be coming for labour jobs. These small, yellow robots work at Shentong Express, a delivery company in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. Advertisement The bots, which are manufactured by Hikvision, are self-charging, can sort 200,000 packages per day and are more accurate than human workers. We want to start using these across the country, especially in our bigger centres," a Shentong spokesperson told the South China Morning Post, adding that the robots improved efficiency by 30 per cent. Humans have one job handing the robot each parcel, then the robot delivers it to the correct chute in the warehouse floor. Advertisement "Our working process starts with the scanning of a bar code which matches the geographical information. Then it automatically calculates the path to find the corresponding drop," operational director Gao Peng told Ruptly in a video (you can watch it above). China has been rushing to increase production automation. In its five-year-plan, the country announced it would triple its annual production of industrial robots to 100,000 each year by 2020. On Tuesday, a senior Bank of Canada official warned Canadians should brace for potential side effects of automation like job loss and income inequality. Follow The Huffington Post Canada on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Also on HuffPost Robots In 2016: These Are The Robots And Drones That Will Change Our Lives See Gallery Confirming what women have known for decades, a new study has found that birth control pills can make women feel awful. The randomized study, conducted by the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, and published in the journal Fertility and Sterility, looked at how birth control impacts well-being, and concluded that oral contraception negatively impacts a woman's quality of life. Advertisement For the study, scientists gave 340 healthy women between the ages of 18 and 35 either placebos or birth control pills containing ethinylestradiol and levonorgestrel over the course of three months. They found that women who took the contraceptives reported overall reduced feelings of well-being, including negative impacts on their mood, self-control, and energy, compared to those who took a placebo. However, the scientists noted that despite the negative impact the pill had on their lives, it didn't appear to increase the women's risk of depression. Advertisement Broadly notes that according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 62 per cent of women use some form of birth control. Anecdotally, we know that some women find the pill can make them moody, irritable and sad. As a result, some of these women turn to non-hormonal methods of birth control such as diaphragms, copper IUDs, condoms and cervical caps. According to the Globe and Mail, despite all the birth control options, the pill remains the most popular choice for Canadian women. "Few Canadian women use [IUDs], in part because of misconceptions about safety," notes Globe reporter Adriana Barton. "Many associate the device with the Dalkon Shield, an IUD taken off the market in the 1970s after cases of infection and infertility." The scientists also noted in a statement that even though about 100 million women around the world use contraceptive pills, the medical community knows "surprisingly little today about the pills effect on womens health." Advertisement Nathan Cullen wants to know how terrible a senator has to act before he or she is thrown out of the red chamber and it seems many Canadians agree with him. We have senators under investigation, you have senators spouting racist views, the NDP MP said in an interview with The Huffington Post Canada in his Ottawa office, adding theres no accountability in the Senate. Advertisement Cullen was referring to senators Don Meredith and Lynn Beyak, who are at the centre of two separate scandals and have brought renewed scrutiny to how the Senate disciplines its own members. The NDP's democratic reform critic from B.C. said Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus recent change phasing out patronage appointments feels very superficial against limited rules to remove sitting senators. The changes were mostly cosmetic, yet the institution's culture and inherent anti-democratic nature remains as solid as ever, Cullen told The Huffington Post Canada. And because theyre accountable to no one, they act like theyre accountable to no one. A majority of Canadians (61 per cent) agree with him, according to a new poll by the Angus Reid Institute released Wednesday. Sixty-one per cent also think the five criteria listed in the constitution under which a sitting senator can be fired is too limited. Advertisement Twenty-two per cent of respondents said the current rules are about right while 17 per cent said they dont know or cant say. Reforming the Senate and updating reasons for which a senator can be fired would require re-opening the constitution, which hasnt been changed since 1887. Abolition would require unanimous consensus by all the provinces and Parliament. Cullen thinks the Senate should be abolished, but his opinion lies with 31 per cent of respondents in the Angus Reid Institute poll. Its a significant drop compared to the 50 per cent who supported abolition in November 2013 at the height of the expense scandal that snared Senators Patrick Brazeau, Mike Duffy, and Pamela Wallin. A trial cleared Duffy of 31 criminal charges related to his expenses, including fraud. Advertisement Charges against Brazeau were dropped and no charges were laid against Wallin. More support for Senate reform However, the poll suggests support for reform has grown. In November 2013, 43 per cent of respondents said they wanted to see reforms in the Senate. That number has increased to 53 per cent today. In that vein, more people said they want to leave the red chamber as-is (16 per cent) compared to the seven per cent back in 2013. The Angus Reid Institute surveyed 1,508 randomly selected Canadians through an online form between April 7-10. The results have a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. There is much more work to be done Last month, Senate Ethics Officer Lyse Ricard released a inquiry report that concluded Meredith breached the red chambers updated code of ethics by pursuing a sexual relationship with teenager. Advertisement Police, who investigated the matter, found the senator did not break any laws. Now, his case is before the Senates standing committee on ethics and conflict of interest to recommend how to discipline Meredith either by withholding his pay, suspension or expulsion. Beyak, a Conservative senator from northwestern Ontario, received public and political backlash over comments she made about Canadas residential school system. She riled people after claiming some of the good things that happened at the schools have been overshadowed. She cited excerpts from the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions 2015 report that heard from 6,000 witnesses across Canada. LeadNow launched a petition urging Beyaks removal from the Senates aboriginal peoples committee over her March 7 speech. Politicians also called for her resignation. Advertisement Nearly 6,000 people signed the petition before Beyak was eventually removed from the committee. Political correctness is stifling opinion and thoughtful conversation. Sen. Lynn Beyak in a statement In a statement released on April 6, the Conservative senator thanked supporters and said its her duty and privilege to speak on behalf of Canadians. Political correctness is stifling opinion and thoughtful conversation that we must be allowed to have if we are to truly improve our great country, it read. More and more people are taking reconciliation seriously, and won't stand by as politicians debase indigenous peoples horrific experiences with Canadian colonialism, Brittany Smith, a LeadNow campaigner behind the petition, told HuffPost Canada in an email. Advertisement There is much more work to be done, but Beyak's removal is a sign that we're moving in the right direction. Also on HuffPost Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 19 By Elmira Tariverdiyeva Trend: Once again, representatives of the French political elite are discrediting Frances objectivity and efficiency as a co-chairing country of the OSCE Minsk Group, which was created to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Curtsies towards the large and quite influential Armenian diaspora in France in anticipation of the presidential election, and, in general, during political career of some French officials, unfortunately, have become usual. However, the international community should pay close attention to such dangerous curtsies, and seriously consider the relevance of France as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group. A thoughtless and dangerous statement the presidential candidate and, what is even more alarming, the former Prime Minister Francois Fillon made Apr. 18 is the latest outrageous statement by a representative of France. A conflict once again broke out in the South Caucasus in April 2016, Fillon said in an interview with the Nouvelles dArmenie online magazine. Confronted by international communitys indifference, Azerbaijan tried to take the Nagorno-Karabakh region by force. The absurdity of this statement lies in the fact that France, like the rest of the countries, including the occupier Armenia, recognizes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and considers Nagorno-Karabakh as an Azerbaijani region. Using the expression to take by force in this case, when it comes to the liberation of ones own lands, is at least incorrect. It is obvious what purpose the French presidential candidate was pursuing when making such provocative statements. Garnering the votes of many French citizens of Armenian origin is the case here. However, one should not forget about human dignity and political ethics even in the fight for presidents seat, because a political leader, first of all, represents a country, its image, and this image cannot be as deceitful as Fillons. It is unlikely that a person who held such a high position in the French administration may not know the true state of affairs regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It is also unlikely that this person, living in the 21st century, may justify one countrys occupying the territory of another one. Does Fillon really think France had to surrender to Nazi Germany in 1940s and tacitly accept the fact of occupation? Probably not. This means that double standards are applied again at every opportunity, giving rise to such statements and ridiculous curtsies towards many French citizens of Armenian origin, who will soon vote in the French presidential election. There is no doubt that after such a French kiss, voters of Armenian origin will cast their ballots for Francois Fillon. However, irreparable mistakes can be made by France if historical facts are falsified and real crimes are ignored, eventually bringing dire consequences. If Fillon wins in the presidential elections, this will immediately cast doubt on the objectivity of France as an OSCE Minsk Group co-chair country. --- Elmira Tariverdiyeva is the head of Trend Agency's Russian News Service Some people have noticed something curious about Ivanka Trump: her eyes seem to change colour. Esquire observed last fall that the first daughters peepers have appeared brown, green and even a greenish-blue at different times in her life. It appears brown is her natural colour, however, after a peek at photos from when she was a teenager. Advertisement Ivankas press representatives told Esquire in an email that they wouldnt comment on whether she wears contacts. Advertisement But one optometrist is pretty sure she does. "These definitely look like coloured contact lenses, her eyes are a darker, natural chestnut colour," Jacob Nachum told Inside Edition after looking at photos. "They are not going to change this amount." And Refinery29 noted that her eyes look different depending on the event. At an informal roundtable discussion with female business leaders and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in February, her eyes were brown. But during her Republican National Convention speech last summer, a more high-profile event, they looked green. Advertisement It also looks like she slipped in the green contacts for an interview with "CBS This Morning" earlier this month. We may never know her strategy for changing up the colour, if there is one at all, but it's definitely an interesting fashion choice for an adviser to the President of the United States. Also on HuffPost One of the best parts about being in a relationship is sharing everything about yourself with your partner. But for mixed couples, culture plays a particularly significant role. I think I was eager to know more about her culture right away, Dylan Rudder, who is Trinidadian, said about his Salvadoran girlfriend, Gabriela Trujillo. Advertisement The couple, who met at Humber College in Toronto, began sharing their respective culture with each other as soon as they started dating. For our second date, we went on a little picnic at Scarborough Bluffs and I was like, Were going to make guacamole and chips because I think shell like it, Dylan said, laughing. So we get to my place and we made the guacamole and shes like, Dont do this. Dont do that. So I was like, OK, I have a lot to learn. There are things that I dont know. Dylan and Gabriela at the Scarborough Bluffs. Our culture informs our identity, which is why mixed couples are so eager to share that part of themselves with each other. Advertisement In the video above, seven couples reveal what theyve learned about each others cultures, from food to language to dancing. Their answers are both sweet and surprising. I think I introduced fish for breakfast, which was kind of like, What? Allia McLeod said about first introducing her Jamaican culture to her wife, Alison Carson, who is of English, Irish, and Scottish descent. As for Sarah Abril, who identifies as Canadian, she learned that dancing is a big part of her husband Edgars Colombian heritage. Dancing and music is such a huge part of the culture there... so I kind of had to get over the awkward fact that Ill never be as good of a dancer as a Colombian woman, she explained. But I tried it and we go out dancing all the time and its something that Ive really grown to adore. We constantly dance doing everything, like [with] housework, were salsa dancing around the room. Advertisement Sarah and Edgar in the streets of Colombia. The beauty of being in a mixed relationship is learning from your cultural differences, but it also means opening your eyes to a completely new perspective. I think about race so much more than I had to before because the person I love is someone who experiences race in a way thats different than the way I do, Alison said. So its made me more mindful and more critical, and it makes it more urgent for me to be an ally. Jordan Patterson, who is Irish, Scottish, and German, agrees and says that being married to his wife, Rebecca Rebeiro, who is Goan, has opened my worldview. I see things a little bit differently, he said. Whenever I read an article online that comments about race, well now Ive got somebody with a completely different experience to talk to. But while mixed couples are part of the Canadian identity, that doesnt necessarily mean people are tolerant of these relationships. Advertisement Trevain and Alexandra. Trevain Britton, who is Jamaican, said he and his girlfriend Alexandra, who is Filipino-Chinese, have battled a number of stereotypes together. This includes the idea that Asians are submissive and that because youre dating outside your race, youre not black or youre not black enough. When I started dating Alexandra, it was much easier said than done, Trevain explained. Those [stereotypes] were some of the more significant barriers we had to break down with each other and we still do to this day. As for Ariel Norman, she also received snide remarks when she began dating her boyfriend Trevor Smith, who is part of a long line of Canadians. Advertisement Ariel and Trevor. [Trevor] has a fraternity brother who, in a drunken state one night, said, Listen, Trevor is a strong white male, hes going places. We dont know if youre good enough for him, but he vouches for you so were going to see this through, Ariel, who is Trinidadian, revealed. I was like, Excuse me? In Canada, mixed couples have more than doubled in the past 20 years, however, they still only make up about five per cent of all unions. While the visibility of these relationships might not necessarily diminish racism, they certainly open up the conversation about race, stereotypes and culture. And, as Patterson says, mixed relationships are breaking down barriers. Despite any challenges they may face, all the mixed couples in the video above agree that they wouldnt trade their relationship for the world. After all, love is love. Also on HuffPost Interracial Celebrity Parents See Gallery Finance Minister Bill Morneau last year warned Canadians they will have to get used to precarious work. Now a new survey from a staffing agency suggests precarious work will increasingly become the norm over the next decade. The survey from Randstad Canada predicts an immense shift to what it describes as agile employment and non-traditional workers. And it sees this as a good thing. Advertisement "Canadians, and especially millennials, are re-thinking their approach to employment, which is changing the way that employers look to fill their staffing needs," Randstad Canada CEO Marc-Etienne Julien said in a statement. "New technologies and new attitudes towards employment are having a profound effect on how the workforce will look in 2025. This shift in thinking and the willingness of young Canadians to eschew the traditional nine-to-five for non-traditional roles will dramatically change the makeup of the workforce over the next decade." The survey estimated that 20 to 30 per cent of jobs in Canada today are non-traditional, meaning temp work, contract work or self-employment. Advertisement The survey squares with some other research suggesting a trend towards precarious work. In the three years following the financial crisis of 2008-09, growth in temp work tripled that of permanent work in Canada. Temp agencies a part of the problem? Randstad Canada may have a reason to promote this narrative the company is Canadas largest temp agency, and stands to gain from a shift to contract or temporary workers. In fact, Canadas largest private sector union, Unifor, has identified temp agencies as part of what it sees as a problematic shift to precarious work. "Temp agencies not only benefit from, but also drive predatory employment practices that target immigrants and women of colour disproportionately, said Jerry Dias, president of Unifor, Canadas largest private sector union, in a statement issued last week. Advertisement Precarious work is getting attention among policymakers. Ontarios government recently completed a draft of a Changing Workplaces Review that put forward a number of possible options for improving living standards among non-traditional workers. Among the ideas being considered are a limit on hiring from temp agencies; requiring the same pay for part-time employees as full-time ones; lengthening the minimum paid vacation to three weeks; and making it easier for employees to join or form unions. Labour leaders are pushing to turn the proposals into action, but many business groups fear the new rules could hurt them. "We're challenging whether such sweeping reforms are necessary," said Karl Baldauf, vice-president of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, in an interview with CBC. According to research commissioned by Keep Ontario Working, an umbrella group of employers, the precarious work situation has not worsened much in recent years. Advertisement "We're challenging whether such sweeping reforms are necessary." Karl Baldauf, Ontario Chamber of Commerce Part-time jobs accounted for 18.8 per cent of all jobs in Ontario in 2015, compared to 19.5 per cent after the recession of the early 1990s, the researchers found. The share of self-employed fell slightly between 1997 and 2015, to 15.7 per cent from 16.1 per cent. And the number of temp jobs rose until the financial crisis of 2008, but has stayed steady since at around 10.8 per cent, the research found. This whole narrative of government seeking to address precarity in work is one that I think, at the very least, has a lot of holes in it and its very questionable, Baldauf said, as quoted at HR Reporter. Also on HuffPost Canada's High-Paying, Low-Stress Jobs See Gallery Hindustan Times via Getty Images NEW DELHI, INDIA - JUNE 12: Devotees look at just laid foundation stone of November 1984 Sikh Genocide Memorial at Gurudwara Rakab Ganj on June 12, 2013 in New Delhi, India. Allegedly more than 8,000 Sikhs died including 3,000 in Delhi during the 1984 anti-Sikhs riots or the 1984 Sikh Massacre by anti-Sikh mobs, in response to the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. (Photo by Vipin Kumar/Hindustan Times via Getty Images) Earlier this month, in a historic move demonstrating commitment to democracy and human rights, the Ontario Legislature passed a motion to recognize the 1984 anti-Sikh violence as genocide. The term genocide is politically charged and because of this it is rarely used. But, in this instance, acknowledging what happened in 1984 was genocide was truthful, sincere and healing. Advertisement In the 1980s, Canada opened its borders to Sikh refugees fleeing persecution at the hands of the Indian government. Sikh youths were being disappeared by the thousands, with the government claiming they were terrorists that had gone underground. With Canadian assistance, it was later revealed that the government had engaged in a campaign of extra-judicial killings. The campaign to systematically exterminate Sikhs in Punjab lasted over a decade. In 1995, Jaswant Singh Khalra uncovered police cremation records proving the murders of innocent Sikh youth. He presented his findings to the Canadian Parliament in June of that year. Upon returning to India that September, he was abducted by police and tortured for a month. His body was cut into pieces and dumped into a river. Belatedly, Indian Supreme Court Judges Justice Kuldip Singh and Justice Saghir Ahmed expressed 'horror and shock' at the evidence Khalra had collected, describing the acts it proved as 'worse than genocide'. Today, Amnesty International recognizes Jaswant Khalra as an International Defender of Human Rights and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights has an entire exhibit dedicated to his honour. Advertisement Jaswant Singh Khalra shed light on a horrific historical episode that many including myself grew up witnessing. During my childhood, the weekly newspaper was full of photos of the bullet-ridden bodies of Sikh men, some emasculated and dressed in saris, but all photographed with police officers hovering over them the way that hunters might loom over their prey. Women, too, were objects of extreme sexual violence, including rape by officers of the State. This was the plight of Sikhs in India, a hunted minority that comprised 2% of India's total population. Disappearances were unfortunately only the tip of the iceberg. Human rights violations were widespread and in November 1984, when the genocide climaxed in four days of State-facilitated, unhinged violence. While the Indian Government has often claimed that the violence was a result of Indira Gandhi's assassination, this canard was debunked by the Nanavati Commission report headed by the former Supreme Court Justice, G.T Nanavati. In his report, Justice Nanavati concluded that "[a]ll this could not have happened [in November 1984] if it was merely a spontaneous reaction of the angry public. The systematic manner in which the Sikhs were thus killed indicate that the attacks on them were organized." At that time, anti-Sikh violence was facilitated by political leaders who used voter lists to identify Sikh homes and direct mobs armed with incendiary materials and bussed into the capital city of Delhi via the State-owned and operated transit system. For four days, Sikh men were burned alive. Women were subject to grotesque and inconceivable sexual violence. Children were beheaded. Justice Nanavati confirmed that at many places the Police had taken away their [Sikhs'] arms or other articles with which they could have defended themselves against the attacks of mobs and that rumours to incite violence against Sikhs had been systemically circulated by many, including the police. I was born in 1986 and raised in the aftermath of what has come to be known as the 1984 Sikh Genocide. I was raised among trauma-afflicted families, and carried much of my own. In university, I elected to study genocide. I completed an Honours degree in Social Justice and Peace Studies, a Master's in Conflict Studies, and weeks from today I will be graduating with a Law Degree from the University of Windsor. Advertisement Canadian democracy is resilient, but more importantly it is compassionate. For decades, violence carried out by the Indian state has deeply traumatized Sikhs. That hurt has been intergenerational. Nonetheless, there is a path to healing from all of this. As noted by leading trauma and reconciliation specialist Dr. Judith Herman, the path requires remembrance and truth-telling as prerequisites. That is why the Ontario Legislature's motion is unifying and healing. Canada's and Ontario's democratic institutions have demonstrated their commitment to seeking the truth. I offer my thanks to those courageous MPPs that voted to support this motion, but also some counsel. The path forward will be unifying and healing, but it will also be difficult. As Dr. Herman almost prophetically notes: "Secrecy and silence are the perpetrator's first line of defense. If secrecy fails, the perpetrator attacks the credibility of his victim. If he cannot silence her absolutely, he tries to make sure that no one listens. To this end, he marshals an impressive array of arguments, from the most blatant denial to the most sophisticated and elegant rationalization. After every atrocity one can expect to hear the same predictable apologies: it never happened; the victim lies; the victim exaggerates; the victim brought this upon herself; and in any case it is time to forget the past and move on." I see this happening now. To those who are standing up for truth and justice, all I can say is, stay on the path. Stay strong. Truth, in the end, is the only way we can heal. Science isn't everything. But it is crucial to governing, decision-making, protecting human health and the environment, and resolving questions and challenges around our existence. Those determined to advance industrial interests over all else often attack science. We've seen it in Canada, with a decade of cuts to research funding and scientific programs, muzzling of government scientists and rejection of evidence regarding issues such as climate change. Advertisement We're seeing worse in the United States. The new administration is proposing drastic cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency, National Institutes of Health, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA and others. Information about climate change and environmental protection is being scrubbed from government websites, and scientists are being muzzled. Meanwhile, the government is increasing spending on military and nuclear weapons programs. There's nothing wrong with challenging research, developing competing hypotheses and looking for flaws in studies. That's how science works. But rejecting, eliminating, covering up or attacking evidence that might call into question government or industry priorities -- evidence that might show how those priorities could lead to widespread harm -- is unconscionable. It's galling to me because I traded a scientific career for full-time communication work because good scientific information helps people make the best decisions to take us into the future. Many scientists prefer to work quietly, letting their research speak for itself. But recent attacks are galvanizing scientists and supporters throughout the U.S. and elsewhere. The March for Science on Earth Day, April 22, has been building steam for months. The main march will take place in Washington, D.C., but more than 425 marches are planned around the world. That kicks off a week of action, culminating in the Peoples Climate March on April 29 -- also focused on Washington but with satellite marches throughout the world. Advertisement The March for Science website says organizers are "advocating for evidence-based policymaking, science education, research funding, and inclusive and accessible science." The group's 850,000-member Facebook page is inspiring, with "advocates, science educators, scientists, and concerned citizens" sharing personal testimonials about their reasons for marching and why science is important to them, along with ideas for posters and slogans, questions about the march, articles about science and exposes of climate disinformation sent to schools and science teachers by the anti-science Heartland Institute. A post shared by March for Science (Official) (@sciencemarchdc) on Apr 8, 2017 at 9:23am PDT March participants are a wide-ranging group, from a neuroscientist who is marching "for the thousands of people suffering from spinal cord injury," to sci-fi fans who are marching "because you can't have science fiction without science!" to a scientist marching to honour "the many, many women and young girls interested or involved in science," to those marching "because we know climate change is real." Celebrating and advocating for science is a good way to mark Earth Day. I'll be in Ottawa, where a march is also taking place. David Suzuki Foundation senior editor Ian Hanington and I will launch our new book, Just Cool It!, at an Ottawa Writers Festival event that also features award-winning Nishnaabeg musician, scholar and writer Leanne Betasamosake Simpson. Advertisement Climate change is one area where anti-science rhetoric and actions at the highest levels of society are endangering human health and survival. Our book is a comprehensive look at the history and implications of climate science, the barriers to confronting the crisis and the many solutions required to resolve it. Seeing so many people standing up for science and humanity is reason for optimism. It's discouraging to witness the current attacks on science, and the ever-increasing consequences of climate change, diminishing ocean health and other human-caused problems, but seeing so many people standing up for science and humanity is reason for optimism. Of all the many solutions to global warming and other environmental problems, none is as powerful as people getting together to demand change. Every day should be Earth Day, but it's good to have a special day to remind us of the importance of protecting the air, water, soil and biodiversity that we all depend on for health and survival. Politicians are supposed to work for the long-term well-being of people who elect them, not to advance the often short-sighted agendas of those who pay large sums of money to get their way regardless of the consequences. Standing together to make ourselves heard is one of the best ways to ensure they fulfill their responsibilities. Written with contributions from David Suzuki Foundation Senior Editor Ian Hanington. Learn more at www.davidsuzuki.org. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook Also on HuffPost: Advertisement Recently, perhaps as a response to MPP Mike Colle's private member's bill, some in the media have taken to defending personal injury lawyers and legal contingency fees. I have to wonder if any of these people has ever been injured in a car accident or had to enlist the services of a personal injury lawyer. Advertisement Having been an accident victim myself, it is an ordeal I would never wish on someone else. However, I find it hard to think if anyone had been through what I -- and many others -- have experienced, the rosy view of contingency fees some have might be blurred. The notion that personal injury lawyers are taking a big risk because they won't win every case diminishes the risk that victims are taking. They are often putting their recovery and their families' futures in the hands of their lawyer. Let's remember what settlement money is for, after all. It is meant to allow people who have been seriously injured to carry on with their lives, find a measure of financial security and put their minds at ease. Victims have so much riding on these cases; it is not unreasonable for them to be assured that if they are awarded a settlement, they will have some left for themselves. There is nothing just about putting your faith in someone in a time of need and having them take advantage of you instead. In her National Post column, Marni Soupcoff gives the example of a $20,000 fee on a $100,000 settlement. That is a perfectly reasonable arrangement, but far from a typical one. Advertisement Mike Colle didn't bring forth his private member's bill because of people paying 20 per cent of their settlement to their lawyers. He took on this issue because of case after case of lawyers taking half of victims' settlements -- and sometimes even more! Ms. Soupcoff suggests that a cap would mean lawyers taking fewer cases. What if instead it meant lawyers cleared the ones they had faster? My own case dragged on for years, at times as a direct result of my own lawyer. Maybe if he knew he was only going to get 15 per cent instead of 50, he may have been a bit more motivated to reach a resolution sooner. In British Columbia there is already a cap on contingency fees, and a quick Google search suggests that there are still personal injury lawyers finding a way to make a living in the province. Their cap is higher than the one proposed by Colle, but lawyers and their lobbyists are not suggesting that a cap is fine but the amount is wrong. If that cap was 20 per cent, lawyers would fight it; if it was 30, no doubt that would be a legal travesty as well. Their problem isn't the number. They are opposed to any regulation that might force them to treat accident victims as people and not simply as paycheques. Advertisement Maintaining access to justice for accident victims is critical. We all agree on that. However, we have to make sure it is truly justice that they have access to. There is nothing just about putting your faith in someone in a time of need and having them take advantage of you instead. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook "I won't accept new patients if Bill 87 passes. I can't take the risk," a colleague said. "I don't know how to examine patients if Bill 87 passes," another added. "I will leave medicine if Bill 87 passes. I can't be a good doctor if I'm scared of patients," a third stated softly. It's tempting to dismiss these physicians as paranoid, but I wonder, are they the canaries in a coal mine? Advertisement I want to work, blissfully ignorant of politics. But with each year that passes, more and more laws are passed at Queen's Park, many of which make no sense, many that are out of touch with reality -- and many that are changing medicine in fundamentally screwed up ways. I don't understand what the Liberal government is doing to Ontario's health care. Let's look at Bill 87, the Protecting Patients Act. Its intent sounds good: the government is cracking down on health-care workers who sexually abuse patients. But Bill 87 is extreme, breeding a culture of fear. It won't just punish the guilty. It will punish anyone suspected of wrongdoing: public shaming, heavy fines and a suspended license, all before guilt is established. Innocent until proven guilty should be a basic right. The government is targeting healthcare professionals right now -- doctors, nurses, dentists, chiropractors, psychologists and so on. Who's next? Advertisement How do I reconcile my duty to patients with the all-too-human need to protect myself? So I'm upset. I'm furious with the health-care professionals who sexually abused patients and started this mess. But I'm also angry with the Liberal government's scorched-earth response. Two wrongs do not make a right. Why can't the Liberals simply punish those found guilty? Why must they smear all health-care professionals with the same black brush? Bill 87 will make ordinary physicians afraid. Any clinical exam, any touch can be interpreted as sexual abuse. Tell me: how will I examine a breast lump? A groin hernia? A heart murmur? Check for rectal cancer? Skin cancer? Scoliosis? How will doctors and midwives deliver babies? How will surgeons remove breast cancers or fix groin hernias? How will nurses put in urinary catheters? I cannot do my job without examining patients. So how do I reconcile my duty to patients with the all-too-human need to protect myself? Last week, a patient, suffering from depression wept in my office. Usually I touch their arm in comfort. This time, I hesitated. A simple gesture of support suddenly represented danger and risk. What if the patient mistook my intentions? Advertisement A culture of fear means humanity -- that messy, empathetic, impulsive, compassionate core of humanity -- is tabooed right out of medicine. Look, I get along just fine with most patients -- but not all. Every doctor and nurse has had a patient misunderstand and cross boundaries. Patients have flirted, yelled, even slammed doors on me. Some physicians have had worse: threats, intimidation, stalking -- truly frightening behaviour. So I worry that some of the most at-risk patients -- the ones with personality disorders, mental illness, addictions and so on -- will be deemed "too risky" and be further marginalized. I hate saying it, but I'm trying to be honest. Under Bill 87, one patient can ruin my name. They can threaten my license and the livelihood that supports my children, my parents, my secretaries and office staff. That one person could threaten the care of hundreds of other patients relying on me. Already, hospital administrators are recommending nurse chaperones for every patient encounter. As a family doctor paying $100,000 to $150,000 in overhead costs, the added cost of a nurse chaperone is an impossible expense. Some will close up shop. Some will replace physical exams with tests and imaging, driving up the cost of health care -- but what about the clinical exams that cannot be replaced? Many doctors will document each encounter in minute detail. But at a time when one hour of patient care generates one hour of paperwork, this added burden will have consequences: less time for patients, less accessibility, more burnout. Advertisement From a patient perspective, having a third body in the room will change the dynamics. How many more will now hesitate to bring up intimate partner violence? Childhood abuse? STDs? Mental illness? Poverty? The Liberals have a choice: create laws that make sense and move health care forward - or rubber stamp bad ideas. I'm trying to understand, but the details don't add up. Bill 87 takes this culture of fear one step further. It will allow the government unfettered access to personal medical records for all health professionals. Why? "To determine whether the College is fulfilling its duties." I have no idea how personal health records for doctors, nurses, chiropractors, massage therapists, physiotherapists and so on determine the performance of regulatory Colleges. It makes absolutely no sense. The government has no right to access patient medical records; just because I'm a doctor does not mean they get to peek at mine. Doctors are patients, too. Last week, a family doctor told me about two suicides out of her medical school class of 100 in the span of one year. Physicians have higher rates of suicide than most. Dr. Shelly Dev wrote that medicine has "emotional weight." Journalist Sharon Kirkey wrote that "doctors are notoriously bad at seeking help, because to declare any kind of mental illness... can be seen as a sign of weakness. Others fear risking their license, their hospital privileges or professional lives." Advertisement This fear is about to become reality. A sick doctor cannot care for sick patients. So I'm asking: how will this protect patients? Bill 87 has not yet passed. The Liberals have a choice: create laws that make sense and move health care forward -- or rubber stamp bad ideas. If Bill 87 passes unchanged, its intrusive, scorched-earth philosophy will create a paralyzing culture of fear in medicine. A government that OKs a policy like that is not fit to serve. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook Has anyone else noticed an age-old movie plot line playing out in B.C. this week? A sweet-talking guy sweeps onto the scene, promising the world, only to disappoint when the varnish wears off. It's like watching the sequel of He's Just Not That Into You. For months, John Horgan and the B.C. NDP have said they would bring in the $10-a-day child care model, but recently, Mr. Horgan confirmed they wouldn't fully implement the program for 10 years. Advertisement Think about that -- a child who needs child care today would be starting high school when the B.C. NDP's co-called plan is implemented. After months of building false hope for parents, once again, Mr. Horgan said one thing and did something completely different. As a mother, I know how important and sometimes challenging it can be to find child care. The best way to help parents with child care is to create more spaces. That's how you reduce waitlists and make sure kids have the care they need from qualified professionals, with supports for low-income families. Premier Christy Clark and her team have created 4,300 new spaces since 2015 and will create another 5,000 this year, all towards the goal of 13,000 by 2020. That's concrete action to help parents. By contrast, from one issue to the next, Mr. Horgan has said one thing and done another -- an alarming pattern from someone looking to run the province. Advertisement Say one thing, do another - that's exactly what we've heard from politicians like him for years. If you're reading this and you're still thinking to yourself, "Well, it's better than nothing" -- let's look at how the plan would actually operate. In Quebec, where they have had the expensive taxpayer-funded child-care model since 2007, one study shows families in the top 25 per cent of income earnings were twice as likely to grab a daycare spot than families in the bottom 25 per cent. Again, that doesn't help middle-class parents. The Quebec model has also meant tens of thousands of parents still waiting for a space, as people who can afford to pay moved in to access the taxpayer-funded spaces. Advertisement Subsidies for the rich and tens of thousands on waitlists -- it's no wonder taxpayers in Quebec pay some of the highest taxes in North America. That doesn't sound like anything we should try in British Columbia. Of course, John Horgan won't tell you this. When he was speaking to voters on Vancouver Island recently, he told them he needs to be "all things to all people." Say one thing, do another -- that's exactly what we've heard from politicians like him for years. The plan being put forward by Premier Christy Clark and today's B.C. Liberals will increase the supply of new spaces to reduce waitlists and drive down the cost for families. That is the best way to help parents with the cost of child care, and give kids the great start they deserve. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook Also on HuffPost: Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 19 By Elmira Tariverdiyeva Trend: There is a possibility for a contact between the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian foreign ministers on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflicts settlement, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing Apr. 19. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. If one asked about the violent hot spots in the world, even a reasonably well informed Canadian would usually think of the Middle East and Africa. Very few would mention Burma, now officially known as Myanmar, as a serious concern despite there being a large scale ethnic cleansing underway with implicit acquiescence, if not explicit sanction of the government; and that is because the apparent genocide underway there is not receiving the attention it deserves. After several decades of brutal military dictatorship, there were democratic elections in 2015. Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won the vast majority of seats in parliament. But the 1.3 million Muslim minority Rohingyas in a country of 50 million Buddhists could be forgiven for believing that Myanmar's murderous military junta was still in charge, because there has been no let up in the violent persecution of the Rohingya. They were mercilessly butchered during the military rule. Under Suu Kyi's rule, with government usually looking the other way, the Rohingya continue to be massacred by the majority Buddhists, often led by Buddhist Monks. Advertisement The world famous former political prisoner, a Nobel Laureate and the democratically elected leader of Myanmar, Suu Kyi has been conspicuously silent on the systematic killings of the Rohingya. Once a beloved icon of millions from all over the world for steadfastly resisting the brutal military dictatorship that ruled her country for many years, she is now being criticized by the likes of Dalai Lama for her uncharacteristic silence about the beleaguered minority. The persecution of the Rohingya continues unabated; and Suu Kyi has spoken only to make excuses for her grim silence on the terrible civil war underway in her country where the Rohingya have no right to legal citizenship or recourse to any legal protections against the continuing violence. Entire Rohingya villages have been destroyed. Fleeing the violence in Myanmar, thousands of the Rohingya have taken refuge in neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia and Thailand; thousands more have died fleeing, many drowning in overcrowded boats. Suu Kyi's defenders argue that the constitution gives the military control over ministries such as defence and home affairs. That is offered as an explanation for her evident unwillingness to control or criticise the continuing brutality of the military and the Buddhists' against the Rohingya. But Suu Kyi is not as powerless or voiceless as she wants international observers to believe. After all she did fight for democracy in the country and she did so employing the language of equality, freedom and human rights. She is a powerful national and world figure that can, if she chooses to, raise her voice against the atrocities the Rohingya suffer in Myanmar. But in the face of extreme violence against the Rohingya minority at the hands of over 50 million Buddhists, she has turned a mute spectator to what looks more and more like genocide. Advertisement BBC's Fergal Keane and Al Jazeeraa's Mehdi Hasan have called what is happening to the Rohingya ethnic cleansing. In a recent interview of Suu Kyi, Kean had told her "that having covered many conflicts I thought that what I'd seen in Rakhine state amounted to ethnic cleansing," but she refused to budge from her deliberate silence, refused to accept the ugly truth of genocide occurring under her watch, in the very country thta she had fought so hard to liberate from the brutal military junta. Keane has compared the plight of the Rohingya to what he had seen elsewhere saying: "[O]ne of the most powerful memories I have of ethnic intolerance -- and this is after reporting on Rwanda and atrocities in the Balkans -- is seeing the plight of the Rohingya penned into a ghetto in Sitwwe, the Capital of Rakhine, and listening to the toxic rhetoric of Buddhist monks near a burned out Muslim village." Suu Kyi's response to Rohingyas' tragic situation has been totally disappointing. After a long and glorious struggle for freedom and democracy for the Myanmar people, she has turned into an apologist for the ethnic cleansing of an entire minority. Even more disappointing has been the reaction, rather the non reaction, of the Western leaders who had once hailed her as an apostle of freedom, democracy and human rights. While one doesn't expect much from the gong show that is Trump Presidency, one would have expected more than mere silence from Canada's Trudeau, Germany's Merkel, Britain's May and France's Hollande. Justin Trudeau had promised to be different and more engaged than his predecessor on the world stage. In many respects he has lived up to that promise. It was disappointing though to hear his hasty endorsement of Donald Trump's dictum of regime change in Syria despite the horrible consequences of the same in Iraq and Libya for which the two countries and the west continue to pay a heavy price. On the other hand it has been disheartening to witness his complete and utter silence on the violently persecuted, threatened and frightened Rohingya. Advertisement Canada's recent honouring of the Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai with Canadian citizenship reminded us that she joined five previous honourees including Aung San Suu Kyi and the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama has already told Suu Kyi of her "moral duty...to speak more openly" on the plight of the Rohingya and "to work to reduce the tension" between them and the Buddhist majority in Myanmar. As prime minister of Canada and as a Canadian citizen, Trudeau should follow the honourary Canadian Dalai Lama's example and ask the honorary Canadian Aung San Suu Kyi to stand up and be counted for the besieged Rohingya of her own country; that would send a strong message that Canada takes its honorary citizenships very seriously; and that it expects, as it must, even our honorary citizens to stand strong for peace and diversity, no matter what the consequences. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook vlad_karavaev via Getty Images South Sudan stands on the brink of disaster - with famine declared in two regions and thousands fleeing their homes in search of safety and food. Images of desperation in the world's newest nation have filled newspaper pages and flooded screens in recent weeks - but what is the situation really like on the ground? As an editor at Tearfund, an international aid and development charity, I have the challenge and privilege of seeing first hand how initiatives like the recent East Africa Crisis Appeal have an impact in countries like South Sudan. In the nine months I've worked in the aid sector I've seen horrendously difficult situations in the countries we work in. But nothing could prepare me for visiting South Sudan. Advertisement Tearfund staff member David Garang measures a child's upper arm for malnutrition at Maar feeding centre. Photo: Tom Price I've just returned from the country, where I met with people who were severely malnourished and families who had travelled for hundreds of miles clinging to lorries to escape fighting, or walked barefoot for days to camps for Internally Displaced People (IDPs). It was - and still is - hard to process mentally and emotionally. Maybe it was because I was focussing so hard on capturing these stories so I couldn't fully engage with what I was witnessing. But to look into the eyes of a person who tells you 'All I'm eating is grass from the ground' is a moment I can't erase from my mind. Advertisement Mary at Wangulei feeding centre with her baby. Photo: Tom Price Many of the people I met had been forced to leave their homes because of conflict. It is unimaginable to think about suddenly having to flee your community and travel for days without a single possession only to arrive at your destination and have to find somewhere to live. Most of us can't even last a day without our contactless debit card. I visited emergency food distribution centres to document the life-saving work being carried out. One story that still lingers vividly in my memory is that of a 30-year-old mother I met in a place called Twic East, north of Juba. Her name was Mary and she was with her five-month-old child. She was malnourished and her upper arm measured just 21cm in circumference. She couldn't even lift a bucket of water and had to ask someone to put it on her head for her. She kept showing me how thin her arms were. I'll never forget just how fragile they looked. Jacob, 2, is on the borderline between moderate and severely malnourished so is given packets of peanut paste at a feeding centre in Panyangor. Abandoned by his mother, he was taken to the centre by his 15-year-old aunt, Ahok. Photo: Tom Price Advertisement Instead of looking at the translator, Mary stared me straight in the eyes when answering my questions. Her passion to communicate her story was compelling. Eye contact is so powerful, even if you don't speak the same language. Our shared humanity is something I'm still processing. Having returned to London in the past few days it seems strange to witness conversations about how effective aid really is in helping people like Mary. The disconnect between the need and the cynicism seems vast. And the contrast in daily lived experience is something I am trying to come to terms with. Ayen, 49, holds her one and a half-year-old child, Kuol, at the feeding centre in Panyangor. Thanks to the stabilising work of the feeding centre, Kuol is no longer malnourished. Photo: Tom Price Advertisement Community members from the Mangateen informal IDP camp in Juba pick up sacks of maize flour, oil, beans and salt at a food distribution run by Tearfund partner African Inland Church (AIC). Photo: Tom Price Yesterday at the supermarket I was asked by the woman at the till if I'd found all I was looking for. To think of the vast choice of food available compared to what I had witnessed in South Sudan was unbearable. I choked up a little. Many people worry that when they give to big appeals they don't know whether or not the money actually helps. But on our visits to several feeding centres workers spoke movingly of the daily progress they are making in discharging children and new mothers after they have received food assistance. A woman and her children rest from the midday heat at Konyo Konyo IDP camp in Juba. Photo: Tom Price Advertisement Achiik Makuol, 23, a Tearfund staff member, reads through the notes of the waiting pregnant and breastfeeding mothers visiting the Panyangor feeding centre. Achiik is also pregnant. Photo: Tom Price Tearfund works with people already on the ground, through partner organisations. They are able to form close relationships with local people - they know their needs, they see their progress, they foster community. They are people who are standing side by side with those who most need help - from the physical, to the emotional, to the spiritual. EMPICS Entertainment This blog is an unedited version of the speech delivered by Bill Gates at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) in London on Wednesday 19 April It is an honour to be here. I particularly want to recognise Lord Hague and Ruth Davidson for being here today at a very busy time for British politics. Advertisement 2017 has already seared some painful images into our minds. The terrorist attack outside of Parliament. Children writhing from chemical attacks in Syria - and starving in Yemen and East Africa. The continued despair and desperation of refugees. If we base our worldview on what we see in the headlines and on the news, it's easy to conclude that things are getting worse. But a headline is not the same thing as a trendline. And the data makes a very different case. Viewed through the lens of data, our world is far better than it has been for most of humanity. The question is whether we build on that progress, or allow the forces of uncertainty and fear to slow or reverse it. Advertisement I - as you might guess - believe we must build. And part of the reason why is because of what we have accomplished already. In 1930, only three out of 10 people could read. Today, more than eight in 10 are literate. By the turn of the century, there will be almost no one without a formal education. As recently as 1950, three quarters of the world was still living in extreme poverty. Today, that number is down to less than 10%. In 1990, one in ten children died before age five, almost entirely of preventable causes. Today, that number is lower than one in 20. In the next fifteen years, it will be one in 40. These remarkable achievements are the result of a unique convergence. Industrialization and technological innovation have led to greater productivity and prosperity. Scientific advancement has made it possible for people to live healthier, longer lives. And the growth of capitalism, free markets, and trade has pulled more families into the middle class. Foreign aid also has been critical to this progress. It has ensured that as humanity makes these leaps, the benefits extend to everyone. Advertisement And, in doing so, it has broken the cycle of extreme poverty and disease that has trapped so many for so long. Still, those who do not realise how much progress has been unlocked worry that aid is a waste or that it only benefits people in some faraway place. The truth is that investing in the health and wellbeing of people in a poor country pays dividends far beyond that country's borders. The UK's foreign aid investments are, in fact, long term investments in the health and security of British citizens here at home. It concerns me that some world leaders are misinterpreting recent events as reasons to turn inward instead of seeing them for what they are: problems that can be solved... if we invest in their solutions. That's the case I want to make in my time with you today. If I could pick just one number that highlights the effectiveness of development aid, it would be 122million. That's the number of children's lives saved since 1990. Advertisement Saving children's lives is the best investment you can make in foreign aid because almost all advances in society - better health, education, economic growth - show up as gains in the childhood mortality chart. If you're reducing child deaths, you're laying the foundation for greater prosperity and stability. It also leads to many downstream benefits, as I'll mention in a bit. So, what is the biggest reason for the drop in childhood mortality? It is surprisingly simple. More children in poor countries are getting the basic package of vaccines that every child in the UK has been getting for years. Every dollar spent on childhood immunizations saves $16 in health care costs and productivity losses. And when you consider the broader economic impact of disease and illness, vaccines return $44 for every dollar invested. That's money developing countries can invest in better nutrition for kids, new health clinics, and schools. The UK government has long understood the value of immunizations. Seventeen years ago, we worked together to create Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance that make sure children in poor countries are immunized against vaccine preventable diseases. Advertisement Through DfID's contribution to Gavi, UK taxpayers have prevented two million deaths and will save the lives of over a million more children in the next four years. Gavi is an example of the kind of innovative, multilateral approach to development aid that DfID and our foundation have invested in together because it has proven time and again to work. Let me give you a few other examples. The UK and our foundation have been big supporters of The Global Fund, which works with developing countries to prevent and treat deadly infectious diseases like HIV, TB, and malaria. Between now and 2020, the UK's support will save more than two million lives. Because of the UK's investment in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, 1.6million people who would otherwise have been paralysed by polio are living normal lives - and we are now on the verge of eradicating this highly infectious disease forever. The UK also has been a leader in the campaign to rid the world of neglected tropical diseases. Though virtually unknown in wealthy countries, these diseases - with names like elephantiasis and African sleeping sickness - have caused unimaginable suffering for hundreds of millions of people in the developing world. Advertisement Five years ago, the UK hosted a meeting here in London with the world's pharmaceutical companies and other backers who pledged to eliminate or control 10 of the worst neglected diseases. I was just in Geneva, where we gathered to take a measure of the progress. It's pretty amazing. We are reaching nearly a billion people a year with treatments for these terrible diseases. That is a scale and reach unmatched in the history of public health. The UK has underscored the value of this effort with a new commitment that will protect more than 200million people in the next four years from the suffering caused by treatable tropical diseases. So, what is it that these aid initiatives have in common? First, they build on the best of what we have learned about what works in foreign aid. Second, by pooling the resources and aligning the interests of both wealthy and poor countries - they show that everyone is pulling from the same end of the rope. Third, they keep overhead costs to a minimum, while leveraging the expertise of skilled professionals in organizations like DfID and the World Health Organization. Fourth, they encourage private sector involvement, which is vital to ensure that poor countries have access to high quality, affordable health products. The point is, aid works. And, as I mentioned, it also has tangible benefits at home. For example, aid reduces the threat of deadly pandemic diseases that could spread as quickly across Western Europe as Ebola did in West Africa three years ago. Advertisement Whether the next epidemic is unleashed by a quirk of nature or the hand of a terrorist, scientists say a fast-moving airborne pathogen could kill more than 30million people in less than a year. A disease is more likely to become an epidemic when countries are unstable and have no functioning health system. And a health crisis somewhere is a health crisis everywhere. We can't build a wall to hold back the next global epidemic. We need to combat it - and the underlying socioeconomic problems - at the source. This is what foreign aid does. Military leaders like those in this room understand this - that aid makes vulnerable parts of the world less prone to conflict and collapse. When Secretary of Defense James Mattis was a senior commander in the US military, he once told Congress: "If you don't fund the State Department fully, then I need to buy more ammunition." Advertisement Nine senior British military officials reinforced this point in 2013 when they wrote that the coupling of defense spending and foreign aid - the combination of hard and soft power - "is one of the UK's greatest strategic assets." Foreign aid also is a key factor in helping poor countries become self-sufficient. Take child health, for example. When people no longer have to worry if their children will survive into adulthood, they decide to have fewer children. As family size drops, it gets easier for countries to feed, educate, and provide opportunity for their people. These benefits are compounded when women can plan and space their births. Yet, even today, millions of women in the developing world don't have access to modern contraceptives. Solving this problem is another area where the UK has been a leader. Five years ago, DfID hosted a summit here in London that launched a global effort to reach an additional 120million women and girls with family planning services. Advertisement This summer, my wife, Melinda, will co-host another summit here to ensure that the world delivers on this promise. This will be yet another moment where British leadership will help make the lives of women and girls around the world better. Some people make the argument that foreign aid will be needed forever. To the contrary, smart aid enables countries to take ownership of their future by encouraging investment in things like better schools, health care, and agriculture - the building blocks of a better, self-sufficient future. Just as the Marshall Plan helped Europeans rebuild the continent themselves after World War II, targeted aid today helps countries lift themselves out of poverty and chart their own future. Still, when it comes to aid, just like any other investment, it's good to keep an eye on it. As someone who puts $5billion a year toward development aid, I have a strong interest in making sure that money is well spent. This is especially true because half of that $5billion comes from Warren Buffet, who hates wasting money even more than I do. I also have a strong interest in making sure our partners - especially our closest partners like DfID - are getting a good return on their investment. Because that's the only way we'll achieve our shared ambition of a world where the poorest countries can stand on their own. Advertisement Given the recent wave of newspaper stories suggesting the UK's aid money isn't being well spent, I feel it is important for someone like me who works on foreign aid every day to make the case for the facts. So, let me be clear. When aid is mismanaged it is a double crime - stealing both from the taxpayer and from the poor. Secretary Patel has been very clear that any waste is unacceptable - and that DfID's partners must deliver results. And she has promised that where there have been mistakes, DfID will make changes. But let's also be realistic. It will never be possible to eliminate small-scale corruption or waste entirely, any more than we could eliminate waste from every government program - or from every business, for that matter. It is also worth noting that the British government has courageously taken up the difficult but vital challenge of working in the most fragile countries - because these are often the areas of greatest need. Making these countries more stable makes the world safer - but it is not an easy task. As the people in this room know better than most, fragile states are places where it is very difficult to operate. Advertisement Yet, even with these challenges, DfID is widely recognized as one of the most effective, efficient, and innovative aid agencies in the world. I have seen the impact of DfID's work on the ground, and I wish all British taxpayers could, too. You are the reason that malaria deaths are down in entire villages, and lifesaving vaccines are now reaching kids in the most remote areas of the world. Make no mistake. My foundation and I expect results. It is for exactly that reason that I have chosen to invest our foundation's resources - over and over again - working alongside DfID. Because in DfID we see a kindred organisation that believes in rigor, results, and outcomes. I have also seen calls by some newspapers and politicians to abandon the UK's cross-party commitment to spend 0.7% of its Gross National Income on international development. The 0.7% was first set out by the UN in 1970 as a framework for wealthy countries to work together to reduce extreme poverty. It has been discussed, debated, and affirmed many times since. Maintaining the 0.7% commitment provides developing countries with the predictability they need to budget and plan. This is important so they know if they will have the resources necessary to deliver essential services like keeping hospitals open, getting babies their vaccinations, and ensuring that children have the nourishment they need to succeed in school. Advertisement The Prime Minister made clear in her January visit to the US, and more recently in a speech in Scotland, that she sees the 0.7% aid commitment as a critical pillar of Britain's foreign policy. In my view, Britain should be praised, not ridiculed, for sticking to this commitment. It was a well-considered decision that sets an example for other wealthy Western countries. It also is visible proof of the UK's goodwill and humanity. Withdrawing aid would cost lives - which is reason enough to continue it. But it would also create a leadership vacuum that others will fill, undermining the UK's influence in these regions. It is reassuring to know that as Britain prepares to leave the European Union, it will not step back from the world. As people who will help shape foreign policy in a post-Brexit Britain, I hope that you will speak up for aid as a vital national interest that is essential to ensure a more stable world. Advertisement As the Prime Minister said recently, British aid speaks strongly to the values that have long defined Britain as a beacon of hope and optimism. A country that will never turn its back on those in need. And a country that will always meet its commitments - especially to the most vulnerable. This kind of leadership, and the leadership of people like Lord Hague, Ruth Davidson and MPs from all parties, is what will assure a more secure and prosperous future for Britain and for people everywhere. feixianhu via Getty Images In the week leading up to Christmas, I had a lot of festive-type things on my to-do list. Purchasing gifts, finally putting up the tree, and preparing to go away to visit family. But that's not what I did. Instead I accompanied a close friend to court for the trial of the man who allegedly raped her. Her employer, John*, was charged with 10 sexual offences against three young female employees. The three who agreed to testify, that is. Two were teenagers at the time. Advertisement John offered my friend, a stunningly beautiful 18-year-old, a job immediately. She hadn't even applied -- she just happened to be visiting a friend who worked in the building. She accepted, excited at the opportunity and the prospect of starting her first real job, which she would rely on with no family in the state. My friend shared testimony of what started as a friendly working relationship with a man she saw as a father figure. Initially, he made what she perceived to be relatively mild comments about her appearance and figure. In time these compliments became unwelcome and overtly sexual -- at one point he said to her, "I bet your p**** looks great under that skirt". The situation escalated as he began to expose his penis to her and masturbate in front of her. My friend sat in court day after day, forced to recount, in excruciating detail, her experience of being groomed, manipulated, and eventually sexually assaulted by a predator 30 years her senior, over a period of 18 months. She then endured a vicious cross examination as her wealthy boss's top lawyer tried to tear her apart and assassinate her character for more than two full days. She teased and seduced him, he argued. She made it all up. They had a consensual sexual relationship. She was obsessed with him -- this man old enough to be her father -- despite having a boyfriend (now her husband). John's lawyer even argued her claims were financially motivated and said she was punishing the accused for refusing to buy her an extravagant apartment. By the end of the second day, my friend was so frail she required assistance to walk back to Victim Support Services. Advertisement I sat in the back of the courtroom watching it all. I watched as the accused claimed each of the young, attractive victims had consented to and even instigated any and all sexual contact with him. It was sickening. On Christmas Eve, my broken friend called me with the verdict. Not guilty on each count except for one indecent assault against a different teenage girl. My friend was understandably crushed. She wondered why she had put herself through this ordeal that had lasted years, struggling through post-traumatic stress and trying to pick up the pieces of her life, apparently all for nothing. A few weeks ago, John was sentenced. The judge heard that he had a new job lined up -- but only on the condition that he was given a spent conviction. So, the judge obliged, and the man who "allegedly" raped my friend and sexually assaulted various other women walked away with a spent conviction, a fine of $5000 -- pocket change for a wealthy man like him -- and a new job. This is rape culture. Victims are afraid to come forward because being victimized somehow reflects badly on them, rather than the men who abuse them. And hey, they're probably just looking for fame or money or the fun of a long, drawn out court battle where they experience the pleasure of recounting intimate details of their rape to a room full of strangers, while their rapist's lawyer gets a free pass to aggressively pick them apart and argue that the most traumatic event of their life was all their fault. Advertisement These despicable men target and even assault multiple women and children with confidence, knowing full well they can do so with impunity. Even after uploading photos of the rape featuring their teenage victims vomiting, these men escape jail time. Facebook failed to remove a video I reported of the gang rape of a crying teenage girl, claiming it did not violate their terms. Rape culture is a convicted rapist being sentenced to 30 days in jail despite the fact that his young victim has already suicided. It's the man convicted of raping (and impregnating) his daughter who gets away with no jail time because of his "otherwise good character." It's when a 16-year-old victim is threatened with jail time for tweeting the names of her attackers who had also distributed photos of the assault. Advertisement It's a pattern of child victims accused of acting or appearing older than they really are, apparently ensnaring their adult rapists. It's an Australian man convicted of sexually assaulting a woman, receiving a suspended sentence, but getting three years for stealing a caravan, because we know where women rank, and it's below caravans. I could go on. And on. I already knew the "justice" system was broken -- that women very rarely reported sexual violence, that complaints very rarely lead to an arrest, that "not guilty" does not mean innocent, only that it couldn't be proved in a court of law, and that most rapists will never spend so much as a day in prison, hence victims hesitate to come forward. I've known all this for years, but there was something about seeing it all play out in the life of my friend, her wearily putting her head in my lap as I stroked her hair to comfort her. "We will have to live the rest of our lives in pain, agony and mental torture for what he has done to us... left to pick up the pieces," says my friend. And I don't know how to respond. *Name has been changed. Toby Melville / Reuters Theresa May has seized the moment and set the agenda. She begins her bid to win her own mandate with every prospect of strengthening her grip on power. For the first time in decades, the performance and policies of a woman will be the focus of a General Election. It is more than a decade since Theresa May helped set up Women 2 Win - an organisation to help women get into politics. Advertisement She will set the tone for a very different campaign from those of recent years. At last night's brilliant one-woman show by the former Labour special adviser Ayesha Hazarika I was reminded of Harriet Harman's pink battle bus at the last election in 2015. It was a desperate attempt to ensure women's voices were heard in the contest between David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg. Ayesha hilariously recounts the efforts of Ms Harman, the deputy leader of the Labour party, to get into the room where men were taking the key strategy decisions. This time, surely, things will be different. I am struck by how much attitudes have changed since I started working at Westminster more than 20 years ago. It was the final year of John Major's government. Like Theresa May, he was a Tory leader with a slender majority, struggling to heal divisions over Europe. It was a time of plots, in-fighting and knife-edge votes and as I ventured into the members' lobby of the Commons for the first time I was filled with anticipation at the gossip I might glean. A senior Conservative caught my eye. "What's a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this?" was his opening line. I was irritated and somewhat taken aback. But at the time I remember being more surprised at such a ridiculous cliche from a supposedly articulate politician, than at the blatant condescending sexism of the remark. I had travelled widely as a foreign correspondent and was far more concerned about my lack of political expertise and contacts than the macho culture at Westminster. Compared with the threat from a Somali youth pointing a Kalashnikov at your head or a Serbian gunman blocking your way, sexist comments seemed no more than a minor annoyance. Advertisement I never considered myself to be on a mission to challenge the male dominance of the time and have been amazed and flattered that so many women have told me I have been a role model for themselves and others in journalism and politics. Of course, women at Westminster still face significant hurdles and I do not for a moment underestimate the seriousness of the on-line abuse and threats that many in public life still face. But politics has been transformed in recent years, largely by the women who now wield power at so many different levels. When I joined the BBC's political team all the key players at Westminster were men. John Major had just two women in his Cabinet. Labour's rising stars were Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. There were 60 women MPs - less than 10% of the total. I noted at the time that there were more BBC Political Correspondents called John than there were women in the Westminster lobby. Today the Prime Minister, Home Secretary, Scotland's First Minister and the leaders of both main opposition parties in Scotland are women, as are the leaders of the DUP and Plaid Cymru. Advertisement Women are no longer inhibited by the macho culture which used to be such a feature of big debates. Just watch Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson take on First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at Holyrood, telling her to "Sit down"... during passionate exchanges on Scottish independence. Or Theresa May regularly trouncing Jeremy Corbyn at Question Time. No longer is the coverage of politics dominated by men. I have been proud to work alongside the brilliant Laura Kuenssberg, the first female political editor of the BBC. Anushka Asthana and Heather Stewart share the role of political editor at the Guardian. Sky's Sophy Ridge has made the breakthrough into the male-dominated world of the Sunday political programmes, clinching an interview with the Prime Minister on her debut. Of course, it is infuriating when a national newspaper decides that when the Prime Minister and Scotland's First Minister meet to discuss the future of our constitution, the shape of their calves is the most important matter. But the outcry at "Legsit" is surely evidence of how much attitudes have changed. Unnoticed amidst the election news was the announcement that Turner prize-winning artist Gillian Wearing is to create a statue of the Suffragette leader Millicent Fawcett at Westminster, breaching another male bastion. It will be the first statue of a woman, and the first created by a woman, to stand in Parliament Square. The Prime Minister has said Millicent Fawcett's struggle for equality continues to inspire the battle against the burning injustices of today. Advertisement Of course, Brexit will dominate the campaign, but perhaps some policies to tackle those inequalities and challenge outdated attitudes will also get at least some attention. The shocking scenes in the video showing a passenger being dragged off a 'full' internal US flight, while his fellow passengers expressed outrage, frankly represented exceptional poor judgement by the airline and its employees! For British Consumers watching this awful event, they could be forgiven in thinking whether anything like this could happen to them here in Europe? We must remember that whilst the United States has a set of Consumer Rights called 'Fly Rights', which are often expressed as an advisory, with some specific obligations on the airline in the event of a denied boarding, they do not represent the full range of Rights available in Europe. In Europe, aviation rights are governed by EC Regulation 261/2004 which provides for extensive rights if your flight is delayed, cancelled or if you are denied boarding. Throughout the world it is normal practice for flights to be overbooked and there are no laws to prevent that happening. Airlines overbook because they claim that 'no-shows' or people changing their travel plans could mean that their aircraft will fly with empty seats; they are trying to maximise their profits. Advertisement British holidaymakers must bear in mind that whether it is in the United States or here in Europe, airlines are entitled to call for volunteers where a plane is overbooked. In the US, the Regulations do not stipulate what you should receive but an agreement should be made as to how they will resolve your claim; in Europe whilst they will call for agreement between the passenger and the airline, the law cements in the fact that you have to be offered either a refund of your fare or re-routing. If flying in Europe and there are no volunteers, extensive European Rights apply which includes compensation as set out in the regulation, refund or re-routing along with meals, refreshments, hotel accommodation and transport where appropriate. In the US, there is some access to financial compensation, but the rights do not extend to those as found under EU Regulation, in fact there is a suggestion that you could take the airline to court to reclaim additional costs. It is always important that no matter where you travel, that you take the time, particularly when booking your travel arrangements, to understand your rights and the differences in those rights against those that you are perhaps familiar with in Europe. My advice to Consumers is once you know your rights (always carry a copy with you), present those rights where you think you are being denied boarding (or indeed if you are delayed or suffer a flight cancellation) and always take careful note of what is said and by whom; in an European scenario those actions can be presented to the National Enforcement Bodies charged with protecting your rights to help you find a resolution. Advertisement In the case of the USA, the 'Fly Rights' process strongly guides you toward reporting it to the airline directly; the 'regulation' however also offers the possibility to make a report to the Federal Aviation Administration but they only appear to suggest that enforcement action will be taken where 'a serious breach of the law has occurred'. Interestingly, the 'Fly Rights' page suggests that in the event that you are unable to resolve your complaint, you could always take it to the Small Claims Court; they reference a Department of Transportation Publication 'Tell it to the Judge' which is not linked from their page! In Europe the process of complaints about an airline is closely linked to the Air Passenger Rights legislation (261/2004). Within that Legislation, each Member State is obligated to create a National Enforcement Body; in the case of the UK, it is the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). If you have a complaint about an airline for their failures under the Regulation and you either have or intended to depart from the UK on an EU Registered Airline, then you should follow the complaints process as set out by the CAA. One important point to bear in mind is that there is a slight shift in emphasis by the CAA which in their own words suggests that they are 'only likely to consider your complaint if the airline or airport you've complained to is not a member' of an approved Alternative Dispute Resolution Body (ADR). This is an important distinction because it tends to suggest that the CAA will not deal with your complaint and that ADR will be strongly recommended to you. In entering ADR you should bear in mind that it is a legal process and that care should be exercised before you commit to ADR because of the complexity of flight delay, cancellation or denied boarding cases; in my view, you should exhaust all possible assistance from the CAA and carry out full research before you decide to commit to that route! If however, your flight was due to leave from a non-UK EU Member State, then you must make your complaint directly to the Enforcement Body in that Member State; the EU provides Consumers with access to a complaints form that they can use with any National Enforcement Body. What if happiness was the barometer? My Son Jack is 17. **CRUISING RAPIDLY towards 18** **I'm most certainly NOT old enough, thank you for noticing!** At age 15 he was in the 95th percentile of boys in his age group in our city in the UK, in terms of academic ability. And I made the decision to take him out of his highly sought after place at the boys' grammar school and move to Spain. Jack was miserable at school. He hated it. He SHOULD, by rights, have loved it. He was academically able, popular with peers and teachers alike. Advertisement He cruised through exams with ease and little stress. Yet for whatever reason he didn't enjoy it. (History repeating itself as we're very similar in all respects, including academic ability and dislike of school!) One cold, rainy November day he came home soaked to the bone and freezing and said: "I wish we were in Spain" That day I booked the ferry to Santander in Northern Spain. Two months later we arrived in Spain and two years down the line we are both SO MUCH happier. Jack self-studied at home and took some GCSEs which he did excellently in (not the 14 that he would have had to sit if he had stayed in mainstream education). But more importantly than that he's HAPPY. In my opinion the education system is MASSIVELY FLAWED. I'd go as far as to say it's totally fucked up. Advertisement It channels kids out of creativity and into jobs. It focuses on grades and academic achievement over happiness, creativity, love and joy. On the whole it's my belief that mainstream education fails to prepare kids practically or emotionally for adulthood. It fails on so many levels which is why so many of us spend so much of our adult life not having a fucking clue what we are doing. Never feeling FULLY in alignment with what we are doing. Wondering if this is really IT? Because we are blinkered and funneled and sorted and graded from such an early age that we know no different. Not even remembering how to FEEL or understand ourselves or how to determine what's right for us, or tune in to ourselves. Advertisement We've been taught to listen to our heads and not to our hearts. "You love sciences, you should be a doctor like your dad". "Should." I'm not saying everyone should pull their kids out of school immediately. (Although given my time again I would have done it a lot sooner with Jack.) I am saying there needs to be a massive fucking shift in how we measure success. At the moment, for most of society, success is judged upon job, income, postcode, car, status, marital status, grades, achievement. But what if we used a different barometer? What if we judged success on happiness. I don't mean the happiness we get from a night out with friends or a family holiday. I mean deep, inner happiness, peace, joy, love. Truth. Would you be doing what you are doing now if there was a shift like this? Bloomberg via Getty Images Dear media people, I see that, thanks to Cathy Newman's interview last night, the thorny theological topic of Sin has raised its ugly head once more. Let me get this right out in the beginning: I don't give a fig what Tim Farron's religious beliefs are. You know why? Because I am a Liberal. He could believe the sky is made from Puff the Magic Dragon's bumfluff, and I wouldn't care one jot, whit or iota. What I do care about, and care deeply about, is: Advertisement 1. How Tim Farron votes in parliament 2. How he treats people - LGBT+ people in particular - in everyday life So lets do a little list of things which illustrate how Tim Farron views LGBT people: 1. With one exception, Tim Farron voted fully in favour of same sex marriage. The one time he abstained? That was because he was trying to get an amendment passed on the Spousal Veto, a really nasty little clause which shafts trans people. Yep, that's right, even the time he abstained was because he was fighting for LGBT+ rights, not against them. 2. He was the first party leader to issue a statement on the gay concentration camps in Chechnya. He condemned them in the strongest terms. And while the Greens have since joined in, none of the Tories, Labour, or UKIP have. 3. He campaigned against section 28 from its inception, and thinks that refusing people service for their sexuality (like bakeries not baking cakes for gay marriages) is un-Christian. 4. He spoke out on the blood donation ban (I'm still banned from giving blood, by the way - because I have had sexual relations with bisexual men). Advertisement 5. He has campaigned tirelessly for the rights of trans women in prisons, and trans issues in general. When we had a trans rights motion before conference, he was there at 9.30am in the front row to vote for it. Not because of the cameras - there were no cameras - but because he is enthusiastic about LGBT+ rights, and not just G rights with a smattering of L like many politicians. 6. When Lib Dem conference brought in an accreditation scheme that inadvertently discriminated against LGBT+ people, he listened to us at LGBT+LDs, and then he went to head office and batted for us till the scheme was changed, and eventually dropped. 7. He has said to me personally that when poly marriage is made legal he wants to be the first on the invite list to our wedding. Look, I could go on for hours here, but it is as plain as the nose on my face that Tim Farron is no homophobe. So why do the media keep treating him like he is? Well, in the past, he has made some missteps - accepting that intern from the gay cure people, for example. But if you actually look at what happened in that case? The second he confirmed those people were campaigners for a gay cure, he backed away, apologised fulsomely, and campaigned hard against the concept of curing gay people. Me, personally? I value a leader who will listen and change his mind when someone points out he's wrong - Cthulhu alone knows Cleggy never did. The other reason is possibly a conflation of the word "sin" with the concept of "bad thing for which I am judging you" in general parlance. Advertisement I'm an atheist. Yes, I have A-level RE, but I do not know Christianity from the inside. However, even I have heard of the Christian concept of "judge not lest ye be judged". As Tom King says at some length in this Twitter thread, the Christian belief means that you explicitly do not condemn people who sin, because we are all sinners and judging people is God's job. Whether or not Tim Farron believes that homosexual sex (or heterosexual sex, or wanking, or eating beef on Fridays, or anything) is sinful, this has no bearing on his actions because it is not his place to judge. I don't pretend to understand that belief system. But I accept it, just as I accept Islam, and paganism, and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I accept it because to not accept that people can differ in their beliefs from you and yet still be worthwhile people is fundamentally illiberal. I'll tell you something that is liberal, though. If a person believes in their heart of hearts that something is wrong, and yet still campaigns for the right of other people to do it because it's other people's right to make their own moral choices? That, my friends, that is liberalism. I await your forensic questioning of the Prime Minister on her voting record with regard to LGBT+ rights with interest. Lots of love Jennie Jennie is acting chair of LGBT+ Lib Dems, bisexual polyamorist, and person who voted for Tim Farron to be her party leader and is happy that she did A West Yorkshire Images / Alamy Six months ago, the Prime Minister, Theresa May, spoke about her commitment to the "just about managing", the poor as well as the rich, and to tackling the "burning injustices" of social and economic inequality. The need for national consensus in the wake of the Brexit referendum and a revival of one nation conservatism. She made great capital about the steadfast and steady leadership she would provide and the cynicism and opportunism of those encouraging her to call an early election. The country she argued could not risk the instability that would inevitably cause! Understandably Tuesday's announcement of a General Election on 8 June caught many by surprise. In contrast to her often quoted prime ministerial predecessor, this lady certainly is for turning, especially when the fruits of our electoral system beckon so strongly. Advertisement It seems that building a national consensus and safeguarding the country against political and economic instability are of scant importance, especially when compared to the prospect of locking out opposition to a hard Brexit whilst burying the Conservative Party election expenses scandal. Tuesday's announcement is political game playing of the highest and most deplorable order. A cold and calculated attempt, less than a year since her leadership success and not two years since the last general election to create political advantage from uncertainty. Theresa May and the Conservative Party have shown their true colours. After seven years of Tory austerity let us be in no doubt what a further term of office would mean. This is a government that is dedicated to exploiting division not healing it. I represent Bradford West. I have sought to work tirelessly on behalf of all the people living in a constituency that I was born in, grew up in and have lived in all my adult life. There are things a working class woman from west Bradford knows in her heart and can see with her own eyes that no Tory election spin can hide. Advertisement Since 2010 the Tories have imposed an agenda of economic austerity with unswerving disregard for its impact on the people of my home city. The simple fact is that Tory policies have hit the poorest people in the poorest places hardest. Those least able to cope with the loss of public services live in the areas where they have been cut most. The Tories told us that savings could be made with cuts to top heavy management but it's clear that its front line services that are now in a state of collapse. Those working in schools, hospitals, social services or the police work longer hours and carry a greater workload as they desperately strive to shield the most vulnerable from the full impact of Tory cuts. These cuts to management are so extreme that strategic and organisational capacity are undermined. The impact hits working class communities hardest. They make the greatest use of public services and notice what are initially presented as small changes to hours, waiting times, and cost. The effect is cumulative and disproportionate. When allied to a world of employment that is increasingly precarious and uncertain, where wages have stagnated for years and employment rights feel like a thing of the past, Theresa May's hypocrisy is staggering. There is an alternative. We need to start funding the public sector again, and we need to rebalance between investment and saving. We need to listen to alternatives because austerity has not worked. Debt is higher, borrowing is higher, and we have paid enough of a price for this government's failure to deliver. The time for bleak, pessimistic austerity from Tory governments is over. It has bought the NHS to its knees, stripped local government of vital resources, decimated school funding and put immense pressure on those who were struggling the most. Advertisement This is a chance for optimism. It is chance for us to want better, we deserve better. Better for ourselves and better for the next generation. It is a chance to make a change. This is your opportunity to vote for it. "We wanted to make an app that was simple and easy to use for everyone," says Harriet, "so residents can use it and support workers can use it". Harriet, a young woman with a learning disability, collaborated with Camphill Village Trust (CVT), the care provider that supports her, to develop a multi-functional social media app, CVT Connect. Launched a year ago, CVT Connect aims to support people with learning disabilities to develop skills, confidence and safety awareness in their use of social media. Harriet worked on the app with her peers in the CVT Got It team, a group of people with learning disabilities who quality check information for accessibility. The team collaborated with CVT staff and a small technology company. There have long been calls within the social care sector for more providers to embrace technological advances to improve efficiency at a time of austerity, as I have previously blogged on these pages. Advertisement Cost is not the only driver - although this is a perennial factor, not least after the recent spring budget - but technology can also mean faster dissemination of information and less paperwork. Yet there has been little focus on how people supported by social care are actively included in designing such digital developments. Concern remains that our "digitally excluded" population consists predominantly of older people or people with disabilities. We outline some of these issues in a new publication exploring how adult social care can maximise the benefits of technology and how people who use services are contributing to digital designs. Digital technology is at the heart of the NHS Five Year Forward View and the government is equally keen that local authorities embrace such innovations during a time of austerity. The words of communities and local government secretary Sajid Javid on the local government finance settlement also stressed the importance of digital innovation. According to the Local Government Association's (LGA) vision for technology in social care, five key themes dictate how information and technology will transform the delivery of health and social care services. These include integrating services and information for children, families and adults, enabling people to interact with care services through digital channels and promoting independence and wellbeing through the use of digital services and technology. In addition, commissioning must be integrated through the improved use of information and analysis, and care professionals enabled to work from any base at any time. Advertisement The key enablers of this transformation, says the LGA, include leadership and collaboration with citizens and professionals. The LGA also stresses that it is not the technology alone that makes for success but the "buy in" and collaboration of the people using it. This is clearly the case with the CVT Connect app used by Harriet, her peers and support staff. The technology is not only meeting a practical need, but raising aspirations and changing the culture of an organisation. Firstly, the app makes information more easily available to people, creating a safe digital environment for people to learn to use social media. This also reduces anxiety about fraud and cyberbullying, and encourages people to have a bigger say, for example, through taking part in online surveys more easily. Also, the app offers a platform for people to have greater control over their person-centred plan, which sets out how someone's care and support is designed. It encourages digital one-page profiles, which people can update themselves, and "walls" where people can pool their views and noticeboards for current information. Local administrators oversee people's accounts, checking what is being shared through the app and support learning about how to stay safe online. So far around 20% of the people supported by CVT are using the app, with the charity providing training devices for people to learn how to use the app before buying their own. Importantly, the app represents a culture change and a skills development issue for staff as well as people with learning disabilities. Because staff develop their own one-page profiles, the app helps people create more personal connections; app users seeing each other first and foremost as people. In addition, there is an impact on governance as CVT Connect is being used to inform decisions about how the organisation is run. As proved by CVT, user engagement is key to the design of successful digital solutions. And technology should not be considered an add-on or after thought, but part of how care providers can improve the support and inclusion of the people they work with. Advertisement More widely, organisations could jointly design and deliver shared technological solutions, with potential savings realised through collective purchasing power. Such combined efforts to promote innovation in our sector could lead to stronger relationships with commissioners. This is vital at a time when a risk-averse approach to commissioning and a reluctance to invest in unfamiliar solutions is common. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 19 Trend: Results of the referendum to amend Turkeys Constitution reflect the voters will, Bahar Muradova, vice speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament, told reporters in Baku. She added that all decisions in Turkey are made with participation of the majority of population and are aimed at the future. The referendum was held at a high level in accordance with all principles of democracy, Muradova said. According to the preliminary data, 51.33 percent of voters cast their ballots in favor of the amendments to the Turkish Constitution April 16. Some 84 percent of Turkeys population participated in the voting. Patrick Robert - Corbis via Getty Images Wow. Like many others I was amazed when I heard Theresa May was calling a General Election. It's a huge moment and I'm absolutely convinced that whatever happens on 8 June, we can make Britain a safe haven for refugees. Here's how. First, we need to ensure the voices of refugees and people seeking asylum in Britain are heard. Refugee Action will be sharing with our supporters and with prospective MPs of all parties the experiences of the people we work with and how their lives can be improved. This is an important opportunity for parties to make clear commitments to refugees and people seeking sanctuary. Advertisement Second, we need to join up. Immigration will doubtless be a high profile and highly contested area of debate in this Election. It's essential that all groups with a shared vision for UK refugee policy work together to maximum effect over the next couple of months. This doesn't mean a grand coalition or lengthy policy proposals! It means agreement on our top priorities, and more importantly on how our actions can reinforce one another. Groups like Citizens UK and City of Sanctuary will doubtless do amazing work engaging voters and candidates at the constituency level. We look forward to collaborating with them and many others, as we make a passionate case for Britain welcoming refugees. Third, we need to be clear what we want. Our core message is simple: Britain should be leading the global effort to protect those who have lost everything and have been forced to flee conflict, persecution and terror. Tragically, the needs of refugees have never been greater. There are now sixty million people who have been forced to abandon their homes. Our response to their plight is a litmus test of our compassion, and a core part of developing a truly global Britain. We will not solve this problem alone of course, but we must step up and contribute alongside others. This means enabling refugees to find safety, receive justice and contribute to society whether they are in Uganda, Jordan or Britain. We absolutely reject the divisive idea that some refugees deserve more rights, compassion and support than others. No-one chooses to be a refugee. This simple message needs to be accompanied by clear calls to all parties. These should include the simple principle that every person seeking refuge in the UK should have a fair and effective hearing, a commitment to welcome refugees regardless of how they arrive and ensure they have the support needed to rebuild their lives, and an end to the scandal of indefinite detention. Advertisement The last Conservative manifesto stated that "being able to speak English is a fundamental part of integrating in our society". That recognition must now be turned into a concrete pledge by all parties to enable all refugees full and equal access to English language lessons and the 300 hundred hours of tuition they typically need. We must also seek a commitment to maintain and expand the resettlement scheme established when David Cameron was Prime Minister. More than 200 local authorities have already chosen to welcome Syrian refugees in the past 18 months, with the support of local communities. This vital work must continue throughout the next Parliament. Finally, we must prepare to work with all parties to meet the challenges and opportunities of next Parliament. Now. If the polls are right, the current Prime Minister will be returned with a majority of 150 - 200. The last couple of years have taught us that nothing is certain. But we need to be ready from day one of the new Parliament to make a positive case to a new government with a new mandate, and to challenge proposals that would deny justice and make it harder for refugees to successfully rebuild their lives and contribute to their new communities. Anthony Bradshaw via Getty Images Go online and it's not hard to find pages of articles on how the baby boomer generation has screwed over the millennial generation. Where once going to uni was free, it now sets you back nine grand a year. When once upon a time you could buy a house in London for under 100,000, it's now likely to cost you half a million quid and a 20% deposit. Advertisement While it is tempting to point the finger of blame at our parents and the older generation for passing on a bad hand, there is one area where the younger generation has to take some blame. And that's voting. In the UK, people aged between 18-24 years old make up around 10% of our population. People aged over 65 make up around 17% of the population. But analysis following the 2010 General Election showed that while 94% of people aged over 65 were registered to vote, and 90% of people aged 55-64 were registered, only 55% of people aged 18-24 were registered. In 2010, only 44% of registered 18-24 year olds voted. 76% of over 65s voted. And this matters. Talking about election campaigns, back in 2015, now London Mayor Sadiq Khan candidly admitted that, "if you've got a candidate with an hour spare and a choice to go to an old people's home or a sixth-form college, 99% of campaign managers will say you've got to go to an old people's home. That's because 94% of them are on the register and 77% of them will vote. That is not true of the younger generation." Advertisement It's why, while the Government is set to allow tuition fees to rise once again, it maintains a 'Triple Lock' protection system for pensions which costs the country billions of pounds a year. Older people vote. So governments and political parties tailor policies to appeal to them. Forgot about signing that online petition, or feeling good about sharing that Facebook post or tweeting with that hashtag - the one guaranteed way to make politicians take notice and start implementing policies that help you, is to vote! It's why organisations like Bite the Ballot are doing such important work in getting more young people engaged in politics. And it's why I'm backing a move to make it mandatory for universities and other higher education institutions to offer their students the option to be added to the electoral register at the point of enrolment and re-registration. Baroness Janet Royall, a peer in the House of Lords, successfully tabled an amendment to the Higher Education and Research Bill, a piece of legislation going through parliament, to include a clause that makes it mandatory for higher education providers to do this. Advertisement It's a great idea that should be supported. Sheffield University ran a pilot scheme with promising results. In 2015/16, 76% of those eligible to register to vote at Sheffield University were registered as a result of the system. At a cost of just 2,000, they registered 16,000 students. That equals 12p per student and is what I would call value for money! It's vital for our democracy and social cohesion that we get more young people registered to vote and voting. It'll make for a fairer policy agenda and help with tensions that have surfaced around issues like Brexit. vchal via Getty Images Theresa May has announced that she will be putting a motion to parliament to call a general election on the 8th June, just 50 days away. Here's my simpleton take on the reasons why she has made the choice but also why I think it is the best thing to happen to our politically toxic environment. The announcement today was a fantastically welcome surprise. In my house I was having a quiet day in preparation for a busy Westminster schedule tomorrow as there are a few brilliant debates happening on various issues. I subsequently then found myself in an apoplectically shocked state after Theresa May made her brilliantly attuned speech which led to me dancing round the house to Steps new single on full volume, such was my joy! Advertisement I personally wanted a general election last year when Cameron slithered off his perch and wondered into the mire of political irrelevancy. It seemed to me, even then, the best thing for the country and its polarised EU perspectives was for the people to decide how we moved forward with a mandate derived from manifesto's. This is now happening and I couldn't be happier. The election is perfectly timed, with the French elections running between now and Mid May, then there will be the subsequent change of power 'En France' which means no negotiations with the European Union can start until that government and their new President have settled in. That means although it is a quick election there will be no other time it could be as we will be engrossed in negotiations from this summer onward. The call for the election doesn't mean we are somehow ignoring the negotiations either. The EU hasn't got its plan together, they are having meetings and summits on what the strategy should be right through until the end of May and that means they won't be ready to sit down proper until the middle of June at the earliest. The feisty vicars' daughter made the probably calculated decision to throw down the gauntlet to, well, basically everyone. She turgidly ripped into the political parties calling them out on their Brexit stances, ridiculing their statements about holding the government back and u-turning the EU referendum by proxy of political dissonance. She went on incongruously smashing into the 'unelected house of lords' and their rebellious stance. Last but by no means least she unashamedly called out Nicola Sturgeon for her divisive nationalism and laid down a heavily intimated directive to her, come on then Sturgeon prove your mandate here is your chance. Advertisement She showered the viewers with calling cries that a vote for the Conservatives is a vote for Brexit and will empower her to make the choices necessary to get the right deal for Britain in the upcoming negotiations. She made no bones that what she needed was a clear directive to strengthen her hand both in Brussels and here at home. The ingeniousness of it was staggering, in one fail swoop she has shut down the likes of Diane Abbott who have been saying since August that she is unelected. She has shut down the SNP and made it clear the election will resolve the issue of Indyref2. She has shut down Tim Farron and Jeremy Corbyn who continually say that the country didn't vote for this Brexit or that Brexit. In one swoop of daring, combative and confident gauntlet throwing she has cast all their aspersions aside letting them know, that once this is done that will be the end to it. The question now is how she will play the next few weeks. In my opinion she would be wise to continue with her thread. The play that the Conservatives are the only party that will get the best deal for Britain in the Brexit negotiations even if that means walking away will resonate with many. Counter that with Labour's stance that they will remain in the single market 'AT ANY COST' no matter the damage to the UK or its territories. Given that you would be wondering how can she lose, well the Lib Dems will have the remain camp voters, in particular the ones that want to hard line reverse the referendum decision. To them she needs to express that no matter what they think, to reverse the decision would cost business billions in investment and infrastructure that they are laying out in post brexit plans. Which in turn would cause untold damage to the economic future of the UK. The next few weeks will be fantastically exciting. The turns, twists and downright character assassinations will be multitude. The drama, suspense and focus on election night will be palpable. The rhetoric, tears and career ending stances will be omnipresent. This is more exciting than any vote I have witnessed and could herald a new dawn in British politics. Finally shaking off the Tony Blair hangover of egomaniacal leaders who made UK politics a presidential run rather than a party position. Advertisement October 1, 2008 is a day that I will never forget. I was sat down, handed a box of tissues and told that I had Stage 1 cervical cancer. Time stood still, I remember every detail of the Dr's office in Barbados and never had home in the UK felt so far away. My husband had recently left me with a 3-year-old son and a 1-year-old daughter. Knowing that he had moved in with another woman, I decided to go for a full sexual health check including a smear test. Nothing could have prepared me for this devastating news. The Dr asked me if I had a gynaecologist, and my mind went blank. I didn't have one. The Dr said she could recommend someone, as I needed treatment ASAP, I had gone beyond abnormal cells. Advertisement Stupidly, I then remembered that I did actually work for Dr. Juliet Skinner, one of the world's leading Gynaecologists and Obstetricians in my capacity as marketing manager for Barbados Fertility Centre. The Dr called the clinic and was told that Dr. Skinner was in theatre; I suggested that the Dr spoke to Anna Hosford, the clinic director. Anna asked for my results to be faxed over immediately. I stumbled out to my car and just sat there sobbing, I didn't know how to pick up the phone and call my mum in the UK, I needed a cuddle and knew she would too, but 5000 miles was too far for our arms to stretch. My dad had recently died from cancer and my mum had also been diagnosed with breast cancer. I have never been so scared in my life. My mobile rang and it was Anna. Anna reassured me that she had left a message for Dr. Skinner to call me as soon as she was out of theatre. She empathized with me and knew I was frightened, but she promised me that we were going to get through this. I realised I wasn't alone, Anna had conducted my very first scan when I saw my first baby at only 10 weeks, Anna had held my hand when I gave birth to him. I could trust Anna. I called my sister and cried down the phone to her, she kindly offered to go and tell my mum in person and have that cuddle with her. I went home in a daze. I wandered from room to room and nowhere in my house felt safe. It was the darkest day of my life, something was eating away inside of me and I just wanted to rip my own skin off. Advertisement I went to collect my son from school, happy laughing children surrounded me, they were all excited that the school day was over. Mums were kissing and cuddling their children and were probably heading off to the beach to unwind. I did after all live in paradise. But for me I felt like I was on the outside looking in, I had cancer. I was filled with doubt, what did this mean, would I see my children grow up? I didn't know anyone in my family that had survived cancer; I just saw a long painful journey ahead. As I stood there at the school gates, Dr. Skinner called. She very calmly explained what was going on, and that she had booked me in for surgery first thing the following morning. She was going to do a cone biopsy, which basically involved cutting a triangle in my cervix and trying to get all the cancer in one go. I remember her saying if the worst comes to the worst, you have your children; if I have to I will do a hysterectomy. I wasn't even alarmed at that last sentence. If Dr. Skinner thought that was best, then I agreed. I was in surgery by 8am the following morning, as they prepped me for theatre Dr. Skinner came to see me and drew a diagram of what was going to happen and I felt safe. I was wheeled in to theatre and as the anesthetic started to kick in, I remember telling the theatre staff various funny tales of my time on the island and then passed out. I went back to see Dr. Skinner the following week and the biopsy showed that she had managed to cut out the cancerous cells, but now I would have a smear test every 3 months until I got the all clear for a full year. That process went on for another 3 years. Something went wrong, please try again later. Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign up to the Hull Live newsletter for daily updates and breaking news The return to Westminster after the two-week Easter break tends to be a slow, sluggish affair as MPs get back in the swing of things but not this time. MPs were still returning to London or sorting their post-holiday admin when Theresa May announced a snap general election for June 8. The seven week turnaround gave sitting MPs something to think about did they have it in them for another five-year term? If the Prime Minister's announcement shocked the country, the confirmation that long-standing Hull West and Hessle MP Alan Johnson was to retire marked the end of an era for Hull's politics. The Londoner, who had made Hull his adopted home for two decades, decided he was no longer the man for the job. In 2022, the likely end date for the next parliamentary term, he will be 72. At that age, the former home secretary decided should be spending time with his family rather than doing the 155 mile commute to Westminster every week. Politicians and campaigners lined-up to praise the man who had been handpicked by Tony Blair. Having successfully fought for compensation for the city's trawlermen, and also playing a key role in enticing Siemens into developing the Green Port site, Hull East MP Karl Turner's sentiments will be echoed by many. "Alan was the first person to contact me when I was selected as the candidate in East Hull in 2008," said Mr Turner, who confirmed he intends to contest his seat again. "He has been a constant source of support in my time in Parliament, providing me with valuable insight and experience. "Hull owes Alan a debt of gratitude and I for one will be grateful for the service that he has given the city over the past 20 years." Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said Mr Johnson was "the epitome" of Labour values and said he'd served in government "with distinction". "He is a politician who commands respect and admiration from across the political divide, and he will be missed from the Commons by members of all parties," said Mr Corbyn. Holderness ward councillor Chris Sumpton also joined in the praise, saying: "Alan was the best leader we never had, in my opinion. He was a class act." Mall Fields, secretary of the Hull West and Hessle constituency Labour Party, said he felt "raw" after being told the news by the MP. "I'm shocked and upset. I have got a lot of respect for our MP. I like him as a man and as an MP. It is very raw at this moment in time," said Mr Fields. "We go back a long way. I was at the first meeting after Alan had been nominated. I have been his print agent and I have campaigned with him at every election. "We may not have agreed on everything but we never fell out. "It is the measure of the man that he has stood as our MP for 20 years. He has been an excellent MP for Hull West and Hessle he has been first class. He will be very sadly missed." In many ways, Mr Johnson's two-decade reign had made it easy on the party. He recalled in his last memoirs, The Long and Winding Road, how Labour HQ in the 1990s had nicknamed his constituency "Hell West and Hassle" because of the constant in-fighting. Since his election in 1997, however, it has been a far more harmonious process. With Mr Johnson saying last year that he had "every intention" of standing in the 2020 general election, members expected to rubber stamp his nomination. Mr Fields said: "We thought we were going to have a constituency meeting to nominate Alan again and move forward. "Now we are just awaiting news about what happens next. It is going to be a nightmare process." Back in Westminster, other MPs were having to make up their mind. Another Humber MP who has raised questions over whether he'll stand is Goole's Andrew Percy. The Northern Powerhouse Minister said he backed Mrs May in seeking a mandate in Westminster for her Brexit negotiations but he refused to comment on whether he would contest his seat. The Tory MP said yesterday: "The decision about who the candidates are will be made next week when the party chooses their candidate. "It would be rude of me not to let my local party have that choice and to decide who their candidate is and for them to have the first word on this." All other Hull and East Yorkshire MPs confirmed they would fight for their seat again. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 19 Trend: Azerbaijan and Malta outlined the priority areas for cooperation in tourism, investment, transport, the Azerbaijani foreign ministry said. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, who is on an official visit to Malta, and Maltese Foreign Minister George Vella discussed opportunities of developing cooperation between the two countries. During the visit, the Azerbaijani foreign minister held several meetings with the Maltese officials and discussed prospects for the development of cooperation between the two countries. Mammadyarov and Vella expressed gratification with the level of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Malta, in particular, the sides stressed a good political dialogue between the countries. The ministers stressed the importance of expanding and strengthening the legal framework, in particular in such areas as economy, education and culture, to develop relations between the countries. The ministers also pointed out that terrorism and unresolved conflicts pose a great threat to international peace and stability. During the meeting, Mammadyarov spoke about the negotiation process on the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Mammadyarov and Vella also discussed the cooperation between Azerbaijan and the EU, possible contribution of Malta as a country presiding in the Council of the EU in the development of the cooperation. Vella expressed support for Azerbaijan in expanding cooperation with the EU and stressed the countrys importance for Europe in ensuring its energy security. Voter turnout "steady" in Reno County Tuesday, election officials said Cool, damp weather may have delayed some voters from voting early, but traffic at the polls picked up during the day. 10 Patreon Dos And Donts [MATTHEW EBEL] Direct-to-fan subscription services like Patreon can be an excellent and fulfilling way for artists to make a living of their music, but when done incorrectly can also be a potentially career ruining disaster. Here we look the top ten best ways to insure you get what you want out of Patreon. _____________________________ Guest post from Matthew Ebel Im posting this piece today in honor of my good buddy Pepper Coyote and his shiny new Patreon. Its about time! Are you thinking of jumping on Patreon or Bandcamp or some other straight-to-fans subscription system? Righteous. Its exciting and fulfilling, but could also kill your career entirely. (Paying attention now? Good.) Ive been doing this since 2008 FIVE YEARS before Patreon was even a thing. Most people dont know who the fuck I am, but thats okay In the Big Music Business World Im nobody, but Im still paying my bills the same way I have been since 2008: a straight-to-fan subscription system. Yeah, five years before Patreon was even a thing. If you want to keep your fans happy without burning yourself out or pissing people off, Ive got ten tips to consider before you start taking peoples money: 1. DONT BE A SUPERHERO. When I started Matthew Ebel dot net back in 08, I thought I could write, produce, and release two new songs and a live concert recording every month until the end of time. With that kind of release cycle, how the hell was I supposed to book shows, do road trips, promote my act, sleep, have a social life, and create EVEN MORE content for my non-subscribing fans? What happens when I get the flu? Nobody has that kind of time or energy unless theyre Prince (hes still writing new tunes daily, I guarantee it). The resulting burnout nearly ruined my interest in music entirely. So 2. DO MAKE UP A MENU. Obviously your number one assets going to be new original singles, but what else can you offer the kind of superhuman fans whod sign up for monthly payments? Live recordings? Private webcasts? Postcards? An annual members-only bacchanal in your backyard? Write down anything you can think of. Now write down how frequently you think you can deliver each of those goods. Which leads me to 3. DO TEST THIS SHIT OUT PRIVATELY. Seriously, you need to practice the routine of delivering goods that other people would actually pay for on a monthly basis. Do it for six months to a year at least, see what kind of output youre capable of before you embarrass yourself (listen to the voice of experience here). Heres an idea: Plan an album release for sometime next year, then spend the next 12 months writing and recording a new song every month with whatever other cool goodies youve got on your menu. See what you can actually keep up with, then use all those goods as perks for your album pre-order packages next year. 4. DONT OVERESTIMATE YOUR FANS. The sales geeks know that 1% is considered a good conversion rate for an email list (meaning if youve got 1,000 people on your list, 10 fans are actually going to buy the new album). For something thats not just a sale but a commitment, dont be surprised if its more like .1% of your fans that actually get on board. Its okay, the rest of em still love you, but come on were all afraid of commitment. Set your expectations so youre pleasantly surprised, not rudely disillusioned. 5. DONT UNDERESTIMATE YOUR FANS. Since 2008 I have been consistently surprised by the dedication of some of my super-fans. Ive had people drive from Florida to Boston just to have beers with me at my annual Beer Bash. Some of my supporters have spent literally thousands of dollars on me over the years because something I did in the studio touched them in a meaningful way. It wont take you long to figure out whos just supporting you and whos a born-again believer. So with that in mind 6. DO KEEP THE BELIEVERS HAPPY. Once youve made the commitment, your sole purpose is to keep those super-fans happy enough not to unsubscribe. Fortunately, though most of us artists are total shit in the analytics and marketing departments, a subscription makes it crystal clear who your top customers are. What are you doing to make them feel special? Whens the last time you started a conversation with them that wasnt just a comment thread on your blog? 7. DONT FORGET THE REST OF YOUR FANS. One of the things that nearly killed me was exclusivity. Think about it if Im releasing two songs per month for paying subscribers only, that means I have to create even more songs to share with people who have never heard of me before. Hiding all the best goods behind a pay-wall may make the subscribers feel special, but youll never grow your fan base like that. For example, one of my perks was a members-only after-party after shows. By changing it to a members-get-in-FREE after-party, the non-members end up paying for all the beer while they hang out with my most ardent evangelists for a few hours. Win-win. 8. DO SOME DAMN ACCOUNTING. Sure, most of your goods are likely to be digital these days, but even those cost money. Youre obviously paying a percentage to the credit card processor and Patreon, but what about band members and the mixing engineer? Then theres the physical goods like postcards, shirts, and even the beer at the after-parties. Postage may seem easy, but how many of your fans are in Germany or South Africa? At the end of the day, you have to make a profit, so make sure youre pricing your subscriptions with enough breathing room to pay for the goods and your rent. Make some coffee and a spreadsheet and work this shit out before you sign anyone up. 9. DONT BE AFRAID TO EXPERIMENT. Use your devoted disciples to your advantage. By sending my Officers Club new songs a few months before I share them with the rest of the world, I get all kinds of feedback on mixes, arrangement, and even lyrics. Those that pay for the annual goodie bag have helped me decide which shirt designs I should bring to live shows and which should stay exclusive (or just should have stayed on the drawing board). Most fans Ive met are thrilled to be a part of the great music laboratory, even knowing theyre the guinea pigs. Be honest with them and theyll give you the most usable feedback youll ever get. 10. DO THINGS THAT ARENT MUSICAL. Like I said in #5, I hold an annual Beer Bash for my top-tier supporters. Why? Because I love making beer. It has nothing to do with my albums or stories, but its something I can share with my fans. Think about it have you ever tried Dave Grohls homebrew? I havent either, but it would be fucking awesome. Id pay for that privilege. Maybe youve got a sense of style that could turn into monthly fashion/makeup tips, or you make cool trinkets with an Arduino and LEDs that could turn into a monthly how-to video. Im betting youre good at something besides music, so start using all your talents. Now Do It. If youre ready to take the plunge, great! If youre still scared, dont worry there are plenty of us around to help you. Just ask! Now get started with Patreon! Share on: Baku, Azerbaijan, April 19 Trend: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has signed an order providing funding for the construction of a multi-storey residential building in the city of Yevlakh. Under the presidential order, 3 million manats were allocated from the Presidential Contingency Fund for the construction of the 45-apartment building in Yevlakh. The State Agency for eGovernment in Ukraine and Bitcoin mining manufacturer BitFury recently announced a memorandum of interaction and cooperation to create the first full-scale Blockchain eGovernance program for Ukraine." According to the announcement, the program will begin with a pilot project introducing Blockchain technology into Ukraines eGovernment platform. The pilot will primarily focus on using blockchain technology in state land registries, public services, social security, public health and the energy sector. When the pilot is complete, the program will expand into all other areas, including cybersecurity. The pilot is expected to launch later this year, and although the size and cost of the project have yet to be determined, BitFury CEO Valery Vavilov told Reuters that it is by far the biggest government blockchain deal ever. Blockchain has proved itself as a good ground for cost reduction, government efficiency & transparency to help reduce corruption. All these are among our goals. So were ready to bring blockchain as part of Ukrainian eGoverment strategy. - Oleksandr Ryzhenko, head of the State Agency for eGovernance of Ukraine The memorandum was signed in Kyiv by Vavilov and Oleksandr Ryzhenko, the head of the eGovernance of Ukraine. The State Agency for eGovernance is the central executive body within Ukrainian Government that determines state policy in the field. Ukraine has a population of 42.5 million, and is the largest country by land mass wholly within Europe. Although the country is not a part of the European Union, it is a member of the EUs Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA), along with the nearby Republic of Georgia. According to latest eGovernment Development Index (EGDI) from 2016, Ukraine ranks 62nd among 193 countries in terms of eGovernment progress, and has climbed by 25 points since 2014. "Our aim is clear and ambitious -- we want to make Ukraine one of the world's leading blockchain nations," Ryzhenko told Reuters. "This agreement will result in an entirely new ecosystem for state projects based on blockchain technology in Ukraine." Last summer the Ukrainian Prime Minister announced that his government would be deploying a blockchain to track the sale of state assets through, which was typically a fraud-prone exercise rife with corruption. A few months later, the countrys central bank informally announced plans to create their own blockchain-based currency. This technology will help eliminate corruption in government sales, as well as save taxpayers billions of hryvnia. That's my main goal. - Oleksandr Danilyuk, Ukraine Finance Minister The BitFury Group began in 2012 as a Bitcoin mining hardware manufacturer and is still the worlds second-largest maker of Bitcoin mining equipment. The American-based company has seven offices in six different countries, and has become a full-service Blockchain technology company that develops and delivers both software and hardware solutions. The company states that Blockchain technology will help improve the protection of state databases against unauthorized interference, reduce cost to citizens, improve overall efficiency, improve investment in Ukraine, and help reduce corruption across the board. The Ukrainian eGovernance pilot is BitFury's second government blockchain project. Last April, BitFury signed an agreement with the Republic of Georgia to launch the first blockchain-based land title registry, which has since been expanded. Both Ukraine and Georgia border the Black Sea, where several countries in the region have seen advanced Bitcoin adoption, thanks in part to BitFury. The company announced a shift from primarily being a mining equipment manufacturer to a full-service Blockchain technology provider last year, as it partnered with big-four accounting firm EY as their primary blockchain service provider. "A secure government system built on the blockchain can secure billions of dollars in assets and make a significant social and economic impact globally by addressing the need for transparency and accountability." - Valery Vavilov, The BitFury Group CEO With Georgias pilot long finished, today BitFurys custom-designed Blockchain system is integrated into the countrys national digital records system. Their private, permissioned Blockchain is anchored to the Bitcoin Blockchain, using a distributed digital timestamping service that they designed. BitFury also hosts several carbon-neutral mining plants in the nearby Republic of Georgia, and worked with the government to launch their blockchain-based land registry. This data center will take immersion cooling technology to the next level and set a new standard for data processing using renewable energy, Vavilov explained. BitFury is leading the innovation in this space and we are proud to unveil our new data center and to work with our global partners to advance this important work." While there are a handful of other countries that have launched their own eGovernance programs involving a blockchain, they are all limited to one or two sectors, such as land titles registries. The governments of Sweden, Estonia, and Georgia have started blockchain projects, although other deals in Brazil and the Ukraine are in the works. Our partnership with the Ukrainian government is about making the lives of the Ukrainian people better by making systems work for people and reducing friction across the board for all [...] The Blockchain is a transformational technology that is easy to use, inexpensive, and much more secure than current systems. We will help ensure everyone can effectively and easily exchange value and ownership in a way they can trust. - Valery Vavilov, The BitFury Group CEO Source: https://bravenewcoin.com/news/ukraine-and-bitfury-launching-first-full-scale-blockchain-egovernment-pilot/ The Parks Commission endorsed the idea of using a section of Burbank Park for the dog park. Pittsfield Parks Commission Endorses Dog Park at Burbank Park PITTSFIELD, Mass. A portion of Burbank Park has been identified as the best location for a dog park. The Parks Commission agreed and endorse the recommendation from a study group to use between one and two acres of land for the park. The dog park is eyed to be fenced in with separate sections for large and small dogs. The parks are areas in which pet owners can let their pups off leash, which isn't currently allowed in city parks. "It is not used a whole lot by other users so I don't think there would be a lot of conflicts. It is a good location," said commission Chairman Simon Muil. The location is near an existing water tower, easily accessible, and poses no environmental concerns. The site was the top of 11 the study committee examined. The next step would be for the city to secure a grant from the Stanton Foundation, which Parks Commissioner Joe Durwin said city staff has already begun looking into, to design it. From there, the city would be seeking construction funds. "It is already a partially developed site because of the water tower, which makes it ideal. It is also not too approximate to neighbors," Durwin said. Durwin said construction could be under way as early as spring 2018. That would be some 12 years since serious discussions about a park began. In 2006, the Parks Commission considered a ban on dogs at Burbank Park because of excessive dog droppings. That debate led to the idea of a dog park and an ad hoc committee started looking at sites. That committee determined Kirvin Park and Springside Park were the top locations. The Parks Commission approved using Springside Park but funding was not available until 2013. The Stanton Foundation offered a grant for construction and the proposal ended up being larger than previous versions and opposition rose against it. Ultimately, the City Council said the site should be re-examined before moving forward. In 2016, the Animal Control Commission reinvigorated the discussion and Mayor Linda Tyer formed the study group. That group released its findings to the Parks Commission this week and the Animal Control Commission last week. "Mainly the focus is on the site, the park, and the criteria and amenities," Durwin said. "With this commission's endorsement, we can refer this back to Mayor Tyer. I think there is definitely interest in the administration to pursue this project." The Burbank Park plan would call for some tree removal but Durwin said the Berkshire Environmental Action Team reviewed it and raised no concerns. And it wouldn't be extensive because now the thought is to have a mix of wooded areas and open space. The plan would also call for the creation of a small parking lot. The criteria for determining a spot included being more than a half acre, being buffered from residential neighbors, have a source of drinking water, parking, suitable land, area of shade, away from other recreational areas, environmental issues, and if there were to be multiple dog parks that they be equally accessible to different parts of the city. The group also developed guidelines such as no lighting, a donation box for maintenance, trash containers, and other amenities. And it developed a list of rules. Last week, the Animal Control Commission focused mostly on a proposed age restriction. That commission doesn't want children under the age of 16 to be in the park. "I just don't think it is a really great idea to have young children in a park where dogs are running around off leash," Animal Control Commissioner Renee Dodds said. Dodds said having children in the park poses a safety concern about being bitten or knocked over. Animal Control Commission Chairman John Reynolds, a veterinarian, said, "one of the scariest things for dogs is toddlers," so the age restriction is reasonable. The list of 14 rules was developed in consultation with the city's insurance company. The rules state that the owner or the custodian of a dog is responsible for that dog's actions and that at the first sign of aggression, a dog must be removed. There will not be anybody on site all of the time to police the rules but Dodds said a friends group will be formed to provide additional eyes at the park. Animal Control Officer Joseph Chague said he will try to get there as often as possible but he doesn't have much of a concern. "Generally they police themselves very well. Nobody is going to stand for an aggressive dog being there and they'll blow the whistle," Chague said. The city already has what is being referred to as "unsanctioned dog parks" and Chague says the animal owners are always right on the phone when some incident arises. Such a park is generally controlled by the users. The full report is available below. Pittsfield Dog Park Report by iBerkshires.com on Scribd Andre Heller and Ben Sosne of EMRCA update the Redevelopment Authority on Tuesday. Behind the board is Michael MacDonald, who has been retained to represent the authority. The museum was originally planned to go into Building 4 with an addition but the historic structure's size became an issue. Interiors of the new museum plan. PreviousNext North Adams' Model Railroad Museum Eyes Sons of Italy Property A concept drawing of where the museum would now be located; Heritage State Park is to the left. The large parking lot to the right is not likely to happen. NORTH ADAMS, Mass. The proposed private for-profit model railroad museum is negotiating with the city to purchase the old Sons of Italy parcel for the project. "From our perspective it solves a number of problems," Ben Sosne, the museum's senior project manager and legal adviser, told the Redevelopment Authority on Tuesday, adding "We have no intention of abandoning Heritage Park." Thomas Kren's Extreme Model Railroad and Contemporary Architecture Museum was planned to go into the long Building 4 at Western Gateway Heritage State Park. But since the initial press conference announcing the project nearly 15 months ago, the concept has grown beyond the tight confines of the existing historic park Sosne and Andre Heller, project manager, updated the board. "When we first started this project, the idea at the press conference was ... you really revitalize the entire Heritage State Park. You make use of the six buildings in the state park, you really make an experience where people can go," Sosne said. That came to include a "museum of time," cafe, retail and a boutique distillery to start. But the complexity of the model museum itself began to require far more latitude in terms of space than the current Department of Conservation and Recreation museum could handle. "The last year we've been working on how we're going to make this a reality both in terms of the exhibit and how we're going to make this work financially, how we're going to pull this off," Sosne said. "As we dug a little bit deeper, each of these projects expanded." An addition had been planned to the long Hoosac Tunnel museum to handle the 700-foot-long project that would have taken it out to Building 6 at the far end of the park. But as the private organization has been developing how the museum would operate, it became apparent that a simple addition wouldn't cut it. The model railroads and architectural elements will sit up on a raised surface that will circle the interior walls of the building so visitors can easily see the 100 or so trains operating over the miles of track and the 1:48 scale architectural elements. Experiments with working models in Krens' basement revealed how complicated the electrical system under the tables would be, and the need to be able to access them. Sosne said there was discussion of digging a sub-basement but with the original building on stilts, it would require pulling up the floors in the historic building and then trying to match the floors with the new addition. The concept of an immersive experience, like a planetarium, calls for projection screens around the interior to display the passing of time, clouds and birds. That would need room around the entire installation for projectors and maintenance. And then the difficulties in producing and moving large architectural elements became apparent with the mockup of the Empire State Building. Done in blue foam core board, the 34-foot-tall display was created in a room at the Greylock Works, then disassembled to be transported to first Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art for reassembly and then taken apart again to move into the Mohawk Theater. "We realized we needed an onsite work space ... if we're going to do 100, 200 buildings, where are we going to be building?" Sosne said. "Then we realized we need a subbasement. ... "The laundry list started to add up." The museum actually looked into buying up property above the massive retaining wall so that the wall could be moved. The expense, problems inherent in moving the wall and the significant renovations needed for Building 4 which would have to go through both the local and state historical commissions were untenable. Plus, the park's new pavers would likely not hold up to the massive equipment that would have to come in. "The conclusion was, that to really make this EMRCA Museum the experience that we're hoping for, to complement it with the Museum of Time, to complement it with the distillery, and the retail and the cafe stuff, to round out this feel of a real destination," Sosne said. "The best solution was not to buy up old houses on a hill and knock down a 50-foot retaining wall but to move it across the river to the Sons of Italy site and build from scratch." The museum has no intention of abandoning Heritage State Park, he said, but rather to expand it by moving the model railroad museum south. Building 4 would "be absolutely perfect" for the Museum of Time to host nearly 100 large clocks, some 6 feet tall, that played a role in developing train schedules, Sosne said. And the group is working with the Hoosic River Revival to ensure the planned riverwalk is incorporated into the final design as well as pedestrian access across the railroad tracks, currently in concept as an underpass. New building plans shown to the Redevelopment Authority include a 6-foot wide utility corridor for access to the projectors and screens and for moving buildings around; a 7,500 square foot workshop; a subbasement under the railroad display platforms and a second-floor viewing gallery inspired by the Empire State Building's time in a Mass MoCA two-story corridor. Though it was on the agenda, the board did not take up the "option to purchase" as Mayor Richard Alcombright said the proposal was not ready. He anticipated scheduling another meeting for the board to discuss it in executive session. The board did, however, authorize the mayor to hire attorney Michael MacDonald to represent the Redevelopment Authority in the talks and detail any legal limitations attached to the state park. MacDonald has been a practicing attorney for more than 30 years and was a partner in then Cain Hibbard before becoming executive vice president and general counsel for Petricca Industries. "I grew up in construction ... and my practice tended to be in construction, real estate development and real estate finance areas," MacDonald said. He also served on a number of commissions and boards, including Downtown Pittsfield Inc. and the Colonial Theatre restoration, where he was involved with its land acquisition and tax credits. "[I] have sort of developed this specialty in tax credits and nontraditional forms of financing." Cheshire officials will place a question on the town meeting warrant about spending for the school, but warned it could mean an override. Cheshire Makes Final Moves to Keep Elementary School Open CHESHIRE, Mass. The town will vote to make an emergency amendment to the Adams-Cheshire Regional School District agreement that may allow it to alone fund Cheshire Elementary School for a year. Resident Jeremy McLain told the Selectmen on Tuesday that his group has a petition with more than 250 signatures asking the town's state representatives to find emergency funds to keep to school open. However, the Selectmen are putting an article on the annual town meeting just in case the state does not come through. "We know you have motivated people but we know the government has tight purse strings," Selectwoman Carol Francesconi said. McLain said the amendment would allow the town to sidestep the district agreement's spending ratio between Adams and Cheshire. This would allow Cheshire to completely fund Cheshire School without increasing the Adams assessment proportionally. "I have talked to [the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education] and it can be done as long as both towns agree," he said. "We want to push this along ... this is something that has to be done quickly." Cheshire Elementary School is slated to close at the end of this school year after the School Committee voted to pass a budget that relies on closing the building to save costs. The budget was largely dictated by Adams, which asked that its assessment stayed within a 3 percent increase. This has caused contention between the two communities. Even if both Cheshire Elementary and C.T. Plunkett School were to be kept open, plans were to co-locate the grades so Adams and Cheshire students will be in the same classrooms in the same grades. McLain said Adams would also have to agree to the amendment Francesconi said this still creates a funding problem because the town does not have enough free cash to spend on the school. It is believed to cost between $350,000 and $400,000 to keep Cheshire open. "We don't have $400,000 to give to Cheshire School," she said. "We can't just drain our free cash ... I am being the devil's advocate but that is the reality of it." She said the town would need a Proposition 2 1/2 override. This would have to pass town meeting and a town vote. This all needs to be done before the beginning of the fiscal year on July 1. If an override does not pass, the group would have to rely on fundraising and with deadlines approaching, Selectman Paul Astorino said fundraising will not be an option. "You don't have enough time," Astorino said. "It's a good thought but unless you know Donald Trump personally and can call him, that is a really long shot." The Selectmen agreed to meet with the School Committee to go over this process. In other business, the Selectmen postponed a decision to grant Adams-Cheshire use of the building for a summer daycare program and a special education summer camp. Although Astorino and Francesconi were open to the idea, Selectman Robert Ciskowski said his mind is made up. "I am not really sure that is a good idea to let them in there," he said. "I don't want to be pushed by the district and I think we need to do this at our own pace." "We have been manipulated enough and pushed into a corner by the district and I am not ready to start reusing the building." Ciskowski said he would prefer to not let anyone use the building until the town can line up a building reuse committee. The building will revert to the town's control once it closes. "We need to slow down on this and it is not prudent to give a committee the task and then say they have to work around these programs," he said. "We should not go off half-cocked." Superintendent Robert Putnam, who attended the meeting, said the summer daycare program has typically been housed in the building and it serves 50 to 60 Cheshire children. Francesconi said she felt comfortable allowing the use because the program benefited Cheshire families. "Cheshire parents depend on that daycare and ... I hate to see those kids in that daycare punished for the situation that we are in," she said. "It is not their fault the mess we are in right now." Putnam also asked if the Selectmen would still allow the district to keep its central office in Cheshire Elementary. Francesconi said this could be a benefit to the town because it would receive lease money and the building will be occupied. Ciskowski still held a hard line. "First it was one program and now it is another program and the district office," he said. "I see the district wanting to burden Cheshire with the use of a building they abandoned and if they want to use it they should have thought of it before they abandoned it and us." "I think it's just a foot in the door and I don't want to be steered by the district anymore." Putnam said he did not mind postponing the decision and just wanted to have time to seek out other locations if need be. P.J. Pannesco, standing in this file photo, said his comments on Facebook cheering the idea of North Korea nuking the West Coast was a 'crude joke.' Mount Greylock Counselor, Lanesborough School Committee Member Draws Fire Over Facebook Post A Facebook post by a member of the Lanesborough School Committee raised eyebrows in the Mount Greylock community. WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. A Mount Greylock Regional School guidance counselor and member of the Lanesborough Elementary School Committee said on Wednesday that he regretted a "crude joke" on social media that led to condemnation by alumni of the high school. P.J. Pannesco said a single comment that was captured and distributed to members of the Mount Greylock School Committee was part of joking exchange between himself and a former student. Commenting on a story about the potential of a North Korean nuclear strike on the West Coast of the United States, Pannesco wrote that such a possibility would be "good" and used an offensive term derived from an antiquated and hurtful term for the mentally disabled. Pannesco, who made the comment on Sunday, said he could not believe anyone thought he actually wished harm to millions of Americans and he felt bad about using the term "libtard," which he misspelled in the post. Repeatedly, Wednesday, he emphasized the joking nature of the exchange. "I stay in touch with lots of former students," Pannesco said. "This particular student and I go back and forth on lots of things. He's a Yankees fan, and I'm a Red Sox fan, and we go after each other about that. It was a joke. That's the kind of thing we do. "Clearly, someone picked that up and thinks that I'm an insensitive person." The full comment, timestamped 12:53 p.m. Sunday afternoon, reads: "Seattle!!!! Good! Fewer libards/progressives...Then if the hit California, we'd be all set!" Pannesco said he was sorry to use "libtard," a term popularized by fringe right-wing media and frequently used on internet bulletin boards and in the comment sections of articles, including on this website. "That's insensitive, and I should not have used it," he said. "It's not a nice thing for me to say. In that respect, I was wrong and should not have used that term. "I don't know how to fix it. I hope people don't believe that I hold any ill will toward people with disabilities. I certainly feel bad about it and am sorry about it." Pannesco had not given the off-hand "crude joke" a second thought until Wednesday morning when Mount Greylock's interim Superintendent Kimberley Grady called him. Grady, who also serves as the Williamstown-Lanesborough Tri-District's director of pupil personnel services, responsible for special education programs, learned of the Facebook post in a Wednesday morning email. "I was taken off guard and surprised," she said. "I immediately picked up the phone and called him. "I told him, 'I can't tell you what to do, but I'm asking you if you think it is appropriate.' I called him at 7:31, and at 7:47, the post was down." Grady said she spoke to Pannesco in his capacity as a member of the Lanesborough Elementary School Committee. Through the Tri-District shared services agreement, the superintendent and central administration is shared between the Mount Greylock, Lanesborough and Williamstown Elementary schools. Grady said she and Mount Greylock Principal Mary MacDonald would have a separate conversation with Pannesco in his capacity as a guidance counselor at the junior-senior high school. Reached at her office early Wednesday afternoon, Grady said she did not know off the top of her head whether Pannesco's position is a union job. Grady is in the odd position of both supervising Pannesco and answering to him. As the interim superintendent, she is the district's "CEO," but she is also employed by the Mount Greylock Regional School Committee and Superintendency Union 71, a joint committee of the Williamstown and Lanesborough school committees on which Pannesco serves. Pannesco's post was brought to light by Jay Stevens, a Mount Greylock alumnus. Mount Greylock School Committee Chairwoman Sheila Hebert said Wednesday she reached out to Stevens to tell him the administration was addressing the situation. In a Tuesday post in the Mount Greylock Alumni group, Stevens cc'd the letter he said he sent to the Mount Greylock School Committee and The Berkshire Eagle. Pannesco's post had generated a heated debate on the alumni board and letters to the School Committee. Hundreds of comments defended and decried his post and referred to previous ones. "Mr. Pannesco is entitled to hold whatever political views he wishes," writes Stevens, whose own Facebook profile says he is a Minneapolis resident who grew up in Lanesborough. "However, I believe Mr. Pannesco's views make him incompatible with Mt Greylock's values. I am appalled that a man holding such views is tasked with working with the community's children." On Wednesday, Grady said she had no reason to question Pannesco's values prior to Wednesday morning. "I see him in action," Grady said. "He cares about kids. He cares about the community. "I have to remember all the good that the man does." Pannesco said that while he has been monitoring Facebook since hearing about Stevens' letter on Wednesday morning, he is not at the moment posting anything on the social media site. "I do know everything is public," he said. "I guess I should have put a big 'LOL' to indicate that it was a crude joke. I apologize to anyone who was offended. I should have known better, though, because everything is public." Grady said her colleague is running into the kind of problem that educators warn students about: what happens when you distribute ill-advised and ill-thought notions to a worldwide audience. "What people feel is a shared conversation is not a private sharing if it's on a social feed," Grady said. "Is this a teachable moment? Absolutely." Pannesco on Wednesday was talking like a person who had been taught a painful lesson. "It was not a smart thing to do," he said. "It was a crass comment that I made off the cuff to an old buddy that I wish I could take back." Page Content Drawing on the countrys strong legal and political commitment to environmental protection, the Government of Ecuador showcased its green aviation innovation and leadership on the occasion of the ICAO Councils 2017 Visit. The visit by the Representatives of ICAOs 36-State Governing Body, who were accompanied by ICAOs Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu and members of the ICAO Secretariat, featured numerous discussions with international and national aviation leaders on the crucial need to further enhance the sustainability of air connectivity. These discussions were later expanded upon and illustrated more concretely through tours of the infrastructure that Ecuador is developing, including the remarkable Galapagos Ecological Airport, Ecogal, which is unique in the world for the measures it has implemented to preserve the islands ecosystems and biodiversity. The Council State Visit to Ecuador impressed upon ICAOs leadership the importance of our positions on aviation environmental protection, not only in terms of objectives like carbon-neutral growth, but also in terms of the protection of the worlds geographic heritage. This latter priority even extends to areas which also happen to be the site of new airport infrastructure, as exemplified by our Ecogal facility, explained Mr. Ivan Fernando Arellano Lascano, Ecuadors Representative on the ICAO Council. This visit also provided a platform for the highest authorities in aviation to undertake important political and technical discussions regarding the environment, he continued, and it has proven to be a historic moment for Ecuador given that it was the very first time the ICAO Council has visited South America. In addition to the state-of-the-art technologies and practices being implemented at the Galapagos Ecological Airport in the Islands, a fragile world heritage site with tremendous biodiversity, sustainability issues specific to each of Ecuadors three distinct continental regions coastal, Sierra, and rainforest were presented. In Quito, Ecuadors capital city, the construction of the new and high-altitude Mariscal Sucre International Airport presented not only technical challenges in terms of air navigation services and environmental impact, but also cultural heritage challenges when significant archaeological treasures were uncovered during its construction. Ecuadors experience in appropriately managing these challenges will be invaluable to future international guidance regarding these situations. To give another example, at the Jose Joaquin de Olmedo International Airport, in Guayaquil, a facility which serves the countrys principle largest urban area and which has received numerous awards for its outstanding airport service quality, Ecuador highlighted its social inclusiveness by way of a programme that actively encourages the employment of disabled people at the airport through a specific recruitment initiative. ICAOs Council President, Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, recognized and highlighted the significance of both Ecuadors efforts and of the Councils Visit in a Keynote Address he gave in Guayaquil, taking this opportunity to praise Ecuadors regional leadership and to further encourage the regions ambitions as a whole. In support of this, he pointed to the significant improvements Ecuador has demonstrated through ICAOs Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP), and the fact that the safety targets indicated through the regions Bogota Declaration are more ambitious than those set forth under ICAOs Global Aviation Safety Plan. President Aliu also thanked Ecuadors Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Transport for having generously hosted the visit, as well as the President of the Provincial Council of San Antonio de Pichincha for the warm welcome at the site of the Middle of the Earth. ICAO furthermore underscored the importance of the Visit through the unveiling of a commemorative and congratulatory plaque at Galapagos Ecological Airport, in the presence of Council President Aliu, Secretary General Liu, State Representatives to the ICAO Council including its Vice Presidents, Representatives to ICAO, regional Civil Aviation Authorities, and national high-level authorities of Ecuador. The 2017 Council Visit to Ecuador took place from 12 to 17 March 2017, and started with a welcome by Ecuadors Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Transport and National Civil Aviation Authority. In addition, the programme included presentations given by ICAOs leadership, Council Representatives, International Organizations such as Airports Council International (ACI), International Air Transport Association (IATA), the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA) and Industry represented by Google, Corporacion America S.A, Corporacion Quiport S.A., Terminal Aeroportuaria de Guayaquil S.A. (TAGSA), Galapagos Ecological Airport Ecogal, and LATAM Airlines, to name a few. Given the strong focus of the visit on Environmental Issues, it is important to recognise that the Air Transport Action Group (ATAG) offset the full travel CO 2 footprint of the ICAO Council trip to the Galapagos Islands using carbon credits from the LifeStraw Project. The number had been determined using the ICAO Carbon Calculator for the flights from Montreal Quito Guayaquil Galapagos Quito Montreal. As States and the aviation industry work together towards the implementation stages of the CORSIA, many have commented that it is important to find offsetting projects that not only reduce CO 2 emissions, but also have other benefits such as economic or social impacts. An informal visit to the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) Headquarters was also undertaken by the participants in the event, an opportunity which allowed Council Members to learn more about the development of infrastructure projects undertaken by this regional intergovernmental organization which is composed of 12 South American States. Watch this video and discover "Ecogal", Galapagos Ecological Airport Baku, Azerbaijan, April 19 Trend: Azerbaijan`s First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva has met with rector of Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University Petr Glybochko. Aliyeva highlighted cooperation with Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University. The first vice-president spoke of the activity of the university`s Baku branch, hailing the establishment of the branch as a very successful project. Aliyeva said important work has been carried out in Azerbaijan`s healthcare system in recent years, adding that great strides have been made in this area. The first vice-president said the major task now is to increase professionalism of those employed in the healthcare system. In this context, Aliyeva noted the significance of the activity of the Baku branch of Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University. The first vice-president expressed her confidence that students studying there will contribute to Azerbaijan`s healthcare system in the future. Education and healthcare are priority areas in all countries, said Aliyeva, pointing out state attention to those fields in Azerbaijan. Saying branches of the world`s leading universities operate in Baku, Aliyeva emphasized good prospects for the expansion of cooperation with Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University. Glybochko said he is pleased to meet with Aliyeva. He expressed his gratitude for appreciating the activity of the university`s Baku branch. Glybochko said the university`s leading professors and teachers give classes at the Baku branch. He said he visited the branch and met with students, adding that they are pleased to study there. Glybochko said the Baku branch of Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University has modern material and technical resources. The rector said third and fourth year students at the branch will pass structured exams, noting that this is of vital importance in terms of increasing professionalism of all students. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 19 Trend: Malta, as a country presiding the European Union, supports the Azerbaijan-EU cooperation, said Maltese President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca. She made the remarks during a meeting with Azerbaijans Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, who is on an official visit in Malta. The Maltese president noted that the EU-Azerbaijan cooperation is important for regional stability, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry told Trend Apr. 19. President Coleiro Preca also spoke about the recent expansion of her countrys cooperation with Azerbaijan, and emphasized the importance of defining new spheres to develop the Azerbaijan-Malta relations. The head of state particularly noted the necessity of expanding the two countries cooperation in tourism. FM Mammadyarov, for his turn, specially noted Maltas role, as the country presiding the EU, in the development of cooperation between Azerbaijan and the EU. The minister informed the Maltese president about the negotiations on the new Azerbaijan-EU partnership agreement. Mammadyarov also provided the Maltese president with information about the negotiations on settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He noted that the conflict must be resolved within territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, in line with international norms and principles. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. The extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of the French Republic Aurelia Bouchez visited Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS) and met with BHOS Rector Elmar Gasimov. Counsellor of the French Embassy on Cultural Affairs Johan Schitterer and Attache for University cooperation Baptiste Mignot also attended the meeting. Having welcomed the guests, Elmar Gasimov touched upon close ties between Azerbaijan and France in many spheres and talked about importance of bilateral relations in the field of education. He also said that political, economic, social, cultural and scientific cooperation between two countries is strengthening year by year. Rector also informed that in 2013, Baku Higher Oil School signed an Agreement of cooperation with French Institute of Petroleum (IFP), and emphasized that it was one more example of developing cooperation between Azerbaijan and France. The French Ambassador Aurelia Bouchez expressed her gratitude for the warm reception and said that activity of the Baku Higher Oil School, which prepares high-qualified engineering specialists, is very important for the whole region. Talking about partnership between BHOS and IFP, she touched upon prospects of developing BHOS relations with other technical universities in France within cooperation between two countries in the field of education. Issues related to enhancing ties between the Higher Oil School and French Institute of Petroleum were also discussed at the meeting. The fields of joint activities can include student and teacher exchange programs, scientific and research work, and other projects. A Prescription for Rescue The Fellowship | April 19, 2017 Anna Igumnova Anna Igumnova Born in Russia in 1889, Anna Igumnova and her husband were elsewhere in Europe when the Russian Revolution occurred in 1917. In Berlin, Anna received her Ph.D. in chemistry. Widowed in the late 1920s, Anna moved her children to Slovakia, where she worked at a research institute. Also at the institute was another female scientist, Alice Winter. Unlike Anna, however, Alice was Jewish, and since joining the faculty in 1942, was endangered because of her faith. Because she was working on a prescription for the treatment of rheumatic disease, Alice was at first given exception papers. But by 1944, Alice and her 11-year-old daughter Erika faced deportation and murder at the hands of the Nazis. Anna was not about to watch her friend and colleague be killed by the Germans, so she acted. Anna found a room in an abandoned hotel where she could hide Alice and Erika. With a bathtub sunken into the floor, the hotel room proved a suitable hiding place. During the day, Alice and Erika sat in the tub, hidden from anyone outside who might peak into the broken windows. At night, Anna would visit them, bringing food, books, and news from the outside world. Anna would then visit other Jews who needed her assistance. After three months spent hiding in the hotel bathtub, Alice and Erika were moved to the mountains. Alice joined the partisans fighting Hitlers regime, while Erika was hidden with a local peasant family. Anna would visit the village, bringing money to help care for the young girl. After the war, Alice and her family immigrated to the United States, but stayed in touch with Anna until the widowed chemists death in the late 1980s. In 2010, Yad Vashem recognized Anna Igumnova as Righteous Among the Nations. Students of Tabla Elementary School with the tablets given by Lenovo Philippines as part of Project Libro Lenovo Philippines donated devices to school students in remote areas through The University of San Carlos Chemical Engineering Society (USC ChES) and its Project LIBRO, which received Lenovos Most Innovative Award at the 13th Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations (TAYO) Awards last February. Project Libro has a simple premise to promote love of reading and provide educational reinforcement to pupils of remote public elementary schools in Cebu, with donated books and tablets. As part of their commitment to enablement through technology, Lenovo Philippines, the exclusive technology partner of TAYO, donated devices that will help the USC ChES reach out to students in remote areas to be able to access information and reinforce their learning. Lenovo believes in empowering youth through education and that is why we are in full support of Project LIBRO. Our hope is that through our devices and the educational materials included in them, kids will experience a richer kind of learning, said Michael Ngan, Country Manager, Lenovo Philippines. The TAYO Awards is an annual event recognising youth organisations for making a difference in their communities. Recently, USC ChES visited Tabla Elementary School, one of the beneficiary schools of Project LIBRO, for the handover of tablets from Lenovo Philippines. The school is located in Barangay Tabla, one of the most remote mountain barangays in the Municipality of Liloan, Cebu. Members of USC ChES taught the students at Tabla Elementary School how to use the reading apps and educational games installed in the tablets. Said Marius Aragon, President, USC ChES, You could really see their gratitude when we shared the tablets with them. Seeing how innocent they were moved me, [and realising] that most of them were holding a tablet for the first time in their entire lives [on that day]. I saw how willing they were to share the tablets with their classmates. From that moment onwards, I realised that the things I worry about are nothing compared to these students problems, yet they continue to be happy with their lives. The handover of the Lenovo tablets was one of the five phases of Project LIBRO. The other phases include the installation of a mini library in the school, and the hosting of reading and comprehension competitions to award the reader showing the most progress, and the best reader in each of the chosen institutions. Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the The Life Cinematic email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Though its themes of identity are universal, Moonlight is very much a Miami story that involves a set of circumstances all too familiar to many residents. It might not have the happiest of endings for Chiron, but it does promote the idea of living your life on your terms and resisting a course expected of you. In recognition of this, Miami-Dade commissioners have decide to immortalise Barry Jenkins' film by naming a street in Liberty City 'Moonlight Way'. "This movie - at least what I got from it - really depicts the life of how a lot of us were raised and what we had to go through and endure as children in the inner city," said Commissioner Audrey Edmonson, who is sponsoring the name. "This goes out to children still living here in the inner city that are told they'll never amount to anything. It shows that it doesn't matter how you were raised or where you grew up; you can still turn out to be someone." Recommended The quiet brilliance of Mahershala Ali She added that as well as bringing national attention to the outskirts, the road name might help bridge the gap between Miami's affluent and poorer residents. "To everyone, I'd say it's still not too late to watch it. It will bring awareness to those not brought up that way," she added. "It definitely shows what goes on in the city." Moonlight is a visually delicious film, and Jenkins thinks Miami itself deserves some of the credit. He previously said: "I was asked once: 'Were you ever afraid you were making a movie that was too beautiful because the subject matter was too heavy?' And I was like, 'Miami is a beautiful place. I remember green grass and bright lights, and to have tried to remove those things in service of a dark story would have been immoral." Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts 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 IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Jimmy Kimmel has mocked Donald Trump for appearing not to know who the North Korean Leader is. Despite mounting tensions between North Korea and the US, President Trump appears not to know the difference between the current leader Kim Jong-un and his father Kim Jong-il. The current 33-year-old leader was declared supreme leader after his fathers state funeral in December of 2011. The talk show host took aim at Mr Trump for his apparent ignorance during his late night show Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Tuesday night. As you know, our relationship with North Korea is especially tense right now, he told viewers. And one way or another, Donald Trump is going to do something about that ... Just as soon as he figures out that Kim Jong-un and his father, Kim Jong-il, are two different people. Kimmel then broadcast a clip of Mr Trump being asked about North Korea earlier in the day. During the interview, Mr Trump only referred to the current North Korean leader as the gentleman and appeared to imply that both President Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama were dealing with the same leader in their respective tenures. I hope things work out well. I hope theres going to be peace, but theyve been talking with this gentleman for a long time. You read Clintons book and he said, Oh, we made such a great peace deal, and it was a joke, Mr Trump said on Fox and Friends. 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 You look at different things over the years with President Obama. Everybody has been outplayed. Theyve all been outplayed by this gentleman. Kimmel then chipped in: Does he really not know that when Bill Clinton was president, Kim Jong-un was 16 years old? After showing a photo of Kim Jong-un as a young teenage boy, Kimmel said: This is crazy. Theres a 50/50 chance we might accidentally bomb South Korea if were not careful. So as a service to our president, I thought wed make it very clear, this is Kim Jong-il, he is very dead, he continued before cutting to a faded photo of the deceased leader as a young man. Access unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime Video Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up He then proceeded to show photos of the still alive Kim Jong-un and the rapper Lil Kim even though she has nothing to do with anything - leave her alone. Recommended Defector reveals stark reality of life inside North Korea Unless the president - maybe the president knows something we dont, the host added. Maybe Kim Jong-il isnt dead. Maybe he figured out some kind of youth serum like Benjamin Butt-un. Friction between the US and North Korea has escalated in recent days. North Korea revealed new missiles during a large military parade in Pyongyang over the weekend to celebrate the 105th anniversary of founding leader Kim Il-sung. The massive parade was followed by a test of their so-called intercontinental missile, which failed just five seconds after launch, observers in the US and South Korea said. As a precaution, US battleships were moved into the waters near the Korean peninsula. Mr Trump, who has in the past tweeted saying North Korea was "behaving very badly" and "playing" with the US, warned that North Korea has gotta behave while speaking at the annual White House Easter egg roll over the weekend. The Presidents stern warning came just hours after Vice President Mike Pence said the era of strategic patience is over while making an unscheduled stop during his Asia tour to visit the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea. The Independent contacted a representative of Mr Trump for comment. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 19 By Azad Hasanli Trend: The Azerbaijan Deposit Insurance Fund (ADIF) intends to pay off compensations on uninsured deposits in Dekabank in April, Azad Javadov, ADIF executive director, said at a press conference in Baku. He added that the remaining amount of uninsured deposits in the bank is 1.2 million manat. So far, ADIF has paid compensations to the bank's clients in the amount of 3.087 million manat. Dekabank's license was withdrawn on July 21, 2016 due to the inconsistency of its total capital with the minimum requirement of the Azerbaijani Central Bank (CBA) [50 million manat], non-fulfillment of obligations to the creditors, CBA's instructions, etc. Dekabank started working in Azerbaijan in 1989. Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Independent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Leopards are being wiped out by illegal hunting in one of their strongholds in South Africa, experts have warned. A study of the population in Soutpansberg Mountains found numbers had declined by nearly two-thirds in just eight years. Leopards are classed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Natures Red List of threatened species. A leopard and cub in the Soutpansberg Mountains, South Africa, where the population has crashed amid illegal hunting (Durham University) The smallest of the big cats, they can be killed by lions, hyenas and other big predators, which they try to avoid by hunting at night and then carrying their kills high into the trees. However, the researchers found the biggest threat to their population was humans. Dr Samual Williams of Durham University, who led the study, said: Illegal human activities like shooting, snaring and poisoning were the leading cause of death in the leopards we tracked. This was often in response to a perception that leopards were a threat to livestock. There is a clear need for conservation efforts to address these illegal killings. Educating communities and supporting them to adopt non-lethal techniques to help protect their livestock is essential. Camera traps were set up in 23 places in the mountains, running continuously between 2012 and 2016, to gauge the leopards numbers. Eight leopards were also fitted with GPS collars. Six of them died during the study. The researchers found that the density of leopards fell by 44 per cent between 2012 and 2016 and 66 per cent since 2008, they reported in the journal Royal Society Open Science. If the current rate of decline is not slowed down then there will be no leopards left in the western Soutpansberg Mountains by 2020, Dr Williams said. This is especially alarming considering that in 2008 this area had one of the highest leopard population densities in Africa. The trophy-hunting of leopards is currently banned in South Africa while more information about their numbers is collected. The researchers urged the authorities not to allow hunting to resume in places like Soutpansberg because of the sharp decline in population. In areas such as this trophy-hunting is a luxury that cannot be afforded, Dr Williams said. Animals in decline Show all 8 1 /8 Animals in decline Animals in decline Harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) Where: Orkney Islands. What: Between 2001-2006, numbers in Orkney declined by 40 per cent. Why: epidemics of the phocine distemper virus are thought to have caused major declines, but the killing of seals in the Moray Firth to protect salmon farms may have an impact. Alamy Animals in decline African lion (Panthera leo) Where: Ghana. What: In Ghanas Mole National Park, lion numbers have declined by more than 90 per cent in 40 years. Why: local conflicts are thought to have contributed to the slaughter of lions and are a worrying example of the status of the animal in Western and Central Africa. Animals in decline Leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) Where: Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Costa Rica. What: Numbers are down in both the Atlantic and Pacific. It declined by 95 per cent between 1989-2002 in Costa Rica. Why: mainly due to them being caught as bycatch, but theyve also been affected by local developments. Alamy Animals in decline Wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans) Where: South Atlantic. What: A rapid decline. One population, from Bird Island, South Georgia, declined by 50 per cent between 1972-2010, according to the British Antarctic Survey. Why: being caught in various commercial longline fisheries. Alamy Animals in decline Saiga Antelope (Saiga tatarica) Where: Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan. What: fall in populations has been dramatic. In the early 1990s numbers were over a million, but are now estimated to be around 50,000. Why: the break up of the former USSR led to uncontrolled hunting. Increased rural poverty means the species is hunted for its meat Animals in decline Swordfish (Xiphias gladius) Where: found worldwide in tropical, subtropical and temperate seas. Why: at risk from overfishing and as a target in recreational fishing. A significant number of swordfish are also caught by illegal driftnet fisheries in the Mediterranean Animals in decline Argali Sheep (Ovis mammon) Where: Central and Southern Asian mountains,usually at 3,000-5,000 metres altitude. Why: domesticated herds of sheep competing for grazing grounds. Over-hunting and poaching. Animals in decline Humphead Wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) Where: the Indo-Pacific, from the Red Sea to South Africa and to the Tuamoto Islands (Polynesia), north to the Ryukyu Islands (south-west Japan), and south to New Caledonia. Why: Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing and trading of the species Large carnivores like leopards are hugely important to the ecosystem of an area and also carry significant economic and cultural importance. Their loss would impoverish both the ecology of the area and human culture so it is vital that we understand the threats leopards face and act on this. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The starting gun on the next general election has been fired so unexpectedly that the report has been felt throughout the country. But the first tangible response was a swift rally in the pound, putting pressure on the UK stock market. The pound was the big winner from news that a UK general election is in the pipeline, as currency markets bet on the current Government winning a greater majority, says Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. The rising pound helped heap pressure on the UK stock market, which was already on the back foot thanks to declining iron ore prices hitting the resources sector. Of course the benchmark FTSE 100 is far from a pure barometer of the perceived health of the UK, given the global nature of the companies that constitute the index. Canny investors may be wondering whether they can capitalise on political events. Yet given the recent unexpected election and referendum outcomes, many will be nervous of gambling on the doing so. And Khalaf believes the election is a distraction that most people should look beyond. He says: The big risk investors face from an election is that they let it disrupt their financial plans. In the short term, market sentiment can be driven by political events, but investors should look beyond any noise as politicians hit the campaign trail, and keep focused on their own long term savings goals. Danger and opportunity Nevertheless, some people are suggesting there could be opportunities ahead. Adrian Lowcock, investment director at Architas, says: General elections create uncertainty and markets do not like uncertainty. The market has begun to price this in and there is likely to be an uncertainty discount on the UK stock market until the election result is known. Given that the FTSE 100 is trading close to all-time highs and we are seeing an increase in geo-political uncertainty investors should prepare for increased volatility over the coming weeks and hold a diversified portfolio of equities and bonds as well as property and gold. Having some cash set aside at times of uncertainty will give investors the flexibility to act as more information becomes known. Of course, everyone has a political opinion and it may be hard for some investors to prevent that from colouring their predictions and strategy. Kerim Derhalli, CEO and founder of invstr, says: Politics are one of the most important considerations in making investment decisions. Political decisions affect economic policy and economic outcomes which, in turn, impact financial markets. In an increasingly divided world, elections are proving to have a big impact on financial markets. The resulting strengthening of the pound has led to a fall in the UK stock market, just as the fall in the pound last June led to a stock market rally. The key to investing is not to impose one's own beliefs on the market, but to try to understand how other people will interpret political events. Gambling with politics However, many commentators argue that it is simply too dangerous to plan an investment strategy around the election. Mike Neumann, head of investment management at boutique wealth manager EQ Investors, says: Attempting to second-guess short term market moves is a dangerous game. Betting on short term moves is more likely to lead to probabilistic outcomes heads you win, tails you lose rather than form the basis of a solid investment strategy. Wed urge investors to look beyond political events and build portfolios based on their needs rather than focus on the rhetoric of political banter. And KPMGs head of investment strategy, pensions, Simeon Willis agrees that speculating on political events is a risky game. Not only are you unsure of the political outcome you are betting on, but you cannot be sure of the markets response even if that outcome materialises. As we saw with Trump the markets were concerned in advance but proceeded to rally after. Some investors will consider it sensible to fly to safer assets given the current national and even international uncertainty. However, any sudden movements can carry risk even when they seem safe. Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, argues: While it may be tempting to head into cash or stock up on supposed haven assets such as gold, the last thing investors should be doing is making any hasty decisions just because Theresa May has called a general election. Short-term trading incurs transaction costs and could lock in losses due to short-term market reaction to what was a surprise announcement. If theres one thing markets dont like, it is surprises Share prices are influenced in the short term by many factors, including politics, but in the long term the ultimate drivers of company share prices and valuations are profits, and particularly cash flow. So, unless investors think the election result due on 9 June will lead to government policies that could directly and materially affect a companys cash flows, then they are probably better off doing as little as possible. Diversify, diversify, diversify Even investors who shy away from adapting their strategy to take advantage of upheaval may take current events as a warning to diversify. Justin Urquhart Stewart, co-founder of Seven Investment Management, says: For investors, the course of this election will only underline the need for broad diversification across asset classes and currencies. Good investment is about managing the risks of the unexpected, and here is a great example. The consensus view has been for a weaker pound, which would benefit the overseas heavy FTSE 100 as we headed towards a harder and harsher Brexit. However, just when everyone is facing one way (the consensus way), then it is usually the time to look the other way and manage the risks of exactly the opposite. This scenario could be a higher pound and a falling FTSE 100 it seemed so unlikely, but so did the UK referendum and US presidential election results last year. Willis concludes with advice that is relevant no matter what the political or market landscape: Taking political views can be an interesting part of managing your portfolio but can go badly wrong. A good rule of thumb always is: dont make bets you cant afford to lose. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The sole economic modelling exercise showing material benefits for the UK from Brexit has been debunked as doubly misleading, further demolishing the argument that for Britain no deal would be better than a bad deal when it comes to the EU. Work by the Economists for Brexit group, led by Professor Patrick Minford of Cardiff Business School, before last years referendum suggested that if the UK left the EU without a trade deal and unilaterally dropped all tariff barriers on imports the countrys GDP could be boosted by 4 per cent relative to otherwise. The finding, which contradicted all other studies which showed that Britain would be worse off due to leaving the EU, has been widely cited by hardline Brexiteers and even some business figures as evidence that the UK economy has little to lose if Britain fails to conclude a trade deal with the rest of the EU. Recommended The true cost of Brexit without a free trade deal The Wetherspoons boss Tim Martin insisted last September of a deal that we dont need one. Certain Conservatives have even urged Theresa May not to bother seeking a new trade deal, arguing that the Economists for Brexit modelling suggests the UK would actually be better off without one. The former Tory Chancellor, Lord Lawson, has asserted the UK needs nothing more, nothing less than trade with the EU under the most basic of World Trade Organisation rules. But Professor Alan Winters, Professor of Economics at the University of Sussex and Director of the UK Trade Policy Observatory, on Wednesday pointed out that the modelling assumptions that produced the Economists for Brexit headline figure were suspect. The small print of the modelling reveals the assumption that "general international pressure" over the next decade will compel the EU to reduce its own effective tariffs on imports from 20 per cent to 10 per cent - and that the authors ignore the impact of differences in EU safety and quality standards for goods on producer prices. Professor Winters also points out that the modelling of Minfords group bizarrely assumes the EU will waive its standards on goods imports from the UK post-Brexit, which implies precisely the sort of deep trade deal which the Economists for Brexit have been consistently arguing that the UK does not need to bother pursuing. Gaining 4 per cent [of GDP] requires more integration with Europe than the UK has at present! Professor Winters wrote in a blog post. The term unilateral free trade is thus doubly misleading: first, it presumes agreements with reciprocal liberalisations with the UKs trading partners, including the EU, and second, on the EU, it is just plain wrong, he said. "Unless the UK and EU sign an FTA [Free Trade Agreement] that explicitly removes all EU non-tariff barriers to exports from the UK, WTO rules prevent the EU from eliminating barriers on the UK alone. If achieved, eliminating all tariffs and non-tariff barriers between the UK and the EU would imply deeper integration than the EU Customs Union and Single Market currently deliver, but coupled with a race to the bottom on standards!" Professor Winters told The Independent that it was impossible to state the degree to which these assumptions were critical to delivering the 4 per cent GDP increase estimate without having access to the Minford model itself, but he added that they were likely to be material given the size of the EUs existing external tariff and the scale of the UKs trade with the Continent. In response, Professor Minford denied his model assumed closer integration. "We assume explicitly that the EU treats us under an FTA as it does now - so no change. Under our model if they do not and levy tariffs on us, it makes no difference to the world prices we have access to and therefore causes us no national welfare losses," he said. He also said that his estimate of EU tariff rates included estimates of non-tariff (or regulatory) barriers. The assumptions of the Economists for Brexit group now rebranded as Economists for Free Trade - were previously criticised as grossly unrealistic on other grounds, including ignoring the fact that countries tend to do more trade with countries that are geographically closer, by economic modellers from the London School of Economics (LSE). Ms May said in January in her Lancaster House speech that she intends to pursue a a bold and ambitious free trade agreement with the EU. But she also added that no deal for Britain is better than a bad deal for Britain, seen as a nod to the unilateral free trade option. David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, admitted last year that it was possible the UK could leave the EU without a deal. And the International Trade Secretary Liam Fox issued a press release in August 2016 that suggested to exporters this could be the ultimate outcome of Brexit. However, financial markets seem to have interpreted Ms May's decision to go for an early general election this week as a sign that she is more likely to avoid a "cliff-edge" Brexit in 2019. Pre-referendum work by the LSE suggested that if the UK crashed out of the EU without a trade deal GDP could be 9.5 per cent lower by 2030. Oxford Economics, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research and PwC estimated relative losses of 2.7 per cent, 3.2 per cent and 3.5 per cent respectively. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} An advert for Rimmel mascara, featuring Cara Delevingne doing her makeup, has been banned for falsely representing the way in which using the product might make eyelashes look. The advert, which aired in December last year, shows the model applying the Scandaleyes Reloaded mascara to a voice over promoting dangerously bold lashes and "extreme volume". The Advertising Standards Authority, however, has condemned the use of false eye lashes in the campaign and said that Coty, the company behind the advert, had used post-production techniques to make the model's lashes look longer and more voluminous beyond what could be achieved by the mascara on the model's natural lashes. Because the ad conveyed a volumising, lengthening and thickening effect of the product we considered the use of lash inserts and the post-production technique were likely to exaggerate the effect beyond what could be achieved by the product among consumers, the agency said. It has banned the advert from appearing again it its current form. Coty, a North American company which manufactures over 70 cosmetic brands including for Calvin Klein, Adidas, Marc Jacobs and Sally Hansen, had previously said that the ad provided an accurate representation of the product and its characteristics, according to the ASA. The company said that, in accordance with industry practice, it had only used individual lash inserts to fill in gaps and to create a uniform lash line. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Chancellor said people should live in the real world and accept that the Government could sell its stake in RBS at a loss. The ailing bank was bailed out with 45bbn of public money at the height of the financial crisis in 2008, with the Treasury taking a 72 per cent stake which it has kept ever since. The shares were bought at 502p per share - more than double the 223p level they were trading at on Wednesday. We have to live in the real world, Phillip Hammond told MPs on Tuesday, according to the BBC. He added: Our policy remains to return the bank to private hands as soon as we can achieve fair value for the shares, recognising that fair value could well be below what the previous government paid for them. We have to live in the real world and make decisions on the future of our holding in RBS in the best interests of taxpayers. RBS has racked up more than 50bn in losses over the last nine years and has not made a profit in any year since the bailout. In February, the bank - which has been dogged by vast legal and compensation bills - set aside another 5.9bn to pay for past wrongdoing. At the time, chief executive Ross McEwan said: The bottom-line loss we have reported today is, of course, disappointing but, given the scale of the legacy issues we worked through in 2016, it should not come as a surprise. Biggest business scandals in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Biggest business scandals in pictures Biggest business scandals in pictures Volkswagen emissions scandal VW admitted to rigging its US emission tests so that diesel-powered cars would looks like they were emitting less nitrous oxide, which can damage the ozone layer and contribute to respiratory diseases. Around 11 million cars worldwide were affected. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Martin Shkreli and Turing Pharmaceuticals Martin Shkreli became known as the most hated man in the world after his drug company, Turing, increased the price of a 62-year-old drug that treated HIV patients by 5,000% to $750 a pill. He was charged with illegally taking stock from Retrophin, a biotechnology firm he started in 2011, and using it pay off debts from unrelated business dealings. Shkreli, who maintains he is innocent, and says there is little evidence of fraud because his investors didn't lose money. Biggest business scandals in pictures Panama Papers: Millions of leaked documents expose how worlds rich and powerful hid money - April 2016 Millions of confidential documents have been leaked from one of the worlds most secretive law firms, exposing how the rich and powerful have hidden their money. Dictators and other heads of state have been accused of laundering money, avoiding sanctions and evading tax, according to the unprecedented cache of papers that show the inner workings of the law firm Mossack Fonseca, which is based in Panama. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Google's tax avoidance Google reached a deal with the HM Revenue and Customs to pay back 130 million in so-called back-taxes that have been due since 2005. George Osborne championed the deal as a major success. But European MEPs have since called for the Chancellor to appear in front of the committee on tax rulings to explain the tax deal. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Rogue trader A French court cut the damages owed by rogue trader Jerome Kerviel from 4.9bn (4.2bn) to just 1m (860,000). The court ruled on that Kerviel was partly responsible for massive losses suffered in 2008 by his former employer Societe Generale through his reckless trades. Kerviel has consistently maintained that bosses at the French bank knew what he was doing all along. AP Biggest business scandals in pictures Barclays CEO under investigation for trying to identify whistleblower - Monday Paril 10 Authorities have launched an investigation into Barclays chief executive officer Jes Staley for trying to identify a whistleblower, the bank said on Monday. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) are both investigating Mr Staley after the bank notified them that Mr Staley had tried to identify the author of two anonymous letters, which were sent to the board and a senior executive in June 2016. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures UK to crack down on bank money laundering after reports of 65bn Russian scam, City minister says - March 2017 The Economic Secretary to the Treasury has vowed that the Government will crack down on money laundering practices, after several of the UK's biggest banks were accused of processing money from a Russian scam, believed to involve up to $80bn (65bn). Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Former HBOS bankers convicted of bribery and fraud over 245m loan scam - February 2017 Two former HBOS bankers were among six people found guilty of bribery and fraud that cost customers and shareholders hundreds of millions of pounds, the BBC reports. Lynden Scourfield, 54, a manager at HBOS, forced struggling clients to use the services of his friends David Mills, 60, and Michael Bancroft, 73. In return, the two businessmen arranged sex parties, cash and lavish gifts. On Monday, the three were convicted at Southwark Crown Court on accounts including bribery, fraud and money laundering. Mark Dobson, another manager at HBOS, Alison Mills, and John Cartwright were also convicted. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Lloyds chief apologises for damage caused by affair allegations - August 2016 Antonio Horta-Osorio, the chief executive of Lloyds Bank, has broken his silence over allegations about his private life admitting he regrets any "damage done to the group's reputation". In a message sent to the bank's 75,000 employees, the banker said that anyone can make mistakes while insisting that staff had to maintain the highest professional standards. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Christine Lagarde faces court over 340m Bernard Tapie payment - July 2016 The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde, must stand trial in France over a payment of 403 million (now 340m, then 290m) to tycoon Bernard Tapie, a France's highest appeals court has ruled. The court rejected Ms Lagarde's appeal against a judge's order in December for her to stand trial over allegations of negligence in her handling of the affair. Ms Lagarde could risk a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a fine of 15,000 euros if convicted. Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures HSBC senior manager arrested in FX rigging investigation at JFK airport in New York - July 2016 A senior executive at HSBC has been arrested at New York's JFK airport for his alleged involvement in a conspiracy to rig currency benchmarks, according to reports. Mark Johnson, global head of foreign exchange cash trading in London, was reportedly arrested on Tuesday. He will appear before a federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, Bloomberg said. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Former PwC employees found guilty in 'Luxleaks' tax scandal - June 2016 Two ex- PricewaterhouseCoopers staffers were found guilty in Luxembourg of stealing confidential tax files that helped unleash a global scandal over generous fiscal deals for hundreds of international companies. Antoine Deltour and Raphael Halet face suspended sentences of 12 months and 9 months and were ordered to pay fines of 1,500 (1,230) and 1,000 (822) for their role in the so-called LuxLeaks scandal. Despite the minimal sentences, the ruling was described by Deltours lawyer as shocking and a terrible anomaly. The ruling puts on guard future whistle-blowers, Deltour told reporters.The LuxLeaks revelations sped beyond Luxembourg, causing European Union regulators to expand a tax-subsidy probe and propose new laws to fight corporate tax dodging, while EU lawmakers created a special committee to probe fiscal deals across the 28-nation bloc. Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Goldman Sachs dealmakers lavished Libyan officials with prostitutes to win contract - June 2016 A former Goldman Sachs dealmaker trying to persuade Gadaffi-era Libya to invest $1 billion with the investment bank procured prostitutes and invited Libyan officials to lavish parties in the hope of winning the business, the High Court heard on Monday June 13.The Libyan Investment Authority sovereign wealth fund is suing Goldman Sachs for inappropriately coercing its naive staff into giving its sovereign wealth fund cash to the bank to invest in products they did not understand. The products were designed to generate big profits for Goldman, the LIA claims.Goldman denies wrongdoing and says the LIA was treated as an arms-length customer Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Former boss of BHS said his life was threatened - June 2016 Darren Topp, the former boss of BHS, has said former owner Dominic Chappell threatened to kill him when he challenged him over a 1.5 million transfer out of the business. MPs on the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee asked Mr Topp about a 1.5 million transfer Mr Chappell made from BHS to a company called BHS Sweden. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley admits paying workers below the minimum wage - June 2016 Mike Ashley admitted paying Sports Direct employees below the minimum wage at a hearing in front of MPs. The company founder said that workers were paid less than the statutory minimum because of bottlenecks at security in an admission that could result in sanctions from HMRC. Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Mitsubishi admits improper fuel tests - April 2016 Mitsubishi has admitted to using false fuel methods dating back to 1991. The scale of the scandal is only just coming to light after it was revealed in April that data was falsified in the testing of four types of cars, including two Nissan cars. AP Biggest business scandals in pictures Quindell, the scandal-ridden insurance firm Quindell was once a darling of AIM but its share price fell in April 2014 when its accounting practices were attacked in a stinging research note by US short seller Gotham City. In August the group was forced to disclose that the 107 million pre-tax profit it had reported for 2013 was incorrect, and it had in fact suffered a 64million loss. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Toshiba Accounting Scandal The boss of Toshiba, the Japanese technology giant, resigned in disgrace in the wake of one of the countrys biggest ever accounting scandals. His exit came two months after the company revealed that it was investigating accounting irregularities. An independent investigatory panel said that Toshibas management had inflated its reported profits by up to 152 billion yen (780m) between 2008 and 2014. Biggest business scandals in pictures FIFA Corruption Scandal Fifa, football's world governing body, has been engulfed by claims of widespread corruption since the summer of 2015, when the US Department of Justice indicted several top executives. It has now claimed the careers of two of the most powerful men in football, Fifa President Sepp Blatter and Uefa President Michel Platini, after they were banned for eight years from all football-related activities by Fifa's ethics committee. A Swiss criminal investigation into the pair is ongoing. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Libor fraudster City trader Tom Hayes, 35, has become the first person to be convicted of rigging Libor rates following a trial at London's Southwark Crown Court. Hayes worked as a trader in yen derivatives at UBS before joining the American bank Citigroup in Tokyo. He was fired from Citigroup following an investigation into his trading methods. He returned to the UK in December 2012 and was arrested following a two-and-a-half year criminal investigation by the SFO. Getty These costs are a stark reminder of what happens to a bank when things go wrong and you lose focus on the customer, as this bank did before the financial crisis. RBS is in the midst of a vast restructuring programme, including asset sales and thousands of job cuts. The bank confirmed in February it has abandoned plans to sell off its Williams & Glynn business. The Government announced earlier this month that it had nearly offloaded all of its stake in fellow bailed out lender Lloyds. It now holds less than 2 per cent of the bank. 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 }} Energy customers face further delays from government in dealing with with soaring bills, MPs heard on Wednesday. Business secretary Greg Clark accused companies of flagrant mistreatment and milking their customers in a broken market, but insisted the snap general election announced by Theresa May on Tuesday meant he would have to reflect on the timing to lay out his long-awaited plans for a crackdown. The response you will see will be muscular and strong, and it will apply to all the companies that are disadvantaging consumers, he said. Recommended UK households face billion pound energy bill Five of the Big Six energy firms have hiked prices this year, with EDF doing so for a second time last week. Only British Gas has ruled out increases until August. In June last year a two-year investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority found that the majority of UK households were paying over the odds and said consumers had paid 2bn more than they should have in 2015/2016 because the energy sector is uncompetitive. Speaking to the business, energy and industrial strategy committee, Mr Clarke acknowledged the detriment but insisted that there had been no delay in his department taking action. "We'll publish our response to the CMA report very shortly and you will see it will take very decisive action to address what even Ofgem the regulator has criticised as being prices that were difficult to justify, Mr Clark said. However he did not commit to a timeline for taking action. When you have an election, there are a number of things in final stages of preparation that you need to reflect on whether they can be finalised in time, he said. Mr Clark said the the current regulatory regime had not been able to fix the energy market, particularly for people on standard variable energy tariffs. The CMAs report stopped short of recommending a cap on standard tariffs, instead favouring measures to make it easier for customers to switch providers. Biggest business scandals in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Biggest business scandals in pictures Biggest business scandals in pictures Volkswagen emissions scandal VW admitted to rigging its US emission tests so that diesel-powered cars would looks like they were emitting less nitrous oxide, which can damage the ozone layer and contribute to respiratory diseases. Around 11 million cars worldwide were affected. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Martin Shkreli and Turing Pharmaceuticals Martin Shkreli became known as the most hated man in the world after his drug company, Turing, increased the price of a 62-year-old drug that treated HIV patients by 5,000% to $750 a pill. He was charged with illegally taking stock from Retrophin, a biotechnology firm he started in 2011, and using it pay off debts from unrelated business dealings. Shkreli, who maintains he is innocent, and says there is little evidence of fraud because his investors didn't lose money. Biggest business scandals in pictures Panama Papers: Millions of leaked documents expose how worlds rich and powerful hid money - April 2016 Millions of confidential documents have been leaked from one of the worlds most secretive law firms, exposing how the rich and powerful have hidden their money. Dictators and other heads of state have been accused of laundering money, avoiding sanctions and evading tax, according to the unprecedented cache of papers that show the inner workings of the law firm Mossack Fonseca, which is based in Panama. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Google's tax avoidance Google reached a deal with the HM Revenue and Customs to pay back 130 million in so-called back-taxes that have been due since 2005. George Osborne championed the deal as a major success. But European MEPs have since called for the Chancellor to appear in front of the committee on tax rulings to explain the tax deal. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Rogue trader A French court cut the damages owed by rogue trader Jerome Kerviel from 4.9bn (4.2bn) to just 1m (860,000). The court ruled on that Kerviel was partly responsible for massive losses suffered in 2008 by his former employer Societe Generale through his reckless trades. Kerviel has consistently maintained that bosses at the French bank knew what he was doing all along. AP Biggest business scandals in pictures Barclays CEO under investigation for trying to identify whistleblower - Monday Paril 10 Authorities have launched an investigation into Barclays chief executive officer Jes Staley for trying to identify a whistleblower, the bank said on Monday. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) are both investigating Mr Staley after the bank notified them that Mr Staley had tried to identify the author of two anonymous letters, which were sent to the board and a senior executive in June 2016. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures UK to crack down on bank money laundering after reports of 65bn Russian scam, City minister says - March 2017 The Economic Secretary to the Treasury has vowed that the Government will crack down on money laundering practices, after several of the UK's biggest banks were accused of processing money from a Russian scam, believed to involve up to $80bn (65bn). Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Former HBOS bankers convicted of bribery and fraud over 245m loan scam - February 2017 Two former HBOS bankers were among six people found guilty of bribery and fraud that cost customers and shareholders hundreds of millions of pounds, the BBC reports. Lynden Scourfield, 54, a manager at HBOS, forced struggling clients to use the services of his friends David Mills, 60, and Michael Bancroft, 73. In return, the two businessmen arranged sex parties, cash and lavish gifts. On Monday, the three were convicted at Southwark Crown Court on accounts including bribery, fraud and money laundering. Mark Dobson, another manager at HBOS, Alison Mills, and John Cartwright were also convicted. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Lloyds chief apologises for damage caused by affair allegations - August 2016 Antonio Horta-Osorio, the chief executive of Lloyds Bank, has broken his silence over allegations about his private life admitting he regrets any "damage done to the group's reputation". In a message sent to the bank's 75,000 employees, the banker said that anyone can make mistakes while insisting that staff had to maintain the highest professional standards. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Christine Lagarde faces court over 340m Bernard Tapie payment - July 2016 The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde, must stand trial in France over a payment of 403 million (now 340m, then 290m) to tycoon Bernard Tapie, a France's highest appeals court has ruled. The court rejected Ms Lagarde's appeal against a judge's order in December for her to stand trial over allegations of negligence in her handling of the affair. Ms Lagarde could risk a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a fine of 15,000 euros if convicted. Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures HSBC senior manager arrested in FX rigging investigation at JFK airport in New York - July 2016 A senior executive at HSBC has been arrested at New York's JFK airport for his alleged involvement in a conspiracy to rig currency benchmarks, according to reports. Mark Johnson, global head of foreign exchange cash trading in London, was reportedly arrested on Tuesday. He will appear before a federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, Bloomberg said. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Former PwC employees found guilty in 'Luxleaks' tax scandal - June 2016 Two ex- PricewaterhouseCoopers staffers were found guilty in Luxembourg of stealing confidential tax files that helped unleash a global scandal over generous fiscal deals for hundreds of international companies. Antoine Deltour and Raphael Halet face suspended sentences of 12 months and 9 months and were ordered to pay fines of 1,500 (1,230) and 1,000 (822) for their role in the so-called LuxLeaks scandal. Despite the minimal sentences, the ruling was described by Deltours lawyer as shocking and a terrible anomaly. The ruling puts on guard future whistle-blowers, Deltour told reporters.The LuxLeaks revelations sped beyond Luxembourg, causing European Union regulators to expand a tax-subsidy probe and propose new laws to fight corporate tax dodging, while EU lawmakers created a special committee to probe fiscal deals across the 28-nation bloc. Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Goldman Sachs dealmakers lavished Libyan officials with prostitutes to win contract - June 2016 A former Goldman Sachs dealmaker trying to persuade Gadaffi-era Libya to invest $1 billion with the investment bank procured prostitutes and invited Libyan officials to lavish parties in the hope of winning the business, the High Court heard on Monday June 13.The Libyan Investment Authority sovereign wealth fund is suing Goldman Sachs for inappropriately coercing its naive staff into giving its sovereign wealth fund cash to the bank to invest in products they did not understand. The products were designed to generate big profits for Goldman, the LIA claims.Goldman denies wrongdoing and says the LIA was treated as an arms-length customer Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Former boss of BHS said his life was threatened - June 2016 Darren Topp, the former boss of BHS, has said former owner Dominic Chappell threatened to kill him when he challenged him over a 1.5 million transfer out of the business. MPs on the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee asked Mr Topp about a 1.5 million transfer Mr Chappell made from BHS to a company called BHS Sweden. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley admits paying workers below the minimum wage - June 2016 Mike Ashley admitted paying Sports Direct employees below the minimum wage at a hearing in front of MPs. The company founder said that workers were paid less than the statutory minimum because of bottlenecks at security in an admission that could result in sanctions from HMRC. Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Mitsubishi admits improper fuel tests - April 2016 Mitsubishi has admitted to using false fuel methods dating back to 1991. The scale of the scandal is only just coming to light after it was revealed in April that data was falsified in the testing of four types of cars, including two Nissan cars. AP Biggest business scandals in pictures Quindell, the scandal-ridden insurance firm Quindell was once a darling of AIM but its share price fell in April 2014 when its accounting practices were attacked in a stinging research note by US short seller Gotham City. In August the group was forced to disclose that the 107 million pre-tax profit it had reported for 2013 was incorrect, and it had in fact suffered a 64million loss. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Toshiba Accounting Scandal The boss of Toshiba, the Japanese technology giant, resigned in disgrace in the wake of one of the countrys biggest ever accounting scandals. His exit came two months after the company revealed that it was investigating accounting irregularities. An independent investigatory panel said that Toshibas management had inflated its reported profits by up to 152 billion yen (780m) between 2008 and 2014. Biggest business scandals in pictures FIFA Corruption Scandal Fifa, football's world governing body, has been engulfed by claims of widespread corruption since the summer of 2015, when the US Department of Justice indicted several top executives. It has now claimed the careers of two of the most powerful men in football, Fifa President Sepp Blatter and Uefa President Michel Platini, after they were banned for eight years from all football-related activities by Fifa's ethics committee. A Swiss criminal investigation into the pair is ongoing. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Libor fraudster City trader Tom Hayes, 35, has become the first person to be convicted of rigging Libor rates following a trial at London's Southwark Crown Court. Hayes worked as a trader in yen derivatives at UBS before joining the American bank Citigroup in Tokyo. He was fired from Citigroup following an investigation into his trading methods. He returned to the UK in December 2012 and was arrested following a two-and-a-half year criminal investigation by the SFO. Getty Last month, Prime Minister Theresa May warned big energy companies that the Government would step in to control prices in a market that is manifestly not working for customers. Our party did not end the unjust and inefficient monopolies of the old nationalised energy corporations only to replace them with a system that traps the poorest customers on the worst deals, she said. Ms May told the Conservative Party spring conference in Cardiff she would crack down on businesses that abuse the system. This year, Npower increased its electricity prices by 15 per cent and gas prices by 4.8 per cent. E.On has announced increases to electricity prices of 13.8 per cent and gas prices of 3.8 per cent, Scottish Power raised its electricity prices by 10.8 per cent and gas prices by 4.7 per cent. EDF, said electricity prices will jump by 18.1 per cent, while SSE will raise electricity prices by 14.9 per cent. Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check 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 Health Check email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Powerful new remedies for the flu could be created using a molecule found in frog slime after scientists discovered it destroys the virus. Mucus from a colourful species of Indian frog contains a compound that kills influenza, according to a new study published in the scientific journal Immunity. The frog, called hydrophylax bahuvistara, was discovered in 2015. It is a type of fungoid frog that lives in the forests of south west India and has a striking orange stripe on its upper body. Researchers captured the frog and collected secretions from its skin after delivering a mild electric shock. They then released the amphibians back into the wild and studied the chemicals in their slime. Joshy Jacob, a scientist at Emory University in Atlanta, who led the study, said they managed to isolate a small structure called a peptide that kills the flu virus but leaves healthy tissue intact. This peptide kills the viruses. It kind of blows them up, Dr Jacob, an associate professor in microbiology, told NBC News. There's no collateral damage, Fungoid frogs are very similar to hydrophylax bahuvistara (Getty Images / iStock) Dr Jacob and his team decided to name the compound urumin after an Indian sword called an urumi with a flexible blade that acts like a whip, used in martial arts from the southern city of Kerala. Mice vaccinated with urumin were protected against a lethal amount of swine flu virus, also known as Influenza A of H1, which caused a pandemic in 2009. Its likely the frog produces the flu-fighting substance in its slime by coincidence, as one of a number of compounds that guard against harmful bacteria and fungi. The scientists hope their discovery will lead to the development of new drugs to stop outbreaks of influenza, which is highly contagious and can be deadly, especially for the elderly and very young. They will also continue the search for other frog slime compounds that could be used to treat other viral infections such as hepatitis, HIV and Zika. The difficulty is finding molecules that attack flu but do not harm healthy cells as well of the four peptides found in the hydrophylax bahuvistara mucus, only urumin did not kill red blood cells. Health news in pictures Show all 40 1 /40 Health news in pictures Health news in pictures Coronavirus outbreak The coronavirus Covid-19 has hit the UK leading to the deaths of two people so far and prompting warnings from the Department of Health AFP via Getty Health news in pictures Thousands of emergency patients told to take taxi to hospital Thousands of 999 patients in England are being told to get a taxi to hospital, figures have showed. The number of patients outside London who were refused an ambulance rose by 83 per cent in the past year as demand for services grows Getty Health news in pictures Vape related deaths spike A vaping-related lung disease has claimed the lives of 11 people in the US in recent weeks. The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has more than 100 officials investigating the cause of the mystery illness, and has warned citizens against smoking e-cigarette products until more is known, particularly if modified or bought off the street Getty Health news in pictures Baldness cure looks to be a step closer Researchers in the US claim to have overcome one of the major hurdles to cultivating human follicles from stem cells. The new system allows cells to grow in a structured tuft and emerge from the skin Sanford Burnham Preybs Health news in pictures Two hours a week spent in nature can improve health A study in the journal Scientific Reports suggests that a dose of nature of just two hours a week is associated with better health and psychological wellbeing Shutterstock Health news in pictures Air pollution linked to fertility issues in women Exposure to air from traffic-clogged streets could leave women with fewer years to have children, a study has found. Italian researchers found women living in the most polluted areas were three times more likely to show signs they were running low on eggs than those who lived in cleaner surroundings, potentially triggering an earlier menopause Getty/iStock Health news in pictures Junk food ads could be banned before watershed Junk food adverts on TV and online could be banned before 9pm as part of Government plans to fight the "epidemic" of childhood obesity. Plans for the new watershed have been put out for public consultation in a bid to combat the growing crisis, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said PA Health news in pictures Breeding with neanderthals helped humans fight diseases On migrating from Africa around 70,000 years ago, humans bumped into the neanderthals of Eurasia. While humans were weak to the diseases of the new lands, breeding with the resident neanderthals made for a better equipped immune system PA Health news in pictures Cancer breath test to be trialled in Britain The breath biopsy device is designed to detect cancer hallmarks in molecules exhaled by patients Getty Health news in pictures Average 10 year old has consumed the recommended amount of sugar for an adult By their 10th birthdy, children have on average already eaten more sugar than the recommended amount for an 18 year old. The average 10 year old consumes the equivalent to 13 sugar cubes a day, 8 more than is recommended PA Health news in pictures Child health experts advise switching off screens an hour before bed While there is not enough evidence of harm to recommend UK-wide limits on screen use, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health have advised that children should avoid screens for an hour before bed time to avoid disrupting their sleep Getty Health news in pictures Daily aspirin is unnecessary for older people in good health, study finds A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that many elderly people are taking daily aspirin to little or no avail Getty Health news in pictures Vaping could lead to cancer, US study finds A study by the University of Minnesota's Masonic Cancer Centre has found that the carcinogenic chemicals formaldehyde, acrolein, and methylglyoxal are present in the saliva of E-cigarette users Reuters Health news in pictures More children are obese and diabetic There has been a 41% increase in children with type 2 diabetes since 2014, the National Paediatric Diabetes Audit has found. Obesity is a leading cause Reuters Health news in pictures Most child antidepressants are ineffective and can lead to suicidal thoughts The majority of antidepressants are ineffective and may be unsafe, for children and teenager with major depression, experts have warned. In what is the most comprehensive comparison of 14 commonly prescribed antidepressant drugs to date, researchers found that only one brand was more effective at relieving symptoms of depression than a placebo. Another popular drug, venlafaxine, was shown increase the risk users engaging in suicidal thoughts and attempts at suicide Getty Health news in pictures Gay, lesbian and bisexual adults at higher risk of heart disease, study claims Researchers at the Baptist Health South Florida Clinic in Miami focused on seven areas of controllable heart health and found these minority groups were particularly likely to be smokers and to have poorly controlled blood sugar iStock Health news in pictures Breakfast cereals targeted at children contain 'steadily high' sugar levels since 1992 despite producer claims A major pressure group has issued a fresh warning about perilously high amounts of sugar in breakfast cereals, specifically those designed for children, and has said that levels have barely been cut at all in the last two and a half decades Getty Health news in pictures Potholes are making us fat, NHS watchdog warns New guidance by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the body which determines what treatment the NHS should fund, said lax road repairs and car-dominated streets were contributing to the obesity epidemic by preventing members of the public from keeping active PA Health news in pictures New menopause drugs offer women relief from 'debilitating' hot flushes A new class of treatments for women going through the menopause is able to reduce numbers of debilitating hot flushes by as much as three quarters in a matter of days, a trial has found. The drug used in the trial belongs to a group known as NKB antagonists (blockers), which were developed as a treatment for schizophrenia but have been sitting on a shelf unused, according to Professor Waljit Dhillo, a professor of endocrinology and metabolism REX Health news in pictures Doctors should prescribe more antidepressants for people with mental health problems, study finds Research from Oxford University found that more than one million extra people suffering from mental health problems would benefit from being prescribed drugs and criticised ideological reasons doctors use to avoid doing so. Getty Health news in pictures Student dies of flu after NHS advice to stay at home and avoid A&E The family of a teenager who died from flu has urged people not to delay going to A&E if they are worried about their symptoms. Melissa Whiteley, an 18-year-old engineering student from Hanford in Stoke-on-Trent, fell ill at Christmas and died in hospital a month later. Just Giving Health news in pictures Government to review thousands of harmful vaginal mesh implants The Government has pledged to review tens of thousands of cases where women have been given harmful vaginal mesh implants. Getty Health news in pictures Jeremy Hunt announces 'zero suicides ambition' for the NHS The NHS will be asked to go further to prevent the deaths of patients in its care as part of a zero suicide ambition being launched today Getty Health news in pictures Human trials start with cancer treatment that primes immune system to kill off tumours Human trials have begun with a new cancer therapy that can prime the immune system to eradicate tumours. The treatment, that works similarly to a vaccine, is a combination of two existing drugs, of which tiny amounts are injected into the solid bulk of a tumour. Nephron Health news in pictures Babies' health suffers from being born near fracking sites, finds major study Mothers living within a kilometre of a fracking site were 25 per cent more likely to have a child born at low birth weight, which increase their chances of asthma, ADHD and other issues Getty Health news in pictures NHS reviewing thousands of cervical cancer smear tests after women wrongly given all-clear Thousands of cervical cancer screening results are under review after failings at a laboratory meant some women were incorrectly given the all-clear. A number of women have already been told to contact their doctors following the identification of procedural issues in the service provided by Pathology First Laboratory. Rex Health news in pictures Potential key to halting breast cancer's spread discovered by scientists Most breast cancer patients do not die from their initial tumour, but from secondary malignant growths (metastases), where cancer cells are able to enter the blood and survive to invade new sites. Asparagine, a molecule named after asparagus where it was first identified in high quantities, has now been shown to be an essential ingredient for tumour cells to gain these migratory properties. Getty Health news in pictures NHS nursing vacancies at record high with more than 34,000 roles advertised A record number of nursing and midwifery positions are currently being advertised by the NHS, with more than 34,000 positions currently vacant, according to the latest data. Demand for nurses was 19 per cent higher between July and September 2017 than the same period two years ago. REX Health news in pictures Cannabis extract could provide new class of treatment for psychosis CBD has a broadly opposite effect to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main active component in cannabis and the substance that causes paranoia and anxiety. Getty Health news in pictures Over 75,000 sign petition calling for Richard Branson's Virgin Care to hand settlement money back to NHS Mr Bransons company sued the NHS last year after it lost out on an 82m contract to provide childrens health services across Surrey, citing concerns over serious flaws in the way the contract was awarded PA Health news in pictures More than 700 fewer nurses training in England in first year after NHS bursary scrapped The numbers of people accepted to study nursing in England fell 3 per cent in 2017, while the numbers accepted in Wales and Scotland, where the bursaries were kept, increased 8.4 per cent and 8 per cent respectively Getty Health news in pictures Landmark study links Tory austerity to 120,000 deaths The paper found that there were 45,000 more deaths in the first four years of Tory-led efficiencies than would have been expected if funding had stayed at pre-election levels. On this trajectory that could rise to nearly 200,000 excess deaths by the end of 2020, even with the extra funding that has been earmarked for public sector services this year. Reuters Health news in pictures Long commutes carry health risks Hours of commuting may be mind-numbingly dull, but new research shows that it might also be having an adverse effect on both your health and performance at work. Longer commutes also appear to have a significant impact on mental wellbeing, with those commuting longer 33 per cent more likely to suffer from depression Shutterstock Health news in pictures You cannot be fit and fat It is not possible to be overweight and healthy, a major new study has concluded. The study of 3.5 million Britons found that even metabolically healthy obese people are still at a higher risk of heart disease or a stroke than those with a normal weight range Getty Health news in pictures Sleep deprivation When you feel particularly exhausted, it can definitely feel like you are also lacking in brain capacity. Now, a new study has suggested this could be because chronic sleep deprivation can actually cause the brain to eat itself Shutterstock Health news in pictures Exercise classes offering 45 minute naps launch David Lloyd Gyms have launched a new health and fitness class which is essentially a bunch of people taking a nap for 45 minutes. The fitness group was spurred to launch the napercise class after research revealed 86 per cent of parents said they were fatigued. The class is therefore predominantly aimed at parents but you actually do not have to have children to take part Getty Health news in pictures 'Fundamental right to health' to be axed after Brexit, lawyers warn Tobacco and alcohol companies could win more easily in court cases such as the recent battle over plain cigarette packaging if the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights is abandoned, a barrister and public health professor have said Getty Health news in pictures 'Thousands dying' due to fear over non-existent statin side-effects A major new study into the side effects of the cholesterol-lowering medicine suggests common symptoms such as muscle pain and weakness are not caused by the drugs themselves Getty Health news in pictures Babies born to fathers aged under 25 have higher risk of autism New research has found that babies born to fathers under the age of 25 or over 51 are at higher risk of developing autism and other social disorders. The study, conducted by the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai, found that these children are actually more advanced than their peers as infants, but then fall behind by the time they hit their teenage years Getty Health news in pictures Cycling to work could halve risk of cancer and heart disease Commuters who swap their car or bus pass for a bike could cut their risk of developing heart disease and cancer by almost half, new research suggests but campaigners have warned there is still an urgent need to improve road conditions for cyclists. Cycling to work is linked to a lower risk of developing cancer by 45 per cent and cardiovascular disease by 46 per cent, according to a study of a quarter of a million people. Walking to work also brought health benefits, the University of Glasgow researchers found, but not to the same degree as cycling. Getty In the beginning, I thought that when you do drug discovery, you have to go through thousands of drug candidates, even a million, before you get one or two hits. And here we did 32 peptides, and we had four hits, said Dr Jacob. Urumin is thought to target a viral surface protein called haemagluttinin the H in H1. The virus needs the haemagglutinin to get inside our cells, said Dr Jacob. What this peptide does is it binds to the haemagglutinin and destabilises the virus. And then it kills the virus. Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check 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 Health Check email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Hundreds of women are taking legal action over problems caused by vaginal mesh implants, which have left many in severe pain and some permanently disabled. The plastic mesh is used to treat organ prolapse and incontinence, usually after childbirth. There are around 1,500 implants carried out in the UK each year to support the vaginal wall or nearby organs such as the bladder or bowel, according to the NHS. In the majority of cases, the procedure works but more than 800 women who have suffered painful and distressing complications are suing the health service and manufacturers of the mesh. Kate Langley, who was admitted to hospital more than 53 times due to agonising pain caused by vaginal mesh, told the BBCs Victoria Derbyshire programme the implants were barbaric. I could feel something really sharp every time I walk, it feels like something sharp is inside me, and I couldnt tell what it was, she said. The surgeon examined me and he could tell the [mesh] had come through my vagina. It had come all the way through and was protruding through. Its barbaric. The thin plastic netting is made from a material called polypropylene, also used to make plastic chairs and drinks bottles. Woman dies after having a heart valve put in upside down during surgery Its insertion is meant to be permanent, but the mesh can cut through the wall of the vagina, with some women left unable to walk, work or have sex with the protrusion so severe in some cases it had also injured their partner during sex. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has received more than 1,000 complaints about vaginal mesh implants. There were 703 adverse incidents in the last five years among women with the implants related to stress urinary incontinence, while 346 were reported by patients suffering pelvic organ prolapse. The MHRA told the BBC it sympathises with the women affected, but said the use of vaginal mesh implants were safe and effective for the majority of women. They also said the figures did not necessarily indicate a fault with any particular device and said individual women may have reported more than one adverse reaction. Health news in pictures Show all 40 1 /40 Health news in pictures Health news in pictures Coronavirus outbreak The coronavirus Covid-19 has hit the UK leading to the deaths of two people so far and prompting warnings from the Department of Health AFP via Getty Health news in pictures Thousands of emergency patients told to take taxi to hospital Thousands of 999 patients in England are being told to get a taxi to hospital, figures have showed. The number of patients outside London who were refused an ambulance rose by 83 per cent in the past year as demand for services grows Getty Health news in pictures Vape related deaths spike A vaping-related lung disease has claimed the lives of 11 people in the US in recent weeks. The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has more than 100 officials investigating the cause of the mystery illness, and has warned citizens against smoking e-cigarette products until more is known, particularly if modified or bought off the street Getty Health news in pictures Baldness cure looks to be a step closer Researchers in the US claim to have overcome one of the major hurdles to cultivating human follicles from stem cells. The new system allows cells to grow in a structured tuft and emerge from the skin Sanford Burnham Preybs Health news in pictures Two hours a week spent in nature can improve health A study in the journal Scientific Reports suggests that a dose of nature of just two hours a week is associated with better health and psychological wellbeing Shutterstock Health news in pictures Air pollution linked to fertility issues in women Exposure to air from traffic-clogged streets could leave women with fewer years to have children, a study has found. Italian researchers found women living in the most polluted areas were three times more likely to show signs they were running low on eggs than those who lived in cleaner surroundings, potentially triggering an earlier menopause Getty/iStock Health news in pictures Junk food ads could be banned before watershed Junk food adverts on TV and online could be banned before 9pm as part of Government plans to fight the "epidemic" of childhood obesity. Plans for the new watershed have been put out for public consultation in a bid to combat the growing crisis, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said PA Health news in pictures Breeding with neanderthals helped humans fight diseases On migrating from Africa around 70,000 years ago, humans bumped into the neanderthals of Eurasia. While humans were weak to the diseases of the new lands, breeding with the resident neanderthals made for a better equipped immune system PA Health news in pictures Cancer breath test to be trialled in Britain The breath biopsy device is designed to detect cancer hallmarks in molecules exhaled by patients Getty Health news in pictures Average 10 year old has consumed the recommended amount of sugar for an adult By their 10th birthdy, children have on average already eaten more sugar than the recommended amount for an 18 year old. The average 10 year old consumes the equivalent to 13 sugar cubes a day, 8 more than is recommended PA Health news in pictures Child health experts advise switching off screens an hour before bed While there is not enough evidence of harm to recommend UK-wide limits on screen use, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health have advised that children should avoid screens for an hour before bed time to avoid disrupting their sleep Getty Health news in pictures Daily aspirin is unnecessary for older people in good health, study finds A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that many elderly people are taking daily aspirin to little or no avail Getty Health news in pictures Vaping could lead to cancer, US study finds A study by the University of Minnesota's Masonic Cancer Centre has found that the carcinogenic chemicals formaldehyde, acrolein, and methylglyoxal are present in the saliva of E-cigarette users Reuters Health news in pictures More children are obese and diabetic There has been a 41% increase in children with type 2 diabetes since 2014, the National Paediatric Diabetes Audit has found. Obesity is a leading cause Reuters Health news in pictures Most child antidepressants are ineffective and can lead to suicidal thoughts The majority of antidepressants are ineffective and may be unsafe, for children and teenager with major depression, experts have warned. In what is the most comprehensive comparison of 14 commonly prescribed antidepressant drugs to date, researchers found that only one brand was more effective at relieving symptoms of depression than a placebo. Another popular drug, venlafaxine, was shown increase the risk users engaging in suicidal thoughts and attempts at suicide Getty Health news in pictures Gay, lesbian and bisexual adults at higher risk of heart disease, study claims Researchers at the Baptist Health South Florida Clinic in Miami focused on seven areas of controllable heart health and found these minority groups were particularly likely to be smokers and to have poorly controlled blood sugar iStock Health news in pictures Breakfast cereals targeted at children contain 'steadily high' sugar levels since 1992 despite producer claims A major pressure group has issued a fresh warning about perilously high amounts of sugar in breakfast cereals, specifically those designed for children, and has said that levels have barely been cut at all in the last two and a half decades Getty Health news in pictures Potholes are making us fat, NHS watchdog warns New guidance by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the body which determines what treatment the NHS should fund, said lax road repairs and car-dominated streets were contributing to the obesity epidemic by preventing members of the public from keeping active PA Health news in pictures New menopause drugs offer women relief from 'debilitating' hot flushes A new class of treatments for women going through the menopause is able to reduce numbers of debilitating hot flushes by as much as three quarters in a matter of days, a trial has found. The drug used in the trial belongs to a group known as NKB antagonists (blockers), which were developed as a treatment for schizophrenia but have been sitting on a shelf unused, according to Professor Waljit Dhillo, a professor of endocrinology and metabolism REX Health news in pictures Doctors should prescribe more antidepressants for people with mental health problems, study finds Research from Oxford University found that more than one million extra people suffering from mental health problems would benefit from being prescribed drugs and criticised ideological reasons doctors use to avoid doing so. Getty Health news in pictures Student dies of flu after NHS advice to stay at home and avoid A&E The family of a teenager who died from flu has urged people not to delay going to A&E if they are worried about their symptoms. Melissa Whiteley, an 18-year-old engineering student from Hanford in Stoke-on-Trent, fell ill at Christmas and died in hospital a month later. Just Giving Health news in pictures Government to review thousands of harmful vaginal mesh implants The Government has pledged to review tens of thousands of cases where women have been given harmful vaginal mesh implants. Getty Health news in pictures Jeremy Hunt announces 'zero suicides ambition' for the NHS The NHS will be asked to go further to prevent the deaths of patients in its care as part of a zero suicide ambition being launched today Getty Health news in pictures Human trials start with cancer treatment that primes immune system to kill off tumours Human trials have begun with a new cancer therapy that can prime the immune system to eradicate tumours. The treatment, that works similarly to a vaccine, is a combination of two existing drugs, of which tiny amounts are injected into the solid bulk of a tumour. Nephron Health news in pictures Babies' health suffers from being born near fracking sites, finds major study Mothers living within a kilometre of a fracking site were 25 per cent more likely to have a child born at low birth weight, which increase their chances of asthma, ADHD and other issues Getty Health news in pictures NHS reviewing thousands of cervical cancer smear tests after women wrongly given all-clear Thousands of cervical cancer screening results are under review after failings at a laboratory meant some women were incorrectly given the all-clear. A number of women have already been told to contact their doctors following the identification of procedural issues in the service provided by Pathology First Laboratory. Rex Health news in pictures Potential key to halting breast cancer's spread discovered by scientists Most breast cancer patients do not die from their initial tumour, but from secondary malignant growths (metastases), where cancer cells are able to enter the blood and survive to invade new sites. Asparagine, a molecule named after asparagus where it was first identified in high quantities, has now been shown to be an essential ingredient for tumour cells to gain these migratory properties. Getty Health news in pictures NHS nursing vacancies at record high with more than 34,000 roles advertised A record number of nursing and midwifery positions are currently being advertised by the NHS, with more than 34,000 positions currently vacant, according to the latest data. Demand for nurses was 19 per cent higher between July and September 2017 than the same period two years ago. REX Health news in pictures Cannabis extract could provide new class of treatment for psychosis CBD has a broadly opposite effect to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main active component in cannabis and the substance that causes paranoia and anxiety. Getty Health news in pictures Over 75,000 sign petition calling for Richard Branson's Virgin Care to hand settlement money back to NHS Mr Bransons company sued the NHS last year after it lost out on an 82m contract to provide childrens health services across Surrey, citing concerns over serious flaws in the way the contract was awarded PA Health news in pictures More than 700 fewer nurses training in England in first year after NHS bursary scrapped The numbers of people accepted to study nursing in England fell 3 per cent in 2017, while the numbers accepted in Wales and Scotland, where the bursaries were kept, increased 8.4 per cent and 8 per cent respectively Getty Health news in pictures Landmark study links Tory austerity to 120,000 deaths The paper found that there were 45,000 more deaths in the first four years of Tory-led efficiencies than would have been expected if funding had stayed at pre-election levels. On this trajectory that could rise to nearly 200,000 excess deaths by the end of 2020, even with the extra funding that has been earmarked for public sector services this year. Reuters Health news in pictures Long commutes carry health risks Hours of commuting may be mind-numbingly dull, but new research shows that it might also be having an adverse effect on both your health and performance at work. Longer commutes also appear to have a significant impact on mental wellbeing, with those commuting longer 33 per cent more likely to suffer from depression Shutterstock Health news in pictures You cannot be fit and fat It is not possible to be overweight and healthy, a major new study has concluded. The study of 3.5 million Britons found that even metabolically healthy obese people are still at a higher risk of heart disease or a stroke than those with a normal weight range Getty Health news in pictures Sleep deprivation When you feel particularly exhausted, it can definitely feel like you are also lacking in brain capacity. Now, a new study has suggested this could be because chronic sleep deprivation can actually cause the brain to eat itself Shutterstock Health news in pictures Exercise classes offering 45 minute naps launch David Lloyd Gyms have launched a new health and fitness class which is essentially a bunch of people taking a nap for 45 minutes. The fitness group was spurred to launch the napercise class after research revealed 86 per cent of parents said they were fatigued. The class is therefore predominantly aimed at parents but you actually do not have to have children to take part Getty Health news in pictures 'Fundamental right to health' to be axed after Brexit, lawyers warn Tobacco and alcohol companies could win more easily in court cases such as the recent battle over plain cigarette packaging if the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights is abandoned, a barrister and public health professor have said Getty Health news in pictures 'Thousands dying' due to fear over non-existent statin side-effects A major new study into the side effects of the cholesterol-lowering medicine suggests common symptoms such as muscle pain and weakness are not caused by the drugs themselves Getty Health news in pictures Babies born to fathers aged under 25 have higher risk of autism New research has found that babies born to fathers under the age of 25 or over 51 are at higher risk of developing autism and other social disorders. The study, conducted by the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai, found that these children are actually more advanced than their peers as infants, but then fall behind by the time they hit their teenage years Getty Health news in pictures Cycling to work could halve risk of cancer and heart disease Commuters who swap their car or bus pass for a bike could cut their risk of developing heart disease and cancer by almost half, new research suggests but campaigners have warned there is still an urgent need to improve road conditions for cyclists. Cycling to work is linked to a lower risk of developing cancer by 45 per cent and cardiovascular disease by 46 per cent, according to a study of a quarter of a million people. Walking to work also brought health benefits, the University of Glasgow researchers found, but not to the same degree as cycling. Getty There are around 100 different types of vaginal mesh implants available on the NHS. None have yet been recalled due to complications caused by the device. Manufacturer Ethicon said the implants have helped millions of women, adding it had acted appropriately and responsibly in the research, development and marketing of its pelvic mesh products. In the US, transvaginal mesh is classed as a high-risk device, but is still used by some surgeons. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said last year it has seen a significant increase in the number of reported adverse events associated with the use of surgical mesh for transvaginal pelvic organ prolapse repair. Carl Heneghan, a professor of evidence-based medicine at the University of Oxford, told the BBC that new devices were being clinically approved without the regulator examining them. A number of women, including Claire Cooper, who said the pain and disruption caused by her mesh implant had caused her to consider taking her own life, have called for the implants to be banned. Lisa Woodrow, from Thetford in Norfolk, said she had been in a wheelchair for 18 months after the operation left her unable to walk. I joked that this operation would make me feel like a new woman, she said in a blog post. Now Ive had the mesh removed, my legs shake badly and I need a stick to support me. The 53-year-old had the mesh inserted in 2012 after the birth of her two sons caused prolapse of her uterus and mild incontinence. She is now registered disabled and is on the highest legal dose of daily painkillers. Almost 9 per cent of users have reported problems, according to the BBC, while lawsuits in the US have seen around 2bn paid out to affected women. Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts 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 IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Fox News has confirmed that it is letting go of Bill OReilly, its highly profitable but controversial anchor, amid accusations of sexual harassment. In an email to staff, the companys parent company, 21st Century Fox, said the 67-year-old was leaving following a review of accusations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour levelled against him. After a thorough review of the allegations against him, the company and Bill OReilly have agreed that Mr OReilly will not return to the Fox News Channel, it said. The decision by the company came as Mr OReilly was on holiday in Italy where he shook hands with the Pope. It was also taken a day before the board of 21st Century Fox was to meet to discuss the anchors future. Tucker Carlson will reportedly take over O'Reilly's slot, with his show "Tucker Carlson Tonight" moving from 9pm to 8pm. Earlier on Wednesday, Gabriel Sherman, author of a biography of former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, had reported that a decision has been made to let go of Mr OReilly. Rupert Murdoch reportedly wanted to stand by his star, but his sons, Lachlan and James, decided it was time for him to go, he said. Bill O'Reilly: A history of on-air sexism The Murdochs have decided Bill OReillys 21-year run at Fox News will come to an end, Mr Sherman wrote on the website of New York magazine. According to sources briefed on the discussions, network executives are preparing to announce OReillys departure before he returns from an Italian vacation on April 24. The decision to get rid of Mr OReilly followed a report earlier this month in the New York Times that said the channel had been obliged to pay out $17m to settle claims against the anchor from five women. Mr OReilly has continued to deny the accusations. Access unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime Video Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up The move also comes despite vocal support from President Donald Trump who said there was no need for Mr OReilly to stand down. I think he shouldn't have settled; personally I think he shouldnt have settled, Mr Trump said after the accusations emerged. Because you should have taken it all the way. I dont think Bill did anything wrong. I think he's a person I know well - he is a good person. On Tuesday, Mr OReillys lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, said his client was being attacked by left-wing organisations. Bill OReilly has been subjected to a brutal campaign of character assassination that is unprecedented in post-McCarthyist America. This law firm has uncovered evidence that the smear campaign is being orchestrated by far-left organisations bent on destroying OReilly for political and financial reasons, he said in a statement. That evidence will be put forth shortly, and it is irrefutable. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Prime Minister has backed Conservative MPs who are under criminal investigation for allegedly breaking election expenses rules in 2015 and said they can stand again as Tory candidates in the coming election. The Crown Prosecution Service last night confirmed it was considering the prosecution of over 30 people for breaking the strict election spending limits, which are put in place to prevent those with wealthy backers from gaining an unfair advantage during general elections. A total of 14 police forces have sent files to the Crown Prosecution Service relating to the Tory 2015 battle bus scheme, which it has been alleged led to Tory candidates breaking strict spending limits on elections. Recommended Tory MPs face being prosecuted for electoral fraud before election Labour MP Dennis Skinner asked Ms May at PMQs on Wednesday whether those under criminal investigation would be able to stand again. Will the Prime Minister give a guarantee that no Tory MP who is under investigation by the police and the legal authorities over election expenses in the last general election be a candidate in this election? he asked Because if she wont accept that this is the most squalid election campaign that has happened in my lifetime. Ms May replied: I stand by all the Conservative MPs who are in this House and who will be out there standing again campaigning, campaigning for a Conservative government that will give a brighter and better future for this country. A spokesperson for the CPS confirmed to The Independent on Tuesday evening that any charges would have to be made before the date of the general election, which Theresa May wants to hold on 8 June subject to a vote in Parliament tomorrow. This means the CPS's announcement must by law fall while the MPs are campaigning for re-election, before 8 June. No charges have yet been made against any MP. All 14 police forces who sent files to the CPS last year applied for a 12 month extension to the prosecution deadline, which would have otherwise elapsed last summer. Police forces who have sent files to the CPS relating to the spending allegations include Avon & Somerset, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Devon & Cornwall, Gloucestershire, Greater Manchester, Lincolnshire, the Metropolitan, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and West Yorkshire. 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 allegations centre on whether spending on hotels for visiting activists and certain campaign material was incorrectly registered as national spending rather than locally potentially illegitimately taking advantage of a higher spending ceiling. There have been suggestions that other parties may have failed to register similar spending in their local areas too. In recent weeks some Conservative MPs have hit out at party officials who they say have dodged blame for the fiasco at the expense of MPs reputation. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 19 By Elena Kosolapova Trend: Kazakhstan will significantly reduce the oil production in May-June in order to meet its commitment within the deal on oil production cut with OPEC, Energy Ministrys website said. "Kazakhstan did not commit to produce fixed volume of oil every month, Kazakhstan assumed obligations to reduce average production by 20,000 per day from 1.7 million barrels per day in a six months period starting from January 1 till July 1," Energy Minister Kanat Bozumbayev told reporters. He noted that the average oil output fell by 30,000 barrels per day in January. In February, the volume of production slightly increased, and in March oil output exceeded 1.7 million tons. Bozumbayev said that the situation will change a little in April, and oil production will notably decrease in May and June. According to the minister, oil production in Kazakhstan is declining in summer period due to climatic conditions and the country took this fact into account while taking obligation on oil output cut. "I think we will fulfill our obligations," the minister said. In December 2016, OPEC and non-OPEC producers reached their first deal since 2001 to curtail oil output jointly and ease a global glut after more than two years of low prices. Non-OPEC producers such as Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, Sudan, and South Sudan agreed to reduce output by 558,000 bpd starting from Jan. 1, 2017 for six months, extendable for another six months, to take into account prevailing market conditions and prospects. OPEC agreed to slash the output by 1.2 million barrels per day from Jan. 1, with top exporter Saudi Arabia cutting as much as 486,000 bpd. Within the deal with OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers, Kazakhstan has committed to cut oil output by 20,000 barrels per day from the November 2016 level starting from Jan. 1, 2017. According to Kazakh Statistics Committee, Kazakhstans oil and gas condensate production increased by 5.2 percent to 21.13 million tons in 1Q2017 compared to the same period of 2016. Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova 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 }} Police are hunting for the boyfriend of a reality TV star in connection with an acid attack at a London nightclub that left 20 people hurt, two seriously. Arthur Collins, partner of Ferne McCann of The Only Way Is Essex, is wanted by detectives over the incident at Mangle nightclub, Hackney. Two people, aged 24 and 29, were seriously hurt in the attack have been moved to a specialist burns hospital in Essex, according to police. Nightclub revellers suffer burns from noxious substance Police raided Mr Collins Hertfordshire home earlier this week and allegedly found a cache of firearms, cannabis plants and cultivation equipment. A 54-year-old man and a 52-year-old woman were arrested at Mr Collins's address on suspicion of growing cannabis. Ms McCann appealed to her boyfriend to turn himself in to police. A spokeswoman for her said: "Ferne is aware that the police wish to speak to Arthur Collins and the nature of the accusations against him. Obviously these are highly shocking and Ferne has co-operated with the police in their inquiries. "She was not with Arthur on Sunday night; was not at Mangle; and has no direct knowledge of the events that unfolded. As much as anybody she wants to know the truth and urges Arthur to co-operate fully with the police and attend a police station immediately." Among those hurt was Australian model Isobel Fraser, 22, along with her sister, Prue. I couldnt breathe, I thought we were getting gassed or I thought it was a terrorist attack or something, I was freaking out because of all the things that have been happening, Ms Fraser said. I was coughing and felt this thing on my arm and realised that it was some sort of acid, she added. I have third-degree burns on my arms and on my back, and my shirt that I was wearing actually stuck to my skin. Detective Inspector Lee McCullough said: "We now have 20 people suffering from the effects of an acidic substance being sprayed in a confined space in a busy nightclub. "All have burn-related injuries. The noxious substance used has not yet been confirmed but samples retrieved from the scene have been sent for analysis. 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 "If you were there and saw anyone involved inside or leaving the nightclub, please get in touch." Hundreds of people were at the venue when the incident occurred, and roads were closed as emergency services, including a hazardous area response team, rushed to the scene. Witnesses reported several victims were outside with burns across their bodies, while others were seen pouring water on what appeared to be an injured friend. Additional reporting by Press Association. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Britain must not let the Brexit vote be used as an excuse to slash aid funding and divert efforts away from helping the poorest communities in countries around the world, Bill Gates has warned, as the calling of a snap general election threw the UK into even greater political uncertainty. Theresa May has come under pressure this week to scrap Britains commitment to spending 0.7 per cent of GDP on international aid, a move which experts say would be a disaster for the global effort to defeat poverty by 2030. Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Independent, the worlds richest man said the UK was a largely unsung hero in the fight against some of the worst and most widespread diseases on the planet, and British taxpayers should be very proud of what their money is achieving. Governments, NGOs and global health bodies are meeting in Geneva on Wednesday for a summit on neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). It is now five years since the Gates Foundation, set up by Mr Gates and his wife Melinda Gates, formed a global coalition under the London Declaration to eradicate these 17 diseases that affect more than a billion people living in tropical and subtropical conditions. Mr Gates said the summit was an opportunity to hail the huge progress made against NTDs in the last five years, and said the UK had been a very critical, and very generous contributor to that. But it has been reported that right-wing ministers within Ms Mays Cabinet are urging her to scale back Britains spending on international aid and divert the money to the Ministry of Defence arguing that it all helps to improve global security. Mr Gates said he was sure the PM would be looking at her priorities during the process of leaving the EU, and said: We are hopeful that the commitment to 0.7 per cent and things like neglected diseases stays strong. He stressed the close working relationship between the Gates Foundation and the UK on aid noting that they are partners on all the things the UK does in health and agriculture. And he suggested there was a sense of urgency as Brexit threatens this funding, saying: Its a good time for us to be talking about where that money has gone, what the impact of it has been. Mr Gates, who founded Microsoft in 1975, when he was 19 years old, and went on to amass what is now an estimated personal wealth of $86bn (67bn), has never suffered from a tropical disease himself. Under his stewardship, the Gates Foundation has made NTDs a major priority since the London Declaration for two reasons, Mr Gates said. First, because of how cost-effective it is to save lives, with pharmaceutical companies donating record numbers of free drugs as part of their social responsibility schemes. Secondly, he believes the richest parts of the world have a duty to be outraged by a set of diseases which only affect the worlds poorest. Until I got involved in the Foundations work, other than knowing from the Bible that there was a thing called leprosy where your limbs would die off, I knew nothing about this, he said. A person suffering from elephantiasis in Nigeria (The Carter Center/Emily Staub) But anybody who goes out and sees these things whether it is river blindness or kids who are malnourished because of intestinal worms you can see we are dealing with really tragic stuff. While the diseases are all at different stages, Mr Gates said that great progress is being made with all of the 10 identified as priorities by the global coalition, cutting down the areas where they are endemic. On all these we have been able to shrink the maps, he said. The best progress ever made is between 2012 and now. The list of diseases classified as NTDs includes elephantiasis, which causes characteristic swelling of limbs, and Guinea worm disease, where parasitic worms enter the body through dirty drinking water and then burrow out of the skin. The World Health Organisation is hosting the first day of the Geneva summit. Its annual report reveals that there are only eight countries left in the world where Guinea worm disease has not been eradicated. Of those eight, Kenya and Sudan are scheduled to be certified as free of the disease this year and all are on course for eradication by 2020. With Guinea worm, we are down to very small numbers, with some uncertainty about Sudan and Chad where its just too expensive to go in and do all the certifications, Mr Gates said. When we get it done, youll have to say, Gosh, it is not neglected, the world came together and did the right thing. And once we get these ones in good shape there are some lesser ones that are even more neglected. So it still needs funding, but in a sense they are not neglected now. In an announcement on Sunday, which experts believe may have been rushed out before Theresa May could call her snap election on Tuesday, the UK revealed it would be spending a total of almost half a billion pounds on the fight against neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) over the next five years. Professor David Molyneux, one of the UKs leading experts on NTDs based at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM), said it was imperative that Britain retain its commitment to aid spending regardless of who is in power after 8 June. He told The Independent he believes Britain and other developed countries have a global responsibility to look after the poorest on the planet. Very few people in the UK know the full story, he said. How many know that you are contributing to giving a billion treatments a year for diseases that make poor people blind and disable them? This is something that needs to be promoted. For those unconvinced by such arguments, Prof Molyneux noted that much of the money invested by the Department for International Development actually goes to scientists and experts at UK institutions like LSTM and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, which then implement programmes on the ground. 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 These world-leading scientific bodies are set to lose out on huge amounts in EU research funding, which will in turn have an impact on employment and scientific careers in Britain, Prof Molyneux says a gap which can, in part, be filled by aid spending. And finally, he says, the investment in fighting NTDs represents as good value for money as you can get. GlaxoSmithKline considers it the best option as part of its social responsibility if they think it is value for their shareholders, surely it is good value for the UK. When the NTDs summit assembles on Wednesday, those involved will celebrate that their pharmaceutical company partners set a Guinness world record for the number of drug donations in a single day, with more than 200 million NTD medicines given away on 30 January this year. They will also celebrate the fact that those pills could not have got to the affected communities without the help of the UK, US and other governments, which have in turn facilitated the donations of millions of pounds from private philanthropists. Its a message, Mr Gates says, that runs counter to what globalists see as the persistent negative headlines of Donald Trumps election, the Brexit vote, and the seemingly unending Middle East crisis. It is getting crowded out somewhat by the negative things, like some of these political votes or the unrest we have particularly in the Syrian civil war, he said. Its very important, the idea that global health is making huge progress and we are improving. I dont think anyone should take it for granted. Responding to Mr Gates comments, a government spokesperson said: This Government takes its international responsibilities seriously and as a global, outward looking country we will continue to support the poorest people around the world. 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 }} British young offenders have suffered inhuman and degrading treatment due to being locked up for nearly 24 hours at a time, in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights, a damning new report has warned. Published by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), which is part of the 47-nation Council of Europe, the report raised deep concerns about violence, overcrowding and solitary confinement in both Young Offenders Institutions (YOIs) and adult prisons. It found that on occasion juveniles were being held in conditions "akin to solitary confinement" for up to 80 days for reasons of "discipline and good order", while others were regularly held for 30 days or as long as 60 days. At Cookham Wood Young Offender Institution (YOI) in Kent, which was visited by the CPT, the report said juveniles were spending on average only five hours out of their cells. Some were placed on separation lists denoted by vivid pink stickers of do not unlock on their cell doors. It said they could spend up to 23.5 hours a day locked up alone. The Committee warned that such conditions amount to inhuman and degrading treatment, which is prohibited under the European Convention on Human Rights. One juvenile cited in the report who had a do not unlock sign on his door spent all day lying on his bed under his covers, blankly looking at a TV screen, talking to and meeting no one. Another inmate, aged 15, had been held in such conditions for several weeks, and had no information about how much longer he would be held under such a restricted regime. CPT Vice President Mark Kelly told The Independent that during the visit to Cookham Wood they found that youngsters were being banned from taking part in education and activities, and were instead spending all day locked in their rooms, apart from half an hour of exercise, with "only a TV for company". This points to the very impoverished regimes that young people have in a lot of the prisons. There were just over 40 juveniles in Cookham Wood who for various reasons were not taking part in education or activities of any kind, and they actually had pink signs on their door saying do not unlock," he said. If you had one of these signs, it meant that you wouldnt be allowed out at all except half an hour for a period of exercise, which youd take on your own, and for meal times, for which you were accompanied by staff to pick up your food and then you would eat it on your own in your cell. So effectively you were locked up for 23 and a half hours a day with just a TV for company." Mr Kelly added: What we were seeing in practice was solitary confinement. Thats effectively the regime they were in. And the CPTs view, as the relevant treaty body, is that to keep juvenile inmates in conditions of that nature amounts to inhuman and degrading treatment. Figures also showed a similar situation in other YOIs, with a considerable number of prisoners spending up to 22 hours per day locked up in their cells, with many inmates stating that the long lock-up times contributed to a sense of frustration. The committee recommended that the YOI Rules in the UK must be amended to reflect the increasing trend at the international level to promote the abolition of solitary confinement as a disciplinary sanction in respect of juveniles, and to ensure that inmates attend education and purposeful activities on a daily basis. It comes two months after an investigation by The Independent earlier this year found that British prisons were holding child inmates in solitary confinement in an alleged breach of UN torture rules and British law. More than a dozen examples were uncovered in the investigation, including a teenage prisoner with a serious mental health condition who, it was claimed, was placed in solitary confinement inside a number of different British jails during a period of six months, causing him considerable distress and psychological damage. The CPT report also warned of an alarmingly high number of recorded violent incidents at all prisons, both adult and juvenile, it visited, and said that none of the establishments visited could be considered safe for prisoners or staff. Injuries to both prisoners and staff included cases of scalding water being thrown over victims and shank (make-shift knife) wounds, head wounds, broken noses and broken teeth. Inmates frequently required hospitalisation and, in one case, resulted in death. The CPT cited a lack of trust in the staffs ability to maintain prisoner safety and recommended that a far greater investment in preventing violence must be undertaken. Alarmingly, the report stated that these figures under-record the actual number of incidents and consequently fail to afford a true picture of the severity of the situation. It urged that concrete measures must be taken to bring prisons back under the effective control of staff, reversing the recent trends of escalating violence. Over the last 25 years, the prison population has nearly doubled, and almost all adult prisons now operate at or near full operational capacity and well above their certified normal capacity. Due to nationwide budgetary cuts, the number of front-line officers in English prisons has meanwhile dropped by some 30 per cent over three years, while the number of inmates has continued to rise. The CPT said there was need for profound reform of the prison system at the highest political level, and that taking resolute action to tackle the problem of violence in prisons in England and Wales was a prerequisite for the successful implementation of other elements of the authorities reform agenda. The Committee requested the UK authorities to provide within six months a response giving a full account of action taken to implement them, and added that unless determined action is taken to significantly reduce the current prison population, the improvements envisaged by the authorities reform agenda would remain unattainable. Mr Kelly said the Committee had reservations about the extent to which the UK Government is currently giving the issues the necessary political priority, saying initiatives that have been announced about building new prisons and recruiting prison officers are not sufficient. Were seriously preoccupied about the extent to which prisons in England are unsafe, both for prisoners and for prison staff, he said. Since weve been going to the UK the prison population has doubled, but there have been significant cuts in staffing. In a number of the prisons we went to the inter-prisoner violence was absolutely endemic. It was spiralling out of control. This is an issue that the UK authorities are well aware of. Liz Truss has spoken about it on a number of occasions. But the reservation we have as a treaty body is about the extent to which tackling this problem of violence is really being given the political priority that it should be given and that it needs. They are proposing a programme of recruitment of additional prison officers, but the problem is prison officer numbers have fallen so low that when you bring younger staff into prisons straight from training, theyre coming into a very intimidating environment, and a lot of them are not staying there. Theyve said theyre building more prisons, but the authorities need to be looking at measures to make sure that the capacity and the population actually come into balance. Building new prisons in itself is not a solution. Responding to the report's findings, John Wadham, chair of the UK's National Preventative Mechanism, said: This report is an important reminder that there is much to be done to improve the conditions in which people are held and how they are treated. "Governments and detention authorities need to involve our members in their work to take forward these recommendations and to improve the conditions in our prisons, hospitals and detention centres. I am particularly concerned by their finding that a number of children held in one young offender institution spent 23.5 hours a day locked in their cells. I agree with the CPT that such conditions amount to inhuman and degrading treatment. 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 We welcome the CPTs focus on the use of isolation and segregation across all types of detention, and encourage the authorities to use the NPMs recently published comprehensive guidance to make the changes necessary. A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: We have always been clear that we need to make our prisons safe so we offenders can turn their lives around and live as law-abiding citizens. That is why we have taken immediate action to stabilise the estate by tackling the issues that undermine security, and are investing 100 million annually to boost the frontline by 2,500 officers. These measures, along with the work to overhaul our prisons so they become places of reform, will help reduce crime, create fewer victims and safer communities. 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 }} Each year on 20 April marijuana advocates around the world, from Amsterdam to California, celebrate cannabis culture whether its legal or not. Last year more than 1,000 people gathered in Londons Hyde Park to mark 4/20, smoking joints together at the designated time while calling for cannabis to be legalised. But why are the numbers 420 synonymous with cannabis culture? Donald Trump is not considering to legalise weed One urban myth suggested 420 was the penal code in the state of California used by police officers for marijuana use. But according to Snopes.com, the 420 penal code actually refers to obstructing entry on public land, and does not refer to marijuana use in any other US state, either. The Huffington Post suggested the term 420 originated with a group of high school students in California in the 70s, and was later amplified through the subculture attached to Californian band the Grateful Dead and the publication High Times. The term was allegedly coined in 1971 when a group of five students from the San Rafael High School went on a hunt for a plot of cannabis plants that were supposedly growing near the Point Reyes Peninsula Coast Guard Station. They say they met at 4:20pm outside their school to drive to the area and carry out the search many times. They never found the patch, but the numbers 420 did become a useful code for them to communicate with each other. Where cannabis is and isn't legal Show all 10 1 /10 Where cannabis is and isn't legal Where cannabis is and isn't legal UK Having been reclassified in 2009 from a Class C to a Class B drug, cannabis is now the most used illegal drug within the United Kingdom. The UK is also, however, the only country where Sativex a prescribed drug that helps to combat muscle spasms in multiple sclerosis and contains some ingredients that are also found in cannabis - is licensed as a treatment Getty Where cannabis is and isn't legal North Korea Although many people believe the consumption of cannabis in North Korea to be legal, the official law regarding the drug has never been made entirely clear whilst under Kim Jong Uns regime. However, it is said that the North Korean leader himself has openly said that he does not consider cannabis to be a drug and his regime doesnt take any issue with the consumption or sale of the drug MARCEL VAN HOORN/AFP/Getty Images Where cannabis is and isn't legal Netherlands In the Netherlands smoking cannabis is legal, given that it is smoked within the designated smoking areas and you dont possess more than 5 grams for personal use. It is also legal to sell the substance, but only in specified coffee shops Getty Where cannabis is and isn't legal USA Although in some states of America cannabis has now been legalised, prior to the legalisation, police in the U.S. could make a marijuana-related arrest every 42 seconds, according to US News and World Report. The country also used to spend around $3.6 billion a year enforcing marijuana law, the American Civil Liberties Union notes AP Photo/Ted S. Warren Where cannabis is and isn't legal Spain Despite cannabis being officially illegal in Spain, the European hotspot has recently started to be branded, the new Amsterdam. This is because across Spain there are over 700 Cannabis Clubs these are considered legal venues to consume cannabis in because the consumption of the drug is in private, and not in public. These figures have risen dramatically in the last three years in 2010 there were just 40 Cannabis Clubs in the whole of Spain. Recent figures also show that in Catalonia alone there are 165,000 registered members of cannabis clubs this amounts to over 5 million euros (4 million) in revenue each month Getty Where cannabis is and isn't legal Uruguay In December 2013, the House of Representatives and Senate passed a bill legalizing and regulating the production and sale of the drug. But the president has since postponed the legalization of cannabis until to 2015 and when it is made legal, it will be the authorities who will grow the cannabis that can be sold legally. Buyers must be 18 or older, residents of Uruguay, and must register with the authorities Getty Where cannabis is and isn't legal Pakistan Despite the fact that laws prohibiting the sale and misuse of cannabis exist and is considered a habit only entertained by lower-income groups, it is very rarely enforced. The occasional use of cannabis in community gatherings is broadly tolerated as a centuries old custom. The open use of cannabis by Sufis and Hindus as a means to induce euphoria has never been challenged by the state. Further, large tracts of cannabis grow unchecked in the wild Getty Where cannabis is and isn't legal Portugal In 2001, Portugal became the first country in the world to decriminalize the use of all drugs, and started treating drug users as sick people, instead of criminals. However, you can still be arrested or assigned mandatory rehab if you are caught several times in possession of drugs Getty Where cannabis is and isn't legal Puerto Rico Although the use of cannabis is currently illegal, it is said that Puerto Rico are in the process of decriminalising it RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images Where cannabis is and isn't legal China Cannabis is grown in the wild and has been used to treat conditions such as gout and malaria. But, officially the substance is illegal to consume, possess and sell Getty I could say to one of my friends, Id go, 420, and it was telepathic. He would know if I was saying, Hey, do you wanna go smoke some? Or, Do you have any? Or, Are you stoned right now? It was kind of telepathic just from the way you said it, Steve Capper, one of the five, told The Huffington Post. Our teachers didnt know what we were talking about. Our parents didnt know what we were talking about. The five friends nicknamed the Waldos hung out with the band the Grateful Dead, and the use of 420 as a code for cannabis began to spread through the bands fans and its attached subculture. Journalist Steve Bloom writes on Celebstoner.com that in 1990, he attended one of bands shows in Oakland, California, and was handed a flyer that allegedly told the story of 420. 4/20 London - Should marijuana be legal? The flyer stated that 420 started somewhere in San Rafael, CA in the late 70s, but included the incorrect information that it started as the police code for Marijuana Smoking in Progress. It did, however, include a call for people to gather together at 4:20pm on 4/20 the American style for writing 20 April, and smoke a joint as part of a day of celebration. Mr Bloom writes that 420 was a bit of stoner slang Id never heard of, and published the flyer in the May 1991 issue of High Times. Steve Hager, then editor of the publication, told the Huffington Post that he started incorporating it into everything we were doing, and built a number of events around 420, from the World Hemp Expo Extravaganza to the Cannabis Cup. As for the origin of 420, Mr Hager told the news site that no one has been able to come up with a use of 420 that pre-dates the Waldos 1971 story. So unless somebody can come up with something that pre-dates them, then I dont think anybodys going to get credit for it other than them, he said. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The president of the European Commission has confirmed "real talks" between the EU and UK can only begin after the general election on 8 June. Ms May and the EU chief executive Jean-Claude Juncker had a phone call on Tuesday evening, following the Prime Minister's surprise announcement that a snap vote could be held by the summer. "Following their conversation, the president considers that the real political negotiations on Article 50 with the United Kingdom will start after the elections foreseen for the 8th of June," a spokesman for the Commission said, speaking before today's parliamentary vote which confirmed June 8 as the general election date. No 10 insists the election will not delay the Brexit talks, which must conclude by 29 March 2019 according to the rules of Article 50, which allow for a two-year negotiating period. However, EU officials had initially said talks could start in late May once a detailed negotiating mandate had been agreed among the EU's 27 other members. The slight delay to Brexit negotiations means talks will start around three months after Ms May formally triggered article 50. A spokesman for the bloc added that the vote was a domestic issue and not one which it would intervene in, despite the importance Brexit will play in it. Snap general election: The public reacts He also confirmed the relocation of EU banking and medicine agencies from the UK to the continent, saying they must be based on EU territory after Brexit. Britain will have no say on where the European Banking Authority and European Medicines Agency, both currently headquartered in London, will move to. Recommended Theresa May refuses to give more Brexit details ahead of election Meanwhile, the German government has said it doesn't expect a British election to hold up talks on Brexit. Government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer said Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke by phone with Ms May after the announcement, adding that Berlin assumes that the negotiations can be continued without disruption. Germany's foreign minister has said he hopes that the election will lead to more clarity and predictability in the Brexit negotiations. Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said: "We have an interest ... in predictability and reliability, because we want to get this process done in the prescribed period of time and above all because we don't need upheaval in this negotiating process either at the beginning or the end." Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The US is ready to strike a bilateral trade deal with the UK "as soon as possible", a senior American politician has said. Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, said he wanted the UK and the European Union "to come together and strike a lasting agreement" for Brexit. "A strong UK-EU relationship is in all of our best interests", he said, In a speech for the Policy Exchange think-tank in London, Mr Ryan said that the US stood "ready to forge a new trade agreement with Great Britain as soon as possible so that we may further tap into the great potential between our two people." Recommended The man who predicted Brexit and Trump weighs in on the snap election His clear signal provides a significant boost for Theresa May as European Union leaders prepare take the first steps towards agreeing a negotiating position for forthcoming Brexit talks -once the UK's snap general election, on 8 June, is over. Mr Ryan's comments come as the Prime Minister prepares to hold talks with Antonio Tajani, the president of the European Parliament, which will ultimately have to approve any post-Brexit deal between the UK and EU. Answering questions from an audience including International Trade Secretary Liam Fox and other Cabinet ministers, Mr Ryan said he was confident the UK and EU could agree an exit deal. This is your country, you make those decisions, he said. But I assume you will get an agreement, I can't imagine you won't, and I just want you to know that as your special ally, as your greatest partner, we're going to stand with you through all of this. We think it's in everyone's interests to have a strong relationship between Britain and the EU, we want to, as soon as the UK is ready and able, to do a trade agreement, a bilateral trade agreement. 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 Mr Ryan added: I think what we're going through if we handle this correctly will be to bring more prosperity and security to our respective countries. The Congressional leader also said the US would "work closely with our EU friends and chart a path forward on TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) negotiations". His speech followed an earlier meeting with Chancellor Philip Hammond in Downing Street. 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 }} Jeremy Corbyn has thrown down the gauntlet to Theresa May by challenging her to debate the future of the country with him live on television. Mr Corbyn accused the Prime Minister of refusing to defend her record in public after Downing Street ruled out Ms Mays participation in debates. The Labour leader said Ms May was not to be trusted after suddenly reversing her policy of not holding a general election. We welcome the general election but this is a prime minister who promised there wouldnt be one. A Prime Minister who cannot be trusted, he told the PM at Prime Ministers Questions. She says its about leadership, yet is refusing to defend her record in television debates. Its not hard to see why the Prime Minister says we have a stronger economy, yet she cant explain why peoples wages are lower today than they were 10 years ago or why more households are in debt six million people earning less than the living wage. Child poverty is up, pensioner poverty is up so why are so many people getting poorer? Ms May did not directly address the question of debates directly, but suggested that she did not need to participate in the discussions because she had attended Prime Ministers Questions. I would point out that I have been answering his questions and debating his matters every Wednesday that Parliament has been sitting since I became Prime Minister, she replied. I will be taking out to the country in this campaign a proud record of Conservatives government. But Mr Corbyn once again hit back: If shes so proud of her record, why wont she debate it? Ms May on Tuesday announced her intention to hold a snap election on 8 June despite having repeatedly ruled one out as recently as last month. 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 Television debates were held in 2010 between David Cameron, Gordon Brown and Nick Clegg. The programmes saw support for the Liberal Democrats surge and led to the so-called Cleggmania period. In 2015 broadcasters held a series of election special programmes, though David Cameron refused to participate in a head-to-head debate. 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 }} Security measures are being put in place to prevent any attempt by Russia or other foreign powers to carry out a cyber attack during the upcoming general election. The National Cyber Security Centre will coordinate the operation to safeguard Government departments as well as political parties. The Independent reported in February that parties had sought help from security agencies following cyber attacks during the 2015 election and the alleged hacking of Democratic Party emails by Vladimir Putins government to help Donald Trump win the US presidential election. Ciaran Martin, the head of the National Cyber Security Centre, subsequently held talks with political parties at the end of last month on safeguarding their data and electronic communications. The real extent of Kremlin interference in UK domestic politics remains unclear. The Commons Public Accounts Committee said in a report earlier this month that a hostile foreign power may have been behind the crashing of a voter registration website in the run-up to last years Brexit referendum. However, the security agencies, The Independent has learned, concluded the crash was due to technical reasons. The Cabinet Office confirmed that it was due to a spike in users just before the registration deadline. There is no evidence to suggest malign intervention. But security sources say that there was a pattern of acts by foreign hackers in the run-up to the 2015 election which caused concern. The agencies have been monitoring claims of foreign propaganda and cyber activities in elections abroad since the US presidential vote. The cyber-security operation for the British election will range from offering advice to ministries, political parties and other organisations involved with the polling and ensuring they have adequate electronic security measures in place. There have been increasing allegations of Russian interference, overt and covert, in the French election campaign. Emmanuel Macron, the centrist and strongly pro-European Union candidate, has complained of being repeatedly targeted by a foreign power. Richard Ferrand, the head of his party, held that fake news has been circulated about the candidate and his campaign has faced thousands of cyber attacks. And Mr Macrons digital campaign manager, Mounir Mahjoubi, said: We are the victim of targets of hackers on our servers. We have been the subject of multiple attempts of hacking but have succeeded in stopping them all. The ideas of a more open Europe, of a stronger Europe, of a more progressive France, these ideas for certain countries in the world are ideas to fight against. 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 At the same time candidates who are sympathetic to Russia have received help. Marine Le Pen travelled to Moscow to meet Mr Putin, for whom she has repeatedly professed admiration, and her far-right Front National party has received millions of pounds in loans from Russian banks. The collapsing campaign of Francois Fillon, mired in scandal over payment of public money to his family, received a totally unexpected boost last month in the opinion polls, which showed that he was the suddenly in the lead. This was, however, fake news, an alternative fact. Mr Fillon, too, is a fan of Mr Putin and the made-up poll appeared in Sputnik, a Russian state-funded news organisation. The Russians have consistently denied any illicit activity. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed: We didnt have and do not have any intention of interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, or in their electoral processes in particular. That there is a hysterical anti-Putin campaign in certain countries abroad is an obvious fact. 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 has won the backing of Parliament for her plan to hold a snap general election on June 8. The vote was required by law, but her motion to hold the election was carried with broad support from across the House of Commons. Both Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and top Liberal Democrat Tim Farron backed the move, while Nicola Sturgeon's SNP abstained. Recommended Jeremy Corbyn throws down the gauntlet to Theresa May on TV debates MPs backed the motion by 522 votes to 13. This comfortably gives the PM her two-thirds majority, which is required to call an election under the Fixed Term Parliament Act. Opening the Commons debate on the election motion the Prime Minister told MPs it was time to "put our fate in the hands of the people and let the people decide" and that her party would provide "strong and stable leadership in the national interest. But Mr Corbyn said the Prime Minister's U-turn showed she could not be trusted to run the country. "The Prime Minister talks about a strong economy, but the truth is most people are worse off then they were when the Conservatives came to power seven years ago. The election gives the British people the chance to change direction, he said. "This election is about her Government's failure to rebuild the economy and living standards for the majority." The few MPs who voted against a general election were mostly Labour rebels, including Clive Lewis, Liz McInnes, and Dennis Skinner. Two former SNP independents, Natalie McGarry and Michelle Thompson also voted against, as did SDLP MP Dr Alasdair McDonnell. Aside from the main parties, those who voted in favour also included the eight Democratic Unionist Party MPs, three Plaid Cymru, two Ulster Unionist Party, Green Party co-leader Caroline Lucas and independent former Labour MP Simon Danczuk, who represents Rochdale. The Prime Minister told the Commons: "We are determined to bring stability to the United Kingdom for the long term and that's what this election will be about - leadership and stability. "The decision facing the country will be clear. I will be campaigning for strong and stable leadership in the national interest with me as Prime Minister and I will be asking for the public's support to continue to deliver my plan for a stronger Britain, to lead the country for the next five years and to give the certainty and stability that we need." MPs appeared to take great pleasure in interrupting the Prime Minister during the debate. One Labour member, Paul Farrelly, intervented to ask Ms May to "explain why she has such a loose and complicated relationship with telling the truth". He was slapped down by the Speaker John Bercow and asked to "reformulate" his question, after which he accused the PM of having "such a complicated and loose relationship with giving the country a clear indication of her intentions". Ms May said she had given a clear indication of her intentions "yesterday". Some MPs raised the question of the CPS and police investigation into Conservative election expenses. The SNP's Stewart Malcolm McDonald said the PM had "some brass neck to call a general election when you are facing allegations of buying the last one". Ms May replied that the question was "not worthy of the honourable gentleman". 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 Labour's Andy Burnham said it was like the election would become "a referendum on her brutal cuts", while some Conservatives praised the Prime Minister's decision. Tory Nadhim Zahawi said EU negotiators would be watching "watching this place and will exploit any weakness in our political system", suggesting opposition parties show "unity". Anne Main said Ms May had shown "courage" in calling the election. Eurosceptic Tory backbencher Peter Bone said he was supporting the election motion because a "strange set of circumstances has come about". "We have had a change of Prime Minister and a change of all the senior Ministers. We have moved from having a Government who were anti-Brexit to one who are pro-Brexit," he said, justifying his stance. A Royal proclamation will be issued for the election on 3 May, dissolving parliament the statutory 25 days before the general election. 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 }} Although they will be busy fighting their seats over the next seven weeks, many Conservative candidates will be unable to stop themselves wondering whether a re-elected Theresa May would give them a ministerial job. The MPs staring at their mobile phones on 9 June would include some former ministers exiled by Ms May when she became Prime Minister nine months ago. They will now be hoping for life after apparent political death. Ms May would have to weigh up different factors. She would want to promote some of her own from the younger MPs on the backbenches, as all prime ministers like to do. But would she also recall some allies of David Cameron, most of whom were ruthlessly dispatched to the backbenches last July? With a mandate to implement her own agenda, to be set out soon in the Tory manifesto, recalling one or two Cameroons might help to heal Tory wounds. It could also head off public criticism of her Government; there have been dark hints of trouble for Ms May unless she brings back some sacked ministers within a year of entering Downing Street. The need to secure Parliaments backing for her Brexit deal would also be in Ms Mays mind. It might well disappoint two rival camps the 30 pro-EU Tories and 60 hardline Brexiteers and so bringing some of them inside the ministerial tent might prove good politics. Nicky Morgan, dropped as Education Secretary last summer, has emerged as a critic of hard Brexit as well as Ms Mays flagship domestic policy of grammar schools. Although she criticised Ms May for wearing 995 leather trousers, she later regretted her remark and admitted it was wrong to get personal. Ms May banned Ms Morgan from a Downing Street meeting with pro-Europeans but after an election victory would have to decide whether to extend an olive branch. Other Tories also have close links to Open Britain, the successor to the Remain campaign in last years referendum, which now urges a soft Brexit. Dominic Grieve, the former Attorney General who now chairs Parliaments Intelligence and Security Committee, is highly respected and would be a popular choice for a Cabinet-level post. But Anna Soubry, the former Business Minister and a close ally of Kenneth Clarke, might be judged too outspoken on Brexit for Ms May to risk a recall. Dominic Grieve would be a popular choice for a cabinet-level position (EPA) On the other side of the Brexit divide, Ms May will have to decide whether to bring back Michael Gove, the former Education and Justice Secretary. He would like to return and has been broadly loyal of late. But is nine months too short a penance for his act of fratricide against Boris Johnson in the Tory leadership race? Would Ms May trust him? Would she want to listen to his long interventions in Cabinet meetings and risk a re-run of their battles under Mr Cameron? Tory MPs believe she might keep him outside the tent for a bit longer. Others on the Prime Ministers list of possible Cabinet retreads include Stephen Crabb, who was seen as a rising star and ran for the Tory leadership last year. He resigned as Work and Pensions Secretary to spend more time with his family after allegations that he sent suggestive text messages to a young woman. Mark Harper, who was Mr Camerons Chief Whip, left the Government along with him last summer. He is highly rated by Tory colleagues and so might be judged ready for a recall. Has Michael Gove been forgiven for his betrayal of Boris Johnson? (Getty) One decision that Ms May would not have to make is whether to recall George Osborne, the former Chancellor. It might have been too early anyway for the man told brusquely by the incoming Prime Minister to spend more time getting to know his own party. He has now spared Ms May a possible dilemma by announcing that he is standing down as MP for Tatton after being appointed editor of the London Evening Standard. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 19 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: Oil prices are rising on Apr.19 after the positive statements made by OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkino. The price for June futures of Brent crude oil has increased by 0.05 percent to $54.92 per barrel as of 08:16 (GMT +4). Meanwhile, the price for May futures of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) has grown by 0.02 percent and stood at $52.42 per barrel. Speaking earlier on Apr.19 in the United Arab Emirates, OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said on that all oil producers taking part in a supply-cut pact are committed to bringing global inventories down to the industry's five year average and restoring stability to the market. In December 2016, OPEC and non-OPEC producers reached their first deal since 2001 to curtail oil output jointly and ease a global glut after more than two years of low prices. Non-OPEC oil producers such as Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, Sudan, and South Sudan agreed to reduce output by 558,000 barrels per day starting from Jan. 1, 2017 for six months, extendable for another six months. OPEC agreed to slash the output by 1.2 million barrels per day from Jan. 1, with top exporter Saudi Arabia cutting as much as 486,000 barrels per day. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn 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 }} George Osborne has announced he is quitting as an MP for now, just weeks after being named as the new editor of the London Evening Standard. In a letter to his local Conservative association in Tatton, Cheshire, he wrote: I am stepping down from the House of Commons for now. But I will remain active in the debate about our countrys future and on the issues I care about, like the success of the Northern Powerhouse. I want a Britain that is free, open, diverse and works with other nations to defend our democratic values in the world. I will go on fighting for that Britain I love from the editors chair of a great newspaper. Its still too early to be writing my memoirs. He also said he was very excited at the prospect of editing the paper after more than a decade and a half in the Commons. The announcement came a day after Theresa May announced a snap general election for 8 June. Tatton Conservatives member Tony Dean said: The general feeling will be that he's fallen on his sword a bit, but he's done the right thing in not seeking re-election. Less than two years after Mr Osborne was first elected in 2001 he became an opposition whip and, later, a shadow Treasury minister. In September 2004 he was made shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, and shadow Chancellor nine months after that. When the Tories, under David Cameron, won power alongside the Liberal Democrats in 2010, Mr Osborne led the Government's austerity agenda. The editor's role was his fifth job outside Parliament after leaving the Treasury. As well as being an MP, he is also a consultant for the investment company Blackrock, earning 650,000 a year for one day's work a week. He has a lucrative sideline in speaking, is the unpaid chairman of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, and is the Kissinger Fellow at John McCain's McCain Institute think-tank, for which he received a 120,000 allowance. Evgeny Lebedev, who has owned the free daily Standard for eight years, said critics should wait to see a paper before judging Mr Osborne's recruitment to the editor's chair, adding that he would provide a more effective opposition to the Government than the current Labour Party. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 3 November 2022 A villager cooks roti bread at the site of the annual Camel Fair in Pushkar, in India's desert state of Rajasthan AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 2 November 2022 A red squirrel gathers nuts in Pitlochry, Scotland Reuters UK news in pictures 1 November 2022 Englands Tara-Jane Stanley scores their sides seventh try against Brazil during the Womens Rugby League World Cup group A match at Headingley Stadium, Leeds PA UK news in pictures 31 October 2022 GBs James Hall competes during the mens parallel bars qualification at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 October 2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA Critics from both Labour and the Conservatives had said the hiring raised fresh questions over existing parliamentary systems for preventing conflicts of interest and had suggested Mr Osborne could not continue as Tatton MP. Britain learned how much he was paid through his portfolio career because MPs are required to register outside interests with parliamentary authorities, a condition to which he will no longer be held after the general election. While attempting to break into journalism after leaving Oxford University, Mr Osborne was previously rejected by The Times and The Economist. He later carried out freelance work for The Daily Telegraph's Peterborough diary column before joining the Conservative Research Department, going on to become head of its political department in 1993. 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 }} Companies that are employed by the government will be forced to link the the salaries of their highest and lowest paid employees if Labour is elected, according to the shadow Chancellor. John McDonnell said the party's manifesto will include a pay ratio, meaning there would be a "cap" on how much the CEOs and directors could earn in relation to their employees, if they undertake government work. This would help create a fair economy by setting a cap on earnings within companies, he told the BBC's Today programme. Weve been arguing that we will go for pay ratios," he said. "In our campaign and local government elections weve said that well use public procurement to secure pay ratios. The ratio is with regards to the maximum that will be earned by chief executives and directors and others in relation to the average pay of their workers. We want a fair economy. That sets a cap according to that ratio. When asked if it would be a pay cap, he said: It will be a pay ratio, and that in itself will set a cap in terms of what the maximum earning will be within that company in relation to the average workers pay because we believe in fairness within our economy. Jeremy Corbyn floated the idea of a cap on executive wages earlier this year. He said the Government should encourage companies to introduce a wage cap for bosses earning more. Research for The Independent in January suggested that Mr Corbyns proposal was supported by 57 per cent of the public. Just 30 per cent of those surveyed disagreed with the idea that the government should set a limit, while 13 per cent said don't know. 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 Mr McDonnell also told Today that Labour wanted to ensure that there was a fair taxation system. We believe that if we can have a fair taxation system, tackling tax evasion and tax avoidance, making sure that we end the tax giveaways to the corporations and the rich, well be able to afford the public services that we need," he said. We want a system that is fair, so that the corporations and the rich pay their way more. And that means ending the tax giveaways so the corporations, and also those with inheritance tax, capital gains tax and the bankers levy, all of those giveaways under this government." Close Corbyn questions May's 'proud' record in TV debate row 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 }} Here are the latest updates: Speaking ahead of PMQs today, Theresa May claimed that victory in the snap general election would strengthen her hand in Brexit negotiations with EU leaders. The Prime Minister said that if she had not performed a U-turn on calling an early vote, the "crucial part" of the Brexit talks would have occurred in the build-up to a general election, which EU negotiators could have exploited as a "weakness". Ms May appealed for the British people to trust her to handle Brexit and rejected claims the decision to go to the country on 8 June was motivated by political opportunism at a time when the Tories enjoy a healthy opinion poll lead. She said she wanted a stronger mandate because, with a slim working majority of just 17 MPs, opposition parties were intent on "frustrating" Brexit, even though she has yet to lose a vote on the issue in the Commons. MPs are today expected to back Mss May's demand for an early ballot, three years ahead of the next scheduled general election. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Green Party called for talks with the leaderships of Labour and the Liberal Democrats with the aim of founding a progressive alliance for Junes general election. Party co-leaders Caroline Lucas and Jonathan Bartley say the three parties should work together and might stand aside for each other in some seats to stop the Tories wrecking our country. The Greens say they believe there is a role for some form of cooperation in a handful of seats in order to stop Theresa May winning another majority. Wed like to meet to explore the best options for beating the Tories in June. We understand that, in the immediate run up to an election, signalling a willingness to work with other parties might be difficult but we hope youll agree that the times we are living in require leaders to be courageous and visionary, to actively build a more positive politics, the two leaders wrote in a letter to Tim Farron and Jeremy Corbyn. Some politicians in each of the three parties have publicly suggested working more closely but the idea of closer cooperation has hit the rocks in recent months. In February this year Lib Dem leader Mr Farron said Jeremy Corbyn was not progressive, ruling out any alliance with Labour. The Greens stood aside for the Lib Dems in the Richmond by-election but later stood a candidate at the Copeland by-election, which Labour ultimately lost. Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has been cool on a progressive alliance, but other Labour MPs including Clive Lewis, Lisa Nandy and Jonathan Reynolds called for Labour to stand aside in at the Richmond by-election to maximise the chance of the Conservatives losing. Liberal Democrats party leader Tim Farron (Getty) Speaking at the publication of the letter, Caroline Lucas said: Britain is at a crossroads and this election will dictate the very future of our country. The Green Party will be standing on a unique policy platform opposing the Tories Brexit and putting forward big ideas for a fairer economy and the protection of our environment. Our call for a meeting between party leaders isnt about the Greens standing aside its about giving people in this country the best possible chance of defeating the Conservatives and bringing in a truly democratic voting system. 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 For the sake of our NHS, our welfare state and our environment we need progressive party leaders to ditch partisan politics just for a moment and think about how we can best stop the Tories from wrecking our country for generations to come. The Independent has contacted the Labour and Lib Dem leaderships for comment on this story. 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 }} Another gruelling day in the trenches for our beleaguered Prime Minister Theresa May. What sweet relief it will be when the general election comes and this brutal war of attrition comes to an end. Not since her Article 50 Bill was passed by 498 votes to 114 has the Prime Minister had to face down such wanton insurrection, and she knows as well as anyone else that it just cant go on like this. Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the SNP, the Greens, and all the other people from other parties that wont just do as theyre told are making the country ungovernable. And on Wednesday afternoon they did it again. It was the first time the House of Commons had ever been asked to vote on whether to give itself a general election. Until relatively recently, the power to call a general election belonged exclusively to the Prime Minister and no openly gay ex-Olympic fencer has ever tried to take it away. But now, according to the precepts laid out in the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act of 2011, there must first be a poorly attended 90-minute-long debate on the matter, followed by a near unanimous vote. They did as instructed. Theresa May, we know, only came to the decision to call for an election "recently and reluctantly." Recommended Snap election threatens Government plan to finally lower energy bills Her position in negotiations with Brussels had been fatally undermined by the game playing of democratically elected politicians with fundamentally different views from hers, and that simply will not do. And as if to demonstrate her point, her vote on whether to hold a general election passed by a nervy 522 votes to 13. How liberated she will doubtless be, in seven weeks time when she no longer faces the threat of, say, 70-odd Labour MPs happily voting for an election that they know will cost them their jobs. If the occasion was, technically, historic, it was certainly not memorable. If you ever pause to wonder why, in periodic popularity surveys put out by polling companies, politicians consistently score just below estate agents, traffic wardens and convicted sex offenders, it would certainly have been worth tuning in to Wednesday afternoons fun and games. If there has been a hero of the last 24 hours, it has of course been "Brenda from Bristol", that middle-aged woman whose undulating South-west vowels spoke for a knackered nation when, confronted by a TV crew on her doorstep telling her another general election was coming, turned her eyes skyward and said, not another one. But would anyone speak for Brenda? Not a chance. Edward Leigh and Jacob Rees-Mogg both rose to question the wisdom of the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act. Theresa May gave a mercifully abridged version of Tuesday mornings statement, about the countrys need for strong and stable leadership of the kind eerily similar to that offered by David Cameron in a Facebook post in 2015, in which he gave voters a choice between strong and stable leadership or chaos under Ed Miliband. (Who, at night, closes their eyes and dreams of chaos under Ed Miliband?) Jeremy Corbyn, it is scarcely worth mentioning, announced his ascension to election mode with a speech that, after it rose to its rousing conclusion, the Speaker did not invite anyone else to follow, assuming the Labour leader had sat down to allow for an intervention. In fact, maybe someone did speak for Brenda. The SNPs Tommy Sheppard may be wholly committed to the breakup of the nation, but that is no reason, in these mad times, for him not to be able to speak for it. I believe this is the sort of thing that gets politics a bad name in our country and it is what is leading to the alienation of many of our citizens from the political process, he said. There is only one reason the Prime Minister wants a general election on 8 June: she figures she has a better chance of winning it now than she does in the future. It is therefore the most blatant abuse of the democratic procedure for party political advantage, and as this campaign goes on it will be seen as that. The Prime Minister just shook her head. Another saboteur that must be crushed. It was mere minutes later that the men and women of the shortest parliament since the 1970s walked through the division lobbies to terminate themselves. It was back then, by the way in 1979 to be exact that James Callaghan deployed an old phrase about "turkeys voting for Christmas", and it stuck in the national vernacular for good. So why did Labour do it? Well they had to, really. In political suicides, no one actually dies. And you still get to sit back and watch Jeremy Corbyn getting eaten alive too. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Theresa May has refused to give more details of her Brexit plan even as the country prepares for a general election, but denied she is asking for a blank cheque from voters at the ballot box. Despite asking for a greater mandate to conduct critical talks with the EU, the Prime Minister would not offer any more insight on the difficult compromises she will have to make to win a deal from Brussels. Instead she claimed voters could simply look at her record to ascertain what kind of country she will shape, if they entrust her with an election victory on June 8. In a major interview as Parliament was due to give its backing for the election, Ms May denied her move to call a vote was motivated by political opportunism and historically good polls that could deliver a landslide victory. She argued it was an appeal for the British people to put their trust in her on Brexit, but then in the same interview refused to give more detail about exactly what she wants out of a negotiations. Asked if her manifesto would guarantee that in 2020 the UK would be clear the European Courts jurisdiction and EU free movement, she said only that UK will be ensuring we negotiate the best possible deal. Pressed on exactly what that meant, she said: Ive already spelt out the Brexit prospectus, Ive already spelt out in the speech I gave in Lancaster House in January this year, we followed that up with the White Paper, that was followed of course by what was put in the letter I sent to the European Union for triggering Article 50, of the sort of relationship we want to have with the EU. Theresa May goes back on election promise Challenged again over the lack of specific detail so far, she said: With due respect its not seeking a blank cheque when I say to people look what weve done already, look what weve delivered as a Government already, look at the modern industrial strategy were working on, look at policies that we have and the aims that we have in terms of a good school place for every child. Look at the we are making in terms of technical education for young people. The Prime Minister said she was committed to regaining control of Britain's borders, but refused to be drawn on whether free movement of labour would end as soon as the UK withdrew from the EU. She said: What people want is for us to have control of our borders. I am very clear that we want migration at sustainable levels. What we will now have when we leave the European Union is the ability to have control in relation to people moving to the UK from the European Union. If May wins the election it means she will no longer have to face the electorate in 2020, just as the country has had to make difficult compromises to secure a deal, but instead later in 2022. Asked about whether that had motivated her, she explained that she needed a mandate to ensure Brexit legislation could not be scuppered in Parliament and that the UK had a stronger hand in Brexit talks. She added: I genuinely came to this decision reluctantly, having looked at the circumstances, and having looked ahead at the process of negotiation. How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Show all 8 1 /8 How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Weetabix Chief executive of Weetabix Giles Turrell has warned that the price of one of the nations favourite breakfast are likely to go up this year by low-single digits in percentage terms. Reuters How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Nescafe The cost of a 100g jar of Nescafe Original at Sainsburys has gone up 40p from 2.75 to 3.15 a 14 per cent risesince the Brexit vote. PA How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Freddo When contacted by The Independent this month, a Mondelez spokesperson declined to discuss specific brands but confirmed that there would be "selective" price increases across its range despite the American multi-national confectionery giant reporting profits of $548m (450m) in its last three-month financial period. Mondelez, which bought Cadbury in 2010, said rising commodity costs combined with the slump in the value of the pound had made its products more expensive to make. Cadbury How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Mr Kipling cakes Premier Foods, the maker of Mr Kipling and Bisto gravy, said that it was considering price rises on a case-by-case basis Reuters How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Walkers Crisps Walkers, owned by US giant PepsiCo, said "the weakened value of the pound" is affecting the import cost of some of its materials. A Walkers spokesman told the Press Association that a 32g standard bag was set to increase from 50p to 55p, and the larger grab bag from 75p to 80p. Getty How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Marmite Tesco removed Marmite and other Unilever household brand from its website last October, after the manufacturer tried to raise its prices by about 10 per cent owing to sterlings slump. Tesco and Unilever resolved their argument, but the price of Marmite has increased in UK supermarkets with the grocer reporting a 250g jar of Marmite will now cost Morrisons customers 2.64 - an increase of 12.5 per cent. Rex How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Toblerone Toblerone came under fire in November after it increased the space between the distinctive triangles of its bars. Mondelez International, the company which makes the product, said the change was made due to price rises in recent months. Pixabay How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Maltesers Maltesers, billed as the lighter way to enjoy chocolate, have also shrunk in size. Mars, which owns the brand, has reduced its pouch weight by 15 per cent. Mars said rising costs mean it had to make the unenviable decision between increasing its prices or reducing the weight of its Malteser packs. iStockphoto I want this country to be able to play the strongest hand possible in those negotiations to get the best possible deal because that's in our long-term interests. That's what this is about, its about asking the people to trust me, to trust us in government, to give us that mandate to go and get that really good deal for the UK. While Ms May reaffirmed her commitment to give Parliament a vote on any deal with the EU, she flatly ruled out a second referendum. There will be no second referendum. The British people voted last year to leave the European Union. We have taken that key step of triggering Article 50. The process is in motion. There can be no turning back, she said. 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 has been accused of running scared after refusing to take part in live TV election campaign debates. The SNPs leader in Westminster Angus Robertson challenged the Prime Minister over her refusal to agree to the debates, which have become a mainstay of UK elections. His attack followed one by Labours Jeremy Corbyn at the first weekly Prime Ministers Questions since Ms May called for a general election on Tuesday. Mr Robertson said: Most people know that the reason why we are having a general election is because of the woeful state of the Labour Party. If the Prime Minister is so confident that her hard Brexit, pro-austerity, anti-immigration case is right, then she should debate it with opposition leaders. We look forward to the straight fight between the SNP and the Tories. Can the Prime Minister tell the people why she is running scared of a televised debate with Nicola Sturgeon. Ms May confirmed on Wednesday morning she will not face Mr Corbyn in the events that formed the centrepiece of the previous two election campaigns, saying we won't be doing television debates, and there here have been calls for TV broadcasters to empty chair her if she continues to refuse. Ms May responded: As to the TV debates - I can assure [Mr Robertson] that I will be out there campaigning, in every part of the United Kingdom, taking out there our proud record as a Conservative government that has delivered for every part of the United Kingdom. Mr Corbyn earlier accused the Prime Minister of refusing to defend her record in public after Downing Street ruled out Ms Mays participation in debates. 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 }} Tim Farron has been attacked for suggesting that gay people are sinners. The Liberal Democrat leader has been pitching his party as the natural place for people who want to oppose Brexit, arguing that his is the only party offering a home to remain voters. But much attention has been turned to his views on the LGBT community, which have been the subject of much concern in recent years. That came to a head once again when Mr Farron was interviewed on Channel 4 News and refused to deny that he thought that homosexuality is a sin. He said that he would not make theological announcements. 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 Comedian David Baddiel said that people who claimed Tim Farron is talking the most sense had to face up to the fact that hes a fundamentalist Christian homophobe. Activist Owen Jones branded the comments an absolute disgrace. The interview followed a 2015 interview with the same channel and journalist, Cathy Newman. At that time, Mr Farron said that were all sinners and refused to answer the question, and he appeared to stick by those comments in the new interview. Pressed on the matter in Parliament, Mr Farron finally said that he did not think homosexuality was a sin and that he backed equality and more rights for LGBT people. It also followed a tweet sent from his account in 2015 that seemed to suggest that people were becoming gay because of chemicals in the water, and comparing LGBT people to fish and frogs. In response to a post sent by the British Humanist Association that expressed concern that health workers think homosexuality is curable, Mr Farrons account seemed to agree that it was. They [gay people] can be [cured], the post read. Most sexual disorientation is caused by chemical leaching check out the fish and frogs. The Lib Dem leader later apologised for any offence caused by the tweet, and called it fake and malicious. Supporters of Mr Farron argued that people should focus on Mr Farrons own voting and policy record as Lib Dem leader. He has released statements and lobbied on a range of issues, including concentration camps for gay people in Chechnya, transgender equality and the blanket ban on blood donation that excludes any man who has had sex with men from donating. Tim Farron fails multiple times in 2015 to say if he thinks gay sex is a sin He has a mixed record on voting for same-sex marriage and equality legislation. But he has said that people may have been given the wrong impression and argued that when he voted against a law that legalised same-sex marriage he was doing so to get more time to discuss trans issues. 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 }} Tim Farron has refused to rule out a coalition between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives if neither party gets an overall majority after the 8 June election. The Lib Dem leader did not give a direct answer when asked if his party would enter into a coalition similar to that which came out of the 2010 election. It comes after veteran Lib Dem politician Vince Cable who announced on Tuesday he would be running again for the Twickenham seat he lost in 2015 ruled out an electoral pact with Labour, claiming that the prospect of the Labour Party holding the balance of power, or getting into power are so remote that the subject is not worth talking about. The Green Party has also called for talks with Mr Farron and the Labour leadership with the aim of forming a progressive alliance for the upcoming June general election. Party co-leaders Caroline Lucas and Jonathan Bartley said the three parties should work together and might stand aside for each other in some seats to stop the Tories wrecking our country. In the Commons during a debate ahead of the vote on triggering the election process, SNP MP John Nicolson asked Mr Farron: Will you rule out a coalition with the Conservatives, yes or no? Mr Farron avoided giving a clear answer, replying: The great problem we face in this country is that the Prime Minister is running on the expectation... there will be no need for any form of coalition with anybody. He was then heckled by Mr Nicolson, who repeatedly asked: Yes or no? 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 Mr Farron continued: The Prime Minister will call this general election in order to take advantage of what she thinks is a clear opportunity for a majority of a hundred or more. It is very clear that were not talking about a balanced parliament. The Prime Minister takes the view that in calling this election is the opportunity for her to have a 100-seat majority. An opportunity for her to drive through not just a hard Brexit but indeed her agenda to slim down the national health service, to slim down... To further calls of yes or no? from MPs, Mr Farron said: The reality is we are not looking at a balanced Parliament. The Prime Minister has clearly called this election on the understanding that she can give herself the majority that will allow herself to deliver the hardest form of Brexit, to shrink our national health service, to undermine the support for our education and to take us out of the single market. If you want to avoid a hard Brexit, if you want to keep Britain in the single market if you want a Britain that has a decent opposition, then only the Liberal Democrats will give you the final say. May I point out there is only one route to the Prime Minister losing the general election, and it is a Liberal Democrat route. He added: The only outcome of this election that does not lead to a Conservative majority is the Liberal Democrats revival and growth in every part in this country. Mr Farron has also been attacked for suggesting gay people are sinners, a view likely to be at odds with the majority of liberal Remain voters his party has been working to win over. When interviewed on Channel 4 News, he refused to deny that he thought homosexuality is a sin, but said he would not make theological arguments. Nick Clegg, who faced criticism in 2010 as the partys then leader for leading the Lib Dems into a coalition with the Tories, has announced he will stand again for election. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Prime Minister has opened the door to dropping the UKs international aid target by refusing to confirm that it will be retained in the next Tory manifesto. Theresa May declined to commit to the target when pressed by one of her own MPs at Prime Ministers Questions today. The aid target of spending 0.7 per cent of GNI on development assistance is unpopular with some right-wing newspapers and politicians, but was supported by David Camerons government as a way of helping the poorest. Recommended Bill Gates urges May not to use Brexit as an excuse to cut aid funding Conservative MP Richard Benyon said he was proud of both the commitment to NATO to spend 2 per cent of GDP on defence and our commitment to the UN to spend 0.7 per cent of GNI on overseas aid. He asked Ms May: Will my right hon. Friend please commit the future Conservative Government to do the same? The Prime Minister responded by agreeing a commitment to to the Nato target but would only say the UK was currently meeting our UN commitment. My right hon. Friend is absolutely correct. Obviously we have committed to meet our NATO pledge of 2 per cent of GDP being spent on defence every year of this decade, she said. We are delivering on that. We have got a 36 billion defence budget that will rise to almost 40 billion by 2020-21the biggest in Europe and second largest in NATO. We are meeting our UN commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of GNI on overseas development assistance. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty I can assure him that we remain committed, as a Conservative party, to ensuring the defence and security of this country and to working for a stronger world. The Prime Ministers ambiguity comes as computer billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates says the Brexit vote must not be used as an excuse for Britain to drop its aid commitments. Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Independent, the worlds richest man said: We are hopeful that the commitment to 0.7 per cent and things like neglected diseases stays strong. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 19 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: The Governorate of Erzurum Province (Turkey) has held an information meeting within TANAP Social and Environmental Investment Programs, reports Haberturk. Earlier, it was reported that several projects in Turkey will receive grants as part of TANAP project. The grants will be allocated within the TANAP Social and Environmental Investment Programs for various spheres as development of local handicrafts, fruit and vegetable juice production, processing, packaging and marketing of local products and others. During the meeting, there was provided information about the content of grants to be allocated as part of the program, rules, forms of application and so on. Moreover, it was noted that consulting companies have worked out projects for grant support in the territories through which TANAP will run and have established contacts with local population. It was pointed out that the TANAP Social and Environmental Investment Programs are not related to any local company. TANAP Social and Environmental Investment Programs (SEIP) is a program that supports investment and development projects implemented along TANAP route. The main objective of Social and Environmental Investment Programs launched out in 2015 is to develop a coherent ecosystem along the pipeline and to contribute in maintaining the economic and social development and preservation of natural resources. TANAP project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijans Shah Deniz field to the western borders of Turkey. The length of TANAP is 1,800 kilometers with the initial capacity of 16 billion cubic meters. Around six billion cubic meters of the gas will be delivered to Turkey and the remaining volume will be supplied to Europe. The gas will be delivered to Turkey in 2018 and after completion of the Trans-Adriatic Pipelines construction the gas will be delivered to Europe in early 2020. TANAP shareholders are Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR (58 percent), BOTAS (30 percent) and BP (12 percent). --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn 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 }} Crocodiles are thought to have eaten a South African hunter after human remains were found inside two animals. Scott van Zyl disappeared last week after he went on a hunting safari in Zimbabwe. Accompanied by a pack of dogs and a Zimbabwean tracker, the professional hunter who organises trips for foreign clients is thought to have been eaten by crocodiles on the bank of the Limpopo River. It is believed Mr van Zyl and his tracker left their truck and walked in different directions into the bush. The dogs later returned to the camp without Mr van Zyl, whose belongings were found inside the vehicle. Rescue teams were sent to search for the hunter and helicopters, trackers and divers all scoured the region. His tracks were later spotted leading to the banks of the river and his backpack was located nearby. Sakkie Louwrens, a member of one of the search teams, said police suspected two Nile crocodiles may have eaten Mr Van Zyl. 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 We found what could possibly be human remains in them, he told The Telegraph. Forensic experts are currently testing whether the remains belong to Mr van Zyl. The SS Pro Safaris website, owned by Mr van Zyl, states the company "has conducted numerous safaris" throughout Southern Africa. These include "elephants in Botswana to the smallest blue duiker in KwaZulu Natal". It goes on to list buffalo, rhino, lions, leopards and antelopes as targets for hunts. There have been previous incidents in southern Zimbabwe of people being killed by crocodiles. Last year, a 13-year-old boy was killed as he fished to pay for his school fees. 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 }} Uganda's military announced on Wednesday it is ending its pursuit of internationally known warlord Joseph Kony, saying its mission "has now been successfully achieved" even though the rebel leader remains at large. The decision means the manhunt for one of the world's most notorious fugitives is effectively over. Uganda has started pulling its forces from Central African Republic, which for years had been the base for troops chasing the rebels, military spokesman Brigadier Richard Karemire said. The news comes shortly after the United States' decision last month to pull out of the manhunt for Kony, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, saying the active membership of his Lord's Resistance Army is now less than 100. The US departure left only Uganda in the manhunt. At the peak of its powers, the rebel group was known worldwide for its cruelty against civilians in Uganda, Congo, Central African Republic and what is now South Sudan. In 2012, the US-based advocacy group Invisible Children made a highly successful video highlighting the LRA's alleged crimes, including the abduction of children for use as sex slaves or fighters. Kony, a former Catholic altar boy whose rebel movement aspired to rule Uganda according to the biblical Ten Commandments, is wanted by the ICC for war crimes and crimes against humanity. One of his former commanders, Dominic Ongwen, is currently on trial at The Hague-based court. Although the military mission's ultimate goal was to capture or kill Kony, there has been no word on his exact whereabouts for years even as many of his top commanders defected or were killed. About 1,500 Ugandan troops had been deployed in Central African Republic under an African Union military mission to defeat the LRA. All of the Ugandan troops will return home by the end of May, with the first arriving home on Wednesday, military spokesman Karemire said. Uganda's mission to neutralise the LRA "has now been successfully achieved," he said. Amid concerns about the military pullouts, the African Union last month suggested that United Nations peacekeeping missions in the region be used to continue anti-LRA efforts. Kony "will likely ramp up attacks if Uganda fully backs off," said Sasha Lezhnev of The Enough Project, which monitors LRA activities. "Uganda should join (the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic) with international support to continue pursuing the LRA and save thousands of lives." The US first deployed about 100 US special forces as military advisers to the manhunt in 2011, and in 2014 it sent 150 Air Force special operations members and airmen to assist African forces. The US Africa Command late last month cited the weakening of the LRA for its decision to remove its military forces, though it was not clear when the withdrawal would take effect. Marine General Thomas Waldhauser declared the hunt for Kony largely over, calling the rebel leader "irrelevant" and in survival mode. At the time, Uganda's military said its troops would not immediately pull out of the mission against the rebel group, with Karemire insisting that Kony will be a cause for concern as long as he is still alive. AP 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 group of all male politicians have rejected a law that would prevent rapists from having parental rights to their victims' children. Campaigners were left "angry and disappointed" after Marylands General Assembly voted against enacting the Rape Survivor Family Protection Act. No women sat on the five-strong committee which voted against the bill, which means that rape victims who choose to bear the child will still have to negotiate with their attackers over custody rights or whether they put the child up for adoption. It is the ninth time that politicians in the US state have voted against a proposed changes. So it remains one of just seven out of the 50 US states not have a similar law in place. The latest version of a bill launched 10-years ago by Kathleen Dumais had the support of a wide spectrum of groups, from Planned Parenthood organisations to the Maryland Catholic Conference. After it was voted down, her colleague Senator Cheryl Kagan told the Baltimore Sun: "Although I have great respect for my colleagues, not having women on the committee was tone-deaf." Ms Kagan said looked over the men on the committee because "I wanted to watch as the conscience for women and rape survivors". Joe Biden shares video that unpicks the language and behaviour of rape culture The decision was strongly criticised by womens rights advocates. "I think we're both angered and disappointed," Lisae Jordan, director of the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault, told Broadly. Ms Jordan added there werent a large number of cases of rape victims going on to have a child conceived in the assault. But she said that her group did come across women who were involved in legal disputes with their rapists because of inadequate legal support. She continued: "It's traumatic for someone to have to parent with their rapist. Its frightening. US sexual assault statistics Show all 8 1 /8 US sexual assault statistics US sexual assault statistics Graphiq US sexual assault statistics Graphiq US sexual assault statistics Graphiq US sexual assault statistics Graphiq US sexual assault statistics Graphiq US sexual assault statistics Graphiq US sexual assault statistics Graphiq US sexual assault statistics Graphiq It's something that raises concerns about the effect not only on the rape survivor but also on the child." However, Ms Jordan welcomed a new law introduced in Maryland this week, which stopped victims of sexual assault from having to prove they used physical force to resist a rape. "Sexual assault survivors will no longer be forced to choose between keeping safe or having access to justice," Ms Jordan told Buzzfeed News. 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 }} At 7.07am, 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 GM'ers 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 (45,300). 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, 23 December 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 nation's largest automaker turned out its last. Janesville 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 Ryan, a Republican an old United Auto Workers (UAW) town in a state led by a new generation of conservative, Republican Governor Scott Walker 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 Valentine's Day 1923, and, for eight and a half decades, the factory, like a mighty wizard, ordered the city's rhythms. The radio station synchronised 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. With the decommissioned assembly plant visible behind her, Mary Johnston tries to fix the oxygen sensor on her Ford Taurus. Her father taught her how to fix cars, she says, but she is missing the necessary wrench to finish the job (Washington Post) 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? *** The first day of classes, 24 August, was fast approaching. And Mike Vaughn knew he couldn't put it off much longer. He couldn't remember the last time he'd 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 couldn't get past the very real possibility that the man who'd 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 you're 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 Wisconsin's southwest corner in places with names like New Diggings and Swindler's Ridge, and the McCabe Mine in which his great-grandfather had been killed. Mike's 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 GM'ers in UAW Local 95. Mike's 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 explored 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. Sign of the times: the car park of the Local Union No 95 UAW in Janseville (Washington Post) Nothing in his family's 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 programme, with predictions of jobs at the end. He'd be crazy not to sign up. But the jobs weren't union jobs. He'd be management. What would his father think? The moment came during his father's 61st birthday party, as they sat on his parents' screened porch together with their smokes. Mike turned to his father and said, "I've decided what I'm going to do." He started with the easy stuff. The stuff about going back to school in 20 days, and Blackhawk's new programme, and the government's 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 he'd 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 father's expression. Was that a flicker of sadness? Yes, it was there. But his words didn't 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 father's arms still around him, he heard the words he had imparted to Lear's job-losing workers: if you don't change with the times, you'll be left behind. *** 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 couldn't 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 he'd been, because, frankly, he wasn't sure he believed it himself. When the 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, he made the hard decision to transfer to a GM plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He commutes four and a half hours to Indiana every Monday morning, driving home late on Friday nights to spend the weekend in Janesville with his wife and daughters (Washington Post) A twist of the key in the ignition, and Matt felt the ageing truck's familiar idle. His hand drifted to the gear shift, but he couldn't 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 wasn't 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 maths. 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 GM'ers did, paying $270 a month on their camper, trading in cars for newer models. So even though, as a GM'er, 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 didn't add up to anywhere near $28 an hour. The reality was that he and Darcy didn't have much cushion, and his SUB pay was about to be cut in half, and his GM health benefits were going to run out. Mike Vaughn (centre) watches a University of Wisconsin basketball game with his father Dave and his wife Barb. When the plant stopped production, the Lear Corp, which had made the seats for GM vehicles, closed too, ending Barb's job, then Mike's. Mike eventually gravitated away from his family's long history as local union leaders (Washington Post) 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 GM'ers had morphed into GM'ers working far from Janesville. Their UAW contract gave them these transfer rights. Some were in Kansas City, Kansas. Some were in Arlington, Texas, which was still turning out the Tahoe SUVs that Janesville had made. And a few were in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to assemble Chevy Silverado trucks, which were so popular that the plant was adding a third shift and sending job offers to more Janesville GM'ers, 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 didn't want to move, either. They'd 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 four and a half hours away, was closer than Kansas City or Arlington. That was why, one day, Matt and a bunch of the GM'ers 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 linemen's 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 he'd rejected was the only choice he had left. He couldn't even call it a choice, because he felt that it had all come down to either Fort Wayne or possible bankruptcy, and responsible men don't file for bankruptcy. Karlos Denson, nine, plays outside his home in the Fourth Ward, considered one of Janesville's rougher neighbourhoods (Washington Post) As his mind churned on this jam he was in, he could find no one to blame. Not the instructor who was just levelling 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 he'd 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 due to get his diploma, Matt left school. So now, in less than 24 hours, he would be working at a GM plant he'd never seen in a city he'd never visited. He couldn't think of anything he wanted to do less, or anything he needed to do more. It won't 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 stick, 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 GM'er because Matt didn't have a clue where he was going to live. Kayzia Whiteaker and her mother, Tammy. After Kayzia's 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 food and pay utility bills (Washington Post) Plan A, Plan B or whatever plan it took, he would at least be the man he'd always understood himself to be: Who would rather put himself out than his family. Who always kept his word when he said he'd do a job. Who understood that, to protect his family, he had to leave them. *** 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 Woodman's and pay. She realised, 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 wouldn't 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, ploughing through her coupons while her dad was asleep, had become the chief worrier. After 10 months at her first after-school job, at Culver's, home of the ButterBurger, she had more in her checking account than her parents had in theirs. It wasn't so rare any more 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 didn't talk about the stark facts. She didn't talk about money with her friends. She didn't 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 outwards. What if a day came when their parents can't pay the mortgage? How will they afford college? Can Alyssa achieve her dream of becoming an engineer? Kayzia's 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 she'd 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 panelled family room, watching TV with Justin, her boyfriend. "Do you want to come with?" Kayzia asked, putting it that way because she didn't 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 wasn't 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 Woodman's on the north side of town. By the time they arrived, it was almost midnight, the wide aisles nearly empty of shoppers. End of the American dream? the decommissioned Janesville Assembly Plant (Washington Post) 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 they'd been having too much pasta. Lunch meat, because Kayzia was sick of PB&J. Cocoa Puffs and Cap'n 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 wasn't 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 Culver's 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 High's 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 doesn't pay enough, she knew that he still wasn't 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 fuelled by his daughters' checking accounts. 2017, The Washington Post Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} For more than 20 years, Bill OReilly has had it pretty good - and up until now, so has his employer, Rupert Murdochs Fox News. After joining the conservative network in 1996, the blunt-spoken, boorish Irish American - frequently accused of sexism, misogyny and racism - rose to become the networks most watched anchor. Industry data shows that from 2014 to 2016, his show, The OReilly Factor, earned Foxs parent company $446m. But every good thing must draw to a close. Amid a mounting backlash from companies pulling advertising following accusations of sexual harassment levelled at the 67-year-old, Fox News has decided that Mr OReilly must go. The news came as Mr O'Reilly shook hands with the Pope (LOsservatore Romano) Ahead of a board meeting of the parent company, 21st Century Fox, the company announced that was it cutting ties with the man who was paid $18m a year. In an email to staff, the company said the broadcaster, who had for two decades pitched himself as the no-nonsense know-it-all, was leaving following a review of those accusations. After a thorough review of the allegations against him, the company and Bill OReilly have agreed that Mr OReilly will not return to the Fox News Channel, it said. Mr O'Reilly said in a statement it was "tremendously disheartening that we part ways due to completely unfounded claims". The decision by the company came as Mr OReilly was on holiday in Italy, where he shook hands with the Pope. Earlier on Wednesday, Gabriel Sherman, author of a biography of former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, had reported that a decision had been made to let go of Mr OReilly. Rupert Murdoch reportedly wanted to stand by its star, but his sons, Lachlan and James, have decided it is time for him to go, he said. Bill O'Reilly chuckles at bloodied United airlines passenger being dragged off plane The Murdochs have decided Bill OReillys 21-year run at Fox News will come to an end, Mr Sherman wrote. The brothers were behind the move last summer to oust Mr Ailes, who also faced a series of sexual harassment allegations which he denied, but which the company decided to settle. There had been a flurry of reports that the Murdochs were preparing to let go of their golden goose, who had been scheduled to return to work next Monday. His slot will now be taken by Tucker Carlson, an old face among Washington pundits but a recently new hire by Fox. In addition to Mr Sherman writing that the Murdochs were leaning toward announcing that OReilly will not return to the air, Matt Drudge, whose Drudge Report is the most influential curation of conservative news in the US, said ominously on Twitter: OReilly has had tremendous run. Very few in the business get to decide when and how things end. Media is most brutal of all industries Mr OReilly, who was once forced to issue a rare apology to The Independent for an inaccurate comment he made about one of its reports, said the allegations against him were the "unfortunate reality many of us in the public eye must live with". His lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, said his client was being attacked by left wing organisations. Bill OReilly has been subjected to a brutal campaign of character assassination that is unprecedented in post-McCarthyist America. This law firm has uncovered evidence that the smear campaign is being orchestrated by far-left organisations bent on destroying OReilly for political and financial reasons, he said in a statement. That evidence will be put forth shortly, and it is irrefutable. Mr OReilly has been at the centre of speculation about his future since a report published earlier this month by the New York Times suggested that five women had revived a total of $13m after accusing him os sexual harassment or inappropriate behaviour. Mr OReilly denied the allegations. In a statement at the time, 21st Century Fox said it had addressed the issue with him. 21st Century Fox takes matters of workplace behaviour very seriously, the company said. Notwithstanding the fact that no current or former Fox News employee ever took advantage of the 21st Century Fox hotline to raise a concern about Bill OReilly, even anonymously, we have looked into these matters over the last few months and discussed them with Mr OReilly. While he denies the merits of these claims, Mr OReilly has resolved those he regarded as his personal responsibility. But even if Fox News opted to stand by its star, advertisers did not. Up to 50 major companies, including GlaxoSmithKline, Mitsubishi Motors, BMW and Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, all moved their advertising from Mr OReilly 8-9pm show. Reports suggested another factor behind the decision to terminate Mr OReillys tenure may have been the Murdochs anticipated $14bn takeover of European pay-TV provider Sky. The British media regulator Ofcom, is next month set to judge whether the Murdochs are fit and proper to own such a large media property. 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 federal lawsuit filed on Tuesday has accused the US government of deporting an undocumented immigrant who had been allowed to remain in the country under an Obama-era programme that President Donald Trump promised to maintain. Lawyers for the immigrant, Juan Manuel Montes, 23, who had been living in the United States since age nine, said he was the first recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, to be removed from the country. His case is emblematic, said Marielena Hincapie, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, one of the parties that filed the lawsuit. It shows that people with valid DACA may be at risk despite President Trumps statements to the contrary. According to the complaint, filed in US District Court in Southern California, agents with Customs and Border Protection arrested, detained and physically removed Montes after stopping him while he was walking in the border town of Calexico, California, on February 17. Hincapie said that Montes, who is cognitively impaired because of a brain injury he suffered as a child, told agents that he had left his wallet, with his documents, in a friends car. They denied his request to have a relative retrieve them, she said. Montes was taken across the border to Mexicali, Mexico, where he stayed with a friend. After being beaten and robbed while walking on the street, he tried to re-enter the United States around February 19, but he was quickly detained and sent across the border again, the lawsuit said. I was forced out because I was nervous and didnt know what to do or say, but my home is there, Montes said in a statement released by the National Immigration Law Center. DACA recipients can be stripped of that status for certain criminal activities. Hincapie said that Montes, who first received DACA protection in 2014, has a record of four misdemeanours: three for driving without a licence and one for shoplifting. The website for US Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that administers the DACA programme, says that driving without a licence will not disqualify someone from the programme, but that a persons entire offence history can be considered. Hincapie said Montes record would not have made him ineligible. The immigration service did not respond Tuesday night to a request for comment on the lawsuit, which was first reported by USA Today. In March, Montes lawyers filed a Freedom of Information Act request with Customs and Border Protection asking for all records of his interaction with its agents. The agency acknowledged the request, but it has so far not provided the information, according to the lawsuit, which seeks the release of the records. About 750,000 young immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally as children have benefited from DACA since it was introduced in 2012. During his campaign, Trump said he would rescind the program. But despite pursuing tougher measures toward illegal immigration, he has since suggested that he would seek a favourable solution for DACA recipients, known as Dreamers. That has dismayed some conservatives who believed that President Barack Obama had overstepped his authority in creating the programme. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, who has a history of inflammatory statements about immigrants, applauded Montes deportation with a barbed message on Twitter on Tuesday. Hincapie said it was especially disconcerting that Montes was deprived of a hearing before an immigration judge, in violation of due process. The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Show all 9 1 /9 The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the media White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes questions during the daily press briefing Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Union leaders applaud US President Donald Trump for signing an executive order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington DC. Mr Trump issued a presidential memorandum in January announcing that the US would withdraw from the trade deal Getty The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Mexico wall A US Border Patrol vehicle sits waiting for illegal immigrants at a fence opening near the US-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas. The number of incoming immigrants has surged ahead of the upcoming Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. A signature campaign promise, Mr Trump outlined his intention to build a border wall on the US-Mexico border days after taking office Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and abortion US President Donald Trump signs an executive order as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus looks on in the Oval Office of the White House. Mr Trump reinstated a ban on American financial aide being granted to non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counseling, provide abortion referrals, or advocate for abortion access outside of the United States Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Dakota Access pipeline Opponents of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines hold a rally as they protest US President Donald Trump's executive orders advancing their construction, at Columbus Circle in New York. US President Donald Trump signed executive orders reviving the construction of two controversial oil pipelines, but said the projects would be subject to renegotiation Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and 'Obamacare' Nancy Pelosi who is the minority leader of the House of Representatives speaks beside House Democrats at an event to protect the Affordable Care Act in Los Angeles, California. US President Donald Trump's effort to make good on his campaign promise to repeal and replace the healthcare law failed when Republicans failed to get enough votes. Mr Trump has promised to revisit the matter Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Donald Trump and 'sanctuary cities' US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January threatening to pull funding for so-called "sanctuary cities" if they do not comply with federal immigration law AP The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the travel ban US President Donald Trump has attempted twice to restrict travel into the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries. The first attempt, in February, was met with swift opposition from protesters who flocked to airports around the country. That travel ban was later blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The second ban was blocked by a federal judge a day before it was scheduled to be implemented in mid-March SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP/Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and climate change US President Donald Trump sought to dismantle several of his predecessor's actions on climate change in March. His order instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to reevaluate the Clean Power Plan, which would cap power plant emissions Shannon Stapleton/Reuters Several DACA beneficiaries have been detained in recent months. One, Daniela Vargas, was arrested after sharing her familys story at a news conference protesting Trump in Mississippi. Vargas, who had failed to renew her DACA status, was detained for a week. Another beneficiary, Daniel Ramirez Medina, was arrested outside Seattle and released last month after spending six weeks in detention. Immigration officials said he had confessed to gang affiliation, an accusation Medina denied. The New York Times Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump announced a new executive order directing government agencies to buy American and hire American, but immediately faced accusations of hypocrisy for failing to do so himself. Mr Trump signed the Buy American and Hire American executive order on Tuesday during a trip to the Snap-on-Tools headquarters in Kenosha, Wisconsin. With this action we are sending a powerful signal to the world, Mr Trump told those gathered. We are going to defend our workers, protect our jobs, and finally put America first. The executive order does not have the power to change existing legislation, but instead directs government agencies and departments to review their policies and suggest ways to use more American products and hire more American workers. The hire American portion of the order instructs the departments of Labour, Justice, Homeland Security and State to look for evidence of visa abuse on the part of employers and fraud on the part of workers. The order specifically singles out the HB-1 visas, which allow US employers to temporarily hire skilled, foreign workers. Mr Trump on Tuesday accused employers of exploiting these visas to hire foreign workers and undercut American workers wages. He called on the four departments to reform their systems to insure that H1B visas are given only to the most skilled or highest-paid applicants. His order, however, does not mention the H-2B visa, which allows US employers to temporarily hire foreign, non-agricultural workers for seasonal employment. Mr Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate used these visas to hire 64 low-wage, foreign employees last winter. Between 2013 and 2015, Mar-a-Lago hired 250 seasonal workers, according to the US Department of Labour. Four of them were American citizens. The Buy American section of the order seeks to maximise the amount of American-made goods used in federally funded projects. Among other things, it requires each agency and department of the government to review their use of waivers and exceptions that allow for the use of non-American goods. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross will review the agencies findings and report back to the President within 220 days. We are finally standing up for our workers and our companies, Mr Trump said on Tuesday. ...No longer are we going to allow foreign companies to cheat our producers and our workers out of government contracts. Mr Trumps own line of products is manufactured in 12 different countries, a Washington Post investigation shows. Trump Home furniture, for example, is made partially in Turkey and Germany. Trump vodka is distilled in the Netherlands. Some Trump sport coats are made in India. Despite Mr Trumps previous claim that the country is raping America, his companys eyeglasses are made in China. Senior administration officials defended Mr Trumps new policies as being inspired by his life spent in the private sector. He spent his life in private business, and he understands the private sector better than anyone, and now hes leveraging that knowledge and experience to go to work on behalf of the American people, one official said. And I think thats a very inspirational message. 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 }} US President Donald Trump has promised to defend American dairy farmers who have been hurt by Canadas protectionist trade practices, during a visit to the cheese-making state of Wisconsin. Canada's dairy sector is protected by high tariffs on imported products and controls on domestic production as a means of supporting prices that farmers receive. It is frequently criticised by other dairy-producing countries. We're also going to stand up for our dairy farmers, Trump said in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Because in Canada some very unfair things have happened to our dairy farmers and others. Trump did not detail his concerns, but promised his administration would call the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and demand an explanation. It's another typical one-sided deal against the United States and it's not going to be happening for long, Trump said. Trump also reiterated his threat to eliminate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Canada and Mexico if it cannot be changed. US dairy industry groups want Trump to urge Trudeau to halt a pricing policy that has disrupted some US dairy exports and prioritise dairy market access in NAFTA renegotiation talks. A WTO complaint would be a last resort because it would take five or six years to come to any resolution, said Jaime Castaneda, senior vice president for the U.S. Dairy Export Council. Canada's dairy farmers agreed last year to sell milk ingredients used for cheese-making to Canadian processors, which include Saputo and Parmalat Canada at prices competitive with international rates. The pricing agreement was a response to growing US exports of milk proteins that were not subject to Canada's high tariffs. Canada's envoy to Washington on Tuesday sent a letter to the governors of New York and Wisconsin - both major dairy states - saying US producers' problems stemmed from overproduction rather than Canadian policy. In the letter, released by Ottawa, ambassador David MacNaughton said Canada's dairy industry was less protectionist than its US counterpart. Industry groups in New Zealand, Australia, the European Union, Mexico and the United States complained the new prices for Canadian milk ingredients under-cut exports to Canada. The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Show all 9 1 /9 The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the media White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes questions during the daily press briefing Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Union leaders applaud US President Donald Trump for signing an executive order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington DC. Mr Trump issued a presidential memorandum in January announcing that the US would withdraw from the trade deal Getty The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Mexico wall A US Border Patrol vehicle sits waiting for illegal immigrants at a fence opening near the US-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas. The number of incoming immigrants has surged ahead of the upcoming Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. A signature campaign promise, Mr Trump outlined his intention to build a border wall on the US-Mexico border days after taking office Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and abortion US President Donald Trump signs an executive order as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus looks on in the Oval Office of the White House. Mr Trump reinstated a ban on American financial aide being granted to non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counseling, provide abortion referrals, or advocate for abortion access outside of the United States Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Dakota Access pipeline Opponents of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines hold a rally as they protest US President Donald Trump's executive orders advancing their construction, at Columbus Circle in New York. US President Donald Trump signed executive orders reviving the construction of two controversial oil pipelines, but said the projects would be subject to renegotiation Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and 'Obamacare' Nancy Pelosi who is the minority leader of the House of Representatives speaks beside House Democrats at an event to protect the Affordable Care Act in Los Angeles, California. US President Donald Trump's effort to make good on his campaign promise to repeal and replace the healthcare law failed when Republicans failed to get enough votes. Mr Trump has promised to revisit the matter Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Donald Trump and 'sanctuary cities' US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January threatening to pull funding for so-called "sanctuary cities" if they do not comply with federal immigration law AP The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the travel ban US President Donald Trump has attempted twice to restrict travel into the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries. The first attempt, in February, was met with swift opposition from protesters who flocked to airports around the country. That travel ban was later blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The second ban was blocked by a federal judge a day before it was scheduled to be implemented in mid-March SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP/Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and climate change US President Donald Trump sought to dismantle several of his predecessor's actions on climate change in March. His order instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to reevaluate the Clean Power Plan, which would cap power plant emissions Shannon Stapleton/Reuters President Trump's reaction is not surprising. He is defending his domestic dairy industry, said Jacques Lefebvre, CEO of Dairy Processors Association of Canada. Further communications with the Canadian government will broaden his perspective. The Dairy Farmers of Canada said it was confident Ottawa would continue to protect and defend the dairy industry. Reuters 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 }} Georgetown University moved to atone for its historical links to slavery on Tuesday by holding a religious service and renaming buildings after African-Americans, including for one of 272 slaves sold to help fund the Washington school. The packed liturgy service and building dedications were the latest step by a US Catholic-run university to make amends for ties to slavery and racism. The movement gained force in late 2015 when students at dozens of US colleges protested legacies of racism on campus. Harvard, Brown, Princeton, Yale and Duke are among schools that have addressed their links to slavery and racism. Following protests, Yale University said in February it would change the name of a college dedicated to a 19th century defender of slavery, John C. Calhoun. Recommended Top university offers admissions edge to descendants of slaves it sold Georgetown President John DeGioia said at the religious service, which included slave descendants, that the school had been complicit in the United States' original sin of slavery. We offer this apology for the descendants and your ancestors humbly and without expectations, and we trust ourselves to God and the Spirit and the grace He freely offers to find ways to work together and build together, he said. The 18,000-student university renamed two buildings that had honoured school presidents who oversaw the 1838 sale of 272 slaves from church-affiliated plantations in Maryland. The money went to pay off college debts. One was named for Isaac Hawkins, whose name appeared at the head of the bill of sale, and a second was dedicated to Anne Marie Becraft, a black 19th-century educator. Sandra Green Thomas, president of the GU272 Descendants Association, told worshippers no other group had shown more faith in the US promise of freedom than African-Americans. The certainty of forgiveness upon the act of contrition is one of the most hopeful and joyful aspects of the (Catholic) faith, she said. Georgetown also has given admissions preference to descendants of the 272 slaves, plans a slave memorial and has created an African-American studies department. 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 One of Hawkins' descendants, Mary Williams-Wagner, said other efforts at reconciliation were still needed, such as identifying all descendants of the slaves sold by Georgetown. Everybody has to have a seat at the table to talk about what it is we're going to do as we move forward, she told Reuters after the ceremony. Reuters 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 12-year-old girl has been lauded as a hero for saving her little sister after she outsmarted a carjacker who climbed into her mothers car. Maddie Weiler was in the car with her mother Brandie and seven-year-old sister Mollie when they witnessed a car crash in Virginia. They quickly pulled over to help the victims, however while Ms Weiler was on the phone to emergency services, Paul Salsman approached the car, unlocked the door through the window and climbed in, according to Williamsburg police. I could see him going toward the van, and Im screaming, Ms Weiler told WTKR. However, quick-thinking Maddie started punching Salsman and screaming for help. She also put the car into drive so he would be unable to start the engine. I just went for it, Maddie said. Nothing passed my mind except: He is a psycho and he needs to get out of the car. 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 Even after Mollie had climbed out of the car, Maddie continued attacking Salsman. "Once I saw Mollie out [of the car], I yelled for Maddie to get out," Ms Weiler said. "She was too busy beating the guy to realise that her sister was out." According to police, Salsman had tried to steal two other cars before the Weilers arrived. He has since been charged with carjacking, hit and run and driving under the influence. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 19 By Elena Kosolapova Trend: Astana hosted the 8th meeting of the Kazakhstan-China Cooperation Committee, Kazakh Prime-Ministers website said in a message. Within the meeting, Kazakh First Deputy Prime Minister Askar Mamin and Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli discussed the state and prospects of a comprehensive strategic partnership and topical issues of bilateral relations, including trade-economic, energy, industrial-innovative, scientific-technical, financial, transport-logistical, agricultural, military-technical, cross-border and regional cooperation. The parties noted that the bilateral relations are dynamically developing. According to Kazakh First Deputy Prime Minister, the trade turnover between Kazakhstan and China increased by 30 percent and amounted to $1.3 billion in 1Q2017 compared to the same period in 2016. Moreover, as much as 51 joint projects in industry, innovation, transport and logistics spheres worth $27 billion are being implemented. He also noted that transport and logistics spheres is one the most important areas of cooperation. Kazakhstan develops transport infrastructure to create conditions for the further development of transportation along the Great Silk Road route. In 1Q2017 the volume of container traffic between the countries increased by 2.6 times compared to the same period in 2016. Mamin stressed that the implementation of the Cooperation Plan on the interface of Kazakhstans new economic policy Nurly Zhol with the Chinese Economic belt of the Silk Road project opens up great prospects for both countries in transit-transport cooperation, trade, manufacturing industry. Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova 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 }} Steve Stephens, the Facebook killer, committed suicide after being tracked down following nearly 48 hours on the run when he stopped at a McDonald's to pick up some food. A staff member at the restaurant in Erie County, Pennsylvania - approximately 100 miles east of Mr Stephens' home in Cleveland, Ohio - recognised him as he pulled up to the drive-thru window and called the local police. Another employee stalled Mr Stephens until Pennsylvania State Police arrived. We told him his fries were going to be a minute, Henry Sayers, the restaurants manager told the Erie Times-News. Franchise owner Thomas DuCharme Jr said: I am pretty sure he figured out that we were on to him. He didnt want to wait for his fries. He told CNBC he was very proud" of how the staff handled the potentially dangerous situation. Police engaged in a "brief pursuit" after Mr Stephens drove away from the restaurant, according to Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams As the officers approached that vehicle Steve Stephens took his own life, he said. Law enforcement officials preferred that it had not ended this way given the circumstances of the case, Mr Williams noted. Mr Stephens, 37, had been on the run for nearly 48 hours after filming himself walking up to and shooting dead Robert Godwin, 74 in Cleveland, Ohio. Cleveland Killer: I've killed 13 people and will carry on until they catch me He did not broadcast the killing on Facebook Live as previously thought but did post the video to his account, where it remained for nearly three hours. His account was later suspended by Facebook, whose CEO Mark Zuckerberg said during a conference that the company "will keep doing all of what we can to keep tragedies like this from happening." Mr Godwin was just walking down the street on Easter Sunday when Mr Stephens pulled up to him and shot him in the head. It appears to have been a random killing. In the video Mr Stephens also spoke of several other victims and how was searching for more people to kill, the main reason law enforcement preferred to bring him in alive. The Cleveland police, FBI, and US Marshal Service are working now to retrace Mr Stephens' steps between the time of the murder and being spotted in Pennsylvania. However, Steve Anthony of the FBI said on 18 April there was no evidence that Mr Stephens killed anyone besides Mr Godwin. At first the manhunt was expanded only to include the surrounding states of Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan, and Indiana. Mr Stephens' mobile phone signal had actually pinged near Erie, Pennsylvania during the morning of 17 April. Federal law enforcement did an initial search of the area but found nothing. Tips poured in and Mr Williams said the police had been getting calls from all over the country, as far away as Texas. Consequently, the search was expanded nationwide. Mr Anthony and Peter Elliott of the US Marshals Service confirmed that the manhunt for Mr Stephens was a top priority for both federal agencies. Reports of Mr Stephens being spotted near Philadelphia on 17 April resulted in several schools being put on lock down. The reported turned out to be a false alarm. Police circled back to search the Erie area once again on 18 April just hours before Mr Stephens pulled into the McDonald's. Mr Stephens worked at a behavioural health agency helping at-risk children through mental health counselling, adoption services, and foster care placement. The office closed on 17 April out of precaution. According to his video, he had also gone to visit his mother the day before Mr Godwin's murder. He reportedly told her that he was suicidal and likely to kill people, however he felt he was not taken seriously. 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 }} Four warships Donald Trump claimed were being sent to North Korea last week, were in fact steaming in the opposite direction to take part in military exercises with the Australian Navy over 3,500 miles away. The USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and three other ships in its fleet, which Mr Trump described as an armada, were said to have been deployed to the Sea of Japan as a show of force in response to North Koreas missile tests, military officials said on April 8. We are sending an armada. Very powerful. We have submarines. Very powerful, far more powerful than the aircraft carrier, that I can tell you, Trump said in an interview with Fox Business Network. White House press Secretary Sean Spicer explained that having the flotilla in the Sea of Japan within striking distance of Pyongyang gave President Trump options in the region. But it later emerged that at the time the statement was made, the ships were not steaming towards North Korea, but to a scheduled exercise in the Indian Ocean. At the time, the comments from the US government heightened tensions with Pyongyang, with North Koreas state news agency describing the supposed deployment as nothing but a reckless action of aggression to aggravate the tensions in the region. On Tuesday, White House officials said the statements had been based on information from the Defence Department, The New York Times reports. But officials in the Defence Department then described a confused sequence of events leading up to the announcement of the direction of the armada. With the President using the ships to bolster a muscular show of force, officials said that challenging the narrative became difficult. The location of the flotilla was revealed by the US Navy itself, which posted a photo online of the aircraft carrier passing through the Sundra Strait between Sumatra and Java in Indonesia. The photograph was taken four days after Mr Spicer had said the ships were on the move towards the Sea of Japan. Trade publication Defense News saw the photograph and spotted that the ships were at least three thousand miles from where the White House had briefed them as being. But the Defence Department has said the fleet is now travelling north and should arrive near the Korean peninsula early next week. Todd Weiler, the former Assistant Secretary of Defence for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, told The Independent the catalogue of errors could be due to a lack of political leadership within the Pentagon. Mr Weiler said he had not heard of any specific miscommunication issues but the lack of political appointees creates the obvious lack of direction on the Presidents policies. It allows career civil servants that are temporarily sitting in these positions to conduct their personal agendas, which can be counter to the former and current Presidents agenda, Mr Weiler said. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty He also noted however that it could just be a problem with the way the White House interprets facts. The Navy would never have said or suggested the USS Vinson was to arrive in the Sea of Japan without knowing, Mr Weiler said. 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 }} Democrats have hailed a strong performance in a Georgia special election vote that was seen as indicative of support for Donald Trump's presidency. Though he narrowly failed to secure an outright first round win, Democratic hopeful Jon Ossoff claimed his 48.3 per cent was a victory for the ages in the Atlanta congressional race. In a field of 18 candidates, including 11 Republicans, Mr Ossoff outperformed polls in Georgia's traditionally Republican 6th Congressional District. But he came just short of the 50 per cent he needed to make it into Congress without a run-off, allowing Mr Trump himself to claim the result was a "big 'R' win". Georgia voters are fighting back against Trump in special election In June, Mr Ossoff will go head-to-head with Republican candidate Karen Handel, who won just 19.5 per cent of the vote, with 185 of 210 precincts reporting. Republican voters are expected to rally around their last remaining candidate, presenting a greater challenge to the Democrat hopeful. But Mr Ossoff was undeterred. "This is already a victory for the ages," he told supporters. "We have defied the odds, we have shattered expectations." Others agreed. Former Labour Secretary Robert Reich tweeted: [Tom] Price won #GA06 by landslide victories every two years. Tonight's results are a huge repudiation of Trump in a ruby-red Republican district. And despite the President's confidence, some in his party were more cautious. Republican strategist Ford O'Connell said Republicans shouldn't be patting themselves on the back. Republicans have held the House of Representatives seat since 1979. Mr Price, the previous representative, has left the role to serve as Mr Trump's Health Secretary. Events were closely watched by the White House and it was widely seen as a bellwether poll on Mr Trumps performance so far. The President tweeted several times about the race on the day of the vote, urging Republicans to get out to vote. On Wednesday morning, he appeared to claim credit for preventing the Democrats taking an outright win. He tweeted: Despite major outside money, FAKE media support and eleven Republican candidates, BIG R win with runoff in Georgia. Glad to be of help! Mr Ossoff maintained during the campaign that he would be ready to face up to one Republican if it came to a head-to-head competition. Before the polls opened on Tuesday, he said to supporters: We will be ready to fight on and win in June if it is necessary. And there is no amount of dark money, super PAC, negative advertising that can overcome real grassroots energy like this. So bring it on. Trumped! The best cartoons on 'The Donald' Show all 28 1 /28 Trumped! The best cartoons on 'The Donald' Trumped! The best cartoons on 'The Donald' Brian Adcock Trumped! The best cartoons on 'The Donald' Dave Brown Trumped! The best cartoons on 'The Donald' Brian Adcock Trumped! The best cartoons on 'The Donald' Dave Brown Trumped! The best cartoons on 'The Donald' Dave Brown Trumped! The best cartoons on 'The Donald' Brian Adcock Trumped! The best cartoons on 'The Donald' Dave Brown Trumped! The best cartoons on 'The Donald' Dave Brown Trumped! The best cartoons on 'The Donald' Dave Brown Trumped! The best cartoons on 'The Donald' Brian Adcock Trumped! The best cartoons on 'The Donald' Dave Brown Trumped! The best cartoons on 'The Donald' Brian Adcock Trumped! The best cartoons on 'The Donald' Dave Brown Trumped! The best cartoons on 'The Donald' Brian Adcock Trumped! The best cartoons on 'The Donald' Dave Brown Trumped! The best cartoons on 'The Donald' Brian Adcock Trumped! The best cartoons on 'The Donald' Dave Brown Trumped! The best cartoons on 'The Donald' Brian Adcock Trumped! The best cartoons on 'The Donald' Brian Adcock Trumped! The best cartoons on 'The Donald' Christian Adams for Daily Telegraph Trumped! The best cartoons on 'The Donald' Martin Rowson for The Guardian Trumped! The best cartoons on 'The Donald' Christian Adams for Daily Telegraph Trumped! The best cartoons on 'The Donald' Morten Morland for The Times Trumped! The best cartoons on 'The Donald' Bob Moran for Daily Telegraph Trumped! The best cartoons on 'The Donald' Christian Adams for Daily Telegraph Trumped! The best cartoons on 'The Donald' Morten Morland for The Times Trumped! The best cartoons on 'The Donald' KAL for The Economist Trumped! The best cartoons on 'The Donald' Martin Rowson for The Guardian Mr Ossoffs "Make Trump Furious" campaign benefited from massive support from Democrats across the US. Volunteers and money, poured in from around the country - in total, $8.3 million (6.5 million) was raised, an unprecedented amount for the size of the contest. The 30-year-old filmmaker was seen as a unifying figure for the Democratic Party, in its first opportunity to bounce back after the shock of Mr Trumps election win last November. 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 }} American fighter jets have been scrambled to intercept Russian bombers off the coast of Alaska in the first such confrontation since Donald Trump took office. Two F-22 Raptor stealth jets and an E-3 Sentry early warning plane were dispatched in international airspace on Monday night. They flew alongside a pair of Tu-95 Bear bombers off Kodiak Island for several minutes on Monday evening, before the Russian aircraft peeled away and headed back towards their base. Navy Commander Gary Ross, a spokesman for the Pentagon, described the interception as safe and professional. The North American Aerospace Defense Command monitors approaches to the US area of interest, just outside its sovereign airspace. Russian military aircraft have been intercepted around 60 times since 2007, an official said, with the most recent incident coming in 2015. That saw a pair of Russian bombers fly just 40 miles off the coast of California and around Alaska on 4 July, when a pilot reportedly relayed the message: Good morning, American pilots. We are here to greet you on your Fourth of July Independence Day. Rex Tillerson: US have "low level of trust" with Russia A Russian intelligence ship, the Viktor Leonov, has recently been spotted off the US coast and two months ago, Russian aircraft had several encounters with the USS Porter as it sailed in the Black Sea. The latest interception comes after dozens of similar incidents across Europe, seeing multiple countries scramble jets to monitor Russian planes skirting EU airspace in what appear to be deliberate provocations. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican member of the House of Representatives, told CNN Vladimir Putins forces were trying to show their teeth by flying so close to the American coast. This was a show of force by the Russians to show us that they are still herean attempt to come up as close as they could to our international borders to see what our reaction would be, he added. US-Russian relations have soured in the wake of Mr Trumps vow to improve ties with Moscow, following mounting tensions over Syria, Ukraine and North Korea. On a visit to Russia last week, Rex Tillerson described the situation at a low point following talks with Mr Putin and his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty Mr Trump later said relations may be at an all-time low, amid continued investigations into alleged Russian support for his campaign, adding: Right now were not getting along with Russia at all. The situation has been echoed across Europe, where there has been concern over the possibility of Russian interference in upcoming elections in France and Germany. A rise in tensions has coincided with an increase in incidents involving Russian aircraft nearing European airspace, including in the UK. RAF jets have been scrambled on numerous occasions, including in February as Russian Blackjack bombers spent more than five hours circling the British Isles. Mr Putin has been accused of Cold War-style brinkmanship over a series of similar incidents, but the Kremlin has attacked Nato for warmongering with new deployments and extensive military drills in eastern Europe. In the Baltic Sea region alone, Russian planes were intercepted by Nato jets 110 times in 2016, the alliance said as it continues to increase its air policing capability. 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 }} Britain must step up efforts to undermine the leadership of North Korea using information from the outside world smuggled into the country to deal with an increasingly belligerent Kim Jong-un, rather than aping American threats of war, the UK's first ambassador to North Korea has said. Speaking to The Independent after a tense two weeks in which the North Korean leadership warned that "thermonuclear war may break out at any moment", David Slinn said Britain and its allies should infiltrate" the isolated state by disseminating USB sticks loaded with educational material that encourages free speech and criticism of the leadership. He said that would act as a powerful tool to sow dissent and undermine the top tiers of the regime without resorting to military action. Mr Slinn, the first and longest-serving British Ambassador to North Korea between 2002 and 2006, said encouraging North Koreans to question their supreme leader was key to bringing about a peaceful solution to the crisis. The practise of shipping USB sticks loaded with banned South Korean films and news from the outside world has long been used by defectors to undermine the regime. But Mr Slinn is rare among former UK diplomatic staff in openly calling for the technique to be used. "There is a very strong case for the international community to step up the efforts to infiltrate more information into North Korea," he said. "The channels exist and obviously the USB sticks are getting in. "Let's increase the amount of information that is going in there and increase the range of information. "North Korea's education system does not encourage critical thinking, so why can't we put on these USB sticks some developmental tools to encourage North Koreans to start thinking for themselves and asking the right questions." Last year the Human Rights Foundation launched an appeal for donations of old USB sticks which could be loaded with material such as the Korean language version of Wikipedia Earlier this week, Vice President Mike Pence warned that the patience of the US and its allies had "run out". But Mr Slinn, who now lives in Ottawa, cautioned against a knee-jerk response that tipped the region and the world into conflict. "It is very easy to start panicking and say 'oh my God, we've got no time, nuclear North Korea is on us and it's all horrendous'," the retired diplomat said, "but a military confrontation does not necessarily follow." Former North Korean defectors and US human rights activists release balloons carrying anti-North Korea leaflets at a park in the border town of Paju, north of Seoul (Getty) "There is no doubt that North Korea has pursued the strategic objective of acquiring an independent nuclear capability. "They are clearly making progress with it, and that represents a significant threat to regional and international security. "But if we put it in perspective, North Koreans have been able to hit Seoul with conventional missiles for many years now. "Clearly the threat is getting bigger, and it is a threat the international community would rather not have to deal with, not least because the regime is rather unpredictable. But he added that diplomatic channels remained the best option for deescalating the crisis, while sanctions should stay on the table: "The idea of having an embassy on the ground, talking to officials, reinforcing messages, seeing how officials react, the few quiet conversation that you get to have, they are valuable contributions." His comments are likely to be interpreted as a veiled criticism of Donald Trump and his inner circle, whose bellicose rhetoric and bombing of targets in Syria and Afghanistan has raised the stakes in an already volatile stand-off between two nuclear militaries. Britain is one of the few European countries with an embassy in North Korea, and Mr Slinn, who now lives in Canada but continues to work on getting more outside information into the DPRK, said the existence of diplomatic staff in Pyongyang gave the UK privileged access to the pariah state. It was revealed this week that North Korea has received more than 4 million in UK aid in the last six years, a figure criticised by former Tory defence minister Sir Gerald Howarth as "completely absurd". But Mr Slinn, who went on to head the UK's embassy in Croatia between 2012 and 2015, said there was a case for increasing British Government spending in the country. He said it should not be considered aid money but rather political funding as it was being used for political objectives rather than developmental ones. Asked about an increase in funding, he said: "If the embassy staff can get doors open for conversations with people, especially outside Pyongyang, then there is a case for that. 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 accused the US of creating a situation in which a thermonuclear war may break out at any moment, as hundreds of American troops began 11 days of joint military exercises with its southern neighbour. Roughly 1,000 American service members and about 500 South Korean troops will carry out Operation Max Thunder, a training exercise involving aircraft carriers, fighter jets and military drills. The Trump administration has stressed it is a routine drill, planned months ago. However, North Korea said that the presence of US troops in the Korean peninsula had created a situation in which a thermonuclear war may break out at any moment. Kim In-Ryong, the countrys ambassador the the UN, said Pyongyang was ready to react to any mode of war desired to the US. North Korea will continue to test missiles frequently, despite escalating tensions with the US, according to the secretive communist state's Foreign Ministry. We'll be conducting more missile tests on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis, Vice Foreign Minister Han Song-Ryol said. North Korea crisis: Mike Pence says 'time for failed dialogue is over' Their comments came after the US Vice President, Mike Pence declared earlier this week that the time for failed dialogue was over. As the President says, its time for them to behave, to listen to the world community and to set aside their nuclear ambitions, their ballistic missile ambitions, and be willing to join the family of nations, Mr Pence told CNN. Mr Pence made the statement after talks in Tokyo with the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The delegations from both countries agreed that they needed to persuade China to work more closely with them to deal with North Korean aggression, and use its extraordinary levers to pressure Pyongyang to abandon its weapons programme. 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 China is one of North Koreas largest trade partners, and the international community has called for multilateral economic sanctions against the regime. Beijing was forced to defend its continued trade with North Korea after Chinese-made trucks were used to display missiles in a Pyongyang military parade. "China has been performing its international obligations strictly, including those stipulated in the Security Council resolution, a spokesperson for the Chinese government told the Associated Press. But meanwhile, we carry on normal economic exchanges and trade with all parties including North Korea." 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 cargo ship heading from Russia to Turkey has sunk off the coast of Crimea and 11 of the crew are missing, Crimea's emergency situations ministry said. It said that the Panama-flagged vessel Geroi Arsenala had sent an SOS signal when it was located 14 nautical miles off the Crimean coast. The Interfax news agency cited Russian transport officials as saying that the ship, whose home port was reported to be Kherson in southern Ukraine, had broken in half during a strong storm and sunk. At least six ships and a helicopter were engaged in a search and rescue operation, the emergency situations ministry said in a statement. Their task was complicated however by high winds and choppy waters. Only one of the 12-person crew had been rescued so far, the ministry said, saying that the crew had been made up of nine Ukrainians, two Russians and one Georgian. 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 Preliminary information suggested the ship was en route from the southern Russian port of Azov to Turkey and that its cargo was grain, the ministry said. Reuters For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trumps ambassador to the UN has said the world cannot ignore reports of gay men being detained, tortured and killed in Chechnya, amid growing international concern. Nikki Haley said she was disturbed by allegations that officials under the control of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov are rounding up dozens of men on suspicion of being gay, with at least three feared to have died so far. If true, this violation of human rights cannot be ignored - Chechen authorities must immediately investigate these allegations, hold anyone involved accountable, and take steps to prevent future abuses, Ms Haley said. We are against all forms of discrimination, including against people based on sexual orientation. When left unchecked, discrimination and human rights abuses can lead to destabilisation and conflict. Freed victims said they feared being "outed" by authorities and attacked or killed by relatives, after being abducted at police checkpoints. People hold a protest outside Russian Embassy in London, following reports of the torture and murder of gay men in Chechnya on 12 April (Josh Withey) They started beating me with their fists and feet. They wanted to get names of my gay friends from me, one man told CNN. Then they tied wires to my hands and put metal clippers on my ears to electrocute me. They've got special equipment, which is very powerful. When they shock you, you jump high above the ground. A Russian newspaper exposed a brutal campaign allegedly waged by law enforcement and security officials earlier this month, sparking angry denials from the Chechen government and ambivalence in the Kremlin. Novaya Gazetas staff have received threats of retribution for their work, which the Chechen interior ministry dismissed as an April fools joke. A spokesman for Mr Kadyrov, a former militia leader and ally of Vladimir Putin, claimed the report was impossible as there were no gay people in the Russian republic. LGBT+ rights around the globe Show all 9 1 /9 LGBT+ rights around the globe LGBT+ rights around the globe Russia Russias antipathy towards homosexuality has been well established following the efforts of human rights campaigners. However, while it is legal to be homosexual, LGBT couples are offered no protections from discrimination. They are also actively discriminated against by a 2013 law criminalising LGBT propaganda allowing the arrest of numerous Russian LGBT activists. AFP/Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Brunei Brunei recently introduced a law to make sodomy punishable by stoning to death. It was already illegal and punishable by up to 10 years in prison AFP/Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Mauritania Men who are found having sex with other men face stoning, while lesbians can be imprisoned, under Sharia law. However, the state has reportedly not executed anyone for this crime since 1987 Alamy LGBT+ rights around the globe Sudan Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal under Sudanese law. Men can be executed on their third offence, women on their fourth Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Saudi Arabia Homosexuality and gender realignment is illegal and punishable by death, imprisonment, whipping and chemical castration Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Yemen The official position within the country is that there are no gays. LGBT inviduals, if discovered by the government, are likely to face intense pressure. Punishments range from flogging to the death penalty Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Nigeria Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal and in some northern states punishable with death by stoning. This is not a policy enacted across the entire country, although there is a prevalent anti-LGBT agenda pushed by the government. In 2007 a Pew survey established that 97% of the population felt that homosexuality should not be accepted. It is punishable by 14 years in prison Reuters LGBT+ rights around the globe Somalia Homosexuality was established as a crime in 1888 and under new Somali Penal Code established in 1973 homosexual sex can be punishable by three years in prison. A person can be put to death for being a homosexual Reuters LGBT+ rights around the globe Iraq Although same-sex relationships have been decriminalised, much of the population still suffer from intense discrimination. Additionally, in some of the country over-run by the extremist organisation Isis, LGBT individuals can face death by stoning Getty If there were such people in Chechnya, law-enforcement agencies wouldnt need to have anything to do with them because their relatives would send them somewhere from which there is no returning, Alvi Karimov said. Some of the more than 100 suspected gay men said to have been held in secret detention centres have undergone forced disappearances, while others were returned to their families with severe injuries after torture and humiliation. Novaya Gazeta found that police held the men for periods ranging from one day to several weeks, mainly at an unofficial detention centre near Argun, and sometimes outed them to relatives who were encouraged to carry out honour killings. Russian investigators opened a probe into threats made against journalists over their reports, after the newspaper appealed to the Kremlin for protection following a gathering of Chechen Muslim clerics. Chechnyas press minister demanded journalists name interviewed victims and apologise for their filthy provocation. Mr Kadyrov later said he had met with the region's human rights council on Sunday and proclaimed that rights have undergone a grandiose improvement. Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov's spokesman calls report 'absolute lies and disinformation' and said gay men don't exist in the Muslim-majority region (ALEXEY NIKOLSKY/AFP/Getty Images) (AFP/Getty) He accused international organisations of conducting a massive information attack...using the most unworthy methods, reality is distorted, attempts are being made to blacken our society, lifestyle, traditions and customs. Mr Putins spokesman said the Kremlin did not have any reliable information on the alleged abuses, which come after Russia adopted an anti-LGBT propaganda law" 2013. The campaign of abuse in Chechnya, which started in February, has drawn condemnation from the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the EU and US. The UN called on all men detained in the purge to be released and for Russian authorities to condemn official statements inciting hatred and violence. It is crucial that reports of abductions, unlawful detentions, torture, beatings and killings of men perceived to be gay or bisexual are investigated thoroughly, a group of human rights experts said. These are acts of persecution and violence on an unprecedented scale in the region, and constitute serious violations of the obligations of the Russian Federation under international human rights law. 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 }} Child refugees in northern France are facing exploitation and violence on a daily basis, including threats from adult men armed with knives and machetes, Unicef has warned. An alarming report has revealed that unaccompanied minors who lived in the Grande-Synthe refugee camp in Dunkirk before it burnt down last week were constantly fearful of sexual abuse and attacks with weapons, and that no one including the police was there to care for them or to protect them. In a series of interviews conducted by Unicef last month, 13 unaccompanied minors said due to brutal treatment by the authorities in France during their journeys, they had turned to smugglers and traffickers who were offering information and apparent protection, but who in turn abused and exploited them. The report also found that despite frequent contacts with the authorities in European countries on their journeys towards the UK, children have repeatedly been ill-informed about their legal rights to protection, including their right to be reunited with their families. The boys interviewed, all from Kurdish Iraq and Afghanistan and all of whom are going through the legal process of being united with family in the UK, said they had fled conflict and recounted numerous horrific stories about their journeys through Europe, including being assaulted by the police and arbitrarily detained. Once in Dunkirk, the children were controlled by a group of Kurdish traffickers, and all described the immense violence in the camp. The study reported that there was particularly strong pressure on the Afghan boys, who were segregated from the Kurds and forced to carry out tasks for the traffickers and to sleep on the floor of the communal kitchen. One 16-year-old boy, named Can and from Afghanistan told Unicef: The Kurdish gangs are very dangerous. They have weapons. Every third evening there are gunshots. The police dont want to get involved. I know in any case that they are not there to protect us. Another Afghan boy, aged 15, said: They threaten me so I will pay them. There is gunfire, tear gas, knives, machetes. None of the children interviewed had been informed of their right to apply to be reunited with their families members legally, with the only child who had heard about this having learnt from his father following a BBC report on this issue. Recommended Surge in child refugees in Calais creates terrifying new market Unaccompanied children anywhere in Europe are currently entitled to apply for a transfer of their asylum case to the country where their family member is residing, but the study found that most children only discover there is a legal process for reuniting with their family members by word of mouth once they reach the camp in Dunkirk. They said they feared detention and deportation to the first countries of the EU they passed through or their country of origin in these cases Hungary or Bulgaria so tried to avoid having their fingerprints taken in Italy and France. Unicef said this fear to engage with official processes was compounded the childrens lack of trust in the authorities, which had prevented them from learning about their rights and encouraged them to turn to smugglers and traffickers as their only perceived source of protection and their only realistic option to join family members in the UK. The report also warned that the uncertain situation is having a negative impact on the childrens mental health, and often they end up risking their lives to cross illegally to the UK from Dunkirk even though they have ongoing legal processes. One Kurdish boy told Unicef: Im regretful. Its been five months since I tried to cross. And my friends have all crossed. Im waiting for my file, I have a lawyer, but I dont have any news. Since the Dunkirk camp was destroyed by a large fire last Monday, people who had been living there have been transported in buses to temporary accommodation centres across France. But charities have warned that many of the unaccompanied minors who had been living in the camp have chosen not to board the buses and appear to be turning to people smugglers instead. Michael McHugh, a volunteer for the Refugee Youth Service, told The Independent: The exploitation of unaccompanied children is still at play now that the camp is gone probably even more so. People were initially evacuated to local gymnasiums, but there was no accommodation designated for these minors. Buses have been taking people to centres, but many children have chosen not to get on them due to mistrust of the authorities. Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Show all 7 1 /7 Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis The Solidarity With Refugees group said Saturdays protest aimed to show our Government and the world that Britain is ready to welcome more refugees. Rex Features Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis People march through central London as they take part in a protest rally organised by Solidarity with Refugees in a bid to urge the Government to take more action on the migrant crisis Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis The protest comes days before world leaders meet to discuss crisis at UN General Assembly Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Demonstrators made their way from Park Lane to Parliament Square in London on Saturday afternoon Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Marchers chanted refugees are welcome here and waved banners reading no-one is illegal and lets help people Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis The march was supported by charities and groups including the Red Cross, Asylum Aid, Save the Children, Hope Not Hate, Oxfam and the UN Refugee Agency Rex Features Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis In the wake of Alans death, David Cameron pledged to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees in the UK over the coming five years but there have been additional calls to re-home those who have already reached Europe, as well as asylum seekers coming from other conflict zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan Rex Features The fact is that those who believe they are unable to access official legal claims for asylum will resort to unofficial channels. Obviously, for the individuals within that camp who profited from smuggling people or enabling transfers, its not really in their interest for people to go off to centres. There have been serious concerns about one child who was dissuaded from getting onto a bus or speaking to volunteers by the adults he was with. When kids have family in the UK but dont think the legal system will help them, and they have an adult who speaks their language or who you know has helped people cross over into the UK, they tend to listen to them rather than government authorities, security guards or riot police. At the time of the Unicef research in March 2017, there were around 100 unaccompanied children in the camp. None of the boys interviewed who were going through the family reunion legal process had been given accommodation, nor were they able to explain what was happening in their legal cases, according to the report. For a journey from Afghanistan or from Kurdish Iraq to France unaccompanied minors can be charged between 3,000 (2,500) and 10,000 8,400) and if the hope of being transferred legally to the UK does not work out they can end up paying smugglers/traffickers a further 3,000 to 12,000 to cross from France to the UK. All the boys interviews mentioned that they would probably have to repay the money in full to the family member who lent it, and although all want to study, they risk economic exploitation when they arrive in the UK in order to pay their debts. Commenting on the study, Unicef UK deputy executive director Lily Caprani said: The stories that these children tell in our latest study are truly shocking. From being beaten in detention centres en route to living in fear of the gangs controlling Dunkirk, these are situations that no child should be in. The fire last week in the camp, although undoubtedly terrifying for those children living through it, is a distressing reminder that the UKs rules for helping children reach their families are broken. If the legal process worked, children may have never have found themselves in such a squalid, dangerous environment. Recommended Hundreds of refugees unaccounted for after fire destroys Dunkirk camp The Government must fix the family reunion rules so that children can reach the safety of their family without ever having to face such a dangerous journey across Europe. Olivier Peyroux, a sociologist and senior expert on migration and people trafficking, who helped draw up the report, accused the authorities of failing to put any provisions in place for vulnerable unaccompanied minors, saying their delicate mental state and the dangers they were facing at the hands of smugglers and traffickers were being "denied". The presence of minors hasn't really been taken into consideration. No provisions seem to have been put in place for them. Some of them have therefore left for Paris notably Afghan minors before probably attempting the crossing in a few weeks," Mr Peyroux told The Independent. Their declining psychological state and the dangers they face continue to be denied by the child protection authorities, despite both France and the UK being signatures of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Rabbi Janet Darley, spokesperson for Safe Passage, which was working with unaccompanied minors in Dunkirk to help establish safe routes to the UK or claim asylum in France, said in light of the report: Safe Passage and partners identified 80 children in the Dunkirk camp who had every legal right to reunite with family members here in Britain. Instead, as this report highlights, they were ignored by both governments and left exposed to daily risk of exploitation and trafficking. Theresa May has rightly made tackling modern slavery a priority of her Government. With the Dunkirk camp now destroyed, she must demonstrate this commitment by urgently reuniting all eligible children with their families here in Britain, or risk many more disappearing into the hands of traffickers. The report comes a year after Unicefs 2016 report, Neither Safe Nor Sound, which looked at conditions for children in refugee camps in northern France. Unicef described it as alarming that six months on, the situation on the ground has become no less dangerous for children. Ms Caprani of Unicef added that following the fire in the Grande-Synthe camp, it was time that effective and prompt transfers were facilitated for unaccompanied minors. 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 current situation gives us an opportunity to now focus on organising effective prompt transfers for those children who have relatives in the UK. Many of the children in the camp were in a legal process for family reunion in the UK, supported by Safe Passage, she said. Their family reunion cases must be facilitated to continue and the bureaucratic delays holding up their cases overcome. As this report indicates, many of the children who have a legal right to be living with family in the UK are beginning to question the choice they made of going through the official process to be reunited with their loved ones, as it is taking so long. We must learn from what happened in Calais, when the UK showed it could do what it takes to get children to safety in a crisis. Similar support must be given to children in Dunkirk currently facing an uncertain future, to prevent these children disappearing and falling into the hands of traffickers looking to exploit them. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} An Isis flag, a wig and a mask have been found amid guns and homemade explosives at the home of two men suspected of planning an imminent terror attack during Frances presidential election. Clement Baur and Mahiedine Merabet had pledged allegiance to Isis in a video intercepted by French and British intelligence services on 12 April. It included footage of children killed in alleged coalition air strikes in Syria and Iraq and showed an Uzi submachine gun on a table, next to the front page of Frances Le Monde newspaper from March. It was dedicated to Francois Fillons election campaign and is believed to be one of the factors leading investigators to believe the plot was timed for voting starting on Sunday. Francois Molins, the Paris public prosecutor, would not confirm which candidate was targeted but confirmed the three frontrunners Mr Fillon, Emmanuel Macron Marine Le Pen had been alerted to the risk. Investigators managed to locate the apartment, Mr Molins told a news conference. He said a tip-off from another country indicated Merabet was likely to carry out an attack and was seeking to contact Isis militants, either to pledge allegiance or ask the group to claim responsibility for the planned attack. Clement B (left) and Mahiedine M (right) were arrested in Marseille, southern France (Getty) These two radicalised men intended to commit in the very short-term by that I mean in the coming days an attack on French soil, said the interior minister, Matthias Fekl. They were arrested on Tuesday morning at a flat they had been renting for less than three weeks in Marseille, where the Uzi, two handguns, ammunition, a hunting knife, a map of the city, a balaclava and a GoPro camera were found. An Isis flag and Quran was discovered, as well as a mask associated with the Anonymous hacking collective and a chestnut wig, suggesting plans for a disguise. Mr Molins said jihadi propaganda was also found, alongside 3kg of homemade triacetone triperoxide (TATP) explosive drying in three packages only one of which was ready for use. The volatile explosive, known as the mother of Satan, is cheap to make using commercially available chemicals but difficult to detect, and has become a trademark of Isis plots and attacks including in Brussels and Paris. Isis has shared bomb-making manuals on how to manufacture the substance, while calling on supporters to wage terror attacks against countries in the US-led coalition bombing its ever-shrinking territory in Syria and Iraq. Baur, 23, is suspected of attempting to join the so-called Islamic State in Syria after being freed from prison, where he had been jailed for petty crime under the name Ismail Djabrailov. He was put in a cell in Sequedin prison with Merabet, 29, who was serving a jail sentence for drug dealing, and the pair became inseparable. Baur had converted to Islam at the age of 14 and was in contact with the Chechen community of Nice, while Merabet was suspected of attempting to obtain weapons after being released in 2016. His former home in Roubaix, near Lille, was searched by counter-terror police who uncovered an Isis flag and jihadi propaganda in December, but Merabet was not there and a roommate later revealed to be Baur gave police a false name. Merabet, who had 12 convictions, taunted police in the town by sending them his ID and debit card on 4 April, with the message: Im giving you my ID and my card as because of you, I have more use for them. Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Show all 9 1 /9 Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Policemen outside Rouen's cathedral during the funeral of Jacques Hamel, the priest who was killed in a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in Normandy on 26 July during a hostage-taking claimed by Islamic State group Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Two jihadists, both 19, slit Hamel's throat while he was celebrating mass in an attack that shocked France as well as the Catholic Church Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Muslims place flowers and hold a minute of silence in front of the church if Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, western France, where French priest Jacques Hamel was killed on 26 July Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Two people hold each other by the new makeshift memorial in Nice, in tribute to the victims of the deadly Bastille Day attack at the Promenade des Anglais Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the truck attack that killed 84 people in Nice on France's national holiday. Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, 31, smashed a 19-tonne truck into a packed crowd of people in the Riviera city celebrating Bastille Day Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Police work at a site where a Syrian migrant set off an explosive device in Ansbach, southern Germany, on 25 July, killing himself and wounding a dozen others Daniel Roland/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis A Syrian migrant set off an explosion at a bar in southern Germany that killed himself and wounded a dozen others in the third attack to hit Bavaria in a week. The 27-year-old, who had spent a stint in a psychiatric facility, had intended to target a music festival in the city of Ansbach but was turned away because he did not have a ticket Friebe/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Police officers walk along train tracks in Wuerzburg southern Germany on 19 July, a day after a man attacked train passengers with an axe. German authorities said they had found a hand-painted IS flag among the belongings of the man, an asylum seeker from Afghanistan, who seriously injured four members of a family of tourists from Hong Kong in his rampage Daniel Roland/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis German police killed a teenage assailant after he attacked passengers on a train in Wuerzburg, southerg Germany with an axe and a knife on 18 July, seriously wounding three people Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/AFP/Getty Images I will soon surrender, we will talk. To you the security forces, what do you want from me? Let me breathe, I have nothing to say to you. I live on love alone, I meditate. Leave me alone. Bye! Recommended How Isis is turning young criminals into new brand of terrorist The French pairs criminal history fits with a long line of Isis militants, including most of the Paris and Brussels attackers, some of whom also spent time together in prison. The group is known to directly target former gang members and convicts looking for redemption in online recruitment, with more than half of known European jihadis having a criminal past. Baurs family had alerted authorities to his radicalisation and French officials said he had links to jihadi networks in Belgium, which had started a separate investigation. The Brussels prosecutor said an alert had been issued over Baur, who was wanted for questioning, but he had not been traced in Belgium since the end of 2015. The plot was foiled just days before the first round of voting in the French presidential election, where security has taken centre stage following the murder of almost 240 people in two years of terror attacks. With the country still under a repeatedly extended state of emergency, Mr Fekl said 50,000 police, gendarmes and soldiers would be deployed for each leg of the election, and security reinforced for the candidates. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 19 By Elena Kosolapova Trend: Kazakhstans SaryarkaAvtoProm car assembling plant has started producing Ankai buses and crossovers, the plant said in a message. The serial production was launched through a teleconference at the eighth meeting of the Kazakhstan-China Cooperation Committee April 19. SaryarkaAvtoProm will produce two Ankai bus models: Ankai GK39 diesel busses and Ankai GK39 gas busses. These are 8, 10.5 and 12 meters long busses, which have seating capacity for 80 people and meet ecological standard Euro 5. SaryarkaAvtoProm is a part of AllurGroup. Last week, the China National Machinery Import & Export Corporation signed an agreement on intention to acquire a 51 percent share in AllurGroup. The plant assembles such car brands as SsangYong, Toyota, Geely, Jac and Iveco. 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 }} Almost 30 migrants have been found dead in a boat drifting off the coast of Libya as the number of refugees dying in attempts to reach Europe reach record highs. Fishermen found the bodies of 28 people, including four children, in waters near the smuggling hub of Sabratha after more than 8,300 asylum seekers were rescued over the Easter weekend. Their boat stopped in the middle of the water because the engine was broken, said Ahmaida Khalifa Amsalam, the interior ministrys security commander. He said the victims appeared to have died of thirst and hunger after their vessel was left drifting in the Mediterranean. They were buried in a cemetery dedicated to migrants whose bodies are regularly washed up on the coast of Libya, which remains embroiled in a bloody civil war six years after the UK helped overthrow Muammar Gaddafi. Smugglers have increasingly resorted to packing migrants into flimsy dinghies that are unable to survive the crossing to Europe, with some being intercepted and forced back by the Libyan coastguard, others being rescued by EU officials and aid agencies, and many sinking. Tuesdays tragic discovery was the latest incident of refugees being found dead inside boats, with a worrying trend emerging suggesting engines are being removed or sabotaged at sea. The bodies of 74 migrants were washed ashore near Zawiyah in another boat disaster in February (IFRC) The bodies of more than 70 migrants washed up in a dinghy in Zawiyah earlier this year in what aid agencies said suggested the deliberate punishment or murder of migrants. Joel Millman, from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), said that boats engine was believed to have been removed at sea, possibly by smugglers or armed gangs. In most cases you dont find remains in a boat you find them washed up or floating, although there have been cases of suffocation on board, he told The Independent. We have heard about arguments occurring with smugglers, where people refuse to get in a boat because they are concerned it isnt seaworthy. Then theres violence and people are killed, while the rest are forced inside. The latest disaster came as the Austrian government called for the Central Mediterranean passage to be shut down, like the crossing from Turkey to Greece and Balkans route. A rescue in the open sea cannot be a ticket to Europe, because it hands organised traffickers every argument to persuade people to flee for economic reasons, interior minister Wolfgang Sobotka told Germanys DPA news agency. In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea Show all 7 1 /7 In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea A baby being taken on to MSF's Bourbon Argos ship from a boat carrying 130 migrants and refugees Lizzie Dearden In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea A refugee boat carrying 101 people being rescued by MSF's Bourbon Argos Lizzie Dearden In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea A refugee boat carrying 101 people being rescued by MSF's Bourbon Argos all images by Lizzie Dearden In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea A baby among refugees on a boat carrying 185 people off the coast of Libya Lizzie Dearden In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea Migrants and refugees sleeping after being rescued by MSF's Bourbon Argos ship Lizzie Dearden In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea A crew from MSF's Bourbon Argos ship rescuing a boat carrying 130 migrants and refugees off the coast of Libya, at sunrise Lizzie Dearden In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea A woman in a stretcher being lifted onto MSF's Bourbon Argos ship from a boat carrying 130 migrants and refugees off the coast of Libya Lizzie Dearden [Stopping crossings to Europe] is the only way to end the tragic and senseless deaths in the Mediterranean. His comments followed months of growing political attacks on NGOs, who say they have no involvement in trafficking and are only conducting search and rescue missions because of the EUs failure to tackle the refugee crisis. More than 5,000 refugees were drowned, suffocated or died of hypothermia at sea in 2016 the vast majority on the Central Mediterranean route from Libya, which is now the deadliest crossing in the world. That total is expected to be surpassed this year, with the official UN death toll already nearing 1,000 even before the start of the peak season. The controversial EU-Turkey deal slowed comparatively shorter and safer boat crossings over the Aegean Sea to a trickle last year, but the number of migrants on the treacherous passage from Libya to Italy has continued to increase. More than 40,000 asylum seekers have been taken to shore by rescue ships in Italy so far this year, while others arrive in Spain, Greek islands, and Cyprus. The arrivals are putting huge pressure on the Italian government, which is already housing about 176,000 migrants in reception facilities, while thousands more remain trapped in Greece, Serbia and across Europe. European leaders met in Malta earlier this year to discuss efforts to stem the crisis but resolutions to increase funding and support for Libyan authorities were criticised amid allegations of widespread human rights abuses. Italian coastguard rescues thousands of refugees off coast of Libya The country remains divided between battling militias accused of kidnapping, torturing, detaining and ransoming migrants or forcing them into labour and prostitution as a source of income. Nato has received a request from the fragile Libyan Government of National Accord for support, while Italy has pledged millions of euros in funding for anti-smuggling initiatives. It is preparing to deliver patrol boats to the countrys coastguard, which is itself accused of killing and beating migrants, for increased push-back operations. Flavio di Giacomo, an IOM spokesman in Italy, said the vessels imminent arrival could be driving a dramatic increase in attempted crossings that saw more than 8,300 people rescued from 55 boats over the Easter weekend. The rescues saw 13 bodies recovered, including that of an eight-year-old boy. Mr Di Giacomo said smugglers were using the threat of fresh patrols to coerce their customers into crossing. They are telling them the Libyan coastguard is going to be in charge of all rescue operations and send them back to Libya, which is the last thing they want to do, he told The Independent. It is just one of the methods used to get more money and hurry them up they use all the information they can get from Europe to improve their business. Mr Di Giacomo said smugglers were known to force refugees into boats at gunpoint and beat any with concerns over the flimsy vessels, adding: The conditions for migrants in Libya are worsening. A lot of them never wanted to go to Europe, they wanted to work in Libya and then they got stuck and abused. They see crossing the Mediterranean as the only way out. 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 }} Religious schools in Austria help create parallel societies, a new report has claimed. The Vienna University study found 10,000 children aged between two and six attend a Muslim preschool. However, lead author professor Ednan Aslan has claimed some preschools could be responsible for producing the homegrown terrorists of the future. Vienna has roughly 150 Muslim kindergartens and Mr Aslan believes at least a quarter have the backing of ultra-conservative groups. "Parents are sending their kids to establishments that ensure they are in a Muslim setting and learn a few suras (chapters from the Koran)," Mr Aslan of Vienna University told AFP. "But they are unaware that they are shutting them off from a multicultural society. However many are sceptical of Mr Aslans findings and have called into question his methodology. One local magazine sent an undercover reporter to 14 Muslim schools and found no evidence to back up Mr Aslans claims. 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 However, a third of the schools visited were identified as problematic by the magazine and could be seen to be cutting off or isolating children from mainstream society. Vienna officials have now commissioned a second report to verify the claims, which will be published later in the year. It came as Austrias coalition government promised to ban Muslim face-covering veils in January in an attempt to counter the rise of the far-right Freedom Party. The anti-Islam Freedom Party (FPO) has topped opinion polls for months, boosted by the influx of more than a million migrants into Europe in the past two years and concerns over their impact on jobs and security. In December, the FPO candidate came close to winning Austrias presidential election. 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 Russian journalist known for his criticism of President Vladimir Putin has died after being beaten by unknown attackers, it has been reported. Nikolai Andrushchenko, 73, who co-founded the Novy Peterburg newspaper, was attacked six weeks ago and had been in a coma since then. He died on Wednesday in St Petersburg. His attackers have not been identified but Novy Peterburg editor Denis Usov linked the assault to articles in the newspaper about corruption in the city. Mr Andrushchenko was a member of the St Petersburg city council from 1990 until 1993. He made his name writing about human rights issues and crime. In 2007 he was imprisoned on charges of defamation and obstruction of justice following his coverage of a murder investigation and trial in St Petersburg, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). At the time Mr Andrushchenko's colleagues said they thought his detention was due to Novy Peterburg's critical coverage of local authorities ahead of parliamentary elections. In November that year he was beaten by unidentified attackers, CPJ said. 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 }} Up to 2.5 million votes could have been manipulated in Sunday's Turkish referendum that ended in a close yes vote for greater presidential powers, an Austrian member of the Council of Europe observer mission said on Tuesday. However Turkish authorities are not cooperating with efforts to investigate claims of possible election fraud, according to a senior official in the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which conducted a separate monitoring mission. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has dismissed criticisms of the vote, saying foreign observers should know their place. The foreign ministry said foreign monitors lacked objectivity and impartiality. The mission of observers from the 47-member Council of Europe, the continent's leading human rights body, had already pronounced the referendum to be an uneven contest. Support for Yes dominated campaign coverage, and the arrests of journalists and closure of media outlets silenced other views, according to Council of Europe and OSCE monitors. Alev Korun, an Austrian member of the Council's observer team, said there were questions about the actual voting as well. This is about the fact that actually the law only allows official voting envelopes. The highest election authority decided however - as it were, against the law - that envelopes without official stamp should be admitted, she told ORF radio. There is a suspicion that up to 2.5 million votes could have been manipulated, added Korun, a Greens member of the Austrian parliament. That number of votes would be almost double the margin of Erdogan's victory. Michael Georg Link, who headed the OSCE observer mission, said Turkey was not helping an investigation into possible irregularities, and Ankara's questioning of OSCE neutrality was clearly politically motivated. He declined comment on a possible change in the result of the referendum after any recount, but said the election commission's decision to allow incorrectly or non-stamped envelopes was a definite violation of Turkish law. Unfortunately we cannot talk about any cooperation, Link told the RND German newspaper chain. Erdogan's decision to extend the state of emergency for 90 days and comments in which the election commission has already rejected claims of manipulation send a clear message. Election authorities said preliminary results showed 51.4 percent of voters had backed sweeping new powers for Erdogan, something he says is needed to prevent instability. Turkey's main opposition began a battle on Tuesday to annul the referendum. Korun said police in the majority Kurdish town of Diyarbakir hindered two of her colleagues from entering voting locations. She also pointed to social media videos that seem to show people voting more than once, although this still had to be proven. 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 These complaints are to be taken very seriously and they are, in any case, of such an extent that they would turn around the outcome of the vote, Korun said. The pro-Kurdish opposition Peoples' Democratic Party said it presented complaints about unstamped ballots affecting 3 million voters, more than twice the margin of Erdogan's victory. Reuters For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Officials from US President Donald Trumps administration have notified Congress that Iran is complying with the terms of the historic 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by his predecessor Barack Obama - but that the current sanctions relief for the Islamic republic will still be reviewed. While the relief agreement remains in place, Iran remains a leading state sponsor of terror, through many platforms and methods, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson wrote in a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan late on Tuesday. The National Security Council-led interagency review will evaluate whether it is vital to the national security interests of the United States, he added. Michael Flynn: We're officially putting Iran on notice The certification of Iran's compliance, which must be sent to Congress every 90 days, is the first issued by the Trump administration. The deadline for this certification was midnight. Fresh sanctions - which would reflect Mr Trumps desire to fulfil his campaign promise about being tough on Iran - were rumoured in February, when they were viewed as a possible punitive measure after Tehran tested a mid-range ballistic missile. The administration said that Iran was on notice after what Tehran eventually said was a non-nuclear ballistic missile test, which did not break the terms of the agreed curbs on its nuclear programme. Relations between Tehran and Washington soured quickly since Donald Trump took office. The new president immediately set about imposing new financial penalties on individuals related to terror-related offences, and imposed a travel ban for citizens of Iran and six other Muslim countries, which was later defeated in several courts. 48 Hours In: Tehran, Iran Show all 2 1 /2 48 Hours In: Tehran, Iran 48 Hours In: Tehran, Iran 48 Hours In: Tehran, Iran In retaliation, Iran curtailed all travel visas for Americans for an indefinite amount of time, and the Central Bank announced the country will no longer use the US dollar for official statistics or financial reporting The presidents campaign trail proposal to scrap the nuclear deal altogether - which lifted the international sanctions which have crippled Irans economy in exchange for curbs on its nuclear weapons programme - was widely criticised for endangering an agreement which former Secretary of State John Kerry said made the world a safer place. While Tuesdays notice to Congress suggests that Mr Trump may now agree with the International Atomic Energy Agencys findings, it is thought the administration may be looking at other ways to ratchet up pressure on Tehran. The US maintains a separate sanctions list unrelated to nuclear issues which includes terrorism-related offences, human rights abuses, and for backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assads government. The West began to believe Iran was secretly pursuing a nuclear weapons programme under former Prime Minister Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, which led to the severe international financial penalties during his time in office between 2005 - 2013. He remains a controversial figure in Iran, where he surprised many last week by announcing his decision to run in Mays presidential election despite Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameneis recommendation he stays out of the race. In an interview with Al Jazeera broadcast on Wednesday, Mr Ahmedinejad said he was capable of bringing the country together, and implored other Middle Eastern nations to work with one another rather than against, particularly in regards to the Syrian conflict. All countries should change their policies, including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE and Bahrain, as well as Iran, Oman and Syria. We all have to do this by changing our current foreign policy. We have to sit with each other. Why are we fighting each other? What is the reason? he said. Agencies contributed to this report For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The French foreign minister has said that France's intelligence services have evidence that the Syrian government carried out the alleged chemical weapons attack on a rebel village earlier this month. "There is an investigation underway... it's a question of days and we will provide proof that the regime carried out these strikes," Jean-Marc Ayrault told LCP television on Wednesday. The suspected attack on Khan Sheikhun which killed 86 was found by British and Turkish scientists to have involved both sarin - a nerve gas - and chlorine. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has repeatedly denied his government has any chemical weapons stocks after agreeing to give them up to international monitors in 2013. The Syrian government surrendered its chemical arsenal to an international watchdog after the deaths of hundreds in a rebel-held suburb of Damascus in 2013, although the opposition has long accused the regime of holding back some of its supply. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has said it believes Mr Assad's government is responsible for at least two chemical weapons attacks that have occurred in Syria since then - claims the president also denies. Syria: What led to the US airstrikes? Damascus, along with its Russian and Iranian allies, have said that the casualties were caused when a conventional air strike on an al-Qaeda weapons depot nearby caused an explosion, releasing the deadly gases. Last week a senior US official also made the allegation that Russia knew in advance the attack was going to be carried out. US President Donald Trump was quick to retaliate against the perceived crossing of the chemical weapons 'red line', ordering what the White House called a warning shot barrage of 59 Tomahawk missiles which struck the regime-operated Shayrat airbase near Homs on April 7. The incident marked the first direct action against Mr Assads forces taken by the US since the civil war began more than six years ago. 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 Russian forces present at the base were given advance warning of the strike, which means it caused limited damage to Russian and Syrian air force capabilities despite its ferocity. Six Syrian servicemen were reported killed. Last week, Russia's representative to the United Nations vetoed a Security Council resolution which condemned the Khan Sheikhun attack and recommended an immediate international investigation. The draft text called on the Syrian government to provide flight plans, flight logs and other operational military information from the day of the strike. In his only interview since the chemical incident, Mr Assad said any investigation would have to be impartial, adding: When we make sure that unbiased countries will participate in this delegation in order to make sure that they won't use it for politicised purposes." 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 }} Distressing images of a man carrying an injured child away from a burning vehicle and another of him weeping next to a boys body have emerged from a bombing of a bus convoy that targeted Syrian civilians over the weekend. Photographer Abd Alkader Habak can be seen in one of the images, running away from the scene of the attack with a small boy in his arms. The pictures were shared by the Aleppo Media Centre, an umbrella group of anti-regime journalists and activists. Mr Habak told CNN that he had been documenting the evacuation of civilians from the besieged towns of Kefraya and Foua, held by forces loyal to the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. As buses passed through Rashidin in rebel territory to a town near Aleppo, the blast occured, briefly knocking him unconscious, he said. The scene was horrible - especially seeing children wailing and dying in front of you, he said. So I decided along with my colleagues that we'd put our cameras aside and start rescuing injured people. The first child he checked was dead, he added. The next was breathing raggedly, so Mr Habak picked him up and ran towards the nearest ambulance. In a second image, Mr Habak is seen kneeling and sobbinh next to the corpse of a dead child, unable to take in what he is witnessing. The heartbreaking photos, which have been shared online thousands of times, are just one insight into the horrors faced by the Syrian families that day. Families which left the two towns besieged by al Qaeda affiliated rebels after more than two years of enduring mortar fire, snipers and limited food and medical supplies did not make the decision lightly. Many had to leave loved ones behind. Shellshocked photographer and activist Abd Alkader Habak was overcome with grief after getting an injured child to safety (Aleppo Media Centre) The Qatar and Russia brokered deal also allowed the reciprocal passage of citizens of opposition towns Madaya and Zabadani to pass safely to rebel-controlled Idlib province. The suicide car bomb attack was reportedly carried out by a man who enticed children waiting near the buses at a checkpoint to come closer to his vehicle by handing out crisps and sweets, several rebel and regime media sources said. The bombing - which killed 126 people, among them 80 children - has not been claimed. While both sides have blamed the other for the attack, it is likely to have been carried out by extremist factions of Jaish al-Fatah, a rebel umbrella group with al Qaeda links, which was reportedly unhappy that the regime was allegedly bussing out more fighters than agreed. More than 100 killed in Syria bus blast By midweek the full evacuation programme appeared to have restarted, both rebel and state media said, with 3,000 residents of the pro-government villages Foua and Kefraya leaving on 45 buses. Another 11 buses carrying some 500 people, including opposition fighters, left Madaya and Zabadani, near Damascus, heading toward northern rebel-held Idlib province. The multiple-stage transfer deal, which could see 30,000 in total moved across front lines, has been widely criticised as not meeting base-level safety standards. The UN has said the swaps of mostly Shia and Sunni populations amounts to forced displacement along political and sectarian lines. Syria's civil war is now in its seventh year. The complex conflict has left 500,000 people dead. Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} By the end of 2017, all Bangkoks street food vendors will be gone, reported The Nation on April 18. The story captured the imagination of many news outlets and has now been covered by the international press to much wailing and gnashing of teeth. However, it is still unclear whether the controversial move is really happening. According to the story by The Nation, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has declared it will purge backpacker favourite Khao San Road and Yaowarat of the popular food stalls that line the streets. It reported the chief adviser to Bangkoks governor, Wanlop Suwandee, as saying: The BMA is now working to get rid of the street vendors from all 50 districts of Bangkok and return the pavements to the pedestrians. Yaowarat and Khao San Road will be our next goal in clearing out illegal vendors. But locals on the ground are suggesting Suwandee was misquoted, and that there is no proposed blanket ban for street food vendors rather, there will be more regulation around when and where vendors can set up and sell their wares. Richard Barrow, one of the longest running travel bloggers in Thailand, has claimed the report is fake news. He said on Twitter: Wanlop Suwandee, chief adviser to Bangkoks governor denied that he said Yaowarat and Khao San would be the next target. He added: As expected, the man The Nation interviewed denied he said there'll be a blanket ban on street food. Chinatown and Khao San will stay the same. Bangkok is world-famous for its street food scene (Getty Images) Sally Mairs, Thailand correspondent for news agency AFP, said Suwandee had told her that vendors would not be barred from these areas but regulated for example, they would only be allowed to sell during certain hours of the day. This idea is backed up by The Bangkok Post, which reported there are plans to "improve the pavements and impose zoning and opening hours on street food vendors on Yaowarat and Khao San roads" and that "footpaths would be repaved, cleanliness would be improved, food stalls would show unique designs, and traffic flows would be facilitated to prevent congestion." The Post's article does mention that street vendors have been removed from 431 locations in Bangkok; but this is reported in the context of bigger plans to improve the city. There is no suggestion of there being a ban in the areas mentioned. Grub street: Bangkok still reigns supreme when it comes to street food Show all 10 1 /10 Grub street: Bangkok still reigns supreme when it comes to street food Grub street: Bangkok still reigns supreme when it comes to street food 5487867_1.jpg John Brunton Grub street: Bangkok still reigns supreme when it comes to street food 5487868.jpg John Brunton Grub street: Bangkok still reigns supreme when it comes to street food 5487870.jpg John Brunton Grub street: Bangkok still reigns supreme when it comes to street food 5487872.jpg John Brunton Grub street: Bangkok still reigns supreme when it comes to street food 5487871.jpg John Brunton Grub street: Bangkok still reigns supreme when it comes to street food 5487873.jpg John Brunton Grub street: Bangkok still reigns supreme when it comes to street food 5487874.jpg John Brunton Grub street: Bangkok still reigns supreme when it comes to street food 5487879.jpg John Brunton Grub street: Bangkok still reigns supreme when it comes to street food 5487875.jpg John Brunton Grub street: Bangkok still reigns supreme when it comes to street food AN11516331bangkok-chatuchak.jpg John Brunton Thai natives are similarly sceptical about the alleged ban. Chin Chongtong, founder of Chili Paste Tour, which provides food and culture tours of Bangkok, said the ban had been wildly misreported. I think now is too early to say what is really going on, she told The Independent. Ive seen many articles by the foreign press saying Bangkok bans all street food that is ridiculous and untrue. Even if all vendors are cleared from main roads, they can still sell in many markets and small streets. And if they can move around, for instance if they have wheels on their cart, or even if buildings let them sell out front on private land, theres no problem thats how I understand it anyway. Chongtong said locals believe it is a matter of regulation rather than prohibition. She added: Im hearing people say today that vendors will be allowed to sell on footpaths at Yaowarat and other places after 7pm. A lot of streets in Bangkok have had this rule for over a year. We will soon see what is really going on. It's still unclear whether Bangkok's street food is really under threat (iStock) Chongtongs foodie tours wont be much affected by further regulation, as she takes guests to permanent covered markets and shop houses. But she is worried for some of her friends who are vendors should there really be a blanket ban on the practice. I am worried about the footpath vendors if they dont have a place to sell, how will they make money? she said. But I think sometimes its not safe or clean to have stoves on busy footpaths with lots of pedestrians. Holiday companies, meanwhile, are convinced that, ban or no ban, the capital will adapt and flourish. Louise Nathan, product and innovation manager for Thailand specialist Selective Asia, told The Independent: Everything changes so quickly in Bangkok, its constantly evolving. Every time I go back things have moved on. If its true that the street food vendors will be banned, its a real shame. But equally the Thai people are so entrepreneurial they always find a way to get around the changes that dont suit. Street food wont disappear people will find creative ways around the new rules, as they always have done. My feeling is that officials might focus on key areas where vendors will be prohibited, but there will be other areas that they can still do it. And a lot of the same food can be found in covered markets and floating markets around the city. Even with a potential regulatory crackdown on the horizon, there seems little danger that Bangkoks distinctive street food scene will disappear from the city. Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} United Airlines decided to have Dr David Dao dragged from the paid-for seat he was occupying at Chicago airport in order to free up space needed for flight crew. The following day, easyJet ordered a couple from London to leave their holiday flight from Luton to Catania because the airline had sold too many seats. These events and others like them have put the practice of overbooking in the spotlight. Here, Simon Calder explains why airlines sell seats that dont exist and your rights when they guess wrong about the number of no-shows. This guide applies for all flights from EU airports and on European airlines anywhere in the world; rules in the US and elsewhere differ, and in many countries there is no formal legislation about overbooking and denying boarding. Why is a business able to sell a product it may not be able to supply, in this case an airline seat from A to B? The narrow legal answer is that every airline (as far as I know) includes a clause in its ticket contract allowing it to deny boarding to any passenger it chooses. In addition, legislation such as the EC261 rules on passengers' rights implies that airlines can deny boarding, by specifying what they must do in the circumstances. There are many aspects of laws affecting aviation that diverge from normal commerce, such as the distance-selling regulations and provisions for disabled passengers. Airlines are allowed to overbook because real benefits flow from the practice, at least when it is carried out properly and generously. Benefits? For whom? Recommended Couple ordered off overbooked easyJet flight day after United scandal The airline, obviously, because when it gets overbooking right (for example selling five extra tickets for a 180-seat plane) it earns hundreds of pounds in revenue at negligible marginal cost. Airlines say it helps keeps fares down; easyJet says: Last year, nearly 3 million easyJet customers didnt show for their flights. When this happens, it means aircraft leave with empty seats, increasing our costs and therefore the price you pay for your flight. Many passengers have expressed scepticism about this claim, with one saying: We still pay the same fares whether the seat turns out to be fictitious or not. Planes undoubtedly fly fuller, which means that the environmental impact per passenger is reduced. Perhaps the most tangible benefit is that passengers who need to travel urgently are able to buy tickets for a particular departure even if it is theoretically sold out. Being able to buy a seat isnt much help if youre then turned away from the plane Agreed. But when a flight is blown (airline jargon for to many passengers turning up), if overbooking is handled properly only passengers who are happy to postpone their trip in return for an inducement will stay grounded. The rules obliged the airline to offer incentives such as money or travel vouchers. The trouble is: the carrier is not compelled to keep upping the bribe until enough passengers are found. With time pressure a constant factor in aviation, the evidence is that on (too) many occasions, airlines rest to involuntary offloads. Im off the plane (or, more likely, have not been allowed on). What next? You must be handed a written statement of your rights. Three important elements: 1: You are entitled to re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at the earliest opportunity. 2: The airline must immediately compensate you. The payment varies according to the length of the flight. Under 1,500km, for example London to Barcelona, the fixed rate is 250 (about 220); 1,500-3,500km, e.g. Edinburgh-Rome, 400 (350); longer trips 600 (525). But if the airline can get you to your destination within two/three/four hours respectively of the expected time, the compensation is halved. 3: Additional expenses such as meals and accommodation while you wait to reach your destination are also the airlines responsibility. If the carrier fails to deliver care as stipulated, you should keep receipts for refreshments (not including alcohol) and accommodation in order to claim it back. The airline says I can only travel on its flights, not a rivals services. Is this correct? Recommended Aviation insiders weigh in on the United fiasco No, but it is an issue that needs urgent clarification. For example easyJet says if it can get you to your destination no more than 48 hours late on its own services, it will not book a rivals flights. But the rules specify at the earliest opportunity. The Civil Aviation Authority is currently investigating the practice. A spokesperson for the CAA said: The passenger rights around flight cancellations and re-routing are protected under European law and all UK airlines must comply with these regulations. The rules state that if a flight is cancelled you must be offered the choice between an alternative flight or re-route at the earliest opportunity or at a date that suits you, or offered a full refund. In circumstances where there is a significant difference in the time that a re-route can be offered on an airlines own services and flights provided by other airlines, then it would be reasonable that a re-route should be made available on another airline. We recognise different airlines have different policies in regards to re-routing and as part of our continuing work to ensure airline compliance with passenger rights regulations, we will be carrying out a review of how effectively airlines re-route passengers when their flight is cancelled later this year. How can I minimise the chance of being denied boarding against my will? Some airlines do not routinely overbook. The giant budget carrier, Ryanair, says it is "the only airline in Europe that does not overbook its flights". On airlines which do overbook, the short, if unhelpful, answer is: dont book a ticket on a popular flight. That means more or less any time during the school holidays, but especially outbound from the UK at the start of the holiday and inbound to Britain at the end; Fridays, Sunday afternoon/evening and Monday morning. Saturdays in summer can also be tricky. But with airlines filling a higher proportion of seats on planes than ever, most departures can be oversold. Perhaps a more helpful answer is: check in as early as you can. Britains biggest budget airline, easyJet, says that the last people to check in online for a flight will be offloaded if more passengers turn up than the number of seats available unless volunteers come forward. Other airlines, including British Airways, do the same, but joining a loyalty scheme can also help minimise the risk. BA says: We will usually deny boarding based upon check-in time, but we may also consider factors such as severe hardships, fare paid, and status within our frequent flier program. Check-in for easyJet opens 30 days before departure; for BA, its 24 hours. If you cant check in online and get a message saying something like, We are unable to process this booking, please sort it out at the airport, theres a fair chance youre in the frame for possibly being denied boarding. Is simple greed on the part of the airline the only reason to be denied boarding? No, other possible causes include a plane substitution (eg an Airbus A320 instead of a larger A321) or weight-and-balance issues, where the full payload cannot be carried. And if an escape slide is accidentally blown by cabin crew, the aircraft can still fly by the number of passengers allowed on board will be reduced. So the flight will be blown, too. Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} One Newfoundland town marked Easter in a slightly different way than usual this year when a special visitor turned up in the shape of a giant iceberg. Ferryland, an hour south of St Johns on Canadas east coast, became a magnet for camera-wielding locals and visitors over the long weekend when the giant blue iceberg appeared off-shore, dwarfing houses, cars and people on land. The town has a prime view of Iceberg Alley so called because from spring to September, icebergs regularly break off in the Arctic and float down past the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. Over 600 have already floated into the North Atlantic this year, compared to a total of 687 over the whole season. Experts believe that this years bumper crop is down to strong counter-clockwise winds, as well as global warming. Although most of the icebergs pass happily down the coast, Ferrylands new visitor appears to be grounded, mayor Adrian Kavanagh told The Canadian Press. And while the coast alongside it was packed over the weekend, if, as predicted, it sticks around, the number of visitors is expected to grow. The area off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador is known as Iceberg Alley (Reuters) Photos of the iceberg have already piled up on social media. One even appears to show a helicopter parked on the ice, dwarfed by the berg. Its the biggest one I have ever seen around here, Kavanagh said of the berg. Meanwhile, Ferryland is bracing for more visitors and also more icebergs. According to Kavanagh, there are up to six big ones in the distance that could make their way down if winds pick up. The iceberg dwarfs the town around it and even a helicopter that was supposedly parked on top (Reuters) If you want to see it, prepare for a trek: Ferryland is an hour from St Johns, but that's a minimum a 5hr 45 minute flight from the UK (Westjet flies direct from Gatwick or you can change in Boston and then Halifax for St Johns). Alternatively, keep those window blinds open when flying to the US (especially the West Coast) flight routes normally pass right over Iceberg Alley. Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Apr. 19 By Demir Azizov Trend: The State Committee for Privatization, Demonopolization and Development of Competition of Uzbekistan has been transformed into a state committee for the assistance to privatized enterprises and the development of competition, according to Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyevs decree published Apr. 19. Comprehensive support for the restoration and increase of the productive efficiency of privatized enterprises is the most important task of the committee, according to the decree. The Uzbek state committee in two weeks should prepare a program of measures to develop and implement road maps of assistance to privatized enterprises in 2017-2018. The Uzbek president also ordered to establish the Fund for Assistance to Privatized Enterprises under the committee on the basis of the fund of capital received from the privatization of state property. The Fund for Assistance to Privatized Enterprises of Uzbekistan will be rendering financial support to privatized enterprises, implementation of investment projects and organization of training of entrepreneurs, according to the decree. Prime Minister Theresa May has rolled back and opted to call a snap election on June 8. Here is everything you need to know: Q: I'm fed up with elections. What's this latest one about now? A: I feel your pain. Between the Brexit referendum less than a year ago, the United States election, the Dutch vote, the Assembly election in Northern Ireland and the first round of voting in France due this weekend, we're all feeling a little election fatigue. Now we have six weeks of campaigning in Britain ahead of a snap ballot on June 8 that will be dominated by Brexit. Essentially Prime Minister Theresa May - who had previously publicly stated that she didn't want an election - is now gambling that her U-turn will ultimately strengthen her hand going in to the Brexit talks, and ward off criticisms from Labour, the Liberal Democrats and even some within her own party that a vote to leave the EU last June didn't necessarily mean the so-called hard Brexit she's now pushing. Q: Strengthen her hand? You assume she'll win? A: I wouldn't bet on the outcome of any election these days, but certainly recent opinion polls suggest she has strong public backing - thanks, at least in part, to the fact that the economy appears to be weathering the Brexit vote. I know, I know, it's hard to rely on opinion polls anymore, but it's the only gauge we have. The Conservative Party is around 20 points ahead of Labour, and her own personal ratings far outstrip those of Jeremy Corbyn. Timing is also on her side. While the economy may have proved more resilient to the Brexit vote than expected, cost of living in the UK is on the up and experts believe that will inevitably hit consumer spending and confidence. Better, therefore, to hold an election now than wait for any economic ill winds to materialise. And for Mrs May, an election win would be a personal vote of confidence. Remember she took over the reins at Downing Street in the wake of the referendum fallout, and not on the back of a national poll. A decisive win in the form of a continued Conservative majority, should that occur, would be a personal endorsement for her. A lot can happen in a six-week campaign, but it would be quite the turnaround were she to loose ground. And don't forget, prior to yesterday, the next UK election was due in 2020, right at the start of the planned transition period. Q: But did Theresa May not just formally notify Europe that the UK wants to leave the EU? Will an election not interfere with that process? A: You're right. Mrs May triggered the Brexit process at the end of March. But remember, talks haven't started yet. We're currently in the talks-about-talks phase, and both sides are at the final preparations stage. The EU is tweaking its draft negotiating guidelines, with leaders set to sign off on them at a special Brexit summit in Brussels on April 29. Then they have to go to foreign ministers to drill down in more detail. Q: So the talks won't be delayed? A: It's possible that the date could slip a little, possibly by a matter of weeks. It had been expected that negotiations would begin at the start of June. If the election is June 8, a new British cabinet then needs to be formed, so it's possible there could be a short delay. But if Mrs May does win a majority as expected, it's unlikely she would want to be seen to be holding up the negotiations. At any rate, it's long been expected that the talks on the future post-Brexit arrangement won't kick off until the autumn at the earliest anyway, as the initial process will be dominated by the amount of money the UK must pay the EU, citizens rights, and possibly Northern Ireland and the Border issue. The bigger issue for businesses in the UK is whether an election over the coming weeks will distract the prime minister from the Brexit negotiations, the country's strategy, and securing the best deal. Q: What does all this mean for Ireland? A: For the Government, the big concern seems to be Northern Ireland. The North is already mired in a political crisis and facing the prospect of either a second Assembly election or direct rule from London if the current round of political talks fail. A UK-wide election complicates that, as the parties involved will have to kick back into election gear. It's hard to imagine they would suddenly strike a deal when there's no UK government in place anyway. So it potentially means yet more instability for a region expected to be the worst hit in the UK from a Brexit. It was telling that Mrs May made no reference to the North in her speech yesterday. But that's not the only potential problem for the Government here. If Mrs May does indeed secure an overall majority, it's conceivable that will embolden the prime minister as the talks process kicks off. She could view that as a mandate for the tough position she has taken to date, and that could mean an even harder stance in the negotiations. Then again, she may come under pressure during the election campaign to tone down that rhetoric from businesses and others less enamoured with Brexit. It also could end up with a more unified British position, and allow her to resist pressure from hardliners demanding an abrupt exit. Q: What are European leaders saying? A: The EU broadly welcomed the election, which European Council president Donald Tusk likened to a Hitchcock plot twist. Anna Scally, partner at KPMG in Ireland, said the flat start to 2017 was not surprising given global events, but said there was an opportunity for Ireland. Investor caution in Europe and the United States has been blamed for a fall in the number of venture capital deals across the world so far this year. But the back end of the year is expected to see an uptick in activity. The number of VC deals worldwide fell in the first three months of the year, with 2,716 completed globally during the period, compared to 3,201 in the last quarter of 2016. Despite the decline, venture capital investment grew to $26.8bn (25bn) between January and March, according to the latest quarterly report on global VC trends from KPMG. Anna Scally, partner at KPMG in Ireland, said the flat start to 2017 was not surprising given global events, but said there was an opportunity for Ireland. "The slow start to 2017 is not surprising, as macroeconomic matters across the EU and in the US are contributing to investor caution," Ms Scally said. "However, we do expect investor appetites to pick up later in the year as we all come to terms with the new normal," she added. She argued that Dublin was increasingly being chosen as the European headquarters for multinational companies and growing firms. "Other companies, especially in Ireland's strong fintech market, increased operations and added headcount throughout the first quarter. "Brexit is certainly a factor in this trend and is well-positioned to serve as a springboard to the vast European market. Ireland's straightforward tax regime and strong tech talent base are also motivators." The Americas led venture capital investment, accounting for $17.8bn (16.6bn), according to the KPMG report. The US made up the lion's share, with $17.3bn (16bn) invested. In Asia, VC investment grew slightly quarter over quarter to $5.6bn (5.2bn), while in Europe investment remained relatively flat at 3.1bn. Businesses participated in 22pc of all venture deals in Europe - the highest percentage seen over the last seven years. Countries like Ireland will have to stump up more cash for the EU budget if the UK leaves the bloc without paying what it allegedly owes, a UK parliamentary committee has been told. The Brexit select committee heard net contributors to Europe's budget - of which Ireland is one - will have to bridge the gap if Britain walks away without settling its bill to cover the cost of outstanding liabilities such as pensions. And this could be particularly toxic", Professor Iain Begg of the Europe Institute at the London School of Economics told MPs. Asked if he believed the 60bn bill mooted by the European Commission was reasonable, Prof Begg said: Reasonable is a difficult expression. Its a credible number, because you can work out how they got there using the different components. He said the United Kingdom could potentially be liable for contributions to the EU budget beyond the likely date for Brexit in 2019, and that there were outstanding pension contributions due as well as a legal obligation to pay for commitments agreed before that date, but which dont fall due until a later date. If you top them up, you can easily get to the 60bn, Prof Begg added. European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker has said the bill would be in the region of 50bn, roughly 60bn, and that the final amount would be calculated scientifically. He insisted it was not a "punishment" for withdrawal, but merely the settling of commitments made by the UK. The issue of the bill is likely to dominate the early stage of the talks process, due to take place in June after the UK's snap election on June 8. Although some Eurosceptics have questioned whether the UK should pay a bill at all, Prime Minister Theresa May has said that the country would meet its obligations. There is so far no agreement, however, on the final amount. Prof Begg said that the EU budget is driven by multi-annual expenditure commitments, which means those commitments will have to be met, even if the UK walks away without meeting its financial obligations. That means that if Britain withdraws its money from the EU budget, somebody else is going to have to pay in more, rather than expenditure being cut, he said. And that somebody else is inevitably going to be the net contributors, which is going to be particularly toxic. So thats one political consequence. In 2013, Ireland became a net contributor to the EU Budget for the first time since it joined the bloc in 1973. Last year, Ireland received 1.771bn and made payments totalling 1.952bn. The very best in Irish farming is being recognised across all sectors and awarded once again this year in Ireland's premier awards programme for agriculture, the Zurich Farm Insurance Farming Independent Farmer of the Year Awards. "It's given me a whole new impetus. I'm raising the bar for myself", says current Farmer of the Year Tom Dunne, who describes his win as giving him and his family "such a feel-good factor. I've learned as much in the last 12 months since I won the title, as I have in the past 5 years," adds the organic beef farmer from Durrow, Co Laois. "It's a good business decision to enter - a great way of benchmarking", adds Chair of the Judging Panel and Farming Independent columnist John Fagan. There are seven categories including Sheep Farmer of the Year; Beef Farmer of the Year; Dairy Farmer of the Year and Tillage Farmer of the Year. Innovators leading the way in Irish farming are invited to showcase their work and enter the Rising Star category and there's a Lifetime Achievement Award to honour those who have made exceptional contributions to the industry. Farm safety has never been more critical and this will be acknowledged with an award for Excellence in Farm Safety. Organic Tom Dunne says he was "stunned" when having won his category, he then went on to win the overall Grand Prix last year, particularly as the competition attracted thousands of entries. "It was a big boost for organic farming. I wasn't expecting to win. My family and my mother Mary got a great kick out of it." Tom (53) and his wife Gemma, have two daughters Dervla and Bronagh and their beef operation produces year-round supplies to the Good Herdsmen organic beef processors, based in Cahir, Co. Tipperary. Tom has been farming organically for the past eight years, concentrating on finishing beef and he is a founder member of the Irish Organic Beef Producers. He transitioned to organic beef after originally starting with sheep and sucklers. He produces his own silage straw, plus he grows his own wheat and pea combination cereals for feed. "It was great that organic farming was a winner," explains Tom. "I think it highlighted the fact there is a viable living to be made from organic farming in Ireland. Sometimes people can frown on organic, look down on it or see it in a different light - but I think the win put it out there with the rest of them." Ideas Encouraging other farmers to enter, he says: "If you feel you have a product and it's good enough to be out there with the best - why not? - just go for it." "Some farmers don't like the limelight - they just want to keep their heads down and keep working. I didn't have a problem entering last year as I've gained hugely from the number of other farmers I've met since I won - transferring ideas just through chat and learning." Encouraging farmers to enter, John Fagan says: "It's a great way of benchmarking your business against other farmers." "If you win, you get a great prize. If you don't you are guaranteed to still learn something," says John, whose farm in Westmeath hosted RTE's 'Big Week on the Farm' last year. "This competition acknowledges the guys that are doing well. We all learn from them and become better farmers as a result," continues John. "This competition is very important and it is a great one for all farmers to get involved in. It is wonderful to have Zurich on board as sponsors to acknowledge the great work that farmers are putting in to their farms across the country." "Everybody should enter. There's nothing to lose and it's good to analyse your own farm and look at what you are doing. It's a good business decision to enter if you want to run a successful business and it's a chance to get your place in shape and be judged by experts. "It's not about publicity - it's about taking your business seriously". Sheep farmers are calling for more stringent supervision by Bord Bia on the use of the Origin Green Irish labelling to ensure its credibility in the light of high levels of imports from Northern Ireland and Britain. ICSA sheep chairman, John Brooks, said that Bord Bia has a responsibility to lamb producers, who contribute directly to the funding of the organisation, to ensure that there is no misuse of the Irish label in the marketing of lamb which is processed here but does not originate from farms in the Republic. "It is well known that in addition to the live imports of lamb, lamb carcases are coming from outside the State for processing in this country," he said. "We are entitled to full clarity from Bord Bia on the labelling of this product, and details of where it is going to on the supermarket shelves." A spokesperson for Bord Bia told Farming Independent that: "The Bord Bia quality assurance standard covers traceability at farm and factory level. The Quality Mark on a product means that it has been produced in accordance with the required Quality Assurance standards, i.e. born, reared and slaughtered in Ireland." The Bord Bia stated definition is that the Bord Bia Q Mark on a product means that the product has been produced in accordance with the required quality assurance standards. The flag and 'Origin Ireland' label verify that it was produced, in its entirety, in the Republic of Ireland. In relation to sheep imports, Bord Bia stated that: "The vast majority of lamb imports are live and come from Northern Ireland, accounting for approximately 14-18pc of the Irish national throughput. For 2017 to date, 109,000 live sheep have been exported from Northern Ireland to Republic of Ireland plants, compared to a five-year average of 113,000." John Brooks said that there is necessity for much more clarity from Bord Bia and the processing sector on how, and to what markets, imported sheep and sheep carcasses were sold. "We are very wary about what is going on in the processing industry and why imports are necessary into a country which is a major exporter of lamb meat," Brooks said. "Is this product going on to the supermarket shelves in this country and what label is it carrying? If it is being sold in our supermarkets, is there enough clarity for the housewife to know what she is purchasing? Is lamb originating from outside of the state clearly labelled as such? That is a job for Bord Bia in the supervision of the QA and Origin Green labelling," he said. Brooks added that the conditions to qualify for the revamped Bord Bia Quality Assurance Scheme for cattle and sheep had be more clearly defined. Claiming that the scheme had been hijacked by the processors for their own benefit, he said farmers needed more clarity on the actual Bord Bia entry requirements. "In the revised scheme it should be made clear to all participants as to the requirements for Bord Bia Quality Assurance bonus, and if the factories want to have additional requirements included, they should be specified separately and should be paid for separately. They should not be related to producers as part of the Bord Bia Scheme," he insisted. Kehoes pub in Dublin, which is part of the Louis Fitzgerald group Earnings at the Louis Fitzgerald pub group that counts the Quays Bar in Temple Bar, the Big Tree and Kehoes among its pubs recorded earnings of 11.2m 2015. That arises from accounts for two Fitzgerald entities, Ocsas and Burtse, recording combined revenues of 58.35m in the 12 months to the end of June last. Burtse enjoyed earnings before tax, depreciation, amortization of 5m and the previously filed accounts for Ocsas show that it recorded earnings of 6.2m in 2015. Ocsas filed its accounts last year and the Burtse accounts have only recently become available completing the financial picture of what is the country's largest pub group. The Fitzgerald pub business restructured in the year under review. A number of the pubs in the Fitzgerald group, including the Quays bar in Temple Bar, the Big Tree, Kehoes and the Louis Fitzgerald hotel, transferred to Burtse in November 2014. The overall net book value of the assets disposed to Burtse totalled 147m. The restructuring of the Fitzgerald group that involved the establishment of the Burtse Ltd holding firm involved two intermediate holding companies being introduced for commercial reasons. According to the directors' report, despite difficult trading conditions and the pressures on the licensed trade, Burtse achieved an operating profit of 2.1m. The accounts show that the firm recorded a pre-tax loss of 6.9m. This arose from impairment of fixed assets of 9.2m and interest costs of 2.28m. The loss also took account of a write-off of negative goodwill of 2.44m and non-cash depreciation costs of 2.76m. At the end of June 2015, shareholder funds totalled 13.8m. Tangible assets had a book value of 119m. The firm's cash pile totalled 4.9m. Numbers employed by Burtse totalled 321 with 206 in bar staff, 95 in operations, 18 in management and two in administration. Directors' remuneration totalled 342,369. Staff costs totalled 7.2m. Burtse counts 15 companies that it controls 10 licensed firms and two hotel firms along with two property-holding firms. Meanwhile, The Howl at The Moon nightclub is to be demolished and the site transformed into a 53-room hotel. The venue, which used to be part of the Capital Bars group, was sold alongside the George, Cafe en Seine, and the Dragon in 2014 to Danu Investment Partners. In 2016, the venues became part of the Mercantile Group following a merger between the two, however Howl at The Moon was again sold in 2016 to Oakmount. Oakmount already owns the Dean hotel in Dublin 2 and has plans to open the Devlin hotel in Ranelagh in 2018. The Devlin is expected to compromise 40 bedrooms, two restaurants, a rooftop bar, and a boutique cinema when it opens. Oakmount's portfolio also includes property on Aungier street Dublin 2, Thomas Street in Dublin 8, and a site at Booterstown in Dublin 4. The value of Irish goods exports was up 15pc in February, compared with the same month last year. For January and February, the value of goods exports was 19.18bn, an increase of 1.98bn when compared with the first two months of 2016. On a monthly basis, imports increased by 16pc while exports rose by 3pc. That means the goods trade surplus narrowed by 9pc to 4.7bn. David McNamara of Davy Stockbrokers said the trade data for February show that exports have started the year on a solid footing. "Goods exports were up 3.4pc on the month and 15.5pc on the year, driven by increases in both pharmaceuticals and traditional industries," he said. "Looking ahead, we expect a larger contribution to GDP growth this year from exports following a relatively weak 2.4pc gain in 2016." Meanwhile, business sentiment improved during the first three months of 2017 as the Irish economy so far defies fears of a marked slowdown, according to the latest KBC Bank/Chartered Accountants Ireland business sentiment survey. Companies reported ongoing and healthy growth in their own activity levels and they are now marginally more positive about the coming quarter. However, as major uncertainty persists in regard to the global and domestic economic outlook, producer confidence remains some way below the levels seen in late 2015. "The survey suggests 2017 has started positively for Irish business, with broadly based improvements in activity and employment. "While the pace of growth has eased slightly and firms remain cautious about an uncertain environment, early 2017 has been notably less difficult than they had envisaged," Pat Costello, CEO of Chartered Accountants Ireland, said. "The rise they are seeing in their own business volumes, allied to better than expected news on the broader Irish economy, is now translating into improving confidence," he said. The survey also found that there are significant differences in companies' understanding of the implications of Brexit for their businesses. Ricoh Ireland has donated print and document management devices worth more than 175,000 to Temple Street Childrens Hospital. The generous offering aims to allow the Dublin city hospital to make significant savings in operational costs - which can be reabsorbed into the overall hospital budget. Some 44 pre-used state-of-the-art devices (including over 30 from biotech firm Amgen) were serviced, data cleansed, repaired where necessary and tested to ensure optimum performance before the donation by the tech firm. At Ricoh, we have a zero to landfill policy and are constantly striving to be a more sustainable business," Tom Foley, Annuity & Services Manager, Ricoh Ireland, said. Expand Close Tom Foley, Annuity & Services Manager, Ricoh Ireland, Gary Hopwood, General Manager, Ricoh Ireland, Caroline Flynn, Senior Play Specialist, Temple Street Childrens University Hospital and James Lohan, Contracts & Procurement Manager, Temple Street Childrens University Hospital. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Tom Foley, Annuity & Services Manager, Ricoh Ireland, Gary Hopwood, General Manager, Ricoh Ireland, Caroline Flynn, Senior Play Specialist, Temple Street Childrens University Hospital and James Lohan, Contracts & Procurement Manager, Temple Street Childrens University Hospital. "When Amgen agreed to make the devices available for re-use, we wanted to ensure that the devices went to a deserving new home. They are nearly-new state-of-the-art devices, so we knew that they would be of great value to the right recipient." Temple Street Childrens University Hospital has been a valued customer of ours for many years and we knew that their existing printers were in severe need of replacing. The Temple Street Foundation is tireless in its fundraising efforts throughout the year and we thought that this would be a great way to help them save money and use it for a worthwhile cause." Read More The devices replaced a wide range of 14-year-old disparate printers and are now being used collaboratively across multiple key departments including laboratories, operating theatres, radiology, wards, ICU and in the School of Nursing. Ricoh's logistics provider, Cargocare also agreed to transport the printers to Temple Street free of charge. The modernised scanning capabilities are helping Temple Street's green footprint with a move towards a paperless environment as charts and records that were previously in paper form can now be securely accessed by the hospitals medical staff. James Lohan, Contracts & Procurement Manager, Temple Street Childrens University Hospital, said the hospital's existing printers were very old and "it was coming to the point where we would have to go back to market to replace them". The new devices have a scan capacity that we didnt have before, helping us to move towards a secure paperless environment. That also allows staff to collaborate more effectively, as they no longer have to share the same paper files. The savings will be used across the hospital site and can be used to fund medical devices to benefit patients directly. Any budget savings are greatly welcomed by us as they can then be used to directly benefit our patients, he said. The hospital now expects at least a 15pc reduction in print running costs and a reduction in maintenance call-outs. Tehran, Iran, April 19 By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend: Italys Ministrer of Education, Universities, and Research Valeria Fedeli has said that her country is interested in scientific cooperation with Iran in the areas of economy, environment, and social pathology. In a meeting with her Iranian counterpart Mohammad Farhadi in their first joint scientific commission in Tehran, Fedeli said Iran and Italy have signed 112 university agreements, Trend correspondent reported from the event April 19. Our aim with [the agreements] is to engage in international transfer of academic systems in the area of new-generation technology, the Italian minister said. Farhadi, for his part, said that Iran-Italy scientific cooperation started last September following exchange of visits between Iranian and Italian heads of state. The Islamic Republic of Iran announces its preparedness to engage in cooperation with Italian universities in all fields, he stressed. The meeting of the two sides started with a joint statement which stressed bilateral intention for scientific cooperation. Fedeli is leading a delegation of 150 university professors and staff to Iran. Tom Healy rescued the Irish Stock Exchange from the threat of extinction, transforming the Dublin market from a sleepy backwater into one of the one of the leading destinations for international listed funds and debt securities. When he was appointed chief executive of the Irish Stock Exchange (ISE) in 1987, Dublin was struggling and looked set to follow the UK regional securities markets into the maw of London. In his two decades in charge Tom turned the situation around. He quickly spotted the opportunities the nascent IFSC created for the ISE. From being a market exclusively focused on domestic shares and government bonds, Dublin under Tom's leadership looked outward to the wider world. In 1990 the first listed fund made its debut on the Irish Stock Exchange while the first debt fund listed in 2000. The exchange is now number one in the world for listed funds and number two for debt funds. Then in 1995 the Irish Stock Exchange became an independent market once again after more than two decades as part of the London Stock Exchange. A native of Co Westmeath, Tom graduated from Trinity and spent five years in various roles with the IDA. However, it was during his seven years as communications manager with the Irish Trade Board that he first became widely known. Even so, without a financial background, his appointment as ISE chief executive in 1987, came as something of a surprise. In the mid-1980s the Irish Stock Exchange was an extremely traditional, not to say stuffy, institution. Trading was dominated by a handful of brokers and all deals took place on the floor of the Exchange's Anglesea Street headquarters. Just to make matters worse, the imposition of exchange controls following the break with sterling in 1979 meant that Irish investors couldn't own shares in overseas companies, even those of companies that used their shares to buy Irish listed companies. The Irish Stock Exchange went over a decade, from 1973 to 1986, with no new companies joining its main market. Into all of this Tom came as a breath, more a gale actually, of fresh air. A market that seemed to have no future was revived. And it wasn't just overseas business. Under Tom's leadership a host of Irish companies including Glanbia, Aryzta, Kingspan, Ryanair and Paddy Power Betfair joined the Irish Stock Exchange and became world beaters. By the time Tom stepped down in 2007, the ISE was recording annual operating profits of over 10m. Tom then became head of the new Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange before retiring in 2010. A warm host and a good friend, Tom will be deeply missed by all of those of us who were privileged to have known him. Ivanka Trump has had new trademarks protecting the name of her company approved in China - and the reports are raising more than a few eyebrows. Since Ivanka's father US President Donald Trump took office on January 20 this year, global sales of Ivanka Trump's merchandise has surged and her company Ivanka Trump Marks LLC has applied for a number of new trademarks in the Phillippines, Puerto Rico, Canada and the US. The Associated Press now reports that since the inauguration, Ivanka Trump's Ivanka Trump Marks LLC has won provisional approval from China for at least five new trademarks, adding to 16 already registered and more than 30 pending applications. A spokesperson for the Ivanka Trump brand - which Ivanka no longer manages but still owns - said the trademarks filed in China this year were filed defensively to prevent counterfeiters from using her name. Trump's elder girl and second child has been described as her father's most influential adviser and it was confirmed last month that she will get an office in the West Wing. It is understood that when President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping were meeting in Florida on April, Ivanka Trump's firm won provisional approval from China for three new trademarks, covering jewellery, bags and spa services. China's Foreign Ministry has responded to the reports stating that the government equally handles applications to register trademarks. Spokesman Lu Kang said there was nothing untoward about the approvals. "We consistently follow the principle of equally protecting the legal trademark rights of trademark owners of foreign companies and handle the process of relevant trademark registration in accordance with the law and rules," he said. Selfie sticks are not welcome at the Guns N' Roses gig. The classic Guns N Roses line-up including Slash and Axl Rose (second and third from left) Concert promoters MCD have issued a warning to Guns N' Roses fans ahead of next month's Slane Castle gig. The legendary band, featuring Axl Rose, start their Not in This Lifetime Tour for 2017 on Saturday 27 May 2017 at Meath's Slane Castle. But with just one month to go before the big gig, concert promoters MCD have released a list of banned items that fans are not permitted to bring to the venue. Light sabers, sky lanterns and selfie sticks are among the prohibited items, as well as tridents, iPads, food, animals and backpacks. Expand Close Selfie sticks are not welcome at the Guns N' Roses gig. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Selfie sticks are not welcome at the Guns N' Roses gig. In an official statement, MCD said: "All the above items will be confiscated and will not be returned, Anyone resisting confiscation of restricted items may be evicted. "Only pocket sized camera are permitted for personal use only. Cameras with detachable telephoto lenses will not be allowed through arena entrances." MCD also warned that crowd surfing and moshing will not be permitted and fans found taking part in such activities "will be removed from the venue without a refund". It's almost a quarter of a century since the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees last played Ireland and tickets for the Slane Castle gig sold out within minutes of going on sale last December. The Live Nation produced tour will visit 18 more cities across the UK and Europe including shows scheduled in London, Paris, Madrid, Vienna, Copenhagen and more. Support on the day comes from Brighton based drum n' bass duo Royal Blood, American grunge star Mark Lanegan and Dublin band Otherkin. The Force is strong with more than 2,000 devotees who listed Jedi as their religion in the most recent census. People who worship Satan, spaghetti and 'Star Wars' are among the faithful living here today, according to the latest figures. Among more than 50 official religions listed in the 2016 census - including those who don't believe in any deity - is an assortment of unconventional religions. Inspired by the Star Wars movie franchise, as "guardians of peace and justice in the universe", 1,722 men and 328 women apparently believe the 'Force is with them'. These so-called "Jedists" - who have appeared out of nowhere since the 2011 Census - may have been inspired in part by the filming of the latest Star Wars instalment 'The Last Jedi' on Skellig Michael in Co Kerry and parts of the Wild Atlantic Way last year. Officials from the CSO couldn't say whether their designation is meant to be taken seriously. However, any belief with more than 30 adherents is officially listed as a religion. Among the more unorthodox are the 78 Satanists - including eight women - who have materialised since the 2011 C ensus when no devil-worshippers were listed. There are also 74 male and 18 female 'Pastafarians' living here who claim to be members of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The religion has been dismissed as a playful hoax in some countries - including here where The Equality Authority last year rejected a man's claim of religious discrimination on the basis that Pastafarianism isn't a religion. He claimed that being forbidden from wearing a pasta strainer as religious head gear for his driving licence photo was discriminatory. The census also revealed that the Victorian-era Spiritualist movement is still alive here among 972 men and 1,950 women who believe in a spiritual afterlife and the ability to commune with the dead. Read More There are also 1,436 pagan women and 1,209 pagan men. Other religions listed include Hare Krishna, which includes 53 men and 34 women; and Rastafarians, which include 91 male and 23 female. There were also 59 male and 28 female members of the controversial Church of Scientology living here in 2016. The Roman Catholic Church, however, is still the leading religion in Ireland with 3.7 million worshippers among the 4.7 million population, albeit 8,084 described as lapsed Catholics. Jackie Lavin and Bill Cullen are "still very much together" despite her issuing legal proceedings against the former The Apprentice star. The self-made businesswoman hit the headlines after she initiated a legal action against Cullen and one of his companies. She is suing Glencullen Properties, which is in receivership, as well as the Penny Apples author, who is the firm's sole shareholder and director. The case concerns a 1m deal for the sale of Killegy House in Muckross, Co Kerry, the High Court heard. The high-profile pair, who previously ran the Muckross Park Hotel, have been together for nearly 40 years and have weathered a huge amount of financial turmoil. Despite the legal action, a source close to the couple confirmed they are still together and their relationship status is unchanged. "This legal case has nothing to do with their relationship. This is purely a business and legal matter that needs to be dealt with, that's all," he said. They continue to work together at Bill Cullen Premier Motors on the Naas Road and were seen out and about only last week. Last month, the High Court was told that Ulster Bank appointed Kavanagh Fennell as receivers for Glencullen Properties' assets, which in- cluded Killegy House, in 2012. Ms Lavin claims she has been a long-time resident of the plush mansion and she considers it to be her home. She claims that, in 2009, the company sought additional credit. However, she alleges the bank was unwilling to offer this unless 1m was put into the firm. After selling a property they had in Florida for 7.3m, Ms Lavin claimed she agreed to advance Mr Cullen 1m so that he could pay down Glencullen's liabilities. She claims that part of the arrangement was that Killegy House would be sold to her after she paid over 757,000, but this did not happen. The case came before Mr Justice Tony O'Connor last week and was adjourned for mention at the end of this month. Speaking in 2014, Ms Lavin said Mr Cullen was "punched from all sides" after their business empire failed in the recession. It saw the banks pursuing him for 10m from his property and motoring business. "You have to get up and fight," she said. "I'm certainly not Mother Teresa, but we played it straight. We did everything by the book and have been left with nothing." Ryan Eastwood arriving at Limavady Magistrates' Court, where he appeared accused of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent and other offences A man has appeared in court accused of using a fake modelling agency to persuade women to commit sex acts. Ryan Eastwood, 23, allegedly set up a Facebook account to contact 16 victims and "interview" them on Skype, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said. His first alleged target ended up naked and carrying out a sex act, a detective told Limavady Magistrates' Court in Northern Ireland. At least one other woman engaged in a similar action. Detective constable Paul Robinson said: "The females have been left very traumatised, leaving some of them seeking medical help and counselling." The offences occurred this year and last. The accused restaurant worker from Grasmere Mews in Coleraine in Derry was linked in court to an account of a Shannon Donnelly on Facebook, listed as recruiting models. One victim told police she spoke to a man with an Irish accent who called himself Matthew and held a Skype "interview" last year, Mr Robinson said. Expand Close Ryan Eastwood leaving Limavady Magistrates' Court, near Londonderry / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Ryan Eastwood leaving Limavady Magistrates' Court, near Londonderry The encounter began with the woman posing fully clothed, then in underwear and then naked, subsequently leading to her carrying out a sex act, the detective said. Upon further investigation, officers have connected him to 15 other women, although most didn't engage in sexual behaviour. Eastwood is suspected of 16 charges, including causing a person to engage in a sexual act without consent and improper use of electronic communications to cause anxiety. Police identified the internet provider used by the person calling himself Matthew and linked it to the accused's address. He told detectives he had not used Skype since he was 16 and denied any knowledge of the offences. He also denied any knowledge of the Facebook account. When police searched his devices, they located 17,500 images of women, most deleted but still stored as thumbnails. The detective constable said: "It became more apparent that we had a number of other potential victims." Police contacted a company in London called UK Models, which the suspect allegedly based his fake agency on. The firm provided investigators with details of 20 women who had contacted them reporting similar cases. Police said they could connect the accused to 15 of these. Eastwood argued that someone was setting up these accounts in his name. A judge released him on bail of 500 (600) to appear at Coleraine Magistrates' Court on May 8. The defendant was ordered to report regularly to police and not to access the internet. A special corporate tax levy of 1pc has been proposed by the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) to add more than 550m per annum to the Irish education sector. TUI general secretary John MacGabhann warned that adequate funding for the education sector was now of paramount importance. Mr MacGabhann outlined proposals for the levy at the opening of the TUI's 50th annual conference in Cork. "The TUI has made a serious proposal that a 1pc levy should be applied to corporation profits in order to generate a dedicated fund for higher education," he said. "These corporations benefit hugely from having available to them a very deep pool of graduate talent in this country - supplied courtesy of the Irish taxpayer. In 2015, the levy would have yielded some 550m - an investment that would have done very nicely indeed in terms of resuscitating the exhausted and gaunt figure that is the Irish third-level education system." Meanwhile, TUI president Joanne Irwin warned that a new public sector pay deal will hinge on tackling pay inequality dating from Ireland's financial crisis and restoring the hated FEMPI pay and pension cuts. Separately, Mr MacGabhann warned teachers that being social media 'friends' of their students can leave them open to potential professional damage and compromise. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 19 By Fatih Karimov Trend: The Export Guarantee Fund of Iran (EGFI) has signed a cooperation document with COSEC, the Portuguese export credit agency. The memorandum of understanding was signed by Kamal Seyyed Ali, head of the EGFI and Maria Jose Melo, head of International Department of COSEC in Tehran, Tasnim news agency reported Apr. 19. The private insurance COSEC has the mandate to manage the official export credit guarantee scheme on behalf of the Portuguese government. Under the MoU, the parties will cooperate in exchange of economic, banking, and insurance information. The memorandum also envisages cooperation in the fields of reinsurance and joint insurance in third countries as well. The EGFI has earlier signed similar documents with Germanys Hermes, which offers export credit guarantee (ECG), and Swiss Export Risk Insurance (SERV) as well as the Hungarian Export Credit Insurance Plc (MEHIB), Sri Lanka Export Credit Insurance Corporation (Slecic) and Brazilian Guarantees and Fund Managements Agency (ABGF) last year. The Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) will ballot for industrial action next October if the Government does not fully tackle pay inequality for teachers. A motion was overwhelmingly passed at the TUI's 50th annual conference in Cork which set a September deadline for the Government to signal the end of pay inequality within the profession. An amendment from the TUI executive, which sought to remove the ballot stipulation and deadline, was defeated by 192 votes to 177. TUI delegates overwhelmingly passed the motion which warned that: "Congress condemns this continuing unfairness of lower pay, allowances and pension entitlements for newer entrants." "Congress instructs the executive to ballot for industrial action in October 2017 if these discriminatory rates are still in place in September 2017." TUI President Joanne Irwin had spoke in favour of the executive amendment arguing that the union already had a ballot in favour of industrial action in place. Ms Irwin insisted to congress that she has "fire in the belly" for the pay equality battle and said she would be putting that very issue to the minister today. However, Eddie Conlon of TUI Dublin Colleges, speaking in favour of the motion, said it was vital that the union show the Government they were "very serious" about ending pay inequality. Different pay and grading scales apply to teachers who entered the profession before and after 2011/2012. One speaker warned that, by the age of 50, a new entrant will have lost out on 243,000 in earnings compared to a colleague who entered the profession just a few years earlier. Union members warned that they wanted Education Minister Richard Bruton to know the TUI would no longer tolerate pay inequality and were willing to take determined action. TUI members acknowledged that progress had been achieved but warned that much more needed to be done. "The message needs to go out that we are now deadly serious about doing something about this," Mr Conlon said. Joseph Farrelly from Louth, who became a teacher post 2011, said that after working for five years he had still not reached the pay scale he would have started on had he started a few years earlier. "I am expected to teach (students) about equality when I don't have it myself," he said. "Justice delayed in justice denied." Other speakers said it was outrageous for teachers doing the same job to be paid differently. ASTI has suspended the normal business of its conference this afternoon to allow for a private debate on strategy in their dispute over pay and junior cycle. The move was backed by an overwhelming majority after a number of delegates expressed concern about a lack of clarity in staff rooms over the direction being pursued by the union. Several delegates spoke of how ASTI members in their schools were leaving the union and there warnings that more could go. The ASTI is alone in having rejected the Lansdowne Road Agreement (LRA) on post-austerity pay restoration and is also refusing to co-operate with junior cycle reforms. As a result, ASTI members are losing out on improved pay and conditions. Young teachers are worst - currently up to 220 a month behind their counterparts in other teacher unions, and they also have to wait four years for a permanent contract, rather than two years agreed under LRA. In another big loss, about two in three ASTI members have forfeited an increment, worth an average 1,200, this year because of the dispute. In another consequence of the pay dispute, ASTI members are currently performing supervision and substitution duties without pay. Clothing belonging to a man whose remains were found on Bray Beach on March 27 2017 (Image: Garda Press Office) Clothing belonging to a man whose remains were found on Bray Beach on March 27 2017 (Image: Garda Press Office) Clothing belonging to a man whose remains were found on Bray Beach on March 27 2017 (Image: Garda Press Office) Gardai have renewed their appeal for information to help identify a man whose remains washed up on Bray Beach earlier this year. The man, aged in his early 40s, has not been identified after he was discovered on the beach on March 27. He is described as a white man, with a very slim build and dark brown hair greying around the temple. His height is 61 and he weighs approximately 60.1kg He has no marks or tattoos. The clothes he was wearing (pictured) included a green and brown camouflage jacket, blue jeans and black runner boots. He was found with a brown and green camouflage rucksack and a pair of glasses was also found. Expand Close Clothing belonging to a man whose remains were found on Bray Beach on March 27 2017 (Image: Garda Press Office) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Clothing belonging to a man whose remains were found on Bray Beach on March 27 2017 (Image: Garda Press Office) Anyone with any information is asked to contact Bray Garda Station on 01-6665300, The Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station. Survivors of the Magdalene Laundries are appalled that the controversial Sisters of Charity order that ran the notorious workhouses will still own the new National Maternity Hospital - even if it is independently run. Dr Rhona Mahony, Master of the National Maternity Hospital, issued a statement last night insisting that the new 300m hospital at Elm Park in south Dublin, will be "operated by a new company with an independent board and will be clinically and operationally entirely independent in line with national maternity policy". But Steven O'Riordan, chair of Magdalene Survivors Together, said rather than the State paying the order for the land, the nuns should be required to hand the proceeds back to the State and have nothing to do with the hospital. Survivors are infuriated that the order still hasn't lived up to its legal and moral responsibilities to pay millions of euro in compensation to victims of institutional abuse - despite agreeing to do so more than 15 years ago. The order has yet to fulfil its obligations under the 2002 Indemnity Agreement in which the Sisters of Charity and 17 other congregations which ran residential institutions for children agreed to pay the State 128m towards redress for widespread abuse inflicted on children in their care. The order still owes the State another 3m from a commitment it made almost a decade ago in 2009 to pay another 5m towards redress. Mary Murphy (78) spent four years in what she described as "hell on Earth" as a virtual slave in the Stanhope Street laundry run by the Sisters of Charity. Now she is demanding that the Government reverse the controversial decision. "Religion has no place in Irish hospitals. Just as it had no place in interfering in my life," she said. She and other victims of abuse at the Church-run institutions reacted with shock and anger last night after learning that St Vincent's Healthcare Group - which is owned by the order - will be the "sole owner" of the new hospital which will be partially funded from the sale of the current national maternity hospital on Holles Street. "Do they think we're fools?" asked Margaret Sullivan, who survived the Sean McDermott Street laundry. "They say one thing and they do the complete opposite. What happened to getting the religious orders to pay up for the abuse we suffered? Why haven't the religious orders apologised, why don't they take responsibility for their actions?" Kieran Mulvey- the former chairman of the Workplace Relations Commission, who acted as a mediator between Holles st and St Vincent's - said the money owed by the sisters of Mercy didn't come into negotations. He stressed that he sympathises with victims and said that the Sisters of Mercy own land at the site but won't have an active hospital governance role. Speaking on Today With Sean O'Rourke, he said: "That's a separate process and a separate issue. "I was solely concerned with the relocation of Holles St to St Vincent's campus ad put in appropriate arrangements that would be mutually accepted by all concerned. "Number one they own the land on the campus, number two they have no real active role active role except on th board of St Vincent's Healthcare but I don't anticipate that the nuns themselves will sit on that board... "In affect the State has a very prominent position in regards to protecting any investments on the campus." Mr O'Riordan said the Magdalene survivors simply don't trust the order. "The ultimate issue is the order still has ownership of the hospital," he told the Irish Independent. "It's fine to say that it's independent. But the survivors were also told years ago that the laundries were a safe place," he said. Health Minister Simon Harris also said the new hospital will be completely independent of the order. Speaking earlier yesterday, he said the hospital will have full clinical, operational and financial independence. But Workers Party councillor Eilis Ryan claimed that Church ownership of the hospital will have a direct impact on women. "Every week, another story emerges of the extraordinary harm done to women by the Church, with State complicity, in this country. What good is it to agree, finally, to remove archaic, Church-written clauses from our Constitution, if we hand over women's healthcare to that same Church?" A snap election in Ireland should not be on the table in the aftermath of the Fine Gael leadership contest, Leo Varadkar has said. The frontrunner to replace Enda Kenny as Taoiseach said it would not be right to "pull the rug" from under the Independents who signed up to the minority Government. He also argued that circumstances in Britain are "very particular" given the huge lead Theresa May's Conservative Party has in the polls. "I'm sure or I hope the new leader of Fine Gael will give the party a bounce. I don't think we'll be 20 points ahead in the polls. "We're in a very different situation as well, where we've entered a partnership with Independents. "I think it would be wrong for the new leader of Fine Gael to pull the rug out from under people we've made a partnership with. I wouldn't anticipate an early general election in Ireland," Mr Varadkar said. Sources last night indicated the Government here intends to "stay out" of the campaign. In an unprecedented move during last year's Brexit referendum, ministers did campaign for a 'Remain' vote but sources said the election is "purely an internal British decision". Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Mrs May held a 15-minute telephone conversation about her plans to hold an election. The leaders agreed their public commitments regarding Irish issues ahead of the Brexit negotiations remain "unchanged". A spokesman for Mr Kenny said both governments are still prioritising the protection of an open Border and the retention of the common travel area. They also discussed the need to recognise the "close trading links between our intertwined economies". Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan said: "This announcement does not change the Government's commitment to ensuring the best possible outcome for Ireland in the upcoming Brexit negotiations, where we will negotiate from a position of strength as one of the EU 27." Mr Varadkar said he does not believe the election will stall the Brexit negotiations while a new British government is formed. "I think any delay is going to be a relatively short one. "People have always appreciated the outcome of the French election is going to be important, too. The outcome of that election will have as much, if not greater bearing, on these negotiations than Britain's. I think any delay is going to be a matter of weeks," he said. However, he warned that the widely held expectation that Mrs May will win a large majority in the House of Commons could prove wrong. "Elections are funny things. They can start off with one expected result and finish with something else. It's going to be interesting to watch," Mr Varadkar said. Two men dressed as customs officers take part in a protest in March outside Stormont against Brexit and its possible effect on the Border (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) A second election in Northern Ireland to coincide with Theresa May's snap Westminster vote is seen as a distinct possibility by the parties involved. Stormont has been without a power-sharing government since March 2 as the DUP and Sinn Fein struggled to reach a deal to re-establish the administration. And well-placed sources now fear talks between the parties which are due to resume in the coming days are merely "a box-ticking exercise". During a phone call with the British Prime Minister last night, Taoiseach Enda Kenny emphasised that a return to direct rule in Northern Ireland should not be contemplated. And Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan received assurances from the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland James Brokenshire that legislation will pass through the House of Commons next week to extend the deadline for talks. However, a source in Dublin noted the decision to call an election shows the British government does not see the situation in Northern Ireland as a priority. In a statement Mr Flanagan said he is "concerned" about the impact of the snap elections. Read More However, Mr Flanagan said the Irish government will be pushing to avoid a second Assembly election to coincide with the UK vote on June 8. "The Secretary of State told me that his intention, announced last week, remains unchanged - namely, to bring forward legislation at Westminster in the coming days which will include a provision to allow a Northern Ireland Executive to be formed in early May. "While this will legislatively facilitate the formation of an Executive, I am conscious of the political reality that all of the parties involved in the talks will now be competing in a General Election and mind-sets will inevitably shift to campaign mode. "Nevertheless, it is the firm hope of the Irish Government that the talks process can continue and conclude successfully in the coming days" Mr Flanagan said the interest of the people of Northern Ireland would be best served by avoiding a second election. "That will be my message in my contacts with the party leaders in Northern Ireland in the coming days and when I travel to Belfast for further discussions on Thursday," he said. But the fresh election campaign in Northern Ireland, against a backdrop of great political instability, threatens to drive open further divisions between the already-polarised parties. Opportunity DUP leader Arlene Foster called it an opportunity for unionists to "unite around a strong DUP that will advocate for them in Parliament". The DUP could make gains in the General Election - but still lose out overall in terms of its influence in a new House of Commons. With a good showing,the party could potentially gain South Belfast from the SDLP and take back South Antrim from the Ulster Unionists. But individual gains could still see the party losing its current leverage on the Government which has such a slim working majority of 17. Meanwhile, Sinn Fein's Michelle O'Neill claimed it was a chance for voters to "oppose Brexit and reject Tory cuts and austerity". The party will be seeking to build on its Assembly campaign success - even though there is no question it will continue its boycott of Westminster. Ms O'Neill said: "It will be an opportunity for voters to oppose Brexit and reject Tory cuts and austerity. "It is an opportunity to progress designated status for the North within the EU and for a future based on equality, respect, integrity and unity." Sinn Fein and the SDLP avoided the opportunity to take political pot-shots at each other, instead maintaining the emphasis on Brexit. Rebecca Jane Hegarty with her son Noah. The mum suffered the same condition as Kate Middleton A young mum was forced to leave her life in London and return to Ireland as a result of her severe morning sickness. Rebecca Jane Hegarty (26), now living in Lucan, suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) - a condition Kate Middleton was diagnosed with during her two pregnancies. Originally from Cork, Rebecca Jane became pregnant in 2012 but had to return to Ireland - giving up her job - after she was hospitalised with HG. While most mums-to-be suffer a little morning sickness, Rebecca Jane endured vomiting and nausea throughout her entire pregnancy. Much like the Duchess of Cambridge, she was eventually hospitalised before the birth of her now four-year-old son, Noah. Expand Close Rebecca Jane Hegarty suffered the same condition as Kate Middleton / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Rebecca Jane Hegarty suffered the same condition as Kate Middleton "I was half the size I am now when I was pregnant with Noah," Rebecca Jane said. "I was probably the only person to say I was slimmer the day I gave birth than before I was pregnant." The former theatre studies student was diagnosed with HG - a form of severe vomiting, which affects around one in 50 women - six weeks into her pregnancy. "I tested because I was getting sick from day dot really," Rebecca Jane said. "I ended up going to A&E in London and I was like 'what's wrong with me?'. At six weeks pregnant they diagnosed me. It was pretty severe and there was no hiding it. Expand Close Kate suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) during her pregnancies / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Kate suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) during her pregnancies "I was so sick, I couldn't even leave the house, so I started ordering boiled rice and two bottles of mineral water from a Chinese take-away every day, to try to eat and drink something. "My friends said they thought I was after getting into a bad crowd in London taking drugs and that's why I was so sick all the time - that was quite funny, but annoying." She decided to return home at 14 weeks, as her condition was becoming more pronounced. "It soon became clear it wasn't going to work out, me living in London. I moved back to Cork to live with my sister. "I started going to hospital there but none of the medications were doing a lot - it was a matter of eating what would stay down." Rebecca Jane, married to Ger (36), was placed on a number of medications to stop her being sick, including one set used by chemotherapy patients. She said she was advised some tablets could be "bad for the baby", but the mother said she was without a choice as she was being sick all the time. "I couldn't manage, the only time I left the house, my partner would have to come to collect me and I'd have a pocket of bin bags because every couple of steps I'd vomit," she said. "I was excited to go to the shopping centre but people thought I was a wino, being sick every couple of steps." Rebecca Jane said she went repeatedly to the hospital and was fed by drip, rehydrated enough to go home, but she would just start being sick all over again. At around 33 weeks pregnant, she was finally admitted to Cork University Hospital and was given injections to help her stop being sick. "I lost a lot of weight when pregnant and, as time went on, I was asked was it an eating disorder and comments were made that maybe I didn't want to be pregnant. That was beyond annoying," she said. Rebecca Jane slept constantly after she was put on more medication and finally Noah was born at 38 weeks by emergency C-section, but she was even sick during labour. The mum says she doubts she will have any more children. "I couldn't go through that again. Noah means the world to me, I love him so much and he's an amazing little boy, but I know if I was pregnant again I wouldn't be able to look after him, so I can't do that," she said. Rebecca Jane encouraged other expectant mothers who fear they are suffering HG to email a group for peer-to-peer support: hyperemesis@gmail.com. Donald Trump has directed a National Security Council-led review of Iran nuclear deal, Sputnik reported. US President Donald Trump directed a National Security Council-led interagency review whether the Iranian nuclear deal met the US interests, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a letter to Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan. "Notwithstanding, Iran remains a leading state sponsor of terror through many platforms and methods. President Donald J. Trump has directed a National Security Council-led interagency review of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that will evaluate whether suspension of sanctions related to Iran pursuant to the JCPOA is vital to the national security interests of the United States. When the interagency review is completed, the administration looks forward to working with Congress on this issue," Tillerson said on Tuesday. He has also said that US confirms Iran is fulfilling its obligations under the deal, but believes that the country is supporting terrorism. On July 14, 2015, Iran and the P5+1 group of countries, comprising Russia, China, the United Kingdom, the United States, France and Germany, signed the JCPOA to ensure the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program. Under this agreement, Iran stated that it would not further seek to develop or acquire nuclear weapons in exchange for the gradual lifting of international sanctions. Aidan Timmons and Motoring Editor Eddie Cunningham team up to help readers make the right choice with their next car. Aidan visits dealers all over the country to produce a monthly guidebook on the values of used cars. He is co-editor of Motor Trade Publishers, who supply a car-valuing service to the motor trade, insurance companies and finance houses. Eddie is author of former best-seller 'Clever Car Buying'. I have a problem. My old Ford Mondeo (02) has more or less packed up. It has 235,000km. I didn't mind it too well, so I don't blame the car. I've used public transport for a long time to commute, and as we don't travel much we've scraped by with the Mondeo. Now I've been promoted and I need a car for my work. They say they will give me a car allowance, but colleagues tell me it is not great. What would you recommend? We have two teenagers. I could afford to go to 25,000 thanks to some savings and the Credit Union. Or should I go PCP? Total mileage will be around 20,000km. Aidan: The PCP question is difficult to answer in simple terms. Qualifying for it is one thing, but suitability is another, so you need to figure out if you are happy that it will work for you. Also, PCP is not a standard product across all brands, so you need to compare models and offerings to determine the best package. There is more to consider with PCP than Hire Purchase. This doesn't mean it is worse, just different. I hope this does not offend you, but you sound dispassionate about cars in general. You need a bread-and-butter car from a mass-market brand. Saloon values are struggling off the back of growing SUV sales. So maximise your budget by sticking with a saloon. Get a new model Mondeo; something like a 2016-plate Titanium or Zetec (but make sure the Zetec model has an 'Appearance Pack'). It's a lot of car for the money and will devour your mileage. A VW Passat will cost more, but they are plentiful so you will have loads of choice. It is a proper family saloon with oodles of room and comfort. Lastly, you will go a great distance to getting a very fresh Skoda Octavia. They are plentiful and perform well for people in your position. Look for a 1.6 TDi Style model on a 161 or 162-plate and you won't need to max out your budget. If you fancy a petrol, then buy a Corolla with the 1.33 engine. There are no dramatics with the Corolla; it has been around a while and does the simple things very well. Eddie: Keep well away from PCPs. On the basis you didn't mind your Mondeo too well and PCPs penalise unreasonable wear-tear and maintenance, it is not for you. Aidan's suggestions are excellent. I'd add a fresh Mazda6 because they give little trouble and take a fair bit of hardship. Get my drift? Firstly, I wish to compliment you and Aidan for the wonderful advice you give. Your detailed knowledge of the makes and models of vehicles, diesel, petrol, etc is astounding. Keep up the good work. My question is, do you consider it necessary to have a professional check carried out on a second hand vehicle if one is buying from a main dealer, firstly if the vehicle is a make covered by that main dealer and secondly if is a make not covered by that main dealer? I know you recommend time and time again that if one is purchasing privately, one should always have the vehicle professionally checked over or at least checked over by somebody who knows something about cars. Aidan: Personally, irrespective of the franchise of the dealer and the brand of car I was considering, if a franchise dealer offers 12 months' warranty and the car is over three years old, then I wouldn't bother having it checked. Main franchise dealers are invariably required to ensure their used stock is properly prepared. I also know quite a few excellent independents who take pride in repeat business and do so by offering good warranties and standing over them. Not all warranties are equal, though. Just be sure to enquire how extensive the cover is, who provides it, who will rectify any issues and for how long the warranty lasts. Depending on the brand, there might even be some remaining manufacturer's warranty. Investigate this further with the dealer and/or manufacturer to confirm. For instance, if you buy a three-year-old Kia, you could still have four years' manufacturer's guarantee (or until 150,000km). BMW Premium Selection cars come with two years unlimited mileage warranty. An increasing number of brands are looking at more comprehensive used-car programmes. For the moment, if you feel it is necessary to have your own mechanic look over the car and if by doing so your mind will be put at ease, then go for it, but 12 months' comprehensive warranty from a recognised dealer would be enough for me. Eddie: I would definitely have a car independently checked if buying an older model privately or from a smaller outlet. And even with a main dealer involved, I'd ask a mechanic friend to give a car I was buying the once over. You can never be too careful and a few euro more is worth it if you are, like me, the worrying kind no matter where you buy. I'd like some advice. I currently drive a 2012 Skoda Octavia 1.6litre, diesel 5dr. It has 200,000km on the clock. I drive approx 45,000km a year with around 30,000km taken up travelling to and from work. I recoup some money from expenses which I put towards diesel and maintenance of the car. I'm weighing up whether I should continue to keep the Octavia until it stops or change it. When is the best time to change? I'd be thinking about spending 8,000 to 10,000 on a trade-in and again I'd like a 5dr - two adults and three children/teens in family. My wife also has a 2012 Octavia 1.6-litre diesel, 5dr with 145,000km on the clock. She does 20,000km a year. One option is I could get rid of my car and use my wife's to travel to/from work. She could then take the new car and that would mean lower mileage on it. Is buying in the UK an option for me? Aidan: Upgrade your car because it is under the most strain. If you inherit your wife's car you will quickly reach the 200,000km mark, which I suspect is partly the reason for considering a change. Ensure you get something with low mileage. This is where PCP helps used-car buyers. There should be a healthy supply of 14-plate Octavias with sub-60,000km because quite a few were sold on PCP in 2014 and some had 60,000km mileage caps. You can't go wrong with another Octavia either and buying an ex-PCP car negates the UK route and eliminates that risk. Or what about a 142-plate Hyundai i40 with two years' manufacturer's warranty left so that you have peace of mind for at least 24 months? I also advise you to plan both your and your wife's future car changes now so you don't end up being forced to change cars in the same year as one another. Eddie: I presume you are both insured to drive each other's car. If that is the case I think you should trade your car for a newer Octavia and, to keep the mileage down, you and your wife 'swap' cars every month. That way you've got a newer car that will be putting on 22,500km/year rather than 45,000km. Buying an Octavia in the UK is an option, but imports of the model are quite low compared with others so stick here I think. My present car is a 131-reg Citroen Berlingo Multispace 5dr (2 sliding). It is in A1 condition with 70,000km. Total budget is 8,000-10,000 approx. Annual mileage is 20,000km approx. Require similar in size for carrying light equipment. Good mpg with small engine. Sliding doors useful but not a necessity. Aidan: Would you not go for another Berlingo Multispace? Had you not told us what you are currently driving, I would have recommended one to you. Or, if you feel like switching it, go for the Peugeot Partner Tepee instead. Essentially it is the same machine, but with different styling. There is also the Ford Tourneo Connect. I reckon you can get a new Style version easily enough. If you want something more car-like, then look at the Peugeot 2008. You can get a new one in either petrol or diesel and with a decent level of equipment; either Active or Allure, whichever you prefer and will benefit most from. It won't be as spacious as the Multispace, though. Maybe go again and rethink it next time if your circumstances change. Eddie: If it ain't broken why fix it? Aidan, as usual, makes total sense. One of the criticisms routinely levelled at women in senior leadership roles is that they are not decisive - or at least not as decisive as our male counterparts. That's one charge that can't now be levelled against British Prime Minister Theresa May who stunned the world yesterday morning when she called a surprise snap election. The former home secretary caught her critics and the markets off guard when a press conference was called for 11.15am. The rumour mill offered all manner of reasons for the sudden hot take outside Downing Street, including unfounded speculation that she was about to retire on health grounds. Instead Mrs May, who saw off all manner of ditherers and flappers on her uncontested path to leadership of the Tory party - think Boris Johnson for one - strode outside Number 10 some 10 minutes early with the confidence of a punter who had placed a bet they already won. If the gamble does pay off and there's every chance it will, Mrs May may yet steal the 'Iron Lady' crown from her late predecessor Margaret Thatcher. Since taking office last year in the aftermath of Brexit, Mrs May repeatedly pledged that there would be no early election, insisting that Britain needed stability. Her subsequent U-turn yesterday was almost Trumpesque in style. But unlike many of the U-turns perpetrated by US President Donald Trump, there is substance to Mrs May's sudden change of heart. Mandate is the main one. Brexit has divided the UK. For all of the emporial rhetoric and sovereignty set-tos, the decision to leave the European Union has rocked the United Kingdom. To broker the hard yards of Brexit and secure the best deal for her country, Mrs May needs to quell dissent within her own party and ensure there are no questions hanging over her premiership when negotiating key positions. Winning her own general election will help square this circle. It's the opposition too. Since the 2015 election, when former Tory party leader David Cameron won a fairly slim majority in the House of Commons, the Labour Party led by Jeremy Corbyn has collapsed in the polls, if not in all but name. Only a fool would place their faith in polls, but several polls over the last week have put the lead at over 20 percentage points. May is right to sense that now may be the best time to exploit Labour's all-too-obvious weaknesses and deliver what in all likelihood will be a stomping majority for the Tories. The economy is also a factor. Yesterday Mrs May cited economic strength as a sign of her government's success. "Despite predictions of immediate financial and economic danger, since the referendum we have seen consumer confidence remain high, record numbers of jobs, and economic growth that has exceeded all expectations," she said. However, Brexit is beginning to bite, with inflation starting to take its toll in the UK. Prices have increased by 2.3pc in the past year and the weak pound has pushed up import costs for many UK businesses. The proposed 'Barista Visa' to allow young Europeans work in Britain's hospitality, retail and other similar industries, exposed the futility of aspects of the Brexiteers' histrionic stance towards immigrants on whom it relies heavily to provide vital public services such as health. And there was a comical air to much of the British media's incandescence that the European Banking Authority and the European Medicines Agency - core European regulatory bodies - would no longer be situated in London. There is the prospect of a new Scottish referendum, although whether a successful snap election would neutralise or embolden Nicola Sturgeon and her supporters to push for a new Indyref is not entirely clear. Wales got an honourable mention. But Northern Ireland didn't get a look in, compounding Westminster's contempt towards its troubled rump across the Irish Sea. It's distressing to see how low a priority Northern Ireland is, given the potential impact of Brexit on Northern Ireland's vulnerable economy and still fragile peace process. But is there hope on the horizon? Could a landslide victory for Mrs May lay the groundwork for a softer Brexit? Could a prime minister with a general election-backed mandate strengthen her own hand to stand down extreme eurosceptics? Much will depend on the other variables at play, and with Europe's three largest economies - Britain, France and Germany - going to the polls, Europe feels an ever more vulnerable union. But one thing is for certain, this lady is not afraid to turn. Rory Best and wife Jodie on their wedding day in 2009. Picture: Belfast Telegraph Jonny and Laura Sexton attending the wedding of Devin Toner and Mary Scott. Picture: Steve Humphreys (L to R) Sean O'Brien and Georgia McGurk, Sophie Marren and Rob Henshaw, CJ Stander and Jean-Marie Neethling With a total of 11 Irish players being named in the British & Irish Lions squad, we get to know some of their other halves. Sophie Marren Expand Close Robbie Henshaw and girlfriend Sophie Marren in Barbados / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Robbie Henshaw and girlfriend Sophie Marren in Barbados Other half: Robbie Henshaw The UCD student has been dating Henshaw for four years. Jodie Bell Expand Close Rory Best with son Ben, daughter Penny and wife Jodie at Belfast Airport / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Rory Best with son Ben, daughter Penny and wife Jodie at Belfast Airport Other half: Rory Best Jodie has been married to the Ulster star for nearly 10 years but she prefers life away from the limelight. The couple have two children Ben (six) and Penny (three) together and live in Gilford, Co Down. Laura Sexton Expand Close Jonny and Laura Sexton attending the wedding of Devin Toner and Mary Scott. Picture: Steve Humphreys / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Jonny and Laura Sexton attending the wedding of Devin Toner and Mary Scott. Picture: Steve Humphreys Other half: Johnny Sexton Childhood sweethearts Laura and Jonny wed in a lavish ceremony in Adare four years ago and the couple have two children - Luca (three) and Amy (one) together. Suzanne Flanagan Expand Close Iain Henderson enjoys a drink with his new fiancee Suzanne Flanagan / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Iain Henderson enjoys a drink with his new fiancee Suzanne Flanagan Other half: Iain Henderson These teenage sweethearts became engaged last year after six years of dating. The 26-year-old dentist accepted the Ulster star's proposal on a trip to Florida and are set to wed this summer. Sinead Corcoran Expand Close Jack McGrath and Sinead Corcoran pictured at the 2016 Leinster Ball / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Jack McGrath and Sinead Corcoran pictured at the 2016 Leinster Ball Other half: Jack McGrath Video of the Day Sinead, a radiographer, has been dating the rising rugby star for the last five years. It's a time of celebrations in their house as the pair became engaged less than a month ago. Georgia McGurk Expand Close Sean O'Brien and Georgia McGurk at the Leinster Ball. Picture: Sportsfile / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Sean O'Brien and Georgia McGurk at the Leinster Ball. Picture: Sportsfile Other half: Sean O'Brien Georgia,a fashion PR executive, has been dating the Tullow Tank for more than a year and she is regularly spotted cheering him on at games. Her parents Miriam O'Callaghan and father Tom McGurk are said to approve of the relationship. Jessica Maloney Expand Close Peter O'Mahoney's girlfriend Jessica and their daughter Indie / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Peter O'Mahoney's girlfriend Jessica and their daughter Indie Other half: Peter O'Mahoney Jessica, a solicitor, recently welcomed her first child with her long-term love - a baby girl Indie. Proud father Peter regularly shares snaps of the two. Jean-Marie Neethling Expand Close CJ Stander and his wife Jean Marie at The Zurich IRUPA Rugby Players Awards 2016 at the Doubletree Hilton, Dublin, Ireland - 04.05.16. Pictures: Cathal Burke / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp CJ Stander and his wife Jean Marie at The Zurich IRUPA Rugby Players Awards 2016 at the Doubletree Hilton, Dublin, Ireland - 04.05.16. Pictures: Cathal Burke Other half: CJ Stander Jean-Marie is no stranger to sport - she's a competitive swimmer but was forced to pull out of consideration for Rio due to a shoulder injury. The South African law graduate has been married to the Munster player for the last four years. Irina Shayk walks the runway with Swarovski crystals during Victoria's Secret Fashion Show on November 30, 2016 in Paris, France. (Photo by Julien M. Hekimian/Getty Images for Swarovski) Bradley Cooper and Irina Shayk watches the action on centre court between Roger Federer and Marin Cilic on day nine of the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Wimbledon Bradley Cooper and Irina Shayk on day eleven of the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Wimbledon Irina Shayk walks the runway during the Atelier Versace Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2016-2017 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on July 3, 2016 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images) Irina Shayk walks the runway at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show on November 30, 2016 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Victoria's Secret) Model Irina Shayk arrives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala (Met Gala) to celebrate the opening of "Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology" in the Manhattan borough of New York, May 2, 2016. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson Irina Shayk walks the runway during the 2016 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show on November 30, 2016 in Paris, France. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Victoria's Secret) Russian model Irina Shayk poses as she arrives on May 18, 2016 for the screening of the film "The Unknown Girl (La Fille Inconnue)" at the 69th Cannes Film Festival Irina Shayk is already back to her supermodel best just one month after giving birth. The Victoria's Secret model (31) welcomed her first child with partner Bradley Cooper (42) in March and has been keeping a low profile as they adjust to life as new parents, but she is breaking the internet with a new poolside picture. The Russian model shared a bikini snap on Instagram of her "current situation" - her posing in a black bikini on a pool float. Shayk and Cooper welcomed little Lea de Seine Shayk Cooper just four weeks ago after two years of dating and she has always been vocal about her desire to become a mother and start a family. Expand Close Irina Shayk shared this post-baby body picture on Instagram / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Irina Shayk shared this post-baby body picture on Instagram "I think family is the reason why we are here. I love my job and it's very important to me; I really enjoy what I I'm doing, but it's not the most important thing in my life - family is, friends, people who I love," she told Hello! magazine last year. "My father was married to my mother for more than 20 years and, yes, definitely one day I want to have a family because that is the most important thing on this earth," she added. "My sister had her baby when she was 22 and that was the perfect time, I will be 31 in January, so maybe soon it will be my perfect time." TV personality Kourtney Kardashian attends the premiere of Open Road Films' "The Promise" at TCL Chinese Theatre on April 12, 2017 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) TV personality Kourtney Kardashian attends Pre-GRAMMY Gala and Salute to Industry Icons Honoring Debra Lee at The Beverly Hilton on February 11, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) TV personality Kourtney Kardashian attends the NBCUniversal 2016 Upfront Presentation on May 16, 2016 in New York, New York. (Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images) Kourtney Kardashian showed you can do it all on her birthday. The mother-of-three enjoyed a day of family fun at Disneyland with her ex-partner Scott Disick and their children Mason (seven), Penelope (four) and Reign (two). But on Instagram, she opted for a more daring way to mark the occasion - by sharing an image from a nude photoshoot which she simply captioned "birthday suit". It's no surprise the reality tv staar has become more confident in recent years as she has upped her training regime and now trains nearly every day with her sister Khloe and is a famously clean eater who avoids dairy and sugar. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference "I think I take time for myself now to work out every day, which I never didespecially having three young kids. I just never made it a priority, and now it just makes me feel so much bettermentally and physically, just to really take that time," she told E! News. The Kardashians rallied around their sister on social media flooding her with well wishes, while Kim posted a picture of her in a metallic string bikini on their recent Costa Rica holiday after a heartfelt post praising her sister. "Happy Birthday to the one and only @kourtneykardash My best friend, the best mom and the best sister in the world!" Her mother Kris Jenner shared a touching post in honour of her oldest child, saying: "From the day you were born you have blessed me with so much joy! We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference "You bring happiness love and light and are such an inspiration to me, and everyone around you. You are such an incredible mother, sister, friend, and daughter and I love you more than words can ever say. you are beautiful inside and out my sweet girl, have an amazing day, mommy xoxo #love #family #grateful #happybirthdaykourtney." U.S. President Donald Trump, U.S. first lady Melania Trump, their son Barron and the Easter Bunny arrive for the 139th annual White House Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, US. Picture:REUTERS/Joshua Roberts TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY U.S. first lady Melania Trump reads 'Party Animals' by Kathy Lee Gifford during the 139th Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House U.S. first lady Melania Trump and China's first lady Peng Liyuan applaud after students performed for them at Bak Middle School of the Arts in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., April 7, 2017. REUTERS/Joe Skipper US First Lady Melania Trump walks to the Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House April 17, 2017 in Washington, DC. / AFP PHOTO / Brendan SmialowskiBRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images A handout picture released by the Jordanian Royal Palace on April 5, 2017, shows Jordan's King Abdullah II (L) meeting with US President Donald Trump (R) in the Oval Office at the White House as First Lady Melania Trump (TOP-R) and Queen Rania look on in Washington, DC. / AFP PHOTO First lady Melania Trump, accompanied by the Easter Bunny, speaks from the Truman Balcony during the annual White House Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, April,17, 2017. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) Perfectly coiffed: Melania Trump has updated her profile picture to that of her official portrait US First Lady Melania Trump talks with students during a visit with Jordan's Queen Rania to the Excel Academy Public Charter School in Washington, DC, April 5, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEBSAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images US First Lady Melania Trump will reportedly move into the White House this summer. During President Trump's first months in office, the former model, originally from Slovenia, has been living in the Trump family's $100m triplex apartment in New York City with their 11-year-old son Barron. Expand Close Barron Trump waves while standing with US First Lady Melania Trump and US President Donald Trump during the Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House April 17, 2017 in Washington, DC. / AFP PHOTO / Brendan SmialowskiBRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Barron Trump waves while standing with US First Lady Melania Trump and US President Donald Trump during the Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House April 17, 2017 in Washington, DC. / AFP PHOTO / Brendan SmialowskiBRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images Rather than move into the White House straight away as is tradition, the 46-year-old opted to stay in Trump Tower while Barron finished up his school term. As she grows accustom to her new role as first lady, Melania and Barron will be moving to Washington D.C. this summer, a decision which will be welcomed by critics who have taken issue with the high cost of security with both the president and first lady living in different cities, in addition to frequent trips to Mar-a-Lago in Florida. Melania has reportedly been reluctant to move to Washington as she loves her "independent life" in New York, sources told People. In recent weeks, she has taken on more traditional jobs like reading to a group of children during the annual Easter Egg Roll at the White House and accompanying Queen Rania of Jordan to an all-girls public charter school in Washington D.C. and escorting the Chinese president's wife Peng Liyuan on a tour of a middle school in Florida. Expand Close U.S. first lady Melania Trump reads 'Party Animals' by Kathy Lee Gifford during the 139th Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp U.S. first lady Melania Trump reads 'Party Animals' by Kathy Lee Gifford during the 139th Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House After Trump's inauguration, the new first lady virtually disappeared from public life and only reappeared weeks later. Her absence sparked reports that she "never intended" to move to the White House, but she soon hired a chief of staff Lindsay Reynolds, a former associate director of the White House Visitors Office during the George W. Bush administration, and was "putting together a professional and highly-experienced team". "It has been an honour to take on the responsibility of the position of First Lady, with its long history as an important representative of the President, our family, and the traditions of our nation around the world," she said in a statement released by the White House. Expand Close US First Lady Melania Trump walks off Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, April 16, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSONJIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp US First Lady Melania Trump walks off Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, April 16, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSONJIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images "I am putting together a professional and highly-experienced team which will take time to do properly. I am excited to be organizing and bringing together such a dynamic and forward thinking group of individuals who will work together to make our country better for everyone." Her senior adviser Stephanie Winston Wolkoff saying: "Mrs Trump will be moving to D.C. and settling in to the White House at the end of the school year, splitting her time between New York and D.C. in the meantime. Expand Close U.S. first lady Melania Trump and China's first lady Peng Liyuan applaud after students performed for them at Bak Middle School of the Arts in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., April 7, 2017. REUTERS/Joe Skipper / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp U.S. first lady Melania Trump and China's first lady Peng Liyuan applaud after students performed for them at Bak Middle School of the Arts in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., April 7, 2017. REUTERS/Joe Skipper Video of the Day "Mrs Trump is honoured to serve this country and is taking the role and responsibilities of first lady very seriously. It has only been a short time since the inauguration and the first lady is going to go about her role in a pragmatic and thoughtful way that is unique and authentic to her." Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 19 By Khalid Kazimov Trend: Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called on the nation to have a high turnout in the upcoming presidential election to be held on May 19. Khamenei called on the officials to make efforts in order to hold fair elections, IRNA news agency reported. The leader also urged the officials to provide proper security for the elections. Urging people to remain vigilant against the enemys plots, Ayatollah Khamenei added that some foreign-based media outlets attempt to sabotage the elections. The leader said that the election is capable of protecting the country against the enemy. He further spoke about the countrys economic situation adding that the officials should make serious efforts to improve the nations livelihood. Incumbent President Hassan Rouhani, influential cleric Ebrahim Raisi as well as former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are among the most well-known hopefuls planning to assume power through the election next month. All candidates need to be vetted by the countrys constitutional watchdog body, Guardian Council, by April 27. Heres what election officials will be sorting out over the next few weeks. With the British people going to the polls on June 8, the election machine has less than two months to put everything in place for polling day. So how will it happen? We spoke to Peter Stanyon, deputy chief executive of the Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA), to find out about the work that goes on behind the scenes. Is there a timetable? Yes. Although electoral officials will have been working hard from the moment Theresa May announced her intention to call a snap election, the formal process will kick off on May 3, when Parliament should vote to dissolve itself, officially setting the election in motion. This is 25 working days before the June 8 polling day. One thing is for sure: they will have significantly less time to prepare than usual. If the election was May 2020, preparations for that would have started far further in advance than they will clearly for June 8, said Stanyon. A vote to dissolve Parliament on May 3 will begin a process of formal notification to the public, delivery of nomination papers for parliamentary candidates, ensuring postal and by proxy votes are sent out and registered, registering new voters and a plethora of other jobs, all before polling day starts. In charge of all this are the UKs returning officers one for each of our 650 parliamentary constituencies. The returning officer role is an honorary one usually held by a local council chairman or mayor. They appoint an acting returning officer, usually a senior council official, to carry out the role itself. Stanyon said that before May 3, the Electoral Commission and the AEA will have to gather information and paperwork to answer candidates questions. He said: There are already questions coming in, for example, what are the expenses limits? What is the process for nominations? What about booking venues? Things such as booking of polling accommodation at schools or community centres will now have to be truncated into quite a short timescale, said Stanyon. He said normally provisional bookings for count venues and polling stations would be made potentially a year to six months out from polling day. Stanyon said some returning officers will struggle to book the venues they usually use as polling stations or counting centres due to the short notice and the time the election falls. He already knows of constituencies where the normal venues are not available because of other pre-booked events. For example, secondary schools, which are often used as polling stations, will be in exam season. Who prints the ballot papers? A significant number of local authorities will not have internal print resource to be able to produce things like ballot papers, poll cards and postal voting packs, said Stanyon. So there will be a need to check the printing arrangements with the various printers around the country. Many local authorities will have a preferred printer they work with, but whether they are available is another thing. Will they have to hire staff? The returning officers will need to find presiding officers to oversee each polling station in their constituency, poll clerks to man the stations and counting assistants to count the votes, among other roles. Stanyon said although general elections are rarely short on volunteers, its a massive job to appoint all the temporary staff for that particular day. Permanent elections staff will be feeling the strain due to the high number of elections in the last few years, including the 2015 general election and the 2016 EU referendum. Its a constant conveyor belt at the moment that is proving stressful to a number of people out there, said Stanyon. Could the vote be delayed? This is a lot of work to pull off in two months, especially considering some constituencies will have local government and mayoral elections in May to contend with. However, if Parliament is dissolved on May 3, which is the formal starting gun then there is a legal obligation on the returning officers for each of the areas to deliver regardless, Stanyon said. He told us the only way a vote would be delayed in a particular constituency is if there was a riot in a polling station, or a party candidate died. In both cases the vote would be delayed in this constituency only, and resumed later. Peter Stanyon has worked in electoral administration for 30 years at four different local authorities. The AEA is a professional organisation for electoral administrators, providing advice, training and consulting on elections. Social media is abuzz with talk of voting tactically but what exactly does it mean? Since Theresa May announced her intention to call a snap election, a number of schemes encouraging supporters of opposition parties to vote tactically have emerged. But what exactly is tactical voting? And could it affect the outcome on June 8? What is tactical voting? This is when constituents vote for a candidate who is not their first choice in order to prevent another party or candidate from winning in the area. This is usually because their preferred candidates chances of winning are slim to none, so the voter chooses to give their second-best option a greater chance of success. When does it tend to happen? It often happens in marginal seats where the sitting MP has only a small majority. An example would be Sir Vince Cables old constituency of Twickenham the Conservatives Tania Mathias won a small majority at the last election, closely followed by Liberal Democrat Sir Vince. With the former business secretary announcing he will stand again, it makes the seat a key target for the party and for tactical voters. In this example, the hope among tactical voters would be that if enough Labour supporters vote for Cable, it would be enough to swing it in their favour and overthrow the sitting Conservative. What is this document that everyones sharing? On the day the snap general election was announced, a spreadsheet began circulating online called How to vote to stop the Tories. It highlights all the constituencies where tactical voting would apply, indicating whether willing participants should vote for Labour, the Lib Dems or someone else. It has been widely shared on Facebook and Twitter. What else is going on? With Brexit likely to be the issue dominating the election, some may choose to vote tactically for the candidate whose views on that issue most closely align with their own. Gina Miller, whose legal action forced Theresa May to hold a parliamentary vote on her plans for Brexit, has launched the countrys biggest tactical voting drive. Miller said her crowdfunding campaign was aimed at preventing an extreme Brexit by securing the election of as many MPs as possible who were committed to a real final vote by Parliament on the terms of Britains withdrawal from the European Union. At the time of publishing, the page had passed the halfway mark with more than 6,300 raised. The money will be used to back candidates who pledge to support a full and free vote on the Brexit deal. Greens will stand in every corner of UK, but in a handful of places let's think creatively about how to beat Tories. https://t.co/dPH16KHbbP Caroline Lucas (@CarolineLucas) April 19, 2017 Caroline Lucas has also called for talks with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron to form a so-called progressive alliance against the Conservatives ahead of the election. While the Green Party will still have candidates standing across the country, co-leader Lucas has called for a co-operative approach in a handful of places. How much could tactical voting influence the upcoming election? Stephen Fisher, professor of political sociology at the University of Oxford, believes the chances of success for any anti-Tory tactical voting scheme are fairly slim. He said: If polls are roughly right and nothing much changes, one trouble for Labour will be that there simply are not very many Liberal Democrat supporters to appeal to. So the potential for Labour seats to be saved by Liberal Democrat, and maybe Green, tactical voters is rather limited. In addition there is the potential for the Conservatives to be helped by tactical voting from Ukip supporters, making the job for Labour harder. By contrast, in the seats that the Liberal Democrats lost to the Conservatives in 2015, and so gave David Cameron his majority, there are many Labour supporters who might well be willing to vote tactically for the Liberal Democrats. Liberal Democrat success in their target seats off the back of Labour tactical support might help to limit the size of Theresa Mays majority, but there are not enough Conservative-Lib Dem seats for this to offset the likely number of Conservative gains from Labour. Missiles on the backs of trucks during a military parade in Kim Il-Sung Square, Pyongyang, last weekend Photo: AFP PHOTO / KCNA VIA KNS Beijing was forced to defend its trade with North Korea yesterday after it emerged that Chinese-made trucks were used to display missiles in a huge military parade that was staged in Pyongyang. The images of submarine-launched missiles being pulled by vehicles made by Chinese company Sinotruk at Saturday's parade revealed the difficulty in enforcing strict UN sanctions on the reclusive state. About 80pc of North Korean overseas trade - including essential food and fuel products - is with China, a signatory of sanctions which ban the export largely of goods which it could use to build up its military. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China conducts "normal" business with the North while adhering to UN Security Council sanctions which began in 2006. "China has been performing its international obligations strictly, including those stipulated in the Security Council resolution. But meanwhile we carry on normal economic exchanges and trade with all parties including North Korea," Mr Lu said. A sales manager for a Sinotruck dealer said the trucks were modified for military use after being sold to North Korea. Beijing banned the import of coal from North Korea in mid-February, but its overall trade with North Korea has increased, customs officials said last week. China's influential 'Global Times' newspaper threatened yesterday that China could halt "petroleum exports" to its neighbour, a move that would have a devastating affect on the North. It imports almost all its crude oil from China. However, the state-run media outlet said China would never help the US with measures that would cause "the direct overthrow of the Pyongyang regime". "Co-operative efforts by China and the US will under no circumstance evolve into any kind of military action against North Korea," said the newspaper, which has close ties with the ruling Communist Party. Tensions have escalated over North Korea in recent weeks amid fears that it is set to carry out its sixth nuclear test, a move that could provoke a response from US president Donald Trump, who ordered an aircraft carrier group to the region. US vice-president Mike Pence assured Japan that Washington would stand with its ally in the event of hostilities. "We are with you 100pc," he said in Japan, during the second leg of a 10-day visit to Asia. Meanwhile, a former South Korean ambassador to the UN has warned that the current North Korea crisis is the worst he has experienced in decades. Oh Joon, who retired as ambassador and permanent representative to the UN in December, said: "I think this one is probably more serious than any other similar crisis we have had within the last few decades, not least because North Korea is very close to getting nuclear capabilities. Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] Missiles on the backs of trucks during a military parade in Kim Il-Sung Square, Pyongyang, last weekend Photo: AFP PHOTO / KCNA VIA KNS China's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that it was seriously concerned by recent comments made by North Korean officials warning of further missile tests and the possibility of nuclear war. Addressing a regular press briefing, ministry spokesman Lu Kang added that China was resolutely opposed to any words or actions that could further raise tensions. Ivanka Trump with her husband Jared Kushner during a dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping. (AP/Alex Brandon) China has defended its handling of trademark applications from President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka and her company, saying that all such requests are handled fairly. Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lu Kang was asked about the trademarks a day after reports revealed that Ivanka Trump had won provisional approval for five marks since her father's January inauguration. Three were granted on April 6, the day Ivanka Trump had dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Mr Lu said China follows the law in granting trademarks and gives "equal protection to foreign trademark holders". Asked about the timing of the April 6 approvals, Mr Lu said: "There are perhaps some media engaging in hyping certain gossip to hint at something undisclosed. "I can tell you that they will never succeed." Beyond the provisionally approved trademarks, Ivanka Trump Marks LLC has 16 registered trademarks in China and more than 30 pending applications, according to China's Trademark Office database. They collectively cover a wide range of goods and services, including cosmetics, jewellery, leather handbags, luggage, clothes, shoes, retail, spa and beauty services. Other countries where the company has pending and registered trademarks include Japan, Mexico, Turkey, Israel, Canada and Saudi Arabia. Sales of Ivanka Trump's brand, which she no longer manages but still owns, hit record levels in 2017 by some measures despite boycotts and several stores limiting her merchandise. US imports, almost all from China, shot up an estimated 166% last year, according to Panjiva Inc, which tracks international imports to the United States. In a statement on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Ivanka Trump brand said the 2017 Chinese trademarks were filed defensively to prevent counterfeiters or squatters from using her name. Mrs Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, are trusted advisers to the president. Criminal conflict-of-interest law prohibits federal officials from participating in government matters that could impact their own financial interest or that of their spouses. Some argue that the more Ivanka Trump's business broadens its scope, the more it threatens to encroach on the couple's ability to deliver credible advice on core issues like trade, intellectual property and the value of the Chinese currency. Asked about Ivanka Trump's role in US-China relations, Mr Lu said: "We always think highly of the people who are committed to promoting China-US friendship and cooperation, whether they are from the government or society, and we commend their efforts." AP Tehran, Iran, April 19 By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend: Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met with Kyrgyzstans President Almazbek Atambayev to discuss the bilateral relations between the two countries, Press TV reported. Kyrgyzstan was the last country to visit for Zarif, as part of his Central Asia tour, which had already taken him to Turkmenistan and Georgia, heading a 20-member delegation of businessmen and company representatives from Iranian public and private sectors. The tour takes place at the invitation of the respective countries top diplomats on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the republics independence from the Soviet Union. Robinson painted her hands green, wore a wig and a mask to evoke her alter-ego 'Nelda' Photo: Oklahoma City Police An Oklahoma grandmother was handed three life sentences after subjecting her granddaughter to horrific abuse including dressing as a witch to terrorise the seven-year-old. Geneva Robinson pleaded guilty to child abuse and neglect charges after exposing the child to what prosecutors described as a house of horrors. The 51-year-old abused her granddaughter for more than a year, hitting her in the face, burning her with cigarettes and dressing up as Nelda the witch, the Oklahoma City court heard. Her 33-year-old boyfriend Joshua Granger was also charged and sentenced to 30 years for his role in facilitating the abuse. Prosecutors released footage of the abuse in which Robinson can be seen dressed as the witch dragging the child across the floor. Robinson can be seen with green painted hands and dressed in long black robes with her hands around the girls throat. At one point in the footage, she implies she is going to eat her. Court documents also detail further abuse inflicted by Robinson on the child, including forcing her to sleep outside with the dogs, whipping her and pinching her with pliers. The girl told detectives her grandmother would wear a mask and take her to the garage where she would be restrained, court documents report. They also detail how Robinson would use a pink dog leash to tie her up. What she did was horrific and what she did will forever impact this child and her siblings, Assistant DA Merydith Easter said, according to The Oklahoman. She deserves the same amount of mercy that she showed this child, and that's none." British Prime Minister Theresa May called for an early election on June 8, saying she needed to strengthen her hand in divorce talks with the European Union by bolstering support for her Brexit plan. Standing outside her Downing Street office, Mrs May said she had been reluctant to ask parliament to back her move to bring forward the poll from 2020. But, after thinking "long and hard" during a walking holiday, she decided it was necessary to try to stop the opposition "jeopardising" her work on Brexit. Some were surprised by Mrs May's move - the Conservative prime minister has repeatedly said she does not want to be distracted by campaigning - but opinion polls give her a strong lead and the British economy has so far defied predictions of a slowdown. Growth is faster than expected, consumer confidence is high and unemployment low, but the economy may be poised to pass its peak as consumers start to feel the strain from rising prices. Sterling rose to a four-month high against the US dollar after the market bet that Mrs May would strengthen her parliamentary majority, which Deutsche Bank said would be a "game-changer" for the pound. But the stronger pound helped push Britain's main share index to close down 2.3pc, its biggest one-day loss since June 27, days after Britain voted to leave the EU. Reluctance "It was with reluctance that I decided the country needs this election, but it is with strong conviction that I say it is necessary to secure the strong and stable leadership the country needs to see us through Brexit and beyond," Mrs May said. "Before Easter I spent a few days walking in Wales with my husband, thought about this long and hard, and came to the decision that to provide that stability and certainty for the future that this was the way to do it, to have an election," she told ITV news. Read More Mrs May called US President Donald Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other European leaders after the announcement, a spokesman said, without giving details of the conversations. Britain joins a list of western European countries scheduled to hold elections this year. Votes in France in April and May, and in Germany in September, have the potential to reshape the political landscape around the two years of Brexit talks with the EU which are expected to start in earnest in June. Mrs May is capitalising on her runaway lead in the opinion polls and she could win around 100 additional seats in parliament. A survey conducted after her announcement put her Conservative party 21 points ahead of the main opposition Labour party. The ICM/'Guardian' poll of 1,000 people showed Conservative support at 46pc, with Labour on 25pc and the Liberal Democrats on 11pc. Read More Mrs May's personal ratings also dwarf those of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, with 50pc of those asked by pollster YouGov saying she would make the best prime minister. Corbyn wins only 14pc. Mrs May, a former interior minister, was appointed prime minister after Britain's vote to leave the EU forced the resignation of her predecessor David Cameron. The election will be a vote on her performance so far. She is counting on winning the support of British voters, who backed Brexit by 52pc to 48pc. Some Britons questioned on social media whether they wanted to cast yet another ballot less than a year after the June referendum and two years after they voted in the last parliamentary poll. However, the ICM/'Guardian' poll found that around three-in-five respondents said Mrs May was right to call an election. Her spokesman said she had the backing of her top team of ministers and had informed UK Queen Elizabeth of her plans on Monday. Business groups largely welcomed the move, while expressing concern that the government's focus may stray away from the economy, which Mrs May said had defied "predictions of immediate financial and economic danger". Underlining divisions the vote is unlikely to mend, however, Nicola Sturgeon, first minister of the Scottish government, described the decision as a "huge political miscalculation" that could help her efforts to hold a new independence referendum. Damage The Irish Government also expressed concern that the early election could damage the chances of resolving a political crisis in Northern Ireland. Taoiseach Enda Kenny was among the leaders called by Mrs May, along with European Council President Donald Tusk. Mr Tusk, who is running the negotiations with Britain, said in Brussels that the election was a Brexit plot twist worthy of Alfred Hitchcock - the late film director known as the master of suspense. Before holding the early election, Mrs May must win the support of two-thirds of the parliament in a vote today, which looked certain after Labour and the Liberal Democrats said they would vote in favour. Mr Corbyn welcomed the election, but some of his MPs doubted it was a good move, fearing they could lose their seats. At least two said they would not run. If the opinion polls are right, Mrs May will win a new mandate for a series of reforms she wants to make and also a vote of confidence in a vision for Brexit which sees the country outside the EU's single market. "The decision facing the country will be all about leadership," May said. Britain's Prince William has told how he still feels the shock of his mother's death 20 years later, as he followed his brother Harry's lead by pledging: "It's time that everyone speaks up." William, who was 15 when Princess Diana died, said the loss of a parent was "such an unbelievably big moment" adding: "You never get over it." Speaking in a new BBC documentary about mental health issues, he said:"People go, 'shock can't last that long', but it does." Prince Harry received universal praise earlier this week after telling how he had sought counselling after spending 20 years burying his head in the sand over his mother's death and two years of "total chaos". William said: "The more we have influential and very important people speaking about their issues and their battles, the better." Yesterday, he also appeared in a video with pop star Lady Gaga, talking to her about mental health issues and declaring: "It's time that everyone speaks up." In the video, which was streamed on Facebook, Lady Gaga said she felt people with mental health challenges were "not hiding any more". William said: "It's time that everyone speaks up and really feels very normal about mental health, it's the same as physical health. Everybody has mental health and we shouldn't be ashamed of it and just having a conversation with a friend or family member can really make such a difference." Lady Gaga said: "For me, waking up every day feeling sad and going on stage is just very hard to describe. "There's a lot of shame attached to mental illness, you feel like something's wrong with you. And in my life I go: 'Oh my goodness, look at all these beautiful and wonderful things that I have, and I should be so happy'. "But you can't help it if in the morning when you wake up, you are so tired, you are so sad and you are so full of anxiety and the shakes that you can barely think. "But it was like saying 'this is a part of me, and that's OK'." William said of his mental health now: "I'm very lucky, I've got a good support network around me. For those who don't have that network, that's where the first cracks start to appear." The Conservative Party can win a 100-seat majority at the snap election, analysis by Britain's leading pollster has suggested. If current polling was replicated at the ballot box, the Tories would win an estimated 375 seats - almost double the 189 that Labour would pick up. Such a result would vindicate Theresa May's decision to go for an early vote, with the Tory working majority soaring from 17 to 100, according to the projection. Prof John Curtice from Strathclyde University, who conducted the analysis, said that Labour's collapse under Jeremy Corbyn helped explain the results. A recent poll of polls put the Conservatives on 43pc of the vote and Labour on 27pc - a Tory lead of 16 points. Ukip and the Lib Dems were both on 10pc. If that voting occurred at the election and the swing was equal across the UK, the Tory majority would rise to an estimated 100 seats. Prof Curtice said: "Theresa May wins seats from the Labour Party. Why? Because Labour is at sixes and sevens, Jeremy Corbyn is not a very popular leader and the party is divided over Brexit, whereas Mrs May seems to be at least reasonably popular." He added that the massive majority for the Tories suggested by their poll lead would, in reality, likely be far smaller. "Although Mrs May goes into this election with an enormous lead over Labour, she is not guaranteed to secure the overwhelming majority that she evidently hopes to secure," he said. "The SNP remains dominant in Scotland and is likely to retain most of the 56 seats that they already hold. Therefore any majority has to be acquired through winning seats in England and Wales alone. Meanwhile, there are relatively few marginal seats." The European Union welcomed a snap British election that one of its leaders likened to a Hitchcock plot twist, but there was conspicuously little talk in Brussels of the vote halting Britain's exit from the bloc. Instead, EU officials echoed British Prime Minister Theresa May's hopes that a parliamentary poll on June 8 could strengthen her own hand in managing the Brexit negotiations which are due to start around the same time. "We have some hope that this will lead to a strong leader in London that can negotiate with us with strong backing by the electorate," an EU official said after yesterday's surprise move. EU negotiators have been concerned that division over Brexit among voters - and within Mrs May's own party - could make it harder to agree terms before March 2019 to ensure an orderly British withdrawal. A collapse in talks would risk Britain simply crashing out of the union when that deadline expires, leaving legal chaos. After her predecessor narrowly lost a referendum gamble to keep Europe's second-ranked economy in the EU, Brussels once harboured hopes that Britain might have a change of heart under fellow Conservative Mrs May, who had favoured 'Remain' over Brexit. However, her decision to quit the EU's barrier-free single market, confirmed when she launched the two-year Brexit countdown last month, saw that give way to a determination to close ranks across the bloc and drive a hard bargain with London to discourage imitators. Few would relish the disruption a British about-face would now cause. European Council President Donald Tusk spoke to Mrs May and quoted British master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock's recipe for a good movie in likening her dramatic move to a thriller plot: "It was Hitchcock who directed Brexit: first an earthquake and the tension rises," the former Polish premier tweeted. But Mr Tusk's spokesman said the EU would stick to its own plans, which should see negotiations starting in June after Mr Tusk chairs a summit of the 27 other EU national leaders on April 29. "The UK elections do not change our EU27 plans," he said. Opinion polls show Mrs May easily winning a majority. "Hopes for an exit from Brexit are completely unfounded," Norbert Roettgen, a leading parliamentary ally of centre-right Chancellor Angela Merkel, told German media. For Ms Merkel's centre-left coalition partners, who hope to unseat her in a vote in September, Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said he hoped the election would "lead to more clarity and accountability in the negotiations". One of Mr Gabriel's German party colleagues in the EU parliament, Jo Leinen, urged Britons to halt the process in a "de facto second Brexit referendum". Despite Mrs May's insistence that it cannot be reversed, he said no EU government would block such a U-turn. But the official line of the EU legislature's centre-left bloc made clear that its goal remained only "a fair Brexit". Parliament's point man on the Brexit negotiations, former Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt, also avoided suggesting the election could now keep Britain in the EU. Though he leads a bloc which includes the Liberal Democrats, the main British party still campaigning against Brexit, he said only that the election would give voters a chance to influence the future relationship between Britain and the EU. Migrants rest on the Malta-based NGO Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) ship Phoenix as it makes its way towards Italy. The migrants were rescued in the central Mediterranean Photo: Reuters More than 8,000 migrants were rescued in the Mediterranean and brought to Italy in the space of just three days over Easter, as Italian politicians denounced the exodus as a racket that should be stopped. Nearly 8,500 asylum seekers were saved from dinghies and ex-fishing boats by the Italian coast guard, Frontex, the EU's border patrol agency, and humanitarian NGOs operating rescue vessels. It was a huge number, even by the standards of the relentless flow of migrants and refugees who regularly depart from the coast of Libya with the hope of reaching Europe. The bodies of 13 migrants were recovered, including that of an eight-year-old boy who drowned. The spate of operations boosted the number of rescues in the central Mediterranean so far this year to nearly 36,000. The departure of so many boats was prompted by calm weather conditions, and also by concern among smugglers that EU efforts to beef up the Libyan coast guard may soon make it harder for them to operate. "When 8,500 illegal immigrants arrive in three days, it's clear that it is all organised," Matteo Salvini, leader of the right-wing Northern League political party, said. "It is quite clear that clandestine immigration is being organised. So we've decided to sue the government and the commanders of the navy and coast guard." If arrivals continue at this pace, 2017 could be a record year for migrants reaching Italy, outstripping even last year, when 181,000 were rescued and brought to Italian shores. Rescuing, processing and accommodating the asylum seekers is likely to cost the government 4.6bn - 1bn more than in 2016. The government says it has little choice but to rescue the migrants, but critics say trafficking gangs in Libya have come to depend on Italian, EU and NGO vessels deployed in the Mediterranean as a free taxi service. Smugglers launch boats packed with migrants from Libyan beaches with little fuel and cheap outboard engines, knowing they are likely to be rescued once they reach international waters. Paolo Romani, another MP from Forza Italia, accused the Italian, British, French and German NGOs operating in the Mediterranean of "incentivising human trafficking" - a charge that organisations such as Medecins Sans Frontieres strongly deny, arguing that migrants will try to reach Italy regardless. Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] A police officer and rescue workers cordon off a street during searches in Marseille, southern France, yesterday. Police thwarted an imminent 'terror attack', arresting two suspects, Clement Baur and Mahiedine Merabet Photo: AP/Claude Paris Terrorism burst into the final week of the French presidential campaign after an "imminent" plot to attack a candidate was foiled, two men arrested and guns and explosives seized - reportedly thanks to a tip-off from British intelligence. With five days to go before the first round of the most unpredictable presidential race in modern French history, agents and anti-terror police seized two suspects, Clement Baur (23) and Mahiedine Merabet (29), in Marseille, southern France. Expand Close Clement Baur / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Clement Baur The pair, one from Croix in northern France, the other from the Val d'Oise near Paris, were arrested a few minutes apart in the 3rd arrondissement of the port city. A black Isil flag, several weapons - including an Uzi submachine gun - and three kilogrammes of TATP-type explosives used in the Paris and Brussels suicide bombings were found in a subsequent raid, said Francis Molins, the Paris prosecutor. Some of the bomb material was "ready for use", he added. President Francois Hollande hailed the arrests as a "remarkable haul". Matthias Fekl, the French interior minister, said the two French nationals were "suspected of wanting to launch an imminent violent act on the eve of the presidential elections". Expand Close Mahiedine Merabet / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Mahiedine Merabet He added: "They intended to commit an attack in the very short term, namely in the coming days, on French soil." Mr Molins said the two men appeared to have turned to radical Islam during a two-month spell sharing a cell in a northern French prison. Describing them as "wary and determined", he said police were unsure about "the precise day" of the planned strike and of "the target or targets". Video Expand Close A police officer and rescue workers cordon off a street during searches Photo: AP Photo/Claude Paris / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A police officer and rescue workers cordon off a street during searches Photo: AP Photo/Claude Paris But according to 'Le Monde', a video police seized of one suspect shows him standing before an Isil flag holding a machine gun and a copy of a daily newspaper with Francois Fillon, the conservative presidential candidate, on the cover, with the words "la loi du talion (an eye for an eye)" on the screen. Mr Fillon's team was warned late last week of a "confirmed risk" of attack and shown a photo of the two suspects, said French media. 'Le Figaro' cited a source close to Mr Fillon as saying: "The initial intelligence came from British services who are thought to have intercepted data from two individuals known to security services." The centre-right contender held rallies in Montpellier last Friday and on Monday in Nice, the scene of a deadly Isil truck attack that killed 86 last July. Anti-terror police and snipers were present at the rallies. According to Francetvinfo, authorities advised Mr Fillon to wear a bullet-proof vest in Nice, which he refused. He is being guarded by 12 officers and has a direct line to the prime minister for security updates, it said. But Mr Fillon was not the only candidate informed of a threat. The security teams of Marine Le Pen, the far-right Front National candidate, and Emmanuel Macron, the centrist frontrunner, were shown police photos of the two suspects last Thursday. Benoit Hamon, the Socialist candidate, was also informed. Ms Le Pen is due to hold what may be her last campaign rally in Marseille tonight. "Perhaps it was no coincidence," said a member of her team. With France going to the polls to choose a new president on Sunday and on May 7, more than 50,000 police, gendarmes and soldiers are being deployed for each round, in particular around the country's 67,000 polling stations. After the arrests, Mr Fillon said: "Democracy must not bend before the threats and intimidation of terrorists", adding that he hoped that security would not now dominate the electoral debate. The French were more concerned about unemployment and general insecurity rather than a "miscellaneous news item", he insisted. But Ms Le Pen, who has this week called for France to suspend all legal immigration and draft in army reservists to guard French borders, seized on the arrests as proof France required a more authoritarian leader. "The French must realise what's going on. For the past two five-year [presidential] terms, the Islamist threat has been allowed to prosper" leading to a "devastating multiplication of attacks and threats of attacks", she claimed. "It's time to put back France in order." Narrowing The presidential race is narrowing ahead of Sunday's vote, with the pack closing behind Mr Macron and Ms Le Pen. They are tied on 22-23pc, with Mr Fillon improving to around 21pc and Jean-Luc Melenchon, the surprise Communist-backed contender, surging as high as 20pc in some polls. The country has been under a state of emergency, which has been extended several times, in the face of Islamist militant attacks in Paris and other parts of the country in which more than 230 people have been killed. The last two attacks targeted soldiers in the Louvre museum in Paris and Orly airport outside the French capital. Five terror plots have been foiled since the start of the year and 17 were thwarted in 2016, Bernard Cazeneuve, the French prime minister, said last month. Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, in Warsaw, Poland (Czarek Sokolowski/AP) European Council president Donald Tusk has said the case in which he was questioned as a witness in Poland is of "highly political character". Mr Tusk spent more than eight hours behind closed doors on Wednesday responding to questions by military prosecutors. The investigation deals with alleged secret illegal contacts between Polish and Russian intelligence officials at a time when Mr Tusk was Poland's prime minister. Mr Tusk told reporters as he left the prosecutors' office that he cannot give details of the questioning, which is secret, but that he was treated hospitably. "The whole case has a highly political character," Mr Tusk said. He is not a suspect, but only a witness in the investigation. The alleged illegal activity took place during his 2007-2014 tenure as prime minister. Many see his questioning as part of a larger attempt by Poland's nationalist government to discredit a political foe by linking him to scandals. With backing for Mr Tusk still strong in the country, he could prove to be a serious rival to the ruling party in the 2019 parliamentary election and in the 2020 presidential election. Mr Tusk has also been accused by defence minister Antoni Macierewicz of treason in another matter, the handling of the aftermath of the 2010 plane crash in Smolensk, Russia, that killed Polish president Lech Kaczynski. An agitated crowd of both faithful supporters and angry opponents greeted him when he arrived at Warsaw's main train station on Wednesday morning to testify. Mr Tusk's supporters carried EU and national flags and chanted: "Donald, we are with you!" Opponents hurled accusations of crimes and of Mr Tusk having hurt Poland's interests. One detractor raised a large mock-up photo depicting him in striped prison garb. In the current case, prosecutors have not revealed details of the alleged illegal contacts, but they are investigating whether the heads of Poland's intelligence neglected their obligation to seek Mr Tusk's approval for co-operating with foreign intelligence agencies. Polish media reports say the deal was aimed at allowing Polish investigators probing the president's plane crash to operate on Russian soil. "I have no reservations as to the work of the (special) services," Mr Tusk said before his meeting with prosecutors. Poland's current ruling conservative party, Law and Justice, is led by the late president's twin brother, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, a nationalist politician who is a long-term political rival of Mr Tusk's. Mr Kaczynski and others accuse Mr Tusk of failing to oversee proper security for the presidential flight. They also fault Mr Tusk for letting the Russians carry out the main investigation and for failing to get the wreckage back. Mr Kaczynski drove the failed effort last month to block Mr Tusk from getting a second term as head of the European Council. Only Poland opposed Mr Tusk's re-election, which was approved by the 27 other EU members. AP Donald Trump has pledged to overhaul a visa programme for skilled workers as part of his America First initiative, but what does it mean for Irish graduates looking to move stateside? Here is everything you need to know. What visa is he talking about? The HB-1 visa is a visa which allows skilled workers from overseas work with tech firms in the US. It has attracted criticism because it is seen as a visa which allows firms who abuse it to replace American workers for lower wages. Outsourcing firms have been singled out as some of the worst offenders when it comes to this practise. What will happen now? On Monday the US Citizenship and Immigration Services agency laid out new measures to combat "fraud and abuse" in the programme. The Justice Department also warned firms not to discriminate against US workers. How will it affect me? Rory Kavanagh, editor of gradireland, said that the changes will not make a huge impact on the number of skilled workers moving to the US, as the numbers of people using the visa in recent years is relatively low. There is a lot of alternatives out there for graduates. There is a constant demand for specialist knowledge with big companies, many of whom have offices here, he said. What do I do now? Mr Kavanagh said the main thing is for people not to panic and to follow the golden rules when applying for all visas abroad. If you are applying to companies in the States apply with all of your paperwork in order, don't leave anything that can be picked up at a later stage especially now as its getting a lot tighter, he said. Seek the advice of solicitors who specialise in this area and get in touch with embassies in the US, especially in LA where a lot of tech jobs are concentrated. One of the oldest Christian monasteries in Egypt was the subject of a violent attack on security forces. One soldier has been confirmed dead while at least four have been wounded, Sputnik reported citing local media outlets. The St. Catherine Cathedral in Sinai was established in 565 A.D. as a Greek Orthodox church and is one of the oldest in the world. Daesh claims that it was an armed confrontation rather than a suicide bombing. It is not clear whether the violence was the result of a blast or a shooting. Egypt recently declared a state of emergency prior to a visit by Pope Francis in the wake of attacks conducted against churches in the cities of Tanta and Alexandria. Daesh claimed responsibility for the attacks that killed dozens. A man who plotted with an FBI informant to explode a nail-filled backpack bomb on a Florida Keys beach has been sentenced to life in prison. Harlem Suarez's lawyer had sought a more lenient sentence, but US District Judge Jose Martinez agreed with prosecutors that the plot deserved the maximum term. Suarez, 25, was convicted by a Key West jury in January of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and providing material support to a terrorist organisation. "The government was extremely fortunate in this case that (agents) were able to ferret out the defendant's true intentions and monitor his every move," Assistant US Attorneys Karen Gilbert and Marc Anton said in court papers. "This crime is as serious as it gets." Suarez was given a life sentence on the weapon of mass destruction charge and 20 years for the material support conviction. His trial was told he began posting Facebook messages in April 2015 expressing allegiance to the Islamic State extremist group and seeking to recruit new followers. He also researched bomb-making instructions. That led the FBI to direct informants to make contact with Suarez, even though there was no evidence the Cuban-American had actual IS connections. But prosecutors said Suarez posted pro-IS videos online and bought a number of weapons, including two handguns, magazines, bulletproof vests and an AR-15 rifle, and attempted to buy an AK-47 assault weapon. The plot to set off the bomb on a Key West beach developed in conversations with the FBI informants, evidence showed. The trial heard Suarez believed the backpack bomb would contain galvanised nails and could be detonated remotely with a mobile phone. The informant said he could get the explosive material to add to those ingredients. "I can go to the beach at the night time, put the thing in the sand, cover it up, so the next day I just call and the thing is gonna, is gonna make, a real hard noise from nowhere," Suarez told an informant in a recorded call. Suarez was arrested in July 2015 after accepting an inert explosive from an FBI employee posing as an IS extremist. He went to trial even though prosecutors offered him a chance to plead guilty to only the material support charge, which carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence. Defence lawyer Richard Della Fera said Suarez was pressured by his parents not to plead guilty, even telling his mother in a monitored jail phone call that he thought it was impossible to win the case. "His mother again forcefully interjects, telling him not to think that way and to read his bible and have faith in God," Mr Della Fera said in court papers. Mr Della Fera also sought a more lenient sentence based on Suarez's lack of criminal history and psychological issues that made him susceptible to IS rhetoric. "As one who is gullible and easily led, he was easy prey for the informants who appealed to his ego and his need for validation," he said, adding that Suarez "was obviously looking for something to belong to". AP Steve Stephens, who murdered a pensioner at random on Easter Sunday, posting the footage on Facebook, has been found dead. Pennsylvania state police said yesterday morning that Stephens (37) took his own life after a police chase. His death marked the end of a three-day, five-state manhunt. Stephens boasted of murdering 15 people, but police in Ohio - where he killed Robert Godwin on Sunday - are yet to confirm any further killings. "We have closure in regards to the hunt for Steve Stephens," said Frank Jackson, mayor of Cleveland, where Mr Godwin (74) lived and was murdered. "This particular incident received a lot of attention, and rightfully so - because it was the loss of an innocent. But ultimately I believe this has taught us that we cannot solve this gun violence unless we have the same compassion and sense of community we have here." The Godwin family, praised for their dignified response, said it was not the ending they had wished for. Cleveland police chief Calvin Williams said that shortly after 11am Pennsylvania state police officers received a tip that the white Ford Fusion Stephens was driving was at a McDonald's in Erie. When police arrived the car took off, and after a short chase Stephens took his own life. Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] When US President Donald Trump boasted early last week that he had sent an "armada" as a warning to North Korea, the aircraft carrier strike group he spoke of was still far from the Korean peninsula, and headed in the opposite direction. It was even farther away over the weekend, moving through the Sunda Strait and then into the Indian Ocean, as North Korea displayed what appeared to be new missiles at a parade and staged a failed missile test. The US military's Pacific Command explained on Tuesday that the strike group first had to complete a shorter-than-initially planned period of training with Australia. But it was now "proceeding to the Western Pacific as ordered," it said. The perceived communications mix-up has raised eyebrows among Korea experts, who wonder whether it erodes the Trump administration's credibility at a time when U.S. rhetoric about the North's advancing nuclear and missile capabilities are raising concerns about a potential conflict. "If you threaten them and your threat is not credible, it's only going to undermine whatever your policy toward them is. And that could be a logical conclusion from what's just happened," said North Korea expert Joel Wit at the 38 North monitoring group, run by Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. Read More The U.S. military initially said in a statement dated April 10 that Admiral Harry Harris, the commander of Pacific Command, directed the Carl Vinson strike group "to sail north and report on station in the Western Pacific." Reuters and other news outlets reported on April 11 that the movement would take more than a week. The Navy, for security reasons, says it does not report future operational locations of its ships. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis initially appeared to play down the deployment on April 11, saying the Vinson was "just on her way up there because that's where we thought it was most prudent to have her at this time." "There's not a specific demand signal or specific reason why we're sending her up there," he said. But even Mattis initially misspoke about the strike group's itinerary, telling a news conference that the Vinson had pulled out of an exercise with Australia. The Pentagon has since corrected the record, saying the ship's planned port visit to Fremantle, Australia, was canceled - not the exercise with Australia's navy. On April 15, the U.S. Navy even published a photo showing the Vinson transiting the Sunda Strait reported that the Vinson was in the Indian Ocean. A U.S. military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Vinson carried out the exercises after passing through the Sunda Strait and wrapped them up this week. The United States is not looking to get into a fight with North Korea unless Pyongyang sparks one, Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley told reporters, Sputnik reported. "There's one message to North Korea: the US is not looking for a fight [but] if they keep trying to instigate, if they try and give us one, then they're going to create a fight," Haley said on Tuesday. "North Korea needs to realize don't give us a reason and we won't have a reason to fight." Earlier on Tuesday, US Vice President Mike Pence said during a joint press conference with Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso that the United States will continue to work with its allies to address the gravest threat to the region emanating from North Korea. The statement was made amid an escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula with the South Korea and US military reporting April 16 that they had witnessed what they believe to be a failed missile test by Pyongyang which followed a number of missile launches and nuclear tests considered to be in violation with the UN Security Council resolution. On April 14, US media reported that US President Donald Trump might order a strike against North Korea if Pyongyang decided to carry out another nuclear weapon test. An Ohio man who expressed support for the Islamic State has pleaded guilty to soliciting the murder of members of the U.S. military, the Justice Department announced Wednesday. Terrence McNeil, 24, of Akron, Ohio, pleaded guilty Tuesday to five counts of solicitation to commit a crime of violence and five counts of making threatening interstate communications involving his call to kill military personnel. McNeil "disseminated ISIL's violent rhetoric, circulated U.S. military personnel information, and explicitly called for the killing of American service members in their homes and communities," acting Assistant Attorney General Mary McCord said in a statement, using an acronym for the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. "Now he will be held accountable." McNeil, a U.S. citizen, was arrested on Nov. 12, 2015. He professed his support on numerous occasions on social media for the Islamic State, according to documents filed in the case. In September 2015, using a Tumblr account, he reposted a file with the banner "Islamic State Hacking Division," followed by "Target: United States Military" and "Leak: Addresses of 100 U.S. Military Personnel." According to the documents, one file that apparently sought to rally Islamic State followers to violence stated: "O Brothers in America, know that the jihad against the crusaders is not limited to the lands of the [caliphate], it is a world-wide jihad and their war is not just a war against the Islamic State, it is a war against Islam." McNeil went on to say it was necessary to kill the "kuffar" or disbelievers: "Now we have made it easy for you by giving you addresses, all you need to do is take the final step." According to case documents, the file said, "Kill them in their own lands, behead them in their own homes, stab them to death as they walk their streets thinking that they are safe." The file then displays several dozen photographs, purportedly of military personnel, along with their names, addresses and military branch, according to the government. The final image is a picture of a handgun and a knife with text that reads, "and kill them wherever you find them." McNeil's case is an example of what FBI Director James Comey has repeatedly warned about in recent years - Islamic State supporters taking to social media to call on supporters in the United States to kill people in the country. McNeil posted other kill lists in late 2015, all of which repeated the call to commit murder, the Justice Department said. "While we aggressively defend First Amendment rights, the individual arrested went far beyond free speech by reposting names and addresses of 100 U.S. service members, all with the intent to have them killed," said Stephen Anthony, special agent in charge at the FBI's Cleveland division. McNeil's sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 2. Under the terms of his plea agreement, he faces a sentence of between 15 and 20 years in prison. It is truly an honor to serve you in the U.S. House of Representatives. It is a privilege to be your voice in Washington to advance solutions that will increase economic prosperity, reduce our debt, and help create the conditions to get people back to work. One of the most important parts of my job is serving you by providing top-notch constituent services and being accessible to hear your needs, thoughts and concerns. At the end of the day, one of my most rewarding responsibilities is facilitating unique opportunities for students in our district. As a Member of Congress, it is my privilege to nominate ambitious high school students to U.S. Service Academies each year. I have to say, the most humbling part about this responsibility is getting to meet with incredible, motivated students and notifying them of their achievements. This year, Im thrilled to nominate 17 students from our community. It was my privilege to congratulate each one at a Service Academy Ceremony I hosted in Concord in January. Were so proud of these young men and women for what theyve accomplished and expect great things from them in the future! These students worked extremely hard to get to this point and represent the best our district has to offer. If you or someone you know is interested in attending a service academy, my office is hosting two Service Academy Days this April. Contact my Concord office at 704-786-1612 or visit Hudson.House.gov to learn more! This is just one example of the many opportunities my office provides to students in North Carolinas Eighth Congressional District. Im also excited to announce my office is now accepting entries for the 2017 Congressional Art Competition! Each spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a nationwide high school visual art competition to recognize and encourage artistic talent in the nation. The winner will be selected by an Arts Advisory Committee made up of artists from the district and announced at a reception. The winner and one guest will have the opportunity to visit Washington, D.C. to participate in the national ceremony with other winners from congressional districts across the country. Winning artwork will be displayed for one year in the U.S. Capitol. Second place artwork will be displayed in my Washington, D.C. office and third place will be displayed in my Concord office. Every year, I am truly amazed by the talent of young artists in our district. This years theme is Tar Heel Pride and Im excited to brag about our artists and showcase what makes our state so great. From nominating students to our prestigious military service academies to helping folks who are having problems with federal agencies, I believe the work I do through constituent services is the most important part of my job. As your Representative in Congress, I remain committed to providing superior constituent services and unique opportunities for you and your families. Please dont hesitate to contact my offices at 704-786-1612 (Concord); 910-997-2070 (Fayetteville); or 202-225-3715 (Washington, D.C.); if we can help you in any way. The new goods and services tax (GST) will replace all indirect taxes in India from July 1, 2017. The federal and state government will concurrently impose the GST on almost all goods and services produced in India or imported into the country. The GST will enhance Indias trade competitiveness by eliminating cascading taxes and transform Indias economy into a single common market. It will simplify the current tax structure and broaden the tax base, and could potentially boost Indias GDP by 0.9 to 1.7 percent. Direct taxes such as the income tax, corporate tax, and capital gains tax will, however, not be affected under the new tax structure. Apart from its macroeconomic implications, the GST will transform the way businesses are carried out in India. In this article, we look at how the new indirect tax structure affects companies and the challenges they need to overcome to achieve successful compliance. GST compliance for businesses The new GST regime has implications for businesses across India as well as those planning to enter the Indian market. Entrenched ways of doing business will call for large-scale changes with respect to business planning, tax and accounting, budgeting, and investments. The challenge at hand for the business community is to adapt to the transitional tax reforms by understanding the various nuances of the new GST regime. Global experience shows that businesses that commenced their GST implementation projects sooner, achieved a much smoother transition and a better compliance track record. A common market Under the pre-GST tax system, multiple taxes and non-uniform tax laws across the country proved to be costly and burdensome for businesses operating and selling across multiple states. The GST, which is a single comprehensive indirect tax levied on the supply of goods and services, will reduce the price difference between two states and make tax liabilities uniform. A single tax will also ensure the free movement of goods and services across the states. It will make inter-state procurement of goods a viable option for businesses and open opportunities to consolidate suppliers and vendors. Elimination of cascading taxes Multiple taxes levied across the supply chain and on inter-state transfer of goods and services also cause cascading of taxes, that is, taxation on tax. These taxes act as hidden costs and increase the overall cost of production of goods and services. The GST is based on input tax credit mechanism; it is a multi-stage consumption tax levied on each transaction of the supply chain, thus eliminating the process of double taxation. Ease of doing business The GST backed with a robust goods and services tax network (GSTN) system, will reduce the burden of procedural compliance, decrease paperwork, and remove tax barriers such as check posts on state borders and toll plazas. Currently, truckers in India lose 60 percent of transit time at check posts, tolls, and other stoppages. Once the GST e-way bill is implemented rightly, the benefits of simplified compliance, technological administration, and uniform process will contribute significantly to the ease of doing business in India. Supply chain efficiency The GST calls for the redesigning of supply chain networks. The new tax will decisively affect how companies operate their businesses, presenting significant opportunities for companies to secure a positive and lasting impact on their sales and profitability. For instance, under the current system, supply chains are invariably designed to minimize the burden of inter-state taxes on the transfer of goods, with multiple warehouses located in different states. The elimination of multiple indirect taxes will provide an opportunity to optimize supply chains, enabling companies to reevaluate existing procurement patterns, and distribution and warehousing arrangements. GST: A major transition According to industry observers, some sectors in the economy will gain more as their GST rate is expected to be lower than the current tax rates, while others sectors will lose as the rate will be higher than the present effective tax rate. This may create additional challenges, necessitating changes in their business strategies. Transitional challenges The GST is not merely a tax change but a business reform that will affect the entire spectrum of business activity, right from procurement, manufacturing, and distribution to the pricing of goods and the IT system. Therefore, companies will need to incur significant business process re-engineering (BPR). This means they will have to reorganize their businesses in accordance with the new law, examine each business activity and conduct an impact analysis on their business, which might be a daunting task for small firms and involve high one-time administrative costs. Updating tax compliance systems Once the GST is rolled out, a large amount of businesses tax compliance will go online. This necessitates firms to upgrade their online tax compliance systems as well as staff skills. The government has launched the GST Portal a dedicated portal for assistance with GST enrolment, GST registration, and the filing of returns. However, given the short transition period for firms to be GST compliant, updating the whole system will be a challenging and expensive task for small businesses. Training staff The GST is fundamentally different from the existing tax structure. It will be essential for businesses to provide adequate training to their staff and clients on the new tax concept, legislation, and procedural aspects like enrolling and uploading returns online, so that they are well prepared for compliance deadlines. Pricing and profitability The anti-profiteering mechanism under the GST requires businesses to quantify the benefit of the reduced tax rate and pass on the commensurate reduction in pricing to their customers. The pricing of goods and profitability compliant with this provision cannot be done unless the rates are finalized by the government. With only three months available to companies to be GST compliant, uncertainty regarding tax rates is a major concern for businesses. Editors Note: For a glossary on the key concepts and terminologies used in the GST regime, see our article here. The death toll of the powerful floods in Peru that occurred in most country's regions has reached 113, with around 400 people having been injured, the countrys emergencies authorities said, Sputnik reported. On Tuesday, Peru's authorities said that 17 people were still missing. The floods have destroyed over 20,000 houses, 316 bridges, 53 schools and 11 health facilities, as well as more than 1,670 miles of roads. The disaster affected over 1 million people with 178,000 of them having lost their property. In March, President of Peru Pedro Pablo Kuczynski announced that about $766 million would be allocated to restore the country. The floods, caused by the El Nino phenomenon, hit 20 out of Perus 25 regions. They have also reportedly led to an outbreak of the Dengue fever. Washington, Apr 19 (IBNS): The International Space Station will be capable of dozens of new scientific investigations from NASA and around the world when Orbital ATK's Cygnus spacecraft delivers more than 7,600 pounds of cargo Saturday, April 22. Orbital ATKs seventh cargo delivery flight to the station launched at 11:11 a.m. EDT Tuesday on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, read the NASA website. Expedition 51 astronauts Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency) and Peggy Whitson of NASA will use the space stations robotic arm to grapple Cygnus, about 6:05 a.m. Saturday. The spacecraft will remain at the space station until July before its destructive reentry into Earths atmosphere, disposing of several thousand pounds of trash. This is the fourth flight of an enhanced Cygnus spacecraft, and the third using the Atlas V launch system. The spacecraft for this mission is named in honor of John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth. Glenn, who died in December at age 95, was one of NASA's original seven astronauts and a retired U.S. Senator from Ohio. The mission, which is under NASAs Commercial Resupply Services contract, will support dozens of new and existing investigations as Expeditions 51 and 52 contribute to approximately 250 science and research studies. Highlights from the new experiments will include studies on cancer-fighting drugs, crystal growth and atmospheric reentry. In microgravity, cancer cells grow in 3-D, spheroid structures that closely resemble their form in the human body, enabling better tests for drug the efficacy. The ADCs in Microgravity investigation tests drugs designed as targeted cancer therapies called antibody-drug conjugates, developed by Oncolinx. These conjugates combine an immune-activating drug with antibodies and target only cancer cells, which could potentially increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy and reduce side-effects. Results from this investigation could help inform treatments for cancer patients and provide insight into how microgravity affects a drugs performance. The Solidification Using a Baffle in Sealed Ampoules (SUBSA) investigation originally was operated successfully aboard the station in 2002. Updated software, data acquisition, high definition video and communication interfaces will help advance understanding of the processes involved in semiconductor crystal growth. Investigations such as the CLYC Crystal Growth experiment will be conducted in the SUBSA Furnace and inserts. High-quality crystals are essential to a variety of applications, and a microgravity environment can produce better quality crystals. CLYC crystals grown aboard station can help researchers understand the exact conditions needed to produce the highest-quality, defect-free crystals. The Thermal Protection Material Flight Test and Reentry Data Collection (RED-Data2) investigation studies a new type of recording device that rides alongside a spacecraft as it reenters Earths atmosphere, recording data about the extreme conditions it encounters. Scientists, so far, have been unable to monitor those conditions on a large scale, and a better understanding could lead to more accurate spacecraft breakup predictions, better spacecraft designs, and materials capable of better resisting the extreme heat and pressure during the return to Earth. For more than 16 years, humans have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and demonstrating new technologies, making research breakthroughs not possible on Earth that will enable long-duration human and robotic exploration into deep space. A global endeavor, more than 200 people from 18 countries have visited the unique microgravity laboratory that has hosted more than 1,900 research investigations from researchers in more than 95 countries. Image Credits: NASA TV Kolkata/Cooch Behar, Apr 19 (IBNS): Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) jawans on Wednesday arrested a youth from Cooch Behar district of West Bengal and recovered at least 262 kg marijuana from his possession, officials said. According to reports, acting on a tip-off, jawans of SSB's 17th battalion carried out raid at Kanchiyar Kuthi area in Cooch Behar district and nabbed a suspect, Shyamal Barman. As many as 262 kg marijuana, one single-shot country made firearm and eight cartridges were recovered from his possession. Later, SSB handed the man over to the local police. Police have started probe in the matter, while the man will be produced before a local court on Thursday. A police official said that present market value of the seized marijuana is nearly 35 lakh rupees. (Reporting by Deepayan Sinha) Image: Wikimedia Commons New York, Apr 19(Just Earth News): Welcoming the conviction of three army officials accused of the murder of a 15-year-old girl during the armed conflict in Nepal more than 13 years ago, the United Nations human rights arm has called on the authorities to implement the courtas decision. It is the first time that Nepal Army personnel have been convicted by a civilian court for crimes committed during the 1996-2006 conflict, Rupert Colville, a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) told journalists in Geneva. None of the officers were present in the District Court of Kavre, and it still remains to be seen whether they will actually be arrested and serve their sentences, he added, urging the countrys authorities to implement the verdict on what he called an extremely important emblematic case. On 16 April, three soldiers Babi Khatri, Amit Pun and Sunil Prasad Adhikari were sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for the murder of Maina Sunuwar, who was picked up from her home in a village in central Nepal on 17 February 2004 and interrogated for suspected links to Maoist rebels by soldiers who were looking for her mother. She was allegedly subjected to torture and later that month died in the custody of the army at the Birendra Peace Operations Training Centre in Panchkal, located about 15 kilometres from the village where she was arrested. According to the OHCHR spokesperson, the Nepalese Army and the Government initially denied any knowledge of Sunuwars fate or whereabouts and her body was buried secretly. A fourth officer who had been charged a major who was repatriated by a UN peacekeeping mission in Chad in 2009 because of the arrest warrant against him was acquitted by the court. Colville added that OHCHR as well as other human rights organizations have persistently advocated for those responsible to be held fully accountable, and the convictions this Sunday come after a long succession of unsuccessful attempts to seek justice for the murder. UN Photo Source: www.justearthnews.com 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 Meet the man of the hour: Sonu Nigam. Sonu Nigam had tweeted about accepting the Muslim clerics challenge and guess what? He indeed shaved off his head and that too on live Television. A Kolkata-based cleric, who issued a Fatwa and announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh to anybody who would shave off Sonu's head and garland him with shoes. Sonu Nigam also addressed the media and expressed his views firmly. He clarified how he raised a social topic and not a religious one when he tweeted about being woken up by the sound of azaan. God bless everyone. I'm not a Muslim and I have to be woken up by the Azaan in the morning. When will this forced religiousness end in India Sonu Nigam (@sonunigam) April 16, 2017 (Also read: Sonu Nigam Remains Firm On His Stand, Tweets He's Against The Use Of Loudspeaker & Not Religion) He also apologized to people who thought otherwise. In the press conference, he added, Twitter I did not target any specific religion. I spoke against the use of loudspeakers and everyone has a right to his opinion. Jiss insaan ne poori zindagi Mohd Rafi sahab ko apna pita maana hai, jiske guru ka naam Ustad Gulam Mustafa Khan sahab hai: Sonu Nigam (1/2) pic.twitter.com/9f6aFHQr1N ANI (@ANI_news) April 19, 2017 Us insan ke baare mein koi aisa soche, kahe ya taint kare ki anti-Muslim,toh ye meri problem nahi hai, ye aapki problem hai:Sonu Nigam (2/2) pic.twitter.com/hmkPU38wpd ANI (@ANI_news) April 19, 2017 Sonu dropped in at the press conference with his celebrity hairstylist Hakim Aalim and shaved off his head. He also said, My words have been taken out of context. Censor Board almost made Shahid Kapoor and Alia Bhatt starrer Udta Punjab bleed by ordering 89 cuts to certify it for an adults-only viewing. However, after a major controversy, Bombay High Court gave permission to release the movie, with just one cut, which involved the lead character Tommy Singh peeing on a crowd gathered at his concert. But it seems that the struggle for the makers of the movie didnt end there. Twitter The Anurag Kashyaps co-production was thereafter facing a tough time to be released on TV, as the makers couldnt find any takers for TV rights. But, now it seems that the movie will soon be released on the small screen as the CBFCs television technical committee has approved it for the TV audience with just a three-minute cut, and writer-director Abhishek Chaubey is quite happy with the same. mensxp.com Revealing that the CBFC wanted him to be a part of the editing process, Chaubey told Mumbai Mirror: Television is a medium that is available to a majority of people in India. The nature of the cut asked for TV was completely acceptable to me. In theatres, there is a provision where only adults can walk in for a show and at that time we should have the ability to express and even push our boundaries in the best interest of a film. But TV is a medium that is accessible to people from all age groups and walks of life. As a filmmaker, I am responsible enough to understand that the content of my film cannot be shown to a child. Twitter He added that his suggestions were also accepted. I made a few suggestions which were completely from an aesthetic point of view because we had to follow the guidelines. And my suggestions were accepted. Now, the movie will hit the TV screens on April 30, at 12 pm on '& Pictures'. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 19 Trend: Turkeys Supreme Electoral Council rejected petitions from three political parties to annul the Apr. 16 constitutional referendum because of its illegality, Anadolu Agency reported. This decision was made at the Councils meeting on April 19. Ten out of 11 board members voted against the appeals, the Electoral Council said in a statement. The petitions were filed by the countrys Republican Peoples Party, Peoples Democratic Party and the Patriotic Party. A referendum on amendments to the Constitution of Turkey was held in the country Apr. 16. Some 51.4 percent of voters cast their ballots in favor of the amendments to the Turkish Constitution. The amendments to the Turkish constitution cover 18 points. Below are the main amendments: - The number of seats in the Turkish Parliament will increase from 550 to 600; - Turkish citizens will be able to run for the MP seats from the age of 18 (earlier, the lowest age limit was 25); - Parliamentary election will be held every 5 years (at present, the parliamentary election is held every 4 years); - A Turkish citizen, no younger than 40, can be elected as president; - President of Turkey will be granted the power to appoint ministers or remove them; - The elected president can be a party member (current legislation doesn't allow this). It was a casual Monday morning for many of us, and so it was supposed to be for Sonu Nigam. But his rant in a series of tweets, made it turn into a huge controversy for him. So much so, that now an FIR has been issued against the actor and he has shaved his head in response to a fatwa issued against him. Amid all the hassle, another celebrity veteran actress Renuka Shahane who has often put forth her opinion on the prevalent controversies has written down a detailed Facebook post, expressing her opinion on the same. (Also Read: Renuka Shahane Writes A Hard-Hitting Post Explaining India-Pak Relations And It's A Must Read) ytimg.com From talking about her sleep being disturbed with Azaan in childhood, to her opinion on the usage of loudspeakers, the actress writes that she doesnt agree with Sonu Nigam, but at the same time respects his opinion on the same. Looks like the actress has set an example as to how to voice opinion without hurting the sentiments of anyone! Here's what she wrote: As a kid growing up in Hyderabad, right in front of my house was a temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu (Lord Venkateshwara). Every morning at exactly 5 am the Lord & us would be woken up with M S Subbulaxmi's magical rendition of "Sri Venkatesa Suprabhatam". There were many around us who were disturbed by the volume of the loudspeaker because it was truly loud. But for kids like us who had school very early in the morning it did the job of our alarm clock. I still listen to it (now privately on my headphone) while walking in the morning. Personally I am very tolerant to high decibels. As Indians I feel we are happiest when we are noisy. Check our festivals, weddings, celebrations, victories; they are not complete without noise and frankly, without causing some amount of inconvenience to others. So blocking the road for a baraat, firecrackers being burst in front of the terrified mare on whom the bridegroom is ensconced with scores of cars honking behind the baraat knowing full well that ; and uncles & aunties dancing breathlessly as the out of breath trumpetwala tries to produce some notes . All in all its not a happy onslaught on the ears or any other sensory organ but the baraat has a life of it's own. . The baraatis are also confident of your All the rest of us can do is either enjoy the baraat or listen to fm on one's own personal car radio or sigh & look down at our most trusted companion these days, our smart phones. Some good samaritan might just appear out of nowhere to regulate the cars that are piling up behind the baraat. This is a typical day in the life of us Indians. This is India, beauty in chaos, multiculturism, acceptance, noise! Where I live, a Church close by has started playing the church bells on the loudspeaker, every morning at 6 am and evening at 7 pm. There are many senior citizens in our society who are genuinely disturbed by their loudness. Sometimes there's a clash between the notes of the church bells and the muezzin's call at the nearby Masjid. The Sai and Ganesh Mandir comes alive usually during festivals like Ganesh Utsav, Ram Navmi & Navratri. Many people living around these places of worship I'm sure must be very disturbed by the noise levels. If you ask me we do not need to use loudspeakers at all. God can hear even our silences. But then how will we prove how much we love God without making a noise & show of it? When we have very important things to do which require waking up very early, do we wake up the whole building? No! We set an alarm and wake up without disturbing even the other members of our family. Isn't praying very important for all those offering prayers at determined times of the day? Is it so difficult to set an alarm for that time? It isn't! If one wants to be civil & civic one doesn't need any loudspeakers for any celebration. But our Indianness is not complete unless we make a loud show of everything. We, as a nation, have to decide what is important for us. If we are to adhere to the civic norms & decibel guidelines then it should be uniform for each and every prayer, festival, Shaadi, celebration etc. If we are to retain our ethos and the kind of people we are, we must learn to indulge all occassions of noise & invest in Bose headphones that cut the noise completely ( just kidding); just a good old pillow on the ears in the morning or cotton wool in the ears to plug out the noise will do. But if you can hear only loud noise in even the music of religions other than yours & if the cacophony of your own religion is music to your ears, then it is more a problem related to the ill-feelings in your heart rather than the decibels in your ears! For me, since I love music and I believe in the adage "Live & let live" these musical (sometimes cacophonous)notes in the morning are most welcome if they are legal. I would definitely exhort the authorities to be strict with any noise pollution that is illegal. I do not condone anything that is illegal. Because if we don't follow rules, the next step would be anarchy. There can be no harmony in anarchy. Here's a request to all the people who pray early in the morning, let's not make prayers a contentious issue where politicians & the regular right, left & centrewalas gain publicity & votes on the basis of this. Prayers are very personal aren't they? Let's use them to build bridges rather than create gaps. As far as Sonu Nigam is concerned, he has every right to voice his opinions, why is there such an outrage about anything anyone says these days? Yes, I didn't agree with what he said but I respect his right to have a different opinion than mine. Though I must say, the tone & manner of saying it was not very nice . It could perhaps be the only false note in Sonu's entire rich musical career! Or maybe he's trying to hit the 'right' note?? Here's the link to her post. (Also Read: Womens Emancipation Is In Mind And Not Body, Says Renuka Shahane) Long pepper has an important role in ancient Indian Ayurveda because of its therapeutic properties. Recently US scientists have discovered a chemical in the pepper plant that has anti-cancer properties. www.lifetimestyles.com According to researchers, the secret lies in a chemical called Piperlongumine (PL), which has shown activity against many cancers including prostate, breast, lung, colon, lymphoma, leukaemia, primary brain tumours and gastric cancer. Using x-ray crystallography, the researchers were able to create molecular structures that showed how the chemical is transformed after being ingested. The PL converts to hPL, an active drug that silences a gene called GSTP1, which produces a detoxification enzyme that is often overly abundant in tumours. According to researchers, the secret lies in a chemical called Piperlongumine (PL), which has shown activity against many cancers. We are hopeful that our structure will enable additional drug development efforts to improve the potency of PL for use in a wide range of cancer therapies, said Dr Kenneth Westover from the University of Texass southwestern medical centre. thespicelab.com Adding, This research is a spectacular demonstration of the power of x-ray crystallography, Westover added. Long pepper, commonly found in India, is used as a spice in some Indian, North American, Indonesian and Malaysian foods, but is rarely used in European dishes. The study illustrates the importance of examining and re-examining our theories. In this case, we learned something fundamentally new about a 3,000-year-old medical claim using modern science. Pippali is an important drug in Ayurveda. It is one of the ingredients of Trikatu, the three pungents. It is used in digestive disorders, respiratory disorders and also for diseases of the liver, Director-Research Dr Ram Manohar from Amrita School of Ayurveda in Kerala told Indian Science Journal. pinimg.com But the most important finding of Pippali in Ayurveda is said to be a powerful Rasayana. Substances that have Rasayana property can work as immunomodulators, help in regeneration of cells and organs and also can work at the level of the genes, said Dr Manohar. Pippali as a Rasayana has been found to be effective in chronic and debilitating diseases of the lungs and liver including cancer in clinical practice, Dr Manohar explained. To get such benefits, Pippali has to be administered as a Rasayana. Some precautions have to be taken to help the body to withstand the strong action of the drug. This procedure of administration is called Vardhamana Pippali Rasayana. Pippali is administered in small doses, which is gradually increased to a specific dosage and then reduced and tapered, he added. Cannabis laws vary from country to country. While the medicinal use of the drug is legal in some parts of the world, possession of the same is largely prohibited. There are nations that dole out punishments ranging from lenient to severe, however, some countries have decriminalised the possession of cannabis in small quantities. reuters For instance, Canada is all set to lift a nationwide ban on recreational marijuana. The legislation, that was introduced in the parliament, seeks to allow adults to possess 30 grams of marijuana in public. If the legislation gets approved, Canadians will be able to smoke weed legally by July 1, 2018. While the deferral government has set the legal age for smoking marijuana at 18, it has allowed provinces to determine if the bar should be higher. The provinces will also retain the power to decide how the drug will be sold and used. reuters That said, lets look at the places that have legalised marijuana in one form or the other. 1. India While the sale, possession, and consumption of marijuana remains prohibited under the Narcotics Act, it is widely available in the edible form known as bhang. Forming an integral part of the Hindu culture where Lord Shiva has a special taste for the drug, bhang is considered a beneficial herb that relaxes the mind and helps achieve higher levels of transcendence. It is widely cultivated on Indian ghats and is often consumed as thandai, a traditional drink usually taken on the festival of Holi. While marijuana remains banned, bhang is legal in some parts of India such as in Uttar Pradesh where the shops that sell it are fully licenced to do so. Moreover, last year Uttarakhand became the first state to legalise cannabis cultivation but only for industrial purposes. reuters 2. The Netherlands After marijuana cultivation became legal in the Netherlands, it became easier for the coffee shops to procure and sell marijuana. Amsterdam currently is budding with over 250 coffee shops where you can smoke up without getting disturbed. As in any coffee shop, you can ask to sniff the buds before buying your choice of weed. reuters 3. Spain Owing to a legal loophole, the Spanish are free to grow cannabis for private consumption. Legal weed dens can be found sprawled across Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia where clubs invite strict memberships. Barcelonas Choko Club is a favourite among the locals that hires its own breed of budtenders. reuters 4. Colorado Colorado joined Washington in 2016 to become the first two states of America to legalise recreational use of marijuana. Here, both locals and tourists can buy up to 28 grams of weed. There are cannabis-friendly hotels and dispensaries that allow people to light up whenever they want. reuters 5. North Korea It may sound unbelievable but North Korea is very tolerant toward the sale and consumption of marijuana both in private and in public! Known as yoksam, marijuana is not a prioritised drug for the government to treat it as illegal. reuters 6. Uruguay In Uruguay, the law directs people to be the residents of the country and be over the age of 18 to legally buy marijuana. If you are a tourist, then its advisable to either befriend a local or sign up for a cannabis tour where you can literally smoke a joint on the steps of the Legislative Assembly! reuters 7. Peru You are breaking the law in Peru if you are caught with over 8 grams of cannabis on you. While you can use marijuana for personal use, growing and selling are prohibited. getty images 8. Jamaica In 2015, a ban on possession and use of marijuana was relaxed allowing people to carry up to 56 grams of the drug. Residents can also grow up to five plants especially for the use of religious purposes. In fact, marijuana makes for an important part of the Rastafarian culture where most of the traditions are rooted in the use of wisdom weed. flickr 9. Argentina While cultivation, sale, and transportation of the drug are illegal in Argentina, its still decriminalised. Locals can smoke a bong in the privacy of their homes band and consumption for medicinal purposes is also totally fine. reuters 10. Alaska Marijuana became legal for recreational use in 2014 following which people above the age of 21 can possess up to 28 grams. They can also grow up to six plants as long its done in private. Well, finding privacy in Alaska cant be that hard, now can it? flickr 11. Maine In 2016, Mainers won the right to possess a whopping 71 grams of marijuana literally double the limit in other countries. Retail stores selling weed are expected to open their doors in 2018. flickr 12. Colombia Cannabis was legalised after 1994 where possessing up to 22 grams for personal consumption was allowed. In 2016, the Supreme Court of Justice ruled that anyone carrying a greater quantity will not be criminally prosecuted if the possession is for personal use. Also, the country had made it legal for residents to possess up to 20 plants for private consumption. reuters 13. Oregon Following 2015, Oregonians could carry up to 28 grams of weed and grow up to four plants at home. Hell, they can even gift marijuana edibles, as long as they are consumed in private. reuters 14. Nevada While possessing up to 28 grams of weed is fine, residents are not allowed to grow pot in their backyard. As per the law, they must reside at least 40 kilometres away from the nearest clinic to become eligible for a growers licence. reuters 15. Massachusetts Massachusetts allows its residents the freedom to carry and consume small quantities of pot and grow up to 12 plants at home. flickr 16. California California became the first American state to legalise medical marijuana in 1996. In 2016, however, it made itself more pot-friendly by legalising the use and possession of the drug without a prescription. People can carry up to 28 grams of marijuana. By 2018, California will start issuing licences to clinics, allowing them to sell weed for non-medical uses. reuters 17. Mexico In 2009, Mexico decriminalised the personal use and consumption of marijuana. In 2015, it permitted four people from the Mexican Society for Responsible and Tolerant Personal Use to grow and smoke their own marijuana. In 2016, it voted to legalise medical marijuana but the bill is yet to become a law. reuters Harjit Sajjan, the Canadian minister for defence in Justin Trudeau government broke the internet after being included in the cabinet, Millions of Indians, both Sikhs as well as non-Sikhs wanted to know more about this strongly built Sikh who was born in India and went on to become a minister in Canada. AFP Sajjan is currently in India on an official visit amid allegations of being a sympathiser of Khalistan movement and having a close association with a group advocating a separate Sikh state of Punjab. Reuterss However, Sajjan says hes here for cementing the already strong relations between the two countries and government has treated him as a special guest. Here are some things to know about the Sikh defence minister of Canada. 1. Sajjan was born in Hoshiarpur districts of Punjab in 1971. He was just 2-year-old when his father, a police officer, left for Canada for a better life. Twitter 2. Sajjans father returned in 1976 and took his wife, and children (Sajjan and his sister) to Canada. They settled in Vancouver South. 3. According to 2012 profile by Vancouver Sun columnist Daphne Bramham, Sajjan allegedly associated himself with anti-social groups in Canada, when he was just 16. In high school at Charles Tupper Secondary, he became friends with gangster Bindi Johal, who was murdered in 1998 (An unreleased movie starring Randeep Hooda has also been made on the life of Bindi Johal). Sajjan and Johal were classmates. 4. Later when Sajjan realised that he was on the wrong path, he helped police in busting the gang. 5. It was that period of turbulence which made Sajjan became a practising Sikh. This move is said to have helped him to understand the real meaning of being a Sikh. It wasnt really a religious thing. It was an identity thing. I needed the commitment because I knew it would keep me on the right path. I found the true meaning of Sikhism and I loved the warrior aspect of it When I was fighting to understand who I am, that (warrior) aspect was something that I really identified with. 6. He was a member of the Vancouver Police Department for 11 years. His last assignment was as Detective-Constable with the Gang Crime Unit specialising in organised crime. 7. In 2006, Sajjan took time off from the VPD to join the 1st Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment Battle Group in Kandahar. Reuters 8. In September 2011, he also became the first Sikh to command any Canadian Army regiment his British Columbia Regiment. 9. Sajjan also served in Canadian armed forces as a Lt Colonel and served in Bosnia and Afghanistan. Sajjan was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal and Order of Military Merit. He was the best single Canadian intelligence asset in theatre, and his hard work, personal bravery, and dogged determination undoubtedly saved a multitude of Coalition lives. Through his courage and dedication, (then) Major Sajjan has singlehandedly changed the face of intelligence gathering and analysis in Afghanistan, said Brigadier-General David Fraser in a letter to then Chief Constable Jamie Graham of the Vancouver Police Department. 10. Harjit Sajjan was elected as Member of Parliament for Vancouver South in British Columbia on October 19, 2015. Vancouver Sun 11. Sajjans nomination was backed by prominent Sikh leaders of the World Sikh Organization (WSO) which led a large number of Punjabi-Sikh Liberals (nearly 4000) from British Columbia to quit the party in protest. They alleged that the party is hijacked by fundamentalist Sikhs (who allegedly advocated for Khalistan). 12. Recently while being in India, Sajjan has faced another salvo by the chief minister of Punjab, Captain Amrinder Singh, who refused to meet him because according to him, Sajjan is a Khalistani sympathiser. Harjit is married to Dr Kuljit Kaur Sajjan, a UBC-educated family doctor. They have two children. In a setback to the Indian Army, the Supreme Court has suggested the setting up of a committee comprising senior CBI and police officials from Manipur to investigate the cases of alleged extrajudicial killings and rapes in the state. The government should not shy away from punishing the culprits accused of killing innocent people in the last three decades, a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice U U Lalit said. BCCL Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi who appeared in the court on the behalf of the government said any reinvestigation into the alleged cases would not be appropriate as 14 years has passed since the incident and many of the armed forces personnel had since retired. Rastogi also suggested that the court should confine itself to awarding compensation to the victims' families. The court however rejected Rastogi's arguments. The court asked, "Mr Attorney, you have two alleged rapists in your forces. Why you have kept quiet? Citing the example of the International War Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh which was set up in 201o to try those accused in colluding with Pakistan in 1971 genocide, the court said a fresh probe was required to send out the message that armed personnel could not be let off after killing innocent people. BCCL The court also questioned the silence of the Manipur government and the Centre over the suicide of a 15-year-old girl in 2003 after being allegedly raped by the army. AG Rastogi said these were allegations and "The question is whether rape was committed by the Army personnel. The army had calimed that the girl committed suicide after being frisked by the army. Menaka Guruswamy who represented the petitioners said, No one commits suicide for being frisked it seems the Constitution has not reached Manipur. The girl was definitely subjected to rape, medical reports confirm that. Did you close the case because you didnt get any help from army? Is it your helplessness or a tacit understanding with army to not to proceed? the court asked the AG. BCCL The PIL was filed by the Extrajudicial Execution Victims Families Association, comprising the wives and mothers of people allegedly killed in fake encounters by Manipur police and security forces (Assam Rifles and Army). They allege that 1,528 extra-judicial killings had been carried out by the Army and other security forces in Manipur in the last three decades. Manipur has been under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) since the 1980's, a move which has been controversial ever since with locals protesting against what they call as the unquestioned authority of the army. BCCL Activist Irom Sharmila had held a 16-year-long fast demanding the repeal of the controversial act from the state. In July 2016 the Supreme Court had said that the army and paramilitary forces couldn't use "excessive and retaliatory force" in Manipur, and asked for a report on alleged fake encounters in the state. bccl In a major setback to the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Supreme Court today, has ruled that BJP veterans LK Advani, Murali Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti will face trial on conspiracy charges in the Babri Masjid Demolition Case. The demolition took place on December 6, 1992, following with nationwide communal riots took place. Read more Here are more top news of the day: 1) PM Modi Finally Ends The Era Of VIP Culture, Bans 'Lal Batti' On Vehicles BCCL/ Representative Image According to a government decision taken on Wednesday only five constitutional posts, namely the President, Vice President, Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India and the Speaker of Lok Sabha will be allowed to use the red beacons on their vehicles from May 1. Read more 2) Angry Over Dalai Lama's Visit, China Gives Chinese Names To Six Places In Arunachal Pradesh AFP For the first time in the long-standing dispute with India on Arunachal Pradesh, China has announced standardised official names for six places in the state. This comes after China lodged strong protests with India over Dalai Lamas visit to the frontier state. Read more 3) BSF Kicks Out Tej Bahadur Yadav Who Exposed Poor Quality Of Food Provided To Jawans And Their Issues Facebook Tej Bahadur Yadav, the Border Security Force (BSF) soldier, who complained of food quality in a video, has been dismissed from his services. Read more 4) Indian-American CEO Who Forced Maid To Sleep Near Dogs, Now Ordered To Pay Rs 87 Lakh For Abuse Orange County Register In another case of mistreatment of domestic helps, an Indian-American CEO has been ordered to pay US $135,000 (nearly Rs 87,18,975) to her former domestic help after a Labour Department investigation found that she was underpaid and being mistreated. Read more 5) Faced With Criticism Over Credibility Of EVMs, Govt Clears Purchase Of 16 Lakh New Machines With Paper Trail BCCL In an effort to restore the credibility of the election process the Central government has cleared a proposal to procure paper trail machines. The proposal which was made by the Election Commission (EC) was given clearance in a cabinet meeting on Wednesday. Read more A sexual abuse survivor, who suffered the ordeal at the hands of her uncle for well over a decade, wants to start a website to both help victims heal, and also to form a supportive network for them. Milaap Sonal doesnt remember exactly when the abuse started, but she remembers being abused from a very early age and for well over a decade. Since healing herself, she has seen many cases of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA). She said a large government of India study done by Women and Child Ministry found that as many as 51% of children had been abused. Youth ki Awaaz She wants to change the status quo for children through a website, SABFree, that will create a support network for children and also help them heal. Sonal also wants to create awareness among children about good touch and bad touch, which has proved to be a successful way to protect children from sexual abuse. Boys, she says, are affected just as much and need to be aware just the same as girls. Kashmir Reader SABFree, Sonal added, is aimed to be an interactive website and will also contain all information related to CSA as well as spread awareness among teachers, parents and child caregivers about CSA. The Women and Child Ministry study also found that an estimated 52% of the perpetrators of the crime were uncles and cousins and more than 90% of the molesters were known to the victims. She said that one of the main reasons why so little is known about CSA is because of the shame and stigma attached. Another reason is that victims remain silent, rather than talking to their family about abuse. Through this website, Sonal wants to end the silence and stigma attached to Child Sexual Abuse. Responses from survivors and victims will be used to analyse this complex problem to help and find ways to stop CSA. Rehana Raza, a woman in her 40s, was given triple talaq in one go on a mobile phone by her husband who stays in New Zealand, some 6 years ago. Like a sane individual and someone who abides by the institution of marriage, she denied to accept it. But this is not why the Uttar Pradesh resident has become the latest poster woman of triple talaq. DailyMail She was recently attacked by acid by her in-laws and her husband in Neuria, what looks just another repercussion of not leaving her husband when asked to. Police have filed a FIR against five in the family and sent Rehana for medical examination. "She has received burn injuries below her waist and the medical report is awaited," a police officer said. Rehana married her husband 18 years ago, but a few years into their marriage, her husband, Matlub shifted to the US along with her. Things were fine in the beginning but their relationship soured with time. Matlub then returned to India with Rehana and left for New Zealand. DailyMail So when 6 years ago, he tried to divorce his wife over a call, Rehana refused it outrightly. She then started a legal battle in the court for her fundamental rights. But now she wants to change her religion in a bid to feel safe and secured. 'Hindu law at least reaffirms the right of consensus a woman should have in marriage and gives a woman a say. she said. Rehana's fight goes back to the days where she suffered from domestic violence, assault, harassment and condition of no food and electricity. Her husband started beating her within the first few days of their marriage. DailyMail In the past couple of years, Triple Talaq has emerged as one of the most cryptic fears of a Muslim woman in India and a lot is being to done to keep it alive as a pressing issue. Over one million Muslims - both men and women - have signed a petition to end the controversial divorce practice of triple talaq. Another expectation woman wrote a letter to the Indian Prime Minister to abolish this practice and much more have sought government's help and intervention over it. UP police have rescued dozens of missing girls in a matter of 72 hours from Shahjahanpur district. Acting on the orders of Superintendent of police (city) KB Singh about solving pending abduction cases of 39 girls in different police stations 27 were found and rescued, while the hunt is on to find the other 12. bccl/representational image There were 39 cases pending in Shahjahanpur under section 363 (kidnapping) and 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage) and there were repeated complaints from the family members to recover the abducted girls. The policemen ended up finding the missing girls in places near and far. Two teens, missing for a year in each case, were found in Powayan, 30 km from here. Three girls who had been missing for months from Kalan, 55 km from here, were found in neighbouring villages. Police even managed to trace a missing teen to Chandigarh and bring her back, while two girls were found in Allahabad. After their medical tests were conducted, and their statements were recorded, the 27 rescued girls were sent home to their parents. "Most of the rescued girls were minors. Some of them had even left their homes willingly, to be with the person they wanted to marry. However, the law does not allow them to get married before they turn 18, so the persons they eloped with will have to face charges of abducting a minor," said an official, on condition of anonymity. bccl/representational image "There were quite a few pending cases where the abducted girls had not been rescued. I spoke to the parents, who were in tears. I then asked my officers to find and rescue the girls at the earliest, or prepare to move to police lines. I also told them to concentrate on the cases. They were provided extended support by the department in terms of travelling to other districts or states and the result is quite encouraging," Singh told The Times Of India. hristians in war torn Mosul had a special Easter yesterday when they celebrated their festival for first time since 2014 and that too in a Church damaged by the Islamic State (IS). Hundreds of the citizens gathered on this church and celebrated Easter while the Kurds who uprooted the IS from there stood guard. "God willing, the celebration of the resurrection of Christ will also mark the return and rising-up of the Christians in Iraq," Kyriacos Isho, 75, who was accompanied by his 12 children and grandchildren at Mar Gewargis (St George) Chaldean Catholic church in Tel Esqof was quoted by The Reuters. Reuters Tel Esqof, or Bishop's Hill in Arabic, did not sustain the same amount of damage as other Christian towns overrun by the terrorists three years ago in the plain of Nineveh. Back then, the terrorists had smashed the church's windows, though a new cross has now been put up in place of the one the terrorists took down. A fresh breeze on Sunday cooled the white chapel as the choir sang hymns in Chaldean, a language close to the Amaraic spoken by Jesus. The mass ended with a festive distribution of soft drinks and coloured eggs in the inner courtyard by a French group, SOS Chretiens d'Orient. IS had targeted all non-Sunni Muslims living under its rule, and inflicted harsh punishment on Sunnis who refused to abide by its extreme interpretation of religion. The region's Christians were given an ultimatum, pay a tax, convert to Islam, or die by the sword. Most of them fled to the autonomous Kurdish region, across the Zab river to the east. But since October more than 350 families have returned to Tel Esqof after the US backed Kurdish forces forced IS ouster from the area. Reuters For many, though, Tel Esqof is not really home, but simply a place where they feel safe in the company of relatives or friends. Madeleine Roufael, a 70 year-old widow, is still waiting to return to Mosul, about 20 km (12 miles) to the south. "Thank God," she repeats, grateful to be celebrating Easter once again. "God willing, we will return home." Six months into the Mosul offensive, the front line in the battle has moved well into the city, with ISIS terrorists surrounded in a few districts on the western side of the Tigris river. ADS ADS The fever has abated. After years of unbridled creativity, carried on the back of the watch-buying publics enthusiasm for artistic crafts, watches with animal-themed dials appeared to have retreated into the undergrowth, melted back into the forest, sunk beneath the waves. But Hermes has signalled its displeasure with a testy Grrrr! which is the name of one of its latest watch creations. The face of a bear peers out from the dial, placing the horological bestiary back quite literally in centre stage. Metiers dart watches, which are expensive even though they are no longer so very rare, are a battle field. And the battle is being fought out between different techniques, different brands and different worlds. Jaquet Droz has chosen the theme of koi carp, swimming in a pond. Its a highly symbolic choice: according to Chinese beliefs, this peaceful freshwater fish shows us how to live within the constraints of reality. Blancpain offers a scene straight off a Swiss postcard. On the dial of the new Villeret Metiers dArt Shakudo, a battle takes place between the bovine Queens of the Val dHerens, a springtime ritual of Switzerlands Alpine pastures, under the forbidding gaze of the Matterhorn. Bulgari calls upon aventurine, cloisonne enamel and diamond to bring a peacock to life. Its stylised tail feathers dominate a sumptuous interpretation of the Diva. Given that peacocks dont fly, we need another creature to bring a bit of altitude to our Basel bestiary. Cvstos comes to the rescue, with its Re-Belle Papillon. Patek Philippe joins the throng with a new series of one-off pieces in miniature-painted enamel, one of which depicts a bird perched on a branch. Its no doubt waiting patiently for the fauna of the watchmaking world to repopulate the aisles of the trade shows. In a first, a massive river flowing through a Canadian glacier vanished in a space of just fours days! Something, scientists say, they haven't witnessed before. YouTube According to a Guardian report, actually took place between May 26 and 29 last year, when the Kaskawulsh Glacier in Canadas Yukon region suddenly diverted and started draining into another river. The incident which scientists term as 'river piracy' shows how global warming is alarmingly altering the Earth's geography. Rivers changing their course is a relatively common phenomenon caused by tectonic shifts or landscapes. But climate change changing the flow of a river is a first. Scientists published their observations in the journal Nature on Monday. Satellite image showing the Slims, Kaskawulsh and upper Alsek rivers, and Kluane Lake/nature.com "We went to the area intending to continue our measurements in the Slims river, but found the riverbed more or less dry. The delta top that we'd been sailing over in a small boat was now a dust storm. In terms of landscape change it was incredibly dramatic," James Best, a geologist at the University of Illinois, told Guardian. In this case, Slims River was reduced to a thin stream in four days, while the south-flowing Alsek river became approximately 60 times larger than the Slims, state reports. "Geologists have seen river piracy, but nobody to our knowledge has documented it happening in our lifetimes, said UWT geoscientist Dan Shugar. People had looked at the geological record thousands or millions of years ago not the 21st century, where its happening under our noses. John Clague of Simon Fraser University in Vancouver said the discovery highlights that while people view climate change as a gradual process, its effects may not be. "To me, it's kind of a metaphor for what can happen with sudden change induced by climate," he told the daily Globe and Mail. For 25-year-old Ali al-Moussawi, books define his passion. For him, it is a conflict between literature and bombs, pen and sword. Moussawi, the owner of a mobile book truck, mostly finds himself steering a bookstore on wheels through Baghdads aggressive traffic, numerous checkpoints, barbed wires and blast walls. AP The security forces often insist on checking his literature-loaded truck for explosives, and it is hard to find a parking place. The forces are on heels for car bombs and convoys and often find themselves clueless when Ali al-Moussawi pulls up in a truck displaying glossy wooden shelves with sheeny books. The Iraq war, which began in 2003, devastated almost all the once culturally-rich country, and the tremors of the same can be felt in the present day too. The mobile bookstore is the effort by Moussawi seeking to revive the passion of reading and resuscitate the love for Books in Baghdad, once a literary capital of the Muslim world. Moussawi began with Iraqi Bookish, a Facebook page for readers launched in 2015. From then, he never looked back. He began organising book clubs, contests, signings and writing seminars held at cultural centres and cafes. Iraqi Bookish/Facebook "I adore reading," said al-Moussawi, who holds a bachelor's degree in English translation. "I have long wanted to meet people like me, so I was thinking of creating something where all readers could gather at any time, regardless of where they are." Eventually, he took to selling books to finance cultural activities, opening a bookstand in Baghdad that offers delivery service and designing book-themed gifts. In the 8th century AD, when Iraq was established as the capital of Abbasid Empire, defined as golden period in the cultural, literary and scientific history of Islam, worlds greatest poets and writers flocked to Baghdad. However, Mongol conquest of 1258, was the death of cultural blooming. Iraqs modern education system was thereafter dismantled by decades of war an political sanction. AP However, the people of Baghdad have always taken pride in their rich literary culture. The al-Mutanabbi market in central Baghdad, which bustles every Friday hosting a book fair, is a shining example of it. The Shahbandar cafe is a popular spot among literature enthusiasts and intellectuals huddling for the exchange of ideas. Moussawis business is flourishing. He has hired four paid workers and earns up to $4000 per month. He never forgets to swap out his offering depending upon the area he visits in the city, deeply divided by sectarian violence. He says Sunnis and Shiites gravitate towards their own religious books. Sunni dominant areas have a flair for biographies of Saddam Hussein. Many Sunnis revere Saddam. He recalls a time in a Sunni neighbourhood of Azamiyah when an elderly ran towards his mobile bookstore and grabbed an Arabic translation of "Saddam: The Secret Life," by Con Coughlin. He kissed the cover with eyes full of tears. The colonial rule took a lot from us, if you don't know what we are talking about, you might want to check Shashi Tharoor's speech where he mentions everything, from a pebble to a penny. The British Raj has been anything but good for Indian economy. It took more from us than it ever gave. However, apart from the preciousness that we lost, there are some antique gems, still, under the ownership of Britishers. 1902s:: Queen Alexandra wearing the #Kohinoor Diamond in her crown on her coronation in London. pic.twitter.com/X5MnLyqLAk Pakistanhistorypic (@Pakistan_Parast) March 31, 2017 Amongst all that treasures, a set of rare Indian stamps from 1948 picturing Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi has been sold for a record half a million pounds 3.86 crore ($598,000). This unique strip of 4-ten rupee stamps is touted to be one of the most important post-Indian independence philately. bloom Its shares rose as much as 7 percent in London. Londons Stanley Gibbons sold the item to Australian investor. The purple-brown stamps are emblazoned with the word 'service and were issued during that epoch to the Governor-Generals Secretariat for official use. Only single stamps of this kind have been previously recorded to exist in anyone's private collection, making these extremely unique and in demand. geekstroke The purchase by this Australian investor declares the unadulterated market for rare Indian stamps. Stanley Gibbons sold a single Gandhi ten-rupee stamp to a client in Uruguay last year for 160,000 pounds. In March, an Indian stamp where the head of the young Queen Victoria had been inverted in error sold for 110,000 pounds. The stamps appear to be one of the many things that the Britishers still own and owe to India, one of it being an overdue apology, for the atrocities under this colonial rile. Malaysia Airlines has become the first airline operator in the world to initiate an agreement to track its flights from space. The airlines was the victim of a tragic event three years ago, when it lost a jet with 239 people on board, in one of the most mysterious accidents in aviation history. Now, Malaysia Airlines has signed an agreement with Aireon, SITAONAIR and FlightAware, that will enable it to monitor its aircraft flight paths in real time anywhere in the world. Aireon, a space-based air traffic surveillance group, is on the verge of launching a new satellite network in partnership with Iridium Communications which will let it track aircraft around the world, including over the polar regions and the most remote expanses of ocean. It uses something called Automatic dependent surveillance broadcast (ADSB), and the project is expected to complete in 2018. Real-time global aircraft tracking has long been a goal of the aviation community, Malaysia Airlines Chief Operating Officer Izham Ismail said in the release. We are proud to be the first airline to adopt this solution. Malaysia Airlines Flight MH 370 was en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, when it abruptly turned around to fly back across Malaysia and then diverted towards the open expanses of the Indian Ocean. Despite extensive searches finally turning up debris from the plan washing up on African shores, the main wreckage and passengers (living or dead) were never located. The era of satellite flight tracking takes off Its not clear, however, whether Aireons tracking technology would have made a difference in the incident; MH 370s location transmitter went offline during the course of events, and its still unsure whether the device was intentionally turned off or malfunctioned. In such a case, ADS-B would likely be rendered useless, as the lack of a transmitter would effectively render the aircraft invisible to the network, and flying over the deepest parts of the ocean would mean a lack of radar monitoring in the local airspace. FlightAware Satellite Map Of Flights However, this is a first step towards more secure aviation standards in the future, something that's been long overdue. Perhaps we may even be able to look forward to airlines plugging in the likes of Google subsidiary Terra Bella, which uses satellite imaging to gather and analyse data patterns to help solve issues like housing and energy shortages. We could see this kind of satellite imaging in the future transcend to a live video feed stage, allowing airlines to manually look in on their aircraft, regardless of a working transmitter on board. China's Startups (Photo : Getty Images) Chinas startups have started to come out to expand overseas in the new phase of the Going Out Movement, a plan initiated by China in the late 1990s aimed at encouraging companies to go abroad to raise outbound investments. The new phase of this plan is also expected to improve the country's economic competitiveness and alter the perception about products labeled Made in China, according to a CNBC report. Advertisement Analysts said that the wave of Chinese startups' going global is part of efforts to improve the country's position in the global value chain. In the early stages of the policy, state-owned enterprises and big Chinese firms expanded their business presence overseas through mergers and acquisitions, which included ChemChina's takeover of Pirelli and Lenovo's acquisition of an IBM unit, among others. The new phase, led by Alibaba and Tencent, involved startups and private companies who wanted to spread their economic influence across the world and believed that technology and innovation should transcend borders. "We are very much a Chinese company and China is a big market, but the adoption of new technology and new products like ours may be faster in other markets so we shouldn't confine ourselves," Wang Mengqiu, founder and chief executive of Zero Zero Robotics, said. Since 2014, Wang's company has been doing business in the U.S. and China. Their first product is an autonomous flying camera which has been sold globally and now in Apple stores in the U.S., the UK, Canada and China. Global test of capability Analysts said that most of the startups believe that the global marketplace is a test of their capability and endurance, and if they survive, they gain not only better financial returns but credibility as well. Neil Wang, global partner and China managing director at Frost & Sullivan, said that startups that go abroad also want to show the world their new business concepts and they are interested not only in acquiring stakes in foreign companies. "The international development of startups is accompanied with demonstration of high-tech products, which shows the world that 'Made in China' products are also innovative and user-friendly," Wang said. The new trend is expected to boost China's outbound investment and strengthen its position as a major exporter of capital and innovation, the report said. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that the country's non-financial outbound investments grew from $5.5 billion in 2004 to $170.11 billion in 2016. According to economic researchers, this trend will continue in the coming years even with the country's curb on capital flight. "Chinese enterprises have begun to rapidly increase their global investment to achieve mid- to long-term growth. With the 'One Belt, One Road' initiative and other strategies serving as a powerful engine, more Chinese enterprises are expected to invest overseas and, therefore, a double-digit growth rate in China's outward [foreign direct investment] is expected in the next few years," Loletta Chow, global leader of EY's China Overseas Investment Network, said in a report. China as key growth market But despite their successes abroad, most Chinese companies, including startups, still consider China as a key growth market. "It's important for us to continue being in China. There is a lot of tech talent in China and the lower operating costs here means that we get a longer runway with the amount of investments that we get. Being in U.S. and China is having the best of both worlds," Wang from Zero Zero Robotics said. "We are continuing to innovate and succeed in China, and bringing what we have learnt to overseas markets. It will always be a key market for us, as we need to continue iterating on our business model for it to be a long-term, sustainable one," a Xiaomi spokesman said. An appellate council in Athens will convene on April 25 to consider a new extradition request by Turkish authorities for three out of the eight Turkish military officers and NCOs that flew to northeast Greece aboard an army helicopter last July, in the wake of a failed coup attempt in the neighboring country. Trump Has Killed Beautiful Babies in Four Countries By Chris Ernesto April 18, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - US president Donald Trump sounded sincere when he described how he felt after seeing pictures of "beautiful little babies" allegedly killed by a Syrian government chemical weapons attack on April 4. These heinous actions by the Assad regime cannot be tolerated," said Trump, and hours later, the US launched nearly 60 tomahawk missiles in response to the allegations. But what about the beautiful little babies killed by US bombs since Trump became president? Is Trump not concerned about those children because they were killed by his missiles, and not Assads chemical weapons? In the first three months of his presidency, Trump has dropped bombs and killed children in Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. Here are a few of the instances: An eight-year-old girl was killed during a US raid in Yemen in January. The girl, Nora al-Awlaki, was a US citizen and the daughter of Anwar al-Awlaki, a New Mexico-born Muslim who was killed by the Obama administration in 2011 for his purported ties to al-Qaeda. In 2015, Noras older brother, 16-year-old Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, also an American citizen, was killed by a US airstrike in Yemen. Nora al-Awlaki was shot in the neck by members of US SEAL Team 6 as they raided houses of suspected al-Qaeda members. Several Yemeni women were also killed in the raid. At least 18 civilians , mostly women and children, were killed in February by US airstrikes aimed at the Taliban in Afghanistan, according to the United Nations. "How could women and children be Taliban?" asked a resident of Sangin, who said 11 people were killed in his brothers house in an airstrike. More than 200 civilians, including 34 women and 32 children were killed in US airstrikes around Raqqa, Syria since March, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. In one incident, at least 33 civilians were killed when a US airstrike hit a school that was used as a shelter by Syrian families who were fleeing ISIS in Raqqa. US airstrikes in Mosul, Iraq killed up to 240 civilians, including scores of children last month when US forces dropped bombs on civilian homes in response to a handful of ISIS fighters who were using the local residents roofs. Munatha Jasim, who lost her four-year-old daughter, seven-year-old son, and seven other relatives when her home was destroyed, said a sniper had set up across the street from her house. "Just because one ISIS [fighter] was on our house, the [US] aircraft bombed us." Another resident, Ali Abdulghani told the New York Times, "not all of the houses had [ISIS] on the roof why, just because of one [ISIS], kill everyone?" More and more people are asking for proof that Assad gassed his own people The fact that Trumps bombs are killing innocent people in four countries is bad enough, but his most recent rationale for bombing Syria is based on unproven claims that the Syrian government used sarin against civilians. The only evidence presented to the public thus far by the White House is an unclassified report in which "open-source material" and "pro-opposition social media reporting" are part of a package of information that led the Trump administration to believe with a "very high degree of confidence" that the Syrian regime carried out the sarin attacks. So, "open-source material" and "pro-opposition social media reporting" count as intelligence? And a "very high degree of confidence" is the bar set by Trump to determine whether or not to bomb another country? As astonishing as that seems, it hasnt stopped the media from believing the unproven narrative, as FAIR pointed out last week: of the top 100 US newspapers, only 1 paper, the Houston Chronicle, said the attack shouldnt have happened. But a growing number of journalists including Stephen Cohen , Robert Parry , Gareth Porter , Justin Raimondo , Rick Sterling and former members of congress Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich have been expressing serious doubts about the White House claims. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) is demanding evidence that Assad was responsible for the attack (Gabbard was skewered by establishment Democrats for her remarks Howard Dean said Gabbard is a "disgrace" and that she should "not be in congress.") Even conservative columnist Ann Coulter is questioning Assads culpability and the ensuing US military response: "Assad is one of the least bad leaders in the entire Middle East. Hes not a murderous thug like Saddam, has no rape rooms, isnt into jihad, protects Christians, and is fighting ISIS. He provided us with intelligence on al-Qaida after 9/11. He does not have crazy Islamic police slapping women around or throwing gays off buildings. (That would be our beloved ally, Saudi Arabia.) "Now we hear [Trump] saw the sad picture, which, lets be honest, is probably faked . It makes no sense that Assad would do this this is the rise of the military industrial complex, the neocons, permanent war." Additionally, Theodore A. Postol, a former scientific adviser to the Chief of Naval Operations, and an MIT professor of Science, Technology and National Security, said that the National Security Council generated a "fraudulent intelligence report" as part of "a dedicated attempt to manufacture a false claim that the intelligence actually supported the presidents decision to attack Syria." And Philip Giraldi , a former CIA officer and Director of the Council for the National Interest, said that military and intelligence personnel intimately familiar with the Syrian chemical gas intelligence believe Trumps claims are a "sham." Giraldi said his intelligence sources are "astonished" by the establishments narrative, and that they are considering going public due to their concerns of an escalation of violence in Syria. If this is true, it would be nice for those people to seek ways to disseminate their information as soon as possible. The longer the "Assad gassed his own people" claims stick around, the more likely people will be to accept Syrian regime change as palatable. This concept was studied by researchers from the University of Michigan who say there is a phenomenon known as "backfire" where misinformed people rarely change their minds when presented with the facts and often become even more attached to their beliefs. This article was first published at Antiwar How the U.S. Government Spins the Story Did Syria actually use chemical weapons? By Philip Giraldi April 18, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " Unz Review " - Sounds like weve heard it all before, because we have, back in August 2013, and that turned out to be less than convincing. Skepticism is likewise mounting over current White House claims that Damascus used a chemical weapon against civilians in the village of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province on April 4th. Shortly after the more recent incident, President Donald Trump, possibly deriving his information from television news reports, abruptly stated that the government of President Bashar al-Assad had ordered the attack. He also noted that the use of chemicals had crossed many red lines and hinted that Damascus would be held accountable. Twenty-four hours later retribution came in the form of the launch of 59 cruise missiles directed against the Syrian airbase at Sharyat. The number of casualties, if any, remains unclear and the base itself sustained only minor damage amidst allegations that many of the missiles had missed their target. The physical assault was followed by a verbal onslaught, with the Trump Administration blaming Russia for shielding al-Assad and demanding that Moscow end its alliance with Damascus if it wishes to reestablish good relations with Washington. The media, led by the usual neoconservative cheerleaders, have applauded Trumps brand of tough love with Syria, even though Damascus had no motive to stage such an attack while the so-called rebels had plenty to gain. The escalation to a war footing also serves no U.S. interest and actually damages prospects for eliminating ISIS any time soon. Democratic Party liberal interventionists have also joined with Senators John McCain, Lindsay Graham and Marco Rubio to celebrate the cruise missile strike and hardening rhetoric. Principled and eminently sensible Democratic Congressman Tulsi Gabbard, has demanded evidence of Syrian culpability, saying It angers and saddens me that President Trump has taken the advice of war hawks and escalated our illegal regime change war to overthrow the Syrian government. This escalation is short-sighted and will lead to more dead civilians, more refugees, the strengthening of al-Qaeda and other terrorists, and a direct confrontation between the United States and Russiawhich could lead to nuclear war. This Administration has acted recklessly without care or consideration of the dire consequences of the United States attack on Syria without waiting for the collection of evidence from the scene of the chemical poisoning. For her pains, she has been vilified by members of her own party, who have called for her resignation . Other congressmen, including Senators Rand Paul and Tim Kaine, who have asked for a vote in congress to authorize going to war, have likewise been ignored or deliberately marginalized. All of which means that the United States has committed a war crime against a country with which it is not at war and has done so by ignoring Article 2 of the Constitution, which grants to Congress the sole power to declare war. It has also failed to establish a casus belli that Syria represents some kind of threat to the United States. What has become completely clear, as a result of the U.S. strike and its aftermath, is that any general reset with Russia has now become unimaginable, meaning among other things that a peace settlement for Syria is for now unattainable. It also has meant that the rebels against al-Assads regime will be empowered, possibly deliberately staging more chemical incidents and blaming the Damascus government to shift international opinion farther in their direction. ISIS, which was reeling prior to the attack and reprisal, has been given a reprieve by the same United States government that pledged to eradicate it. And Donald Trump has reneged on his two campaign pledges to avoid deeper involvement in Middle Eastern wars and mend fences with Moscow. There have been two central documents relating to the alleged Syrian chemical weapon incidents in 2013 and 2017, both of which read like press releases. Both refer to a consensus within the U.S. intelligence community (IC)and express confidence and even high confidence regarding their conclusions but neither is actually a product of the office of the Director of National Intelligence, which would be appropriate if the IC had actually come to a consensus. Neither the Director of National Intelligence nor the Director of CIA were present in a photo showing the White House team deliberating over what to do about Syria. Both documents supporting the U.S. cruise missile attack were, in fact, uncharacteristically put out by the White House, suggesting that the arguments were stitched together in haste to support a political decision to use force that had already been made. The two documents provide plenty of circumstantial information but little in the way of actual evidence. The 2013 Obama version Government Assessment of the Syrian Governments Use of Chemical Weapons on August 21, 2013, was criticized almost immediately when it was determined that there were alternative explanations for the source of the chemical agents that might have killed more than a thousand people in and around the town of Ghouta. The 2017 Trump version The Assad Regimes Use of Chemical Weapons on April 4, 2017, is likewise under fire from numerous quarters. Generally reliable journalist Robert Parry is reporting that the intelligence behind the White House claims comes largely from satellite surveillance, though nothing has been released to back-up the conclusion that the Syrian government was behind the attack, an odd omission as everyone knows about satellite capabilities and they are not generally considered to be a classified source or method. Parry also cites the fact that there are alternative theories on what took place and why, some of which appear to originate with the intelligence and national security community, which was in part concerned over the rush to judgment by the White House. MIT Professor Theodore Postol, considered to be an expert on munitions, has also questioned the governments account of what took place in Khan Sheikhoun through a detailed analysis of the available evidence. He believes that the chemical agent was fired from the ground, not from an airplane, suggesting that it was an attack initiated by the rebels made to appear as if it was caused by the Syrian bomb. In spite of the challenges, Trust me, says Donald Trump. The Russians and Syrians are demanding an international investigation of the alleged chemical weapons incident, but as time goes by the ability to discern what took place diminishes. All that is indisputably known at this point is that the Syrian Air Force attacked a target in Idlib and a cloud of toxic chemicals was somehow released. The al-Ansar terrorist group (affiliated with al-Qaeda) is in control of the area and benefits greatly from the prevailing narrative. If it was in fact the actual implementer of the attack, it is no doubt cleaning and reconfiguring the site to support the account that it is promoting and which is being uncritically accepted both by the mainstream media and by a number of governments. The United States will also do its best to disrupt any inquiry that challenges the assumptions that it has already come to. The Trump Administration is threatening to do more to remove Bashar al-Assad and every American should accept that the inhabitant of the White House, when he is actually in residence, will discover like many before him that war is good business. He will continue to ride the wave of jingoism that has turned out to be his salvation, reversing to an extent the negative publicity that has dogged the new administration. Phil Giraldi is a former CIA Case Officer and Army Intelligence Officer who spent twenty years overseas in Europe and the Middle East working terrorism cases. He holds a BA with honors from the University of Chicago and an MA and PhD in Modern History from the University of London. Attack Against Syria and the Region Speaking Up By Andre Vltchek April 18, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - Beirut As the US Tomahawk missiles were raining on Syria, the entire Middle East was shaken to its core. Here, even the name itself Syria triggers extremely complex and often contradictory sets of emotions. To some, Syria is synonymous with pride and a determined struggle against Western imperialism, while others see it as an uncomfortable reminder of how low their own rulers and societies have managed to sink, serving foreign interests and various neo-colonialist designs. Many people are hiding their heads in the sand, obediently repeating the official Western narrative, while others are gradually resorting to the alternative sources of information that are coming from outlets such as RT Arabic, Al-Mayadeen and Press TV. Here in the Middle East and, in fact, all over the entire Arab world, feelings towards the Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad are always strong; no one appears to be neutral. But even the divisions are often pre-defined, carved along pan-Arab versus pro-Western, or Sunni versus Shia lines. It is rarely being mentioned that the Syrian state is constructed mainly on secular and socialist principles. The recent opportunistic statements by certain badly informed and biased Western progressive intellectuals, calling the Syrian system disgraceful has confused things even further. ***** Overall, in the countries encircling Syria, there is very little support among the general population as well as among the intellectuals, for the Western assaults on the country, conducted directly, and indirectly by proxies. Pro-Western regimes and governments are currently governing Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, and all of them are officially supporting the Western military actions. So is, naturally, Israel. The leaders of both Turkey and Israel would actually like to see more military actions, and more attacks against one of the last Arab countries, which is still upholds its independence. But ask the thinkers from all over the region, and the reaction is near unanimously against the assaults that are being conducted by the West. Ms Zeinab Al-Saffar (Photo: Andre Vltchek) An Iraqi educationalist, prominent journalist and researcher, Ms Zeinab Al-Saffar explained: I believe that the attacks against Syria that we are now witnessing, are a pre-orchestrated flagrant imperialist violation of a sovereign state, a flexing of muscles which is supposed to prove that the US is still the global power. Why on earth would the Syrian government perform a chemical attack knowing that the fingers would be immediately pointed at it, consequently thwarting an ongoing political process? Only fools could buy such narratives that are reminiscent of the 2003 US-led aggression to destroy the WMDs in Iraq, which only resulted in the devastation of Iraq, in the ruining of its people, and wiping out of its culture. After the US missile assault on Syria, the Bolivian Ambassador to the United Nations, Sacha Llorenti, lashed out at Trumps decision, which he defined as, an extremely serious violation of international law. Llorenti reminded the Council of February 5th, 2003, when the then US secretary of State Colin Powell, came to this room to present to us, according to his own words, convincing proof that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Incirlik NATO air base in Turkey near Syria (Photo: Andre Vltchek) Such views are not held in Iraq only; I encountered fairly similar logic and recollection of the events even in Turkey, from where a well-known columnist Feryal Cevikoz wrote to me: The real question is: who orchestrated that chemical attack? It seems that only the US could benefit from this chemical assault. The US had finally found the reason, the pretext for its direct attack against Syria. There were already many similar incidents in the region and in other parts of the world, and the screenplay is always the same. It seems that only the players, the actors keep changing. In Latin America, Russia, China, much of Africa and, of course, in the neighboring Iran, people are beginning to see clearly both the pattern and predictability of the Western foreign policy. A young prominent Iranian researcher, columnist and filmmaker, Hamed Ghashghavi, gave me his opinion on the recent developments: It seems to me that the US behaves like an injured wolf that is close to its death, but before vanishing is trying to hurt others. The more aggressively the US behaves, the closer, it appears to be at its end. The recent attack against Syria, whatever the reasons and consequences, has symbolically proven how and why the so-called US Empire is declining. What the US did is also sending a strong signal to Iran and its project of the military base near the Syrian town of Khmeimim, but it is also a message to an anti-Trump wing of neocons who have been accusing him of being too much pro-Putin and pro-Assad. What is now clearly detectable in the region is not just a condemnation of the US and Western actions, it is also a deep fatigue of having to endure the same type aggression which brings absolutely nothing except misery to the people of the Middle East and the world. In Syria, the sentiments are clear. My friend, a Syrian educator Ms. Fida Bashour summarized it all, I believe: I feel sad and worried. I want this war to finally stop, no blood any more, I want peace and to have my safe existence. I dont want others to interfere in our life. Why doesnt Trump let us live as we want to; why is he doing this to us? 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 . First published by NEO The Last Country We Liberated from an Evil Dictator Is Now Openly Trading Slaves By Carey Wedler April 18, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - It is widely known that the U.S.-led NATO intervention to topple Libyas Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 resulted in a power vacuum that has allowed terror groups like ISIS to gain a foothold in the country. Despite the destructive consequences of the 2011 invasion, the West is currently taking a similar trajectory with regard to Syria. Just as the Obama administration excoriated Gaddafi in 2011, highlighting his human rights abuses and insisting he must be removed from power to protect the Libyan people, the Trump administration is now pointing to the repressive policies of Bashar al-Assad in Syria and warning his regime will soon come to an end all in the name of protecting Syrian civilians. But as the U.S. and its allies fail to produce legal grounds for their recent air strike let alone provide concrete evidence to back up their claims Assad was responsible for a deadly chemical attack last week more hazards of invading foreign countries and removing their heads of state are emerging. This week, new findings revealed another unintended consequence of humanitarian intervention: the growth of the human slave trade. The Guardian reports that while violence, extortion and slave labor have been a reality for people trafficked through Libya in the past, the slave trade has recently expanded. Today, people are selling other human beings out in the open. The latest reports of slave markets for migrants can be added to a long list of outrages [in Libya], said Mohammed Abdiker, head of operation and emergencies for the International Office of Migration, an intergovernmental organization that promotes humane and orderly migration for the benefit of all, according to its website. The situation is dire. The more IOM engages inside Libya, the more we learn that it is a vale of tears for all too many migrants. The North African country is commonly used as a point of exit for refugees fleeing other parts of the continent. But since Gaddafi was overthrown in 2011, the vast, sparsely populated country has slid into violent chaos and migrants with little cash and usually no papers are particularly vulnerable, the Guardian explains. One survivor from Senegal said he was passing through Libya from Niger with a group of other migrants attempting to flee their home countries. They had paid a smuggler to transport them via bus to the coast, where they would risk taking a boat to Europe. But rather than take them to the coast, the smuggler took them to a dusty lot in Sabha, Libya. According to Livia Manente, an IOM officer who interviews survivors, their driver suddenly said middlemen had not passed on his fees and put his passengers up for sale. Several other migrants confirmed his story, independently describing kinds of slave markets as well as kinds of private prisons all over in Libya, she said, adding IOM Italy had confirmed similar stories from migrants landing in southern Italy. The Senegalese survivor said he was taken to a makeshift prison , which the Guardian notes are common in Libya. Those held inside are forced to work without pay, or on meager rations, and their captors regularly call family at home demanding a ransom. His captors asked for 300,000 west African francs (about 380), then sold him on to a larger jail where the demand doubled without explanation. When migrants were held too long without having a ransom paid for them, they were taken away and killed. Some wasted away on meager rations in unsanitary conditions, dying of hunger and disease, but overall numbers never fell, the Guardian reported. If the number of migrants goes down, because of death or someone is ransomed, the kidnappers just go to the market and buy one , Manente said. Giuseppe Loprete, IOM Nigers chief of mission, confirmed these disturbing reports. Its very clear they see themselves as being treated as slaves, he said. He arranged for the repatriation of 1,500 migrants just in the first three months of this year and is concerned more stories and incidents will emerge as more migrants return from Libya. And conditions are worsening in Libya so I think we can also expect more in the coming months, he added. As the United States government continues to entertain regime change in Syria as a viable solution to the many crises in that country, it is becoming ever-more evident that ousting dictators however detestable they may be is not effective. Toppling Saddam Hussein led not only to the deaths of civilians and radicalization within the population, but also the rise of ISIS . As Libya, once a beacon of stability in the region, continues to devolve in the fallout from the Western humanitarian intervention and as human beings are dragged into emerging slave trades while rapes and kidnappings plague the population it is increasingly obvious that further war will only create even further suffering in unforeseen ways. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House. Home Making America Great Again by Reducing the World to Ashes? By Felicity Arbuthnot In the event of a nuclear war, there will be no chances, there will be no survivors all will be obliterated nuclear devastation is not science fiction it is a matter of fact. The world now stands on the brink of the final abyss. Let us all resolve to take all possible practical steps to ensure that we do not, through our own folly, go over the edge. Former First Sea Lord, Lord Louis Mountbatten (1900-1979) Strasbourg, 11 May 1979. April 18, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - As US threats ratchet up towards North Korea, the latest hinging on the accusation that the country attempted a further ballistic missile test on the annual Day of the Sun, the annual national holiday holiday commemorating the birth of the countrys founder and Kim Jong Uns grandfather, Kim Il Sung. Without the slightest proof produced by the US that such a test was attempted, yet alone a nuclear one, Donald Trumps language and that of his fiefdom have been on the level of a bar room brawl rather than statesmanlike. The sabre rattling, intemperate recklessness in threatening to do whatever it takes with serially verbally challenged spokesman, Sean Spicer calling the invisible test an unsuccessful military attack, is sending shivers down governmental and national spines across the globe. All our options are on the table, said National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster. The Presidency being a family affair, Trumps son Eric chipped in on Fox and Friends with: And you saw that quite frankly in Syria and you saw that in Afghanistan. And he will take action if he needs to take action. You have to have massive backbone when it comes to dealing with awful, awful dictators who dont like us, dont like our way of life. Straight out of the George W. Bush handbook: They hate our way of life. Wait for: You are either with us, or you are with the terrorists. But again, why no proof of North Koreas much vaunted threatening action? The US has: an existing armada of spy planes and drones on and around the Korean Peninsula. Moreover: The Pentagons Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) employs multiple types of satellites and sensors to address some of these issues and provide greater coverage. According to defense contractor Lockheed Martin, the constellation can watch for the heat signature of enemy missile launches and track them in flight, gather details about those weapons and their capabilities Closer to earth, spy planes and drones are almost constantly zipping around North Korea. The Air Force and the Army have spy planes and unmanned reconnaissance aircraft permanently deployed in the region Satellite data links, known as Senior Span and Senior Spur, mean the spy planes can send back some of this information back to base while still in flight so analyst can begin picking it apart. The Air Force has the 694th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group at Osan in part to help exploit this kind of data. There is also: the U.S. Navys Task Force 72, the unit overseeing the U.S. Seventh Fleets aerial patrol and reconnaissance forces. P-3C Orion and P-8A Poseidon patrol aircraft and EP-3E Aries II spy planes rotate through deployments to the units bases at Naval Air Stations Atsugi and Misawa Air Base in Japan. From there, they make routine trips to South Korea proper for training exercises. The EP-3E Aries IIs are dedicated intelligence gathers, but all three types could help monitor North Korean developments. Further: The RC-135S Cobra Ball and RC-135U Combat Sent have very different missions. The Air Forces three Cobra Balls have specialized gear to track ballistic missile launches The two Combat Sents have equipment to detect and analyze electronic emissions from sites on the ground. The astonishing array of surveillance is comprehensively presented at (1.) It is also worth quoting former UN weapons Inspector in Iraq, Scott Ritter back in 2002, seven months before the illegal invasion and destruction of Iraq (ongoing) describing sophistication of monitoring, with warning words on how politics can cause irreversible disaster: And we had in place means to monitor both from vehicles and from the air the gamma rays that accompany attempts to enrich uranium or plutonium. We never found anything. We can say unequivocally that the industrial infrastructure needed by Iraq to produce nuclear weapons had been eliminated. Further: We eliminated the nuclear programme, and for Iraq to have reconstituted it would require undertaking activities eminently detectable by intelligence services.Equally certain is that North Koreas activities are equally detectible. It is not just heat, states Ritter, centrifuge facilities emit gamma radiation, as well as many other frequencies. It is detectable. Iraq could not get around this. Our radar detects the tests, we know what the characteristics are, and we know theres nothing to be worried about. (2) In 2015, Scott Ritter wrote a further detailed article with facts which surely apply to North Korea (3.) Arriving in Iraq their ground vehicles were accompanied above by: sensor-laden helicopters and U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft above and high-resolution spy satellites providing further imagery satellite imagery detected a still existing covert missile force He concludes: in Iraq the end result was a war based on flawed intelligence and baseless accusations that left many thousands dead and a region in turmoil. If the US makes a nuclear attack on North Korea, the megalomaniacal, narcissistic and seemingly frighteningly ill informed Donald Trump who, in an early telephone call to President Putin was reported as having to put his hand over the mouthpiece and ask someone what the START Treaty (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, 4) was could trigger the unimaginable. In our new age of terrifying, lethal gadgets, which supplanted so swiftly the old one, the first great aggressive war, if it should come, will be launched by suicidal little madmen pressing an electronic button. Such a war will not last long and none will ever follow it. There will be no conquerors and no conquests, but only the charred bones of the dead on and uninhabited planet. Reference William L. Shirer (1904-1993) The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany Notes 1. http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/9315/this-is-how-america-keeps-watch-over-north-korea-from-the-sky 2. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/sep/19/iraq.features11 3. https://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n13/scott-ritter/we-aint-found-shit 4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/START_I Copyright Felicity Arbuthnot The original source of this article is Global Research The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House. Click for Spanish , German , Dutch , Danish , French , translation- Note- Translation may take a moment to load. What's your response? - Scroll down to add / read comments Please read our Comment Policy before posting - It is unacceptable to slander, smear or engage in personal attacks on authors of articles posted on ICH. Those engaging in that behavior will be banned from the comment section. Click here to comment on our Facebook page The Mother of all Hypocrisy By Robert Fisk April 18, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " The Independent" - It was the Mother of all Hypocrisy. Some dead Syrian babies matter, I guess. Other dead Syrian babies dont matter. One mass murder in Syria two weeks ago killed children and babies and stirred our leaders to righteous indignation. But the slaughter in Syria this weekend killed even more children and babies yet brought forth nothing but silence from those who claim to guard our moral values. Now why should this be? When a gas attack in Syria killed more than 70 civilians on 4 April, including babies and children, Donald Trump ordered a missile attack on Syria. America applauded. So did its media. So did much of the world. Trump called Bashar al-Assad evil and an animal. The EU condemned the Syrian regime. Downing Street called the gas attack barbaric. Almost every western leader demanded that Assad should be overthrown. Yet after this weekends suicide bombing of a convoy of civilian refugees outside Aleppo killed 126 Syrians, more than 80 of them children, the White House said nothing. Even though the death toll was far greater, Trump didnt even Tweet his grief. The US navy launched not even a symbolic bullet towards Syria. The EU went all coy and refused to say a single word. All talk of barbarism from Downing Street was smothered. Do they feel no sense of shame? What callousness. What disgrace. How outrageous that our compassion should dry up the moment we realised that this latest massacre of the innocents wasnt quite worth the same amount of tears and fury that the early massacre had produced. It fact it wasnt worth a single tear. For the 126 Syrians almost all of them civilians who have just been killed outside Aleppo, were Shia Muslims being evacuated from two government-held (ie Bashar-held) villages in the north of Syria. And their killer was obviously from al-Nusra (al-Qaeda) or one of the Sunni rebel groups we in the West have armed or quite possibly from Isis itself and thus didnt qualify for our sorrow. The UN, clip-clopping on to the stage-boards as usual, did speak out. The latest attack was a new horror. And Pope Francis called it ignoble and prayed for beloved and martyred Syria. And having been brought up by a pretty anti-Catholic dad, I said what I often say when I think the Pontiff has got it right, especially Francis: Good old Pope! Why, even the virtually non-existent anti-Assad Free Syrian Army condemned the attack as terrorist. But that was it. And I recalled all those maudlin stories about how Ivanka Trump, as a mother , had been especially moved by the videotape from Khan Shaykoun, the site of the chemical attack on 4 April, and had urged her father to do something about it. And then it was Federica Mogherini, the EUs High Representative for foreign affairs and security policy, who described the attack as awful but insisted that she spoke first of all as a mother. Quite right, too. But what happened to all her maternal feelings and those of Ivanka when the pictures came in from northern Syria this weekend of exploded babies and children packaged up in black plastic bags? Silence. Theres no doubting the flagrant, deliberate, vile cruelty of Saturdays attack. The suicide bomber approached the refugee buses with a cartload of childrens cookies and potato chips approaching, I might add, a population of fleeing Shia civilians who had been starving under siege by the anti-Assad rebels (some of whom, of course, were armed by us). Yet they didnt count. Their beautiful little babies I quote Trump on the earlier gas victims didnt stir us to anger. Because they were Shias? Because the culprits might have been too closely associated with us in the West? Or because and heres the point they were the victims of the wrong kind of killer. For what we want right now is to blame the evil, animal, brutal, etc, Bashar al-Assad who was first suspected to have carried out the 4 April gas attack (I quote The Wall Street Journal, no less) and then accused by the entire West of total and deliberate responsibility of the gas massacre. No-one should question the brutality of the regime. Nor its torture. Nor its history of massive oppression. Yet there are, in fact, some grave doubts about Bashars responsibility for the 4 April attack which he has predictably denied even among Arabs who loath his Baathist regime and all it stands for. Even the leftist but hardly pro-Syrian Israeli writer Uri Avneri briefly, in his life, a detective has asked why Assad should commit such a crime when his army and its allies were winning the war in Syria, when such an attack would gravely embarrass the Russian government and military, and when it would change the softening western attitude towards him back towards open support for regime change. And the regimes claim that a Syrian air attack set off explosions in al-Nusra weapons store in Khan Shaykoun (an idea which the Russians also adopted) would be easier to dismiss if the Americans had not used precisely the same excuse for the killing of well over a hundred Iraqi civilians in Mosul in March; they suggested that a US air strike on an Isis arms lorry may have killed the civilians. But this has nothing to do with the weekends far more bloody assault on the refugee convoys heading for western Aleppo. They were part of a now-familiar pattern of mass hostage exchanges between the Syrian government and its opponents in which Sunni opponents of the regime in villages surrounded by the Syrian army or its allies have been trucked out to Idlib and other rebel-held areas under safe passage in return for the freedom of Shia villagers surrounded by al-Nusra, Isis and our rebels who have been allowed to leave their villages for the safety of government-held cities. Such were the victims of Saturdays suicide bombing; they were Shia villagers of al-Foua and Kfraya, along with several government fighters, en route to what would be for them the safety of Aleppo. Whether or not this constitutes a form of ethnic cleansing another of Bashars sins, according to his enemies is a moot point. Al-Nusra did not exactly urge the villagers of al-Foua and Kfraya to stay home since they wanted some of their own Sunni fighters back from their own encircled enclaves. Last month, the governor of Homs pleaded with Sunnis to leave the city on rebel convoys to Idlib to stay in their houses and remain in the city. But this is a civil war and such terrifying conflicts divide cities and towns for generations. Just look at Lebanon 27 years after its civil war ended. But what ultimately proves our own participation in this immoral and unjust and frightful civil war is our reaction to those two massacres of the innocents. We cried over and lamented and even went to war for those beautiful little babies whom we believed to be Sunni victims of the Assad government. But when Shia babies of equal humanity were blasted to pieces this weekend, Trump could not care less. And the mothering spirit of Ivanka and Federica simply dried up. And we claim that Middle East violence has nothing to do with us. Police say no fewer than 44 people were killed when a passenger bus fell into a river in Indias northern mountainous state of Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday. The bus rolled off the road and fell 500 metres into the Tons river in the Nerwa region, local police officer Narender Singh said. Forty-four people including at least 10 women and children died in the bus crash that occurred around noon, Singh said from the site of the accident. Police and local agencies reached the scene and were carrying out rescue operations. Officials said the death toll was likely to go up as bodies were still being extricated from the river. Local media reported that there were a total of 56 passengers in the bus headed to the neighbouring state of Uttarakhand. India has the highest number of traffic fatalities in the world. An average of 135,000 people die on the countrys roads each year, according to government data. Source: ( PM News ) American Foodie Tour (Photo : Getty Images) The U.S. Embassy in China has just announced a social media contest named American Foodie Tour. The five-week competition aims to promote U.S. tourism and American cuisine to the Chinese people. Advertisement From April 17 to May 19, Chinese netizens are called to upload their choice photos featuring American regional cuisine for a chance to win travel prizes, including round-trip airfare to the U.S., Disneyland and Universal Studios vacation packages, rental car vouchers and other prizes. Photos can be uploaded on Weibo with the hashtag #XingMeiguoPinMeishi. A different U.S. region will be focused per week. Regions include the American West, Midwest, Northeast, Southwest and Southeast. The best original photo from the featured region will be selected by a panel of judges. Participants must post their entries on their Weibo accounts by 1 p.m. on Fridays (April 21, 28 and May 5, 12 or 19). Only one entry per week is allowed for each contestant. Original photo entries must be submitted in Chinese or English and must contain the following information: the official hashtag of the contest (#XingMeiguoPinMeishi), name of the American dish, region of the U.S. where the dish comes from and Weibo handle/name. Weekly winners will also have the chance to win the grand prize--a round-trip Disneyland vacation package which includes a four-night stay at the Disneyland Hotel and passes to the park. Food and travel-related events will be held at the Cultural Centers at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and the U.S. consulates in Shenyang, Guangzhou and Shanghai. The events aim to give Chinese audiences more information on American food culture. On Wednesdays and Fridays, participants can also win food-related prizes by answering trivia questions related to travel, tourism and American cuisine. The trivia question, focusing on the featured region for the week, and the corresponding prize will be posted at the same time on the Embassys social media accounts on WeChat, Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo. Answers to the trivia questions must be sent to BeijingContest@state.gov by midnight. All applicable answers will be included in a random drawing to be made by the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. The lucky winner will be sent a notification email on the following working day. Other contest details can be read at https://china.usembassy-china.org.cn/FoodieTourContest. The U.S. Embassy hopes to promote U.S. tourism to the Chinese people through its social media contest. Three APC members who were mistaken for armed robbers were killed by a mob in Adikpo in Kwabde local government area in Benue state yesterday April 18th. According to Facebook user, Apiah Ehpraims who is the Senior Special Assistant on Media at ALGON Benue state, the men killed were Denen Agber Kur, Sega Agber Kur and Jagba Uhembe. Read what he wrote on his page after the cut Contrary to reports on the social media that three armed robbers were killed earlier today at Adikpo, a reliable source has just confirmed to me that the trio burnt by angry mob were not armed robbers as speculated but members of the All Progressive Congress APC from Mbadura council ward of Turan. According to the source, the trio identified as Denen Agber Kur, Sega Agber Kur and Jagba Uhembe were in Adikpo to escort sensitive materials for the APC primaries to their ward. Upon reaching Adikpo and waiting for the distribution exercise to commence, the trio sat at a buruku joint near the Kwande APC Secretariat to sip the local brew. It was at that point that robbers stormed a filling station in same location and after the robbers took off on motorbikes. The trio, relatively unknown faces to the angry youth of the area became suspect and killed instantly and set them ablaze. Source: ( Linda Ikeji ) The maximum payout for passengers on the Delta Air Lines has increased to nearly $10,000 if they voluntarily give up a seat on an overbooked flight, the company told AFP on Monday. The boost is part of the airline industrys response to the global outrage sparked by last weeks violent removal of a customer from a United Airlines Chicago flight after he resisted being bumped by the carrier. Delta customer service employees will be permitted to offer up to $2,000 in these cases, up from the prior cap of $800. Supervisors will be able to grant up to $9,950, up from the prior limit of $1,350. The increases came after United came under fire after it called security officers to forcibly remove passenger David Dao from an overbooked flight in order to seat crew members for another flight. Video of the episode went viral, sparking calls for greater scrutiny of airlines from politicians. United, which is undertaking an audit of its practices, already amended some policies, saying it will require employees to be booked at least 60 minutes prior to departure. United evicted Dao and three other passengers from the flight to make room for employees. The incident shined a new light on the practice of overbooking, which airlines increasingly rely upon to avoid losing money on seats left when some passengers do not show up for scheduled flights. Delta has described overbooking as a necessary industry practice, in part because of weather uncertainty, and said the process can be managed effectively. AFP With the success of his latest film Gidi Blues, renowned TV and Film producer/director, Mr. Femi Odugbemi, is back to the screens with a new collaboration with Africa Magic titled Battleground; a Telenovela-Soap-Thriller, which revolves around the controversial and extremely wealthy patriarch of the Badmus family, telling the story of power, love, deceit, and intrigue, all packed into an hour of eye candy and appealing dialogues. It features an interesting mix of great talent from theatre thespians to music legends and of course Nollywood stars. Viewers interest will be piqued to see Joke Silva, Oga Bello, Gbenga Titiloye, Jide Kosoko, Kunle Coker, Nollywoods new IT girl, Ini Dima-Okojie, The Voice Finalist, Chike, vocal powerhouse Yinka Davies, Yeni Kuti, theatre thespians, Steve Ogunleye, Bikiya Graham-Douglas, Zara Ejorh, Shaffy, Ozzy, Francis Onwochei, Hauwa Allahbura, Keturah King and many more screen entertainers making cameo appearances every week. Executive Producer of Battleground, Mr. Odugbemi has since been declining interviews, pleading to let the show speak for itself when it launches on the 1st of May. Even members of the cast, when reached to get more information on the project declined to comment. Vanguard gathered that the production and its location are shrouded in secrecy as cast and crew were made to sign a non-disclosure agreement. What is more surprising is the fact that Africa Magic hasnt gone to town promoting the series, a surprise from its usual mode of flooding its channels with promos in anticipation of its new releases. Source: Vanguard The Lagos State government yesterday said it would decide on the Supreme Courts judgment that affirmed death sentence on the Overseer of the Christian Praying Assembly, Chukwuemeka Ezeugo, popularly called Rev. King. The government also disclosed that it had reopened the alleged murder case against Al-Mustapha, the Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the late former Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, to ensure justice. The state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Kazeem Adeniji, who disclosed the governments position at a ministerial briefing held at the Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja, yesterday, said the move would serve as a warning to those planning to perpetrate acts that would attract death sentence. Besides, Adeniji said that 750,000 newly-introduced criminal suspect forms had been handed over to the state police command to ease justice delivery, help record keeping and intelligence gathering of criminals in the state. He also said the government was working on the establishment of a DNA forensic centre that would enable proper investigation, prosecution of crimes, adjudication and the administration of justice in the state. Adeniji spoke as part of activities to mark the second year in office of the administration. Meanwhile, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has described the state public service as progressive and a great contributor to the growth of the country. He said this yesterday at the opening session of the third yearly summit of the Association of Lagos State Retired Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries (ALARHOSPS) held at Adeyemi Bero Auditorium, Alausa and urged the association to continue to add value to governance and uphold the excellence that Lagos is known for. Also, the governor said his administration was committed to eliminate multiple taxations in the state, especially at the local council level. Ambode said this when he received the Chair Occupier, Lagos State Professorial Chair in Tax and Fiscal Matters, Prof. Abiola Sanni and other members of the Board of Trustees (BoT), University of Lagos (UNILAG), in Ikeja. He said the tax system in the state must be presented in such a way that it would be clear to all and sundry. He, therefore, tasked Prof. Sanni to use his tenure in office to address issues relating to multiple taxations, noting that his administration was able to achieve the level of infrastructural development in the last two years without necessarily increasing taxes. In another development, the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu 1, has called on the Federal Government to establish Police Mobile Force (PMF) and military barracks at Ishawo and other crimes-prone waterfront communities. The monarch made the call when the Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG) in charge of Police Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Foluso Adebanjo, visited him in his palace on behalf of the IGP, Idris Ibrahim, in Lagos. Source: Guardian A National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, Osueke Chiamaka Juliet, has executed projects, worth over N500,000 in Ikeja Local Council of Lagos State, as part of her Community Development Service (CDS). Osueke, a graduate of History and International Studies from Imo State University, Owerri, who served at the Lagos State Ministry of Arts and Culture, constructed a sculptural piece (a drummer and dancer) at the Council for Arts and Culture; refurbished cupboards, glass door and fixed fans at the NYSC office, Ikeja; and paid examination fees of two less privileged students of Ikeja Senior High School for their National Examination Council, through the assistance of individuals and corporate organisations. According to her, the effort is one of the four cardinal programmes of the NYSC through which corps members contribute positively to the development of their host communities. She said the objective of the projects was to highlight the need to impact positively on their host communities, without thinking of what one would gain in return. The execution of the three projects are my own contributions to my host community, where I am serving my fathers land. The sculptural piece was meant to beautify the environment, to serve as tourism attraction and cultural awareness. The repair at the NYSC goes along with the saying that charity begins at home. The facilities would further boost the image of the NYSC office. Osueke, however, said in executing the projects, she faced challenges, which include getting sponsors and several disappointments that nearly jeopardised her dream but for her determination, the dream would have been aborted. In a recommendation letter signed by Director, Arts & Culture, Mrs. S.O Otulana, Osueke was described as diligent, versatile and focused, who also demonstrated sterling qualities in the discharge of her duties. In its own letter, Ikeja Senior High School described her effort as a demonstration of love for mankind, which will forever be indelible in the lives of the beneficiaries. Source: Guardian Mr Wilson Inalegwu, the Commissioner of Police in Kogi, on Wednesday confirmed the arrest of Alhaji Taofiq Isah, Administrator of Ijumu Local Government, over alleged assassination attempt on Sen. Dino Melaye. The senators country residence in Kogi was reportedly attacked in the early hours of Saturday, April 15. Briefing newsmen in Lokoja, Inalegwu said that aside the council boss, some unspecified number of persons had also been interrogated in connection with the matter. He said that the case was being prosecuted with due diligence, and assured members of the public that every suspect in the matter would be invited for interrogation. When you are suspected, you will be interrogated. We are treating this matter as a very serious one. We shall be thorough and professional. We shall fear no one, he said. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Isah was arrested at the gate of the state Ministry of Education by security agents, who intercepted the council boss vehicle. The security officials had quietly flashed their Identity cards and asked Isah to alight and board their waiting vehicle, a directive Isah complied with, after hesitating for some minutes. Source: Guardian A 21-year-old student, Cassandra Vera, from the south-eastern region of Murcia was sentenced to one year prison term for joking about the 1973 assassination of Spanish prime minister, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco on Twitter. Spains top criminal court, the Audiencia Nacional, reportedly found her guilty of glorifying terrorism and humiliating victims. But this began a row in Spain and people have started questioning if free speech is under threat in 21st century Spain. The 21 year old has also been barred from being employed in any publicly funded job for seven years on account of the tweets she posted, back in 2013 and the years to follow. Vera who is a student of history at Murcia University argued that she had no intention whatsoever to praise terrorists or insult the victims. She pointed out that 13 of her tweets were used against her and she is scared and surprised at the same time to find herself at the Audiencia Nacional. She said that Audiencia Nacional is where Spains corruption cases end up, and also the terrorist and the drug traffickers, but she could not believe she ended up there and just for a joke in todays Spain, The Guardian quoted her saying. The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) at Igbo-Ukwu, Anambra has arrested three persons who are allegedly in connection with a recent mob attack on a patrol team. This was made known by the agency in Abuja,by the Spokesmans of the FRSC, Mr Bisi Kazeem, he said the suspects were arrested by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Anambra State Police Command. According to him, the three are suspected to be part of the mob that attacked the FRSC personnel after an offending commercial motorcyclist fell while trying to evade arrest by the team. Earlier, there was speculation on the Internet that the FRSC patrol team was mobbed for allegedly demanding bribe at Ichida also in Anambra. But Kazeem issued a statement, dismissing the rumour as not correct. The true position is that an offending Okada man who sighted our personnel on normal patrol, suddenly turned to escape arrest and fell in the process. His fall attracted sympathy from miscreants and other Okada men who then seized the opportunity to mob the personnel, he said. Kazeem said efforts were being made to apprehend the other miscreants and Okada riders for prosecution. Reacting to the arrests, Corps Marshal of the FRSC, Dr Boboye Oyeyemi, commended the Inspector-General of Police and the Police Command in Anambra for their prompt action. Oyeyemi enjoined them to fish out others at large for prosecution so as to serve as deterrent to potential offenders. The Corps Marshal said the FRSC would continue to cooperate with other sister agencies in the discharge of its statutory duties. He added,that the Corps would no longer tolerate the harassment, assault and victimisation of its personnel on flimsy excuses and trivial issues. Source: ( PM News ) Sylvia Moy, the Motown songwriter who collaborated on such breakthrough Stevie Wonder hits as My Cherie Amour and I Was Made to Love Her, died on Friday. According to the Detroit Free Press, Moy died at Beaumont (Oakwood) Hospital in Dearborn, Michigan, following complications from pneumonia, reports Billboard.com. She was 78. Moys death occurred on the same day that Wonder received ASCAPs inaugural Key of Life Award. As one of Motowns first female songwriter/producers, Moy was instrumental in shaping the labels pioneering legacy. She, Wonder and fellow songwriter Henry Cosby initially teamed up in 1965 to write Wonders No. 1 R&B and No. 3 pop single Uptight (Everythings Alright). The trio went on to pen the aforementioned Billboard Hot 100 hits Amour and I Was Made as well as Im Wondering and Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day. Among the Detroit natives additional credits are The Isley Brothers This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You) and Marvin Gaye and Kim Westons It Takes Two. Moy, a six-time Grammy Award nominee, was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006 with Cosby. Sony/ATV, publisher of Moys classic songs that are part of Motowns Jobete catalog, issued a statement to Billboard: We are extremely sad to hear about the death of Sylvia Moy whose songwriting played an important part in Motowns history, including its influence on Stevie Wonders career. Her songwriting versatility is also evident in songs including It Takes Two and This Old Heart Of Mine. She additionally broke down barriers as one of Motowns first ever female producers. Her classic songs will live on forever. No fewer than 20 cultural troops from the U.S. and 10 African countries have confirmed their intentions to participate in the African Drums Festival in Abeokuta, Ogun State. The Secretary to the Ogun government, Taiwo Adeoluwa, who disclosed this on Tuesday at a news conference to unveil the official logo of the festival, said it would hold from April 20 to April 22 in Abeokuta. He said that 12 states in the country had also confirmed their participation in the festival, which he described as an expanded form of the maiden edition of the Nigerian Drums Festival held in Abeokuta in 2016. He said that the growth and acceptance of the festival as a melting-pot for cultural fraternity necessitated the need to yield to the demand to scale up its scope beyond Nigeria to include the African continent and other countries. The legion of commendations and acknowledgements showered on the first edition were as a result of the cultural renaissance it created on the African continent, particularly with the unveiling of the worlds tallest drums of 17 and 18 metres at the event. We are working toward the registration of the tallest drum in the Guinness book of records as part of efforts to stamp the state and Nigeria on the world map, he said. Mr. Adeoluwa explained that the festival was packaged as an avenue to enhance the economic value of its citizenry by showcasing talents and the rich cultural heritage of the state. We are indeed astonished by the high level of confirmation by over 20 cultural troupes from within Nigeria, across Africa and even the U.S., he said. Foreign countries, which have confirmed their participation, according to Mr. Adeoluwa include Togo, Haiti, Republic of Benin, Congo Brazzaville, Burkina Faso and the U.S. The state governor, Ibikunle Amosun, while unveiling the logo, assured that the numerous guests, who would be attending the event from across the world that they will have a feel of our dear state and its hospitality. Mr. Amosun, who was represented by the deputy governor, Yetunde Onanuga, said: We are proud to showcase the display of different drums, dances, and performances from different parts of Africa as an integral part of our cultural heritage, which must be preserved. (NAN) See anything odd with these pictures? (L) A man restocks a vending machine inside Southwest Petroleum University in Nanchong, Sichuan Province. (R) The machine dispenses HIV test kits. (Photo : Ruptly TV/YouTube) As one vending machine dispenses steaks and sausages for Parisians and another one, albeit for a limited time, offered champagne to Americans, there is also a vending machine that Chinese students could go to after committing what could be a promiscuous deed. Advertisement A vending machine selling HIV test kits occupies a space inside Harbin Medical University in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, reported Xinhua. A project of the Chinese Association of STD/AIDS Prevention and Control, the machine comes with a deposit box equipped with a sensor. The test kit shall be used to collect ones urine. The urine sample will be deposited in that box. Once a sample is placed inside, the sensor will then notify the Heilongjiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention. According to Zhao Donghui, an HIV specialist at the said center, the CDC staff will get the sample. Back at the center, they will conduct the test and post the result online. The student who took the test shall receive a code that will be used to gain access to the result via the centers website. Zhao said to Xinhua that the center carries out the procedure in a confidential manner. Except for the presence of the said test kits and the deposit box, the machine appears and functions like any other regular vending machines. It still dispenses common items, such as snacks and refreshments. At 30 yuan, the test kit proves to be cheaper than those sold elsewhere, which could cost more than 280 yuan. According to the Chinese Association of STD/AIDS Prevention and Control, five other universities in China welcomed these vending machines dispensing HIV test kits in their respective campuses in 2016. Not the first time, not the only one In July 2016, HIV test kits started to appear in two vending machines in Southwest Petroleum University in Nanchong, Sichuan Province, reported China Daily. The university hospital initially receives the urine sample. SWPU runs an office dedicated to AIDS awareness. This office gathers student volunteers who shall be tasked to collect the urine samples twice a day and hand them to the university hospital. Then the samples will be delivered to the CDC in Chengdu. Schools across China supported the project. Li Yang, an SWPU information officer, said to China Daily that such vending machines operate in 20 universities in China based in 16 provinces--some in Beijing--including Heilongjiang and Yunnan. The Ministry of Health and Ministry of Public Security joined forces to establish the Chinese Association of STD/AIDS Prevention and Control in Nov. 1983. Alarming rate? From Jan.-Sept. 2016, according to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the total number of new HIV infections registered at 96,000, reported AVERT, a site spreading information about HIV and AIDS. For the entire stretch of 2015, according to China Health and Family Planning Commission and National Center for STD/AIDS Prevention and Control, there were 115,000 new HIV cases recorded. When 2014 concluded, the number of people in China living with HIV reached 296,000, according to NHFPCs 2015 China AIDS Response Progress Report released in May 2015. As for AIDS patients, they totaled 205,000. The report revealed that 159,000 died due to HIV/AIDS-related causes in 2014. HIV--human immunodeficiency virus--destroys the capacity of the body to protect itself from viruses and harmful bacteria. Simply put, it wreaks havoc on the bodys immune system. HIV could progress to AIDS or acquired immune deficiency syndrome. As there are no drugs yet that can completely cure HIV and AIDS, PLWHA--people living with HIV/AIDS--merely rely on certain medications including traditional alternatives to control the virus and deal with the infection. Law enforcement and government officials dont like encrypted peer-to-peer chat platforms such as WhatsApp and Jabber because it is harder to eavesdrop on what cybercriminals are planning. But according to a recent study of global cybercrime operations, the bulk of criminal discussions dont happen over encrypted chat. Skype is the preferred mode of communication among cybercrime gangs worldwide. Skype, owned by Microsoft and widely used by consumers and enterprises, doesnt encrypt messaging end-to-end the way the secure messaging apps do. But it is still popular among cybercrime gangs around the world, FlashPoint analysts found in a study of communications platforms used by financially motivated cybercriminals. While cybercriminals continue to use online message boards and web forums to meet like-minded actors, recruit for specific tools, buy technical tools, and sell their goods or services, when they need to coordinate with partners and team members, they tend to shift to mainstream messaging tools. The really meaty conversation is not happening in forums, but in different messaging applications, said Leroy Terrelonge, FlashPoints director of Middle East and Africa Research and director of Americas Research. One reason could be that forums often shut down without warning or experience service interruptions. FlashPoint analyzed the number of times cybercriminals mentioned the use of messaging services on underground message boards and forums over a four-year period. While there were some regional differences, Skype consistently appeared in the top five most-used messaging platforms among Russian, English, Spanish, Arabic, French, Chinese, and Persian/Farsi-speaking cybergangs. Skypes widespread usage was a surprise because it isnt considered a secure platform, but its popularity may have a lot to do with the fact that it is readily available. Skype is bundled with a number of Microsoft products and is convenient to work with. Cybercriminals, it seems, arent that different from consumers and enterprise usersthey want tools that are easy to use and widely available. They prefer services that are simple, have a clean graphical user interface, are intuitive to use, and are not buggy, FlashPoint wrote in the study. Localization and language support also make a difference. Cybercriminals are very careful about who they let into their exclusive club, but they also dont want to jump through excessive (and costly) hoops to communicate with each other. Cybercriminals are also likely to work with messaging platforms they already use in their civilian lives because they are familiar with the interface. That may be why Chinese-speaking gangs preferred QQ and WeChattwo apps widely adopted in Chinaover Skype or encrypted apps like WhatsApp. Even with Skypes broad popularity, there was clear movement toward end-to-end encrypted messaging apps. Russian-speaking groups also used Jabber, ICQ, Telegram, and Viber. It was a surprise that the ICQ messaging platformwhich is an unencrypted platform like Skypewas still popular, as it has largely disappeared among the mainstream outside of Russia, Terrelonge said. ICQ remains popular among Russian speakers because of its ties to the Mail.Ru group and other Russian business interests. English-speaking groups also employed Jabber, ICQ, and Kik, while Arabic-speakers preferred WhatsApp and Persian/Farsi groups tended to choose Telegram. Among Arabic-speaking groups, AOL Instant Messenger came in third, with a much higher number of mentions than analysts would have expected, FlashPoint noted. It was unable to explain AIMs popularity, since mainstream usage has been in decline since 2009. Russian-speaking groups occupy a unique position at the top of the cybercrime hierarchy, as they are viewed as being the most sophisticated. As a result, groups in other regions often follow and emulate the kind of tools that Russians use. It also helps to be on the same platform when collaborating with them to take advantage of their skills and expertise. That is likely the main reason why ICQ is in use by non-Russian-speaking groups, Terrelonge said. Members of French cybergangs take their privacy and anonymity seriously, and they still prefer email or forum messaging systems to send messages encrypted with Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) software, which sets them apart from other groups in FlashPoints analysis. While Jabber has gained in popularity and is now the most popular platform, PGP adoption remains high among French groups, followed by ICQ (likely in use to work with the Russians), then Sykpe. The French-language underground is by and large the most security-conscious language community in the Deep & Dark Web, FlashPoint said in the study. Cybercriminals around the world are increasingly shifting their communications from platforms with fewer encryption and anonymity protections to more sophisticated applications with built-in protections. The ubiquity of these platforms for criminal acts pose a challenge for security defenders, but weakening the encryption to be able to intercept and scrutinize the communications is not the answerespecially when they use non-encrypted chat methods, too. When security experts pored over the latest cache of stolen NSA tools, they saw a catastrophe. The Shadow Brokers had included compiled binaries exploiting vulnerabilities in multiple Windows operating systems, including Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows 7 and 8, and Windows 2012. "This isn't a data dump, this is a damn Microsoft apocalypse," Michael Hickey, co-founder of British security consultancy Hacker House said on Twitter. A security researcher confirmed via email that the exploits worked, meaning that this Friday surprise was shaping up to be a serious headache for Windows administrators. Then came the twist: The same security researcher reached out a few minutes later to note he was unable to replicate his findings. We now know whybecause Microsoft had already patched the vulnerabilities, so the exploits didn't work on updated systems. Only those tools targeting end-of-life platforms like Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and IIS 6.0 still worked because those platforms no longer received security updates. This pattern of panicked frenzy followed by cooler heads realizing the situation isn't so bad is becoming all too familiar. The same cycle happened a few weeks ago when WikiLeaks released its Vault 7 hacking tools allegedly used by the CIA. There's a lesson here for IT and security teams, and it has nothing to do with hacking tools: Stick to the security basics, and you can skip the panic. Patch, patch, patch Install security updates as soon as they are available. Everyone knows this rule, but there's a reason why it's repeated ad nauseum. The lag time between when patches are released and when systems are updated is still too long. Too many systems get compromised because a year-old update was never applied, not due to a zero-day vulnerability. Many enterprises require some time to test and prepare the patches and thus can't deploy them the day they are released, but IT teams should try to roll them out within days or weeks, not months. Sometimes the delay is due to organizational politics, and it's out of IT control. Perhaps the server is considered too critical to risk downtime as part of a scheduled maintenance window. Perhaps business stakeholders refuse to update software because they rely on a specific feature that's available only in an older version of the software. These recent disclosures provide a clear illustration of why patching matters and why it worksso the time is ripe to win internal support for a more responsible patching policy. Don't hang onto legacy products Nine of the exploits the NSA tools targeted applied to currently supported versions of Windows, and five hit vulnerabilities that had been patched years ago, with one dating back to October 2008 and another before the release of Windows Vista in 2007, according to Microsoft's analysis of the situation. The remaining four exploits were patched in March. The three exploits that targeted vulnerabilities in platforms that were no longer supported, including Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Exchange 2007, and IIS 6.0, were the part of the Shadow Broker dump that posed a real IT problem. These exploits don't affect Windows 7 and later or Exchange 2010 and newer. "Customers still running prior versions of these products are encouraged to upgrade to a supported offering," Phillip Misner, the principal security group manager at Microsoft Security Response Center, urged in the advisory. Microsoft ended extended support for Windows XP in April 2014, Windows Server 2003 and IIS 6.0 in July 2015, and for Exchange 2007 this month. When Windows XP entered end-of-life, security experts warned holdouts that refused to move to newer platforms would be at risk for future attacks since there will be no more updates for the platform. That is exactly what's happening here. Now that the prospect of older platforms being targeted is no longer only speculation, IT and security teams need to protect lingering legacy systems or develop a plan to finally migrate the applications to a more modern and secure alternative. IT needs to pay attention to these dates and make plans instead of hanging on to legacy platforms long past their expiration dates. Microsoft ended support for Windows Vista, and Windows 7 is out of mainstream support, although extended support won't end until January 2020. Microsoft will end mainstream support for Windows 8 in January 2018. Keep these dates in mind. Know what you have IT needs to know whether it has have legacy systems in the infrastructure, how they can be reached, and who has access to them. There needs to be clear visibility on the operating systems and software installed so that IT knows which ones need to be updated when patches are released. A complete and detailed asset inventory means IT has less reason to scramble to find out whether the latest vulnerability disclosure affects the organization. Cybercriminals rely on the lag time between when updates are available and when they are actually applied to carry out their attacks, and government hackers aren't so different. Last year, Rob Joyce, the head of the National Security Agency's elite hacking group Tailored Access Operations, downplayed the importance of zero-days in a Usenix Enigma keynote, saying, "Take these big, corporate networks, these large networks, any large networkI will tell you that persistence and focus will get you in, will achieve that exploitation, without the zero-days," Joyce said. "There's so many more vectors that are easier, less risky and quite often more productive than going down that route." Skip the mental whiplash next time. Don't worry so much about the zero-days. Instead, get the basics down. Updated 5/19/17 Murphy Brothers also recently received the Westchester County 2017 Earth Day Award for the development of their facility. The company demonstrated a commitment to sustainability by developing a state-of-the-art, green facility for Mamaroneck Self Storage that included solar shingles, heat-recovery ventilators, a high-efficiency variable refrigerant flow cooling and heating system, and energy-efficient windows, according to a press release. The award was presented to the Murphys and Martelli by Kevin Plunkett, deputy executive of Westchester County, during an Earth Day celebration on May 13. The event at Kensico Dam Plaza featured live music and entertainment, environmental exhibits, giveaways, and an outdoor market with ready-to-eat foods and earth-friendly products. This year, the county recognized local governments, individuals, schools, businesses and other organizations for initiatives and notable accomplishments in solid-waste reduction, recycling and environmental conservation, the release stated. Murphy Brothers Contracting Inc. has received The Best of BOMA Westchester County's Signature Award in the "Reposition/Repurpose category for the development of Mamaroneck Self Storage in Mamaroneck, N.Y. Company owners Chris and Sean Murphy will be honored at a May 11 dinner hosted by the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) of Westchester County. The event will take place at the Abigail Kirsch at Tappan Hill Mansion in Tarrytown, N.Y., according to a press release. "While all building awards are special, we are deeply honored to have Mamaroneck Self Storage recognized by BOMA of Westchester, said Chris Murphy. Opened in 2015, Mamaroneck Self Storage features numerous green initiatives, including DOW Powerhouse Solar Shingles, which are a combination of roof shingles and a solar-panel system. Designed by Kim Martelli, owner of KTM Architect, the 40,000-square-foot facility also includes heat-recovery ventilators, a high-efficiency variable refrigerant flow cooling and heating system, and energy-efficient windows. Murphy Brothers plans to build another 60,000 square feet of space on the self-storage site, with yet more eco-friendly inclusions. "We're big believers in green construction. We're hoping to make phase two even more energy-efficient, Sean Murphy said. Murphy Brothers also received a 2016 Home Building Industry Award for "Best Green Commercial Project from the Home Builders & Remodelers Association of Connecticut Inc. BOMA of Winchester County is a division of BOMA International, a federation of 93 U.S. associations, 11 regional associations in Canada and 13 international affiliates. Founded in 1907, it represents the owners and managers of commercial properties. Founded in 1979 and headquartered in Mamaroneck, Murphy Brothers Contracting constructs and renovates custom homes and builds commercial projects in the Westchester Hudson Valley region and Fairfield County. It also owns Murphy Brothers Millworks. A neighborhood association is closer to approving a self-storage development in Rio Rancho, N.M. The Rivers Edge One Neighborhood Association (REONA) voted last week in favor of commercial plans submitted by Titan Development to build an Extra Space Storage facility. If approved, the project will be the operators first location in the city, according to the source. The property at the intersection of N.M. 528 and N.M. 448 would contain three buildings. The parcel is west of Grande Vista Road, behind a Circle K convenience storage and south of Convergys, a call center. We didnt come to a final conclusion yet, but we did agree to work with them and, at this point, there were four issues that needed to be negotiated, said REONA Vice President Karen Boulanger. The contentions include the buildings color, the use of bronze-tinted glass, maximum square footage, and the location of a wall separating the property from a residential area. I think that Titan Development is very sensitive to the history of the property and really does want to work to a mutual agreement, Boulanger said. The lands zoning was changed from residential to commercial special use in 1990, the source reported. In addition, two amendments were enacted in 1999 that allow REONA to attach restrictions on a commercial developments access, architecture, building color, landscaping and lighting. Although a date for a final vote has yet to be set, Boulanger told the source REONA members are in favor of the project. Self-storage kind of connotes a negative look because, typically, a lot of self-storage has chain links that arent attractive; but theyre going to make it an attractive facility, she said. Its really going to look like an office building. Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Extra Space is a real estate investment trust that owns or operates 1,427 self-storage properties in 38 states; Washington, D.C.; and Puerto Rico. The companys properties comprise approximately 960,000 units and 107 million square feet of rentable space. Founded in 1999, Titan provides acquisitions, development, construction and property management, and leasing services in the Southwest. In a world of disruption where one days winner is next weeks loser, private equity managers are fighting back. The private equity industry, long dependent on defined benefit pension plans as major investors in its funds, has watched for over a decade as private sector pensions have frozen, closed, or moved to a fixed-income strategy known as liability-driven investment. To mitigate the shrinking of their investor base, private equity firms have set their sights on a giant and growing U.S. defined contribution market that stands at 90 million participants with a total $6.7 trillion in assets. So far it has been an uphill battle as DC gatekeepers retirement plan sponsors and their investment consultants continue to keep this asset class off 401(k) plans. In its ongoing effort to climb on board, private equitys latest shot off the bow is a significant change to the traditional structure of alternative investment fees that have enriched not just private equity firms but hedge funds and other asset managers as well. Do retirement plans need to add private equity to often-crowded lineups of investment options, particularly when plan sponsors, seeking lower fund management fees, have been moving assets to passive index funds? Private equity managers insist the benefits of diversified portfolios long the province of educational endowment funds and ultra-high-net-worth investors, as well as pension funds should be the right of small retirement plan savers. They attribute some of the 76-basis-point average annualized outperformance of defined benefit plans over DC from 1995 through 2011 (according to Willis Towers Watson) to the inclusion of asset classes like private equity. Michael Gaviser, a managing director at private equity firm KKR, points out that the long-term performance of this asset class has beaten the stock market for a decade. For example, the trailing ten-year internal rate of return, a performance measure used in private equity, was 12.6 percent on June 30, 2016, versus the 8.3 percent annualized return for the Russell 3000, according to Cambridge Associates. So how will private equity find its place among myriad active and passive investment funds in retirement savings plans? Kevin Albert, global head of business development at Pantheon, thinks hes figured out how to break the DC barrier. Albert joined the private equity fund-of-funds manager in 2010 with 29 years of experience as a private equity capital fundraiser for Merrill Lynch and Elevation. It was my dream to figure out why no one ever put private equity in DC schemes, says Albert. There is no law or regulation against it. Albert sees the threat of litigation looming over DC plans as the primary reason sponsoring employers avoid using what many view as a high-fee, leveraged, esoteric, private market investment. After all, aside from the fiduciary responsibility of the plan sponsors, retirement funds are ultimately the responsibility of noninvestment professionals the plan participants. To counteract the possibility of disgruntled DC plan participants teaming up with a plaintiffs law firm to sue for, say, high fees a popular theme in many 401(k) lawsuits Pantheon is repackaging its strategy with a new fee arrangement that eliminates the management fee and charges only a performance-based fee on a percentage of assets. We tried to make putting private equity into defined contribution plans a much tougher lawsuit by charging a percentage of assets, not a management fee, says Albert. To further strengthen its attractiveness, the performance fees accrue in a reserve account and are only paid to Pantheon when it outperforms the S&P 500 index. The fees are gradually paid out to Pantheon over a period of at least eight quarters, providing a cushion in the reserve, which is designed to rebate capital on the firms private equity strategy in scenarios of underperformance. Pantheon is not the only firm trying to break into the DC market with a private equity strategy. Partners Group has structured three separate funds for three markets: the U.S., the U.K., and Australia. The funds provide daily liquidity and daily trading a necessity for a retail-style DC fund and unique for an investment offering that delivers its returns from buyout funds with long lockups that typically dont deliver any returns before three to five years. The U.S. fund is up and running with assets, says Robert Collins, a managing director at Partners Group, who, like Albert, sees private equity funds working best in the sticky target-date wrapper where participants often set it and forget it. But Partners has not yet been able to sell its private equity product to DC sponsors. Instead, the firm has found a client that is using it in a U.S. private sector defined benefit fund it declines to name. The offering enabled the client to immediately invest in an existing private equity fund with a liquidity mechanism that is not usually available in defined benefit plans periodic liquidity in a ten-year fund, Collins says. Will the new fee arrangement find its audience? Albert is sanguine on the chances. I still think its a no-brainer, he says. Were just getting started with the performance fee change. As a 23-year-old real estate agent, Prudence Chang thought that selling one house was the same as any other. Little did she know that a chance encounter would lead to a new career filled with success.Chang, now sales manager for Victoria and Tasmania for National Trade Credit Insurance Brokers ( NCI ), got her start in insurance by selling a house for a future colleague, and was offered a job with the brokerage 11 years ago and hasnt looked back.My thought was that I would try it out, see how I go and go back to real estate if I was unsuccessful or unhappy and Ive never been back, Chang told Insurance Business.I had no idea I would fall in love with not only the product and the people that we see, but also the business.Chang is part of a select group of brokers to have appeared on all five Elite Brokers lists, compiled by Insurance Business.While she may have fallen into the industry, she said that more can be done at the high school level to encourage younger generations to make a move into the insurance industry.As co-chair of NIBA s young professionals committee in Victoria and Tasmania, Chang would like to see more organisations visit high schools and universities to extol the benefits of a career in the industry.Calling the current talent shortage the biggest challenge facing the industry, Chang believes that businesses should look further than experience when considering new hires and when looking to hire younger employees, employers should look for personality over experience.Personality and drive will always let a person succeed, she said. If they have got a good personality who can put on 100 different hats and deal with 100 different clientele and theyve got the drive to be able to be mentored in the industry then why wouldnt you take them on?Who knows, hiring someone with limited experience but the drive to succeed just might net your business the next Prudence Chang. Massachusetts seniors who fell for a reverse mortgage plot will receive refunds after Attorney General Maura Healey announced that the state had reached a settlement with alleged perpetrator Direct Finance Corp and its employee, as well as an agent.The seniors will receive more than $130,000 in refunds from investments they made through a reverse mortgage scheme that was allegedly initiated by Daniel Matthews and insurance agent James Moniz.Legal Newsline said in a report that the two were able to convince a number of their elderly clients to take out reverse mortgages, which were then invested in unsuitable variable annuities.Moniz reportedly encouraged his clients to take out these mortgages, which are available to seniors 62 years and above, while employed by John Hancock Life Insurance, through Direct Finance.We found that these defendants took advantage of elderly homeowners who spent decades building equity in their homes, Healey said in the report. My office is focused on stopping the financial abuse of seniors.Reverse.org says that reverse mortgages are insured by the Federal Housing Authority, and allow beneficiaries to convert the equity in their homes into cash with no monthly mortgage payments.John Hancock terminated Moniz as reports of his conduct reached the firm.Authorities have also restricted the insurance dealings of Moniz, Matthews and Direct Finance arising from charges of improperly associating reverse mortgages with investing in annuities. Uber Technologies sees opportunities to expand in the Europe Union, despite withdrawing its ride-hailing service from Denmark and facing the possibility of an EU court ruling that could mean tougher rules for the firm, an Uber executive said. Danes hailed their last rides on the UberPOP app on Tuesday before enforcement of a new law making taxi meters mandatory for drivers and imposing other requirements that meant Uber could no longer operate there. It has already quit Hungary and Bulgaria. I am rather excited about some of the momentum and support I see across the EU, despite the Danish setback, Ubers head of operations in Europe, Middle East and Africa, Pierre Dimitri Gore-Coty told Reuters. In the past three months, more than 7.5 million people hailed rides in the 21 EU states where Uber operates, five times more people than two years ago, Uber said. The firm said it had more than 120,000 active drivers in the region. Of course, there is more to do to expand operations in the region, Gore-Coty said in an telephone interview from Amsterdam. For the final quarter of 2016, Ubers revenues were $2.9 billion but losses were $991 million in the period. Uber has expanded across the world, from Chile to China, but has often faced challenges from local taxi firms, unions and lawmakers complaining about unfair competition and saying Uber did not meet standards required for established taxi firms. Gore-Coty dismissed such criticism. In every country we operate, we already operate within the transport regulation law that exists today, he said about Ubers operations in the EU. Looming later this year the EUs top court, the European Court of Justice, is due to rule on a dispute between Uber and Barcelonas main taxi operator, which in 2014 accused the company of running an illegal taxi service via UberPOP. The ruling could label Uber a digital service or a transport company. If it is the latter, it could constrain Uber by subjecting it to stricter rules on licensing, insurance and safety in the countries where Uber still operates peer-to-peer services such as UberPOP. Uber says it is a digital platform that connects willing drivers with customers and says it is not a transport service. Supporters of the app say it provides a more flexible work schedule, allowing independent drivers to work when they want. However, some drivers want Uber to recognize them as employees and offer them any associated benefits. To deal with its worldwide expansion, Uber said in March that its international headquarters in Amsterdam would move to a larger building to accommodate an increase in staff to 1,000 from 400. We are very happy with how our business develops across the EU, but also all across the world, Gore-Coty said, adding he also saw promising prospects for a food delivery service called UberEATS. (Editing by Edmund Blair) Topics Legislation Europe Silk Road European Routes (Photo : Getty Images) Alibaba is eyeing the Silk Road European routes as it plans to expand its business in the continent. The Chinese online shopping giant is considering locations alongside the rail links, particularly that of China-U.K., for its warehouses. Advertisement The company has reportedly contacted property developers across Europe that have facilities located near the new train links which track the historic Silk Road route. Early this year, the first China-U.K. train was launched. It traveled 7,456 miles in 16 days, moving across China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, Belgium and France prior to crossing under the Channel and finally reaching Barking, east of London. The first Silk Road freight train from Britain to China started on its journey last week. The authorities are hoping that the launch will spur trade links. Transporting goods to China by train is cheaper than by air and is also about twice faster than by boat. Alibaba hopes to benefit from the new rail links by locating its stock and delivery centers along the route, aiming to bring its products faster into Europe. Even though it is the leading e-commerce company in China, Alibaba has not yet made significant developments in Europe or posed a threat to Amazon, the dominant Western e-commerce firm. The Chinese retailer has started building its presence in Europe as early as 2015 when it announced the opening of its London offices which would function as its European headquarters. Late last year, Alibaba quietly opened its first warehouse in the United Kingdom, located in Dunstable, and has also searched for warehouse locations in other countries in Europe. The Bulgarian government said in January that it had met Alibaba representatives to plan about creating a logistics center to deliver the needs of the eastern part of Europe. Currently, Alibaba has quietly been in search for similar hubs in countries along the train route. The said locations would be advantageous to the firm since transporting Chinese goods could also open opportunities for serving deals with Western retail companies seeking to move into China. Mountain Warehouse, Sainsburys and Marks & Spencer are among the British brands which utilized Alibabas online marketplace Tmall in launching their products in China, which provided the companies with an instant platform in a country where the middle class continues to grow. Carrie Haughawout, who joined the Ohio Department of Insurance (ODI) in 2011, has been appointed deputy director of the department, ODI Director Jillian Froment announced. Froment, who had held the deputy director position prior to her appointment to director by Governor John R. Kasich on April 1, praised Haughawouts previous ODI service as an assistant director of policy and product coordination. Carrie has been a great asset to our team over the last six years especially at a time when the industry is changing so rapidly. Her keen understanding and steady counsel have been particularly important through what has been a challenging time for Ohios health care insurance market, Froment said. Haughawout previously worked at the Ohio Chamber of Commerce as the director of health care and small business council. Prior to that service, she served Ohio House leadership in various capacities. Source: ODI Topics Ohio The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (Big I) Advantage unit has promoted Virginia Ginny Blake Pierson to assistant vice president. Pierson will lead the departments marketing initiative with emphasis on Big I state association relationships and the Big I Flood program with endorsed WYO carrier Selective. Paul Buse, Big I Advantage president, said Pierson will continue to develop and expand services for its members. Pierson has been with the Big I since 2006 when she joined the team as state marketing manager and later became director of state marketing and flood. Prior to joining the Big I team, Pierson was financial service specialist at Zurich North America. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Western Illinois University and the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter, Associate in Risk Management and Associate in Underwriting designations from the American Institute for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters. Big I Advantage is a for-profit subsidiary of IIABA and wholly owned holding company that operates a nationally licensed insurance agency administering the Big I professional liability program, Big I Markets and a number of other member benefits including personal umbrella and flood programs, and providing oversight of $138 million in retirement assets. Big I Advantage works on uniting the 51 IIABA state associations in pursuing IIABAs mission of creating a sustainable competitive advantage for members by deploying member agency buying and distribution power to develop innovative, member-exclusive and profitable products while supporting the advocacy efforts of IIABA. Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA or the Big I) is a national association of independent insurance agents and brokers, representing a network of approximately a quarter of a million agents, brokers and their employees nationally. Topics Agencies With no sign of a replacement in the works, the U.S. insurance industry is pushing to prevent the departure of a key figure on the federal body that determines how large insurance companies are regulated. Roy Woodall, the sole independent voting member of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) with insurance expertise, will lose his seat in late September, as his six-year term set out under the Dodd-Frank financial regulation reform law expires. His presence on the council is important to the insurance industry because FSOC has the power to decide whether large financial firms are systemically important financial institutions, or SIFIs, a tag that carries higher capital requirements and Federal Reserve oversight. As there is no federal insurance regulator, Woodall is effectively the most important figure in U.S. regulation of large insurers. He will be forced to step down in five months, leaving a critical vacancy on the FSOC, which is based out of the U.S. Treasury Department, unless Congress changes the Dodd-Frank law and permits him to be held over temporarily, or U.S. President Donald Trump acts swiftly to nominate a replacement. Treasury doesnt have that much experience in insurance, so it makes the insuranceexpert particularly important, said Dave Snyder, vice president of international policy and policy development for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America. A U.S. Treasury spokesperson declined comment. Woodall, 80, told Reuters that he would not want to serve another full six-year term, but would be willing to stay on until a replacement can be confirmed. Several large insurers fought their SIFI designations, arguing that they do not pose the same kind of risks as big banks. Prudential Financial Inc. and American International Group Inc. still carry the designation, but Prudential is widely expected to seek to have it rescinded. Industry executives say that if Woodall leaves without a replacement lined up, it could hurt their chances of success. Nobodys Puppet Two-thirds of FSOCs sitting members must support rescinding a designation for it to happen, and regulatory matters impacting insurance companies are likely to come up during crucial FSOC meetings. A former insurance commissioner of Kentucky, Woodall has more than 50 years of experience in insurance regulation, law and policymaking. Former President Barack Obama appointed him to the FSOC in 2011. He voted against designating Prudential and MetLife Inc. as SIFIs, but was outnumbered by his other FSOC colleagues. He favored designating AIG, whose near-failure during the 2008 crisis was a major threat to the financial system, as well as GE Capital, which has since shrunk and simplified. Roy Woodall is nobodys puppet, said Bridget Hagan, a partner at the lobbying and consulting firm Cypress Group, who also leads a coalition of insurers that are subject to Federal Reserve supervision. But he has deep experience Its important that he stay in his role until a new official is confirmed. GE Capital shed its designation after breaking itself up, and MetLife successfully sued the government to shake its designation. An appeal is working its way through court. Unique Position Although Woodalls departure is five months away, insurers are worried that the White House will not nominate a replacement in time, or that Congress will not change the law to permit Woodall to be held over on a temporary basis. Trump has been slow to appoint financial regulators, including those that wield more power, like the Federal Reserves vice chair of supervision. A White House spokeswoman said the president is aware of the deadline and that it will be addressed in due time. Woodalls situation is unique on the council, whose other members are allowed to continue serving in their roles on expired terms, or be temporarily replaced with an acting member if there is a vacancy. The FSOC is composed of heads of federal financial regulators and led by U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Industry lobbyists are starting to approach lawmakers to find out whether they might be willing to tuck language into unrelated legislation, like a spending bill, that would allow Woodall to stay in place, a person familiar with the matter said. A financial regulatory proposal by House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling would merge Woodalls role with a separate job inside the U.S. Treasurys Federal Insurance Office and allow for the sitting expert to be held over after a term expires. But the bill is not expected to go far because Senate Democrats oppose it. (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in Washington and Suzanne Barlyn in New York; editing by Lauren Tara LaCapra and Bill Rigby) Related: Topics Carriers USA Legislation Specialist corporate insurer Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) announced several personnel appointments to its North American Crisis Management Team. Alex Pittignano has been named executive underwriter, and both Randy Esposito and Jillian Shelby have joined as underwriting specialists. All will report to Marcos Garcia Norris, Regional Practice group leader for Crisis Management, North America. Launched in 2016, the AGCS Crisis Management division in North America assists clients in preventing, preparing for and recovering from crisis incidents; it resides within AGCSs global Liability line of business and provides insurance and services pertaining to product recall and contamination, hostile environment, and terrorism and political violence. Beyond covering financial losses, AGCS also offers crisis management assistance services. Pittignano is based in New York and has more than two decades of experience in the insurance industry with several companies, including the position of senior vice president at Starr Companies and several management roles within AIG. Esposito is also based in New York and has over 10 years of experience in global corporate security risk and crisis management. Prior to joining AGCS, Esposito was the vice president of Operations at Hudson Analytix Inc. where he worked to provide leadership and oversight for the companys day to day operations. Shelby also brings more than a decade of industry experience and is based in Chicago. She first joined AGCS in 2006 as a member of its competitive Underwriting Associate Training Program working for three years as a middle market commercial underwriter; she returned to AGCS in 2015 as a middle market program manager. Topics Allianz The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a Florida mans latest appeal in a landmark case involving the seizure and destruction of his floating home. The justices denied without comment Fane Lozmans petition asking them to enforce their 2013 ruling by ordering the city of Riviera Beach to pay him about $365,000 for the homes value and legal fees. Lower courts also ruled against Lozman, and this was his last appeal. I am disappointed that the lower courts were allowed to ignore the clear ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in my case without any corrective action being imposed, Lozman said in an email. Equal justice under law, engraved above the entrance to the Supreme Court, unfortunately, did not happen this time around. The 2013 ruling set a new standard for floating homes and other structures. It meant strict federal maritime law could no longer be applied to disputes involving floating structures that have no traditional characteristics of a vessel, such as an engine, rudder or sails. The decision affected thousands of floating homes and business owners across the U.S., including floating gambling casinos docked on rivers. Justice Stephen Breyer, writing for the courts 7-2 majority, said the decision comes down to a simple proposition: Not every floating structure is a vessel. To state the obvious, a wooden washtub, a plastic dishpan, a swimming platform on pontoons, a large fishing net, a door taken off its hinges, or Pinocchio (when inside the whale) are not `vessels, Breyer wrote. The dispute began after Lozman took up residence at a Riviera Beach marina in 2006. He became involved in a public battle with the city over its plans to turn the marina over to a developer, eventually leading to the seizure and destruction in 2010 of his floating home under maritime law. Riviera Beach argued that it shouldnt be forced to pay Lozman because it was acting in good faith under the applicable law at the time, before the Supreme Court decision. Now Lozman will focus on building a floating stilt home community on 25 acres (10 hectares) of mostly submerged land he purchased along the Intracoastal Waterway north of West Palm Beach _ and not far from President Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago resort. My noble fight to continue to fight political corruption in Palm Beach County will continue, Lozman said in the email. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics USA Florida Homeowners At least 126,000 acres have burned in wildfires across Florida since January, surpassing the five-year average of acreage burned in a typical year, officials said. Floridas fire season peaks this month, during the driest part of the year in the state, and experts warn that the fire risk may worsen in the coming weeks. Its fairly likely were going to get drier before there is relief from this, said state climatologist David Zierden, at Florida State Universitys Florida Climate Center. Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam has described this year as the most active fire season since 2011. As of Thursday, 97 active fires burned statewide, with 28 active wildfires larger than 100 acres, according to a Florida Today report. Smoke from some fires has forced Florida Highway Patrol troopers to close major highways for hours at a time. Health officials have recommended that people with asthma or chronic lung or heart conditions should stay indoors with windows closed to avoid smoke from blazes near them. Gov. Rick Scott has declared a state of emergency because of active wildfires across the state. He also directed the Florida National Guard to put a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter on standby for potential firefighting missions in Tampa. The aircraft would support the Florida Forest Service and collect and dispense large quantities of water onto fires without having to land. Dry conditions, particularly in South Florida, have prompted water management districts to prohibit fires on their lands. Weve just been exceptionally dry because we didnt get any rain in January and February, Bryan Williams, a meteorologist with the Florida Forest Service, told Florida Today. When that fuel moisture goes down and the humidity is down and the winds blowing, thats usually a melting pot for extreme fire conditions. One fire has scorched nearly 18,000 acres within the Big Cypress National Preserve. Another fire in Collier County has burned more than 26,000 acres. Southwest Florida is the driest region in the state, according to forest service data, and Lee County is the driest county. The Naples and Fort Myers areas have seen below average rainfall nearly every month since September, according to National Weather Service data. Kevin Scharfenberg and Steven Ippoliti, forecasters with the National Weather Service in Miami, said this past winters weather pattern caused most cold fronts to dissipate before reaching Southwest Florida. Typically, cold fronts that move into the region bring us most of our winter rainfall, they said in an email to the Naples Daily News. Forecasters predict Floridas weather will be hotter and dryer than normal in the coming months, with dry conditions extending into June. When the rainy does finally begin, it will bring storms with lightning, another leading cause of brush fires. This is definitely the most active season weve seen in several years, said Susan Lindenmuth, a spokeswoman for the Estero fire district. Our average heavy wildfire season is in April, May. Were just in the very beginning of it. The increased fire activity has stressed local fire departments with brush fires on top of their regular work load of house fires, vehicle crashes and medical calls. Lindenmuth said one of her districts brush trucks is out of service after being damaged while fighting two Lehigh Acres fires that burned 400 acres and damaged seven homes in early March. Two children eventually confessed to starting one of the fires. Greater Naples Fire Chief Kingman Schuldt said he had brush trucks running 24 hours a day in early March fighting a 7,000-acre fire. One of them is still down for maintenance. It cost the department about $86,000 to fight that fire. We dont budget for a significant event, he said. An event like this, we have to figure it out. Laurence LeBuff, whose home was one of the four that burned in the 7,000-acre fire, said he wasnt surprised by the fierce fire season. These woods have been dry, dry, dry for months and months, LeBuff said. Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Florida Wildfire Georgia residents on the western edge of the Okefenokee Swamp have been warned to prepare for potential evacuations from an approaching wildfire that has burned more than 30 square miles (80 square kilometers) of public lands nearby. A lightning strike has been blamed for sparking the fire April 6 inside the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge near the Georgia-Florida state line. Leland Bass, a spokesman for the Georgia Forestry Commission, said Monday dry and windy weather caused the blaze to more than double in size last weekend. The 184 firefighters assigned to the wildfire so far have managed to keep most of the wildfire within the Okefenokee refuge and the neighboring Osceola National Forest and John M. Bethea State Forest in Florida. But the fires rapid weekend expansion brought it within about 7 miles (11 kilometers) of the tiny Georgia community of Fargo, on the Okefenokees western boundary, Bass said. Emergency responders went door-to-door Saturday and Sunday to warn residents of some 23 homes nearest the swamp to pack bags in case evacuations orders become necessary, said Will Joyce, emergency management director for Clinch County. What were telling our residents here in Fargo is to be prepared, dont let your guard down, Joyce said, calling that a precautionary step. Wildland firefighters with bulldozers have been clearing vegetation from fire breaks maintained around the Okefenokee refuge perimeter, which in places are 40 feet wide. Bass said flames managed to cross one highway onto private land at the refuges southwest corner over the weekend, but only a small area burned outside the refuge. Naturally occurring fire is needed periodically inside the vast 635 square mile (1645 square kilometer) refugee. That keeps the Okefenokee swamp from becoming overgrown and eventually converting to uplands. Fire crews have been focused on keeping the flames from spreading to private land. Large wildfires in the refuge burned close to Fargo and surrounding Clinch County in 2007 and 2011, but no homes or businesses burned. Nobodys in a panic, said Lisa Johnson, the Fargo city clerk. Thankfully theyve been here, done this. But one thing we all know about fire in swamp is each one has its own personality. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Wildfire Georgia California water officials say they have awarded a contract to repair Oroville Dams two damaged spillways to a Nebraska construction company. The Department of Water Resources announced that Kiewit Corp. of Omaha was awarded a $275 million contract to repair the states second largest reservoir. Kiewit made the lowest bid of the three companies but its offer is still higher than the $231 million estimated by the department. The department said Saturday it estimated repair costs at $220 million but corrected that figure on Monday after finding an error. Officials have said they want to have the work done by Nov. 1. In February, authorities ordered the evacuation of 188,000 people downstream after surging releases of water tore away big chunks of the spillways. Related: Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics California Contractors Supporters of a long-shot bid to make California an independent nation have ended their effort to put it to a statewide vote next year, despite the extra interest it drew after last years election of Republican Donald Trump as president. The secretary of states office confirmed that Marcus Ruiz Evans, vice president of the Yes California Independence Campaign, notified officials he intends to withdraw the California Nationhood ballot measure. The groups president, Louis Marinelli, said in a lengthy message to supporters that he is seeking permanent residence in Russia. He said supporters may try again to separate California from the rest of the United States sometime in the future. The ballot measure would have allowed voters to repeal a part of the state Constitution saying that California is an inseparable part of the United States, but left the question of whether California should become a separate country to a future ballot. It would have required that the governor ask to join the United Nations if 55 percent of voters supported that future declaration of independence. Congress and 38 states would have had to agree to change the U.S. Constitution to permit California to actually secede. The group had received a social media boost with Trumps election. Marinelli said in November that the groups Facebook contacts grew from about 11,000 to about 15,000 as election results came in, while its email account received about 3,000 messages. He and Evans said Californias overwhelming support of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and measures legalizing recreational marijuana and reducing crime penalties showed how far California voters were removed from the rest of the nation. They also equated the movement to last years decision by the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, dubbed Brexit. California, with its 39 million residents, is often compared to a nation, and data from the World Bank shows its economy was equivalent to the sixth-largest in the world in 2015. However, the group needed more than 585,000 signatures by July to put a measure on the ballot. Marinelli said it had fewer than 97,500 registered supporters. About 8,500 signed up as volunteers but only about 1,200 had contributed money. Prior to Trumps election, the group had fewer than 100 volunteers, Marinelli said. Both Marinelli and Evans claimed credit, in separate statements, for starting the Calexit campaign. With the right leadership and sufficient resources, particularly of a financial nature, Calexit can and will really take off, Marinelli said. He acknowledged that his ties to Russia had become a distraction and said he intends to live there, if he is permitted, because of his frustration, disappointment and disillusionment with the United States. He cited his struggle with U.S. officials since 2012 over the immigration status of his wife, a foreign national who he said faced the threat of deportation. He praised California officials for their attempts to shield immigrant residents from deportation and said his wife now has her green card. When California one day becomes independent, Marinelli wrote, I shall look forward with great satisfaction to return to California and to live once again under our bear flag. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics California USA Petroleum Refinery in China (Photo : Getty Images) China's oil market is attracting more suppliers vying to get a share in the growing market, as OPEC's decision to cut production has opened doors for other suppliers to join in and compete. Last week, China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) opened a new corridor for oil trade as oil shipments started on the 800-kilometer China-Myanmar pipeline, from the oil terminal at Made Island on Myanmar's west coast to Yunnan Province in China, the National reported. Advertisement The new pipeline could serve as an alternative for seaborne crude from the Arabian Gulf and Africa by bypassing the Strait of Malacca, where incidents of piracy are growing and becoming a security concern for China. Another way, it could also drive more competition from suppliers, such as the first oil shipment at Made Island, which came from crude oil piped in from Baku in Azerbaijan and from the Kurdish region in Iraq. Although the competition for China's oil market has been going on for more than a decade, it has now expanded to include other new players such as U.S. exporters and suppliers from Latin America and western Africa. "The key to understanding the shifting trade flows is to be found in the arbitrage spreads," Eugene Lindell, a senior oil market analyst at JBC Energy consultants in Vienna, said. "OPEC's decision to cut production has appreciated Dubai crude [prices] relative to other benchmarks, like dated Brent and [West Texas Intermediate], so that with freight rates still low it makes sense to arb more crude in from the Atlantic Basin, particularly as this is typically much sweeter and therefore easier to process than the Middle Eastern stuff," Lindell added. According to the latest report of the International Energy Agency, China's oil market reached an all-time high in the first three months of 2017, with 12.2 million barrels per day (BPD) due to the surge in demand for petrochemical feedstock and jet fuel. The two main competitors in the battle are Saudi Arabia and Russia. Russia has signed several oil deals with China in the past eight years. Russia overtook Saudi Arabia as China's largest supplier, as its oil exports increased by about 25 percent to more than 1 million BDP, only slightly higher than Saudi's export level. China's so-called teapot refiners, or independent refiners, were also on the side of the Russians. "The strategic side to it is that China is wary of depending on Middle Eastern crude for more than 50 percent of its supplies," Lindell said. "There is quite simply a preference to cast the net far and wide when it comes to crude procurement." According to Lindell, "the corollary is that Gulf producers have been quite worried about security of demand . . . . They have sought to counter this in many ways, for example by offering more flexible credit and/or delivery terms. There is even a trend toward jointly investing into refining projects, thereby ensuring that their crude is used as baseload crude for the new refining capacity." But PetroChina, CNPC's main subsidiary, is now negotiating with Saudi Aramco to help in the construction of a refinery that will process 260,000 BPD of crude, which will be piped through the new Myanmar pipeline to Yunnan Province. LIstat ha rivisto al rialzo la crescita del primo trimestre del 2017, con il Pil che balza allo 0,4% sui precedenti tre mesi e all1,2% su base annua. Le prime indicazioni dellIstituto, diffuse a meta maggio, davano il Prodotto interno lordo a +0,2% a livello congiunturale e a +0,8% in termini tendenziali. La revisione, a sorpresa, e dovuta, spiegano dallIstat, allintegrazione nei dati della buona performance dei servizi. LIstat rileva che il primo trimestre del 2017 ha avuto due giornate lavorative in piu sia rispetto al trimestre precedente, sia rispetto al primo trimestre del 2016. La variazione acquisita per il 2017 e pari a 0,9%. Rispetto al trimestre precedente, i principali aggregati della domanda nazionale hanno registrato una crescita dello 0,5% dei consumi finali nazionali e un calo dello 0,8% gli investimenti fissi lordi. Le importazioni sono aumentate dell1,6% e le esportazioni dello 0,7%. La domanda nazionale al netto delle scorte ha contribuito per 0,3 punti percentuali alla crescita del pil (0,3 i consumi delle famiglie e delle Istituzioni Sociali Private (Isp), 0,1 la spesa della pubblica amministrazione (Pa) e -0,1 gli investimenti fissi lordi). Anche la variazione delle scorte ha contribuito positivamente alla variazione del Pil (0,4 punti percentuali), mentre lapporto della domanda estera netta e stato negativo per 0,2 punti percentuali. Si registrano andamenti congiunturali positivi per il valore aggiunto di agricoltura (+4,2%) e servizi (+0,6%), mentre quello dellindustria risulta negativo (-0,3%). #Istat Riviste al rialzo le stime per il 2017. LItalia cresce piu del previsto e limpegno continua ha commentato su Twitter il premier Paolo Gentiloni. Per Matteo Renzi i dati di ieri e di oggi dellIstat dimostrano che con la flessibilita ottenuta nei Mille Giorni e con le riforme fatte, leconomia riprende fiato. Sulla sua pagina Fb il segretario del Pd parla di risultati figli degli anni di lavoro serio e rigoroso che abbiamo alle spalle. Con la revisione delle stime sul Pil lItalia recupera anche a livello europeo. Il +0,4% congiunturale e il +1,2% tendenziale non vedono piu lItalia isolata, fanalino di coda. LIstat infatti, diffondendo i conti trimestrali, riporta anche i dati relativi agli altri Paesi. Svetta la Germania (+0,6% e +2,9% su anno), ma la Francia fa come noi a livello congiunturale (+0,4%) e peggio su base annua (+1,0%). Restiamo pero sotto la media dellEurozona (+0,5% e +1,7% annuo). What Is Laissez-Faire? Laissez-faire is an economic theory from the 18th century that opposed any government intervention in business affairs. The driving principle behind laissez-faire, a French term that translates to "leave alone" (literally, "let you do"), is that the less the government is involved in the economy, the better off business will be, and by extension, society as a whole. Laissez-faire economics is a key part of free-market capitalism. Key Takeaways Laissez-faire is an economic philosophy of free-market capitalism that opposes government intervention. The theory of laissez-faire was developed by the French Physiocrats during the 18th century. Laissez-faire advocates that economic success is inhibited when governments are involved in business and markets. Later free-market economists built on the ideas of laissez-faire as a path to economic prosperity, though detractors have criticized it for promoting inequality. Critics argue that markets do need a certain degree of government regulation and involvement. 1:14 Laissez Faire Understanding Laissez-Faire The underlying beliefs that make up the fundamentals of laissez-faire economics include the idea that economic competition constitutes a "natural order" that rules the world. Because this natural self-regulation is the best type of regulation, laissez-faire economists argue that there is no need for business and industrial affairs to be complicated by government intervention. As a result, they oppose any sort of federal involvement in the economy, which includes any type of legislation or oversight; they are against minimum wages, duties, trade restrictions, and corporate taxes. In fact, laissez-faire economists see such taxes as a penalty for production. Laissez-Faire is often associated with Libertarian views on the economy, where government plays an extremely limited role in the economy. In fact, one of the key characteristics of Laissez-Faire is that the government should only be involved with the following three functions: Protecting the national borders via a standing army Protecting private property rights and personal freedom via a police force and judiciary Producing public goods that serve society (e.g., parks, libraries, etc.) that the market would not be incentivized to produce on its own History of Laissez-Faire Popularized in the mid-1700s, the doctrine of laissez-faire is one of the first articulated economic theories. It originated with a group known as the Physiocrats, who flourished in France from about 1756 to 1778. These thinkers tried to apply scientific principles and methodology to the study of wealth and economic production. These "economistes" (as they dubbed themselves) argued that a free market and free economic competition were extremely important to the health of a free society. The government should only intervene in the economy to preserve property, life, and individual freedom; otherwise, the natural, unchanging laws that govern market forces and economic processeswhat later British economist Adam Smith, dubbed the "invisible hand"should be allowed to proceed unhindered. Unfortunately, an early effort to test laissez-faire theories did not go well. As an experiment in 1774, Turgot, Louis XVI's Controller-General of Finances, abolished all restraints on the heavily controlled grain industry, allowing imports and exports between provinces to operate as a free trade system. But when poor harvests caused scarcities, prices shot through the roof; merchants ended up hoarding supplies or selling grain in strategic areas, even outside the country for better profit, while thousands of French citizens starved. Riots ensued for several months. In the middle of 1775, the order was restored, and with it, government controls over the grain market. Despite this inauspicious start, laissez-faire practices, developed further by such British economists as Smith and David Ricardo, ruled during the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and early 19th century. And, as its detractors noted, it did result in unsafe working conditions and large wealth gaps. Only at the beginning of the 20th century did developed industrialized nations like the U.S. begin to implement significant government controls and regulations to protect workers from hazardous conditions and consumers from unfair business practices; though its important to note that these policies were not intended to restrict business practices and competition. Criticism of Laissez-Faire One of the chief criticisms of laissez-faire is that capitalism as a system has moral ambiguities built into it: It does not inherently protect the weakest in society. While laissez-faire advocates argue that if individuals serve their own interests first, societal benefits will follow. Detractors feel laissez-faire actually leads to poverty and economic imbalances. The idea of letting an economic system run without regulation or correction in effect dismisses or further victimizes those most in need of assistance, they say. The 20th-century British economist John Maynard Keynes was a prominent critic of laissez-faire economics, and he argued that the question of market solution versus government intervention needed to be decided on a case-by-case basis. Pros and Cons of Laissez-Faire Pros Government involvement in business thought to be inefficient and stifling Encourages self-responsibility and innovation Promotes free markets and competition Cons Lack of regulations can harm consumers and the environment Can generate negative externalities Competition naturally leads to wealth inequality May incentivize bad actors What Does "Laissez-Faire" Mean Literally? Laissez-Faire, in French, literally means "let it be." Legend has it that the origins of the phrase "laissez-faire" in an economic context came from a 1681 meeting between the French finance minister Jean-Baptise Colbert and a businessman named Le Gendre. As the story goes, Colbert asked Le Gendre how best the government could help commerce, to which Le Gendre replied "Laissez-nous faire;" basically, "Let it be." The Physiocrats popularized the phrase, using it to name their core economic doctrine. What Is an Example of Laissez-Faire? An economy would follow the principles of Laissez-Faire if it followed an approach where the government was not at all involved in the workings of the economy, business, or markets. Instead, the free market would regulate not only prices but also discipline producers to remain good actors. In reality, such an economy does not exist. All economies, even in countries with highly Libertarian values, have some degree of government regulation and intervention. Organizations with employees who derive value from AI are 5.9 times more likely to see financial benefits from it 2017 Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF)- Red Carpet & Opening Ceremony (Photo : Getty Images) The 7th Beijing International Film Festival opened on Sunday, April 16, with Chinese celebrities seen savoring their moments on the red carpet. Among the actors spotted were the key actors of The Monkey King 3. Celebrity Spottings Cast members of the upcoming film photographed on the red carpet are Lin Chi-ling, Him Law, Xiao Shenyang, Zhao Liying and Aaron Kwok. Also spotted on the red carpet were actress Guan Xiaotong, director Raman Hui of Monster Hunt 2, director Chan Muk-Sing of Meow, producer Osamu Fujita, actress Nozomi Sasaki and director Toshira Siaga, child star Cui Yahan and actor Cheng Yi of The Big Rescue, China.org reported. Advertisement Prominent directors from different parts of the world also took part in the red carpet moment. Likewise seen on the red carpet was Danish filmmaker Bille August, the chairman of the filmfests Tiantan Awards, and the six other members of the jury. The festival attracted 424 entries from 59 nations and regions. The jury had five rounds of selection to pick the 15 movies from 19 countries that would compete for the Tiantan Awards. The winners would be named at the closing ceremony on April 23. Picking a Winner August said he has no fixed criterion for a good movie. Picking a winner involves avoiding bias by keeping an open mind about the entries. Watching a film is a pleasant experience. It can make our souls as pure as children. Whatever touches your heart is a good film, he explained. Because of the ongoing China ban on Hallyu due to the THAAD issue, the Korean Film Council did not open a promotional booth over safety concerns. There is also talk of alleged cancellation of invitations for the screening of some Korean movies in the BIFF. But Ai Dongyuan, vice secretary of the festival organizing committee, insisted that movies picked were selected based on merit and not on what country it came from, NewsOK reported. Most statistics on this relate to the number of executions (3,000 in the past four years) for minor offences like taking drugs or protesting against the Regime, but the non-profit group, United Against a Nuclear Iran, has made a helpful compare and contrast analysis of the Twitter feeds of the current Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This is most evident in their responses to the United States during preliminary talks on the P5+1 nuclear deal with Iran, which lifted certain economic sanctions on Iran in order to get Iran to disband its nuclear missiles programme. In October 2013, Rouhani tweeted a perfectly rational statement that doesnt seem out of place on a presidents Twitter page: One of the slogans the Iranian nation has embraced is that of constructive interaction with the world. #IranTalks Khamenei wrote: Dont trust an enemy who smiles on 1 hand, #US smiles & expresses a desire for talks but on the other, they say all options are on the table. In November of that same year, Rouhani again posted what seemed like a rational statement about cooperation, as one might expect from someone who is attempting to get crippling economic sanctions on his country lifted. He wrote: We want to rebuild and improve our relations to European and North American countries on a basis of mutual respect. While Khamenei wrote: The #US government is #untrustworthy, irrational and a #promise_breaker. These tweets prove that no matter what Rouhani tries to tell you or how persuasive his charm offensive may be; the Iranian Regime has not become more moderate. Khamenei, the person who makes all the decisions is not a moderate, and therefore no-one in the Regime can be. That is why, no matter what you hear in the coming weeks about a struggle between moderates and hardliners in the Iranian elections, you must remember that the Iranian people have no path to freedom under the mullahs. They cannot choose the lesser of two evils (and by extension, neither can the international community) because the puppet master is unelected and rules for life. The only true path for the Iranian people is through the support of the Iranian Resistance who believe in a secular, non-nuclear, and democratic Iran. Select A TV Show - Select A TV Show - Les Vraies Housewives Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip Real Housewives di Napoli The Real Housewives of Amsterdam The Real Housewives of Athens The Real Housewives of Atlanta The Real Housewives of Auckland The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills The Real Housewives of Cape Town The Real Housewives of Cheshire The Real Housewives of D.C. The Real Housewives of Dallas The Real Housewives of Dubai The Real Housewives of Durban The Real Housewives of Hungary The Real Housewives of Jersey UK The Real Housewives of Johannesburg The Real Housewives of Melbourne The Real Housewives of Miami The Real Housewives of New Jersey The Real Housewives of New York City The Real Housewives of Orange County The Real Housewives of Potomac The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City The Real Housewives of Sydney The Real Housewives of Toronto The Real Housewives of Vancouver The Real Housewives Slovenia Vanderpump Rules Members of the Teachers Union of Ireland have set a deadline for the restoration of pay equality. Teachers will be balloted on industrial action in October if equal pay is not restored by September. The motion was passed by delegates at the TUI conference in Cork today. Teachers who qualified after 2010 earn around 8000 euro less than their more senior colleagues. Minister Richard Bruton says they have taken steps to restore 75% of newer entrants pay, but wouldnt say if it would ever reach 100%. "I can understand a claim for equality in the abstract but for me I have to recognise that being fair and equal has to also look at children with special needs who have requirements. "The extra 15,000 children who are coming into the system. "I have to balance those and you have to make sure that you treat everyone fairly," he said. While that carry-on was unfolding a far more significant but under-reported event related to water was happening in Cork. The Shanbally water treatment plant was formally opened. As one minister explained, the equivalent of 40,000 wheelie bins of human sewage was entering Cork Harbour every day before the plant extension opened. I had to take a minute to fully absorb that statement of fact. You and I, because we form part of the democratic process in Ireland, chose to allow that amount of egregious pollution take place up until now. It was councillors and their political masters representing us who oversaw a process that dumped massive amounts of human-generated waste into one of Irelands greatest natural resources. We can only imagine the destruction that 40,000 wheelie bins of sewage every 24 hours did to fish and bird life alone. On top of that, what risks were we facilitating to the quality of water for any child or adult who opted to swim in this harbour? If there had been a march last week to denounce those who presided over a system that wantonly pollutes our environment on such an industrial scale, I would have joined it. If you took a group of those who utterly oppose the idea of using tax money to fund water treatment and surrounded them with 40,000 wheelie bins of sewage, I wonder would it change their attitude? It is both you and I, as taxpayers, supported by the EU Commission, who funded the Shanbally capital expenditure plan. I can think of few better uses of taxpayer resources than largescale projects that have a dramatic impact of the standard of living for the community. Cork Harbour is one of the most important natural resources Ireland has. It is full of history and has the potential to be a tourism destination in its own right. I heard recently of a group is working on a harbour tour that incorporates train, bus, and sea transport to bring visitors around Fota, Cobh, Spike Island, and Camden Fort that combines local history and food in its offering. Such an initiative should be just part of an overall plan to bring the harbour centre stage in amenity, sport, and history tourism projects that transform the harbours potential as an asset for the economy in the region. If such a process unfolds, it must be accompanied by more water treatment work. While Shanbally is a tremendous step forward there remain significant parts of the harbour that continue to have residential sewage poured directly into the sea. More waste capacity is needed to fix this. For inspiration, planners should visit Dublin Harbour this year. After years of improving water treatment, the harbour is at one of its most pristine conditions in history. A wide range of bird and fish species have returned to the harbour and it is being actively used for pleasure and tourism alongside a busy commercial port. Having that standard as an objective for Cork would be good for the harbour itself and all those who live in its environs. Joe Gill is director of corporate broking with Goodbody Stockbrokers. His views are personal. The visa is supposed to attract highly skilled foreign workers for highly paid roles that no American can perform. However, it has come under increasing scrutiny as unscrupulous companies use it to hire less-skilled workers at much lower pay, especially from India. The H1-B visa is granted when an applicant secures work and is sponsored by a company for a period of three years, with the option of an extension. Irish workers have availed of the visa since its inception in 1990. Irish companies with a large presence in the US include Kerry Group, which employs 5,000 national and foreign nationals in 40 US locations. A Kerry spokesperson said: To date, we have had no issue in placing Irish graduates within our US operations and we have been assured by the US administration that our investment in the US food industry is appreciated. We have a good relationship with the consular office at the US Embassy in Dublin and will continue to liaise through them in relation to any issue which may arise. However, it could mean increased difficulty for Irish university and institute of technology graduates to now secure employment in the US after graduation, said Irish business and education leaders. Cork Institute of Technologys academic administration and student affairs manager, Dr Dan Collins, called for Government and State bodies such as the IDA and Ornua to engage with their US counterparts to bring clarity for Irish workers. The opportunities for Irish graduates in the USA cannot be understated, said Mr Collins. It benefits both countries and has led to the development of many captains of industry in Ireland. Irish graduates are highly skilled so we would hope they can continue to gain valuable employment in the US. The deal for the maker of oval-shaped cereal bricks gives Post a stronger presence in the UK, which accounted for four-fifths of Weetabixs 346m of revenue in 2016. The move continues our strategy of strengthening our portfolio in stable categories and diversifying into new markets, bringing much-loved brands to significantly more customers globally, said Post chief executive officer Rob Vitale. The acquisition is the latest in a series of deals reshaping the packaged-food industry, with UK companies attracting outsized interest after the pounds plunge in the wake of the vote to leave the EU reduced prices for overseas buyers. Unilever has put its ailing spreads business up for sale after rebuffing an approach from Kraft Heinz, while Reckitt Benckiser is considering a sale of its Frenchs foods unit after agreeing to buy infant-formula maker Mead Johnson Nutrition. Post said Weetabix, which also owns Alpen muesli and other brands, will contribute about 120m of adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation annually before expected cost savings of roughly 20m by the third full fiscal year after closing. The British companys total sales dropped 1.6%, and profit fell 15% to 84.6m. Bright Food moved to sell Weetabix after owning it for five years, during which it struggled to generate interest in cold cereals among Chinese consumers. It floated the idea of listing Weetabix in 2014, but the brand never gained enough traction in a country where consumers traditionally eat hot breakfasts like congee. We can see that demand for cereals is growing due to health-consciousness, especially among female consumers exposed to western lifestyles, but Weetabix did not make much inroads, probably because Bright Food does not have experience in this area, said Jiaqi Du, research manager for packaged food at Euromonitor International in Shanghai. Chinas breakfast cereal market was worth $933m (877.4m) in 2016, according to Euromonitor, with ready-to-eat cereals like Weetabix accounting for about one-quarter of that total. Overseas acquisitions remain an important part of Bright Foods strategy to become an internationally influential, multinational company, spokesman Pan Jianjun said. Bright Food, whose 2012 deal valued the cereal-maker at about 1.2bn, owns a 60% stake, while Baring Private Equity Asia holds the remaining 40%. The details are among the further information requested in relation to the recent planning application for the Good Shepherd Convent at Sundays Well on the northside of Cork city. In February, Moneda Developments sought permission to provide 234 apartments in a project incorporating existing orphanage, convent, and Magdalene home buildings. However, before planning could be granted, Cork City Council said the possibility that there are undocumented burials of children at the site needed to be fully explored. The council sought research on records of residents of the Institution, numbers of recorded deaths and recorded burials including an assessment of the likely occurrence of undocumented burials of children in the context of evidence from comparable institutions in Ireland. It also requested that a geophysical survey and test trenches of all anomalies identified in the survey is required. The council has further required that the developers develop and enhance the Magdalene graveyard at the site. The significance of the Magdalene or penitents graveyard, while not within the boundary of the current proposal, cannot be discounted. Please submit revised proposals to develop and enhance the Magdalene Burial Ground as part of the overall development of the subject site. This should include a revision to the rear walkway giving access to the western graveyard to include universal access from the vicinity of the Bakehouse. Dedicated visitor car parking should be provided, states the council. The headstone contains the names of just 30 women who died between 1882 and 1973. The grave was unmarked until the late 1990s, when the order agreed to erect a headstone following a campaign by a former resident of the laundry. However, in 2013, the Irish Examiner revealed that the grave had been badly vandalised and is inaccessible behind an eight-feet-high wall and gates which are welded shut. It remains in that condition today. Some of the women listed on the headstone are also listed as being buried at another graveyard in Cork. Mari Steed of Justice For Magdalenes Research said any results from the assessment to ascertain whether there are undocumented burials on the site should be made public after the geophysical examination is carried out. In light of the Good Shepherds Sisters poor record-keeping and, given that there are significant discrepancies and gaps in the existing headstones marking Good Shepherd graves in Cork, every effort should be made to identify all human remains that may be interred at Sundays Well. It is absolutely imperative that the nature of the identification process is determined and carried out by independent experts and the results made publicly available, said Ms Steed. Previous comparisons show the level of uptake of foreign languages in Ireland is poor, particularly compared with other EU countries. While Ireland is particularly poor on languages taught at primary level, the plan is to leave consideration of introducing them for older pupils to a wider review of the primary curriculum. With the focus largely on second-level, but also on some third-level measures, Education Minister Richard Bruton believes the relatively unique scenario of two languages being taught in Irish schools from an early age should give students additional skills for learning other tongues. He also referred to the language skills from hundreds of other countries among the strong communities of new Irish people. Plans to establish full Leaving Certificate courses in Polish, Lithuanian and Portuguese will be prioritised, but would require new initiatives like shared classes combining students from neighbouring schools, or more online teaching resources. While students can take these as non-curricular subjects for Leaving Certificate currently, and might also soon have them as short course choices at junior cycle, the programme to be taught is not set nationally and they are not included in formal class timetables. The minister said the forthcoming strategy acknowledges the need for a very significant change of mindset on foreign-language education. The world is changing rapidly and we must plan through our education system for that changing world. Assumptions that held true even a couple of years ago about the place of English as the international language of communication are no longer solid. In the context of Brexit, the rise of the non-Western powers, the challenge of integrating new communities and our increasingly diversified export strategies, we must change the way we think about language learning in Ireland. Among the key targets will be to have all students taking a foreign language during the junior cycle of second-level education by 2021, with additional subject choices to be provided. A 10% increase in the number of Leaving Certificate students taking foreign language subjects, but particularly in widening the number of languages studied. Although there is some increasing uptake of others at its expense, French remains by far the most common EU language studied for the Leaving Certificate. With employers and exports in mind, a 20% increase in third-level students taking a foreign language will be targeted, with a particular focus on increasing numbers on international business and ICT programmes. The strategy also seeks to increase by 50% the numbers participating in the EUs Erasmus+ programme, on which nearly 4,000 third-level students study abroad for part of their courses. The Master of the National Maternity Hospital (NMH), Rhona OMahony, said the hospital will be clinically and operationally entirely independent in line with national maternity policy. Mr Harris and Dr OMahonys comments follow reports that the Sisters of Charity will be sole owners of the hospital when it transfers from its current site at Holles St to St Vincents University Hospital campus at Elm Park. The notion of the Sisters of Charity having sole ownership of a State-funded hospital sparked outrage among those angered that the order has not fulfilled commitments to survivors of institutional abuse. The order had pledged an additional 5m after the 2009 publication of the Ryan Report which inquired into child abuse in religious-run institutions but 3m remains outstanding. However, the State has not gifted sole ownership to the nuns; the land on which the new hospital will be built is owned by St Vincents Healthcare Group of which the Sisters of Charity are a major shareholder. This does not mean the nuns could dispose of the hospital on a whim because the minister, who holds a golden share in the company set up to run it, can withhold his approval. And while the State will provide some of the funds for the build, it will have a lien on the property which essentially means that its investment is protected. Funds from the sale of Holles St will also go towards the build. However, Labour Party health spokesman Alan Kelly said all buildings funded by the State should be owned by the State. Given the events of recent weeks, not to mention the failure of religious congregations to meet their share of redress, it seems extraordinary to see the State continuing to fund an increase in the asset values of those same congregations, Mr Kelly said. Sinn Fein health spokeswoman Louise OReilly said providing ownership of the new hospital to the Sisters of Charity was deeply insulting and hurtful to survivors of institutional abuse. The State has not learned the lessons of the past, she said. Mr Harris said the company set up to run the hospital will have clinical and operational independence in the provision of maternity, gynaecology and neonatal services, without religious, ethnic, or other distinction, as well as financial and budgetary independence. The Sisters of Charity were unavailable for comment. Solidarity TD Mick Barry said the Sisters of Charity were in serious breach of redress commitments and should not be rewarded. Editorial: 10 United Arilines Chief Oscar Munoz (Photo : Getty Images) United Airlines Chief Oscar Munoz had a meeting with the Chinese consulate in Chicago to discuss the probable effects of the recent scandal involving a passenger being forced off his seat. According to the company, it was too soon to say if the issue had brought some damage to its business in China. Advertisement During the airlines first-quarter earnings call, United repeatedly asked for an apology over the overbooked United flight incident. Dr. David Dao, who refused to give his seat to crew members, was forcibly hauled off the plane. A fellow passenger said that Dao accused officials of discriminating him for being Chinese ahead of being dragged off the aircraft. Netizens from different countries, including the United States, Vietnam and China, have appealed to boycott United Airlines because of the incident. According to analysts, United has around 20 percent of the total U.S.-China traffic and a collaboration with Air China, the third-largest carrier in the country. Its really too early for us to tell anything about bookings, and in particular last week because its the week before Easter. Thats normally a very low booking period, said United President Scott Kirby during the call. In afternoon trading, the shares of United Continental Holdings Inc. decreased by 4.12 percent notwithstanding the earnings that exceeded the expectations of analysts on a number of key metrics. Munoz said on the call that he would have further conversations with customers and related government officials during an upcoming visit to China which had been scheduled before the incident happened. United did not give details on when the CEO met with the Chinese consulate officials. Last week, United Flight 3411 was under fire when videos of the incident went viral on social media. Dao, a paying passenger, was randomly selected to obligatorily give up his seat. According to Daos lawyer, it was expected of him to sue over what happened. Dao lost his two front teeth, broke his nose and suffered a concussion. He left Vietnam to live in the U.S. His ethnicity has not yet been confirmed by his legal team. Though the carrier has not confirmed the effects of the incident to its sales, it apparently hopes to restore its business in China through the United Airlines chiefs visit to the country. British Breakfast Cereal Weetabix (Photo : Getty Images) The adored British breakfast cereal Weetabix has been unsuccessful in its sales to Chinese consumers. The firm was bought by Post Holdings for $1.7 billion after Chinese company Bright Food put up the company for sale in January. The U.S. breakfast brand is the manufacturer of Golden Crisp and Cocoa Pebbles. Advertisement In 2012, Bright Food purchased a 60 percent stake in the cereal company. The acquisition was the largest made by a Chinese company in the food and beverage industry at the time. Bright Food was attracting well-off Chinese consumers insatiably embracing Western breakfast choices in place of traditional rice cereal and steamed bread. However, even those Chinese consumers who are crazy about European products could not stand Weetabix. The cereal companys revenues dropped to 3.05 billion yuan ($443.62 million) by 2015. It was 2 percent lower compared to that in 2012. Even if the firm exports its products to 80 other countries, 84 percent of its sales are still from the U.K. Weetabix is the second largest cereal manufacturer in the European country. The extremely soggy cereal has not motivated buzzing support in the United States. Even in the U.K., the manufacturer has been having difficulties keeping up with its increasingly health-conscious consumers. The companys efforts to lure the British people with its new breakfast drinks and recipes for Weetabix-inspired Eggs Benedict have brought in more ridicule than revenue. A marketing strategy to use Weetabix as a base for Eggs Benedict became viral as consumers responded with disgust. Bright Food went to the extent of saying that getting rid of the company would support its international expansion. Selling assets enables us to better expand. Going forward Bright will stick to our overseas push, a Bright Food spokesman said. Since 1932, Weetabix, which has a royal license, has been a valued brand in the U.K. It was family-owned until 2004 when it was purchased by Lion Capital, a British private equity company. It was then sold to Bright Food in 2012. With Chinese consumers rejecting the British breakfast cereal, British fans appear to be the only ones weeping for the loss of their beloved Weetabix. In China, not only factory workers are being replaced by robots as these machines are now also recruited to help out in classrooms. Recently, there has been a growing popularity of using robots in many kindergartens across China as the country becomes one of the leading nations to develop and utilize artificial intelligence robot. The same thing is taking place in Canada, where robots are used to teach autistic children social skills. The newly-recruited machine, called KeeKo, assists human teachers by interacting with the young children through games, songs, dance, reading, and carrying out conversations. KeeKo can also help kids learn mathematics by engaging them in some fun activities involving numbers. A Chinese news agency even posted on their Twitter account on Wednesday a video showing the robot communicating with kindergarten pupils in Xiamen, Fujian province. According to the South China Morning Post, KeeKo the teaching robot is aimed at interacting with children aged below seven. According to Xiamen ZhiTong Technology, the company that created the robot, it has the intelligence level of a five-year-old child. It was launched last year, and now the machine has been used in some 200 kindergartens across the country, including in Beijing. The video on Twitter described the robot as a cute intelligent toy that enhances children's understand with their lessons. According to the Global News, a similar robot is used to help autistic kids cope with the challenges of social life. The West Vancouver public schools name their teacher robot Milo to assist kids with Autism learn social cues. Currently, the schools have recruited five Milos to help teach affected kids in social settings. According to the Global News, Dave Platt, an administrator with the school district, said that the robots easily draw and bring the kids in. The functions and effects of the robots are also extremely well-researched, which are designed by a speech pathologist to incorporate the best practices in terms of autism spectrum disorder research. PayPal is a giant when it comes to online financial transactions. Its reach even extends to mobile, allowing millions of its users to do their transactions on the go. Then there's Android Pay, a payment service by Google. The application lets people pay for their purchases with one tap to near-field communications (NFC) technology outlets. The two have been competitors in that field until they decided to team up. Both Android Pay and PayPal give users the option not to use cash or whip out their credit or debit cards upon payment. Instead, they input their payment data into the applications and use the mobile applications to pay. Now that they are working together, people can start linking their accounts from both services. On the launch date, Google Pay can only support a user's available balance. Cards linked with PayPal accounts would not yet be supported. However, both parties are working to include those in the future. TechCrunch also adds that the integrated service can work in any place where Discover is accepted. This partnership is beneficial to both Google Pay and PayPal because it gives the two services leverage over their rivals. As of now, their most formidable opponent when it comes to point-of-sale is Apple Pay. The latter has been dominating that area and the number of users has almost doubled year by year. Unfortunately, it does not support PayPal integration. Furthermore, there is Samsung Pay, a lesser known and less used application, Fortune notes. It has limited reach at the moment but its number of users is expected to reach 34 million by the end of the year. On the other hand, Android Pay's projected number of users is 10 million less than Samsung. But Samsung's mobile payment service also does not work with PayPal. The Android Pay with PayPal support will be available to devices running Android OS 4.4 and higher. This will include mobile gizmos powered by KitKat, Lollipop, Marshmallow and Nougat. The Moto G has been perhaps the leading and worlds most budget smartphone since the year 2013, on which its original model launched. Now, as it receives praises for its "superb value for money," Motorola has unveiled the fifth generation of Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus. The question now is... which smartphone is more impressive? The 2013 Moto G was the very first handset to appear following its Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility, according to ZDNet. It was then changed hands again back in 2014 and is currently owned by Lenovo. This year, the Motorola G5 comes in two variants: the five-inch Moto G and the 5.2-inch Moto G5 Plus. The original Moto G costs around $173 in 2013, and with the G5 coming this year the price will be around $205. The Display The two smartphones have the same screen type, resolution and panel durability. The Moto G5 is 5.0-inch IPS LCD with 1920 x 1080 pixels (441 ppi). It has 65.4 percent screen-to-body ratio and built with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. On the hand, Moto G5 Plus is 5.2-inch IPS LCD with 1920 x 1080 pixels (424 ppi). It has 67.1 percent screen-to-body ratio and also comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The Design Visually, according to Forbes, there are only a few differences to separate the two Moto devices. However, the Moto G5 Plus is notably thinner compared to the Moto G5, which means its camera projects more. The smaller version is 144.3 x 73 x 9.5 mm (5.68 x 2.87 x 0.37 in) and 145 g (5.11 oz). While the larger one is 150.2 x 74 x 7.7 mm (5.91 x 2.91 x 0.30 in) and 155 g (5.47 oz). The Camera Both cameras of the two smartphones have phase detection focus, LED flash and auto-HDR. However, the rear camera of Moto G5 is 13MP while 12MP for the Moto G5 Plus. Despite a slight decrease in the megapixels, the Moto G5 Plus has a significantly higher aperture compared the Moto G5 which gives it an edge in both high speed and low light photography capture. The Verdict Both Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus are extremely impressive at their respective prices, as well as features. They leave an adequate gap between "budget flagship devices" such as the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T to stand on their own. Still, it is the Moto G5 Plus which has more edges, offering a lot greater outlay. "13 Reasons Why" has taken the world by storm. The new series from Netflix has made it on top faster than any other series and continues to dominate the ratings. Fans were captivated by its explicit storyline and they are now puzzled with the last segment on Alex. There were multiple questions that were created when Alex shot himself. Questions like, who picked up the phone? Was it really suicide attempt? Was there anybody else in the room when Alex pulled the trigger? All of those can be answered by re-watching the whole series. Alex Attempted A Suicide The very first indication that Alex shot himself is when he tore down the suicide posters. This might sound crazy but for those who have watched numerous crime scenes about suicide, these people tend to erase any evidence that they are attempting suicide prior to doing it. Second, when Alex requested or wanted to play the song Gloomy Sunday. The song was made famous by Billie Holiday and it talks about war, struggle, and despair in everyday life. However, the meaning was changed when multiple people tend to listen to this song before they commit suicide, thus labeling it as the Hungarian Suicide Song. Who Picked Up The Phone? Alex also quit the jazz band. Every musician knows that music is their salvation and Alex quitting the band is already a statement that he doesnt care about anything at all. He was also having some stomachache which as per science, it is a symptom of a suicidal stress. Lastly, when Alex was recklessly driving the car when their main intention was just to scare Clay. As of the question on who picked up the phone? Multiple theories state that the police might be on the seen already when Zach was trying to call Alex. Prior to him attempting a suicide, Zach already sent out multiple texts to Alex but he didnt receive any reply. This might have triggered Zach to call the authorities to check Alex out. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry will meet his Ethiopian counterpart Workneh Gebeyehu in Cairo on Wednesday, MENA state agency has reported. According to MENA, the two foreign ministers will meet at Cairos Tahrir Palace, which is owned by the foreign affairs ministry, to discuss bilateral relations and issues of mutual interest issues, chiefly the Nile water file. Following the talks, Shoukry and Gebeyehu will hold a joint press conference. There has been tension between Egypt and Ethiopia in recent years over the construction of Ethiopias Grand Renaissance Dam, a project which Cairo fears will negatively affect Egypt's Nile water share. Addis Ababa maintains that the dam project, which Ethiopia needs to generate electricity, will not harm downstream countries. In recent months, relations between Cairo and Addis have improved, especially after Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan in September signed the final contracts for long-awaited technical studies on the potential impact of the dam on downstream countries. Search Keywords: Short link: Pedophiles have the same right to privacy as everyone else. That is almost surely a losing political argument. But privacy advocates contend that if it is not a winning legal argument, then everybodys privacy will be in jeopardy. It is an argument that is especially intense now, regarding the so-called Playpen cases. The US Department of Justice (DoJ) is prosecuting a reported 137 people who they allege visited a now-defunct child porn website called Playpen in 2015, while it was under the control of the FBI. And while privacy advocates hasten to say they are not defending the sexual abuse of children, and don't oppose lawful investigations of such crimes, they contend that the government surveillance of Playpen visitors violated the defendants Fourth Amendment privacy rights. They note that the principle is similar to that of the First Amendment: It exists to protect unpopular speech, since popular speech needs no protection. The Fourth Amendment exists to protect everyone from unreasonable search and seizure, and that, they say, has to include those considered reprehensible. Even visitors to a child porn site. They cite H.L. Mencken, the iconic journalist and cultural critic, who famously said, the trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of ones time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all. Or, as Christopher Soghoian, then chief technologist at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) put it in a talk last December titled Stopping Law Enforcement Hacking at the Chaos Communication Congress (CCC), many of the court cases that define our basic privacy rights come from cases involving drug dealers, people smuggling alcohol, and pedophiles. So it can be very unpleasant for people to engage in these cases. But if you wait until the government is using its powers against journalists and freedom fighters, by that point the case law is settled, he said. That, he and other privacy advocates say, is what is at stake here. While a number of those charged with downloading child porn from Playpen have already pleaded guilty and there have been some laudable results of what the FBI called Operation Pacifier identification of a reported 35 hands on child sexual offenders and at least 17 producers of child pornography, plus the recovery from abuse of at least 26 child victims critics contend that the government violated the Fourth Amendment when, after taking control of the site, it hacked into the computers of visitors to discover their IP addresses and eventually their identities. Operation Pacifier began in December 2014, when the FBI got a tip from a foreign law enforcement agency about Playpen, a hidden service site accessible only through the Tor network. After getting a search warrant, the agency seized the server, then operating in North Carolina. But, instead of shutting it down, it moved it to Virginia and operated it as a sting operation for another 13 days, during which time thousands of child porn images were downloaded by thousands of visitors. During that time, it obtained a so-called general warrant to install what it called a Network Investigation Technique (NIT) malware onto the computers of those visitors. Through that, it was able to defeat the anonymity generally provided by the Tor network, get the IP addresses of the computers, and then their locations. Finally, it obtained warrants to search the premises and computers of those who had visited Playpen for evidence of child porn. It is that general warrant that critics say is the problem. Mark Rumold, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF), called it unconstitutional. In one of numerous blog posts on the issue some of them authored by Rumold EFF argued that among the reasons the general warrant was unconstitutional were that: - It led to thousands of searches and seizures, in locations around the world, in violation of the particularity requirement of the Fourth Amendment, which requires the warrant to, particularly describ(e) the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. There needs to be a balancing of the potential harm to privacy interests with the harm to children who are victims of sexual abuse and exploitation. Leo Taddeo, CSO at Cryptzone The Fourth Amendment, EFF contended, was designed to prevent precisely this type of sweeping authority, which it called, astonishingly broad: It allowed the FBI to deploy the malware against any activating computer, identified as any computer logging into the site. The warrant and its attachments say nothing about whose computers these are or where they are located. - It was granted by a magistrate judge. EFF and defense attorneys argue that the law allows such magistrates to grant warrants only in the district where they are located. This one was in the Eastern District of Virginia, and therefore, could not authorize searches of computers located outside of that district. A second major objection is the DoJs refusal to turn over the source code of the NIT to the defense, which defense lawyers say means they cannot effectively represent their clients. The source code, they have contended, may have flaws, or may have been used to search or seize information beyond the scope of the warrant. Soghoian, who now works for US Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), said in that capacity he can no longer speak with the media. But in his talk at the CCC last year, he spoke to that issue, saying one of the major problems with government hacking is that, mistakes will be made. Hacking tools are made by humans and deployed by humans. Humans are not perfect. He cited the Tor Mail case from 2013, when the FBI got a warrant to hack 300 users, but ended up hacking many more innocent users anyone who visited the Tor Mail home page for several days. In a few cases United States v. Jay Michaud in Washington state is one of the most high-profile the court found those arguments persuasive. US District Judge Robert Bryan ordered the government to turn over the source code, and the government chose to drop the charges rather than comply. But that has not set a precedent. That code is now classified, which obviously gives it a higher level of protection. And Judge Bryan, in a later case United States v. David Tippens et. al, which included Gerald Lesan and Bruce Lorente made the opposite finding that the government was not compelled to turn over the source code. Peter Carr, a spokesman for the DoJ, declined to say whether the classification of the source code made the difference in Tippens, but did say the Michaud decision, has no effect on other cases. All other courts to look at this issue have ruled that the defendants were not entitled to review the Playpen NIT source code. While the FBI will not comment on the cases, Leo Taddeo, CSO at Cryptzone and a former special agent in charge of the FBIs New York cybercrime office, said if criminals are going to make use of anonymizing services like the Tor network, law enforcement needs to be able to use tools to pierce that cloak of anonymity. There needs to be a balancing of the potential harm to privacy interests with the harm to children who are victims of sexual abuse and exploitation, he said. The internet has been a boon to child pornographers. In some ways, it provides virtually complete anonymity to pedophiles. Law enforcement must have new tools to adapt and counter this new reality. But privacy advocates counter that the Mencken principle applies if government is granted more sweeping surveillance powers in the name of catching and punishing child predators a worthy cause the danger is that those tools will be used against those who are not nearly as reprehensible. Amie Stepanovich, US policy manager at Access Now, said the FBIs refusal to turn over the NIT source code is evidence that the agency is, choosing to prioritize secrecy and prevention of meaningful oversight over its own mission, to uphold and enforce the criminal laws of the United States. Transparency is a keystone to ensuring that FBI operations stay within the confines of the law and agents don't abuse their authority. However, once again the FBI is shunting any notion of oversight, not to mention justice, in order to keep its toys secret, she said. Another worry is that the scale of surveillance that is possible on the internet dwarfs capabilities in the physical world, which gives government much more power than before. As security guru Bruce Schneier, CTO at IBM Resilient, put it several years ago, Instead of follow that car, its follow every car. And follow it for six months back. Rumold said EFF and other privacy advocates want child predators investigated and caught. The right to privacy, he said, is not inviolable. The Fourth Amendment, he said, does not mean that they can't be investigated, or even that law enforcement could never hack into their computers. It only means that law enforcement must go through the protocols and protections enshrined in the Fourth Amendment in order to carry out the investigation. In the Playpen investigation, the FBI didn't follow those protocols, and that's why their searches and seizures were illegal. Your comments won't be private, but send them to our Facebook page anyway. The Islamic State (IS) militant group has claimed responsibility for an attack on Egypt's St Catherine's security checkpoint late Tuesday that killed at least one policeman and injured four others. The group announced its responsibility shortly after the attack via its AMAQ News Agency, with a statement reading: Islamic State fighters carried out the attack. According to the interior ministry, a policeman was killed and four others were injured at South Sinais St Catherine's security checkpoint. The ministry gave details of the attack, saying that a group of militants opened fire on the checkpoint, which is located on a road leading up to St Catherine's Monastery near the summit of Mount Catherine. Police forces exchanged fire with the militants until they gained control of the situation, causing the attackers to flee the scene, the ministry added. The attack on the famous monastery and one of the most prominent tourist hotspots in South Sinai comes nearly one week after the country was hit with twin deadly bombings on Coptic Orthodox cathedrals, reportedly carried out by two suicide bombers, on Palm Sunday in Al-Gharbeyas Tanta and in Alexandria, which left 47 people dead and dozens injured. The IS group claimed responsibility for last weeks attacks. Cairo has imposed an extendable nationwide three-month state of emergency and deployed the armed forces to aid police in protecting vital institutions. Search Keywords: Short link: The Taba border crossing to Egypt will remain closed, Israel's Counter-Terrorism Bureau (CTB) said on Tuesday, only a few hours before an attack claimed by the Islamic State militant group took place on a Saint Catherine's Monastery security checkpoint in South Sinai, killing one policeman and injuring four others. The bureau said it decided to extend the border closure--first implemented last week--following a "situational assessment." Late on Tuesday, Egypt's interior ministry announced that a group of militants had opened fire on the security checkpoint, located on a road to St Catherine's Monastery near the summit of Mount Catherine. The assailants escaped the scene following an exchange of fire with security forces. The decision [to keep the Taba crossing closed] will be revisited continuously over the next few days, in accordance with the situation, the CTB said in a Tuesday evening statement. Last week, Israel closed the crossing following a warning from its anti-terrorism office of an "imminent" militant attack in Egypt. Israeli officials attributed the closure to intelligence on potential "terror attacks" against tourists in the Sinai peninsula. The crossing remains open for those seeking to return from Israel to Egypt. The initial decision to close the crossing came a day after twin bombings on Coptic cathedrals in Egypt's Al-Gharbeya and Alexandria governorates during Palm Sunday services killed at least 47 people and injured dozens. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the Palm Sunday attacks. Sinai has traditionally been a popular vacation destination for Israelis especially during the upcoming Passover holiday. Israel has urged its citizens to avoid the area in recent years, however, due to Islamic militant activity. Search Keywords: Short link: Email Links to our top local news stories of the day, Monday through Saturday. A man suspected of involvement in the planning of the suicide bombing of St George Cathedral in Tanta on 9 April which killed 29 people has turned himself in to a prosecutors office in Upper Egypt's Qena governorate, Al-Ahram Arabic website reported Wednesday. Mahmoud Mohamed Ali Hussein, who holds a Bachelor's degree in Agricultural Science, has been transferred to the National Security Agency headquarters for questioning. On Monday, the interior ministry published a statement naming Hussein as one of 19 suspects in the plotting of the two Palm Sunday suicide bombings in the Tanta church and Alexandrias St Marks cathedral. Last week, the Ministry of Interior identified in a statement Mohamed Baghdadi as the suicide bomber responsible for the attack in Tanta. The ministry said that Baghdadi, who hailed from Upper Egypts Qena, was identified through CCTV footage and DNA testing. Most of the suspects in the two deadly bombing operations, which killed 47 people and injured dozens more, hail from Qena governorate. The ministry has offered a reward of EGP 500,000 for information on the suspects. On Sunday, the interior ministry said it arrested 13 members of a terrorist cell that was plotting attacks against churches in Egypt. The suspects were arrested in the governorates of Alexandria, Damietta and Kafr El-Sheikh. The Palm Sunday bombings were the deadliest terrorist attacks against Christians in Egypt's recent memory. Two days after the attacks, the government declared a three-month nationwide state of emergency. Search Keywords: Short link: Dr. Edward Abraham will step down from his current position as dean of Wake Forest School of Medicine in June for a job with the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine. Abraham will start his new job as dean and chief academic officer of the Miami school on July 1. In addition to his role as chief academic officer, he will be the physician executive of the University of Miami Medical Group. Abraham became the dean of Wake Forest School of Medicine in 2011. Prior to that, he served for five years as the chairman of the Department of Medicine for the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. John McConnell, the chief executive of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, said that Abraham is leaving a legacy of achievement at Wake Forest. He infused our undergraduate medical education program with new vigor and directed development of a state-of-the-art curriculum perfectly suited to the new Bowman Gray Center for Medical Education, which opened last summer, McConnell said. He introduced an integrated approach to enable educational innovation and effective support of our learning programs in biomedical training, medical education and health care training, providing a collaborative, team learning environment that mirrors real world health care and benefits faculty and students alike. He also said that Abraham has been a driving force behind research programs. McConnell added that plans for the interim and longer-term leadership of the school of medicine will be developed with faculty leadership when Dr. Julie Ann Freischlag, Wake Forest Baptists new chief executive, arrives in May. BETHANY PARE, Winston-Salem Amateur work Leave eye surgery to trained surgeons (April 9), reads the title of your April 9 guest column by Dr. Susan Burden. How is this even a question? In what world would we ever consider letting amateurs do work that clearly calls for professional qualifications? Oh, of course. In President Trumps world. Im sure the legislature will include a provision to keep patients from suing the amateurs who botch the surgery, wont they? ****** GERALD BEAN, Winston-Salem Not a clue If anything should be clear about President Trump by now, it is that he doesnt have a clue what hes doing. Not a clue. He has no beliefs or principles beyond whatever is expedient for him at the moment or what will earn him a profit. None of his promises will come true. Hes not going to force Mexico to pay for a wall and the wall isnt likely to be built in the first place. Hes not going to prosecute Hillary Clinton. Hes not going to bring back the coal industry. Hes not going to drain the swamp. All hes going to do, at the bidding of his staff, is shift more money to his Wall Street/Goldman Sachs friends. Of course, the Republicans are taking advantage of his idiocy to cut taxes more for their corporate masters. Its ironic that all the false, hyperbolic claims pushed against President Obama hes inexperienced, hes a dictator, hes a racist, hes arrogant have found their true expression in President Trump. At this point, we have to wonder if hes really an American citizen. ****** REGGIE BRANSON, Winston-Salem Bad bill I guess HB2 didnt cost us enough. What did those legislators who filed their bill against same-sex marriage hope to accomplish (GOP leader: Bill to ban gay marriage is dead, April 13)? It doesnt have a marshmallows chance in hell. Even if our regressive legislature passed it, the courts would slap it down first chance. All these guys did was waste their time and our money and make us look bad in national press again. I hope their constituents will find better people to represent them in the future. ****** ANTHONY COLBURN, Tobaccoville The presidents tax returns Since this is the time we are all thinking about our IRS tax returns, I just thought I would check up on what President Trump has said about releasing his to the public (as every other president has done for the last 40-some years.) 2014: If I decide to run for office, Ill produce my tax returns, absolutely. 2015: I would certainly show my tax returns if it was necessary. 2016: Probably over the next few months. They are being worked on now. I have no problem releasing the tax returns. I want to release my tax returns, but I cant release it while Im under an audit. (The IRS official response concerning releasing tax information while being audited: Nothing prevents individuals from sharing their own tax information.) Also, President Nixon released his returns while he was being audited. And finally, in May 2016: Before the election, Ill release, and Id like to release. But really, you learn very little from a tax return. With all his convoluted business dealings, foreign connections and hyperbole about his charitable giving, I have a feeling there is much to learn. ****** RUDY DIAMOND, Lewisville Legislative obsession Republicans in the state legislature must be obsessed with thoughts of public restroom access. Five GOP representatives in the House introduced HB562 on April 4. The bill is titled, AN ACT TO INCREASE THE PENALTY FOR SECOND DEGREE TRESPASS ONTO CERTAIN PREMISES. And lo and behold, certain premises include multi-occupancy bathroom, shower or changing facility. This proposed bill may not specifically mention transgender people but it is easy to read between the lines. If enacted, HB 562 would increase penalties and allow anyone to object to transgender people using the restroom that corresponds to their identity. This bill, just like HB2, is a solution looking for a problem. I have lived in North Carolina since 1950 and cannot recall any newspaper story reporting that a woman has been attacked in a restroom by a transgender person or by some criminal dressing as a woman. Where women really need protection is not in a public restroom but in their own homes. According to the North Carolina Council for Women, between July 2015 and June 2016, 40,278 sought domestic violence and sexual assault services. Over 1,700 of these women lived in Forsyth County. I would encourage the GOP-controlled legislature to be more worried about domestic violence than a transgender person using the restroom that corresponds to their identity. When You Write The Journal encourages readers comments. To participate in The Readers Forum, please submit letters online to Letters@wsjournal.com. Please write The Readers Forum in the subject line and include your full name, address and a daytime telephone number. Or you may mail letters to: The Readers Forum, P.O. Box 3159, Winston-Salem, NC 27102. Letters are subject to editing and may be published on journalnow.com. Letters are limited to 250 words. Letter writers are allowed one letter every 30 days. If you would like a photo of yourself included with your letter, send it to us as a .jpg file. For more guidelines and advice on writing letters, go to journalnow.com/opinion/submit_a_letter. The Journal welcomes original submissions for guest columns on local, regional and statewide topics. Essay length should not exceed 750 words. The writer should have some authority for writing about his or her subject. Our email address is: Letters@wsjournal.com. Essays may also be mailed to: The Readers Forum, P.O. Box 3159, Winston-Salem, NC 27102. Please include your name and address and a daytime telephone number. The Ethiopian Foreign minister also met Wednesday with Egypt's President Sisi who stressed that Cairo does not interfere in other countries' domestic affairs and does not conspire against them Addis Ababa will never harm the Egyptian people and their interests, Ethiopia's Foreign Minister Workneh Gebeyehu said Wednesday during a joint press conference with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry in Cairo. Ahead of the press conference after his arrival in Egypt, Gebeyehu met with Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi who stressed that Egypt does not interfere in other countries' domestic affairs and does not conspire against them. At the press conference, Gebeyehu said he came to deliver a message to Egyptians that his country was not seeking to cause suffering to the Egyptian people, in reference to Ethiopia's construction of the Grand Renaissance Dam on the Nile river. "We will not harm the Egyptian people, but they should also help us in making use of our natural resources," he said. Gebeyehu described both nations as connected "throughout history and the Nile River," addressing Shoukry as his "brother." "I am here today to assure the Egyptian people that we must work together to accomplish our goals," he said. The Ethiopian minister said that he discussed bilateral relations with the Egyptian president and foreign minister "honestly." "We have to work very closely in the future with consultations on all issues," he said, adding that El-Sisi described the relationship as an important one that should be improved. Shoukry said that the discussions were characterised by a "keenness [to boost] the relationship, with further dialogue on the necessity of maintaining it." The Egyptian foreign minister added that the "transparent and honest" discussions were intended to promote the best interests of both nations. According to Shoukry, the two countries' officials will be meeting and holding talks every two months to work on improving relations. He added that El-Sisi expressed hopes for Cairo to host a joint high committee meeting soon, with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn in attendance. The first-ever visit by FM Gebeyehu to Cairo comes amid reports of renewed tensions between Cairo and Addis Ababa over the past months, with back-and-forth accusations of interference in one another's domestic affairs and conspiracies against each other involving other foreign countries lodged from both sides. Cairo has said it fears the construction of the Renaissance Dam, which has not been completed yet, will negatively affect Egypt's Nile water share. However, Addis Ababa maintains that the dam project, which Ethiopia says it needs to generate electricity, will not harm downstream countries. In September 2016, Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan signed final contracts to implement long-awaited technical studies on the potential impact of the dam on downstream countries. Search Keywords: Short link: Egypt's Prime Minister Sherif Ismail ordered on Wednesday the extension of the state of emergency in designated areas of North Sinai until the end of the three-month nationwide state of emergency imposed last week. The extension of the ongoing state of emergency in North Sinai, which has been renewed every three months since 2014, will include an overnight curfew in some designated area in the governorate. The renewed state of emergency in North Sinai involves a curfew from 1am to 5am in El-Arish. and 7pm to 6am in the areas of El-Ouga, Halal Mountain, the coastal region, and Rafah. On Tuesday, the Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for an attack earlier in the day on a security checkpoint in South Sinai that killed at least one policeman and injured four others. Army forces have been deployed to aid police in protecting vital institutions as part of the nationwide state of emergency. On 11 April, the Egyptian parliament approved a nationwide three-month state of emergency declared by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi two days after two suicide bombers hit Mar Girgis Cathedral in Tanta and St Mark's Cathedral in Alexandria The bombings killed 47 people and injured dozens more in the deadliest attack against civilians in the country's recent history. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the church attacks. In October 2014, Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi issued a decree establishing a state of emergency and tight curfew hours in some parts of North Sinai as part of efforts to battle an Islamic insurgency that intensified after the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Search Keywords: Short link: A new plaintiff joined [press release] a lawsuit [complaint, PDF] in the Southern District of New York [official site] Tuesday accusing the current administration of unfair business practices by violating the Emoluments Clauses of the Constitution. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a non profit organization who is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit [JURIST report] that alleges foreign payments made to business associated with the current executive branch are in violation of the Constitution [text]. Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC) United which overseas 200 restaurant and over 25,000 employees joined the suit citing injury based on loss of business. The suit alleges the service industry is losing revenue because individuals , especially foreign dignitaries, are ably to curry favor with President if they uses his businesses. Now that he has been sworn into office as the 45th President of the United States, Defendants business interests are creating countless conflicts of interest, as well as unprecedented influence by foreign governments, and have resulted and will further result in numerous violations of Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution, the Foreign Emoluments Clause, and Article II, Section 1, Clause 7 of the United States Constitution, theDomestic Emoluments Clause. The groups in the case are seeking an injunction. A number of bi-partisan experts have expressed concerns over potential ethical issues being faced by Trump. In March a contracting officer from the US General Services Administration sent a letter [JURIST report] to Trump finding that the Trump Organization did not violate the lease it holds for the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC. Also in March, the New Jersey Legislature passed S3048 [JURIST report] on Thursday which would require presidential and vice-presidential candidates to reveal their federal income tax return before being listed on the states ballot. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) filed a lawsuit [complaint, PDF] against the founder of the website The Daily Stormer. SPLC filed the suit on behalf of a Montana woman who claims [SPLC press release] to have been targeted by the website with an anti-Semitic harassment campaign. According to the suit, the founder Andrew Anglin published [Chicago Tribune report] over 30 articles encouraging his followings to launch a troll storm against the woman and her family, who claim to have received more than 700 harassing messages since December. The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the District of Montana Missoula Division [official website] and seeks compensatory and punitive damages claiming invasion of privacy as well as intentionally inflicting emotional distress. The suit also claims that Anglins actions violate the Montana Anti-Intimidation Act. There has been an alarming rise in anti-Semitism worldwide. In February UK lawmakers stated in a report [JURIST report] that the country needs to take action against rising anti-Semitism. In January the UN General Assembly held a daylong informal meeting [JURIST report] devoted to anti-Semitism in response to a global increase in violence against Jews. The meeting was requested by 37 countries in a letter to the General Assembly president in October. Also in January French police arrested 54 people [JURIST report] for verbally supporting or threatening terrorist acts in the wake of the terrorist attacks at the offices of French humor magazine Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket. Also that month a French court upheld the ban [JURIST report] on a performance by French comedian Dieudonne MBala MBala that was deemed anti-Semitic and generated much discussion [JURIST op-ed]. A man suspected of involvement in a deadly attack on Tuesday night on a security checkpoint near South Sinais St Catherine Monastery has been killed on Wednesday by Egyptian security forces, a security source told Al-Ahram Arabic news website on Wednesday. According to the source, South Sinai's security directorate was informed by Bedouin Sheikhs in the area that the suspect was attempting to sneak into Central Sinai after hiding in a mountainous region in the area. According to security sources, the attacker was found with posters supporting the Islamic State militant group, which has declared responsibility for the Tuesday attack. On Tuesday, a policeman was killed and four others were injured after gunmen attacked the security checkpoint on a road leading up to the St Catherine Monastery near the summit of Mount Sinai. The ministry said police forces engaged in a shootout with the gunmen, forcing them to flee. Security forces started conducting an intensive search for the assailants immediately after the attack. The attack near the Saint Catherine monastery, which is one of the worlds oldest Christian monasteries and a major tourist attraction in South Sinai, comes two weeks after the bombings of Coptic Orthodox churches in Alexandria and Tanta killed over 47 people. The Islamic State group has declared responsibility for the attacks on the churches and previous deadly attacks on security forces in North Sinai. Search Keywords: Short link: NEWSLETTER Sign up Tick the boxes of the newsletters you would like to receive. Just Drinks Daily News The top stories of the day delivered to you every weekday. Just Drinks Weekly News A weekly roundup of the latest news and analysis, sent every Monday. Just Drinks Magazine The industry's most comprehensive news and information delivered every quarter Track product launches by FMCG companies to get an understanding of the product-level strategies including geographic concentrations, innovation types, product claim, category focus and more Monitoring the advertising strategies of various brands and gain insights into channel focus, regional focus, and more Perform company-level analysis to understand business model, size, and geographic focus Unilever product advertising is mainly through mainstream TV channels. Out of the products advertised so far at least 50% (over 850) of ads have been run on TV, while print media comes second with 496 ads. Unilever also utilizes social media platforms for advertisement. Unilever products are categorized by innovation ratings and tags in our product launch database. The North American region consists of almost 74 products with innovations related to the formulation of the product. Europe and other regions also have more products categorized under formulation-related innovation, followed by the packaging and positioning of the products. Most Unilever products are tagged with High Vitamins, Recyclable, and Natural tags to understand what the product differentiator is from other products available in the market. The majority of products belong to the personal care industry with a total of 5,788 products to date. This report, through the Unilever Example, illustrates how GlobalData Explorer enables you to:Dont miss out on key market insights that can help optimize your next investment read the report now. Japans Suntory is putting its food assets in Australia and New Zealand up for sale to focus on its global beverages business, the company confirmed today (19 April). Free Report Whats the forecast for the food and grocery industry? Market drivers and inhibitors Five-year forecasts and the impact of COVID-19 The performance of the online channel versus offline Major trends in the market including rapid delivery, ambient retailing, supply chain disruption, and inflation Assess developments within this sector to help your business thrive in 2022 and beyond. The food and grocery sector thrived during the pandemic, largely due to the shutdown of the food service industry and the sectors subsequent necessity, panic-induced bulk purchasing, and spending more time at home. The market has grown as a result of inflation. Consumer unwillingness to go out and socialize, and the reopening of several hospitality facilities, helped maintain the demand for groceries, particularly online, in 2021. As consumer behavior changes, we consume more food and drink at home, and inflation increases basket sizes. GlobalData predicts that the sector will continue to hold a higher share than had been predicted prior to the pandemic. This is true despite the fact that the food and grocery sector's share of overall retail will decline from its peak in 2020. This report will discuss market forecasts and key themes in the global food & grocery industry in 2022 and beyond. It covers:Assess developments within this sector to help your business thrive in 2022 and beyond. by GlobalData Enter your details here to receive your free Report. Please enter a work/business email address Country United Kingdom United States Afghanistan Aland Islands Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Congo, The Democratic Republic of The Cook Islands Costa Rica Cote D"ivoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and Mcdonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea, Democratic People"s Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lao People"s Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Reunion Romania Russian Federation Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and The Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and The South Sandwich Islands Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand Timor-leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United States Minor Outlying Islands Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Viet Nam Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, U.S. Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe Download free Report By clicking the Download Free Report button, you accept the terms and conditions and acknowledge that your data will be used as described in the GlobalData privacy policy By downloading this Report, you acknowledge that we may share your information with our white paper partners/sponsors who may contact you directly with information on their products and services. Visit our privacy policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address. Thank you.Please check your email to download the Report. Investment bank UBS has been appointed to sell the bulk of Suntorys food and coffee assets in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, including brands such as Saxa salt, Gravox gravy, Foster Clarks ready-to-serve custards, Greggs coffee and Asian Homer Gourmet pastes and sauces. Suntory is looking to keep its fresh coffee business. A spokesperson for Suntory Food & Beverage Asia told just-food the sale included Cerebos Australia and New Zealand, the sauce, spice and coffee manufacturer whose parent company, Cerebos Pacific Limited, is wholly owned by the Suntory group. We feel it would be better for the food and instant coffee business if we found a new owner who is more focused on this category, the spokesperson said. We would expect the sale process to take about six to nine months, but we are still making preparations. Asked if Suntory had a price in mind for the sale, the spokesperson said: We dont have that information as of now. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Terry Svenson, the current CEO of Cerebos operations in Australia and New Zealand, will lead its fresh coffee business. Svenson told the paper: While we have made great progress in recent years, including significant improvements to the efficiency of our manufacturing operations, food and instant coffee are not a core category focus for SBF and growth opportunities can potentially be maximised under different ownership. Suntory listed Suntory Beverage and Food Ltd keeping a 60% stake in the business in 2013. Related Companies Nick Ayres, a political strategist and advisor to US President Donald Trump, paid a surprise visit to Egypt's parliament on Wednesday, where he discussed bilateral relations with parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Aal. "Speaker Abdel-Aal [discussed with Ayres] the necessity of Egyptian-American strategic partnership in fighting terrorism," said a statement by the Egyptian parliament's press office. Abdel-Aal told Ayres that Egypt has been battling a life and death war against terrorism on behalf of the world. "Speaker Abdel-Aal also reviewed Egypt's battle against illegal migration operations and how new legislation by parliament has toughened penalties [against human traffickers]," said the statement. Abdel-Aal told Ayres that "around five million refugees who fled wars in neighbouring countries are now living in Egypt despite the country's hard economic conditions." Abdel-Aal also reviewed Egypt's economic reform programme, including floating the Egyptian pound, implementing a value added tax law, and parliament's current discussion of a new law to promote investment. Ayres praised Egypt's efforts in the area of reinforcing equal citizenship values and its effective war against terrorism. "Advisor Ayres also stressed the importance of Egyptian-American strategic relations," the statement said. Ayres said that President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence appreciate Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi's role in fighting terrorism. "President Trump was keen during his presidential election campaign to highlight El-Sisi's role in combating terrorism. He was also keen to meet El-Sisi in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meetings," Ayres was quoted as saying. Today's meeting was attended by Andrea Zaki, chief of the Christian Anglican Church in Egypt, US priest Michael Youssef, Egyptian parliament deputy speaker Soliman Wahdan, head of defence and national security committee Kamal Amer, female Coptic MP Nadia Henry, and parliament deputy secretary-general Mohamed Nosseir. Kamal Amer, head of the defence and national security committee, told reporters that Ayres' visit comes amid improving relations between Egypt and the United States. "[Ayres' visit] comes after a successful visit by President El-Sisi to the US and as the two countries gear up to recovering their old strategic relations," said Amer. Amer said the recent exchange of visits between Egyptian and American officials reflects a real interest on the side of officials and MPs in the two countries to move relations between the two countries forward. US defence secretary Jim Mattis is expected to arrive in Cairo on Wednesday as part of a tour of Middle eastern and African countries. The visit of senior American officials to Cairo comes days after Egypt declared a state of emergency and formed a Supreme Council for Combating Terrorism and Extremism in the aftermath of two deadly suicide bombings on 9 April at Coptic churches in Tanta and Alexandria, which killed 47 people. Ahmed Rifaat, a member of parliament's defence and national security committee, told reporters that the law on the new council will be discussed by parliament soon. "Parliamentary and government experts will meet soon to draw up the strategy of this council," said Rifaat, adding that "one of the major objectives of this council is to issue reports on terrorist organisations, including Muslim Brotherhood." "These reports will be sent to all countries, including the US, which has recently expressed readiness to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation," said Rifaat. El-Sayed Abu Gad, an MP who was a member of an Egyptian delegation to the United States this month, told Ahram Online that the recent surge in visits by US officials and Congress members to Egypt should be taken advantage of by parliament. "The designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation by the US was at the top of the agenda of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi's visit to the United States on 3 April," said Abu Gad. "It will be very important that parliament and government officials provide all US administration officials who visit Cairo with all the information necessary to make America's designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation a reality," said Rifaat. Tarek Radawn, deputy chairman of parliament's foreign relations committee, also told reporters that the meeting with Ayres primarily focused on fighting terrorism. "The current administration of US President Donald Trump represents a radical change from the previous one led by Barack Obama," said Radawn. "While the Obama officials viewed political Islamist movements as 'moderate,' the mentality of the Donald Trump is different, taking these movements, particularly Muslim Brotherhood, as the ones that provide militant Islamist movements with the radical ideological basis on which they carry out their terrorist operations." Radwan added that all MPs, including parliament speaker Abdel-Aal, told Ayres that "the designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation by the administration of US president Donald Trump will be a very progressive step in the war against terrorism." "We told him that political Islam and militant Islamist groups are the same, with each completing the other, and that all should be listed as terrorist organisations," said Radwan. Radwan cited Ayres as saying that "one of the reasons why Donald Trump won the US elections was his declaration of war against all terrorist and radical Islamist movements." Radwan said MPs told Ayres that these suicide attacks against Copts aimed to drive a wedge between Egyptian Christians and Muslims. "All Egyptians are keen not to let these attacks sow the seeds of sectarian tension in their country," said Radwan. Search Keywords: Short link: Evacuations of thousands of besieged Syrians resumed on Wednesday with tight security in place after a weekend bombing against those leaving government-held areas killed dozens, including nearly 70 children. A large convoy of buses set out from the government-held towns of Fuaa and Kafraya in Idlib province, carrying 3,000 people to the rebel-held transit point of Rashidin near Aleppo, an AFP correspondent said. At the same time, 11 buses carrying around 300 people left rebel-held Zabadani, Serghaya and Jabal Sharqi in Damascus province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said. In Rashidin, security was tight after a devastating bomb attack on evacuees at the site on Saturday that according to the Observatory killed 126 people, including 68 children. Most of the dead were from the two Shiite-majority towns, with a handful of aid workers and rebels guarding the convoy also killed. Dozens of wounded were taken to hospitals in nearby rebel-held territory, while others were taken to Aleppo, which government forces regained full control of late last year. Armed rebels were standing guard at Rashidin on Wednesday and carefully inspecting vehicles arriving in the area. "We chose a different location as the gathering point for fighters from Fuaa and Kafraya with their families, because we are obliged to protect them until they leave here," said rebel fighter Abu Obeida al-Shami. Buses were parked in a semi-circle, forming a makeshift barrier around an area in the centre of a lot where evacuees including dozens of children milled. "Where do I even start? It would have been easier if we had just died. Death is so much easier than this humiliation," said elderly evacuee Abu Ahmad. He told AFP he was preparing himself never to see his hometown of Fuaa again. "Someone like me, who is already 85 years old -- I'm going to die tomorrow or the day after." Pro-government militiamen among those being evacuated from Fuaa and Kafraya squatted next to one bus, smoking cigarettes. Standing nearby, 55-year-old Um Joud from Fuaa said it was difficult to describe how she felt. "I'm not afraid, because everything is in God's hands," she told AFP. "Of course I would have preferred to stay in my home, but I left for the sake of my children and their lives and futures." The evacuations are part of a deal between government and opposition representatives that is also seeing residents and rebels transported out from several areas under regime siege near Damascus, primarily Madaya and Zabadani. It was brokered late last month by Qatar, a longtime opposition supporter, and Iran, a key regime ally, but its implementation had been repeatedly delayed. When Wednesday's evacuations are complete, a total of 8,000 people should have left Fuaa and Kafraya in exchange for 2,500 civilians and rebels from opposition areas. Zabadani and Madaya "are now empty of any rebel presence," said Mayyada al-Aswad, a member of the coordinating committee for the operation on the government side. Wednesday's evacuations mark the end of the first stage of the deal, with a second phase due to begin in June. Fuaa and Kafraya will be emptied entirely, with residents and fighters heading to Aleppo and then on to government-held Latakia or Damascus. All rebels are expected to leave Madaya, Zabadani, and other nearby oppositions-held areas, but civilians who want to remain may do so. Those leaving rebel-held areas will head to Idlib province, which is held by an opposition alliance. In all, up to 30,000 people are expected to leave under the deal. President Bashar al-Assad says evacuation deals are the best way to end the six-year war, but the opposition says they amount to forced relocation after years of bombardment and siege. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Saturday's bombing, which was condemned by Syria's opposition, including the powerful Ahrar al-Sham rebel group. The government blamed "terrorists" -- a catch-all term for its opponents. Syrian state television on Wednesday reported another bomb blast in Aleppo city that killed six people, but the report could not be immediately confirmed. The United Nations says 600,000 Syrians live under siege, mostly by the Syrian army, but also by rebels or the Islamic State (IS) militant group. The war has killed more than 320,000 people since it began with anti-government protests in March 2011. More than half of the population have been forced from their homes. Search Keywords: Short link: Related Two Qaeda suspects killed in Yemen drone strike Drone strike kills Qaeda suspect in Yemen A U.S. drone killed four suspected al Qaeda members in an overnight strike as they were travelling through the central desert province of Marib, local officials said on Wednesday. One said that authorities had not been able to identify those killed because the bodies were so badly burnt. Marib, now under the control of President Abd-Rabu Mansour Hadi's internationally recognised government, is one of several regions where Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and its local affiliate, Ansar al-Sharia, operate and is east of the capital Sanaa - controlled by the dominant Houthi group. "A drone hit a car carrying four suspected al Qaeda members near the town of Al Hami. The vehicle was completely burnt and the persons inside were killed," a second Marib official said. AQAP has exploited two years of civil war to recruit followers and cement its dominance in the central and southern part of Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition, with logistical support from the U.S. air force, has been fighting the Houthis to try to restore Hadi to power. The Houthis seized much of northern Yemen including Sanaa in a series of lightning military operations that began in 2014, eventually forcing Hadi to flee. The Houthis regard their move on Sanaa as a revolution against corruption. The United States has repeatedly attacked AQAP with aircraft and unmanned drones in what U.S. officials say is a campaign to degrade the group's ability to coordinate attacks abroad. In late January, at least 30 people were killed in a U.S. commando dawn raid in southern Yemen, including at least 10 women and children, in the first such military operation authorised by President Donald Trump. The new U.S. administration has not yet laid out a clear policy on drone strikes, but Trump has said he would support an escalation of the fight against Islamist militant groups. U.S. drone strikes have become more frequent in recent weeks, with at least six reported by Reuters last month. The previous administration regularly used drones to attack Islamic State, al Qaeda and other militant groups inSyria, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Human rights groups criticise the tactic because of civilian casualties. The Saudi-led coalition has recently made gains against the Houthis in western Yemen but fighting on other fronts, including Marib, has been static, with little ground changing hands. The coalition accuses Iran of trying to use the Houthis to expand its influence in Yemen, one of the poorest Arab countries. Iran denies this. Search Keywords: Short link: Afghan officials say 14 Taliban fighters, including the shadow governor of the northern Baghlan province, have been killed in heavy fighting with Afghan forces. Amir Gul Hussainkhil, the deputy provincial chief police, said Wednesday that Afghan security forces launched a large-scale attack on the insurgents the night before in the western part of the province, setting off five hours of intense fighting and killing Taliban shadow governor Mawlavi Lal Mohammad. Hussainkhil said the dead also included a number of expert bomb makers. He says no government forces were killed. The Taliban have not commented on the fighting. Search Keywords: Short link: Related EU demands progress on Brexit divorce before trade talks The "real political" negotiations on Britain's exit from the European Union will start after the snap British election in June, an EU spokesman said Wednesday. European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas made the remarks after saying his boss, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, spoke Tuesday to British Prime Minister Theresa May following her shock call for an early election. "The president considers that the real political negotiations on article 50 with the UK will start after the elections foreseen for the 8th of June," Schinas told a press conference in Brussels without saying whether May had made the suggestion. The British parliament is due to vote Wednesday on May's call for the election as she tries to make strong gains against the opposition before tough Brexit negotiations. Schinas said May's announcement had not postponed the negotiations as they had been scheduled to begin in June anyway. "There is no issue of timing or postponement," he said. Preben Aamann, spokesman for Donald Tusk, president of the European Council of member states, said Brussels did not expect the timeline for the Brexit negotiations to be affected by an early general election. "We expect to have the Brexit guidelines adopted by the European Council on 29 April and, following that, the Brexit negotiating directives ready on 22 May," Aamann told AFP. "This will allow the EU27 to start negotiations," he said. Tusk issued a set of draft guidelines late last month rejecting May's call for talks on the terms of the divorce bill and on a future trade deal in parallel during the two years of negotiations ahead of Britain's exit in March 2019. The remaining 27 EU countries will be asked to endorse Tusk's guidelines at a summit on April 29. Then, on May 22, member states are scheduled to formally issue detailed directives for the negotiations, clearing the way for chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier to begin formal negotiations with Britain. Search Keywords: Short link: US President Donald Trump will host Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas at the White House May 3 for talks on efforts to revive the Middle East peace process, the White House said Wednesday. "They will use the visit to reaffirm the commitment of both the United States and Palestinian leadership to pursuing and ultimately concluding a conflict-ending settlement between the Palestinians and Israel," White House press secretary Sean Spicer said. Search Keywords: Short link: Photopia will host an artist talk with Mo Al Dee, discussing his book and film project 11 KB, on 25 April. The Cairo-born artist will share his thoughts on working with different mediums, such as video, installations, performance, photography and text-based research. Al-Dee exhibited his works internationally, including notably at the BJCEM biennale in Greece in 2011 and the Istanbul Triennial in 2013. He also participated in over 30 other group exhibitions around the world including a Video Art screening At New Museum For Modern Art In New York (2008), Magmart Festival at Naples CAM Museum (2011), The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation space in Berlin (2011 ). In Cairo is work was shown in Townhouse Gallery, Artellwa, Goethe Institute, and Saad Zaghloul Cultural Center. Programme: Tuesday 25 April, 7pm Photopia, 15 Somal St., El-Korba, Heliopolis, Cairo For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture Search Keywords: Short link: KEARNEY Buffalo County Attorney Shawn Eatherton is asking the Nebraska Supreme Court to overrule a judges sexual assault sentence because Eatherton says the punishment is too lenient. In February, Taylor Welty-Hackett, 22, formerly of Gibbon, was sentenced in Buffalo County District Court by Judge Bill Wright to four years of intensive supervised probation on a conviction of attempted felony first-degree sexual assault of a then-12-year-old girl on Aug. 1, 2015, in Kearney. The charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. During the Feb. 23 sentencing hearing, Wright called Welty-Hacketts victim the aggressor in the case saying, She made the advances. Welty-Hackett pleaded no contest to the charge in November. Court records outlined the case against him: In August 2015, a Kearney Police Department officer received a report the victim had sex with Welty-Hackett. At the time, the victim was 12 years old and Welty-Hackett was 21. The victim confided with another girl about the encounter. The victim said she contacted Welty-Hackett on the social media site Facebook, and the other girl had copies of Facebook conversations between the victim and Welty-Hackett. In September 2015, police obtained four files from Facebook in which Welty-Hackett admitted to the other girl he had sex with the victim. Kearney police spoke with the victim, but she declined an interview. In May, police interviewed Welty-Hackett who initially denied knowing the victim but later remembered her. He told police she had claimed to be 22. The investigation revealed Welty-Hackett and the victim randomly met on social media and eventually met at a Kearney discount store. The two drove around Kearney and eventually had sex inside a vehicle in a parking lot. Welty-Hackett told police much of the incident happened during his drinking phase. The victim later declined an interview at the Family Advocacy Network in Kearney and didnt cooperate with law enforcement. According to the court transcript from the sentencing, Wright said although it was clear Welty-Hackett had sex with a 12 year old, there was minimal information in a state probation background check of Welty-Hackett to know what Welty-Hackett knew about the victim. Wright said from what he could tell, all contact or all initiation of contact between the two was made by the 12 year old, and that there was very little background information about what the 12 year old looked like. According to Welty-Hacketts account of what happened, the victim was interested in having sex and contacted him, even though she only knew of Welty-Hackett by reputation. She was the aggressor, she made the advances, Wright said. She actually grabbed him sexually and asked whether he was going to bring condoms. Although it didnt excuse the incident, Wright said, it reminded him of repeated incidents he has heard over the last several years of girls who have decided they want an experience and go out and force the issue with people they know are older and probably ought to know a hell of a lot better. Because the victim didnt cooperate with law enforcement, Wright said it was hard to tell if that was the issue in Welty-Hacketts case. By placing Welty-Hackett on probation, the judge said he was trying to be fair to both parties. Sentences in somewhat-similar cases have received anywhere from two-four years in prison and up to 12 years in prison, Wright said. Ive got to find some way of bringing some balance back into the system, given the nature of whats been occurring in this community. I dont know any other way to do it, other than what Ive done. And quite frankly, you are getting the benefit of it, for better or worse, Wright told Welty-Hackett. Before Wright issued his February sentence, Welty-Hacketts public defender, Thomas Stewart of Kearney, told the judge his client isnt a dangerous sex offender nor did he have a criminal record. Deputy Buffalo County Public Defender Melissa Willis disagreed with Stewart by saying Welty-Hackett is a dangerous sex offender. Although Welty-Hackett didnt make the advances, Willis said, he went along with the idea of a 12-year-old girl. Willis asked Wright to send a message to Welty-Hackett that whether someone is intoxicated by alcohol or drugs or whatever the circumstance, This was a bad decision of colossal proportions. Welty-Hackett, who now lives in Nelson, didnt speak on his own behalf. Under Welty-Hacketts probation, Wright ordered him to complete sex offender counseling, continue mental health care and cognitive group therapy, attend the 12-step recovery program at least three times per week, get a medical assessment, and follow all recommendations of sex offender and substance abuse evaluations. Welty-Hackett was given 95 days credit for time already served in jail and must complete classes in social values, self-control, relapse prevention and responsible decisions and must attend dialectical behavior therapy and a pre-treatment program. He must also complete a community-based intervention program and have no contact, including online, with females younger than 16. Wright also forbid him from visiting any pornographic web sites, and Welty-Hackett must register with the Nebraska State Patrol as a convicted sex offender. Eatherton declined to comment on the appeal, which has been forwarded to the state Court of Appeals where Wrights sentence will be reviewed. No hearing date has been scheduled on the appeal. @HubChic A robbery suspect who was shot Monday by a police officer in midtown Omaha had reached into his waistband, then raised his hand and pointed toward the officer as if he were holding a gun, the Police Department said. Dillon R. Trejo, 31, was not armed. Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said he and the Douglas County Attorneys Office had determined that the officer, Brooks Riley, acted in a reasonable manner and was justified. They said Riley reasonably believed that he was responding to deadly force. Riley, 37, is a seven-year veteran of the department. Trejo was taken in critical condition to a hospital after he was shot near 26th and Rees Streets. Police say the officer fired twice and that Trejo was struck at least once. His condition has stabilized, police said Tuesday night, and when he is discharged he will be booked. Trejos shooting brought to an end a nearly daylong ordeal involving him, which started and ended at his ex-girlfriends house. About 11 a.m., Margaret Graham reported that Trejo had taken her car, that he may be armed with a handgun and that she thought he was using drugs. She was concerned about him, she told police. About 2:40 p.m., Trejo robbed the Buckys Gas Station at 2223 S. 24th St., using a gun, police said. At 3:18 p.m., Trejo stopped at a house near 51st and Farnam Streets, where he stole a Ford F-150 pickup truck, they said. A person at the home called police. At 3:54 p.m., police received a report from someone who said he believed that Trejo had stolen his gun in the past few days. About 4 p.m., Trejos ex-girlfriend said he stopped at her home on Rees Street and threw a ball of cash at her, telling her that he loved her. Then, at 4:21 p.m., officers located the truck and began pursuing Trejo. They called in a police helicopter. It tracked Trejo as he drove around the neighborhood near 25th and Marcy Streets the area where his ex-girlfriend lives. As police closed in, he told his former girlfriend over the phone that they are going to have to kill me. ... I love you and the kids. The woman later told police that she believed Trejo was on a suicide mission. I am going to end it here, she recalled him saying. At 4:30 p.m., Riley threw a stop stick into the path of the stolen vehicle as Trejo was driving on Rees Street in front of his ex-girlfriends home. Trejo stopped the stolen F-150 in front of the stop stick, got out of the truck and ran a short distance on Rees Street. Riley ran after Trejo. After running away from the officer, police said, Trejo suddenly turned toward Riley, pulled up his T-shirt, reached into his waistband and raised his hand and arm up toward the officer as if he had a weapon in his hand. Riley fired his handgun at Trejo, hitting him at least once, police said. The short foot pursuit and the shooting were captured on Rileys body camera. The witness accounts of the officer-involved shooting were consistent with the video footage that was recorded by Rileys body worn camera, police said. One witness said he thought Trejo had a gun, another thought he didnt but was going for a weapon. The video recording showed Riley throw the stop stick onto Rees Street. Trejo stopped the F-150 before it hit the stop stick and then he ran from the pickup east on Rees Street. The video recording showed Riley running behind Trejo as Riley drew his handgun. Trejo ran about the length of four parked vehicles. As he was running, Trejo raised both hands into the air for a split second. Trejo then lowered his hands and suddenly turned toward Riley. As Trejo turned a complete 180 degrees to face Riley, he pulled up his T-shirt with his left hand, reached into his waistband with his right hand and raised his hand and arm up toward Riley as if he had a gun in his hand to shoot at Riley. While Trejo was standing in a shooting stance, Riley fired his handgun at Trejo. Trejo did not have a gun or any other item in his hand. It was less than five seconds from the time Trejo ran from the truck until Riley shot him, police said. Officers administered first aid, police said. When he is discharged from the hospital, Trejo will be booked into the Douglas County Jail on suspicion of robbery, use of a firearm to commit a felony, being a felon in possession of a firearm, possession of a stolen firearm, theft by unlawful taking (the truck), and felony operating a vehicle to avoid arrest Riley and another officer at the scene, Jason Wilhelm, were two of the officers who fired their guns in the August 2014 fatal shooting of Cops crew member Bryce Dion at the Wendys restaurant at 4308 Dodge Street. In that shooting, police interrupted the robbery of the fast food establishment by Cortez Washington, a recent parolee from Kansas City. Washington, carrying an Airsoft pellet gun which police said looked and sounded like a real firearm fired at the officers. Riley, Wilhelm and Detective Darren Cunningham returned fire, and Dion was struck by police bullets. Washington was also hit and killed. According to Nebraska law, any case in which a person is injured or killed during an arrest or while jailed will be investigated by a grand jury. World-Herald staff writers Andrew J. Nelson and Jay Withrow contributed to this report. LINCOLN A bill cutting about $150 million from state aid to schools in the next two years breezed through first-round debate Wednesday in the Nebraska Legislature. Legislative Bill 409 would make changes in the school aid formula to help the state close its budget shortfall. The measure advanced on a 38-0 vote after less than 20 minutes of debate. State Sen. Mike Groene of North Platte, the Education Committee chairman, said the revised formula would produce a state aid figure matching the budget plan advanced by the Appropriations Committee this week. The changes would slow the growth of school aid to 2.1 percent per year for the two years ending June 30, 2019. Without the changes, school aid would grow 6.9 percent in fiscal year 2017-18 and 5.3 percent the following year. Sen. John Stinner of Gering, the Appropriations Committee chairman, said the bill is essential to making the state budget balance. He noted that, even with the reduced funding, aid to K-12 education accounts for the single largest increase in the budget plan. Sen. Adam Morfeld of Lincoln, an Education Committee member, urged support for the aid changes because of the states fiscal situation. But he warned that Nebraska cannot maintain quality schools if such funding limits continue. Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Omaha, another Education Committee member, said she would support the bill but believes changes are needed in how Nebraska funds its schools. LB 409 would increase pressure on property taxpayers, as well as Nebraska school districts. Many districts can raise property taxes to make up for the loss in state aid. Others are already at the state-imposed levy lid. Sen. Rick Kolowski of Omaha said he plans to offer an amendment to LB 409 during second-round consideration to help the latter group of schools. The amendment would allow such schools to levy up to 3 cents above the lid if there is a temporary reduction in state aid. LB 409 would affect all school districts by tightening spending limits, reducing the amount districts get for taking in option enrollment students and increasing the amount districts are expected to get from property taxes. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form The 2014 film was an official selection at Cannes, and is spear-headed by Salma Hayek The animated adaptation of Kahlil Gibrans acclaimed poetry book The Prophet will be screened at Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo on 23 April. Since its publication in 1923, the collection of poetry has been translated to over 40 languages, and has never gone out of print. The film is set in a Mediterranean seaside village, as it centers on exiled artist and poet Mustafa, and his house cleaner Kamila with her free-spirited young daughter. When the three embark on a journey to Mustafas homeland, they must evade the authorities who fear that the truth in his words will incite rebellion. Spear headed by Mexican actress and director Salma Hayek, the film was an international effort involving 10 directors, nine producers, and some of the worlds top animators.. Hayek, one the directors and produers of the film who also voices the character Kamila, has Lebanese ancestry and considers the film to be a labour of love. According to an interview with AFP, Hayek described the film as a "love letter to [her] heritage," and said it was a "personal film" because her Lebanese grandfather loved The Prophet. The all-star voice cast also includes Liam Neeson, Alfred Molina and Frank Langella and Quvenzhane Wallis. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, and went on to be screened at international festivals including Toronto Film Festival, Morelia film festival, Annecy film festival, and Melbourne film festival, among others. It won the Animation Award at The WIFTS Foundation International Visionary Awards, and was nominated for 10 others. Programme: Sunday 23 April, 7.30pm Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo, 1 Dr. Mahmoud Azmi St., Zamalek, Cairo For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture Search Keywords: Short link: President Donald Trump speaks at tool manufacturer Snap-on Inc. in Kenosha, Wis., Tuesday, April 18, 2017. Trump visited the headquarters of tool manufacturer Snap-on Inc., and will later sign a an executive order that seeks to make changes to a visa program that brings in high-skilled workers. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) The aftermath of the 1917 Halifax ship explosion is shown in a file photo. Halifax is issuing a call for an extremely specific kind of centenarian - one who survived the massive blast that ripped through the city 100 years ago. In 1917, a cargo ship carrying explosives collided with another vessel in Halifax Harbour, sparking a catastrophic explosion that killed about 2,000 people and levelled much of the city. THE CANADIAN PRESS/National Archives of Canada FILE - In this Nov. 22, 2013 file photo, former state chemist Annie Dookhan sits in Suffolk Superior Court in Boston. Dookhan pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence and falsifying thousands of tests in criminal drug cases, calling into question evidence used to prosecute the defendants. The state's highest court ordered the district attorneys in Massachusetts to produce lists by Tuesday, April 18, 2017, indicating how many of the approximately 24,000 tainted cases they would not or could not prosecute if new trials were ordered. (David L Ryan/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool, File) FILE- In this April 12, 2017, file photo, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks to the media during a shared press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov following their talks in Moscow, Russia. In a letter sent late Tuesday, April 18, to House Speaker Paul Ryan, Tillerson said the administration has undertaken a full review of the agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. "Iran remains a leading state sponsor of terror, through many platforms and methods," Tillerson wrote. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev, File) An Ugandan pastor has set his path of pissing of Christians all over the world after he burnt thousands of bible in a burning fire. Reports we gathered reveals that the pastor, who is the Head pastor of House of Prayer Ministries, Kampala, Uganda ordered his members of his congregation to gather hundreds of Bible together. The pastor, who was identified as Aloysius Bugingo set the Holy Book on fire. Narration his reasons for his actions, Bugingo says that various versions of the Bible has have been heavily edited, and were misleading his congregation. His actions have been heavily condemned by Christians around.. Some say hed be visited by the unraveling wrath from God. Bugingos church is attended mostly by Makerere University students in Uganda and the congregation boasts of a total number of about 6,000 people. Apart from burning the King James Version, the pastor who also owns Salt FM and TV station, set other versions including the New Testament and the Good News Bible on fire, after claiming to have omitted some verses. Some of the lines that have been tampered with in the translations according to Pastor Bugingo, are those which talk about fasting and the Lent period. He also claimed the King James Bible version contained the word Holy Ghost more times than it did the word Holy Spirit. The importance of voting cannot be understated On Tuesday, Nov. 8, voters will head to the polls to choose who will serve as governor, lieutenant governor, state comptroller, attorney general, state Assembly... Spindle Items ..CRASH DETECTION The much-touted crash detection feature of the new iPhone 14 automatically dials 911 if it calculates that the vehicle has been in... Out of the Past 25 Years AgoNov. 5, 1997 The Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda Board of Education began the planning stages of hiring a new superintendent Monday. Dr. Donald Ogilvie... Community engagement through ThoughtExchange The Sweet Home Central School District is in the early stages of building and implementing a new strategic plan designed to ensure relevancy in our... An Egyptian archaeological mission in Luxor has announced the discovery of a major tomb in the city's west bank area dating back to the 18th Dynasty and containing priceless artefacts. Mostafa Waziry, Director General of Luxor Antiquities, told reporters on Tuesday that the tomb, which was unearthed in the Deraa Abu El-Nagaa necropolis, most likely belonged to the city's counsullor Usrhat. The New Kingdom funerary collection includes dozens of statues, coffins and mummies. Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany told Ahram Online that, despite the tomb's small size, it represents an important discovery due to the funery collection being largely intact. Waziry, who heads the Luxor achaeological mission, told Ahram Online that the tomb was first mentioned in the early 20th century but it had never been excavated before because its entrance was only located in March. He said that, despite having been reused in the Late Period, the tomb still contains most of its original funery collection. The contents include well-preserved wooden coffins decorated with coloured scenes, as well as wooden funerary masks and almost 1,000 ushabti figurines carved in faience, terra-cotta and wood. Also found was a collection of clay pots of different shapes and sizes. The tomb is a typical example of a nobleman's resting place, Waziry said, with a t-shaped structure consisting of an open court leading into a rectangular hall, a corridor and an inner chamber. Excavations continue to reveal the tomb's secrets, with an inner chamber containing a cachette of sarcophagi from the 21st Dynasty with mummies wrapped in linen. Experts are examining the mummies to discover the identities of the dead and the reasons for their deaths. A nine-metre-deep shaft was also uncovered, connected to two rooms. Search Keywords: Short link: Senate Democrats have released a report estimating the cost of President Donald Trump's proposed border wall. The report says the wall may cost up to $70 billion, and Congressman Henry Cuellar has issued a response. In this response, he says there is little evidence the proposed wall will actually improve security. He claims it is a 14th century solution to a 21st century problem - at prices he says are unacceptable. Some of the main points of the assessment state that it does not include the maintenance costs of border barrier, which may total to nearly $150 million per year. It also states that litigation to acquire the land to build the wall may last a decade or longer and an estimate cannot be provided. Another main point is that when the U.S. Government has been forced to go to court, the costs of land acquisition can be much higher. It also states the project would cost $36.6 million per mile, which all amounts to a total cost to every American man, woman and child to $200. Cuellar says all that money can be used in other ways to secure the border. After looking over the report, Cuellar adds he will fight the idea and believes republicans will also fight it. Cuelllar says the discussion will continue as Congress comes back from recess on Monday. Key findings from the report include: There is no reliable estimate of the cost of construction of the full border wall, but extrapolated estimates place the construction cost of the wall and associated technology and infrastructure at nearly $70 billion. That amounts to a total cost to every American man, woman, and child of over $200. A costbenefit analysis of the project is not complete. The projected cost of construction for every mile is rapidly increasing to as much as $36.6 million per mile. This does not include the costs of acquiring the land on which the wall will be built. It also does not include the maintenance costs of border barrier, which may total nearly $150 million per year. The Department cannot provide a cost estimate of the anticipated land acquisition to the Committee. In the past, the U.S. government spent at least $78 million to acquire land where fencing is currently in place. When the U.S. government has been forced to go to court, the costs of land acquisition can be much higher; in past land condemnation cases involving border fencing, the government spent more than $11 million on acquiring 271 acres of land from private landowners, an average price of $42,600 per acre. In one case in Cameron County, Texas, a landowner was initially offered $233,000 for 3.1 acres. After a three-year legal battle, the government eventually paid at least $4.7 million, a nearly 2,000 percent increase over the initial offer. Litigation to acquire the land to build the wall may last a decade or longer. Of the more than 300 condemnation cases related to past border fencing efforts filed before a district judge in Texas, the vast majority of which were filed in 2008, over 90 condemnation cases remain unresolved and fence has not been built in those locations. Concrete prototypes of the wall will be paid for by slashing the budget for mobile video surveillance. Laredoans had the opportunity to meet U.S. Congressman Beto O'Rourke. O'Rourke visited with members of the Webb County Democratic Party at the Amerik Suites. This is O'Rourke's second visit to the gateway city. Just last month, the U.S. representative officially announced his bid for the U.S. Senate seat. During Wednesday's stop, O'Rourke spoke about jobs, NAFTA, and diversity. No democrat has won the U.S. Senate Seat in nearly 30 years. O'Rourke says he plans on visiting as many counties in Texas to rally up votes. A driver attempted to flee the scene of an accident but instead ended up in another accident, where his vehicle rolled over. Police say Nicolas Russel was involved in an accident on the corner of McPherson and International, but instead of pulling over he allegedly fled the scene. Police chased the man down several blocks on International, where the man eventually rolled over on the intersection of Michigan. Russel was arrested and taken to the Webb County Jail. No serious injuries were reported. The first in a series of articles written back in 2005 on Kilkenny's unsolved murders played a crucial role in bringing convicted murderer, John Joe Malone to justice. After a piece on the death of Nancy Smyth appeared in the Kilkenny People at that time, a witness came forward. Her word alone would not have been enough to charge anyone and so the case remained unsolved for a number of years until a strategic review of Nancy Smyth's killing. One of the recommendations from that was that the case should be highlighted on Crimeline. When the programme was broadcast around 2009, the fact that a witness had come forward, prompted four other people to give statements collaborating the story of the first witness. A Cold Case appeal on RTE in 2011 after another appeal appeared on the front page of the Kilkenny People, was another huge contributing factor to the success of the gardai in bringing John Joe Malone to justice. Interestingly, none of the five witnesses in the case were aware of the other's existence beforehand. Their evidence was crucial in having John Joe Malone found guilty by unanimous verdict of the murder of the fragile old age pensioner back in 1987. One of the revelations to come out of the trial was the fact that John Joe Malone, while out on bail, attempted to intimidate a witness, the very woman who started the ball rolling in 2005 when she walked into the Kilkenny People office after reading the piece on Nancy Smyth and said she had information on the case. She was immediately directed to Kilkenny garda station where she was treated with care and sensitivity. She ultimately was responsible for putting John Joe Malone behind bars. In a hearing at the murder trial, without the jury present, there was evidence of what John Joe Malone did in Kilkenny City on return from a day in court in Dublin. Again it was the actions of two civic-minded women who brought John Joe Malone's actions to the attention of the gardai. The trial judge revoked John Joe Malone's bail. He has started a life sentence and it appears the motive for the crime was pigeons. John Joe Malone had bought racing pigeons off Nancy Smith's late husband and at least one kept returning to Nancy's house in Wolfe Tone Street and not to where John Joe Malone had been living and that vexed John Joe Malone and led him to choke Nancy to death. An exciting new programme of events will be launched at the Castlecomer Discovery Park later this month. The non-for-profit social enterprise is a great success story to date and there are plans in place to ensure that it becomes Ireland's premier outdoor adventure and activity centre and an integral part of Failte Ireland's Ancient East. The Castlecomer Discovery Park is run by a voluntary board, which includes members from a cross section of the local community and employs between 35 to 40 people during the peak season. Strategic Business Development Manager, Kathy Purcell has recently taken up her new post and is enthusiastic about ensuring that the Park builds on its existing successes. The idea for the Discovery Park started with the desire to recognise the closure of the coal mines. The mining museum was developed and we have gone from strength to strength. The whole idea was to regenerate the town, develop tourism and to create jobs. The outdoor activity centre has developed since, she said. There are plenty of exciting new activities and events planned for the rest of the year which will be unveiled over the coming weeks including the development of a 52-acre area where there was previously open cast mining. It is also hoped to host the longest adventure race in Ireland at the Park later this year. Ms Purcell is passionate in her new role and is driven to continue the success of the Discovery Park. The Kilkenny native has a background in marketing and previously worked as Commercial Development Funding Manager at The Helix in Dublin and as General Manager at Ayrfield House. More recently she has also worked with Kells Wholemeal and Ormonde Machinery having relocated from Dublin to the Marble City a number of years ago. For more on Castlecomer Discovery Park see page 24. HONG KONG, April 19 (IFR) - Asian credit markets continued on a cautious note on Wednesday as geopolitical concerns weighed on sentiment with Chinese names trading generally wider. "Investment-grade China credits widened today with AMCs (asset-management companies), such as Huarong, losing the most ground," said a Hong Kong-based credit trader, citing potential heavy supply from mainland issuers, as well as growing concerns over financial risks in the country, as factors. China's stock indices fell today for the fourth straight session with the Shanghai Composite down 0.8% amid worries that tighter regulations against speculation and shadow banking would hurt the country's credit-fuelled recovery. The Asia ex-Japan iTraxx IG index was 0.12bp tighter at 102bp/103bp. China Huarong's existing 2026s were quoted 7bp wider than yesterday's closing price, while State Grid's 2026s were bid 2bp wider. Both are meeting investors this week to discuss new issuance. Korean names were also under pressure with Korea Resources' new 2022s seen bid 4bp wider than its reoffer price. In the high-yield segment, China Hongqiao's 2017s were bid at 97.345 in cash price, little changed from yesterday's closing, but off last Thursday's 98. China Hongqiao's notes "have recovered a few points after the company 'appealed' to the authorities for help, but may be under pressure again after the resignation of Weiqiao Textile's auditor", Lucror Analytics said in a note. Yesterday, Weiqiao Textile, sister company of China Hongqiao, announced the resignation of its auditor, E&Y, as the company refused to engage an independent third party to investigate the audit findings that were raised in March. (Reporting by Ina Zhou; editing by Dharsan Singh) Keywords: MARKETS ASIA DEBT/ BEIJING, April 19 (Reuters) - China is set to allow some mid-sized banks to issue asset-backed securities (ABS) with bad loans as underlying assets this year, providing them with a new channel to offload troubled debt, the official Shanghai Securities News reported on Wednesday. The banks will include China Minsheng Banking Corp , China Everbright Bank , China CITIC Bank Corp , Industrial Bank and Bank of Beijing , the newspaper reported, without providing its source of information. Chinese banks are under pressure to accelerate write-offs and disposals of more sour loans as the government looks to contain risks in the financial system after years of debt-fuelled stimulus. Total commercial bank non-performing loans (NPLs) amounted to 1.51 trillion yuan ($219.49 billion) by the end of last year, accounting for 1.74 percent of total lending, official data showed, though many analysts believe the actual figure is much higher. Beijing first launched a trial programme early last year, granting six large state-owned lenders quotas to issue a maximum of 50 billion yuan worth of NPL ABS. The six banks, which included Industrial and Commercial Bank of China , China Construction Bank , Agricultural Bank of China and China Merchants Bank , issued 14 NPL ABS last year, raising 15.61 billion yuan in total, according to the state media report. The size of the programme will remain the same as 50 billion yuan after the inclusion of more lenders this year, the newspaper reported. ($1 = 6.8826 Chinese yuan renminbi) Keywords: CHINA BANKS/ABS ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y., April 19 (Reuters) - A Federal Reserve official said on Wednesday he would back beginning the process of shedding bond holdings immediately, which is earlier than most U.S. central bankers predict. "I would actually start the roll-off now," Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren said, adding that ideally the central bank does not need to actively manipulate the market yield curve. (Reporting by Jonathan Spicer; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli) Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication. * Saudi cement sector under pressure from weak Q1, poor outlook * Mid-sized banks buoyed by Q1 results * Dubai's Arabtec soars on shareholder approval of capital plans * Blue chips support Abu Dhabi * Qatar underperforms; all blue chips have paid 2016 dividend * Egypt index falls on profit-taking By Celine Aswad DUBAI, April 19 (Reuters) - Construction-related shares underperformed Riyadh's stock market on Wednesday because of poor first-quarter earnings, though troubled Dubai builder Arabtec jumped after shareholders approved a capital restructuring plan. Riyadh-listed Arabian Cement slid by 5 percent after reporting net profit for the three months to March 31 down 55 percent year on year, citing lower sales volumes and prices. Other cement companies have also reported double-digit declines in quarterly earnings, with analysts saying the sector's outlook does not look promising. Government sources told Reuters this weak that the government is embarking on a review of unfinished projects to shelve some of them indefinitely as a cost-saving measure. "The negative news flow on projects coming under review, and some being shelved, brings worries ... In our view, cement demand could plunge in a range of 20-25 percent and steel demand in excess of 15 percent," said Riyad Capital equities analyst Santhosh Balakrishnan. Banking shares were buoyant, however, helping the main stock index into positive territory, up 0.1 percent. Arab National Bank gained 1.3 percent after posting quarterly net profit up 2.5 percent year on year at 768 million riyals ($205 million), against NCB Capital's forecast of 631 million riyals. Saudi Investment Bank rose 2.4 percent after reporting a 64 percent jump in quarterly profit, citing an increase in special commissions and fees from banking services. Most Saudi banks have now reported earnings that were mostly flat or lower, with the exception of the two largest lenders, Al Rajhi and National Commercial Bank . Most results have come in ahead of analysts' expectations. The Dubai index extended Tuesday's 0.9 percent gain by adding 0.3 percent. Arabtec surged by nearly 11 percent in its heaviest trade for two months on news that shareholders had approved its 1.5 billion dirham ($409 million) new share issue and a plan to use existing capital to wipe out accumulated losses. Emaar Properties continued to be bid up, adding 1.3 percent after a gain of 3.3 percent on Tuesday. The stock has been strong since the company's annual general meeting on Monday. Blue-chip stocks helped to carry Abu Dhabi's index 0.8 percent higher. Abu Dhabi Bank , the largest lender in the emirate, and Aldar Properties each added 0.9 percent. Union National Bank jumped by 6.6 percent, having last week reported a small increase in net profit attributable to owners, at the higher end of analysts' estimates. The Qatar index dropped 0.4 percent in a broad-based decline, with Qatar Electricity and Water the worst performer, losing 1.3 percent. All 20 of the most valuable companies in Doha have now paid out their 2016 dividends, temporarily reducing the market's attraction for some investors. In Egypt, the blue-chip index lost 1 percent on profit-taking. Real estate developer Palm Hills Development fell 1.3 percent despite recording net new sales of 3.1 billion Egyptian pounds ($172 million) in the first quarter, up 58 percent year on year. Analysts at Pharos Research said this was the highest quarterly sales figure in the company's history. Palm Hills also said it had raised its 2017 sales target to 9.5 billion pounds from 8.5 billion pounds. WEDNESDAY'S HIGHLIGHTS SAUDI ARABIA * The index edged up 0.1 percent to 6,948 points. DUBAI * The index rose 0.3 percent to 3,506 points. ABU DHABI * The index was up 0.8 percent at 4,532 points. QATAR * The index fell 0.4 percent to 10,296 points. EGYPT * The index lost 1 percent to 12,895 points. KUWAIT * The index dropped 1.4 percent to 6,788 points. OMAN * The index slipped by 0.3 percent to 5,511 points. BAHRAIN * The index was up 0.1 percent at 1,340 points. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ OPEC in first joint oil cut with Russia since 2001, Saudis take "big hit" ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Editing by Andrew Torchia and David Goodman) HANOI, April 19 (Reuters) - Here's a snapshot of Vietnamese dong exchange rates in the official and unofficial markets, indicative SJC gold prices in Hanoi and interbank offered rates at 0402 GMT. April 19 USD/VND mid-point 22,322 USD/VND interbank 22,734/22,744 USD/VND unofficial 22,730/22,750 SJC gold (mln dong/tael) 36.65/36.90 Interbank offered rates Overnight 4.5-4.9 1 week 4.7-4.9 1 month 4.8-5.1 3 months 4.8-5.3 NOTES: As of Jan. 4, 2016, the State Bank of Vietnam has begun setting the mid-point rate on daily basis, allowing dollar/dong transactions to move in a band of +/- 3 percent around the mid point. The dong's exchange rate against other currencies is not restricted by a band. Interbank offered rates are the latest indicative bid/ask prices, quoted from market sources. One tael is equivalent to 37.5 grams or 1.21 troy ounces. SJC gold prices are quoted by state-owned Saigon Jewelry Co. For more interbank rate fixings released at 0400 GMT, click on . For Vietnam market overview click on: Vietnam's bonds market auctions: Bonds auction results: (Compiled by Hanoi Newsroom; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips) (Adds details on iron ore volumes, information on ships waiting to load) By Alberto Alerigi and Gustavo Bonato SAO PAULO, April 19 (Reuters) - The loading of iron ore at Brazil's Itaguai terminal operated by mining and steel firm Companhia Siderurgica Nacional has been halted since Saturday due to an accident, sources and the Itaguai Port Authority told Reuters on Wednesday. Four to five Capesize bulk carriers that were waiting to load iron ore at the terminal are being put back into the charter market, said a German shipping source, due to the impossibility to load the product in Brazil. CSN confirmed the accident but had no immediate information regarding Itaguai operations. CSN, through its subsidiary CSN Mineracao, is Brazil's second largest iron ore exporter after Vale SA and it produced 27.9 million tonnes of ore in 2015. The numbers for 2016 have not been released. CSN did not give details of the accident or how it shut down loading operations but a company spokesman said two workers were hurt, although not seriously. He was not able to say when the terminal would resume operations. The Itaguai terminal, located near Rio de Janeiro, has a capacity to ship up to 42 million tonnes of iron ore per year. Data from Thomson Reuters shows there is a ship from Tata Steel waiting to finish loading in the terminal with a destination of the United Kingdom. Another ship from JFE Steel is waiting since Thursday to berth in the terminal and load ore destined for Japan. (Additional reporting by Michael Hogan in Hamburg; Writing by Marcelo Teixeira; Editing by Bill Trott) (Adds CEO quote, details on strategy) By Trevor Hunnicutt NEW YORK, April 19 (Reuters) - BlackRock Inc , the world's biggest asset manager, on Wednesday reported double-digit profit gains but missed revenue forecasts, results that underscore pressure on the fund industry as investors plow money into lower-cost index funds. Investors poured $82.2 billion into index funds and iShares exchange-traded funds during the first quarter that ended March 31, while its pricier active funds posted $1.8 billion in withdrawals. Total assets under management grew to $5.4 trillion. "Stepping back, the quarter likely has mixed implications for both and the industry at large," Citigroup analyst William Katz said in a note. Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink told Reuters in a telephone interview that he is considering three or four small acquisition transactions that would be focused on shoring up the company's technology and its investment expertise in different assets and within new geographic regions. "I believe you're going to see a consolidation in our industry." BlackRock shares were down in early trading, about 1.3 percent. Financial markets traded vibrantly last quarter as a new U.S. president and congress took office, and investors tried to size up whether they would pass tax and other reforms that could give new life to an aging bull market in U.S. stocks. Investors increasingly are choosing to make those bets - whether optimistic or pessimistic - using ETFs that track indexes at a relatively low cost. Very few companies in the industry have been able to build a successful index fund franchise, and the flight of customers to lower-cost products has consequently squeezed margins. BlackRock, which bought iShares from Barclays PLC in 2009, is an exception. Wall Street has rewarded it with price-to-earnings ratio of 20.1, compared to 16.8 for a grouping of the company's rivals measured by Thomson Reuters . BlackRock's net income rose to $862 million, or $5.23 per share, in the first quarter, from $657 million, or $3.92 per share, a year earlier. Excluding items, the company earned $5.25 per share. That beat the $4.89 forecast of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters and was helped by a lower tax rate. Revenues of $2.8 billion missed forecasts by nearly 2 percent. While assets grew 22.2 percent over the year prior, fees for managing those assets and lending out the securities grew by a smaller 12.1 percent. PASSIVE Last quarter, iShares and index funds brought in all of the net money that went into the BlackRock's "long-term" products, a grouping that excludes funds where investors park cash. BlackRock has been pushing investors to use ETFs more often and in new ways. ETFs were initially seen as devices used to track stock indexes. But BlackRock has aggressively marketed fixed-income ETFs to institutions that normally use bonds. That approach paid off. U.S.-based bond ETFs attracted record cash last quarter, according to researcher Morningstar Inc, and iShares took in $4 in $10 of that money. BlackRock also created a low-cost lineup of 25 "Core" ETFs for everyday investors to use to build a basic portfolio. The funds compete on price with BlackRock's most aggressive price-slashing rivals, Vanguard Group and Charles Schwab Corp . Those 25 Core ETFs accounted for 54 percent of iShares inflows last quarter. Yet success in that category has come at the cost of lowering fees, which BlackRock last did for Core in October. And in a sign of how high the bar is for growth in the ETF business, iShares' share of U.S. assets in that business is under 39 percent, down from a peak under BlackRock ownership of 47 percent. ACTIVE Last month, BlackRock said it would cut jobs and fees while relying more on computers to assemble its investment portfolios, a flurry of changes meant to jumpstart its lagging stockpicking franchise. The changes affect 11 percent of its $275 billion active stock fund business. By BlackRock's own figures, 51 percent of assets in its traditionalist "Fundamental" active stock funds are lagging their benchmark over five years. That compares to 90 percent for BlackRock's data-driven "Scientific" funds and 88 percent for its taxable bond funds. It remains to be seen what effect the new changes will have. All else equal, cutting fees boosts performance. But transferring management of some traditionalist funds to Scientific teams comes with its own risks, including scaring away existing investors, and creating a new reliance on computer models that may not deliver in increasingly competitive markets. "They can't do anything about the environment for active management," said Tom Brakke, who consults asset managers. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ BlackRock's growth paradox [ ] ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Additional reporting by Diptendu Lahiri in Bengaluru, Simon Jessop and Maiya Keidan in London; Editing by Jennifer Ablan, Bernard Orr) (Adds share performance, Caixa statement) SAO PAULO, April 19 (Reuters) - Brazil's federal police said they had conducted raids on Wednesday as part of an investigation into the purchase of Banco Panamericano SA shares by Caixa Participacoes SA, parent company of national savings bank Caixa Economica Federal . The investigation is to determine whether Caixa Economica Federal managers committed a fraud that might have caused bank clients to lose money, police said in a statement. Caixa Economica Federal said in a statement it is cooperating with the investigation, which is the latest scandal rocking Brazil's political and business establishment. The federal court that authorized the raids also froze 1.5 billion reais ($483 million) of assets belonging to the targets of the probe, the police said, adding that 200 officers were serving 46 search warrants in various states. Banco Pan , as Banco Panamericano is now called, confirmed in a statement that its headquarters were raided in connection with the probe into the purchase of its shares by Caixa Participacoes in 2009. Banco Pan said it was cooperating with the authorities and that the investigation did not involve its current managers and operations. Preferred shares of Banco Pan fell as much as 7 percent in early trading to the lowest since early February before paring back losses to around 4.5 percent. An index tracking financial companies listed on the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange rose 0.3 percent. Without naming any of the targets of the investigation, police said they identified civil servants, consulting firms and businessmen involved in the scheme. The unnamed people were responsible for signing contracts and expert opinions that resulted in the acquisition of Banco Panamericano shares by Caixa Participacoes. Subsequently, Caixa Participacoes sold a significant number of shares of Banco Panamericano to Banco BTG Pactual SA , the police statement said. Police said 30 of the search warrants were carried out in Sao Paulo, six in Rio de Janeiro and six in the federal capital of Brasilia. They also conducted raids in Belo Horizonte, Recife and Londrina. In 2011, Banco BTG Pactual acquired a 37.6 percent stake in Banco Panamericano for 450 million reais, marking its debut in retail banking. Banco BTG Pactual did not have an immediate comment. ($1 = 3.1070 reais) (Reporting by Pedro Fonseca; Writing by Ana Mano; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Bernard Orr) Don Brash writes: But Mr Gould went further than Mr Robertson to praise Sonny Bill Williams highly negative attitude to banks in general. He said banks like to pretend they provide a useful service to the community by channelling resources from those who have no immediate need for them (savers) to those who do need them (borrowers), charging a modest spread for rendering that service. But, said Mr Gould, this benign view of [bank] operations is inaccurate and misleading. The banks do not lend you mortgage money deposited with them by someone else. They lend you money they themselves create out of nothing through the stroke of a pen or, today, a computer entry. The banks make their money, in other words, by charging interest on money that they themselves create. He then goes on to blame this money creation for the housing affordability crisis which Auckland now finds itself in, and to attack the Government for washing its hands of this aspect of the housing crisis. Mr Gould is not alone in peddling this nonsense, but that certainly doesnt make it correct. The banking system does create money. When Bank A lends money to one of its customers, the customer may use those funds to buy something from somebody who banks with Bank B. Bank B then finds itself with an additional deposit, a part of which it can lend out to its customers (keeping some of the additional deposit as a liquidity reserve). So an initial loan may end up considerably increasing the total lending by the banking system. But from the point of view of each individual bank, it can only lend out a part of the money which its customers deposit with it, or money which it borrows from other sources, possibly overseas. If individual banks really could create money by the stroke of a pen or a computer entry, as Mr Gould contends, why do they bother paying interest on deposits, why do they borrow funds from parent banks overseas, why do they borrow funds in the international market, why do they need to hold some funds in government securities as a liquidity reserve, why do some banks occasionally run out of money when customers lose confidence in them? As well as being a former Governor of the Reserve Bank, I now chair the small New Zealand subsidiary of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the largest bank in the world. It would certainly make life very much easier if we could, by the stroke of a pen or a computer entry, simply create the money which we lend out to New Zealand borrowers. Unfortunately, we cant. A chef cooks before reporters and spectators at a booth set up by the Korean Food Foundation during the 2017 Madrid Fusion Food Festival in Spain, Jan. 24. The foundation, affiliated with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, took part in the global food fair to showcase a variety of Korean dishes using fermented soybean paste and other homegrown ingredients. / Courtesy of Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs By Lee Hyo-sik Korea's efforts to make Korean food a favorite of diners across the world is proceeding as planned, as more and more people from other countries became fans of kimchi, bulgogi and other local dishes. The government has spent tens of millions of dollars over the years to promote Korean food, branded as "hansik," by paying TV broadcasters in Europe and the United States to air documentaries about various Korean dishes to increase awareness among Westerners. Newspapers and magazines also regularly carry stories about what Koreans eat. Various state agencies have been offering cooking classes at overseas cultural centers, increasing the popularity of the nation's food among people from all over the world. They also provided assistance to restaurants with Korean cuisine on their menus through financial and other support to help them develop dishes and upgrade services, and consequently attract more diners. In addition, "hallyu," the Korean cultural wave, and a surge in foreign visitors to Korea have helped promote Korean food. The globalization effort began in 2009 under the former Lee Myung-bak administration as a project of first lady Kim Yoon-ok, but lost steam under former President Park Geun-hye. But the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and other state agencies are determined to reignite the globalization campaign to help improve Korea's brand image abroad and bolster outbound shipments of domestic agricultural and fisheries products. "After mobilizing all possible resources to promote Korean food over the years, we have achieved tangible results that more people from other nations are becoming aware and fond of local dishes," said Lee Chang-il, deputy director of the agriculture ministry's food industry promotion division. According to a recent ministry survey, about 64.3 percent of New Yorkers were aware of Korean food in 2016, up from 24.2 percent in 2011. Besides Korean restaurants abroad, such as Danji in New York, a growing number of local restaurant franchises have made inroads into foreign markets in recent years, riding on the increasing popularity of Korean food. A total of 73 franchises operated 732 restaurants overseas in 2016, up from 234 restaurants by 41 chains in 2012, the ministry said. For instance, CJ Foodville, one of the country's largest food companies, has been opening restaurants in the U.S., China and Singapore. One of the firm's brands, Bibigo, serves bibimbap, or rice with a mixture of vegetables and meat, and bulgogi, or sliced and seasoned barbecued beef, among others. In addition, a growing number of Korean restaurants awarded with Michelin stars have helped improve Korea's image among foreign diners. So far, a total of 14 restaurants here, such as Gaon and La Yeon serving a variety of Korean dishes, have been awarded with the stars. Agriculture Vice Minister Lee Jun-won, right, holds a bottle of Irish wine with Paschal Donohoe, Ireland's minister for public expenditure and reform, during the Ireland-Korea Cuisine and Cultural Exchange at the Korean Food Cultural Center in Seoul, March 14. The event was organized by the agriculture ministry and the Korean Food Foundation to promote cuisine from both countries. / Courtesy of Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs To further promote Korean food, the government set up the Korean Cuisine Cultural Center in Seoul last year and similar facilities abroad where foreigners can sample Korean dishes and learn how to cook them. In 2016, a pan-government taskforce was also formed to have Korean food designated on UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage list, as well as introducing universal recipes for bulgogi and other widely known dishes so foreign chiefs and consumers can more easily prepare Korean food. The agriculture ministry and other state bodies held or took part in a dozen food fairs and other events abroad, and had broadcasters in Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore and elsewhere air a documentary series featuring kimchi and other Korean dishes in the context of the nation's culture and nature. "There is no question that it is a time-consuming process to make Korean food one of the favorites among international diners. So Korea should give its campaign to globalize its food more time to succeed," the deputy director said. "Nonetheless, the government will not remain complacent with what it has achieved so far. We will continue to engage in a wide array of activities aimed at globalizing Korean food." From now on, the agriculture ministry will play a largely supporting role in the hansik globalization campaign, Lee said, adding that it will not tell private entities what to do. "The government will do what the private sector cannot do and encourage market players to get things done on their own," he said. "Korea needs to make concerted efforts to promote its cuisine abroad. The government will create an environment where all related organizations can better coordinate their efforts." This article is sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. By Lee Hyo-sik Gold has become an attractive investment product again amid the increasing geopolitical risks on the Korean Peninsula, fueled by North Korea's possible nuclear test, according to the Korea Exchange (KRX) Sunday. In particular, gold bars weighing only 10 or 100 grams have been selling like hot cakes in recent weeks as they are easy to carry in an emergency. In addition to the heightening military tension between the United States and North Korea, the Syrian conflict and other geopolitical uncertainties have caused a surge in the value of the precious metal. The local bourse operator said about 400 mini-gold bars were sold daily this month, up sharply from a daily average of 100 in March. Normally, 1-kilogram gold bars account for the majority of the sales but the ones weighing less than one kilogram have gained popularity among investors because they are easy to carry in the case of an emergency, it said. Last Friday, the one kilogram gold bar was sold for 54 million won ($47,370), while buyers paid 5.4 million won for the 100 gram bar and 550,000 won for 10 gram bar. "An increasing number of wealthy investors in their 50s and 60s, seeking safer assets, have bought mini gold bars over the past two weeks, expressing concerns over growing possibility that the United States could attack the North over the latter's missile and nuclear tests," a KRX official said. "In addition to mini gold bars, the sales of 1 kilogram bars have jumped sharply." Propelled by soaring demand, the price of gold has been heading north, according to the KRX, which said 3.75 grams of gold was sold for 223,000 won last Friday, the highest since last August. The value of gold has been jumping elsewhere, particularly, since April 7 when the United States fired missiles at a Syrian airfield suspected of carrying out a chemical weapons attack on civilians. "If the status quo remains unchanged, the demand for gold bars will continue to rise. So will their prices," the official said. SoftBank Chairman Masayoshi Son delivers a keynote speech at a press event in this file photo. Son believes the singularity will be coming soon in which the intelligence of robots overtakes that of people, triggering runaway technological growth. / Yonhap By Park Hyong-ki Sean Lee Humanity's future with robots is often portrayed and projected as the apocalyptic end of humankind. In science fiction movies and novels such as "The Matrix" and "Robopocalypse," super-intelligent computers or artificial intelligence (AI) become rulers of the earth, and humans become enslaved by them. Even in reality, many scholars and experts predict some sort of doomsday amid the rise of the machine. Forecasts include the loss of human jobs and people's expertise in certain areas such as finance and middle management soon becoming irrelevant. Calls to adopt measures or rules such as scientist Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics or robot taxes are growing to safeguard the future of the human race. However, optimists say robots will further enhance human lives. Robotic technology can help the development of medicines that can ease pain and even cheat death, or help people become superhuman. Whatever the future of humankind holds with robots, SoftBank Group Chairman Masayoshi Son believes the age of robots is at hand. Like the internet and other innovative technologies before it, AI can also improve lives, which is in line with SoftBank's vision bringing happiness to people through innovation in information, communication and technology (ICT). Sean Lee, a partner and managing director of SoftBank Ventures Korea, said AI is keeping Chairman Son up at nights, imagining and drawing the future in his head about the age of the "singularity" the pivotal point when the intelligence of robots will exceed that of humans. The chairman, known as Son Jeong-ui here, believes it will begin in 2018, and by 2041, one processor will be able to exceed the intelligence of all humankind. "SoftBank is looking mainly at two things for the future AI and the internet of things (IoT). We all know AI led the chairman to postpone his retirement," Lee said in a recent interview at his office in Gangnam, southern Seoul. "The acquisitions of ARM Holdings, a chip design company, and a telecom company, Sprint, are all part of Son's preparations for the singularity." SoftBank Ventures Korea, a venture capital fund of the Japan-based telecommunication group, is also seeking investment opportunities in the startup world, aligned with Son's vision, Lee said. Eyeing AI, media When the internet was introduced in the market and became mainstream, SoftBank Ventures sought out startups that had the potential to win by both using and benefiting from the technology. Then, it invested in Nexon, which became the country's biggest online gaming firm. With the introduction of smartphones and mobile technology, the venture capital fund also used the same strategy as before and invested in startups such as SundayToz and Devsisters. The former is known for its successful puzzle game "Anipang," and the latter created the hit game "Cookie Run." "We are seeking startups that can use the potential of AI and come out as a winner. There are some things traditional players can do, and there are some areas within AI where startups can excel. We are trying to find those startups," Lee said. Last year, SoftBank Ventures Korea and Naver, the country's largest search engine, set up a fund to invest in startups in AI and media in the United States. "The U.S. currently has the world's most aggressive AI developers. It is kind of scary to see how fast AI is growing there. Naver sees itself as a small company in AI when compared to U.S. tech companies," he said. He added that the two are also interested in new media in the U.S. for investment. "Along with AI, we are looking to invest in media startups like Snapchat and Line. In the new age, we can no longer see one technology alone. We should see its potential to converge with other technology. AI can be converged with media, and vice versa," Lee said. In Korea, SoftBank Ventures has separate funds that not only seek to invest in AI startups but also those in other ICT areas. Unlike other in-house corporate venture funds such as those of Samsung Electronics, Intel and Qualcomm, SoftBank makes investments with partners including the National Pension Service, KB Insurance and Nexon, which provided capital to SoftBank's venture capital funds. "But lately, we have become more worried about the future because IoT will make national borders meaningless. Can Korean startups survive the competition in a borderless world? We need to begin seeing this world differently," Lee said. New world AI, IoT and other innovative technologies will further connect the world and make borders obsolete. The days are gone when Korean companies felt safe and gained an edge here without having to worry about competing with foreign players. "But things are different. Look at Google, YouTube, Facebook. Google is No.1 everywhere except in four countries Korea, Japan, China and Russia. In Japan, Google is rapidly catching up with Yahoo," Lee said. "Startups and entrepreneurs have to think differently and create services that can appeal globally through risk-taking and innovation. Otherwise, their future looks dim with a lot less chance of becoming a unicorn." In Korea, startups that had the potential to become a unicorn, or a company valued at billions of dollars, consisted of team members in their mid-30s. Those who had some experience in managing people and decision-making had a higher chance of running a successful startup here. Lee said startups need tenacity to change fast in accordance with consumers' needs everywhere in the world, not just in their homeland. "The risk-taking culture has to change as well. I think the Asian financial crisis and the global financial crisis in 2008 made young Koreans take less risks and seek more stability after seeing their parents lose their businesses and suffer," Lee said. On the other hand, the U.S. and China refocused their energy away from financial places like Wall Street to innovation hubs such as Silicon Valley, further encouraging innovation through risk-taking even after failures. "This culture creates a lot of differences because at the end, it will create more success," Lee said. "SoftBank Ventures Korea has invested in more than 200 startups since it was established here in 2000. Most of them failed. But one successful startup has always made up for the other nine failed startups we invested in. It has never seen success without investment, even including failed ones," he said. By Park Hyong-ki Financial regulators here will pursue regulatory reform in line with rapidly changing global markets, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said Wednesday. At the annual FSS Speaks forum for foreign-invested financial companies in Seoul, FSS Governor Zhin Woong-seob said the regulator will remain "responsive and responsible" to counter growing uncertainty. "We will reform in tandem with the changes in demand and systems from the financial sector as Korea follows the principles of a market-oriented economy," Zhin told executives from the foreign financial community. He said the FSS will work with the industry to ease the negative image of foreign-invested financial companies sending dividends to their parent companies overseas. "Korean banks get as much negative press as their foreign counterparts over dividends," he said. "I think this occurs because of a cultural gap. Companies should independently decide on dividends in accordance with global management standards." FSS Deputy Governor Koo Kyeong-mo said the regulator does not interfere in companies over dividend payments, and they should pay dividends at an appropriate level that does not undermine their businesses and the market. "The public understanding over this issue is growing," Koo said. "As long as foreign companies here abide by regulations and operate in the interests of customers, they will gain a positive image." Koo said the FSS will work with the Financial Services Commission for further deregulation, enabling companies to set up additional branches or offices here. The FSS will also seek to apply anti-money laundering measures, such as the risk-based approach (RBA) system, differently against banks, asset management companies and insurers. It said RBA rules that identify potential risks of money laundering and terrorist financing should reflect each sector's different operations and needs. "We will closely work with the Financial Intelligence Unit to reflect this," Koo said. Some 360 people from the foreign financial community attended the forum, which aims to boost communications between the regulator and companies. A main difference between President Donald Trump's North Korea policy and that of his predecessor, Barack Obama, is the potential for using military force, a U.S. congressman said Tuesday. The Trump administration has reportedly finalized its North Korea strategy with a focus on "maximum pressure and engagement" toward denuclearization of the communist nation. The new policy does not appear much different from that of former President Barack Obama, known as "strategic patience," which centered on waiting for Pyongyang to show good faith while increasing sanctions and pressure on the regime. But Rep. Scott Taylor (R-VA) said the new policy has a military force component. "I think some of the difference, of course, is as you see the potential for the military to be there, so the potential of force as well, too, is a sort of a new component with this," he said on CNN. "When you have diplomacy, whether you're conducting diplomacy or U.N. conventions or sanctions, whatever it is, sometimes you have to have at least the perception that you will back things up by force. So, that's the new component here." That potential has made China work harder than before to rein in the North, Taylor said. "They have said openly, you know, warning North Korea, as well as openly saying that they are engaging with our president to try to tamp down pressures over there," he said. "I think China has stepped up more than they ever have before. And you have to give credit where credit is due, that is because of this White House." (Yonhap) 'Hopes high for next government By Yi Whan-woo Calls are growing for the next government to resume talks with North Korea based on lessons from the outgoing government's hard-line policy on Pyongyang. The two leading presidential candidates Moon Jae-in and Ahn Cheol-soo are insisting on the resumption of inter-Korean dialogue, although they differ in their approaches. They have different views over which countries should be involved in the talks, if started, and how to link such talks with Pyongyang's denuclearization. Their campaigns come amid concerns that South Korea is being alienated from international talks over North Korea its dialogue channels with the North have been completely cut off, while a possible bargain has been struck between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping concerning Pyongyang. Moon, a former presidential chief of staff for the progressive Roh Moo-Hyun administration, appears to be more assertive than Ahn in resuming inter-Korean dialogue, according to analysts, Wednesday. Moon proposed holding a summit with tyrannical leader Kim Jong-un in a joint questionnaire recently circulated by The Korea Times' sister paper the Hankook Ilbo and the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, a civic activist group. He also called for South Korea-led denuclearization talks in cooperation with the U.S. and China. Ahn, a centrist, underscored a two-track strategy of resuming inter-Korean dialogue while maintaining international sanctions on North Korea. Regarding the types of dialogue, he said the Seoul-Pyongyang talks should be pursued alongside Pyongyang-Washington talks, the four-party talks involving China and the six-party talks involving Japan and Russia. Analysts agreed on a need for restoring communication channel with the Kim regime. Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University said, "The two leading candidates, especially Moon, are on the right course in improving inter-Korean relations." Others, however, were skeptical of Moon's and Ahn's approaches, saying "They are mere campaign promises that are uncertain to be realized." The skeptics pointed out that North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs are more the advanced than in the 2000s when the previous two inter-Korean summits were held. "Given the circumstances, resuming talks with North Korea is not something we can achieve on our own," said Yoon Tae-gon, a senior political analyst at Moa Agenda & Strategy. "We need to take a possible North Korean nuclear test and the Trump administration's North Korea policy into account as well." Regarding Moon's proposal for a possible third inter-Korean summit, the analysts speculated that the Trump administration may be against it. "I'd say the pledges from Moon and Ahn are simply lip service intended to woo their supporters," said Shin Yul, a political science professor at Myongji University. "The erratic North Korean ruler is becoming more unpredictable day by day. And Trump will not tolerate it if the summit is held and there are no tangible results." Referring to the Wall Street Journal report in 2016 about the U.S. attempt for peace treaty talks with North Korea, Shin also said Pyongyang ultimately reckons it will be Washington, not Seoul, in talks about its nuclear program. "The U.S. may think the same as North Korea and the South is unlikely to take an initiative in denuclearization issues." Joseph DeTrani This is the second in a series of interviews with international experts on North Korea to see how its nuclear issues will unfold down the road and seek ways to secure stability on the Korean Peninsula. ED. Beijing urged to broker talks between US, North Korea By Kim Jae-kyoung Joseph DeTrani, a former U.S. special envoy for the six-party talks with North Korea, said South Korea should not be sidelined in the Trump administration's move to address North Korean nuclear issues. "South Korea has to be part of the solution to the North Korea nuclear issue," DeTrani, president of the Daniel Morgan Academy in Washington, said in an interview. "There should be no space between the U.S. and South Korea on an approach to resolving issues with the North." His advice comes amid growing concerns here that Seoul has been left out of the decision-making process for U.S. policies on North Korea amid a leadership vacuum caused by former President Park Geun-hye's removal from office. "With elections scheduled for May 9, South Korea will have a new government in place that can work closely with the U.S., and with Japan, China and Russia, on a concerted path to resolving issues with North Korea," he said. His remarks can be interpreted as stating that Washington should get Seoul involved in any of its key decisions, such as a pre-emptive strike against North Korea and any secret talks with Pyongyang. "Exploratory talks between North Korea and the U.S. or South Korea could facilitate the return to formal negotiations," he said. "So, in principle I'm not opposed to such talks. However, it's important that the South and Japan be made aware of such talks and contribute to the issues being discussed." But he dismissed the rumor the U.S. and North Korea are currently in talks in New York, saying, "I'm not aware of any secret talks with North Korea." DeTrani, who helped broker a 2005 agreement on North Korea's nuclear program, had behind-the-scenes meetings with North Korean diplomats in Malaysia last October to break new ground for official talks. The former U.S. mission manager for North Korea has called on Beijing to set up talks between Washington and Pyongyang. "Ideally, this tense period can be defused through negotiations, brokered by a China that has to convince North Korea that they must halt all future nuclear tests and missile launches," he said. He expects China to continue to be key to the eventual resolution of the North's nuclear issue. "China is North Korea's treaty ally and a country North Korea relies upon for energy and food assistance, which are vital for the North's survival," he said. "So, it would be logical to think that North Korea would be somewhat responsive to China, although North Korea is not a lackey of China and will not obediently march to China's tune, if it's not in North Korea's interest." More importantly, he said both China and the U.S. must realize that building good bilateral relations is a prerequisite for reining in the totalitarian regime, a destabilizing force in the region. "It's in the interests of China and the U.S. to resolve the North Korea issue, and in the process to get these two important countries to work even more closely on international issues that could be destabilizing," he said. He advised Seoul to continue to impress upon Beijing that without a negotiated settlement, further missile defense deployments and joint military exercises with the U.S., and possibly Japan, will be necessary. "This, hopefully, will further encourage China to be more proactive in getting North Korea to return to negotiations and to halt its nuclear and missile programs." Additional nuclear tests DeTrani, also former director of the U.S. National Counter Proliferation Center, expects Pyongyang to carry out another nuclear test. "Pyongyang speaks of its nuclear deterrent, emphasizing the need to have a credible nuclear capability," he said. "Additional nuclear tests will permit Pyongyang to better perfect miniaturization and, as they stated, advance toward a thermonuclear capability." He expects Kim Jong-un won't give up his nuclear weapons program at the moment. "It's memorialized in its constitution and Kim and others have made it clear that North Korea's so-called nuclear deterrent will be strengthened and never dismantled." He also expressed concerns that additional missile launches will allow North Korea to work on its mobile missiles and solid fuel capabilities. "It's problematic whether North Korea will conduct an ICBM launch. Such a missile launch will be a direct threat to the U.S., requiring a U.S. response that North Korea may not want. "An ICBM has one purpose to deliver a conventional or nuclear warhead to the U.S. That can't be tolerated." Supportive of Trump's confrontational approach, DeTrani said it was time to end "strategic patience" because such a strategy clearly failed in getting North Korea to halt its march to more robust and threatening nuclear and missile programs. "It's now time to tell North Korea that we will not permit Pyongyang to threaten our allies and the U.S. with nuclear and conventional weapons," he said. "I think this is a realistic policy." But the former director of East Asia operations of the CIA also urged the Trump administration to offer North Korea the option to return to unconditional negotiations. "Our first goal should be to get North Korea to agree to halting its nuclear and missile programs and to cease the production of additional fissile material, in return for security assurances and other deliverables," he said. "This latter path can eventually result in a peaceful resolution of the nuclear issues with North Korea. Ideally, revisiting the elements of the September 2005 Joint Statement could be the roadmap toward peace on the Korean Peninsula." He said the six-party format aimed at denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula should still be one of the options to resolve the situation. "I think the six-party construct is still viable. It did produce the 2005 Joint Statement, a comprehensive approach to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. "It also facilitated bilateral discussions with North Korea and the respective countries South Korea, Japan and the U.S. toward normal diplomatic relations with North Korea, once the issues unique to each of these countries in regard to North Korea are addressed." DeTrani was the U.S. Representative to the Korea Energy Development Organization and president of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance. Donald Trump's false claim that Korea was "part of China" is disturbing Koreans. / Korea Times file By Eom Da-sol U.S. President Donald Trump's remark that "Korea used to be part of China" is disturbing Koreans. Trump made the claim during an interview with The Wall Street Journal after meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping on Apr. 12. Trump said in the interview, "(Xi) then went into the history of China and Korea. Not North Korea, Korea. And you know, you're talking about thousands of years and many wars. And Korea actually used to be a part of China." American online news agency Quartz later published the claim. The agency reported that Trump made "a shocking admission of ignorance" by this comment and expected it would upset Koreans. Afghan woman sues hospital over unwanted abortion after gastric bypass surgery By Kim Se-jeong For Farangis Mahak, Korea was a dream country. A scholarship from the Korean government enabled her to pursue her dream outside of her war-torn country of Afghanistan. She met her future husband in Korea, Kim Jae-sam, an Afghan-born naturalized Korean, and the couple is working here, planning a family. Their Korean dream was shattered last summer. Mahak lost her baby, she believes, because of malpractice by a doctor. The couple is now considering leaving Korea. An obese patient, Mahak decided last year to have gastric bypass surgery, a procedure that involves constricting the stomach. The operation divides the stomach into two and connects the lower esophagus through part of the stomach to the small intestine. This procedure is widely done among obese patients and considered effective in helping them lose weight. But it is also considered risky and thus, is recommended to patients as a last resort. She visited Soonchunhyang University Hospital Seoul which appeared to have a good reputation, according to various online resources. She said the doctor was so confident, telling her that he had performed the operation on more than 1,000 patients. She was convinced and decided to do it. Less than a week later, she was in a surgical bed without knowing that she was pregnant. Her husband initially didn't agree with her having the operation. "I didn't want my wife to have the surgery. It's dangerous. But she wouldn't listen to me, so I hoped the doctor would tell her to take her time, but he went ahead," he said. The doctor warned the couple against getting pregnant. It's extremely dangerous because the reduced stomach size wouldn't be able to provide enough nutrients for the fetus. On the day before the surgery, she checked in and had her blood and urine tested for pregnancy and the result was negative. The night before the surgery, the doctor came up to her and said: "Eat whatever you want; it's your last chance." She went home a day after the surgery. Her recovery was very slow. She had nausea and couldn't eat anything. Her nurse told her the symptoms were normal and would disappear soon, but by the third week, she couldn't even take a sip of water. Back in the hospital, her surgeon couldn't find anything wrong and referred her to a gynecologist, who confirmed that she was pregnant. "I shouted and cried very loudly," she recalled. "I asked him why he didn't check properly; there were so many checkups, but he didn't check for pregnancy." She felt extremely guilty for what had happened to the baby. Keeping the fetus was quickly discouraged by the doctor who said the baby would be born with disabilities due to the general anesthetic, X-rays and CT-scan used for the surgery. The hospital blamed her for the problem. "The doctor said it's your mistake. You should have avoided this (getting pregnant).'" The couple aborted the fetus. Back home, her physical condition improved a lot but her mental and emotional state did not because of the guilt she felt from aborting the baby. She started seeing a psychiatrist and is now taking depression medication. "For me, having a child is the most beautiful thing in life. If I had known that I was pregnant, I would have not gone through with the operation. If the hospital's blood and urine tests had been thorough, this would not have happened." The couple decided to take the case to court. The hospital claimed innocence. In an email to The Korea Times, the hospital said, "We asked her about pregnancy. Then, we ran blood and urine tests which showed a negative result. With these, the hospital had no reason to conduct a more sophisticated test to check for pregnancy." However, Lee Ji-a, Mahak's lawyer, disagrees. "The doctor warned my client against pregnancy. And she's a married woman. The fact that he warned her showed that he was aware of the impact of gastric bypass surgery on a fetus, and he should have done an additional test to make sure that she was not pregnant." Mahak's family is living in Canada and her family doctor in Canada told her something interesting. "My doctor said the gastric bypass procedure in the West is usually preceded by a psychological assessment and other health checkups which would normally take two to three months," she said. Mahak said the root of the problem was deep. "I think this is a systematic problem in Korea that the doctors here are only interested in income and achievements," she said. "The doctor didn't ask me why I was obese or anything." The couple sued the doctor and the hospital for compensation and the first court hearing is scheduled for April 26. "I am not doing this for money. I am sick of the doctor's arrogance and indifference. Also, he did the surgery on 1,000 people. I wonder how these people feel. I don't want other people to suffer like I did." Busan Haeundae Police Station arrested a Korean man on Apr. 19 for allegedly stealing valuables from 10 foreign tourists in Busan and Daegu. / Korea Times file By Eom Da-sol Police have arrested a Korean man for allegedly stealing valuables from foreign tourists at guesthouses in Busan and Daegu. According to Busan Haeundae Police Station Wednesday, an American tourist made the initial report of the suspected thief, surnamed Kim, 43, in Busan on Apr. 5. Kim stole the tourist's cell phone while she was in a toilet. Kim allegedly approached 10 foreign tourists at the guesthouses from Mar. 29 to Apr. 12. He offered to buy them a drink and then stole cash and valuables from them, such as laptops and cell phones worth about 10 million won ($8,700), police said. Police identified Kim from security camera footage at the guesthouse where the American tourist was staying. He was arrested after a 14-day investigation. By Kim Bo-eun Members of one of the nation's largest teachers' groups have begun a protest against the education ministry's decision to nullify their leave to participate in the progressive unions' activities. The ministry is seeking to cancel regional education offices' approval for members to take leave. "The ministry should recognize the status of teachers who are committed to engagements with the union and must abolish its hostile policies toward them," members of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) said. They made the remark during a press conference in front of the ministry building in Sejong, Tuesday. They vowed to camp out there until April 28. The members said they have requested to speak with Education Minister Lee Joon-sik, and said the protest will continue if he refuses to meet them. The ministry earlier indicated it would punish union members who did not go to work at schools citing union activities. It also ordered education offices to cancel their approval for teachers' leave. This was based on a court ruling that denied the union legal status. The ministry requested the education offices of Gangwon and South Gyeongsang provinces, as well as Seoul and Sejong to cancel their approval for the teachers' leave. It canceled the Gangwon education office's decision to allow leave for union activities, and plans to do the same for other offices if they do not cancel their plans voluntarily. Sixteen teachers affiliated with the union were absent from work as of April 10. Among them, six received approval from education offices for union activities, three have filed for general leave, four have been removed from their positions as teachers and three are absent without due notice. The teachers' union accused four ministry officials including Minister Lee of abuse of power. Last year, the ministry dismissed 34 teachers who were absent from school due to engagements for the labor union. In 2013, the labor ministry decided to ban the union because it failed to cancel the membership of nine dismissed teachers. The move was based on a clause in the law which bans dismissed education workers from joining the union, in order to keep the union politically neutral by remaining independent from outside influence including non-education workers. In 2014, the Seoul Administrative Court rejected the request filed by the KTU to nullify the ministry's decision. In January 2016, an appellate court upheld the lower court's ruling that the teachers' group was illegal. And in May last year, the Constitutional Court supported the ruling after the union requested it to review the constitutionality of the clause. If the ruling is confirmed at the Supreme Court, it will strip the legal status of the 60,000-member union, which gives it the right to take collective action and receive government subsidies. The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) transits the Indian Ocean, April 15. / Reuters-Yonhap By Jun Ji-hye The Donald Trump administration is causing a stir for a false narrative intended or not that a U.S. Navy strike group led by the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson was ordered to waters off the Korean Peninsula from Singapore, April 8. Since then, expectations were that the carrier group would arrive near the peninsula around April 15 when North Korea was scheduled to celebrate the 105th anniversary of the birth of its founder Kim Il-sung. At that time, the North was expected to conduct a major provocation such as a nuclear test. However, the strike group was operating in the Indian Ocean in scheduled exercises with Australian forces. This means the ships actually sailed in the opposite direction after the U.S. Navy's Third Fleet issued a news release saying U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) Commander Admiral Harry Harris had ordered the group to leave Singapore and sail to the Western Pacific instead of Australia. Photos released by the U.S. Navy, Saturday, showed the Carl Vinson sailing in the Sunda Strait off the coast of Indonesia, thousands of kilometers southwest of the peninsula. The unexpected location of the carrier would have never been known to the public if the Navy had not posted the photos. This caused criticism as for more than a week news about the arrival of the same ships had been on the front pages here with concerns growing that the Trump administration would launch a pre-emptive strike on the North, which could lead to a full-scale war. Rumors of a "Korean War in April" also spread quickly on social media. On April 9, PACOM spokesman Commander David Benham called North Korea "the number one threat in the region," referring to the dispatch of the ships to the Western Pacific. This highly implied the dispatch was aimed at reining in the increasing nuclear threats by Pyongyang. Guryong Village, the last remaining slum in Seoul, looks no better than a refugee camp, with makeshift outdoor toilets shared by many aging residents, stacks of smelly garbage and discarded machinery everywhere, reminiscent of a ghost town. Its dilapidated, ragged shacks, built out of plywood, sheets of plastic and well-worn carpets stand in surprising contrast to the glitzy high-rises across a busy highway. The village was formed in the '80s when poor residents of Gangnam Ward, which has the country's most expensive real estate, were forced to move out of their homes during a swirl of city development projects ahead of the 1986 Asian Games and the 1988 Seoul Olympics. In the runup to those two huge events, the biggest Korea had ever hosted, the lives of the underprivileged was often easily overlooked. Being pushed out to the fringe of the ward, many were reduced to building makeshift houses illegally on private lands at the foot of Mount Guryong. Since the '90s, rumors have persisted that the shanty village was going to be turned into a glamorous apartment complex. Some people have intentionally moved into the village, accepting inconvenience that they believed was to be temporary and hoping to make a big return when the development started. "When I bought the house 20 years ago, I thought I would sell it when my son gets married," said Han Young-woo, a villager who shared her story after throwing away used coal briquettes outside her house. "I knew only after I moved in that the house didn't come with a toilet." Although the 79-year-old readily decided to accept the living conditions for future profits, she never expected the wait to be this long. "I thought I could move out again in three to five years. But that didn't happen. Laws have changed several times, and projects got delayed whenever city officials in charge were replaced." Last week, she submitted documentation to the Seoul Housing & Communities Corp. (SH) to apply for temporary housing, a step that she hopes will bring herself, her sick husband and her son -- now nearly 50 and still single -- closer to leaving the run-down neighborhood and starting anew in a cleaner and warmer house. On Nov. 16, the Seoul City Planning Committee endorsed a plan to designate the village as an urban development zone. According to the plan, there will be 2,692 units of apartments -- some of them earmarked for the Guryong villagers -- to be constructed in the area by 2020. The city said it will put priority on using the profits from the mega development project to help the poor residents resettle. The decision came after years of fierce disagreement among the interested parties -- the city government, the Gangnam Ward Office, land owners and residents -- over how to develop the 266,304-square-meter land. The Seoul city government preferred a development plan that included taking over undeveloped land from land owners and returning the same size of land after the development is over. For the city, it is less costly as it doesn't have to buy the land in the first place. The ward office, however, strongly opposed the idea, saying that only a handful of land owners, who possessed two-thirds of the total area, would benefit from the plan, as the prices undoubtedly will skyrocket after the development is over. And poor residents, in the process, would be marginalized again, it argued. The wrangling continued for years. In the meantime, 1,900 residents suffered from extreme heat and cold, and frequent floods and fires. As recently as last month, a fire broke out, razing 29 houses and displacing 48 people. The poorly constructed slums are prone to electric malfunctions that easily lead to fire. Once a fire starts, it spreads quickly as houses are built with flammable materials. Since 2009, the village has suffered 14 fires. Lee Young-man, who leads one of the two residents' communities, said he was finally seeing an end to what had looked to be a hopeless wait. "We hope all the residents move out by this fall, so that the construction starts early next year. So far, 80 households have already emptied out while 200 agreed with the temporary housing arrangement." Lee said 70 percent of the residents are over 70 and three to four elderly residents die every month. He talked to Yonhap News Agency, while he was delivering free lunch boxes to the elderly who are too old or sick to cook for themselves. Those still alive and well are quickly losing patience, he added. For low-income residents, the biggest concern is the monthly rent they will have to pay once they move into temporary houses. Kim Kab-sun has recently started packaging socks at home to save some money to use for rent. "When the time came to decide whether to move, I felt so frightened. I wasn't confident if I could face the harsh reality outside the village and make enough money to pay the monthly rent. For a month, I felt sick," she said. Now 65, she settled in the village 30 years ago when her husband's business went bankrupt. She recalled there was a sense of community back then. Though everyone was poor, neighbors spread mats in the winding alleys to share foods together. But development plans broke the village, even families, apart, she said, shaking her head in dismay. "Nevertheless, I am so happy. I have hope now. I am living every day, dreaming of the day when I finally leave this village." Last Thursday, the burnt-down area in last month's fire was still cordoned off by yellow police tape. No resident was seen near the affected area even in broad daylight. Only a few unleashed dogs barked threateningly, advancing closer toward a stranger as if they ruled the ruins. Lighting his cigarette next to a pile of abandoned furniture, Lee Won-jong, clad in a heavy, black jacket, said he didn't have high hopes about the development plans. "They are only all words, no action. I can't trust them. We have been fooled for more than 10 years now. The government talked to us as if the development would be finished within a few years, which never happened," the 68-year-old said. "Plus, who can assure us that we would be allowed to come back after the construction is done?" (Yonhap) By Choi Ha-young Hong Joon-pyo Hong Joon-pyo, the presidential candidate of the second-largest Liberty Korea Party (LKP), is receiving a barrage of criticism after making sexist remarks during a media interview Sunday. Asked whether he shares household chores with his wife, Hong answered: "How can I wash dishes? I don't even know how to open a rice pot and cook instant noodles." "That's the way of nature. Men have their own jobs and women have their own jobs." The former South Gyeongsang governor also revealed his view on sexual orientation, saying he wouldn't accept it if his son were a homosexual. "I don't like it. Some people view it as a matter of human rights, but (gender orientation) is given by nature." Members of the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement (KFEM) stage a protest in front of the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) in Seoul after submitting a request to review the government's recent approval of a new coal power plant in Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province, Wednesday. /Yonhap By Kim Se-jeong Heavy fine dust over the Korean Peninsula has made many headlines in recent weeks, threatening the fate of a new coal-fired power plant to be built in Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province. On Thursday, the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement (KFEM), the country's biggest environmental NGO, requested the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) to inspect the energy ministry over its recent decision to give a final approval to a new coal power plant. "Air pollution by fine dust is the biggest threat to public health in Korea. Instead of coming up with measures to curb fine dust emissions, the government is moving in the opposite direction," KFEM said in a statement on Wednesday in front of the BAI headqurters in Seoul. "The decision to approve Dangjin Eco Power's plant is a prime example of this." The ministry approved the plan on April 3, arguing that it is needed to meet the country's growing energy demand. Dangjin Eco Power does not have the support from residents. Dangjin's mayor and South Chungcheong Province's governorhave also expressed their opposition. Residents are growingly worried that the power plant will put their health in deeper jeopardy Dangjin is home to 10 up and running coal power plants. Amid growing criticism, the government explained earlier this week it had no authority to stop the construction. Greenpeace Korea's report last year said the power plant could cause 70 premature deaths per year in Korea and neighboring countries. Many view the government should let the next leader decide the plant's future. Two leading contenders Moon Jae-in and Ahn Cheol-soo are opposed to the plan. The Moon camp said he will halt and review the Dangjin Eco Power project, while Ahn said the power plant project will be stopped. Many view the new power plant as another example of the government's failed environment policies. Although most fine dust is generated by industry, the government's policies were focused on encouraging people to ride clean-energy vehicles and discouraging people from grilling mackerel at home to cope with the dust. They also argue the government's policy had the wrong priority which is to give industries cheap electricity, insisting that it should regulate them to keep air pollution under control. Fine dust is the main culprit for deteriorating air quality in Korea. Some comes from China, but experts say a big portion of it is generated by the power plants and factories along the West Coast where Dangjin is located. Dangjin alone has 10 coal power plants operating on its coast and South Chungcheong Province has 29. Korea currently has 59 coal power plants. Design & Co-Innovation Center of SAP AppHaus Korea in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province / Korea Times photo by Yun Suh-young This is fourth in a series of articles on companies with innovative work cultures. ED. Design thinking is the foundation of SAP's innovation culture By Yun Suh-young Is your workplace somewhere you'd rather work other than going anywhere else, out of pure joy and satisfaction _ not because it's your last resort? For Christopher Han, vice president of the SAP AppHaus Design & Co-Innovation Center in Seoul, his company is. The reason is because of the design thinking culture embedded in the company. Design thinking is a concept that has become widely popular globally over the past few years, thanks to design consultancy IDEO which spread the term. The concept is still new to Koreans, but slowly penetrating into business sectors. Design thinking is a cognitive methodology and activity that helps people to develop creative ways to solve problems. It's to "use the tool set or mindset of a designer and taking that same process and applying it to bigger issues," according to Tom Kelley, partner and co-founder of IDEO, in a past interview with The Korea Times. But as difficult as it is to grasp the concept for a first-timer, it is challenging for businesses to apply it within their organizations. Hence, as much as design thinking can help change the organizational culture and consequently boost performance, it's easier said than done. In the case of German software company SAP, however, it's different. Design thinking is embedded in its culture. The fact that the company founded a design thinking institution explains it. Hasso Plattner, the founder of SAP, donated $35 million to Stanford University in 2005 and founded the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design which is better known as the "Stanford d.school" where the "d" stands for design. It's a non-degree boot-camp type program led by IDEO co-founder David Kelley training graduate students to practice design thinking. Not surprisingly, SAP "systematically tried to incorporate (design thinking) within the company," said Han, the vice president of SAP's AppHaus in Seoul. AppHaus is SAP's co-innovation space in which customers, SAP staff, and end-users work collaboratively on projects. App in the name refers to apps on mobile phones as well as the application of knowledge in general. "We apply diverse domains to solve hard problems with customers," he said. "The way of working has a direct influence on organizational culture and culture has direct influence on performance. I see design thinking as a way of working," said Han in an interview with The Korea Times in February. He said the company has "transformed itself to be more empathetic and user centered" after applying design thinking. "If you look at our products, the big change is, it has become easier to use. The user experience has gotten exponentially better," said Han. "SAP has always been known for making robust software. It's always been good. The problem was that it was sometimes difficult to use. Now that's changed because of our emphasis on the social experience." Design & Co-Innovation Center of SAP AppHaus Korea in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province / Korea Times photo by Yun Suh-young Design-thinking culture Transforming the user experience was possible because of the way the company works, or by transforming this. "The vernacular has changed. How we talk about customers, how we talk with customers, how we interact with customers has changed. We invite customers to have a visioning session where we all visualize what success is and come to a consensus to what it is," said Han. "All of this is intended for us to better understand our customers _ to empathize with them more concretely. On that foundation we can do whatever work that we're trying to do." There are three important components in an innovation culture, he says: people, process, and place. "You need great people with diverse backgrounds and the right mindset. Process speaks to the way of working _ design thinking has become a foundation of how we work. Place has to do with workplace design. This is unlike most offices. We made these investments as a company because of the importance space has, influencing the quality of interactions people have." The AppHaus in Seoul opened in July last year. It is the company's first Asian branch out of the four AppHauses. The other three are located in Palo Alto, California, and Heidelberg and Berlin in Germany. The name AppHaus pays homage to the German Bauhaus movement_ the interdisciplinary approach to arts and science _ whereas haus is "house" in German. "I really like our SAP work culture. I've dealt with executives/sessions/workshops with over 50 companies in Korea and government organizations, and at the moment, there's no place I'd rather work," said Han. "It's not perfect but no organization can be perfect. It's not a destination, it's a journey." By Jacob Lotinga Dysfunction and war make headlines; good news doesn't. Maybe that's why South Korea a flourishing democracy whose strength has been tested and proven by President Park's recent impeachment usually generates so few newspaper inches overseas. News outlets far from Seoul are transfixed by Kim Jong-un's latest missile test, not the day-to-day business of South Korea's government. North Korea's closed society seems a magnet for undercover documentary makers in a way that South Korea, so easy to visit, is not. Publishers, too, can hardly get enough of North Korean escape narratives (some of which are very good) they know that the protagonist's hardships in a dysfunctional society or in a gulag will grimly fascinate readers, and that the ultimate triumph of the human spirit over unimaginable adversity will delight. This neglect of South Korea has changed recently. First, news addicts around the world were astonished by the bizarre revelation of close confidante Choi Soon-sil's alleged influence on the South Korean president; the story even included a whiff of shamanism that must have seemed exotic to many. Then came the impeachment, the arrest the story of puppies left behind at the Blue House. The photo of the poor abandoned dogs was snapped up by UK newspapers. Newsreaders in London, checking their scripts before the latest TV bulletin, suddenly have to learn that Geun-hye rhymes with hay' (contrary to the rules of English spelling) something that didn't seem to crop up so much when the business of South Korean politics was proceeding smoothly. Frontrunner Moon Jae-in and rival Ahn Cheol-su, hurtling towards the snap election in May, now feature in English-language papers' world news sections, where they were once strangers. Travel book writers with a passion for South Korean culture have, of course, long lamented that such a vibrant society should receive such scant attention. Back in the late 1980s, after tramping the length of the country for Korea: A Walk Through the Land of Miracles, Simon Winchester described South Korea as "so little known in the West". Astonishingly, international bookworms who longed for more tales of adventure and cultural discovery in South Korea had to wait a further three decades for Jennifer Barclay's travelogue Meeting Mr Kim: Or How I Went to Korea and Learned to Love Kimchi. You'd think publishers in London and New York would be eager to fill the gaps in their coverage of South Korea; far from it. There seems to be a market for dysfunction for the rare glimpse inside North Korea, a closed society where life is so different, so seemingly incomprehensible. Don't get me wrong. I've been captivated by narratives such as Barbara Demick's masterly Nothing to Envy and Blaine Harden's Escape from Camp 14. But it seems unjust that dysfunction should dominate our news coverage and publishers' lists for the Korean peninsula, while more wholesome tales of life in South Korea are pushed off the shelves and airwaves. There are many aspects of life in South Korea that would be equally absorbing to read about as Euny Hong's The Birth of Korean Cool and Daniel Tudor's Korea: The Impossible Country have shown us. It is therefore to be hoped that the ejection of President Park will put South Korean life, society and politics more firmly on the radar for news outlets and publishers around the world. We'll soon have tales of the Blue House to set alongside all those innumerable books on dysfunction on North Korea's gulags or the Korean War. This will be welcome if South Korea's day-to-day politics when it is running smoothly become a firmer fixture of international newspapers (and not only when a brawl breaks out in the South Korean parliament). UK cities from London to Nottingham have more prominent Korean restaurants today than they did ten years ago; perhaps there will now be a similar appetite, too, for balanced news from South Korea. Jacob Lotinga is an author based in Sheffield, UK. Write to jblotinga@yahoo.com. By Na Jeong-ju The United States and China appear to have found some common ground in their negotiations over North Korea. They are seemingly working closely together to create a much-needed momentum in handling the North Korean nuclear crisis following the summit between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in Florida. In particular, China is sending positive signals that it intends to contain North Korea from crossing the "red line" that can trigger U.S. military action against the North. As for now, it looks like that Xi and Trump came to a mutual understanding that Pyongyang's nuclear development hurts their common interests in the region. In other words, Xi may respect Trump's doctrine of "maximum pressure and engagement." After the summit in Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, major tourism companies in Beijing stopped selling package tours to North Korea. China's state media hinted that its government may go so far as to halt fuel shipments to the North, if necessary. Even then, China is unlikely to cut a lifeline to the North given the latter's strategic importance in its rivalry with the U.S., but such sanctions will surely damage the North's fragile economy and its operation of military forces. Back in February, China suspended North Korean coal imports through the end of the year in accordance with a U.N. Security Council resolution against Pyongyang's fifth nuclear test. If North Korea goes ahead with its sixth nuclear test as expected, this may prompt China to suspend or reduce its oil supply to the North. In fact, China has taken advantage of international trade bans on Pyongyang to increase supplies of oil, food and energy to the Kim Jong-un regime. North Korea's economic dependence on China is heavier than ever. It is estimated that China now accounts for about 70 to 80 percent of the North's trade with the outside world. North Korea cannot survive without support from China. This demonstrates a direct correlation between the North's economic subordination to China and China's decades-long "willful negligence" of the neighbor's belligerent behavior. But China is showing a different approach. While toughening its sanctions on Pyongyang, Beijing, at the same time, is calling for dialogue among concerned nations to find a peaceful solution to the nuclear problem. Despite this, there are yet strong doubts about whether China does have the will to change North Korea. It must show sincerity first and commit to using its leverage fully to discourage the North from pursuing its nuclear development. Trump has great expectations for China's increased role for regional peace with North Korea's nuclear development becoming an acute threat for the U.S. In a tweet following the summit with Xi, Trump questioned why he would call China a currency manipulator when the two countries are working on the North Korean nuclear problem. And on Tuesday, he said he has "great respect" for the Chinese president. "We have a good chemistry together. He understands it (North Korea) is a big problem. He's working on it," Trump said. "We'll see what he can do. I think he's trying, but maybe he won't be able to help and that's a whole different story. So we'll see what happens." For now, the U.S. may make a strategic choice to delay the planned deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery, which has been a source of contention with China. This is viewed as a natural course of action to take for Washington to reduce tension with Beijing and give it some time to prove its sincerity in handling the North. For its part, South Korea must keep asking China to backtrack on economic retaliatory measures it has taken against the South since it decided to accept the U.S. missile-defense battery. Normalizing ties with Seoul could be a measurement of Beijing's sincerity. Kim Jong-un will probably not back down. But if China cuts fuel, it is a whole different story. Only China can make him behave. North Korean leader must stop escalating tension North Korea carried out a fresh missile test Sunday as U.S. Vice President Mike Pence was on his way to Korea for a meeting with acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn amid rising tension on the Korean Peninsula. Korean and U.S. military authorities confirmed that the missile test failed, exploding almost immediately after it was launched. The failure came one day after North Korea celebrated the 105th anniversary of the birth of its founder Kim Il-sung, leader Kim Jong-un's grandfather, with a massive military parade. North Korea flaunted nearly 60 missiles, including what is believed to be its new intercontinental ballistic missiles. The world had been eyeing a potential nuclear or missile launch around Kim Il-sung's birthday after a ballistic missile test earlier this month ahead of the first U.S.-China summit after U.S. President Donald Trump assumed office in January. It is highly worrisome that Pyongyang chose to attempt a fresh provocation even after warnings from Washington that the new U.S. administration will handle Pyongyang in its own way if China does not do enough to pressure the North. Trump has tweeted, "North Korea is looking for trouble. If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them. Pollution of groundwater beneath the U.S. army base in central Seoul is far more serious than expected, according to a belatedly disclosed report. It is alarming that even the Han River as well as Yongsan Garrison's adjacent areas may have been contaminated. According to the report released by the Ministry of Environment, Tuesday, benzene, a cancer-causing substance, was found in 10 out of 14 sample wells. At one monitoring well, the level of benzene was 2.44 milligrams per liter, 162 times above the permissible level. Other chemicals detected at levels in excess of their safety limits included toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene. This underground water contamination may be natural, considering that oil leaks have occurred frequently inside the Yongsan base. A report authored by the U.S. Department of Defense, obtained by a Seoul-based environment group, showed earlier this month that the base suffered at least 84 oil leaks between 1990 and 2015. The figure is much more than the five cases reported to the environment ministry so far. That's because U.S. Forces Korea covered up most of the oil leaks under some perfunctory environmental clauses of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) that governs the treatment of American soldiers here. Our government deserves harsh criticism for failing to confirm such oil leaks properly. What's more pitiable is that the release of the environment ministry's report came after almost two years of legal tussles between the ministry and a civic group represented by progressive lawyers. The report is the result of the ministry's first inspection conducted in 2015, but it's unclear when the results for the other two inspections in 2016 will be available. Given that it is difficult to figure out exactly what happened inside Yongsan Garrison, the ministry should carry out additional environmental probes extensively, in addition to releasing the withheld results soon. The problem is that undoing polluted military bases is never easy because of the lack of legal means to hold the United States accountable. We expect the U.S. military to make a forward-looking decision. More fundamentally, it will be necessary for the allies to consider revising the SOFA so America's responsibility for environmental pollution can be defined clearly. Trick is to bring hidden Korean contributions into account U.S. Vice President Mike Pence left a parting message "review and reform" of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (KORUS FTA) when he talked to U.S. businesspeople Monday. South Korea is left parsing Pence's comments and trying to comfort itself with its own wishful thinking that the U.S. may not want to go over Korea on trade with great vigor. The basis for such an interpretation is that he didn't use the dreadful word renegotiation. The rhetorical examination pales in importance, compared with what strategy Korea will use to deal with one of the big campaign grievances expressed by President Donald Trump that FTAs are to enrich foreign countries at the expense of American jobs. So far, Korea has been cautious pushing the merits of current bilateral trade which has created 45,000 American jobs since it went into effect in 2011, for instance. This is a standard approach but in the Trump era, it is the wrong button to push, considering his tendency for anything but Obama. Rather, a better approach would be to directly tackle Trump's grievance Korea's trade surplus and in a pre-emptive way. Last year, Korea recorded a $23 billion trade surplus with the U.S. This year, it could get bigger. The U.S. considers it excessive when its trading partner has more than a $20 billion trade surplus. So it is desirable for Korea to bring down its surplus to that level. Korea has been changing its import route for natural gas to the U.S., among other things. The chance is that it will end up as a flash in the pan, making little difference in the end. Instead, it is worth thinking of sending a big purchasing party to the United States in an effort to impact the trade account as suggested by the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) Korea. Addressing the auto sector where most of the surpluses are generated can be another way. It can be done by granting American cars greater market access. Now, German cars occupy the lion's share of the imported car market here. Worthy of keen attention is to bring into the overall account Korea's U.S. weapons purchases. Seoul regularly updates its forces at a huge cost, including signing a deal in 2014 to import 40 Lockheed Martin-made F-35 fighter jets at the total cost of 7.4 trillion won ($6.5 billion) or an individual cost of close to $160 million. "Noise marketing," U.S. cities and states, which have had big investments from Korea, pressuring their congressmen and senators can prove to be effective. Trump's priority is to first dismantle the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico and Canada and then go after bilateral trade agreements with Japan and Korea. So it is estimated that Korea has a window of opportunity of about 18 months. It is a strategic decision to wait or go on the fast track on this issue. Considering the two countries have a much bigger issue to deal with, that is, North Korea, Seoul should better pre-empt the trade issue and clear it up promptly. By Frank Ching North Korea's failed missile test on Sunday provides an opportunity for the United States to press for more stringent sanctions and for China to demonstrate its willingness to curb Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. Even though the missile blew up, the attempted launch was a violation of UN Security Council resolutions. This means the US can now ask for additional sanctions. Clearly, those in place aren't enough. If they were, North Korea wouldn't have been able to conduct over the years five nuclear tests and a series of ballistic missile tests. The Pyongyang regime is working overtime to develop a long-range missile capability, one that will enable it to deliver a nuclear weapon to the continental United States. China has close economic ties with North Korea, despite UN sanctions, which is why the US president, Donald Trump, went out of his way to woo the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, in recent weeks. When Trump hosted Xi at Mar-a-Lago earlier this month, the American leader made an unusual offer. "You want to make a great deal?" he asked Xi. "Solve the problem in North Korea." In return, he said, the US will accept trade deficits with China. After Xi's return to China, Trump continued to pressure him. On April 11, he tweeted: "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 night, Trump called Xi up on the phone and the two men discussed North Korea again. The following day, Trump tweeted that he "had a very good call last night with the President of China concerning the menace of North Korea," But Xi in Beijing said that he had urged Trump to seek a "peaceful solution." From China's standpoint, a peaceful solution means not only sanctions but a return to talks between the US and North Korea. Talks are no doubt needed but sanctions haven't been given a chance, mostly because the sanctions regime is full of holes. Earlier this month, China's General Administration of Customs said that the country's trade with North Korea grew 37.4 percent in the first quarter of this year. China is North Korea's biggest trading partner. Beijing argues that sanctions don't prohibit trade. That's true as far as it goes. But even advanced foreign technology finds its way into Pyongyang via China, despite sanctions, and the Chinese government doesn't seem to be doing much to stop this. A UN panel of experts reported last month that debris from a North Korean long-range rocket contained several foreign-sourced commercial items, including ball bearings from a Chinese manufacturer, Beijing East Exhibition High-Tech Technology Co. Ltd. The panel reported also that pressure transmitters had come from a company identified as Beijing Xinjianteng Century Technical Technology. No wonder North Korea has been able to make such progress, despite ostensibly draconian sanctions. By keeping one eye closed while its businesses supply the North with banned technology, Beijing is enabling North Korea to become a nuclear power. In February, after North Korea tested an intermediate-range ballistic missile, six US senators wrote a joint letter calling on the trump administration to determine China's role in aiding and abetting North Korea. The US and the UN must move beyond sanctions against North Korea itself to sanctioning foreign nationals and entities who are providing the wherewithal for the country to achieve its nuclear ambitions. Clearly, there is much room for tighter implementation of sanctions, by China and some other countries. In the UN panel's words, approval of sanctions wasn't matched "by the requisite political will." Trump is right in one thing. It is China's job to deal with North Korea, which is a Frankenstein's monster nurtured by China. There are signs that perhaps, at this late date, China may be prepared to take serious action. Global Times, a state-run newspaper, published an unusual editorial last week in which it proposed that restrictions be placed on North Korean oil imports. This is an interesting idea, considering that China is the main source of North Korea's crude oil. "If the North makes another provocative move this month, the Chinese society will be willing to see the United Nations Security Council adopt severe restrictive measures that have never been seen before, such as restricting oil exports to the North," the editorial said. Now the US can propose, and China can endorse, strengthening sanctions to include oil. This is a rare opportunity for Xi to show that China is serious about reining in North Korea. Sanctions against Chinese entities may be next. Frank Ching is a freelancer journalist based in Hong Kong. Contact Frank.ching@gmail.com. Visitors browse the Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S8 experience zone at the Times Square Shopping Complex in Seoul. The company is operating 40 S8 and S8 Plus experience zones before the phone goes on sale this Friday. / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics By Lee Min-hyung Samsung Electronics' experience zones for its Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus smartphones have drawn more than 1.6 million visitors here, raising expectations for its mobile business, the company said Sunday. The company has been operating a total of 40 promotional booths in Korea since April 1. It expects record pre-orders of 1 million for the mobile devices. This pre-order estimation, unveiled by Samsung Electronics' mobile chief Koh Dong-jin last week, far exceeds its record of 400,000 for the Galaxy Note 7 last year. "The phones' edge-to-edge infinity display and almost bezel-less design have been in the spotlight, drawing attention from customers visiting the experience zones," a Samsung Electronics official said. No specific pre-order data have been revealed yet. But Samsung says the latest premium devices will outperform its predecessors, the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. "The pre-order sales are very strong here. Those in overseas markets are doing much better than the S7," Koh told the press last week. "The pre-orders in the United States far outweigh those in Korea." The U.S. is one of the company's main mobile markets, along with Korea and China. "In particular, we are seeking to raise our market share in China with our new devices by making more efforts than local firms there which are rapidly growing in terms of size and technological innovations," he added. The company has failed to make a rebound there in recent years amid the rapid rise of cheaper Chinese local brands such as Oppo and Vivo. To maximize its promotional effects, the company said it is also running an online S8 experience zone where users can enjoy interactive product experiences in 3D and 360-degree virtual reality. The company has adopted a differentiated marketing tactic by launching a variety of teaser advertisements before its official debut. Samsung is introducing key functions of the new Galaxy series online, including explanations of its first artificial intelligence assistant, Bixby. The other newly-added features include the 18.5:9 aspect ratio infinity display and four color options. The new flagship handsets will be available for sale here this Friday. Koh highlighted that the devices come with enhanced stability in major parts such as batteries, dispelling concerns over the possible recurrence of battery fires experienced by customers with the Note 7. Moon uses Samsung while Ahn loves iPhone By Kang Seung-woo Two major presidential hopefuls, Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party of Korea and Ahn Cheol-soo of the People's Party, have shown many differences in policies. They even differ in their choice of smartphones as the former uses a Samsung phone while the latter loves Apple's iPhone. Moon, the leading candidate in the May 9 presidential election, uses Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S7. The smartphone was Samsung's former flagship handset until the Korean tech giant unveiled its latest phone the Galaxy S8 last month. Samsung launched the S7 and S7 Edge in March 2016 and sold about 50 million units last year alone, as the lineup had to work overtime to fill the void left by its jumbo smartphone, the Galaxy Note 7 that was recalled late last year due to battery fire issues. The Moon camp said Wednesday there is no specific reason he chose the Samsung smartphone. Earlier this year, Moon had a picture taken showing him using a smartphone at the National Assembly and it was the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 released in 2014, according to an official of the smartphone industry. Ahn, Moon's biggest rival, carries an Apple iPhone although which model he uses remains unknown. "Apple's iPhone is a smartphone invented by an innovator," an official of Ahn's camp said. Ahn, a software mogul-turned-politician, has often shown his respect for Apple founder Steve Jobs. In a TV interview in January, he said one of his role models is Jobs. In addition, in December 2015 when he left the New Politics Alliance for Democracy that he co-founded amid a power struggle with Moon, he likened himself to Jobs. Jobs was forced out of Apple in 1985 as the board sided with CEO John Sculley, who was recruited by Jobs himself. Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, thus reviving the then-moribund company with a series of innovative products including the iPod, iPhone and iPad. Liberty Korea Party presidential candidate Hong Joon-pyo, coming in third in most public polls, also uses a Samsung phone the Galaxy S6 released in 2015. "The Galaxy phone is easy to use," a representative of the Hong camp said. The phone boasted the industry's first wireless-charging batteries and Samsung's mobile payment system Samsung Pay set for local debut in the second half of the year. The camp officials of Rep. Yoo Seong-min running on the ticket of the Bareun Party were not available for information on what smartphone he uses. In the United States, a smartphone used by its head of state gained attention earlier this year. U.S. President Donald Trump was found to use an old, unsecured Galaxy S3 smartphone, rolled out by Samsung Electronics in 2012, facing calls to trade in his unsecured handset for a locked-down, encrypted device approved by the Secret Service. Fans of JYJ's Jaejoong were puzzled regarding the K-pop idol's most recent Instagram post that read "NO". An insider close to the idol then explains the true meaning behind the puzzling photo. According to Koreaboo, the announcement of Jaejoong's co-JYJ member, Yoochun, may be the reason behind Jaejoong's most recent Instagram post. Yoochun surprised everyone when he announced his marriage last week. Fans believe that Jaejoong's Instagram post was to express his frustration regarding Yoochun's announcement. Apparently, Jaejoong and the rest of JYJ were kept in the dark by Yoochun. Other fans also believe that Jaejoong and the rest of the band are not in good terms. This however was not the case as revealed by an insider close to Jaejoong. According to the insider, the rumors of JYJ members fighting are not true. In fact, they still keep in touch with each other despite not meeting regularly. The insider also revealed that Jaejoong uploaded the Instagram photo while having dinner with his family. The insider also added that the K-pop idol may have uploaded the picture out of disbelief in how no one in their agency or in JYJ knew about Yoochun's wedding. "It's understandable to think that they didn't communicate well upon seeing Jaejoong's Instagram post," said the insider. "I don't really contact the members that much so I don't really know, but I think he isn't seeing it in a negative light, but more of a worrisome one," further clarifies the insider. The insider also added how Jaejoong was clearly taken aback by the announcement. Ultimately, the insider said that he is sure that the group will figure things out eventually. In other news, Jaejoong recently flew to Thailand after his concert in Taiwan on April 1. As previously reported, the idol visited a fan that fell into a coma. As previously reported, the fan locally known as Min, fell into a coma during her travel to South Korea to attend Jaejoong's concert. Jaejoong then donated 20 million won to Min's father, Mr. Theerapong Nasaarn. Jaejoong ended his visit to Min by taking a picture of the three of them. The K-pop idol then instructed Mr. Nasaarn to show Min their photo the moment she wakes up. The historical reboot of "My Sassy Girl" will come out this month and production has released the first teaser poster of the series. The drama is set to air this May on SBS and will replace the drama "Whisper" for the Monday and Tuesday timeslot when the drama ends. According to the report by Drama Beans, MY Sassy Girl promises to be a hilarious romcom based on the teaser. Based on the teaser, the main characters were described as "Gyun-woo, the man with the best specs in Joseon!" and "A bright, sassy woman who is the headache of the royal palace!" The historical remake of the 2001 contemporary hit which originally starred Jun Ji Hyun and Cha Tae Hyun, will take place in the Joseon Dynasty and will be top-billed by "Yong Pal" star Joo Won who will play the role of Gyun Woo, a brilliant scholar who is a bit aloof but is well loved by the people. "Shine or Go Crazy" actress Oh Yeon Seo will play the role of Princess Hyemyung, a feisty and sassy princess who will cause many headaches not for Gyun Woo but also or the entire palace staff. CNBlue's Lee Lee Jung Shin will play the part of an aristocrat who will be Gyun Woo's eventual rival for the princess' heart, Kpopstarz reported. Meanwhile, "My Sassy Girl" will be Joo Won's final project before he enlists for mandatory military service. The actor's agency Huayi Brothers has confirmed that Joo Won will be enlisting on May 16 after he received the official letter, All Kpop reported. "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," "My Sassy Girl" actor Jon Woo said to his fans. "I will be going to the army, where all men born in South Korea must go." "My Sassy Girl" will reportedly have a press conference on May 15 prior to Jon Woo's military enlistment and the drama's airing. SBS has yet to release the official air date of the series. ELKHORN With partisanship and divisive issues on the rise, some representatives at both the state and federal level have been shy about town hall meetings. But state Rep. Amy Loudenbeck, R-Clinton, called on residents in the 31st state Assembly District to meet with her April 12 at the Matheson Memorial Library to discuss progress on the states biennial budget. More than once, the dozen or so residents who showed up thanked Loudenbeck for having the town hall meeting. Loudenbeck, a member of the Assemblys Budget Committee, said this year state legislators are reviewing a proposed $76 billion budget submitted by the governor. At this point, said Loudenbeck, the budget is very fluid. Legislators are already changing the budget and it appears that funding for highway repairs in the transportation budget is going to be contentious. Transportation will be the most difficult issue, she said. Its been building over the years. Gov. Scott Walker included borrowing up to $500 million in the proposed budget to pay for highway repairs. That was stripped out of the budget by the state Legislature. Loudenbeck said she and others in the legislature want a more long-term solution than just borrowing the money for transportation. Meanwhile, the governors budget calls for a $649 million in the education budget. Of that, $500 million will go to the schools and $149 million will go to property tax relief, she said. The University of Wisconsin system will get $42.5 million with $12 million set aside for raises of 2 percent for university employees. However, the budget bill is also an omnibus bill, meaning nonfiscal policy items can be attached to the bill for final approval. This year, for the first time in more than two decades, the state Legislature pulled 83 nonfiscal items from the omnibus bill. They will be reported out as separate bills, with separate hearings and financial reviews, Loudenbeck said. Two years ago, a last minute policy change inserted into the budget bill changed shoreline zoning, removing authority from county boards and putting it in the hands of the state. Rich Charts, representing the Walworth County Lakes Association and Whitewater Rice Lake Management District, said that change caught many shoreline property owners in Walworth County by surprise and off guard. What bothered us was that it took away local control, Charts told Loudenbeck. Keep policy out Loudenbeck said that the Republican caucus told its members this session to keep policy out of the omnibus bill. Heidi Lloyd of the Walworth County Association for the Prevention of Family Violence, suggested that the state could put some extra money in the fund for sex assault victims. Lloyd recommended an increase from $2.1 million in the last biennium to $5.1 million this budget. Loudenbeck said she knew there was an increase in the budget, but was unsure as to how much. Shawn Kelly, Williams Bay, a landscape architect, said he was concerned about a proposed law that would end licensure requirements for his profession. Kelly, who worked on the current licensing requirement in the state legislature with the late state Rep. Tom Lothian, R-Williams Bay, also teaches landscape architecture at the University of Wisconsin. He said ending landscape architecture licensing would put Wisconsin at odds with insurance company and federal government requirement would discourage students from taking landscape architecture at UW, he said. Loudenbeck said she was 99-percent sure that the proposal Kelly was referring to was among the 83 policy items removed from the budget bill. I think there is a movement to review licensure in Wisconsin, Loudenbeck said. She added she was not in favor of eliminating it entirely. Ellen Pauley, a teacher who was also representing Grassroots Nation, asked about the $649 million increase in state aids to the schools. Pauley noted that $710 million had been cut from education several years ago, and now $500 million was being put back. Im glad having it back, Pauley said. But she said it still left the schools behind from where they were before. I hear from the schools, said Loudenbeck. We know our superintendents. This amount would make a significant difference for the schools, she said. Im not going to pretend that this is a great amount of money and everything is going to be fine. But the state has to weigh its priorities while putting together a budget, she said. Several in the audience raised concerns about the state DNR, which suffered staff cuts two years ago. Loudenbeck said two positions are being added to environmental quality, and money is being invested in water quality. Contentious talk Talk became more contentious over what the state Legislatures Republican party is doing to help the working poor. District residents Helga Wantschik, Mary Burpee, Bob Cole and Les Krauss all argued that Act 10, the Right to Work law and now, the elimination of prevailing wage for public construction work were attacks on workers and professionals. We dont talk about minimum wage. People are not making enough for health care, Burpee said. Would Loudenbeck support an increase in the state minimum wage, currently $7.25 an hour for most employees? I would not support increasing the minimum wage, Loudenbeck said. I want to see people work their way up the earnings ladder. I have concerns that the minimum wage is not going to raise everybody up. Loudenbeck said she and Republican legislators are trying other tacts to help the working poor. She mentioned that the proposed budget would increase the nursing home reimbursement rate by $33 million in an effort to increase the pay to senior care nurses. She said the legislature is now reviewing a bill to assist kids coming out of foster care. She said another $13 million is going into the earned tax credit for state income taxes. We are trying to help low-income families, Loudenbeck said. Im disappointed you cant support (an increase in) the minimum wage, said Burpee. But it was also Burpee who said, Thank you for being one of the legislators willing to meet with us. Author Paul Colt envisioned writing a book some day after retirement. His long commute from Lake Geneva to Milwaukee provided a lot of thinking time, he said. It was going to be a serious business book. If you go to the library looking for Colt under the business section, however, you might be disappointed. The semi-retired Colt (his pen name) found his niche writing Western novels. His love, besides his wife and family, are thrillers, he said, but despite this, he didnt feel he had the experience nor the exposure in that field to write competently. Horses seemed to point Colt to an entirely different genre of writing. I knew what end to feed a horse at, he said, explaining that he grew up riding horses in his birthplace of Madison and other towns that his family lived in. He didnt leave thrillers completely behind, however, as fans might quiver in trepidation when reading his multi-plotted novels. Colt has bragging rights to nine titles, with number ten releasing this July, and the eleventh coming out January, 2018. Colt resembles his characters gritty and tenacious. He refused to wait around for some publisher to rescue him from obscurity. He started writing around 2003 and finished his first book in 2005. There were plenty of people giving him advice, telling him his book was too short or too long, but no publishers came forward with an offer. He found a website called Western Writers of America (http://westernwriters.org/) and scrolled through it looking for other writers who might offer useful guidance. After selecting six authors, he sent emails to them asking for words of wisdom. Four responded and politely told him he wasnt ready for prime time. One author, Dusty Richards, spent a year communicating back and forth with Colt about rewrites and suggestions. He made a writer out of a storyteller, Colt said. In 2006, Colt attended one of the Western Writers of Americas conferences and met Richards, who became Colts mentor and advisor. Colt has attended every conference since, which eventually netted him a publisher. Going to those conventions was a real breakthrough, eventually opening a door to a serious publishing contract, he said. But it didnt mean automatic success or placement on the coveted New York Times Best Seller List. His first publisher went out of business. It wasnt until 2011 before commercial success became noticeable, with the last three years seeing traction. Colt estimates he has sold anywhere between 15,000 to 20,000 books. The irony of writing is its hard to predict what is really going to work. Success was not only measured in royalties for Colt, as he won the Utah Valley Universitys Marilyn Brown Unpublished Novel Competition in 2012 for his work: Boots and Saddles: A Call to Glory. His novel, Grasshoppers in Summer, was a finalist in the 2009 Western Writers of Americas Spur Awards. Colt blogs about 400 words a week on all things Western, including popular culture, legendary characters, and important events. His March 19 post featured notorious gun fighter and friend to Wyatt Earp, John Henry (Doc) Holiday. Colt entices his fans on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/paulcoltauthor/) and then leads them to his author page. There readers have an opportunity to finish reading the blog post and peruse his latest novels. Fans took to his extensive blogging on the Cowboy Code, or Code of the West, in which Colt spent several weeks detailing what it means to be a cowboy of integrity. Some of these codes are Cowboys tell the truth, A cowboys word is his bond, and Cowboys play by the rules. Some fans, especially grandparents, told Colt he needed to get this out to young people. According to Colt, the Cowboy Code posts reached over 60,000 people. His books primary markets are libraries. Colt said you wont find a Western in a Barnes & Noble, adding that If you find one, its there on accident. He did say, however, that a bookstore could order the novel. Selling the books ultimately comes down to the author, from writing his blogs, meeting people, and attending book fairs. Many authors rely on the library or the Internet for research, but Colt saddles up and trots around the countryside hes investigating. He, along with his research assistant wife, have galloped through the states Wyoming, South Dakota and Kansas. Colt sprinkles tiny details that often miss the history books into his conversations, the same facts that make his historical fiction more authentic. Mention Popular Sovereignty, and hell give you the lowdown on the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. Colt wears his cowboy getup when he visits schools to talk about being an author. They see your cowboy outfit and have questions that dont have anything to do with writing, Colt said, smiling. Thats okay with him. As long as it has to do with cowboys and the West, he is as comfortable answering their questions as he is riding horseback. To the Editor: It has been three months since the Geneva Inn announced it was approaching the city of Lake Geneva with a pre-annexation agreement. Since then significant issues have been levied against the inn, past agreements, the Lake Geneva City Council and past city officials. To date, we have yet to hear a public statement by any of our city council members regarding the widespread concerns over this proposal. This should not be taken as a cry for help. Instead, a request for leadership in this community. We need representatives that will seek the answers, provide feedback and address our concerns. Stop working in a bubble and speaking through lawyers. Start engaging your constituents. The annexation request had been an ongoing discussion in closed-door meetings for quite some time before the public learned about it the morning of the first finance committee meeting on Feb. 7, followed by a City Council meeting on Feb.13. Several concerned citizens attended these meetings on short notice and expressed concerns to our elected officials over the proposal. Are our concerns falling on deaf ears? Here at Care for Lake Geneva, we have highlighted several issues with the proposed annexation and encourage citizens to continue to share these concerns with the City Council. Here are just a few: Annexation is a stepping stone to the end goal of rezoning residential lakeside property around the Geneva Inn to commercial. This is a clear violation of The Covenant, a founding document of our community. Expansion plans sought by the Geneva Inn would negatively impact the established neighborhood surrounding the inn. The totality of the legal and financial requirements put on the city of Lake Geneva is still unknown. For instance, is their property properly zoned, is Lake Geneva required to upgrade their utilities? It will harm the relationship between Linn Township and the city of Lake Geneva. This annexation would reduce the tax base in Linn, which would take away funding for schools, emergency services and other public services for Linn residents It has the very real potential to disrupt the delicate balance between residential and commercial interests on the lake. For example, the party facility proposed by the Geneva Inn would add significant traffic both on and off the lake. It will likely result in costly litigation and local taxpayers will pay much of that bill. City leaders should be working with the community to implement plans that preserve lakeside properties and serve the interests of local tax payers. Instead, it is business as usual. Our representatives neglect to share this information in a transparent and timely fashion and once again choose to be at odds with the public. Casey Schiche Lake Geneva James Madison published the following in his Political Observations on April 20, 1795, Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. GENEVA Woods School officials are hoping to start work on a $4.6 million addition/renovation project June 1. There may be some external site work that is begun before that, said Woods Administrator Jeff Klaisner. But before that, the school district needs a conditional use permit, which the Walworth County Zoning Agency will discuss at its April 20 meeting. The district needs the permit because the project is on land zoned for park use, at N2575 Snake Road, and the school size will increase by more than 25 percent. The project was approved by voters in November 2016. Klaisner said the county and town of Geneva have already granted setback variances. Were basically going up against pretty much every one of our property lines, he said. Another requirement is a driveway access agreement with neighbor Irish Woods Farm LLC, which Klaisner said has been cooperative and supportive. Once the necessary approvals have been granted, the district expects to send out all bid requests, said Klaisner. Between November and now, however, school staff, board members and others have refined the layout of the 19,000-square-foot addition. The school board also opted for an underground water detention system, to avoid having bodies of open water near the school. Learning communities, security Design goals have remained to enhance security at Woods and create learning communities within the school, said Klaisner. The communities are groups of classes. Kindergarten through second-grade classrooms will be at the existing buildings west end, with third- through fifth-grades to the east. South of the upper grades will be something Woods currently does not have dedicated classrooms for art, family and consumer sciences, world language and special education. Further south is the proposed addition, which will house the new 8,600-square-foot gym and new classrooms for math, science and other programs. There also will be two sets of doors at every entrance into the school building, including a slight remodel of the main entrance which directs foot traffic through the front office. Klaisner thinks everything in the design clicked once someone, he cant remember who, suggested moving the library into the historic part of the building, which is currently used by the kindergarten class. It was just a really positive domino effect that got us to where the goals were, he said. Timeline Officials are looking at completing renovations to the existing Woods School building by the start of the 2017-18 school year, and being ready to occupy the addition after winter break, in January 2018. Its an aggressive timetable, and one I think were all excited about, said Klaisner. The school has, however, changed the end of the current school year as well as the 2017-18 calendar to help accommodate the work. The current year will end a day earlier. The board changed the last day of school for students from June 2 to June 1. Originally, staff was going to have the final day of the 2016-17 year June 6, but its now June 2. Woods also delayed the start of the 2017-18 year, which is now Monday, Sept. 11. However, the year will end a week later, Klaisner said. Were basically giving them a few more days on the front end of (the calendar), to start construction, and an additional week on the end of summer, just so they have adequate time to make sure things are ready to go, he said. Honoring Cesar Chavez Op Ed by Ruben Martinez, Ph.D. Cesar Chavez died near his hometown of Yuma, AZ on April 22, 1993 at the age of 66. Chavez was in San Luis, AZ to assist UFW attorneys defend the union against a lawsuit brought by Bruce Church Inc. (BCI), a giant California-based lettuce and vegetable producer. Eastern Michigan University's 12th annual Cesar Chavez celebration YPSILANTI: Eastern Michigan University is the most diverse university in Michigan, which it holds as a defining and singular strength. As part of that, EMU is proud to host various events throughout the year that celebrate all races, cultures and ethnicities. Por: Isabel Flores, corresponsal La Prensa DETROIT, MI: La Comision Nacional de Libros de Textos Gratuitos (Conaliteg) cuenta en su portal de internet con el acervo digital de todos los libros de texto gratuitos para el ciclo escolar 2019 - 2020. El catalogo puede consultarse en la direccion: http:/libros.conaliteg.gob.mx De esta manera, los ninos podran mantenerse entretenidos con informacion en su propio idioma y estar al dia con sus materias, mientras se encuentran en casa por la contingencia. Census 2020: Todos Debemos ser Contados PRESS RELEASE Chinese Foreign Minister Previews the May Silk Road Summit; Will Reshape the Global Economy April 18, 2017 (EIRNS)In preparation for the One Belt, One Road summit to be held on May 14-15, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi today described the schedule and topics to be covered, and the stunning global representation that will be present in Beijing. Wang said that the heads of state of 28 nations have confirmed their participation in the event, including the presidents of Argentina, Belarus, Chile, the Czech Republic, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Laos, the Philippines, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam, and the prime ministers of Cambodia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malaysia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Poland, Serbia, Spain, Sri Lanka, and the Myanmar state counselor. He said that London, Paris, and Berlin plan to send high-level representatives rather than heads of state, due to their elections. All told, more than 1,200 delegates will attend the forum, officials report, from 110 nations, and more than 60 international organizations. One would assume there is still time for President Trump to submit his registration. Minister Wang said China is working with countries along the Belt and Road routes on nearly 20 action plans, concerning infrastructure, energy and resources, production capacity, trade, and investment. China expects to sign cooperation agreements with nearly 20 countries at the forum, he said. China will also work to build an international cooperation platform for science, technology, and environmental protection, and enhanced exchanges and training of talent. On the first day of the summit, Wang said, there will be an opening ceremony, attended by President Xi, which will include a speech by Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli. This will be followed by "high-level meetings," and also six parallel panel sessions. President Xi will also host a roundtable summit on the second day, to include participation by heads of state, the UN Secretary General, the World Bank president, and IMF director Christine LaGarde. The goal is to issue a document defining goals and principles to refine cooperation. Putting to rest any doubt about China/Russia relations as fallout from recent British geopolitical attempted sabotage, Minister Wang said, "As for Russia and China, we, the leaders of our countries, have agreed on conjugating the EAEU [Eurasian Economic Union] and One Belt, One Road." Wang also said China "greets with fervor" the decision by Russian President Vladimir Putin" in his participation, which "testifies to a high level of relations between our countries." He said that Germany and France expressed their desire to attend the Belt and Road Forum, but their leaders are unable to attend due to the elections in these states; however, he said, London, Paris, and Berlin plan to send their high-level representatives. Wang insisted the absence of some Western leaders not be politicized. "This is the economic initiative and it deals with the economic cooperation, so we do not want it to be politicized." Reuters coverage politicizes non-attendance like hell, in the textbook British color-revolution mode. Reuters writes that PRESS RELEASE Japanese Politician Calls for Dialogue with North Korea To Resolve Tensions; Abe Did Not Endorse U.S. Strike on Syria April 18, 2017 (EIRNS)Muneo Suzuki, the head of the New Party Daichi of Japan and unofficial advisor to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, called for dialogue with North Korea in order to resolve the tensions of the Korean Peninsula. "I believe that pressure should not remain the only tool of interaction. At the same time we must try to involve North Koreans in a dialogue on the international arena. One should express wisdom, find a right approachthat will not be easy but it does not mean that one should sit idle," Suzuki told the Russian Izvestia newspaper. He also pointed out the important roles of the United States and China in solving the North Korean nuclear issue. Suzuki also has clarified the important point, that Prime Minister Abe did not endorse the U.S. strike on Syria. Suzuki told Izvestia April 18, "Shinzo Abe, despite some media reports, did not express support for the U.S. military action in Syria during the conversation with Donald Trump." Suzuki said, Abe "did not mention that at all." (Media had reported that Trump had thanked Abe for Japans support.) Suzuki went on to say that he had told Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov that Abe had "taken into account the Russian factor." Abe is scheduled to visit Russia on April 27-28. PRESS RELEASE Normandy Four Affirm Ceasefire, Then London Hosts Poroshenko To Speak Against Russia April 18, 2017 (EIRNS)The Normandy Four leadersRussian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, French President Francois Hollande, and German Chancellor Angela Merkelspoke by phone yesterday. "The Normandy Four leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the Minsk accords in the field of security and political aspects of peace settlement," the Kremlin reported. "They welcomed the agreement on resumption of the Easter ceasefire that was reached on March 29 at a meeting of the Contact Group [for settling the conflict in Ukraine] and stressed the importance of its strict observance." Immediately after the phone call, the Ukrainian presidential office reported that Poroshenko would be going to London on April 18-19 at the invitation of British Prime Minister Theresa May. On his schedule while in London is the delivery of a speech April 19, titled "Battle for Ukraine: Leadership and Solidarity Against Aggression," at the Royal Institute for International Affairs, also known as Chatham House. The RIIA advance notice condemns how, PRESS RELEASE Pence Takes Belligerent but Non-Military Stance on North Korea April 18, 2017 (EIRNS)Vice President Mike Pence, while in South Korea, yesterday, where he visited the Demilitarized Zone among other places, issued fresh warnings against Pyongyang, which were met with equally belligerent language from North Korea. However, according to reported remarks by Pence at various stops, the Trump Administration is holding off from extreme action, and looking to China, too. "Theres a lot of economic and political pressure points that I think China can utilize," White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters yesterday. Pence, himself, indicated that the administration is looking for a non-military way out of the crisis. "The era of strategic patience is over, and while all options are on the table, President Trump is determined to work closely with Japan, with South Korea, with all our allies in the region and with China to achieve a peaceable resolution and the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula," he said this morning in Tokyo, before having lunch with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Meanwhile, the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Carl Vinson continues on its way to Korean waters. However, contrary to earlier news hype that suggested that it was ready to launch air strikes against North Korea, it is at least a weeks sailing time away, having passed north through the Sunda Strait in Indonesia, some 3,500 miles south of the Korean Peninsula, on April 15. There is expectation that the strike group may arrive in the vicinity of the Korean Peninsula around April 25. The lesson likely to be widely drawn from the eviction of Bill OReilly from Fox News, announced Wednesday, is that even the biggest of big shots cant evade their comeuppance forever. Put simply, what goes around comes around. This will no doubt gratify the legions who detest OReilly for his politics, his abusive manners, his baleful influence on American public discourse and his reported history of sexual harassment, the proximate cause of his departure from Fox. But its the wrong lesson. The right lesson is less uplifting. Its that if you bring in lots of money for your employer and have the right friends in the right places, you can get away with the most egregious conduct almost forever. I was a young astronomer in a vulnerable position and the harasser was my supervisor. Joan Schmelz, describing a power imbalance familiar to women in academia Advertisement OReilly, after all, has been at the top of the broadcasting world for at least a couple of decades. He made it all the way to the post-retirement age of 67 before getting fired despite having been publicly accused of sexual harassment, in great detail, by a Fox producer in a quickly settled lawsuit nearly 17 years ago. The terms of his separation from Fox havent been disclosed, but its a safe bet that it will be measured in the millions of dollars. What may be most telling about the OReilly case is that its far from unique. Indeed, many of its features were replicated at an institution that, on the surface, is as different from Fox as one could imagine: UC Berkeley. Neither Fox nor Berkeley would probably relish being discussed in the same sentence as the other, but its their handling of accused serial harassers that makes them cousins. The Berkeley case involves renowned astronomer Geoff Marcy, who was forced to resign his tenured professorship in 2015 after reports surfaced of multiple accusations from students of unwanted sexual overtures. Marcy had joined the Berkeley faculty in 1999 from San Francisco State University and was touted as one of its stars. Often cited as a candidate for the Nobel Prize, he commanded millions of dollars in research funds. As BuzzFeed observed upon breaking the story of Berkeleys sub-rosa investigation of the astronomer, Marcys behavior had been an open secret among his colleagues in astronomy; some had witnessed what they considered improper conduct at a major scientific conference. Confronted by what seemed to be a wall of tolerant silence within the department, many female astronomy students felt their only recourse was to keep out of Marcys way, even though that could hamper their career development. Other promising graduate candidates avoided Berkeley altogether. The universitys initial response after investigating the allegations was effectively to let Marcy off with a warning that repetition would have more dire consequences. Marcy later claimed that he had changed his behavior years earlier, after being told by colleagues that it made women uncomfortable. BuzzFeeds disclosure of Berkeleys quiet slap on the wrist to Marcy ignited a firestorm of condemnation. Astronomy department co-chair Gibor Basri, an old friend of Marcys who had known of the allegations and the investigation, issued a remarkably tone-deaf statement the day after the article was published, calling the event hardest for Geoff in this moment. But two days later, Basri joined 23 astronomy faculty members in a formal statement asserting that Marcy cannot perform the functions of a faculty member. Two days after that, Marcy resigned. Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Claude Steele saw him off with a statement calling his conduct, as established by the investigation, contemptible and inexcusable. But he departed with the title of emeritus professor, which he still claims and which the university described as a formality granted to anyone who resigns as a professor. He doesnt have an office, and will not have an office, a university spokesman said. Hes not teaching, and never will in the future. It may be tempting to view the outcomes of the OReilly and Marcy cases as victories in the fight against sexual inequality in the workplace. But that only ignores the difficulty of bringing them to a conclusion, the pain inflicted on victims and targets along the way, and the persistence of an indulgent environment in corporate America, academia and, yes, government. The determining factor in the existence of serial sexual harassment isnt necessarily a tolerant employer even though Fox News was headed by an accused harasser, Roger Ailes but power exercised without restraint or oversight. That can happen even in an institution that defines itself as a progressive, inclusive workplace, such as Berkeley. Power plays can happen anywhere. Indeed, domineering behavior is common throughout academia. A 2014 study by researchers at the University of Illinois Skidmore and Harvard documented widespread harassment and assault of students on field assignments in science. Few were aware of codes of conduct and sexual harassment policies and fewer knew how to complain. Women were the principal targets, with senior professionals the perpetrators. In 2011, the distinguished astronomer Joan Schmelz described years of harassment in her field: I was a young astronomer in a vulnerable position and the harasser was my supervisor. The necessary factor is an emphasis on a powerful persons ostensible value to the enterprise, rather than that persons effect on the work environment. In her celebrated expose of the abusive bro-culture at her former workplace, Uber, Susan Fowler detailed how harassers at the company were repeatedly defended, even by senior personnel executives, as high performers. Its true that many such performers live on a knife-edge, perhaps knowing that not much would be needed to bring them down. Fowlers lone article, published on her own blog in February, inspired a flood of reports of abuse of female employees at Uber and placed its CEO, Travis Kalanick, on thin ice thanks to his responsibility for the workplace environment at the transportation company. Marcys conduct became a public issue only after BuzzFeed disclosed Berkeleys confidential investigation, resulting in his resignation only days later. OReillys downfall can be traced to the immediate effect of a New York Times article detailing repeated financial settlements reached with his accusers, and Ailes departure from Fox News to a lawsuit filed by former on-air personality Gretchen Carlson. Yet much more conduct surely continues behind the curtain, waged by powerful people (usually men) against victims who perceive that the career consequences of speaking out may be more dire and long-lived than the suffering they face, or that they wont receive a fair hearing from superiors who often are longtime friends and colleagues of their tormentors, or those who profit from their high performance. The sad truth is that high performance still casts a protective shroud over contemptible and inexcusable behavior. Its arguable that what really eroded the ground under OReillys feet at Fox wasnt his conduct per se, but the flight of advertisers from his daily TV program. Certainly his conduct had been no secret to his employers, but the fact that profits flowing from his show could cease was a revelation. He was the same Bill OReilly as ever, just no longer such a high performer. That suggests that the OReilly syndrome is nowhere near cured. Somewhere in America, even now, people are ruthlessly abusing underlings with the confidence that stems from professional prestige or the ability to bring in the big bucks. They may be quietly told by superiors to knock it off, but their victims are also being quietly told to take it if they know whats good for them. Nothing at Fox, Berkeley or Uber will do much to change that, yet. Keep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see his Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com. Return to Michael Hiltziks blog. The nations colleges and universities are scrambling to add courses to prepare students to fill the huge number of cybersecurity jobs that have arisen because of the exponential growth in hacking worldwide. The extent of the problem isnt clear; analysts say the number of job vacancies ranges from 100,000 to 350,000, with as many as 45,000 positions in California. Ashton Mozano, a cybersecurity professor at the University of San Diego, says there are thousands of $80,000 entry-level jobs available to applicants who have nothing more than an undergraduate degree in computer science or computer engineering. Advertisement Analysts are trying to nail down the actual number of openings. But the shortfall is real. A lot of the blame has been placed on academia for failing to train large numbers of students with targeted skills. Industry and government officials also are being criticized for failing to define their needs more clearly a key component for helping colleges solve the labor shortage. Several vocational schools, such as Hack Reactor and General Assembly, have popped up in Los Angeles in recent years to train people for variety of computer programming jobs, and they teach skills that would be beneficial in cybersecurity. UCLA Extension, USC, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State San Bernardino and Loyola Law School, among others, have cybersecurity programs. The University of San Diego works closely with Circadence Corp., a San Diego company led by Mozano that specializes in the gamification of cybersecurity training. Students are exposed to high-resolution videos and graphics that give them a sense of what a real hack attack is like. They also use the immersive software to learn how to spot and prevent digital assaults. Mozano is trying to change the way that students are taught in hopes of drawing larger numbers of people into the field quickly. Certain academic fields in mathematics and engineering are infamous for presenting material in drab, monotonic, esoteric, non-interactive manners, he said. To make matters worse, cybersecurity suffers from an image problem. The field pays well, but many computer science students would rather create new products and technologies for Apple or Google. Computer science is sexy. Cyber isnt, said P.K. Agarwal, regional dean of Northeastern Universitys Silicon Valley campuses, which teach cybersecurity. The field offers high-stress jobs where you can get fired if things go wrong, and no one pats you on the back if there were no problems overnight, he added. Analysts said the industry needs to jazz things up and highlight job opportunities. Meanwhile, the staffing shortage is serious enough that the president should train 100,000 new cybersecurity practitioners by 2020, the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity said Dec. 1. The shortage also means youll see more things like the Tesco attack, which targeted bank accounts [in England], and a greater risk to healthcare records and everyday devices like your phone, said John Callahan, director of cybersecurity programs at the University of San Diego. In the digital age, this is potentially the greatest period of risk that consumers have ever faced. Theres special concern about ransomware, a type of malicious software that hackers can use to remotely take control of computers, including those in automobiles. In most cases, victims have paid money sometimes tens of thousands of dollars to regain control. For example, hackers carried out such an attack against Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center last year, leading the hospital to pay $17,000 in ransom. The U.S. Justice Department estimates that there are about 4,000 attempted ransomware attacks each day against individuals, companies and the government, and that many of them are successful. Based on FBI statistics, bank robbery in the U.S. is a $40-million-a-year problem, whereas cybercriminals using ransomware are making over $200 million per quarter, said Stephen Cobb, a senior researcher at digital security company ESET. The federal government and the military began to significantly ramp up their efforts to fight cyberattacks about a decade ago. Security firms and a wide range of companies did the same. Analysts said most cyberattacks, including some pretty sophisticated ones, are blocked or minimized. But hackers have quickly adapted to methods designed to stop them. Hackers have stolen data from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clintons presidential campaign. Earlier this year, hackers stole digital spying tools thought to belong to the National Security Agency. In late November, a hacker disabled the fare system for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, forcing it to give free rides until proper operations were restored. Experts said these kinds of intrusions underscore the need to develop a huge professional class of cyber professionals and to market the field as a noble and dynamic domain where well-regarded, highly valued specialists defend precious assets and protect the publics safety. Northeastern Universitys Agarwal says there are about 100,000 of these unfilled jobs nationwide. Peninsula Press, a journalism program at Stanford University, puts the figure at 209,000. Cyber Seek, an industry-government coalition, said it could be about 350,000 when including positions that require at least some cyber abilities. The jobs include security analysts, network engineers, software developers and risk managers. Some lower-level positions pay as much as $70,000 a year. Management positions can top $235,000. Technical know-how is important for job candidates, but other qualities are prized too. There is a desperate need for technologists who can speak at both the engineering and board levels candidates who can understand technology and yet speak to the business case for security, said Kirsten Bay, chief executive of Cyber AdAPT in Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco. The best cybersecurity professionals think like criminals, said Domini Clark, an Idaho-based recruiter at the recruiting company Decision Toolbox. The joke in the industry is that superstars have an evil bit in the code of their personalities. They know better than to have a high-profile online presence. Paranoid is too strong a word, but they tend to be hyper-cautious and some take pride in operating in stealth mode. gary.robbins@sduniontribune.com With more than 5,000 episodes of The OReilly Factor airing on Fox News since its debut as The OReilly Report in 1996, Bill OReilly is a known quantity, for better or worse. Now, 21 years later, OReilly is on his way out at the cable news network, after an April 1 New York Times report revealed that he and the network had paid out more than $13 million in settlements to women who accused him of sexual harassment. During his decades of dominance The OReilly Factor held the No. 1 spot on cable news ratings for 60 consecutive quarters through March 2015 the Fox News stalwart was a volatile and controversial figure, who viewers loved and/or loved to hate. Advertisement Here are six moments that perfectly capture the tempestuous personality that helped build a cable news empire. Bill OReilly vs. Maxine Waters (March 2017) WATCH: On Fox and Friends, Bill O'Reilly on @MaxineWaters : "I didn't hear a word she said, I was looking at the James Brown wig." pic.twitter.com/ScHN0fOmxO Yashar Ali (@yashar) March 28, 2017 Just days before the New York Times revealed the harassment claims that spurred the advertiser pullout for The OReilly Factor, OReilly was in hot water for mocking California Rep. Maxine Waters hair as she delivered an impassioned speech criticizing President Trump. I didnt hear a word she said, I was looking at the James Brown wig, OReilly stated during an appearance on Fox & Friends. Though OReilly later apologized, he immediately pivoted from the inappropriateness of his comments to how Waters thoughts about the president were unpatriotic. Bill OReilly vs. Ludacris (August 2002) MUST WATCH: In 2002, Bill O'Reilly successfully pushed Pepsi to drop its sponsorship of @Ludacris calling him "a man who degrades women" pic.twitter.com/XjuxgQxXyV Yashar Ali (@yashar) April 5, 2017 In a move that some might view as deeply ironic, given OReillys current circumstances, the embattled host was victorious when he encouraged Pepsi to cut ties with rapper Ludacris because the latter was a man who degrades women. OReilly credited Pepsis decision to discontinue the ad campaign featuring Ludacris to his audience. Apparently thousands of you let Pepsi know Ludacris was unacceptable, and today they canceled him, OReilly stated. Bill OReilly vs. David Letterman (ongoing) Letterman calls bill o'reilly a GOON https://t.co/VIu06woBEO Johanness-Poul Haukkavaara (@JPHaukkavaara) March 31, 2017 Though successor Stephen Colbert is growing increasingly comfortable filling David Lettermans shoes when it comes to grilling political figures, Letterman was still the best at holding pundits feet to the fire. Letterman and OReilly had a long-running relationship that was both respectful and cantankerous, including this interview where Letterman informs OReilly that he thinks hes a goon. In a recent interview with Vulture, Letterman told the outlet that before he became standard talk show fare OReilly was one of his favorite guests. Bill OReilly vs. Michelle Obama (July 2016) During the Democratic National Convention in July, OReilly took issue with then-First Lady Michelle Obamas remarks that marveled at being the first black family to occupy the White House, a structure partially built by slave labor. While OReilly did acknowledge the use of slave labor in the construction of the White House, he went to great lengths to emphasize that the slaves were well-fed and had decent lodgings. Bill OReilly vs. Jon Stewart (ongoing) Like Letterman, Jon Stewart also had a history of sparring with the face of Fox News. Stewart never failed to roast OReilly for his perceived failings during his years spent hosting The Daily Show. The OReilly/Stewart feud was so prominent that the two even participated in a mock presidential-style debate in 2012 to raise funds for charity. But, also like Letterman, Stewart reserved a certain amount of latent respect for OReilly, even going so far as to defend him in 2015 from criticism surrounding his claims to war-zone reporting. While some outlets accused OReilly of exaggerating his experience reporting from dangerous locales, Stewart accused those same outlets of being disingenuous, saying they were putting in a tremendous amount of work to say the emperor has no clothes, when the emperor has spent, like, the last 20 years going Im naked! Bill OReilly vs. Alan Colmes (March 2013) Fox News liberal contributor Alan Colmes left OReilly in a tizzy during a 2013 segment during which OReilly accused Colmes of being a liar for defending President Obamas budget plans. Colmes held his ground, chastising OReilly, saying that theres room for disagreement without accusations of lying. When Colmes died in February of this year, OReilly gave his colleague a glowing tribute during The OReilly Factor. See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour libby.hill@latimes.com @midwestspitfire ALSO Bill OReilly is officially out at Fox News, replaced by Tucker Carlson Fox News ratings could drop 25% with the loss of Bill OReilly, its biggest star What we know, and dont know, about Bill OReilly The trees that shade, cool and feed people from Ventura County to the Mexican border are dying so fast that within a few years its possible the region will look, feel, sound and smell much less pleasant than it does now. Were witnessing a transition to a post-oasis landscape in Southern California, says Greg McPherson, a supervisory research forester with the U.S. Forest Service who has been studying what he and others call an unprecedented die-off of the trees greening Southern Californias parks, campuses and yards. Botanists in recent years have documented insect and disease infestations as theyve hop-scotched about the region, devastating Griffith Parks sycamores and destroying over 100,000 willows in San Diego Countys Tijuana River Valley Regional Park, for example. Advertisement Its heartbreaking to see trees dying in such dramatic numbers in famously lush cities like Pasadena, Alhambra and Arcadia. Jerrold Turney, plant pathologist for Los Angeles County. 1 / 9 The polyphagous shot hole borer beetle on a sycamore tree in Craig Regional Park in Fullerton. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 9 A crew from the West Coast Arborists cut down another tree on the grounds of Craig Regional Park in Fullerton that is infested with the polyphagous shot hole borer beetle. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 9 A pedestrian walks past the mounds of dirt where trees once stood in Craig Regional Park in Fullerton April 7, 2017. The dying trees are infested with the invasive beetle, the polyphagous shot hole borer and are literally being eaten and weakened one tunnel at a time. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 9 Looking at a cross section of a tree that was destroyed by the polyphagous shot hole borer beetle that was eaten and weakened one tunnel at a time. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 9 Ranulfo Peralta with West Coast Arborists cuts-down another infested tree in Craig Regional Park in Fullerton. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 9 The larvae of a pacific flat headed borer wiggles and moves around in the caverns of an infested tree in Craig Regional Park in Fullerton. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 9 Dr. John Kabashima with the University Of California Agriculture and Natural Resources inspects an infested tree on the grounds of Craig Regional Park in Fullerton. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 9 Dr. Akif Eakalen, plant pathologist at UC Riverside inspects the cross-section of a tree in Craig Regional Park in Fullerton. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 9 Dr. Akif Eakalen, plant pathologist at UC Riverside, Dr. John Kabashima and research assistant....look at an infested tree in Craig Regional Park prior to the tree being cut down. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) McPhersons is the first survey to quantify and assess the big picture. Its not a pretty one. His initial estimate is that just one particularly dangerous menace the polyphagous shot hole borer beetle could kill as many as 27 million trees in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, including parts of the desert. Thats roughly 38% of the 71 million trees in the 4,244 square mile urban region with a population of about 20 million people. And that insect is just one of the imminent threats. Many of the trees we grow evolved in temperate climates and cant tolerate the stress of drought, water restrictions, higher salinity levels in recycled water, wind and new pests that arrive almost daily via global trade and tourism, local transportation systems, nurseries and the movement of infected firewood, he said. There will be no miraculous recovery of these urban ecosystems after the beetles are done with them. Mark Hoddle, director of UC Riversides Center for Invasive Species. The polyphagous shot hole borer beetle on a sycamore tree in Craig Regional Park in Fullerton. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) If as many trees as projected die, the cost to remove and replace them could be about $36 billion, he said. But Southern Californians would face many other costs. Catastrophic loss of our canopy, McPherson said, would have consequences for human health and well-being, property values, air-conditioning savings, carbon storage, the removal of pollutants from the air we breathe, and wildlife habitat. Jerrold Turney, plant pathologist for Los Angeles County, likened the surge in urban tree mortality to watching a train wreck in slow motion. Its heartbreaking, he said, to see trees dying in such dramatic numbers in famously lush cities like Pasadena, Alhambra and Arcadia: sycamores, all the maples, olives, liquidambers, flower plums, myrtles, oleanders and oaks. Mark Hoddle, director of UC Riversides Center for Invasive Species, said that the tree loss is starting to cascade across the urban landscape. Without shade trees, water temperatures will rise and algae will bloom in riparian areas, for instance, Hoddle said. As a result, fish, frog and native insect populations will diminish, along with the pleasure of hiking, because therell be nothing to look at but dead boughs of trees. And, he added, there will be no miraculous recovery of these urban ecosystems after the beetles are done with them. Among the hardest-hit native species of urban trees are California sycamores, typically found along streams and commonly used as shade and street trees in places such as Griffith Park and along downtowns Wilshire Boulevard. Heres the sad news about sycamores, said Akif Eskalen, a plant pathologist at the University of California, Riverside. If we cannot control the shot hole borer, it will kill all the sycamores in California. And when theyre done with sycamores, theyll move to other trees. By 2012, pathologists knew that the shot hole borer was transmitting a fatal fungal disease to 19 species of trees in Southern California, he said. Since then, scientists have identified 30 additional host species. If we cannot control the shot hole borer, it will kill all the sycamores in California. Akif Eskalen, plant pathologist at the University of California, Riverside. Looking at a cross section of a tree that was destroyed by the polyphagous shot hole borer beetle that was eaten and weakened one tunnel at a time. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) We expect the number of tree hosts to grow even higher over the next few years, Eskalen said. And at this point, theres not much we can do about that. Meanwhile, the relatively recent invasion of shot hole borers is only part of the crisis that scientists are scrambling to control. In San Diego County, it was a cousin of the ployphagous beetle, the Kuroshio shot hole borer, that infested more than 144,000 willow trees in Tijuana River Valley Regional Park last year, officials said. The goldspotted oak borer has killed tens of thousands of drought-stressed oak trees while moving from San Diego County to Los Angeles County. The aphid-size Asian citrus psyllid is transferring an incurable bacterial disease from tree to tree as it feeds on citrus leaves. A flying insect known as the glassy-winged sharpshooter is spreading oleander leaf scorch, a bacterial disease that was first discovered in the Palm Springs area and has now spread throughout Southern California. The 1 1/2-inch-long South American palm weevil poses a serious threat to palms throughout the Southwestern United States after turning up in 2016 in the neighborhoods just north of the Mexican border. In Orange Countys Holy Jim Canyon, the word is plague, said Michael Milligan, chief of the local volunteer fire department. Thousands of dead and still-standing alders look like pick-up sticks propped up along the creek. At Craig Regional Park in Fullerton, circular dirt patches of dirt are all that remains of dozens of venerable sycamores that had shaded a canyon where families came to picnic and even hold weddings. Vanessa Fields, 47, of Brea, and her friend Diane Swanson, 67, of Buena Park, were stunned by the devastation they came upon during a lunch-hour stroll on a recent weekday. What the heck happened here? Fields asked. Wheres the gorgeous trees? That same day, horticulture expert John Kabashima was checking up on one of the many stricken sycamores at that park. Peering through a magnifying glass, he marveled at the persistence of polyphagous beetles fulfilling their complex life-cycles. The bugs are smaller than sesame seeds, but they bore by the thousands into the bark, then line the tunnels with a species of fungi that disrupts the transport of water and nutrients from roots to leaves. Within a few weeks, their larvae hatch, mature and mate to produce new generations in the tree. This pest is unusual in that it reproduces . . . within the tree, he said. As a result, it is extremely difficult to reach and treat. When it comes to invasive insects and disease, agriculture gets all the attention and money. John Kabashima, horticulturist Kabashima said state and federal officials have been slow to respond with organized campaigns to eradicate the pests that are ravaging the trees because urban forests dont support logging crews and regional economies. When it comes to invasive insects and disease, agriculture gets all the attention and money, Kabashima said with a sigh. Urban forests have been left out in the cold. :: Many of the invasive insects and diseases ravaging Southern California arrived as stowaways on trees and plants installed during the post-World War II housing boom. Unchecked by natural predators, their numbers exploded during the most severe drought on record, which officially ended earlier this month. Scientists say that an average of nine new insect species establish populations on the landscape each year, and three of those interlopers become significant pests. Frank McDonough, botanist at the Los Angeles County Arboretum, suggested that urban forests are suffering partly because so many of the trees we grow dont belong here and arent sustainable without plentiful supplies of imported water. Historic photos of the region show coastal shrubs, oaks on the foothills and sycamores along streams and rivers, he said. Yet, we planted way too many trees from areas that get two to three times as much rain as we do. Liquidambar is one example. The species evolved in the Southeastern United States, then developers and property owners planted it in Southern California after World War II. At the time, the trees seemed perfect: Not too tall, with lustrous maple-like leaves that turn into a spectacular show of yellow, pink and red hues in the fall. Decades later, leaf scorch, shot hole borers and drought are quickly adding Liquidambar to the long list of trees whose days in Southern California appear to be numbered. Andy Lipkis, founder of the nonprofit TreePeople, said Southern Californians are starting to pay attention to the crisis, recognizing just how indebted they are to the regions trees. Losing our trees would cost us a lot, he said, including the accelerated loss of the California Dream in neighborhoods throughout the region. Trees he said, reduce heat and light intensity, protect water, rid the air of pollutants and instill a sense of peace by filling the landscape with the sights, smells and sounds of nature. McPherson said he hopes his report wakes up the states leaders to the die-off. The next steps, he said, should include monitoring the unprecedented damage the urban forests are suffering, and taking steps to remove dead trees and plant new, probably different ones: a new, diverse palette of well-adapted species that may not be currently available in nurseries. It may be, for example, that trees that grow well in, say, Phoenix ... are the ones that will grow well in Los Angeles in decades to come, he said. Louis.Sahagun@latimes.com @LouisSahagun ALSO Los Angeles State Historic Park is about to open after 16 years of delays Polar bear at SeaWorld San Diego dies after a brief, unexplained illness L.A. County creates a lower-cost alternative for Southern California Edison customers A 23-year-old man has sued the Trump administration over his deportation to Mexico in February, saying he has permission to live and work in the United States under an Obama-era immigration program that protects young people who were brought into the country illegally as children. If his claim is correct, it is believed he would be the first person with protected status under President Obamas Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, to be deported under President Trump. Juan Manuel Montes, a Mexican national who has lived in the U.S. since he was 9, filed a lawsuit Tuesday demanding that federal officials release information about why he was deported. Advertisement Montes, who has learning disabilities after suffering a traumatic brain injury when he was young, worked in Californias agricultural fields to help support his family and studied welding at a community college before he was deported to Mexico on Feb. 17 without explanation, his lawsuit alleges. I was forced out because I was nervous and didnt know what to do or say, but my home is there, Montes said in a statement. Montes says he was approved for DACA in 2014, received a renewal in 2016, and that his DACA status and work permit were valid. Montes was walking to a taxi station in the border town of Calexico after visiting with a friend when a Border Patrol official on a bicycle stopped him and asked for identification, according to a statement from the National Immigration Law Center, an immigrant rights organization that is part of a group representing Montes in his lawsuit. Montes did not have ID with him, having left it in his friends car, the statement said. Montes was taken to a Border Patrol station where, he alleges, he was made to sign documents and not allowed to see an immigration judge or attorney. He was also not given copies of the documents he signed, the lawsuit states. In the middle of the night, he was taken to Mexicali, Mexico. Juan Manuel was funneled across the border without so much as a piece of paper to explain why or how, Nora A. Preciado, a staff attorney at the immigration law center, said in a statement. The government shouldnt treat anyone this way much less someone who has DACA. No one should have to file a lawsuit to find out what happened to them. In March, Montes and his attorneys filed a Freedom of Information Act request with Customs and Border Protection, asking for all records of his interaction with the agency, but they have not received any additional information, the complaint states. Montes also unsuccessfully sought information from Citizenship and Immigration Services and from the Calexico Port of Entry. In a statement late Tuesday, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Montes was arrested after illegally entering the U.S. by climbing over the fence in downtown Calexico. Montes admitted under oath during the arrest interview that he had entered illegally, Ralph DeSio, the agency spokesman, said in the statement. However, the lawsuit contends that the fence-climbing incident happened separately days after Montes was initially deported by Border Patrol agents. DeSio also said Montes DACA status expired in August 2015, and that he had been convicted of theft, for which he received probation. Montes attorney Karen Tumlin said the border protection agency is incorrect and that federal documents show Montes DACA was due to expire in 2018. The lawsuit states that Montes has a single misdemeanor offense but that it doesnt disqualify him from DACA. News of Montes deportation spread fast, prompting immigration rights organizations to launch a petition demanding that Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly allow Montes to return to the U.S. Montes deportation is a departure from Trumps promise to protect from deportation people who were brought to the U.S. as children. An estimated 742,000 so-called Dreamers those given protection under the program live in the U.S. Roughly one out of three lives in California. Greisa Martinez, advocacy director with United We Dream and a beneficiary of the DACA program, called the deportation an attack. An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us and weve got Juans back, she said. cindy.carcamo@latimes.com Twitter: @thecindycarcamo ALSO Real estate investor fined $17,000 over excess L.A. City Council campaign donations Suspect in Fresno shooting rampage spoke about racial conflict and black nationalism Man charged with stealing FBI agents gun and other gear from car trunk Community activists won a victory in 2001 when an abandoned downtown rail yard slated to become an industrial center was instead sold for use as a park in the historic heart of Los Angeles. Theyve been waiting ever since for an urban oasis to blossom on the 32-acre site sandwiched between Chinatown and the Los Angeles River and surrounded by neighborhoods that have been ports of entry for L.A.s immigrant populations for nearly two centuries. Stalled in the budgeting and construction stages for 16 years, the new Los Angeles State Historic Park will celebrate its grand opening on Saturday. Advertisement On Monday, Sean Woods, superintendent of the park, gave an approving nod to crews pruning trees and sweeping walkways in preparation for the event. Beautiful, isnt it? he said. Youre looking at a new place downtown for public gatherings, flying kites, kicking a ball and just getting away from it all. Its also a center for pondering the citys dynamic cultural history warts and all. The site is where a Spanish expeditionary force led by Capt. Gaspar de Portola forded the river in 1759 and set up a base camp near the Native American village of Yang-Na. Youre looking at a new place downtown for public gatherings, flying kites, kicking a ball and just getting away from it all. Sean Woods, superintendent of Los Angeles State Historic Park Across the land ran the Zanja Madre, a web of brick and mortar conduits fed by a large water wheel that carried irrigation water in the young city. Entombed in dirt and time are remnants of a passenger station built in 1876 to serve the newly arrived Southern Pacific Railroad. A few blocks away, racial tensions came to a head when, on Oct. 24, 1871, a mob of 500 whites killed 19 Chinese men and boys, 15 of them by hanging. Known as the Chinese Massacre, the killing rampage prompted newspapers across the nation to liken Los Angeles to a bloodstained Eden. Old-timers in the area remember when developers and city officials in the 1950s forced more than a thousand families out of Chavez Ravine, just north of the park, to build the stadium where the Dodgers now play. In the 1990s, the site became a weedy battleground of lawsuits, frustration and anger over the citys plan to transform it into an industrial and warehouse center. Yielding to intense pressure from a group of environmentalists and community activists called the Chinatown Yard Alliance, Gov. Gray Davis in 2001 authorized California State Parks to acquire the land. Now it is an expanse of 1,500 trees, grassy hills, picnic areas and wildlife habitat built with $20 million in voter-approved Proposition 40 bond funds as a centerpiece of downtown enhancement. Some politicians and urban planners see the park, which is about a 10-minute walk from City Hall, as a model for solving land use battles in metropolitican areas statewide. Its not New Yorks Central Park, George Yu, executive director of the Chinatown Business Improvement District, said during a tour of the grounds, but its central to us as Angelenos. Elva Yanez, a state parks commissioner, added: Theres a lot riding on this parks success. If all goes according to plan it could spark more investment in similar projects throughout the state. A state-sponsored network of trained local supporters has been spreading the word at schools, community centers and churches, and fielding concerns that the new park will draw new residents to the area, pricing low-income neighbors out of their homes. Among these supporters is Deborah Miller, 40, a mother of five who lives in the nearby William Meade Housing Project. Ive been handing out flyers and telling everyone I can, Come check us out, Miller said. This park is beautiful, I tell them, it was made for us. The park has helped inspire a wave of development around its perimeter: a gym, a brewery, restaurants and housing. State parks officials are trying to secure funding for a second phase of development at the park that will include pedestrian bridges linking it to a nearby Gold Line Station. Everywhere you look, there are signs of gentrification with a capital G, said Connie Vuong, a trained park supporter living in Chinatown who formerly worked for a foreign investment firm. Lauren Bon, an artist and director of the Annenberg Foundation, one of the worlds largest family philanthropic organizations, is seeking permission to build a 70-foot water wheel to draw water from the river and feed a network for irrigating nearby green spaces, including the park. The opening of this park is only the beginning, Woods said. Our goal is to exist as a reflection of the living, palpable procession of cultural and natural changes in the beating heart of one of the great cities on Earth. Louis.Sahagun@latimes.com @LouisSahagun ALSO The trees that make Southern California shady and green are dying. Fast. Native flowers arent the only plants in super-bloom this spring nasty weeds have also flourished State unveils a 10-year plan to restore habitat and control toxic dust storms along the Salton Seas receding shoreline During an average year, rescue workers at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach may encounter one pregnant sea lion suffering from domoic acid poisoning a potentially deadly illness that occurs when the animals eat fish that have been feeding on toxic algae. In the last two weeks however, the center has recorded 14 sea lion deaths due to domoic acid poisoning. Other rescue facilities are also seeing the same animals, center spokeswoman Krysta Higuchi said. Theyre all over the place. Advertisement In 2007, the last time the problem was this severe in Southern California, 79 sea lions died from domoic acid poisoning despite efforts by the center to rescue them, Higuchi said. State officials have issued warnings against eating mussels, clams or whole scallops harvested recreationally in Santa Barbara County. Dangerous levels of domoic acid have been detected in mussels from this region, making them unsafe to consume, the California Department of Health said in an April 13 release. When domoic acid poisoning occurs in humans its called amnesic shellfish poisoning. No cases have yet been reported in California. Higuchi said that 25 poisoned sea lions were rescued in just the last two weeks, and it was unclear how many would survive. Two of them have been released and two more have started eating again, which raises hopes, she said. Staff are injecting the remaining animals with fluids to flush those toxins before it affects their brains. The acid comes from the growth of tiny, single-celled algae that usually bloom for about a week during the spring. These blooms can be intensified by heavy rains that flush nutrients from fertilizers and other sources into the Pacific Ocean. Small sea animals like clams, mussels and anchovies feed on the algae, and then they are in turn eaten by sea lions. When the sea lions eat these toxic anchovies, they have serious neurological problems, said Kathi Lefebvre, a research biologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries in Seattle. The sea lions will have seizures, in some cases theyll die, in some cases theyll recover but have permanent brain damage. Many pregnant sea lions miscarry, and pups that are born often suffer negative effects of the poisoning, Higuchi said. For the most part, humans are safe, Lefebvre said, though regulatory agencies will issue warnings if there is a danger. Commercially harvested and purchased seafood is tested and is safe for human consumption when it goes to market, she said. You might not want to harvest your own shellfish if you dont have a way to test it and make sure domoic acid levels are lower than 20 parts per million, she said. People should call the center if they see sea lions near large groups of people on the beach who are weaving their heads or having seizures, Higuchi said. Reach Sonali Kohli at Sonali.Kohli@latimes.com or on Twitter @Sonali_Kohli. Times Community News reporter Bryce Alderton contributed to this story. Sand- and salt-caked beachgoers, rejoice: The California Department of Parks and Recreation is lifting its two-year ban on outdoor shower use at many state beaches. In the face of a statewide drought, officials ordered that outdoor showers be shut off indefinitely at 38 California beaches many of them in Southern California. That long, sticky spell ended Friday, a week after Gov. Jerry Brown signed an executive order to lift the states drought emergency. Once again, beach lovers were allowed to rinse after a long day at the shore. Advertisement Since weve turned them on, weve gotten positive responses, said Kevin Pearsall, the park superintendent for the Orange Coast District of California State Parks, which includes Huntington Beach and Bolsa Chica. We were pleasantly surprised how enthusiastic the public has been with the showers being turned back on. Were happy to be making people that happy, he said, chuckling. Surfer Joshua Lerch rinses-off after a day of surfing at Doheny State Beach. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) Pearsall said showers that were in good condition have been returned to service, but it might be awhile before some are turned back on because of disrepair. Some have rusted out and need to be replaced. Some need low-flow nozzles so we can still conserve water, he said. Were hoping to have them back up before summer begins. Craig Sap, the superintendent for the Angeles District, which includes Malibu Lagoon and Point Mugu, said the agency hasnt been able to turn any of the showers on in his region because some need to be replaced. Some of the heads are missing or have been vandalized. Some have mechanical problems like the valves, he said. We hope to have some of them working before Memorial Day weekend or in the next two weeks. Even during the drought emergency, some beaches kept their showers flowing, including Santa Monica State Beach, Will Rogers State Beach near Pacific Palisades and Dockweiler State Beach near El Segundo. Sap said those beaches had instituted other water-saving measures, such as replacing the shower heads with low-flow nozzles. Outdoor shower facilities were shut off at many of the states other beaches in July 2015, at the height of the drought. State officials said the move would save up to 18 million gallons annually. The restrictions applied only to outdoor showers, not to indoor campground facilities. The drought, which lasted from 2012 to 2016 included the driest four-year statewide precipitation and the smallest Sierra-Cascades snowpack on record. Additionally, high temperatures plagued the state between 2014 and 2016, leading to massive and unpredictable wildfires. ruben.vives@latimes.com For more Southern California news, follow @latvives on Twitter. A divided Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday voted to endorse and push for three hotly debated state bills that seek to place new controls on charter schools. The 4-3 vote largely reflected an ideological split over the growth and oversight of charters, issues that have dominated the most expensive school board races in the country. The L.A. school districts official position could be short-lived because of an impending May 16 runoff election for two board seats. Both candidates supported by charter advocates said they would have voted against the resolution had they been on the board. Advertisement Assembly Bill 1478 would make charter operators subject to the same disclosures of open meetings, public records, conflicts of interest and finances that apply to traditional schools and school districts. Assembly Bill 1360 would set new requirements for charter schools admission, suspension and expulsion policies, again bringing them more in line with traditional schools. Senate Bill 808 would allow charter schools to be authorized only by the school district in which the charters would be located. Currently, charters can appeal a district rejection to county education offices or the state Board of Education. Charters are privately operated public schools that are exempt from some rules that govern traditional campuses. A debate has long raged over the right balance between giving charters freedom to operate and setting up rules to limit potential abuses. The boards action not only put the L.A. Unified School District on the record, it did the same for individual board members and candidates running for the board. Voting to support the three bills were school board President Steve Zimmer, who is locked in a difficult reelection contest, and board members George McKenna, Scott Schmerelson and Richard Vladovic, who are not on the ballot this year. Most of the boards deliberation was between McKenna, who sponsored the resolution, and Monica Ratliff, who is leaving the board at the end of June. Ratliff said she had no problem supporting the two bills intended to protect the rights of students and provide greater transparency. But she objected to a provision of Senate Bill 808 that would allow school districts to deny charters on the grounds that they created a financial hardship on the local school system. Funding follows students, and charters recruit most of their students from the local district. Under the hardship rationale, any charter could be turned down which, Ratliff said, was unfair to both charters and students. McKenna countered that the financial health of the district matters greatly to students who depend on it for services. Ratliff proposed an amendment to strike Senate Bill 808 from the endorsement. Her amendment failed, so she voted against the resolution. Also voting against it were Monica Garcia and Ref Rodriguez, who are widely regarded as staunch charter allies. There are different solutions to what were trying to do here, Rodriguez said. This is too simplistic. I am uncomfortable in the us and them of this legislation, Garcia said. The bills are strongly supported by the California Teachers Assn., a close ally of Gov. Jerry Brown. But the governor also has supported charters. Brown vetoed last years version of the open records and meetings bill. Assembly Bill 1478 goes further, extending disclosure rules to nonprofits that run charter schools. The California Charter Schools Assn. is promoting alternative legislation that would require individual charter campuses to provide more public information but would not automatically apply these rules to organizations closely affiliated with these schools or to nonprofits that run multiple charters. L.A. school board candidates backed by the charter association oppose the board-backed bills. While I support some of the underlying goals, including transparency and accountability, all three go too far, said Nick Melvoin, who is in a runoff against Zimmer in District 4, which stretches from the Westside to the west San Fernando Valley. The us-versus-them mentality thats behind these anti-charter resolutions doesnt improve educational opportunities for kids. Zimmer did not speak on the resolution, and hes often voted to support charter schools. But he also has repeatedly expressed concerns that charters are expanding too much and too quickly. Pro-charter groups are spending millions to remove him from office. The teachers union is spending heavily to reelect him. In District 6, in the east San Fernando Valley, Kelly Gonez has the support of charter backers to fill Ratliffs seat. Gonez said she opposes the bills as currently written but believes in comprehensive and meaningful accountability for charters. Neither Melvoin nor Gonez cited specifics about what made the bills unacceptable to them. Imelda Padilla, the union-backed candidate running against Gonez, declined to state a position on the bills. I think that injecting this debate into a school board race only encourages a charters-versus-teachers divide that doesnt help kids, Padilla said. howard.blume@latimes.com @howardblume An Afghan family of five who was detained by immigration officials for two days at Los Angeles International Airport last month has been granted permanent residency status in the U.S., attorneys representing the family say. After interviewing the family for more than three hours Thursday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Washington state determined that they were eligible to remain in the U.S. under the special immigrant visas that the family had originally used to enter. Lawyers said that the family prefers to keep their identities private. Advertisement Were thrilled that the family has been admitted into the U.S., but we dont see any justification for why this happened, said Talia Inlender, a senior staff attorney with Public Counsel. Weve never received an explanation. Despite judicial blocks of both President Trumps January executive order that temporarily banned refugees and citizens from seven majority-Muslim countries and a narrower replacement order in March, advocates insist extreme vetting at airports is continuing. Weve been calling it Muslim Ban 3.0, said Becca Heller, director of the International Refugee Assistance Project. The administration has realized that they dont need a federal policy they can revoke visas overseas and delay the process of visas. Afghanistan was not one of the seven countries in the original executive order, and Iraq was removed in Trumps revised travel ban. Special immigrant visas were created for citizens from Iraq and Afghanistan whose lives were at risk because they had worked for the U.S. military or government. Obtaining the visa involves intense vetting and interviews before being approved, according to lawyers. Although it is still unclear in what capacity the father helped the U.S. in Afghanistan, Heller said the father worked for the U.S. for more than 10 years. This is someone who sacrificed their life for the U.S. mission in Afghanistan, and instead of thanking him for his service we detain him and his little baby, Heller said. The familys ordeal began on March 2nd when the father, mother and three children ages 7, 6 and 8 months arrived at LAX for a connecting flight to Seattle, where they had planned to resettle. Upon arrival, however, the family was was detained for 40 hours at the airport without access to lawyers, Inlender said. Afterward, the family was split up. The father was taken to a detention center in Orange County, and the mother and three children were taken to a similar facility in downtown Los Angeles and scheduled to be transferred to a detention facility in Texas. When attorneys from Public Counsel and the firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher caught wind, they filed an emergency motion for a restraining order in federal court to prevent the government from transferring the family out of state. We were fortunate to hear about this familys detention but what if word hadnt gotten to us? Robert Blume, a partner at the law firm who represented the family, said in a statement. The family was released on parole four days after arriving in the U.S. and allowed to travel to their original destination in Washington. A resettlement agency helped the family find an apartment, but until last week their future in the U.S. remained in limbo. The father has enrolled in a college program to improve his English, and his kids began school this week. I am happy, but this is a case where its so clear that none of this should have happened, Inlender said. This is a family that served our country and so its a bittersweet victory. melissa.etehad@latimes.com Follow me on Twitter @melissaetehad Airbnb is warning Los Angeles leaders that the city could face a budgetary blow if it restricts how many days Angelenos can rent out rooms or whole homes for short stays. Such rentals are currently illegal in many residential areas of Los Angeles, according to the planning department, but the rules are rarely enforced. The phenomenon has exploded with the rise of Airbnb and other online platforms that link hosts to travelers, stirring up worries about how those night-to-night rentals affect local neighborhoods. As the debate over legalizing and regulating such rentals has dragged on, Los Angeles has already started taxing them, generating millions through a deal reached with the company last year. City officials estimate the agreement has already brought in more than $20 million in lodging taxes this budget year. Advertisement Now Airbnb is telling city leaders that proposed regulations could cut back on that flow of money. The warning comes days before Mayor Eric Garcetti is slated to release his budget plan and weeks after financial officials cautioned that Los Angeles could face a deficit of $224 million for the upcoming fiscal year. In a letter to city officials, Airbnb estimated that over a full year, its hosts would hand over $37 million in lodging taxes for Los Angeles. If L.A. caps those rentals at 180 days annually and allows hosts to rent out only their primary residence as currently proposed at City Hall the city would lose $15 million of that possible revenue, the company estimated. Airbnb added that if the city imposed an even stiffer cap favored by its critics, limiting short-term rentals to 60 days each year, Los Angeles could lose out on $24 million in possible revenue annually. The company said that could make it harder for the city to fund critically needed programs such as housing for the homeless. Taxes from Airbnb rentals can play an important role in maintaining a balanced budget, its Southern California policy manager, John Choi, wrote. Airbnb released its estimates shortly after City Controller Ron Galperin highlighted the tax revenues in a letter urging Garcetti and other city officials to be forward-thinking about the budget. Galperin said Tuesday it is up to lawmakers to decide what rental regulations make sense, but I would be remiss as city controller if I didnt point out the revenue implications. The more regulation the city puts in place, the more potentially problematic that could be for revenues, Galperin said. The company says its rentals have provided an economic lifeline for thousands of Angelenos and injected tourist spending into new parts of the city. But critics have countered that in the absence of easily enforceable rules, some commercial operators have started renting out homes constantly like hotels, disrupting neighborhoods and exacerbating the housing crisis. Neighborhood and housing activists concerned about commercialized rentals were suspicious of the tax deal when it was first struck, arguing that it would legitimize an illegal activity. Now they say their fears were justified. Judith Goldman, co-founder of the advocacy group Keep Neighborhoods First, said Airbnb was essentially holding the city hostage for the tax money. We are hopeful that the city will be smart enough to see through this extortion and create policy based on protecting our neighborhoods and not protecting their own pocket book, Goldman said in an email statement. The hotel industry, which has joined forces with neighborhood activists to push for stiffer regulation of such rentals, has also argued that the tax money is not newfound revenue. The California Hotel and Lodging Assn. contends that some of the same travelers who stay in Airbnb rentals would have previously stayed in hotels that collect the same kind of taxes. Tourists and travelers come to Los Angeles for a number of reasons, but I dont believe that they are coming to the city to stay in an Airbnb, said Roy Samaan, research and policy analyst for the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, an advocacy group allied with labor unions. Airbnb deputy policy manager Connie Llanos disputed those arguments, saying that Airbnb has allowed many travelers the opportunity to visit places they otherwise wouldnt. In reaction to the accusations of extortion, Llanos fired back that the hotel cartel will stop at nothing to protect their record profits and ability to price gouge. Airbnb and our community of hosts want to be regulated and we will continue to work with lawmakers in Los Angeles to develop rules that create economic opportunity and protect quality of life in our neighborhoods, Llanos said in a statement. Critics have also challenged whether the Airbnb tax agreements are fair and transparent. In a March report underwritten by the hotel industry, Dan Bucks, the former director of the Montana Department of Revenue, argued that agreements between Airbnb and many cities across the country do not guarantee accountability for the proper payment of lodging taxes. That report did not include an analysis of the Los Angeles agreement, but Bucks said its deal suffers from the same problem. Its limited to anonymous data, Bucks said in an interview. To have a true, independent audit, you have to have access to the books and records of the company. Airbnb countered that host names and addresses are not needed to confirm that taxes are being paid. Each month, we provide the city with the anonymized data they need to verify every transaction on our platform, Llanos said. City finance officials say the treasurer can also issue an administrative subpoena to obtain more information. Despite the budget pressure, some lawmakers have vowed not to let the tax money decide how L.A. regulates such rentals. Councilman Paul Koretz said Tuesday that the city should focus on hammering out rules to discourage the rise of mini hotels that take housing off the rental market, not on the revenue it could receive. His words were echoed by Councilman Mike Bonin. We need to let our regulations dictate how much revenue we receive, and not let potential revenue dictate what sort of regulations we craft, Bonin said in an email. emily.alpert@latimes.com Twitter: @LATimesEmily The gunman who shot and killed three men as he walked down the streets of downtown Fresno on Tuesday was intent on killing as many white men as he could and spoke of his deadly four-minute rampage with pride, according to police. At an afternoon news conference Wednesday, Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer described in great detail the actions of suspected gunman Kori Ali Muhammad, a black man who spoke of an ongoing race war before turning his .357 magnum revolver on several people, police said. Kori Muhammad is not a terrorist, but he is a racist and he is filled with hate, and he set out this week to kill as many people as he could. Hes not going to kill anyone else, the chief told reporters. Advertisement Dyer also disclosed that another man whom Muhammad encountered after running out of ammunition had taken his revolver after a brief conversation and fled the scene by jumping over a backyard fence. I want to make a desperate plea for that individual to turn himself in, Dyer said. Im asking him to call immediately and return that gun to the Police Department. The chief noted that the man who fled with the weapon was caught on surveillance tape and that a box he was carrying, but abandoned at the scene, was undergoing analysis. 1 / 1 A street is blocked off in Fresno after a gunman shot and killed three people. (Scott Smith / Associated Press) The news conference was also the first time that authorities identified the three men who were shot Tuesday morning: Zackary David Randalls, 34, of Clovis; Mark James Gassett, 37, of Fresno; and David Martin Jackson, 58, also of Fresno. A fourth victim, Carl Williams, 25, of Fresno was shot and killed five days earlier, police say. Randalls was recently hired by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to work in a call center and was on his first ride-along as an employee when he was shot and killed, according to Dyer. When Randalls, a married father of a 3-year-old girl and 4-year-old boy, decided to take the job at PG&E, he thought it would be a good decision for his familys future, said his friend, Jonathan Gilbert. He wanted the best for his family, Gilbert said. They were his whole world. They were his everything. Timothy Welsh, a family friend who created a GoFundMe page, said he grew up with Randalls in Lemoore, where the victim attended high school. Our hearts are very heavy as we have lost a member of our PG&E family, the utility said in a statement Wednesday. Our thoughts and prayers are with our employees family and friends. Our focus is on supporting our employees and their families and law enforcements investigation. The second man killed Tuesday, Gassett, had been looking for work earlier that day and then headed to Catholic Charities to get groceries before he was shot. Gassett had been staying at a rehab facility nearby and frequented the food bank, his stepfather, Harold Wagner, said. He has had problems, but he was doing good, Wagner said. He loves his kids. Lisa Ann Gassett, the mother of his two sons, ages 9 and 14, created a GoFundMe page to raise money to pay for funeral expenses. On the page, she wrote, Please help for my boys dad funeral Mark Gassett life was taken so early by a mad shooter in Fresno. Dyer said the men were targeted on the basis of race and gender. Muhammad, who referred to himself in social media posts as a black soldier, had also called white people devils. Dyer said that during a lengthy interview with detectives Tuesday night, Muhammad walked police through his actions at the crime scene. When talking to detectives, he did so in a very callous manner and in fact multiple times laughed as he described what transpired, Dyer said. The first shooting happened at 10:45 a.m. Tuesday, when police say Muhammad walked up to a PG&E truck in the 300 block of North Van Ness Avenue and fired four rounds into the vehicle, striking Randalls. The driver sped away and stopped at police headquarters to report the gunman. Dyer said he chose not to shoot the driver because he was Hispanic. Next, Muhammad encountered a 59-year-old man who had just walked out of a home in the 900 block of East Mildreda Avenue. Muhammad opened fire on the man, who fell to the ground, Dyer said. As Muhammad reloaded, the man jumped to his feet and ran into the home. Muhammad briefly considered chasing the man but continued walking, he said. Muhammad then fired on a vehicle but stopped once he saw that the occupants were two Hispanic females, the chief said. Muhammad continued walking to the 200 block of North Fulton Street, where he shot Gassett in the chest, Dyer said. When Gassett fell to the ground, Muhammad stood over him and fired two more rounds into his body, Dyer said. Next, Muhammad fired at Jackson and two other men saw sitting at a bus stop, according to the chief. As Jackson ran away, Muhammad chased after him and fired two more shots at him, the chief said. Jackson collapsed and died in the parking lot of Catholic Charities, also on Fulton, according to the chief. After shooting Jackson, Muhammad still armed with a handgun that was wrapped in clothing ran into a man who was carrying a box of food, and the two had a brief conversation, Dyer said. Surveillance footage showed the man setting down the box and retrieving Muhammads gun from the clothing, he said. The man then ran out of the neighborhood, jumped a fence, emptied the handgun in a backyard and took off running again, the chief said. A total of 17 shots were fired before police spotted Muhammad running in the area. The gunman then dove onto the ground and was taken into custody, the chief said. Muhammad dropped two amulet-type objects, which he told police were for the purpose of protecting against evil, Dyer said. According to Dyer, Muhammad told police, I did it. I shot them. You guys are looking for me. After Muhammad was handcuffed and placed into the back of a patrol cruiser, he yelled, Allahu akbar, the chief said. Dyer said Muhammad later told police the reason he shouted the Arabic phrase: In the event that if anything did happen to him that he was in fact pledging his allegiance to God for protection. After he was arrested, Dyer said that Muhammad told him, Sorry, chief, but added that he may have been sorry for the work that he caused us, but not for what he did. He has not shown, truly, any remorse to our detectives, the chief said. While in custody, Muhammad spoke to his mother and told her not to cry, that he is still alive and that his magic is powerful, and then he started laughing, the chief said. On Tuesday, Muslim faith leaders denounced the shootings and called on the police department to hold the gunman responsible. We condemn the acts of this criminal in the strongest terms and we stand with our community and city in support and brotherhood, the Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno said in a statement Tuesday. Additionally, todays crime represents nothing to do with our faith, our community, our center or our people. The center noted that the phrase Allahu akbar, which roughly translates to God is great, is a common positive refrain uttered by Muslims in a prayer of peace. It is a recognition of our role as a part in the creation of the Most Merciful God and our duty to see ourselves humbly in relation to God as just a part in the creation, the center said. When someone utters these beautiful words and commits violent acts, it brings pain to our community and crushes our hearts. Imam Seyed Ali Ghazvini said he was saddened and shocked to hear about the killings. Ghazvini said Muhammad was not a member of his congregation. What he did was an awful crime, Ghazvini said. The Muslim community in this area is very hard-working and contributes to society and economy. It is very sad to hear that someone would kill others in the name of our faith. Police had been looking for Muhammad, who previously was convicted of cocaine possession and a weapons charge, since last week. Muhammad was suspected in the fatal shooting of Williams, who was working as a security guard when he was shot and killed outside a Motel 6 on April 13. Dyer said Muhammad told detectives he had shot Williams at close range because he felt disrespected by the victim. After shooting Williams, Muhammad climbed onto the roof of a nearby 7-Eleven and watched investigators below as they combed the motel for clues, the chief said. He remained there until morning, then hid near a trash bin at an elementary school. During the weekend, he stayed in a ravine in the city, where he practiced voodoo rituals, Dyer said. He told investigators he prays to seven different gods, although he described himself as Muslim, the chief said. Muhammad cut off his braids and burned them, the chief said. He slept in the ravine until Tuesday, then headed to a shop in the city to buy crystals for his voodoo rituals, Dyer said. The store was closed, so he went to Starbucks, where he learned from news reports that police were looking for him in connection with Williams death, the chief said. Once he found out he was wanted for murder, Muhammad told investigators he didnt want to go down for killing one man he wanted to kill as many white males as possible, Dyer said. In the wake of Tuesdays bloodshed, authorities and journalists have turned to Muhammads social media accounts for insights into his thinking. A Facebook profile page for a Kori Ali Muhammad from Fresno included militant and apocalyptic language and repeated demands to let black people go. He referenced white devils and praised melanoma skin cancer. On Monday, he wrote: MY KILL RATE INCRESASES TREMENDOUSLY ON THE OTHER SIDE ASE ALLAH U AKBAR. Muhammads grandmother, Glenestene Taylor, told The Times that he legally changed his name from Kori Taylor when he was a teenager. She said she didnt remember her grandson ever showing a racial bias, toward whites or anyone else, in all his years staying with her or during countless visits to her predominately white Fresno neighborhood. He would say something derogatory about anybody, didnt matter about the color, Glenestene Taylor said. If he didnt like what they did, he didnt like what they did no matter the color. veronica.rocha@latimes.com Twitter: VeronicaRochaLA UPDATES: 4:30 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from Chief Jerry Dyer at Wednesdays news conference, details about the gunmans statements to police and comments from Harold Wagner. 11:40 a.m.: This article was updated with the identity of David Martin Jackson. This article was originally published at 11:10 a.m. Los Angeles lawmakers voted Wednesday to stiffen city rules surrounding the demolition of rent-controlled apartments, aiming to ensure that more affordable housing is built. But business groups have challenged whether the plan is fair and whether it will stand up in court. Under a California law called the Ellis Act, landlords can eject tenants from rent-controlled apartments if they are tearing down a building or getting out of the rental business. Advertisement In Los Angeles, if landlords tear down rent-controlled units and replace them with new rentals within five years, all of those new units fall under city rules that limit rent increases. Theres also an alternative for landlords who want to avoid putting an entire building under rent control: They must designate some of the new units as affordable housing. Under that exemption, building owners have had to replace all of the rent-controlled units that were eliminated with affordable units or ensure that 20% of the new units are affordable whichever number was lower. Now, L.A. will require those landlords to provide whichever number is higher, a requirement that could end up being much stiffer. Anna Ortega, who oversees rent stabilization programs for the city housing department, said the proposed change was meant to prevent the city from losing affordable units. It really depends on the math, but 20% could be fewer than the number that were demolished, Ortega said. The change was backed by tenant rights groups who lament that the Ellis Act has had a devastating effect on rent-controlled housing: Between 2001 and 2016, almost 22,000 rental units were eliminated in Los Angeles under the law about 3% of the rent-controlled housing stock, Ortega told city lawmakers earlier this month. This has reached epidemic proportions, creating chaos in our communities and directly exacerbating the homeless problem, Silver Lake resident Carol Cetrone said. Business groups, however, said they were concerned that the new requirements could be onerous for big projects. Land use attorney Karen Hallock, a member of the Central City Assn., said that the new rules could end up requiring landlords to provide far more affordable apartments than the number of rent-controlled units they tore down, particularly if they are replacing small buildings with big ones. For instance, Hallock wrote that under the new rules, if a landlord demolished a building with six apartments that were covered by rent-stabilization rules, then replaced it with 300 new units, he or she would have to provide 60 units of affordable housing or make the entire building rent-controlled. At a recent meeting at City Hall, Hallock and another attorney challenged whether the rules were legal, invoking a case that landlords successfully brought against Ellis Act-related requirements recently in San Francisco. Its a big shift in policy, and its going to kill housing production, land use attorney Noel Hyun said. Larry Gross, executive director of the Coalition for Economic Survival, called those idle threats and said he was heartened that lawmakers did not back away from the idea. In the past, he said, the looser rules had resulted in a net loss of affordable or rent-controlled units. Gross rejected the idea that the new affordable housing requirements were excessively strict. The fact is, theyre getting a break, Gross said. Theyre being allowed to rent again within five years. The new ordinance also tightens some other rules surrounding city enforcement of the Ellis Act. For instance, it clarifies that vacant units also are covered by the city requirements, a provision added to ensure that landlords do not try to evade the rules after pressuring tenants to leave their apartments. Tenant groups argue, however, that the city must do much more to beef up enforcement when landlords flout the rules. City lawmakers, in turn, say the fight must go to the state level. The Ellis Act had an arguable purpose when it was first passed, but now its just a tool for developers to buy properties, assert that they arent making money on them and flip them, Councilman Paul Koretz said. The council unanimously passed the new law Wednesday 12 to 0 with no discussion, with council members Joe Buscaino and Jose Huizar absent. emily.alpert@latimes.com Twitter: @LATimesEmily A woman shot to death Tuesday night in a West Hollywood residential area was killed by her ex-boyfriend, who later took his own life, according to authorities. The Los Angeles County coroner Wednesday identified the woman as Whitney Jade Washuta, 25, of West Hollywood. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department, the shooting was reported at 8:43 p.m. in the 8700 block of Rosewood Avenue, near Robertson and Beverly boulevards. Advertisement Washuta was found with a gunshot wound to the upper torso, authorities said. She was pronounced dead at the scene. About 10 p.m that evening, the Los Angeles Police Department found the body of a 27-year old Pacific Palisades man, Kyle Patrick Ramsey, holding a handgun in a vehicle parked about a mile away. Ramsey was identified as Washutas ex-boyfriend, according to the sheriffs department. His death was classified as a suicide, and an autopsy is pending, according to coroners Assistant Chief Ed Winter. There have been two homicides within the last 12 months within one mile of Tuesdays incident, according to the Homicide Report, The Times online database. jeff.landa@latimes.com Twitter: @JeffLanda hailey.branson@latimes.com Twitter: @haileybranson ALSO Rattlesnake season begins with a vengeance in Southern California Marines, looking to expand Twentynine Palms training grounds, airlift 1,100 desert tortoises Fresno State professor placed on leave after tweeting Trump must hang UPDATES: April 19, 4:35 p.m.: This article was updated with more details. April 19, 10:30 a.m. This article was updated with an identification of the victim. April 19, 4:25 p.m. This article was updated with information about the shooter. This article was originally published on April 18 at 11:20 p.m. The Los Angeles City Council agreed Wednesday to pay $9.5 million to settle a lawsuit by the parents of a teenage girl who was fatally struck by a taxicab near Dockweiler State Beach. Two years ago, 16-year-old Naomi Larsen had left the fire pits at the beach after midnight and was crossing Vista Del Mar with her friends when she was hit by the car, suffering injuries that led to her death weeks later. In their suit, her parents, Stacey Larsen and Steven Potovsky, argued that the death of their daughter was a foreseeable tragedy because the city had failed to ensure safe ways for pedestrians to cross from the beach to their parked vehicles on the street. The highway was hazardous to pedestrians, but the city did nothing to fix the problem, the lawsuit alleged. Advertisement The city attorneys office declined to comment on the settlement Wednesday. In a report prepared for council members, city lawyers said it would be difficult to defend the case because Los Angeles had failed to take steps to protect beachgoers despite repeated collisions in the area. There are no crosswalks on Vista Del Mar for roughly two miles between Imperial Highway and Napoleon Street, according to the report. Attorney William Paoli, who represented the family, said they were happy to see that the case resolved. Its troubling that it took the city so long to prioritize the handling of these dangerous conditions, Paoli said. We felt that this was something that should have been corrected well before Naomi was ever put in that position. Paoli said that the city had informed him that No Parking signs had been put up in the area temporarily so that beachgoers would not be crossing Vista Del Mar to reach their cars. The council approved the settlement, 12-0, with council members Joe Buscaino and Jose Huizar absent. emily.alpert@latimes.com Twitter: @LATimesEmily UPDATES: 2:40 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from the attorney representing the family that sued the city. This article was originally published at 2:15 p.m. The Los Angeles County coroners office on Wednesday released the name of a man found dead in his car a day earlier in the Westlake neighborhood. Federico J. Dibartolo, 39, was declared dead at the scene after a police officer discovered the body in the backseat of the black Hyundai, according to coroners and police officials. The Los Angeles Police Department said the body was found around 2:10 a.m.Tuesday in the 300 block of South Westlake Avenue. Investigators learned from witnesses that the car had been towed to the location and left in the middle of the street. Advertisement News reports described the vehicle as having an Uber sticker in the front window, and that the body was already decomposing. Coroners officials believe Dibartolo may have been living in his car. A cause of death has not been determined and homicide detectives are continuing to investigate. ruben.vives@latimes.com For more Southern California news, follow @latvives on Twitter. A skeptical Trump administration has confirmed that Iran continues to comply with the 2015 nuclear disarmament deal but says the White House is conducting an internal review of the landmark arms control accord that President Trump once called the worst deal ever. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a letter to Congress that the National Security Council will lead an interagency review of whether easing economic sanctions against Iran as part of the accord is vital to the national security interests of the United States. Iran remains a leading state sponsor of terror through many platforms and methods, Tillerson wrote. Advertisement The Treasury Department still maintains Obama-era sanctions aimed at Tehrans support for terrorist groups and its ballistic missile program, and those conceivably could be tweaked. But any moves to impose a major new regime of penalties could undermine the accord and spur a new nuclear crisis in the Middle East. The review also could recommend more subtle ways to apply pressure to Tehran, which actively supports militant groups such as Lebanon-based Hezbollah and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, as well as Houthi fighters in Yemen and President Bashar Assads military in Syria, all of which the U.S. opposes. It comes as the White House has scrambled to balance the threat of direct military action and the pursuit of diplomatic options, especially with China, to slow or block North Korea from expanding its nuclear arsenal and developing an intercontinental ballistic missile that could deliver a warhead to U.S. shores. Tensions rose sharply in northeast Asia last week when the Trump administration and North Korean leader Kim Jong Uns government traded bellicose threats about a possible clash over an expected North Korean nuclear test. In the end, Pyongyang test-fired a midrange ballistic missile that fell into the sea seconds after launch, defusing the crisis for now. And White House warnings that an aircraft carrier strike force was rushing north proved false; the armada was 3,500 miles away last weekend although the Pentagon insisted Wednesday that the Carl Vinson and three other warships are now en route to the Sea of Japan. As a candidate, Trump vowed to rip up the nuclear deal with Iran as soon as he took office, one of several signature campaign promises on foreign policy that he has ignored. Several members of Trumps incoming Cabinet said during their Senate confirmation hearings that they had decided the accord had effectively constrained Irans ability to produce a nuclear bomb, and Trump has not moved to abrogate the accord. Trump similarly has not moved to cancel the Paris climate accord of 2015, despite his vow on the campaign trail, nor has he abandoned the one China policy that has guided U.S. relations with Beijing for 40 years or reversed the Obama administrations opening to Cuba, although a high-level review of Cuba policy is underway. Congress has required the State Department to notify it every 90 days whether Iran is in compliance with the nuclear deal, which required Tehran to dismantle or disable its nuclear infrastructure, including its ability to produce bomb-grade fuel. This was the first notification under the Trump administration. The United Nations Security Council lifted a web of trade, banking and other sanctions on Iran last year after the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.s nuclear watchdog agency, certified Tehrans compliance with the nuclear deal. The IAEA continues to monitor Irans facilities through regular visits, cameras and other surveillance systems. Irans leaders have always insisted they did not seek to build a bomb. In January, a year after the deal came into force, the IAEA said that Iran had reduced its uranium stockpile by 98% and had removed two-thirds of its centrifuges, which can be used to enrich uranium. Critics long have complained that the accord, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, did not address Irans support for terrorist groups. It focused only on curbing Tehrans ability to someday produce a nuclear bomb, which was seen as the primary threat to global security. Since taking office, administration officials have realized that pulling out of the deal would be more complicated than Trump had suggested at his campaign rallies. Since it was negotiated with Iran by six world powers the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany a unilateral U.S. withdrawal would create diplomatic chaos, especially if Washington were to impose new sanctions over the objections of the other signatories. Moreover, numerous security experts have warned that abandoning the deal could give Iran an excuse to eject the IAEA inspectors, rebuild its infrastructure, resume uranium enrichment and take other steps toward building a bomb but deprive Washington of the diplomatic leverage and on-the-ground intelligence gathering needed to punish Tehran. Even Israel, one of the most vocal opponents of the accord when it was being negotiated, has told the Trump administration that it should focus on finding additional measures to crack down on Iranian-backed terrorism, not linger on voiding the existing accord, diplomatic sources said. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, asked about the Iran certification Wednesday, said Trump would await the review before deciding on the next step. Thats why were undergoing this interagency review, Spicer said at a news briefing. We will have recommendations that will be presented to the president on where the deal stands and how to act further. For now, the administration took steps to shore up its alliance with Saudi Arabia, Irans chief rival in the region. Iran is a Shiite Muslim theocracy whereas the Saudi kingdom is Sunni dominated. Relations with Riyadh had deteriorated under the Obama administration, which criticized Saudi airstrikes on civilian targets in neighboring Yemen in that countrys civil war. On a visit to Riyadh on Wednesday, Defense Secretary James N. Mattis told Saudi officials that it was important to reinforce Saudi Arabias resistance to Irans mischief. Speaking later to reporters, Mattis added, Everywhere you look [that] theres trouble in the region, you find Iran. He said the Trump administration would help countries trying to checkmate Iran. Critics of the nuclear accord with Iran applauded the interagency review as a way to increase pressure on Tehran. It underscores the Trump administrations commitment to ramp up pressure on Iran through the use of sanctions tied to terrorism and other malign activities, said Mark Dubowitz, head of the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a think tank that opposed the Iran accord. Tillerson made the same point later Wednesday at the State Department, saying the White House will look at more than whether Iran is meeting its obligations under the nuclear accord, citing its human rights record, its support for militants and what he called its alarming and ongoing provocations to export terror and violence. The Iran nuclear deal, he told reporters, is another example of buying off an adversary that only delays production of nuclear weapons, citing a series of failed diplomatic deals with North Korea since the mid-1990s. A comprehensive Iran policy requires we address all of the threats posed by Iran and its clear there are many, he said. Bold promises, fewer results: Trumps executive orders dont always live up to his claims Times staff writer W.J. Hennigan in Washington contributed to this report. tracy.wilkinson@latimes.com For more on international affairs, follow @TracyKWilkinson on Twitter An Arkansas judge under fire for participating in a protest against the death penalty the same day he halted the states plan to execute several men this month wrote Wednesday that his decision was based on property law, not personal beliefs. Property law is property law, no matter whether one supports or is opposed to capital punishment, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen wrote of the temporary restraining order he issued. My job as a judge was to apply property law to the facts presented by the verified complaint and decide whether the medical supplier moving party was likely to succeed on its property law claim for return of the vecuronium bromide. For the record: An earlier version of this article identified Pulaski County Circuit Judge Judge Wendell Griffen as William Griffen. Griffen was referring to one of the drugs used in the states lethal injection cocktail and efforts by its manufacturer to prevent the state from using it to put the convicted murderers to death. Advertisement Griffens ruling hadnt sat well with state officials, and the state Supreme Court vacated his order while also agreeing with Arkansas Atty. Gen. Leslie Rutledges request to remove him from capital cases, based on writings and actions that showed the judge to be a strong opponent of the death penalty. He could also face impeachment by the Arkansas Legislature for his actions, which included a moment during a Good Friday demonstration in which where he lay on a cot to symbolize a man being executed. In solidarity with Jesus, the leader of our religion who was put to death by crucifixion by the Roman Empire, I lay on a cot as a dead man for an hour and a half, he wrote. One of his fiercest critics was Republican state Sen. Jason Rapert, who said Griffen was making a mockery of the process. He has no regard for the guidelines of the court, Rapert said. He probably should not be a judge. If he wants to be an activist, he should probably just go do that. Arkansas execution plans it originally planned to kill eight men over 11 days have put the state at the center of the death penalty debate. Vigils and protests have been regular occurrences in the state capital of Little Rock, and opponents of the death penalty were given a victory Monday when stays were upheld by the courts for two executions scheduled that night. Two more executions had been scheduled for Thursday night, but the state Supreme Court on Thursday canceled one of them while clearing the way for the other by allowing the state to use vecuronium bromide in its death penalty drug cocktail. Griffens involvement in the protests struck observers as unusual; Arkansas has judicial conduct rules in place that would seem to prohibit his actions based on his position. The rules say a judge shall not participate in activities that would appear to undermine his or her independence, integrity or impartiality, according to Brian Gallini, associate dean and professor at the University of Arkansas School of Law. Griffen has a long track record of public statements expressing his opinions, including questioning the use of force in Ferguson, Mo., when a policeman shot and killed Michael Brown in 2014 and statements critical of President Trump. He has a blog called Justice is a Verb that tackles Scripture and current events, and hes spent time on the air at KABF, a 100,000-watt FM radio station that dubs itself the Voice of the People. He also preaches sometimes at the Little Rock-based New Millennium Church, which was established in 2009 and bills itself as inclusive, progressive and welcoming followers of Jesus Christ. But his post on April 10 was the one that appeared to spark the most outrage. While the world meditates about divine love, forgiveness, justice and hope, Arkansas officials plan to commit a series of homicides, he wrote. Acting in the name of the empire and operating under the authority of law, they plan to use medications designed for treating and healing disease to kill men who are defenseless because those men were convicted of killing other defenseless people. Those who know Griffen werent surprised he took a public stand on the issue. He is always ready to state his case and stand his ground for what he believes in, the Rev. Steve Copley said. He is very sincere, affable and cares about people regardless of their status in life. Copley, board chairman of Faith Voices Arkansas and the Arkansas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, first met Griffen more than 20 years ago at an interfaith conference. He considers him a close friend and an ally on issues of social justice. He said that Griffen has never believed his role as a judge precluded him from having deeply held convictions and expressing them publicly and that he wasnt surprised to see him at the rally in Little Rock on Good Friday. Rutledge, in the court filing, argued that that act alone should have precluded him from issuing the temporary restraining order. Rutledge, in the request for the state Supreme Court to vacate the order, wrote: Judge Griffen has demonstrated that he is unlikely to refrain from actual bias regarding the matters related to the death penalty, and at a minimum, he cannot avoid the appearance of unfairness and his impartiality might reasonably be questioned. Michael Gerhardt, constitutional law professor at the University of North Carolina, said that Griffens public actions struck him as unusual and that judges are required to adhere to judicial codes to maintain an appearance of impartiality. He is entitled to a private life and his opinions, Gerhardt said. But the code of ethics dont shut off when he goes home. Griffen has argued otherwise in the past. Griffen made judicial free speech a part of his campaign while running for a seat on the Arkansas Supreme Court in 2006, a race he lost to Paul Danielson by 15 percentage points. He had lost a previous bid to sit on the high court before being elected to the Pulaski County Circuit Court seat in 2010 with 51% of the vote. He made his case to those points again when he wrote about his ruling in a blog post published on Wednesday. Whether I attended the Good Friday vigil or not does not change property law. Whether anyone approves or disapproves of me attending the Good Friday vigil does not change property law, he wrote. Whether I support or am opposed to capital punishment does not change property law. I am entitled to practice my religion whether I am a judge or not even if others disapprove of the way I practice it. david.montero@latimes.com Twitter: @davemontero ALSO Supreme Court urged to give church schools an equal right to state funds The Cleveland killer wasnt the first to post a gruesome crime. Welcome to the dark side of sharing Neo-Nazi website unleashed Internet trolls against a Jewish woman, lawsuit says UPDATES: April 20, 3:40 p.m.: This story has been updated to reflect the state Supreme Courts ruling canceling one of two executions planned Thursday night while clearing the way for the other. This story was originally posted April 19 at 1:35 p.m. Four assailants tied up an 18-year-old mentally disabled man, taped his mouth and slashed at his scalp with a knife as he cowered in a corner. A group of men and boys dragged a 15-year-old girl to a bed and raped her. Both crimes and others like them were captured on video and widely viewed on the Internet, which in the age of smartphones and security cameras is not surprising. What made this footage different is that it was shot and posted by the criminals. Advertisement They are part of a trend that played out again this week with a killing that captivated the nation: a 74-year-old man in Cleveland was shot by a 37-year-old stranger named Steve Stephens, whose videos first posted on Facebook found an audience of millions. The crimes have played out like grim reality television on occasion in real time with ordinary people becoming unwitting publicists for criminals and social media companies forced to confront the moral implications of offering the world a blank canvas. That criminals sometimes seek publicity is nothing new. The assailant known as the Zodiac Killer wrote letters to newspapers during a killing spree in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1960s and early 1970s. But as technology has advanced, it has been easier for criminals to have their voices heard, said Elizabeth Joh, a law professor at UC Davis. This is absolutely the dark side of providing an open, live forum for someone to post whatever they want, she said. Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg responded to the Cleveland killing on Tuesday, telling a conference of developers in San Jose: We have a lot more to do here. We will keep doing all we can to prevent tragedies like this from happening, he said. In Moneta, Va., in 2015, a gunman killed two television journalists during a live broadcast, then apparently posted video on Facebook and Twitter showing the shooting from his perspective. In Columbus, Ohio, last year, an 18-year-old woman broadcast the rape of her friend on the livestream app Periscope reportedly while giggling. In Chicago, at least four violent crimes have been broadcast on Facebook Live since October, including the gang rape of a 15-year-old girl last month and the assault of the mentally disabled man in January. As many as 40 people watched the rape as it was happening, authorities said. No one called the police. It just disgusts me that people could look at those videos and not pick up the phone and dial 911, Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson told reporters after the attack. It makes you wonder where are we going, what are we doing as a society? The trend is not confined to the U.S. In Sweden this year, police arrested three men suspected of raping a woman while broadcasting it to a group on Facebook. In Cleveland, Stephens made sure his video recording device was rolling as he approached his victim, Robert Godwin Sr. Found somebody Im about to kill, he said. Stephens struck up a brief conversation before he lifted a black handgun and fired a single round into Godwins face as blood splattered on the sidewalk. Then Stephens walked back to his car and drove off. It is unclear when the attack occurred. But according to a timeline released by Facebook, Stephens uploaded a video in which he declared his intent to commit murder at 11:09 a.m. Sunday. No users flagged it, so it did not come to the attention of the company. Two minutes later, Stephens posted the video of Godwins slaying. At 11:22 a.m., Stephens went on Facebook Live for five minutes and broadcast himself speaking to someone on his cellphone and saying, I snapped. Dog, I just snapped. I killed 13 people. And Im about to keep killing until they catch me. The livestream was reported to Facebook shortly after it ended. But the company says it was not notified about the shooting video until 12:59 p.m. Stephens account was disabled 23 minutes later. The video had been up for more than two hours. The shooting prompted a nationwide manhunt that ended Tuesday when authorities closed in on Stephens in Erie, Pa., after he was spotted ordering Chicken McNuggets and fries at a McDonalds. He led police on a brief chase before he turned his gun on himself, but not before millions of people had watched his videos, even as the victims family implored them not to. Please please please stop retweeting that video and report anyone who has posted it! That is my grandfather show some respect #Cleveland Ryan A. Godwin (@god_winr) April 16, 2017 Many people expressed regret about watching the footage, which some social-media users posted on Twitter. Unfortunately watched the #Cleveland shooting video, one user named Adel tweeted as a warning. Just dont. I didnt realize what I was watching till it was too late, somebody responded. A user named Samuel wrote that watching the footage was like watching a violent Hollywood movie. Ive seen a lot of killing scenes in movies and shows but knowing this one is real, my heart jumped and then sank, he tweeted. In the aftermath of the killing, some experts have drawn comparisons to the notorious case of Kitty Genovese, who was stabbed to death in 1964 as she screamed for help outside her apartment in Queens, N.Y. The case became a symbol of public indifference, though some parts of the story have been debunked. One neighbor remembered calling the police but was told by a clerk that authorities were aware of the attack, according to a documentary produced decades later. Experts said the people who watched the Cleveland killing or other crimes broadcast online cant necessarily be faulted for failing to act. People are so used to hoaxes and fiction online that their first reaction, depending on the circumstances, may well be, This is a joke, said UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh. They may also assume someone else has already called police. When you see an accident on the side of the street, sometimes you call 911, he said. Sometimes you say, Someone called 911 already. The videos may also serve a useful purpose: to help solve and prosecute crimes. This is evidence, and it is evidence in plain sight, said Tod Burke, a former Maryland police officer and now a criminal justice professor at Radford University. You want to bring someone to justice, what better way to do it than have the evidence produced, directed and starred in by that individual? Times staff writer Matt Pearce contributed to this report. alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com Follow me on Twitter @AleneTchek ALSO Hate crime is suspected after a gunman kills 3 white men in downtown Fresno California bill would make it harder to punish police officers who have been accused of lying Dreamer, 23, sues after he is deported by Trump administration Once again, the Southern Poverty Law Center is taking aim at neo-Nazis this time in a rare lawsuit accusing an online publisher of urging anonymous Internet trolls to unleash a torrent of anti-Semitic slurs and harassment against a Jewish real estate agent in Montana. The center filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday in a case involving white nationalist Richard Spencer and his family, alleging that Andrew Anglin, the founder and publisher of the neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer, let loose an online terror campaign against the woman and her family. The suit alleges that Anglin published a string of articles urging his horde of anonymous followers to inflict a troll storm on Tanya Gersh and her family, invading her privacy, intentionally inflicting emotional distress and violating the Montana Anti-Intimidation Act. Advertisement The controversy began in December when Anglin accused Gersh of attempting to extort money from Spencers mother. Spencer, who heads the National Policy Institute, won nationwide notoriety after Donald Trumps election victory when a viral video showed him leading a chant of Hail Trump! in Washington, as his followers raised their hands in Nazi salutes. With rumors of protests against the Spencer family in Whitefish a liberal ski town of 6,000 people in northwest Montana where the Spencers own a vacation home and a commercial property Gersh agreed to help Spencers mother sell a mixed-use building she owns downtown. Two weeks later, Sherry Spencer published a blog post accusing Gersh of threatening her and trying to extort her into selling the property. In the first of a stream of 30 posts, the Daily Stormer published a story repeating Spencers allegations, asking its followers, Are yall ready for an old fashioned Troll Storm? In this undated photo released by the Southern Poverty Law Centers Dan Chung, Tanya Gersh poses for a photo. Gersh, a Montana real estate agent sued the founder of a neo-Nazi website on Tuesday, April 18, 2017, saying the publisher orchestrated an anti-Semitic campaign of terror that bombarded the woman and her family with hateful messages from anonymous internet trolls. The trolling campaign started in December 2016, after Daily Stormer founder Andrew Anglin published the familys personal information, including the 12-year-olds Twitter handle and photo. (Dan Chung/Southern Poverty Law Center via AP) (Dan Chung / Southern Poverty Law Center) Gersh, her husband and 12-year-old son received a barrage of more than 700 threatening anti-Semitic and homophobic emails, phone calls, texts, social media comments, letters, postcards and Christmas cards, the lawsuit alleges. I once answered the phone and all I heard were gunshots, Gersh told reporters Tuesday in a telephone news conference. Thanks for demonstrating why your race needs to be collectively ovened, one email read. On Dec. 16, Anglin published a post on Daily Stormer, providing his followers with phone numbers, email addresses and links to social media profiles for Gersh and her immediate family members, friends and colleagues. Lets Hit Em Up, he urged. In that post, Anglin referred to Gershs son using homophobic and anti-Semitic terms. He also published his Twitter handle, encouraging readers to hit him up and tell them what you think of his whore mothers vicious attack on the community of Whitefish. NO VIOLENCE OR THREATS OF VIOLENCE OR ANYTHING EVEN CLOSE TO THAT, the website qualified. Just make your opinions known. Tell them you are sickened by their Jew agenda to attack and harm the mother of someone whom they disagree with. This was so far beyond harassment. This was really terrorism, Gersh said, noting she was no longer working, had lost hair and was attending trauma therapy meetings twice a week. My life is forever changed. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Missoula, seeks compensatory and punitive damages. Attorneys would not specify a dollar amount being sought. In the old days, Andrew Anglin would have burned a cross on Tanyas front lawn, Southern Poverty Law Center President Richard Cohen said. In the digital age, he launched a troll storm against her. The Alabama-based center has a long track record of filing litigation against extremist groups. In 1999, the group brought a case on behalf of a Native American woman and her son who were chased and shot at by white supremacist Aryan Nations security guards. Two men were sentenced to prison in the attack, and in 2000 an Idaho jury returned a $6.3-million civil judgment against Aryan Nations and its founder. In 2000, the center sued Jeff Berry, the leader of the American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, winning a $120,000 judgment after Berry detained two journalists covering a story about a planned Klan rally. After ordering his followers to block the exits, one Klansman pumped a shotgun. Only one of its previous cases focused on online threats and that was nearly 20 years ago. In 1998, the center filed a suit on behalf of Bonnie Jouhari, a fair-housing advocate in Pennsylvania, against a neo-Nazi group, Alpha HQ, after it posted her address and photo on an online bulletin board. As a result of a barrage of threats from white supremacists, Jouhari changed her name and fled with her daughter to another state. In 2000, she was awarded a $1-million judgment. Putting people in fear is a form of assault, Cohen said, noting that even in the case of the Aryan Nations lawsuit, his clients were not physically hurt, but they suffered emotional and psychological injuries. The legal principles are tried and true, but this is the first time weve applied it in a digital context to a troll storm. Its going to be a precedent-setting case, he added. Even though there has been an uptick in online trolling in the last decade, lawsuits are rare, said Danielle Citron, a law professor at the University of Maryland and author of the book Hate Crimes in Cyberspace. You mostly see people just pray it goes away, she said. You just dont see a lot of cases like this because theyre expensive, and its easier to hide. What this lawsuit is aiming to do is send the message that there are real consequences here, Citron added. If youre going to target someone in ways that then lead to death threats, reputational-harming lies and youre inspiring your troll army there are consequences for this incredibly destructive, threatening, inciting-violence behavior. So often this alt-right movement is like, Theres no stopping us. We have free speech on our side. Of course there are limits. Its not a free-for-all. In the old days, Andrew Anglin would have burned a cross on Tanyas front lawn. In the digital age, he launched a troll storm against her. Richard Cohen, Southern Poverty Law Center president Anglin did not respond Tuesday to an email seeking comment. In a follow-up post in December, Anglin accused the lying Jew media of falsely claiming the Daily Stormer threatened anyone in Whitefish. I have made it explicitly clear that I am not calling for threats or harassment or anything else against the people who are threatening and harassing (and extorting) the Spencers, he wrote. Cohen said a jury was unlikely to be swayed by Anglins argument. We see those disclaimers all the time, he said. The hatemongers of the world want to protect themselves. When you look at the material he posted, its absolutely clear he knew what was going to happen. He would be terrorizing her. Gersh was not the only person targeted by the Daily Stormer. The website also published pictures, names and other identifying information about several other members of the small Jewish community in Flathead County. As someone who was attacked as a member of the community, I strongly support Tanya Gersh, said Rabbi Francine Roston, whose name and photo were posted on the website along with a description of her as a super Jew. Roston leads Bnai Shalom, a Jewish congregation based in Kalispell, the Flathead County seat thats about 17 miles south of Whitefish. Will Randall, a leader of Love Lives Here, a grass-roots organization that put together interfaith demonstrations against the neo-Nazi threats, cheered the filing of the lawsuit. While we are working on the ground to counter hate and inequality, kudos to SPLC for taking it to the courts. The people of Whitefish, Jewish people, human rights supporters and all those targeted by hate deserve justice and peace. Still, Randall said, members of the community were concerned that there could be more hate projected toward us. The Daily Stormer has also published articles disparaging the group. Anglin doesnt represent the values of equity and inclusivity that most Montanans displayed when they chose to support the people of Whitefish who were targeted by this hate, Rachel Carroll Rivas, co-director of the Montana Human Rights Network, said in a statement. Montanans also value justice, and this suit seeks justice for the Gersh family and people of Whitefish. When radical right-wing extremists, like Andrew Anglin, use bully tactics to threaten, intimidate and harass through vigilante actions there should be consequences. Residents of Whitefish and Kalispell said their fight against neo-Nazis and other white supremacists was far from over. The Southern Poverty Law Center has identified several hate groups that operate in northwest Montanas Flathead Valley, a pristine region tucked between Glacier National Park and Flathead Lake that has one of the fastest-growing populations in the state. The region, which is 97% white, is known for its cattle pastures and once-thriving timber mills as well as luxury waterfront condos, bed-and-breakfasts and resort villages in the shadow of ski slopes. Love Lives Here formed several years ago after one group, Pioneer Little Europe, organized a white supremacist film screening at a regional library. Since the troll storm, the activist group has hired its first staffers to work on issues including LGBTQ rights, education on Islam and combating anti-Semitism. This weekend, the group is hosting an event in Whitefish called Life After Hate, where a former white supremacist, Christian Picciolini, is scheduled to speak. Still, white supremacists regularly post fliers on street posts and sneak them into door jambs. Diversity is code for White Genocide, said one left last month outside an Irish restaurant in Kalispell. Jarvie is a special correspondent. jaweed.kaleem@latimes.com | @jaweedkaleem ALSO Filled with hate, filled with anger: Anatomy of a shooting allegedly fueled by hatred of white people A 23-year-old Dreamer sues the Trump administration over his deportation to Mexico The Cleveland killer wasnt the first to post a gruesome crime. Welcome to the dark side of sharing Family and friends of those killed in the Oklahoma City bombing placed wreaths, photos and balloons on the metal chairs that memorialize the 168 people who died in the 1995 attack. Hundreds gathered on Wednesday at the memorial and museum built at the former site of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building for the 22nd anniversary of the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in the country. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson spoke during a remembrance ceremony. His remarks included the importance of teaching unity to American children. Advertisement The Murrah building housed HUD offices as well as employees from other federal agencies. HUD lost 35 employees in the attack. Timothy McVeigh was convicted of the 1995 bombing and was later executed. Brian Martinez, 31, attaches a wreath made of family photos to the chair erected to honor his father, the Rev. Gilbert X. Martinez. in the Field of Chairs at the Oklahoma City Memorial on Wednesday. (Sue Ogrocki / AP) ALSO Neo-Nazi website unleashed Internet trolls against a Jewish woman, lawsuit says The Cleveland killer wasnt the first to post a gruesome crime. Welcome to the dark side of sharing An Idaho sheriffs daunting battle to investigate when children of a faith-healing sect die The Trump administration has notified Congress that Iran is complying with the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by former President Obama, and says the U.S. has extended the sanctions relief given to the Islamic republic in exchange for curbs on its atomic program. However, in a letter sent late Tuesday to House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the administration has undertaken a full review of the agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Iran remains a leading state sponsor of terror, through many platforms and methods, Tillerson wrote. He said the National Security Council-led interagency review of the agreement will evaluate whether it is vital to the national security interests of the United States. Advertisement The certification of Irans compliance, which must be sent to Congress every 90 days, is the first issued by the Trump administration. The deadline for this certification was midnight. As a candidate in the 2016 presidential election, Trump was an outspoken critic of the deal but had offered conflicting opinions on whether he would try to scrap it, modify it or keep it in place with more strenuous enforcement. Tuesdays determination suggested that Trump agreed with findings by the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog that Iran is keeping to its end of the bargain, but he is looking for another way to ratchet up pressure on Tehran. Despite the sanctions relief, Iran remains on the State Departments list of state sponsors of terrorism for its support of anti-Israel groups and is still subject to non-nuclear sanctions, including for human rights abuses and for its backing of Syrian President Bashar Assads government. The nuclear deal was sealed in Vienna in July 2015 after 18 months of negotiations led by former Secretary of State John F. Kerry and diplomats from the other four permanent members of the U.N. Security Council Britain, China, France and Russia and Germany. Under its terms, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program, long suspected of being aimed at developing atomic weapons, in return for billions of dollars in sanctions relief. Opponents of the deal, including Israel, objected, saying it only delayed Irans pursuit of nuclear weapons and did not allow for the kind of inspections of its atomic sites that would guarantee it was not cheating. Obama, Kerry and others who negotiated the deal strenuously defended its terms and said the agreement made Israel, the Middle East and the world a safer place. ALSO Trumps hire American order aims to reshape skilled-worker visa program Pence calls North Koreas failed missile test a provocation, but White House sees no need for a response Islamic State has fewer than 1,000 fighters in Afghanistan. So why did Trump drop the mother of all bombs? Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. Its Wednesday, April 19, and heres whats happening across California: TOP STORIES Shooting in Fresno Three people are dead after a 39-year-old man allegedly went on a violent rampage in downtown Fresno. The suspect, Kori Ali Muhammad, was wanted in the separate shooting death of a security guard outside a motel last week. Muhammads father, Vincent Taylor, told The Times on Tuesday that his son believed he was part of an ongoing war between whites and blacks, and that a battle was about to take place. Im happy he was arrested, Vincent Taylor said. I would hope that whatever Kori tells [police], they take him seriously and they start following up. Los Angeles Times Advertisement Plus: Police say Muhammad yelled Allahu Akbar when cops took him into custody, and his social media feeds are full of references to racial conflict and black nationalism. Los Angeles Times New rules for L.A. cops The Los Angeles Police Commission has changed the rules to require officers to try, whenever possible, to defuse tense encounters before firing their guns a policy shift that marks a significant milestone in the boards attempts to curb shootings by police. This vote was the culmination of a yearlong effort to change its ways. Los Angeles Times New competition in town The L.A. County Board of Supervisors has approved a plan to create a utility company that will compete with Southern California Edison. Initially, as many as 500,000 residential and 200,000 commercial utility customers in unincorporated cities throughout the county will be eligible to join the operation. Los Angeles Times L.A. STORIES Airbnb battle: Airbnb is warning city officials that Los Angeles could face a budgetary blow if it restricts how many days Angelenos can rent out rooms or whole homes on its platform. Los Angeles Times Get applying: There are as many as 45,000 open cyber security jobs in California, and the nations higher educational institutions are scrambling to add courses that help students get these positions. San Diego Union-Tribune Simmons in the hospital: Fitness guru Richard Simmons, who has been absent from the public eye for several years now, has been hospitalized as he battles severe indigestion. ABC News What will happen to Billy? A battle is brewing over where to keep the L.A. Zoo elephant Billy. Councilman Paul Koretz wants to move the Angeleno, who has been here since 1989, to a sanctuary where he can roam more freely. Associated Press Facing her fear of driving: She just won Pulitzer but maybe the biggest triumph was driving on the freeway from LAX. New York Times IMMIGRATION AND THE BORDER Dreamer deported: After spending an evening with his girlfriend in Calexico, Calif., on Feb. 17, Juan Manuel Montes, a DACA recipient, was sent to Mexico. Montes had left his wallet in a friends car, and within three hours he had been shipped over the border. Los Angeles Times Bonds are up: The price of immigration bail bonds has tripled over the last 20 years, and sometimes those who cant pay up and bond out choose to self-deport rather than spend time in federal custody. The Desert Sun POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT California created Trump: President Trump won in 2016 railing on liberal paradises like California, but a close look at the presidents advisers, and their pasts, shows that this state is really what gave America Trumpism. Politico Classic DMV: The California Department of Motor Vehicles isnt making sure that people issued placards for disabled parking should actually have them, a state audit has found. Los Angeles Times Reds in a sea of blue: The state assembly is solidly Democratic, but two GOP members are thriving right now by introducing bills left and right. I dont think that, in the Legislature, people walk around with the idea that theyre going to label people as partisans, Assemblyman Jay Obernolte said. Inland Valley Daily Bulletin Stars weigh in: Celebrity bounty hunters Duane Dog and Beth Chapman on Tuesday were among dozens of bounty hunters and bail agents to voice opposition to a state bill that would drastically transform the way judges award criminal defendants bail in California. Los Angeles Times CRIME AND COURTS More Berkeley fallout: The Berkeley Police Department has requested the publics help in identifying participants in a violent clash that erupted in the citys downtown Saturday between anti-fascist groups and so-called alt-right groups, including white nationalists. Los Angeles Times Teacher arrested: Police in Benicia, Calif., arrested a teacher Monday after she turned herself in for allegedly having sex with a student. ABC 7 Thats not where I parked my car: A man was arrested early Monday morning after he parked his car in the middle of an Orange County high school and fell asleep. The driver, who was detained on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, thought he had parked his car in Santa Ana. Orange County Register THE ENVIRONMENT Pesticide problems: Families in the Central Valley are worried about pesticide poisoning after the Trump administration reversed an Obama-era ban on chlorpyrifos, one pesticide widely used in the region. The Guardian A weed succeeds: An invasive weed called Black Mustard, which is beautiful, is blooming like crazy in Silver Lake. The Eastsider CALIFORNIA CULTURE Movie problems in L.A.: Wed love to we all live here, we all work here. We made a handful of the early movies here. We hope to make some in the not-too-distant future here again, said Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. But the states film incentives are a big part of why Marvel isnt shooting here, he added. Los Angeles Times An ode to the Phil: Read how one writer, when he comes to Los Angeles, heads straight to Walt Disney Concert Hall, because the Los Angeles Philharmonic is simply the best. New York Times A museum gone wrong: The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences is two years behind schedule on its Academy Museum and has already blown its $250-million budget. The cost could go up to as much as $400 million. Variety Finally! Theres been a four-year delay, but the process of naming San Francisco International Airport after gay icon Harvey Milk will begin this week. The Bay Area Reporter CALIFORNIA ALMANAC San Diego and Los Angeles area: partly cloudy Wednesday, sunny Thursday. Sacramento and San Francisco area: partly cloudy Wednesday and Thursday. More weather is here. AND FINALLY Todays California Memory comes from Parker Green: When I first moved to California, I had been living in Alaska for the last two years. Stepping out of the airport in Long Beach into the bright, sun-soaked streets, having just left the cold, clammy, wet streets of Anchorage, I took a moment to take it all in. The sun was piercing through the leaves of a palm tree, and I was already getting uncomfortably hot in the pants and sweatshirt I was wearing, even though it was still early in the morning. I had spent the last decade of my life waiting for this moment. I had made it to L.A. I was in my new home. If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. Send us an email to let us know what you love or fondly remember about our state. (Please keep your story to 100 words.) Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to Benjamin Oreskes and Shelby Grad. Also follow them on Twitter @boreskes and @shelbygrad. Under its last chairman, Democrat Tom Wheeler, the Federal Communications Commission dramatically ramped up its regulation of telecommunications companies, especially those that provide broadband Internet access to the home. The commission adopted rules to preserve net neutrality, limit the collection and use of data about where people go online and subsidize broadband access services, while also slapping conditions on or flat-out opposing mergers between major broadband companies. Although the telecom industry resisted many of these steps as heavy handed and overly restrictive, Internet users, consumer groups and scores of companies that offer content, apps and services online welcomed them as prudent limits on broadband providers who face too little competition. And theyre right about that far too many consumers today have only one or two practical options for high-speed Internet access at their homes today. Since becoming the FCCs new chairman in January, however, Ajit Pai, a deregulatory-minded Republican, has moved the agency just as aggressively in the opposite direction. To Pai, Wheeler was like a father who loaded up his teenagers bike with training wheels, a bell, lights, a basket, saddle bags, a water bottle, reflective tape along the frame, hand and coaster brakes, and a clip on can of pepper spray just in case. By the time he was done, the bike was too unwieldy to ride. Advertisement Market forces cant be counted on to protect net neutrality, given how few options for broadband service most homes have. Pais latest target is the net neutrality rules the commission adopted in 2015 after a federal appeals court threw out the commissions previous neutrality regulations. The 2015 rules try to preserve the openness that has been crucial to the Internets success by barring broadband providers from blocking or impeding legal sites and services, favoring some sites traffic in exchange for pay, or unreasonably interfering with the flow of data on their networks. These are all vitally important principles, as even opponents of the rules recognize. The fight has largely been over how strictly they should be interpreted and enforced. In particular, the dispute has been over the FCCs move to reclassify broadband providers as utilities, which a federal appeals court ruled the commission had to do before it could impose blanket prohibitions on blocking, throttling or prioritizing data. The reclassification also subjected providers to some of the same, decades-old rules as local phone monopolies. The process of undoing a rule usually requires another public notice and months of public comment on the proposed change. But Pai may take a procedural shortcut next month that undoes the utility classification right away. And instead of having neutrality rules that the FCC would enforce, Pai may call on broadband providers to pledge not to block, impede or prioritize traffic unreasonably with the Federal Trade Commission available to slap the hands of any provider that goes back on its pledge. Thats a laughable idea. Dropping the utility classification would make it harder for the FCC to protect net neutrality, but not impossible Wheeler laid out a way to do so in 2014. Leaving the matter to voluntary pledges and the Federal Trade Commission, on the other hand, would be precious close to having no safeguards at all. A broadband provider could avoid an FTC lawsuit even if it stopped honoring its neutrality pledge. It would just have to adjust its terms of service to reveal any shift for example, disclosing that it was now blocking websites that did not pay an extra toll to reach their customers, or letting websites buy their way to the front of the data line. More important, opponents of the current neutrality rules have yet to offer a persuasive argument for abandoning them. A common complaint is that they somehow limit investment by broadband providers, but that investment has been trending downward for almost a decade. Meanwhile, networks continue to improve, with increasing speeds and wider availability. Nor can market forces be counted on to protect net neutrality, given how few options for broadband service most homes have. The ongoing wave of telecom industry consolidation threatens to keep the number of competitors low even after next-generation wireless networks arrive with speeds that rival fiber-optic phone and cable-TV lines. If Pai proceeds as expected, consumer groups and Internet-based companies are sure to take the FCC to court, where broadband providers are already challenging the Wheeler-era net neutrality rules in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Congress could cut short the seemingly endless legal battling by giving the commission clear new authority to protect net neutrality, as it should have done years ago. But when it comes to the FCCs proper role, Republicans and Democrats are as divided as Pai and Wheeler. Protecting net neutrality shouldnt be a partisan issue, considering how widely shared that goal is. If Pai manages to kill the current rules, Congress shouldnt wait for the courts to settle the matter. Instead, lawmakers should make clear once and for all that broadband providers mustnt pick winners and losers online, and that the FCC has the power to make sure they dont. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook Donald Trump has been president for only three months and already hes given up or reversed course or been stymied on a wide range of campaign promises. Given how awful some of those ideas were ending Obamacare, declaring China a currency manipulator, ordering a blanket federal hiring freeze (done, but since lifted) it is not necessarily a bad thing for the country that hes fallen down on the job. Now, were mildly heartened to learn that Trump also may be moving away from his ill-advised campaign pledge to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement of 2015, under which nearly 200 nations pledged to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Climate change, of course, is viewed skeptically by the new president. He once described the idea that human activity is heating up the oceans and atmosphere in potentially catastrophic ways as a total, and very expensive, hoax that was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive. He appointed a climate skeptic, Scott Pruitt, to run the Environmental Protection Agency, a department Trumps hopes to reduce by 31%, according to the budget proposal he sent to Congress. The administration also is pushing plans to roll back Obama-era limitations on methane emissions from oil and gas wells on public lands (an effort that, fortunately, may die in the Senate), and to consider weakening the aggressive fuel-efficiency standards for motor vehicles established under Obama. Advertisement Trump also has drawn a target on the Clean Power Plan, which was designed to significantly reduce emissions from primarily coal-fired power-generating plants responsible for a third of the nations greenhouse gases. That the Trump administration is even debating the issue rather than blindly carrying out its ill-conceived campaign promise offers a hopeful sign. His hostility to the science of climate change poses a global risk. The U.S. is the worlds largest economy and second-largest emitter of carbon and other greenhouse gases. It was instrumental in crafting the Paris agreement, a milestone in international environmental cooperation even if experts say its goal of capping the rise in temperatures by 2100 to less than 2 degrees Celsius isnt ambitious enough if the world is to avoid the worst effects of global warming. Its slightly encouraging that there seems to be an internal debate underway between a set of Trump advisors who want the president to keep his promise to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris agreement and another set urging him to stick with the pact but loosen the Obama goal of reducing by 2025 U.S. emissions by up to 28% of 2005 levels. That the Trump administration is even debating the issue rather than blindly carrying out its ill-conceived campaign promise offers a hopeful sign that the presidents position could change, and that he might still join the rest of the world in trying to address the potentially existential threat of global warming. For the United States to back off from the Paris accord now not only would imperil the chances of global success, but would marginalize the U.S. as a leader in a defining issue of our era. At the same time, if the U.S. were to stay in the Paris agreement while weakening the United States commitments, that still would be a losing proposition for the nation, and the world, given that emissions need to be even more sharply curtailed than already planned. Reducing reliance on fossil fuels is a difficult challenge, but it needs to be done. Yes, there will be economic hits to the oil and gas industries, but alternative renewable energy already has become a significant part of the global economy and it is growing quickly. Given the worldwide damage that will be caused by rising seas one estimate puts it at $1 trillion a year by 2050 insuring jobs today at the expense of the future is the definition of penny-wise, pound-foolish. The president is in a position to prove his critics wrong to demonstrate that he can weigh (actual, not alternative) facts and frame positions based on reality and in the best interests of the nation. We invite him to do so by sticking with the Paris agreement and the Clean Power Plan, and by directing the government to find ways to reduce U.S. emissions even further. Those are steps that a sagacious and respected world leader would take. We hope Trump moves in that direction, away from his reckless campaign stance on this enormously important issue. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook Donald Trump celebrated Easter in an Episcopal church in Palm Beach, where he gave a thumbs-up sign to the congregants before taking his seat in a pew near the front. His appearance on the major Christian holiday was another data point in an ongoing debate about whether the president is a true believer or merely signaling religiosity to appease his base. During the campaign, he referred to Second Corinthians as Two Corinthians and couldnt name his favorite Bible verse. The church he claimed as his own, in Manhattan, released a statement that he was not an active member. Shortly after his inauguration, he mistook a communion plate for an offertory plate. Recently Politico noted an uptick in Trumps religious references. Has Trump found religion in the Oval Office? a headline asked. The answer from several of Trumps biographers was no. Donald has never been a spiritually or religiously serious person, Timothy OBrien, author of TrumpNation: The Art of Being Donald, told Politico. Good to know, I guess. But Trumps religion (or lack thereof) is one of the least revealing things about him. Even if churchgoing habits are a proxy for a presidents moral code, theres no need for one in Trumps case because hes already given us plenty of direct information about his values in the comments hes uttered, the tweets hes sent, the policies hes championed and the people hes chosen to surround himself with. Advertisement We know he likes to comment on womens bodies, and has bragged about grabbing them without their consent. We know he pals around with white nationalists and appoints them to the highest levels of government. We know he evinces little interest in policies to help the working poor, and displays contempt for people seeking refuge from persecution. We know hes obsessed with being seen as a winner. We know that when he isnt, he is petty and vindictive. Actions speak louder than prayers. Actions speak louder than prayers. Despite the Constitutions assurances that no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office, Americans love to conflate religiosity with morality. Barack Obamas spiritual practices were also under a microscope at the beginning of his first term. And while the interest in how Trump worships has none of the racist undertones that accompanied questions about Obamas choice of church, its just as much of a waste of time. I couldnt care less whether hes cracking open a Bible every night, warming a pew on Sundays or seeking a pastors approval. Most presidents in the modern era, no matter what their professed religious affiliation, havent attended church regularly, either. Even George W. Bush, beloved as he was by evangelical Christians, did not worship with the same congregation every week while he was in office. And yet its difficult to imagine a candidate who doesnt end her speeches with God bless America attracting a significant portion of the vote. No serious presidential contender in recent history has declared that he doesnt believe in a higher power. This fixation on the presidents church attendance and religious bona fides strikes me as not only unhelpful but rather hypocritical, given that most Americans dont go to church every week not even those who profess a belief in God. As of 2014, 76% of Americans identified as religious, but only 36% said they attended services weekly. And the number of Americans with no religious beliefs or affiliations has risen sharply in recent years. The Pew Research Center calls members of this growing group nones, and they comprise more than a quarter of Democratic voters. The fact that Im a none myself probably explains some of my indifference to figuring out Trumps true religious beliefs. But I do care deeply about the presidents moral compass and decision-making process, and some of the questions about his religious influences have yielded interesting answers. In a 2015 campaign event in Iowa, Republican pollster Frank Luntz asked Trump, Have you ever asked God for forgiveness? Thats a tough question, Trump responded. I dont think in terms of Im a religious person. He went on to praise Norman Vincent Peale, who was his childhood pastor and officiated his first wedding. Peale wrote The Power Of Positive Thinking, and is widely recognized as one of the first religious leaders to preach the prosperity gospel, which presents faith as the path to financial success. Indeed, material wealth is a Trump value that most of us would recognize as consistent with his public statements and policy choices. And its no wonder that a man who was born rich would eagerly equate money with morality. Upon hearing this answer, Luntz, to his credit, persisted. But have you ever asked God for forgiveness? Im not sure I have, Trump replied. When I drink my little wine which is about the only wine I drink and have my little cracker, I guess thats a form of asking for forgiveness. Ann Friedman is a contributing writer to Opinion. She lives in Los Angeles. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook It wasnt particularly graceful. It wasnt easy on the nerves. But its just possible that the Trump administration has executed an important diplomatic pivot on North Korea from chest-beating belligerence to an opening for negotiations. Even before Trump came into office, Barack Obama warned him that his first international crisis might come from North Korea, the paranoid communist kingdom which has been steadily building nuclear weapons and missiles to carry them. By 2020, experts believe, the Pyongyang regime could have as many as 100 warheads, plus missiles capable of reaching California. Trump and his aides got to work on the problem immediately their attention compelled by persistent reports that Kim Jong Un was about to test a new, more advanced nuclear weapon. Advertisement The president made North Korea the top item on the agenda when he hosted Chinas leader, Xi Jinping, at Mar-a-Lago this month, saying he wanted more help in pressing North Korea to halt its nuclear program. China is North Koreas top trading partner and fuel supplier; no other country has as much leverage. But China has been lax in enforcing U.N. economic sanctions on Pyongyang. Trump and his aides succeeded at one thing: They got everyones attention. Trump aides declared that Obamas policy of strategic patience was over. Another nuclear test, they warned, would lead to serious but unspecific consequences. Then the saber-rattling escalated. On Twitter, Trump warned: 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. But after a brief but bracing war scare, national security adviser H.R. McMaster and Defense Secretary James N. Mattis swooped in to moderate the commander in chief. Its time for us to undertake all actions we can, short of a military option, to try to resolve this peacefully, McMaster, said on Sunday. We are working together with our allies and partners and with the Chinese leadership to develop a range of options. Note the phrase short of a military option. Army officers who have been through difficult wars are rarely enthusiastic about starting new ones. We are working with international partners in order to defuse the situation, said Mattis, a retired Marine general. But the bottom line is North Korea has got to change its behavior. On Tuesday, Vice President Mike Pence echoed their calls for measures short of war. All options are on the table, and there they will remain, he said in Tokyo. But the most productive pathway forward is dialogue among the family of nations that can isolate and pressure North Korea. In the end, North Korea didnt test a new bomb only a medium-range missile that failed. But Trump and his aides succeeded at one thing: They got everyones attention. North Korea would do well not to test his resolve, Pence said. That, however, was the easy part. Now the administration is turning to old-fashioned diplomacy to try to solve the impasse. The first step is working with China to impose tougher economic sanctions on North Korea. The aim is to force Kim Jong Un into negotiations with the ultimate goal of dismantling his nuclear enterprise, voluntarily or otherwise. In exchange the United States which has long sought to overthrow the Kim dynasty and its repressive regime would gladly leave the young dictator in place. We want to resolve this issue through the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, acting assistant secretary Susan Thornton said. Were definitely not seeking conflict or regime change. She told reporters that the administration isnt setting preconditions for negotiations, but wants some assurance that North Korea will be willing to roll back its nuclear arsenal. That was one shade softer than the previous U.S. position, which demanded that North Korea dismantle its nuclear program entirely before talks could begin. And it was a step in the direction of an outcome some experts think is most feasible: a freeze of North Koreas arsenal at its current stage in exchange for assurances that the United States will not attack the regime. All the options are bad, noted Robert S. Litwak of the Woodrow Wilson Center, author of Preventing North Koreas Nuclear Breakout. But a negotiated freeze is the least bad outcome available. North Korea might accept a freeze of its nuclear arsenal, he argues, because it would preserve its military deterrent against foreign attack. China might support that outcome because it doesnt want a more powerful North Korea any more than we do. And for the United States, a freeze is at least better than facing down missiles that could reach California. We would have to swallow hard, Litwak told me. But if you cant get to zero nuclear weapons, a freeze at 15 is better than going to 100. We could describe it as an interim step toward the ultimate goal of total denuclearization. That kind of diplomacy wont be easy. North Korea, surrounded by enemies, will demand economic and security guarantees. And it will pose a test for Trump: Is a president who achieved fame by claiming to be a winner capable of settling for an unpalatable but war-averting compromise? There isnt much time to find out; 2020, when Pyongyang could have intercontinental missiles, is only three years away. doyle.mcmanus@latimes.com Twitter: @DoyleMcManus Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook Is there a difference between the persona we offer to the world and the person we truly are? That question is as old as philosophy, poetry or adolescence. But heres a modern American twist: Whats the legal difference between the personas we offer to the world and our true selves? This week, infamous conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been exploring that subject in a Texas courtroom as he resists his ex-wifes attempt to secure full custody of their children. A talk-radio host, Jones runs the alarmingly popular conspiracy websites InfoWars.com and PrisonPlanet.com. His star rose dramatically during the rumor-fraught 2016 presidential campaign. He is known for proclaiming that the Sandy Hook school shooting was a government false-flag operation, questioning the official story about 9/11, taking off his shirt on camera at odd intervals and (recently) receiving effusive praise from President Trump. His ex-wifes lawyers have used his antics to paint him as a demonstrably unstable parent. Jones has made this easy for them lately by challenging actor Alec Baldwin to a cage match and, in a rant peppered with profanities and anti-gay slurs, threatening to beat up Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff. Both times Jones was reacting to criticism of Trump, whom Jones regards with a childlike reverence. Advertisement If all those details seem to add up comfortably to unfit dad, Jones attorneys have a counterclaim: The Alex Jones of talk radio and InfoWars.com is a character, not a real person. Hes a performance artist, argued attorney Randall Wilhite, and judging his stability based on that performance would be like judging Jack Nicholson based on his portrayal of the Joker in Batman. In the era of infotainment, the difference between public character and private reality matters. Jones lawyers hope to convince the jury that the real Alex Jones is a regular guy and a good dad, nothing like the incendiary conspiracy theorist he plays on the air. They face an uphill battle. Jones, among other things, pulled his signature take-off-the-shirt-for-emphasis move in a family therapy session and claimed in a deposition that he could not remember details about his children because he had eaten a bowl of chili for lunch. But Jones argument is not new, and it could work. In the era of infotainment, where increasingly vivid characters deliver opinion and news to Americans, the difference between public character and private reality matters. It mattered to wrestler and media personality Hulk Hogan, whose real-person name is Terry Bollea. Bollea sued Gawker Media for invasion of privacy for publishing a surreptitiously recorded sex tape. Gawker asserted that Bollea had indulged in so much public sexual braggadocio that he had no sexual privacy left to invade. But Bollea countered that it was his public character, Hulk Hogan, who engaged in the sexual banter, and that Gawker had invaded the privacy of his private persona. He prevailed, winning $115 million and bankrupting Gawker in the process. Fellow excitable talk-radio host and conspiracy theorist Michael Savage was less successful with the same argument. After the Council on American-Islamic Relations published clips of Savages anti-Muslim rants in fundraising messages, Savage sued, claiming that CAIR was treating a persona embodying American rage as the real Savage, and unfairly painting the real Savage as a racist. The federal court was unimpressed and dismissed the suit. Trump, on the other hand, has benefited from a variation on the argument. Last January, a New York judge dismissed a suit against him, rejecting political strategist Cheryl Jacobus claim that Trump defamed her on Twitter by suggesting that she had begged for a job. Trumps Twitter persona, the judge found, was far too bombastic to be taken literally, as defamation requires. The presidents Twitter character deals in vague and simplistic insults, deflecting serious consideration. Because no reasonable person would accept that characters insults as statements of fact, the judge ruled, they werent defamatory. This legal rift between public and private personas would be confusing enough if it applied only to celebrities. But in the Internet age, it can apply to anyone, with potentially chaotic results. In Dallas, Babak Taherzadeh is charged with felony stalking for a series of alarming Twitter comments about Judge Brandon Birmingham, who oversaw one of his cases. Taherzadeh claims that his comments cant be taken as true threats because he was playing an online character, not speaking literally. In other words, his defense is that hes a troll. It may have been difficult for Birmingham to tell the difference when Taherzadeh was tweeting ominously about his family. Legally, the I was playing a character defense will necessarily depend on the facts of each particular case. Morally, judgment should be harder to evade. Jones promotion of Sandy Hook conspiracy theories has led to harassment and pain for the parents of murdered children. Theyve been barraged with abusive communications from Jones rabid fans accusing them of fabricating the existence of their children and participating in a conspiracy to deprive Americans of their 2nd Amendment rights. Their pain is the same whether Jones is sincere or just in it for the money. The Rule of Goats applies. Slightly paraphrased for this family newspaper the rule states: If you kiss a goat, even if you say youre doing it ironically, youre still a goat-kisser. Alex Jones, playing a character or not, is a goat-kisser. Ken White is a criminal defense attorney and 1st Amendment litigator at Brown White & Osborn LLP in Los Angeles. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook MORE FROM OPINION Is Trump religious? Who cares? The allegedly race-based killings in Fresno are a tragically unsurprising part of American life Surprise us, Mr. President, and embrace the Paris climate agreement When The Handmaids Tale was published in 1985, reproductive rights were under siege and acid rain was corroding the forests and rivers. The Canadian writer Margaret Atwood reasoned that if you took all this to its logical end, you could wind up with a theocracy, not a democracy, and a population rendered sterile by its own poisons. So her novel of speculative fiction imagined a hyper-religious nation where young women who were still fertile were rounded up and confined to the human equivalent of puppy mills, forced to bear the children of powerful men. Well, here we are in 2017, and womens rights to control their own bodies are at risk again, the environment is threatened again and The Handmaids Tale is more popular than ever. It became a feature film in 1990, and this April 26, Hulu launches The Handmaids Tale as a 10-episode series. Why is this book, like George Orwells 1984, finding a new and large and attentive following? Margaret Atwood has some ideas. Click here for the full archive of "Patt Morrison Asks" podcasts. More than 30 years after you wrote it, theres a renaissance of The Handmaids Tale, with the television series; its selling in bookstores, and theres a waiting list for it in public libraries. Whats going on? Yes, its all quite surprising but not, I suppose, when you consider the backgrounds. MGM and Hulu started making this television series really well over a year ago, and they started shooting in September, before the election. So that caused some resurgence of interest the mere fact that they were doing it. And then the election happened, and the cast woke up in the morning and thought, were no longer making fiction were making a documentary. I think that is one reason for the resurgence of interest. Obviously I dont think were going to get the outfits [the red robes the handmaids are forced to wear], but the rollback in rights that women have thought they could take for granted is frightening to many people. Is it a case of cognitive dissonance that your book and Bill OReillys about traditional values are both on best-seller lists? Well, Id like to see what those traditional values are. Do they include lots of orphanages? Because if you decide that women should have babies because the state wants more babies, then you either have to provide lots of orphanages, or you have to pay them [to support the babies]. Otherwise youre going to get [dictator Nicolae] Ceausescu in Romania, who decreed that women had to have four children, and gave them pregnancy tests every month. And if you didnt get pregnant, you had to account for why not. And that filled the orphanages up pretty quickly because the women could not afford to support four children. Could we be closer to that? I think people should think through what kind of country they live in and what kind of country they want to live in, and what they want to pay for. If what youre saying is that poor women ought to be forced to have children which they then will be forced to support, youre just preparing not only a very unfair situation, but a tragedy. Is that the kind of country you want to live in? At least the handmaids in The Handmaids Tale get fed properly. Is there a difference in how earlier generations read this book versus how young women are reading it now, young women whove grown up perhaps taking all those rights for granted? I think so. I think the earlier generation although some people took it [the book] seriously they saw it more in the realm of fantasy, like this could never happen here. In England, it was a jolly good yarn. In Canada, it was, could it happen here? And in the United States, some people said, how much time have we got? But other people said, surely were beyond that and its not going to happen here, and we will never have a dictatorship because were a democracy. And I dont think anybody should ever feel secure about that one, either. At a legislative hearing in Texas over a bill to roll back reproductive rights, women showed up in The Handmaids Tale outfits, the red robes and white bonnets, as a way of protesting. They did. And you have a picture of them sitting there very quietly surrounded by men with guns. It could be a still out of the television series. The television series is going to reach a different audience from the one the feature film did. How do you compare the two in how they delivered on your book and what the impact may be? Were now in an age in which we have a relatively new platform, and that is the well-produced video-streamed series. And that has created lots of possibilities for novels that werent there before, particularly longer novels, because with a longer novel, its very hard to get all of it with any nuance into a 90-minute film. But now that we have this relatively new platform, all kinds of novels are being adapted for presentation in that way. What will happen in the television series as compared to the feature film? First of all, its longer, so theyre able to get more of it in. And some of the characters that simply dropped from view in the novel because the narrator has no way of knowing what happens to them in the series theyre able to follow some of those stories and we will see what happens to them. Does that render the series in a way more powerful and frightening? I think it goes beyond both the book and the original feature film. I think actually it is the more frightening Do you see an arc from what was going on in your life or in the world when you first wrote this, to where we are now? A lot of people are saying that. First of all, any totalitarianism always has views on who shall be allowed to have babies and what shall be done with the babies. For instance, the generals in Argentina were dumping people out of airplanes. But if it was a pregnant woman, they would wait until she had the baby and then they gave the baby to somebody in their command system. And then they dumped the woman out of the airplane. Hitler stole his children, blond ones, hoping that he could turn them into blond Germans. Its been going on for really a long time. The United States has traditionally taken the view that your private life was your private life as long as you didnt frighten the horses, do unacceptable things in public. But they seem to have made an exception for that in the case of womens bodies. So you have in fact a purportedly liberal democracy claiming agency over other peoples bodies. That happened with men and now also with women. In cases of the draft, the state has the power to enlist you in the army. That would be the parallel. What people often say is, Well, if the woman doesnt want the baby, it will get adopted. Thats not always true. As soon as you get all the people who want to adopt babies having adopted them, what are you going to do then? In the novel, Canada represents a place of escape and freedom just as it was for slaves during the Civil War. As a Canadian, your perspective on how power is used gives you some perspective we may not have in this country? Well we of course like to think so, but are we always just flattering ourselves about its truth? It tends to be a one-way plate-glass window; that is, spend more time staring at you, but usually you dont spend very much time staring at us, because you dont need to. But we flatter ourselves that we think we know whats going on, although I have to say at this moment in time, nobody knows whats going on. From day to day, you really dont know. Yes, Canada has been the place of refuge not just for slaves in the antebellum South but for various other groups as well. During the Vietnam war a lot of people went to Canada as well. And after the Revolutionary War, a lot of people went to Canada because theyd been on the losing side. It does give us a perspective; it may not be a correct perspective. Your book was banned from a high school, and its required reading elsewhere. I realize now why we read so many 19th century novels in high school. Its because there was no sex in them. There was sex in the margins of them; a lot of them were about that, but you never got to confront it. It was sort of off in the shrubbery somewhere. And a lot of people feel that teenage people are too young to deal with such things. Theyre entitled to their opinion, but other people are as entitled to their contrary opinion. In one case, the school board tried to ban the book and the students mounted a campaign and made every reasonable presentation and won their case as to why they should be allowed to study this book in school. Is the Trump era leading this new misogyny or is it just the biggest voice and face of it? I think its a voice and face. But also what leaders do gives permission. So you can have people all along who have thought those things and done those things, but if a world leader is doing them and making clear that that world leader is thinking them, it gives permission to other people to be much more in your face about it. The galvanizing movement for women in the United States has been this administration and some of its ideas; it takes a lot of energy to keep movements going. It does take a lot of energy. What may happen is that the administration will enact some of its ideas, and people will find themselves living with the consequences. And that may change things quite considerably. Women are not the only subjects here. The environmental protection laws are a huge issue, and they do have impact on women because they have impact on families and on health. How much fun is it going to be if all of a sudden your drinking water isnt protected anymore? Thats one of the underlying premises of The Handmaids Tale too, the environmental depredation thats affected human fertility. Exactly. We are already seeing that happening because of all the plastics and the chemicals leaching out of plastics into the water. Theres a couple of studies about declining male fertility and it is due to human stuff, plastic in the water. You can deny those studies all you like but it will have consequences. I once interviewed a doctor who, back in the era before Roe vs. Wade, had treated hospital patients, desperate pregnant women who had tried to induce abortions, sometimes at the cost of their lives. As I said, more orphanages and you can add into that more dead women. You can add into that people who had illegal abortions, botched illegal abortions, then couldnt have children. All of those things we assume are going to happen again. There was a reason why people fought to have some legal means, nonlethal procedures, because so many people were having lethal, toxic, damaging events. It does all come back to whos going to have the babies, how many are they going to have, whose responsibility are the babies? When you go back and look at people in history whove had these ideas Napoleon banned abortion because he wanted more cannon fodder. There have been various have-more-babies programs in other countries. Hitler had one Hitler had a couple. I can imagine your fan mail. I cant imagine your hate mail. Ive gotten lots of hate mail over the years. Ill probably get more once the television series comes out. But Im not advocating for one thing or the other. Im saying that what kind of laws you pass those laws will have certain kinds of results. So you should think carefully about whether you want to have those results or not. If youre going to ban birth control, if youre going to ban information about reproduction, if youre going to de-fund all of those things, there will be consequences. Do you want those consequences or not? Are you willing to pay for them or not? Is there anything I forgot to ask you that you think is important? Oh, you could ask me something like, why are you so short? Thats science, and thats another story altogether abandonment of science goes hand in glove with so much of this. People are always happy to have the kind of science that results in new inventions that make money not the kind that warns you about consequences. They dont like that kind. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook MORE PATT MORRISON ASKS Rachel Dolezal on racial fluidity and her changing identity Your guide to talking like a Californian. Tips for the 'hella tricky' dialect USC Annenberg's new dean, Willow Bay, on leading a university journalism program in the age of Trump To the editor: I read with great interest about the proposed secession of California from the Union. As a native of the great state of Alabama, I would think that the folks in California might want to ask some Southerners about how secession worked out for us. (Break away from the USA? The effort to cleave California faces its own split, April 16) I remember a little misunderstanding called the Civil War, an oxymoron if there ever were one. Its amusing to watch as some in California fight over states rights. I will watch with interest the gyrations of California, but residents should understand that, given our our last little go-round with the Union Army, if a real shooting war breaks out, theyre on their own. We got enough fighting the last time. Advertisement Gene Martin, Dothan, Ala. .. To the editor: Interesting story about secession efforts in California. Can Colorado join and create the nation of California-Colorado? But seriously, speaking of Colorado, do these Calexit proponents know what they plan to do with the Colorado River Compact and all the federal water projects in California? Are they going to buy them back from the U.S. taxpayers? The would-be secessionists say much more money has gone from California to Washington than the other way around. What about the billions spent on water projects by U.S. taxpayers? There would be no Imperial Valley without the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. For that matter, there would be no California as we know it today without the federal water projects. If Calexit were to happen, the Colorado River Compact would need to be renegotiated, and no one in California wants that door opened. Douglas Crawford, Denver .. To the editor: The federal government owns about 48% of the land in California. It is very unlikely that the U.S. will graciously file a quitclaim for all that property as a housewarming gift to our nascent nation. But even if it did, Washington would almost certainly retain all military bases in the state, just as Russia kept bases in Crimea after Ukraine broke away from the Soviet Union. This makes it all the more easy at a future date, perhaps under the administration of President Barron Trump, for the U.S. to declare that California is blatantly discriminating against ethnic Americans and invade the breakaway republic. And why not? Theyll already have boots on the ground here and plenty of local sympathizers. But this will never happen, because California is never going to become a nation. So lets not waste any more time and money on foolishness and concentrate on making America, our country, great again for real this time. Jamo Jackson, Rainbow, Calif. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook To the editor: I wholeheartedly agree with Richard Martinez, a father who lost his son in the 2014 massacre in Isla Vista, Calif. No parent should suffer the heartache that he and many other parents have of losing a child to gun violence. (The latest San Bernardino shooting brings back memories of my son, who was killed in Isla Vista, Opinion, April 12) It is time that we as citizens demanded that our elected officials took themselves out of the back pocket of the gun lobby. Time and again they have defeated gun-control measures when they should have looked out for the interests and well-being of voters instead. Write or call your elected officials and demand background checks for all gun purchasers. We can do so much more to make our country safe. Advertisement Carmela Elsley, Thousand Oaks .. To the editor: I agree with Martinez that too many individuals who are out of control have access to guns no matter how they are obtained, legally or illegally. However, I believe the solution to the problem is much more related to the issue of self- control and anger management. The words from a song in Rodgers and Hammersteins South Pacific ring true today: Children need to be carefully taught. Michael L. Friedman, Torrance Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook University of California administration is paying excessive salaries and mishandling funds, state audit says UCLA campus (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) The administration of the University of California system pays top workers salaries and benefits significantly higher than that of similar state employees, and failed to disclose to the Board of Regents and the public that it had $175 million in budget reserve funds while it was seeking to raise tuition, a state audit found Tuesday. The audit triggered a dispute with UC President Janet Napolitano, who said charges of hidden funds were false, while two members of the UC Board of Regents charged recommendations to give the Legislature budget authority over the Office of the President encroached on UCs constitutional powers. Among the sticking points, the auditors believe the regents should contract with an independent third party that can assist the regents in monitoring a three-year corrective action plan. The audit of the Office of the President also found that it failed to satisfactorily justify its spending on system-wide initiatives and inappropriately screened surveys submitted by auditors to campus officials. Our report concludes that the Office of the President has amassed substantial reserve funds, used misleading budgeting practices, provided its employees with generous salaries and atypical benefits, and failed to satisfactorily justify its spending on systemwide initiatives, State Auditor Elaine Howle wrote to Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature. Furthermore, when we sought independent perspective from campuses about the quality and cost of the services and programs the Office of the President provides to them, the Office of the President intentionally interfered with our audit process, Howle wrote. The auditor said that because of recent tuition hikes, she recommends the Office of the President should refund available funds in the reserves by returning them to the campuses for the benefit of students. Ralph Washington Jr. president of the U.C. Students Assn. said if any reserve money is found it should go to help students, possibly by killing the tuition increase or helping students who are starving or homeless, but he is concerned legislators may use the audit to say the U.C. doesnt need so much general fund money. Students definitely dont want their tuition to go up, he said. Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount), who serves on the board of regents, said the audit requires more inquiry. The audit of the UC Office of the President appears to have uncovered the same kind of budgetary misrepresentations and executive excess that weve seen before with the State Parks Department and the Public Utilities Commission, Rendon said in a statement. There are many questions that need to be answeredand answered honestly. The audit was requested by legislators concerned about high tuition and complaints of a bloated administration overseeing the UC systems 10 campuses. The reserve included $32 million in unspent funds it received from an annual charge levied on the campusesfunds that campuses could have spent on students, the audit said. Auditors said salaries paid to those in the presidents office are much higher than the pay of comparable positions in other state government jobs. President Napolitano agreed with the vast majority of recommendations for improving budget processes and spending, but denied that $175 million was hidden from the UC Board of Regents. In a letter to Howle, the president said changes were already underway. The recommendations to [the UC presidents office] are helpful, Napolitano wrote. We welcome this constructive input, which aligns with our proactive efforts to continually improve UCOPs operations, and UCOP intends to implement the recommendations. However, Board of Regents Chair Monica Lozano and Regent Charlene Zettel asked Howle to remove recommendations that they feel encroach on the constitutional autonomy of the university system, including proposals to have the Legislature approve the Office of the Presidents budget. As written, we believe these recommendations threaten the Universitys standing as a constitutionally autonomous entity, and the Board of Regents itself, the regents wrote. Administrative salaries amounted to $2.5 million more than the maximum annual salary ranges for comparable state employees, auditors found. For instance, an accounting managers maximum annual salary is $169,000 at UC compared to $156,000 for other state employees. An information system manager can make $258,000 with UC, but $150,000 with other state agencies. The audit said: 10 executives in the Office of the President whose compensation we analyzed were paid a total of $3.7 million in fiscal year 2014-15 over $700,000 more than the combined salaries of their highest paid state employee counterparts. On benefits, the Office of the President provided a regular retirement plan but also offered its executives a retirement savings account into which the office contributes up to 5% of the executives salariesabout $2.5 million over the past five years, the audit found. The Office of the President also spent more than $2 million for its staffs business meetings and entertainment expenses over the past five yearsa benefit that the State does not offer to its employees except in limited circumstances, the audit said.. The audit also said the Office of the President reimbursed questionable travel expenses, including a ticket for a theater performance and limousine services. One person spent $350 per night on hotel rooms, which is above the allowable standard for other state agencies. The audit said the Office of the President has not managed its own budget which amounted to $747 million in fiscal year 201516 in a fiscally prudent or transparent way. Napolitano said the audit was in error in claiming her office failed to publicly disclose tens of millions in surplus funds. In fact, UCOPs budget and financial approaches reflect strategic, deliberate and transparent spending and investment in UC and state priorities, said a statement by the Office of the President. Howle disagreed. Significant reforms are necessary to strengthen the publics trust in the Office of the President, the audit concluded. Read the audit here. With the first two elections over in a series of off-season special House races, the Republican partys biggest challenge is obvious: President Trump. Republicans had hoped the protests that marked Trumps inauguration and early presidency would peter out over time. So far, thats not happened. Instead, the fervor of opposition to the president has powered stronger-than-expected results for Democrats at the ballot box. Unless that changes, that opposition could torment the GOP through the 2018 elections. How to manage Trump to appeal to the voters he attracts and the voters he offends now ranks as the premier challenge for Republican candidates, party strategists say. Advertisement Democrats face their own challenges this year and next. In the first two contests of the year, in Kansas and Georgia, theyve come close, but havent yet won a GOP-controlled seat. Theyll have to do that in significant numbers if they are to regain control of the House in the 2018 midterm elections. Moreover, for now, they have been able to focus money and volunteer activity on a limited number of special elections. By next year, the targeted seats will balloon in number, diluting their focus. At this point, however, its the Republicans challenge that appears to loom largest. Conservative activist Erick Erickson on Wednesday offered a succinct wrap-up of Tuesdays House special election in the northern suburbs of Atlanta, where he is based. Several GOP hopefuls had competed to take on the leading Democratic candidate, Jon Ossoff. The more closely aligned a candidate was with President Trump, the worse that candidate did, Erickson wrote of the Republican field on his website, the Resurgent. Republicans had a measure of success in that race, forcing Ossoff into a June 20 runoff. But the party is unable to ignore the warning signs. In both places, Democratic turnout was proportionally better, a reflection of the intensity that is fueling the party out of power and lacking in the party fully controlling Washington. In both places, historically sites of easy wins for Republicans, Democrats improved their standing fairly dramatically. The Democratic candidate in Kansass 4th District lost by seven points, about 20 points less than losses suffered by previous Democrats. In Georgia, Ossoff came within two points of winning a seat outright that Republicans have held for decades. A first place finish for the Democrat, a 30-year-old filmmaker and former congressional aide making his first run for elective office, would have been unthinkable mere months ago. The distant second-place finisher, former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel, defeated other Republicans who had bragged of their affinity for Trump, about whom she offered measured support. The special elections this year serve as warm-ups for 2018, when attention will turn to, at minimum, the nearly two dozen seats held by Republicans in districts won in 2016 by Hillary Clinton. Seven of those seats are in California. Only 12 House seats are held by Democrats in districts won by Trump. Democrats would need to win nearly all of those Republican-held House seats or a strong majority of them combined with any open seats to take over control of the House. That will mean a large number of targets for Democrats to sort through. The more closely aligned a candidate was with President Trump, the worse that candidate did. Erick Erickson, conservative activist Thats going to be one of the problems for Democrats next year, said Republican strategist Charlie Gerow, who is based in Pennsylvania. Which ones do you target? You cant put the resources that they put into Georgia into all those other races. Another challenge for Democrats, especially in those centrist districts, will be riding the enthusiasm of a party turning rapidly to the left without appearing to be out of touch with the demands of less partisan voters. But the challenge for Republicans may be more complicated. In many cases, it may put candidates on a collision course with the president and party leaders. The difficulty will be particularly acute in districts like the 6th in Georgia, where voters already had demonstrated an arms-distance relationship with the president. With a highly educated suburban voter base, diverse and with large numbers of women, it represents the kind of district that posed problems for Trump all over the country. Ossoff and his allies exploited that, casting the race as a referendum on the president. Millions of dollars poured in from sympathetic activists living elsewhere, especially California, financing a campaign that presented Ossoff as an antidote to the animosity and inaction of Washington. Trump seized on Ossoffs outside fundraising when he tweeted about the race early Wednesday. Dems failed in Kansas and are now failing in Georgia. Great job Karen Handel! It is now Hollywood vs. Georgia on June 20th, he tweeted. But in the runoff, Hollywood is less likely to be the focus than Trump himself. That will present Handel with a series of dicey decisions that will be watched by Republicans elsewhere. For one, she needs to bring together her own supporters, Republicans more in the Mitt Romney mold, with the staunch Trump supporters who backed other candidates. When businessman Bob Gray, the most vocally pro-Trump candidate, implored his supporters Tuesday to back Handel, the room went silent, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Attracting those bedrock voters would be best accomplished with Trumps help. Indeed, Handel on Wednesday said she would welcome the president to the district. (White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, said Trump would play a role if needed.) But Trumps presence could backfire by inflaming voters in the district who dislike him. That is a balance that other Republican candidates in closely divided districts will also have to mind, strategists say. For Republican candidates, a priority will be maintaining an image of loyalty to voters, not necessarily to Trump. Another solution is something out of their control: a positive shift in the way the country views Trump, who is the least popular president in decades at this point in his presidency. I think what the presidents doing with regard to traveling around the country the event he had in Wisconsin yesterday was great for rallying the base is important, said Republican strategist Alice Stewart. But he needs to start having some success with regard to policy, whether its a healthcare bill passed, or tax reform. Meaningful success, not just executive orders. If we are still here in a year and a half, and there havent been any meaningful successes, it will be challenging for Republicans, she said. Much of the furor surrounding the 2017 special elections is about creating circumstances for improvement in 2018: keeping activists engaged, reaping money from enthusiastic donors and encouraging newly optimistic candidates to jump in and take a chance, as Ossoff did. In Georgia and elsewhere, Democratic victories would make the Republican road more treacherous than it is at present. Democrats are now aware that theres a pathway to victory for them, said University of Georgia political scientist Charles S. Bullock III. Republicans have a lot, I think, to look at and ponder. They cant feel particularly good. For more on politics cathleen.decker@latimes.com Twitter: @cathleendecker ALSO: Republicans force a June runoff in a race seen as a referendum on President Trump The latest from Washington Updates on California politics Republicans on Tuesday forced the front-running Democratic candidate for an Atlanta-area House seat into a runoff, extending until June a congressional contest that has become a nationalized referendum on President Trump. With a small percentage of votes uncounted because of a balloting glitch, Jon Ossoff, a 30-year-old former Democratic congressional aide and filmmaker making his first run for public office, easily finished in first place. But he narrowly missed the 50%-plus-one-vote mark that would have given him the seat outright. Advertisement Instead he will meet Republican Karen Handel, a former Georgia secretary of state, in the June 20 runoff. Ossoff had fought for a majority vote with the help of millions of dollars from restive activists, most of them outside the district. The Republican onslaught against him which included robocalls to voters from Trump means he now faces a tougher challenge, as GOP voters have the opportunity to coalesce around one candidate instead of being split among nearly a dozen. Still, his finish was remarkable given that the district is strongly Republican in registration. Until February, the seat was held by Trumps new Health and Human Services secretary, Tom Price. In remarks delivered while vote counting was stalled, Ossoff said his standing represented a victory, regardless of the runoff. We have defied the odds. We have shattered expectations, he told a screaming crowd of supporters. We are changing the world and your voices are going to ring out across this state and across this country. We will be ready to fight on and win in June if it is necessary. The fight over Georgias 6th Congressional District is a precursor of what is expected to be a huge battle for the House in 2018, assuming that Trump remains unpopular. Republicans hold a margin of more than 40 House seats at present, and the only opportunities for gains by Democrats rest on flipping seats where voters are somewhat ambivalent about the new president. Special election races in an off year are unreliable as predictors of elections to follow, but both sides were grasping at Tuesdays results to generate momentum. The Georgia race is one of four to be contested this spring in districts with vacancies caused by the elevation of incumbents to senior positions in the Trump administration. Republicans retained a House seat in Kansas last week, although their margin of victory was about 20 percentage points smaller than typical for the conservative area surrounding Wichita a result taken by both parties as a sign of Democratic enthusiasm and GOP discontent. The northern suburbs of Atlanta loomed as a better shot for Democrats. The district is home to the sort of highly educated voters, many of them women or nonwhite, who had spurned Trump during his presidential run in 2016. Trump carried the district by less than 2 points, dramatically lower than the margin won by the 2012 Republican nominee, Mitt Romney. Price, in the same election as Trump, won his race by more than 20 points. The site of the battle also had symbolic value beyond the districts borders. The 6th District was long represented by Newt Gingrich, and served as the incubator for the anti-establishment Republican majorities that took hold in the 1990s and helped to ultimately propel Trump. Trump did not endorse a candidate in the crowded Republican field but openly encouraged party members to show up Tuesday and deny Ossoff an outright victory. Since Monday, he delivered six tweets either criticizing Ossoff often misleadingly or asking voters to side with a GOP candidate. Republicans must get out today and VOTE in Georgia 6. Force runoff and easy win! Dem Ossoff will raise your taxes-very bad on crime & 2nd A., Trump tweeted Tuesday. After midnight East Coast time, he tweeted that the results were a BIG R win and that he was Glad to be of help! Ossoff argued that the race centered on local values, although the Democratic machinery aiding him made it clear that embarrassing Trump was high on the agenda. National Democratic groups mounted a fierce early-voting push, recorded robocalls from Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez and fanned out across the district to implore voters to deliver a negative verdict on the president. I think we need some fresh leadership and some fresh ideas in Congress, Ossoff told interviewer Chuck Todd on MSNBC on Tuesday afternoon. He insisted that if elected he would not seek to block Trump but would work with anyone of either party to represent this district effectively. National Republican groups spent millions against Ossoff, but the differing arguments forwarded by the GOP candidates spoke to the disarray that has marked the partys message. Second-place finisher Handel is a longtime ally of Prices; she played up that connection and cast herself as independent when it came to Trump. Another Republican, businessman Bob Gray, declared himself happy to work with Trump to achieve the presidents goals. The ambitions of both parties were evident in the affluent neighborhoods that dot the district. Unlike in previous years, when Republicans were expected to easily win, bright blue signs dotted manicured lawns. On Tuesday, campaign banners urging Georgians to Vote Blue and Flip the Sixth were draped over a bridge on one of the main highways that cuts through the district until they were removed by Georgia Department of Transportation workers. Republicans in the late days of the campaign focused on the fact that Ossoff was unable to vote for himself, because he does not reside in the district. Trump added to the criticism by Twitter. Members of Congress are not required to live in their districts, but Ossoff took pains to remind voters that he grew up in the area and has been residing 10 minutes from the district border while his girlfriend finishes medical school. It is my home, he told CNN. My family is still there. For more on politics Decker reported from Los Angeles and Jarvie from Atlanta. cathleen.decker@latimes.com Twitter: @cathleendecker ALSO: Carrier strike group wasnt headed to Korean peninsula despite Trump saber rattling Trumps hire American order aims to reshape skilled worker visa program The latest from Washington Updates on California politics UPDATES: 10:42 p.m.: This article was updated to confirm there will be a runoff. This article was first published at 9:55 p.m. It would be more difficult for police departments in California to discipline officers accused of lying under under a plan proposed by a Los Angeles lawmaker. Democratic Assemblyman Miguel Santiago of Los Angeles believes current rules allow law enforcement agencies to unfairly target cops who simply make mistakes. His bill, which cleared its first committee hurdle on Tuesday, would raise the standard of proof in cases where officers were accused of lying. The consequence of a false and misleading statement has huge implications on prosecutions and a police officers career, Santiago said. Advertisement But the measure is receiving pushback from both civil liberties groups and those representing police chiefs and sheriffs across the state. They believe that its already too difficult to discipline officers. Increasingly, community members are demanding that police departments hold officers more accountable, said Cory Salzillo, legislative director for the California State Sheriffs Assn. Law enforcement agencies get called out: Why dont you deal with problem officers? Why dont you deal with this mistrust that exists in our communities? Salzillo said at the hearing Tuesday. And then these bills keep coming and make it harder for us to deal with officers who do violate standards or violate polices or break the law. Currently, the Los Angeles Police Department and others across the state can find that an officer made a false or misleading statement if its determined that its more likely than not that the officer did it. This is the same burden of proof used in most civil lawsuits. Santiagos bill would substantially raise the standard in cases of alleged lying. Instead of a greater than 50% chance it happened, the new requirements would mean that the evidence had to be unequivocal. This higher standard, known as clear and convincing evidence, is now used in civil liberties cases, such as restraining orders and the loss of parental rights. Officer discipline remains a hot-button topic in the aftermath of disputed police shootings and in cases alleging excessive uses of force, incidents that are increasingly captured on body cameras and other video. Next month, Los Angeles city voters will decide whether to fundamentally change how officer discipline cases are decided. Right now, hearings are conducted before a panel of two high-ranking officers and one civilian. Measure C on the May 16 ballot would allow cases to go before all-civilian panels and is backed by Mayor Eric Garcetti and the Los Angeles Police Protective League, which represents more than 9,990 officers. They argue the plan would allow more community oversight of law enforcement. But civil liberties groups have maintained that the measure wouldnt make the disciplinary process more transparent or accountable to public concerns. California has some of the strictest laws in the country preventing public disclosure of police discipline cases. Few details of incidents are allowed to be released at times, even to other law enforcement agencies. The union representing sheriffs deputies in Los Angeles County has sued Sheriff Jim McDonnell over his plan to send the names of roughly 300 officers found to have committed misconduct including those who were found to have lied to county prosecutors. Officers found to have made a false or misleading statement often go on a list kept by prosecutors. These officers names can be subject to disclosure under a rule that requires prosecutors to turn over material evidence that could help the defense of a person accused of a crime and a finding that an officer has lied in the past could be used to undermine the credibility of his or her testimony. As a result, these officers often are fired or face significant on-the-job restrictions. The result of being found guilty of a false statement is so horrible, youre going to get fired no matter how many medals you have, said Gary Ingemunson, independent counsel for the Los Angeles Police Protective League, which is the bills principal backer. Ingemunson said the bill would shield officers who were disciplined because they didnt remember making statements or were being unfairly targeted by management. Does this make it harder to fire bad cops? My answer to that is this makes it harder to fire good cops, he said. But Lizzie Buchen, legislative advocate at the American Civil Liberties Union of Californias Center for Advocacy & Policy, said people who are wrongly convicted based on the testimony of an officer who lied face a much worse penalty than losing their job. State lawmakers should be working to make it easier to hold officers accountable for making false statements, not harder, she said. When an officer lies, it can result in innocent people being convicted, Buchen said. liam.dillon@latimes.com @dillonliam ALSO California has some of the toughest laws keeping police discipline private. That seems unlikely to change City Council approves ballot measure that could put more civilians on LAPD discipline panels Rules for body cameras are left to local police departments as lawmakers struggle to pass statewide regulations Updates on California politics 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. Hollywood Burbank Airport reported a slight slowdown in the growth in passenger numbers in February, with a relatively flat 1.1% bump compared to the same month in 2016. The airfield has been handling much larger passenger increases for several months. There were 302,575 passengers in February, which was 3,215 more than the previous year, said Mark Hardyment, the airfields director of governmental and environmental affairs during a Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority meeting on Monday. The cause for the less-than-stellar performance, Hardyment said, could be attributed to two factors. Last February was a leap year, he said, which could have a negative impact on this years statistics in comparison. Also, there were a few days in February when multiple airlines had to cancel flights due to the winter rain storms in California. Despite the small gain in February over the same month last year, Hardyment said demand for flights in and out of Hollywood Burbank is still strong. Join the conversation on Facebook United Airlines improved the most in February out of the six airlines at the local airport, reporting 20,143 passengers, which was 2,407 more than in 2016. Delta Air Lines had a similar hike, tallying 8,054 passengers, an increase of 2,084 passengers from last year. American Airlines reported a modest rise, with 12,554 passengers for the month, just 716 more than the previous year. Southwest Airlines, the largest airline operating at Hollywood Burbank, showed a small increase, with 225,133 passengers, only 250 more than in 2016. Alaska Airlines took a small hit to its passenger figures, reporting 30,074 passengers for February, which was 1,777 fewer than the year before. JetBlue Airways also had fewer passengers 6,617, a dip of 465 passengers compared to last year. Excluding the parking structure and ride-sharing pick-ups and drop-offs, the airport generated about $1.05 million in parking revenue in February, about $113,000 less than last year, said Denis Carvill, the airfields deputy executive director of engineering, maintenance, operations and airline relations. He added that the parking structure generated about $292,000 in revenue, which does not take into account the $3 tickets that ride-sharing companies have to pay the airport. Though the airports parking lots are making less money, the deficit is offset by the revenue collected from ride-sharing companies. Carvill said there was about $133,000 generated from passenger drop-offs and pick-ups. anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com Twitter: @acocarpio When the Burbank Arts For All Foundation hosts its sixth annual Party for the Arts gala Friday, the organization will honor one of Burbanks esteemed arts supporters Woodbury University. The Patron of the Arts Award that Woodbury University will receive goes to an organization that makes a significant impact on the foundations mission, which is to support arts programming in the Burbank Unified School District. Mauro Diaz, the universitys interim dean of students, said the campus has always aligned with the foundations mission to expand arts education. Join the conversation on Facebook He said Woodbury professors have instructed high school students in animation, mentored them as they developed portfolios and the campus has hosted programs that expose Shakespearean plays to elementary and middle school students. We truly appreciate that honor, Diaz said of the award. We truly believe in the arts. Its part of Woodburys fiber. We will continue to champion that on behalf of the foundation and the school district that we serve. Christine DeMore, the vocal music director at David Starr Jordan Middle School, will receive the Arts For All Educator Award, which goes to educators who enrich students through their exceptional commitment to furthering arts education for all, according to the foundation. DeMore teaches about 300 choir students each year. Brenda Burroughs will be honored with the Champion of the Arts Award, which honors an individual or organization that commits volunteer hours to students equitable access to the arts. A longtime volunteer with Burbank Adult Schools parent education program and several other Burbank organizations, Burroughs has assisted the Burbank Arts For All Foundation with every gala and Secret Art Show the foundation has hosted. The gala, to be held at the Globe Theatre at Universal Studios Hollywood, will feature live music, dinner and an auction, giving guests a chance to bid on trips to New York City, Las Vegas or Mammoth, among other items. One two-night stay in Nashville comes with a tour of the Jack Daniels Distillery, passes to the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame, additional museums, Dollywood, and two pairs of Lucchese boots valued at $750 each. For information, visit burbankartsforall.org. kelly.corrigan@latimes.com Twitter: @kellymcorrigan A Burbank grassroots group is looking to support those who will be marching in Washington, D.C. to stand up for science. On Saturday, a group called Burbank Indivisible is organizing a march down the Chandler Bike Path to support thousands of people across the country expected to participate in the March for Science, in which members of the science community will rally against claims President Trump and his administration have made about climate change and vaccines as well as a proposed budget cut for the National Institutes of Health. The local march, which is geared to be more family-friendly, is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. at the bike path on Chandler Boulevard near Griffith Park Drive and will work its way down to Hollywood Way before heading back north. Join the conversation on Facebook We really feel like this is a nonpartisan issue, said Angela Machala, a local resident and member of Burbank Indivisible. Its not about Democrats versus Republicans. Its more about people wanting to support science, research and communication; protecting our air and water and not going backwards on any of that. Machala, a lawyer, said that many people in the group were brought together after Trump was elected president and they saw the number of people coming together across the country for the Womens March in January. Its not about Democrats versus Republicans. Angela Machala Other than donating money to a candidate she supported, Machala said she had never really been politically active. However, that changed for her and many members of Burbank Indivisible after the results of the November election. People who were never politically involved are now making calls to their members of Congress and attending town halls, both of which Ive done, she said. Maybe for the first time, weve really needed to pay attention and be part of the democratic process. I really feel like this has been a complete wake-up call for the people I know who were not politically active before. anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com Twitter: @acocarpio There is no change to plans to deploy a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery in Korea, U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Susan Thornton said Monday. "We made this decision to deploy THAAD. That's an alliance decision back, I guess, over a year ago now or about a year ago, and we have been sort of continuing apace in that decision," she said. "There hasn't been any change, and there hasn't certainly been anything about the decision-making process that would indicate any change." Thornton's statement came after reports of a possible delay caused by remarks by a White House adviser who was accompanying U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on his trip to Seoul. The adviser said there is still a problem to be solved before the THAAD battery is deployed and operational here and it will be decided by the next South Korean president. But Thornton told reporters in a teleconference, "So we're on track as far as that goes for THAAD deployment... We're proceeding through the steps necessary to get the THAAD deployment done." She added, "The main reason why we are proceeding with this is that there is this imminent threat from North Korea that threatens South Korea, threatens our allies, and threatens our troops in the region." Asked whether another North Korean nuclear test is imminent, she said, "Some kind of a major provocation like that would draw a pretty significant international response." "The U.S. has been clear that we want to resolve this issue through the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," she added. "We're definitely not seeking conflict or regime change, but we are committed to defending our people and our allies." Asked about possible talks with the North, she said, "I think there is a feeling that the time -- the conditions are not really ripe for any kind of talks until North Korea shows that it is serious about what would be accomplished by undertaking such talks." She said the Chinese have "gotten the message about increasing pressure and that they have said they want to increase cooperation with us and with the international community on this front." And she added. "We've seen some tangible indications... that they're working towards this end, but it's still quite early." More than 1,000 people in Orange County were welcomed into the Catholic Church at this years Easter Vigil on April 15 at Holy Family Cathedral in Orange, and nearly 700 baptized candidates were received into full communion during the sacred rites. The Most Rev. Kevin Vann, bishop of Orange, baptized the elect, marking it the Diocese of Oranges largest group accepted into the Roman Catholic Church during the faiths most momentous liturgy. The ceremony consisted of four main parts: The Service of Light, the Liturgy of the Word, Christian Initiation and Renewal Baptismal Vows, and the Holy Eucharist. The holy sacrament is said to be the beginning of each candidates journey with Christ. We are blessed as a diocese to baptize so many new Catholics on this Holy Saturday, Vann said in a press statement. It is inspiring as a bishop to welcome a record number of new Catholics into our church. The ceremony is the climax of the liturgical year and serves as a tangible display of the growth and vibrancy of Catholicism in Orange County. kathleen.luppi@latimes.com Twitter: @KathleenLuppi Writing a sequel to Henrik Ibsens classic drama A Dolls House might seem as fraught with peril as attempting to continue the adventures of Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet. Has there ever been a more final ending than the slamming of that door as Nora walks out at the end of Ibsens landmark play? Well, as it turns out, Nora returned 15 years later or at least she does in Lucas Hnaths captivating conception entitled A Dolls House, Part 2, now receiving its world premiere at South Coast Repertory. And, as in the original, shes got a lot to say. Danish audiences in 1879, as well as those around the world, were sharply divided by A Dolls House the play was banned for years in China. It came to signify an ancient banner for modern womens liberation in the 20th century. In Hnaths finely crafted rendition, Nora has done quite nicely on her own, as her elegant long, red dress would indicate. Shes become a successful author, under a pseudonym, but recently has become aware of one fly in her ointment husband Torvald never divorced her which poses myriad financial entanglements. So she comes back, entering the door she exited through a decade and a half before, to confront her husband, comfort his housekeeper and connect with the daughter she left behind back in 1879. Under the polished direction of Shelley Butler, Hnaths opus contains four characters, but a fifth might be the ominous silence that prevails when one of them isnt speaking. Mood is a vital ingredient in this what if? exercise which, surprisingly, contains a fair amount of comedy, especially in its earlier moments. The key role of Nora is brilliantly enacted by Shannon Cochran, who presents a far more accomplished woman than the one who left 15 years before. Cochran projects a strong, independent spirit the exact qualities she had been seeking yet remains strangely unfulfilled, a condition requiring more than a divorce decree to mend. As Torvald, who is little changed from when last seen, Bill Geisslinger matches Cochrans intensity with an emotional chilliness that seems to mask an inner torment. He and Cochran build their boiling resentment to a resounding verbal showdown. Only his bloody injury late in the play seems somewhat deficient in context. Veteran SCR actress Lynn Milgrim plays the aging housekeeper with a touching tenderness that erupts occasionally into the most unladylike four-letter words especially for her character and the time period. Shes a key element in the story and one who might be expected to align with Nora, but she has her own agenda. Finally theres Emmy, the daughter Nora left along with her two sons. Virginia Vale tears into this character with surprising rage, nearly all of it delivered flatly and from a sitting position, as she castigates her mothers decision to abandon the family. Two set designers Takeshi Kata and Se Hyun Oh are credited with creating the sparsest backdrop yet seen on an SCR stage, enormously high with just a few chairs and uncluttered walls. Sara Ryung Clements costumes especially Noras flowing red dress are impressive as well. A Dolls House, Part 2 never will enjoy the status achieved by the Ibsen original, but playwright Hnath will prompt renewed discussion of a womans place in society. Its an intriguing first-ever look at this engrossing intellectual exercise at South Coast Repertory. If You Go What: A Dolls House, Part 2' When: Through April 30; 7:45 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 2 and 7:45 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays Where: South Coast Repertory, Julianne Argyros Stage, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa Cost: Tickets start at $22 Information: (714) 708-5555 or visit scr.org. TOM TITUS reviews local theater. Itll take about $49,000 in permit fees to open a medical marijuana business in Costa Mesa, City Council members decided Tuesday. The council voted unanimously to establish the fees under Measure X, an initiative local voters approved in November. The measure allows businesses that research, test, process and manufacture some medical marijuana products to open in the area north of South Coast Drive, west of Harbor Boulevard, south of MacArthur Boulevard and east of the Santa Ana River, though not in South Coast Collection. Cultivation and retail sales of marijuana and marijuana products are still prohibited. Those hoping to open businesses allowed under Measure X will have to obtain both a medical marijuana business permit and a conditional use permit. The latter requires approval from the city Planning Commission. The fee for the business permit will be $21,525, while the conditional use permit will cost $27,508. Annual business license fees and the cost of background checks required for owners and employees would be on top of that. According to Assistant City Manager Rick Francis, the fees are based on estimates of how much city staff time and resources will be necessary to process applications for medical marijuana businesses. As this is new territory for Costa Mesa, staff will keep records of how much time actually goes into the process, Francis said. We may come back to the council at a later time to further refine the fees were assessing here, he said. Along with the fees, medical marijuana businesses will have to pay a 6% annual tax on gross receipts. Robert Taft, who owns a medical marijuana business in Santa Ana, said Tuesday that his primary concern isnt with the fees but when he can start applying for permits. Francis previously estimated it would take at least five months for medical marijuana businesses to go through the citys permitting and approval processes. We want to apply and we want to get building, said Taft, who supported the city-sponsored Measure X over his own ballot initiative, Measure V, which would have allowed up to eight dispensaries in Costa Mesa. Weve been sitting on buildings for a few months now. Mayor Katrina Foley said its important for the city to be thoughtful about applications for medical marijuana businesses. We dont need to be rushing into anything, because we want to make sure that weve crossed all our Ts and dotted all our Is, she said. luke.money@latimes.com Twitter @LukeMMoney Several events are slated to commemorate the 102nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide during the coming days. During the genocide, which began in 1915, 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman Empire, which is modern-day Turkey. On Wednesday, the 16th annual Armenian Genocide commemorative event sponsored by the Armenian clubs at all of the high schools in the Glendale Unified School District will be held at 6 p.m. in the John Wayne Performing Arts Center at Glendale High, 1440 E. Broadway, Glendale. Also Wednesday, a Walk, Talk & Learn event will be held at Rosemont Middle School during lunchtime from around 12:15 to about 12:50 p.m. to commemorate the Armenian Genocide and all genocides, according to event organizers. Join the conversation on Facebook On Thursday, an event titled A Historical View of the Assyrian Genocide will be presented at 7:30 p.m. in the recital hall at Brand Library and Art Center, 1601 W. Mountain St., Glendale. The annual Unified Young Armenians candlelight vigil will be held at 6 p.m. on Sunday in Parcher Plaza at Glendale City Hall, 613 E. Broadway, Glendale. The local series of events will culminate with a commemorative event to be held at 7 p.m. Monday, which is the actual anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, at the Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale. Tickets, which are free, are required. They are available at the Alex Theatre, the concierge desk at the Americana at Brand and Glendale Community College. Online orders can be made by visiting alextheatre.org. For more information about local events, call (818) 548-4844. Also, there will be a 1.5-mile March for Justice starting at noon on Monday at Pan Pacific Park, 7600 Beverly Blvd., and ending at the Turkish consulate at 6300 Wilshire Blvd., where there will be a rally. Among the speakers scheduled are Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank). The march is expected to draw 25,000 people, according to event organizers. At last years rally, more than 60,000 people attended. mark.kellam@latimes.com Twitter: @lamarkkellam Four California hotels are among 75 picked as the worlds best by Conde Nast Traveler editors, writers and photographers. The magazines announced its Hot List 2017 on Tuesday. The listed favored Golden State properties that are intimate, out-of-the-way hotels, most with ocean views, rather than luxury big-brand names. (Room rates below were found online for May 12 and 13 and exclude tax and fees.) They are: Advertisement Casa Laguna Hotel & Spa on 2510 South Coast Highway in Laguna Beach is small, with 23 rooms. It was built in the 1920s and redesigned in 2016. Rooms start at $349 a night. Malibu Beach Inn at 22878 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu has just 45 rooms and suites in its oceanside perch at Carbon Beach. Rooms start at $609 a night. Single Thread Farms-Restaurant-Inn at 131 North St. in Healdsburg, Calif., is indeed a farm with an heirloom fruit orchard, beehives, a cattle pen and more. There are just five rooms on the second story of the restaurant. Rooms start at $1,000 a night. Timber Cove Resort is located at 21780 Highway 1 in Jenner, Calif., on Sonoma Countys coast. It sits on a rocky bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean and is described on the website as one part hippie chic and two parts rustic modern ... Rooms start at $350 a night. How did Conde Nast pick the top hotels? Heres what a release from the magazine says: Our team of editors, reporters, and photographers flew a collective 529,500 miles, slept in roughly 200 beds, and had passports stamped in more than 50 countries to select this years winners. In all, 21 of the hotels are in the U.S. Heres the rest of the unranked list: 11 Howard, New York City 28 Kothi, Jaipur, India Ace Hotel New Orleans, Louisiana Amanemu, Shima-shi, Mie, Japan Antara Al Jabal Al Akhdar Resort, Oman Anantara Peace Haven Tangalle Resort, Sri Lanka Andaz Scottsdale Resort & Spa, Scottsdale, Ariz. &Beyond Metetsi River Lodge, Zimbabwe Atemporal-Hotelito in Lima, Peru Banyan Tree Tamouda Bay, Morocco Brentwood, Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Casa Bonay, Barcelona, Spain Casa Grande at Vermejo Park Ranch, Ratan, N.M. Chable Resort, Yucatan, Mexico Chena Huts, Yala, Sri Lanka East Miami, Miami Four Seasons Abu Dhabi at Al Maryah Island Four Seasons Hotel Kyoto, Japan Four Seasons Resort Lanai, Hawaii Four Seasons Private Island Maldives at Voavah, Maldive Islands Greydon House, Nantucket, Mass. Ha(a)itza, Pyla-sur-Mere, France Helena Bay, New Zealand Hoshinoya, Tokyo Hotel Saint George, Marfa, Texas Hotel William Gray, Montreal, Canada Il Sereno Hotel, Lake Como, Italy Jumeira al Naseem, Dubai Katamama, Bali, Indonesia Killiehuntley Farmhouse & Cottage, Highland, Scotland KK Beach, Habaraduwa, Galle, Sri Lanka LHotel in Marrakech, Morocco La Granja Ibiza, Spain Le Barthelemy Hotel & Spa, St. Barts Le Roch Hotel & Spa, Paris Le Saint, Paris Hotel Le Toiny St. Barth, St. Barts Leeu Estates, Franschhoek, South Africa Mar Adentro, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico Masseria La Carube, Ostuni, Italy Nekupe Sporting Resort and Retreat, Nandaime, Nicaragua Nolinski, Paris Palazzo Venart, Venice, Italy Pale Hall, Gwynedd, Wales Hotel Panache, Paris The Peninsula Chicago The Pig at Combe, Devon, England Villa Pliniana, Lake Como, Italy Ritz Paris Hotel Saint-Marc, Paris Santani Wellness Resort & Spa, Kandy, Sri Lanka Scribners Catskill Lodge, Hunter, N.Y. Sikelia Pantelleria, Italy Six Senses Zil Payson, Victoria, Seychelles Sofitel Tamouda Bay Beach and Spa, M Diq, Morocco Soho House, Barcelona, Spain The St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort Taylor River Lodge, Almont, Colo. Thanda Island, Tanzania The Beekman, New York The Dewberry, Charleston, S.C. The Highlands, Tanzania The Other Side, Bahamas The Robey Chicago The Shore Club, Turks & Caicos Thompson Nashville, Tennessee Thompson Seattle, Washington Villa La Coste, Provence, France Villa Mahabhirom, Chiang Mai, Thailand Villa Marie Saint-Barth, St. Barts Zemi Beach House, Anguilla Info: Conde Nast Traveler 2017 Hot List travel@latimes.com @latimestravel ALSO If youre looking for authentic Hawaii, away from neon lights and crowds, look no further than Lanai Your copter is waiting. Guests to be air-lifted in as Big Sur inn and restaurant reopen Rooms at Nobus Japanese-style Malibu inn are minimalist in style and pricey $1,100 to $2,000 a night A look inside the soon-to-open Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills Cruise lecturers sound downright boring, right? Not anymore. Cruise lines have upped their game when it comes to cultural immersion events on board and on land. Celebrated experts and pros now hop aboard to teach you about everything from food and wine to architecture and history of the places youll visit at ports of call. And isnt learning what travel is all about? Here are four upcoming cruises with programs that defy boredom. Advertisement 1. Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic Francis Lam, host of public radios The Splendid Table, will join two voyages as a culinary naturalist aboard Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic. The former New York Times Magazine columnist will discuss the cuisine of the Faroe Islands and explain why foraging makes sense in this remote spot halfway between Norway and Iceland. Lam will be aboard two 14-day cruises that travel to the Shetland, Orkney and Faroe islands and Iceland one leaves June 22, the other on Aug. 13 on the 102-passenger National Geographic Orion. Prices start at $13,690 per person, based on double occupancy. Info: Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic, (800) 397-3348 2. Cunard Who wouldnt want to sail with British writer Bill Bryson? The author of A Short History of Nearly Everything and A Walk in the Woods, about his misadventures on the Appalachian Trail, will be the featured speaker on a 14-night cruise to Croatia, the Greek Isles and Athens in September. Prices start at $1,899 per person, based on double occupancy. Fashion icon Iris Apfel, shown here shopping in Los Angeles, will be one of the featured experts on an upcoming Cunard cruise. (Mariah Tauger / For the Los Angeles Times) Cunard this year also hosts a nine-night transatlantic crossing themed to New York Fashion Week. Style sensation Iris Apfel, 95, is among five lecturers who will get fashionistas primed for the big show in NYC. The cruise aboard the Queen Mary 2 sails from Hamburg, Germany, on Aug. 29 and arrives in New York on Sept. 7. Prices start at $2,107 per person, based on double occupancy. Info: Cunard, (800) 7289-6273 3. Regent Seven Seas Regent Seven Seas ups the IQ level on its cruise by bringing along PBS journalists and filmmakers associated with news shows such as Frontline, American Experience and others. Seminars, panel discussions and receptions with writers and directors are part of the on-board experience. The 10-night cruise sails Aug. 30 from Vancouver, British Columbia, then heads to Alaskas inside passage and ends in San Francisco. Prices start at $6,999, based on double occupancy. Info: Regent Seven Seas Cruises, (844) 473-4368 travel@latimes.com @latimestravel ALSO 9 places on the Vegas Strip where you can still find free parking New U brand lures millennials to European river cruising with sleek black ships, DJs and overnight stops in big cities U.S. river cruise line goes all in on sleek European-style ships Beijings chapped, arctic winters give way to spring nearly overnight. Peach trees bloom, the sky turns from charcoal to blue, people linger outside. And buildings get demolished. The construction and destruction begins every year around this time, alongside allergies and the peeling of layers. Buzz saws sub in for alarm clocks, and the city is invaded by men wearing yellow hard hats. But this spring is more frenzied than usual. The government has embarked on a renovation project in Beijings centuries-old courtyard alleyways known as hutong. These narrow streets filled with dumpling shops, gossipy grandmothers and communal bathrooms have largely succumbed to high-rises and haphazard renovations with concrete walls etched to look like aged bricks. Advertisement Officials want to create an orderly, civilized and beautiful street environment in these remaining alleys by rooting out unlicensed buildings and reducing clutter. This makes them legal and probably safer. It also threatens to erode the citys soul. This is the spirit of Beijing, hutong dweller Yang Jingxian, 30, said one evening as a three-wheeled cart clattered past, carrying doors, plywood, bricks and cement. Transforming them makes the city look like everywhere else. These traditional neighborhoods, like the one I live in behind Beijings most iconic Buddhist temple, comprise a mix of elderly residents, foreigners on a quest for character, nostalgic hipsters and migrants who sleep in the back of their 10-foot noodle shop. A woman drives past construction on Beixinqiao Santiao, one of many Beijing alleyways undergoing massive renovations. (Jessica Meyers / For The Times) Nearby is Beixinqiao San Tiao, a lively hutong crammed with butcher shops, old men watching the world from a stool, and a seafood restaurant that washes its clams in the street. That central locale one recent morning looked as though it had just survived a bomb. Construction equipment wedged into the lane, which echoed with the clang of metal and toppling bricks. Siding poured out of corner stores. Workers fought the rising dust with hoses, and guards eyeballed piles of debris that stacked up to their shoulders. The next morning, bikes sped down a nearly unrecognizable road, lined with redesigned concrete buildings sealed off from the street and sanitized of the chaos that once defined it. My heart hurts, said Ma Jiang, 32, who watched crews knock out the windows and brick up the entrance to his pocket-size Hippo Bar. A sign now points around the corner to a side door, and customers no longer spill into street. Like others on the lane, hes been chased inside. Ma took the transformation in stride. At least, he said, the government paid for it. Chinas communist government grants temporary land rights to individuals, but exercises far broader authority over property than its counterpart in the United States. Officials have valid reason to seek improvements. High-voltage lines dangle into the street like willow trees; a tarp covers holes in some roofs. Two motorcycles recently plowed into each other in front of a convenience store. Neither could see past the parked cars and delivery carts that blocked the T-shaped intersection. Hippo Bar is a casualty of Beijings efforts to renovate traditional Chinese neighborhoods. (Jessica Meyers / For The Times) Residents can have a better quality of life once the project is done, said Hu Xinyu, managing director of the nonprofit Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center. The hutong will once again be a pleasant place to live. The city management commission in charge of the effort declined to comment. These ancient alleys are victims of Chinas rapid change. My landlord was born in the small courtyard house I rent, known as a siheyuan. The family, were told, occupied the whole compound until officials carved it into sections after the communist takeover and distributed them to multiple families. My neighbors take great pride in the century-old, peeling wood door that opens to our equally old one-story homes. We talk about it a lot, along with the weather. Authorities destroyed scores of hutong communities before the 2008 Olympics, when China sought to present a modern image to the world. Only a third of the citys thousands of hutong remained a decade ago, according to a survey by the Beijing Institute of Civil Engineering and Architecture. Newer accounts vary, but preservationists believe theyve dropped into the hundreds. The renovations, even if well intentioned, fuel backlash because they encapsulate the uneasy tension between old Peking and the modern capital. The government itself is wrestling with the question of what the hutongs mean in Beijing, said Jeremiah Jenne, a historian who leads walking tours through the alleyways. Are they an eyesore or a tourist attraction? Either way, come spring, theyre a reminder that very little in Beijing is permanent. The hammers last weekend started before 6 a.m. Our neighbor across the street had decided to remodel his home. He stood in his pajamas and directed the construction crew to hack the front wall, a comfortably clad maestro amid the rubble. His house will stand stories tall, a new beacon in our ancient neighborhood. Nicole Liu and Johnny Gaochao Zhang in the Times Beijing bureau contributed to this report. Meyers is a special correspondent. Twitter: @jessicameyers ALSO For many Chinese, President Xi Jinping may run the country, but his wifes the real star Born in America, Sriracha sauce tries its luck in Vietnam Former Defense Secretary William Perry on why we didnt go to war with North Korea All afternoon we obsessively checked our phones, seeking a reason or even a clue as to why North Korea wouldnt let us leave. I was among roughly two dozen foreign correspondents, tourists, and diplomats waiting at the Pyongyang airports departure gates on Monday. Our flight to Beijing was scheduled for 8:30 a.m.; now it was nearly 4 p.m., and as the evening loomed, the question felt increasingly urgent. We had no explanation for the delay, and no information on rescheduling. Soon, as we exhausted the limited cellular data allotted by our exorbitantly expensive North Korean plans, we would have no connection to the outside world. Saturday was the most important day on the North Korean calendar the 105th birthday of its founding president, Kim Il Sung. His grandson, Kim Jong Un, planned to preside over a massive military parade in Kim Il Sungs honor, and the North Korean government invited about 100 foreign journalists to attend. It clearly intended to send a dark but unambiguous message to the outside world: that the country was well-armed, unfazed by U.N. sanctions over its budding nuclear program, and prepared to go to war with the U.S. Advertisement It clearly intended to send a dark but unambiguous message to the outside world. All week, the mood was tense. The U.S. had reportedly dispatched a naval strike group to the Korean peninsula, and there were reports that officials were considering a preemptive strike. (It would later turn out that the naval group was headed in the opposite direction.) North Korea threatened to retaliate, raising the specter of nuclear conflict. We will go to war if they choose, a high-ranking North Korean official told the Associated Press. So at the airport, we puzzled over the delay and feared the worst. We ruled out the weather, unofficial Chinese government measures, and a mechanical issue with the plane Pyongyang and Beijing both had clear skies, and a flight from Pyongyang to the Russian city of Vladivostok was also grounded. Several people waiting had visited North Korea on multiple occasions, and they were equally perplexed. Rumors flew. What if the government had closed its airspace for a missile test? What if it didnt want us to leave? Suddenly, just after 4 p.m., the departures board went dark, and the group went quiet. Liberation of the fatherland, then sandwiches On April 12, I flew from northeastern China to Pyongyang on Air Koryo, North Koreas state airline. About a half-hour after takeoff, a flight attendant announced that we had entered North Korean airspace. Our President, Kim Il Sung, came across the river with great ambition for his country, she said in English. It reminds us of his revolutionary exploits in his liberation of the fatherland. She then distributed sandwiches. Since the late 1940s, the Kim family has ruled North Korea with an iron fist hundreds of thousands of political prisoners have died in its vast network of internment camps, according to best estimates. Any sign of dissent, or even disillusionment, can carry unspeakable consequences. Its capital, Pyongyang, is a city of clean streets and modest apartment blocks. Its also an urban testament to a personality cult so entrenched that it subsumes many aspects of its residents daily lives. Golden statues of Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong Il, the countrys ruler from 1994 to 2011, tower over the city. Their smiling portraits stare out from socialist-style edifices, living room walls, and red lacquer badges that all North Korean adults are required to wear in public, on their left lapels over their hearts. Each journalist was assigned a government minder. We were not allowed to report, or even leave the hotel, on our own. On Thursday, my minder Kim Jin Hyok, 27, a handsome Foreign Ministry employee roused me at 4 a.m. for an important event, and instructed me to leave my phone and computer in the hotel room. Bleary-eyed, the journalists stumbled onto our buses, spent four hours in a security line every bag, every camera, every pocket was scoured and arrived at a huge, empty square. At one end was a red-carpeted stage, and behind that, Ryomyong Street a row of gleaming new high-rise residential buildings that, according to North Korean media, were built within a year. North Korean men push their bicycles along Ryomyong residential area, a collection of more than a dozen new apartment buildings in Pyongyang, (Wong Maye-E / Associated Press) The mode of the respected leader Kim Jong Un is to improve the living standards of the people, one official told me. Its to show that even if the U.S. places sanctions on us, we can still move forward at tremendous speed. People soon began filing in, until the square was a sea of dark suits, military uniforms and colorful dresses. I saw thousands of soldiers; many were heartrendingly small and thin, a reminder of the malnutrition that remains widespread outside the capital. At about 9:30, Kim Jong Un arrived in a black Mercedes limousine. The crowd roared. The countrys prime minister gave a speech. After about 15 minutes, Kim stepped back into his limousine. He never said a word. When he departed, the applause abruptly stopped. It echoed for several seconds, as if within a vast stone church. What do you do for fun? North Korea is perhaps the worlds foremost post-truth society. Most citizens cannot access the Internet, or unfiltered foreign information of any kind. Domestic media exists only to glorify the countrys leaders, or rehash ideological dogma and grievances against South Korea and the U.S. Our minders constantly hovered over us, openly surveilling our cameras and notebooks. We had no recourse even our minders had minders. Theyd taken our passports on arrival. If they caught us photographing something forbidden an off-duty soldier, a particularly revered political portrait they didnt hesitate to forcibly delete our photos. Everything raised questions. Who decided our itinerary, and why didnt our minders ever seem to know it until the last minute? Why were we allowed to photograph some portraits of the Kims, but not others? What was the average salary in Pyongyang? The minders didnt know, or wouldnt tell us. Menu of state-approved haircuts at North Korean hair salon. Choices include half-moon style, butterfly style, crystal style, wave style pic.twitter.com/vC2hs6fMNr Jonathan Kaiman (@JRKaiman) April 16, 2017 In the absence of information, we formed our impressions through visual details, the cadence of conversations, the hum of Pyongyangs city life. Through the bus window, we observed the citys old-fashioned bicycles, its pastel-colored mid-rises, its construction sites and rail depots. Experts had told me that the countrys economy was improving, and it appeared to be true. New cars lined the streets. Women wore high heels; men wore sneakers. Some rode electric bicycles, cellphones pressed against their ears. Do you believe in God? my minder suddenly asked me as we sat on the bus. It was a surprising question North Korea is an officially secular state, where religion is severely restricted. Not really, I replied. Do you? He paused, and smiled. I believe in Juche revolutionary ideology, he said, referring to Kim Il Sungs ideology of self-reliance. I laughed, and he laughed too. We chatted about ourselves our jobs, our families, our friends and relationships. He agreed to interpret several interviews with ordinary Pyongyang residents. I asked them about the U.S.-North Korea relationship, and they responded with state-sanctioned lines about U.S. imperialist aggression or the benevolence of the respected Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un. Yet other questions elicited incoherent answers or blank stares. Nobody could explain what they did for fun. A woman expressed her hope to someday visit Mt. Paektu, North Koreas holy mountain. A man said that he was an architect. I could find no better way to ask the question, so I changed the subject. Missile launch? What missile launch? Saturdays military parade was a blur of color and noise. For two hours, Kim stood and waved from a high rostrum, overlooking an endless procession of tanks, missile-bearing trucks, and soldiers who goose-stepped with such precision that the ground shook. Civilians marched by clutching North Korean flags, their necks craned towards Kim. They shouted long live, tears streaming down their faces. Analysts expected North Korea to mark the holiday with a missile or nuclear test and sure enough, the following morning, U.S. and South Korean officials reported that North Korea had tested a missile, though it fizzled shortly after takeoff. In the U.S., talking heads debated the prospects of war. Yet North Korean state media didnt announce the test it never reports on failures. For ordinary North Koreans, it simply never happened. That afternoon, at the Pyongyang Zoo, hundreds of middle-class Pyongyang residents filed past healthy-looking seals, hippos and orangutans. Three little girls petted a tortoise, their eyes filled with wonder, as their mother snapped pictures. No military marches piped in through speakers, and no portraits of dictators adorned the walls. This city has a middle class pic.twitter.com/aeKmg69Uns Jonathan Kaiman (@JRKaiman) April 16, 2017 You cant fake this, I thought. These were real people with loving families, having genuine fun. Some of them were almost certainly the same people Id seen sobbing at the parade. The thought filled me with sadness. Departure board goes dark On Monday, my minder and I said goodbye. He returned my passport, and I stepped through immigration. The departures board at Pyongyang airport just went dark. Been waiting here 8 hours. No word about what's going on pic.twitter.com/CVozndRbMk Jonathan Kaiman (@JRKaiman) April 17, 2017 An hour after the departure board went dark and just as we began wondering how wed spend the night it flickered back to life. An airline employee announced that all flights would depart immediately. She gave no further information no explanation, no apology. We boarded the tired-looking Tupolev jet, and held our breaths as it shuddered down the runway. This time, when we crossed the Yalu River and the flight attendant praised Kim Il Sungs revolutionary exploits, the words filled me with relief. jonathan.kaiman@latimes.com For more news from Asia, follow @JRKaiman on Twitter ALSO At a school for orphans in North Korea, the wall decor is all about tanks and ICBMs North Korea puts its long-range missiles on parade in massive military show North Korea says its ready for war, but Pyongyang remains a city of orderly calm In a campaign laced with religious and ethnic tensions, the minority Christian governor of Indonesias sprawling capital was unseated by a former education minister backed by conservative Islamists, unofficial results showed Wednesday. With nearly all the votes counted, polling companies said Anies Baswedan won about 60% of the vote in a runoff election to lead the city of 10 million people, soundly defeating incumbent Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian of Chinese descent. The bitter campaign evolved into a test of ethnic and religious tolerance in the worlds most populous Muslim nation, long seen as a bastion of moderate Islam. Advertisement Purnama, better known as Ahok, is facing blasphemy charges over remarks that allegedly insulted Islams holy book, the Koran. Hundreds of thousands of Islamist demonstrators took to the streets during the campaign, demanding that Purnama be jailed. Although Purnama was widely perceived as a problem-solving administrator who cleared riverside slums and shuttered brothels, his blunt, confrontational manner was at odds with the more diffident style of Indonesian politics. Unofficial results showed he won about 40% of the vote, roughly the same as in the first round of the election in February, indicating that he did not attract additional support in a city that is 80% Muslim. If you look at the [preelection] surveys, Ahok gets 70% of people satisfied with his work, but when asked if you will vote for Ahok the number drops to 40%, said Bonar Tigor Naipospos, vice chairman of the Setara Institute, a Jakarta research organization. It is because of the religious sentiment, Naipospos said. Few would have predicted that it would be such a landslide victory. Pretty much all the pre-election polling data suggested a much tighter race... Charlotte Setijadi of the ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute, a Singapore think tank The result was a blow to Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who preceded Purnama as the capitals governor. It came a day before Vice President Mike Pence was scheduled to visit Indonesia and meet with Widodo on the third leg of an Asian Pacific tour that includes South Korea, Japan and Australia. Baswedans margin of victory was a surprise, as polls in the week leading up to the runoff showed the candidates running neck and neck. Few would have predicted that it would be such a landslide victory, said Charlotte Setijadi of the ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute, a think tank in Singapore. Pretty much all the preelection polling data suggested a much tighter race or even a stalemate. Baswedan, who was fired in 2016 as Widodos education minister, made a political comeback after allying with Islamists who staged mass demonstrations twice in late 2016 calling for Purnamas removal and in some cases his execution. The demonstrations ended with Widodo joining protest leaders onstage under a Jakarta thunderstorm in early December in an apparent bid to neutralize the campaign against the governor. Baswedans aides denied that they pandered to religious hard-liners. We went back to focusing on unity, jobs, cost of living, education, said Sandiaga Uno, a businessman who will serve as deputy governor under Baswedan. But asked about the tone of the campaign, Uno acknowledged, It has been divisive, toward nasty. Baswedan was supported by Prabowo Subianto, a former general whom Widodo defeated for president in 2014. Subianto is said to be eyeing a rerun of that contest in 2019. But Widodo a mild-mannered former furniture salesman known by the nickname Jokowi remains popular for his efforts to cut red tape, boost small business and upgrade the countrys aging infrastructure.The Jakarta election creates momentum for Prabowo for sure, said Yohanes Sulaiman, a lecturer at Universitas Jenderal Achmad Yani in Bandung, Indonesia. But a major blow to Jokowi? Dont think so. Roughneen is a special correspondent. Times staff writer Shashank Bengali contributed to this report from Mumbai, India. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday said Tokyo is drawing up a contingency plan in case of a refugee influx from Korea in a crisis. He said his government is discussing screening asylum seekers, protecting foreigners and planning for landing procedures, as well as preparing to evacuate Japanese citizens from Korea. Some Japanese media are duly churning out reports that make it sound as if a war is imminent on the Korean Peninsula. Japan's ambassador to Korea, who only recently returned to the country after being recalled over one of the perpetual diplomatic crises between the two countries, made a bizarre request for a meeting with the defense minister, as if anything urgent was on the cards. The current spat between the two neighbors focuses on Korean women who were forced to serve as sex slaves to Japanese soldiers during World War II. A statue in their honor near the Japanese Consulate in Busan has irked Tokyo, while the Korean public is still upset about a deal struck by ex-President Park Geun-hye to compensate the victims in a roundabout way without a proper apology for the atrocity. Many people in Japan want to heal these wounds and move on, but Abe's ultra-nationalist voter base desperately wants to deny the truth. At the root of this dispute is the indelible scar the Japanese occupation left on Korea. Japanese politicians may complain that they are not obliged to be eternally sorry for the actions of their forefathers, but as long as people like Abe keep making hay from denials there is no hope for a better future. This taints the entire atmosphere between the two countries. Suppose a Korean government official were to say publicly that Seoul will have to screen Japanese refugees in case of an earthquake or nuclear disaster in the island country, or muse on which ports to funnel them through. The outcry would be deafening, and rightly so. Playing on the deplorable anti-Korean sentiment of Japanese voters is the lowest form of politics, and as long as that kind of boorish behavior continues, bilateral relations will never improve. Tin Ko Ko Oo stepped off the bus on a humid Sunday evening carrying a binder thick with reading material and a duffel bag overstuffed with food and clean laundry. He turned the key to his room, avoided the stacks of papers on the floor and set his bags down on a bunk bed next to his bike helmet. He looked a bit like a college freshman returning to campus after a weekend at home. Except Tin Ko Ko Oo is 41 years old and a member of the parliament of Myanmar, coming back to one of the worlds most desolate capitals. Advertisement The generals who once ruled this country formerly known as Burma were so paranoid about security that they built a new capital in secret, announcing its existence just as it was being completed a decade ago. Atop a lush plain of rice paddies and sugar cane fields, the city seems almost to have been dropped from outer space, with 20-lane highways, grandiose hotels, government complexes so monolithic that they invoke comparisons to North Korea and very, very few people. The generals called their new capital Naypyidaw, which means abode of kings. The abodes of most of the 440 lawmakers who live here for a few months every year are far from regal. Because the generals extravagant urban planning did not extend to housing at least not for politicians who were unconnected to the army dormitories were built to accommodate opposition lawmakers and civil servants. The departure area at Naypyidaws international airport sits deserted on a weekday. (Shashank Bengali / Los Angeles Times) Last year, the opposition swept into power after Aung San Suu Kyis National League for Democracy party which led the five-decade struggle against military rule won a historic majority in parliament. Hundreds of freshman lawmakers descended on remote Naypyidaw for the first time and found their way to the low, pastel-green dorms of Si Bin Guest House No. 2. The spartan accommodations may feel familiar to the opposition lawmakers who spent time in prison under the military government. Inside each 15-by-15-foot room are bunk beds with slender foam mattresses, a couple of hard wooden chairs, a desk and a bathroom with a tiny round mirror. There are no closets, so clothes and wet towels hang from the bedposts, the way your messy college roommate used to do it. In Tin Ko Ko Oos room, a poster of Suu Kyi is taped to the wall above a desk cluttered with books, a cheap Chinese lamp and a deodorant stick. An empty bed serves as the kitchen-slash-pantry, strewn with pots, pans, spice jars and noodle packets that he cooks on an electric stove outside, on a tiny veranda where mosquitoes buzz in the fluorescent light. Theres no TV, although in March wireless Internet was finally installed in the complex. The boyish legislator from coastal Mon state attended university in Malaysia and then returned to his hometown to teach politics before contesting the 2015 elections as a member of Suu Kyis party. Growing up under the junta, he never dreamed he would serve in parliament. He betrayed no disappointment at the lack of luxury. My life as a member of parliament is like my life as a student, he said. Except as a student I didnt have to cook. Their days are highly routinized, like an adult summer camp with briefing books. Few have cars, and the distances in Naypyidaw are too vast to cover by bike, so buses bring them to the mammoth, 31-building parliament complex every weekday morning at 8 and back to the dorms before dark. In the evenings and on weekends, international agencies hold classes in English or parliamentary procedure. Sometimes a few lawmakers will gather on Saturday night at one of the citys karaoke bars. Most whose hometowns lie within driving distance elect to spend the weekends with their families and meeting constituents. Every other weekend, Tin Ko Ko Oo takes a six-hour bus ride back to Mon. On his lawmakers salary of less than $4,000, he cant afford a car. Over here there is nothing to do but work, sleep and eat, he said. It is good because we have a lot of work to do to build our country. But even if you want to take a walk, there is nowhere to go. Lawmaker Ma Thandar sips tea in an empty restaurant in Naypyidaw, Myanmar. (Shashank Bengali / Los Angeles Times) The city sprawls over 2,700 square miles, more than five times the size of Los Angeles, and although some 1 million people are said to have moved here, there are rarely more than a few in sight at any given time. Its main landmark, a golden pagoda, is a hollow replica of the renowned Shwedagon Pagoda in the former capital, Yangon; Junction Center, a multistory shopping mall with a cinema, sits alone by the highway, a few palm trees swaying lazily by the entrance. Like other purpose-built capitals, including Brasilia in Brazil and Islamabad in Pakistan, Naypyidaw is obsessively organized residential, military and commercial and hotel zones are divided and carved into grid patterns, set apart by miles and miles of asphalt. A 5-acre diplomatic area, meant for embassies, is deserted because most countries have kept their quarters in Yangon. At an empty restaurant on one of the tree-lined streets near the dorms, another lawmaker from Suu Kyis party, Ma Thandar, quietly sipped a cup of tea. Her niece was visiting from their home in the southern Irrawaddy River delta region. That evening, she reckoned, they would cook chicken on her electric stove and steam rice in her rice cooker. Then it would be back to her briefing papers. Sometimes I think Im in prison, she said, laughing. The lifestyle is isolating, but parliament is only in session for about three months in a year. Some lawmakers even acknowledge they enjoy parts of it: There are few distractions, they can focus on work, Internet is relatively fast, and, unlike booming Yangon 200 miles to the south, traffic is nonexistent. Oh, there is great nightlife in Naypyidaw, said a Yangon businessman who travels there regularly. Do you meditate? shashank.bengali@latimes.com Follow @SBengali on Twitter for more news from South Asia ALSO Myanmars long-suffering Rohingya Muslims hoped that Aung San Suu Kyi would make them full citizens. They were wrong A brazen political killing shakes Myanmar, already teetering on the path to democracy Born in America, Sriracha sauce tries its luck in Vietnam All material is subject to strictly enforced copyright terms & conditions and cannot be repurposed or reproduced. 19882022 Latin American Financial Publications Inc. Facebook killer Steve Stephens did the unthinkable and shot Robert Godwin Sr., 74 years old on the head in Cleveland, Ohio. The senior citizen was just passing by when Anthony got out of his car and shot him on the face. The murderer even took a video of the entire incident and uploaded this on his Facebook account. Police have launched a nationwide manhunt for Stephens who has claimed that he has killed more than a dozen people and is driving to anywhere in the U.S. at the moment. Stephens kept a video log of his exploits and posted these online. The Facebook killer said in a video that he has lost all his money to gambling while in another video he bragged about killing more than a dozen people. Stephen has left the scene after he shot Godwin in the head and could not be found. Police has identified that he is driving a white Ford Fusion with temporary Ohio plate E363630, ABC News reported. Police have searched for more of Stephen's victims but they have not found any victims. Authorities have also located people that Stephen's have talked to for the past days and sad that they are now cooperating in his search. Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams said that they could not identify a motive for the killing and that they still have no idea where the Facebook killer is at. Stephens talked to Godwin before he shot him and told him that his girlfriend was the reason why he is doing this. Godwin did not seem to understand what was happening and merely raised his hands in an effort to avert the Facebook killer. Williams said that they would try to resolve the crime as soon as possible because Godwin's family deserves it, Fox News reported. Meanwhile, a $50,000 reward is out for anyone who could provide information to the arrest of the Facebook killer. Authorities said that he could be in a lot of places and is considered armed and very dangerous. Beech Brook, the behavioral health agency where Stephens worked, was locked down to protect its employees while eight elementary schools and a high school were closed near Fairmount Park. Facebook has also deactivated Stephen's account but his uploaded video has been seen multiple times. The social media site condemns the Facebook killer and murder and said that it would work hard to keep their pages safe for its users. An aggravated murder warrant was issued for Steve Stephens. Iran, Russia to jointly build 2 nuclear power plants From:Xinhua | 2017-04-19 10:29 Video PlayerClose TEHRAN, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Iran will start construction of two nuclear power plants in the country in cooperation with Russian experts, Iranian Energy minister announced on Tuesday. "The contract has been signed between the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and Russia, and includes building two 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plants, the construction of which is about to start," Hamid Chitchian said. His remarks came after AEOI Head Ali Akbar Salehi announced on Saturday that construction of two new nuclear power plants in the country will start soon. Chitchian also said that "another active project is also underway between the energy ministry and Moscow on constructing a 1,400-megawatt power plant in Hormozgan province near the Persian Gulf," adding that the construction work of the power plant has already started. In February, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak underlined that Moscow is keen on finalizing contracts with Iran and also helping the country build more power plants. Iran plans large-scale construction of power plants and Russia may receive a significant share in building contracts of such power plants, Novak said. Shanghai LIVE: 2018 BMW M4 CS Apr 19, 2017, 12:26pm ET BMW arrives in Shanghai with more than just a new car. BMW has arrived in Shanghai with a bang, introducing the new M4 CS and, with it, a new performance hierarchy in the world of German sport sedans. The M4 CS sits between the M4 Competition Package and the M4 GTS. This new hierarchy is meant to convey a good-better-best nomenclature for performance-oriented enthusiasts. To put it in a context with which you are already familiar, we'll use Porsche as an example. The M4 + Competition Package would be the 911 Carrera S; the M4 CS, the 911 GT3. The existing M4 GTS, then, is the BMW sedan equivalent of a 911 GT3 RS. That makes this new CS a 'tweener of sorts. It gains 10 horsepower over the comp-pack M4, leaving a nice gap to the 500-horsepower GTS. BMW claims that's good enough for a 0-62 mph run of just 3.9 seconds. Top speed is electronically limited at 174 mph. It also shares quite a bit with the Competition Package's suspension, though it has been retuned slightly. You'll find Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2s at all four corners (265/35R19s up front, 285/30R20s in the rear--on 9-inch and 10-inch wheels, respectively). "Road" tires are also available as a no-charge option. If this sounds like just a slightly-warmer version of the already-hot Comp Pack car, you're basically right. But there's one catch. Unlike the M4 + Comp Pack, the CS is available exclusively with the seven-speed DCT. No manual here, folks. The most interesting take-away here, however, is that BMW plans to extend this performance hierarchy to other cars in its lineup. Get ready for an onslaught of CS models, in other words. U.S. pricing has not been announced, but the new BMW M4 CS will fetch 116,900 in Europe. Live photos by Ronan Glon. An Allentown man experiencing a heroin overdose allegedly assaulted two emergency medical technicians who tried to help him. Charged is Kyle Thomas Armbruster, 27. Armbruster at 12:33 p.m. March 22 was in the beginning stages of a heroin overdose when he attacked the EMT workers at Lutron Electronics in Lower Macungie Township, Pennsylvania State Police at Fogelsville said. Troopers were called to the business, 8240 Spring Creek Road, to help assist the two male victims. Police did not state specifically in a news release how Armbruster assaulted the victims, but WFMZ-69 News reported Armbruster punched one of the EMTs in the face twice. The other was reported by WFMZ to have been injured when all three men fell to the ground as they tried to restrain Armbruster. The EMTs were taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital in Salisbury Township, where one was treated for an injured left shoulder and the other a concussion, WFMZ reported. The victims included an Upper Milford man and a Macungie man. Armbruster has since been arraigned on aggravated assault, simple assault and harassment charges before District Judge Michael Pochron, who set bail at $20,000. Armbruster posted bail and is scheduled for a formal arraignment May 16 in Lehigh County Court. Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @pamholzmann. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Depending on who you talk to, Eric Davis either had nothing to do with a fatal home invasion and robbery in Allentown, or everything to do with it. DNA evidence from a hat at the scene, GPS evidence from a truck and witness testimony will "all lead to the same place -- the defendant," Senior Deputy District Attorney Jeff Burd told a Lehigh County jury on Tuesday. Davis' attorney, on the other hand, argued police had a puzzle to solve in the 2014 fatal shooting of Jose "Tito" Carrero, and the charges against Davis were just forcing a wrong piece to complete the picture. The facts of the case don't support prosecutors' claims, much less support convicting Davis beyond a reasonable doubt, attorney Kate Smith said. Davis' trial on homicide and related charges began Tuesday afternoon and is expected to last the week. Two men -- Davis and a man only referred to as "Animal" -- broke into Carrero's Allentown apartment in the early morning of Dec. 9, 2014 with the goal of stealing K2 and money. Carrero lived in the apartment at 940 W. Pine St. with his five-year-old daughter, and Carrero's friend, Jose Morales, was staying the night, Burd said. Morales previously testified he was sleeping on a mattress in the living room, because he promised to watch Carrero's daughter at 5 a.m. while Carrero gave someone a ride to work. Morales said he woke to a man beating him in the head with something hard, and saw two men in the apartment. Morales said the men were wearing dark clothes, including hooded sweatshirts, as well as hats and things covering their faces. The burglars demanded money and K2, synthetic marijuana also known as Spice. Morales testified he gave the men some K2 that was hidden in a living room ottoman. When one of the men demanded money, they shot Morales in the leg, Burd said. The gunman, whom prosecutors said was Animal and not Davis, then opened fire on the bedroom where Carrero and his daughter were sleeping. Carrero was shot in the neck and torso and died on the floor beside the bed where his daughter was sitting, Burd said. The robbers fled, but officers found a knit hat at the apartment and DNA taken from the hat reportedly matched to Davis and his ex-girlfriend. Davis and Animal borrowed a Jeep that night, and Burd said the vehicle's GPS system showed it traveling from Reading to Allentown before the killing. Finally, Candice Agudio, Davis' ex-girlfriend is expected to testify. Agudio previously testified she learned the pair were involved in a "home invasion gone wrong" and that someone had died. Agudio said Davis repeatedly threatened her and called her probation officer, which led to jail time. Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Bam! He's coming back to Bethlehem. Chef Emeril Lagasse will return to the city for the eighth annual Lehigh Valley Food and Wine Festival to be held Friday through Sunday, June 2-4, at the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem, officials announced Wednesday morning. "We're excited to have him back and look forward to seeing him in action," said Mike Molewski, co-chairman of the festival. The festival annually raises about $250,000 a year for the Northampton Community College Foundation, which uses the money for student scholarships. "Scholarships that quite honestly change lives," college President Mark Erickson said. Lagasse was unable to come to Bethlehem for Wednesday's announcement, but he said in a statement he looks forward to participating in the festival each year. "Besides the great wine and delicious food, the best part about the festival is that it benefits college students, many of whom will be the next generation of chefs in our country," Lagasse said in the statement. "And that, as you know, is something that will always be near and dear to my heart." The celebration will kick off at 2 p.m. Friday with a ticketed cooking demo by Lagasse himself. Tickets for the demo cost $75 and are now available. The event typically sells out. At the close of the cooking demo, Lagasse will announce the six NCC students who have been selected to head to New Orleans for a weeklong externship in the chef's eateries. Students compete in a cooking competition to earn their seat. Set aside the rest of the weekend for eating and drinking. The grand tasting runs from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, highlighting food from more than 35 restaurants and fine wines from around the world. Tickets cost $85 and attendees must be 21 and older. It's not all just eating at the festival. Attendees can watch cooking demos, join a wine seminar, smoke a stogie in the cigar bar or expand their drinking palette in the champagne and spirits-tasting room. Sands Bethlehem President Mark Juliano said in a short period of time the festival has gained an impressive national profile. "It's an amazing feat," he said. And the partnership with NCC yields wonderful job candidates, whom the Sands gets to see in action over the course of the weekend, he said. The festival has raised $1.5 million for the NCC Foundation since its inception. For a full list of events visit the website here. Participating restaurants so far: 187 Rue Principal 904 West Restaurant and Lounge Aunt Wendy's Kiffles Bayou Grain Queen City BBQ Bell Hall Broadway Social Bravo! Cucina Italiana Buddy V's Ristorante Burgers and More by Emeril Carnegie Deli Centro Chocolate Works The Dime Emeril's Chophouse Emeril's Fish House Fiesta Ole Hampton Winds Hellertown Bakery Kingfish Kome The Melting Pot Mitzi's Table Momento Blue Paxos Restaurants Melt Paxos Restaurants Topucut Paxos Restaurants Sodexo Spinnerstown Hotel Steelworks Twisted Olvie Yianni's Taverna The Vineyard Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright met Tuesday night with a friendlier crowd than those that have greeted his local Republican counterparts Leonard Lance and, to a lesser degree, Charlie Dent in 2017. Speaking to about 100 people in Alumni Hall at Northampton Community College, the Democrat representing Pennsylvania's 17th Congressional District stressed the need for transparency in government. He also left with some ideas tossed out, generally politely, from the audience. But for much of the town hall, the representative for some Northampton County communities was able to answer submitted questions in a word or two: He and the audience were on the same page. "All right the first one is, 'How will you vote on attempts to dismantle Social Security?' I will vote no," Cartwright said, deadpanning as he shuffled through to the next written question. "Will you join a bipartisan call for an independent investigation into transactions between Russia and all members of the Trump Administration?" was one that came up later. "Um, sure." "Will you back, support and help strengthen the public school system despite the efforts of Betsy DeVos?" "Yes." A little more back-and-forth arose on the PennEast Pipeline Co. LLC's proposal before federal regulators to build a 120-mile, primarily 36-inch-diameter line to carry natural gas through Cartwright's district. The source is Pennsylvania's Marcellus shale region in Luzerne County, and the terminus is Mercer County where it would tie in to existing pipelines. "I think pipelines are with us," said Cartwright, a supporter of Pennsylvania's natural gas industry. "Pipelines create jobs. Pipelines move the natural gas. We have factories springing up in eastern Pennsylvania in connection with the generation of electricity." Bill Patsis, of Nazareth, called him out from his seat in the back row, saying he wants to see stronger advocacy from Cartwright for renewable and sustainable energy. "I think we need to get to sustainable energy," Cartwright said. "We need to get to wind and solar powering this nation, but we can't do it right away, and there's going to be too much suffering if we were to outlaw that (natural gas extraction) right away." The pipeline review process is one of the areas where transparency is paramount, including over the how Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approves the route and taking of properties through eminent domain. Diane Zimmerer, of Upper Mount Bethel Township, demanded more from Cartwright on his answer about biosolids -- human sewage processed into fertilizer that is being used throughout the Lehigh Valley. Cartwright said he opposes its use only ifit violates environmental protection rules. But what can he do to help residents affected by it, Zimmerer wanted to know. "It is like bio ...," she said, searching for the right word. "This is not a good thing. It needs to be screamed from the rooftops. People are being poisoned, children are being poisoned every single day they consume food, and no one is screaming loud who has the power to. Please scream for us." A crowd of about 100 gathered to meet with U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright during a town hall April 18, 2017, at Northampton Community College in Bethlehem Township. (Kurt Bresswein | For lehighvalleylive.com) Cartwright repeated that constituents who don't like how things are going need to continue to speak out. Asked how Congress can keep President Donald Trump's travel from bankrupting the country, Cartwright said he's open to ideas. Remind people, one woman said. "Impeachment," said one man. Cartwright made a point of saying Tuesday's town hall was not a political rally and that he wasn't there to bash Trump, whose early tenure has helped to engender moments of anger directed at Republican lawmakers like Dent and Lance during their town hall meetings. The Democrat did note his opposition to Trump's budget proposal and its cuts to scientific and health research. "We saw this budget that came out of the White House, and history will prove me right or wrong, but my personal opinion: Our chief executive and commander-in-chief never laid eyes on that budget," Cartwright said, suggesting it was drawn up by a conservative think-tank. "That budget in my view was drafted and compiled in the basement of the Heritage Foundation. "It's not just research for science and medicine, it's things like low-income heating, or Meals on Wheels or Head Start," he continued. "There are an awful lot of popular programs that Americans like and have depended on for many years that I can tell you from my own part, and I think this is true across the aisle in the Appropriations Committee: We will be studiously ignoring the president's budget on these things." Cartwright vowed bipartisan efforts on improving the 2010 Affordable Care Act, after the Republican-controlled House failed in its bid to bring a repeal-and-replace bill to a vote last month. There are repairs needed, including on cutting costs, deductibles and taxes on some groups and industries. The key is cooperation and hearings to let the public in on why Obamacare, as the ACA is known, needs to change and how, he said. "We have moved the needle on this discussion," he said. "It used to be no way, no how on anything like the ACA and now it's: 'Let's make it work.' "And my hope, and I really do hope this, is that members of Congress from both sides of the aisle will come together -- people like Charle Dent and me -- and work out something and work out the kinks of the ACA and make it work for everybody, and I think the thing that's driving that is that's what the American people want." Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. After weeks of debate. Bethlehem City Council voted to ban residents from growing running bamboo and levy penalties against those who don't contain existing plants. Council voted Tuesday night 4-3 with Councilmen Bryan Callahan and Adam Waldron and Councilwoman Olga Negron voting against the measure. Before the vote, council heard from two homeowners that have running bamboo growing on their properties, but said they haven't had difficulty containing it. Negron said council has received clear information outlining other ways to control and get rid of bamboo. She can't support an ordinance with such narrow options, Negron said. Bethlehem proposed the new law after fielding a handful of complaint from residents grappling with the plant invading their properties. The city was unable to offer them any help because the city had no ordinance prohibiting running bamboo. Officials have said the invasive plant grows rapidly and can cause infrastructure damage. Resident Jamie Lantz Tuesday night cited numerous errors he said the city health bureau made in its research about bamboo. And he pointed out that the city has large bamboo stands growing on at least two properties. The new law bans homeowners from planting new stands of bamboo, but property owners with existing running bamboo would be grandfathered. If the city receives a complaint about their property, residents have to take steps to stop the bamboo from spreading to neighboring properties. Clumping bamboo is exempt. When dealing with housing or health-related complaints, the city always strives to work with those involved to solve the problem and get them in compliance with city rules, said Alicia Miller Karner, city director of community and economic development. Bethlehem very rarely goes right to instituting penalties and is patient as long as progress is being made, she said. Bamboo must be isolated from other vegetation by a high-density polypropylene or polyethylene barrier, which is secured and joined together with stainless steel clamps or closure strips, and goes at least 30 inches deep. At least 3 inches of barrier must stick up above ground level and it must slant outward from bottom to top. Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. A 25-year-old man sold more than $4,000 in cellphones stolen from robberies in Bethlehem and Forks townships through an online marketplace, according to detectives' testimony Wednesday. Detectives in Bethlehem Township and Palmer Township testified during a preliminary hearing before District Judge Patricia Broscius the cellphones were bought from Eric Quentin Watson shortly after both robberies. Each phone ranged in price from $700 to $800, Bethlehem Township Detective Ed Fox said. Dressed in a brown prison jumpsuit and black sneakers with shackles and handcuffs, Watson didn't speak during the hearing and stared straight ahead. He is facing a receiving stolen property charge for his role in the crime and remains jailed in lieu of $500,000 bail. The Bethlehem Township and Forks Township cellphone store robberies are among five robberies that have occurred in Lehigh, Northampton and Warren counties dating to October. A task force led by Northampton County Assistant District Attorney Patricia Mulqueen is investigating the crimes. Pair of robberies Prior to Wednesday, prosecutors asked for the affidavit of probable cause against Watson to be sealed to prevent disclosing information that could harm the investigation. Documents were unsealed Wednesday, shedding more light on the Bethlehem Township and Forks Township robberies. In both crimes, one of the robbers had an identifying mark or tattoo under his left eye and the weapon used was a two-tone black and silver handgun. No one has been charged yet in the actual robbery of the two stores. Last Oct. 29, a Forks Township Verizon Wireless store was robbed by a masked intruder who entered the store just before closing and forced employees into the bathroom. He then stole scores of cellphones and tablets before fleeing, according to police. Detectives got a break in the case when a Samsung Galaxy phone stolen in the Forks robbery was activated Nov. 21 and located based on its identification number. The owner told police he bought the phone from "Offer Up," an online marketplace. It was sold to him by the seller profile, "JMoney," in Allentown. Officers testified that JMoney had a profile picture of a $100 bill with the words "Keep It," followed by "100" printed on the bill. A pair of masked men on Jan. 5 entered the AT&T Wireless store in Bethlehem Township just before closing and locked employees in the bathroom. The pair fled with the store's entire inventory of cellphones and tablets, police said. Bethlehem Township's Fox testified Wednesday that investigators found two of the AT&T cellphones stolen in the robbery on Offer Up, being sold by seller, "Keep It 100." That seller, later identified as Ricky Saez, of Allentown, also was using the same profile picture as "JMoney," Fox said. Investigators made offers on the cellphones and met up in the same Allentown neighborhood the owner of the Verizon Samsung Galaxy said he bought his phone. Saez showed up with two cellphones confirmed stolen in the Bethlehem Township robbery, Fox testified. Investigators searched Saez's home with his consent and found three more phones stolen from the AT&T store, as well as an empty box for a Samsung phone with an identification number matching a phone stolen in the Forks Township robbery, Bethlehem Township Police Sgt. Richard Blake testified. Saez told investigators he bought all five cellphones stolen from the AT&T store from a seller profile, "Yoodat," on Jan. 6 -- the day after the robbery -- in Allentown. He bought the stolen Verizon phone from the same seller in early November in the McDonald's parking lot in Bethlehem Township, he said. Police identified Watson as being "Yoodat" and Saez was able to identify Watson as the seller from a photo lineup, police said. Saez has not been charged. While working undercover, Fox said, he bought a phone from Watson in a Bethlehem Township parking lot on Jan. 13. Authorities determined that phone was stolen in the AT&T store robbery. Police obtained a search warrant for Watson's Offer Up account on Jan. 18. Every sale and conversation Watson had through the website was recorded and provided to police. The records matched Saez's account of events, Fox said. Palmer Township Detective James Taylor said he also connected Patricia Calcano, 29, who was staying with Watson at a friend's Allentown home, with having some of the stolen phones. Calcano between last Oct. 29 and Nov. 16 had four Samsung S7 Edge cellphones, totaling $2,940, from the Forks Township Verizon store, according to court records. Calcano told investigators she gave the SIM card from her personal cellphone to Watson to make sure his phone was working, Taylor testified. Calcano is facing a receiving stolen property charge and has since been released on $15,000 unsecured bail. She is due back in court April 25 for a preliminary hearing before Senior District Judge Joseph Barner. 'No circumstantial facts' Ed Andres, the defense attorney representing Watson, tried to argue prosecutors didn't have any circumstantial facts other than hearsay evidence. However, hearsay testimony is admissible at preliminary hearings. Andres argued the robbery took place on Jan. 5 at the AT&T, but the phone wasn't sold to undercover officers until Jan. 13 -- eight days later. "He saw the ad. He replied to it on the 13th. He has no idea how many times the phone changed hands from the 5th to the 13th," Andres argued, referring to the officer. Prosecutors also couldn't prove Watson knew the phones were stolen, Andres told the judge. "Judge, this is really a common sense case," countered Mulqueen, the prosecutor. "He bought the phones on Jan. 6 -- the day after the robbery. The defense counsel argues this as being over a normal chain of commerce. Six new phones being sold on this 'Offer Up' app and one sold to Detective Fox. It's not normal chain of commerce ... to assume this is a normal way of buying cellphones." In the end, the judge agreed with prosecutors and ruled there was sufficient evidence to forward the case to Northampton County Court. A formal arraignment for Watson is set for June 22. Other arrests: Several additional arrests have been made in the string of cellphone store robberies: Gregory Lewis Jr., of Wilson Borough, and Vaughn D.J. Felix, of Easton, both 26, are scheduled to appear May 8 for preliminary hearings. Both are suspects in a Feb. 9 holdup at the Verizon store, 1001 S. Broadway, Wind Gap. They also are charged with receiving stolen property in a Dec. 23 robbery at JC Jewelry, 24 N. Second St., Easton. Verizon store manager Michael DeRose, 29, of the 3300 block of Sherwood Road in Authorities have filed no charges in Davis' killing or in DeRose's abduction, but they are crimes that are part of the task force investigation. Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @pamholzmann. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. The Easton Area School District superintendent acknowledged an uptick in student violence in schools this year. The confirmation from Superintendent John Reinhart came in response to calls for more collaboration between administrators and the teachers union to address the problem. "Several teachers here have been assaulted over the last few months, most often in our elementary schools," teachers union Vice President Kevin Deely told the school board Tuesday night. "Although not every school is reporting such behavior there are a few locations where students are attacking each other, staff members, and their teachers physically, verbally, and it's having a detrimental impact on us all," Deely said. To call the incidents "attacks" may be putting it strongly, Reinhart said. In many cases, students are fighting with students and a teacher is shoved or knocked down while intervening, he said. He agreed violence in schools is a bigger problem this year than in previous years. He said his administration takes it seriously and has taken steps to address it. "Many of our children are coming to us with increased social and emotional needs and it becomes very difficult to address those needs," Reinhart said Wednesday. In a school such as Paxinosa Elementary with about 700 students, the problems center around a group of eight to 12 very young students who act aggressively toward their peers and teachers. They arrive at kindergarten unable to integrate successfully with the school. "They're not responding to punishment. They're not responding to positive reinforcement. So we've had to spend an extra amount of time in the district dealing with different ways to try to deal with this population of students," Reinhart said. The district added a second full-time administrator and a counselor to help deal with problems at Paxinosa. Since December, Reinhart said he's met with the school board three times to talk about staffing needs and shakeups to address issues with violence. The superintendent declined to say how many incidents there have been or at which schools they're prevalent. "We have to be very careful about identifying in a public way the population of students with special needs," he said. Some students have been suspended for shoving teachers, Reinhart said. Some high school students were transferred to Easton Area Academy, the district alternative school. "Anything that we would characterize as an assault, those students have been expelled," Reinhart said. He didn't say how many students were suspended, expelled or referred to juvenile authorities. Deely said the teachers union has met with administrators and wants to meet again. He said the union has been polling its membership since January looking for input and solutions. "We found about 100 various degrees of concerns, including suggested remedies, and I hope to share those with you," Deely told Reinhart at the school board meeting. "Our biggest concern is for the safety of our students and the staff." The union wants to form "a work group of teachers, administrators and board members in order to come up with a clear set of guidelines for addressing these needs," Deely said. Reinhart called the work group suggestion "outdated" because he's met multiple times with teachers, staff members, administrators and school board members to tackle the issue. It's been a huge priority over the past three months, he said. He met with all the building principals last week to discuss how to deal with aggressive behavior from students. He advised principals to document it, react quickly and bring parents in to discuss the behavior. He said the district needs to address the problems of special-needs children of preschool age. The issues of special-needs kids and violence in schools isn't unique to Easton, he underscored. He acknowledged he's heard from parents frustrated over tales told by their children about their peers' conduct in school. He urges parents to continue to bring those concerns to the attention of administrators. Asked whether the district should bring parents to the table to discuss the problem and how to fix it, he said most information about the offenders and their conduct must be kept confidential. He said administrators hear parents' worries and are addressing the problem. "I appreciate their concerns but in many cases everyone has to be patient," Reinhart said, adding, "There's no question that we've had an increase of student behavior that's unacceptable in our schools and we're spending a great deal of time trying to learn why." Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook. UPDATE: Shooting death of 17-year-old ruled a homicide A 16-year-old is being charged in what prosecutors describe as an accidental shooting that killed another teen. The teen, whom prosecutors did not identify in a news release, is being charged in juvenile court with involuntary manslaughter, in connection with the April 8 fatal shooting of Chris Perez. Prosecutors said the charge of involuntary manslaughter does not allege intent to kill, but that the accused acted in a reckless or grossly negligent manner. Chris Perez (Courtesy photo) Perez, of Allentown, was with several other juveniles the afternoon of April 8, in the basement of a home in the 3900 block of Orchard Road in Lower Macungie Township. Prosecutors said Perez asked the 16-year-old to show him a shotgun, and the teen did. "One of the witnesses present heard the victim ask the (16-year-old) if the gun was loaded, and the juvenile responded that it was not," according to the news release. Perez handled the Ithaca 12-gauge shotgun, then gave it back to the teen, prosecutors said. The teen is accused of waiving the shotgun and leveling it, before the shotgun was fired. A witness told prosecutors the teen holding the gun appeared shocked and immediately dropped it. Pennsylvania State Police at Fogelsville were called for a reported shooting, and found Perez with a gunshot wound to his left side. Perez was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest, where he was pronounced dead at 4:37 p.m. The cause of death was a gunshot wound to the torso, the coroner ruled. The shotgun, which belongs to an adult at the address, was found in the basement, troopers said. The gun contained one spent shell casing still chambered, and the safety was in the "off" position, according to prosecutors. Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Three Lehigh County residents and one Monroe County resident were among 68 people charged in January with welfare fraud, according to the Pennsylvania Office of Inspector General. The office expects to recover more than $420,000 in restitution, as well as save additional money from at least some of these people being temporarily disqualified from receiving such public benefits, the office said in a news release. For January, restitution totaled $273,166.89 for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, used to be called food stamps), $90,943.61 for medical assistance, $24,190.72 for cash assistant, $22,620 for subsidized day care and $9,097.71 in Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funding, the office said. Two Lehigh County residents face felony counts of fraudulently receiving public assistance: Jari Collins, 44, of Ana Garcia, 38, of In convicted, they face up to seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine. A Lehigh County resident and a Monroe County resident face misdemeanor charges of fraudulently receiving public assistance: Jennifer M. Rosario, 32, of Allentown, $2,982 in SNAP fraud Kristianna M. Law, 29, of East Stroudsburg, $2,182 in SNAP fraud If convicted, they face up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. All those convicted can't get such benefits again for a prescribed time, the office said. "These cases range from a low of $1,040 in fraudulently obtained SNAP benefits to a high of $58,891.50 in fraudulently obtained SNAP and medical assistance benefits," Inspector General Bruce Beemer said in the news release. "The OIG is committed to pursuing welfare fraud in all its forms." To report welfare fraud, call the Welfare Fraud Tipline at 800-932-0582 of visit the office's website. Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey on Tuesday opened a window into his hard-won second term, meeting with representatives of protesters who've been targeting him, as well as with Lehigh Valley media. Toomey, R-Pa., has held two telephone halls during the 115th Congress that convened in January but has not done one in person in 2017. Protesters have been gathering weekly for what they call "Tuesdays with Toomey" outside his district offices, including at 1150 S. Cedar Crest Blvd. in Salisbury Township. Speaking for about 10 minutes with lehighvalleylive.com, Toomey, who is 55 and lives with his family in the Zionsville section of Upper Milford Township, addressed demands for face-to-face meetings with him at a time of considerable political division in the United States. Fellow Republican Donald Trump was elected president last year despite losing the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton by nearly 3 million votes. Toomey himself beat Democratic challenger Katie McGinty in November following the most expensive Senate campaign in United States history. "I hear that, obviously," Toomey said Tuesday of calls to hold town hall meetings. "The fact is I've done more town halls than any other statewide elected official. I've done more in-person town halls than any other statewide elected official. The telephone town halls, if you include telephone and in-person town halls, I think over 60, since I was first elected. "Look, what's important is an ongoing two-way communication. I need to hear from my constituents. My constituents need to hear from me. And we have that happening on a very large scale every single day. It's the telephone town halls, it's radio interviews, it's meeting with members of the press, it's roundtable discussions, it's meetings with constituents. It's meeting with the representatives of the protest groups in every major city in Pennsylvania where we have an office. We've been doing this systematically." U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said April 18, 2017, his legislative priorities are national security and economic growth. (Kurt Bresswein | For lehighvalleylive.com) Kathi Ember, vice president of the Kutztown Area Democratic Club, was among representatives of Tuesday with Toomey protesters invited to meet with the senator on Tuesday morning in Allentown. She described a cordial meeting that focused a lot on climate change, but which she left puzzled over how the participants were selected. "It's true we were able to have a bit more back and forth," she said afterward, "but ... no one elected me to represent them, and I'm there representing a bunch of people. I did the best I could." On climate change, a look at the "Energy and Environment" page of Toomey's website does not include the words climate or change. It does describe him as "mindful of environmental concerns" while "committed to sensibly unlocking our nation's energy resources and reforming regulations so the American people can have access to safe, affordable energy." In his question-and-answer with lehighvalleylive.com, Toomey described one of his top two legislative priorities as pushing the growth of the American economy to its full potential. 'Pro-growth tax reform' "I think that means pushing back on excessive regulation that's holding back the economy and it means pro-growth tax reform," he said. "We're actively doing the former. We've already passed ... 13 separate bills that repealed misguided, late-in-the-Obama-administration regulations. There's a lot more to be done in that space, but that's a good constructive start, and we're going to keep going." His other top priority falls under the category of national security. Toomey said he believes Trump "acted wisely" in launching 59 Tomahawk missiles April 6 against an air field belonging to Syrian President Bashar Assad's army that was linked to a chemical weapons attack days earlier on civilians. "The strike was very limited in its breadth and its scope, but I think it sent a clear message," the senator said. "I think what the president needs to do is come back to Congress and say, 'This is my plan for completely defeating ISIS.' And by the way does that or does that not include removing Assad from power? I think inevitably it's going to have to but that's for the president to lay out a plan and then Congress, assuming the president has some significant actions that he wants to take, then Congress should debate and consider and authorization for the use of force. "I don't think there's any plausible scenario in which that includes a large-scale U.S. ground invasion, and I don't think that would be a good idea, but it probably does involve a lot of technological cooperation, air power, some more special forces, the kinds of things that only we can do, frankly. But the president really needs to lay out the plan and then we'll debate it in Congress." Toomey also address the United States' first-ever use, last Thursday, of its most powerful non-nuclear bomb, on a hardened insurgent base in Afghanistan. Delicate challenge of North Korea "It makes sense if that's what the military believes is appropriate. But that strikes me as a successful deployment of that asset," he said, before turning to building tensions with North Korea: "North Korea, of course, is a very, very challenging and difficulty situation. It's been vexing presidents for over 20 years now, and the bottom line is they continue on their march to have nuclear weapons and an ability to deliver them. And that, I think, is an unacceptable combination. The idea that we would let this very erratic, maybe even deranged, individual have nuclear weapons and a missile capable of delivering them to the United States, I don't think that's an acceptable risk for us. He doesn't behave like other nation-states that have that kind of capability, of which there's really a very small number, too. But the challenge, of course, is the mass of conventional forces that they have on their southern border with South Korea and the vulnerability of Seoul and South Koreans generally and American troops in South Korea to a conventional attack, so it's very difficult. "I think the president is exactly right that the Chinese need to step up. They have abilities that we don't have. They provide financial support to this regime, which I think needs to end, and I think the president's on the right track there. So again, a cogent, comprehensive plan would be good to see. Hopefully that will be forthcoming." "I think it'd probably be a good idea for him to release it ... ," U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey said April 18, 2017, of Trump's tax returns. (Kurt Bresswein | For lehighvalleylive.com) Trump and taxes Tuesday's meetings with media and constituents fell during what is referred to as the April 10-21 "State Work Period" of the Senate. It was also Tax Day, when income tax returns are due to the IRS and state and local taxing authorities. The question: Can Trump push tax reform through Congress if he hasn't released his tax returns, breaking a 40-year precedent of presidential candidates and shrouding what effects changes would mean for personal his wealth? "Absolutely I do," said Toomey's whose committee assignments include serving on the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight. "The American people knew that Donald Trump didn't release his tax returns. They knew that. It was very, very aggressively litigated during the campaign. He was attacked for it routinely. And they still elected him. "Look, he's a rich guy. He's been a developer. He's got a lot of income. If you reduce the tax burden on the people who pay taxes he'll probably pay less taxes." "I think the American people want to see a plan that strikes them as fair, sensible and pro-growth," Toomey continued. "A plan that will encourage more investment, more expansion of business, more hiring, upward pressure on wages. That's what people want to see. And how much and to what extent a particular feature helps a certain individual, including the president of the United States, I don't think that's as important to people. "I think it'd probably be a good idea for him to release it, but like I said it's water under the bridge; the American people decided to elect him without the benefit of having seen his tax returns. I think now our job is to do the best tax reform we can." Along with tax reform, Toomey said repealing and replacing the 2010 Affordable Care Act remains a legislative priority. The U.S. House put off such a vote last month on Obamacare, but Trump has said since that wasn't the end of the effort. Still targeting Obamacare "I won't speak for the president, but I will tell you I think it has to be a priority and I know I'm not alone in that view," Toomey said. "I don't know of any issue that's been more thoroughly litigated in American politics than Obamacare over the last seven years, and Republicans ran promising that we would repeal this and move health care back to a system that's driven by individual consumers in a very competitive marketplace so that consumers have a lot of leverage and a lot of choice. We have to do that. We made a promise we've got to carry through. And I think we probably will. "It was an unfortunate stumble that we had in the House a couple of weeks ago. I think Republican House members understand that they've got to get this done, I know there's a lot of interest and engagement among Republican senators. Unfortunately we've got to do this by ourselves because our Democratic colleagues are extremely wed to the status quo. The status quo is clearly failing. And so, yeah, I think we'll get it done." Toomey was also asked for the latest on investigations into Russian interference in last year's presidential election and whether there was any collusion with the Trump campaign: "Let me just say what I think is important. The Senate Intelligence Committee is thoroughly investigating this and the Republican chairman and the Democratic ranking member, that's Richard Burr and Mark Warner, have both publicly and repeatedly and recently stated their commitment that they're going to see this through entirely. They're going to go wherever the facts take us, which is what they should do. "But there are three aspects that I think need to be thoroughly investigated, not just one. The first is the extent of the ... Russian effort to interfere with our election: What did they do, why did they do, how far did they get. I mean, we need to understand that. Second, whether or not and to what extent was there any collusion between the Trump campaign. They should explore that and determine the answer to that. "And the third is what members of the Trump campaign were under surveillance and why, and who leaked the information. I mean, Michael Flynn doesn't have a job today because he was under surveillance and their surveillance was illegally leaked to the press. He misled the vice president; that's grounds for firing, but my point is we know for a fact that a felony was committed because it's a felony to leak that information. So I think we ought to investigate that, as well. So I think there's just three parts of that and all three need to be thoroughly investigated and we've got to go wherever the facts take us." Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. The number of patients left waiting on trolleys at Portlaoise hospital reached 358 this March, over six times greater that the 56 patients recorded on trolleys in March 2006. The number last month was the highest in a decade for Portlaoise, gradually increasing almost every year in that time, but jumping by almost 100 in the past year. Tullamore hospital's figures are even worse, going from 4 patients put on trolleys during March 2006, to 537 patients waiting for a bed last March. A year ago the figure had hit a record high at 568 patients. The new figures gathered by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation showed a 28 percent increase in trolley counts across Ireland in the last decade, up to 9,459, mostly in areas outside Dublin. All other hospitals in the Dublin Midlands hospital group had hundreds of patients on trolleys this March, showing that there is nowhere else for Portlaoise patients to go if the A&E hours are cut here as is still feared. Dublin hospitals grouped with Portlaoise and Tullamore, showed a sharp improvement in 2007, but still had hundreds of sick people on trolleys last month. St James' hospital went from 670 on trolleys in 2006 to 95 in 2007, but last March it had 336 waiting for beds, more than double the number in March 2016. Tallaght hospital halvedfrom 734 in 2006, to 339 in 2007, but stayed in the hundreds since with 485 on trolleys last month. Also in the same group is the smaller Naas General Hospital, which had 478 waiting on trolleys in March 2006, down to 338 this year. The INMO had compiled the figures from its regular Trolley/Ward Watches. General Secretary Liam Doran said it proves severe overcrowding. The figures are very disappointing. Severe overcrowding is still being experienced in many hospitals around the country. It remains the stark reality that without nurses we cannot meet current demand let alone in the future. The recent staffing deal is the first step in a 3 year program that must increase nurse/midwife levels from 35,600 to over 40,000, Mr Doran said. Minister for Health Simon Harris is due to meet Portlaoise GPs this month. With 970 pupils and and a brand new building big enough for 1200 about to start construction, Colaiste Iosagain is the first in Laois to take up the 2017 budget offer of two additional Deputy Principals for big schools. This week the Portarlington secondary school announced the new appointments, welcoming them to its staff. "We are delighted to announce the appointment of two additional Deputy Principals. Brendan McGlynn and Justin Brown will take up their new appointments in September," the principal Seamus Bennett said. Brendan, a Science and Maths teacher, is an Assistant Principal in Colaiste Choilm, Tullamore, while Justin is already on the teacher staff at Colaiste Iosagain, returning from working with their trustees CEIST (Catholic Education, An Irish Schools Trust), to take up his appointment. They will join with the Principal and the Deputy Principal Siobhan Higgins as the school's enrolment hits over 1,000 pupils, to make it the biggest school in Laois, and one of the biggest in Offaly. The school is poised to start construction on a brand new building, expected to start later this year, that will create capacity for 1,200 pupils. Budget 2017 announced that schools with an enrollment of over 700 pupils would receive one extra Deputy Principal. Schools with between 900 and 1,000 pupils will get two posts. Other schools expected to take on two extra senior staff each include St Mary's CBS and Scoil Chriost Ri in Portlaoise, which have almost 1,000 pupils each. Mountrath CS at 779 pupils is inviting applications for one extra Deputy Principal. Portlaoise College at 749 pupils also qualifies for one extra Deputy Principal. Great news: Im standing to be a pro-UK, pro-EU MP for East Dunbartonshire (2167 SNP maj over LD, 61% No to Indy & 71% Remain) #libdemfightback #GE2017 Jo Swinson (@joswinson) April 19, 2017 In a statement, she added: This next Parliament will be pivotal for our country, both for Scotlands place in the UK, and the UKs relationship with the rest of Europe. Im standing in the general election because Im passionate about keeping Scotland in the UK, and averting the disaster of the Tories hard Brexit. Most people in East Dunbartonshire agree 61% voted to stay in the UK and 71% voted to remain in the EU. They deserve a pro-UK, pro-EU MP. East Dunbartonshire is the SNPs second most marginal seat, with a majority of just 2,167 over the Liberal Democrats. The result last time makes it absolutely clear: this is a fight between the SNP and the Liberal Democrats, and one I fully intend to win. I helped her get elected the first time round in 2005. She put so much work into it over the preceding two years. She worked part time and every morning shed go out delivering. Every afternoon and evening she spent canvassing. She was disciplined, organised and effective. And she turned out to be a brilliant MP and Equalities Minister. Her announcement comes after her old boss at the then Business, Innovation and Skills Department, Vince Cable, announced that he was standing for Twickenham: Also seeking a return is Julian Huppert in Cambridge: John Pugh has announced that he wont be fighting the General Election in his Southport constituency. From the BBC: John Pugh, MP for Southport, said he planned to retire next month, but did not bank on the prime ministers opportunism in calling an election. He said he did not want to work through the nightmare chaos of Brexit in the next parliament. The local constituency party will now choose a new candidate from an all-woman shortlist. Mr Pugh said in a statement: I was going to announce my retirement from Westminster politics in my own time this May after what will be successful local elections. He said he planned to continue in local politics, but felt it was the right time to step down and begin a new chapter in my life. An awful lot of people that I love depend on a world where LGBTI people have proper equality. I need my leader to be able to speak up for the young transgender person so that they can feel confident that someone is on her side and understands what she needs to be able to live a happy and fulfilling life, who gets that you you are unlikely to meet your potential if you are being bullied for being gay, and how important it is that you have a good support network. I need a leader who speaks out for LGBT rights locally, nationally and internationally. In Tim Farron, I have a leader I can absolutely trust on that score. Mischief-making Labour people, seeking to comfort themselves at the prospect of the oncoming slaughter for them, have been having a go at Tim on Twitter on this subject. Those of us who know that Tim is sound have been saying so. And youd think that the acting chair of LGBT+ Liberal Democrats, Jennie Rigg, would have something interesting to say on the subject. And she does. And, as you would expect from her, she does not mince her words. Dear media people, I see that, thanks to Cathy Newmans interview last night, the thorny theological topic of Sin has raised its ugly head once more. Let me get this right out in the beginning: I dont give a fig what Tim Farrons religious beliefs are. You know why? Because I am a Liberal. He could believe the sky is made from Puff the Magic Dragons bumfluff, and I wouldnt care one jot, whit or iota. What I do care about, and care deeply about, is How Tim Farron votes in parliament How he treats people LGBT+ people in particular in everyday life So lets do a little list of things which illustrate how Tim Farron views LGBT people: With one exception, Tim Farron voted fully in favour of same sex marriage. The one time he abstained? That was because he was trying to get an amendment passed on the Spousal Veto, a really nasty little clause which shafts trans people. Yep, thats right, even the time he abstained was because he was fighting for LGBT+ rights, not against them. He was the first party leader to issue a statement on the gay concentration camps in Chechenya. He condemned them in the strongest terms. And while the Greens have since joined in, none of the Tories, Labour, or UKIP have. He campaigned against section 28 from its inception, and thinks that refusing people service for their sexuality (like bakeries not baking cakes for gay marriages) is unchristian. He spoke out on the blood donation ban (Im still banned from giving blood, by the way because I have had sexual relations with bisexual men). He has campaigned tirelessly for the rights of trans women in prisons, and trans issues in general. When we had a trans rights motion before conference, he was there at 9.30am in the front row to vote for it. Not because of the cameras there were no cameras but because he is enthusiastic about LGBT+ rights, and not just G rights with a smattering of L like many politicians. When Lib Dem conference brought in an accreditation scheme that inadvertently discriminated against LGBT+ people, he listened to us at LGBT+LDs, and then he went to head office and batted for us till the scheme was changed, and eventually dropped. He has said to me personally that when poly marriage is made legal he wants to be the first on the invite list to our wedding. Look, I could go on for hours here, but it is as plain as the nose on my face that Tim Farron is no homophobe. You can read the whole article here. Update: See Tim asked the Is being gay a sin? question in the House of Commons here. That issue can now safely be put to bed. * Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings Politics in the UK seems to be in flux following the Brexit vote. With the Tories split between remain and leave and Labour too busy squabbling amongst themselves to be effective it ought to be a time for the Liberal Democrats. Yet, so far, although we have seen many individual members of both the Labour and Conservative parties switch to the Lib Dems, only a handful of councillors and no MPs or MEPs have done so. Why is this? I want to suggest that in the case of the Labour Party there are two factors; loyalty and respect We often accuse the Labour Party of being tribal. The reality is that loyalty is ingrained in the psyche of Labour Party supporters and even more so in MPs. The worst thing that you can do is be disloyal. Crossing the floor is unthinkable for almost all Labour MPs and we need to recognise that this is a real factor in preventing people from joining us. When you couple this with the attitude of Labour people to what they perceive as treachery for example the Lib Dems joining with the Tories in government you begin to see how difficult it is to get people to come across, even if they share our values to a much higher degree than the values of the Labour Party. Respect and being respected is also very important in the Labour Party. You respect the leader, even if you fundamentally disagree with him. If someone does something to lose that respect that is almost as bad as disloyalty. This explains why it is so easy for the Labour Party to diss everything that was done by the Lib Dems in government. We lost their respect and can therefore be treated as beneath contempt. If we are serious about encouraging people who share our views to join us, then we have to enable them to cross the twin obstacle of loyalty and respect. This means toning down our attacks on the Labour Party and talking up the things we have in common. Of course we need to attack the Labour Leadership for their spineless attitude to Brexit, but we do not need to broaden this to a more general attack on the majority of Labour members and MPs. At an individual level we need to offer both MPs and other members good positive reasons to change. As an aside, perhaps we ought to ask ourselves whether somewhat more loyalty would be an asset to our party as well as the self discipline not to attack each other in public. * Dr Michael Taylor has been a party member since 1964. He is currently active in the Calderdale Party. Not just Liberal Democrats but small l liberals in all political parties should welcome the opportunity the June General Election will provide for voters to make clear their priorities by voting for candidates committed to the fight for us to maintain a continued close relationship with Europe. In this increasingly uncertain world, there is nothing more important than that. Those candidates will not just be Liberal Democrats. If we want to maximise the strength of the opposition to Mays hard Brexit, the Lib Dems should have the courage to concentrate their limited resources on their candidates in seats that we can win this time ,which means making hard decisions about not squandering time,energy and money in seats that we cannot. If we want to make a reality of any version of a progressive alliance, the Liberal Democrats cannot expect Labour to stand aside in some seats (or decide to make only a token effort )unless we are also prepared to stand aside (or make only a token effort) in selected seats where a pro-European Labour candidate has a very much better chance. It will go against the grain but it must be done! And should there be a small number of liberal Conservatives brave enough to prefer to stand as independents rather than fight the election on a hard Brexit Tory manifesto, we should be prepared to stand aside and support them too! * Duncan Greenland first joined the then Liberal Party while at university over 50 years ago. He has served as Chair of the Federal Finance and Administration Committee and as a councillor in Camden. He is a member of the Lib Dem Business and Entrepreneurs Network. On five separate occasions since the Brexit referendum British PM Theresa May unequivocally refused to call a general election. The voters would have to wait until 2020 for another judgement vote on Brexit. Then she wanders off on a walking holiday through the hills and valleys of Wales and returns marching in the exact opposite direction. There will be, she announced, a British general election on June 8th , and the issue will be Brexit, Brexit and Brexit. Why the U-turn? And what impact will it have on the British political scene, British negotiations with the EU, the EU and British and European stability? Mrs May is a politician. She has good reason to believe that she will win a snap election, substantially increase her majority in parliament and extend the life of the Conservative government by at least another two years. The opinion polls put the Conservatives 20 points ahead of the opposition Labour Party. One of the reasons for their success is the no-nonsense firm leadership of Mrs May compared to the lacklustre efforts of Jeremy Corbyn (and that is being kind to Mr Corbyn). Mrs May has a net approval rating of plus 17 points. Corbyns standing has fallen to minus 38. At the same time, the threat from the far-right UK Independence Party (UKIP) is fast receding as Mrs May has out-Brexited the Brexit party of pre-referendum Britain. The biggest threat now comes from the centre-left Lib Dems. They have carved out a niche as the only pro-EU party. They are the only ones who provide a home for the 48 percent who voted to remain in the European Union. But the Lib Dems were decimated in the 2015 general election and now have only nine seats in the House of Commons. They have been taking on new members at a mind-boggling rate, winning local by-elections, performing well in parliamentary by elections and actually winning one with a substantial majority. But they are starting from a low base. However, Mrs May has only a 12-seat majority. The Lib Dems may be a long way from government, but they are only seven seats from bringing down the governmentpossibly in the middle of negotiations with Brussels. And the number of by-elections may have been on the verge of rapidly increasing. According to former UKIP leader Nigel Farage, Britains Crown Prosecution Service, was about to create up to 30 by-elections in seats won by Conservatives in 2015. The reason? Electoral fraud by Conservative Central Office. Under British law, the issue was shelved the moment Mrs May announced the election. Finally, there is the more noble reason given by Mrs May. She wants to strengthen her mandate in order to secure the best possible deal in the upcoming divorce negotiations with EU hagglers. Mrs May will almost certainly win with an increased majority. The bookies are giving her 10 to one odds. But the repercussions may not be entirely to her liking. For a start the problems of Northern Ireland and Scotland will increase. A recent election in Northern Ireland put Sinn Fein within spitting distance of an absolute majority. Emboldened by their success, Sinn Fein has started making noises about a referendum on unification with Eirea move which would almost certainly bring Protestant gunmen back onto the streets of Belfast. In both Northern Ireland and Scotland Brexit is the catalytical secondary issue which has rejuvenated interest in the firstbreaking with England. The election may also see the death of the Labour Party which has dominated the British left-wing for a century. Jeremy Corbyns far left policies are nearly 40 years out of date and his refusal to stand up to the government over Europeor almost any other issuehas destroyed his personal standing with the electorate. Labours general standing has been rocked by the membership repeatedly voting to return Corbyn to the Leadership, demonstrating that the grassroots as well as the Leader are out of touch with the electorate. The Liberals were the party of the Left in Victorian times and the Lib Dems are their direct descendants. The political pundits are predicting that they will emerge the big long-term winners from the June poll. They may even become the official Opposition Party. They are unlikely to have as many seats as Labour now, but their tough no-nonsense anti-Brexit stand will make them tougher to deal with. Mrs May claims she wants a parliament wholly behind her on Brexit. She wont get that with more Lib Dems in the House of Commons. Mrs May also wants a stronger domestic base for her talks with EU officials. At the moment it is weak. She is Prime Minister by virtue of a palace coup rather than a vote of the peoplea fact which several European leaders have been quick to point out. How will a direct electorate mandate affect her position vis a vis the EU? Will she become more likely to compromise or will she take a harder and tougher line? Both schools of thought are in the ascendant at the moment. Many think that she has been forced to take her current hard Brexit position because of a strong and vociferous anti-EU lobby from her own backbenchers. With an electoral mandate she canif she wishes side line them. Another school argues that Mrs May needs the mandate to strengthen her current tough negotiating position. A flexible Mrs May or even tougher one? Either course would have a direct impact on the future stability of Europe. * Tom Arms is foreign editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and the author of The Encyclopedia of the Cold War and the recently published America Made in Britain that has sold out in the US after six weeks but is still available in the UK. The first big photo-op of the election campaign saw Tim Farron return to the scene of our most audacious recent triumph Richmond Park, where Sarah Olney beat Zac Goldsmith. .@timfarron and @sarahjolney1 in Richmond Park today the @libdems are the real opposition to this conservative brexit government pic.twitter.com/gC2rJV0X9a Lib Dem Press Office (@LibDemPress) April 19, 2017 Heres a reminder of her stunning victory speech just 4.5 months ago. These are the values on which Liberal Democrats will fight this election and seek to change the countrys course: .@timfarron This is a chance to send a message to change the direction of this country, like people in Richmond chose to, @timfarron says pic.twitter.com/c953SIL0VJ Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) April 19, 2017 * Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page. The union minister has hailed the former prime minister for giving India a new direction. Poop may hold the secret to preserving youth at least for some fish. In a recent study, scientists discovered that older fish lived longer when they fed on microbes from younger fish's feces. Their findings suggest that the microbiome communities of single-celled organisms such as bacteria, fungi and viruses plays a role in the aging process. In their study, the scientists examined turquoise killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri), a vertebrate with one of the shortest life spans on Earth. Killifish reach sexual maturity at 3 weeks old, and die after only a few months of life. As these fish age, their gut bacteria become less diverse, the researchers noted. To test whether increasing microbiome diversity might affect the aging process, the scientists introduced the gut bacteria of younger fish to the older fish. [Body Bugs: 5 Surprising Facts About Your Microbiome] Middle-age, 9.5-week-old killifish were presented with the gut contents of 6-week-old killifish, lead author Dario Valenzano, a geneticist at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Germany, told Nature (opens in new tab). Though killifish don't eat feces, the older fish ingested microbes when they pecked at the fecal material to see if it was food, Valenzano said. "Recolonizing the gut of middle-age individuals with bacteria from young donors resulted in life span extension and delayed behavioral decline," the researchers wrote in the study. "This intervention prevented the decrease in microbial diversity associated with host aging and maintained a young-like gut bacterial community." The older fish that consumed the microbes from the younger fish had a different bacterial makeup after doing so, according to the researchers. And at 16 weeks old, these "senior" fish that received younger microbes still had gut microbiomes similar to those of 6-week-old killifish, the researchers said. Having a younger microbiome also helped the older fish live longer: The fish that consumed the microbes from younger fish lived 41 percent longer, on average, compared with the fish that did not receive the young microbes, according to the researchers. The older fish were also more active, just like younger fish, the researchers found. "Our findings demonstrate that the natural microbial gut community of young individuals can causally induce long-lasting beneficial systemic effects that lead to life span extension in a vertebrate model," the researchers concluded in the study. Though the findings showed the impact of younger microbes, it's unclear how, exactly, these microbes influence the fish's life span, Valenzano told Nature. The researchers are continuing their experiments, now working with fruit flies, to better understand how the microbiome is connected to aging. Details of the study were published online April 6 on bioRxiv, a preprint website for biology research that has not yet been peer-reviewed. Original article on Live Science. The asteroid 2014 JO25 will fly safely past Earth April 19, coming within 1.1 million miles (1.8 million km) of the planet about 4.6 times the distance between the Earth and the moon. This map shows the asteroid's locations as it passes through the sky April 19 to April 22 it will appear bright in the sky for small telescopes for a few days after closest approach. Its position will vary from location to location. A huge, shiny, peanut-shaped asteroid will safely swing by Earth tomorrow morning (April 19), coming within a distance of 1.1 million miles (1.8 million kilometers) of the planet about 4.6 times the distance from Earth to the moon. The bright asteroid 2014 JO25 is coming toward Earth from the sun's direction and should be visible in the sky in small telescopes for a few days afterward as it fades from view. It will be at its closest point to Earth at 8:24 a.m. EDT (1224 GMT). You can see a video animation of the asteroid's orbit here. Asteroid 2014 JO25 was first spotted in May 2014 by astronomers at the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona, and measurements from NASA's NEOWISE mission suggested it was about 2,000 feet (650 meters) across, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Radar observations from the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico suggest it could be as big as 4,270 feet (1.3 km) at its widest point. The asteroid's surface reflects about twice as much light as the moon. Its approach marks the closest an object this large has come to Earth since the gigantic asteroid 4179 Toutatis tumbled by in 2004, within 4 times the distance from the Earth to the moon. The Aricebo Observatory caught this radio image of the asteroid 2014 JO25 on April 17, 2017, as the large, peanut-shaped asteroid neared its closet approach to Earth. (Image credit: Aricebo Observatory/NASA/NSF) Astronomers around the world will study asteroid 2014 JO25 during and after its approach, including skywatchers at Arecibo and NASA's Goldstone Solar System Radar in California, JPL officials said in the statement making observations that can potentially reveal features just a few meters across. "Using radar, we can illuminate a near-Earth asteroid and directly measure its features,"astronomer Edgard Rivera-Valentin, a planetary scientist with the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) at the Arecibo Observatory, said in a separate statement. That's how scientists pinned down the asteroid's peanut shape, he added. The next close approach of a known giant asteroid will happen in 2027, when the half-mile-wide (800 m) asteroid 1999 AN10 passes by at about the distance from the Earth to the moon. You can watch asteroid 2014 JO25's journey live on the Slooh online observatory's website starting at 7 p.m. EDT (2300 GMT) April 19. You can also seek it out in the sky using the celestial map above and a small telescope (although its position will vary, depending on your location). While you're looking, keep an eye out for the comet PanSTARRS (C/2015 ER61), which will be visible in the dawn sky to observers with binoculars or a small telescope as it makes its closest approach of 109 million miles (175 million km). Editor's note: If you capture a photo of asteroid 2014 JO25 through a telescope and would like to share it with Space.com, please send images and comments in to: spacephotos@space.com. Email Sarah Lewin at slewin@space.com or follow her @SarahExplains. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. Their names were "The Ghost" and "The Darkness," and 119 years ago, these two massive, maneless, man-eating lions hunted railway workers in the Tsavo region of Kenya. During a nine-month period in 1898, the lions killed at least 35 people and as many as 135, according to different accounts. And the question of why the lions developed a taste for human flesh remained a subject of much speculation. Also known as the Tsavo lions, the pair of beasts ruled the night until they were shot and killed in December 1898 by railway engineer Col. John Henry Patterson. In the decades that followed, audiences were captivated by the story of the ferocious lions, first told in newspaper articles and books (one account was written by Patterson himself in 1907: "The Man-Eaters of Tsavo"), and later in movies. In the past, it had been suggested that the lions' desperate hunger drove them to eat people. However, a recent analysis of the remains of the two man-eaters, a part of the collection at The Field Museum in Chicago, offers new insight into what led the Tsavo lions to kill and eat people. The findings, described in a new study, suggest a different explanation: that tooth and jaw damage which would have made it excruciating to hunt their usual large herbivore prey was to blame. [Photos: The Biggest Lions on Earth ] For most lions, humans are typically far from their first choice of prey. The big cats usually feed on large herbivores, such as zebras, wildebeest and antelope. And rather than viewing people as potential meals, lions tend to go out of their way to avoid humans entirely, study co-author Bruce Patterson, curator of mammals at The Field Museum, told Live Science. But something else convinced the Tsavo lions that humans were fair game, Patterson said. To unravel the century-old mystery, the study authors examined evidence of the lions' behavior preserved in their teeth. Microscopic wear patterns can tell scientists about an animal's eating habits particularly during the last weeks of life and the Tsavo lions' teeth didn't show signs of the wear and tear associated with crunching big, heavy bones, the scientists wrote in the study. The skull of one of the Tsavo man-eaters shows evidence of dental disease. (Image credit: Bruce Patterson and JP Brown, The Field Museum) Hypotheses proposed in the past suggested that the lions developed a taste for people through scavenging, perhaps because their usual prey had died off from drought or disease. But if the lions were hunting humans out of desperation, the starving cats would have certainly cracked human bones to get the last bit of nutrition from their grisly meals, Patterson said. And wear patterns on the teeth showed that they left the bones alone, so the Tsavo lions probably weren't motivated by a lack of more suitable prey, he added. A more likely explanation is that the ominously named The Ghost and The Darkness began hunting humans because infirmities in their mouths hindered their ability to catch bigger and stronger animals, the study authors wrote. Down in the mouth Previous findings, first presented to the American Society of Mammalogists in 2000, according to New Scientist (opens in new tab), documented that one of the Tsavo lions was missing three lower incisors, and had a broken canine and a sizable abscess in the tissues surrounding another tooth's root. The second lion also had damage in its mouth, with a fractured upper tooth showing exposed pulp. [The 10 Deadliest Animals on Earth] For the first lion in particular, pressure on the abscess would have caused unbearable pain, providing more than enough motivation for the animal to skip large, powerful prey and go after punier people, Patterson said. In fact, chemical analysis conducted in another, earlier study, published in 2009 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed that the lion with the abscess consumed more human prey than its partner. Moreover, after the first lion was shot and killed in 1898 more than two weeks before the second lion was gunned down the attacks on people ceased, Patterson noted. The man-eating Tsavo lions are currently on display at The Field Museum in Chicago. (Image credit: The Field Museum) Nearly 120 years after the man-eaters' lives abruptly ended, fascination with their gruesome habits persists. But had it not been for their preserved remains which John Patterson sold to FMNH as trophy rugs in 1924 today's explanations for their habits would be no more than speculation, Bruce Patterson told Live Science. "There would be no way to resolve these questions if it weren't for specimens," he said. "After almost 120 years, we can tell not only what these lions were eating, but we can resolve differences between these lions by interrogating their skins and skulls. "There's a lot of science you can build on that, all derived from specimens," Patterson added. "I have 230,000 other specimens in the museum collection, and they all have stories to tell." The findings were published online today (April 19) in the journal Scientific Reports. Original article on Live Science. Several mummies and more than 1,000 figurines have been discovered at an ancient cemetery located at Luxor in Egypt, archaeologists reported. A team of archaeologists with the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities uncovered the funerary complex during the ministry's ongoing excavations at the site. The funerary complex contains multiple tombs that were originally built for a man named Userhat, who was a judge in Luxor sometime during what modern-day archaeologists call Egypt's New Kingdom (15501070 B.C.) period, the ministry said in a statement. [See Photos of the Cemetery and Mummies at Luxor] During the New Kingdom period, Egypt was unified, and it often controlled a large amount of territory in the Middle East and modern-day Sudan. After the New Kingdom ended, the complex was re-opened and more mummies and burials were put into the structure, the ministry said. Researchers discovered a labyrinth of tunnels and chambers containing the remains of mummies and assorted human remains, as shown in photos released by the ministry. In some cases, the colors on the mummy coffins are well preserved, despite the passage of millennia. The tomb complex is part of a larger ancient cemetery at Luxor that today is often called Dra' Abu el-Naga. (Image credit: Photo by Roland Unger, CC 1.0 Generic) Additionally, a "collection of ushabti figurines carved in faience, terracotta and wood was also unearthed," in the tomb complex, the ministry said in the statement. Ushabti figurines were frequently buried with the dead in ancient Egypt, and Egyptologists generally believe that ushabtis were buried with the dead so that the figurines could work for the deceased in the afterlife. "We found a large number of ushabti, more than 1,000 of them," Egypt Antiquities Minister Khaled el-Enany told the Agence France-Presse. Archaeologists also discovered the remains of clay pots in the cemetery. The ministry's team is led by Mostafa Waziri, the head of the ministry's Luxor department. Excavations are underway that the ministry said will lead to the entire complex being uncovered. The complex is part of a larger ancient cemetery that today is often called Dra' Abu el-Naga. Original article on Live Science. Tiny Looms (Image credit: Tao Xie; Copyright Antiquity Publications Ltd.) Archaeologists unearthed four tiny looms attended by 15 carved wooden figurines in the grave of a Chinese woman dating to the second century B.C. The looms the largest about the size of a child's toy piano are the first evidence in the world of looms that can weave patterns. "This discovery points to an ancient Chinese origin for a technology that revolutionized silk production throughout the rest of Asia and Europe," said the study's lead researcher, Feng Zhao, the director of the China National Silk Museum in Hangzhou, China, and a professor at Donghua University in Shanghai.[Read the Full Story on the Tiny Looms] Lucky find (Image credit: Google Maps) Archaeologists found the tomb while surveying an area tagged for subway construction in Chengdu, a city in China's southwestern Sichuan province, in 2013. The tomb (Image credit: Drawing by Yingchong Xia; Copyright Antiquity Publications Ltd.) The tomb itself is spacious about 24 feet long, 16 feet wide and 9 feet high (7 by 2.5 by 3 meters). It contains one large room with four smaller compartments beneath it. The large room on top held the remains of a woman who was about 50 years old when she died. Her name was Wan Dinu, according to a jade seal outside the coffin. This drawing is a reconstruction of the tomb chamber showing the different levels. Loom Room (Image credit: Tao Xie; Copyright Antiquity Publications Ltd.) This photo shows the northernmost compartment under the large room. It holds the four looms and 15 figurines (four male weavers and nine female weaving assistants). Wooden weavers (Image credit: Tao Xie; Copyright Antiquity Publications Ltd.) The largest loom of the four looms (left) is 33 inches long, 10 inches wide and 20 inches high (85 by 26 by 50 centimeters). The wooden figures are about 10 inches tall (25 centimeters) and were carved "in the act of warping, weft winding and rewinding," Zhao said. Largest loom (Image credit: Drawing by Bo Long; Copyright Antiquity Publications Ltd.) This schematic diagram shows a reconstruction of the largest of the four looms. Lifelike reconstruction (Image credit: Drawing by Bo Long and Yingchong Xia; Copyright Antiquity Publications Ltd.) Another drawing of the largest of the four looms. Except for cinnabar-colored red silk thread and a brown thread, there weren't any textiles found on the tiny looms. However, this re-creation shows what the loom would have looked like with fabric. Loom movement (Image credit: Drawing by Feng Zhao and Bo Long; Copyright Antiquity Publications Ltd.) This drawing shows how the largest loom's beams, shafts and treadles would have moved. The red lines show the moving warp and shaft components of the loom, the researchers said. Patterns of complexity (Image credit: Drawing by Jialiang Lu; Copyright Antiquity Publications Ltd.) Pattern looms, like the ones discovered in the tomb, can make complex patterns. Here is silk with geometric patterns (top) from the archaeological site of Mawangdui in China's Hunan province. Below is a drawing of the corresponding pattern. [Read the Full Story on the Tiny Looms] The largest loom of the four looms (left) is 33 inches long, 10 inches wide and 20 inches high (85 by 26 by 50 centimeters). This story was updated April 20 at 10:35 p.m. EDT. Tiny wooden figurines have stood upright "weaving" at appropriately sized looms for more than 2,100 years in a Chinese tomb containing the remains of a middle-age woman, a new study finds. The discovery of the miniature scene astonished archaeologists, who were surveying an area slated for subway construction in Chengdu, a city in China's southwestern Sichuan province, in 2013. The looms may be small the largest is about the size of a child's toy piano but they're the earliest evidence on record of looms that could be used to weave patterns, the researchers said. "We are very sure that the loom models from Chengdu are the earliest pattern looms around the world," said the study's lead researcher, Feng Zhao, the director of the China National Silk Museum in Hangzhou, China, and a professor at Donghua University in Shanghai. [See Images of the Model-Size Pattern Looms] It's unclear when and where the first looms were developed, but archaeologists have found ancient looms parts at a variety of sites. For instance, in China's eastern Zhejiang province archaeologists found an approximately 8,000-year-old loom from the Kuahuqiao archaeological site, and a roughly 7,000-year-old loom found at the Hemudu site, Zhao said. Other looms include pieces of Egyptian creations from about 4,000 and 3,400 years ago, respectively, and Greek looms illustrated on vases dating to about 2,400 years ago, the researchers said. However, unlike their predecessors, pattern looms are used to weave a "complex kind of textile," Zhao told Live Science in an email. Weavers used this type of loom to create patterns by stringing up the weft (the crosswise yarn on the loom) and weaving the warp (the longitudinal yarn that is passed over and under the weft) through it, he said. Except for cinnabar-colored red silk thread and a brown thread, there weren't any textiles found on the tiny looms. However, this re-creation shows what the loom would have looked like with fabric. (Image credit: Drawing by Bo Long and Yingchong Xia; Copyright Antiquity Publications Ltd.) Pattern looms likely inspired people to make the draw loom a device that can weave even more complex patterns, the researchers said. "[The draw loom] was then introduced to the West Persia, India and Europe indicating that the Chinese silk pattern loom made a significant contribution to the subsequent development of world textile culture and weaving technology," Zhao said. Tiny weavers The tomb chamber itself is spacious about 24 feet long, 16 feet wide and 9 feet high (7 by 2.5 by 3 meters) and contains one large room with four smaller compartments beneath it, the researchers said. The large room held the remains of an approximately 50-year-old woman whose name was Wan Dinu, according to a jade seal outside the coffin. (The seal was broken, suggesting that grave robbers had pilfered the grave's contents shortly after the burial, the researchers said.) One of the small compartments under the grave held the four model looms, each about one-sixth the size of a regular loom, the researchers said. Next to the looms were devices for warping, rewinding and weft winding, along with 15 painted wooden figurines (four male weavers and nine female weaving assistants), each with a name written on them, suggesting that they represented real-life weavers, the researchers wrote in the study. The 10-inch-tall (25 centimeters) weavers were carved "in the act of warping, weft winding and rewinding," Zhao said. [In Photos: 1,500-Year-Old Tomb of a Chinese Woman Named Farong] This drawing shows the tomb, which consists of one large room with four smaller compartments beneath it. (Image credit: Drawing by Yingchong Xia; Copyright Antiquity Publications Ltd.) By studying the style of the tomb and a Western Han Dynasty bronze coin found within the tomb, the researchers dated the chamber to the reigns of Emperors Jingdi (157 to 141 B.C.) and Wudi (141 to 88 B.C.), the researchers said. The model looms are "the missing technological link responsible for the renowned Han Dynasty Shu jin silks, which are frequently found along the Silk Road, and were traded across Eurasia," the researchers wrote in the study, which was published in the April issue of the journal Antiquity. Editor's Note: This story was updated to say that it is unclear when and where the first looms were developed. Original article on Live Science. Sandy Maliki, a pure desert dingo and winner of the World's Most Interesting Genome competition, will have her DNA decoded. Meet Sandy the dingo, owner of the world's most interesting genome. The wild-born, pure Australian desert dingo recently took first place in the World's Most Interesting Genome competition, and will have her DNA decoded thanks to the Pacific Biosciences SMRT Grant Program. The grant provides genome sequencing for "a particularly fascinating plant or animal." In a public poll, Sandy secured 41 percent of the votes to beat out a pit viper, a solar-powered sea slug, an explosive beetle and a pink pigeon for the top prize. Sandy's DNA could offer researchers insight into the process of domestication, according to project leader Bill Ballard, an evolutionary biologist at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). [10 Things You Didn't Know About Dogs] "Sandy is truly a gift to science. As a rare, wild-born pure dingo, she provides a unique case study," Ballard, who submitted the bid to sequence Sandy's DNA, said in a statement. "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 behavior that underlie the transition from wild animals to perfect pets." Dingoes were not domesticated by indigenous peoples after being introduced to Australia about 5,000 years ago, according to the UNSW researchers. However, interbreeding with wild and domestic dogs has made pure wild dingoes a rare find. At 3 weeks old, Sandy, her sister and her brother were discovered in poor health in the Australian desert, and their parents could not be found. The wild pups were taken in by local animal lovers Barry and Lyn Eggleton, who have hand-reared the dingoes since their rescue in 2014. The sequencing of Sandy's pure-dingo DNA will test of Charles Darwin's 1868 theory on the process of domestication. Darwin theorized that domestication could occur via unconscious selection (a result of nonintentional human influence) and artificial selection (breeding for specific traits). "This project will reveal the DNA changes between wolves and dingoes (unconscious selection) and dingoes and dogs (artificial selection)," Ballard said in the statement. Beyond its evolutionary value, sequencing Sandy's genome will give researchers a better understanding of dingo genetics, Ballard said. This could aid conservation efforts to protect the wild canines and improve tests for their genetic purity, he added. Original article on Live Science. A gunman who apparently was driven by hatred toward white people went on a frenzied shooting rampage in downtown Fresno on Tuesday, killing three people and wounding another in less than 90 seconds, and then yelled Allahu akbar when police officers captured him, investigators said. The suspect, Kori Ali Muhammad, 39, was already being sought for the killing of a security guard at a motel last week, police said. Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said officers were investigating the deaths of Tuesdays victims, all white men, as a hate crime and ruled out terrorism as a motive despite the suspects use of a phrase often invoked to the chagrin of many Muslims by terrorists. Muhammad, who is black, had an extensive social media footprint on Facebook and Twitter, where he referred to white devils, threatened violence and advocated for black liberation. This is not a terrorist crime, Dyer told reporters. This is solely based on race. In addition to the three dead and one wounded, Muhammad also allegedly fired at another white man and missed and police said he spared two Hispanic women he had locked in his crosshairs. Dyer said Muhammad traveled 1 blocks and fired 16 times in the minute and a half before an officer arrived and the suspect dived to the ground and surrendered and confessed. I did it, Dyer said Muhammad told officers. I shot them ... you guys are looking for me. By Tuesday evening, police had still not recovered the weapon used in the slayings, believed to be a .357-caliber revolver, and Dyer said someone may have snatched it off the street. Agents from the FBI are assisting in the investigation. Dyer said Muhammad was homeless, but a network of shelters in Fresno said they had no record of him. The shots erupted around 10:45 a.m., when a gunman walked up to a Pacific Gas and Electric Co. truck and fired several shots at a 34-year-old utility employee, killing him, authorities said. The gunman then walked to the citys police headquarters and shot at another man missing his mark before walking to nearby Fulton Street and shooting a 37-year-old man to death, police said. Investigators said the gunman reloaded his weapon at a bus stop, then walked to the parking lot of a Catholic Charities office and shot a 58-year-old man to death. Police began speeding to the scene within a minute of hearing the first blast on a ShotSpotter gunshot detection unit nearby, Dyer said. Cruisers skidded to a stop near the suspect moments after the final round was fired, and as Muhammad saw officers come toward him he dropped to the ground and surrendered. Shortly afterward, handcuffed in the back of a squad car, is when he yelled, Allahu akbar, Dyer said. Dyer said Muhammad told investigators he used the term because he was pledging his allegiance to God for protection. Police had been searching for Muhammad since Thursday in connection with a fatal shooting at a Motel 6 in Fresno. Motel managers asked Muhammad to leave a womans room, and in an ensuing argument he killed an unarmed security guard and fled, investigators said. Dyer said Muhammad may have been spurred to the killing spree by seeing a bulletin online seeking his arrest in the motel slaying. Muhammads Facebook page featured long strings of posts proclaiming support for black power and, at times, hostility toward white people. One post read, Death to white supremacy and their allies, and in one song he posted on Twitter he vowed to kill a racist devil dead ... put a bullet in their head. He listed his occupation as CEO M$O Mastermind $ Organized and Warrior at RBG Nation. Dyer said Muhammad apparently did not know his victims. The names of the dead have not been released. Catholic Charities spokeswoman Teresa Dominguez said the last two people killed were clients of the nonprofit, which gives food and other aid to the disadvantaged. Dominguez said Muhammad didnt appear to have any connection to the center. Muhammad has a lengthy criminal history and documented mental health problems, federal court records show. He was arrested in December 2004 in Fresno and charged with possessing three guns a semiautomatic pistol and two high-caliber rifles and selling crack cocaine. After pleading guilty in July 2006 to being a felon in possession of a firearm and crack with intent to distribute, Muhammad was sentenced to more than nine years in prison. He was released with a reduced sentence and completed probation last year. Reza Nekumanesh, director of the Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno, said Muhammad had nothing to do with the center and that his alleged use of Allahu akbar was mortifying. The term invokes an ethic of peace, he said, and when it is used by people who enact terrible acts of violence or terror, the only thing it does is crush us, break our hearts. Kevin Fagan and Michael Bodley are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: kfagan@sfchronicle.com, mbodley@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @KevinChron, @Michael_Bodley This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate River Oaks Theatre 2009 W. Gray, landmarktheatres.com MORTAL KOMBAT: Three unknowing martial artists are summoned to a mysterious island to compete in a tournament whose outcome will decide the fate of the world. Midnight Friday THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE: A newly engaged couple have a breakdown in an isolated area and must pay a call to a bizarre residence. Midnight Saturday Central Green Park 23501 Cinco Ranch, Katy; drafthouse.com HOP: the Easter Bunny's teenage son, heads to Hollywood, determined to become a drummer in a rock 'n' roll band. Dusk Friday Rice Cinema 6100 Main, film.rice.edu CREPUSCULO: A young girl, who works as a clown in a traveling circus, meets Abelito, a child with a skin illness that doesn't allow him to be exposed to sunlight. 7 p.m. Friday EL TECHO: Three young friends from Havana decide to set up their own business. The cost of this dream, will lead to personal maturity, not without some happiness. 7:40 p.m. Friday VENECIA: Three working-class women paint the town red and dream of better lives over one long, emotionally naked night on the outskirts of Havana. 8:40 p.m. Friday SAFE: Abeer, a Syrian aid worker and single mother of four, is forced to separate her family in order to secure a new future for them. 3:30 p.m. Saturday Houston Museum of Natural Science 5555 Hermann Park Drive; hmns.org WILD AFRICA 3-D: A contrast of stunning deserts beside wild oceans and coral reefs. Multiple screenings daily DREAM BIG 3-D: Learn how today's engineers are shaping the world of tomorrow. Multiple screenings daily EXTREME WEATHER: Discover the complex forces influencing our weather. Multiple screenings daily Museum of Fine Arts, Houston 1001 Bissonnet; mfah.org WINDOW HORSES: A young Canadian poet with Chinese and Persian parents travels to Iran to perform at a poetry festival. 7 p.m. Friday STRAWBERRY AND CHOCOLATE: A macho but naive and inexperienced youth, who believes passionately in Communism and the Cuban Revolution, finds his values undergoing an unexpected transformation after being befriended by a cultured young gay man who is an ardent critic of the Castro regime. 7 p.m. Saturday LUCIA: Traces episodes in the lives of three Cuban women, each named Lucia, from three different historical periods. 5 p.m. Sunday This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Location: 114 Brooklyn Ave., 210-236-7828. Facebook: Bexar Pub Hours: 3 p.m.-2 a.m. daily, with plans for brunch in the works. On the menu: Burgers, $8-$13; fried chicken, starting at $6 for two pieces, fries and a biscuit; fries, $4-$8; ceviche, poke and shrimp cocktail, $6-$8; steamed buns and sandwiches, $9; tacos, $6-$8. Plus beer, wine and cocktails. Fast facts: Bexar Pubs kitchen is finally up and running with a full menu to go with its already humming bar business at the former site of Toro Taco Bar. The pubs been waiting since it opened in February to get a gas line and permits to open its kitchen. Which is no big deal, except that Bexar Pub is the spiritual resurrection of Folc, the home of rising San Antonio chef Luis Colon and more to the point, the home of the Folc Burger that Texas Monthly called the best in the state. Folcs been out of commission since a fire in November, and it wont reopen at its former spot in Olmos Park. But co-owners Colon and Daniel Eisenhauer have resurrected the burger, tuna poke, fried chicken and biscuits that reinforced Folcs reputation and added a few twists loaded fries, Spam steamed buns, a lamb burger to give Bexar Pub a reputation of its own. Impressions: With its corrugated facade, walkup outdoor bar and picnic tables on a gravel courtyard, Bexar Pub looks like a beachcombers dive. But the kitchens all business, right down to Colon himself holding down the grill, at least on the night of this report. That grill churned out a Folc Burger with a hulking, juicy, hand-formed brisket patty that threatened to swamp its mere mortal bun. Then the threat became a reality with two fat sections of pork belly radiating an Asian spice braise, all of it cloaked in melted cheese and the broken yolk of an overeasy egg. It was better by a full degree than the last version of the Folc Burger I had at Folc itself just weeks before the fire. Served with hot wedge fries at $12, its among the citys best burger values, nevermind that it comes in a paper boat at a dive bar. The good news about tuna poke at a dive bar with Folcs pedigree is that the raw fish itself is clean and fresh and covered with sesame seeds for texture and flavor. The bad news is that its not just salted but assaulted by soy sauce. For barstool novelty food, go for hot wedge fries loaded with hamburger, guacamole, cheese and pico de gallo, or better yet, Spam steamed buns with pickled onions, radish, cilantro and a generous coat of hoisin over hard-seared pork adventure meat. (Call it mystery meat if you want; I prefer adventure meat.) But skip the cocktail novelty of the frozen pineapple-rum Blue Kawhiian or the grape Kool-Aid antics of the gin-and-pop Silver Fox. Really, its hard to take any cocktail in a plastic cup seriously. But youll feel more grown-up with the Vampiros swirl of tequila, bloody mary mix, grapefruit soda and lime juice. Theres something about the bone-in fried chicken here, a spice that radiates citrus and sweetness. Coriander seemed to be the consensus at the bar. But no matter the spice, the rippled, shaggy texture of the crust and the meats juicy brine means this is more than toss-off fried bar food. So is the big golden brown square of a biscuit that comes with it. Its a first-rate bartop companion for a dry, quenching Mexican lager called Dale Shine from the new Weathered Souls Brewing Co. in San Antonio. If this is the kind of work Bexar Pub can do on its first week with a full menu, expect much more than just food to soak up the night. msutter@express-news.net Twitter: @fedmanwalking This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Jake Baine doesn't know where he'll be in five months or tomorrow but he did just land what has been called the "best job in the world." On Saturday the 19-year-old San Antonian will jet off to London, England to start his job galavanting across Europe, making videos and getting paid to do it. Busabout, a travel company, went on a nationwide search to find two people to take on the job of posting travel adventures on social media and picked out Baine among more than 5,500 applicants. RELATED: Local teen's viral video showcase of S.A. has people falling in love with the city Baine, who graduated from Johnson High School in 2016, submitted a dizzying video of downtown San Antonio in February and it quickly went viral the images of the city fold into one another and make the viewer feel as though they're experiencing all the Alamo City has to offer in one spin. On April 11, Baine video-chatted with the company who quickly told him: "You got the job!" "It was disbelief and shock, because I was not expecting it," Baine told mySA.com. "It was happy laughter, like something that makes you so happy you don't know what to say." CELEB TRAVEL: Tim Duncan spotted chilling in Chile with his brother & ex-Spur Fabricio Oberto While on the phone with mySA.com, Baine was unpacking a box full of new video equipment, including new lenses and an underwater case for his Sony camera, among other items, for his trip. He's moved out of his San Antonio apartment, packed his belongings into a storage unit and is preparing to leave Saturday for the five month journey where he'll be joined by the other winner, Leanne, a 22-year-old from Australia. Once in London, Baine and his co-host, along with the Busabout team, will brainstorm ideas for videos. Right now, Baine said they're looking at doing "vlog-style" videos, or video blogs. Leanne and Baine will both be in front of and behind the camera during the trip. From London, the team will head to Paris, Baine said, adding he is most looking-forward to visiting Santorini. MOVE ABROAD: New Zealand wants to fly you out for a job interview for free "What I really wanted to do before I died was go to Santorini," he said. Those following Baine's 5-month journey can expect to see his "normal cinematic stuff," like in his submission video, and some new things. "I want to try and push myself and create something no one's seen before," he said. On what's next for the 19-year-old once arriving back in San Antonio, Baine said he wasn't thinking about it. Not yet. "I'm just going to live today and not think about tomorrow," he said. "Enjoy every day." See where his job is about to take him in the slideshow above kbradshaw@express-news.net Twitter: @kbrad5 A total of 28 United ISD high school students earned the coveted 2016-17 award from the National Hispanic Recognition Program of the College Board. The program identifies academically outstanding Hispanic/Latino high school students. To be eligible for this award, students must meet the following requirements: Take the PSAT/NMSQT in October of their junior year in high school Be of at least one-quarter Hispanic/Latino descent Achieve the minimum required PSAT/NMSQT selection index score Earn a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.5 or higher by the middle of their junior year The college board does not accept modifications to these requirements. Students who take the PSAT/NMSQT in ninth or tenth grade must take it again in 11th grade to be eligible. On behalf of our board of trustees, I would like to congratulate these exceptional high school students for going above and beyond their academic pursuits, said United ISD Superintendent Roberto J. Santos. May they continue to be educational role models for their peers and we wish them continued success in the future. The following students received the National Hispanic Recognition Program award. Alexander High School: United High School: United South High School: The College Boards National Hispanic Recognition Program identifies academically outstanding Hispanic/Latino high school students. Each year, the National Hispanic Recognition Program honors about 5,000 of the highest-scoring students from over 250,000 Hispanic/Latino juniors who take the PSAT/NMSQT. These students are from the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Mariana Islands, and the Marshall Islands, as well as U.S. citizens attending schools aboard. Approximately 200 of the top-scoring PAA students from Puerto Rico are also included. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Albany City crews are getting ready to improve several sidewalks throughout Albany neighborhoods, which will include the removal of some trees. Work will begin the week of April 24 at Ten Broeck Street and Cardinal Avenue, where some trees will be removed to make way for sidewalk improvements and bring them into American Disabilities Act compliance, Albany mayor's Chief of Staff Brian Shea said Tuesday. The project is part of the city's annual paving contracts totaling about $6.5 million in work, which include repaving streets and removing trees and replacing them with smaller saplings. The roots of larger, more mature trees sometimes buckle sidewalks, calling for replacement; while during repairs, tree roots can be damaged so they're removed before construction. Other streets that will have portions improved upon throughout the spring and summer months include: South Pine, Lenox and Myrtle, Clinton, Wilkins avenues and Bradford, Parkwood, Bertha, Betwood, Corlear, Dove, Lark and South Marshall streets. Work will be completed by outside contractors, with Albany crews doing in-house paving, Shea said. In the Ten Broeck Triangle, residents were concerned that the removal of 13 mature trees shading the townhouses lining Ten Broeck Street would make the community less desirable. Many communities often are criticized when tree removal is planned to make way for sidewalks and saplings. Initially, the city had identified 20 trees along the residential street, but later reduced it to 13, Shea said. "They have to remove trees due to tripping hazards, or if the rooting structure is going to be damaged during the course of excavation," he said Tuesday. While there are several trees that must be removed along Ten Broeck, as well as other neighborhoods that are poised for sidewalk improvements, they'll be replaced with ones that are better suited for the area, Shea said. "It should mitigate the problem moving forward," he said. Mimi O'Neill, president of the Ten Broeck Triangle Preservation League, said in a neighborhood meeting update that there was a lot of concern and pushback from residents when it came to removing the trees. "It takes years and years for a tree to mature. Some residents will have to live with small, new trees for many years," she said. "All of this creates the lack of shade in front of buildings and impacts the ambiance of having beautiful old trees lining the street." afries@timesunion.com 518-454-5353 @mandy_fries A woman who was hit by a vehicle Monday has died, according to Laredo police. Gloria Castillo, 75, was crossing the street in the 200 block of Convent Avenue when a 2016 GMC Terrain struck her. Castillo was airlifted to a San Antonio hospital for further care. She was pronounced dead Tuesday, according to police. The University Career Services department at the University of Houston recently opened up a career closet that has allowed students to dress for success. Monica Thompson, the Executive Director of University Career Services, used to work at the University of Texas at Austin where there was a lot of career related support for students. When she came to Houston, she noticed that there was a need for business suits to be available to students. "Along with the professional development and training, and job search strategies, we saw an extra need. A part of that was dress. We would host career events like fairs and mixers, and I noticed that attendance was low. I also noticed the appearance of the students. I like to try to analyze and figure out what was really going on, because we really work hard to bring these companies here," Thompson said. Even though there were career fairs in place, students still kept coming to the University Career Services department asking for help finding a job. Thompson found that most said they were aware of the fair, but they weren't able to attend because they did not have anything appropriate to wear. To combat the less-than-ideal appearances the students were having at career fairs in the past, the department decided to enforce a dress code policy for the career fairs. "As we tried to enforce the dress code policy, I felt like it wouldn't be as successful if we didn't have the resources for the students. One of the resources that we use now is Dress for Success Houston, which is an organization that a lot of universities partner with. They help students get professional attire and they walk away with an outfit they get to keep," Thompson said. But, Thompson noted, for the student who is unable to leave campus, it is not as convenient. Thompson was able to purchase in bulk a wide range of men and women's suits from JCPenney to get the career closet started. Students who want to pick out a suit from the career closet, located at Student Service Center 1, have to make an appointment through the Cougar Pathway appointment scheduler at www.uh.edu/cougarpathway. "We have some ties, and we even have some thank you cards that they can give to the recruiters. It is a nice touch. There is also a handout of what not to wear to interviews," Thompson said. The suit rental is $10 for a period of three days, which includes dry cleaning fees. The career closet launched in tandem with a career fair, and Thompson noted that about 30 students came to pick out suits. "It has turned out to be a great service. When it came to the career fair, I would say that the attire that students were wearing approved 90 percent," Thompson said. "In the past I was seeing sweatpants and Bermuda shorts!" Thompson says that the students tend to go through a lot of anxiety when buying their first suit. They wonder if it fits right or if it is too expensive. She loves helping the student through that process. "We had a guy here who owned brown dress shoes, so he had thought his only option was a navy suit. I helped him by looking on Pinterest to find options that would work with brown shoes, and he also got ideas of what types of ties to wear too. I am happy to help them," Thompson said. In addition to the suits she has bought, Thompson has received some donations as well, and welcomes more if they are in great condition. "You can have professional documents and dress appropriately to make a strong first impression," Thompson said. "We want the students to come and be ready. I think it goes along with the 'Powerhouse' theme we have here at UH." New York Jim Fitzgerald, a longtime Associated Press writer and editor who helped shape the news service's coverage of stories from terror attacks to the evolving landscape of aging, died Monday. He was 66. Fitzgerald, who worked for the AP for 45 years before retiring in December, had been fighting leukemia for more than a year and a half. He died at a New York hospital, said his wife, Ellen Nimmons, a manager at AP's headquarters. During decades of covering New York City's northern suburbs and editing local and national stories, Fitzgerald was known for handling some of the top news of the day with a can-do demeanor, professionalism, fairness and a gentlemanly grace. His trademark answer to an everyday "How are you?": "Never better." In a telling measure of Fitzgerald's generosity and commitment, the New York journalism organization Society of the Silurians honored him in 2014 with its Peter Kihss Award, which recognizes distinguished reporters who mentor younger colleagues. With that award, he told the group, "I have made it to the big time." AP Managing Editor Brian Carovillano said Monday was "a sad, sad day for everyone at the AP." "Jim was an outstanding journalist whose work resonated far beyond the communities he covered," Carovillano said. "He was also a great colleague who developed deep friendships across generations of AP journalists. He will be greatly missed." Fitzgerald began working for the AP in part-time and temporary jobs as a Manhattan College student in 1971, then joined the news cooperative full time in New York in 1973, writing stories for radio and TV use. He moved on to what was then called the General Desk, editing stories for national and international distribution and helping supervise coverage of major news and meeting Nimmons. Shortly before their 1982 wedding, Fitzgerald began working in the New York City bureau as the day supervisor, the point person editing many city stories and making sure the bureau was on top of breaking news. He would help cover the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, telling the stories of survivors and others. By then, he was the AP's correspondent in the city's northern suburbs, an appointment made in 1996. From his base in Westchester County, he covered the Indian Point power plant, train crashes, and a major federal housing segregation case. He "brought us characters in government with all our blemishes," but "we always knew we'd get a fair reporting," said former Westchester District Attorney and judge Jeanine Pirro, now a Fox News personality. She said Fitzgerald's work made an impact on "how the public viewed good and evil and how they perceived the delivery of justice in our world, causing them to become engaged in the fight." In recent years, Fitzgerald's beat was on aging. A reporter who loved the writing part of the job, he went beyond statistics and policy to report on deeply personal, often thought-provoking aspects of growing old. He told of senior citizens buddying up as roommates for not only savings but also for safety; Death Cafe gatherings of people seeking to talk comfortably about life's end; elderly drug addicts and the delicate problems involved in treating them; a night camp for dementia victims who don't sleep after dark; and the touching, funny, sometimes snarky messages people leave behind in prewritten obituaries. Besides his wife, survivors include their daughters, Bridget Fitzgerald, of Mount Vernon, and Caitlin Fitzgerald, of Pelham, three sisters and two brothers. By Bradley Massman Tribune Staff Writer BAD AXE If you have difficulty understanding your credit score, want to learn how to better manage finances or are currently in debt and don't know what to do, stay put because a financial literacy night is coming to the area. The Great Start Parent Coalition, Bad Axe Area District Library and local financial institutions are sponsoring a free money-focused educational night next week. The program is scheduled to run from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 26, at the Huron Intermediate School District Administrative Office building. Yvonne Prill, parent liaison with Great Start, and Mimi Herrington, director of the library, joined forces to help setup the program, which is in correlation with Money Smart Week which runs April 22-29 created by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. The three presentations will run in 30-minute intervals 20 minutes per presentation and a 10-minute question and answer portion following. Each presentation will cover a different topic, presented by representatives from local financial institutions. They are: Credit issues, mortgages and planning for your future. The presentations will be offered more than once throughout the night, so everyone in attendance will have an opportunity to sit in on all three or attend a specific presentation of their choosing. "A lot of people don't know what a credit score is and what that actually means and how it can enhance or inhibit your borrowing power," Prill said. "... Your financial decisions may have consequences throughout your life." But wait, there's more. The night will also offer programs from teens and young children. Bad Axe police chief David Rothe will review how kids can spot counterfeit bills. "People aren't taught the fundamentals of how to balance a checkbook anymore," Prill said. "We want to hit people of all ages." "The reason we wanted to target adults, teens and kids is maybe this will generate some discussion back at home," Herrington added. Refreshments will be offered throughout the evening and for any parent bringing a young child, a toddler care room will be available free of charge. Seating is limited and spots are filling fast. To ensure a seat, register now by calling Yvonne Prill at 989-269-3493 or email her at yprill@huronisd.org. Chloe Herrera brushed a tear from her face as she stared determinedly at her three children. Her husband kissed her, and then picked up the razor. Strips of her brown hair fell to the stage floor. When I was up there, I was just thinking about my mother. Its just really personal and it touches me, said Herrera, a San Antonio Police Department officer. For the first time, University of Texas at San Antonio hosted a fundraiser for the St. Baldricks Foundation, which funnels money into childhood cancer research. For some volunteers like Herrera, whose mother died in 2011 from lung cancer, it was an intensely personal experience. And for others, like 21-year-old Tyler Werland, who put on the event, it was about recognizing cancers impact on others. Over the course of the four-hour fundraiser on Tuesday, 62 volunteers from across the city had their heads shaved on a stage to the beat of pop music. Wind sent recently cut hair rolling away from the stage like tumbleweeds and students armed with dustpans and brooms chased after the tufts. John Paul, who normally works at Brandeis High School, volunteered to emcee the event. He advertised it by yelling things like Your hair is tax-deductible! into the microphone at passersby. By the fundraisers end, more than $9,000 had been raised for the cause and Herrera donated $1,792 of it. The donation page on St. Baldricks website will remain open, Werland said, until the end of Wednesday to gather last-minute donations. A UTSA Honors College student, Werland was looking for a service project and wound up watching videos of St. Baldricks fundraisers at other universities. The idea is that by shaving their heads, students are showing their solidarity with children who lose their hair from chemotherapy. When he decided on the fundraiser, Werland distributed fliers about it all over the city, including the San Antonio police department. At the fundraiser, Werland wore green suspenders and green warrior paint on his cheeks to match his bright green hair. He said he dyed his hair a few days ago to see if people would treat him differently because of it, and noticed that they did. Although internally Im the same person, externally I look different because my hairs (green). And now its about to be bald. It speaks volumes for the kids that have cancer with bald heads that we look at them differently even though theyre the same inside, he said. Gabriel Acevedo, an associate professor of sociology at UTSA, was eager to shave his head because thats how he usually keeps it he had been growing it out just for this event. It feels good, he said, rubbing his head. Letting it grow, that was what was different for me. In addition to shaving heads in solidarity with those going through chemotherapy, and to raising money for the foundation, the event was also intended to raise awareness for the cause even after it ended when people ask the volunteers why they shaved their head, they can describe the foundation and the cause. For that reason, Herrera said she wont be wearing a wig. In the very beginning I thought about buying a wig, but afterwards I made my decision: Im doing this for the reason to shave my head. I dont want to wear a wig just to cover it back up, she said. Its just hair. It will grow back. sfosterfrau@express-news.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate In response to a prolonged increase in violent crime, the San Antonio Police Department is asking the city to allocate $2 million to hire an additional 15 officers and buy seven patrol cars for the Street Crime Unit, which deals primarily with gang activity. Chief William McManus told City Councils Criminal Justice, Public Safety and Services Committee on Tuesday that the new positions would significantly help the unit, which has a prominent role within the new Violent Crimes Task Force, a multiagency group that focuses on criminal activity rather than specific geographic areas. As of early April, the task force had arrested 1,140 people, 125 of which were gang members. Only about 350 of those arrests were made by SAPD officers, said Jim Kopp, with the city attorneys office. The numbers you see are pretty high in regards to street activity, McManus said Tuesday, telling the committee the department has also seen an increase in family violence homicides. The committee approved the request, which next goes to City Council. If approved, the new hires would be three sergeants, two detective investigators and 10 patrol officers. The cost would be roughly $2 million through fiscal 2018, according to SAPD. McManus recommended that the additional positions be funded in part through the $1,042,123 already allocated in this years fiscal year budget. The additional positions will strengthen the role of the SAPD within the (Violent Crimes Task Force) and allow the (task force) to proactively expand its efforts throughout the City, the department wrote in a memo to the committee. McManus acknowledged during the meeting that of the citys 42 homicides so far this year, only 1 percent were gang-related. There have been no homicides so far attributed to a combination of gang and narcotics. Last year, 6 percent of the citys 149 homicides were gang-related, while five percent were gang and narcotics related. (The San Antonio Express-News reported different numbers in January, based on preliminary counts that have since been updated by SAPD.) Earlier in the meeting, the committee heard about 20 policy recommendations developed by Mayor Ivy Taylors Council on Police-Community Relations, which formed last year in hopes of improving such relationships. The recommendations include allocating more money to update SAPDs website; tracking the number of students in the schools Explorer program who become SAPD officers; and expanding the departments SAFFE program, in which officers focus on resolving community crime problems with the participation of residents. Committee members said they appreciated the hard work put forth by the mayors council and would look over the recommendations and see which ones could be implemented. A second bomb threat on the University of Texas at San Antonio main campus forced the evacuation Tuesday night of one building. UTSA spokesman Joe Izbrand said San Antonio police received a call saying there was an explosive in the McKinney Humanities Building. U.S. Rep. Beto ORourke, D-El Paso, swung through San Antonio on Tuesday evening to drum up support for his bid to unseat incumbent U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz. Since announcing his Senate campaign almost three weeks ago in El Paso, ORourkes one-man tour of Texas has included stops in Dallas, Austin, Longview and Houston. Standing in the center of a 200-person crowd outside Southerleigh Fine Foods at the Pearl, the 44-year-old called San Antonio a city on the rise and compared his evolving Senate campaign to his youthful days as a member of a punk rock band. The three-term congressman described the meet-and-greets in various cities as rock and roll in the best possible way, without any intermediaries or promoters getting in the way. Its about taking back Texas, about taking back this country, and doing it the right way, he said, as supporters cheered and sipped beers in the evening shade. ORourke made national headlines last month when he embarked on a 1,600-mile bipartisan road trip from San Antonio to Washington with U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, R-San Antonio. Cruz, also was in San Antonio earlier Tuesday, where he visited the San Antonio Toyota manufacturing facility, then met with members of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for a roundtable at Mi Tierra restaurant in Market Square. After his prepared remarks, ORourke said he was aware Cruz the junior senator from Texas also visited San Antonio on Tuesday. I know hes also not conducting townhalls, he added. He then took questions from the crowd that asked about LGBT protections, ways to preserve Social Security and just how he expects to win in a state that elected both Ted Cruz and Donald Trump in recent years. ORourke responded that its going to take a lot more meetings such as the one Tuesday night in San Antonio. Fellow Democrat and U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D- San Antonio, who may also join the race for Senate, is expected to speak Wednesday night in the Alamo City. frahman@express-news.net The company that wants to store Americas high-level nuclear waste at its site in West Texas has asked federal regulators to pause their review until it can finalize a possible sale to its competitor. Waste Control Specialists, a Dallas company that operates a storage and disposal facility in Andrews County on the Texas-New Mexico line, made its request Tuesday to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Last year, WCS filed an application that, if approved, would allow it to accept high-level waste, mainly spent fuel rods from the nations nuclear reactors. WCS asked NRC officials on Tuesday to suspend their environmental and safety reviews of WCS application to store highly radioactive waste until a possible sale to the Utah company EnergySolutions. In November, the Department of Justice sued EnergySolutions to block the sale, saying the two companies are the only two disposal options for low-level radioactive waste for 36 states. The low-level waste includes irradiated protective clothing, tools, water purification filters and resins, hardware from nuclear power plants, soil, construction debris and equipment left from medical and research institutions, according to the legal filing. Before they agreed on a sale, EnergySolutions executives considered themselves in a take the gloves off war [sic] with WCS over pricing, according to evidence quoted in the filing. WCS officials said in an internal memo that EnergySolutions is attacking on every front, the filing states. In a response, EnergySolutions lawyers said the selective quotation was misleading. In 2015, the two companies agreed on a transaction. However, combining them would create a near-monopoly that would in the end drive up prices for businesses and consumers, federal lawyers argued. In the letter to the NRC, Waste Control president and CEO Rod Baltzer said the sale would result in substantial benefits to the safe and effective storage and disposal of (low-level radioative waste) in the United States. The companies believe they will be successful in defense of this challenge and closing the transaction, the letter continued. San Antonio and Bexar County have both passed resolutions against such waste passing through the city and the county on its way to Andrews County. Some residents of West Texas and environmental groups are fighting Waste Control. Baltzer said the trial is set to begin April 24. WCS expects it to end by May 5 and for the sale to be finalized by late summer 2017. WCS expects to go forward with this project at the earliest possible opportunity after completion of the sale, Baltzer said in the letter, but the company must now focus its limited financial resources on its current operations, the trial and the sale. WCS has struggled financially for years, operating at a loss of $26.2 million in 2016 and $26.5 million in 2015, according to federal filings. bgibbons@express-news.net, Twitter: @bgibbs SAN ANTONIO A man was slashed across the chest Wednesday in the parking lot of a Northwest Side Jason's Deli after he got into an argument with another man, who police say could be an employee of the restaurant. Officers responded to the stabbing around 1 p.m. at a nearby apartment complex in the 5800 block of Northwest Loop 410. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate AUSTIN -- In a clear signal of a war over the state budget, House leaders are asking Attorney General Ken Paxton to block an accounting maneuver by Senate leaders that would give them an additional $2.5 billion to balance their draft version of the budget. At issue: a four-word phrase in the Texas Constitution that directs the Texas comptroller to deposit the $2.5 billion for highway funding "in that state fiscal year" when the revenue was collected as taxes. At a time when final budget negotiations between the two chambers are poised to start, House Speaker Joe Straus and Rep. John Zerwas, the House's budget czar, blasted the Senate plan to delay the transfer of money into the state highway fund as "clearly and unambiguously" violating the state Constitution on such transfers. The seven-page letter to Paxton, who as the state's top attorney is expected to rule soon on the legality of the Senate plan, quickly touched off an angry response from Senate leaders, who appeared to harden their resolve on the issue. Both sides promised not to back off their positions, meaning that a final state budget could be hostage until the issue is resolved. Since Paxton's ruling do not carry the force of law, legislative leaders already are predicting the issue could end up in court -- with just over a month left before the legislative session ends. Last week, the Senate's chief budget writer, Jane Nelson, asked Paxton to rule that the Senate plan was legal, arguing that delaying the transfer by a month of the $2.5 billion to the highway fund from sales tax collections would not run afoul of wording in the constitution requiring it be transferred in the same fiscal year. Because the Senate plan would delay it for a month -- from August 2019 until September 2019, into the next fiscal year -- House leaders have said the maneuver is illegal -- a plan that Straus last month said was "cooking the books." Senate leaders have accused House budget-writers of using improper accounting tricks to balance their version of the budget, as well, for delaying a $1.9 billion payment for public schools into the next two-year cycle. The House plan would also tap the state's Rainy Day Fund, a savings account, for $2,5 billion in a move the Senate has said it will reject. In the letter filed late Tuesday with Paxton, attorney Frank Battle wrote that Straus and Zerwas "believe the constitution clearly and unambiguously requires" that state money must be paid into the state highway fund "in the same fiscal year that the underlying revenue was received." In her letter to Paxton last week, Nelson said Comptroller Glenn Hegar has determined it is not logistically feasible to calculate the tax revenue in question until after the end of the fiscal year, suggesting that it is impossible to comply with the Constitution. Battle said the Senate plan could violate the rules of the Texas House, raising the possibility that a lawmaker could kill the budget through a procedural motion known as a point of order. If passed, the budget could also open the door to lawsuits from any Texas taxpayer arguing that lawmakers had unconstitutionally spent public funds, he noted in his letter. Several times in recent years, both the Senate and House have relied on accounting maneuvers to balance the budget. But in recent weeks, House and Senate leaders have increasingly been at odds publicly over budget issues -- and leaders in both chambers have said the proposed maneuvers promise to be the single most contentious issue in final budget talks expected to begin sometime next week. Whenever someone doubted her ability to achieve a goal, Cathy Lee Clamon had one response: Watch me while I do it. Losing her vision after a car accident in 2003, Clamon continued running the River Front Motel in Bandera, which she owned, and raising her son, who was in middle school. After her son graduated from high school, Clamon enrolled at the Criss Cole Rehabilitative Center in Austin. It changed her life, her daughter Candice Witt said. She gained independence; would use a computer, read emails was able to be part of her businesses again. More Information Cathy Lee Clamon Born: May 26, 1956, Corpus Christi Died: April 15, 2017, Bandera Preceded by: Parents Loyd and Alice Gardner; brother Loyd Gardner. Survived by: Daughter Candice Witt and son-in-law Gunnar; son Chas Hunter. Services: Celebration of life at 2 p.m. Saturday at Grimes Funeral Chapel, 1214 Mulberry St., Bandera, followed by a gathering at 1002 Cypress St., Bandera. See More Collapse Clamon died unexpectedly April 15 at 60. Raised in Texas and Nebraska, Clamon was self-sufficient from a young age. Her father was often at sea on assignment with the Navy and her mother suffered from health problems, leaving Clamon alone. She had to learn to cook and sew, her cousin Cynthia Gardner said. She never felt ill will; she felt like that was her life, and she grew up strong. After graduating from high school in Nebraska, Clamon became a commercial truck driver and was one of the first women long-distance drivers hired by Halliburton. Marrying in the late 1970s, Clamon left trucking and later started her first business, Plant Haven Nursery in Bandera. After she and her husband split in 1986, Clamon moved to San Antonio to attend the nursing program at the Baptist Hospital. She had the nursery, but she was struggling financially, Gardner said. She felt she had to go back and do something to make a steady living. Graduating in 1991, Clamon opened Heart of the Hills Home Health Inc. in the mid-1990s, running it with her second husband until 1998. They bought the River Front Motel in about 1997. We all worked there, Witt said. My stepdad was on the financial side, I worked the front desk after school; my mom cleaned rooms and worked the front desk. Continuing to run it after she and her husband separated, Clamon also returned to nursing, doing supervisory visits for a home health care agency until the car accident. She always taught us not to depend on anybody, Witt said. Encouraged independence always, whether out of necessity or choice. mheidbrink@express-news.net The captive deer breeder industry has spent a fortune over the last four legislative sessions proposing laws to bulldoze prudent regulation of their industry in an attempt to squeeze more dollars out of Texas bucks. Texans collectively own all wildlife in the state. It is called the public trust. The deer breeder industry works much like our drivers license, where Texas Parks and Wildlife Department sells a permit for the privilege to place deer in small high-fenced pens, inside which the breeders manipulate the creatures to grow the biggest pair of antlers. The House Culture, Recreation and Tourism Committee recently heard the first in a slew of bills the deer breeder industry sponsored. House Bill 2855 by Rep. Chris Paddie, R-Marshall, requests removal of the visible ear tag on captive deer. Rep. Lyle Larson, R-San Antonio, sat in as a special guest with the committee like a bouncer to help attack opposition to the breeder agenda. Most of the growth in the deer breeder industry has been in the put and shoot canned hunting business. The bread-and-butter of this industry is growing big bucks to be relocated in trailers to semiwild, high-fenced hunting preserves, where lots of money is spent to kill the buck of a lifetime. In Texas, there are two kinds of whitetail deer those that receive pharmaceuticals, and the native, natural, wild kind. For a quick education, there are no drugs manufactured for deer. The deer held in captivity survive on routine medication due to the unnatural environment and density of animals. The deer industry survives on manipulating extra label use of pharmaceuticals to enhance antler growth. Beyond animal welfare, we should be outraged these animals are given any illegal drugs. Rep. Larry Phillips, R-Sherman, proposed House Bill 3723, which would allow deer breeders to sell the meat of rejected deer that routinely have been jacked up on drugs. The breeder industry falls financially between cattle hide sales, annual wheat harvests and our caged egg industry, but instead of contributing to the state, the breeder industry continues to drain wildlife agency budgets and jeopardize natural resources. There are lots of private property issues at stake here, and whitetail deer arent one. Breeder deer can commingle with wild populations. We need to be able to identify breeder deer visually in emergency situations and before hunter harvests. Lawyers will eventually want to identify specific deer breeders for when escaped breeder deer contaminate a neighbors property with chronic wasting disease, or CWD, or other diseases. We need to take steps to make breeder deer more identifiable, and educate our legislators and the hunting public about the two kinds of whitetail deer in Texas. With recent outbreaks of CWD on ranches in Medina County, real estate prices have begun to take a dive locally, as contaminated land is in low demand. Instead of legislators focusing on increasing the economic benefit to this small industry, we need our elected officials to be more concerned about the negative impact on native wildlife populations. A major disease outbreak unchecked could cause more in damage to rural real estate values than the industry generates as a whole. Never in our history has there been a group of so-called sportsmen who have spent more money and time whining about game and fish regulations. We must preserve our great hunting heritage and protect the species entrusted to our care. In society, our community is defined by how we treat our natural resources, where the value we put on wild things today defines the world we will pass on to future generations. Your voice is needed to defend whitetail deer. Brian Treadwell is a fifth-generation Menard County rancher. The Treadwell Brady Ranch was recognized in 2005 with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Departments Lone Star Land Steward Award, and in 2006 with the Leopold Foundations Leopold Conservation Award. We believe locally elected sheriffs know the needs of their communities better than state and national leaders who are trying to tie our hands. Our communities each have unique public safety and law enforcement needs that should not be undermined by unfunded state mandates as authored in Senate Bill 4. If passed, Senate Bill 4 would coerce local law enforcement to dedicate often scarce resources such as jail space, on-duty time of officers and local tax dollars to a job that is supposed to be done by the federal government and paid for with federal dollars. While it is in the interest of federal agencies to let local law enforcement do its job, the costs will be passed onto you the local taxpayer. Federal enforcement should not be paid for with our local taxes. Our communities tax dollars should be used to invest in local priorities and programs. It is at the local level that we are aware of the most pressing issues facing each of our communities in Texas. The foremost priority of law enforcement officials is to protect and serve our local communities, which we have done while maintaining cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The author of SB 4, state Sen. Charles Perry, has accused our local departments of perpetuating instability because we are not focused on new and controversial federal immigration mandates. The reality is that SB 4 would perpetuate instability by making it impossible for us to effectively direct and manage our deputies. Immigrants who are here are significantly less likely to commit crimes. In fact, FBI crime statistics have found that labeled sanctuary cities experience lower rates of all crime types, including homicides. Further, we rely on all members of our community, regardless of race, religion or national origin, to report crime. We cannot drive crime victims and witnesses to crime into the shadows without undermining local public safety. SB 4 provides zero support to local officials. In addition to opening law enforcement departments and officers to costly litigation, the bill would force local taxpayers to shoulder the cost of ICE detainers. In 2016 alone, Texas county compliance with ICE detainers cost local taxpayers $61 million. Despite the federal governments promises, it has only reimbursed a tiny fraction of the costs to local communities and counties. Ultimately, it is our local taxpayers who will pay even more for this unfunded state mandate. SB 4 robs our local communities of local tax dollars while hampering our ability to allocate our scarce resources to protect our communities from the largest threats facing our local neighborhoods and populations. SB 4 goes wrong because it fundamentally functions on the assumption that the state government knows what is best for our local communities; it ignores our familiarity with our own cities and counties, and how to keep them safe. Our government is ideally designed to balance the power of federal officials with that of state and local authority. This bill is a result of anti-immigrant grandstanding and will strip local law enforcement of our designated power and ability to protect and serve our communities. We ask that the Texas House of Representatives reject SB 4 and any initiative to force local law enforcement to carry out the responsibilities of the federal government. We hope the Texas Legislature will do better for our communities and for the safety of Texans. The authors are all sheriffs in Texas counties Sally Hernandez of Travis County, Lupe Valdez of Dallas County, Ed Gonzalez of Harris County, Javier Salazar of Bexar County and Richard Wiles of El Paso County. The Spanish Organic Law for Improvement of the Quality of Education (LOMCE) stumbles along. The central government is putting the final touches on a real decree that will specify the conditions for the title of Compulsory Secondary Education (ESO) and the A Levels. The LOMCE contemplated the implementation of external examinations, commonly known as the revalidations (final exams). Once these final exams have been discarded, a new normative framework must be found. And that new scenario brings a novelty: it will no longer be necessary to take an average final mark of 5 to get the title of ESO. A student can reach his target if he/she passes all subjects except two, provided they are not Spanish and Mathematics, and with the approval of the teaching team. This is called "integrative assessment". Two failing grades in someones curriculum can lead to an average mark that does not reach the barely passing grade, but that will be fixed by the next royal decree. The level of demand, as we can see, aims low. "These comings and goings prove the need for a great educational pact, effective for at least twenty-five years," Education Regional Minister Genaro Alonso said yesterday, who presented at a press conference the new program of dual Vocational Training and academic results of the 2015-16 academic year in Asturias. High promotion level It is necessary to remember that the end of stage tests will continue being present in the ESO and the A Levels, although their results wont affect the file or the title of the student. There will also be an examination after the sixth year of Primary Education, which will have a diagnostic value - more of the school than of the student, and in general terms, of the educational system of each community. In the A Levels, it will be necessary for the student to pass all the subjects to complete his/her stage. The Regional Ministry of Education chose a few days ago the primary schools and secondary and high schools that will participate in the end-of-term tests (sixth grade of primary education and fourth grade of ESO) in May. They make up one-third of those operating in Asturias. The rest will start in the next two courses. The appearance of the regional minister Alonso Megido and his directors served to inform and assess the levels of promotion in the different stages of education last year. Primary Education takes the cake, where 97% of the students managed to promote. In ESO the percentage drops to 88.3 points. In both cases, according to Education, the percentages are the best in the last decade. In the A Levels, the title is reached by 83% of the students. 76% of those who begin the Vocational Training finish it, and 72% when it comes to Bachelors Degree. The Director of Academic Organization, Francisco Laviana, acknowledged that in the titles of Higher Vocational Training "we have an improvement", but without forgetting that they are "higher studies that are not simple with two thousand teaching hours". Asturias has the second highest title rate in Higher Vocational Training in Spain after the Basque Country, and the best in Middle-Grade. A chronic lack of qualified nurses is the main reason why St Josephs Care Centre currently has no respite beds at its disposal. Local politicians learned of the dearth in short term services in the county during last weeks monthly meeting of Longford County Council. Jude ONeill, Head of the Dublin Mid Leinsters Social Care Division said the problem was one which was not solely confined to Longford however. There is a recognised shortage across the country of registered nurses, he outlined. We utilize a large volumes of agency (staff) when they are available. It is a factor and I can only be honest in terms of the challenges we face in our ability to actually put staff on the rosters that manage the number of beds that you require. Mr ONeill made the admission after it emerged just two respite beds were available to patients across the entire county. They were stationed at Laurel Lodge Nursing Home, he confirmed, with two additional beds also being available to Longford patients at Ballinasloes Mill Race Nursing Home. He did nonetheless deny assertions to the contrary which suggested the HSE had reduced Longfords current compliment of respite beds. I absolutely want to be transparent. There is no attempt or intent to bring about any reductions by slight of hand. When I say there has been no reduction to respite beds available to the population of Longford thats true. Mr ONeill added there was a procurement process prospective nursing home providers had to go through upon which beds are then allocated. He also revealed six patients who had been relocated to Longford following a decision to close St Vincents Care Centre last year would be returning to the Athlone facility next week. That decision was arrived at on health and safety grounds, he added, saying there could be further opportunities to supplement Longfords respite bed provision into the future. He also contended the HSE remained fully supportive of St Josephs Care Centre and were not planning to downgrade the Dublin Road establishment. Despite those assurances, councillors called into question the level of commitment HSE bosses had to rural counties like Longford. Cllr PJ Reilly, who presently sits as the HSEs Dublin-Mid Leinster Health Forum chairperson, said he simply could not believe Mr ONeills version of events. You know and I know we always had four respite beds here in Longford, two in Laurel Lodge and two in another nursing home, he told the HSE official. Cllr Reilly made reference to a local constituent of his who, he claimed, had been told the only respite bed available to him was fifty miles away in Ballinasloe. Sure thats crazy, he jarringly remarked. Sending a person fifty miles away and making them pass seven or eight nursing homes on the way is just crazy. Cllr Colm Murray was another who told of how someone he knew had to reside in a Maynooth Nursing Home when they were discharged from a Dublin hospital because no beds were made available at St Josephs. Cllr Peggy Nolan, alternatively, led calls for a dedicated alzheimers unit, overtures which grew ever more vociferous from an incensed Cllr Mae Sexton. Isnt that not scandalous that you are going out to tender, out to a marketplace that cant support having got the beds, she told Mr ONeill. In taking issue with revelations of a similar issue having arisen in Roscommon where nine beds remain unutilised, Cllr Sexton said those responsible should be publicly censored over the controversy I dont accept that you cant get nurses. I dont accept that the HSE is looking hard enough for them. The fact there are nine beds empty in another HSE facility then somebody in the HSE should be taken out and horsewhipped because there shouldnt be nine empty beds in any of our facilities. If the nurses were properly paid they would be here, she said. Longford Cystic Fibrosis (CF) campaigner Jillian McNulty is over the moon this week after Minister for Health Simon Harris TD announced on Tuesday that the State would fund Orkambi and Kalydeco. The local woman has been to the fore of the campaign to have the life saving drugs funded by the Government for the last two and a half years. And last week her dreams came true. I am really excited but to be honest with you it is still a very surreal experience for me, Ms McNulty told the Longford Leader. I am on a high since the announcement and havent really come down from that yet. Early last week, the HSE reached agreement with the drug company Vertex Pharmaceuticals for the drugs Orkambi and Kalydeco to be provided to people with CF from the beginning of next month. Orkambi will be provided to patients aged 12 years and older while Kalydeco will be prescribed to patients aged two to five years. Minister Harris said he expects the medicines to be made available from May 1 next. We have it and I just cant believe it, Ms McNulty continued before pointing out that after two and a half years, she struggled to see an end in sight to the campaign. I knew that talks were at a critical stage and we were expecting there would be word, but at the same time we didnt want to build up our hopes either. People can be tested for the drugs from May 1; the sicker people are the more likely they are to get access and my hope is that they can get on it, and, just like me, start living their lives. Meanwhile, the Longford woman is preparing for her trip to the US next week where a planned visit to Vertex HQ is on the cards. Around 600 people in Ireland with CF had been waiting for the news on Orkambi and this new deal will also provide for other treatments from Vertex, including improved CF drugs that will be made available to patients following market authorisation in Europe. Im going to New York first and then Im off the Boston to visit Vertex, Ms McNulty smiled. I have that to look forward to at the moment and that is keeping me going, but when I come back, I dont know what Im going to do with myself! Ill be sending out my CVs and will get a job!. Gardai have begun an investigation after the tabernacle at St Michaels Church in Shroid was stolen at the weekend. The break in, which also saw damage to a window, and the altar, has left a sense of disgust throughout the entire community. St Mels Parish Curate, Fr Tony Gilhooly told the Leader that he believed the act was premeditated. I would say without question, it was premeditated, he confirmed, before pointing out that the tabernacle was encased in marble and couldnt be just pulled out. Whoever did this went in with the necessary tools. Meanwhile, the local curate said people were disgusted and disappointed over what happened. The discovery was made shortly after 7am on Easter Sunday morning and Bishop Francis Duffy, who visited the crime scene, said, at the time, that the incident had been extremely upsetting for the parishioners and the clergy in Longford. There was extensive damage caused to the sanctuary on the altar, continued Fr Gilhooly, And I have to say the Gardai have been so helpful throughout all of this. It is terrible that something like this would happen, but that it would occur during Holy Week is particularly upsetting. The local priest said that he was reminded several times over the past few days about the biblical reference to good triumphing over evil. There has been wonderful gestures of goodwill and help in the parish over the past few days and we are all very thankful for that, he added. On Sunday, the Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnois explained that the tabernacle was the centre piece of every Mass and held the sacred Communion hosts. It holds the bread that we believe has been transformed into the body of Christ, Bishop Duffy continued, before pointing out it was what catholics believed, and that was why this act of desecration was so distressing. The tabernacle is of great significance to the local parish here. We would love to be able to get it back so I appeal for anyone with any information to contact the Gardai. Gardai say they are keeping an open mind into the circumstances which led up to the church being targeted on the outskirts of Longford town. Vandals smashed through the side window of Shroids St Michaels Church resulting in the theft of a tabernacle as well as significant damage being caused to its altar area. Gardai have so far been unable to pinpoint an exact time for when the incident occurred, but believe it took place sometime between 12 midday on April 9 and 9am on Sunday. Investigators have carried out door to door enquiries in the area and hope the availability of CCTV might throw up further clues. The scene itself was cordoned off on Sunday and a technical examination carried out. As gardai await the outcome of those results, they have issued an a public appeal for information. Anyone who may have noticed anything untoward in and around the vicinity of St Michaels Church between 12 midday on April 9 and 9am on Sunday is asked to contact Longford Garda Station at (043) 33 50570. School & Education, Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Arts & Culture By Long Island News & PR Published: April 19 2017 North Country Road Middle School Student Submission Selected from More Than 2,000 Entries. Miller Place School District teacher Nina Wood and North Country Road Middle School student Ivy Newman hold Newmans winning submission to the New York State Office of Information Technologys Kids Safe Online poster contest. Newmans submission was one of 12 winners selected from more than 2,000 entries submitted by 233 schools from across New York State. Miller Place, NY - April 19, 2017 - The The Miller Place School District announced today that North Country Road Middle School student Ivy Newman was one of only 12 students to be selected as a winner of the New York State Office of Information Technology Kids Safe Online poster contest. Newmans submission was selected from more than 2,000 entries submitted by 233 schools from across New York State. The Miller Place School District has a zero tolerance policy for bullying and takes any threat to student safety extremely seriously. Creating a culture of trust and security in which students feel they can share any concerns with adults is one of our highest priorities, said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Marianne Cartisano. We are very proud of Miss Newmans success, and her effort to raise awareness about the importance of cyber security is emblematic of our values and goals. Miller Place School District student Ivy Newmans poster submission to the New York State Office of Information Technologys Kids Safe Online poster contest. Newmans submission was one of 12 winners selected from more than 2,000 entries submitted by 233 schools from across New York State. Photo Credit: Miller Place School District The Miller Place School District hosts a number of anti-bullying and cyber security awareness events throughout the year as part of its mission to provide a safe, supportive environment for students. The District has previously hosted How to Help a Friend panels for students to come together to discuss the importance of mental health in adolescence and share tips on how to support their friends and peers. In addition, this year more than 30 Miller Place High School students participated in an intensive day-long training to learn how to become Natural Helpers. Natural Helpers is a District initiative which provides students with the tools they need to recognize when a peer may be struggling and offer effective support. Natural Helpers currently meet once every two weeks to discuss peer issues, the climate throughout the school, how they can best help and where to direct those struggling for additional assistance. The District provides a confidential, robust system of support for any student struggling with these critical issues, said North Country Road Middle School Principal Matthew Clark. We encourage all our students to participate in the Kids Safe Online poster contest as a way to help raise awareness surrounding this critical issue. The purpose of the annual poster contest is to educate students about cyber security by encouraging them to creatively depict what cyber security means to them and reinforce safe online practices through their artwork. The contest also serves as a tool to encourage teachers across New York State to address cyber security and online safety issues like cyber bullying, the appropriate use of text messages, and social networking in the classroom. The contest was hosted in partnership with the Center for Internet Securitys (CIS) Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (MS-ISAC) national poster contest. We are pleased to partner with the MS-ISAC on this important initiative to raise awareness among our youth of the risks associated with using the Internet. The Kids Safe Online Poster Contest is a wonderful opportunity for teachers to address cyber security and online safety issues in the classroom and raise awareness of these issues in homes. We are continually amazed by the creativity, originality and compelling messages submitted by the students on the importance of cyber security. Kudos to all of the winners! said Margaret Miller, New York State Chief Information Officer. The winners art work will be featured in the 2018 New York State Kids Safe Online calendar and the winning entries have been submitted to the National K-12 Poster Contest, conducted by the CISs MS-ISAC. Local News, Crime By Long Island News & PR Published: April 19 2017 Oniel Sharpe Jr., 26, to serve the maximum prison sentence of 12 to 36 years, Suffolk DA Spota says. Oniel Sharpe Jr. of Queens, 26, was sentenced to 12 to 36 years for a 2015 crash that killed father and two children. Suffolk County, NY - April 19, 2017 - State Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho today sentenced a Queens man convicted of aggravated vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of a fatal crash and tampering with evidence to the maximum prison sentence of 12 to 36 years, Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said. Oniel Sharpe Jr., who witnesses reported weaving in and out of traffic at speeds surpassing 90 miles per hour, rear-ended a SUV early on the morning of July 12, 2015 on the Southern State Parkway. The force of the impact caused the SUVs gas tank to explode. The fire killed Ancio Ostane, 37, and his children, 8-year-old Andy and 4-year-old Sephora. The wife and mother of the victims, Lucnie Bouaz-Ostane, managed to get out of the vehicle and survived the crash but she was unable to save her children and husband. During todays sentencing, Ms. Bouaz-Ostane addressed the defendant, telling Sharpe, You destroyed my life. Sharpe, 26, left the scene and was arrested by New York State Police when he showed up at his mothers home in Rockville Centre four hours after the crash when his blood-alcohol level had dissipated to .06%. (The charge of aggravated vehicular homicide Sharpe was convicted of alleged Sharpe was operating his vehicle in an intoxicated condition.) District Attorney Spota said Lucnie Bouaz-Ostane showed remarkable courage in attending the sentencing. Local News, Crime By Long Island News & PR Published: April 19 2017 Rahsaan Evans, 24, acted in consort with previously-arrested shooting suspect, cops say. NCPD reports the arrest of Rahsaan Evans of South Ozone Park, 24, in connection with an Attempted Murder and Robbery in Hempstead. Long Island, NY - April 19, 2017 - The Third Squad reports the arrest of a South Ozone Park man in connection with an Attempted Murder and Robbery that occurred on Sunday, February 05, 2017 at 11:30 pm in The Third Squad reports the arrest of a South Ozone Park man in connection with an Attempted Murder and Robbery that occurred on Sunday, February 05, 2017 at 11:30 pm in Hempstead According to detectives, a male victim was sitting in his 2009 Nissan Murano in front of 104 Willow Avenue, when a male subject displayed a handgun and demanded money and the victims car. The victim in fear for his life put the vehicle in gear and drove away. The subject fired several rounds striking the victim in the bicep. The victim was able to drive himself to a local hospital and is listed in stable condition. A short time later 911 received a call for a stolen automobile in front of 1 Long Beach Road. Upon police arrival, Officers discovered that the same subject displayed a handgun to a 26 year old male victim, took his wallet, cell phone and his 2015 Nissan Maxima. After an investigation by detectives, defendant Andre Dennis, 22, of Roosevelt was placed under arrest at 1:55 am on February 5 on Dutch Broadway, Elmont . The vehicle, a loaded .45 caliber handgun and proceeds from the robbery were found at the scene. Defendant Andre Dennis was charged with Attempted Murder, 2 counts of Robbery 1st Degree, Possession of a Weapon and Criminal Use of a Weapon. He was arraigned on Monday, February 06, 2017 at First District Court, Hempstead. After a continued investigation, Third Squad detectives report the April 18 arrest of Rahsaan Evans, 24, of South Ozone Park, for his participation in connection with the above incident that occurred in front of 1 Long Beach Road. A subsequent investigation by detectives revealed that Evans was present at the time of the Robbery and acted in consort with Dennis. Evans is charged with Robbery 1st Degree and will be arraigned in First District Court, Hempstead on 4/19/2017. Local News, Business & Finance, Community, Charity & Cause, Seasonal & Current Events By Long Island News & PR Published: April 19 2017 All welcome to attend a local RECRUITNY OPEN-HOUSE WEEKEND April 29 & 30. New York, NY - April 19, 2017 - Nearly 400 fire departments across New York State have already signed up for the seventh annual RecruitNY weekend, a major initiative of the Firemens Association of the State of New York (FASNY). On April 29-30, firehouses across the State will open their doors to the public in an effort to increase membership in the volunteer fire service. Members of the public are invited to visit their local firehouses, where volunteer firefighters will be conducting tours of their facilities, demonstrating firefighting techniques, and allowing visitors to try on turnout gear. These activities, and more, will give visitors a taste of what it means to be in the fire service, and volunteer firefighters will be on hand to discuss the requirements and rewards of joining. All are welcome and encouraged to attend, including families with children. Joining the volunteer fire service has been the most rewarding experience of my life, and I know I am not alone in saying that, said FASNY President Ken Pienkowski. Hundreds of volunteer fire departments across New York will be participating in RecruitNY, and we invite all New Yorkers to visit with their local firehouses. Visitors may be surprised to find their very own neighbors and friends already serving in the fire department, and just may be inspired to join them in protecting the community. The volunteer fire service is an integral part of both life and the economy in New York State. In 2016, FASNY released an economic impact report, which quantifies the value of the volunteer fire service and its associated tax savings throughout the state. The report concluded that the annual cost of a replacement, all-paid fire service would be $3.87 billion. Furthermore, property taxes in New York State would rise by an estimated average of 26.5%. These figures do not factor in the costs of acquiring the necessary facilities and equipment needed to accommodate a paid fire service. The volunteer fire service, and efforts like RecruitNY, make the State not only safer, but also more affordable. Established in 2011, RecruitNY is a joint undertaking by the Firemens Association of the State of New York (FASNY), the New York State Association of Fire Chiefs (NYSAFC), Association of Fire Districts of New York State, Volunteer Fire Police Association of the State of New York, and County Fire Coordinators Association of the State of New York. For area residents looking to find if your fire department is participating in RecruitNY, visit http://www.recruitny.org/participation-area/ or for more information, contact your local fire department via a non-emergency phone number or its website or visit www.recruitny.org For fire departments that would like to sign up for RecruitNY, simply log on to www.recruitny.org/signup and fill out the participation form. The program provides fire departments with access to recruitment resources, communication tools, posters, banners, and more. Visit http://recruitny.org/resources.php to help plan a RecruitNY event. About FASNY Islamic State fighters attacked and killed at least one Egyptian policeman and wounded several others at a security checkpoint near Saint Catherines Monastery in the southern Sinai late yesterday. Amaq News Agency, one of the groups main propaganda arms, quickly claimed responsibility for the shooting in a message released online. The Arabic statement can be seen above. The Egyptian interior ministry confirmed that a police officer was killed, adding that the jihadists were forced to flee after their ambush. The Islamic States men reportedly left behind a machine gun. Saint Catherines has been designated a world heritage site by UNESCO. The Orthodox Monastery of St Catherine stands at the foot of Mount Horeb where, the Old Testament records, Moses received the Tablets of the Law, UNESCOs web page for the historical area reads. The mountain is known and revered by Muslims as Jebel Musa and is sacred to three world religions: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. The Monastery dates to the 6th century, houses various antiquities, and is the oldest Christian monastery still in use for its initial function. The Islamic States hit-and-run raid near the monastery comes just over one week after the organizations Egyptian arm bombed two Coptic churches in Tanta and Alexandria on Palm Sunday. More than 40 people were killed and dozens more wounded in the twin bombings. [See FDDs Long War Journal report, Islamic State claims church bombings in Egypt.] The group also bombed a Coptic church in Cairo last December. The so-called caliphates propaganda machine has been heavily promoting its operations in Egypt since the church bombings earlier this month. Two infographics produced by Amaq during the month of April can be seen below. Both were posted online in Arabic and English. Only the English-language versions are included in this article. The first infographic promotes the three attacks on Coptic churches in the heart of Egypt mentioned above. The second purports to summarize the jihadists insurgency in the Sinai. Amaq claims that the Islamic States men have killed dozens of Egyptian soldiers with sniper fire, explosive devices, and other armed attacks during the 100-day period between Jan. 1 and Apr. 11 of this year. In addition, 41 Egyptian military vehicles, including 21 armored personnel carriers and four tanks, were allegedly destroyed. The overwhelming majority of these claimed operations have been carried out in the northern Sinai, especially in Arish, Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah. Amaqs statistics cannot be independently verified, but the scope of the fighting is generally consistent with what is known from independent sources. The Islamic States Sinai province (Wilayah Sinai) launched a complex assault on Egyptian security forces in the northern part of the peninsula in June 2015. Suicide bombers and dozens of fighters struck government loyalists in Arish and Sheikh Zuweid. It was the jihadists largest sustained offensive on the Egyptian government in some time. Abu Bakr al Baghdadis fighters have carried out scores of raids, bombings and other operations in the Sinai in months since. Some of these have explicitly targeted Christians. On June 30, 2016, for instance, Amaq reported that Islamic State fighters had assassinate[d] the priest of the Saint George church in the city of Arish due to him waging war against Islam. The Coptic Orthodox Church confirmed that the priest was shot dead as he was making his way home after performing mass. In recent weeks, the Sinai province has advertised its nascent governance efforts. One video (The Light of Sharia), which was promoted in March, contained various scenes of the jihadists enforcing their medieval legal code. The video also threatened Egyptian Copts and blasted the Muslim Brotherhood for supposedly abandoning true Islamic principles during its brief time in power. Another production released online days later documented the groups security work, including the gruesome beheadings of accused spies and other foes. Still another video promoted by the caliphates Sinai branch in recent days (Bolts into the Hearts) offered viewers various scenes of snipers targeting security personnel. As with Islamic State media produced in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere, the video dramatizes the snipers abilities by including images that appear to have been recorded through rifle scopes. The ambush near Saint Catherines is potentially significant because it occurred in the southern part of the Sinai, an area where the jihadists have carried out only sporadic attacks. The major exception to this pattern was the Oct. 31, 2015 bombing of a Russian airliner, killing all 224 passengers and crew on board. The bomb was most likely placed on board the aircraft at the Sharm El Sheikh International Airport, which is located on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula. The Islamic States Wilayah Sinai was established in Nov. 2014, after much of Ansar Bayt al Maqdis (ABM), an al Qaeda-affiliated group, defected to Baghdadis cause. ABMs decision to join the Islamic State was one of the self-declared caliphates most significant gains in its rivalry with al Qaeda. The Sinai province has been a prolific source of terrorism and other violence ever since. It has been waging a low-grade insurgency against the Egyptian state for more than two years. Infographics produced by Amaq News Agency during the month of April: A similar infographic produced by Amaq last year: Thomas Joscelyn is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Senior Editor for FDD's Long War Journal. Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here. Culture The synergy between Western and Eastern cultures is explored in Yokohama Museum of Arts new exhibition Apr 19, 2017 | By Teri Chong The Yokohama Museum of Art presents its new exhibition: The Elegant Other: Cross-cultural Encounters in Fashion and Art. The exhibition explores how cultural exchanges between the East and West influenced the aesthetics of their respective societies. Held from April 15 to June 25, the exhibit will feature over 100 dresses and accessories from the Kyoto Costume Institute. During the Meiji Period (1868-1912), Western fashion and customs began permeating Japanese lifestyle; meanwhile, Japanese art objects and kimonos were exported and celebrated in the West, as Japonism became fashionable in both art and design. The Elegant Other: Cross-Cultural Encounters in Fashion and Art at the Yokohama Museum of Art will not only look at the gradual development and discoveries of new aesthetic standards at both ends of the world but also underline the seductive exoticism from each end. Foreign cultures were seen as beautiful others, with unfamiliar yet fascinating clothing, and their respective local traditions and craftsmanship. The approximately 100 dresses and accessories from the Kyoto Costume Institute (KCI) will be shown for the first time in Yokohama. These range from sweeping court dresses with long trains to low-backed evening dresses to draped hostess gowns, examples of clothing and art blurred the boundaries between East and West. The Yokohama Museum of Art, inaugurated in 1989, is one of the largest art institutions in Japan. Its location along the seaport highlights it as a key symbol of international exchange when the Yokohama Port initially opened in 1859, the city became a gateway to Western culture, while also exporting Japanese culture abroad. The Kyoto Costume Institute collects and conserves clothing from across eras, ranging from the 17th century to the present day, with holdings of 12,000 garments and 16,000 fashion-related documents. The institute has received donations from top designers and fashion houses, including Chanel, Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton, as well as a monumental gift of approximately 1000 items from Comme des Garcons. The exhibition also features accessories, handicrafts, paintings, and photographs, loaned from both Japanese and foreign museums and private collections, such as an 1882 painting by Jules Joseph Lefebvre, La Japonaise, and vases with cherry blossoms in relief from the Meiji era. The Elegant Other: Cross-cultural Encounters in Fashion and Art will be on view April 15 to June 25, 2017. Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2017 > Education as a Tool of Empowering Differently Abled Persons in (...) by Duryodhan Nahak Education is being increasingly viewed as a significant tool of empowering the weaker sections of the population including differently abled persons. Education as a discipline of social science not only helps in transmitting cultural and civilisational values from one generation to another, but it plays a vital role in helping physically challenged persons like their other counterparts to live with dignity and honour, confidence and independence. Physically handicapped, physically challenged, disabled, differently abled etc. are being commonly used in the plethora of social science at present. In order to study the causes and issues of disability, several models have been advanced over the years. The medical/individual/personal tragedy model, the social welfare model are different models which have been evolved for several years. The medical model recognises those persons as disabled who have abnormal functions or are malfunctioning due to impair-ment of any part of the body which requires urgent medical attention. It was the dominant model till the 1950s and 1960s in most of the countries. The assistance and safety nets were provided to the differently abled persons based on this model. As most of the states adopted the welfare model in the post-World War period, the voice for the education, rehabilitation and training of the differently abled persons gained momentum as the disabled rights activists demanded more welfare measures for the upliftment of this neglected section. Many differently abled scholars and organisations rejected the traditional and charity model and led several movements for getting equal treatment based on rights. At present the focus is more upon the right-based approach than on the traditional and charity models. The progressive disabled teachers, organisations and activists empha-sised more on education which can enable the disabled persons to voice for equality and social justice. A differently abled person can only lead a healthy civic life with the most potent instrument of education. Education not only aims at making an individual economically self-sufficient, it cultivates physical, social, mental and spiritual developments as well. Counting of the disabled population began with first census in 1872, but special emphasis was given in the 2001 census. Although it puts the total number of the differently abled population at 2.19 crores, that is, 2.13 per cent of the total population, the 2011 census puts it at 26.8 crores which constitutes 2.21 per cent of the total population. Despite the fact that this data shows marginal increase in the differently abled population, the non-governmental organisations have contested this figure, which they put at between five-to-six per cent. The World Bank estimates it at between four-to-eight per cent. Further, the United Nations places it at between five-to-10 per cent of the total population. In spite of the differently abled persons constituting a fairly large segment of the demographic dividend, they are being neglected conscientiously by the government, the family, political parties, media from time-to-time. Again, there are different categories within the differently abled population like visually challenged, locomotors, hearing and speech impaired, so on and so forth. Hence, it is a challenge before governments to provide them special need-based education. Like different models to study the causes of disability, there are different models that are in operation to educate disabled children over the years and decades. First, it was the only special/residential school system working to educate disabled children as the institutions in general were not equipped with special necessities of the differently abled persons. In the special schooling system, the trained teachers were appointed, hostels constructed, and teachers were given training to understand the problems of the students and thereafter all efforts were made to create barrier-free environment inside the campuses. In the Fifth Five-Year Plan that lasted till 1974-77, a new scheme was announced by the Central Government, known as the integrated education for the disabled children (IEDC). In this pattern, they are allowed to study with normal students by using specific teaching-learning material designed for them. Meanwhile, in the beginning of the 1990s the Union Government announced another special scheme, named the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP), to expedite the process of primary education throughout the country. Now the focus is given on inclusive education. The inclusive model facilitates physically challenged students with normal children to study in normal schools in the classroom setting by applying audio-visual aide that benefits not only the disabled students but also all the students in the class. This model is highly appreciated as it is considered instrumental in introducing differently abled students in the mainstream of society and socialising them. Experts and disabled scholars even view the significance of this model in removing inferiority complex and socio-psychological barriers from the minds of the differently-abled persons in a large measure. In the scheme of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, there is a provision to appoint an instructor in each block whose responsibility is to identify the disabled children and bring them into the main schooling system. Furthermore, the workshops and summer trainings for the school teachers are organised at the block and district levels to sensitise them about the issues which differently abled students face in the class and school as well. It is to be noted here that as each section of the disabled suffers from a special set of problems, they require special attention differently. More-over, the United Nations has taken a number of steps for the differently abled persons which can facilitate them to lead a decent life. It declared the year 1981 as the year of disability. It recognised, among other rights, the right to education for different category of disability. The ratification of the United Nations Con-vention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities guarantees fundamental rights like the right of persons with disabilities to education. The advent of software computer and other assistive techno-logies have been instrumental in bringing about a revolutionary change in the sphere of education for the disabled persons. Two decades down the line, completing Ph.D for a large number of visually challenged persons was a distant dream. Of course, a few have been able to complete their doctoral research degree with sincerity and sheer commitment by using the Braille script. But most notably, with the help of the screen reader, scanner and computer, many visually impaired persons have been able complete their doctoral research degree successfully from premier institutions like the Jawaharlal Nehru University, University of Delhi, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai so on and so forth. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has made provisions for financial assistance in the 11th and 12th Five-Year Plans to the Central and State universities and colleges to set up enabling units to address the problems of the physically challenged students and teachers. Nowadays, many institutions have been set up by the government and non-governmental organisations to give training in computer to the visually challenged persons. The National Institute for the Visually Handicapped, Dehra-dun, Blind Relief Association, New Delhi, All India Confederation of the Blind, New Delhi, National Association for the Blind, Mumbai and New Delhi can be named a few in this regard. The work of the National Association for the Blind, New Delhi deserves special mention because of its work and sincere endeavour in educating visually challenged students through the inclusive model. Even some students have been able to earn their livelihood by working in different IT companies at many places in Delhi and the National Capital Region. Moreover, it is one of the pioneering institutions which is providing daisy books, CDs, and even Braille books to the visually challenged students at the school and college levels. After giving training to the students in the special way and Braille at primary level it is sending students to various government and Kendriya Vidyalayas, reputed public schools for the secondary level study. More importantly, the visually challenged persons are more friendly to the Braille script at the school level than the listening voice through CDs, cassettes. Again the lacuna is that the computer and assistive technology is confined to a few metros and urban municipalities. Besides this, absolute dependency on the computer in the rural area is a far-fetched dream because of lack of electricity round the clock. As most of the disability occurs due to the backward economic status of the family, parents are not able to provide computers to their disabled children. The Braille script, which is an eighteenth century discovery by a Frenchman, Lewish Braille, still remains an important source of learning for the majority of the visually challenged persons in the world at the kinder-gatten and primary levels. Notwithstanding this, large numbers of visually challenged persons are dependent upon it even today to complete their higher education as they are not able afford the cost of advanced software. It is to be noted that the National Institute for the Visually Handicapped (NIVH), Dehradun, All India Confederation of the Blind (AICB), New Delhi, Ramakrishna Mission, Kolkata, National Association for the Blind (NAB), Mumbai are printing Braille books for the benefit of the visually challenged students. Besides this, many States have their own Braille press which help in printing Braille books at the school level. Despite this silver-lining, as this process involves a large chunk of money, fund, adequate space for storing, and is found to be time-consuming, the credibility of Braille books and magazines is slowly losing its value day by day. In addition to this, it is not possible to print large number of books simultaneously. Of course, the orthopaedically challenged persons do not face a severe problem in reading books and accessing materials, but poor infrastructure creates a major impediment on the way of smooth study. The orthopaedically challenged persons suffer a lot and more often than not are deprived from going to schools as schools and higher educational institutions do not provide sufficient facilities for the smooth movement like ramps, wheel chairs, lifts and a truly barrier- free environment. The educational institutions even do not make arrangements for toilets which can be specially friendly to the orthopaedically impaired students. The National Institute for the Orthopaedically Handicapped, Kolkata is a premier government organisation, and provides vocational and other training for the betterment of this group. As hearing impaired persons cannot talk and express themselves her through verbal expression, they face major problems in education unlike orthopaedically and visually challenged persons. Despite the fact that the PWD Act 1995 clearly states that each school would make classroom environment disabled-friendly, schools, colleges, even universities do not make provision for sign language, gestures, lip-reading, alphabet etc. through which things can be transmitted easily for the benefit of the hearing impaired persons. Adequate steps are rarely taken to bring out hidden potentials within them like drawing, painting, wooden works and other artistic talents. The Ali Yavar Jung Institute for the Hearing Handicapped, Mumbai is the premier Central Government organisation providing training for the rehabilitation of the hearing impaired persons. It is to be regretted that only two per cent of the disabled have been educated. Furthermore the percentage of disabled persons in higher education is dismal. According to the statistics, only 0.56 per cent of the total disabled persons have benefited from college/university education. Unfortunately, the case of the disabled girl-child is most pathetic. The average age of the disabled girl is 10-11 when she becomes a victim of sexual violence and oppression. As such girls take admission in the late childhood stage; naturally they face problems related to mens-truating and puberty. The educational institutions do not provide adequate physical infrastructure specially meant for different category of disabled girls. In a male-biased society like India, even parents hesitate to send their disabled girl children to schools at an early age as compared to boys. They are afraid of marriage, parenting and employment of their children. The basic structure of the Constitution of India, as reflected in the Preamble, ensures social, economic and political justice as well as equality of status and opportunity to all citizens of India. Nevertheless, the fundamental rights from Articles 14 to 18 of the Indian Constitution speak about equality before law and equal protection and equality of opportunity in matters of employment. It is thus the constitu-tional obligation of the state to ensure equal justice and equality to all citizens including the disabled and marginalised groups of people. The Directive Principles of State Policy embody the aims and objects of the state under the republican Constitution, as, for example, that it is a Welfare State. In other words, it shall strive to promote welfare of the people by securing as effectively as possible a social order in which social, economic and political justice shall inform all the institutions of normal life. The state policy regarding right to work in case of disablement is enshrined in the Directive Principles under Section 41 of the Constitution of India. It states that the state shall, within the limits of its economic capacity and development, make effective provision for securing the right to work, to education and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement, and in other cases of undeserved wants. As regards education, Article 45 of the Constitution of India on the Directive Principles of State Policy instructs The State to provide free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of fourteen years. The Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995 goes a step further and desires provision of free education to children with disabilities till the age of 18 years. Thus the Constitution of India has duly recognised the provision of education to all children including those with disabilities. Furthermore, more recently, in the 109th Amendment Act of the Indian Constitution, Article 45 of Directive Principles of State Policy has converted into a fundamental right and is placed in 21 (a) of the Constitution guaranteing free and compulsory education for all the children at the primary level. Obviously, that does not exclude differently abled children from their due. Although the country has declared education as a fundamental right, education for the physically impaired is still considered a welfare activity. After 67 years of the Indian Constitution by which India declared itself as a Republic, the physically handicapped persons are being actually neglected and provided education as a charitable act. Besides the government, the role of the civil society such as NGOs, associations, churches, cinema etc. in educating the physically challenged persons is equally important. The Bollywood industry, which has hundred years of glorious history and has highlighted the evils embedded in the socio-cultural life of the Indian people, has done little in educating the general public about the needs of the children with special needs. Although a few popular films have highlighted the neglect of the disabled person by the family and peer groups, at the same time, several others have portrayed differently abled as objects of caricature. More-over, the media, which is regarded as the fourth pillar of the democratic state, does not hesitate to repeatedly give coverage to the birth anniver-saries of noted Bollywood actors and actresses but the ideologues of disabled persons like Louis Braille, Keller, Calor, Stephen Hawking hardly hog the limelight of national dailies or dominate the television channels. Conclusion No doubt, education is certainly regarded as the vehicle of progress of any political system and society. It may be democracy/socialism, monarchy/militarism, communism/imperialism, education plays a vital role in preserving culture and empowering citizens. However, education for the physically challenged is considered as a charitable act. If proper education and training facility can be provided to the physically challenged persons they can contribute signifi-cantly for the prosperity of the family and reduce the burden on their parents. In the case of visually challenged persons it is said in particular that they are physically fit, mentally alert, academically suitable and socially amicable. Similarly, the hearing impaired persons have good artistic quality and talents. A few have been successful in getting into the Indian Administrative Service and other jobs in the public and private sectors. Likewise, ortho-paedically challenged persons are performing significantly and can contribute more in the field of administration, private sector, and academics if they are provided proper facilities with a barrier-free environment. In sum, it can be aptly said, only the words in the Constitution, Acts and legislation cannot empower the citizens but recognition of their rights, sensitisation about the needs of differently abled persons, meaningful and proper strate-gised education and sincere implementation can help in empowering differently abled citizens so that they become national assets and not a national wastage as is considered by some sections of the society. Dr Duryodhan Nahak is an Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, PGDAV College, University of Delhi. He himself is a visually challenged person. While Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka form the holy trinity of cities to visit for first-timers to the country, Japan is dotted with plenty of just-as-appealing cities that offer unique sights, diverse culture, and important history. While we adore the sprawling metropolis of Tokyo, the traditional atmosphere of Kyoto and the vibrant neon-lit streets of Osaka just as much as any visitor to Japan would, we encourage travelers with a penchant for hidden beauty to explore the many less-visited cities of this impossibly gorgeous country. From the hush tranquility of Nagano, the city which is home to the very first Buddha statue brought into Japan, to Matsuyama, which boasts one of the oldest hot spring bath houses in the country, which incidentally served as the inspiration for the onsen in Hayao Miyazakis award-winning animated film Spirited Away, Japan is definitely full of surprises. Head up to the gallery to check out 6 underrated cities that travel lovers should explore at least once. Angela Goh Read more: Travelling With Tots: 10 Best cities in Asia to visit if you have kids Travel Guide: 15 Things every first-time visitor to Tokyo must do Japan 101: 4 Perfect side trips to take when visiting Tokyo Travel Hacks: 7 Ways to make long-haul flights more bearable In Defence of Marxism is committed to safeguarding your privacy. At all times we aim to respect any personal data you share with us, or that we receive from other organisations, and keep it safe. This Privacy Policy (Policy) sets out our data collection and processing practices and your options regarding the ways in which your personal information is used. This Policy contains important information about your personal rights to privacy. Please read it carefully to understand how we use your personal data. We may update this Policy from time to time without notice to you, so please check it regularly. The provision of your personal data to us is voluntary. However, without providing us with your personal data, you will be unable to (as appropriate): contact us; subscribe to our mailing list; subscribe to any of our publications; or receive information about In Defence of Marxism. We collect information about you: (1) When you give it to us DIRECTLY You may give us your personal data in order to subscribe to a newsletter or publication, when you contact us by phone, email or post, when you sign a petition / statement, and/or when you donate money to us. (2) When you give it to us INDIRECTLY Your information will also be provided to us when you follow us or otherwise interact with on or via Twitter, when you like and/or join our page on Facebook or interact with us in other ways on or via Facebook. (3) When you give permission to OTHER ORGANISATIONS to share it or it is AVAILABLE PUBLICLY We may combine information you provide to us with information available from external publicly available sources. Depending on your privacy settings for social media services, we may also access information from those accounts or services. We use this information to gain a better understanding of you and to improve our communications and fundraising activities. (4) When you visit our WEBSITE We use cookies to identify you when you visit our website. Please refer to our Cookies Policy for details on the way our use of cookies affects your personal data. What information do we collect? We may collect, store and use the following kinds of personal data: (1) We will typically hold your name and contact details, including telephone number, location, and e-mail address. However, we may request other information where it is appropriate and relevant, for example: Your bank details or debit/credit card details (if making a donation). (2) any communication preferences you give; (3) information about your computer and about your visits to and use of this website including your IP address, geographical location, browser type, referral source, length of visit and number of page views; and/or (4) any other information shared with us as per clause 1. Do we process sensitive personal information? Applicable law recognises certain categories of personal information as sensitive and therefore requiring more protection, including political opinions and trade union membership. In limited cases, we may collect sensitive personal data about you. We would only collect sensitive personal data if there is a clear reason for doing so; and will only do so with your explicit consent. How and why will we use your personal data? Personal data, however provided to us, will be used for the purposes specified in this Policy or in relevant parts of the website. We may use your personal information to: (1) Enable you to subscribe to our hard copy publications; (2) Send you information about our work, campaigns, organisations and any other information, products or services that we provide (this will not be done without your consent); (3) Provide you with the services, products or information you have requested; (4) If you request, put you in touch with other supporters in your area (who have also provided such consent); (5) Handle the administration of any donation or other payment you make via credit/debit card, cheque, standing order or BACS transfer; (6) Collect payments from you and send statements and/or receipts to you; (7) Conduct research into the impact of our activity / campaigns; (8) Deal with enquiries and complaints made by you relating to the website or us in general; (9) Make petition submissions to third parties, where you have signed a petition and the third party is a target of the campaign to which the petition relates; and/or (10) Audit and/or administer our accounts. Supporter Analysis Google Analytics We may use some of your personal information to analyse our digital performance, for example to see how our website can be improved to help us achieve the purposes set out in section 9 below, to record how you are using our website or to assess the popularity of different articles / campaigns. For more information on how we use your personal information in relation to Google Analytics, please view our cookie policy by clicking this link cookies policy You can opt-out of the collection of information for such purposes here: http://www.aboutads.info/choices Communications, updates, fundraising Where you have provided appropriate consent, we will contact you by telephone and e-mail, with targeted communications to let you know about our events and/or activities that we consider may be of particular interest; about the work of In Defence of Marxism; and to ask for donations or other support. Donations and other payments All financial transactions carried out on our website are handled through either: PayPal (Europe) S.a r.l. (PayPal), a third party payment services provider. We recommend that you read PayPals privacy policy (available at https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/ua/privacy-full?locale.x=en_GB ) prior to effecting any transactions with us through PayPal; or GoCardless Ltd (GoCardless), a third party payment services provider. We recommend that you read GoCardlesss privacy policy (available at https://www.gocardless.com/legal/privacy) prior to effecting any transactions with us through GoCardless. We will provide your personal data to PayPal / GoCardless only to the extent necessary for the purposes of processing payments for transactions you enter into with us. We do not store your financial details. Childrens data We do not knowingly process data of any person under the age of 16. If we come to discover, or have reason to believe, that you are 15 and under and we are holding your personal information, we will delete that information within a reasonable period and withhold our services accordingly. Security of and access to your personal data We endeavour to ensure that there are appropriate and proportionate technical and organisational measures to prevent the loss, destruction, misuse, alteration, unauthorised disclosure or of access to your personal information. Your information is only accessible by appropriately trained staff and volunteers. We may also use agencies and/or suppliers to process data on our behalf. We may also merge or partner with other organisations and in so doing transfer and/or acquire personal data. Please note that some countries outside of the EEA have a lower standard of protection for personal data, including lower security requirements and fewer rights for individuals. We may transfer and/or store personal data collected from you to and/or at a destination outside the European Economic Area (EEA). Such personal data may be processed by agencies and/or suppliers operating outside the EEA. If we transfer and/or store your personal data outside the EEA we will take reasonable steps to ensure that the recipient implements appropriate measures to protect your personal data. Otherwise than as set out in this Privacy Policy, we will only ever share your data with your informed consent. Your rights Where we rely on your consent to use your personal information, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. This includes the right to ask us to stop using your personal information for direct marketing purposes or to be unsubscribed from our email list at any time. You also have the following rights: (1) Right to be informed you have the right to be told how your personal information will be used. This Policy and any other policies and statements used on our website and in our communications are intended to provide you with a clear and transparent description of how your personal information may be used. (2) Right of access you can write to us to ask for confirmation of what information we hold on you and to request a copy of that information. Provided we are satisfied that you are entitled to see the information requested and we have successfully confirmed your identity, we have 30 days to comply. (3) Right of erasure as from 25 May 2018, you can ask us for your personal information to be deleted from our records. (4) Right of rectification if you believe our records of your personal information are inaccurate, you have the right to ask for those records to be updated. (5) Right to restrict processing you have the right to ask for processing of your personal data to be restricted if there is disagreement about its accuracy or legitimate usage. (6) Right to data portability to the extent required by the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) where we are processing your personal information (i) under your consent, (ii) because such processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are party or to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contact or (iii) by automated means, you may ask us to provide it to you or another service provider in a machine-readable format. To exercise these rights, please send a description of the personal information in question using the contact details in section 15 below. You can also unsubscribe from our email list by sending a blank email to news-unsubscribe@marxist.com Where we consider that the information with which you have provided us does not enable us to identify the personal information in question, we reserve the right to ask for (i) personal identification and/or (ii) further information. Lawful processing We are required to have one or more lawful grounds to process your personal information. Only 4 of these are relevant to us: Personal information is processed on the basis of a persons consent Personal information is processed on the basis of a contractual relationship Personal information is processed on the basis of legal obligations Personal information is processed on the basis of legitimate interests (1) Consent We will ask for your consent to use your information to send you electronic communications such as newsletters and and fundraising emails, and if you ever share sensitive personal information with us. (2) Contractual relationships Most of our interactions with supporters are voluntary and not contractual. However, sometimes it will be necessary to process personal information so that we can enter contractual relationships with people. For example, if you subscribe to one of our publications, or purchase merchandise online. (3) Legal obligations Sometimes we will be obliged to process your personal information due to legal obligations which are binding on us. We will only ever do so when strictly necessary. (4) Legitimate interests Applicable law allows personal information to be collected and used if it is reasonably necessary for our legitimate activities (as long as its use is fair, balanced and does not unduly impact individuals rights). We will rely on this ground to process your personal data when it is not practical or appropriate to ask for consent. Achieving our purposes These include (but are not limited to) promoting socialist policies Governance Internal and external audit for financial or regulatory compliance purposes Statutory reporting Publicity and income generation Conventional direct marketing and other forms of marketing, publicity or advertisement Unsolicited messages, including campaigns, newsletters, and fundraising appeals Analysis, targeting and segmentation to develop and promote or strategy and improve communication efficiency Personalisation used to tailor and enhance your experience of our communications Operational Management Maintenance of suppression files Processing for historical, scientific or statistical purpose Purely administrative purposes Responding to enquiries Delivery of requested products or information Communications designed to administer existing services including subscriptions, administration of petitions and financial transactions Thank you communications and receipts Maintaining a supporter database and suppression lists Financial Management and control Processing financial transactions and maintaining financial controls Prevention of fraud, misuse of services, or money laundering Enforcement of legal claims Reporting criminal acts and compliance with law enforcement agencies When we use your personal information, we will consider if it is fair and balanced to do so and if it is within your reasonable expectations. We will balance your rights and our legitimate interests to ensure that we use your personal information in ways that are not unduly intrusive or unfair in other ways. Data retention The length of time each category of data will be retained will vary depending on how long we need to process it for, the reason it was collected, and in line with any statutory requirements. After this point the data will either be deleted, or we may retain a secure anonymised record for research and analytical purposes. In the event that you ask us to stop sending you direct marketing/fundraising/other electronic communications, we will keep your name on our internal suppression list to ensure that you are not contacted again. Policy amendments We keep this Privacy Policy under regular review and reserve the right to update from time-to-time by posting an updated version on our website, not least because of changes in applicable law. We recommend that you check this Privacy Policy occasionally to ensure you remain happy with it. We may also notify you of changes to our privacy policy by email. Third party websites We link our website directly to other sites. This Privacy Policy does not cover external websites and we are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those sites. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of any external websites you visit via links on our website. Updating information You can check the personal data we hold about you, and ask us to update it where necessary, by emailing us at webmaster@marxist.com Contact We are not required by law to have a Data Protection Officer however we have a Data Protection Manager. Please let us know if you have any queries or concerns whatsoever about the way in which your data is being processed by emailing the Data Protection Manager at webmaster@marxist.com Parliamentary elections were held in Hungary on 3 April 2022. Viktor Orban's Fidesz party has won a supermajority for the fourth consecutive time. On this occasion, they won against an opposition that united a whole range of parties, from the right-wing Jobbik to the supposedly left-wing Socialist Party. While the opposition lost more than 800,000 voters compared to their combined vote in 2018, the far-right Mi Hazank, founded in 2018 by former Jobbik politicians, entered parliament. Update: Sage Meadow Farm adds four more goat yoga classes; tickets on sale Friday The 'Goat Yoga' craze has made its way to Massachusetts and tickets for the original classes quickly sold out, leaving many feeling left out. The classes are for charity with proceeds going to support the Easthampton Community Center, Easthampton Farmers Market, and Dakin Humane Society. They are taught by Audrey Jones Blaisdell from Valley Hot Yoga at the Keystone Building in Easthampton with Sage Meadow Farm and their kid goats. A pair of classes on April 10 have sold out. Another, on April 21, is also sold out, according to the website. But two more classes in May have been added for those hoping to jump on the trend. The classes will be held May 14th and 20th. The trick? Getting tickets before they're sold out again. Hopeful attendees aren't able to purchase tickets, yet. Sage Meadow Farm said they'll post on their Facebook page when they're available. Glazer and Rosenberg.jpg Massachusetts State Senate President Stanley C. Rosenberg and Longmeadow Democratic Town Committee Chairwoman Candy Glazer. LONGMEADOW The Longmeadow Democratic Town Committee will honor U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal and state Senate President Stan Rosenberg at its annual Democrat of the Year Award brunch April 30. The event starts at 9:30 a.m. at Twin Hills Country Club. The committee will present this year's Democrat of Distinction award to Neal, and the Democrat of the Year award to Rosenberg, a statement from the Longmeadow Democratic Town Committee says. "The LDTC is pleased to present Senate President Rosenberg with the Longmeadow Democratic Town Committee's 'Democrat of the Year,' for his leadership and all of his achievements and service to the commonwealth," Longmeadow Democratic Town Committee Chairwoman Candy Glazer said in a statement. "Each year we celebrate Democrats who advance the values of our part of the state. Senate President Rosenberg and Congressman Neal are two leaders whose contributions are clearly visible, and we are proud to honor and thank them." Rosenberg, an Amherst Democrat, began serving as Senate president in 2015, following his predecessor Therese Murray. He has been in the Senate since 1991 and previously served in the state House of Representatives starting in 1986. Since the Democrat of the Year ceremony was first held in 1989, it has become a popular political event for local and statewide elected officials, Glazer said. Recent recipients range from former Gov. Michael Dukakis to Longmeadow state Sen. Eric Lesser. Last year, the group honored Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healy, citing her commitment to issues that affect Western Massachusetts. Neal, a ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee who represents Massachusetts' 1st Congressional District, will be recognized for his work in congress. "We also look forward to honoring Congressman Neal for his new role as ranking member of the House Committee on Ways and Means," Glazer said in a statement. Reservations are required in order to attend. Tickets are available for purchase at longmeadowdemocrats.com or by contacting Glazer at longmeadowdemocrats@gmail.com. Almost 200 ancient Roman coins. A book taken from the personal library of a 14th century archbishop. An illuminated page from a 15th century manuscript. Those are some of the items of "significant cultural value" that US homeland security officials and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh plan to hand over to the government of Italy in a Wednesday afternoon ceremony. The 198 coins were first seized by US customs officials in 2014. Joining them for the ceremony are Boston Public Library's head of special collections, Beth Prindle; Boston's special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Matthew Etre; Acting U.S. Attorney William Weinreb; and Carabinieri Brigadier General Fabrizio Parrulli of Italy's police corps. According to the US Department of Homeland Security, "HSI oversees investigations into the trafficking of cultural property from around the world. It also manages the return of such items to their rightful owners. Federal law gives HSI the authority to take a leading role in criminal investigations that involve the movement of stolen or looted cultural property." The ceremony is set for noon at the Boston Public Library in Copley Square. This post has been corrected. The post originally said the coins were a part of the Boston Public Library collection. They were seized as part of a separate investigation. In March 2014, US customs officials in Ohio seized nearly 200 ancient Roman coins. The bronze coins were on their way to Rhode Island from the United Arab Emirates. They were an example of illegally trafficked cultural items, a "lucrative" enterprise, acting US Attorney William Weinreb said Wednesday. Prosecutors and law enforcement officials plan to keep going after "people out there who value profit over history," he added, standing next to Fabrizio Parrulli, brigadier general in the Italian Caribinieri. On the other side of Weinreb were the coins, along with a medieval manuscript dating back to 1392, an illuminated leaf from another manuscript that dated back to 1418 and a book collecting the work of Bernardino Telesio, published in 1590. "They rightly belong in their country of origin," Weinreb said. Matthew Etre, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston, called the items priceless. Two of the artifacts were stolen in the 1940s and ended up in the collection of the Boston Public Library. All of the items were handed over to the government of Italy in a Wednesday afternoon ceremony inside the main branch's Abbey Room. The items in the public library's collection were purchased in good faith, according to library officials. The illuminated manuscript leaf from the medieval manuscript "Mariegola della Scuola di Santa Maria della Misercordia" came into the library's hands in 1960, while the illuminated leaf ended up in the library in 1955. The Telesio collection was bought in 1980 from a man in Los Angeles. The library's rare books and manuscripts department has almost 250,000 rare books and one million manuscripts. "Hopefully everything we have is ours now," Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said. By CONOR BERRY Vanished Valley Brewing Co. still can't sell beer from its brewery at 782 Center St., Ludlow, located behind the Europa Black Rock Bar & Grille. But there are plenty of places in Western Massachusetts where you can pick up a growler or sit down for a pint or two of the region's latest buzzworthy brew. This list is by no means comprehensive, especially since Vanished Valley continues to land new fans and customers every day. As with all microbreweries, supplies are limited and the availability of certain beers changes from day to day. That's why we recommend calling the following businesses ahead of time to make sure they have VVBC in stock. Don't Edit Conor Berry | cberry@repub.com Don't Edit Europa Black Rock Bar & Grille Vanished Valley brews its beer in a small facility behind Europa (413-547-6443), a well-known Ludlow restaurant at 782 Center St. Europa's proprietor, Mike Rodrigues, joined forces with Josh Britton, a Wilbraham resident and VVBC's head brewer, to establish the brewery. VVBC is named for the former towns that "vanished" as a result of the creation of the Quabbin Reservoir, the largest inland body of water in Massachusetts. The reservoir, the primary supplier of water to Boston, was built between 1930-39 and involved flooding several towns that formerly existed where the reservoir is now located. VVBC has established a website, www.vanishedvalley.com, but it has a "coming soon" message and not much else to share with the public at this time. For now, the brewery's Facebook page (www.facebook.com/VanishedValleyBrewing) is the main source for updates on where to sample VVBC's latest creations. Don't Edit Don't Edit The Backroom Bar & Grill Located at 827 Springfield St. in Feeding Hills, this neighborhood bar and eatery is among the local establishments to carry beer by Vanished Valley Brewing. Don't Edit Don't Edit Don't Edit The Cabot Comedy Club This comedy club at 66 Cabot St., Chicopee, is yet another venue that now pours pints of VVBC. The club can be reached at 413-592-5058. Don't Edit Don't Edit Pop-N-Cork This wine, beer & spirits store is located at 12 Cady St. in Ludlow and can be reached at 413-583-2333. Don't Edit Don't Edit Don't Edit Cooper's Corner This grocery, deli and package store is located at 31 Main St. in the Florence section of Northampton. Call 413-586-1684. Don't Edit Don't Edit Luke's Beer & Wine / Convenience Store This beer & wine store is at 1478 N. Main St., Palmer. Call 413-283-4765. Don't Edit Don't Edit Granby Liquors This liquor store is located at 60 W. State St. in Granby. Call 413-467-3456. Don't Edit Don't Edit Don't Edit Atkins Farms Country Market Atkins Farms, a Hampdhire County staple, is located at 1150 West St. (corner of Bay Road & Rte 116) in South Amherst. Call 413-253-9528. Don't Edit Don't Edit Johnny Mac Liquors This popular liquor store is located at the Sixteen Acres Shopping Center, 1949 Wilbraham Road, in the Sixteen Acres section of Springfield. Johnny Mac's carries a large selection, including local brews. Call 413-782-2800. Don't Edit Don't Edit Don't Edit Conor Berry | cberry@repub.com McCarthy's Liquors This liquor store is located at 430 Main St., Agawam. Call 413-786-9537. Don't Edit Don't Edit Turnpike Package Store Turnpike liquors is located at 434 Center St. in Ludlow. Call 413-583-6067. Don't Edit Don't Edit White Eagle Wines & Liquors White Eagle is located at 620 Fuller Road, Chicopee. Call 413-594-6337. Don't Edit Don't Edit Don't Edit Uncle Bob's General Store Uncle Bob's is located at 967 East St., Ludlow. Call 413-583-6711. Don't Edit Don't Edit The Beer Shop The Beer Shop carries a ton of microwbrews from across the region. The store is located at 33 Harkness Ave. in East Longmeadow near the Springfield city line. Call 413-525-1516. Don't Edit Don't Edit Don't Edit Country Crossroads Wine Outlet Despite its name, this Belchertown store at 43 Federal St. sells much more than wine. It's a full-fledged convenience store that sells beer, too. And in recent weeks, it has carried Vanished Valley products, so call 413-3232-9344 to check on VVBC's availability. Don't Edit Don't Edit Smith's Billiards Not only is Smith's Billiards a great place to shoot a game of pool in downtown Springfield, the cavernous establishment at 207 Worthington St., located on the block where the annual Worthy Brewfest is held, is also a great place to try out craft beers from across Massachusetts and New England. Call 413-734-9616. Don't Edit Don't Edit The Hangar Pub and Grill This Amherst landmark, popular with UMass students and locals alike, is renowned for its chicken wings. And what goes better with hot wings than cold beer? NOTHING! The Hangar is at 10 University Drive. Call 413-549-9461 to make sure they have VVBC on tap. Even if they don't, go anyway. It's worth the trip. Don't Edit Don't Edit Don't Edit Center Square Grill This neighborhood bar and grill is located in East Longmeadow at 84 Center Square, a shopping plaza at the town's notorious rotary. If your nerves are frayed after trying to navigate the rotary, be sure to stop by Center Square Grill for a cold, calming pint of VVBC. But first, call 413-525-0055 to make sure it's on tap. Don't Edit Don't Edit Taphouse Grille Taphouse is located at 1506 Riverdale St., West Springfield. Call 413-363-1000. Don't Edit Don't Edit Don't Edit BJ's Liquor BJ's is at 54 N. Canal St., Holyoke. Call 413-538-6991. Don't Edit Don't Edit Vanished Valley Brewing Co. ... ... is the brainchild of Josh Britton and Mike Rodrigues, the later of whom owns the Europa restaurant and bar in Ludlow. VVBC is brewed in a small facility behind the restaurant at 782 Center St., Ludlow. 22356254-mmmain.png Joseph Barcelos, 20, of Belchertown will remain in jail a bail hearing next month. He was the 4th suspect charged in connection with an Amherst home invasion last October in Amherst. AMHERST -- The bail hearing for the fourth man charged in connection with an alleged October home invasion on South East Street has been postponed until May 2. The hearing for Joseph Barcelos, 20, of Belchertown, was scheduled for this week in Eastern Hampshire District Court in Belchertown, but has been rescheduled in Hampshire Superior Court in Northampton, according to spokeswoman Mary Carey of the Northwestern district attorney's office. Barcelos earlier this month denied charges of armed robbery and assault a battery with a dangerous weapon. Amherst Police detectives, along with troopers from the Massachusetts State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section, arrested Barcelos on a warrant last month. The three other co-defendants have been released on bail. Two have been charged in Hampshire Superior Court in connection with the alleged Oct. 30 home invasion that police said sent three to the hospital, including one of the alleged assailants, Patrick Bemben, 25, of Hadley. Bemben was released on $35,000 cash bail in January but must abide by a number of conditions, including completing a 90-day drug treatment program in Westminster. He is facing 11 charges in Hampshire Superior Court. John Niemiec III, 29, of Sunderland, was released on $5,000 bail. Hadley resident Stephanos Georgiadis, 25, was released on $10,000 bail. He was indicted on 10 new charges in Hampshire Superior Court. The incident remains under investigation. Republican House Speaker Austin Knudsen is using his parliamentary power to kill a measure allowing counties to hold an all-mail ballot in Montanas May 25 special congressional election. Knudsen has refused to schedule a floor vote on House Bill 83, which Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock sent back to the House on April 7, with amendments giving counties the option to conduct an all-mail ballot. Without a floor vote, the bill is dead unless at least 60 House members vote to overrule Knudsens decision, which is unlikely. In a statement Tuesday, Bullock said Knudsen is "playing procedural games to prevent this (bill) from reaching the House floor." By Mike Dennison Full Story: http://www.kbzk.com/story/35182453/mt-house-speaker-kills-mail-ballot-bill-with-parliamentary-power After Idaho lawmakers this year rejected five new school science standards regarding climate change, state Department of Education officials are gathering public input for help. So far, meetings in Twin Falls, Idaho Falls and Fort Hall have drawn comments overwhelmingly in favor of the standards that lawmakers rejected. This week, meetings will be held Tuesday in Boise, Wednesday in Lewiston and Thursday in Coeur dAlene. By Betsy Z. Russell [email protected] Full Story: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/apr/17/idaho-calls-for-public-input-on-school-science-sta/ Gov. Bill Haslams plan to offer Tennessee adults tuition-free community college moved closer to a reality Thursday when state House members approved the measure. Haslam proposed the Tennessee Reconnect grant during his State of the State address earlier this year. The plan would build on the Tennessee Promise scholarship model, which offers high school students tuition-free community college. If the plan is approved by the Senate, every Tennessee resident without a college education will be able to pursue higher education without paying tuition. Tennessee would be the first state in the nation to offer such widespread college access. Adam Tamburin , USA TODAY NETWORK Tennessee Full Story: http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/education/2017/04/13/house-approves-haslams-tuition-free-college-plan/100417716/ Each year, more than $5 million is awarded to Montana towns for community development projects that improve infrastructure, access to affordable housing, and increase training and job opportunities. The Montana Department of Commerce is recognizing National Community Development Week, April 17-22, by celebrating the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program. "Montanas vibrant towns are what attracts visitors, entices business owners to stay, and creates a healthy place for our kids to grow," Director Pam Haxby-Cote said. "A ribbon-cutting on a CDBG project means that a local community has planned and invested well, setting down roots for a more dynamic and secure future." CDBG funds support local projects allowing communities to address their greatest development needs. Here are a few recent examples of this work: http://commerce.mt.gov/News/PressReleases/community-development-projects-boost-jobs-infrastructure-access-to-affordable-housing Brand Africa launched Brand Africa | Africas Best Places, the pan-African initiative to recognize and rank the best places for tourism, investment and citizen mobilisation in Africa. The goal of the initiative is to inspire pride, raise the standards and grow the competitiveness of African places countries, cities and destinations. The inaugural awards and rankings of the Brand Africa | Africas Best Places will be celebrated and published on 1 September 2022. The Brand Africa | Africas Best Places initiative builds on the inaugural Brand Africa Forum in 2010 which convened African and global place branding decision makers and thought leaders to reflect on how African nations individually and the continent collectively can develop a supranational competitive advantage. Every year since then, Brand Africa has announced the Brand Africa 100 | Africas Best Brands the widely referenced pan-African survey and ranking of brands in Africa, which over the past 10 years, has established that only 20% of the most admired brands in Africa are African. The initiative was announced by Brand Africa Chairman, Thebe Ikalafeng, on the sidelines of the Intra-Africa Trade Fair 2021 (IATF2021) which is taking place in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa from 15 to 21 November 2021. Despite being rich in valued mineral resources, enviable indigenous fauna and flaura, a youthful population and being the second most populous continent accounting for 17.5% of world population, Africa attracts roughly only five percent of the worlds inbound tourism and FDI, says Ikalafeng. Recognizing Africas Best Places will inspire pride in African places, enhance their reputations and competitiveness, grow tourism and investment, and ultimately contribute to the greater development and image of the continent, he concludes. Thebe Ikalafeng Founder and Chairman of Brand Africa The Brand Africa | Africas Best Places initiative is structured into two primary categories: (1) adjudicated awards and (2) rankings. In the adjudicated awards category, African private and public institutions, agencies and practitioners can submit entries for initiatives and campaigns for tourism, trade and investment, economic development and citizen mobilization implemented internally in Africa or externally for Africa. In the rankings category, an independent pan-African survey among citizens, visitors and investors will be undertaken to determine the best places for tourism, investment and to live. Reflecting on the pandemic and the context of the IAFT2021 whose theme is focused on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which aims to accelerate intra-Africa investment and trade from 18% to 50% in 2030 through a single market for goods and services across 55 countries, Ikalafeng, whos been to every country in Africa, believes that by highlighting Africas Best Places and championing made in Africa brands, will inspire and mobilize African entrepreneurs, grow tourism, trade and investment, and accelerate industrialization, which ultimately will contribute to Africas growth, competitiveness and distinctiveness in a post-pandemic world where nations are increasingly having to look internally for sustainability. Dr. Keith Dinnie, the global authority in city, region and country brand management and author of the worlds first textbook on nation branding: Nation Branding Concepts, Issues, Practice and editor of the book City Branding Theory and Cases, Kwame Senou, Vice-President at Opinion & Public in Benin and Ivory Coast and Vice-Chairman for Brand Africa Francophone Africa and Central Africa, New York based Eloine Barry, the CEO of Africa Media Agency, Kwakye Donkor, the CEO of Africa Tourism Partners, and broadcaster, actor, traveller, entrepreneur and philanthropist, Masego Maponyane are the inaugural members of the advisory council. The awards are open to global and African private and public institutions, agencies and practitioners. Entries open 1 January 2022 and close 30 April 2022. The adjudication, by a diverse and representative global African panel of eminent of place branding experts, thought leaders, academia, policy and decision makers and practitioners. The inaugural awards will be presented live 1 September 2022. Interested parties can register at www.brand.africa/places to receive further information. This portal will also be the channel to enter the awards. Partager et informez vous aussi...... 0 shares Share Tweet LinkedIn Articles similaires Medtronic recently announced the early success of the HVAD LATERAL trial. The trial is investigating the potential to implant Medtronics HVAD device via a less invasive lateral thoracotomy, instead of the more conventional median sternotomy. The HVAD is a ventricular assist device, consisting of a mechanical pump attached to the heart, that assists in pumping blood around the body in patients with heart failure. In the United States, the device is implanted using a median sternotomy, where the sternum is parted and the chest opened. This latest trial investigates placing the device through a lateral thoracotomy, in which a small incision between the ribs is used to access the heart. The idea is that a thoracotomy is much less invasive than a median sternotomy, and the recovery time should be less. The device is already approved in Europe for surgical placement through a thoracotomy. Medgadget asked David Steinhaus, M.D., vice president and general manager of the Heart Failure business at Medtronic, some questions about the technology and the ongoing trial. Conn Hastings, Medgadget: Please give us a brief overview of the HVAD and the type of patient who is eligible for treatment with an HVAD. David Steinhaus: The HeartWare centrifugal-flow, ventricular assist device (HVAD) is a mechanical pump that attaches directly to the heart and circulates oxygen-rich blood throughout the body in patients with advanced heart failure. The HVAD System consists of a pump, an external controller, a connecting cable and power sources that run the pump and controller. The HVAD has been proven to extend life, augment cardiac function and improve quality of life for end-stage heart failure patients, and the HVAD system is approved as a bridge to transplant in the U.S. Medgadget: Can you explain the advantages of thoracotomy as opposed to median sternotomy in terms of patient morbidity and recovery time? David Steinhaus: A thoracotomy is a small, lateral surgical incision between the patients ribs on the left side of the chest, whereas the more commonly used median sternotomy is a surgical procedure in which a vertical incision is made down the middle of the chest, then the sternum is divided. The thoracotomy technique is less invasive and preserves the chest for a possible subsequent sternotomy, such as that occurring at the time of heart transplantation. Additionally, the thoracotomy technique may provide patient benefits such as less tissue trauma and shorter hospital stays. Medgadget: Is a thoracotomy more challenging for the surgeon, in terms of limited space to operate? Is the HVAD well-suited to delivery via thoracotomy? David Steinhaus: In Europe, the HVAD System is the only full-support, centrifugal LVAD approved for implantation via the thoracotomy procedure, in addition to a median sternotomy procedure. The thoracotomy option is possible because of its smaller size relative to other LVADs on the market. But in the U.S., this implant technique is not approved by the FDA for any LVADs. Medgadget: The trial has successfully met its primary endpoint. Can you summarize these early results and explain their significance? David Steinhaus: The LATERAL trial sought to evaluate the thoracotomy implant technique of the HeartWare HVAD System in patients with advanced heart failure who are eligible for heart transplant. It is a multicenter, prospective, controlled clinical trial of 145 patients with end-stage heart failure who have not responded to medical management. LATERAL successfully met its primary endpoint, with 87.6 percent of patients alive on the original device, free from disabling stroke, or having been explanted due to recovery at six months. This is compared to the performance goal of 77.5 percent, so you can see the study succeeded, and even surpassed its target (p-value=0.002). Overall survival among patients receiving an HVAD via the thoracotomy procedure was 91.8 percent at six months. LATERAL validates that HVAD implantation via a thoracotomy is a viable alternative to median sternotomy. FDA approval of this investigational approach could ultimately result in more flexibility in implant planning and changes to patient management and recovery. Medgadget: If it can be shown that delivery of HVAD through a thoracotomy produces similar or better therapeutic outcomes than delivery with median sternotomy, do you envisage this being the sole delivery method for the device globally? David Steinhaus: There is a growing trend toward the use of less-invasive approaches in all fields of cardiac surgery. The positive results of the LATERAL trial show that the less-invasive thoracotomy procedure for implanting the HVAD System is feasible. A sternotomy leads to adhesions and scar tissue, which are much more difficult to work through in a subsequent sternotomy, particularly at the time of a heart transplant. Of course, physician preference for implant technique certainly comes into play, but what we are seeing in Europe where the thoracotomy approach for the HVAD is already approved is the smaller size of the HVAD System makes it suitable for either implant approach. The thoracotomy option is not seen by physicians as feasible with the larger LVAD pumps. Medgadget: The ENDURANCE trial is examining the potential of the HVAD system as a long-term therapy for heart failure patients, as opposed to a stop-gap treatment until heart transplant can occur. Recently, a subset of data showing that sicker patients in the trial did not have worse outcomes than less sick patients has been presented at the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation Scientific Meeting in San Diego. Can you comment on the significance of these results? David Steinhaus: This was an interesting finding from the original ENDURANCE trial that sicker patients didnt necessarily have worse outcomes, which is contrary to some of the other published literature. But a bigger splash at the ISHLT was from the ENDURANCE Supplemental trial, which was one of the other late breakers. You may remember that the original ENDURANCE trial demonstrated the safety and efficacy of the HVAD System for destination or long-term therapy; those results were presented at this meeting two years ago. But we saw a higher stroke rate than anticipated, so this second trial included intentional blood pressure management of HVAD patients in an effort to bring down the stroke rate which it did. In fact, one of the prespecified secondary endpoints showed that the HVAD was superior to the control device in terms of being alive on the originally implanted device and free of disabling stroke which is the endpoint of most LVAD therapy clinical trials. As you may imagine, these results were very well received by the physician community. Flashback: Interview with David Steinhaus, VP of Cardiac Rhythm Disease Management at Medtronic For individuals with a severe form of epilepsy, a new study finds that the occurrence of seizures could be significantly reduced with a daily dose of cannabidiol a chemical component of cannabis. Share on Pinterest Researchers say that cannabidiol an active chemical in cannabis could help to reduce seizures for patients with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. Researchers from the Ohio State University found that individuals with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) who took cannabidiol every day for 14 weeks saw the frequency of atonic seizures fall by more than 50 percent. Atonic seizures, also known as drop seizures, involve a sudden, brief loss of muscle tone. Study co-author Dr. Anup Patel, of the College of Medicine at Ohio State, and colleagues recently presented their findings at the American Academy of Neurologys 69th annual meeting, held in Boston, MA. LGS is one of the most severe forms of epilepsy. The condition involves multiple types of seizures, including tonic, atonic, atypical absence, and myoclonic. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the onset of LGS normally occurs between the ages of 3 and 5 years, and the condition is estimated to affect between 1 in 50,000 and 1 in 100,000 children in the United States. There is no cure for LGS, and the condition is extremely challenging to treat, as there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Anti-epileptic medications, such as valproate and lamotrigine, can help to control seizures, but many children who initially respond to such drugs develop tolerance to them later on. However, the new study from Dr. Patel and colleagues suggests that cannabidiol may be a promising treatment strategy for LGS, after finding that the cannabis compound more than halved atonic seizure frequency in patients with the condition. A pancreas transplant replaces a persons pancreas when it can no longer produce insulin. A healthy insulin-producing pancreas is transplanted from a donor who has died. The first pancreas transplant was in 1966. However, it was not until the 1990s that this kind of transplant was widely accepted by doctors. What is a pancreas transplant for? Share on Pinterest A pancreas transplant is necessary when the pancreas no longer produces insulin. The pancreas is the source of insulin in the human body. In people with type 1 diabetes, the pancreas is unable to produce insulin. Having a pancreas transplant allows people with type 1 diabetes to maintain their blood sugar levels normally without receiving extra insulin or having to carry out the intensive monitoring typical of diabetes care. There are three types of pancreas transplant: Pancreas transplant alone : This is performed on people who have type 1 diabetes but no kidney problems. : This is performed on people who have type 1 diabetes but no kidney problems. Simultaneous kidney and pancreas transplant : This is done on a person who has type 1 diabetes and end-stage renal disease. : This is done on a person who has type 1 diabetes and end-stage renal disease. Pancreas after kidney transplant: This is when a kidney transplant is performed first, from a living donor. The pancreas transplant from a deceased donor occurs later when an organ becomes available. Who needs a pancreas transplant? A pancreas transplant is an option for people with type 1 diabetes who cannot control their condition with insulin or oral diabetic medicine. The surgery is only appropriate for people with type 1 diabetes. People with type 1 diabetes who might benefit from a pancreas transplant include those who: might regularly pass out have to regularly visit the emergency room because of their blood sugar level have uncontrolled average blood sugar levels need a caregiver to be present constantly in case of an emergency, despite using recommended medical therapies In 2016, it was reported that a woman from the United Kingdom had become the first person in the world to receive a pancreas transplant because of a severe phobia of needles that left her unable to inject insulin. The womans phobia was so severe that she would shake uncontrollably and vomit when attempting to administer the insulin that she needed to control her type 1 diabetes. Doctors were concerned about recommending a pancreas transplant because she did not meet the usual criteria. Eventually, however, it was judged she was a special case and a transplant was justified. What to expect Share on Pinterest Before a transplant is decided for a patient, a medical team will perform different tests as part of the evaluation process. In the United States, there are about 1,200 people waiting for a pancreas transplant. Some 2,200 others are awaiting a combined kidney-pancreas transplant. According to the National Kidney Foundation, the average waiting time for a simultaneous kidney and pancreas transplant is 3 years. According to Johns Hopkins, pancreas transplants alone or pancreas after kidney transplants typically have waiting times of more than 2 years. Before they are matched to a donor, a person interested in having a pancreas transplant will be seen by a team of experts. This may include surgeons, endocrinologists, nephrologists, and social workers. These experts will make sure that a transplant is the right option for them. There are several medical tests that a person will need to undergo as part of the evaluation process. Usually these will take 1-2 months. Some people are able to access a pancreas transplant via Medicare. A person needing a pancreas transplant has to be matched to a donor with the same blood type as them. A test called a crossmatch is also used to compare the antibodies of the donor and recipient. This test helps determine whether the match is suitable. During the transplant, a cut is made down the middle of the patients upper body. During the operation, the surgical team will ensure that blood continues to flow into the arteries and digestive enzymes from the bowel flow out of the patients system. The surgery takes around 4-6 hours. Afterward, the patient is moved to the transplant unit and will remain in hospital to recover for about 2 weeks. A new study details the development of a blood test that can identify genetic mutations associated with non-small cell lung cancer within 72 hours. Researchers say that the test could lead to faster, more effective treatment for the disease. Share on Pinterest Researchers have developed a blood test that they believe could lead to more personalized treatments for non-small cell lung cancer. The new test was created by Gary A. Pestano, Ph.D., and colleagues from Biodesix, Inc., a molecular diagnostic company based in Boulder, CO. Piston and team recently described the accuracy of their new test in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics. Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers in the United States. This year, it is estimated that around 222,500 new cases of lung cancer will be diagnosed, and more than 155,000 people will die from the disease. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for around 80-85 percent of lung cancers. NSCLC is named as such due to the types of cells that it affects in the lungs. The most common subtypes of NSCLC are adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and large cell carcinoma. At present, the type of treatment provided for NSCLC is usually determined using a lung biopsy, which involves removing a sample of tissue or fluid from the lungs for analysis. However, Pestano and colleagues note that this procedure is invasive and is not always necessary or accurate. For instance, approximately one fourth of patients with NSCLC are either not candidates for biopsy or have insufficient tissue samples recovered from the initial biopsy, note Pestano and colleagues. This can limit the treating physicians ability to fully diagnose the cancer genotype. Importantly as well, results from tissue-based testing can take weeks to obtain and can delay time to treatment, they add. Please complete this form and we'll send you a personalised information that is requested You may use this for your own reference or forward it to your friends. Please use the information prudently. If you are not a medical doctor please remember to consult your healthcare provider as this information is not a substitute for professional advice. When we speak of the Indian army and the brave men out there, some warmth in heart, pride in our tone and immense respect comes naturally. Life in the cities goes smoothly because we have these brave soldiers guarding our borders. However, often times than not, we forget that out there somewhere, away from family and luxury, they too need our love, respect and we need to show it not just convey it. Twitter In a recent speech, PM Modi urged the Indians to show heir love whenever possible. Can we make effort slowly and develop a tradition to show respect to our defence forces? he said. Call it a reminder, call it an appeal, the effect was already visible when our brave army men stepped in the Delhi airport. The crowd broke into impromptu applause and hooting. 0300 hrs, Indira Gandhi International Airport, crowds break into spontaneous applause when they see #IndianArmy soldiers. The day has come ? pic.twitter.com/olK3nIHXJY Major Gaurav Arya (@majorgauravarya) April 18, 2017 The Indian troops were returning from a UN mission and the warm welcome did catch them by surprise, but a good one this time. Nation greeted his bravehearts at IGI airport ! Bravo ???Jai Ho ?? Wondering who ALL will be restless n sleepless at this gesture ?@adgpi pic.twitter.com/vPOaD74JMf Surendra Poonia (@MajorPoonia) April 18, 2017 After videos were shared, people took to Twitter and expressed their love. What a great gesture by people at Delhi airport!!! We should do this anywhere when we see a soldier. Jai Ho.???#AThankfulNation @adgpi https://t.co/3fIYIQ5GHm Anupam Kher (@AnupamPkher) April 18, 2017 @majorgauravarya @amritabhinder I've started doing this for all soldiers & officers in Uniform, so have my kids! It's a great feeling to let someone know that we love them! Lone Crusader ?? (@seriousfunnyguy) April 18, 2017 Kahin bhi kisi #FaujiKoDekhoSaluteThoko , great way to honour the true heroes of the country. https://t.co/z6qbJ2gzb3 Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) April 19, 2017 The next time you see a man in uniform, please go up to him and tell him how proud you are. Showing love and respect makes all the difference. The groundbreaking victory of Donald Trump, Americas 45th President, left the entire world stunned and if the rumours are to be believed then there some divine or psychic forces behind his electoral triumph. While the man from Southampton got his claim to fame back then, this time around theres another mystic who has asserted that he accurately foretold Donald Trumps presidency. According to a report published in the Daily Star, Mystic Horacio Villegas prophesied Trumps victory way back in the year 2015 and also predicted that will become the Illuminati king who will bring the world into World War 3. Had someone taken this guy seriously at that time, things might have been different for America and the world. Facebook Villegas who calls himself the messenger of God also foretold that Trump will attack Syria and will bring Russia, North Korea and China into the conflict; which partly came out to be true. Spooky eh? Well, wait till you hear this recently, he said he had a dream where he saw balls of fire falling from the sky and hitting the earth. Believe it or not peeps, but it looks like he is hinting at World War 3. He further mentioned that he saw people running around everywhere, trying to hide from the destruction and believes that these were symbols of nuclear missiles falling on cities across the world. Trusting these prophesies is ones personal choice, but when we hear claims like these, it beats the sh*t out of us. Twitter This mystics predictions have smashed the prophesies of Baba Vanga, the renowned blind Bulgarian mystic woman who predicted 9/11, the rise of ISIS and 2004s tsunami. Reportedly, he said that D-Day will fall on the 100th anniversary of the visitation of Our Lady of Fatima the Virgin Mary, which is May 13, of this year. If we go by the story, Our Lady of Fatimas visitation ended on October 13, 1917 and she said, The war is going to end, and the soldiers will soon return to their homes. Hence, Villegas claims that on October 13, this war will come to an end. Wikimedia Commons He warned people with a message that the war will happen and will be over with much devastation, shock and death and that people need to be prepared between May 13th and October 13, 2017. He further predicted that before the war, several attacks will happen between April and May and Syria and North Korea might be involved. Further, Villegas has also said that the president of Syria, Assad might get bombed and killed which will further trigger the war. Woah! Now, thats some serious stuff and given North Koreas recent attempts at launching a ballistic missile and growing tensions in Syria, its becoming harder for us to not believe this prediction. Facebook Furthermore, how much of it will be true is also something hard for us to believe, given that a similar false alarm was raised in 2012 as well. I was so petrified by the news that I quit my job and went for a vacation so I can enjoy the world before it crumbles down. But, by January 2013, I found myself looking for a job. The only good thing that happened was to the directors of the movie '2012', who raked in huge amounts of money just by making the movie. What do you think, peeps? Are these predictions really true? If World War 3 will really end by October, then theres no point making any New Year or Christmas plans. We wonder what will happen to movies that release post Diwali? Original Story Link: DailyMail #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... 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... President Donald Trump was expected to sign a bill Wednesday extending the current Veterans Choice Program, which allows vets to opt for private care. However, new VA Secretary Dr. David Shulkin has said the program still needs a major fix from Congress before the end of the year. Shulkin said he is also counting on Congress to pass additional legislation overhauling the disability claims appeals process, adding that Trump's 90-day hiring freeze on the federal workforce had limited the ability of the Department of Veterans Affairs to bring on more claims processors to tackle the backlog in initial disability claims. In a wide-ranging C-Span interview Sunday, Shulkin said Trump's scheduled April 19 signing of the Choice extension would be a major milestone for the VA but that an entirely new choice program is needed to "integrate" private care more seamlessly with that offered by the VA. "We need to make sure the Choice program not only continues, but it works better for veterans," he said. "And we know it hasn't worked the way we wanted it to work. It's too complex; it's too hard to use. So we are working hard now with Congress to redesign a better, improved way of accessing care in the community." Veterans service organizations feared that Trump's drumbeat of criticism aimed at the VA during the election campaign signaled the full privatization of veterans' care, but Shulkin said, "I am not in favor of privatization of the VA. We have to maintain a strong VA." He added, "That doesn't mean we shouldn't be working more closely with the private sector." Shulkin said he is asking Congress for authority to give veterans more choice for private care in cases where the VA is falling short "or isn't doing as well." The goal would be to give veterans "the best of what the VA offers, the best of what the private sector offers," he said. Shulkin praised the House and Senate for passing the bill to extend the current Veterans Choice Program past the sunset date of Aug. 7. The bill would also allow the VA to continue to spend the $950 million left for the Choice program past August. Shulkin said he expects to send Congress proposals for reforming the Choice program in the fall, leaving a short window for Congress to act on passing legislation that Shulkin said is necessary in this calendar year. The proposed "Choice 2.0" plan could include elimination of the wait time and distance rules in the current program, along with new procedures for scheduling appointments and repaying private-sector physicians, Shulkin said. The Veterans Choice Program was enacted in 2014 in response to the wait-times scandals at the Phoenix VA. Since it went into effect, more than 1.5 million veterans have made seven million appointments with private health care providers in their communities, according to the VA. "So we are working hard now with Congress to redesign a better, improved way of accessing care in the community," Shulkin said. On disability claims, he said that reforming the badly backlogged appeals process is a top legislative priority. "Our appeals process is going to remain broken and actually get worse" without major reform of the current rules, which he said were written in the 1930s. Last month, the Government Accountability Office recommended a hiring surge at the VA to handle appeals and also called for Information Technology improvements to speed the process. "The VA noted that its technology infrastructure is outdated and needs improvement," the GAO said. While the VA proposed new IT systems, the GAO said that the VA lacks a plan for how and when the new system will be implemented. "Without a detailed schedule, VA risks not having new systems aligned with potential changes in the appeals process when they are implemented," the GAO said. Shulkin said the backlog in disability appeals now stands at about 450,000 cases. Without action from Congress, "that's just going to continue to grow," he said. He said the backlog of initial disability claims has been reduced from about 611,000 in recent years to about 100,000 cases, but there was a slight uptick during the hiring freeze. One way of addressing the initial claims backlog is to increase the ability of the VA to go "paperless" on initial claims, Shulkin said. Six VA centers now have the ability to do paperless filing and more were expected to come online this year, he said. The VA mostly escaped the impact of Trump's now-expired 90-day federal hiring freeze. About 41,000 of the VA's 45,000 open positions were exempted, but the 4,000 slots that were frozen included administrative positions for claims processors, he said. With additional claims processors, the VA should be able to begin addressing the backlog of 100,000 initial claims. "That's one of my priorities -- to get it under 100,000," Shulkin said. -- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com. North Korea apparently wasted a lot of vitriol last week condemning the show of force off the peninsula by the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson, which was thousands of miles away in the Indian Ocean. The Trump administration and Adm. Harry Harris, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, made a point last week of stating that a port visit for the Vinson and its support ships in Australia had been cancelled, and the battle group was heading to the Sea of Japan to guard against North Korea's missile and nuclear tests. Screaming headlines in Far East news reports -- and in the U.S. -- on the whereabouts of the Vinson proved to be premature. DefenseNews Tuesday spotted a Navy photo of the Vinson taken on Saturday showing the nuclear-powered carrier off Indonesia about 3,500 miles from the Sea of Japan. Four days earlier, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was describing the deterrent mission of the Vinson-led U.S. armada in the Sea of Japan. President Donald Trump told Fox News that "We're sending an armada" to the Korean region. The photo, verified by the Navy, showed the Vinson passing through the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra on a heading south -- not north to Korean waters. In statements last week, North Korea said of the Vinson that "This goes to prove that the U.S. reckless moves for invading the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) [have reached a serious phase of its scenario." "If the U.S. dares opt for a military action, crying out for 'preemptive attack' and 'removal of the headquarters,' the DPRK is ready to react to any mode of war desired by the U.S," the statement said. However, the Vinson and its battle group were now headed to the Sea of Japan -- really, Pentagon officials said. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters traveling on his plane to Saudi Arabia that the Vinson should arrive sometime next week. At a Pentagon news conference last Tuesday, Mattis said that the Vinson already was "on her way up there because that's where we thought it was most prudent to have her at this time." Mattis told reporters traveling with him to Saudi Arabia that the threat of another provocation from North Korea remained. He called North Korea's failed missile launch Sunday, a day after a massive military parade in Pyongyang, a clear signal of the intent of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. "The leader of North Korea again recklessly tried to provoke something by launching a missile" in a test of the resolve of the U.S.-South Korea alliance and the international community, Mattis said. -- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com. Related Video: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Tuesday that the U.S. is finding ways to communicate with Russia on air operations over Syria despite Moscow's suspension of the "deconfliction channel" in response to the April 6 cruise missile attack on a Syrian airfield. Mattis told reporters on his plane traveling to Saudi Arabia that Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve is still talking to the Russian military on avoiding mid-air accidents and possible confrontations over Syria despite the "deconfliction channel" hotline being suspended, USA Today reported. Russia announced that it was ending its participation in the deconfliction channel shortly after the U.S. launched 59 Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles from the destroyers Porter and Ross at Syria's Shayrat airfield in response to an alleged Syrian chemical attack on the northwestern town of Khan Sheikhoun two days earlier. Russian officials later said that the deconfliction channel had been suspended, but U.S. troops adopted a more defensive posture to guard against misunderstandings. Until Mattis spoke Tuesday, the Pentagon and CJTF had been tight-lipped on whether the U.S. was finding ways to work around the channel suspension. In a video briefing last week from Baghdad to the Pentagon, Air Force Col. John Dorrian, a spokesman for CJTF-OIR, repeatedly declined comment on the so-called "deconfliction channel" and attempts to communicate with the Russians. Discussing the deconfliction channel "was not a productive thing to do," Dorrian said, "and that's the reason that we are no longer doing readouts of what those discussions are, and we will not get back into that business." However, "We have continued to deconflict as necessary with the Russians," he said, declining to explain how that is being done. In Moscow last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a joint news conference with visiting Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that Russian President Vladimir Putin would be willing to re-open the deconfliction channel on condition that the U.S. avoid any attempt to topple the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. "We are willing to put it back into force," Lavrov said, but only under U.S. assurances that its sole mission in Syria is the defeat of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. -- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com. The Veterans of Foreign Wars ripped the House Veterans Affairs Committee Tuesday for considering a proposal to slap troops with a so-called "enrollment fee" for access to GI Bill education benefits. "This new tax on troops is absurd," Brian Duffy, National Commander of the 1.7 million-member vets group, said in a release. "Ensuring veterans are able to successfully transition back to civilian life after military service is a cost of war, and not a fee that Congress can just pass along to our troops." In a statement, the committee didn't directly respond to the VFW charges but said that changes to the GI Bill and to benefits for survivors and spouses would be among a number of proposals considered next week at a hearing. The proposal on a fee for access to the GI Bill was first reported by Task & Purpose. Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.), the committee's chairman, and other members welcomed feedback from witnesses and veterans service organizations "on whether all, some or none of the proposals under consideration advance through the Committee," the statement said. Prior to 2008, service members had the option of paying into the Montgomery GI Bill, an educational benefit created during peacetime that came with a $1,200 non-reimbursable enrollment fee. The Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008, or GI Bill, signed into law by President George W. Bush included funding to pay 100 percent of a public four-year undergraduate education to a veteran who had served three years on active duty since Sept. 11, 2001. The act also provided the ability for the veteran to transfer benefits to a spouse or children after serving (or agreeing to serve) ten years. The VFW charged that the proposal under consideration by the House committee would impose out-of-pocket fees on troops that could amount to $2,400 for access to GI Bill benefits. "We are still a nation at war. We have troops actively engaged in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and now in Syria," Duffy said. "Congress' focus should be on defeating our enemies and ending the war, not cutting the benefits of those who are fighting it. Congress must stop nickeling and diming America's service members and veterans." Carlos Fuentes, legislative director of the VFW, said the proposal for a fee on GI Bill benefits didn't have the name of a panel member attached to it. He said that the proposal appeared to be a method to pay for other benefits that the VFW supported but "this is not the right approach. We don't think it's appropriate." The committee's statement said that the proposals to be considered at the April 26 hearing "include things like giving veterans flexibility to use their GI benefits at an institution that works best with their individual needs and career goals, increasing educational benefits for survivors and dependents, allowing lifetime use of earned GI Bill benefits and more." -- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com. Current and former Army and Air Force Exchange Service employees could be entitled to a cash payout thanks to a class-action lawsuit recently settled between the company and two former workers. The $4 million settlement, reached in early December, affects AAFES employees who worked or were scheduled for non-overtime shifts primarily between 3 p.m. and 8 a.m. from Nov. 1, 2008, to April 22, 2016, but did not receive correct pay, according to court documents. At issue is a pay rate rule known as "shift differential." According to federal pay rules, employees who work second and third shift are entitled to 7.5 percent and 10 percent additional premium pay, respectively. But a government contractor payroll error resulted in inaccurate paychecks. And when employees left the company, the error decreased the value of any payout for accrued leave. Former and current AAFES workers who qualify for the settlement were notified by mail, according to court documents. Employees have until May 30 to file a claim. If an employee thinks they may qualify but did not receive the notice, they can apply on the settlement website. Under terms of the settlement, employees will likely be paid 100 percent of what they are owed due to the error. If the $4 million settlement does not cover everyone who applies, the payout will be split proportionally among the applicants, the documents state. The lawsuit was brought by Andrew Russell and Ruth Gallego, AAFES employees who worked at the Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, exchange. If approved by the court, each will receive an additional $5,000 as part of the settlement "to compensate for their time and effort and for the risks incurred in serving as the Class Representatives in this litigation," according to documents. -- Amy Bushatz can be reached at amy.bushatz@military.com. The Carl Vinson carrier strike group will remain deployed forward 30 days longer than planned due to a requirement that the ships stand guard in the Western Pacific, strike group commander Rear Adm. Jim Kilby said in a message to the families of those deployed. Posted late Wednesday on the Vinson's public Facebook page, Kilby's message said the deployment had been extended "to provide a persistent presence in the waters off the Korean Peninsula." "While all of us look forward to being connected with our friends and families, our nation requires us to be its flexible force, the away team, and as we have done time and time again through history, we won't let her down now," he wrote. The announcement comes amid some confusion. Navy officials announced April 9 that the Vinson was canceling planned port calls in Australia to return to the Western Pacific, ahead of what some believed might be a North Korean nuclear missile test in honor of the rogue nation's April 15 "Day of the Sun" national holiday. But on Tuesday, Defense News reported that a publicly released photo showed the Vinson off the coast of Indonesia, about 3,500 miles away from the Korean Peninsula, and heading south, not north to its stated destination. Officials have said the strike group was set to participate in a joint exercise with Australian forces before heading toward Korean waters, in apparent contradiction to White House rhetoric. President Donald Trump last week said he had sent "an armada -- very powerful" to North Korea to send a message about American resolve and intent. In an interview with CNN published Wednesday, Vice President Mike Pence said the comments from the White House were not intentionally misleading. But now it appears the strike group is headed to Korean waters, with intent to stay for some time. "Our mission is to reassure allies and our partners of our steadfast commitment to the Indo-Asia-Pacific region," Kilby wrote in his message. "We will continue to be the centerpiece of visible maritime deterrence, providing our national command authority with flexible deterrent options, all domain access, and a visible forward presence." The Vinson strike group deployed from its San Diego homeport Jan. 5. Carrier deployments are traditionally seven months long, though it is not uncommon to see them extended while underway due to operational requirements. The recently announced 30-day extension could mean the strike group is set to remain in the Western Pacific until July. "The training leading up to deployment and on deployment has prepared us to be ready to respond to the call," Kilby wrote. "We are ready." -- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at@HopeSeck. For the second consecutive night, Russia flew two long-range bombers off the coast of Alaska on Tuesday, this time coming within 36 miles of the mainland while flying north of the Aleutian Islands, two U.S. officials told Fox News. The two nuclear-capable Tu-95H bombers were spotted by U.S. military radar at 5 p.m. local time. Unlike a similar incident Monday night, this time the U.S. Air Force did not scramble any fighter jets. Instead, it launched a single E-3 Sentry early warning aircraft, known as AWACS, to make sure there were only the two Russian bombers flying near Alaska, and not other aircraft flying underneath the large bombers. U.S. territorial waters extend 12 nautical miles from shore. Two Russian bombers flew within 100 miles of Alaska on Monday night. The Russian bombers took off from an airbase in Petropavlovsk, Russia and returned five hours later to an airbase in Anadyr. Both locations are in eastern Russia, some 1,000 miles away. Last week in Moscow, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said U.S.-Russian relations were at a low point during a news conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. While Tillerson was in Moscow, a trio of Russian bombers flew near the east coast of Japan, forcing the Japanese military to scramble 14 fighter jets at various times to intercept the bombers. A Russian spy plane traversed Japans west coast. Before Monday's flight near Alaska, the last time Russian bombers flew near the U.S. was July 4, 2015, when a pair of Russian bombers flew off the coasts of Alaska and California, coming as close as 40 miles to Mendocino, Calif. Russian President Vladimir Putin called then-President Barack Obama to wish him a happy Independence Day while the bombers cruised the California coastline. In February, a Russian spy ship sailed up and down the East Coast of the U.S. while remaining in international waters. Lucas Tomlinson is the Pentagon and State Department producer for Fox News Channel. You can follow him on Twitter: @LucasFoxNews As simmering tensions between the United States and North Korea threaten to boil over, Vice President Mike Pence paid a visit to the Navy's forward-deployed aircraft carrier in Japan Tuesday, telling troops aboard that the president was willing to back diplomatic and economic pressures with military action. Sporting a green flight jacket, Pence addressed a crowd of hundreds of American and Japanese troops aboard the carrier Ronald Reagan, now undergoing maintenance in port in Yokosuka Japan. He reaffirmed President Donald Trump's commitment to strengthening the long-standing alliance between the United States and Japan, reiterating the Pentagon's stated goal to move 60 percent of the Navy fleet into the Pacific by 2020. Japan would begin to assume a larger role in defense of the region in coming years, Pence said, and the U.S. would uphold its commitment to protect all Japanese territories, including the Senkaku Islands, territory counter-claimed by China in the East China Sea. "You can rest assured, the full range of the US military capability is dedicated to the protection of Japan," he said. "Under President Donald Trump, the United States will once again stand with our allies and stand up to our enemies." Pence spoke as uncertainty continues to swirl about the U.S. plan of action regarding North Korea, which conducted yet another failed missile test on Sunday as the country celebrated the birthday of patriarch Kim Il-Sung. Earlier this month, Navy officials announced that the Carl Vinson carrier strike group was sailing for the Western Pacific in what appeared to be a show of strength. But reports surfaced that the strike group remains some 3,500 miles away from the Korean peninsula, in apparent contradiction to White House and military claims. Pence, who visited the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea on Monday, said all options remained on the table for countering the nuclear and ballistic missile threat posed by the rogue North Korean dictatorship. But the way forward, he suggested, will not immediately involve military force. As President Trump has made clear to the world, the era of strategic patience is over," Pence said. "At the president's direction, the policy of the United States will be to continue to work diligently with Japan, our allies across the region, China and the wider world to bring economic and diplomatic pressure to bear on the regime in North Korea. And we will do so until they abandon their nuclear and ballistic missile program." But if attacked or faced with the use of nuclear weapons, Pence said, the United States will meet the challenge with "an overwhelming and effective American response." "The shield stands guard, and the sword stands ready," he said. Pence spoke with some emotion about his father, Edward Pence, who had fought in Korea 65 years earlier to defend the independence of the south. In the generations since, he said, the United States had continued to stand guard over the Pacific. "We've ushered in an era of unprecedented peace and prosperity," he said. "Our choice today is the same as in ages past: security through strength or an uncertain future of weakness and faltering will." -- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck. This article originally appeared on Task & Purpose, a digital news and culture publication dedicated to military and veterans issues. After years of hustling, Sonny Tosco worked his way to CEO thanks to his experience in the military. Sonny Tosco, 30, knows how to hustle. It's a skill that came in handy during his time at West Point, his six years of service as an Army operations officer, and most recently in his role as CEO of Limelight Mobile, a social platform that lets users source real-time images from anywhere in the world. Tosco sat down with Task & Purpose to share what drives him. His roots reach back to one of California's many low-income immigrant families. Growing up, he knew the only way he could attend a top-tier school was through a scholarship, and that knowledge drove him to perform exceptionally well. In 2002, Tosco was accepted to West Point. "My transition from academy life to active-duty service in the Army wasn't without its challenges," Tosco said. "My first unit was a dud; cynicism and distrust ran rampant in the ranks. Because I was disillusioned, I began exploring entrepreneurship during off-duty hours." Tosco moonlighted as a bouncer and seriously considered opening a nightclub. However, a second assignment to a significantly better unit, along with three deployments in short order, drew his attention back to military service. A rapid series of personal tragedies, to include the loss of both his parents, a close friend, and a miscarriage with his wife, compelled Tosco to reevaluate his career and transition out of the military in 2012. The rugged adjustment, followed by a brief stint in sales, was marked by depression and stress. "I finally hit my breaking point one night and almost took my life when I realized how little purpose I had," he said. "I made a commitment that night to only do meaningful work from that point on, and decided to bring Limelight to fruition." Seizing every opportunity is a habit Tosco honed early in life. That hustle came in handy as he put in sweat equity to build his dream. "I made it my goal to go to an event or meetup every night, sometimes two per night, to be able to grow out my network and tell the story of our product," said Tosco. "I would commute up to two hours for these events five, six days a week. My team of eight had to adopt that mentality early on and it became ingrained in every team member." Today, Tosco is raising seed funding for the app, and has built something he's truly proud of. Now in its second version, Limelight App is sticky enough that a robust 35% of all users log in on a daily basis (as compared with 5% for the majority of new social platforms). "Now that we have a beautiful app that's connecting with people, we're working to grow our user base," said Tosco. "I was fortunate to connect with Don Faul, U.S. Naval Academy '98 and former Chief Operation Officer of Pinterest, and his advice has definitely helped guide our team through uncharted waters." Faul advised Tosco that no two products will take the same journey to find the right product and market fit. He also encouraged Tosco to leverage his military experience in leadership and systems building. Tosco has discovered that in startups there will always be some type shortfall in terms of personnel, resources, or time. He credits Limelight's success to his West Point education in psychology and systems engineering. "Understanding how people work and how to build great organizational structure has been key," he noted. "Tech is here to stay, and will be a future literacy. I always advise veterans to educate yourself and learn how to program." Tosco also advised transitioning service members to link to a cause greater than themselves in order to stay motivated. "I try to advance the veteran entrepreneur cause because I believe we have the leadership and character intangibles that are missing from many organizations," he said. "Find what drives you, what your purpose is, and as I've done with Limelight, set an example for veteran success after the military." This article originally appeared at Task & Purpose. Follow Task & Purpose on Twitter. More articles from Task & Purpose: Paula Gardner | PaulaGardner@mlive.com Real estate sales are happening at a frenzied pace across Michigan. That's not true in every community. However, for much of southern Lower Michigan, a lack of supply on the market is creating a fast turnaround time, from offer to closing. Data from Realcomp released this morning made that point, with 22 communities in Southeast Michigan listed as the places in March where sales were happening within 35 days of listing. These averages were made on residential properties in places with 10 or more sales that month. This list includes those communities, plus what I could find from other areas. That includes the Grand Rapids area, which has been identified nationally as one of the hottest housing markets. It also includes Ann Arbor, where the average single-family sold price in March was $74,000 higher than a year earlier. Not on the list: Northern Michigan, which holds its data a little more closely. Not all of these communities are seeing dramatic price increases along with the low days-on-market average, but it is possible that will follow. Many of these places are ranked just on single-family sales, with the listing information also excluding condos. A few include condos, which tend to take a bit longer to sell, on average. Don't Edit Here they are, listed from "faster than normal" to "red-hot"" They start with 39 days on market, and end at 14. Don't Edit Kalamazoo, east side to Eastwood: 39 days Kalamazoo's Realtors publicly share many data points about the market with residents. That includes breaking down the days on market detail to the neighborhoods. This is one of five on this list, because they involve more than 10 sales in March. This area is in Kalamazoo Township, northeast of downtown. Its average sale climbed $4,000 in March to $79,450. Don't Edit Paula Gardner | PaulaGardner@mlive.com Ypsilanti: 38 days This community is east of Ann Arbor and home to Eastern Michigan University. The data combines the city and township of Ypsilanti, which together have about 100,000 residents. Properties sold much faster in March than a year ago, when the average days on market was 75; however, the average price also fell, going to $141,728 from $148,654. Don't Edit Grandville: 38 days This city west of Grand Rapids had an average sold price of $198,332 for the first quarter of 2017, representing 50 sold homes. There are 47 homes listed today in that community, ranging from about $130,000 to over $800,000. Don't Edit Don't Edit Paula Gardner | PaulaGardner@mlive.com Dearborn & Dearborn Heights: 36 days Dearborn is one of the largest cities in the state, and Dearborn Heights has close to 60,000 residents. This area's real estate board saw a significant drop in days on market in March, with the Dearborn Hills area near Ford and Telegraph selling in about 27 days. Don't Edit Plainwell: 35 days This northern suburb of Kalamazoo has just six houses on the market right now, with the most recent (and highest) priced at $159,900. Don't Edit Paula Gardner | PaulaGardner@mlive.com Hamtramck: 35 days This diverse city within the Detroit city limits is known for its Polish heritage and gets attention for its annual paczki sales on Fat Tuesday. There are 31 listings there today, with some of them including duplexes and other multi-family properties, reflecting much of the housing stock. Most listings are under $100,000. Don't Edit Rochester: 35 days North of Detroit, near the Troy-Auburn Hills business epicenter and home to Oakland University, Rochester has 32 homes on the market. Prices are well over $500,000 for newer construction and large floorplans; smaller homes start in the $200,000 range. When adding nearby and larger Rochester Hills, the market expands to about 140 listings. Don't Edit Paula Gardner | PaulaGardner@mlive.com Ferndale: 35 days This city just north of Detroit along the Woodward corridor is known for its entertainment scene. It also has a number of older homes, which people have been renovating for several years. There are 22 homes listed in the city today, with five more listed in the school district in neighboring Royal Oak Township. There are still some bargains at around $125,000, but five properties are closer to $300,000 or more. Don't Edit Don't Edit Northfield Township: 35 days This community is defined in part by Whitmore Lake, which is located off of US-23 north of Ann Arbor. The township includes mailing addresses for several communities, including South Lyon. The school district extends north into Livingston County. Only 2 properties sold in the school district in March, with average days on market in the single digits: 6. Don't Edit Milwood neighborhood of Kalamazoo: 34 days This neighborhood has 16 houses for sale, with prices hovering around $100,000. Don't Edit Paula Gardner | PaulaGardner@mlive.com Grand Rapids: 33 days This community is red-hot, according to multiple real estate metrics. One issue: Low inventory. The area started the year on a national list that noted where very few homes are reaching the resale market. The average sold price is $174,330. Read more here. Don't Edit Novi: 33 days Novi has been described as a "fast-growing community" for decades now, with the proximity to key highway interchanges of I-96, I-696, M-10 and US-23 keeping it prominent. It's also a major shopping district. There are 62 homes for sale, with very few in the $200,000 range or lower. Home sizes in that community tend to be larger, with many over 3,000 square feet. Don't Edit Kalamazoo, Westwood NW area: 33 days Don't Edit Don't Edit Handy Township, near Fowlerville: 32 Don't Edit Paula Gardner | PaulaGardner@mlive.com Ann Arbor: 32 days Washtenaw County's largest city and home to the University of Michigan is seeing about the same number of listings as in 2016, but the prices are climbing. The average property sold in March was $482,591, up from $408,294 in 2016. And the average days on market fell from 60 to 32. Don't Edit Walled Lake: 32 days If you call up this community on Realtor.com, you'll get the same listings as if you seek info on the smaller Wolverine Lake, located within it. Houses in that smaller region are selling more quickly, but the broader community north of Novi in the Oakland County lakes region is doing well, too. Don't Edit Pinckney Village: 32 days The Pinckney school district and mailing address is a broad area with 77 listings. The village at the center of it is much smaller, with only about 7 homes listed today. This community includes many lakes and nature areas. Don't Edit Paula Gardner | PaulaGardner@mlive.com Livonia: 31 days This is the 9th largest city in Michigan. It grew in the 1960s and 1970s, then newer construction in the 1990s pushed it past the 100,000 person milestone. Today, there are 105 houses listed for sale in this town of about 95,000 people.Prices go from $69,900 to over $500,000. Don't Edit Don't Edit Ypsilanti Township/Lincoln Schools area: 31 days This portion of Washtenaw County, south of Ypsilanti, is home to many newer subdivisions that started before the downturn and picked up in recent years. The average selling price in March was $217,264, up from $189,460 a year earlier. Don't Edit Kentwood: 31 days Kentwood is south of Grand Rapids, located along the M-6 connector - a development generator for homes and business. Today, there are 67 houses listed for sale. A few hover around $100,000; most are closer to $200,000. The average price this year so far is $168,933. Don't Edit Paula Gardner | PaulaGardner@mlive.com Berkley: 30 days This is a Woodward corridor community in Oakland County, near Royal Oak (which is in the photo) and north of Ferndale. It also has its own vibrant downtown business district on Twelve Mile. Thirty-two houses are listed, with four under $200,000. And 12 of the houses are new construction, priced from $389,000 to $489,000, showing the value of in-fill construction in the inner-rim suburbs. Don't Edit Montrose Township: 30 days This community northwest of Flint borders Saginaw County. There are 18 homes listed - and the lowest price is $10,500. The highest is $397,600. Don't Edit Oak Park: 29 days This Oakland County suburb also borders Detroit, and a lot of its housing stock dates to the 1950s as many Detroiters starter their migration to the northwest. Today, there are 33 homes listed - and some agents tout this city's proximity to the nightlife in Ferndale. The lowest price is $47,000, while the highest is $189,900. Don't Edit Don't Edit Paula Gardner | PaulaGardner@mlive.com Hazel Park: 29 days This Oakland County city borders both Detroit and Warren, and it's one of the more affordable areas on this list. There are 22 homes listed, with the top price $136,990. Six are priced less than $50,000. Don't Edit Brighton: 28 days The greater Brighton area includes several townships around the city, which is located near I-96 and US-23. There are 142 homes - including five at $1 million-plus - listed in that broader area, but the number drops off in the city - where some neighborhoods have no listings. Don't Edit Paula Gardner | PaulaGardner@mlive.com Wyoming: 28 days Southwest of Grand Rapids - and west of Kentwood - is this hot housing market, where the average sold price in 2017 is $140,950 on 232 houses sold. There are about 57 homes listed today, with prices from $70,000 to over $300,000 for new construction. Don't Edit Wolverine Lake: 27 days This community is a village in Commerce Township in Oakland County's lakes area. There are 47 listings in that wider area, which surrounds Wolverine Lake, and about 16 in the village. Prices go over $1 million for lake frontage. Don't Edit Wixom: 27 days The community along I-96 west of Novi has all of 14 houses on the market. The lowest price right now is $90,000 - "with many updates and more to do," according to the listing. From there it's into the mid-$200,000 range, and up to nearly $700,000. Don't Edit Don't Edit Farmington: 27 days Farmington and Farmington Hills blur together on the multi-list service, which has a total of 138 single family homes in the two communities in southern Oakland County. Drilling down into specifics shows the variety of housing stock, from older homes in the village to wider lots in Farmington Hills. Don't Edit Paula Gardner | PaulaGardner@mlive.com Detroit: 26 days Detroit has some beautiful homes. It also is home to thousands of fixer-uppers, thanks to its population loss over decades. Those rehab opportunities - including some on the near east side, around Hamtramck - are helping to fuel significant buyer activity in the city. The area bordered by I-75 and Conner, Mack and McNichols, is one of the hottest areas for fast closings in the state. Don't Edit South Lyon: 26 days This community is in the far southwest corner of Oakland County, with some homes in either Livingston or Washtenaw County mailing addresses. Its building boom continues, with resales keeping pace. South Lyon has 186 houses on the market, from $99,000 to $1.25 million. Don't Edit Paula Gardner | PaulaGardner@mlive.com Detroit, Part 2: 23 days The hottest area in the city for listings is on the far east side on the Harper Woods border. Neighborhoods in it include East English Village, Morningside, Denby and Chandler Park. Don't Edit Vicksburg: 21 days This community, near Kalamazoo, has 44 listings. They range from about $75,000 to ten times that amount. Don't Edit Don't Edit Paula Gardner | PaulaGardner@mlive.com Holly: 18 days This northern Oakland County community has 41 listings, ranging from just under $100,000 to $600,000. The median sales price is about $160,000. Don't Edit Paula Gardner | PaulaGardner@mlive.com Lathrup Village: 14 days This is the hottest market in Michigan, according to Realcomp data for March. What makes it hot? "It's what we call the areas best-kept secret," said Laurie Bell, a 30-year resident and Realtor with Century 21 Today in Bloomfield Hills. Don't Edit Today, there are 23 homes listed in the 1.5-square-mile community near Southfield. Many properties have larger lots, and the pricing is averaging about $110 per square foot. That puts most list prices in the $100,000-mid-$200,000 range. Housing styles range from popular 1960s styles, like tri-levels, to newer colonials. But there also is a historic aspect to the town, which was founded in 1925. As an example, take a look at this Spanish hacienda-inspired listing for $245,000. It was the first house in Lathrup Village. Bell said the community saw dramatic price drops during the housing crisis, and it's still working its way back. That may be part of the sales pace, since buyers are finding value for the home and lot size. Buyers also are coming from the Royal Oak and Berkley markets, which also have higher prices and low supply. The result, Bell said, is competition for the few listings and "they are selling pretty darned quickly. " Don't Edit More real estate coverage 'Big old house in the city' comes with link to Detroit Tigers history Entire U.S. will get to see this abandoned Detroit house - and its rebirth Top 12: 'Diamonds in the rough' in Detroit real estate AAPS board 032917.jpg Ann Arbor Public Schools board of education member Patricia Manley (left) speaks during the board's discussion on the district's Schools of Choice policy during a meeting on Wednesday, March 29, 2017. (Lauren Slagter | The Ann Arbor News) ANN ARBOR, MI - With just less than two weeks until voters decide Ann Arbor Public Schools' sinking fund request, the board of education will discuss the proposal on Wednesday, April 19. The school board will meet in an executive session to discuss a matter protected by attorney-client privilege at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Forsythe Middle School, 1655 Newport Road. A regular board meeting will follow at 7 p.m. Continue to revisit this post for live updates in the comment section. The only action item slated for Wednesday's meeting is approval of the consent agenda, which includes reimbursing trustees for travel expenses related to their position on the school board. In all, five trustees recently spent $1,396 attending a school law and finance seminar, the National School Board Association conference in Denver, Colorado, and a student discipline workshop. Also at Wednesday's meeting, CFO Jill Minnick will give an update on the school district's budget and an overview of Michigan school funding. The board also will hear the second part of an update shared at a meeting on March 29 about how 2015 bond revenue is being spent as well as an update on the sinking fund proposal. On May 2, AAPS will ask voters to support an increase in the district's sinking fund to 2.5 mills for 10 years. The proposal would generate about $20 million a year for AAPS and cost the owner of a home with a market value of $325,000 about $406 a year. AAPS says it needs the additional revenue in order to repair and upgrade infrastructure at aging buildings, to complete projects proposed for the 2015 bond work and to add additional classroom space at some schools to accommodate growing enrollment. Graydon_Krapohl_060616_RJS_01.jpg Ann Arbor City Council Member Graydon Krapohl, D-4th Ward. (File photo | The Ann Arbor News) ANN ARBOR, MI - An Ann Arbor City Council member who announced a year ago he had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma says his cancer has relapsed. "A number of people will recall that last year I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma and I underwent treatment," Graydon Krapohl, D-4th Ward, said publicly at the start of Monday night's meeting, April 17. "Over the past few weeks, during the course of my normal follow-up testing, a new spot was detected on my sciatic nerve and it appears that I have relapsed - I have had a relapse of lymphoma," he said. "Fortunately, I have a fantastic medical team at the University of Michigan and I'm getting the best medical treatment available. My prognosis is positive considering my age and my general health, and I think the exceptional good news is they don't think I'll have to change my hairstyle at all throughout treatment." In close consultation with his doctors, Krapohl said, he has begun a treatment schedule that includes chemotherapy and will include a number of other therapies that will take place over the next several months. He said the treatment should not impair his ability to perform his duties on council. "I am very thankful once again that my doctors were able to catch this cancer quickly and have worked with me to plan a treatment schedule that addresses not only my medical issues, but will allow me to continue to serve the people of Ann Arbor and live a healthy life," Krapohl said. "My family and I would like to thank everyone in advance for your support and understanding, especially our friends and neighbors who have been outstanding over this time." Krapohl was elected to the City Council uncontested in 2014 and was re-elected to another two-year term in 2016. He is up for re-election next year. Krapohl joined a majority of council members in voting 8-3 this week to approve a $10 million deal to sell the city-owned Library Lot to Chicago developer Core Spaces, paving the way for a new 17-story high-rise on Fifth Avenue. 0416815.NEWS.ARGO.LIVERY.AJ.JPG The Huron River was bustling with activity as people took advantage of the opening day of the Argo Canoe Livery in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Saturday, April 18, 2015. (The Ann Arbor News file) ANN ARBOR, MI - A firefighter who rescued a woman Saturday, April 15 from the Huron River credits the successful rescue to training he received as part of the Washtenaw County Technical Rescue Team's new Water Rescue Team. The team, which is comprised of 16 Washtenaw and Livingston county firefighters and Huron Valley Ambulance paramedics, specializes in rescuing people from water, including canoers and kayakers who fall into rivers or people trapped in their vehicles during floods. It's been a work in progress for a year after fire departments found a need for assistance in responding to emergencies in water, said Lt. Mike Chevrette, Washtenaw County Technical Rescue Team director and a Pittsfield Township firefighter. Previously, individual fire departments were responsible for rescues in the water. Some had boats and basic training, but the Water Rescue Team members have advanced training and state-of-the-art equipment, Chevrette said. The new team is the result of cooperation of the technical rescue team, the Washtenaw Area Mutual Aid Association and the Washtenaw County Homeland Security Task Force. After 200 hours of training, the team is ready to help people like one member did Saturday. A woman's watercraft had overturned on the Huron River in Ypsilanti, and she was hanging on to a branch in the river. While en route, Superior Township firefighter Jeff Kujawa donned his water gear and coordinated the rescue. The water was cold and moving swiftly, he said, and the woman couldn't feel her hands. Attached to a tag line, Kujawa scaled the branch and went into the water to grab the woman. A police officer waited downstream with a throw rope as a safety precaution. But the tag line became tangled in the branch, pulling Kujawa under the water, he said. Because of his training, he knew how to unhook the tag line and float downstream at an angle, bringing him and the woman safely to shore where officers and HVA paramedics waited to help. "It was a very dangerous situation. If we didn't have the training we had, we might not have been able to pull off the successful rescue," he said. "We all saved that woman's life." Chevrette said the team members train once a month and received training last year in South Bend, Indiana. Funding for the team came from a $63,000 grant through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and $43,000 in private donations for equipment, a boat and a trailer, Chevrette said. The water rescue team has two rescue squads, two boats and a utility truck. The equipment is at the Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor Township and Dexter fire stations, ready to deploy to anywhere in the county. A board of fire chiefs from the area oversees the team. PORTSMOUTH TWP, MI - A white Chevy Blazer failed to yield at an intersection Wednesday afternoon, April 19, colliding with a Ford Fusion and sending the car into the porch of a home before it came to rest on train tracks. Sometime after 2:30 p.m., Portsmouth Township Firefighters, Bay City Public Safety officers and Michigan State Police shut down the intersection of 22nd and South Trumbull streets as they removed the SUV. Traffic was directed around 22nd Street between South Trumbull and Mulholland streets. A Michigan State Police trooper at the scene said the Blazer failed to yield while driving southbound on Trumbull, colliding with the Fusion as it drove westbound on 22nd. The woman driving the Blazer either panicked or lost control of her vehicle after the collision and continued to drive several hundred feet before coming to a rest in the ditch, according to the trooper. Both drivers suffered minor injuries. There were no passengers involved in the accident. A resident nearby said she was standing in her doorway preparing to let her dogs out when she witnessed the crash, which sent the Fusion skidding into her porch, causing significant damage to the steps leading to her front door. BAY CITY - Months after a grease fire closed one of the country's last remaining Hot N' Now franchises, its owner is opening a new restaurant - Burger 81 - in the drive-through space with an all new menu. The concept was four years in the making, and franchise Owner Kirk Mosher and his partner, then-District Manager John Renz, were just weeks away from launching their new restaurant chain at 3900 Wilder Road when a grease fire erupted on the evening of Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 5. All told, the smoke and water damage, broken windows and ruined equipment totaled $225,000 in assessed damage. The restaurant needed a new grill, ventilation hood, ice maker, register and windows. After several months of working with his insurance company, even paying a portion of lost wages to employees out-of-pocket, Mosher was finally able to reopen the restaurant on March 3, almost five months later than he'd hoped. Mosher has been in the restaurant business his entire life. His father welcomed him into the family business at a Big Boy franchise in Grand Rapids at the age of 10. Including his newest endeavor, he's opened 19 restaurants, from Big Boy chains across West Michigan to Papa John's in Midland and Saginaw. When Hot N' Now peaked around 250 locations nationwide in the mid-1990s, Mosher ran four of the chain's five top-selling franchises in the country. At the time of the fire, the Wilder drive-through was one of two remaining Hot N' Now locations in the country. Mosher says the last franchise standing, located in Sturgis, Michigan, saw a sales uptick of about 20 percent in the weeks following the fire. With Burger 81, Mosher and Renz set out with an emphasis on quality. The restaurant uses unfrozen, 100 percent ground chuck sourced from Detroit's Eastern Market, real swiss cheese, Jumbo Nathan's hot dogs and a special sauce made daily that Mosher formulated himself. The "81" in Burger 81 came from a plan to offer 81 different ingredients, but Mosher points out that the list has grown to much more than that. "We wanted to make everything the best we could get." Mosher said. "People in Bay City will pay for quality." Three items from Hot n' Now's menu were carried over, including the popular olive burger, cheese tots and shakes. Like the burgers, the shakes have also changed. The restaurant now offers more than 16 flavors and plans to add another four seasonal flavors for summer. Shakes account for 10 percent of the restaurant's sales, Renz said. Mosher said he and Renz "agonized" over each detail of the new restaurant's menu, branding and ingredients. "It's not the same deal as Hot N' Now," Mosher said. "Thousands of hours have gone into it, not hundreds... You're not going to see what we're doing anywhere else." Even the fries are unique, Mosher said. He calls the twisted potato wedges "sidewinder fries," and says their light batter and thick, curved shape helps them retain their flavor longer and keeps them from going limp. Also on the menu are doughnuts from Bay City-based Elaine's Bake Shop, 1590 S. Euclid Ave., and coffee from Detroit Gold. Mosher said the collaborations came about when he and Renz sought to differentiate the restaurant's menu. "We wanted a dessert, but something different," Mosher said. "Everybody makes a frozen apple pie. Where else can you get a great burger, unique fries and a fresh donut to go with it?" Mosher hopes the freedom to make decisions without having to consult a corporate supervisor and a focus on quality where it counts will bring success to the independent restaurant. "We can do anything we want," Mosher said. "If an employee has a great idea, we're going to use it." The process of launching a totally new restaurant has been difficult, Mosher said, and included five weeks of training and several 10-12 hour days in the first weeks after opening. Burger 81 retained five former Hot n' Now employees in its staff of 25. "This is an amazing group of employees... not one bad attitude," Mosher said. "If you don't have good people, you don't succeed." Renz and Mosher both voiced hope that the restaurant's success could be translated to future growth, but for now they're happy to see their project pay off. Burger 81, 3900 Wilder Road in Bay City, serves donuts and coffee starting at 8 a.m. with a full menu after 10:30 a.m. The restaurant is open until 11 p.m. during the week and midnight on weekends. Dabrowskis.jpg David and Sandra Dabrowski ( ) BAY CITY, MI -- Appearing before a judge to learn his penalty for having too much medical marijuana, a 65-year-old man said he began growing the crop to help an ailing friend. He thought he was following the letter of the law, only to find his home raided by police and he and his wife facing felony charges. Sympathetic to him, both the judge and his defense attorney shared their opinions that the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act can be a convoluted piece of legislation. "When me and my wife ventured into this, it was never my intention to break any laws," said David A. Dabrowski the morning of Monday, April 17. "I thought I was doing everything that was supposed to be done. I wanted to help people out." Dabrowski said he started growing medical marijuana to be a caregiver for a close friend. Dabrowski in March pleaded guilty to one count of delivering or manufacturing marijuana, a four-year felony. The same day, the prosecution dismissed the same charge faced by his 64-year-old wife, Sandra K. Dabrowski. The Bay Area Narcotics Enforcement Team (or BAYANET) executing a search warrant on the couple's Bangor Township home on April 27, 2015. Throughout the house, officers found 96 marijuana plants, 37.7 grams of loose marijuana drying in a basket, and another batch on a table weighing approximately 1,400 grams. Police also found one marijuana plant and marijuana branches in a pole barn, Bay County Sheriff's Detective Barry Gatza testified in December 2015. In a freezer, police found marijuana oil and several pounds of usable marijuana, Gatza said. Dabrowski told police he and his wife were medical marijuana caregivers with five patients each, but that they co-mingled their plants. Under the state's Medical Marijuana Act, patients can have 2.5 ounces of usable marijuana and caregivers can grow up to 12 plants producing 2.5 ounces of usable marijuana for each of their five patients and themselves. With both Dabrowskis being caregivers, but only Sandra Dabrowski a patient as well, the couple could legally have a total of 132 plants and 27.5 grams of usable, or processed, marijuana. Defense attorney Matthew L. Reyes described his client as a "hard-working, down to earth, regular guy" who has spent years donating his time and money to community organizations. "Like many people, he finds himself thinking he's doing this all correctly according to the statute," Reyes said. The statute can be confusing to lawyers, and holds laypeople who become caregivers to an unprecedented level of responsibility, Reyes said. "We've spent the last two years talking about the statute, how weights are calculated differently by different people, how stems don't count but dried marijuana does," Reyes continued, adding that while Dabrowski made mistakes, they were not intentional. Bay County Circuit Judge Joseph K. Sheeran said he is aware of the statute's complexities. "The way it was drafted, it was almost intentionally drafted to be as vague and have as much confusion as possible," Sheeran said. Sheeran ended up going along with a plea agreement for Dabrowski's sentencing to be delayed until Feb. 12. In the interim, Dabrowski is effectively on probation. He is not to possess or use marijuana, even in according with the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, Sheeran ruled. If Dabrowski is compliant with his delay, he'll be allowed to withdraw his felony plea and instead plead guilty to a misdemeanor count of possession of marijuana. Screen shot of Greektown brawk on April 16, 2017.png Screen shot of Greektown brawl, Detroit, April 16, 2017 Two men have been charged in the brutal fight captured on video in Downtown Detroit early Sunday. Six other suspects have been identified. The fight, which was filmed, posted online and viewed more than 2 million times, shows a chaotic fight that concluded about 1 a.m. Sunday with a seriously injured and apparently unconscious 23-year-old Brandon Putnam being kicked by multiple people as he lay motionless near the curb. Police said one of the suspects stole something from Putnam's pockets while he was unconscious. Another victim is seen being swung around in the street by his leg. The video, which contains graphic language and content, may be viewed here. As of Wednesday, it had been viewed more than 2.2 million times on Facebook. The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office charged Stanley Faulk, 23, of Inkster and Keith Harvey, 26, of Detroit, with unarmed robbery, assault with intent to murder, assault with intent to do great bodily harm and felony assault. Additionally, police said Harvey was in possession of cocaine when he was arrested. "It is alleged that a friend of Putnam's got into a verbal argument with a group of approximately eight men," Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's Office said in a statement Wednesday. "The argument became physical and another male friend of Putnam's was the assaulted by the group of men. "When Putnam went to aid his friend, the group of men began to violently beat Putnam while he was on the ground." Putnam, who was kicked and punched by multiple people after being knocked out near the curb, is still recovering at the hospital. Detroit Police Chief James Craig expressed his disappointment in fight spectators who filmed the scuffle. "It's mind-boggling to me that you see a crime in progress and instead of stopping it and assisting and calling police, you're busy trying to get ... World Star video or the most views on Facebook Live," Craig said. " It's ridiculous ... I would rather your moral compass kicks in ... "This young man could have been killed, and it's fortunate that he's recovering." The police chief said they have identified the other six suspects and expect to make arrests soon. kaplan.JPG Robert Kaplan, interim director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Region 5 office, speaks during a news conference in Flint on Tuesday, April 18, 2017. (Jake May | MLive.com) FLINT, MI -- Three years after the state of Michigan licensed the city's aging water plant to treat Flint River water, a top EPA official says the facility should never have been allowed operate in the first place. "No reasonable plant operator would have given the go-ahead and in fact they didn't," said Robert Kaplan, interim Region 5 director for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "It was a mistake. It was rushed. It was hurried ... It shouldn't have happened." Speaking after a news conference in Flint City Hall Tuesday, April 18, Kaplan supported the recommendation of Mayor Karen Weaver, who wants the city to purchase pre-treated water as its primary and back-up sources rather than attempt to upgrade and operate the plant with water from the Karengnondi Water Authority. Kaplan compared the plant to a broken-down old car and said the closer the inspection, the worse it looks. "The initial perception of the plant's viability were not accurate," he said. "When we put pencil to paper, what we found was ... it was more in the order of $100 million" to make the necessary upgrades. "It would have been a lot of good money after bad. The idea was to cut the losses and move forward with a better solution." Kaplan's comments come three years after the state of Michigan licensed the Flint plant to operate despite warnings from the city's plant operator, who said the facility was not in position to produce safe water. "I have people above me making plans to distribute water ASAP," former Laboratory & Water Quality Supervisor Mike Glasgow said in an email to the state Department of Environmental Quality at the time. "I was reluctant before, but after looking at the monitoring schedule and our current staffing, I do not anticipate giving the OK to begin sending water out anytime soon," Glasgow's email said. "If water is distributed from this plant in the next couple weeks, it will be against my direction." Flint was being run by emergency manager Darnell Earley at the time of Flint's switch from the Detroit water system to using the treatment plant to treat Flint River water. Appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder to fix the city's finances, Earley projected the temporary use of the plant and the river could save Flint $5 million. According to state records, Glasgow sent his warning to three officials at the DEQ, all of whom have since been charged with criminal wrongdoing in relation to the Flint water crisis. Glasgow was also charged criminally and accepted a plea agreement in which he agreed to assist special prosecutors in other cases. Rich Baird, senior advisor to Gov. Rick Snyder, said he could not address why the water plant was issued permits allowing it to operate even though local, state and federal officials said this week that the plant should not be allowed to operate withouttens of millions of dollars in upgrades. "You have to ask the guys that were at the scene. I don't know," Baird said. "I mean, the only thing I've surmised is they thought they could stand it up and treat the water more cheaply without changing the rates and that they would actually use that approach because it cost a lot less to access Flint River water ...," Baird said. State Department of Natural Resources Director Keith Creagh said the decision to use of the plant to treat river water occurred at a time when other options didn't exist. "There was not an option to have ... (the Genesee County Drain Commissioner's Offcie) and the KWA and EPA and DEQ all in the room, saying, what's the best solution going forward," Creagh said. FLINT, MI - A home on the city's east side has been padlocked by Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton because squatters inside the home were allegedly cooking meth. Leyton was at 3738 Pitkin Ave. on Wednesday, April 19, to post the restraining order on the doors of the home barring anyone from living there under the state's nuisance law that allows officials to padlock a property for up to a year over complaints of drug dealing. The home was previously owned by the Genesee County Land Bank, but was then purchased by a California-based company, Preferred Homes LLC, in September 2016 for $3,200, according to county records. Attorney Robert Chimovitz, who represents the current property owner, could not be reached for comment. Squatters moved into the homes and that's when the criminal activity began, Leyton said. "These squatters got in here and started cooking meth," he said. "I want to make sure that this neighborhood is protected." Officers with the Flint Area Narcotics Group received a tip and got permission to search the home in January and found an active one-pot meth lab, components used to manufacture meth and a man with active warrants for his arrest, according to court documents filed in support of the padlocking. There also were children inside the home, court documents said. Michigan State Police previously found meth, a one-pot meth lab, a stolen gun and individuals with active warrants inside the residence during investigations in December 2015 and May 2016, court records said. Leyton said a neighbor had called his office to report the drug activity. Leyton's office filed a complaint April 5 in Genesee Circuit Court seeking to padlock the property. A hearing was scheduled for April 17 over the complaint, but court records show the home's owner entered an agreement with Leyton's office to padlock the property for up to a year. The order says the home will be regularly monitored by the home's owner. Charged in connection to the padlocking are: Robert Waters, 33, faces felony charges of maintaining a meth lab, maintaining a meth lab in the presence of a minor, maintaining a meth lab involving hazardous waste and maintaining a meth lab within 500 feet of a residence Jeffrey A. Wilkes, 33, pleaded guilty to maintaining a meth lab, maintaining a meth lab in the presence of a child and possession of meth Andrew Adcock 22, pleaded guilty to a charge of felony firearm Alicia Garza, 21, pleaded guilty to maintain a meth lab and maintaining a meth lab in the presence of a minor Police reports also indicated that there was a generator inside and there was a smell of kerosene, increasing the chance of chance of an explosion, according to the prosecutor's office. Leyton said he is wary because he doesn't want similar houses owned by out of state entities to follow a similar path. "My fear is that any potential buyer will be another absentee owner," he said. "That's my fear when you have those absentee landlords you can't check on the property." Neighbor Sharon Jackson was in tears on Wednesday when she learned of the padlocking. She said her daughter was going to move her out of the neighborhood because of the criminal activity at the house. "I'm so relieved. I'm so grateful," Jackson said. "It was just a big mess. We knew that they were doing drugs over there. I'm thankful that Prosecutor Leyton is on top of it." The padlocking move is one that Leyton has used on businesses and homes in Genesee County in the past. Years of violence at Liquor Plus Mini Mart led to it being padlocked following a civil lawsuit filed by Leyton in August, allow the store later reopened after being ordered to close early and have security guards posted at the store. Leyton used the measure on a house plagued with trouble in connection to gang and drug activity on a home on Franklin Avenue in 2015, but the family moved before the padlocking took place. "I think that I've padlocked probably more places than any other prosecutor in Genesee County history," Leyton said. "It's a really good tool." GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- After 12 years of construction and testing, the U.S. Navy took possession last week of the next-generation aircraft carrier that will be commissioned as the U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford. Built to be the lead ship in the Navy's new class of "supercarriers," the $12.9 billion nuclear-powered warship is better measured in acres than square feet. The enormous 4.5-acre ship weighs 100,000 tons. It has been called "the most advanced aircraft carrier ever built." Less than two months after his inauguration, President Donald Trump boarded the ship to deliver a speech focused on his plans for the nation's military. After completing the final "builder trials," the aircraft carrier arrived for the first time at its home port of Naval Station Norfolk on Friday, April 14. Rear Admiral Bruce Lindsey, commander of Naval Air Force Atlantic, welcomed the ship and praised its performance in a press release issued Tuesday, April 18. "The ship was able to complete all major builders trial evolutions, including high power runs and steering evolutions," Lindsey wrote. "Additionally, she conducted all ahead flank turns and I am told: 'She turns nice!' First reports indicate overall the ship performed well." Construction began in 2005 on what would be the most expensive warship the United States military has ever built. The ship was christened in 2013 and has been undergoing testing and a rigorous series of sea trials ever since. The 1,100-foot-long aircraft carrier will be the Navy's first in a new series of Ford-class carriers designed with a host of emerging technologies aimed at addressing anticipated future threats and helping to bring the nation's naval fleet into a new century. The carrier and those that will follow -- including the USS John F. Kennedy and the USS Enterprise -- replaces the Navy's Nimitz-class carriers, which were first commissioned in 1975. Responding to criticism of the tremendous cost of the Navy's new class of carriers, Lindsey wrote that the military capabilities such a fleet offers "is what gives diplomacy its gravitas." "Some critics ask why, in the current budget environment, are we investing in the Ford class carrier," he wrote. "The answer is simple - because the intrinsic, inherent and enduring value of the aircraft carrier as the striking arm of national power remains unmatched today and well into the foreseeable future." The monster warship can cruise at speeds of more than 30 knots and operate for 20 years without refueling, according to the Associated Press. The new vessel includes electromagnetic launch systems for jets and drones, a system which replaces steam catapults. The Gerald R. Ford also features a larger flight deck and is engineered to accommodate new sensors, software, weapons and combat systems as they emerge, including the potential for carrier-launched unmanned aircraft. In his statement, Lindsey said the larger flight-deck carriers offer "powerful striking capability" through aircraft it will carry like the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets, EA-18G Growlers, E-2D Hawkeyes, MH-60R Sea Hawks, MH-60S Knight Hawks and the C-2 Greyhound. "Most Americans can agree that the threats to our country and our way of life are more complex than ever before," he wrote. "It is for this reason that we must continue to have not only a strong Navy but more importantly, we must have a strong striking capability in that Navy for deterrence and should deterrence fail, to fight and win our nation's wars." The ship bears the name of the former president from Grand Rapids, who served on the light aircraft carrier USS Monterrey during World War II and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander. Ford came within inches of being swept overboard during a typhoon in the Philippine Sea in December 1944. He later served as the 38th president of the United States, from 1974 to 1977. The former president's namesake ship is expected to be officially commissioned as a United States Ship (U.S.S.) -- the prefix used to identify U.S. Navy ships -- later this year. No date has yet been set for the commissioning ceremony. Lindsey praised the new ship's performance at trials, calling it "a spectacular fighting machine." "Among her many advancements, the new launch and recover equipment designed into Gerald R. Ford will allow the carrier to operate with future aviation platforms that are either lighter or heavier than those found in today's air wing," he wrote. "She, along with her future air wing, will provide any president and secretary of defense all the gravitas required to reach lasting and peaceful accords for the next 50 years." DSC_2174.jpg Eric Pearson GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Half a century after Roger B. Chaffee, an astronaut and Grand Rapids native, perished in the Apollo 1 spacecraft fire in 1967, a scholarship dedicated to his legacy was awarded to a local teenager. Eric Pearson, a Northview High School senior, is the 50th recipient of the 2017 Roger B. Chaffee Scholarship, given each year to a Kent County student planning to pursue a career in the fields of science or engineering. "It's super exciting and, obviously, a huge honor," Pearson said. "I don't know much about Mr. Chaffee, but it sounds like he must have really left an impression on people." Chaffee had deep ties to West Michigan, and would have been the youngest person to ever travel to space had he not been killed in the accident. He graduated from Central High School before heading to the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps, where he pursued a career as an aeronautical engineer. The scholarship award of $3,000, is meant to help the recipient pay for college expenses like books or meal plans. Pearson has been accepted to the University of Michigan where he plans to study engineering. "I like the idea of creating something new and useful for the world," Pearson said. "I think of nuclear fusion ... so far in labs we don't get energy out of it, we have to put energy into it. Hopefully we can get an energy source out of it someday." Pearson was picked out of a crop of nearly 50 applicants. Dave Pequet is Chaffee's nephew and the director and treasurer of the scholarship fund. He said Pearson was one of the stronger candidates in recent history. "We're always looking for the most well-rounded candidate," Pequet said. "Eric was very impressive. Not only was he number two in his class (academically), he also displayed a lot of involvement in the community." Serving as an after-school tutor, volunteering at local blood drives and spending time at the county's humane society were all resume credits that helped boost Pearson's application, Pequet said. About a month before he graduates from Northview, Person will be honored at the scholarship fund's annual award dinner, set for 6 p.m. Thursday, May 4 at the Grand Rapids Public Museum. "I'm a little bit nervous," he said. "I had no idea this entailed such a big celebration or would be so public. It's exciting." HUDSONVILLE, MI - Prosecutors say Anuj Chopra offered two boys $1,000 to record them having sex. Chopra, 41, contends he was only joking about the teens' apparent affection, which includes calling each other "Babe," his attorney said. Chopra and his wife, Leslie Chopra, 42, are accused of soliciting friends of their 16-year-old daughter for sex - and, some think, are behind nude images of a Hudsonville High School student that circulated among her classmates. The Chopras have not been charged with crimes associated with the images but the ensuing investigation led to charges of human trafficking for the husband and charges of distributing sexually explicit materials to minors and using a computer to commit a crime for his wife. As his wife and daughter looked on Tuesday, April 18, Anuj Chopra had a probable-cause hearing in Hudsonville District Court. Leslie Chopra Judge Judy Mulder heard testimony from two teens Chopra allegedly solicited, as well as another who witnessed the encounter late last year. Defense attorney Damian Nunzio, who denies his clients' involvement in any crimes, said he expects to call at least two additional witnesses before Mulder determines if Chopra should stand trial in Ottawa County Circuit Court. Assistant Ottawa County Prosecutor Jennifer Kuiper-Weise said the witnesses presented sufficient evidence to bind the case over for trial. Leslie Chopra, seated next to her daughter, was just behind her husband, who was clad in an orange jail uniform at the defense table. She has a similar hearing in her case on Thursday. She is free on bond. Her husband, a green-card holder and citizen of India, is held on $250,000 bond. Parents of Hudsonville students filled the other side of the courtroom. The alleged victims of Anuj Chopra testified it wasn't unusual to visit the Chopras' home. They were friends to their daughter. One of the boys testified that he and his friend - they're best friends, but not gay - were watching television and watching YouTube videos on their phones when Anuj Chopra blurted, out of the blue, that he would pay them each $100 to kiss for three minutes. Then, the teen said, Chopra pulled out a money clip bulging with $100 bills, and offered them $1,000 if they would have sex with each other. Chopra would videotape the act at a hotel, the teen said. The teen, who broke down in tears on the witness said, said they declined and he remembered thinking it was a "little bit crazy." The case has caused great embarrassment, he said. "It comes up almost every day," he said. Both teens and another friend said they stuck around another 20 minutes before leaving. They went back to the Chopras' a couple times after that but nothing happened. Then, an Ottawa County sheriff's deputy assigned to the school started asking them questions. The other alleged victim said Anuj Chopra would joke about the two teens being gay. Of the offer of sex for money, the teen said: "I took it as serious and not a joke. I don't know. He sounded serious." He acknowledged the teens call each other affectionate names, even at school, but said that "it's a complete joke." A friend of the teens said that Anuj Chopra was poking fun at his friends' closeness but sounded serious when he made the offer. Ottawa County sheriff's Detective Michael Tamminga said the investigation is ongoing. He said police seized electronic devices from the Chopras' home late last year. Meanwhile, he said, some parents of Hudsonville High students found photos of the nude student on their cell phones. EVART, MI -- Township officials have unanimously rejected a special zoning permit that Nestle Ice Mountain needs to monetize the extra volume of groundwater the company wants to pump in Osceola County. On Tuesday, April 18, the Osceola Township Planning Commission voted 5-0 to reject the world's largest bottled water company's application to build a pumping booster station on an existing pipeline between a controversial production well and a loading dock in Evart. The local permit is separate from the pending state permit application to increase water withdrawal at Nestle's wellhead. Commissioners decided the company did not prove the station was a "public necessity and convenience" as required under township zoning ordinance following the two-and-a-half hour public meeting, which included a 25 minute closed session while the commission talked with the township attorney. About 45 people attended and more than a dozen spoke at the meeting, held at Evart Middle School to accommodate a larger crowd. Nestle attorneys argued the station was necessary because the well is classified as a "public water supply" under state law. Commissioner David Huff's motion to deny the permit was seconded by board secretary Seth Hutchinson. The vote to deny was a roll-call. Martin Nieman, planning commission vice chair, was surprised by the unanimous vote. He said Nestle didn't substantially change its application after the zoning appropriateness was debated at previous meetings. Zoning review has been pending since October. Nestle initially submitted the application under township agricultural zoning, but was asked to resubmit under a different ordinance section that allows for certain "essential services." Blueprint for the Nestle Ice Mountain pipeline booster station the company wants to build in Osceola Township. The company did resubmit the application, but commissioners say Nestle did not substantially alter it enough to prove its case. "They didn't come up with anything more than what they already showed us," Nieman said. Nieman said he voted down the application because the booster station doesn't serve the local public system and Nestle is only a drinking water source for people willing to pay the price it charges for a bottle. "It's a private corporation," he said. "The only thing that's necessary is for Ice Mountain to make a profit." Nestle can appeal the decision to the township Zoning Board of Appeals and, if necessary, circuit court. It could also try again with a new application. In the company's application, Nestle's attorney, William Horn with Mika Myers, argued that a booster station would "have much less of an impact" than if Nestle "used tanker trucks to haul water from the well." "The booster pump building is also less impactful than would be the case if a new larger pipeline or a second pipeline was constructed," Horn wrote. Arlene Anderson-Vincent, natural resources manager at the Ice Mountain plant in Stanwood, said Nestle feels its application meets zoning standards. While the company is "disappointed" in the township decision, Anderson-Vincent wrote in a statement that "we respect their decision." "Ice Mountain has been a good neighbor and community partner to Osceola Township for over 15 years," she wrote. "During that time, we have enjoyed a positive working relationship with the residents and local leaders and it is our hope to build on this good relationship as we move forward in this process." The company wants the booster station to pump extra water from its White Pine Springs well No. 101 off 9 Mile Road to a tanker truck loading dock along U.S. 10 in Evart. The station is crucial for Nestle to boost the flow from its wellhead, which is about three miles northwest of the dock. The two are connected by a pipeline. If the company gets approval from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to increase its extraction to from 250 to 400-gallons-per-minute -- a controversial request that has generated widespread opposition -- it won't easily be able move the additional capacity to the tanker trucks without the booster pumps to increase pressure in the pipeline. Last week, nearly 500 people gathered at Ferris State's University Center in Big Rapids on April 12 for a state-run public hearing on the company's application to increase its extraction on Well No. 101 Fifty-five people urged the DEQ to deny the permit during a passionate public hearing. Four people spoke in support of Nestle, but were interrupted with "boos" and coughs while giving their statements. JENISON, MI - The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan has taken up the case of a Jenison High School transgender student who complained about being denied the ability to use the bathroom corresponding with his gender identity. Jay Kaplan, attorney with the ACLU of Michigan's LBGT Project, wrote a letter to Jenison Superintendent Tom TenBrink about why the district's bathroom options for transgender students are unacceptable. School officials told students they could choose between the bathroom corresponding with the gender they were assigned at birth, one of three unisex staff bathrooms and a gender-neutral bathroom installed in August. "We believe that such a policy is harmful to transgender students in that it stigmatizes them and impairs their ability to participate fully at school and to enjoy a safe learning environment," Kaplan wrote in the five-page letter he sent the district last week. "We also believe that permitting transgender students to access restrooms in accordance with the gender that they live with every day not only is the best interest of these students, but is required by both federal anti-discrimination law and the constitution." The district denied it is engaging in any discriminatory practices toward transgender students. TenBrink previously stated the school has been working directly with transgender students to ensure they feel that they are treated with respect and dignity. Kaplan said he is optimistic about potential changes at the school district. He said he spoke to Katherine Broaddus, the attorney representing the district from Thrun Law Firm, on Friday, April 14, and said she intends to get back to him about the issues raised. The attorney said the ACLU wants a timely response to its letter, which did not directly threaten a lawsuit. In response, the district released the following statement on Tuesday, April 18: Jenison Public Schools is proud of the nurturing, respectful educational environment that exists at our schools. Our students are very successful, in large part, because of our efforts in assuring that all students are treated with sensitivity and dignity. It goes without saying, the district does not discriminate against any student regarding any protected characteristics. Any assertion that the district has engaged in discriminatory practices with transgender or other classes of students is untrue. We always place student safety and well-being first, taking into account individual students' requests for accommodation and support. But Kaplan said the option of going to a bathroom marked with the gender you don't identify with is not an option, and providing access to staff or unisex bathrooms could single out individual students. In the situation it creates, he said, some students try not to use the bathroom during the school day, which can cause health issues. Transgender is defined as a person who identifies with or expresses a gender identity that differs from the gender identity assigned to them at birth. The student who reached out to the ACLU was assigned female gender at birth, but now identifies as male, according to the organization. The student has not been identified by either the ACLU or the district, and has declined comment through the ACLU. TenBrink previously told MLive the student is not the only transgender student at Jenison High School, to which the unwritten bathroom guidelines apply. Kaplan said, at this time, the ACLU has not been contacted by any other transgender students from Jenison. The issue first gained public attention during Jenison's spring break when the student took to Facebook, posting concerns about the bathroom guidelines on the "For the Love of Georgetown Township'' page. Members of the Michigan Association of Civil Rights Activists (MACRA) saw the post and began a social media campaign to encourage community members to contact the superintendent, principal and other administrators to express their displeasure and urge adoption of pertinent Michigan State Board of Education guidelines. In September, the state board approved the new guidelines by a 6-2 vote. They include a recommendation for districts to allow transgender K-12 students access to restrooms or locker rooms in accordance with their gender identity. "While gender-neutral bathroom facilities are often the solution that works best for all students, including transgender students, districts are reminded that current interpretation of federal civil rights laws protect the right of transgender students to use the bathroom of their gender identity if they choose," according to the state board. In his letter to the district, Kaplan included the state board's guidance on the issue. He also informed the district that the federal Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 protects transgender students from discrimination in public education. "In a well-known case of G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals gave legal deference to the Department of Education's interpretive guidance of Title IX as requiring that a school treat transgender students in accordance with their gender identity," he wrote. "Although those guidelines have been withdrawn by the Trump Administration, there still remains case law precedent that transgender students are protected under sex non-discrimination laws, such as Title IX." Holly Huber, a member of the Michigan Association of Civil Rights Activists, said the association was pleased to learn the ACLU is taking up the case. "We are concerned that the school continues to enforce a confusing and secret policy,'' Huber said. Under the Freedom of Information Act, MACRA sought documents to support TenBrink's statement about the unwritten transgender bathroom guidelines, including who produced and approved them, and how the transgender students, administrators, teachers and security were informed. However, in a letter to MACRA, the district denied the request because "a public record does not exist meeting your description." Jenison's response to FOIA request filed by MACRA "I certify that to the best of my knowledge, information and belief, the public record does not exist under the name given or another name reasonably known to the public," Leslie Philipps, the district's FOIA coordinator, wrote in the response to the request. Kaplan said discrimination against transgender students violates the Equal Protection Clause found in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. "Research shows denying transgender students access to restrooms that correspond with the gender they live every day has a serious impact on transgender people, impacting their education, employment, health and participation in public life," Kaplan said. chavez.PNG A 1989 Associated Press file photo of Cesar Chavez, a civil-rights activist best known for his advocacy for Hispanic farm workers. (AP file photo) LANSING, MI -- An 80-year-old former state official has been charged with embezzling more than $73,500 in state funds earmarked to build a Cesar Chavez memorial statue in Lansing, according to the Michigan attorney general's office. Maria Louisa Mason was executive director of the state's Hispanic/Latino Commission with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights. She retired in December 2015. She was arraigned Tuesday, April 18, in Ingham County District Court on felony embezzlement charges, said a press release from the attorney general's office An investigation by the Michigan State Police found that Mason allegedly embezzled the funds between February 2013 until June 2015, the press release said. "She arranged to have the funds transferred to a nonprofit and a local community center. Mason allegedly had control of the bank accounts for both organizations," the press release said. "Neither used the money for the Chavez statute," the release said. "Instead, Mason transferred the funds to her personal accounts and personally took numerous cash withdrawals. The monument has not been built. "Ms. Mason allegedly used her ill-gotten gains, to pay her numerous credit cards, including AMEX, Capital One, Chase, Discover, Macy's, and Bloomingdales. She also paid her University Club Fees, her State of Michigan and City of Lansing taxes, her auto insurance, DTE and cell phone bills, and for shoes, among other items," the release said. The executive director is selected by the commissioners, who are appointed by the Governor with advice and consent from the Senate. "I have said it before and will continue to, public officials are held to a higher standard," Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said in the press release. "Ms. Mason was allegedly using funds dedicated to a memorial statue to instead fund her personal expenses and now she is faceing the consequences." Mason's bond was set at $10,000 personal recognizance bond. Mason's next court appearance is a pre-exam conference scheduled for April 27. At a recent town hall event in Cedar Springs, Mich., a constituent asked U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, R-Cascade Twp., why he couldn't be more like former West Michigan Congressmen Gerald Ford and Paul Henry. "You're a thoughtful person, but we need you to build partnerships" in Congress, the man said, asking Amash to consider compromising in similar fashions to his Third Congressional District predecessors. "You hold up the Constitution so much that you've defined a black and white line for yourself." Amash considered the question, then responded that what he's brought to the table since getting elected is a "restoration in thinking," noting that he's comfortable with taking his own approach to the job. "Congress isn't going to change, government isn't going to change, if we keep doing the same thing," he said. During and after the 2016 election, Amash has emerged as a vocal contrast to President Donald Trump and his supporters on several key issues, taking Trump and Republican leadership to task on the president's executive order on immigration and the decision to launch missiles at Syria without Congressional approval in interviews and on social media. He was also one of the most outspoken critics of the GOP health care plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, which was eventually pulled from the House floor. His unconventional approach to politics isn't new, and it's occasionally earned him primary challenges in his district. But Amash, who is currently serving his fourth term in the U.S. House, doesn't plan on backing down. When an aide to Trump suggested Amash should be defeated in the 2018 primary election on Twitter, Amash's response was "Bring it on." "I'll always stand up for my constituents - I will always stand up for everyone I represent, regardless of party," Amash said in an interview with MLive. "I'm willing to challenge anyone in government when they are proposing things that I think don't serve the interests of people I represent." Amash, who characterizes himself as an "independent libertarian Republican," is currently serving his fourth term in Congress, representing the Third Congressional District that covers Grand Rapids, Battle Creek and other areas of Western Michigan. In an interview, Amash commended the Trump administration for working to roll back government regulations. But he said he retains a healthy concern for the complacency that can come when the same party controls the presidency and both chambers of Congress. "Now Republicans control the whole process, so I'm going to have to be one of those voices making sure that Republicans are upholding their commitment to balancing the budget and reducing our debt," Amash said. On health care, Amash said he and other members of the House Freedom Caucus are continuing discussions with the administration. But he said it's important for Republicans to uphold the commitment to repealing the Affordable Care Act and improving the health care system. "If I feel that the proposal does not do either of those things, then I'm not going to support it," he said. As a Congressman, Amash has become known for sticking to his principles in a public fashion. He's only missed one vote since being sworn into Congress, and explains the reasoning behind his votes and his positions on Facebook and Twitter. The tactic of taking on people and positions in both parties likely plays to his constituency, but is probably a "mixed bag" in terms of dealing with his colleagues diplomatically, said Saul Anuzis, a former chair of the Michigan Republican Party. Anuzis said even if Trump hadn't won the presidential election, Amash's approach likely would have been the same with any administration. "I don't think it would have mattered who was there - he will tell you if he agrees, he'll tell you if he disagrees," Anuzis said. "That's his style." Amash has also made it a point to return to the Third Congressional District for public meetings and town halls with constituents, even as progressive groups have used such events nationwide as a means to resist the Trump presidency. At the town hall in Cedar Springs, Amash said town halls are important because U.S. House members are the public's closest connection to the federal government. He criticized fellow members of Congress on both sides of the aisle for not participating in town halls, or for coming back to "read their talking points" instead of offering actual feedback. "Every week I'm back in town, I take your questions - they're not screened, I didn't ask you not to bring in signs or fill out note cards," he said. "That's an important example I can set for my colleagues." That approach had an appeal to many of his constituents attending the town halls, with many of those who asked questions thanking him for being willing to take comments and criticism. But for members of the group Indivisible West Michigan, the availability doesn't necessarily make up for the fact that many of his positions -- including his support for eliminating the Department of Education, his criticism of the Environmental Protection Agency and rolling back government regulations -- seem extreme to them. "He votes on certain issues the way we would like him to vote, but the reason behind it is wrong," said Corey Keelean, chair of communications for Indivisible West Michigan. "He's aligning himself more along the side of morals than following party lines, but that still doesn't change the fact that his stances on the issues directly involving his constituents are rather damaging." Indivisible West Michigan is the local arm of a national organization that's encouraged progressives to interact with their elected officials and to show up at their public events. Keelean said he appreciates Amash's commitment to holding town halls and talking with community members, but worries the Congressman won't take heed of their concerns. "He's so stuck in his ways and his ideals that it doesn't necessarily mean he's hearing us," Keelean said. But it's this commitment to principles that has earned him fans in Michigan and elsewhere, who see his continued pushback against proposals and policies he disagrees with as a positive thing. "I can imagine that absolutely there's a lot more pressure to conform, to get along, to not make waves, but he really hasn't changed - he believes the things he believed since he went into public service," said Howell Republican Wendy Day. "They haven't been able to box him in. That authenticity is something people appreciate." The Michigan Secretary of State is warning residents searching for the department's online services to steer clear of sites that aren't hosted by the state government. In the latest Secretary of State e-newsletter sent out Tuesday, readers were told: "Don't be fooled by unofficial Secretary of State websites, which often contain inaccurate information, charge you convenience fees for transactions and try to reroute you to their advertisers' sites." Secretary of State spokesperson Fred Woodhams said the department receives a "steady stream of complaints" from people who say they paid for a transaction, but didn't get what they wanted or realized they overpaid. The issue stems from people using a search engine to find Secretary of State services and clicking on informational sites not affiliated with the department, where they might pay for a free service or are charged extra to perform a transaction, he said. "I wouldn't say it's a huge amount but it's common enough unfortunately," Woodhams said in an email. An MLive Google search for "Secretary of State Michigan" turned up the official Secretary of State page, www.michigan.gov/sos, as the first search result, followed by affiliated state websites for online services and office locations. Also in the search results were other pages referencing Michigan Secretary of State information, including the websites dmv.org, dmv.com and driversed.com. Jeff Lerner, a spokesperson for dmv.org, said the idea that the website is at odds with the Secretary of State is a misconception: "DMV.org only provides information that comes straight from the agencies themselves - our pages are researched directly from state laws and are accurate and up-to-date with the policies and procedures for each motor vehicle agency," he said. "Any additional products we offer are through state DMV-approved companies that already have a sanctioned relationship with the agency in that state," he continued. Woodhams said the best way for people to protect themselves against unnecessary payments or promotions is to check if they are on an official state of Michigan website. All Secretary of State websites contain Michigan.gov or state.mi.us in the URL, and official Secretary of State sites such as ExpressSOS.com redirect to an official Michigan.gov site, he said. It's not the first time the Secretary of State has warned against unofficial websites. In a 2014 press release, Secretary of State Ruth Johnson said people should closely examine the site they're on "before you pay for services that might be free." LEONI TWP., MI - Two masked gunmen requested much more than a couple of Beef 'n Cheddar sandwiches from an Arby's drive-thru Tuesday night. Police are investigating an armed robbery that allegedly occurred sometime before 11 p.m., April 18 at Arby's, 3131 E. Michigan Ave., according to a release from the Blackman-Leoni Township Public Safety Department. An Arby's employee told police a black SUV with two men wearing ski masks and sun glasses inside pulled up to the drive-thru window, displayed handguns and demanded cash, police said. After the men were handed an undisclosed amount of cash, the vehicle fled in an unknown direction, police said. Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact the Blackman-Leoni Township Detective Bureau at 517-788-4223. NAPOLEON TWP., MI - Students showed off science experiments, robotics demonstrations and reading lessons when State Superintendent Brian Whiston came to visit Napoleon Community Schools. Whiston's ambitious plan to visit at least one Michigan school district each month brought him to Napoleon on Tuesday, April 18. "We had a great day," Superintendent Jim Graham said. "We were excited to have him here. It was an honor." The district showed off improvements at the high school made possible through voter passage of a $13 million bond issue in 2012. Those renovations include a science wing where students demonstrated experiments. Whiston also toured the high school's new weight room and cafetorium before heading to Ezra Eby Elementary School where he saw the Reading Recover program in action. The tour concluded at the middle school where students showed off their STEM - science, technology, engineering and math - abilities through a robotics demonstration. Napoleon is the second Jackson County district Whiston has visited in his attempt to see first-hand 40 to 50 Michigan school districts each year. Whiston visited the Jackson Preparatory & Early College charter school on the Jackson College campus in February. CASS COUNTY, MI -- A 24-year-old Bangor man was injured when he lost control of his vehicle and it rolled Tuesday morning. Cass County Sheriff's deputies reported that William Peterson, of Bangor, was airlifted to Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo after a 9:10 a.m. rollover crash on Bald Hill Street in Cass County's Newberg Township. "Deputies arrived on scene, east of M-40 on Bald Hill Street in Newberg Township, and gave first aid to the driver," they stated in a press release. Deputies reported that Peterson told them he was traveling west on Bald Hill Street when he lost control of his vehicle and it rolled. "Mr. Peterson was transported to Three Rivers Hospital by Newberg ambulance and airlifted to Bronson due to his injuries," deputies stated. They stated that seatbelts were used and alcohol does not appear to be a factor. Deputies were assisted at the scene by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Newburg Township Fire & EMS personnel. A spokeswoman for Bronson Methodist Hospital said Wednesday afternoon that Peterson was no longer there. The Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners were photographed during a March 21 business meeting in Kalamazoo, Mich. (Malachi Barrett | MLive.com) KALAMAZOO, MI -- Tears streaming down her face, Larissa Touloupais locked eyes with stoic members of the Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners. It was all she could do for a time. Frustrated to the point of silence that the board does not address questions asked by citizens at the opening of each business meeting, Touloupais took a moment to gather her thoughts. A draft resolution in support of shutting down two Enbridge Line 5 pipelines across the Straits of Mackinac failed to gather a consensus during a committee of the whole meeting. Commissioner Michael Quinn introduced the resolution, though he pulled it from the discussion after it was clear the resolution would not gather a majority. In response, passionate citizens turned the county board's business meeting into a pressure cooker Tuesday night. "I know a resolution for Kalamazoo is not going to shut down the line right away but it will be one step forward," Touloupais said. "Water is life. I don't need to give any you more facts or statistics, all I can give you is a little piece of my heart." In the first hour of the meeting, tears were shed, tensions flared and one citizen was almost thrown out. Chair Dale Shugars called a recess to calm the anger in the room, but that did little to slow the momentum and discussion continued for another 30 minutes. Though dozens spoke, they carried the same ultimatum to the podium: Take a stand against Enbridge Line 5, or the citizens will vote you out. For the time being, Kalamazoo will not be joining 15 other counties, 24 cities and 26 townships that have passed resolutions to shut down Line 5. A vote was not scheduled Tuesday either way, but Quinn said he will try to gain more support for the resolution and reintroduce it at a later date. Owned and operated by the Canadian oil transport company Enbridge Inc., the 64-year-old lines transport more than 20 million gallons of crude oil between the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan each day. The pipelines rest near some of Michigan's most beloved and ecologically sensitive natural landmarks, including Mackinac Island, Beaver Island and sandy beaches along the Huron-Michigan shoreline. Quinn said the consequences of a spill in the Straits of Mackinac are "too terrible to contemplate." Kalamazoo residents have a powerful reminder of what could go wrong. Many expressed a deep distrust for the Canadian company after one of Enbridge's pipelines spilled 1.1 million gallons of heavy crude oil into the Kalamazoo River. Seven years after the largest and most costly inland spill in American history, the incident remains fresh in the mind of citizens. Chris Wahmhoff literally carries the consequences of the spill with him every day. After coming into contact with black oil in the river, he was diagnosed with several health and mobility complications. Three years later, four of his organs are affected and he must walk with a cane. "For all of us in the crowd, we rely on each other; that's how change happens," Wahmhoff said. "(Commissioners) work for us, and it's important that we remember that first. (The board) is a tool." Overall, there was a lot of anger in the room. As Jen Strebs, co-founder of local community group ProKzoo said "anger is the language of the unheard." Role of local government Commissioners were split on whether it was even their place to get involved in the issue. "My feeling on the resolution is it's not relevant for this body at this time so I won't support it," said Board Chair Dale Shugars. "If some organization is legally doing their job and paying their taxes we have to be careful dipping in there. I don't think these are evil people." Shugars said the resolution would be ineffectual, and was concerned of unintentional economic impacts on Kalamazoo-area businesses. Quinn disagreed. "What we want to do is raise the issue, raise people's awareness of it and let the levels of government that do have the power to shut it down know that this is an issue of great concern to us," he said. Because the Kalamazoo River flows into the Great Lakes, and was directly affected by an Enbridge oil spill, Commissioner Julie Rogers said the county more than deserves to speak on the issue. Rogers said she received a call from Larry Bell, founder of Bell's Brewery Inc., who supports the resolution. In January, Bell publicly joined representatives of the craft beer, food and tourism industries to speak out against the pipelines. In September 2016, the Kalamazoo City Commission said the potential for ecological disaster outweighs the benefits of the pipeline, unanimously agreeing to support legislative efforts to close it. At some point, the state legislature will have to act, said Commissioner Kevin Wordelman. It will be important for them to know where the counties stand, he said. Another point of contention was focused on a grant request to the Enbridge Donation Program, established as a settlement to the 2011 oil spill on the Kalamazoo River. The $45,000 grant would go toward an airboat and trailer for the county sheriff's office to use in patrolling and perform rescues on the Kalamazoo River. Commissioner Stephanie Moore wondered if the resolution would jeopardize the funding, but said she was not a "champion of Enbridge." "I think as passionate as many of us are, this may be a situation (where) we might be cutting off our nose despite our own face," she said. "Do we care if our sheriff is able to access these dollars and build on this relationship to do this work, or is the priority to pass the resolution, which although (it) makes some powerful statements may not get us anything more than that?" Commissioner Scott McGraw commended Enbridge for making such grants available to local units of government. He said the Canadian company has been a good community partner and responded well to the "tragic accident" along the Kalamazoo River in 2011. Wordelman and some citizens agreed that the resolution and grant should be mutually exclusive. Wordelman said the county frequently passes resolutions directing the state and federal government, which also provide grants. The commission agreed, voting 7-2 to submit the grant. Shugars and Commissioner Roger Tuinier had the only no votes. BATTLE CREEK, MI - A Calhoun County man has been jailed in Arizona, facing a felony charge of trying to lure a young girl to his hotel room for sexual purposes. On March 9, police in Chandler, Ariz., a southeastern suburb of Phoenix, arrested Derek John Guthrie, 41, of Burlington, which is just south of Battle Creek. He appeared in Maricopa County Superior Court on March 10, was arraigned later and remains jailed on one count of luring a minor for sexual exploitation. The state of Arizona considers that a Class 3 felony punishable by a prison term of three and one-half years upon conviction. In a criminal complaint based on an investigation by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, authorities allege that between March 7 and 9, Guthrie communicated via a social media application with a person he believed to be a 14-year-old female. Police used an online undercover persona they called "Kayla." The criminal complaint alleges that Guthrie solicited the 14-year-old persona multiple times for sex during that time. On March 9, he offered to pick up the 14-year-old and bring her back to his hotel room, deputies allege. According to the complaint, "The defendant sent a 'Lyft' ride to pick up the 14-year-old persona from her Chandler residence to bring her back to the hotel in Chandler where he was staying." The defendant was later contacted and arrested in his hotel room at about 6:13 p.m. on March 9. He was being held in the Maricopa County Jail and is scheduled for an evidentiary hearing on Friday in Maricopa County Superior Court, a pretrail conference on May 5 and a comprehensive pretrial conference on June 5. fatal bicycle crash.jpg Five bicyclists were killed and four injured in a crash in the 5500 block of North Westnedge Avenue at just after 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 7. (Chelsea Purgahn/Kalamazoo Gazette) (Chelsea Purgahn) KALAMAZOO, MI -- The June 2016 crash in which a pickup driver, allegedly driving drugged, crashed into a group of nine bicyclists, killing five of them, could have been prevented with better 911 dispatch communication, the National Transportation Safety Board has ruled. In a report adopted April 11, the NTSB issued urgent safety recommendations to the Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners, the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety, the Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office and the Kalamazoo Township Police Department. In all, 22 minutes passed between the first 911 call at 6:07 p.m. June 7, 2016, reporting the erratic driver and the 6:29 p.m. fatal crash. In that time, Pickett drove 14 miles through three adjoining law enforcement jurisdictions. "The three agencies' dispatchers shared only minimal information with the other dispatchers in the call center about the 911 calls they were receiving concerning the truck's activities, even though its haphazard route took it in and out of all three jurisdictions," the board wrote in its report. "Had they shared information more effectively, police officers from adjoining jurisdictions might have had sufficient time to intercept the driver before the collision with the cyclists," the report said. The NTSB concludes the collision might have been prevented had dispatchers more effectively shared their 911 calls about Pickett's erratic behavior and the route he was driving with each other. The NTSB's "urgent" recommendations include expediting the establishment of a consolidated dispatch center in Kalamazoo County and having the three agencies undergo a voluntary compliance review by the Michigan State 911 Committee and implement any recommendations made by the committee. NTSB board member Earl Weener filed a dissenting statement, saying he isn't convinced lack of communication by dispatchers was a contributing factor to the crash. He said it's difficult to speculate whether officers could have acted in time to prevent the crash without knowing more information, including the other calls that were taken that night and the number of officers available. The report notes the city of Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County and Kalamazoo Township are moving forward to consolidate communications under the new consolidated dispatch authority, but that no work has begun on a new communications center expected to be completed by January 2018. Voters in May will decide whether to support a surcharge that would fund consolidated dispatch. The NTSB board is an independent federal agency charged by Congress to investigate every civil aviation accident in the U.S. and significant accidents in other modes of transportation. The board determines the probable cause of accidents and issues safety recommendations to help prevent future ones. Jeff Troyer, executive director of the Kalamazoo County Consolidated Dispatch Authority, declined to comment on the NTSB report when reached Wednesday afternoon. Charles Pickett Jr., 50, driver of the pick-up, faces five counts of operating while intoxicated causing death, five counts of second-degree murder and four counts of operating while intoxicated causing serious injury in the crash. He could face up to life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder. Several witnesses testified at Pickett's preliminary examination in November they saw Pickett driving erratically, and a Kalamazoo Township police officer who was at the scene said he was "completely out of it" after the crash, was slurring words and seemed under the influence of something. Police say Pickett crashed his pickup truck into the nine bicyclists who were out for ride as part of the "Chain Gang" bicycle group. Pickett's girlfriend told police he downed handfuls of pain pills and muscle relaxers before getting behind the wheel. Several witnesses testified at Pickett's November preliminary examination they saw him driving erratically before the crash. Pickett was found competent to stand trial in August 2016 and ordered to stand trial in November. Pickett's defense attorney Alan Koenig in March filed a notice to use the insanity defense in Pickett's case. Pickett's trial is set for September. Killed in the crash north of Kalamazoo were: Debra Ann Bradley, 53, of Augusta; Melissa Ann Fevig Hughes, 42, of Kalamazoo; Fred Anton "Tony" Nelson, 73, of Kalamazoo; Lorenz John "Larry" Paulik, 74, of Kalamazoo and Suzanne Joan Sippel, 56, of Augusta. The four seriously injured were Paul Douglas Gobble, 47 of Richland, Sheila Diane Jeske, 53, of Richland, Jennifer Lynn Johnson, 40 of Kalamazoo and Paul Lewis Runnels, 65, of Richland. Kostrzewa.JPG Muskegon County Chief District Judge Raymond Kostrzewa will be part of a panel discussion about the court system and defendants' economic status at Muskegon Community College on April 20, 2017. (Joel Bissell | MLive file photo) MUSKEGON, MI - How the poor fare in a justice system that at times bases freedom on the ability to pay is the focus of an upcoming panel discussion that will include Muskegon County's prosecutor and a local judge. "Too Poor to pay: Debtors' Prison" is the next installment of Muskegon Community College's "...And Justice for All" series. The discussion, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 20, at the college's Stevenson Center Room 1100. The location is best accessed off Quarterline Road north of Marquette Avenue. Panelists will address the consequences on the poor of bail amounts, tickets, fines and plea bargaining sentences. Students and members of the public are encouraged to attend. The discussion will be moderated by MCC instructor Andy Wible, who chairs the college's Arts and Humanities Department and directs its Ethics Institute. Panelists will include: Raymond J. Kostrzewa, chief judge of Muskegon County's 60th District Court. He previously worked as chief trial attorney for the Muskegon County Prosecutor's Office. D.J. Hilson, Muskegon County's prosecutor. Hilson served as assistant prosecutor for 13 years before being elected prosecutor in 2012. He is a member of the statewide Criminal Justice Policy Commission. Heather Garretson, a national speaker on justice reform and collateral consequences. She previously worked for the U.S. Attorney's Office, as a white-collar criminal defense attorney and as a law professor. Chad D. Catalino, the supervising attorney of the Muskegon County Public Defender's misdemeanor division. He was awarded the 2013 Michigan Foster Care Review Board Child Welfare Parent Attorney of the Year Award. For more information about the justice series, call (231) 777-0266. MUSKEGON, MI - A new entrepreneurial "makerspace" under development downtown by Muskegon Community College has received a $105,000 boost from regional community foundations. The Grand Haven Area Community Foundation has donated $75,000 and the Community Foundation for Muskegon County has donated $30,000 for the project that will be located in the former Masonic Temple on Third Street. The prototype development center will be part of the Rooks/Sarnicola Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies. The institute will be physically linked to the college's Downtown Center being developed in the former Muskegon Chronicle building to house comprehensive applied technology programs, such as welding, CAD and plastics technology. The makerspace, also known as a fabrication laboratory or Fab Lab, will have 3D printers and scanners, laser cutting and etching, robotics and other equipment to help turn ideas and concepts into prototypes. It will be open to students, community members and local industry. "The MCC Downtown Center will positively impact both students and employers in Northwest Ottawa County, and we applaud the work MCC is doing to expand and meet our community's needs," said Grand Haven Area Community Foundation President Holly Johnson in announcing the foundation's gift. The college has benefited from several gifts and grants to support its downtown construction. Local developer Jonathan Rooks donated the former Masonic Building to the college for the entrepreneurial center. Ann and Dick Kraft donated $300,000 to develop a rapid prototype fabrication center inside the Fab Lab. Rooks' business partner Nick Sarnicola and his wife Ashley pledged $200,000 to fund annual grants to entrepreneurial studies students. And the Fremont Area Community Foundation donated $5,000 to the institute in September 2015. "Innovation and continuous improvement are values in philanthropy in our region," said Chris McGuigan, president of the Community Foundation for Muskegon County. The Downtown Center has received a $4.1 million equipment grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. and a $2.51 million grant from the federal Economic Development Authority. It also received $7.1 million from a voter-approved millage for MCC construction projects. The entrepreneurial institute is expected to open in January 2018. A portion of the Downtown Center is expected to open this fall. MUSKEGON, MI - An ex-con charged with shooting an acquaintance in Muskegon last year may face an assault with intent to murder charge, according to the prosecutor's office. Vashon Flowers, 44, originally was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and three gun felonies in connection with the March 27, 2016, shooting. He was remanded back to Muskegon County District Court for a preliminary exam on the assault with intent to murder charge, which has been scheduled for 9 a.m. April 25 before Judge Harold Closz. However, the prosecutor's office has not made a final decision on whether to pursue that charge, said Muskegon County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Timothy Maat. Flowers is charged as a four-time habitual offender because of convictions for assault with a dangerous weapon in 2010, possession with intent to deliver less than 50 grams of narcotics in 1996 and carrying a concealed weapon in 1995, Maat said. In the 2016 incident, Flowers is accused of shooting an acquaintance, who was sitting in the driver's seat of a car, in the arm, Maat said. The shooting occurred around 10:40 p.m. March 27, 2016, on Allen Avenue, and the victim fled in the car to a business on South Getty Street to seek help, Maat said. In addition to the convictions cited by Maat, Flowers served prison time for resisting and opposing a police officer and possession of marijuana, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections web site. Among various scars and tattoos, Flowers has a scar on his head from a gunshot wound, according to the web site. A spokesperson for the Pentagon says the U.S., using two F-22 Raptor aircrafts, intercepted two Russian bombers off of Alaska's coast Monday, April 17. The Associated Press reports Navy Commander Gary Ross described the intercept of the two Russian TU-95 Bear bombers as "safe and professional." Fox News, who first reported the news, said on Tuesday that the bombers came within 100 miles of Kodiak Island and 280 miles away from Elmendorf Air Force Base. Kodiak Island After the two Russian bombers were tailed for 12 minutes, they return back to their eastern Russia base. The Alaska Dispatch News reports the F-22s were Anchorage-based and that the incident took place between 6 and 8 p.m. Monday. "The response that our crews executed last night was extremely proficient," Air Force Lt. Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach told the Dispatch News. "It's not an easy thing to do: to detect an incursion and launch a response, and get all the pieces in the right places and get your aircraft back safely." The Air Force describes the F-22 as having sensor capabilities and situational awareness with its "sophisticated sensor suite allowing the pilot to track, identify, shoot and kill air-to-air threats before being detected." It is the Air Force's newest fighter aircraft and comes with the price tag of $143 million for each one. CNN reports that U.S. officials have called the interception "nothing out of the ordinary." While military officials are saying this was no different than they have seen in the past, Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger tells the network that he believes "this was a show of force by the Russians to show us that they are still here." live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Pursuant to the Regulation 30 read with para A of Schedule III of SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure requirements) Regulation, 2015, it is hereby informed that the Extra Ordinary General Meeting of the Company was duly held on Wednesday, 19th April, 2017 at 11.a.m at Regd. Office of the Company at NIDA, Kanjikode, Palakkad, Kerala 678 621. Proper quorum was present The following items contained in the Extra Ordinary General Meeting notice dated 21st March, 2017 were discussed. 1.Alteration of Articles of Association of the Company. 2.Issue of 4000000 Warrants, convertible into Equity Shares on Preferential basis to Promoters and Person Acting in Concert.Source : BSE live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Please find below the outcome of the Board Meeting held today. 1. Financials We are enclosing herewith the audited financial results (both consolidated and standalone) of the Company for the quarter and year ended March 31, 2017 as taken on record at the Board Meeting held today. Please also find enclosed a copy each of the following: ? Auditors' Report on (a) stand alone and (b) consolidated financial results as per Regulation 33 of SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 ('Regulations'). ? Media Release being issued on this occasion. ? Communication to Analysts on Sasken's Business Performance for the quarter and year ended March 31, 2017. As provided under Regulation 33(3)(b)(i) of the Regulations, we wish to inform you that apart from submitting the standalone financial results in each quarter, we will also submit consolidated financial results to the Stock Exchanges. As provided under Regulation 33(3)(d) of the Regulations, we hereby declare that the Statutory Auditors have expressed an unqualified audit opinion in their Audit Report. As provided under Regulation 47(1)(b) of the Regulations, we will be publishing the extract of the audited consolidated financial results in the newspapers. The full format of the Quarterly Financial Results will be made available on the Company's website at www.sasken.com. We will be uploading the Financial Results on the Stock Exchanges websites: BSE Limited (www.bseindia.com) and National Stock Exchange of India Limited (www.nseindia.com). 2. Dividend We wish to inform you that vide our letter dated April 10, 2017, we had informed you that the Board would consider a proposal for recommendation of final dividend. The Board of Directors have recommended a final dividend of Rs.4.50 per equity share of Rs.10 each for the year ended March 31, 2017. This is subject to approval of shareholders. In all, the Company has declared & recommended a dividend of Rs.7 per equity share of Rs.10 each for the year 2016-17- 70%, i.e.: (a) An interim dividend of 25% (Rs.2.50 per equity share) in October 2016; and (b) Recommended a final dividend of 45% (Rs.4.50 per equity share) subject to the approval of shareholders at the Annual General Meeting. 3. Change in Auditors M/s. S. R. Batliboi & Associates LLP having ICAI Firm Registration No. 101049W / E300004 have intimated the Company their inability to continue as Statutory Auditors of the Company up to the conclusion of next Annual General Meeting of the Company and have resigned as the Statutory Auditors of the Company effective today. Accordingly, the Board at its meeting held today appointed M/s. B S R & Associates LLP having ICAI Firm Registration No. 116231W / W100024 as Statutory Auditors in the casual vacancy caused by the said resignation. The said appointment shall be placed for shareholders' approval at the ensuing Annual General Meeting. We request you to take the above on records and disseminate this information to the public.Source : BSE live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Aurobindo Pharma on Wednesday said it has received a Form 483 with six observations from United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) for its Unit-III formulation facility located at Bachupally in Hyderabad. The plant was inspected from April 10-18 by US FDA. All the observations are related to procedural improvements, the company said. "None of the observations are related to data integrity," Aurobindo said in a statement to stock exchanges. "The company will be responding as per the prescribed time lines," it added. The plant - Unit-III - makes oral formulations with 125 abbreviated new drug applications (ANDA) filings in US as on 31 March 2016. Of these, 99 have received final approvals, 16 are tentative approvals and 10 are under review. Aurobindo has 22 active pharmaceutical ingredient and formulation manufacturing facilities with three in the US and one in Brazil. Typically, the US drug regulator conveys its concerns on manufacturing practices through Form 483. Companies that receive its observations must respond in writing with a corrective action plan in 15 days and implement it quickly. If the company fails to meet the regulators expectations, a warning letter may be issued. CNBC-TV18 earlier reported that Aurobindo got 5-6 observations of procedural in nature. Share of Aurobindo dropped 3.25 percent and were trading at Rs.642 on BSE at 2.58 pm, the benchmark Sensex declined 0.04 percent to 29,306.99 points. The Supreme Court's decision on March 29, declining to postpone the ban on sale of BS III vehicles from April 1, may have kickstarted a fire sale on the last two days of the last fiscal but it appears two-wheeler makers may have also resorted to some underhand tricks to liquidate unsold stock. The auto industry sold about 6 lakh units, mainly two-wheelers, on the last two days of March, nearly half of the 1.4 million monthly units it sells on average in the country. (There were about 6.71 lakh unsold BS III two-wheelers as of March 20, as per SIAM). This was after dealers were asked by companies to offer mouth-watering discounts to liquidate BS III stock, ranging from Rs 10,000 for a standard motorbike to a couple of lakhs for a sportsbike. Despite the rush, some models of unspecified lot remained unsold by March 31. A source told this reporter that at least one two-wheeler major had asked its dealers to back-date insurance policies. These policies, which were limited to only one year (as asked by the manufacturer), were sold well into the first week of this month. Back-dating is when the seller puts an earlier date on the document than it was originally drawn up to make the transaction legal. It is one of the often used fraudulent means of transacting business. As per the SC order, only those vehicles, which were legally sold before close of business on March 31, 2017 would be eligible for registration at the regional transport offices (RTOs). An insurance certificate needs to be submitted to the local RTO office for registration of vehicles, without which they will not be eligible to ply. Going by the SC order, RTOs stopped accepting BS III vehicles for registration after April 1 if the vehicle did not have an insurance certificate that is issued before April 1, according to one company official. Other two two-wheeler makers faithfully issued a circular earlier this month, outlining a procedure for dealers to send unsold vehicles back to the factory. --- The scene at commercial vehicle (CV) dealers was not different either. Saddled with stocks of more than four months with average price of Rs 12.5 lakh each CV dealers were the worst hit by the SC ruling. A large CV dealer from north India selling truck and buses of a noted manufacturer said it was talking to the manufacturer to explore options regarding the unsold BS-3 stock -- one of which could be back dating of documents. As per estimates by there were anywhere between 40,000-45,000 unsold trucks and buses by end of March 31, 2017 between all manufacturers. These are estimated to be worth over Rs 5000 crore. Manufacturers have officially said that such unsold stock will be bought back to be reengineered for upgrading to BS-4 or to be exported to BS-3 markets. Electronic voting machine The Cabinet today approved Election Commissions proposal of buying Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines, a move that will enable the voters to know whether their vote has been correctly registered or not. The Centre will have to shell out 3,173.43 crore during 2017-18 and 2018-19 to procure 16.15 lakh VVPAT machines, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today. According to the Election Commission, 16.15 lakh more machines will be required. These machines are manufactured by state-owned Bharat Electronics Ltd and Electronics Corporation of India. If these 16.15 lakh machines are ordered in April 2017, it will be delivered by September, 2018, Jaitley said. The government will disburse Rs 1,600 crore in the current financial year 2016-17, while the balance amount will be funded in 2018-19, he added. The decision will enable the Election Commission of India to deploy VVPAT units in all polling booths in the General Elections, 2019, which will act as an additional layer of transparency for the satisfaction of voters, allaying any apprehension in the minds of the voters as to the fidelity and integrity of the EVMs, the government said in a release. VVPAT device functions like a printer that is attached to the ballot unit and kept inside the voting compartment. When the voter presses the button against the name of the candidate of his choice on the Ballot Unit, the VVPAT unit generates a paper slip, called Ballot Slip. This paper slip contains the name, serial number and symbol of the chosen candidate. The voter can see this slip through a screened window where it stays for seven seconds, and then it automatically gets cut and falls down into a sealed drop box. In this process, the slip will not go into the hands of the voter nor will others be able to see it. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Bajaj Auto, the countrys biggest two and three-wheeler exporter, is in advanced talks with a Malaysian company for setting up a dedicated assembly line in that country. Bajaj Auto is holding discussions with Motosikal Dan Enjin Nasional (Modena) for producing its range of bikes, including the latest Dominar brand, in an attempt to reduce dependence on the troubled African markets. Speaking to Moneycontrol Rajiv Bajaj, Managing Director, Bajaj Auto (BAL) said, "It's true that we are discussing a partnership with them (Modena)..it's very likely to happen". Nearly a fifth of the equity of Modena is controlled by Japanese giant Kawasaki, the erstwhile long-time partners of Bajaj Auto, which launched several bikes in India with the Pune-based company. The Malaysian company presently does not have any motorcycles in its line-up. It produces and sells step-throughs (a clutch-free geared two-wheeler) mostly in Malaysia through its plant in Gurun, Kedah which as an annual capacity of 130,000 units. In addition to the 400cc Dominar, Bajajs biggest bike presently on sale, the company would launch the Pulsar brand along with the Platina in the Malaysian market. Bajajs decade-old Austrian partner KTM is already present in that market. The focus on Malaysia is part of Bajaj's efforts to capture a bigger pie of the Asean market, which is presently dominated by the expensive range from the Japanese companies. In January this year the company reentered the Indonesian market but this time riding pillion with KTM. After a robust response for the India-made, European bikes, Bajaj believes that KTM can generate sales of 5,000-10,000 units a year in Indonesia. Bajaj, Indias most profitable two-wheeler maker, had earlier entered Indonesia in 2005 but could not generate profits despite several attempts. In an earlier interview to Moneycontrol Bajaj said that going forward Malaysia and Thailand would become key markets for the company. "We have also restarted promisingly in Indonesia, doing better than ever in Philippines, kicked off Myanmar and close to closing up in Thailand", added Bajaj. Nearly 40 percent of Bajajs total sales came from exports last financial year forming a crucial part of revenue and profit margin. The company clocked export sales of 1.21 million units last year from a total sales of 3.21 million units. However, there was a drop of 16 percent in exports as against the total exports of 1.45 million units clocked last financial year which was mainly on account of a drop in volumes in Nigeria, Iran, Egypt, Sri Lanka and Columbia. As much as 45 percent of total exports by Bajaj Auto is to Africa alone. Here is a more detailed plan of the company for the Asean countries Philippines BAL has an over 10 year collaboration with Kawasaki Motors Philippines (a subsidiary of Kawasaki Heavy Industries Japan) through which KMPC assembles, distributes and services Bajaj motorcycles across Philippines. The partnership has been highly successful and enjoys a clear No 2 position in the motorcycle segment. Beyond market share, the partnership has led the very development of personal motorcycling in Philippines. New products are being developed by Bajaj based on inputs by KMPC to expand its share and strengthen its competitive position there. The BAL KMPC partnership is together targeting leadership position in Philippines. Indonesia In keeping with the opportunity BAL & KTM have decided to target the premium end of the motorcycle opportunity in Indonesia through the development of the KTM business there. In view of BALs previous experience in Indonesia, it has been agreed that BAL will develop the KTM business in Indonesia. Start of sales commenced in January 2017. Progressively BAL will build a dedicated network of exclusive KTM dealers and bring the high quality KTM experience to Indonesian customers. In due course a CKD based operation is proposed to be established. Malaysia BAL has appointed MODENAS of Malaysia as its Distributor for Bajaj range of motorcycles in Malaysia. MODENAS will import CKD kits, assemble, distribute and service premier Bajaj brands like Dominar, Pulsar and V. All approvals and operations are already in position and sales are expected to commence in May 2017. This partnership will not only build the Bajaj brand in Malaysia but is also exploring opportunities for localization to enable access to other ASEAN markets. Thailand BAL is in advanced stage of discussion with a local Thai organization for representing BAL in Thailand. With this partnership BAL will introduce its high end brands of Dominar and Pulsar in Thailand. It is expected to conclude the arrangements by May 2017 and commence sales in Thailand by October 2017. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Anoop Kumar Mittal, Chairman of NBCC spoke about the results and business outlook going forward. Below is the verbatim transcript of the interview. Ekta: We understand that you have secured a total business of around Rs 1,877 crore in the month of March. Can you tell us what exactly the sector breakup has been and what FY18 is looking like? A: Out of the work which we have secured in the month of March, approximately Rs 500 crore of work has been secured from the Mauritius government where we will be building their Supreme Court building and a housing complex in Mauritius itself. The second project is an irrigation project with Maharashtra government in Nagpur region, the value of which is around Rs 1,100 crore and third project is housing complex for CBI officers in Delhi. Its value is around Rs 250 crore. So these are three-four major projects of approximately Rs 2,000 crore that we secured in the month of March. However, for next year FY18, we have target of Rs 25,000 crore of work whether from redevelopment segment or Project Management and Consultancy (PMC) segment, so this is our target. One more thing I would like to tell you that we have started one subsidiary company NBCC Overseas which will take care of our overseas business. However, we will be aggressive henceforth in overseas market also. Ekta: You have signed memorandum for business exploration with a company in Poland. Can you explain to us what that means in terms of business for you? A: A company called BOLIX in Poland is a subsidiary company of Berger Paints. They manufacture material for thermal insulation in the buildings. However, by providing this material the inside temperature of the building reduces by 7-8 degrees and energy consumption also reduces by 30-35 percent. So we have signed an agreement with the company and we will use this material in India through our vendors and we will also market their product in other government departments. We will also use this material outside India wherever NBCC is working. So this is the MoU signed with BOLIX and other financial terms that we will decide on project to project basis. Prashant: On Rs 1,900 crore odd order that you received in the month of March. The gross margin that you will make is 5 percent, right? A: The gross margin we will make around 6.5 percent on these orders. Prashant: Net margins? A: At net level, we will be around same - 6.5 percent. Prashant: You said that you are looking at Rs 25,000 crore worth of orders in the year we are in right now, April to March '18? A: Yes, Rs 25,000 crore. Prashant: The margin should be around 6 percent odd level, both gross and net? A: Definitely. With 160 deals, IT and ITES was the busiest sector followed by manufacturing and healthcare (47). The banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) space was third, recording 41 deals. Let's take a look at the biggest mergers and acquisitions in India this year. (Representative image) live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More India M&A activity saw a robust start in the first quarter of this year with the value of deals doubling to USD 17.9 billion, says a report. In the corresponding three months a year ago, the deals were valued at USD 9.2 billion. According to global deal tracking firm Mergermarket, notwithstanding the significant rise in the value of deals, the number of transactions declined to 76 in January-March this year from 110 in the year-ago quarter. Moreover, India's market share grew significantly in the Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) region comprising 13.2 per cent of the total regional deal value, the highest proportion across all quarters since 2013, Mergermarket India M&A trend report Q1 2017 said. The telecom sector attracted deals worth USD 13.6 billion from three deals in the January-March period, as compared to only USD 60 million from two deals a year ago. The top deal this quarter was Vodafone Group's merger of Vodafone India with Idea Cellular, contributed USD 12.7 billion to the sector, which accounted 70.6 per cent of the total value. Another noteworthy deal in the sector was Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co's (KKR) USD 948 million investment in Bharti Infratel Limited for a 10.3 per cent stake. Energy, Mining & Utilities (EMU) was the second biggest M&A sector by deal value with USD 1.5 billion in January-March, attracting 11 deals. This sector featured the second largest deal of the quarter: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited's USD 995 million for 80 per cent stake of KG-OSN-2001/03 from Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Limited. Although inbound M&A has shrunk to a three-year low, Industrials & Chemicals, fuelled by the government's 'Make in India' ambition, stood out and continued to attract interest from overseas investors. Out of the 14 deals worth USD 597 million announced during the first quarter of this year, 10 were made by foreign investors. These 10 deals contributed USD 332 million in total to inbound M&A in India, up 3.2 times by value from USD 105 million from only two deals in the same period last year. The Reserve Bank of India has asked banks to make 25 percent provisions against their exposure to the debt-laden construction and cement firm Jaiprakash Associates, Jaypee Group's flagship company, sources told CNBC-TV18. The Delhi-headquartered firm was not brought under the RBIs asset quality review undertaken in 2015 for the October to December period. Therefore, this remains a standard asset or a special mention account with several banks. The countrys largest bank, State Bank of India, and biggest private sector lender, ICICI Bank, are among the major lenders to Jaiprakash Associates. Among other banks, Yes Bank and IndusInd Bank, which declared their financial results on Wednesday, made provisions worth Rs 228 crore and Rs 122 crore against the companys loan accounts in their respective books. Yes Bank has an exposure of Rs 911 crore while IndusInd has lent Rs 500 crore to the infrastructure company. Incidentally, Yes Bank CEO and MD Rana Kapoor mentioned in the post results press conference that the company is currently servicing its interest payments. Financial services firm Credit Suisse had said in February last year that Jaiprakash Associates had failed to earn enough to cover its interest payments for 11 consecutive quarters. While most public sector banks have already provided 25 percent provisions against their loans to Jaiprakash Associates, RBI is said to be in discussion with banks on status of the companys loan Accounts. The banking regulator seems concerned about deviations from the prescribed norms in banks NPA recognition and provisioning. And hence from FY18, banks will need to provide new disclosures where the shortfall in provisions as per RBI norms exceeds 15 percent of the reported net income and/or there is 15 percent difference between the reported Gross NPAs and RBI-assessed Gross NPAs. Jaiprakash Associates was grappling with a consolidated debt of about Rs 58,250 crore as of March 31, 2016, which is more than what the group can service, prompting the company to sell assets to lighten the load. Since September 2013, Jaiprakash has sold about Rs 33,380 crore worth of cement and power plants. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Tata Motors is planning to export some of its unsold stock of older-technology trucks, after an unexpected ban on their sale in India, a senior company executive said on Wednesday. India's top court in March banned the sale of vehicles that run on older Euro III fuel technology from April 1, a decision that led to a sharp fall in shares of major automakers sitting on unsold inventory. Tata Motors, the country's largest truck and bus maker, has unsold stock of about 15,000 commercial vehicles while its dealers hold around 3,000 units, said Ravindra Pisharody, executive director for commercial vehicles. "Over half the stock is exportable over 4 to 6 months with minimal or no change," said Pisharody, adding that the auto industry is still considering whether legal action was possible. "Of the balance we are looking at converting them (to Euro IV technology) ... and cannabalising the remaining for spare parts," he said. India said in 2015 automakers must manufacture only Euro IV-compliant vehicles from April 1, 2017 as they are less polluting, but it did not propose banning the sale of older-technology vehicles from the same day. The court said in its ruling that the health concerns of citizens took precedence over any financial losses for companies. Indias bid to bring back liquor baron Vijay Mallya from the United Kingdom is built around irregularities in the Rs 950 crore IDBI Bank loan to Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) and evidence about alleged illegal overseas fund funnelling of more than Rs 3,200 crore. The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which tracks overseas transactions and money laundering deals, has gathered substantial evidence on how a major portion of bank loans given to KFA was moved outside India cloaked as operational expenses or lease rentals, sources told Moneycontrol. Between 2007 and 2012, KFA remitted funds worth Rs 3,280 crore to foreign entities, shown to be payments made towards aircraft rental leasing and maintenance, servicing and spare parts, according to the EDs provisional attachment order issued last year, reviewed by Moneycontrol. Sources in the Indian investigations agencies say that these funds were essentially loans raised from a consortium of banks, but were moved overseas under questionable conditions. There are huge variations in the payments especially in the leasing payments even or the same class and type of aircraft for the same time period, a source, who did not wish to be identified, said. Despite repeated reminders, the company (KFA), has failed to submit supporting documents such as lease agreements to show that the payments were bonafide. It is clear that the bank loan obtained, have been siphoned-off abroad under the ruse of lease payments, in a calculated pre-designed manner, the source said. Also Read: Vijay Mallya arrest and bail: Why bankers should not rejoice yet! According to the ED, of the Rs 3,200 crore claiming to be expenses for the airlines operational expenses, about Rs 1500 crore were allegedly remitted overseas through letter of credit and other instruments issued by State Bank of India (SBI), Rs 531 crore through Punjab National Bank (PNB), and about Rs 1230 crore through Axis Bank. Separately, the end-use of funds of the Rs 950 crore loan IDBI Bank gave KFA in 2009 is under question. According to EDs money trail analysis, Rs 423 crore of the IDBI Bank loan has been remitted overseas without appropriate supporting documents. The ED has also questioned the IDBI Banks lack of due diligence in sanctioning the loan and accepting the valuation of Rs 3400 crore of the Kingfisher Brand done by Grant Thornton without verification. The brand valuation is done by Grant Thornton also varied much in the three reports submitted by them at different points of time to KFA, the source, quoted earlier, said. Mallya, under pressure from banks to repay Rs 9,000 crore loans owed by his grounded Kingfisher Airlines, left India on March 2 last year, was arrested in London on Tuesday. He was later released on bail. The ED has also made a case alleging that Mallya received USD 40 million (out of an agreed USD 75 million) on February 25, 2016, from London-based liquor major Diageo Plc, barely a week before he left India. According to ED, the transaction was structured in a manner to receive the payments overseas with the intent of keeping this money out of reach of India. In November, Mallyas lawyers told the Supreme Court that the USD 40 million has been transferred to his three children through gift settlements. In an affidavit submitted before the apex court, he stated that the money had been transferred to his three childrenSiddharth, Leena and Tanya Mallyawho were US citizens and sole beneficiaries of the three respective trusts of which he had no control in his individual capacity. Mallya had received a payment of USD 40 million out of a USD 75 million package from Diageo following his resignation as chairman of United Spirits Ltd. The ED has also made a case of money laundering against KFA and Mallya regarding the sale of a land of 264 acres in Coorg in January, the proceeds of which have been laundered overseas. According to ED investigations, Endeavour Estates Pvt Ltd owned 291.31 acres of land in Biligeri village, Coorg. Of this 264 acres of land were sold in January last year. One of the directors of Endeavour Estates Pvt Ltd have given a statement to ED stating that the company and the assets belong to the UB Group, controlled by Mallya, sources said. The ED is also pressing money laundering charges involving transactions among companies such as Pharma Trading, Kingfisher Finvest, Devi Investment Pvt Ltd, Mallya Investment Pvt Ltd, Gem Investment and Trading among others. According to the ED, these are investment companies of the UB Group, or Vijay Mallya, or his family members or dummy companies in names of UB Group employees having no actual activities. These had no independent source of income and were being controlled directly or indirectly by Vijay Mallya. US President Donald Trump Tuesday said US jobs are for Americans and the rest will have to undergo strict review to get work visas in the country. Trump signed an executive order to call for review of H-1B visa programme and said the "most skilled and highest paid applicants" should get the visas. "They (visas) should be given to the most skilled and highest-paid applicants, and they should never, ever be used to replace Americans. No one can compete with American workers when they're given a fair and level playing field, which has not happened for decades," Trump said. US is the not the only country to have tightened its visa rules. Australia, New Zealand and Singapore too are on the list. On Tuesday, Australia abolished a visa programme that is used by over 95,000 temporary foreign workers including Indians. This has been done to tackle the growing problem of unemployment in the country. The Australian visa programme 457 visa is used to employ skilled foreign workers. Singapore, on the other hand, is not awarding new visas to foreign workers since January this year. This could spell doom for IT companies as most of them have offices there. The US visa review is not a cause of concern for Indian IT firms as they already comply with all rules, Nasscoms president R Chandrasekhar told CNBC-TV18. In the whole immigration debate, H-1B visa issue is very small, he said. Since Trump coming to power, business trends have not been dramatic, which is another worry. However, Chandrasekhar believes that India IT story is very much alive contrary to predictions. While Nasscom is upbeat, general sentiment in the sector is down with many people looking to come back home. A Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu report in the Livemint says the number of Indian in US looking for jobs in India went up by 10-fold between December and March. In December 2016, nearly 600 Indians in US searched for jobs in India. This number spiked to 7000 by March 2017, said the report. Not only this, but applications for H-1B visa fell for the first in five years. Employers filed for 16 percent fewer visas this year as compared to 2016 as Trump administration takes reviews the visa. According to data by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, employers submitted 199,000 visa applications against 236,000 applications last year. Most of the big Indian IT companies like Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services rely heavily on H-1B visas. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Sri Lanka next month to take part in the celebrations marking the UN 'Vesak Day', the most important in the Buddhist calendar, a senior Lankan minister said today. Prime Minister Modi will make his second visit to Sri Lanka in the second week of May, Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said here. During his visit, he will take part in the UN 'Vesak Day' celebrations to be held here from May 12 to 14. "The Indian Prime Minister has confirmed his visit," Rajapakshe told reporters. Modi had also visited the country in 2015. The 'International Day of Vesak' will be hosted by the Buddhist-majority country and the commemorations here will include an International Buddhist Conference in which over 400 delegates from more than 100 countries will participate. Vesak is the most important day in the Buddhist calendar. It commemorates Lord Buddha's birth, enlightenment and passing away. Shree Pushkar Chemicals & Fertilisers Q1 | Profit at Rs 1.01 crore versus Rs 6.35 crore, revenue at Rs 63.8 crore versus Rs 92.1 crore YoY. (Image: Reuters) India risks straining public finances and undermining already ailing state banks, economists said, after a $5.6 billion loan write-off for farmers in Uttar Pradesh and moves to do something similar in at least four other states. One of the first acts of the new government in India's most populous state following last month's election triumph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was to keep a promise to provide debt relief to 21.5 million farmers. Taking their cue from Uttar Pradesh, more state governments could waive loans to farmers, senior officials there said, to fulfil election pledges or woo rural voters before further polls in the run-up to a general election in 2019 when Modi is expected to run for a second term. "This will spread like a contagious disease to most parts of the country and you will very soon see at least 3-4 states announcing similar farm loan waivers," said Ashok Gulati, a farm economist who advised India's last government. Economists caution that the move could encourage indebted farmers not to repay loans, deepening malaise at public sector banks already saddled with most of India's $150 billion in stressed loans. Uttar Pradesh will cover the cost of the waivers by issuing bonds. This would in turn constrain India's sovereign credit because such bonds are backstopped by the federal government, the economists said. India's total public sector debt, as a share of gross domestic product, stands at around 66 percent - high compared to other emerging economies. Economists at Merrill Lynch estimate that states will end up writing off debts equivalent to 2 percent of GDP - the bulk of all outstanding loans to farmers. LEVERAGE LEVELS Ratings agencies would like to see India's debt-to-GDP ratio fall below 60 percent over the next three years to justify an upgrade in its sovereign rating. Yet debt waivers would, even if staggered, force up borrowing, analysts said. "The loan waivers would likely worsen the fiscal deficits and leverage levels of the state governments, unless other resources are mobilised or expenditure is controlled," said Aditi Nayar of ICRA, an affiliate of Moody's Investors Service. "There is a significant risk that productive capital spending may end up being reduced to fund a portion of the loan waivers." A government-appointed panel has suggested capping the states' debt at 20 percent of India's GDP, while Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel has said the Uttar Pradesh loan waiver "undermines honest credit culture". WHO'S NEXT? The western state of Maharashtra and Punjab in the north are expected to announce similar loan waivers soon, senior officials in both states told Reuters. In Maharashtra, ruled by the BJP, farmers are clamouring for a bailout after two years of drought and falling commodity prices. In Punjab, known as India's grain bowl, the opposition Congress party won last month's election partly on the promise of a farm loan waiver. In southern Tamil Nadu, reeling from dry weather, a court asked the state government to write off loans to all farmers. Farmers from Tamil Nadu recently protested in New Delhi, showing the skulls of neighbours who had committed suicide to press their demand for drought relief and loan write-offs. WON'T PAY Some of India's 263 million farmers have decided not to repay their debts, expecting loan waivers to mean they don't have to. "I am not going to repay the loan because defaulters benefited from the previous waiver and I didn't get any government help even as I repaid the loan on time," said Gorakh Patil, a farmer from Jalgaon in western India. Patil was referring to an $11 billion national farm loan waiver in 2008 that helped the Congress party-led coalition of the day win re-election the following year. But non-performing assets jumped. Gross non-performing loans in agriculture and its allied sectors surged to 588 billion rupees ($9.12 billion) at the end of the December quarter, from 97.4 billion rupees in the 2007/08 fiscal year, RBI data show. "There's no benefit from such waivers," said a director at one state bank who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter. "If you give any benefit across the board, it definitely has an adverse effect on credit discipline." live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Moneycontrol Research The Reserve Bank of India came out with a couple of circulars yesterday aimed at stricter disclosure of NPAs. This came at a time when markets were about to breathe a sigh of relief that the peak of the NPA problem was behind them. The banking regulator seems concerned about deviations from the prescribed norms in banks NPA recognition and provisioning. From FY18 onwards banks will need to provide new disclosures where the shortfall in provisions as per RBI norms exceeds 15 percent of the reported net income and/or there is 15 percent difference between the reported Gross NPAs and RBI-assessed Gross NPAs. The RBI has asked boards of banks to assess risks in various sectors based on qualitative and quantitative parameters and proactively make provisions above minimum regulatory requirements. This should facilitate early recognition of the problem and perhaps even out provisioning rather than banks having to provide lumpy provisions once the asset turns bad. In any case, as per Ind-AS which will be applicable from April 2018, banks will be required to do dynamic provisioning based on expected credit losses, instead of the current system based on days past-due. In the immediate future, the RBI has asked banks to review telecom sector exposure by end-June 2017. Banks will have to review their exposure to the sector and provide higher standard asset provisions to buffer against future slippages. Banking sector debt to telecom stands at Rs 820 billion as of February 2017, i.e. 1.2 percent of total loans. The absolute exposure has reduced over the past one year, but this does not fully capture the risks from non-fund based exposures. This is a welcome move from the regulatory perspective as recognition of the problem early is an important first step. However, in the absence of any robust resolution mechanism for the Rs 14 trillion toxic assets in the system, higher provisioning will further weaken the financial position of most corporate lenders. The resolution of troubled assets has been tardy so far. So the regulator and the government needs to expedite it first. In terms of banks, while it is difficult to assess the financial implication immediately as we are unaware of the new stressed sectors and at what rate the provision will have to be done, we do not see a slew of new sectors getting added to the stressed sector list. Currently, most standard assets attract a provision of 40 basis points, residential real estate 75 basis points and commercial real estate 100 basis points. With regard to exposure to telecom, our research suggests relatively higher exposure to the sector for a few banks like IDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, Yes Bank, Canara Bank, Union Bank and Kotak Bank. We nevertheless, do not see anything beyond marginal increase in provisioning on account of the same. However, we do foresee a bigger problem for incumbent telecom operators as the higher provisioning requirements might dissuade banks from hiking exposure to the sector. This should strengthen the hand of the latest disruptor in the fray. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have a packed schedule of foreign visits from next month till July, starting with a trip of Sri Lanka. Besides Sri Lanka, he is slated to travel to the US, Israel, Russia, Germany, Spain and Kazakshstan, officials told PTI here today. Modi will visit Sri Lanka in the second week of next month, mainly to participate in the celebrations marking the UN 'Vesak Day', the most important in the Buddhist calendar. The 'International Day of Vesak' celebrations, to be held in Colombo from May 12 to 14, will include an International Buddhist Conference in which over 400 delegates from more than 100 countries will participate. "The Indian Prime Minister has confirmed his visit," Sri Lanka's Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe told reporters in Colombo today. During the trip, his second to Sri Lanka since becoming the Prime Minister, Modi is also likely to visit Jaffna and Kandy, the officials said. Modi had visited the country earlier in 2015. Vesak, the most important day in the Buddhist calendar, marks commemoration of Lord Buddha's birth, enlightenment and passing away. After Sri Lanka, the Prime Minister will be travelling to St Petersburg in Russia to attend the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) to be held from June 1-3. Along with that, he is expected to travel to Germany and Spain on bilateral visits, the officials said. Subsequently, Modi will be visiting Kazakhstan to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meet to be held in Astana on June 7-8. Significantly, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is also expected to attend the Summit of the SCO, a grouping which includes Russia, China, Kazakshstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Thereafter, the Prime Minister is slated to travel to Hamburg in Germany to attend the G-20 Summit scheduled to take place on July 7-8, the officials said. He will also be travelling to the US and Israel, for which dates are being finalised, the officials said. For companies which have been hit hard by fraud perpetrated by its employees in cahoots with outsiders, there is good news. Commercial crime insurance is being discussed as an insurance cover that could be sold to large institutions which are at a higher risk of fraud by employees. Unlike a fidelity insurance cover where the company gets covered against any dishonest act or fraud committed by an employee, this covers crimes committed in connivance with external parties. This policy hopes to redress companies which run up liabilities or losses arising out of any court cases to counter fraudsters. Typical, this policy will come into play in a case where a customer's personal details are illegal shared by an employee with an outsider, who uses them for financial gains or to hack into his account. TL Arunachalam, Director, Global Strategy and Special Projects, Bharat Re-Insurance Brokers said that commercial crime insurance cover takes care of the gap that currently exists in the market. He added that in the recent past, computer-related crimes were on the rise with outsiders being involved in crimes like phishing. "We are now putting in place an emerging risks practice, which will take into account commercial crimes as well as cyber liability," he said. Data thefts and leaks of customer information that may then be used for commercial gains have been an area of concern not just for financial services firms but also for companies in sectors like IT. Hence, this cover will be available for all such incidents of crime. The onus of proving that this crime occurred with be on the employer concerned. This would mean that they would have to give details of the employee in question and the extent of financial damages that they have suffered due to the incident taking place. Arunachalam said that even if there is a case of a malware entering the system where an employee clicks on malicious links, this cover can be used to pay for the damages. Leading text book publisher S Chand and Company today fixed a price band of Rs 660670 per shares for its initial public offering opening on April 26. The IPO comprises fresh issuance of shares worth Rs 325 crore and an offer for sale of 6,023,236 scrips by the existing shareholders, the company said in a statement. At the upper end of the price band, the public issue is expected to fetch Rs 728.55 crore. The initial public offer (IPO) is scheduled to open on April 26 and close on April 28. Proceeds from the issue will be utilised for repayment and prepayment of loans as well as for general corporate purposes. The loan amount includes those taken by its subsidiary for funding the acquisition of Chhaya Prakashani. Last year, the company had acquired 74 per cent of the outstanding share capital of Chhaya Prakashani Pvt Ltd. JM Financial Institutional Securities, Axis Capital and Credit Suisse Securities (India) Pvt Ltd are the merchant bankers to the offer. The company offers 53 consumer brands across knowledge products and services, including S Chand, Vikas, Madhubun, Saraswati, Destination Success and Ignitor. Over the past decade, Fintechs have been focussed on customer-centric innovation. 2015 saw Fintech companies transforming customer experiences by focusing on convenience, efficiency and user interface. 2016 witnessed the emergence of several ventures creating new solutions to meet the needs of millennials, provide online advice and discretionary wealth management tools, utilise Big Data and analytics, provide greater automation of processes, deliver alternative finance options like peer-to-peer (P2P) lending etc. Given the potential of the Fintech spectrum, traditional banks and financial services players need to find increased opportunities to work with them. With Fintech players offering innovative solutions across payments, analytics and supply chain financing, traditional players ought to view this as an opportunity to redefine their service to enhance consumer engagement. Conversely, traditional financial players are lucrative for Fintech start-ups to partner with as it allows them to expand their footprint and get access to scale. Thus far, NBFCs have shown robust growth, contributing significantly to the Indian economy. NBFCs have recorded a healthy growtha compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19 percent over the past few yearscomprising 13 percent of the total credit and expected to reach nearly 18 percent by 201819. The role of NBFCs as effective intermediaries has been well recognized, with the core strengths of NBFCs being strong customer relationships, excellent understanding of customer needs and risk, well-developed collection systems and flexible and efficient services. Going forward, the latent credit demand of an emerging India will allow NBFCs to continue to grow. In fact, improving macroeconomic conditions, higher credit penetration, increased consumption and disruptive digital trends will allow NBFCs credit to grow at a healthy rate. NBFCs are a perfect fit for emerging Fintech start-ups as they offer far more agility and flexibility when compared to many of their banking counterparts. Such partnerships would present a strategic opportunity for NBFCs to ensure sustainable growth over the long term while offering Fintechs the opportunity to scale in a sustainable manner. Fintech companies can help NBFCs grow by value adding to the existing product portfolio, increasing process efficiency and creating a differentiated customer experience that is in line with needs and expectations. Additionally, Fintechs can help NBFCs make sense of the vast customer data via analytics to further hone current risk mitigation processes and ease the current credit process by lowering time and cost. Such a collaboration could possibly disrupt traditional banking. An NBFC Fintech collaboration would be mutually beneficial if they focus on collaborating in the following areas 1. Customer Acquisition By changing the customer experience, Fintechs can provide NBFCs access to greater customers. Further, given the increased use of Big Data and Analytics, Fintechs can help NBFCs stay ahead of the curve in terms of customer selection and risk management. NBFCs can help Fintechs achieve true potential by providing access to scale. 2. Product Innovation This is one area that works well both ways given the focus on innovation based on evolving customer needs. In both cases, this is one area where NBFCs and Fintechs could focus on differentiation in terms of product portfolio based on market segmentation to provide consumers with global benchmarks. 3. Sales enablement Given the costs of acquisition, tools that allow for increasing the efficiency of the sales force would be vastly beneficial to an NBFC. Fintechs operating in this space would find willing takers as productivity is the holy grail of such businesses. 4. Analytics - Fintech companies can support NBFCs in the provision of innovative credit-scoring models and risk assessment, which will eventually lead to the inclusion of previously inaccessible consumers. They can also help NBFCs with consumer authentication and verification that is requisite for regulatory compliance 5. Security cyber security is a big area of focus and concern and Fintechs operating in the area of fraud and cyber security will find willing takers at NBFCs. For Fintechs to grow profitably, collaboration with already established players can provide scale and reach. Rather than competing as independent entities, joining forces with reputable business houses can prove to be beneficial in terms of innovation, ideas and solutions. In whichever way we look at it, Fintechs are here to stay and they will have a significant impact in how we transact in the days to come. For NBFCs the access to innovation through Fintechs allows them to create competitive advantages rapidly. Rather than competing, collaboration between NBFCs and Fintechs will be a win-win. In any case, watch this space, as the action is just heating up! The writer is Chief Executive Officer at Aditya Birla Financial Services. Rajesh Bhatia, Managing Director and Promoter of the beleaguered Tree House Education, has been absconding for over a week with Mumbai Polices Economic Office Wing (EOW) hot on his heels. Sources aware of the development told Moneycontrol that the EOW has been conducting raids at various places in an attempt to track him down. In February, Bhatia had applied for anticipatory bail soon after the EOW had filed an FIR against him. The bail, however, was rejected on April 4. Bhatia has been difficult to trace since April 8, adds the source. The playgroup chain has been in the spotlight ever since it shuttered 113 branches last year owing to severe cash crunch which left the company unable to pay staff salaries. At the time, Bhatia admitted that the companys fortunes had taken a turn for the worse and demanded time to sort out finances. But since then, SEBI has launched a probe into alleged questionable accounting practices of the playgroup chain. Citing various irregularities in Tree Houses books, SEBI has now asked the company to explain the reason behind the companys decision to park interest-free security deposit of Rs 187 crore in different trusts for a 30-year period. The regulator has sought copies of Board agenda and minutes of the meeting. SEBI also raised concerns over an expenditure of a whopping Rs 179 crore incurred on purchasing just furniture in one financial year (FY16). The numbers didnt add up as the company in all the six years it has remained in existence spent a total of Rs 187 crore on furniture. Further, the free fall seen in companys profit by more than 90 percent in a single year also raised SEBI officials eyebrows. SEBI started its probe after Zee Learn called off its merger plans withTree House last year. JN Gupta, Founder of SES proxy firm, told Moneycontrol: It is a good step to enhance investor confidence as such unscrupulous promoters would not be able to go scot-free. This incident must open the eyes of corporates who in a desire to expand are ready to have business dealings with such companies and promoters. Zee Learn has learned bitter lessons. In year to date, the share price of Tree House has fallen by 75 percent. The price has tanked to Rs 20 now from Rs 80 in April last year. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More The listing of Avenue Supermarts, the parent of retailer D-Mart, last month created only history since the time it got listed on the bourses last month. The stock more than doubled investors wealth on the listing day itself. The stock, which saw huge interest from retail investors, became one of the top stocks which was added by almost 15 asset management companies (AMCs) in their portfolio in the month of March with a market value of Rs 1,000 crore. HDFC Asset Management Company picked up 88 lakh shares amounting to over Rs 500 crore, followed by ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company which bought 33 lakh shares amounting to Rs 212 crore, according to data compiled by IDBI Capital. Avenue Supermarts, which is known for running D-Mart supermarket chains is known as the most profitable store in India. ASL has a successful business model of Greenfield stores where the land is purchased by the company where they construct their own stores. The company also follows cluster base approach where they open stores in states like Maharashtra and Gujarat and intends to open in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu and northern India. D-Mart is the most profitable retail chain in India and also possesses huge competition to its peers nationally, Foram Parekh, Research analyst, Bonanza Portfolio Ltd told moneycontrol. ASL has consistently posted a double-digit return on equity (ROE) whereby in FY16 it posted a highest ROE of 23.4 percent compared to Wal-Marts ROE of 18.15 percent in CY16 and far ahead of its other global peers. It is justified for Avenue Supermart to enjoy premium valuations given the longevity of the business is intact, but it leaves little room for margin of error, say experts. While Avenue Supermarts is on a stronger growth trajectory vis-a-vis its global counterparts like WalMart (-5 percent PAT CAGR over last 5-years) or Costco (4 percent PAT CAGR over last 5-years), D-Marts valuation at 50x FY19E earnings already reflects the same and is at a substantial premium to its global peers (15-30x). The valuation of Avenue Supermart at over 50x FY19E, despite factoring in a 35-40 percent growth in Net Profit over the next couple of years, clearly leaves little scope for margin of error for the company in terms of delivering growth, Hitesh Agrawal, EVP & Head Retail Research, Religare Securities Ltd told moneycontrol. The street has built in huge expectations, which is reflected in the rich valuations that the stock currently commands. D-Mart is a good proxy play on Indias strong consumption theme, he said. What should investors do? Investors with a 2-3 years horizon should consider investment in the stock on corrections of up to 100-150 points. The stock is trading near unprecedented valuation and investors should be very cautious at these levels, particularly those who entered at very high levels. Investors who entered at IPO stage should remain invested as the quality of this stock is really high and the growth story is likely to continue. However those invested at overstretched levels should watch cautiously, Prakarsh Gagdani, CEO, 5Paisa.com, (an IIFL subsidiary) told Moneycontrol.com. If an investor has a short-term view, then the stock movement could be quite volatile depending upon the movement in the broader market, as there is little by way of valuation comfort, which can provide a cushion to the stock, suggest experts. From a 2-3 years perspective, and considering the growth prospects of the company, the stock can be accumulated on corrections in ones medium-to-long-term portfolios, considering that D-Mart is a good proxy play on Indias strong consumption theme, said Agrawal. Although D-Mart being one of the most profitable stores in India and commands one of the highest profitability ratios in the world, analysts feel the stock at the current market price has priced in all the positive factors of continuous high growth, geographical expansion, scalability and sustainability of the business. We feel D-Mart will continue to outperform the industry at whole in terms of margins and profitability due to its unique business model of owning its properties and cluster-based approach, but we feel at current MCAP of Rs 50k crore the stock has priced in multi-year growth story and might not give attractive returns from CMP, said Parekh of Bonanza Portfolio Ltd. The stock has rallied over 100 percent in a span of less than a month, which has been the fastest rally in the history; hence, a correction could be due on the cards, as the 30-day lock-in period for anchor investors ended on April 17. We feel long-term investors should book partial profits and short-term investors should look to completely exit the stock and should avoid buying at CMP and should wait for healthy correction of 100-150 points for valuations to look attractive, added Parekh of Bonanza. Initiating efforts to revamp the Congress, Rahul Gandhi convened a key strategy meeting in which he asked volunteers to assess the ground situation and strengthen the party in poll-bound states. The meeting was attended by a group of party MPs, MLAs, former PCC chiefs and party workers, besides four former Union ministers including P Chidambaram. During his three-hour interaction with the party leaders, Rahul asked them to devote more time to the party and help strengthen it ahead of upcoming elections to key states including Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Sources said Rahul asked the leaders to volunteer for visiting the poll-bound states and help suggest ways and means to strengthen the party at the grassroots level after assessing the ground situation in these states. The Congress vice president sought views of the leaders at the meeting to help revive the Congress from the lowest level of panchayats to the highest level in states. He indicated that there will be more such meetings with party leaders in groups of 50 and assured decentralisation and internal democracy in the party at all levels. Rahul also stressed on the need for dedicated cadres who would devote more time for the party. There was also a view during the meeting that the party was "neglected" when the Congress was in power in various states and the need to do away with such a culture and the need to focus on the organisation. The party has already announced the poll schedule for organisational elections, which is to be completed by December. The Election Commission has asked the Congress to complete its internal elections by this year-end, after it gave a six-month extension to the party on the issue. Amid a growing clamour among partymen for restructuring in the wake of recent electoral defeats in states, the party is in for a major revamp in the coming days and is likely to hold a series of meetings in this regard. A meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the highest decision-making body of the party is also likely soon. India's food regulator, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), is working on stringent measures to curb food adulteration across the country. It is particularly worried about adulteration in food items sold in loose form. FSSAI also wants FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) companies to introduce smaller pack sizes in small cities, sources told CNBC-TV18. The request for small pack sizes is for products such as spices and edible oil. The regulator is soon going to launch a food safety awareness drive in the country, which will be rolled out in a phased manner. It is in talks with companies like Britannia, DS Group and Tetrapak to raise funds for the campaign. The campaign will begin with the National Capital Region. Bull's Eye, CNBC-TV18's popular game show, where market experts come together to dish out trading strategies for you to make your week more exciting and compete with each other to see whose portfolio is the strongest. Remember these are midcap ideas not just for the day, but stocks that look attractive in the medium-term as well. This week, Rakesh Bansal, Sumeet Jain and Ashish Kyal battle it out for top honours. Below their top stock picks and analysis: Rakesh Bansal of R K Global Buy Gayatri Projects with a stoploss at Rs 145 and target of Rs 184 Buy Ashoka Buildcon with a stoploss at Rs 199 and target of Rs 227 Buy ICICI Prudential Life Insurance with a stoploss at Rs 390 and target of Rs 425 Sell United Breweries with a stoploss at Rs 763 and target of Rs 706 Sumeet Jain of Destimoney Securities Buy Coffee Day with a stoploss at Rs 241 and target of Rs 272 Buy UPL with a stoploss at Rs 751 and target of Rs 799 Sell Hexaware Technologies Future with a stoploss at Rs 205 and target of Rs 191 Sell Bharat Forge Future with a stoploss at Rs 1061 and target of Rs 1004 Ashish Kyal of Waves Strategy Advisors Buy Engineers India with a stoploss at Rs 154 and target of Rs 169 Buy Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) with a stoploss at Rs 415 and target of Rs 456 Sell Jet Airways with a stoploss at Rs 501 and target of Rs 450 Sell Just Dial with a stoploss at Rs 515 and target of Rs 460 live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Dynamic Levels' report on Bharat Financial Inclusion Microfinance has become an effective tool that can help bringing economic equilibrium and reduce poverty. Bharat Financial ltd is one company that spread economic opportunity by giving poor people access to financial services, such as credit and insurance. Outlook On 28th March 2017, Bharat Finance Inclusion Ltd. share price is trading @Rs.746, P/E 17.40 (Industry P/E 30). We recommend BUY in Bharat Finance Inclusion Ltd with the target of Rs 910 (Short term) & Rs.1150 (Long Term). It is a Multibagger Stock recommended by Dynamic levels. For all recommendations, click here Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts/broking houses/rating agencies on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions. Read More Ashwani Gujral of ashwanigujral.com told CNBC-TV18, "Gujarat Fluorochemicals is a buy with a stop loss of Rs 700, target of Rs 735. Sun TV is also a buy with a stop loss of Rs 810, target of Rs 845. Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) is a buy with a stop loss of Rs 192, target of Rs 204." "PSUs are being recommended because of the news flow, which got people to initiate shorts. PSU banks dont have those kind of shorts. If there was some negative news on PSU banks then you would consider that but purely from a futures perspective, all those stocks which came for that OFS news out there, there is lack of follow-through selling and chances are by the end of the day PSU stocks could do extremely well particularly REC and Power Finance Corporation which was in a strong uptrend and that got halted by that news," he said. Hemant Thukral of Aditya Birla Money told CNBC-TV18, "We have selected two stocks for today. One on the buy side and one on the sell. The buy we are giving is on IRB Infrastructure Developers. The stock has added good amount of open interest, 9 percent. For me more interesting thing is the way 230 Put have added open interest. That clearly is telling that base formation is now getting into IRB Infrastructure around that Rs 230-235 mark. Yes, it did correct intraday from the highs but we still feel that the stock should be bought on dips today keeping a stop loss of Rs 239-240 and we expect the stock retest yesterdays high. Rs 257-260 zone . So, IRB Infrastructure looks a good stock to enter on the long side." "The second stock which we are giving a sell today is Bharat Forge. This stock for us was forming a top in any case. It was not able to cross that Rs 1,100 mark and if you see the 1,100 Call, it had the highest open interest. However, yesterday interestingly it gave away Rs 1,070 on the downside which was acting as a support level for the stock. It has added 4 percent fresh shorts, so, we feel now the stock has to test the downside of the range that is between Rs 995 and Rs 1,000. So, we will maintain a stop loss of Rs 1,070 which was the earlier support that will become a resistance for Bharat Forge now," he said. "So, Bharat Forge is a sell and IRB Infrastructure is a buy. Both the trades will be valid for next two to three trading sessions." Sudarshan Sukhani of s2analytics.com told CNBC-TV18, "M&M Financial Services is a far better stock. VRL Logistics is something I would avoid completely. M&M Finance has come out of a bear market. It is now embarking on a much stronger rally as compared to other NBFCs. Every dip is a buying opportunity. My view on the short-term market itself is not upbeat, that is a different issue." Tata Motors continues to be a short sell and two stocks for buying. Surprisingly, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries which is giving signs of life at least in the short-term," he added. In an interview to CNBC-TV18's Latha Venkatesh and Anuj Singhal SP Tulsian of sptulsian.com shared his reading and outlook on the market and also gave recommendations on various stocks. Below is the verbatim transcript of the interview. Anuj: The stock of the morning could be Nalco. Rs 67 for offer-for-sale (OFS), 9 percent discount to market price, if the stock corrects, do you see this as an opportunity to buy or would you avoid it? A: I will take this as an opportunity even in OFS also, I am seeing this as attractively priced because if you take the call on the aluminium going forward, I do not think that one should take a daily call on the metal more specially on the non-ferrous metal whether you take a call on aluminium or zinc. Things are looking positive on both the front. So you as an investor even if you have a short-term horizon, I would advise to go either for OFS or maybe correction to use as a buying opportunity. Latha: India Meteorological Department (IMD) has told us that the monsoons are going to be normal, will you start looking at any of the agricultural stocks afresh? A: I think though the normal monsoon has been predicted by IMD which is at 96 percent, if it is normal, it has to be presumed that it is 96 percent to 104 percent but I do not think that the prediction has been with full conviction given by the IMD because on the El-Nino front and yesterday in the afternoon show, I have said that probably El-Nino will be seen and monsoon this time is coming little ahead of the usual deadline of June 5. I was looking for two things with a certainty, one when it will be touching the Kerala coast which is predicted to be at about May 26-27 this time. So if you have El-Nino somewhere in the end of August and if you have the monsoon onset in Kerala somewhere in the last week of May, I do not think that there will be any kind of problem. You may be seeing the back-ended rain getting affected because of El-Nino but that will be seen overall positive. It will be difficult to take a call to play on the theme because if you take a rural play then the consumption and non-banking financial companies (NBFC) space are looking good and already both the sectors are doing quite well. If I take a call on maybe stocks like Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) or Escorts, it is already ruling at the upper end of the range on the valuation front maybe one can take a call on M&M kind of things or maybe NBFCs, which have a rural presence like M&M Finance or maybe the microfinance companies like Ujjivan, Bharat Financial Inclusion, they are all looking good. There may be some kind of political headwinds with respect to the few microfinance companies in respect to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka where the water shortage or the drought kind of situation is seen prevailing now because we have already seen water cutting Tamil Nadu so that may lead to some kind of headwinds for these microfinance companies. So overall I will not say that this monsoon theme or the normal monsoon prediction theme can be played at this stage at least. One needs to wait for about maybe couple of weeks more to take a call on this theme. Anuj: Your thoughts on Indiabulls Real Estate. We have discussed it two days back and yesterday as well. It was clearly over-exuberance this 42 percent rally, it was down 10 percent yesterday, do you expect more correction now? A: We have discussed this yesterday and day before also when the price was at Rs 145-150, I have clearly said that this kind of nearly restructuring move where you are hiving-off the annuity assets into separate company where the expectation or the enabling provision, enabling resolution has been passed. I do not think that that was warranting a rise of about 45 percent. Definitely, these kind of things were seen a pure speculative moment and when the stock comes into the F&O ban next day that itself says that things have all been cornered and Moneycontrol has flashed that Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is looking into these trades where the concentrated position is held by a few of the people, definitely these kind of things does not warrant. Maybe investors I will not call it that for the traders because they all play on the intraday basis or on the swings - should definitely take these as a lesson that whenever you see this kind of upsurge and if they are holding the stock, they should take this as an opportunity to book profit and look to re-enter. So definitely if the stock corrects by about another 10-15 percent, I will not be surprised because we have been giving a buy call on the stock from Rs 80 where we have been saying that it is a very good buy from a medium-term perspective but if you are seeing a price of Rs 145-150 just in a couple of days, I do not think that kind of rise was warranted. Justice Chandrachud: The judge who is not afraid to dissent' Moneycontrol News Shares of Jain Irrigation soared over 9 percent intraday on Wednesday as investors cheered acquisition of 2 US entities by the firm. The company announced the acquisition of 80 percent stake in US firms, Agri Valley and Irrigation Design and Constriction. The combined revenue of the 2 US firms for calendar year 2016 is USD 113 million. The company expected the acquisition to be completed in two years. The firms management in an interaction with CNBC-TV18 also stated that the acquisition was a strategic one. These will now help it reach out directly to farmers with the help of latest technological solutions. The acquired businesses are profitable and the margins were higher than Jain Irrigation. The funding for the same would be done partly via equity and debt and that debt-to-equity should be around 1 by the end of the current fiscal. It also added that the US will be the second largest geographical market after the acquisition. At 12:48 hrs, the stock was quoting at Rs 108.05, up Rs 8.60, or 8.65 percent on the BSE. It touched a 52-week high of Rs 109.55. Below is an excerpt of the interview. Reema: If you could tell us how much will you be paying for it? How will the acquisition be funded because you are saying it will be paid in cash not exceeding USD 48.5 million? What will it do to your revenue? A: For us, this is a very important and strategic investment and acquisition into US. US is the largest irrigation market in the world. We already have an existing business where we manufacture drip irrigation equipment and sell it. These companies which we are acquiring are in distribution. So, they distribute. So, they are directly dealing with the farmers. We wanted to be sure that we can have direct relationship and reach out to the farming community there. So, in the recent past, you might have seen we have talked about investing into internet of things (IoT), etc. We did two acquisitions in PureSense and Observant and as a logical step, we want to deploy those latest technologies in IoT directly into the farmer\'s field. So, this acquisition also allows us to reach out to the farmers and deploy the latest technology, build solutions because the whole world is changing, moving towards IoT and digital stuff and we want to maintain our global leadership there. So, that is the reason we are doing it. These two particular entities are one of the largest dealers of irrigation anywhere in the world. Usually, the irrigation dealers, their size is USD 1 million, USD 5 million, USD 10 million. Entities themselves are USD 50-60 million. So, very large entities. So, it is quite deep and a good size business. In terms of their size, in terms of revenue, the year they finish, calendar year, it was about USD 113 million between both of them. Last year, as you know, there was a huge drought in California, last couple of years, but last four months, there have been very good rains and they expect good business going forward, so we are looking at good level of growth going forward into this revenue which is there. This acquisition along with our existing irrigation business in US allows us to be the largest micro-irrigation company in US. We have been leader in India and now we are looking at that leadership level and different businesses and these businesses are quite profitable. Their earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) are actually higher than our EBITDA margins in US. Nigel: The number USD 113 million, it would be adding close to around 8-9 percent to your total revenues. In the last year, it did around USD 113 million, do you scaling up of these revenues? Also you are saying the margins are better. For your nine months, you have done around 13.5 percent or thereabouts. How much better, is it 100 basis points or 200 basis points better? A: Their margins within the irrigation business are better than our US irrigation business. Our India margins are different, they are much higher. Reema: So, what are you US irrigation margins then and if you could tell us straightaway then what the margins of the acquired company are? A: Our US irrigation margins have hovered around 6-7 percent of EBITDA. These people, their margins would be closer to 10-11 percent. So, there is quite a wide gap and a positive margins they have. Nigel: And it will add close to around 8-9 percent to your total revenues? A: Yes, FY17 as a company and depending on that whole exchange rate, we are closing around USD 1.1 billion. In that context, this USD 113 million is very close to about 10 percent of the overall company\'s global revenue. Nigel: How will you fund this particular investment? I am told that you are going to be investing around Rs 350 crore, that is for 80 percent. Is that right? How will you be funding this and what is the current debt in your books? A: The funding would be done partly through equity and partly through debt. And when I say equity, that means our internal accruals, contribution, not raising any new equity. And the debt we are funding through long-term seven year debt with Export-Import Bank of India. So, there is no issue on that side and overall, as a company, we have said this earlier that we want to move close to five times, we used to be enterprise value (EV)-EBITDA five times. By this march I expect that we would have closed maybe around four and our target for March, 2018 EV-EBITDA is about three. And our expect our debt equity to be less than one by the time we end the current fiscal year. Watch accompanying video of Anil Jain, MD of Jain Irrigation Systems for more details. Bars of 500 and 1000 gram silver are seen in this picture illustration at a precious metal refinery in Istanbul July 26, 2011. Gold eased on Tuesday as investors cashed in some gains after the previous session's record high, but the political impasse in the United States over raising the debt ceiling kept prices firmly supported above $1,600 an ounce. Spot silver added 0.1 percent to $40.34. It hit $41.05 in the previous session, its highest since May 4 when prices were tumbling from a record $49.51 set on April 28. REUTERS/Murad Sezer (TURKEY - Tags: BUSINESS) - RTR2PAYO Achiievers Equities' commodity report on Silver Silver trading range for the day is 41324-42800. Silver prices dropped as election uncertainty in France and the United Kingdom weighed on investors sentiment after the Easter long weekend. The IMF raised its 2017 global growth forecast on Tuesday due to manufacturing and trade gains in Europe, Japan and China Lingering worries about the upcoming French presidential elections on April 23 further supported demand for assets perceived as safer. BUY SILVER MAY 2017 @ 41900 SL 41600 TGT 42200-42450.MCX For all commodities report, click here Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts/broking houses/rating agencies on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions. Read More While the entire Indian media flashed the breaking news of Indian businessman Vijay Mallyas arrest and subsequent bail after only three hours in London on Tuesday, bankers will still have to cross many hurdles before they can get their dues back. Bankers among the 17 consortium of lenders to Mallya-owned now defunct Kingfisher Airlines are happy that he was undergoing the much-awaited legal trial in the United Kingdom. Mallya fled to the UK in March last year to avoid getting arrested in India. The liquor baron Mallya owes banks and Service Tax Department a total of about Rs 9,000 crore including the principal loan amount, interest and penalties. However, it might be too early to cheer as there are many stages which an extradition request needs to pass through before an individual resident of the UK is handed over to India. According to experts, the legal system and human rights laws in Britain have been notorious for providing refuge to many fleeing political and religious persecutions from their countries. "Even if Mallya loses the case there, he will not be extradited to India tomorrow or in the next few weeks. Clearly, he will challenge the extradition in UK courts. Also, India is in the category of countries which is subject to more judicial scrutiny in the treaty with UK. Further, Mallya is not a terrorist or he hasnt done any criminal act but is accused in a white-collar crime. Hence, he definitely will challenge it there to slow down the process," said Kumar Saurabh Singh, a partner with legal firm Khaitan & Company. Singh adds that even as terrorism cases have led to successful extradition of the party concerned, not many white-collar cases have seen success in the last 15 years. Recalling a case, another legal expert said, "There was a banking sector litigation case of Mardia Chemicals in the early 2000s and at that point of time it was one of the biggest NPA (non-performing asset) cases. In 2010, after about 8-10 years it was settled for a pittance." Many high-profile Indians have moved their base to the UK after being wanted in India. Previously, Lalit Modi for alleged financial offences, Ravi Sankaran in an Indian Navy war room leak case, Nadeem Saifi in the Gulshan Kumar murder case and Tiger Hanif in the Gujarat blasts case have been wanted by Indian government authorities. An extradition request from India needs decisions by the home secretary as well as several courts. Tiger Hanif had lost the case in 2013 and is still awaiting approvals from the UK government. Apart from those approvals, one can also approach the European Court of Human Rights. This will also test the Indian governments acumen and efforts to book him. Moreover, this will set an example and may put pressure on Mallya to come forward for some settlement with banks as it may be an unfavourable process maybe 2-3 years down the line, according to few legal experts. West Bengal Chief Minister Manata Banerjee Wednesday said all regional parties must work together for better federalism even as she accused the BJP of indulging in "divisive" politics to defame Hindutva. "Our effort will be to ensure that all regional parties work together for better federalism in the country. They should be strong," Banerjee, also the president of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITMC) told reporters at Puri. Banerjee, who is on a three-day visit to Odisha since last night, came down heavily on the BJP and accused it of indulging in divisive politics. "They (BJP) wanted to divide the nation in the name of religion, region and caste. They pit Hindus against Muslims, Christians against Hindus, Odias against Bengalis, Biharis against Bengalis, and so on ... This is not Hinduism," she alleged. Claiming that she was a real Hindu who believes in taking everyone together, Banerjee said the BJP's attitude towards others was not acceptable. "According to them (BJP) the Odisha government is bad, the Bengal government is bad, the Bihar government is bad and all non-BJP state governments are bad. How are you good if you go on dubbing others bad," she said. Banerjee claimed that Hinduism was not something practised by the BJP and dubbed the BJP members as "black spot" on Hinduism. She alleged that they divide people instead of taking everyone together. "I'm a Hindu but not the one who defames religion. While the Hindu belief talks about the ideology of moving forward and taking everyone along, the saffron party is acting against the ideology and defaming Hindutva," she added. Noting that the regional parties respect all, Banerjee said, "How can the leaders of Delhi say others are bad when you are unable to take care of Delhi." On the FIR filed against her party leaders in connection with Narada chit-fund case, she said, "These decisions are taken with evil intentions and are politically motivated. The TMC is against the BJP ideologically but they are fighting against us at a personal level. We will take up the challenge and handle the matter legally." Asked about her remark on beef eating, Banerjee said, "I'm a devout Jagannath lover. We worship the Lord in our houses in Bengal. Whatever I have said on beef eating that is as per the voice of Indian Constitution." On relations between Odisha and West Bengal, she said, "In my state, every person worships Lord Jagannath with reverence and visits Puri at least six times a year. For us Kali Ghat, Dakhineswari Mandir or Jagannath Mandir, are all the same. In Digha or Puri, the beaches are equally captivating." On plans to meet Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Banerjee said, "I want to meet him tomorrow before leaving for Kolkata. 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, Ex-choir director in Bucks County pleads no contest to molesting two students, secretly filming another Friends In Pink is still on the radar and growing every year Rabbis installation at Keneseth Israel will get a boost of student creativity April 19, 2017 Libya - More War And Reconciliation By Richard Galustian The West retains it's out of touch Libyan policies when in Luca, Italy last week the G7 'warned and commanded' that the fractious warring Libyan parties 'must' work with the dying UN appointed and recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), situated only in a small naval base in Tripoli and its so called Presidency Council (PC). And further ordered Libyans to work together to fix the economic crisis by recognising that the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) need to only collaborate with the GNA/PC, so out of touch with the real issues on the ground in Libya are the G7 Countries. Their language almost expressed in colonial terms! Other global interference in Libya continues. Most recently also the GNA and Presidency Council (PC) leader Fayez Serraj was seeing the head, at his HQ in Stuttgart, of the United Stated Africa Command (AFRICOM) General Thomas Waldhauser. I didn't know Stuttgart was in Africa? Other pronouncements of one kind or another backing the phantom GNA appear almost weekly. All a waste of time, as UN and EU efforts have proven these past years. As far as Serraj is concerned he is unelected by Libyans but chosen by the foreigners. Thats never going to achieve forward progress for Libyas future. The one year anniversary of the General National Accord (GNA) created by the UN and headed by Serraj was on the 30th March just two weeks ago. But the GNA doesnt function. To compound the GNAs inability to govern, an acute emergency has emerged in the last 7 days revolving around further direct sales by Cyrenaica (East Libya) of oil bypassing Tripoli and the West. If this issue remains unresolved the country may split into two or three pieces. There is now tremendous in-fighting between National Oil Company (NOC) and a variety of diverse interests. The West's reactions to these realities remain puzzling and totally unrealistic to say the least. A Libyan military solution to the civil war is fast becoming the only option however a Mandela type Truth and Reconciliation Commission following straight after such military victory is also a top priority. These developments are part of a new dynamic that is entering the Libyan Civil War that is another trend that may satisfy weary Libyans themselves. The re-entry of two of Gaddafis children who are seeking a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, similar to South Africas, in order to bring unity to the country. Specific Libyan tribes are starting to back the Gaddafi clan a new and hopefully peaceful attempt at country unification may appear that ousts the GNA and other Tripoli militias and extremists for good from the political scene. This is becoming a realistic proposition. It is to this point that national reconciliation must be addressed. South Africas process helped to unify the country after decades of apartheid. The LNA's Field Marshall Khalifa Haftar is close to Elders of Warfalla tribe that give him their support in the war against terrorism. Warfalla tribe is the biggest tribe in Libya located in Bani Walid and Sirte area, the Warshfana tribe is second located to the South West of Tripoli. Both tribes are from the west of Libya and both are against extremists and very sympathetic to the Gaddafis. Importantly, the tribes believe that the Gaddafis can reach an accommodation with Libyan parties to one another forgive crimes committed before and after the revolt of 2011. Already, evidence can be seen of this trend: In the past week, Libyan authorities have released some Gaddafi era nobles from prison. The involvement of the former AQ-LIFG fighters to take credit for these releases is a vain attempt to try to align themselves with Gaddifites which will never succeed. While the limelight is on Saif, who still is believed to suffer from physical and mental injuries sustained during his capture, his sister Aisha Gaddafi is fast becoming the most important member of the family. She is generating a good deal of attention and she may well be very influential in future. Aisha is a pragmatic and sensible Libyan with acute political acumen and a sharp wit and intellect. She has a dynamic personality and is the most well educated of the Colonel's siblings. There is an argument that she needs to return to the political scene. Whether she wants to, no one knows due to her low profile so far. However with Aisha's victory last week in the European Court of Justice against the UN Security Council-sponsored sanctions this may very well be the first indicator. She has also had her travel ban lifted. A major achievement. Together with her brother, when he achieves 100 percent fitness, both Gaddafis can begin to work together with all Libyans to rescue the country from its dreadful plight as part of a team never a return to dictatorship. This tandem approach Gaddafi siblings and the Tribes is the possible solution to Libyas civil war. Haftar recognizes the values of tribes and the Libyan Field Marshall is now using all his might to solidify and unify all Libyans whilst continuing to fight terrorists. As stated earlier, South Africas dismantling of decades of apartheid serves as the example, the model for Libya. The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was set up to help deal with what awful things happened under apartheid, much worse than Gaddafi's crimes ever were. The remnants of conflict during this post-apartheid period resulted in still some limited violence and human rights abuses from all sides but no section of society escaped exposure or punishment. Libya is suffering under a system of constant outside international interference in a Libyan decision about their own future. Self-reflection is an important part of reconciliation and it is thought that if the Gaddafis assistance in such an effort will help in a cleansing to build a new Libyan future, this would be a good thing. Of course, Libya is not South Africa, and the issues completely different, yet it is the process of reconciliation and forgiveness itself which has its primordial roots in todays modern Libyan tribes. Russia involvement with Egypt is essential. Also African countries must unite to help Libya through this process, not US's AFRICOM, UN or even the EU. The only other country that appears to be a true friend to Libya is the UAE who also have the advantage of being anti-Muslim Brotherhood, a dangerous sect that has influence in the West of Libya. If body language is anything to go by, this picture (of Mohamed bin Zayed, the powerful Crown Prince of the UAE with Haftar) taken last week in Abu Dhabi speaks volumes! bigger Let us hope finally for a peaceful conclusion to the tragedy that has been Libya for these past six years. Posted by b on April 19, 2017 at 8:23 UTC | Permalink Comments April 19, 2017 The Nerve Agent Attack that Did Not Occur - Khan Sheikhun Summary Report by Prof. Postol Update - April 22: "Correction" link added, Chlorine not Sarin link added --- MIT Professor Theodore Postol, a well known missile expert and former scientific advisor to the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations, analyzed the available evidence of the alleged April 4 Sarin attack on Khan Sheikhun in Syria. He comes to the conclusion that the White House allegations and its report are false. The White House report was not created or vetted by knowledgeable intelligence analysts. This confirms our own analysis published earlier on Moon of Alabama. Prof. Postol's summary report: The Nerve Agent Attack that Did Not Occur, April 19 (pdf, 18 pages) and a supplementary correction to the summary report regarding the wind direction: IMPORTANT CORRECTION TO The Nerve Agent Attack that Did Not Occur, April 21 (pdf, 6 pages). Previously three preliminary versions of Prof. Postol's analysis were released by him: (See also my assessment of the validity of "sarin" claims based on the early public news and records: Chlorine, Not Sarin, Was Used In The Khan Sheikhun Incident.) Pic: NOT the site of a Sarin missile impact as claimed by the White House source - bigger Prof. Postol sent the following covering letter with his summary report: The Nerve Agent Attack that Did Not Occur - Summary of Findings This analysis contains a detailed description of the times and locations of critical events in the alleged nerve agent attack of April 4, 2017 in Khan Shaykhun, Syria assuming that the White House Intelligence Report (WHR) issued on April 11, 2017 correctly identified the alleged sarin release site. Analysis using weather data from the time of the attack shows that a small hamlet about 300 m to the east southeast of the crater could be the only location affected by the alleged nerve agent release. Video data of suffocating and dead victims lying on the ground shows a different location from the predicted sarin dispersal site if it had been correctly identified by the White House. The conclusion is that the nerve agent attack described in the White House Intelligence Report did not occur as claimed. There may well have been mass casualties from some kind of poisoning event, but that event was not the one described by the WHR. The findings of this expanded analysis can serve two important purposes: 1. It shows exactly what needs to be determined in an international investigation of this alleged atrocity. In particular, if an international investigation can determine where casualties from the nerve agent attack lived, it will confirm that the findings reported by the White House Report are incompatible with its own cited data. 2. It also establishes that the White House Report did not utilize simple and widely agreed upon intelligence analysis procedures to determine its conclusions. This raises troubling questions about how the US political and military leadership determined that the Syrian government was responsible for the alleged attack. It is particularly of concern that the White House Report presented itself as a report with high confidence findings and that numerous high-level officials in the US government have confirmed their belief that the report was correct and executed to a standard of high confidence. Theodore A. Postol Professor Emeritus of Science, Technology, and National Security Policy Massachusetts Institute of Technology The "Sarin Attack on Khan Sheikhun", which the White House and its Ambassador to the UN blamed on the Syrian government, did not happen - at least not in the way that was claimed. They Syrian government had no motive at all to mount such an attack. It was in the mid of a winning streak. The incident benefited al-Qaeda in Syria which dominates the area in question but was losing on the battle field. In "response" to the claimed attack the U.S. bombed the Syrian military airport Al Syairat. This was the main air base for the Syrian airforce involved in fighting the Islamic State in eastern-Syria. The attack amounted to U.S. air support on request of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. The Trump administration initiated these events for domestic purpose. They let Trump to look sufficient belligerent and presidential and dispelled false allegations of association with Russia by the Democrats and the media. To justify the attack the White House released a report written by the National Security Council, not by intelligence services. The report was full of holes and ridiculous assertions. In the Moon of Alabama analysis of the White House Report on April 12 we wrote: That "intelligence community assessment" chapter title is likely already a false claim. [...] The summary assessment the White House releases has no such [intelligence] heritage. It is likely a well massaged fast write up of some flunky in the National Security Council. The release was backgrounded by dubious statements of an anonymous "Senior Administration Officials" not by "Intelligence Officials" as has been the case on other such issues. Professor Postol writes in his Final Comments (pdf) (pg11): [I]t is clear that the WHR was not an intelligence report. No competent intelligence professional would have made so many false claims that are totally inconsistent with the evidence. No competent intelligence professional would have accepted the findings in the WHR analysis after reviewing the data presented herein. No competent intelligence professionals would have evaluated the crater that was tampered with in terms described in the WHR. Although it is impossible to know from a technical assessment to determine the reasons for such an egregiously amateurish report, it cannot be ruled out that the WHR was fabricated to conceal critical information from the Congress and the public. Related links: The first main-stream report on Postol's assessment in the International Business Times (via Yahoo): MIT expert claims latest chemical weapons attack in Syria was staged A serious funny Corbett report take on the Khan Sheikhun incident The Syria Strikes: A Conspiracy Theory (video) Posted by b on April 19, 2017 at 7:16 UTC | Permalink Comments President Xi Jinping will attend the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in mid-May and deliver the keynote speech, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Tuesday. He also confirmed that heads of state and government leaders from 28 countries and heads and representatives from 61 international organizations will take part in the two-day forum, which starts on May 14 in Beijing. The Belt and Road Initiative, put forward by Xi in 2013, is the most important public policy China has provided to the world, Wang said. "It was initiated by China, but shared by other countries." Xi will also host a leaders roundtable summit on May 15, Wang said. "We hope to push forward the establishment of a fairer, more reasonable and balanced global governance system under the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits," he said. China's aim in hosting the forum now is to gather the thoughts and wisdom of attendees, summarize achievements and experience, and plan routes for cooperation, he added. Chinese government departments are expected to sign about 20 plans for action with their counterparts along the initiative's routes, covering infrastructure, energy and resources, production capacity cooperation, and trade and investment. The forum, with more than 1,200 delegates from 110 countries expected, will include such high-level conferences as a plenary meeting and six parallel meetings with different themes. Wang noted that the forum comes amid sluggish global investment and trade, with the world economy yet to emerge from the gloom of the financial crisis of 2007-08. "We do not lack the resources and capabilities to solve problems. The key is that current international cooperation is fragmented and exclusive, which makes it difficult for us to integrate the current resources," he said. Wang Xiaotao, vice-minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, said the progress of the Belt and Road Initiative has exceeded expectations. China's trade in goods with nations along the initiative reached $974.8 billion in 2016, which takes up 25.7 percent of its total trade in goods in 2016. The country also has set aside about 10,000 scholarships for countries along the initiative's routes, and reached a broad consensus with those countries in science, culture, tourism and health, aiding people-to-people exchanges, he noted. China has signed agreements with over 40 countries and international organizations on the initiative, and it is expected to discuss similar agreements with some 20 countries and 20 international organizations at the forum. Jonathan Miller: Welcome to the Morningstar manager check-up, for the latest updates from our manager research team. We start with Fidelity UK Smaller Companies managed by Alex Wright and Jonathan Winton. The process here was devised by Wright and looks for stocks with unrecognised growth potential that offer strong downside protection. In terms of day to day management, its become clear that Jonathan Winton has become more influential since Wright took on the Fidelity Special Situations fund about three years ago. Although Winton is inexperienced compared with peers in this space, we see continuity in execution of the process. Theres also a wider analyst team at Fidelity that can be called upon. The fund remains soft closed and we reaffirm our Morningstar analyst rating of Bronze. Next up is the Man GLG Undervalued Assets fund run by Henry Dixon. What we particularly like is the highly-disciplined process and strong execution, making this a compelling choice for investors. Although this was launched in 2013, our conviction has been built over a longer time frame through Dixons previous mandate using the same process. His thorough balance sheet analysis looks to identify two types of stock: those trading below his estimate of the companys asset value and those where the companys profit stream is being undervalued relative to the cost of capital. The fund had a tough year last year but is already bouncing back in 2017 and we believe in the ability to generate strong risk adjusted returns. So the fund maintains its Silver Rating. Finally, we have the JP Morgan China fund, thats been managed by Howard Wang since the start of 2016. Hes something of a veteran in this space, having run other mandates in the region, and since taking over has implemented his secular growth investment process. Wang targets companies with strong earnings or cash flow growth, robust business models with barriers to entry, and a favourable competitive landscape. The fund underperformed last year which isnt surprising given his style was out of favour and value stocks rallied. What we observe today when analysing his portfolio is that he remains true to his style, with overweights in the healthcare and consumer discretionary sectors. With our confidence in Wang and his process, plus competitive fees, we maintain our Bronze Rating on this fund. Bank of Montreal announced that it will be bundling uninsured mortgages into bonds, a development that might prove to be trailblazing in a market where the government now has less of a hand in supporting home loans.Backed by $1.96 billion of prime uninsured residential mortgages, the offering is a first in Canada, where big banks have traditionally bundled government-insured mortgages into bonds.Observers noted that this might represent the first step in the next generation of mortgage financing.Right now the banks dont have any other way to fund it, so theres probably some form of internal limit on this kind of mortgage financing theyll do, Canoe Financial LP chief investment officer Marc Goldfried told Bloomberg.Over half of BMOs prime uninsured mortgages are in Ontario and Quebec, according to Moodys Investor Service. Approximately 95 per cent of the securities in the transaction will be rated Aaa, with the lowest being at B2 grade.This is a really unique deal in the Canadian market, Moodys analyst Richard Hunt stated. Given the pent-up demand that we think is out there on the part of banks and non-banks to have a vehicle to fund their residential mortgages, to have an RMBS market, we think this could be a significant transaction.BMO officials said that the bank will offer to renew mortgage loans at the end of their terms if their borrowers are not in default, and if they satisfy the banks underwriting criteria at the time, thus addressing part of the risk of borrowers not being able to refinance.Prior to BMOs announcement, Canadian banks have used covered bond programs and asset-backed commercial paper programs to securitize mortgages that do not carry government insurance, but have yet to issue term residential mortgage-backed securities unless they were through a government-sponsored program. A leading Canada-based real estate software and technology corporation is moving its U.S. headquarters to Dallas to ensure a wider reach, the firm announced. Based in Toronto and serving over 10,000 real estate firms and entities across North America, Lone Wolf Real Estate Technologies said that its former headquarters in Las Vegas will remain in operation. The centre of the companys U.S. operations will be relocating to a 25,000-square-foot office space in the 717 Harwood tower in downtown Dallas. This building can accommodate the future growth potential for the company which anticipates potentially leasing up to 100,000 square feet over time, according to the companys filings with the citys Economic Development Committee, as quoted by Dallas News. Also, the downtown location offers a favorable ability to attract technology workers in specialties of information technology, software engineering and systems architecture, along with other related fields. The firm added that a further 150 jobs will be made available in the new headquarters. We are recruiting pretty heavily down in Dallas, Lone Wolfs vice president for marketing Kate Annis said. Its a great place for technology and we are excited to be down there. Expansion in the U.S. is our focus over the next few years. That belief has reportedly led the White House to hold off on firing Cordray. A public firing, it is feared, might give the controversial directors gubernatorial candidacy free publicity. Cordray hasnt announced his intentions to run yet, but he may already have enough support to be a formidable candidate, according to Politico. While hes reviled by much of the business community and by GOP lawmakers in Washington, Cordray is far more popular in Ohio. Read more: Hensarling: Cordray acted unlawfully, CFPB is a tyranny He would clear the field, Republican strategist Mark Weaver told Politico. Theres nobody else who has the credibility in the Democratic Party. He is a credible candidate who would come into the race and instantly be able to raise money. Even bankers in Ohio dont feel the vitriol Cordray has endured on the national level, Politico reported.We have no quarrel with Rich, Jeff Quayle, a senior vice president at the Ohio Bankers League, told Politico. He was given an incredibly hard job to do, starting a new agency from scratch. That was bound to lead to conflict. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Update, Wednesday: Tuesday Torres was arrested by Plano police and is being held at the Collin County jail. She faces a felony charge of abandoning or endangering a child/criminal negligence. A Plano day care worker is accused of slamming an 18-month-old child to the floor in an attempt to get him to nap. She could be seen lifting the boy by his arms, and swinging him face-down on a mat. The mother, Caitlin Gilmore, allegedly saw Jazmine Torres, 22, hurt the child on a surveillance camera from the The Children's Courtyard, according to NBC 5. DAY CARE VIOLATIONS: Houston-area kids left unattended, unsafe conditions Gilmore was reportedly at lunch when she witnessed the incident from her workplace. After leaving to pickup her child, her colleagues filmed the footage on their phones. It was not recorded but had been live streamed from the facility. The child was taken to a hospital where he was examined and found to have no injuries. (Story continues below.) Torres has been fired from the day care. The day care released a statement to that station reads, in part: "We have strict policies and procedures to ensure the safety and well being of our children, and to make certain we meet or exceed state guidelines. We don't tolerate deviation from those standards. Upon being made aware of this situation, we immediately notified the authorities and partnered with the state as well as conducted our own investigation." IN THE HOUSTON AREA: Spring day care worker allegedly slammed child to the ground, causing her to bleed They say they will work to reiterate their processes with staff. "We take our responsibility seriously, and are committed to ensuring our children receive high quality early education and nurturing care." According to NBC 5, a Texas Department of Family and Protective Services report revealed the facility has seen 28 violations in the last two years. Eight of those were considered "serious enough to put children at risk." Actor Liu Ye stars Mao Zedong in the epic drama The Founding of an Army. [Photo provided to China Daily] To celebrate the 90th anniversary of the founding of Chinese People's Liberation Army, an upcoming epic on the silver screen aims to relive the early history of Communist-led troops. The Founding of an Army features Liu Ye starring as Mao Zedong and Zhu Yawen playing Zhou Enlai. The film's promoters released a preview clip of the shooting and some battle scenes from the movie, which will open across China on July 28. The movie retells the landmark 1927 Nanchang Uprising, the first Communist-Kuomintang engagement during the Chinese Civil War. Following the footsteps of The Founding of a Republic in 2009 and The Founding of the Party in 2011, the third installment of the "Founding of New China" trilogy again use star power as an appeal to modern audiences. The stellar cast boasts around 40 popular actors, most of whom are heartthrobs to young fans. Executive producer Huang Jianxin explains that the then-young revolutionary leaders, with an average age of 29, require a similar-aged cast to play them. Han Sanping, the chief initiator and art director, believes the cast will stimulate interest among young moviegoers and prompt them to search online for more revolutionary history. Related: Glancing into Japanese culture with film week in Beijing Sino-Foreign Film Co-Production Forum held in Beijing China's movie industry is getting a talent boost with a recent program jointly launched by University of Southern California's School of Cinema Arts and the Beijing-based movie firm Luminous Pictures. Under the program, talented Chinese will go to Hollywood to polish up their knowledge and skills. There, Chinese participants will join a three-month training course run by veteran Hollywood producers and scriptwriters at the school, the oldest and largest such institution in the United States. Graduates from the school include filmmakers such as George Lucas and John Wayne. Elizabeth M. Daley, the dean of the school, says the program will focus on on-set training to provide the Chinese with practical experience in Hollywood. Huang Wei-che, the founder of Luminous Pictures, says the program will give Chinese filmmakers opportunities to work with Hollywood veterans. Related: Jing Tian stars in summer cinema romance PLA drama hits big screen this summer Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May speaks to the media outside 10 Downing Street, in central London, Britain April 18, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] LONDON - British Prime Minister Theresa May called on Tuesday for an early election on June 8, saying she needed to strengthen her hand in divorce talks with the European Union by bolstering support for her Brexit plan. Standing outside her Downing Street office, May said she had been reluctant to ask parliament to back her move to bring forward the poll from 2020. But, after thinking "long and hard" during a walking holiday, she decided it was necessary to try to stop the opposition "jeopardising" her work on Brexit. Some were surprised by May's move - the Conservative prime minister has repeatedly said she does not want to be distracted by campaigning - but opinion polls give her a strong lead and the British economy has so far defied predictions of a slowdown. Growth is faster than expected, consumer confidence is high and unemployment low, but the economy may be poised to pass its peak as consumers start to feel the strain from rising prices. Sterling rose to a four-month high against the US dollar after the market bet that May would strengthen her parliamentary majority, which Deutsche Bank said would be a "game-changer" for the pound. But the stronger pound helped push Britain's main share index to close down 2.3 percent, its biggest one-day loss since June 27, days after Britain voted to leave the EU. "It was with reluctance that I decided the country needs this election, but it is with strong conviction that I say it is necessary to secure the strong and stable leadership the country needs to see us through Brexit and beyond," May said. "Before Easter I spent a few days walking in Wales with my husband, thought about this long and hard, and came to the decision that to provide that stability and certainty for the future that this was the way to do it, to have an election," she told ITV news. May called US President Donald Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other European leaders after the announcement, a spokesman said, without giving details of the conversations. We are collating signatures to petition ... Chinese musicians and artists will take center stage in London this summer at a series of events showcasing Hong Kong's diverse arts landscape. Performers from Hong Kong entertain an audience to the accompaniment of an orchestra. Several productions from Hong Kong are on their way to London. The Hong Kong Arts Development Council is presenting the Hong Kong Music Series during July. The arts council aims to "offer the world an opportunity to appreciate the latest Hong Kong music scene, and to facilitate cultural exchanges of the two great cities, Hong Kong and London". It picked the five productions featured in the series because they demonstrate the unique and vibrant musical culture of Hong Kong, where East meets West. More than 70 musical talents, including Hong Kong composers, musicians, and performers, will be featured in the five productions, which comprise classical and modern music, Chinese musical theater, and chamber opera. The series will open with Musical Interflow - A Dialogue of Two Cultures, which celebrates the musical interchange between the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. Hong Kong Episodes, will feature a jazz and classical fusion concert with performances from internationally acclaimed jazz guitarist Teriver Cheung and Lam Fung, the first Hong Kong composer to be commissioned by the BBC. The third event, Music Lab: Fingerman x Beloved Clara x SMASH, is a three-in-one performance from a young group led by charismatic pianist Wong Ka-Jeng. Law Wing-Fai's Beyond the Senses - Atmospheric Music Theater takes the audience on a trip through Chinese music theater with instruments, poetry, songs and Kunqu Opera. The series will close with the European premiere of the three-act chamber opera Datong: The Chinese Utopia, which tells the story of the visionary 20th century Chinese scholar Kang Youwei. The local government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is funding the festival, as part of celebrations to mark the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China in 1997. GET OUR APP Our Spectrum News app is the most convenient way to get the stories that matter to you. Download it here. Chinese ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming described China and Britain's relationships as "high, deep, hot and broad" at a dinner in London celebrating the two countries' 45 years of ambassadorial-level diplomatic relations on Tuesday. Chinese ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming Speaking to former British ambassadors to China at the event, hosted at the Chinese embassy, Liu said the two countries' relationship over the past 45 years have demonstrated the political wisdom and sincerity for achieving win-win cooperation between the two countries. "Over the past 45 years China-UK relations took many historic steps and developed by leaps and bounds. If you ask me how I would describe today's China-UK relations, I have four words: high, deep, hot and broad," Liu said. As a highlight of this relationship, when Chinese President Xi Jinping made a state visit to the UK in 2015, the two countries made a joint commitment to upgrade bilateral ties to a global comprehensive strategic partnership for the 21st century. That also marked the beginning of the two countries "golden era" of relations, which was reaffirmed when President Xi met with the British Prime Minister Theresa May during the G20 Global Leaders' Summit in Hangzhou last year. In addition to high level political support for the two countries' relations, Liu also highlighted bilateral ties as deep', especially in the way bilateral relations pioneered a number of firsts'. Britain was the first among major Western countries to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and the first to issue renminbi sovereign bonds. London has become the largest renminbi offshore market outside China, and in turn, China has also chosen London to issue its first renminbi sovereign bonds and central bank bills outside China. According to Liu, China has invested a cumulative total of over $17 billion in the UK, which is more than Chinese investments in any other European country. One flagship investment project is China General Nuclear' s participation in the UK's Hinkley Point C nuclear project. Liu also termed bilateral relations as hot' to describe the friendly exchanges between the two countries. Increasing exchanges between the two countries are impacting their citizens at all levels. The two countries have established 60 twin cities, and in 2016, Chinese and British nationals made 1.5 million visits to each other's country, a 50 percent growth from five years ago. The two countries co-hosted the Year of Culture Exchange in 2015 and a series of commemoration events in 2016 to mark the 400th anniversary of the passing of Tang Xianzu and William Shakespeare, titans of Chinese and British literature respectively. "All these events are evidence that the people-to-people and cultural exchanges have taken deep root in our peoples' hearts and minds," Liu said. Lastly, Liu highlighted bilateral cooperation on "broad" global issues. Both countries are permanent members of the UN Security Council, and have maintained sound cooperation within the framework of the UN and G20. "We have had close coordination over global governance, climate change, free trade and other major international issues. We have made joint statements on Syria and Afghanistan. And we have been engaged in global exchanges and cooperation on health issues, counter-terrorism and peacekeeping." Liu said. He said the "high, deep, hot and broad" relationship between the two countries are achieved due to the "vision and wisdom" of leadership, extensive support from the society, and commitments and efforts by generations of Chinese and British diplomats. "At present, the China-UK relationship is at a new historical high point," Liu said, adding the two countries should strive to continue build deep cooperation, strong ties and make China-UK ties a fine example of relationships between China and Western countries. To contact the reporter: cecily.liu@mail.chinadailyuk.com Volunteers at two Lake County schools are washing clothes every week to help families in need. Eustis Heights Elementary and Triangle Elementary School in Mount Dora now have laundry facilities. Every Friday, 12 students in the laundry program drop off dirty clothes that volunteers wash, dry and fold. More than 60 students at both schools are identified as homeless and many are on free or reduced-price lunch. "Youre looking at clothes that havent been washed in a very long time. These kids come to school with very dirty clothes things stuck on them, just really, they smell," said Abby Hartmann, the school psychologist and one of the three women who created the program. Modeled after a similar program in California, the women helped raise money for two dryers and two washers at each school. By the end of the school year, school officials hope to let families use the facilities while students will be able to meet with a tutor. A 2.5 acre brush fire in east Orange County is finally out. Brush fire burned 2.5 acres near Goldenrod Road and Lake Underhill Fire burned close to homes Caused by an electrical transformer blowing up INTERACTIVE: Florida Forest Service's interactive fire map It came very close to several homes along Hummingbird Lane, near Goldenrod Road and Lake Underhill. Orange County said it started when an electrical transformer blew up, sending sparks into the dry wooded area. "Two seconds I heard a big bomb, boom. Like what the heck, and it scared me," said Sean Kelly, who lives along Hummingbird Lane. "I saw a fire out there, and big bang, and then another fire to the other side to the right. The flames caused quite a panic at first. "I was scared a little bit, I am OK now," said Margre Shaginaw, resident on Hummingbird Lane. Orange County fire and forestry crews did quell the flames and worry among homeowners fairly quickly. "Its great that it didnt come into our yard or anything, it didnt burn down the house or anything, it was just in the back," said Nelson Alvarez, resident on Hummingbird Lane. Relief was felt, but a sense of awareness during this dry season is certainly now burned into the minds of all those living there. Plus a desire for one thing: We need rain bad," said Shaginaw. Fire crews say they will continue to monitor hot spots for several more hours. No homes were evacuated. Miami-area Republican Sen. Frank Artiles has apologized to colleagues after he reportedly used a variation of the "n-word." Florida legislator reportedly used 'n-word' at Tallahassee gathering Sen. Frank Artiles is also accused of using belittling language Artiles apologized on Florida Senate floor Wednesday morning "In an exchange with a colleague of mine in the Senate, I unfortunately let my temper get the best of me. There is no excuse for the exchange that occurred and I have apologized to my Senate colleagues and regret the incident profusely," Artiles said, according to reports. The apology comes after Artiles is accused of using a variation of the "n-word" in private conversation at Tallahassee's Governor's Club with Democratic Sens. Audrey Gibson of Jacksonville and Perry Thurston of Fort Lauderdale earlier in the week. They said Artiles also used obscene and belittling language directed at them in the Monday night conversation. Gibson said it was the most disrespect she has ever encountered. Artiles apologized Tuesday afternoon, after Senate President Joe Negron was told about the incident. Negron, a Republican, issued a statement saying the senators had resolved the matter, but Artiles formally apologized on the Senate floor Wednesday. Racial slurs and profane, sexist insults have no place in conversation between Senators and will not be tolerated. https://t.co/HChDvdMxnx Joe Negron (@joenegronfl) April 19, 2017 The Florida Democratic Party is calling on Artiles to step down. Joe Negron removed Artiles as chairman of the Communications, Energy and Public Utilities Committee on Wednesday. Negron has also announced the appointment of a special master to investigate the matter and report back to the Senate Rules Committee by April 25. The Associated Press contributed to this story. If you stayed at a Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Crowne Plaza, Staybridge or InterContinental hotel in the United States last fall, you may want to check your credit card statements. IHG hotels affected by data breach Malware was used to access credit card information Breach happened between Sept. 29-Dec. 29, 2016 InterContinential Hotels Group said that credit card systems at multiple hotels had been breached. This is the second breach the company has revealed this year. In February, the company announced one that affected 12 hotels in the U.S. In a notice posted to its site, IHG says the second breach happened at select hotels between Sept. 29 and Dec. 29 last year. However, the company says theres no evidence that credit card data was accessed. The company hired a cyber security firm, which found evidence of malware designed to access payment card data from cards used at the hotels front desks. The malware generated unauthorized charges on those cards, IHG says. Cardholder names and card numbers were likely accessed. IHG hasnt revealed the exact number of hotels that were affected by the breach. However, customers can use a lookup tool the company has posted on its website to search for hotels in select state and cities. In Orlando, five hotels are listed, including the Holiday Inn Express at Orlando International Airport. Tampa also has five hotels listed. Although the breach mostly affects hotels in the U.S., a hotel in Puerto Rico was also affected. IHG says its working closely with payment card networks and a cyber security firm to look for ways to increase security measures. And if you're a Rollins College student or even a Central Florida native, chances are you know what that means. But for those who are new to the area, a statue of a fox is placed on the campus, alerting Rollins College students that classes are canceled for a day of fun. Students gather around to pose with the fox statue. (Fox Day Cam) And that's not all they get. A list of activities is posted on the college's website for students to attend and some of those activities include: Free food, games and giveaways are part of some of the things students can enjoy. Fox Day is an annual tradition established by Rollins 10th president, Hugh McKean, in 1956 for a day in spring that's deemed too pretty to have class. But that is not all. The fox was not the only statues on the camps. "In January 1934, Hamilton Holt, who served as Rollins president from 1925 to 1949, acquired statues of a fox and a cat from Senator Murray Sams. These statues permanently stood on the walkway of Rec Hall a structure the pool replaced," according to the college's Fox Day page. "Inspired by the two statues, Holt founded a Cat Society for women and a Fox Society for men." Read more of the history of Fox Day here. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate What started several years ago as a prototype made of PVC pipe and chicken wire has become reality, thanks to a bit of help from the Midland Development Corp. and the city of Midland. A small ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Tuesday at the MDC offices to officially celebrate the completion of LeoLabs Midland Space Radar, located on city-owned property in Winkler County known as the T-Bar Ranch. The radar is the first in the worldwide network LeoLabs is looking to build to map space debris hurtling around in low Earth orbit. Were building a worldwide radar network to act as infrastructure for the entire global space community, CEO Dan Ceperley said. The Midland Space Radar is the first radar built to provide commercial tracking services. Its the first radar we built as a company. There is a lot of space debris in low Earth orbit, and it threatens to damage multimillion-dollar satellites if collisions occur. Even a piece of junk the size of a dime can ruin equipment. We founded LeoLabs to protect all this new investment and equipment going into low Earth orbit, Ceperley said. A major part of that is protecting the low Earth orbit environment. We want to make sure that the amount of space debris is minimized so these companies can be successful, and future users of space can be successful, as well. The MDC board in September 2016 agreed to enter into a promotional agreement with LeoLabs for $60,000 to be paid in equal installments over the course of five years. Ceperley said the partnership and project moved quickly because the MDC is in tune with the needs of space startups. One of the things thats critical for a startup is moving quickly. As we started to engage in Midland, it was clear you can move at the same speed we do. Midland Development Corp. moves at the same speed as a startup. Ceperley also had high praise for Midlands efforts to develop the space industry. Midland is ahead of the curve in the space industry, he said. It was about a year ago that we met the MDC in Colorado, and it was clear from the beginning that theyve been in the space industry for a while. They built the spaceport, theyve been recruiting companies to come here and create a hub of space activity in Midland, and they knew exactly the sort of support a space company needs to be successful. That was a big benefit to us. MDC Chairman Brent Hilliard said the development corporation and upstart radar company met during the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In less than 15 minutes we had a plan. This is one of the easier space deals weve been involved in. Hilliard Energy, owned by the chairman, worked on the land services side of the construction project because of its previous experience at T-Bar Ranch and adjacent Clearwater Ranch, Hilliard said. The city of Midland pipes water from aquifers T-Bar and Clearwater for use in the municipality. General contractor N.C. Sturgeon provided construction services. The project took about six months to complete, a pace Ceperley considered unprecedented. Mayor Jerry Morales said the city has invested a lot of money and time into the space industry to bring economic diversification. We know how exciting and fruitful the space industry can be. Like Trevor on Facebook and follow him on Twitter at @HowdyHawes. BERLIN The Board of Education will apply for a state grant to reimburse over 45 percent of $500,000 worth of security vestibules for four schools in town. The Town Council agreed to the application after it was determined that the $250,000 allotted in the budget would not cover the project. Its an option to get all four schools done at a low price, said Eva Gallupe, school director of business operations. Rather than pick and choose which school to do. The security vestibules will be at McGee Middle School and the three elementary schools: Hubbard, Willard and Griswold. During a special budget meeting in January, the school principals all requested additional security. McGee Principal Salvatore Urso said there are eight working cameras in the middle school. He said more security is needed due to bigger class sizes in sixth and eighth grades. The elementary school principals also said they had fewer than 10 cameras in the buildings. The high school has about 40 cameras. The state reimbursement rate will stay at 45.36 percent if the application is received before June 30. The rate will drop to 42.8 percent after that date. akus@record-journal.com 203-317-2448 Twitter: @KusReporter TOKYO (AP) From two continents, top Trump administration officials warned Tuesday that North Koreas latest failed missile launch was a reckless act of provocation and assured allies in Asia that the United States was ready to work to achieve a peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. While Defense Secretary Jim Mattis denounced North Koreas weapons test as he began a Mideast tour, Vice President Mike Pence offered support to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo amid a trip dominated by concerns about the rogue states nuclear intentions. We appreciate the challenging times in which the people of Japan live with increasing provocations from across the Sea of Japan, Pence said after arriving from Seoul for talks with Abe. We are with you 100 percent. At the outset of their meeting, Pence reiterated to Abe his statement in South Korea that the United States has run out of patience with Pyongyangs moves. While all options are on the table, Pence said, President Trump is determined to work closely with Japan, with South Korea, with all our allies in the region, and with China to resolve the problem. We seek peace always as a country, as does Japan, but as you know and the United States knows, peace comes through strength and we will stand strongly with Japan and strongly with our allies for a peace and security in this region, Pence added. Said Abe, It goes without saying that it is a matter of paramount importance for us to seek diplomatic efforts as well peaceable settlements of the issue. But at the same time, the prime minister said, dialogue for the sake of dialogue is valueless and it is necessary for us to exercise pressure North Korea so that it comes forward and engages in this serious dialogue. Mattis struck an even tougher tone on North Korea in an interview with reporters traveling with him to Saudi Arabia. His language was stronger than in a written statement he issued shortly after the launch, in which he simply said he was aware of the failure. The leader of North Korea again recklessly tried to provoke something by launching a missile, he said. The term reckless is one the North Koreans have used to describe ongoing large-scale U.S. and South Korean military exercises, which the North calls a dress rehearsal for an invasion. Mattis did not identify the type of missile but said it was not of intercontinental range, meaning it could not reach U.S. territory. He did not comment on what might have caused the missile to fail. Another official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an intelligence matter, said the missile was a Scud variant that the U.S. calls a KN-17. Mattis credited China with trying to help get the North Korea situation under control with the goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. President Donald Trump in Washington and Pence at the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea have signaled a forceful U.S. stance on North Koreas recent actions. But no one was predicting what might come next. Behind the heated rhetoric, Trumps strategy in the region looks somewhat similar to predecessor Barack Obamas albeit with the added unpredictability of a new president who has shown hes willing to use force. Pence on Monday had traveled to the tense zone dividing the two Koreas, where he warned North Koreas leaders that after years of testing the U.S. and South Korea with its nuclear ambitions, the era of strategic patience is over. The unannounced visit at the start of Pences 10-day trip to Asia was a U.S. show of force that allowed him to gaze at North Korean soldiers from afar and stare directly across a border marked by razor wire. As the brown bomber jacket-clad vice president was briefed near the military demarcation line, two North Korean soldiers watched from a short distance away, one taking multiple photographs of the American visitor. Pence told reporters Monday that Trump was hopeful China would use its extraordinary levers to pressure the North to abandon its weapons program. But Pence expressed impatience with the unwillingness of the regime to move toward ridding itself of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters he hopes there will be no unilateral actions like those we saw recently in Syria and that the U.S. will follow the line that President Trump repeatedly voiced during the election campaign. China made a plea for a return to negotiations. Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said tensions need to be eased on the Korean Peninsula to bring the escalating dispute to a peaceful resolution. Lu said Beijing wants to resume the multi-party negotiations that ended in stalemate in 2009 and suggested that U.S. plans to deploy a missile defense system in South Korea were damaging its relations with China. Burns reported from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. AP reporter Jonathan Lemire reported from New York. Follow Ken Thomas on Twitter at https://twitter.com/KThomasDC and Burns at http://twitter.com/robertburnsAP HARTFORD A bill requiring police to undergo training on how to handle wandering autistic children continues to make its way through the legislature, clearing the House last week. The bill, which the House approved 146-1, now awaits a vote from the Senate. Rep. Minnie Gonzalez, D-Hartford, was the lone dissenter. Prior to the vote, the House approved an amendment to return the bill back to its original focus, requiring police to undergo training on how to interact with autistic children or those with other nonverbal diagnoses. The Public Safety and Security Committee had altered the bill to include training for all intellectual and developmental disabilities, but Rep. Liz Linehan, D-Cheshire, who introduced the bill, said police already undergo training for some of those. She said police in many towns, though, need training on how to interact with people who cant communicate verbally because of a disability. She said the training program should include a better understanding of the autism spectrum. Autistic children are drawn towards water, Linehan said as an example, and part of a departments response when an autistic person has wandered from home should be to check local bodies of water. Accidental drowning accounts for 90 percent of deaths in cases involving autistic children 14 or younger who wander away, according to the National Autism Associations web site. Sen. Len Suzio, R-Meriden, said he plans to support the bill. Like Linehan, Suzio has an autistic relative. I know what parents of autistic children deal with, he said. The training would include understanding best practices, and Linehan said many departments should follow the lead of Cheshire police. The department maintains a voluntary registry, and parents of autistic children can provide pictures and information on interests. That can help the officer have a rapport or find them and know where to go and know the things that they like, Linehan said. The bill comes in response to a September incident involving Logan Gibbons, 15, who ran away from his Southington home in early September and was later found in Cheshire. Police received a call about a boy outside a home holding an ax, but police relied on the training to determine that Gibbons was autistic and holding a toy. Cheshire police and the Police Officers Association of Connecticut, which represents 1,200 officers in 22 municipalities, have backed the bill. Suzio said support from the police shows the value of the training even if it does present a possible cost. The benefit is so much more important, and it outweighs the cost, he said. msavino@record-journal.com 203-317-2266 Twitter: @reporter_savino AUSTIN With Houston and Dallas first-responder pension plans in trouble, the state Senate on Wednesday endorsed a constitutional amendment prohibiting state funds from being used in bailouts of local retirement systems. State Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, said the change is necessary to make clear that local retirement systems are the sole responsibility of local governments, not the state. The coffers of Community Partners of the Central Plains, which operate Plainviews Rainbow Room for children in the foster care system, have been enriched by more than $1,000 thanks to the efforts of a seventh grader, with help from Plainview Elks and Hale County 4-Hers. On April 12, Brodie Sinor, a Coronado Middle School student, and Elks Past Worshipful Master Cody Lindeman presented a $1,085 check to Gretchen Massingill, representing the Rainbow Room. Those funds are proceeds from the raffle. According to Massingill, Sinor coordinated the raffle of homemade and donated items. Given away were a horseshoe cross made by Sinor, a decorative bench with western accents crafted and donated by Brandon Rowell, and a John Deere toy tractor from the Elks Lodge. Tickets to the raffle were sold by Plainview Elks and Hale County 4-Hers. The proceeds will be used to purchase rolling duffle bags for children in the foster care system in the eight counties served by the Rainbow Room Briscoe, Castro, Floyd, Hale, King, Lamb, Motley and Swisher counties. Massingill explains that many children receiving care through Child Protective Services dont have their own luggage or a bag to hold clothing and other personal items. Instead, their stuff might get stuffed into a trash bag or grocery sack, or loosely stacked together. The wheeled duffle bags will allow even small children a way to carry their things. And, when not in use, the bags will collapse down to fit under a bed. Luggage tags with each childs name will be attached to the bags as a method of personalization. Massingill notes that April is Go Blue Month to promote awareness and encourage prevention of child abuse in Texas, and May is Foster Care Month. Rainbow Room directors are now selling tickets in their annual pickup raffle. The drawing will be held Wednesday, May 3, at the annual Child Abuse and Neglect Awareness Luncheon held by the Plainview Lions. Truck raffle proceeds are used to meet the needs of children involved with CPS and to purchase items that CPS caseworkers might need to assist foster care families within the eight-county service area. The local Rainbow Room serves as a support system for the local CPS office and children in CPS care. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Exxon Mobil Corp. is moving forward with plans to build the worlds largest ethane steam cracker plant on a 1,400-acre plot of bucolic farmland just north of Corpus Christi following a six-month battle that left the 20,000 residents of Portland divided. The decision comes after community protesters called Portland Citizens United unsuccessfully tried to block tax incentives for Exxon and its foreign partner, Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corp. or SABIC. The group opposes the $9.3 billion facility because its proposed site is 1.75 miles away from the areas high school and junior high. The plant would use high heat and pressure to turn natural gas into 1.8 million metric tons a year of ethylene and polyethylene, the base materials used to make plastic. Exxon and SABIC announced their site choice Wednesday, saying they will buy the land from the McKamey family if the state approves the companies permits. Cotton grower Jeff McKamey, who farms the land with his father, confirmed in an email that the companies havent yet exercised options to buy the property. The announcement doesnt change anything Jason Mutschler, a member of Portland Citizens United, said in a phone interview. Were still going to fight this in the permitting stages. Exxons Project Executive Rob Tully said in an interview that air quality and wastewater permits were being filed this week with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. When we submit our permits to the TCEQ we have to meet very rigorous standards and those include best control technology, Tully said. Errol Summerlin, a former lawyer and member of Portland Citizens United, called the fight against the permits an uphill battle and said support from Gov. Greg Abbotts office made the project sound like the best thing since sliced bread. If we cant get them (TCEQ) to deny the permit then we will be advocating for the most stringent air quality standards we can get, Summerlin said. They have got to use the most technologically advanced equipment to reduce emissions and were going to insist on that. Its going to cost them money. The Texas Enterprise Fund awarded $6.4 million to Exxon and SABIC for the project, according to a statement released Wednesday. Abbott said the decision is a tremendous win for not just San Patricio County, but for the entire state of Texas. Exxon was looking at two sites in Louisiana and another in Victoria, Texas. This record-breaking project illustrates that our business climate is exactly what leading and growing companies are seeking when investing in their future, Abbott said in a statement. The governors office estimated that it will create 600 direct jobs and up to 3,500 indirect jobs with an economic impact of $22 billion during construction. Abbott said the project will create more than $50 billion in economic output during the first six years of operation after its complete in 2023. The project was awarded more than $730 million in tax incentives from the county and Gregory-Portland Independent School District. The school boards tax package requires Exxon to create at least 400 permanent jobs and over 15,000 temporary construction jobs over the course of 10 years. Exxon and SABIC choose San Patricio County over Louisiana because of its proximity to productive shale gas fields in South Texas. With the shale gas development over the last five years North America has become a very important region for our industry and more important if we want to maintain our position as one of the top petrochemical leaders you cannot afford to not be part of this growth, Yousef Abdullah Al-Benyan, CEO of SABIC, said in a phone interview. Tully previously said the San Patricio County locations access to rail, deep water facilities, the local workforce and proximity to raw materials were the driving reasons behind their decision, according to a statement. The location is less than 100 miles from the Eagle Ford Shale oil field, which is a major producer of natural gas, and about 10 miles north of the port in Corpus Christi. rdruzin@express-news.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate San Antonians, numb to decades of annual cascaron warfare, may see something different cracking on their heads this Fiesta season: President Donald Trump. Marylou Hernandez, owner of The Cascaron Store on Austin Highway, has designed and sold about 200 cascarones, or confetti eggs, ahead of the Fiesta celebration starting Thursday that depict the president holding an American flag. The Trump cascaron has bipartisan appeal, Hernandez said, providing a collectible for supporters and a release for opponents. Its perfect: The people that love him take him and the people who dont like him like that, they can smash him, Hernandez said. Its a timely spin on the annual ritual of supplying San Antonio with enough cascarones to unleash multi-colored mayhem during Fiesta. Cascaron production takes hundreds of man-hours, a hefty pile of empty eggshells and a network of suppliers who import thousands of the mischievous eggs for sale at tents on street corners and at major retailers like H-E-B and Walmart. Meeting growing demand requires cascaron makers to assemble the colorful eggs year-round. Hernandez said her store produced 20,000 cascarones in anticipation of this years Fiesta season which took all year. About 90 percent of those were made by Hernandez herself, she said, using eggshells donated by local farms, bakeries and customers who share some of the proceeds. Hernandez said she had sold about 10,000 of those as of Tuesday afternoon. But, not every cascaron Hernandez makes is meant to be cracked over someones head. Hernandez also designed an additional 3,000 cascarones with custom looks ranging from the Spurs logo and the Alamo to mariachi hats and ice cream cones, she said. Each custom cascaron takes Hernandez up to an hour to complete, she said. Inevitably, someone mistakes one of her custom creations for a more disposable cascaron and smashes it over someones head. My heart stops a second when they do that, Marylou Hernandez said. The Cascaron Store sells cartons by the dozen for $5.50 each and large bags with an unspecified number of cascarones for $37 each, according to the stores website. Cascarones sold by Amols go for $3.59 per dozen. And the demand is growing outside of Texas, straining an already-limited supply. Walmart, which gets its stash from San Antonio-based Silly Rabbit Confetti Eggs, sees more customers clamoring for the messy product in Arizona and Georgia outside more high-demand markets like Texas, California and Florida, spokeswoman Anne Hatfield said. Some customers may have to pull their targets winter hats off before they strike. Amols Party Supply at 710 S. Flores St. in downtown San Antonio has received wholesale orders in recent years from companies in Maine and Massachusetts, said owner Jeffrey Weiss. Retailers must place orders with suppliers far in advance to ensure an adequate supply. H-E-B orders millions of cascarones at least one year in advance to make sure its shelves are stocked in time for the Easter and Fiesta season, spokeswoman Julie Bedingfield said. Its a very limited supply, Weiss said. Theyre not super easy to get your hands on a huge quantity. Major suppliers obtain hundreds of thousands of cascarones primarily by importing from Mexico, where the eggs are used year-round for holidays including Halloween; Dieciseis de Septiembre, Mexican Independence Day and Dia de Muertos, the Day of the Dead. Low-wage laborers in Mexico have plentiful of experience crafting a high volume of cascarones in a short window and have access to a large quantity of the products key raw material: empty eggshells. Mexico is the worlds largest per capita consumer of eggs with each person eating about 50 pounds or more than 400 eggs in 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That compares with about 253 eggs per person in the U.S., according to the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association. Maintaining a robust stock of eggshells and a workforce who can tolerate the long and tedious work of making cascarones isnt as easy in the U.S., said Yvonne Castaneda, vice president of Silly Rabbit Confetti Eggs. It would be extremely difficult to hand-make each one of these stateside, Castaneda said. Its very hard work, very difficult work. Retailers may get their cascaron supply from Mexico, but individual travelers looking to haul several cartons across the border should save themselves the hassle. Travelers may bring up to a dozen cascarones into the U.S. and only if theyve been scrubbed clean of residue to prevent the spread of avian flu, U.S. Customs and Border Protections said in a news release last week. Supplying A Night In Old San Antonio, NIOSA, with enough cascarones to last all four nights of the food-and-music extravaganza takes months of volunteer labor and a steady stream of empty eggshells. Dozens of volunteers and members of the San Antonio Conservation Society pack into the River House behind Edwards Steves Homestead each Thursday morning to paint eggshells donated by Frontier Enterprises, fill them with confetti and seal them up with brightly-colored tissue paper. Growing attendance at NIOSA in recent years has driven year-round production by volunteers. Maureen Berryman, chairwoman of the Fiesta Cascarones Committee, said Wednesday volunteers made 53,640 cascarones that will be destroyed during next weeks festivities higher than the target of 50,000 and roughly 35 percent more than 2015s quota of 37,000. That number will likely rise in 2018, Berryman said. They ask us to make more every year, Berryman said. About 20 volunteers lined a long table stuffed with egg cartons, piles of tissue paper and dishes filled with glue at the River House last Thursday. At the head of the table, June Moore, 90, and Elsa Rodriguez, 85, dove their hands through boxes packed with confetti and scooped the contents into painted eggshells. Each have made cascarones for the Conservation Society for more than a decade, they said, drawn back by friendships and camaraderie with other volunteers. Moore and Rodriguez helped fill at least 2,160 eggshells Thursday while they debated whether flour or birdseed would make a more mischievous cascaron filling. They decided flour was too mean, but birdseed would do the trick. If you want to make some enemies, thats what you do, Rodriguez, 85, said. Mary Hernandez, a retired nurse and San Antonio Conservation Society member, said she has made cascarones with the organization for 20 years and has the process down pat. Last Thursday, she made 150 in three hours. We always say hours to make, seconds to break, Mary Hernandez said. jfechter@express-news.net State of the State addresses are a chance for governors to brag about their accomplishments and highlight their priorities. Governor Greg Abbott's annual remarks, which he gave Tuesday at a Greater Houston Partnership luncheon downtown as part of a series of speeches around Texas, was no exception. "The fact is, Texas is doing better than it ever has," he preened. Of course, that's debatable. Let's go through some of Abbott's most noteworthy statements and put them in context. 1. "More Texans have jobs today than ever before in the history of the Lone Star State." Sure, that's true. Texas payrolls more than rebounded after the last recession, to nearly 12.2 million workers. But it's also important to look at the unemployment rate: Texas now stands at 4.9 percent, which is substantially higher than the 4.3 percent average it achieved in both 2007 and 2000, and higher than the national average of 4.5 percent. The employment rate, which measures the number of people working as a percentage of the population, was 60.7 percent in 2016, down from 65.6 percent in 1998. 2. "Texas' economy is larger than Russia. That makes me more powerful than Putin." Minus the nuclear weapons and the seat on the U.N. Security Council, sure. (Okay, okay, he was joking.) Story continues below... 3. "For five years in a row, Texas has received the Governor's Cup, which is awarded to the state with the most new and expanded corporate facilities." Yep, Texas took Site Selection Magazine's top honors handily in 2016, with 642 new or expanded facilities to runner-up Ohio's 515. However, a skeptic might argue that's in part because of Texas' geographic size, with enormous tracts of land well-suited for sprawling factory complexes. On a projects per capita basis, Texas doesn't crack the top ten, while Ohio, Virginia, Illinois, North Carolina, Georgia, and Kentucky show up on both lists. 4. "By the end of my first term as governor, Texas will rank number one for Fortune 500 headquarters." This is a strange instance in which Abbott seems to have undersold the state. According to the latest Fortune 500 list, which actually includes the top 1,000 companies in the U.S., Texas has 100 headquarters, while New York has 95. 5. "Texas invested more money than ever more in the history of the state to build roads to ease congestion," Abbott said, touting a 10-year package valued at $70 billion that he promised would relieve congestion on Highway 610. That's a risky promise to make, when most of the transportation literature shows that more roads and bigger roads just create more traffic. It's odd that Abbott hasn't diversified that enormous amount of transportation funding into transit projects that could give travelers options beyond sitting in traffic, or pressed for more conscious planning that would constrain sprawl and keep more housing closer to jobs. 6. "Many of you are familiar with the fact that in many different ways, we are trimming our budget. That's a byproduct of the downturn and the reduced price of oil that has reduced the amount of money we have coming in." Actually, the bigger factor behind this session's tight budget is legislators' decision in 2015 to cut billions out of the state's franchise tax. Although Abbott maintains that lower taxes attract more businesses, it hasn't been enough to make up for the lower rate. 7. "It's not if pre-K education is going to be funded. The battle right now is over which strategy is going to be the appropriate strategy to be used to fund pre-K." That's a lot of confidence and not much detail for a program that is a big priority for the Houston business community. The House and the Senate seem not at all inclined to fully fund pre-kindergarten education at the $236 million level that Abbott has requested, instead either cutting it entirely or allocating only $65 million in early markups. But Abbott seems convinced everybody's on the same page, and that the conference committee will produce something satisfactory. 8. "By the year 2030, we want at least 60 percent of young adults to have at least a two or four year education. When we achieve that in 2030, Texas by definition will be the most educated state in the United States of America." That's an ambitious goal, which you can read all about on the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board's website. In 2013, about 35 percent of the Texas population between ages 25 and 34 had at least an associates degree, trailing the national average of 42 percent. It will require a lot of investment in higher education in the state which the legislature is also not playing along with, contemplating deep cuts to a system that is already relying more and more on families to foot the bill. 9. "I get some grief about this on occasion," Abbott said of the Texas Enterprise Fund, a pot of money used for luring companies to the state that the House has voted to strip."Some people get tired of people moving in here. That's why I've made clear I'm strongly in favor of building that wall on the Texas-New Mexico border to prevent all those Californians moving to Texas." More jokes! A few points. First, Abbott gets grief about his incentive slush fund because historically there's been little proof it actually makes a difference on corporate relocations; governors tend to like having this kind of money at their disposal because it allows them to take credit for new headquarters. Second, most of the people moving from California to Texas have been low-income folks trying to escape the high cost of living, the Sacramento Bee reported, not employees of companies making the same move. And third: Abbott made no mention of the actual wall that President Donald Trump is demanding on the southern border with Mexico, which experts have warned could damage relations with Texas' biggest trading partner. 10. Abbott boiled Texas' recipe for economic growth, which he called an "elegant, scalable" model for other states to follow, down to four components: Low taxes, high barriers to lawsuits, relaxed regulations, and right-to-work laws "that prevent the abuses that we've seen in cities like Chicago and elsewhere." On the right-to-work thing: Abbott may have been referring to Chicago and Illinois' staggering pension debt, setting up fights with unionized public employees. Has he noticed that his own state's biggest cities are in the same situation? More broadly, Texas' model isn't the only model for economic growth. Relatively high-tax, strong-regulation states like New York and California do just fine, without the advantage of enormous energy resources to tide them over national recessions. It's just a different approach. In the world of cars, the notion of "new" is paramount. People flock to car shows to check out what's new. These days, of course, it's not just what new vehicles look like, but also what they can do, technologically. Autonomous, self-driving cars are making a buzz but are not necessarily what everyone is looking for. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A dustup over free speech at Stanford University between a law school spokeswoman who tried to prevent the use of Donald Trumps image to advertise a sexual harassment conference and a professor who called the move censorship has been resolved. An image of Trump from the infamous Access Hollywood video that surfaced last year showing him boasting about groping women can be used to illustrate the conference, Stanford attorneys have decided. On Monday, organizers of The Way Forward: Title IX Advocacy in the Trump Era, a free public conference on May 1-2, posted an image of Trump, television personality Billy Bush and actress Arianne Zucker from the 2005 video on their site. The point of academic freedom is that sometimes challenging or difficult speech can make people uncomfortable and that is what we want to encourage at a university, said law professor Michele Dauber, co-chair of the conference. Within broad outlines, faculty have the right to speak on controversial issues. But beginning in early January, Dauber received a different message from the Stanford Law School as she tried to prepare promotional materials for the conference. Using images of Trump to illustrate sexual harassment could give the appearance of partisanship, which would be a problem for a law school-sponsored event, said Sabrina Johnson, the law schools associate dean for communications and public relations, in an email to Dauber on Jan. 6. The professor pushed back with objections about censorship and academic freedom. Yet the dispute continued. On April 13, Johnson responded to a request from Daubers team to use the image, saying no. We have been clear since January that these Access Hollywood images could give the appearance of partisanship. ... They shouldnt be used in the marketing of the event. This is per university policy. Dauber argued that the event is being underwritten not by Stanford, but by a gift from the Herman P. and Sophia Taubman Foundation that Dauber solicited. The law school argued that its name was on the event, so partisanship should be avoided. Eventually, the law school took the matter to Stanfords own lawyers, who issued an opinion, said Lisa Lapin, a spokeswoman for the university. The professor has full permission to use the photo, according to a statement from Stanford that also chastised her for not coming to university lawyers before going public with her complaint. Although Dauber can use the photo and law school staff are now producing the promotional materials the statement defended the universitys policy of remaining nonpartisan so that it can remain a forum for open debate, and said laws also prevent the nonprofit school from engaging in certain partisan activities. It said the university appreciated the law schools original belief that it could choose not to use the photo. Johnson declined to comment. Dauber said, Stanford has work to do educating itself about the meaning and importance of free speech. Meanwhile, the issue has raised concerns about free speech among faculty, so Stanfords Academic Senate will discuss the issue at their next meeting on April 27. Nanette Asimov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: nasimov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @NanetteAsimov This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate As has grown far too usual in San Antonio TV news, another instance of "now you see 'em, now you don't" has happened at KSAT with no explanation given as to why an anchorwoman left the station. This time, people are baffled by the disappearance of striking brunette, Concetta Callahan, the former morning weekend newscaster for the ABC affiliate, who also reported weekdays. "Can you let us know what happened to Concetta Callahan? I really miss seeing her smiling face," Anita Conder, one of the many concerned fans, wrote in an email. "We invest time in our anchors, learn to love them, and then they are gone with no explanation. I thought she was on vacation, but after several weeks, I looked at the KSAT staff page and she was gone. She wasn't even here two years. Hope she is well and lands in a great place." RELATED: S.A. anchor Ursula Pari's Paramour wedding has her beaming In an email, KSAT spokesman David Cuccio confirmed her departure, but gave no reasons for it. "We have no further information other than she is no longer employed by the station," he wrote. Callahan did write this nostalgic missive to local fans in a Facebook message: "It makes my heart smile knowing the community values my work and I am dearly missed! I cherished every morning I got to wake up with everyone in San Antonio!" Social media also has been abuzz with her mysterious exit. Lila Cotton, one of Callahan's fans, even wrote in a Facebook message that she contacted the anchor and received this reply: "She said she was no longer with KSAT and was going to travel some until her next gig. She was very gracious and thanked me for my concern." RELATED: San Antonio TV station unveils big surprise The University of Texas at San Antonio graduate began her television career on the Texas/Mexico border in Laredo, where she worked for KGNS-TV as an anchor/reporter. One notable story took Callahan across the border to give viewers a firsthand look at Mexico's escalated violence, reporting on some of the deadliest drug cartels. In her place these days on KSAT's weekend "Good Morning San Antonio" is Stephanie Serna, a San Antonio native and longtime station staple. She also has received positive feedback. "Stephanie is poised and polished. Nice to see her anchoring," Bob Costa wrote in a recent email. "She's currently in an interim role, but we're certainly happy to see her continue to grow," KSAT's Cuccio wrote about Serna. "We all like her very much also, so we're glad our viewers agree," he added. RELATED: Naughty local radio ex wants to shake up S.A. again The John Jay High School and UT-Austin graduate toiled for Austin TV before she was hired as general assignments reporter at KSAT in 2009. Viewers can see her this weekend on KSAT's morning news, Cuccio said. She's not the only new face on the news program. Clark High graduate Sarah Spivey is set to join the cast on Saturday. jjakle@express-news.net The clink-clanking of Fiesta medals feels like it has amplified in recent years as the shiny, colorful baubles are now made in honor and jest of everything imaginable odes to famous locals, miniature Whataburgers, even President Donald Trump has made a cameo. About 450 individual Fiesta medals have been combed through by the San Antonio Express-News this year, and those are just the ones that were submitted. The total number of individual medals released for Fiesta 2017 across the city could easily reach near the 1,000 mark. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Im not sure if its ironic or just an unfortunate juxtaposition that pizza is the weakest link at a place with Pizzeria in the name. Your defining moment of irony at Southtown Pizzeria might be a Margherita pie with a single leaf of basil per slice, sheltering under a half-melted bandage of mozzarella. Or the self-referential Southtown pizza on a sturdy but stubbornly homogenous crust scattered with pepperoni, jalapeno and pineapple with canned personality. Pizza, it turns out, is secondary to Southtown Pizzerias twilight transformation from a serviceable Italian lunch place into a respectable, Tuscan-style restaurant, with big and rustic cooking and the magnetic, familial presence of hosts Randy and Julie Vrana. Shes a food scientist who spent a year in Italy; hes a cattleman whos spent a lifetime thinking about food. Together, they transformed an old bakery into a temple made of wood, stone and garlic potpourri. Its too late to call it Osteria Southtown, but its not too late to celebrate what makes it cook. I mean really cook. Southtowns seared scallops with butternut squash risotto is one of the citys most accomplished seafood dishes, starting with three clean, sweet scallops seared as if theyve been touched by a creme brulee pastry torch. Theyre flanked by berms of firm butternut squash, purple kale and mushrooms, all on a bed of golden, creamy risotto with a firm bite. The risotto suggests Italian; the execution rises above kneejerk nationalism. Whens the last time you had a puttanesca sauce so disciplined you could taste the basil chiffonade on top? For me, it was at Southtown, over a roundhouse fillet of swordfish with a sear no steak would be ashamed to wear. It wasnt the raze and ruin of a bawdy-house puttanesca, but rather a mannered toss of tomatoes and olives and capers from a kitchen that wants us to taste the fish, not cover it up. More Information Southtown Pizzeria * 728 S. Presa St., 210-251-4606, Facebook: Southtown Pizzeria Quick bite: A full-menu neighborhood Italian restaurant in a rustic Tuscan farmhouse setting. Hit: Seared scallops, Tuscan chicken, grilled swordfish Miss: Margherita pizza, Caesar salad, the lack of a full printed menu Hours: Lunch 11 a.m. -2 p.m. Monday, Wednesday-Friday. Dinner 5-9 p.m. Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday; 5-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday. Brunch 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday. Price range: Salads, $3.95-$8.95; pastas $9.95-$16.95; lasagna $11.95-$15.95; cheese pizza, $5.95-$11.95, toppings $1.45-$2.25; lunch specials $8.99-$10.95. Dinner appetizers, $8.95-$12.95; dinner entrees, $13.95-$32.95; desserts $5.95-$7.95. Alcohol: Beer and wine **** Superior. Can compete nationally. *** Excellent. One of the best restaurants in the city. ** Very good. A standout restaurant of its kind. * Good. A restaurant that we recommend. (no stars) We cannot recommend this restaurant at this time. See More Collapse Even a side of spaghetti marinara is dressed out with basil and shaved cheese, dodging around tomatoes the size of croutons, baptized with the sauce but fully singular in its own tomato glory. Tuscan chicken holds down the Wednesday specials board, with bronzed skin and a sauce of pan drippings and butter. Its a rare bird that draws me to the white meat when legs and thighs are in the picture. But the dark meat was rangy and dry against unexpectedly velvety and lush breast meat. Its a fully appointed plate with mushroom orzo and high-bright caramelized carrots. Note that I said specials board. Its something youll have to get comfortable with, because aside from the elegant handwritten roster of pizza and pastas the Vranas opened with in September, theres no printed menu. Just that chalkboard, with no prices and a waitstaff that doesnt always know the prices, either. The staff is both charming and disconcerting in that way, with a loose and sometimes too familiar style that lends itself to service gaps and miscommunications. The specials board can also be your friend, especially at lunch, when a trim and elegant lasagna in a pool of sweet tomato sauce and a ring of basil pesto is just $8.99 with a salad or soup instead of $15.95 by itself at dinner. The $8.99 lunch combo also extends to Southtowns best expression of pizza: a 9-inch personal pie with two ingredients, which will be sausage and bell pepper if youre doing it right. On balance, Southtown is a menagerie of small and large things done well, with misses in between. Whats the expression? Aim small, miss small. Like an almost dry Caesar salad with fresh Romaine, cherry tomatoes and shaved Italian cheese that loses any meaningful association with the anchovy that makes a Caesar Caesarish. Id like to see it tossed with much more of the shops briny, full-flavored dressing. And for dessert, Id want a mixed-berry sorbet less like an Italian ice and a cheesecake with more jaw-stopping density. But I wouldnt want them to touch the tiramisus chocolate-coffee intensity. When Southtown aims big, it hits big. Osso bucco is a shank of melt-away veal in a two-day braise with carrots and risotto. Its complicated but not overbearing, with a tawny, evenhanded pan sauce. The same big flavors go into a bowl of fresh mussels in tomato broth with a marinara undercurrent and a top dress of tomato and minced garlic. And Southtowns a bastion of all that is good about the Brussels sprout, serving them up all big and bronzed but with full bite intact, decorated with caramelized pancetta and daubs of musty Gorgonzola. In light of all that Southtown Pizzeria does well, lets surrender the idea of ironic pizza and call it a testament to broader ambition. msutter@express-news.net Twitter: @fedmanwalking Kylin Bain was sitting at the edge of the pool at a family gathering in Port Arthur last October when she noticed that a younger child had strayed into the deep end and appeared to be in trouble. He kept going under, said Kylin, a 10-year-old fourth-grader at St. Monica Catholic School. Though she felt pretty comfortable in the shallow end of the pool, she had never had formal swim training, much less lifesaving lessons. Even so, when she saw that little boy struggling and heard his grandmother scream for help, Kylin sprang into action. I slapped down my phone and I dived in and I pulled him until he could stand up, she said. More Information Water safety tips Know what you're doing, and make sure your kids do, too. Enroll the little ones in swim lessons and, if you can't swim, sign yourself up, too. The YMCA offers parent/child classes for families. It also offers scholarships for those who need help covering fees. Supervise youngsters in the water closely. The YMCA, for instance, requires that a parent be within arm's length of any swimmer age 6 or younger. Start early. Babies can begin building the foundation for water skills as early as 6 months. Those classes emphasize play and comfort in the water and progress from there as the youngsters develop their skills. Hire a lifeguard for pool parties. If that's not possible, make sure someone will take responsibility for keeping an eye on those in the water. That person should make sure that they scan the pool carefully, focusing not just on the surface but below it, too. Make sure that life jackets and other flotation devices are Coast Guard-approved. That designation indicates that it's actual safety equipment. Without it, the device "is not certified to save your life," said Crystal Vega, association aquatics director for the YMCA of Greater San Antonio. Deborah Martin See More Collapse It was a tough thing to do. Though the boy was a year younger, he was taller than her. And he was frightened. He was kind of grabbing me and trying to sink me in (the water) because he was scared, Kylin said. He was holding on to my waist and I had to go under water and swim. The incident was scary for the adults, too. Everybody was in shock because she just dove in, said Kylins mom, Felicia Bain. Im like, She cant swim. It definitely shows you how somebody can drown in a split-second because we were just kind of standing there with our mouths open. Kylin, who is an active member of Girl Scout Troop 1318 in Schertz, will be recognized for her bravery at a ceremony in May. She will receive the Lifesaving Bronze Cross from the Girl Scouts of the USA. The award is given to scouts for saving or attempting to save someones life while putting their own lives at risk. Few receive the recognition. Last year, it went to three girls across the country. Kylins troop leader, Angela Roundtree, said she was surprised when she heard about what happened Her mother had said Kylin is not a good swimmer but shes also proud. It shows these girls can do anything, she said. After this summer, the list of things Kylin can do will grow by at least one: Her mom and her dad will be signing her up for swim lessons. Formal swim lessons are a key to water safety, said Crystal Vega, association aquatics director for the YMCA of Greater San Antonio. Lessons ingrain skills so that if a swimmer finds herself in trouble, she knows what to do, decreasing the odds that a tragedy will occur. I just had a mother tell me that she was at the lake with her daughter, who is 4, and she fell into the water, Vega said. She just rolled onto her back. The little girl, who has been taking swim lessons at the Y, didnt seem shaken by what happened, the mom told Vega. Instead, she said, she was mad because she got dirty. The national YMCA spent three years updating the way that it teaches swimming, placing the emphasis on water safety. The San Antonio Y also is developing a program to offer free swim lessons at apartment pools this summer. Two children in Bexar County drowned in apartment pools last year, according to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. We want to curb the drowning rate, Vega said. dlmartin@express-news.net Twitter: @DeborahMartinEN This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A dilapidated historic Monte Vista home thats been a flashpoint for the pros and cons of historic restoration in San Antonio will finally receive the TLC it needs and requires under local law. Rather then face legal action over the deteriorated condition of the house, owner Cappy Lawton has donated the property known as the Kelso House, on West Craig Place and Main Avenue next to his La Fonda on Main restaurant to a local nonprofit. The Power of Preservation Foundation (PoP) promises to raise the necessary funds to bring the old home back to life. The restoration will provide a kind of training ground for area craftsmen, students and DIYers who will help with aspects of the work. I bought the house 12 years ago and naively thought I could restore it, Lawton said. But I dont believe it is economically feasible the porch alone would cost $200,000 to really do it right so it made sense to donate it to a nonprofit. Lawton estimated the cost to restore the home at $1.2 million. Ive put over half a million into it, and I could probably only get $700,000 to $800,000 out of it (after restoration), he said. Im not going to be out $1 million. I dont think its reasonable to expect me and my wife to do that, so this is a compromise. Designed by renowned San Antonio architect Atlee B. Ayres for Judge Winchester Kelso, a prominent jurist, the two-story, corner-lot house has touches of the Beaux Arts style so popular in early 20th century homes in the neighborhood, and features Tudor gables and Craftsman roof proportions, according to Donald E. Everetts book San Antonios Monte Vista. Its had a very storied past, and a lot of people have been very angry about how the building has been allowed to deteriorate, said Dolly Holmes, president of the Monte Vista Historical Association. And some have been upset with Cappy. Lawton, well aware of the anger, donated the building to the PoP, a nonprofit that works closely with the citys Office of Historic Preservation (OHP), notably through the Rehabber Club. While altruistic, the donation protected Lawton from legal action. Like other unused buildings in the city, the Kelso House was subject to the citys Vacant Building Ordinance, passed in 2015 and administrated by OHP, under which owners must register and upgrade their buildings to city codes or possibly face fines. Ultimately, it had come down to either do this or face some kind of lawsuit, Lawton said. Its a strong ordinance, and I think its actually done a lot of good for the city. Am I getting screwed, and the city is screwing me? I dont want to say that. I dont want to paint a picture that I am some kind of victim. But people asked me why I didnt restore it, and I asked them if theyd ever restored a house. Its very complicated and very expensive. Im embarrassed that the house has not been restored, but on the other hand, Ive restored three houses, and lost money on all of them. So, when the possibility of donating the house came up, I took it. Dru Van Steenberg, president of PoP, said the organizations initial fundraising goal for the Kelso restoration is $250,000. Thats just to stabilize the house, and then well go on from there, she said. The restoration has a two-plus years timeline. Ultimately, said Van Steenberg, the Kelso House will be turned into office space and resold to generate funds for future restoration projects. This is really very gratifying and exciting news, said Michael Guarino, chairman of the Historic and Design Review Commission. It could be the birth of a revolving fund like the one that has accounted for so much preservation work in Galveston. In the meantime, the Kelso House will become a learning lab for hands-on education programs, using the resources of the Rehabber Club and the S.T.A.R. (Students Together Achieving Revitalization) Project, city initiatives that bring together do-it-yourselfers and students with craftsmen and contractors to revitalize historic buildings. OHPs Rehabber Club, for example, will use the Kelso House to provide future courses and certifications for members to gain the skills and knowledge necessary to restore historic homes, according to Shanon Shea Miller, director of the OHP. When it comes time to do window repair, for instance, well have a class where people can get certification in window repair, Miller said. It may take longer this way, but it will save on budget. And we plan to document the whole process and use it as an educational tool, through podcasts and YouTube videos, for example. The Lawtons, Van Steenburg said, were introduced to PoP during discussions with the OHP about the future uses of the Kelso House. OHPs Miller said the Vacant Building Ordinance worked the way it was supposed to in this case. Lawton did register the building with the city, but then didnt make necessary repairs to the exterior under city guidelines. The ordinance was never about collecting fines or anything like that, Miller said. We try to work with property owners. We went the whole first year without filing any cases at all. This house was long vacant, and I think the ordinance played a positive role in encouraging the outcome. Holmes said most of her Monte Vista neighbors think the donation was a good solution. It just seemed as if it was an impasse, she said. The building was in such bad shape that nobody wanted to take it on. We were all just amazed when we heard this because it really does check off all the boxes. I think its a win for everybody. NOTE: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Shanon Shea Millers name. sbennett@express-news.net San Antonians traveling to Port Aransas this weekend for the annual Sandfest can expect to see a little piece of home while at the beach the Alamo. Sandfest kicks off Friday in Port Aransas and will host sculptors and competitions until Sunday. Tickets are $10 and children under 12 can attend for free. Live music, and food vendors will be available at the event, along with an area for amateur sculptors to test their chops. GALVESTON - A former teacher at Dickinson High School surrendered to police Tuesday and was charged with having an improper relationship with a female student, authorities said. Justin Michael Devera, 32, turned himself in to League City police about 9 a.m. and was booked on the charge, which carries a minimum prison term of 5 years and a maximum of life in prison. Neither the Dickinson ISD nor police offered details of the alleged improper conduct, but the section of the Texas penal code that Devera is charged with violating makes it unlawful for a teacher to engage in "sexual contact, sexual intercourse, or deviate sexual intercourse with a person who is enrolled in a public or private primary or secondary school at which the employee works." Devera is accused of having an improper relationship with a 17-year-old student, authorities said. He was placed on administrative leave last week after the allegations surfaced and resigned Monday, school officials said. Police said the investigation began after a Dickinson ISD school liaison officer reported that Devera might be involved in a relationship with a student. Authorities were not immediately able to say how long Devera taught at Dickinson ISD or what subjects he taught. Public records show that Devera lives at a Friendswood address with four other persons with the same last name. A male voice answered the phone, saying, "I'm sorry, I have no comment," before hanging up the phone. Records show that he also was listed as principal in a Friendswood company named Audiowave Productions. No one answered the phone at the business number. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Though Matzke Elementary at 13101 Jones Road no longer fits the needs of the elementary population it's served since 1965, a proposal calls for it to become a new home for the Windfern School of Choice. The Cy-Fair Independent School District is opening a Matzke Elementary School replacement campus at 10002 Mills Road near Cypress Creek High School for the 2017-18 school year. At an April 6 work session, Cy-Fair trustees discussed how the vacated 75,000-square-foot older campus could be retrofitted and expanded for Windfern, which now occupies about 50,000 square feet. Funds for the replacement campus and remodeling the older facility come from the district's 2014 bond. The district administration plans to present a construction contract recommendation to trustees in October or November, said Roy J. Sprague, the district's associate superintendent/chief operations officer for facilities, construction & support services. The proposed timeline calls for a 2018-19 opening of the relocated Windferm campus. "A total of $12,156,609 was included in the 2014 Bond Authorization for repurposing and renovating Matzke ES to another function," said Sprague. "This dollar amount is projected to cover all the Phase 1 scope of work for this building conversion. Based upon the conceptual plan developed for the Windfern School of Choice to expand the program with new offerings and to accommodate a 500-student program, an approximate 7,200 SF addition is needed which would be Phase 2 for the program." The addition would be west of the existing gym. Additional parking and detention also would be required, he said. "Phase 2 could be funded by either including the scope of work in a future bond proposal for consideration or we could consider utilizing any surplus bond funds or interest earnings if available at the completion of the six phases of the 2014 Bond Program," Sprague added. At the April 6 meeting, Superintendent Mark Henry said officials are taking a look at how to best utilize the space at the current Matzke and have a positive impact on students. "It would be an opportunity to increase the number of programs offered at Windfern by relocating Windfern to the present Matzke," said Linda Macias, associate superintendent for curriculum and instruction and accountability. The district isn't looking to change the culture, she said, it wants to make sure the mission continues. Macias said about 3 miles separate Windfern from the current Matzke location. Windfern provides an alternative learning environment to the district's large comprehensive high schools, she said, giving as examples an opportunity to catch up on credits, to earn additional credits or to graduate early. Principal at Windfern since 2001, Martha Strother talked of the move as an opportunity to add programs for students to earn endorsements and certifications. Because Matzke has a cafeteria, Strother talked of possible culinary arts classes and a culinary lab. Educators have talked of different trades that could be offered at Windfern such as welding, electrical, plumbing and HVAC that would provide students with well-paying jobs. "We want to look at the possibilities," Strother said. With its cafeteria and gym, Sprague said it looks to be perfect fit for Windern. "I think we can renovate the entire building to house most of the programs." Six portables now on the Matzke site could remain to allow the district to implement programs while it tries to get funds for the second phase, Sprague said. The district is working with PBK architects. Calling himself an advocate for Windfern, trustee Don Ryan said in his opinion the program is saving lifes. He said he was in favor of anything the district could do to enhance programs that would enable them to reach more kids in the community. "Not everyone is college-bound. That's not a sin," said Strother. "I'm very excited about having those programs on our campus." Macias said Windfern would be adding students but they would be at different times during the day. Other trustees, including Bob Covey, John Ogletree Jr. and Tom Jackson, spoke in favor of the proposed project. "It's a phenomenal idea to expand Windfern," said Ogletree. Henry said the existing Windfern could be repurposed as an administrative annex. "We need the space." According to the school's website, Windfern High School of Choice opened at its current site, a repurposed CFISD central office, in the fall of 1995. Comedy, drama and greed were headliners as the second day of testimony began Tuesday in the trial against sitting Pct. 1 Liberty County Commissioner Mike McCarty. As the jury was about to be seated in the jury box, something odd happened - and maybe it was a first in Liberty County history. Before proceedings began, the judge noticed that there were 14 sitting in the jury box, not the normal 12, plus the alternate. Apparently, a lady had joined the jurors selected to serve on Monday in the jury box. It turned out that she had arrived for jury duty, for the first time, and not knowing what to do, just followed the rest of them into the jury box. The embarrassed lady was ushered out of the jury box by the bailiff and sent downstairs where they were impaneling a jury for another trial. The levity in the courtroom quickly turned intense with the testimony of Buck Gordon, McCarty's right-hand man and friend for more than three decades. On Monday, the prosecution offered immunity to Gordon for his testimony. On Tuesday, however, the 53-year-old Gordon set aside the friendship and testified against McCarty telling story after story of how McCarty had asked him to do jobs for him on county time and also with county equipment. The Dayton resident told how he would drive to McCarty's house in the Forest Hill subdivision of Liberty in the mornings to pick up the county truck and drive across the street to take care of some 50 head of cattle. On the farm, Gordon said he was paid to mend the fences, feed the animals and haul hay to the barn during county hours and on the taxpayer's dime after originally separating the two roles early in McCarty's term of office. Eventually, Gordon alleges McCarty told him to put it all on county time. "I would pick up round bales in Winnie, Dayton and Hardin as I was directed by McCarty," he told the court Tuesday morning with county equipment. He told the prosecutor that he didn't think it was right, but he never confronted McCarty about it and kept taking a paycheck from the county. Gordon alleges he left the farm and drove 20 or so miles to a disposal site owned and operated by McCarty in Daisetta to check the levels of the oil and equipment before heading in to work at the Pct. 1 county barn at 349 CR 770 in Raywood. Gordon described how county employees would also do favors for Randy Humber, a foreman for Pct. 1, who also had a contract for his business, GH Enterprises, also known as the dump. Gordon said he and a few other county employees also used county vehicles to pick up and deliver a hot dog warmer, commercial ice cream machine, chairs and tables to help in the set up for a birthday party for a friend to McCarty. Gordon billed the county 10 hours on both Friday and Saturday for the work that defense attorneys later showed only took about five hours each day. Gordon was also shocked to learn that he was the only one who had billed the county for the work - none of the other five men who allegedly helped him were paid for the event, but did it as a favor to the commissioner. Prosecutors also demonstrated a co-mingling of McCarty's personal items and county items at the barn that also raised questions of impropriety including the repairs on his personal John Deere tractor and the lights on his personal goose-neck trailer. Gordon alleged Humber told him to stop driving the county truck home because people were seeing it and beginning to talk. He says he was instructed by McCarty to use his personal truck and to fill it with county gas. Again, Gordon said he felt bad about doing it, but he continued. "I did it to make a living," he said. Gordon had worked for McCarty originally as a contract employee and was promised a full-time job once there was an opening, but the friend's relationship soured before then. Through a series of events, Gordon said he was offered the full-time job, but he alleges he was being asked to continue to work at the farm and at the disposal site and make less money. He was being paid $20 per hour as a contract employee without benefits, but then offered $16 as a full-time employee with benefits. "That's it!" he told McCarty and he said he left to go and work for someone else. It was in the county treasurer's office where he was signing paperwork for his final check to be picked up by his wife, that he told workers there "I'm not working for free and I left," he said. He also mentioned Triangle Petroleum, McCarty's company, and County Treasurer Kim Harris heard only part of the conversation from her office, but immediately went out to find out what had been said. Gordon had already left and Harris, concerned that there were some form of improprieties going on, contacted Liberty County District Attorney Logan Pickett who met with the employees. Then an investigation into McCarty began. Defense attorney Neal Davis said Gordon only felt bad about it because he had lied about his time cards. "It was your handwriting on those time sheets, which are government records," Davis asked. Gordon relented, but Davis continued. "You took money from the county. You committed theft. You altered government records and tampered with a government document," he said. Gordon admitted that he was fearful of prosecution and cooperated fully with the Texas Rangers investigation, but was never promised immunity until Monday. Davis continued to hammer. "You felt bad, but haven't repaid the county for the money?" Davis asked, to which Gordon answered, "No." Davis also asked Gordon about the many gifts that had been given to him by McCarty throughout his friendship with McCarty, even in times when he was down on his luck. Prosecutors also interviewed County Treasurer Kim Harris who said because of the excessive hours being charged by Gordon to the county when he worked as a contractor, it raised a red flag for the Internal Revenue Service who then ruled Gordon should have been paid as a full-time employee, not as a contract employee. The county was socked with having to pay his payroll taxes as a result. Long-time employee Jo Bolt testified on Tuesday to overhearing McCarty sending Gordon to do work on his personal businesses during county time. When she questioned about the exorbitant time sheets that continued to exceed 60-70 hours, "I was told loudly by McCarty if I didn't get Buck paid accordingly, it was coming out of my check," she alleged. During one of the breaks, the Honorable Joe Ned Dean admonished the attorneys to speed things up and keep things moving. Testimony is continuing Wednesday in the 75th District Court in the Liberty County Courthouse. Check by Thursday morning for the next update. A misdiagnosed medical condition which resulted in Andrew Huber being wrongfully accused of abusing his then-infant daughter Kenley gained the Huber family public attention in 2013. Now, almost five years later, the Hubers are working with a congresswoman to ensure no other family is separated due to misinformation. It began when the Hubers lived in Dallas and wife Bria received a phone call from Andrew while she was on a business trip. He was startled when he heard 3-month-old Kenley's hip pop during a routine diaper change, so he took her to the doctor for an exam. A full-body x-ray showed what the doctors believed to be nine fractures at various stages of healing, and Andrew was quickly accused of child abuse. What happened next was a series of interviews with investigations from both Child Protective Services and police, followed by Andrew having no- to -limited visitation with Kenley for nine months. "When it first happened, we kept saying, 'OK, this is going to be over in a month' then 'OK this is going to be over in six months.' We kept setting these timelines, like we were going to make this be over by a certain date," Andrew said. "Finally, we just said, 'We're not having a court-appointed supervisor at our daughter's first birthday.'" During the separation, Bria suffered an early miscarriage and scheduled an appointment with her doctor. Her doctor was "broken" about Bria and Andrew's situation, and connected her with another family in the area, the Tyson's, who had experienced similar allegations of child abuse. When Bria connected with Rana Tyson and spoke of her medical history-such as having difficult pregnancies, unexplained fainting, how she had multiple stress fractures in college and could painlessly dislocate her shoulder when she was a child as a "party trick"-Tyson told Bria about Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a connective tissue disorder. Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome is categorized by 13 different subtypes of connective tissue disorders, which range in severity and symptoms. After months of meeting with physicians, the Hubers finally had an answer: both Bria and Kenley were diagnosed with EDS. When diagnosing unexplained fractures, Bria said doctors typically look for symptoms of Osteogenesis Imperfecta, or brittle bone disease. Rarely do physicians look for the symptoms of EDS. "If you think something's wrong with you, but then you have doctors telling you nothing's wrong and you're completely normal, that plays with your head," Bria said. "So you find in the EDS community that there is a lot of relief that comes with diagnosis We were happy there was an agreed-upon medical reason why Kenley got these unexplained factures and that she wasn't in pain, but at that same time, something's wrong with your child." After the diagnosis of Bria and Kenley was confirmed, the Hubers finally got peace when Andrew's child abuse charges were dropped in October 2013. Now, the Hubers live in The Woodlands and Kenley is a fast-moving four-year-old. Kenley knows she's a little more fragile than other kids, but Bria said she plays and acts like any other child. Bria, along with Tyson and three other mothers who have children with EDS, have formed Fractured Families, an organization serving as a support group to other EDS families falsely accused of child abuse. One day, Tyson received a knock on her front door from State Representative Cindy Burkett, who was knocking on doors during her campaign. Tyson shared her and the Hubers' stories, thus beginning the introduction of their stories into House Bills 2848 and 2849 to the house committee on April 5. HB 2848 serves to create a multidisciplinary team that would assist in certain investigations of child abuse and neglect; HB 2849 serves to expedite the removal of an abuse finding against a parent by the Department of Family and Protective Services. "With the two bills coming up, it's kind of poetic, because we realize that all we can do is our best-there's so little of this that's in our hands," Bria said. "The timing of this was certainly not our plan, so it's kind of beautiful that it's coming full circle again and that we had nothing to do with getting these bills introduced, it was just a knock on the door." On April 15, Bria received notification that HB 2848 and 2849 were approved by the House Committee and are on their way to the House Floor. TEMPLE Soil and Water Conservation Districts in State District I will elect a member to the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board on Tuesday, May 2. The election will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the College Heights Baptist Church in Plainview. State District I consists of 51 counties where there are 49 soil and water conservation districts in the Panhandle-Plains region of Texas. The current TSSWCB member for State District I is Scott Buckles of Stratford. Buckles, who has been a member of the TSSWCB since May, 2011, has a farming and ranching operation in Sherman County. Since its beginning, TSSWCB has been governed by a five-member elected board. Each board member is elected in a convention-type election by delegates from SWCD directors within the state district that the member resides. With the enactment of S.B. 1828 by the 78th Legislature, two governor appointees also serve on the TSSWCB to create a seven-member board. Elections occur annually to comply with the Soil Conservation Laws of Texas. The elections are held in state district conventions and TSSWCB members serve two-year staggered terms. Since this is an odd numbered year, TSSWCB member elections are being held in State Districts I, III and V, said Rex Isom, executive director of the TSSWCB. Elected state board members must be 18 years of age or older, hold title to farmland or ranchland and be actively engaged in farming or ranching. The governor appointees must be actively engaged in the business of farming, animal husbandry, or other business related to agriculture as well as wholly or partly own or lease land used in connection with that business. TSSWCB administers Texas Soil and Water Conservation Law and delivers coordinated natural resource conservation programs through the States 216 SWCDs. Additionally, the TSSWCB is the lead agency for planning, implementing, and managing programs for preventing and abating agricultural and silvicultural nonpoint sources of water pollution. The agency also administers a water supply enhancement program through the targeted control of water-depleting brush. In addition, TSSWCB acts to ensure that the states network of 2,000 flood control dams are protecting lives and property by providing operation, maintenance, and structural repair grants to local government sponsors. In short, the services and programs provided by the TSSWCB target rural Texas farmers and ranchers through SWCDs, but the results of these services benefit all Texans. For example, SWCDs provide technical assistance in cooperation with the USDAs Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to assist agricultural producers implement voluntary conservation plans that best address the capabilities of the land they operate, said Isom. For more information, visit: https://www.tsswcb.texas.gov/en/aboutus/board. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate City of Midland residents would pay more for water and sewer services and other city operations to help balance a $97.4 million budget proposed to city council on Monday night. The citys current millage rate is 15 mills. A mill costs homeowners $1 for every $1,000 in taxable value of their house. David Keenan, assistant city manager for financial services, presented to city council a 0.14-mill increase to help offset a $4.5 million deficit. While it is significantly less than what council has given us authorization to, I dont want to lose sight of the fact that were still proposing a millage increase. I dont take that lightly, Keenan told city council. We went very hard at the budget to try to keep that as low as we possibly could and still stay on track with the initiatives that we started and the level of service that we are currently providing. City officials say the average value of a home in the city of Midland is about $144,000. Based on the current 15-mill rate, the average a homeowner pays per month is $91. I think its up a dollar from last year, Keenan said. The money gained from the 0.14-mill increase would also fund public safety pensions, storm water management and general city operations. Keenan said city staff did not want to balance the budget by spending down the citys general fund balance. We wanted to keep it at $5.6 million, Keenan said, noting a $5,650,597 projected fund balance for 2017-18. As for utility rates: You can look at a 2 percent water increase (and) a 2.5 percent sewer increase, he said. At the annual city council planning retreat in January, Keenan presented an initial estimate of the 2017-18 city budget showing city revenues at $39.7 million and $44.3 million in expenses, meaning a deficit of $4.5 million. That shortfall could be closed by applying $1.4 million in prior-year savings and an expected $1.4 million in budget savings Keenan said he expected to find with the help of city employees. The remaining $1.7 million could be met by raising the tax rate by no more than 0.5 mill. But Keenan would find in later calculations that the max 0.5-mill increase was not needed, as prior-year savings actually reached $1.6 million and current-year savings and carryover was almost $2 million. About $757,000 in personal property tax reimbursements and $273,618 gained from the proposed 0.14-mill increase would cover the $4.5 million deficit, with the extra $96,708 routed to the general fund. The updated proposed budget shows $40.6 million in revenues and $44.3 million in expenses, with no reduction to the level of service provided in the current year. So the good news is if you like the services we have this year, youll have the same service level next year, Keenan said. In her annual State of the City address in March, Mayor Maureen Donker cited relentless financial pressure as a recurring challenge for the city. City revenues and the millage rate are flat, but expenses including $134 million in unfunded liabilities, payments for which are expected to increase by $1 million in each of the next five years are not, she said. Keenan on Monday said the proposed budget allocates about $13 million toward Other Postemployment Benefits (OPEB) and annual required contributions to Michigans Municipal Employees Retirement System (MERS). In January, Keenan said he was told by MERS officials to expect double-digit increases in required contributions in the next few years. Pension costs for city employees planning to retire totaled $495,000 for 2016-17 for 20 employees. Fifteen employees plan to retire in the 2017-18 budget year, for a $459,000 cost to the city, according to Keenan. Even though its trending downward, there are a lot of people that will be retiring over the next four years, including this year, he said. The citys budget was $93.3 million for 2016-17; $90.6 million for 2015-16; and $86.9 million for 2014-15. Two public hearings are scheduled for the proposed budget, on April 24 and May 8. Theyre held at City Hall at 7 p.m. in council chambers. The budget adoption date is set for May 22. The budget is for the citys fiscal year starting July 1, 2017. For links to the entire 315-page budget and a 150-page line item document listing every individual account budgeted by the city, go to http://www.midland-mi.org/1659/2017-2018-Fiscal-Year Concealed handgun license holders will soon be allowed to bring weapons into buildings at community colleges. The Midland College board of trustees voted on Tuesday to approve a policy for concealed carry and weapons on its campus. The so-called campus carry law goes into effect at Texas community colleges on Aug. 1. Under the new MC policy, concealed handgun license holders may carry weapons in approved areas on campus sites. We wanted it to be straightforward [and] easy to understand, said President Steve Thomas. I think the policy is going to be comparable to other campuses. The campus carry law was implemented at Texas public universities in 2016, but community colleges were given an extra year to create policies that allow for concealed handguns in campus buildings. To receive input, Thomas spoke to the MC Student Government Association and held open forums. He also formed a committee of the MC police chief, vice presidents and faculty. The committee reviewed campus carry policies from state universities, he said. In 2015, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law that lifted restrictions on concealed weapons in campus buildings at public institutions. The law specified the policies couldnt generally prohibit license holders from carrying guns on campuses. The MC policy identifies exclusion zones, areas where carrying concealed handguns is prohibited. Exclusion zones include locations that provide counseling services or child care for minors, ticketed sporting and performance venues, shared college housing rooms, locations used for camps and programs for minors, the chapel and lab storage spaces that contain volatile chemicals. Concealed carry of weapons is also prohibited from locations that provide K-12 education, such as the wing of the Allison Fine Arts Building where Early College High School meets. The policy is effective at both the Advanced Technology Center and the Cogdell Learning Center from 7 a.m. 5 p.m. Were trying to use common sense, Thomas said. It wouldnt be in the best interest for people carrying a gun [those] facilities. Also, the policy includes an exclusion zone on a case-by-case basis, any location, or specific time period the College President determines creates a unique situation that poses a threat to safety for the campus community. The college will submit a report to the Legislature every other year with rationale behind all provisions, the policy states. Thomas said the law is clear and expects students will comply. Universities now have had a chance to live with the policies for a year, Thomas said. There have not been major incidents. The [MC] students who talked about getting their concealed handgun license when they turned 21 are responsible. The campus carry law applies to people who are licensed to carry concealed weapons in Texas. License holders are required to be older than 21, unless they are active military or police officers, according to a previous Reporter-Telegram report. Weapons are otherwise prohibited from MC, unless being used by law enforcement, according to the policy. People who observe a weapon being displayed are required to report the incident to MC police, according to the policy. MC plans to post the policy online and will notify students and employees about it through emails, information sessions and signage at exclusion zones, Thomas said. Its a new law, and the policy is out there, said Richard McKee, chief of the MC Police Department. We mainly have to educate people on it. The college will aim to improve campus safety regarding weapons through information about campus carry, active shooter situations and mental health assistance, according to the policy. Under the policy, handguns must be kept in a holster and cant be visible. The policy requires license holders living in college housing to safely secure or store their firearms and calls for people to act prudently with weapons. Violations of the policy could result in penalties from the college and are subject to investigation by the MC Police Department. The board on Tuesday also approved proposals for parking lot repairs and the installation of a chiller for the Advanced Technology Center as well as the replacement of the roof at the Physical Education Building. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Starting Monday, Aug. 1, just weeks before colleges are back in session for the fall semester, licensed gun owners will be allowed to bring concealed handguns into public four-year colleges in Texas. The campus-carry law was signed last summer by Governor Greg Abbott after years of statewide wrangling and debate. In the past year, the new law, sometimes referred to as simply "campus carry," has continued to be the subject of much conversation. Coupled with the outcry in some circles over open carry in Texas (which went into effect in January), its been hard to escape talk about the concealed or open possession of firearms. RELATED: Explained: gun laws in Texas The recent rash of tragic shootings across the state has only reheated that conversation. With universities getting ready for the fall semester, many students and parents are likely wondering what campus carry means for them. Some schools have opted out of campus carry, citing their own list of concerns. One Houston lawyer, Charles Adams, says that even as a gun owner himself he doesnt agree with campus carry. By the same token, hes not a fan of "safe spaces" on college campuses that protect students from strident rhetoric or difficult discourse, either. I do believe campuses should strive to create a space safe from physical harm and fear. I strongly believe 'campus carry' is antithetical to that goal, Adams says. Guns wont be going with his teenage son when he enters Rice University in the coming weeks, because Rice doesnt allow campus carry. I own guns. My son who is about to be a freshman in college owns guns. But he will not have one with him on campus. His chosen school, Rice University, does not allow it and if they allowed it, I would not, Adams says. RELATED: Three University of Texas professors sue to block campus carry law Earlier this month, at least three University of Texas at Austin professors filed a lawsuit over the state's new campus carry law. Jennifer Lynn Glass, Lisa Moore and Mia Carter want a federal judge to block the law. They are suing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, UT Austin President Gregory Fenves and the UT regents to do so. "Compelling professors at a public university to allow, without any limitation or restriction, students to carry concealed guns in their classrooms chills their First Amendment rights to academic freedom," the professors argue in the lawsuit filed in U.S. district court in Austin earlier this month. Some professors across the state have said that they think that campus carry will stifle heated discourse inside classrooms and lecture halls. RELATED: UH faculty suggest steering clear of some topics if students armed The argument, or fear, is that students carrying guns will in some way influence the way that some material is taught or discussed. One University of Houston professor thinks such concerns are overblown. "It's an absolutely unfounded fear," Jacob Smith, who teaches courses at UH as he works toward a doctorate in economics, said in February when many UH professors protested the law. Like many supporters of the new law, Smith said he wants to be able to protect himself and mentions all the alerts from UH about armed robberies and break-ins he receives. Adams thinks that campus carry is a waste of time, which would be better suited tackling other on-campus issues. Instead of allowing students to have firearms on campus, we should stop wasting valuable law enforcement energies on the very pointless war on drugs and vice crimes, and, instead, focus all campus police on insuring that our students are free from fear of violence and victimization, Adams says. A prominent campus carry group, Students for Concealed Carry, has repeatedly said in press materials that campus carry to them is more about personal protection than campus protection. RELATED: Sex toys to replace guns at UT-Austin campus carry protest The evidence strongly suggests that licensed concealed carry will have no detrimental effect on Texas college campuses and that there is no justification to deny licensed students, faculty, staff, or guests on those campuses the same measure of personal protection they enjoy throughout the rest of the state, the group said in a statement earlier this year. As for the fears of professors who think that gun-toting pupils will make taking on hot topics dangerous, the group thinks they are being dramatic. There is little or no evidence that it negatively impacts free speech in the places where its allowed, including more than 100 U.S. college campuses and several state capitols, they say. They note that those who have been licensed to carry a concealed firearms have passed a training course, a shooting test and extensive background checks, making them a cut above. Adams is worried that even with licensed owners on campus, the harm will outweigh the good. I think campus carry will lead to tragedy very quickly if students are allowed firearms in dormitory rooms. I think it will most likely be an accidental tragedy but a tragedy nonetheless. Kids, and most undergraduate students are still kids, do stupid things, he says. According to data from the Texas Department of Public Safety, college-age Texans aren't the ones getting the majority of licenses to carry. Back in 2015, just under 10,000 Texans under 24 years of age were getting those licenses. The majority of Texans getting license-t0-carry certifications were between the ages of 35 and 65. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate One San Antonio firefighter was fired for marijuana use and another received a 60-day suspension in March for drunken driving while off-duty, according to documents obtained by the San Antonio Express-News. Firefighter Timothy Gill received an indefinite suspension, which is tantamount to firing, for twice testing positive for marijuana use once in April 2015 and again in March of this year. Juan Avila originally received an indefinite suspension for driving while intoxicated in December, the documents show, but San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood reduced it to a 60-day suspension. Avila, 34, is also facing a criminal misdemeanor drunken driving charge. He admitted to a police officer at the time of the arrest that he had consumed four or five 12-ounce beers. According to the documents, he failed a field sobriety test and his blood alcohol concentration was measured as 0.104 and 0.101. The legal limit is 0.08. News of the discipline comes less than a week after two San Antonio police officers and one Bexar County Sheriffs deputy were arrested separately within four hours of each other, all charged with driving while intoxicated. One of the officers had three children under the age of 15 in the car. San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said he was disappointed in the conduct of the officers and that an internal investigation into their actions is underway. In addition to misdemeanor and criminal charges, they face internal disciplinary action. Erik Walsh, deputy city manager, said the police and fire departments conduct random drug testing of all officers and firefighters and automatically tests anyone involved in vehicle crashes. According to the documents, Gill received a 30-day suspension in April 2015 after he failed a random drug test. Consequently, the city is allowed to conduct unannounced follow-up testing for an additional two years. Gill failed one of those tests on March 2. Gill and Avila are two of five firefighters at the department who have been fired or temporarily suspended this year. eeaton@express-news.net Twitter: @emilieeaton This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The Karnes County Sheriffs Office arrested two men Monday accused of stealing about $200,000 worth of property from homes in the area in a burglary ring, including guns, a travel trailer and ATVs. Jarrod James Stewart, 32, and Jonathan Wade Andruss, 30, both from Stockdale, face two second-degree felony counts of burglary of a habitation, said Karnes County Sheriff Dwayne Villanueva. The sheriff said more charges are likely pending against the pair. RELATED: 2 San Antonio firefighters disciplined for marijuana use, drunken driving The sheriffs office said they have been investigating a string of burglaries in the area for at least six months, and have received numerous tips regarding the crimes. Recently, investigators learned of the two suspects whereabouts and apprehended them this week. Villanueva said the two were allegedly involved in a string of residential and rural farm burglaries in Gillett, which is about 60 miles southeast of San Antonio. Investigators recovered about $200,000 worth of stolen items, including a Lacrosse Luxury Travel Trailer, guns, ammunition, three ATVs, five flat-bed trailers, generators, compressors, welders and numerous assorted tools. Those items were found at two residences in the Stockdale/Sutherland Springs areas, Villanueva said. RELATED: Man slashed across chest at S.A. Jason's Deli, police believe employee is involved The sheriffs office is continuing its investigation to track down more stolen items. If convicted, the pair faces up to 20 years in prison for each felony charge. Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com twhite@mysa.com Twitter: @tylerlwhite To the editor: I also have read many of Mr. Doherty's letters to the editor and like him have laughed at the many attempts he has made to portray a clear picture of reality, which so far have come up short. The right is just taking a page from the liberal playbook, because when the left is in power it seems it is always the right's job to come together, work across the aisle, and be respectful, and don't be obstructionist. Well, it's time for the left to do the same. It is true that President Trump has been in office only a few months and rather than doing the above, the Democrats and many in the mainstream media have savaged him, his cabinet, his family, his Supreme Court pick, his lifestyle; and if he had one, I'm sure they would savage his dog, too. President Obama had a cakewalk compared to what they have done to this president. Doherty speaks of flip-flops; Obama never flip-flopped, no it was called an (evolution?) on abortion, stem cell experiments and traditional marriage; to explain his flip-flops in that manner was an affront to our intelligence and a load of baloney. Doherty also should be careful how he calls for physical and electronic angry debate and for rude, sarcastic comments, as they could easily turn to violence as they did this past weekend. It would be best for the pseudo-intelligentsia of the left to go their way and do what they are best at doing, as a prophet from our 1960s said in his music "to sniff drain pipes and recite the alphabet." Jay Broker Montgomery Military service records in exchange for tax returns To the editor: Hey-ho. Rather than find something constructive to do, agitators are demonstrating to force President Trump to make his tax returns public. My opinion is that he should make them public - one day after the turncoat John Kerry releases his complete and uncensored military service records. Donn Taylor The Woodlands Trump's tax returns buried under Obama's 'vital records' To the editor: I cannot understand all of the fuss concerning President Trump's tax returns when we all know they are easily accessible. They can be found right under Obama's tax returns, college transcripts, birth certificate, passports, student loan records and the list of his Social Security numbers among other things. Dr. Leonard Duckworth The Woodlands The national debt is perhaps the one element in President Donald Trumps spending agenda that Democrats and mainstream Republicans can agree on. As Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney succinctly states in his introduction to the America First budget blueprint, the national debt is a crisis, not just for the Nation, but for every citizen. What lawmaker in Washington could disagree with that? To help keep their eye on the ball, Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, is backing legislation that would increase congressional scrutiny of the governments fiscal health. The bill, known on Capitol Hill as the Fiscal State of the Nation Resolution, would require both houses of Congress to assemble once a year and receive a presentation from the Government Accountability Office. The GAO is the independent audit arm of the U.S. Congress, and it has been sounding the alarm about the national debt for years. I founded the financial think tank Truth in Accounting in 2002 to help draw attention to pressing fiscal policy challenges like the national debt. There arent any easy fixes to these issues, but undoubtedly the first step is taking a hard look at the data. In that respect, the Fiscal State of the Nation Resolution is a step in the right direction. The proposed Fiscal State of the Nation speech would cover critical issues such as the unfunded Social Security and Medicare promises, which if added to the reported $20 trillion national debt results in a debt number totaling more than $100 trillion. Another topic covered in the address would be the GAOs annual effort to audit the federal government, which it has never successfully completed. It started doing these common-sense audits in 1996, but year after year shoddy accounting at the Department of Defense has prevented a comprehensive audit of the entire federal government. What they have produced are audits marred with disclaimer opinions an accountants way of saying, We dont have enough faith in the data to express an opinion. Truth in Accounting analyzes these audits and qualified opinions every year as a part of our Federal Project. The lack of attention these audit documents get in Congress is disconcerting. Thats why I am particularly excited with a provision in the Fiscal State of the Nation Resolution that legally requires the attendance of members of Congress. Perhaps this important issue will get the attention it deserves if our lawmakers are compelled to sit through a presentation for an hour or two each year. I recently spoke with Rep. Cuellar about this issue, and he told me that the bill is critical because the American people deserve thoughtful, efficient stewardship of their taxpayer dollars. Members of Congress need to closely scrutinize all the details of these audits, and carefully consider the impact of our choices on the fiscal health of the nation, he said. I couldnt agree more with Cuellars sentiment. The issue of transparent accounting supersedes the national debt. Without clear information, how can we possibly expect lawmakers to make informed decisions? Sheila Weinberg, a CPA, is founder and chief executive officer of Truth in Accounting, a nonprofit organization that researches government financial data and promotes transparency for a better-informed citizenry. Too often, leaders allow emotion to sway their goals, using it to manipulate others to direct the course of the nation. Emotion has been both the catalyst and the justification for numerous decisions throughout history, a dynamic that has occurred even when the true motives behind such actions were much more calculated. Our representatives and, more specifically, the public must be aware of this potential influence on our own political judgments so that we may arrive at sound conclusions. The Mexican American War is an example of a president using emotion to win support for military conflict. With the aim of westward expansion, President James K. Polk originally hoped to buy the southwestern region from Mexico. When that failed, the 1846-1848 war led to its acquisition. However, the military action to achieve that end was initiated through a dispute over a much smaller parcel of land, the border between the two countries. Mexico regarded the border as the Nueces River, while the U.S. placed it at its present location, the Rio Grande. Polk placed troops on the Rio Grande and awaited a conflict. Polk created the only tools any president needs for a declaration of war a catalyst and a justification. However, both of those factors were set in motion by a single strategy emotion. While some conflicts are unnecessary, others are triggered by just causes regardless of the catalyst leading to involvement. Who would suggest that our role in World War II was wrong? We should not point to emotion as the sole reason for our entry into the war. Nor should one discount the impact World War I had on society and the nonmilitary initiatives taken by the U.S. prior to our entry into the Second World War. Yet, why did we not enter the conflict before the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941? One may argue that a declaration of war would have been the correct decision before the attack. However, in terms of its political effect, Pearl Harbor became both the catalyst and justification. What society today must question is whether our decisions would be correct if emotional factors were absent. The electorate must support the correct decision. The military action President Donald Trump took against the Syrian regime is admirable. But it does not negate the concern that this potential new agenda may not only distract from progress at home but serve as the catalyst for conflicts America will regret in the future. These are challenging decisions, offering what may be constant temptations to expend our resources on ever-present global conflicts. We should recall predecessors who did not succumb to that temptation. John F. Kennedy de-escalated our chances of war with the Soviet Union during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, opting for a peaceful solution over the pleas of his advisers for military action. Of course, emotion is a human response that cannot be entirely expunged from any decision. That being said, let us be mindful of its consequences, which may obstruct rational decisions in the 21st century. Dale Schlundt holds a masters degree in adult education with a concentration in American history from the University of Texas at San Antonio. He has taught at Northwest Vista College and Our Lady of the Lake University, and is a faculty member at Palo Alto College. He is co-founder of Palo Alto Colleges program for individuals with intellectual disabilities, Project Access, and a co-chair for the Texas Regional Alignment Network. If youre any student of politics, you saw Steve Bannon on the cover of Time magazine in early February The Great Manipulator, it called him and knew to start the countdown then. Dead strategist walking. Hed crossed the line that a politicians advisers mustnt, to a place and prominence where only the most foolish of them tread. Or at best hed failed to prevent the media from tugging him there. He was fine so long as he was a whisperer. On the campaign trail and on the Potomac, you can whisper all you want. He was damned the moment he was cast as a puppeteer. That means theres a puppet in the equation, and no politician is going to accept that designation, least of all one who stamps his name in gold on anything that stands still long enough to be stamped. Or whose debate performance included the repartee: No puppet, no puppet. Youre the puppet. Im my own strategist, the president told the New York Post, and the message to Bannon couldnt have been louder and clearer if it included a four-letter word. Bannon is a guy who works for me, he said to the Wall Street Journal a day later, lumping the lumpy tactician together with the concierges at Trump Tower, the groundskeepers at Mar-a-Loco and the makers of the meatloaf in the White House kitchen. Donald Trump went so far as to suggest that he was barely acquainted with Bannon before August 2016, when Bannon joined his presidential campaign. Wrong. Trump had been a guest on the radio show that Bannon used to host nine times. But his rewrite of history was telling. Bannon needed to be erased because he was taking up too much space on the page. Politics is a tricky business, Washington is a treacherous place and Trumplandia is downright brutal. In all three realms, you have to strike the right balance of self-promotion and self-effacement. The medias no help: We love few archetypes better than that of the brilliant mastermind whos the real power behind the throne. But the savviest operators find ways to resist that assignment, deflecting as much credit as they claim. Its important to remember that youre always a supporting actor, never the star, David Axelrod, one of Barack Obamas closest campaign and White House advisers, told me. And depending on who the star is, its even more important. Donald Trumps self-image doesnt really allow for co-stars. 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 used for him. 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 fifth year of his presidency, when Rove was moved from a corner suite in the West Wing to a windowless office across the hall. 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. He didnt grapple with who Trump really is. Trumps allegiances are fickle. His attention flits. Bannon insisted on an ideology when Trump cares more about applause. Bannon stupidly picked a fight with Jared Kushner that he was all but certain to lose, and not only because Kushner is kin. Tell me who has the advantage: the guy who looks like a flea market made flesh or the one who seems poised to pose for GQ? Bannon is still on the job, and Trump may keep him there, because while he has been disruptive inside the White House, he could be pure nitroglycerin outside. He commands acolytes on the alt-right. He has a mouthpiece in Breitbart News. He has means and the history for revenge. But its hard to imagine how he ever again rises to a perch as lofty as the one he occupied. Frank Bruni writes a column for the New York Times. The fractured Judson Independent School District community is healing and coming together after being splintered over the naming of its newest high school. Voters in this growing district in Northeast Bexar County face three contested school board races on the May ballot. In the District 1 race to fill an unexpired term for a seat left open by a trustee who resigned, we recommend Suzanne Kenoyer, 59, a former educator. Kenoyer retired in 2013 after a 23-year career in Judson ISD. Her experience as a classroom teacher and work with the language arts curriculum will be an asset in the board room. She has been in the trenches and continues to keep abreast of the challenges students and staff face. In District 3, we recommend Gilbert Flores, 63, an accountant. He has been on the Judson board since 2006 and has served as a director on the Texas Association of School Boards. One of the most important jobs of any school board is setting a budget and approving contracts. Flores accounting background has proven invaluable. His colleagues on the board count on him asking the pointed questions that help them make informed decisions on money matters. In District 5, we recommend Arnoldo Salinas, 75, a retired educator, to a third term on the board. A well-liked and respected member of his community, Salinas had planned to make his current term his last but was asked by his constituents to reconsider, he said. Salinas focus during his tenure has been on students. He is tuned in to the Judson community and keeps an open dialogue with his constituents. He was one of the votes against naming the districts high school after the departing superintendent. All three endorsed candidates support the proposed bond issue to fund the second phase of the districts newest high school. Ana Sandoval has emerged as one of the most impressive candidates in this years city election, and voters in District 7 would be wise to choose her as their new representative. She is one of four challengers looking to unseat incumbent Cris Medina, who is seeking his fourth and final term. Sandoval is the clear choice to lead the district. She is a visionary and dynamic candidate with deep District 7 roots. Her skills and expertise make her an ideal person to lead on some of the most pressing issues in San Antonio. She is also an effective communicator, framing complicated issues succinctly, and with clarity and nuance. Sandoval, 42, grew up in the district, graduating from Jefferson High School (where she was valedictorian) before leaving San Antonio for school and work. She has a chemical engineering degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as advanced degrees in engineering and public health from Stanford and Harvard. Her work experience is equally impressive. After graduating from MIT and Stanford, Sandoval returned to San Antonio to work at VIA Metropolitan Transit, where she developed the spending plan for the then-proposed Advanced Transportation District sales tax. From there, it was off to San Francisco to work on air quality issues, developing important communication and leadership skills. After earning a masters degree in public health from Harvard, she returned to San Antonio, buying the house next door to her childhood home. She lives next to her parents. Medina has cast Sandovals time away from San Antonio as a negative, suggesting she hasnt been involved in local politics or issues. We see it as a clear positive to the community, regardless of how this election turns. Its a good thing when our best and brightest experience the world and gain skills and then choose to come back with a desire to apply those skills and serve others. Her experience addressing environmental and transportation issues, two key challenges here, will only enhance our community. In contrast, Medina hasnt used his six years on council to truly address these issues. For example, when District 4 City Councilman Rey Saldana sought to boost funding for VIA, Medina helped delay the vote. He caught flack early in his career for missing numerous council meetings in 2011 and 2012. In 2014, he also took a two-month leave of absence with the U.S. Air Force Reserve. He has shown an OK understanding of city issues, but he has rarely stood out from the crowd. Sandoval would bring much-needed rigor, vision and passion to the job. We recommend her for District 7. The MOAB bomb is the mother of all bombs. How fitting that its first military use has come under this commander in chief, who has the mother of all egos. Robert Paul Nice job, Trump While Donald Trump was not the first choice of many of us, we must admit that he accomplished two wonderful things in his first days: He rid us of the Clintons, and he gave us Justice Neil Gorsuch, who will make rulings on laws following the Constitution. Not bad for a few weeks work! John K. Landry, New Braunfels United has rights Re: Uniteds CEO offers an apology, Business, April 12: It seems everyone is outraged at United Airlines for removing a vocal passenger from the airplane. Perhaps the outrage should be directed not at the airline but at the passenger who screamed and kicked his feet like a spoiled child and refused to act like an adult. Yes, passengers have rights, but so do the carriers the airlines, the trains, the buses and taxis. I really hate saying that, because I am not a fan of flying nowadays, but I think we all should stop and think for a few minutes before jumping on that ever-so-popular outrage bandwagon. Milton Clare A no-brainer Re: Dont sit out school board elections, Gloria Padilla, Other Views, April 7: Ms. Padilla is correct about the importance of school board members. Often, board members are overwhelmed with data, complicated verbiage and acronyms. And state and federal mandates do not make a lot of sense without some guidance. That is why I support Lorna Klokkenga, SAISD school board candidate for District 3. Lorna is a retired principal with almost 18 years of experience serving the Southeast San Antonio community. When board members consider action, they hear anecdotes from district-level administrators with similar proposals, but that is as close as they can get. Ms. Klokkenga can refer to her experience about the impact on kids, teachers, staff and parents something much more powerful than district-level administrators who are one or more years removed from their school-based role. If we are serious about turning around our schools, it makes sense to elect a board member who knows something about schools, someone with a lifetime of public service, and someone whose heart has led her to this selfless decision to serve as a board member. It should be a no-brainer; actions speak louder than words, and Klokkenga makes perfect sense. Chris Castro Stick to buses Re: Historic Scobey complex bought by VIA for $5.2M, Business, April 12: Are you kidding me VIA is going to buy the Scobey building to help a private developer? Yes, the same VIA that is always crying it doesnt have enough money for buses and routes. Where does it get off with this kind of blatant waste of money? Its reason to buy? To make the area better for their new majestic downtown bus terminal, where all the street people gather. This should not be allowed. This is not what the money should be used for. It is for buses and people who ride them, the taxpayers, not fancy downtown developments. Jack Hardy Disgrace to Muslims The recent suicide attacks on churches in Egypt bring me to the painful realization that these so-called Muslims are tarnishing the name of Islam and straying from what Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be on him) preached. Jesus (peace be upon him) is revered as an exalted prophet among Muslims. There are a few chapters dedicated to Jesus and his mother, Mary, in the Quran. Islam also calls for the protection of Christians. The Prophet Muhammad said of Christians under his rule, I place them under my protection from any damage or harm. I am behind them, protecting them from every enemy or anyone who wishes them harm. There is no justification for this cowardly attack. This shameful act of some misguided individuals not only taints the name of Islam but brings immense disgrace to Muslims worldwide. Clearly, these so-called Muslims are ignorant of the real teachings of Islam. We, as Ahmadi Muslims, stand in solidarity with our Christian neighbors in this time of immense difficulty and cannot stress enough that terrorism has no religion. Nadia Ahmad, Round Rock Dont change plaza Re: In general, Alamo plan gets nods from Council, front page, Thursday: Alamo Plaza, a World Heritage site, should remain unchanged. If San Antonio wants to offer visitors a vista of the 1836 battle, a historic re-creation of the Alamo should be built on the east side of Bexar County near one of the natural creeks that could double for the San Antonio River. Historic re-enactments could be offered, along with bus service from Alamo Plaza. J.W. Askins Stupidest idea Re: Disastrous bill, Your Turn, April 11: Lets look at the big picture with the bathroom bill. Why in the world would any legislature pass or even consider a bill that is unenforceable? With 4.5 percent unemployment, there arent enough qualified security guards in the state to stand guard at every affected restroom. And do we really want to spend limited resources for academic institutions on bathroom document inspectors instead of instructors or lab equipment? And where is the conservative uproar over a de facto requirement for everyone to carry multiple identification documents (the required birth certificate, a current ID with a picture to substantiate one didnt just borrow an appropriate ID, and a marriage certificate or other document attesting to any name changes)? This may be the stupidest idea ever. Reagin McAllister I am a 94-year-old veteran. Never have I seen a Congress do nothing but fight each other and then go on vacation. I think the public should demand all of them be recalled. Then send them to preschool. Then we should vote on whether to allow them to run for office again. Perhaps they might learn enough to be in office. Each of them should be ashamed to collect such a large paycheck just to fight each other. This pertains to both Republicans and Democrats. Thomas Green Maintain history I have been reading the articles about the proposed alterations to Alamo Plaza and find many good ideas. However, during Fiesta, as Battle of Flowers participants pass in front of the Alamo, they leave beautiful wreathes at the church door. The ceremony is solemn, teaching us why Fiesta is celebrated the week of San Jacinto Day. If the road is blocked to all traffic, that would also include parade routes. I hope we could continue to honor the heroes of the Alamo with our Fiesta traditions. It would be a shame to lose part of our San Antonio history that is so valuable to us. Joanne Melgosa Blamers in chief Re: Another deflection, Your Turn, April 13: The letter writer denigrates Donald Trump for blaming Barack Obama for not holding to his word regarding his red line in Syria. Trump has a lot more blaming to do in the next four years if he wants to catch up with the previous blamer in chief!! Fred Martin, Fair Oaks Ranch Heal thyself Regarding Dr. David Dao and the United Airlines incident, what has not been mentioned by any media outlet is the childish actions by the doctor, ranting and raving like a baby because he could not get his way. If he were my doctor, I would be looking for a more mature individual. Don Ripley, Floresville DANBURY A man accused of drugging and raping a young girl was taken into custody by federal immigration officials when he appeared at Superior Court for a pre-trial hearing Wednesday. A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed that agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrived at the courthouse on Wednesday morning and took city resident Jonathan Rubio, 23, into custody for immigration violations. The spokesman did not say what country Rubio immigrated from. The officers worked with the court services personnel and the states attorneys office was supportive of our arrest, the spokesman said. Rubio, who was out on bond, was appearing in court on several charges including first-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor. Rubio purportedly had sex with a 15-year-old girl in January 2014 after drugging her with Molly, a form of Ecstasy, when she came to his house to talk about an issue she was having with his girlfriend, court record state. Rubio, who has yet to be convicted of the charges, told police that the victim knowingly took the drug and had sex with him. Susan Storey, the states chief public defender, said Wednesday afternoon that she was notified earlier in the day that a client was arrested while in the waiting room of the public defenders office at Danbury Superior Court. Its like they are being targeted in courthouses, Storey said. It causes people to lose faith in the fairness of our criminal justice system that would allow that to take place. The detainment marks the second time during the past month federal immigration agents have targeted defendants on their court date in Danbury. Storey has received reports from public defenders across the state of similar incidents in Norwich, Middletown and New London. Julio Virgilio Paida-Morquencho, 22, a citizen of Ecuador, was taken into custody in Danbury by federal immigration agents in late March when he was slated to appear in court to be sentenced on sexual assault charges. Unlike Rubio, Paida-Morquencho had already plead guilty to risk of injury to a minor. According to court documents, Paida-Morquencho faced numerous charges from 2014, including fourth-degree sexual assault and illegal sexual contact with the victim. The detainment at the time resulted in an outcry from state court officials about detainment at courthouses. ICE spokesman Shawn Neudauer has said that current policy directs agency personnel to avoid conducting enforcement activities at sensitive locations unless they have prior approval from a supervisor or the circumstances are exigent. Sensitive locations include schools, hospitals and places of worship, but not courthouses, correctional facilities or probation offices. Democrats have proposed federal legislation would make courthouses, schools and churches off limits to ICE arrests. dperrefort@newstimes.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate With 160 people moving to Austin each day, finding a place to live that combines quick access to downtown with proximity to nature can seem like a daunting task. But a 65-acre ranch along the shores of Lake Austin could be your solution if you have $45 million to spare. Lake Austin Ranch, owned by video game developer and commercial spaceflight industry leader Richard Garriott, hit the market this month and is the most expensive residential property to hit the market in Austin MLS, according to realtor Gary Dolch. RELATED: Alamo Heights mansion, one of the 'most unique' properties in S.A., selling for $4.9 million Owning Lake Austin Ranch, however, will be met with a small challenge: there's not a main house on the property. There is currently a 25,000-square-foot site where Garriott intended to build a house in the early 2000s, but Dolch predicts the existing slab and walls will be torn down to make way for a new structure. The site is atop a cliff overlooking the water, surrounded by juniper, pecan, oak trees and other varieties of plant wildlife. "For any nature lover, this is as good as it gets," said Dolch, who co-owns Austin Luxury Group with his wife, Michelle. Lake Austin Ranch includes a two-bedroom, one-bathroom, 1,000-square-foot guest house and a covered marina with eight boat slips. The property is just west of the 360 Bridge, which means breathtaking views of the Austin landmark without the hassle of crowds. Perhaps the most compelling feature of the property is The Curtain Theatre, a 300-seat venue modeled after Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London. The round structure allows for an intimate setting that puts all viewers within 25 feet of the stage. Garriott and his family are looking for "something easier to maintain" in the Austin area. The 65-acre property was "more than what they really need," Dolch said. RELATED: 11 vintage homes for sale in Southtown that start in the $200,000s While the rest of Texas' capital city becomes larger and denser, Lake Austin Ranch will remain a single-family residential paradise. Since it's located on the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve, landowners are prohibited from subdividing or partitioning the property, according to the listing. Check out photos of the exquisite 65-acre Lake Austin Ranch in the gallery above. erobinson@mysa.com Twitter: @eeelizzzabeth Yves here. I hate to voice a minor quibble with Blacks post. By all accounts, Tarullo got much further with bank reforms than anyone expected, doing an effective job of bureaucratic infighting and getting quite a few people at the Board of Governors unhappy with him. There were regular leaks to the media about his sharp elbows, hot temper, and being rough on staff, when that sort of thing never escapes the Fed. It was an internal effort to undermine him and the lame attacks on him as a manager reflected a lack of real goods. Jamie Dimon and plenty of other CEOs are famous for far worse treatment of subordinates, yet no one tries to make a big deal out of that. I contrast Tarullo with Janet Yellen, a status quo defender willing to pursue only marginal changes The fact that he didnt get very far seems much more a function of recognizing what he was up against rather than intellectual capture. Tarullo focused on a few key issues such as capital levels. Black may be correct that the better approach would have been much tougher bank examiner gumshoe work, but Tarullos view may have been that that would be easier to roll back after he left than higher level policy changes. Nevertheless, Black is correct to flag that Tarullo was not able to accomplish very much and that was no accident. By Bill Black, the author of The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One, an associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and co-founder of Bank Whistleblowers United. Originally published at New Economic Perspectives William Cohans April 14, 2017 column in the New York Times discusses Daniel Tarullos swan song talk on bank regulation. Here are the key passages from that column for the first half of my discussion. Much to the relief of Wall Street executives, who feared and hated him in equal measure, Daniel K. Tarullo left his powerful perch on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors last week, but not before delivering one last lecture on how big banks should be regulated in his absence. His swan song was pretty surprising, all things considered. It also went largely unnoticed, much like Mr. Tarullo himself during his eight years at the Federal Reserve. Many people have never heard of him, even though his decisions affected their lives in ways big and small. Once described as the Wizard of Oz, for the power he wielded behind the scenes, Mr. Tarullo was appointed to the Federal Reserve by President Barack Obama in January 2009. At the Fed, Mr. Tarullo took over the important responsibility of regulating the big Wall Street banks, a job that, understandably, had been the purview of the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The oversight moved to Washington from New York in the wake of the financial crisis. It was obvious that a lot in the U.S. regulatory system had not worked particularly well before the crisis, Mr. Tarullo said in a 2015 interview with The Wall Street Journal. Cohan was writing about a different subject, one I discuss briefly in the second half of this article, so he did not discuss the insanity described in these four paragraphs. Here is the short version of that insanity. 1.) The Clinton and Bush administrations, collectively, destroyed effective financial regulation. Tarullos sad euphemism is the U.S. regulatory system had not worked particularly well before the crisis. 2.) As you can tell from that sad euphemism, in a supposedly honest swan song, Tarullo is not the kind of enforcer who inspires real fear or hatred from an industry. The Wizard of Oz is an apt moniker for the power he wielded behind the scenes for the Wizard of Oz was a pathetic huckster. Here is a quick test of the fantasy that Tarullo was tough. The Fed removed and prohibited what CEO of a prominent Wall Street bank under Tarullo? The answer is no one. The Fed never even attempted to remove a single one of the Wall Street CEOs that led the most destructive epidemics of financial fraud in history. 3.) As weak as Tarullo was, he was in fact far tougher than his predecessor who was responsible for regulating Wall Streets commercial banks, which understandably, had been the purview of the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. That president was the most abject financial regulatory failure in my Nations history which is a powerful insult given how many U.S. presidents deliberately appointed scoundrels because the president knew that they would fail to even try to be effective regulators. Who was that NY Fed president who was the worst-of-the-worst regulators that was so culpable in devastating our Nation? That scoundrel must have had his reputation destroyed and been recognized as unfit to serve even as a dogcatcher in a one-dog town. That would be the result if we did not live in the modern era of American crony capitalism. In that real world, our presidents promote our worst scoundrels precisely because the scoundrels deliberately refused to honor their oath of office and regulate Wall Street. In our real (depraved) world the new President Obama promoted the disgraced Timothy Geithner from his position as the president of the NY Fed to the top financial position in the world Secretary of the Treasury. Everyone in finance knew that Geithner had been a catastrophic failure as regulator. Everyone in finance knew that Geithner failed as a regulator because he never tried to regulate effectively. Indeed, he infamously testified before Congress: I have never been a regulator. That was true, but you are not supposed to admit it openly and you are not supposed to be promoted to Treasury Secretary because you admit it. President Obama appointed Tarullo contemporaneously with his appointment of Geithner. Tarullo had no experience or expertise in regulation and Obama obviously did not choose him to serve as a feared and hated regulator. 4.) The idea that Wall Street feared and hated Tarullo is hilarious. I can tell you from personal experience what happens when a financial regulator is hated and feared by sleazy CEOs because you are putting them in prison and removing and prohibiting them from working in finance. First, there are recurrent efforts to fire you. Second, they hire private detectives to investigate you. Third, they sue you for hundreds of millions of dollars. Fourth, they spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions to the most powerful members of Congress to induce them to investigate and attack you relentlessly. Sleazy CEOs did each of these things to me and to several of my colleagues. Sleazy Wall Street CEOs did none of these things to Tarullo because he never even tried to imprison or remove and prohibit them. Cohan tellingly writes that the NY Fed president understandably was the top regulator of the Wall Street banks prior to 2009. It is understandable in one, sick sense. It is understandable that politicians who benefit so greatly from Wall Street contributions and the revolving door placed the primary regulator of Wall Street banks in the institution (the NY Fed) with the most perverse incentives that would ensure pervasively pathetic regulation of Wall Street banks decade after decade. It is not, however, understandable that anyone seeking to create a system of effective regulation of Wall Street banks would choose the president of the NY Fed to lead the regulation of Wall Street banks. Cohans primary purpose in his column is to present Tarullos admissions about what went wrong with Dodd-Frank. First, he acknowledged that the Dodd-Frank Act, which re-regulated Wall Street at length (and to a fault) in 2010, was a compromise among those lawmakers who wanted to break up the big banks in the wake of the financial crisis and those who wanted to leave the status quo in place. He said Dodd-Frank forgoes structural solutions such as breaking up the banks or reimposing the separation of investment and commercial banking which might have been cleaner conceptually, but much more complicated as a practical matter. Instead, he said, Dodd-Frank imposes a host of restrictions and requirements on banks, including on counterparty credit limits, risk retention rules, incentive compensation restraints and wind-up resolution planning, while also requiring big banks to increase their capital and reduce their leverage. *** His most unexpected statement, though, was to acknowledge that the Volcker Rule, named after Paul A. Volcker, the former Fed chairman, was a mistake. The Volcker Rule essentially seeks to prevent big banks from engaging in proprietary trading. Mr. Tarullo said that when Mr. Volcker proposed it, he thought it could add to the safety and soundness of large financial firms. But now, several years of experience have convinced me that as drafted, it is too complicated and consumes too many supervisory, as well as bank, resources. Here is what Tarullo actually admitted about Dodd-Franks fatal flaw. President Obama and Congress did not frame it as a coherent response to the perverse incentives that cause our recurrent, intensifying financial crises. Wall Street CEOs rigged our structures to institutionalize perverse incentives. Refusing to change those structures after a catastrophe was, of course, significantly insane. President Obama and Congress failed to engage in a rigorous, honest investigation of those structural causes and then refused to fix the structural defects. The structures that institutionalize perverse incentives have in common the creation of conflicts of interest. CEOs do this primarily by creating perverse compensation systems, but they also do it through combining investment and commercial banking. Systemically dangerous institutions (SDIs) (too big to fail) create another conflict of interest. Politicians dependent on their contributions and pathetic regulators treat them as untouchable. Astonishingly, Obama and Congress refused to fix any of these three primary conflicts of interest that drive our recurrent crises. The closest Dodd-Frank came to a structural change to address one of these fundamental, destructive conflicts of interest was the Volcker rule. This makes Tarullos repudiation of that rule, and his stated basis for that repudiation so revealing. Tarullo fears that as drafted, it is too complicated. Who drafted the overly complicated rule and at who sought to make it so complex? The answer to the first part of the question is largely Tarullo and the answer to the second part is the five largest Wall Street banks lawyers. Tarullos reason for opposing the Volcker rule is pathetic. Still, the first-best solution is the return of Glass-Steagall rather than the roughly fifth-best solution that is the Volcker rule. It is altogether fitting that Tarullo leaves with a whimper about a problem of complexity that he largely allowed Wall Street to create. Here is the terrible news. Tarullo is not remotely evil. Compared to other senior financial regulators he is in the peak of the distribution along with Janet Yellen. President Trumps regulatory appointees will be far worse and by repealing the best parts of Dodd-Frank they will make the next financial crisis far worse. Yves here. From time to time, Ive stated that in light of Brexit, the UK should have a war-level planning and industrial strategy project underway. The island nation already has a large trade imbalance that is destined to become worse as the EU takes chucks out of US export businesses as a result of Brexit. Financial services and transportation industry manufacturing (car, truck and airplane parts) are two area of vulnerability. It turns out that the Tories are not being completely remiss, despite industrial policy being a dirty word in business and neoliberal circles. As the post below describes, the Government, with little fanfare, has presented a Green Paper in which it set forth a first draft of industrial strategy. However, industrial strategy means among other things providing government backing for what the Japanese liked to call national champions as in industries where the nation could develop a competitive advantage. In the US, communications, computer and defense hardware and software have long been explicit national priorities, along with the pharmaceutical business, via the large investments in research paid for via the National Institutes of Health and other Federal agencies. And in Australia, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation did R&D in a set of sectors like viniculture where Australia had the potential to become a strong player (CSIRO played an important role when I was in Australia in the early 2000s; I gather it is a shadow of its former self). However, the US more often has had industrial policy by default, as in powerful industries getting support regardless of whether it would benefit parties beyond the incumbents, or would otherwise produce damaging distortions. For instance the banking industry is so heavily subsidized as to not properly be considered private enterprise and as a result has grown faster than the economy as a whole. Yet a raft of recent economic studies have concluded that overly-large financial services industries are a drag on growth, and Americas clearly falls in that category. The nascent industrial strategy plan underscores one of the Big Lies of Brexit: that the UK would be able to free itself from supposedly overbearing EU rules. As the below post details, even the mild version of industrial policy that is palatable to Tories appears to be against the provisions that the EU gets in most of its trade pacts and it would almost certainly require in the upcoming trade negotiations. We identified this as an issue in December: Putting aside the substantial difference in size between the two economies, the fatal flaw of this logic is that the UK cannot be meaningfully sovereign due to its degree of economic integration into the EU. Theyve run up against Dani Rodriks trilemma, which he first wrote about in 2007: Sometimes simple and bold ideas help us see more clearly a complex reality that requires nuanced approaches. I have an impossibility theorem for the global economy that is like that. It says that democracy, national sovereignty and global economic integration are mutually incompatible: we can combine any two of the three, but never have all three simultaneously and in full. Here is what the theorem looks like in a picture: To see why this makes sense, note that deep economic integration requires that we eliminate all transaction costs traders and financiers face in their cross-border dealings. Nation-states are a fundamental source of such transaction costs. They generate sovereign risk, create regulatory discontinuities at the border, prevent global regulation and supervision of financial intermediaries, and render a global lender of last resort a hopeless dream. The malfunctioning of the global financial system is intimately linked with these specific transaction costs.. So I maintain that any reform of the international economic system must face up to this trilemma. If we want more globalization, we must either give up some democracy or some national sovereignty. Pretending that we can have all three simultaneously leaves us in an unstable no-mans land. In other words, if the UK wants to have more national sovereignity, it must become more economically self-sufficient, as in more of an autarky. Yet making that sort of change would require a national economic policy, meaning having the government identify sectors where the UK has or could develop competitive advantage and do more to promote their growth. The failure to do planning (and better yet, some preliminary execution) means the UK, despite the phenomenal arrogance and ignorance of its officials, is approaching these negotiations as a beggar: it wants and needs to preserve substantial elements of the status quo, such as access to the single market and passporting rights for UK financial institutions, or face meaningful shifts of activities out of its economy (and please dont try the dubious statistic that the EU will face bigger trade losses than the UK. What matters isnt the absolute dollar, or in this case, pound and Euro hit, its the cost of the losses relative to the size of the economy. Measured properly, UK citizens will suffer considerably more than their EU counterparts). And thats before you get to the fact that this sort of industrial policy is anathema to Thatcherites and neoliberals. As they say in Maine, you cant get there from here. While greater national sovereignty is an estimable goal, the UK has gone down a path for decades that means it will take a long time to get the economic independence that would allow it to have more political autonomy. And despite all their bluster, UK leaders arent taking that objective seriously either. By Nicholas Crafts, Professor of Economics and Economic History at the University of Warwick and CEPR. Originally published at VoxEU The UK government has both embarked on Brexit and announced the outline of an industrial strategy (HM Government 2017). The two initiatives are more closely related than is generally recognised because leaving the EU could mean a relaxation of rules controlling state aid, while the new supply-side approach entails a shift towards selective industrial policy. Should we see this as an exciting new opportunity to build a stronger economy or as an unwelcome threat to the making of well-designed economic policy? In two recent papers, I argue that the latter is nearer the mark than the former (Crafts 2017a, 2017b). State aid is defined by the EU as interventions including grants, subsidies, loans, guarantees, and tax credits that give the recipient an advantage on a selective basis that has distorted or may distort competition and which are likely to affect trade between member states. These are generally prohibited, but there is a broad exemption for horizontal industrial policies deemed to address market failures with relatively slight implications for trade. State aid has to be notified to and approved by the European Commission, whose decisions are subject to scrutiny by the EU courts. Under this regime, UK expenditure on state aid has been relatively low: in 2014, it was 0.33% of GDP. Table 1 reports the main categories of expenditure and also notes spending on sectoral development; this was only about 0.1% of the total. Table 1. UK expenditure on state aid, 2014 (million euros) Note: total excludes agriculture and transport. Source: European Commission (2016) If, following Brexit, the UK chooses to stay within the European Economic Area (EEA), rules on state aid would remain much the same. Selective industrial policy would generally remain illegal. If, as seems more likely, the eventual outcome of Brexit is a trade agreement between the EU and the UK, the implications are somewhat less clear. Nevertheless, it seems quite likely that the EU would insist on continuation of the equivalent of EEA rules and enforcement mechanisms: a majority of existing EU trade agreements have legally enforceable rules on state aid (Hofmann et al. 2017). On the other hand, a hard Brexit with a default solution of WTO trade rules would allow much more scope for selective industrial policy as is underlined by the recent surge in murky protectionism (see Table 2). Table 2. G20 protectionist measures recorded by GTA (2009-2016) Source: Evenett and Fritz (2016) The Green Paper (HM Government 2017) aspires to deliver a stronger economy and a fairer society so that more people in all corners of the country share in the UKs success. It identifies ten pillars for the new industrial strategy (see Table 3). Table 3. The 10 pillars of UK industrial strategy Source: HM Government (2017) It is conventional to distinguish between horizontal and selective industrial policy. The former addresses economy-wide issues with a view to correcting market failures and removing policy distortions. Well-designed policies can improve productivity and perhaps have a small positive impact on the rate of economic growth. Many of the ten pillars, especially the first three, are essentially of this horizontal type. The latter selective industrial policy entails interventions that favour particular sectors and/or categories of investment, skills, technologies or places. The fifth, sixth and especially the eighth pillars can be seen as explicitly selective policies. The most eye-catching new policy initiative relates to the pillar cultivating world-leading sectors in terms of a proposal for sector deals. The Green Paper indicates that the government is prepared to work with any sector that can organise behind strong leadership to help deliver upgrades in productivity. This could involve addressing regulatory barriers, promoting competition and innovation, working together to increase exports, and working together to commercialise research. To complement this, it is intended to take a strategic approach to government procurement to support investment in innovation and skills. All major government projects will be structured so that UK-based suppliers are in the best position to compete for contracts. There will also be a new, more strategic approach to inward investment. This clearly envisages giving more inducements for foreign direct investment in projects that are judged to have a greater impact on economic growth. Taken together, these three announcements signal an intention to rebalance industrial policy towards a distinctly more selective stance. The proposed horizontal policy reforms to innovation, infrastructure, and skills can happen with or without Brexit, whatever the flavour of Brexit. The obstacles to better policy in the past have been located in Westminster, not Brussels. It is difficult, however, to believe that the proposed moves towards selective industrial policy would be allowed under EU rules on state aid. If a high priority is attached to pursuing a return to state intervention, then that in itself would be a reason to choose a hard Brexit. If, on the other hand, a high priority is attached to controlling the politicisation of industrial policy, then an attractive aspect of a trade agreement with the EU is that it would provide a commitment technology to constrain ministerial discretion. The problem with selective industrial policy is that government failure is highly likely. It has been widely remarked that, as in the UK in the 1970s where such policies were an expensive failure (Morris and Stout 1985), support is disproportionately given to declining rather than new industries, and this may be an inherent aspect of the political economy of industrial policy that slows down the process of creative destruction (Baldwin and Robert-Nicoud 2007). Protection against the ravages of industrial decline is probably what many pro-Brexit voters want: it has largely been precluded by EU membership, but it is a likely outcome of a newfound concern to help the left-behind. But the constraint on political discretion arising from EU rules on state aid has been helpful since inhibiting the exit of poorly performing firms and industries is not good for long-run productivity performance. In any case, it is highly desirable that as the government formulates its industrial strategy, it pays attention to the institutional architecture (LSE Growth Commission 2017). A framework is needed not only to replace EU rules on state aid but also to provide appropriate oversight of the whole gamut of industrial policy. This is highlighted by the recent deal with Nissan, which sets an unfortunate precedent, especially since this is surely only the first of many companies that will threaten to move production to locations inside the Single Market. Policy guidelines for intervention should be made public and transparent, and evidence-based evaluation both ex ante and ex post by an independent body is required (Banks 2015). The chances of this approach being adopted in UK policymaking have always been remote and, no doubt, it is even less likely in the current political climate. A recent poll of economists finds that a large majority thinks that it is time for a new industrial strategy, but at the same time they doubt that the government could implement one successfully (Den Haan et al. 2017). I share these opinions. And hard Brexit reduces rather than enhances the likelihood of success since it increases the scope for bad policymaking. See original post for references Yves here. This is a useful and colorfully written post. However, it does have one sour note, in which it repeats what is more and more looking like disinformation: that Assad gassed his own citizens. As we stated yesterday, that claim fell apart in 2013 (see the definitive accounts by Seymour Hersh here and here). And the post from Gaius Publius yesterday, as well as others weve featured in Links, show that the campaign to pin the 2017 gassing deaths on Assad again dont stand up to scrutiny. By Major Danny Sjursen, a TomDispatch regular, a U.S. Army strategist and former history instructor at West Point. He served tours with reconnaissance units in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has written a memoir and critical analysis of the Iraq War, Ghost Riders of Baghdad: Soldiers, Civilians, and the Myth of the Surge. He lives with his wife and four sons near Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Originally published at TomDispatch Make no mistake: after 15 years of losing wars, spreading terror movements, and multiplying failed states across the Greater Middle East, America will fight the next versions of our ongoing wars. Not that we ever really stopped. Sure, Washington traded in George W. Bushs expansive, almost messianic attitude toward his Global War on Terror for Barack Obamas more precise, deliberate, even cautious approach to an unnamed version of the same war for hegemony in the Greater Middle East. Sure, in the process kitted-up 19 year-olds from Iowa became less ubiquitous features on Baghdads and Kabuls busy boulevards, even if that distinction was lost on the real-life targets of Americas wars and the bystanders (call them collateral damage) scurrying across digital drone display screens. Its hardly a brilliant observation to point out that, more than 15 years later, the entire region is a remarkable mess. So much worse off than Washington found it, even if all of that mess cant simply be blamed on the United States at least not directly. Its too late now, as the Trump administration is discovering, to retreat behind two oceans and cover our collective eyes. And yet, acts that might still do some modest amount of good (resettling refugees, sending aid, brokering truces, anything within reason to limit suffering) dont seem to be on any American agenda. So, after 16 years of inconclusive or catastrophic regional campaigns, maybe its time to stop dreaming about how to make things better in the Greater Middle East and try instead to imagine how to make things worse (since thats the path we often seem to take anyway). Here, then, is a little thought experiment for you: what if Washington actually wanted to lose? How might the U.S. government go about accomplishing that? Let me offer a quick (and inevitably incomplete) to-do list on the subject: As a start, you would drop an enlarged, conventional army into Iraq and/or Syria. This would offer a giant red, white, and blue target for all those angry, young radicalized men just dying (pardon the pun) to extinguish some new crusader force. It would serve as an effective religious-nationalist rallying cry (and target) throughout the region. Then you would create a news-magnet of a ban (or at least the appearance of one) on immigrants and visitors of every sort from predominantly Muslim countries coming to the United States. Its hardly an accident that ISIS has taken to calling the presidents proposed executive order to do just that the blessed ban and praising Donald Trump as the best caller to Islam. Such actions only confirm the extremist narrative: that Muslims are unwelcome in and incompatible with the West, that liberal plurality is a neo-imperial scam. Finally, you would feed the common perception in the region that Washingtons support for Israel and assorted Arab autocrats is unconditional. To do so, you would go out of your way to hold fawning public meetings with military strongmen like Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and suggest that, when it came to Israel, you were considering changing American policy when it comes to a two-state solution and the illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine. Such policies would feed another ISIS narrative: U.S. support for illiberal despots and the failure of the Arab Spring is proof that practicing Muslims and peaceful Islamists will never successfully gain power through the democratic process. Key to such a losing strategy would be doing anything you could to reinforce ISISs twisted narrative of an end-of-days battle between Islam and Christendom, a virtuous East versus a depraved West, an authentic Caliphate against hypocritical democracies. In what amounts to a war of ideas, pursuing such policies would all but hand victory to ISIS and other jihadi extremist groups. And so you would have successfully created a strategy for losing eternally in the Greater Middle East. And if that was the desired outcome in Washington, well, congratulations all around, but of course we all know that it wasnt. Lets take these three points in such a losing strategy one by one. (Of course losing is itself a contested term, but for our purposes, consider the U.S. to have lost as long as its military spins its wheels in a never-ending quagmire, while gradually empowering various local adversaries.) Just a Few Thousand More Troops Will Get It Done There are already thousands of American soldiers and Marines in Iraq and Syria, to say nothing of the even more numerous troops and sailors stationed on bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Turkey, and other states ringing Americas Middle Eastern battlefields. Still, if you want to mainline into the fastest way to lose the next phase of the war on terror, just blindly acquiesce in the inevitable requests of your commanders for yet more troops and planes needed to finish the job in Syria ( and Iraq, and Afghanistan, and Yemen, and so on). Lets play this out. First, the worst (and most plausible) case: U.S. ground forces get sucked into an ever more complex, multi-faceted civil war deeper and deeper still, until one day they wake up in a world that looks like Baghdad, 2007, all over again. Or, lest we be accused of defeatism, consider the best case: those endlessly fortified and reinforced American forces wipe the floor with ISIS and just maybe manage to engineer the toppling of Bashar al-Assads Syrian regime as well. Its V-Day in the Middle East! And then what? What happens the day after? When and to whom do American troops turn over power? * The Kurds? Thats a nonstarter for Turkey, Iran, and Iraq, all countries with significant Kurdish minorities. * The Saudis? Dont count on it. Theyre busy bombing Houthi Shias in Yemen (with U.S.-supplied ordnance) and grappling with the diversification of their oil-based economy in a world in which fossil fuels are struggling. * Russia? Fat chance. Bombing terrorists? Yes. Propping up an autocratic client to secure basing rights? Sure. Temporary transactional alliances of convenience in the region? Absolutely. But long-term nation-building in the heart of the Middle East? Its just not the style of Vladimir Putins Russia, a country with its own shaky petro-economy. * So maybe leave Assad in power and turn the country back over to whats left of his minority, Alawite-dominated regime? That, undoubtedly, is the road to hell. After all, it was his murderous, barrel-bombing, child-gassing acts that all but caused the civil war in the first place. You can be sure that, sooner or later, Syrias majority Sunni population and its separatist Kurds would simply rebel again, while (as the last 15 years should have taught us) an even uglier set of extremists rose to the surface. Keep in mind as well that, when it comes to the U.S. military, the Iraqi and Afghan surges of 2007 and 2009 offered proof positive that more ground troops arent a cure-all in such situations. They are a formula for expending prodigious amounts of money and significant amounts of blood, while only further alienating local populations. Meanwhile, unleashing manned and drone aircraft strikes, which occasionally kill large numbers of civilians, only add to the ISIS narrative. Every mass casualty civilian bombing or drone strike incident just detracts further from American regional credibility. While both air strikes and artillery barrages may hasten the offensive progress of Americas Kurdish, Iraqi, and Syrian allies, that benefit needs to be weighed against the moral and propaganda costs of those dead women and children. For proof, see the errant bombing strike on an apartment building in Mosul last month. After all, those hundred-plus civilians are just as dead as Assads recent victims and just as many angry, grieving family members and friends have been left behind. In other words, any of the familiar U.S. strategies, including focusing all efforts on ISIS or toppling Assad, or a bit of both, wont add up to a real policy for the region. No matter how the Syrian civil war shakes out, Washington will need a genuine what next plan. Unfortunately, if the chosen course predictably relies heavily on the military lever to shape Syrias shattered society, Americas presence and actions will only (as in the past) aggravate the crisis and help rejuvenate its many adversaries. The Blessed Ban The Trump administrations proposed travel ban quickly became fodder for left-versus-right vitriol in the U.S. Heres a rundown on what its likely to mean when it comes to foreign policy and the next war. First, soaring domestic fears over jihadi terror attacks in this country and the possible role of migrants and refugees in stoking them represent a potentially catastrophic over-reaction to a modest threat. Annually, from 2005 to 2015, terrorists killed an average of just seven Americans on U.S. soil. You are approximately 18,000 times more likely to die in some sort of accident than from such an attack. In addition, according to a study by the conservative Cato Institute, from 1975 to 2015 citizens of the countries included in Trumps first ban (including Iraq and Syria) killed precisely zero people in the United States. Nor has any refugee conducted a fatal domestic attack here. Finally, despite candidate and President Trumps calls for extreme vetting of Muslim refugees, the government already has a complex, two-year vetting process for such refugees which is remarkably extreme. Those are the facts. What truly matters, however, is the effect of such a ban on the war of ideas in the Middle East. In short, its manna from heaven for ISISs storyline in which Americans are alleged to hate all Muslims. It tells you everything you need to know that, within days of the administrations announcement of its first ban, ISIS had taken to labeling it blessed, just as al-Qaeda once extolled George W. Bushs 2003 blessed invasion of Iraq. Even Senator John McCain, a well-known hawk, worried that Trumps executive order would probably give ISIS some more propaganda. Remember, while ISIS loves to claim responsibility for every attack in the West perpetrated by lost, disenfranchised, identity-seeking extremist youths, that doesnt mean the organization actually directs them. The vast majority of these killers are self-radicalized citizens, not refugees or immigrants. One of the most effective and tragic ways to lose this war is to prove the jihadis right. The Hypocrisy Trap Another way to feed the ISIS narrative is to bolster perceptions of diplomatic insincerity. Americans tend to be some of the least self-aware citizens on the planet. (Is it a coincidence that ours is about the only population left still questioning the existence of climate change?) Among the rare things that Democrats and Republicans agree on, however, is that America is a perennial force for good, in fact the force for good on Earth. As it happens, the rest of the world begs to differ. In Gallup global polls, the United States has, in fact, been identified as the number one threat to world peace! However uncomfortable that may be, it matters. One reason many Middle Easterners, in particular, believe this to be so stems from Washingtons longstanding support for regional autocrats. In fiscal year 2017, Egypts military dictator and Jordans king will receive $1.46 and $1 billion respectively in U.S. foreign aid nearly 7% of its total assistance budget. After leading a coup to overturn Egypts elected government, General Sisi was officially persona non grata in the White House (though President Obama reinstated $1.3 billion in military aid in 2015). Sisis recent visit to the Trump White House changed all that as, in a joint press conference, the president swore that he was very much behind Egypt and that Sisi himself had done a fantastic job. In another indicator of future policy, the State Department dropped existing human rights conditions for the multibillion-dollar sale of F-16s to Bahrains monarchy. All of this might be of mild interest, if it werent for the way it bolstered ISIS claims that democracy is just an idol, and the democratic process a fraud that American presidents simply ignore. Then theres Israel, already the object of deep hatred in the region, and now clearly about to receive a blank check of support from the Trump administration. The role that Israeli leaders already play in American domestic politics is certainly striking to Arab audiences. Consider how unprecedented it was in 2015 to see Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticize a sitting president before a joint session of Congress in an Israeli election year and receive multiple, bipartisan standing ovations. Even so, none of this prevented the Obama administration, domestically labeled weak on Israel, from negotiating a record $38 billion military aid deal with that country. While violent Palestinian fighters are far from blameless, for 40 years Israel has increasingly created facts on the ground meant to preclude a viable Palestinian state. Netanyahu and his predecessors increased illegal settlements in the Palestinian territories, built an exclusion wall, and further divided the West Bank by constructing a network of roads meant only for the Israeli military and Jewish settlers. Although most world leaders, publics, and the United Nations see the Jewish settlements on the West Bank as a major impediment to peace, the current U.S. ambassador to Israel was once the president of a fundraising group supporting just such an Israeli settlement. The notion that he could be an honest broker in peace talks borders on the farcical. All of this, of course, matters when it comes to Washingtons unending wars in the region. Even Secretary of Defense James Mattis, soon after leaving the helm of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), recognized that he paid a military security price every day as a commander of CENTCOM because the Americans were seen as biased in support of Israel. So, you want to lose? Keep feeding the ISIS narrative on democracy and Israel just as the Trump administration is doing, even as it sends more troops into the region and heightens bombing and drone raids from Syria to Yemen. Send in the Cavalry If the next phase of the generational struggle for the Middle East is once again to be essentially a military one, while the Trump administration feeds every negative American stereotype in the region, then its hard to see a future of anything but defeat. A combination of widespread American ignorance and the intellectual solace of simplistic models lead many here to ascribe jihadist terrorism to some grand, ethereal hatred of Christendom. The reality is far more discomfiting. Consider, for instance, a document from ancient history: Osama bin Ladens 1998 fatwa against the United States. At that time, he described three tangible motives for jihad: U.S. occupation of Islams holiest lands in the Middle East, U.S. attacks on and sanctions against Iraq, and American support for Israels occupation of Jerusalem. If ISIS and al-Qaedas center of gravity is not their fighting force but their ideology (as I believe it is), then the last thing Washington should want to do is substantiate any of these three visions of American motivation unless, of course, the goal is to lose the war on terror across the Greater Middle East and parts of Africa. In that case, the solution is obvious: Washington should indeed insert more troops and set up yet more bases in the region, maintain unqualified support for right-wing Israeli governments and assorted Arab autocrats, and do its best to ban Muslim refugees from America. That, after all, represents the royal road to affirming al-Qaedas, and now ISISs, overarching narratives. Its a formula already well used in the last 15 years for playing directly into the enemys hands and adhering to its playbook, for creating yet more failed states and terror groups throughout the region. When it comes to Syria in particular, there are some shockingly unexamined contradictions at the heart of Washingtons reactions to its war there. President Trump, for instance, recently spoke emotionally about the beautiful babies cruelly murdered in Idlib, Syria. Yet, the administrations executive order on travel bans any Syrian refugees including beautiful babies from entering this country. If few Americans recognize the incongruity or hypocrisy of this, you can bet that isnt true in the Arab world. For ISIS, todays struggle in Syria, Iraq, and elsewhere is part of an unremitting, apocalyptic holy war between Islam and the West. That narrative is demonstrably false. The current generation of jihadis sprang from tangible grievances and perceived humiliations perpetrated by recent Western policies. There was nothing eternal about it. The first recorded suicide bombings in the Middle East didnt erupt until the early 1980s. So forget the thousand-year struggle or even, in Western terms, the clash of civilizations. It took Americas military-first policies in the region to generate what has now become perpetual war with spreading terror insurgencies. The views expressed in this article are those of the author, expressed in an unofficial capacity, and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. government. New study ranks hazardous asteroid effects from least to most destructive (Nanowerk News) If an asteroid struck Earth, which of its effects--scorching heat, flying debris, towering tsunamis--would claim the most lives? A new study has the answer: violent winds and shock waves are the most dangerous effects produced by Earth-impacting asteroids. The study explored seven effects associated with asteroid impacts--heat, pressure shock waves, flying debris, tsunamis, wind blasts, seismic shaking and cratering--and estimated their lethality for varying sizes. The researchers then ranked the effects from most to least deadly, or how many lives were lost to each effect. Overall, wind blasts and shock waves were likely to claim the most casualties, according to the study. In experimental scenarios, these two effects accounted for more than 60 percent of lives lost. Shock waves arise from a spike in atmospheric pressure and can rupture internal organs, while wind blasts carry enough power to hurl human bodies and flatten forests. "This is the first study that looks at all seven impact effects generated by hazardous asteroids and estimates which are, in terms of human loss, most severe," said Clemens Rumpf, a senior research assistant at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom, and lead author of the new study published in Geophysical Research Letters ("Asteroid impact effects and their immediate hazards for human populations"). The trace left in the sky by the meteor that broke up over Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2013. A new study explored seven effects associated with asteroid impacts heat, pressure shock waves, flying debris, tsunamis, wind blasts, seismic shaking and cratering and estimated their lethality for varying sizes. (Image: Alex Alishevskikh) Rumpf said his findings, which he plans to present at the 2017 International Academy of Astronautics Planetary Defense Conference in Tokyo, Japan, could help hazard mitigation groups better prepare for asteroid threats because it details which impact effects are most dominant, which are less severe and where resources should be allocated. Though studies like his are necessary to reduce harm, deadly asteroid impacts are still rare, Rumpf said. Earth is struck by an asteroid 60 meters (more than 190 feet) wide approximately once every 1500 years, whereas an asteroid 400 meters (more than 1,300 feet) across is likely to strike the planet every 100,000 years, according to Rumpf. "The likelihood of an asteroid impact is really low," said Rumpf. "But the consequences can be unimaginable." Modeling asteroid effects Rumpf and his colleagues used models to pepper the globe with 50,000 artificial asteroids ranging from 15 to 400 meters (49 to 1312 feet) across--the diameter range of asteroids that most frequently strike the Earth. The researchers then estimated how many lives would be lost to each of the seven effects. Land-based impacts were, on average, an order of magnitude more dangerous than asteroids that landed in oceans. Large, ocean-impacting asteroids could generate enough power to trigger a tsunami, but the wave's energy would likely dissipate as it traveled and eventually break when it met a continental shelf. Even if a tsunami were to reach coastal communities, far fewer people would die than if the same asteroid struck land, Rumpf said. Overall, tsunamis accounted for 20 percent of lives lost, according to the study. The heat generated by an asteroid accounted for nearly 30 percent of lives lost, according to the study. Affected populations could likely avoid harm by hiding in basements and other underground structures, Rumpf said. Seismic shaking was of least concern, as it accounted for only 0.17 percent of casualties, according to the study. Cratering and airborne debris were similarly less concerning, both garnering fewer than 1 percent of deaths. Only asteroids that spanned at least 18 meters (nearly 60 feet) in diameter were lethal. Many asteroids on the lower end of this spectrum disintegrate in Earth's atmosphere before reaching the planet's surface, but they strike more frequently than larger asteroids and generate enough heat and explosive energy to deal damage. For example, the meteor involved in the 2013 impact in Chelyabinsk, Russia, was 17 to 20 meters (roughly 55 to 65 feet) across and caused more than 1,000 injuries, inflicting burns and temporary blindness on people nearby. Understanding risk "This report is a reasonable step forward in trying to understand and come to grips with the hazards posed by asteroids and comet impactors," said geophysicist Jay Melosh, a distinguished professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana. This chart shows reported fireball events for which geographic location data are provided. Each events calculated total impact energy is indicated by its relative size and by a color. (Image: NASA) (click on image to enlarge) Melosh, who wasn't involved in the study, added that the findings "lead one to appreciate the role of air blasts in asteroid impacts as we saw in Chelyabinsk." The majority of the injuries in the Chelyabinsk impact were caused by broken glass sent flying into the faces of unknowing locals peering through their windows after the meteor's bright flash, he noted. The study's findings could help mitigate loss of human life, according to Rumpf. Small towns facing the impact of an asteroid 30 meters across (about 98 feet) may fare best by evacuating. However, an asteroid 200 meters wide (more than 650 feet) headed for a densely-populated city poses a greater risk and could warrant a more involved response, he said. 'It wasn't meant to be': Chandler Smith comes up short in third Chandler Smith talks about what more was needed tonight and what could've been done differently as he puts a cap on the season. Find the newest releases to watch from National Geographic on Disney+, including favourite documentary series and films Free Solo, The Rescue, Shark Beach with Chris Hemsworth and The World According to Jeff Goldblum. RTE Broadcaster Michael Lyster joined forces with Roscreas Con OLone and Kerry Anne and Irish Heart's Regional Manager Anne Riordan to urge big-hearted volunteers to give a few hours of their time to help Irish Hearts annual Happy Hearts Appeal this May 12. Croke Park provided the spectacular backdrop for the launch of this years volunteer drive and this May the national charity is encouraging 3,000 volunteers to help sell their iconic happy hearts and raise vital funds to save lives from sudden cardiac arrest, which claims 5,000 lives in Ireland every year. Volunteering his time to support the appeal, Michael stressed that he wouldnt be here today if his wife hadnt performed CPR when he suffered a cardiac arrest at home. Michael said: CPR saves lives no-one knows this better than me. I collapsed with a cardiac arrest at home when my heart stopped beating. I wouldnt be here today only for my wife Anne, who gave me CPR until an ambulance arrived. Without her pushing hard and fast on my chest, I would have been gone. But thanks to my wife and to CPR, I am alive here today. Im one of the lucky ones and if more people know CPR, more lives like mine will be saved. So please, support Irish Heart and volunteer for their Happy Heart Appeal on 12th May. Money raised for the Happy Heart Appeal will go towards Irish Hearts CPR programmes to create lifesavers in every community in Ireland. Starting CPR can double a persons chance of survival. For more than 50 years, Irish Heart has been fighting heart disease and stroke and empowering the people of Ireland to live longer, happier lives. Central to the mission of Irish Heart is to help save more lives from cardiac arrest through CPR training. 5,000 lives are lost every year in Ireland to sudden cardiac arrest - Thats 13 lives lost every day Starting CPR can double if not triple a persons chance of survival In the event of a collapse from cardiac arrest, every minute is vital Without CPR or defibrillation, the chance of survival falls by up to 10 percent a minute After just 5 minutes, that person may only have a 50 percent chance of survival Cardiac arrest could happen to someone at work, in your community, or at home so its essential to know exactly what to do, and be confident in doing it, according to Irish Heart. Kate OReilly, National Campaigns Manager at Irish Heart said: This years Happy Heart Appeal target is 500,000 a 40% increase on last year and these vital funds ensure that we can continue to provide essential CPR training to every community in Ireland. If a loved one or someone you know goes into a sudden cardiac arrest, you are their main chance of survival. Not a passer-by. You and your hands. CPR saves lives and so do volunteers. Now more than ever, we need more volunteers for our Happy Hearts Appeal, so that we can raise funds for programmes like our vital CPR training. Join us and volunteer on May 12th to keep more hearts beating, because we desperately need more lifesavers. If youd like to support the Happy Heart Appeal by volunteering a few hours of your time and selling pins on 12th May, simply log on to www.irishheart.ie/happyhearts There is delight in Clogheen this week with the news that planning permission has been received for the construction of a hopsice suite at St Theresas Hospital. The local group who spearheaded the project have released this statement to bring everyone up-to-date on the plans, fundraising and the likely construction timescale ahead As it has been over two years now since our presentation night, we are absolutely delighted to announce that planning permission was granted on Monday last (10th April) for St Theresa's Hospital Clogheen. During this time members of CHS Construction Fund Committee have been put in the spotlight on many occasions by the public wondering what the delay is when the money has been raised, along with such questions as where is the money gone and what is it exactly that's going to be built. The answer to that is no one has absolutely any idea of the amount of red tape that's involved when dealing with the HSE, the amount of hurdles that had to be over come, the amount of phone calls that were made and received, the amount of emails which were sent and received and meetings which we attended to ensure progress was made on this project and to get it to this stage. The main reason for all this was due to the substantial amount of money which was raised which now stands at 140,330.93 between Boston Scientific and CHS Construction Fund. The main problem was there was more than enough money raised to build just one room which meant what would be done with the remaining funds. Therefore it was agreed to build extra rooms which means there will now be 2 semi private rooms built along with a private single Hospice room. This will be called phase 1A and further to this planning permission was also sought for extra private rooms which can be built at a later stage should the HSE decide to allocate funds to St Theresa's which is called phase 1B, planning permission was approved for all of the above. The next stage is phase 1A will go out to tender to different builders in the coming weeks and hopefully by mid June a builder will be awarded the contract with the intention of commencing construction during the summer months and completed by the end of the year 2017. For anyone wondering where the money has gone, the answer is no where. Although we had a presentation night in February of 2015 no money was actually handed over to the HSE, this night was just to publicise the amount raised. Boston Scientific still have their money in their charity account and the money raised by CHS Construction Fund remains in our charity account under the watchful eye of TSB bank manager whose signature is required along with 2 other committee members to make a withdrawal. The money will be used to pay the builder directly during construction. We look forward to the coming months to eventually seeing a result for all your generosity and will inform you all of any further updates as we go along. (Natural News) The California Department of Public Health recently released a report that revealed vaccination rates within the state have reached a 15-year high. According to the statistics, a staggering 96 percent of all Californian children were fully vaccinated upon entering kindergarten in the fall of 2016. Its a small increase from 93 percent for the 2015-to-2016 school year, but its a fairly substantial change from the 90 percent vaccinated rate in the 2014-to-2o15 year. One of the driving factors behind this marked change in vaccination rates over the last few years is no doubt due to the passing of Senate Bill 277. The bill was met with a tremendous amount of controversy because it removed the personal beliefs exemption, stripping Californians of the right to medical freedom. As Mike Adams reported at the time, the California Coalition for Health Choice described the bills passing as a rare act of outright rigging the results. Not only was the bill presented as a vote-only item, which eliminated the oppositions opportunity to testify on any of the bills amendments, public testimony was also forbidden. This means that the government essentially silenced their citizens and denied them the ability to testify, as well. Under SB277, which went into effect for the 2016-to-2017 school year, no child in California can enter kindergarten or seventh grade without being fully vaccinated, unless they have a medical exemption. Elementary schoolchildren with personal belief exemptions will be grandfathered in and will not be required to be vaccinated until they enter seventh grade. With such a far-reaching bill, it is no surprise that the vaccination rates went up; if you plan on enrolling your kid in the California school system, there are very few ways around it. Not all of California seems keen on the new law; vaccination rates may be up across the state, but there are still stark differences from county to county. For example, Tulare County may have had 98.5 percent of their kindergartners vaccinated, but just 80.9 percent of those in Nevada County were fully vaccinated. SB 277, and the overall increase in vaccination rates across the Golden State are both linked to the 2015 measles outbreak that started at Disneyland. Due to concerns raised by the outbreak, its suspected that more people decided to get their children vaccinated as a response. Ironically, the number of autistic children in California increased in 2016, the following year. Since 2001, the number of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the West Coast state has increased by nearly 7-fold. There was a 7 percent increase between the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 school years alone! The increase is even more drastic among kindergarten children, with an increase of 17 percent during the same time frame. (RELATED: Keep up-to-date with the latest vaccine research at Vaccines.news.) While many people speculate that the rise in ASD diagnoses is due to better screening practices and a broader definition of what constitutes autism, there is reason to believe that alone is not the source of autism increases across the board. Earlier this year, a peer-reviewed study revealed that vaccinated children were up to 700 percent more likely to develop a neurodevelopmental disorder such as autism or ADHD than their non-vaccinated peers. Could it be that Californians are already seeing the effects of what more vaccines will have on their children? Sources: SFGate.com SacBee.com NaturalNews.com (Natural News) It seems like today the United States has more foreign threats than we can count. Not only are tensions with Russia on the rise, but America is also being simultaneously threatened by Syria and North Korea. On top of it all, the Islamic State is on the move, carrying out horrific acts of violence, not only overseas but also on our own soil. Indeed, if the President and his team of foreign policy experts make even one mistake, it could potentially result in serious damage to our country. Still, Americans can find solace in the fact that all of these are threats we can control. If we dont want to be attacked by the Russians, for example, there are certain things that our leaders can do to prevent that from happening. Unfortunately, though, there are also certain things that we have no control over whatsoever; things that have the ability to inflict massive damage and lead to the deaths of millions of people. One thing that most Americans never stop to consider is the threat of an asteroid hurling through the atmosphere and colliding with planet Earth. Even though most space rocks that collide with Earth are nowhere near big enough to cause any real damage, there is still the possibility that one day, a massive asteroid will come into contact with our world and send us all back to the stone ages. (RELATED: NASA only has a 10% chance of detecting asteroids before they strike Earth.) Given the fact that 70 percent of the earths surface is covered with water, it is more than likely that an asteroid would strike the ocean as opposed to a continent. Several years ago, scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz developed a computer simulation detailing what would happen if a large asteroid were to strike the Atlantic Ocean. According to their model, such an impact would send waves as high as 400 feet crashing into the East Coast of the United States, resulting in mass destruction and millions of deaths. Much of this destruction would be caused by a series of nuclear meltdowns at facilities based in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. The simulation was based on a real asteroid that is expected to collide with Earth eight centuries from now. On March 16, 2880, the asteroid known as 1950 DA is expected to swing extremely close to earths atmosphere so close, in fact, that is could slam into our planet at speeds of up to 38,000 miles per hour. Given the fact that 1950 DA is two-thirds of a mile in diameter, it is easy to see how such a space rock would be capable of causing so much damage. Even though, statistically speaking, the odds of an asteroid this size hitting earth are relatively small, that doesnt mean that it hasnt happened before. For instance, it is widely assumed that the so-called K/T impact was responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Steven Ward, a researcher at the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at UCSC, said, From a geologic perspective, events like this have happened many times in the past. Asteroids the size of 1950 DA have probably struck earth about 600 times since the age of the dinosaurs. While the idea of an asteroid smashing into earth and potentially wiping out life as we know it isnt exactly a happy thought, it is something that we must think about. As UCSC Earth Sciences professor Erik Asphaug puts it, Its like knowing the exact time when Mount Shasta will erupt. The way to deal with any natural hazard is to improve our knowledge base, so we can turn the kind of human fear that gets played on in the movies into something that we have a handle on. Sources include: USCUSA.org News.UCSC.edu (Natural News) To seasoned geopolitical observers it seems obvious that the Trump administration has decided that now is the time to take out North Koreas advancing nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missile program. Despite the fact that Pyongyangs missile test over the weekend was a failure, with the rocket blowing up shortly after lift-off, experts familiar with North Koreas military buildup over the years believe that the country possesses a number of ways to strike back against the U.S. homeland if the U.S. military is ordered to conduct a preemptive strike against North Korea, in a bid to destroy its nuclear weapons program. Mark Almond, director of the Crisis Research Institute at Oxford University in Britain, notes that even if the North Koreans do not yet possess the means to strike the United States with a nuclear-tipped ICBM, the country possesses a number of other ways it can export terror, destruction and mayhem. (RELATED: North Korea shows off new longer-range missiles as China cancels flights to the country) While the U.S. and North Korea do not have formal relations and, thus, do not have official diplomatic missions in either country (embassies), the North Koreans nevertheless do have an official diplomatic presence in the U.S. at the United Nations. Writing in the Daily Mail, Almond says that Pyongyang has likely managed to smuggle deadly nerve agents via diplomatic pouches which tend not to be inspected by host countries. He notes that North Korean leader Kim Jong-uns own half-brother was murdered by a hit squad using VX, a toxic nerve agent, at an airport in Malaysia in February. In addition to a nuclear program, Pyongyang also has an extensive chemical weapons stockpile; would Kim order agents inside the U.S. to release smuggled VX or other poisonous agents in the event of war? Or perhaps, as Almond suggests, he has anti-Western allies in the U.S. who would do his dirty work, noting that the Malaysian hit squad was made up of Indonesians and Vietnamese. And of course, there is always the threat that North Korea may attempt to smuggle a nuclear device into a U.S. harbor, using ships flagged under another country. In these uncertain times, it is becoming increasingly obvious that you need to take extra protective measures in order to stay as safe as possible in the coming days, weeks and months. They include: Avoid the crowds: If at all possible and as much as possible avoid crowded places. You may not have a choice during commutes to and from work, for example, but for the time being, you certainly can avoid sporting events, concerts, crowded malls, etc. Crowds are soft targets for terrorists. Stay alert: Most of us arent trained in how to spot suspicious activity, that is a given. However, by staying alert when youre out in public, sometimes its easier to spot someone who just doesnt look right or appears to be engaged in odd behavior. Noticing this early on might just save your life. Dont be a hero: This may sound harsh, but your goal here is to save yourself and protect your loved ones, not save the world, per se. If you see something threatening, the temptation will be to alert as many people as possible, but that may start a panic and then nobody gets away before the terrorist commits his/her act. Get out quickly and quietly. Be prepared: Make sure you never leave your house without some sort of bugout bag. If you work in a city and you commute to and from work, this may simply be in the form of a small backpack with a few basic items. But keep something with you at all times in case you have to hightail it quickly. (RELATED: Review: How To Pack Your Bugout Bag Like A Boss) Stay armed: If its legal for you to do so, keep a weapon (preferably a firearm) with you or nearby (as in your vehicle) at all times. Again, make sure this is legal to do where you live; if youre uncertain, call your local sheriffs department or police department to find out whats lawful and what isnt. Personal protective gear: Since there is a chance that poison gas could be released, it might behoove you to consider some personal protective gear gown, mask, gloves if you have the means. The world is not a stable place these days. War could break out at any moment a war that could have profound implications for Americans in their own country. Now is the time to take stock of your overall readiness and make sure youre as prepared as you can be. Follow more news about WWIII at WWIII.news. J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for NaturalNews.com and NewsTarget.com, as well as editor of The National Sentinel. Sources: DailyMail.co.uk Bugout.news (Natural News) Toyota recently unveiled its Welwalk WW-1000 system designed to assist partially-paralyzed patients in walking. The robotic leg, developed in collaboration with the Fujita Health University Hospital in Japan, featured a motorized mechanical frame that fitted a patients leg from the knee down. The patients practiced walking using the robotic leg on a special treadmill that supported their weight. The robotic leg would prove beneficial especially among patients who were severely paralyzed on each side of the body as a result of stroke or other debilitating diseases. During Toyotas presentation, the robotic leg was strapped to the thigh, knee, ankle, and foot of a volunteer, who then demonstrated how the robotic leg works. The volunteers body weight was supported by a harness above, while the robotic legs motor helped bend and straighten the volunteers knee. Toyotas Welwalk WW-1000 system featured sensors that monitored the volunteers gait and adjusted quickly if necessary. The system can be controlled by hospital staff using a touch panel screen. The technology helped reduce the burden on the patient and allows them to engage in training for longer, said Toshiyuki Isobe, one of the automobile giants chief research officers, in an article published in BBC.com. According to Dr Eiichi Saito, Executive Vice President of Fujita Health University, the goal is to provide patients with just enough assistance that will gradually lessen until the patients can walk by themselves. The latest development may help mitigate the burden of walking among the elderly. According to the researchers, renting the equipment may prove more cost-effective than purchasing the system outright. Renting the system will cost $9,130, with a monthly rental cost of $3,195. Toyota did not disclose how much the system would cost if bought outright. (Related: Find out more about the latest developments in cyber science and robotics at Robotics.news) Other robotic legs available in the market Outside expert Dr. Farshid Amirabdollahian pointed out that robotic legs have been in the market for years, and that Toyotas newest offering is not exactly a fresh concept. However, the expert was quick to laud the companys proposed rental service, as it makes the system more accessible for hospitals. Dr. Farshid Amirabdollahian is a Rehabilitation Robotics and Assistive Technology Expert at the University of Hertfordshire in the U.K. A system called Lokomat, which works on both legs, has been adopted by the NHS. There are similar systems in use in the Netherlands and the United States. What is interesting here is the service model. Previously users of this technology were limited by how much they could afford: rehabilitation technology is quite expensive and many [hospitals] cannot afford it, Dr. Amirabdollahian said in the same article in BBC.com. True enough, quite a number of companies have also released robotic legs in the past years. Just last year, SuitX has introduced its Phoenix Robotic Exoskeleton designed to assist paralyzed patients in walking. The system weighs only 27 pounds and can be custom-fitted to the users body. The light-weight system features small motors attached to standard orthotics, which then transmit movement to the users hips and knees. This enables wearers to control the movement of each leg, and help them walk up to 1.1 miles. In 2015, Iceland-based orthopedic company Ossur launched its Propio Foot prosthetic. The prosthetic device features a motorized, battery-powered ankle that is practically wearable. The device uses algorithms and sensors that automatically adjusts to the users foot angles at any point in walking. Sources: DailyMail.co.uk BBC.com TechnologyReview.com PopSci.com Deviate: The Science of Seeing Differently Beau Lotto Hachette: 2017. 9780316300193 9781474600330 | ISBN: 978-0-3163-0019-3 Seeing isn't necessarily believing. Credit: Suren Manvelyan Enlightenment thinker John Locke (16321704) held that the human mind is a blank slate at birth, ready to be written over by sensory experience. Over the centuries, this idea of information flowing 'outside in' has lost much of its appeal, with experiments making it clear that perception involves dozens of mechanisms, actively shaping stimuli rather than passively receiving them. In Deviate, neuroscientist Beau Lotto presents a complete reversal of the Lockean stance. To him, it is the human mind that imposes meaning on our perceptions: the true blank slate is the outside world. Even more provocative is his argument that we operate with versions of reality that have literally nothing to do with what is 'out there' in a physical sense. In an entertaining series of analyses, demonstrations and reflections, he drives home the point that perception, broadly taken, is not what our eyes and ears tell us; it is what our brain makes us see and hear. This is a radical philosophy of perception. It raises an intriguing question about the evolutionary history of our perceptual apparatus. If evolution is truly the most rigorous, exhaustive research and development and product-testing process on our planet, as Lotto has it, then to survive at all, surely our senses must have given our ancestors and us a trustworthy representation of reality? Lotto's answer is an emphatic no: We don't see reality we only see what was useful to see in the past. Much like a London Underground map, our perceptual brain doesn't offer an accurate spatial representation; rather, it helps us to navigate in a safe and efficient way. So, visual illusions such as the Moon looking larger when it is closer to the horizon aren't really illusions if our perceptual apparatus didn't evolve to see actual spatial relationships. Tellingly, machines devised to recognize visual patterns are also susceptible to illusions when they are programmed in a way that emulates the structure of the human brain. Deviate is not your conventional handbook of perception. It has little on the anatomy of the eye or mechanisms of hearing. The senses are like the keyboard of a computer: they provide access, and the real job is done elsewhere. Lotto points out that for each neural connection that projects information from the eyes to the primary visual fields in the occipital lobes at the back of the brain, there are ten connections back from the brain to the eyes. Moreover, the neural networks that make sense of what we 'see' are fed by a relatively small stream of information from the eyes. About 90% comes from other parts of the brain, allowing us to recognize faces, identify danger or read a sentence such as 'W at ar ou rea in ?' despite the omitted letters. That you probably didn't read that as 'What are you dreaming?' is the result of priming your attention to a context of reading. What enters the eye is often an insignificant part of the story. These networks provide the brain with flexibility and in cases of blindness or deafness with compensation. Lotto mentions, for instance, the late Ben Underwood, a blind US teenager who used echolocation, clicking his tongue and using the echoes of the sound to navigate, and even to cycle and play sports. Lotto's idea that perception includes a multitude of assumptions, built-in or learnt, allows him to take on board a range of subjects not usually associated with the topic. For instance, confirmation bias noticing evidence that affirms one's world view, but disregarding contradictory evidence is conventionally taken to be a cognitive phenomenon. Like hindsight bias, it contributes to preconceived ideas that keep us locked into a narrow perspective on our personal and social reality. This is why the book is called Deviate, and Lotto has inspiring things to say about discoveries and acts of creativity resulting from 'deviant' ways of thinking. Deciphering the Rosetta Stone is a case in point. Comparing the stone's trilingual scripts in the nineteenth century, Jean-Francois Champollion unlocked the code of Egyptian hieroglyphs by hypothesizing that they were not symbolic characters representing concepts, but instead referred to the phonetic sounds of a spoken language (A. Robinson Nature 483, 2728; 2012). With Lotto's pervasive evolutionary perspective comes a lot of fight or flight, adapt or die, and escaping from predators. It leaves the reader wondering whether there could be any perception aesthetic pleasures such as listening to music not in the service of survival. At times, Lotto seems to overstate his case, for instance when he writes that Igor Stravinsky reshaped the cortex of culture by composing the ballet The Rite of Spring. A goose with an arrow lodged on its neck has been spotted walking on various locations in Amherst, New York. A video sent by a News 4 viewer showed the goose walking casually as if not caring about the sharp object pierced on its neck. According to News 4, members of the SPCA in Erie County and the Department of Environmental Conservation have been trying to catch the goose on the loose to remove the arrow. However, they remain unsuccessful. Because the goose remains elusive, it's not known yet how it got pierced and how long has it been since. The big question however is that despite the goose's situation, it appears to be fine. "The goose clearly is flying so when we go out to a place where the goose is sighted, it may or may not be there... it's impossible," Gina Browning of the SPCA told WKBW, adding that it seemed to be eating well. SPCA encouraged everyone to report to them in case they have caught a sight of the goose. "If somebody sees the goose maybe nesting, that would be an ideal time," Browning asserted. "Maybe we can get out there, the goose won't leave the nest, won't leave its eggs, and hopefully we can work to get that arrow out." You may call the SPCA at (716) 875-7360 or Amherst Police Animal Control at (716) 689-1311. Meanwhile, this is not the first time a bird has been shot with an arrow and lived to tell the tale. On April 1, another wounded goose has been spotted in Rockford. Illinois Conservation Police Officer Stuart Fraser in an email told Rockford Register Star that squirrels, ducks and geese are shot at by people often, mostly because they are bothered by its presence. These animals usually trespass on homeowner's properties. As per Humane Society Organization, there is a federal law that protects Canada geese, and nearly all bird species in the U.S. However, in some cases, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) gives individual permits to kill geese on one property. Google Earth may have gone into hiatus, but it's definitely back and way better than it used to be. The Google app, known for its stunning satellite imagery, launched new features last Tuesday, April 18. The new attributes will help Google Earth to give viewers a more interactive experience. Aside from satellite and street view images, there are new information and new ways to view maps on Google Earth. "We're starting with more of a consumption experience," Sean Askay, engineering manager for Google Earth said in a statement. "The direction we're interested in with Earth is letting you tell the stories." The new upgrade enables users to enjoy Google Earth on desktops, laptops, mobile devices and tablets, according to Daily Mail. Google Earth officials say that the facelift is their "gift to the world." One new key feature is Knowledge cards. The cards enumerate the information, images and other pertinent facts about what a person is searching for. For the more adventurous type, the "I'm feeling lucky" button will let users explore unique places on Earth and learn more about them, like the Zao Hot Spring in Japan. It features about 20,000 "off the beaten path" locations and recommendations. Google Earth seems to be smarter, too. It can now suggest "Points of Interests" based on the user's date profile or past searches. "Google Maps is for finding your way. Google Earth is for getting lost," Gopal Shah, Google Earth product manager said in an interview with CNN. "Google Maps is sort of my personal assistant to get me around a place...[In] Google Earth we want to take you where you're not...It's about exploring the world." To make the experience more interesting and interactive, Google Earth forged new partnerships, such as the one with BBC's Planet Earth and Sesame Street. Jane Goodall Institute for Interactive guided tours was also tapped for the existing Voyager feature. Aside from the images, Google Earth users can now see what they're searching for in 3D. All they have to is to click the 3D button. It enables users to explore the Grand Canyon and other historical sites without leaving the comforts of their homes. The upgraded version or the facelift is expected to roll out this week for both Chrome and Android. In April of 1967, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a fervent anti-war speech, departing from his message of civil rights and railing against the Vietnam War. Fifty years later, on Tax Day 2017, peace activists repeated his words outside the Ron Dellums Federal Building to protest against President Donald Trump's promise to increase military spending. The 1967 speech Dr. King made at Riverside Church in New York City challenged the establishment by condeming the war in Vietnam. He said the war sent American men from poor neighborhoods across the ocean to kill Vietnamese families from poor villages. "The speech is remarkably prescient. If you change the names of the countries, the analysis addresses the same problems and issues we're dealing with today," said Jackie Cabasso, Executive Director of the Western States Legal Foundation, a nuclear disarmament advocacy organization based in Oakland. While many Americans can recite key poetic phrases from King's "I Have a Dream" speech, or his "Mountaintop" speech, few know "Beyond Vietnam." "As I have walked among the desperate, rejected and angry young men I have told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problems," King preached in 1967. "I have tried to offer them my deepest compassion while maintaining my conviction that social change comes most meaningfully through nonviolent action. But they asked - and rightly so - what about Vietnam?" It was King's most controversial speech. Many who were upset by it were part of the Civil Rights Movement because they felt abandoned by their leader. War is not the answer. Communism will never be defeated by the use of atomic bombs or nuclear weapons. "War is not the answer. Communism will never be defeated by the use of atomic bombs or nuclear weapons," King said 50 years ago. Wilson Riles saw King speak to similar anti-war themes at Stanford a month before the famous speech in Manhattan. He remembered being thrilled to hear one of his heroes draw a connection between fighting for civil rights and the anti-war movement. "We were particularly moved when he said that the bombs in Vietnam were dropping in the ghettos of this country because the funds were being shifted out of the anti-poverty programs and into the war," Riles said. Riles, who served on the Oakland City Council from 1979-1992, had the privilege of driving Dr. King from his hotel to the Stanford campus and remembered the civil rights leader asking him questions about campus politics and black students at Stanford. From the wind-swept deck of a massive aircraft carrier, Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday warned North Korea not to test the resolve of the U.S. military, promising it would make an "overwhelming and effective" response to any use of conventional or nuclear weapons. Pence, dressed in a green military jacket, said aboard the hulking USS Ronald Reagan that President Donald Trump's administration would continue to "work diligently" with allies like Japan, China and other global powers to apply economic and diplomatic pressure on Pyongyang. But he told the sailors, "as all of you know, readiness is the key." "The United States of America will always seek peace but under President Trump, the shield stands guard and the sword stands ready," Pence told 2,500 sailors wearing blue fatigues and Naval baseball caps on a sunny, windy morning aboard the carrier at the U.S. Yokosuka naval base in Tokyo Bay. "Those who would challenge our resolve or readiness should know, we will defeat any attack and meet any use of conventional or nuclear weapons with an overwhelming and effective American response," Pence said. The vice president said the U.S. would honor its alliance with Pacific Rim nations and protect freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, the sea lanes vital to global shipping where China has been staking claim to disputed territory. He also said the era of over-regulation "is over" and that Trump aims to bring in a new era of jobs and growth. From two continents, Pence and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis warned that North Korea's latest failed missile launch was a reckless act of provocation and assured allies in Asia that the U.S. was ready to work to achieve a peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Mattis denounced North Korea's attempted missile launch as he began a Middle East tour, telling reporters traveling with him to Saudi Arabia, "the leader of North Korea again recklessly tried to provoke something by launching a missile," he said. The term "reckless" is one the North Koreans have used to describe ongoing large-scale U.S. and South Korean military exercises, which the North calls a dress rehearsal for an invasion. Mattis did not identify the type of missile but said it was not of intercontinental range, meaning it could not reach U.S. territory. He did not comment on what might have caused the missile to fail. Another official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an intelligence matter, said the missile was a Scud variant that the U.S. calls a KN-17. Mattis credited China with trying to help get the North Korea situation "under control" with the goal of denuclearizing the peninsula. Pence's speech on the aircraft carrier followed meetings Tuesday in Tokyo with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, where he noted that "all options are on the table." Abe said that it was a "matter of paramount importance for us to seek diplomatic efforts as well peaceable settlements of the issue." "But at the same time," the prime minister said, "dialogue for the sake of dialogue is valueless and it is necessary for us to exercise pressure North Korea so that it comes forward and engages in this serious dialogue." The Trump administration has signaled a forceful U.S. stance on North Korea's recent actions, dispatching Pence to the Demilitarized Zone dividing North and South Korea on Monday in a show of American resolve. But it remains unclear what might come next. Behind the heated rhetoric, Trump's strategy in the region looks somewhat similar to predecessor Barack Obama's albeit with the added unpredictability of a new president who has shown he's willing to use force. Pence said Trump was hopeful China would use its influence in the region to pressure the North to abandon its weapons program. But the vice president expressed impatience with the unwillingness of North Korea to move toward ridding itself of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters he hopes "there will be no unilateral actions like those we saw recently in Syria and that the U.S. will follow the line that President Trump repeatedly voiced during the election campaign." China made a plea for a return to negotiations. Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said tensions need to be eased on the Korean Peninsula to bring the escalating dispute to a peaceful resolution. Lu said Beijing wants to resume the multi-party negotiations that ended in stalemate in 2009 and suggested that U.S. plans to deploy a missile defense system in South Korea were damaging its relations with China. AP reporter Jonathan Lemire reported from New York. From the chemical weapons attack to the airstrikes, the conflict in Syria is in the minds of many, but it hits close to home for one boy in Watertown, Massachusetts, who remembers exactly what it was like to escape the war-torn country. Danny Aldehneh is 11 years old and has already written a book about the journey he and his family made from Syria to the United States in 2014. Aldehneh does not have to use his imagination to illustrate the violence he escaped. "I was 6 when the war started," Aldehneh said. "We would hear sounds of bombs getting fired and gunshots." Aldehneh's self-published book is called "Ahlan U.S.A," which means "Hello U.S.A" in Arabic. In it, he describes how his childhood was interrupted by civil war, detailing the family's trip to their safe house in Damascus before deciding to make the journey to Massachusetts. Aldehneh's story comes to life in a short video called "Haven: A Story of Loss and Home." It was made with the help of the Open Documentary Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, using a new virtual reality platform called VR Doodler. "Anybody can create virtual worlds in this way," MIT fellow Cindy Bishop said. "It's about making illustrations and seeing if they can capture imaginations and hearts in a different way." As the sounds of violence continue in Syria and the number of refugees seeking asylum rising, Aldehneh says he will keep drawing and speaking, hoping his story will help others understand. You can watch Aldehneh's story here. An 8-year-old girl may be responsible for the death of a 1-year-old boy at a Michigan day care facility, authorities say, according to the Detroit Free Press. The boy, Korey Brown, was found unresponsive in a playpen when his mother, Bryanna Reasonover, arrived to pick him up along with two other children Friday in Muskegon, the Free Press reports. Muskegon Police Chief Jeffrey Lewis reportedly said the children were left unsupervised for an unknown period of time when Korey began crying. According the newspapers reporting, Korey may have begun crying when the 8-year-old child stepped on him. Lewis reportedly said that might have killed the boy. Four other kids were being cared for in the home at the time of the boys death. The children range in age from 1 to 8 years old. Police say a 5-year-old is their main witness. According to the Free Press, Lewis said Koreys body had no apparent signs of injurybut Reasonover told the paper she saw bites and bruises on the toddlers face. "It's very frustrating to not know what happened, to know that he was suffering when all he probably wanted was his mommy," Reasonover told the newspaper. No official cause of death has been released and the 8-year-old was being interviewed by police, the Free Press reports. The City Council will vote on new regulations Wednesday aimed at cutting down on violence on party buses that operate in Chicago. Chicago police spoke out Tuesday in support of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's proposed crackdown on party buses. "Any help we can get on this well take it," says Chicago Police Chief Fred Waller. Waller says there are several requirements that could help prevent people from carrying illegal guns on party buses, such as cameras and tighter security. Last month in the North Side's Edgewater neighborhoodtwo people were killed and another person was injured after gunfire broke out on a party bus. Police say that is just one of 11 shootings connected to party buses since 2015. "The party buses are a problem," says Emanuel. The new ordinance calls for party buses with 15 or more passengers that have alcohol on board, to install security cameras, and hire licensed security guards. It also requires operators to take steps to keep illegal guns off of buses and ups the fines for those who violate the rules. "There are good actors, but there are some fly-by-night actors, and theyve been operating in the land of loopholes and were gonna tighten those loopholes," Emanuel said. In the Gold Coast Tuesday--an area frequented by party buses--many were skeptical of the crackdown. The owner of a party bus company, who did not want to be identified out of fear of retaliation from the city, told NBC 5 over the phone hes not opposed to new regulations. He does say, however, they will cost owners like him a lot of money--and hes concerned that the problem companies simply wont follow the rules. Correction (June 30, 2017, 5:20 p.m.): A previous version of this story referred to the FAA report as a final report. The story has been updated to reflect the FAA report is an Accident Incident Data System Report and clarify that the NTSB did not determine probable cause as the investigation is under FBI jurisdiction. NBC Connecticut has tracked down the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Accident Incident Data System Report on a fatal plane crash in East Hartford. It was the first of two deadly plane crashes in five months involving student pilots at the same flight school; the first was a student from the American Flight Academy in Hartford and another from their previous location in East Haven. Shortly after the first deadly East Hartford crash in October, federal investigators called it intentional. Pilot induced error was identified as the primary operational factor, according to the FAA report obtained exclusively by NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters. The official cause of a crash is determined by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). In this case, the NTSBs final report notes it did not determine the probable cause but is providing technical assistance as the investigation is being conducted under the jurisdiction of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). According to the FAA, the NTSB investigation revealed no anomalies with the plane, engines, or air worthiness. It is unclear whether the pilot in question was survivor and instructor Arian Prevalla or his student, who was killed in the crash, Feras Freitekh. Secondary operational factors noted in the FAA report include hit known object", "loss of control" mismanaged controls and stall/spin. Terry Keller is the chief flight instructor at Premier Flight Center in Hartford. "Now that can be the pilot made an error or an omission or something intentional it doesn't speak to that which leaves the world still open," Keller said. A direct competitor, Keller is familiar with American Flight Academy and its owner, Prevalla. Another take away of the report, he said, is how slowly the plane was traveling: 400 feet above at 67 knots. If they were practicing a single engine training maneuver than it would actually be slower than you should operate the airplane in order to keep control of it, and the fact the report attributes it to a loss of control is certainly significant, and doesn't specify if airplane stalled or if was a loss of control operating on one engine, Keller added. Prevalla previously told police about a fight in the cockpit. "Prevalla said he had to scream at him and hit his left hand, but Freitekh's hand was firm. Prevalla said he yelled at him to give him the controls and to pull the flaps up. Freitekh wouldn't let Prevalla take the controls and fought with him, from a statement provided by the East Hartford Police. NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters have also learned Eversource is billing American Flight Academy $130,704.28 to fix the light pole and wires taken down in the crash. We also have new details from the flight school's second deadly crash, this one in East Haven. A report provided by the FAA notes a possible mechanical problem. Theyve keyed in on a problem with fuel system but they haven't decided yet whether that was a cause of the ax or was it something that evolved during it and made it a problem the pilot couldn't solve or they didn't have time to resolve, Keller reminded. NBC Connecticut has reached out to Prevalla's attorney and the NTSB for comment but have not heard back. President Donald Trump will deliver the commencement address to graduates of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy next month. White House spokesman Sean Spicer announced Trump's participation in the May 17 ceremony in New London, Connecticut, on Wednesday. This will be President Trump's first visit to Connecticut since taking office in January. Each year, the president delivers the commencement address at one of the U.S. military service academies. It will be Trump's second time addressing graduates during commencement season this year. He's scheduled to deliver the keynote address at graduation exercises at Virginia's Liberty University on May 13. President Obama addressed the academy's graduates in 2015 and before that in 2011. President Barack Obama delivered the keynote commencement address at the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, focusing on the threat climate change poses on security risk, and calling on the world to start reducing its carbon emissions now. Last year, then-Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson address the U.S. Coast Guard Academy graduates. The race for governor and statewide offices in Connecticut grew significantly Wednesday morning. Two Democrats formally entered the race and one Republican threw his name into the ring as well. Jonathan Harris, the outgoing Commissioner of the Department of Consumer Protection, announced he would form an exploratory committee for a statewide run. Harris, a former state senator from West Hartford and chairman of the Connecticut Democratic Party, has remained a close ally of Gov. Dannel Malloy, who announced last week that he would not run for a third term. Harris has been a rumored candidate for governor for months, though his exploratory committee would allow him to raise money for another statewide office, like lieutenant governor or secretary of the state. The other Democrat to announce his exploratory committee for a gubernatorial bid is Chris Mattei, the former Assistant United States Attorney who successfully prosecuted former Gov. John Rowland on corruption charges in 2014. Mattei announced his intention to raise funds for a bid for the state's highest office. The Windsor native headed up the state's public corruption unit during his time in the U.S. Attorney's Office. "This is a time for citizenship and what I believe is that if we are to resist what's happening in Washington, that work starts right here," he said in the announcement which was posted on YouTube. Joe Visconti is making a direct entry into the race for the Republican nomination without forming an exploratory committee. Visconti, who ran an unsuccessful petitioning candidacy for governor in 2014, appeared in one debate with Governor Malloy on NBC Connecticut as GOP nominee Tom Foley refused to appear. Viscontis intention is to collect nearly 9,000 signatures of registered GOP voters, bypassing the party's nominating convention, with the intention of appearing on the primary ballot. Multiple Republicans have formed exploratory committees for statewide office, including Peter Lumaj, State Representative Prasad Srinivasan and Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst. Doctors practice more than just their faith in several mosques across North Texas they are also practicing medicine, free of charge. The Islamic Association of North Texas in Richardson boasts one of the longest-running free health clinics in the Muslim community. Like many of the patients they treat, the clinic had humble beginnings. It was started in 1999 by Dr. Amer Shakil and Dr. Khalida Yasmin, husband and wife from Pakistan. They came to North Texas with a will to heal and the will to help. Amer had this dream, of having a clinic, Yasmin said. When we go to medical school, we have this thinking, this passion that youre going to do something for other people, added Shakil. They began with donated equipment, a table and chair set up inside the mosque. In nearly 20 years, they have grown to an actual clinic with an exam room, a dentists set up, and an optometrists office. A gynecologist and psychiatrist are on stand-by. They see only uninsured patients and treat nearly 2,000 people every single year. We basically see patients that have nothing and who are eligible for nothing, Yasmin said. There is no other option. They cant go anywhere, its too expensive for them. There are about 15 doctors who volunteer their time and expertise. The people who run the clinic, from the woman who checks in patients to the high school student who schedules appointments, are also volunteers. "We dont have any financial sources, but I think there are great blessings from God almighty that this thing runs just superbly on its own," Yasmin said. On a Tuesday evening, Layla Marouf was the last patient to be seen by orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Umar Burney. The 71-year-old is from Syria, visiting family in Dallas for six months. A slip led to a broken bone in her foot. A walk into her nephews mosque means a quick diagnosis, a prescription, and peace of mind. There is no payment needed, only a donation if they choose to do so. I never appreciated it because I never needed it, said Marwan Marouf, Laylas nephew. Now that we walked in here, it is truly a blessing. A blessing, too, for the doctors who donate their time. If you cannot serve your own community, you cant serve a bigger community. But the purpose was to serve everybody," Shakil said. The clinic in the Richardson mosque is by appointment only, open Tuesday and Thursday evenings, as well as Saturdays and Sundays. It is open to people of all faiths. There are also free medical clinics in several mosques across North Texas, including the Islamic Association of Collin County, the East Plano Islamic Center, and Valley Ranch Islamic Center. Prosecutors say an East Texas woman and her husband have been sentenced to federal prison for running a synthetic marijuana trafficking ring. Shanna Peek Tidwell of Gilmer was sentenced Tuesday to 2 1/2 years in prison. She pleaded guilty in December to a drug-related conspiracy count. A judge in Tyler earlier sentenced Jeremy Chad Tidwell to five years. Jeremy Tidwell in November pleaded guilty to a drug-related conspiracy count that prosecutors say involved distribution and possession with intent to distribute synthetic drugs. Officers in 2014 raided four Longview businesses operated by the couple, who must also forfeit $1.2 million, property, two airplanes, several automobiles and firearms. Jeremy Tidwell's brother, Brian Tidwell of Arlington, pleaded guilty to one count related to receipt of altered consumer products and received six months of probation. What happens after you die? It might depend on whom you ask, but a North Texas man could have the answer. By all medical accounts, 52-year-old Ricardo Javier, a neurovascular ICU nurse at Medical City Dallas, shouldn't be alive. Javier, known to his family and friends as Jo Jo, clinically died after a heart attack while at the gym last year. "He was dead. He was dead! If he wasn't in the environment he was in, had there not been people skilled to revive his heart in minutes, this conversation wouldn't be happening today," said his colleague and physician, Dr. Allan Shulkin. "I was on the exercise bike and that's the last thing I remember," Javier said. "They had told my family that I wouldn't make it past the weekend." Despite surviving the initial heart attack, he was in a medically induced coma for 34 days, during which Javier said he experienced a near-death encounter that included vivid dreams of going through a long tunnel toward a light. He remembers being in a white limo, driving through New York City, toward an award show, which he interpreted as the moment he would stand before God and find out if he would be able to enter Heaven. "People talk about Heaven being this grand place, with lights and sounds, something exciting, and the golden streets and all that, so I guess in my scheme of things, New York would fit that because it's alive and vibrant," Javier said. "Just traveling in that white limo, in that city, sort of felt like I was about to meet whoever at the end," Javier said. However, his dream didn't end with a divine encounter. "All of a sudden, the limo turns into a gray tunnel and I find myself walking down this gray tunnel toward this voice," he said. The voice, he recalls, was coming from someone in need of help. He doesn't recall what happened afterward, but as he reflects back, he believes the voice was a sign that his work on Earth wasn't done. "I don't know yet, maybe to continue my work here as a nurse, maybe it's not over. Maybe there are some things in the family that I haven't resolved or maybe there are some things in my life that need to be resolved before I go to Heaven. I believe that God wants you to be the best version of yourself, and honestly, I don't think I'm the best version of myself all the time," Javier said. Javier woke up from his coma with no brain damage and made a full recovery. "We know physiology. We know biochemistry, but we don't know what's in a person's soul or heart and why does one person recover and another doesn't? There's something far beyond our capacity that makes these things happen," Shulkin said. Call it divine intervention that's given Javier renewed purpose. "So, right now, maybe God's giving me a chance to be the best version of myself," Javier said. Every day in the U.S., there are 774 near-death experiences, according to the Near-Death Experience Research Foundation. Two Texas couples who fought to overturn the state's ban on same-sex marriage were awarded more than $600,000 in attorneys fees and other costs, a federal appeals court decided this week. Mark Phariss and his husband Vic Holmes, and Cleopatra DeLeon and her wife Nicole Dimetman waged a years-long legal battle to do away with Texas' anti-gay marriage laws. On Tuesday, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals awarded their attorneys $585,470.30 in fees and $20,202.90 in other costs. Read more on this story from our partners at The Dallas Morning News. What to Know GoFundMe shut down at least six campaigns claiming to benefit the family of Robert Godwin Sr., who was killed on video posted to Facebook. Fraud on GoFundMe is rare, the company says. The FBI says it has seen a small increase in fraud related to fundraising websites overall. "We often see that the biggest fraud is by friends and family," GoFundMe's safety manager said. After a 74-year-old man in Cleveland was shot by a stranger who posted video of the killing to Facebook, at least six GoFundMe pages claiming to benefit his family cropped up. The crowdfunding website shut down all but one of the pages after verifying that page was legitimate. On that page alone, people horrified by the killing of Robert Godwin Sr. donated more than $74,000 toward a $20,000 goal in just one day. Well-intentioned donors need to be wary of scammers trying to profit off tragedies, consumer advocates say. "Disasters and tragedies generally attract questionable websites popping up and other untoward things that donors have to watch out for," said Bennett Weiner, chief operating officer of the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance. He spoke at a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) conference on charity and consumer protection issues, held March 21. Today my father Robert Godwin Sr was murdered in cold blood via FB Live. People have set up GoFundMe accounts fraudulently. Please stop it. pic.twitter.com/lLzWRHBQwN MinisteringLove (@Repairerofthebr) April 17, 2017 GoFundMe says cases of fraud on the website are rare. The California company has computer systems that flag "high-risk campaigns," such as those created after a police officer or firefighter has died, and a team of investigators fact checks claims made on the pages, GoFundMe's Head of Trust and Safety, Daniel Gordon, said at the FTC conference. The company guarantees that donors' funds will go to the right person. If GoFundMe determines that fraud occurred in connection to a page created after Oct. 3, 2016, donors can get as much as $1,000 back, and the beneficiary can have as much as $25,000 guaranteed. Several conditions apply. If you want to donate, here's what you should know. How to Check If a GoFundMe Page Is Legitimate Contact the organizer. GoFundMe recommends that anyone with questions about a campaign write a message to the organizer. If you still have questions, contact GoFundMe. Do your homework. Get as much information as you can about who created the campaign and where the money will go, said Evan Zullow, an attorney in the FTC's Division of Financial Practices. Search the names of the beneficiary and the campaign organizer. Can you see through their social media profiles that they appear to know each other? Did either person recently create a social media profile? That could indicate that something is off, according to Adrienne Gonzalez. Gonzalez, a journalist who lives in Washington, D.C. and Richmond, Virginia, has tracked alleged misuse of GoFundMe for more than two years. Her website GoFraudMe.com tracks cases of people accused of faking cancer and using stock photos of supposedly sick animals to collect donations. Donate to people you or people in your social network know. Be wary of anyone who contacts you asking for donations. "If someone reaches out to you, that's usually a big red flag," Gonzalez said. Do a reverse image search. An image search can reveal if someone is using a stock photo or a photo of someone else. Trust your instincts. If something doesn't seem right, it might not be, Gonzalez said. How Much GoFundMe Fraud Occurs? GoFundMe says cases of fraud are rare and make up less than 0.1 percent of all campaigns. The majority of GoFundMe campaigns are for individuals' own benefit or for an immediate family member's benefit and raise less than $900, Gordon, the GoFundMe's safety manager, said. When fraud attempts occur, they tend to fall into two main categories: outright lies or what the company calls beneficiary risk. "There are instances where we see people lie to their families, friends, communities, media about a medical condition they don't really have," Gordon said. "That happens. That will happen whether it's on GoFundMe or off-line." In the "beneficiary risk" cases, the reason the page was created is legitimate, but the funds are not headed to the correct person. A sudden windfall of money raised through a GoFundMe campaign can spark a family dispute. "We often see that the biggest fraud is by friends and family after there's all of a sudden money there when there never used to be money there," Gordon said. The FBI says it has seen a small increase in reports of fraud related to fundraising websites. "As crowdfunding sites increase in popularity, there has been a minor uptick in instances of fraud stemming from use of these platforms," a spokeswoman said in a statement. D.C. police, the U.S. Attorney's Office for D.C. and the Office of the Attorney General for D.C. all said they had no recent theft or fraud cases related to crowdfunding. Police in Arlington County, Virginia, and Prince George's County, Maryland, said the same. How GoFundMe Monitors for Fraud GoFundMe has investigators and computer systems that try to ferret out fraud. Algorithms flag high-risk campaigns and allow the company to see anytime anyone talks about GoFundMe on social media. If GoFundMe can determine that the first donors to a campaign are not friends or family members, the page can be flagged. "If it's strangers who are donating first, that would be very strange behavior, and we'd know about it," Gordon said. If GoFundMe doubts the legitimacy of a campaign, they can pause withdrawals from the account. How to Report Suspected GoFundMe Fraud If you believe a page is misleading or fraudulent, contact GoFundMe. Complaints can be filed with the FTC online or by calling 1-877-FTC-HELP. D.C. residents can report complaints to the Office of the Attorney General for D.C. "You definitely should complain to us if you live in the District and feel like you've been scammed by one of these, so we can take action," spokesman Robert Marus said. GoFundMe How Can I Donate to the Godwins? GoFundMe said the Help for Cleveland Victim & Family page created by Wesley Scott Alexander of Phoenix, Arizona, is legitimate. All other pages had been removed from the site as of Tuesday morning. "All funds raised for the Godwins will be transferred directly to the family," spokesman Bobby Whithorne said in a statement. GoFundMe deducts a 2.9 percent payment processing fee plus an additional $0.30 from each donation received. They previously deducted an additional 5 percent platform fee but cut that fee in Nov. 2017. Gonzalez, who runs GoFraudMe.com, said she hoped that cases of misuse of GoFundMe pages would not deter people from donating to worthy causes. "I think people should be skeptical but they shouldn't be so completely turned off that they don't want to help people," she said. The U.S. military may not be able to shoot down missiles launched by North Korea, as top generals have asserted for years, NBC News reported. According to independent scientists and government investigators, generals fail to acknowledge huge questions about the effectiveness of the $40 billion missile defense system they rely on to stop a potential nuclear-armed ballistic missile fired by North Korean or Iran. "They are leading political leaders to believe that they have a military capability that they don't, in fact, have," physicist David Wright, who has studied the program for years as co-director of the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told NBC News. Chris Johnson, a spokesman for the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency, told NBC News the Pentagon "is confident in our ability to defend the homeland against ballistic missile threats." But last year, the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, concluded that the agency that runs the missile defense system "has not demonstrated through flight testing that it can defend the U.S. homeland." A man wanted in the slaying of a motel security guard set out to kill as many white people as he could, gunning down three men on the streets of downtown Fresno before he was captured and admitted to the killings, the city's police chief said Tuesday. Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said Kori Ali Muhammad, 39, was motivated by hate and was not connected to extremism, even though he said "Allahu akbar'' during his arrest. "This is solely based on race, and it had nothing to do with terrorism in spite of the statement he made,'' Dyer said at a news conference. Muhammad, who is black, fired 16 rounds in one minute at four places within a block, shooting men who appeared to be going about their day, authorities say. He walked up to a utility truck and shot a Pacific Gas & Electric Co. employee sitting in the passenger seat, authorities say. The driver of the truck, who is Latino, sped off to the police department for help, but the worker, a 34-year-old white man, died. Muhammad then shot at another person and missed. He aimed at a third, killing the 37-year-old on the sidewalk as he walked with a bag of groceries in a neighborhood lined with tall trees, authorities say. The final victim, 58, was gunned down in the parking lot of a charity building. Dyer said Muhammad approached a vehicle in between shootings, but he spared the lives of two women who were in the car with a child. The women were Latina, he said. "These individuals who were chosen today did not do anything to deserve what they got,'' he said earlier in the day. "These were unprovoked attacks by an individual that was intent on carrying out homicides today. He did that.'' Police had put out a news release hours before the shootings Tuesday, saying that Muhammad was armed and dangerous and wanted in the shooting death of a security guard at a Motel 6 last week. The guard, 25-year-old Carl Williams, was white. Muhammad told officers at his arrest that he was the guy they were looking for, Dyer said. "I did it. I shot them," Dyer said Muhammad told officers. Muhammad had posted anti-government comments on social media and said that he disliked white people, police said. Dyer said Muhammad went by the nickname "Black Jesus" and has a history of making terrorist threats. It does not appear Muhammad is connected to terrorism despite the statement that he made, Dyer said. The police chief also said Muhammad wanted to kill as many white people as possible before going to jail. He was initially wanted by police in the death of a security guard last week. When Muhammad surrendered to police he said "I did it. I shot them," according to Dyer. Investigators said that Muhammed, who is believed to be homeless, made multiple references to "destroying white devil skunks" on his now-removed Facebook page. The shooting happened outside a Catholic Charities building, but spokeswoman Teresa Dominguez said the charity doesn't believe the suspect was tied to the nonprofit organization. Dyer said the shootings appeared to be random and unprovoked. Sayed Ali Ghazvini, imam of the Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno, said Muhammad was not a member of his congregation and he did not recognize him. The imam said he is consulting with other faith leaders. "We're kind of shocked and surprised for what happened," Ghazvini said. "We are very sorry for this to happen. We offer condolences for the victims, we pray for the victims and their families." County offices were placed on lockdown and people were urged to shelter in place during the shooting. The FBI and ATF San Francisco Field Division are assisting Fresno police with the investigation. Muhammad has a criminal history that includes arrests on weapons, drugs and false imprisonment charges and making terrorist threats. He had been associated with gangs. but he was not a confirmed member, police say. Muhammad was charged in 2005 with possessing cocaine with intent to distribute, court records show. Federal prosecutors said at the time that he was also in possession of a 9mm semi-automatic handgun and two rifles after being convicted of a felony. He claimed insanity, and his attorney requested a psychiatric examination for his client, saying Muhammad "appeared eccentric with some bizarre beliefs." A psychiatrist who examined Muhammad believed he had psychosis, Muhammad's attorney said in the court filing. He also "suffered auditory hallucinations and had at least two prior mental health hospitalizations,'' according to court documents. His attorney said that Muhammad had "paranoia'' and thought the justice system and his defense attorney were conspiring against him, court papers said. The attorney who represented Muhammad in that case did not return a call for comment Tuesday. Public records list Muhammad as Cory Taylor and other aliases with addresses in Fresno and Sacramento. Fresno's police chief said his former name was Cory McDonald. A woman who identified herself as Taylor's grandmother said Tuesday that the family last saw him on Easter Sunday. She hung up the phone before giving her name. "I never would have thought he would do anything like this," sad Muhammad's brother, who asked not to be identified by name. "I'm just kind of shocked." He described his brother as a funny and intelligent man. Police say two of the victims may have been clients of Catholic Charities, which provides a variety of services for refugees, the homeless and those with disabilities. NBC Bay Area's Brendan Weber, Riya Bhattacharjee, Rhea Mahbubani and Kristofer Noceda contributed to this story. A 24-year-old South Carolina woman accused of sneaking into Drake's Hidden Hills home and helping herself to some of the rapper's beverages is due in a Van Nuys courtroom Wednesday on a residential burglary charge. Mesha Collins was arrested for the burglary that occurred around 10:30 a.m. on April 3, according to Sgt. Matthew Dunn of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Malibu-Lost Hills Station. While inside the home, Collins helped herself to a Fiji bottled water, a Pepsi and a Sprite, Dunn said. How she got inside is unknown. There was no sign of forced entry, according to Dunn. Drake was not home at the time, and Collins, when confronted by a property manager, said she had received permission to be there, he said. "Obviously, she did not," Dunn said. Deputies arrived, questioned her and placed her under arrest. She was charged with residential burglary, he said. Collins is being held on $100,000 bail at the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood, California, according to sheriff's inmate records. Deputies didn't know if she has an attorney who can comment. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A 75-year-old military veteran was acquitted Tuesday of illegally hanging an American flag on the fence of a Veterans Affairs facility in West Los Angeles without permission. The federal misdemeanor count against Robert Rosebrock stems from a VA statute that prohibits the posting of materials or "placards'' on a VA property except when authorized by the head of the facility. Rosebrock was cited on Memorial Day 2016 for allegedly displaying two napkin-sized American flags on a fence adjacent to the "Great Lawn Gate'' entrance to the Veterans Park. He and fellow veterans have been assembling at the site nearly every Sunday and Memorial Day for the past nine years to protest what they believe is the VA's failure to make full use of the expansive property for the benefit and care of veterans, particularly homeless veterans. At the conclusion of a bench trial, U.S. Magistrate Judge Steve Kim found Rosebrock not guilty of the violation, which carries a maximum six-month prison sentence. The judge concluded that no evidence was presented showing Rosebrock lacked permission to post the flags or that Rosebrock had displayed them in the first place. The U.S. Attorney's Office declined comment. Homeless activist Ted Hayes, dressed as Uncle Sam in a red, white and blue outfit, joined about two-dozen observers in Kim's courtroom in downtown Los Angeles. Military veteran Gene Simes, national chairman of a Rochester, New York-based veterans advocacy group, stood in uniform at attention with a folded flag under his arm during the proceeding. The gallery burst into applause at the judge's ruling. Rosebrock said outside court that he was "honored that the flag was exonerated -- and for once the veterans got a victory.'' Rosebrock initially faced two additional counts for allegedly taking unauthorized photos of a VA police officer at the VA's Great Lawn Gate without permission. However, in a pretrial decision, Kim ruled that the regulation, as applied to the Great Lawn, was not reasonable under even the most lenient First Amendment standard. The VA argued that the statute was necessary to guard against invasive and distracting media activities and to protect veterans' privacy. But the court rejected that claim, finding that if the VA wanted to protect veterans' privacy, it would ban all photography, not just photography for news, commercial or advertising purposes. A man attacked a woman with a hammer and butcher knife at a Chatsworth McDonald's Tuesday night, the Los Angeles Police Department said. LAPD responded to the call at 6 p.m. after a woman was attacked at a Chatsworth McDonald's in the 9100 block of De Soto Avenue. Angel Rios, 20, was taken into custody in the 7400 block of Canoga Avenue in Canoga Park, LAPD said. He was accused of attacking the woman who was taken to the hospital in stable condition. LAPD was treating the attack as an attempted murder. No other information was immediately available. Police arrested a Brooklyn school principal Tuesday after he allegedly beat a 7-year-old student in what he claimed was a form of corporal punishment. Machael Spencer-Edwards, principal at P.S. 202 Ernest S. Jenkyns School in East New York, was arrested on charges of assault and acting in a manner injurious to a child in the March 13 incident. Spencer-Edwards reportedly told police the child was acting in a manner that he didn't like, and was using corporal punishment to correct the behavior. The boy's mother, Shema McKenzie, told News 4 Wednesday that the principal was angry that her son didn't take off his hoodie in the cafeteria. Spencer-Edwards and another teacher grabbed the boy, and the boy hit the teacher. "I started to get crazy, I hit [the teacher]," said the boy. "Then [the principal] grabbed me, bring me into the staircase and kicked me, and I was crying." Spencer-Edwards hit him and kicked him in the face and torso, the boy said. The boy came home from school and told his mother, "Mommy, I don't want to go to that school no more," McKenzie said. "Mr. Edwards took me to the stairwell and hit me and kicked me." "It was just terrifying to me. It was heartbreaking," said McKenzie, who said she kept questioning her son because it was so unbelievable. Photos she said were taken that day show light bruising on the boy's belly. She said she could tell where her son was hit in the face because it was swollen. McKenzie said she called police twice that day and was told to take it up with the school. She took her son to Brookdale Hospital later that night after he complained of stomach pains. Doctors confirmed his injuries indicated he'd been assaulted, and police officers again showed up there -- but they kept questioning whether it was the principal who hit him, asking if perhaps it was another student, McKenzie said. School was closed for the snowstorm around the time, and by the time McKenzie and her husband went to sit down with the principal, he denied hitting the boy, she said. "I told him, 'Mr. Edwards, you know, Hasheem is seven years old, he knows how to talk. He's not going to make something up like that, he says this is what you did to him,'" she said. McKenzie said she let it go and didn't tell other parents, so when police called her Tuesday night to inform her the principal had been arrested, she was surprised. She doesn't know what changed or prompted the arrest more than a month later. The mother says she's relieved. "Justice has been served," she said. "I wasn't getting any help at first." McKenzie said it was difficult sending her son back to school in the meantime, "but education comes first and he has to go to school." Other parents at the school Wednesday told News 4 they liked the principal. One mother said the 7-year-old boy has hit others at school, including her own son. "Mr. Edwards has been amazing to us, so we're really upset about this," said mother Isha Halloman. Spencer-Edwards was arraigned Tuesday night and released. He's next scheduled to appear in court June 1. Attorney information wasn't immediately clear, and no one answered at his home. A spokesman for the Department of Education says Spencer-Edwards has been removed from the school and reassigned away from students. "This alleged behavior is deeply disturbing and has no place in our schools," said the DOE spokesman. "We are providing additional guidance and ongoing support to the school community." A letter was sent home with parents informing them that Ingrid Mason would serve as interim acting principal. Spencer-Edwards was the focus of a New York Post story last year when he excluded students from a Valentine's Day party because they weren't wearing pajamas. He reportedly told young children, "No pajamas, no party," leaving some third-graders in tears when he turned them away. Flyers sent home for the event also suggested a $2 donation from students. What to Know The body of Justice Sheila Abdus-Salaam was found in the Hudson River off Manhattan earlier this month Abdus-Salaam, 65, was the 1st black woman to serve on the New York State Court of Appeals and the 1st Muslim woman to serve as a U.S. judge Police had said there were no obvious signs of trauma, though they've determined the death to be suspicious UPDATE: Video Shows NY Judge Walking Alone Near Hudson River: NYPD The NYPD said Tuesday that the death of a New York judge whose body was found in the Hudson River earlier this month is now considered "suspicious." Justice Sheila Abdus-Salaam the first black woman appointed to New York State's highest court, and the first Muslim woman to serve as a U.S. judge was found dead in the Hudson River near Manhattan last Wednesday. Her body showed no obvious signs of trauma, and police declined to speculate on the cause of her death. The NYPD said Abdus-Salaam's death is being treated as suspicious until an investigation is completed and it's determined exactly how she died. Investigators have been combing through surveillance video for days, but have had trouble piecing together the hours before Abdus-Salaam's death. They're looking for any video or any witnesses who may have seen the 65-year-old in the time leading up to her death. An autopsy was inconclusive as to the cause of death and required further study. NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce previously told reporters that Abdus-Salaam spent the weekend with her husband in New Jersey; the husband last saw her Sunday night around 7 p.m. According to Boyce, Abdus-Salaam spoke with her assistant Tuesday morning; that appears to be the last time anyone heard from her before her body was found near West 132nd Street and Henry Hudson Parkway roughly 30 hours later. Her husband, the Rev. Canon Gregory A. Jacobs, said in a statement Wednesday that family members are vigorously disputing other media reports' speculating that she committed suicide. "Sheila loved Harlem and its people and lived there for nearly all of her adult life," said Jacobs. "I now join with the NYPD in asking anyone in the neighborhood to step forward with any information that might help us to determine what may have happened during those hours before her death." Abdus-Salaam was elected to the Supreme Court of the State of New York in 1993, where she remained until 2009. She was serving on the New York State Court of Appeals, the highest court in New York State, before her death. She was appointed to the position by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2013. Cuomo called her a "pioneer" and a "force for good whose legacy will be felt for years to come" in a statement. Her family said Wednesday she was "an extraordinary woman," and that they loved her dearly and were "extremely proud of her." "We will forever reflect on her courage, determination and strength that was capstoned by her modest, humble and beautiful spirit," the Turner family said in a statement. "Her legacy of high standards, morals and values will extend far beyond the courtroom to the many lives she touched and inspired in our family and around the world!" While she was the first Muslim woman to serve as a U.S. judge, Abdus-Salaam, who kept the last name of her first husband professionally, has not been a practicing Muslim for 20 years, according to her family. She married her Episcopal priest husband last year. In Harlem last week, friends and colleagues remembered her as a kind, gentle and loving fixture of her community. Harkirat Singh, a practicing Sikh, says his turban is like his crown. He's wearing a new one this week after his old one was ripped from his head by passengers who attacked him, calling him "Ali Baba." Singh said he picked the passengers up at Eighth Avenue and 30th Street in Manhattan shortly after 5 a.m. Sunday. The passengers typed in their destination in his GPS: Jerome Avenue and 165th Street in the Bronx. But when they got there, the passengers three men and a woman said he was at the wrong location. I was scared. They were, you know, hitting the partition, like this. They were shouting in my cab, Singh said. I say, Stop this. Why are you doing this? The passengers sent him in a couple different directions before he finally tried to kick them out and call police. Thats when a scuffle ensued. Singh snapped a photo of two of the passengers as they were outside the cab. Moments later, Singh said they smashed his meter, punched his arm and pulled his turban off his head, calling him Ali Baba. He picked up my turban from my head, and after he said, Now you see Ali Baba, Singh said. Mayor de Blasio tweeted Tuesday that Singh did the right thing when he called police. Meanwhile, the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a leading Muslim civil rights organization, condemned the attack. Harpreet Singh Toor, of The Sikh Cultural Society, says taking a turban is a violation worse than death. "As a human being, as a Sikh, I would prefer to die than somebody taking off my turban and walking away with it, Singh Toor said. Singh moved to New York City from India three years ago. Despite the attack on him, he said hes encouraged by all the support. Police are searching for the passengers. The NYPD hasnt said if the attack is being investigated as a hate crime. Former Vice President Joe Biden delivered the keynote address at the grand opening of the Museum of the American Revolution Wednesday. The date also marks the 242nd anniversary of the "shot heard 'round the world" that ignited the Revolutionary War in 1775. The opening ceremony stretched across Philadelphia's historic area, starting with a tribute at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the Revolution at Washington Square and ending with an official dedication and ribbon-cutting at the museum's outdoor plaza. Alongside a display of the Declaration of Independence at the Museum of the American Revolution, a separate tableau tells the story of Mumbet, an enslaved black woman in Massachusetts who, upon hearing the document read aloud, announced that its proclamation that "all men are created equal" should also include her. In response, her master hit her with a frying pan. Mumbet sued him, won her freedom in court, changed her name to Elizabeth Freeman and became a nurse. Her case set a precedent prohibiting slavery in the state. The story is a reminder that during the struggle for our nation's liberty, the 400,000 African Americans who lived in slavery in 1776 also longed to be free. Such stories are found throughout the museum, which opens Wednesday in Philadelphia coinciding with the 242nd anniversary of the battle at Lexington and Concord, the "shot heard 'round the world" that began the Revolutionary War in 1775. The more inclusive, clear-eyed view of the country's turning points is an intentional departure from the whitewashed story America has often told itself and the world. Photos: Philadelphia Museum of the American Revolution Opens Instead, the museum seeks to show visitors that the Revolution was a set of aspirational ideas founded on equality, individual rights and freedom that remain relevant today, said president Michael Quinn. "These ideas rallied people from all walks of life, and they took those ideas to heart," Quinn said "What unifies us as a people is our shared, common commitment to these ideas." At several points throughout the museum, visitors are forced to confront the contradictions of the high-minded ideals of the framers of the Constitution and the realities of their time, including slavery and the second-class status of women. Slavery, for example, would expand for nearly another century after the Revolutionary War ended, and despite arguing for their liberty at the start of America, women in the United States would fight for suffrage into the early 20th century. The Museum of the American Revolution opened its doors Wednesday amid a morning of sights, sounds and tributes in Old City. NBC10s Pamela Osborne has more on the opening ceremonies. The message: The ideals of the American Revolution belong not only to the founding fathers long revered by our country, but also to the founding generation of Americans who first heard them, and the generations that have come since. "For over two centuries, if you said the words 'founders of this country,' the image that would pop to most people's minds would be a white man," said Scott Stephenson, vice president of collections, exhibitions and programming. "Increasingly, we at museums have realized we have got to tell a broader story." One exhibit features the story of the Oneida Indians, one of the first allies to support the nascent America, who fought and died alongside the colonist soldiers. Also on display is the active role of African-Americans, enslaved and free, in the war, fighting with both the Continental and British armies, showed that blacks were patriots also fighting for their own freedom. Historical interpretations conjured from diaries and letters of the lives of five men and women who took various routes to freedom during the war are presented in an interactive digital installation. In paintings, dioramas and exhibits, the stories of figures including poet Phillis Wheatley and William Lee, valet to Gen. George Washington, challenge the idea of who could claim the title of "revolutionary." Visitors are asked to consider the question, "Freedom for whom?" said Adrienne Whaley, the museum's manager for school programs. "The struggle to become free predates the Revolution, and it continues after the war is over," she said. "The promise of America is defined by the ways in which we treat these people." An off-duty Philadelphia police officer was taken into custody after she allegedly shot her husband in the groin in their driveway at a Bucks County home. Police officers were called to a home on the unit block of Marmic Drive in Northampton Township around 5:30 a.m. Tuesday. When they arrived they found a man who was suffering from a gunshot wound to the groin. He was taken to the hospital for treatment. Officials have not yet revealed his condition. Investigators say the mans wife, a Philadelphia police officer, is accused of shooting him in the groin during a domestic-related incident in their driveway. Sources told NBC10 shes a patrol officer whos been on the force for about a decade. She was taken into custody for questioning though no charges have been filed so far as police continue to investigate. Police say the couples three children, including a baby, were inside the home at the time of the shooting though none of them were injured. They are now in the care of Bucks County Children and Youth Services. Neighbors told NBC10 the officer and her family moved to the Marmic Drive home a year ago and have been renting the house that is currently up for sale. They also say they dont know much about the family but never saw anything troubling or suspicious prior to Tuesday. Good neighbors, no noise, no problems, nothing like that, Carol Kutler said. Very polite kids. Hours after the U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to hear the case of numerous women and children detained at the notorious Berks County Residential Center, lawyers for other mothers and children detained there filed another lawsuit in federal court asking for a stay of deportation. Those four women and their children, stuck in limbo for more than a year, won a temporary victory Wednesday when a federal judge ordered that officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement halt any plans to deport those being held at Berks. "Their officers, agents, employees, representatives, and all persons acting in concert or participating with them, are temporarily and enjoined from engaging in or performing, directly or indirectly, any and all of the following acts: removing any of the above optioned Plaintiffs and all others similarly situated and/or their minor children from the United States and/or transferring any to a location outside the Courts jurisdiction," according to the order by Judge Lawrence Stengel of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The women left El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras many months ago, fleeing what they have described as dangerous living conditions. An attorney for the families, Carol Anne Donohoe, said Stengel's temporary restraining order placed on ICE is a welcome development after the setback at the Supreme Court. "This is a great outcome and we are grateful for this court to give us this chance," Donohoe said. Other legal advocates for the Latino community tried to remain optimistic for the women and children held indefinitely at Berks despite the roller coaster week. "They lost a battle, but they will be able to fight separately," said Erika Almiron, director of the pro-immigrant organization Juntos. She said that based on her experience and contacts "those mothers believe they have been held for so long to make their stories an example." "What (ICE) does not realize is that when someone is running for their lives or trying to save their children, they will do anything," Almiron said. Despite the temporary restraining order for four mothers at Berks, the decision of the Supreme Court was seen by some legal experts as precedent-setting for many other immigrants currently in detention centers across the country. Those detainees had hoped that Castro v. U.S. might have paved the way for other undocumented immigrants' cases to be heard in the federal judicial system, and not in the Department of Justice's separate immigration court. Brennan Gian-Grasso, a lawyer from Gian Grasso, Tomczak, Hufe Immigration Legal Services in Philadelphia, said that the SCOTUS decision is troubling at every level. The one thing we could all agree on [before this decision] was procedure, he said. That is, if everyone is guaranteed due process then, regardless of outcome, it is a fair process. Donohoe said three of the four children belonging to the four women who filed the lawsuit Monday already have been given work authorization, which means they are eligible to receive social security cards. All four children have applied for and are on a waiting list for legal permanent residence, as known as a green card. "ICE still stated their intention to deport these families," Donohoe said. [Photos] Tears u0026 Songs at Shut Down Berks Vigil Nearly 300 California middle schools and highs schools, including 21 in San Diego County, were honored by the Gold Ribbon Schools Award Program Tuesday. California schools are given the Gold Ribbon Award in recognition of their gains in implementing the academic content and performance standards adopted by the State Board of Education. These include California Standards for English Language Arts and Mathematics, California English Language Development standards, and Next generation Science Standards. The 21 locals schools honored represent 11 school districts across the county. San Diegos Gold Ribbon Schools are as followed: *Norman A. Sullivan Middle School Bonsall Unified School District *EJE Academies - Cajon Valley School District Aviara Oaks Middle School Carlsbad Unified School District *Calavera Hills Middle School Carlsbad Unified School District Classical Academy High School Escondido Union High School District Del Lago Academy Campus of Applied Science Escondido Union High School District *Fallbrook High School Fallbrook Union School District Grossmont High School Grossmont Union Highs School District Santana High School Grossmont Union Highs School District River Valley Charter School Lakeside Union School District Del Norte High School Poway Unified School District Mt. Carmel High School Poway Unified School District Oak Valley Middle School Poway Unified School District Rancho Bernardo High School Poway Unified School District San Marcos High School San Marcos Unified School District Bonita Vista High School Sweetwater Union High School District Eastlake Middle School Sweetwater Union High School District Otay Ranch High School Sweetwater Union High School District Rancho Del Rey Middle School Sweetwater Union High School District Mission Vista High School Vista Unified High School District Rancho Buena Vista High School Vista Unified High School District Four schools listed above denoted with an asterisk were also recognized as Title I Academic Achieving Schools, which is only given to schools receiving federal Title I funds, funds that go toward the educational needs of students living at or below the poverty line. "These terrific schools are leading the way in embracing our new rigorous academic standards and showing others how to help students succeed on their way to 21st century careers and college," State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said. "I look forward to travelling the state to honor these schools and to help share the programs, methods, and techniques that are working." Schools will be presented with their wards at a ceremony in May. For more information on the ceremony, and the Gold Ribbon Schools Award Program, click here. A woman changed her phone plan before traveling internationally but when she returned from her trip, she found herself facing a phone bill for hundreds-of-dollars. Dailene Germann and her twin sister love to travel. New people, new places, new things, Dailene said. Last summer, Dailene visited the Netherlands, Denmark, and Spain. Before she left, she says she called Verizon to make sure she could stay connected using her phone, both for directions and for contacting the family. Dailene knew it would cost more but wanted the best plan for traveling internationally. Dailene says she called Verizons customer service department and told the representative where she was going, how long she would be away and what she needed the phone for. The representative said youre buying the largest plan, $40, Dailene said. Dailene said her sister also signed up for the same plan and Dailenes phone worked great on the trip but when she got home, she was in for a surprise. I knew there was going to be some charges but I didnt know it was going to be that big, that was a larger amount than my plane ticket, Dailene said. Dailene said she came home to a bill from Verizon for more than $600 and Verizon told her she was charged for data usage and roaming. She said she had asked for the biggest plan and that she shouldnt have faced these charges. Dailene said she kept calling Verizon for a better explanation of why her bill was so large. I got so many different answers, nobody could actually pinpoint or give me an exact answer, Dailene said. After four months of fighting over the bill, Dailene said Verizon shut her phone off. I saw you on TV and I said, Hes going to solve my problem, hes going to get my money back, Dailene said. Dailene contacted NBC 7 Responds and we reached out to Verizon. As it turned out, Dailene should have been offered something called the Travel Pass, a $10 a day flat rate plan. Still expensive but much cheaper than what Dailene had received. Verizon prorated Dailenes bill to what it would have been if she had been on the Travel Pass. So instead of owing over $500, Dailene only had to pay Verizon $130. The Washington Navy Yard will be the scene of an active shooter exercise on Wednesday, April 19. The exercise, being held jointly by the Naval Support Activity Washington and the Metropolitan Police Department, is designed to test responses to an active shooter threat as well as emergency communication plans. The drill is scheduled to begin around 8:30 a.m. and should last less than an hour. The Navy Yard will be locked down and closed for vehicle and pedestrian traffic. Area residents may see or hear security activities and may experience small delays outside the gates. The Navy said neighbors should not be alarmed, and no response is needed for those located outside of the Navy Yard. They said the drill is an annual requirement. You might notice a big change the next time you have to renew your DC driver's license. Starting in June, the DMV will go back to placing "Washington, D.C." along the top of all licenses, WAMU reports. Right now, licenses have "District of Columbia" at the top. The goal of the change is to cut back on confusion. In recent years, several D.C. license holders have reported experiencing trouble at airport security or at liquor stores in other states. In 2014, a D.C. woman flying home from Arizona was questioned as to whether her D.C. driver's license was a valid form of identification. Luckily, the confusion was short-lived, and the woman made it home without any delays. Justin Gray, a Cox Media Group reporter, experienced a similar situation a few months later. Gray was heading back to D.C. when, he says, a Transportation Security Administration agent didn't recognize his license. A quirky law in New Hampshire also prevents people with D.C.-issued driver's licenses from buying alcohol. The roller coaster that stranded 24 riders in midair for more than three hours last week is back in service at Six Flags America in Prince George's County, Maryland. The Joker's Jinx coaster stopped about 6 p.m. that night, leaving riders as young as 6 years stuck at a 30 degree angle while 80 feet in the air. Firefighters used a hydraulic crane to rescue passengers one at a time. The last person was safely removed from the ride after 9 p.m. No one was hurt during the incident. The roller coaster accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in about three seconds, according to the amusement park's website. It features a "spaghetti bowl" design with various loops and turns. It usually takes just a minute and 15 seconds to complete, but not for the riders Thursday. The same ride got stuck with two dozen people aboard in August 2014. Corporate engineers and certified technicians identified and resolved the problem with one of the wheels on the train that got stuck, a Six Flags spokeswoman said in a release Tuesday. "Please know the safety of our guests is always our top priority," said Communications Manager Denise Stokes in the statement. State ride inspectors cleared the ride for service, she said. The lawyer of Egyptian-American charity worker Aya Hijazi says she has been released from prison after nearly three years of detention. Taher Abol Nasr told The Associated Press she was released late Tuesday, two days after a court acquitted her of charges of child abuse that were widely dismissed as bogus by human rights groups and U.S. officials. Hijazi and her husband had established a foundation to aid street children, but were arrested along with six others in 2014. It was not immediately clear whether her co-defendants were also released. The arrests came as part of a wider clampdown on civil society especially following the military overthrow of an elected Islamist president in 2013. Prosecutors provided little if any evidence to support the allegations. Hijazi, 30, grew up in Falls Church, Virginia. She received a degree in conflict resolution from George Mason University in 2009, and then returned to her native Egypt. Along with her husband, Hijazi established a foundation by the name Belady, Arabic for "our nation,'' in 2013 with the aim of providing shelter for street children. A few months later, authorities raided the foundation's office after a man alleged that his son was missing and blamed it on Belady. U.S. President Donald Trump did not publicly mention the case when he met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi earlier this month, but a senior White House official had said ahead of the meeting that the case would be addressed. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly on Tuesday bluntly challenged members of Congress critical of the Trump administration's aggressive approach to immigration enforcement to either change the laws or "shut up." In a wide-ranging speech, Kelly also promised a border crackdown on marijuana, which is illegal under federal law but legal under state law in eight states and the District of Columbia. The blunt-talking, retired Marine general defended the work of Homeland Security employees from immigration agents to airport security officers, saying they are unjustifiably maligned by critics as they enforce laws intended to keep America safe. He described Homeland Security staff as "political pawns" in his speech at George Washington University. "They have been asked to do more with less, and less, and less," Kelly said. "They are often ridiculed and insulted by public officials, and frequently convicted in the court of public opinion on unfounded allegations testified to by street lawyers and spokespersons." Kelly said the public and public officials should err on the side of assuming that the agency's employees are acting within the law. And for members of Congress who don't like the laws, Kelly said they "should have the courage and skill to change the laws. Otherwise they should shut up and support the men and women on the front lines." Critics have argued that the agency is too heavy-handed in enforcement operations, including arresting immigrants in the U.S. illegally whose only offense is being in the country without permission. More than 21,000 immigrants in the U.S. illegally have been arrested since President Donald Trump took office in January, compared to about 16,000 people during the same time last year. About a quarter of those arrests were immigrants who had no criminal history, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. While the number of deportations has actually decreased slightly since Trump took office, the crackdown has left immigrant communities and advocates worried that just about any immigrant in the country illegally could be swept up. During the Obama administration, ICE agents were told to focus strictly on immigrants convicted of serious crimes or those who otherwise posed a threat to public safety. Kelly said stepped-up enforcement has had a dramatic effect. He said dangerous criminals are being arrested or are hiding, fearing that ICE is looking for them. A sharp drop in arrests at the Mexican border suggests that fewer people have been trying to cross illegally since Trump took office. In March, the U.S. Border Patrol arrested about 12,100 people trying to cross the border illegally. It was the fewest number of arrests in a month in at least 17 years. Border Patrol Chief Ron Vitiello said in a speech in San Antonio, Texas, last week that it was likely the fewest arrests in about 45 years. In his remarks about drugs Tuesday, Kelly said arrests on marijuana charges will be used to bolster the case for deportation against immigrants in the country illegally, he said. Kelly appeared to backtrack somewhat from comments in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" that aired Sunday. Kelly said in that interview that the solution to drug problems in the United States was not "not arresting a lot of users. The solution is a comprehensive drug demand reduction program in the United States that involves every man and woman of good will." Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security committee released a report estimating that Trump's proposed border wall could cost $70 billion to build. Kelly has estimated its price tag at $21 billion, while congressional Republicans have put the cost at $12 billion to $15 billion. Democrats also distributed a 30-page document from Customs and Border Protection that outlined where the agency planned to build new structures or replace aging infrastructure along the border. It said new construction would start in San Diego, an area of the border were the government already owns land along the frontier with Mexico. If Congress approves extra money this year, the document shows, structures could be built along about 34 miles of border in Rio Grande Valley in Texas. The Border Patrols' sectors in Tucson, Arizona, and El Paso, Texas, could see new structures if Congress approves money for the 2018 budget. Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Republican who doggedly investigated Hillary Clinton before the 2016 presidential election but declined to investigate President Donald Trump, abruptly announced Wednesday that he won't run for re-election. Chaffetz, who has been rumored as a possible candidate for Senate or governor, said that after consulting with his family and "prayerful consideration, I have decided I will not be a candidate for any office in 2018." The 50-year-old Chaffetz had strolled to four easy re-elections in his Republican-friendly congressional district. But he was facing a surprising challenge from a Democratic newcomer who raised more than a half-million dollars by tapping into anger over Chaffetz's recent comment suggesting people should spend their money on health insurance instead of iPhones. Political unknown Dr. Kathryn Allen has been transformed into a liberal hero for calling out Chaffetz on Twitter, gaining an early boost in name recognition. Chaffetz, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, also drew fire from Democrats after saying he would not investigate Trump's business empire, given that he had promised before the presidential election that he would investigate Clinton "for years" if she was elected. "It's a tough decision. I love serving in Congress, but I love my family more," Chaffetz said in an interview Wednesday with KSL Newsradio in Salt Lake City. "I really meant it when I said I was going to get in, serve and get out." Running for Utah governor in 2020 is a possibility, Chaffetz said, but he's not willing to commit one way or another. "I'm trying to leave the door open for possibilities down the road," he said. Chaffetz led a nearly two-year investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state, continuing the inquiry even after the 2016 election. And he and other Republicans asked the Justice Department to investigate whether Clinton lied to Congress during her 2015 testimony to House Benghazi panel. Chaffetz is also particularly unpopular with residents of heavily Democratic Washington D.C. He repeatedly used his House post to try to overturn local D.C. laws. He said the District's voter-approved marijuana legalization measure violated federal law, and led the Congressional challenge against the "Death With Dignity" assisted suicide law approved by the D.C. Council. In February, Washingtonians rallied against Chaffetz for what D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen called his attempt to "override the will of District residents." In a statement on Facebook, Chaffetz noted that he has long advocated that public service should be for a limited time. He said that after more than 1,500 nights away from home, "it is time" to step aside. Chaffetz said he has "no ulterior motives" is healthy and confident he would re-elected. House Speaker Paul Ryan tweeted that Chaffetz is "a great defender of liberty and limited government" and wished him the best. Still, Chaffetz has run into political turbulence. He was met by frequent, deafening boos at a February town hall as constituents grilled him on everything from investigating Trump's tax returns to Planned Parenthood. Chaffetz repeatedly said, "hold on," and "give me a second," as audience members in a Salt Lake City suburb reacted negatively to nearly all of his statements and implored him to "do your job" and investigate Trump. In a CNN interview in March, Chaffetz was asked how lower-income Americans would get access to health insurance if the Affordable Care Act, also known as "Obamacare," is repealed by congressional Republicans. "Americans have choices," he responded. "Maybe rather than getting that new iPhone that they just love, and they want to go spend hundreds of dollars on that, maybe they should invest in their own health care." The remarks triggered a firestorm of criticism on social media with people comparing how many iPhones they could buy if they didn't have to pay medical bills in the tens of thousands of dollars. Chaffetz later conceded on Fox News that his point about people being self-reliant didn't come out as smoothly as it could have. Half of the voters are registered Republicans in Chaffetz' 3rd congressional district, which stretches from suburban Salt Lake City to desert towns in southeastern Utah and includes heavily conservative Mormon areas. Chaffetz won 73 percent of the vote last fall, and Trump won the district by 24 points. While Chaffetz declined to investigate Trump, he did criticize a top Trump aide who promoted Ivanka Trump's fashion line during a cable TV appearance from the White House. Chaffetz called Kellyanne Conway's actions "wrong, wrong, wrong" and joined Cummings in asking the Office of Government Ethics to review the matter. Chris Karpowitz, co-director at Brigham Young University's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy, said Chaffetz may be seeking to avoid a potentially embarrassing primary loss or close race in 2018 that could hurt his prospects for the 2020 governor's race. "It's still somewhat surprising to me," Karpowitz said. "It seems that at the first sign of trouble, he's decided not to run." Chaffetz is at least the seventh House Republican to resign this year or announce plans to retire, including four who left to join Trump's Cabinet. Rep. Kristi Noem of South Dakota is running for governor, and Reps. Sam Johnson of Texas and Lynn Jenkins of Kansas are retiring. Associated Press writers Alan Fram in Washington and Brady McCombs, Michelle Price and Hallie Golden in Salt Lake City contributed to this story. A man who punched a woman during a "Patriots Day" rally in Berkeley Saturday has been identified as Nathan Damigo, the founder of a student-oriented white-nationalist group based in California. The Southern Poverty Law Center lists "Identity Evropa" among "active white nationalist hate groups," and one of several that have been trying to make inroads on college campuses. This video contains graphic images. Viewer discretion is advised. [[419752073, C]] Damigo, a student at Cal State Stanislaus, has also branded himself as a follower of identitarianism, a European-based far-right movement focused on rejecting multiculturalism, according to the SPLC. The LA Times profiled the 30-year-old Damigo in 2016 as a young white supremacist trying to convert his fellow college students. He's a former Marine corporal and Iraq war veteran who was convicted of armed robbery. Violent clashes broke out between supporters and detractors of President Donald Trump during rival demonstrations at Civic Center park in Berkeley Saturday. Video of Damigo punching a female protester drew attention online, with many calling for his arrest and expulsion from Cal State. Actor Chris Evans, best known for his role as Marvel's superhero Captain America, tweeted the video, saying: "I hope I run into Nathan." California State University President Ellen Junn said in a statement Monday that the university will take all legal and disciplinary measures to make sure her school's students are safe. "The campus received communications last night regarding a serious incident possibly involving one of our students and very troubling actions that may have taken place at a demonstration in Berkeley on Saturday, April 15th," Junn said in her statement. "The university takes these allegations seriously, and as president, I have initiated an immediate investigation on campus to verify and confirm details of this incident." Junn stressed that the university "has zero tolerance for the use of violence and we will take all of the necessary legal and disciplinary measures to ensure that all students and everyone on campus have a safe and secure environment." She added: "While this incident understandably raises many negative emotions and calls for urgent actions, we must also hold true to our American system and principles of justice and due process." NBC Bay Area attempted to contact Damigo for comment but has not received a statement at this time. At least 11 people were injured and 20 people were arrested during the demonstrations, police said. Those arrested ranged in age from 17 to 51 years old and most are from the the San Francisco Bay, though only four are from Berkeley, according to police. Two of those arrested are from Southern California. The charges they face include battery, resisting arrest, assault with a deadly weapon, vandalism and inciting a riot, according to police. Manchester, New Hampshire, police arrested a woman for allegedly pointing a loaded gun at another person during an argument Tuesday night. Police say the 31-year-old victim parked behind another car in the driveway at 102 Conant St. around 7:50 p.m. The car was occupied by Melissa Cerullo, 36 of Manchester, who confronted the victim. During the argument, Cerullo allegedly pulled out a Smith and Wesson .380 and pointed it at the womans chest. Cerullo told police that the other woman had spat on her. The two women were familiar with one another prior to the argument. Police arrested charged Cerullo with reckless conduct. She is scheduled to appear in the 9th Circuit Court-Manchester on April 19, 2017. It's not clear if she has an attorney. Why God loves science and science needs God Professor Tom McLeish spoke at the annual Science lecture at Norwich Cathedral on May 10 and encouraged people to think of science as God's gift to us. "God loves Science and Science needs God: This was the thought-provoking title of a recent lecture in Norwich Cathedral. The theme was that science and curiosity-driven research should be at the heart of a Christian worldview. Christian faith can help science be a healing enterprise, rather than the inhuman, threatening one that some fear. In his lecture, Professor Tom McLeish, a distinguished scientist from Durham University, presented a positive framework for Christian thinking relevant to the needs and interests of science and technology today. How should Christians understand science? What is Gods gift of science for? How should we use our science to develop the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth? As Chair of the Education Committee of the prestigious Royal Society, Professor McLeish is concerned to promote scientific understanding. However, he sees no conflict between his Christian beliefs and his responsibility to promote science. Taking a historical perspective, he illustrated how Christianity is a natural foundation for scientific thinking, and has motivated many scientists to make discoveries and to apply their new knowledge with wisdom for the betterment of humankind. He quoted from Nicolaus Copernicus who speaks for many scientists with a religious viewpoint: To know the mighty works of God, to comprehend His wisdom, majesty and power; and to appreciate the wonderful workings of His laws, surely all this must be a pleasing and acceptable mode of worship to the Most High, to whom ignorance cannot be more grateful than knowledge. Drawing on his new book Let there be Science, McLeish explained how modern science arose in a Christian culture from natural philosophy, meaning the love of wisdom about nature, which has always been closely inter-twined with religious thought. This powerful relationship has driven human enquiry for thousands of years. For example, in the book of Job, God asks a series of questions about understanding the natural world, culminating in Do you know the laws of the heavens? And can you apply them to the earth? Indeed, Job is seen by McLeish as a fascinating early celebration of enquiry and human investigation into the nature of the earth and sea, the plants and animals, and the heavens and stars. Thus, the creative questions motivating science and faith have been intertwined from early times. Christian thought is concerned with the whole created order, not just human beings. In the New Testament, in the writing of St Paul for example, we find an understanding of all creation in need of redemption. Biblical books like Job recognise that engaging with nature can be painful and mysterious. Christ brings in a New Creation and gives Christians a ministry of reconciliation and healing, cooperating with God. McLeish gave examples of how the practice of science can heal the broken relationships of humans with themselves, with each other and with the natural world. However, we cannot ignore the fact that there is considerable resistance and mistrust, not only between some members of the scientific community and the Church, but also between scientists and non-scientists, who see science as opposed to art and threatening to humanity. Moreover, the media thrives on stories of conflict. Too often, science is presented as a dispassionate, inhuman process of discovery, while Christianity is dismissed as being a set of backward-looking superstitions with no relevance to the modern world. Neither of these viewpoints is accurate or helpful: Science, like religion, is a deeply human activity, pursued through the passions and creative questions of scientists, while Christianity challenges and encourages every one of us (scientists and non-scientists) to develop loving, wise, hopeful relationships with creation, with humanity and with God. Many would argue that religion has done a lot of damage over the centuries, enforcing reactionary attitudes in the face of science-driven progress. On the other hand, many note that science and technology have also been a mixed blessing. The media thrives on stories of the alarming threats that science and technology can create: global warming; nuclear holocaust; Frankenstein foods; designer babies, and so on. McLeish sees in many media stories about science echoes of ancient, pagan attitudes and fears, ideas that nature is sacred and that scientists are messing with it, opening Pandoras Box, and that ordinary people are the victims of conspiracies by uncaring, powerful, mysterious elites. McLeish offered a more hopeful vision. For a Christian, there are no pre-determined histories or boundaries for science and technology, but God ought to be at the centre. The church should celebrate the deep humanity of science. The intellectual relationship with nature can be healing and the larger Christian vision of science as part of a love of wisdom can help heal divisions between science and the arts and humanities and promote a more thoughtful engagement with the media and public about the opportunities and challenges that science creates. This was the ninth annual Cathedral Lecture organised by Science Faith Norfolk (SFN) a local group affiliated to Christians in Science. The next SFN meeting will be held on Monday 3rd July (7.30 8.45 pm) at Trinity Meeting Place, Essex St. Norwich. Dr Peter Woodford (from the Department of Zoology, Cambridge University) will give a talk on What can evolution tell us about altruism? - Implications for ethics and morality. All are welcome to attend. For further information, contact: Prof Nick Brewin, Secretary, Science Faith Norfolk: 07901 884114 sfnorfolk1@gmail.com. There is more information on the SFN website. The new book by Tom McLeish: Let there be Science! is co-authored with physics teacher Dave Hutchings. A previous book, Faith and Wisdom in Science, explores the same topics at greater depth. Barriers could stay down for longer when bigger, more frequent, trains are introduced MORE trains are likely to be passing through Thatcham when electrification comes to West Berkshire which could mean further delays at the notorious level crossing. Network Rail said that extra measures to mitigate traffic at the crossing could be introduced in order to cope with new trains on the line if that proves to be the case. Network Rail is in the process of electrifying the Great Western route, with the aim of providing faster and more reliable services to Devon and Cornwall. At the same time, Great Western Railway has started rolling out its fleet of Intercity Express electric trains. The Hitachi 800 series is scheduled to be introduced into passenger service on the Great Western Main Line later this year and, from 2018, on services between London and Devon and Cornwall. The new trains will be longer and provide more frequent services, however, meaning the already-congested crossing could be down for longer periods. A GWR spokesman said that the new Intercity trains were likely to result in one extra service an hour on the route. But as it stands, Network Rail is yet to assess the impact of the new trains on the crossing. A Network Rail spokesman said: We are currently looking into any potential impact that the arrival of the new fleet of GWR Intercity Express electric trains coming into service in December 2018 could have on congestion at Thatcham station level crossing. If findings suggest that there could be a detrimental impact on traffic, we will look into mitigation measures where possible to alleviate congestion. Motorists frequently vent their frustration over Thatchams level crossing, sometimes being stuck in traffic for more than 20 minutes, and calls for a bridge to replace it have increased in recent years. Proposals for two bridges over the railway line and canal were revealed by this newspaper in 2015. However, the Colthrop Village Consortium withdrew the plans because the site was not included in West Berkshires Development Plan document, which identifies preferred sites for development. And last year, local resident Christie Morris launched a petition calling for a bridge, saying that one would be needed if planning appeals for up to 725 homes in the town were approved on appeal. Proposals to build up to 2,000 homes at Sandleford Park in Newbury would also add to the problem, she said. Network Rail and West Berkshire Council both said that a bridge, costing in excess of 20m, would need to be funded by the Government or a developer. Town and district councillors also raised concerns that a bridge would open up Crookham Hill to HGVs and lead to development south of the railway line. Other efforts to reduce congestion included West Berkshire Council reducing the size of the layby in Station Road to provide extra carriageway space. A new right-hand turn lane into the Royal Mail sorting office was also created. 'Last chance meant just that - you're going to prison' - judge A MAN who bit a town centre pub doorman and spat in a police officers face has been jailed. Warren Holland had hoped that a suspended sentence imposed for previous similar offences would not be activated. However, district judge Davinder Lachhar, presiding at Reading Magistrates Court on Monday, told the 23-year-old, who lives at Boars Hole Cottages, Hermitage: When the suspended sentence was imposed you would have been told it was your last chance. Now Im being asked to give you another one. But last chance means just that. Youre going to prison. Elaine Kale, prosecuting, said the latest incidents happened in the early hours at the Snooty Fox pub in Bartholomew Street, Newbury. A drunken Mr Holland had been asked to leave, but he attacked a doorman named Sam Edwards, sinking his teeth into his leg. He then spat full in the face of a police officer who arrested him, the court heard. Mr Holland admitted being drunk and disorderly and assaulting a police officer, both on April 8. He further admitted that the offences placed him in breach of a six-week prison sentence imposed last December, but suspended for 12 months. Mr Holland also has numerous previous convictions for offences including drink-driving, assaulting a police officer and being drunk and disorderly in public. Moses Tawo, defending, said his client had a personality disorder for which he was being medicated. But he conceded that both the condition and the medication meant that Mr Holland should not drink alcohol. Mr Tawo added: He is unable to control his mood swings when he is under the influence of alcohol. That is his problem. The court was told that Mr Holland had been offered help by the relevant services, but had continued to drink and, consequently, to reoffend. District judge Lachhar said: These were nasty and serious offences biting a person who was just doing his job and assaulting a police officer by spitting in his face. I dont see why these people should have to put up with it. I have no alternative but to activate the suspended prison sentence imposed for the previous offences. District judge Lachhar also added two weeks to the sentence, meaning Mr Holland was jailed for a total of eight weeks. He was also ordered to pay 50 each to Mr Edwards and to the police officer he assaulted. Big Lunch team ask residents to plan an event Picnic pork pies WEST Berkshire residents are being encouraged to get involved in a Big Lunch initiative in June. The idea is being promoted by a local collective called the West Berkshire Big Lunch team, who share the view that neighbours should speak with one another more. The project was launched nine years ago by the Eden Project educational charity and is the UKs annual get-together for neighbours. It is designed to be a day where neighbours and members of communities come together to share good food and good company. Events can be big or small, inside or outside, casual or filled with organised games and activities. A member of the West Berkshire Big Lunch team, Caroline Billington, said: Apparently, the Big Lunch have previously sent out 168 packs to people in the area, so wed like to hear from them about how it went. The big day will be held over the weekend of June 17 and 18. Watch out for more updates in the Newbury Weekly News. Congress might want to take up one of these tech policies when it gets back in session. (image: Wikimedia) Congress is in the middle of a recess, but the experience probably doesnt feel much like a vacation to many representatives and senators. Constituents are yelling at them in town-hall meetings about health care, tax reform, the budget and the environment, and other topics that have boiled over at the start of the Trump administration. Perhaps you are among those cranky constituents. If so, please bring up the following tech-policy problems that could all be addressed by legislation that already exists and in some cases, has spent years kicking around Capitol Hill. Broadband privacy The head-spinning rush by Republicans in the House and the Senate to block pending Federal Communications Commission rules banning Internet providers from selling the browsing histories of their subscribers without permission has gone over about as well as a Senate filibuster consisting of recitations of the browsing histories of randomly-selected taxpayers. For instance, on Thursday night, constituents of Sen. Jeff Flake (R.-Ariz.) tore into him for backing that bill and suggesting they would have to wait for comprehensive privacy legislation covering not just Internet providers but sites like Google (GOOG, GOOGL) and Facebook (FB). One asked the senator if hed sell his own browser history if the crowd took up a collection to pay for it. There is a bill that would reverse this change Sen. Ed Markey (D.-Mass.) has proposed one that would restore the pending rules. But S.878 has no realistic chance of passing with the current republican majority and president. Still, that doesnt mean you cant ask you representative about it. Email searches Next up on the privacy checklist, we have the woefully overdue reform of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986. This living fossil of a law assumes that email stored online for more than 180 days is abandoned and therefore shouldnt require a warrant for law-enforcement investigators to search. Story continues That was technologically unsound in the 80s and in the age of webmail its absurd. Sure, major email providers insist on warrants anyway, but are you sure you dont have any data stored online with a smaller company that doesnt want to tangle with prosecutors in court? The House has already done its job by passing the Email Privacy Act, sponsored by Rep. Kevin Yoder (R.-Kans.), in a voice vote the closest thing to a unanimous vote. Senators, go and do likewise. Border device searches The odds of having Customs and Border Protection agents seize and search your phone when you return from an international trip remain below a hundredth of a percent but CBP agents are also conducting those searches far more frequently compared to previous years. The rules for search and seizure are far more relaxed at the border. The latest numbers, from a CBP spokesperson: 14,993 arriving travelers had their electronic devices searched from October through March, versus 8,383 in the corresponding period a year earlier. Note that this spike in searches predates President Trump; the Obama administration bears responsibility for this too. The Protecting Data at the Border Act, put forth by a bipartisan group of representatives and senators, would require CBP agents to get a warrant to search your devices data, with exceptions for emergency situations. Building out broadband We keep having arguments over issues like net neutrality (the principle that your Internet provider shouldnt block, slow or surcharge sites) and broadband privacy because so many of us dont have a choice of broadband providers. The FCCs latest stats show that only 24% of census blocks have two or more providers offering downloads of at least 25 megabits per second. Worse yet, 29% dont have anybody selling a connection that fast. Many Democrats advocate letting cities and counties build their own municipal broadband networks, to which Republicans often reply: socialism! But tech-policy types on both sides agree that a dig once policy requiring that federally-funded infrastructure projects include conduits for new broadband connections would make it easier to build new networks. Such a bill exists Rep. Anna Eshoo (D.-Calif.) introduced it in 2009! But Congress keeps putting it off to the side. Yet another draft of this Broadband Conduit Deployment Act is now circulating, and you should ask your elected representatives about it. You may have noticed that I havent even mentioned many other tech-policy points Ive addressed here before, like the weak state of cybersecurity in the public and private sector or patent reform to stop patent trolls from sticking up businesses with bogus claims of infringing on vague patents that shouldnt have been granted in the first place. The fact that were waiting on legislation to make meaningful changes in those areas is another thing you might want to consider when speaking up to your hired workers in Washington. More from Rob: Email Rob at rob@robpegoraro.com; follow him on Twitter at @robpegoraro. By Express News Service MUMBAI: Raising a red flag on the telecom sector, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on Tuesday asked banks to review their exposure in next two months. Citing lower interest coverage among telcos, it even asked lenders to make necessary provisioning for standard assets at higher rates than necessary, perhaps indicating likely trouble from operators, which are crumbling under an intense tariff war. As per estimates, telecos have an accumulated debt of `3.8 lakh crore. It may be noted that the central bank had listed telecom among the three most indebted sectors along with iron and steel and power in its December 2016 Financial Stability Report. More immediately, as the telecom sector is reporting stressed financial conditions, and presently interest coverage ratio for the sector is less than one, Board of Directors of the banks may review the telecom sector latest by June 30, 2017, it said in a notification on Tuesday. Interest coverage ratio is an indicator measuring the debt servicing ability of the borrower. A ratio of less than 1 indicates a companys inability to honour payments. Currently, the mandated provisioning against standard assets is between 0.25 and 1 per cent for different sectors. Meanwhile, in another notification, RBI pushed for greater transparency asking banks to make specific disclosures if their assessment of bad loans and provisions is significantly lower than the regulators assessment. Banks will now need to disclose if the additional gross NPAs identified by RBI exceed 15 per cent of the published incremental gross NPAs and if additional provisioning requirements assessed by RBI exceed 15 per cent of published net profit. MUMBAI: Raising a red flag on the telecom sector, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on Tuesday asked banks to review their exposure in next two months. Citing lower interest coverage among telcos, it even asked lenders to make necessary provisioning for standard assets at higher rates than necessary, perhaps indicating likely trouble from operators, which are crumbling under an intense tariff war. As per estimates, telecos have an accumulated debt of `3.8 lakh crore. It may be noted that the central bank had listed telecom among the three most indebted sectors along with iron and steel and power in its December 2016 Financial Stability Report. More immediately, as the telecom sector is reporting stressed financial conditions, and presently interest coverage ratio for the sector is less than one, Board of Directors of the banks may review the telecom sector latest by June 30, 2017, it said in a notification on Tuesday. Interest coverage ratio is an indicator measuring the debt servicing ability of the borrower. A ratio of less than 1 indicates a companys inability to honour payments. Currently, the mandated provisioning against standard assets is between 0.25 and 1 per cent for different sectors. Meanwhile, in another notification, RBI pushed for greater transparency asking banks to make specific disclosures if their assessment of bad loans and provisions is significantly lower than the regulators assessment. Banks will now need to disclose if the additional gross NPAs identified by RBI exceed 15 per cent of the published incremental gross NPAs and if additional provisioning requirements assessed by RBI exceed 15 per cent of published net profit. By Reuters NEW DELHI: Tata Motors (TAMO.NS) is planning to export some of its unsold stock of older-technology trucks, after an unexpected ban on their sale in India, a senior company executive said on Wednesday. India's top court in March banned the sale of vehicles that run on older Euro III fuel technology from April 1, a decision that led to a sharp fall in shares of major automakers sitting on unsold inventory. Tata Motors, the country's largest truck and bus maker, has unsold stock of about 15,000 commercial vehicles while its dealers hold around 3,000 units, said Ravindra Pisharody, executive director for commercial vehicles. "Over half the stock is exportable over 4 to 6 months with minimal or no change," said Pisharody, adding that the auto industry is still considering whether legal action was possible. "Of the balance we are looking at converting them (to Euro IV technology) ... and cannabalising the remaining for spare parts," he said. India said in 2015 automakers must manufacture only Euro IV-compliant vehicles from April 1, 2017 as they are less polluting, but it did not propose banning the sale of older-technology vehicles from the same day. The court said in its ruling that the health concerns of citizens took precedence over any financial losses for companies. NEW DELHI: Tata Motors (TAMO.NS) is planning to export some of its unsold stock of older-technology trucks, after an unexpected ban on their sale in India, a senior company executive said on Wednesday. India's top court in March banned the sale of vehicles that run on older Euro III fuel technology from April 1, a decision that led to a sharp fall in shares of major automakers sitting on unsold inventory. Tata Motors, the country's largest truck and bus maker, has unsold stock of about 15,000 commercial vehicles while its dealers hold around 3,000 units, said Ravindra Pisharody, executive director for commercial vehicles. "Over half the stock is exportable over 4 to 6 months with minimal or no change," said Pisharody, adding that the auto industry is still considering whether legal action was possible. "Of the balance we are looking at converting them (to Euro IV technology) ... and cannabalising the remaining for spare parts," he said. India said in 2015 automakers must manufacture only Euro IV-compliant vehicles from April 1, 2017 as they are less polluting, but it did not propose banning the sale of older-technology vehicles from the same day. The court said in its ruling that the health concerns of citizens took precedence over any financial losses for companies. Abinaya K By Express News Service CHENNAI:As brand ambassador of Smile foundation, Chef Vikas Khanna sure knows how to make anyone smile. Here in the city as part of Quaker Feed a Child drive, the chef, once voted Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine, speaks about his favourite cuisine, his experience working with Gordon Ramsay and what brings him to Chennai. What do you like about Chennai? I have always found something new when I come to Chennai. It is so self-contained with its culture a very rare city where many cultures co-exist: theres a Jain temple next to a mosque and a church in the next street. Many people dont know that I can actually sing in Tamil (laughs). I have learnt Carnatic music. Whats your favourite place in Chennai? Mylapore Kapaleeshwar Temple. I always make it a point to visit whenever I come to Chennai. The prasad is so amazinghow do they make it like that? I also attend Koovagam, the transgender festival Ive been attending it for three years. My book Utsav begins with that festival. I love shopping for brass and copper vessels in Parrys, in all those tiny streets; I have bought almost 300 such items since I got here yesterday. Favourite South-Indian dish? Im very obsessed with Chettinad cuisine. It has an amazing influence from Burma the use of coconut is so different from others. Also Brahmin cuisine which constitutes a simple three ingredient method of cooking is so beautiful! How do you keep yourself challenged as a chef? My focus has just been Indian cuisine for the past 26 years. I travel a lot, and today I have a class with a chef here who is going to teach me to cook an amazing dish millet curd rice. In return, I am going to tell him about the grains from South India that many have forgotten. I have to continuously learn, its impossible to know all about Indian cooking in a few years time. You have been on TV and judged cooking shows and even own a Michelin-star restaurant in the US. Of all the things you do, what do you like best? Farming. I was in a shoot with National Geographic in Punjab, and there were so many farmers there with whom I discussed natural farming methods. When I enter a farm, I forget everything. What is your experience cooking for some of the worlds greats like the Pope, and the Dalai Lama? Its easier to cook for them than for a child (laughs) because a child will openly demean your food in a minute, saying My mom makes better food than you (laughs). I got very tensed when I was cooking for the Pope, to be honest, because I had told the Vatican that I am going to represent different sects of Catholics all over India. For example, Chennais plum cakes are different from those in Goa; I didnt want to injustice to any of these different cuisines. The Dalai Lama wanted me to bake him a special cake for his 80th birthday. I went crazy what can I do? That is when I remembered a certain thin bread from Tibet I made 80 of those, lined them up with different fillings, and the cake was ready. I love doing such things. CHENNAI:As brand ambassador of Smile foundation, Chef Vikas Khanna sure knows how to make anyone smile. Here in the city as part of Quaker Feed a Child drive, the chef, once voted Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine, speaks about his favourite cuisine, his experience working with Gordon Ramsay and what brings him to Chennai. What do you like about Chennai? I have always found something new when I come to Chennai. It is so self-contained with its culture a very rare city where many cultures co-exist: theres a Jain temple next to a mosque and a church in the next street. Many people dont know that I can actually sing in Tamil (laughs). I have learnt Carnatic music. Whats your favourite place in Chennai? Mylapore Kapaleeshwar Temple. I always make it a point to visit whenever I come to Chennai. The prasad is so amazinghow do they make it like that? I also attend Koovagam, the transgender festival Ive been attending it for three years. My book Utsav begins with that festival. I love shopping for brass and copper vessels in Parrys, in all those tiny streets; I have bought almost 300 such items since I got here yesterday. Favourite South-Indian dish? Im very obsessed with Chettinad cuisine. It has an amazing influence from Burma the use of coconut is so different from others. Also Brahmin cuisine which constitutes a simple three ingredient method of cooking is so beautiful! How do you keep yourself challenged as a chef? My focus has just been Indian cuisine for the past 26 years. I travel a lot, and today I have a class with a chef here who is going to teach me to cook an amazing dish millet curd rice. In return, I am going to tell him about the grains from South India that many have forgotten. I have to continuously learn, its impossible to know all about Indian cooking in a few years time. You have been on TV and judged cooking shows and even own a Michelin-star restaurant in the US. Of all the things you do, what do you like best? Farming. I was in a shoot with National Geographic in Punjab, and there were so many farmers there with whom I discussed natural farming methods. When I enter a farm, I forget everything. What is your experience cooking for some of the worlds greats like the Pope, and the Dalai Lama? Its easier to cook for them than for a child (laughs) because a child will openly demean your food in a minute, saying My mom makes better food than you (laughs). I got very tensed when I was cooking for the Pope, to be honest, because I had told the Vatican that I am going to represent different sects of Catholics all over India. For example, Chennais plum cakes are different from those in Goa; I didnt want to injustice to any of these different cuisines. The Dalai Lama wanted me to bake him a special cake for his 80th birthday. I went crazy what can I do? That is when I remembered a certain thin bread from Tibet I made 80 of those, lined them up with different fillings, and the cake was ready. I love doing such things. K Shiva Shanker By Express News Service HYDERABAD: Relations between India and Pakistan have hit a rough patch after Indian former naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav was sentenced to death on April 10 by a Pakistan military court. Now, Indian government has been exploring means to save Kulbhushan Jadhav. Amidst the din of this high-profile case, the story of another Indian has been all but forgotten. This citizen has allegedly been held captive and tortured for two years by her husband and is yearning to return to her home in Hyderabad. The city woman, Mohammadi Begum is reportedly being harassed by her husband in Pakistan. In fact, Union External Affairs ministry had tried to rescue her. However, around 21 days after efforts began, the Kulbhushan Jadhav case grabbed the spot light. Yet, Mohammadis family do not think that this fresh issue will deter their daughters return. Mohammad Akbar and Hajara Begum - parents of Mohammadi - got her married to Muhammad Younus in 1996. He said that he was an Omani national. He deceived us. Younis is a Pakistani. After staying in Oman for some years, he took my daughter to Pakistan nine years ago saying they would be going there to visit his relatives. However, he remained in Pakistan with her and their five children from there on, said Akbar. He has been harassing her from two years. She cries explaining how she is being constantly harassed, and abused, said Hajara Begum, adding that her daughter is also being denied medical help. Hajara Begum said that 20 days ago Mohammedis Indian passport, which expired in April 2016 was renewed and that her daughters visa was extended by six months. Mohammedis parents think that their son-in-law Younus is the main deterrent in their daughters return to home. Hajara Begum, who spoke to her daughter over phone on Tuesday said, My daughter said that Indian Embassy sent two letters but they didnt reach her. In 21-years of marriage, Mohammedi visited her parents in Hyderabad only once. Akbar and Hajara Begum had this message for the Indian government: I request the Centre and Sushma Swaraj to keep my daughter at the Indian Embassy. I have confidence in our government that they will bring back my daughter, Akbar said. HYDERABAD: Relations between India and Pakistan have hit a rough patch after Indian former naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav was sentenced to death on April 10 by a Pakistan military court. Now, Indian government has been exploring means to save Kulbhushan Jadhav. Amidst the din of this high-profile case, the story of another Indian has been all but forgotten. This citizen has allegedly been held captive and tortured for two years by her husband and is yearning to return to her home in Hyderabad. The city woman, Mohammadi Begum is reportedly being harassed by her husband in Pakistan. In fact, Union External Affairs ministry had tried to rescue her. However, around 21 days after efforts began, the Kulbhushan Jadhav case grabbed the spot light. Yet, Mohammadis family do not think that this fresh issue will deter their daughters return. Mohammad Akbar and Hajara Begum - parents of Mohammadi - got her married to Muhammad Younus in 1996. He said that he was an Omani national. He deceived us. Younis is a Pakistani. After staying in Oman for some years, he took my daughter to Pakistan nine years ago saying they would be going there to visit his relatives. However, he remained in Pakistan with her and their five children from there on, said Akbar. He has been harassing her from two years. She cries explaining how she is being constantly harassed, and abused, said Hajara Begum, adding that her daughter is also being denied medical help. Hajara Begum said that 20 days ago Mohammedis Indian passport, which expired in April 2016 was renewed and that her daughters visa was extended by six months. Mohammedis parents think that their son-in-law Younus is the main deterrent in their daughters return to home. Hajara Begum, who spoke to her daughter over phone on Tuesday said, My daughter said that Indian Embassy sent two letters but they didnt reach her. In 21-years of marriage, Mohammedi visited her parents in Hyderabad only once. Akbar and Hajara Begum had this message for the Indian government: I request the Centre and Sushma Swaraj to keep my daughter at the Indian Embassy. I have confidence in our government that they will bring back my daughter, Akbar said. By IANS BENGALURU: New research promises a potential new technology for sustainable harvesting of drinking water -- from air. The atmosphere contains an estimated 13,000 trillion litres of water -- equivalent to nearly 10 per cent of all fresh water present in lakes worldwide -- that has remained untapped. Now, a team of researchers in the US, including two of Indian origin, have developed a device that extracts potable water from ambient air using only sunlight as the energy source. The solar-powered water harvester works even when relative humidity (RH) is as low as 20 per cent, the level common in arid areas and deserts of the world, the researchers report. "This is a major breakthrough in the long-standing challenge of harvesting water from the air at low humidity," Omar Yaghi, chemistry professor at the University of California-Berkeley and one of the corresponding authors, told Nature India. "The key development in our demonstration is that we used only ambient sunlight, with no electricity needed," Yaghi said. "This is a major improvement over most other air-water harvesting devices which require energy input and therefore are economically not viable." "I believe this device will work well in most areas of India," Yaghi said. Largescale use of this device "can change the landscape of water utilisation in India, where sunlight is abundant", added co-author Sameer Rao, a post-doctoral associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The heart of the new device -- constructed at MIT -- is a metal-organic framework (MOF) that belongs to a class of unique materials exhibiting extremely high porosity that Yaghi's team had pioneered in the 1990s at Berkeley. "They have high affinity to water molecules to pull them out of ambient air, but do not hold on to them too tightly so that water can be concentrated and released with a slight temperature change (induced by sunlight)," Yaghi said. The adsorbed (as a thin film) water thus released is then stored by the device in a condenser. The adsorption-desorption experiments performed in a RH-controlled chamber in the laboratory found the device was able to pull 2.8 litres of water from the air over a 12-hour period at RH levels as low as 20 per cent using one kilogram of MOF. Rooftop tests at MIT confirmed that the device works equally well outdoors. The scientists found the experimental data to be in "good agreement" with a theoretical framework they had developed. Yaghi said the daily quantity of harvested water can be scaled up by finding better MOF materials "with enhanced sorption capacity and high intra-crystalline diffusivity" that could absorb more water. The current MOF can absorb only 20 percent of its weight in water. An official statement released about the solar water harvester said that while Yaghi and his team at Berkeley are at work improving their MOFs, Evelyn Wang, the other corresponding author who led the team at MIT, "continues to improve the harvesting system to produce more water". It quoted Wang as saying: "We wanted to demonstrate that if you are cut off somewhere in the desert, you could survive because of this device." Its developers hope their device, when commercialised, could help every household obtain the drinking water it needs out of the air using only the power of the sun. "The social impact of this in India would be far-reaching," said Rao. "It would enable greater success for government's grassroot level programmes seeking to increase literacy and education of women and children in villages" because they would be freed from the everyday job of fetching water for cooking and drinking. How much would the solar water harvester cost? "We have made the significant first step by building the demonstration model combining chemistry and engineering to show how it works," Yaghi said, adding: "The economic aspects as well as the production of these materials and devices are the obvious next step." BENGALURU: New research promises a potential new technology for sustainable harvesting of drinking water -- from air. The atmosphere contains an estimated 13,000 trillion litres of water -- equivalent to nearly 10 per cent of all fresh water present in lakes worldwide -- that has remained untapped. Now, a team of researchers in the US, including two of Indian origin, have developed a device that extracts potable water from ambient air using only sunlight as the energy source. The solar-powered water harvester works even when relative humidity (RH) is as low as 20 per cent, the level common in arid areas and deserts of the world, the researchers report. "This is a major breakthrough in the long-standing challenge of harvesting water from the air at low humidity," Omar Yaghi, chemistry professor at the University of California-Berkeley and one of the corresponding authors, told Nature India. "The key development in our demonstration is that we used only ambient sunlight, with no electricity needed," Yaghi said. "This is a major improvement over most other air-water harvesting devices which require energy input and therefore are economically not viable." "I believe this device will work well in most areas of India," Yaghi said. Largescale use of this device "can change the landscape of water utilisation in India, where sunlight is abundant", added co-author Sameer Rao, a post-doctoral associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The heart of the new device -- constructed at MIT -- is a metal-organic framework (MOF) that belongs to a class of unique materials exhibiting extremely high porosity that Yaghi's team had pioneered in the 1990s at Berkeley. "They have high affinity to water molecules to pull them out of ambient air, but do not hold on to them too tightly so that water can be concentrated and released with a slight temperature change (induced by sunlight)," Yaghi said. The adsorbed (as a thin film) water thus released is then stored by the device in a condenser. The adsorption-desorption experiments performed in a RH-controlled chamber in the laboratory found the device was able to pull 2.8 litres of water from the air over a 12-hour period at RH levels as low as 20 per cent using one kilogram of MOF. Rooftop tests at MIT confirmed that the device works equally well outdoors. The scientists found the experimental data to be in "good agreement" with a theoretical framework they had developed. Yaghi said the daily quantity of harvested water can be scaled up by finding better MOF materials "with enhanced sorption capacity and high intra-crystalline diffusivity" that could absorb more water. The current MOF can absorb only 20 percent of its weight in water. An official statement released about the solar water harvester said that while Yaghi and his team at Berkeley are at work improving their MOFs, Evelyn Wang, the other corresponding author who led the team at MIT, "continues to improve the harvesting system to produce more water". It quoted Wang as saying: "We wanted to demonstrate that if you are cut off somewhere in the desert, you could survive because of this device." Its developers hope their device, when commercialised, could help every household obtain the drinking water it needs out of the air using only the power of the sun. "The social impact of this in India would be far-reaching," said Rao. "It would enable greater success for government's grassroot level programmes seeking to increase literacy and education of women and children in villages" because they would be freed from the everyday job of fetching water for cooking and drinking. How much would the solar water harvester cost? "We have made the significant first step by building the demonstration model combining chemistry and engineering to show how it works," Yaghi said, adding: "The economic aspects as well as the production of these materials and devices are the obvious next step." By IANS NEW DELHI: The origin of New York-based global technology company International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) dates back to 1911, easily making it the longest-surviving tech firm till date. Stressing that "Apple will be around a long time, like IBM", Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak believes that his company -- along with Google and Facebook -- will be bigger in 2075 and dominate the world of technology. "Apple will be around a long time, like IBM. Look at Apple's cash ($246.1 billion, at the end of its last fiscal quarter). It can invest in anything. It would be ridiculous to not expect them to be around (in 2075). The same goes for Google and Facebook," Wozniak, who is nicknamed "Woz", told USA Today this week. The two Steves -- Jobs and Wozniak -- co-founded Apple in 1976 to develop and sell personal computers. Later, Ronald Wayne joined them as the third co-founder. The company was incorporated as Apple Computer Inc. in 1977 and was renamed Apple Inc. in 2007 to reflect its shifted focus toward consumer electronics. According to Canada-based global investment bank RBC Capital Markets, benefiting from its expensive "plus" models and rising demand for its products, Apple will be worth at least $824 billion this year. Can Apple become next IBM, score 100 and remain not out? "This is clearly too far out to make any prediction of reasonable sense. Wozniak seems to be overestimating the current influence and capabilities of the three tech majors and magnifying it over what is a very long term. We are not in a position to reliably make that prediction," Ashutosh Sharma, Vice President and Research Director, Forrester, told IANS. The "Big 3" -- Apple, Google and Facebook -- are investing in new-age technologies and areas such as space exploration, self-driving vehicles, AI, virtual reality/augmented reality, machine learning, human-computer interface, biotechnology and what not -- things that are going to define the future of the human race. So we can say with some certainty that these tech firms -- already having an edge over their peers -- are actively advancing their AI capabilities and that will help them dominate their industries over the next 5-10 years. But 50-plus years? In that kind of time time-frame, an organisation typically would have gone through many leadership changes, a few major cultural shifts and way too many business cycles. "None of the three firms have lived long enough to warrant an opinion that they will continue to win through the generational shifts to come during this long a period. Rest is all speculation," Sharma emphasised. Fifty-plus years is especially a long time-frame in the technology space. Even if the "Big 3" existed that long, and in a dominating position, what will they be doing to make the world better that is different from what they are doing today? "A lot much of democratisation of technology will take place through them. New and innovative business opportunities and models will emerge and several new use cases of technology, essentially connected technologies, will evolve that will increase the value of 'connectedness' in our lives," Faisal Kawoosa, Principal Analyst (Telecoms) at CyberMedia Research (CMR), told IANS. As we move towards a connected and immersive environment, most of the times it will be because of one of these three companies. "These three also form the value chain -- Apple for devices, Google for backbone and Facebook somewhere in the middle," Kawoosa added. Together, the "Big 3" have reached to almost half of the world's population in one way or the other. "Without doubt the 'Big 3' are sitting on a huge pile of cash, but we believe that it's their capability to spot and change with the changing trends that will take them to a long way into the future rather than just revenue strength," Tarun Pathak, Senior Analyst, Mobile Devices and Ecosystems at New Delhi-based Counterpoint Research, told IANS. The impact of these three companies alone on mankind can be huge and with the kind of talent pool they attract, it won't be difficult for them to venture into any segment, especially given that they have access to data on almost half the global population. According to Krishna Mukherjee, an analyst with CMR, the three biggies need to innovate and experiment at every point as change is dynamic and, with changing times, needs also undergo transformation. Let us return to the case of IBM. With a market capitalisation of over $160 billion, IBM, which traditionally has been manufacturing and selling computer hardware and software, has now forayed into areas like artificial intelligence and cognitive analytics (IBM Watson is one such example), Cloud-based solutions and research work in nanotechnology and nanoscience. Whether Apple will be there in 2075 or not is one question; but IBM may very well be there, inching towards celebrating 200 years of its existence. NEW DELHI: The origin of New York-based global technology company International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) dates back to 1911, easily making it the longest-surviving tech firm till date. Stressing that "Apple will be around a long time, like IBM", Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak believes that his company -- along with Google and Facebook -- will be bigger in 2075 and dominate the world of technology. "Apple will be around a long time, like IBM. Look at Apple's cash ($246.1 billion, at the end of its last fiscal quarter). It can invest in anything. It would be ridiculous to not expect them to be around (in 2075). The same goes for Google and Facebook," Wozniak, who is nicknamed "Woz", told USA Today this week. The two Steves -- Jobs and Wozniak -- co-founded Apple in 1976 to develop and sell personal computers. Later, Ronald Wayne joined them as the third co-founder. The company was incorporated as Apple Computer Inc. in 1977 and was renamed Apple Inc. in 2007 to reflect its shifted focus toward consumer electronics. According to Canada-based global investment bank RBC Capital Markets, benefiting from its expensive "plus" models and rising demand for its products, Apple will be worth at least $824 billion this year. Can Apple become next IBM, score 100 and remain not out? "This is clearly too far out to make any prediction of reasonable sense. Wozniak seems to be overestimating the current influence and capabilities of the three tech majors and magnifying it over what is a very long term. We are not in a position to reliably make that prediction," Ashutosh Sharma, Vice President and Research Director, Forrester, told IANS. The "Big 3" -- Apple, Google and Facebook -- are investing in new-age technologies and areas such as space exploration, self-driving vehicles, AI, virtual reality/augmented reality, machine learning, human-computer interface, biotechnology and what not -- things that are going to define the future of the human race. So we can say with some certainty that these tech firms -- already having an edge over their peers -- are actively advancing their AI capabilities and that will help them dominate their industries over the next 5-10 years. But 50-plus years? In that kind of time time-frame, an organisation typically would have gone through many leadership changes, a few major cultural shifts and way too many business cycles. "None of the three firms have lived long enough to warrant an opinion that they will continue to win through the generational shifts to come during this long a period. Rest is all speculation," Sharma emphasised. Fifty-plus years is especially a long time-frame in the technology space. Even if the "Big 3" existed that long, and in a dominating position, what will they be doing to make the world better that is different from what they are doing today? "A lot much of democratisation of technology will take place through them. New and innovative business opportunities and models will emerge and several new use cases of technology, essentially connected technologies, will evolve that will increase the value of 'connectedness' in our lives," Faisal Kawoosa, Principal Analyst (Telecoms) at CyberMedia Research (CMR), told IANS. As we move towards a connected and immersive environment, most of the times it will be because of one of these three companies. "These three also form the value chain -- Apple for devices, Google for backbone and Facebook somewhere in the middle," Kawoosa added. Together, the "Big 3" have reached to almost half of the world's population in one way or the other. "Without doubt the 'Big 3' are sitting on a huge pile of cash, but we believe that it's their capability to spot and change with the changing trends that will take them to a long way into the future rather than just revenue strength," Tarun Pathak, Senior Analyst, Mobile Devices and Ecosystems at New Delhi-based Counterpoint Research, told IANS. The impact of these three companies alone on mankind can be huge and with the kind of talent pool they attract, it won't be difficult for them to venture into any segment, especially given that they have access to data on almost half the global population. According to Krishna Mukherjee, an analyst with CMR, the three biggies need to innovate and experiment at every point as change is dynamic and, with changing times, needs also undergo transformation. Let us return to the case of IBM. With a market capitalisation of over $160 billion, IBM, which traditionally has been manufacturing and selling computer hardware and software, has now forayed into areas like artificial intelligence and cognitive analytics (IBM Watson is one such example), Cloud-based solutions and research work in nanotechnology and nanoscience. Whether Apple will be there in 2075 or not is one question; but IBM may very well be there, inching towards celebrating 200 years of its existence. ahmed hussen Canada has a long history of resettling people from war-torn countries, beginning with the US itself. In 1776, black slaves found refuge in Canada during the American Revolution. At the turn of the 20th century, Jews fleeing Russian pogroms settled there. And within the last 50 years, the country has welcomed more than 60,000 refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, as well as another 40,000 from Syria. "Canada is a nation of immigrants," Canadian Minister of Immigration Ahmed Hussen tells Business Insider. "We've always had immigration as a key tool for economic growth and nation-building." But to hear Hussen celebrate Canada's attitude toward immigration however motivated by economic gain it may be puts in stark relief the changing sentiments in the US about immigration. A century after millions of European migrants arrived on Ellis Island, a lot of US hopefuls many of them well-educated, here on professional work visas now fear deportation. Some have even cancelled their food stamps, worried the government benefit could lead to an unexpected ICE raid. In Canada, immigrants often observe a different mentality. Over the past year, many of the Syrian refugees who shacked up with Canadian families essentially their adoptive guardians came to see the sponsors as kin. "I'm not anxious because I know our sponsors love us. They won't leave us," one refugee, Wissam Al-Hajj, told the New York Times. "There's an understanding in Canada that immigration is a net-positive for our society," Hussen says, "and that we should continue to have a very robust immigration system that welcomes those in need of protection but also those that want to come and give us their skills and talents." In the US, that's historically been true, too. Each year, the US issues 85,000 H-1B visas to highly skilled workers, many of whom find jobs at places like Google, Facebook, and other large tech companies. But critics, like President Trump, who recently signed an executive order to overhaul the program, say it robs native-born Americans of jobs in favor of cheap, outsourced labor. Story continues Proponents say the visas give immigrants the opportunity to live out their version of the American Dream, pursing a life that in many other cases would be impossible. Recently, however, Silicon Valley firms have started relocating workers across the border to protect them from possible deportation. For $6,000, a firm can pay the Canadian-founded company True North to fly their employee to Vancouver, house them for two nights, and have them meet with an immigration expert to sort out gaining residency. Canada's government may have a greater incentive to be friendly to immigrants than the US, given the country's low fertility rate and small population. Immigrants represent a much more immediate economic benefit to a country of 36 million than one of 318 million. Hussen concedes the fiscal upsides, but he says there are other benefits, too. "There are very substantial contributions to our economic growth, our prosperity, to our social and cultural mosaic" that come from immigration, he says. Canada's immigration process used to be lengthy and difficult, sometimes taking 8-10 years for applications to go through. But since 2015, Canada has offered a so-called Express Entry system. Modeled after the New Zealand and Australian models, people in the Express Entry program only wait at most six months to have their residency applications processed. People earn certain scores for the skills they bring, such as experience level, number of degrees, and so on. For all others, there are several routes to gaining residency, and then full citizenship. The cost can run into the thousands, but logistically the process is more straightforward than a lot of other countries. The system isn't perfect, which the Canadian government freely admits. Temporary foreign workers and international students may struggle to fully integrate in the eyes of the law, for instance. But Hussen says the country is receptive to making the necessary changes. And though he didn't want to comment specifically on what the US could do better, he emphasized what, in his opinion, has made Canada great for so long. "Our immigration system welcomes everyone from all over the world," he says. NOW WATCH: 300-year-old river in Canada vanished in 4 days and scientists think it could happen again More From Business Insider By Express News Service BHOPAL: In a chilling episode, 73-year-old Sayeed Malguzar, a veteran Congress leader and businessmen, allegedly shot himself dead after killing wife his Husna (53) in Jabalpur in the wee hours of Wednesday. The episode happened in the hall on the first floor of the three-storied house family house in Nalband locality in Hanumantal area at around 5 am, said SP Jabalpur MS Sikarwar. Malguzar first shot wife Husna in head from point blank range with his licensed revolver. Hearing gunshot, the couple's sonAhad (20), a BCom studentrushed to the first floor from the ground floor and managed to snatch away the revolver from Malguzars hand. The youngster subsequently ran out of the house with the licensed weapon to call his friends and relatives for help. However, Malguzar took out another licensed gun from the shelf and shot self in the left eye. The couple died on the spot. Malguzar, a former municipal councillor, who had contested the State Assembly polls from Jabalpur in the past on Janta Dal ticket, is considered close to former Union minister and JD (U) MP Sharad Yadav. He joined Congress nearly two decades ago, said Jabalpur district Congress chief Dinesh Yadav. Strained relations between the couple are suspected to have triggered the shocking episode, added Sikarwar. The couple has two more children apart from Ahada daughter and sonboth doctors in Los Angeles and New Delhi respectively. Incidentally, the couple's doctor son arrived at the Jabalpur house from Delhi a short while after the incident to attend a wedding in his maternal uncle's family. BHOPAL: In a chilling episode, 73-year-old Sayeed Malguzar, a veteran Congress leader and businessmen, allegedly shot himself dead after killing wife his Husna (53) in Jabalpur in the wee hours of Wednesday. The episode happened in the hall on the first floor of the three-storied house family house in Nalband locality in Hanumantal area at around 5 am, said SP Jabalpur MS Sikarwar. Malguzar first shot wife Husna in head from point blank range with his licensed revolver. Hearing gunshot, the couple's sonAhad (20), a BCom studentrushed to the first floor from the ground floor and managed to snatch away the revolver from Malguzars hand. The youngster subsequently ran out of the house with the licensed weapon to call his friends and relatives for help. However, Malguzar took out another licensed gun from the shelf and shot self in the left eye. The couple died on the spot. Malguzar, a former municipal councillor, who had contested the State Assembly polls from Jabalpur in the past on Janta Dal ticket, is considered close to former Union minister and JD (U) MP Sharad Yadav. He joined Congress nearly two decades ago, said Jabalpur district Congress chief Dinesh Yadav. Strained relations between the couple are suspected to have triggered the shocking episode, added Sikarwar. The couple has two more children apart from Ahada daughter and sonboth doctors in Los Angeles and New Delhi respectively. Incidentally, the couple's doctor son arrived at the Jabalpur house from Delhi a short while after the incident to attend a wedding in his maternal uncle's family. Namita Bajpai By Express News Service LUCKNOW: Twenty-five years after the demolition of the Babri Masjid pacchees saal baad, as Kapil Sibal put it -- the masjid-mandir issue is back on the boil. In their judgement ordering a trial for criminal conspiracy against M/s L K Advani, M M Joshi, Uma Bharti and 18 others, the Supreme Court judges decreed that the verdict be delivered no later than two years from the day the order copy is received by the lower courts in Lucknow and Bareilly. Which means that the verdict would be delivered round about in late April of 2019. Guilty or not guilty, the pronouncement is likely to be sensational. More importantly, thats about the time when the term of the current Lok Sabha would come to a conclusion, and elections would be nigh if Prime Minister Modi would let it run to term. The Supreme Courts verdict on Wednesday and the stirring of the mandir-masjid pot we witnessed in the UP elections last month will ensure that the next election would likely be held in a surcharged atmosphere. The temple issued had been kept on a tight leash for years, relegating it to the back pages of manifestos, including the BJPs Sankalp Patra in the recent election. During the four Parivartan yatras held in December-January, the talk had all been about development. Star campaigners known for their hard Hindutva, such as Yogi Adityanath, avoided mention of the Ram temple issue, and instead kept the focus on contemporary issues such as the Kairana exodus, Muzaffarnagar riots and the Bulandshahr rape case. But as the poll juggernaut reached Ayodhya for the fourth phase of voting, Lord Ram began to sidle up to centre stage. Hardliner MPs like Vinay Katiyar first reignited the issue strategically. The PMs Kabristaan-Shamshaan statement and the Diwali-Ramzaan, Holi-Eid narrative at his Fatehpur poll rally slowly brought about a change in the discourse. But there had been smoke signals earlier. In fact the issue was set on simmer in October last year itself when Union tourism minister Mahesh Sharma visited Ayodhya to inspect a site for a proposed Ramayan Museum, ostensibly to develop an Ayodhya circuit. Joining the race, the Akhilesh Yadav government announced a Ramleela theme park in the temple town. In response, the BJP camp grabbed the opportunity to point out how Mulayam Singh Yadav as UP CM had got kar sevaks shot and now was offering sops in the form of a theme park. LUCKNOW: Twenty-five years after the demolition of the Babri Masjid pacchees saal baad, as Kapil Sibal put it -- the masjid-mandir issue is back on the boil. In their judgement ordering a trial for criminal conspiracy against M/s L K Advani, M M Joshi, Uma Bharti and 18 others, the Supreme Court judges decreed that the verdict be delivered no later than two years from the day the order copy is received by the lower courts in Lucknow and Bareilly. Which means that the verdict would be delivered round about in late April of 2019. Guilty or not guilty, the pronouncement is likely to be sensational. More importantly, thats about the time when the term of the current Lok Sabha would come to a conclusion, and elections would be nigh if Prime Minister Modi would let it run to term. The Supreme Courts verdict on Wednesday and the stirring of the mandir-masjid pot we witnessed in the UP elections last month will ensure that the next election would likely be held in a surcharged atmosphere. The temple issued had been kept on a tight leash for years, relegating it to the back pages of manifestos, including the BJPs Sankalp Patra in the recent election. During the four Parivartan yatras held in December-January, the talk had all been about development. Star campaigners known for their hard Hindutva, such as Yogi Adityanath, avoided mention of the Ram temple issue, and instead kept the focus on contemporary issues such as the Kairana exodus, Muzaffarnagar riots and the Bulandshahr rape case. But as the poll juggernaut reached Ayodhya for the fourth phase of voting, Lord Ram began to sidle up to centre stage. Hardliner MPs like Vinay Katiyar first reignited the issue strategically. The PMs Kabristaan-Shamshaan statement and the Diwali-Ramzaan, Holi-Eid narrative at his Fatehpur poll rally slowly brought about a change in the discourse. But there had been smoke signals earlier. In fact the issue was set on simmer in October last year itself when Union tourism minister Mahesh Sharma visited Ayodhya to inspect a site for a proposed Ramayan Museum, ostensibly to develop an Ayodhya circuit. Joining the race, the Akhilesh Yadav government announced a Ramleela theme park in the temple town. In response, the BJP camp grabbed the opportunity to point out how Mulayam Singh Yadav as UP CM had got kar sevaks shot and now was offering sops in the form of a theme park. By PTI NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court today refused to direct the government to approach the International Court of Justice for the release of death row convict Kulbhushan Jadhav from jail in Pakistan, saying the government was taking necessary steps. A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Anu Malhotra said the government was best placed to take a decision and safeguard the life and liberty of its citizens. "All steps are being taken by the government. There cannot be any intervention by this court," the bench said, adding that it does not want to interfere in the government's measures to secure the release of 46-year-old Jadhav from the Pakistani prison. The court accepted the stand of Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Sanjay Jain that Union of India was making every possible endeavour to get Jadhav back. Observing that it would be "inappropriate" to openly discuss the "sensitive issue", the bench said "revelation in open court about steps being taken by the government may jeopardise the sensitive efforts to secure his release." The high court also rejected the petitioner's prayer for issuance of protocol to release Indians abducted/kidnapped in other countries, saying "there cannot be a straight-jacket formula that may be adopted for different situations." The court had reserved its verdict after the ASG said it was "not a public interest litigation". The ASG had also said the issue should be left to Parliament and its members as it was a rare occasion that members of both the Houses, cutting across party lines, have condemned the act of the Pakistan military court. The court was hearing a petition filed by social activist Rahul Sharma who sought direction to the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Home Affairs to approach the Hague-based ICJ to provide consular access to Jadhav, saying the former Naval officer has not only been illegally detained but also wrongly awarded capital punishment. The Pakistan army chief had on April 10 confirmed the death sentence awarded to Jadhav, a former Naval officer, by a Pakistani military court after he was convicted of "espionage". NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court today refused to direct the government to approach the International Court of Justice for the release of death row convict Kulbhushan Jadhav from jail in Pakistan, saying the government was taking necessary steps. A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Anu Malhotra said the government was best placed to take a decision and safeguard the life and liberty of its citizens. "All steps are being taken by the government. There cannot be any intervention by this court," the bench said, adding that it does not want to interfere in the government's measures to secure the release of 46-year-old Jadhav from the Pakistani prison. The court accepted the stand of Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Sanjay Jain that Union of India was making every possible endeavour to get Jadhav back. Observing that it would be "inappropriate" to openly discuss the "sensitive issue", the bench said "revelation in open court about steps being taken by the government may jeopardise the sensitive efforts to secure his release." The high court also rejected the petitioner's prayer for issuance of protocol to release Indians abducted/kidnapped in other countries, saying "there cannot be a straight-jacket formula that may be adopted for different situations." The court had reserved its verdict after the ASG said it was "not a public interest litigation". The ASG had also said the issue should be left to Parliament and its members as it was a rare occasion that members of both the Houses, cutting across party lines, have condemned the act of the Pakistan military court. The court was hearing a petition filed by social activist Rahul Sharma who sought direction to the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Home Affairs to approach the Hague-based ICJ to provide consular access to Jadhav, saying the former Naval officer has not only been illegally detained but also wrongly awarded capital punishment. The Pakistan army chief had on April 10 confirmed the death sentence awarded to Jadhav, a former Naval officer, by a Pakistani military court after he was convicted of "espionage". Harpreet Bajwa By Express News Service CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government on Wednesday decided to scrap the Khalsa University Act 2016, to save the historic 125-year-old Khalsa College from losing its heritage status by becoming prey to privatisation. A decision to this effect was taken by the State cabinet in a meeting here om Wednesday. Chief minister Capt. Amarinder Singh had earlier promised to protect the glorious legacy of Khalsa College, Amritsar, which is one of oldest educational institutions with a heritage status in the country. Finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal said that the move will not jeopardise the future of the 300 students who had already taken admission in Khalsa University. They would either be shifted to the existing Khalsa College or accommodated in some other college at par, after taking their choice into consideration, he added. The cabinet termed as appalling the move by the Khalsa College Society to destroy its rich heritage status by converting the prestigious institution into a university. The Khalsa University, Amritsar was established by the Khalsa University Act, 2016 by the previous SAD-BJP alliance government, despite huge criticism from not only the residents of Amritsar, but also from the alumni of the college and intellectuals of the State, the cabinet noted. The cabinet decided that there was no point in establishing an additional university in Amritsar, which already has several reputed institutions of higher learning. While the Guru Nanak Dev University has won wide acclaim and recognition at the national level, the Guru Ram Dass University of Health Sciences and the Indian Institute of Management, Amritsar, were also amongst institutions of national repute. The cabinet also noted that taking away a chunk of land from Khalsa College to make a university would adversely affect its existence and diminish the unique identity of its building. The council of ministers expressed a firm view that in order to maintain the identity of Khalsa College, all the properties attached to it should be kept intact, thus also preserving its architectural grandeur and marvel. Meanwhile Khalsa College Governing Council (KCGC) called the decision by the State government to scrap Khalsa University as most unfortunate. The top functionaries of the varsity said they are seeking legal opinion to `save the university, which has already registered over 300 students in various classes from PhD to post-graduate and graduate courses following the governments nod in August 2016. KU Chancellor Satayjit Singh Majithia and Pro-Chancellor Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina, said petty vendetta politics is being played to kill the educational project which is a boon for the education sector in the border region. They said false propaganda is being unleashed that Khalsa University threatens the historic Khalsa College. There is not even an iota of truth in the argument that the varsity hampers the heritage building. The College is functioning as an autonomous institution and the university is coming up as a separate building, said Majithia. The KCGC, which was set up in 1890 and established the iconic Khalsa College; one of the most premier educational institutions of the country, in 1892, is a democratically elected body which runs Khalsa College and Khalsa University separately. Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina hit out at chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh for playing to the gallery of the lobbyists, and for not trying to find the truth behind the project. He said the government establishes educational institutions, and perhaps is the first time that a government is scrapping the university for political reasons. He said they are in consultation with legal experts, and would do everything to save the future of 300 students who have taken admission in various classes. CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government on Wednesday decided to scrap the Khalsa University Act 2016, to save the historic 125-year-old Khalsa College from losing its heritage status by becoming prey to privatisation. A decision to this effect was taken by the State cabinet in a meeting here om Wednesday. Chief minister Capt. Amarinder Singh had earlier promised to protect the glorious legacy of Khalsa College, Amritsar, which is one of oldest educational institutions with a heritage status in the country. Finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal said that the move will not jeopardise the future of the 300 students who had already taken admission in Khalsa University. They would either be shifted to the existing Khalsa College or accommodated in some other college at par, after taking their choice into consideration, he added. The cabinet termed as appalling the move by the Khalsa College Society to destroy its rich heritage status by converting the prestigious institution into a university. The Khalsa University, Amritsar was established by the Khalsa University Act, 2016 by the previous SAD-BJP alliance government, despite huge criticism from not only the residents of Amritsar, but also from the alumni of the college and intellectuals of the State, the cabinet noted. The cabinet decided that there was no point in establishing an additional university in Amritsar, which already has several reputed institutions of higher learning. While the Guru Nanak Dev University has won wide acclaim and recognition at the national level, the Guru Ram Dass University of Health Sciences and the Indian Institute of Management, Amritsar, were also amongst institutions of national repute. The cabinet also noted that taking away a chunk of land from Khalsa College to make a university would adversely affect its existence and diminish the unique identity of its building. The council of ministers expressed a firm view that in order to maintain the identity of Khalsa College, all the properties attached to it should be kept intact, thus also preserving its architectural grandeur and marvel. Meanwhile Khalsa College Governing Council (KCGC) called the decision by the State government to scrap Khalsa University as most unfortunate. The top functionaries of the varsity said they are seeking legal opinion to `save the university, which has already registered over 300 students in various classes from PhD to post-graduate and graduate courses following the governments nod in August 2016. KU Chancellor Satayjit Singh Majithia and Pro-Chancellor Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina, said petty vendetta politics is being played to kill the educational project which is a boon for the education sector in the border region. They said false propaganda is being unleashed that Khalsa University threatens the historic Khalsa College. There is not even an iota of truth in the argument that the varsity hampers the heritage building. The College is functioning as an autonomous institution and the university is coming up as a separate building, said Majithia. The KCGC, which was set up in 1890 and established the iconic Khalsa College; one of the most premier educational institutions of the country, in 1892, is a democratically elected body which runs Khalsa College and Khalsa University separately. Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina hit out at chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh for playing to the gallery of the lobbyists, and for not trying to find the truth behind the project. He said the government establishes educational institutions, and perhaps is the first time that a government is scrapping the university for political reasons. He said they are in consultation with legal experts, and would do everything to save the future of 300 students who have taken admission in various classes. By Express News Service BHUBANESWAR: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday slammed the BJP for playing divisive politics and urged regional parties to come together to stop the saffron brigades surge in the country. The Trinamool Congress chief, who arrived in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday on a three-day visit, also said she may meet Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik even as speculations of a non-BJP third front alliance are rife. Mamata, who is facing protests from a section of servitors of Sri Jagannath Temple at Puri for her views on beef consumption, is slated to visit the 12th century shrine later in the day. Extensive security arrangements have been put in place in view of her visit. Talking to mediapersons at Puri, the WB Chief Minister said she is a staunch Hindu and believes in secular values. I practice Hinduism, but not like others (BJP) who bring the religion a bad name, Mamata said adding that the national party is playing divisive politics on the basis of religion. Its about time the regional parties of the country are united against BJP, she said and added that she will meet Naveen and discuss the matter on Thursday. Asked about the Narada sting operation in which CBI has initiated a probe against 13 Trinamool Congress leaders, Mamata said it is a political vendetta by the BJP. It is an old case which is being used to target TMC which came to power only in 2011. However, the party would fight the political vendetta legally, she said. Describing herself as a devout follower of Lord Jagannath, the WB CM said there is a strong bond between Odias and Bengalis who throng Puri throughout the year. On Tuesday, the WB Chief Minister had visited two of the TMC MPs-- Sudip Bandyopadhya and Tapas Paul--at Apollo Hospitals here, where they are undergoing treatment. The two were arrested by CBI in connection with chief fund scam earlier. BHUBANESWAR: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday slammed the BJP for playing divisive politics and urged regional parties to come together to stop the saffron brigades surge in the country. The Trinamool Congress chief, who arrived in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday on a three-day visit, also said she may meet Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik even as speculations of a non-BJP third front alliance are rife. Mamata, who is facing protests from a section of servitors of Sri Jagannath Temple at Puri for her views on beef consumption, is slated to visit the 12th century shrine later in the day. Extensive security arrangements have been put in place in view of her visit. Talking to mediapersons at Puri, the WB Chief Minister said she is a staunch Hindu and believes in secular values. I practice Hinduism, but not like others (BJP) who bring the religion a bad name, Mamata said adding that the national party is playing divisive politics on the basis of religion. Its about time the regional parties of the country are united against BJP, she said and added that she will meet Naveen and discuss the matter on Thursday. Asked about the Narada sting operation in which CBI has initiated a probe against 13 Trinamool Congress leaders, Mamata said it is a political vendetta by the BJP. It is an old case which is being used to target TMC which came to power only in 2011. However, the party would fight the political vendetta legally, she said. Describing herself as a devout follower of Lord Jagannath, the WB CM said there is a strong bond between Odias and Bengalis who throng Puri throughout the year. On Tuesday, the WB Chief Minister had visited two of the TMC MPs-- Sudip Bandyopadhya and Tapas Paul--at Apollo Hospitals here, where they are undergoing treatment. The two were arrested by CBI in connection with chief fund scam earlier. Swaran Singh By North Korea celebrated the 105th birth anniversary of its founding president Kim Il-sung last Saturday. Pyongyang witnessed a jaw-dropping military parade in which a whole range of offensive weapons including several ballistic missiles were displayed. Kim Il-sung, the grandfather of their current leader Kim Jong-Un, is the one who had started North Koreas nuclear weapons and missile programs which remain the key in ensuring the continued rule of the Kim family. Kim Jong-uns recent missile tests and his talk of a surprise triggered a spate of tweets from US President Donald Trump and comments by senior US officials asking Pyongyang to give up the development of nuclear weapons and missiles. This sabre-rattling coincides with US Vice President Mike Pences 10-day Asia-Pacific tour where he is reassuring allies of the US commitment to their security, adding fuel to these continuing polemics from both sides. Successive US presidents from the early 1990s have been asking North Korea to abandon the development of nuclear weapons and missiles. But what makes this current standoff especially threatening is not just Trumps repeated statements on acting unilaterally and militarily, but his dispatch of aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson to the Korean peninsula and his recent strikes in Syria and Afghanistan. The ongoing standoff also becomes gripping given that persistent economic sanctions and repeated test failures, including the one on Sunday, have not deterred the hermit kingdom which today stands quite close to delivering nuclear strikes into US cities.North Korean nuclear strikes can kill millions of South Koreans and Japanese, and it is no consolation that it may get destroyed completely in retaliation by US and its allies. This emerging reality of nuclear North Korea will be the biggest game changer for the security architecture of at least the Asia-Pacific. First and foremost, it will severely diminish the policy options of big powers that have been trying to disarm the Kim regime. Kim Jong-un has surely learnt his lessons from Iraq and Libya which either could not develop nuclear weapons in time or chose to surrender their nuclear option for a promise of security by Washington. While the clock seems to tick in favour of Pyongyang, Pence concluded his Seoul visit Monday by underlining that on North Koreas nuclear ambitions, the era of strategic patience is over and the US was moving ahead with all defences against North Korea including setting up the THAAD missile-defence system in South Korea. Pence said all options are on the table prompting the South Korean foreign ministry to say they are ready to respond to any further provocations from the Kim Jong-un regime. Starting Tuesday, the same tone is likely to be repeated in Tokyo and his tour will end in Australia which has already joined the chorus describing North Koreas missiles tests as a threat to international security. Back home in the US, National Security Advisor Lt Gen H R McMaster meanwhile called North Koreas failed missile tests provocative and destabilising and threatening behaviour that just cannot continue and asserted that President Trump has already instructed the National Security Council to integrate efforts of the departments of defence and state, and intelligence agencies to provide him with options if North Korean regime refuses to denuclearise. This is contrary to most policy assessments by successive US administrations which have found military strikes too costly an option to be put into practice. Along with the increasing credibility of North Koreas nuclear deterrence capabilities, China has emerged as the second important beneficiary of the current crisis. Provocations from Pyongyang have triggered an important transformation in Trump's anti-China rhetoric. He now calls China a potential partner in addressing the North Korea problem underlining how China is working with us which shows how China, instead of being punished for the failure of the Six Party Talks, remains central to US nonproliferation strategies. Trump now confesses that China holds the key to easing the Korean crisis. He has gradually given up on his earlier formulation on how the US would act unilaterally if Beijing failed to rein in its wayward neighbour. This Sunday he tweeted, Why would I call China a currency manipulator when they are working with us on the North Korean problem? But in the face of deteriorating ChinaNorth Korea relations, Beijings leverage over Pyongyang has diminished considerably. Following President Xi Jinpings meeting with Trump earlier this month, North Korea had denied a request for a meeting by China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Chinas top representative for North Korean nuclear affairs Wu Dawei. Following the 2013 execution of Kim's uncle, Jang Song-thaeka major facilitator of talks between Pyongyang and Beijing the two countries have since backed down from high-level meetings. In February, following the murder of Kims half-brother Kim Jong-nam who was under China's protection, Beijing banned coal imports from Pyongyang. Right from the beginning, China has been against the use of military strikes and even excessive economic sanctions to seek denuclearisation of North Korea. The last four US presidents have dealt with the issue and Bill Clinton had even considered a decapitating strike on North Koreas nuclear facilities which was given up as it was found too risky. North Koreas nuclear facilities and capabilities have since mushroomed making it far more dangerous for the US to consider the option of military strikes. As regards the impact on India, Trump cosying up to Xi is bound to make China still more assertive in its India policy. The author is a Professor at the School of International Studies, JNU, New Delhi. Email: ssingh@jnu.ac.in North Korea celebrated the 105th birth anniversary of its founding president Kim Il-sung last Saturday. Pyongyang witnessed a jaw-dropping military parade in which a whole range of offensive weapons including several ballistic missiles were displayed. Kim Il-sung, the grandfather of their current leader Kim Jong-Un, is the one who had started North Koreas nuclear weapons and missile programs which remain the key in ensuring the continued rule of the Kim family. Kim Jong-uns recent missile tests and his talk of a surprise triggered a spate of tweets from US President Donald Trump and comments by senior US officials asking Pyongyang to give up the development of nuclear weapons and missiles. This sabre-rattling coincides with US Vice President Mike Pences 10-day Asia-Pacific tour where he is reassuring allies of the US commitment to their security, adding fuel to these continuing polemics from both sides. Successive US presidents from the early 1990s have been asking North Korea to abandon the development of nuclear weapons and missiles. But what makes this current standoff especially threatening is not just Trumps repeated statements on acting unilaterally and militarily, but his dispatch of aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson to the Korean peninsula and his recent strikes in Syria and Afghanistan. The ongoing standoff also becomes gripping given that persistent economic sanctions and repeated test failures, including the one on Sunday, have not deterred the hermit kingdom which today stands quite close to delivering nuclear strikes into US cities.North Korean nuclear strikes can kill millions of South Koreans and Japanese, and it is no consolation that it may get destroyed completely in retaliation by US and its allies. This emerging reality of nuclear North Korea will be the biggest game changer for the security architecture of at least the Asia-Pacific. First and foremost, it will severely diminish the policy options of big powers that have been trying to disarm the Kim regime. Kim Jong-un has surely learnt his lessons from Iraq and Libya which either could not develop nuclear weapons in time or chose to surrender their nuclear option for a promise of security by Washington. While the clock seems to tick in favour of Pyongyang, Pence concluded his Seoul visit Monday by underlining that on North Koreas nuclear ambitions, the era of strategic patience is over and the US was moving ahead with all defences against North Korea including setting up the THAAD missile-defence system in South Korea. Pence said all options are on the table prompting the South Korean foreign ministry to say they are ready to respond to any further provocations from the Kim Jong-un regime. Starting Tuesday, the same tone is likely to be repeated in Tokyo and his tour will end in Australia which has already joined the chorus describing North Koreas missiles tests as a threat to international security. Back home in the US, National Security Advisor Lt Gen H R McMaster meanwhile called North Koreas failed missile tests provocative and destabilising and threatening behaviour that just cannot continue and asserted that President Trump has already instructed the National Security Council to integrate efforts of the departments of defence and state, and intelligence agencies to provide him with options if North Korean regime refuses to denuclearise. This is contrary to most policy assessments by successive US administrations which have found military strikes too costly an option to be put into practice. Along with the increasing credibility of North Koreas nuclear deterrence capabilities, China has emerged as the second important beneficiary of the current crisis. Provocations from Pyongyang have triggered an important transformation in Trump's anti-China rhetoric. He now calls China a potential partner in addressing the North Korea problem underlining how China is working with us which shows how China, instead of being punished for the failure of the Six Party Talks, remains central to US nonproliferation strategies. Trump now confesses that China holds the key to easing the Korean crisis. He has gradually given up on his earlier formulation on how the US would act unilaterally if Beijing failed to rein in its wayward neighbour. This Sunday he tweeted, Why would I call China a currency manipulator when they are working with us on the North Korean problem? But in the face of deteriorating ChinaNorth Korea relations, Beijings leverage over Pyongyang has diminished considerably. Following President Xi Jinpings meeting with Trump earlier this month, North Korea had denied a request for a meeting by China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Chinas top representative for North Korean nuclear affairs Wu Dawei. Following the 2013 execution of Kim's uncle, Jang Song-thaeka major facilitator of talks between Pyongyang and Beijing the two countries have since backed down from high-level meetings. In February, following the murder of Kims half-brother Kim Jong-nam who was under China's protection, Beijing banned coal imports from Pyongyang. Right from the beginning, China has been against the use of military strikes and even excessive economic sanctions to seek denuclearisation of North Korea. The last four US presidents have dealt with the issue and Bill Clinton had even considered a decapitating strike on North Koreas nuclear facilities which was given up as it was found too risky. North Koreas nuclear facilities and capabilities have since mushroomed making it far more dangerous for the US to consider the option of military strikes. As regards the impact on India, Trump cosying up to Xi is bound to make China still more assertive in its India policy. The author is a Professor at the School of International Studies, JNU, New Delhi. Email: ssingh@jnu.ac.in By Express News Service CHENNAI: In a strong blow to Indian immigrants, Australia has joined the growing list of countries that have cracked down on skilled but cheap foreign labour. The move comes even as US President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order to overhaul the H1B visa programme. So far, four countries UK, US, Singapore and Australia have announced a crackdown on foreign workers taking up local jobs. In effect, if not in intent, the global trend of protectionism has begun denting prospects of the Indian IT sector. Just like with the US, India is also the largest beneficiary of Australias 457-visa programme, that is now being abolished. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, while announcing the move, even mirrored the rhetoric of his US counterpart Donald Trump. The new visa regime that replaces 457-visa programme would put jobs first and Australia first, he said. Our reforms will have a simple focus: Australian jobs and Australian values. The blow, coming after the UK, US and Singapore crackdown, is only set to make matters worse for Indian IT companies, which have significant exposure to all the markets. While the US and Canada accounted for nearly 60 per cent of all software exports, the Australia and New Zealand region accounted for 3.4 per cent in 2015-16, according to the RBI. This is part of an ongoing global trend and is not surprising. Indian companies will have to begin reworking business models and start hiring more locally, to do business remotely, pointed out Raja Lahiri, IT analyst, Grant Thornton India. However, this is set to make matters worse for companies in the next few quarters. There will definitely be an impact on margins and revenue. The cumulative impact is going to be big because the four countries and the regions they cater to account for a majority of Indian IT export markets (more than 70 per cent), said the director of a leading Indian IT firm. CHENNAI: In a strong blow to Indian immigrants, Australia has joined the growing list of countries that have cracked down on skilled but cheap foreign labour. The move comes even as US President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order to overhaul the H1B visa programme. So far, four countries UK, US, Singapore and Australia have announced a crackdown on foreign workers taking up local jobs. In effect, if not in intent, the global trend of protectionism has begun denting prospects of the Indian IT sector. Just like with the US, India is also the largest beneficiary of Australias 457-visa programme, that is now being abolished. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, while announcing the move, even mirrored the rhetoric of his US counterpart Donald Trump. The new visa regime that replaces 457-visa programme would put jobs first and Australia first, he said. Our reforms will have a simple focus: Australian jobs and Australian values. The blow, coming after the UK, US and Singapore crackdown, is only set to make matters worse for Indian IT companies, which have significant exposure to all the markets. While the US and Canada accounted for nearly 60 per cent of all software exports, the Australia and New Zealand region accounted for 3.4 per cent in 2015-16, according to the RBI. This is part of an ongoing global trend and is not surprising. Indian companies will have to begin reworking business models and start hiring more locally, to do business remotely, pointed out Raja Lahiri, IT analyst, Grant Thornton India. However, this is set to make matters worse for companies in the next few quarters. There will definitely be an impact on margins and revenue. The cumulative impact is going to be big because the four countries and the regions they cater to account for a majority of Indian IT export markets (more than 70 per cent), said the director of a leading Indian IT firm. By Express News Service CHENNAI/NAGAPATTINAM:Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Wednesday granted assistance of Rs 90 lakh to 18 fishermen whose boats could not be salvaged after they were seized by Sri Lankan navy. According to an official press release, Palaniswami handed over cheques of Rs 5 lakh each to the fishermen at the Secretariat. The boats, which were in the custody of Sri Lanka, were released through a series of initiatives taken by late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, the release said adding the State government had formed teams to repair 64 boats, which suffered minor damages. The Government had borne the total cost involved to repair the boats. However, 18 boats that were extensively damaged, sunk in the Bay of Bengal, it said. Following this, the CM directed officials to disburse aid from the Chief Ministers Public Relief Fund. The 18 fishermen who received the assistance belong to Ramanathapuram. Explaining the reason behind the decision to compensate only 18 fishermen , Amal Xavier, regional joint director, Fisheries Department Nagapattinam said, In 2014, when Sri Lanka decided to release 80 boats it impounded from Tamil Nadu fishermen, the State government deputed officials to ascertain the condition of those boats. On inspection, it was found that 18 boats were damaged beyond repair and a report was submitted to the government. Now the government has announced Rs 5 Lakh each to owners of the boats. Reacting to the development, representatives of fishermen association in Nagapattinam, said Rs 5 lakh was a meagre amount considering the actual value of a mechanised vessel. P Mohandoss, fishermen representative of Akkarappettai, said, A mechanised boast costs H30 to Rs 40 lakh. When the government announced H5 lakh as compensation for damaged boats, the owners refused to accept it saying the amount was insufficient. We dont know what made them accept it now. Our demand is that the government should grant at least half the price of a boat as compensation, Mohandoss said adding there were 138 mechanised boats currently in Lankan custody. Steps must be initiated to get retrieve them also. CHENNAI/NAGAPATTINAM:Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Wednesday granted assistance of Rs 90 lakh to 18 fishermen whose boats could not be salvaged after they were seized by Sri Lankan navy. According to an official press release, Palaniswami handed over cheques of Rs 5 lakh each to the fishermen at the Secretariat. The boats, which were in the custody of Sri Lanka, were released through a series of initiatives taken by late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, the release said adding the State government had formed teams to repair 64 boats, which suffered minor damages. The Government had borne the total cost involved to repair the boats. However, 18 boats that were extensively damaged, sunk in the Bay of Bengal, it said. Following this, the CM directed officials to disburse aid from the Chief Ministers Public Relief Fund. The 18 fishermen who received the assistance belong to Ramanathapuram. Explaining the reason behind the decision to compensate only 18 fishermen , Amal Xavier, regional joint director, Fisheries Department Nagapattinam said, In 2014, when Sri Lanka decided to release 80 boats it impounded from Tamil Nadu fishermen, the State government deputed officials to ascertain the condition of those boats. On inspection, it was found that 18 boats were damaged beyond repair and a report was submitted to the government. Now the government has announced Rs 5 Lakh each to owners of the boats. Reacting to the development, representatives of fishermen association in Nagapattinam, said Rs 5 lakh was a meagre amount considering the actual value of a mechanised vessel. P Mohandoss, fishermen representative of Akkarappettai, said, A mechanised boast costs H30 to Rs 40 lakh. When the government announced H5 lakh as compensation for damaged boats, the owners refused to accept it saying the amount was insufficient. We dont know what made them accept it now. Our demand is that the government should grant at least half the price of a boat as compensation, Mohandoss said adding there were 138 mechanised boats currently in Lankan custody. Steps must be initiated to get retrieve them also. By PTI BEIJING: China, a close ally of North Korea, today expressed serious concern over Pyongyang's plans to step up its nuclear and missile programmes. China is seriously concerned about the latest developments in the nuclear and missile programmes of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said. Lu's comments came after North Korea's deputy ambassador to the UN and its vice Foreign Minister reportedly said that a new nuclear test was under preparation and more missile tests would be conducted on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis. "China is committed to denuclearising the Korean Peninsula, maintaining peace and stability there, and resolving problems through dialogue and consultation. China's stance on this is unswerving," Lu said in strongest comments against North Korea in the present crisis. Lu stressed that given the complicated and sensitive situation on the Korean Peninsula, China firmly opposes any words and deeds that could heighten hostility and tension and called on all parties involved to make efforts to ease the tension. Two days ago Lu welcomed the US to play a positive role in peacefully resolving the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue as US Vice President Mike Pence put North Korea on notice pointing to American airstrikes in Syria and Afghanistan. "We are willing to work with all parties concerned to achieve denuclearisation and safeguard peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula," Lu said responding to Pence comments made in Seoul. "Just in the past two weeks, the world witnessed the strength and resolve of our new president in actions taken in Syria and Afghanistan," Pence had said, referring to missile strikes in Syria for deadly chemical attack and dropping of the mother of all bombs over IS hideout in Afghanistan. "North Korea would do well not to test his resolve or the strength of the armed forces of the United States in this region," Pence said. On April 14, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said conflict over North Korea could break out "at any moment" and warned there would be "no winner" in any war. "There has been heightened tension between the US, the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The precarious situation deserves our attention and concern," Wang said, without directly referring to threats of strong retaliation threatened by US President Donal Trump if North Korea resorts to nuclear test. Lu Chao, director of the China's Border Studies Institute at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that the latest test, despite its failure, could be another defiant message from Pyongyang that it will not change its tough stance in the face of US pressure even though the failure showed that Pyongyang's missile technology was flawed. BEIJING: China, a close ally of North Korea, today expressed serious concern over Pyongyang's plans to step up its nuclear and missile programmes. China is seriously concerned about the latest developments in the nuclear and missile programmes of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said. Lu's comments came after North Korea's deputy ambassador to the UN and its vice Foreign Minister reportedly said that a new nuclear test was under preparation and more missile tests would be conducted on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis. "China is committed to denuclearising the Korean Peninsula, maintaining peace and stability there, and resolving problems through dialogue and consultation. China's stance on this is unswerving," Lu said in strongest comments against North Korea in the present crisis. Lu stressed that given the complicated and sensitive situation on the Korean Peninsula, China firmly opposes any words and deeds that could heighten hostility and tension and called on all parties involved to make efforts to ease the tension. Two days ago Lu welcomed the US to play a positive role in peacefully resolving the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue as US Vice President Mike Pence put North Korea on notice pointing to American airstrikes in Syria and Afghanistan. "We are willing to work with all parties concerned to achieve denuclearisation and safeguard peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula," Lu said responding to Pence comments made in Seoul. "Just in the past two weeks, the world witnessed the strength and resolve of our new president in actions taken in Syria and Afghanistan," Pence had said, referring to missile strikes in Syria for deadly chemical attack and dropping of the mother of all bombs over IS hideout in Afghanistan. "North Korea would do well not to test his resolve or the strength of the armed forces of the United States in this region," Pence said. On April 14, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said conflict over North Korea could break out "at any moment" and warned there would be "no winner" in any war. "There has been heightened tension between the US, the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The precarious situation deserves our attention and concern," Wang said, without directly referring to threats of strong retaliation threatened by US President Donal Trump if North Korea resorts to nuclear test. Lu Chao, director of the China's Border Studies Institute at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that the latest test, despite its failure, could be another defiant message from Pyongyang that it will not change its tough stance in the face of US pressure even though the failure showed that Pyongyang's missile technology was flawed. By AFP CARACAS, VENEZUELA: President Nicolas Maduro's supporters and opponents will stage rallies on Wednesday in Venezuela's increasingly violent political standoff and economic crisis. Here are five key players in a crisis that has raised international fears about the stability of the South American oil exporter: Maduro Elected in 2013 to succeed his late mentor Hugo Chavez, Maduro has faced rising pressure due to food and medicine shortages aggravated by plunging oil prices. The socialist president, a 54-year-old former bus driver, holds power with control of almost all the state institutions. Capriles Narrowly beaten by Maduro in the last election, lawyer Henrique Capriles, 44, is the most visible face of the center-right opposition's efforts to oust the president -- though authorities recently banned Capriles from politics for 15 years. Capriles has called Maduro a dictator and a "monstrosity." Maduro calls Capriles a capitalist coup-plotter and dismisses him with the homophobic insult "Capriloca." Padrino Military support is a key pillar of Maduro's government. Political analyst Benigno Alarcon said Maduro has "bought the loyalty" of the commanders. Venezuela's defense minister, General Vladimir Padrino Lopez, 53, on Monday declared the army's "unconditional loyalty" to Maduro. Almagro Leftist allies such as Cuba and Bolivia have defended Maduro. The United States and other international powers have voiced concern about democracy under his leadership. His most vocal international critic is Luis Almagro, the Uruguayan secretary general of the Organization of American States. He has branded Maduro a dictator and called for sanctions. Creditors Despite the crisis, Venezuela has avoided defaulting on its debts to key creditors such as China and Russia. Currently any deals to raise cash from foreign investors, including oil contracts, are supposed to be approved by the opposition-controlled legislature. The Maduro camp's bid to get around that requirement, by stripping the legislature's powers, triggered the latest wave of protests. Russian state oil company Rosneft "seems less concerned about questions of legality stemming from the opposition's refusal to approve new loans," analysts at the Eurasia consultancy cautioned in a note on April 6. "The latter does seem to be a sticking point for the Chinese." CARACAS, VENEZUELA: President Nicolas Maduro's supporters and opponents will stage rallies on Wednesday in Venezuela's increasingly violent political standoff and economic crisis. Here are five key players in a crisis that has raised international fears about the stability of the South American oil exporter: Maduro Elected in 2013 to succeed his late mentor Hugo Chavez, Maduro has faced rising pressure due to food and medicine shortages aggravated by plunging oil prices. The socialist president, a 54-year-old former bus driver, holds power with control of almost all the state institutions. Capriles Narrowly beaten by Maduro in the last election, lawyer Henrique Capriles, 44, is the most visible face of the center-right opposition's efforts to oust the president -- though authorities recently banned Capriles from politics for 15 years. Capriles has called Maduro a dictator and a "monstrosity." Maduro calls Capriles a capitalist coup-plotter and dismisses him with the homophobic insult "Capriloca." Padrino Military support is a key pillar of Maduro's government. Political analyst Benigno Alarcon said Maduro has "bought the loyalty" of the commanders. Venezuela's defense minister, General Vladimir Padrino Lopez, 53, on Monday declared the army's "unconditional loyalty" to Maduro. Almagro Leftist allies such as Cuba and Bolivia have defended Maduro. The United States and other international powers have voiced concern about democracy under his leadership. His most vocal international critic is Luis Almagro, the Uruguayan secretary general of the Organization of American States. He has branded Maduro a dictator and called for sanctions. Creditors Despite the crisis, Venezuela has avoided defaulting on its debts to key creditors such as China and Russia. Currently any deals to raise cash from foreign investors, including oil contracts, are supposed to be approved by the opposition-controlled legislature. The Maduro camp's bid to get around that requirement, by stripping the legislature's powers, triggered the latest wave of protests. Russian state oil company Rosneft "seems less concerned about questions of legality stemming from the opposition's refusal to approve new loans," analysts at the Eurasia consultancy cautioned in a note on April 6. "The latter does seem to be a sticking point for the Chinese." By PTI ISLAMABAD: Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale is expected to meet Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua later today to discuss the issue of Indian prisoner on death row Kulbhushan Jadhav. Sources in the Foreign Office here said that Bambawale has sought the meeting with the Foreign Secretary. "The meeting is expected in the evening," they said. They said that the issue of Jadhav is likely to be the focus of the meeting as India has been seeking consular access to its convicted citizen. Pakistan has denied India's request for consular access to Jadhav over a dozen times in the last one year. Pakistan army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor has already rejected any chance of granting consular access to Jadhav who was sentenced to death for espionage and subversive activities. It would be Bambawale's second meeting in less than a week with the foreign secretary, showing increasing concern of India about the fate of Jadhav. He told media after his previous meeting on April 14 that he had asked for the list of charges and authentic copy of verdict of military tribunal against Jadhav to launch an appeal against his conviction. He also said that India was seeking consular access on the basis on international law humanitarian grounds. FO in a statement issued after the meeting said that the Foreign Secretary told Bambawale that during the period of the trial of Jadhav, the due judicial process was followed and he was provided with a lawyer in accordance with relevant laws and the Constitution of Pakistan. Jadhav, 46, was awarded death sentence by the Field General Court Martial last week, evoking a sharp reaction in India which warned Pakistan of consequences and damage to bilateral ties if the "pre-meditated murder" was carried out. 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." The Pakistan Army had also released a "confessional video" of Jadhav after his arrest. However, India denied Pakistan's contention and maintained that Jadhav was kidnapped by the Pakistan authorities. India had acknowledged that Jadhav had served with the navy but denied that he has any connection with the government. ISLAMABAD: Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale is expected to meet Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua later today to discuss the issue of Indian prisoner on death row Kulbhushan Jadhav. Sources in the Foreign Office here said that Bambawale has sought the meeting with the Foreign Secretary. "The meeting is expected in the evening," they said. They said that the issue of Jadhav is likely to be the focus of the meeting as India has been seeking consular access to its convicted citizen. Pakistan has denied India's request for consular access to Jadhav over a dozen times in the last one year. Pakistan army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor has already rejected any chance of granting consular access to Jadhav who was sentenced to death for espionage and subversive activities. It would be Bambawale's second meeting in less than a week with the foreign secretary, showing increasing concern of India about the fate of Jadhav. He told media after his previous meeting on April 14 that he had asked for the list of charges and authentic copy of verdict of military tribunal against Jadhav to launch an appeal against his conviction. He also said that India was seeking consular access on the basis on international law humanitarian grounds. FO in a statement issued after the meeting said that the Foreign Secretary told Bambawale that during the period of the trial of Jadhav, the due judicial process was followed and he was provided with a lawyer in accordance with relevant laws and the Constitution of Pakistan. Jadhav, 46, was awarded death sentence by the Field General Court Martial last week, evoking a sharp reaction in India which warned Pakistan of consequences and damage to bilateral ties if the "pre-meditated murder" was carried out. 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." The Pakistan Army had also released a "confessional video" of Jadhav after his arrest. However, India denied Pakistan's contention and maintained that Jadhav was kidnapped by the Pakistan authorities. India had acknowledged that Jadhav had served with the navy but denied that he has any connection with the government. By PTI ISLAMABAD: The meeting between Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale and Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua has been rescheduled and a new date would be announced later, an Indian High Commission official said today. Sources in the Pakistan Foreign Office had earlier said that Bambawale has sought a meeting with the Foreign Secretary. The meeting was expected this evening, they said. However, the Indian official said the meeting has been rescheduled and a new date and time is yet not known. Bambawale was expected to discuss the issue of Indian prisoner on death row Kulbhushan Jadhav as India has been seeking consular access to its convicted citizen. Pakistan has denied India's request for consular access to Jadhav over a dozen times in the last one year. Pakistan army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor has already rejected any chance of granting consular access to Jadhav who was sentenced to death for espionage and subversive activities. On Friday, Bambawale met with the foreign secretary, showing increasing concern of India about the fate of Jadhav. He told media after his meeting on April 14 that he had asked for a list of charges and authentic copy of verdict of military tribunal against Jadhav to launch an appeal against his conviction. He also said that India was seeking consular access on the basis on international law humanitarian grounds. FO in a statement issued after the meeting said that the Foreign Secretary told Bambawale that during the period of the trial of Jadhav, the due judicial process was followed and he was provided with a lawyer in accordance with relevant laws and the Constitution of Pakistan. Jadhav, 46, was awarded death sentence by the Field General Court Martial last week, evoking a sharp reaction in India which warned Pakistan of consequences and damage to bilateral ties if the "pre-meditated murder" was carried out. 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." The Pakistan Army had also released a "confessional video" of Jadhav after his arrest. However, India denied Pakistan's contention and maintained that Jadhav was kidnapped by the Pakistan authorities. India had acknowledged that Jadhav had served with the navy but denied that he has any connection with the government. ISLAMABAD: The meeting between Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale and Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua has been rescheduled and a new date would be announced later, an Indian High Commission official said today. Sources in the Pakistan Foreign Office had earlier said that Bambawale has sought a meeting with the Foreign Secretary. The meeting was expected this evening, they said. However, the Indian official said the meeting has been rescheduled and a new date and time is yet not known. Bambawale was expected to discuss the issue of Indian prisoner on death row Kulbhushan Jadhav as India has been seeking consular access to its convicted citizen. Pakistan has denied India's request for consular access to Jadhav over a dozen times in the last one year. Pakistan army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor has already rejected any chance of granting consular access to Jadhav who was sentenced to death for espionage and subversive activities. On Friday, Bambawale met with the foreign secretary, showing increasing concern of India about the fate of Jadhav. He told media after his meeting on April 14 that he had asked for a list of charges and authentic copy of verdict of military tribunal against Jadhav to launch an appeal against his conviction. He also said that India was seeking consular access on the basis on international law humanitarian grounds. FO in a statement issued after the meeting said that the Foreign Secretary told Bambawale that during the period of the trial of Jadhav, the due judicial process was followed and he was provided with a lawyer in accordance with relevant laws and the Constitution of Pakistan. Jadhav, 46, was awarded death sentence by the Field General Court Martial last week, evoking a sharp reaction in India which warned Pakistan of consequences and damage to bilateral ties if the "pre-meditated murder" was carried out. 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." The Pakistan Army had also released a "confessional video" of Jadhav after his arrest. However, India denied Pakistan's contention and maintained that Jadhav was kidnapped by the Pakistan authorities. India had acknowledged that Jadhav had served with the navy but denied that he has any connection with the government. By PTI LAHORE: Pakistan's ruling PML-N is weighing the option of early election in case of an adverse verdict by the Supreme Court tomorrow on the high-profile Panamagate case involving Prime Minster Nawaz Sharif and his children. PML-N leadership today held meetings to chalk out a strategy in the wake of Panama verdict. "The option of early election (this year) is being discussed by the leadership in case of the apex court's decision affecting Prime Minister Sharif," a PML-N leader said today. He said there had been two points of view in the party in case of an adverse verdict; one supporting the option of going into early election justifying that it would not let Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) exploit the situation and the PML-N would easily retain its position in next polls. The other group in the PML-N is against going for early election. "We should complete our tenure no matter what the decision is. The party should go for the option of giving the replacement of Sharif as the early election will not be a good option," he said. Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said in case the decision somehow affects the premier, the PML-N should go into polls as per scheduled in 2018. "Nawaz Sharif will be stronger sitting outside the prime minister's house. Nawaz can give his replacement in parliament," he said, adding Sharif "rules the hearts of the people" and Imran Khan has no chance to win neither in early nor in 2018 elections." The Supreme Court's verdict on the high-profile Panamagate case could "make or break" the country's most powerful political family ahead of an election due next year. The case essentially seeks disqualification of 67-year- old Sharif over his alleged misstatement in his address to the nation on April 5 and his speech before the National Assembly on May 16, 2016. Imran's party is the main petitioner in the Panama case involving alleged illegal money laundering by Sharif in 1990s when he twice served as Prime Minister to purchase assets in London. The assets surfaced when Panama papers showed that they were managed through offshore companies owned by Sharif's children. Meanwhile, Imran's party hoped that Sharif will be disqualified after the Supreme Court's verdict as "irrefutable evidence" has been presented against him in the court. "Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will go home tomorrow after the apex court's verdict in Panama case. The premier is going to be disqualified in the light of the irrefutable evidence presented against him in the court," the party's Secretary General, Jehangir Tareen said. He said except the Qatari letter "which has no legal value", Sharif could not present anything substantial to defend himself and his children in the Panama case. "It is time for Nawaz Sharif to name his successor from his party as he cannot continue as the premier after the decision," he said. "Hudabia case of Rs 1.2bn money laundering will also be reopened in the wake of the apex court's verdict," Tareen said, adding the party might hold a series of public meetings and rallies after the decision. LAHORE: Pakistan's ruling PML-N is weighing the option of early election in case of an adverse verdict by the Supreme Court tomorrow on the high-profile Panamagate case involving Prime Minster Nawaz Sharif and his children. PML-N leadership today held meetings to chalk out a strategy in the wake of Panama verdict. "The option of early election (this year) is being discussed by the leadership in case of the apex court's decision affecting Prime Minister Sharif," a PML-N leader said today. He said there had been two points of view in the party in case of an adverse verdict; one supporting the option of going into early election justifying that it would not let Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) exploit the situation and the PML-N would easily retain its position in next polls. The other group in the PML-N is against going for early election. "We should complete our tenure no matter what the decision is. The party should go for the option of giving the replacement of Sharif as the early election will not be a good option," he said. Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said in case the decision somehow affects the premier, the PML-N should go into polls as per scheduled in 2018. "Nawaz Sharif will be stronger sitting outside the prime minister's house. Nawaz can give his replacement in parliament," he said, adding Sharif "rules the hearts of the people" and Imran Khan has no chance to win neither in early nor in 2018 elections." The Supreme Court's verdict on the high-profile Panamagate case could "make or break" the country's most powerful political family ahead of an election due next year. The case essentially seeks disqualification of 67-year- old Sharif over his alleged misstatement in his address to the nation on April 5 and his speech before the National Assembly on May 16, 2016. Imran's party is the main petitioner in the Panama case involving alleged illegal money laundering by Sharif in 1990s when he twice served as Prime Minister to purchase assets in London. The assets surfaced when Panama papers showed that they were managed through offshore companies owned by Sharif's children. Meanwhile, Imran's party hoped that Sharif will be disqualified after the Supreme Court's verdict as "irrefutable evidence" has been presented against him in the court. "Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will go home tomorrow after the apex court's verdict in Panama case. The premier is going to be disqualified in the light of the irrefutable evidence presented against him in the court," the party's Secretary General, Jehangir Tareen said. He said except the Qatari letter "which has no legal value", Sharif could not present anything substantial to defend himself and his children in the Panama case. "It is time for Nawaz Sharif to name his successor from his party as he cannot continue as the premier after the decision," he said. "Hudabia case of Rs 1.2bn money laundering will also be reopened in the wake of the apex court's verdict," Tareen said, adding the party might hold a series of public meetings and rallies after the decision. By Associated Press ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's army chief has signed off on the death sentences for 30 militants, including some convicted for the 2014 Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar that killed 144 school children. The militants were tried in military courts set up by authorities after the school attack. In cases of capital punishment handed down by military courts, in trials conducted behind closed doors, the army chief is required to confirm the sentences. Opposition parties and rights groups have criticized Pakistan for the trials by military courts. After the Peshawar assault, the government also lifted the ban on the death penalty. An official statement says the army chief, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, signed the death sentences on Wednesday. The Peshawar attack killed a total of 150 people, most of them schoolchildren. ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's army chief has signed off on the death sentences for 30 militants, including some convicted for the 2014 Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar that killed 144 school children. The militants were tried in military courts set up by authorities after the school attack. In cases of capital punishment handed down by military courts, in trials conducted behind closed doors, the army chief is required to confirm the sentences. Opposition parties and rights groups have criticized Pakistan for the trials by military courts. After the Peshawar assault, the government also lifted the ban on the death penalty. An official statement says the army chief, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, signed the death sentences on Wednesday. The Peshawar attack killed a total of 150 people, most of them schoolchildren. By AFP SINGAPORE: A running club today admitted leaving a trail of flour in a Singapore metro station which prompted a security scare and a three-hour shutdown of the station. In a statement the Seletar Hash House Harriers, an all- male group that describes itself as a "drinking group with a running problem", apologised for the "alarm and inconvenience" caused to the public. Three members had sprinkled flour at several points in the underground Woodleigh MRT station, the statement said, adding that it was the safest way to cross a busy road in the suburban Serangoon district. But the sight of white powder sparked security fears, which saw police and hazardous materials units respond. The station was shut for three hours while officers in protective suits searched the station before it was determined that the white substance was flour. "Upon learning of the subsequent investigations at Woodleigh station, our three members stepped forward immediately to identify themselves and have cooperated fully with the authorities," the statement added. "They are sorry that their actions caused public alarm and inconvenience." One of the group's members, a 69-year-old man, was arrested for causing public alarm while two others, aged 59 and 70, are helping police with investigations. The Seletar Harriers is a chapter of a loose worldwide federation of "Hash House Harriers", a running group set up by beer-loving British colonial expatriates in what was then Malaya in 1938. "Hares" are given the task of marking a trail to direct runners, usually using flour or chalk. SINGAPORE: A running club today admitted leaving a trail of flour in a Singapore metro station which prompted a security scare and a three-hour shutdown of the station. In a statement the Seletar Hash House Harriers, an all- male group that describes itself as a "drinking group with a running problem", apologised for the "alarm and inconvenience" caused to the public. Three members had sprinkled flour at several points in the underground Woodleigh MRT station, the statement said, adding that it was the safest way to cross a busy road in the suburban Serangoon district. But the sight of white powder sparked security fears, which saw police and hazardous materials units respond. The station was shut for three hours while officers in protective suits searched the station before it was determined that the white substance was flour. "Upon learning of the subsequent investigations at Woodleigh station, our three members stepped forward immediately to identify themselves and have cooperated fully with the authorities," the statement added. "They are sorry that their actions caused public alarm and inconvenience." One of the group's members, a 69-year-old man, was arrested for causing public alarm while two others, aged 59 and 70, are helping police with investigations. The Seletar Harriers is a chapter of a loose worldwide federation of "Hash House Harriers", a running group set up by beer-loving British colonial expatriates in what was then Malaya in 1938. "Hares" are given the task of marking a trail to direct runners, usually using flour or chalk. By PTI UNITED NATIONS: The UN human rights body has welcomed the conviction of three army officials accused of murdering a 15-year-old girl during the armed conflict in Nepal more than 13 years ago, and called on the authorities in Kathmandu to implement the court's decision. "It is the first time that Nepal Army personnel have been convicted by a civilian court for crimes committed during the 1996-2006 conflict," Rupert Colville, a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said. "None of the officers were present in the District Court of Kavre, and it still remains to be seen whether they will actually be arrested and serve their sentences," he added, urging the country's authorities to implement the verdict on what he called an "extremely important emblematic case". On April 16, three soldiers -- Babi Khatri, Amit Pun and Sunil Prasad Adhikari - were sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment for the murder of Maina Sunuwar, who was picked up from her home in a village in central Nepal in February 2004 and interrogated for suspected links to Maoist rebels by soldiers who were looking for her mother. She was allegedly subjected to torture and later that month died in the custody of the army at the Birendra Peace Operations Training Centre in Panchkal, located about 15 kilometres from the village where she was arrested. According to the OHCHR spokesperson, the Nepalese Army and the Government initially denied any knowledge of Sunuwar's fate or whereabouts and her body was buried secretly. A fourth officer who had been charged - a major who was repatriated by a UN peacekeeping mission in Chad in 2009 because of the arrest warrant against him - was acquitted by the court. Colville added that OHCHR as well as other human rights organisations have persistently advocated for those responsible to be held fully accountable, and the convictions this Sunday come after a long succession of unsuccessful attempts to seek justice for the murder. UNITED NATIONS: The UN human rights body has welcomed the conviction of three army officials accused of murdering a 15-year-old girl during the armed conflict in Nepal more than 13 years ago, and called on the authorities in Kathmandu to implement the court's decision. "It is the first time that Nepal Army personnel have been convicted by a civilian court for crimes committed during the 1996-2006 conflict," Rupert Colville, a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said. "None of the officers were present in the District Court of Kavre, and it still remains to be seen whether they will actually be arrested and serve their sentences," he added, urging the country's authorities to implement the verdict on what he called an "extremely important emblematic case". On April 16, three soldiers -- Babi Khatri, Amit Pun and Sunil Prasad Adhikari - were sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment for the murder of Maina Sunuwar, who was picked up from her home in a village in central Nepal in February 2004 and interrogated for suspected links to Maoist rebels by soldiers who were looking for her mother. She was allegedly subjected to torture and later that month died in the custody of the army at the Birendra Peace Operations Training Centre in Panchkal, located about 15 kilometres from the village where she was arrested. According to the OHCHR spokesperson, the Nepalese Army and the Government initially denied any knowledge of Sunuwar's fate or whereabouts and her body was buried secretly. A fourth officer who had been charged - a major who was repatriated by a UN peacekeeping mission in Chad in 2009 because of the arrest warrant against him - was acquitted by the court. Colville added that OHCHR as well as other human rights organisations have persistently advocated for those responsible to be held fully accountable, and the convictions this Sunday come after a long succession of unsuccessful attempts to seek justice for the murder. By AFP RIYADH: The United States wants to see a strong Saudi Arabia, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said during talks Wednesday aimed at reinvigorating the Riyadh-Washington alliance. Mattis, meeting top officials in the Saudi capital, also hinted that President Donald Trump could visit the kingdom, a longtime US ally which has welcomed Washington's firmer line against common adversary Iran. "It is in our interest to see a strong Saudi Arabia," Mattis said at the start of talks with Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the defence minister, pointing to the country's "military security services and secret services." "What we can do here today could actually open the door possibly to bringing our president to Saudi Arabia," Mattis said. Mattis, a retired four-star Marine general, earlier met King Salman at Al-Yamama Palace in Riyadh, where he told the monarch: "It's good to be back." Mattis commanded troops during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He arrived in the kingdom on Tuesday afternoon to listen to Saudi leaders and learn "what are their priorities," an American defence official said earlier. The United States and Saudi Arabia have a decades-old relationship based on the exchange of American security for Saudi oil. But ties between Riyadh and Washington became increasingly frayed during the administration of president Barack Obama. Saudi leaders felt Obama was reluctant to get involved in the civil war in Syria and was tilting toward Riyadh's regional rival Iran. The Sunni Muslim kingdom "felt marginalised" during international negotiations on a nuclear accord with Shiite Iran, the defence official said. That deal, signed in July 2015 by the Obama administration, saw the lifting of international sanctions in exchange for guarantees that Tehran would not pursue a nuclear weapons capability. Saudi leaders worry about Iran interfering in Arab countries by using local Shiite communities, as in Bahrain, Lebanon and Yemen. Bordering Saudi Arabia, Yemen has been torn for more than two years by a civil war between Iran-backed Huthi rebels, their allies, and pro-government forces aided by a Saudi-led military coalition that receives some military support from the US. The Saudis have found a more favourable ear in Washington under Trump, who has denounced Iran's "harmful influence" in the Middle East. In February, Trump imposed new sanctions on Tehran after a ballistic missile test launch, and in response to its support for Yemen's rebels. Prince Mohammed told Mattis that Saudi Arabia and the United States are working to counter challenges in the region, including "the malign activities of Iran" and to bring stability "to the most important straits." The US military is watching Huthi activities along the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait connecting the Red Sea with the Indian Ocean. Yemeni rebels in late January attacked a Saudi warship in the Red Sea, and they are also believed to have fired missiles towards US warships in the area. The United States accuses the rebels of deploying coastal defence missiles and other weapons which threaten free navigation in the waters which are vital to global trade. Trump's Yemen focus has so far been on a major escalation of attacks against jihadists from Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Pentagon officials have so far remained cautious on what they might do to support Saudi Arabia. The Trump administration could, for example, lift a freeze on the delivery of precision guided bombs to the kingdom. Obama's government blocked their transfer in December because of concerns over civilian casualties in Yemen. Washington would also like Riyadh to step up its participation in the campaign against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. Options include the kingdom intensifying its aerial operations or its humanitarian aid, the American defence official said, describing the fight against IS as "our number one concern". Mattis was expected to raise with the Saudis Washington's intentions towards Syria, where Riyadh has aided some rebel groups. Earlier this month, the US fired cruise missiles against a Syrian government airbase after a suspected chemical bombing of a rebel-held town which Washington blamed on President Bashar al-Assad. After Saudi Arabia, Mattis travels Thursday to Egypt and then to Israel on Friday before returning to the Gulf Saturday for talks in Qatar. RIYADH: The United States wants to see a strong Saudi Arabia, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said during talks Wednesday aimed at reinvigorating the Riyadh-Washington alliance. Mattis, meeting top officials in the Saudi capital, also hinted that President Donald Trump could visit the kingdom, a longtime US ally which has welcomed Washington's firmer line against common adversary Iran. "It is in our interest to see a strong Saudi Arabia," Mattis said at the start of talks with Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the defence minister, pointing to the country's "military security services and secret services." "What we can do here today could actually open the door possibly to bringing our president to Saudi Arabia," Mattis said. Mattis, a retired four-star Marine general, earlier met King Salman at Al-Yamama Palace in Riyadh, where he told the monarch: "It's good to be back." Mattis commanded troops during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He arrived in the kingdom on Tuesday afternoon to listen to Saudi leaders and learn "what are their priorities," an American defence official said earlier. The United States and Saudi Arabia have a decades-old relationship based on the exchange of American security for Saudi oil. But ties between Riyadh and Washington became increasingly frayed during the administration of president Barack Obama. Saudi leaders felt Obama was reluctant to get involved in the civil war in Syria and was tilting toward Riyadh's regional rival Iran. The Sunni Muslim kingdom "felt marginalised" during international negotiations on a nuclear accord with Shiite Iran, the defence official said. That deal, signed in July 2015 by the Obama administration, saw the lifting of international sanctions in exchange for guarantees that Tehran would not pursue a nuclear weapons capability. Saudi leaders worry about Iran interfering in Arab countries by using local Shiite communities, as in Bahrain, Lebanon and Yemen. Bordering Saudi Arabia, Yemen has been torn for more than two years by a civil war between Iran-backed Huthi rebels, their allies, and pro-government forces aided by a Saudi-led military coalition that receives some military support from the US. The Saudis have found a more favourable ear in Washington under Trump, who has denounced Iran's "harmful influence" in the Middle East. In February, Trump imposed new sanctions on Tehran after a ballistic missile test launch, and in response to its support for Yemen's rebels. Prince Mohammed told Mattis that Saudi Arabia and the United States are working to counter challenges in the region, including "the malign activities of Iran" and to bring stability "to the most important straits." The US military is watching Huthi activities along the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait connecting the Red Sea with the Indian Ocean. Yemeni rebels in late January attacked a Saudi warship in the Red Sea, and they are also believed to have fired missiles towards US warships in the area. The United States accuses the rebels of deploying coastal defence missiles and other weapons which threaten free navigation in the waters which are vital to global trade. Trump's Yemen focus has so far been on a major escalation of attacks against jihadists from Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Pentagon officials have so far remained cautious on what they might do to support Saudi Arabia. The Trump administration could, for example, lift a freeze on the delivery of precision guided bombs to the kingdom. Obama's government blocked their transfer in December because of concerns over civilian casualties in Yemen. Washington would also like Riyadh to step up its participation in the campaign against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. Options include the kingdom intensifying its aerial operations or its humanitarian aid, the American defence official said, describing the fight against IS as "our number one concern". Mattis was expected to raise with the Saudis Washington's intentions towards Syria, where Riyadh has aided some rebel groups. Earlier this month, the US fired cruise missiles against a Syrian government airbase after a suspected chemical bombing of a rebel-held town which Washington blamed on President Bashar al-Assad. After Saudi Arabia, Mattis travels Thursday to Egypt and then to Israel on Friday before returning to the Gulf Saturday for talks in Qatar. By AFP CARACAS, VENEZUELA: Venezuela braced for rival demonstrations Wednesday for and against President Nicolas Maduro, whose moves to tighten his grip on power have triggered deadly unrest and escalated the country's political and economic crisis. Maduro's opponents are vowing to stage the "mother of all protests" calling for his ouster, after two weeks of violent demonstrations that have left five people dead and dozens wounded. Sowing fears of more violence, Maduro is in turn urging his supporters, the military and civilian militias to defend the leftist "revolution" launched by his late predecessor Hugo Chavez in 1999. It is set to be the biggest day of protests since Maduro's allies moved to strip the power of the opposition-majority legislature -- the only lever of government they do not control -- and banned opposition leader Henrique Capriles from politics. The streets of Caracas have seen running battles pitting masked protesters hurling stones and Molotov cocktails against riot police firing tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon. The protests have been relatively small so far, with turnout in the thousands. The opposition is now hoping to flood the streets with a sea of protesters, whom they are urging to remain peaceful. They plan to march from 26 rally points toward central Caracas, a pro-Maduro bastion and the seat of government. The authorities say they will not allow them into the area, where the rival rally will be held. Maduro's camp vowed not to be outdone by the opposition. "The whole of Caracas will be held by the revolutionary forces," said lawmaker Diosdado Cabello, one of the president's most powerful allies. Maduro rallies troops Pressure on Maduro has increased in an economic crisis aggravated by a fall in prices for Venezuela's crucial oil exports, which has triggered severe shortages of food and medicine. On Tuesday the center-right opposition repeated its call for the military -- a pillar of Maduro's power -- to abandon him. "It is the moment for the armed forces to demonstrate that they are with the constitution and with the people," said opposition congressional leader Julio Borges. But Venezuela's defense minister, General Vladimir Padrino Lopez, vowed the army's "unconditional loyalty." Maduro rallied his troops this week, vowing to send the army into the streets and ordering pro-government militias to be expanded to half a million members, "each with a rifle." International campaign group Human Rights Watch said strengthening of the militia aimed to intimidate the opposition. "We know of no other similar case in Latin America of a government arming urban militias," the group's Americas director Jose Miguel Vivanco told a news conference in Washington. "By that I mean delinquents, gangs that act with total impunity and intimidate citizens, with power to shoot and make arrests." Region worried In Latin America, where other governments are increasingly alarmed by Venezuela's instability, 11 countries including Brazil, Mexico and Chile issued a statement Monday condemning the deaths of protesters and urging the security forces to show restraint. The fragmented opposition has been galvanized since the Supreme Court issued a ruling on March 30 seizing the legislature's power. The court partly backtracked after an international outcry, but tension only increased when authorities slapped a political ban on Capriles on April 7. CARACAS, VENEZUELA: Venezuela braced for rival demonstrations Wednesday for and against President Nicolas Maduro, whose moves to tighten his grip on power have triggered deadly unrest and escalated the country's political and economic crisis. Maduro's opponents are vowing to stage the "mother of all protests" calling for his ouster, after two weeks of violent demonstrations that have left five people dead and dozens wounded. Sowing fears of more violence, Maduro is in turn urging his supporters, the military and civilian militias to defend the leftist "revolution" launched by his late predecessor Hugo Chavez in 1999. It is set to be the biggest day of protests since Maduro's allies moved to strip the power of the opposition-majority legislature -- the only lever of government they do not control -- and banned opposition leader Henrique Capriles from politics. The streets of Caracas have seen running battles pitting masked protesters hurling stones and Molotov cocktails against riot police firing tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon. The protests have been relatively small so far, with turnout in the thousands. The opposition is now hoping to flood the streets with a sea of protesters, whom they are urging to remain peaceful. They plan to march from 26 rally points toward central Caracas, a pro-Maduro bastion and the seat of government. The authorities say they will not allow them into the area, where the rival rally will be held. Maduro's camp vowed not to be outdone by the opposition. "The whole of Caracas will be held by the revolutionary forces," said lawmaker Diosdado Cabello, one of the president's most powerful allies. Maduro rallies troops Pressure on Maduro has increased in an economic crisis aggravated by a fall in prices for Venezuela's crucial oil exports, which has triggered severe shortages of food and medicine. On Tuesday the center-right opposition repeated its call for the military -- a pillar of Maduro's power -- to abandon him. "It is the moment for the armed forces to demonstrate that they are with the constitution and with the people," said opposition congressional leader Julio Borges. But Venezuela's defense minister, General Vladimir Padrino Lopez, vowed the army's "unconditional loyalty." Maduro rallied his troops this week, vowing to send the army into the streets and ordering pro-government militias to be expanded to half a million members, "each with a rifle." International campaign group Human Rights Watch said strengthening of the militia aimed to intimidate the opposition. "We know of no other similar case in Latin America of a government arming urban militias," the group's Americas director Jose Miguel Vivanco told a news conference in Washington. "By that I mean delinquents, gangs that act with total impunity and intimidate citizens, with power to shoot and make arrests." Region worried In Latin America, where other governments are increasingly alarmed by Venezuela's instability, 11 countries including Brazil, Mexico and Chile issued a statement Monday condemning the deaths of protesters and urging the security forces to show restraint. The fragmented opposition has been galvanized since the Supreme Court issued a ruling on March 30 seizing the legislature's power. The court partly backtracked after an international outcry, but tension only increased when authorities slapped a political ban on Capriles on April 7. By AFP PARIS: France will produce proof "in a few days" that the regime of Bashar al-Assad launched a chemical strike on a Syrian village that killed 87 people earlier this month, Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Wednesday. "We have elements that will allow us to show that the regime knowingly used chemical weapons," Ayrault said of the suspected chemical attack in Khan Sheikhun on April 4. "In a few days I will be able to bring you the proof," he told French television. In an exclusive interview last week with AFP in Damascus, Assad said the suspected chemical attack was a "fabrication" to justify a US missile strike on Syrian forces. "Definitely, 100 percent for us, it's fabrication," he said. Western leaders including US President Donald Trump have accused Assad of being behind the attack in the rebel-held town, saying his forces used a chemical weapon during an air strike. The suspected attack killed at least 87 people, including many children, and images of the dead and of suffering victims provoked global outrage. The missile strike was the first direct US military action against Assad's forces since the start of Syria's civil war six years ago and precipitated a downward spiral in ties between Washington and Moscow. PARIS: France will produce proof "in a few days" that the regime of Bashar al-Assad launched a chemical strike on a Syrian village that killed 87 people earlier this month, Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Wednesday. "We have elements that will allow us to show that the regime knowingly used chemical weapons," Ayrault said of the suspected chemical attack in Khan Sheikhun on April 4. "In a few days I will be able to bring you the proof," he told French television. In an exclusive interview last week with AFP in Damascus, Assad said the suspected chemical attack was a "fabrication" to justify a US missile strike on Syrian forces. "Definitely, 100 percent for us, it's fabrication," he said. Western leaders including US President Donald Trump have accused Assad of being behind the attack in the rebel-held town, saying his forces used a chemical weapon during an air strike. The suspected attack killed at least 87 people, including many children, and images of the dead and of suffering victims provoked global outrage. The missile strike was the first direct US military action against Assad's forces since the start of Syria's civil war six years ago and precipitated a downward spiral in ties between Washington and Moscow. Georgia voters will deliver an early referendum, and here's why Trump and his party are worried SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. Georgia voters will deliver an early referendum on President Donald Trump on Tuesday, and the president and his party are worried. Here in Atlanta's northern suburbs, Democrat Jon Ossoff has a chance to win a special election for the House seat that Republican Tom Price gave up to become Trump's Secretary of Health and Human Services. If he does, Republicans will suddenly confront the possibility that they could lose control of Congress in next year's midterm elections. That, in turn, could scare away more Republicans from cooperating with the president and cripple the White House agenda. Under normal circumstances, Ossoff wouldn't have much chance. Republicans have held the 6th House district for nearly 40 years. Price cruised to an easy re-election victory last November. But Trump, four years after Mitt Romney carried the district lopsidedly against President Barack Obama , barely edged by Hillary Clinton here. That's because the district contains a heavy concentration of residents with college educations the segment of white voters most skeptical of Trump's bombastic, populist style. Combine that skepticism with Trump's bumpy debut in office, and Democrats angered by November's outcome see an early chance to demonstrate their ability to fight back. "The intensity at the grassroots level here is unprecedented," Ossoff said in a campaign office bustling with volunteers. "It's got very little to do with me, and everything to do with the times that we're living in and the kind of community this is." The 30-year-old former congressional aide treads carefully in this heavily Republican district. He pledges to hold Trump "accountable" but insists he's open to working with the president on bipartisan priorities such as infrastructure improvements. Republicans tread carefully, too. Trump retains strong support within his party, especially in the South, even as loyalists grumble about his failure to persuade a friendly Congress to pass his bill to repeal and replace Obamacare. Story continues "We're not seeing anything that says 'Oh, we got to put somebody up there to stop President Trump,' " said Adam Pipkin, executive director of the Georgia GOP. "What Republicans want is for Congress to start working with the president." Pipkin dismisses the surge of volunteers and the extraordinary $8 million in donations for Ossoff as imported enthusiasm from Democrats across the country desperate for a victory. But polls show he leads the mostly Republican field of more than a dozen candidates by a wide margin with more than 40 percent of the vote. If Ossoff can reach 50 percent Tuesday, he'll win the race outright. If not, he'll face a June 20 runoff against the second-place candidate, which polls suggest will be a Republican. Ossoff's chances would decline sharply in a one-on-one matchup. Trump's personal stake in the race displayed in an automated phone message to district Republicans and four tweets in the past two days blasting the " super liberal " Democrat as weak on immigration and taxes underscores the GOP's urgency about generating enthusiasm among core supporters. "I was glad to see this morning that President Trump has taken interest in the campaign," Ossoff said Monday. "While I don't expect a congratulatory tweet if I win, I will work with anyone in Washington including him to get things done for this district." More From CNBC One of Editor & Publishers 10 That Do It Right 2021 Transcription factors, the tiny proteins that switch genes on or off in the nucleus of cells, are considered unreachable molecular targets for drugs attempting to treat medical conditions. Overcoming this challenge, researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center discovered a small molecular compound that successfully blocks a transcription factor and its pro-inflammatory and hyper-mucous activity in asthma. In a study published online April 18 by Science Signaling, scientists test a new compound they call RCM-1. The substance inhibits the transcription factor FOXM1 and a long downstream chain of pro-inflammatory processes it fuels in asthmatic airways. They show that RMC-1 treatment prevents overproduction of mucous-generating goblet cells in the lungs of mice with asthma and in human airway cell cultures. Calling their compound a new therapeutic candidate for people with severe asthma and other chronic airway diseases, researchers say with additional research and development their discovery could lead to future clinical trials for asthma, Cystic Fibrosis and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). All are severe pulmonary diseases associated with increased inflammation and mucous hyper-secretion. "Traditional targets for drugs are receptors on cell surfaces, which are easy to reach. Transcription factors are inside cell nuclei and difficult to reach," said Vladimir Kalinichenko, MD, PhD, the study's lead investigator and a member of the Division of Pulmonary Biology. "RCM-1 keeps FOXM1 from entering the cell nucleus by activating cell machinery called proteasomes that degrade the transcription factor. This was very efficient at reducing lung inflammation and production of mucous-generating goblet cells in our tests." Better treatments needed Kalinichenko said the research is driven by the need to develop more effective treatments for people with severe asthma and other debilitating lung ailments like COPD. Current clinical management for asthma focuses on reducing lung and airway inflammation triggered by allergens, such as house dust mites, mold, etc. Therapeutic agents able to directly affect gene regulatory networks that trigger inflammation and mucous-producing goblet cells would potentially be more efficient at slowing or stopping disease progression. Leveraging the ongoing research of his laboratory into FOXM1 which also plays a key role in lung cancer Kalinichenko's team identified the RCM-1 compound during a computer-supported biological imaging screen of 50,000 small compounds stored at the University of Cincinnati Genome Research Center. The scientists searched specifically for compounds that would target FOXM1 and inhibit its activation of downstream pro-inflammatory molecules that drive overproduction of mucous-generating goblet cells. Successful lab testing The research team then tested RMC-1 in cultured human airway epithelial cells and mouse models of asthma (via injection into the animals' peritoneal cavities). The mice were either sensitized with house dust mite allergens or treated with a pro-inflammatory molecule called interleukin 13 (IL-13), which induces mucous production in airway diseases. Microscopic images show that RMC-1 prevented FOXM1 from entering the nucleus in cultured human airway epithelial cells and in mouse allergen-sensitized respiratory airways. It also decreased airway hyper-responsiveness to allergen, reduced lung inflammation and improved lung function in mice sensitized to house dust mite allergens. FOXM1 also prevented IL-13 from causing goblet cell expansion in mice that were given the pro-inflammatory molecule intra-nasally. Translating the science Before the research team's identification of RMC-1 could eventually lead to clinical trials, Kalinichenko said the researchers will first need to test RCM-1 in more sophisticated animal models of respiratory diseases. This will help address issues related to dosage, toxicity, optimal methods of therapeutic delivery, etc. In their future work, the researchers also want to refine the chemical structure of RCM-1 to make it more efficient and to improve the method of therapeutic delivery. This includes seeing if the compound can be packaged into nanoparticles for intravenous injection. The researchers have applied for a patent on RCM-1, working through the Cincinnati Children's Center for Technology Commercialization. An international team based at Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) and at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, has succeeded in defining a "signature" composed of a small number of inflammatory markers that can be monitored in order to understand how a promising anti-Ebola virus vaccine stimulates the immune system. The researchers inoculated 115 volunteers with either a high dose or a low dose of the rVSV-ZEBOV anti-Ebola vaccine, or with placebo. By analyzing the differences between the three groups, they found that it is sufficient to monitor only 5 substances that are naturally present in the blood in order to define immune responses to the vaccine. The "Geneva rVSV-ZEBOV signature" is published in a scientific paper, in Science Translational Medicine. It's an easy-to-use equation adding up the concentrations of these 5 substances or markers, most of which are mediated by monocytes, a class of white blood cells known to be active in combating Ebolavirus in infected individuals. The signature is also expected to inform investigations of safety and immunogenicity of other emerging vaccines. The 20142015 Ebola epidemic affected several countries in West Africa, leading to the death of more than 11'000 people. Although this epidemic of Ebolavirus disease is over, there is no knowing if, when or where another may strike. It is therefore more important than ever to find a reliable vaccine against this deadly disease. Research on vaccines, which was ongoing during the epidemic in West Africa, is now yielding promising results. Important progress in understanding the vaccine In an article published on April 12, 2017, in Science Translational Medicine[1], a team from the HUG and the UNIGE, working in collaboration with researchers and clinicians in several other countries in Europe and Africa, has defined a formula that measures the reliability and efficiency of vaccines that might help prevent or limit future outbreaks. The rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine (recombinant vesicular stomatitis virusvectored Zaire Ebola vaccine) had already been shown to stimulate the immune system in human volunteers; and in a field trial in 2015 it successfully protected people who had been exposed to Ebola patients from contracting the disease themselves. Yet concerns had been raised during the Geneva trial regarding side effects. What the Geneva team has now published is a detailed examination of the blood plasma of 115 healthy volunteers from Geneva, some of whom received either a low-dose or a high dose of vaccine, while others received a placebo vaccine. When a vaccine enters the bloodstream, dozens of inflammatory markers that are naturally present see their concentrations change over the next few days. The researchers investigated 15 of them (different varieties of chemokines or cytokines). They found that 1-3 days after the vaccine was administered, the concentration of 6 of these 15 markers had measurably increased. Using a statistical procedure known as principal components analysis, the Geneva team succeeded in producing a simple score that makes the activity of the vaccine much easier to monitor. This "signature" contains only 5 of the 6 markers most likely to change in the presence of the rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine: together, they account for over two-thirds (68%) of the variation in blood cytokine/chemokine activity. The Geneva Signature found in Gabon The signature was found to be stronger in volunteers who received the higher dose than in those who got the lower dose. Importantly, the "Geneva signature" was applied to blood samples from a similar trial that took place in Lambarene, Gabon, where healthy volunteers had also received the rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine. The same markers were elevated and correlated with side effects and later immunity in the same way. The 5 markers in the signature are: monocyte attractant protein 1 (MCP-1), the interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra), tumor necrosis factor (TNF-alpha), interleukin-10 and interleukin-6. Several of these are produced by monocytes or are known to interact with them, so the results imply that monocytes play a critical role in the efficacy and safety of the rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine. In the case of many other vaccines, such as one recently developed against H1N1 influenza, the chemical markers mostly belong to another category of white blood cells: lymphocytes. Taken together, these signatures help understand how vaccines stimulate the immune system in very different ways to tackle various types of virus. This latest discovery therefore opens up encouraging perspectives for investigating the safety, efficacy, and mechanisms of other emerging vaccines. LIH scientists discover an unknown immune mechanism Scientists of the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) have discovered a so far unknown molecular mechanism by which the human immune system activates its immune cells: T cells, a particular type of white blood cells, effectively ward off pathogens if a gene known as Gclc is expressed within them. The Gclc gene encodes a protein instrumental for the production of a substance called glutathione - a molecule that was previously known only to eliminate harmful waste products of metabolism such as reactive oxygen species and free radicals. A team led by LIH researcher Prof Dirk Brenner, FNR ATTRACT fellow and Head of the Experimental & Molecular Immunology research group at the Department of Infection and Immunity, has discovered that glutathione also stimulates T cells' energy metabolism. This way, when in contact with pathogens, T-cells can grow, divide and fight off intruders such as viruses. Glutathione is thus an important molecular switch for the immune system. This discovery offers starting points and perspectives to develop new therapeutic strategies for targeting cancer and autoimmune diseases. The scientists publish their findings today in the world's most prestigious immunology journal, "Immunity" (DOI: 10.1016/j.immuni.2017.03.019.). "Our body has to keep our immune system in a carefully balanced equilibrium", says Prof Dirk Brenner. "If the body's innate defences are overactive, then they turn against the body. This is what happens in autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis or arthritis, for example. However if the defences are too weak, then infections cannot be handled or body cells can proliferate uncontrolled and grow to form tumours, which can become life threatening." Immune cells such as T cells therefore normally reside in a state of alert hibernation, with their energy consumption reduced to a minimum. If pathogens or parts thereof dock onto their outer envelope, then the T cells wake up and boost their metabolism. This necessarily creates greater amounts of metabolic waste products, such as reactive oxygen species (ROS) and free radicals, which can be toxic for the cells. When the concentration of these oxidants increases, the T cells have to produce more antioxidants so as not to be poisoned. No previous research group had studied the mechanism of action of antioxidants in T cells to great detail before. In exploring this phenomenon, Prof Brenner's team discovered that the antioxidant glutathione produced by T cells serves not only as a garbage collector to dispose of ROS and free radicals, it is also a key switch for energy metabolism that controls the immune response, and is thus of high relevance to various diseases. "These fascinating results form a basis for a targeted intervening in the metabolism of immune cells and for developing a new generation of immunotherapies," explains Prof Markus Ollert, Director of LIH's Department of Infection and Immunity. For their investigations, the scientists employed genetically modified mice in whose T cells the Gclc gene was removed and therefore these cells could not produce glutathione. "In these mice, we discovered that the control of viruses is impaired - mice that lack the Gclc gene have an immunodeficiency. But by the same token, this also meant the mice could not develop any autoimmune disease such as multiple sclerosis." Further tests performed by Prof. Brenner's team demonstrated the reason for this: "The mice cannot produce any glutathione in their T-cells," Prof Brenner continues, "and so a number of other signalling events that directly boost metabolism and increase energy consumption are lacking." As a result, without glutathione, T-cells do not become fully functional; they remain in their state of hibernation and no self-destructive autoimmune response occurs. Prof Karsten Hiller from the Braunschweig University of Technology who collaborated with the Luxembourgish scientists adds: "It is intriguing to see that cellular metabolism and immune activation are so tightly entangled and that a fine-grained interplay is essential to achieve a correct function." Prof Brenner sees his T cell experiments as a prelude to more in-depth investigation of the energy balance of immune cells in general. A number of different autoimmune diseases, for example, are related to malfunctions in various subgroups of T cells. "If we understand the differences in the molecular mechanisms by which they stimulate their metabolism during defensive or autoimmune responses, then we can discover clues as to possible attack points for therapeutic agents regulating the immune response." The distinguished researcher sees a similar situation in cancer: "In this context too, it is important to know why the immune cells that are actually supposed to fight cancer cells drop to a low metabolic state and in some cases even actively suppress an immune response against the tumour. Counteractive metabolism-stimulating measures could make the immune cells work more efficiently and fight off cancer more effectively." In follow-up projects, the researchers are planning to gain new indications for potential sites of therapeutic interventions. The groups from Luxembourg and Braunschweig are currently applying for new research funding for a joint project supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR). Paxman Coolers Limited announced today that The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the company to market the Paxman Scalp Cooling System, a scalp cooling technology that was developed by a British family to reduce hair loss in breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. The concept behind the pioneering Paxman Scalp Cooling System came when the mother of four, Sue Paxman, experienced first-hand the trauma of chemotherapy induced hair loss. The Company has since been on a personal journey to ensure Sues legacy lives on by helping women around the globe minimize chemotherapy-induced hair loss and contribute to their quality of life. Hair loss is consistently ranked in the top five most distressing cancer chemotherapy side effects, explains Richard Paxman, CEO at Paxman. Like my mum, many people find hair loss to be extremely traumatic. It is estimated that 8% of patients actually refuse chemotherapy because they do not want to lose their hair. After experiencing this first hand, we have been determined to change this, and help minimize hair loss in women who are undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer, positively contributing to their overall health and recovery. As part of the FDA clearance process, the Paxman scalp cooler was used in the first-ever randomized clinical trial to evaluate modern scalp cooling, which took place at a number of sites including Baylor College of Medicine, Memorial Sloane Kettering, the U.S. Oncology Network, Cleveland Clinic & Summit Medical Group - MD Anderson Cancer Center. The multi-center prospective study, which involved 186 women across New Jersey, New York, Texas, and Ohio, revealed that the cold cap preserved hair in more than 50% of the women who used it. Speaking about results lead researcher Dr. Julie Nangia, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA added: The Paxman Hair Loss Prevention System is a safe and effective method for reducing hair loss in women being treated with chemotherapy for breast cancer, especially for those on taxane-based regimens. Hopefully in five years from now, we will consider scalp cooling part of routine practice, the same way that we can see an IV-pump with an IV-pole as part of the regular equipment you would expect in an infusion suite. Its important that people undergoing chemotherapy understand what scalp cooling is and that it is an option available to them if they want to prevent hair loss. Over the next 12 months, Paxman plans to install 250 systems across the U.S. and will be working with a large number of cancer centers and large community oncology groups to roll out their scalp cooling systems. The Company aims to revolutionize the current landscape of scalp cooling by ensuring that affordability is at the center of the treatment giving more patient choice. This involves launching a single patient use personal cap model, which will be loaded with scalp cooling credits depending on the number of chemotherapy infusions they are having. Patients using scalp cooling treatment will only pay for their own cap and the treatment they use. Richard added: The USA is the largest healthcare market in the world with over 1.6 million diagnoses of cancer each year. We have spent six years conducting a comprehensive multi-center randomized clinical trial to ensure our data is as robust as possible. This has been a significant investment for us, but we are incredibly excited to be able to offer scalp cooling to US patients giving them a choice to maintain some control during treatment as we see in the UK and other parts of the world. How scalp cooling works Chemotherapy works by targeting all rapidly dividing cells in the body. Hair is the second fastest dividing cell, and this is the reason why many chemotherapy drugs cause alopecia. The hair follicles in the growth phase are attacked, resulting in hair loss approximately two weeks after the commencement of the chemotherapy treatment. The damage that chemotherapy causes to the hair follicle can be alleviated by using scalp cooling, also known as the 'cold cap.' Scalp cooling works by reducing the temperature of the scalp by a few degrees immediately before, during and after the administration of chemotherapy. There are a number of mechanisms by which cooling protects the hair follicles: vasoconstriction reduces the amount of chemotherapy that reaches the hair follicles, reduced drug diffusion through the cell membrane, decreased cell division, reduced active transport mechanisms, and a general reduction in metabolic activity. Paxman Scalp Cooling technology, with over 2500 systems in hospitals, clinics, and treatment centers around the world, is made from lightweight, biocompatible silicone. The scalp cooling cap is soft and flexible, providing a snug yet comfortable fit during treatment. The Paxman Cooling Cap molds to all head shapes and sizes. The liquid coolant passes through the cap, extracting heat from the patient's scalp, ensuring an even, constant temperature is maintained to minimize hair loss. The prevention of hair loss represents an important challenge in oncology, which affects over four million patients annually. By 2030 it is estimated it will affect over 6.7 million patients every year. Since 2007, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been reporting outstanding success in dealing with neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) with 1 billion people estimated to have received treatments in 2015. WHO has observed record-breaking progress towards bringing ancient scourges like sleeping sickness and elephantiasis to their knees, said WHO Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan. Over the past 10 years, millions of people have been rescued from disability and poverty, thanks to one of the most effective global partnerships in modern public health. The report, Integrating Neglected Tropical Diseases in Global Health and Development, revealed the role of political support, liberal donations of medicines, and development in living environments in leading to a continued expansion of disease control programs in countries where these diseases are widespread. A group of partners across the globe met and agreed to deal with NTDs jointly in 2007. Since then, a mix of local and international partners have worked together with health ministries in distributing quality drugs and providing care and long-term management to people in countries where the diseases are most prevalent. The partners approved of a WHO NTD roadmap in 2012 with a commitment to offer additional support and resources to eradicate ten of the most common NTDs. The major accomplishments in 2015 include treating 1 billion people for at least 1 neglected tropical disease. Out of this, 114 million were treated for onchocerciasis (river blindness), while 62% required the treatment, providing preventive treatment for lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis) for 556 million people. Oman, Morocco, and Mexico has eradicated public health problem of Trachoma, the top infectious cause of blindness in the world. Throughout the world, more than 185,000 patients underwent trichiasis surgery for trachoma and more than 50 million people received antibiotic medicines. The target to eliminate visceral leishmaniasis was met 100% in the districts of Nepal, 97% of subdistricts in Bangladesh, and 82% in the subdistricts of India. Compared with 37,000 cases of human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) reported in 1999, the year 2015 witnessed well under 3,000 cases. The target for the region of the Americas to eradicate rabies in humans by 2015 was almost met, as only 12 humans were reported to have died due to rabies. In 2016, only 25 human cases of Guinea-worm disease was reported which made it easy to eradicate the disease. The report emphasized the need to improve action in other areas. Further gains in the fight against neglected tropical diseases will depend on wider progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, said Dr Dirk Engels, Director of the Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases. WHO predicted that 2.4 billion people still need to get basic sanitation facilities such as toilets and latrines. The key is to meet the global target for sanitation and water as more than 650 million people continue to use untreated sources of water for drinking purposes. The recent outburst of zika virus disease and its related complications have become a global concern, revitalizing efforts to improvise vector control. The World Health Assembly will evaluate the proposals for a new Global Vectorl control response this year in the month of May. To promote veterinary public health there are also bright prospects for prioritizing cross-sectoral collaboration. The WHO NTD Roadmap, which instituted goals and milestones for the global control, elimination, and eradication of many of these diseases, is celebrating its 5th anniversary on 19 April 2017 and the report. Integrating neglected tropical diseases in global health and development, will be released the same day at the Global Partners Meeting on NTDs in Geneva. Ministers from health departments, representatives from industry, partners, and a host of well-known personalities, including philanthropists, donors, and stakeholders will attend the meeting that will celebrate the 10-year multistakeholder efforts to Collaborate. Accelerate. Eliminate. Further information on neglected tropical diseases Neglected tropical diseases blind, mutilate, disfigure, and weaken millions of people in poor living conditions. Previously, the NTDs that were widely spread are now limited to tropical and subtropical regions where water is not safe, and hygiene and sanitation are inadequate. Those living in poor housing conditions, in remote rural areas, urban slums, or conflict zones are at greater threat. Of the countries and territories reporting the presence of NTDs, more than 70% are from low or lower middle income economies Below is a short description of NTDs: With relaxed FDI guidelines, real estate focused government initiatives and growing market, the Indian real estate holds a vast opportunity for investors seeking to invest in Indian real estate, says Cushman & Wakefield India survey. The Indian economy is expected to record GDP growth higher than China, making it the fastest in the world during FY 2015-16. The positive economic outlook, progressive trade and industry policies and government initiatives have attracted significant investments in India during the last couple of years. The total foreign direct investments during FY 2014-15 recorded 23% growth to USD 44 billion, whereas the first half of FY 2015-16 has already witnessed FDI flows of USD 24.4 billion into India. In particular, the commercial real estate segment gained significant momentum in 2015 and is set on the growth path whereas the residential segment witnessed significant rise in Private Equity in Real Estate (PERE) investments owing to high yield structured debt (SD) investment strategies that offers stable and secured returns at pre-decided terms. Overview: Real Estate Sector in India Private Equity Real Estate (PERE): On the back of improving economic conditions, the PERE investments have grown at over 30% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) since 2010. The period between 2010 and 2015 received USD 10.8 billion in PERE investment, of which 60% (USD 6.5 billion) of the investments were made during the last two years. The total PERE investments made during 2015 alone stood at USD 3.96 billion. The total structured debt investments grew by 111% in terms of value to USD 1.96 billion (49% share) in 2015 as compared to USD 0.9 billion (37% share) recorded in the previous year. While the number of PERE deals grew by about 23% y-o-y, the share of structured debt deals increased to 72% of the total deals during the year. However, due to rise in competition from investors and improved economic scenario, coupon rates for structured debt have reduced to an average of 15% - 17%. Within the top eight cities in India, the three major cities i.e. Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi NCR account for about 65% of Grade A office stock. The three cities together accounted for over 85% (USD 3.7 billion) of the cumulative structured debt investments made between 2010 and 2015. Mumbai continued to receive the highest PE investments and accounted for over 32% of the structured debt investments. Structured debt deals in the residential segment witnessed a remarkable growth of over 86% in 2015. At the end of 2015, the residential segment accounted for over 82% of the total structured debt investments followed by office at 13%. Leveraging from the benefits of structured debt such as secured and stable returns coupled with relaxation in FDI norms in real estate sector, these investments are likely to increase in non-residential segments over the next few years. The domestic funds in 2015 were significantly more active and doubled their structured debt investments to USD 3.2 billion for the period 2010-15, up from USD 1.6 billion during 2010-14. However, foreign funds have also increased their investments by 47% to USD 1.2 billion during the same period, indicating rising investor confidence in the Indian realty market. KEY REGULATORY CHANGES: REAL ESTATE INVESTMENTS BECOME MORE ATTRACTIVE Owing to the stringent government policies, the Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in the Construction Development: Townships, Housing, Built-Up Infrastructure segment during FY 2014-15 declined 37% to USD 796 million. The period between Apr-15 to Sept-15 has recorded a mere USD 81 million in FDI as compared to USD 568 million recorded during the same period in previous year. Therefore, to regain foreign investors' interests in the Indian Real Estate market, the government relaxed its FDI policies in November 2015. The key amendments to the FDI regime are: 100% FDI under the automatic route is permitted in construction led development projects including townships, construction on residential and commercial premises, roads & bridges, resorts, hotels, hospitals, educational institutes, recreational facilities, city and regional level infrastructure. The condition for minimum floor area of 0.22 million sq. ft. in construction development projects and minimum capitalization of USD 5 million to be brought in within the period of six months of the commencement of business have been removed. The investment will have a lock-in period of three years for each tranche of investment, however investors are permitted to exit at any time upon completion of the project or after development of trunk infrastructure i.e. roads, sewage, drainage, water supply and street lighting. The lock-in-period condition is not applicable on special economic zones, hotels and tourist resorts, hospitals, educational institutions, old age homes and investment by Non-Resident Indians (NRIs). The transfer of stake between non-resident investors is permitted without repatriation of investment. The transfer of stake will not be subject to any lock-in period and will not require government approval. The government also clarified that the FDI is not permitted in an entity which is engaged or proposes to engage in real estate business, construction of farm houses and trading in transferable development rights (TDRs). MARKET POTENTIAL AND REASON FOR FOREIGN INVESTORS TO INVEST IN INDIA The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy enforced conditions with regards to project status, project size, lock-in periods, etc. due to which the eligible stock of real estate projects for foreign investors was limited predominantly to large projects with development size of over 0.54 million sq. ft. The Modi-led BJP government however made subsequent relaxation in FDI policy for real estate investments in 2014 and 2015. The new relaxed guidelines made the entire real estate stock, completed or under construction, eligible for foreign investments. At the end of 2015, the market potential includes completed Grade A office stock estimated between USD 54 billion to 67 billion potentially able to generate USD 5.4 billion of rental income. On the residential side, the market potential includes 900,000 units that are scheduled for completion in the coming four years. The overall PE investment from foreign funds have almost regained the 2008 investments volumes. As of December 2015, about 34% of the total FDI in India were routed via Mauritius, due to bilateral tax avoidance treaty with India. OPPORTUNITIES As stated in our February 2015 ANREV red paper, high yield debt has become a commoditised but stable product. It is an attractive investment strategy for investors as the deal is structured in a manner that provides assured returns along with a possible up-side. The investments are fully secured assured and offer assured returns to its investors. Though the pricing levels for borrowing in the commercial space have moderated to about 15%-17% at the end of 2015, it still remains as one of the preferred investment strategies of investors. The banks in India have stringent norms that are governed by the Reserve Bank of India which restrict them in terms of flexibility of payment terms, tenure, project status, etc. therefore real estate developers prefer to sign-up deals with PE investors that can structure a deal on case by case basis. With relaxed FDI guidelines, real estate focused government initiatives and growing market, the Indian real estate holds a vast opportunity for investors seeking to invest in Indian real estate. Source: Cushman & Wakefield India. Hospitalisation for heart attacks and strokes is less common among people living in areas that restrict trans fats in foods compared to residents in areas without restrictions, new research has found. "Our study highlights the power of public policy to impact the cardiovascular health of a population," said lead author Eric Brandt from Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, US. Trans fatty acids, or trans fats, are commonly found in fried foods, chips, crackers and baked goods. Eating even minimal amounts is linked to a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death worldwide. Some communities in the US -- most notably New York City -- have eliminated the use of trans fats in restaurants and eateries in recent years. To study the impact of restricting trans fats, researchers compared outcomes for people living in New York counties with and without the restrictions. Using data from the state department of health and census estimates between 2002 and 2013, the researchers focused on hospital admissions for heart attack and stroke. They found that three or more years after the restrictions were implemented, people living in areas with the bans had significantly fewer hospitalizations for heart attack and stroke when compared to similar urban areas where no limits existed. The decline for the combined conditions was 6.2 per cent, said the study published in the journal JAMA Cardiology. "It is a pretty substantial decline," Brandt said. "The results are impressive, given that the study focused on trans fatty acid bans in restaurants, as opposed to complete bans that included food bought in stores," senior author Tamar S. Polonsky, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago, added. "If we enact a more complete restriction on trans fatty acids, it could mean even more widespread benefits for people," Polonsky said. New Delhi: For the second time this week Pakistan has been rapped for fomenting trouble in the region. After US National Security Advisor HR McMaster, the Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan said the proxy situation in Afghanistan threatens the stability of the region. Speaking exclusively to News18, Sajjan said, I realise the regional security challenges. I am aware of the proxy situation in Afghanistan. It is not helpful. Infact it is extremely detrimental. This was in response to a question with regards to calling out Pakistan for its role in aiding and abetting terror. Canadas Indian-origin Defence Minister, Harjit Singh Sajjan is a decorated military officer himself who has served in Afghanistan. By his own admission he has had a couple of close brushes with death while serving in the difficult conflict zone. He advocates tackling the root cause of the problem than being engaged in a protracted military combat in Afghanistan. Sajjan pointed to corruption being a major cause for the youth being sucked into terror outfits and becoming easy baits for recruitment. Earlier this week on a visit to Afghanistan before heading to Islamabad and New Delhi, US NSA HR McMaster too took a hard line on Pakistan asking it to use diplomacy rather than proxies like the Taliban and violence in pursuing its interests in Afghanistan. While not getting into the visa and immigration policies of countries like US and Australia that have pushed for a clampdown, Harjit Sajjan lauded Canadas policy for the integration. Harjit Sajjan said, We don't believe there should be any fear of immigration and Canada wants to lead by example. Sajjan is one of the four Sikh ministers in the Justin Trudeau cabinet. He moved to Canada as a five-year-old from Hoshiarpur, Punjab with his family. The court also clubbed the trial in the matter pending against the BJP leaders and karsevaks. The court directed separate trials at Rae Bareli and Lucknow be clubbed and conducted in the capital of Uttar Pradesh only. It also said that the trial judge of Lucknow shall not be transferred till conclusion and delivery of judgment in the case. Uma Bharti, who is Minister for Water Resources in the Narendra Modi government, will now face trial under fresh charges of criminal conspiracy. This also raises questions as to whether she will have to resign from her post. The order came after the CBI pleaded before the apex court, seeking restoration of conspiracy charges against the accused. The CBI had charge-sheeted Advani and 20 others under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between classes), 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) and 505 (false statements, rumours etc circulated with the intent to cause mutiny or disturb public peace) of the IPC. It had subsequently invoked charges under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC, which was quashed by the special court, whose decision was upheld by the high court. The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered to restore the criminal conspiracy charges against top BJP leaders Lal Krishna Advani, Murali Manohar Joshi, and others in the Babri Masjid demolition case.Setting aside an earlier Allahabad High Court order of dropping the criminal conspiracy charges against the accused, the bench of Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to go ahead with the plea.The court said no party shall be granted adjournment without the sessions judge being satisfied of the reasons for it and conduct day-to-day trial which should be concluded within two years. It also directed CBI to ensure that prosecution witnesses appear on each and every date for recording of evidence in the case and the trial court should start the proceedings within four weeks from today (April 19). It, however, clarified that there would be no de novo (fresh) trial in the matter.The bench also directed that its order should be followed in letter and spirit and granted liberty to the parties to approach it if its directions are not followed.There were two sets of cases relating to the demolition of the disputed structure on December 6, 1992. The first involved unnamed karsevaks, the trial of which was taking place in a Lucknow court, while the second trial involving cases related to the political leaders was taking place in a Rae Bareli court.Another accused, Kalyan Singh, former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, stands protected for now due to the immunity enjoyed by his current office as the Governor of Rajasthan. However, charges will be framed against him once he ceases to be the governor.Besides BJP leaders Advani, Joshi and Bharti, conspiracy charges were dropped against Kalyan Singh (currently the Governor of Rajasthan), Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray and VHP leader Acharya Giriraj Kishore (both have since died).The others against whom the conspiracy charges were dropped include Vinay Katiyar, Vishnu Hari Dalmiya, Satish Pradhan, C R Bansal, Ashok Singhal (now deceased), Sadhvi Ritambhara, Mahant Avaidhynath (now deceased), R V Vedanti, Paramhans Ram Chandra Das (now deceased), Jagdish Muni Maharaj, B L Sharma, Nritya Gopal Das, Dharam Das, Satish Nagar and Moreshwar Save (now deceased). New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday pronounced the verdict on whether to restore conspiracy charges against senior BJP leaders including LK Advani, MM Joshi and Uma Bharti in the Babri Masjid demolition case. Sources told CNN-News18 that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called a BJP core group meeting in the evening to discuss the situation in Kashmir and the Babri Masjid verdict. Stay tuned for live updates: Read all the Latest News , Breaking News , watch Top Videos and Live TV here. We have already lost all of this years crops. What we are wondering now is whether we can still sow the next kuruvai (the term for the short-term crop of June to October) come June (2017)? Just the thought of whether there is a next crop has driven farmers to despair... Unfortunately for us (Tamil Nadu), all our water sources are in other States. We are totally dependent on Kerala or Karnataka, says PR Pandian, head of the Farmers Welfare Association from Mannargudi. Census 2011 says 31 per cent of all workers in Tamil Nadu are involved in agriculture. Thats one-third its total work-force -- a strength not to be messed with. And with no commitment coming from the State or Central governments on how to solve their problems, this population is restless for results. We dont have a problem with these politicians coming to share our grief, empathise with us. But let them not come and talk politics. This is not the platform to serve their political motives, says Karthika Gandhi, a post-graduate student. : As the road from Budalur curves its way around little hamlets, the Grand Anicut suddenly comes into sight, gleaming in its majesty, the statue of a Chola king standing beside it. Nestled between Trichy and Thanjavur districts, it is one of South Indias oldest dams, tracing its history back to the medieval Chola kingdom; it was remodelled during the British era, with increased height, to plan for better irrigation downstream.Today, stuck in many a political upheaval that Tamil Nadu has seen these past three months, the sands taunt you to test their heat.So startling is the glint off the dried river bed, and so hot the sand beneath your feet, that you couldnt be blamed for wondering if it is, indeed, a river. For miles upstream, as far as your eyes can see, there is not a drop of water in sight. Is this really a river that saw three states fight for two decades on how to share its water?It is also at the 'Grand' Anicut that Cauvery river branches off into the Vennar and the Cauvery, and an additional Kollidam that takes water to Ariyalur, about 60 kilometres north. Here again, the sand stares back at you with a similar story. Rows of trucks move up and down the half-kilometre-long bridge atop, weaving their way through a side track to a place from where sand mined from the river bed is loaded into it.Farming has totally failed this year and this has made the river beds more vulnerable to mining.The underground water has totally depleted in all these districts because of sand exploitation. The government knows it is mined in excess, but brushes off all our complaints. Who is to ask them? It is sand that preserves the ground water and we will suffer the next season, says Varanavasi K Rajendran, State Secretary of the Consortium of Indian Farmers Association.Twenty-five days into its protest, anguish is turning into anger when politicians come to pay lip-service. DMKs former Union Minister T R Baalus speech last week was met with growing unease, and it took barely minutes for a group of youngsters to turn violent.We have been struggling for farmers welfare all this while. But those who have not cared to look at us until now are suddenly appearing here and talking politics, says a vehement K Bhupathi, a young activist.As with the Marina protest, youngsters are coming out to hold more placards and are suspicious of every politicos speech and intentions.There is a slow churning on ground, a rebellion brewing.The farmers of Tamil Nadu have been cheated by the government. There is very meagre relief.. We asked for 36,000 crores, they (Central government) give us 1,700-odd crores. That is 3.6 per cent. When we ask 100 rupees, you give 3 rupees and 60 paise? That is not an insult, it is an assault; an assault on the farmers sensibilities, says Maniarasan, a lawyer turned farmersactivist.A bandh has been called on the 25th, rail rokos are being planned in the coming days, as farmers crave for a better deal. The news that more power games are at play in Chennais Secretariat hurts deeply. New Delhi: Ministry of Home Affairs has cancelled the licence of Public Health Foundation of India under the Foreign Contribution (regulation) Act, 2010. This means, the NGO will not be able to get any foreign funding, including that from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), which is one of its biggest donors. Home Ministry sources said the FCRA licence of PHFI was cancelled on the grounds of misuse of funds received from foreign donors. Sources said the funds received for health research were being diverted. Commenting on the development, PHFI said, Certain observations have been made by the Ministry on utilisation of funds related to PHFIs projects on tobacco, HIV/AIDS and its financial reports. PHFI has submitted the requisite information and documents to the MHA on the observations raised in the notification and provided the needed clarifications. PHFI said it is expecting an early resolution of the issue. "Our work is fully in confluence with the ministry of health and India's national health policy. Regarding the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, most of our funding is to provide technical support to the ministry on projects that the ministry itself wanted. We do not act on behest of the Foundation. If the government wants to fund us, or wants us to provide technical assistance through other funding, we will do so," said Sreenath Reddy, President, PHFI. Launched by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2006, PHFI provides technical assistance to Central and State Governments in several areas of engagement including HIV prevention, access to drugs, tobacco control, immunization, environmental health, universal health coverage, public health cadre development and capacity building of primary care physicians. Many of these activities were in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The PHFI focuses on broad dimensions of public health that encompass promotive, preventive and therapeutic services, many of which are frequently lost sight of in policy planning as well as in popular understanding, states the PHFI website. Activities of BMGF on the health front in India had long been critiqued by the RSS-linked Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM). Ashwani Mahajan, the national co-convenor of Swadeshi Jagran Manch said he was glad to know about the development. Public Health Foundation of India is interlinked with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. We are expecting the government will take action against the bigger player as well. News18 had earlier reported that SJM was preparing a white paper on BMGF, questioning the philanthropic organisations influence on Indias health policies. In its draft paper, the Manch has alleged that BMGF has business links with some of the pharmaceutical companies that the government is planning to engage with for its pan-India immunisation drive. The idea is to enable the government in making an informed decision with regards to public health, said one of the experts working on the white paper. A statement released by BMGF said,"The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is a charitable donor organization that has been working in India for more than 13 years, in collaboration with the Government of India on aligned priorities. The foundation funds a variety of partners to undertake charitable objectives and requires these partners to comply with all applicable laws, including the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act." Soon after the verdict, Mazurier told reporters: It has been a long battle, but I am happy that justice has been done When you understand that you are being betrayed by your wife, you are under immense trauma. God gave me the strength to fight. After getting bail, Mazurier participated in a protest, demanding rights for fathers and made an emotional appeal saying his own father had been denied access to his grandchildren. Five years after being accused of sexually abusing his own daughter by his wife, French diplomat Pascal Mazurier was acquitted by a court in Bengaluru on Wednesday.A lot of people commit suicide when such charges are levelled. My estranged wife is the one who is a criminal, he added.The complainant, an Indian national, said she will appeal against the order in a higher court. She told News18 that she will still protect her children from the father and will ensure that he has no access to them.This is a fit case for appeal and we will be going to the high court, said prosecutor B T Venkatesh.In 2012, Mazuriers wife had accused him of assaulting their four-year-old daughter. He was posted as the deputy chief of the French consulate in Bengaluru at the time of the incident.Mazurier was arrested on June 19, 2012. His wife had accused that she had been suspecting some wrongdoing and on June 14, 2012 Pascal locked himself in a room with the four-year-old. She had claimed that she had taken the child to a local hospital where the doctors had confirmed physical assault.She filed a police case against Mazurier and five days later he was arrested.Mazurier had spent four months in jail and was later released on bail. He was booked under Sections 376 (rape) and 377 of the Indian Penal Code.Later, the court had allowed him visit to his two other kids for an hour, but not the daughter who was identified in the case.In August 2014, Mazurier had made an appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to fast track the case. In 2015, he had again made an appeal to court demanding more time with his kids. Kolkata: Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani has challenged West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to explain her stand on triple talaq if she really believes in equality and justice. Addressing a press conference, Irani said, I am interacting with you in a state which is governed by a female chief minister. When we talk about equality and justice, I would love to hear what Mamata Didi feels about triple talaq. Interestingly, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on April 13 slammed Mamata Banerjee over her silence on the issue. Why is she quite on triple talaq, he had said. BJP insiders told News18 that the central leadership is now trying to corner Mamata Banerjee over triple talaq. Whether she supports or opposes it, in both cases it will go against her. If she supports triple talaq, majority of Muslim women will go against her. And if she opposes it, then majority of Muslim men will speak against her, a BJP leader said on request of anonymity. Smriti Irani, who was in Kolkata to attend a party workers meeting, refused to comment further on this issue. However, she was quick to slam Mamata for blaming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe against senior Trinamool Congress leaders in the Narada sting case. All I want to say is Ulta Chor Kotowal Ko Datey (the guilty accusing the innocent), Irani said. When asked about Supreme Courts ruling against LK Advani and other top BJP leaders in Babri Masjid demolition case, she said, I will not like to make any comment on this. The party will decide. On rumours around a secret political understanding with TMC, Irani said, Had it been the case, why are BJP workers beaten mercilessly here. There are people who are spreading such rumours. They have actually faded away and want to clutch on to the headlines with such conspiracy theories. The release of the much-anticipated sequel of Baahubali The Beginning, which has been directed by SS Rajamouli might end up facing problem in Karnataka. Actor Sathyaraj, who plays Katappa in the film had allegedly made a controversial speech which had anti-Kannada statements - during the Cauvery row some time back hasnt gone down well with many. The protesters also include Kannada Rakshana Vedike who will stall the Bahubali press meet which has been scheduled for tomorrow. It has also been reported that they will also hold a rally against the films much-awaited release. While speaking to CNN-News18, Praveen Shetty, President, Karnataka Rakshana Vedike demanded an apology from actor Sathyaraj. Sathyaraj spoke against Karnataka people and the state Cauvery water issue. We are demanding an apology from him, not from others. He should come to Bangalore in front of media and the film chamber, he said. On being asked why they decided to stage the protest now, and not during the time the film was being released, Shetty said, We didnt get the information earlier. We got the video after the release of the first film." Sara Govind, Head of Karnataka Film chamber too stated that he doesnt have an issue with Rajamoulis magnum opus, but protest against Katappa's comments. We are not against the film, instead we are against the actor Sathyaraj, he explained. Referring to Sathyaraj's contentious speech, Govind said, He spoke badly about Kannada people. That is why we arent releasing the film in Karnataka. He has to come to Bangalore and apologise in front of everyone. We are protesting after seeing the video, which we got now. Besides the opposition by the film chamber, pro-Kannada organisations also plan a state-wide bandh on April 28, the release day of Baahubali 2. Last working day......hope fully.. What a journey..what an experience.. I am both smiling with joy and wincing with pain.. rajamouli ss (@ssrajamouli) April 18, 2017 : Filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli on Tuesday said he was smiling with joy as well as wincing with pain as the curtains came down finally on the filming of his forthcoming magnum opus Baahubali 2: The Conclusion."Last working day. Hopefully. What a journey. What an experience. I am both smiling with joy and wincing with pain," Rajamouli tweeted.The second part in the franchise, starring Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty, Tamannaah Bhatia, Ramya Krishnan and Sathyaraj, is slated for release on April 28.The film, about the battle between two warring brothers for an ancient kingdom, will release in Telugu, Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam.Baahubali 2: The Conclusion will finally shed the light on why Kattappa killed Baahubali. The BJP-led government in Uttar Pradesh, one of the most politically significant states, looks to strengthen the party's vote base as part of PM Narendra Modi's Mission 2019. The Congress party, on the other hand, senses a consolidation of the majority community, under the garb of a crackdown on meat shops and cow vigilantism. UP's cabinet Minister for women and child welfare, Reeta Bahuguna Joshi, however, dispels such doubts. "BJP had promised in its manifesto to support Muslim women in their fight against triple talaq. The government is doing the same and it intends to become a party on behalf of Muslim women in the ongoing case in Supreme Court," she said. Providing uninterrupted electricity to everyone by November 2018 was another ambitious measure rolled out by the UP government, keeping the 2019 elections in mind. "Subsequent to departmental reviews and analysis, tainted and non-performing officers will be acted upon," Mr Pathak added further. A clear Political and ideological foresight in policy implementation: that's the precise narrative of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his government as it completes one month in office.From a stringent action against the illegal slaughterhouses to the formation of anti-Romeo squads; vociferous criticism of triple talaq and a loan waiver of Rs 30 thousand crore to farmers, every decision of the Yogi government is driven by political calculations.After a landslide victory in UP election, choice of Yogi Adityanath, the Hindutva hardliner MP from Gorakhpur, had surprised many. It was seen as BJP's intention to depart from covert Hindutva agenda to clear hard-line politics. In Yogi's persona, going by his past, questions were raised if the BJP and theRSS wanted to go ahead with a clear Hindu card in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.A Month after Yogi was sworn in as the UP chief minister, Hindutva and the promises of development and transformed governance seem to be going hand-in-hand.The Mahant of the famous Goraksh Math, now also the Chief Minister of the state, has moved fast to strengthen his hold. Yogi has also tried ensuring that his decisions serve the twin purpose - of enhancing the government's credibility, and fulfilling the larger political agenda of vote consolidation.In his first ever address as the UP CM in Gorakhpur, yogi emphasised that his government will not discriminate on the basis of caste and religion and work for all the 22 crore people of Uttar Pradesh. Yogi's very first decision, however, to clamp down on illegal slaughterhouses drew a lot of doubts over his government's real intention.The opposition was quick to raise an alarm that innocent and genuine people in meat trade were also being unnecessarily victimised. UP State Congress spokesperson Amarnath Agarwal had said:"In the name of enforcing rule of law and NGT order, the Yogi government launched a drive to break down the entire business of the meat industry. The situation got so alarming that even the High Court had to intervene and uphold people's right to choice of food."The meat industry is still under stress, following strict licencing. Yogi, on his part, continues to claim that his government is just against illegal slaughterhouses.BJP government's tough stand on the issue of triple talaq is also seen as an attempt to solidify vote bank, rather than a genuine concern for the Muslim women.The BJP wants to win over a sizable section of the Muslim women, and also pacify those in the Hindutva brigade, demanding the implementation Uniform civil code. Talking to News18, a member of the Muslim Personal law board, Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mehali said, "Governments should not interfere in the personal laws of any community. The board is serious about discouraging the practice of triple talaq."Apart from these contentious issues, the biggest decision taken by the Yogi government has been the loan waiver worth Rs 30 thousand crore. Marginalised and poor farmers will be the biggest beneficiary of this move. However, the question is how the government will manage this huge amount. Cabinet Minister Sidharth Nath Singh said, "Government intends to bring special monetary bonds to generate the money for loan waiver." Will people be interested in state government bonds is something yet to be seen?The government claims that it will import power from other grids and also enhance the generation capacity of the state. However, experts feel it's a mammoth task and the government might just have bitten more than it can chew.President of All India Power Engineers Federation, Shailendra Dubey said, "There is surplus power generation in western states, but UP's infrastructure to import power is inadequate. Plus, there is a big issue of line losses, power theft, and poor distribution network in the state. Until these issues are adequately dealt with, nothing much will happen by merely declaring the roaster."Though not rushing with large-scale transfers of top officers in police and civil administration, the government has been successful in enforcing the new work culture.A work culture where the officers make departmental presentation and work round the clock. Not to forget the review meetings with the chief minister often extending well beyond midnight.BJP's state general secretary Vijay Bahadur Pathak says,"More than the officers, we look forward to changing the work culture. Our government is not indulging in transfers and postings, but increasing accountability and performance."By ordering a judicial probe into the projects launched by the erstwhile Akhilesh government, and by constituting a group of ministers to focus on mining, industrial policy and farming issues, the government has shown its seriousness towards dealing with corruption charges during the previous regime. However, it doesn't want its steps to be construed as a vendetta, hence wishing to have facts before acting.Under the chief ministership of the saffron-clad sanyasi, the BJP government in UP has dispelled doubts people had about its governance. Barring a few cases of moral policing by self-declared Hindutva Vigilantism, the government has so far been able to avoid embarrassments.Can the Yogi government continue this fine balance between its ideological-political agenda and good governance for all? Well, the Chief Minister Adityanath will have to be on a constant vigil. Chennai: The drama over TTV Dinakaran and VK Sasikalas role in AIADMK spilled over to Wednesday. After late night developments, a senior Tamil Nadu minister informed the media that V K Sasikala is no more the AIADMK general secretary. He also informed that Sasikalas nephew TTV Dinakaran has also been ousted from all the posts that he held in the party. Stay tuned for the updates: Read all the Latest News , Breaking News , watch Top Videos and Live TV here. "We have to discuss things, we want unity and we must merge the party; there should be no division," Jayakumar said. Tamil Nadu has witnessed a political battle between the two factions over the past several months, particularly after the death of the late CM J Jayalalithaa. : In a late night development on Tuesday, a senior Tamil Nadu minister informed the media that V K Sasikala is no more the AIADMK general secretary. He also informed that Sasikala's nephew TTV Dinakaran has also been ousted from all the posts that he held in the party."We have decided to delink TTV Dinakaran and his family from the party, a committee will run the party," said state finance minister D Jayakumar.The minister claimed that twenty ministers within the government had ousted Sasikala and her family from the AIADMK "unanimously".AIADMK leader and an O Panneerselvam loyalist C. Ponnaiyan told CNN-News18 that his camp (OPS) believed in a merger in total... "We want the general council to vote Sasikala out," he said.Over the past few days, rumours were rife that the two factions - EPS camp and OPS camp - could iron out differences and merge to form a united AIADMK once again.In the aftermath of Jayalalithaa's death, Sasikala is said to have sent 100-odd MLAs at the Koovathur Resort. However, the general secretary always maintained the MLAs were there on their own and not under duress. After more than ten days, the MLAs stepped out of the resort, but not until a government under Sasikala's leadership had already been formed.It is said that when the MLAs returned to their respective constituencies, they faced their voters' anger, triggering the division within AIADMK and the factions claiming stake to Jayalalithaa's legacy.The two factions kept criticising each other until last Friday when a few ministers raised concerns over Dinakaran's alleged involvement in bribing the Election Commission. The ministers demanded Dinakaran's resignation.On Monday evening, O Panneerselvam addressed the media, hinting at a possible merger of two factions. However, the OPS camp has been unequivocally demanding that Sasikala and her family be ousted.Panneerselvam's statement was welcomed by a few top ministers in the AIADMK on Monday night. However, the ministers kept mum over the role of Sasikala and Dinakaran, should the two factions merge. Belize, the Bahamas and Playa del Carmen, Mexico have been named some of the best places to live along the coast. Coastal Living magazine, a brand owned by Time Inc., published its "20 Best Places to Live 2017" list, which considers everything from the coastal lifestyle to urban and community design, expat life, ease of transition, real estate ownership, location and quality of destination. It's a list tailor-made for retirees looking for property along water-front, sun-soaked coastlines in North America and the Caribbean, or ocean lovers and water babies looking to live near its wildness. Destinations are divided into different categories. For those in search of a smaller coastal town, the list includes Fernandina Beach and Sarasota in Florida. There's also Grand Haven in Michigan, Langley in Washington and Orleans in Massachusetts. More dynamic destinations in the "cities" category include Boston, San Diego, Santa Barbara and St. Petersburg, Florida. For those looking for something more exotic and tropical, experts singled out Ambergris Caye in Belize, Harbour Islands in the Bahamas and Playa del Carmen, in Mexico. For the full list visit http://www.coastalliving.com/travel/top-10/best-places-to-live. Fresno: A gunman who went by the nickname Black Jesus killed three white men in downtown Fresno, California, on Tuesday, and fired at another before he was taken into custody while shouting "Allahu Akhbar," police said. The suspect, 39-year-old Kori Ali Muhammad, was also wanted in connection with the fatal shooting last week of an unarmed security guard at a Motel 6 in Fresno, Police Chief Jerry Dyer told reporters at a press conference. Dyer said Muhammad fired at least 16 rounds from a large-caliber handgun in less than a minute at four downtown Fresno locations at about 10:45 AM local time before he was spotted running through the streets by a police officer. "Immediately upon the individual seeing the officer he literally dove onto the ground and was taken into custody and as he was taken into custody he yelled out 'Allahu Akhbar,'" Dyer said. The term means "God is great" in Arabic. "He does not like white people," Dyer said, citing the suspect's statements after being arrested and his Facebook postings. The chief said Muhammad, who is African American, used the nickname Black Jesus. All four of the men killed on Tuesday were white, as was the security guard and the other man Mohammad shot at but missed. Dyer said it was too early to rule out terrorism and that his department had contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate, but portrayed the incident as "a random act of violence." "These individuals who were chosen today did not do anything to deserve what they got," he said. "These were unprovoked attacks by an individual who was intent on carrying out homicides today, and he did that." Dyer said Muhammad had been identified quickly as the prime suspect in the Motel 6 shooting on April 13 and that police had been urgently seeking him across the Fresno area since then. Fresno is an agricultural hub in California's central valley, about 170 miles southeast of San Francisco. Muhammad has a criminal history that includes weapons and drug charges and had spent time in state prison, Dyer said. County government buildings were placed on lockdown during the shooting spree and residents were urged to shelter in place. Local television images showed what appeared to be a body covered in a yellow tarp in a street near where police tape marked off several crime scenes. Facebook removed the footage hours after the attack. Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged that the world's largest social network had a role to play in stemming the worrisome trend. "There is a lot of work to do here," he told a Facebook developers' conference. "And we will keep doing all we can to prevent tragedies like this from happening." "There might be people out there in similar situations and we could find out why he did what he did" if he hadn't killed himself, said Williams. A US gunman accused of murdering an elderly grandfather and posting the footage on Facebook killed himself after a brief police chase, bringing to a close a frantic nationwide manhunt.Steve Stephens, 37 and thought to have been mentally unstable, had been on the run since 74-year-old Robert Godwin Sr was shot dead on Easter Sunday, seemingly at random in broad daylight in Cleveland, Ohio.The murder and a video sparked outrage across the world and renewed scrutiny of the growing number of grisly videos being posted on social media.Police got the decisive tip-off after Stephens had been on the run for nearly 48 hours, when a McDonald's employee recognized him at a drive-thru in Pennsylvania shortly after 11:00 am (1500 GMT) and called authorities."There was a short pursuit in which the vehicle was stopped. As the officers approached that vehicle, Steve Stephens took his own life," Cleveland police chief Calvin Williams said.Pennsylvania police said he shot himself with a handgun about a mile from the McDonald's following a low-speed pursuit -- at under 50 miles (80 kilometers) per hour.Tom Ducharme, owner of the restaurant near Erie, told CNN that Stephens drove up, placed an order and paid an employee, who recognized him and called police.The suspect, described as armed and dangerous, had been on the FBI's Most Wanted list. Up to $50,000 had been offered for information leading to his arrest.Stephens worked for a behavioral health agency serving children through mental health services, foster care and adoption, at-risk youth and other programs.But according to a timeline of events pieced together by police and Facebook, Stephens posted a video on Sunday afternoon saying he intended to kill, and followed up two minutes later with video of Godwin's shooting.In a third video 11 minutes later, streamed live from Stephens' car, he said he intended to kill others.Stephens' mother told CNN she called him after learning about the video, and he had told her he was shooting people because he was "mad with his girlfriend." Police say Godwin is the only known victim.Stephens had demanded that Godwin say the name of his girlfriend and added: "She's the reason this is about to happen to you."There was no indication Godwin knew Stephens' girlfriend. The killing was the latest in a string of disturbing crimes captured on Facebook video, including the alleged gang rape of a 15-year-old girl, two fatal shootings, and the kidnapping and torture of a disabled 18-year-old man.Authorities in Cleveland urged a nationwide debate on the issue of violence on social media and to find answers to the plague of gun crime rocking America."This is something that should not have been shared around the world, period," said Williams, the police chief."Our kids, although they should not have seen this, I'm sure a lot have. They need to take this as a lesson. We can't do this in this country. We just can't." Facebook took down Stephens' videos and disabled his account two hours after he first started uploading. It acknowledged the delay had been too long and said it was reviewing its protocols.More than 400 tips poured in before the suspect was spotted, and members of Godwin's family had offered Stephens their forgiveness."I don't want that man to die, I want him brought to justice," one of Godwin's sons, Robby Miller, told CNN.Police warned Stephens' death might make it harder to prevent similar crimes."If you're feeling, you know, not quite right and if there are things going on in your life that you need assistance with, you need to reach out and call somebody. And we'll get you that help," he added."We cannot resolve this underlying issue of violence, particularly gun violence if we do not function and operate and have the same compassion and commitment that we've shown here," said Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson.It was not immediately clear how long Stephens had been in Erie, in an area of remote woodland, farms and barns. Police initially searched the area on Sunday. By Nicolas Misculin BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Mexico expects to finish negotiations on a trade deal with Argentina involving cars and agricultural products around the end of the year, Mexico's deputy minister for foreign trade said in an interview on Tuesday. Mexico has been trying to diversify its trade partners since Donald Trump was elected president of the United States and is particularly seeking closer ties with the rest of Latin America. A team of Mexican negotiators arrived in Buenos Aires this week to advance trade negotiations that started last year, after Argentine President Mauricio Macri pledged to open the South American nation's economy. Under the deal, Argentina could gain part of the lucrative grains market in Mexico, Latin America's No. 2 economy, said Juan Carlos Baker, deputy minister for foreign trade. In 2015 Mexico imported $2.3 billion worth of U.S. corn and $1.4 billion of U.S. soy but Baker said those numbers will likely decrease under a renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement called for by Trump. "The potential is there," Baker said. "The Argentine exporters could find attractive conditions in Mexico." Mexico, in turn, could export cars to Argentina, he said. "We have a very strong manufacturing industry and Argentina is an important market for us," Baker said. (Reporting by Nicolas Misculin; Writing by Caroline Stauffer; Editing by Dan Grebler and Bill Trott) The first quarter campaign finance reports for the Lynchburg areas two contested House of Delegates seats show sleepy races with incumbents comfortably topping off existing war chests. While Del. Scott Garrett, R-Lynchburg, and Del. Kathy Byron, R-Bedford County, each took in $7,000 in cash, mostly from political action committees that donate to many candidates statewide, their challengers showed slow starts with a long way to go before the Nov. 7 general election. The reports filed with the Department of Elections on Monday included campaign contributions from January through March 31. During the General Assembly session, which encompassed most of the period, legislators are prohibited from raising money. Garrett, who represents the 23rd House District, raised a total of $10,750, including in-kind contributions, during the period, leaving him with $93,030.35 in his war chest. Garrett does not have an opponent in the June 13 Republican primary. Garrett said he doesnt usually begin actively fundraising or campaigning until after the veto session held April 5 this year past the reporting deadline. We will start in earnest sometime soon and try to raise resources so we can keep reaching out to folks in the 23rd District, Garrett said by phone Tuesday. Garrett received $1,500 from the Virginia Hospital Association PAC and $1,000 each from Virginia Bank PAC and the Virginia Health Care Association PAC. Garretts in-kind contributions of $3,750 are would-be rent payments because he and his wife own the building where his office is located through a real estate business. Natalie Short, who is seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Garrett, raised $854.26 during the period. Short, a stay-at-home mom and progressive who attended the state Democratic convention in support of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., during the presidential election cycle, showed no expenditures during the period and ended with $854.26. The district Democratic committee will choose a candidate by caucus May 23 in Lynchburg. After announcing her candidacy March 8, Short raised $504.26 from ActBlue Virginia, a grassroots fundraising tool used by Democratic candidates. She could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Byron, who has held the 22nd House District since 1998, added to a comfortable coffer by raising $7,698.81, including in-kind contributions, leaving her with $154,926.86. Byrons largest contributor for the period at $1,500 came from the Virginia Cable Telecommunications Association, one of her consistent donors. Byron, chairwoman of the Virginia Broadband Advisory Council, faced criticism during the 2017 General Assembly after introducing the Broadband Deployment Act, which critics say favored large telecom companies over localities. When the news media and the TV media start giving us the front page for free, Ill quit fundraising, Byron said in response to questions about the recent criticism. Thats what its for. She received $1,000 donations from the Virginia Manufacturers Association PAC, Advance America and Abbott Laboratories Employee PAC. Byron said most of the donations came before the General Assembly session commenced. Byron plans to gear up soon for campaign season and faces no challenger in the June 13 GOP primary. Michael Charlie Millner Jr., a Campbell County resident who received the Libertarian nomination to challenge Byron, filed a report with no money raised or spent. He announced his candidacy only a week before the filing deadline. Weve been just trying to get petitions filled out, Libertarian Party of South Central Virginia Chairman Michael Sale said Tuesday. Once we get petitions finished, well change gears into something else. Karen Nuzzo, the Bedford County Democratic Committee chairwoman, has said the 22nd House Democratic Committee is searching for a candidate and is scheduled to choose a nominee by caucus May 23 in Moneta. Del. Matt Fariss, R-Rustburg, who represents the 59th House District, raised $1,500 during the period in two lump sums $1,000 from the Commonwealth Sportsmens Alliance PAC and $500 from the Maritime Issues Council. Fariss ended the period with $2,091.76. So far, no candidate has announced an intention to challenge Fariss. He is the Republican nominee. Del. Ben Cline, R-Rockbridge, raised $10,710, leaving his coffers with $41,860.39. No one publically has announced an intention to challenge Cline. He is the Republican nominee. In House District 19, where Bedford businesswoman Reagan Flaherty briefly sought the Democratic nomination, Del. Terry Austin, R-Botetourt, raised $1,250 leaving him with $47,725.81. Austin is the Republican nominee. Flaherty filed two reports, one in which she raised $2,255 as well as $2,356.51 in loans that appear to be from her personal account. The second report showed the account being cleared after Flaherty dropped out of the race last week, which included paying the loans back as well as reimbursing donors. BRISTOL, Tenn. A makeshift memorial consisting of a white cross, simple flowers and an oversized stuffed animal in the median of the Volunteer Parkway provided comfort to the aunt of a Bristol woman who was gunned down last July. And then the display in front of the Days Inn motel disappeared. Joyce Rheas niece, Jennifer Rooney, a contracted newspaper carrier for the Bristol Herald Courier, died July 7 after being shot as she drove to pick up newspapers for her route. The racially motivated shooting spree, aimed at drawing police to the scene, wounded another woman and injured two others. The shooter, Lakeen Scott, was sentenced to life in prison last December. A week ago, Rhea drove to the site, as she has done about every two weeks, to replace the flowers with fresh ones only to discover that it had been removed. Surprised and heartbroken, she said she went back to her house a few blocks away and cried before informing family members that the display was gone. She said the family wants answers. Rhea realized that the median had been mowed recently, so she called city officials to try to find out who removed it and why. That memorial was the only way that we have been able to keep her memory alive. Ive been trying to find out which department took it down, but nobody from the city will even return my calls, she said through tears Wednesday. Its not clear who removed the memorial. A spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Transportation, which maintains all state and federal roads in the state, said TDOT had nothing to do with its disappearance. Generally speaking, we dont remove roadside memorials unless they are creating a safety issue, said Mark Nagi, TDOT spokesman. That location is inside the city of Bristol, but I did check with our crews that work in the area, and we didnt remove it. Tim Beavers, Bristol, Tennessees director of public works, said his department is responsible for mowing and maintaining medians along Volunteer Parkway and across the city. He said he has no idea what happened to the memorial, but the city has no problem with the family replacing it. Its hard to say when it might have disappeared, Beavers said. We understand the grieving process, and were not going to sit there and tell someone they cant put a memorial out there. Beavers added that he knows the shootings had an emotional impact on the whole community. Last summer, he said one of his employees made sure the memorial was presentable and in place. We started mowing recently and noticed that it wasnt out there, Beavers said. Were not just going to go out there and remove something to remove it. Rhea said that while it bothers her that she doesnt know what happened, she will replace the memorial soon. All that I want is something out there to remember her by, Rhea said. Ill wait a few more weeks and then go out there and take my hammer and nail it into the ground as hard as I can. Even though she doesnt currently have the money, Rhea said she would love to see some type of permanent memorial placed near the scene of the shootings. Every time I go by there, I think about what happened, Rhea said. I would be more than willing to chip in some money to make that happen, and maybe other people will as well. Three former Virginia attorneys general, Mark Earley, Mary Sue Terry and William Broaddus, are asking Gov. Terry McAuliffe to spare the life of Ivan Teleguz, set to be executed Tuesday for the murder-for-hire of his girlfriend. "We would like to add our voices to those calling for you to commute the sentence of Ivan Teleguz. As former Attorneys General of the Commonwealth of Virginia under both Republican and Democratic administrations we are familiar with the difficult decision before you when asked to spare the life of a death-sentenced prisoner," began their letter, dated Tuesday. The letter continues, "We know that as you make this difficult decision, you undoubtedly will keep in mind the memory of Stephanie Sipe and that there can be no accounting for the senseless brutality of her murder. In our view, however, justice cannot be served by executing a prisoner in a case replete with unreliable investigative techniques, coercive tactics by both law enforcement and the prosecution, recantations of key trial witnesses, and consideration of false testimony in support of a death sentence. In short, we believe this to be precisely the kind of case that calls out for executive clemency." Earlier this month lawyers for Teleguz filed a clemency request with McAuliffe. Marsha L. Garst, the commonwealth's attorney for Rockingham County, has declined to comment on the case, noting that the issues have been tried and decided in local, state and federal courts. The Virginia attorney general's office referred questions to the governor's office, which has not responded. Governors generally have not commented on pending clemency requests. Teleguz, 38, was sentenced to death for the 2001 capital murder of Stephanie Yvonne Sipe, the mother of their 23-month-old son. Sipe was stabbed to death in her Harrisonburg apartment. Trial evidence showed that Teleguz was angry that he had been ordered to pay child support. He hired two men to kill Sipe for $2,000 and drove them from Pennsylvania, where Teleguz had moved. Sipe was stabbed to death. Her body was discovered by a neighbor who also found her son, unharmed, in a bathtub full of water. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Virginia and Oklahoma are tied for the second most executions in the U.S. at 112 since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976. Texas, at 542, leads the country. Teleguz's lawyers argue that the new evidence pointing to his innocence has never been fully examined by the courts. They say two prosecution witnesses admitted "that they testified falsely in exchange for leniency in their own cases, and have no reason to think Teleguz was involved in the murder-for-hire." His lawyers say that one of the witnesses has been deported, and the other was told he would lose his release date set for next year if he went back on his testimony. The jurors also relied on false testimony that Teleguz was involved in an additional murder in Pennsylvania. Investigation since the trial by law enforcement and by the defense has confirmed that the murder never happened. The lawyers contend the only evidence remaining against Teleguz is the testimony of Michael Hetrick, the actual killer who was spared the death penalty. His lawyers said the clemency petition details why his testimony is not credible or reliable. A Change.org petition in support of clemency has been signed by more than 113,000 people, and Teleguz also has submitted written requests for clemency from thousands of supporters. In a release Wednesday, The Constitution Project said the three former attorneys general collectively oversaw the execution of over 50 prisoners while they were in office. Since leaving office both Earley and Broaddus have come to oppose the death penalty. Everett Gabathuler, son of Andrea and Philipp Gabathuler, went to be with the angels in heaven on April 16, 2017. Though his time on earth was short, he showed those that loved him what it means to love unconditionally. Everett was a gift from God to reveal the goodness of His blessings. To cherish his memory, he leaves his mother, Andrea; his father, Philipp; sister, Willow; his aunts and uncles, Meggan Saul of Howell, Mich., Chelsi Maddy of Evington, Brienne and Felix Gabathuler of San Jose, Costa Rica, Stephanie Gabathuler of Arlington, Va., and Chase Maddy of Rustburg; as well as his grandparents, Duane and Elaine Maddy of Rustburg, and Urs and Michaela Gabathuler of Lynchburg. He is also survived by his great-grandparents, Melvin and Jennie Wilson, of Lynchburg, Hedwig Gabathuler of Steckborn, Switzerland, and Carole Demas of Pittsburgh, Pa. A prayer service will be held at Tharp Funeral Home on Friday, April 21, 2017,at 6:30 p.m. The family will receive their friends preceding the service from 5until 6:30 p.m. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in Everett's honor to Lynchburg Grows. In love there is no separation. Tharp Funeral Home & Crematory, Lynchburg, is assisting the family. To send condolences please visit tharpfuneralhome.com. More than 50 Democrats running for the Virginia House of Delegates have signed a pledge saying they will never accept campaign contributions from Dominion or Appalachian Power, a sign of growing opposition among the Democratic base to the influence energy utilities wield in Richmond. A total of 57 candidates, 53 of them Democrats, have signed a pledge circulated by Activate Virginia, a progressive organizing group started by a former Bernie Sanders delegate. Two Green Party candidates and two independents also signed the statement. It was not sent to incumbent Democrats, Republicans or Libertarians. Citing President Donald Trumps executive order aimed at rolling back the Obama administrations efforts to combat climate change, the House candidates pledge calls for a principled stand against the fossil-fuel industry to prevent environmental catastrophe. For years, Appalachian Power and Dominion in particular have pumped cash into the coffers of politicians from both political parties in Virginia and, of course, into the parties themselves, the pledge reads. These interests are not driven by the protection of our environment or concerns about public health, but by the profit motive. The volume of signers sharpens an issue already shaping up as a fault line in the Democratic primary for governor, echoing former U.S. Rep. Tom Perriellos pledge to refuse political funding from utilities regulated by state government. Perriellos opponent in the primary, Lt. Gov. Ralph S. Northam, accepted nearly $16,000 from Dominion executives in the first quarter of 2017, according to campaign finance reports made public this week. On Tuesday, Perriellos campaign called on Northam to reject further donations from Dominion, saying Virginias next governor must aggressively promote clean, renewable energy. Many of the pledge signers probably wouldnt have to wrestle with the problem of a big check from Dominion, but the list includes several Democrats running in potentially flippable House districts held by Republicans. The list, according to Activate Virginia, includes two Democrats, Jennifer Carroll Foy and Josh King, running in the swingy 2nd District being vacated by retiring Del. L. Mark Dudenhefer, R-Stafford. Kathy Tran and Tilly Blanding, the two Democrats running in the 42nd District to succeed retiring Del. David B. Albo, R-Fairfax, also signed. Both Republicans and Democrats benefit from Dominions largess in election years, but both parties seem to be experiencing an uptick in anti-Dominion sentiment amid bipartisan concern that Dominions donations tilt state policy in the companys favor on issues like pipelines, coal ash and the General Assembly-approved freeze on state regulators reviewing the rates utilities charge customers. In 2015, Dominion contributed a total of $665,484, with $375,984 going to Republicans and $282,249 going to Democrats, according to the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project. Our employees are proud to be engaged in the political process and will continue to participate, said Dominion spokesman David Botkins. Our hardworking employees are Virginians giving to Virginians not large, out-of-state donors funding elections for who knows what motive. Perriellos campaign, which said it had no involvement in the Activate Virginia pledge, has received significant financial support from a few deep-pocketed donors from out of state, including a $250,000 donation from billionaire investor George Soros and $200,000 from the New-York based online advocacy group Avaaz. Josh Stanfield, a Yorktown-based activist who runs Activate Virginia with no major funding of his own but more than $25,000 in in-kind consulting services from a California-based public relations firm, said the pledge was aimed at getting Democrats to commit to changing an undemocratic feature of Virginia government before they get into office. Its a problem of the political culture in Virginia on both sides that this is assumed as necessary, Stanfield said. In the Richmond area, all four Democrats running in the 73rd District against Del. John M. OBannon III, R-Henrico, signed, as did Alex Mejias, whos running a Democratic primary challenge against Del. Delores L. McQuinn, D-Richmond. Schuyler VanValkenburg, a Democrat running in Henrico County-based 72nd District, coming open due to the upcoming retirement of Del. Jimmie Massie, R-Henrico, said he chose to sign because public utilities are a very distinct type of business, and lawmakers should avoid even the appearance of corruption in decisions that affect the utilities and their ratepayers. Its better to be seen as honest brokers when facing these issues, VanValkenburg said. Danica Roem, a Democrat running against Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Prince William, in the 13th District, said she had already vowed to refuse Dominion funding before signing the official pledge because of the companys handling of a controversial power-line project in Prince William County. Northams acceptance of Dominion contributions was a con, Roem said, but not a deal-breaker. A transgender woman running against one of the states fiercest social conservatives, Roem said she will support Northam in the June 13 primary. As an LGBT person, Dr. Northam was actually amazing for us in the state Senate, Roem said. Bruce fights the Robins and the Alfred question is answered in Batman vs. Robin #3 Bruce Wayne's inner demons are weaponized as he fights the Bat family in Batman vs. Robin #3 GamesRadar+ is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Heres why you can trust us. Energy Without Conscience launches at Lit Fest This is the view of Professor David Hughes in his new book Energy Without Conscience: Oil, Climate Change and Complicity. The book will be launched at the National Gas Company (NGC) Bocas Lit Fest in its Big Idea slot on Monday, in the AV room of the National Library, Port-of-Spain at 4.30 pm. Professor Hughes will be joined in a panel discussion with Eden Shand, a former deputy Minister of the Environment who opposed the paving of the Savannah, Dr Thackwray Dax Driver, CEO of the Energy Chamber, and UWI lecturer Dr Gabrielle Hosein. The discussion will be chaired by senior journalist Sunity Maharaj and includes a Q&A session. In this provocative work, Hughes asks readers to consider why the world is slow in seeing climate change as a moral issue and what it is about the use of fossil fuels that avoids widespread ethical scrutiny? The author focuses on Trinidad and Tobago, the worlds oldest petro state, with the first continuously oil-producing well dating back to 1866. Through interviews with petroleum scientists, policy makers, technicians and managers, mixed with historical research, the author draws parallels between 18th-19th Century slave-labour-energy economy and contemporary oil production in TT . Slavery relied, he reasons, as does the exploitation of fossil fuels on silence and collusion to absolve the producer and consumer from acknowledging the immoral nature of their dependency. For him, energy systems, including slavery, are embedded in moral economies and can therefore be reconfigured, if we had the political will to do so. It requires us to reject arguments that oil is economically, politically and technologically necessary. Only then can we begin the task of stemming the enormous damage we are doing to the planet. See www.bocaslitfest for all festival events. JSCs meet this week The PAEC is chaired by Opposition Senator Wade Mark. On the same day the Social Services and Public Administration joint select committee (JSC) is scheduled to meet at 10.15 a.m. (in public) in the A.N.R. Robinson Meeting Room (East) of Tower D to hold a public inquiry into the adverse health effects of fireworks. This JSC is chaired by Independent Senator Dr Dhanayshar Mahabir. On Thursday, the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) will hold a public hearing with officials from the Housing and Urban Development Ministry in the J. Hamilton Maurice Room at Tower D from 2.30 pm. The House of Representatives sits on Friday at Tower D from 1.30 pm. The House is expected to continue committee deliberations on the Criminal Procedure (Plea Discussion and Plea Agreement) Bill, 2017. Debate on this bill was concluded by Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi on April 12. The House is also expected to debate a motion to approve the notification of the nomination of Commodore Anthony Stafford Franklin as a member of the Police Service Commission. Prior to the Houses sitting, the National Security JSC will hold a public hearing in the J Hamilton Maurice Room at 10.30 am. The Race to Control the House Comes Down to 5 Reporter Joseph Shapiro first met Martin Sostre after New York's governor granted the inmate clemency in 1976. The prisoner's story sparked a lifelong interest in prison activism for Shapiro, who documents for NPR his search for the long-disappeared Sostre. Shapiro dives into the early life of the self-described "street dude" from Harlem whose first bust (for drugs) in 1952 sent him to upstate New York's Sing Sing correctional facility and kicked off his tenure as a "politicized prisoner." Along with newfound knowledge he gained reading about law, black history, philosophy, and the Constitution, Sostre decided to take the hustling skills he'd gained on the streets and put them to good use fighting for prisoners' rights. He was even thrown in solitary for his push for religious concessions as a member of the Nation of Islam. Sostre and two other inmates won a lawsuit in 1961 against a warden at another prison for denying prisoners their religious rights, setting the foundation for other inmates' suits against other correctional facilities. When Sostre was released, he opened a leftist-leaning bookstore in Buffalo, which he ran until a 1967 raid at his bookstore landed him a decades-long sentence in prison on drug charges he denied. He continued to stand up for his rights and those of other inmates, filing legal motions to protest stints in solitary and what he said were other violations. His victories earned him hero status among inmates nationwide. "No single figure played a greater role in securing legal rights for prisoners in the history of US prisons than Martin Sostre," one historian notes. More at NPR on what Shapiro found out when he tracked down Sostre's wife. (Dealing with violent child criminals in prison.) It looks like Disney World in Florida is aiming to be the destination of choice for Star Wars fans. It's toying with the idea of adding a hotel/resort that would fully immerse guests in the Star Wars universe, reports Business Insider. In fact, the idea is that they'd sleep in what looks like a starship. Based on a survey sent out to gauge interest, guests would interact with characters while taking part in a two-day "story" that involves lightsaber training, flight training, and, of course, secret missions, reports Walt Disney World News Today. The hotel would likely be located within the Star Wars Land theme park at Disney World, which is scheduled to open in 2019. Figure about $1,000 per guest, which could cover meals and admission to the theme park. Not that it's a done deal. A spokesperson notes that in the big ideas stage, "some of these ideas come to fruition, while many do not," per WFTV. (George Lucas is planning a museum, too.) On the same day Ivanka Trump sat down for dinner with the Chinese president at Mar-a-Lago, her company got approval from the Chinese government for trademarks to sell jewelry, spa services, and bags, the AP reports. That same week, 3.4 tons of her company's bags, wallets, and blouses arrived in the US from Shanghai and Hong Kong, where they were manufactured. With her taking an official position in her father's White House, Trump is now covered by federal ethics rules, meaning she's not allowed to make government decisions that could benefit her financial holdings, according to the New York Times. While Trump has stepped down from her business, she hasn't given up financial control. Barack Obama's chief White House ethics lawyer says he "would never have allowed" Trump to get heavily involved in Chinese matters politically, which she is, while her business is so heavily tied to the country. His counterpart from the George W. Bush administration says Trump needs to "put the business on hold and stop trying to get trademarks while you're in office." Because it's not just China: Ivanka Trump Mark LLC has recently filed for trademarks in Canada and the Philippines and is waiting on trademark decisions from Qatar, Kuwait, Panama, Brazil, and six other countries. Japan approved her trademarks in February. Meanwhile, Trump has sat for political meetings with the leaders of Japan, Canada, and Germany. The potential for Trump mixing business and politics could present unprecedented ethical difficulties. (Read more Ivanka Trump stories.) When Audrey Carey met Morrison Lampley, Sean Angold, and Lila Alligood in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park in October 2015, the Canadian backpacker thought she'd found new friends. "She trusted you, you three unspeakable monsters And you stole her from me," her mother said in a statement read out in a San Rafael courtroom on Tuesday, per the San Francisco Chronicle. Both Lampley, 24, and Alligood, 19, had pleaded guilty to murdering 23-year-old Carey and later 67-year-old Steve Carter. During a preliminary hearing, Angold, 25who took a plea deal in exchange for testimony against the pair, per NBC Bay Areasaid the three were using marijuana, heroin, meth, and LSD leading up to their crimes, which began when they stole a handgun from an unlocked truck in San Francisco. The group then befriended Carey with the goal of robbing her, Angold said. But after Alligood got her to the ground, Angold said he heard gunshots and Lampley told him, "She's dead, dude. Don't worry about it." Three days later, Lampley shot and killed Carter, whom the group had targeted for his station wagon, as he hiked with his dog in Marin County, Angold said. Authorities soon after tracked the vehicle to a soup kitchen in Portland, Ore., where the suspects were arrested. Lampley was sentenced Tuesday to 100 years in prison for first-degree murder. Alligod received 50 years but will be eligible for youthful offender parole in 25 years. Angold was given 15 years for second-degree murder. All three asked for forgiveness for their crimes, reports KRON. (Read more murder stories.) Two black state senators in Florida accuse colleague Sen. Frank Artiles of using racist languageand offering an excuse nearly as shameful. Democratic Sens. Audrey Gibson and Perry Thurston says they were approached by the Cuban-American Republican over drinks at the Governor's Club in Tallahassee Monday night. They say Artiles told them that Republican Senate President Joe Negron was only in the role because "six n---ers" in the GOP caucus had elected him, the Miami Herald reports. The senators say Artiles later claimed that he had used the slang term "niggas," which he considers a different term. It's not clear who Artiles was referring to, since there are no black Republicans in the Florida state Senate, the New York Daily News notes. Gibson and Thurston say Artiles also called Gibson a "f---ing a--hole" and a "b----"apparently without offering alternative spellings. Gibson tells the Herald it was the most disrespect she had ever encountered and she was so upset she had to leave. Negron said Tuesday that he is "appalled' by the incident and Artiles will apologize on the Senate floor Wednesday. Artiles apologized in a statement Tuesday afternoon, saying, "I unfortunately let my temper get the best of me. There is no excuse ... and I have apologized to my Senate colleagues and regret the incident profusely." Said Negron in a statement: "Racial slurs and profane, sexist insults have no place in conversation between senators and will not be tolerated while I am serving as Senate president," he said. (Read more Florida stories.) Democrat Jon Ossoff narrowly failed to shock the GOP Tuesday with an outright victory in Georgia's special electionbut he will get a second chance on June 20 when he faces Republican Karen Handel. CNN projects that Ossoff, a 30-year-old who was little-known before the 6th congressional district race, will fall just short of 50%, while Handel leads the 11 Republican candidates in the 18-candidate race. Handel came in a distant second to Ossoff but was well ahead of the other Republicans, reports the AP, which notes that technical difficulties in the election office could delay final results for some time. An Ossoff victory in a district that has been Republican for decades would have been a major rebuke to President Trump, who targeted the Democrat in a series of tweets, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "Despite major outside money, FAKE media support and eleven Republican candidates, BIG "R" win with runoff in Georgia," Trump tweeted after results came in. "Glad to be of help!" "There is no doubt that this is already a victory for the ages," whatever the final result, Ossoff told supporters Tuesday night. Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas said the swing away from the GOP in the district shows that "getting the 24 seats we need to take back the House is suddenly a real possibility." (Read more special election stories.) The only polar bear resident at SeaWorld San Diego died unexpectedly on Tuesday, and while the marine park says the death of 21-year-old Szenja will be investigated, PETA says it knows what killed her: a "broken heart." The animal rights activists objected strongly in February when SeaWorld separated Szenja from longtime companion Snowflake, who was sent to a breeding program in Pittsburgh. "After losing her companion of 20 years when SeaWorld shipped Snowflake to the Pittsburgh Zoo in order to breed more miserable polar bears, Szenja did what anyone would do when they lose all hope, she gave up," PETA spokeswoman Tracy Reiman tells the San Diego Union-Tribune. Polar bears in the wild don't often live beyond their teens, but those in captivity have been known to survive into their 40s. SeaWorld says Szenja had been listless and lost her appetite over the last week, NBC San Diego reports. A necropsy will be conducted to find the cause of death. "Szenja was a beloved member of our animal family ... [who] touched the hearts of those who have cared for her ... and millions of guests" over the years, a SeaWorld spokesman Al Garver said in a statement. "We're proud to have been a part of her life and to know that she inspired people from around the world to want to protect polar bears in the wild." (The San Diego park ended its Shamu orca shows earlier this year.) Canada's ambassador to Washington said Tuesday night that President Trump is wrong when he says Canada's trade practices in the dairy industry are "very unfair." Trump spoke out against Canada on Tuesday in a way he's not done before, saying Canada has been "very, very unfair" to dairy farmers and "we're going to start working on that," the AP reports. Ambassador David MacNaughton said in a letter to the governors of Wisconsin and New York, who asked Trump to address dairy practices, that "Canada does not accept the contention that Canada's dairy policies are the cause of financial loss for dairy farmers in the United States." MacNaughton attached a USDA dairy outlook report that he said "clearly indicates the poor results in the US sector are due to US and global overproduction." MacNaughton argues that the Canada dairy industry is less protectionist than that of the US, which he says has employed technical barriers to keep Canadian products out. "It is important that we work together to grow the middle class, and not lay blame where it does not belong," MacNaughton writes. The US dairy lobby accuses Canada of "systemic disregard" of its trade obligations, while the Canadian industry accuses its American rival of "scapegoating." (Trump's remarks came while he was in Wisconsin to sign his "Buy American" order.) The man accused of murdering four white men in Fresnothree of them in a Tuesday morning shooting spreerepeatedly referred to "white devils" in online postings. Police believe 39-year-old Kori Ali Muhammad's killing spree was a hate crime, not an act of terrorism. The suspect's father, Vincent Taylor, tells the Los Angeles Times that his son believed black people and white people were at war and "a battle was about to take place." Police say Muhammed, who surrendered peacefully after shooting the three men, has told them he decided to kill "as many people as he could" after he was identified as a suspect in the fatal shooting of a Motel 6 security guard last week, the Fresno Bee reports. Taylor says he's glad his sonwho changed his name from Kori Taylorwas arrested and the bloodshed is at an end. Muhammad's other online postings include a rap album with the lyrics: "Hollow points make a white devil body spin." Police say his victims included Pacific Gas & Electric Co. employee Zackary Randalls, the 34-year-old father of two young children. The two other men killed Tuesday are believed to be clients of Catholic Charities, an organization that helps the poor and the homeless, the Bee reports. Police say Muhammad shouted "Allahu akbar" as he was arrested. Leaders from several Fresno Muslim centers joined Christian and Jewish leaders outside City Hall Tuesday to condemn the killings. (Read more California stories.) In 2009, a record-breaking $53 million was raised for President Obama's first inaugural festivities, despite a cap of $50,000 per donation, reports the New York Times. With no such cap in place, President Trump's inaugural committee says it raised twice as much at a whopping $107 million, reports the Washington Post. According to a Federal Election Commission filing, casino mogul Sheldon Adelson gave $5 million, Boeing and Kraft Group each gave $1 million, Quicken Loans donated $750,000, and Microsoft and Citgo Petroleum each gave $500,000, reports Politico. Google, Pepsi, Ford, and UPS each donated $250,000. Trump's team says it is identifying charities to receive remaining funds, though it isn't clear how much remains. (Read more President Trump stories.) "Nothing to see here," was US military officials' reaction to an incident this week involving Russia off the coast of Alaskaeven though the Air Force sent two F-22 fighter jets and an early-warning plane to address the situation. A spokeswoman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command tells the New York Times that two Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers zipped within 100 miles of Kodiak Island Monday evening, within a few hundred miles of the airspace around the US and Canada known as the Air Defense Identification Zone. Fox News first reported on the incident after US officials confirmed that the bombers, which are said to be capable of carrying nuclear weapons, flew about 280 miles southwest of Elmendorf Air Force Base, causing the US to scramble the F-22s and an E-3 early-warning plane to intercept them. Lt. Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, head of Alaska's NORAD region, tells the Alaska Dispatch News Monday's incident, from detection to interception, took place over about two hours, between 6pm and 8pm. He noted there was no communication between the US and Russian pilots during the "extremely proficient" maneuvers, though they "waved at one other." But even though GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger told Wolf Blitzer on CNN the Russians were "trying to show their teeth," US military officials said the incident was "nothing out of the ordinary" and "not dissimilar from what we've seen in the past with respect to Russian long-range aviation." Fox notes that July 4, 2015, was the last time Russian bombers hovered so close to the US, when two bombers flew near Alaska and California, coming within 40 miles of Mendocino. (Vladimir Putin won't be meeting with Rex Tillerson.) Amy Schumer isn't the only star doing battle with trolls lately. About 51% of 120,000 reviews on IMDb for Christian Bale's new movie The Promise, set amid the Armenian genocide, give the movie a one-star rating out of 10and it's likely not because of his acting. The Promise, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September but is only scheduled for release this Friday, seems to be suffering from the same type of campaign that aimed to sink Ghostbusters and Schumer's 2016 book. In this case, trolls appear angry with the film's portrayal of the killing of 1.5 million Armenians beginning in 1915. Many countries, including Germany and France, consider it genocide, per the Washington Post. Turkey, however, does not. But posts on Incisozluk, a Turkish version of Reddit, don't just dispute the events represented in the film. They show a concerted effort to do damage to it, reports the Hollywood Reporter. One user, for example, described the need for urgent action against the film before celebrating that its IMDb rating had at one point fallen to 1.8 stars, making it one of the site's 10 lowest-rated films. One one-star review simply notes the film is "based on a lie." The film's producer, Eric Esrailian, says the trolling is "a kind of censorship, really." The Promise has since rebounded and now has a 5.2 rating on IMDb with 48% of votes giving it a 10-star rating. Says Esrailian: "People realized you had to fight fire with fire." (Trolls also targeted Megyn Kelly.) A 23-year-old man sued the federal government over his deportation to Mexico, saying he was entitled to remain in the US under a program shielding people who came to the country as young children. Juan Manuel Montes' attorneys say their client is believed to be the first known person who qualifies for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to be deported by President Trump, the AP reports. The attorneys say Montes qualified for DACA in 2014 and renewed his status for two years in 2016. US Customs and Border Protection disputes Montes' account of his immigration status, saying his DACA permit expired in August 2015 and wasn't renewed. The agency says Montes was once convicted of theft and sentenced to probation. His lawyers acknowledge in the suit he had a misdemeanor on his record and "minor traffic offenses," none of which would have disqualified him from DACA. The suit, which says Montes came to the US when he was 9, notes he was sent to Mexico on Feb. 17 after law enforcement stopped him in Calexico, Calif., and asked for ID. It says he'd forgotten his wallet in a friend's car and felt "scared and confused." The suit adds he was asked to sign documents without being given copies or meeting with an immigration judge. Montes returned to the US Feb. 19 and turned himself in; he was again asked to sign documents and returned to Mexico. CBP says Montes was arrested after climbing over a Calexico border fence and admitting he'd entered the country illegally. "I was forced out because I was nervous and didn't know what to do or say," he says. A National Immigration Law Center attorney says he was "funneled across the border without so much as a piece of paper to explain why ... The government shouldn't treat anyone this way." (Read more deportation stories.) Vice President Mike Pence says inaccurate statements from the White House and Pentagon that the USS Carl Vinson was near the Korean peninsulawhen it was actually more than 3,000 miles awaywere not intentional. Asked in a CNN interview if officials had intentionally misspoken on the location of the flagship of the Carrier Strike Group One, Pence said, "Oh, I think not," per Politico. A senior administration official has blamed miscommunication between the Pentagon and the White House and "a lack of follow-up with commanders," per CNN. But Pence gave no reason for the misstatements when speaking from a US naval base in Japan. Pence instead referred to the strong US military presence in the region and said the US would continue to put pressure on North Korea. The Washington Post reports the USS Carl Vinson might finally be part of that pressure. The aircraft carrier, which had been taking part in military exercises with the Australian navy south of Singapore, is believed to be on its way to the Korean peninsula at last. "Our deployment has been extended 30 days to provide a persistent presence in the waters off the Korean Peninsula," the commander of Carrier Strike Group One says in a post on the Carl Vinson's Facebook page. The ship is expected to arrive by Tuesday, the Post reports. (Read more USS Carl Vinson stories.) The 17-year-old Idaho high-schooler who disappeared after his prom has been foundand is now facing a criminal charge for running away from home, KTVB reports. Kristian Perez was reported missing by his mother on Saturday when he didn't return home following his prom in Orofino. According to the Spokesman-Review, police found Perez's broken cellphone, tuxedo jacket, and one shoe near the car of a relative who had driven Perez to the dance. Police believed there was the possibility of foul play, KLEW reports. Police dogs followed Perez's scent to a parking lot near the prom but lost it there. Police found Perez shortly before 1am Tuesday at a house a few miles from the prom after receiving a tip. Authorities say he was fine and voluntarily staying with a 26-year-old man named Tyson Imel. Perez was arrested and is facing the possibility of probation in connection with his runaway charge. Idaho is one of nine states where running away from home is a crime. Imel may also face charges. Orofino's police chief says the department spent "a lot of man-hours" searching for Perez, and they're "disappointed" he didn't reach out to his family once he realized they were looking for him. (Read a more heartwarming prom story.) Officials from Russia's Foreign Ministry have denied knowledge of reports that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State jihadist group, has been arrested in Syria, Kurdish broadcaster Rudaw said on Tuesday. Moscow : Officials from Russia's Foreign Ministry have denied knowledge of reports that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State jihadist group, has been arrested in Syria, Kurdish broadcaster Rudaw said on Tuesday. "We are not aware of the arrest of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, 'caliph' of the Islamic State, and have not received any information or clarification in this regard," staff from the Foreign Ministry's media office were cited as telling Rudaw. Russian media had earlier cited the European Department for Security and Information (DESI) non-profit organisation as saying it received information that Baghdadi had been arrested in an operation coordinated between Russian and Syrian government intelligence agencies. Iraqi news site Ara News cited Iraqi military intelligence officials on Monday as saying Baghdadi had recently crossed to Syria from Iraq after being injured in an airstrike by the US-led coalition in the northwest. The Iraqi military intelligence unit, known as Suqur al-Istikhbarat , said that the recent reports about al-Baghdadi's death were inaccurate and said he is still alive, Ara News reported. Northeast Africa is in the grip of a "very fast-moving crisis" that is putting both Somalia and South Sudan "in peril" of severe food shortage, a top UN official said on Tuesday. United Nations : Northeast Africa is in the grip of a "very fast-moving crisis" that is putting both Somalia and South Sudan "in peril" of severe food shortage, a top UN official said on Tuesday. While Somalia was managing for the moment, South Sudan was not, John Ging, director of the Operational Division of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said. He has just returned from an emergency tour of the famine-threatened region and briefed reporters at UN headquarters in New York, Xinhua news agency reported. "This is a very fast-moving crisis," Ging said, referring to Somalia. "Both Somalia and South Sudan are part of a group of countries that are in peril of famine and in the case of South Sudan famine has already been declared," Ging added. There is a catastrophic food insecurity situation in both of these countries and 6.2 million people in Somalia are "in need of humanitarian assistance. There is also an outbreak of cholera where more than 25,000 cases are being reported. "We also have threat of measles and 571,000 people displaced since last November, due to the drought and their needing to move from where they are to gain assistance," Ging said. Ging noted that Somalia is a very dangerous environment for the population because of conflict and humanitarian workers are have problems gaining access to victims, "particularly in and to the al-Shabab controlled areas." "It is surely a race again time," Ging said, complimenting government participation, but warning, "This crisis is going to continue to grow." In South Sudan, "we have already declared famine, 100,000 people are already suffering from famine in two counties and another 1 million people very close to being declared as affected by famine," he said. While Ging said that there already has been a large humanitarian operation in the world's youngest country for a number of years, it is "one of the most dangerous places for humanitarian aid workers," with 24 of them killed this year, nine of them last month. He said 7.5 million people across South Sudan are now in need of humanitarian assistance while 3.6 million people have been displaced. "So, in the one country where we already have famine we don't have resources," Ging said. Kori Ali Muhammad is seen in an undated photo released by Fresno Police in Fresno The man accused of killing at least three people in a Tuesday shooting spree in Fresno, California, was targeting white men, according to police cited by Reuters on Monday night. The suspect in custody, 39 year-old Kori Ali Muhammad, also called himself "Black Jesus," police said. Muhammad was also wanted before Tuesday's shooting spree in connection to a murder that happened last week at a nearby motel, where the victim was also white. Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer told reporters the shooter targeted white men, citing the Muhammad's statements to police and posts on Facebook. His social media accounts included posts encouraging "black warriors" to "mount up" and referred to white people as "white devils." He also repeatedly posted "#LetBlackPeopleGo." "He does not like white people," Dyer told reporters at a press conference. All of the men shot were white, including another man who was shot at but not wounded. "These were unprovoked attacks by an individual that was intent on carrying out homicides today. He did that," Dyer said. Though Muhammad shouted "Allahu Akbar!" when officers closed in on him and posted the phrase on social media multiple times, Fresno local imam Seyed Ali Ghazvini of the Islamic Cultural Center said Muhammad was not a member of his congregation, the Associated Press reported. Ghazvini did not recognize Muhammad, but is speaking with other faith leaders to see if anyone knew the man, Associated Press reported. The shooting began around 10:45 a.m., Fresno police chief Jerry Dyer said. The suspect shot the passenger of a pickup truck, after which the driver of the truck "sped" to Fresno police headquarters and reported the shooting. The second shooting was shortly after, during which the gunman fired a number of rounds at a man, killing him. The third killing occurred after the shooter reloaded his gun at a bus stop, authorities said. Story continues Right before officers arrested him, Muhammad reportedly "dove to the ground and yelled 'Allahu Akbar!'" which means "God is great!" in Arabic. A crime scene is outside Fresno Police Dept headquarters on M street between Fresno and Mariposa streets pic.twitter.com/0jsVDBv118 pablo lopez (@beecourts) April 18, 2017 Muhammad has a long criminal history that includes making threats of terrorism and weapons possession, Dyer said. Muhammad had spent time in state prison in the past for his crimes, according to police. Court documents also showed that Muhammad was charged in 2005 with possessing cocaine with intent to distribute. At that time he was also in possession of a hand gun and two rifles, Associated Press reported. His lawyers in 2005 claimed insanity and a psychiatrist diagnosed him with psychosis. His attorney at the time said Muhammad believed defense lawyers to be conspiring against him and was suffering with paranoia, according to the Associated Press. According to public records reported in Associated Press, Muhammad's real name as "Cory Taylor," though he has other aliases and is connected to addresses in Sacramento and Fresno. However, police say that he was homeless. More From Business Insider Sorry! This content is not available in your region - By James Li John Linehan, manager of the T Rowe Price Equity Income Fund (Trades, Portfolio), invests in companies expected to pay above-average dividends and trade below their intrinsic values. During the first quarter, the guru increased his stake in Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) and US Bancorp (USB). Linehan also trimmed his position in Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and American Express Co. (AXP). Wells Fargo Linehan boosted his Wells Fargo position 27.30%, purchasing 2 million shares at an average price of $56.74. With this transaction, the manager increased his portfolio 0.51%. As discussed in a previous article, Wells Fargo produced solid earnings during the quarter. Even though the company's overall profitability ranks a modest 5 out of 10, the bank still has expanding operating margins and consistent revenue per share growth. Wells Fargo's operating and net margins are near a 10-year high and outperform 62% and 57% of global banks. 1045835715.png 1756201936.png Jerome Dodson (Trades, Portfolio) and Manning & Napier Advisors Inc. also boosted its position in Wells; the former increased his position 11.11% while the latter added 5.29%. 758c4559eb72446ecaf31a18f0a7c5b3.png edcd575fef13be0dcf5e211df815cfca.png US Bancorp The T Rowe Price Group Inc. (TROW) fund manager increased his U.S. Bank position 124.1%, adding 2.755 million shares at an average price of $53.32. With this transaction, Linehan expanded his portfolio 0.65%. 796995cf5def60970022b939b2df5553.png U.S. Bank has a modest financial strength rank of 5. Although U.S. Bank's interest coverage outperforms 80% of competitors, the company's interest coverage is slightly less than Ben Graham's threshold of 5. Additionally, the regional bank only has 33 cents in cash per $1 in debt. Despite poor cash-debt ratios, U.S. Bank has a profitability rank of 6, suggesting moderately strong growth potential. Even though the company's operating and net margins leveled off since 2011, these margins still outperform over 66% of competitors. Story continues 1476244710.png Bank of America Linehan chopped 53.89% of his stake in Bank of America, selling 5.2 million shares at an average price of $23.73. With this transaction, the guru pared 0.52% of his portfolio. 4a6181bb3dc9021202afa87b57180352.png The North Carolina global bank has a profitability rank of 3, suggesting low growth potential. Although the company's operating and net margins are near a 10-year high, Bank of America has consistent revenue per share decline during the past 10 years. The company's three-year revenue growth of -0.70% underperforms 73% of competitors. 83067085.png With a Beneish M-score of -0.47, Bank of America may have manipulated its earnings results. Figure 1 shows the detailed breakdown of the company's M-score for the past 10 quarters. Figure 1: Bank of America Beneish M-score breakdown, past 10 quarters 1012151613.png Among the components of the Beneish score, Bank of America's days sales in receivables index (DSRI) is the most volatile, ranging from approximately 0.3062 to 3.4059 during the past 10 quarters. During fourth-quarter 2014 and fourth-quarter 2016, the bank may have inflated its revenues. As the bank has decreasing growth potential, several gurus trimmed their Bank of America positions. Steven Romick (Trades, Portfolio) and the Yacktman Fund (Trades, Portfolio) sold 6.93% and 23.08% of their stakes in Bank of America. d1bb1a68198362060ded8179b8c7247e.png 26d9484c50e746819ae38ae901b32062.png American Express Linehan knocked off 36.70% of his stake in American Express, selling 1.38 million shares at an average price of $78.18. With this transaction, the guru trimmed 0.47% of his portfolio. 37eae6208b96f17c7933f8fd2182ddb5.png The New York financial services company has moderately strong growth potential with a profitability rank of 6 and a GuruFocus business predictability rank of 3.5 stars. While the company's operating and net margins outperform just 57% of competitors, the margins are near a 10-year high. Additionally, American Express' return on equity outperforms 88% of global credit services companies. 787420051.png Despite high profitability and growth potential, American Express is moderately overvalued. Although the company trades below its Peter Lynch earnings line, the share price is near a two-year high. Additionally, American Express's price-book (P/B) ratio ranks lower than 82% of competitors. 1771673891.png As the company has declining value potential, Romick sold 41.29% of his stake in American Express. ba1d5b119ee134428c5341030f84a2c1.png Disclosure: I do not have positions in the stocks mentioned in this article. Start a free seven-day trial of Premium Membership to GuruFocus. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. The Daily News-Miner encourages residents to make themselves heard through the Opinion pages. Readers' letters and columns also appear online at newsminer.com. Contact the editor with questions at letters@newsminer.com or call 459-7574. Mumbai: As the Sensex closed higher -- albeit marginally -- after four days of losses in the face of muted corporate results so far, a normal monsoon forecast by IMD kept the hope factor alive for stocks on Wednesday. The Nifty, however, ended in the red amid a recovery in Europe. With more companies due to announce results, investors remained largely cautious. The government's weather office on Tuesday predicted a normal monsoon for June-September, which is expected to give a boost to the rural economy. At the close, the 30-share index stood at 29,336.57, up 17.47 points, or 0.06 per cent. The barometer had lost 469.25 points in the previous four sessions, largely because of continued geo-political tensions and rising wave of global protectionism in the form of visa restrictions. Read more: India set to become important destination for FDI: US official The 50-share NSE Nifty shed 1.65 points, or 0.02 percent, at 9,103.50. "The Indian Meteorological Department's first stage forecast for the important Indian monsoon season suggested...a near normal season", said Karthikraj Lakshmanan, Senior Fund Manager, Equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund. Mirroring overnight losses in the US, most Asian shares turned lower after Britain's shock decision to call an early election added to global uncertainties, traders said. TCS, the country's largest software exporter, on Wednesday fell 0.30 per cent after the company's March quarter profit came in below expectations. Power Grid took the top rank, climbing 4.35 per cent. Adani Ports, NTPC, Asian Paints, Coal India and Maruti Suzuki rose by up to 1.24 per cent. SBI, Hero MotoCorp, Dr Reddy's and ICICI Bank faced selling pressure. Read more: IMF cuts down Indias annual growth forecast by 0.4 per cent, keeps it at 7.2 per cent BSE power index made the maximum advance, rising 2.04 per cent, followed by realty, metal and capital goods. Broader markets were better-off, with the small-cap and mid-cap gaining more than the benchmark. Foreign investors net sold shares worth Rs 930.67 crore while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth 878.08 crore on Tuesday, provisional data showed. New Delhi: Shifting its MCD election campaign in top gear, BJP will field its senior leaders including party chief Amit Shah for seeking votes for the party in the civic body polls in Delhi. Shah will address an election rally in southwest Delhi's Dwarka alongwith party leader and Bhojpuri film actor Ravi Kishan, on April 20, said Delhi BJP media incharge Praveen Kapoor. The same day, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will hold election rallies in Kirari and Mustafabad. Other union ministers and senior party leaders including Venkaiah Naidu, Uma Bharti, Harsh Vardhan, Santosh Gangwar and Sanjiv Balyan, will also address rallies in different parts of the city on Thursday, Kapoor said. Campaigning for the election will end on the evening of April 21. The votes for 272 wards of three municipal corporations will be cast on April 23. Counting of votes and announcement of results will take place on April 26. BJP is pitted against Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in a triangular contest for the corporations that it has ruled for last one decade. Mumbai: In a fit to oppose the sale of 'Pakistani brands' of clothes at least 10 Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) activists were arrested for allegedly creating ruckus in a Zara showroom of apparel at Lower Parel area in Mumbai. Those arrested included an MNS corporator Datta Narvankar and three women, who were later released on bail, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone-III) Pravin Padwal on Wednesday. The activists barged into the showroom inside Phoenix mall on Tuesday after coming to know of the outlet selling the apparel and accessories of 'Pakistani brands', said the official. Read more: Pakistani Hindu man selected for prestigious Young Leaders Award in US The activists shouted slogans against Pakistan and threw out the stock of Pakistani brand garments, he said. According to the officer, the activists also warned the shop management not to sell the cloths of Pakistani brands. The personnel from NM Joshi Marg police station rushed to the showroom and detained 10 MNS activists. They were brought to the police station and subsequently arrested, he said adding they were later released on bail. A case under section 143 (unlawful assembly) of IPC was lodged and the probe is on, he added. Read more: Pakistan violates ceasefire along LoC, shells Indian Army posts in Poonch New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed CBI's appeal challenging withdrawal of conspiracy charges against Senior BJP leaders including L K Advani, M M Joshi, Uma Bharti and others. Among others who will face criminal conspiracy charges include Vinay Katiyar, Sadhvi Ritambara, Satish Pradhan, Champat Rai Bansal and Late Giriraj Kishore. The apex court has excluded Kalyan Singh in the matter. The Supreme Court said that Kalyan Singh enjoys Constitutional immunity as Rajasthan Governor and can be tried only after he ceases to hold office. The SC said its order should be followed in letter and spirit and grants liberty to parties to approach apex court if its directions are not followed. Trial has to be completed in two years. Now, matter will be heard in Lucknow Court and day to day hearing would continue. Union Minister Uma Bharti will have to face criminal conspiracy charges. The SC directed CBI to ensure that some prosecution witnesses appear in trial court for recording of testimony. The apex court ordered that trial judge hearing the Babri case will not be transferred till the judgement is delivered. The apex court also said that the case shall be transferred within four weeks from Rai Bareilly to Lucknow and directed Lucknow trial court to commence proceedings in 4 weeks and made it clear that there will be no de novo trial. The top court ordered joint trial of two separate cases against LK Advani, MM Joshi, Uma Bharti and unknown 'karsevaks' in Lucknow. A bench comprising Justices PC Ghose and RF Nariman has pronounced the judgment. Also read: SC reserves order on plea for restoration of conspiracy charges against Advani, Joshi, Uma Bharti in Babri case There were two sets of cases relating to the demolition of the disputed structure on December 6, 1992. The first involved unnamed 'karsevaks', the trial of which is taking place in a Lucknow court, while the second set of cases relate to the VVIPs in a Rae Bareli court. On April 6, the bench had indicated that they may order holding of joint trial of the two sets of cases by transferring the trial from Rae Bareli to the Lucknow court. The bench had also said since 25 years have already passed, in the interest of justice, it would consider ordering time-bound trial on day-to-day basis, to be completed preferably within two years. Senior advocate KK Venugopal, appearing for Advani and Joshi, had vociferously opposed the proposal for holding joint trial and transferring their case from Rae Bareli to Lucknow. The CBI had clarified that it was not making any submission on the issue of the trial of the VVIPs accused but restricting itself to restoration of the charge of conspiracy against them. Also read: Babri demolition case: Advani, MM Joshi, Uma Bharti, and 11 other leaders should be tried in Lucknow court, CBI tells SC The apex court had earlier decided to examine the appeal against dropping of conspiracy charge against Advani, Joshi, Uma Bharti and 10 others. The clubbing of two FIRs was opposed by the counsel for the accused on the ground that there were different sets of persons named as accused in the two cases, the trial of which were at an advanced stage at two different places. They were of the view that joint trial would lead to the beginning of de novo (afresh) proceedings. The conspiracy charge against 13 accused including Advani, Joshi and Bharti was dropped in the case, the trial of which is being held at a special court in Rae Bareli. The second set of case was against unknown 'karsevaks' who were in and around the disputed structure and pulled it down. The trial against them is being held in a Lucknow court. The appeals were filed by one Haji Mahboob Ahmad (since dead) and the CBI against dropping of conspiracy charges against 21 accused including the top BJP leaders. Eight of them have died. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders LK Advani, MM Joshi and Uma Bharti will be tried for criminal conspiracy in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case as the Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the CBI plea to restore the charge against them. The court also clubbed the trial in the matter pending against the leaders and 'karsevaks' and ordered day-to-day trial with the proceedings to be completed in two years. "We have allowed the CBI appeal against the Allahabad High Court judgement with certain directions," a Bench comprising Justices PC Ghose and RF Nariman said. The apex court, however, noted that Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh enjoys Constitutional immunity and can be tried only after he ceases to hold the office. Kalyan Singh was the chief minister of UP in 1992. Later, the BJP has said it will study in detail the Supreme Court's verdict before offering comments. Also Read | NCP welcomes Supreme Court's ruling in 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case Its senior leader and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, however, asserted that his party highly respects its senior leaders. What the apex court said on the trial # The apx court said separate trials being conducted in trial courts at Raebareli and Lucknow will be clubbed and conducted in the capital of Uttar Pradesh only. # It also said that the trial judge of Lucknow "shall not be transferred" till conclusion and delivery of judgement in the sensational case. # The court further said that no party shall be granted adjournment without the sessions judge being satisfied of the reasons for it. # It also directed the probe agency CBI to ensure that prosecution witnesses appear on each and every date for recording of evidence in the case and the trial court should start the proceedings within four weeks from today (April 19). # It, however, made it clear that there would be no de novo (fresh) trial in the matter. # The bench also directed that its order should be followed in letter and spirit and granted liberty to the parties to approach it if its directions are not followed. Two sets of cases There were two sets of cases relating to the demolition of the disputed structure on December 6, 1992. The first involved unnamed 'karsevaks', the trial of which is taking place in a Lucknow court, while the second set of cases relate to the leaders in a Raebareli court. On April 6, the bench had indicated that it may order holding of joint trial of the two sets of cases by transferring the trial from Rae Bareli to the Lucknow court. It had also said since 25 years have already passed, in the interest of justice, it would consider ordering time-bound trial on day-to-day basis, to be completed preferably within two years. CBI vs Counsel for accused Senior advocate KK Venugopal, appearing for Advani and Joshi, had vociferously opposed the proposal for holding joint trial and transferring their case from Raebareli to Lucknow. The CBI had clarified that it was not making any submission on the issue of the trial of the VVIPs accused but restricting itself to restoration of the charge of conspiracy against them. The apex court had earlier decided to examine the appeal against dropping of conspiracy charge against Advani, Joshi, Uma Bharti and 10 others. The clubbing of two FIRs was opposed by the counsel for the accused on the ground that there were different sets of persons named as accused in the two cases, the trial of which were at an advanced stage at two different places. They were of the view that joint trial would lead to the beginning of de novo (afresh) proceedings. The conspiracy charge against 13 accused including Advani, Joshi and Bharti was dropped in the case, the trial of which is being held at a special court in Rae Bareli. Also Read | Babri case: Ready to sacrifice life for construction of Ram temple, says Uma Bharti The second set of case was against unknown 'karsevaks' who were in and around the disputed structure and pulled it down. The trial against them is being held in a Lucknow court. CBI's appeal against dropping of charges The appeals were filed by one Haji Mahboob Ahmad (since dead) and the CBI against dropping of conspiracy charges against 21 accused including the top BJP leaders. Eight of them have died. A supplementary charge sheet was filed against eight persons but not the 13 who were discharged for plotting the demolition. Besides BJP leaders Advani, Joshi and Bharti, conspiracy charges were dropped against Kalyan Singh (currently the Governor of Rajasthan), Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray and VHP leader Acharya Giriraj Kishore (both have since died). The others against whom the conspiracy charge was dropped include Vinay Katiyar, Vishnu Hari Dalmiya, Satish Pradhan, C R Bansal, Ashok Singhal (now deceased), Sadhvi Ritambhara, Mahant Avaidhynath (now deceased), R V Vedanti, Paramhans Ram Chandra Das (now deceased), Jagdish Muni Maharaj, B L Sharma, Nritya Gopal Das, Dharam Das, Satish Nagar and Moreshwar Save (now deceased). The appeals have sought setting aside the Allahabad High Court's order of May 20, 2010, dropping section 120B (criminal conspiracy) under the IPC while upholding a special court's decision. CBI had charge-sheeted Advani and 20 others under sections 153A (promoting enmity between classes), 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) and 505 (false statements, rumours etc circulated with the intent to cause mutiny or disturb public peace) of the IPC. It had subsequently invoked charges under section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC which was quashed by the special court whose decision was upheld by the high court. While upholding the special court's order, the high court had said CBI at no point of time, either during the trial at Rae Bareily or in its revision petition, ever stated that there was offence of criminal conspiracy against the leaders. Uma Bharti unfazed Unfazed by the apex court order that she be tried for "conspiracy" in the Babri mosque demolition case, Union minister Uma Bharti has said she is ready to sacrifice her life for construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya. "Grand Ram temple in Ayodhya is my dream. Ready to go to prison or be hanged for India and Ram Mandir," the senior BJP leader told reporters here. She said she will go to Ayodhya tonight and visit the makeshift temple to seek Ram Lalla's blessings. Asserting she was "proud, unapologetic" and does not repent her role in the Ram Janmabhoomi campaign, Bharti said she is ready to face whatever punishments come her way as she fights for the construction of Ram temple. She dismissed the conspiracy charges. "There was no conspiracy. Everything was in the open. I took part in Ram temple campaign with pride and confidence. I had given up the post of Chief Minister for the sake of the tri-colour. "I will do whatever it takes to see the Ram temple is constructed...Ram temple will be built, koi maai ka laal use rok nahi sakta (no one has the power to stop it from being built)," Bharti said, adding she was present at the mosque site on December 6, 1992. The Babri mosque was demolished on the day by a rampaging mob. On the Congress party, Bharti said she will not reply to any of its allegations on the issue. "Sonia Gandhi was at Rajiv Gandhi's home when the 1984 Sikh riots happened. Does this mean Soniaji was part of conspiracy?" she asked. "Well-thought-out politics" RJD chief Lalu Prasad has alleged that the Supreme Court order allowing trial of top BJP leaders in the Babri Masjid case was a "well-thought-out politics" of the Prime Minister to remove L K Advani's name from the Presidential race. "The CBI is under the influence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It stood in the Supreme Court and sought permission to run trial against Advani and others in the Babri Masjid demolition case," Prasad alleged. "Since Advani's name was in circulation as a probable for the post of President, Modi through well-thought-out politics struck out his (Advani's) name," he alleged. "It is well known that the CBI does what the government desires," the RJD chief claimed. "The BJP makes no difference between itself and others while playing dangerous politics against anyone considered opposed to Modi," he claimed. "Guilty should be punished" The Congress has said the guilty in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case should be punished. "The Supreme Court has spoken. Let justice be done and the guilty punished,? Congress chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala said, reacting to a Supreme Court order restoring a criminal conspiracy charge against BJP leaders L K Advani, M M Joshi and Uma Bharti. The Congress also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure that his ministers maintained a "high standard of morality". Uma Bharti is the Minister for Water Resources in the Modi Cabinet. "The law is equal for everyone irrespective of stature, caste, creed, religion or region," he said. However, Union minister Arun Jaitley virtually ruled out resignation of Uma Bharti from the Cabinet and described as "hypothetical" the possibility of the ruling having any bearing in selection of candidates for presidential and vice presidential polls. "This case is going on since 1993. Somehow it is going on and no new situation has arisen. So the situation which was prevailing will continue," he told reporters in New Delhi. With inputs from PTI For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed CBI's appeal challenging withdrawal of conspiracy charges against Senior BJP leaders including L K Advani, M M Joshi and others. SC excludes Kalyan Singh. Trial has to be completed in two years. Now matter will be heard in Lucknow Court, Day to day hearing would continue. Union Minister Uma Bharti will have to face criminal conspiracy charges. A bench comprising Justices PC Ghose and RF Nariman is has pronounced the judgment. There were two sets of cases relating to the demolition of the disputed structure on December 6, 1992. The first involved unnamed 'karsevaks', the trial of which is taking place in a Lucknow court, while the second set of cases relate to the VVIPs in a Rae Bareli court. On April 6, the bench had indicated that they may order holding of joint trial of the two sets of cases by transferring the trial from Rae Bareli to the Lucknow court. The bench had also said since 25 years have already passed, in the interest of justice, it would consider ordering time-bound trial on day-to-day basis, to be completed preferably within two years. Senior advocate KK Venugopal, appearing for Advani and Joshi, had vociferously opposed the proposal for holding joint trial and transferring their case from Rae Bareli to Lucknow. The CBI had clarified that it was not making any submission on the issue of the trial of the VVIPs accused but restricting itself to restoration of the charge of conspiracy against them. The apex court had earlier decided to examine the appeal against dropping of conspiracy charge against Advani, Joshi, Uma Bharti and 10 others. The clubbing of two FIRs was opposed by the counsel for the accused on the ground that there were different sets of persons named as accused in the two cases, the trial of which were at an advanced stage at two different places. They were of the view that joint trial would lead to the beginning of de novo (afresh) proceedings. Also Read: SC reserves order on plea for restoration of conspiracy charges against Advani, Joshi, Uma Bharti in Babri case The conspiracy charge against 13 accused including Advani, Joshi and Bharti was dropped in the case, the trial of which is being held at a special court in Rae Bareli. The second set of case was against unknown 'karsevaks' who were in and around the disputed structure and pulled it down. The trial against them is being held in a Lucknow court. The appeals were filed by one Haji Mahboob Ahmad (since dead) and the CBI against dropping of conspiracy charges against 21 accused including the top BJP leaders. Eight of them have died. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: After the Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed CBIs appeal challenging withdrawal of criminal conspiracy charges against senior BJP leaders including Uma Bharti, it is expected that she may lose her cabinet post. Uma Bharti who holds the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation will have to face the trial in Lucknow court. As per the Supreme Courts order, hearing in this case would be on a day-to-day basis and the trial has to be completed in two years. ALSO READ: Babri demolition case: Why ex-UP CM Kalyan Singh will not face trial after SC orders trial against BJP leaders? It is to be noted that when questions were raised against Smriti Irani, she was shifted from the HRD Ministry to the Textiles Ministry. Now, it is expected that Uma Bharti may also lose her ministry at least till the time she faces trial in the Babri Masjid demolition case. ALSO READ: Advani, Uma Bharti, MM Joshi to face criminal conspiracy charges in Babri Masjid demolition case, says Supreme Court For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The Congress said on Wednesday that the guilty in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case should be punished as it asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to put to test his morality about which he 'talks a lot'. The Congress, however, did not directly demand the resignation of Union minister Uma Bharti or Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh, who are also named in the case and instead talked about morality that Modi preaches about. "The prime minister talks a lot and extols about morality. He should put his morality to test after this verdict. "We leave it to the prime ministers conscience on how he reacts morally to this extensive judgement of the Supreme Court", Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari told reporters. Incidentally, the Congress had earlier raised a hue and cry and stalled Parliament when allegations were levelled against Union ministers Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, besides Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. "The Supreme Court has spoken. Let justice be done and the guilty punished,? Congress chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala said, reacting to the Supreme Court order restoring a criminal conspiracy charge against BJP leaders L K Advani, M M Joshi and Bharti. On whether the Congress party would petition the President over Kalyans role in the case, Tewari said the basic question on whether he be made the governor at all arises as he was jailed for a day for violating the Supreme Court verdict earlier. "The demand for resignations are made before those who believe in morality. The track record of this government for the last three years is such that it is a perfect example of immorality and insensitivity," Tewari said. The Congress also urged Modi to ensure that his ministers maintained a "high standard of morality". Uma Bharti is the Minister for Water Resources in the Modi Cabinet. "The law is equal for everyone irrespective of stature, caste, creed, religion or region," he said. Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal also expressed satisfaction over the order and hoped that Modi would remember his "pronouncements" on morality. "As far as other issues concerned, our Prime Minister Narendra Modi is always very committed to the cause of morality. Those are his public pronouncements. Occasionally, he forgets morality when it comes to his ministers. Let us hope he doesnt forget (it) this time," he said. He said after 25 years, the cause of justice has taken a substantial step forward. "At least now it has been demonstrated that the majesty of the law is intact and that justice will be granted." He recalled an old film -- "Bees Saal Baad" -- and said todays development was like a new film -- "25 Saal Baad", which would finish in the next two years. Sibal was referring to the fact that the court had asked that the proceedings be completed in two years. Asked about Bhartis reaction that she will not quit and will give away her life for the Ram temples cause, Tewari said the Supreme Courts decision has "obviously rattled the minister". "Therefore, she is trying to shoot from the hip and I do not think that such a reprehensible preposterous statement needs to be dignified with a comment", he said. On Bharti referring to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots claiming that the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had sought to justify the killings after Indira Gandhis assassination, Tewari said the Congress and the former UPA government have repeatedly expressed regret about what happened in 1984 in Delhi. He said this is unlike people now in power, "who have been completely unapologetic of the pogroms which have happened under their watch". Tewari said "it just shows that the government and especially the minister in question is completely and absolutely rattled". Earlier in the day, the apex court allowed a CBI plea restoring a criminal conspiracy charge against Advani, Joshi and Bharti in the 1992 demolition case. The court clubbed the trials in the matter pending against the leaders and karsevaks and ordered a day-to-day hearing. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: After the Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed CBIs appeal challenging withdrawal of criminal conspiracy charges against senior BJP leaders including Uma Bharti, it is expected that she may lose her cabinet post. Following the SC's verdict, Uma Bharti addressed press conference. Uma Bharti who holds the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation will have to face the trial in Lucknow court. As per the Supreme Courts order, hearing in this case would be on a day-to-day basis and the trial has to be completed in two years. Here are the updates from the press conference: # It was a matter of pride to join the movement of Ram temple # There was no qualms after demolition of disputed structure # It is because of temple movement that BJP was successful in coming to power # I will not tolerate anything against Lord Ram, country and national flag # People have faith in us # Ram Temple will be built at any cost # I will proceed for Ayodhya this evening # Did Sonia Gandhi plotted conspiracy during Sikh riots # I am ready to sacrifice my life in this matter # There was no conspiracy to demolish the structure # Everything was open, there was no conspiracy Also read: Advani, Uma Bharti, MM Joshi to face criminal conspiracy charges in Babri Masjid demolition case, says Supreme Court Also read: Babri Masjid case: Will Uma Bharti lose her portfolio in Modi govt's cabinet? For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday released Aam Aadmi Party's manifesto for Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls. The AAP is making debut in city's civic polls. Currently, Bhartiya Janata Party is in power. Major points from the Arving Kejriwal's manifesto release include: # Will increase the personnels to drive cleanliness in the city. # Municipal corporation will become corruption free. # Delhi will become free of Dengue, Chikungunya in next three years. # Drainages will be cleaned to avoid water-logging during rains. # Landfills will be wiped out from Delhi by 2019. # People in Delhi will be exempted from residential house tax. # Mafias will be wiped out from parking # The certificates of municipal corporation will be given online. # Sweepers will be given modern equipments to drive effective cleanliness in the city. # The job of sweepers will be made permanent. # Industrial and commercial mutation will be scrapped. # The standard of Delhi municipal corporations Schools will be upgraded. Nursery and KG classes will be introduced. # Teachers will be recruited and they will also be trained. # The municipal corporation hospitals will be revamped. # Tenants will be allowed to avail the scheme of free electricity and water. # Delhi will be made free of street dogs and monkeys # The standard of parks in the city will be improved. # Factory license will be banned in industrial areas. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Jammu: Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, the seventh such aggression this month. The troops resorted to mortar shelling and firing on Indian posts in Poonch district. "The Pakistan Army initiated indiscriminate firing of small arms, automatic weapons and mortar shelling at 1115 hours on Indian posts along the LoC in Poonch," a senior Indian Army officer said. Indian troops deployed on forward posts retaliated. The exchange of fire was continuing till reports last came in. Pakistan has breached the truce seven times this month. On Monday, Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire by firing and shelling mortars on forward posts in Noushera sector along the LoC in Rajouri district. They had broken the ceasefire in the same sector on April 8, in Poonch district on April 5, in Bhimbher Gali (BG) sector on April 4 and twice on April 3 in Balakote and Poonch sectors. BSP to contest the UP urban body polls on party symbol after 22 yrs Also Read: For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Twitter is buzzing with news alerts from India and rest of the world. Here are the latest updates from the micro-blogging site in one scroll: #10:35 PM Indian Consulate in Germany to celebrate Mahrashtra Day (May 1) in Munich & Stuttgart cities for 2 days.- PTI #10:33 PM 4 'IPL 10' betting rackets busted in Hyderabad, 21 held, cash worth Rs 13.44 lakh besides laptops & mobile phones seized: Police.- PTI #10:09 PM A delegation of Tamil Nadu farmers, protesting for drought relief fund in Delhi, met Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan.- ANI #10:00 PM Suspected meningitis epidemic kills 745 in Nigeria: government- AFP #10:01 PM Dinakaran 'Two leaves' symbol case: Delhi police crime branch team reaches Chennai with notice to join investigation.- ANI #9:43 PM Govt is in touch with US & Australia & making full assessment of impact of these recent changes, in consultation with all stake holders: MEA- ANI #9:41 PM Changes announced by Government of Australia recently replace one scheme with another, impact will be negligible on Indian workers: MEA- ANI #9:39 PM Highly decomposed carcass of tigress found in Mansinghdeo wildlife sanctuary of Saleghat forest range in Pench Tiger reserve.- PTI #9:39 PM India also in touch with Australia regarding the changes in that country's work visa programme: MEA.- PTI #9:38 PM Cap has remained at 65,000 since December 2004 when the H1-B Visa Reform Act of 2004 was enacted by the US Congress: MEA- ANI #9:37 PM India in touch with the US govt & is making full assessment of the impact: MEA on US' decision on H-1B visa. #9:05 PM Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa signs execution orders of 30 "hardcore terrorists".- PTI #8:58 PM 124 MLAs voted for Palaniswami, therefore there is no question of CM change: M Thambidurai, AIADMK when asked will OPS be CM after merger- ANI #8:54 PM Union Minister Uma Bharti cancels her Wedneday's visit to Ayodhya for now.- ANI #8:22 PM Passengers in a train thrash a man who allegedly tried to rape a minor girl in Madhya Pradesh's Hoshangabad.- ANI #8:21 PM Delhi Metro sets April 2018 as new deadline for completion of its longest upcoming corridor -- Mukundpur-Shiv Vihar Pink Line.- PTI #8:14 PM Colleges in Kashmir to remain closed for two more days from tomorrow in the wake of student protests on Monday- PTI #8:10 PM A Delhi police team leaves for Chennai to serve notice to AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran accused of bribing an EC official- PTI #8:07 PM The meeting between Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale and Pakistan Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua rescheduled.- PTI #7:52 PM British Prime Minister Theresa May wins Parliament vote to hold snap elections on June 8.- PTI #7:45 PM Election Commission & Home Ministry discuss measures to ensure violence-free bypoll to Anantnag LS seat scheduled for May 25.- PTI #7:41 PM Cong welcomes end of Red Beacon 'culture' but terms as "laughable" the BJP's "attempt" to blow the trumpet of morality over it.- PTI #7:39 PM Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Area (Yamuna Expressway) cancels 17 housing projects as builders sold layout plan without approval- ANI #7:27 PM No information about death of any Indian in the April 13 bombing by the US in an ISIS tunnel complex in Afghanistan: Govt official.- PTI #7:27 PM A day after joining BJP, ex-Delhi Cong chief Arvinder Singh Lovely says Sheila Dixit is "burden" on the Cong.- PTI #7:24 PM ED attaches cash and gold worth Rs 12 crore under PMLA of Ashok M Jain & Mahaveer Jain in J.Sekar Reddy case of Tamil Nadu.- ANI #7:23 PM No Fatwa issued against Sonu Nigam for his tweets, Syed Al Quaderi, vice-president of WB Minority United Council- PTI #7:21 PM BJP leaders MM Joshi & LK Advani meet at Advani's residence, after SC restored criminal conspiracy charges against them in Babri Masjid case- ANI #7:16 PM Internet services suspended in Odisha's Kendapara for 48 hrs amid possible escalation of tension over an 'objectionable' social media post- PTI #7:02 PM Authorities might release water due to rising levels in Pandoh Dam & want to appeal anyone to avoid going near Beas river: ADM Mandi (HP)- ANI #6:57 PM Tata, Adani, Godrej show interest in buying Sahara properties.- PTI #6:53 PM Dinakaran 'Two leaves' symbol case: Delhi police crime branch team to reach Chennai with notice to join investigation.- ANI #6:44 PM Pro-Kannada outfits call for Bengaluru Bandh on release day of Baahubali 2, seek apology from actor Sathyaraj for 'anti- Kannadiga' remarks- PTI #6:43 PM 6 killed as fire broke out at an electronics factory in Sector 11, Noida (UP).- ANI #6:41 PM BJP leaders Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley,Sushma Swaraj,Venkaiah Naidu,Jitendra Singh met PM Modi, discussed current situation in J&K: Sources.- ANI #6:41 PM Kearal govt seeks Rs 991 crore from Centre to tackle the severe drought situation in the state.- PTI #6:31 PM Himachal Pradesh: 2 killed & 4 injured after car went downhill in Mandi district's Jogindernagar, injured being treated.- ANI #6:30 PM Himachal Pradesh Transport Minister GS Bali has ordered an inquiry to asses cause of Shimla bus accident that killed 45 people.- ANI #6:26 PM A total of 2,023 teaching posts & 1,734 non-teaching posts lying vacant in Jawahar Navodaya Vidayalas across country: report.- PTI #6:24 PM 10,039 teaching posts including TGTs, PGTs & PRTs vacant in Kendriya Vidalayas besides 14,144 non-teaching posts: report.- PTI #6:14 PM Karnataka: Locals thronged to collect cooking oil as tanker overturned in Gulbarga, later police dispersed the crowd.- ANI #6:12 PM Govt clears Rs 3,174 cr for purchase of 16,15,000 VVPAT (Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) machines.- PTI #6:11 PM There should be a limit on the volume of loud speakers, at all religious places so that people in the locality are not disturbed: Gul Panag- ANI #6:08 PM Singer Sonu Nigam responds to fatwa by a Muslim cleric over Azaan row, gets his head tonsured at a press conference.- PTI #6:05 PM A truck caught fire in Karnataka's Dharwad, later doused. No injuries/casualties.- ANI #6:03 PM Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis removes the red beacon from his car.- ANI #6:01 PM Will make Delhi garbage-free within a year, shut all landfills by 2019, eradicate vector-borne diseases, end corruption: AAP Manifesto - PTI #5:59 PM CBI registers preliminary enquiry into alleged leak of Question papers of Common Entrance examination meant for recruitment into Indian Army - ANI #5:46 PM Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad argues with a police officer in Latur (Maharashtra) during a protest over a non-functioning ATM - ANI #5:44 PM Union ministers Mahesh Sharma and Vijay Goel get their red beacons removed from their respective cars after cabinet decision. - ANI #5:43 PM Congress forms Policy-Planning Group for Jammu and Kashmir under chairmanship of Dr. Manmohan Singh. - ANI #5:40 PM RugbyU: Wales star Sam Warburton to captain British and Irish Lions in New Zealand - AFP #5:39 PM Two men suspected of preparing attacks in Russia shot dead: FSB to agencies - AFP #5:38 PM EU says 'real' Brexit negotiations will start after British election - AFP #5:35 PM UIDAI files FIRs against eight unauthorised websites for collecting user info illegally - PTI #5:34 PM Asked if SC ruling on Babri will impact candidate selection for posts of president & vice president, @arunjaitley says 'it is hypothetical'. - PTI #5:33 PM Union minister Arun Jaitley virtually rules out resignation of Uma Bharti from Cabinet over SC order in Babri Masjid demolition case. - PTI #5:31 PM Income Tax conducting searches relating to a group mainly involved in chit fund bsns; 43 premises in TN,29 in Kerala & 6 in Ktaka - ANI #5:30 PM Hope I get justice, I have full faith in judiciary. This is what happens when you say the truth? Happening for years now: Tej Bahadur Yadav - ANI #5:29 PM I have been dismissed from service, will now appeal in High court :Tej Bahadur Yadav, BSF constable (released video on quality of food) - ANI #5:28 PM Maj Gen Somnath Jha (Retd), who cycled across India over a period of 7 months in memory of fallen soldiers, lays wreath at Amar Jawan Jyoti - ANI #5:27 PM Commission will ensure total compliance of orders of SC & its commitment to use VVPATs with every EVM at all poll stations in 2019 polls: EC - ANI #5:26 PM The Commission shall closely monitor production of VVPATs for timely delivery well before General elections 2019: Election Commission - ANI #5:26 PM Search on U'khand PSU official led to evidence of misuse of position for seeking illegal gratifcatn in collusion with contractor - ANI #5:25 PM Officer in Noida found to have made unaccounted cash payment for purchase of immovable property worth over 2 cr in name of his wife - ANI #5:24 PM Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Gautam Bambawale to meet Pakistan Foreign Secretary today over #KulbhushanJadhav. - ANI #5:23 PM Raid conducted at residence/business premises of a local body chairman of UP's Siddharth Nagar,10 cr(approx)undisclosed money found - ANI #5:22 PM Income tax department conducted raids on four govt functionaries in UP & Uttarakhand covering 20 premises in last 2 days - ANI #5:21 PM BSF jawan dismissed from service for posting video about poor food - ANI #5:19 PM Will give reward of 10 lakh, only when he does rest two-garland of old torn shoes and tour around the country: VP,WB Minority United Council - ANI #5:18 PM Sonu Nigam has not done all the things I asked for, two out of the three things remain unfulfilled: Syed Sha Atef Ali Al Quaderi on fatwa - ANI #5:17 PM Complaint filed against Sonu Nigam before CJM Panipat(Haryana) under sections 294,295,295A,296,500,501 of IPC over his morning Azaan remarks - ANI #5:16 PM Delhi HC dismisses plea seeking direction to Centre to aproach International Court of Justice for securing release of Kulbhushan Jadhav - ANI #4:02 PM Sensex recovers 17.47 points to close at 29,336.57; Nifty slips 1.65 points to 9,103.50. #4:01 PM 1996 FERA case: TTV Dinakaran, appeared before Economic Offences Court in Chennai in case registered against him by ED. Next hearing- May 10 - ANI #4:00 PM French diplomat Pascal Mazurier acquitted by Bengaluru court. He was accused of raping his 3 yr old daughter - ANI #3:59 PM If he(Maulvi) has 10 lakh rupees then he should give it to me, I will donate it to some charity: Aalim Hakim(who shaved Nigam's head) - ANI #3:57 PM Delhi: Meeting of senior BJP leaders underway at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg - ANI #3:55 PM Chennai: Foreign Exchange Regulation Act case- TTV Dinakaran has to appear in court tomorrow - ANI # 3:38 PM Telangana govt orders all govt & private schools to be closed for summer vacations from today, due to severe heatwave - ANI #3:32 PM PM Narendra Modi to visit Sri Lanka next month to take part in celebrations marking the UN 'Vesak Day'. - PTI #3:31 PM NGT directs Karnataka govt to clean Bellandur lake within one month. Tribunal also asked why no action taken to block entry of sewerage water - ANI #3:09 PM If govt is committed to justice they should remove Kalyan Singh (Rajasthan Governor) & tell him to face trial: Asaduddin Owaisi Babri Masjid - ANI #3:06 PM Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner Mansoor Ahmed Khan summoned by MEA over Kulbhushan Jadhav issue. - ANI #3:04 PM Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit summoned by MEA over Kulbhushan Jadhav issue. - ANI 3:01 PM Cabinet approves guidelines to allow states to borrow money directly from overseas aid partners to fund infra projects. - PTI #2:58 PM Sonu Nigam gets his head shaved after a Fatwa was issued announcing 10 Lakhs for anyone who shaves Nigam's head #2:57 PM Noida (UP): Fire breaks out at an electronics factory in Sector 11. More than 10 fire tenders at spot; more details awaited - ANI #2:55 PM Amount of Rs. 3173 crores have been approved to acquire 16.15 lakh VVPAT machines: FM Arun Jaitley - ANI #2:53 PM Rule which gives right to state govts to use blue beacon with flasher is also being changed. Only on defined emergency services: A Jaitley - ANI #2:51 PM Only emergency services will have red beacon, I have also removed it from my car today: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. #2:49 PM Uttarakhand govt announces compensation of Rs 1 lakh for kin of those dead, Rs 50,000 for severely injured & Rs 25,000 for injured. - ANI #1:58 PM Congress has no right to ask for my resignation: Uma Bharti on Babri Masjid case #1:55 PM Party which was behind Emergency and 1984 riots has no right to demand my resignation: Uma Bharti on Babri Masjid #1:52 PM I have no remorse in Ayodhya matter, Uma Bharti on Babri Masjid case ALSO READ: Advani, Uma Bharti, MM Joshi to face criminal conspiracy charges in Babri Masjid demolition case, says Supreme Court #1:50 PM I am ready to undergo all sorts of punishment for Ganga and our flag: Uma Bharti on BabriMasjid #1:48 PM There wss no conspiracy, everything wss open. We had nothng wrng in heart: Union Minister Uma Bharti on Babri Masjid #1:38 PM Tej Bahadur Yadav, BSF constable who had released a video on quality of food served has been dismissed - ANI #1:33 PM Evacuations from besieged Syrian towns resume after weekend bombing killed 126 people, 68 of them children - PTI #1:31 PM Demonetisation impact may take a few months to assess: Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian - PTI #1:19 PM It's substantial step forward in the cause of justice. Means the majesty of law has been upheld, happy about that: K Sibal on #BabriMasjid - ANI #1:12 PM Central Govt ministers and officials will not use red beacons on cars from 1st May - ANI #1:10 PM Cabinet approves extending Sugar Stock limit for 6 months - PTI #1:00 PM Hindu youth from Pakistan selected for prestigious Emerging Young Leaders Award given by US State Department. - PTI #12:58 PM 44 people dead after a bus falls into Tons river in Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh - ANI #12:54 PM Supreme Court has given the verdict. Party would study the verdict in detail: Sambit Patra, BJP spokesperson on Babri Masjid - ANI #12:49 PM Decision to keep away Dhinakaran's family from AIADMK is first success in our 'dharma yudh': #Panneerselvam. - PTI #12:48 PM We met TN Speaker and demanded an immediate assembly session, waited to meet CM but he did not meet us: MK Stalin - ANI #12:46 PM Bus falls into Tons river in Shimla district,many feared dead, there were more than 50 passengers in the bus. Rescue team rushing to spot. - ANI #12:26 PM Cabinet clears EC's proposal of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines - ANI #12:24 PM Evacuations of besieged Syria towns resume after deadly bombing - AFP #12:22 PM HC reserves order on plea to direct MEA to move International Court of Justice for release of Kulbhushan Jadhav, on death row in Pakistan. - PTI #12:20 PM Cabinet clears EC proposal to buy new paper trail machines - PTI #12:19 PM Railways worst operating ratios in 2016-17 and 2000-01, both under #BJP govts: former Finance Minister #PChidambaram. - PTI #12:12 PM Both factions will talk to fulfil the aspirations of lakhs of party workers: O Panneerselvam - ANI #12:10 PM Govt should withdraw chargesheet. How can on one hand you do this and then talk of building Ram Mandir?: Sanjay Raut,Shiv Sena Babri Masjid - ANI #12:08 PM I have no regrets because I don't have any expectations: TTV Dinakaran - ANI #11:21 AM Loot at a J&K bank branch in Shopian district.More details awaited - ANI #11:03 AM Supreme Court also said that the case shall be transferred within four weeks from Rai Bareilly to Lucknow - ANI #11:02 AM Babri Masjid Case: SC also made it clear that till Kalyan Singh holds post of Governor of Rajasthan, no case would be registered against him - ANI #10:55 AM Islamic State claim attack near Egypt's UNESCO-listed, ancient St Catherine's monastery at foot of Mount Sinai - ANI #10: 53 AM Babri Case: SC also ordered that no adjournment would be given under normal circumstances. No judge, hearing the case, would be transferred - ANI #10:52 AM Mumbai Airport Customs seized 2.355 kg of gold worth Rs 70,65,520 . Case registered against unknown persons, investigation underway - ANI #10:51 AM Babri Masjid Case: Union Minister Uma Bharti will also have to face criminal conspiracy charges - ANI #10:50 AM Babri Masjid Case: Now matter will be heard in Lucknow Court, Day to day hearing would continue - ANI #10:49 AM Babri Masjid Case: SC excludes Kalyan Singh. Trial has to be completed in two years - ANI #10:46 AM Large asteroid to pass close to Earth on Wednesday: NASA - Reuters India #10:43 AM Babri Masjid Case: SC allowed CBI's appeal challenging withdrawal of conspiracy charges against Senior BJP leaders including L K Advani - ANI #10:42 AM Air India flight with approx 300 passengers on-board, grounded before its departure for New York due to technical failure at Delhi airport - ANI #10:41 AM Keeping her(Jayalalithaa) memory, as a tribute to her they should stay united & work for the welfare of ppl of TN, that is our wish: V Naidu #10:40 AM We will take all necessary steps to get Vijay Mallya back to India, and put him before the law: Venkaiah Naidu, Union Minister - ANI #10:38 AM Neither BJP nor Central govt has any role or any interest in what is happening in AIADMK in TN; purely their internal matter: Venkaiah Naidu - ANI #10:36 AM Dinakaran calls meeting of MLAs post ouster from AIADMK - ANI #09:41 AM #China announces "standardised" official names for six places in #ArunachalPradesh. - PTI #09:45 AM UP govt considering to scrap Samajwadi Smartphone Yojana, Janeshwar Mishra Gram Yojana and Lohiya Aasra aur Aawaas Yojana.- ANI #09:32 AM #IT department conducts searches at about 80 locations in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala in connection with tax evasion case.- PTI #09:31 AM Kanpur: I do all calculations radpidly;want to become IAS:Dilpreet Kaur,who has 11 national&2 world records for most calculations in a min pic.twitter.com/JgygQnWVS4 ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 19, 2017 #08:58 AM Uttar Pradesh: Primary membership of Congress MLC Dinesh Pratap Singh suspended indefinitely due to anti-party activities- ANI #08:56 AM Indian-American CEO ordered to pay USD 135,000 to former worker after a #LabourDepartment investigation finds she underpaid, mistreated her.- PTI #08:51 AM #IS claims Egypt attack ; 1 policeman dead, 3 injured.- PTI #08:47 AM UN to issue commemorative stamps for #InternationalYogaDay on June 21 this year.- PTI #08:29 AM US President #DonaldTrump signs executive order targeting #H-1B visa programme.- PTI For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The Congress demand for Uma Bharti's resignation was dismissed by her on Wednesday, after the Supreme Court ordered that she be tried for criminal conspiracy in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case. There was "no conspiracy and everything was in open" in the matter, she told reporters after the apex court verdict. Bharti said she was "proud, unapologetic and unrepentant" about her association with the Ram Janmabhoomi movement and was prepared to get "hanged or be jailed" on the issue of construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya. The firebrand leader, who had earlier on Wedenesday announced her plan to visit Ayodhya on Thursday to seek Lord Ram's blessings for the construction of a temple, later said she has postponed the visit by a few days. Read more: Babri case: Advani, Bharti, Joshi to stand trial; Lalu calls it 'well thought-out politics'; Uma says ready to sacrifice her life She said that the visit was postponed as it could have turned into a "political event" given the "media hype" surrounding the issue. According to sources in the BJP, Bharti cancelled the plan on the advice of party president Amit Shah. "There was no conspiracy, everything was in the open...I was associated with the Ram temple movement with full confidence and pride." "The court has said that we be tried for conspiracy. There was no conspiracy...Yes, I was present in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992 (when the disputed structure was demolished). Where does one see any conspiracy?" Bharti asked. "I am ready to face whatever punishment it takes for the construction of a temple at Ayodhya or be it on the issue of cleaning of the Ganga, the tricolour or cow. I have never repented or apologised", she said. Hitting out at the Congress for seeking her resignation, Bharti referred to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and claimed that then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had sought to justify the killings post the assassination of Indira Gandhi. "When thousands of Sikhs died in the riots, Sonia Gandhi was at the house of her husband. Rajiv was trying to justify the massacre. "So, can we say she was part of a conspiracy? The Congress has no moral right to seek my resignation", she said. Read more: Congress: Guilty in Babri Masjid demolition case should be punished At the same time, Bharti said she is not the type of a person who wants to sticks to any post and recalled she had quit chief ministership in Madhya Pradesh over a decade ago after a court convicted her in a case involving the national flag. "I gave up the chief minister's post after a court convicted me. In this (Ayodhya) case, the trial is yet to begin. The charges are yet to be proved", she said but added, "The post of a minister is too small for me." To a question, Bharti said she has not discussed the issue with BJP veteran L K Advani, who too will face trial on charge of conspiracy in the case. She did not reply to a question on Advani's remark that the demolition of the mosque was the "saddest" day in his life. "I will never comment on what Advani ji said. I can speak for myself. This country relates to cow, Ganga, Ram, the tricolour. I will sacrifice life if I see insult to any of these", she added. Top BJP leaders Advani, M M Joshi and Bharti will be tried for criminal conspiracy in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case with the Supreme Court allowing the CBI plea to restore the charge against them. The court also clubbed the trial in the matter pending against the leaders and 'karsevaks' and ordered day-to-day trial in Lucknow with the proceedings to be completed in two years. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi : Korean smartphone giant Samsung has finally launched its brand new flagship smartphone Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ in India. With an exclusive launch event in New Delhi, the worldas biggest smartphone maker has unveiled its latest phone in the Indian market. Both the smartphones were globally launched last month with a mega launch event in New York. After the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco, Galaxy S8as launch is the biggest mobile launch in India. One USP of Galaxy S8 and S8+as launch is India is that the company will introduce its very own processor- Exynos 8895 (2.35GHz Quad + 1.9GHz Quad). WATCH Samsung Galaxy S8 launch in India LIVE here:A The Samsung Galaxy S8 comes with a 5.8-inch Quad HD+ Super AMOLED display while the other variant S8+ comes with a 6.2-inch display in the same screen quality as S8. The Galaxy S8 is powered by a 3,000mAh battery while the S8+ comes with a bigger 3,500mAh battery. Both the flagship smartphones will feature curved displays with 18:9 aspect ratio, something which was introduced in LGas latest flagship G6. Also, both the S8 smartphones will offer an almost be bezel-less design. Here are the highlights from the launch event: #1:37 PM #GalaxyS8 #GalaxyS8Plus are available for pre-booking with a special offer of a free wireless charger. Pre-book now: https://t.co/8fFxWb7bnB pic.twitter.com/kimqkff3NS a Samsung Mobile India (@SamsungMobileIN) April 19, 2017 # 1:30 PM After buying Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+, users will get 1 AKG earphones, 1 USB Type-C charging cable, 1 USB Type-C to micro-USB adaptor,A 1 USB Type-C toA USB adapter, charging adapter out of the box. # 1:24 PM Prices of both the smartphones revealed: Galaxy S8:A Rs 57,900 Galaxy S8+:A Rs.64,900 # 1:12 PM #A The smartphones will be available starting May 5 #1:04 PM Aditya Babbar, General Manager, Samsung Mobiles, introduces us to Bixby, a new intelligent interface on GalaxyS8.A # 12:50 PM Both the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ is expected to be available on online on Flipkart.A # 12:40 PM A We take care of you wherever you are." Mr. H.C. Hong, President, Samsung # 12:36 PM A Mr. H.C Hong, President, Samsung, begins the #GalaxyS8 India Launch show. # 12:30 PM A Launch event kick starts in New Delhi.A # 12:00 PM The show will begin shortly. Stay tuned and catch theA LiveA webcast here.A Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday asked the PLA's newly-formed 84 large military units to prepare themselves for every kind of warfare and give priority to building "new-type" fighting capabilities in electronic, information and space warfare. Interestingly, Ci's decision came hours after China announced that it has "standardised" official names for six places in Arunachal Pradesh and termed the provocative move as a "legitimate action". Xi, also the Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the overall high command of the 2.3 million-strong military, spoke to the commanders of the new units on Tuesday and asked them to improve their joint operation capabilities and technology level. He said the new units of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) must prepare themselves for combat and study wars. The President told the new forces to conduct more combat exercises and give priority to building "new-type" fighting capabilities, state-run China Daily reported. In PLA terminology, "new-type" fighting capabilities generally refers to capabilities of engaging in electronic, information and space operations. Also Read | China declares 'standardised' names for 6 places in Arunachal, dubs it 'legitimate' Xi's call for building "new-type" fighting capabilities of the world's largest military came as Beijing prepares to counter the US deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) interceptor missiles in South Korea, whose powerful radars could see through most of the part of China including its missile development programme. As it expanded strategic influence, China is also flexing its military might especially in the neighbourhood over the territorial disputes with India, Japan and countries in the South China Sea. All 84 of the new units are at combined corps level, which means their commanders have or soon will be promoted to a rank of either major general in the Ground Force, Air Force and Rocket Force or rear admiral in the Navy. Also Read | China defends trade practices with North Korea Though the PLA has not disclosed how these units were set up, it is likely that they were created through the regrouping of existing forces rather than recruiting new personnel, because the Chinese military is still engaged in cutting its troops by three lakhs, the daily said. The units' emergence also indicates that the PLA's structural shake-up has taken effect. At a CMC conference in December, Xi ordered the military's structure to be adjusted and optimised, calling for a smaller but capable and flexible military, the report said. The establishment of the units is the latest move in a massive reform the PLA is undergoing. The unprecedented reform began in November 2015, when the Central Military Commission unveiled a blueprint for the PLA's development. The commission pledged to establish a leaner and more efficient command chain to reduce the number of non-combatant personnel and departments and to build the PLA into a mightier force capable of winning modern wars. Since then, the PLA has set up a headquarters for its Ground Force, founded a Strategic Support Force dedicated to electronic, information and space operations, and established a Rocket Force to replace the former Second Artillery Corps. The previous four top PLA departments-staff, politics, logistics and armaments-were dismantled, the report said. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Islamabad: The meeting between Indian high commissioner Gautam Bambawale and Pakistan's foreign secretary Tehmina Janjua has been rescheduled and a new date would be announced later, an Indian High Commission official said on Wednesday. Sources in the Pakistan Foreign Office had earlier said that Bambawale has sought a meeting with the foreign secretary. The meeting was expected this evening, they said. However, the Indian official said the meeting has been rescheduled and a new date and time is yet not known. Bambawale was expected to discuss the issue of Indian prisoner on death row Kulbhushan Jadhav as India has been seeking consular access to its convicted citizen. Pakistan has denied India's request for consular access to Jadhav over a dozen times in the last one year. Pakistan army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor has already rejected any chance of granting consular access to Jadhav who was sentenced to death for espionage and subversive activities. Also Read | Kulbhushan Jadhav case: Plea filed in Delhi HC seeking directive to Centre over legal help On Friday, Bambawale met with the foreign secretary, showing increasing concern of India about the fate of Jadhav. He told media after his meeting on April 14 that he had asked for list of charges and authentic copy of verdict of military tribunal against Jadhav to launch appeal against his conviction. He also said that India was seeking consular access on the basis on international law and humanitarian grounds. FO in statement issued after the meeting said that the foreign secretary told Bambawale that during the period of trial of Jadhav, due judicial process was followed and he was provided a lawyer in accordance with relevant laws and the Constitution of Pakistan. Jadhav, 46, was awarded death sentence by the field general court martial last week, evoking a sharp reaction in India which warned Pakistan of consequences and damage to bilateral ties if the "pre-meditated murder" was carried out. 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." Also Read | Pakistan Army rules out consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav after India made strong case for it on death row The Pakistan Army had also released a "confessional video" of Jadhav after his arrest. However, India denied Pakistan's contention and maintained that Jadhav was kidnapped by Pakistan authorities. India had acknowledged that Jadhav had served with the Navy but denied that he has any connection with the government. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Industry body Nasscom launched warning against the US' move to replace the lottery system for issuing H-1B work visas with a merit-based approach on Wednesday that could have "unintended consequences" even as it sought to downplay any immediate impact on IT companies this year. Under a new executive order signed by US President Donald Trump, America is reviewing its visa programme for foreign workers, while ensuring a crackdown on visa abuse and frauds. The H-1B visa programme is most sought-after by Indian IT firms and professionals to work on customer sites. Every year,the US grants 65,000 H-1B visas, while another 20,000 are set aside for those with US advanced degrees. "No new changes are being implemented immediately...Nothing is being proposed that would impact or change the FY18 H-1B lottery that is currently underway", Nasscom said in astatement. Read more: Indian techies face a major hit, Trump orders overhaul of H-1B visas The proposed changes are forward-looking and non-specific, it contended. Any change in visa norms can affect the movement of labour as well as spike operational costs for IT players. Most Indian IT companies get over 60 per cent of their revenues from the North American market. The Indian government, on its part, has said it will take up the issue with the American authorities during the upcoming visit of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to the US. Another industry body Assocham also expressed concern over the tightening of the visa norms. "...Indian IT companies are bound to face disruptions by way of higher costs and even some laying off work force back home, as the rising rupee is aggravating the situation further for the technology export firms", it said. Indian IT firms, however, put a brave face to the impending changes being mooted by the US. "We continue to invest in the local communities in which we operate, including hiring local American top talent, bringing education and training to our clients to shrink the skills gap in the US, and working with policy makers to foster innovation", Infosys said in a statement. Read more: India examining consequences of Australias abolition of visa, issue will be looked at in context of free trade talks: MEA Larger rival TCS, too, has exuded confidence that these issues can be tackled through greater engagement. It has also said it will "tweak" its business model to continue to be incompliance with regulations. With rising protectionism across markets like the US, Singapore and now Australia, companies are beginning to adjust their business models to reduce their dependence on visas, hiring more locals instead. Nasscom also highlighted that there is shortage of highly-skilled domestic talent in the US in IT, healthcare, education, and other fields. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Colombo: Marking the celebrations of the UN 'Vesak Day', the most important in the Buddhist calendar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Sri Lanka next month, a senior Lankan minister said on Wednesday. Prime Minister Modi will make his second visit to Sri Lanka in the second week of May, Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said. During his visit, he will take part in the UN 'Vesak Day' celebrations to be held here from May 12 to 14. "The Indian Prime Minister has confirmed his visit", Rajapakshe told reporters. Read more: Babri Masjid case: Will Uma Bharti lose her portfolio in Modi govt's cabinet? Modi had also visited the country in 2015. The 'International Day of Vesak' will be hosted by the Buddhist-majority country and the commemorations here will include an International Buddhist Conference in which over 400 delegates from more than 100 countries will participate. Vesak is the most important day in the Buddhist calendar. It commemorates Lord Buddha's birth, enlightenment and passing away. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Washington: An inter-agency review has been ordered by the Trump administration to check whether the suspension of sanctions on Iran under a landmark nuclear deal in 2015 was in the US' national security interests, the secretary of state has said. The development of the US reviewing the sanctions relief for Iran comes as Washington also asserted that Iran remains a "leading sponsor" of terrorism. "Iran remains a leading state sponsor of terror, through many platforms and methods", Tillerson wrote in a letter to the House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, in which he certified that Iran has so far complied with the provisions of the nuclear agreement. US President Donald Trump has directed a National Security Council-led inter-agency review of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the deal negotiated by former president Barack Obama, that will evaluate whether suspension of sanctions related to Iran pursuant to the pact is vital to the national security interests, he said. Read more: US President Donald Trump signs executive order to reform H-1B visa programme "When the inter-agency review is completed, the administration looks forward to working with Congress on this issue", Tillerson said. The six powers that negotiated the 2015 nuclear deal- the US, China, Russia, France, Germany and the UK, with the involvement from the European Union- set aside Iran's alleged support for terrorism in order to get a deal guaranteeing that Iran would not be able to build a nuclear weapon for a decade and would remain under the eye of UN weapons inspectors. The certification of Iran's compliance, which must be sent to Congress every 90 days, is the first issued by the Trump administration. On February, Trump had described the nuclear deal with Iran as "the worst" agreement ever negotiated, calling the Islamic Republic the number one terrorist state in the world. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had criticised the deal. He said in July of 2015 that "Iran is going to receive a sure path to nuclear weapons." Read more: US NSA McMaster meets PM Modi, Doval: Terrorism, Indo-US military cooperation discussed Former US President Barack Obama had said the deal would make the world safer and more secure. He had said in January of 2016 after the deal was implemented that "Iran will not get its hands on a nuclear bomb." Iran has defended its nuclear programme as purely civilian. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. London: British Prime Minister Theresa May has called for snap elections on June 8 after she won an overwhelming backing of MPs. May stated these polls is in the countrys national interest and will strengthen her hand in the complex Brexit negotiations. After debating the motion put forward by May in the House of Commons, 522 of the 650 sitting MPs voted in favour of the June 8 election, passing the threshold of two-thirds needed to approve the plan. Thirteen voted against the motion. The Parliaments backing for snap polls plunged Britain back into political uncertainty weeks before the start of negotiations on leaving the European Union. May, 60, had stunned her allies as well as opponents when she called for a snap poll on Tuesday. There was a short debate on the motion in the House of Commons to over-ride the Fixed Terms Parliaments Act, which would have seen an election being held only in 2020. Opening the debate, May said a snap general election was in our countrys national interest and urged MPs to do the right and responsible thing and back an early poll. She told MPs: There are three things a country needs, a strong economy, strong defence and strong, stable leadership. That is what our plans for Brexit and our plan for Britain will deliver, and that is what the Conservative Party will be offering at this election. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: We welcome the general election but this is a Prime Minister who promised there wouldnt be one, a Prime Minister who cannot be trusted. She says its about leadership, yet is refusing to defend her record in television debates and its not hard to see why. The vote came soon after former UK Chancellor George Osborne announced that he intends to quit as an MP. He had come under fire for taking on a role at the Evening Standard newspaper while still being an MP for Tatton. I am stepping down from the House of Commons for now. But I will remain active in the debate about our countrys future and on the issues I care about, he said. Earlier, May had called on the electorate to trust her on her decision to call an early general election on June 8 as it will strengthen her hand in the complex Brexit negotiations. I trust the British public. Im asking them to put their trust in me and if they do that, if they give me a mandate for these negotiations for the plan for Brexit that the Government has, the plan for a stronger Britain beyond Brexit that we have, then I think that will strengthen our hand, May told BBC. I genuinely came to this decision reluctantly having looked at the circumstances and having looked ahead at the process of negotiation. I want this country to be able to play the strongest hand possible in those negotiations and be in a position to get the best possible deal. That is in our long-term interest. That is what this is about, she said. May has framed the election, in which her ruling Conservative party could win as many as 100 extra seats, as a way of securing the best possible Brexit deal for the UK. Political pundits in Britain are also attributing the move as a direct attack on a weakened Opposition, the Labour party under Jeremy Corbyns leadership. May, who had taken charge as Prime Minister just weeks after Britains voted to leave the European Union in June 2016, had repeatedly dismissed the idea of an early election. However, on Tuesday she said she had a change of heart in order to bring unity within the political corridors of Britain. She has categorically denied the June 8 poll will be a sort of re-run of last years referendum, saying there could be no turning back on the Brexit decision but if she was re-elected, it would be a vote of confidence in her governments central goals of gaining control of the UKs laws, borders and money. May has also ruled out taking part in TV debates with Corbyn and her other political opponents, saying she believed elections were all about getting out and about and meeting voters and, in her words, knocking on doors. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Toyota announces robotic leg WelWalk WW-1000 that helps paralyzed people walk Toyota recently unveiled its Welwalk WW-1000 system designed to assist partially-paralyzed patients in walking. The robotic leg, developed in collaboration with the Fujita Health University Hospital in Japan, featured a motorized mechanical frame that fitted a patients leg from the knee down. The patients practiced walking using the robotic leg on a special treadmill that supported their weight. The robotic leg would prove beneficial especially among patients who were severely paralyzed on each side of the body as a result of stroke or other debilitating diseases. During Toyotas presentation, the robotic leg was strapped to the thigh, knee, ankle, and foot of a volunteer, who then demonstrated how the robotic leg works. The volunteers body weight was supported by a harness above, while the robotic legs motor helped bend and straighten the volunteers knee. Toyotas Welwalk WW-1000 system featured sensors that monitored the volunteers gait and adjusted quickly if necessary. The system can be controlled by hospital staff using a touch panel screen. The technology helped reduce the burden on the patient and allows them to engage in training for longer, said Toshiyuki Isobe, one of the automobile giants chief research officers, in an article published in BBC.com. According to Dr Eiichi Saito, Executive Vice President of Fujita Health University, the goal is to provide patients with just enough assistance that will gradually lessen until the patients can walk by themselves. The latest development may help mitigate the burden of walking among the elderly. According to the researchers, renting the equipment may prove more cost-effective than purchasing the system outright. Renting the system will cost $9,130, with a monthly rental cost of $3,195. Toyota did not disclose how much the system would cost if bought outright. (Related: Find out more about the latest developments in cyber science and robotics at Robotics.news) Other robotic legs available in the market Outside expert Dr. Farshid Amirabdollahian pointed out that robotic legs have been in the market for years, and that Toyotas newest offering is not exactly a fresh concept. However, the expert was quick to laud the companys proposed rental service, as it makes the system more accessible for hospitals. Dr. Farshid Amirabdollahian is a Rehabilitation Robotics and Assistive Technology Expert at the University of Hertfordshire in the U.K. A system called Lokomat, which works on both legs, has been adopted by the NHS. There are similar systems in use in the Netherlands and the United States. What is interesting here is the service model. Previously users of this technology were limited by how much they could afford: rehabilitation technology is quite expensive and many [hospitals] cannot afford it, Dr. Amirabdollahian said in the same article in BBC.com. True enough, quite a number of companies have also released robotic legs in the past years. Just last year, SuitX has introduced its Phoenix Robotic Exoskeleton designed to assist paralyzed patients in walking. The system weighs only 27 pounds and can be custom-fitted to the users body. The light-weight system features small motors attached to standard orthotics, which then transmit movement to the users hips and knees. This enables wearers to control the movement of each leg, and help them walk up to 1.1 miles. In 2015, Iceland-based orthopedic company Ossur launched its Propio Foot prosthetic. The prosthetic device features a motorized, battery-powered ankle that is practically wearable. The device uses algorithms and sensors that automatically adjusts to the users foot angles at any point in walking. Sources: DailyMail.co.uk BBC.com TechnologyReview.com PopSci.com Submit a correction >> Donald Trump has been a cash cow for Elizabeth Esty. By one measure, the 5th District congresswoman raised more money during the first three months of 2017 than the other four Connecticut House members combined, filings with the Federal Election Commission show. Estys first quarter quarter haul totaled $158,549 in itemized individual contributions, compared to $148,310 for fellow Democrats Jim Himes, Rosa DeLauro, John Larson and Joe Courtney. Itemized contributions are those that are $200 or more. The emphasis on fundraising by the three-term incumbent from Cheshire is the clearest sign yet of Esty trying to fortify her defenses in a district that Donald Trump only lost by 12,000 votes last November one in the crosshairs of national Republicans for next years midterm elections. The district extends from Danbury and Litchfield County to the Farmington Valley and New Britain. Esty campaign spokesman Craig Frucht attributed the surge to the political climate in the Trump era. Elizabeths supporters may also be extra motivated because the House Republican campaign arm announced publicly they are targeting her seat in 2018, Frucht said. They have responded with force. The 5th District and the 2nd District in eastern Connecticut are among 36 races circled on the tote board of the National Republican Congressional Committee for 2018. Donald Trumps performance showed the 5th District is ripe for the taking and Elizabeth Esty is nothing more than a backbench, Nancy Pelosi loyalist, the NRCCs Jesse Hunt said, referring to the House Democratic leader. A former state legislator who is last in seniority among Connecticuts all-Democratic House delegation, Esty entered Congress in 2013, filling the seat of the then-newly elected Sen. Chris Murphy. She was easily re-elected twice, including last fall, when she captured 58 percent of the vote against Sherman First Selectman Clay Cope. But nonpartisan political analysts say now is no time for Esty to rest on her laurels all she has to do is look at history. Remember, in 2006 you had a 24-year incumbent in Nancy Johnson. A young upstart named Chris Murphy came in a beat her, said Christopher Kukk, a political science professor at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury. Kukk said Esty is wise to err on the side of caution. No incumbent should take the Connecticut 5th District for granted ever, Kukk said. You have to have that political war chest filled to the max. Despite her windfall, Esty announced Tuesday that she has no plans to run in 2018 for governor, an office that has been linked in the past to her husband, Dan Esty. He is an environmental law professor at Yale University and the former head of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection under Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who is not running for re-election. Connecticut Democrats spokesman Leigh Appleby said Estys fundraising haul shows partys momentum. Make no mistake, Democrats across Connecticut are fired up and ready to build the organization necessary to take on the Republicans who would be a rubber stamp for the Trump agenda, Appleby said. State GOP Chairman J.R. Romano said Esty needs the money for a reason. Ultimately, they have a year that the Democratic brand is not a very good brand in the state of Connecticut, Romano said. nvigdor@hearstmediact.com; 203-625-4436; http://twitter.com/gettinviggy VANCOUVER, April 18, 2017 /CNW/ - CRH Medical Corporation (TSX: CRH) (NYSE MKT: CRHM) (the "Company"), plans to release its unaudited results for the quarter ended March 31, 2017, on Wednesday, April 26, after market close. The Company's executive management will discuss the results during a conference call on Thursday, April 27 at 11:00 am Eastern Time/8:00 am Pacific Time. To participate in the call, please dial 1-800-319-4610, or (604) 638-5340. An audio replay will be available shortly after the call by dialing 1-855-669-9658 or (604) 6748052 and entering access code 1307. The replay will be available until May 11, 2017. About CRH Medical Corporation: CRH Medical Corporation is a North American company focused on providing gastroenterologists throughout the United States with innovative services and products for the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. The CRH O'Regan System is a single-use, disposable, hemorrhoid banding technology that is safe and highly effective in treating all grades of hemorrhoids. CRH distributes the O'Regan System, treatment protocols, operational and marketing expertise as a complete, turnkey package directly to gastroenterology practices, creating meaningful relationships with the gastroenterologists it serves. CRH's O'Regan System is currently used in all 48 lower US states. In 2014, CRH acquired Gastroenterology Anesthesia Associates, LLC ("GAA"), a full-service gastroenterology anesthesia company that provides anesthesia services for patients undergoing endoscopic procedures. Since then, CRH has incorporated ten additional acquisitions to its anesthesia business. CRH Anesthesia now services 27 ambulatory surgical centers in seven states and performs approximately 170,000 procedures annually. SOURCE CRH Medical Corporation For further information: Kettina Cordero, Director of Investor Relations, CRH Medical Corporation, 800.660.2153 x1030, [email protected], http://investors.crhsystem.com/ Related Links www.crhmedcorp.com On April 20 ("4/20") Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA) subject-matter experts are available to respond to media inquiries related to cannabis policy, proposed federal legislation and impaired driving. Cannabis is an important research and policy priority for CCSA. Since 2009, CCSA has made significant contributions to the knowledge about the health impacts of cannabis to support an evidence-informed, public health approach to cannabis regulation. Rebecca can speak to the evidence behind cannabis policy and the proposed federal cannabis legislation, informed by her work studying the experiences in Washington and Colorado, and internationally. The Government of Canada and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg sign an audiovisual coproduction treaty OTTAWA, April 19, 2017 /CNW/ - I am very pleased that the Government of Canada has signed an audiovisual coproduction treaty with the Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. This treaty will further position Canada as a partner of choice in audiovisual coproductions, and strengthen our cultural and economic ties with Luxembourg. Canada's Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium and to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Olivier Nicoloff signed a bilateral audiovisual coproduction treaty with Film Fund Luxembourg's Managing Director Guy Daleiden. Audiovisual coproduction treaties allow producers to combine their creative and financial resources to develop coproductions that stimulate foreign investment, create jobs, and increase exchanges of culture and knowledge between partner countries. In order for the new treaty to come into effect, each country will have to complete domestic procedures to ratify it. Projects coproduced under a treaty are given national status in both Canada and the partner country. This makes producers eligible for national benefits in their own countries, such as funding programs and tax incentives. In the past 50 years, Canada has signed audiovisual coproduction treaties with 55 countries. In the past 10 years alone, our country has produced 643 treaty coproductions, whose budgets total more than $4.9 billion. SOURCE Canadian Heritage For further information: Rachel Rappaport, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Canadian Heritage, 819-997-7788 Related Links http://www.pch.gc.ca A new device can produce nearly 3 liters of water per day for every kilogram of spongelike absorber it contains, and researchers say future versions will be even better. That means homes in the driest parts of the world could soon have a solar-powered appliance capable of delivering all the water they need, offering relief to billions of people. This is the real life version of the Star Wars Moisture Vaporator on Tantooine. The book Dune on the planet Arrakis had windtraps which were a facility designed to reclaim the moisture in the air and funnel it to large catchbasins for later use by the Fremen. In reality, there are an estimated 13 trillion liters of water floating in the atmosphere at any one time, equivalent to 10% of all of the freshwater in our planets lakes and rivers. Over the years, researchers have developed ways to grab a few trickles, such as using fine nets to wick water from fog banks, or power-hungry dehumidifiers to condense it out of the air. But both approaches require either very humid air or far too much electricity to be broadly useful. To find an all-purpose solution, researchers led by Omar Yaghi, a chemist at the University of California, Berkeley, turned to a family of crystalline powders called metal organic frameworks, or MOFs. Yaghi developed the first MOFsporous crystals that form continuous 3D networksmore than 20 years ago. The networks assemble in a Tinkertoy-like fashion from metal atoms that act as the hubs and sticklike organic compounds that link the hubs together. By choosing different metals and organics, chemists can dial in the properties of each MOF, controlling what gases bind to them, and how strongly they hold on. The new water harvester is made of metal organic framework crystals pressed into a thin sheet of copper metal and placed between a solar absorber (above) and a condenser plate (below). Over the past 2 decades chemists have synthesized more than 20,000 MOFs, each with unique molecule-grabbing properties. For example, Yaghi and others recently designed MOFs that absorband later releasemethane, making them a type of high-capacity gas tank for natural gaspowered vehicles. In 2014, Yaghi and his colleagues synthesized a MOF that excelled at absorbing water, even under low-humidity conditions. That led him to reach out to Evelyn Wang, a mechanical engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, with whom he had previously worked on a project to use MOFs in automobile air conditioning. After synthesizing the new zirconium-based MOF, dubbed MOF-801, Yaghi met Wang at MIT and said, Evelyn we have to come up with a water-harvesting device. She agreed to give it a shot. Device pulls water from the air At night setup soaks up water vapor from air, and uses heat from the sun to release it as liquid water during the day. The system Wang and her students designed consists of a kilogram of dust-sized MOF crystals pressed into a thin sheet of porous copper metal. That sheet is placed between a solar absorber and a condenser plate and positioned inside a chamber. At night the chamber is opened, allowing ambient air to diffuse through the porous MOF and water molecules to stick to its interior surfaces, gathering in groups of eight to form tiny cubic droplets. In the morning, the chamber is closed, and sunlight entering through a window on top of the device then heats up the MOF, which liberates the water droplets and drives themas vaportoward the cooler condenser. The temperature difference, as well as the high humidity inside the chamber, causes the vapor to condense as liquid water, which drips into a collector. The setup works so well that it pulls 2.8 liters of water out of the air per day for every kilogram of MOF it contained, the Berkeley and MIT team reports today in Science. It has been a longstanding dream to harvest water from desert air, says Mercouri Kanatzidis, a chemist at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, who wasnt involved with the work. This demonstration is a significant proof of concept. Its also one that Yaghi says has plenty of room for improvement. For starters, zirconium costs $150 a kilogram, making water-harvesting devices too expensive to be broadly useful. However, Yaghi says his group has already had early success in designing water-grabbing MOFs that replace zirconium with aluminum, a metal that is 100 times cheaper. That could make future water harvesters cheap enough not only to slake the thirst of people in arid regions, but perhaps even supply water to farmers in the desert. By Olivier Ferret 18 April 2017 - 17:32 Just two days after the Bahrain Grand Prix, Formula One teams were back in action at the Sakhir Circuit, with Lewis Hamilton topping the timesheet for Mercedes as F1s first in-season test of 2017 got underway. The session start was briefly delayed while shopping containers were removed from near to the pit lane exit and Hamilton too suffered an early setback as his Mercedes ground to a halt soon after running began. His car was recovered to the garage and after an electrical fault was identified and rectified last Sundays second-placed driver was able to continue with the teams run plan. It eventually resulted, late in the day, in the days quickest time, a soft-tyre lap of 1:31.358. He was followed by Ferrari test driver Antonio Giovinazzi who finished the day with a time of 1:31.948, just over six tenths of a second behind the three-time champion. Third on the timesheet was Red Bull Racings Daniel Ricciardo, with the Australians best time coming earlier in the day as the team first focused on aero tests and then tyre and set-up work. We did a few runs on the soft tyre and made a few mechanical changes, which were interesting, and a couple of runs on the supersoft. I think we discovered as few things there, said Ricciardo of his mornings work. You do try some bigger steps than you might do on a race weekend and it was interesting to see what the results of those changes were. The Renault-powered team had envisaged a number of longer runs in the afternoon but an issue with the cars power unit forced the Milton Keynes squad to call an early halt to its programme. There were power unit problems, too, for sister team Toro Rosso, with Formula 2 driver Sean Gelael forced to stop his Renault-powered car with a suspected engine issue. The Indonesian driver did return to the action in the day once again he stopped with an unspecified issue. He finished the day in eighth place. Romain Grosjean was fourth fastest, putting 87 laps on the board and logging a best time of 1:32.542, just under a tenth of a second ahead of Renaults Nico Hulkenberg. Lance Stroll was seventh for Williams ahead of Gelael, while ninth place on the timesheet was taken by the second Ferrari on show on day one, driven by Sebastian Vettel. The German was undertaking testing for Pirelli aimed at developing its 2018 tyres, though that process was interrupted for a long period my a mechanical problem with Vettel SF70H. With the agreement of teams, Vettels outing was extended until 9pm local time to make up for the hours lost in the garage. Ferraris time in pit lane was nothing compared to that of McLaren, however. After another troubled race weekend, the team endured a difficult test day, with driver Oliver Turvey confined to the garage for the bulk of the session as an ERS water leak led to a power unit change. Turvey was able to get track time in the final hour and completed 17 laps, although ended up in P12, behind Alfonso Celis of Force India 1and Saubers Marcus Ericsson. [April 18, 2017] The Number of NetEase Cloud Music Users Exceeds 300 Million with a Year-on-Year Growth of Over 100% HANGZHOU, China, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- On April 11, 2017, NetEase Cloud Music, a popular online music platform in China, held a press conference in Shanghai to announce the completion of a 750-million-yuan (approx. USD 108 million) A round financing whose estimated value is 8 billion yuan (approx. USD 1.16 billion), thereby becoming a member of a Chinese internet "Unicorn Club". Zhu Yiwen, CEO of NetEase Cloud Music, announced a major product milestone that the number of NetEase Cloud Music users has exceeded 300 million. This indicates that within only four years, NetEase Cloud Music has become a platform with the fastest growth rate and highest public praise in China's online music industry. Officially launched in April 2013, NetEase Cloud Music is a music product focusing on discovery and sharing. With an innovative product spirit and offering the ultimate user experience, NetEase Cloud Music rapidly developed. Within 2 years and 3 months, the number of users increased from 0 to 100 million in July 2015. This was further expanded to 200 million in July 2016. Now, just 9 months later, the number of users has reached 300 million with a year-on-year growth of over 100%, demonstrating a remarkable growth momentum. In the development process, NetEase Coud Music achieved substantial optimization of their products. To illustrate, due to big data analysis and accurate algorithms, NetEase Cloud Music offered personalized recommendations allowing users to locate their favorite songs in the shortest amount of time. Moreover, in the latest version 4.0, NetEase Cloud Music added the function allowing users to "upload a short video" in its post, which extended the social aspect of music further to the audio-visual level. This feature was a first in the music APP sector. For the users, NetEase Cloud Music is the ideal platform for social music interaction. According to NetEase's statistics, NetEase Cloud Music users have created more than 400 million high-quality song lists on their own, with a daily volume of 620,000 lists, a total of 400 million music reviews, and an average of 1.5 million reviews. As an example, Zhao Lei's studio version of Chengdu, which was exclusively released on NetEase Cloud Music, has triggered a "Chengdu sensation" on the network, and the number of comments for this single song has exceeded 250,000. For comparison, 1.3 million comments were made addressing Jay Chou's song entitled Sunny Day on NetEase Cloud Music. With both the product and user numbers in an agreeable state, NetEase Cloud Music decided to raise funds. In order to provide users with a richer music experience, NetEase Cloud Music will upgrade the product experience, increase the content input, construct a healthy copyright system and establish solutions for the upstream and downstream music players. From an investment perspective, the leading strategic investor, SMG, is the largest integrated cultural industry group in China. SMG possesses the top domestic content production and IP development strength, as well as strong resource integration capabilities and industry appeal. SMG and NetEase Cloud Music have a strong complementarity with regard to resources and capabilities, and the cooperation uniquely promotes the development of the Chinese music industry. The strategic investment party of this round of investment is Mango Cultural and Creative Industry Private Equity Fund, a fund set up by Mango Media under the flagship of Hunan Broadcasting System. Its main focus areas are film, TV series, variety shows, music, animation and other cultural and creative projects. In the future, Mango Cultural and Creative Industry Private Equity Fund will strategically coordinate with Hunan Broadcasting System and NetEase Cloud Music, integrate resources and provide young audiences with a wide range of music content and service experience. As the number of users exceeds 300 million, NetEase Cloud Music will enter a new development paradigm. Forthcoming, NetEase Cloud Music will continue to develop its layout construction on the basis of the users' music experiences. The joining of SMG and Mango Cultural and Creative Industry Private Equity Fund will leverage and integrate the advantages of the music industry chain and facilitate NetEase Cloud Music to gain more users, to upgrade its product quality, and to usher in larger breakthroughs. Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20170418/1827671-1 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 18, 2017] The Czech Republic: The Heart of Doosan Group's Global Steam Turbine R&D PILSEN, Czech Republic, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Creating the latest models of steam turbines and the most resistant materials, precise components, and more accurate software - all of these projects are being realised in Doosan Skoda Power's cutting-edge experimental laboratory in Plzen, Czech Republic, Central Europe. Jiri Fiala's team tackles complex research projects on steam turbines, for the whole of the parent Doosan Group. (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/489260/Doosan_Skoda_Power_Logo.jpg ) (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/489259/Doosan_Skoda_Power_experimental_laboratory.jpg ) For four years now, Doosan Skoda Power's R & D centre has been carefully monitoring global trends in steam turbine development to be able to flexibly respond to the customers' and the market's requirements. "The information obtained is the basis for the strategic plan of research, in which Doosan Skoda Power invests approximately 3% of its turnover," says Jiri Fiala, head of the Global RD Centre at Doosan Skoda Power. The Plzen-based R&D centre's business can be summarised in several categories. One of them is the design and development of the new types of steam turbines, which are in high demand on the market. "We design new smaller steam turbines for industrial use as well as large turbines featuring super-critical parameters of inlet steam and outputs of up to around 1,000 MW. These already are requirements for high parameters, for example, pressures of 250 to 280 bar and temperatures of 600 to 620C," he adds, describing this activity. Another line of research involves the development and application of new materials that must withstand ever higher operating parameters. The recently developed welded rotor is made of materials capable of coping with inlet temperatures of up to 700C. Material research also covers new surface finishing technologies, such as those for steam valve spindles and, most recently, those for coating inlet blades of turbines to help the blades better resist the impact of the mechanical impurities contained in steam. A very important part of research is the development of components for steam turbines, in particular the development of new high-efficiency blade types. "It is said that the sophistication of a steam turbine manufacturer can be told by the longest last-stage blade that they are able to develop successfully. To date, the most challenging project for this R&D centre has probably been the development of a unique last-stage blade of titanium with a length of 1,370 millimetres. For the sake of illustration, each blade will be loaded by a centrifugal force of approximately 550 tonnes in operation. This is approximately the same as the take-off mass of the well-known Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet," Jiri Fiala explains. Turbine component development does not only include blades but also the development and testing of bearings and special types of contactless seals and glands. But research is not just about engineering diagrams and drawings. R & D experts also develop software for a more accurate and quicker calculation and design of their turbines. Most of the newly developed components are tested in the experimental laboratory on the company's own test stands. You can read more on http://www.doosanskodapower.com/en/intro/researchdevelopment.do http://www.doosanskodapower.com/en/media/news/news_view.do?page=1&pressSeq=20170315092842322621&parSrchTxt= www.doosanskodapower.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 19, 2017] Digital Marketing Malaysia is Back Bigger Than Ever KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- After a successful first edition, Advertising + Marketing Magazine is excited to host the second Digital Marketing Malaysia conference in Kuala Lumpur on 3-4 May to discuss the challenges and opportunities for marketers in Malaysia's evolving digital economy. The Malaysian government has made clear its aim to propel the digital economy forward with its plan for 2020 as well as appointing Jack Ma as digital economy advisor. The start-up space is getting crowded too as digital entrepreneurs and natives disrupt the space with constant innovations. Digital Marketing Malaysia 2017 will now span two days and focus on discussing these issues and how marketers should embrace emerging technologies, programmatic and innovative content that will cater to today's ever-changing consumer with over 200 marketers attending. Over 15 major brands and digital ioneers will share their stories in case study presentations and panel discussions including: Ravi Shankar, Group Head of Digital Marketing and Analytics, AirAsia Muhamad Zaid , Head of Digital, Domino's Pizza Malaysia and Singapore , Head of Digital, Domino's Pizza Malaysia and Mohamed Adam Wee Abdullah , Group Chief Marketing Officer and Group Chief Customer Experience Officer, CIMB Group , Group Chief Marketing Officer and Group Chief Customer Experience Officer, CIMB Group Kenny Ong , Managing Director, Malaysia and Singapore , Universal Music Group , Managing Director, and , Universal Music Group Nicco Tan , Vice-President, Relationship Marketing and Social Media, Genting Malaysia Key issues and topics at this year's conference will include: Bridging geographical concerns with location data Am I paying for ad fraud bots? Making the experience seamless with cross-device storytelling Humanising marketing automation There will be many more discussed at the conference. See a sample of the agenda and request for the full agenda here. Digital Marketing Malaysia aims to bring the focus on the new Malaysian consumer and allow marketers to connect with client-side and agency experts and analyse core areas of digital marketing that are most relevant to the future of their brands' digital presence. To get involved, please contact: Andrew Davy +65 84275563 [email protected] [April 19, 2017] Agile Alliance Announces AGILE2017 Program Global Agile Conference in Orlando, Florida, USA is the Industry's Premier Event PORTLAND, Ore., April 19, 2017 /CNW/ -- Today Agile Alliance is pleased to announce the program for AGILE2017, the largest international gathering of Agilists. The conference is widely considered the premier global event for the advancement of Agile practices. "We received nearly 1,550 submissions for 250 speaking slots this year," said Tricia Broderick, AGILE2017 conference chair. "The multitude of fantastic proposals made it quite difficult to narrow the selection. Our program is filled with compelling sessions by thought leaders in the Agile community that will deepen attendees' knowledge of Agile, generate transforative ideas and advance the use of cutting-edge Agile practices from the team to enterprise level." Last year the conference drew nearly 2,500 Agilists from more than 40 countries who learned from and collaborated with recognized Agile experts, authors and innovators. AGILE2017, to be held August 7 11 in Orlando, Florida, is expected to draw a similar number of attendees. Agile Alliance organizes the annual North American Agile Conference, now in its sixteenth year. It attracts worldwide Agile practitioners, academia, business, and vendor-partner community members. Register today at https://www.agilealliance.org/agile2017/register/ About Agile Alliance Agile Alliance is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the concepts of Agile software development as outlined in the Agile Manifesto. With nearly 38,000 members and subscribers around the globe, Agile Alliance is driven by the principles of Agile methodologies and the value delivered to developers, business and end users. Agile Alliance organizes and supports events to bring the Agile community together on a global stage. Media Contact Pam Hughes Marketing Chief, Agile Alliance [email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/agile-alliance-announces-agile2017-program-300441532.html SOURCE Agile Alliance [April 19, 2017] PROINSO India Strengthens its Position in Line With Modi's 'Make in India' Concept MUMBAI, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Solar energy supply company, PROINSO, continues to consolidate its 6 year presence in India by announcing a new R&D and Training facility in Mumbai and increasing manufacturing exports. PROINSO's firm commitment to India is reflected in the company's growing presence in the country, currently counting over 50 employees having pan-India presence in its three divisions of Distribution and Integration, Manufacturing, and EPM (Engineering, Procurement and Management). PROINSO India started operations in 2011 and has since demonstrated a year-on-year growth of over 50%. Managing Director of South Asia, Kunal Chandra, said, "We have been in the Indian market since 2011 and have always been committed to its long-term growth and consequently our long-term investment in our country." "With over a decade of experience in solar across global markets, we have an excellent grasp of the ebb and flow of domestic markets, with lessons firmly planted in PROINSO's DNA; we share these with our clients to help make them risk resilient and opportunity ready to meet the market growth and challenges ahead. We continue also to increase our CSR activity in India and engagement with Indian national rugby unions as sponsors," he added. Apart from the growing workforce, ROINSO is giving its own contribution towards realizing the Indian Prime Minister's 'Make in India' concept. This is reflected in its PROINSO PV Rack brand of rooftop structures that are very well received in the Indian market and is being exported globally. Another Indian-manufactured product added to its portfolio is the horizontal single axis solar tracker (TURNSOLE) which is powered by OMRON; a company with over 80 years' experience in electronics. This tracker will be exported and distributed through PROINSO's global network on 6 continents. Dinesh Arya, Senior Trade and Investment Advisor for Energy at UK Trade & Investment commented on PROINSO's role between the UK and India's bilateral relationship, "PROINSO is an example of a company that is actively working to promote the knowledge transfer between its global workforce and manufacturing partners and solar energy professionals in India. In this way, PROINSO is leveraging its position as a global leader to build competencies in India's fast growing solar industry. It's year-on-year growth is a success story that other UK companies are encouraged to follow." PROINSO's commitment to learning was reaffirmed by the recently held series of exclusive training events in India. Working side-by-side with world leading solar manufacturers like SMA Solar, Huawei and JinkoSolar, the company delivered exclusive training events in Bangalore, Mumbai and Hyderabad to its customers where they could learn about the latest products, technologies and installation best-practices. More benefits are reserved for members of PROINSO's new customer rewards program - PRIVILEGE Rewards by PROINSO (http://www.proinso.net/privilege). About PROINSO PROINSO has over 10 years of solar experience, achieved over 2.7GW of projects supplied and operates from 27 offices in 6 continents. PROINSO is a leading global distributor and integrator of PV modules, inverters, mounting systems and trackers. PROINSO has three divisions focusing on Distribution and Integration, Manufacturing of Structures and EPM (Engineering, Procurement and Management). Exclusive products, services and discounts are available to customers registered for PROINSO's PRIVILEGE Rewards program. Media Contact: Janmejay Sahu [email protected] 022-40042286 Media Manager PROINSO India [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 19, 2017] Immigrant Backlash Not Impacting Hiring of Job Candidates Born Outside the United States, Finds New CareerBuilder Survey CHICAGO and ATLANTA, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In the midst of ongoing debate around immigration, U.S. employers plan to reach beyond borders to help fill U.S. jobs. According to a new CareerBuilder survey, a third of employers (33 percent) say they plan to hire immigrant workers in 2017, with 16 percent planning to do so in the second quarter. While 35 percent of workers voiced concern about immigrants taking U.S. jobs in general, the vast majority of workers (90 percent) don't have any concerns about immigrant workers taking their own jobs. CareerBuilder's latest study on immigration was conducted online by Harris Poll from February 16 to March 9, 2017 and included representative samples of 2,380 full-time employers and 3,215 full-time workers across industries and company sizes in the private sector. Compensation for Immigrant Workers There has been much discourse around how much immigrants earn compared to other workers, but from the employer's perspective, they don't see much of a difference, if at all. Of employers who hire immigrant workers, the vast majority (80 percent) say that they pay the same to both U.S. born workers and immigrants working in the same roles. Twelve percent of these employers reported that they pay immigrants less while 9 percent reported that they pay immigrants more. Job Functions for Immigrant Workers The types of functional positons non-U.S. born workers are being recruited to fill varies from industry to industry. Among employers who are hiring immigrant workers this year, this includes: Technical (42 percent) Administrative (31 percent) Manual labor (31 percent) Sales (30 percent) Creative (29 percent) inancial (25 percent) Managerial (23 percent) Rosemary Haefner , chief human resources officer for CareerBuilder. "A significant number of U.S. employers are hiring workers from other countries in an effort to navigate around the growing skills gap and fill increasingly complex and rapidly evolving roles." Top Industries Hiring Foreign Born Workers Immigrant workers looking for employment can expect to find opportunities across multiple industries, with IT housing the largest percentage of employers who plan to hire them this year: IT (50 percent) Financial Services (38 percent) Professional & Business Services (37 percent) Manufacturing (30 percent) Transportation 1 (30 percent) (30 percent) Health care (21 percent) Retail (18 percent) Immigrant Hiring by Company Size Plans to hire immigrant workers in 2017 are consistent across companies of all sizes, and especially with larger companies, which tend to have more job openings in general: 1-50 employees: 16 percent 51-250 employees: 35 percent 251-500 employees: 46 percent 501+ employees: 42 percent Survey Methodology This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder among 2,380 hiring and human resource managers (employed full-time, not self-employed, non-government) and 3,215 employees (employed full-time, not self-employed, non-government) between February 16 and March 9, 2017 (percentages for some questions are based on a subset, based on their responses to certain questions). With pure probability samples of 2,380 and 3,215, one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have sampling errors of +/- 2.01 and +/- 1.73 percentage points, respectively. Sampling error for data from sub-samples is higher and varies. About CareerBuilder CareerBuilder is a global, end-to-end human capital solutions company focused on helping employers find, hire and manage great talent. Combining advertising, software and services, CareerBuilder leads the industry in recruiting solutions, employment screening and human capital management. It also operates top job sites around the world. Owned by TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA), Tribune Media (NYSE:TRCO) and McClatchy (NYSE:MNI), CareerBuilder and its subsidiaries operate in the United States, Europe, South America, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit www.careerbuilder.com. Media Contact Michael Erwin 773-527-3637 [email protected] http://www.twitter.com/CareerBuilderPR 1Base size less than 100 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/immigrant-backlash-not-impacting-hiring-of-job-candidates-born-outside-the-united-states-finds-new-careerbuilder-survey-300441299.html SOURCE CareerBuilder [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 19, 2017] One Call's Clinical and Industry Expertise Highlighted at Risk Management Society's Annual Conference Next week in Philadelphia, One Call Care Management ("One Call"), a leading provider of workers' compensation solutions, will showcase clinical and industry expertise at the RIMS 2017 Annual Conference. Four of its experts have been chosen to share insights on trending topics, including the transformation of healthcare transportation through ridesharing, controversy over the use of medical marijuana to treat pain, strategies to manage comorbidities in workers' compensation, and the importance of patient engagement to drive better outcomes. "The RIMS Conference is an essential platform for risk management education, so it's an extraordinary opportunity to have four of our clinical and industry experts share their knowledge on innovative and controversial issues impacting our industry," said Will Smith, chief product officer at One Call Care Management. "Our speakers aim to educate risk managers on both progressive and industry-tested strategies to improve outcomes, control costs, reduce risk, and handle industry changes going forward." The One Call experts will be participating in the following sessions: A New Risk Equation: Ridesharing + Technology = Transformation in Transportation Joseph McCullough, Senior Vice President One Call Transport + Language Every year, as many as 3.6 million people miss medical appointments due to an inability to arrange reliable transportation. We'll discuss how ridesharing plus technology is providing a new solution. Controversy Continues: Medical Marijuana in Workers' Compensation Kevin Glennon, RN, BSN, Vice President of Clinical Programs April 25, 11 a.m. - noon, Room 115BC Could marijuana be used as an alternative to treat chronic pain and thereby help to alleviate the opioid epidemic? Get the latest on legalization efforts, as well as clinical efficacy updates. Strategies to Manage the Pandora's Box (News - Alert) of Comorbid Conditions Eric Patten, RN, BSN, Senior Director of Clinical April 25, 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m., Room 118C Injured workers are sicker than ever. With increased incidence of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension, we need strategies to identify and manage comorbidities to optimize outcomes. How Patient Experience Drives Engagement Will Smith, Chief Product Officer April 25, 4 p.m. - 5 p.m., Wellness ZENter, Booth #2727 Advancing the consumer experience through technology, patient education and clinical support in order to improve patient health and achieve the best possible outcomes. RIMS attendees are invited to stop by the One Call booth #1001 to learn more about best-in-class workers' compensation solutions or visit www.onecallevent.com for more information on the sessions above. About One Call Care Management One Call is the nation's leading provider of specialized solutions to the workers' compensation industry. One Call has six locations across the United States with its corporate headquarters located in Jacksonville, Florida. One Call's solutions enable faster, more efficient and more cost-effective claims resolution with a focus on injured workers' needs across the continuum of care. One Call provides reliable, consistent connections to care with expertise in high-end diagnostics, physical therapy and transportation services, post-discharge home care and durable medical equipment, dental and doctor specialty services, complex care management, and the language services required for today's multicultural workforce. For more information, visit www.onecallcm.com. For regular updates, follow One Call on Twitter (News - Alert) at @onecallcm. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170419005384/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 19, 2017] Rioja DOCa Launches First Of Its Kind Online Tool For The Wine Trade Industry In The United States NEW YORK, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Rioja USA is today introducing a dynamic resource tool for the beverage trade industry and a comprehensive virtual destination that will complement and reinforce the region's current U.S. program: www.RiojaTrade.com. The Rioja Trade Portal is a first-of-its-kind information resource developed for the wine industry to discover, learn about, obtain tools and connect with various facets of Rioja. An exclusive epicenter for the trade, the development of the portal was a serious investment by Rioja DOCa in the U.S. market and a natural progression for the campaign. It also symbolizes Rioja's commitment to strengthen and expand their presence in the region. One of the primary objectives of the Trade Portal is to provide better access to a greater number of on and off-premise accounts, wholesalers, distributors, industry experts and beyond. The Rioja Trade Team will have the ability to expand their current geographic program reach, strengthen and create new relationships. The Trade Portal will better connect wine brands with their target markets and share information with each other, as well as provide them with deeper support and opportunities to engage with the program directly no matter their size. The Trade Portal is also a destination for media and passionate members of the community with innovative content, up-to-date information and exciting promotions for Wines from Rioja. "The more Rioja wines grew in volume and value in the United States, the quicker our team realized the need for a tool like the Rioja Trade Portal. We wanted a way to better serve the entire beverage trade and it was clear that it needed to be done virtually," said Ana Fabiano, North American Trade Director and Brad Ambassador for Rioja USA. "The development of the Rioja Trade Portal further reinforces a deep commitment to the American trade, as it is of the utmost of importance to the DOCa and our team. RiojaTrade.com is the perfect visual representation of the new era of Rioja, and it truly brings to life why this completely authentic wine region is so special." Some of the most exciting features of the www.RiojaTrade.com include: Educational materials, like downloadable maps, Rioja 101 brochures and the Rioja Annual Report An area to easily download and customize exciting new creative templates and signage, as well as ways to order Point of Sale materials Inspiring new video footage of the region and a place to request fresh b-roll A guest blogger section where visitors of the portal can hear directly from iconic Rioja winemakers and trailblazing thought leaders in their own words In August 2016, Rioja DOCa hired Finn Partners as their agency of record, largely based on their expert digital capabilities and 360-degree integrated approach. It was at that time, significant efforts were dedicated to evolving the campaign digitally. Together with the Rioja USA Trade team, the website was envisioned and then built in-house by Finn Partners. For more information and to join the Rioja community, please visit: http://www.riojatrade.com/ Or contact: Cindy Coppola Partner and Campaign Director, Finn Partners [email protected] 212.593.6493 Melanie Klausner Vice President, Finn Partners [email protected] 646.307.6310 About the Rioja Consejo Regulador The Rioja "Control Board" is an institution founded in 1926 with a primary purpose to supervise quality control from vineyard through bottling to promoting the region and defending the interests of the regions wine sector. The quality controls systems in Rioja are one of the most stringent in the world of wine. Rioja is one of the few that requires that all of its production be bottled at source and is the hallmark region for tradition, trust and quality that has equipped Rioja to attain its current leading position on the market. Located in north central Spain, Rioja is considered one of the greatest red wine regions in the world. Rioja wines are protected by the oldest Designation of Origin in Spain, officially recognized in 1926. Since 1991, it is the first and one of only two regions in Spain to be awarded the highest category Calificada where all wines must be bottled at origin. The institution administers highly sophisticated and stringent quality control in the vineyard and winemaking, from viticulture to bottling more than 63,500 hectares (approximately 140,850 acres) yielding 300 million liters of wine annually, of which 90% is red. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rioja-doca-launches-first-of-its-kind-online-tool-for-the-wine-trade-industry-in-the-united-states-300441713.html SOURCE Rioja USA [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 19, 2017] FEKO Student Competition Now in Its 15th Year TROY, Mich., April 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Altair is once again inviting engineering students from across the globe to participate in the 15th annual FEKO Student Competition. The competition seeks under-graduate and post-graduate students who have worked on a supervised project in electromagnetic engineering using FEKO, Altair's comprehensive electromagnetic (EM) analysis software suite. Daniel Ung from Curtin University/ICRAR in Australia, the winner of the 2016 FEKO Student Competition A photo accompanying this announcement is available at //www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b535b748-4d13-4280-a89f-c6edc44a5910 Mr. Ungs winning entry, entitled Embedded Element Pattern Beam Model for Murchison Widefield Array addressed the need for an accurate yet accessible beam pattern of the Murchison Widefield Array for astronomers. The judges were very pleased to see the complexity and accuracy of the results achieved using FEKO versus real-world results, commented Matthias Goelke, senior director Business Development Academic Markets at Altair. The competition is being launched through the Altair academic website (www.altairuniversity.com) and along with great prizes, the winner will also have the opportunity to host a webinar to present their project, exposing them to a much larger audience. This will serve as a very useful experience for their future engineering careers. Students can register for the competition from today. Once registered the participants will receive further details on requirements, links to support forums, and guides. Deadline for entries is 31 October 2017. More information can be found on the Altair University website. About Altair Altair is focused on the development and broad application of simulation technology to synthesize and optimize designs, processes and decisions for improved business performance. Privately held with more than 2,000 employees, Altair is headquartered in Troy, Michigan, USA and operates more than 50 offices throughout 22 countries. Today, Altair serves more than 5,000 corporate clients across broad industry segments. To learn more, please visit www.altair.com. Company contact: Fiona Richardson +27 (0)21 8311523 [email protected] Media contacts: Altair Europe, the Middle East and Africa Evelyn Gebhardt +49 6421 9684351 [email protected] Altair Corporate/ Americas Biba A. Bedi +1-757-224-0548 x 406 [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 19, 2017] Agriculture Technology Driving Force in Establishing LOI Between SRCTec and Istuary Idea Labs Access to China's Agriculture Technology Industry Offers BC Companies Opportunity to Drive Further Growth in Canada and China VANCOUVER, Canada, April 19, 2017 /CNW/ -- Istuary Idea Labs and the Sumas Regional Consortium for High Tech (SRCTec) recently signed a Letter of Intent to provide BC tech companies with education, resources and a network to tap into China, most notably in one of the largest agricultural markets in the world. Vancouver-based Istuary Idea Labs views Fraser Valley as a prime testing ground for agri-tech, a $12 billion industry that could not have survived without technology but one that can certainly expand further in China. Businesses that are beginning the commercialization phase and have some of the most promising technology in agri-tech make business sense for SRCTec and Istuary Idea Labs to collaborate. Michael Liu, VP of Istuary Idea Labs, stated, "We are very excited to work with SRCTec in assisting Fraser Valley technology companies with the ability to access and commercialize in global markets. By connecting promising technologies to our resources in China, we create new opportunities and synergies that wouldn't have been vailable to start-up companies. Thus partnering with SRCTec fits perfectly into our vision of cultivating innovation and launching businesses into expanding markets." The collaboration is a significant boost to Istuary Idea Labs as SRCTec already facilitates innovation and entrepreneurial ventures in the Fraser Valley in the form of partnerships throughout the province. With agri-tech as a new source of innovation, Istuary Idea Labs offers strategic access to one of the biggest agricultural markets in the world and in great demand of agricultural technology: China. Raymond Szabada, Founder and Chairman of the Board of SRCTec, says "Istuary is a knowledgeable partner that can provide valuable advice and direct introductions to Fraser Valley tech companies to take advantage of resources and markets in China. Access to manufacturing plants in China will allow local startups to build and test prototypes with teams that are highly experienced in moving towards commercialization. There are vast opportunities to create business partnerships to share knowledge of market needs in Asia and North America, as well as joint ventures to share and enhance technologies. We're very excited about the benefits awaiting Tech companies in our Programs through this partnership with Istuary" About Istuary Innovation Group Istuary Innovation Group is a Canadian technology company with a mission to connect local technology to global markets through glocalization for sustainable innovation. Istuary focuses on identifying and filling technology gaps in foreign markets by leveraging Canada's world class design and engineering talent. Operating in 3 countries, 30 cities, and employing over 1500 employees worldwide, go to www.istuary.com for more information. About SRCTec SRCTec is a non-profit agency based in Mission, dedicated to facilitating innovation and entrepreneurial ventures in the Fraser Valley. It has formed numerous partnerships throughout the province to connect local tech companies with funding, advice, training, and other business and marketing services. Contact: Shirley Wong Walker Manager, External Relations Istuary Innovation Group Phone: 604 299-0388 Email: [email protected] This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com SOURCE Istuary Idea Labs [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 19, 2017] Atlantic Sunrise Intervenor, The Nesbitt Parcel, Says Pipeline Company Continuing Disingenuous Efforts to Discredit Best Environmental Option for Project A spokesman for an intervenor in the planned construction of the Atlantic Sunrise natural gas pipeline says the pipeline company is going to extraordinary lengths to discredit the best environmental option for the controversial project. Attorney Carolyn Elefant, the spokesperson for intervenor Geraldine Nesbitt, says the pipeline owners, The Williams Companies (NYSE: WMB) and Williams Partners (NYSE: WPZ), have repeatedly attempted to modify the least destructive route to further promote the route they prefer despite its greater adverse environmental impact. On three occasions in the past few months, Williams has proposed modifications to Alternative 12W, the route favored by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency, that would make the Nesbitt Alternative route favored by Williams appear less objectionable. "And now, Williams is promoting yet another modification to Alternative 12W that has been publically noticed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as 'Alt-12W Revised,' without any meaningful supporting documentation," Ms. Elefant said. "Instead, the public notice includes an insufficient 'make-shift' map along with a rudimentary environmental impacts table that will change once the applicant completes its field work and submits a supplement report." She added: "The applicant has conveniently arranged to submit this supplemental report well after the Corps' commenting period has ended, thus precluding the public from reviewing and commenting on the actual environmental impacts that the Corps will be considering. This approach is completely inconsistent with the intent of meaningful public commenting under the National Environmental Policy Act and Clean Water Act." Ms. Elefant continued: "We hope that the Corps will not facilitate the applicant's attempts to undermine meaningful public commenting as it precludes the Corps having the accurate and complete information necessary to make an informed decision." "Williams is going to extraordinary lengths to make it appear that the Alternative 12W route wuld do more environmental harm than the Nesbitt Alternative," Ms. Elefant said. "The company's actions are completely disingenuous, and yet they continue." Ms. Elefant added: "We urge the Corps of Engineers to follow the law and ensure appropriate opportunities for meaning public commenting on the actual information the Corps will be considering in its decision-making. We further urge the Corps to stop allowing the applicant to play games with the process and do the right thing by selecting the least environmentally and culturally damaging route, Alternative 12W. How many more modifications will the gas company attempt as a means of wearing down both the Corps and adversely affected landowners---it should be three strikes and you're out." The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in a letter dated February 15, 2017, said the Corps and the EPA had concluded that the evidence, public comments, and their observations in the pipeline case "indicate that the 12W alternative route would have less adverse impact on the aquatic ecosystem, and does not have other significant adverse environmental consequences," in contrast to the Nesbitt Alternative promoted by Williams "Specifically, Alternative 12W appears to result in fewer impacts to wetlands; result in less permanent conversion of forested and scrub wetlands to emergent wetlands; impacts wetlands and waters of lesser value (Alternative 12W impacts wetlands and waters that are degraded by ongoing human activity such as roadways, agricultural activities and commercial and residential impacts); has no impacts to Natural Heritage Areas; and impacts less forested and undisturbed vegetated buffers along streams and wetlands," the letter stated. "But Williams continues to promote misleading modifications to 12W in a cynical attempt to dissuade the Corps and the EPA from their original conclusions," Ms. Elefant said. "Williams just refuses to accept a simple fact - that 12W is the right choice, and the Nesbitt Alternative is the wrong choice." She added: "If Williams had made the right choice at the very beginning, this project could be under way now. But they continue to insist on doing things their way, in a less than straightforward way. It raises questions about what else they are not candid about. The Corps and the EPA should find out before letting this project go one step further." About Geraldine Nesbitt Geraldine Nesbitt is the owner of The Nesbitt Parcel in Dallas Township, PA. Ms. Nesbitt seeks to protect and preserve extraordinarily unique cultural resources on her property that are highly significant to several Federally Recognized Indian Tribes, which experts believe also qualify as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Ms. Nesbitt is also seeking to protect significant environmental habitats on her property that experts state are comparable to, or exceed, with regard to biodiversity, any state park in Pennsylvania. About The Nesbitt Parcel The Nesbitt Parcel has been owned and conserved by the Nesbitt family for more than 120 years. Abram Nesbitt, a prominent businessman, and philanthropist who funded the area's first hospital in 1912 bought the first section of the current ownership in the 1890s. Eventually, 40 other parcels were purchased and added together to form the current Nesbitt Parcel. The Williams Companies (NYSE: WMB) and Williams Partners (NYSE: WPZ) are enlarging and expanding the capacity of interstate pipelines through what is called the Atlantic Sunrise project. Williams Partners seeks eminent domain powers to impact the land owned by Ms. Nesbitt. Note: The Nesbitt Parcel is private property and trespassers are subject to prosecution. Copyright 2017 by Geraldine Nesbitt. All rights reserved. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170419006058/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 19, 2017] Bridging the GAP WOKINGHAM, England, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Leading fashion retailer GAP has launched into the Business to Business (B2B) sector with a gift card and digital offering hosted by National Gift Card Europe (NGC Europe), a distributor and marketer for gift cards and digital codes. The digital voucher and plastic gift card will be sold via the new B2B website www.gapforbusiness.co.uk where orders can be placed and fulfilled by NGC Europe; this will be complimented by a B2B sales, marketing and account management strategy. Andrew Johnson, CEO of NGC Europe commented: "GAP is the latest brand to join the National Gift Card Europe portfolio of retailers taking advantage of our expertise in gift card and digital voucher fulfilment, sales and marketing services. We are looking forward to working with the iconic and innovative brand that is GAP." About Gap Gap was born in 1969; the ear of Woodstock, the year man walked on the moon, the year of a new generation. Today, Gap is a global fashion and accessories brand focused on delivering casual, American style. Gap's collections for adults, kids and baby are a modern interpretation of Gap's denim roots and signature pieces that are a staple for every wardrobe. Gap embraces a youthful, infectious spirit and the freedom to express individual style. About National Gift Card Corp Europe Founded in 2004, National Gift Card Corp Europe (NGC) offers a range of fulfilment, distribution, sales and marketing management solutions for gift cards, gift certificates and digital codes in the USA, Canada and Europe. With services available to brands, corporate and non-profit business, NGC prides itself on great customer service using innovative, proprietary systems giving agents, businesses and leisure easy access to purchase gift cards, gift certificates and digital codes individually or in bulk. NGC USA is based in Crystal Lake, Illinois and NGC Europe in Bracknell, Berkshire. Learn more at www.ngc-group.co.uk. Contact: Andrew Johnson CEO - NGC Europe [email protected] 01344 987907 www.ngc-group.co.uk Olivia Hastings Marketing and Account Management Executive - NGC Europe [email protected] 01344 988641 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bridging-the-gap-300441929.html SOURCE National Gift Card Corp Europe [April 19, 2017] Marie Landel and Maya Said Nominated to Be Independent Members of Transgene's Board of Directors Regulatory News: Transgene (Paris:TNG) (Euronext Paris: TNG), a company that designs and develops viral-based immunotherapies, today announced the evolution and reinforcement of the Company's Board of Directors. In the Annual General Meeting notice published today, Transgene's Board of Directors has proposed a resolution to shareholders to appoint two new independent board members, Marie Landel and Maya Said. The notice also proposes resolutions on the renewal of the mandates of current Board members Philippe Archinard, Benoit Habert, Alain Merieux, Dominique Takizawa (representing TSGH). Following the Shareholders General meeting on June 8, 2017, assuming shareholder approval of these proposals, Transgene's Board of Directors will comprise ten members, with a majority of independent members. Marie Landel, Independent Board Member Marie Landel founded Marie Landel & Associates, now Axcelia Partners, a consultancy based in Cambridge (Massachusetts) specialized in advising European companies on the creation and development of US subsidiaries. Marie has significant experience supporting French and European biotechnology companies in the United States. In her 27 years of practice, she has built an extensive network in the financial community focused on this sector. Marie is a French CPA (Expert-comptable), and she holds an MBA from the European Business School (Paris, Frankfurt and London). Marie also sits on the Boards of TxCell, Safe Orthopaedics and Cellnovo. Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur, Marie was also a Foreign Trade Advisor to the French government (CCEF or Conseillers pour le Commerce Exterieur de la France for 10 years). Maya Said, Independent Board Member Maya Said brings more than 15 years of international strategic, operational and research experience working across academia and the healthcare industry. Previously, she was Vice-President, Senior Global Head of Oncology Policy and Market Access at Novartis, and Vice President, Head of Strategy, Science Policy & External Innovation, Global R&D at Sanofi. Her career started within the HealthCare and Strategy practice of The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Maya has a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science & Systems Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT (News - Alert)), as well as two Master's degrees in Electrical Engineering & Cmputer Science and in Biology. She has also studied finance and healthcare organizational systems at the Harvard Business School. Maya is the author of more than 20 publications in refereed journals such as Nature and PNAS. Philippe Archinard, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Transgene said: "We are pleased to welcome Marie Landel and Maya Said to Transgene's Board of Directors. Their appointments will strengthen our international networks, particularly in the US, and will allow us to leverage their acknowledged experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. We warmly thank Patrick Hurteloup and Jean-Francois Labbe whose wise counsel has been invaluable to the important strategic decisions that we have made during their time on the Board. The successful execution of our clinical development plan, which is based around on immunotherapy combinations, in the upcoming 18 months, is our key focus. In this context, a stronger international reach will be key to our success and our ability to conclude structuring partnerships." About Transgene Transgene S.A. (Euronext: TNG), part of Institut Merieux, is a publicly traded French biotechnology company focused on designing and developing targeted immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases. Transgene's programs utilize viral vector technology with the goal of indirectly or directly killing infected or cancerous cells. The Company's two lead clinical-stage programs are: TG4010, a therapeutic vaccine against non-small cell lung cancer and Pexa-Vec, an oncolytic virus against liver cancer. The Company has several other programs in clinical and preclinical development. Transgene is based in Strasbourg, France, and has additional operations in Lyon, as well as a joint venture in China. Additional information about Transgene is available at www.transgene.fr. Follow us on Twitter (News - Alert): @TransgeneSA Disclaimer This press release contains forward-looking statements, which are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. The occurrence of any of these risks could have a significant negative outcome for the Company's activities, perspectives, financial situation, results, regulatory authorities' agreement with development phases, and development. The Company's ability to commercialize its products depends on but is not limited to the following factors: positive pre-clinical data may not be predictive of human clinical results, the success of clinical studies, the ability to obtain financing and/or partnerships for product manufacturing, development and commercialization, and marketing approval by government regulatory authorities. For a discussion of risks and uncertainties which could cause the Company's actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, please refer to the Risk Factors ("Facteurs de Risque") section of the Document de Reference, available on the AMF website (http://www.amf-france.org) or on Transgene's website (www.transgene.fr). Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and Transgene undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170419005941/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 19, 2017] 14-Year-Old High School Freshman From California Wins Grand Prize in CTIA Wireless Foundation's Third Annual National Drive Smart Digital Short Contest WASHINGTON, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, CTIA Wireless Foundation announced Zachary Cooper, 14, of Yorba Linda, Calif. as the grand prize winner of its third annual "Drive Smart: No Distractions, No Excuses" teen digital short contest. CTIA Wireless Foundation Executive Director Athena Polydorou traveled to El Dorado High School to recognize Cooper and present the freshman with a scholarship worth $10,000. This year's finalists represented schools and municipalities across the United States, a testament to the importance of Distracted Driving Awareness Month. CTIA Wireless Foundation congratulates Audrey Moore (Freed-Hardeman University/Somerset, Kent.) Leo Pfeifer (Point Park University/Seattle) for their runner-up entries and semifinalists Minh-Khoi Le (Fountain Valley High School/Huntington Beach, Calif.), Brianna Seaberg (Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts/North Palm Beach, Fla.) and Robert Skrob (Leon High School/Tallahassee, Fla.). Through a partnership with By Kids For Kids, CTIA Wireless Foundation created the Drive Smart campaign to inspire teens to create compelling digital shorts to discourage their peers (and adults) from distracted driving. Cooper's digital short was selected from hundreds of digital short submissions from students across the country. "I wanted to make a difference, however small, in how teens regard texting and driving. I hopefully I make at least a few realze that no text message or notification is worth putting yourself and others in danger," Cooper said. "This contest is important because 11% of the drivers involved in fatal car accidents are teens. When I start driving in two years, I'll know so much more about driving safely than I would have known if I hadn't participated." "I'm proud of the Foundation's Drive Smart program and the work it does to engage teenagers and provide a platform for young people to promote safe driving habits and showcase the consequences of distracted driving to their peers. Promoting driver safety is a goal that the Foundation, CTIA and the wireless industry share," said Meredith Attwell Baker, President of CTIA Wireless Foundation and President and CEO of CTIA. In addition to Cooper's scholarship, his teacher and mentor, Mark Switzer, received $1,000. "Zach is a first-year student in our Digital Media Arts Academy film program at El Dorado High School. He's only a 9th grader, and all of the work I have seen from him so far shows great promise. I think he has the potential to become an outstanding filmmaker," Switzer said. "The video production students in Zach's class all participated in the Drive Smart Contest this past December, which I felt was a great opportunity for them to learn about a worthwhile cause while practicing their filmmaking skills. The entire program is proud of Zach and to be represented by his outstanding entry." The runners-up were each awarded $5,000 scholarships, and semifinalists each won $1,000 scholarships. Each teacher/mentor of a runner-up won $500, and each of a semifinalist won $250. Five judges who are senior executives from the wireless, automotive and advertising industries chose the grand-prize winner, runner-ups and semifinalists. They evaluated entries based on creativity, communicative effectiveness and potential impact on teens. To learn more about the Drive Smart: No Distractions, No Excuses campaign and watch the digital shorts, visit drivesmartnow.com. For all winning videos, visit the CTIA Wireless Foundation YouTube channel. About CTIA Wireless Foundation CTIA Wireless Foundation (www.wirelessfoundation.org) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to developing and supporting initiatives that use wireless technology to help American communities. Its innovative programs benefit consumers in areas including education, health, safety and the environment. The Foundation was formed by CTIA member companies in 1991. Follow CITA Wireless Foundation on Facebook and Twitter. About By Kids For Kids By Kids for Kids (BKFK) is an educational company providing free programs and resources to schools and families through corporate and foundation partnerships. BKFK provides a unique platform for kids and teens to develop and showcase their ideas, inventions, and entrepreneurship. The company provides free resources, including curricula and challenges that promote social change, product innovation, and entrepreneurial endeavors. Learn more: www.bkfk.com. About Drive Smart: No Distractions, No Excuses To reinforce the dangers of distracted driving by teens, CTIA Wireless Foundation has partnered with By Kids For Kids to create the Drive Smart: No Distractions, No Excuses program. The initiative challenges young people to create a Drive Smart Digital Short designed to discourage teens from distracted driving and using mobile devices behind the wheel. Follow the conversation online at #DriveSmartNow and www.drivesmartnow.com. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/14-year-old-high-school-freshman-from-california-wins-grand-prize-in-ctia-wireless-foundations-third-annual-national-drive-smart-digital-short-contest-300441986.html SOURCE CTIA Wireless Foundation [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP Commences Investigation on Behalf of China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited Investors Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP ("GPM") announces an investigation on behalf of China Unicom (News - Alert) (Hong Kong) Limited ("China Unicom" or the "Company") (NYSE: CHU) investors concerning the Company and its officers' possible violations of federal securities laws. On April 18, 2017, news agencies reported that the former chairman of China Unicom, Chang Xiaobing, pled guilty to bribery-related charges. According to reports, prosecutors stted that Mr. Chang took advantage of his position to seek benefits in connection with project contracts and equipment purchases. On this news, shares of China Unicom fell 3.5% on April 18, 2017, thereby injuring investors. If you purchased China Unicom securities, have information or would like to learn more about these claims, or have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Lesley Portnoy, Esquire, of GPM, 1925 Century Park East, Suite 2100, Los Angeles, California 90067 at 310-201-9150, Toll-Free at 888-773-9224, by email to [email protected], or visit our website at www.glancylaw.com. If you inquire by email please include your mailing address, telephone number and number of shares purchased. This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170419006359/en/ INVESTOR ALERT: Goldberg Law PC Announces an Investigation of China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited Goldberg Law PC, a national shareholder rights litigation firm, announces that it is investigating claims on behalf of investors of China Unicom (News - Alert) (Hong Kong) Limited ("China Unicom" or the "Company") (NYSE: CHU). If you purchased or otherwise acquired China Unicom shares and would like more information regarding the investigation, we encourage you to contact Michael Goldberg or Brian Schall, of Goldberg Law PC, 1999 Avenue of the Stars Suite 1100, Los Angeles, CA (News - Alert) 90067, at 800-977-7401, to discuss your rights without cost to you. You can also reach us through the firm's website at http://www.Goldberglawpc.com, or by email at [email protected]. The investigation concerns whether China Unicom and certain of its officers and/or directors violated federal securities laws. On April 18, 2017, news reports emerged that the Company's former chairman Chang Xiaobing admitted at trial that he accepted bribes worth more than 3.76 million yuan during his 14-year tenure at China Unicom. When this news was announced, the Company's shares fell in value. If you have any questions concerning your legal rights, please immediately contact Goldberg Law PC at 800-977-7401, or visit our website at http://www.Goldberglawpc.com, or email us at [email protected]. Goldberg Law PC represents shareholders around the world and specializes in securities class actions and shareholder rights litigation. This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170419006402/en/ A new pro-Biafra group, the Biafra Nations Youth League (BNYL), has joined the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), in its struggle for a sovereign state.BNYL, according to its leader, Prince Robinson C. Obuka is a community-based organization of youths with headquarters in Bakassi Peninsula.It was reportedly established on August 3, 2013 in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, following agreements by members and founders to uphold the unity of the various ethnic nations in the Bight of Biafra.The group said it supported all the actions taken so far by IPOB on the continued detention of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu.IPOB is involved in a struggle for the actualisation of a sovereign state from the Nigerian state.Already, IPOB has declared May 30 as a sit-at-home day to drive home its point and to further push for the unconditional release of its detained leaders, who are facing treason charges in a Federal High Court, Abuja.According to an electronic message, the BNYL believes in due process to freedom and especially due consultations and have assured the aggrieved people of Biafra that we will remain steadfast in the greater dream of achieving Biafra and would make sure the various ethnic nations stay focused.Before throwing its weight behind IPOB, BNYL said it had begun grassroots mobilization in many towns of the coastal area and had expanded to the inland areas including the Igbo speaking territory who are majority tribe of Biafra.In the past, the group said it had organised a congress with the Governing Council of former British Southern Cameroons in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State during which a declaratory speech in support of Biafra independence and Biafra-Southern Cameroons Coalition was made by the Council Deputy Leader, Applaud Prince.Following the development, President of Southern Cameroons Youth League and Secretary General of the Organization of Emerging African States, Dr Ebenezer Dereck Mbongo Akwanga, a one time prisoner spoke with IBTIMES UK that Biafra-Southern Cameroon Coalition is a possibility as the people share similar culture and history.Another activist from Manyu division, Comrade Ashu Shamy, a former SUG President in Cameroon and co-founder of BNYL confirmed that his people and Cross Riverians are one and would never kick against Biafra, the statement read .It said the group has also held a congress in Ekukunela, Ikom Local Government Area of Cross River State in honour of internally displaced natives of the Bakassi Peninsula last April.The Federal Government has told the Biafran agitators to forget the idea, noting that after a 30-month civil war to keep the nation together, its unity remained non-negotiable.On the 12 april 2016 following arrest of the Deputy Leader Comrade Ebuta Takon who was detained in Ikom for three days. The congress saw the announcement of the Biafra Youth resolution known as Akwa-Cross Declaration same day in Ekukunela with the presence of Ikom, Etung, Obubra, Boki and Bakassi youths which followed a demonstration by mostly Ejagham natives in the host town.The Resolution gave more recognition to the Communal Congress stating that the League will be Congress minded and nation conscious. The League have organised series of combined Akwa-Cross elders and youths Congress in Eket, Akwa Ibom State where the BNYL was adopted as a household Organization. This followed Nembe Kingdom meeting in Bayelsa State to ascertain the grievances of the Niger Delta Avengers, a militant group that focus on blowing pipelines after hearing from the people of Nembe declared support for Avengers action due to neglect of the Niger Delta, a region that lies at the mouth of the ancient African Region, Bight of Biafra.On November 05 2016 BNYL moved headquarters from Ikom to Bakassi following clashes between the militia group, Bakassi Strike Force and Nigeria Troops of Operation code named Delta Safe accusing the Nigerian Military of targeting natives, after blasting the government for ceding the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon without referendum urging the people to build faith in Biafra. The League currently have a Chief of Staff named Linus Essien who is also the leader of displaced Bakassi Youths. On Novenber 09 2016 the National Leader, Comrade Prince Obuka and some members of a Christian Charity that came with relief materials for IDPs were apprehended in Ikang-Cameroon boarder by troops and handed over to the Department of State Service DSS, Cross River State Command where they were detained for three days and was granted bail, troops revealed it was an order that came from Abuja. On 8 February 2017 the National Deputy Leader, Comrade Ebuta Tako, himself Ejagham native of Cross River was arrested in Ekok, a small Ejagham town in Mamfe area of Cameroon following his visit to the town. He was released on bail after two days in security net. The Biafra Nations Youth League have equally supported the actions by the indegenous people of Biafra IPOB who have engaged in streets protests against the detained Director of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu as some members have been participating but organised by the IPOB.The BNYL believes in due process to freedom and especially due consultations and have assured the aggrieved people of Biafra that We will remain steadfast in the greater dream of achieving Biafra and would make sure the various ethnic nations stays focused. President Muhammadu Buhari has felicitated with the people and government of Turkey on the successful conclusion of the countrys referendum on Monday.President Buhari, in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, yesterday, congratulated Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for the foresight and maturity of leading his people to the polls to decide on the future of leadership for the country that will further deepen peace and stability.Buhari was quoted as saying that the Turkey referendum showcases the democratic credentials of the country and reflects a willingness of the Turkish people to live together and jointly pursue a better future.But the Lower Niger Congress (LNC) in a statement yesterday, faulted the president, saying his position depicts double standards. Secretary-General of the LNC, Mr. Tony Nnadi, said it would be hypocritical of Nigerias presidency to be congratulating Turkey on a successful referendum when it is using physical and psychological force to prevent a referendum in Nigeria.Nnadi said the LNC is an aggregation of the self-determination initiatives of the old Eastern and Midwestern regions of Nigeria, seeking a referendum to decide the future of the peoples of the territory.In the face of the reluctance of the Federal Government of Nigeria to see inevitable role of a referendum in resolving the bourgeoning self-determination quest of Eastern Nigeria which had been prosecuted by its younger generation as Biafra Agitation, the Lower Niger Congress (LNC), views the congratulatory message of President Muhammadu Buhari to the Government and People of Turkey as a paradox of monumental proportions, the group said.Meanwhile, the lawmaker representing Okitipupa/Irele Federal Constituency in the National Assembly, Mr. Mike Omogbehin, has declared that the war against corruption initiated by President Muhammadu Buhari is a total fiasco.Omogbehin said this in reaction to several funds that were discovered by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) without any valid trace to the owners of the loots, especially the N13 billion in Osborne, Lagos State.The lawmaker, who is a member of House Committee on National Security and Intelligence, reiterated that his committee would probe the involvement of National Intelligence Agency (NIA).While speaking during the presenting of annual bursary and empowerment items worth millions of naira to the people of his constituency in Idepe, Okitipupa Local Government Area of the state yesterday, he decried the anti-corruption war of the present administration.He lamented that the anti-corruption crusade has become a witch-hunt spree against members of the opposition parties in the country.According to him, Buhari s administration has lost it, it has no war in place against corruption, what we have in place is witch hunting. It is very clear from what has been happening. They have been telling us they see money planted in airport, we have another in Balogun, is money that cheap?Also, the Senator representing Niger East, David Umaru said the national assembly consists of highly patriotic Nigerians who cannot be intimidated into working along the path of base and primordial sentiments of religion and tribalism. The Central Bank of Nigeria yesterday continued its intervention in the foreign exchange segment of the financial market with the injection of fresh $220 million into the various sectors of the economy.The CBN, in a statement issued by the Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, Isaac Okorafor, said it had also commenced the weekly sale of $20,000 to Bureau de Change operators.The statement said the CBN on Tuesday also opened bids where it offered $100m wholesale 7-45 days forwards to end-users through the deposit money banks (DMBs).A breakdown of the intervention showed that Basic Travel Allowance, Personal Travel Allowance, medical bills and tuition received $80m, while the Small and Medium Enterprises window received $100m.Okorafor said that the new window for SMEs would boost the operations of small businesses through the importation of eligible finished and semi-finished items. This, he added, would boost forex supply to the retail business segment of the market.Okorafor further explained that the CBN introduced the use of Form Q for the SMEs, to ease documentation challenges usually encountered by this category of businesses.He explained that through this arrangement, SMEs are allowed to purchase $20,000 per quarter.On the sale of forex to BDCs, the CBN said the decision was taken to ensure that the high volume of demand by low-end users is met promptly.The apex bank urged market participants to abide by the rules to ensure the preservation of the countrys external reserves.The statement warned that the CBN would not tolerate unscrupulous practices by banks or their staff.With the latest CBN policy, experts say the apex bank seemed to have cut the amount of paperwork SMEs must provide to buy dollars, to improve liquidity and the ease of doing business and help narrow the gap between official and black market exchange rates.Faced with a shortage of dollars and numerous requirements to fulfill when buying hard currency from the central bank, most small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) use the black market instead, even though the naira currency is much weaker there. Following the notice of protest issued to the federal government and security agencies by Law Graduates Forum (LGF) of National Open University Of Nigeria (NOUN) over its face-off with Nigerian Law School, the Department of State Service (DSS), has invited the graduates chairman, Carl Umegboro, to DSS office at Asokoro on Thursday, 20 April, 2017 at 10.00am.Mohammed Bashiru, the DSS personnel who signed the letter, said the invitation was at the instance of the Director General, Lawal Musa Daura.It explained that the DSS boss seeks alternative measures to address the contentious issues, noting that in most similar public protests in the past, miscreants and unscrupulous elements hijacked it and utilized the opportunity to attack innocent citizens and involved in sundry crimes.DSS, however, commended the forum for maintaining peace and reaching out to the authorities ahead of the actions, saying its indicative of maturity and willingness to allow the matter to be gently resolved.Reacting, Carl Umegboro, told DAILY POST that, As a law-abiding citizen, I will honor the invitation as scheduled.So far, our discussions have been cordial, and even if reverse is the case, I will still honor it.The Law Graduates Forum (LGF) has articulated 20 points and issues for consideration on the Law School crisis for presentation at the meeting.NOUN Law Graduates Forum had written to then Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo on alleged failure to deliver judgment in their case against the Council of Legal Education (CLE).They sought his intervention in the case challenging their non-admittance to the Law School.LGF had sued at the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, following CLEs refusal to extend admission quotas to NOUN in the Law School despite the open universitys accreditation by the National Universities Commission (NUC).The law graduates alleged the case spent three years in court due to unjustifiable delays and politically-motivated technicalities, which it said were adopted to frustrate them.They said the case was argued on December 7, 2016, after which Justice B.O. Quadiri fixed January 27, 2017, for judgment.As scheduled, on our arrival from all geographical zones as delegated to the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, the ugly news was broken that the judgment we travelled far distances to witness would not be delivered as the judge has been transferred to Abuja Division after fixing the judgment but without directives on the matter, they lamented.We reject such vindictiveness and undue influences, and request that you (Osinbajo) use your good offices to see that the needful is timely done.We also solemnly call upon all well-meaning Nigerians and civil society groups to stand against tyranny and acts capable of thwarting the rule of law before it is too late.LGR said its members had gone through agonising intimidations and frustrations by the CLE in conjunction with the judiciary as a whole over our rightful admission and training in the Law School, a facility solely-owned by the Federal Government. 'He would say something derogatory about anybody, didn't matter about the color,' she said. 'If he didn't like what they did, he didn't like what they did no matter the color.' Police say a California man identified as Kori Ali Muhammad (born Kori McDonald) shot and killed three white victims in Fresno, California, for no other reason but for their skin color. Muhammad picked the white men at random in three different locations Tuesday in Fresno, California, and fired 16 shots into them. Around 10:45 a.m. local time, police officers with the Fresno Police Department responded to a scene after two gunshots were detected through ShotSpotter, a gunfire locator, according to Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer.Several more gunshots were detected nearby, Dyer said. A total of 16 rounds were fired in less than a minute in four different locations, Dyer said.The suspect then encountered another white resident in the same neighborhood, who he shot at several times but missed.. He continued down Fulton Street, shooting and killing a pedestrian there, then witnesses say he calmly reloaded at a nearby bus stop., before he set off to Catholic Charities on North Fulton Street in Fresno, where he encountered a man in the parking lot and killed him. Following the shooting, Fresno city spokesman Mark Standriff said county offices were placed on lockdown, and people were urged to shelter in place.One of the shooting victims was driven to police in a Pacific Gas and Electric Company truck. Police say Muhammad first approached a PG&E truck on the 300 block of North Van Ness street and shot the passenger inside repeatedly. The driver of the truck took the injured rider directly to the police station at M Street and Mariposa mall - but the passenger was later pronounced dead. That shooting was "unprovoked," Dyer said.Authorities arrested the suspect, who they say was also wanted for an alleged murder of a security guard at Motel 6 last Thursday. Williams, 25, was unarmed and was killed after allegedly getting into an altercation with Muhammad.Officers responding to the scene saw a black man running, who got on the ground once he saw the officers, Dyer said.When California police arrested him, officers witnessed him yell "Allah Akbar," Dyer said Tuesday afternoon, adding that he has written anti-government sentiments on social media as well as posts saying that he does not like white people.Later in the day, at a press conference Tuesday night, Dyer said he did not believe the murders were related to terrorism, adding that the shootings were "solely based on race," therefore deeming it a hate crime.Muhammad's grandmother, Glenestene Taylor, said that he'd been acting strangely when he visited her on Sunday, and that he was crying but that she said she didn't get the impression that her grandson held hatred towards any race.The spree shooter has a length criminal record, including a dismissed felony charge of unlawful firearm possession in 2004. He was deemed mentally unfit to stand trial in 2005 after a grand jury indicted him on cocaine and firearm possession.A federal judge later declared him mentally fit in 2006 and he subsequently served 92 months in prison.His father, Vincent Taylor, told the LA Times on Tuesday that his son believed there was a race was going on in America that he was in the midst of, and 'a battle was about to take place'.'I'm happy he was arrested,' Taylor said. 'I would hope that whatever Kori tells police, they take him seriously and they start following up.'Source: CBS, Fresno TimesPhoto credit: Daily Mail The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), is set to release a minimum recapitalisation level required to be met by core investors in the power sector.NERC identified capital adequacy as a major issue in the power sector, pointing out that the successor companies of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) were handed over to the core investors without any liability.As a result, after three years of operating the successor companies, there have been colossal losses, thus necessitating the need to set minimum capital adequacy requirement by the investors.The NERC Vice Chairman, Sanusi Garba, gave the indication at the 14th Power Sector Stakeholders meeting presided by the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, at the National Control Centre, Power Line, Oshogbo, Osun State.The recapitalisation plan comes as the Association of Nigeria Electricity Distributors (ANED), kicked against NERCs plan to escrow revenue accounts of distribution companies (DisCos).The decision to escrow the bank and operational accounts of some DisCos in Nigeria became imperative following their refusal to pay generation companies (GenCos) for electricity wheeled to them by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) Meanwhile, Garba however did not indicate how much the core investors in the GenCos), and DisCos are expected to beef up their capitalisation, or the timeframe for its actualisation.He said: Another issue that I will like to bring to the attention of our sector stakeholders is the issue of capital adequacy. At the time of privatisation, these PHCN successor companies were handed over to core investors without any liability. But operating them over the past three years, there have been colossal losses.We have a feeling, looking at the audited accounts we have received so far, that the capital base of these companies had been grossly eroded. Therefore, we have started working and evaluating the minimum capitalisation that will be required to make sure that our licensees have the required resources to do what they need to do.Garba said that within the next few weeks, the necessary consultation will begin, and will direct the core investors to meet the new minimum capital so that they will be able to do the required investments, reinforcements and service delivery that consumers need throughout the country.Furthermore, he said NERC plans to direct the DisCos to connect all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) with prepaid meters as a means of curbing indebtedness to them.This is against the backdrop of the audit report, which revealed that debts owed by Federal Government MDAs to the DisCos had increased to N51 billion, representing 86 percent of the total debts of N59.3 billion owed by top 100 customers. The bulk of the debts were owed by the Military, Defence and MDAs.ANEDs Executive Director, Sunday Oduntan, in a statement on Monday, noted that any attempt to go ahead with this plan to escrow the revenue accounts is tantamount to nationalisation or expropriation of the DisCos.According to Oduntan, government had backslid in the N100 billion subsidy payment and other privatisation requirements.ANED said: To date, the government has not met the privatisation transaction foundational requirements of providing N100 billion in subsidy to the sector.Indeed, any at escrowing our accounts runs counter to the objectives of the National Electricity Power Policy, 2001 (NEPP) and the Electric Power Sector Reform Act, 2005 (2005), of a private sector-owned and managed electricity sector.It would also send very wrong signals to domestic and international investors that Nigeria is not fully open for private sector investment and that we are still partial to the old habits of nationalisation, preventing the injection of the cheap and sorely needed capital that is critical to the rehabilitation and improvement of electricity infrastructure.You cannot have a, supposedly, private sector-owned and managed business in which the government now seizes control of its revenues. It is a contradiction in terms and practice. The same principle applies to any consideration of regulations or government action that intrudes into corporate responsibilities of procurement, financial management or personnel management.On plans to get DisCos declare their eligible customers, ANED said: We understand that the idea of Eligible Customer declaration is under serious consideration. Our understanding is that Eligible Customers may only be declared by the Minister when a competitive market exists in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI). On the N800 billion shortfalls in the sector, which had pushed power operators in financial crisis, ANED said : These shortfalls undermine intervention objectives of the government.Similarly, continued failure to account for the outstanding market shortfalls that are currently in excess of N800 billion will, essentially, mean that the upstream operators remain in financial jeopardy, undermining one of the governments major objectives for the intervention increased or improved liquidity. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) latest Human Development Report says life expectancy in Nigeria is now 53 years.The number of years was hitherto 46.The report released n Abuja on Tuesday, however, showed that Nigeria dropped to 152 in Human development Indices (HDI) against her 151 ranking in 2014 notwithstanding the achievement recorded within the period.The report shows that between 2005 and 2015, Nigerias HDI increased from 0.466 to 0.527 a 13.1 percent increase, said UNDP Resident Representative Edward Kallon.This is encouraging, but given the humanitarian challenges already alluded to, and the economic recession witnessed in 2016, there is an urgent need to design policies and programmes to ensure that the upward trend in human development is not reversed.He said that the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) with focus on restoring growth, investing in people and building a globally competitive economy recently launched by the Nigerian Government outlined several medium-term policies and programmes that could keep Nigeria on a positive development trajectory.UNDPs Economic Advisor for Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ojijo Odhiambo said just as Nigeria was improving, other countries of the world were improving as well.He said though economic growth was important in driving up the HDI, other variables like the source and spread of growth; and how growth is managed and distributed for the benefit of everyone also counts.Odhiambo expressed regrets that there were still much gender inequality as well as inequality in income and access to education in Nigeria.A lot of people are being excluded from the development process, he said.Women, girls, indigenous people, migrants and refugees and ethnic minority are being left out in the development process. Shuaibus photo circulated by NYPD Shuaibu on his LinkedIn Account A United Nations employee was arrested for robbing four Manhattan banks, all during his lunch hour, New York Police said.Abdullahi Shuaibu, 53, was picked up by police on Monday and charged with robbery and attempted robbery for the crimes committed during his two-month spree.All four banks are within walking distance of UN headquarters on First Ave. near E. 42nd St., where the Nigerian worked.Authorities were led to the suspect after a retired police officer who works at the UN recognized him from a surveillance image previously released by the police.In the first incident, Shuaibu walked into a Santander Bank on Madison Ave. near E. 43rd St. on Feb. 27 and told the teller he had a gun. The bank employee compliedand handed him an unknown sum of money.He hit two more banks in March, first striking out at a Bank of America on Third Ave. near E. 47th St. on the 13th.He was also successful in robbing a Santander Bank on Third Ave. and E. 63rd St. on the 27th.During the most recent incident on Monday, Shuaibu walked into an HSBC on Third Ave. and E. 40th St. around 2:30 p.m. and passed a note demanding cash to the teller.The teller did not read the note and asked him for identification.He, however, instructed the teller to read the note, keeping his hand in his jacket pocket while simulating a gun, police said.Police arrested him later in the day when he returned to the UN.Shuaibu was an employee of the News Agency of Nigeria and served as its UN correspondent between 2006 and 2009.The agency, however, terminated his appointment in April 2013 following his refusal to resume work in Nigeria at the expiration of duty tour and extended period which herequested to enable him complete an academic programme.The termination of appointment was formally conveyed to the UN.A UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric denied that Shuaibu was a staff of the organisation.He told NAN in New York that the suspect was also not accredited to the UN after NAN withdrew his accreditation.Dujarric also said that the suspect only worked as a contract staff for three months in Darfur and his contract was terminated in 2012. The White House raised the possibility Wednesday of Donald Trump meeting Pope Francis during the US presidents trip to Italy in late May, although it stressed nothing has been scheduled.We will be reaching out to the Vatican to see if an audience with the pope can be accommodated, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said. We would be honored to have an audience with his holiness.Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said Pope Francis would welcome a request for an audience and do his best to ensure it happened.As of the end of last week we had not had an official request for an audience but for sure we would welcome it, Burke told AFP, adding that he did not anticipate any scheduling clashes which could prevent a meeting taking place around the dates Trump is due to be in Italy. Trump is scheduled to participate in the G7 summit of leaders on May 26-27 in Taormina, Sicily. Prior to that, he is expected to attend a NATO summit in Brussels.World leaders normally give the Vatican at least several months notice of requests for a papal audience, which are almost invariably granted if logistically possible.In Trumps case, the request will be coming in barely a month before he is due in Sicily for the G7 summit and after months of will-he, wont-he speculation about a possible meeting centered on the two mens very different world views.While campaigning in February 2016 to become the Republican Partys nominee for the White House, Trump and the pontiff had a heated and extraordinary exchange through the media.Anyone, whoever he is, who only wants to build walls and not bridges is not a Christian, Pope Francis told journalists, responding to a question about the real estate moguls anti-immigrant stance.Trump retorted: For a religious leader to question a persons faith is disgraceful.Trump later softened his tone, saying the pope was misinformed, unaware of the impact of the drugs coming into the United States and a range of security issues that made it necessary to build a wall along the southern US border.On a visit to Mexico in February 2016 Francis held an open-air mass on the US-Mexico border, where he described forced migration as a human tragedy.When he was sworn in as president on January 20, Pope Francis offered his cordial good wishes and hoped that Trump would be granted wisdom and strength in the exercise of his office.But he also implored the former reality TV star to continue to help those who suffer the most the poor, the outcast and those in need who, like Lazarus, stand before our door. Apparently worried by reports alleging that some soft drinks in the country could be dangerous to health, Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi S... Apparently worried by reports alleging that some soft drinks in the country could be dangerous to health, Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State on Tuesday banned the serving and consumption of Coke, Sprite and Fanta at government functions in the state.The governor gave the directive during a meeting with traditional rulers and town union executives in the state.A Lagos State High Court in a suit between Fijabi Adebo Holdings Limited and Emmanuel Fijabi Adebo against the Nigerian Bottling Company Ltd and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, alleged that Fanta Orange and Sprite may be hazardous if consumed with vitamin C.The court said the drinks may contain high levels of two additives, benzoic acid and sunset yellow, which may be dangerous for human consumption.But the Nigerian Bottling Company, NBC, debunked the allegations maintaining that the amount of the chemicals in its products, including Fanta and Sprite, were within Nigerian regulatory standards.Also, an investigation by the Consumer Protection Council, CPC, found that the level of benzoic acid in Fanta and Sprite were within the Nigerian approved standard. Instead, the CPC, found that benzoic acid levels in two other non-NBC products, Lucozade and Mirinda, had much higher contents than that approved by Nigerian regulators.The CPC has since called for fresh investigation of all soft drinks sold in Nigeria.The confusion on the status of the drinks may have informed the decision of the Ebonyi governor.Mr. Umahi on entering the governors lodge, venue of the Tuesday meeting, noticed the soft drinks on the tables.Immediately he got to his seat, he requested for the microphone while still standing.He then proceeded to ask the ushers to remove all bottles of coke, sprite and fanta from the hall as according to him, they are dangerous to health.I dont want these brands of soft drink to be served in any government function again, he said.Immediately, the ushers and protocol officers evacuated the drinks from the tables out of the hall. Valentine Obienyem, media aide of Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra state, says operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commis... Valentine Obienyem, media aide of Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra state, says operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) searched his principals apartment after $43 million was found in a neighbouring flat.The EFCC discovered the money during a raid on Wednesday.In a statement on Tuesday, Obienyem said Obi and his wife rented the house that was searched, and that they stayed there anytime they were in Lagos.The aide revealed that as of the time the EFCC stormed the place, the former governor was away in the US with his wife.Even though Mr. and Mrs Obi had travelled to the USA and the UK for speaking engagements when we relayed the message of the search to him, he quickly sent the keys to the 4-bedroom apartment to the EFCC via courier, the statement read.He even left instructions that we should allow them to also search his Onitsha residents should there be need for that. After the thorough searching, nothing was found in the apartment.He added that the EFCC operatives who searched the apartment expressed doubts that Obi had to do anything with found money. A former Deputy Governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Niger State, Mr. Kantigi Lima, has denied link with N4 b... A former Deputy Governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Niger State, Mr. Kantigi Lima, has denied link with N4 billion allegedly recovered recently by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).Lima, who said the report was misleading, also threatened to commence legal action against some media organisations in the country.Lima made the clarifications through three Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Chief Akin Olujimi, Chief KarinaTunyan and Sam Ologunorisa who are his solicitors.He said it was sheer mischief for anybody to associate him with the ownership of the alleged money in two companies accounts.The statement said: Therefore if not for mischief purposes, how can anybody reasonably attach ownership of funds in the accounts of a company to a particular person.Our client concedes the right of news media to publish news reports but denies any rights in them to malign his name as we intend to take appropriate legal steps in due form of law to seek redress for our client as it is necessary. A Nigerian said to be a journalist and former United Nations employee has been arrested for allegedly robbing four Manhattan banks all d... A Nigerian said to be a journalist and former United Nations employee has been arrested for allegedly robbing four Manhattan banks all during his lunch hour.According to New York Post, Abdullahi Shuaibu, 53, was picked up by cops on Monday and arraigned on two counts of attempted robbery.All the four banks he allegedly robbed are within walking distance of his office at the foreign press center inside the US Mission to the United Nations, which is across the street from the UN building.Shuaibu works as a journalist for an African news agency, police said.He was arrested after a retired police officer who works as a guard at the US permanent mission to the UN recognised Shuaibu from a surveillance image previously released by the New York Police Department (NYPD).It wasnt hard [to recognise him], a guard reportedly told The Post. He comes in and out of here every day.In the first incident, Shuaibu walked into a Santander Bank on Madison Ave. near E. 43rd St. on February 27 and told the teller he had a gun. The bank employee complied and handed Shuaibu an unknown sum of money.He allegedly operated in two more banks in March, first striking out at a Bank of America on Third Avenue near E. 47th St. on the 13th.He was said to have been successful in robbing a Santander Bank on Third Ave. and E. 63rd St. on the 27th.During the most recent incident on Monday, Shuaibu reportedly walked into an HSBC on Third Ave. and E. 40th St. around 2:30pm and passed a note demanding cash to the teller.The teller did not read the note and asked Shuaibu for identification.He then instructed the employee to read the note, keeping his hand in his jacket pocket while simulating a gun, police said.Police arrested him later in the day when he returned to the UN.One of Shuaibus colleagues at the foreign press center said they were all in shock right now.A UN spokesman said Shuaibu worked briefly for the United Nations for a couple of months in the fall of 2013, but has not had access to the facility since leaving in November of that year.[He] is not an employee of the United Nations nor is he an accredited journalist to the United Nations, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. MANASQUAN -- A 78-year-old woman was killed when she drove head-on into a garbage truck Wednesday morning in Manasquan, authorities said. The woman, whose identity was not immediately released, was driving South on Route 71 when her 2013 Volvo crossed over the center line of the road into the path of an oncoming garbage truck at 11:11 a.m., according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office. The driver of the 2006 Mack garbage truck, a 44-year-old Bayville resident, was not injured, the prosecutor's press release said. The woman, from Manasquan, was pronounced dead at the scene, the release said. The crash is under investigation by the Manasquan Police Department, the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office, the Monmouth County Serious Collision Analysis Response Team (SCART), and the New Jersey State Police Commercial Carrier Safety Inspection Unit. MaryAnn Spoto may be reached at mspoto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaryAnnSpoto. Find NJ.com on Facebook. MENDHAM TWP. -- A former two-term Morris County freeholder elected in the late 1970s died over the weekend in North Carolina. Patricia J. "Pat" Maynard had been battling ovarian cancer for nine years, according to an announcement on the county government's website. Patricia Maynard She was 82 years old. Maynard, an Illinois native and 46-year Mendham Township resident, moved in 2016 to North Carolina. "Pat was a long time public servant and was passionate about public service and helped to maintain and improve the cultural and educational opportunities and the quality of life in her many roles in Morris County," read the statement from the county government. Maynard was elected to the Mendham Township Committee in 1974 and, in 1978, to the Morris County freeholder board, whose most prominent member at that time was future U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen. Frelinghuysen, R-11th District, was a county freeholder from 1974 to 1983. He issued a statement Wednesday on his former colleague. "Pat Maynard was a longtime friend, mentor and extraordinary public servant. Her service on the Board of Freeholders led to new county parks, an excellent police and fire academy and a stellar County College of Morris," Frelinghuysen said. Patricia Maynard as a freeholder "Her great sense of humor and good nature made all county and state challenges surmountable. Along with many others, I mourn her loss," Frelinghuysen said. After leaving the freeholder board in 1984, Maynard served as a legislative liaison to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for 12 years. She played a role on Morris County's 9/11 memorial committee and was a trustee for several organizations. Funeral services are pending, according to the county government announcement. Maynard is survived by her husband of 62 years, Eugene; two children and two grandchildren. Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RobJenningsNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook Donald Trump President Donald Trump visited a tool manufacturer Snap-on Inc. in Kenosha, Wis., to tout upcoming changes in a visa program that brings in high-skilled workers. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (Susan Walsh) About 85,000 jobs in New Jersey are held by foreign workers who are here on H-1B visas - a category now being targeted by President Trump. On Tuesday, the president ordered a crackdown on U.S. tech companies that he said may be gaming the system by falsely claiming they face a shortage of qualified American job applicants. "The Buy and Hire American order I'm about to sign will protect workers and students like you," Trump told a crowd at the headquarters of Snap-On Tools, a Wisconsin-based manufacturer, on a visit Tuesday. "It's America first, you better believe it. It's time. It's time, right?" The H-1B program is open to applicants in a wide category of occupations, including architects and professors. It's meant for jobs requiring specialty skills that companies claim cannot be filled easily by a U.S. worker. It differs from the visas issued to migrant farm workers, seasonal help, or visiting scholars, athletes or entertainers. Nationwide, most of the H-1B visa jobs are in the field of computer technology - jobs that pay an average of $65,000 to $85,000 in New Jersey, according to information compiled by the Office of Foreign Labor Certification, a division of the U.S. Department of Labor. In 2015, the United States issued nearly 173,000 H-1B visas. While the ceiling set by Congress is technically 85,000 a year, the number is actually higher to allow for university and academic hires. Trump's latest executive order directs U.S. agencies to propose rules to prevent immigration fraud and abuse in the program. It does not propose the program be eliminated. The number of H-1B visas the United States issues each year is subject to intense lobbying in Congress by employers on one side, unions and professional associations on the other, said Carl E. Van Horn, of Rutgers University, professor of public policy who specializes in issues affecting the workforce. In order for a company to import a foreign worker, it must make a case there is a shortage here of qualified local workers for the job. "The issue then becomes, 'How do you prove there's a shortage?' This is a hugely controversial question to answer," Van Horn said. New Jersey has the fourth highest number of H-1B workers, trailing only California, Texas and New York. And, as elsewhere around the country, most of the visa holders work as computer systems analysts, computer programmers, all other computer occupations; software and application developers, and management analysts. Workers' groups argue the jobs could easily be filled with Americans if salaries were raised. Employers vigorously push back against that approach, Horn said. "When they lobby, they say, 'What do you want us to do? Do you want to force us to raise wages? That's not what the government does. Back off,'" he said. Companies have another effective card they can play as well, Van Horn noted: They can point out it's better to keep the job here - even if it is filled by a foreigner - rather than outsource the work entirely to another country. "They say, 'Hey, would you rather have us set up a division in Pakistan or India?'," he said. Many of these jobs are in the IT field because its rapid change makes employers reluctant to hire someone who isn't completely up to speed, said Van Horn. New Jersey currently has about 72,000 people considered to be the "long-term unemployed," said Van Horn, director of Rutgers' John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development. The center helps run the New Start Career Network, a program that helps unemployed people over the age of 45. Roughly a fifth of its 2,000 members are in the IT field. "They're struggling," Van Horn said. "They have the credentials, the bachelor's degree. But when they don't get the job, it's because they came up against someone saying, 'Well, you don't have this particular software that we need today.'" Two of the top ten employers applying for H-1B slots are based in New Jersey, although both are large firms with additional work sites in many other states. Those two companies combined account for one out of every ten approved H-1B slots. Cognizant Technology Solutions U.S. Corporation, headquartered in Teaneck, had nearly 87,000 positions certified in 2015. Fifth on the list of top 10 was iGate Technologies Inc., a global IT company that is headquartered in Bridgewater. It had nearly 40,000 slots approved for foreign hires. Kathleen O'Brien may be reached at kobrien@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @OBrienLedger. Find NJ.com on Facebook. The Associated Press contributed to this report. By Jack Ciattarelli The lieutenant governor, Kim Guadagno, recently called a proposal to elect the state attorney general "a bold plan." I respectfully disagree. It's not bold, nor is it a good idea. Considering the crises raging in New Jersey, I remain deeply concerned about the other gubernatorial candidates' lack of focus and specifics on issues that punish New Jerseyans every day and stagnate our state economy year over year over year. Indeed, New Jersey is ranked dead last in economic growth and business climate. We're also No. 1 in the nation in out-migration, meaning people are leaving here more than any other state. If any one issue is reason for these dubious distinctions, it is property taxes, which are driven, in part, by inefficiencies linked to having 565 municipalities and 611 school districts. As governor, I will advocate for and incentivize consolidation and regionalization that lowers property taxes. I will also reform the primary driver of our property tax crisis; namely, terribly flawed and blatantly unfair state school funding. How flawed and unfair is the current distribution of state school funding? When middle-class suburban homeowners of a $300,000 residence pay more in property taxes than an $800,000 Jersey City townhouse . . . When middle-class suburban citizens are paying up to $15,000 a year for pre-K and owners of million dollar waterfront condos in Hoboken get to send their children to pre-K for free . . . My school funding reform ensures equity for all New Jerseyans and lowers property taxes in the most grossly underfunded communities by: Reducing excess aid in the most extremely overfunded school districts. Redefining "Local Fair Share" so no community funds less than 25 percent of their school operating budget or construction costs. Changing the state aid formula by reweighting cost-per-student spending targets. Preventing communities from abating school taxes on new development. Redirecting state funds to make means-tested pre-K less expensive to eligible families statewide. This detailed school funding reform combined with my proposed reforms of our unfunded pension system, punishing tax code, bloated and outmoded state government and dysfunctional relationship between the Governor's Office and New Jersey's congressional delegation -- which results in New Jersey receiving just 60 cents back on every dollar we send to Washington -- constitutes a five-point plan that is truly bold. This plan is also comprehensive and specifically designed to improve our business climate, stimulate entrepreneurship, grow our economy and create jobs. It will produce "a tide that lifts all boats," providing opportunity for all New Jerseyans, especially blue collar and middle class citizens. Just as importantly, it is a plan worthy of bi-partisan support. Too many gubernatorial candidates are either not speaking at all to the raging crises or wishing them away by saying, for example, that all we need to do "fully fund the current school funding formula" or "make the full pension payment" or "adopt a holistic strategy to lowering property taxes." These aren't serious proposals. They are platitudes that represent the height of irresponsibility and pandering of the worst kind. We do not need politics, policies and campaigns that disenfranchise citizens and insult their intelligence with so-called solutions. I am not going down that way. Not as a citizen, not as a state legislator and certainly not as a gubernatorial candidate. As an MBA/CPA, two-time entrepreneur, and successful business owner, I know what we need. We need a plan. State Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli (R-16th Dist.) is a Republican candidate for New Jersey governor. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook. Bill O'Reilly is out at Fox News. "After a thorough and careful review of the allegations, the Company and Bill O'Reilly have agreed that Bill O'Reilly will not be returning to the Fox News Channel," 21st Century Fox, the parent company of Fox News, said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon. The network's reported decision is the culmination of a scandal that began when The New York Times reported that O'Reilly and Fox News had paid $13 million to five women over the past 15 years to settle sexual harassment and verbal abuse claims. The Murdoch family, which owns Fox News' parent company 21st Century Fox, had been deliberating on how to handle the situation over the past few days. Rupert Murdoch, the family patriarch, had reportedly been O'Reilly's staunchest defender while the sons James and Lachlan pushed for his firing, according to New York Magazine. O'Reilly was the host of "The O'Reilly Factor," last year's most-watched cable news program. The show generated $178 million in advertising revenue for Fox News in 2015. In the wake of The New York Times' report, companies had begun to pull advertisements from "The O'Reilly Factor" in droves. According to the Times, the show had lost half of it's advertisers in just a week after the news broke. Still, Fox News executives had said that the companies were still paying to advertise on the network's other shows. Do you think Fox News made the right decision to fire Bill O'Reilly? Vote in our poll, then continue the discussion in the comments below. Michael Sol Warren may be reached at mwarren@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MSolDub. Find NJ.com on Facebook. While we spend zillions on security at Mar-a-Lago and shuttling Trump children around the world and leaving Melania's son in private school in Manhattan, the President is cutting money to check if we're all swimming in fecal swamps. Yes, his budget would eliminate the funding that pays to test the water at our beaches every week for nasty bacteria. Namely, "enterococcus," the sign of fecal contamination - causing maladies from gastrointestinal illness to ugly rashes. This is the result of raw sewage overflows that are the worst after heavy rain. Last summer, our beaches were either under advisory or closed 134 times for that reason, the Asbury Park Press reports. It was the worst season in five years. One week of testing found 19 beaches in Monmouth and Ocean counties had water teeming with so much bacteria, it wasn't safe to swim in. Trump's cuts to beach testing are part of his savage gutting of the Environmental Protection agency, for which Barack Obama had sought to increase funding. But on this particular issue, they are equal offenders. Obama also tried to eliminate the beach monitoring money, but it was always restored by Congress. Let's hope that happens again. Federal money subsidizes farmers in Iowa and Nebraska, so why not tourism along our coast? Keeping the Shore feces-free is vital for its economy. Yet we only have enough funding to test through this summer. After that, who knows? Maybe the new test will be accidentally getting a mouthful of sewer water, and falling horribly sick on vacation. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook. Unknown-4.jpeg Gov. Chris Christie praised the creation of Hero Care Connect, a new joint venture between Cooper University Health and Deborah Heart and Lung Center connecting veterans to specialists in south Jersey. Pemberton, NJ April 18, 2017. (Credit: Claude Brodesser-Akner | NJ Advance Media) PEMBERTON -- Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday announced the launch of Hero Care Connect, a new partnership between Deborah Heart and Lung Center and Cooper University Health Care providing streamlined access to health care for active and retired military and their families in South Jersey. "This is a great day for south Jersey and New Jersey's veterans" said Christie, noting that New Jersey is home to more than 400,000 former and active duty military vets. The new joint Deborah-Cooper joint venture will help connect both military and veterans to specialty physicians, like cardiologists, oncologists and pulmonologists. Adrienne Kirby, the president of Cooper University Health Care, explained that under the new partnership, active duty or military veterans in South Jersey who call 1-866-9-HERO-CARE or email info@HeroCareConnect.org will be scheduled to see a specialist within 48 hours. Kirby added that a Hero Care Connect concierge would then follow up with patients to schedule additional testing, and to coordinate with their primary care physician. "It'll be a model that I hope is replicated around our state," said Christie, who was flanked by U.S. Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-3rd Dist.) and U.S. Rep Donald Norcross (D-1st Dist.) Claude Brodesser-Akner may be reached at cbrodesser@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ClaudeBrodesser. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. TRENTON -- Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, the early Republican front-runner for governor, told NJ Advance Media on Tuesday she would slash New Jersey's notoriously high property taxes by up to $3,000 a year for homeowners who pay more than 5 percent of their household income on school taxes. Guadagno said her proposal -- which she plans to officially roll out Wednesday morning -- would cut property taxes by $1.5 billion annually across New Jersey and aims to benefit those "who need property tax relief the most," such as younger residents, middle-class families, and senior citizens. "It's the kind of plan all sides can support," Guadagno said in an interview. "It's directed at millennials living in their parents' house because they can't afford their own and working families struggling to avoid foreclosure, where $3,000 would make all the difference in the world." Guadagno -- one of five Republicans running to succeed her boss, Gov. Chris Christie -- said her proposal directly addresses the "driver" of the high costs: the school portion of a homeowner's tax bill. On average, school taxes make up at least half a homeowner's tax bill in New Jersey. It varies from about 40 to 70 percent of tax bills from town to town. The average school tax bill in New Jersey was $4,477 in 2016. Under Guadagno's plan, homeowners would get money back if they pay more than 5 percent of their annual income on school taxes. For example, a household that makes $100,000 would not pay more than $5,000 in school taxes. Any taxes above the cap would be applied to a homeowner's property tax bill as a credit of up to $3,000. Under the proposal, Guadagno's campaign said, a family making the state's median household income of $72,000 could save an average of $895 each year on their property tax bill. The campaign said most homeowners who qualify would likely see savings between $800 and $1,000. The savings would vary based on income and the amount of school taxes from town to town. Guadagno said her campaign has not yet calculated how many homeowners would benefit from the plan. School districts, Guadagno said, would not lose money under the proposal. Instead, they would receive increased state aid to cover the amount returned to taxpayers. The price tag is steep. Guadagno estimates the proposal to cost $1.5 billion a year, and it's likely critics will question how exactly the state will find the money. New Jersey's credit rating was recently downgraded for an 11th time under Christie amid budget concerns. She said she plans to pay for it through a number of avenues: getting $250 million in savings from a complete audit of state government, $500 million from adjusting state aid to "overfunded districts," $1 billion from annual revenue growth, $2.5 billion in health-care savings, and up to $1 billion in savings from decreased participation in other tax relief programs, such as the Homestead and Senior Freeze programs. Those programs will remain in place, but homeowners will have to choose only one program at a time. "It's an expensive plan," Guadagno admitted. But, she added, "I wouldn't have proposed it if I didn't know it was doable." New Jersey's property taxes are the highest in the nation, according to the non-profit Tax Foundation. And despite a 2 percent cap on how much towns and school districts can increase spending each year, property owners in the state paid an average of $8,549 in property taxes in 2016 -- a 2.35 percent jump over the previous year. The national average for property taxes is $3,296. The proposal would apply only to primary residences. Not everyone in the state would benefit. Households with higher annual income will see fewer savings, or none at all. And the benefit varies from town to town. For example, Guadagno's campaign says, a family making $50,000 in Fair Lawn -- where the average school tax is $6,412 -- will save $3,000. A family making $140,000 will get no savings. "Millionaires won't benefit at all," Guadagno said. Guadagno said this part of her property tax plan is for immediate relief. "We need to do something right away," she said. But Guadagno also vows to drive down property taxes even further by capping unused sick pay payouts, negotiating a solution to the state's pension crisis, forcing towns to share services and reforming the state's school funding formula. Details on many of those steps were scarce in Guadagno's proposal. She said her administration will audit every one of New Jersey's 586 public school districts to find savings. Guadagno is leading the race for the GOP nomination in early opinion polls. The primary is June 6. NJ Advance Media staff writer Adam Clark contributed to this report. Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. Unknown-5.jpeg U.S Rep. Tom MacArthur confers with Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday at an event in Pemberton, N.J. announcing a new healthcare initiative aimed at Jersey's veterans and active duty military. April 18, 2017. (Credit: Claude Brodesser-Akner | NJ Advance Media) PEMBERTON -- U.S. Rep Tom MacArthur (R-3rd District) a key player in the effort to salvage Republican efforts to revamp health care, told NJ Advance Media Tuesday that a House vote to replace the Affordable Care Act with his proposed changes may come as early as next week. "It's not dead," said MacArthur, a former insurance executive who won his House seat in 2014. "I spoke with the vice president and the (House) speaker over the weekend, and it's moving." One of only nine House Republicans who initially voted against a resolution making it easier to repeal the Affordable Care Act, MacArthur endorsed the GOP alternative after he won approval of extra funding to help older Americans afford the higher premiums they otherwise would face. As co-chair of the more moderate Tuesday Group and because of his insurance background, he has become a pivotal figure in the Republican effort to repeal and replace the existing law, which has provided coverage to more than 20 million Americans. After an appearance at an American Legion post down the road from Joint Base McGuire Dix Lakehurst to announce a new concierge medicine effort between Cooper University Health and Deborah Heart and Lung Center aimed military and veterans, MacArthur disclosed the House Republicans' American Health Care Act with his proposed changes could receive a vote in the U.S. House next week, provided the changes to be made still will allow the GOP-controlled Senate to act by majority vote and avoid a Democratic filibuster. His proposals would add $160 billion to help cover older and low-income Americans and the disabled. "They have to get it into a form that the Senate can actually act on it. That's what they're in the final stages of doing," MacArthur said. "If we think we have enough votes, we'll go forward next week." He added that the next Obamacare replacement to come up for a vote will be decidedly less top down. A subsidy to help insurers reduce co-pays and out-of-pocket expenses for poorer recipients was declared unconstitutional by a federal judge, and giving states the money to cover those expenses instead could get around that problem, MacArthur said. The funds remained in place while the ruling was appealed, but President Donald Trump has threatened to cut off the money to force Democrats to negotiate a repeal bill. Congressional Democrats, including U.S. Sens. Cory Booker and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), and Rep. Frank Palllone Jr. (D-6th Dist.), who is leading the fight against the GOP bill in the House, have said they are amenable to amending the Affordable Care Act but not to repeal it. And while he declined to disclose the amendments he proposed, MacArthur said he thought they "might find the right balance between those who want the states to have a lot more control, and those who are concerned about cutting any benefits." The House Freedom Caucus, the most conservative GOP members in the chamber, had objected to the Affordable Care Act's requirement that all insurers provide specific benefits, like hospitalization coverage, obstetric care or annual checkups. They also objected to a provision that ensured those with pre-existing conditions could buy affordable insurance that covered their illnesses. More moderate House Republicans, including the other four GOP members of the New Jersey delegation, objected to the bill after the Congressional Budget Office said it could leave 24 million more Americans without insurance by 2026, compared with the current law. "I am going to keep fighting to get a compromise bill that helps to fix the current situation without hurting the people who are on the Affordable Care Act today," MacArthur said Tuesday. In an early embarrassment for Trump, the GOP alternative to Obamacare failed to win a majority of House Republicans, forcing House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to pull the measure from the floor. MacArthur also stressed that he had abandoned the GOP battle cry of "repeal and replace" on Obamacare and has instead begun describing the Republican alternative as a "repair." "Look, I recognize that millions of people got helped by the ACA," MacArthur said. "I don't want the rug pulled out from under them and I am working to make sure they don't." The congressman also signaled that a shift in rhetoric may be coming, at least from some moderate House Republicans. "'Repeal and replace' was terrible," MacArthur said. "One of the things that has caused this whole effort to fail is that we used poisonous language." "The moment you call it 'repeal and replace,' you make it impossible for a Democrat to support the bill," he said. "I still believe it was a mistake to frame it that way. We should have started by talking about 'fixing,' 'repairing,' 'improving.' And we should have engaged with the Democrats on Day One. We haven't. I try to deal with the world as it is, not the way I wish it was, but it was a mistake for this to be done in this way." Claude Brodesser-Akner may be reached at cbrodesser@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ClaudeBrodesser. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. NEWARK -- Gov. Chris Christie and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker on Wednesday challenged President Donald Trump to dispatch his secretary of transportation to personally inspect Amtrak's decrepit Hudson River tunnels to New York. "We have reached a point of unacceptability for New Jersey -- America," said Booker, standing alongside Christie in Newark's Penn Station. "We must have a firm commitment to replace these tunnels." The 109-year-old North River tunnels carry 85,000 NJ Transit and Amtrak customers to New York and back daily. Recently, however, NJ Transit riders have been made to suffer two derailments and, just last week, a breakdown that left 1,200 passengers stranded in a Hudson River tunnel. "The invitation to the new secretary of transportation is an invitation of urgency," Booker said. "We are teetering every single day on the brink of a traffic Armageddon." Last month, Trump proposed a $2.4 billion cut to the U.S. Department of Transportation's discretionary spending, which was to include the proposed Gateway Program, an expansion and renovation of the Amtrak's northeast corridor rail line between Newark, New Jersey, and New York City. According to a recent report by Amtrak's CEO, the advanced age of the tunnels plus damage from Sandy's storm surge means that less than a decade remains before at least one must be taken out of service. The loss of one tunnel would reduce capacity to just 21,000 riders daily, according to a study by the Regional Plan Association, an urban research and advocacy organization. Christie, a friend of Trump, said the need for a new Hudson River crossing "is a pretty clear mandate" and that the president's transportation secretary, Elaine Chao, "needs to see for herself the project." Paul P. Josephson, co-chair of the RPA, called the imperiled Gateway Program "the most important project in the nation today" and said the loss of even one of the current tunnels would result in "catastrophic loss to the regional and national economy." A call placed to the secretary of transportation's press office after was not immediately returned. But speaking at Newark's Penn Station on Wednesday, the governor said "I am confident she will come." Later, Christie was asked why he hadn't simply addressed the issue with the president directly instead of relying on his cabinet secretary. "I've already spoken to the president about this," he said. "The president is well aware of my point of view on this project, and I absolutely will continue to speak my mind on this, both publicly and privately." Claude Brodesser-Akner may be reached at cbrodesser@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ClaudeBrodesser. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. TRENTON -- The chief justice of New Jersey's highest court is calling on federal immigration officials to stop arresting unauthorized immigrants at state courthouses, warning the practice could undermine New Jersey's justice system. Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner wrote a letter to federal Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly on Wednesday raising objections to the arrests of two individuals making routine appearances in New Jersey Superior Court in recent weeks. "I write to urge that arrests of this type not take place in courthouses," Rabner wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by NJ Advance Media. With his request, Rabner waded into a fight bubbling up at halls of justice across the country, where deportation officials are turning up at routine hearings to catch defendants, witnesses and in some cases victims of crimes who may have entered the country illegally. The practice predates President Donald Trump's administration but has drawn scrutiny in recent months amid the president's hardline immigration stance. Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican and staunch Trump ally, said it was inappropriate for Rabner to weigh in on the contentious issue. State Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, himself a Cuban immigrant, said ICE's use of court appearances to make arrests "promotes fear and dissuades undocumented immigrants from coming forward to report crimes or to assist the criminal justice system." Rabner urged federal officials to add courthouses to the list of "sensitive locations" such as hospitals, schools and houses of worship where ICE is prohibited from making arrests, a move immigration advocates have long requested. "When individuals fear that they will be arrested for a civil immigration violation if they set foot in a courthouse, serious consequences are likely to follow," he wrote. "Witnesses to violent crimes may decide to stay away from court and remain silent. Victims of domestic violence and other offenses may choose not to testify against their attackers. Children and families in need of court assistance may likewise avoid the courthouse. And defendants in state criminal matters may simply not appear." Immigration officials countered the practice is necessary because a number of cities and law enforcement agencies in New Jersey have enacted policies not to cooperate with the federal government's deportation force, creating a "public safety threat." Lou Martinez, a spokesman for ICE's Newark field office, said the agency seeks out those facing deportation wherever agents can legally arrest them. "While ICE does arrest targets at courthouses, generally it's only after investigating officers have exhausted other options," he said. Martinez said tracking fugitive immigrants was "highly resource intensive" because ICE's targets often live in the shadows under aliases and without regular employment, meaning "a courthouse may afford the most likely opportunity to locate a target and take him or her into custody." He said it was in some cases preferable for safety reasons because courthouses have metal detectors and other screening processes that ensure their target is unarmed. The two New Jersey cases that prompted Rabner's comments took place at Superior Courthouses in Passaic and Middlesex counties, according to Peter McAleer, a spokesman for the state judiciary. On March 17, a defendant appearing for a pre-trial intervention hearing at Superior Court in the city of Passaic was approached by ICE agents outside the courtroom, escorted out of the building and handcuffed in a nearby courtyard, McAleer said. A similar incident occurred at the Middlesex courthouse in New Brunswick, where a defendant showed up at a sentencing hearing, received probation, and was promptly arrested by ICE. Neither the state judiciary nor ICE would provide information about the defendants or the charges against them. The two arrests were the latest in a string of cases across the country that have drawn rebukes from immigration activists and court officials alike. In February, a woman seeking a protective order against an abusive ex-boyfriend instead was arrested by ICE agents inside a Texas courthouse. A month later, California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye similarly expressed concerns that ICE agents "appear to be stalking undocumented immigrants in our courthouses," prompting a rebuke from homeland security chief Kelly and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Asked to for his reaction to Rabner's comments, Christie said he did "not believe now, nor have I ever believed that it is appropriate for the chief justice of the state of New Jersey to be attempting to dictate law enforcement policy to federal agencies." In his letter, Rabner said court and corrections officials often cooperate with requests from ICE to detain or surrender criminal defendants sought by immigration officials. But he maintained that practice was "different from carrying out a public arrest in a courthouse for a civil immigration violation, which sends a chilling message." "Like you, I believe in the rule of law," the chief justice wrote. "But I respectfully urge that we find a thoughtful path to further that aim in a way that does not compromise our system of justice." NJ Advance Media reporter Ted Sherman contributed to this story. S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter. Find NJ.com on Facebook. 643px-Willard_InterContinental.JPG Would you pay $11,000 to sleep here? The governor did. (Credit: Willard InterContinental Hotel) TRENTON -- Gov. Chris Christie has long loved to travel in style, and newly released records from the state Election Law Enforcement Commission show that hasn't changed. The Republican State Committee paid $11,677 to the 5-star InterContinental Hotel in Washington D.C. for Christie to attend President Donald Trump's inaugural, the records -- first reported by Politico New Jersey -- show. New Jersey's GOP raised $31,543 in the first three months of 2017, but after spending close to $425,000 in Bridgegate legal bills last year, still has nearly $40,000 in debt, according to the report. Christie held a fundraiser with Trump last year to help pay down those legal bills. But if friendship with the president carries any perks, comps at his luxury hotels are not one of them. New Jersey's Republican State Committee also dropped $1,245 for the governor's stay at the Trump Soho Hotel in New York, also in January, the records show. Peter Sheridan, executive director of the Republican State Committee, said in a statement to Politico New Jersey that Christie done his part to support Republicans across New Jersey, noting that he "has raised tens of millions of dollars" for candidates and party committees. In 2015, the governor came under criticism for taking an all expenses-paid private jet ride to see the Dallas Cowboys play worth tens of thousands of dollars. That same year, the New York Times reported the governor had racked up $30,000 in hotel bills during a 2012 vacation with his family at the luxurious Kempinski Hotel in Amman. King Abdullah of Jordan ultimately paid for the Christies stay. A 2010 Department of Justice inspector general's report criticized Christie as "the U.S. attorney who most often exceeded the government [travel expense] rate without adequate justification" and for offering "insufficient, inaccurate, or no justification" for stays luxury hotels like the Four Seasons. Claude Brodesser-Akner may be reached at cbrodesser@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ClaudeBrodesser. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. Range.jpg NJ Advance Media's Andrew Maclean, left, and Matt Arco, right, find a gun range. (NJ Advance Media photos) Editor's note: This is Day 2 of a two-week tour of Middle America as Matt Arco and Andrew Maclean connect people in New Jersey with those in red states. Track everything on Twitter via #MeetInTheMiddle or at NJ.com/meetinthemiddle. BRANSON, Mo. -- I'm sure not everyone in Missouri has a gun. But everyone we talked to Tuesday does. That was clear during stops along the interstate and in the small towns along the windy backroads between St. Louis and Springfield during Day 2 of of our #MeetInTheMiddle tour. We talked a lot about guns Tuesday afternoon because it's one of the issues people back home in Jersey had on their minds. It also made for a nice change of pace, after a heavy dose of President Donald Trump earlier in the day. Sometimes, the topic was unprovoked -- like when the farmer at a Lynchburg gas station told my colleague Andrew Maclean and me about the time he scared a Census of Agriculture official off his property by coming out of his house with a loaded shotgun. Other times, we brought up the gun issue. We asked 77-year-old Cecil "Cotton" Cottongim, who we cornered inside Faye's Diner in Lebanon to talk politics, why he carries. Cottongim, a personable man with a Rolodex of funny stories who goes by Cotton, said it was for self defense. Our conversation moved on to other things (like the time he had no problem walking past Secret Service and slapping former President George W. Bush on the shoulder in a Bass Pro Shop here) and we soon forgot Cotton was packing. But we were quickly reminded when Cotton, who we didn't realize had followed us outside the diner, rapped on the passenger window of our rental car. When Andrew lowered the window, Cotton gleefully showed him his handgun and asked if he wanted to hold it. Andrew did. And the silver gun with a black grip was in the car before Cotton had the chance to warn us it was loaded. Is it any wonder they call it the Show Me State? With all the talk about guns and a day of listening to Missourians explain why they carry -- more on that later in the week -- it was impossible not to head south for a stop at the gun range at Busiek State Forest before crossing into Arkansas. There, in a clearing surrounded by forest on all sides, we ran into two guys eager to tell us their reasons for having guns. Dean Newson, 27, and Tristan Smith, 32, walked their visitors -- both gun novices -- through their weapons, describing how all the parts worked and the differences in calibers. Newsom and Smith relished the lesson. Arco and Maclean were overwhelmed. Before long, though, our hosts were offering a chance to shoot down range. One offered up his Beretta M9 and the other handed over his AR-15. It was a lot of fun -- even though we both were terrible shots. When in Missouri. Beretta M9. #MeetIntheMiddle A post shared by Andrew (@ajmaclean) on Apr 18, 2017 at 3:16pm PDT With Day 2 in the books, we'll have a few more things Wednesday as we make our way into Arkansas. As always, if you have an idea or comment to share, please jump in the comments. Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or on Facebook. BRIDGEWATER - The woman killed in Monday's stabbing at a Washington Valley Road residence has been identified as Helen Litwornia, 61, the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office confirmed on Wednesday. Litwornia and her husband, identified by property records as Stephen Litwornia, 61, were stabbed at their home. Their son, Michael Litwornia, 27, has been charged with first-degree murder and second-degree aggravated assault, it was previously reported. Stephen remains hospitalized following emergency surgery and was listed in critical condition on Tuesday. His latest condition was not available on Wednesday. An autopsy performed by the New Jersey Northern Regional Medical Examiner's Office determined Helen Litwornia died as the result of sharp force trauma to the neck, Somerset County Prosecutor Michael H. Robertson said. Her death has been classified as a homicide. Michael Litwornia is still in a local hospital where he is recovering from self-inflicted wounds, it was previously reported. When police first arrived at 8:20 p.m. on Monday they found Stephen Litwornia outside his home with severe stab wounds and lacerations, it was previously reported. Additional officers found Helen Litwornia inside the home with multiple stab wounds and lacerations. They quickly removed her from the home, but she was pronounced dead at the scene. Michael Litwornia, who had barricaded himself inside and refused to communicate, was taken into custody at 11 p.m. after a remote-controlled robot sent into the home showed him lying on a couch. He attempted to grab a sharp instrument as members of the Somerset County SWAT stormed the residence, but was quickly subdued and taken into custody. Let us pray: 223 years ago this month, the foundation was laid for the Archdiocese of New Orleans 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. If TOPS budget is short, lawmakers should cut from the top: Editorial WASHINGTON Whatever a president or a congress does in the short term will have negligible impact on the cost of gasoline. But with only 16 days left before midterm congressional elections, politicians need to look like theyre trying. To activate the text-to-speech service, please first agree to the privacy policy below. Taipei, April 19 (CNA) Regulations prohibiting travelers from entering or leaving Taiwan with excessive sums of undeclared cash have been tightened, so that from June 28, anyone trying to bring in or out NT$100,000 (US$3,287) or more in cash without declaring it will face having the money immediately confiscated. An overview of the different benefits you may receive through workers comp for a work-related injury or illness. If you're eligible for workers' compensation because of a work-related injury or illness, you may be wondering what benefits you might receive through your employer's workers' comp insurance. This article takes a brief look at the four basic types of workers' comp benefits: medical treatment rehabilitation disability, and death benefits. Each state has its own spin on these general rules, and the details can get complicated; for more information on the rules in your state, see the links in our state-specific articles on workers' comp benefits. Medical Care Under Workers' Comp Workers' comp pays for hospital and other medical expenses that are necessary to identify and treat a work-related injury or illness. Although the details vary in each state, medical benefits generally cover doctor visits, medication, and surgeries. If you need equipment (such as a wheelchair or special vehicle) to help you deal with your injury, workers' comp will likely cover that cost as well. In some instances, workers' compensation will also cover services like counseling, pain therapy, and acupuncture. State laws differ on whether you or your employer gets to choose your health care provider, and some states regulate how much the provider may charge for your treatment. (Learn more about seeking medical treatment for a work-related injury.) Advance Authorization for Medical Treatment Except for emergency care, you or your doctors may need to get advance authorization for medical treatment. For the most part, only generally acceptable medical practices will be covered. If you would like to use an experimental or investigative treatment or therapy, you may have trouble getting paid for those expenses, so you may want to get an attorney's help. Workers' Comp Rehabilitation Benefits Rehabilitation benefits pay for medical and therapeutic care (such as physical therapy) necessary to help you cope with and recover from your injury or illness. They may also cover the care and training necessary for you to regain the skills and abilities you need to return to work. If your injury or illness prevents you from returning to your former job, many states allow vocational rehabilitation or similar benefits that pay for evaluation, retraining, tuition, and other expenses associated with helping you become qualified to work at a different job. Disability Benefits From Workers' Comp Disability benefits are meant to compensate you for part of the wages you lose while your injury or illness makes it impossible for you to work. These benefits fall into one of four categories, depending on whether the disabilities are total or partial and temporary or permanent. Temporary total disability prevents you from working at all, but only for a limited amount of time. In other words, you can't work now, but you may recover enough to work again in the future. Temporary disability payments end when you've recovered or doctors decide that you won't completely recover. Many states also have time limits on temporary disability payments. The vast majority of workers comp disability benefits fall into this category. prevents you from working at all, but only for a limited amount of time. In other words, you can't work now, but you may recover enough to work again in the future. Temporary disability payments end when you've recovered or doctors decide that you won't completely recover. Many states also have time limits on temporary disability payments. The vast majority of workers comp disability benefits fall into this category. Temporary partial disability prevents you from doing your normal job for a limited amount of time, but you can do some work. For instance, your doctor may say that you can work only four hours a day while you're recovering from your injury. In most states, you may receive benefits that help make up the difference between your pre-injury earnings and the reduced earnings. prevents you from doing your normal job for a limited amount of time, but you can do some work. For instance, your doctor may say that you can work only four hours a day while you're recovering from your injury. In most states, you may receive benefits that help make up the difference between your pre-injury earnings and the reduced earnings. Permanent partial disability involves some permanent damage from the workplace injury or illness that partially impairs your ability to work. Although these benefits are meant to compensate for that impairment, states typically limit how long the payments last. involves some permanent damage from the workplace injury or illness that partially impairs your ability to work. Although these benefits are meant to compensate for that impairment, states typically limit how long the payments last. Permanent total disability generally means the permanent damage is so extensive that you can't return to your job. The rules for determining permanent disability benefits are complicated and vary from state to state. But in general, you don't necessarily have to be completely incapacitated or unable to work at all to receive total permanent disability benefits. The amount of total disability benefits (whether temporary or permanent) are based on the amount you were earning prior to your injurytypically, two-thirds of your wages. (However, many states set a cap on the amount of the payments, and some states set a minimum.) Workers' Comp: Taxes and Waiting Periods You generally don't have to pay income taxes on workers' comp benefits, so the amount may be closer to your usual wages than it first appears. Most states will require you to wait a period of time (usually a week) before you can start collecting temporary disability benefits. Workers' Comp Death Benefits When employees die as a result of their work-related injuries or illnesses, most states provide death benefits to some of their relatives (such as children and spouses) who were financially dependent on the deceased employees. Although at least some funeral expenses are also covered, death benefits are primarily meant to compensate those dependent family members for the loss of financial support. Most states calculate this benefit as a percentage of the deceased worker's earnings. Some states have maximum and minimum amounts; others provide a lump sum. Sometimes, the relationship between the dependent and the deceased worker can pose difficult legal issues. States have different rules for spouses (such as setting limits on their own earnings in order to qualify), stepchildren, children born outside of marriage, unmarried partners, and other relatives such as parents, siblings, and in-laws. Contact a Lawyer for Questions About Your Benefits If you have any questions about your workers' comp benefit eligibility, or if your employer (or its insurance company) is disputing your right to benefits, you should consult with an attorney in your state who has experience dealing with workers' compensation issues. See Nolo's Lawyer Directory for a list of attorneys in your geographic area. St. Albert Catholic Schools will host its annual benefit auction this Saturday at the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs. This years theme is Candyland and alumni, employees, family and friends of the St. Albert community are invited to come out for the schools 36th annual event. We have 750 students currently enrolled at St. Albert and this is the one event we host that affects every child and their education at St. Albert, said JoAnn Jensen, school relations manager. Proceeds from the event are used for the schools general operating budget. Last year, the event raised over $150,000. The evening begins at 5 p.m. with social hour and appetizers followed by the opening of the silent and super silent auctions. The buffet dinner, provided by the Mid-America Center, will start at 6:30 p.m. after a welcome note and a blessing. Dessert will be provided by Stay Sweet, Nicolas of Council Bluffs. The silent auction will close at 8 p.m. followed by the super silent auction at 8:30. The live auction will begin at 8 p.m. following dessert. Jensen said big items this year include a Disney World trip for four, two Stir Concert Cove season tickets and a trip to Nashville. Other items include tools, a visit from Santa Claus, a television, an Apple watch and a variety of different gift certificates to area restaurants including the 712, Silos, Barleys, Glory Days and Sullivans Steakhouse. Raffles will be held for $10,000, $2,500 and $1,000 cash prizes. The school will also name a recipient for this years Freddie Falcon award, who will go unnamed until the event. Tickets are $75 per person and can be purchased online by visiting www.bidpal.net/2017benefitauction. Additional information on ticket packages and the event, including featured items, can be found online as well. St. Albert has been apart of Council Bluffs community for a really long time, Jensen said. Supporting this fundraiser and our kids is a great way to keep our school active in the community and its always great to support kids of all ages. About $110 million will be spent this year improving the interstate highway system in Council Bluffs as the largest highway funding effort ever by the Iowa Department of Transportation continues. Seven specific projects for 2017 have either started or will soon, officials explained during a public meeting at the local DOT office at the Mall of the Bluffs. The projects include: A new southbound on-ramp from U.S. Highway 275/Iowa Highway 29 to Interstate 29. Bridge construction on I-29/I-80 near the South Expressway that will cause the westbound off-ramp to be closed for 60 days, with a traffic shift planned in November. Bridgework expected to close the Madison Avenue westbound on-ramp for 30 days, with a traffic shift planned in November. The paving of future I-29/I-80 lanes, along with bridge work over Indian Creek, with traffic shift planned in June. Union Pacific Railroad bridge reconstruction near Nebraska Avenue with lane restrictions on I-29. Completion nearing on the West System interchange of I-29 with I-80. Sewer work on I-29 near 28th Street with lane restrictions, plus the closures of the I-29 exit ramp to 25th Street and I-29 southbound entrance ramp from 25th Street. DOT officials also showed off two concepts for the future I-29/I-480 interchange with West Broadway. The first concept would provide one-way frontage roadways for access between I-29 and West Broadway, while the second would offer an on ramp from West Broadway to northbound I-29. Otherwise, one-way frontage roadways would provide access between I-29 and West Broadway from Ninth Avenue. These concepts for West Broadway seem to disappoint Gail Hunter, a broker associate and auctioneer who attended the meeting. Im pleased with the overall thing, but no Broadway access is a little bit discouraging, Hunter said. Council Bluffs City Engineer Matt Cox added, Its not a true interchange. With the work planned this year, motorists may notice plenty of detours, Mayor Matt Walsh said. People will have to be patient, Walsh said. KIRON Russell Paulson had already heard by the time he arrived at the Quik Mart for his afternoon coffee. Walt Miller had died. Died last night, huh? someone was saying as Russell pulled up a chair. Yeah, last night, another man said. Russell listened; he had known Walt. At the age of 80, he knew almost everyone in Kiron, a town of 229 people, one of whom is U.S. Rep. Steve King, who has a house on the edge of town. Russell knew King, too, knew that he was the sort of person always stirring controversy, often by raging against what he called cultural suicide by demographic transformation. More recently, King had said that we cant restore our civilization with somebody elses babies, a comment embraced by prominent white supremacists and widely condemned around the country as demonizing Latino and other non-European immigrants. There was little controversy across Kings district, though, a swath of rural America made up of tiny towns with tiny, aging white populations that routinely elected King with more than 70 percent of the vote. In Kiron, people brushed it off as King being King, a man they all knew, expressing a plain truth they all understood: the white population was shrinking and towns like theirs were vanishing, with the few exceptions being places such as Denison, a pork-processing town 20 minutes down the highway where population growth was being driven by immigrants from Mexico and Central America. Kiron, meanwhile, was losing steam. According to the most recent census figures, the population included nine Mexicans; the other 220 were all white, and their numbers were decreasing by 10 or so each year, and now, on a Wednesday, by one. Oh Walt Miller? He did pass? Dwain Swensen, 67, said, sipping his coffee. Whatd he have, pancreatic cancer or something? said Ron Streck, 70. Liver, said Herman Kohnekamp, also 70. I think thats what it was, wasnt it, Russell? I knew he passed but didnt know any details, Russell said. It was a quiet afternoon, the ritual 3 p.m. coffee in a place where, as one regular put it, You can figure out Steve King by understanding all of us. Every day but Sunday, the bell on the front door rang as they arrived. The wood-paneled backroom was waiting. The Bunn-o-Matic and the Styrofoam cups. The space heater humming. The clock with the squinting Merit cigarette man on one wall, the calendar on the other, the cracked blinds dangling over the window where the view through the slats was a sea of farm fields, and on a hill in the distance, a stand of evergreens where the cemetery was. Now the bell on the front door rang again, and Russell looked up. Oh, Ron said under his breath, seeing who it was. Here comes trouble. It was Kevin Lloyd, 52, who came in occasionally, and had been in the day before, all riled up about the latest Steve King situation, waving his hands and going on about how people had misunderstood what hed meant about other peoples babies. If youre American, you got to take care of America! he had said then. I love that people want to come here from Mexico, from Ukraine, from the Middle East, but they need to come here legally. Dwain, Ron, a woman named Jane Gronau and Russell had been there, sipping their coffees, as Kevin had continued that he had no idea why people would call King a white supremacist, or, for that matter, why people would call President Donald Trump racist. Now, is Barack Hussein Obama a Muslim? In my opinion, yes, he had said, and that had brought him to the other thing he figured King meant about babies. He had meant Muslim babies of the Muslims that Obama had allowed into the country. And here, Im going to quote a great president, Abe Lincoln, he had said. He said the fall of America will come from the inside. Well, if youre allowing all these children in, and if they hate America, how long is it going to be before were not the United States of America anymore? Jane had nodded: If you study the number of Muslims, there are going to be so many here, and theyre going to have so many kids, theyre going to be able to take over that way. Dwain had nodded: They say freedom of religion but if youre Muslim, and you become Christian, youre ousted. Sometimes, they kill em. They behead em, Kevin had said into a quiet Iowa afternoon. I think what King was trying to get across is, look: We can only grow so many hogs, so much beans and so much corn, Kevin had said. If we let everybody in, were going to be without a food source. And what happens when thats gone? Then were all in trouble. Chaos, beheadings, starvation, the death of one America and the rise of another that was the trouble Kevin had raised the day before, and now he was back, interrupting the conversation about Walt Miller. What are you up to, Mr. Paulson? he said to Russell. Just listening and learning, Russell said, looking at the floor, holding his coffee. Every once in a while, I learn something here. Every once in a while, I learn something about myself. So how old was Walt? Ron continued. Mid-60s, Id say, said Herman. Died last night, Ron said again. Last night, Herman said again. After a while, Russell asked, I wasnt sure if he was home? Yeah, he was at home, Herman said, and Russell was quiet the rest of the afternoon. The next day, Russell had his morning coffee and got into his car. He stopped by the bank where hed been going since the 1940s. Hi Russell, the one teller said to her one customer. He got back into his car and drove one block to the edge of town, turned onto the two-lane highway, then one long gravel road after another, straight lines stretching out into still-fallow fields. Some of the roads have been abandoned, he said. Because theres not as many people living out here, the roads just disappeared. He knew the roads better than anyone. His own familys roots in the area stretched back to the 19th century, when the U.S. government was aggressively removing Native American tribes to make way for one of the largest immigration waves in American history. The Swedes came, the Germans came, the farms, the towns and generations of babies, one of whom was Russell Elmer Paulson, born in 1927. He was raised on his mothers family farm in rural Kiron and never left other than a stint in the Army, and one in Dubuque. It wasnt for me, he said, driving along. He and his wife, Glenda, inherited land when Russells parents died and lived on it until they retired and moved into town. Russells work had been farming and insurance adjusting. His culture was being a Methodist, a Mason and listening to polka, though most of that had fallen away. The church he and Glenda had gone to died for lack of people and money, he said. There were hardly any Masons left. Polka was not enjoying a revival. His kids had left for jobs in other areas. Glenda had died last year. See that ridge? Thats the old railroad bed, he said now, driving along, squinting through his gold-rimmed glasses. My aunt bought this, he said, passing a stand of trees where farmhouses had been. Walt would go there, he said, pointing out a repair shop where Walt Miller had coffee, and soon he turned onto a narrow dirt road leading to the farm where he and Glenda had lived, a collection of storage buildings where Russell now kept his old tractors, and one he used as an office, where he went these days to work crossword puzzles or just sit and think. Commune with God and the birds, he said. Well, not too many birds now. He glanced around at the old buildings, now shuttered and locked, though someone had broken into one of them recently. They stole a bunch of tools and such, Russell said, pulling back onto the gravel road. No need to get all worked up about it. He had a huge bag of peppermint Life Savers on the console, and he unwrapped one and put it in his mouth. He passed a rotting barn and a bird on a stretch of barbed wire, and after a while, a gray house with a huge American flag. This is Steve Kings house here, he said, looking at it. He had known King a long time and saw no reason to be bothered by something or other he said. He supported King I have no reason in the world to dislike the man but wasnt one to rant about politics. He had no computer, no smartphone. His television had no cable. He watched a half-hour of national news, a half-hour of local, followed by Wheel of Fortune and Lawrence Welk. He ate chicken tenders and food he described as American. Hes just kind of one of us, Russell said of King, driving on past a field where a church had burned down, and the home of a man whod died last year. It began to rain. When it comes down like its doing now, its just wonderful, he said. He drove past fields and more fields until he came to another stand of trees on a hill. This is the cemetery, he said, pulling in. He drove slowly past the headstones. A lot of these people I knew, he said and began reading names. Larson. Lind. Gustafson. Paulson this would be my folks right here, he said, and then he noticed the time, almost 3 p.m. He headed back to town, pulling onto Main Street where a wooden sign said, Kiron, Blessed with the Best. After King had made his comment about babies, some out-of-town protest group had put up another sign below that one that said, White Supremacist. The sign didnt make any sense to Russell and, after it was removed, his main worry was that the protesters might have damaged the town sign, which had started to rot a few years ago. Russell had taken on the job of maintaining it. He had trimmed the tree branches that had grown through the wood. He had taken down Blessed with the Best and repainted each of the letters. He went to a lumberyard and had a new K, I, R, O, and N made, painting each letter several times and spraying them with wood preservative. One year, he and Glenda had planted a bed of petunias and geraniums. I dont think we will ever have a better display of flowers, he said now, and soon he was pulling up to the Quik Mart for the afternoon coffee. As he walked inside, he saw a funeral notice on the front door with a photo of a smiling man in gold-rimmed glasses. Oh, Russell said, pausing for a moment. Theres Walt. He glanced at the funeral information for Walt Miller, poured his fourth coffee of the day, and sat down in the backroom. Dwain and Charlie Harm were already there but they werent talking. A car swooshed by. An 18-wheeler swooshed by. Charlie tapped his nails on the table. The next day, the bell rang as the door with the funeral notice swung open, and it was Dwain, then Bob James, then Herman, then Russell. The Merit cigarette clock showed a few minutes after 3 p.m. Russell got the coffee pot and poured. The bell rang again, and it was a man named Glen Ballantine. Time for plowing? Herman asked the 84-year-old farmer. Two weeks, Glen said, sitting down. Bob was reading the paper. Russell was sipping his coffee, looking out the window. Got the visitation tonight, Herman said. He didnt have to mention Walt Millers name because they all knew what he meant. They went back to talking about plowing, and Glen was saying how different farming was now than when he was a young man, which for some reason reminded him of one of his first jobs, digging graves. For 18 bucks, he said. You dug a regular grave for 18 bucks? said Dwain. Oh yeah, and we had to fill em back up again, said Glen. I helped dig one once, said Russell. You know, manually. Only one. I dont know what I got paid. But. Thats a long way down to the bottom of that. If there was frost in the first foot, you got $1 more, said Glen. Whatd you use to get through the frost? asked Bob. Pickax and sledgehammer, said Glen. And when wed fill em, wed fill em in 14 scoops. We were just little kids, more or less. We had more dirt than we needed, Russell said. And had to ... Had to haul that away, said Glen, finishing his sentence. Had to put that on the pickup, said Russell, and they went on talking like that until Herman got up to leave. It was after 3:30 p.m. Funeral home starts, what, at 4? Herman said. Four till 7, it says on there, Russell said. The funeral home was in Denison, and the sun was going down as Russell turned onto the two-lane highway toward one of the only towns in Steve Kings district that was growing, and which appeared in the distance as a cluster of lights and rising steam from the pork-processing plant. Russell turned by the Walmart, bustling on a Friday payday, and turned again into a neighborhood where Latino kids were playing in a yard. Up a hill, he parked in front of the funeral home, where people were still streaming in near 7 p.m. Russell made his way through the receiving line, his hat off, comb lines visible in his gray hair. He shook hands with Walts family, who thanked him for coming, and inched forward until he reached the open casket. He stood there a moment. He looked at Walt. He looked at the light-blue satin lining and the farm scene etched into it. A man stood next to Russell. Went fast, he said of Walt, who had passed away soon after his diagnosis. Thats what you hope for. I do, said Russell, still looking at Walt, and soon, he headed back to Kiron. The funeral was the next day at Zion Lutheran Church in Denison, and more people came from Kiron and other vanishing towns like Odebolt and Ida Grove. They sat in jeans and dresses and suits on the wooden pews of a church founded in 1872, and read about Walt in the program, where it was said that farming and fixing equipment and household items were his favorite things to do, and soon the church bells began ringing. The pews creaked as everyone stood and watched the pallbearers roll in the coffin draped in a white cloth with a red cross, and a procession of dozens of family members that included exactly one baby, a girl with a black ribbon around her head. Your world has changed, the pastor began. When it was over, people got back into their cars and drove 20 minutes up the highway to the cemetery in Kiron, a long procession of headlights passing through fields and more fields, then turning right, then heading up the hill to the stand of evergreens, and afterward, at 3 p.m., the bell on the Quik Mart door began ringing. It rang for Herman, who arrived with a loaf of homemade bread. It rang for Dwain, for Bob, and for Charlie, who shuffled into the backroom and said, Buried a nice guy this morning. It rang for Russell, who poured his coffee, walked back into the wood-paneled room, and pulled up a chair. Strawberries come to life this time of year, Russell? Dwain asked. I dont know, Russell said. They talked about the frost, and when spring might arrive. Well, I better get moving, Charlie said and headed out. I got things to do, too, Russell said, but then he didnt leave, not yet. He got up and sat where Charlie had been, closer to the window. Well, I gotta go, Herman said. See you, Herman, Russell said. Bye, Herman, Dwain said, and now there were just the three of them left. Dwain cleared his throat. A car passed by. The space heater hummed. Bob finished his coffee. Russell swallowed the last of his. You want more coffee, Mr. Bob? Russell asked. Do you? said Bob. Yeah, Russell decided, and walked over to get the coffee pot. He poured some into Bobs cup. He poured some into Dwains cup. He filled his own and sat down again. He tapped his thumb on the table. Eventually he stood up and walked toward the door, where Walts funeral notice no longer was. See ya, Russell, said Dwain. See ya, Russell, said Bob. I hope so, Russell said. IOWA CITY Iowa State Universitys military training program has expelled a promising cadet, accusing him of falsely claiming that he was sexually assaulted during an altercation that left him hospitalized. The cadet testified that during a July 4 bonfire near his familys lake house in Nebraska, a 19-year-old acquaintance rubbed the cadets genitals and inner legs with a beer bottle against his wishes. He said he pushed the man away, and that the man hit him on the head with a bottle. The cadet received several stitches to his face at a hospital. Iowa State Navy ROTC commanding officer Capt. Scott Curtis alleges that the cadet, his lawyer and supporters concocted the sexual assault claim to win sympathy from military officials and paper over the fact that the cadet had been in a fight while drinking underage he was 20 at the time. Curtis has adopted a panels recommendations to expel the student from the ROTC program and require him to pay back 2 years of out-of-state tuition and stipends, which is expected to amount to about $100,000. Supporters of the cadet, whod long dreamed of becoming a Marine Corps officer, say the conspiracy claim is outrageous and that the sexual assault did occur, noting that a friend of the cadet who was there corroborated his story in testimony. The supporters are calling on the Navy to reinstate him and investigate the program, which is dealing with an unrelated scandal in which seven members were involved in taking and posting explicit photos of themselves on Facebook. The students attorney, Sean Timmons, said the case shows how male-on-male sexual assault in the military isnt taken seriously. Instead of being concerned about his injury, they mocked him, said Timmons, who specializes in military law. They only looked at it from the point-of-view that this had to be two drunken guys fighting. Everything we say is fiction and a lie and some kind of conspiracy. He said his client is being treated more harshly than those involved in the Facebook case, who remain with the program. His appeal has remained pending for months without action from Navy leaders. An inquiry by the university into the programs treatment of the cadet, who is in his junior year, is also open. Lt. Sean Brophy, a spokesman for Naval Service Training Command, said Tuesday that the Navy is still reviewing the appeal and no final decision has been made. The student is on leave in the meantime. A Nebraska sheriffs investigation of the incident was inconclusive and led to no charges. The other man involved told investigators that he swung the bottle in self-defense after the cadet punched him for no reason. During training in California days after the incident, the cadet told military officials that his injuries were work-related and was cleared to participate. The ROTC launched a review after learning from the sheriffs office that he had been assaulted and hospitalized, alleging he hadnt been forthcoming about what happened. The cadet later told the ROTC that hed been embarrassed to report the improper touching. The cadet declined to cooperate with police or pursue charges, saying he wanted to put the matter behind him. He admits he consumed alcohol earlier that evening. The Associated Press isnt naming him under a policy of generally not identifying sexual assault victims. Improper touching qualifies as assault under military rules. In his removal decision, Curtis wrote that the cadet is smart, disciplined, fit and has significant officer potential. He said underage drinking and fighting alone wouldnt end his career. But Curtis accused the cadet of going along with an unethical legal strategy that attempted to take advantage of the sensitivity surrounding sexual assault, calling that a disservice to actual victims. Timmons, his lawyer, said that claim had no factual basis and revealed bias against his client, arguing that a woman making the same report wouldve been taken seriously. Council Bluffs Mayor Matt Walsh said Tuesday he is concerned about some provisions of a sweeping firearms bill approved by both houses of the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Terry Branstad. Of particular concern is the impact of changes to the wording of the Iowa law that preempts local governments defined as counties, cities and townships from restricting or regulating firearms. That preemption has allowed the Council Bluffs City Council and the Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors to approve regulations which prohibit individuals, including those with concealed carry permits, from bringing guns into City Hall or the Pottawattamie County Courthouse. The bill signed into law by Branstad last week retains the preemption clause but includes the addition of new language that gives a person adversely affected by a local gun ban the authority to seek declaratory and injunctive relief through the courts. At the Courthouse, supervisors authorized spending several thousand dollars in 2014 to enhance security by creating a controlled access point on the first floor equipped with metal detectors and an X-Ray machine that is staffed whenever the Courthouse is open. There are no similar security precautions at City Hall. Sheriff Jeff Danker, who is responsible for Courthouse security, said the county spent $59,358 for the armored work station and related equipment in the Courthouse lobby. That included $12,099 for the work station, $42,776 for the X-ray machine and $4,483 for the metal detector. Staffing for the access point includes one deputy and three part-time security workers. Danker said staffing costs are $200,000 annually. A police officer is assigned to the City Council chambers during council meetings, but there is currently no equipment to prevent a person from bringing a weapon into City Hall or the council chambers. Some of us still remember the city council shooting in Mount Pleasant, Walsh said. In December 1986, a lone gunman armed with a small-caliber pistol approached the Mount Pleasant City Council near the end of the meeting, pulled a gun and shot and killed Mayor Edward King and wounded two council members before sitting down and waiting to be arrested by police. Walsh said he visited with officials of the Iowa League of Cities about the citys ability to ban guns from City Hall and was told the city could continue to do so. But he was also told that League officials have not sought any clarification regarding the preemption from the Iowa Attorney Generals Office. I didnt get what I consider a good answer, the mayor said. Council Bluffs City Attorney Dick Wade said that while he, too, has been told by legislators the new law will not impact the citys ability to restrict guns in City Hall, his reading of the law suggests the citys right to ban guns is not protected. Unlike the Courthouse, where district court judges had lobbied for additional security measures for years before the controlled access point was built, equipped and staffed, we dont have anyone at City Hall saying they are concerned about their safety, Walsh said. The mayor said hes concerned that an individual might seek declaratory or injunctive relief, arguing that his or her safety is adversely affected because of the citys ban on guns in City Hall, a building that does not have security precautions such as those in place in the Courthouse. The following editorial first appeared in the Dubuque Telegraph Herald on April 12 and was distributed by the Associated Press. One year ago, a handful of organizers were preparing for an unprecedented event. Recent incidents had heightened the need for a town hall meeting on an insidious predator in our community: Heroin. Between Jan. 1 and this date in 2016, local law enforcement officials dealt with 14 heroin overdoses. The town hall meeting drew 600 concerned participants to the Grand River Center, and hundreds more watched a livestream of the event on TelegraphHerald.com. Parents pleaded with law enforcement officials and lawmakers to address what had become an epidemic. Now, one year later, there has been progress. The number of opioid-related overdoses in the first three months of 2017 was six, with just one resulting in death. Still, that is one death too many, and there is much more that can be done. Citizen efforts have been impressive with the grassroots growth of CRUSH, which has held events to raise awareness, started support groups for family and loved ones of users and lobbied lawmakers. Mercy Medical Center-Dubuque has done its part by presenting classes on how to give the overdose-reversing medicine naloxone and certifying participants to obtain it from the pharmacy. Other communities have followed this example. Further, a $20,000 grant from Mercy Health Foundation covered the cost for those who cant afford the medicine. However, changes in state law have been slower to come even though those might have the biggest impact. Thats not for lack of trying on the part of Rep. Chuck Isenhart, D-Dubuque. Isenhart was named to a task force to study the opioid issue. But the group never met prior to Jan. 1, 2017, when it was supposed to give its recommendations. Isenhart pushed for meetings and has labored to get legislation introduced. Other stakeholders have offered suggestions, too. Even if we weed out the ideas that would likely cost more than the state can afford right now, there are still great ideas that could make a difference. Such as: A good Samaritan bill that would give immunity from arrest to drug users or underage people to encourage them to call 911 when they are in the presence of someone who overdoses. The current legislation is too watered down (with opioids edited out) and a previous version was too broad (offering immunity for any crime even to a drug dealer who might have caused the overdose.) Some 35 states, including Illinois and Wisconsin, have made this law work. Iowa should be next. A bill to require that insurance companies cover medication-assisted treatment. Insurance lobbyists have stymied progress on that measure. Another bill that shouldnt attract much opposition is one that would require physicians and pharmacists to use the states prescription drug-monitoring program to cut down on doctor shopping by addicts hoping to accumulate prescriptions for opioids. Maybe there are other laws that could work as well. New Mexico last week became the first U.S. state to require all law enforcement officers, who are usually the first on the scene of an overdose, to carry naloxone to combat heroin deaths. The long-term toll of a heroin epidemic would likely surpass the cost of preventive measures that could be put in place now. And many of these ideas have little cost involved. Kudos to Isenhart for leading the effort in Des Moines, but other Iowa lawmakers must get on board with addressing the states opioid epidemic. You are clearly a super-user of NUVO.net. Thats a good thing. It means you depend on independent and local news sources to keep you informed. You are a smart person. Coincidentally, independent and local news sources depend on you too. Youve read 25 articles this month and now, wed like you to be join our mission and become a NUVO Supporter. For as little as $4 a month, you can keep us alive and fighting -- and can have unlimited access to the independent news that cant be found anywhere else. Strack & Van Til President and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Strack has postponed a talk that was scheduled after it was announced parent company Central Grocers Inc. was selling off 22 of its supermarkets and closing nine Ultra Foods supermarkets. Strack, whose family helped start the iconic Region supermarket chain at Cline Avenue and 45th Street in Highland 58 years ago, was slated to appear at First Financial Bank's Morning Business Hour on April 28. The bank said late Wednesday afternoon Strack had to postpone the event to focus on business matters. He was supposed to give a talk entitled "Who Moved My Cereal?" at 8 a.m. that Friday at First Financial, 11890 Broadway, Crown Point. The bank did not give a new date for the speech. Strack has worked for the Region's largest locally run grocery chain for 25 years, a period when it grew from 10 stores to 38 supermarkets employing about 5,000 people. He was named CEO last year, the second chief executive in less than three years at the struggling retailer. "Jeff is known for his operational excellence, having grown up in the industry," First Financial said in a press release. "He is innovative, forward-thinking and is committed to focusing on the values and principles that has made this company what it is today." Highland-based Strack & Van Til is closing 14 Stracks and Ultra stores this year amid the worst grocery price deflation since the 1960s and increased competition, including from dollar stores, market newcomer Whole Foods and online grocery delivery services. Strack and Van Til rolled out an online ordering and curbside pickup system of its own, and has invested heavily in recent years in renovations to make its stores more modern with amenities like sushi bars and fresh-pressed juice. But it wasn't enough. Central Grocers, a $2 billion co-op based in Joliet, is planning to sell off the remaining 22 Strack & Van Til stores to an unnamed buyer. A states rights organization whose goal is to reduce taxes and the role of government in the economy has ranked Indiana second in the nation for its economic outlook. The American Legislative Exchange Council, made up of state legislators and funded largely by corporations, puts Indiana behind only Utah in its recently published "Rich States, Poor States, ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index. Indiana jumped four places since the last edition of "Rich States, Poor States," and has risen from 24th place five years ago. "This is largely due to Indianas many responsible fiscal policies, including an efficient and lean state government, recently legislated tax cuts and the states right-to-work status, said Jonathan Williams, ALEC chief economist and vice president of the ALEC Center for State Fiscal Reform. Indiana's ranking also is due to its not having an estate or inheritance tax, maintaining its minimum wage at the federal minimum, and its low workers' compensation costs. Indiana ranks in the bottom half of states for its sales tax and its debt service as a share of tax revenue. "Rich States, Poor States" is authored by Arthur Laffer, a member of Ronald Reagans Economic Policy Advisory Board; Stephen Moore, a visiting fellow at The Heritage Foundation; and Williams. ALEC offers policy prescriptions on a variety of issues, and publishes sample bills legislators may use as models in their states. WASHINGTON Astronomers have found yet another planet that seems to have just the right Gol Home cooks know one of the easiest dishes to make is a simple grilled cheese sandwich with gobs of the delicious melted treat. Grilled cheese is a favorite meal for families around the country. When thinking back to popular lunch and dinner meals, grilled cheese ranks as a top recipe for many people. "I really feel like grilled cheese is something that brings back childhood memories," said PJ Bowling, manager of Foodie's, a cafe and market in Dyer. At Foodie's, diners will find one of the shop's favorites called Grown Up Grilled Cheese. Owner Cathy Cameron has been serving the sandwich oozing with cheese since the cafe opened nearly six years ago. Bowling said personnel also have xcome up with another specialty cheese sandwich called The Sicilian Grilled Cheese. Visitors to Highland Gyros are in for a treat if they order the Grilled Cheese with Gyros Meat. "It's a regular grilled cheese, but it has a good amount of gyro meat on it, which gives it a different flavor," said Highland Gyros co-owner Paul Pallas. "It's a big seller for us." Pallas called grilled cheese a "comfort" food and said adding the gyros to it was a good choice. "A lot of people usually order (the sandwich) with lemon rice soup," he said. Restaurant Tavern on Main in Crown Point features a Short Rib Grilled Cheese, which is a winner for its tenderly braised beef and a mix of three cheeses. If diners are willing to explore, they'll find an assortment of creative grilled cheese recipes at local restaurants. In honor of April as National Grilled Cheese Month, celebrate with these five fantastic concoctions from local eateries. Short Rib Grilled Cheese Satisfy your appetite for meat and cheese with the Short Rib Grilled Cheese ($15) at Tavern on Main in Crown Point. Tommy Forbes, the restaurant's chef, said he came up with the recipe after he was experimenting and attempting to come up with "different things" for his menu. "We braise the short ribs for four to five hours. Then we cool it down and slice it," he said. The recipe is served on a buttery onion roll and served open-faced. "We use a mix of provolone, gruyere and white cheddar. Then it's topped with caramelized onions and fried onion straws." FYI: Tavern on Main is at 136 S. Main St., Crown Point. Call (219) 779-9377 Grown-Up Grilled Cheese The Grown-Up Grilled Cheese sandwich ($7.95) at Foodie's Cafe in Dyer is a perfect creation with its mix of cheeses. "We blend cheddar, provolone and American cheese," said Foodie's manager PJ Bowling. She said all cheese is freshly sliced for the creation of the sandwich. Fresh white bread from Highland Park Bakery on Chicago's North Shore also is used to prepare the dish. Guests may request to add bacon, tomato or other ingredients if they wish. The sandwich is served with a pickle wedge and potato chips or a side. FYI: Foodie's Cafe is at 151 Joliet St., Dyer. Call (219) 864-3030. Sicilian Grilled Cheese Foodie's Cafe also has come up recently with the Sicilian Grilled Cheese, ($7.95), which is rotated as a special on the menu. "We use sliced mozzarella, sliced provolone and fresh mozzarella on the sandwich," said Foodie's manager PJ Bowling. Spinach, tomatoes and a basil-pesto sauce is also added to the sandwich which is made on the same white bread recipe that the eatery's Grown-Up Grilled Cheese is served on. The sandwich is served with a pickle wedge and potato chips or a side. FYI: Foodie's Cafe is at 151 Joliet St., Dyer. Call (219) 864-3030. Grilled-Cheese Burger Johnsen's Blue Top Drive-In's Grilled-Cheese Burger ranks as one of the popular burgers/sandwiches at the retro-themed eatery. Guests may sit in their cars and eat at Blue Top or walk into the restaurant to enjoy a meal. Old jukeboxes and other '50s decor are featured here. The Grilled-Cheese Burger ($6.50) stars a good size burger stuffed between what's essentially two grilled cheese sandwiches. Those who can't decide between grilled cheese and a good burger can order this dish to satisfy their appetites. Diners can request any number of ingredients to be added to the sandwich, including a Hot Rod Sauce, which is similar to a Thousand-Island dressing. FYI: Johnsen's Blue Top Drive-In is at 8801 Indianapolis Blvd., Highland. Call (219) 838-1233. Grilled Cheese with Gyro Meat If you enjoy meat with your grilled cheese, opt for the Grilled Cheese with Gyro Meat ($4.70) at Highland Gyros in Highland. There's plenty of meat in this sandwich, which is served on white bread. Highland Gyros owner Paul Pallas said this recipe is one of the eatery's top sellers. He added it's a good go-to for customers, especially in the colder months. FYI: Highland Gyros is at 2220 45th St., Highland. Bars and liquor stores across Northwest Indiana have been posting signs telling customers Yuengling is coming, or that it's finally arrived. The cult brewery, which is hugely popular in eastern Pennsylvania, has made a highly visible entry to the local market, giving out merchandise like pint glasses and bottle openers. Stores like Strack & Van Til have put out huge tent displays filled with cases of Yuengling stacked 10 high. Yuengling has made a big splash in Northwest Indiana. Americas Oldest Brewery, which is well established on the East Coast, came to Indiana for the first time in 188 years in March. Its local distributor, Valparaiso-based Indiana Beverage, rolled out bottles and cans of its Lager, Light lager and Original Black and Tan Porter across the Region in this month. Our family has been in business in Indiana for five generations and to be able to partner with the Americas Oldest Brewery is both humbling and powerful," Indiana Beverage Owner Bruce Leetz said. It's now available in more than 600 bars, restaurants, liquor stores and supermarkets across Northwest Indiana, according to the Yuengling website. Indiana is the 20th state where Yuengling, best known for its German-influenced lager, is on tap. The fifth generation, family-owned brewery plans to soon make its heritage and seasonal beers available here. Yuengling has a lot of exciting things happening in 2017, and this expansion into the great state of Indiana is the first of several announcements, owner and President Dick Yuengling said. The brewery, which brews beer in Pottsville and Florida, also brews Lord Chesterfield Ale, IPL, Summer Wheat and Oktoberfest. GARY Federal and local law enforcement officials are offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for an arson that killed three children Dec. 23. The reward is being offered by the Gary Police Department and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to a news release. This was a senseless act and the individual(s) responsible need to be apprehended and held accountable, Celinez Nunez, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF Chicago Field Division, said in the release. Yaleah Cohen, 2; Alaya Pickens, 4; and Jayden Mitchell, 5, died after a fire tore through a second-story apartment at the 4400 block of West 23rd Court beginning at about 11 p.m. Dec. 23. The Gary fire and police departments responded to discover the apartment engulfed in flames and that three small children were trapped on the second floor. The man, who suffered burns, and a woman, were taken to a hospital for treatment, fire officials said. A subsequent investigation conducted by the Gary Fire Department, the Gary Police Department and the Indiana State Fire Marshalls Office determined the fire was started by an accelerant and was ruled an arson. "We are asking the community for help in solving this case in which three innocent children died," Gary Police Chief Larry McKinley stated. Anyone with information is asked to call ATF at 800-ATF-GUNS or the Lake/Metro Homicide Unit at 219-755-3852 or the Crime Tip Line at 866-CRIME-GP. Callers may remain anonymous. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy EAST CHICAGO EPA Administrator Scott Pruitts visit Wednesday to the citys contaminated Superfund site was marked with rallying cries from protesters denouncing proposed budget cuts under President Donald Trumps administration and demanding better protections from polluted air, dirt and drinking water. But Pruitt said he hoped his visit to East Chicagos USS Lead Superfund site his first to any Superfund site in the country would be the first step of many in restoring confidence in a community grappling with a legacy of toxic industry. Please know that it is the EPAs objective, my objective as the administrator of the EPA, to come in and make sure peoples health is protected here in East Chicago, and that they can have the confidence that their land, their health is going to be secured for the long term, Pruitt said during a brief media statement outside of the former Carrie Gosch Elementary School shuttered last summer amid fears of lead contamination. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is committed to doing that in a very efficient and effective way, Pruitt said. Pruitt did not offer any details as to how EPAs federal headquarters would restore such confidence during his 90-second speech, after which he refused to take questions from reporters. The briefing, held inside the elementary school gates, was closed to the general public, and reporters were required to RSVP ahead of time or show proper identification to enter. Budget cuts? Protesters in East Chicago on Wednesday rallied against Trump's plans to curb President Barack Obama-era environmental regulations on industry and slash the EPAs budget by nearly one-third, with some cuts to lead hazard elimination programs. Asked about those steep cuts, U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Merrillville, said the Office of Management and Budget can always propose a budget to Congress, but it is up to Congress to ensure wise judgments are made so that agencies such as the EPA has the appropriate funds to meet their needs. So I would not jump to conclusions that there would not be adequate resources. Im not promising there will be, but we are in the beginning of that particular turn, said Visclosky, one of several congressional delegation members at the media briefing. EPA Region 5 Acting Administrator Robert Kaplan downplayed rumors that the Trump administration also plans to shutter the EPAs Region 5 office in Chicago as part of widespread agency cutbacks. As I talked to some of the people that are traveling with (Administrator Pruitt) today, they reaffirmed that they are no discussions about shutting the Chicago office, Kaplan said. Petition pending Pruitt also left town without indicating whether his administration would grant a petition filed March 2 by a coalition of groups that asks EPA use its emergency powers under the Safe Drinking Water Act to secure safe, clean water while permanent solutions are put into place, the Natural Resources Defense Council said in a news release. Federal EPA staffers identified the lead water contamination problem and alerted state environmental regulators that the water treatment chemicals Indiana had approved could damage water pipes. Instead of pulling federal staff and resources out of the mix, Administrator Pruitt should be helping ensure East Chicago has safe water right away. That is the mission of his agency, Meleah Geertsma, senior attorney with NRDC, said in the release. EPA last year found elevated lead levels in drinking water in some homes during a pilot study at the Superfund site, but later said its sampling results and the citys monthly operating reports showed high lead levels were likely to be systemwide. Lead in water and lead in soil are not related, and EPA has said that if up to 90 percent of the citys water lines are lead, all residents should use a certified filter. Kaplan said Wednesday the Indiana Department of Environmental Management is stepping up water testing efforts in the Superfund site. The type of testing is more robust than testing required under the federal agencys Lead and Copper Rule, Kaplan said, but not as comprehensive as sequential testing, which EPA used in the pilot program. Emails obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request showed EPA had a role in the citys decision to change the chemical it was using to control corrosion of lead pipes. An expert said the chemical the city was using actually could have increased lead releases. A communitys pleas As part of his visit, Pruitt toured the nearly vacated West Calumet Housing Complex, where 1,000 residents were ordered to leave last summer because of dangerously high lead levels in the soil and to make way for its eventual demolition. Only two dozen families remained as of this week at the federally subsidized public housing site, built in the early 1970s on the footprint of a former lead smelter. Approximately 3,000 residents living at 1,000 properties in zones 2 and 3 of the Superfund site in East Chicago's Calumet neighborhood have not been told to leave. This week, the EPA resumed removing lead- and arsenic-contaminated soil in those neighborhoods. In briefings closed off from the press, representatives from various community groups took residents concerns to a delegation of local, state and federal officials, including Pruitt, Gov. Eric Holcomb and several members of Northwest Indianas congressional delegation. Kaplan described residents stories of personal health scares potentially associated with living in the heavily industrialized city as compelling and sad. It was some of the most intense and gripping aspects of it. I use the word sad, but it really was the case. They made pleas for assistance, for help, and you really could have heard a pin drop in that room as the administration and the governor were listening really intently, Kaplan said. I am really happy and pleased that that message got directly from the residents to the highest levels of government. Groups lay out demands Earlier Wednesday, protesters gathered in the neighborhood, waving signs saying, East Chicago demands clean water, and Living wages on a living planet. Stop corporate greed. Fully fund the EPA, to rally against proposed budget cuts and demand action to ensure those affected by the lead crisis are made whole. Maritza Lopez, a Superfund resident, held up a multipage list of medications she takes daily to show those gathered at the NAACP news conference the effects of contamination in the neighborhood she has long called home. Later, during a rally outside the former Carrie Gosch Elementary School, Lopez said she sought testing at the Mayo Clinic that showed she has lead, arsenic and cadmium in her bones. NAACP President Cornell Williams Brooks at a news conference Wednesday morning said Pruitt and Gov. Eric Holcomb arrived to address an environmental crisis 40 years in the making in East Chicago, but Trumps budget plan contemplates gutting the EPA. Instead of an executive order rolling back regulations requiring corporations to prevent contamination of the air, water and soil, Trump should issue an executive order to protect the residents of Main Street who are dealing with the consequences of lax environmental regulations, Brooks said. We stand at the side of anybody who supports the residents. We stand in the face of anybody who does not support these residents, he said. We will not relent. We will not give up. We will ensure that this issue is before the public." Brooks, surrounded by other members of the NAACP, the Twin City Ministerial Alliance, the East Chicago/Calumet Coalition Community Advisory Group and the Community Strategy Group, laid out a list of demands. Some of the same demands were included in a letter the advisory group recently sent to Pruitt, asking EPA to commit to engaging more residents in its decision-making process; expedite a groundwater study at the Superfund site it recently began earlier than planned; adjust its remediation plans as needed following the release of a forthcoming public health assessment; grant the Safe Drinking Water petition; ensure residents health is adequately protected during soil cleanup and their properties are fully restored; and do more to address environmental injustices faced by East Chicago residents and other low-income communities of color around the U.S. Kaplan told reporters Wednesday the EPA is expediting the groundwater study at the Superfund site and will adjust accordingly its remediation plans as needed following the release of a forthcoming public health assessment from the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. He also said the EPA is seriously considering the drinking water petition. VALPARAISO The city's Redevelopment Commission is hoping to take ownership of the former ANCO property on South Campbell Street on Friday morning in its first step to expand bus service and its downtown. However, county records indicate the property's owner, Worstell Business Trust, has not paid property taxes for years and must pay more than $96,000 in present and past taxes, penalties and fees before the scheduled closing. Complicating matters further, the property was sold for $1,000 at a commissioners' tax sale held April 11 to a tenant in one of the complex's buildings, causing concern this week over who actually owns the property and has the right to buy or sell the buildings and land valued at slightly over $1 million. Porter County Auditor Vicki Urbanik said the property went up for a regular tax sale in 2014 after the owners defaulted on paying taxes for three consecutive installments. It failed to sell and was put on the commissioners' tax sale list. The commissioners did not have a sale until last week. Shayne Snider, owner of Home.n.Clature, who leases space in one of the buildings, said he purchased the property after concerns it could be bought by someone other than the city. Urbanik explained that Snider technically has a lien on the property. If the property owner, Worstell Business Trust, were to pay all the back taxes and penalties assessed on the property within 120 days of the sale, the trust would regain ownership of the property. Stu Sommers, Valparaiso's RDC director, said the RDC signed a purchase agreement with Worstell Business Trust, managed by Bradley Company of South Bend, late last month. The RDC agreed to pay $214,000 for the property. "The seller has every intention to pay the taxes prior to Friday," Sommers said Tuesday afternoon, adding the city would not be allowed to close on the purchase without a certificate stating there are no taxes owed. Sommers added that city officials were not aware the property was listed on the commissioners' sale last week. The city may have had the opportunity to get the property at no cost after it was included in the commissioners' sale. The RDC took ownership of the former Natural Ovens property in 2013 by petitioning the commissioners to deed the property to the RDC after a failed tax sale. Sommers said that is not the best option in all cases and the city preferred to have a "clean, marketable title" to the property. Snider, who has operated the home furnishing store in the building since 2013, said he began talking to the trust more than two years ago, hoping to purchase the portion of the property needed for his present and future business. He said a deal was never made with the trust. He also said he has talked to city officials recently about the future of the property, saying he was excited about the city's plans for the property's revitalization, but that no agreement had been made by the time he heard about the April 11 sale. Snider said he and his wife, Amanda, attended the sale because they thought the city would be purchasing the property at that time. But, he said, a young woman put in a bid for $300. Knowing she wasn't associated with the city, he said he and his wife decided on the spur of the moment to make the $1,000 bid offer. "When the bidding process started and someone made a bid, my wife and I became concerned and my wife and I put in a bid to protect the city's vision and our part in the city's vision," said Snider, adding that he would ultimately like to purchase the building that houses his store to continue to grow his business in Valparaiso. If Worstell Business Trust does pay the back taxes, they will also have to reimburse Snider the $1,000 he paid for the property. A call to Bradley Co. about their intentions to pay the back taxes was not returned. INDIANAPOLIS Local ordinances regulating short-term property rentals, such as the bans in place in Beverly Shores and Long Beach, ultimately may not be usurped by the General Assembly this year. On Wednesday, the Indiana House failed to garner the 51 votes needed to concur with Senate changes to House Bill 1133 and advance the measure to the governor for his signature or veto. The vote was 50-46. That doesn't mean the proposal is dead. It only means that the sponsor, state Rep. Matt Lehman, R-Berne, will need to win over at least one additional supporter in the hours remaining before lawmakers adjourn their annual session, likely Friday or Saturday. The legislation would preempt local limitations on short-term rentals and open the door for more Hoosiers to list their homes on AirBnB and similar websites for vacationers and others to rent for periods of 30 days or less. Lehman said the proposal appropriately embraces new technologies and ensures Hoosiers are free to use their property however they see fit. Opponents said because every Indiana municipality is different, it should be local leaders deciding whether short-term rental regulations are needed in their community. CROWN POINT City water is safe for residents after U.S. Steel's Midwest Plant in Portage last week spilled the carcinogenic chemical hexavalent chromium into a tributary flowing into Lake Michigan, according to Mayor David Uran's office. Uran said in a statement released Monday the city's Public Works water division tests its water supply daily per the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to insure its quality and compliance. The mayor said the city has been in contact with Indiana American Water and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for updates on the Lake Michigan spill. "The water that the city of Crown Point receives from Indiana American Water is collected approximately three miles off shore and several miles away from the spill site," Uran said. Uran said when the water is collected by Indiana American Water, it is treated and tested prior to being sent to the city. Once the water is received, the city does its own independent testing by its qualified lab technicians on a daily basis. "Since the spill took place, Indiana American Water representatives have been in constant contact with our water division," Uran said. Uran said the city, along with Indiana American Water and the EPA, continue to verify there has been no detection outside the standard limits that would cause any concern to the public drinking water supply. Residents who would like more information can visit the EPA website link for the most current data at https://response.epa.gov/site/site_profile.aspx?site_id=12130. GARY The City Council heard from an attorney representing a local group of citizens Tuesday night seeking to make Gary a "welcoming city" in regard to immigrants. Attorney Alfredo Estrada gave an overview of the proposed ordinance that in some form has been passed in communities across the country. He said other municipalities in Northwest Indiana will also be approached. Among the provisions, the ordinance prohibits requesting or investigating the legal status of an individual unless required by a court order. It also says that immigration enforcement actions are a federal responsibility and city resources shall not be commandeered to enforce federal immigration law. President Donald Trump's executive order limits federal funding if a state or municipality doesn't adhere to 8 U.S.C. 1373 regarding cooperating or communicating with the federal government. Estrada said the ordinance as written would not endanger Gary from receiving federal money. The Welcoming City Ordinance is expected to be introduced at a later meeting and discussed by the council at that time. It already has the support of Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson. "Absolutely," she said at the meeting. Just like Estrada, she did not believe the passage of the ordinance would endanger federal grant money to the city. She said local law enforcement officials cooperate and will continue to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service officials. Freeman-Wilson said the solution to the situation the country finds itself in regarding immigration, "is to simply pass comprehensive immigration reform. If you pass that, all of this goes away." RESOLUTION ON SOUTH SHORE FUNDING ON HOLD The council once again postponed taking action on a resolution that would reduce funding for the West Lake extension of the South Shore line. It will be sent back to the Finance Committee for further discussion at 5:30 p.m. April 25. Council President Ron Brewer said earlier he thought the council might defer taking action because some of the members were unsure of what amount of commitment they wanted to make to the project. Brewer said he would like to reduce the funding commitment to 1 percent. The council heard the first and second reading of a resolution to reduce the funding at its March 21 meeting and at a subsequent Finance Committee meeting discussed eliminating its commitment entirely. The resolution, however, talked about reducing the contribution of its share of County Economic Development Income Tax revenue from 7.5 percent to 5 percent. For calendar year 2017, such a reduction would cut the annual contribution from $347,308 to $231,538. The council's proposed resolution came on the heels of action taken by the Merrillville Town Council last month to reduce its annual commitment from 22 to 8 percent. In reaction to the threatened reductions, the Indiana House later voted to advance Senate Bill 128. The bill requires the state treasurer to intercept local revenue from any source and distribute it to the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority if a municipality fails to follow through on its commitment to the commuter rail project. The Gary City Council last week held an executive session to discuss potential litigation regarding the bill. EAST CHICAGO The citys Housing Authority Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to formally accept $2 million in state funding to help pay for the demolition of the West Calumet Housing Complex. East Chicago Housing Authoritys Executive Director Tia Cauley told commissioners on Tuesday the grant is being provided to the authoritys non-profit arm the Managed East Chicago Housing Association but transferred to the local housing authority in the form of a loan. With that $2 million, it will be loan, Cauley said. Once (the East Chicago Housing Authority) is able to pay those funds off, housing will pay MECHA back. The state's housing agency the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority recently agreed to contribute $2 million for the security and demolition of West Calumet, though that will not cover all costs. The total cost to demolish the lead-and-arsenic contaminated 346-unit complex, built in the early 1970s on the footprint of a former lead smelter, is not yet known. East Chicago Mayor Anthony Copeland has said he wants the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to return the land to residential status, which, according to Copeland, would allow the city to develop the land into anything it wished. Two dozen households remained at West Calumet as of Tuesday, according to Cauley and federal U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development officials. Of those, 11 have found new units and are in the process of moving, according to HUD, and the remaining 13 are still working through HUDs grievance process or have been given a notice to move out. Last month, when more than 80 households were on site, HUD gave the local housing authority approval to initiate emergency transfers to temporary units in the citys Harbor section and Chicagos South Side, citing high vacancy rates as a public safety hazard. From our perspective, its concerning when we have so few people out here because we want people to be protected, Nick Snow, attorney for ECHA, told board commissioners on Tuesday. We dont want nobody sitting out here by themselves. Formal grievance hearings are being scheduled for the few families who have requested one, Snow said. It is the intention of the local housing authority to have all households vacated from the site by the first week of May, according to HUD. Snow on Tuesday said nobody will be forced to cross states lines into Illinois, noting there are 30 units more than enough for the remaining families available in the city to accommodate. Under a civil rights settlement agreement last year with the the Chicago-based Shriver Center, a housing justice watchdog group, ECHA was required to inspect units for lead hazards prior to move ins. The Times on March 22 submitted a public records request for lead inspection documents from the East Chicago Housing Authority. That request is pending. Cauley said ECHA staff hopes to vacate the administration building at 4920 Larkspur Avenue by June. The authority is in the process of purchasing a new building to house ECHA staff. The board also approved the transfer of property at 4003 Deal St. from ECHA to its nonprofit arm for redevelopment. Thats one of the properties well go in and renovate under our not-for-profit and get it back on the market, Cauley said. HAMMOND Americas veterans need help adjusting to society whether they experienced combat 60 years ago or are just returning to our shores. At 9 a.m. Friday, a veterans resource forum at the Indiana Welcome Center, 7770 Corinne Dr., will address topics such as homelessness, suicide and other effects of war along with solutions and resources available to veterans in Northwest Indiana. At 10 a.m. Jim Chancellor, a decorated door gunner from Vietnam and recent inductee to the Indiana Veterans Military Hall of Fame, will present a workshop entitled PTSD: Through the Eyes of a Door Gunner. Post-traumatic stress disorder, isnt whats wrong with you. Its what happened to you, he said. "War knows no boundary. We (veterans of all wars) are sewn together with the same fabric, the same thread. Now 67, Chancellor describes PTSD symptoms as the demons that drive the car," explaining that depression and isolation are the most frequent and dangerous with suicide, addiction, binge drinking and divorce the prime results. Bribes and kickbacks paid to an East Chicago housing official in the 1970s helped lay the foundation for the lead- and arsenic-infested public housing disaster in East Chicago. More than 40 years of relative inaction and neglect by many levels of government ensured some of our Region's most financially struggling residents lived in this zone of dire contamination. While these egregious facts can't be undone, Northwest Indiana can take heart in some high-level officials who are visiting the site today. Newly anointed U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Director Scott Pruitt is slated to join Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb today in a visit to the USS Lead Superfund site in East Chicago. Their presence today doesn't rectify decades of government negligence and outright graft surrounding the health and safety crisis that is the West Calumet Housing Complex. But it's good to witness the continued interest of government officials doing their best to mitigate past wrongs. Holcomb has been rolling up his figurative sleeves in the affected area since assuming the governor's seat earlier this year. His executive order declaring the site an emergency disaster zone opened the door for financial assistance to help relocate residents and secure money to demolish the uninhabitable complex. Word came earlier this month that the matter had the new EPA chief's attention as well. U.S. Sen. Todd Young, R-Indiana, U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind., and U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., all deserve credit for putting the East Chicago lead site on Pruitt's radar. "The federal government needs to get this cleanup right, and visiting will provide Administrator Pruitt with a firsthand perspective of the challenges residents are facing and help him understand the situation," Donnelly said earlier this month. We couldn't agree more. Though much work remains, and the lives of more than 1,000 residents have been turned upside down, we all can glean optimism from these high-level visits. The fires of corruption that forged this crisis and the years of neglect that fanned the flames must not be forgotten or be permitted to reignite in any corner of our society. There is new criticism from both the left and the right to Governor Andrew Cuomo's new free college tuition program for middle-class families. NY1's Lindsey Christ filed the following report. With Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders at his side, Governor Andrew Cuomo has been celebrating his new Excelsior Scholarship as a groundbreaking plan to make college free for the middle class. But critics are emerging from every direction. Assemblyman Charles Barron, a liberal firebrand, called a news conference Tuesday to denounce the program as a publicity stunt. He says students from poor and working-class families, whose tuition is already free, should be helped with other expenses.. "What about textbooks? What about fees? What about transportation? What about room and board?" Barron said. Student leaders at CUNY and conservative think tanks also are criticizing the governor. "They've taken a pretty bad plan and made it even worse by introducing a lot of complications that essentially make it less generous for students," said Beth Akers, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Under the program approved last week, students whose families make less than $125,000 a year will not have to pay tuition at public colleges. "College is what high school was 70 years ago," Cuomo said. New York is the first state to offer free tuition for the middle class at two- and four-year colleges. "It sends a clear signal to all young people in the city of New York that if they aspire to a higher education degree, that they may be able to do so without concern," said Jose L. Cruz, president of Lehman College CUNY. Critics said students won't have an easy time. First, they're required to exhaust other scholarship opportunities. And they must be enrolled full-time, which leaves most community college students out. After graduation, recipients will have to remain in the state for as many years as they received aid. "This creates a lot of complexity to the program, when we already know that when financial aid is complex, it leads students to think college may not be afforable for them," Akers said. Nobody knows how many students will actually take advantage of the new scholarship, and whether the budget even includes enough funding to cover them all. The governor calls his plan a big first step. Boosters, and skeptics, are watching closely. Two people were hurt this morning in a shooting at a Brooklyn deli. Police say 42-year-old Kevin Austin opened fire on two workers following a verbal altercation. One employee was hit in the back and the other in the torso. They are both in serious but stable condition. It happened around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday on Mill Street near Hicks Street in Red Hook. The owner of the bodega told us this is the first time anything like this has happened. "Some of the customers called me," he said. "I was shocked and I was surprised. We have been here for like 13 years and none of this ever happened. And I just came from the hospital a few minutes ago. One of the guys in critical condition. He got shot right in the back, and it went through his spine." Police recovered this handgun at the scene. Austin was arrested but is still awaiting charges. He has a slew of past arrests, most recently for a robbery in 2008. The Butler Did It par Read more [...] New evidence emerges in the death of Court of Appeals Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam - at least seven surveillance videos that show her walking in Harlem in the hours before her death. This as her husband speaks for the first time since her body was found in the Hudson River . NY1's Dean Meminger filed the following report: Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam's movements were last captured on three surveillance videos in Riverbank State Park along the Hudson River just after midnight on April 12. Her body was found in the water at 1:30 that afternoon.. "We have her about about 12:20 in the morning at three different locations in the park walking around," said Christopher McCormack, deputy chief of Manhattan North Detectives. In addition to the three park videos, police say they have spotted the judge on footage from four other surveillance cameras in Harlem, one of them near the judge's brownstone on West 131st St. It shows her leaving her home shortly after 9 p.m. that night. "The video shows her walking by herself, walking westbound on 131st Street, and then walking northbound on Eighth Avenue and Across 145 street. So we have her in different spots, always walking by herself, nobody behind her," McCormack said. Police are not releasing the footage out of respect to the judge's family. Because she was alone in each video, the images support suggestions that Abdus-Salaam took her own life and was not murdered. But police are not yet classifying her death as a suicide as they continue to look for clues. Their focus is now the three hours that span the videos. "It doesn't matter what stature. It is sad. The family needs some closure," McCormack siad. The judge's husband, the Rev. Gregory Jacobs, is downplaying any suggestion she might have been depressed and committed suicide. He issued a statement Wednesday saying, "Those of us who loved Sheila and knew her well do not believe that these unfounded conclusions have any basis in reality." Jacobs and the police asked anyone with information about her final hours to come forward. In 2013, Abdus-Salaam became the first African-American woman on the court of appeals, the state's highest court. She was appointed by Governor Andrew Cuomo. "This was an extraordinary woman. Really, just an accomplished, polished, beautiful person," Cuomo said Wednesday. "And before we get caught up in rumors, I would rather let the investigators do their work, come up with a conclusion, and then we'll respond." Sources tell NY1 the judge had a lot of water in her lungs when her body was pulled from the Hudson River. They say that strongly suggests she was alive when she went into the water. Her body was discovered floating several feet from the riverbank. There were no signs of trauma. She was wearing the same clothes as in the videos. The medical examiner is working with police to determine the cause of death. As Richard Spencer spoke inside Auburn University's Foy Hall on Tuesday evening, a large crowd of students gathered outside. Some held signs, some held cameras and some just came to see what the fuss was about. One student, who later declined to give her name, gave an honest of why she and her friends were out Tuesday night: people watching. For Chelsea Walker, a first-year graduate school student, the onlookers were a problem. Some are out here just to see things, and thats not doing anything [productive], Walker said. Walker came in support of the people who were opposing Spencer. She previously saw videos of Spencer and disagreed with his platform. Its never a positive thing to want the elimination of people, Walker said. But as upset as she was with Spencer and some of the people gathered, she also wasnt happy with Auburn University administration. Walker said she came to Auburn as a part of the Bill Gates Memorial Scholarship Program and if she would have known they would allow an event like the Spencer speaking she would have went somewhere else. They could have taken away the negativity, Walker said. Walker was happy with most of the turnout, saying she was comforted by seeing people of different races coming together. Jacob Lamb and Ian Stephens, both juniors at Auburn, said they didnt have a dog in the fight but wanted to see what would happen. They said they were proud of how Auburn students handled themselves. We see this as an opportunity to show we can do things differently, Lamb said, referring to the recent violent protests in Berkeley, Calif. We hope people see us as a positive. Up until a couple of years ago, Mark Ching was a successful businessman who dedicated his free time and resources to rehabilitating abused dogs in Los Angeles and finding new homes for them. But then he heard about the horrors of the dog meat trade in China, and after witnessing them first hand he dedicated his life to rescuing as many canines as he could from dog slaughterhouses across Asia, even if it meant putting his own life at risk. Marks life changed in 2015, when he heard about an annual event in China called the Yulin Dog Meat Festival. He knew that the Chinese and other Asians ate dog meat, and he accepted that as a cultural thing, but what he couldnt understand was the unspeakable torture that the animals were apparently subjected to before being killed, to supposedly make their meat tastier. It didnt make any sense to him, so he bought a plane ticket to China, put on a backpack and flew to Yulin to learn more. The gruesome scenes he saw on that first trip to China were more horrific than he could have ever imagined, and while they left him traumatized for life, they also transformed him into a brave activist willing to risk his life to rescue as many animals as possible. Photo: Mark Ching/Facebook My first trip was after the Yulin festival, on Sept. 1. When I went to China, I saw things I didnt know people could do. I knew they ate dogs there, but I didnt know about the torture and abuse aspect associated with the preparation of the meat. It doesnt make sense to me its unspeakable, Mark told Dogster. He started making regular trips to China, South Korea and Vietnam, visiting dog meat markets and slaughterhouses and saving as many helpless animals as he could. He managed to rescue 249 canines on his first four trips, but, unfortunately, only 61 of them survived. Thats when he realized that he had to plan out his trips much better, getting in touch with local translators and veterinarians that could treat the dogs after he got them out of the slaughterhouses. Photo: Mark Ching/Facebook When I come into a country, I prep my translator for about two hours before we go out, so when he goes to a slaughterhouse with me he knows what to say. Hell tell the butchers, This is my client, hes a rich American, and he wants to buy [large quantities of] dogs because hes going to kill them himself, prepare the meat, and export it to America,' Ching says. Before we go out, we call local veterinarians and ask them how many dogs they can take, treat, and keep for a few months, because the number of vets we find determines the number of dogs we save. So our process now is to take the dogs, load them up in vans, and get them straight to the vets. Photo: Mark Ching/Facebook But while posing as a rich American businessman is usually a good cover, it doesnt always work, and Mark has been physically abused several times by dog meat traders who figured out he was lying. He was badly beaten when a South Korean butcher noticed that he was wearing a GoPro camera, he has been held hostage, had machete put to his throat and a gun held pointed at his head, but none of these life-threatening situations have deterred him from continuing to venture into danger to carry out his rescue operations. When you save a dog and that dog looks at you, its like that moment when youre in love with someone its amazing. I dont think people realize that theres beauty in what I do, Mark Ching says. Photo: Mark Ching/Facebook Flying to Asia and working with the locals to save dozens, sometimes hundreds of dogs is an expensive affair, and Ching spends hundreds of dollars of his money every year to make it happen. He runs The PetStaurant, a wellness and nutrition-centered pet store that allows him to fund his rescue operations without having to rely too heavily on donations, although he appreciates every cent he gets from fellow animal lovers. My business is very successful, but where most people would buy a Rolex watch, I save dogs, Mark says. I never want someone to look at what I do and pollute it by saying I do it for [donation] money, because thats not possible I lose a few hundred thousand dollars a year on these rescues because theyre so expensive. But in the end its worth it because this means so much to me. Photo: Mark Ching/Facebook Through his foundation, Animal Hope and Wellness Foundation, Mark Ching has so far rescued over 1,000 dogs from the Asian dog meat trade. Most of them are treated and put up for adoption locally, because flying them with him back to the U.S. is a difficult an expensive affair. Unfortunately, I cant take them all, he told The Dodo. Financially, its exhausting, so I take the dogs who need me the most, dogs whove had their feet or their legs cut off. Some of the dogs he saves from butchers are in such a bad state that they dont even make it to the veterinarian. He always drives his rescue van to the countryside to give them a decent burial. At least they knew in their last moments that someone cared for them, Mark says. Photo: Mark Ching/Facebook After seeing dogs subjected to unspeakable means of torture, like being mutilated, boiled or burned alive, and electrocuted all for the belief that their meat tastes better when they suffer, Mark Ching says that he has been traumatized for life. He lives with terrible visions that keep him up at night, but hes also more determined than ever to put an end to these abominable practices. Risking your life to save thousands of helpless animals is commendable, but mark knows that it makes little difference in the grand scheme of things. The Humane Society reports that 30 million dogs are slaughtered every year across Asia, with an estimated 10 million in China alone. Thats why the brave activist now plans to focus more on raising awareness about the horrors of the dog meat trade in Asia, and turn people away from eating dog meat. Photo: Mark Ching/Facebook In China and South Korea, they care more about image, so my goal is to put this media campaign together, line up celebrities, and schedule important meetings with people in the government, Mark said. My message will be, You can be hated by all these countries because of this inhumanity or you can rise up and decide that your country is better than that. In our culture, we used to have slavery and lynching, but one day we realized that was no longer acceptable, and we changed. I believe their countries are no different, and that theyll change in time, too. To learn more about Mark Chings efforts to end the barbaric practices of the dog meat visit his foundations Facebook page. The above interview with Mark is both inspiring and heart-wrenching. Youll cry and youll be a wreck after you watch it, but you need to see it to understand what animals are being subjected to and how passionate this man is about stopping the cruel dog meat trade. Coffee is more popular today than ever before, but many people abstain from consuming to much of it because it can really take a toll on their pearly whites. Well, thanks to the worlds first colorless coffee, you dont have to worry about stained teeth anymore. After getting tired of looking for a coffee drink that had the natural flavor they loved so much but didnt stain their teeth, David and Adam Nagy, two Slovakian brothers who like strong coffee and their teeth white, decided to create it themselves. Called CLR CFF, their innovative drink is exactly what it sounds like clear coffee, without the vowels. It sounds like a gimmick, I know, but the Nagy brothers claim that CLR CFF is made solely from high-quality Arabica coffee beans and pure water, with no preservatives, artificial flavors, sweeteners or sugars added. It apparently took them three months to come up with a colorless coffee that actually retains its flavors, but for now they are keeping the recipe a secret. All they are willing to say is that it is made solely through physical processing that involves methods which have never been used before, and that an additional amount of caffeine is added after the brewing process. VICE Munchies discovered an abandoned Indiegogo campaign that David and Adam Nagy started a while ago to help fund their idea. Unfortunately, it only raised 466 ($494) of its 35,000 ($37,178) goal. Apparently, that didnt stop them from making their dream of a colorless coffee that doesnt stain the teeth a reality, and they came up with another way to finance the CLR CFF project. So how does colorless coffee taste? Well, we didnt get a chance to try for ourselves, and early reviews paint a confusing picture. Staffers at English newspaper Metro described it as drinkable. Imagine making a caffeine of coffee and then forgetting to wash it out, they wrote. The next day, you add cold water to get the very last dregs of flavor out of the wet beansand thats what this tastes like. Water, but an aftertaste of coffee. The Evening Standard, on the other hand, writes that CLR CFF is strong, like a potent cold brew. So I guess youll have to try it for yourself to find out just how much like real coffee this stuff really is. The sad news is that the worlds first colorless coffee is currently available only in the UK and Slovakia, at a hefty price of 5.99 ($7.70) for two 200-ml clear-glass bottles. Its definitely not cheap, but its also not much more expensive than Starbucks coffee, and I guess the wow factor somewhat justifies the price tag. You can also order a 5-pack of CLR CFF for about $20 online, but youll have to wait a bit before you get to drink any of it. The current online buzz around this unusual product has apparently got many coffee enthusiasts interested in it, and the company is currently running on a four week delay. Photos: CLR CFF/Facebook On the Move: TEAM Lewis Hires Weber Shandwick'sSam Mazzarelli Thu., Nov. 3, 2022 TEAM LEWIS hires Weber Shandwick's Sam Mazzarelli as a SVP in its consumer practice... PAN Communications adds Juliana Allen as EVP to lead the technology practice... My Code appoints Victoria Jordan as GM of branded content and creative... SutherlandGold Group brings on Aditi Roy, who has worked at NBC News, ABC News and CNBC, as head of content and strategy. 19/4/2017 - Teenagers who feel part of a school community and enjoy good relations with their parents and teachers are more likely to perform better academically and be happier with their lives, according to the first OECD PISA assessment of students well-being. Students Well-Being: PISA 2015 Results analyses for the first time students motivation to perform well in school, their relationships with peers and teachers, their home life, and how they spend their time outside of school. The findings are based on a survey of 540,000 students in 72 participating countries and economies who also completed the main OECD PISA 2015 test on science, mathematics and reading. Many students are very anxious about school work and tests and the analysis reveals this is not related to the number of school hours or the frequency of tests but with how supportive they feel their teachers and schools to be: on average across OECD countries, 59% of students reported they often worry that taking a test will be difficult, and 66% reported feeling stressed about poor grades. Some 55% of students say they are very anxious for a test even if they are well prepared. In all countries, girls reported greater schoolwork-related anxiety than boys; and anxiety about schoolwork, homework and tests is negatively related to performance. Teachers play a big role in creating the conditions for students well-being at school and governments should not define the role of teachers solely through the number of instruction hours. Happier students tend to report positive relations with their teachers. Students in schools where life satisfaction is above the national average reported a higher level of support from their teacher than students in schools where life satisfaction is below average. These findings show how teachers, schools and parents can make a real difference to childrens well-being, said OECD Chief of Staff Gabriela Ramos, launching the report in London. Together they can help young people develop a sense of control over their future and the resilience they need to be successful in life. There is no secret, you perform better if you feel valued, if you feel well treated, if you are given a hand to succeed! Parents can make a big difference too. Students whose parents reported spending time just talking to my child, eating the main meal with my child around a table or discussing how well my child is doing at school regularly were between 22% and 39% more likely to report high levels of life satisfaction. The academic impact is also significant: students who spent time talking with their parents were two-thirds of a school year ahead in science learning, and even after accounting for socio-economic status, the advantage remains at one-third of a school year. The survey revealed that bullying was a major issue in schools, with a large proportion of students reporting being victims. On average across OECD countries, around 4% of students roughly one per class reported that they are hit or pushed at least a few times per month, a percentage that varies from 1% to 9.5% across countries. Bullying is lower in schools where students have positive relationships with their teachers. Parents need to be involved in school planning and responses to bullying, and schools need to collaborate with other institutions and services to put in place comprehensive prevention and response plans. On average across OECD countries, most 15-year-old students are happy with their lives, reporting a level of 7.3 on a scale of life satisfaction that ranges from 0 to 10. But there are large variations across countries: while less than 4% of students in the Netherlands said that they were not satisfied with their life, more than 20% of students in Korea and Turkey were. Girls and disadvantaged students are less likely than boys and advantaged students to report high levels of life satisfaction. The lower life satisfaction reported by 15-year-old girls in PISA is possibly a reflection of girls harsh self-criticism, particularly related to their image of their own bodies at a time when they are undergoing major physical changes. PISA 2015 does not collect data on students body image, but the results on eating habits reveal that girls were much more likely than boys to skip breakfast and more likely to skip dinner. Research suggests that exposure to images of overly thin girls and women in traditional media and social media has a negative impact on girls satisfaction with themselves. The causes of this are complex and multi-faceted, but the role of the media in promoting gender stereotypes seems to be undermining girls well-being and the OECD is starting to look at this issue intensively. Other key findings include: Performance at school and life satisfaction Most students in 67 countries and economies feel that they belong to the school community. Disadvantaged students were 7.7 percentage points less likely than advantaged students to report that they feel that they belong at school, and first-generation immigrant students 4.6 percentage points less likely than students without an immigrant background. Girls were more likely than boys to report that they want top grades at school and that they want to be able to select among the best opportunities when they graduate. But boys were more likely than girls to describe themselves as ambitious and to aspire to be the best, whatever they do. On average across OECD countries, 44% of 15-years-old students expect that they will complete university. In Colombia, Korea, Qatar and the United States, more than three out of four students expect so. Students expectations of further education are influenced by education policy, particularly the degree of sorting students into different education tracks. Students social life at school One in five students reported that they experience some form of unfair treatment by their teachers (they are harshly disciplined, or feel offended or ridiculed in front of others) at least a few times in a given month. Girls are less likely than boys to become victims of physical aggressions, but are more likely to be the object of nasty rumours. Students attending schools where bullying is frequent, by international standards, score 47 points lower in science than students in schools where bullying occurs less frequently. Students who reported being frequently exposed to bullying also reported a weaker sense of belonging at school and less satisfaction with life. Students use of their time outside of school About 6.6% of students across OECD countries do not engage in any kind of moderate or vigorous physical activity outside of school, and the share of physically inactive students is 1.8 percentage points higher among girls than among boys. Physically active students are less likely than those who do not participate in any kind of physical activity outside of school to skip school, feel like an outsider at school, feel very anxious about schoolwork, or be frequently bullied. On average across OECD countries, around 23% of students reported that they work for pay and 73% reported that they work in the house before or after school. More boys than girls work for pay, and fewer boys than girls do unpaid household chores. On average across OECD countries, students spend more than two hours on line during a typical weekday after school, and more than three hours on line during a typical weekend day. Between 2012 and 2015, the time spent on line outside of school increased by around 40 minutes per day on both weekdays and weekends. What the PISA results imply for policy: To try to reduce schoolwork-related anxiety among students, specific professional development can be offered to teachers so that they can identify those students who suffer from anxiety and teach these students how to learn from mistakes. For example, one way to encourage a positive attitude towards mistakes is to take the most common mistakes that the class made on a test or quiz and let the students analyse them together. In addition, teachers can help students set realistic but challenging goals for themselves, since students are more likely to value what they are learning, and to enjoy the process of learning, when they can attain the goals they set. Strategies for encouraging goal-setting and enhancing intrinsic motivation to learn include providing meaningful rationales for learning activities, acknowledging students feelings about the tasks, and avoiding excessive pressure and control. Providing constructive feedback on the results of assessments can also nurture students confidence and intrinsic motivation. PISA finds that one major threat to students feelings of belonging at school are their perceptions of negative relationships with their teachers. To build better teacher-student relations, teachers should be trained in basic methods of observation, listening and intercultural communication so that they can better take into account individual learners needs. Teachers should also be encouraged to collaborate and exchange information about students difficulties, character and strengths with their colleagues, so that they can collectively find the best approach to make students feel part of the school community. The data also show that a large proportion of students report being victims of bullying at school. Effective anti-bullying programmes follow a whole-of-school approach that includes training for teachers on bullying behaviour and how to handle it, anonymous surveys of students to monitor the prevalence of bullying, and strategies to provide information to and engage with parents. Teachers and parents have a particularly important role to play in preventing bullying at school: teachers need to communicate to students that they will not tolerate any form of bullying; and parents need to be involved in school planning and responses to bullying. PISA results from 18 culturally and economically diverse countries show that students whose parents routinely engage in day-to-day home-based activities, such as eating a meal together or spending time just talking not only score higher in PISA, but are also more satisfied with their lives. Schools can help parents become more involved in their childs education by removing any barriers to their participation in school events, such as offering flexible channels of communication for busy working parents, and suggesting ways in which parents can get involved both at home and in school. To improve students well-being, schools should also teach students the benefits of an active and healthy lifestyle through physical and health education. Engaging physical education at school can reduce the number of students who are physically inactive out of school. For further information, journalists should contact the OECD Media division (news.contact@oecd.org; tel. + 33 1 45 24 97 00). The report, together with country analysis, summaries and data, is available at www.oecd.org/pisa or at www.oecd.org/education/pisa-2015-results-volume-iii-9789264273856-en.htm An embeddable data visualisation for this publication is available at: www.compareyourcountry.org/pisa?lg=en. Please use the +share/embed button to customize this tool for your country and language and to generate the embed code for your website. Working with over 100 countries, the OECD is a global policy forum that promotes policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. Related Documents Florida Lawmakers Apologize For Groveland Four, Black Men Wrongly Convicted Of Rape In 1939 Elijah C. Watson Elijah Watson serves as Okayplayer's News & Culture Editor. When Florida lawmakers recently approved a bill that would pardon several black men of a crime they were wrongfully convicted of back in 1949. In 1949, four black men in Groveland, Florida Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd, Charles Greenlee and Ernest Thomas were convicted of raping 17-year-old Norma Padgett. Padgett, along with her estranged husband, claimed that while their car had broken down right outside of the city, the four men had stopped, got out of their car, and raped her. From there all four were arrested. Thomas had escaped from the county jail but was ultimately captured and shot multiple times by a posse in Madison County. The remaining three men were beaten in jail to coerce confessions and were convicted at trial by an all-white jury. Shepherd and Irvin were sent to death, while Greenlee, who was 16 years-old at the time, was sentenced to life in prison. Although none of the men are around today, members of their families were in attendance as lawmakers voted unanimously to sponsor HCR 631, which would give the men a posthumous exoneration and ask for their immediate pardon. This resolution, while seemingly minute, symbolizes the great state of Florida looking those families in the eyes families, with children, who grew up not knowing their fathers but only knew their records, state Rep. Bobby DuBose (D-Fort Lauderdale) and one of the sponsors of the bill, said. This resolution is us simply saying, Were sorry understanding we will never know or make up for the pain we have caused. Emirates is cutting flights to the US because of Trump's travel policies "Emirates can confirm that we will be reducing flights to five of the 12 US cities we currently serve. From 1 May and 23 May respectively, our Fort Lauderdale and Orlando operations will move from daily services to five a week. From 1 and 2 June respectively, our Seattle and Boston operations will move from twice-daily services, to a daily service. From 1 July, our operations to Los Angeles will move from twice-daily to a daily service. "This is a commercial decision in response to weakened travel demand to US. The recent actions taken by the US government relating to the issuance of entry visas, heightened security vetting, and restrictions on electronic devices in aircraft cabins, have had a direct impact on consumer interest and demand for air travel into the US. "Until the start of 2017, Emirates' operations in the US have seen healthy growth and performance, driven by customer demand for our high quality product and our international flight connections. However, over the past 3 months, we have seen a significant deterioration in the booking profiles on all our US routes, across all travel segments. Emirates has therefore responded as any profit-oriented enterprise would, and we will redeploy capacity to serve demand on other routes on our global network. "We will closely monitor the situation with the view to reinstate and grow our US flight operations as soon as viable. Emirates is committed to our US operations and will continue to serve our 12 American gateways New York JFK, Newark, Boston, Washington DC, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Dallas, Fort Lauderdale, and Orlando with 101 flight departures per week, connecting these cities to Dubai and our global network of over 150 cities." On Wednesday, Emirates announced plans to reduce service to the US amid fallout from the Trump administration's more restrictive travel policies.The Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based airline says it will cut down on the number of flights to five of the 12 cities it serves in the US.Starting May 1, flights to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, will be reduced from daily flights to five flights a week. The airline says it will make the same cuts to its Orlando, Florida, service starting May 23.Starting June 1 and 2, Seattle and Boston service will be reduced to a single daily flight from two previously. Finally, beginning July 1, Emirates' twice-daily service to Los Angeles will be cut down to a single flight."This is a commercial decision in response to weakened travel demand to US," an airline representative told Business Insider. "The recent actions taken by the US government relating to the issuance of entry visas, heightened security vetting, and restrictions on electronic devices in aircraft cabins have had a direct impact on consumer interest and demand for air travel into the US."Emirates said it had been experiencing steady US growth in the years before President Donald Trump took office but had seen a "significant deterioration" of bookings for US flights over the past three months. This fall in demand occurred concurrent with the Trump administration's travel restrictions covering several majority-Muslim countries (but not the United Arab Emirates), stricter visa regulations, and a carry-on laptop ban on some flights from the Middle East and North Africa.This should come as welcome news for America's three legacy carriers. Since 2015, American, Delta, and United Airlines (the US3) have been complaining about competition from the three Middle East-based rivals Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar Airways (the ME3).According to the US3, the ME3's growth has been supported by their respective governments and fueled by as much as $50 billion in subsidies over the past decade, allowing them to flood the international market and threaten the job security of US aviation workers. They also say the ME3 are in violation of the Open Skies agreements that govern air travel between the US and 120 nations including the UAE and Qatar.These allegations were the focal point of a rally held in March by United Airlines, its employees, and members of Congress in protest of Emirates' new daily service between Newark Liberty International Airport and Athens, Greece.In reference to the US3, Emirates called today's decision a response "any profit-oriented enterprise" would make. Abu Dhabi, UAE-based Etihad told Business Insider on Wednesday that it has no plans to reduce service to the US.Beyond the US3, there are signs that the period of unfettered growth on the part of the ME3 is nearing its end. The Gulf carriers boast the largest fleet of wide-body, long-haul airliners in the world. However, some industry observers are concerned that the ME3 have more capacity on hand than viable destinations with sufficient demand to support its flights.Here's Emirates' statement in its entirety: A robbery suspect who was shot Monday by a police officer in southeast Omaha had reached into his waistband, then raised his hand and pointed toward the officer as if he were holding a gun, the Police Department said. Dillon R. Trejo, 31, was not armed. Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said he and the Douglas County Attorneys Office had determined that the officer, Brooks Riley, acted in a reasonable manner and was justified. They said Riley reasonably believed that he was responding to deadly force. Riley, 37, is a seven-year veteran of the department. Trejo was taken in critical condition to a hospital after he was shot near 26th and Rees Streets. Police say the officer fired twice and that Trejo was struck at least once. His condition has stabilized, police said Tuesday night, and when he is discharged he will be booked. Trejos shooting brought to an end a nearly daylong ordeal involving him, which started and ended at his ex-girlfriends house. About 11 a.m., Margaret Graham reported that Trejo had taken her car, that he may be armed with a handgun and that she thought he was using drugs. She was concerned about him, she told police. About 2:40 p.m., Trejo robbed the Buckys Gas Station at 2223 S. 24th St., using a gun, police said. At 3:18 p.m., Trejo stopped at a house near 51st and Farnam Streets, where he stole a Ford F-150 pickup truck, they said. A person at the home called police. At 3:54 p.m., police received a report from someone who said he believed that Trejo had stolen his gun in the past few days. About 4 p.m., Trejos ex-girlfriend said he stopped at her home on Rees Street and threw a ball of cash at her, telling her that he loved her. Then, at 4:21 p.m., officers located the truck and began pursuing Trejo. They called in a police helicopter. It tracked Trejo as he drove around the neighborhood near 25th and Marcy Streets the area where his ex-girlfriend lives. As police closed in, he told his former girlfriend over the phone that they are going to have to kill me. ... I love you and the kids. The woman later told police that she believed Trejo was on a suicide mission. I am going to end it here, she recalled him saying. At 4:30 p.m., Riley threw a stop stick into the path of the stolen vehicle as Trejo was driving on Rees Street in front of his ex-girlfriends home. Trejo stopped the stolen F-150 in front of the stop stick, got out of the truck and ran a short distance on Rees Street. Riley ran after Trejo. After running away from the officer, police said, Trejo suddenly turned toward Riley, pulled up his T-shirt, reached into his waistband and raised his hand and arm up toward the officer as if he had a weapon in his hand. Riley fired his handgun at Trejo, hitting him at least once, police said. The short foot pursuit and the shooting were captured on Rileys body camera. The witness accounts of the officer-involved shooting were consistent with the video footage that was recorded by Rileys body worn camera, police said. One witness said he thought Trejo had a gun, another thought he didnt but was going for a weapon. The video recording showed Riley throw the stop stick onto Rees Street. Trejo stopped the F-150 before it hit the stop stick and then he ran from the pickup east on Rees Street. The video recording showed Riley running behind Trejo as Riley drew his handgun. Trejo ran about the length of four parked vehicles. As he was running, Trejo raised both hands into the air for a split second. Trejo then lowered his hands and suddenly turned toward Riley. As Trejo turned a complete 180 degrees to face Riley, he pulled up his T-shirt with his left hand, reached into his waistband with his right hand and raised his hand and arm up toward Riley as if he had a gun in his hand to shoot at Riley. While Trejo was standing in a shooting stance, Riley fired his handgun at Trejo. Trejo did not have a gun or any other item in his hand. It was less than five seconds from the time Trejo ran from the truck until Riley shot him, police said. Officers administered first aid, police said. When he is discharged from the hospital, Trejo will be booked into the Douglas County Jail on suspicion of robbery, use of a firearm to commit a felony, being a felon in possession of a firearm, possession of a stolen firearm, theft by unlawful taking (the truck), and felony operating a vehicle to avoid arrest Riley and another officer at the scene, Jason Wilhelm, were two of the officers who fired their guns in the August 2014 fatal shooting of Cops crew member Bryce Dion at the Wendys restaurant at 4308 Dodge Street. In that shooting, police interrupted the robbery of the fast food establishment by Cortez Washington, a recent parolee from Kansas City. Washington, carrying an Airsoft pellet gun which police said looked and sounded like a real firearm fired at the officers. Riley, Wilhelm and Detective Darren Cunningham returned fire, and Dion was struck by police bullets. Washington was also hit and killed. According to Nebraska law, any case in which a person is killed during an arrest or while jailed will be investigated by a grand jury. World-Herald staff writers Andrew J. Nelson and Jay Withrow contributed to this report. Regina woman charged with human smuggling after 9 foreign nationals intercepted at Canada-U.S. border Few refugee crossings in Saskatchewan A Regina woman is facing charges after a four-month investigation into human smuggling.On Friday, RCMP stopped nine foreign nationals on the Canadian border between the North Portal, N.D., and Northgate ports of entry.The next day, police arrested Michelle Omoruyi, 43, in Regina. She has been charged with one count of human smuggling under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, and one count of conspiracy to commit human smuggling.The nine people weren't harmed, and were all taken into custody by the Canada Border Services Agency.Several people in the United States were also arrested in connection with the investigation. Their names have not been released.RCMP said a significant amount of cash was seized from a house connected to Omoruyi.Droves of asylum seekers have been making their way north into Canada from the U.S. in the wake of Donald Trump's election as president.The border town of Emerson, Man., has seen many asylum seekers walk across the border, as the province provides legal help to refugees.Saskatchewan is one of four provinces that does not provide legal help. Anyone claiming refugee status in the province has to pay out of pocket. LINCOLN One major tax package remained standing Tuesday after the death of a bill that would have benefited mainly rural property tax payers at the expense of urban ones. The proposed tax shift created an insurmountable obstacle for Legislative Bill 640, sponsored by State Sen. Mike Groene of North Platte. Groene acknowledged after three hours of debate that he does not have the 33 votes needed to overcome a filibuster on the measure. That means the bill is unlikely to return for continued debate. Speaker of the Legislature Jim Scheer of Norfolk requires sponsors of controversial bills to show that their proposals can advance before he will schedule them for more than three hours of debate. Groene said he was glad for the chance to debate LB 640 and discuss the property tax burden on farm- and ranchland owners. He also took heart from a 30-3 vote in support of an amendment to the bill. Its a strong message that we got a positive vote on one of the amendments, he said. As advanced by the Revenue Committee, LB 640 would have redistributed the $224 million a year that is now earmarked for property tax credits to all property owners. The money would be used to provide a new type of state aid to school districts with the heaviest reliance on property taxes. The bill also would lower the maximum school property tax levy, which would trigger a boost in aid to school districts under the existing state aid formula. Compared with the current tax credits, the proposal would mean more tax relief for primarily rural school districts and less for more urban districts. Supporters of LB 640 argued that the bill would help restore equity in property taxes. Sen. Dan Hughes of Venango said a growing share of those taxes has fallen on agricultural property as prices of farmland and ranchland soared in the last decade. I dont think that asking for a little bit of that shift back from the urban homeowner is out of line, he said. Groene said the bill fulfills the states constitutional mandate to provide free K-12 public education. The measure would ensure that every school district gets back some of the income and sales tax dollars that local residents pay, he said. Currently, 175 school districts do not qualify for state school aid, which comes out of state income and sales tax revenues. That aid goes to districts that cannot meet student needs with their property taxes. All districts can get state special education funds and a portion of the state income taxes paid by district residents. Opponents of LB 640 said the proposal would take relief away from taxpayers who are paying among the states highest property tax levies, while providing more money to taxpayers where levies are lower. This is like a reverse Robin Hood bill, said Sen. Roy Baker of Lincoln. This is a matter of taking money out of one pocket and putting it in another. He said he has heard concerns from farmers in the Beatrice school district, who would not see any benefit from the bill. Sen. Kate Bolz of Lincoln questioned the stability of the proposed change. She noted that lawmakers reduce school aid spending every time the state gets in a budget bind. Bolz also noted that 52 school districts would not get the new property tax aid under LB 640. But those districts serve 75 percent of Nebraska students. Nebraskas property tax credit program uses state tax dollars to offset part of the annual tax bill for property owners. The credits appear as a line on the annual property tax statement. Under current law and if valuations remained flat, the fund would provide credits worth $89.57 per $100,000 for residential and commercial property and $107.48 per $100,000 for ag land. Legislative debate on a tax plan supported by Gov. Pete Ricketts is slated to begin Friday. LINCOLN Nebraskas troubled prison system should not be granted more authority to hide information related to the death penalty, several state senators argued Wednesday while debating a bill that would shield the identities of lethal drug suppliers. But State Sen. John Kuehn of Heartwell, the bills sponsor, said he fails to see the public value of disclosing the names of drug manufacturers or private compounding pharmacists. The negative publicity generated by anti-death penalty activists creates a real barrier to carrying out a punishment favored by the majority of Nebraska voters. Lawmakers discussed Legislative Bill 661 for three hours Wednesday without coming to a vote. It will return to the agenda for additional debate this year if Kuehn can show that he has the support of 33 of the 49 senators, the margin needed to overcome a filibuster. Kuehn said he thinks he will gather enough support to bring the bill back for more discussion and a vote. Wednesday marked the first floor debate related to the death penalty since 2015, when lawmakers surprisingly voted to repeal capital punishment over the veto of Gov. Pete Ricketts. Since then, death penalty supporters gathered sufficient petition signatures to force a referendum on the repeal, which was held in the November general election. A 61 percent majority voted to reinstate capital punishment. LB 661 seeks to change Nebraskas public records law so state officials could withhold information related to the identity of an individual or business that manufactures, supplies, compounds or prescribes execution drugs. Drug secrecy laws exist in 15 of the 31 states with the death penalty, Kuehn said. The courts have generally ruled against inmates who have challenged the secrecy laws. Kuehn said he patterned his bill after the law in Georgia, which was upheld by that states highest court in a 5-2 decision in 2014. He said that under his bill, only the makers of the drugs would be shielded. Information about the types, dosages and testing results of the drugs to be used in an execution would still be disclosed to the condemned inmate and the public. Nebraska law currently shields the identity of the executioner. Kuehn argued that his bill would simply extend similar protection to drug suppliers. Nebraskas election results figured prominently in Wednesdays back-and-forth, with some supporters of the secrecy bill warning their colleagues that they could face ouster at the polls if they are seen as impeding executions of the 10 men on Nebraskas death row. The people are enraged on this issue, said Sen. Mike Groene of North Platte. They want justice and they expect their elected officials to follow their lead, not thumb their nose at them and say You were wrong and I know whats right. Several senators, however, said voters were asked if they supported the death penalty, not whether they condone governmental secrecy. Sen. Paul Schumacher of Columbus argued that one reading of the referendum results could be that voters want the state to return to having the death penalty in name only. Schumacher said having capital punishment in statute allows the state to receive the benefits of deterrence while avoiding costly murder trials by inducing murder suspects to plead guilty. We had the best of both worlds, he said. We had the benefits, or theoretical benefits, of the death penalty, without the death penalty. Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, who has championed the repeal of capital punishment throughout his four decades in office, said if the Legislature passes the bill, the door is slammed shut on the publics right to know. He and other opponents said an open accounting of tax expenditures is fundamental to good government and that it should not be thrown away to make executions easier. Some argued that it would be a mistake to provide more authority to prison officials who are struggling to manage overcrowded institutions, staff shortages and inmate riots. Chambers mentioned how in 2015, the Department of Correctional Services paid a foreign broker named Chris Harris $54,400 for two lethal substances it never received. Because the department was required to disclose the brokers name, the public learned that Harris was the same supplier accused of lying to obtain a lethal drug from a Swiss manufacturer he then sold to Nebraska in 2011. This bill ... is designed to deprive the public of information it ought to have about how its government is carrying out the most solemn, most consequential act a government can perform, Chambers said. Anti-death penalty activists have harassed and threatened drug manufacturers and pharmacists willing to compound the substances for execution purposes, Kuehn argued. As a result, many drugmakers no longer consent to the use of their products in prison death chambers. He argued another consequence of the activism has been to make some types of anesthetic drugs difficult or impossible to obtain for medical purposes. Kuehn, a veterinarian, called it hypocritical to endanger the health and lives of the innocent to protect those on death row. When we weigh the value of that public record, what is the question of cost, he asked his colleagues. LINCOLN A state legislative committee signed off on a slimmed-down state budget proposal for the next two fiscal years on Tuesday on a split vote that portends some rocky debate ahead. The budget advanced by the Legislatures Appropriations Committee calls for general fund spending of $4.4 billion and $4.5 billion, respectively, over the next two fiscal years. Thats an average spending increase of 1 percent. The proposal moved forward on a 6-3 vote, which is the first time since 2003 that the committees two-year budget proposal didnt get a unanimous send-off to debate by all 49 state senators. State Sen. John Stinner of Gering, the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, said most state agencies took a 4 percent cut in their budgets to allow for slight increases in funding for state corrections and the justice reinvestment project. Stinner, a banker leading the budget-writing process for the first time, said that overall his goal in the budget was to share the pain among state agencies while not cutting too deeply and leaving an adequate cash reserve in the event the states tax revenues continue to lag. Youd much rather be Santa Claus than the Grinch, but it is what it is, he said. Heartwell Sen. John Kuehn, one of three on the committee who voted against advancing the proposed budget, said he is concerned that too much one-time money from the cash reserve and from state agencies extra cash is being used to balance the budget, leaving the state with too little reserves to tap if state revenues dont rebound. What happens if we dont meet our revenue projections? Kuehn asked. Several lawmakers have predicted a long and contentious debate when the full Legislature takes up the budget on Tuesday over issues such as a $30 million cut taken by the State Roads Department and reductions in rates paid to child welfare providers. Everyone has their own piece of the pie they want to preserve or increase. And we have a hard time coming to a consensus on anything, said Crete Sen. Laura Ebke. It was a grueling session for the Appropriations Committee, which had to trim back spending due to lagging state tax receipts caused in large part by dismal profits for farmers. The picture darkened in February when a state tax forecasting board reduced its prediction for tax revenue by $153 million. That prompted the committee, as Stinner described it, to dig out extra coins from between the sofa cushions to balance the budget. The proposed budget calls for withdrawing $173 million from the cash reserve, or rainy day fund, for the state operating budget and spending $75 million on a prison expansion in Lincoln and $10 million on an upgrade of the heating and air conditioning system in the State Capitol. That leaves about $380 million in the cash reserve fund for future rainy days or one-time expenses. The committee also took about $215 million in extra cash funds held by state agencies to finance the budget. That amount is about $94 million more than usual, Stinner said, and helped avoid deeper cuts in spending. One cut made by the committee has already drawn the ire of Gov. Pete Ricketts. Ricketts proposed budget called for funding 48 new corrections officers in each of the next two fiscal years, at a cost of $3.1 million in 2017-18 and $8 million the following year, to bolster the ranks of security forces in state prisons. The committee, however, approved only about half of the funding. Stinner and other members of the committee have defended the reduction, saying it didnt make sense to spend more on front-line staff positions when corrections cannot fill its existing ranks. The agency, which has been plagued by turnover rates of up to 32 percent, recently reported that it had 148 vacant officer posts already. Stinner said that if those state prison vacancies are filled, he is more than willing to look at funding more positions. Besides Stinner, voting to advance the budget were State Sens. Kate Bolz and Anna Wishart, both of Lincoln, and Mike McDonnell, Tony Vargas and Bob Hilkemann, all of Omaha. Voting no, besides Kuehn, were Elmwood Sen. Robert Clements and Syracuse Sen. Dan Watermeier. Sheriffs Office says driver, 16, hit and killed bicyclist, 78 A 78-year-old bicyclist was killed Monday night when she was struck by a vehicle about a half-mile east of Columbus. The Platte County Sheriffs Office said the crash occurred around 8:05 p.m. a half-mile west of East 14th Avenue along East Eighth Street. The Sheriffs Office said a preliminary investigation indicated that a westbound 2000 Nissan Maxima, driven by a 16-year-old Columbus boy, struck the rear of a westbound bicycle ridden by Patricia Steiner of Columbus. Steiner was pronounced dead at the scene, the Sheriffs Office said. The teen driver and passengers in the Maxima were not injured, the Sheriffs Office said. Authorities did not identify the teen driver and they did not say how many passengers were in the Nissan at the time of the crash. Alcohol was not a factor in the crash, the Sheriffs Office said. WASHINGTON Todd Ricketts, the brother of Nebraskas governor, has withdrawn from consideration as the next deputy commerce secretary. I am deeply honored that President Trump nominated me to serve as deputy secretary of commerce, Ricketts said in a written statement to The World-Herald. I offer my continued support for President Trump and his administration, and the important work they are doing to promote economic opportunity. I hope there are other opportunities to contribute to his administration in the future. His withdrawal was first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times. Todd and his brother Pete Ricketts are part of the billionaire family that owns the Chicago Cubs. Pete Ricketts, a Republican, is governor of Nebraska. Todd Ricketts is a TD Ameritrade board member. When the Trump administration announced Ricketts nomination last year, it praised him as an immensely successful businessman with unparalleled knowledge of the finance industry. But that very business success also presented a challenge for his nomination. He had been working on a divestment plan to address the kind of conflict of interest concerns that come with holding a large portfolio. But he simply wasnt able to reach an agreement that would satisfy the Office of Government Ethics. Hes not the only one to have encountered such difficulties. Trump has gone to top business leaders to fill many senior positions. Their financial interests have at times slowed their nominations, although most have ultimately made it through the process. Gov. Ricketts declined to comment through a spokesman. So did Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., who is a member of the Commerce Committee, which would have reviewed the nomination. LINCOLN (AP) Authorities say a 65-year-old Lincoln prison inmate has died. The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services said Joe Rodriquez died at 11:55 p.m. Sunday at the state penitentiary. His cause of death has not yet been determined, but officials said he was being treated for a long-term medical condition. The department said Rodriquez had been serving a life sentence for two counts of first-degree murder in Hall County. His sentence began Sept. 12, 1988. Copyright 2017, the Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The region saw one of its first tornado watches of the season on Wednesday but appears to have lucked out. As of 10 p.m., only minor damage had been reported from the one or two twisters that appear to have occurred in Carroll County, Iowa. Instead, the storms that moved rapidly through the region dropped heavy rain and, in some cases, large hail. Rainfall amounts varied widely, from .10 of an inch in downtown Omaha to an inch in Beatrice. Some areas, including Lincoln and Fairbury, reported hail the size of golf balls. Nebraska and Iowa had been in the bulls-eye for the highest risk of tornadoes, but even so, the risk wasnt extreme, according to the National Weather Service. A storm chaser reported a tornado touching down southwest of Carroll, Iowa. Damage included downed trees and power lines, and the roof and doors of a machine shed blown off, according to the U.S. Storm Prediction Center. The cold front that ushered in Wednesdays storms left behind cooler air. Highs through Sunday are forecast in the 60s. Today is expected to be blustery and cloudy. Rainfall totals 24-hour rainfall totals, in inches, as of 7 p.m. Wednesday Beatrice 1.01 Wahoo 0.94 Lincoln 0.94 Nebraska City 0.92 Tekamah 0.84 Omaha/Millard 0.45 Bellevue/Offutt 0.42 Omaha/Eppley 0.10 3 arrested for IPL betting, electronic devices found India oi-PTI New Delhi, Apr 18: Three persons, including a technician employed with Indian Railways, have been arrested for allegedly betting on IPL matches in southeast Delhi's Greater Kailash area, police said on Tuesday. The three accused - Manbirender Singh, Surender Singh and Monty Narula -were arrested on Monday from a house in Greater Kailash-I , based on a tip-off, said Romil Baaniya, DCP (Southeast). After police received information about gambling and betting on IPL matches happening at a house, a raid was conducted. The three accused were found listening to running commentary of the IPL match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kings XI Punjab through mobile phones and laptop, and maintaining a record in their diaries, said the officer. Ten mobile phones were seized from them. One of the accused was on a call with someone who was giving current rates per ball of the match between the two teams, he said. One laptop was recovered from their possession on which they were maintaining the records of debit/credit of their clients. Five spiral diaries were also recovered in which they were maintaining the rough record of their clients. One LED TV and one set-up box have also been recovered. It has emerged during interrogation that the three accused had started betting on IPL matches from this season of the tournament. Manbirender Singh disclosed that he came to know that there is a huge profit in gambling and betting on IPL matches. He had discussed it with the other accused and they started betting on IPL matches from his house. Surender Singh works as a technician in Indian Railways while Manbirender is a cloth merchant in Connaught Place. PTI For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 19, 2017, 11:28 [IST] Acquisition of fighter jets would be expedited:Jaitley assures IAF India pti-PTI New Delhi, Apr 19: Defence Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday assured the Indian Air Force of expediting acquisition of fighter jets and other critical systems as part of its modernisation programme. In his inaugural address at the IAF's commanders' conference, Jaitley also talked of 'uncertainties' in the region as well as on security challenges facing India due to the rapidly-changing geo-political situation. On the first day of the three-day-long conclave, top IAF commanders brainstormed over various aspects of the country's security challenges and IAF's preparedness to deal with any eventuality. "He (Jaitley) emphasised the resolve of the government in expediting approved modernisation programmes of the Service," the IAF said in a statement. The conference will deliberate on a range of critical issues including modernisation of IAF, its futuristic plans and ways to enhance overall capability of the force. Jaitley also complimented the IAF for having successfully conducted various military exercises and operations towards humanitarian assistance and disaster relief both within and outside the country. He also acknowledged IAF's capability as the first responder especially in face of a natural calamity, the IAF said. Chief of Air Staff B S Dhanoa briefed Jaitley on the operational status of IAF and the progress on infrastructure development. The IAF chief elaborated on initiatives being taken for enhancing operational effectiveness and the future roadmap of IAF. He also highlighted the efforts made to enhance aircraft serviceability towards maintaining operational readiness of IAF. During the course of the conference, senior leadership of the IAF would deliberate on issues pertaining to enhancing IAF's combat effectiveness and human resources related issues. To encourage indigenisation and enhance self-reliance in defence manufacturing, a day long interactive session has been planned with delegations from HAL, BEL and other Defence PSUs. PTI Advani, Joshi to be tried for criminal conspiracy in Babri Masjid demolition case India oi-Vicky By Vicky Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and others will be tried for criminal conspiracy in the Babri Masjid demolition case. The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed an appeal by the Central Bureau of Investigation which challenged the dropping of charges against them. The court said that there would be no fresh trial in the case. The SC ordered that the trial would be conducted in both Lucknow and Rae Bareli. The trial would be conducted on a day-to-day basis, the court also ruled. The SC also said that there shall be no adjournment in the case. If convicted, Advani and others could be sentenced to five years in jail. The SC pointed out that a 25-year pendency in this case was 'evasion of justice,' while stating that it would direct the Lucknow court to complete the trial in two years while ordering a day to day hearing. On the last date of hearing the CBI told the SC that it wanted the trial against Advani, Joshi and Uma Bharti to be conducted. The CBI also sought that the conspiracy charges that were dropped should be restored. The premier agency also said that it wanted the case to be transferred from Rae Bareili to Lucknow. The SC indicated that it was inclined to permit a joint trial and revival of the conspiracy charges. The conspiracy charges are serious the CBI had said. It said that a secret meeting took place at the residence of Bajrang Dal founder-president Vinay Katiyar on the eve of the demolition. On that day, the final decision had been taken to raze the masjid. It was a conspiracy hatched in 1990 by Advani and others which ultimately culminated in the demolition, the CBI chargesheet also said. Two sets of cases: There are two sets of cases relating to the demolition on December 6, 1992. The first case relates to unnamed karsevaks and second relates to the VVIPs in a court in Rae Bareili. The SC on Thursday said that 25 years had passed and in the interest of justice the matter must be heard in one court, preferably in Lucknow. "We will use our extraordinary power under Article 142 of the Constitution to transfer the case to Lucknow," the court said. "A person should not suffer litigation for 25 years. In your own interest, the trial must come to an end and this is for your betterment," the SC told Advani's counsel. The court asked, "Many of the accused are dead and some will die now." As far as the Rae Bareily case is concerned, the court has examined 57 witnesses and have to examine another 105. In Lucknow, in the case against the karsevaks, 195 witnesses have been examined and 800 are still remaining, the SC pointed out. OneIndia News AHINDA takes a backseat, Karnataka Congress all out to appease Lingayats, Vokkaligas India oi-Anusha Fresh from bypoll victory the Karnataka Congress is preparing for assembly elections scheduled to take place in less than a year. With Chief Minister Siddaramaiah confirming that he would lead the election campaign, the Congress' usual agenda of AHINDA is taken care of. With BJP managing to increase its vote share in traditional bastions of the Congress, the ruling party is devising methods to split BJP's votes. Despite being led by Siddaramaiah, who takes pride in calling himself a socialist, rationalist leader fighting for the cause of social justice, the Congress is getting down to caste appeasement. The first attempt to woo the Lingayat and Vokkaliga voters is being made with respect to the post of KPCC president. During his visit to Bengaluru on Tuesday, Karnataka in-charge general secretary Digvijaya Singh said that the party sees no need to replace Dr Parameshwar. The clamour for a change in leadership is, however, growing in the party. Congress hopes to appease Lingayat voters The Congress, that is confident of its AHINDA votes, is now trying the beat B S Yeddyurappa's image as the only Lingayat mass leader in the state. A Lingayat strongman, S R Patil's appointment as the KPCC's chief will, the Congress hopes, lure Lingayat votes. With D K Shivakumar, the Congress hopes to appease the Vokkaliga voters. With senior leaders of the party in Karnataka keen on having a president from the Lingayat community, water resource minister M B Patil's name is also doing the rounds. M B Patil proved his worth beyond doubt during the Gundlupet and Nanjangud bypolls. His Lingayat appeal reduced B S Yeddyurappa's caste appeal to a non-entity. KPCC president post for a Lingayat strongman is just one avenue for appeasement. The Congress is also taking the 'mutt' route. In a bid to convey to the Lingayat voters that Congress will cater to their demands, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah during campaigns for the bypoll said that the state had sought Bharath Ratna to be conferred on seer of Siddaganga mutt, Shivakumara Swamiji. While this is not the first time that Siddaramaiah or Dr Parameshwar sought for the seer to be bestowed with the honour, the push being given by the Congress this time around has not gone unnoticed. The fight for Vokkaliga votes The fight for Vokkaliga votes has always been a three-cornered contest in Karnataka. The JD(S) led by Deve Gowda has a predominantly Vokkaliga vote bank in central Karnataka. The Congress and the BJP fight for the votes that do not favour the JD(S). With infighting in the JD(S) plaguing its performance in the assembly polls, both the BJP and the Congress are looking to woo the Vokkaliga votes. For the BJP with Vokkaliga leaders holding plump posts and leading campaigns from the front, wooing the voters has become a regular affair. With senior Vokkaliga leaders like S M Krishna on their side, the party hopes to gather more support. It may be recalled that during the previous elections in Karnataka, the Adichunchanagiri Mutt had extended support to the BJP. The Congress has now started projecting D K Shivakumar as its flagbearer of Vokkaliga community. Maintaining that S M Krishna's exit has no implications, the party is steadying to put up a fight for the Vokkaliga vote bank. While all parties claim to fight election on the agenda of development, the dominant shadow of caste appeasement politics refuses to die down. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 19, 2017, 13:13 [IST] Noida: Two held for cheating people of lakhs using 'magic ink' on cheques Allahabad HC grants bail to 1 accused in Dadri lynching case India oi-PTI Greater Noida, Apr 18: One of the accused in the Dadri lynching case was on Tuesday released from jail after getting bail from the Allahabad high court. Accused Punit was released on Tuesday evening. Villagers celebrated his release as he reached his village. Punit and another accused Arun were granted bail by the high court on April 6. Both were lodged in a jail in Greater Noida. Arun's bail documents are expected to reach the district in next two days and till then he will remain in jail. The two are accused of the murder of Mohammed Akhlaq in Bisada village in Dadri tehsil of Gautam Buddh Nagar district in September 2015. Akhlaq was beaten to death by a mob on suspicion of cow slaughter after they barged into his house. His son Danish was critically injured in the attack. A case was registered against more than a dozen persons, including the son of a local BJP leader, in connection with the attack. PTI For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 19, 2017, 11:19 [IST] Instant karma! Woman falls while trying to kick bike rider, video goes viral Chandra Grahan 2022: Check the start and end timing of lunar eclipse in major cities Total Lunar Eclipse LIVE: Blazing red 'blood moon' to appear in the sky today Delhi MCD election 2017: Amit Shah to lead BJP campaign India oi-PTI New Delhi, April 18: Shifting its MCD election campaign in top gear, BJP will field its senior leaders including party chief Amit Shah for seeking votes for the party in the civic body polls in Delhi. "Shah will address an election rally in South-West Delhi along with party leader and Bhojpuri film actor Ravi Kishan, on April 20," said Delhi BJP media in-charge Praveen Kapoor. The same day, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will hold election rallies in Kirari and Mustafabad. Other union ministers and senior party leaders including Venkaiah Naidu, Uma Bharti, Harsh Vardhan, Santosh Gangwar and Sanjiv Balyan, will also address rallies in different parts of the city on Thursday, Kapoor said. Campaigning for the election will end on the evening of April 21. The votes for 272 wards of three municipal corporations will be cast on April 23. Counting of votes and announcement of results will take place on April 26. BJP is pitted against Congress and Aam Aadmi Party in a triangular contest for the corporations that it has ruled for last one decade. PTI Nitish Kumar, the 8th time Bihar CM in 22 years | A look at sushasan babu's turns and u-turns so far Anti-land mafia task force to end land grabbing in UP India oi-PTI Lucknow, April 19: In a major move to free state-owned land from illegal occupants, Yogi Adityanath government has decided to set up an anti-land mafia task force at the earliest. "The Chief Minister has given a clear directive to start a campaign for vacating properties which have been under illegal occupation after identifying them in a month's time," an official spokesman said on Wednesday. "The Chief Minister during the presentation of the finance department on Tuesday asked the officials concerned to set up the task force at the earliest to free government land from illegal occupants and encroachers," he said. The seriousness of the problem of illegal occupation on government land was highlighted last year when two police officers and 22 squatters were killed in a bloody conflict at Jawahar Bagh public park in Mathura in June. The squatters, an armed group led by a Ram Vriksh Yadav, once a follower of Jai Gurudev, had been occupying the site since 2014. Following a court order on their eviction in 2016, the police tried to forcibly evict them, triggering violence, that claimed the lives of two senior police officers, including a superintendent of police. The police then returned fire, killing several squatters. During the presentation, the chief minister said though local bodies will be allowed a free hand in taking up welfare works, useless expenditure will not be allowed and local bodies will have to take effective measures for improving basic amenities to people. PTI For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 19, 2017, 14:43 [IST] About the project The tunnel is being built by South African company Afcons Transtonnelstroy between Howrah Maidan and the proposed Mahakaran metro station near Writers Building - a heritage site - in Kolkata. The length of the section from Howrah Maidan to the Ganga bank will be 1.7 km. Photo credit: tunnelsforin How the tunnel is being built? The tunnel boring machine, used in the excavation work, will now go beyond the slab number 840 to dig up earth under the river bed and finally reach the east bank - that is the city. Photo credit: goldenbookofrecords (The resund Bridge from Denmark and Sweden) How many stations? There will be eight stations, two of which are on underground. All the four stations in Phase II (Sealdah-Howrah) will be underground. Photo credit: dimscale.blogspot Cost of the project The initial project cost for the Phase I - Phase II stretch had shot up due to realignment of the tunnelling, covering an additional 2 km and cost for elevation. The costs had gone up from Rs 250 crore in 2011-12 under the UPA rule to Rs 328.81 crore in 2015-16 and now Rs 1937 crore. Pic credit: Union minister Babul Supriyo After Arvinder Singh Lovely's exit: Ajay Maken accuses BJP of 'luring' Congressmen India oi-PTI New Delhi, April 19: Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken on Tuesday accused the BJP of 'intimidating' his party's leaders and 'luring' them away using power as a bait, on a day senior DPCC leader Arvinder Singh Lovely joined the saffron party. "BJP is geared to lure Congress leaders, using intimidation and greed to make them join the party. It raises a question whether ideology or lust for power will decide the kind of politics we pursue," he said at an election rally in Peeragarhi. Without naming Lovely, Maken said that "he got 'everything' from the Congress and yet was lured by the BJP for his 'lust for power'. There are several Congress leaders who got everything from Congress. One such leader who was made a minister even after becoming first-time MLA and remained minister for 10 years in a row, who was made Delhi president on Tuesday joined BJP," he said. PTI Ghazwa-e-Hind in Assam: NIA roped in as Islamists plan destruction of India Assam CM orders inquiry after man 'carries brother's body on cycle' India oi-PTI Guwahati, Apr 18: Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Tuesday expressed concern and directed officials to conduct an inquiry after a video of a boy carrying body of his brother on cycle surfaced at Majuli island in Brahmaputra in Guwahati. Majuli (Assam): Man carries body of his 18 year old brother on a bicycle due to absence of a motorable road in the area. pic.twitter.com/y04Y9AtVGD ANI (@ANI_news) April 19, 2017 The video footage showed a boy using a cycle to carry his brother's body. He was crossing a bamboo bridge, which is the only link between his village, Luit Khabalu, and the mainland. Ambulances cannot travel due to the absence of a concrete bridge in the area, officials said. The boy was taking his brother's body back home from the hospital to perform last rites, they said. Sonowal directed the director of health services to rush to the village and conduct an inquiry, officials said. PTI Mosque in Ayodhya will be of same size as Babri Masjid: Trust Ayodhya verdict: Opposition seeks Uma Bharti's resignation India pti-PTI New Delhi/Patna/Hyderabad, Apr 19: As the BJP brass on Wednesday went into a huddle discussing the fallout of the Supreme Court order on the razing of the Babri mosque, opposition parties demanded the sacking of Union Minister Uma Bharti for her role in it. Bharti, who along with BJP veterans L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi will now face trial for conspiracy behind the demolition of the 16th century disputed structure, however, was unfazed, even abrasive, as she rejected the demand. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah, union ministers Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and M Venkaiah Naidu were huddled for two hours at Modi's residence but a senior party leader played down the meeting's significance, saying it had a number of issues, including the Kashmir crisis, on its agenda. Senior party leader and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the BJP respected its leaders like Advani and Joshi and that it would offer comments only after studying the verdict in detail. The party has held the position that the demolition of mosque was not planned but a spontaneous act of agitating 'kar sevaks' and there was no conspiracy behind its razing on December 6, 1992. Main opposition Congress lapped up the opportunity provided by the apex court's order restoring the conspiracy charge against the BJP leaders and demanded that those guilty be punished. "The Prime Minister talks a lot about morality. He should put his morality to test after this verdict. We leave it to the Prime Minister's conscience on how he reacts morally to this extensive judgement of the Supreme Court," Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari told reporters. The Congress also urged Modi to ensure that his ministers maintained a "high standard of morality", apparently suggesting that Bharti should resign. "The law is equal for everyone irrespective of stature, caste, creed, religion or region," he said. Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal also expressed satisfaction over the order and hoped that Modi would remember his "pronouncements" on morality. "As far as other issues concerned, our Prime Minister Narendra Modi is always very committed to the cause of morality. Those are his public pronouncements. Occasionally, he forgets morality when it comes to his ministers. Let us hope he doesn't forget it this time," he said. A fiery Bharti, however, rejected the demand outright. There was "no conspiracy and everything was in the open", she told reporters after the apex court verdict. Bharti said she was "proud, unapologetic and unrepentant" about her association with the Ram Janmabhoomi movement and was prepared to get "hanged or be jailed" on the issue of construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya. "There was no conspiracy, everything was in the open...I was associated with the Ram temple movement with full confidence and pride. "The court has said that we be tried for conspiracy. There was no conspiracy...Yes, I was present in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. Where does one see any conspiracy?" Bharti asked. "I am ready to face whatever punishment it takes for the construction of a temple at Ayodhya or be it on the issue of cleaning of the Ganga, the tricolour or cow. I have never repented or apologised," she said, adding, "the post of a minister is too small for me". RJD boss Lalu Prasad, who had ordered the arrest of Advani during his 'Ram Rath Yatra', thereby earning the goodwill of Muslims which stood him in good stead for years, smelt in the development a "well-thought-out politics" by Modi to keep the BJP veteran out of contention for Presidential election. "The CBI is under the influence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It stood in the Supreme Court and sought permission to run trial against Advani and others in the Babri Masjid demolition case," Prasad told reporters in Patna. "Since Advani's name was in circulation as a probable for the post of President, Modi through well-thought-out politics struck out his name," he alleged. "It is well known that the CBI does what the government desires," the RJD chief said. "We welcome the SC order. Finally, some balance has been restored. Some good gesture has been made. I think these people should not continue to hold public positions like that of a minister if they have any moral authority left," CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury told reporters in Delhi. The CPI too insisted that Bharti and Singh give up their respective public offices. Kalyan Singh was the Chief Minister of UP in 1992 when the demolition took place and an accused in the case. He, however, will not face trial on account of constitutional immunity he enjoys as Governor. PTI PM Modi, Shah meet Advani at his residence to wish him on birthday Babri Masjid case: Advani, Joshi meet after SC orders trial against them India oi-Vikas By Vikas Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi met at former's residence on Wednesday after the Supreme Court ordered that they should be tried for criminal conspiracy in the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed an appeal by the Central Bureau of Investigation which challenged the dropping of charges against them. The court said that there would be no fresh trial in the case. The SC ordered that the trial would be conducted in both Lucknow and Rae Bareli. The trial would be conducted on a day-to-day basis, the court also ruled. [Advani, Joshi to be tried for criminal conspiracy in Babri Masjid demolition case] The SC also said that there shall be no adjournment in the case. If convicted, Advani and others could be sentenced to five years in jail. The SC pointed out that a 25-year pendency in this case was 'evasion of justice,' while stating that it would direct the Lucknow court to complete the trial in two years while ordering a day to day hearing. OneIndia News Babri verdict: Nine things the Supreme Court said India oi-Vicky By Vicky The Supreme Court dealt a major blow to senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti and nine others in the Babri Masjid demolition case. The court ordered that these persons would be tried for criminal conspiracy and the trial should be completed in two years. "No adjournments," the SC ordered. Here are the top directives and observations by the Supreme Court: The CBI's plea to revive criminal conspiracy charges against the senior BJP leaders nine others has been allowed. The order of the Allahabad high court which upheld the dropping of charges on a technical ground has been reversed. The case will be shifted from Rae Bareli to Lucknow. The trial will commence in four weeks. There will be no fresh trial and the Rae Bareli and Lucknow courts hearing the cases will be clubbed. The case will be heard in Lucknow. There shall be no adjournments in the case and the trial judge will conduct a day-to-day hearing. The case will be completed in two years. The case will not be moved out till the trial is completed. The CBI will have to ensure the presence of one prosecution witness at every hearing. The case will not be adjourned for want of witnesses. Any party can approach the SC if the directions are not followed. On Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh, charges will be framed once he ceases to hold the position as now he enjoys Constitutional immunity. OneIndia News Bringing Mallya back: Here is what India will argue in the UK India oi-Vicky By Vicky A team of the Central Bureau of Investigation will visit the United Kingdom soon where the extradition proceedings of Liquor baron and former Kingfisher boss Vijay Mallya will be held from May 17 onwards. On Tuesday, Mallya was arrested by the Scotland Yard police, but was granted bail a few hours later. Vijay Mallya arrested, gets bail: Extradition hearing on May 17th For India to win the case and bring Mallya back, it would have to put up a strong argument. The court would decide whether Mallya would be extradited or tried in the UK itself. The CBI team would put forth four major cases to back its argument to get Mallya back to India and try him before an Indian court. Money laundering: This case relates to the one filed by the Enforcement Directorate in March 2016. A case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act was filed against Mallya for allegedly sending abroad Rs 900 crore from his company. The CBI case: The CBI had in July 2015 filed a case against Mallya and officials of the IBDI bank. It was alleged loans above a permissible limit had been sanctioned by the bank to Mallya. It was stated the banks had foregone protocol. The loan default case: This case relates to the loan default of Rs 9,000 crore. A consortium of 17 banks led by the State Bank of India had alleged that the loans were not repaid since 2012. The banks had in March last year moved the Supreme Court to prevent Mallya from leaving the country. However, the petition was filed six days after he had already left the country. The SFIO case This July 2016 case filed by the Serious Frauds Investigation Office deals with the financing of the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines. In the notices issued to 17 companies for taking loans from banks to finance the airline, the SFIO sought to know the source of the funds. The NBW: In March 2016, a court in Hyderabad had issued a non-bailable warrant against Mallya in a negotiable instruments case. It was alleged that a cheque of Rs 50 lakh paid to the GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd had been dishonoured. Arrest warrant: A court in Mumbai had in July 2016 issued a non-bailable warrant against Mallya. The application was filed by the Airports Authority of India in which it was stated that Kingfisher airlines had dishonoured two cheques worth Rs.100 crores. OneIndia News Food rant: BSF sacks Yadav, jawan to appeal in court India oi-Vicky By Vicky The Border Security Force has sacked jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav from service. Yadav had created a storm when he posted a video complaining about the bad quality of food served to the jawans. It may be recalled that Yadav had also appealed to the Prime Minister for support. While in the first video he complained about the quality of food, in the other he spoke about he was being mentally tortured as he had exposed alleged corruption. In the video he says his phone had been taken away and may have been tampered with. He is seen clarifying about the Pakistan friends. It was said during a probe into his earlier video that several friends from Pakistan on his social media account are under the scanner. However Yadav says that his phone had been tampered with after it was taken away. He also complains that his voluntary retirement application had been cancelled. Please do not believe any rumours. Only trust what I am saying when I put out a video he also goes on to say. To appeal in HC: Yadav said after being dismissed that he would appeal in the High Court. He said that this is what happens when you speak out the truth. He said that he hoped to get justice in the High Court. He said such things have been happening for years now. I am hopeful of getting justice before the judiciary. I have full faith in the judiciary he also said. OneIndia News Cabinet allows EC to buy VVPAT machines India oi-Madhuri The Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared a proposal by the Election Commission to buy new Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail machines. However, the amount that will be allotted is unclear at the moment. Earlier, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi had written to the Centre asking for funds so it can buy paper trail voting machines before the 2019 elections. In March 22, Zaidi sent a letter to Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and asked that the money be disbursed immediately as the machines need to be bought by September 2018 in order for them to be used for Lok Sabha elections in 2019. The Supreme Court had asked the EC to give a tentative period of time by which it can use VVPAT machines in all polling stations. The EC had come under attack by parties such as the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress for allegedly using 'tampered' EVMs. What are VVPAT machines? The Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail is a method that provides feedback to voters. It is an independent verification printer machine and is attached to electronic voting machines. When a voter presses a button in the EVM, a paper slip is printed through the VVPAT. The slip contains the poll symbol and name of the candidate. OneIndia News (with inputs from agencies) Chhattisgarh: Man kills brother for disturbing sleep India oi-Gulam Rabbani Raipur: In a shocking incident, a 45-year-old man was hacked to death by his brother on Tuesday in Daundilohra village in Balod district of Chhattisgarh in full public view. According to reports, the accused, identified as Suresh Kumar, 40 pulled his elder brother Chinturam, 45 out of the house and tied him to electric pole and killed him with an axe in public. The incident occurred when Chinturam started singing and playfully mocked Kumar when the latter was asleep. Irritated, Kumar started to quarrel with his brother. During the scuffle, Chinturam grabbed an axe to frighten Kumar, but was overpowered, was dragged by his brother out of the house. He warned the public that he would attack them if they try to stop him. After the incident, Suresh went to the police station with the axe and surrendered. According to villagers, it had become common between the duo to fight every day. They also said that Chinturam had high-pitch voice, and he used to deliberately sing to irritate his brother. The police have charged Suresh with murder and have said that he has a record of creating trouble as he is short-tempered. OneIndia News Congress to get new boss and it may not be Rahul Gandhi India oi-Vicky By Vicky The Congress has to elect a new president by December 31 and it is unlikely to be the party's current vice president Rahul Gandhi. A request which has come from the first family of the Congress to elevate Rahul as the chief, replacing his mother, Sonia, is in doubt. There are many within the Congress who feel that Rahul, after his poor showing the elections should be made the Congress president as yet. There are a few in the party such as A K Antony and Digivijaya Singh who continue to back Rahul's elevation, but a good number within the party want the decision put on hold. Many within the Congress feel that Sonia must continue as the chief. However, the family has been saying that the time to elevate Rahul is right now, owing to Sonia's health conditions. However, others in the party feel that he has not been able to get the job done and the poor showing the recently held elections in Uttar Pradesh is a testimony of the same. The other options before the Congress would be to let Sonia remain the chief and then build a strong team around Rahul. These members also feel that the likes of Singh and others must be moved out and way should be made for younger members in the party. There is already a rebellion within the party against the likes of Singh who has been blamed for not seizing the initiative and forming the government in Goa despite the party emerging as the single largest party. The BJP managed to seize the opportunity from the Congress, despite Singh camping in Goa after the elections were concluded. The Congress meanwhile, has asked its state units to complete their membership drive by May 15. After that, elections of officer-bearers for states and the All India Congress Committee will be completed between August and September. OneIndia News ECI bribery case: Look-out circular issued against Sasikala's nephew Dinakaran India oi-Vicky By Vicky A team of the Delhi crime branch has reached Chennai to probe a hawala transaction of Rs 10 crore. The team will collect evidence and gather documents after it was found that a hawala transaction of Rs 10 crore was made. The trail of this money was found to be transferred between Chennai and Delhi. The special crime branch officials would try and ascertain if this money had anything to do with the Election Commission bribe case relating to the AIADMK two leaves symbol. The crime branch had arrested Sukesh Chandrasekar from Delhi in connection with this case. It was found that he had promised Sasikala Natarajan's nephew T T V Dinakaran the two leaves symbol. It was said that he had assured to get the symbol after bribing EC officials Rs 50 crore. Dinakaran who was ousted from the party had however said that he had done no wrong. The special team had asked him to join the investigations. He will be asked about his connection with Sukesh. The police are also relying on a phone call to back their charge. After the initial round of investigations are completed, Sukesh would be brought to Chennai. He is likely to be questioned in the presence of Dinakaran. OneIndia News Delhi MCD elections: AAP MLA accuses Cong workers of firing at him India pti-PTI New Delhi, Apr 19: AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan alleged that Congress workers fired at him in southeast Delhi's Jamia Nagar area late last night when workers of the two parties clashed just days before Municipal polls, slated to be held in Delhi on April 23. Police said they had not received any complaints from either of the sides. No FIR has been lodged. However, they have begun a preliminary enquiry and are scanning CCTV footage from the area. DCP (Southeast) Romil Baaniya said they received a PCR call at around 12.10 AM about a clash between Congress and AAP workers at Batla House Chowk, where the offices of the two parties are located. Baaniya said workers of the two parties got into an argument, leading to a clash. The Congress's MCD poll candidate Shoeb Danish arrived there in the middle of the clash. Khan, who is the MLA from Okhla, called the police at 12.57 AM, alleging that Congress workers had fired at him in the presence of the police. Congress workers also alleged firing from the rival side. However, the police said they had not found any empty shells or any other evidence of firing from the spot. They said footage from two CCTV cameras in the area had been scanned but no evidence had been found. Some more footage was being scanned before the police could reach a conclusion, they added. PTI Former French diplomat Pascal Mazurier acquitted in 2012 rape case India oi-Anusha A Bengaluru court on Wednesday acquitted former French diplomat Pascal Mazurier in a rape case. Mazurier who was the deputy head of chancery at the French consulate was accused by his wife of raping their three-year-old daughter in 2012. Mazurier who put up a long legal battle said, that his wife was a 'criminal' for 'framing' him. "I am very happy with the verdict. I am a loving father. I am looking forward to seeing my children back in France. It has been a long battle," Mazurier said after a sessions court acquitted him. His wife and complaint in the case, Suja Jones, however, said that she would appeal to the high court. "His acquittal means that my daughter was denied justice. We will appeal in the higher court," Jones said. Mazurier added that he spoke to his daughter 2 years ago and it was a crime to keep a father from his children. A sessions court on Wednesday held that there was not enough evidence to prove charges against Mazurier and acquitted him. The case had shot to limelight since it involved a foreign diplomat creating a diplomatic standoff. The Vienna convention states that a diplomat cannot be arrested or detained. Mazurier, however, was arrested by the high grounds police on June 19, 2012, following a complaint by his wife. Suja had written to the French ambassador that she suspected her husband of assaulting their daughter since 2010. After procuring a medical report confirming sexual assault on her daughter, Jones filed a police complaint. His arrest came after the Ministry of Home Affairs clarified that he did not enjoy any diplomatic immunity. OneIndia News Gujarat: Dead rat found in mid-day meal in school India pti-PTI Ahmedabad, April 19: A dead rat was on Wednesday found in the mid day meal at a government-run primary school in Jamla village in Kalol taluka of Gandhinagar district, just before the food was to be served to the students, officials said. The incident took place at Jamla Adarsh Primary School and the government has ordered an inquiry into the matter. "A dead rat was found in the mid-day meal supplied to the school. The teacher spotted the rat in the food before it was served to the students," Commissioner of Mid-day Meal, R G Trivedi, said. Congress MLA from Mansa constituency, Amit Chaudhary, who rushed to the village after learning about the incident, said, "When a teacher took out the food for tasting before serving it to students, he noticed the tail of a rat in his food. When he opened the container, a dead rat was found in it. Luckily for students, the rat was found before the food was served to them." "Incidentally, Jamla Adarsh Primary School was declared as a model school by the state government. There are 242 students in the school," he said. Chaudhary said that nearby schools to which the food was to be supplied, were informed and food was not served to those students as well. The food is supplied to government-run primary schools by NGO Akshay Patra. Soon after learning about this, district officials, including the deputy collector and mamlatdar went to the school to investigate the matter. Trivedi said, "The mid-day meal food prepared by the same supplier was also supplied to the schools in three adjoining talukas, but no complaint was received from there. We have sought a report from the district administration as to how the dead rat landed in the food. We will take action after getting the report." PTI Here is the one and only case of extradition from the UK India oi-Vicky By Vicky The arrest of Vijay Mallya in the United Kingdom was rejoiced by many. He was granted bail a few hours after his arrest and a court has fixed May 17 as the date for the hearing on his extradition to India. In this context, let us examine the case of Samirbhai Vinubhai Patel. Incidentally, he is the first and only person to have been extradited to India after a treaty was signed with Britain in 1992. An accused in the 2002 Gujarat riots case, he is currently lodged in a jail at the Anand district of Gujarat. He was extradited on October 18, 2016, to face trial in India after a Red Corner Notice was issued against him. The extradition treaty with the UK was signed in 1992. The same came into force in 1993. Since then Patel was the first and only one to be extradited to India. The extradition of Patel was a victory for India. However what one must also note is that Patel had not opposed his extradition. It was his consent that had in fact helped the British authorities process his extradition. OneIndia News ITR Filing 2022: How to check your income tax refund status if you havent received it yet I-T dept crackdown on bureaucrats in UP, Uttarakhand India oi-Vikas By Vikas The officials of the Income Tax Department have reportedly conducted several raids on properties owned by the government officials and stumbled upon crores of rupees of unaccounted cash in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The IT department officials have raided 20 locations in the past two days in both the states. Reports say that during the raid at the premises of a local body chairman in Siddhart Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, the officials found Rs 10 crore worth undisclosed money. This crackdown has also revealed that an officer in Noida, UP, had made a payment towards property worth Rs two crore in the name of his wife. An illegal collusion between a contractor and a PSU official also came to light during raids in Uttarakhand. The IT department conducts raids whenever it has suspicion of illegal cash transactions and money being hoarded by illicit means. Earlier in April, the IT Department carried out raids on properties belonging to a Karnataka minister as well as Karnataka Congress' women's wing president in various locations across the state. In Belagavi, the residence of Laxmi Hebbalkar, the president of Congress' women's wing in Karnataka was raided. Karnataka Minister for Small Scale Industries, Ramesh Jarkiholi's properties in Gokak and Bengaluru were also raided. Apart from him, properties of the minister's brother, Lakhan, as well as his associate Ali, were also searched. OneIndia News Mamata meets hospitalised MP Sudip Bandopadhyay in Odisha India oi-PTI Bhubaneswar, Apr 18: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee arrived in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday night and met ailing party MP Sudip Bandopadhyay, who is also an accused in Rose Valley chit fund scam. Bandopadhyay is undergoing treatment at a hospital. The TMC chief, who is on a three-day visit to Odisha, went to the hospital soon after landing at the Biju Patnaik International Airport. "His (Sudip) physical and mental condition is bad. He is having a heart problem, doctors told me. Doctors are also worried," Mamata said after meeting him at the hospital. "Sudip da broke down. He told me how he was kept in jail. He cried. I requested the doctors to take care of him," the chief minister said. "I thanked the judges for giving me permission to meet our parliamentary party leader Sudip Bandopadhyay and Tapas Pal. I hope that they will get justice. We are waiting for justice," she said. Bandopadhyay was arrested on January 3 by the CBI for his alleged involvement in the Rose Valley group chit fund scam. After his arrest in Kolkata, he was lodged in a jail in Bhubaneswar. He was hospitalised a few weeks ago. While Bandopadhyay had claimed that he was innocent, Mamata had then accused the Centre of misusing the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate to terrorise the opposition parties. Another TMC leader Tapas Pal is also in jail in Odisha for his alleged role in the scam. The West Bengal chief minister is likely to meet her Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik during her visit. "If possible, there would be a meeting with Patnaik," she said. PTI For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 19, 2017, 11:25 [IST] Man in Modi mask flogs protesting TN farmers in Delhi India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer New Delhi, April 19: The farmers from Tamil Nadu protesting at Jantar Mantar in the national capital are leaving no stone unturned to attract the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, so that their two main demands--loan waiver and compensation for their crop failure-are met immediately. Recently, we saw three TN farmers staging a nude protest right in front of the Prime Minister Office after they were denied an audience with PM Modi. Few days before that, a man wearing a Modi mask was seen in the protest site. The rest of the protesters were seen pleading in front of 'masked' PM Modi. On Tuesday, once again a man wearing a mask of PM Modi was seen flogging the protesters. Actually, the man in Modi mask was one of the protesting farmers. The farmers told the media that the idea of making one of their friends wear a Modi mask and PM's trademark jacket and kurta and make him flog the farmers was to showcase the 'insensitive attitude' of the Centre towards their plight. "By ignoring us, it is like Modi is whipping us and trying to beat us out of Delhi... Sometimes I think if we get arrested it might be better. Jail would be better than this," P Ayyakkannu, the state president of the National South-Indian Rivers Linking Farmers' Association, leading the protest told Hindustan Times. The farmers have been protesting for more than a month now in Delhi. Around 80-odd farmers protesting at Jantar Mantar caught the attention of the media, when they found a couple of skulls with the farmers. The farmers started their protest by showcasing skulls at the protest venue. The skulls are said to belong to the farmers who committed suicide due to ongoing drought in the state. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 19, 2017, 12:51 [IST] Monsoon to be near normal, says IMD in its initial forecast India oi-PTI New Delhi, April 18: Southwest monsoon is likely to be "near normal" this year with possibility of a "good distribution" of rainfall across the country, the weatherman said on Tuesday, news that would bring cheer to farmers in parched areas. Amid ceaseless reports of incidents of farmer suicides due to crop loss and indebtedness, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) Director General K J Ramesh said the news will be good for the farming community and the overall economy. Fiftyfive per cent of Indian agriculture is dependent on rainfall. El Nino is expected to occur in August-September, but it is unlikely to have any major impact on the monsoon, and the weatherman expects a positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), which has a strong influence on rainfall in the country. A strong El Nino phenomenon causes sea temperatures to rise significantly, and has adverse effects on marine and aquatic life, agriculture and the quality of water supplies. "The country will receive 96 per cent of Long Period Average with an error model of plus or minus 5 per cent," Ramesh said, while releasing the monsoon forecast. A 96 per cent rainfall means it is on the border line of normal and below normal precipitation. Anything between 96 and 104 per cent of the LPA is considered "normal", while under 96 per cent rainfall is categorised as "below normal". Rainfall of 104-110 per cent of the LPA is "above normal". Ramesh said there is 38 per cent probability of a "near normal monsoon" rainfall. The IMD has not issued a region wise forecast yet. Ramesh said it will make a more detailed prediction in its second forecast in June. "In spite of prediction of a weak El Nino, the 2017 monsoon likely to be near normal. Good benefits for farmers and country's economy," M Rajeevan, Secretary in the Ministry of Earth Sciences, tweeted. However, rainfall may be somewhat deficient in the northeast and parts of south India. "Whenever there is a normal rainfall, central India and western coast get good rainfall. However, the northeast, Rayalseema region of Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu may receive less rainfall," said a senior IMD official. 2016 witnessed normal rainfall across the country, barring deficient precipitation in states like Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and the northeastern states. Several parts of these states are currently facing drought-like situation, and if good rainfall continue to elude these regions, the problems are likely to exacerbate. Last year, the IMD had predicted "above normal" monsoon, but it ended on a "normal" note. 2014 and 2015 had witnessed deficient rainfall. Interestingly, Skymet, a private weather forecasting agency, has predicted a "below normal rainfall" this year, with western India likely to experience a shortfall. It has attributed weak rainfall to the El Nino effect. S Pai, senior IMD scientist (Climate Predicition), said there are chances of a weak El Nino occurring in August- September. However, there are signs of a positive IOD. El Nino- a phenomenon associated with warming of Pacific waters- is being attributed as one of the main reasons behind a possibly weak monsoon this year. A positive IOD means cooling of Indian Ocean waters, and this also has a positive effect on Indian monsoon. "A weak El Nino and a positive IOD is a good sign. They offset (effects of) each other," Ramesh said. The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), also known as the Indian Nino, is an irregular oscillation of sea-surface temperatures in which the western Indian Ocean becomes alternately warmer and then colder than the eastern part. PTI For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 19, 2017, 10:39 [IST] 'Two-finger test' should be banned in matrimonial dispute cases too, says Maharashtra doctor Khota sarkar left with egg on their faces: Team Uddhav on Andheri win Mumbai to get 67 air-conditioned local trains India oi-Gulam Rabbani Mumbai, April 19: The state government and the ministry of railways on Tuesday had decided to buy 47 air-conditioned -- closed doors -- local trains under the third phase of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project-III. The state government had stated that the decision was taken after 'BEST' bus service decided to shut its AC bus operations in the city. In a meeting, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said to have decided to buy AC trains for Rs 10,500 crore under MUTP-III. The state government also approved the sharing cost of Rs 4,300 crore communication-based train control which is also known as the cab signaling project on the Harbour line. Under the MUTP-III project, the city will get additional 20 AC trains and the number of services on the Harbour is believed to rise by 50 per cent. Giving a green signal to the project, the Asia Development Bank had agreed to fund Rs 14,000 crore. Under this project, railway ministry had planned to buy 47 trains. The railway ministry will also introduce the closed doors or AC locals in a bid to reduce the deaths because of overcrowded trains. Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation Chairman, Prabhat Sahay had said that the local trains under the MUTP-III project would be upgraded from the existing local trains and added that the ministry is looking for cost estimation of the up gradation and said that each train would cost around 80 crore. Suresh Prabhu said that it was the first time that Asia Development Bank, one of the major funding agencies, has approved to fund CST-Panvel elevated corridor. He also added that issue in funding the elevated corridor had sorted out after ADB agreed to fund 50 per cent of Rs 1,44,00 crore project. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 19, 2017, 12:09 [IST] No motorable roads in Assam CMs constituency Majuli; man carries dead brother on bicycle India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer Guwahati, April 19: Now, the story of a man from Majuli in Assam carrying the body of his younger brother on a bicycle has shocked the nation. Almost eight months ago, we saw an Odisha tribal man carrying the body of his wife on shoulders because the hospital -- where his wife was undergoing treatment -- failed to provide him an ambulance to bring back the mortal remains of his wife home in his village. In the last few months, several reports showcased how lack of medical facilities in rural areas denies basic rights such as an ambulance to a deceased. This time, the Assam man could not avail the services of an ambulance as his village Balijan lacks motorable roads. "Majuli (Assam): Man carries body of his 18-year-old brother on a bicycle due to absence of a motorable road in the area," reported ANI. Majuli (Assam): Man carries body of his 18 year old brother on a bicycle due to absence of a motorable road in the area. pic.twitter.com/y04Y9AtVGD ANI (@ANI_news) April 19, 2017 Majuli is Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal's constituency and thus the episode has caused huge embarrassment to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state. Now, the CM has ordered a probe into the matter. A high-level team to investigate the matter has been sent to Majuli, said Sonowal. OneIndia News On Mallya, this is what PM Modi had to say India oi-Vicky By Vicky Those who have looted the poor and the middle class will have to return what they have looted. This was a veiled dig taken by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi a few hours after liquor baron, Vijay Mallya was arrested and released on bail in the United Kingdom. Bringing Mallya back: Here is what India will argue in the UK The PM tweeted, "those who looted the poor and the middle classes will have to return what they have looted. The PM was responding to a tweet by a follower who said, corruption not only robs us of hard earned money, but also of our dignity." Vijay Mallya arrested, gets bail: Extradition hearing on May 17th Mallya was on Tuesday arrested by the Scotland Yard police and later released by a Westminster court on bail. The arrest was made on the request by India. A court in the UK would begin hearing on May 17 on whether Mallya can be extradited to India or not. India had initially sought that he be deported. However the UK rejected the request on the ground that he had entered the country on a valid passport. India was then told to take up the case using the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 19, 2017, 7:41 [IST] Osmania University centenary celebration: Entry only if fingerprints linked to Aadhaar card India oi-Preeti Panwar Hyderabad, April 19: As the iconic Osmania University is all set to organise its centenary celebrations (100 years) on April 26, only those will get entry whose fingerprints will match with that linked to Aadhaar Card. According to reports, only mandatory online registration and getting bar-coded entry pass is not enough to be a part of the inaugural ceremony of OU's centenary celebrations. In an attempt to avert any untoward incident, police has deployed fingerprint scanners at the campus venue, to allow only 'genuine' persons inside. Alumni, teachers, non-teaching staff and students would have to compulsorily undertake fingerprint scanning to go inside the venue, except VIP guests. During the online registration, people who want to attend OU's centenary celebrations, would have to submit their Aadhaar Card number. Entry gates for VIPs, teaching staff, non-teaching staff, alumni and students would be different. Celebrations from April 26 to April 28 The centenary fete is scheduled to be held from April 26 to April 28. A seminar, highlighting the role of Osmania University in Telangana and nation-building, will also be held at Tagore Auditorium from 2.30 pm to 6 pm. Around hundred foreign students of the university from 32 countries will participate in the cultural activities to be performed on the inaugural day. VIP guests to grace the occasion As part of the grandiose fest, four members of the erstwhile Nizam of Hyderabad's family-- Mir Barkat Ali Khan Mukarram Jah, Mir Karamath Ali Khan Muffakham Jah, Nawab Mir Azmet Ali Khan and Nawab Shahamat Jah, all grandchildren of the university's founder Nizam VII, Mir Osman Ali Khan, will be among the chief guests with other eminent persons, a daily reported. President Pranab Mukherjee, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, Telangana Governor E S L Narasimhan, Maharashtra Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao, Union Minister of Human Resources Development Prakash Javdekar and state ministers will be among the VIP dignitaries at the function. The State government and Osmania University have made elaborate arrangements for the centenary celebrations of the prestigious varsity. In Dec 2016, it was reported that OU was befreft of funds to celebrate its completion of 100 years in agrand manner. The University had then approached both the state and the Union Human Resource Ministry for funds. The Osmania University was founded in 1917 and came into existence in 1918. OneIndia News Varanasi lights up with 8 lakh lamps on Dev Deepawali; PM shares pics too India's intellectuals are anti-India, says Australian sociologist who is all praise for PM Modi PM Modi unveils G20 logo: Significance of the lotus and its seven petals PM Modi to have packed schedule of foreign tours from next month India pti-PTI New Delhi, April 19: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have a packed schedule of foreign visits from next month till July, starting with a trip of Sri Lanka. Besides Sri Lanka, he is slated to travel to the US, Israel, Russia, Germany, Spain and Kazakshstan, officials told a news agency. Modi will visit Sri Lanka in the second week of next month, mainly to participate in the celebrations marking the UN 'Vesak Day', the most important in the Buddhist calendar. The 'International Day of Vesak' celebrations, to be held in Colombo from May 12 to 14, will include an International Buddhist Conference in which over 400 delegates from more than 100 countries will participate. "The Indian Prime Minister has confirmed his visit," Sri Lanka's Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe told reporters in Colombo today. During the trip, his second to Sri Lanka since becoming the Prime Minister, Modi is also likely to visit Jaffna and Kandy, the officials said. Modi had visited the country earlier in 2015. Vesak, the most important day in the Buddhist calendar, marks commemoration of Lord Buddha's birth, enlightenment and passing away. A fter Sri Lanka, the Prime Minister will be travelling to St Petersburg in Russia to attend the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) to be held from June 1-3. Along with that, he is expected to travel to Germany and Spain on bilateral visits, the officials said. Subsequently, Modi will be visiting Kazakhstan to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meet to be held in Astana on June 7-8. Significantly, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is also expected to attend the Summit of the SCO, a grouping which includes Russia, China, Kazakshstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Thereafter, the Prime Minister is slated to travel to Hamburg in Germany to attend the G-20 Summit scheduled to take place on July 7-8, the officials said. He will also be travelling to the US and Israel, for which dates are being finalised, the officials said. PTI Pro-Kannada organisations want ban on Baahubali, call for statewide bandh India oi-Anusha Pro-Kannada organisations have demanded a ban on screening of Baahubali in Karnataka. A statewide bandh on the day of the film's release has also been called. Vatal Nagaraj, a pro-Kannada activist said that close to 2000 Kannada organisations have supported the bandh call. Nagaraj said that screening of the film will not be allowed until actor Satyaraj, who stars as Kattappa in the movie apologies for his statement on Karnataka and Kannadigas. A video of actor Satyaraj abusing Kannadigas during the Cauvery water protests went viral as the move neared release and pro-Kannada organisations have demanded that he tender an unconditional apology for his statements. "We have decided to reject the movie. No one in Karnataka should watch a movie which casts Satyaraj who abused Karnataka and Kannadigas. More than a lakh Kannadigas will gather near Townhall to extend their support to the bandh," Vatal Nagaraj said speaking to the media on Wednesday. The organisations have called for a bandh on April 28 when the movie is slated to release. "We have requested theatre owners to not screen the movie. We appeal to the distributors not to bring the movie to Karnataka. We have nothing against the movie but Satyaraj has to apologise," Vatal Nagaraj said. He asked the government to intervene and stop screening of the film. OneIndia News Why Punjab farmers burn stubble at this scale when others do not In the killing of those protecting Hindus in Punjab, a massive ISI plot revealed Punjab govt scraps controversial act to save 125-year-old college India oi-Gulam Rabbani Chandigarh, April 19: Opposing the previous Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party government who passed the Khalsa University Act, 2016, Captain Amarinder Singh-led Punjab government on Wednesday came tough on the opposition and has scrapped their move. The decision was taken during the cabinet meet chaired by Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh to protect the legacy of Khalsa College which has the heritage status in the country. According to reports, the cabinet termed the Act as 'appalling' as the Khalsa College society too had agreed to convert the institution into a University. The cabinet said that the previous government Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party passed the Khalsa University Act in 2016 despite the criticism faced by the Amritsar students and college alumni The cabinet had said that there is no point in having the additional university in Amritsar where there are already universities like Guru Nanak Dev University, Sri Guru Ram Das University of Health Sciences and Indian Institute of Management. The cabinet added that taking a piece of land from the Khalsa College to make a university will surely effect the heritage status of the college. The ministers in the meeting are believed to have said that in order to protect the college from duplication, its land and properties should be kept intact. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 19, 2017, 16:18 [IST] Bharat Jodo Yatra will proceed to Srinagar, come what may, says Rahul Gandhi as march enters Maharashtra Demonetisation deliberate move by 'PayPM' to help his friends: Rahul Gandhi Rahul holds key strategy meeting with Congress leaders on future polls India oi-IANS By Ians English New Delhi, April 19: Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday held a strategy meeting with Congress leaders, MLAs and MPs to discuss measures to strenghten the party in states which will go for polls before the next general elections. According to sources, he had asked the party workers and leaders to focus more on strengthening the party at the grassroots level and internal democracy will be promoted. There will be elections in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Meghalaya before the next Lok Sabha polls in 2019. Sources said Gandhi hinted that there will more meetings in groups in future with party leaders The Congress lost badly in Uttar Pardesh and Uttarakhand in the recently held assembly elections. It also could not form governments in Manipur and Goa despite emerging as single-largest party. The only solace for Congress came from Punjab where it returned to power after 10 years. The Congress has suffered a series of reverses since 2014 Lok Sabha elections. IANS For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 19, 2017, 11:56 [IST] 'Ready to face anything for Ayodhya, Ganga and Tiranga's sake', says Uma Bharti India oi-Anusha Union Minister Uma Bharti on Wednesday said that she will not resign from her post and would face any punishment for the sake of Ganga, Ayodhya and the tricolour. Speaking to the media hours after the Supreme Court order her along with senior BJP leaders LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi to face criminal conspiracy charges, Bharati claimed that there was no conspiracy. Reacting to the opposition's growing chorus for her resignation, Bharti said there was no need for her to resign. "The party which was behind Emergency and 1984 riots has no right to demand my resignation," she hit back at the Congress. Pushing the nationalist chant, Uma Bharti said that this India belongs to Ram, Ganga and Tiranga. "This country belongs to Ram, Ganga and Tiranga and disrespect to any of these will not be tolerated," she said. Koi saazish nahi thi, sab khullam-khulla tha. Mann mein aisa kuch nahi tha: Union Minister Uma Bharti #BabriMasjid pic.twitter.com/uAD6FMEYNd ANI (@ANI_news) April 19, 2017 Bharti said that whatever happened during the Babri demolition was not a result of a conspiracy. When asked if she would visit Ayodhya again, the Union minister said that she would visit Ayodhya on Wednesday itself. "I will go there on Wednesday night. I will express my happiness and pride to Lord Ram for the honour I have been given," she said. OneIndia News SC pulls up Indian Army for staying mum in Manorama case India oi-Vicky By Vicky The Supreme Court while citing a judicial probe in the 2004 Manorama murder case in Manipur questioned the Indian Army about its silence. The court asked the Army why it chose to remain silent despite the commission of inquiry being set up by the Manipur government. The commission noted that the girl who was killed in 2004 had suffered brutal and merciless torture by a team of the 17 Assam rifles. The counsel for the Army submitted that the operation conducted in the Manorama case was based on reliable intelligence. The Army does not come under the purview of the commission set up by the Manipur government, but it is not averse to an inquiry by a high-ranking officer, the counsel also submitted. The Bench observed, " you know this case had gained so much attention. The state had set up a commission and yet you chose to remain silent, the court further noted. The court then questioned the Manipur government why it did not try and break the stone-wall created by the Army and access evidence from the personnel. You should have taken up this case with the Army at every juncture. Was it helplessness or an understanding between the two of you, the court questioned. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 19, 2017, 9:13 [IST] Cops reach TTV Dinakaran's door-step, issue summons India oi-Anusha By Anusha Ravi Trouble only seems to be mounting for TTV Dinakaran who has now been asked to join the probe in a bribery case involving him. A team of the Delhi crime branch that arrived in Chennai on Wednesday met Dinakaran and issued summons three days after his name was included in the FIR. A special team of the Delhi police led by Sanjay Sehrawat arrived in Chennai on Wednesday evening. The team that headed straight to TTV Dinakaran's Adyar residence, issued summons to Sasikala Natarajan's nephew. TTV Dinakaran was booked on charges of bribery. Sukesh Chandrasekhar, a middleman that the Delhi police arrested claimed that he struck a deal for Rs 50 crore with TTV Dinakaran to bribe election commission officials over the AIADMK symbol row. TTV Dinakaran had earlier distanced himself from Sukesh and claimed that he knew none by the name. He had also said that he would cooperate with any probe if asked to. While a lookout notice has reportedly been issued against Dinakaran to stop him from fleeing the country, the Delhi police team will now look to question him in the bribery case. OneIndia News BJP became elder brother by climbing up Nitish's ladder: Uma Bharti on Bihar results Uma Bharati's Bureaucracy is there to pick up our chappals remarks sparks controversy MP: Uma Bharti spots saffron flag outside liquor shop, gets cops to remove it | VIDEO Uma Bharti cancels her Ayodhya visit India oi-Vikas By Vikas Union Minister Uma Bharti, who was supposed to visit Ayodhya on Wednesday evening after the Supreme Court's order on Babri Masjid case, has cancelled her visit. The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed an appeal by the Central Bureau of Investigation which challenged the dropping of charges against Bharti along with other senior BJP leaders such as L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi. The SC ordered that the trial would be conducted in both Lucknow and Rae Bareli. Speaking to the media hours after the Supreme Court order of her along with Advani and Joshi to face criminal conspiracy charges, Bharati claimed that there was no conspiracy. She said that she will not resign from her post and would face any punishment for the sake of Ganga, Ayodhya and the tricolour. When asked if she would visit Ayodhya again, the Union minister said that she would visit Ayodhya on Wednesday itself. "I will go there on Wednesday night. I will express my happiness and pride to Lord Ram for the honour I have been given," she had earlier said. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 19, 2017, 21:42 [IST] End eve-teasing, provide women safety It has been almost a month--March 21 to be precise--when the newly formed Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh announced the formation of anti-Romeo squads in various parts of the state. The anti-Romeo drive was a poll promise of the ruling BJP to rein in stalkers, eve-teasers and molesters in public places. Picture credit: PTI Crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses A massive drive against illegal slaughterhouses has been started by the Uttar Pradesh government which resulted in the arrest of many people. While several meat traders and sellers have protested against the drive citing it's an attack on their livelihood, the chief minister has assured that the legal ones are free to do business. Picture credit: PTI Loan waiver for farmers Adityanath gave a big relief to small and marginal farmers in the state by waiving off farmer loans worth Rs. 36,359 crore. Even Rahul Gandhi, vice president of Congress, welcomed the decision of the state government. Picture credit: PTI Power for all The new government in the state has promised to provide continuous supply of electricity in rural areas. The chief minister said that villages will get 18-hour power supply a day from now onwards. Speak against triple talaq Recently, Adityanath spoke against triple talaq and said the silence surrounding the social malice should end soon to help Muslim women live with dignity. Picture credit: PTI No more VIP culture The priest-turned-politician Adityanath has asked his cabinet colleagues to shun siren and hooters and red beacons atop vehicles.Picture credit: PTI English for employment The Uttar Pradesh chief minister decided to introduce English from class one in all schools to make children more employable. Picture credit: PTI Learn about leaders, instead of holidays In order to make children know more about our revered political figures and freedom fighters, the new Uttar Pradesh government decided to end the culture of announcing holidays during the birth and death anniversaries of these famous personalities. Instead, Adityanath asked schools to teach children about the lives and struggles of these leaders. Picture credit: PTI OneIndia News US-India NSAs agree to fight terror jointly India oi-Vicky By Vicky The meeting between the National Security Advisors of India and the United States of America concluded on a positive note with both sides deciding to extend cooperation in the fight against terror. India's NSA, Ajit Doval met with his counterpart from the US, :t. Gen. H R Mc Master at Delhi on Tuesday where a host of issues were discussed. The meeting was a significant one and the issue of Kulbhushan Jadhav was also raised. Jadhav was sentenced to death in Pakistan on the charge that he was an Indian spy. Mc Master's meeting with the NSA was held after the former completed his visit to Pakistan and Afghanistan. India said in a statement following the meeting that the NSA conveyed the greetings of President Donald Trump to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. During the meeting between Modi and Mc Master, the former recalled his telephonic conversation with Trump. During the telephonic conversation which Modi described as positive, Trump had reaffirmed the importance attached by both sides to the strategic partnership and to stepping up India-US engagement across the board The NSA shared his perspective with the PM on the security situation in the extended region, including in Afghanistan, West Asia and the DPRK. During the conversation, they exchanged views on how both countries can work together to effectively address the challenge of terrorism and to advance regional peace, security and stability, the statement also read. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 19, 2017, 8:19 [IST] Why it may take 10 years before Mallya is finally extradited to India India oi-Vicky By Vicky Legal experts say that it could be easily another 10 to 15 years before liquor baron, Vijay Mallya is finally extradited to India. India has an extradition treaty signed with the UK which dates back to 1992. There has been just one extradition so far since the signing of the treaty and that is the case of Vinubhai Patel who had in fact not opposed his extradition. For Mallya the options are plenty. The hearing on his extradition begins on May 17. This hearing could go on for at least an year. If he loses the case, he will appeal before the British High Court. If he exhausts that option as well, he will move the Home Secretary of the UK. If that option also does not go in his favour then he can move the UK Supreme Court. India on the other hand have a tough case on hand where it will have a variety of issues to prove apart from convincing the courts and authorities in the UK. The first option during an argument advanced always relates to human rights. If India manages to prove that there indeed is a case on hand, then it would have a lot of convincing to do on the human rights front. Indian agencies will have to impress the courts that there would be no violation of human rights. If the agencies manage to win on this front, then the issue of political vendetta would come up. India will have to also convince the courts that there is no political vendetta involved in the extradition of Mallya and only once these hurdles are won over will Mallya be finally extradited. OneIndia News TTV Dinakaran gives up, calls off meeting of AIADMK office bearers India oi-Anusha Giving in to the demands of AIADMK MLAs and ministers for his exit, TTV Dinakaran on Wednesday said that he had already distanced himself from the party. On Wednesday morning TTV Dinakaran had tried to play down the revolt and claimed that there was no difference of opinion in the party. Within hours, Dinakaran changed his stance and claimed that he would have quit the party had the ministers asked him to. "I am not against anybody or the party. I want the party to be united. I distanced myself from the party yesterday as per the wishes of the MLAs. I do not fear anyone including the BJP. All that they can do is imprison me," said Dinakaran while announcing his decision to yield to the ministers' demands. He added that the meeting that he had called for on Wednesday was not a show of strength. "The court has asked me to appear at 3 PM today and I am compelled to cancel the meeting. I will meet them some other day,' he said. On being asked if he would resign, Dinakaran said that he was appointed by Sasikala Natarajan and would decide after discussing with her. "I am willing to be away from the party and hence I am not actively discharging my duties," he added. Earlier in the day Dinakaran's tone and tenor was different. Reacting for the first time after being sidelined by his own partymen, TTV Dinakaran downplayed the revolt. Speaking to the media on Wednesday morning, the deputy general secretary of the AIADMK said that he will only do what is best for the party. "I will only do what is good for the party. Any decision I take will be in the best interest of the party and the government," he said on being asked about his reaction to AIADMK ministers' decision. Dinakaran downplayed the entire revolt against him, reiterating that there was no need to sideline him from the party. "I do not have to prove strength or anything. There is no split. All are our MLAs, our party MLAs," he said when asked how many MLAs supported him. OneIndia News After Dalai Lama visit, China renames 6 places in Arunachal Pradesh on its official map International oi-PTI China has, for the first time, announced 'standardised' official names for six places in Arunachal Pradesh, days after it lodged strong protests with India over the Dalai Lama's visit to the frontier state. The state media in Beijing said the move was aimed at reaffirming China's claim over the state. China claims the state as 'South Tibet'. "China's Ministry of Civil Affairs announced on April 14 that it had standardised in Chinese characters, Tibetan and Roman alphabet the names of six places in 'South Tibet', which India calls 'Arunachal Pradesh', in accordance with the regulations of the central government," state-run Global Times reported on Wednesday. We are awaiting a reaction from the Indian government. The official names of the six places using the Roman alphabet are Wo'gyainling, Mila Ri, Qoidengarbo Ri, Mainquka, Bumo La and Namkapub Ri. The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488 km-long Line of Actual Control. While China claims Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet, India asserts that the dispute covers Aksai Chin area which was occupied by China during the 1962 war. The two sides have so far held 19 rounds of talks with Special Representatives to resolve the boundary dispute. China's move comes just days after the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, which was seventh since he fled from Tibet through Tawang and sought refuge in India. During the 81-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader's Arunachal Pradesh visit, China had warned India that it will take 'necessary measures' to defend its territorial sovereignty and interests. Commenting on the standardisation of the names of six places, Chinese experts said that it was a move to "reaffirm the country's territorial sovereignty to the disputed region", according to the daily."The standardisation came amid China's growing understanding and recognition of the geography in South Tibet. Naming the places is a step to reaffirm China's territorial sovereignty to South Tibet," Xiong Kunxin, a professor of ethnic studies at Beijing's Minzu University of China, was quoted as saying. Xiong said that the legalisation of the regions' names is a part of the rule of law. "These names have existed since ancient times, but had never been standardised before. Therefore, announcing the names is like a remediation," Guo Kefan, a research fellow at the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences, said. Standardising the names from the angles of culture and geography could serve as a reference or leverage when China and India negotiate border issues in future, Guo said. "The South Tibet region is located alongside China's southwestern border and India's north-eastern border where Sino-Indian border disputes are cantered," the report said. It claimed that India 'abruptly announced that it was officially designating the region as 'Arunachal Pradesh' but the Chinese government has neither recognised India's occupation of the region, nor the legitimacy of the province'. During the Dalai Lama's Arunachal Pradesh visit, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju, who accompanied the Tibetan spiritual leader, had asserted that Arunachal Pradesh is 'an inseparable part of India'. China had lodged a diplomatic protest with India over the visit and warned that it would have a negative impact on the efforts to resolve the border dispute. After the nine-day visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang had said that India should not use the Tibetan spiritual leader to undermine China's interests. PTI Confirmed: MOAB killed Pakistan army officers backing terrorists International oi-Vicky By Vicky The MOAB or Mother of All Bombs did not just kill operatives of the Islamic State in Afghanistan. Reports emerging suggest that terrorists of the Tehrik-e-Taliban and the Lashkar-e-Tayiba too were killed in the bombing by the United States at Nangarhar, Afghanistan last week. Interestingly, there is also confirmation of retired Pakistan army officer being killed in the bombing. Tolo News reported that several Pakistan nationals, 12 Tajikistanis and thirteen Indian nationals were also killed in the bombing. The website says that the death of both the Indian and Tajikistan nationals have been confirmed by the respective intelligence agencies. Here is a list of some of the terrorists killed: Commander Mukhtar, retired Pakistani army officer Geeta, an Indian national Commander Imran, a member of Orakzai tribe Commander Aftab, from Pakistani province of Punjab Hamza Orakzai, a member of Orakzai tribe Commander Abu Bakr, Daesh's chief of operations Shahid Omar, member of TTP Welcome, brother of Hafiz Saeed Sheikh Weqas, member of Lashkar-e-Tayiba Commander Mohammad, an Indian national Yasir, known as Khurasani, a member of Orakzai tribe Commander Hanif Kunari, a member of the Orakzai tribe Hajji Saad Kunari, a member of the Orakzai tribe OneIndia News It was revenge for Jadhav says Pak on its missing official International oi-Vicky By Vicky Pakistan has blamed India for the abduction of its agent stating that this was done to avenge the death sentence awarded to Kulbhushan Jadhav. A retired Pakistan army officer was lured to Nepal with the promise of a job before he was seized by Indian intelligence officials, Pakistan said. Pakistan officials said that this was done with the hope that India could seek the release of Jadhav who was sentenced to death on the ground that he was an Indian spy. Jadhav, a former navy officer was arrested by Pakistan on the allegation that he was launched into the country to carry out subversive activities in Balochistan. India has however denied the allegation. Lt Colonel Mohammad Habib had gone missing on April 6 upon his arrival in Nepal. Pakistan contends that this was the handiwork of the Indian agencies in a bid to negotiate the release of Jadhav. Pakistan contends that Habib had arrived at the Kathmandu airport on April 5. He was taken to a hotel by an Indian national. After this he had gone missing, Pakistan has contended. India, however, said that it has no information about Habib. Following the death sentence awarded to Jadhav on April 10, India has stepped up pressure to secure his release. The matter was debated in Pakistan and External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj had called him, 'son of India'. Pakistan has however rejected all demands to release Jadhav apart from denying consular access as well. OneIndia News Kulbhushan Jadhav case: Indian envoy's meeting with Pak's FS rescheduled International pti-PTI Islamabad, Apr 19: The meeting between Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale and Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua has been rescheduled and a new date would be announced later, an Indian High Commission official said on Wednesday. Sources in the Pakistan Foreign Office had earlier said that Bambawale has sought a meeting with the Foreign Secretary. The meeting was expected this evening, they said. However, the Indian official said the meeting has been rescheduled and a new date and time is yet not known. Bambawale was expected to discuss the issue of Indian prisoner on death row Kulbhushan Jadhav as India has been seeking consular access to its convicted citizen. Pakistan has denied India's request for consular access to Jadhav over a dozen times in the last one year. Pakistan army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor has already rejected any chance of granting consular access to Jadhav who was sentenced to death for espionage and subversive activities. On Friday, Bambawale met with the foreign secretary, showing increasing concern of India about the fate of Jadhav. He told media after his meeting on April 14 that he had asked for list of charges and authentic copy of verdict of military tribunal against Jadhav to launch appeal against his conviction. He also said that India was seeking consular access on the basis on international law humanitarian grounds. FO in statement issued after the meeting said that the Foreign Secretary told Bambawale that during the period of trial of Jadhav, due judicial process was followed and he was provided a lawyer in accordance with relevant laws and the Constitution of Pakistan. Jadhav was awarded death sentence by the Field General Court Martial last week, evoking a sharp reaction in India which warned Pakistan of consequences and damage to bilateral ties if the "pre-meditated murder" was carried out. 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." The Pakistan Army had also released a "confessional video" of Jadhav after his arrest. However, India denied Pakistan's contention and maintained that Jadhav was kidnapped by the Pakistan authorities. India had acknowledged that Jadhav had served with the navy but denied that he has any connection with the government. PTI 'Senseless to pressure Lanka: China after Colombo asks it to defer arrival of its ship over Indias concerns Modi to attend UN 'Vesak Day' in Lanka International oi-PTI Colombo, April 19: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Sri Lanka in May to take part in the celebrations marking the UN 'Vesak Day', the most important in the Buddhist calendar, a senior Lankan minister said on Wednesday. Prime Minister Modi will make his second visit to Sri Lanka in the second week of May. During his visit, he will take part in the UN 'Vesak Day' celebrations to be held in Lanka from May 12 to 14. "The Indian Prime Minister has confirmed his visit," Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe told media persons. The 'International Day of Vesak' will be hosted by the Buddhist-majority country and the commemorations will include an International Buddhist Conference in which over 400 delegates from more than 100 countries will participate. PTI In line with tradition, portals of Kedarnath Dham to close on Oct 27, Badrinath on Nov 19 This jeweller was convicted after he parked Rs 96 Lakh in a Swiss bank International oi-Vicky By Vicky After it was found that this jeweller had Rs 96 lakh in a Swiss Bank account, a court in Dehradun has sentenced him to two years imprisonment. The court also slapped a fine of Rs 8 lakh on the jeweller Raju Verma. The IT department had found that he had parked Rs 96 lakh in his Swiss Bank account in 2006. This he had not disclosed to evade tax, the IT department had said. After the order was passed, he was however freed granting him time to appeal before a higher court. The IT department had received a written complaint in 2012 claiming that he had had a personal bank account in HSBC's Geneva branch in Switzerland which was not disclosed to the government. Based on this a raid was conducted following which important documents regarding the Swiss Bank account were recovered. The department then filed a complaint with the economic offences wing of the CJM court, Dehradun on April 4 2015. OneIndia News 2008-2022 One News Page Ltd. All rights reserved. One News is a registered trademark of One News Page Ltd. AmericInnthe largest midscale hotel brand in the upper Midwest announced the opening of the new AmericInn Hotel and Suites Winona at 303 Pelzer Street. The opening marks the 61st property in Minnesota. The brand now boasts more than 200 locations open or in development across 21 states. The new 70-room AmericInn Hotel and Suites Winona features a pub serving drinks and light appetizers, refreshment bar, indoor swimming pool and hot tub, state-of-the-art exercise room, guest laundry, hotel-wide Internet access and the signature AmericInn hospitality service. The hotel is owned by Pelzer Hospitality LLC, and will be managed by Three Rivers Hospitality, a sister company to Northcott Hospitality, owner of the AmericInn brand. The lead contractor is Truline Construction LLC. The city of Winona is located in picturesque bluff country on the Mississippi River in southeastern Minnesota. With a population of 27,500, Winona is the county seat of Winona County. NewsVoir 08 Nov 2022 *Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival *(DPIFF) is all set to take the world of cinema by storm. Co-Powered by the worlds.. ABC 10 News | San Diego 18 Nov 2019 Four people were killed and several others were wounded in a shooting that erupted at a football watch party in Fresno. Top Cryptocurrency Players Descend on Moscow to Integrate Blockchain Published April 19, 2017 by Lee R Cryptocurrency has shown a lot of benefits: now Blockchain will too. A lot of people have heard of cryptocurrency at this point, but they are still not aware of the vital technology that undergirds it, nor are they aware of the benefits to be had from the technology that Bitcoin and all other cryptocurrencies rely upon. The Conference Today, the worlds premiere exhibition of crypto wallet and mining hardware is coming to Moscows Digital October in the form of Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Russia. Blockchain Splashes Down The largest platform to exhibit Bitcoin wallets, mobile applications and mining hardware in Eastern Europe is set to unveil a full range of crypto wallet and mining software. Greater Blockchain Services Among presenters at Blockchain & Bitcoin will be a world renowned tech company already boasting a customer base of a half-million: HashCoins is set to demo devices for mining BTC and altcoins along with of other blockchain-based services. Software and Hardware Software and hardware will be showcased by mining farm solution providers 51ASIC, Giga Watt and BitMoney, with BitMoney also set to present a mobile application for P2P cryptocurrency exchange. Blockchain Education Blockchain & Bitcoin Demo visitors will learn about hot Blockchain topics such as the terms and cost of service maintenance and how Blockchain can optimize almost any production design. Cryptowallet Demos Demonstration of how crypto wallets work will be provide by presented by leading Keepkey hardware wallet manufacturers BTC.com and MaRSe. Crypto-brokers and Bankers Cryptocurrency brokers Solvena and Bitlish will be on hand to address use and integration of cryptocurrency into the global economy, while progressive cryptocurrency bank Polybius Bank will make their services available as well. Blockchain Series Growing The event is one in a series of annual Blockchain & Bitcoin events, along with the Ukraine, the Czech Republic, and welcoming Estonia and Sweden to the series this year as well. Outlook This is a golden opportunity to meet Blockchain specialists directly and get to work on new deals harnessing the greater benefits of the technology behind the technology. North American hedge fund industry AUM reached a US$1.53 trillion record high. As at 2017 year-to-date investor subscriptions stood at US$23.9 billion, with US$15.2 billion of performance-based gains recorded over the same period. The US$266.7 billion CTA/managed futures mandated hedge fund industry saw the highest net investor inflows of US$16.4 billion among strategic mandates for Q1 2017. Managers posted performance-based losses as of Q1 2017 totalling US$0.8 billion. AUM for long/short equities hedge fund managers grew by US$8.3 billion over Q1 2017 with strength led by performance-based gains of US$12.9 billion. Long/short equities hedge fund managers are up 3.82% over the first quarter of the year. Asian managers saw investor subscriptions of US$1.8 billion as of Q1 2017, with performance-based gains of US$3.1 billion. As of Q1 2017, Asia ex-Japan managers were up 5.73% with underlying Greater China and Indian managers up 2.88% and 4.18% respectively. Japan focused funds were up 1.66% over the same period. European managers gained 0.73% during the month, with year-to-date gains coming in at 2.11%. The US$508.7 billion European hedge fund industry was the only region to witness year-to-date investor redemptions of US$1.3 billion while performance-based gains of US$4.1 billion were recorded. Sub-billion dollar hedge funds recorded strong investor interest as of 2017 year-to-date, with net inflows totalling US$12.4 billion. Within sub-billion dollar hedge funds, mid-size funds managing between US$100 million and US$500 million have seen inflows of US$8.9 billion. Global Trail Cameras Market 2017 By Key Players - Bushnell, Spypoint, CamLockBox, Moultrie, Cabelas http://www.fiormarkets.com/report-detail/42581/request-sample https://goo.gl/GANvhu www.fiormarkets.com www.9dimenreports.com The report titled Trail Cameras is an in-depth and a professional document that provides a comprehensive overview of the global Trail Cameras market.Download Free Sample Report @The report provides an executive-level blueprint of the Trail Cameras market beginning with the definition of the market dynamics. The analysis classifies the Trail Cameras market in terms of products, application, and key geographic regions. With focus on presenting a detailed value chain analysis, the study evaluates the set of region-specific approaches forged by the industry. To determine the market potential for Trail Cameras in the international scenario, the study delves into the competitive landscape and development landscape exhibited by the key geographic regions.Development plans and policies significantly impact the market dynamic. The report therefore studies in detail the impact of the strategies, plans, and policies adopted by leading vendors of the Trail Cameras market. Manufacturing cost of products and the pricing structure adopted by the market is also evaluated in the report. Other parameters crucial in determining trends in the market such as consumption demand and supply figures, cost of production, gross profit margins, and selling price of product and services is also included within the ambit of the report.To provide a detailed analysis on the competitive landscape, the report profiles the key players in the Trail Cameras industry. Information present in these chapters includes details of products manufactured by the leading companies, product specification and price, and production capacity. Using reliable analytical tools, the report evaluates the information sourced from both primary and secondary research. Results obtained through the detailed analysis helps in presenting refined forecasts regarding growth prospects of the Trail Cameras market. Apart from this, the analysts have also conducted upstream raw materials and equipment and downstream demand analysis to compile and present an exhaustive study on the Trail Cameras market.Access Full Report @A detailed segmentation evaluation of the Trail Cameras market has been provided in the report. Detailed information about the key segments of the market and their growth prospects are available in the report. The detailed analysis of their sub-segments is also available in the report. The revenue forecasts and volume shares along with market estimates are available in the report.Fior Markets is a leading market intelligence company that sells reports of top publishers in the technology industry.Our extensive research reports cover detailed market assessments that include major technological improvements in the industry. Fior Markets also specializes in analyzing hi-tech systems and current processing systems in its expertise.We have a team of experts that compile precise research reports and actively advise top companies to improve their existing processes. Our experts have extensive experience in the topics that they cover.Fior Markets provides you the full spectrum of services related to market research, and corroborate with the clients to increase the revenue stream, and address process gaps.Contact UsMark StoneSales Manager2566, Lincoln StreetPrinceton,New Jersey 08540USAPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog: Global Mattress Market 2017 Manufacturers - Serta, Sealy, Tempur-Pedic, Restonic, Sleemon, Good Night http://www.fiormarkets.com/report-detail/44918/request-sample https://goo.gl/PgE4Fm www.fiormarkets.com www.9dimenreports.com To begin with, the report defines the Mattress market and segments it based on the most Important Dynamics, such as Applications, Geographical/Regional markets, and Competitive Scenario. Furthermore Mattress market report provides detail Analysis, Forecast, Size, Share, Outlook, Current Trends, Market Demand, Market Growth. Macroeconomic and Microeconomic factors environments that currently prevail and also those that are projected to emerge are covered in this report.Download Free Sample Report @This report studies Mattress in Global market, especially in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and India, focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer,Covering Top PlayersSertaSealyTempur-PedicKing KoilRestonicMusterringMcRoskeyEIGSleemonJisi GroupGood NightVanboHuaweimei GroupSlumberlandDonbaoAirlandMengshenDaziranYunmoonAccess Full Report @Market Segment by Regions, this report splits Global into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate of Mattress in these regions, from 2011 to 2021 (forecast), likeNorth AmericaEuropeIndian Subcontinent nationsSouth AmericaAustralian and Island nationsSplit by product type, with production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, can be divided intoInnerspringFoam mattressBladder mattressesThis report not only provides a complete picture of the overall condition of the market, but also assists the players in this market to create profitable market strategies in order to gain a competitive edge.About Fior MarketsFior Markets is a leading market intelligence company that sells reports of top publishers in the technology industry.Our extensive research reports cover detailed market assessments that include major technological improvements in the industry. Fior Markets also specializes in analyzing hi-tech systems and current processing systems in its expertise.We have a team of experts that compile precise research reports and actively advise top companies to improve their existing processes. Our experts have extensive experience in the topics that they cover.Fior Markets provides you the full spectrum of services related to market research, and corroborate with the clients to increase the revenue stream, and address process gaps.Contact UsMark StoneSales Manager2566, Lincoln StreetPrinceton,New Jersey 08540USAPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog: Clinical Trial Management System (CTMS) Market - Global Industry Insights 2024 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/212 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-discount/212 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/clinical-trial-management-system-market-212 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ http://globalresearchtrends.blogspot.in/ Clinical Trials Management System is software that helps in managing and monitoring data related to clinical trials for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. The core objective of clinical trial management system is to maintain a centralized database which allows users to access data at any point of time. The need for these systems stems from the growth in clinical trials over the last decade and it has become essential to manage the data in an automated manner. Clinical trials management system can be customized depending upon the users, lab requirements and nature of clinical trials.Download Exclusive PDF Brochure of This Report:Growing investment in R&D by pharmaceutical players is a major driver for the clinical trial management system marketThe R&D investment scenario has been positive for the pharmaceutical companies as the competition among the key players to deliver novel drugs has increased. As per data published by Industrial Research Institute, there was an increase of 3.5% in global R&D investment over 2015. The pharmaceutical companies are working on developing specialty products. For instance, Sun Pharma is expected to spend 9.1% of its revenues on R&D in 2017. Other pharma companies such as Lupin and Cipla are also expected to step up R&D investment to develop biosimilars and biobetters. The drug approval process in US has become relatively strict and pharmaceutical companies need to show better compliance and release drugs which are cost effective, beneficial and have proven results. The integration of clinical trial management systems with HIS has been an important factor for driving the market forward as integration with HIS enables the end users to access clinical data easily. Further, the rise in prevalence of chronic diseases has propelled the demand for the development of innovative drugs.Get Exclusive Discount on this CMI Report:Clinical trials management system market will witness strong traction in the Asia Pacific regionNorth America holds the largest market share in the global clinical trial management system market accounting to growth in R&D investment by pharmaceutical companies and clinical research firms. U.S. is the hub for worlds biggest clinical research organizations and pharmaceutical companies. The healthcare industry is financing clinical trials in U.S., as the NIH funding has witnessed decline in the recent past.Asia Pacific countries such as China, India and South Korea constitute 40% of global R&D spending. India specifically has become the hub for clinical trials and the market for it will continue to grow, as more than 130 patents will undergo expiration by 2027. Global and local pharma companies will conduct clinical trials to develop novel drugs which will make a positive impact on the clinical trial management systems market. China on the other hand has been the hub for clinical trials. As per the data published by Clinical Trials website, out of 5,552 clinical trials conducted globally, 5,045 trials were conducted in China. As the global pharmaceutical companies increase the clinical trial outsourcing to Asia Pacific countries, the clinical trial management system industry will gain rapid traction in the near future.Browse Global Strategic Business Report:The key players in the market are competing intensively by focusing on innovation and technology upgradeThe key players in the clinical trial management system market are Oracle, Parexel, Medidata Solutions, BioClinica and Bio-Optronics. The market has been in a state of consolidation with the top 4 companies accounting for more than 60% of global market share. The industry will witness the exit of players who are unable to execute seamless integration with internal and external partner systems. On the contrary, the vendors who are able to meet the needs of the end user industry effectively will continue to gain market share. The market will witness change in market dynamics as key players shift towards cloud-based model for easy data retrieval and reducing the cost of hardware.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact UsMr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comWebsite:Visit Blog : Viking Cruises has signed on to sponsor National Geographic's first fully scripted global anthology series, "Genius," which in its debut season tells the story of the 20th century's most brilliant icon, Albert Einstein. The new premier partnership with National Geographic builds on Viking's continued commitment to supporting enriching cultural programming, with current and past partnerships including PBS' MASTERPIECE, the Los Angeles Philharmonic at The Hollywood Bowl, the Munch Museum and more. During the global premiere of Genius on April 25 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on National Geographic, Viking will showcase a new brand campaign entitled "Time," featuring Torstein Hagen, Founder and Chairman of Viking Cruises. A lifelong admirer of Einstein, Hagen, who is also a physicist, shares Einstein's interest in the concept of time and often refers to time as "the only scarce commodity." The campaign debuts today and will roll-out across additional marketing channels throughout the show's 10-part global event series on National Geographic. "Genius exemplifies National Geographic's commitment to premium content, and we are thrilled that it is attracting premium partners like Viking," said Brendan Ripp, Executive Vice President of Sales and Partnerships for National Geographic. "Viking's commitment to expanding cultural horizons is truly inspiring, and we hope Genius is just the beginning of our joint efforts to bring consumers the type of content we both believe in." Dramatizing the stories of the world's most brilliant innovators, season one of Genius reveals how Albert became Einstein, exploring his extraordinary professional achievements along with his volatile, passionate and complex personal relationships. The series is based on Walter Isaacson's book "Einstein: His Life and Universe" and is executive produced by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, with Howard making his scripted television directorial debut with the first episode. Featuring Einstein's lovers, enemies and fellow scientific luminaries, the all-star cast includes Geoffrey Rush ("The Kings Speech," "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Shine") as the celebrated titular scientist, Johnny Flynn ("Clouds of Sils Maria," "Song One," "Lovesick") as Albert in the years before he rose to international acclaim and Emily Watson ("Theory of Everything," "The Book Thief") as his second wife and first cousin Elsa Einstein. Throughout the series, audiences will experience key locations of Einstein's life, including his time in Germany (Berlin, Munich, Wurzburg, Heidelberg), Switzerland (Zurich, Basel) and Austria (Vienna, Salzburg), as well as his later years in the United States (New York City, Boston) all of which are also destinations on Viking's river and ocean cruise itineraries. Celebrating 20 years of innovation and growth and on the heels of christening two new Viking Longships, 2017 marks another year of impressive growth for Viking. The company launched its third ocean ship, Viking Sky, in February and will add a fourth ocean ship, Viking Sun, in October. By 2019, Viking will have a fleet of six ocean ships and will be the largest small ship ocean cruise line. Booking Details Through April 30, 2017, Viking is offering U.S. residents 2-for-1 cruise fare, plus up to free air on select popular 2017 and 2018 Viking river itineraries including Rhine Getaway, Grand European Tour and Danube Waltz. Also on select ocean itineraries, Viking is offering 2-for-1 cruise fare, plus up to free air on Panama & Central America; in addition, on Viking Homelands, guests also receive a choice of free beverage package, $400 shipboard credit, or prepaid onboard gratuities. Call Viking toll free at 1-855-8-VIKING (1-855-884-5464) or contact a travel agent. Remote Patient Monitoring Market - Global Industry Analysis 2024 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-discount/215 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/215 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/remote-patient-monitoring-market-215 https://blog.coherentmarketinsights.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/coherent-market-insights Remote Patient Monitoring Market OverviewRemote patient monitoring is the concept of assimilating, sorting and transmitting the health data across the care continuum in a virtual manner. There has been a significant increase in the aging population in the last decade across major economies in Europe and North America. The onset of chronic diseases such as diabetes and cancer have put immense burden on different healthcare systems. Remote patient monitoring assists healthcare providers to reduce hospital time and decrease readmissions for patients, which eventually helps in providing quality care in an affordable manner.Get Exclusive Discount on this CMI Report:Rampant integration of Internet of Things (IoT) and high smartphone penetration augmenting market growthIncreasing smartphone penetration has created a shift towards a more techno-savvy approach to healthcare and it has enabled the healthcare providers to deliver quality care with less human intervention. As per the data published by PeW Research Center, 92% of the population in the U.S. use smartphones and 45% use tablets. Internet of Things is going to play a crucial role in the healthcare sector over the following decade as technology adoption intensifies across the world. The advantage with remote patient monitoring is that the providers have access to real-time patient data collected from wearable devices such as smart watches, wearable devices, smartphone apps and fitness trackers. The patient will have better control over the data and the ability to manage his/her own health through this novel technology, a factor that is projected to drive market growth at global scale.Download Exclusive PDF Brochure of This Report :Remote Patient Monitoring is slowly becoming an indispensable part of the Healthcare systems in North America and Asia PacificThe healthcare spending reached US$ 3.2 trillion at the end of 2015. Remote patient monitoring holds the promise of reducing the excessive healthcare spending, as the U.S. transitions from volume-based model to value-based model. Integration of the system would lead to savings of US$ 700 billion over the course of 15-20 years. The study conducted by St. Jude Medical concluded that remote patient monitoring can lead to savings of US$ 370,000 per 100 patients. The U.S. government introduced the concept for Department of Veteran Affairs that serves 8.3 million people. The cost of treating a veteran through this technology was estimated to be US$ 1,600 per year, which is incredibly low in comparison to direct care and hospital based care. This creates a highly conducive environment for growth of the remote patient monitoring market, especially in developed regions.The study conducted by Canada Health Infoway found that the use of remote patient monitoring led to reduction in hospital readmissions and improved health outcomes, with patients being able to manage healthcare from remote locations. The market is witnessing an upswing in Canada as patients receive quality care at lower costs. Remote patient monitoring enables patients to keep a check on their vital health signs and undertake required treatment without delay. The patients are constantly notified about their health status that eliminates the need for regular hospital visits. The remote patient monitoring market is projected to flourish in North America, as the healthcare sector embraces technology for delivering better outcomes.Browse Global Strategic Business Report :In emerging economies such as India, where more than 60% of population lives in rural areas, demand for remote patient monitoring increases substantially. Lack of skilled professionals and hospital infrastructure will drive growth of the remote patient monitoring market in India. China is a lucrative market for remote patient monitoring as the government is working on reducing over-utilization of hospital resources in tier 1 cities to treat patients. Chinese government is aiming to provide quality care to a significant population base in a remote manner across the rural areas. Such digitization of healthcare will play a crucial role in taking forward the market in China.Emergence of new players will change the existing market dynamics as they continue to compete with existing key playersKey players in the remote patient monitoring market include Biotronik, Honeywell, Boston Scientific Corporation, Medtronic, and Philips Healthcare. The market has been in a state of consolidation, with the top 5 companies accounting for more than 60% of global market share. The industry is currently undergoing a dramatic shift as venture funded startups such as Healthsense, Foundry,Vivify Health and EarlySense are starting to create strong foothold in the market. In 2013, 12 startups cumulatively raised an estimated US$ 100 million in venture funding to support business expansion. The remote patient monitoring industry will continue to expand as healthcare continues to shift towards digitization.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit Coherent Market Insights Blog @Connect with us on LinkedIn @ Vasculitis Treatment Market Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 20162024 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-discount/150 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/150 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/vasculitis-treatment-market-150 https://blog.coherentmarketinsights.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/coherent-market-insights A group of disorder caused by the inflammation of blood vessels is known as vasculitis (plural: vasculitides), also called angiitis. Vasculitis includes inflammation of arteries, veins, and/or capillaries. The disease can affect both males and females equally without any age specifications. Quite a few forms of vasculitis are present, and their scientific characteristics can vary considerably in terms of severity, symptoms, as well as the duration of disease. It depends on the types of blood vessels that are affected by the disease. Vasculitis is a disease which involves the immune system. Here, the immune system stops offering defense aligned with infection and, consequently it fights itself. The precise root of vasculitis is unknown; however, factors triggering the disease include genetic makeup of an individual, blood cancers, immune system diseases (e.g. rheumatoid arthritis), infections (e.g. hepatitis B), and response to certain drugs. Inflammation of blood vessels may lead to several complications. It may block the path of blood flow thereby causing organs to dysfunction.Get Exclusive Discount on this CMI Report:According to Vasculitis UK, major cause of vasculitis may be hereditary or environmental. Moreover, there is a lack of approved treatment from the regulatory bodies. According to National Center for Biotechnology Information, in 2011, the therapy rituximab (Biogen Idec/Genentech, Rituxan) happened to be the earliest and only FDA-approved possibility for the treatment of vasculitis. This has encouraged the governments and the manufacturers alike, for development of new drugs for vasculitis treatment. Moreover, early detection is one of the key factors for the treatment of the disease. Advent of technology and advanced diagnosis along with support from governments and regulatory bodies around the world will fuel the growth of the global vasculitis treatment market.Vasculitis Treatment Market TaxonomyOn the basis of vessel size, the global vasculitis treatment market is classified into:Small vessel vasculitisMedium vessel vasculitisLarge vessel vasculitisDownload Exclusive PDF Brochure of This Report :On the basis of end user, the global vasculitis treatment market is classified into:GovernmentHospitalsMedical ClinicsOthersThe American Heart Association says even though it is not established that inflammation of arteries or veins causes cardiovascular disease, however, inflammation is widespread for patients with stroke and heart disease patients and is considered to be an atherogenic (deposition of fat in arteries) response. As the number of cardio vascular diseases in on the rise, patients with opt for diagnosis and treatment of vasculitis. Although it is not proven that inflammation causes cardiovascular disease, inflammation is common for heart disease and stroke patients and is thought to be a sign or atherogenic response; this in turn will propel the growth of the global vasculitis treatment market.Increase in geriatric population offers a promising future for vasculitis treatment marketAccording to Vasculitis UK, usually the frequency of occurrence of vasculitis increases from the 50s; however, but infants and young people can be affected as well. According to Administration for Community Living, 46.2 million people in the U.S. were above the age of 65 in 2014. It is estimated that by 2060 there will be around 98 million people falling under this age group. Additionally, latest scientific developments have led to a significant increase in life expectancy around the globe. As the geriatric population increase, so does the propensity of occurrence of vasculitis. As patients have become health aware, and healthcare spend has increased significantly, it can be projected that a part of it will be spent on the diagnosis and treatment of vasculitis; thereby increasing the global vasculitis treatment market.Browse Global Strategic Business Report :Manufacturers around the world are competing on the availability of technologically advanced drugs for the treatment of vasculitis. Therefore, there is a significant increase in the research and development spends incurred by the companies. Government support is another positive factor that is in favor of the manufacturers. Some of the companies operating in the global vasculitis treatment market are RNL BIO Co., Ltd., GlaxoSmithKline plc, Novartis AG, Troikaa Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Human Genome Sciences, Inc. Genentech, Inc., F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Anthera Pharmaceuticals Inc., and Teijin Pharma Limited.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit Coherent Market Insights Blog @Connect with us on LinkedIn @ Professional Survey Report On Global 3D Vision Sensors Market, 2017 | ResearchMoz Market Research Report http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=892511 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=892511 http://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Professional Survey Report On Global 3D Vision Sensors Market, 2017 | ResearchMoz" to its huge collection of research reports.This report studies 3D Vision Sensors in Global market, especially in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2011 to 2015, and forecast to 2021.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringInfineon TechnologiesLMI TechnologiesSoftKineticIFM ElectronicCMOSISCognexSICKBy types, the market can be split intoType IType IIType IIIBy Application, the market can be split intoAutomotiveIndustrialConsumer electronicsBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaMake an Enquiry of this report @Table of ContentsGlobal 3D Vision Sensors Market Professional Survey Report 20161 Industry Overview of 3D Vision Sensors1.1 Definition and Specifications of 3D Vision Sensors1.1.1 Definition of 3D Vision Sensors1.1.2 Specifications of 3D Vision Sensors1.2 Classification of 3D Vision Sensors1.2.1 Type I1.2.2 Type II1.2.3 Type III1.3 Applications of 3D Vision Sensors1.3.1 Automotive1.3.2 Industrial1.3.3 Consumer electronics1.4 Market Segment by Regions1.4.1 North America1.4.2 China1.4.3 Europe1.4.4 Southeast Asia1.4.5 Japan1.4.6 India2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of 3D Vision Sensors2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of 3D Vision Sensors2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of 3D Vision Sensors2.4 Industry Chain Structure of 3D Vision SensorsTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @ United States Biogas Power Market Report 2016 : Axpo Group, MT-Energie http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=886746&type=E Notes:Sales, means the sales volume of Biogas PowerRevenue, means the sales value of Biogas PowerThis report studies sales (consumption) of Biogas Power in United States market, focuses on the top players, with sales, price, revenue and market share for each player, coveringAxpo GroupMT-EnergieXergiHenan BCCY New Power IndustrySound Environmental Resources Co., LtdSplit by product types, with sales, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, can be divided intoLivestock FarmsIndustry WastewaterMunicipal SewageLandfillsSplit by applications, this report focuses on sales, market share and growth rate of Biogas Power in each application, can be divided intoAccess the Report and full TOC @Table of ContentsUnited States Biogas Power Market Report 20161 Biogas Power Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Biogas Power1.2 Classification of Biogas Power1.2.11 Livestock Farms1.2.12 Industry Wastewater1.2.13 Municipal Sewage1.2.14 Landfills1.3 Application of Biogas Power2 United States Biogas Power Competition by Manufacturers2.1 United States Biogas Power Sales and Market Share of Key Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.2 United States Biogas Power Revenue and Share by Manufactures (2015 and 2016)2.3 United States Biogas Power Average Price by Manufactures (2015 and 2016)2.4 Biogas Power Market Competitive Situation and Trends3 United States Biogas Power Sales (Volume) and Revenue (Value) by Type (2011-2016)3.1 United States Biogas Power Sales and Market Share by Type (2011-2016)3.2 United States Biogas Power Revenue and Market Share by Type (2011-2016)3.3 United States Biogas Power Price by Type (2011-2016)3.4 United States Biogas Power Sales Growth Rate by Type (2011-2016)About Us :QYresearchreports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations.Contact US:Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-618-1030Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com Solar Cell Films Market By Type (Amorphous Silicon, Cadmium Telluride, and Copper Indium Gallium Selenide) 2017-2023 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=353820 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=353820 ALBANY, NY, April 18, 2017 : The report provides a comprehensive competitive landscape and features companies engaged in the solar cell films business. This report includes the key market dynamics affecting the overall solar cell films industry globally. The report also provides a detailed analysis of the global solar cell films market with the help of the Porters Five Forces model. The Porters Five Forces analysis aids in understanding the five major forces that affect the industry structure and profitability of the market. The forces analyzed are the bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes, and degree of competition.Get PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @The high-level analysis in the report provides detailed insights into the solar cell films business globally. Major drivers, restraints, and opportunities in the solar cell films market were analyzed in detail and are illustrated in the report with the help of supporting graphs and tables. There are currently number of growth drivers for the solar cell films industry. One of the most prominent drivers is the increase in demand for solar energy coupled with regulatory framework. Apart from this, solar cell films helps in reducing carbon footprints. This factor also contributes to the overall growth of the solar cell films market. Market attractiveness analysis was done on the basis of geography. Market attractiveness was estimated on the basis of common parameters that directly impact the market in different regions.The solar cell films market was further segmented on the basis of type. The types included in this report are amorphous silicon, cadmium telluride, and copper indium gallium selenide. Further, the market for solar cell films was segmented on the basis of end-use into residential, commercial, and industrial segments. The solar cell films market was analyzed across six geographies: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, the Middle East, and Africa. Regional data has been provided for each sub-segment of the solar cell films market. Key market participants in the solar cell films market include Heliatek GmbH, DUNMORE Corporation, 3M, Advanced Energy Industries, Inc., First Solar, Inc., Lucent CleanEnergy, Stion Corporation, Solar Frontier K.K., Kaneka Corporation, Hanergy Holding Group Ltd., and Prism Solar Technologies, Inc. The report provides an overview of these companies, followed by their financial details, business strategies, and recent developments.The global solar cell films market has been segmented as follows:Solar Cell Films Market: Type AnalysisAmorphous SiliconCadmium TellurideCopper Indium Gallium SelenideSolar Cell Films Market: End-use AnalysisResidentialCommercialIndustrialMake an Enquiry of this report @Solar Cell Films Market: Region AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.CanadaRest of North AmericaEuropeGermanyRussiaRest of EuropeAsia PacificChinaJapanRest of Asia PacificSouth AmericaBrazilArgentinaRest of South AmericaMiddle EastQatarUAERest of Middle EastAfricaEgyptSouth AfricaRest of AfricaResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.ResearchMoz90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United States Smart Parking Systems Market By Parking Site Type, Component & Application Areas : Global Industry Forecast 2017-2022 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=353811 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=353811 ALBANY, NY, April 18, 2017 : Smart parking system provides real-time information about the availability of parking space in a particular location, thereby enabling hassle-free vehicle parking while saving on time, cost, and fuel. It consists of low-cost sensors, real-time data collection and analytics, and automated payment systems that allow people to find parking in desired locations and pay for it in advance. Once deployed, the smart parking system helps in reducing exhaust emissions from cars in urban cities by reducing the needless circling of city blocks in the search of parking space. It also efficiently manages the availability of parking space for cities and controls illegal parking.Get PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @The rapid growth in the number of vehicles worldwide is increasing the scarcity of parking space, which is further magnifying the need for smart and innovative parking systems. Whether at airports or shopping centers, parking issues are a regular occurrence, in turn hurting the local business and affecting the quality of life of the city residents. These intelligent parking management systems provide high levels of convenience to the drivers while simplifying and automating the parking site operations. Deploying smart parking systems in cities requires data collection and management, integration with mobile phones, and various software and hardware innovations. Furthermore, there is a need for cooperation among various parking stakeholders such as off and on-street parking operators, transport authorities, municipalities, as well as customers. The smart parking market is growing significantly with numerous advanced solutions being adopted by major global cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Stockholm, Shanghai, Beijing, and Sao Paulo. In the long run, smart parking can significantly transform these and other cities by making them friendlier to citizens. Smart parking systems are expected to open up opportunities for the reuse of commercial as well as municipal parking garages Hence, smart parking systems contribute toward making urban cities cleaner, greener, compact, and thereby more freely walkable and drivable.This research report provides in-depth analysis of the global smart parking systems market based on parking site types, components, application areas, and geography. In terms of geographical regions, the report segments the global smart parking systems market into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Latin America; these are analyzed in terms of revenue generation. North America is further segmented into the U.S. and Rest of North America, while Europe is divided into EU7, CIS, and Rest of Europe. Moreover, the analysis for Asia Pacific is subdivided into Japan, China, South Asia, Australasia, and Rest of Asia Pacific. Likewise, MEA is further segmented into GCC countries, South Africa, and Rest of MEA, while Latin America is subdivided into Brazil and Rest of Latin America.The report analyzes the factors that drive and restrain the growth of the smart parking systems market. The report also identifies prospective growth opportunities, prevailing market trends, and major strategies enhancing the popularity of smart parking systems. It also provides market estimates and forecasts for all the segments in terms of revenue. The global smart parking systems market is categorized based on parking site types as on-street parking and off-street parking. The market is also segmented on the basis of components that include sensor and network hardware, software, and services. The report further subdivides the smart parking services market into system integration and installation, parking management, and maintenance. This research report provides complete insight into different application areas of the smart parking systems market including airports, government and municipalities, and corporate and commercial institutions. The report also includes profiles of major players engaged in providing these smart parking systems. Key business strategies adopted by the major players, their market positioning, and various recent developments have also been identified in the research report. Besides, market positioning of key players in the smart parking systems market has also been provided. The major players in the smart parking systems market include Streetline, Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc., ParkMe, Inc., Urbiotica, Skidata AG, Amano McGann, Inc., Swarco AG, Smart Parking Ltd, Nedap N.V., and Parkmobile, LLC.The global smart parking systems market is segmented as below:Smart Parking Systems MarketBy Parking SiteOn-Street ParkingOn-Street ParkingBy ComponentSensor and Network HardwareSoftware (Management and Analytics Software and Mobile Applications)ServicesSystem Integration and InstallationParking ManagementMaintenanceBy End-use IndustryAirportsGovernment and MunicipalitiesCorporate and Commercial InstitutionsMake an Enquiry of this report @By GeographyNorth AmericaU.S.Rest of North AmericaEuropeEU7CISRest of EuropeAsia PacificJapanChinaSouth AsiaAustralasiaRest of Asia PacificLatin AmericaBrazilRest of Latin AmericaMiddle East and Africa (MEA)GCCSouth AfricaRest of MEAResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.ResearchMoz90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United States Adhesives and Tapes Market Covering Technology, Formulation for Packaging, Footwear, Construction, Furniture and Other End-users - Saudi Arabia Industry Analysis 2017-2023 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=353808 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=353808 ALBANY, NY, April 18, 2017 : Adhesives and tapes are binding materials used to join two surfaces. These are used as compact replacements for fasteners such as screws, clamps, and nails. Adhesives and tapes are used in packaging, construction, footwear, furniture, automotive, bookbinding, crafts, and medical industries in Saudi Arabia.This report provides a detailed description of the adhesives and tapes market in Saudi Arabia based on volume share (kilo tons) and revenue (US$ Mn) from 2014 to 2023. It highlights factors contributing to growth of the market and restraints hindering the market. Detailed forecast for adhesives and tapes from 2015 to 2023 has been provided separately for a better understanding of the market scenario. The adhesives and tapes market is described with respect to various segments along with potential opportunities during the next six years.Get PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @In terms of technology, the adhesives and tapes market in Saudi Arabia has been segmented into pressure sensitive, hot melt, and others (including moisture curing, heat curing, radiation curing, and chemical curing). The study provides forecasts and estimates for each technology segment in terms of revenue and volume during the forecast period. The study also includes bifurcation of the adhesives and tapes market in Saudi Arabia on the basis of formulations into water based and spray & cylinder based adhesive and tapes formulations from 2014 to 2023.The study further segments the adhesives and tapes market in Saudi Arabia on the basis of key products such as acrylic, epoxy, polyvinyl acetate (PVAc), ethyl vinyl acetate (EVA), polyurethane (PU), and others (including silicone and polyisobutylene). It provides forecasts and estimates for each product segment in terms of revenue and volume during the forecast period. The study also analyzes market attractiveness for all products of adhesives and tapes with the help of the market attractiveness tool. Additionally, the study segments the adhesives and tapes market in Saudi Arabia into key end-users such as packaging, footwear, construction, furniture, and others (including, bookbinding, automotive, and electronics). It includes forecasts and estimates for each end-user segment in terms of revenue and volume between 2014 and 2023.Increasing demand for adhesives and tapes in key end-user industries such as packaging and construction is projected to fuel the adhesives and tapes market in Saudi Arabia. However, downward pressure on manufacturers margins due to volatility in crude oil prices is likely to hamper growth of the adhesives and tapes market in Saudi Arabia during the forecast period.Value chain analysis and Porters Five Forces Model have been presented to provide a comprehensive view of the market. These would also help understand specifics of the industry structure apart from giving an overview of degree of competitiveness. The report also includes detailed profiles of key players such as Henkel AG & Company KGaA, Avery Dennison Corporation, BASF SE, H.B. Fuller Company, Ashland Inc, Bostik SA, Nitto Denko Corporation, Scapa plc, tesa SE, The Dow Chemical Company, Dymax Corporation, SAAF Co. Ltd., ABRO Industries Inc., and Sika AG. A detailed description of players includes parameters such as company overview, financial overview, business strategies, upcoming facilities, capacity addition, mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures, new products, and recent developments.The report segments the adhesives and tapes market in Saudi Arabia as follows:Saudi Arabia Adhesives and Tapes Market - Technology AnalysisPressure SensitiveHot MeltOthers (Including Moisture Curing, Radiation Curing, Heat Curing, and Chemical Curing)Saudi Arabia Adhesives and Tapes Market - Formulation AnalysisWater BasedSpray & Cylinder BasedSaudi Arabia Adhesives and Tapes Market - Product Segment AnalysisAcrylicEpoxyPVAcEVAPolyurethaneOthers (Including Silicone and Polyisobutylene)Make an Enquiry of this report @Saudi Arabia Adhesives and Tapes Market - End-user AnalysisPackagingFootwearConstructionFurnitureOthers (Including Automotive, Electronics, Bookbinding, etc.)ResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.ResearchMoz90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United States Global Automotive Torque Converter Market 2016 Industry, Analysis, Research, Share, Growth, Sales, Trends, Supply, Forecast to 2021 Market Research Reports http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=565438&type=E http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-automotive-torque-converter-industry-2016-market-research-report.htm Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Global Automotive Torque Converter Market 2016 Industry, Analysis, Research, Share, Growth, Sales, Trends, Supply, Forecast to 2021" to its huge collection of research reports.Every key element that has happened so far in the Automotive Torque Converter has been represented in this widely inclusive report. A key portion of these market elements incorporate the key player profiles and the market's general competitive scene, as players are known to have what's coming to them of impact over it. Different courses of the Automotive Torque Converter announced in the report incorporate drivers, restrictions, and key open doors that influence a larger part of the players in it. To totally cover the competitive scene of the Automotive Torque Converter, a SWOT examination is jotted down for all players, new and old. This takes into account a clearer projection for the Automotive Torque Converter over the coming years. Extra analyses incorporated the player profiles are their budgetary structures and current vital production arrangements for all the key players in the market.Enter your information below to receive a sample copy of this report @The Automotive Torque Converter is additionally investigated on the premise of its perfunctory chain, an entry that utilizes research and information in view of the utilization and production abilities introduced into the market currently. This segment likewise fuses the product depictions and cost structures of the Automotive Torque Converter. The report also offers a point by point investigation inside the market to determine its trademark qualities as far as upstream and downstream requests for raw materials are concerned, and in addition the import, and cost drifts that affect them.The report additionally gives the aftereffects of an exceptionally itemized review on the Automotive Torque Converter in view of its provincial divisions. For each key district expressed, the client is given statistical data points on the player pool and in addition request, alongside expectations for the same. This can be vital for regional players attempting to extend their points of view in the market.Browse Press Release of this Research Report:Table of Contents1 Industry Overview of Automotive Torque Converter1.1 Definition and Specifications of Automotive Torque Converter1.1.1 Definition of Automotive Torque Converter1.1.2 Specifications of Automotive Torque Converter1.2 Classification of Automotive Torque Converter1.3 Applications of Automotive Torque Converter1.4 Industry Chain Structure of Automotive Torque Converter1.5 Industry Overview and Major Regions Status of Automotive Torque Converter1.5.1 Industry Overview of Automotive Torque Converter1.5.2 Global Major Regions Status of Automotive Torque Converter1.6 Industry Policy Analysis of Automotive Torque Converter1.7 Industry News Analysis of Automotive Torque Converter2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Automotive Torque Converter2.1 Raw Material Suppliers and Price Analysis of Automotive Torque Converter2.2 Equipment Suppliers and Price Analysis of Automotive Torque Converter2.3 Labor Cost Analysis of Automotive Torque Converter2.4 Other Costs Analysis of Automotive Torque Converter2.5 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Automotive Torque Converter2.6 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Automotive Torque Converter3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Automotive Torque Converter3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Automotive Torque Converter Major Manufacturers in 20153.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Automotive Torque Converter Major Manufacturers in 20153.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Automotive Torque Converter Major Manufacturers in 20153.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global Automotive Torque Converter Major Manufacturers in 20154 Capacity, Production and Revenue Analysis of Automotive Torque Converter by Regions, Types and Manufacturers4.1 Global Capacity, Production and Revenue of Automotive Torque Converter by Regions 2011-20164.2 Global and Major Regions Capacity, Production, Revenue and Growth Rate of Automotive Torque Converter 2011-20164.3 Global Capacity, Production and Revenue of Automotive Torque Converter by Types 2011-20164.4 Global Capacity, Production and Revenue of Automotive Torque Converter by Manufacturers 2011-20165 Price, Cost, Gross and Gross Margin Analysis of Automotive Torque Converter by Regions, Types and Manufacturers5.1 Price, Cost, Gross and Gross Margin Analysis of Automotive Torque Converter by Regions 2011-20165.2 Price, Cost, Gross and Gross Margin Analysis of Automotive Torque Converter by Types 2011-20165.3 Price, Cost, Gross and Gross Margin Analysis of Automotive Torque Converter by Manufacturers 2011-20166 Consumption Volume, Consumption Value and Sale Price Analysis of Automotive Torque Converter by Regions, Types and Applications6.1 Global Consumption Volume and Consumption Value of Automotive Torque Converter by Regions 2011-20166.2 Global and Major Regions Consumption Volume, Consumption Value and Growth Rate of Automotive Torque Converter 2011-20166.3 Global Consumption Volume and Consumption Value of Automotive Torque Converter by Types 2011-20166.4 Global Consumption Volume and Consumption Value of Automotive Torque Converter by Applications 2011-20166.5 Sale Price of Automotive Torque Converter by Regions 2011-20166.6 Sale Price of Automotive Torque Converter by Types 2011-20166.7 Sale Price of Automotive Torque Converter by Applications 2011-20166.8 Market Share Analysis of Automotive Torque Converter by Different Sale Price Levels7 Supply, Import, Export and Consumption Analysis of Automotive Torque Converter7.1 Supply, Consumption and Gap of Automotive Torque Converter 2011-20167.2 Global Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Revenue, Supply, Import, Export and Consumption of Automotive Torque Converter 2011-20167.3 United States Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Revenue, Supply, Import, Export and Consumption of Automotive Torque Converter 2011-20167.4 EU Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Revenue, Supply, Import, Export and Consumption of Automotive Torque Converter 2011-20167.5 China Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Revenue, Supply, Import, Export and Consumption of Automotive Torque Converter 2011-20167.6 Japan Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Revenue, Supply, Import, Export and Consumption of Automotive Torque Converter 2011-20168 Major Manufacturers Analysis of Automotive Torque Converter8.1 EXEDY8.1.1 Company Profile8.1.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.1.3 Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Gross and Revenue8.1.4 Contact Information8.2 Schaeffler8.2.1 Company Profile8.2.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.2.3 Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Gross and Revenue8.2.4 Contact Information8.3 ZF8.3.1 Company Profile8.3.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.3.3 Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Gross and Revenue8.3.4 Contact Information8.4 Valeo8.4.1 Company Profile8.4.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.4.3 Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Gross and Revenue8.4.4 Contact InformationQYReseachReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United States Latest Research On Pertussis Vaccine Market Growth and Industrial Forecast 2016 - 2024 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pertussis-vaccine-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=18884 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ Pertussis vaccine is used for whooping cough. This vaccine is available only in combination with other vaccines. Pertussis vaccination is recommended for all children, babies, teens, and pregnant women. Diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTaP) vaccines are given to children younger than seven years old, while tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (Tdap) vaccines are given to older children and adults. Childhood vaccination is one of the safest and cost-effective ways for pertussis-free environment. The World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend all children should be routinely vaccinated for pertussis. According to WHO in 2015, about 86% of infants received three doses of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP3) vaccine worldwide to protect them against infectious diseases. In 2015, procurement of DTwP vaccine through UNICEF had reached 5.8 million doses for 18 countries and territories out of which four countries such as Egypt, Morocco, Uzbekistan, and Zimbabwe accounted for more than 80% of UNICEFs total procurement.Browse the Complete Report Details at:Factors such as high birth rate, increase in number of geriatric population, government initiatives, growth in adoption of pertussis vaccination, and government insurance and reimbursement scenario are projected to drive the pertussis vaccine market globally. According to WHO in 2015, 126 countries had reached at least 90% coverage of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine. On the other hand, factors such as vaccine injuries and adverse event are expected to hinder the growth of the pertussis vaccine market globally. In the U.S. in 2015, there had been 7 claims filed in the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) for injuries and deaths following pertussis vaccination, including three deaths and four serious injuries.The pertussis vaccine market has been segmented by product type, vaccine type, age group, end-user, and geography. In terms of product type, the pertussis vaccine market is classified into DTaP vaccine and Tdap vaccine. The DTaP vaccine segment includes products such as Daptacel, Infanrix, Kinrix, Pediarix, Pentacel, and Quaracel. The Tdap vaccine segment comprises products such as Boostrix and Adacel. In terms of vaccine type, the pertussis vaccine market is classified into whole-cell vaccine and acellular vaccine. The acellular vaccine segment is highly used owing to less side effect. The acellular vaccine is about 71%85% effective, whereas whole-cell vaccine is about 78% effective. In terms of age group, the pertussis vaccine market is classified into adult and pediatric. In terms of end-user, the market is classified into hospitals, clinics, and vaccination centers. Geographically, the pertussis vaccine market is classified into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa.North America dominates the pertussis vaccine market due to growth in number of geriatric population and increase in pertussis death rate in the U.S, which drive the pertussis vaccine market. In 2014, according to the CDC, 28,660 cases of pertussis were reported in the U.S. The North America market is followed by the Europe and Asia Pacific markets. Asia Pacific is expected to grow at a higher rate due to rapid population growth, increase in adoption for vaccination, and growth in prevalence of infectious disease. These factors are expected to fuel the pertussis vaccine market. In the Asia Pacific region, Thailand accounts for 99% in pertussis vaccine coverage, followed by Japan and China with 98% and 97%, respectively. Developing countries such as Brazil, South Africa, and Mexico are estimated to create good opportunity for the pertussis vaccine market growth attributing to rise in number of government and private health care insurance coverage, increase in health care expenditure, and growth in awareness among people.Major players operating in this market include Sanofi Pasteur, GlaxoSmithKline, Protein Sciences Corporation, Novartis AG, Seqirus, Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., and Astellas Pharma US, Inc.Get the Sample PDF Report for the Future Trends of this Market at: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.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Buruli Ulcer Treatment Market Driven by Growing Incidence of Buruli Ulcers http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/buruli-ulcer-treatment-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=22694 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ Buruli ulcer, brought about by Mycobacterium ulcerans is a perpetual crippling sickness that influences primarily the skin and bone sometimes. The organism has a place with the group of microscopic organisms that causes tuberculosis and infection. The correct method of transmission is hazy. The fundamental weight of malady falls on kids living in sub-Saharan Africa, however sound individuals of any age, races, and financial classes are vulnerable. Despite the fact that it has been accounted for in more than 33 nations around the globe, the best weight of infection is in the tropical areas of West and Central Africa, Australia, and Japan. It basically influences kids matured 5-15 years. Notwithstanding, in some exceptionally endemic regions in Ghana, the commonness of Buruli ulcer has been assessed to be as high as 150.8/100,000 people, and in southern Benin, a current review has revealed location rates of 21.5/100,000 every year, higher than for either tuberculosis or leprosy. Disease regularly prompts ulcers on the arms or legs, which can likewise devastate skin or soft tissue. At the point when not appropriately treated, the ailment can bring about irreversible disfigurement or long haul practical inability. The disease is likewise endemic in a few different nations outside Africa, including country territories of Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, French Guiana, and Mexico. In Australia, Buruli ulcer treatment stays uncommon, however there have been increments in both occurrence and the quantity of endemic territories over the most recent 15 years.Obtain Report Details:Buruli Ulcer Treatment Market: Drivers and RestraintsGrowing incidence of Buruli ulcers is expected to increase demand for antibiotics and surgeries.. As per WHO (World Health Organization) major have likewise been accounted for from South East Asia , Australia, South America and Central regions in Africa. In the course of the most recent 2 decades the rate of Buruli ulcer has expanded, in spite of critical underreporting of cases. In 1999 there were 6000 new cases in Ghana; in 2004 (Australia), there were 25 new cases, 47 more in 2005 and 72 in 2006. Ordinarily, 05 cases for every year happen in the Daintree area (Australia) in any case, in 20112012, there was a noteworthy flare-up, with no less than 75 cases recognized. In Victoria (Australia), 157 cases happened in 20112012. The development is basically determined by expanded prevalence. New companies in the antibiotics industry have indicated expanded competence and safety profiles along with lessening the chances of ulcers. The ulcer showcase likewise has majorly two different procedures of treatment, which are via antibiotics and surgery. Late information recommend that combinations of anti-mycobacterial antibiotics that incorporate rifampicin and either streptomycin or amikacin can execute M. ulcerans in human injuries. Temporary rules now suggest the utilization of chose hostile to mycobacterial drugs, generally consolidated with surgery, for the treatment of Buruli ulcer. Effective treatment will abbreviate the course of the sickness and limit distortion. Skilled surgery, expert nursing care, and therapeutic physiotherapy are regularly required to accomplish great results.Yet, the remedial action of such events still rests an undiscovered area of research and development for pharmaceutical & healthcare organizations to carry innovative medications and advanced treatment into the Buruli ulcer treatment market. However nonappearance of conclusive treatment, reactions, restricted adequacy of the medications and high cost of surgery accessible in the market and reliance in manifestation based treatment in a few cases is required to hamper treatment growth & development of the overall Buruli ulcer treatment market over the forecast period.Buruli Ulcer Treatment Market: SegmentationBy Treatment Antibiotics Rifampicin Streptomycin Amikacin Clarithromycin Moxifloxacin Others Surgery Skin Grafting (to remove necrotic tissue, cover skin defects, and correct deformities) Others (Interventions to minimize or prevent disabilities)By Distribution Channel Hospital Pharmacies Drug Stores Retail Pharmacies Clinics OthersFill the form for an exclusive sample of this Report:Buruli Ulcer Treatment Market: OverviewAround 70% of those suffered with Buruli ulcer are kids under 15 years of age. In Ghana the normal cost to treat Buruli ulcer is over US$ 780 for each individual. The acknowledged current treatment for Buruli ulcer is typically surgery. Inconveniences incorporate contracture distortions, removal of appendages, and inclusion of the eye, breast and genitalia. In a few areas 2025% of those with recuperated injuries are left with inabilities that have a long-term social and financial effect. The current financial and social weight forced by Buruli ulcer is colossal. The global market for Buruli ulcer treatment is expected to witness firm growth owing to increasing incidence rate of the ulcers coupled with new treatment (branded and generic) approach.Buruli Ulcer Treatment Market: Region wise OutlookGlobally the Buruli ulcer treatment market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan and Middle East and Africa (MEA). North America and Western Europe are expected to be the leading markets in the global Buruli ulcer treatment market. Rising treatment options among the young age population, prescription rates and the maturing worldwide population are additionally considered vital drivers for this market. Public awareness via hospitals, drug manufacturers, medical campaigns and simply available diagnostic tests are relied upon to lift interest for Buruli ulcer treatment items in these areas. Japan and APEJ are relied upon to take after next as far as interest for the treatment of Buruli ulcer treatment advertise. Eastern Europe, Latin America and MEA markets are likewise anticipated that would witness normal development over the forecast period. Nonattendance of populace based reviews in creating nations is a noteworthy test in appraisal of ulcer related contaminations in these nations.About us:Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a U.S.-based provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Sao Paulo Convention & Visitors Bureau (SPCVB), with the support of the Brazilian Institute of Tourism (Embratur), hosted Mexican buyers and event organizers in Sao Paulo stage in a partnership with the Guadalajara Convention and Visitors Bureau (OFVCGDL). The visit was part of the planned initiative by the international division of SPCVB, supported by Embratur, which includes Mexican guests in its program to attract professionals to WTM Latin America with the aim of promoting Brazilian destinations. The promoter of WTM, Reed Exhibitions, assisted by including the group in its special hosted buyers program. The group of professional event organizers from Mexico was accompanied by a Guadalajara representative, Rocio Lancaster - Commercial Manager of the OFVCGD, participating in an intense program in the city while also inspecting various other Brazilian destinations represented at WTM. The comprehensive program designed by SPCVB included inspection visits to various member properties, including Tivoli Mofarrej - Sao Paulo, Unique, Sheraton Sao Paulo WTC, Renaissance Sao Paulo Hotel, Pullman and Caesar Business Vila Olimpia. The group also enjoyed the city's cuisine at Terraco Italia and at Barbacoa Churrascaria - Itaim. At the Mercado Municipal, they tried the famous Mortadela Brasil sandwich. The tour which was led by Flavia Liz Di Paolo, visited the traditional districts of Higienopolis, Pacaembu and Vila Madalena, with highlights including Beco do Batman, and Trianon and Ibirapuera Parks. Flavia Liz - Personal Guide - Sao Paulo Specialist is the only luxury inbound tour operator company in Sao Paulo and was one of the sponsors of the project. The program concluded with a concert at Sala Sao Paulo. The visit was captured by photographer Gregory Grigoragi, with transportation sponsored by Shift Mobilidade Corporativa, CS Brazil and Azul Locadora. Sweet Brasil also provided chocolates. "It was one of the most informative experiences I've had," commented Jose Sanchez, Sales Manager for Business Travel Consulting. "Sao Paulo has many qualities, and the some of the best impressions were created by the people who accompanied us, especially because of the cordiality, support and attention they showed us. They were very professional," "The organisation's continual work of introducing Sao Paulo as a major player for events is strategically aimed at boosting tourism and Sao Paulo's economy, by finding new business, with both short- and long-term results," explains Toni Sando, CEO of SPCVB. Participants: Jose Sanchez, Sales Manager at BTC - Business Travel Consulting Adriana Zaldivar, Association Sales at Turismo y Convenciones Jesus Aparicio, General Director - CEO at Eventia Alicia Garcia Cardenas, General Director at Interticket Alfredo Gutierrez Medina, General Director at Anfitriones Rocio Lancaster, Commercial Manager of the OFVC of Guadalajara The partnership In 2016, the SPCVB and the OFVCGDL signed a mutual cooperation agreement to develop opportunities between the cities of Sao Paulo and Guadalajara. The agreement is aimed at taking advantage of the similarity of these destinations. Both are important economic centers in their countries, leaders in the events and conventions sector in Latin America and business centers. They both depend on a strong regional market. The international activities of companies were taken into account when considering the professionals taking part in the initiative and strict criteria were applied by both organizations. As the next stage of the initiative, set for September, Brazilian buyers will visit Guadalajara. Eyeshadow 2017 Global Key Players - L'Oreal, Avon, Lancome, Dior, Yve Saint Laurent, Coty Market Analysis and Forecast to 2022 Eyeshadow https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/1194623-global-eyeshadow-market-research-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/1194623-global-eyeshadow-market-research-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=1194623 www.wiseguyreports.com EyeshadowReport Details:Global Eyeshadow market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturerTop Key Palyers:L'OrealAvonLancomeDiorYve Saint LaurentCotyChanelLVMH?Estee LauderShiseidoEtude HouseMaybelline?Click here for sample report @Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Eyeshadow in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoPowder FormLiquid FormPencil FormCream FormMousse FormOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate of Eyeshadow for each application, includingProfessionalPersonalPerformanceSome Major Points from Table of content:Global Eyeshadow Market Research Report 20171 Eyeshadow Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Eyeshadow1.2 Eyeshadow Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Eyeshadow Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category) (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Eyeshadow Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Powder Form1.2.4 Liquid Form1.2.5 Pencil Form1.2.6 Cream Form1.2.7 Mousse Form1.3 Global Eyeshadow Segment by Application1.3.1 Eyeshadow Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Professional?1.3.3 Personal1.3.4 Performance1.4 Global Eyeshadow Market by Region (2012-2022)1.4.1 Global Eyeshadow Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 India Status and Prospect (2012-2022)For Detailed Reading Please visit @7 Global Eyeshadow Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 L'Oreal7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Eyeshadow Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 L'Oreal Eyeshadow Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Avon7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Eyeshadow Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 Avon Eyeshadow Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Lancome7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Eyeshadow Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 Lancome Eyeshadow Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 Dior7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 Eyeshadow Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 Dior Eyeshadow Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Yve Saint Laurent7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 Eyeshadow Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 Yve Saint Laurent Eyeshadow Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 Coty7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.6.2 Eyeshadow Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 Coty Eyeshadow Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 Chanel7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.7.2 Eyeshadow Product Category, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Product A7.7.2.2 Product B7.7.3 Chanel Eyeshadow Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.8 LVMH?7.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.8.2 Eyeshadow Product Category, Application and Specification7.8.2.1 Product A7.8.2.2 Product B7.8.3 LVMH? Eyeshadow Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.8.4 Main Business/Business Overview..ContinuedBuy now @Contact Us:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)About UsWise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports understand how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available.WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPh: +91 841 198 5042info@wiseguyreports.com Report Explores the Global Military Virtual Training 2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/1193258-global-military-virtual-training-market-size-status-and-forecast-2022 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/1193258-global-military-virtual-training-market-size-status-and-forecast-2022 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=1193258 www.wiseguyreports.com This report studies the global Military Virtual Training market, analyzes and researches the Military Virtual Training development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia.This report focuses onthe top players in global market, likeL-3 Link Simulation and TrainingBoeingCAE IncFlightSafety InternationalThalesLockheed MartinCubic CorporationRheinmetall DefenceRaytheonRockwell CollinsElbit SystemsVirtual Reality MediaGet Sample Report @Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaMarket segment by Type, Military Virtual Training can be split intoTraditional Military Virtual TrainingVirtual Reality Based Military TrainingMarket segment by Application, Military Virtual Training can be split intoFlight SimulationBattlefield SimulationMedic Training (Battlefield)Vehicle SimulationVirtual Boot CampIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Leave a Query @Table of ContentsGlobal Military Virtual Training Market Size, Status and Forecast 20221 Industry Overview of Military Virtual Training1.1 Military Virtual Training Market Overview1.1.1 Military Virtual Training Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Military Virtual Training Market Size and Analysis by Regions1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 Military Virtual Training Market by Type1.3.1 Traditional Military Virtual Training1.3.2 Virtual Reality Based Military Training1.4 Military Virtual Training Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Flight Simulation1.4.2 Battlefield Simulation1.4.3 Medic Training (Battlefield)1.4.4 Vehicle Simulation1.4.5 Virtual Boot Camp3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 L-3 Link Simulation and Training3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Military Virtual Training Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Boeing3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Military Virtual Training Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 CAE Inc3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Military Virtual Training Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 FlightSafety International3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 Military Virtual Training Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.4.5 Recent Developments3.5 Thales3.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.5.4 Military Virtual Training Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.5.5 Recent Developments3.6 Lockheed Martin3.6.1 Company Profile3.6.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.6.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.6.4 Military Virtual Training Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.6.5 Recent Developments3.7 Cubic Corporation3.7.1 Company Profile3.7.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.7.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.7.4 Military Virtual Training Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.7.5 Recent Developments3.8 Rheinmetall Defence3.8.1 Company Profile3.8.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.8.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.8.4 Military Virtual Training Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.8.5 Recent Developments3.9 Raytheon3.9.1 Company Profile3.9.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.9.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.9.4 Military Virtual Training Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.9.5 Recent Developments3.10 Rockwell Collins3.10.1 Company Profile3.10.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.10.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.10.4 Military Virtual Training Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.10.5 Recent Developments3.11 Elbit Systems3.12 Virtual Reality MediaBuy Now@CONTACT US:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.Pune, India Sourcing Software 2017 Global Key Players Capgemini, Coupa Software, IBM, SAP, SciQuest Market Analysis and Forecast to 2022 Sourcing Software Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/1193298-global-sourcing-software-market-size-status-and-forecast-2022 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/1193298-global-sourcing-software-market-size-status-and-forecast-2022 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=1193298 https://www.linkedin.com/company/wise-guy-research-consultants-pvt-ltd-?trk=biz-companies-cym Sourcing Software Market 2017Report Details:Wiseguyreports.Com Adds Sourcing Software Market - Market Size, Demand, Growth, Opportunities, Manufacturers, Analysis of Top Key Players and Forecast to 2022 To Its Research Database.The major players in global market includeCapgeminiCoupa SoftwareIBMSAPSciQuestClearTrack Information NetworkDetermineEBid SystemsESM SolutionsGEPMarket DojoWinddleXeevaZycusRequest for Sample report @Geographically, this report split global into several key Regions, with, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Sourcing Software for these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast)United StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaOn the basis of product, the Sourcing Software market is primarily split intoPremiseCloud baseOthersOn the basis on the end users/Application, this report coversLogistics companyStorage companyOthersKey Points in Table of Content:1 Industry Overview1.1 Sourcing Software Market Overview1.1.1 Sourcing Software Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Sourcing Software Market Size and Analysis by Regions (2012-2017)1.2.1 United States Sourcing Software Market Status and Outlook1.2.2 EU Sourcing Software Market Status and Outlook1.2.3 Japan Sourcing Software Market Status and Outlook1.2.4 China Sourcing Software Market Status and Outlook1.2.5 India Sourcing Software Market Status and Outlook1.2.6 Southeast Asia Sourcing Software Market Status and Outlook1.3 Classification of Sourcing Software by Product1.3.1 Global Sourcing Software Revenue (Million USD) and Growth (%) Comparison by Product (2012-2022)1.3.2 Global Sourcing Software Revenue (Million USD) Market Share (%) by Product in 20161.3.3 Premise1.3.4 Cloud base1.3.5 Others1.4 Sourcing Software Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Logistics company1.4.2 Storage company1.4.3 Others..To get complete report visit@3 Company (Top Players) Profiles and Key Data3.1 Capgemini3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Capgemini Sourcing Software Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Coupa Software3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Coupa Software Sourcing Software Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 IBM3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 IBM Sourcing Software Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 SAP3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 SAP Sourcing Software Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.4.5 Recent Developments3.5 SciQuest3.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.5.4 SciQuest Sourcing Software Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.5.5 Recent Developments3.6 ClearTrack Information Network3.6.1 Company Profile3.6.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.6.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.6.4 ClearTrack Information Network Sourcing Software Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.6.5 Recent Developments3.7 Determine3.7.1 Company Profile3.7.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.7.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.7.4 Determine Sourcing Software Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.7.5 Recent Developments3.8 EBid Systems3.8.1 Company Profile3.8.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.8.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.8.4 EBid Systems Sourcing Software Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.8.5 Recent Developments3.9 ESM Solutions3.9.1 Company Profile3.9.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.9.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.9.4 ESM Solutions Sourcing Software Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.9.5 Recent Developments3.10 GEP3.10.1 Company Profile3.10.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.10.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.10.4 GEP Sourcing Software Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.10.5 Recent Developments3.11 Market Dojo3.12 Winddle3.13 Xeeva3.14 ZycusContinued...Buy this report @Contact Us:NORAH TRENTSales@Wiseguyreports.ComPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)Follow on LinkedIn @ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.ADDRES:WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India Seed Treatment Market: By Treatment Type (Chemical Agents- Insecticides, Fungicides, Non-Chemical Agents and Others) Forecast (2015 - 2020) Seed Treatment Market 2020 http://www.marketintelreports.com/report/fbr007/seed-treatment-market-by-treatment-type-chemical-agents-insecticides-fungicides-nonchemical-agents-and-others-by-crop-type-corn-rice-wheat-soybean-sunflower-cotton-canola-and-others-and-by-geography--forecast-2015--2020 http://www.marketintelreports.com/pdfdownload.php?id=fbr007 http://www.marketintelreports.com/purchase.php?id=fbr007 www.marketintelreports.com Seed Treatment is the process of treating seeds with chemicals or organic substances before planting. This treatment is done both in agriculture and horticulture, in order to protect seeds from potential pathogens. It is an eco-friendly use of pesticides and fungicides as they can be used in very small quantities in the treatment process.Check Complete Report @this market consists of crop protection chemicals or agrochemicals specific to the seeds. Pesticides are generally classified into insecticides, fungicides and others, such as herbicides. These chemicals have active ingredients that kill or repel pathogens.Get Sample Brochure of the Report @they are used in different concentrations according to the requirements. Development in bio-farming techniques is driving the demand for the Seed Treatment Market as well the growing demand for good quality seeds. Technological advances in the field of seed treatment are also another driving factor.Americas, which includes North America and South America, have a major market share in this market. Due to the increasing awareness of people around the world regarding the effects of agrochemical residues in food, the demand for seed treatment has been steadily increasing around the globe.The ever-growing population along with constant push of various safety regulations regarding the use of agrochemicals is driving this market in the Asia-Pacific region.Order a copy of Seed Treatment Market Report now @About us:MarketIntelReports (MIR) aim to empower our clients to successfully manage and outperform in their business decisions, we do this by providing Premium Market Intelligence, Strategic Insights and Databases from a range of Global Publishers.A group of industry veterans who are well experienced in reputed international consulting firms after identifying the sourcing needs of MNCs for market intelligence, have together started this business savior MarketIntelReports.MIR intends to be a one-stop shop with an intuitive design, exhaustive database, expert assistance, secure cart checkout and data privacy integrated. It curates the list of reports, publishers and studies to ensure that the database is constantly updated to dynamically meet the targeted, specific needs of our clients.MarketIntelReports currently has more than 10,000 plus titles and 35+ publishers on our platform and growing consistently to fill the Global Intelligence Demand Supply Gap. We cover more than 15 industry verticals being: Automotive, Electronics, Manufacturing, Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare, Chemicals, Building & Construction, Agriculture, Food & Beverages, Banking & Finance, Media and Government, Public Sector Studies.Contact us:Mayur SSales Manager2711 Centerville Road, Suite 400,Wilmington,Delaware,19808United Statespr@marketintelreports.comTelephone: 1-302-261-5343 Savory Ingredients Market forecast to 2020: report on key insights, industry drivers, market overview Savory Ingredients Market 2020 http://www.marketintelreports.com/report/fbr0043/savory-ingredients-market-by-type-monosodium-glutamate-hydrolyzed-vegetable-protein-hydrolyzed-animal-protein-yeast-extracts-and-ribonucleotides-application-soups--sauces-dehydrated-noodles-ready-to-eat-meals-pet-foodforecast20152020 http://www.marketintelreports.com/pdfdownload.php?id=fbr0043 http://www.marketintelreports.com/purchase.php?id=fbr0043 www.marketintelreports.com Savory ingredients are used for providing the food with pleasant savory taste. These ingredients are known for enhancing the flavor of the food by giving it an outstanding taste and aroma. MCG, HVP, HAP and yeast extracts are major types of savory ingredients. Yeast extract, a natural savory ingredient is the fastest growing category in the savory ingredient market. It gives a natural savory flavor and is mostly used in the production of instant food, meat products, nutritional food and seasonings. They can also be used for minimizing the salt content in food preparation.Check Complete Report @This report studies the growth of the Global Savory Ingredients Market for the period 2015 to 2020. The Global Savory Ingredients Market is assessed to grow at a CAGR of 5.6% through 2020.The Report Segments the Market By Type, By Application and By Geography. Savory Ingredients Market (By Types) Includes: Monosodium Glutamate Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein Hydrolyzed Animal Protein Yeast Extracts and RibonucleotidesGet Sample Brochure of the Report @The report also discusses the recent trends, opportunities, drivers, challenges, constraints and major developments prevailing in the market. The partnerships, collaborations, M&As and Joint Ventures are also studied in detail.Key Operative Players in the Market: Ajinomoto (Japan) Givaudan (Switzerland) Angel Yeast (China) Royal DSM (The Netherlands) and Kerry Group (Ireland)Order a copy of Savory Ingredients Market Report now @About us:MarketIntelReports (MIR) aim to empower our clients to successfully manage and outperform in their business decisions, we do this by providing Premium Market Intelligence, Strategic Insights and Databases from a range of Global Publishers.A group of industry veterans who are well experienced in reputed international consulting firms after identifying the sourcing needs of MNCs for market intelligence, have together started this business savior MarketIntelReports.MIR intends to be a one-stop shop with an intuitive design, exhaustive database, expert assistance, secure cart checkout and data privacy integrated. It curates the list of reports, publishers and studies to ensure that the database is constantly updated to dynamically meet the targeted, specific needs of our clients.MarketIntelReports currently has more than 10,000 plus titles and 35+ publishers on our platform and growing consistently to fill the Global Intelligence Demand Supply Gap. We cover more than 15 industry verticals being: Automotive, Electronics, Manufacturing, Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare, Chemicals, Building & Construction, Agriculture, Food & Beverages, Banking & Finance, Media and Government, Public Sector Studies.Contact us:Mayur SSales Manager2711 Centerville Road, Suite 400,Wilmington,Delaware,19808United Statespr@marketintelreports.comTelephone: 1-302-261-5343 Global Pizotifen Market Professional Survey Report 2017 Global Pizotifen Market Professional Survey Report 2017 http://www.qyresearcheurope.com/goods-494756.html http://www.qyresearchglobal.com/ This report studies Pizotifen in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2011 to 2015, and forecast to 2021.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringAFTNovartis Pharmaceuticals...By types, the market can be split intoPizotifen 0.5 mg TabletsPizotifen 1.5 mg TabletsOtherBy Application, the market can be split intoPrevent HeadachesOtherBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaAsk a comprehensive report sample, please feel free to contact to tinaning@qyresearch.com orTable of contents1 Industry Overview of Pizotifen2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Pizotifen3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Pizotifen4 Global Pizotifen Overall Market Overview5 Pizotifen Regional Market Analysis6 Global 2012-2017 Pizotifen Segment Market Analysis (by Type)7 Global 2012-2017 Pizotifen Segment Market Analysis (by Application)8 Major Manufacturers Analysis of Pizotifen9 Development Trend of Analysis of Pizotifen Market10 Pizotifen Marketing Type Analysis11 Consumers Analysis of PizotifenRelated Reports:China Pizotifen Market Professional Survey Report 2017Europe Pizotifen Market Professional Survey Report 2017Global Pizotifen Market Professional Survey Report 2017India Pizotifen Market Professional Survey Report 2017Japan Pizotifen Market Professional Survey Report 2017Korea Pizotifen Market Professional Survey Report 2017USA Pizotifen Market Professional Survey Report 2017Contact Details:Company Name: QYResearch CO.,LIMITEDProfessional Market Research Report PublisherContact Person: Tina NingEmail: tinaning@qyresearch.com or qyresearcheurope@126.comTel: 0086-20-22093278(CN)Web:QYResearch established in 2007, focus on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, data base and seminar services. the company owned a large basic data base (such as National Bureau of statistics database, Customs import and export database, Industry Association Database etc), experts resources (included energy automotive chemical medical ICT consumer goods etc industries experts who own more than 10 years experiences on marketing or R&D), professional survey team (the team member with more than 3 years market survey experience and more than 2 years depth expert interview experience),Excellent data analysis team (SPSS statistics and PPT graphics process team); QYResearch has always pursuit product quality, adhere to the quality is the soul of business.Room 2311 VILI International Building No.167 Linhe West Road Tianhe District Global Mobile Ticketing Market by Type, Product, Regions, Application and Forecast to 2022 ReportsWeb http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW0001723723/sample http://www.reportsweb.com/global-mobile-ticketing-market-size-status-and-forecast-2022 http://www.reportsweb.com/buy&RW0001723723/buy/3311 http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW0001723723/discount ReportsWeb.com has announced the addition of the Global Mobile Ticketing Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022 The report focuses on global major leading players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specification.The major players in global market include Bytemark, Corethree, Eventbrite, Gemalto, Masabi, ShowClix, Bizzabo, Margento, Open Mobile Ticketing Alliance, StubHub, TickPick. Geographically, this report split global into several key Regions, with, revenue (million USD) , market share and growth rate of Mobile Ticketing for these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast) United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia.Request For Free Sample Copy atOn the basis of product, the Mobile Ticketing market is primarily split into Online purchase,Mobile purchase and Phone purchase. On the basis on the end users/Application, this report covers, Airport, Bus station, Port and Metro station.For More Information About This Report atTable of Content1 Industry Overview2 Global Mobile Ticketing Competition Analysis by Players3 Company (Top Players) Profiles and Key Data3.1 Bytemark3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Bytemark Mobile Ticketing Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Corethree3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Corethree Mobile Ticketing Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 Eventbrite3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Eventbrite Mobile Ticketing Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 Gemalto3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 Gemalto Mobile Ticketing Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.4.5 Recent Developments4 Global Mobile Ticketing Market Size by Product and Application (2012-2017)4.1 Global Mobile Ticketing Market Size by Product (2012-2017)4.2 Global Mobile Ticketing Market Size by Application (2012-2017)4.3 Potential Application of Mobile Ticketing in Future4.4 Top Consumer / End Users of Mobile Ticketing5 United States Mobile Ticketing Development Status and Outlook5.1 United States Mobile Ticketing Market Size (2012-2017)5.2 United States Mobile Ticketing Market Size and Market Share by Players (2012-2017)5.3 United States Mobile Ticketing Market Size by Application (2012-2017)6 EU Mobile Ticketing Development Status and Outlook6.1 EU Mobile Ticketing Market Size (2012-2017)6.2 EU Mobile Ticketing Market Size and Market Share by Players (2012-2017)6.3 EU Mobile Ticketing Market Size by Application (2012-2017)7 Japan Mobile Ticketing Development Status and Outlook7.1 Japan Mobile Ticketing Market Size (2012-2017)7.2 Japan Mobile Ticketing Market Size and Market Share by Players (2012-2017)7.3 Japan Mobile Ticketing Market Size by Application (2012-2017)8 China Mobile Ticketing Development Status and Outlook8.1 China Mobile Ticketing Market Size and Forecast (2012-2017)8.2 China Mobile Ticketing Market Size and Market Share by Players (2012-2017)8.3 China Mobile Ticketing Market Size by Application (2012-2017)9 India Mobile Ticketing Development Status and Outlook9.1 India Mobile Ticketing Market Size and Forecast (2012-2017)9.2 India Mobile Ticketing Market Size and Market Share by Players (2012-2017)9.3 India Mobile Ticketing Market Size by Application (2012-2017)10 Southeast Asia Mobile Ticketing Development Status and Outlook10.1 Southeast Asia Mobile Ticketing Market Size and Forecast (2012-2017)10.2 Southeast Asia Mobile Ticketing Market Size and Market Share by Players (2012-2017)10.3 Southeast Asia Mobile Ticketing Market Size by Application (2012-2017)11 Market Forecast by Regions, Type and Application (2017-2022)12 Mobile Ticketing Market Dynamics13 Market Effect Factors Analysis14 Research Finding/ConclusionPurchase This Report -And Get,Discount on Report Purchase -Contact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@reportsweb.comReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028 Market Data Analysis: Global Blood Plasma Freezers Market Research Report 2017 Global Blood Plasma Freezers Market Research Report 2017 http://www.qyresearcheurope.com/goods-493906.html http://www.qyresearchglobal.com/ This report studies the Blood Plasma Freezers market status and outlook of global and major regions, from angles of manufacturers, regions, product types and end industries; this report analyzes the top manufacturers in global and major regions, and splits the Blood Plasma Freezers market by product type and applications/end industries.The global Blood Plasma Freezers market is valued at XX million USD in 2016 and is expected to reach XX million USD by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.The major players in global Blood Plasma Freezers market include Panasonic, Dometic, Haier, Helmer, SO-LOW, Follett, Standex, Thermo Fisher, Dulas, Vestfrost Solutions, Migali Scientific, Felix Storch, Indrel, SunDanzer, Sun Frost, Sure Chill, WoodleyGeographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate of Blood Plasma Freezers in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanOn the basis of product, the Blood Plasma Freezers market is primarily split intoCommon Indoor FreezersCold Chain FreezersOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report coversHospitalsBlood StationOthersAsk a comprehensive report sample, please feel free to contact to tinaning@qyresearch.com orTable of contents1 Blood Plasma Freezers Market Overview2 Global Blood Plasma Freezers Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global Blood Plasma Freezers Production by Regions (2012-2017)4 Global Blood Plasma Freezers Consumption (K Units) by Regions (2012-2017)5 Global Blood Plasma Freezers Production, Revenue, Price Trend by Types6 Global Blood Plasma Freezers Market Analysis by Applications7 Global Blood Plasma Freezers Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis8 Blood Plasma Freezers Manufacturing Cost Analysis9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders11 Market Effect Factors Analysis12 Global Blood Plasma Freezers Market Forecast (2017-2022)13 Research Findings and Conclusion14 Methodology and Data SourceRelated Reports:China Blood Plasma Freezers Market Research Report 2017Europe Blood Plasma Freezers Market Research Report 2017Global Blood Plasma Freezers Market Research Report 2017India Blood Plasma Freezers Market Research Report 2017Japan Blood Plasma Freezers Market Research Report 2017Korea Blood Plasma Freezers Market Research Report 2017USA Blood Plasma Freezers Market Research Report 2017Contact Details:Company Name: QYResearch CO.,LIMITEDProfessional Market Research Report PublisherContact Person: Tina NingEmail: tinaning@qyresearch.com or qyresearcheurope@126.comTel: 0086-20-22093278(CN)Web:QYResearch established in 2007, focus on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, data base and seminar services. the company owned a large basic data base (such as National Bureau of statistics database, Customs import and export database, Industry Association Database etc), experts resources (included energy automotive chemical medical ICT consumer goods etc industries experts who own more than 10 years experiences on marketing or R&D), professional survey team (the team member with more than 3 years market survey experience and more than 2 years depth expert interview experience),Excellent data analysis team (SPSS statistics and PPT graphics process team); QYResearch has always pursuit product quality, adhere to the quality is the soul of business.Room 2311 VILI International Building No.167 Linhe West Road Tianhe District G.Fast Chipset Global Market, By Product & Data Validation, 2016 Analysis and Forecast 2022 ReportsWeb http://www.reportsweb.com/g-fast-chipset-global-market-outlook-2016-2022 http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW0001565079/sample http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW0001565079/buying Increased rivalry among the fixed internet services providers (ISPs), rising impact of National Broadband Plan (NBP) and increasing demand for ultrafast broadband services are some of the key factors boosting the market growth. However, limited application of gigabit rates is hampering the market growth. Greater cost-effectiveness provides ample of opportunities for the market growth.For more information about this report:Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) segment is anticipated to command the largest market share during the forecast period. North America and Europe regions captured the largest market share. North America has major internet service providers such as Verizon (U.S.) & AT&T (U.S.). They are testing the G.fast technology to augment the broadband speed up to 1 Gbps with the help of existing copper infrastructure.Some of the key players in G.Fast Chipset market include Mediatek, Inc., Centurylink, Inc., Broadcom Ltd., BT Group PLC, Metanoia Communications, Inc., Marvell Technology Group Ltd., Swisscom AG, Sckipio Technologies Si Ltd., Qualcomm, Inc. and Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd.Copper-Line Lengths Covered:- Lines Shorter Than 100 Meters- Lines of 100 Meters-150 Meters- Lines of 150 Meters-200 Meters- Lines of 200 Meters-250 Meters- Lines Longer Than 250 MetersDeployments Covered:- Distribution Point Unit (DPU)- Customer Premises Equipment (CPE)End Users Covered:- Commercial- ResidentialRequest Sample Copy atRegions Covered:- North AmericaUSCanadaMexico- EuropeGermanyFranceItalyUKSpainRest of Europe- Asia PacificJapanChinaIndiaAustraliaNew ZealandRest of Asia Pacific- Rest of the WorldMiddle EastBrazilArgentinaSouth AfricaEgypt1 Executive Summary2 Preface3 Market Trend Analysis4 Porters Five Force Analysis5 Global G.Fast Chipset Market, By Copper-Line Length6 Global G.Fast Chipset Market, By Deployment7 Global G.Fast Chipset Market, By End User8 Global G.Fast Chipset Market, By Geography9 Key Developments10 Company Profiling10.1 Mediatek, Inc.10.2 Centurylink, Inc.10.3 Broadcom Ltd.10.4 BT Group PLC10.5 Metanoia Communications, Inc.10.6 Marvell Technology Group Ltd.10.7 Swisscom AG10.8 Sckipio Technologies Si Ltd.10.9 Qualcomm, Inc.10.10 Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd.Inquire before Buying atContact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@reportsweb.comReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028 MyAssignmenthelp.com Hires More Essay Writers to Meet the Increased Demands https://myassignmenthelp.com/essay-help/essay-writers.html https://myassignmenthelp.com/essay-help/plagiarism-free-essays.html US, 28th March, 2017: MyAssignmenthelp.com has appointed a team of highly qualified essay writers for fulfilling academic needs of students across the world. The increasing demands for academic assistance with essay writing have encouraged us to invite more professionals to join our venture. Hence, we expanded the team of essay writers from 1050 to 1200.We appointed essay writers() from various fields such as accounting, marketing, law, maths, geography, chemistry, etc. By hiring experts from different backgrounds, we ensure that students get needed essay writing help in their respective fields. We conducted several layers of the interview process in order to select the worth candidates. We have made sure the chosen experts posses extensive knowledge in their respective fields and good academic skills.Our professional essay experts have acquired their academic degrees from eminent universities all over the world. This is why, they understand universities have a different set of rules. Students are expected to follow those regulations in order to meet the grading parameters. They carefully analyze each academic requirement before start writing the paper. They diligently follow all assignment writing specifications provided by students. Hence, students receive help solutions that meet all academic requirements.Our professionals understand plagiarism is a sin in academics. This is why, they take all precaution to avoid plagiarism in writing. They always take references from authentic sources in order maintain the authenticity of the paper. Moreover, they also check the paper under plagiarism detector software before the final submission. If plagiarism has been detected in the content, the writer is responsible for excluding the plagiarism from the writing in order to live up to our 100% original content guarantee. This is why, we are acknowledged as plagiarism free essays provider() among students in Australia, UK, USA and New Zealand.Students are guaranteed to receive highest quality help solution from us. No matter how stringent the specification are or how short the deadline is, we always deliver the perfectly formatted well researched fully referenced help solution. Each help solution undergoes several quality checks before it reaches to students. Our quality management team checks whether all requirements are met. They also cross check the references in order to ensure they are relevant in the context of the topic.The best thing our services is its reasonability. We are one of few writing help services that provide the combination of affordability and quality. We kept our prices to a minimum to help more students in need. Despite providing cheap essay help services, we never compromise with the quality of the paper. Moreover, we provide additional offers and discounts on each order to reduce the final payable amount.MyassignmenthelpLytchett House, 13 Freeland Park Wareham Road Lytchett Matravers,Poole Dorset,Uk, BH16 6FAPhone +441212854112Email id: contact@myassignmenthelp.comStudents, who are interested in taking professional essay help from us, need to fill up the order form. For further knowledge of our services, students can get in touch with our customer support team at +61-2-6100-3843. Do you wonder which cities in the world offers the best standards of living? A new research tells us why Millennials are visiting and relocating to certain hubs, clarifying the unique appeals of each location. Furnished housing aggregator, Nestpick, combined their industry knowledge with an intensive research project, examining the cities by 16 factors, including housing score, tolerance to immigration, equality and a ranking of nightlife options. Here are the cities worldwide that offer Millennials the best standards of living based on general characteristics of the generation. At Nestpick weve witnessed firsthand a clear pattern of migration among Millennials from all over the world to specific cities. states Omer Kucukdere Managing Director of Nestpick. UNWTO data confirms that travellers among this generation choose these same cities for their leisure time, confirming a clear appeal of these cities over others for this group. We set out to better understand the factors which combine to create this phenomenon. Overall, the top ten most popular Millennial cities are revealed below. The sub categories have been combined into four main categories for ease of access, but the full results for each of the 16 criteria can be seen on the results page: www.nestpick.com/millennial-city-ranking/ Results: Top Ten Best Millennial Cities City Country Business Ecosystem The Essentials Openness Recreation Total Amsterdam Netherlands 21.30 35.20 31.60 20.70 108.80 Berlin Germany 17.40 38.20 26.70 21.60 103.90 Munich Germany 24.90 34.90 26.60 16.30 102.70 Lisbon Portugal 15.60 39.20 24.60 23.20 102.60 Antwerp Belgium 13.30 39.70 26.40 21.70 101.10 Barcelona Spain 16.10 42.20 25.00 17.70 101.00 Lyon France 15.10 43.90 25.80 16.00 100.80 Cologne Germany 12.30 39.60 26.40 22.45 100.75 Paris France 19.90 38.50 26.80 15.50 100.70 Vancouver Canada 23.10 30.25 32.05 15.10 100.50 Istanbul ranked 99th Results for Istanbul: Istanbul Ranks 99 Overall Employment 93 Transport 85 Apple Rank 53 LGBT Friendly 85 Startup Score 82 Health Rank 90 Contraception 99 Nightscene 46 Tourism 5 Food Rank 9 Gender Equality 100 Beer Ranking 27 Housing 17 Internet Speed 93 Immigration Rank 95 Festival Rank 96 For the Employment Ranking, Brugge, Belgium, scored highest for cities with under 1 million inner-city inhabitants, and Bangkok, Thailand scored highest for cities with a population of over 1 million. For the Startup Score, San Franciso, USA scored highest for cities with under 1 million inner-city inhabitants, and Los Angeles, USA scored highest for cities with a population of over 1 million. For the Tourism Score, Venice, Italy scored highest for cities with under 1 million inner-city inhabitants, and Bangkok, Thailand scored highest for cities with a population of over 1 million. For the Housing Ranking, Athens, Greece scored highest for cities with under 1 million inner-city inhabitants, and Guadalajara, Mexico scored highest for cities with a population of over 1 million. For the Transport Score, Oslo, Norway scored highest for cities with under 1 million inner-city inhabitants, and Paris, France scored highest for cities with a population of over 1 million. For the Health Rank, French cities scored highest for cities with under 1 million inner-city inhabitants, along with Paris, France scoring highest for cities with a population of over 1 million. For the Food Score, Brno, Czech Republic scored highest for cities with under 1 million inner-city inhabitants, and Medellin, Colombia scored highest for cities with a population of over 1 million. For Internet Speed,Austin, USA scored highest for cities with under 1 million inner-city inhabitants, and Prague, Czech Republic scored highest for cities with a population of over 1 million. For the Apple Rank, Geneva, Switzerland scored highest for cities with under 1 million inner-city inhabitants, and Cologne, Germany scored highest for cities with a population of over 1 million. For Access to Contraception, English cities scored highest for cities with under 1 million inner-city inhabitants, and Chinese cities scored highest for cities with a population of over 1 million. For Gender Equality, Helsinki, Finland scored highest for cities with under 1 million inner-city inhabitants, and Stockholm, Sweden scored highest for cities with a population of over 1 million. For the ImmigrationTolerance, Canadian cities Toronto and Montreal scored highest for cities with under 1 million inner-city inhabitants, and Irish cities Dublin and Cork scored highest for cities with a population of over 1 million. For LGBT Friendliness, San Francisco, USA scored highest for cities with under 1 million inner-city inhabitants, and Amsterdam, Netherlands scored highest for cities with a population of over 1 million. For the Nightscene Score, Graz, Austria scored highest for cities with under 1 million inner-city inhabitants, and Berlin, Germany and Paris, France scored joint highest for cities with a population of over 1 million. For the Beer Score, Brno, Czech Republic scored highest for cities with under 1 million inner-city inhabitants, and Beijing, China scored joint highest for cities with a population of over 1 million. For the Festival Ranking, Brugge, Belgium scored highest for cities with under 1 million inner-city inhabitants, and Amsterdam, Netherlands scored joint highest for cities with a population of over 1 million. For full results of the ranking, please visit the results page here: www.nestpick.com/millennial-city-ranking/ Hepatitis B Therapeutics Market: An objective assessment of the trajectory of the market http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/hepatitis-b-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=144 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ Hepatitis B is a life threatening liver infection caused by hepatitis B virus. Adults who get affected by hepatitis B virus for a short time and then get cured is known as acute hepatitis B. Infection that lasts for a long time is known as chronic hepatitis B. Vaccine is the most preferred choice of doctors and physicians to protect people from the disease. The vaccine prevents the infection and stops development of liver cancer and chronic disease caused by hepatitis B. It can cause a long term infection and put people at high risk of liver cancer and cirrhosis that may lead to death. Globally, hepatitis B is one of the major health problems that spreads by mucosal or percutaneous exposure as well as through menstrual, seminal, saliva, and vaginal fluids. Hepatitis B can occur due to sexual transmission, by having contact with sex workers and sex with multiple partners. Transmission of disease may also occur due to reuse of syringes and needles both among persons who inject drugs and in health care settings. Moreover, it may occur during surgical, medical, and dental procedures, and use of razors that are contaminated with infected blood. Infants and young children mostly get chronic hepatitis B.Obtain Report Details:Hepatitis B Therapeutics Market: DynamicsLimited access to treatment and diagnosis of hepatitis B in many resource constrained settings and increasing prevalence of hepatitis B infections are likely to drive the global hepatitis B therapeutics market during the forecast period. Rising awareness and increasing affordability are some of the key factors that will increase the rate of diagnosis before a person having advanced liver disease. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), infection of chronic hepatitis B is most common in infants. Rising incidence of hepatitis B infections is a major driver of the market. Less availability of antibiotics in the market and effectiveness of antivirals against hepatitis B infections is likely to propel the market during the forecast period. Prevalence of hepatitis B is increasing steadily across the globe. Medications and treatment options are highly expensive. These are the major drivers of the hepatitis B therapeutics market.Hepatitis B Therapeutics Market: SegmentationBased on therapy, the global hepatitis B therapeutics market has been segmented into: Chemo Therapy Immunosuppressant Therapy Nucleoside AnalogueIn terms of product type, the global hepatitis B therapeutics market has been segmented into: Hepatitis B Vaccine Anti-viral Drugs Tenofovir EntecavirBased on distribution channel, the global hepatitis B therapeutics market has been segmented into: Hospital Pharmacies Retail Pharmacies Online Pharmacies Hepatitis B Therapeutics Market: Region-wise OutlookIn terms of region, the hepatitis B therapeutics market has been segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. North America dominated the hepatitis B therapeutics market owing to the high awareness levels, availability of improved infrastructure, and favorable government initiatives relating to the promotion of hepatitis B therapeutics. Europe is the second largest market for hepatitis B therapeutics driven by rising geriatric population, high rates of chronic infections in Central and Eastern Europe. Prevalence of hepatitis B is the highest in Middle East & Africa where adult population is chronically infected. According to the WHO, it is estimated that 2% to 5% of general population is affected chronically in Asia Pacific. Most people with liver cancer die within diagnosis as there are limited treatment options.Fill the form for an exclusive sample of this report:Hepatitis B Therapeutics Market: Key PlayersMajor players operating in the global hepatitis B therapeutics market are GlaxoSmithKline plc, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novira Therapeutics, Johnson & Johnson, Abivax SA, F. Hoffmann- La Roche, Novartis AG, and Merck & Co. The increasing competition among key players is likely to drive the global hepatitis B therapeutics market during the forecast period.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.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a U.S.-based provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: South Africa Printing Inks Market: Rising in Printing Industry Shift toward Digital Media, Research By 2024 Printing Inks Market http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/south-africa-printing-inks-market.html https://goo.gl/iRb07i http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ http://marketresearchreports2017.blogspot.in The printing inks market in South Africa is highly fragmented and the top six companies cumulatively accounted for more than 60% in 2015. These companies are New Africa Inks (Pty) Limited, Constantia Printing Inks, Hi-Tech Inks (Pty) Ltd., Flint Group South Africa Ltd., Hostmann-Steinberg South Africa (Pty) Ltd., and NUtec Digital Ink (Pty) Ltd. Transparency Market Research finds that the increasing penetration of multinational printing inks industry players is likely to create stiff competition for the domestic players in the South Africa printing inks market.The South Africa printing inks market is not dominated by any single manufacturer. Existing players are constantly developing new products to expand their consumer base. For instance, in August 2016, Flint Group Flexible Packaging launched VarioLam AB LEC. This range of multi-functional polyurethane-based (PU-based) inks are known to withstand the moisture, heat, and pressure of the retort process, provide an extended shelf life, and ensure the safety of the contents. Such developments are key to the sustained growth of the South Africa printing inks market.Browse Market Research Report @The South Africa printing inks market was valued at US$85.9 mn in 2015 and is estimated to reach US$155.1 mn by 2024, expanding at a CAGR of 6.9% therein.Offset Printing Offering Strong Scope for Growth of South Africa Printing Inks MarketIn terms of volume, offset printing inks held the dominant share of over 40.0% in 2015 and are anticipated to continue leading the printing inks market in South Africa. The digital printing inks segment, on the other hand, is projected to witness strong growth in the South Africa printing inks market during the forecast period, with an 8.6% CAGR expected from 2016 to 2024.By end use, the packaging sector is estimated to hold a share of just over 44.0% in the South Africa printing inks market by the end of 2016. Registering a 7.3% CAGR over the forecast period, the packaging industry is also expected to emerge as the most rapidly expanding end-use segment of the South Africa printing inks market by 2024. The publication and commercial printing industry is also a prominent market for printing inks in South Africa and is projected to present several opportunities for growth.For more information on this report, fill the form @Rising Diversification of Packaging Sector Leads to Growing Demand for Printing InksThe packaging industry in South Africa is fueled by the recent surge in the countrys GDP, the subsequent increase in individual disposable incomes, the continuously changing lifestyles of the consumers, and a growing youth population. Any growth in the demand for packaged consumer goods has a positive impact on the printing inks market in South Africa. The rising use of online shopping portals is thus another key driver for the South Africa printing inks market.Various types of printing inks and varnishes are used on a wide range of substrates and surfaces to develop the resistance of packaging materials, a TMR analyst notes. Flexographic and gravure printing inks are used extensively for flexible and moldable materials. Low migration inks and water-based inks are highly popular in the food packaging industry as they dont cause any serious side effects.Dual Impact of Growing Popularity of Digitalization on South Africa Printing Inks MarketE-commerce is growing at a significant pace across the globe, giving rise to a steady demand for e-books, e-tickets, and online travel and hotel reservations. This has resulted in a substantial decrease in the use of paper-based communication channels, obstructing the growth of the conventional publication and commercial printing industry. The South Africa printing inks market faces a considerable threat from the rapid rise in the popularity of digital media.Nevertheless, the rising use of digital media does offer the printing inks market in South Africa some respite as it is likely to drive the demand for digital printing inks. Digital printing is used in textiles, fine arts, advertising, desktop publishing, and architectural designs and is preferred over traditional printing as it offers flexibility of operation and speed. This could be a significant opportunity for the South Africa printing inks market to adapt to its changing business environment and stay one step ahead of the challenge.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insights for 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, TMR employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact Us:-Transparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Visit Blog: Flame Retardant Chemicals Market Dynamics, Segments and Supply Demand 2014-2020 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-293 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-293 www.futuremarketinsights.com Flame retardant chemicals are chemicals or compounds which are added to combustible materials in order to prevent or delay combustion of these materials rendering them more resistant to ignition. The flame retardant materials, impede, inhibit or suppress the rate of combustion of the material to which they are added.These chemicals interfere with the combustion process at any of the stages such as heating, ignition, decomposition or during the flame spreading stage. The amount of flame retardant to be incorporated depends on the level of safety that is desired for the end use. These chemicals may be used in combination with some other chemicals or used singly to impart flame retardancy. Moreover, selection of a particular chemical depends on the material to which it is to be added as different elements which compose the chemical react differently with fire. This flame retardant chemicals market report includes market assessment for extensively used flame retardant chemicals across the globe.Request For Report Sample@Flame retardant chemicals marketcan be segmented based on their application in the end user industries such as automotive, construction, textiles, electronics and electrical industry and others. On the other hand, flame retardant chemicals market, based on the type of chemicals, is segmented as chlorinated flame retardants, brominated flame retardants, organophoshorus based flame retardants, nitrogen flame retardants,antimony oxide,Aluminium hydroxide and other flame retardants. Based on the regions of the world, the Flame Retardant Chemicals market can be segmented in to Asia-Pacific region, North America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Japan and Middle East and Africa.The global flame retardant chemicals market is expected to witness a moderate single digit growth in the next five years. Among the regional segments, Asia-Pacific accounts for the largest share of global flame retardant chemicals market with China accounting for a large chunk of demand, Asia-Pacific is followed by North-America.The growth of end user industries especially in the Asia-Pacific region has led to a significant growth in the global flame retardant chemicals market. The growth of construction industry which employs flame retardants in insulation materials, paints and coatings and other materials, growth of automotive and electronics industry and other emerging application segments are expected to drive growth of flame retardant chemicals market. Moreover, the regulations pertaining safety standards as regards to fire safety in the end user industries has led to significant increase in demand over the past few years in the global flame retardant chemicals market.Request For TOC@The growth of flame retardant chemicals market is however dependent on the price of feedstock or the raw materials required for producing these chemicals. Moreover, some of the flame retardant chemicals being harmful to the environment have led to reduction in their use world over and this has also led to development of eco-friendly flame retardant chemicals which are expected to gain foothold in the global flame retardant chemicals market and in turn drive the growth of the market.The major players in the flame retardant chemicals market are Clariant, BASF, Chemtura, AkzoNobel, Ciba specialty chemicals, Lanxess AG, Bayer Material Science among the others.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Digital Phase Shifter Market size and forecast, 2017-2027 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2608 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2608 www.futuremarketinsights.com Digital phase shifter is a type of control device that changes the phase of RF, microwave or millimeter wave signals with practically negligible attenuation. These devices are programmable or can be controlled via a computer interface. Digital phase shifters have a variety of applications, including RF power amplifier linearization/RF distortion, amplitude and phase modulation, variable attenuators, and fiber optics. Different types of digital phase shifters such as 4-bit, 5-bit, 6-bit, and 8-bit digital phase shifters, etc. are used for telecommunication, VSAT communications, navigation, and radar. A digital phase shifter consists of high performance GaAs switches, low/high pass filter, and integral TTL driver. GaAs switches have little power consumption, fast switching time, and extremely low switching transients. Depending on their end-use, different kinds of digital phase shifters are used for different applications. For example, 8-bit digital phase shifters are designed to be used in a broad range of applications including beam forming networks, active antenna systems, distributed antenna systems, and phased array applications.Global Digital Phase Shifter Market: DynamicsDigital phase shifter is an essential device used across various end-use industries such as telecommunication, aerospace and defense, weather, etc. An increase in demand from various end-use industries including aerospace, mobile, mobile broadband, internet, satellite, and fixed broadband sector is one of the crucial factors boosting the demand of digital phase shifters, which in turn, is propelling the overall growth of the global digital phase shifter market. That apart, continuous development in information technology sector is pumping their growth in the global market.Request Report Sample@One of the key challenges faced by the digital phase shifter is that it is difficult to maintain linearity which provides near constant phase shift over an octave in these devices. Usage of technologies such as UltraCMOS technology, an advanced form of SOI, is the key trend observed in the global digital phase shifter market. This technology has proved to be quite effective at solving digital phase shifter market's biggest challenge, which is linearity. Digital phase shifters, with phase range of 90, are used in wireless communication for single side band generation, image rejection, and IQ modulation. Hence, 90 digital phase shifters are in high demand.Global Digital Phase Shifter Market: SegmentationThe global digital phase shifter market can be segmented on the basis of number of bits, phase range, applications and end use industries. On the basis of number of bits, the global digital phase shifter market can be segmented into 4-bit, 5-bit, 6-bit, 8-bit and others (1-bit, 10-bit, 12-bit, etc.). On the basis of phase range, global digital phase shifter market can be segmented into less than 45, 45, 90, 180 and 360. On the basis of applications, the global digital phase shifter market can be segmented into communication, microwave instrumentation and measurement, navigation, electronic warfare and phase cancellation, and radar systems. On the basis of end use industry, global digital phase shifter market can be segmented into aerospace & defense, network infrastructure (telecommunication, radio, television, weather radar system, etc.), and other industrial applications (e.g. healthcare).Global Digital Phase Shifter Market: Region-wise OutlookThe global digital phase shifter market is segmented into 5 key regions. These are categorized as -- North America, Latin America, Middle East & Africa, Asia-Pacific and Europe. North America and Europe are anticipated to remain the key regions in the global digital phase shifter market throughout the forecast period. Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa and Latin America are expected to be the emerging markets as the large population in these areas will increase the pressure on the existing telecommunication infrastructure, which in turn, will lead to an increase in demand for global digital phase shifters.Request For TOC@Global Digital Phase Shifter Market: Market ParticipantsSome of the well-known market participants involved in the manufacturing of digital phase shifters include MACOM, Analog Devices, Inc., Peregrine Semiconductor Corp., TriQuint Semiconductor, GT Microwave Inc., Pulsar Microwave Corporation, Mercury Systems, Inc., Planar Monolithics Industries, Aelius Semiconductors Pte. Ltd., Astra Microwave Products Limited, Crane Aerospace & Electronics, Custom MMIC, Dbwave Technologies CO.,LTD, Lorch Microwave, Pasternack Enterprises, Inc., Qorvo, Inc, SAGE Millimeter, Inc., Telemakus LLC., United Monolithic Semiconductors, Vaunix Technology Corporation,etc.Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.compress@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Elevators And Escalators Market Segments and Key Trends 2016-2026 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2417 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2417 www.futuremarketinsights.com Elevators and Escalators are the two unavoidable parts of everyday life of humans. Multifarious malls and skyscrapers make elevators and escalators the must-haves in every building. Busy time schedules and increased number of ageing population necessitate the facility of escalators and elevators in residential apartments across the globe. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the ageing population (above 65 years) held 8.5% share of the total population worldwide during the year 2015 and is projected to increase its share to 12.0% by 2030. Moreover, factors like rapid urbanization, changing demographics and increasing constructional activities around the world is expected to drive the growth of the global elevators and escalators market rapidly. Safety is considered as the prominent factor in selection of elevators and escalators service providers.Elevator systems consist of hydraulic elevators, geared elevators, non-geared elevators and machine room less elevators (MRLs). Nowadays, MRLS are preferred over conventional geared elevators as they are technologically advanced, save space and consume less energy. Based on services, new installation service dominates the global elevators and escalators market due to increasing demand from the developing countries like China. However, maintenance and repair service is projected to grow at a significant rate over the forecast period. The manufacturers are focusing on improving the efficiency of the elevators and escalators coupled with the focus on neat and clean environment.Request Report Sample@Elevators and Escalators Market: DriversOne of the major factors driving the growth of the elevators and escalators market is the increasing demand from the end use sectors like residential, commercial, hospitals, etc. Additionally, increasing focus of government towards high rise infrastructures coupled with increasing need of rapid transit are expected to fuel the growth of global elevators and escalators market. Moreover, continuous investment for the improvement of infrastructure at public places like railway station, airports, shopping malls, etc. is further expected to upsurge the demand for elevators and escalators during the forecast period. Tourism is another sector which encourages the demand for elevators and escalators in places of importance for the ease and convenience of the tourists visiting the respective countries.Elevators and Escalators Market: RestraintsA key factor affecting the growth of the elevators and escalators market negatively is its high initial cost of installation. Moreover, lack of skilled labour for the after sales maintenance is expected to hamper the growth of elevators and escalators market. Furthermore, escalation in consumption of energy and power by elevators and escalators is anticipated to retard the growth of the market during the forecast period.Elevators and Escalators Market: SegmentationThe global elevators and escalators market can be viewed as two separate niches too, namely elevators market and escalators market. Elevators, on the basis of its capacity are segmented into 450 kg 1150 kg, 1150 kg 1500 kg and 1500 kg 2000 kg. On the other hand, escalators are further segmented into moving walkway and moving stairs escalators.Global elevators and escalators market can be segmented on the basis of carriage type, application and region. On the basis of carriage type, the elevators and escalators market is segmented into passenger and freight. On the basis of application, the market is segmented into commercial, residential, hotels, transportation, parking and hospital. On the basis of regions, the global elevators and escalators market is segmented into North America, Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Japan and Middle East & Africa (MEA).Elevators and Escalators Market: Region-wise OutlookBased on regions, Asia Pacific led by China and India, holds about 65% share in total ageing population of the world and is expected to be the most prominent revenue generation region in the global elevators and escalators market. Europe followed by North America is expected to witness positive growth during the forecast period.Visit For TOC@Elevators and Escalators Market: PlayersSome of the examples of the players identified in the global elevators and escalators market are as follows:Otis Elevator CompanyKone CorporationSchindler GroupThyssenkrupp AGFujitecHitachi, Ltd.Mitsubishi Electric CorporationToshiba Elevators and Building Systems CorporationHyundai Elevator Co., Ltd.SJEC CorporationAbout Us Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Impact of Existing and Emerging Fire Trucks Market Trends 2017-2027 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2732 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2732 www.futuremarketinsights.com Fire Truck or Fire Engine is a vehicle primarily designed for firefighting operations. Many fire and safety companies employ these vehicles for various other applications such as rescue purposes and emergency medical purposes. Fire Engines transport firefighters to the sites, providing water and other necessary equipment to fight the fire. Generally, a fire truck carry equipment such as hydraulic rescue tools, ladders, ventilating equipment, a self-contained breathing apparatus and first aid kits. Growing demand for multi-tasking trucks is a new trend in the global fire trucks market.Global fire trucks market is expanding widely owing to the modern day fire and safety issues arising from new design infrastructures, rapid development of huge and complex buildings, and larger residencies in lesser spaces especially in developing countries. Global fire trucks market finds opportunity for fire trucks with advanced digital technology tools for supporting performance-based design, and field surveys are improving the quality and teamwork in the built environment.Visit For TOC@The flat and mall culture in both developing and developed countries compelled the governments to declare stringent safety regulations. The growing population along with changing demographics as well as psychographics of the modern day society resulted in surge in the number of tall residential buildings. The result is the demand for more fire trucks to enforce the safety 24x7, and this is expected to drive the global fire trucks market over the forecast period.Global Fire Trucks: Market DynamicsDrivers:In the global fire trucks market, new and advanced technology acceptance is the key driver for the market growth. Use of modern electronics and advanced digital tools will enhance the quality, efficiency and capability of the fire truck.Development in the fire and safety departments and municipal budgets of governments are also projected to fuel the global fire trucks market growth. Moreover, economic growth in developing countries is estimated to create new opportunities for global fire trucks market.Restraints:In the global fire trucks market, low rate of replacements is a factor hampering the market growth. Though the fleets are ageing, the fire trucks are not being replaced easily. This may hinder the growth of fire trucks market.Global Fire Trucks Market: SegmentationThe global fire trucks market is segmented on the basis of types as follows: Rescue, Mini Tanker and all other Pumpers (mini pumpers, multi-tasking trucks).On the basis of application, fire trucks are segmented as follows: Conventional, rescue, wild land, airport application and othersGlobal Fire Trucks Market: Regional OutlookOver the past few years, the developing countries such as China, India and South Korea have witnessed a stable growth in the infrastructure coupled with rising awareness about safety. This is expected to boost the demand for fire trucks over the forecast period. Fire Trucks are a necessity in airports and other enterprises to ensure public safety. The strengthening of governmental regulations regarding the matter is also a positive factor for the growth of global fire trucks market. The high production capacity in China coupled with lower labour charge contribute to the expansion of fire trucks market in the country. Moreover, the technological advancements and growing application in the manufacturing sector fuel the fire trucks market growth. In North America, stringent regulations and large number of fire stations are the key growth factors driving the market. The Middle East and Africa fire trucks market is expected to witness a significant growth over the forecast period owing to the product innovation coupled with technological advancements in the region.Request Report Sample@Global Fire Trucks: Market ParticipantsExamples of some of the market participants in the global fire trucks market identified are:W.S. Darley & Co.Oshkosh CorporationZiegler FirefightingMagirus GmbH (CNH Industrial Group)Rosenbauer International AGGimaex GmbHMorita Holdings CorporationE-oneHME IncorporatedSmeal Fire ApparatusAbout Us Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: In-Vitro Diagnostics Market worth USD 77.38 Billion by 2021 https://www.scalarmarketresearch.com/request-sample.php?id=121 https://www.scalarmarketresearch.com/market-reports/in-vitro-diagnostics-ivd-market www.scalarmarketresearch.com https://www.linkedin.com/company/scalar-market-research According to the new market research report, "In-Vitro Diagnostics (IVD) Market, by Products (Instruments & Systems and Reagents & Consumables Segments), Applications (Immunochemistry, Clinical Chemistry, Hematology, Infectious Disease, Microbiology, Genetic Testing, and Histology & Cytology) - Global Revenue, Trends, Growth, Share, Size and Forecast to 2021", published by Scalar Market Research, the in-vitro diagnostics market is expected to grow at a steady CAGR of 5.2% and become worth USD 77.38 billion by 2021. In 2016, the in-vitro diagnostics market is estimated to be worth USD 60.07 billion.The global in-vitro diagnostics market report offers in-depth analysis of the market size (revenue), market share, major market segments, global geographies, forecast, key players, and premium trends. It also focuses on the key drivers and opportunities in this market.Download Sample:Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.Few key findings of the report:The Strong rise in the incidences of chronic diseases and infectious diseases along with the rise in the number of the geriatric population are suggested to drive the business in the in-vitro diagnostics market.Widespread rise in the instances of infectious diseases and rising demand from the number of chronic disease patients, the report suggests a steady rise in demand for the in-vitro diagnostics market on the global scale.The impressive rise in the research and development efforts from the key market players is also a significant driving factor for the growth of the in-vitro diagnostics market during the forecast period.The in-vitro diagnostics market report suggests a steady rise in demand, the growth of the emerging segments such as companion diagnostics, point-of-care tests, lab on a chip and other next generation technologies. These factors are expected to create significant business opportunities for the key players and the emerging players in the in-vitro diagnostics market. The growing demand for evidence-based medicine is also considered to be a key driving factor for this industry. The report highlights immunochemistry as the strongest growing application segment for this industry during the forecast period. Molecular diagnostics in genetic testing and cancer screening are expected to witness ample growth opportunities.North America is suggested to hold the largest share of the in-vitro diagnostics market. Asia-Pacific, on the other hand, is expected to become the fastest-growing segment of the market during the forecast period. Strong government initiatives, rising awareness about healthcare and improved infrastructure are suggested to be some of the major reasons for the impressive growth of the in-vitro diagnostics market in the Asia-Pacific region.Browse Report Summary:The key players highlighted in the in-vitro diagnostics market report include:1. Abbott2. Becton, Dickinson and Company3.bioMerieux SA4.Carlyle Investment Management LLC5.Alere, Inc.6.F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd.7.Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.8.Danaher Corporation9.Siemens AGAbout Scalar Market ResearchScalar Market Research, Inc., a U.S.-based market research and consulting firm, aspires to assist organizations from around the world to achieve their business goal with premium market research reports and consulting services. Our real-time industry tracking with the help of advanced analytics offers a crystal clear view of all the activities in niche markets. Our team, with thorough global understanding, works relentlessly to gather the necessary market insights, including customer analysis, competitions and global forecast.Find out more about our services at:Contact:8770 W Bryn Mawr Ave.,Suite 1300Chicago, IL 60631Tel.: +1-800-213-5170 (U.S./Canada Toll-free)Email: sales@scalarmarketresearch.comFollow us on LinkedIn: Roofing Chemicals Market to Witness Steady Growth During the Forecast Period 2016-2026 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2281 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2281 www.futuremarketinsights.com Roofing chemicals refer to a variegated range of chemicals which are used to enhance the performance of roof coatings. These chemicals imparts high reflectivity properties to rooftops thus enabling the maintenance of lower temperatures in the house. This in turn helps significantly in reducing the energy consumption required to keep the temperature low, and thus, helps in reducing carbon emissions. The advent of cool roof technology companies which includes roof designing, coating and chemicals, has led roofing chemicals to gain increasing awareness over last few years. Most companies in the roofing chemicals industry are relying on increased product innovations and are introducing products which not only offers high solar reflectance index, but also adds significantly to the life of roof, and caters high elasticity, reliable adhesion and dirt resistance. The global roofing chemicals market is anticipated to expand with a moderate CAGR over the forecast period of 2016-2026Global Roofing Chemicals Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe prime factor driving demand for roofing chemicals is the need for sustainable living standards, which incorporates reduction of carbon footprint of houses, as roofing chemicals helps primarily to reduce in-house temperatures, thus requiring less energy to cool the house, in turn reducing carbon emissions. Moreover, the need to increase longevity of the construction is further fuelling the demand for roofing chemicals, as they inherently helps in overheating and thus extends roof life. This coupled with a rapid increase in construction activity across all developing nations, particularly, in Asia are together translating into rising demand for roofing chemicals. Along with, increasing awareness about the benefits of roofing chemical is another integral factor imparting growth numbers to the global roofing chemicals market. Increase in the presence of bituminous roofing due to its more durability and usage in warehouses and factories is also driving more demand for asphalt bituminous roofing chemicals. Moreover, added features of asphalt roofing such as protection against fire, wind and hail is also adding more demand for asphalt based roofing chemicals.Request Report Sample@However, even now installing a rooftop featured with roofing coating and chemicals to protect from high temperature comes costly, and is the major restraint, restricting the growth in global roofing chemicals market.Global Roofing Chemicals Market: SegmentationOn the basis of Product type,AcrylicAsphaltElastomerEpoxy ResinStyreneOthersOn the basis of application area,MembraneBituminousElastomericMetalPlasticGlobal Roofing Chemicals Market: Region Wise OutlookThe global roofing Chemicals market is segmented into the seven key regions: North America, Latin America, Western Europe, and Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan and Middle East and Africa (MEA). North America is the leading market considering demand for roofing chemicals, amid stringent regulations regarding energy conversation in the US and Canada. Moreover, rising construction activities in Asia Pacific, particularly in China and India, is letting the APEJ region to expand the fastest in terms of demand for roofing chemicals. Due to high inclination of most European governments towards low energy consumption per capita, ha led demand for roofing chemicals in Western Europe to scale high.Visit For TOC@Global Roofing Chemicals Market: Key PlayersThe Dow Chemical CompanySika AGGAF Materials CorporationAkzo Nobel N.VExcel CoatingsBASF SESaint-Gobain S.A3M CompanyAbout Us Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Process Analyzer Market Research Report Forecast 2017 Analysis and Forecasts to 2021 https://marketsizeforecasters.com/get-sample/18568/?utm_source=OPR-AN https://marketsizeforecasters.com/enquire-for-discount/18568/?utm_source=OPR-AN https://marketsizeforecasters.com/world-process-analyzer-market https://marketsizeforecasters.com/global-north-america-europe-and-asia-pacific-south-america-middle-east-and-africa-hydraulic-press-market http://marketsizeforecasters.com/ Process Analyzer Market 2017 Market Research Report was a professional and depth research report on Process Analyzer Market industry that you would know the world's major regional market conditions of Process Analyzer Market industry, the main region including (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa).The Report Process Analyzer market research report provides the newest industry data and industry future trends, allowing you to identify the products and end users driving Revenue growth and profitability.The industry report lists the leading competitors and provides the insights strategic industry Analysis of the key factors influencing the market.The report includes the forecasts, Analysis and discussion of important industry trends, market size, market share estimates and profiles of the leading industry Players.Request a sample copy of Process Analyzer Market Research Report @Global Process Analyzer Market: Product Segment AnalysisGas AnalyzersLiquid AnalyzersProcess Analyzer Market: Application Segment AnalysisPetrochemicalOil and GasPharmaceuticalWater & WastewaterFood & BeverageOthersProcess Analyzer Market: Regional Segment AnalysisUSAEuropeJapanChinaIndiaSouth East AsiaThe Players mentioned in our reportEmersonABBHach CompanySiemensHoneywellFLEXIMThermo Fisher ScientificThe listed pricing for this Process Analyzer Market report starts at $ 2960. Request Discount for Process Analyzer Market Research Report @Table of Content for Process Analyzer Market ReportChapter 3 World Process Analyzer Market share3.1 Major Production Market share by Players3.2 Major Revenue (M USD) Market share by Players3.3 Major Production Market share by Regions in 2016, Through 20213.4 Major Revenue (M USD) Market share By Regions in 2016, Through 2021Chapter 4 Supply Chain Analysis4.1 Industry Supply chain Analysis4.2 Raw material Market Analysis4.2.1 Raw material Prices Analysis 2012-20164.2.2 Raw material Supply Market Analysis4.2 Manufacturing Equipment Suppliers Analysis4.3 Production Process Analysis4.4 Production Cost Structure Benchmarks4.5 End users Market AnalysisChapter 5 Company Profiles5.1 Schunk5.1.1 Company Details (Foundation Year, Employee Strength and etc)5.1.2 Product Information (Picture, Specifications and Applications)5.1.3 Revenue (M USD), Price and Operating Profits5.2 Conviron5.2.1 Company Details (Foundation Year, Employee Strength and etc)5.2.2 Product Information (Picture, Specifications and Applications)5.2.3 Revenue (M USD), Price and Operating Profits5.3 BinderBrowse full table of contents and data tables For Process Analyzer Market Report @Related Reports: -Global (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa) Hydraulic Press Market 2017 Forecast to 2022Hydraulic press is a device using a hydraulic cylinder to generate a compressive force. It uses the hydraulic equivalent of a mechanical lever. These presses are ideal for assembly, straightening, fabrication, quality control, maintenance, product testing, bending, punching and shearing. Press frames are constructed of heavy-duty arc steel and can be easily modified to accommodate a wide range of pressing needs.MarketSizeForecasters.com, a Skyline Market Research LLP brand, is an online aggregator of market research reports. MarketSizeForecasters.com offers a comprehensive collection of full length reports on global and regional markets in 100+ industry verticals. We have partnered with some of the leading business and market research publishing houses and regularly update our online library to offer wide range of reports to our customers.Market size forecastersThe Green Suite #4594,Dover, DE 19901United StatesPhone: 1-201-355-0868US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketsizeforecasters.comWebsite: Global Diaphragm Coupling Turbo Machinery Market Size, Shares, Segmentation, Analysis, Competition, Applications & Challenges by Forecast 2027 Diaphragm Coupling Turbo Machinery Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/2567 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/diaphragm-coupling-turbo-machinery-market-2567 Market Highlights:Couplings are utilized in the turbo machinery in various industries such as oil and gas, mining, automotive and energy and power. There are various kinds of couplings available to the in the market, although the diaphragm couplings have various technical superiorities over other kinds of couplings. The diaphragm couplings are available in a single diaphragm or multiple diaphragms.A diaphragm couplings ensure high transmission efficiency up to 99.56% which is far better than a normal coupling. With a simple structure, light weight and easy assembly diaphragm coupling have become increasing popular among manufacturers and end users alike Diaphragm Coupling Turbo Machinery Market.The global diaphragm coupling in turbo machinery market is poised to grow at 5.12% CAGR and is estimated to reach USD 5,862.5 million by the end of forecast period.Taste the market data and market information presented through more than 79 market data tables and 13 figures spread in 95 numbers of pages of the project report. Avail the in-depth table of content TOC & market synopsis on Diaphragm Coupling in Turbo Machinery Market by Forecast 2016 to 2027Major Key Players: Altra Industrial Motion (U.S.) Regal Beloit (U.S.) John Crane (U.S.) Eagle Industry Co., Ltd. (Japan) Lenze Selection (Germany) RBK Drive (U.K.)Request a Sample Report @Market Research AnalysisBased on type, double & multiple diaphragm coupling accounted for the largest market share in turbo machinery market in 2015 and expected to reach at USD 3,712.3 million by 2027 at the rate of 5.22% from 2016-2027.Based on end user, power segment dominates the global diaphragm coupling in turbo machinery market with 37.7% share in 2015. Asia-Pacific region is the largest region in power generation is projected to reach at USD 561.7 million by 2027.Based on region, Asia-Pacific accounts for largest share of 25.4% in the global diaphragm coupling in turbo machinery market.Regional Analysis:Asia-Pacific accounts for largest share of 25.4% in the global diaphragm coupling in turbo machinery market.Rising renewable & non-renewable power generation capacity, increasing chemical industry, growing oil & gas production are driving the market. Europe was the second-largest market in 2014, valued at USD 683.2 million in 2015; it is projected to grow at 5.15% CAGR from 2016 to 2027.Scope of the Report:This study provides an overview of the global diaphragm coupling in turbo machinery market, tracking two market segments across four geographic regions. The report studies key players, providing a five-year annual trend analysis that highlights market size, volume and share for North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of World.The report also provides a forecast, focusing on the market opportunities for the next five years for each region. The scope of the study segments the global diaphragm coupling in turbo machinery market by its type, end-user and regions.Browse Full Report Details @Target Audience Manufactures Raw Materials Suppliers Aftermarket suppliers Research Institute / Education Institute Potential Investors Key executive (CEO and COO) and strategy growth managerTable of Contents1 Executive Summary2 Research Methodology2.1 Scope of the Study2.1.1 Definition2.1.2 Research Objective2.1.3 Assumptions2.1.4 Limitations2.2 Research Process2.2.1 Primary Research2.2.2 Secondary Research2.3 Market size Estimation2.4 Forecast ModelContinued..List of TableTable 1 Global Diaphragm Coupling In Turbomachinery Market, (Usd Million) 26Table 2 Single Diaphragm Coupling In Turbomachinery Market, (Usd Million)26Continued..List of FiguresFigure 1 Research Process 14Figure 2 Double Diaphragm Market To Witness The Highest Growth 18Figure 3 Power Segment To Dominate The Market (Billion Usd ) 19Continued..About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 524/528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com Nicht Ihr Computer? Dann konnen Sie fur die Anmeldung ein Fenster zum privaten Surfen offnen. Weitere Informationen Methyl Isobutyl Ketone Market, Share, Trends and Analysis, Growth and Forecast 2017 - 2021 https://marketsizeforecasters.com/get-sample/18565 https://marketsizeforecasters.com/enquire-for-discount/18565 https://marketsizeforecasters.com/world-methyl-isobutyl-ketone-mibk-market https://marketsizeforecasters.com/global-and-chinese-hexafluorozirconic-acid-cas-12021-95-3-industry-2017-market http://marketsizeforecasters.com/ 2017 Global Methyl Isobutyl Ketone Market Status, 2011-2022 Market Historical and Forecasts, Professional Market Research Report is the latest market intelligence on growth drivers, industry and regional trends, competitive landscape scenario as well as upstream and downstream sectors.Methyl Isobutyl Ketone market research report provides the newest industry data and industry future trends, allowing you to identify the products and end users driving Revenue growth and profitability.The industry report lists the leading competitors and provides the insights strategic industry Analysis of the key factors influencing the market.The report includes the forecasts, Analysis and discussion of important industry trends, market size, market share estimates and profiles of the leading industry Players.Global Methyl Isobutyl Ketone Market: Product Segment AnalysisBy technologyIsopropanol methodAcetone one-step methodAcetone three-step methodGlobal Methyl Isobutyl Ketone Market: Application Segment AnalysisPaint solventRubber antioxidantExtraction agent and diluent of pesticide and medicineExtraction agent of rare metalLubricating oil dewaxing agentRequest a sample copy of Methyl Isobutyl Ketone Market Research Report @Global Methyl Isobutyl Ketone Market: Regional Segment AnalysisUSAEuropeJapanChinaIndiaSouth East AsiaThe listed pricing for this Methyl Isobutyl Ketone Market report starts at $ 2960. Request Discount for Methyl Isobutyl Ketone Market Research Report @The Players mentioned in our reportShell ChemicalsKumho P&BDow ChemicalMitsui ChemicalsSasolSolvayMitsubishi ChemicalBrowse full table of contents and data tables For Methyl Isobutyl Ketone Market Report @Related Reports: -Global and Chinese Hexafluorozirconic acid (CAS 12021-95-3) Industry, 2017 Market Research ReportThe 'Global and Chinese Hexafluorozirconic acid Industry, 2012-2022 Market Research Report' is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the global Hexafluorozirconic acid industry with a focus on the Chinese market.MarketSizeForecasters.com, a Skyline Market Research LLP brand, is an online aggregator of market research reports. MarketSizeForecasters.com offers a comprehensive collection of full length reports on global and regional markets in 100+ industry verticals. We have partnered with some of the leading business and market research publishing houses and regularly update our online library to offer wide range of reports to our customers.Market size forecastersThe Green Suite #4594,Dover, DE 19901United StatesPhone: 1-201-355-0868US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketsizeforecasters.comWebsite:Connect with us: LinkedIn | Twitter Global Telecom Towers Market Segmentation, Application, Technology & Market Analysis Research Report 2025 |The Insight Partners http://www.theinsightpartners.com/reports/telecom-towers-market http://www.theinsightpartners.com/sample/TIPTE100000322 http://www.theinsightpartners.com/discount/TIPTE100000322 http://www.theinsightpartners.com/buy/TIPTE100000322 Latest market study on Telecom Towers Market to 2025 - Global Analysis and Forecasts by Type, Deployment, the report include key understanding on the driving factors of this growth and also highlights the prominent players in the market and their developments.Browse market data tables and in-depth TOC of the Telecom Towers Market to 2025 @Telecom towers form an essential part of the communication ecosystem as they are the access points through which a subscriber's Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Card is connected to the network. Each tower has certain capacity to serve a certain number of subscribers in the defined telecom area. For the simplification of representation of coverage areas, the area served by a tower are divided into hexagonal shaped cells. The requirement of towers is more in the dense subscriber area while less in less dense areas. As a result, the rural areas require less tower deployments as compared to the urban areas.The report aims to provide an overview of Global Telecom Towers Market along with detailed segmentation of market by type, deployment and five major geographical regions. Global telecom towers market is expected to witness decent growth during the forecast period due to increasing telecom subscriber density and the needs for better coverage and services.Request Sample Copy @The objectives of Telecom Towers Market report are as follows: To provide overview of the global telecom towers market To analyze and forecast the global telecom towers market on the basis of type, deployment To provide market size and forecast till 2025 for overall telecom towers market with respect to five major regions, namely; North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA), and South America (SAM), which are later sub-segmented across respective major countries To evaluate market dynamics effecting the market during the forecast period i.e., drivers, restraints, opportunities, and future trend To provide exhaustive PEST analysis for all five regions To profiles key telecom tower players influencing the market along with their SWOT analysis and market strategiesInquire about discount on this report @Segmentations Covered in the Telecom Towers Market Type: Ground Based Towers, Green Towers, Guyed Towers, Roof-top Towers, Angular Towers, Other Towers Deployment Type: Shared Infrastructure Deployment, Owned deployment Geographical Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), Middle East & Africa (MEA), South America (SAM)Some of the leading players in Telecom Towers Market Report Indus Towers Reliance Infotel Viom Networks American Tower Company BSNL GTL Infra Aster Pvt. LTd. Bharti Infratel Ltd. and Eaton Towers Ltd.Why Buy Telecom Towers Market Report? Highlights widely used product offerings thereby allowing organizations to gain revenues by focusing majorly on select products The key findings and recommendations highlight crucial progressive industry trends in the telecom towers market, thereby allowing players across the value chain to develop effective long term strategies Get reliable information about the strategies manufacturers in this market use to drive revenue Gain insights into the competitive landscape, to strengthen market competitiveness and positioning Highlights key business priorities in order to assist companies to realign their business strategies Develop/modify business expansion plans by using substantial growth offering developed and emerging markets Scrutinize in-depth global market trends and outlook coupled with the factors driving the market, as well as the those hindering it Enhance the decision-making process by understanding the strategies that underpin commercial interest with respect to client products, segmentation, pricing and distribution Examine the current and future impact of the five forces namely: bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of buyers, threat of substitutes, threat of new entrants and degree of competitionProcure Full Report @About The Insight Partners:The Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We are a specialist in Technology, Media, and Telecommunication industries.Contact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@theinsightpartners.com505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028 EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Neurofeedback System Market Report 2017 EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Neurofeedback System Market Report 2017 http://www.qyresearcheurope.com/goods-493803.html http://www.qyresearchglobal.com/ In this report, the EMEA Neurofeedback System market is valued at USD XX million in 2016 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.Geographically, this report split EMEA into Europe, the Middle East and Africa, With sales (K Units), revenue (Million USD), market share and growth rate of Neurofeedback System for these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast)Europe: Germany, France, UK, Russia, Italy and Benelux;Middle East: Saudi Arabia, Israel, UAE and Iran;Africa: South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and Algeria.EMEA Neurofeedback System market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Neurofeedback System sales volume (K Units), price (USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingBrainMaster TechnologiesBEE MedicBrainquiryMitsar Co. LtdThought Technology Ltd.Mind Media B.VWearable Sensing...On the basis of product, this report displays the sales volume (K Units), revenue (Million USD), product price (USD/Unit), market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoSlow Cortical Potential Neurofeedback SystemHemoencephalographic Neurofeedback SystemLow-Energy Neurofeedback SystemOthersOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume (K Units), market share and growth rate of Neurofeedback System for each application, includingHospitalsPhysician OfficesAmbulatory Surgical CenterAsk a comprehensive report sample, please feel free to contact to tinaning@qyresearch.com orTable of contents1 Neurofeedback System Overview2 EMEA Neurofeedback System Competition by Manufacturers/Players/Suppliers, Region, Type and Application3 Europe Neurofeedback System (Volume, Value and Sales Price), by Players, Countries, Type and Application4 Middle East Neurofeedback System (Volume, Value and Sales Price), by Region, Type and Application5 Africa Neurofeedback System (Volume, Value and Sales Price) by Players, Countries, Type and Application6 EMEA Neurofeedback System Manufacturers/Players Profiles and Sales Data7 Neurofeedback System Manufacturing Cost Analysis8 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers9 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders10 Market Effect Factors Analysis11 EMEA Neurofeedback System Market Forecast (2017-2022)12 Research Findings and Conclusion13 AppendixRelated Reports:China Neurofeedback System Market Report 2017Europe Neurofeedback System Market Report 2017Global Neurofeedback System Market Report 2017India Neurofeedback System Market Report 2017Japan Neurofeedback System Market Report 2017Korea Neurofeedback System Market Report 2017USA Neurofeedback System Market Report 2017Contact Details:Company Name: QYResearch CO.,LIMITEDProfessional Market Research Report PublisherContact Person: Tina NingEmail: tinaning@qyresearch.com or qyresearcheurope@126.comTel: 0086-20-22093278(CN)Web:QYResearch established in 2007, focus on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, data base and seminar services. the company owned a large basic data base (such as National Bureau of statistics database, Customs import and export database, Industry Association Database etc), experts resources (included energy automotive chemical medical ICT consumer goods etc industries experts who own more than 10 years experiences on marketing or R&D), professional survey team (the team member with more than 3 years market survey experience and more than 2 years depth expert interview experience),Excellent data analysis team (SPSS statistics and PPT graphics process team); QYResearch has always pursuit product quality, adhere to the quality is the soul of business.Room 2311 VILI International Building No.167 Linhe West Road Tianhe District Global In vitro diagnostics (IVD) market revenue was estimated to be valued at US$ 20,459.3 million in 2016 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 4.3% during the period 2016 2024. https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/market-insight/in-vitro-diagnostics-ivd-market-195 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/195 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-customization/195 The Global In Vitro Diagnostics (IVD) Market was valued at US$ 19,635.8 million in 2015 and is projected to expand at a CAGR of 4.3% during the forecast period (20162024), as highlighted in a new report published by Coherent Market Insights. Increasing number of applications in chronic cancer and other chronic diseases is projected to support growth of the In vitro diagnostics (IVD) market over the forecast period.In vitro diagnostics (IVDs) are currently an important part of the healthcare sector. IVD devices and services are used in diagnosing, monitoring, and screening in various chronic and acute disorders. This further contributes to the availability of medical information related to the patient. Due to specificity of treatments, IVDs is expected to minimize the stay of the patients in hospitals and convalescences, which results in healthier population and cost effective treatment that favors economic growth in the long run. IVD plays an important role in the global healthcare industry as it is the initial point of any treatment for getting information regarding the ailments. The IVD market is projected to witness rapid growth fueled by advancements in various diagnosing and medical devices technologies with developed tools in diagnostics, early detection of the disease along with rise in availability of over-the-counter tests. Due to the application of IVDs in medical care it adds a significant value in the planned treatment processes enhancing better health results. Furthermore, in vitro diagnostics are the sequences of tests that are able to detect diseases symptoms through which physician can conclude the type of treatment to be given to the patient in very short period of time depending upon the quality of medical. There are various government guidelines to regulate the type of in vitro diagnostic tests. According to the FDA, the in vitro diagnostic devices are regulated through the Medical Device Amendments of 1976, which further divides the in vitro diagnostic products into three class such as class I, II and III that includes the products depending upon the level of regulatory control that can assure the safety and effectiveness.To know the latest trends and insights prevalent in the In vitro diagnostics (IVD) market, click the link below:Clinical chemistry product type segment in the in vitro diagnostic products market was the largest segment with significant contribution as compared to all the segments. There are various factors that affects the growth of the products in in vitro diagnostic market such as high unmet healthcare needs in categories of infectious disease, chronic disease and other acute allergies furthermore, increase in prevalence of cancer along with growth in demand for lab automation is expected to support the in vitro diagnostic market significantly in the near future. In 2015, according to the National Cancer Institute, majority of share in the type of cancer was contributed by lung and bronchus cancer, followed by colon, rectum and other type of cancers. Furthermore, in 2015, around 1.7 million new cases of cancer were expected to be diagnosed in the U.S., which further marked the source for rise in diagnostic tests globally.Companies involved in the in vitro diagnostics devices manufacturing are highly active in expanding their product portfolio on the back drop of rise in number of applications of the IVD in healthcare sector. This is expected to provide wide choices to the physicians to choose for the appropriate type of test in particular symptoms, which is further expected to favor the growth of IVD market growth in the near future. Furthermore, acquisitions in the IVD market are frequent as compared to other sectors. Factor that encourage this trend include companies focusing on introducing new technologies, entry into new business segment and geographical expansion. The IVD market is undergoing a trend of strategic mergers and acquisitions, with market players focusing on enhancing their market presence. In 2015, Roche acquired Signature Diagnostics AG based in Potsdam, Germany this is expected further to strengthen the companys next generation sequencing (NGS) diagnostic segment.Download PDF Brochure @Key takeaways of the market:The global In vitro diagnostics (IVD) market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 4.3% during the forecast period (20162024). Rising prevalence of chronic diseases across the globe is expected to favor the market for In vitro diagnostics over the forecast period.The clinical chemistry product type segment in the global In vitro diagnostics (IVD) market was estimated to be the largest in 2015 and is expected to dominate throughout the forecast period in terms of value. Increasing prevalence for infectious disease due to poor infrastructure in emerging economies is expected to favor the growth of In vitro diagnostics (IVD) market in the near future.In terms of product type, the molecular diagnostics product type segment is expected to expand at a significant CAGR of 8.2% during the forecast period, owing to rise in rise in number of research institutes and demand for novel drugs in the marketThe global In vitro diagnostics (IVD) market is characterized by strategic research and development and advancements in the technology of in vitro diagnostic services including the rise in various applications over the forecast period.Some of the major players are Roche Diagnostics, Siemens Healthineers, Abbott Laboratories, Sysmex Corporation, Bio-Rad Laboratories, bioMerieux, Becton, Dickinson and Company and Danaher CorporationAsk for customization:About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com Global Multi Cooker Market 2017- Fagor, Cuisinart, KitchenAid, Philips and Tefal Multi Cooker https://goo.gl/qlT27P http://www.qyresearchgroup.com/market-analysis/global-multi-cooker-market-2017-industry-trends-sales.html This report studies Multi Cooker in Global market, especially in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and India, focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with Production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, covering1. Breville?2. Fagor3. Cuisinart4. KitchenAid5. Philips6. Tefal7. Sage8. Morphy9. Elegento10. Lakeland11. Ninja12. MideaThe market research report by QY Research provides detailed study on the overall Multi Cooker market size, its financial positions, its unique selling points, key products, and key developments. This research report has segmented the Multi Cooker market based on the segments covering all the domains in terms of type, country, region, forecasting revenues, and market share, along with analysis of latest trends in every sub-segment.CLICK HERE to Request Sample Report @The qualitative segmentation of Multi Cooker market covered in the report gives in-depth information of the overall market. Furthermore, the market size, share, forecast trends, analysis, sales, supply, production, demand, major manufacturers, end-users, and many other vital factors are comprised in the Market Research Multi Cooker report by QY Research. By these comprehensive data, it is simple to take and make precise and accurate decisions taking into consideration the present market situation and the forecasts of the global market, which in turn may result into profitable step for our clients.A competitive landscape that identifies the major competitors of the global market and their market share are further highlighted in the research report. A deliberate profiling of major competitors of the Multi Cooker market as well as a inclusive analysis of their current developments, core competencies, and investments in each segment are also elaborated in the research report.Browse FULL Report @The overall information of the Multi Cooker market provided in the report helps our client to make precise and accurate decisions in order to gain maximum profit in this cutthroat competition in the global market. The report comprises various elements such as table, figure, charts, TOCs, chapters, and so on so as to provide a crystal clear data to the client giving a brief of the market and its trends. Thus, the report provides in-depth information of the Multi Cooker market in terms of revenue, value, volume, region, and many more.About Us:QYResearch Group is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. QYResearch Group also carries the capability to assist you with your customized market research requirements including in-depth market surveys, primary interviews, competitive landscaping, and company profiles. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics. QYResearch Group is the comprehensive collection of market intelligence products and services available on air.Contact US:Joel John3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442,United StatesTel: +1-386-310-3803GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651 Thermochromic Ink Printing Market Analysis, Segments, Growth and Value Chain 2016-2024 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=17486 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/thermochromic-ink-printing-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Thermochromic ink printing is a type of printing, which is sensitive to change in temperature. The print changes color with rise and decline in temperature, which helps for indicating whether the beverage is hot or cold. The inks used for thermochromic ink printing contains thermochromic pigments that are subjected to color change when there is a temperature difference. In the recent past, the manufacturers are seeking for innovative packaging solutions as a marketing strategy, the thermochromic ink printing technology is one such innovation which is being widely used by manufacturers to endorse their products.Fill the form to gain deeper insights on this market @Global Thermochromic Ink Printing Market: Drivers & RestraintsThe growth of global thermochromic ink printing market is driven by the demand for innovative printing technology in the packaging industry. Thermochromic ink printing is commonly used by food & beverages and alcoholic beverages manufacturers in order to identify the temperature state of the beverage by looking at the cans and bottles. Furthermore, the use of thermochromic ink printing is being used as a measure by the beverage manufacturers to gain customer attractions. Thus, the growth in packaging industry and innovative printing needs in packaging industry is anticipated to primarily drive the global market for thermochromic ink printing. Thermochromic ink printing is not limited to the packaging industry, thermochromic ink printing technology has found its potential in wallpaper printing, textiles, and specialty market, which is further augmenting the demand for thermochromic ink printing technology.On the plus side, the demand for Thermochromic ink printing in FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) is expected to rise over the forecast period, which in turn will propel the demand for thermochromic ink printing market globally. Trends noted in the global thermochromic ink printing market is the technological innovations for delivering state-of-the-art packaging solutions. For instance, Print Pack a leading packaging company has developed thermochromic ink with color to color change combinations, which allows the product manufacturers to alter the graphics of their labels according to their promotional needs. However, the thermochromic ink printing is a costly affair as compared to the traditional ink printing and the liquid crystal thermochromic inks which are highly sensitive to small changes in temperature due to which it is not recommended for packaging. These factors might hamper the growth of global thermochromic ink printing market globally.Browse Market Research Report @Global Thermochromic Ink Printing Market: SegmentationThe global thermochromic ink printing market is segmented on the basis of thermochromic ink types, applications and regionOn the basis of thermochromic ink types, the global thermochromic ink printing market is segmented into:Liquid CrystalsLeucodyesReversibleIrreversibleOn the basis of applications, the global thermochromic ink printing market is segmented into:AerospaceAutomotiveTranspiration & StorageTextilesManufacturingNovelty ItemsMedical & LaboratoryOthersThermochromic Ink Printing Market: Regional OutlookBased on the geographies, global thermochromic ink printing market is segmented into five key regions- North America, Latin America, Europe, APAC, and Middle East & Africa. Among the aforementioned regions, North America accounts for significant share for thermochromic ink printing market, owing to the flourishing growth of smart packaging industry in the region as compared to other regions. Furthermore, the North America region accounts for healthy share in terms of consumption of alcoholic beverages, thermochromic ink printing being commonly used for printing in beer cans, the alcoholic beverage consumption in the region is anticipated to further add value to the thermochromic ink printing market in the region. Europe market for thermochromic ink printing is followed by the North America market for thermochromic ink printing market which is trailed by the Asia-Pacific market for the thermochromic ink printing. Over the forecast period, Asia-Pacific market for is anticipated to grow significantly owing to the growth of packaging industry in the region. Overall, the global market for thermochromic ink printing is expected to grow significantly by the end of forecast period.Global Thermochromic Ink Printing Market: Key PlayersSome of the few players identified in the global thermochromic ink printing market includes B&H Colour Change, CTI, AB Print Group Limited, MELMARC, SFXC | Special Effects and Coatings., QCR Solutions Corp, NanoMatriX International Limited and Hammer Packaging, Corp., among others.About TMRTMR is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Contact TMR90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Population Health Management Market - Analysis And Forecast (2017-2025): Market Shares And Strategies Of Key Players http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/population-health-management-solutions-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=4174 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ Population health management is characterized as collecting and analyzing the data on segments of patient population and management of that data for specific diseases within that population. It is a model which helps the health care providers and payers to assess the populations they serve across the continuum of care. Population health management is thus a comprehensive approach which requires both analysis and action, and utilized to uncover the gaps in health care for the benefits of patients and physicians. It improves health management outcomes by aligning physicians, coordinating the medical care, and optimizing efficiency as well as revenue. Major factors driving the population health management market are continued pressures to minimize health care costs, rising demand to improve the healthcare services quality, and implementation of value-based payment system. However, lack of trained and efficient professionals, safety of data and its management concerns, and lack of proper systems requiring investment to run the population health management program smoothly are the major restraints of the population health management market.Obtain Report Details @The global population health management market can be segmented based on component, delivery mode, and end-user. In terms of component, the global population health management has been segmented into software, hardware, and services. The services segment has been further divided into consulting, business intelligence, analytics, and others. The consulting and business intelligence segments dominated the population health management market in 2016, owing to the rising demand for business intelligence tools to analyze the data in the process of decision making from a patient perspective. The software segment is expected to lead the population health management market during the forecast period, with highest CAGR, attributed to the introduction of the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (ACA) and encouragement to hospitals by public and private players to take up population health management programs. Based on delivery mode, the global population health management market has been classified as web-based, mobile-based, cloud-based, and others. The web-based segment held the largest share of the population health management market in 2016 due to the continuous efforts being made by governments to reduce health care costs and rapid adoption of private payers to value-based purchasing model. However, the mobile-based segment is anticipated to witness highest CAGR and is expected to account for the largest share of the global population health management market in terms of revenue by 2025. Emergence of big data analytics is a major factor likely to drive the mobile-based market during the forecast period.In terms of end-user, the global population health management market has been segmented into health care providers, health care payers, government organizations, and employer groups. The health care providers segment captured the largest market share in terms of revenue in 2016, attributed to rising incidence of chronic diseases among the population and increasing demand for better and healthy patient quality of life. The health care payers and providers segments are projected to dominate the global population health management market from 2017 to 2025, owing to increasing demand for effective and systematic disease management.Geographically, the global population health management market has been segmented into five major regions: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America accounted for the largest share of the population health management market in terms of revenue in 2016, attributed to the reforms and investments being made to modernize the health care infrastructure in the U.S. However, the market in Asia Pacific is expected to expand at the highest CAGR during the forecast period, owing to the growing medical tourism in developing countries in Asia and the rapidly expanding health care industry in China and India. North America is anticipated to continue to dominate the market during the forecast period due to the efforts being taken to digitalize the health care system in the region.Fill The Form To Gain Deeper Insights On This Market @Key players in the global population health management market are Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc., Cerner Corporation, Accenture, Conifer Health Solutions, LLC, McKesson Corporation, IBM Corporation, Wellcentive, Inc., and Epic Corporation, Inc., among others.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Ceiling Lighting & Battens Market 2017- Ledvance, Philips, Osram, GE and PowerLED Ceiling Lighting & Battens https://goo.gl/BtfqQs http://www.qyresearchgroup.com/market-analysis/global-ceiling-lighting-battens-market-2017-industry-trends.html This report studies Ceiling Lighting & Battens in Global market, especially in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan, focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, covering1. Sylvania2. RS Pro3. Crompton Lighting4. DFX Technology5. Knightsbridge6. Ledvance7. Philips8. Osram9. GEThe market research report by QY Research provides detailed study on the overall Ceiling Lighting & Battens market size, its financial positions, its unique selling points, key products, and key developments. This research report has segmented the Ceiling Lighting & Battens market based on the segments covering all the domains in terms of type, country, region, forecasting revenues, and market share, along with analysis of latest trends in every sub-segment.CLICK HERE to Request Sample Report @The qualitative segmentation of Ceiling Lighting & Battens market covered in the report gives in-depth information of the overall market. Furthermore, the market size, share, forecast trends, analysis, sales, supply, production, demand, major manufacturers, end-users, and many other vital factors are comprised in the Market Research Ceiling Lighting & Battens report by QY Research. By these comprehensive data, it is simple to take and make precise and accurate decisions taking into consideration the present market situation and the forecasts of the global market, which in turn may result into profitable step for our clients.A competitive landscape that identifies the major competitors of the global market and their market share are further highlighted in the research report. A deliberate profiling of major competitors of the Ceiling Lighting & Battens market as well as a inclusive analysis of their current developments, core competencies, and investments in each segment are also elaborated in the research report.Browse FULL Report @The overall information of the Ceiling Lighting & Battens market provided in the report helps our client to make precise and accurate decisions in order to gain maximum profit in this cutthroat competition in the global market. The report comprises various elements such as table, figure, charts, TOCs, chapters, and so on so as to provide a crystal clear data to the client giving a brief of the market and its trends. Thus, the report provides in-depth information of the Ceiling Lighting & Battens market in terms of revenue, value, volume, region, and many more.About Us:QYResearch Group is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. QYResearch Group also carries the capability to assist you with your customized market research requirements including in-depth market surveys, primary interviews, competitive landscaping, and company profiles. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics. QYResearch Group is the comprehensive collection of market intelligence products and services available on air.Contact US:Joel John3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442,United StatesTel: +1-386-310-3803GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651 India Seed and Grain Cleaning and Grading Machine Market is Expected to Reach USD 241.1 Million by 2027 India Seed and Grain Cleaning and Grading Machine Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/2568 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/india-seed-grain-cleaning-grading-machine-market-2568 Market Research Future published a cooked research report on India Seed & Grain Cleaning and Grading Machine Market. The India seed & grain cleaning and grading machine market is expected to grow around 2.45% CAGR during the period 2016 to 2027.Market Highlights:The Indian agricultural sector is still plagued with primitive method of farming. Recent trend shows that many farmers shifting towards new technology for the farming activity. Agricultural modernization increases productivity as well as per capita income which accelerates toward modern growth. Adopting new practices which helps to improve yields, quality and reduce cost as well as also increases food and nutrition security are some of the factors which will drive the demand for the market.The India seed & grain cleaning and grading machine market is poised to grow at 2.45% CAGR and is estimated to reach USD 241.1 million by the end of forecast period.Request a Sample Copy @Market Research Analysis:Based on process, the cleaning segment accounted for the largest market share of 66.84% in 2015, with a market value of USD 125.2 million and is projected to grow at the highest CAGR of 2.52% during the forecast period.Based on capacity, more than 50 tons segment accounted for the largest market share of 39.9% in 2015, with a market value of USD 74.9 million and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 2.62% during the forecast period.Based on regions, North India segment accounted for the largest market share of 33.91% in 2015, followed by southern region, valued at USD 47.4 million in 2015.Scope of the Report:This study provides an overview of the India seed & grain cleaning and grading machine market, tracking two market segments across four geographic regions. The report studies key players, providing a five-year annual trend analysis that highlights market size, volume and share for North India, South India, East India and West India. The report also provides a forecast, focusing on the market opportunities for the next five years for each region. The scope of the study segments the India seed & grain cleaning and grading machine market by its process, capacity and regions.By Process Cleaning GradingBy Capacity 1 to 25 tons 25 to 50 tons More than 50 tonsBy Region North India South India East India West IndiaKey Players of India Seed and Grain Cleaning and Grading Machine Market: Agrosaw (India) ANG Enterprise (India) Ganga Agro Food Industries (India) Goldin India Equipment Pvt. Ltd (India) Fabcon Machine Pvt Ltd (India) Rajkumar Agro Engineers Pvt Ltd (India)Brief TOC:1 Executive Summary2 Research Methodology2.1 Scope of the Study2.1.1 Definition2.1.2 Research Objective2.1.3 Assumptions2.1.4 Limitations2.2 Research Process2.2.1 Primary Research2.2.2 Secondary Research2.3 Market size Estimation2.4 Forecast Model3 Market Dynamics3.1 Market Drivers3.2 Market Inhibitors3.3 Supply/Value Chain Analysis3.4 Porters Five Forces Analysis4 India Seed & Grain Cleaning and Grading Machine Market, By Process4.1 Introduction4.2 Protective Packaging4.3 Corrugated Boxes5 India Seed & Grain Cleaning and Grading Machine Market, By Capacity5.1 Introduction5.2 1 to 25 tons5.3 25 to 50 tons5.4 More than 50 tonsContinueAccess Report Details @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Contact:Akash AnandMarket Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com Global Organic Packaged Food Market 2017- Amys Kitchen, Newmans Own, Bgreen Food and Campbell Organic Packaged Food https://goo.gl/beUOaI http://www.qyresearchgroup.com/market-analysis/global-organic-packaged-food-market-2017-industry-trends.html This report studies Organic Packaged Food in Global market, especially in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and India, focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with Production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, covering1. Amys Kitchen2. Natures Path Foods3. Newmans Own4. Organic Valley of Farmers5. The Hain Celestial Group6. WhiteWave Foods7. Bgreen Food8. Campbell9. Castle Rock Organic Farms10. ConAgra Foods11. Flowers Foods12. General Mills13. KrogerThe market research report by QY Research provides detailed study on the overall Organic Packaged Food market size, its financial positions, its unique selling points, key products, and key developments. This research report has segmented the Organic Packaged Food market based on the segments covering all the domains in terms of type, country, region, forecasting revenues, and market share, along with analysis of latest trends in every sub-segment.CLICK HERE to Request Sample Report @The qualitative segmentation of Organic Packaged Food market covered in the report gives in-depth information of the overall market. Furthermore, the market size, share, forecast trends, analysis, sales, supply, production, demand, major manufacturers, end-users, and many other vital factors are comprised in the Market Research Organic Packaged Food report by QY Research. By these comprehensive data, it is simple to take and make precise and accurate decisions taking into consideration the present market situation and the forecasts of the global market, which in turn may result into profitable step for our clients.A competitive landscape that identifies the major competitors of the global market and their market share are further highlighted in the research report. A deliberate profiling of major competitors of the Organic Packaged Food market as well as a inclusive analysis of their current developments, core competencies, and investments in each segment are also elaborated in the research report.Browse FULL Report @The overall information of the Organic Packaged Food market provided in the report helps our client to make precise and accurate decisions in order to gain maximum profit in this cutthroat competition in the global market. The report comprises various elements such as table, figure, charts, TOCs, chapters, and so on so as to provide a crystal clear data to the client giving a brief of the market and its trends. Thus, the report provides in-depth information of the Organic Packaged Food market in terms of revenue, value, volume, region, and many more.About Us:QYResearch Group is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. QYResearch Group also carries the capability to assist you with your customized market research requirements including in-depth market surveys, primary interviews, competitive landscaping, and company profiles. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics. QYResearch Group is the comprehensive collection of market intelligence products and services available on air.Contact US:Joel John3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442,United StatesTel: +1-386-310-3803GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651 Cardiovascular Information System Market - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 2016-2024 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/20 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-discount/20 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/cardiovascular-information-system-market-20 http://healthcaremarketconsulting.blogspot.in/ Rampant rise in incidence rate of cardiovascular diseases worldwide, is fueling demand for a system that can aid physicians in managing patients cardiovascular medical records. This cardiovascular information system is a web-based system that would allow easy report generation and distribution. The cardiovascular information system (CVIS) provides on-time access to cardiovascular electronic medical records (EMR) in images, reports, and waveforms. The prime benefit of cardiovascular information system is that the patient safety and quality of care is improved by providing healthcare experts access to individuals cardiovascular medical records. Implementation of cardiovascular information system would help hospitals eliminate duplicate entries and reduce errors. From the formulation of operational strategies to the use of multiple functionalities from multiple locations, cardiovascular information system has been immensely useful and efficient.Request a sample copy of this report:Cardiovascular Information System Market TaxonomyThe cardiovascular information system market can be analyzed on the basis of application as follows:-Cardiac and peripheral catheterization: This involves the insertion of a catheter into the heart chamber for the diagnosis and treatment of a particular heart condition-Hemodynamics monitoring: It is based on invasive measurement of cardiac output, pulmonary arterial, and venous pressures-Electrophysiology: Electrophysiology is characterized by the study of diagnosis and treatment of electrical activities of the heart-Echocardiography: An echocardiogram is a test used to create images of the heart with the help of sound waves-Vascular ultrasound: Vascular ultrasound is a painless and non-invasive test to create images of arteries and veins, using a high-frequency sound waves-Nuclear cardiology : Nuclear cardiology involves the usage of a radioactive tracer into the bloodstream for the identification of coronary heart disease and severity of prior heart attacksYou can also get exclusive discount on this CMI report by clicking on this link:On the basis of system, the cardiovascular information system market has been segmented as follows:CVISCPACSOn the basis of software delivery mode:CloudOn-premiseOn the basis of end users:HospitalsDiagnostic LaboratoriesPrivate ClinicsCardiology picture archiving and communication systems (CPACS) are slightly different from the radiology picture archiving and communication systems (PACS), in terms that CPACS support DICOM structure reporting for echocardiography measurements that is lacking in the PACS. The CVIS system on the other hand is data driven and stores patient information in the CVIS database for patient record and data reporting.Cardiovascular Information System Market Outlook - Growing Integration of Healthcare and IT to boost demand in Developing NationsOn the basis of geography, the global cardiovascular information system market can be segmented into five major regions: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Rest of the World (RoW). Prime factors contributing towards growth of cardiovascular information system market are increasing need to streamline the workflow and strengthen referral relationships, thereby focusing more on patient care. Furthermore, creation of a single point of access to all cardiac images helps physicians to make better treatment decisions at timely intervals. Asia Pacific is expected to emerge as a major market in the near future, mainly due to growing demand of cardiologists to produce a report from the CPACS while viewing the cardiac images, and appropriate integration of reports, images and measurements into a patients complete record. Also, increasing need to create an enterprise information management solution and need to reduce healthcare costs would also propel growth of cardiovascular information system market.Click here to know more about this report:Various companies provide cardiovascular information system to hospitals for a better and streamlined flow of procedures. Some of the top companies operating in the cardiovascular information system market are McKesson Corporation, Philips Healthcare, GE Healthcare, Cerner Corporation, Merge Healthcare, Agfa Healthcare, Siemens Healthcare, Agfa Healthcare, Fujifilm Medical Systems, Digisonics, Inc., and Lumedx.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave, #320000A0Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit Blog: Pneumatic Conveying Systems Market share to exceed $30bn by 2022 https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/127 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/pneumatic-conveying-systems-market-size https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/127 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/aircraft-ground-handling-system-market https://www.gminsights.com https://gminsights.wordpress.com According to the new market research report Pneumatic Conveying Systems Market Size By Technology (Vacuum Systems, Positive Pressure Systems, Combination Systems), By Operating Principle (Dense Phase Conveying, Dilute Phase Conveying), By End-Use (Pharmaceutical, Ceramic, Food, Rubber & Plastic), Industry Outlook Report, Regional Analysis, Application Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2015 2022. Pneumatic Conveying Systems Market share worth USD 30.67 billion by 2022; as per a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc.Application specific product development and technological advancements will present growth opportunities to companies accounting for pneumatic conveying systems market share. Growing material handling equipment demand across numerous application industries can also be leveraged for driving profitability.Innovation in filter materials has eased concerns regarding problems in filter capacity due to continuous conveying. Other initiatives include availability of compact pressure vessel equipment with intelligent control capabilities. Drop-through valves, blow-through valves, and high pressure airlock production is forecast to lead to improved precision.Request for a sample of this research report @Chemical processing, pharmaceutical, and petrochemical industries have invested significantly to step up production capacity and address growing global demand. This has led to need for high process efficiency, which will fuel the pneumatic conveying systems market.Demand in the food industry was valued at USD 5.7 billion in 2014, and will grow faster than the global average over the forecast timeline. Increasing government initiatives and mandates for manufacturing facilities to ensure sanitary operations coupled with rising concerns regarding health and safety issues associated with infected food will drive growth.High initial investment required for replacing conventional conveyors with pneumatic counterparts may restrain growth in the coming years. The presence of high cost components and growing requirement for custom solutions may lead to increased pneumatic conveying system market price trend, which will pose a barrier to growth.Unfavorable physical characteristics of the materials transported may also lead to need for frequent maintenance, thus increasing operational expenditure.Browse key industry insights spread across 102 Pages with 64 market data tables & 56 figures from the report, Pneumatic Conveying Systems in detail along with the table of contents:Key insights from the report include: Dilute phase pneumatic conveying systems market size will continue dominating global revenue, with growth expected at 5.5% CAGR from 2015 to 2022. Positive pressure systems are set to surpass USD 15.5 billion in revenue by the end of the forecast timeframe. Vacuum based equipment is anticipated to account for over 30% of the overall revenue over the next few years. The pharmaceutical segment is forecast to grow at 5.5% CAGR from 2015 to 2022. The inherent ability of this equipment to keep powder contained within the system is expected to fuel adoption in the segment, where there exists high demand for powder transfer via vacuum. Reducing the creation of dust and streamers and automating all types of powder and granule material processes are chief drivers for the rubber, plastic, and ceramic industries. U.S. pneumatic conveying systems market size will exceed USD 6 billion in sales by 2022. Major trends include advancements and availability of improved filter/separator designs as well as emergence of improved techniques that enable non free flowing material to flow easily towards the pick-up point. Companies operating in the industry include Flexicon Corp, Gericke, Atlas Copco, Schenk Process, Coperion K-Tron, etc. Mergers, acquisitions, and product differentiation are among the major strategies for expanding pneumatic conveying systems market share.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @Global Market Insights has segmented the pneumatic conveying systems market on the basis of operating principle, technology, end-use, and region: Global Pneumatic Conveying Systems Operating Principle Analysis (Revenue, USD Million, 2012 - 2022)o Dense phase conveyingo Dilute phase conveying Global Pneumatic Conveying Systems Technology Analysis (Revenue, USD Million, 2012 - 2022)o Positive pressure systemo Vacuum systemo Combination system Global Pneumatic Conveying Systems End-Use Analysis (Revenue, USD Million, 2012 - 2022)o Ceramico Pharmaceuticalso Foodo Rubber & plastico Others Global Pneumatic Conveying Systems Regional Analysis (Revenue, USD Million, 2012 - 2022)o North Americao Europeo Asia Pacifico Latin Americao MEABrowse Related Reports: Aircraft Ground Handling System Market Size By Application (Passenger Handling, Aircraft Handling, Cargo Handling), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook, Application Potential, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2015 2022About Global Market InsightsGlobal Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog: Recent Release: Madagascar Low Mobile Penetration and 4G Rollout Will Offer Growth Opportunities for Operators http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/852871 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ Latest industry research report on: Madagascar: Low Mobile Penetration and 4G Rollout Market | Industry Size, Share, Research, Reviews, Analysis, Strategies, Demand, Growth, Segmentation, Parameters, ForecastsThe telecom services revenue in Madagascar is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 6.4% during 2016-2021, driven by growth in data revenue. Mobile data and fixed Internet will be the fastest-growing segment in the telecom market. Going forward, operators plan to invest in network infrastructure and rolling out 4G services. Vendors will have significant opportunities to support operator initiatives to roll out 4G networks.Request For Sample Report @Key FindingsThe overall telecom service revenue in Madagascar will be mainly driven by growth in the data segments (mobile and fixed).2G will be the most adopted mobile technology through 2021. However, its share in overall mobile subscriber base will decline, as customers increasingly adopt high-speed 3G and 4G services in the coming years.The top two operators, Orange Madagascar and Telma, will account for a significant share of overall service revenue in 2016.The operators initiatives to improve their network infrastructure and roll out 4G networks in the coming years will fuel growth in Madagascars telecom market.SynopsisMadagascar: Low Mobile Penetration and 4G Rollout Will Offer Growth Opportunities for Operators provides an executive-level overview of the telecommunications market in Madagascar today, with detailed forecasts of key indicators up to 2021. It delivers deep quantitative and qualitative insight into Madagascars telecom market, analyzing key trends, evaluating near-term opportunities and assessing risk factors, based on proprietary data from Pyramid Researchs databases.The Country Intelligence Report provides in-depth analysis of the following:Regional context: Telecom market size and trends in Madagascar compared with other countries in the Africa and Middle East region.Economic, demographic and political context in Madagascar.The regulatory environment and trends: a review of the regulatory setting and agenda for the next 18-24 months as well as relevant developments pertaining to spectrum licensing, national broadband plans, number portability and more.A demand profile: analysis as well as historical figures and forecasts of service revenue from the fixed telephony, fixed Internet, mobile voice and mobile data.Service evolution: a look at changes in the breakdown of overall revenue between the fixed and mobile sectors and between voice, data and video from 2014 to 2021.The competitive landscape: an examination of key trends in competition and in the performance, revenue market shares and expected moves of service providers over the next 18-24 months.In-depth sector analysis of fixed telephony, broadband, mobile voice and mobile data services: a quantitative analysis of service adoption trends by network technology and by operator, as well as of average revenue per line/subscription and service revenue through the end of the forecast period.Main opportunities: this section details the near-term opportunities for operators, vendors and investors in Madagascars telecommunications market.Reasons To BuyGain in-depth analysis of current strategies and future trends of the telecommunications market in Madagascar, service providers and key opportunities in a concise format, to build proactive and profitable growth strategies.Understand the factors behind ongoing and upcoming trends in Madagascars mobile communications, fixed telephony and broadband markets, including the evolution of service provider market shares, to align product offerings and strategies to meet customers demand.Leverage the graphical information (more than 20 charts and tables in the report based on the Pyramid Research forecast products), to gain an overview of the telecom market in Madagascar.Analysis of key telecom players in the markets and major business strategies being adopted by them, to identify the opportunities to improve the market share.Explore novel opportunities to align your product strategies and offerings to meet the requirements and succeed in the challenging telecommunications market in Madagascar.About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.Contact UsState Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Website:Email: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Agricultural Microbials Market Research Report By Key Players Analysis ( Monsanto, Bayer Cropscience AG, Syngenta AG ) http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/agricultural-microbials-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=4294 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ Biosynthetic capabilities of microorganisms, in a specific set of environmental condition makes them likely candidates for enhancing nutritional value and pest protection properties in agriculture. Agricultural microbials are produced from naturally occurring microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi. These microbials are usually applied to seeds or sprayed on crops to protect them from pests and diseases. Microbials also enhance productivity and fertility of the plant. Agricultural microbial products provide sustainable and cost effective solutions to increase plant yield, irrespective of geographies. Various types of fungi, bacteria, algae and viruses are the commonly used microbials in agriculture. Furthermore, these microbials play an important role in the production of grains, vegetables, fruits, milk, and poultry and livestock products. Soil is the most important component of agriculture. Microbes present in the soil therefore play a vital role in the management and regulation of nutrients available for crops. Agricultural microbials are thus used to enhance the crop yield. Companies operating in this market are striving to launch products containing different microbial ingredients to meet the expected yield. Agricultural microbials are beneficial in the production of food in the form of a long term sustainable base for agricultural activities that help to maintain and improve human health. Further, agricultural microbials preserve and protect the environment and are therefore beneficial for both farmers as well as consumers. Increasing demand for food is expected to drive the global agricultural microbials market in the next few years. This added factor is expected to boost the market for agricultural microbials in the coming years.Obtain Report Details @Agricultural microbials supply nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus to plants. These microbials also protect plants from pests and diseases. Agricultural microbials enhance the nutrient transportation process, improve soil structure, maintain biological equilibrium and enhance plant growth which subsequently results in increased yield of the plant. Thus, agricultural microbials have become increasingly popular in food production across the globe. Favorable regulatory and financial policies of various governments regarding the usage of microbial products, increasing global population, rising demand for food, and environment-friendly farming practices are the major driving factors of the agricultural microbials market.Growth of the agricultural microbials market is primarily led by the high frequency of crop diseases and rising demand for food in developed as well as developing nations. Environmental protection laws in the U.S. and Europe are major drivers encouraging the use of agricultural microbials in these regions. This trend is likely to continue in the near future with growing importance of the agriculture industry. Furthermore, factors such as innovative production practices that do not harm crop yield would boost the usage of agricultural microbials globally. The market for agricultural microbials is expected to expand in Asia Pacific due to the economic growth coupled with increasing demand for food in the region. Developing countries such as China and India are likely to play a vital role in the agricultural microbials market in coming years due to the increased demand for food. North America, followed by Europe, is anticipated to be the largest market for agricultural antimicrobials due to stringent regulations requiring environment-friendly means of agriculture and rising demand for organic food in the region. Companies operating in this market aim to generate innovative solutions in order to meet the changing need of the consumers and these companies also invest heavily on research and development of new microbial products with the anticipated bright prospects for this market. Therefore, the global agricultural microbials market is anticipated to expand significantly in the near future.Fill The Form To Gain Deeper Insights On This Market @Some of the major companies operating in the global agricultural microbials market are Bayer CropScience AG, Monsanto, BASF SE, Syngenta AG, Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd., Arysta LifeScience Limited and Novozymes.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global 3D Printed Medical Devices Market - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 2016-2024 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/29 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-discount/29 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/global-3d-printed-medical-devices-market-29 http://healthcaremarketconsulting.blogspot.in/ 3D Printing: Ushering in the New Era of Customized Medical Devices3D printed medical devices are three-dimensional objects, created by attaching successive layers of objects through a 3D digital file. Such devices are highly customized to suit the patients unique needs, which in turn helps provide better patient outcomes. Moreover, it can also be used to develop anatomical models for medical related education and for training purposes. This is a rapidly emerging technology facilitating production of different kinds of medical products such as implants, surgical instruments, and external prosthetics. The process of 3D printed medical device manufacturing involves multiple steps. These steps depend upon the type of printing and the complexity of the equipment.Request a sample copy of this report:Technological advancements making 3D-printed devices more affordableFactors driving growth of the 3D printed medical devices market include rising technological advancements through development of innovative 3D printed medical equipment and increasing healthcare spending worldwide. For instance, Stratasys Ltd. is focusing on development of extensive detailed prototypes or molds made of flexible and transparent materials for detailed study of chronic diseases. Moreover, aging population also contributes towards the demand for these devices. This is primarily due to the fact that this particular demographic group is more susceptible to osteoarthritis, gangrene, as a risk of diabetes and chronic heart disorders. Rising incidence of road and other accidents is also expected to influence market growth. However, stringent regulatory framework, high cost of 3D printed devices, and low reimbursement policies are some of the factors restraining market growth for 3D printed medical devices.Prosthetics and implants the mainstay of 3D-printed medical devicesThe global 3D printed medical devices market is segmented on the basis of product type, raw material, technology, end user, and geography. On the basis of product type, the market is segmented into implants, surgical instruments, prosthetics, tissue engineering devices, and others. Implants is sub-segmented into cranial implants, orthopedic implants, and dental implants; surgical instruments is sub-segmented into scalpels, retractors, and others; tissue engineering devices is sub-segmented into bone and cartilage scaffolds and ligament and tendon scaffolds.You can also get exclusive discount on this CMI report by clicking on this link:On the basis of raw material, the market is divided into plastics, biomaterial inks, and metal and alloys. Plastics are further divided into thermoplastics and photopolymers. Biomaterial inks include polymers, ceramics and hydrogels.On the basis of technology, the market is segmented into Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), Digital Light Processing (DLP), Stereolithography (SLA), Selective Laser Melting (SLM), Electron Beam Melting (EBM), Multi Jet Fusion (MJF), and others.On the basis of end user, the market is classified into hospitals, diagnostic centers, academic institutions, and others.Burgeoning geriatric population in Europe a highly lucrative marketRegional segmentation by Coherent Market Insights comprises North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa. North America accounts for the largest market share, mainly due to presence of major players and early adoption of advanced medical technologies in countries such as U.S. and Canada. Europe is the second-largest market, owing to the large target population, especially comprising of elderly people, with high approval for use of 3D-printed medical devices. Growing disposable income and increasing awareness levels among the populace in Asia Pacific, along with a large population base is expected to position Asia Pacific as a high growth market in the near future.Click here to know more about this report:Stratasys Ltd. is one of the major companies for 3D printed medical devices marketKey players operating the 3D medical devices market include 3D Systems, Inc., Stratasys Ltd., EOS GmbH Electro Optical Systems, Arcam AB, FabRx Ltd., Bio3D Technologies, EnvisionTEC, Cyfuse Biomedical K.K., Concept Laser GmbH, 3T RPD, Ltd., and Prodways. Major companies in the market are constantly working towards introducing innovative products and lower production costs in order to enhance profitability. For instance, in November 2016, 3D Systems extended its anatomical modeling service aimed at including pliable MultiJet Printing (MJP) material for patient-specific 3D modelling and printing services.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave, #320000A0Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit Blog: Home Healthcare Software Market - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 2016-2024 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/33 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-discount/33 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/home-healthcare-software-market-33 http://healthcaremarketconsulting.blogspot.in/ Home healthcare services market is expected to grow at a robust rate between 2016 and 2024, with emergence of new entrants in market and improving macroeconomic conditions worldwide.Until recently, medical documentation involved cumbersome paper work. Technological advancements and introduction of advanced software has eased the way industry use to operate, making work process easier and more efficient. Healthcare industry has greatly benefitted from integration of IT systems. With technological advancements, home healthcare software such as telehealth solutions and clinical management systems are available in the market.Home healthcare enables healthcare services to be delivered at patients home thereby alleviating healthcare costs.Population aged above 65 years forms the bulk of home healthcare software marketHome healthcare market is driven by various sociological, demographics, and macroeconomic factors, most notably the integration of information technology solutions in healthcare industry to meet challenges in patient data retrieval, payment and claim processing as well as storage and accessibility. This is further propelled by government initiatives to improve healthcare infrastructure.Request a sample copy of this report:High prevalence of chronic disorders among geriatric population in turn fuels demand for nursing homes and assisted living care facilities for specialized attention. However, introduction of home healthcare software solutions is expected to bridge the gap between geriatric patient expectation and healthcare providers. The system offers solutions at patients home, thereby minimizing overall operational cost and high ROI for providers as well.Though the market is expected to grow at a rapid rate, weak financial support from government along with low adaptability in emerging economies are major challenges inhibiting growth of overall industry.Home Healthcare Software Market Taxonomy:Coherent Market Insights (CMI) has segmented the home healthcare software market by:-Product Type-Therapeutic Application-Devices-Platform-End UserBy product type, the home healthcare software market has been segmented into agency homecare software, hospice solutions, telehealth solutions, clinical management systems, and others.On the basis of therapeutic application, CMI has segmented the home healthcare software market into clinical and non-clinical solutions. Clinical segment is expected to grow at impressive rate over the forecast period.You can also get exclusive discount on this CMI report by clicking on this link:On the basis of devices, mobile devices are expected to gain traction over laptop and tablet in the home healthcare software market.Homecare agencies and hospice agencies are key end-use segments in the home healthcare software market.Alignment between payers and providers along with access to electronic health records has boosted overall North America home healthcare software market growthAmong regions, North America is expected to dominate the global home healthcare software market throughout the forecast period. However, the market in the region is expected to lose considerable market share to developing regions, namely Latin America and Asia. Growth of the market in the region is primarily driven by increasing demand in the U.S., accounting for over 85% of overall market. Technological advancements along with high healthcare spending across all verticals is expected to propel market growth. Moreover, health awareness level among the population in developed regions is high compared to other regions. However, the market in Canada is expected to witness sluggish growth over the forecast period.Europe is the second-largest market and is expected to create substantial opportunities for players. Over 65% of the revenue generated in the regional market is expected to be from Germany, UK and France. Markets in Russia and Poland are expected to grow at substantial rate.Click here to know more about this report:Asia-Pacific is a lucrative market for home healthcare software due to the easy availability of skilled manpower, cheap labor and highly developed information technology sectors in the countries particularly China and India. Moreover, India is one of the leading markets for IT software. Relaxation in FDI cap is expected to boost overall presence of MNCs in the region. Though the Asia Pacific market is vibrant, there are a lot more challenges present in the market that inhibit proper capitalization of the market opportunities. The market is highly volatile with wide variations in demographics and economic conditions. The market in China, once the power engine of Asia Pacific, is witnessing low growth, due to noticeable decline in healthcare expenditure in the region. On a positive note, India is witnessing rapid transformation across various healthcare verticals. Companies need to fully understand the demographic and macroeconomic situation to generate high ROI from the region. Markets in Latin America and MEA are expected to witness sluggish growth over the forecast period.Some of the major companies contributing to the global home healthcare software market are Agfa Healthcare, Mckesson Corporation, NextGen Healthcare Information System LLC, GE Healthcare, MEDITECH, Medical Information Technology, Inc. (Meditech), Cerner Corporation, Siemens Healthcare and Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave, #320000A0Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit Blog: Malaria Vaccines Market - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 2016-2024 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/37 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-discount/37 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/malaria-vaccines-market-37 http://healthcaremarketconsulting.blogspot.in/ Malaria Vaccines Market OverviewMore than 40% of the global population is at risk of malaria, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) malaria fact sheet and World Bank estimates. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there were around 214 million malaria cases reported in 2015, leading to 438,000 deaths worldwide. Over 70% of these deaths occur in children under 5 years of age. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for the highest share of global malaria burden, with around 89% of malaria cases and 91% of malarial deaths in 2015. Such high impact of this life threatening disease is influencing governments across various countries, companies, investors, and non-profit organizations to contribute towards curbing spreading of this disease. Treatment therapies include Artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs), chloroquine, and primaquine. Recurrence of this disease can lead to drug resistance and in severe cases can prove fatal. Therefore, prevention is the major focus of government, researchers, and drug companies. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that increase in prevention control and other measures has led to 60% reduction in malaria mortality since 2000. High prevalence and preventive measures initiated by global and national organizations would favor growth of the global malaria vaccines market.Mosquirix the First Malaria Vaccine in the Global Malaria Vaccines MarketMost major drug manufacturers have been constantly striving to develop a vaccine for this deadly disease. Among the pioneers in this field is GlaxoSmithKline, which has been working towards developing a malaria vaccine since 1984. In collaboration with the non-profit PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative and funding from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, GlaxoSmithKline developed the first malarial vaccine.Request a sample copy of this report:Mosquirix, also known as RTS,S, was in development for around 30 years, with an investment of around US$ 565 million. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation contributed over US$ 200 million towards this project. Mosquirix received marketing approval from the European authorities in July 2015. However, the WHO has recommended examination of the vaccine in a pilot study before introduction on a large scale. The study is being carried out in Africa, and has received a funding of US$ 25 million from Gavia global Vaccine Alliancebringing together public and private sectors towards a common goal. Successful trials will lead to global launch of Mosquirix and boost the malaria vaccines market size.Significant Potential for Malaria Vaccines Market in Africa, Latin America and AsiaMalaria vaccine seems to be the best solution to prevent the spread of malaria, especially considering increasing number of drug resistance cases and high fatality reported. People use bed nets and indoor residual spraying (IRS) to fight against mosquito infestation. Therefore, there is immense opportunity globally for malaria vaccines among the demographic group most at riskinfants (23 million births annually), pre-adolescent and early adolescent girls, pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa, and population in Asia, Latin America, Africa, and Oceania. Furthermore, risk of transmission of the disease increases from the traveller and military population travelling from the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Australia, a malaria free zone to the highly prone emerging economies. The global malaria vaccines market dynamics are mainly shaped by major purchasers, namely healthcare and non-profit organizations.You can also get exclusive discount on this CMI report by clicking on this link:Malaria Vaccines Market Future OutlookMosquirix is a great boon for population in the highly prone regions of malaria infection. However, accessibility and low cost of this vaccine is essential to serve the large population in the highly prone emerging economies. Sanaria Inc. is a biotechnology company which aims to develop and commercialize whole-parasite sporozoite vaccines against Plasmodium falciparum that causes 95% of malaria cases. Mymetics Corporationa Switzerland-based vaccines developeruses its virosome platform technology to develop vaccines. There are two vaccine candidates in its pipeline, of which one cleared the phase 1b clinical trail, while the other is in the preclinical stage. Moreover, use of new technologies such as Nucleic acid vaccines, Proteosomes, and several new adjuvants could lead to development of next-generation malaria vaccines.Such global commitments will encourage investors around the world to contribute towards a global malaria eradication mission. Further, the malaria vaccines market outlook for future holds much promise, with new vaccines being developed mainly focused on improving effectiveness of products.Click here to know more about this report:About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave, #320000A0Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit Blog: Global Electrolytic DC Source Market Trends, Challenges and Growth Drivers Analysis 2021 https://www.researchnreports.com/checkout.php?id=33409 https://www.researchnreports.com/ask_for_discount.php?id=33409 https://www.researchnreports.com/semiconductor-electronics/Global-Electrolytic-DC-Source-Market-Research-Report-2016-33409 Global Electrolytic DC Source Market Research Report 2016Purchase This Report by calling ResearchnReports.com at +1-888-631-6977.This report on Global Electrolytic DC Source market is a detailed research study that helps provides answers and pertinent questions with respect to the emerging trends and growth opportunities in this particular industry. It helps identify each of the prominent barriers to growth, apart from identifying the trends within various application segments of the global market for Global Electrolytic DC Source. Collecting historical and recent data from various authentic resources, and depending on all the factors and trends, the report presents a figurative estimate of the future market condition, along with compound annual growth rate (CAGR).This report studies the Global Electrolytic DC Source market, analyzes and researches the Global Electrolytic DC Source development status and forecast in North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East & Africa and Latin America. Various key players are discussed in details and a well-informed idea of their popularity and strategies is mentioned.Place a direct purchase order on this Global Electrolytic DC Source Market report at USD 2900 (Single User License):The study segments the market by geography into: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. It provides in-depth forecasts of revenue of the market as a whole as well as each and every application segment. The competitive landscape is mapped depending on product and technology. This study also offers an overview of pricing trends and ancillary factors that will be influencing pricing in the Global Electrolytic DC Source market. The market study, estimation, and market sizing have been done utilizing a combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches.Get 30% Discount on This Report at:Most important data include the key recommendations and predictions by our analysts, intended to steer a strategic business decision. The company profiles section of this research service is a compilation of the growth strategies, financial status, product portfolio, and recent developments of key market participants. The report provides detailed industry analysis of the Global Electrolytic DC Source market with the help of proven research methodologies such as Porters five forces. The forces analyzed are bargaining power of the buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes, and the degree of competition.Table of Contents:Global Electrolytic DC Source Market Research Report 20161 Electrolytic DC Source Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Electrolytic DC Source1.2 Electrolytic DC Source Segment by Type1.2.1 Global Production Market Share of Electrolytic DC Source by Type in 20151.2.2 High Frequency Switch Electrolytic DC Source1.2.3 Silicon-Controlled Rectifier Electrolytic DC Source1.2.4 Type III1.3 Electrolytic DC Source Segment by Application1.3.1 Electrolytic DC Source Consumption Market Share by Application in 20151.3.2 Metal electrolysis1.3.3 Metal smelting1.3.4 Electrical heating1.3.5 Other1.4 Electrolytic DC Source Market by Region1.4.1 North America Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.2 Europe Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.3 China Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.4 Japan Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.5 Korea Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.6 Taiwan Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Electrolytic DC Source (2011-2021)2 Global Electrolytic DC Source Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Electrolytic DC Source Production and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.2 Global Electrolytic DC Source Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.3 Global Electrolytic DC Source Average Price by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.4 Manufacturers Electrolytic DC Source Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Electrolytic DC Source Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Electrolytic DC Source Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Electrolytic DC Source Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Electrolytic DC Source Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2011-2016)3.1 Global Electrolytic DC Source Production by Region (2011-2016)3.2 Global Electrolytic DC Source Production Market Share by Region (2011-2016)3.3 Global Electrolytic DC Source Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2011-2016)3.4 Global Electrolytic DC Source Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.5 North America Electrolytic DC Source Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.6 Europe Electrolytic DC Source Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.7 China Electrolytic DC Source Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.8 Japan Electrolytic DC Source Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.9 Korea Electrolytic DC Source Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.10 Taiwan Electrolytic DC Source Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)Complete Report Available At:About Research n Reports:Research N Reports is a new age market research firm where we focus on providing information that can be effectively applied. Today being a consumer driven market, companies require information to deal with the complex and dynamic world of choices. Where relying on a sound board firm for your decisions becomes crucial. Research N Reports specializes in industry analysis, market forecasts and as a result getting quality reports covering all verticals, whether be it gaining perspective on current market conditions or being ahead in the cut throat global competition. Since we excel at business research to help businesses grow, we also offer consulting as an extended arm to our services which only helps us gain more insight into current trends and problems. Consequently we keep evolving as an all-rounder provider of viable information under one roof.Contact us:Mr. Sunny DenisContact No. +1-888-631-6977sales@researchnreports.com(ResearchnReports) Medical Claims Processing Services Market Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 2016-2024 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/41 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-discount/41 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/medical-claims-processing-services-market-41 http://healthcaremarketconsulting.blogspot.in/ Medical Claims Processing ServicesAs the global healthcare industry continues to expand, healthcare providers are facing challenges in maintaining optimal quality of services. Number of claims are increasing with increasing coverage of medical insurance. Processing such claims along with the administrative tasks, patient care, and other daily operations is cumbersome and involves high cost and trained personnel. Processing of claims in-house by the healthcare provider has the risk of delayed payment, error in amounting, and customer dissatisfaction. Moreover, healthcare providers need to be updated with changes in regulations and new services and products being launched in the market for in-house processing of claims. Outsourcing of medical claims ensures minimal error and faster turnover, thereby reducing risk of delayed payment. According to the American Medical Association (AMA), 20% error rate among health insurers represents an intolerable level of inefficiency that causes a loss of around US$ 17 billion each year. This depicts a strong need for adequate and technically advanced claim processing services and software to reduce the economic burden.Earlier, claims were submitted using a paper form. However, with the advent of healthcare IT, most claims are now electronically made i.e. electronic data interchange. The onset of online medical claim process reduces paperwork of healthcare providers and also assists in rendering adequate fees for the services. Usually the medical claims are processed by medical claims examiners or medical claims adjusters. In case of large number of claims though, medical directors review the claim and validate its authenticity.Request a sample copy of this report:The medical claims processing services market can be analyzed for:-Claim indexing-Claim investigation-Claim adjudication-Claim repricing-Claim settlement-Litigation management and-Information management servicesMost of these services are either directly rendered by the service provider or can be outsourced to third-party organizations for code assignment and claim processing. Outsourcing concept reduces the burden as well as cost for insurance companies. Most billing services charge a percentage of the collected claim amount. The concept of EMR/EHR has also streamlined claim processing, as patient records are electronically transmitted to the billing service providers, which eliminates the process of recording and sending paper-based records.Medical Claims Processing Services Industry Outlook is Positive in Developed EconomiesAccording to Swiss Re, the global insurance penetration rate was a mere 6.2% in 2014, with India having insurance penetration rate on the lower side, at just 3.9% in the same year. Moreover, the study found that the insurance penetration rate fell to 3.2% in 2015 in India. The U.S., Japan, U.K., Australia, Italy, and France are some of the leading countries in the global medical claims processing services market, owing to higher insurance penetration rate, increasing number of claims, and growing demand from healthcare providers. Furthermore, favorable healthcare policy and government initiatives such as Affordable Care Act have also boosted demand for medical claim processing services in the U.S. Europe is quickly emerging as another important medical claims processing services market. However, introduction of Solvency II in Europe may have an adverse impact on the insurance operators in Europe.You can also get exclusive discount on this CMI report by clicking on this link:Although the medical claims processing services market in Asia Pacific and Rest of the World are still at a very nascent stage, high population base and increasing awareness for insurance in the middle income group is expected to boost demand for medical claim processing services in the near future.Medical Claims Processing Services Market Competitive LandscapeGeographical expansion of global players is leading to increasing competition. Key players are adopting new operating models to achieve maximum efficiency rate. There are various challenges related to claims processing such as volume of claims, speed of processing, accuracy, regulatory compliance, and administrative costs. Therefore, claims processing companies are at the service of insurance providers to reduce their time and efforts.Some of the prominent players in the global medical claims processing services market include Aetna Inc., Infinit Healthcare, Invensis Technologies Pvt. Ltd, Humana Inc., UnitedHealth Group, Telegenisys Inc., and Health Care Service Corp.Click here to know more about this report:About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave, #320000A0Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit Blog: Global Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) Market: production, price & production value, cost & profit and market shares http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/653779 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ Latest industry research report on: Global Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) Market : Industry Size, Share, Research, Reviews, Analysis, Strategies, Demand, Growth, Segmentation, Parameters, ForecastsGen's report, 'Global Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) Market Outlook 2016-2021' provides detailed market and segment level data on the Global and Chinese consumption of Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS). The report provides historic, forecast and growth patterns by company, country and type/application from 2016 to 2021.Request For Sample Report @This report delivers an extensive overview of Global Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) industry with a focus on China. It also acts as an essential tool to companies active across the value chain and to the new entrants by enabling them to capitalize the opportunities and develop business strategies. It also helps the companies to better understand the trends of Soups market to seize opportunities and formulate crucial business strategies.With this report, you will get access to:1. Market overview including definition, industrial chain (upstream & downstream), manufacturing technology details and the costs analysis from the aspects of raw materials, labor costs and depreciation.2. Value and volume consumption status and trends of the market, including Global and Chinese top players capacity & production, price & production value, cost & profit and market shares from 2011 to 2016.3. Worldwide supply/demand pattern of Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) by country or region (North America, China, EMEA, Asia except China), and by application/type.4. Growth, trends and forecast of 2016-2021 Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) market and some important proposals for new investment of Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) Industry before evaluating its feasibility.Overall, the report provides an in-depth insight of 2011-2021 Global and Chinese Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) industry covering all important parameters.Chapter One Description1.1 Study Scope1.2 Key Findings of IndustryChapter Two Brief Introduction2.1 Definition2.2 Industry Chain Structure2.2.1 Upstream Raw Materials2.2.2 Downstream MarketChapter Three Development and Trends3.1 Key Manufacturing Technologies3.2 Issues and TrendsChapter Four Cost Structure4.1 Bill of Materials (BOM)4.3 Labor Costs4.4 Depreciation Costs4.5 Manufacturing CostsChapter Five Worldwide Key VendorsCompany ACompany BCompany CCompany DCompany ECompany FCompany GAbout usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.Contact UsState Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Website:Email: sales@marketresearchreports.biz The massive U.S. bomb dropped on an Islamic State cave complex in Afghanistan last week killed militant fighters from Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Russia, India, and other countries, an Afghan official said. "Most militants killed in the attack were from Pakistan, India, the Philippines, and Bangladesh," Mohammad Radmanish, a spokesman for the Afghan Defense Ministry, said on April 18. The GBU-43 bomb, nicknamed MOAB for "massive ordnance air blast" or "mother of all bombs," killed 96 Islamic State militants, including four key IS leaders on April 13, the Pentagon and Afghan officials have said. They said it also destroyed a 300-meter-long cave system, along with large amounts of light and heavy weapons and munition. Based on reporting by dpa and Radio Azadi Nano-silicon Drug Delivery Platform Market - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 2016-2024 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/45 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-discount/45 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/nano-silicon-drug-delivery-platform-market-45 http://healthcaremarketconsulting.blogspot.in/ Safe and effective drug delivery is a major challenge against the pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Companies formulate their drugs in various dosage forms such as capsules, powders, inhalers, liquid, drops, tablets, transdermal patches, depot injection, and gels to address the drug delivery challenges in different conditions. Moreover, advancement in research has enabled controlled and sustained release of drugs to decrease the dosage and provide long term effect of the drug. Furthermore, new technologies such as nanotechnology and antibody-drug conjugate are being introduced to minimize cost and increase bioavailability. In all, there is all-together a new wave of innovation in life science sector that delivers medicines at the targeted site in right dose.Nanotechnology-based platforms are gaining significant importance in research and product development due to the enormous benefits they offer in terms of drug stability, bioavailability, dosage, and shelf-life. Various types of nano-carriers or nanoparticles such as liposomes, magnetic particle, dendrimers, silver nanoparticle, silica nanoparticle, and polymeric micelles, carbon nanoparticles and drug-conjugate nanoparticles are used in different industries to cater the exact need or product.Request a sample copy of this report:SiSafe Nano-silicon Drug Delivery PlatformSiSafs new drug delivery technology called SiSafe is a patented elemental nano-silicon porous structure with a massive surface area. A higher surface area provides high drug-loading capacity and thus significant increase in bioavailability of even the most hydrophobic compounds. So, a less soluble drug that needs to be injected directly in the bloodstream can have enhanced solubility through SiSafe nano-silicon platform. Molecules are incorporated within the nanopores, thus stabilizing the instable molecules and increasing the bioavailability of the drug. SiSafe is a biodegradable technology which enables customizing the rate of onset and release by altering the physical factors of the carriers such as linkage method, porosity, particle size, and pore width.Potential ApplicationsSiSafe will be of significant use to pharmaceutical, animal health, biotech and cosmeceutical companies to formulate and package drugs that are difficult to formulate otherwise. Companies finding better solutions for their existing drugs can incorporate this technology to improve their product quality. Also, new drugs used for chronic diseases can be delivered at a low dose to the target sites with the nano-silicon drug delivery platform.You can also get exclusive discount on this CMI report by clicking on this link:This new nanotechnology-based drug delivery platform offers competitive advantages such as improved safety, efficacy, controlled release and desired time of onset of drug release. After years of research and development, and extensive capital investment, SiSafe nano-silicon drug delivery platform is ready for commercialization. SiSaf is looking to partner with drug developers who desire to improve their formulation with controlled releases and lower doses. SiSaf received a funding of USD 4.9 million from Singapores Vickers Venture Partners and Exen Capital recently in November 2016. This partnership is anticipated to be of great aid for SiSaf to reach more markets globally.Nano-silicon Drug Delivery Platform to enable Low Cost Drug DeliveryResearch for the use of nano-silicon particles in targeted tumor therapy is under progress. The study being conducted by various organizations globally including Tel Aviv University, Technion Israel Institute of Technology in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Harvard Medical School are of the opinion that nano-silicon particles could deliver drugs over a long period of time, may be for weeks or even months. Such advancement in drug delivery technologies will revolutionize the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical drug industry by offering targeted drug therapies at a low cost.Click here to know more about this report:About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave, #320000A0Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit Blog: Global KVM over IP Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 http://www.globalinforesearch.com/goods.php?id=7330 http://www.globalinforesearch.com/goods_all.php http://www.globalinforesearch.com/goods_all.php Full information This report studies the Intelligent Hearing Protection Device market, Intelligent hearing Protection Device help workers to increase their ability to communicate with others and comprehend their working environments while working in high-noise conditions. The intelligent hearing protection equipment provides protection from continuous noise, specifically in extreme noise environments and remote work sites. Numerous workers across the industries suffer from preventable hearing loss annually due to the high workplace noise levels. To provide hearing protection to workers and also to overcome the issue of communication in high noise environments, several industries are adopting intelligent hearing protection system to enhance the hearing capabilities at such risky workplaces so that the workers are aware of their surroundings.(Globalinforesearch) Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the KVM over IP in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversEmersonAtenRaritanBelkinAdderRoseAPCDellBlack-boxRaloyRextronHiklifeLenovoDatcentKinAnSwitekHongtongInspurRetonMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversLow-end KVM over IPMid-range KVM over IPHigh-end KVM over IPMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoInternet IndustryGovernment AgenciesTelecommunications IndustryEducation SectorFinancial SectorManufacturing IndustryService IndustryPower Electricity IndustryTransportationOthersThere are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global KVM over IP market.Chapter 1, to describe KVM over IP Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of KVM over IP, with sales, revenue, and price of KVM over IP, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of KVM over IP, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, KVM over IP market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe KVM over IP sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceBettySales DirectorE-mailbetty@globalinforesearch.comTel: HK:00852-58197708 USA:0013479661888Add: Room 1902 Two International Finance Centre 8 Finance Street, Central Hong KongWebsite:GlobalInfoResearch is a customer interest-based suppliers. Is in the best interests of our clients, they determine our every move. At the same time, we have great respect for the views of customers. With the improvement of the quality of our research, we develop custom interdisciplinary and comprehensive solution. For further development, we will do better and better.GlobalInfoResearch will with excellent professional knowledge and experience to carry out all aspects of our business. At the same time, we will fully look for information, to give a more comprehensive development.GlobalinforesearchRoom 1902 Two Interational Finance Centre 8 Finance Street,Central Hong KongUSA:0013479661888 HK:00852-58197708Email Id: marco@globalinforesearch.comWebsite: Organ-on-a-chip Market - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 2016-2024 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/49 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-discount/49 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/organ-on-a-chip-market-49 http://healthcaremarketconsulting.blogspot.in/ Organ-on-a-chip Market OverviewOrgan-on-a-chip is gaining prominence on the backdrop of regulatory measures on animal testing and growing complexity in therapeutic applications. Various players are trying to capitalize on lucrative growth opportunities in the organ-on-a-chip devices market. It is a unique cell culture process, wherein biomimetic microsystem is used as a platform.These devices are built on silicone, which can be used to grow internal organs. This finds application in organ transplantation and also therapeutics. Harvards Wyss Institute is engaged in lung-on-chip production, commercialization of which would help in exponential growth of the organ-on-a-chip market. Moreover, partnerships of biotech and pharmaceutical companies with universities is expected to scale up the commercialization process in the near future. This billion dollar industry is expected to create significant market opportunities for players. Some companies such as Mimetas are currently engaged in development of kidney-on-a-chip. This technology is gaining traction as this unique technology greatly reduces the amount of testing carried out on animals, while providing highly accurate results.Request a sample copy of this report:Organ-on-a-chip Market DynamicsOrgan-on-a-chip is expected to cater to wide range of applications ranging from disease modelling to patient stratification and phenotypic screening. Most of the demand is expected to be generated from lung-based organ culture, followed by kidney application. The technology offers better clinical examinations compared to petri dishes and animal testing helping scientists and companies to better understand the functioning of internal organs such as the brain and lungs.Funding and government initiatives are projected to further boost market growth in the near future. Though the market is expected to create substantial opportunities, high cost and early stage in R&D are some of the factors leading to slow growth of the market. Market is expected to witness rampant commercialization post-2020.Organ-on-a-chip Market - Regional AnalysisNorth America and Europe are expected to dominate the overall organ-on-a-chip market throughout the forecast period. The regions are early adopters of newly developed technology. Moreover, demand is expected to be further propelled by large consumer base in these regions. North America spends over 16% of its GDP on healthcare. Moreover, various research activities are carried out in the region, which is home to some of the leading players in the market. Also, organ transplant rate is high in the region. Growth of the Europe market is expected to be primarily driven by rising demand for organ-on-chip in Germany, U.K., and France.You can also get exclusive discount on this CMI report by clicking on this link:Asia Pacific is a lucrative market for companies engaged in organ-on-a-chip market. However, commercialization is not expected to take place in early years. As market is still in its early stage, it would take a few years before companies can expect return on profit. Japan and China are key markets in Asia Pacific. These countries account for over half of the pharmaceutical market in Asia Pacific. Also, these countries are well equipped with technologically advanced medical devices and research centers.Organ-on-a-chip Market - Competitive LandscapeOrganovo, Hepregen, Hurel Corporation, Nortis, TissUse, Tara Biosystems, and AxoSim are some of the players engaged in organ-on-a-chip market. These companies are located in North America, with most being start-ups albeit with major funding and are expected to attain major commercial success in the near future.Click here to know more about this report:About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave, #320000A0Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit Blog: Global Confectionery Market Share, Size, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017-2025 http://www.indexbox.co.uk/store/world-sugar-confectionery-not-containing-cocoa-market-report-analysis-and-forecast-to-2020/ http://www.indexbox.co.uk/store/world-sugar-confectionery-not-containing-cocoa-market-report-analysis-and-forecast-to-2020/ www.indexbox.co.uk IndexBox has just published a new report "World: Sugar Confectionery Not Containing Cocoa - Market Report. Analysis and Forecast to 2025" (This report has been designed to provide a detailed analysis of the global confectionery market. It covers the most recent data sets of quantitative medium-term projections, as well as developments in production, trade, consumption and prices. The report also includes a comparative analysis of the leading consuming countries, revealing opportunities opened for producers and exporters across the globe. The forecast outlines market prospects to 2025.Countries coverage: WorldwideProduct coverage: Sugar confectionery (including white chocolate), not containing cocoa.Data coverage: Confectionery market size and volume; Confectionery market trends and prospects; Global confectionery production and its dynamics; Per capita consumption; Breakdown of production by region and country; Medium term outlook; Confectionery trade (exports/imports); Prices for confectionery; Profiles of the main manufacturers.The report will help you: Get a bigger picture of the market; Rewire your business around market trends; Devise your marketing strategy; Operate with increased effectiveness.TABLE OF CONTENTS1. INTRODUCTION1.1 REPORT DESCRIPTION1.2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY2.1 KEY FINDINGS2.2 MARKET TRENDS3. MARKET OVERVIEW3.1 MARKET VOLUME AND VALUE3.2 CONSUMPTION BY COUNTRY3.3 MARKET OPPORTUNITIES BY COUNTRY3.4 MARKET FORECAST TO 20254. PRODUCTION4.1 PRODUCTION IN 2007-20154.2 PRODUCTION BY COUNTRY5. IMPORTS5.1 IMPORTS IN 2007-20155.2 IMPORTS BY COUNTRY5.3 IMPORT PRICES BY COUNTRY6. EXPORTS6.1 EXPORTS IN 2007-20156.2 EXPORTS BY COUNTRY6.3 EXPORT PRICES BY COUNTRY7. PROFILES OF MAJOR PRODUCERSDownload a free sample of the report now!IndexBox is a leading market research publisher in the world. We conduct market research and publish reports.You can find more than 25,000 research reports in our web store, which cover global industries and regional markets. All the worldwide marketing data you need is at your fingertips.We collect this data from hundreds of highly reliable sources, verify it and carry out market analysis, uncovering new business opportunities and empowering you with actionable insights.The structure of our reports is intuitive and clear. We do our best to allow you to make strategic decisions and take immediate action. If you want to go further and be a step ahead of the market, just tell us your goals and we will tailor a report to your needs.Company Name: IndexBoxContact Person: Kirill BezverhiEmail: kirill.bezverhi@indexbox.co.ukPhone: +44 20 3239 3063Adress: United Kingdom, 44 Main Street, Douglas, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, ML11 0QWWebsite: Global Jam Market Share, Size, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017-2025 http://www.indexbox.co.uk/store/world-jams-jellies-puree-and-pastes-market-report-analysis-and-forecast-to-2025/ http://www.indexbox.co.uk/store/world-jams-jellies-puree-and-pastes-market-report-analysis-and-forecast-to-2025/ www.indexbox.co.uk IndexBox has just published a new report "World: Jams, Jellies, Puree And Pastes - Market Report. Analysis And Forecast To 2025" (This report has been designed to provide a detailed analysis of the global jam market. It covers the most recent data sets of quantitative medium-term projections, as well as developments in production, trade, consumption and prices. The report also includes a comparative analysis of the leading consuming countries, revealing opportunities opened for producers and exporters across the globe. The forecast outlines market prospects to 2025.Countries coverage: WorldwideProduct coverage: Jams, fruit jellies, marmalades, fruit or nut puree, and fruit or nut pastes, obtained by cooking, whether or not containing added sugar or other sweetening matter.Data coverage: Jam market size and volume; Jam market trends and prospects; Global jam production and its dynamics; Per capita consumption; Breakdown of production by region and country; Medium term outlook; Jam trade (exports/imports); Prices for jam; Profiles of the main manufacturers.The report will help you: Get a bigger picture of the market; Rewire your business around market trends; Devise your marketing strategy; Operate with increased effectiveness.TABLE OF CONTENTS1. INTRODUCTION1.1 REPORT DESCRIPTION1.2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY2.1 KEY FINDINGS2.2 MARKET TRENDS3. MARKET OVERVIEW3.1 MARKET VOLUME AND VALUE3.2 CONSUMPTION BY COUNTRY3.3 MARKET OPPORTUNITIES BY COUNTRY3.4 MARKET FORECAST TO 20254. PRODUCTION4.1 PRODUCTION IN 2007-20154.2 PRODUCTION BY COUNTRY5. IMPORTS5.1 IMPORTS IN 2007-20155.2 IMPORTS BY COUNTRY5.3 IMPORT PRICES BY COUNTRY6. EXPORTS6.1 EXPORTS IN 2007-20156.2 EXPORTS BY COUNTRY6.3 EXPORT PRICES BY COUNTRY7. PROFILES OF MAJOR PRODUCERSDownload a free sample of the report now!IndexBox is a leading market research publisher in the world. We conduct market research and publish reports.You can find more than 25,000 research reports in our web store, which cover global industries and regional markets. All the worldwide marketing data you need is at your fingertips.We collect this data from hundreds of highly reliable sources, verify it and carry out market analysis, uncovering new business opportunities and empowering you with actionable insights.The structure of our reports is intuitive and clear. We do our best to allow you to make strategic decisions and take immediate action. If you want to go further and be a step ahead of the market, just tell us your goals and we will tailor a report to your needs.Company Name: IndexBoxContact Person: Kirill BezverhiEmail: kirill.bezverhi@indexbox.co.ukPhone: +44 20 3239 3063Adress: United Kingdom, 44 Main Street, Douglas, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, ML11 0QWWebsite: Global Jersey Market Share, Size, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017-2025 http://www.indexbox.co.uk/store/world-jerseys-pullovers-cardigans-and-similar-articles-market-report-analysis-and-forecast-to-2020/ http://www.indexbox.co.uk/store/world-jerseys-pullovers-cardigans-and-similar-articles-market-report-analysis-and-forecast-to-2020/ www.indexbox.co.uk IndexBox has just published a new report "World: Jerseys, Pullovers, Cardigans And Similar Articles - Market Report. Analysis and Forecast to 2025" (This report has been designed to provide a detailed analysis of the global jersey market. It covers the most recent data sets of quantitative medium-term projections, as well as developments in production, trade, consumption and prices. The report also includes a comparative analysis of the leading consuming countries, revealing opportunities opened for producers and exporters across the globe. The forecast outlines market prospects to 2025.Countries coverage: WorldwideProduct coverage: Jerseys, pullovers, cardigans, waist-coats and similar articles, knitted or crocheted, of wool, of Kashmir (cashmere) goats, and of other wool or fine animal hair, of cotton, of man-made fibers and of other textile materials.Data coverage: Jersey market size and volume; Jersey market trends and prospects; Global jersey production and its dynamics; Per capita consumption; Breakdown of production by region and country; Medium term outlook; Jersey trade (exports/imports); Prices for jersey; Profiles of the main manufacturers.The report will help you: Get a bigger picture of the market; Rewire your business around market trends; Devise your marketing strategy; Operate with increased effectiveness.TABLE OF CONTENTS1. INTRODUCTION1.1 REPORT DESCRIPTION1.2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY2.1 KEY FINDINGS2.2 MARKET TRENDS3. MARKET OVERVIEW3.1 MARKET VOLUME AND VALUE3.2 CONSUMPTION BY COUNTRY3.3 MARKET OPPORTUNITIES BY COUNTRY3.4 MARKET FORECAST TO 20254. PRODUCTION4.1 PRODUCTION IN 2007-20154.2 PRODUCTION BY COUNTRY5. IMPORTS5.1 IMPORTS IN 2007-20155.2 IMPORTS BY COUNTRY5.3 IMPORT PRICES BY COUNTRY6. EXPORTS6.1 EXPORTS IN 2007-20156.2 EXPORTS BY COUNTRY6.3 EXPORT PRICES BY COUNTRY7. PROFILES OF MAJOR PRODUCERSDownload a free sample of the report now!IndexBox is a leading market research publisher in the world. We conduct market research and publish reports.You can find more than 25,000 research reports in our web store, which cover global industries and regional markets. All the worldwide marketing data you need is at your fingertips.We collect this data from hundreds of highly reliable sources, verify it and carry out market analysis, uncovering new business opportunities and empowering you with actionable insights.The structure of our reports is intuitive and clear. We do our best to allow you to make strategic decisions and take immediate action. If you want to go further and be a step ahead of the market, just tell us your goals and we will tailor a report to your needs.Company Name: IndexBoxContact Person: Kirill BezverhiEmail: kirill.bezverhi@indexbox.co.ukPhone: +44 20 3239 3063Adress: United Kingdom, 44 Main Street, Douglas, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, ML11 0QWWebsite: Global Peer-to-peer Lending Market 2016-2020 - Features KEy Vendors ( CircleBack Lending, Lending Club, Peerform, Prosper, Upstart ) http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=775674 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=775674 http://www.researchmoz.us/global-peer-to-peer-lending-market-2016-2020-report.html http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Albany, NY, April 19, 2017: It is a method of debt financing where different individuals can lend and borrow money using an online platform, which eliminates any involvement of middlemen. The loans provided by the lender helps the lender to generate income in the form of interest. On the other hand, the borrowers have easy access to financing, which might be difficult for them to procure if they approach a standard financial intermediary. The amount of interest charged for P2P loans is comparatively lower than the traditional prime loans to compensate the lenders for bearing the risk of non-payment from the borrowers. Investors fund only a portion of the loan and spread the amount of the loan across many buyers.The global P2P lending market to grow at a CAGR of 53.06% during the period 2016-2020. The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global P2P lending market for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, Technavio considers the lending amount through P2P platforms in the Americas, Asia Pacific (APAC), and Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:- Americas- APAC- EMEAGet a Sample Research PDF with TOC:Technavio's report, Global Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Lending Market 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendors- CircleBack Lending- Lending Club- Peerform- Prosper- UpstartOther prominent vendors- Borrowers First- Daric- Funding Circle- Pave- SoFiMarket driver- Increase in global lending of MSMEs- For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challenge- Unbalanced global economic recovery- For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trend- Tie-ups with different banking and financial institutions- For a full, detailed list, view our reportEnquiry at:Key questions answered in this report- What will the market size be in 2020 and what will the growth rate be?- What are the key market trends?- What is driving this market?- What are the challenges to market growth?- Who are the key vendors in this market space?- What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?- What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?Browse more details at:ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn at: Implantable Pulse Generator Market to Observe Strong Development by 2025 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/13669 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/13669 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Growing prevalence of various medical conditions and diseases has led to introduction of innovative technologies in the medical field. One of such technology that has shifted the focus of healthcare providers to a new era of disease treatment is implantable pulse generator. Implantable pulse generator is a battery-powered micro-electronic medical device that is implanted in the body, delivers electric stimulation to the nervous system in order to stimulate or block various nerve impulses in the body. The technology is adapted from the technology used in cardiac rhythm management and holds promise in treatment of variety of medical conditions such as reducing back pain, treatment of hypertension and obesity and curing diabetes without daily injections of insulin. In some situations implantable pulse generators are used to treat such conditions for which medicines either have not been completely effective or have shown some side effects. Whereas in other conditions use of such technology is looked as a way to control the disease progression more conveniently either alone or in combination with medicine. For example, implantable pulse generators are playing an extremely important role in treatment of various neurological disorders especially in treatment of Parkinsons diseases, tremor and dystonia through deep brain stimulation (DBS). Presently, the technology is utilized for individuals who do not adequately respond to the medications. However, individuals which show some degree of improvements after taking medication for Parkinsons will only be benefitted from DBS.A sample of this report is available upon request @Additionally utilization of advanced ceramic materials in designing of IPG devices are also playing an important role alternative to the titanium device casing due to its biocompatibility. Use of such ceramic materials and high-pin density feed through assemblies, play an important role in enhancing the technology and improving the treatment outcomes to enable next-gen neuromodulation devices in the market. Implantable pulse generator is highly potential treatment option for patient who do not obtain relief from medication and surgical treatment.Global market for implantable pulse generator is expected to grow at healthy growth rates owing to growing incidence of various chronic disorders such as neurological and cardiovascular disorders. Other prominent factors fueling the increasing penetration of implantable pulse generator includes ease of implants with enhanced clinical performance, strong reimbursements, greater patient awareness and referrals and improved technology enabling market leadership. The technology proves to be cost effective when compared to alternative therapies with minimal complications. Additionally, reduced medication dosage with minimal side effects Dyskinesia, improved motor symptoms for comparatively longer period of time are some of the other factors that have largely contributed towards higher market growth of implantable pulse generator over the forecasted period.In terms of geography North America accounts for the largest market share in global implantable pulse generator market followed by Europe. Favorable reimbursement policies and sophisticated healthcare infrastructure. With increasing FDA approvals and increased device complexity to deliver enhanced features and more tailored effects is expected to drive the growing need of implantable pulse generator in the near future. Asia Pacific represents the fastest growth market for implantable pulse generator owing to growing number of manufacturers launching new and innovative IPG devices.Request to View Tables of Content @Some of the key players in global implantable pulse generator market includes, Medtronic, Inc., Boston Scientific Corporation, St. Jude Medical, Inc., Synapse Biomedical, Inc., Nevro Corporation , Neurosigma, Inc., Neuropace, Inc., Cyberonics, Inc., and BioControl Medical. These players are entering into mergers & acquisitions, strategic collaborations, and product portfolio expansions, which are their key sustainability strategies to maintain their profit margins in the long run. Also many startup companies have entered in this lucrative market space to capitalize over the opportunities present in implantable pulse generator market.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Dental Implant Abutment Systems Market to Expand with Significant CAGR During 2017 - 2025 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/13666 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/13666 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Dental implants therapy continues to be one of the most promising therapy in replacing missed teeth. The American Academy of Implant Dentistry estimates thats, currently 3 million of Americans are implanted with dental implants and the number is growing by 500,000 a year. A dental abutment is a connector device which is comprised of a base that adapted to mount a dental implant to connect the implant with the replacement teeth. From there the crown is placed over the abutment. In case of two-piece dental implants the abutment is cemented on the crown while in case of a single or one piece implant the dental implant and abutment is fused together and comes as a single piece implant. Dental implants abutments are used to attach a crown, bridge, remove or removable denture to the implant fixtures. There are two classes of dental abutment systems, prefabricated and custom made. Prefabricated dental abutments are available in ranges of size and shapes and the one which is best fitted is selected during the patients surgery. Custom made dental implants abutment systems are made according to the patients fit and are fabricated at the dental laboratory with the help of the implants impression which is made with the adjacent teeth and gingiva. The dental implant abutment systems are made up of different materials such as titanium, gold alloy, surgical stainless steel, gold, and zirconia. However, currently available dental implants abutment systems are made from zirconia, a white ceramic dental implant abutment providing a highly desirable dental abutment option. These abutment systems are used to better compliment the aesthetics of the dental implant restoration. However, such abutments needs to be used with care as there compressive strength is somewhere around that of other metals including titanium and gold.A Sample of this Report is Available Upon Request @Presently, a number of manufacturers are focusing on providing custom fit dental implant abutment systems according to the patients need. This is expected to reflect positive growth in the global dental implant abutment systems market. Furthermore, availability of wide range of options in prefabricated dental implants product category is expected to make easy for dental surgeons to choose the best fitted dental implant abutment system. This is expected to fuel the market revenue for prefabricated dental implants abutment systems over the forecast period. Increasing number of dental implants procedures worldwide is expected to create demand for abutment systems in dentistry. Advent of multifunctional dental abutment systems in the market will further increase the market revenue for dental implants abutment systems globally. Problems associated with the abutment fixation, screw loosening, rotational misfit, inadequate microbial sealing may result in poor dental implant fixation. High cost of two piece dental implant abutment system and limited prosthetic options available in case of single piece implant is expected to result in declining revenues in dental implants abutment systems market over the forecast period.Increasing efforts by dental abutment manufacturers to deliver abutment systems with shape memory material called as Nitinol, a nickel titanium providing cement free and screw free dental abutment solutions is expected to create huge market revenue potential in the global dental implant abutment systems market.By product type, the global market for dental implant abutment systems has been classified into, stock/prefabricated abutment systems and custom abutment systems. Stock/prefabricated abutment systems product type segment is highly preferred product type segment owing to availability of wide range of abutment systems in this product type category.By type of connection, the global market for dental implant abutment systems has been classified into external hex connection and internal connection. Better esthetic, better joint strength and improved microbial seal is expected to create higher revenues for internal connection sub-segment in global dental implant abutment systems.On the basis of material type the global dental implant abutment systems market is segmented into, titanium, gold, stainless steel and zirconia. Zirconia material type sub segment is expected to be opportunistic in global dental implant abutment systems market.On the basis of end user the global dental implant abutment systems market is segmented into, hospital dental clinics and ambulatory surgical centers.On the basis of regional presence, global Dental Implant Abutment Systems market is segmented into five key regions viz. North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. North America followed by Europe will continue to dominate the global dental implant abutment systems market attributed to growing number of adult as well as pediatric population with dental problems such as, tooth decay and dental caries leading to more number of dental implant procedures. Furthermore, increasing rate of dental implants procedures among older group is also expected to result in higher demand for abutment systems globally over the forecast period. Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing region in global dental implant abutment systems market.To View TOC of this Report is Available Upon Request @Some of the major players operating in global dental implant abutment systems market are FLA BioHorizons IPH, Inc., Nobel Biocare Services AG, DYNAMIC ABUTMENT SOLUTIONS, Institut Straumann AG, Ditron Dental, FRIADENT GmbH, Glidewell Laboratories. Companies are involved in collaboration agreements for R&D in order to exploit maximum potential.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Acrylic Acid Industry Vendors BASF, The Dow Chemical Company, Arkema, Nippon shokubai co., LG chemicals., Shenyang Chemical and Mitsubishi Chemical https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/2571 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/acrylic-acid-market-2571 Acrylic Acid Market is expected to grow with the CAGR 5.14 % of more than from 2016 to 2022, and with this it is predictable to cross USD 18,315 Million by 2022Market HighlightsAcrylic acid, a specialty petrochemical which has formula CH2=CHOOH and CAS (Chemical Abstracts Services) Number 79-10-7. It is produced from propylene which is a byproduct of ethylene and gasoline production. Properties of acrylic acid includes colorless liquid, adaptable to low temperature, good weather ability, acidic odor easily miscible with water, alcohols, ethers, and chloroform. Owing to such properties the use is diverse in number of applications, namely surface coatings, sealants & adhesive, agriculture, plastic sheets, diapers and othersThe manufacturing sector in India is still growing and adhesive industrys growth is directly aligned with the countrys manufacturing growth. The adhesives market in India is growing on account of new product developments, which require joining of two similar or dissimilar substrates. Industrial adhesives are replacing mechanical fastener for bonding requirements, and the demand for these adhesives is expected to grow in line with the countrys manufacturing growth.Request a Sample Report@Key Findings The global acrylic acid market is expected to reach USD 18,315.3 million by 2022 Regionally, North- America has the largest market of USD 4,947.7 million by 2022 China accounted for the largest market share of 58.00% in 2014, with a market value of USD 2,635.5 Million and is projected to grow at the highest CAGR of 5.53% during the forecast period. India was the second-largest market in 2014, valued at USD 681.6 Million in 2014; it is projected to grow at a CAGR of 5.24%. Diaper market accounted for the largest market share registering CAGR of 5.85% during the forecasted period On basis of type segment, superabsorbent polymers holds the market share of 19% in 2015Market ScenarioWater based adhesives are typically composed of adhesive polymers and acrylic monomers. Monomers commonly used in water based adhesives are butyl acrylates, 2-ethyexyl acrylate, methacrylate acrylic acid and many others. Water-based adhesives are projected to hold a share of around 42% of the countrys adhesives market by the end of 2019. With upcoming infrastructural projects such as railway tracks, metro rails as well as new wind energy farms, the country is set to witness a strong growth in the adhesives industry over the next five years. Also, automotive adhesives are expected to witness growth as the demand for light weighting and composite joining adhesives from automobile manufacturers continuing to increase.Key Player BASF The Dow Chemical Company Arkema NIPPON SHOKUBAI CO., LTD. LG chemicals. Shenyang Chemical Co Ltd's. Mitsubishi ChemicalRegional AnalysisAsia-Pacific is projected to be the largest market during the forecast periodAs per MRFR analysis Asia Pacific dominated the global acrylic acid market and has accounted for the largest share of the market in 2014. Asia Pacific market is followed by Europe and North America. Moreover, Asia Pacific acrylic acid market will witness growth above average with respect to demand of the same throughout the forecast period driven by strong growth in China and India due to the growing construction and building industry.In terms of volume, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific are expected to witness robust growth during the forecast period. Availability of cheap labor, favorable weather conditions and governmental support are some of the factors driving the emulsion polymers market in these regions. Latin America, Europe and North America are also expected to experience significant growth of emulsion polymer market in near future.Scope of the StudyThe scope of the study categorizes the acrylic acid market as type, and application.By Type Methyl Acrylate Ethyl Acrylate Butyl Acrylate 2-Ethylhexyl Acrylat Elastomers Superabsorbent Polymers Water Treatment PolymersBy Application Adhesives Diaper Paper coating Paint industry Cement modifiers OthersTable of Content1 Executive Summary2 Scope of the Report3 Market Research Methodology4 Market Landscape4.1 Five Forces Analysis4.2 Value Chain/Supply Chain of Global Acrylic acid Market5 Industry Overview of Global Acrylic acid Market6 Market Trends7. Global Acrylic acid Market by Region8. Global Acrylic acid Market by Type (Methyl Acrylate, Ethyl Acrylate, Butyl Acrylate, 2-Ethylhexyl Acrylate, Elastomers, Superabsorbent Polymers, and Water Treatment Polymers)9. Global Acrylic acid Market by Application (Adhesives, Diaper, Paper coating, Paint industry, Cement modifiers and others)10. Company Profiles10.1 BASF10.2 The Dow Chemical Company10.3 Arkema10.4 Nippon shokubai co., ltdBrowse Full A-Acid Market @List of TablesTable 1 World Population by Major Regions (2015 To 2030) (Million)Table 2 Global Acrylic acid Market: By Region, 2014-2022 (USD Million)Table 3 North America Acrylic acid Market: By Country, 2014-2022 (USD Million)Table 4 Europe Acrylic acid Market: By Country, 2014-2022 (USD Million)Table 5 Asia-Pacific Acrylic acid Market: By Country, 2014-2022 (USD Million)Table 6 Row Acrylic acid Market: By Country, 2014-2022 (USD Million)Table 7Global Acrylic acid by Type Market: By Regions, 2014-2022 (USD Million)Table 8 North America Acrylic acid by Type Market: By Country, 2022 (USD Million)Table 9 Europe Acrylic acid by Type Market: By Country, 2014-2022 (USD Million)Table 10 Asia-Pacific Acrylic acid by Type Market: By Country, 2022 (USD Million)About Market Research FutureAt Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Market Research Future Magarpatta Road, Hadapsar, Pune - 411028 Maharashtra, India +1 646 845 9312 Global Revenue Cycle Management Market Professional Survey Report 2017 Innovation, Emerging Evolution http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1039064 This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringAthenahealth, Inc.?Cerner Corporation?Eclinicalworks, LLC?Mckesson Corporation?Quest Diagnostics Incorporated?Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc.?Conifer Health Solutions, LLC.?Epic Systems Corporation?Gebbs Healthcare Solutions?GE Healthcare?Experian PLCBy types, the market can be split intoIntegrated RCMStandalone RCMBy Application, the market can be split intoHospitalPhysicianLaboratoryPharmacyBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaGet The Sample Copy Of This Report :Table of ContentsGlobal Revenue Cycle Management Market Professional Survey Report 20171 Industry Overview of Revenue Cycle Management1.1 Definition and Specifications of Revenue Cycle Management1.1.1 Definition of Revenue Cycle Management1.1.2 Specifications of Revenue Cycle Management1.2 Classification of Revenue Cycle Management1.2.1 Integrated RCM1.2.2 Standalone RCM1.3 Applications of Revenue Cycle Management1.3.1 Hospital1.3.2 Physician1.3.3 Laboratory1.3.4 Pharmacy1.4 Market Segment by Regions1.4.1 North America1.4.2 China1.4.3 Europe1.4.4 Southeast Asia1.4.5 Japan1.4.6 India2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Revenue Cycle Management2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Revenue Cycle Management2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Revenue Cycle Management2.4 Industry Chain Structure of Revenue Cycle Management3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Revenue Cycle Management3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Revenue Cycle Management Major Manufacturers in 20153.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Revenue Cycle Management Major Manufacturers in 20153.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Revenue Cycle Management Major Manufacturers in 20153.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global Revenue Cycle Management Major Manufacturers in 20154 Global Revenue Cycle Management Overall Market Overview4.1 2011-2016 Overall Market Analysis4.2 Capacity Analysis4.2.1 2011-2016 Global Revenue Cycle Management Capacity and Growth Rate Analysis4.2.2 2015 Revenue Cycle Management Capacity Analysis (Company Segment)4.3 Sales Analysis4.3.1 2011-2016 Global Revenue Cycle Management Sales and Growth Rate Analysis4.3.2 2015 Revenue Cycle Management Sales Analysis (Company Segment)4.4 Sales Price Analysis4.4.1 2011-2016 Global Revenue Cycle Management Sales Price4.4.2 2015 Revenue Cycle Management Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment)5 Revenue Cycle Management Regional Market Analysis5.1 North America Revenue Cycle Management Market Analysis5.1.1 North America Revenue Cycle Management Market Overview5.1.2 North America 2011-2016 Revenue Cycle Management Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.1.3 North America 2011-2016 Revenue Cycle Management Sales Price Analysis5.1.4 North America 2015 Revenue Cycle Management Market Share Analysis5.2 China Revenue Cycle Management Market Analysis5.2.1 China Revenue Cycle Management Market Overview5.2.2 China 2011-2016 Revenue Cycle Management Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.2.3 China 2011-2016 Revenue Cycle Management Sales Price Analysis5.2.4 China 2015 Revenue Cycle Management Market Share Analysis5.3 Europe Revenue Cycle Management Market Analysis5.3.1 Europe Revenue Cycle Management Market Overview5.3.2 Europe 2011-2016 Revenue Cycle Management Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.3.3 Europe 2011-2016 Revenue Cycle Management Sales Price Analysis5.3.4 Europe 2015 Revenue Cycle Management Market Share Analysis5.4 Southeast Asia Revenue Cycle Management Market Analysis5.4.1 Southeast Asia Revenue Cycle Management Market Overview5.4.2 Southeast Asia 2011-2016 Revenue Cycle Management Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.4.3 Southeast Asia 2011-2016 Revenue Cycle Management Sales Price Analysis5.4.4 Southeast Asia 2015 Revenue Cycle Management Market Share Analysis5.5 Japan Revenue Cycle Management Market Analysis5.5.1 Japan Revenue Cycle Management Market Overview5.5.2 Japan 2011-2016 Revenue Cycle Management Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.5.3 Japan 2011-2016 Revenue Cycle Management Sales Price Analysis5.5.4 Japan 2015 Revenue Cycle Management Market Share Analysis5.6 India Revenue Cycle Management Market Analysis5.6.1 India Revenue Cycle Management Market Overview5.6.2 India 2011-2016 Revenue Cycle Management Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.6.3 India 2011-2016 Revenue Cycle Management Sales Price Analysis5.6.4 India 2015 Revenue Cycle Management Market Share AnalysisMarketResearchReports.biz supports your business intelligence needs with over 100,000 market research reports, company profiles, data books, and regional market data sheets in its repository. Our document database is updated by the hour, which means that you always have access to fresh data spanning over 300 industries and their sub-segments.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948(USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz PEG S.A., the World Leading Cement Engineering Consultancy, Announces Token of Appreciation Contest PEG S.A. logo http://www.pegeng.ch/contact.php http://www.pegeng.ch/ PEG is known to be one of the industrys finest international cement engineering consultancy provider from around the world, offering quality cement products and services necessary for building your future investments on infrastructures. Delivering cement plant consultancy services since 1959, PEG doesnt just ensure the satisfaction of their clients but take it a step further by training you to become experts by your own.As the worlds leading consultancy provider on cement engineering, PEG manages all phases of a project and offers a wide variation of construction products and services on the side that could cater to all your cement, infrastructure, environment, and renewable energy needs. PEG ensures that they build a quality foundation for your infrastructure, as well as the durability of their products and services.PEG only wants the best for their customers, and as a token of appreciation, brings you its first ever lottery event, the PEG 2017 Lottery! Be one of the three lucky winners of these amazing Swiss-made prizes.Get a chance to take home PEG 2017 Lotterys 3rd Prize, a Victorinox Swiss Army Knife, or get yourself a fancy Victorinox Watch for 2nd Prize. When its just your luck, you could take home the 1st Prize, which is nothing more than just a PEGLEX Watch! Who wouldnt want to score these amazing prizes?Sign up now! Lottery registration ends 1st of June 2017! So what are you waiting for? Dont miss this chance to score these lovely prizes by filling in the form here along with your details.PEG Company ensures that you experience quality service and get your moneys worth. No other company offers all around construction and quality engineering services such as Feasibility Studies, Plant Modernisation & Upgrades, Alternative Fuels, Audits, Procurement Services, Engineering & Design, Geological, Project Management and Cement Batching Plants beyond expectations.To guarantee the implementation of a project on time and budget, PEG also provides clients its expertise as project managers for your business which can be the next big thing in the industry.PEG S.A.Marc LambertCEO4, Rue du LievreCase Postale 14111211 Geneve 26Switzerland41 (0)22 544 3100info@pegeng.ch System Integration in Telecommunication Market to Exceed US$ 36.9 Bn by 2024 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/asia-pacific-latin-america-and-emea-system-integration-in-telecommunication-market/toc http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/14008 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com On an average, 40% of revenues procured in Latin Americas system integration in telecommunication market will be emanating from Brazil. The demand for integrating OSS and BSS will also gain traction in Mexico and Argentina. Although, the overall system integration in telecom market in Latin America is being projected to expand at a moderate CAGR of 4.4%. High implementation costs of system integration solutions are imposing a relatively less adoption in Latin America, as opposed to the APAC region, Europe or Middle East & Africa. Leading IT service providers mapping Latin Americas telecom industry are identified as Telefonica Brasil, TIM Brasil, Telecom Argentina SA, Nextel, Telcel, Claro Brasil, and Telefonica SA.Persistence Market Research projects The future of global telecommunication industry will witness higher adoption of complex information systems which will facilitate speedy data convergence System integrators will play a key role in compiling information emanating from multiple and advanced telecommunication network standards Integration of business support systems (BSS) and operation support systems (OSS) will boost the support for end-to-end telecommunication services and bring forth some improved customer management solutionsOwing to rising urban population, growing strength of telecom networks, brimming data transference, and deployment of advanced technologies, the demand for system integration in telecommunication continues to surge in regions namely, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Europe, Middle East and Africa. A latest study published by Persistence Market Research has estimated that the market for system integration in telecommunications across these regions is presently valued at US$ 22.5 Bn. By the end of 2024, these regions will collectively showcase revenue growth at an impressive 6.3% CAGR and witness the market for system integration in telecommunication reach US$ 36.9 Bn in value.The demand for system integration in telecommunication across APAC countries is projected to witness revenue growth at 7.1% CAGR. A majority of system integration solutions adopted across APAC telecommunications industry will be directed towards OSS, revenues from which will reach US$ 10.6 Bn by the end of 2024. China will contribute with more than one-third of overall revenues, while India, New Zealand, Australia, Japan and ASEAN countries will showcase rampant revenue growth. Vodafone Hutchinson Telecommunications, Telstra Corporation Ltd., SingTel Optus Pty Limited, NTT-Docomo Corporation, Ideal Cellular Ltd., Reliance Communications, and Softbank Corporation are some of the prominent IT service provider in the APAC telecommunications industry.Request to view table of content @The EMEA system integration in telecommunication market is presently valued US$ 10.5 Bn. In the Middle East and Africa, South Africa is projected to exhibit high value CAGR of 7%, while the European system integration in telecommunication market will see consolidated growth from the EU5 Spain, Germany, Italy, France and the UK. These five countries will also dominate the overall EMEA region, accounting for over 40% value share by the end of 2024. The MTN Group, Saudi Telecom Company, Vodacom, and Airtel Africa are leading telecom service providers across the Middle East and Africa. The telecom industry of Nordic countries and Russia is mapped by IT service providers namely, Telenor ASA, VimpelCom Ltd., and Mobile TeleSystems. Meanwhile, companies such Deutsche Telekom, Orange SA, BT Group plc., Telefonica SA and Vodafone Group plc. are charting the waters of telecommunication services in EU5 countries.A sample of this report is available upon request @The report has also profiled leading providers of system integration solution in telecom across Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East & Africa. These include, Oracle Corp., Redknee Inc., Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., Sigma System Canada, NetCracker Technology Corporation, Openet Telecom, Ericsson, Comptel Corp., and Amdocs Inc.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Hazmat Suits Market to Exceed US$ 8.0 Billion Globally by 2022 Hazmat Suits Market https://www.marketresearchengine.com/reportdetails/hazmat-suits-market-report https://www.marketresearchengine.com/ New York, April 19: Market Research Engine has published a new report titled as Hazmat Suits Market By Application (Hazardous materials, Infection control and biohazard, Chemical waste, Others); By End-user (Healthcare, Utilities, Transportation, Manufacturing, Construction, Mining and metallurgy, Oil and Gas) and By Safety Standards (Level A, Level B, Level C, Others) Global Market Analysis and Forecast 2016 - 2022How Big is The Hazmat Suits Market?The hazmat suits market is expected to exceed more than US$ 8.0 Billion by 2022; Growing at a CAGR of more than 5.60% in the given forecast period.Browse Full Report:A Hazmat suit is an entire body garment of clothing intended to ensure the wearer against risky materials or substances. Hazmat suit as a general article of clothing worn to shield individuals from perilous materials or substances, including chemicals, organic operators, or radioactive materials. A Hazmat suit is a type of individual defensive gear (PPE), which is frequently utilized by firefighters, crisis restorative teams, paramedics, scientists, staff reacting to dangerous spills, pros tidying up tainted offices and specialists in poisonous situations. Hazmat suits give protection from fire, biological agent, nuclear agent, chemical agents and high temperatures. Hazmat suits requirement depends on level of risk, mission and situations. Suits are regularly gas tight to guarantee the client won't come into direct contact with or breathe in risky substances or particles.They can offer the capacity to be in high temperatures because of the materials they are made out of and have distinctive methods for supplying air to the wearer to guarantee they are breathing crisp, uncontaminated air. Independent breathing mechanical assembly (SCBA) can be encased inside the suit or connected to the suit contingent upon the make.The major driving factors of hazmat suits market are as follows:Expansion of biotechnology and pharmaceutical industriesGrowing government support to biotechnology and pharmaceutical industriesRising chemical industry globallyIncreasing nuclear power plants globallyGrowing oil explorations and oil field service actionsThe restraining factors of hazmat suits market are as follows:Oxygen reduction in level A hazmat suitPotential undesirable fluctuations in alien currency swap ratesRequire training provided to caregivers on efficient use of toolsThe hazmat suits market is segmented on the lines of its application, end user, safety standards and regional. Based on application segmentation it covers hazardous materials, infection control and biohazard, chemical waste and others. Under end user segmentation the hazmat suits market covers healthcare, utilities, transportation, manufacturing, construction, mining and metallurgy, oil and gas and others. The hazmat suits market is segmented on the lines of its safety standards like Level A, Level B, and Level C and other. The hazmat suits markets geographic segmentation covers various regions such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. Each geographic market is further segmented to provide market revenue for select countries such as the U.S., Canada, U.K. Germany, China, Japan, India, Brazil, and GCC countries.This report provides:1) An overview of the global market for hazmat suits and related technologies.2) Analyses of global market trends, with data from 2013, estimates for 2014 and 2015, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2022.3) Identifications of new market opportunities and targeted promotional plans for hazmat suits.4) Discussion of research and development, and the demand for new products and new applications.5) Comprehensive company profiles of major players in the industry.REPORT SCOPE:The scope of the report includes a detailed study of global and regional markets for Hazmat Suits with the reasons given for variations in the growth of the industry in certain regions.The report covers detailed competitive outlook including the market share and company profiles of the key participants operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include Dupont Inc. (U.S.), Lakeland Industries Inc. (U.S.), Alpha Pro Tech (Canada), and Kimberly Clark Corporation (U.S.). Company profile includes assign such as company summary, financial summary, business strategy and planning, SWOT analysis and current developments.The Top Companies Report is intended to provide our buyers with a snapshot of the industrys most influential players.The Hazmat Suits Market has been segmented as below:By Application AnalysisHazardous MaterialsInfection Control and BiohazardChemical WasteOthersBy End-user AnalysisHealthcareUtilitiesTransportationManufacturingConstructionMining and metallurgyOil and GasOthersBy Safety Standards AnalysisLevel ALevel BLevel COtherBy Regional AnalysisNorth AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificRest of the WorldReasons to Buy this Report:1) Obtain the most up to date information available on all hazmat suits market globally.2) Identify growth segments and opportunities in the industry.3) Facilitate decision making on the basis of strong historic and forecast of hazmat suits data.4) Assess your competitors refining portfolio and its evolution.About MarketResearchEngine.comMarket Research Engine is a global market research and consulting organization. We provide market intelligence in emerging, niche technologies and markets. Our market analysis powered by rigorous methodology and quality metrics provide information and forecasts across emerging markets, emerging technologies and emerging business models. Our deep focus on industry verticals and country reports help our clients to identify opportunities and develop business strategies.Media ContactCompany Name: Market Research EngineContact Person: John BayEmail: john@marketresearchengine.comPhone: +1-855-984-1862, +91-860-565-7204Country: United StatesWebsite:Address: 3422 SW 15 Street, Suite #8942, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442, United States Global Defense IT Spending Market To Grow At A CAGR Of 3.11% During The Period 2016-2020 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=775718 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=775718 http://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Defense IT Spending Market 2016-2020" to its huge collection of research reports.Growing international terrorism and rising number of extremist groups are threatening many countries. Therefore, many countries are implementing advanced ICT solutions to strengthen their defense capabilities. The defense sector is also facing many challenges related to cyber security to counter online cyber-attacks from hackers. To manage a large amount of data and to protect the military data, advance IT solutions are required. The IT department of defense services requires efficient IT support services to minimize the technical glitches in the military operations. IT solutions are helping the defense sector to address these challenges by providing innovative IT solutions. Vendors are offering specific IT technology for defense sectors such as cloud computing, Big Data analytics, cyber security software, and software-defined radio for military intelligence.Technavios analysts forecast the global defense IT spending market to grow at a CAGR of 3.11% during the period 2016-2020.Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global defense IT spending market for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, Technavio considers the revenue generated from IT investment or sale of IT products and services in the defense sectors across geographies - the Americas, EMEA, and APAC.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:AmericasAPACEMEATo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Technavio's report, Global Defense IT Spending Market 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendorsAccentureCSCDellHPIBMOther prominent vendorsAtkinsBAE SystemsCACI International Inc.CapgeminiFujitsuIntelLockheed MartinMicrosoftOracleSAPTelstraUnisysMarket driverIncreased adoption of advanced cyber security systemsFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challengeRising concerns about IT securityFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trendUpsurge of cloud computing solutionsFor a full, detailed list, view our reportKey questions answered in this reportWhat will the market size be in 2020 and what will the growth rate be?What are the key market trends?What is driving this market?What are the challenges to market growth?Who are the key vendors in this market space?What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?Make an Enquiry of this report @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @ Thepackersmovers.com is Advancing the Approach of Finding Reliable Movers and Packers in Bangalore! www.thepackersmovers.com/locations/packers-and-movers-navi-mumbai.html www.thepackersmovers.com/locations/packers-and-movers-bangalore.html www.thepackersmovers.com Thepackersmovers.com is the attributed online directory that helps people to unearth reliable Packers and Movers based across the country. People can look up for services of Warehousing in Delhi, Movers and Packers in Bangalore, Office relocation in Mumbai and more.New Delhi, Wednesday, April 19, 2017: Today, the faced paced lifestyle of people residing in metropolitan cities and other urban cities have made people busy and tiring all the time. After a hectic day at workplace, people hardly get time to relax or get indulged into various daily chores. At such situation, the thought of relocating from one place to the other in the same city or intercity brings a lot of tensions and worries in mind. Thus, people these days find Mover and Packer services an excellent solution to relocation problem. However, to settle down with reliable Packer and Mover is always an important thing to assure a hassle free and damage free relocation in India anywhere.To know more about packers and movers in Navi Mumbai, visitThepackersmovers.com eases the issue of finding a trustworthy Packers and Movers in India easy for all. The online directory maintains long list of Packers and Movers of different cities and relocation services to help people in finding the best Movers and Packers in Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and places across the country.Over a discussion regarding the services of Packers and Movers in Bangalore () city, the official representative of the directory stated, To help people in making right choice for relocation service provider in Bangalore city, at our website, we maintain a long list of Packers and Movers. For easy search we have segregated the range of Packers and Movers with list of cities and different relocation services as well. So be it anywhere in Bangalore that one is planning to relocate in or any kind of shifting services that one wants to avail for a hassle free move, we cater their needs with best movers and packers.To help people find the best relocation service provider in Bangalore, the portal also offers ample of informative pages to educate people regarding useful Moving Day Countdown, Moving Checklist, Tips on Moving with Kids, Budget Moving Plan, Packing Tips, Office Relocation Tips, Unloading Tips, Pre moving Tips, Plant Moving Tips, Self Moving Tips, Pets Moving Tips, Car Moving Tips, Choosing a Mover, Moving Guide, Relocation Tips and more.Adding more into the discussion, the official spokesperson of the portal commented, To relocate at a new workplace or at a place of residence is a matter of many of worries. There are countless things to consider for making relocation a hassle free experience. In order to eliminate different worries of relocation, we enlist Packers and Movers that offer complete relocation services to the customers planning to move anywhere in India.To meet diverse relocation needs of every customer, we maintain list of Packers and Movers for different relocation needs like Corporate Relocation, Home Relocation Service, Door-to-Door Relocation Services, Unpacking Services, Transport Services, Office Relocation Service, Pets Relocation, Warehousing Services, Packaging Services, Insurance Coverage, International Relocation, Loading Unloading Services, Custom Clearance and more.Contact-Thepackersmovers.com is one of the reliable online platforms for the people of India that caters the people of the country with list for authentic and dependable Packers and Movers in India. People planning a move in Bangalore city can find reliable names for Car carriers in Bangalore, Movers and Packers in Bangalore and much more. Get detailed information about the directory on the website.Media Contact :-The Packers MoversMayur Vihar Phase 1, Pandav NagarPostal Code :- 110091City - DelhiCountry - IndiaEmail - info@thepackersmovers.com Automotive Remote Vehicle Diagnostics Global Market Trend, Research Approach, Data Analysis and Forecast to 2022 ReportsWeb http://www.reportsweb.com/automotive-remote-vehicle-diagnostics-global-market-outlook-2016-2022 http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW0001565083/sample http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW0001565083/buying According to Publisher, the Global Automotive Remote Vehicle Diagnostics market is estimated at $13.91 billion in 2015 and is expected to reach $31.4 billion by 2022 growing at a CAGR of 17.6% from 2015 to 2022. Increasing demand for Luxury & Comfort, growing market for used passengers and commercial vehicles and demands from OEM's to progress vehicle performance & collect significant data are the factors fueling the market. However, Data safety Concerns is the key factor which is restricting the market growth.For more information about this report:Bluetooth technology is anticipated to acquire the highest share in the market. North American region is expected to be the largest market during the forecast period. The growth is due to advanced technology in the region and high adoption rate of innovation. North America has strict regulations for emissions, vehicle safety, and fuel economy in the world which is the key factor that is expected to boost the market in the region.Some of the key players in the market include Vidiwave Ltd Softing AG, Vector Informatik, Snap-On Inc., VOXX International Corporation, Delphi Automotive PLC, Continental AG, Onstar LLC, Magneti Marelli, Robert Bosch GmbH and OpenbayConnectivity types Covered:- 3G- 4G Long Term Evolution- Bluetooth- Wi-FiVehicle Types Covered:- Passenger car- Commercial vehicleApplications Covered:- Roadside Assistance- Automatic Crash Notification- Vehicle Tracking- Vehicle Health AlertRequest Sample Copy atRegions Covered:- North AmericaUSCanadaMexico- EuropeGermanyFranceItalyUKSpainRest of Europe- Asia PacificJapanChinaIndiaAustraliaNew ZealandRest of Asia Pacific- Rest of the WorldMiddle EastBrazilArgentinaSouth AfricaEgypt1 Executive Summary2 Preface3 Market Trend Analysis4 Porters Five Force Analysis5 Global Automotive Remote Vehicle Diagnostics Market, By Connectivity6 Global Automotive Remote Vehicle Diagnostics Market, By Vehicle Type7 Global Automotive Remote Vehicle Diagnostics Market, By Application8 Global Automotive Remote Vehicle Diagnostics Market, By Geography9 Key Developments10 Company Profiling10.1 Vidiwave Ltd10.2 Softing AG10.3 Vector Informatik10.4 Snap-On Inc.10.5 VOXX International Corporation10.6 Delphi Automotive PLC10.7 Continental AG10.8 Onstar LLC10.9 Magneti Marelli10.10 Robert Bosch GmbH10.11 Openbay10.12 Carvoyant10.13 Sontheim10.14 CarShieldInquire before Buying atContact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@reportsweb.comReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028 Global Skin Packaging Market Size, Growth, Share, Trends and Forecast by 2022 Orbis Research http://www.orbisresearch.com/reports/index/skin-packaging-global-market-outlook-2016-2022 http://www.orbisresearch.com/contacts/request-sample/255992 http://www.orbisresearch.com/contact/purchase/255992 According to Stratistics MRC, the Global Skin Packaging Market is expected to grow from $7.46 billion in 2016 to reach $11.23 billion by 2022 with a CAGR of 7.05%. Increasing demand from end-user industry, growing disposable income, rise in consumer demand are some of the factors driving the market growth. However, strict rules and regulations, growing environmental concerns, increasing number of alternates are hindering the market.Browse the report:Based on the Application, non-carded skin packaging leads the market globally and the factors attributing the market growth are availability of wide range of packaging materials and smooth opening options. On the other hand, among Base materials demand for plastic films are growing due to increasing popularity of plastic based flexible packaging products among industrial consumers and buyers. Asia pacific is witnessing fastest growth due to huge increase in food and beverage consumption.Some of the key players in Skin Packaging Market are Bemis Company, Inc., E.I. Du Pont De Nemours and Company, The DOW Chemical Company, Berry Plastics Group, Inc., Display Pack Inc., Clondalkin Group Holdings B.V., Westrock Company, Sealed Air Corporation, G. Mondini SPA, Linpac Packaging Limited, Reynolds Flexible Packaging, Innovative Plastics, Tekni-Plex, MTS Medication Technologies, Polyone.Request a sample of the report:Base Materials Covered:Paper & PaperboardPlastic FilmsPolyethylene TetraphthatePoly Vinyl ChloridePolyethyleneOther Plastic FilmsOther Base MaterialsProduct Types Covered:Non-Carded Skin PackagingCarded Skin PackagingApplications Covered:Consumer GoodsIndustrial GoodsFoodOther ApplicationsBuy the report@Heat Seal Coatings Covered:Solvent-Based Heat Seal CoatingWater-Based Heat Seal CoatingOther Heat Seal CoatingsRegions Covered:North AmericaUSCanadaMexicoEuropeGermanyFranceItalyUKSpainRest of EuropeAsia PacificJapanChinaIndiaAustraliaNew ZealandRest of Asia PacificRest of the WorldMiddle EastBrazilArgentinaSouth AfricaEgyptWhat our report offers:- Market share assessments for the regional and country level segments- Market share analysis of the top industry players- Strategic recommendations for the new entrants- Market forecasts for a minimum of 7 years of all the mentioned segments, sub segments and the regional markets- Market Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations)- Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations- Competitive landscaping mapping the key common trends- Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments- Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancementsAbout Us:Orbis Research (orbisresearch.com) is a single point aid for all your market research requirements. We have vast database of reports from the leading publishers and authors across the globe. We specialize in delivering customized reports as per the requirements of our clients. We have complete information about our publishers and hence are sure about the accuracy of the industries and verticals of their specialization. This helps our clients to map their needs and we produce the perfect required market research study for our clients.Contact Information:Hector CostelloSenior Manager Client Engagements4144N Central Expressway,Suite 600, Dallas,Texas 75204, U.S.A.Phone No.: +1 (214) 884-6817; +9164101019Email: sales@orbisresearch.com Patient Throughput and Capacity Management Market to Exceed US$ 1,229.9 Mn by 2024 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/13198 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/patient-throughput-and-capacity-management-market/toc http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com The global market for patient throughput & capacity management, according to Persistence Market Researchs report, is presently valued at US$ 834 Mn, and will soar steadily at 5% CAGR during the eight-year forecast period. The report further anticipates that over half of global revenues procured from sales of patient throughput & capacity management solutions will be accounted by the US and Canada.The need for aligning resources in healthcare settings has compelled medical organizations towards adoption of technological solutions that help manage & arrange patient care information in orderly fashion. Hospitals from across the globe are installing patient throughput & capacity management solutions to tackle challenges associated with management of increasing capacity & space. Ideal use of added functional capacity through improved patient throughput solutions is also a key trend driving the demand for such solutions. Persistence Market Research estimates that towards the end of 2024, more than US$ 1.2 Bn worth of patient throughput & capacity management solutions will be employed across the globe.North Americas dominance over the global patient throughput & capacity management market is justified by the regions robust healthcare industry, which is also a proponent to technological advancements and adoption of intelligent solutions. Europes patient throughput & capacity management market will also leave a sizable imprint on the global market, registering a value CAGR of 5.3%.A sample of this report is available upon request @The report reveals that an analysis of global sales of patient throughput & capacity management solutions indicates a major upsurge in demand for RTLS solutions. With more than one-third share, RTLS solutions will remain a top-selling product dominating the global market revenues through 2024. Revenues from global sales of workflow management solutions will impose a consistent share on global revenues, while bed management solutions will exhibit revenue growth at 5.2% CAGR during the projected period. A majority of products offered in the global patient throughput & capacity management market will be offered as integrated solutions. Towards the end of 2024, integrated solutions will surpass 65% share on global revenues, while global demand for standalone solutions will register a marginal decline.Request to view table of content @The report also reveals that over 40% of patient throughput & capacity management solutions are delivered through on-premise models. By 2024-end, on-premise delivery of patient throughput & capacity management solutions will net nearly US$ 500 Mn in global revenues. On the other hand, cloud-based delivery is likely to lose out its traction, but will witness a negligible downtrend in terms of revenue growth. The report has also profiled companies such as EPIC Systems Corporation, STANLEY Healthcare, Central Logic, Care Logistics LLC, McKesson Corporation, TeleTracking Technologies, Inc., Sonitor Technologies, Inc., Allscripts, Awarepoint Corporation, and Cerner Corporation as key players of the global patient throughput & capacity management market.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Night Vision Systems Market 2017 Trend, Analysis and Forecast to 2021 ReportsWeb http://www.reportsweb.com/global-night-vision-systems-market-2017-2021 http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW0001723519/sample http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW0001723519/buying Night vision devices, with the help of different lenses, enable users seeing objects in the low-light conditions such as moonlight, starlight, and infrared (IR) light. Photocathode tubes convert photons of light into electrons. Electrons are then converted to visible light by throwing them against a phosphorous screen. Hence, it makes objects visible even in a dark environment. Because of the improved safety concerns, night vision systems have become a part of advanced safety systems. These improved safety features, which are a part of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) , also work well in adverse conditions such as bad weather and poor visibility in night. Night vision systems use various sensors to receive emissions of IR or thermal radiation of objects.Publisher's analysts forecast the global night vision systems market to grow at a CAGR of 7.54% during the period 2017-2021.For more information about this report:Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global night vision systems market for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size the report include shipments of night vision devices along with night vision systems used in the automotive sector and the sales of night vision devices are considered for revenue calculation.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:- Americas- APAC- EMEAPublisher's report, Global Night Vision Systems Market 2017-2021, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendors- Autoliv- BAE Systems- Bosch- Elbit Systems- FLIR Systems- HarrisRequest Sample Copy atOther prominent vendors- ATN Corporation- Continental- Delphi- L-3 Technologies- Meopta - optika- Newcon Optik- Optix- Sofradir EC- Thales- ZF TRWMarket driver- Rising government investments in military devices.- For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challenge- High expense of night vision systems used in automotive sector.- For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trend- Growing adoption of night vision systems in smartphones.- For a full, detailed list, view our reportInquire for Report atContact Info:Name: Sameer JoshiEmail: sales@reportsweb.comOrganization: ReportsWebPhone: +1-646-491-9876ReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028 Global IT Spending By Investment Banks Market driven by changing worldwide regulation compliances 2019 : Accenture, Cognizant, Infosys, and TCS http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/437845 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/analysis/437845 Global IT Spending by Investment Banks - Market Research 2015-2019Covering: The market size and forecast of the global IT spending by investment banks until 2019. The report includes an in-depth analysis of the emerging trends impacting the leading regions of the market such as the Americas, APAC, and EMEA along with their market shares. The leading vendors analyzed in this market research report include Accenture, Cognizant, Infosys, and TCS.Research scope and outlook of IT spending by investment banksThe global IT spending in investment banking is primarily driven by changing worldwide regulation compliances. This research report predicts that the market will account for USD 85 billion in terms of revenue over the next four years.To calculate the overall market spend on IT by investment banks, this report considers revenues generated from the sale of servers and storage, and networking equipment under the hardware segment. Under the software segment, application software and infrastructure software are taken into account while process management, hardware and software support are covered in the IT services segment.Get The Sample Copy Of This Report :Global IT services spending in investment banking sectorHardwareSoftwareServicesTechnavios market research analysts estimate the global IT services spending in the investment banking sector to be a little over USD 41 billion in revenues in 2014. The market is witnessing a surge in the demand for cloud computing with investment banks shifting to a more customer-driven environment. The implementation of cloud technology has significantly improved banking standards and helped investment banks gauge the clients perspective. This shift towards the adoption of cloud technology presents a significant cost implication in the migration process from legacy systems. It is expected to emerge as a decisive factor impacting the growth of the leading players during the forecast period.Geographical segmentation of the global IT spending by investment bank marketAmericasAPACEMEATechnavio market research analysts have observed that European banks, particularly the ones in Western Europe are reluctant to invest further on banking IT infrastructure development because of the ongoing Eurozone crisis. Investment banks in Europe are most likely to focus more on cost reduction over the next four years.However, countries in the Middle East have experienced tremendous growth in offshore application development and software testing activity on account of increasing government support. This trend is likely to impact the overall global spend on application outsourcing services in the future.View Full Report :Competitive landscape of the IT spending market by investment banksAccentureCognizantInfosysTCSLarge investment banks such as J P Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, and others like Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, and Credit Suisse First Boston are likely to scale up their IT spend during the forecast period. Thanks to intensified competition in online finance, a greater role for IT will present a significant opportunity for the leading market vendors over the next four years.The other prominent vendors of the market include Aegis, BCS Financial Group, Capco, Capgemini , Datatec, Dion, EMC , Genpact, idhasoft, informatica, KKR, Netapp, Oracle, Polaris, SAP, Symantec, TCS, TIBCO Software, T-Systems, Verizon, and Wipro.Key questions answered in the reportWhat are the key factors driving the global IT spending by investment bank market?What are the key market trends impacting the growth of the global IT spending by investment bank market?What are the various opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the global IT spending by investment bank market?Trending factors influencing the market shares for EMEA, APAC, and Americas?Key outcome of the five forces analysis on the global IT spending by investment bank market?Growth forecast of the global IT spending by investment bank market until 2019?MarketResearchReports.biz supports your business intelligence needs with over 100,000 market research reports, company profiles, data books, and regional market data sheets in its repository. Our document database is updated by the hour, which means that you always have access to fresh data spanning over 300 industries and their sub-segments.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948(USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz African Utility Week welcomes back Shell as platinum sponsor as company remains committed to supporting the energy sector Choosing the right oil is essential http://www.african-utility-week.com The award-winning African Utility Week has welcomed back a longstanding supporter, the global energy giant Shell, who will be a platinum sponsor again at the conference and exhibition from 16-18 May in Cape Town.The 17th annual African Utility Week will gather over 7000 decision makers from more than 80 countries to source the latest solutions and meet over 300 suppliers. Along with multiple side events and numerous networking functions the event also boasts a five track conference with over 300 expert speakers.The conference programme will address the latest challenges, developments and opportunities in the power and water sectors: ranging from generation, T&D, metering, technology and water.Choosing the right oil is essentialWe are delighted to return for the third time as a platinum sponsor for African Utility Week, says Tendani Ndwamise, Shell Lubes Direct Sector B2B Marketer at Shell South Africa. She continues: in addition to hosting a booth with experts from our global and local business, we are proud to announce Dr. Peter Smith as a speaker for the event. He has over thirty years experience in the development of lubricants for use in the sector and will talk about how choosing the right oil is essential in meeting the challenges of the industry, both now and in the future.According to Tendani the main challenges currently in the industry are: providing sustainable power supply to the population, with aging infrastructure. This in turn leads to the challenge of lowering costs to produce, distribute and transmit power for our customers. Shell aims to help its customers with sustainable lower total cost of ownership of their assets, through Shells sector expertise and industry knowledge in addition to our technology-leading products.She adds: In the last five years, Shell has launched two new ranges of products for the power sector Shell Diala S4 for use in transformers and Shell Turbo S4, our premium turbine oil range. In South Africa, we have been working closely with Eskom to conduct field trials for Shell Diala S4. We have had confirmation from Eskom that they approved the use of Shell Diala S4 ZX-IG in their fleet of transformers. We have also supplied a number of projects in South Africa with our premium turbine oil, Shell Turbo S4, which provides superior performance in a number of key areas, compared to competitor oils.On the rest of the continent, Shell has supplied a number of projects with both ranges, notably the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project and the Mega project in Egypt.African Utility Week is a high priority event for Shell says Tendani, as it gives us the opportunity to not only connect with manufacturers and utilities in South Africa, but also the wider African continent and also internationally. We are delighted that a number of our customers outside of Africa have also chosen to attend the event.Award-winning energy platformThe African Utility Week expo offers an extensive technical workshop programme that are CPD accredited, free to attend, hands-on presentations that take place in defined spaces on the exhibition floor. They discuss practical, day-to-day technical topics, best practices and product solutions that businesses, large power users and utilities can implement in their daily operations.Dates for African Utility Week and Energy Revolution Africa:Conference and expo: 16-18 May 2017Awards gala dinner: 17 May 2016Site visits: 19 May 2016Location: CTICC, Cape Town, South AfricaAfrican Utility Week and Energy Revolution Africa is the flagship energy event organised by the multi-award winning Spintelligent, leading Cape Town-based trade exhibition and conference organiser, and part of Clarion Events Ltd, based in the UK. Other well-known energy events by Spintelligent are Future Energy Nigeria (formerly known as WAPIC), Future Energy East Africa (formerly EAPIC), Future Energy Uganda and Future Energy Central Africa.Earlier this year, Spintelligent won four major awards at AAXOs ROAR Organiser and Exhibitor Awards, with African Utility Week named the joint winner for Best Trade Exhibition 6001-12000 sqm category (with the World Travel Market).Senior communications manager: Annemarie RoodbolTelephone: +27 21 700 3558mobile: +27 82 562 7844Email: annemarie.roodbol@spintelligent.comWebsite:Postal address: PO Box 321, Steenberg, 7947, South Africa Smart Machines Market to Exceed US$ 258.5 Bn by 2024 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/smart-machines-market/toc http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/8872 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Key players in the global smart machines market include Apple Inc., Google Inc., Microsoft Corporation, BAE Systems, Creative Virtual Ltd., Digital Reasoning Systems, Inc., IBM Corporation, Narrative Science Inc., Rethink Robotics, ABB Limited, Rockwell Automation, Inc., and General Electric Co. others.Persistence Market Research (PMR) delivers key insights on the global smart machines market in its upcoming report titled, Smart Machines Market: Global Industry Analysis and Forecast, 2016-2024. In terms of value, the global smart machines market is projected to register a healthy CAGR of 18.8% during the forecast period. This is attributed to various factors, regarding which PMR offers vital insights in detail.On the basis of a component, the global smart machines market has been segmented into hardware, software, and service. Demand for smart machines is enhanced by increasing need to process and analyze big unstructured data among different sectors such as manufacturing, healthcare, aerospace, and defense. On the basis of machine type, the global smart machines market has been segmented into robots, autonomous cars, drones, wearable electronics and others.On the basis of technology, the global smart machines market has been segmented into cloud computing, big data, internet of everything (IoE), robotics, cognitive technology and effective technology. Affective technology segment is expected to expand with a substantial CAGR over the forecast period. Various enterprises working on cognitive computing are facing glitches and errors in technology. This, in turn, is encouraging adoption of affective computing. Cognitive computing technology enables emotions linking to a robot, assisting the robot in making rational decisions and performing more complex tasks.Smart machines are deployed to enhance networked resources and implement distributed intelligence in manufacturing industries. Integration of devices provides more accessibility. Smart machines can be easily connected to a broader network of connected devices, enabling users to share data on numerous devices. This ensures users to connect/access their devices from anywhere and anytime. This is expected to fuel demand for smart machines in various industries. The market in Australia is expected to witness substantial growth in adoption rates of smart machines over the next five years. Autonomous robots are expected to find applications in agriculture and commercial sectors to overcome the lack of labor in the country. Australia-based companies have also been investing significantly in advanced technologies such as IoT.Request to view table of content @Smart machines are programmed to make intelligent decisions in a time efficient manner. They are built to learn from their interactions and their precision increases over time. Hence, new developments in operational intelligence are encouraging companies to adopt systems that are smarter and efficient. Narrative Science Inc., a company that offers analytical solutions uses its virtual assistant Quill, which is programed using natural language processing to provide relevant solutions.A sample of this report is available upon request @This report covers trends driving each segment and offers analysis and insights of the potential of the smart machines market in specific regions. The markets in Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific are expected to register high growth rates between 2016 and 2024. MEA is a small but significant market for smart machines as governments in the Middle East countries are investing in this sector to digitize government services. The market in Europe is expected to gain substantial market share in terms of revenue. This is attributed to increasing demand for smart machines from the automobile and manufacturing industries in countries such as Germany and France. The APAC accounted for the highest market share in 2015 and is expected to gain 232 BPS by an end of 2024.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Transitional Cell Cancer Therapeutics Market to Witness Comprehensive Growth by 2016 2024 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/12310 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/12310 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) occur in the different parts of urinary tract, which include kidney, bladder, or urethra. Transitional cell Carcinoma is one of the most the most common the malignant tumor which line the inner layers of urinary tract. There exists many sites which are affected by TCC is the trigone i.e a tissue, that covers the base of the urinary bladder, between the openings of the ureters and urethra., or neck of the bladder, where the bladder joins the urethra.Bladder cancer also known as Transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) is the fifth most common cancer in men, and its half in women. Transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) occurs at any age also in children, TCC is very rare the under the age of 50 years and usually presents in old age population. More than 90% of transitional cell cancer are diagnosed at the bladder lining called as urothelium and are known as urothelial carcinomas, There are few other types of bladder cancers, which are squamous cell carcinomas and adenocarcinomas, which are geographical and are found rare in Australia. The Urological Society reports around 75% of bladder cancers are superficial and the treatment is comparatively simple, but in there are cases constituting 25% of cases the cancer which invade the bladder wall, and further complete removal of the bladder is essential.Over the period of time, the cancer may grow outside the urinary bladder and then to other internal surrounding areas. It may then spread to nearby lymph nodes, the lungs, or the liver or to the other parts of the body in a very short span of time.Market revenue drivers for the transitional cell cancer therapeutics market include increase in environmental pollution levels coupled with high rates of cigarette smoking. The latter factor is said to contribute approximately 50% of the disease burden for the disease under consideration. Other revenue drivers include focused and collaborative research on urothelial and badder cancer from leading agencies. Increase in innovations in targeted therapies in order to reduce toxicity at cellular levels could also help increase treatment effectiveness and thus fueling revenues of drug makers.Barriers for the market include detection of the disease at late stages, lack of access to high valued drugs in low income countries where smoking rates are high, and lack of availability of sufficient curative treatment options currently. Process related barriers include long approval duration for drugs, and narrowed route to market opportunities apart from others.A Sample of this Report is Available Upon Request @Some of the major market players in Transitional Cell Cancer Treatment (TCCT) Market globally include AstraZeneca, Roche, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer, Exelixis, Eisai, Merck & Co, Eli Lilly and Co and Celgene Corporation.Request to View Tables of Content @About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a U.S.-based full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated re-search, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Technology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Electronics, Con-sumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients business needs.PMR stands committed to bringing more accuracy and speed to clients business decisions. From ready-to-purchase market research reports to customized research solutions, PMRs en-gagement models are highly flexible without compromising on its deep-seated research values.ContactPersistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.commedia@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Imaging Technology Market to Exceed US$ 1,165.9 Mn by 2024 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/imaging-technology-for-precision-agriculture-market/toc http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/12016 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com The global imaging technology market is expected to exhibit a healthy CAGR of 9.0% accounting for 1,165.9 Mn in the forecast period from 2016 to 2024, according to a recent report from Persistence Market Research.Precision agriculture supports in computing certain parameters like soil quality, spread of pests, air quality and spread of weeds and as it is gaining popularity among farmers, substantially crop yields are cultivating. Introducing UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles) along with several benefits like low price in comparison with old methods of farming, user-friendly devices, and better accuracy of data has led to massive use of imaging systems in precision farming.Numerous applications for imaging systems in several precision farming methods like variable rate fertility, irrigation equipment monitoring, crop health monitoring, animal monitoring, weed and pest identification, and environmental impact assessment will be fueling the market growth of global imaging technology for precision agriculture. Several other benefits proffered by imagining technology for precision agriculture farming and rising demand of UAVs for various commercial applications is further boosting the market demand.The key restraint in the global market of imaging technology is the rising costs of the precision agriculture systems along with their maintenance, technical knowledge as well as expertise for production is also hindering the market growth.While lack of technology awareness, availability of substitute technologies and uncertainty about the returns and unclear guidelines across various countries for UAVs commercial applications are also hampering the operation of market players in the global market of imaging technology.Globally, the segmentation of imaging technology market has been done based on product, technology and regions. On the basis of product, the global market of IT infrastructure monitoring is classified as sensors, cameras and software. Among these, the segment of camera is expected to exhibit highest revenue share by the end of 2024 due to availability of thorough information and will dominate the market throughout the forecast period. While the segment of sensors is anticipated to expand at a healthy CAGR of 10.9% in terms of value and will remain dominant during the forecast period.Based on technology type, the global market of imaging technology is segmented into hyperspectral technology and multispectral technology. Among these, during the forecast period, the segment of hyperspectral technology is projected to expand at the largest growth rate after multispectral technology. Availability of detailed information and cost reduction in comparison with multispectral technology is driving the market demand of imaging technology. While the segment of multispectral technology is expected to generate maximum share of imaging technologies and value for US$ 434.1 Mn by the end of 2016.Request to view table of content @Regionally, the global market of IT infrastructure monitoring is classified as the MEA, North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia Pacific. During the forecast period, North America is projected to generate the largest market revenue share of 54.2% for the global imaging technology due to its adoption of imaging technology for precision agriculture.A sample of this report is available upon request @Some of the key leaders operating in the global market of imaging technology include 4D Technologies, Bayspec, Sentek Technologies, Teledyne DALSA, Tetracam, Resonon, MicaSense, Quest-Innovations BV, XIMEA and Pixelteq.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Asia Pacific Surfactants Market: Players up the Ante with Product Developments By 2024 Surfactants Market http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/asia-pacific-surfactants-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=19136 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ http://marketresearchreports2017.blogspot.in The market for surfactants in Asia Pacific is overcrowded with numerous players. There is no clear winner in terms of market share and each player holds a small share. Nimble and ambitious companies, among them, are focusing on product development to outsmart others. A noticeable trend in this direction has been the thrust on development of bio-based surfactants with rising clamor for safer ingredients in personal care products.A few of the prominent names operating in the Asia Pacific market for surfactants are Archer Daniels Midland Company, the Dow Chemical Company, Akzo Nobel N.V., and Galaxy Surfactants Limited. Entry barriers for aspiring players are high in the market.As per a research report by Transparency Market Research, the market for surfactants in Asia Pacific is slated to expand at a 5.0% CAGR to reach a value of US$6.3 bn by 2024-end from US$4.1 bn in 2015.Browse Market Research Report @China Power Asia Pacific Market on account of Robust Demand for Paints and CoatingsDepending upon the types of products, the Asia Pacific surfactants market can be segregated into cationic, non-ionic, anionic, and amphoteric. The most promising product segment of those is the non-ionic surfactants. This segment is likely to expand its market share at a healthy clip in the years to come. The TMR report predicts the non-ionic surfactants segment to attain a 34.2% share in the Asia Pacific surfactants market by 2024 on account of their increasing application as oilfield chemicals, agrochemicals, chemicals, and textiles. The cationic and amphoteric surfactants are also predicted to clock good growth by virtue of their higher purity.Geographically, the key segments of the Asia Pacific surfactants market are South Korea, Japan, China, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea, Vietnam, Philippines, and Australia. China, among them, accounted for a significant 45% share in the overall market in 2015 vis-a-vis volume. The robust demand for paints and coatings have driven the market in China. Japan follows in the second position by dint of being a frontrunner in the personal care industry.Fill the form to gain deeper insights on this market @Explosive Demand for Personal Care Products Drives Market GrowthMajorly boosting the Asia Pacific surfactants market is the massive uptake of personal care products. The diversity of personal care industry has offered the surfactants market several lucrative opportunities for growth. Increasing number of mouth wash, toothpaste, and hair care brands have been making significant usage of surfactants in their products. Furthermore, growing sales of bathing and shaving products are also expected to augment the demand for surfactants across Asia Pacific. Non-iconic, amphoteric, and cationic are the three types of surfactants that will be predominantly used in the near future, explains the analyst of the report.Growing Concern about Beauty and Aesthetics Bodes Well for MarketOther factors slated to bolster the Asia Pacific surfactants market are rising knowledge about beauty, aesthetics, and hygiene. Changing lifestyles, growing ability to spend, and shifting perceptions toward improving the standard of living are also expected to have a positive impact on the trajectory of the Asia Pacific surfactants market during the forecast period, adds the analyst of the report.Acting as a roadblock to the Asia Pacific surfactants market is the increasing concerns about the use of synthetic raw materials and oleo-chemicals in cosmetics as they can cause side-effects such as irritation to the skin and eye, neurotoxicity, etc.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insights for 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, TMR employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact Us:-Transparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Visit Blog: Wood Pellets Market Price, Sale, Trends, Outlook and Industry Forecast wood pellets https://www.progressivemarkets.com/enquiry-about-report/wood-pellets-market https://www.progressivemarkets.com/request-customization/wood-pellets-market https://www.progressivemarkets.com/request-sample/wood-pellets-market Wood pellets, known for generating low emission and high power is gaining attention as an alternative to fossil fuels. Consumption of wood pellets for heating and power generation offers great advantages over burning fossil fuels, including renewability, low requirement of work input, cheap operating costs, and less emission of harmful substances. Wood has gained much attention as a biofuel in the past decade, especially in Europe.The global wood pellets market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 15.2% from 2017 to 2025. Wood Pellets Market Implementation Demand, Scope, Analysis, & Market size.For further inquiries, about Global Wood Pellets Market enquire here >>>>Market Dynamics:Drivers: The demand for wood pellets is driven by regulatory policies focused toward increasing the utilization of renewable energy for domestic, industrial, and commercial applications for heat and power generation. Rising environmental concerns have resulted in the need to find alternatives for fossil fuels, which can reduce carbon footprint and increase the energy content.Restraints: Low availability of woody biomass coupled with wavering feedstock prices is expected to hamper growth of the global wood pellets market during the forecast period.Request for customization:Based on feedstock, the market is segmented into forest residues, agricultural residues, and energy crops. On the basis of the type of pellet heating appliance, the market segmentation includes free standing pellet stoves, pellet stove inserts, and pellet boilers.According to the application, it is categorized into power generation in industries, co-firing in industries, heating in residential sites, and heating in commercial sites. Geographically, the market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA.KEY TAKEAWAYSMARKET LANDSCAPEBy Feedstock Forest Residues Agricultural Residues Energy CropsBy Pellet Heating Appliances Type Free Standing Pellet Stoves Pellet Stove Inserts Pellet BoilersAsk for Sample Request:Market Players:The top players in the global wood pellets market include Corinth Wood Pellets LLC, Green Circle Bio Energy Inc., Energex, New England Wood Pellets LLC, Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc., Graanul Invest AS, Mitsubishi Corporation, Weyerhaeuser, Borregaard LignoTech, and German Pellets GmbH.About us:Progressive Markets is the answer to every possible business query. It is a market research and business consulting firm, headquartered in U.S. that aims to deliver conversant executive support to foster overall growth of an organization in its domain.The company was found with an initiative to bridge the gap between enterprises and global opportunities. It is driven by the sole motive to build an effective channel to communicate up-to-date qualitative and quantitative market intelligence with all-scale participants.Contact us:5933 NE Win Sivers Drive,#205, Portland, OR 97220,United States.Int'l: +1-971-202-1575Toll Free: ++ 1-800-910-6452Fax: +1-800-792-5285help@progressivemarkets.com Mobile Conveyor- Technovision Engineers Pvt. Ltd. http://technovisionengrs.com/contact.php http://technovisionengrs.com Mobile ConveyorTechnovision Engineers Pvt. Ltd. are a leading Manufacturer of Mobile Conveyor from Pune, India.General:We specialize in manufacturing qualitative range of Mobile Conveyor which find wide application in various fields to move diverse unit loads & bulk materials.The excellence of our organization lies in offering Portable Mobile Conveyor to our clients.We are one of the most popular type of material handling equipments .There is an excellent range of this conveyor available with us.These are versatile, reliable industrial conveyors light in weight for easy movability.These conveyors are endless belt made of PU, rubber,Plastic,moduller or PVC as per the requirement of material to be handled. This belt traverses between two or more pulleys and supported by idler rolls or slider bed. These conveyors find excellent use in flour mills,warehouses, sugar industries,fmcg,distilleries, chemical industries, food grains storages etc. where bulk quantities of bags, boxes are to conveyed for loading/unloading into trucks, containers or stacking/ de-stacking in warehouses. Mobile belt conveyors can move materials at variable speed or constant speed as per the client requirement. Mobile belt conveyors include flat belt, trough belt and metal/wooden slat stacker conveyors.Application:Mobile Conveyor widely used for loading and unloading of bags, carton boxes in various industries. Widely used in sugar industries, distilleries, pharmaceuticals , packaging industries, warehouses.Capacity:5 kg to 500 kgsFeatures:Very smooth conveyenceMan power reductionLess time consumptionEasy Towable TransportMany moreYou Can Enquiry:About UsTEPL is one of the leading manufacturer of material handling equipments. The core focus of the company lies in superior quality and excellent customer service. With expertise in the industry and constant innovation in the industry, the company also undertakes turnkey projects with design, manufacturing, supply, erection and commissioning activities. The company is one of the front runners in Lean Manufacturing Solutions in India with an ISO 9001-2008 certification. The production house has the capability to conduct in-house R & D and the company possesses exceptional talent for designing in terms of manpower, knowledge and technology. The company owns two manufacturing set-ups and total area of 28000 sq. ft. with all manufacturing and design equipments. TEPL is known to deliver state of the art contemporary designs with their range of material handling equipments.Contact UsTechnovision Engineers Private LimitedGat No. 1559-1560,Dehu Alandi Road, Shelarvasti, ChikaliPune, Maharashtra- 412114, IndiaPhone- 020- 66346500 / 513Email- contactus@technovisionengrs.comWebsite- Stainless Steel Control Valves Market 2017 Explores Economic Impact in Global Industries Manufactures, Growth, Size, Share, Trends, Development Challenges and Opportunities till 2022 Stainless Steel Control Valves Market http://www.mrsresearchgroup.com/market-analysis/global-stainless-steel-control-valves-market-2016-production.html http://bit.ly/2pRcLyd http://bit.ly/2oNB0OE The Global Stainless Steel Control Valves Market 2017-2022 report by QY Research Studies Manufacturing Process analysis includes qualitative and quantitative cost analysis of manufactures on the basis of Raw Material, Labour Cost and Manufacturing Expenses. Stainless Steel Control Valves industries 2017 provides the details of Marketing Strategy Analysis, Suppliers/ Traders as well as describes chain of Indutries, Strategy of Sourcing, downword purchaser/ Consumer.Read Complete Report @The Stainless Steel Control Valves market report is a helpful source which assists manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, customers, and individuals and investors who have interest in this market.This report studies Stainless Steel Control Valves in Global market, especially in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and India, focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringEmerson ElectricFlowserveMetsoMIL ControlsPentairGeneral ElectricSamsonCraneIMIVelanSwagelokRead Sample Research Report @Reserch Report Analysis Factors which affects on Global Stainless Steel Control Valves Industries like, Technology impedence, Demand of Consumer, Change in economical / political environmet. Global Stainless Steel Control Valves market 2017 Research Report Forecast Product Types, Application and Specification.The impact of the economic condition prevailing in Globe is assessed in the context of the Stainless Steel Control Valves Module in Global 2017-2022 Industry.The report ends with definitive and authoritative conclusions about the Stainless Steel Control Valves Module in Global 2017-2022 Industry.Send us your Query Related to Research Report @The report provide Vendors, Traders and distributors analysis with contact details. For material and equipment suppliers also, contact details are given. New investment feasibility Studied and Industry growth is included in the report.Abou Us: MRS Research Group provides a range of marketing and business research solutions designed for our clients specific needs based on our expert resources. The business scopes of Prof Research cover more than 30 industries including energy, new materials, transportation, daily consumer goods, chemicals, etc. We provide our clients with one-stop solution for all the research requirements.Joel John3422 SW 15 Street,Suit #8138Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442United States Global Boiler Turbine and Generator (BTG) Sales Market Report 2017: Vestas , Enercon , Siemens , General Electric Reports Monitor https://www.reportsmonitor.com/request-sample/?post=94264 https://www.reportsmonitor.com/global-boiler-turbine-and-generator-btg-sales-market-report-2017/ http://www.reportsmonitor.com https://plus.google.com/u/0/104187516885663390925 https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/17945418?pathWildcard=17945418 https://twitter.com/reportsmonitor https://www.facebook.com/ReportsMonitor/ In this report, the global Boiler Turbine and Generator (BTG) market is valued at USD XX million in 2016 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.Geographically, this report split global into several key Regions, with sales (K Units), revenue (Million USD), market share and growth rate of Boiler Turbine and Generator (BTG) for these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), covering United States China Europe Japan Southeast Asia IndiaGlobal Boiler Turbine and Generator (BTG) market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Boiler Turbine and Generator (BTG) sales volume, Price (USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players including Vestas Enercon Siemens General Electric Atlas Copco Caterpillar Ingersoll Rand Kirloskar ABB BoschRequest Sample Copy @On the basis of product, this report displays the sales volume (K Units), revenue (Million USD), product price (USD/Unit), market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into Boiler Turbine GeneratorOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate of Boiler Turbine and Generator (BTG) for each application, including OEM AftermarketTo Browse Complete Report visit @Table of ContentsGlobal Boiler Turbine and Generator (BTG) Sales Market Report 20171 Boiler Turbine and Generator (BTG) Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Boiler Turbine and Generator (BTG)1.2 Classification of Boiler Turbine and Generator (BTG) by Product Category1.2.1 Global Boiler Turbine and Generator (BTG) Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Boiler Turbine and Generator (BTG) Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Boiler1.2.4 Turbine1.2.5 Generator1.3 Global Boiler Turbine and Generator (BTG) Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 Global Boiler Turbine and Generator (BTG) Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 OEM1.3.3 Aftermarket1.4 Global Boiler Turbine and Generator (BTG) Market by Region1.4.1 Global Boiler Turbine and Generator (BTG) Market Size (Value) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 United States Boiler Turbine and Generator (BTG) Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 China Boiler Turbine and Generator (BTG) Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 Europe Boiler Turbine and Generator (BTG) Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Japan Boiler Turbine and Generator (BTG) Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Boiler Turbine and Generator (BTG) Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 India Boiler Turbine and Generator (BTG) Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of Boiler Turbine and Generator (BTG) (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Boiler Turbine and Generator (BTG) Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Boiler Turbine and Generator (BTG) Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)About usReports Monitor is a platform for companies looking to meet their market research and business intelligence requirements. Our aim is to change the dynamics of the Market Research industry by providing quality intelligence backed by data. Your requirement for market forecasting is fulfilled by our exclusive quantitative and analytics driven intelligence. We have a vast collection of reports, covering maximum industries worldwide. Our process is meticulously planned and executed in order to use maximum resources and explore the market for getting genuine insights. Prime focus is to get reliable data, Decision makers can now rely on our distinct data gathering methods to get factual market forecasting and detailed analysis.Contact UsJay MathewsDirect: +1 513 549-5911Email: sales@reportsmonitor.comWebsite:Follow Us:Google plus :LinkedIn:Twitter:Facebook:Reports Monitor is a market intelligence and consulting firm founded by engineers with extensive experience and knowledge of the Market Research industry.008, Mihir Co-Operative,FatimaNagar, Pune-411013 Guidewires Market Size, Share, Analysis, Report and Forecast to 2022 http://www.strategymrc.com/report/guidewires-market http://www.strategymrc.com/report/guidewires-market According to Stratistics MRC, the Global Guidewires Market is expected to reach $2.5 billion by 2022 during the forecast period 2015 to 2022. Increasing prevalence of abdominal aortic aneurysms, rising aging population are the key factors driving the market growth. On other hand, the high price of endovascular procedure and stringent regulatory are restraining market. Peripheral guidewires are anticipated to stay as the second largest product segment after coronary guidewires during the forecast period. In terms of revenue, the market for peripheral guidewires is anticipated to grow at a CAGR, owing to rising prevalence of Peripheral Vascular Diseases (PVDs), Carotid Artery Stenosis (CAS), Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms (AAA), and Peripheral Artery Diseases (PADs).North America dominates the guidewires market owing to rising prevalence of lifestyle diseases, with the increasing geriatric population. Asia Pacific is anticipated to be the fastest growing regional market for guidewires, driven by rising demand for medical tourism in emerging markets of India and China and quickly improving healthcare infrastructure.Some of the key players in the market include Cook Medical, Stryker, Asahi Intecc, Medtronic, Inc, Terumo Corporation, Abbott Vascular, Codman Neurovascular, AngioDynamics, Cordis Corp., Boston Scientific, B. Braun, Covidien, SP Medical, Guidewire Software and Abbott Laboratories.For More, Please Visit:Raw materials Covered: Tungsten Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) Hydrophilic coating Nitinol Titanium Stainless steelProducts Covered: Urology guidewires Coronary guidewires Neurovascular guidewires Peripheral guidewiresRegions Covered: North Americao USo Canadao Mexico Europeo Germanyo Franceo Italyo UKo Spaino Rest of Europe Asia Pacifico Japano Chinao Indiao Australiao New Zealando Rest of Asia Pacific Rest of the Worldo Middle Easto Brazilo Argentinao South Africao EgyptWhat our report offers:- Market share assessments for the regional and country level segments- Market share analysis of the top industry players- Strategic recommendations for the new entrants- Market forecasts for a minimum of 7 years of all the mentioned segments, sub segments and the regional markets- Market Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations)- Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations- Competitive landscaping mapping the key common trends- Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments- Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancementsFor More, Please Visit:We offer wide spectrum of research and consulting services with in-depth knowledge of different industries. We are known for customized research services, consulting services and Full Time Equivalent (FTE) services in the research world. We explore the market trends and draw our insights with valid assessments and analytical views. We use advanced techniques and tools among the quantitative and qualitative methodologies to identify the market trends. Our research reports and publications are routed to help our clients to design their business models and enhance their business growth in the competitive market scenario. We have a strong team with hand-picked consultants including project managers, implementers, industry experts, researchers, research evaluators and analysts with years of experience in delivering the complex projects.STRATISTICS MRC17049 King James Way, Gaithersburg,MD, 20877, USA New yStats.com publication affirms that Indonesia maintains Southeast Asias quickest growing online retail market yStats.com Logo https://www.ystats.com/product/indonesia-b2c-e-commerce-market-2017-3/ www.ystats.com www.twitter.com/ystats www.linkedin.com/company/ystats www.facebook.com/ystats Indonesia B2C E-Commerce Market 2017 is a new publication released by yStats.com, Germany-based secondary market research company, which reveals, amongst other key trends, that Indonesia contains the biggest and fastest growing online retail market in all of Southeast Asia.In Indonesia, online retail is blossoming. Despite having low rankings of Internet and E-Commerce penetration rates, this publication from yStats.com showcases that Indonesias online retail market has been the biggest in the region due to its hefty population. Factors that have furthered E-Commerce development are increased Internet penetration and mobile connectivity, as well as favorable demographics and economic growth.Statistics cited within the yStats.com report reveal how the number of Internet users in Indonesia has increased dramatically, making Indonesia the global winner in terms of growth rate. Consumers show an affinity to M-Commerce technology in that smartphones were the leading device for online purchases in 2016. Furthermore, social commerce is especially strong, due to over half of Internet users surveyed seeing Facebook as both a social platform, as well as a venue to buy and sell products.According to projections from the yStats.com report, the emerging market of Indonesia is expected to experience heavy double-digit growth rates throughout the next few years, exceeding other countries in this area. Leading online marketplaces in Indonesia such as Lazada, Tokopedia, Elevania, and MatahariMall have received momentous investments, making competition even more fierce.For further information, see:About yStats.comFounded in 2005 and headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, yStats.com is one of the world's leading secondary market research companies. We are committed to providing the most up-to-date and objective data on Global B2C E-Commerce and Online Payment markets to sector-leading companies worldwide.Our multilingual staff researches, gathers, filters and translates information from thousands of reputable sources to synthesize accurate and timely reports in our areas of expertise, covering more than 100 countries and all global regions. Our market reports focus predominantly on online retail and payments, but also cover a broad range of related topics including M-Commerce, Cross-Border E-Commerce, E-Commerce Delivery, Online Gaming and many others. In addition to our wide selection of market reports, we also provide custom market research services.We are proud to cooperate with companies like Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters. Given our numerous citations in leading media sources and journals worldwide, including Forbes and the Wall Street Journal, we are considered one of the most highly-reputed international secondary market research companies with an expertise in the areas of B2C E-Commerce and Online Payment.Press Contact:yStats.com GmbH & Co. KGBehringstrasse 28a, D-22765 HamburgPhone: +49 (0)40 - 39 90 68 50Fax: +49 (0)40 - 39 90 68 51E-Mail: press@ystats.comInternet:Twitter:LinkedIn:Facebook: Pediatric Vaccines Market Size, Share, Analysis, Report and Forecast to 2022 http://www.strategymrc.com/report/pediatric-vaccines-market http://www.strategymrc.com/report/pediatric-vaccines-market According to Stratistics MRC, the Global Pediatric Vaccines market is estimated at $XX million in 2015 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of XX% to reach $XX million by 2022. Rising government and non-government financial support for development of vaccine is the major driver for the pediatric vaccine market. Increasing innovative technologies such as therapeutic and adjuvant vaccines are anticipated to fuel the pediatric vaccine market during the forecast period. Moreover, increasing expenditure of vaccines, little accessibility to remote areas and strict regulation for approval of vaccines are some of the factors hampering the global pediatric vaccine market.Infectious diseases segment is expected to grow at a faster rate during the forecast period. North America dominates the global market for pediatric vaccines followed by Europe. Moreover, the Asia Pacific is likely to report the highest CAGR during the forecast period, driven by the high birth rate in China and India.Some of the key players in the market include Johnson and Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Baxter International, Eli Lilly and Company, Sanofi S.A, Novo Nordisk A/S, Bharat Biotech International Limited, Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Genentech, Inc., Shire Pharmaceuticals Group Plc, Merck & Co. Inc, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Amgen Inc., Novartis AG and Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH.For More, Please Visit:Diseases type Covered: Cancer and allergy Infectious diseaseo Pneumococcal diseaseo Influenzao Diphtheriao Rotaviruso Tetanuso Haemophilus Influenzae type b (Hib)o Meningococcalo Hepatitis Ao Hepatitis Bo Rubellao Mumpso Measleso Pertussiso Varicella (chickenpox)o PolioProducts Covered: Anti-infective drugs Pediatric hormones Allergy & respiratory drugs CNS drugsVaccines type Covered: Synthetic vaccines Conjugate vaccines Live attenuated vaccines Dendritic cells vaccines Toxoid vaccines Recombinant vector vaccines Subunit vaccines Inactivated vaccinesRegions Covered: North Americao USo Canadao Mexico Europeo Germanyo Franceo Italyo UKo Spaino Rest of Europe Asia Pacifico Japano Chinao Indiao Australiao New Zealando Rest of Asia Pacific Rest of the Worldo Middle Easto Brazilo Argentinao South Africao EgyptWhat our report offers:- Market share assessments for the regional and country level segments- Market share analysis of the top industry players- Strategic recommendations for the new entrants- Market forecasts for a minimum of 7 years of all the mentioned segments, sub segments and the regional markets- Market Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations)- Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations- Competitive landscaping mapping the key common trends- Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments- Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancementsFor More, Please Visit:We offer wide spectrum of research and consulting services with in-depth knowledge of different industries. We are known for customized research services, consulting services and Full Time Equivalent (FTE) services in the research world. We explore the market trends and draw our insights with valid assessments and analytical views. We use advanced techniques and tools among the quantitative and qualitative methodologies to identify the market trends. Our research reports and publications are routed to help our clients to design their business models and enhance their business growth in the competitive market scenario. We have a strong team with hand-picked consultants including project managers, implementers, industry experts, researchers, research evaluators and analysts with years of experience in delivering the complex projects.STRATISTICS MRC17049 King James Way, Gaithersburg,MD, 20877, USA Oil and Gas Pipeline Corrosion Prevention Market 2017 Explores Economic Impact in Global Industries Manufactures, Growth, Size, Share, Trends, Development Challenges and Opportunities till 2022 Oil and Gas Pipeline Corrosion Prevention Market http://www.mrsresearchgroup.com/market-analysis/global-oil-and-gas-pipeline-corrosion-prevention-market.html http://bit.ly/2jqp8kJ http://bit.ly/2pfGp46 The Global Oil and Gas Pipeline Corrosion Prevention Market 2017-2022 report by QY Research Studies Manufacturing Process analysis includes qualitative and quantitative cost analysis of manufactures on the basis of Raw Material, Labour Cost and Manufacturing Expenses. Oil and Gas Pipeline Corrosion Prevention industries 2017 provides the details of Marketing Strategy Analysis, Suppliers/ Traders as well as describes chain of Indutries, Strategy of Sourcing, downword purchaser/ Consumer.Read Complete Report @The Oil and Gas Pipeline Corrosion Prevention market report is a helpful source which assists manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, customers, and individuals and investors who have interest in this market.This report studies Oil and Gas Pipeline Corrosion Prevention in Global market, especially in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and India, focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with capacity, production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, covering3MSouthern Cathodic ProtectionChase CorporationThe Valspar CorporationAkzoNobelDuPontJotunMetal Coatings CorpMetcoPraxair S.T. Technology, Inc.Aegion CorporationRead Sample Research Report @Reserch Report Analysis Factors which affects on Global Oil and Gas Pipeline Corrosion Prevention Industries like, Technology impedence, Demand of Consumer, Change in economical / political environmet. Global Oil and Gas Pipeline Corrosion Prevention market 2017 Research Report Forecast Product Types, Application and Specification.The impact of the economic condition prevailing in Globe is assessed in the context of the Oil and Gas Pipeline Corrosion Prevention Module in Global 2017-2022 Industry.The report ends with definitive and authoritative conclusions about the Oil and Gas Pipeline Corrosion Prevention Module in Global 2017-2022 Industry.Send us your Query Related to Research Report @Abou Us: MRS Research Group provides a range of marketing and business research solutions designed for our clients specific needs based on our expert resources. The business scopes of Prof Research cover more than 30 industries including energy, new materials, transportation, daily consumer goods, chemicals, etc. We provide our clients with one-stop solution for all the research requirements.Joel John3422 SW 15 Street,Suit #8138Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442United States Private Label Packaging Market - Technological breakthroughs, Value chain and stakeholder analysis by 2024 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=15455 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/private-label-packaging-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Private Label Packaging: OverviewPackaging became a need of a product launch strategy, from the past decade. Packaging is the need of all industries, from designing to printing and from raw material supplies to processing. Packaging industry witnessed large scale technology adoption regarding equipment, films, and packaging methods. Moreover, demand for primary packaging is at the stagnant level. Private label packaging is one of such solution, which allows wrapping of the container of the private label products. This form of packaging is largely used in packaging consumer products such as food and beverage, cosmetic, etc. On the milieu of growth in FMCG products, the demand for private label packaging market also surged up and is projected to remain impressive in near future.Fill the form for an exclusive sample of this report @Private Label Packaging: DynamicsDemand for convenient packaging and rising disposable income are the key factors driving the growth of private label packaging market. The availability of a wide range of innovative packaging solutions is likely to have a significant influence on the demand for private label packaging market during the forecast period. Other factors driving the market are growing food and beverage industry, growing packaging industry, growing cosmetic industry, etc. The major factor restraining the private label packaging market is the consumer loyalty for the existing brands especially in Asia Pacific and Middle East Africa region. The factor trending the private label packaging market consumer demand for convenient packaging, demand for competitive cost packaging, etc. The companies of private label packaging have significant opportunity in premium private label packaging as it has relatively high demand in private label packaging market than the economical private label packaging.Private Label Packaging: SegmentationBasically private label packaging market is segmented by end use, packaging type and by region. The global private label packaging market is segmented on the basis of end use into cosmetic industry, food and beverage industry and others. Among these cosmetic industry has significantly high value share followed by food.Obtain Report Details @Based on the end-user the global private label packaging market is segmented into:CosmeticsFood & beveragesOthersBased on the packaging type the global private label packaging market is segmented into:Corrugated boxesCorrugated displaysFolding cartoonsPlastic containersOthers( metal/glass structures)Based on the packaging material the global private label packaging market is segmented into:PlasticPolyethylenePolypropylenePolyamidePolystyrenePolyvinyl ChlorideOthersPaperMetalGlassPrivate Label Packaging: Regional overviewThe global market for private label packaging witnessed fast growth in last few years. Private label has the success high-purchase, commodity driven categories and also where the consumers perceive slight differentiation. Therefore, the value share of private label packaging in developed economies, such as North America, Europe and Australia is high compare to the other regions and is expected to maintain its dominance over the forecast period. Whereas, the Asia-Pacific market is expected to witness maximum growth rate in the global private label packaging market. The developing economy such as Asia Pacific except Japan, MEA and Latin America are having the opportunity for private label packaging market if the companies enters in the market with strong marketing of the product.Private Label Packaging: Key PlayersThe key player of private label packaging market are Urist Cosmetics Inc., Advanced Labels, LAUNCH Private Label, Dalden Corporation, Accurate Box Company Inc., ACP Worldwide, Jonco Industries, Inc., Econo-Pak, Ultra Seal, Unit Pack Co., Inc., Oratech, LLC, Proactive Packaging & Display, Central Package and Display, Heubach Corporation, Bernard Laboratories, Inc., MBK Tape Solutions, LBU, Inc., Action Pak, Inc., Contrapac, HOC Industries, American Towelette Co., etc.About TMRTMR is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Contact TMR90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: 2017 Top 5 Ink & Toner Manufacturers in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa http://www.marketintelreports.com/report/lpi0636/2017-top-5-ink--toner-manufacturers-in-north-america-europe-asiapacific-south-america-middle-east-and-africa http://www.marketintelreports.com/pdfdownload.php?id=lpi0636 http://www.marketintelreports.com/inquiry-before-buying.php?id=lpi0636 http://www.marketintelreports.com/purchase.php?id=lpi0636 The report 2017 Top 5 Ink & Toner Manufacturers in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa, available on MarketIntelReports, estimates that the market will focus on producing inks and toners which are more environmentally friendly.Browse numerous Market Tables as well as Figures which are spread through 135 Pages and an in-depth TOC on the Ink & Toner Market 2017 - 2022Scope & Regional Forecast of the Ink & Toner MarketThe Ink & Toner Market deals with the development and manufacture of materials which are crucial for the process of printing to take place. While ink consists of specific pigments necessary for coloring something, toner can be described as powder necessary for the creation of images or words on paper.Request Sample PDF Brochure @This report studies Ink & Toner in the global market, especially in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa, focuses on the top 5 Ink & Toner Players in each region, with sales, price, revenue and market share for top 5 manufacturers. This report splits the global market into several key Regions, with sales, revenue, market share of top 5 players in these regions, from 2012 to 2017 (with a forecast period of 2017 - 2022).Inquiry before buying report @Prominent Segmentations Involved in the Ink & Toner MarketThe Ink & Toner Market can be broken down into various segmentations on the basis of - Product Type: Conventional and Chemically Prepared. Application: Packaging, Publication & Commercial Printing and Others (including Decorative Printing, etc.). Geographical Location: North America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, South America, Middle East and Africa.Some of the sample companies profiled in the Ink & Toner Market report are as follows: HP Brother Canon Epson Lexmark Samsung DIC Flint GroupWhy buy this report? Get a detailed picture of the Ink & Toner Market. Pinpoint growth sectors and identify factors driving change. Understand the competitive environment, the markets major players and leading brands. A five-year forecast method is used in order to assess how the market is predicted to develop.Purchase Ink & Toner Market Report @About Us:MarketIntelReports (MIR) aims to empower our clients to successfully manage and outperform in their business decisions. We do this by providing Premium Market Intelligence, Strategic Insights and Databases from a range of Global Publishers.MarketIntelReports currently has more than 150,000 plus titles and 100+ publishers on our platform and growing consistently to fill the Global Intelligence Demand Supply Gap. We cover more than 15 industry verticals being: Automotive, Electronics, Manufacturing, Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare, Chemicals, Building & Construction, Agriculture, Food & Beverages, Banking & Finance, Media and Government, Public Sector Studies.Media ContactCompany Name: Market Intel ReportsContact Person: Mayur SEmail: sales@marketintelreports.comPhone: 1-302-261-5343Address: 2712 Centerville Road, Suite 400City: WilmingtonState: DelawareCountry: United States Australia, New Zealand, and India Building Information Modeling (BIM) Market: India to Surge at 23.9% CAGR 20162024 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=17129 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/australia-new-zealand-india-building-information-modelling-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The Australia, New Zealand, and India building information modelling (BIM) market features a low degree of competition owing to a low number of players, observes Transparency Market Research in a recent report. The market features a mix of large as well as mid-level companies, but regional players dominate, accounting for nearly 60% of the overall market. Some of the notable international firms operating in the market, such as Dassault Systemes SA, Autodesk Inc., Bentley Systems, Inc., and Tekla Corporation, collectively accounted for a nearly 42% of the market in 2015.Fill the form to gain deeper insights on this market @Leading players are currently focusing on providing cloud-based building information modelling (BIM) solutions. The rapidly rising demand for cloud-based software products is owing to their advantages such as instantaneous connection to multiple infrastructure development sites, management of information in real-time across the flow of supply chain, and efficient demand planning. Moreover, the companies are entering into strategic collaborations with real estate builders and firms to promote the benefits of BIM and henceforth increase its adoption level.Transparency Market Research states that the Australia, New Zealand, and India BIM market will witness a rapid rise in the introduction of cloud-based BIM solutions in the next few years. The overall market will exhibit a remarkable 22.3% CAGR over the period between 2016 and 2024, rising from a valuation of US$214.0 mn in 2015 to US$1,335.3 mn by 2024.Cloud-based BIM Solutions to See Significant Rise in AdoptionOn the basis of solutions, the market is segmented into software, and professional and consultancy services. The software segment is further divided into on-premise and cloud based building information modelling (BIM). In 2015, the on-premise building information modelling segment accounted for maximum share of around 87% of the revenue of the overall building information modelling (BIM) software.However, cloud-based building information modelling software is expected to show sustainable growth during the forecast period due to technological advancements and cost effectiveness as compared to on-premise BIM software solutions. In terms of geography, India accounted for around 42.6% of the Australia, New Zealand, and India building information modelling markets revenue in 2015. The country is expected to remain the dominant consumer of building information modelling solutions over the forecast period as well, exhibiting an exponential 24% CAGR over the period between 2016 and 2024.Government Initiatives Aimed at Lifting BIM Adoption Rate to Remain Key to Market GrowthThe continuous growth in BIM market during the forecasted period can be largely attributed to the strong government initiatives to lift BIM adoption rate and rise in construction activities across all the end-use industries in these regions. In Australia, for instance, the Australian Federal Governments Infrastructure, Transport and Cities Parliamentary Committee suggested in March 2016 that the use of BIM should be made compulsory for all government funded infrastructure development projects valuing over $50 mn. In New Zealand, the government formed the BIM Acceleration Committee in 2014 to encourage the adoption of BIM through alliances between the government and various stakeholders in the construction sector.Browse Market Research Report @High Initial Cost of BIM Software to Hinder GrowthIt is estimated that the initial cost of BIM software can go anywhere between US$6,000 to US$10,000, with additional expenses involved for installation and maintenance of the software. Such high costs incurred in implementing BIM software are the key factor why the rate of adoption of BIM among low-scale contractors or developers is low. Apart from this factor, the belief that the returns on investment for BIM are low and can lead to a reduction in the overall profit margins of a construction project is also hindering the widespread adoption of BIM software in New Zealand, India, and Australia.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: North America and Europe Farm Tractor Market: Rise in Agricultural Mechanization to Boost Uptake, predicts TMR http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=16091 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/north-america-europe-farm-tractor-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The top three players in the North America and Europe farm tractor market Deere and Company, CNH (Case New Holland) Industrial, and AGCO Corporation accounted for a share of just under 70.0% in 2015, hinting at the rather consolidated nature of the competitive landscape. Among these, Deere and Company alone held a share of over 35% that year, emerging as the clear leader. Transparency Market Research finds that the degree of rivalry among players in the North America and Europe farm tractor market is quite high owing to the strong presence of large and established companies.Enhancing product portfolio, investing in innovations, and forming strategic alliances are some of the key growth tactics employed by players in this market. In September 2016, market leader John Deere launched a new 450 HP tractor that is specially designed to achieve reduction in fuel consumption. This has enabled the company to reinforce its strategic plan of focusing on innovation.Fill the form to gain deeper insights on this market @By revenue, the North America and Europe farm tractors market is projected to expand from US$13.6 bn in 2015 to US$17.23 bn by 2024, with North America registering a 3.0% CAGR and Europe exhibiting a 5.4% CAGR therein. By volume, the farm tractors market in North America and Europe is projected to witness a 5.1% CAGR during the forecast period.Europe to Recover from Sluggish Demand to Witness Surge in Shipment by 2024The North America farm tractor market was pegged at around 245 thousand units in 2015. Despite a declining sales volume across the higher horsepower segment, the market exhibited marginal volume growth from the previous year owing to the rise in demand for tractors below 40 HP. While the sales of farm tractors will continue a positive trend in the U.S., the sales in Canada have been witnessing a downward trend owing to a weak dollar and higher prices of the tractors.In 2015, the Europe farm tractor market volume was pegged at around 153 thousand units. The market has been recording a decline in year-on-year growth in terms of volume over the last two years owing to a low demand from several European countries, including Germany, France, Turkey, the U.K., and Italy. However, the trend is likely to change in 2017, TMR predicts. Tractor manufacturers are poised to lower the prices across different horsepower segments so as to attract more sales and recover from the sluggish demand, the lead analyst states.Government Offering Increased Support to Up Usage of Farm TractorsThere has been a growing trend of farm mechanization across North America and Europe owing to the numerous benefits offered, including considerable savings in terms of time and resources, improved efficiency, and increased production. In addition to this, precision farming has driven the need for mechanization among various farm practices, thereby fueling the demand for farm tractors. The shortage of farm laborers in these regions has also propelled the use of mechanized farming techniques and equipment such as farm tractors.Browse Market Research Report @Another significant factor that has boosted the adoption of farm tractors across Europe and North America is the growing demand for agricultural products, brought on by the rising population. In view of this, governments in these regions have focused their attention on encouraging the usage of mechanized farming techniques by offering subsidies and easy access to credit to farmers, the author of the study notes.What poses a challenge to the North America and Europe farm tractors market is the implementation of strict emission norms in most developed countries. Regulatory bodies such as the U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) and the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) have imposed stringent regulations pertaining to the use of diesel engines, particularly in off-road vehicles. Tractor manufacturers are, therefore, forced to incur additional costs to adhere to these norms, thereby restricting the uptake of farm tractors.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: Ready Meals Market Driven by Major Drivers A Review http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ready-meals-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=737 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Global Ready Meals Market: OverviewThe global ready meals market is primarily driven by the convenience these products offer to students and working professionals. Ready meals are precooked and prepackaged meals that can be consumed with minimum or no preparation. Due to the busy lifestyles, consumers prefer ready-to-eat meals that decrease the preparation time, thereby propelling the demand for ready meals. These meals provide a healthier alternative to junk food and cheaper alternative to eating out. Moreover, the rising disposable income of consumers is contributing to the growth of the market. According to a report by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), more than 90% of the population in the U.S. consume ready meals daily; they provide more than 7% of the total daily energy to Americans, studies show.Obtain Report Details @The report provides a 360-degree view of the global ready meals market. It offers valuable insights into several aspects of the market including its dynamics, geographical landscape, technological developments, and competitive landscape. Information from a number of press releases, presentations, white papers, paid databases, and journals has been taken under consideration for collating this report.Global Ready Meals Market: Restraints and OpportunitiesDespite the convenience offered, the negative perception of ready meals among health-conscious consumers is adversely affecting the growth of the global market. The increasing consumption of these meals is concomitant with the rise in the prevalence of obesity and other lifestyle-related diseases. Moreover, events such as the horse meat scandal in the U.K. have drawn consumers away from these meals. Such events are increasing the skepticism regarding the purity of raw materials amongst consumers, thereby impeding the growth of the market. Furthermore, with the existing storage and transportation system, several manufacturers are unable to ensure quality and consistency, which is hampering the growth prospects of the market.Fill the form for an exclusive sample of this report @On the other hand, manufacturers are increasingly focusing on the packaging as it plays a vital role in retaining the product quality, vitamin content, taste, texture, color, and shelf life. Manufacturers are collaborating with packaging companies to develop advanced and innovative packaging such as biodegradable barrier tray to expand their consumer base. This is likely to provide a significant push to the market in the near future. Moreover, consistent PR efforts by the leading manufacturers are expected to help in rebuilding the positive image of ready meals.Global Ready Meals Market: Geographical SegmentationRegional markets studied in the report are North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Rest of the World (RoW). North America is expected to witness robust growth during the forecast period owing to the presence of a large working population. The Asia Pacific region is anticipated to flourish owing to the financially strengthening consumer base, rising population, and rapid industrialization in emerging economies such as India and China. The growth of the ready meals market in Europe is driven by countries such as Spain, the U.K., France, Germany, and Russia. The introduction of various healthy ready meals such as frozen salads, vegetables, and gluten-free meat is contributing to the growth of the Europe region.Companies Mentioned in the ReportDue to the low scope of product differentiation, the global ready meals market is characterized by high competitive rivalry. Companies are investing large capital in research and development to launch innovative products in order to stay ahead in the market. Some of the leading players in the market are Bakkavor Foods Ltd., ConAgra, Greencore Group Plc., JH Heinz Company Ltd., Nestle, Northern Food Ltd., Kerry Foods Ltd., and Premier Foods Group Ltd.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Bhopal based Government Hospital Relied on Matrix Solution for Seamless Internal Communication www.MatrixTelesol.com Matrix is well-known for its range of feature rich and industry specific Telecom and Security solutions. The field proven solutions have gained reputation in the Government sector too. As a matter of life is involved, quick services are of prime importance for any hospital. Owing to the quality and cost-effective services that Government hospitals offer, these hospitals receive a huge footfall. Therefore, arranging timely assistance and seamless communication between doctors and nurses becomes necessary to address the ailments of masses.Matrix Telecom solutions are designed to cater to all the communication requirements of the healthcare institutions. Recently, in association with its esteemed partner - A R Solutions, Matrix streamlined communication at a Bhopal based Government Hospital. Matrix installed ETERNITY LE, which is a universal architecture IP-PBX with multiple trunk connectivity options.Hospital wanted to switch from Analog PBX to IP based communication system. Furthermore, the old system failed to suffice the hospitals need for proper communication because of frequent break down, resulting in high downtime. After thorough study of ETERNITY LE and supervising the product demonstration, hospital authorities trusted Matrix Telecom solutions.A brief glimpse of case is as follows:Challenges: Old Age Systems Resulting in Frequent Break Downs Switch to New Age Communication Technology Connecting 500+ Users over a Single Platform Huge Communication Delays Difficult Maintenance of Huge EPABX Access of Different Networks from a Compact SystemSolution: IP Enabled ETERNITY LE Future Ready System Scalable System supporting up to 1,344 Analog Users, 128 GSM Users and 32 VOIP Trunks VOIP Calling to Avoid Communication Delays over Legacy Protocols Web based Intuitive User Interface for Remote ManagementResults: Seamless Communication between 1,000+ Users Prompt Calling through Speed Dialing Centrally Managed Directory for Swift Access to Doctors and Assisting Staff Easy Maintenance through Remote ManagementWith a varied portfolio of technologically advanced solutions, Matrix can cater to the evolving communication needs of different industries. We want to move forward on the technological curve and improve communication at more hospitals, said Sagar Gosalia, Sr. VP Sales and Marketing.For further information:Email at - Customer.Care@MatrixComSec.comCall on - +91 9998755555Website -About MatrixEstablished in 1991, Matrix is a leader in Telecom and Security solutions for modern businesses and enterprises. An innovative, technology driven and customer focused organization; Matrix is committed to keep pace with the revolutions in the telecom and security industries. With more than 40% of its human resources dedicated to the development of new products, Matrix has launched cutting-edge products like Video Surveillance solutions, Access Control, Time-Attendance, IP-PBX, Universal Gateways, Terminals, Convergence solution, VoIP Gateways and GSM Gateways. These solutions are feature-rich, reliable and conform to the international standards. Having global foot-prints in Asia, Europe, North America, South America and Africa through an extensive network of more than 500 channel partners, Matrix ensures that the products serve the needs of its customers faster and longer. Matrix has gained trust and admiration of customers representing the entire spectrum of industries. Matrix has won many international awards for its innovative products.Matrix Comsec394 GIDC, Makarpura, Vadodara-390010+91 0265 2630555 Residential Intellectual Disability Facilities Market - Analysis And Forecast (2016-2024): Market Shares And Strategies Of Key Players https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/72 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-discount/72 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/residential-intellectual-disability-facilities-market-72 https://blog.coherentmarketinsights.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/coherent-market-insights Residential Intellectual and Developmental Disability FacilitiesIntellectual disability refers to people who have been classified by one or more terms such as developmental disability, developmental delay and mental handicap. Recently, people classified as having mental retardation are also being referred as having intellectual disability. Usually, people are considered to have intellectual disability if they have greater difficulty than most people with intellectual and adaptive functioning. These limitations are expressed in the persons conceptual, social and practical everyday living skills. Intellectual disability is usually diagnosed through the use of standardized tests of adaptive behavior and intelligence. The precise number of people having intellectual disabilities is not known.Get PDF Research Brochure for more Professional and Technical Insights:However, the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) estimates that roughly 1.5% to 2.5% of the general population have intellectual disability which translates to roughly 4.6 million to 7.7 million people as per the most recent U.S. Census (2011). Over last 30 years, services provided to the people with intellectual disabilities have been changed radically and the institutional care has been replaced by community residential service in several countries.The global market for the residential intellectual disability facilities can be segmented on the basis of size of facility, type of facility, mode of operation and geography. Based on the number of beds in the residential intellectual disability facilities the market can be segmented further into 4 to 9, 10 to 19, 20 to 49, 50 to 99, 100 to 199, and 200 & more beds. Besides, there are different types of facilities that provide intellectual disability facilities hospitals, group homes, private home, intellectual and developmental disability facilities. Based on the mode of operation, the global residential intellectual disabilities market can be segmented into state-run facilities, Medicaid funded services, private large facilities, and privately run small facilities. The demand for these residential facilities is largely dependent on the reimbursement through Medicare and Medicaid programs.Ask for Discount before buying the Report@Demand-Supply Gap Persist in the MarketSince 2008, increased federal funding for these programs and the additionally enrolled or eligible people for either of the federal programs, have led to the growth of the residential intellectual disability facilities in the U.S. Although the demand for housing or residential facilities for people with intellectual disabilities has been increasing in the recent years, the adequate supply of such facilities has not kept the required pace. Therefore, there is a huge deficit in the demand and the supply of these facilities. Another major restraint in the market growth is the difficulty in avoiding hospital admission for patients with intellectual disabilities who usually present challenges with their behavior and/or mental health problems.Increasing support from Governments across the Globe to aid Intellectually Disable PatientsOn the basis of geography, the global residential intellectual disability facilities market can be segmented into five major geographies - North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Rest of the World. Aging population, particularly in North America, and Europe, provide a good market opportunity for the market players. Another driving factor is the increasing age of caregivers. Presently, most of the people affected with intellectual disability reside with family caregivers. Due to the changing demographics, caregivers will also age in the coming years and the shortage of caregivers will create more demand for the residential facilities for intellectually disable individuals. The market for such facilities has been very insignificant in most of the Asian countries and little progress is expected during the forecast period from 2014 to 2023. There are many local and national centers in the developing economies too which offer such facilities. For instance, Muskaan, Sandesh and Alamara Residential Centre for Persons with Developmental Disabilities are the centers that offer residential intellectual disability facilities in India.Browse Global Strategic Business Report :There are government and private players in addition to local bodies offering residential intellectual disability facilities NHS Allegheny Valley School, St. Josephs Center, Durham County Community, Residential Support Services, Lutheran Family Services and Arlington County Government.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit Coherent Market Insights Blog @Connect with us on LinkedIn @ Circulating Tumor Cell Market Analysis and Frontiers of Growth 2016-2027 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1362 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/circulating-tumor-cell-market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/dpt-vaccine-market The Circulating Tumor Cells are those cells which are detached from the primary tumor and travel into the bloodstream spreading from the original tumor to other locations which leads to cancer metastasis. The cells exist in peripheral blood of cancer patients. The detection of CTCs determines the process of metastasis. It plays an important role in diagnosis prognosis and monitoring of treatment. These cells assist in cancer research and clinical management for cancer patients Market for Circulate Tumor Cell is booming. The progress in the field of advanced diagnosis results in the eradication of cancer from the infectious site boosted this sector.Key Players MetaCell (US) ANGLE plc. (UK) Rarecells Viatar CTC Solutions Inc BIOCEPT, INC. (San Diego) Grail Bio Clearbridge Biomedics (Singapore)Segments:Global Circulate Tumor Cell market has been segmented on the basis of method which comprise of morphological methods, Immunological methods and others. On the basis of application; market is segmented into cancer cell research, prediction of prognosis, monitoring system therapies and others. On the basis of end users; market is segmented into Hospitals, clinics, research institutes and others.Request a Sample Report @Intended Audience:o Companies into Circulate Tumor Cello Government research Laboratorieso Research and Development (R&D) Companieso Independent Research Laboratorieso Market Research and Consulting Service Providerso Medical Research LaboratoriesStudy Objectives of Circulating Tumor Cell Market: To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next 10 years of the various segments and sub-segments of the Vacuum blood collection tube market To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth To analyze the Circulate Tumor Cell Market based on various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, porters five force analysis etc. To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospective To provide country level analysis of the market for segments by method, by application, by end users and its sub-segments. To provide overview of key players and their strategic profiling in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market To track and analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the global Circulate Tumor Cell market.Browse Report @The reports also cover country level analysis:o Americas (North & Latin)o Europeo Asia Pacifico Middle East & AfricaThe report for Global Circulating Tumor Cell Market of Market Research Future comprises of extensive primary research along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain the deeper insight of the market and industry performance. The report gives the clear picture of current market scenario which includes historical and projected market size in terms of value and volume, technological advancement, macro economical and governing factors in the market. The report provides details information and strategies of the top key players in the industry. The report also gives a broad study of the different markets segments and regionsRelated ReportGlobal DPT Vaccine Market Information, by types (DPaT, DTwP, Tdap) by applications (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, others) - Forecast to 2027About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research Future+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Flaxseed Oil Market Report 2017 : Henry Lamotte Oils, Gustav Heess http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1056313&type=E In this report, the EMEA Flaxseed Oil market is valued at USD XX million in 2016 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.Geographically, this report split EMEA into Europe, the Middle East and Africa, With sales (MT), revenue (Million USD), market share and growth rate of Flaxseed Oil for these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast)Europe: Germany, France, UK, Russia, Italy and Benelux;Middle East: Saudi Arabia, Israel, UAE and Iran;Africa: South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and Algeria.EMEA Flaxseed Oil market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Flaxseed Oil sales volume (MT), price (USD/Kg), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingGNCCargillADMBlackmoresHenry Lamotte OilsShape FoodsNatures BountyNature's Way ProductsGustav HeessPharmaviteJamiesonSundown NaturalsSpectrumMeng Gu XiangXinqidianGuenruisiLuyuanQinghai FlaxseedFuederZonghooHongjingyuanGet Free Research Summary Of The Repot:On the basis of product, this report displays the sales volume (MT), revenue (Million USD), product price (USD/Kg), market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoby PressingCold-pressedby PressingHot-pressedby ExtractionOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume (MT), market share and growth rate of Flaxseed Oil for each application, includingFoodHealthcare & PharmaceuticalCoatingAnimal NutritionOtherAbout Us :QYresearchreports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations.Contact US:Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-618-1030Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com Electronic commerce Market, Share, Trends and Analysis, Growth and Forecast 2017 2022 https://marketsizeforecasters.com/get-sample/25609 https://marketsizeforecasters.com/enquire-for-discount/25609 https://marketsizeforecasters.com/2017-top-5-electronic-commerce-manufacturers-in-north-america-europe-asia-pacific-south-america-middle-east-and-africa https://marketsizeforecasters.com/global-and-chinese-audio-amplifiers-industry-2017-market http://marketsizeforecasters.com/ 2017 Global Electronic commerce Market Status, 2011-2022 Market Historical and Forecasts, Professional Market Research Report is the latest market intelligence on growth drivers, industry and regional trends, competitive landscape scenario as well as upstream and downstream sectors.This report studies Electronic commerce in Global market, especially in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa, focuses on the top 5 Electronic commerce Players in each region, with sales, price, revenue and market share for top 5 manufacturer, coveringRequest a sample copy of Electronic commerce Market Research Report @Electronic commerce Market Segment by Regions, this report splits Global into several key Regions, with sales, revenue, market share of top 5 players in these regions, from 2012 to 2017 (forecast), likeNorth America (United States, Canada and Mexico)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India and Korea)Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy and Russia etc.South America (Brazil, Chile, Peru and Argentina)Middle East and Africa (Egypt, South Africa, Saudi Arabia)Split by Product Types, with sales, revenue, price, market share of each type, can be divided intoWeb Portal ModelOnline content providersOnline retailersOnline distributorsOnline market makerThe listed pricing for this Electronic commerce Market report starts at $ 4960. Request Discount for Electronic commerce Market Research Report @Table of Content for Electronic commerce Market Report:1 Electronic commerce Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Electronic commerce1.2 Electronic commerce Segment by Types1.3 Electronic commerce Segment by Applications1.4 Electronic commerce Market by Regions2 Global Electronic commerce Sales, Revenue (value) and Market Share by Players2.1 Global Electronic commerce Sales and Market Share in 2015 and 2016 by Players2.2 Global Electronic commerce Revenue and Market Share by Players in 2015 and 20162.3 Global Electronic commerce Average Price by Players in 2015 and 20162.4 Global Electronic commerce Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area, Product Types by PlayersBrowse full table of contents and data tables For Electronic commerce Market Report @Split by applications, this report focuses on sales, market share and growth rate of Electronic commerce in each application, can be divided intoApplications 1Applications 2Applications 3Applications 4Related Reports: -Global and Chinese Audio Amplifiers Industry, 2017 Market Research ReportThe 'Global and Chinese Audio Amplifiers Industry, 2012-2022 Market Research Report' is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the global Audio Amplifiers industry with a focus on the Chinese market.MarketSizeForecasters.com, a Skyline Market Research LLP brand, is an online aggregator of market research reports. MarketSizeForecasters.com offers a comprehensive collection of full length reports on global and regional markets in 100+ industry verticals. We have partnered with some of the leading business and market research publishing houses and regularly update our online library to offer wide range of reports to our customers.Market size forecastersThe Green Suite #4594,Dover, DE 19901United StatesPhone: 1-201-355-0868US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketsizeforecasters.comWebsite:Connect with us: LinkedIn | Twitter Global Refrigerated Counters Market: Rising Stringency of Food Safety and Quality Regulations Driving Adoption, finds TMR http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/refrigerated-counter-market.htm http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/refrigerated-counter-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Illinois Tool Works, Inc., Hoshizaki Corp., Ali Group, Electrolux AB, and Liebherr - the top five players in the global refrigerated counters market - accounted for a share of just under 62% in 2015. Transparency Market Research notes that this fragmented market is characterized by the presence of an increasing number of players attempting to gain market share via mergers, acquisitions, and divestments. Product innovation and technology differentiation are expected to be the major competing parameters for manufacturers in the next few years. With the number of players looking to enter the refrigerated counters market expected to rise, the degree of competition is slated to increase by the end of forecast period.The revenue of the global refrigerated counters market stood at US$4.5 bn in 2015; this is projected to expand at a CAGR of 7.7% during the forecast period to reach US$8.7 bn by 2024. By volume, the market is estimated to register an 8.4% CAGR from 2016 to 2024.Fill the form to gain deeper insights on this market @Hotels End-use Segment Holds Immense Promise of GrowthSystem catering emerged as the top end-use segment of the global refrigerated counters market and is projected to hold a whopping 80.9% share by the end of 2016. However, the segment is expected to lose a marginal share in the market by 2024. The hotels segment, on the other hand, will exhibit a strong 9.3% CAGR in terms of revenue from 2016 to 2024. Within the system catering segment, quick service restaurants (QSR) are expected to contribute the highest revenue to the overall refrigerated counters market.By design, counters with doors and with prep-table tops are expected to dominate the market due to increasing demand in kitchens. By product, the others segment, which includes counters without standard dimensions, is expected to lead the refrigerated counters market in the coming years.Geographically, North America and Asia Pacific are the most promising markets for refrigerated counters. While North America is expected to account for a 36.9% share in the global market by 2024, Asia Pacific is anticipated to register an impressive CAGR of 10.1% from 2016 to 2024.Growth of Hospitality and Tourism Industry a Major BoostPublic health and safety regulations play a vital role in the refrigerated counters market. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that the outbreak of food-borne diseases and the contamination of food are posing a major threat to public health at a global level. It has been observed that production, processing, and transportation of food are the primary causes of food contamination. In a bid to reduce the incidences of food-borne illnesses, several food safety organizations are introducing stringent food preparation and storage regulations, which includes the use of refrigerated counters, the author of the report states.Browse Market Research Report @The ongoing expansion of fast food chains is also expected to benefit the market for refrigerated counters as these facilities require an extensive range of refrigerated equipment. This trend is particularly going to impact the demand for counters with drawers, doors, and prep-table tops. A rise in the number of hotels, restaurants, and other food service outlets catering to the needs of tourists across Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific will also support the refrigerated counters market.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: Membrane Microfiltration Market Size, Share, Development, Growth and Demand Forecast to 2020 www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/membrane-microfiltration-market www.psmarketresearch.com/industry-report/chemicals-and-materials www.psmarketresearch.com The global membrane microfiltration market is growing at a significant rate, due to increase in stringent water quality legislation. As the awareness about safety and health is growing among the consumers, certain standards of quality, considering safety and hygiene are being demanded by the consumers. The increasing technological innovation in the field of membrane microfiltration is expected to support the growth of the global membrane microfiltration market in the coming years. With the technological advancements, the membrane microfiltration products are becoming more effective in offering better solutions for suspended particle separation, which is again fuelling the growth of the global membrane microfiltration market.To Browse Full Report Visit Here:The major trends observed in the global membrane microfiltration market are product development and cost-effective solutions. One of the major factors restraining the growth of the global membrane microfiltration market is high initial investment, which poses as significant barrier for the new entrants, who want to expand their product lines.Microfiltration is used to apply dead-end filtration upon aseptic pharmaceuticals, sterile fruit juices and wine, and water. Microfiltration functions as a post-treatment for granular media filtration, and pre-treatment for other separation processes, such as ultrafiltration. The particle size in microfiltration ranges from 0.1 to 10 micrometer. Particles such as protozoa, algae, sediment and large bacteria can be prevented with the use of specially designed filters, by passing the fluid through the filters. However monovalent species, such as chloride or sodium ions; ionic or atomic materials such as water, small colloids and viruses; and natural or dissolved organic matter are able to pass through the filter.Browse For Related Research Visit Here:In the process of membrane microfiltration, fluid is passed through membranes with very small pores for separating bacteria, micro-organisms, and suspended particles among others. The membranes are used in the pre-treatment for desalination technologies, such as nano-filtration and reverse osmosis. The membranes are also used to eliminate turbidity from fluid. Some of the materials used in the membrane microfiltration are fluorinated polymers, stainless steel, polyamides, polypropylene, cellulosics, ceramics and polysulfones. Membrane microfiltration can be manufactured by various methods, such as stretching, phase separation, sintering, and track etching. Some of the factors considered while choosing the membrane for a particular process are operating temperature, disposal of process residuals, membrane flux, quality of fluid to be treated, monitoring and maintenance of the system, fluid characteristics, and cost of material procurement and manufacturing.About P&S Market ResearchP&S Market Research is a market research company, which offers market research and consulting services for various geographies around the globe. We provide market research reports, industry forecasting reports, business intelligence, and research based consulting services across different industry/business verticals.As one of the top growing market research agency, were keen upon providing market landscape and accurate forecasting. Our analysts and consultants are proficient with business intelligence and market analysis, through their interaction with leading companies of the concerned domain. We help our clients with B2B market research and assist them in identifying various windows of opportunity, and framing informed and customized business expansion strategies in different regions.Contact:AbhishekExecutive Client Partner347, 5th Ave. #1402New York City, NY - 10016Toll-free: +1-888-778-7886 (USA/Canada)Email: enquiry@psmarketresearch.comWeb: Cold Pressed Juice Market Strongly Driven by Rising Global Demand http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/cold-pressed-juice-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=16238 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Global Cold Pressed Juice Market: OverviewCold pressed juices are increasingly growing in popularity worldwide. They are made by pressing, or masticating juice from vegetables and fruits. These juices are not only safe to drink a few weeks after being packed, but they contain high amounts of nutrients too. In the extraction of cold pressed juices, a juicer that works on a hydraulic press that squeezes juice from fruits or vegetables is used. After the juice is bottled and sealed, it is placed in a large chamber wherein a high amount of pressure is applied in order to inactivate pathogens. This enables the juice to remain nutritious, flavorful and safe to drink.Browse Market Research Report @The report analyzes several key factors in the global cold pressed juice market such as current market trends and dynamics, market drivers and restraints, growth opportunities, competitive landscape, the supply and demand ratio, stakeholder and value chain analysis, and complete backdrop analysis. The report reveals key information about the major market players, their business tactics, product portfolio, and shares held by each of them. Historical, current, and projected market sizes are given in addition to recommendations for companies.Global Cold Pressed Juice Market: Drivers and RestraintsA growing consumer base spending on lifestyle products, heightened sense of health awareness, maximum health benefits offered by these juices, rising disposable income of people, and an expanding population base are some of the key factors contributing toward the growth of the cold pressed juice market globally. The popularity of liquid cleanses, coupled with the obsession with looking slim and fit are fuelling demand. Cold pressed juices are high in minerals, vitamins, and anti-oxidants. The detoxifying and beauty benefits offered by these nutrients in cold pressed juices are also driving the market. Healthy, glowing skin is desired by the female population worldwide. Moreover, cold pressed juices are easily available on a local basis. The prevalence of a belief that organic fruit juices prevent the incidence of cancer, eliminate toxins, and minimize the intake of artificial food components will further boost market expansion.Fill the form for an exclusive sample of this report @The market for cold pressed juices has been categorized based on type, channel of distribution, and nature. According to the distribution channel, grocery, retailers, super or hyper markets, online retailers, and departmental stores are the key market segments. Based on nature, organic and conventional juices are the two categories. Fruit juices and vegetable juices are the two segments based on type.Since these juices are organic and involve the High Pressure Processing (HPP) manufacturing procedure, they are more expensive than the usual juices. This can pose as a major challenge to the global cold pressed juice market.Global Cold Pressed Juice Market: Regional OutlookOn the basis of geography, the global market for cold pressed juice is broadly divided into five major regions, namely, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Europe, North America, and the Middle East and Africa. The major countries discussed in the report include Canada, France, Poland, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, the U.S., Germany, India, New Zealand, North Africa, GCC, Spain, Benelux, Russia, the U.K., ASEAN, China, and Australia. Europe and North America are the leading regions in the global cold pressed juice market.Companies mentioned in the research reportIn order to cater to the demands of consumers, numerous companies have launched juices manufactured through the use of pasteurized technology. Some of the key companies operating in the global cold pressed juice market are Evergreen Juices Inc., Pressed Juicery, Suja Life, PepsiCo Inc., Liquiteria, Evolution Fresh, Hain BluePrint, Inc., LLC, JustPressed, Juice Generation, Organic Avenue, and Organic Press Juices.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Tamara Hernandez and Christian Leipholz augment Media Carriers team of digital experts in the IT and Sales division Tamara Hernandez and Christian Leipholz The companys growing internationalization requires a corresponding increase in qualified staff(Munich, 19 April 2017) Media Carrier, a subsidiary of MELO Group, proceeds with its expansion: To meet the large and especially international demand from airlines and hotels for its digital media library, the Media Box, the Munich-based digital company has continued to increase its number of employees since its founding in 2011. Today, six years later, the workforce is already six times larger than it was at the beginning. The most recent newcomers are Tamara Hernandez and Christian Leipholz, who will support Media Carrier with their expertise in Sales and IT.Over the past five years, Media Carrier has established more than 1,000 media boxes in over 40 countries around the world; and demand for the digital media library continues to grow rapidly. Airlines and hotels in particular are banking on the innovative service, which they can use to offer guests additional service values and meet growing demand for digital offers.As Key Account Manager, Tamara Hernandez takes up the tasks of looking after existing customers as well as helping aviation and transport companies from the tourism industry to understand the benefits and possible applications of the Media Box. The 31-year-old is additionally taking care of the development of new business models with potential partners and alternative sales channels. In the light of an even more international target group approach and Media Carriers recently opened subsidiary in the US, Tamara Hernandezs outstanding industry expertise and her excellent foreign language skills are a real asset here.In Christian Leipholz, Media Carrier has found a top-class manager for the Head of IT position. He is responsible for the entire operation and further development of the digital library. He is also establishing the companys interface to external IT service providers and heading up the coordination of technical fine-tuning.With an increasing number of customers in recent years, the range of Media Box product variations has also grown rapidly. This made an expansion of Media Carriers IT division necessary in order to proactively meet customer needs.In future, Media Carrier wants to extend its sound IT know-how and technical competence, and is also happy to be able to draw on Christian Leipholzs outstanding expertise in this regard.About Media CarrierEstablished in 2011, the company is a subsidiary of the Munich-based MELO Group, whose central divisions are built on the two pillars: media and logistics. Media Carrier specialices in marketing and distributing digital content. With its development of the Media Box, Media Carrier supplies the travel industry with digital editions of newspapers and magazines. Meanwhile, the digital media library is in use in approximately 1,000 hotels worldwide. In addition to the Lufthansa Group (Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, SWISS, Eurowings and Air Dolomiti), Oman Air, Virgin Atlantic and other airlines also offer the digital library as a service.Media Carrier GmbHMuthmannstrae 180939 MunichGermanyJennifer BingmannMarketing & Communication+49 89 32471 4538jennifer.bingmann@media-carrier.com Matrix Enhances its Unified Communications Portfolio with the Release of SARVAM UCS ENT Enterprise communication has come a long way from TDM telephony to UC features. The change has apparently improved communication convenience but has posed some problems too. Some of these include offering a consolidated interface for accessing different communication tools, quick connectivity with mobile workforce and improved collaboration.Matrix, with an aim of helping enterprises adopt this technological advancement and address all the associated pain areas, is launching SARVAM UCS ENT the Unified Communication Server for Modern Enterprises. The Unified Communication solution is based on the four pillars of Collaboration, Communication, Messaging and Mobility.To cater to businesses requirement of accessing different networks from a single platform, SARVAM UCS ENT offers connectivity up to 2,000 IP users, 1,296 Analog users, 64 GSM users, 248 VOIP channels and 128 Digital Key Phone users from a single chassis. With IP at core, SARVAM UCS ENT routes all the communication over IP, allowing employees to experience distinct call management features such as Call Transfer, Presence Sharing, Multi-party Audio Conference, Video Calling and more.PC/Mobile Soft Client VARTA the UC Client for Seamless Collaboration forms an integral part of SARVAM UCS ENT family. VARTA redefines communication experience and serves business need of round the clock connectivity by bringing users from different locations on a common platform. VARTA allows user to extend his desk extension to his own Windows laptop/PC or Android/iOS devices. The latest Matrix innovation: VARTA Outlook Integration allows professionals access UC features on their Outlook screen, improving communication effectiveness and saving time.To suffice businesses need of continuous communication, even in the absence of concerned party, SARVAM UCS ENT is equipped with an improved voicemail server. The voicemail server offers a separate mailbox for every extension and facility to take a backup of messages from the local network and VPN. Furthermore, Voicemail Recording Capacity up to 2,170 hours, Call Queuing, Uploading Prompts in Six Different Languages and Configuring Mailbox according to Date and Time, helps mobile workforce to effectively manage mailbox and never miss on any important message.With the launch of SARVAM UCS ENT, Matrix now has a dedicated range of Unified Communication solution for different sized businesses. With UCS platforms and a bag of features in store, we are looking forward to achieve a fair share of Unified Communications market, said Sagar Gosalia, Sr. VP Sales and Marketing.__________________________________________________________________________About MatrixEstablished in 1991, Matrix is a leader in Telecom and Security solutions for modern businesses and enterprises. An innovative, technology driven and customer focused organization; Matrix is committed to keep pace with the revolutions in the telecom and security industries. With more than 40% of its human resources dedicated to the development of new products, Matrix has launched cutting-edge products like Video Surveillance solutions, Access Control, Time-Attendance, IP-PBX, Universal Gateways, Terminals, Convergence solution, VoIP Gateways and GSM Gateways. These solutions are feature-rich, reliable and conform to the international standards. Having global footprints in Asia, Europe, North America, South America and Africa through an extensive network of more than 500 channel partners, Matrix ensures that the products serve the needs of its customers faster and longer. Matrix has gained trust and admiration of customers representing the entire spectrum of industries. Matrix has won many international awards for its innovative products.Matrix Comsec394 GIDC, Makarpura, Vadodara-390010+91 0265 2630555 Dengue Vaccines Market - Analysis And Forecast (2016-2024): Market Shares And Strategies Of Key Players https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/23 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-discount/23 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/dengue-vaccines-market-23 https://blog.coherentmarketinsights.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/coherent-market-insights Dengue is a mosquito-borne flavivirus debilitating disease with high prevalence in most tropical and sub-tropical regions. Dengue is a painful disease that is also known as break bone fever due to the excruciating bone and joint pain associated with it. No therapeutics have been discovered for treatment of the disease caused by four closely related dengue viruses (DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3 and DEN-4). Therefore, focus has been mainly on prevention by controlling the vectors being borne. Severe dengue was discovered in the 1950s during dengue epidemics in Philippines and Thailand. The disease has since spread to Asian and Latin America countries and is one of the leading causes of hospitalization and deaths among children and adults in these regions.Get PDF Research Brochure for more Professional and Technical Insights:Prevalent Scenario in the Global Dengue Vaccines MarketMember states in three of the WHO regions regularly report the annual number of dengue cases. These statistic suggest that the number of dengue cases increased from 2.2 million in 2010 to 3.2 million in 2015. The actual number remains underreported. One recent estimate by Bhatt et al., (also quoted by the WHO) mentions that there are around 390 million dengue cases worldwide each year, with number of cases reported increasing each year. In 2015, 2.35 million cases of dengue were reported in the Americas alone, of which 10,200 cases were diagnosed as severe dengue that led to 1,181 deaths. Dengue is a pertinent health issue affecting people across South America, Europe, and Asia. A large number of dengue outbreaks were reported worldwide in 2015, with over 169,000 cases in the Philippines and over 111,000 suspected cases of dengue in Malaysia. This was a staggering 59.5% and 16% increase respectively in the number of cases compared to that in 2014. The global dengue vaccines market therefore, offers lucrative growht opportunities for vaccine manufacturers.Ask for Discount before buying the Report@Dengvaxia the only approved product in the global dengue vaccines marketSanofi Pasteurs Dengvaxia, is the culmination of over two decades of scientific innovation and collaboration. The vaccine received its first marketing authorization in 2015, in Mexico. Dengvaxia is the worlds first licensed vaccine for prevention of dengue. It is a tetravalent dengue vaccine that prevents the disease from all four dengue viruses in people aged 9 to 45 years. Sanofi launched the worlds first public dengue vaccination program in the Philippines (2016), followed by Brazil. Dengvaxia is approved in 10 endemic countries worldwide, namely, Singapore, Mexico, the Philippines, Paraguay, Brazil, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Peru, and Guatemala. The global dengue vaccines market is thus, expected to expand with growing market approvals.India is however taking a precautionary approach in approving this vaccine due to lack of studies among the population in the country. A scientist in India has developed a dengue vaccine that was successfully tested in monkeys. If successful in human trials, this could be a breakthrough invention for prevention of dengue among the populace in the country. Moreover, various philanthropists and global organizations are investing in developing vaccines for malaria and dengue.Browse Global Strategic Business Report :Dengue Vaccines Market Outlook Research PipelineThere are approximately five vaccine candidates under evaluation in clinical trials, including other live-attenuated vaccines, as well as subunit, DNA and purified inactivated vaccine candidates. Also, technological approaches, such as virus-vectored and VLP-based vaccines, are under evaluation in preclinical studies. In September 2016, Takeda announced the beginning of the phase 3 clinical trials of its dengue vaccine TAK-003 vaccine. This vaccine is also aimed at prevention against all four dengue virus strains.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit Coherent Market Insights Blog @Connect with us on LinkedIn @ Image Detection Sensor Market - Widespread Usage of CMOS and CCD Sensors in Various Cameras to Boost Market http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/image-detection-sensor-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=23093 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Global Image Detection Sensor Market: SnapshotThe growing application of image detection sensors in consumer electronics, automotive and healthcare sector is having a very strong influence on the growth of the global image detection sensor market. The technological advancements and the expanding application range of CMOS and CCD sensors, such as in lighting solutions and displays for tablets, PC cameras, mobile front and back cameras, and point-and-shoot cameras, are also adding substantially to the markets progress.Over the forthcoming years, the rising usage of image detection sensors in photography application for consumer electronics is expected to drive the growth of the market significantly. The widespread application of CMOS sensors have in smartphone cameras, thanks to the single chip integration and the relatively low price of these sensors, is also projected to benefit this market in the near future.Browse The Report :In 2015, the global image detection sensor market was valued at US$9.67 bn. Progressing at a CAGR of 9.60% between 2016 and 2024, the opportunity in this market is likely to reach a value of US$22.01 bn by the end of 2024. Although, the market looks flourishing at present, the declining demand of still camera may limit the demand for image detection sensors, hindering the markets growth over the years to come.CMOS Sensors to Continue Enjoying Strong DemandIn terms of the technology, the global market for image detection sensors has been classified into thermal, charge-coupled device (CCD), and complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS). Currently, the demand for CMOS-based image sensors is higher than others. The scenario is anticipated to continue like this in the near future, thanks to the rising awareness among consumers pertaining to the advantages of CMOS, such as low power dissipation and single chip IC integration.Apart from this, the high cost efficiency of CMOS sensors is also projected to add to their popularity significantly over the forthcoming years. Over the next few years, the increasing demand CCD sensors from the healthcare industry is likely to boost the CCD segment while the rising application of infrared cameras for industrial usage is projected to drive the demand for thermal sensor.Asia Pacific to Remain on TopThe Middle East and Africa, Europe, North America, Latin America, and Asia Pacific are the prime regional markets for image detection sensors across the world. Asia Pacific held the leading position in this market in 2015 with a share of more than 35% and is anticipated to remain doing so over the next few years. China, India, and Japan have emerged as the key domestic markets for image detection sensors in Asia Pacific.Make an Enquiry :The increasing usage of image detection sensing technology in consumer electronics, automobiles, and defense application is likely to boost the Asia Pacific image detection sensors market over the next few years. The rising application of thermal sensors in the aerospace and defense industry is also projected to propel this regional market in the near future.In North America, increasing application in Internet of Things is considered as one of the prime driving factors for the market. The U.S. held the largest market share in terms of revenue owing to growing application of image detection sensors in consumer electronics, automotive and healthcare among others.Hamamatsu Photonics, ON Semiconductor Corp., Canon Inc., Panasonic Corp., Sony Corp., Teledyne Technologies Inc., Toshiba Corp., Samsung Electronics CO. Ltd., Omron Corp., Omnivision Technologies Inc., FLIR Systems, and Hikvision are some of the prominent vendors of image detection sensors across the world.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Flower Pots and Planters Market by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, forecast to 2022 https://marketsizeforecasters.com/get-sample/25611 https://marketsizeforecasters.com/enquire-for-discount/25611 https://marketsizeforecasters.com/2017-top-5-flower-pots-and-planters-manufacturers-in-north-america-europe-asia-pacific-south-america-middle-east-and-africa https://marketsizeforecasters.com/2007-2016-global-safflower-seeds-trading-report http://marketsizeforecasters.com/ Flower Pots and Planters Market report provides detailed analysis of worldwide markets for Flower Pots and Planters from 2011-2017, and provides extensive market forecasts (2017-2022) by region/country and subsectors. It covers the key technological and market trends in the Induction Stove market and further lays out an analysis of the factors influencing the supply/demand for Induction Stove, and the opportunities/challenges faced by industry participants.This report studies Flower Pots and Planters in Global market, especially in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa, focuses on the top 5 Flower Pots and Planters Players in each region, with sales, price, revenue and market share for top 5 manufacturer, coveringNursery SuppliesHC companiesLandmark PlasticSummit JanortoplasticsGarantNoveltyEast Jordan PlasticsAndersonpotsRequest a sample copy of Flower Pots and Planters Market Research Report @Flower Pots and Planters Market Segment by Regions, this report splits Global into several key Regions, with sales, revenue, market share of top 5 players in these regions, from 2012 to 2017 (forecast), likeNorth America (United States, Canada and Mexico)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India and Korea)Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy and Russia etc.South America (Brazil, Chile, Peru and Argentina)Middle East and Africa (Egypt, South Africa, Saudi Arabia)Split by Product Types, with sales, revenue, price, market share of each type, can be divided intoPlasticCeramicsWoodOther MaterialThe listed pricing for this Flower Pots and Planters Market report starts at $ 4960. Request Discount for Flower Pots and Planters Market Research Report @Table of Content for Flower Pots and Planters Market Report:1 Flower Pots and Planters Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Flower Pots and Planters1.2 Flower Pots and Planters Segment by Types1.3 Flower Pots and Planters Segment by Applications1.4 Flower Pots and Planters Market by Regions1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Flower Pots and Planters (2012-2022)2 Global Flower Pots and Planters Sales, Revenue (value) and Market Share by Players2.1 Global Flower Pots and Planters Sales and Market Share in 2015 and 2016 by Players2.2 Global Flower Pots and Planters Revenue and Market Share by Players in 2015 and 20162.3 Global Flower Pots and Planters Average Price by Players in 2015 and 20162.4 Global Flower Pots and Planters Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area, Product Types by Players2.5 Flower Pots and Planters Market Competitive Situation and TrendsBrowse full table of contents and data tables For Flower Pots and Planters Market Report @Split by applications, this report focuses on sales, market share and growth rate of Flower Pots and Planters in each application, can be divided intoHome decoratesCommercial useMunicipal constructionOthersRelated Reports: -2007-2016 Global Safflower Seeds Trading ReportThis report is an essential reference for who looks for trading information on global Safflower Seeds market. The report covers 10-years data on global, regional and national for trading information.MarketSizeForecasters.com, a Skyline Market Research LLP brand, is an online aggregator of market research reports. MarketSizeForecasters.com offers a comprehensive collection of full length reports on global and regional markets in 100+ industry verticals. We have partnered with some of the leading business and market research publishing houses and regularly update our online library to offer wide range of reports to our customers.Market size forecastersThe Green Suite #4594,Dover, DE 19901United StatesPhone: 1-201-355-0868US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketsizeforecasters.comWebsite:Connect with us: LinkedIn | Twitter Offshore Support Vessel Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 2024 https://www.gminsights.com/request-toc/upcoming/1306 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/offshore-support-vessel-market https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/1306 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/oil-storage-market https://www.gminsights.com/ Some of the key players in the offshore support vessel market include Bourbon, Farstad, Seacor Marine, Swire, Tidewater, Gulfmark Offshore, Havila Shipping, Hornbeck Offshore, Maersk, REM Maritime, Siem, Solstad, Vroon, Edison Chouset, Harvey Gulf, and Island Offshore.Global Offshore Support Vessel Market size is projected to witness a robust growth owing to increasing subsea productions and explorations supported by high investments during the forecast timeframe. Offshore production is significantly propelling owing to the unexploited potential for large hydrocarbon reserves in deep water to cater to the increased energy demands and worldwide.Request for an in-depth table of contents for this report @The offshore support vessels (OSV) operate in different water depths including shallow, deep and ultra-deep ranges. The global offshore support vessel market is progressing into deep and ultra-deep water zones with the advent of new technologies. Development towards attaining operational excellence, enhancing water depth capabilities and diversification in OSVs will further complement the offshore support vessel market growth.Introduction of Dynamic Positioning System in OSVs eliminated water depth constraints and ensured better maneuverability and positioning of the vessel. Offshore support vessels are constantly developing with enhanced cargo capacity, large accommodation spaces, enhanced crew amenities, panoramic navigation bridge visibility and automation systems, hosting new opportunities in the global offshore support vessel market.High initial investments coupled with volatile oil prices may challenge the offshore support vessel market growth. Key factors including vessel size, horsepower, lifespan, trading boundaries and need for compliance to changing regulatory framework strictly govern the global offshore support vessel market. In July 2008, an International Code on Intact Stability (IS Code) became mandatory for all ranges of ships of 24 meters length including OSVs and MODUs under SOLAS, an International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea.Browse the full Oil Spill Management Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2014 - 2022 report at:In 2014, the U.S. Coast Guard issued safety regulations for the oil support vessel market to ensure safe transportation of oil, hazardous materials, crew and individuals on the vessels by requiring the U.S. OSVs of minimum 6,000 gross tons as measured by the Convention Measurement System to comply with the regulatory requirements and international standards for design, construction, engineering operations and manning, certification and inspections. The legislation applies to any carrier or vessel of minimum 500 gross tons as measured by the Regulatory Measurement System, to certify a vessel as an OSV.Major available OSVs include platform supply vessel (PSV), anchor handling tug supply (AHTS), crew vessel, multipurpose support vessel, rescue and standby vessel and others. AHTS, PSVs and seismic research vessels are projected to occupy a major share in the offshore support vessel market. AHTS specializes in seismic surveys, underwater pipelines laying, towing of drilling rigs and platforms. Vessels designed for repair and maintenance, inspection are equipped with, heavy lift cranes, large accommodation spaces, helidecks for operation in harsh weather conditions.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @In North America, the U.S. and the Gulf of Mexico serve as one of the potential offshore support vessel markets. Europe is anticipated to witness a high growth in the offshore support vessels industry owing to increased subsea productions and explorations. Oil and gas prices are projected to rise in the region in coming years accounting to high capital investment on E&P activities.Asia-Pacific is evolving as one of the major leaders for the offshore support carriers, owing to increasing growth in the offshore activities in South China Sea. Some of the high potential regions for the offshore support vessel market include China, India, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia amongst others.Browse Related Reports: Oil Storage Market Size By Reserve (Commercial Reserve, Strategic Reserves), By Material (Steel, Carbon Steel, Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic), By Fuel (Crude Oil, Gasoline, Aviation Fuel, Middle Distillates, LNG, LPG), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Mexico, Germany, Netherland, Spain, Belgium, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina), Application Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2016 2025About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone:1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb: Detroit Motorcycle City Bringing Riders Together July 6 - 9 During its inaugural event this July, Detroit Motorcycle City aims to bring thousands of motorcycle riders from all over to experience the Motor City. Founded by Terry Terry, a "lifelong motorcycle rider born in Detroit," this event was made for people who love all things motorcycle. Embodying motorcycle culture, Detroit Motorcycle City will feature a storytelling competition, a parade and much more. Allowing motorcycle riders to experience the Motor City and the rich culture of Detroit from July 6-9 is the goal. And that starts with a live performance of Detroit-born band Rare Earth. But the Detroit-style moving and grooving doesnt stop there. Other performers include John Douglas, Thornetta Davis, Kathleen Murray and the Groove Council, Julianne Ankley and the Rogues, Jody Raffoul, The Blackjack Band, and Lady Champagne and The Motor City Blues Crew. Other events throughout this exciting weekend will include a VIP Dinner, a Detroit River Cruise, and a custom bike show. Detroit Motorcycle City expects that this event will bring motorcycle riders together, not only to experience the beauty and excitement that Detroit has to offer, but to connect with other riders and make friends. Sponsors of this inaugural gathering include Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau, Michigan Institute for Contemporary Art, Message Makers, Pure Michigan, and 94.7 WCSX. Sponsorships are still open. For more information, contact Matt Penniman at (517) 482-3333 x 306. Detroit Motorcycle City is ready to rock your summer from July 6 9, so get your tickets now by visiting www.detroitmotorcyclecity.com . Contacts: Matt Penniman, Detroit Motorcycle City, (517) 482-3333 x 306, matt@detroitmotorcyclecity.com Sue Voyles, Logos Communications, (734) 667-2005, sue@logos-communications.com PO Box 871346 Canton, MI This release was published on openPR. Permanent link to this press release: Copy Please set a link in the press area of your homepage to this press release on openPR. openPR disclaims liability for any content contained in this release. Cyber Security Industry :- Market Outlook, Key Vendors, Market Analysis, Market Share, Growth Opportunities, Industry Trends, Forecast 2022 http://www.researchbeam.com/2017-2022-global-top-countries-cyber-security-report-market/request-sample http://www.researchbeam.com/2017-2022-global-top-countries-cyber-security-report-market/enquire-about-report http://www.researchbeam.com/2017-2022-global-top-countries-cyber-security-report-market Research Beam added a new report titled, 2017-2022 Global Top Countries Cyber Security Market Report. The industry is anticipated to register a CAGR of xx% during the forecast period. The report offers a comprehensive understanding of influencing factors, restraints, opportunities, strengths, and weaknesses of the market. This helps manufacturers to evaluate current industry trends. The research methodology adopted by the analysts for the study provides a complete evaluation of market dynamics and its scenario. The study enables key market players, investors, and new entrants to take necessary steps and ensure for growth of the industry.The research offers a wide-ranging assessment via tabular and pictorial format. The representation comprises of both forecast period as well as of historic period, 20122017. It also enlists strengths & weaknesses of the vendors and depicts their business overview. It registers market size and growth of each region in the historic period. The tables and figures further provides depiction of the market share based on its applications and players. The research offers current industry scenario with respect to its key market players. It also covers revenue generated by each manufacturer, product type, and region. It provides an inclusive analysis in terms of research conducted and industry size.Ask Sample Report @:The study classifies the market based on end-users, product type, and geography. Based on regional distribution it is divided into United States, Southeast Asia, Japan, European Union, India, and China. The leading countries in Southeast Asia and European Union are also discussed in the study. The report anticipates key economic indicators that influences the industry. These findings support the producers to analyze driving aspects and challenges of the market. This information in turn helps to identify investment pockets. The Advancement in technology, increase in demands from developing countries, and recent innovative are the driving factors of the global Cyber Security market. These aspects of the industry are elaborated in the report. The effect of these aforementioned parameters is discussed in the study through tables.the top Manufacturers in each country, covering Symantec Intel IBM Cisco Trend Micro Dell Check Point.Enquire about Report @These stakeholders are categorized based on their business overview, firm profile, and products & services. Recent developments made by companies in commodities are discussed in detail by the experts in the report. The comprehensive analysis of the producers with their business scenario determine the venture prospects. These prospects lead to expansion of business and promotion of new entrants in the commercial world. Competition among the stakeholders across the globe endorses growth of the industry. These all factors are explored in the report.Split by Product Types, with sales, revenue, price, market share of each type, can be divided into Cyber Security Software Cyber Security Hardware Cyber Security Service ProviderSplit by applications, this report focuses on sales, market share and growth rate of Cyber Security in each application, can be divided into be divided into Financial industry Aerospace, Defense and Intelligence TelecommunicationIndustry dynamics and factor analysis of its effects are elaborated in the study. The market forecast based on applications, type, and geographical distribution enables investors and key market players to identify potential market trends, threats, and opportunities. This assists in the growth of the industry. The strategy adopted by each company are discussed in the study. The research provides results and conclusions at the end.Read Complete Report with TOC @About Us:With the arsenal of different search reports, Research Beam helps you here to look and buy research reports that will be helpful to you and your organization. Our research reports have the capability and authenticity to support your organization for growth and consistency. With the window of opportunity getting open and shut at a speed of light, it has become very important to survive in the market and only the fittest and competent enough can do so. So, we try and provide with latest changes in the market that can suit your needs and help you take decision accordingly.Contact Us:5933 NE Win Sivers Drive, #205, Portland, OR 97220Email: help@researchbeam.com Talent Management Software Market by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2021 http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=856447&type=E http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/united-states-eu-japan-china-india-and-southeast-asia-talent-management-software-market-size-status-and-forecast-2021.htm http://www.qyresearchreports.com/category/software-market-reports.htm Qyresearchreports include new market research report United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Talent Management Software Market Size, Status and Forecast 2021 to its huge collection of research reports.Every key element that has happened so far in the Talent Management Software has been represented in this widely inclusive report. A key portion of these market elements incorporate the key player profiles and the markets general competitive scene, as players are known to have whats coming to them of impact over it. Different courses of the Talent Management Software announced in the report incorporate drivers, restrictions, and key open doors that influence a larger part of the players in it. To totally cover the competitive scene of the Talent Management Software, a SWOT examination is jotted down for all players, new and old. This takes into account a clearer projection for the Talent Management Software over the coming years. Extra analyses incorporated the player profiles are their budgetary structures and current vital production arrangements for all the key players in the market.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The Talent Management Software is additionally investigated on the premise of its perfunctory chain, an entry that utilizes research and information in view of the utilization and production abilities introduced into the market currently. This segment likewise fuses the product depictions and cost structures of the Talent Management Software. The report also offers a point by point investigation inside the market to determine its trademark qualities as far as upstream and downstream requests for raw materials are concerned, and in addition the import, and cost drifts that affect them.The report additionally gives the aftereffects of an exceptionally itemized review on the Talent Management Software in view of its provincial divisions. For each key district expressed, the client is given statistical data points on the player pool and in addition request, alongside expectations for the same. This can be vital for regional players attempting to extend their points of view in the market.Table of ContentsUnited States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Talent Management Software Market Size, Status and Forecast 20211 Industry Overview1.1 Talent Management Software Market Overview1.1.1 Talent Management Software Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Talent Management Software Market Size and Analysis by Regions1.2.1 USA1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 Talent Management Software Market by End Users/ApplicationGet more information from Research Report Press Release:2 Global Talent Management Software Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Talent Management Software Market Size (Value) by Players (2015-2016)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 Oracle3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Talent Management Software Revenue (Value) 2011-20163.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 IBM3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Talent Management Software Revenue (Value) 2011-20163.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 SAP3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Talent Management Software Revenue (Value) 2011-20163.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 Halogen Software3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 Talent Management Software Revenue (Value) 2011-20163.4.5 Recent Developments3.5 SumTotal Systems3.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.5.4 Talent Management Software Revenue (Value) 2011-20163.5.5 Recent Developments3.6 CornerStone On Demand3.6.1 Company Profile3.6.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.6.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.6.4 Talent Management Software Revenue (Value) 2011-20163.6.5 Recent Developments3.7 Infor Global Solutions3.7.1 Company Profile3.7.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.7.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.7.4 Talent Management Software Revenue (Value) 2011-20163.7.5 Recent Developments3.8 Lumesse3.8.1 Company Profile3.8.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.8.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.8.4 Talent Management Software Revenue (Value) 2011-20163.8.5 Recent Developments4 Global Talent Management Software Market Size by Application (2011-2016)4.1 Global Talent Management Software Market Size by Application (2011-2016)4.2 Potential Application of Talent Management Software in Future4.3 Top Consumer / End Users of Talent Management Software5 USA Talent Management Software Development Status and Outlook5.1 USA Talent Management Software Market Size (2011-2016)5.2 USA Talent Management Software Market Size and Market Share by Players (2015-2016)6 EU Talent Management Software Development Status and Outlook6.1 EU Talent Management Software Market Size (2011-2016)6.2 EU Talent Management Software Market Size and Market Share by Players (2015-2016)7 Japan Talent Management Software Development Status and Outlook7.1 Japan Talent Management Software Market Size (2011-2016)7.2 Japan Talent Management Software Market Size and Market Share by Players (2015-2016)Read More @QYResearchReports.com is an unimpeachable source of market research data for clients that comprise acclaimed SMEs, Chinese companies, private equity firms, and MNCs. We provide market research reports on various categories such as Energy, Chemicals, Alternative and Green Energy, Manufacturing, Machinery, Pharmaceuticals and Materials, and Glass.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United States Mobile Heart Monitoring Industry 2024 Market Research Report http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=20939 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/mobile-heart-monitoring-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Nowadays, the Internet of Things (IoT) is widely recognized by analysts and researchers as the most sophisticated technology, which has potential to not only affect the safety, health, and productivity of many people but also has a big economic impact. It mainly consists of physical objects that are embedded with sensors, computing devices, actuators, and data communication capabilities. These are linked to networks for data transportation. Currently, portable systems for disease diagnosis and monitoring of human functional health are becoming more common. Cardiovascular diseases such as heart disease and stroke remain the leading causes of death around the world. According to a survey conducted by the WHO, about 17.3 million people died of heart disease, which represented 30% of the global deaths in 2008. There has been a significant growth and remarkable progression in the field of the mobile health care market over the years.Get Sample Copy of this Report @Investors have started investing in projects ranging from mobile apps to different sensors. The manufacturers are incorporating advanced sensors with reduced size and low cost, expanding the range of wearable heart monitoring devices. The global mobile heart monitoring market is growing due to technological developments in the mobile health care products and rise in lifestyle diseases and awareness. Furthermore, increase in focus on fitness and healthy lifestyle orientation are anticipated to influence the demand for mobile heart monitoring devices in the near future. Growing trends toward home health care are creating more opportunities for the global heart monitoring market. However, high cost associated with the devices and security issues are projected to hamper the growth of the mobile heart monitoring market.The global mobile heart monitoring market is segmented on the basis of product, application, end-user, and geography. Based on the product, the global market is categorized into activity monitors, heart rate monitors, EEG/ECG monitors, cardiac event, pulse oximeters, blood pressure monitors, mobile apps, and others. The activity monitors segment is expected to account for a high share of the mobile heart monitoring market. The large market share of the segment are attributed to factors such as increase in unhealthy and sedentary lifestyles, growth in awareness about health and fitness, and rise in health concerns.On the basis of application, the global market is divided into arrhythmia, high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, fitness, sports, and others. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), arrhythmia afflicts more than 4 million patients and results in approximately half a million deaths in the U.S. Increase in prevalence of arrhythmia globally along with rise in geriatric population are expected to increase the market share of the segment during the forecast period.On the basis of end-user, the global market is segmented into hospitals, clinics, home care settings, and others (industrial, institutions, academics, and nursing facilities). The hospitals segment is estimated to account for a large share of the market during the forecast period owing to increase in number of chronic cardiac diseases, technological innovation, favorable insurance and reimbursement policies, and rise in per capita health care expenditure.Based on geography, the global market is distributed over North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America is expected to dominate the global mobile heart monitoring market due to factors such as increase in geriatric population, rapid innovation in technology, and high R&D expenditure. Asia Pacific is poised to be a fast growing region of the market due to increase in aging population, technological advancement, changes in lifestyle, rise in awareness on wellness and fitness, and increase in prevalence of diseases.The key players operating in this market are Fitbit, Inc., Medtronic, NeuroMetrix, Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., LifeWatch AG, Qardio, Inc., Omron Healthcare, Inc., Philips Healthcare, and Apple Inc.View Report @About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Medical Nonwoven Disposables Market Research Report 2024 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=2413 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/medical-nonwoven-disposables.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Global Medical Nonwoven Disposables Market: SnapshotThe technological advancement in healthcare and increasing demand for advancement in the wound dressing technique are driving the growth of the global medical nonwoven disposable market. The rising government initiatives for manufacturing nonwoven medical fabric is also anticipated to be a crucial factor in determining the progress of the overall market. The report states that the global medical nonwoven disposables market will be worth US$18.4 bn by the end of 2024 as compared to US$12.9 bn in 2015. Between the forecast years of the period of 2016 and 2024, the global market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 4%. The monumental demand for polyethylene due to its low cost is yet another key factor assessed to be responsible for the strengthening of the global medical nonwoven disposables market.Get Sample Copy of this Report @Surgical Products to Remain in High Demand as their Quality ImprovesThe global medical nonwoven disposable market is segmented according to the type of products, materials used, end users and geography. According to the type of product, the market is segmented into surgical products, wound dressing, and incontinence products. Further, the surgical products are further segmented into drapes, gowns, caps, masks and others. Technological advancement in the healthcare is a major factor driving the growth of the surgical products. In surgical products, drapes are the widely used products and followed by gowns. The gowns caps and masks are expected to grow at a high CAGR during the forecast period. The wound dressing segment, which is further segmented into bandages, tapes, post operative wound dressing, operative wound dressing, and dressing pad. The wound dressing segment is driven by post-operative wound dressing products. On the other hand, demand for incontinence products will remain high ambulatory surgical centers and diagnostic centers.Increasing Mergers and Acquisitions Put North America in the LeadIn terms of geography, the market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East and Africa. North America dominates the medical nonwoven disposables market and is expected to continue to dominate during the forecast period. Increasing number of mergers and acquisitions and technological advancement are major factors contributing to the growth of the medical nonwoven disposables in North America. Europe follows the lead due to the increasing adoption of the usage of medical nonwoven disposables.Asia Pacific is expected to project a significant growth during the forecast period especially due to increasing awareness in countries like China, India, and Japan. Increasing government expenditure in healthcare is an important factor contributing to the growth of medical nonwoven disposables market in Asia Pacific. International trade development and improving economic condition across countries of Latin America are major factors responsible for the growth of medical nonwoven disposables market in this region. The Middle East and Africa is expected to project a significant growth due to increasing government initiatives and rising awareness regarding the use of medical nonwoven disposables in this region.The important players shaping the growth of the global medical nonwoven disposables market are Kimberly-Clark Corporation Medline Industries, Inc., Paul Hartmann AG, Molnlycke Health Care, Ahlstrom Corporation, Asahi Kasei Corporation, Medtronic, Inc., Svenska Cellulosa, Freudenberg & Co. KG, Aktiebolaget SCA, and Domtar Corporation.View Report @About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: iStorage introduce the Most Secure Hard Drives ever made iStorage diskAshur_2017 range www.istorage-uk.com Introducing the ultra-secure diskAshur range, super speed USB 3.1, PIN authenticated, hardware encrypted portable HDD/SSD and desktop drives incorporating unique EDGE technology.(London, April 2017), iStorage, the award winning and trusted global leader of PIN authenticated, hardware encrypted portable data storage devices, has announced the launch of their new range of USB 3.1 Hard Disk Drives (HDD) and Solid State Drives (SSD), consisting of the diskAshur, diskAshur SSD, diskAshur PRO, diskAshur PRO SSD and the diskAshur DT all of which are designed, developed and assembled in the UK. The new drives feature Enhanced Dual Generating Encryption (EDGE) technology making them THE most secure HDD/SSD and desktop drives currently on the market.EDGE Security Features:One of the unique and underlying security features of the GDPR compliant diskAshur range is the dedicated hardware based secure microprocessor (Common Criteria EAL4+ ready), which employs built-in physical protection mechanisms designed to defend against external tamper, bypass laser attacks and fault injections. Unlike other solutions, all the drives within this range react to automated hacking attempts by entering the deadlock frozen state, which renders all such attacks as useless.In plain and simple terms, without the PIN, theres no way in!With software free set up and operation, the diskAshur range is platform/device independent and works across all operating systems including all versions of MS Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, Chrome, Thin Clients, Zero Clients and embedded systems. In fact, the drives will work on any device with a USB port!The diskAshur USB 3.1 portable hard drive and SSD is aimed for the end user looking for an easy to use secure solution for storing all their data. Elegantly designed and available in 4 striking colours (Phantom Black, Ocean Blue, Fiery Red and Racing Green) and with capacity options from 128GB to 2TB.The diskAshur features an ultra smooth fascia that doubles up as shock-absorbers, is water and dust resistant (IP 56 certified) and supplied with a stylish and sturdy travel case. The iconic contemporary design also features an integrated cable which can be conveniently stored away when not in use.The diskAshur PRO USB 3.1 portable hard drive is available in a stylish graphite housing and is the ultimate secure data storage device. Designed for the more demanding user, the diskAshur PRO portable hard drive and the diskAshur PRO SSD are designed to be FIPS 140-2 Level 3, NCSC CPA Foundation Level, Common Criteria and NLNCSA government certified, water and dust resistant (IP 56 certified). The diskAshur PRO is available in capacities of up to 2TB (HDD) and 1TB (SSD) and is supplied with a protective carry case.In addition to incorporating a secure microprocessor, encrypting the data and the encryption key, the diskAshur PRO adds another barrier between your data and a hacker, with all of the components completely covered by a layer of super tough epoxy resin which is virtually impossible to remove without causing permanent damage to the components. The barrier prevents a potential hacker from accessing the critical components and launching a variety of futile attacks. Furthermore, the tamper evident design of the diskAshur PRO will provide visible evidence if attempted tampering has occurred.For those that require a high capacity solution, look no further than the diskAshur DT hard drive. Designed for those that need maximum security, protection and storage, this desktop drive is designed to be FIPS 140-2 Level 2, NCSC CPA Foundation Level, Common Criteria and NLNCSA certified and is available in capacities ranging from 1TB up to an almighty 8TB!In addition to EDGE technology, the diskAshur range includes the following common features:- Brute Force Hack Defence Mechanism - Intelligently programmed to protect against all forms of Brute Force Attacks. Upon the 15th consecutive incorrect PIN entry, the diskAshur drive assumes it is being attacked and will delete the encryption key and lock itself, rendering all data previously stored on the drive as lost forever. At this point the drive can be reset to factory default settings and redeployed.- Self Destruct Feature: Users can pre-program the diskAshur drives with a unique Self Destruct PIN which, once entered, instantly deletes the encryption key rendering all data previously stored on the drive as lost forever.- Unattended Auto-Lock Feature: Set the drive to automatically lock after a pre-determined amount of time where the drive has not been used.- Wear Resistant Epoxy Coated Keypad: Designed with protection in mind, the diskAshur range offer a wear resistant epoxy coated keypad which hides key usage to avoid tipping off a potential hacker to commonly used keys.For more information on iStorage or to find out how the iStorage EDGE range of diskAshur, diskAshur SSD, diskAshur PRO, diskAshur PRO SSD and the diskAshur DT can help protect your organisations confidential data, whilst ensuring GDPR compliance, please visitor contact +44 (0)20 8991 6260.End.About iStorage Limited:iStorage is the trusted global leader of award winning PIN authenticated, hardware encrypted data storage devices. Delivering the most innovative products to securely store and protect data to military specified encryption levels; safeguarding valuable business information whilst ensuring compliance to regulations and directives.About EDGE technology - Enhanced Dual Generating Encryption technology:A dedicated hardware based secure microprocessor (Common Criteria EAL4+ ready), which employs built-in physical protection mechanisms designed to defend against external tamper, bypass attacks and more.About the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):The European Union will have the power to fine companies 20 million or 4% of their global turnover if they are found to be in breach of the new government legislation. GDPR, which comes into force on 25th May 2018, compels organisations who process or hold personally identifiable information of EU residents, to implement adequate security measures to protect personal data loss or face tough fines.iStorage LimitediStorage house13 Alperton LanePerivaleMiddlesexUB6 8DH UKFor further information, please contact: Holli Cheung, Media and Communications, iStorage Limited at holli.cheung@istorage-uk.com or telephone +44 (0) 20 8991 6286 Global Collaborative Robots Market in Automotive Industry 2016-2022 by End-user, Application and Region Market Shares and Trends https://www.reporthive.com/request-sample.php?id=776051 Automotive industry has always been the forefront of novel industrial robotics technology. Compared with conventional industrial robotics, collaborative robots (cobots or co-bots) are smaller, smarter, more affordable, use-friendly and flexible automatic solutions for vehicle manufacture. Collaborative robots market in automotive industry is expect to witness a phenomenal growth, with annual shipment and sales revenue from hardware and software growing at nearly 43% or more annually through 2022. An increasing number of auto makers include SMEs are deploying industrial cobots to assist human workforce in their workshops.Global Collaborative Robots Market in Automotive Industry 2016-2022 by End-user, Application and Region examines the global industrial cobot market in automotive industry through a comprehensive summary and analysis of premium information sources. On the basis of reviewing global economic environments and trends of vehicle production, this report provides an in-depth and detailed analysis of market structure, market trends, market forces, and market segments (by end-user, by application, and by region). In most analysis, historical statistics together with market outlook cover the 2014-2022 period in terms of unit shipment as well as sales revenue generated from hardware and software of industrial cobots in automotive industry. The report also includes current competitive scenario and profiles of major vendors/players.Qualitative market analyses include identification and discussion of market structure, market overview, growth drivers, restraints and challenges, emerging market trends/opportunities, Porters Fiver Forces as well as M&A landscape and fundraising trend.On basis of end-user, the market include automotive sub-sectors such as vehicle manufacturing, component (auto parts) manufacturing, and other sectors. Vehicle manufacturing process has been so far attracting the majority of new installations, and will continue to do so over the years to come.On basis of application, the market is segmented into material handling, assembling, dispensing, and inspection among others. Material handling represents the largest application among all the usage of collaborative robots in automotive industry.Geographically, the global market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific region, Latin America and the rest of world (RoW). Specific analysis and forecast over 2014-2022 have been covered for important national markets such as U.S., China, Japan, Germany, South Korea, and Mexico. APAC region leads the global industrial cobots market in automotive industry in terms of sales volume as well as annual revenue, followed by Europe and North America. Strongest growth potential also exists in the vast APAC market in the future with China and Southeast Asian countries expected to be the main driving engines for the growth.The major challenges for collaborative robots market in automotive industry are safety concerns, technological difficulty of improving payload capacity & speed of cobots, and low penetration and acceptance rates of industrial cobots.Highlighted by 4 tables and 90 figures, this 170-page report saves clients a lot of time on researching global market, and provides valuable information and a thorough understanding of the markets emerging trends, which are needed to successfully derive critical business decisions, identify and expand business opportunities in the global industry.Request sample copy at:About Us:We are a leading repository of market research reports and solutions from the top publishers and market research companies across globe, catering to various industries. This large collection of reports assists organizations in decision-making on aspects such as market entry strategies, market sizing, market share analysis, competitive analysis, product portfolio analysis andopportunity analysis among others. We also assist in determining the best suited and targeted report from our large repository of global reports, company-specific reports and country-level reports.Our custom research services help clients to meet specific market research requirements by coordinating with our esteemed research partners. Our experienced analysts are always available to cater to your queries pre- and post-purchase. We believe in providing best-in-class after-sales service to our clients and wish to build a long-term and a mutually fruitful relationship.Contact Us:Pune, Maharashtra - 411 014 IndiaEmail: sales@reporthive.comCall: +1-312-604-7084 Sunlight Readable Displays with Low Power Consumption Advantages of the New Blanview Technology www.datadisplay-group.com http://www.distec.de www.distec.de www.datadisplay-group.com Distec Signs Distribution Agreement with the Renowned Japanese Manufacturer Ortus TechnologyDistec - leading German specialist for TFT flat screens and system solutions for industrial and multimedia applications, adds the high-quality ORTUSTECH TFT displays to its product range. Ortus Technology was founded in 2010 by merging the display units of CASIO and TOPPAN and offers a variety of different TFT displays in sizes from 2.2" to 9.6" (5.588 cm to 24.384 cm). They are manufactured according to industrial standards and are especially suitable for rough outdoor use. "With more than 30 years of experience in the field of industrial displays, ORTUSTECH is one of the pioneers in the LCD sector and has developed the optimum technology for sunlight readable displays with low power consumption: the innovative Blanview technology," explained Leonhard Spiegl, Product Manager Components at Distec GmbH. "It perfectly combines the benefits of transmissive and transflective displays." Perfect applications for the Blanview displays are all mobile or battery driven devices, for example in the medical or automotive field or in handhelds for outdoor applications.Blanview TechnologyOptimum readability and color fidelity under almost all lighting conditions, including direct sunlight, and a wide viewing angle are the main benefits of the Blanview technology. Blanview displays also show an up to 60 percent reduced power consumption (compared to conventional transmissive displays). All these advantages enable compact designs and long battery life - nowadays the basic requirement for modern products.Industrial QualityTypical for Japanese companies, ORTUSTECH is focusing on quality: the production sites are certified according to IS09001/14001 for optimum process cycles, sustainability and environmental protection. The displays feature a low weight and a narrow bezel but nevertheless are robust and master rough environmental conditions due to the extended temperature range. To ensure a reliable project planning, ORTUSTECH guarantees a long-term availability of at least 5 years.About DistecDistec is a company of the Data Display Group (), the worldwide operating specialist for TFT flat screen and system solutions for industrial, multimedia and digital signage applications. Located in Germering near Munich in Germany, the company designs, produces and sells innovative solutions and a full range components, displays and services. Data Display Group supplies innovative Green IT solutions based on their hardware platforms and their own software to control the TFTs of partners Samsung, Innolux, Kyocera, and Mitsubishi as well as selected panels from other manufacturers. These system solutions - from assemblies and kits up to finished OEM products - are developed in their own R&D centers in Germering (Germany) and Ronkonkoma (NY/USA). The range of services includes customized developments and adaptations, product finishing and assembly of monitoring systems as well as the production of finished products and a complete after-sales service with RMA, repair and technical support. Since 01/01/2016, Distec is a member of the Fortec Group with access to products, services, and expertise of a large high-tech company network, which makes a perfect complement to the product portfolio. More information can be found on the homepage:Products from Data Display Group are available at:Europe: Distec GmbH, GermeringUK and Benelux: Display Technology, RochesterTurkey and Middle East: DATA DISPLAY BILISIM TEKNOLOJILERI LTD STi., IstanbulNorth America: Apollo Display Technologies, Ronkonkoma NYDistec GmbHAugsburger Strae 2b82110 GermeringGermanyT +49 89 89 43 63 0F +49 89 89 43 63 131E distribution|at|distec.deA company of the Data Display Group:Media Contact:Mandy AhlendorfT +49 8151 9739098E ma@ahlendorf-communication.com Security Cameras (IR Illuminator) Market - Advanced technologies & growth opportunities in global Industry 2027 Security Cameras Market, Security Cameras Market share, Security Cameras Market size http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=23087 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/security-cameras-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com A security camera is used to provide protection for private as well as commercial and industrial places. A security camera is powerful devices against burglars and thus helps individual to track the details live or happened in the past. The significant use of security cameras is for surveillance which delivers substantial evidence in the time of need for investigation purposes. The security camera market is growing at faster pace owing to increase of thefts across the globe.Although this is the prime reason for the security camera market to grow, another key aspect which is helping the security camera manufacturers to generate high sales revenues is the increasing demand for security cameras from home individuals to feel secured. As security camera in residential places aids in detecting the suspicious behavior of intruder, keeping a close check on kids or pets when away from home. In commercial or industrial entities, security cameras are of great help to check on the staff or workers.The security cameras are available in a wide variety depending upon the need. For instance, a PTZ (Pan, tilt, and zoom) camera are widely used by security companies to remotely access the places through turning off camera by 360 degrees, whereas for securing home a fixed camera con does the help. The other types include night vision, dome, bullet type camera, etc. The wireless security cameras are most widely used owing to the flexibility in installation.Fill the form to Gain Deeper Insights on this Market @Nowadays security cameras are installed almost at every place with an objective to reduce the crime or suppress the fear of offence, to improve public safety and security. These are the prime targets taken into account which drives the global security cameras (IR illuminator) market.The growing urbanization, infrastructural developments, expansion of business across the globe has a positive impact on the security cameras market. Moreover, the government initiatives for public safety and security, organizations implementing security measures further boosts the global security cameras market.The global security cameras (IR Illuminator) market is divided into seven regions, namely North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Japan and the Middle East and Africa (MEA). The security cameras (IR illuminator) market in APEJ is expected to expand at healthy CAGR, regarding consumption owing to the increasing infrastructural developments coupled with increasing the crime rate. The market in North America and Western Europe is matured due to the use of open street camera surveillance. The Japan security cameras (IR illuminator) market is expected to grow at moderate CAGR over the forecast period.Obtain Report Details @The 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)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Email Marketing Industry, Current trends, Opportunities, Challenges and Forecast by 2025 Email Marketing Industry, Email Marketing market, Email Marketing Trends http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=482 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/email-marketing-industry.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The global market for email marketing has been influence by a number of factors, among which, the increasing usage of Internet is the most significant one. The expanding penetration of smart phones has also been adding to the growth of this market since the last few years. Over the coming years, the rising awareness among people pertaining to email marketing, such as a relatively higher RoI rate than any other form of digital marketing, will influence its popularity, resulting in a significant market rise.On the downside, the lack of niche marketing options and the privacy issues concerning the usage of Internet and email may act as hindrances, limiting the growth of this market in the years to come. In 2016, the worldwide market for email marketing stood at US$4.51 bn. Expanding at a healthy CAGR of 19.60% between 2017 and 2025, this market is likely to touch US$22.16 bn by the end of 2025.Fill the form to Gain Deeper Insights on this Market @North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, and South America are the prime regional markets for email marketing across the world. Among these, Asia Pacific has acquired the leading position in the global market and is expected to remain so over the next few years, rising at a CAGR of 22.80% between 2017 and 2025, thanks to a relatively faster adoption.The escalating number of internet users and the proliferation of the retail/e-commerce industry in Asian economies, such as China and India, is likely to boost this regional market substantially over the next few years.North America, on the other hand, is expected to witness slow growth in its market for email marketing in the near future due to the presence of various regulatory laws. In North America, the U.S. (the CAN-SPAM Act) and Canada (CASL), both, have their respective laws governing email marketing practices; however, the law in the U.S. is more lenient as compared to the one in Canada, which, subsequently is propelling the U.S. market for email marketing.Obtain Report Details @Software and services are the main components of email marketing. The software segment has held the leading position in the global market for email marketing and is anticipated to retain it over the next few years, thanks to the increasing adoption of white label software, third-party standard, and web-based application. The third-party standard software is likely to emerge as the most preferred component of email marketing in the next few years.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Enterprise Collaboration Service Market: Advanced technologies & growth opportunities in global Industry by 2024 Global Enterprise Collaboration Service Market, Enterprise Collaboration Service Market Industr http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=2149 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/enterprise-collaboration-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com With enterprises aiming for business expansion, the demand for efficient collaboration solutions is at all-time high. Mobile workforce and efficiency in enterprise mobility are the two major aspects required by organizations to achieve this. Considering the scenario, the global enterprise collaboration service market is forecast to report a CAGR of 10.3% between 2016 and 2024. Transparency Market Research (TMR) forecasts the market to reach US$56.51 bn by the end of 2024. In 2015, overall valuation of the global enterprise collaboration service market stood at US$23.38 bn.In addition, the market is also expected to gain from the increasing demand for integrated and comprehensive enterprise collaboration services. Also the rising use of SIP trunking and the increasing uptake of WebRTC across KPOs and BPOs will widen the scope for the markets expansion. As a result of the development of advanced collaboration solutions companies can now offer better connectivity among stakeholders. Driven by these factors, the global enterprise collaboration service market will exhibit strong growth over the course of the forecast period.Fill the form to Gain Deeper Insights on this Market @Regionally, North America emerged dominant in the global enterprise collaboration services market, holding a share of 41.8% in 2015. With multinational companies in the U.S. and Canada aiming from expanding their regional footprint, collaborations have become a common activity in this part of the world. Evidently, North America realizes some of the most lucrative opportunities for the overall market. Moreover, the region for years has remained at the fore of adopting well-designed collaboration tools such as application sharing tools, video and audio conferencing software, and web services. This has further helped the North America enterprise collaboration service market gain traction.However, TMR projects the Asia Pacific market to report a higher CAGR compared to its counterpart in North America and elsewhere. Growth witnessed in the region is primarily driven by the increasing number of small and medium enterprises in countries such as India, Japan, and China. Moreover, the rapid expansion of the IT industry witnessed in Asia Pacific in the last few years, will fuel the demand for automation across industries thus bolstering opportunities for the enterprise collaboration service market.Obtain Report Details @Based on type, hardware, software, and services constitute the key market segments. Among these, the demand for services is expected to rise at the highest pace during the forecast period. Growth witnessed in the segment is steered by the rising adoption of collaboration services especially among small and medium businesses. Deploying these services has helped organizations in delegating activities such as maintenance as well integration operations to third parties so that they can focus on their core competencies. Besides this, the software segment is expected to gain significant traction in the coming years.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Industrial Robots for Machinery Industry: Global Market 2016-2022 To Innovate Industry https://www.reporthive.com/request-sample.php?id=776042 Industrial robotics is expected to play a key role in driving the up-coming Industry 4.0 for a wide scope of industrial manufactures. Despite a small consumer of industrial robots, machinery industry has been ordering an increasing number of industrial robots in recent years. The growth of industrial robotics deployment in machinery industry is likely to show an accelerating trend in order to replace human workforce with advanced and more efficient industrial robots in harsh working conditions of machinery manufacture.Industrial Robots for Machinery Industry: Global Market 2016-2022 examines the worldwide market of industrial robotics in machinery industry through a comprehensive summary and analysis of premium information sources. In addition to a review of global market environments and machinery industry trend, this report provides an in-depth and detailed analysis of market structure, market trends, market forces, end-users, application fields, product types, geographical landscape, and the major industrial players/vendors. In most analysis, historical statistics together with market outlook cover the 2014-2022 period in terms of unit shipment as well as sales revenue.Qualitative market analyses include identification and discussion of market structure, market overview, growth drivers, restraints and challenges, emerging market trends/opportunities, Porters Fiver Forces as well as M&A landscape and fundraising trend (IPO and VCI).On basis of end-user, the market is segmented into Automotive & Aerospace Machinery, Construction Machinery, Agricultural Machinery, Mining, Oil & Gas Machinery, along with variety of other machinery industries. The combined shipments of industrial robots in automotive & aerospace machinery, construction machinery, agricultural machinery, and mining, oil & gas machinery reached more than 76% of the global total shipments in 2015.On basis of application, the market is segmented into Material Handling, Welding and Soldering, Assembling and Disassembling, Cutting and Milling, Dispensing and Painting, etc. with Material Handling, Welding, and Assembling as the major segments.On basis of product type, the market is segmented into articulated robots, Cartesian robots, SCARA robots, and other robots (cylindrical robots, polar robots, delta robots, parallel robots, etc.). Articulated robotics segment dominates the market and is expected to grow at the highest rate among all the robotics types.Geographically, the global market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific region, Latin America and the rest of world (RoW). Specific analysis and forecast over 2014-2022 have been covered for important national markets such as U.S., China, Japan, Germany, South Korea, and Mexico. Asia-Pacific region dominates the global industrial robots market in machinery industry in terms of sales volume as well as annual revenue, followed by European market and North America region. Strongest growth potential also exists in APAC for the future market with China and Southeast Asian countries expected to be the main driving engines for the growth. Current competitive scenario and profiles of major vendors are also included.Highlighted by 4 tables and 77 figures, this 152-page report saves clients a lot of research time on a global market, and provides valuable information and a thorough understanding of the markets emerging trends, which are needed to successfully derive critical business decisions, identify and expand business opportunities in the global industry.Request sample copy at:About Us:We are a leading repository of market research reports and solutions from the top publishers and market research companies across globe, catering to various industries. This large collection of reports assists organizations in decision-making on aspects such as market entry strategies, market sizing, market share analysis, competitive analysis, product portfolio analysis andopportunity analysis among others. We also assist in determining the best suited and targeted report from our large repository of global reports, company-specific reports and country-level reports.Our custom research services help clients to meet specific market research requirements by coordinating with our esteemed research partners. Our experienced analysts are always available to cater to your queries pre- and post-purchase. We believe in providing best-in-class after-sales service to our clients and wish to build a long-term and a mutually fruitful relationship.Contact Us:Pune, Maharashtra - 411 014 IndiaEmail: sales@reporthive.comCall: +1-312-604-7084 Autonomous Car Market: Constant Technological Innovations to Create Lucrative Opportunities 2035 Autonomous Car Market, Autonomous Car Market share, Autonomous Car Market Size http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=12653 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/autonomous-cars-driverless-cars-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The global market for autonomous cars is likely to emerge as a massive entity in the forthcoming years. The significantly rising number of accidents across the world is predicted to drive the growth of this market substantially over the next few years.Moreover, the growing awareness among consumers regarding the benefits autonomous cars offer to its users, such as the enhanced mobility is projected to fuel the demand for autonomous cars in the years to come. The regulatory concerns, however, may hinder the growth of this market to some extent in the near future.Analysts estimate the worldwide autonomous car market to account for 0.60 mn units in 2025. Expanding at a CAGR of 47.50% between 2025 and 2035, the shipment volume is likely to increase to 29.31 mn units by the end of 2035.Fill the form to Gain Deeper Insights on this Market @On the basis of the level of automation, the global autonomous car market can be segmented into level 1, level 2, level 3, level 4 and level 5. With technology reaching its tipping point, it is expected that level 1 and level 2 autonomous cars will hold a comparatively smaller share in the overall market in 2025. The features offered in such cars are expected to become obsolete by then, making way for new and better options. Early adopters will begin to move on to the next level of automation with advanced options.Level 3 autonomous cars are likely to witness the most prominent demand across the world over the forecast period. The rapid proliferation and uptake of advanced autonomous driving technologies, specifically in the technologically advanced regions, is anticipated to boost the growth of this segment in the future.Obtain Report Details @North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, and the Middle East and Africa are projected to surface as the main regional markets for autonomous cars over the forthcoming years. Among these, North America is expected to experience a relatively faster adoption of autonomous cars and hence, is anticipated to witness a higher growth rate than other regional markets in the future.On a similar note, Asia Pacific is also expected to witness a healthy rise in the demand for these cars in the near future on a backdrop of growing awareness pertaining to advancements in technology and the significant increase in the disposable income of consumers. Within Asia Pacific, the level 3 automated cars are projected to contribute a massive share of total demand volume, thanks to the imminent development in the information and communication infrastructure in China, Singapore, and Japan.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Mosquito Repellant Market Research Report 2016 Market Shares and Trends https://www.reporthive.com/request-sample.php?id=811597 The Global Mosquito Repellent Market Research 2016 is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the mosquito repellent industry.The report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The mosquito repellent market analysis is provided for the international markets including development trends, competitive landscape analysis, and key regions development status.Development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures are also analyzed. This report also states import/export consumption, supply and demand Figures, revenue and gross margins.The report focuses on global major leading industry players providing information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials and equipment and downstream demand analysis is also carried out. The mosquito repellent industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed. Finally the feasibility of new investment projects are assessed and overall research conclusions offered.With 286 tables and figures the report provides key statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.Request sample copy at:Table of Contents1 Industry Overview 11.1 Definition and Specifications of Mosquito Repellent 11.1.1 Definition of Mosquito Repellent 11.1.2 Work Flow of Mosquito Repellent 21.2 Classification of Mosquito Repellent 21.3 Applications of Mosquito Repellent 31.4 Industry Chain Structure of Mosquito Repellent 51.5 Global Major Regions Status of Mosquito Repellent 61.6 Industry Policy Analysis of Mosquito Repellent 61.7 Industry News Analysis of Mosquito Repellent 72 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Mosquito Repellent 92.1 Raw Material Suppliers Analysis of Mosquito Repellent 92.2 Equipment Suppliers and Price Analysis of Mosquito Repellent 102.3 Labor Cost Analysis of Mosquito Repellent 112.4 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Insect Repellent 132.5 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Mosquito Repellent 14About Us:We are a leading repository of market research reports and solutions from the top publishers and market research companies across globe, catering to various industries. This large collection of reports assists organizations in decision-making on aspects such as market entry strategies, market sizing, market share analysis, competitive analysis, product portfolio analysis andopportunity analysis among others. We also assist in determining the best suited and targeted report from our large repository of global reports, company-specific reports and country-level reports.Our custom research services help clients to meet specific market research requirements by coordinating with our esteemed research partners. Our experienced analysts are always available to cater to your queries pre- and post-purchase. We believe in providing best-in-class after-sales service to our clients and wish to build a long-term and a mutually fruitful relationship.Contact Us:Pune, Maharashtra - 411 014 IndiaEmail: sales@reporthive.comCall: +1-312-604-7084 Business Analytics Software Market - Advanced technologies & growth opportunities in global Industry by 2024 Global Business Analytics Software Market, Business Analytics Software Market Industry http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=20516 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/business-analytics-software-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Business analytics software helps in interpretation and analysis of business data through continuous exploration and investigation of historical business performance to gain decisive insights for business planning. Through the application of statistical methods and tools in business performance data, a business analytics software conducts predictive analysis to derive decision making insights and inputs. A business analytics software thus helps an organization optimize its business operations and facilitates informed and strategic decision making.It also helps uncover patterns and relationships between data streams and leads to automation of tasks and processes for real-time responses in decision making. The outputs are mostly used by managers, security personnel, financial analysts, and key decision makers of organizations. Demand for cloud-based business analytics software is high in small and medium sized enterprises owing to its low cost and enhanced usability. Furthermore, demand for social media analytics, a part of business analytics, is also rising significantly due to the increase in popularity of social media marketing.Organizations are increasingly opting for business analytics software in order to gain strategic and competitive advantage over their competitors. This is one of the major factors driving the global business analytics software market. Additionally, the software aims to help organizations make quick and informed decisions through the analysis of the historical business data. This has been driving the market for business analytics software. Currently, there exists need for quick decision making and immediate actions in response to situations considering the competitive nature of businesses.Fill the form to Gain Deeper Insights on this Market @This highlights the importance of the business analytics software. Furthermore, increase in volume and diversity of data in organizations has given rise to the need for analytical software to derive meaningful patterns, relationships, and insights from unorganized data. The features of business analytics software meet such requirements, thereby boosting the growing demand and adoption of business analytics software across varying scales of companies.However, in order to efficiently operate, business analytics software require sufficient volumes of meaningful data. This requires effective data warehousing, which may be a challenge for small organizations to implement considering the high costs involved. These challenges are likely to hamper the market for business analytics software during the forecast period. Nonetheless, increase in social media marketing by organizations is expected to offer growth opportunities for the business analytics software market during the forecast period.The global business analytics software market has been segmented on the basis of deployment, end-use industry, application, and geography. In terms of deployment, the business analytics software market has been divided into cloud and on premise. Based on end-use industry, the business analytics market has been segregated into BFSI, government, manufacturing, IT and Telecom, retail, health care, capital markets, education, media, utilities, and others.In terms of application, the business analytics software market has been segmented into supply chain analytics, workforce analytics, spatial analytics, behavioral analytics, marketing analytics, risk and credit analytics, pricing analytics, transportation analytics, and others. Based on geography, the business analytics market has been divided into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East & Africa, and South America.Obtain Report Details @Major players operating in the global business analytics software market include SAS Institute Inc., Tableau Software, SAP SE, Oracle Corporation, Adobe Systems Incorporated, International Business Machines Corporation, Salesforce.com, Qlik Technologies, Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Tibco Software, Fair Isaac Corporation, and JDA Software Group, 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.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Bluetooth Speaker Market - Advanced technologies & growth opportunities in global Industry by 2027 Bluetooth Speaker Market,Bluetooth Speaker Market share,Bluetooth Speaker Market size http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=22589 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/bluetooth-speaker-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Bluetooth speakers make use of audio signals with low power radio waves without making use of audio cables. Technically these speakers are portable audio devices which are used for exchange of data, for which the receiver have to be within defined range of wireless transfer capability of the sender.Bluetooth speaker devices includes devices such as AC-only Bluetooth speakers, DC-only Bluetooth speakers, and AC/DC Bluetooth speakers. These Bluetooth speakers are composed of main speaker unit including loudspeaker with Radio frequency (RF) receiver with Radio Frequency transmitter unit. These transmitters are connected to audio output devices that includes computers, televisions, MP3 players, mobile phones, and others.The receiver is positioned in such a way that the listener can move around without any usage of cables. For Bluetooth speakers amplifiers are used to enhance the signal strength and supply the audio signals to the loudspeakers. The signal frequency used by the Bluetooth speakers is approximately 900 MHz and can travel across the walls and ceilings. Nowadays Bluetooth speakers have wide applications in home theaters wherein the speakers on the rear side operate on Bluetooth signals and the speakers on the front side are sometimes wired or operate on Bluetooth signals. Interestingly Bluetooth signals have reduced the cost of wires and cables that were used for electronic devices and grown to have a larger market demand in the electronic segment.Fill the form to Gain Deeper Insights on this Market @The Global Bluetooth Speaker Market is mainly driven by its increase in demand in electronic segments such as home theatres, mobile phones, music systems, computers, laptops and many others. The market is also driven by the fact that increasing in demand for multi-room streaming. Companies are investing in R&D to keep an eye on improvising the battery life of the connecting devices and to improvise on the efficiency from previous versions of the devices.Global Bluetooth Market has wide market opportunity in tapping the economies that are emerging in countries like Africa. Also the new advents on how to improvise the efficiency of the device and proper connectivity could bring in demand for the Global Bluetooth market. Improver disconnectivity amongst the devices and major dropping of the batteries in devices like mobiles and laptops has restrained the Global Bluetooth market.Global Bluetooth Speaker Market SegmentationThe Global Bluetooth Speaker Market is segmented based on by aircraft type, by battery type, and by end market, and by sales channel.Global Bluetooth Speaker Market by charging technologyAC OnlyDC OnlyAC/DCWireless ChargingGlobal Bluetooth Speaker Market by ApplicationOfficesRetailEducational InstitutionsLeisureOtherObtain Report Details @The Global Bluetooth Speaker Market is divided into seven regions namely North America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Japan, Latin America, and Middle East and Africa. North America is expected to lead the global Bluetooth speaker market. Europe is on the list of second for this market because of the rapid innovations happening in electronic industry. However, Asia Pacific excluding Japan shows a decent growth over the forecast. China, since its a manufacturing hub of electronics signifies growth for APEJ. Middle East and Africa has a lesser market share in the Global Bluetooth speaker market.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: IOT Chip Market - Advanced technologies & growth opportunities in global Industry by 2024 IOT Chip Market,IOT Chip Market Size,IOT Chip Market Share http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=23024 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/iot-chip-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com IOT or Internet on Thing is a smart device embedded with software or electronics that helps in exchange and collection of data. It is also referred as the infrastructure of the information society. Recent computing systems contain electric mechanisms which are called as chipsets, and this embodies an assembly of combined circuits relied widely on various consumer electronic devices that include smartphones, tablet, computers, as well as wearable technology. Chipsets are designed to work with a certain set of microprocessors and often projected for a definite purpose or device.Majorly, growth in healthcare and automotive sector is directly driving the market of IOT Chip market globally. Growth in the new segment of the transportation and automotive domain is driving the demand; the new segment includes an addition of connected car product line which adheres intelligent transportation system (ITS) with the advancement of Internet on Thing (IOT) technology.The retail industry is forecasted to overtake the market of IOT while becoming the leading industry in IOT usage. The other key factors that lift the market growth of IOT Chip worldwide is its capacity to process and manage an enormous amount of data which is generated by the devices or gadgets. Also, it is a protected, and adhere nonvolatile memory (NVM) for code storage, device configuration, sensor trimming, security keys, as well as stand by other storage functions which are essential during processing and execution of data produced from IOT devices. Chipset which is specifically designed for IOT system adheres different factor that is finest energy efficiency.Fill the form to Gain Deeper Insights on this Market @Regarding geography, the global IOT chip market has been categorized into seven key regions including North and Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan, Japan, and the Middle East & Africa.The IOT chip market is globally expected to register healthy CAGR during the forecast period. Due to the presence of large number of IOT Chip market players in the U.S and Canada, and huge practice of IOT chips in the automotive, electronics and health care sector escalates the demand of IOT Chip in North America by making it a leading region in IOT chip market worldwide.The second leading region is Western Europe in which countries such as Germany, France, Italy, and U.K practices IOT technologies in various industries. Countries like China, India, and South Korea are becoming emerging market in IOT Chip making Asia Pacific Excluding Japan fastest developing region for IOT Chip market space, this is because of the high industrial growth of automotive, pharmaceutical and retail domain. The Middle East and Africa are anticipated to grow at a healthy growth rate.Obtain Report Details @Some of the players of global IOT Chip market are AMD, Whiznets, Arduino, Texas Instruments, ARM Holdings PLC., Cypress Semiconductor, Atmel Corporation, Electric Imp, Marvell Technology Group, and Freescale Semiconductor (NXP Semiconductors) among others. Other companies are Intel, MediaTek Inc., Microchip Technology Inc., Qualcomm, Nvidia, Renesas Electronics, Samsung Electronics, Silicon Labs, Semtech, and STMicroelectronics and others.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Rigid packaging market size is expected to cross USD 275 Billion at CAGR of 6% by 2022. https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1772 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/rigid-packaging-market-1772 Global Rigid Packaging Market Information by Materials (Metals, Plastics, Glass, Paperboard, and Others), by Product (Bottles, Cups & Tubs, Trays and Others), by Application (Food & Beverage, Healthcare, Personal Care, Consumer Goods, and Others), and by Region (North America, Europe, APAC and ROW) - Forecast To 2022Market Synopsis of Rigid Packaging MarketThe rising demand for preserved food items and ready-to-cook meals in the era of changing lifestyles has become the reason for the growth of the packaging market. In the recent years the demand for safe and healthy foods has been driving the market.Therefore, materials like metals, plastics, glass, paperboard, pulp, wood, timber, and paper pallets are expected to be in demand.Food and beverages is the dominant industry in the global rigid packaging market. The demand from the healthcare industry is expectedto drive the global rigid packaging market to a large extent, after food & beverages.Plastic leads the market by material. It is the most preferred material when it comes to packaging due to its properties such as durability, firmness, and light-weight. On the basis of region, Asia Pacific region accounts for the fastest growing market, followed by North America and Europe. The region has seen an increased consumption of rigid packaging market due to the growing urbanization, especially in the emerging nations like India and China. The global rigid packaging market size was valued at around USD 187 billion in 2015 and is expected to cross USD 275 Billion at CAGR of 6% by 2022.Key PlayersThe key players of global rigid packaging market report include Amcor Limited, Bemis Company Inc., Berry Plastics Corporation, 3M Company, Ball Corporation, Ardagh Group, Tray Pack Corporation, Nampak Ltd., DS Smith Plc., and Sealed Air Corporation.Get Sample Report @Study Objectives of Rigid Packaging Market To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next 6 years of various segments and sub-segments of the Global Rigid Packaging Market To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth To analyze the Global Rigid Packaging Market based on various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, porters five force analysis etc. To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- North America, Europe, APAC, and Rest of the World (ROW) To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospective To provide country level analysis of the market for segment by material, product, application, and regions To provide strategic profiling of the key players in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market To track and analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the Global Rigid Packaging Market.Regional Analysis of Global Rigid Packaging MarketAPAC is the fastest growing market for rigid packaging, followed by North America and Europe. The share of APAC is attributed to the rapid urbanization and population growth. The region is seen with increased investment in healthcare and food safety to support the economic development and changing lifestyles. Development of innovative packaging materials like eco-friendly materials fueled the growth of the market. This further increased the demand for such packaging materials in food and beverages and healthcare industries. North America, Europe, APAC and emerging nations like India, China and Brazil are expected to increase the market.The rising incomes of average consumers in countries like Japan, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines is also expected to increase the demand for healthcare, packaged food & beverages, and industrial goods, thereby increasing the consumption of such packaging materials.Target Audience Manufactures Raw Materials Suppliers Aftermarket suppliers Research Institute / Education Institute Potential Investors Key executive (CEO and COO) and strategy growth manager.Get a Browse Report @Company Information Profiling of 10 key market players In-depth analysis including SWOT analysis, and strategy information of related to report title Competitive landscape including emerging trends adopted by major companiesThe report for Global Rigid Packaging Market of Market Research Future comprises of extensive primary research along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain the deeper insight of the market and industry performance. The report gives the clear picture of current market scenario which includes historical and projected market size in terms of value and volume, technological advancement, macro economical and governing factors in the market. The report provides details information and strategies of the top key players in the industry. The report also gives a broad study of the different market segments and regions.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research Future+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com Biologics Market Research Report : : Present Scenario and the Growth Prospects http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/global-biologics-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=15509 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Vast Growth Opportunities in Asia Pacific to Bring in More InvestmentGeographically, the global biologics market is segmented into North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, and Middle East and Africa. North America is presently the dominant regional market, holding a share of over 40% in the global market. The region is expected to continue its dominance in terms of revenue contribution to the global market, expected to account for over 40% by 2024 as well.However, the biologics market in Asia Pacific is expected to emerge as the most attractive regional market, exhibiting a massive 15.6% CAGR from 2016 through 2024. By the end of the forecast period, the region is expected to replace Europe and become the second most profitable region for biologics.Owing to the presence of an enormous patient-base and low costs of raw material and manufacturing, an increased number of multi-national pharmaceutical companies are expanding their manufacturing and sales capacities in Asia Pacific. Changes in the regulatory scenario in Asia Pacific are also expected to attract many foreign investors in the Asian markets in the next few years. As a result, the biologics market in Asia Pacific is expected to witness highly positive growth in the next few years.The highly fragmented global market for biologics features the presence of a large number of international pharmaceutical companies and many domestic players. Some of the key vendors in the market are AstraZeneca, AbbVie Inc., Amgen Inc, Bayer AG, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Eli Lilly and Company, Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc., GlaxoSmithKline Plc., Merck & Co., Inc., Pfizer Inc., Novartis AG, and Sanofi.Global Biologics Market: SnapshotThe global pharmaceutical industry has charted growth at an impressive rate in the past few years owing to a vast increase in research and developmental activities, development and launch of new product varieties, breakthrough progress in treatment options for chronic and rare diseases. A significant rise in big pharmaceutical companies operational setups and funds directed towards novel and more effective drug varieties for complex diseases has also been observed across the globe in the past few years. The scenario has led to an increased focus on the development of biologics and a large number of international players are venturing into the global biologics market.Transparency Market Research estimates that the market will tread along a healthy growth path in the next few years. The market is anticipated to exhibit a CAGR of about 10.9% over the period between 2016 and 2024. If the number holds true, the market is expected to rise to a valuation of US$479, 752 mn by 2024.Browse full report on Biologics Market -Monoclonal Antibodies to Remain Most Profitable Product VarietyThe global biologics market is segmented on the basis of product type into monoclonal antibodies, vaccines, recombinant hormones/vaccines, cell therapy, gene therapy and other products. Monoclonal antibodies segment is anticipated to dominate the market throughout the forecast period; the segment is expected to stand for an annual share of 46% by 2024 and expand at a favorable 11.9% CAGR over the period between 2016 and 2024.The segments of vaccines and recombinant hormones/proteins are also expected to attractive for manufacturers, although growth of these segments will be relatively stationary over the forecast period. The segment of vaccines will exhibit a slight decline by 2024, chiefly owing to the lower pricing of most vaccines and many key contenders on the verge of going off patent in the developed market. The segment of recombinant hormones/proteins will witness a slight rise in its share in the global market by 2024 owing to sustainable sales in developed and emerging markets.Global Biologics Market: Scope and MethodologyThis report provides forecast and analysis of the global biologics market on the global and regional levels. It provides historical data of 2015 along with forecast from 2016 to 2024 in terms of revenue (US$ Mn). The report also includes macroeconomic indicators along with an outlook for biologics revenue annually. It includes drivers and restraints of the global biologics market and their impact on each region during the forecast period. The report also comprises the study of applications and opportunities for biologics manufacturers. It also includes a detailed analysis by product type and supply chain analysis with a list of suppliers and industry stakeholders at each node in the supply chain.In order to provide users of this report with a comprehensive view of the market, we have included detailed competitiveness analysis, key blockbuster products, clinical pipeline analysis and company players with unique propositions. The dashboard provides a comprehensive comparison of biologics manufacturers on parameters such as revenue sales, ranking of global players, strategic consolidations, i.e. mergers & acquisitions, licensing activities, as well as R&D activities. The study encompasses market attractiveness analysis, product type, application type, and region.Request for sample of this report -About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. 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: Forecast upto 2024, For Allergy Diagnostics Market : New Research Report http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/allergy-diagnostics-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=5147 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Allergy Diagnostics Market: SnapshotThe global allergy diagnostics market is poised to witness healthy growth during the next few years, driven primarily by the rising instances of allergies around the world and significant growth in diagnostic and treatment options for the same. The opportunity presented by the global market was pegged at US$1.3 bn in 2015 and is projected to be worth US$3.8 bn by 2024, expanding at a strong CAGR of 12.8% therein.The market is characterized by extensive research efforts and technological advancements and manufacturers have been focused on conducting R&D activities to develop more effective diagnostic techniques, optimized allergens, and automated systems.Allergy Diagnostics Market: Scope and MethodologyAllergy diagnostics includes products and tests that are used to determine the presence of allergens such as grass, weed, peanuts, milk, or drugs etc. in the samples by determining the presence of antibodies developed by the immune system. The report on global allergy diagnostics market, analyzes the current and future prospects of the market. The report consists of an executive summary that provides information about the products, its segments and sub-segments, market opportunity analysis, along with a market snapshot and comparative analysis by geography, in terms of revenue %, for 2015.A detailed overview of market dynamics, including the drivers, restraints, and opportunities of the allergy diagnostics market, along with porters analysis, and value chain analysis, of the global market, has been provided in this report. Market revenue analysis for all the above mentioned segments, and their sub segments has been provided for the forecast period of 2016-2024, considering 2015 as the base year, and 2014 as the historical year, along with compound annual growth rate (CAGR %), for the forecast period of 2016-2024. Market share estimations were based on in-depth analysis and study of products, and their features, prices etc.This report provides in-depth analysis of the allergy diagnostics market. The stakeholders for this report include companies involved in the manufacturing of products for allergy diagnosis. For providing a snapshot of this market to the stakeholders, executive summary section is included in this report, which summarizes the market size, trends and competition in different regions. Market share analysis among the market players is analyzed to signify percentage share of the major players operating in the allergy diagnostics market. Furthermore, the report incorporates market attractiveness analysis by geography that depicts the most attractive and significant region in the global market in 2015.The research methodology is a combination of primary and secondary research. Primary research includes information collected via e-mails, and telephonic interviews of Key Opinion Leaders (KOL), and forms the bulk of our research. Secondary research includes information collected from various sources, by study of company websites, annual reports, stock analysis presentations, press releases, and various national and international databases.Browse full report on Allergy Diagnostics Market -Alarming Levels of Asthma and Inhaled Allergies Driving North America and Europe MarketNorth America led the global allergy diagnostics market with a share of more than 40% in 2015. According to the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI), approximately 26 million people in the U.S. suffered from allergic rhinitis in 2015, while around 15 million suffered from food allergies the same year. The lack of exposure to allergens in the early ages owing to increased hygiene levels in developed countries has led to the rising prevalence of inhaled allergies in the country. In addition to this, longer and stronger pollen seasons, technological advances in the field of allergy diagnostics, high per capita healthcare expenditure, and the increasing demand for better healthcare facilities are expected to drive the allergy diagnostics market in North America.Europe is also a prominent market for allergy diagnostics in terms of revenue. According to the Allergy Organization of U.K., an estimated 150 million people in Europe suffered from allergies in 2015, of which, around 17 mn were diagnosed with food allergies. In the U.K. alone, approximately 5.4 million people were suffering from asthma in 2015. This growing prevalence of various types of allergies is expected to boost the demand for allergy diagnostics in the region.The market in Asia Pacific is likely to expand at a phenomenal CAGR during the course of the forecast period. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (IMCR), in 2014, around 17 million people in India suffered from asthma. Food allergies are the most prevalent form of allergies in Asia Pacific. According to the World Bank, around 84 million people in Asia Pacific suffered from food allergies in 2011. This will provide the allergy diagnostics market significant impetus during the forecast period.Key players in the allergy diagnostics market include Thermo Fischer Scientific, Inc., Quest Diagnostics, Inc., BioMerieux SA, Stallergenes Greer, Omega Diagnostics Group Plc, Siemens Healthineers, and HAL Allergy Group.Request for sample of this report -About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. 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: Hospital Acquired Infection Treatment Market Research Report : Forecast upto 2024 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/hospital-acquired-infection-treatment-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=17267 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The global market for hospital acquired infection (HAI) treatment features an exceedingly fragmented vendor landscape, with no leading vendor accounting for a dominant share in the market in 2015, observes Transparency Market Research in a recent report. Notable players in the market, including Merck & Co., Inc., Abbott, Bayer AG, and Pfizer, Inc., struggle for profitable returns amid the emerging threat of generics following patent expirations of several blockbuster drugs.Although strict barriers in form of complex approval procedures and stringent regulatory framework in several regional markets exist, the market has witnessed the entry of a large number of new players in the past few years. The threat of new entrants remains high in the near future owing to the promising market for generics and a slew of new players is expected to enter the global HAI treatment market in the next few years, further intensifying the level of competition.Transparency Market Research states that the global HAI treatment market will exhibit a moderate 2.7% CAGR from 2016 through 2024, rising from a valuation of US$28.99 bn in 2015 to US$36.61 bn in 2024.Browse full report on Hospital Acquired Infection Treatment Market -North America Market to Retain DominanceOf the key HAI treatment types examined in the report, the segment of antibacterial treatment takes the lead in terms of demand and consumption. The rising prevalence of hospital acquired bacterial infections across the globe is likely to allow the segment of antibacterial treatment retain its dominance in the global HAI treatment market over the forecast period.From a geographical perspective, the global HAI treatment market is dominated by North America, followed by Europe. The regional market valued at US$10,272.70 mn in 2016 and is expected to retain its dominant position over the forecast period as well. The rapidly rising pool of geriatric patients and the presence of some of the worlds leading pharmaceutical companies will allow the region to remain dominant.Rising Geriatric Population and Increased Demand across Emerging Economies to Propel MarketSome of the chief factors that are presently driving the global demand for effective HAI treatments are the rising geriatric population and the increased focus on improving healthcare infrastructures in developing and less-developed economies. The geriatric population is more prone to a number of infections and are a demographic that account for a massive share in the overall expenditure on healthcare and wellness spent by any society.The threat of developing nosocomial infections is significantly high in elderly people owing to their low immunity to diseases. Therefore, as the worlds population ages, the demand for HAI treatment methods is also expected to rise at a significant pace in the next few years.Rising Numbers of Multidrug Resistance Microorganisms Drive Demand for Alternative TreatmentsOne of the key factor hindering the growth of the global HAI treatment market is the steadily rising numbers of multidrug resistance (MDR) microorganisms that resist multiple antimicrobial drugs. Resistance to most available treatment methods and drugs is threatening the public health and pressuring the healthcare industry to find alternative treatments, restricting the adoption of standard nosocomial infection drugs to a notable extent.Nevertheless, the market could benefit from the several drug candidates for treating hospital acquired infections that are presently in the pipelines of some of the leading pharmaceutical companies of the globe. The increasing focus on the rising prevalence of HAIs in emerging economies has generated vast untapped growth opportunities in the form of elderly population from the lower and middle income categories. These opportunities can prove to be beneficial for established players as well as new entrants in regions such as Asia Pacific and Latin America.Request for sample of this report -About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. 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: Alpha Mannosidosis Market Research Report : : Market and Growth Analysis http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/alpha-mannosidosis-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=2501 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Key Players Mentioned in this Research Report are:Zymenex, a company focused on R&D on biologics designed to fight rare and life-threatening genetic diseases has developed recombinant enzyme indicated for patients with alpha-Mannosidosis known as Lamazym (velmanase alfa). Zymenex has been acquired by Chiesi Farmaceutici S.p.A. Lamazym has received orphan drug designation is Europe and the U.S.Global Alpha Mannosidosis Market: OverviewWith increase in the incidence of alpha mannosidosis worldwide the market for treatment is expected to grow in coming years. Alpha Mannosidosis is a rare inherited condition that leads to problems in organs and tissues of the body. The disease is of three types such as Type I, Type II and Type III. Type I is a mild form, type II is moderate form of disease and most commonly observed, whereas, type III is the severe form of disease. Alpha Mannosidosis affects 1 in every 10, 00,000 people worldwide. Alpha-mannosidosis affects men and women equally across the globe. Bone marrow transplant (BMT) and Enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) are the two treatment options for alpha mannosidosis. Bone marrow transplant (BMT) has been conventionally used universally to treat patients suffering from alpha mannosidosis.Some of the factors driving this market include market exclusivity of orphan drugs, fee reductions and tax credits, increasing investment in the rare disease treatment etc. However, the factors such as high cost of orphan drugs and lack of awareness are expected to hamper the market demand.Browse full report on Alpha Mannosidosis Market -Global Alpha Mannosidosis Market: SegmentationThe alpha mannosidosis market has been segmented based on treatment, indication, end-user and geography. Based on treatment, the market has been segmented into bone marrow transplant (BMT) and enzyme replacement therapy (ERT). Enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) is expected to dominate the market with a considerable share in 2017. With the expected increase in the incidence of alpha mannosidosis the market is expected to grow at a high rate in the next few years. BMT is expected to grow steadily due to the morbidity issues connected with the treatment. In terms of indication, the market has been categorized into type I, type II and type III. The market for type III segment is projected to expand at the maximum rate during the forecast period. Type II accounts for a considerable market share at present. Based on end-user, the market has been segmented into hospitals and specialty clinics. The hospitals segment dominated the market and the trend is likely to continue driven by increasing patient burden due to rise in patient burden.Global Alpha Mannosidosis Market: Regional OutlookGeographically, the market has been segmented into five regions: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East and Africa. Asia Pacific is expected to dominate the market in 2017 with a considerable market share. North America and Europe also account for substantial portion of the market. The report identifies and explains key market drivers, restraints and opportunities. The report also provides Porters five forces analysis for comprehensive market understanding. Furthermore, market attractiveness analysis provides insights to most attractive regional markets to invest in the future.Request for Sample of this report -About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. 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: WATERLOO A Waterloo man has been arrested for allegedly having sex with a teen and giving her methamphetamine. Shaurome Orlando Taylor, 46, of 117 Smith St., was arrested April 9 for third-degree sexual abuse and delivery of meth to a minor. He was also arrested for possession of meth for drugs that officers found when he was arrested. The arrest stems from incidents in February 2016 and comes after a year of investigation. Authorities allege Taylor had provided a white powdery substance to a 13-year-old girl and then had sex with her on several occasions. The girl was taken to a hospital for a sex abuse examination, and she tested positive for meth, court records state. Investigators found text messages on his phone discussing sexual contact with the girl, according to court records. When Waterloo police arrested Taylor, officers found crystal meth in a folded dollar bill in the coin pocket of his jeans, court records state. Taylor remains with the Black Hawk County Jail with bond set at $55,000. Doug Rozendaal has been flying airplanes for more than four decades, but when he took off from Mason City Airport on Friday it was a first for BLOOMINGTON Even though the local economy may not be as strong as everyone would like, its still better than most in Illinois, the president and CEO of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce said Wednesday. I think a lot of the places in the state are envious of this area, said Todd Maisch, one of the keynote speakers at the 8th Annual Economic Summit sponsored by Commerce Bank and the Commerce Trust. It has some challenges, but there are a lot of places in the state that would like to have the economy that McLean County has. Maisch, who is based in Springfield, praised the McLean County Chamber of Commerce for its strong role in the local economy. Charlie Moore and his group of people do a great job here, he said. Maisch said the future of the local economy, though, largely depends upon what happens with the state budget. We have been 22 months without a state budget and what is happening is that the state is spending $38 billion each year, but only producing $32 billion of revenue each year, he said. So that is $6 billion each year that we are falling short. "I can remember in the days of Jim Edgar when he was governor and we had a deficit of maybe $2 billion and we thought that was a lot. Now, its more like $22 billion. Maisch holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois and an MBA from Illinois State University. Its always good to come back home, he said. My parents met at Wesleyan, so I have roots going back pretty far. Joining Maisch at the meeting was Scott Colbert, executive vice president, chief economist and director of fixed income at the Commerce Trust Company. I think we are getting towards the end of one of the longest economic expansions ever, but things are still continuing to get better, Colbert told the crowd of about 200 at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Bloomington. Its like we are in the seventh inning and there is still some time for good things to happen. But all economic expansions end at some point. And they always end with a recession, so people have to be aware of that and be smart with their investments and their finances. The economic recovery started in June 2009, he continued, "and that will make this the second-longest economic recovery we have had since World War II. Colbert couldnt predict when the economic expansion would end, but said its not too early to start considering options. NORMAL An ordinance limiting the number of animals that can be housed at a Normal residence may be tweaked to stop such things as puppy mill BLOOMINGTON U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth will host a town hall meeting from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Sunday at Illinois Wesleyan University's Hansen Student Center, Bloomington. Doors will open at 1 p.m., but entry cannot be guaranteed without a ticket. Free tickets can be obtained here. No food, drinks, promotional materials or signs of any kind will be permitted at the meeting. Duckworth, a Democrat who served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, was elected to the U.S. Senate in November, defeating GOP incumbent Mark Kirk. Before being elected to Congress in 2012, the Army veteran served as director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs and, later, assistant secretary for public and intergovernmental affairs in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Duckworth's counterpart, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., had a town hall meeting at IWU in March. NORMAL Normal Community West High School students were encouraged Tuesday to plan more for summer vacation than sleeping in and visiting the pool. The school hosted its annual Summer Opportunity Fair to promote volunteerism and chances for skill-building over the summer break. School counselor Brooke Bollmann helped organize the event for more than 500 students, who had the chance to chat with 20 local businesses. "It's a chance for students to become involved, but it's also a good opportunity for community organizations to become more involved in the schools," said Bollmann. Some of the organizations were the YWCA, 100 Black Men, Midwest Technical Institute, St. Judes Research Hospital, Home Sweet Home Ministries and the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts. Students can explore different ways to be involved and give back to the community. By volunteering, students are able to make connections, learn about college opportunities and gain job skills, said Bollmann. Annie McManaman works in the student success division at Heartland Community College. She spoke with students about an opportunity to gain skills and earn college credit at Heartland over the summer. The free credit hour is transferable to most colleges, said McManaman. Students can apply to attend eight, one hour-sessions on Wednesdays at Heartland. The workshops build communication, time management skills and critical thinking while guiding students toward selecting a college and major. The workshops build skills that employers are looking for. When students arrive on campus, they learn its nothing to be afraid of; its just a new environment. Its a non-intimidating way to take the pressure off college, said McManaman. While mentoring freshmen students, a group of junior boys were impressed by the Heartland workshop opportunity. If I get that credit, Ill gain some leeway to work ahead while I can, said junior Lamareon Hon. Junior Jesse McConaha said he volunteers at Childrens Home and Aid Foundation and said volunteering is a good opportunity to build leadership. Not only is it a good experience, but you get to help people, he said. Andrea Raycraft, executive director for area Kiwanis, explained the purpose of the Normal West Key Club and how students can become involved. Students are very influenced by volunteer opportunities. Hopefully this event allowed students to see what things there are to do in the McLean County area, said Rayraft. Freshmen Hannah Hyatt and Bethany Egge said they discovered new learning opportunities to consider over the summer. Eggey was eager to spend time volunteering at the Children's Discovery Museum in Normal. I cant work this year, so this is a good way to still gain experience," she said. I want to use volunteering as a way to learn new things and interact with organizations in town, said Hyatt. CHICAGO The reason immigrant appreciation efforts, like the "Day Without Immigrants" events this past February, fall flat is because few people really feel any pain. Sure, some may have faced the minor inconvenience of not eating at their favorite restaurant, but it barely made a ripple on most non-immigrants' day-to-day lives. Even worse: Some immigrants were fired from their jobs for failing to show up for work. And, in some places, the protest-related school absences were considered a positive such as at one school in Riverside County, California, where the teachers took to Facebook to crow about how awesome it was to have the Hispanic students absent that day. Alas, the real economic impact of immigrants largely goes unnoticed when it matters most at tax time. If the immigration hard-liners magically got their way and the nation's illegal immigrants suddenly disappeared, the United States would lose out on an estimated $11.74 billion in annual state and local tax revenue from a combination of sales, excise, personal income and property taxes, according to a tally by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Even in Montana, a state with only about 1,000 undocumented people, their tax contributions are just over $550,000. In California, home to more than 3 million unlawfully present immigrants, contributions total more than $3.1 billion. According to the institute's most recent data, "the nation's estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants pay 8 percent of their incomes in state and local taxes every year. While it is unlikely to happen in the current political environment, undocumented immigrants' state and local tax contributions could increase by up to $2.1 billion under comprehensive immigration reform." Still unmoved? Well, let's look at the "Effects of Unauthorized Immigration on the Actuarial Status of the Social Security Trust Funds," a report published by the Social Security Administration in 2013, which said: "We estimate that earnings by unauthorized immigrants result in a net positive effect on Social Security financial status generally, and that this effect contributed roughly $12 billion to the cash flow of the program for 2010. We estimate that future years will experience a continuation of this positive impact on the trust funds." How does this happen? Most people don't know this: Though there is no "line" for immigrants to get in for the purposes of entering the U.S. legally, there is a mechanism for paying taxes whether they're here with valid papers or not. This mechanism is called an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, or ITIN, and many illegal immigrants use this method to comply with tax law on the off chance that they may someday get the opportunity to prove to an immigration judge that they have "good moral character" and deserve a shot at legal permanent residence. In 2010, according to the National Immigration Law Center, over 3 million federal tax returns were filed with ITINs all of this with no expectation of ever being able to draw funds from Social Security. Some people don't want to hear this, though. In the weeks leading up to protests demanding that President Trump release his tax returns, Belen Sisa, who is covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), posted a photo of her fourth annual tax form and the message, "MYTH BUSTER: I, an undocumented immigrant, just filed my taxes and PAID $300 to the state of Arizona. I cannot receive financial aid from the state or federal government for school, I cannot benefit from unemployment, a reduced health care plan, or a retirement fund." The post went viral and, predictably, Sisa was deluged with hate messages on social media, allusions to having reported her to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and death threats. In response, she told NBC Latino that unlawfully present immigrants should "take a picture of your taxes and make a post. Let them know that you pay taxes, too, because people don't know." They really don't. Advocacy stunts, white papers and well-sourced reports are fine, if low-key, methods of showing the value illegal immigrants bring to this country. Perhaps a countdown clock of how quickly the Social Security trust fund will run out of cash without them would be more effective. Government conducted openly reflects the work good, bad and indifferent of elected and appointed officials. Government conducted behind closed doors, or conducted in a manner that makes it difficult to access records, is just bad government. Which is why Illinois and Attorney General Lisa Madigan should be commended for their support of the Open Meetings Act, a law that outlines how public bodies should conduct their business. McLean County alone has almost 200 public bodies, staffed by 1,000 people serving on those boards, commissions and councils. At times, apparent violations of the act can seem minor: did a group post a meeting notice or did they post an agenda? Both are required. Did a meeting notice taped to an interior door meet the letter of the law, or should it have been taped on the building's front door, posted online or printed as a legal notice? Was the notice taped, posted or printed at least 48 hours before the meeting? At other times, violations can be major: did a group meet illegally, citing litigation, personnel or real estate issues as a reason for a closed meeting, when the issue was merely a suggestion and not pending? Did a majority participate in a group phone call or group text? Some members of the public may wonder why it matters if a public body broke such a law, or if the media goes overboard in filing paperwork to get the answers. Some members of the public routinely file requests for a variety of information from city halls, county offices, police departments and more. Each government body, and some larger departments, have a person assigned as the "officer" of such requests, and they have been trained in the law that governs the public's right to know. The laws are there to ensure our government by and for the people is doing the people's work and are held accountable by the citizens. As an example, cited in a recent story by Edith Brady-Lunny, the county prosecutor's office ruled Bloomington-Normal Area Convention & Visitors Bureau is a public body under the Open Meetings Act and subject to state open meetings rules. Part of that decision is because CVB receives more than 80 percent of its funding from public sources, including state grants and local government funding, and because six of the bureau's nine board members are elected officials. Madigan's public integrity unit continues to review whether three members of the McLean County Board of Health secretly conducted public business by meeting repeatedly with former health department Administrator Walt Howe, Brady-Lunny wrote. The office also has been asked to review the legality of several closed sessions by the Bloomington City Council where discussions were held on the controversial cancellation of the Metro Zone agreement with Normal. Government business is the public's business. They, and we, should remember that. Here we go again. A Republican state senator for Florida, Frank Artiles, apologized publicly yesterday for using a variation of the N-word during an after-hours conversation with his African American colleagues. In a conversation at Tallahassee's Governor's Club with Democratic senators Audrey Gibson of Jacksonville and Perry Thurston of Fort Lauderdale, Artiles, who is Cuban-American and represents the Miami-area, reportedly used a variation of the N-word in reference to six white colleagues. "It was a slang term, and I am not a racist," Artiles told POLITICO Florida via text message. "I am not a racist." The heated conversation reportedly was regarding Artiles' disappointment with Senate President Joe Negron's lack of Republican legislative accomplishments. "Joe Negron is a pussy," Artilestold Gibson and Thurston, who are both black. "Things are running the way they are because of the six n----s who put him there. Like any sane person, Thurston responded, "Excuse me? Dude, did you just say 'niggers?' Am I hearing that right?" "No," Artiles reportedly replied. "I said 'niggas.'" Right. So much better. Artiles pointed to his upbringing in Hialeah, a working class, heavily Hispanic neighborhood, as the justification for his use of the word. When Gibson challenged him further, Artiles said she should stop acting like a "bitch" and also referred to her as a "fucking asshole." Gibson apologized late Tuesday after word of the incident got out and he was reported to Republican leadership. "In an exchange with a colleague of mine in the Senate, I unfortunately let my temper get the best of me," Artiles' statement read. "There is no excuse for the exchange that occurred and I have apologized to my Senate colleagues and regret the incident profusely." "I can't remember a time in my life when anybody called me either one of those things," Gibson told the Miami Herald, adding that a forced apology would be "meaningless." "It's just the most disrespect I've ever encountered." Though in the past an incident like this might have gone largely unnoticed, increasing social media attention made it impossible for lawmakers to ignore. Though he originally said little on the matter, Negron released a statement late Tuesday that said, "I was appalled to hear that one Senator would speak to another in such an offensive and reprehensible manner. Racial slurs and profane, sexist insults have no place in conversation between Senators and will not be tolerated while I am serving as Senate President. Senator Artiles has requested a point of personal privilege at the beginning of tomorrow's sitting, during which he intends to formally apologize to Senator Gibson on the Senate Floor." This isn't the first time Artiles has gotten into trouble for his actions. A Democrat gave The Miami Herald a copy of a 2014 recording of Artiles, a former Marine, using the anti-Muslim slur "hajis." Democratic Senator Oscar Braynon II of Fort Lauderdale drew a connection between the two incidents. "Senator Artiles appears to have an issue with people who don't look like him, who don't think like him, and who don't act like him," he said. "To simply say "I'm sorry," might work if this were the first affront, but it's not. He's attacked Muslims with the same fervor he's now demeaning African Americans, and it cannot stand." [h/t NBC Miami] Image via Twitter Juan Manuel Montes, 23, was the first immigrant to be deported from the US who was protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy put in place by president Obama. After being unceremoniously dumped on the other side of the border without so much as a letter explaining why, Montes, who was nine years old when he was first brought to America, is now suing the Trump administration. Montes filed a complaint yesterday with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, saying that the government failed to provide documentation that explained the legality of his deportation. Montes has qualified for DACA twice, and was legally protected under the policy until 2018. People protected under the DACA, also known as Dreamers, were brought into the United States as minors. The executive director of the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) Marielena Hincapie said, "How is it possible that in the United States of America you can be walking and be stopped by Border Patrol and then disappeared and sent to another country because you don't have your wallet on you?" Staff attorney Nora A. Preciado at the NILC added, "Juan Manuel was funneled across the border without so much as a piece of paper to explain why or how. The government shouldn't treat anyone this way much less someone who has DACA. No one should have to file a lawsuit to find out what happened to them." In February, USA Today reported that Montes was the first protected Dreamer to be deported. He was visiting his girlfriend in the border town of Calexico, California when he was approached by Border Patrol and asked for his ID, which he didn't have with him. Even though he explained his DACA status, the agents took him to a local station and then deported him to Mexico. He later climbed the border fence in an attempt to reenter the US, but was sent right back by authorities. Montes' attorneys also say he suffers from a cognitive disability that is the result of a brain injury. A statement from Montes says, "My home is [in the US]. I miss my job. I miss school...But most of all, I miss my family." Montes and his lawyers filed a freedom of information (FOIA) request with Customs and Border Protection (CBP), asking for records and information regarding his case. CBP claims that Montes' DACA protection expired in 2015, but his lawyers say they have documentation showing otherwise. The case has been a focal point for political leaders and immigration activists throughout the country. "It is beyond the pale that border patrol officers are left to make decisions that impact people's lives and future with absolute impunity," said Angelica Salas of the California-based Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA). "ICE must be reigned in and stopped from grossly violating people's constitutional rights." Illinois Democratic congressman Dick Durbin weighed in, saying, "Just last month Secretary Kelly promised me that no one with DACA would lose this protection unless they violated the terms of DACA. I intend to hold him to this commitment." And Javier Gamboa, media director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), said in a statement, "President Trump and every Republican in Congress who promised that no DREAMer would be targeted, let alone be deported, owns this grave moral failure." Hincapie said that Montes' case "should trouble any American that cares about freedom," before adding that Montes belongs with his family. "He belongs home, California is home," she said. [h/t NBC] Image via the National Immigration Law Center A hospital in California remained silent despite the fact that ten infants were infected with an antibiotic-resistant superbug inside their facilities over the past six months. Even though the infants were diagnosed with the disease, none of them died. The staff at the UC Irvine Medical Center have yet to comment about the antibiotic-resistant superbug that hit their neonatal intensive care unit. The hospital secretly battled the spread of MRSA that affected one of two units for newborns with critical condition, according to Daily Mail. Parents, who became upset upon knowing about the outbreak, stated that they should have been informed first hand. Marian Hollingsworth, a board member of the state's Healthcare Associated Infection Advisory Committee, filed a complaint with the California Department of Public Health wherein she mandated that the public should be informed. "I'm a mom of four. I'd be outraged if no one told me," Hollingsworth told CBS. "I think hospitals have a lot to learn yet about infection control, and everyone needs to be on it to help prevent it." In a statistic released by the government, 26 percent of the infants infected by MRSA in ICUs die. There were limited resources in terms of treatment as health care providers have yet to come up with a specific strain that can combat the virus. Daptomycin is one of the drugs that can cure MRSA, but it can only cure a third of the patients affected by the superbug. Experts are coming up with ways to eliminate the virus after they found out that the superbug released a decoy molecule that makes them antibiotic-resistant. MRSA made rounds as it starts to affect thousands of children worldwide, according to WebMD. The infection could potentially be treated with a certain antibiotic, however, it is not a guaranteed cure for all. Before Sandy Hook, there was Virginia Tech. And before it all, there was Bath Consolidated School where 42 were killed, including 38 children. This was the worst school killing ever to occur in the United States, contrary to the popular misconception that Virginia Tech was. So, what are the worst school massacres in the United States? Here are the other top two school massacres across the nation. A large portion of the United States has touted the Virginia Tech slay as the biggest school massacre. With 32 minors shot by student Seung Hui Cho at Blacksburg, Virginia university grounds, national papers dubbed the killing as the "worst school massacre," as per Washington Post. Virginia Tech fatality toll is not being undermined, but the deaths in Bath Consolidated School deserves not to be forgotten in vain. The slaying in Virginia comes only second to it. In May 1927, students at Bath Consolidated School in Michigan were having their final exam until a school board member blasted the school, leaving teachers and children injured and dead. Apparently, the angry school board member, Andrew Kehoe, dynamited the school because of his excessively large taxes. Before he blasted the school, he killed his wife. He then blew his car with him onboard after he took the lives at Bath Consolidated School. At his home, plastered on a fence, a sign read "Criminals are made, not born." How to help students and staff of North Park Elementary School. https://t.co/4DlLupdPta Beatriz Valenzuela (@BeatrizVNews) April 13, 2017 Following the horrific ordeal in Michigan in 1927 and Virginia Tech in 2007, the Sandy Hook killings come third in terms of death. The shooting in 2012 occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, where 20 children were gunned down by Adam Lanza, per CNN. Lanza, who had a fascination over gun-shooting, possessed four contrabands. The perpetrator used two weapons in his shooting spree, a semiautomatic .223-caliber rifle and two handguns. Authorities discovered another semi-automatic shotgun in his car. Similar to what Kehoe did 90 years ago, Lanza took the life of one of his beloved. The 20-year-old gunned down his mother before going after the Sandy Hook children. After the killings, he took his own life as well. So, what do you think the three mass murderers have in common, aside from taking lives of innocent people? The authorities found out they have disorganized mental health. Kehoe was described to be a "madman" in a 1927 New York Times report, while Lanza and Seung had a deteriorating mental health. An Oklahoma grandmother received three life sentences after she dressed up as a witch to terrorize her granddaughter. Prosecutors also found out that she did other abusive things to her granddaughter. The grandmother, 51-year-old Geneva Robinson, severely abused her 7-year-old granddaughter. Her 33-year-old boyfriend, Joshua Granger, also faced a 30-year sentence for having knowledge of the abuse. He pleaded guilty to child abuse and neglect charges. Both of them faced a total of 29 counts of felony child abuse and neglect, People reported. Prosecutors and investigators found out that Robinson assaulted and abused her granddaughter for more than a year. Aside from terrorizing her while dressing up as a witch, she also burned the girl with cigarettes, smacked the child's face and beat her granddaughter with a rolling pin. Robinson also removed her granddaughter from school and sometimes did not give her food. The grandmother also forced the child to sleep outside with the dogs. Accordingly, whenever she abused the child, she painted her skin green, dressed in black and assumed the persona of Nelda the Witch. In one of the videos that authorities made public, Nelda the Witch grabbed the child by the throat and dragged her across the floor. The investigation on the incident dated back in 2014. Workers at the Griffin Memorial Hospital in Norman, Oklahoma said Robinson tried to send her granddaughter to the institution because she claimed she could not control the girl. The girl then told investigators her grandmother whipped, pinched and beat her regularly and sometimes, with the use of pliers. She also told the authorities that her grandmother had a pink leash that she used to tie her up into the ceiling. The defense team said Robinson had an abusive childhood that is why she did not have good parenting skills. Robinson reportedly used the persona Nelda the Witch to other people as well such as the girl's father. There are three million reports of child abuse each year, as per FindLaw. It involves six million children and four to five kids are killed every day due to abuse or neglect. Meanwhile, the abused victim, who is now nine-years-old, wrote a letter to Robinson that was read in court. Despite the ordeal she went through, the girl told her grandmother that she loves her and forgave her. She even called Robinson the best grandmother she ever had. It remained unknown where the child stays now. Prince Harry, 32, revealed he's primed for fatherhood. The "spare" of the British monarchy and the younger brother of Prince William, the "heir," described how he's going to be a fun dad when he has kids. Prince Harry spoke about becoming a dad during a podcast with The Telegraph. He told "Mad World" host Bryony Gordon that having children crossed his mind before and he got some experience handling kids with his godchildren, nephews and nieces. The fifth in line to the throne revealed whenever he bonds with these kids he's also embracing a child-like and playful attitude. "If that means going to someone's house, sitting there and playing PlayStation, kicking the ass of their son on Counterstrike, or Halo, or whatever it is, then I'll try and do that," he said. Speaking of fun and playful, spectators at the Invictus Games in Toronto recently spotted Prince Harry bonding with a 2-year-old boy. The royal got down to the boy's level and pretended to spar with the little one, who incidentally is also named Harry. "We call him our Prince Harry, so getting the chance to meet the real thing is amazing," Dan Phillips, the 2-year-old's dad said, as per E! News. "He certainly loved it." Prince Harry established Invictus in 2014 as an international Paralympics event. Meanwhile, a former bodyguard for the royals described Prince Harry as the "mischievous one" as a child. "He would go around saying he could do anything he wanted as William was going to be King and have all the responsibility," Ken Wharfe said, as per Daily Mail. Wharfe also praised the prince for publicly speaking about his mental breakdown following his mother's untimely death when he was only 12. Prince Harry admitted he bottled his feelings over losing Lady Diana and only came to terms with this 20 years after during therapy. The prince said he's in "a good place" since seeking professional help. Experts found a plausible common denominator linking skin cancer and pregnancy. Pregnant moms, however, shouldn't ignore skin conditions that could develop while their baby belly grows. What should pregnant moms watch out for as melanoma indicators and who are most at risk? It's normal for a pregnant woman's skin condition to change. This is because a woman heavy with a child has increased hormones. More hormones, however, could also trigger melanoma development. Hence, melanoma during pregnancy is a commonly diagnosed condition among moms. Other doctors say the skin condition arises because a mom's body is more focused on the baby's healthy growth. "[The] body is really focusing its efforts on growing another human being, so it's a little distracted on really taking care of itself," melanoma oncologist Dr. Sapna Patel said, as per Today. The good news is melanoma during pregnancy is a safe and treatable condition. More so, if it's detected early. Considering how fast melanoma spreads, it's not wise to leave this untreated. Doctors at the American Academy of Dermatology endorse melanoma screenings for pregnant women as a matter of early intervention and treatment. Those most at risk are women who have experienced bad sunburns, or have used tanning beds, or have melanoma history in the family. Women who have discovered irregular mole growths or skin eruptions, itchiness, blotches and patches on their body should also schedule a visit to the doctor. "If melanoma gets deep enough that it spreads by invading a blood vessel and the melanoma cells can travel throughout the body they also can travel across the placenta and affect the baby," New York dermatologist Dr. Janet Prystowsky said, as per Baby Center. For one's peace of mind, it's better to see an expert and confirm if the skin changes are harmless. Doctors will do a skin biopsy using a safe local anesthetic to remove any suspicious growth. Doctors will also require interferon injections in some cases. More aggressive treatments like radiation therapy could be required depending on the case. It's rare for the baby in the womb to develop melanoma but it can happen. Learn more on skin cancer and pregnancy in the video below. European police busted a pedophile network sharing child porn on the online messaging service WhatsApp. Authorities seized hundreds of disturbing images from several groups spread out across 18 countries in Central America, Europe and South America. In Lugo, Spain, which was believed as the center of the pedophile network, police arrested 17 people. Other arrests were also made in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Italy, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Portugal, Sky News reported. Europol said the network kept 360,000 files of babies, toddlers and children as old as eight being sexually abused. Authorities said the pedophile ring collected these, as well as the children's addresses, for over two decades, Mirror reported. Europol eyed and investigated 96 WhatsApp groups where the distribution of the child porn images took place before they launched the raids. "The photographic and video files distributed in these channels are characterized by humiliating treatment and an excessive brutality on the victims, of ages between zero and eight years," the Spanish police said. The investigation, called "Operation Tantalio," started in June 2016 in a joint effort among the Europol, the Interpol, the Technological Research Unit (ITU) of the National Police, the Action Group on Cybercrime in The Hague and the European Union. The agencies based their operation on a tip about people sharing photos and videos of child porn anonymously on the online instant messaging service. Also seized in the raids were dozens of hardware equipment and handwritten logs of the children's profiles. This won't be the last move against pedophile networks. "We need to continue to combine our joint resources and skills to tackle this threat to our children and bring these offenders to justice," Europol director Rob Wainwright said, as per BBC. Meanwhile, WhatsApp released a statement in connection with the bust. "Child exploitation has no place on WhatsApp," the spokesperson said. "When we're made aware of these accounts, we investigate, disable users that violate our terms, and assist with law enforcement as they track down and prosecute criminals." United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May recently released a statement saying that a general election will take place amid the Brexit turmoil. Education unions saw the snap general election as a possibility to increase the budget of the education department. Kevin Courtney, the General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, warned that the general election will most likely affect the education department so he called on the parents to fight the problem. He also threatened that the government will see an industrial action from the teaching profession, iNews shared. Courtney continued to say that they want to pressure the candidates to oppose school budget cuts. He said the snap general election was their way to challenge the years-long cuts in the education department in England. He added, "In the run-up to this election, parents must demand of all politicians: will they invest in our country, will they invest in our children?" Aside from threatening industrial action from the teaching profession, Courtney told the government that it would be an "absolute disgrace" if the officials did not respond to their statements regarding the general election. Courtney, who recently assumed the post in the union, noted that parents have to know who they are voting for and if these candidates support the funding of their children's schools. The officials of the current administration promised an increase in school funding but they did not stick to their promises. The secretary of the union said that the arts, dance, drama and music classes had to be taken off of the curriculum due to the insufficient funding for schools. The Association of School and College Leaders, another education union, echoed the sentiments of the National Union of Teachers. Geoff Barton, the General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, called on leaders and political parties to make changes in education. The National Association of Head Teachers general secretary Russell Hobby added that school funding cuts should be raised during the election campaign, The Guardian reported. The general election in the United Kingdom will take place this June 8, 2017. Many supported the election announcement. Boston-area pastor Rev. Susan Chorley opened up about her abortion in the church, shocking the members of the congregation. Thousands of women in the United States remained mum when it comes to discussing their abortion with the fear of being judged. But Chorley's gesture to open up about her procedure paved way for women to speak and stand up for their abortion experience as well. Rev. Chorley opened up about the struggle she faced after having her abortion. Aside from the pain she felt after the procedure, she also went through a battle with her mental health. With the fear of being scrutinized upon sharing her abortion, Chorley suffered in silence for a long period of time until she regained the strength to speak up and share her experience with other women, as reported by CNN. Chorley and other women who opened up about their struggles with depression came up with a group wherein they adapt the "pro-voice" philosophy. Exhale catered women who wished to discuss their abortion stories without being judged. "We try to put people in boxes, and it hasn't gotten us anywhere. It's just caused this huge divide," Chorley said. Whether we like it or not, "abortion is happening among us, and it's time we looked at it and talked about it." Abortion is a sensitive topic, as some even refer to is as taboo. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump reinstates the abortion gag rule as women's rights. Trump's gesture to ban U.S. funded groups that discussed abortion caused a backlash among women worldwide. Former President Barack Obama lifted the rule when he took office in 2009. The gag rule has been linked to abortion-related deaths and health complications as unsafe abortion continually increased before it was lifted, according to ABC. With the current changed in the administration, advocates fear that woman would be going through unsafe procedures to eliminate their pregnancy. MASON CITY | A former employee of the Mason City Domino's Pizza store accused of illegally doubling his paychecks received a deferred judgment this week. Brandon Tonn, 20, Plymouth, was put on probation for one year on a misdemeanor charge of third-degree theft. The conviction will be struck from his record if he successfully completes probation. A $625 civil penalty was imposed, with $300 suspended. Tonn also was ordered to pay a $125 surcharge. Restitution will be determined at a later date. Former pizza man accused of theft from Mason City business MASON CITY | A former employee of Domino's Pizza's Mason City store is accused of illegally Tonn was accused of depositing eight paychecks twice. Investigators say Tonn first used an app to deposit the paychecks into his account, and then later deposited those same checks again, illegally gaining $2,010.64, according to court documents. They say this happened between Nov. 10, 2015, and Aug. 18, 2016. Tonn originally was charged with felony second-degree theft. He agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge. Mary Pieper This story generated a bit of national controversy, and understandably so: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/utah-judge-rape-sentencing-mormon-bishop-good-man-46804715 See also: Judge Who Called Convicted Rapist a Good Man Likely Wont Face Punishment The judges comment is the sort of remark that, viewed from one angle and especially when viewed by people seeking a cause for indignation or looking for a weapon to use in a larger war was sure to stir up trouble: Rape is obviously not the act of a good man. But can good men do bad things? Can a good person act terribly? Yes. Sadly, it happens all the time. And, despite the photograph accompanying the article to which I link above, which makes him look supremely smug and self-satisfied, there is apparently considerable strong evidence for good things in and about this man. Its transparently clear to me what Judge Lows point was. Those who are going after him seem to me, in many ways, to be seeking to make him an offender for a word. Its almost as if theyre deliberately trying to misunderstand his comment. To me, one of the most fascinating aspects of the Mountain Meadows Massacre is that that horror was perpetrated by ordinary, decent people who were, if anything, unusually good and well-intentioned on most occasions and under typical circumstances. Had they simply been thugs by nature, bad and violent people, what happened there in southern Utah wouldnt be so stunning and so baffling. Likewise, people who arent very good can sometimes rise to heroic virtue. Oskar Schindler seems to have been a spectacular example of this. Thomas Becket may have been another, in a rather different way more like the ex-slaver-turned-abolitionist John Newton. We shouldnt be surprised at this, really, as were all a mixture of good and bad, susceptible to inspiration and prone to temptation. None of this is to minimize the terrible crime of rape or sexual molestation though I write in full awareness of the fact that some of my critics will want, if they can, to portray me as doing so. None of it is to suggest that this man shouldnt be severely punished for the crime of which a jury convicted him. But Im not surprised at what this judge said, even if I recognize how naive and unwise he may have been to say it. What he said was absolutely true. And it should not be forgotten that he both described Vallejos apparent crime as a bad thing and set the stage for a very tough criminal sentence. In no way did he excuse the crime or brush the offense aside. It would be easier for us to believe that criminals are utterly different from us, a distinct species. But theyre not. That was surely one of the principal points of Hannah Arendts classic 1963 book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. In his The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956, the great Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn makes my point with powerful eloquence: If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? During the life of any heart this line keeps changing place; sometimes it is squeezed one way by exuberant evil and sometimes it shifts to allow enough space for good to flourish. One and the same human being is, at various ages, under various circumstances, a totally different human being. At times he is close to being a devil, at times to sainthood. But his name doesnt change, and to that name we ascribe the whole lot, good and evil. Patna: Supporters of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) in Patna on Tuesday burnt effigies of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his partner in politics Lalu Prasad Yadav for allowing a 'convicted criminal' to share dais with the President of India during a function in Patna to mark the 100th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's Champaran March. Demanding the resignation of the Chief Minister, the protestor said that by putting Yadav, who remains out of jail on bail after being convicted by a CBI court in the multi-crore rupees fodder scam, the Nitish administration had insulted Gandhi along with hundreds of thousands of freedom fighters who fought against the British rule by making huge sacrifices whereas the RJD Chief strived only to fatten his wallet and to carve political careers for his children. "The Chief Minister must resign or else we will launch a statewide 'chakka jam' to force his resignation," said the President of the Patna Youth LJP Krishna Singh. News and commentary on organized crime, street crime, white collar crime, cyber crime, sex crime, crime fiction, crime prevention, espionage and terrorism. Russia lifts visas for tourists from Iran, 17 other countries 04/19/17 Source: Press TV Russia says it has lifted visa restrictions for tourists and businessmen from Iran as well as 17 other countries for trips to the country's Far East. The announcement was made by Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev as reported by Sputnik news agency. Russian Far East "I have recently approved the list of countries, whose nationals can take advantage of the preferential regime. Businessmen and tourists will not need to undergo the traditional procedure of Russian visas receipt," the Prime Minister said. It will be enough for foreigners "to enter their data on a special website in the Internet," Medvedev said. "We are proactively forming the modern infrastructure and creating special regimes in the Far East; the law on visits to the Vladivostok free port was approved in March," Medvedev said. Cancellation of visa procedures for tourists and businessmen "will promote growth of investment and tourist attractiveness of the Far East," the prime minister said. The region will earn more money from tourist traffic growth, he added. Eighteen countries from various regions selected by the reciprocity principle were included into the list, Medvedev said. "This is not because these states are situated at a closer or longer distance - we are appropriately introducing bilateral agreements on visa-free travel for those ready to use such an approach for us," he added. According to the official site of the Cabinet, the list of 18 countries comprises Algeria, Bahrain, Brunei, India, Iran, Qatar, China, North Korea, Kuwait, Morocco, Mexico, the UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Tunisia, Turkey and Japan. Sputnik reported in late March that Iran and Russia had signed an agreement to simplify visa procedures for groups of tourists travelling between the two countries. According to the Federal Agency for Tourism, the flow of tourists from Iran to Russia in 2016 was expected to exceed the record levels of last year, Sputnik added. In 2016, Iran's Vice President Es'haq Jahangiri announced that the country wanted to attract 1-2 million visitors by removing tourist visas for Russian nationals. EU, Iran sign nuclear safety deal with another deal expected in coming weeks 04/19/17 By Ali Kushki, Tehran Times Iran and the European Commission have signed a 2.5-million Euro project for nuclear safety cooperation, the first ever under the framework of a 2015 international nuclear deal, saying that a second one will be finalized in the coming weeks, the EU official website said on April 18. cartoon by Javad Takjou, Iranian daily Etemad The project aims to enhance the capabilities of the Iranian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (INRA) by preparing a feasibility study for the Nuclear Safety Centre foreseen in the JCPOA. It will support the INRA in developing a nuclear regulatory framework, working toward the accession by Iran to several international nuclear conventions, including the Convention on Nuclear Safety, and reviewing the results of the stress test to take place in the Bushehr nuclear power plant. The project is the first of a 5-million action approved by the European Union in 2016 under the Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation. A second project for the stress test at the Bushehr nuclear power plant is going to be signed in the coming weeks. The announcement comes three days after a 12-page report by Iran's Foreign Ministry to parliament on the nuclear deal, in which it cited the project as a key achievement. Both of the projects had been foreseen in a joint statement made in April 2016 in Tehran by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini who visited Iran along with seven European commissioners. The statement set a roadmap for cooperation between the two sides in 17 areas, including civil nuclear cooperation. It said: "With a view to contributing to the implementation of measures listed in Annex III of the JCPOA, the two sides are launching a first cooperation project in the field of nuclear safety aimed at assisting the Atomic Energy Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Iranian Nuclear Regulatory Authority through EU development assistance. "In addition, the EU will share with Iran its experience acquired from stress tests carried out within the EU and in third countries. Additional options for co-operation in the civil nuclear field include joint fission and fusion research activities, as well as a possible regional nuclear safety conference and a nuclear business forum." Political space for dialogue with Iran has emerged after the nuclear deal, which removed sanctions against Iran in reward for it scaling down its nuclear program. In addition to the U.S., China, and Russia, the EU, represented by Germany, France, and England, brokered the accord with Tehran. In June 2016, the EU put out an in-depth analysis of the EU Strategy for relations with Iran after the deal, highlighting that "In both the nuclear issue and regional turmoil highlighted that for the EU not to have a functioning relationship with Iran is politically very costly." "Iran is too big and too important of a regional actor for it to be ignored." More than a year into the implementation of the deal on January 16, 2016, the two also held a high-level seminar on nuclear cooperation in Brussels on Feb.28-March 1, named "International Nuclear Cooperation: Expectations and Responsibilities". Iran had already started international cooperation on nuclear safety with Japan, which decided to offer Iran around 2.05 million ($2.2 million) for nuclear safety initiatives to help the Middle Eastern state implement the accord. For Iran, increasing international nuclear safety presents an opportunity for cooperation between its Arab neighbors, some of which are concerned because the Bushehr nuclear power plant is located closer to some of their capitals than to Tehran. The light-water moderated and cooled reactor, built using German and Russian technology, sits on the intersection of three tectonic plates and just across the water from Iran's Arab neighbors. The predominant weather pattern in the Persian Gulf is northwestern winds, making the region vulnerable to any radiation leaks. Any accident would also disrupt the Persian Gulf's water supplies because of the nature of coastal currents. Also, high temperatures in the area mean the plant's cooling function has to work much harder and dust makes it difficult to keep the equipment clean. A 60-YEAR-OLD Head Pastor of a branch of the Musama Disco Christo Church at Omankope, a suburb of Ningo in the Greater Accra Region has been shot dead in the early hours of Wednesday in what is suspected to be a contract killing. The late pastor, George Jehu-Appiah was shot twice in his stomach by unknown assailants at his mission house in Kasseh, a suburb of Ada in the Greater Accra Region. The body of the pastor who was recently transferred from a branch in Dansoman, a suburb of Accra to head the Omankope branch has been deposited at the morgue of the Police Hospital in Accra, pending autopsy while investigations continue. Some residents who spoke with the DAILY GUIDE stated that they heard an unusual noise from the pastors room soon after hearing a sound of a motorbike. The pastor was heard asking who is that opening my door by this time without my permission. Soon the place became quiet only to hear the pastor screaming Jesus after a gunshot was heard twice from the house, a resident stated. According to the residents, the pastor dashed out from the room groaning, fell prostrate on the compound and gave up the ghost. However, information gathered by DAILY GUIDE alleged that the church has been characterized by some serious misunderstanding leading to some members parting ways with it. Upon his arrival at his new station, the late pastor was accommodated at a mission house at the Kasseh branch since the former is yet to complete its mission house. He was said to have joined the branch in the Palm Sunday service after he had returned from a funeral only to be murdered in the early hours of Wednesday by gunmen. Source: Daily Guide Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta has directed that names of 26,589 public sector workers be removed from the payroll commencing April 2017 for failure to register on the new SSNIT biometric system. A statement from the Public Relations Unit of the Ministry of Finance said the affected workers had failed to register despite many opportunities to do so. The Minister, in his presentation of the 2017 budget, announced Governments commitment to clean the payroll. To that effect, the Minister requested that the Controller and Accountant General on the 10th of February 2017 should inform all public servants on the Government of Ghana mechanised payroll system who had not registered on the new SSNIT biometric system to do so by the end of February 2017. The notice further stated that commencing end of March 2017,salaries for un-enrolled workers, were to be suspended indefinitely or until the SSNIT re-enrollment was completed by the said workers. The February 28th, 2017 deadline was further extended to March 31st 2017 by the Minister of Finance. This directive will as such now come into effect commencing with the end of April 2017 payroll. Consequently, those not registered with SSNIT, as directed shall be treated as Ghost going forward and shall as such be removed from the payroll for April 2017. In a related development, the Minister has also directed the Controller and Accountant General to suspend the payment of pensions to some 23,029 people because they could not be accounted for in a nationwide head count which ended on the 22nd of October 2016.These two directives, resulting in the identification of close to 50, 000 Ghost names on the payroll and Pensions Registry were expected to save the country some GH35 million in payroll cost on a monthly basis or a total of over GHS250 million in 2017 alone.The statement said SSNIT was prepared to validate any affected pensioner, across the country, who availed themselves to be counted and validated going forward. It said several mobile enrolment kits were on standby to cater for affected pensioners who may not be able to travel to their nearest SSNIT district offices to complete the validation process. The Minister called on all citizens to help protect the public purse as Government was commited to bringing Ghana beyond Aid. Any real person whose name has been suspended can visit any of the SNNIT branches nationwide to be biometrically re-enrolled. SNNIT has set up enrolment desks within all their offices, the statement added. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video A 53-year-old Nigerian man who works at the United Nations was arrested in connection with a string of bank robberies in Manhattan, over the past month and a half, law enforcement sources tell News 4 New York. The NYPDs Major Case Squad arrested Abdullahi Shuaibu, of Queens, on Monday, April 17th, at his office at the Foreign Press Centers across from the United Nations building. Police believe he robbed banks while on work breaks. Law enforcement sources say Shuaibu robbed a HSBC bank at 40th Street and Third Avenue on Monday and then returned to work shortly before he was arrested. They say hes wanted in at least three other bank robberies. Shuaibu is listed as a communication specialist at the U.N. He apparently works for the Panapress News Agency out of Nigeria. A photo on Facebook shows him shaking hands with a U.N. official inside the General Assembly. Police believe hes the man who robbed a Santander Bank on Madison Avenue on Feb. 27, a Bank of America on Third Avenue on March 13, and a Santander Bank on Third Avenue on March 27. In each of the robberies, the suspect passed a note to a clerk demanding money. Police charged Shuaibu with two counts of robbery and two counts of attempted robbery 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 Three Ghanaians have reportedly died in the past week in Libya with over 500 people more stranded in that country. Ghanaian immigrants who travelled to seek greener pastures are struggling to cope with the harsh conditions in the war-ravaged North African country. According to reports, the conditions of Ghanaians have worsened due to the absence of a Ghanaian Embassy. One of the stranded Ghanaians in Libya, Frank Asamoah in an interview with Starr News called on authorities in Ghana to help them return home. According to him, over 500 Ghanaians are currently living at a hunger struck town in Tripoli with other African Nationals. Asamoah disclosed that they have been stranded for the past two months and need help to return home. We are facing a lot of challenges in Libya, we have been here for two months and there is no flight from here to Ghanawe cant get food and even water to drink or bath is very difficult. We lost two Ghanaians last week and just this week we lost another Ghanaian guy. Many of us are suffering from several diseases so we need help from our leaders from Ghana, Asamoah told Starr News. Source: starr FM 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 opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has gone to the founder, former President Jerry John Rawlings, to plead with him to come back to the party and help it to regain power. The NDC, whilst in office, wrote off its charismatic founder but after the humiliating defeat in the 2016 general elections, it is now persuading him to come back and help to prepare for the 2020 general elections. The NDC founder, known for his charisma and charm, was conspicuously missing in the NDCs campaign because of disagreement between him and his party, even with a publication linking him to a Parkinsons disease. Minority Visit Last Thursday, the minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu, led a delegation of NDC legislators to visit the former president at his residence in Accra, where he called for unity within the party towards the future. The minority leader, who is being touted as going to lead the party for the 2020 polls, reportedly acknowledged that the NDC was not in the best times and said metaphorically that the calabash had been broken and that the pieces could be gathered together again. We trust that if you guide us and lead us well and the party goes through a proper process of reorganisation to strengthen its grassrootswe will not be in opposition, he reportedly beckoned Mr. Rawlings. The minority leader noted that members of the party could express themselves but should not be done in a manner that will jeopardise the chances of the party and its preparedness for the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections. Collective Responsibility For Mr Haruna Iddrisu, the party must take a collective responsibility in accepting the past and a collective responsibility to work together going into the future. In what could be interpreted as an attempt to bury the hatchet with their founder, the Tamale South MP asked Mr Rawlings to take up the reigns of leadership, saying, We want to work with you We want to act strongly under your leadership and guidance for us to have a united front of the NDC, regardless of our personal differences. Mr Iddrisu also touched on the issue of members venting their frustrations at the expense of the partys image, saying that a members expression ought not to come at the expense of the partys chances in the 2020 parliamentary and presidential elections. According to Mr Iddrisu, the party as a whole needs to own up for both past mistakes and ready itself for the future. Conspicuous Action The absence of the former president on the NDC campaign trail last year was so conspicuous that it became talk of the town. Apart from Cape Coast where the NDC launched its national campaign in August, 2016, Mr Rawlings was never seen at any campaign event, including the manifesto launch of the party in Sunyani in late September. He refused to endorse John Mahama as the partys presidential candidate when he attended the NDC Cape Coast campaign launch, but asked the party supporters to wait till after the elections before he would go round the country to rebuild the party. He also refused to disclose whom he voted for on December 7, when asked, saying that his vote was secret. Old Man At a point when everybody was asking about the whereabouts of the former president in the NDC campaign, the partys General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia said brazenly that he (Rawlings) was too old to campaign for the then ruling party. He had queried cheekily on Joy FM that If Jerry is your father will you pull him to campaign at this age? At a point, the NDC used Africawatch Magazine, published by Steve Mallory, to discredit the former president, claiming he had Parkinsons disease a publication which compelled the former leader to threaten the publishers with libel. His wife Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings also left the party and there is no indication she will ever return to their fold. After the humiliating electoral defeat, gurus in the party were at each others throat over who actually caused the defeat, with one group insisting that the former president should take the blame. The Greater Accra Regional organizer of the NDC, Anthony Nukpenu, said that no personality other than Mr. Rawlings contributed to the partys defeat, claiming that he (the ex-president) continuously painted the Mahama administration as corrupt; and that gave the opposition the weapon to fire more salvos. Source: Daily Guide Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Ibrahim Mahama, brother of former President John Dramani Mahama has been picked up by the Economic and Organised Crimes Office (EOCO). Information gathered by Starrfmonline.com indicate that Mr. Mahama was picked up to answer questions over some dud cheques he issued to the Customs division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) at the Tema Port to clear some heavy duty equipment he had imported. It is, however, not known if the businessman was also questioned on some allegations of fraud leveled against him by Member of Parliament for Assin Central Kennedy Agyepong. Hon. Agyepong had alleged on Oman FM in March this year that the younger brother of former President Mahama defrauded the state of almost 14million cedis. The maverick politician accused Mr. Mahama of taking advantage of the position of his brother and perpetuating criminal activities against the state. Source: starrfmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The cracks in the Bawku Central New Patriotic Party, NPP are far from over as some supporters numbering hundreds subject the constituency chairman,Yussif Salifu and other executives to strong slam for allegedly treating the elders and youth wing of the party with disdain and disrespect. The irate supporters of the party have accused the constituency chairman of sidelining the grassroots, elders and financiers of the party and setting an agenda to stifle scores of supporters of the party from accessing information on happenings of the party at the regional and national levels. They further allege the constituency chairman, Mr. Salifu and a member of the Council of State, Alhaji Sule Yiremea have been taking decisions on behalf of members of the party in the constituency without consulting elders and the youth wing of the party. The disgruntled supporters, led by their Spokesperson, Abdulai Yahaya, in a news conference in Bawku of the Upper East Region, threatened to wage a massive protest against leadership of the NPP if they failed to rescind their decision of appointing a disloyal member, Ustarz Umar, who was 'handpicked' by the chairman to contest the Municipal Chief Executive position in the Bawku Municipality. "After conducting the final interviews of the candidates for the position of the Municipal Chief Executive, information reaching us indicates that, there are some manipulations in favour of one particular candidate in the person of Mr. Ustarz Umar. This our firm belief is grounded on a meeting that was held on the 12th April, 2017 by the Constituency Chairman, Yussif Salifu, where he told polling station executives that the president had nominated Umar Ustarz for the position of the MCE", Mr. Yahaya said. This is the second time the frustrated supporters of the party organised a news conference to register their displeasure over some unfortunate political developments that characterised the party in the constituency after president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo and the NPP got the mandate to rule Ghana after emerging a huge political victory in the 2016 polls. According to the spokesman, sympathisers of the party would not sit tight lipped as the constituency chairman and his cronies continued to manipulate the appointment of the MCE in favour of a member of the party, whose commitment to the party was questionable. He stressed, "Mr. Salifu did not only tell the polling station executives about the nomination of Mr. Umar as MCE, but he (the chairman) had the latitude to issue threats to anybody who would raise any objection or protest against the nominee and that he would call for the arrest of any party member who attempted to demonstrate against that decision as information reaching him indicated that such protests were likely to greet the President's nominee". The supporters, who vociferously questioned the loyalty and commitment of the chairman's favourite to the NPP, also warned president Nana Akufo Addo against nominating Mr. Umar as the MCE for the area, failure, they would bid 'bye-bye' to the elephant's family. The party's sympathesers, therefore, appealed to the National Executive Committee, NEC of the NPP to call the chairman and some of his executive members to order since their activities had the tendency to split the party and throw it into disarray. A member of the NPP, Miss Ayi Jambaidu, in an interview with Peace news on sidelines, condemned what she describepd as rude behaviour orchestrated by the constituency chairman as regards to the alleged manipulations in the MCE appointment, indicating the rank and file of the party would not sit in stunned silence as the executives persisted to take decisions at the expense of loyalists of the party. Meanwhile, the disgruntled supporters, in a month ago, held a news conference to propose some two names, whom they said had worked tremendously for the consistent improvement of the electoral fortunes of the party in the constituency, and asked president Nana Akufo Addo to consider one of those names for the position of the MCE. Source: Francis Dabre Dabang/ email: [email protected] Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia on Monday met with the general public at an event organized by Joy FM in Accra to mark President Akufo-Addo's first 100 days in office. The event dubbed "Time with the Vice", which was aimed at having the Vice President answer questions from the public on the President's 100 days, saw him disclosing some achievements of the Nana Addo administration. Speaking at the event, he noted that the NPP government has made 103 achievements within its first 100 days. One of the achievements he listed is that the government has "arrested" the cedi and also decreased debt among others in order to better the lives of Ghanaians. We have arrested the cedi from running . . . and have given the keys to the IGP," he said, adding that the government has also upped the country's foreign reserve from less than $6 billion to $8 billion. "This is the achievement and with that you have a lot more confidence in the economy and you see stability return to the currency," he said. The government has however been criticized by the opposition party members for failing to roll out major promises they made to Ghanaians prior to last year's elections. Addressing the 100 days of the President on PeaceFM's "Kokrokoo" programme, Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide Kweku Baako Jnr. lauded President Akufo-Addo and the Vice President for opening themselves up for scrutiny from the public. According to him, the initiative to meet with the media to answer questions on national development is commendable and so the government must be given the maximum credit. Kweku Baako recounted past records of Presidents creating opportunities for the media to assess them. He alluded to the regimes of former Presidents Kufour and the late President Mills but was quick to lambast former President Rawlings for showing hostility towards the media. Ex-President Rawlings, he stated, "had some hostility or phobia or both for the media. So, for him, we pleaded with him to meet the media but he never came. He didnt have any respect for the media, so it never happened. However, in his assessment of the President's 100 days, he was of the view that the government cannot be expected to accomplish his promises under 100 days. To him, the government rather needs time to work out its policies but wondered how people would want the President to have made several achievements. Mr. Baako also oined that "we're not a collapsed State. Were not a failed State. I think that when we compare ourselves to so many countries in third world, not just Africa; Ghana has done well. We should be proud of ourselves that we have been able to sustain democracy for some 25 years and making progress. Its very [very] important. If you havent tasted dictatorship before, you wont understand what Im saying. So, to that extent, its good. Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video MASON CITY | A plea agreement is being worked out for a Mason City man accused of stabbing his girlfriend in the throat last year and refusing to let her get medical treatment. Jason M. Clausen, 44, who was charged with felony attempted murder, first-degree kidnapping and first-degree burglary, has a plea change hearing scheduled for April 25. Mason City attempted murder suspect to claim diminished responsibility MASON CITY A Mason City man accused of stabbing his girlfriend in the throat earlier this The state and the defense are working out the details of a plea agreement, according to Cerro Gordo County District Court records. Those records do not indicate what charge or charges Clausen intends to plead guilty to. Investigators claim Clausen used a knife to stab his girlfriend in the throat May 28, 2016, on Maple Drive, and then for six hours refused to let her get medical treatment, according to court documents. Officers say the seriously injured woman was conscious when they arrived. Clausen was scheduled to go to trial on May 15. Mary Pieper The alleged Facebook Live killer, Steve W. Stephens, who took his own life after a police chase, may have been taken down by a group of McDonalds workers in Erie, Pennsylvania. Stephens was accused of shooting 74-year-old stranger Robert Godwin Sr. in Cleveland, Ohio and posting video of the shooting on Facebook. He died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. Thank you to the brave @PAStatePolice troopers for their vigilance in pursuing the Facebook killer. Thankful no one in PA was hurt. https://t.co/GN5i6jkcuI Governor Tom Wolf (@GovernorTomWolf) April 18, 2017 However, just before the pursuit and shooting, he stopped at the McDonalds restaurant and ordered a 20-pack of nuggets and large fries. One of the employees reportedly recognised Stephens from news reports of the nationwide manhunt, and the police were contacted. Staff attempted to delay him by deliberately holding up his order of fries, but it didnt work. According to Henry Sayers, the restaurants manager, Stephens didnt wait around for the fries. But he just took his nuggets and said, I have to go, and he drove off, Sayers told the New York Times. He reports that Stephens didnt speed away from the restaurant, but drove at normal speed. Police tracked the vehicle while he was being pursued. When he was eventually pulled over, he took his life as police approached the side of the vehicle. Police are still investigating the circumstances. Source: Business Insider. Photo: Cleveland Police. An Australian woman who was injured during Sunday nights acid attack at a London nightclub has spoken about the event, saying her career as a model may have been jeopardised had her injuries been more severe. Isobella Fraser, 22, was alongside sister Prue, 20, when an altercation broke out at Hackneys Mangle nightclub. Police allege one person involved then threw a corrosive substance from a bottle, hitting the sisters and at least ten others. Isobella, who sustained chemical burns to her arm and back, told The Daily Telegraph it could have been the end of my career, it makes you rethink whether you want to do something like this, based on your looks. Isobella and Prue Fraser were at the Mangle Club, in London when a corrosive substance was thrown after a fight broke out. #London #7News pic.twitter.com/sbKo7MUs47 7 News Sydney (@7NewsSydney) April 17, 2017 She described how it felt as though someone had spilled a drink on her, and that she didnt realise what was happening until a friend told her youve had acid thrown on you. The smell of gas made Fraser think we were getting gassed, I thought it was a terrorist attack or something. The substance burned through her clothing, eventually melting her shirt onto her skin. A security guard helped her remove the burned clothing, before the pair admitted themselves to an accident and emergency department. Sister Prue said it was pain like I had never experienced before, but Isobella said their injuries could be worse, adding that apparently some people got it in the eye and cant see. Two men, believed to be directly involved in the altercation, remain in serious but stable conditions following the attack. Metropolitan Police are continuing their investigations into the incident. Source: The Daily Telegraph / Sydney Morning Herald / Sunrise. Photo: Isobella Fraser / Instagram / Sunrise. Folks, its good to know where the line is when youre at work. Avoiding fireable offences at all costs is smart, long-term. Apparently at United Airlines, bashing a passenger isnt on the list of stuff thatll get you shitcanned. Company CEO Oscar Munoz confirmed that there was never a consideration for terminating any employee over the incident which saw paying customer David Dao physically and violently removed from an oversold flight for not volunteering his seat so a United employee could board. Munoz, who in earlier apologies had labelled Dao as disruptive and belligerent, stated that he takes full responsibility for the incident, even though he never considered stepping aside in the ensuing furore. The airline is conducting a full review into its practices, which will be released later this month, and Munoz asserts that he will personally be making this right. But he also confirmed that there was never any serious discussion about firing anyone directly involved in the incident, and that he himself has the full support of the United board. Im sure there was lots of conjecture about me personally. It was a system failure across various areas. There was never a consideration for firing an employee. Meanwhile, the companys stocks have fallen 4.4% (a drop in worth of US$1billion in market value) since the flight. Dao and his lawyers have taken steps to file suit against the airline and the City of Chicago, which operates OHare Airport where the incident took place. The three airport officers that physically manhandled Dao who are not employees of United have been suspended. Source: Sydney Morning Herald. Photo: Kaylyn Davis/Twitter. I understand that, statistically, most people are pushed into crime due to things like socioeconomic disadvantage, poor mental health, addiction, or a combination of all of the previous. I also understand that, as part of committing a successful heist, protecting your identity is of the utmost importance. I get all that. All I ask is that people committing crimes dont do so wearing murderclown masks. I can understand the existence of crime, I can rationalise why people take money illegally. I cannot rationalise murderclowns. I do not want to have to rationalise murderclowns. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, do not make me think about murderclowns. If youre wondering why Im getting all het up about this, its because people keep bloody doing it. Take this guy, who robbed a Sydney venue in March, and who I would kindly like to fuck off forever. Pictured: This fuckin guy. And now, again, some drongo has decided that the best way to rob a place is to dress like either the clown robbers from the start of The Dark Knight, the clown robbers from the film Quick Change, or the thing that horrifies you in your nightmares. Queensland Police released CCTV footage from Ipswichs Racehorse Hotel showing a man in a clown mask threatening staff with a knife before running off with the cash. The man entered the venue at around 8:15pm on Monday night and appeared intent on not causing too much of a fuss: She [a staff member] noticed a gun sticking out of his backpack, and thats when he came in and pointed it at her neck. It looked like a slug gun. It had a fairly skinny barrel, but when he pointed it at her neck we thought there is no point in trying to be heroes here. It looked like he was sh*tting himself more than what anybody else was like it was the first time hed done an armed robbery. He wasnt talking very loudly because I dont think he wanted to draw any attention to himself. There were people in the pokie room who didnt even realise there had been a robbery. As adorable as that that sounds, the CCTV footage is still straight up nightmare fuel: Haunting CCTV more like a horror film. Were LIVE with the latest on the police investigation @9NewsQueensland pic.twitter.com/OHkufZ58up Brittney Kleyn (@brittneykleyn_9) April 19, 2017 Not forgetting his manners, he was apparently quite polite when leaving: At no point was I worried that he was going to shoot anyone. As he was leaving he said: Have a good night. Police are still on the lookout for the man, who was described as wearing a clown mask with green hair, a dark jumper and light coloured shorts, if you have any info, contact Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000. Source: Queensland Times. Photo: Queensland Police. Kim Kardashian West and her mini-me protege Kylie Jenner are collaborating on a makeup line that will burst the wallets of every tween, teen and wannabe kween you know. (Excuse the alliteration; basically, anyone that lamented over Kylie Lip Kits being eternally out-of-stock will jumping at the bit. Everyone else will continue to accidentally overspend at Priceline.) More accurately, Kim is collaborating with Kylie Cosmetics. When the youngest Jenner tweeted back in March that a special collab was coming, most guessing it would be with Manny MUA or Jeffree Star, which a quick Google search has told me are actual beauty bloggers and not brands. Mmm @kyliecosmetics has a special collab coming up for you ?? Kylie Jenner (@KylieJenner) March 29, 2017 But nope, its much, much closer to home. In videos posted to all three Instagram accounts involved (Kim, Kylie and Kylie Cosmetics), a near-identical Kim and Kylie have their makeup down while revelling in each others near-mirror image and near-nakedness. Ah, what money can buy. COMING SOON @kyliecosmetics #KKW A post shared by Kylie (@kyliejenner) on Apr 18, 2017 at 10:20am PDT Theres nary a detail yet, just an assurance that these products are coming soon. So too is death, hopefully. Photo: Kylie Jenner / Instagram. The bombing at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City happened 22 years ago on April 19, 1995. The bombing killed 168 people and injured more than 500 others. The bomb destroyed or damaged 324 buildings within a 16-mile radius. The dead included 19 children, some of whom were in the day care center in the building. The front page of The Patriot on April 20, 1995, read, "Bombing in the heartland." The bomber, Timothy McVeigh, was stopped by a state trooper just 90 minutes after the explosion for driving without a license plate. He was arrested for illegal weapons possession. Soon after, officials arrested and charged Terry Nichols in the bombing. McVeigh was found guilty and sentenced to death. He was executed by lethal injection on June 11, 2001. Nichols is serving life in prison. The pair had loaded a Ryder truck with more than 4,800 pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, nitromethane and a diesel fuel mixture. It was detonated in front of the north side of the building. It was the worst act of terrorism in the United States until the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. McVeigh and Nichols were members of a radical survivalist group. According to history.com, the men "were deeply radicalized by such events as the August 1992 shoot-out between federal agents and survivalist Randy Weaver at his Idaho cabin, in which Weaver's wife and son were killed, and the April 19, 1993, inferno near Waco, Texas, in which 75 members of a Branch Davidian religious sect died. McVeigh planned the attack on the Murrah Building, which housed regional offices of such federal agencies as the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Secret Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives, the agency that had launched the initial raid on the Branch Davidian compound." McVeigh claimed that he chose the building and the date to avenge the raid on Waco. In May 1995, the Murrah Building was demolished. The Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum is located on that site. The memorial was dedicated in 2000. The museum opened in 2001. CLEVELAND, Ohio - Frantic 911 callers described the tense moments after a man from the Greater Cleveland area is accused of gunning down a 74-year-old stranger and posting the gruesome video on Facebook. Cleveland police dispatchers told two callers to begin medical treatment on Robert Godwin Sr., the man killed Sunday in a seemingly random shooting. Two people called 911 after seeing Godwin lying on the sidewalk. The callers told dispatchers that Godwin had been shot and was not breathing, according to recordings of the calls released by the Cleveland police department. One man told a police dispatcher that the gunshot woke him, and that he'd called twice before to try to report the shooting. "I told you three times, somebody's lying in front of my house, he's dead," the caller said. "He's been shot." The dispatcher asked the man to apply a clean, dry towel to the gunshot wound and lay Godwin on his back until paramedics arrived. The man was hesitant and told the dispatcher he was caring for his young child and his mother, but soon handed the phone to a second man who went outside to help. A distraught woman also called 911 to report the shooting. The dispatcher and a police officer tried to calm the woman as she described the scene. "He's dead, he lying there," the woman told the dispatcher. "Oh, Lord, have mercy." The man wanted in the shooting, 37-year-old Steve Stephens, shot himself in the head about 11:15 a.m. Tuesday, bringing a nearly two-day nationwide manhunt to a close, Pennsylvania State Police said. Stephens selected his victim, seemingly at random, as the retired foundry worker looked for scrap aluminum cans in the city's Glenville neighborhood. Stephens filmed the shooting and posted it on Facebook, police said. In the video, Stephens asked Godwin to repeat the name of his estranged girlfriend before he shot Godwin. Stephens claimed in subsequent Facebook posts that he "snapped," had killed more people and would continue to do so; investigators have found no evidence of linking him to other homicides, police said. HOPATCONG -- A borough man is facing charges after a woman living with him died and he continued to reside with her body and get high for three days last month, police said. Matthew Schmarr, 35, of Hopatcong (Keogh-Dwyer Correctional Facility) Officers found Matthew Schmarr, 35, of Hopatcong, in his bed and the body of the 52-year-old woman in another bed across from him when they investigated on March 21, Lt. Thomas Kmetz said. Police went to Schmarr's residence after receiving a report that he had sent a suspicious text to the mother of his child, Kmetz said. Officers tried to get inside, but when they could not, they found a neighbor with a key, Kmetz said. Investigators determined Schmarr had a juvenile in his care from March 18 to March 19, and that Schmarr drove to Paterson on March 18 to buy heroin, crack cocaine and cocaine, Kmetz said. The child was not with Schmarr when he bought drugs, but the child was in the home when he used them on March 18, Kmetz said. Between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. on March 18 when the child was picked up, Schmarr checked on the woman and found she was dead, Kmetz said. He then allegedly used more drugs and passed out, Kmetz said. The next day, he took more drugs and contacted a friend who came over, Kmetz said. Schmarr showed his friend the dead woman on March 20 and the friend told him to call the police, but Schmarr failed to report the death, Kmetz said. Instead, Schmarr turned on the air conditioning in the room and looked up death and decomposition on his phone, Kmetz said. He then allegedly rearranged pill bottles next to the woman to make her death look like a suicide, and sold her laptop to a taxi driver he knew, Kmetz said. The laptop was later recovered by detectives. Schmarr continued to live in the residence and sleep in same room as the dead woman until officers woke him on March 21 at 9:13 p.m. He was arrested at that time for $2,089 in outstanding warrants from Roxbury and Hopatcong. Schmarr was charged with failure to report a death and child neglect. Additional charges may be pending with the Sussex County Prosecutor's Office, Kmetz said. He was remanded to the Keogh-Dwyer Correctional Facility on the outstanding warrants. A New York City-based organized crime group scammed PennDOT for years with a fraudulent license plate scheme that cost Pennsylvania more than a million dollars in unpaid sales taxes, EZ Pass tolls and parking fines, Attorney General Josh Shapiro said Wednesday. Shapiro outlined the Operation Car Wash fraud during a press conference called to announce the filing of hundreds of criminal charges against a dozen members of the gang, including its reputed leader, 50-year-old Rafael Levi of Brooklyn, and against 14 Pennsylvania car dealerships and auto transport businesses involved in the crime ring. "They were using legitimate techniques for illegitimate purposes," Shapiro said, emphasizing that the gang conned PennDOT using the agency's own procedures. His office isn't finished with the multi-state probe, he stressed. PennDOT officials, who don't appear to have been complicit in the fraud, already have made changes based on the findings of the investigation so far, Shapiro said. "They have already reformed their license plate (issuance) system so you can no longer get the volume of license plates that this ring got," he said. Investigators said the foundation of the Levi organization's scheme was the fraudulent acquisition since 2008 of more than a thousand Pennsylvania license plates from PennDOT by providing false information on state applications. More than 400 of those plates were still active when the ring was busted by Pennsylvania and New York authorities, Shapiro said. The bogus plates were involved in illegal activity in Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Juniata, Huntingdon, Schuylkill, Union, Snyder, Erie, Huntingdon and Carbon counties, according to an 87-page grand jury presentment in the case. Prosecutors used this graphic to outline the Operation Car Wash scam. The ring members executed similar frauds to obtain insurance documentation and car loans, purchase vehicles and to "wash" vehicle titles, Shapiro said. He said they even would roll back the odometers on vehicles they sold to get higher prices. Documents the group illicitly obtained often bore the impression of a stolen notary seal, investigators said. The group rented the illegally secured license plates for $400 a month to people who "wanted to stay under the radar," Shapiro said. He said those people used the plates to evade $1 million worth of EZ Pass tolls in Pennsylvania, New York and neighboring states. Shapiro said the ring also provided its customers with fake auto insurance cards and sent phony letters to PennDOT that enabled them to get clean titles to vehicles and scam financial institutions that held loans on the cars out of $500,000. Other legs of the scam were the acquisition of fake Pennsylvania driver's licenses and the odometer rollbacks on 35 cars, he said. Luxury vehicles the ring obtained through its machinations included a red Ferrari, Shapiro said. He said Rafael Levi faces 486 charges, including counts of corrupt organizations, theft by deception and insurance fraud. Others listed as co-conspirators in the indictment - most of them Brooklyn, N.Y., residents - are Edward Leyberman, 39; Victor Lalo, 44; April Levy, 49; Michael Levy, 33; Cody Levy, 34; Kelly Rogers, 47; Brian Estrella of Port Lucie, Fla.; Jack Hamilton, David Ray, Carlos Rivera Jr., 30; Habib Kbabieh, 56; Ikiram Mishiyev, 52; and Morris Harary, 31, of Oakhurst, N.J. Records from Harrisburg District Judge Paul Zozos' office showed the Levys and Rogers were in Dauphin County Prison on Wednesday. Gang-related business named in the indictment are LR Auto Transport and HH Motoring Inc. of Manheim, Prestige AAA Auto Sales of Orwigsburg, Aflak Auto Sales of Cressona, Oscar and Pepper Auto Sales and Winston Auto Transport of Port Treverton, West Fall Auto Sales and Jay Sam Auto Sales of Mifflin, VR Auto Sales and Chase Auto Sales of Winfleld, ALS Auto Transport of Tyrone, Donna Auto Transport of East Stroudsburg, Wyatt Motoring of Erie, and Hobs Auto Transport of Lehighton. 2017 04 19 R Levi Presentment by Hope Stephan on Scribd DES MOINES Senators Tuesday approved a scaled-back $908.4 million budget bill for higher education, the Iowa Department of Education and other state education functions and sent it to Gov. Terry Branstad for his consideration. House File 642, passed 29-21, includes 6 percent reductions for the University of Iowa and Iowa State University and about a 3 percent cut for the University of Northern Iowa in the fiscal year beginning July 1. There are so many things not to like about this bill, said Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames. You vote for this bill, youre voting for a tuition increase at the state universities. Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink, R-Fort Dodge, a co-chair of the House-Senate education budget subcommittee, said this years unusually tight budget situation is the result of overspending the occurred before Republicans took control of the Senate this year. We all saw this coming, this is not a surprise to anybody, he said. Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Committee also approved $5.5 billion in spending Tuesday for schools and human services over Democrats concerns the states most vulnerable populations may be getting shortchanged. Provisions of the $3.73 billion standing appropriations bill funded the 1.1 percent boost in state aid to schools already enacted, and provided $20 million toward paying back $131 million borrowed from the cash reserve to cover a projected budget shortfall this fiscal year. Committee Chairman Sen. Charles Schneider, R-West Des Moines, predicted the ending balance achieved by June 30, 2018, would be able to fully repay the reserve. GOP senators also approved a $1.77 billion health and human services budget that was 1.5 percent, or $27.9 million, less than the current year revised spending and about $70 million below the fiscal 2017 level approved before midyear budget cuts. Despite the cuts, Republicans set aside $3 million to fund womens health care clinics that do not offer abortions. The money would pay for contraceptives, exams and other reproductive health services for Medicaid patients. They are rejecting federal dollars in order to avoid funding services at Planned Parenthood clinics in Iowa. Schneider called the plan for fiscal 2018 responsible and realistic. However, Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, ranking committee member, slammed Republicans for creating a budget crisis and emergency that is riddled with tax giveaways while failing to meet basic services. He said it was ironic that Republicans were using one-time money to cover ongoing expenses in violation of their own principles. Minority Democrats called this years budget process a joke, given that the two bills taken up Tuesday surfaced quickly with little or no public input. Its really hard to hear the cuts, said Sen. Amanda Ragan, D-Mason City, after a summary explanation of the health and human services budget bill was outlined. I do think its going to have a devastating impact on many of the vulnerable people across the state of Iowa. The standings bill included a number of unrelated budget issues cutting $440,000 in legislative branch expenditures next year, limiting non-public school transportation to $8.2 million for the next two fiscal years and appropriating $150,000 for transition costs for Gov. Terry Branstad to eventually leave to become U.S. ambassador to China and have Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds succeed him. Other policy changes require law enforcement agencies to indefinitely retain sexual assault evidence kits; repeal a requirement that state buildings include no less than one-half of 1 percent of construction costs dedicated to fine arts elements; require businesses selling alternative nicotine and tobacco vaping products to collect state sales tax and not sell to anyone under age 18; require county auditors to arrange candidate names on the ballot in descending order based on previous election results; and close a loophole in Iowas gun-permit application opened by a recent Iowa Supreme Court ruling. In the House, representatives adopted an amendment by Rep. Mary Mascher, D-Iowa City, to identify state facilities that could be sold to find revenue for more than $300 million in maintenance needs at facilities that are in use. Her amendment became part of House File 643, an infrastructure bill that was approved 57-40 on a party-line vote. Mascher noted the Toledo Juvenile Home for girls, the old Fort Madison prison and mental health institutes at Clarinda and Mount Pleasant are among facilities the state isnt using but is paying to maintain. HF 643 appropriates $98.4 million for fiscal 2018. It includes $73.9 million for the Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund, $10 million for the Technology Reinvestment Fund, $12 million for the State Bond Repayments Fund and $760,000 for the Revenue Bond Capitals Fund. The bill includes $5.2 million for water quality and $3 million for the Renewable Fuels Infrastructure grants. Rep. Liz Bennett, D-Cedar Rapids, offered but withdrew an amendment to appropriate $1 million for restoring Cedar Lake in Cedar Rapids. atm A bank worker fired for depositing bad checks into an ATM has lost his bid for unemployment compensation. (Matt Miller, PennLive) A bank worker who was fired for kiting bad checks has failed to convince a state appeals court panel that it was all an honest mistake. Instead, the Commonwealth Court judges found that former PNC Bank employee Robert Robinson's actions were dishonest and deliberate and so disqualify him from receiving unemployment compensation. Robinson worked for a PNC branch in Philadelphia as a financial specialist for about a year before he was canned in September 2015, according to the court's opinion by Senior Judge James Gardner Colins. Twice in August 2015, Robinson deposited bad checks from a closed account at Susquehanna Bank into a PNC ATM and immediately withdrew $100 each time. PNC officials said Robinson was confronted when the checks were returned for insufficient funds. They said Robinson admitted he knew the checks were bad, but he deposited them anyway because he urgently needed the money. Robinson appealed to Commonwealth Court after the state Unemployment Compensation Board of review refused to give him jobless aid. Colins noted that, after his firing, Robinson insisted he didn't know the Susquehanna Bank checks were bad. He said he got them from his aunt, who has dementia. However, the state judge found ample evidence that Robinson knew the checks were bad and already had notice that they were bogus before he deposited the second one. Rowland Foster Rowland Foster leaves district court after charges were dismissed against him Wednesday, April 19, 2017, in Bernville, Pa. A district judge dismissed charges against grandfather and pastor Foster, accused of failing to report suspected child neglect that authorities said led to the death of Ella Grace Foster, his 2-year-old grandaughter. District Judge Andrea J. Book issued the ruling following a two-hour hearing in Jefferson Township on Wednesday. Foster, 71, of Lebanon had been charged with failure to report or refer an incident of child abuse. He is pastor for the Faith Tabernacle Harrisburg District. (Susan L. Angstadt / Reading Eagle via AP) A charge of failing to report child abuse was dismissed against the grandfather of a two-year-old Berks County girl who died last November after her parents didn't seek medical treatment because of their religious beliefs. District Judge Andrea Book dismissed the charge against Rowland Foster, 72, a minister and the child's grandfather, after a hearing Wednesday morning outside Bernville. Rowland Foster Foster, a Lebanon resident who is also a minister in Faith Tabernacle Church, was accused of failing to report child abuse in the Nov. 8, 2016 death of two-year-old Ella Foster, his granddaughter. The girl's parents, Jonathan and Grace Foster, are awaiting court action on charges of involuntary manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child. Christopher Ferro, Rowland's attorney, said Foster is "a grieving grandfather, not a criminal, and to paint this any other way clearly has a religious element to it." "This is a horrible, horrible tragedy and a devastated family," Ferro said. "I think the judge made an error of law," said Jonathan Kurland, chief deputy Berks County district attorney. He said the district attorney will likely refile the charges, requesting a different district judge. "Praise God - God be gloried," called out some of the 30 supporters of Rowland in the courtroom. Church members refused to comment further, and shielded Rowland from photographers as he entered and left the court building. After a brief recess at the hearing, Book announced she was dismissing the charge - a third degree felony - after reviewing the statutes. She declined further comment on her ruling. During the hearing, Dr. Neil Hoffman, a forensic pathologist, testified that a single shot or dose of antibiotics could have saved the child's life. "Treatment could have been started within an hour of death and still would be highly likely to save the child," he said. Prior to her death, Hoffman said the child would have been coughing severely, had a fever, been fighting for breath and making abnormal breathing noises. "This child would have appeared severely ill," Hoffman said. Ella Foster died of an invasive infection of her lower respiratory tract, including bronchial pneumonia in both lungs, Hoffman said. The infection had probably started in the trachea, which spread throughout the lungs. There was ulceration and infection of the trachea, which went through the entire wall of the trachea and into surrounding tissues, Hoffman said. Hoffman said severe symptoms could have been apparent only a day before her death, but he said the illness could have been in an acute phase for two or three days. The child had been able to drink water, and had been fed prior to her death, he said, and was an appropriate height and weight. She had unusual scratches on trunk and lower extremities, but Hoffman said he couldn't say it was due to neglect or mistreatment. Ella would have been in a coma before her death, but Hoffman said he wouldn't say her condition had been "peaceful." The state police trooper called to the home after Ella's death he saw "a big red flag" at the scene. "You don't see anybody crying, nobody's frantic, nobody called the police or 911 to begin with - in my career as a police officer I never heard of a child dying and nobody calling the police or an ambulance to help," said Trooper Brian Cipko. Cipko said police were notified of Ella Foster's death through a funeral home. "That's the big red flag, right from the beginning. Police and ambulance didn't get a call from a child that passed away," he said. The only report regarding the child's death filed with the state's ChildLine was from a Children & Youth Services worker involved in the case after the death. State police said Foster "had reasonable cause to suspect that the victim died due to a failure to obtain adequate medical care." "We didn't get many answers on what happened immediately," Cipko said, other than "she was sick and passed away peacefully." The parents said they did not attempt any life-saving techniques, due to their religious beliefs, Cipko said. Jonathan Foster told him his father, Rowland Foster, hadn't sought medical treatment for virtually his entire life. The district attorney played a videotaped interview with Rowland for the judge, most of which was inaudible to others in the courtroom. Ferro said Foster was being held to a higher standard than other mandatory reports at the scene of the child's death, including state police and EMS responders. "It's because they do not have the same religion he does. He's here because he has religious beliefs they disagree with," Ferro said during the hearing. Ferro said the child had no signs of abuse, and Rowland only thought the child had a cold. He came to the house the day before she died to anoint her, which is similar to asking God to take care of her and help her recover, and didn't mean the family thought she was going to die. Kurland contended there was "no question" Rowland violated his duty to report child abuse. Ministers are mandated reporters, and abuse can include neglect, or causing the death of a child through failure to act. Kurland said Foster should have known the girl died "because of their lack of care, and that constitutes child abuse." The law has a religious exemption for medical neglect based on good faith practice of a religion, Kurland said. But it excludes the exemption when a child dies of the actions caused the death of a child. "A reasonable person would have satisfied their duty under law and reported it," Kurland said. Instead, authorities learned of the girl's death from a funeral director after the fact. The child's parents, Jonathan and Grace Foster of Upper Tulpehocken Township, were bound over for court in February on charges of involuntary manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child. They are free on $100,000 bail each, and a disposition hearing is scheduled for May 11 in Berks County Court. The Fosters have reportedly surrendered custody of their six children. Rowland Foster, who has been free on his own recognizance, is pastor of Faith Tabernacle's Harrisburg district, which includes Lebanon, Mechanicsburg, Shippensburg and Schuylkill Haven, and is also father of Jonathan Foster. Rowland Foster told police he received a call from his daughter-in-law the evening of Nov. 7, after arriving home from a meeting of church elders in Philadelphia. She asked him to come to their home to anoint the child, and said he had been told the girl had been suffering from a cold. The day after the anointing Foster said he again visited the child, and said she "appeared peaceful and that there was no detection of anything out of the ordinary." Afterward, he said he got a call from Jonathan Foster telling him the child had died. Foster told authorities he saw Ella between 11 and 11:45 a.m. on the day she died, and recalled she was "not talking much during the morning, and that she sounded sick." The Berks County coroner said the child died between 3:20 and 3:24 p.m. UPDATE: Andrea Book's first name was corrected. Rally in support of Labor & Industry furloughed employees Dozens of people rally outside the Pennsylvania Labor & Industry building in Harrisburg, Pa., Nov. 28, 2016 in support of the Labor and Industry employees who were later furloughed. Some may soon be called back with the completion of a funding truce. Mark Pynes | mpynes@pennlive.com (Mark Pynes | mpynes@pennlive.com) The state Senate voted 41-8 Wednesday to pass a bill allocating $15 million to Pennsylvania's crippled jobless claims filing system. Supporters hope the bill, which is expected to be signed by Gov. Tom Wolf, will bring short-term improvements to services for the newly-unemployed and lead to a callback of some of the 541 state Labor & Industry staff laid off in the heat of a politically-inspired funding battle this winter. The House of Representatives passed the same bill on a 189-4 vote Tuesday. L&I officials could not immediately detail their plans for use of the money. But earlier this month, House members said they hoped as many as 200 called-back workers could be on the job as early as the first week of May. The bill's language directs the department to provide a consistent level of service for at least nine months. The funds approved this week will come from employee contributions deducted from workers' paychecks that otherwise go into the state's Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund to pay jobless benefits. The Senate blocked an earlier, and larger, subsidy last fall, when members of the Republican majority argued the program - which has already seen the failure of one technology upgrade - had become a money pit with no bottom in sight. With no truce in that fight by the end of last legislative session, Wolf laid off L&I workers in December, most of them staffers who answered phones and processed claims for benefits at service centers in Lancaster, Allentown and Altoona, all of which have since closed. Senate Labor & Industry Committee Chairwoman Kim Ward, R-Westmoreland County, cautioned this week's bill is still only a short-term bridge on the way to a longer-term fix of the system's problems. Those problems actually date back to former Gov. Ed Rendell's administration, which hired IBM to modernize the state's jobless claims in-take system at a fixed price of $109.9 million, with a scheduled completion date of February 2010. Gov. Tom Corbett finally pulled the plug on that contract in September 2013, after an independent assessment recommended L&I not continue with the project - by then already 45 months behind schedule and $60 million over budget. Pennsylvania has diverted extra money into the system every year since, which triggered last year's Republican rebellion led by Sen. Scott Wagner, R-York County. Since the December layoffs, Pennsylvania's jobless workers have complained of encountering constant busy signals when calling the unemployment compensation office or being placed on hold for hours at a time if their call can get through at all. In addition, those who visited CareerLink centers around the state to access a direct line to the unemployment compensation office often encounter long lines of other people there for the same reason. The state has since ended its leases for the closed Lancaster and Allentown call centers. But Labor & Industry Secretary Kathy Manderino told lawmakers at a budget hearing in February that the Altoona center, which the state owns, could be reopened, and Scranton and Harrisburg L&I offices could accommodate more employees if it had funding to call some back to work. The funding approved Wednesday comes with strict conditions. It directs $10.8 million to pay personnel to process jobless benefit claims; $2.3 million for personnel who handle employer tax issues; $1.4 million for those who handle appeals; and $500,000 for Labor & Industry to use for any of those purposes or to address overpayment issues. The final bill also requires Labor & Industry to provide a report to legislators by June 15 detailing how it will eliminate its reliance on state funding to supplement the federal dollars it receives to cover recurring operational costs for the unemployment compensation system. That commitment to develop a new plan, plus the Wolf Administration's move in March to bring suit against IBM to recoup some of the state's past expenses helped all sides reach the truce that went before lawmakers this week. In Wednesday's Senate vote, the bill drew support from 25 Republicans and all 16 Democrats. Eight Republicans, including Wagner, voted no. RAGBRAI | "Welcome to Swaledale's 125th Birthday Bash" is the theme for festivities when RAGBRAI riders come through Swaledale on July 26. The band "Strait Run" has been booked and there will be beer, burgers, brats and birthday cake. More vendors to be announced as the date nears. The famous "Whatchamacallit" built by the late Dale Caspers will also be on display. You won't want to miss this party. We're looking forward to seeing the riders," Mayor John Drury said in a news release. Activist Judah Friedlander holds his "Activist Barbie" with a photo of Bill O'Reilly, right, next to politician Bull Connor, who strongly opposed activities of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, in front of the News Corp. headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. O'Reilly has lost his job at Fox News Channel after allegations that he sexually harassed women. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) Thank you! You've reported this item as a violation of our terms of use. This content was contributed by a user of the site. If you believe this content may be in violation of the terms of use, you may report it. 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. France's presidencial race 1st round up for grabs Bloomberg Graphics Melenchon 19% - Hamon 7.5% - Macron 23.5% -Fillon 19.5 % - Le Pen 22.5% Source: The Bloomberg , April 19, 2017 / The Latest on France's Presidential Election PARIS Petroleumworld 04 19 2017 France's presidential race enters its final stretch with no clear winner in sight as the main contenders scrap for votes in a flurry of campaign rallies. Everyone is petrified, said Edouard Lecerf , head of the political department at polling firm Kantar Sofres. The challenge for each of the four candidates is to seek new votes without alienating their base. French voters are like fish, like eels -- very slippery. With almost a third of the electorate still undecided, and the front-runners clustered around 20 percent in the polls for the first round on April 23, the race is the most unpredictable the country has seen in recent history. With two of the four candidates also hostile to the institutions of the European Union, the result of the runoff two weeks later will have far-reaching implications not just for France but for the region as a whole. On Tuesday, centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron visited the wholesale food market that serves Paris, after addressing a crowd of more than 20,000 in the French capital the evening before. The far-right National Front's Marine Le Pen faced a smaller gathering in an auditorium in Paris on Monday and will be on an evening television news show on Tuesday. Communist-backed Jean-Luc Melenchon, who sailed through the center of the capital on a barge on Monday, will be addressing rallies in at least seven cities on Tuesday, using holograms for six of them. Republican candidate Francois Fillon held a rally in Nice on Monday and is holding another on Tuesday in Lille. Galvanize the Troops' According to Elabe's latest poll, released Monday, support for Macron stands at 24 percent, while Le Pen is at 23 percent. Fillon holds 21 percent, followed by Melenchon at 18 percent. Le Pen has threatened to take France out of the EU, while Melenchon wants to renegotiate the bloc's treaties, including the one that keeps the country in the euro. Macron would defeat any of his rivals in the runoff, the survey showed, so long as he can get there. They all have to try and win a point or two to make it to the second round without doing anything that could have negative repercussions," Lecerf said. The idea is to galvanize the troops, give them the idea that victory is possible, and in doing so, bring back those who may have dropped off. For all the defensiveness, the four leading contenders haven't stopped taking swipes at each other. In his speech Monday at the Bercy arena in Paris, Macron pulled no punches as he went after Melenchon's support for Latin American leaders like Cuba's Fidel Castro and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, who have overseen widespread poverty. For some, France will be Cuba without the sun or Venezuela without the oil, he said. Low Turnout Fillon attacked Macron and Melenchon for making vague promises as he tried to continue his recovery after criminal charges sideswiped his campaign last month. We begin to wonder which France Mr. Macron or Mr. Melenchon is talking about, he said. Fillon Tuesday kept up the attacks, saying on Europe1 radio that Le Pen's call over the weekend for a moratorium on legal immigration was nonsense, and that it would hurt France's economy. Le Pen said on RTL radio that her moratorium would last just a few weeks while measures were put in place that would achieve her goal of limiting immigration to 10,000 a year. Meanwhile, Socialist President Francois Hollande, whom Fillon has accused of masterminding a plot against him, deplored the campaign's lack of substance in an interview Sunday evening with French TV France 5. What is talked about in this campaign? Legal cases, charges, so-called secret cabinets , said Hollande, who opted last year not to seek a second term as his approval rating plumbed record lows. Events are put together, but where are the useful comparisons? While French voters have consistently showed up en masse for presidential elections in the past -- participation averages 80 percent over the past 50 years -- current projections show a good third of registered voters may stay home on April 23. According to Elabe, only 68 percent of the French are certain of casting their vote. See: The Latest on France's Presidential Election Russian shipper Sovcomflot holds PDVSA oil cargo hostage over debts Oil Terminal and storage, at the north end of tiny St. Eustatius, Island in the Caribbean. ST. EUSTATIUS/HOUSTON Petroleumworld 04 19 2017 Venezuela's state-run oil company, PDVSA, sent a tanker in October to the Caribbean with the expectation that its cargo of crude would fetch about $20 million - money the crisis-stricken nation desperately needs. Instead, the owner of the tanker, the Russian state-owned shipping conglomerate Sovcomflot, held the oil in hopes of collecting partial payment on $30 million that it says PDVSA owes for unpaid shipping fees. Despite a longstanding alliance between Venezuela and Russia, Sovcomflot sued PDVSA in St. Maarten, a Dutch island on the northeast end of the Caribbean. "The ship owners ... imposed garnishment on the aforementioned oil cargo," reads a March decision by the St. Maarten court. Five months after crossing the Caribbean, the NS Columbus discharged its cargo of crude at a storage terminal on St. Eustatius, an island just south of St. Maarten, under a temporary decision by the court. Another tribunal in England will decide if Sovcomflot will ultimately take the oil. The dispute, which is being heard by the United Kingdom Admiralty Court, highlights how shipping companies are becoming increasingly aggressive in pursuing PDVSA's debts. It also shows that political allies such as Russia are losing patience with delinquent payments from Venezuela, whose obsolete tankers are struggling to export oil and even to supply fuel to the domestic market. PDVSA also owes millions of dollars to Caribbean terminals - including the one in Saint Eustatius, which is owned by U.S. NuStar Energy ( NS.N ), according to a PDVSA executive and an employee at one of the facilities. NuStar and a lawyer representing subsidiaries of Sovcomflot declined to comment. The Russian conglomerate PDVSA did not respond to requests for comment. PDVSA did not respond to written questions regarding its tanker fleet or its debts to shipping companies. PDVSA's tangled web of payment disputes now spans the globe, from unpaid shipyards in Portugal and half-built tankers in Iran and Brazil to the seized cargo in tiny St. Eustatius, whose strategic location in the Caribbean made it an 18th century colonial-era trading hub. DEBTS TO RUSSIA The oil price crash starting in 2014 hit Venezuela particularly hard. Once a paradise of oil-fueled consumption, the OPEC nation is now a Soviet-style economy of empty supermarket shelves and snaking food queues. Russia has consistently supported President Nicolas Maduro with financing arrangements and oilfield investments. State-run oil firm Rosneft RONS.MM has lent money to PDVSA since 2016 and last month was in talks to help PDVSA make a hefty bond payment, according to Venezuelan government and banking sources. But problems had been brewing for months between Venezuela and Sovcomflot, which provides about 15 percent of vessels that PDVSA charters to ship crude to its clients amid a steady deterioration of its own fleet, according to a captain and two shipbrokers working with PDVSA. Debts to Sovcomflot had by 2016 swelled enough that company's top brass complained in person to PDVSA President Eulogio Del Pino in the Russian city of Sochi, according to source from PDVSA's trade department with knowledge of the meeting. Del Pino agreed to a payment schedule proposed by his trade and fleet executives and accepted by Sovcomflot, the source said. But PDVSA - saddled with heavy bond payments and billions of dollars in unpaid bills to oilfield services providers - was unable to make sufficient payments to avoid Sovcomflot's unusually public debt-collection gambit. A PDVSA representative denied that Del Pino was confronted by Sovcomflot in Sochi, saying the account was false, without elaborating. Detentions of oil cargoes have been unusual because creditors rarely have sufficiently detailed information on tanker movements to obtain timely court orders. Venezuela also tends to ensure that any cargoes that leave its ports legally belong to the clients rather than to PDVSA, meaning they are rarely in a position to be seized. The Sovcomflot dispute was different in that the creditors are the tanker owners. Although the crude onboard the NS Columbus had already been sold to Norway's Statoil ( STL.OL ), the cargo was being carried in a tanker navigating with a bill of lading under PDVSA's name, according to two inspectors and a representative of one of the companies involved. Statoil declined to comment. This piece, titled, The New Plague, depicts life in Philadelphia in the age of COVID. Artist and educator Raphael Tiberino began painting at the age of four and has been in the spotlight as a professional creative for over 25 years. 19 April 2017 - Kvrner ASA will publish its 1st quarter results 2017 at the Oslo Stock Exchange on Monday 8 May 2017 at 07:00 CET. A presentation will be held at Kvaerner's offices at Fornebuporten, Oksenyveien 10 at 09:00 CET the same morning. We invite investors, analysts and the media to the presentation: Date: Monday 8 May 2017 Time: 09:00 CET Location: Fornebuporten, Oksenyveien 10, Lysaker Language: English To attend the presentation, please register by emailing ir@kvaerner.com. The presentation will be broadcast live on www.kvaerner.com and http://webtv.hegnar.no/presentation.php?webcastId=52283238 at 09:00 CET. The complete 1st quarter results 2017 presentation will be available at http://www.kvaerner.com and www.newsweb.no. ENDS For further information, please contact: Investor Relations: Ingrid Aarsnes, VP Investor Relations & Communications, Kvaerner, +Mob: +47 950 38 364, email: ir@kvaerner.com Media: Torbjrn Andersen, Head of Communications, Kvaerner, Mob: +47 928 85 542, email: torbjorn.andersen@kvaerner.com About Kvaerner: Kvaerner is a leading provider of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services, and delivers offshore installations and onshore plants for upstream oil and gas production around the world. Kvaerner ASA, through its subsidiaries and affiliates ("Kvaerner"), is an international contractor and preferred partner for oil and gas operators and other engineering and fabrication contractors. Kvaerner and its approximately 2 700 HSSE-focused and experienced employees are recognised for delivering some of the world's most amazing and demanding projects. In 2016, the Kvaerner group had consolidated annual revenues of close to NOK 8 billion and the company reported an order backlog at 31 December 2016 of NOK 6.5 billion. Kvaerner is publicly listed with the ticker "KVAER" at the Oslo Stock Exchange. For further information, please visit www.kvaerner.com. To subscribe or unsubscribe to our press releases, please see our web page: http://www.kvaerner.com/en/toolsmenu/Media/Subscribe-to-releases/ FRISCO, Texas, April 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Integer Holdings Corporation (NYSE:ITGR), announced today that it plans to release financial and operational results for the first quarter 2017, after market close on Monday, May 8, 2017. Following the release, Integer management will host a conference call with a live webcast to discuss these results. Other forward-looking and material information may also be discussed during this call. Conference call details: Date: Monday, May 8, 2017 Time: 5:00 p.m. EDT / 4:00 p.m. CDT Domestic dial-in number: 1-877-201-0168 International dial-in number: 1-647-788-4901 Conference ID: 1815297 The conference call webcast and subsequent archived replay may be accessed via the following link: http://integer.net. About Integer Integer Holdings Corporation (NYSE:ITGR) is one of the largest medical device outsource (MDO) manufacturers in the world serving the cardiac, neuromodulation, orthopedics, vascular, advanced surgical and portable medical markets. The company provides innovative, high-quality medical technologies that enhance the lives of patients worldwide. In addition, it develops batteries for high-end niche applications in energy, military, and environmental markets. The company's brands include GreatbatchTM Medical, Lake Region MedicalTM and ElectrochemTM. Additional information is available at www.integer.net. NEW YORK, April 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PHI Group, Inc., (www.phiglobal.com) (OTCQB:PHIL), a company focused on acquisitions and investments in natural resources, energy, agriculture and special situations announced today that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Romania-based Maxagro Group with annual revenues of approximately EUR 30 million. The alliance intends to develop an organic farming program in Timis County, Romania (www.maxagro.ro). According to the Memorandum of Understanding, Maxagro and PHI Group will consider a number of possibilities that may facilitate mutual growth, including: - Potential acquisition of a majority interest and investment in Maxagro by PHIL; - Recapitalization of and raising capital for Maxagro to acquire additional farmland and grow its business as may be needed; - Taking Maxagro public in the U.S. and European Stock Markets, either directly or indirectly, to create a platform for Maxagro to access the capital markets for further growth and expansion; - Introducing new products and technologies to Maxagro; - Transferring of farming technologies and organic farming techniques to Maxagro to potentially improve and grow its business; - Introducing new markets for Maxagros products; and - Assisting Maxagro in its corporate strategy through internal growth and mergers and acquisitions. Ianco Zifceak, Founder and Chairman of Maxagro Group, stated, We look forward to working with PHI Group to access international capital markets in as well as take advantage of existing acquisition opportunities, further grow our business and also develop our own organic farming program which we believe will add significant enterprise value in the long run. Henry Fahman, Chairman and CEO of PHI Group, Inc., said, We are very impressed with Maxagros management, operation and track record and strongly believe that by cooperating with each other we will be able to combine our strengths to create additional value for both companies otherwise not possible. About PHI Group PHI Group (www.phiglobal.com) primarily focuses on acquisitions as a principal and invests in select industries and special situations that may substantially enhance shareholder value. PHI Group also provides merger and acquisition advisory services through its wholly owned subsidiary, PHI Capital Holdings, Inc. (www.phicapitalholdings.com) About Maxagro Group Founded in 1993, Maxagro Group currently cultivates approximately 12,000 hectares for agricultural products and owns a livestock farm for dairy built according to the latest standards. Maxagro has advanced farming machinery and equipment, 10 silos for grain storage with a capacity of 2,500 MT each and a hall for storage with a capacity of 12,000 MT. Maxagro is capable of managing over 50,000 hectares of farmland in Timis and surrounding counties. Website: www.maxagro.ro Safe Harbor This news release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected on the basis of such forward-looking statements pursuant to the safe-harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Wheaton, IL, April 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Elkhorn Investments, LLC, a pioneer of research-based investing, was named Most Innovative ETF Issuer of the Year at the fourth annual ETF.com Awards held in New York City on March 30, 2017. In addition, Elkhorn was presented with the award for Best New Commodity ETF for the Elkhorn Fundamental Commodity Strategy ETF (RCOM). The Most Innovative ETF Issuer award is given to the ETF provider that launched the most innovative and groundbreaking group of ETFs in 2016. Ben Fulton, Founder and CEO of Elkhorn, said, We are proud to be recognized as innovators in the ETF industry. We believe we are uniquely positioned in this industry to not only build next generation products but also to partner with established asset management firms given our independence and agility. In 2016, Elkhorn launched the industrys first suite of midcap sector ETFs on the flagship S&P MidCap 400 Index as well as the first-ever factor rotation ETF (LVHB), the first investment grade-only preferred ETF (EPRF) and two commodity ETFs in partnership with Research Affiliates (RCOM) and Dorsey Wright (DWAC) that do not issue a K-1. The Best New Commodity ETF award is given to the most important commodity ETF launched in 2016. ETF.com credited RCOM as bringing a smart beta sensibility to the commodity space. Elkhorn was also awarded the US Investor Solutions Award for the BMO Elkhorn DWA MLP SelectTM Index ETN (BLMP) at the mtn-i 2017 Americas Structured Note Showcase & Awards, an award ceremony held in Miami on April 6, 2017. To view information on the ETF.com awards, visit http://www.etf.com/sections/features-and-news/and-2016-etfcom-awards-winners-are To view information on the mtn-i ETN award, visit http://www.mtn-i.info/latest-news-americas/2017-award-winners To learn more about Elkhorns innovative and award-winning products, visit www.elkhorn.com About Elkhorn Founded in 2013 by Ben Fulton, a recognized leader and pioneer of the ETP industry, Elkhorn is redefining the relationship between investment strategy and product structure: designing, sponsoring and distributing innovative, research-based investments solutions. At Elkhorn, research drives design and advisors drive structural decisions. Elkhorn has a strategic relationship with Barclays which has increased the capacity of investment solutions offered by Elkhorn. To learn more about Elkhorn please visit www.elkhorn.com. ETF.com awards as of 3/30/17. Elkhorn Fundamental Commodity Strategy ETF (RCOM) was selected as the best new commodity ETF. All winners were selected by the ETF.com Awards Selection Committee, a group of independent ETF experts. Mtn-i award as of 4/6/2017. BMO Elkhorn DWA MLP Select Index ETN was selected as the 2017 Americas Structured Note Award - Investor Solutions - MLP Select Index/ETN Award. Winners were selected by Mtn-I, a global news, data, analytics and communication platform that specializes in compiling data on below-radar debt markets covering Structured Notes, Private Placements and MTNs. Important Information There are risks involved with investing in ETFs, including possible loss of money. Shares are not actively managed and are subject to risks similar to those of stocks, including those regarding short selling and margin maintenance requirements. Ordinary brokerage commissions apply. The Fund's return may not match the return of the Underlying Index. The funds are new and have limited operating histories. One cannot invest directly into an index. The S&P MidCap 400 provides investors with a benchmark for mid-sized companies. Shares are not individually redeemable and owners of the shares may acquire those shares from the fund and tender those shares for redemption to the fund in Creation Units only, typically consisting of 50,000 Shares. ALPS Distributors, Inc. is the distributor of Elkhorn exchange-traded funds. ALPS Distributors, Inc is not affiliated with Elkhorn ETNs. An investor should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the Fund carefully before investing. To obtain a prospectus containing this and other information, please call 630.384.8700. Read the prospectus carefully before investing. ELK000366 4/18/2018 Media Contact: Mike Wiederholt Elkhorn Investments 630.384.8703 Fort Lauderdale, April 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Anago Cleaning Systems (Anago), an industry-leading commercial cleaning franchise with more than 35 Master Franchises and over 1,400 Unit Franchisees throughout the U.S. and internationally, announced today that Franchise Direct has listed Anago as one of the Top 100 Global Franchises for 2017. The recognition was announced as part of their widely anticipated industry benchmark report that includes other prominent brands such as McDonalds, 7-Eleven, RE/MAX and Marriott International. We are so proud to be recognized as one of the most valuable franchises in the world, said Adam Povlitz, President of Anago Cleaning Systems. Im honored to be a part of such a dynamic franchise organization that is once again recognized for being a leader in our industry. Every year, Franchise Direct publishes its Top 100 Global Franchises Report to showcase the worlds most successful franchise companies. The annual list is one of the only reports that utilizes an objective methodology which analyzes KPIs such as financial performance, corporate citizenship, market reach, brand stability, and international expansion. Some of this years winners include franchise giants such as Hilton Worldwide, Wyndham Hotels, Papa Johns, KFC, Burger King, and Century 21. Other considering factors include social responsibility, environmental policy, number of years in operation, system revenue and best practices for franchisee support and training. According to Franchise Direct, the Top 100 serve as superior models for early-stage franchises looking to expand and for brands wanting to implement a franchise business model in the future. To explore franchise opportunities with Anago, contact Judy Walker, Vice President of Marketing, at 800-213-5857 or judy@anagocleaning.com or visit www.AnagoMasters.com. About Anago Cleaning Systems Anago Cleaning Systems is a commercial cleaning franchise system supporting over 35 Master Franchises and over 1,400 Unit Franchisees in the U.S. and internationally. After years of refining procedures and creating duplicable systems created in his large commercial cleaning service, David Povlitz founded Anago in 1989 to help other entrepreneurs open their cleaning businesses. Today, its program sets the standard worldwide in commercial cleaning. Anago was ranked the 10th fastest-growing franchise in 2013 and in the top 100 on the Franchise 500 by Entrepreneur Magazine in Additionally, Anago was ranked the #1 Janitorial Franchise by FranchiseRankings.com in 2016 and ranked by Franchise Business Review as one of the best franchises in franchisee satisfaction for 10 consecutive years. Inc. Magazine has also listed Anago as one of the top privately-held companies in the U.S. For further information, visit its website at www.AnagoMasters.com. ### MILLWOOD, Va., April 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Project HOPE announced the opening of the Disaster Preparedness Training Center at the Wuhan University HOPE School of Nursing in China today. Through a partnership between Project HOPE and Wuhan University, the facility was created with the support of ASHA the American Schools and Hospitals Abroad (ASHA) program of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). "Natural disasters can suddenly strike without warning as they often do in China, and a well-functioning health workforce as part of a disaster response system is crucial to an effective response. Investing in preparedness, rather than simply reacting to disasters when they occur, saves lives and lowers the overall burden caused by natural disasters," said Tom Kenyon, M.D., M.P.H., CEO of Project HOPE. The ASHA-funded program known as "Equipping Nurses to Respond to Disasters" was implemented by Project HOPE and the Wuhan University HOPE School of Nursing, which worked together to procure equipment and training tools for the Disaster Preparedness Training Center. "Thanks to the generous support of ASHA (USAID), the Disaster Preparedness Training Center will improve disaster preparedness by training future nurses and doctors, building the capacity of health care workers, and raising community awareness," said Dr. Kenyon. Since 2007, Project HOPE, in partnership with Wuhan University, has received four ASHA grants, which have supported the development of the HOPE School of Nursing Long-Distance Teaching Center, the School of Nursing Simulation and Research Center, the School of Nursing Comprehensive Simulated Rehabilitation Center, and the School of Nursing Disaster Preparedness Training Center. Disaster preparedness workshops are taking place following the official opening of the Training Center, focusing on triage in disasters and managing changing priorities and challenges. The current status of preparedness in China will also be addressed discussed and simulation exercises for Emergency Management Training will be carried out to provide 'real time' training. The HOPE School of Nursing was established in 2002 in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, as a collaboration between Wuhan University and Project HOPE "Thanks to our successful collaboration in the area of medical education, with a special focus on nursing, the Wuhan University HOPE School of Nursing has become one of the leading nursing schools in China and has a vision to achieve even more. And now, again, Wuhan University is building on its long-term commitment to the education of tens of thousands of nurses who are making a huge difference in the lives of so many patients," said Dr. Kenyon. The HOPE School of Nursing has promoted American approaches and practices in nursing education in China through nursing education, curriculum reform, faculty development, and international exchange and collaboration. About Project HOPE Founded in 1958, Project HOPE (Health Opportunities for People Everywhere) is dedicated to providing lasting solution to health problems with the mission of helping people to help themselves. Identifiable to many by the SS HOPE, the world's first peacetime hospital ship, Project HOPE now provides medical training and health education, and conducts humanitarian assistance programs in more than 30 countries. Visit our website projecthope.org and follow us on Twitter @projecthopeorg. A photo accompanying this release is available at: http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=42324 MIAMI, April 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Marquis Association Management, the leader in community association management in South Florida, continues its record first quarter with the announcement of its partnership with Faena House. Marquis will also serve as development consultant for Argintina's Alan Faena who has launched an aggressive development project in the area. "We are thrilled to announce our partnership with Alan Faena and the Faena Houes property," said Marquis Association Management President Mark Blackburn. "We will provide exceptional management service and staff at this one-of-a-kind, ultra-luxury tower. Marquis will raise the bar when it comes to serving residents at Miami Beach's most talked about property." Faena has plans to restore this famed Miami neighborhood to it prior exceptional standing of elegance and luxury and Marquis will be a trusted advisor for the entire project. Faena House is the residential cornerstone of this endeavor, and the end result will be the restoration of 47 of the finest homes in South Florida. Faena House units feature a wrap around terrace, floor-to-ceiling windows, and up to 8,000 square feet of living space. Each unit also contains Miele appliances, Dornbracht bathroom finishes, marble flooring, and a 15" wall touch key-pad which controls light, thermostats, motorized shades and much more. Faena House residents enjoy such amenities as a 24-hour doorman, security surveillance, valet, in-house spa, fitness center and direct ocean views, attended beach club and more. It is just a 10 minute drive to Bal Harbour shops, the Miami design district and world-famous South Beach. Located in the heart of Miami, Marquis Association Management is a full service property management company specializing in the maintenance and management of luxury condominiums and homeowner associations. Marquis delivers exceptional service through its system of organization and expertise to deliver the highest standard of service to association. Marquis is the choice of discerning clients across South Florida. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print And the hits just keep on coming, with Steve Bannon no doubt beginning to feel like a punching bag. In what might be the surest sign of loss of street cred, The Washington Posts Greg Sargent is reporting at the Plum Line that Donald Trump may break his campaign promise and remain in the Paris Climate Agreement: New: Trump may remain in Paris climate deal. That would deal a huge blow to Bannon's fraudulent nationalism:https://t.co/21MWGXj1kM Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) April 18, 2017 According to Sargent, Trump will hear from his advisers today on how best to proceed. Apparently, both Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner want to remain and even Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said he likes the idea of keeping a seat at the table. Other corporations were signaling even as far back as November of last year a desire to stay in. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change offers a valuable reminder of the agreements goals: The Paris Agreements central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius. It was reported at the time by NPR, More than 360 companies and investors made their plea in an open letter to Trump, President Obama and members of Congress. They called on Trump to continue U.S. participation in the Paris agreement, which he has threatened to scrap, and invest in the low carbon economy at home and abroad. As these corporations did then and continue today to recognize is that there are benefits to remaining a part of the agreement, and as Sargent observes, Tillersons support is significant: Still, its telling that Tillerson wants to remain in the deal, because that represents a recognition that reneging on this particular international commitment could have detrimental diplomatic consequences. Imagine trying to get other leaders cooperation on the next international crisis, or any Trump priority, after you stuck a finger in everyones eye, David Doniger, director of the climate program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told me. In this sense, says Sargent, staying in the Paris accord could deal another blow to the Bannon wings economic nationalist project, that international engagement is primarily a cause for deep suspicion its a threat to American sovereignty. This is a familiar trope of Trumpism, one repeated frequently by Trump during his campaign that nefarious international forces were arrayed against the United States, a sort of Illuminati of global elites out to destroy us. We will learn in due time what Trumps advisers had to say in todays meeting. It is worth noting that, as Sargent concludes, if the administration does remain in the Paris accord, it would represent a partial victory over some of the worst elements of both Trumpism and GOP orthodoxy. And though Sargent does not mention it, consider this as an added reason to remain: In 2012 Trump tweeted that global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive. Now that it has profited Trump (and Ivanka especially) to become friends with the Chinese instead of adversaries, there is very little reason for Trump to adhere to this previous belief. Especially taking into account Chinas own efforts to curb global warming. Here is something else to build on Sargents report: Its hardly cynicism at this point to say that as long as Trump is profiting, we will hear no more nonsense about Chinese hoaxes. It would be a sweet irony if, in his attempt to enrich himself, Donald Trump inadvertently helped the rest of us as well. As an unforeseen consequence of greed, that would be something to celebrate. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Donald Trump is so toxic that less than 100 days into his term, a Republican Senator is distancing herself from him. Like, running away distancing herself from Trump. Republican Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) was confronted with her support for President Trump, because he treats women and disabled people badly. There was no place to go, no where to hide. So Ernst admitted, I think that we have a President that has a number of flaws. Watch here via Kyle Griffin of MSNBC: "I think that we have a President that has a number of flaws." GOP Sen. Joni Ernst today at a town hall event, via @MSNBC pic.twitter.com/o6FIzNIgTi Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 18, 2017 An audience member confronted Senator Joni Ernst at a town hall event Tuesday with her support for Donald Trump. He asked, I would like to know how you can support a man that treats women the way Donald Trump does. And treats disabled people poorly as well. Ernst responded, Would you say theyre character flaws? I think he has a number of Audience member, Its more than character flaws. Well, and I think that we have a President that has a number of flaws, the Republican Senator said. Thats called running away from your partys president, who has yet to get a single legislative agenda accomplished. Perhaps Ernst was trying to avoid what happened at her March town halls in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, where she was repeatedly shouted down and booed over the GOP health care reform plan, an issue which dominated both meetings. If Congressional Republicans are running away from Donald Trump at their town halls in April, unable to defend their support of him, Trump has lost any remaining political capital he didnt burn off with his disastrous roll out of the failed Trumpcare plan. This is a president with a number of flaws. You betcha. And all of those flaws are owned by the Republicans in Congress. Just how toxic is Trump? Joni Ernst is running away from him and in a deep South Republican district in Georgia right now, a Democrat is giving the Republicans a run for their money in a special election. No matter what happens in the Georgia special election, Toxic Trump (R) is contagious. Image: MSNBC, Twitter screen cap Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print After repeatedly saying that DREAMers undocumented immigrants brought into the United States as children shouldnt be very worried about being shipped out of the country, Donald Trump has officially deported one such immigrant, even though these undocumented immigrants still fall under the protections of former President Barack Obamas Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Despite Trump taking office in January, those protections are still officially on the books, but U.S. Customs agents reportedly ignored them. More from USA TODAY: After spending an evening with his girlfriend in Calexico, Calif., on Feb. 17, Juan Manuel Montes, 23, who has lived in the U.S. since age 9, grabbed a bite and was waiting for a ride when a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer approached and started asking questions. Montes was twice granted deportation protections under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program created by President Barack Obama and left intact by President Trump. Montes had left his wallet in a friends car, so he couldnt produce his ID or proof of his DACA status and was told by agents he couldnt retrieve them. Within three hours, he was back in Mexico, becoming the first undocumented immigrant with active DACA status deported by the Trump administrations stepped-up deportation policy. Instead of allowing the young man to retrieve proof of his DACA protections and stay in the country, he was shipped back to Mexico a direct result of Donald Trumps deportation escalation. U.S. Customs and Border Protections officers appear to be ignoring the protections still on the books from Obamas term and instead are listening to Trumps anti-immigrant rhetoric. During and even after the campaign, the president repeatedly said that he would only deport the bad ones (i.e. violent criminals), but its clear he has no intention of providing protections for any undocumented immigrants that are here even those that came into the country as children, through no choice of their own. While it has been good news that Trump has failed to live up to some of his other promises, like repealing Obamacare and enacting a Muslim ban, this is one broken promise that will tear apart innocent families and hurt the country in the process. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Things arent looking good for Bill OReilly in the wake of his latest sexual harassment scandal with the Wall Street Journal reporting last night that Fox News is about to give OReilly the ax. If OReilly is looking for hope, there is none to be had: A new poll by Morning Consult shows that a plurality of each age group from millennials to baby boomers says Fox News should cancel OReillys show. Nearly half (46 percent) of those polled think Fox News should cancel the show, compared to just 22 percent who say the network should keep it on the air. A Morning Consult poll conducted earlier this month showed over a third (41 percent) of people said Fox News should cancel The OReilly Factor. Ouch. As MSNBCs Kyle Griffin put it this morning, By 2:1 margin, Americans want The OReilly Factor canceled. OReilly is really hurting where women are concerned, with Morning Consult reporting that, Among women, nearly half (48 percent) of those polled think the show should be canceled, including 35 percent of Republican women, up 4 points from the previous week. (Another third of Republican women said Fox News should keep The OReilly Factor on the air.) Sixty-five percent of Democratic women and more than one-third (44 percent) of women who identify as independent say they believe the show should be canceled. The Wall Street Journal says OReillys fate will be announced in the next few days, with the last possible day being April 24, when the OReilly Factors host is due to return to his show. If not his show, then where? For this answer, due credit must be given to WIREDs editor Nicholas Thompason who had these snarky words for OReilly: Bill O'Reilly's brand is so toxic right now the only place that might hire him is the White House. Nicholas Thompson (@nxthompson) April 19, 2017 No report would be complete without mentioning the effect this news has on the broader political landscape. And the Washington Examiners T. Beckett Adams analysis puts the event in context: The first 100 days of Trump: Tomi loses her show, Milo's book is cancelled, OReilly is off the air and Alex Jones apologizes for Pizzagate. T. Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) April 19, 2017 We could add to that an aircraft carrier sailing in the wrong direction but there is no need to pile on. America saw this moment coming when OReilly abruptly went on vacation, and now, by all accounts, Bill OReillys tenure at Fox News is at an end. Donald Trump claims to have ridden a wave of popular outrage into the White House. Now a wave of popular outrage has driven his biggest supporter and ally off the air. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print It is not a coincidence that Chaffetz announced his decision after the Georgia House special election provided more evidence of a blue wave building for 2018. In a statement, Rep. Chaffetz made it clear that he was specifically sitting out the 2018 midterm election: After long consultation with my family and prayerful consideration, I have decided I will not be a candidate for any office in 2018. Since late 2003 I have been fully engaged with politics as a campaign manager, a chief of staff, a candidate and as a Member of Congress. I have long advocated public service should be for a limited time and not a lifetime or full career. Many of you have heard me advocate, Get in, serve, and get out. After more than 1,500 nights away from my home, it is time. I may run again for public office, but not in 2018. For those that would speculate otherwise, let me be clear that I have no ulterior motives. I am healthy. I am confident I would continue to be re-elected by large margins. I have the full support of Speaker Ryan to continue as Chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. That said, I have made a personal decision to return to the private sector. While the natural temptation and easy click bait for some websites are to blame the Russia scandal for his decision, the political reality is that Chaffetz is likely leaving because he thinks Republicans have a good chance of losing the House in 2018, and he doesnt want to serve in the House minority. Why should Jason Chaffetz waste two years in the House minority when he can be spending that time getting paid in the private sector and laying the groundwork for a run for governor? Weve seen this in politics before. In 2009-2010, there was a wave of Democratic retirements ahead of Republicans taking back the House. The writing was on the wall for Chaffetz after the special House elections in Kansas and Georgia. Republicans wont admit this publicly, but they are growing increasingly more fearful of losing the House in 2018. Democrats clearly have the momentum firmly on their side. While someone like Jason Chaffetz has no worries about losing his own seat, the idea of being in the powerless House minority has to hold zero appeal to him. Jason Chaffetz wants to be governor. He also has his eyes on the White House. With an obvious blue wave building, there is no time like the present for him to put his plans for the future into action. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Democrats are not the only ones complaining about the amount of time Donald Trump is spending at his so-called Winter White House, Mar-a-Lago. According to Joni Ernst, speaking at her Wall Lake, Iowa town hall, not just her but other Republicans think Trump should spend more time in the White House and less in Florida: I do wish he would spend more time in Washington, DC. Thats what we have the White House for, we would love to see more of those State Department visits in Washington, DC. I think its smart that he does business in Washington DC, so Ive had those same concerns myself. Ernst went on to add that, I have not spoken to him about the Florida issue yet, but that is something I think that has been bothering not just me, but some other members of our caucus. So I think that is going to be a topic of discussion that we have when we get back to Washington. We have already seen how Joni Ernst admitted during her town hall that Trump has a number of flaws. Those flaws are obviously character flaws. We can add to that his failure to attend to his duties as any reasonable person Republican or Democrat would expect. Ernst, of course, isnt going to call out Trumps hypocrisy in condemning President Obamas vacations while setting a pace to spend more in a single year than Obama did in eight, but it is clear Republicans are having their feathers ruffled by their president. When they not only have trouble finding nice things to say about Trump but start to give voice to their disappointment, its a sure sign the Trump honeymoon is coming to an end after just 100 days. Tender software could cost Hungary HUF 18 bn in EU funding Portfolio Save article Share Hungarian The European Commission has found severe irregularities in three contracts for IT systems to distribute and register EU funding in the 2007-2013 budget period and could revoke 100% of the combined HUF 18 bn paid for the systems, 24.hu reported citing a letter from the EC. Should Hungary fail to challenge the decision, the government would have to demand repayments from a software developer it owns. According to the report, the amount would be hard to regroup to other projects, so the funding could be returned to Brussels. The European Commission is looking into contracts signed for the so-called unified monitoring information system (EMIR). Two projects are under scrutiny (VOP-2.1.1-2007-0001 and VOP-2.1.1-2008-0001). Government agencies including the Prime Minister's Office and the National Development Agency invited several tenders starting from 2003 under the project. The first two of these went fine and the development and operation of EMIR was awarded to Welt 2000 Kft. Problems began when a third contract was awarded through a negotiated procedure without invitation to tender, even though the service in question could have been provided by other companies as well. A court subsequently found the procurement to have been illegal, but Hungarian authorities failed to react accordingly, the EC's letter points out. To make matters worse, ownership rights were gradually transferred to Welt 2000 Kft., which the Commission says was not the most cost effective solution. Hungary signed three more contracts with Welt 2000 between 2007 and 2009, paying the company a combined HUF 25 billion, mostly after the then-new Fidesz administration after 2010. The European Commission's letter refers to these contracts when it envisions severe consequences, including a financial correction equal to 100% the contracted amount, or roughly HUF 18 billion. If the measure goes through, this funding could be lost to Hungary. The government should collect the amount form a company it now owns, and even if it succeeded without bankrupting the company, it would be hard pressed to reroute the funding to other EU projects, which means the amount could find its way back to Brussels, 24.hu concluded. WASHINGTON, April 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On April 18th President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order to strengthen the Buy America component of the U.S. governments procurement process. ASPA Executive Director Dr. David Veal made the following statement in support of the order: President Trumps Executive Order released today to strengthen our governments Buy America program will create new jobs in the Gulf shrimp communities of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and across the country. We commend President Trumps commitment to making sure the federal government purchases American products whenever possible. We deserve a comprehensive review of the programs in place at each of our agencies to ensure that domestic industries obtain the maximum positive economic from Buy American programs. While some federal agencies such as the Department of Commerce and the Department of Transportation have great procurement guidelines in place, it is unclear whether all federal agencies pursue Buy America with the same vigor. Any loopholes in the law that benefit foreign producers need to be closed. Any provisions which impede U.S. producers need to be changed. We appreciate this effort and the Trump Administrations ongoing efforts to restore the competitive position of the country. This is the strongest effort by any administration to ensure that US laws designed to promote the purchase of domestically-produced products are effectively enforced. About ASPA: The American Shrimp Processors Association (ASPA), based in Biloxi, Mississippi, was formed in 1964 to represent and promote the interests of the domestic, U.S. wild-caught, warm water shrimp processing industry along the Gulf Coast with members from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. We are the collective voice of the industry, and our focus is to promote the interests of shrimp processors, other segments of the U.S. domestic wild-caught shrimp industry and the general public. Watchdog and Public Service reporter Thad Moore is a reporter on The Post and Couriers Watchdog and Public Service team and a graduate of the University of South Carolina. To share tips securely, reach Moore via ProtonMail at thadmoore@protonmail.com or on Signal at 843-214-6576. The OOCL Tianjin, which carries about 8,000 containers, is an example of the larger cargo ships paying regular visits to the Port of Charleston. The port has experienced a 9.2 percent increase in containerized cargo this year. File/Leroy Burnell/Staff Diane Zetta Royer, 69, died just before 6 p.m. Nov. 5 from injuries suffered in the vehicle collision, according to the Charleston County Coroner's Office. MUSC spokesman Carter Coyle said the victim was pinned between two vendor trucks. Read moreWoman, 69, dies after she's pinned between 2 trucks on MUSC's campus Audience & Digital Operations Editor Brooks Brunson oversees The Post and Courier's digital strategy, which includes everything from the website to newsletters to social media and more to shape our coverage to best serve readers. She was born and raised in S.C. and joined P&C in 2014. NIH study found 58% of patients with treatment-naive severe aplastic anemia (SAA) achieved a complete response when eltrombopag was given at the initiation of and concurrently with standard immunosuppressive therapy[1] The historical complete response rate was 10% for untreated patients with SAA on immunosuppressive therapy alone[1] Findings were published in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) and will be submitted to regulatory bodies for treatment-naive SAA Basel, April 19, 2017 - Novartis today announced the publication of a study conducted by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) demonstrating that 58% of patients with treatment-naive severe aplastic anemia (SAA) achieved complete response at six months when treated with eltrombopag at the initiation of and concurrently with standard immunosuppressive treatment[1]. The study evaluated three sequential treatment groups, or cohorts. Cohort 3 added eltrombopag at the initiation of immunosuppressive therapy and showed a higher complete response rate than cohorts 1 and 2, where eltrombopag was initiated on day 14. The data is published in the latest issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. SAA is a rare and serious blood disorder in which a patient's bone marrow fails to make enough red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets[2]. As a result, people living with SAA may experience debilitating symptoms and complications, such as fatigue, trouble breathing, recurring infections and abnormal bruising or bleeding that can limit their daily activities[2]. The current standard of care includes immunosuppressive therapy (IST) or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. However, one-quarter to one-third of patients will not respond to IST and 30-40% of responders will relapse, causing symptoms to return[3]. "Our research in NEJM shows that eltrombopag plus standard immunosuppressive therapy appeared to increase the overall response rate and substantially increase the frequency, speed and robustness of hematologic recovery in patients with SAA compared to historical controls," said the study's lead author, Danielle Townsley, MD, researcher in the NHLBI. In the NIH study, the primary efficacy endpoint of complete response rate with eltrombopag plus standard immunosuppressive treatment at six months exceeded the historic rate (10%) across all three treatment cohorts (cohorts differed in length of eltrombopag administration; dose adjusted by age)[1]. Patients in cohort 1 received eltrombopag from day 14 to six months and achieved a complete response rate of 33%. The complete response was lowest in cohort 2 (26%), in which eltrombopag exposure was shortest (day 14 to three months). Furthermore, overall increases in platelet and neutrophil blood level counts were higher in comparison to the historic cohort, which is a key treatment goal for SAA[1],[4]. The overall survival rate at a median follow-up of two years was 97% (95% CI, 94-100%) for all cohorts[1]. "We are committed to improving the care of people living with serious conditions over the long term, particularly those with few options and great unmet need," said Vasant Narasimhan, Global Head, Drug Development and Chief Medical Officer, Novartis. "Eltrombopag is the only thrombopoietin receptor agonist to be used in the second-line treatment of SAA, and these results from the NIH study now show its potential as a first-line treatment, which we look forward to discussing with health authorities." The study also looked at clonal evolution, which is a major complication of SAA (with potential for development of myelodysplastic syndrome and acute myeloid leukemia)[1]. As of May 25, 2016, the addition of eltrombopag did not increase the rate of clonal evolution and was not higher compared to historical data[1],[5],[6],[7]. Clonal cytogenetic evolution occurred in 7 patients at 2 years (95% CI, 1-14%)[1]. The safety profile was consistent with the known safety profile of eltrombopag. Eltrombopag was briefly discontinued during the first two weeks in 7 patients who experienced transient liver enzyme elevations. Two severe adverse events, grade 2-3 cutaneous eruptions, were attributed to eltrombopag and required discontinuation of the drug. Adverse events not attributed to eltrombopag were due to neutropenic infections and known toxicities from immunosuppressive therapy[7]. One death occurred on study in a non-responding patient with thymoma three months following treatment, due to paraneoplastic encephalopathy[1]. NIH Study Design The Phase I-II, non-randomized study is being conducted by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. The primary analysis included 92 patients with treatment-naive severe aplastic anemia in three treatment cohorts, and nearly 80% of patients were over the age of 18. Eltrombopag was administered at 150 mg daily for patients 12 years or older, 75 mg daily for those 6 to 11 years, and 2.5 mg/kg/day for children 2 to 5 years. Duration of treatment with eltrombopag varied per cohort (cohort 1: day 14 to six months; cohort 2: day 14 to three months; cohort 3: day one to six months). ATG and cyclosporine were administered as standard immunosuppression therapy[1]. The study's primary efficacy endpoint was hematologic complete response at six months defined by absolute neutrophil count >=1,000/Mu l, hemoglobin >=10 gm/dL, and platelets >=100,000/Mu l. Secondary endpoints included partial and overall hematologic responses at three months, six months, and yearly; survival; self-reported health outcomes; relapse, paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) and clonal evolution as defined by a new clonal cytogenetic abnormality or characteristic dysplastic or leukemic changes in marrow consistent with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) or acute myeloid leukemia (AML)[1]. About Eltrombopag Eltrombopag, marketed as Promacta in the US and Revolade in countries outside the US, is approved in more than 100 countries worldwide for the treatment of thrombocytopenia in adult patients with chronic immune (idiopathic) thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) who have had an inadequate response or are intolerant to other treatments, in over 45 countries worldwide for the treatment of patients with severe aplastic anemia (SAA) who are refractory to other treatments, and in more than 50 countries for the treatment of thrombocytopenia in patients with chronic hepatitis C to allow them to initiate and maintain interferon-based therapy. Eltrombopag is approved in the United States and in the European Union for the treatment of thrombocytopenia in pediatric patients 1 year and older with chronic immune (idiopathic) thrombocytopenia (ITP) who have had an insufficient response to corticosteroids, immunoglobulins, or splenectomy. Important Safety Information for Revolade (eltrombopag) Revolade may cause serious side effects, such as liver problems, high platelet counts and a higher chance for blood clots, bleeding after stopping treatment, and bone marrow problems. Revolade may damage the liver and cause serious, even life threatening, illness. Blood tests to check the liver are needed before taking Revolade and during treatment. When certain antiviral treatments are given together with Revolade for the treatment of thrombocytopenia due to hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections, some liver problems can get worse. A doctor will order the blood tests and any other tests required. In some cases, Revolade treatment may need to be stopped. Patients should tell a doctor right away if they have any of these signs and symptoms of liver problems: yellowing of the skin or the whites of the eyes (jaundice), unusual darkening of the urine, unusual tiredness, right upper stomach area pain. Patients have a higher chance of getting a blood clot if their platelet count is too high during treatment with Revolade, but blood clots can occur with normal or even low platelet counts. Patients who have cirrhosis of the liver are at risk of a blood clot in a blood vessel that feeds the liver. Patients may have severe complications from some forms of blood clots, such as clots that travel to the lungs or that cause heart attacks or strokes. A doctor will check the patient's blood platelet counts, and change the dose or stop Revolade if platelet counts get too high. Patients should tell their doctor right away if they have signs and symptoms of a blood clot in the leg, such as swelling or pain/tenderness of one leg. When patients with chronic ITP stop taking Revolade, their blood platelet count will drop back down to what it was before they started taking Revolade. These effects are most likely to happen within 4 weeks after patients stop taking Revolade. The lower platelet counts may increase risk of bleeding. A doctor will check platelet counts for at least 4 weeks after patients stop taking Revolade. Patients should tell their doctor or pharmacist if they have any bruising or bleeding after they stop taking Revolade. Patients being treated for the disease may have problems with their bone marrow. Medicines like Revolade could make this problem worse. Signs of bone marrow changes may show up as abnormal results in blood tests. A doctor may also carry out tests to directly check the bone marrow during treatment with Revolade. The most common side effects of Revolade when used to treat adult patients with chronic ITP include headache, anemia, decreased appetite, insomnia, cough, nausea, diarrhea, alopecia, pruritus, myalgia, pyrexia, fatigue, influenza-like illness, asthenia, chills and peripheral edema. The most common side effects of Revolade when used to treat pediatric patients with chronic ITP include upper respiratory tract infection, nasopharyngitis, cough, diarrhea, pyrexia, rhinitis, abdominal pain, oropharyngeal pain, toothache, rash, increased AST and rhinorrhea. The most common side effects of Revolade when used to treat patients with chronic HCV and antiviral agents include headache, anemia, decreased appetite, insomnia, cough, nausea, diarrhea, alopecia, pruritus, myalgia, pyrexia, fatigue, influenza-like illness, asthenia, chills and peripheral edema. The most common side effects of Revolade when used to treat patients with severe aplastic anemia (SAA) include headache, dizziness, insomnia, cough, dyspnea, oropharyngeal pain, rhinorrhea, nausea, diarrhea, abdominal pain, transaminases increased, ecchymosis, arthralgia, muscle spasms, pain in extremity, fatigue, febrile neutropenia, and pyrexia. Common side effects that may show up in blood tests include increase in some liver enzymes and laboratory tests that may show abnormal changes to the cells in the bone marrow. Please see full EU Summary of Product Characteristics for Revolade (eltrombopag). Disclaimer The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified by words such as "will," "committed," "over the long term," "potential," "look forward," or similar terms, or by express or implied discussions regarding potential new indications or labeling for eltrombopag, or regarding potential future revenues from eltrombopag. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on the current beliefs and expectations of management regarding future events, and are subject to significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. There can be no guarantee that eltrombopag will be submitted or approved for any additional indications or labeling in any market, or at any particular time. Nor can there be any guarantee that eltrombopag will be commercially successful in the future. In particular, management's expectations regarding eltrombopag could be affected by, among other things, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, including clinical trial results and additional analysis of existing clinical data; regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; the company's ability to obtain or maintain proprietary intellectual property protection; general economic and industry conditions; global trends toward health care cost containment, including ongoing pricing pressures; safety, quality or manufacturing issues, and other risks and factors referred to in Novartis AG's current Form 20-F on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Novartis is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. About Novartis Novartis provides innovative healthcare solutions that address the evolving needs of patients and societies. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis offers a diversified portfolio to best meet these needs: innovative medicines, cost-saving generic and biosimilar pharmaceuticals and eye care. Novartis has leading positions globally in each of these areas. In 2016, the Group achieved net sales of USD 48.5 billion, while R&D throughout the Group amounted to approximately USD 9.0 billion. Novartis Group companies employ approximately 118,000 full-time-equivalent associates. Novartis products are sold in approximately 155 countries around the world. For more information, please visit http://www.novartis.com. Novartis is on Twitter. Sign up to follow @Novartis at http://twitter.com/novartis For Novartis multimedia content, please visit www.novartis.com/news/media-library For questions about the site or required registration, please contact media.relations@novartis.com References [1] Townsley, D et al. Eltrombopag added to standard immunosuppression for aplastic anemia. The New England Journal of Medicine. 2017;376(16):1540-1550. [2] Aplastic Anemia. U.S. National Institutes of Health website. U.S. National Institutes of Health. Web. 16 Feb 2017. [3] Townsley DM, Desmond R, Dunbar CE, et al. Pathophysiology and management of thrombocytopenia in bone marrow failure: possible clinical applications of TPO receptor agonists in aplastic anemia and myelodysplastic syndromes. Int J Hematology. 2013;98(1):48-55. [4] Your Guide to Understanding Aplastic Anemia. Aplastic Anemia & MDS International Foundation. Web. 17 Feb 2017. [5] Kulasekararaj AG et al. Somatic mutations identify a subgroup of aplastic anemia patients who progress to myelodysplastic syndrome. Blood. 2014. 124:2698-2704. [6] Scheinberg P, Young NS. How I treat acquired aplastic anemia. Blood. 2012;120:1185-96. [7] Townsley, D et al. Myeloid neoplasm gene somatic mutations in patients with severe aplastic anemia treated with eltrombopag and standard immunosuppression. Blood. 2016;128:727. # # # Novartis Media Relations Central media line: +41 61 324 2200 E-mail: media.relations@novartis.com Eric Althoff Novartis Global Media Relations +41 61 324 7999 (direct) +41 79 593 4202 (mobile) eric.althoff@novartis.com Rosemarie Yancosek Novartis Oncology + 1 862 778 9043 (direct) + 1 862 505 9021 (mobile) rosemarie.yancosek@novartis.com Novartis Investor Relations Central investor relations line: +41 61 324 7944 E-mail: investor.relations@novartis.com 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. South Carolina voters head to the polls Nov. 8, casting ballots in midterm elections that will not only determine the state's next governor but will also act as the first major referendum on the Biden era. Read moreYour voter guide to top races, key issues in South Carolina's 2022 midterm elections ORANGE, Calif. Josefina Saldana-Gaffoglio selected her jewelry with care, often making sentimental choices, like the gold cross she wore last year to a baby shower for her first grandchild. The cross was a gift in 1992 from her husband on their son's 10th birthday, a milestone she said wouldn't have happened without Children's Hospital of Orange County. After Saldana-Gaffoglio's sudden death earlier this year, her son and daughter-in-law sold the necklace, along with her entire jewelry collection. On Wednesday, which would have been her 74th birthday, Eric Gaffoglio and Maryam Pakdelan-Gaffoglio presented a $10,000 check to CHOC from the proceeds. "It's what she wanted," Gaffoglio, 35, told two nurses who worked in the neonatal intensive care unit when he was there. "That was her wish. When she died it was our responsibility to take care of it." The donation was not only a debt of gratitude, but repayment of an actual bill. ADVERTISEMENT In 1982, Gaffoglio suffered a collapsed lung after he was born at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach. He was sent to CHOC and after a three-day stay, his parents couldn't afford the $10,000 bill. So CHOC waived the fee. Saldana-Gaffoglio always referred to the doctors and nurses as angels and expressed her gratitude. She said she wanted to one day donate her jewelry to the Orange hospital. "She would always say that," Pakdelan-Gaffoglio said. "We thought, we have time and she'll do it." Instead, Saldana-Gaffoglio died an hour after experiencing a stroke in January. Saldana-Gaffoglio collected jewelry from her travels around the world. She had pearls from Hawaii and a gold bracelet and necklace from Italy. Her most expensive pieces included a $3,000 diamond bracelet and a $5,000 Cartier necklace and earring set. "She wore one piece at a time," Pakdelan-Gaffoglio recalled. "It always had a story. She knew who gave it to her or who she bought it from." After her death, with the blessing of Gaffoglio's father, the couple, who live in Orange, collected her 50 or so pieces of jewelry to sell. They kept only one item, her wedding ring, which she was wearing when she died. That will be passed on to their son, who is 7 months old. Pakdelan-Gaffoglio, 32, said rather than simply cut a check, her mother-in-law wanted to donate her jewelry because it meant so much to her. ADVERTISEMENT "It belonged to her and they were her pieces," she said. "She wanted to give the little pieces of herself for the donation." On Wednesday afternoon, the Gaffoglios arrived at CHOC with the donation and the hospital bracelet from Gaffoglio's stay. They toured the NICU and talked with long-time nurses. "For 35 years .," Pakdelan-Gaffoglio said, before trailing off in tears. "She never forgot," Gaffoglio said. Debbie Vandevelde, who has worked in CHOC's NICU since 1982, said she was astonished by the gift. "I can't even imagine that somebody thought that long about repaying and that we meant that much to them," she said. Denise Ogawa, associate director for major and leadership gifts at CHOC's foundation, said meeting the Gaffoglios filled her with joy. "What they did not only helps the children and families served by CHOC but they remind us how much goodness and generosity exists in this community," Ogawa said. "What they did was very meaningful and impactful." ADVERTISEMENT Gaffoglio said he took comfort in marking his mother's birthday in a way that would have made her very happy. "We definitely miss her and having the opportunity to do this in her name is pretty cool," he said. Earth Day is April 22, and the third annual EarthFest is celebrating the entire week leading up to the day. The festival began in 2014 when Ivan and Mary Idso organized a climate march that included their nine-year old granddaughter and attracted about a hundred others. "With the success of this event and an interest from many participants, we decided to organize a week-long celebration of the Earth during Earth Week. Thanks to the many volunteers, vendors, and sponsors, it continues to grow each year," says Ivan. This year, the fest features more than a dozen free events including a Student Showdown, where area schools compete for the good of the environment, prizes, and a rotating trophy. The culminating event is the free EarthFest Expo held at the Mayo Civic Auditorium from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 23. It will include earth-friendly vendors, non-profit environmental group displays, science projects for the kids, concessions with sustainable foods, and keynote speakers Dr. Ashok Patel and John Carmody at 12:30 p.m. "Our keynote address will be discussing the DMC Design Guidelines that will be coming to a vote before the Rochester City Council soon, and these guidelines will shape our city for decades to come," says Ivan. ADVERTISEMENT A high tech, low energy home When the term high-tech home is used, an 1890-era structure doesnt come to mind. But for several years, Ivan and Mary Idso, co-chairs of EarthFest, have been working to make this a reality. Last month the couple moved into a cute blue house with solar panels on its roof and ten-inch thick walls they say is "near net zero." What does this mean? When a building uses renewable energy sources, like solar, to produce as much energy as it consumes, its achieved a "net zero" status. "Our home is entirely electric and our solar is not enough to provide our heating, but I plan to incorporate biomass heating in the near future, and then we should be net zero. We are, however, using 100% renewable energy because the electricity that we do have to purchase from RPU is certified renewable," says Ivan. The benefits of a net zero home are a low cost of operation and a low carbon footprint, but Ivan explains, "In order to achieve this type of structureyou inherently get a home that is more comfortable, quieter, and has cleaner indoor air." "Reducing our carbon emissions is critical for the wellbeing of future generations," says Ivan. Hoping to encourage others to build net zero homes, the Idsos are opening their home to the public for hourly tours on Friday April 21 as part of EarthFest activities. What: Hourly tours of a "Near Net Zero" home Hourly tours of a "Near Net Zero" home When: 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Friday Apr. 21 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Friday Apr. 21 Where: 107 11th St. NW, Rochester A dirty thirty party at the Olmsted waste-to-energy facility Its party time because the Olmsted Waste-to-Energy Facility (OWEF) is turning 30. This really is something to celebrate, because over the past 30 years, the OWEF has turned 2 million tons of garbage into enough energy to power 180,000 homes for a year. ADVERTISEMENT To help celebrate this accomplishment, the OWEF is having an open house on Earth Day. "Whether youre 8 or 80, watching garbage get turned into energy is a captivating experience. And since everyone creates garbage, its important for residents to understand what happens to waste so we can make better disposal decisions," says Anthony Wittmer, communications coordinator for the Olmsted County Environmental Resources Department. Wittmer says that in addition to seeing three levels of the OWEF facility, the open house will offer free paper shredding. The OWEF creates clean renewable energy from waste that cannot be reduced, reused, recycled or composted. "Garbage is used as a fuel to generate steam and electricity. Thirty-eight buildings in Rochester are provided steam for heating or cooling, or electricity, or both from the OWEF through the Olmsted District Energy System. Excess energy in the form of electricity is sold to the electrical grid," says Wittmer. What: Open house tour and free paper shredding Open house tour and free paper shredding When: 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 22 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 22 Where: Olmsted Waste-to-Energy Facility 301 Silver Creek Rd. NE Rallying for Climate and Science Free coffee, donuts and live Brazilian Samba music sounds like a fun way to launch a weekend, but when they are paired with a rally and march supporting scientific endeavor and environmental justice, they take on deeper meaning. Rick Morris, the Rochester Clean Energy Organizer from the Sierra Club North Star Chapter, says the event will include speakers who "will address the negative impact of climate change on communities around the world and here in Minnesota, what cities are doing to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, and concrete steps we can take here in Rochester to seriously reduce our climate footprint." The march, joining forces with The March for Science organized by Dr. Joy Hughes, will include music from the Rochester and Community Technical Colleges World Drum Ensemble. The ensembles director, Denny McGuire, says some of the instruments his group uses are recycled: "The Ganza shakers are made from grapefruit juice cans. They actually sound better and are far less expensive," says McGuire. "Something special happens when you know that you are one of millions acting together," says Morris, explaining that there will be "sister marches going on all around the country." ADVERTISEMENT What: EarthFest Climate March 2017/March for Science and Rally EarthFest Climate March 2017/March for Science and Rally When: 11 a.m. Saturday, April 22 11 a.m. Saturday, April 22 Where: Peace Plaza, 1st St. SW, Rochester To see the full list of EarthFest events, visit the EarthFest website . ATLANTA, April 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) announced that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly dividend of four cents ($0.04) per share, payable on or about May 22, 2017 to stockholders of record as of the close of business on May 10, 2017 About Mueller Water Products Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) is a leading manufacturer and marketer of products and services used in the transmission, distribution and measurement of water in North America. Our broad product and service portfolio includes engineered valves, fire hydrants, metering products and systems, leak detection and pipe condition assessment. We help municipalities increase operational efficiencies, improve customer service and prioritize capital spending, demonstrating why Mueller Water Products is Where Intelligence Meets Infrastructure. For more information about Mueller Water Products, visit www.muellerwaterproducts.com. ST. PAUL Minnesota lawmakers returned from a weeklong break Tuesday ready to resume work on finalizing a new budget, but without a clear path for how legislative leaders will tackle the massive list of differences between the Republican-controlled Legislature and Gov. Dayton or when they'll even start meeting. The Legislature and Democratic governor have five weeks to strike a deal on a new, two-year budget. But before they begin that critical bargaining period over tens of billions of dollars in government spending, the trio of legislative leaders has to haggle over how and when they'll negotiate. And no one is on the same page. Republican Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka said Tuesday he wants to meet with Dayton and House Speaker Kurt Daudt later this week to start hashing out a deal on the broad numbers that will determine how much money goes to public schools, health care services and other programs. Daudt said the governor should join groups of lawmakers from the House and Senate starting that work later this week. And Dayton the pair in a letter this week he plans to wait until the House and Senate have ironed out their own differences before joining them. "Now is where the real negotiations take place," Gazelka said. Foreseeing a tough road to final agreement after a 2011 deadlock between legislative Republicans and Dayton triggered a government shutdown, lawmakers accelerated their budget timeline this year give themselves a bigger window to negotiate with the governor. And even with a $1.65 billion budget surplus, there is no shortage of divides to tackle. ADVERTISEMENT The two sides start off roughly $1 billion apart Dayton has proposed a roughly $46 billion budget while Republicans came in lower, making big cuts to state agencies with some even greater philosophical differences. While Dayton has asked for an extra $175 million to expand a new preschool program, the Senate's budget would keep current funding level while House Republicans are moving to zero out funding for the program entirely. Both chambers have put measures in budget bills that would delay Dayton's marquee water quality initiative requiring buffers between cropland and public waterways a provision Dayton has said would trigger a veto. He also promised to veto a House budget bill would allow Canadian energy company Enbridge to bypass Minnesota regulators and build a replacement for an aging pipeline. Dayton's commissioners have sent a laundry list of objections about the GOP-backed budget to legislative leaders. Daudt bristled at those letters, calling them political posturing. He said he thinks the two sides already agree on "80 or 90 percent" of the funding proposals. "We should spend some time talking about the areas where we do agree and how we can build and expound on those areas instead of just kind of drawing lines in the sand," Daudt said. "I just don't consider that being fully engaged in the process." Since launching her organic farming business three years ago, Angela Smith has watched as organics' popularity has continued to climb. "People hear you are an organic farmer and you're a rock star nowadays," joked the owner of Middle Fork Farm. But for organic farming to thrive, Smith said there needs to be major changes in federal farm policy. "Without the feds taking a lead on some of this stuff, it's insufficient for me to go to the grocery store and make sure that everything I buy is organic. Where that (federal) money goes those billions and billions of dollars drives how much consumers have to pay for (organics), who has access to it," she said. Smith joined a dozen people at Rochester's People's Food Co-op for a round table with 1st District Rep. Tim Walz on Tuesday focused on beginning farmers. Individuals invited included representatives of the Land Stewardship Project and the Minnesota Farmers Union. The meeting is one in a series the congressman is planning as work begins on the 2018 farm bill. Walz serves on the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture. The congressman announced last month he was running for Minnesota governor in 2018. ADVERTISEMENT During the round-table discussion, Webster farmer Peter Skold said he would like to see more done at the federal level to encourage conservation. The owner of Waxwing Farm asked, "I'm really curious about what more we can put into the farm bill to encourage those kind of conservation things?" Walz said he wants to see more federal dollars put into programs that encourage conservation. That includes boosting funding for the Conservation Reserve Program, which provides farmers with yearly rental payments for environmentally sensitive land that is removed from agricultural production. The Mankato Democrat said it is unfair to criticize farmers for not engaging in those environmental practices if there is no federal financial support available. "If they have to make a choice between making money to keep their farm or choose those programs, that's a very hellish position to put them in," Walz said. "We need to ask for the budgeting dollars to compensate fairly so they can make those decisions." The congressman also talked about his idea to expand the crop insurance program to include other crops, such as alfalfa and vegetables. He said the idea is to make sure that farmers aren't being penalized for choosing to grow something other than corn and soybeans. "There is plenty of room in this space for traditional row cropping agriculture, and there's plenty of space in here for organics and new ways of doing things," Walz said. "That choice should be made by you. It shouldn't be made because a policy says I have to do it this way or I can't make it work." Participants also expressed support for the beginning farmer and rancher program that Walz previously supported. Several young farmers said more needs to be done to help beginning farmers get the loans they need to buy land. Walz said the most important thing agriculture supporters can do is stick together as the farm bill works its way through Congress. "My advice to all of us is we need to be very, very focused on making sure we don't divide ourselves into coalitions whether among commodity groups or ideological groups,' he said. "If we are concerned about agriculture in rural America, it's in our best interest to remain as tight as we can." ADVERTISEMENT Bill OReilly reportedly is fighting for his television life because a woman, Wendy Walsh, claims the talk show host asked her to come to his hotel room and, when she declined, he retaliated by dropping her as a regular guest on his show and reneging on an alleged promise to help her land her own show on Fox News. Walsh has not raised this claim in a court of law, nor did she complain to Fox. Rather, she made her allegations in an interview with the New York Times. They are now being investigated for Fox by the law firm of Paul, Weiss (lets hope the firm does a better job with this one than with Deflategate). Fox News and OReilly reportedly have settled five sex harassment claims against the host since 2002, paying $13 million in the process. I have no information about the merits of these claims. As for Walshs claim, this report by Paul Fahri of the Washington Post suggests that its shaky. According to Fahri, OReilly continued to invite Walsh on his program for four months after she resisted his alleged sexual advance. Her attorney says she continued to appear on his program because she hoped to become a paid Fox News contributor. Thats plausible. But the issue for purposes of retaliation isnt why she continued to appear with OReilly, but why OReilly continued to invite her to appear. If, as she says, her appearances were likely to help her, then its hard to see how OReilly was punishing her for rejecting him. Genuine retaliation likely would have consisted of sacking her, or sharply curtailing her appearances, right away. Walsh appeared on OReillys show 13 times after the hotel incident in February 2013. He mentioned her new book four times after it was published in mid-April and repeatedly showed its cover on the air. Moreover, according to Fahri, OReilly apparently was instrumental in securing for Walsh an appearance on The View during which she also promoted her book. Walsh would later say that OReillys call to The Views executive producer really launched my book tour on a high note. This doesnt sound like retaliation. Four months after the hotel incident, OReillys producers told Walsh that her regular weekly segment would end. It has been years since I litigated a retaliation claim, but I think four months is at or beyond the limit courts typically set for inferring (for purposes of creating a rebuttable presumption of retaliation) that a defendants adverse action was caused by a plaintiffs action (or, as in this case, refusal to act). And thats in situations where the defendant doesnt act favorably towards the plaintiff during the intervening period. Here, according to Fahris account, OReilly took action favorable to Walsh on numerous occasions following her rejection of his alleged advances. If the facts Fahri presents are accurate, and assuming the absence of other facts that might incriminate OReilly, it seems unlikely that Walsh could make out a prima facie case of retaliation based on the cancellation of her weekly segment on The OReilly Factor. What about Walshs allegation that OReilly reneged on a promise to help her get a show? OReilly denies having made such a promise. Moreover, Bunny Forrest, who appeared with Walsh regularly on OReillys show, says that when Walsh complained to her about the cancellation of their segment suggesting that it was linked to the hotel incident she didnt mention a rescinded offer of a job or assistance in obtaining one. Forrest adds: I take sexual harassment. . .very seriously. But I also believe in this instance there are some statements made in the press that arent consistent with my experience. I write about Walshs claim disinterestedly. Im not a fan of OReilly. I rarely watch his program and am indifferent as to whether he remains on the air. I take no position on his behavior in prior cases where hes accused of sexual harassment. My focus is solely on Walshs retaliation claim. Its possible that her claim is meritorious. However, on the facts presented by Fahri (no fan of OReilly, as far as I can tell), her claim seems weak much too weak to justify ending the hosts career at Fox News. Arkansas is in the news because its governor, Asa Hutchinson, has scheduled eight executions by lethal injection during an 11 day period. The Washington Post says this pace is unmatched in the modern era. Arkansas hasnt executed anyone in more than a decade, but wants to move quickly now because one of the drugs the state uses in lethal injections has an expiration date of this month. The media is thus able to portray Hutchinsons decision as having everything to do with logistical expediency and nothing to do with justice. The impression created is that Arkansas is in a rush to kill. Some rush. Don W. Davis, the first inmate scheduled for execution, was convicted and sentenced to death in 1992 for murdering Jane Daniel. Davis entered her home to commit robbery. Daniel gave him all he demanded. Davis then shot her, execution style, in the back of the head. In a properly functioning legal system, the sentence would have been carried out 20 years ago, or more. Davis himself says, If the day I was found guilty in Bentonville and they would of took me out the next day and executed me, I feel as though it would have been a just execution. Unless one opposes the death sentence in all situations (a view I respect but dont share), the real scandal is that Davis is still with us, not that Arkansas would like to execute him this month. And if one stands ideologically opposed to the death sentence, the quarrel is with Arkansas law, not with the governors quest to see the law carried out without further delay. They say that justice delayed is justice denied. This certainly is true for the family of Ms. Daniel, whom Davis murdered 27 years ago. And justice continues to be delayed. Davis was scheduled to die on Monday, but received some sort of stay. To my knowledge, the sentence still hasnt been carried out. Theres another scandal associated with the death penalty story. An Arkansas judge has been barred from ruling in death penalty cases after he attended two death penalty protests on Friday. The judge, Wendell Griffen, had blocked the use of one of the three drugs used in the states lethal injection protocol. Participation in any protest relating to a pending matter would be grounds for removal from the case, and possibly for discipline. But Judge Griffen outdid himself. He dressed up as an inmate and was photographed laying on a cot attempting to enact the final moments of an injected inmate. The saying dont quit your day job does not apply here. As scandalous as Judge Griffens behavior was, not publicly expressing his ideological opposition to the death penalty might have been worse. As Kent Scheidegger of Crime and Consequences says: [I]t might be a good thing if all the dyed-in-the-wool anti-death-penalty judges in the country showed up at protests and got themselves booted off the cases. That would be better than dressing up their opposition in faux constitutional blather in judicial opinions. Faux constitutional blather of the kind that is delaying the long-overdue execution of Don W. Davis and other death row inmates in Arkansas and elsewhere. SINGAPORE, April 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SolarWinds, a leading provider of powerful and affordable IT management software, today announced the availability of SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer with support for Microsoft Azure SQL Database in the Azure Marketplace. SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer delivers deep visibility into the performance of top database platforms, including Microsoft SQL Server 2016, and provides advice for optimisation and tuning to accelerate database performance. Using agentless architecture and unique Multi-Dimensional Performance Analysis, it quickly finds the root cause of complex problems and improves the performance of on-premises, virtualised, cloud, or hybrid IT application environments. With its availability in the Azure Marketplace, the thousands of organisations running millions of Azure SQL Database instances can now benefit from these capabilities, with simplified deployment in minutes. Were thrilled to offer SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer with Azure SQL Database support in the Azure Marketplace, said Gerardo Dada, vice president, product marketing, SolarWinds. By helping to eliminate potential overprovisioning, slow end-user experience, and overspend, SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer can help cloud developers achieve the ROI and cost efficiency they seek in the cloud. According to the SolarWinds IT Trends Report 2017: Portrait of a Hybrid IT Organisation, databases are one of the top three infrastructure elements IT organisations are migrating to the cloud. Furthermore, the study found that by weighted rank, the top reason for prioritising these areas of their IT environments for migration were greatest potential for return on investment (ROI) and cost efficiency. We think customers will benefit from SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer with support for Microsoft Azure SQL Database and are pleased to make it available for easy deployment through the Azure Marketplace, said Andrea Carl, director, commercial communications at Microsoft Corp. Now our customers running millions of Azure SQL Database instances benefit having additional tools to quickly root out problems and improve overall performance. SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer is part of the SolarWinds end-to-end hybrid IT performance management portfolio of products. The SolarWinds portfolio also includes SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor (SAM), which provides deep visibility into the performance of business-critical applications and the infrastructure that supports them on-premises and in the cloud, as well as SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM), which provides comprehensive network performance monitoring with the NetPath feature for critical path visualisation on-premises and in the cloud. Pricing and Availability Pricing for SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer for Azure SQL Databases in the Azure Marketplace starts at $695 USD* per database license (perpetual, BYOL). A fully functional two-week trial is available. Customers will not incur SolarWinds software charges during free two-week cloud trials; however, infrastructure charges may still apply. Pricing for other versions of SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer starts at $1,995 USD* per database instance, and pricing includes the first year of maintenance (licenses are perpetual with a related maintenance fee). For more information, including the downloadable, free 14-day evaluation, visit the SolarWinds website or call +65 6422 4123. *Prices as of April 19, 2017. Pricing may vary based upon the jurisdiction and applicable currency. Please contact a local SolarWinds sales representative to find pricing specific to your jurisdiction. Additional Resources Connect with SolarWinds About SolarWinds SolarWinds provides powerful and affordable IT management software to customers worldwide, from Fortune 500 enterprises to small businesses, managed service providers (MSPs), government agencies, and educational institutions. We are committed to focusing exclusively on IT, MSP, and DevOps professionals, and strive to eliminate the complexity that our customers have been forced to accept from traditional enterprise software vendors. Regardless of where the IT asset or user sits, SolarWinds delivers products that are easy to find, buy, use, maintain, and scale while providing the power to address key areas of the infrastructure from on-premises to the cloud. This focus and commitment to excellence in end-to-end hybrid IT performance management has established SolarWinds as the worldwide leader in both network management software and MSP solutions, and is driving similar growth across the full spectrum of IT management software. Our solutions are rooted in our deep connection to our user base, which interacts in our THWACK online community to solve problems, share technology and best practices, and directly participate in our product development process. Learn more today at www.solarwinds.com. The SolarWinds, SolarWinds & Design, Orion, and THWACK trademarks are the exclusive property of SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC or its affiliates, are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and may be registered or pending registration in other countries. All other SolarWinds trademarks, service marks, and logos may be common law marks or are registered or pending registration. All other trademarks mentioned herein are used for identification purposes only and are trademarks of (and may be registered trademarks of) their respective companies. 2017 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved. The State Department informed Congress Tuesday that Iran is in compliance with the nuclear deal and that it will continue relief from sanctions under the agreement. It added: Notwithstanding, Iran remains a leading state sponsor of terror through many platforms and methods. The State Department also told Congress that the administration has undertaken a full review of the agreement to evaluate whether continued sanctions relief is in the national interest. The suggestion is that if sanctions relief is not in the national interest e.g., because of Irans support of terrorism the administration will discontinue sanctions relief even if Iran complies with the nuclear deal. However, the State Department apparently made no such promise. I have no grounds for disputing the administrations finding that Iran is in compliance with the nuclear deal. The question is one of fact, though probably not easily answered. If the administrations best assessment concludes that Iran is complying, then its obligated to tell Congress so. However, it will be interesting to see whether, in the days ahead, credible sources present evidence that Iran is not complying. Conscripted, a fictional film that depicts security agencies patriotic fight against terrorism and other crimes in society, is set for premiere in Abuja next week. The producer of the film, Aik Odiase, in a statement on Monday in Abuja said the premiere will hold on April 28 and 29 at the NAF Conference Centre. According to him, the movie tells the story of insecurity as a global challenge, and why people should appreciate the unique sacrifices paid by security men in the service of their fatherland. He said: Conscripted is a call-up to a sacrificial service to defend ones country, and that of victory of good over evil. The story plot was culled from the Society, what the world and Nigeria in particular, is doing to surmount terrorism and all forms of insecurity. There were bombings, kidnappings, raping, armed robbery and other security challenges threatening the peace. Because of the increasing rate on security challenges in the country, three selfless officers were drafted and specially trained by the relevant authorities to combat crime. The gallant officers include: Brown who is in charge of schematic ,Pinky, who is in charge of interrogation, and Edge, the head of the Special Anti-Crime Unit of the Police Force. Mr. Odiase noted that like many security officers, the anti-crime squad members paid some costly prices in their passionate service to their country. He added that the scenario was to reassert the need to appreciate and support security officers in ensuring a safe society for all. In the process, Edge lost his daughter, and Brown lost his mother that was earlier kidnapped. Pinky on her part had to lose her relationship when she found out that her man was one of those terrorizing the state. All these clearly express the fact that our security men are human after all, they and their family also need protection, he added. The movie which was shot and produced in Abuja featured the producer, Mr. Odiase, as Edge, Chinyere Onah as Pinky and Preach Bassey as Brown. The cast include Sir K, Mikki Odey, Sunny Williams and Lizzy Ofuani, among others. Share this: Twitter Facebook The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Wednesday ruled that Ukraine has not yet presented sufficient evidence to support the claim that Russia is funding rebel group. However, the court ruled that Russia must not discriminate against the ethnic Tatar community in Crimea. Russia annexed the Black Sea region from Ukraine three years ago, provoking international outcry. Russia must refrain from imposing limitations on the ability of the Crimean Tatar community to conserve its representative institutions, the ICJ said in a statement. The court also held that Russia must also ensure the availability of education in the Ukrainian language. Relations between neighbouring Ukraine and Russia have fallen to an all-time low since 2014, when Kiev ousted its pro-Russian president amid mass protests calling for closer ties with the West. Russia denounced the ouster as a Western-orchestrated coup and responded by annexing Crimea and supporting the cause of rebel groups battling the Ukrainian military in that countrys two eastern-most regions, which border Russia. Russia has adamantly denied accusations of supplying the rebels with weapons or active military personnel. (dpa/NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook The Borno State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, says 30,000 Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, who fled the state at the peak of the Boko Haram insurgency have returned home. Abdullahi Umar, the spokesperson of the agency, said in a statement issued in Maiduguri on Wednesday that the figure was part of the 78,000 IDPs that fled the state to Cameroon during the period. Mr. Umar said that the returnees were part of the 43,000 IDPs that signified interest to return home. He said the displaced persons were being kept in a camp at Banki in Bama Local Government Area of the state. He said that a team of SEMA officials had already visited the camp to assess their condition. The SEMA Executive Secretary, Malam Alkali Goni, has led a delegation of the agency to Banki to assess the conditions of the IDPs, he said. The spokesman also said that the IDPs had been assured that the State Government had made adequate provisions for their welfare. He quoted Baba Shehu, the Caretaker Chairman of the local government, as thanking the state government for the gesture and promising judicious use of the items donated. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook Nigerias former attorney general, Bello Adoke, named as an alleged beneficiary in the $1.3 billion Malabu oil scam, has said he may not return home until he gets some concessions from the Nigerian government. I will definitely come back, if I have the assurance that they will not harm me, they will not humiliate me any further, they will respect the laws of the land, Mr. Adoke told The Cable in an interview published on Tuesday. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said Mr. Adoke, who was AGF from 2010-2015, participated in the alleged fraud that marred the transfer of OPL 245 licence from Malabu Oil and Gast Limited to Royal Dutch Shell and Italys ENI. Italian prosecutors also accused Mr. Adoke and 11 others, including ex-Petroleum Minister Dan Etete and Shell and ENI officials, of wrongdoings when the deal was struck in 2011. The EFCC accused Mr. Adoke of being on the run, and the anti-graft office earlier this month sought a court order to compel him to appear for trial. But Mr. Adoke said he would remain in The Netherlands, where he said he has been studying since 2015, unless there are competent assurances from Nigerian authorities that he wont be humiliated. If I am arrested and granted bail, I hope they will obey the court and not treat me like they have been treating others, they will not scandalise me, and there will be no mob trial, media circus, certainly I will return, Mr. Adoke said. He, however, expressed doubts that the prevailing political atmosphere in the country could afford him such privileges after his return. But I will tell you something: that is not the environment that exists in Nigeria today. That is where my fear lies. Also, I cannot underestimate the extent to which those after me can go considering the enormous power and influence they have in the government of today, Mr. Adoke said. The former attorney general controversially approved the transfer of $801 million from a Nigerian government account into the private accounts of an ex-convict, Dan Etete. A large part of the money is believed to have gone as kick-backs to officials of the Goodluck Jonathan administration, including the former president and Mr. Adoke. Both men have, however, denied the claims. The $801 million was part of the total $1.3 billion Shell and ENI paid for OPL 245, considered one of the richest oil blocks in Africa. While $1.1 billion of the money was paid directly into a Nigerian government account in London, Shell had earlier paid about $200 million as signature bonus. It was the whole $1.1 billion that Mr. Adoke ordered be transferred into Malabu accounts controlled by Mr. Etete, but court cases in England by middlemen, stalled the full transfer. Share this: Twitter Facebook Nigerian soldiers on Monday raided some hideouts of the Boko Haram in remote villages of Borno State during which six members of the group were killed in a shootout, an official said. The raid, according to the spokesperson of the Nigeria army, Sani Usman, a brigadier general, was conducted by troops of 192 Battalion, 26 Task Force Brigade, deployed for Operation LAFIYA DOLE in the volatile northeast Nigeria. Mr. Usman, who made this known in a statement, said the troops stormed the Boko Haram terrorists hideouts around villages called Dissa and Patawe in Borno State. During the operation, the troops neutralized 6 Boko Haram terrorists and wounded several others. They also recovered an AK-47 Rifle, 1 AK-47 Magazine loaded with 9 rounds of ammunition, 22 rounds of 7.62mm (NATO) ammunition, 3 Bicycles and 3 Bags of Groundnut, the statement reads. The team also recovered the sum of Twenty Nine Thousand and Forty Naira (N29,040.00k) on the body of one of the terrorists. In a related development, troops of 82 Division Task Force Battalion attached to 26 Task Force Brigade intercepted and ambushed a Boko Haram terrorist logistics supplier at a crossing point around Daushe village today. The team recovered a Bag of Sorghum, Basketful of provisions and other sundry items. The troops also rescued a 36 years old woman with gunshot wounds enroute back. Despite losing most of the territory they controlled including their Sambisa forest base, Boko Haram members have continued to carry out attacks on soft targets using lighter assault rifles and suicide bombing. Many civilians as well as military personnel have died since December 2016 when Boko Harams Camp Zairo in the Sambisa forest fell, to date. Nigerian soldiers have also continued to raid Boko Haram camps outside the forest during which many of the groups members were killed. A teenage Boko Haram member recently arrested by the operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corpse at an IDP camp in Borno state, said hundreds of his likes are still armed in the bush and working for the Boko Haram. Share this: Twitter Facebook Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has met with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Babachir Lawal, barely an hour after the announcement of Mr. Lawals suspension from office. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the closed-door meeting is connected with the work of the Presidential Committee set up to investigate allegations of misconduct against the SGF. When accosted, Mr. Lawal refused to comment on the outcome of his meeting with the vice-president. The Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, Ayo Oke, who was also suspended, was seen around the Vice Presidents office immediately after the departure of the SGF. The NIA boss, who noticed the presence of State House correspondents, however turned back and attempted to pass through Vice Presidents exit gate. He was prevented from going out through that point by security officials; the security also stopped Mr. Oke from passing through the service chiefs gate. The NIA boss later left the Presidential Villa without seeing the Vice-President. President Buhari on Wednesday ordered the immediate suspension of Messrs Lawal and Oke, pending the outcome of investigation of allegations levelled against them. The presidential spokesperson, Femi Adesina, said the president ordered an investigation into the allegations of violations of law and due process made against Mr. Lawal in the award of contracts under the Presidential Initiative on the North East, PINE. The President also ordered a full-scale investigation into the discovery of large amounts of foreign and local currencies by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in a residential apartment at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos, over which the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, has made a claim. The investigation is also to enquire into the circumstances in which the NIA came into possession of the funds, how and by whose or which authority the funds were made available to the NIA, and to establish whether or not there has been a breach of the law or security procedure in obtaining custody and use of the funds. The President has also directed the suspension of the Director General of the NIA, Ambassador Ayo Oke, pending the outcome of the investigation, Mr. Adesina said. PREMIUM TIMES reported how the NIA claimed ownership of the over N13 billion after the EFCC announced the money was found at an apartment in Ikoyi based on a tip by a whistle blower. A court has since ordered that the funds be temporarily forfeited to the Nigerian governemnt. A three-person committee comprising the Attorney-General of the Federation, the National Security Adviser, and headed by Mr. Osinbajo is to investigate Mr. Lawal ad Mr. Oke. The committee is to submit its report to the president within 14 days. Share this: Twitter Facebook Shehu Sani, the senator heading the committee that blew the lid of the contract frauds at the Presidential Initiative for the North East, PINE, has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for suspending the official at the centre of the scandal, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal. Mr. Buhari announced the suspension of Mr. Lawal Wednesday afternoon over allegations of breach of law and due process in the contracts awarded by PINE. The allegations were made by the Senate ad-hoc committee on mounting humanitarian crisis in the North East chaired by Mr. Sani last December. The Senate adopted Mr. Sanis interim report which contained the allegations and, thus, resolved to call for Mr. Lawals suspension and prosecution. It is commendable that the president has taken the senate committee report and recommendations seriously, Mr. Sani (APC-Kaduna) told PREMIUM TIMES. But before now, the President hadrejected the call for action against Mr. Lawal. He said, in January, that the Senate did not extend principle of fair hearing to the suspended SGF and that the damning report itself was a minority report. Specifically, Mr. Lawal was accused of holding directorship of a company, Rholavision, while being the SGF and used same company, originally registered for ICT services in 1990, to receive grass-cutting consultancy contract from PINE, an agency under his supervision, all in breach of Nigerias code of conduct for public officials. The company received the money but did not execute the contract, the committee found. Mr. Lawal denied the allegation and dismissed the Senate of talking balderdash. The infamous grass-cutting scandal and the way Mr. Buhari appeared to have cleared the SGF initially impacted on the presidents popularity and raised questions about his commitment to fighting corruption, especially one perpetrated by officials under him. The sword of truth is not just cast and sharpened for the neck of foes but also for those of friends, said Mr. Sani, after the eventual suspension. He had, in immediate reaction to the presidents earlier clearance of the SGF,accused the president of bias, mockingly saying corruption in presidency was being treated deodorant. He added: Its commendable for the president to heed the call to fumigate the throne of lice and bugs with the same ability he goes after rodents afar. The senate and the committee have nothing personal against the SGF or any person affected, but we simply did our job in conformity with our constitutional responsibilities and the moral calling of our conscience. We cannot jubilate because a mighty mortal is caught in the trap of his fate, we are neither saints nor angels, but we have a duty to raise a card a blow the whistle. Similarly, a Peoples Democratic Party Senator from Edo State, Matthew Urhoghide, told the News Agency of Nigeria that suspension of the SGF following the Senates call meant both executive and legislative arms were working cooperatively to check corruption. We are all complimenting each others effort in fighting corruption, and that is the truth, Mr. Urhoghide was quoted as saying by NAN. He was reported to have also asked the president to heed the Senates call that the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, be dropped. The Edo lawmaker was a major voice in the deliberation that led to the Senates suspension of the confirmation of 27 nominees for the positions of Resident Electoral Commissioners in protest against the refusal of the President to sack Mr. Magu, despite his repeated rejection by the lawmakers. The spokesperson for Senate President Bukola Saraki, Yusuph Olaniyonu, said his principal had no personal view on the SGFs suspension, saying its a Senate matter. Senate spokesperson, Aliyu Abdullahi could not be reached for comment as his telephone was off at the time efforts were being made to get through to him. The President suspended Mr. Lawal alongside the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, Ayodele Oke, on Wednesday and directed they be investigated by a three-man committee consisting of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as chairman; National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno; and the AttorneyGeneral of the Federation, Abubakar Malami. Mr. Oke is to face probe over the huge cash discovered at an Ikoyi, Lagos, apartment by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, which he claimed belonged to the NIA. Share this: Twitter Facebook A lot of those who say we are better divided as a nation, dont understand that the greatness of this country lies first in its diversity and then in the size of the country, says Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. Speaking to a delegation of the northern socio-political group, Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, who visited him in his office on Wednesday at the State House, Abuja, Mr. Osinbajo condemned those who see nothing good in the unity of Nigeria. He averred that with the diversity and huge size of the country, it is better to be a part of a great thing than to be one tiny part of something that is not necessarily great. So, I think that we must not allow those who advance personal causes to defeat the very strong objectives of bringing this country together as a nation and forging ahead, he submitted. He told the delegation made up of eminent personalities from the northern part of the country that President Muhammadu Buhari is one leader who possesses the willingness and passion to ensure this country is a united country. He added that the president has shown that this country has men who are determined to remain honest, straight forward and are able to speak their minds without deceit. Before being presented with publications of ACF by the Deputy Chairman and leader of the delegation, Musa Kwande, the vice president expressed support for the proposed security summit being organised by the Forum. He also underscored the importance of the security summit at this time in the nations history, saying its a very important thing, the security of this country is a very important thing. Earlier, in an address read by the Vice Chairman of the Forum, Abubakar Girei, the Chairman of Arewa Consultative Forum and former Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Coomassie, lauded the Federal Government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari for its achievements especially in degrading insurgency in the north-east. He informed the vice president that the forum is organising a security summit that will bring all stakeholders together to articulate strategies that will address the menace of insecurity and proffer practical solutions towards ensuring sustainable peace and development in the country. Share this: Twitter Facebook A 34-year-oldman, Kolawole Haruna, who allegedly raped his neighbours 13-year-old daughter was on Wednesday arraigned in an Ikeja Chief Magistrates Court. The defendant, an unemployed, who resides at No.19, Ayobode St., Oke Ira, Ogba, a suburb of Lagos is facing a two -count charge bordering on rape. The prosecutor, Raphael Donny, told the court that the offences were committed on March 19 at the accused residence. Mr. Donny said that the accused called the 13-year -old girl into his room on the pretext of sending her on an errand. The accused shut the door and raped her, he said. The offences contravened Sections 257 and 259 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011. The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges. The Chief Magistrate, Davies Abegunde, granted the accused bail in the sum of N500, 000, with two sureties in like sum. Mr. Abegunde adjourned the case till May 15, for Director of Public Prosecutions advice. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook HOUSTON, April 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Targa Resources Corp. ("TRC", "Targa" or the "Company") (NYSE:TRGP) announced its quarterly dividend on common shares and its quarterly dividend on its Series A preferred shares for the first quarter of 2017. Targa Resources Corp. announced today that its board of directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of 91.00 per share, or $3.64 per common share on an annualized basis, for the first quarter of 2017. This cash dividend will be paid May 16, 2017 on all outstanding common shares to holders of record as of the close of business on May 2, 2017. Targa also announced today that its board of directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $23.75 per Series A preferred share for the first quarter of 2017. This cash dividend will be paid May 15, 2017 on all outstanding Series A preferred shares to holders of record as of the close of business on May 2, 2017. About Targa Resources Corp. Targa Resources Corp. is a leading provider of midstream services and is one of the largest independent midstream energy companies in North America. Targa owns, operates, acquires, and develops a diversified portfolio of complementary midstream energy assets. The Company is primarily engaged in the business of: gathering, compressing, treating, processing, and selling natural gas; storing, fractionating, treating, transporting, and selling NGLs and NGL products, including services to LPG exporters; gathering, storing, and terminaling crude oil; storing, terminaling, and selling refined petroleum products. The principal executive offices of Targa are located at 1000 Louisiana, Suite 4300, Houston, TX 77002 and their telephone number is 713-584-1000. For more information please go to www.targaresources.com. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this release that address activities, events or developments that the Company expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements rely on a number of assumptions concerning future events and are subject to a number of uncertainties, factors and risks, many of which are outside the Company's control, which could cause results to differ materially from those expected by management of the Company. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, weather, political, economic and market conditions, including a decline in the price and market demand for natural gas, natural gas liquids and crude oil, the timing and success of business development efforts; and other uncertainties. These and other applicable uncertainties, factors and risks are described more fully in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. The Company does not undertake an obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, says the meeting of the Federal Executive Council, FEC, could not hold due to logistic issues. Mr. Shehu made this known to State House correspondents in Abuja on Wednesday. He explained that the meeting was cancelled as the FEC secretariat workers were unable to distribute necessary documents for the meeting because of the Easter holiday. According to him, by practice, ministers must receive memos two or three days ahead of meetings to enable them undertake research, if necessary. I think it is because of the Easter holiday. The secretariat had no time to circulate the necessary documents. The staff on the Council secretariat resumed on Tuesday after the Easter. There was no time to prepare and circulate memos to ministers. He described as very unfair those attributing the cancellation of the FEC meeting to the presidents health conditions. Mr. Buhari was absent at last weeks FEC meeting which was presided by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that President Buhari had met behind closed doors with the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Winifred Oyo-Ita, and the Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau. Both Mrs. Oyo-Ita and Mr. Dambazau updated the president on the activities of their various establishments. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook The World Bank is set to inject $200 million into Nigerias agricultural sector, PREMIUM TIMES has gathered. Adetunji Oredipe, World Banks Fadama Team Leader, who disclosed this on Wednesday, said the fund is meant to revitalise the nations livestock sub-sector. Fadama is a Hausa word that generally means irrigable land. Mr. Oredipe said that the World Bank was working in tandem with the Nigerian government to formulate the intervention policy, adding that discussions with the government team on the modalities for the project execution had also started. He however said the intervention will give special attention to productivity. Productivity depends on a number of factors as it concerns the feeds which are very critical; the major problem of livestock production in the country is dearth of high-quality animal feeds, as the feeds determine what you get from your livestock, he noted. World Bank is also looking at critical health aspects of the livestock industry, the veterinary aspects, as we are merging it with the surveillance. Commenting further, Mr. Oredipe said that the World Bank had approved $25 million to revamp the animal health sector. He explained that the funds would be released via a World Bank regional project, adding that more than $90 million had been earmarked for Nigeria. The initial $25 million has been approved by the bank, and the project will take off as soon as the Federal government sorts out the issue with the National Assembly, he said. Mr. Oredipe, according to the News Agency of Nigeria, also disclosed that the bank was making available a $2.1-million grant to examine and develop the business environment in the livestock sub-sector, adding that the reform programme would be executed under the Livestock Micro Reforms Project. According to the FADAMA team lead, the World Bank and government officials were now looking at the policy and business environment, with a view to perfecting them for the intervention. He said that the World Banks focus on the livestock sub-sector was based on the request of President Muhammadu Buharis administration. He said, The administration made it clear that they want the bank to critically look into the livestock sector because not much is going on in that sector. The livestock sub-sector accounted for a sizeable part of Nigerias Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Mr. Oredipe said; adding that it provides income, employment, food, farm energy, manure, fuel and transport. The FADAMA boss also noted that the livestock sub-sector was a major source of government revenue in the past, and the government was putting efforts in place to put it in good shape. Share this: Twitter Facebook The Nigeria Cassava Growers Association, NCGA, has appealed to the federal government to review the repayment plan of cassava bread development funds given to farmers. Segun Adewumi, the National President of the Association, made the appeal while speaking with News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Wednesday. He said that although part of the money was given to cassava farmers across the country to help boost cassava production, the assistance was marred as a result of farmers-herdsmen clashes. Mr. Adewumi, who expressed regret that some farmers had yet to recoup the losses they incurred when their produce was destroyed by ravaging herdsmen, suggested the extension of loan repayment period. Government released money for us to plant but we couldnt get market for our produce and the cassava processers who are meant to buy them did not do so, some of our produce rot away. Secondly, herdsmen also destroyed the farms of most of our members who took the loan and this has affected the loan repayment. We are recovering from the losses gradually but we are pleading with government to review the loan payment because most farmers lost a lot due to clashes. We learnt that the federal government is trying to revive the Cassava Bread Development Fund. Government should take its time to study how the fund worked to see how they can improve on it. There were a lot of hitches and start-up problems that need to be amended in the policy, he said. Mr. Adewumi moaned that the federal government had yet to commence the distribution of farm inputs to boost cassava cultivation during the wet season farming. He, however, appealed to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to accommodate cassava farmers in its Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) so as to boost cassava production, especially in the forthcoming planting season. We have written to CBN and we have been appealing to our members to see how they can meet up with the conditions, he said. The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that the federal government, under former President Goodluck Jonathan, in 2013 launched the N10 billion Cassava Bread Development Fund to boost cassava bread production. The Cassava Bread Development Fund was funded through the tariff on wheat flour. The fund was also used to support research and development efforts on cassava bread, as well as training and support for master bakers in the acquisition of new equipment for cassava bread production. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook Fifty reporters and editors in the West African sub-region who gathered to meet for a one-week training programme, Tuesday, in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, received kudos from leading global experts on corruption, drug trafficking, terrorism, and organised crimes who told them how central investigative reporting is to their work. The sub-regional body is called the Cell Norbert Zongo Centre for Investigative Journalism in West Africa, in homage to the slain Burkinabe journalist who in December 1998 was assassinated under the dictatorship of former President Blaise Camproare. Samuel De Jaegere, the Anti-Corruption Advisor for the United Nations office on Corruption and Crimes spoke of the enormous capacity in media regarding anti-corruption and organised crimes which he said is often more than what many governments have. For this reason, Mr. De Jaegere said, the future of the region will be better if its media take more purposive and active role in reporting and analysing the nefarious network of organised crimes. Mr. De Jaegere emphasised the key role of investigative journalism in promoting rule of law and justice. While saluting the progress made by many sub-regional governments in ratifying the United Nations treaty against corruption, he bemoaned the slow pace at domesticating the law in the specific countries, picking out Burkina Faso for specific kudos as an exception to the pack in the Francophonic West African corridor. The American Ambassador to Burkina Faso, Andrew Young, spoke of the strategic role that media and civil society institutions play in promoting transparency and accountability, conditions that he said, were critical to the regions development and progress. Drawing correlation between poverty and violent extremism, Mr. Young pointed out that our study, corroborated by the Afrobarometers own study, reveals that some 40 per cent of development aid is stolen in the region, and urged participants to intensify efforts in their pursuit of accountability and transparency because even if your reporting is not always positive, it will make the society better. Burkinabe Minister for Communication, Remis Dandjinou, a former journalist, said the watchdog role of the media is fundamental to development and deepening of democratic values. For this reason, may heroes in the media have lost their lives, Mr. Dandjinou observed. He called for a one-minute silence as tribute for all departed investigative journalists who lost their lives to make their communities better off. Share this: Twitter Facebook The Chairman of Chanchangi Airlines, Amadu Chanchangi, is dead. The Taraba-born, Kaduna-based billionaire died along Kaduna-Abuja road while on the way to a hospital in Abuja on Wednesday morning. He died along the road while we were rushing him to a hospital in Abuja, after a protractive illness, a family source confirmed to our reporter. He is believed to be survived by three wives and about 33 children, among whom is Rufai Chanchangi, a member of the House of representative. He will be buried by 2 p.m. today (Wednesday) according to Islamic right at the Bashama road cemetery, another family source added. Among early sympathisers at the Chachangi home was Bala Ibn NaAllah, the deputy Senate leader, and Mohammed Ali, a former member of the Kaduna State House of Assembly. Share this: Twitter Facebook The Police on Wednesday arraigned 53 persons, who were allegedly arrested during a gay marriage, before a Magistrates Court in Chediya-Zaria, Kaduna State. The prosecutor, Mannir Nasir, said the accused were arrested on April 15 at Zaria Motel and were being charged for conspiracy, unlawful assembly and belonging to a gang of unlawful society. He said the offences contravened Sections 97, 100 and 197(a) of Criminal Procedure Code, CPC. On April 15, 2017 at about 2100 hours a team of policemen led by DSP Muhammad Lawal-Mashi arrested and brought to police station 53 persons. The arrested persons included; Jibril Abdullahi, Sagir Abubakar, Anas Mohammed, Mustapha Ababukar, Musa Ibrahim and Suleiman Usman among others, all of various addresses. Information reached the police that these group of persons conspired to celebrate a gay marriage at Zaria Motel between one Faruk and Sanusi both at large, the police prosecutor said. The accused persons, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges, and their counsel, Yunusa Umar asked the court to release them on bail in line with sections 35 (4) and 36 (5) of the Constitution. Mr. Umar lamented that the accused persons were detained in police custody for more than 24 hours contrary to the provisions of section 341 of CPC. He told the court that most of the accused persons were students in their tender age. The Chief Magistrate, Auwal Musa-Aliyu, granted bail to the accused persons in the sum of N500,000 each, with one surety each in the like sum, who must be a blood relation to the accused. He ordered that each surety must present two passport size photographs, valid identity card, bank account number, letter of credence from a traditional ruler, a 2015 utility bill and a valid GSM number. The Chief Magistrate adjoined the case till May 8, for further hearing. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook The Nigerian Army on Wednesday began a special military exercise in Southern Kaduna code-named Operation Harbin Kunama II Scorpion Sting-, to checkmate farmers/herdsmen and ethno-religious crises in the area. The three-decade-old crisis mostly occurred in Kaura, Kafanchan and Zango-Kataf Local Government Areas. The operation, which is also to flush out bandits and cattle rustlers, will be extended to parts of Plateau, Kano and Bauchi states. Speaking at the event, the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai called on the people of the area to maintain the peace and avoid reprisal attacks. Mr. Buratai, a lieutenant general, said the operation was to ensure security and safety of the people. He said that the first phase of Operation Harbin Kunama was conducted in parts of Kaduna and Zamfara States in 2016. The Army chief assured that the military would always assist civil authority to contain any crisis and stop it from escalating. Governor Nasir El-Rufai, who graced the occasion, expressed happiness that two Army Forward Operation Bases were being established in Southern Kaduna in response to the agitation for such outfits in last 20 years. The governor recalled that the crisis in that part of the state had dragged on for 37 years, adding that the most recent one began in May 2016. According to him, the crisis has attracted the highest attention because it had been given religious colouration. Mr. El-Rufai, however, said with the conduct of operation Harbin Kunama II and establishment of two forward operation bases in Kafanchan and Kachia local government areas, the activities of armed criminals would be checkmated in the state. He vowed that the state government would not negotiate with sponsors and perpetrators of the crisis, but would identify, arrest and prosecute them. The governor stressed that this was one of the three steps the state had adopted to put an end to the crisis. He said the others were military operations and the process to make the people embrace peace. Mr. El-Rufai called on traditional and religious leaders in the state to play leading roles in that regard. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook The Director General of the Voice of Nigeria, Osita Okechukwu, has hailed the Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, for indicating that he and his supporters would not vote along party lines in the 2019 presidential election. Mr. Umahi, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, had on Tuesday in Abakaliki, the state capital, said the state would not play politics of sentiments when it comes to the presidential election. The governor, who is also the Chairman of the South-East Governors Forum, said the state would vote for a presidential candidate that would help develop it irrespective of his or her political affiliation. Mr. Umahis predecessor, Martin Elechi, had a fortnight ago, defected from the PDP on whose platform he governed the state for eight years, to the All Progressives Congress, APC. In a statement he sent to PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday, Mr. Okechukwu, who is an APC member, said the governors decision could have been informed by his appreciation of the foundation being laid by President Muhammadu Buhari for a progressive and prosperous Nigeria. I am happy that Umahi is one of thousands of Ndigbo who are coming to terms with the silent revolution going on, he said. Mr. Okechukwu, who hails from Enugu State, said the South-East chapter of the APC would harmonise different personalities, especially from Ebonyi State, that are trooping into the party. He said, They are all welcome. We welcome Umahi, we welcome Elechi and their followers; we shall at the appropriate time sit down and coordinate the way forward. I dont foresee much crisis. My happiness is that the surge of Ndigbo into the APC and by extension the support of the 2nd term bid of Buhari is a prelude to the actualisation of the president of Igbo extraction in 2023. This is why we are appealing to our brothers and sisters who are agitating for Biafra to realise that a bigger, just and fair Nigeria is unfolding. All we require is patience. Mr. Okechukwu said he was one of those who believed the only way forward for the Igbo to harvest from the subsisting zoning and rotation convention of the presidency was to support Mr. Buhari in 2019. According to him, it was timely because the Igbo people had supported and voted former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and by extension the Yoruba in 1999 and 2003 and Goodluck Jonathan and by extension the South-South in 2011 and 2015. He said, 2019 is Buharis time to consolidate the war against corruption, restore peace in Nigeria and lay a level playing field for progress and prosperity. Governor Umahi has vindicated the Governor of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, who had earlier predicted that three PDP governors are heading to APC. Our common objective is for us to reposition Ndigbo in the mainstream of Nigerian politics and take our eminent position in the presidency. The VON DG predicted that more people in the remaining south eastern states would join the APC, saying Thank God Buhari has all the major political actors in Ebonyi State on his side, next is Anambra, we are going to win this time around. The official said he believed that all the major political forces in Enugu State is with Mr. President, especially with his rapid construction of abandoned federal roads, and other critical infrastructure. The truism is that more states no doubt will follow. This is why we are inspecting ongoing federal projects in the South East. We therefore salute Umahi for his foresight and truthfulness. Share this: Twitter Facebook The Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, on Tuesday said that his administration would take necessary steps to eliminate any incident of multiple taxation in the state, especially at the local government level. The governor, who spoke when he received the Chair Occupier, Lagos State Professorial Chair in Tax and Fiscal Matters, Abiola Sanni, and other members of the Board of Trustees, University of Lagos, on a courtesy visit to Lagos House, Ikeja, said the tax system in the state must be presented in such a way that would be clear to all and sundry. He, therefore, tasked Mr. Sanni to use his tenure in office to address issues relating to multiple taxation, noting that his administration was able to achieve the level of infrastructural development in the last two years without necessarily increasing taxes. You know the citizens believe strongly that the way and manner we structure our tax system is done in such instance that we are doing multiple taxation within the local government and the state. Thats one aspect that we think that we can create some kind of partnership to be able to say that in no distance future that nothing exists in Lagos that relates to multiple taxation. I would like that aspect to be something of interest in the course of your research. In the last two years, we have seen the level of infrastructural development that we have put in place without necessarily increasing the taxes or levying citizens to pay more taxes. You have seen development taking place in the midst of recession. The only way to sustain this growth will be coming from the aspect of how we can sustain the revenue model that Lagos State can use to drive this growth and development in the state, Mr. Ambode said. The governor also said that there was a need to grow the financial template of the state, urging the new professorial chair to look at what steps Lagos could take to secure the next 50 years. Earlier, the Chairman Board of Trustees of UNILAG, Eddy Omolehinwa, while introducing the new professorial chair, commended Mr. Ambode, saying that he had raised the bar of governance since the inception of his administration by addressing the real issues affecting Lagosians. On his part, Mr. Sanni, who briefed the governor on his work plan, assured him that he would work assiduously within the three-year period of his tenure to advance the fiscal structure of the state through a tripod of teaching, research and community service. Share this: Twitter Facebook The Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has turned down appeals by wives of those detained for politically-motivated killings in the state, saying his hands are tied. He said the issues had to do with adherence to the rule of law and the detainees would not be released without due process. Mr. Fayose spoke at an inspection of the Ado-Ekiti prison facilities on Wednesday. The detainees include a former chairman of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, Rotimi Olabiwonu; his predecessor, Bayo Aderiye ; the Coordinator of the Oodua Peoples Congress in Ekiti, Niyi Adedipe, and Sola Adenijo. They were accused of complicity in the deaths of Ayo Jeje and Omolafe Aderiye, officials of the National Union of Road Trasnort Workers, NURTW, in Ekiti. The wives of the detainees had made several appeals to the governor, urging him to use his good office to ensure their release, asserting that they were innocent and falsely accused. The killings occurred at the height of political activities leading up the last governorship election in the state. My hands are tied because I have to follow due process , because left to me, I would have loved to release all inmates, Mr. Fayose said. We will definitely pardon some inmates but we have to follow due process. We must have the facts and figures before vetoing their release. The governor who was accompanied by the chief judge of the state, Ayodeji Daramola, lamented the poor state of facilities at the prisons. We have come to see the facilities in the prisons and see how we can help. We have seen the facilities here and we are not happy, he said. Mr. Fayose described the prison facilities as dilapidated and unsuitable for human habitation, and called on the federal government to immediately commence overhauling of all prisons across the country. The buildings here house almost 200 people but whatever their offences they are still entitled to good condition of living, he said. We therefore appeal to the Federal Government to upgrade the facilities available for prison inmates in the state here. The walls surrounding the prison are vulnerable, that was why we experienced the last time prison break, but that would not happen again. As a state government, we will support the prison with an additional building, a borehole, health facilities and toilet facilities. We appeal to the government to live up to their responsibilities. I also appeal to the prison inmates, you must be of good conduct so you can get pardon. Also make sure that you repent truly. Share this: Twitter Facebook Polish President Andrzej Duda and PM Beata Szydlo will meet with Speaker of the US House of Representatives Paul Ryan during his Friday visit to Warsaw. Sides are to discuss transatlantic cooperation. The Polish politicians are also to raise the case of US visas for Head of the President's Office Krzysztof Szczerski told PAP that President Duda's talks with the speaker of the House of Representatives and a delegation of US congressmen would focus on Republican majority's legislature plans in the Congress and on the US international policy. Referring to the US foreign policy, Krzysztof Szczerski pointed out that the evolution of the US policy toward its strong presence in the international security policy was evident. The president is to raise issues important from the Polish point of view and seek US congressmen's support for the presence of US troops in Poland as well as backing in various problems of the Polish Diaspora in the US. (PAP) Krzysztof Szczerski Secretary of State Chief of the Cabinet of the President Meetings with representatives of US President Donald Trump's administration and congressmen in Washington as well as talks at UN headquarters in New York are scheduled during the visit of Chief of the Cabinet of the President, Krzysztof Szczerski (April 26th 28th). Krzysztof Szczerski informed PAP Tuesday that during talks in Washington, "the topic of upcoming meeting calendar will surely come up". He underlined that recent meetings with the United States reps have been very frequent. Szczerski's visit to New York will take place as part of Poland's bid for the United Nations Security Council's non-permanent membership. Polish president's top aide is also expected to meet with American think tanks. In February in Washington, minister Szczerski presented President Trump rep with joint President Andrzej Duda's and Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic's invitation to visit Poland. As stated therein leaders of Poland and Croatia would like to invite President Trump's to July's Three Sea Initiative Forum in Wroclaw. The initiative is a joint concept of the Presidents of Poland and Croatia consisting in the enhancement of Central and Eastern European countries cooperation in the areas of energy, transport, digitization and economy. On Friday, the chairman of the US House of Representatives Paul Ryan will meet with President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Beata Szydlo. Minister Szczerski will go to Washington straight from Mexico where he is to accompany President Duda on the official visit to this country (April 22nd 25th). (PAP) Events marking the 74th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began in Warsaw on Wednesday. Observances began with a ceremony in front of the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes attended by Prime Minister Beata Szydlo, Undersecretary of State in the Chancellery of the President Wojciech Kolarski, and other officials as well as representatives of Jewish organisations. Those taking part in the anniversary observances included holders of the Righteous Among the Nations medal, in addition to state and local government officials, diplomats, representatives of Polish cultural institutions, and Warsaw residents. Later in the day, ceremonies were also scheduled to be held at other memorial sites connected with the Warsaw ghetto. April 19 marks the 74th anniversary of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in which Warsaw's Jews gave armed resistance to the city's German occupants, who were planning to liquidate the ghetto. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising broke out on April 19, 1943 in the final phase of the ghetto's liquidation launched by the Nazis few months earlier. The insurgency, that lasted until May 16, had been a symbolic act taking the small chances of success. In an uneven, almost one-month-long struggle, the poorly armed fighters of the Jewish Combat Organisation (ZOB) and the Jewish Military Union (ZZW) stood against SS and Wehrmacht soldiers, the Security Police and auxiliaries. At 6 am on April 19, ap. 2,000 German troops along with units of Ukrainian and Lativan collaborators entered the ghetto from 2 sides. The plan was to complete the deportation action within three days, but Germans encountered heavy resistance and found themselves in an ambush by Polish Jewish insurgents maintaning a sustained fire and tossing Molotov cocktails as well as hand grenades from alleyways, sewers, and windows. A couple hours into the fight, on the afternoon of 19 April, a symbolic event took place when two boys climbed up on the roof of a building on the square and raised two flags, the red-and-white Polish flag and the blue-and-white banner of the ZZW. These flags remained there, highly visible from the Warsaw streets, for four days, infuriating Germans. After a few weeks of uneven fight on May 8, 1943 the then commander of the uprising Mordechaj Anielewicz together with a group of ZOB soldiers committed suicide in a bunker at 18 Mila st. Just a handful of fighters managed to escape from the burning ghetto through the sewage system. Among them was the last commander of the uprising Marek Edelman. It is presumed that about 6,000 insurgents died in the fighting. Survivors were mostly deported to concentration camps. Of what remained from the ghetto was razed to the ground by German troops led by SS General Juergen Stroop. Stroop was tried, convicted, and hanged for crimes against humanity in Poland March 6, 1952. The Warsaw ghetto was established on October 12, 1940. A German decree required all Polish Jews from Warsaw to move into a designated area which German authorities sealed off from the rest of the city in November 1940. The ghetto's population reached at its peak over 400,000 Polish citizens of Jewish descent. The first wave of mass deportations from the Warsaw ghetto to the Treblinka German Nazi extermination camp started on July 22 and lasted until September 12, 1942 embracing some 300,000 Polish Jews. On April 19, 1943, German forces arrived at the ghetto with the intention liquidate it and deport the remaining inhabitants. This sparked the uprising. Warsaw was the only city in Europe to have held two uprisings against the Third Reich, the 1943 ghetto uprising and the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. (PAP) President Andrzej Duda started his Wednesday visit to the north-western Zachodniopomorskie province by honouring the victims of a 2008 Polish Casa C-295 military plane crash that claimed the lives of 16 officers and four crew. President Andrzej Duda and Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz commemorated the servicemen by laying wreaths at an obelisk to the victims. On the evening of January 23, 2008, the Casa C-295 crashed at a military airfield in Miroslawiec. The officers were coming back from a Warsaw conference on the safety of flights. (PAP) NORTHFIELD Linwood teacher Kimberley Peschi entered a not guilty plea Wednesday to simple assault on student. Peschi, a Linwood school music teacher, appeared in Northfield Municipal Court. According to the release, on Feb. 10, Linwood police responded to the Belhaven Avenue Middle School to investigate the alleged assault of a 12-year-old student by a teacher. On Feb. 15, Kimberley M. Peschi, 40, of Galloway Township, was charged with cruelty and neglect of children, a 4th degree crime, and simple assault, a disorderly persons offense. Peschi, a Belhaven Avenue Middle School music teacher, is alleged to have stepped on the back of the students chair on Feb. 9, pulling both chair and student to the ground, causing the victim to hit his head, according to authorities. According to the police report, there were eyewitnesses and video of the incident. The release says that based on investigation, the Atlantic County Prosecutors Office will prosecute the assault on the municipal level. If convicted, Peschi could face as many as six months in jail. No date for the trial was provided. School officials have previously said Peschi was suspended with pay after the incident and further action may be taken. Peschi earlier referred calls for comment to her attorney, Dean Wittman, who could not be reached for comment. Peschi has worked in the Linwood school district since 1999. She also has taught a yoga class there as part of the schools Explorations program. Linwood middle school teacher Kimberley Peschi pleaded not guilty Wednesday in municipal court on charges of simple assault on a student in February. The victims mother said she wants to be sure Peschi does not teach again. No trial date was set. Peschis attorney, Robert Agre, said he is filing a motion to obtain records in the case, including a report from the state Division of Child Protection and Permanency, which also investigated. Judge Timothy Maguire gave Agre until May 1 to submit his motions, and then gave the Atlantic County Prosecutors Office, represented by attorney Seth Levy, until May 24 to respond. Maguire said he would set a court date after reviewing the records. Peschi, 40, of Galloway Township, declined comment after the hearing. The 12-year-old boys mother, Michelle Tourigian, said after the hearing she does not want any plea agreement that would allow Peschi to take no blame. She said she hopes eventually a video of the Feb. 9 incident will be shown. According to the police report, Peschi, a teacher at Belhaven Middle School, walked behind a student who was seated in a chair and used her left leg to pull the chair backward, causing the student to hit his head on the floor. There were eyewitnesses and video, according to the police report. Peschi was charged Feb. 15 with cruelty and neglect of children and simple assault. Peschi, who worked in the district since 1999, was suspended with pay. At a special meeting April 12, the Linwood school board voted to file tenure charges with the state Department of Education to remove her from her position. Her suspension will continue, but without pay. The Board has a responsibility to the children that we feel was breached by Mrs. Peschi, enough so that she should not be a teacher in the district, school board President Richard Sless wrote in an email. Attorney Tom Reynolds, who was with the family, said the charges against Peschi have already been downgraded to a municipal level, and both sides have seen the video. He also said they want to be sure Peschi will not be allowed to continue teaching. Aaron Carter, the singer-rapper who began performing as a child and had hit albums starting in his teen years, was found dead at his home in Southern California. He was 34. Representatives for Carters family confirmed the singers death Saturday. They did not provide any immediate further comment. A sheriff's official says deputies responding to reports of a medical emergency found a person deceased at the home in Lancaster. Aaron Carter, the younger brother of Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys, performed as an opening act for Britney Spears as well as his brothers boy band, and appeared on the familys reality series, House of Carters. According to the Accelerance eBook, when a U.S. company's growth strategy depends on software development, it simply has few options to engineer the product or solution it needs. One choice is to insource full-time employees, but the market for developers is on fire with more jobs than talent. And, realistically, if a company brings software development in-house, it must accept the highly competitive compensation packages needed to attract and keep top-notch software engineers, assuming they can even be found. "For many companies that need software development resources, there's not much choice but to seek talent outside the United States," says Steve Mezak, founder and CEO of Accelerance, co-author of Outsource or Else: How a VP of Software Saved His Company and author of Software Without Borders. "Otherwise, if these U.S. enterprises don't outsource, the economic impact becomes bigger than the perceived threat of a job being done a few time zones away; it becomes a tale of economic stagnation, unprofitability for enterprises and lack of innovation on the home-front." The eBook explains that while there are many reasons for a company to outsource its software engineering, the fact remains that successful software products fuel the U.S. economy. Fruitful software stimulates even more software development, innovation, profitable businesses, a healthy economy and many jobs that go beyond engineering. In effect, software generates millions of jobs and economic gains in every state. In 2014 alone, the software industry directly contributed more than $475.3 billion to the United States' GDP, according to The Economic Impact of Software from BSA | The Software Alliance. "While current political discussions raise concerns about offshored jobs, outsourcing software development is not only a profitable alternative for many U.S. businesses and the U.S. economy, it's often the only alternative in a tight labor market," says Mezak. "By arbitrarily disallowing any outsourcing, the United States puts many more jobs at risk by lost revenue and commerce." The eBook notes that many U.S. companies have turned to outsourcing their software development to get quality software that supports innovation, generates revenue and grows their business while benefiting the U.S. economy. "Outsourcing software development fills the U.S. talent gap without impacting the jobs of existing employees or other job opportunities all while contributing to the U.S. economy," explains Mezak. The free eBook also touches on the difference between custom software development outsourcing and IT outsourcing, and reminds readers that manufacturing outsourcing the kind of outsourcing that President Donald Trump typically references is much different. What You and President Trump Need to Know About Software Development Outsourcing can be downloaded at http://www.accelerance.com/what-you-and-president-trump-need-to-know-about-software-outsourcing About Accelerance Accelerance (@accelerance) connects companies that need software engineering services with the most qualified outsourcing firms around the globe. As the global outsourcing authority, Accelerance sets the standard for software outsourcing best practices and has developed a proven process for verifying the skills, references, business practices and trustworthiness of top software service providers in more than 60 countries. Accelerance's proprietary Rapid Referral System reduces the time it takes to identify and select a trusted outsourcing partner from five months to five days. To talk to an Accelerance Advisor about your software needs, visit http://www.accelerance.com. SOURCE Accelerance Related Links http://www.accelerance.com SHANGHAI, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Acorn International, Inc. (NYSE: ATV) ("Acorn" or the "Company") stated today that the Company continues to focus on enhancing corporate governance standards as it pursues damages claims against former directors Andrew Y. Yan, Gordon Xiaogang Wang, and Jing Wang for misconduct by suing them in court. Claims against Former Directors for Misconduct The Company is seeking to hold former directors of the Company accountable for their actions, and to ensure that high standards of corporate governance are maintained going forward. Litigation proceedings (the "Claim") have been commenced against three former directors of the Company, Andrew Y. Yan, Gordon Xiaogang Wang, and Jing Wang (the "Defendants"), and service of the Claim has been effected on all three Defendants. All three Defendants have now acknowledged service of the Claim and must file and serve their defences by 21 April 2017. As previously disclosed on December 1, 2016, and in the Company's February 14, 2016 6-k filing, the Company filed the Claim in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, (the "Cayman Court"), against the Defendants. The Claim arises out of the previously disclosed dispute between two groups of the Company's shareholders and actions taken by the Defendants while serving as directors. Among other things, the dispute involved (i) the removal in August 2014 of Mr. Robert W. Roche from his role as executive chairman by the then board of directors (at the time comprised of Mr. Robert W. Roche, Mr. William Liang, the Defendants, and others), and, as a result, Mr. Roche being precluded from involvement in the Company's day-to-day operations and management; (ii) efforts by Mr. Roche (which were rejected by the then board of directors) to call an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders, ("EGM"), for the purpose of removing certain of the Company's then directors; (iii) a petition filed in the Cayman Islands in September 2014 by Acorn Composite Corporation (a company wholly owned by Mr. Roche), seeking a winding up of the Company (or other remedies); (iv) a cross-petition filed by shareholders of the Company (the "Minority Shareholders"), including SB Asia Investment Fund II LP (a company ultimately controlled by Andrew Y. Yan) and supported by the Defendants, also seeking a winding up of the Company (or other remedies); and (v) four new directors being elected in December 2014 at the Company's annual general meeting, over Mr Roche's objection. In March 2015, the Cayman Court found in favor of Acorn Composite Corporation, and made an order dismissing the Minority Shareholders' cross-petition, and, in lieu of making a winding-up order, granting Acorn Composite Corporation certain of the alternative remedies it sought. The order of the Cayman Court directed the Company to call an EGM for the purpose of considering the following resolutions: (i) to remove four then current directors from the board; (ii) to elect to the board of directors three new individuals nominated by Mr. Roche; (iii) to amend the Company's articles of association to allow shareholders who together hold not less than 30% of the Company's issued shares to convene an EGM; and (iv) preventing the Company from pursuing a proposal which would have diluted the shareholdings of its existing members. The EGM was held on May 4, 2015, and each of the resolutions passed. Following the EGM, the newly constituted board elected Mr Roche as the Company's executive chairman and chief executive officer. The Cayman Court also found (among other things) that the Defendants had "acted in bad faith and exercised their powers, both in connection with Mr. Roche's removal from office and in connection with the AGM [Annual General Meeting] and the related refusal to convene an EGM, for an improper purpose." In addition, the Cayman Court required the Minority Shareholders to pay Acorn Composite Corporation's expenses in connection with the cross-petition. The Cayman Court indicated that "Mr Andy Yan has in fact played an important role in the events giving rise to the presentation of [Acorn Composite Corporation's] petition, but he attempted to distance himself from certain important decisions" and expressed the view that "his evidence to the Court was carefully tailored to meet the needs of the Minority Shareholders' case and was not always truthful." The Claim alleges that the Defendants breached their fiduciary duties and are responsible for alleged misconduct in and/or mismanagement of Acorn's business resulting from, in addition to other actions outlined in the Claim, the wrongful removal of Mr. Roche as the Company's chief executive officer, exposing the Company to breach of contract claims, refusing to pursue valuable business opportunities and wrongful termination of certain employees resulting in unnecessary severance costs. The relief sought by the Company consists of (i) initial monetary damage claims comprised of US dollar denominated damages of approximately US$26,326,389.76, and Renminbi denominated damages of approximately RMB 120,045,222, (ii) costs and (iii) such further or other relief as the Cayman Court considers just. About Acorn International, Inc. Co-founded in 1998 by Executive Chairman Robert Roche, Acorn is a marketing and branding company in China with a proven track record of developing, promoting and selling a diverse portfolio of proprietary-branded products, as well as well-established and promising new products from third parties. Its business is currently comprised of two main divisions, its direct sales platforms and its nationwide distribution network. For more information visit www.acorninternationalir.com. Safe Harbor Statement This news release contains forward-looking statements. These statements constitute "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "future," "going forward," "intends," "outlook," "plans," "target," "will," and similar statements. Such statements are based on management's current expectations and current market and operating conditions, and relate to events that involve known or unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the Company's control, which may cause the Company's actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Further information regarding these and other risks, uncertainties, or factors is included in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law. SOURCE Acorn International, Inc. Related Links http://www.chinadrtv.com LONDON, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Actis, a leading growth markets investor, today announced that its portfolio company MediS, a major pharmaceutical company based in Tunisia, has acquired Winthrop Pharma Senegal (WPS) from Sanofi. Actis invested in MediS at the end of August 2016 with the vision to work alongside the founder Dr Lassaad Boujbel and Management to build a leading pan- African and Middle East player. Through this acquisition, MediS aims to actively develop the business in Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa from a Senegalese base. WPS is a significant operator in the pharmaceuticals sector in French-speaking sub-Saharan Africa (FSSA). MediS' acquisition includes a 34,000m manufacturing facility in the Rufisque district of Dakar, Senegal. The plant is one of the most important production platforms in Western Africa and benefits from Senegalese and various West & Central African Ministry of Health approvals, including authorisation to handle controlled substances. The plant exports a substantial part of its output. MediS has more than 720 marketing authorizations worldwide, 480 of which are in Africa, and is constantly expanding its international presence with a subsidiary in Algeria and the creation of MediS International in the Czech Republic, making it the first Tunisian multinational in the pharmaceutical field. This acquisition increases the number of MediS production sites, which currently include: MediS laboratories in Tunisia, NEAPOLIS PHARMA laboratories in Tunisia, Inpha-MediS laboratories in Algeria and MediS International laboratories in the Czech Republic. MediS is currently present in 16 countries in FSSA including Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire and Cameroun. The FSSA pharmaceutical market is estimated at more US$2.5bn and forecasted to grow at close to double digit rates over the next five years, driven by emergence of a middle class, improved healthcare infrastructure, external donator support for healthcare system and rise of insurance. The region's branded generics penetration is among the lowest in the world but is projected to grow rapidly over the same period. Dr Lassaad Boujbel, founder of MediS, said: "When MediS first partnered with Actis last year, I was particularly pleased by how aligned they were with us in our intention to grow MediS into a leading regional platform. This is a significant strategic step towards that goal." Commenting on the acquisition, Hichem Omezzine, Director at Actis, said: "This acquisition is extremely exciting. Not only will MediS benefit from a world class facility with significant production capacities and space available for further expansion, but the business is also gaining an extremely strong platform from which to access the Sub-Saharan African market." About MediS group During the 20 years of practice and technical expertise in the pharmaceutical industry, the MediS Group has built its position as the market leader in branded generics in its native country, Tunisia. MediS manufactures a broad portfolio of quality, affordable medicines with strong recognition and trust among doctors and patients. Its products belong to several therapeutic areas, in particular to the chronic pathologies of various specialties such as cardiology, diabetology, neuropsychiatry, cancerology, pain, allergies, gastrology, etc. MediS also manufactures and markets a wide range of leading-edge medicines such as "biosimilar" products for the treatment of diseases such as deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, infertility and multiple sclerosis. MediS continues developing high-quality medicines with its market-leading production systems, quality control, quality assurance and R&D capabilities. About Actis Actis is a leading investor in growth markets, delivering consistent competitive returns, responsibly. It has a growing portfolio of investments across Asia, Africa and Latin America and has raised over US$12 billion since inception. The firm invests through insights gained from trusted relationships and local knowledge, deep sector expertise and an unparalleled heritage, set within a culture of active ownership. Applying developed market disciplines to growth markets, an established team of c. 100 investment professionals in ten countries identify investment opportunities in response to two trends: rising domestic consumption and the need for sustained investment in infrastructure across private equity, energy and real estate asset classes. Actis is a signatory to the United Nations backed Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI), an investor initiative developed by the UNEP FI and the UN Global Compact. Actis targets consistent superior returns across asset classes over the long-term, bringing financial and social benefits to investors, consumers and communities. It calls this the positive power of capital. www.act.is For more information: John Thompson Nabil SAADAOUI +44 (0)20 7234 5107 CEO Les Laboratoires MediS [email protected] [email protected] SOURCE Actis Related Links http://www.act.is AYM will transfer current employees from Shanghai and hire local workers to staff the Changshu plant with approximately 2,000 team members. The plant will have special engineering, testing, prototyping and manufacturing capabilities for seating mechanisms, such as tracks, adjusters, latches and related parts. The plant will supply major automakers in China and abroad, including Volkswagen, GM, Ford, BMW, Daimler, SAIC, Mazda, Honda, Great Wall and Chang'an. "Adient is dedicated to reinforcing vertical integration in core seating mechanisms technologies and providing our customers with state-of-the-art products manufactured locally in China," said Darlene Knight, vice president of Adient China. "With the opening of the new plant in Changshu, Adient plans to further expand our footprint and capacities in China." AYM plans to start moving production lines and hiring employees later this year with an anticipation of having the plant operational in Q4 2018. AYM will put in additional capabilities and processes as well during the remainder of the year including stamping, electrophoretic painting, welding, fine-blanking, heat treatment and assembly. Terms of the plant construction and investment have not been released by AYM. "This strategic move and expansion will enable us to generate sustainable growth in seating mechanisms businesses and to strengthen our market leadership in China," said Knight. As the industry-leading seating mechanisms supplier in China, AYM has full-service, world-class capabilities from product design and development, engineering, prototyping, testing and manufacturing. Formed in December 2013, AYM is the 50:50 joint venture between Adient and Yanfeng Automotive Trim Systems Co., Ltd. AYM currently operates its seating mechanisms businesses in a 71,000 square meter (764,237 square feet) campus headquartered in Kangqiao Industry Zone, Shanghai. About Adient: Adient is a global leader in automotive seating. With 75,000 employees operating in 230 manufacturing/assembly plants in 33 countries worldwide, we produce and deliver automotive seating for all vehicle classes and all major OEMs. From complete seating systems to individual components, our expertise spans every step of the automotive seat-making process. Our integrated, in-house skills allow us to take our products from research and design all the way to engineering and manufacturing and into more than 25 million vehicles every year. For more information on Adient, please visit adient.com. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: Adient plc has made statements in this document that are forward-looking and, therefore, are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements in this document other than statements of historical fact are statements that are, or could be, deemed "forward looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In this document, statements regarding Adient's future financial position, sales, costs, earnings, cash flows, other measures of results of operations, capital expenditures or debt levels and plans, objectives, outlook, targets, guidance or goals are forward-looking statements. Words such as "may," "will," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe," "should," forecast," "project" or "plan" or terms of similar meaning are also generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. Adient cautions that these statements are subject to numerous important risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors, some of which are beyond Adient's control, that could cause Adient's actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, among others, risks related to: the ability of Adient to meet debt service requirements, the availability and terms of financing, general economic and business conditions, the strength of the U.S. or other economies, automotive vehicle production levels, mix and schedules, energy and commodity prices, the availability of raw materials and component products, currency exchange rates, and cancellation of or changes to commercial arrangements. A detailed discussion of risks related to Adient's business is included in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in Adient's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2016 filed with the SEC on November 29, 2016 and available at www.sec.gov. Potential investors and others should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements and should not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements included in this document are made only as of the date of this document, unless otherwise specified, and, except as required by law, Adient assumes no obligation, and disclaims any obligation, to update such statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this document. In addition, this document includes certain projections provided by Adient with respect to the anticipated future performance of Adient's businesses. Such projections reflect various assumptions of Adient's management concerning the future performance of Adient's businesses, which may or may not prove to be correct. The actual results may vary from the anticipated results and such variations may be material. Adient does not undertake any obligation to update the projections to reflect events or circumstances or changes in expectations after the date of this document or to reflect the occurrence of subsequent events. No representations or warranties are made as to the accuracy or reasonableness of such assumptions or the projections based thereon. SOURCE Adient plc BOISE, Idaho, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Albertsons Companies today announced Wayne Denningham, EVP & Chief Operating Officer, has been appointed to the new role of President and Chief Operating Officer for Albertsons Companies. Bob Miller remains Chairman and CEO, a role he has held since April 2015. Denningham will continue to lead store operations with added oversight of Marketing & Merchandising, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, and Integration, all of which will continue under their current leadership. "This is the strongest leadership team I've worked with in my 50+ years in this industry," said Bob Miller, Chairman and CEO of Albertsons Companies. "I asked Wayne to join Albertsons LLC in 2006 to lead our Rocky Mountain Division. Since that time, he's led three different divisions, helped to negotiate and manage some of our most significant acquisitions, and successfully turned around some of our toughest assets. He's a remarkable leader with tremendous grocery retail acumen, and I'm pleased that he's accepted this new role." Denningham began his career with Albertson's, Inc. in 1977 as a clerk and worked his way up in the organization, serving in district manager roles in three different divisions before being named Division President, first of the Rocky Mountain division and later the Florida division. Subsequently, he was promoted to Regional President for five divisions of Albertsons, and then served as both Executive Vice President of Marketing & Merchandising and Executive Vice President of Operations for the company before leaving in 2004. He joined Albertson's LLC in 2006 and served as Division President of the Rocky Mountain, Florida and Southern divisions over the next seven years. In March 2013, Denningham was named Division President of the Southern California division following the acquisition of 877 stores from SUPERVALU, and in January 2015, he assumed the role of South Region Chief Operating Officer following the merger with Safeway. He was named EVP & Chief Operating Officer for the company in April 2015. Denningham is based at the company's Boise, Idaho corporate campus. About Albertsons Companies Albertsons Companies is one of the largest food and drug retailers in the United States, with both a strong local presence and national scale. We operate stores across 35 states and the District of Columbia under 19 well-known banners including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, Haggen and Carrs. Albertsons Companies is committed to helping people across the country live better lives by making a meaningful difference, neighborhood by neighborhood. In 2016 alone, along with the Albertsons Companies Foundation, the company gave nearly $300 million in food and financial support. These efforts helped millions of people in the areas of hunger relief, education, cancer research and treatment, programs for people with disabilities and veterans outreach. Contact: Christine Wilcox [email protected] | 208-395-4163 SOURCE Albertsons Companies SHANGHAI, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Allison Transmission Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ALSN) and China National Heavy Duty Truck Group Corp. Ltd. (CNHTC) today announced an agreement to explore a strategic partnership to optimize fully automatic transmission technologies for the Chinese market. Executives from both companies signed a cooperation agreement during a ceremony at Auto Shanghai 2017. "The heavy-duty truck market in China represents a major growth opportunity for Allison and we're pleased to jointly investigate ways to partner with CNHTC in this endeavor," said Chairman and CEO Lawrence E. Dewey of Allison Transmission. "Their leadership and industry expertise are incredible assets to this collaboration." CNHTC was founded in 1935 as China's first heavy-duty truck manufacturer. The company is headquartered in Jinan, Shandong province. Today, CNHTC specializes in the production of vehicles for a variety of applications, including construction, distribution, emergency and mining. "We believe fully automatic transmissions are the major development direction in many heavy-duty truck applications in China," said Chairman Ma Chunji of CNHTC. "After evaluating all available torque converter automatic transmission technologies, we look forward to working with Allison and introducing their product to our customers. They are an industry leader known for impeccable quality and lifecycle value." Allison Transmission is the world's largest manufacturer of commercial-duty automatic transmissions and is a leader in hybrid-propulsion systems. Allison Automatics are used in a variety of applications including refuse, construction, fire, distribution, bus, motorhomes, defense and energy. Founded in 1915, the company is headquartered in Indianapolis and has approximately 1,400 independent distributor and dealer locations worldwide. Allison transmissions use a torque converter for Continuous Power Technology to smoothly multiply engine torque, delivering more power to the wheels. By multiplying engine power, drivers get increased performance, faster acceleration and greater operational flexibility. Manual and automated manual transmissions (AMTs) interrupt power with every shift. Allison transmissions maintain power to the wheels at all times for more productivity, better fuel economy and greater driver comfort and safety. Allison Automatics are globally recognized for their quality and reliability resulting in a greater overall economic value for customers. Allison and CNHTC will focus on servicing the Chinese market while also exploring other opportunities. In addition to China, CNHTC has a strong presence in South America and has exported products to more than 90 countries overall. Similarly, Allison transmissions are used in more than 100 countries. About Allison Transmission Allison Transmission (NYSE: ALSN) is the world's largest manufacturer of fully automatic transmissions for medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles, and is a leader in hybrid-propulsion systems for city buses. Allison transmissions are used in a variety of applications including refuse, construction, fire, distribution, bus, motorhomes, defense and energy. Founded in 1915, the company is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA and employs approximately 2,600 people worldwide. With a market presence in more than 80 countries, Allison has regional headquarters in the Netherlands, China and Brazil with manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Hungary and India. Allison also has approximately 1,400 independent distributor and dealer locations worldwide. For more information, visit allisontransmission.com. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this press release are forward-looking statements, including all statements regarding future financial results. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "expect," "plans," "project," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "intend," "forecast," "could," "potential," "continue" or the negative of these terms or other similar terms or phrases. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks. Factors which may cause the actual results to differ materially from those anticipated at the time the forward-looking statements are made include, but are not limited to: risks related to our substantial indebtedness; uncertainty in the global regulatory and business environments in which we operate; our participation in markets that are competitive; the highly cyclical industries in which certain of our end users operate; the failure of markets outside North America to increase adoption of fully-automatic transmissions; the concentration of our net sales in our top five customers and the loss of any one of these; future reductions or changes in government subsidies for hybrid vehicles and other external factors impacting demand; U.S. defense spending; general economic and industry conditions; the discovery of defects in our products, resulting in delays in new model launches, recall campaigns and/or increased warranty costs and reduction in future sales or damage to our brand and reputation; our ability to prepare for, respond to and successfully achieve our objectives relating to technological and market developments and changing customer needs; risks associated with our international operations; labor strikes, work stoppages or similar labor disputes, which could significantly disrupt our operations or those of our principal customers; our intention to pay dividends and repurchase shares of our common stock; and other risks and uncertainties associated with our business described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. Although we believe the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that the expectations will be attained or that any deviation will not be material. All information is as of the date of this press release, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to conform the statement to actual results or changes in expectations. SOURCE Allison Transmission Holdings Inc. Related Links http://www.allisontransmission.com VANCOUVER, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Alterra Power Corp. ("Alterra") is pleased to announce the acquisition of the Boswell Springs wind project, a 320 MW portfolio of wind development projects located in Albany County, Wyoming (the "Project"). Alterra expects the Project to achieve commercial operations in 2020, selling 100% of its output under 20-year power purchase agreements with Rocky Mountain Power, a division of PacifiCorp. Alterra commenced construction of the Project's main power transformers in 2016, and expects the Project to qualify for US renewable electricity production tax credits (PTCs) at the full rate. Alterra acquired the Project from Intermountain Wind, LLC ("Intermountain Wind"), along with certain of its partners and affiliates. Intermountain was advised in the transaction by Houlihan Lokey, Inc. Paul Rapp, Alterra's VP of Project Development, said, "We're pleased to complete this next major step in our growth plans, culminating over a year of cooperation with the original developer, Intermountain Wind. This acquisition further establishes our USA growth trajectory and the realization of our wind project PTC qualification plans." Paul Martin, President of Intermountain Wind, said "After over ten years of development, we are excited to have identified Alterra as the right partner to facilitate the completion of the Project. When operational, it will provide clean, cost effective power to consumers in the Rocky Mountain region while producing significant tax revenues and other economic benefits for Wyoming." Mr. Martin will continue to provide service and support for the Project over the next two years while continuing to develop the Intermountain Wind project portfolio. About Alterra Power Corp. Alterra Power Corp. is a global renewable energy company that manages eight power plants totaling 825 MW of hydro, wind, geothermal and solar generation capacity in Canada, the USA and Iceland. Alterra owns a 385 MW share of this capacity, generating over 1,700 GWh of clean power annually. Alterra also has an extensive portfolio of development projects and a skilled team of developers, builders and operators to support its growth plans. Alterra trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol AXY and OTC in the United States as MGMXF. About Intermountain Wind, LLC Intermountain Wind, LLC is a developer of electrical generation and transmission projects. Based in Boulder, Colorado, the company is developing several projects with a potential of approximately 1,000 MW of generation capacity and more than 500 miles of high voltage transmission lines. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information Certain statements and information included in this news release are "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking information relates to future events or future performance and reflects management's expectations and beliefs regarding future events as of the date hereof. Examples of forward-looking information in this news release include whether the Project actually or ultimately qualifies (and whether Alterra's other projects ultimately qualify) for all, or a portion of, the PTCs, whether the power purchase agreements are accepted by the Wyoming Public Service Commission, the benefits Wyoming realizes from the Project's operations, and whether and when the Project ultimately achieves commencement of construction, commercial operations, and the sale of power under the power purchase agreements for the full 320 MW projected capacity. Statements regarding Intermountain Wind's activities and future projects also contain forward-looking information, for which Alterra is not responsible. Forward-looking information is based on factors or assumptions that were applied in drawing a conclusion or making a forecast or projection. Since forward-looking information relates to future events and conditions, by its very nature it requires making assumptions and involves inherent risks and uncertainties. Alterra cautions that although it is believed that the assumptions are reasonable in the circumstances, these risks and uncertainties give rise to the possibility that actual results may differ materially from the expectations set out in the forward-looking information. Material risk factors and assumptions include whether Alterra's off-site construction activities will be sufficient to qualify the Project for the full value of the PTCs; that no rule, regulation or other guidance is promulgated pursuant to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (as the same may be amended, updated or otherwise modified from time to time) that would jeopardize or otherwise impede the effectiveness of such on-site and off-site project activities qualifying the Project for the full value of the PTCs and securing tax equity financing on such basis; that no other government action is taken that could result, directly or indirectly, in the same effect on Alterra's qualification of the Project for PTCs; the accuracy of current estimated generation capacity, the sufficiency of the wind resource for each such project and the satisfactory completion of development milestones, including remaining permitting work, acquisition of property rights and third party transmission-related activities, within a timeframe that permits Alterra to obtain the full value of PTCs; as well as others set out in the management's discussion and analysis section of Alterra's most recent annual and quarterly reports and in Alterra's Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2015. Although Alterra has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate and undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking information. Except as required by law, Alterra undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking information to reflect new information, subsequently or otherwise. SOURCE Alterra Power Corp. Related Links www.alterrapower.ca/ AGOURA HILLS, Calif., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE: AMH) (the "Company") today announced that it has commenced an underwritten public offering of its Series F Preferred Shares. The Company also plans to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 15% of the Series F Preferred Shares at the public offering price, less the underwriting discount. The Company intends to apply to list the Series F Preferred Shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "AMHPRF." The Company will contribute the net proceeds from the offering to its operating partnership in exchange for Series F operating partnership units. The operating partnership intends to use the net proceeds from the contribution to repay indebtedness under its revolving credit facility and term loan facility. Raymond James, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo Securities are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering, and Goldman, Sachs & Co., Jefferies, J.P. Morgan and US Bancorp are acting as co-managers for the offering. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful before registration or qualification thereof under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction. The offering is being made pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and only by means of a prospectus and prospectus supplement. Copies of the preliminary prospectus supplement relating to the offering and the final prospectus supplement, when available, may be obtained by visiting EDGAR on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov or from Raymond James & Associates, Inc., Attention: Equity Syndicate, 880 Carillon Parkway, St. Petersburg, Florida 33716, or via telephone: (800) 248-8863 or via email: [email protected] ; Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, NC1-004-03-43, 200 North College Street, 3rd Floor, Charlotte, North Carolina 28255-0001, Attention: Prospectus Department, or via telephone (800) 294-1322 or via email: [email protected]; Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Attention: Prospectus Department, 180 Varick Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10014; and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, attention: Equity Syndicate Department, 375 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10152, or via telephone: (800) 326-5897 or via email at [email protected]. About American Homes 4 Rent American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE: AMH) is a leader in the single-family home rental industry and "American Homes 4 Rent" is fast becoming a nationally recognized brand for rental homes, known for high quality, good value and tenant satisfaction. We are an internally managed Maryland real estate investment trust, or REIT, focused on acquiring, renovating, leasing, and operating attractive, single-family homes as rental properties. As of December 31, 2016, we owned approximately 48,422 single-family properties, in selected submarkets in 22 states. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking statements." These forward-looking statements relate to beliefs, expectations or intentions and similar statements concerning matters that are not of historical fact and are generally accompanied by words such as "estimate," "project," "predict," "believe," "expect," "intend," "anticipate," "potential," "plan," "goal" or other words that convey the uncertainty of future events or outcomes. These forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, the Company's ability to complete the offering and the intended use of net proceeds. The Company has based these forward-looking statements on its current expectations and assumptions about future events. While the Company's management considers these expectations to be reasonable, they are inherently subject to risks, contingencies and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the Company's control. These and other important factors, including "Risk Factors" disclosed in, or incorporated by reference into, the prospectus from the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016 and in the Company's subsequent filings with the SEC, may cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from anticipated results expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Contact: American Homes 4 Rent Investor Relations Phone: (855) 794-2447 Email: [email protected] SOURCE American Homes 4 Rent Related Links https://www.americanhomes4rent.com "This innovative collaboration marks the first group discount and content program at the point-of-care for both the AUA and Urology Care Foundation," said Richard A. Memo, MD, chair of the Urology Care Foundation. "By offering Outcome Health's digital platform and technologies to the AUA's nearly 15,000 US-based membership at no cost, we are providing critical information for patients and providers to use before and during consultation to make more informed healthcare decisions." Outcome Health's platform includes digital anatomy boards, patient education tablets and mobile connectivity in outpatient waiting rooms and patient examination rooms. Notably, the digital anatomy wallboard, a 32 inch touchscreen device that offers urologists access to 3D anatomical renderings they can use to mark, annotate and better explain condition states, treatment options and surgical procedures to their patients during consultation. "Outcome Health is pleased to join the AUA and Urology Care Foundation in their pursuit of the advancement of urologic patient care," said Anil Harjani, vice president of Outcome Health's Strategic Partnerships. "Using this technology, urologists are empowered to explain complex conditions and treatments during the consultation more efficiently, while also improving overall patient engagement. We look forward to working with AUA members and delivering urologic health content to patients in the most critical moments of care using our full platform of digital technologies." Through this agreement, Outcome Health will also work with the Foundation to produce original video content to be shared with millions of patients and caregivers each year. About the American Urological Association: Founded in 1902 and headquartered near Baltimore, Maryland, the American Urological Association is a leading advocate for the specialty of urology, and has more than 21,000 members throughout the world. The AUA is a premier urologic association, providing invaluable support to the urologic community as it pursues its mission of fostering the highest standards of urologic care through education, research and the formulation of health policy. To learn more about the AUA, visit: www.AUAnet.org. About the Urology Care Foundation: The Urology Care Foundation is the world's leading nonprofit urological health foundation and the official foundation of the American Urological Association. We partner with physicians, researchers, healthcare professionals, patients, caregivers, families and the public to support and improve the prevention, detection and treatment of urological diseases through research and education. To learn more about the Urology Care Foundation and its programs visit: www.UrologyHealth.org. About Outcome Health: Outcome Health (formerly ContextMedia) delivers better health outcomes and positively impacts the human condition through decision technology. Founded in 2006 by Rishi Shah and Shradha Agarwal, the company has doubled each year in its scale of business partnerships with global life sciences and medical device companies, product innovation, team growth and technology implementation, with a presence in 20% of the outpatient facilities in the United States. Its decision technologies such as digital anatomy boards, interactive educational tablets and mobile connectivity in consultation rooms deliver measurable patient outcomes through actionable intelligence on conditions, treatments and lifestyle changes to improve the quality of life. To find out more about Outcome Health, visit www.outcomehealth.com. SOURCE American Urological Association Related Links http://www.AUAnet.org WINONA, Minn., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- AmericInnthe largest midscale hotel brand in the upper Midwestis celebrating the opening of the new AmericInn Hotel and Suites Winona at 303 Pelzer Street. The hotel is the 61st in Minnesota for AmericInn, which now boasts more than 200 locations open or in development across 21 states. Opening festivities include participants from AmericInn corporate leadership, Winona city dignitaries and local investor Jerry Papenfuss. AmericInn Winona "It is rewarding to see our vision become reality as we introduce the new leading lodging option in our community," commented Papenfuss. "AmericInn is a fabulous hotel brand that offers an exceptional value that is sure to delight visitors to our beautiful city as well as provide services and support to our residents." "We are excited to celebrate the opening of our latest hotel concept in this wonderful community," said Paul Kirwin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Northcott Hospitality and AmericInn. "Winona is a great destination for business and leisure travelers alike." Papenfuss thanked AmericInn for being a great community partner, serving local residents as well as hotel guests in the cities and towns where its hotels are located. The new 70-room AmericInn Hotel and Suites Winona features a pub serving drinks and light appetizers, refreshment bar, indoor swimming pool and hot tub, state-of-the-art exercise room, guest laundry, hotel-wide Internet access and the signature AmericInn hospitality service. The hotel is owned by Pelzer Hospitality LLC, and will be managed by Three Rivers Hospitality, a sister company to Northcott Hospitality, owner of the AmericInn brand. The lead contractor is Truline Construction LLC. The city of Winona is located in picturesque bluff country on the Mississippi River in southeastern Minnesota. With a population of 27,500, Winona is the county seat of Winona County. About AmericInn AmericInn is the largest midscale hotel brand in the upper Midwest with over 200 locations currently open or under development in 21 states. The brand is dedicated to providing an exceptional lodging value for its guests by offering spacious, comfortable guest rooms; great rates and amenities such as a free, hot, home-style AmericInn Perk breakfast; free hotel-wide wireless high-speed Internet; inviting swimming pools; and the Easy Rewards guest loyalty program. AmericInn is part of Northcott Hospitality, owner and developer of successful franchised hospitality brands for more than 50 years. For more information or reservations visit www.AmericInn.com or call 1-800-634-3444. Media Contacts for AmericInn: Peridot Group Inc. Kristi Arndt: 763-782-0265/cell, 612-803-0861 [email protected] Dennis Stauffer: 612-619-0694 [email protected] SOURCE AmericInn Related Links http://www.americinn.com MOSCOW, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Andrey Guryev, CEO of PhosAgro and President of the Russian Association of Fertilizer Producers, was unanimously elected chairman of the Russia-Argentina Council of Entrepreneurs This Business Council, which has been part of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry since 2003, is a partner of the Argentinean Argentine-Russian Business Council (headed by Antonio Estrany y Gendre, President of the Inter-American Council for Trade and Production and Co-Chairman of the Mercosur-EU Business Forum). The Council's main tasks are the development of business ties and the establishment of mutually beneficially cooperation between Russian and Argentinean companies. It offers assistance to companies from Russia and Argentina in the search for business partners in both countries and increases trade turnover between countries through specific projects in the field of trade and investment. The event was attended by Vice President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce Vladimir Padalko; Executive Vice President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Victor Cherepov; Director of the Latin American Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Aleksandr Shetinin; Deputy Director of the Department for Asia, Africa and Latin America of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia Sergey Nosov; CEO of PhosAgro Andrey Guryeev; Deputy CEO for Government Relations of PhosAgro Valerii Fedorov; and representatives of the business community. Commenting on his election as head of the Russia-Argentina Council of Entrepreneurs, PhosAgro CEO Andrey Guryev noted that he sees his main task in the post to be the consolidation of services for Russian businesses, improving the effectiveness of interactions with Argentina, in line with the work of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation and the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, where he is already the chairman of the Russian-Argentine business dialogue. He said: "The task is not only to increase trade turnover between Russia and Argentina, but also to improve technology exchange in traditional, hydro and nuclear energy; oil, gas and chemical industries; and enhance the effectiveness of business cooperation, particularly in the agricultural sector. "As you well know, one of the most important and largest areas of trade between Russia and Argentina is in agro-industrial products and mineral fertilizers, necessary for increasing production efficiency. For the Russian mineral fertilizer industry, in addition to our domestic market, Argentina and the whole of Latin America represents one of the priority sales regions. In 2016, the volume of Russian fertilizers exported to Argentina increased 1.6 times to 521 thousand tonnes compared with 2015, and accounted for 43% of Russia's total exports to Argentina. "A further increase in fertilizer exports to Argentina could be facilitated by the removal of import duties on high quality DAP fertilizers made in Russia, which do not contain harmful elements. Our clean and pure products are subject to import duties, while fertilizers containing harmful impurities are imported duty-free. Until recently, similar restrictions were applied in Brazil, but, thanks to the joint efforts of Russian authorities and fertilizer producers, the duty was abolished in 2014. If Argentina follows this example, Argentine farmers will stand to benefit from the opportunity to buy at least an additional 200-300 thousand tonnes of safe, contaminant-free fertilizers. "I also know that there are issues that require quick solutions in other industries, within the framework of business associations of the two countries." The Director of the Latin American Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Alexander Shetinin, noted that "the Russia-Argentina Council of Entrepreneurs, created 14 years ago, is called upon to facilitate the establishment of a direct business dialogue between the two countries. The election of Andrey Guryev as its chairman opens up new opportunities for intensifying such cooperation. "Argentina is an important political and business partner for us and our cooperation has long historical roots, significant achievements and a promising outlook. We have already achieved a lot, but we can do much more. To this end, Russia's major economic forums will be useful. First and foremost, this is the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, within which, for the fourth year, we will organise a regional section with the participation of representatives of political and economic blocs. This year with the partnership of UNIDO." Deputy Director of the Department for Asia, Africa and Latin America of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia Sergey Nosov stressed that "the effectiveness of such associations is at its highest when the initiative comes from business. Within the framework of the Inter-governmental Russian-Argentiain Commission on Trade-Economics and Scientific-Technical cooperation, we are actively interacting with business circles, since it is very important for us to have a direct dialogue with the business community and support specific company projects. "We have to work on the qualitative improvement of our trade relations and diversification of commodity flows. The current structure of trade puts a high dependence of trade turnover on external factors, including the conjuncture in world markets." Vladimir Padalko, Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that "when the council was created in 2003, it was a unique structure through which Russian entrepreneurs could interact with the Argentinian market. Then this activity stopped. Now, with new qualitative changes in the structure of the Business Council, we hope that we will be able to intensify Russian-Argentine cooperation within the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry." Viktor Cherepov, Executive Vice President and Managing Director of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, said that "the initiative for this appointment came from the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and in fact, for the first time in history, the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and the Chamber of Commerce has united in its efforts at the Business Council. This should become an effective movement that can solve existing problems and increase cooperation between the two countries, in particular in increasing trade turnover." Notes to Editors PhosAgro is one of the leading global vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers. The Company focuses on the production of phosphate-based fertilizers, feed phosphate and high-grade phosphate rock (P 2 O 5 content of not less than 39%). The Company is the largest phosphate-based fertilizer producer in Europe, the largest producer of high-grade phosphate rock worldwide and the third largest MAP/DAP producer in the world (excluding China), according to Fertecon. PhosAgro is also one of the leading producers of feed phosphates (MCP) in Europe, and the only producer in Russia. It is Russia's only producer of nepheline concentrate. PhosAgro's main products include phosphate rock, 33 grades of fertilizers, feed phosphates, ammonia, and sodium tripolyphosphate, which are used by customers in 100 countries spanning all of the world's inhabited continents. The Company's priority markets outside of Russia and the CIS are Latin America, Europe and Asia. PhosAgro's shares are traded on the Moscow Exchange, and global depositary receipts ("GDRs") for shares trade on the London Stock Exchange (under the ticker PHOR). Since 1 June 2016, the Company's GDRs have been included in the MSCI Russia and MSCI Emerging Markets indexes. SOURCE PhosAgro WASHINGTON, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Ascensus College Savings is pleased to announce the launch of the improved DC College Savings Plan. The District of Columbia selected Ascensus College Savings, the nation's largest administrator of 529 college savings programs, to serve as the plan's new program and investment manager. As the #1 529 program manager in assets under administration, Ascensus College Savings currently services 4 million 529 college savings accounts and was uniquely positioned to help the District of Columbia enhance its college savings program. With the addition of the DC plan, the firm now administers a total of thirty-four 529 plans across eighteen states and the District. Ascensus College Savings provides all program management for the plan, including customer service and online functionality for account management. Service excellence is one of the firm's key strengths; it recently earned the National Quality Review's (NQR) five-star rating for service quality and the NQR Best Overall Accuracy designation for the third quarter of 2016. Ascensus College Savings has launched a redesigned 529 account website for DC plan participants, making it simpler for them to track their savings progress at their convenience. The firm worked closely with the Office of Finance and Treasury, Lowe & Associates LLC, and Capital Cities LLC to craft a new investment lineup featuring a diverse selection of low-cost funds to help investors meet their specific savings objectives. Ascensus College Savings is also responsible for marketing and distribution for the plan and will hire a local field representative to engage DC community groups and employers at a grassroots level. "We're pleased to partner with a 529 industry leader in our continued efforts to ensure the DC College Savings Plan helps our residents save for college," states Jeffrey Barnette, District Deputy Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. "Through our collaboration and partnership with Ascensus College Savings, we aim to help more District families cover rising education costs to give their children a brighter future." "We're honored to have been selected as the District of Columbia's 529 program manager and look forward to partnering with the District to offer families the support they need to achieve their college savings goals," states Jeff Howkins, president of Ascensus College Savings. About the DC College Savings Plan Since 2002, the DC College Savings Plan has enabled over 22,000 families to save more than $500 million for their children to go to college. DC College Savings Plan gives families a simple way to help save for rising college and vocational school costs. Please consider before investing in any 529 Plan whether your or the beneficiary's home state offers any state tax or other benefits that are only available for investments in such state's qualified tuition program. For more information about The DC College Savings Plan ("the Plan"), call 800-987-4859, or visit www.dccollegesavings.com to obtain a Program Disclosure Booklet, which includes investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses, and other important information; read and consider it carefully before investing. The Plan is administered by the District of Columbia Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Office of Finance and Treasury. Ascensus College Savings Recordkeeping Services, LLC ("ACSR"), the Program Manager, and its affiliates, have overall responsibility for the day-to-day operations including recordkeeping and administrative services. Ascensus Investment Advisors, LLC serves as the Investment Manager. The Plan's Portfolios invest in: (i) exchange-traded funds, (ii) mutual funds and (iii) a funding agreement. Investments in The Plan are municipal securities that will vary with market conditions. Investments are not guaranteed or insured by the Government of the District of Columbia, the District of Columbia College Savings Program Trust, the District of Columbia Chief Financial Officer, the District of Columbia Treasurer, the Trustee for the District of Columbia College Savings Program Trust or any co-fiduciary or instrumentality thereof, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any instrumentality thereof. About Ascensus Ascensus is the largest independent retirement and college savings services provider in the United States, helping over 7 million Americans save for the future. With more than 35 years of experience, the firm partners with financial institutions to offer tailored solutions that meet the needs of financial professionals, employers, and individuals. Ascensus specializes in recordkeeping, administrative, and program management services, supporting over 47,000 retirement plans, 4 million 529 college savings accounts, and a growing number of ABLE savings accounts. It also administers more than 1.5 million IRAs and health savings accounts and is home to one of the largest ERISA consulting teams in the country. For more information about Ascensus, visit www.ascensus.com. SOURCE Ascensus Related Links https://www.ascensus.com SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Asset Vantage Inc., creators of the most sophisticated cloud/mobile-based asset management, accounting and reporting system on the market, announced today that it has acquired Santa Clara-based Financial Navigator Inc., a leading US provider of integrated general ledger and portfolio tracking software focused on the wealth management market. With the addition of Financial Navigator, Asset Vantage will further its expansion into the wealth management accounting software market in North America, while gaining a seasoned team of developers and customer support personnel anchored in Silicon Valley. The two companies have a combined customer base exceeding 300 families globally. "We are excited to bring on board Financial Navigator's industry knowledge and roster of preeminent clients, and we look forward to leveraging the expertise their team brings to the table," said Mark Rogozinski, CEO of Asset Vantage North America. "Our goal is to expand the capabilities of the combined entity in order to increase our market share, initially focusing on families in North America with over $25 million in assets, estimated at 200,000 households, and families in India with over $5 million in assets, estimated at 250,000 households. The US and India are strategic markets for us they represent the world's largest and fastest growing wealth markets, respectively, and will be the foundation in building our global footprint." "Financial Navigator pioneered the use of fintech solutions in the family office accounting market," said Sunil Dalal, chairman of UniDEL group, Asset Vantage's parent. "Its vision to build a system around the highly complex accounting and reporting needs of multi-generational families was remarkable. Combining our firms will enable clients to benefit from Asset Vantage's next-generation, fully featured, cloud/mobile-based solution. We are thrilled to add Financial Navigator's long history of achievement to our own." "The entire team at Financial Navigator is eager to join forces with Asset Vantage," said Ed Van Deman, CEO of Financial Navigator. "Our combined firms will provide clients with an outstanding user experience and we are energized by the additional resources and extended reach that will result from this combination." "We are well positioned to expand our client base globally, focusing on high net worth families, through organic and inorganic growth opportunities," said Sunil Dalal. "With over 7,000 global family offices and hundreds of thousands of families with more than $25 million in assets, we have just scratched the surface of this tremendous market opportunity. These families require the ability to report on all of their assets and investment activities and Asset Vantage's solutions are specifically designed to meet their complex needs." New York-based investment bank, Silver Lane Advisors LLC, advised Asset Vantage on the acquisition. Terms were not disclosed. About Asset Vantage Asset Vantage was founded by the UniDEL group as a next generation, cloud/mobile based asset management, accounting and reporting system catering to the complex and discreet financial needs of customers ranging from individual wealth holders to fully staffed family offices and those professionals that service them. The fully configurable software provides a portfolio reporting, reconciliation, data aggregation and analytics tool encompassing all asset classes, currencies and geographies. For more information about Asset Vantage, visit www.assetvantage.com. About Financial Navigator For more than 30 years, Financial Navigator has provided accounting and financial software to hundreds of single-family offices, multi-family offices, CPA firms and trust and estate managers, among other customers. The end-to-end software enables clients to aggregate data from multiple managers and reporting entities, analyze investment performance and risk, prepare financial statements and consolidated reports, and confidentially share selected information with financial advisors. Financial Navigator's clients include some of the most sophisticated professional services firms and well-known families in the United States. About the Investors UniDEL, the primary investor in Asset Vantage, is an entrepreneurial group with a focus on technology venturing and multi asset class investing through its single family office, RM Capital. Alongside UniDEL, Eagle Proprietary Investments Limited has also invested in Asset Vantage. Eagle is a globally diversified private investment firm and a leading fintech investor in the US and China. "We are excited to partner with the Asset Vantage team and look forward to assisting with their global expansion in the years to come," said Deval Dvivedi, Head of International at EPIL. "Having a partner like EPIL to provide guidance with our organic and inorganic strategic plans is indicative of our commitment to play a significant role in the global wealth management market," said Sunil Dalal. For more information about UniDEL and Eagle visit www.unidel-group.com and www.eagle-investments.com SOURCE Asset Vantage Inc. Related Links https://assetvantage.com ATHENS, Tenn., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Athens Bancshares Corporation (OTC QX: AFCB) today announced that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.05 per outstanding share of common stock. The dividend will be paid on or about May 15, 2017 to stockholders of record as of the close of business on May 1, 2017. Athens Bancshares Corporation is the parent holding company of Athens Federal Community Bank, National Association, a FDIC-insured national bank organized in 1934. The Bank is headquartered in Athens, Tennessee and provides financial services to individuals, families and businesses through its ten offices located in southeast Tennessee. SOURCE Athens Bancshares Corporation FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE: AN), America's largest automotive retailer, today announced the appointment of C. Coleman Edmunds to the position of Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary effective April 19, 2017. Coleman will serve as a member of the Executive Committee and report directly to Mike Jackson, AutoNation's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Mike Jackson said, "Having worked closely with Coleman over the years on many complex and challenging legal matters, it is with great confidence and excitement that we welcome him to the AutoNation Executive Management Team in his new role as General Counsel." Coleman joined AutoNation's legal department in 1996. From 2000 until his recent appointment to acting General Counsel, Coleman served as Deputy General Counsel. His areas of legal responsibility and expertise include securities, mergers and acquisitions, commercial transactions, manufacturer relations, government relations, litigation and compliance. Prior to joining AutoNation, Coleman was in private practice with the international law firm of Baker & McKenzie. Coleman holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia, a law degree from the University of Richmond and masters of law degree (taxation) from the University of Miami. Coleman currently serves, or has served, on various, industry, civic and charitable boards and committees, including the National Automobile Dealers Association, Legal and Regulatory Affairs Committee and Legislative Committee, Florida Automobile Dealers Association, Legislative Committee, the Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce, the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, and the Orange Bowl Committee. About AutoNation, Inc. AutoNation, America's largest automotive retailer, through its bold leadership, innovation and its comprehensive brand extensions, is transforming the automotive industry. As of March 31, 2017, AutoNation owned and operated 372 new vehicle franchises from coast to coast. AutoNation has sold over 10 million vehicles, the first automotive retailer to reach this milestone. AutoNation's success is driven by a commitment to delivering a peerless experience through customer-focused sales and service processes. Through its Drive Pink initiative, AutoNation is committed to drive out cancer, create awareness and support critical research. AutoNation continues to be a proud supporter of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and other cancer-related charities. Please visit investors.autonation.com, www.autonation.com, www.autonationdrive.com, www.twitter.com/autonation, www.twitter.com/CEOMikeJackson, www.facebook.com/autonation, and www.facebook.com/CEOMikeJackson, where AutoNation discloses additional information about the Company, its business, and its results of operations. SOURCE AutoNation, Inc. Related Links http://www.autonation.com Marking Barton & Gray's official entree into The Great Lakes, the new ports of call for B&G's Hinckley fleet will offer fresh cruising grounds to its members with immediate access to the Chicago River and other private, hard to reach cruising destinations. Barton & Gray also features summer harbors along the east coast in Greenwich, CT, Manhattan, Nantucket, Newport, Boston, and The Hamptons, among others. Barton & Gray will launch its 19th harbor in Key Largo, FL this autumn. Barton & Gray president Tim Barton expressed enthusiasm about the launch stating, "We are thrilled to announce our arrival in The Great Lakes with two fantastic, well loved areas for boating. It's been a desire of ours to expand into the Midwest for many years and we're glad to continue offering members a one of a kind experience on the water in these amazing new regions." The Sea is our Clubhouse From Nantucket MA to Key Largo FL, Barton & Gray operates a fleet of 21 crewed Hinckley Yachts along the Eastern Seaboard & Great Lakes. Members have unlimited access to the entire fleet all year long in the most desirable ports and destinations. About Barton & Gray Mariners Club Barton & Gray Mariners Club is the worlds first and finest luxury day yachting club, operating a fleet of crewed Hinckley Yachts along the east coast & Great Lakes. Membership in the club grants access to the fleet in any of its 19 locations, with a private concierge service tending to all provisioning and scheduling needs. For additional information on Barton & Gray Mariners Club including membership rates please visit: www.bartonandgray.com | @marinersclub PR Contact: Wil Lockman (978) 257-4020 [email protected] SOURCE Barton & Gray Mariners Club Related Links http://www.bartonandgray.com SAN FRANCISCO, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Earlier this year, a group of five enterprises and six startups gathered to start to advance the blockchain and Internet of Things ecosystem. Skuchain and Chronicled in collaboration with the members of this group today launched an IoT "thing" registration API supporting Ethereum, Quorum, and Hyperledger blockchain implementations. The protocol allows users to register multiple kinds of weaker identities, including serial numbers, QR codes, and UPC code identities, and bind them to stronger cryptographic identities, which are immutably linked across both physical and digital worlds using blockchain technology. Blockchain technology is driving a broader trend towards securing digital identities of people, organizations, and physical objects. Machines capable of cryptographically-secured transactions can prevent hacking, data breaches, and more of the problems that plague digital economies today. Today's launch of the common registration protocol brings industry and commerce legacy systems one step closer to secure interactions with cryptographic networks. This will fundamentally change the approaches to computing that underpin today's IoT device identities, sensor data, and business logic. In support of the protocol, members of the group are moving forward with several proof of concept projects at the intersection of blockchain and IoT. Not only does this demonstrate the broader commercial and industrial potential of this technology, it supports the blockchain and IoT ecosystems and advances progress in these sectors. Among these projects, Cisco is exploring using the protocol to register device identities and associated data, whereas Bosch has completed work to register automobile odometer readings on the blockchain to prevent fraud. Startups are also working towards POCs. Chronicled is completing a POC wherein pharmaceutical serializations and temperature tracking data are logged on the blockchain and Skuchain is using the technology, along with smart contracts, to support supply chain functions and efficacy in the aerospace industry. Stephan Tual, COO at Slock.it, a German-based technology company that recently raised a $2M seed round said, "We are very excited to support the linkage of IoT technologies and blockchain technologies, and look forward to building many use cases with clients and partners." Maurizio Greco, CTO of Chronicled said, "In the days of the railroad industry, there was a need to create standard dimensions for the gauge of the rail and width between the rails. Similarly, in the IoT and blockchain space, by creating standards around basic functions, such as registering cryptographic public keys to blockchain systems for 'thing' identity verification, we can set a strong foundation for the growth of this exciting new industry." Press Contact: Zaki Manian, Founder, Skuchain [email protected] SOURCE Skuchain Related Links http://www.skuchain.com After successful debut, BMO GAM announces second season of podcasts to provide actionable ideas for advisors to enhance their practices and expand their businesses. CHICAGO, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - BMO Global Asset Management (GAM) has launched the second season of its podcast series, "Better Conversations. Better Outcomes." The series provides actionable ideas to expand financial advisors' businesses. The second series consists of 14 episodes, which air alternating Wednesdays beginning today and run through December 2017. The series' first season garnered more than 25,000 downloads and consistently positive advisor feedback. "Advisors praised the scope of topics and easy implementation of ideas to improve their practices," said Ben Jones, Managing Director of Intermediary Distribution for BMO Global Asset Management. "In season two, we're tackling topics and providing tools that will help advisors guide clients through conversations at the intersection of money and emotions. Many topics were suggested directly by our advisor audience." Learn more about season one's key learnings and listen to episodes here: http://bmogamviewpoints.com/the-best-learnings-of-2016/. In the new season, advisors can expect these topics among many more: Cybersecurity for advisors Financial planning/literacy for children PR to power your practice Divorce and financial planning Using technology in your practice "There is a degree of uncertainty facing the financial markets and advisors' practices this year. Our topics encompass conversations and ideas crucial to preserving and enhancing advisors' practices," Jones added. "We are looking to connect the mind, body and finances to improve outcomes for advisors and their clients. After a strong debut, we are looking forward to season two, which will explore timely, niche and evergreen topics." Ideal for advisors, the episodes are available via iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher. Additionally, each episode is available on BMO GAM's website, where listeners can leave feedback and suggest future topics: http://bmogamviewpoints.com/advisor-resources/better-conversations-podcast/. Highlights from the first season include: Investor archetypes Family conversations that should not be avoided The role of women in wealth management How to build a more valuable practice The art of communication For more information on BMO Global Asset Management, visit http://www.bmo.com/gam. About BMO Global Asset Management BMO Global Asset Management is a global investment manager with offices in more than 25 cities in 14 countries, delivering service excellence to clients across five continents. Our four major investment centers in Toronto, Chicago, London and Hong Kong are complemented by a network of world-class investment teams strategically located across the globe: BMO Real Estate Partners, LGM Investments, Pyrford International Ltd., and Taplin, Canida & Habacht, LLC. BMO Global Asset Management is a signatory of the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment initiative (UNPRI). BMO Global Asset Management is a part of BMO Financial Group, a highly diversified financial services provider based in North America with total assets of CDN $692 billion as of January 31, 2017, and over 45,000 employees. BMO Wealth Management has worldwide assets under management of CDN $402 billion. BMO Global Asset Management is the brand name for various affiliated entities of BMO Financial Group that provide investment management and trust and custody services. Certain of the products and services offered under the brand name BMO Global Asset Management are designed specifically for various categories of investors in a number of different countries and regions and may not be available to all investors. Products and services are only offered to such investors in those countries and regions in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. BMO Financial Group is a service mark of Bank of Montreal (BMO). All investments involve risk, including the loss of principal. Investors should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the BMO Funds. This and other important information is contained in the prospectuses and/or summary prospectuses, which can be obtained by calling 1-800-236-3863. Please read carefully before investing. BMO Asset Management Corp. is the investment advisor to the BMO Funds. BMO Investment Distributors, LLC is the distributor. Member FINRA/SIPC. SOURCE BMO Financial Group RIDGEFIELD, Conn., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the first patient has been enrolled in the PF-ILD (progressive fibrosing interstitial lung disease) trial. This study investigates the efficacy and safety of nintedanib in a range of progressive fibrosing lung conditions other than idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). There are over 200 conditions that affect the tissue and space around the air sacs of the lungs (interstitium). These conditions are called interstitial lung diseases or ILDs. Based on clinical observations, there is a group of patients with ILD who, independent from the classification of the ILD, exhibit progressive fibrosis. The proposed terminology for describing this group of patients is PF-ILD. In these patients, the disease appears to follow a course similar to IPF with worsening of respiratory symptoms, lung function, quality of life and ability to perform daily activities, as well as early mortality despite treatment. "This trial enrolls patients who have lung fibrosis of at least 10 percent by chest imaging that is getting worse by symptoms, physiology or imaging, despite treatment," said Kevin Flaherty, M.D., coordinating principal investigator of the PF-ILD trial. "This trial is an innovative way to study a potential treatment for patients with progressive fibrosing lung diseases and is an important step in exploring the way fibrosis of the lungs is treated and whether nintedanib could be an effective therapy." Nintedanib, which is marketed as Ofev, is approved for a rare lung disease called IPF, in which it has been shown to slow disease progression as measured by annual rate of decline in lung function. Building on the positive real-world clinical experience in IPF, the Phase III trial is now exploring whether nintedanib can effectively target the scarring in the lungs of patients suffering from other progressive fibrosing ILDs. "Boehringer Ingelheim is dedicated to advancing the understanding of fibrosing lung diseases where no or limited treatments exist," said Christopher Corsico, M.D., chief medical officer, Boehringer Ingelheim. "Our innovative PF-ILD trial is designed to include patients with fibrosing lung diseases who would not otherwise be eligible to participate in a clinical trial. This demonstrates the commitment of Boehringer Ingelheim to transform fibrosing interstitial lung diseases from fatal diseases to chronic, treatable ones." About the study This double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled [NCT 02999178] study will evaluate the efficacy and safety of nintedanib 150 mg twice daily over 52 weeks in patients with PF-ILD. The primary endpoint is the annual rate of decline in forced vital capacity (FVC), a measure of disease progression. Other clinical evaluations include the absolute change from baseline in the King's Brief Interstitial Lung Disease Questionnaire (K-BILD), which measures the health-related quality of life of patients with ILDs to assess the impact of treatment. Other main secondary endpoints include time to first ILD exacerbation and overall survival. The study will include patients with PF-ILD with documented lung scarring on imaging (high-resolution computer tomography, HRCT), and whose lung function and respiratory symptoms or chest imaging have worsened despite treatment. About PF-ILD Interstitial lung disease (ILD) encompasses a large group of over 200 lung disorders, but there is no widely accepted single classification. Based on clinical observations, there is a group of patients who, independent of their ILD diagnosis, at some point in time develop a progressive phenotpye. Based on their similar disease characteristics, including decline in lung function and early mortality, it is thought to be appropriate to group these conditions together, regardless of their ILD diagnosis. PF-ILD is the umbrella term for this group of patients. About OFEV (nintedanib) The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved OFEV for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) on October 15, 2014. OFEV is one of the first FDA-approved drug treatments for IPF and the only kinase inhibitor approved to treat this disease. The approval was based on findings from a robust clinical trial program involving more than 1,200 patients with IPF worldwide, and included the Phase II TOMORROW trial and the Phase III INPULSIS trials (INPULSIS-1 and INPULSIS-2. All these studies were randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials comparing OFEV 150 mg twice daily to placebo for 52 weeks. Both INPULSIS trials were identically designed while the TOMORROW study design was similar. What is OFEV? OFEV is a prescription medicine used to treat people with a lung disease called idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). It is not known if OFEV is safe and effective in children. IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION What is the most important information I should know about OFEV (nintedanib)? OFEV can cause harm, birth defects or death to an unborn baby. Women should not become pregnant while taking OFEV. Women who are able to become pregnant should have a pregnancy test before starting treatment and should use birth control during and for at least 3 months after your last dose. If you become pregnant while taking OFEV, tell your doctor right away. What should I tell my doctor before using OFEV? Before you take OFEV, tell your doctor if you have: liver problems heart problems a history of blood clots a bleeding problem or a family history of a bleeding problem had recent surgery in your stomach (abdominal) area any other medical conditions. Tell your doctor if you: are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. are breastfeeding or plan to breastfeed. It is not known if OFEV passes into your breast milk. You should not breastfeed while taking OFEV. breastfeed while taking OFEV. are a smoker. You should stop smoking prior to taking OFEV and avoid smoking during treatment. Tell your doctor about all the medicines you take, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, herbal supplements such as St. John's wort. What are the possible side effects of OFEV? OFEV may cause serious side effects. TELL YOUR DOCTOR RIGHT AWAY if you are experiencing any side effects, including: Liver problems . Unexplained symptoms may include yellowing of your skin or the white part of your eyes (jaundice), dark or brown (tea colored) urine, pain on the upper right side of your stomach area (abdomen), bleeding or bruising more easily than normal or feeling tired. Your doctor will do blood tests regularly to check how well your liver is working during your treatment with OFEV. . Unexplained symptoms may include yellowing of your skin or the white part of your eyes (jaundice), dark or brown (tea colored) urine, pain on the upper right side of your stomach area (abdomen), bleeding or bruising more easily than normal or feeling tired. Your doctor will do blood tests regularly to check how well your liver is working during your treatment with OFEV. Diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting . Your doctor may recommend that you drink fluids or take medicine to treat these side effects. Tell your doctor if you have these symptoms, if they do not go away, or get worse and if you are taking over-the-counter laxatives, stool softeners, and other medicines or dietary supplements. . Your doctor may recommend that you drink fluids or take medicine to treat these side effects. Tell your doctor if you have these symptoms, if they do not go away, or get worse and if you are taking over-the-counter laxatives, stool softeners, and other medicines or dietary supplements. Heart attack. Symptoms of a heart problem may include chest pain or pressure, pain in your arms, back, neck or jaw, or shortness of breath. Symptoms of a heart problem may include chest pain or pressure, pain in your arms, back, neck or jaw, or shortness of breath. Stroke. Symptoms of a stroke may include numbness or weakness on 1 side of your body, trouble talking, headache, or dizziness. Symptoms of a stroke may include numbness or weakness on 1 side of your body, trouble talking, headache, or dizziness. Bleeding problems . OFEV may increase your chances of having bleeding problems. Tell your doctor if you have unusual bleeding, bruising, or wounds that do not heal and/or if you are taking a blood thinner, including prescription blood thinners and over-the-counter aspirin. . OFEV may increase your chances of having bleeding problems. Tell your doctor if you have unusual bleeding, bruising, or wounds that do not heal and/or if you are taking a blood thinner, including prescription blood thinners and over-the-counter aspirin. Tear in your stomach or intestinal wall (perforation). OFEV may increase your chances of having a tear in your stomach or intestinal wall. Tell your doctor if you have pain or swelling in your stomach area. The most common side effects of OFEV are diarrhea, nausea, stomach pain, vomiting, liver problems, decreased appetite, headache, weight loss, and high blood pressure. These are not all the possible side effects of OFEV. For more information, ask your doctor or pharmacist. You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088. Click here for full Prescribing Information, including Patient Information. About Boehringer Ingelheim Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., based in Ridgefield, CT, is the largest U.S. subsidiary of Boehringer Ingelheim Corporation. Boehringer Ingelheim is one of the world's top 20 pharmaceutical companies. Headquartered in Ingelheim, Germany, the company operates globally with approximately 50,000 employees. Since its founding in 1885, the company has remained family-owned and today creates value through innovation for three business areas including human pharmaceuticals, animal health and biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing. Boehringer Ingelheim is committed to improving lives and providing valuable services and support to patients and their families. Our employees create and engage in programs that strengthen our communities. Please visit our website to learn more about how we make more health for more people through our Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives. In 2016, Boehringer Ingelheim achieved net sales of about $17.6 billion (15.9 billion euros). R&D expenditure corresponds to 19.6 percent of its net sales. For more information please visit www.boehringer-ingelheim.us, or follow us on Twitter @BoehringerUS. SOURCE Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Related Links http://www.boehringer-ingelheim.com LOS ANGELES, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Tina Odjaghian of Odjaghian Law Group, a Los Angeles based law firm that specializes in brain injury litigation, has recently been named to the Armenian Bar Association's newly established Judicial Evaluation Committee (JEC). Ms. Odjaghian has focused her practice on catastrophic injury litigation and is recognized as an expert in the brain injury community. Since the beginning of 2016, Ms. Odjaghian has obtained 11 seven figure settlements on behalf of catastrophically injured workers. Ms. Odjaghian, who sits on several boards, including the Board of Governors of the Armenian Bar Association and the Advisory Board to the UCLA Department of Neurosurgery, was honored to accept the JEC appointment. The JEC is spearheaded by highly-reputed criminal defense attorney, Garo B. Ghazarian, and esteemed Glendale Senior Assistant City Attorney Lucy Varpetian. Ms. Odjaghian is also joined on the committee by a talented team of seasoned trial attorneys from across California, including Armen K. Hovannisian, Carney Shegerian, Saro Kerkonian, Edvin Minassian, Ara Jabagchourian, Alexandra Kazarian, Warren Paboojian, and Dickran Semerdjian. The JEC's mission is to evaluate applicants and potential appointees to the California judicial bench and to make recommendations to the Governor and the Appointments Secretary for those candidates who are deemed to be well-qualified. "We believe that the Governor and the State of California will benefit from our recommendations as to the best and brightest candidates that our community has to offer," said Garo B. Ghazarian. "I have the utmost respect and reverence for the crucial role our judiciary plays in interpreting and upholding the rule of law in our great state," says Ms. Odjaghian. "I am honored to be included and serve among this esteemed group and look forward to vetting some extraordinary candidates." The JEC will convene during the ABA's 28th Annual Meeting in June where California Supreme Court Justice, the Honorable Mariano-Florentino Cuellar, will deliver the keynote address. Odjaghian Law Group 20700 Ventura Blvd., Suite 203 Woodland Hills, CA 91364 T: (818) 227-4848 F: (818) 227-4846 OdjaghianLaw.com SOURCE Odjaghian Law Group ROLLA, Mo. and VICHY, Mo., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Brewer Science is pleased to announce the achievement of Zero Waste to Landfill Certification for the second consecutive year. GreenCircle Certified, LLC (GreenCircle), has completed extensive audits to verify that the Rolla and Vichy Brewer Science manufacturing locations contribute zero waste to landfills. The certification is valid through 2017 and can be viewed in GreenCircle's Certified Product Database. Brewer Science is regarded as a champion for environmental responsibility in the microelectronics and semiconductor industry and is the only business in the industry to achieve Zero Waste to Landfill Certification through GreenCircle. Brewer Science remains committed to a robust environmental management system with the objective of preventing pollution of the environment and providing a healthy, safe, and secure workplace. For many years Brewer Science leadership has made it a priority to lead an environmentally responsible organization. Some of the initiatives include: In 2002, Brewer Science instituted a mini-bin recycling program, a simple step that had a huge impact. To date, over 597 tons of waste have been recycled. At its headquarters in Rolla, Missouri , Brewer Science promotes a community collection program. Through partnering with waste disposal companies and volunteer crews, they have collected more than 800,000 pounds of appliances, electronics, and tires that would have otherwise been a part of a landfill. , Brewer Science promotes a community collection program. Through partnering with waste disposal companies and volunteer crews, they have collected more than 800,000 pounds of appliances, electronics, and tires that would have otherwise been a part of a landfill. In 2015, a giant trash compactor known as "Big Blue" found a home in Brewer Science's Rolla facility. Big Blue collects and compacts tons of non-recyclable waste and sends it to a waste-to-energy facility. The waste is combusted to produce enough electricity to power four houses for a month. facility. Big Blue collects and compacts tons of non-recyclable waste and sends it to a waste-to-energy facility. The waste is combusted to produce enough electricity to power four houses for a month. Brewer Science also diverts some of its waste into fuel blending processes, resulting in the conversion of over 520,000 pounds of waste into fuel that can replace natural gas and coal. We invite you to follow our progress by checking out our Annual Health, Safety, Security, and Environmental Policy Report on our website at http://www.brewerscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/HSSE_2017.pdf Learn more about Brewer Science at www.brewerscience.com, follow us on Twitter at @BrewerScience, like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/BrewerScience, and subscribe to our blog at http://blog.brewerscience.com/ About Brewer Science Brewer Science is a global technology leader in developing and manufacturing innovative materials, and processes for the fabrication of semiconductors and microelectronic devices. With its headquarters in Rolla, Missouri, Brewer Science supports customers throughout the world with a service and distribution network in North America, Europe, and Asia. We're creating technology that moves the world. Learn more at http://www.brewerscience.com. About GreenCircle Certified, LLC GreenCircle Certified, LLC was established to ensure specificity in third-party certification after many misleading or unsubstantiated sustainability claims were encountered in the green marketplace. GreenCircle's rigorous evaluation process provides trusted transparency that a manufacturer's product claims are authentic. In today's discerning market, third-party certification is a valuable asset in establishing brand integrity and developing consumer confidence. The certifications offered by GreenCircle include: Carbon Footprint Reduction, Certified Environmental Facts (Multi-Attribute), Closed Loop Products, Life Cycle Assessment Optimized, Renewable Resource Content, Recyclable Material, Recycled Content, Renewable Energy Use, Sustainable Manufacturing Processes, and Waste Diversion from Landfill. SOURCE Brewer Science Related Links http://www.brewerscience.com HEWLETT, N.Y., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CargoMatrix is delighted to announce the launch of its new app - CargoMessenger - that is set to revolutionize the cargo shipping industry, taking it from cumbersome paper-based procedures to electronic without the need for expensive hardware or software. The cargo industry as a whole has been slow to adopt paper-free procedures; while a few companies have gone digital, many others have not, resulting in a piecemeal approach where many still use time-consuming paper documents at each stage of the supply chain. According to recent data from IATA, current eAWB penetration is below 50%. These cumbersome processes, combined with fragmented information sharing through multiple systems, affect productivity and impede transparency and visibility. Key stakeholders are unable to share data electronically due to the expense of current messaging options and the need for specific hardware. Additionally, CargoMessenger eliminates the time-consuming proof-of-condition process. "As just one example, Apple products shipped through Miami for the South American market require digital photos before shipping to show proof of condition throughout the shipping process," says CargoMatrix vice-president Karen Clausen. "CargoMessenger's ProovV, using smart tagging, will allow operators to share images and to drag and drop tags right on the picture." CargoMessenger will eradicate the need for paper-based documentation and will be available on mobile devices and track and trace. At present, these require different tracking systems; going forward, they will all be available on just one platform. CargoMessenger is an interactive social media communications platform for cargo; it will accelerate and facilitate collaboration, resulting in higher performance levels, and is available instantly, without any expensive hardware requirements. CargoMessenger can be downloaded free from the App store and will offer the facility for proving condition from start to finish of the shipping process. Later, modular versions will be available for purchase and will include handling management systems and enterprise. Connect to your cargo! Visit our booth at the CNS conference in Orlando from April 30 to May 2, 2017. This press release was issued through 24-7PressRelease.com. For further information, visit http://www.24-7pressrelease.com. SOURCE CargoMatrix Related Links http://www.cargomatrix.com As if getting FREE ice cream doesn't feel good enough, Carvel is partnering for the sixth year with The American Red Cross to spread goodwill in support of the charity's annual Giving Day . While supplies last, Carvel will offer a $1 coupon book worth more than $20 in Carvel savings, with all proceeds contributing to Carvel's donation to the American Red Cross. Including donations this year, total contributions to support disaster relief efforts will exceed $150,000. "Free Cone Day is much more than just a 'freebie' day" said Scott Colwell, president of Carvel. "Not only is it the official start of ice cream season, but it's a special day for us to show genuine gratitude to our loyal guests while coming together to raise funds for a very worthy cause." For more details, shoppe locations, and to stay connected to all things Carvel, follow the brand on Twitter and Instagram at @CarvelIceCream, like it on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CarvelIceCream, or visit Carvel.com. About Carvel Ice Cream The United States' first retail ice cream franchise, Carvel Ice Cream has become one of the best-loved and most recognized names in its industry. The company is a leading provider of premium soft ice cream and hand dipped ice cream products, as well as uniquely shaped ice cream cakes, including its signature Fudgie the Whale and Cookie Puss cakes. Atlanta-based Carvel currently operates over 400 franchised and food service locations. Visit www.carvel.com for more information, follow us on Twitter @CarvelIceCream or become a fan at http://facebook.com/CarvelIceCream. Media Contact Ashley Aberbach Finn Partners for Carvel [email protected] SOURCE Carvel Ice Cream Related Links http://www.carvel.com THE WOODLANDS, Texas, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CB&I (NYSE:CBI) today announced it has been awarded a contract by Zhejiang Petroleum and Chemical Co. Ltd. (ZPC) for the license and engineering design of a single-train 220 kta diphenyl carbonate (DPC) unit, based on Versalis technology, for a refining and petrochemical complex in China. CB&I previously announced the CDAlky license and two Chevron Lummus Global (CLG) hydrocracking units for the project. CLG is a joint venture between Chevron and CB&I. "CB&I appreciates the opportunity to provide an additional technology to ZPC's complex in China, making it the largest single-train DPC plant in the world," said Philip K. Asherman, President and Chief Executive Officer. "This award underscores the confidence ZPC has in us as a technology leader for the region." About CB&I CB&I (NYSE:CBI) is a leading provider of technology and infrastructure for the energy industry. With over 125 years of experience and the expertise of more than 40,000 employees, CB&I provides reliable solutions to our customers around the world while maintaining a relentless focus on safety and an uncompromising standard of quality. For more information, visit www.CBI.com. Important Information For Investors And Shareholders Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding CB&I and represents our expectations and beliefs concerning future events. These forward-looking statements are intended to be covered by the safe harbor for forward-looking statements provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. When considering any statements that are predictive in nature, depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, or use or contain words, terms, phrases or expressions such as "achieve," "forecast," "plan," "propose," "strategy," "envision," "hope," "will," "continue," "potential," "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "project," "estimate," "predict," "intend," "should," "could," "may," "might" or similar forward-looking statements, we refer you to the cautionary statements concerning risk factors and "Forward-Looking Statements" described under "Risk Factors" in Item 1A of our Annual Report filed on Form 10-K filed with the SEC for the year ended December 31, 2016, and any updates to those risk factors or "Forward-Looking Statements" included in our subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC, which cautionary statements are incorporated herein by reference. Investors: Scott Lamb, +1 832 513 1068, [email protected] Media: Gentry Brann, +1 832 513 1031, [email protected] SOURCE CB&I Related Links http://www.cbi.com WASHINGTON, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- This evening, the Committee for Economic Development of The Conference Board (CED), will honor Ambassador Barbara M. Barrett, the Chairman of The Aerospace Corporation and a Member of CED, with its Leadership in the Nation's Interest Award. Her colleague, The Honorable Ann McLaughlin Korologos, the former U.S. Secretary of Labor, will present the Award. The nonpartisan, business-led public policy organization bestows this recognition to business executives who lead their companies with the highest integrity and who champion public policies for the common good. "Spanning the private sector to the public sector, Ambassador Barrett's service makes her one of our country's preeminent leaders," said The Honorable Ann McLaughlin Korologos. "Presenting this Award to Barbara not only highlights her extraordinary accomplishments; more importantly, it inspires other executives to follow suit." Barbara currently serves as Chairman of the Board of The Aerospace Corporation, the premiere research and development center for national security and military space systems. She and her husband, Craig Barrett, also own the Triple Creek Guest Ranch, a Montana hideaway recently ranked the #1 hotel worldwide. Equally impressive, Barbara has advised multiple Presidents on defense and trade policy. She served as U.S. Ambassador to Finland, Deputy Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, and Vice Chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board. Barbara is also an instrument-rated pilot and, following astronaut training, was certified for space flight. The Award will be presented at a dinner that is part of CED's Spring Policy Conference at the Willard InterContinental Hotel in Washington, D.C. Learn more about Ambassador Barrett, the Spring Policy Conference, and the Leadership in the Nation's Interest Award Dinner here. About the Committee for Economic Development Founded in 1942, the Committee for Economic Development of The Conference Board (CED) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, business-led public policy organization that delivers well-researched analysis and reasoned solutions to our nation's most critical issues. CED's work is grounded on seven core principles: sustainable capitalism, long-term economic growth, efficient fiscal and regulatory policy, competitive and open markets, a globally competitive workforce, equal economic opportunity, and nonpartisanship in the nation's interest. www.ced.org. SOURCE Committee for Economic Development of The Conference Board (CED) Related Links http://www.ced.org DOVER, N.J., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- There is no better time to acknowledge how your choices impact the protection of the environment than during Earth Awareness Month, observed in April each year since 1970. Earth Awareness Month, which culminates with the celebration of Earth Day on April 22, is celebrated to demonstrate support of environmental concerns and remind citizens to appreciate our precious planet Earth. Casio America, Inc. continues to do its part by offering innovative products that are also eco-conscious, such as its lineup of LampFree projectors. The affordably priced projectors are powered by Casio's hybrid light source technology which offers eco-friendly data projection at home, in the classroom or on-the-go. "These days, educators, businesses and consumers alike are taking a closer look at their environmental impact," said Joe Gillio, Senior Director Strategic Planning and Marketing of Casio's Business Projector Division. "Casio's LampFree projectors help to lessen the hazardous waste made from the hundreds of thousands of mercury lamps that get deposited into landfills every year, making it an eco-friendly projection choice." Casio's Ultra Short Throw models, XJ-UT351W and XJ-UT351WN, feature a mercury-free Laser and LED hybrid light source developed by Casio, which has a service life of up to 20,000 hours without the need to change a lamp. For use in schools, this corresponds to an operating lifetime of up to 18 years, during which the projector is running for an average of six hours a day during a 180-day school year. Not only do users save on lamp replacements and the costs of disposing hazardous Mercury lamps, they save money on electricity as well. When using Casio LampFree projectors with the Eco-mode on, users can save up to 50 percent of energy costs compared to a conventional projector with mercury-vapor lamps. New models are equipped with a brightness control sensor that senses the ambient light in the room and automatically adjusts the projector to the optimal brightness level, reducing energy consumption when high brightness is not needed. For additional information on Casio's full portfolio of LampFree projectors, visit www.CasioLampFree.com. About Casio LampFree Projectors Casio's portfolio of LampFree projectors combines a laser, a fluorescent element and an LED light to deliver a mercury-free hybrid light source that lasts up to 20,000 hours while sustaining a high brightness and keeping maintenance costs to a minimum. Casio has five series of LampFree projectors that are available for home, business, education and commercial applications - Core, Advanced, Slim, Ultra Short Throw, and 4K Ultra HD. For additional information on Casio's projector series and LampFree technology, please visit www.CasioLampFree.com. About Casio America, Inc. Casio America, Inc., Dover, N.J., is the U.S. subsidiary of Casio Computer Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, one of the world's leading manufacturers of consumer electronics and business equipment solutions. Established in 1957, Casio America, Inc. markets calculators, keyboards, digital cameras, mobile presentation devices, disc title and label printers, watches, cash registers and other consumer electronic products. Casio has strived to fulfill its corporate creed of "creativity and contribution" through the introduction of innovative and imaginative products. For more information, visit www.casiousa.com. SOURCE Casio America, Inc. Related Links http://www.casiousa.com SAN FRANCISCO, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- ClearCare, the market leading SaaS and mobile platform for home care agencies, today announced the acquisition of HomeTrak, a pioneer in private duty home care software solutions. As part of the acquisition, ClearCare will continue to support the HomeTrak Companion products. "We're thrilled to welcome HomeTrak to the ClearCare family," said Geoff Nudd, founder and CEO of ClearCare. "The strength of both companies is our shared passion for understanding and solving business and operations problems for home care agencies so they can focus on the core job of providing the best possible care for seniors and families." According to Alex Kapteyn, co-founder of HomeTrak, ClearCare is an ideal partner for his team and customers. "We share the same commitment to our customers and dedication to innovate and make the delivery of low cost, home based care easier. Given ClearCare's proven track record of innovation and customer support, HomeTrak's customers are in great hands." "Our number one priority is ensuring customers see no disruption from this acquisition," said Nudd. "Furthermore, our acquisition of HomeTrak extends ClearCare's skilled nursing capabilities as well as customer support resources for all of our combined home care agency customers." The combined company will continue under the ClearCare brand and will now serve over 4,000 home care agencies, including 8 of the largest 10 agencies, and will have offices in San Francisco, San Diego, and Sarnia, Canada. About ClearCare ClearCare Online is the industry leading home care technology platform. Our rapid growth in customers is driven by our innovative SaaS platform that helps manage all home care agency business functions, including scheduling, billing, payroll, senior-to-caregiver matching, CRM, HR, reporting, and point-of-care management. ClearCare' s web-based platform solves problems for all of the constituents involved in home care: family members, caregivers, seniors, agency staff and the healthcare community. Learn more about ClearCare here: www.clearcareonline.com SOURCE ClearCare JACKSON, Mich., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CMS Energy announced today that it will discuss its first-quarter results and provide a business and financial outlook at 9:30 a.m. EDT on Monday, May 1. A webcast of the presentation will be available on CMS Energy's website, www.cmsenergy.com. An audio replay will be available approximately three hours after the webcast and will be archived for 30 days on CMS Energy's website in the "Investor Relations" section. CMS Energy (NYSE: CMS) is a Michigan-based company that has an electric and natural gas utility, Consumers Energy, as its primary business and also owns and operates independent power generation businesses. For more information on CMS Energy, please visit our website at www.cmsenergy.com. To sign up for email alert notifications, please visit the Investor Relations section of our website. SOURCE CMS Energy Related Links http://www.cmsenergy.com BROOKLYN, N.Y., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NYU Tandon School of Engineering will showcase its most significant academic research alongside family-friendly STEM projects at its 2017 Research Expo. The annual exhibit free to the public will be held Friday, April 21, 2017, from 1 to 4 p.m. in the MetroTech Commons, 5 MetroTech Center in Downtown Brooklyn. This year's expo will feature more than 70 exhibits, representing research from every academic department of the school and illustrating the breadth of engineering and the applied sciences. The highly interactive demonstrations will bring alive long-term faculty research and student innovations, as well as projects developed for and by youngsters in NYU Tandon's many K12 STEM Education programs that will be of interest to educators, parents, and youngsters. Highlights include: A rover with breakthrough communications that is being developed for a NASA student contest to mine the surface of Mars An autonomous submarine for NASA that could explore the liquid hydrocarbon seas of Saturn's largest moon A method to probe the deep web to fight human trafficking A chance to print 3D architectural features using ultra-high-performing concrete An app that advises how to invest in futures markets, and a demonstration of a new, probabilistic method of picking stocks and commodities One virtual reality (VR) game that probes preconceived ideas about queerness and another that turns building maintenance into an immersive challenge VR experiences showing brain growth, degenerative diseases, and stories of marginalized populations Research that exposes bugs lurking in software A demonstration of how a new algorithm makes cell phone calls clearer and can help those with hearing aids and cochlear implants Highly engaging middle school math and science lessons that use low-cost LEGO robotics Model electric vehicles running on advanced batteries and novel propulsion systems A game that explains state-of-the-art DNA diagnostic biosensors Visualization in real time of a new method of developing and manufacturing chemicals A model that allows visitors to predict demand for New York taxis and services like Lyft and Uber taxis and services like Lyft and Uber A password storage system that is virtually un-hackable Digital games that respond to users' abilities Mobile phones that let users experience the quality of calls in various regions of the country Cutting-edge research into swarming robots, robotic fish, and a TotBot for toddlers with special needs New smart electroactive materials that can harvest energy For a full list of exhibits, visit http://engineering.nyu.edu/events/2017/04/21/2017-nyu-tandon-school-engineering-research-expo. Dean Katepalli R. Sreenivasan explained that the annual expo is an opportunity to show the scope and importance of the students' work at the School, especially to young visitors who might not have considered a career in a STEM discipline. "Engineers and applied scientists develop practical solutions to critical problems faced by society and our hope is that the work demonstrated at the Research Expo will light a spark of interest in other students to become creative inventors, innovators, and technology entrepreneurs." Vikram Kapila, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at NYU Tandon and a lead organizer of the event added, "The Research Expo will open a window into the future and will be enjoyable and educational for everyone, from the most seasoned technologists to the youngest visitors. From robotics to augmented reality to the latest in bioengineering, the Research Expo will demonstrate just how many incredible developments are taking place right here in Downtown Brooklyn at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering." To register, visit tandonexpo2017.eventbrite.com. About the New York University Tandon School of Engineering The NYU Tandon School of Engineering dates to 1854, the founding date for both the New York University School of Civil Engineering and Architecture and the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute (widely known as Brooklyn Poly). A January 2014 merger created a comprehensive school of education and research in engineering and applied sciences, rooted in a tradition of invention and entrepreneurship and dedicated to furthering technology in service to society. In addition to its main location in Brooklyn, NYU Tandon collaborates with other schools within NYU, the country's largest private research university, and is closely connected to engineering programs at NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai. It operates Future Labs focused on start-up businesses in downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn and an award-winning online graduate program. For more information, visit http://engineering.nyu.edu. Note: Photos from 2016 available at http://dam.engineering.nyu.edu/?c=1941&k=26e2223e4e www.facebook.com/nyutandon @NYUTandon SOURCE NYU Tandon School of Engineering Related Links http://www.poly.edu LINCOLN, Neb., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- April 28, 2017 marks the 145th celebration of Arbor Day. A holiday established in 1872 in Nebraska City to inspire people to plant trees, it became a legal holiday in 1885. To help people across the country get more easily involved in celebrating the country's first environmental holiday, the Arbor Day Foundation has launched celebratearborday.com. People can visit the website to see what is going on in their local community as well as to plant trees and plan their own Arbor Day celebrations. During the month of April, to help all Americans commemorate Arbor Day, Unilever and Ahold are planting a tree in our nation's forests for any unique social post featuring "#Arborday" at least 20,000 trees. Visitors to celebratearborday.com can watch the number of trees planted increase on the website's "Treemometer." For those looking to venture out on a weekend getaway, the Arbor Day Foundation has compiled a list of 10 not-to-miss Arbor Day celebrations. Nebraska City, Nebraska You won't want to miss Arbor Day in its home town of Nebraska City, where it has been celebrated since the inaugural holiday 145 years ago. The city boasts loads of family-friendly activities and events all Arbor Day weekend long, including an Arbor Day 5K and parade as well as an Arbor Day Market. Visitors can also stop by the home of J. Sterling Morton, the founder of Arbor Day, or visit Arbor Day Farm and Lied Lodge. Ripley, Ohio This year, Ripley won an Arbor Day celebration for participation in the Alliance for Community Trees NeighborWoods Month photo contest. The contest awarded a grant for the winning submission of a beautiful city tree canopy picture. To celebrate, the village will plant six trees on Arbor Day, hold a poster contest, and give away seedlings to elementary students. Cedar Hill, Texas Celebrate with Cedar Hill at Earth Fest this year. Join city officials and learn what it means to be a Tree City USA and how trees have benefited the city. Mayor Franke will read an Arbor Day proclamation declaring the celebration of Arbor Day in Cedar Hill. Attendees will get a free tree to take home and plant. Coeur d'Alene, Idaho Come celebrate the 145th Birthday of Arbor Day with cake, snacks, tree fun and prizes. Join in at noon at the Harbor House for a tree planting and presentation of our 33rd Tree City USA award. Arbor Day art contest winners will be revealed, and you'll have the opportunity to learn more about the trees that make this city so great. Lansing, Michigan Feel the excitement as more than 1,100 second- and third-graders visit Potter Park Zoo to learn about nature. Students will watch the planting of the official State Arbor Day tree, and local experts will have hands-on activities for them, inspiring future stewards of the environment. Frankfort, Kentucky Celebrate Arbor Day in Frankfort with a hot air balloon ride. Afterward, enjoy the Tree City USA recognition ceremony and tree planting. You'll also receive a free tree to plant and commemorate the day. Manhattan, Kansas The Kansas Forest Service is celebrating their 130th anniversary this year. Join the Forest Service in a tree planting event filled with a tree walk to test your tree knowledge, tree care tips from the experts and the unveiling of the new community arboretum. Bellevue, Washington Celebrate 'city in a park' at the annual Arbor Day-Earth Day family festival, where trees take center stage at Lewis Creek Park. Watch an official ceremonial tree planting featuring a presentation of colors by VFW Post 2995. Join Bellevue as it celebrates its 26th year as a recognized Tree City USA and learn why trees are so great for the city. Don't miss out. Aspen, Colorado Join the city in celebrating Arbor Day at Paepke Park. Get answers to all your buzzing tree care questions from one of the numerous local tree care companies and agencies with informational booths, take a ride in the bucket of a pruning truck and see why trees are so cool. Plus, attendees have the chance to win a free tree in the tree raffle. Henderson, Nevada Henderson knows how to build excitement, so they celebrate Arbor Day in a week-long program. During the week of Arbor Day, city officials will visit fourth-grade classrooms to teach students about the tree planter's holiday. The week ends with a citywide celebration downtown where winners of the Arbor Day poster contest are announced. Come to the celebration and watch a climbing demo by a local tree contractor and participate in other fun tree activities. "Arbor Day is that one day every year reminding us to think about all that trees do for us a day for reflection and for action," said Dan Lambe, president, Arbor Day Foundation. "On April 28, communities across the country will to come together to plant, nurture and celebrate trees. We invite you to set differences aside, grab a shovel and make a positive impact in your community by planting a tree." About the Arbor Day Foundation Founded in 1972, the Arbor Day Foundation has grown to become the largest nonprofit membership organization dedicated to planting trees, with more than one million members, supporters, and valued partners. During the last 44 years, more than 250 million Arbor Day Foundation trees have been planted in neighborhoods, communities, cities and forests throughout the world. Our vision is to help others understand and use trees as a solution to many of the global issues we face today, including air quality, water quality, climate change, deforestation, poverty and hunger. As one of the world's largest operating conservation foundations, the Arbor Day Foundation, through its members, partners and programs, educates and engages stakeholders and communities across the globe to involve themselves in its mission of planting, nurturing and celebrating trees. More information is available at arborday.org. SOURCE Arbor Day Foundation Related Links http://www.arborday.org WASHINGTON, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Corporate Whistleblower Center says, "We have launched a national and simultaneously a state specific initiative to identify whistleblowers whose employer has falsely claimed to be a minority or woman owned business. We are urging employees at a company like this to call us anytime at 866-714-6466. As we would like to discuss when it comes to federal contracts-many federal agencies are required to give 10% of their jobs to minority or women owned businesses. Because these federal contracts can involve millions of dollars the potential whistleblower reward can exceed a million dollars as we would like to discuss anytime." http://CorporateWhistleblower.Com Federal Highway Contractors The Corporate Whistleblower Center is targeting the following types of contractors that are falsely claiming to minority or woman owned to gain an unfair advantage on federal bids for work: Road or highway builders Contractors building base housing for families at military bases Environmental clean-up contractors providing services to the EPA Security contractors providing security for federal buildings or installations Transportation companies providing trucking/logistics services for the US Government Moving or storage contractors providing services to the Department of Defense Food or food services companies proving services to the Department of Agriculture for school lunch programs. According to the Corporate Whistleblower Center, "We are almost certain some to most employees working for a company providing services to the government would know if their employer had falsely claimed to be a minority or woman owned business to gain an unfair advantage in the bidding process for federal jobs. If you have this type of information please call us at 866-714-6466 and allow us to explain to you how the federal whistleblower reward program works. Why sit on a winning lotto ticket without ever knowing what it might be worth?" http://CorporateWhistleblower.Com Simple rules for a whistleblower from the Corporate Whistleblower: Do not go to the government first if you are a major whistleblower. The Corporate Whistleblower Center says, "Major whistleblowers frequently go to the government thinking they will help. It's a huge mistake. Do not go to the news media with your whistleblower information. Public revelation of a whistleblower's information could destroy any prospect for a reward. Do not try to force a company or individual to come clean about a company falsely claiming to be a minority or woman owned business to take advantage of lucrative federal contracts. Come to us first, tell us what type of information you have, and if we think it's sufficient, we will help find the right law firms to assist in advancing your information and we will assist in building out your information." The Corporate Whistleblower Center wants to emphasize there are high quality whistleblowers in every state including California, New York, New Jersey, Florida, Texas, Massachusetts, Maryland, Rhode Island, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, Washington, or Alaska. The Corporate Whistleblower Center is the premier advocate for whistleblowers in the United States. Unlike any group in the US, they can assist a potential whistleblower with packaging their information and providing the whistleblower with access to the most accomplished whistleblower attorneys in the nation. For more information, potential whistleblowers can contact the Corporate Whistleblower Center at 866-714-6466 or visit http://CorporateWhistleblower.Com. Contact: Thomas Martin 866-714-6466 [email protected] SOURCE Corporate Whistleblower Center Related Links http://CorporateWhistleblower.Com BALTIMORE, Md., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CPower, a leading provider of demand-side energy management services to commercial and industrial customers, today announced it has been selected by PECO Energy Company (PECO an Exelon Company) as one of the curtailment service providers to facilitate PA Act 129 demand response services during peak hours in the utility's service areas. PECO is the largest electric and natural gas utility in Pennsylvania, serving approximately 1.6 million electric customers and more than 511,000 natural gas customers in southeastern Pennsylvania. The multi-year, multi-million dollar contract with CPower will ensure grid reliability by enabling commercial and industrial companies to participate in PECO's Act 129 demand response programs. CPower helps clients optimize energy savings and earnings via effective load curtailment strategies, including temporarily reducing or shutting down industrial processes, turning off lights in groups or sequences, cutting back HVAC systems, or shutting down large motors and compressors. "CPower is excited to provide demand-side resources to help PECO support grid reliability and meet the state's aggressive energy reduction goals," said Glenn Bogarde, Senior Vice President, CPower. "The new PA programs will provide compounding value and a great opportunity for businesses to improve their bottom line and help the community by keeping the power system sustainable and stable during times of high use." This Commercial and Industrial Demand Response Program will be offered during the summer months (June September) of the Act 129 program delivery years starting in 2017 until 2020. The program is unique in that it allows for enrollment in addition to existing PJM programs, increasing the financial incentives available to participants. CPower will launch the program on June 1, 2017, and is currently recruiting participants for the 2017 performance season. Learn more at: https://cpowerenergymanagement.com/pecodemandresponse/ About Demand Response Demand response programs reward electricity users for reducing consumption when alerted by a utility or independent system operators (ISO) such as PJM Interconnection, the grid operator that services 13 states and the District of Columbia. Those reductions improve the performance of the regional electric grid, particularly during hot summer months or deep winter chills when energy usage increases. Participants are compensated based on how much electric load they commit to curtail when notified by the utility about a peak demand event during periods of potential grid stress conditions. About PA Act 129 On October 15, 2008, House Bill 2200 was signed into law as Pennsylvania Act 129 (PA Act 129). The Act expanded the energy efficiency responsibilities of the Public Utility Commission (PUC) and imposed new requirements on the state's electric utilities with goals of reducing energy consumption and demand, among others. Phase I required utilities with more than 100,000 customers to reduce MWh consumption by 3 percent and reduce system demand 4.5 percent during peak hours by May 31, 2013. Phase II focused on efficiency targets with no demand reduction component. For Phase III, the PUC determined in its Implementation Order that additional reductions in consumption and demand response were cost-effective and prescribed targets to be met by May 31, 2021. CPower will help several Pennsylvania utilities to meet those targets. More on Act 129 can be found at the following link: http://www.puc.state.pa.us/electric/pdf/Act129/HB2200-Act129_Bill.pdf About CPower CPower is a demand-side energy management company. We specialize in helping commercial, industrial, government and non-profit customers reduce their net energy spend and achieve their sustainability goals. CPower is a leading provider of demand side management services to commercial and industrial customers across the U.S. with 25+ years of knowledge and experience in helping customers implement intelligent energy management programs. Follow CPower on Twitter @cpowerenergy or at www.CPowerEnergyManagement.com. Contact: Joe Stickney, Senior Director of Marketing 919-819-8861; [email protected] SOURCE CPower Related Links http://www.CPowerEnergyManagement.com FAIRFAX, Va., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Three top executive chefs and two senior culinary executive members from Crescent Hotels & Resorts have been selected to host an exclusive dinner at the renowned James Beard House located in the heart of New York City's Greenwich Village. The Spring Jam Session which will occur on May 5, is a multi-course dinner and wine pairings event where chefs who are preparing the dinner share their favorite play list to cook to with attending dinner guests. The Spring Jam Session will benefit the James Beard Foundation, which strives to celebrate, nurture, and preserve America's culinary heritage and protect the future through programs that educate and inspire. With more than 75 cumulative years of experience among the five chefs, the culinary team will be led by Crescent Hotels & Resorts' Chef Greg Griffie, senior vice president of food and beverage and Chef Richard Garcia, vice president of culinary. They will be supported by chefs from properties managed by Crescent Hotels & Resorts and include - Executive Chef John Du Toit from the Embassy Suites in Scottsdale, Arizona; Executive Chef Jay Hunter from the Horseshoe Bay Resort in Horseshoe Bay, Texas and Executive Chef Richard Falbo from Westin Reston in Reston, Virginia. The chefs were selected based on their national and regional reputation and use of seasonal and/or local ingredients. "Cooking at the James Beard House is a culinary professional's dream," says Chef Greg Griffie. "The team and I look forward to giving our dining guests a taste of what they can expect when they dine at any of the restaurants inside properties managed by Crescent Hotels & Resorts." The event will consist of multiple passed hors d'oeuvres with welcoming cocktails including: Popcorn-Style Spot Prawns with Cilantro and Lime; Plymouth Rock Oysters with Riesling Mignonette, Cured Mustard Seeds and Herbs; Lamb Sainte Menehould with Creamed Horseradish; and Penelope Pea Fritters with Dill. Followed by a five-course tasting menu including bread service, dessert, and wine pairings. The courses include: Duxbury Razor Clams with Spring Onions and Almonds; Open-Faced Milk-Fed Veal Rib Ravioli with Morels, Peas, Fava Beans, and Watercress; Smoked Quail with Cornbread, Cherries, Red Dandelion, Green Strawberries, and Hominy; Pan- Seared Broken Arrow Ranch Red Stag with Mesquite Tree Bean Jam, Waco Stone-Ground Grits, Pickled Devils' Claw, and Quail Egg; topped off with a decadent Prickly Pear-Passion Fruit Cremeux with Agave, Almond, Coconut Dacquoise, and Lime Streusel. The event is open to the public and guests can purchase tickets by going online to jamesbeard.org/events/spring-jam-session or by calling 212.627.2308. Seating is limited so guests are encouraged to reserve their seats early. For those who are interested in a comprehensive behind-the-scenes look of what goes on during these dinners, the James Beard Foundation now provides livestream video from three separate angles in the kitchen. The livestream will be available the night of the event starting at 6:15 p.m. and continues until the dessert course. To view the livestream, visit jbfkitchencam.org and or livestream.com under the James Beard Foundation account. About Crescent Hotels & Resorts Crescent Hotels & Resorts Crescent Hotels & Resorts is an award-winning, nationally recognized, top-3 operator of hotels and resorts. Crescent currently operates over 100 hotels, resorts and conference centers in the US and Canada. Crescent is one of the few elite management companies approved to operate upscale and luxury hotels under the brand families of Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt and IHG. Crescent also operates a collection of legendary independent lifestyle hotels and resorts. Crescent's clients are made up of hotel REITs, private equity firms and major developers. For more information, please visit www.chrco.com or connect with Crescent on LinkedIn. SOURCE Crescent Hotels & Resorts Related Links http://www.chrco.com VANCOUVER, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - CRH Medical Corporation (TSX: CRH) (NYSE MKT: CRHM) (the "Company"), announces that it will participate in the Bloom Burton & Co. Healthcare Investor Conference 2017 at the Sheraton Hotel in Toronto, Ontario. Edward Wright, Chief Executive Officer of the Company is scheduled to present on Tuesday, May 2 at 10:00 am. The Company's CFO, Richard Bear and the Chairman of the Board, Tony Holler will also attend the event. For more details about the conference visit www.bloomburton.com. About CRH Medical Corporation: CRH Medical Corporation is a North American company focused on providing gastroenterologists throughout the United States with innovative services and products for the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. The CRH O'Regan System is a single-use, disposable, hemorrhoid banding technology that is safe and highly effective in treating all grades of hemorrhoids. CRH distributes the O'Regan System, treatment protocols, operational and marketing expertise as a complete, turnkey package directly to gastroenterology practices, creating meaningful relationships with the gastroenterologists it serves. CRH's O'Regan System is currently used in all 48 lower US states. In 2014, CRH acquired Gastroenterology Anesthesia Associates, LLC ("GAA"), a full-service gastroenterology anesthesia company that provides anesthesia services for patients undergoing endoscopic procedures. Since then, CRH has incorporated ten additional acquisitions to its anesthesia business. CRH Anesthesia now services 27 ambulatory surgical centers in seven states and performs approximately 170,000 procedures annually. SOURCE CRH Medical Corporation Related Links www.crhmedcorp.com NEW YORK, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation (the Foundation) is pleased to announce seven new members of its National Board of Trustees, which oversees the management of the organization's policies, practices, principles, affairs, funds, and property. The Foundation is the largest, voluntary, non-profit health organization dedicated to finding cures for inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), while working in a variety of innovative ways to improve the lives of pediatric and adult patients. "We are proud and fortunate to welcome this extraordinary group of men and women to the Foundation's leadership," said Vance Gibbs, Crohn's & Colitis Foundation's National Board Chair and Partner at Kean Miller in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. "By contributing their diverse experience and expertise, they will enhance our mission capabilities and help us to advance the goals laid out in our ambitious new three-year strategic plan." Mr. Gibbs was elected Board Chair for the third consecutive year. These individuals will serve as National Trustees through 2020: Amber Backhaus has over 20 years working as a government relations professional, advocating for clients before the Minnesota Legislature and state agencies. She's participated numerous times in the Foundation's Team Challenge fundraisers in memory of her brother, Phil, and served as president of the Foundation's Minnesota /Dakotas Chapter from 2014 to 2016. has over 20 years working as a government relations professional, advocating for clients before the Minnesota Legislature and state agencies. She's participated numerous times in the Foundation's Team Challenge fundraisers in memory of her brother, Phil, and served as president of the Foundation's /Dakotas Chapter from 2014 to 2016. Noel Brown is a Managing Director in the Healthcare Investment Banking Group at Cantor Fitzgerald, where he advises biopharmaceutical companies on equity and debt capital markets, initial public offerings, and mergers and acquisitions. He has advised on more than $15 billion of transactions over more than 20 years in the securities industry. is a Managing Director in the Healthcare Investment Banking Group at Cantor Fitzgerald, where he advises biopharmaceutical companies on equity and debt capital markets, initial public offerings, and mergers and acquisitions. He has advised on more than of transactions over more than 20 years in the securities industry. Retired former Congressman from Florida , the Honorable Ander Crenshaw has led a distinguished lifetime of public service and executive leadership. While in Washington, D.C. , he gained a reputation as a strong advocate for job creation and economic prosperity, and sponsored the Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act, which enabled pre-tax, health savings accounts for people with disabilities. He joined the law firm of King and Spaulding in March 2017 as Senior Counsel. , the has led a distinguished lifetime of public service and executive leadership. While in , he gained a reputation as a strong advocate for job creation and economic prosperity, and sponsored the Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act, which enabled pre-tax, health savings accounts for people with disabilities. He joined the law firm of King and Spaulding in as Senior Counsel. Alessandro (Sandro) DiNello is president, CEO and a director of Flagstar Bank and Flagstar Bancorp. He has held a number of leadership roles at the bank including head of Retail Banking, Commercial Banking, Technology, and Operations. As CEO, he has played a critical role in strengthening the bank's risk management, compliance, and quality control. He is an avid supporter and volunteer with the Foundation. is president, CEO and a director of Flagstar Bank and Flagstar Bancorp. He has held a number of leadership roles at the bank including head of Retail Banking, Commercial Banking, Technology, and Operations. As CEO, he has played a critical role in strengthening the bank's risk management, compliance, and quality control. He is an avid supporter and volunteer with the Foundation. A Managing Director with Bank of America, Alex Funderburg has wide-ranging business expertise, including lending, leasing, syndications, financial modeling, portfolio analysis and corporate reorganizations. For the past five years, he served as president of the Foundation's Carolinas Chapter, where active membership and fundraising tripled during his tenure. has wide-ranging business expertise, including lending, leasing, syndications, financial modeling, portfolio analysis and corporate reorganizations. For the past five years, he served as president of the Foundation's Carolinas Chapter, where active membership and fundraising tripled during his tenure. Michele Kissous-Hunt is a physician assistant with over 20 years experience treating patients with a wide range of gastrointestinal diseases. She is an active member of the Foundation's National Nurses and Advanced Practice Committee, and is on the expert panel of the Foundation's IBD Circle with the American College of Gastroenterology. is a physician assistant with over 20 years experience treating patients with a wide range of gastrointestinal diseases. She is an active member of the Foundation's National Nurses and Advanced Practice Committee, and is on the expert panel of the Foundation's IBD Circle with the American College of Gastroenterology. Dr. Joel R. Rosh is Director of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Vice Chairman of Clinical Development and Research Affairs at Goryeb Children's Hospital/Atlantic Health, and Professor of Pediatrics at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City . He has served as National Chair of the Foundation's Pediatric Education Committee, and has been honored as the New Jersey Chapter's Physician of the Year. Trustees of the Foundation's National Board are elected for three-year terms and may serve no more than two consecutive terms. "Each of our new National Trustees has proven his or her commitment to the Foundation, and brings vital passion and unique skills to further strengthen the organization," explains Michael Osso, President and CEO of the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation. "As we celebrate the Foundation's 50th Anniversary this year, they will play a critical role leading us to better care for patients and accelerating to cures for IBD." About the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation To date, the Foundation has funded close to $300 million in research targeting areas of science with a high probability of advancing treatment. We are currently funding a roster of over 200 research projects including multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary, and collaborative programs. In the past five years, our researchers have made significant inroads in the study of genetics, as well as the gut microbiome. The Foundation is dedicated to advancing research for adults and pediatrics, last year investing $30.6 million in funding investigators in the U.S., Canada and over a dozen foreign countries. The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation is the largest non-profit, voluntary, health organization dedicated to finding cures for inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). The Foundation's mission is to cure Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, and to improve the quality of life of children and adults affected by these diseases. The Foundation works to fulfill its mission by funding research; providing educational resources for patients and their families, medical professionals, and the public; and furnishing supportive services for those afflicted with IBD. For more information visit www.crohnscolitisfoundation.org, call 888-694-8872, or email [email protected]. SOURCE Crohn's & Colitis Foundation Related Links http://www.crohnscolitisfoundation.org/ PHILADELPHIA, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CCK) today announced its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2017. First Quarter Highlights Earnings per share $0.77 versus $0.57 in 2016 Adjusted earnings per share $0.72 versus $0.69 in 2016 $133 million of Q1 share repurchase; $60 million additional in April Beverage can growth projects on schedule Net sales in the first quarter were $1,901 million compared to $1,893 million in the first quarter of 2016 reflecting increased beverage, food and aerosol can volumes and the pass through of higher material costs to customers, partially offset by $54 million of unfavorable currency translation impact. Income from operations was $237 million in the quarter compared to $219 million in the first quarter of 2016. Segment income increased to $228 million in the first quarter compared to $221 million in the prior year first quarter and included $6 million of unfavorable currency translation impact. Commenting on the quarter, Timothy J. Donahue, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "We are off to a solid start in 2017 with adjusted earnings per share increasing 4% over the prior year, led by firm results across most operations. "At the same time, our capital projects remain on track. The first production line at our beverage can facility in Nichols, New York began commercial shipments in late January and the second line was completed this month. We have also completed the conversion of our beverage can plant in Custines, France from steel to aluminum with the start-up of the second high speed line this month. In Colombia, we are on schedule to expand beverage can capacity in June. Our new beverage can plant in Jakarta, Indonesia is expected to begin commercial production at the end of the second quarter of this year, followed by the second line at our plant in Danang, Vietnam in the third quarter. A new beverage can plant in Yangon, Myanmar and a glass bottle facility in Chihuahua, Mexico are both scheduled for start-up in the first half of 2018." Interest expense was $62 million in the first quarter of 2017 compared to $64 million in 2016 primarily due to lower outstanding debt. Net income attributable to Crown Holdings in the first quarter was $107 million compared to $79 million in the first quarter of 2016. Reported diluted earnings per share were $0.77 in the first quarter of 2017 compared to $0.57 in 2016. Adjusted diluted earnings per share increased to $0.72 over the $0.69 in 2016 and included $0.04 per share of unfavorable currency translation impact. A reconciliation from net income and diluted earnings per share to adjusted net income and adjusted diluted earnings per share is provided below. Through April 18, 2017, the Company repurchased a total of 3.6 million of its common shares for $193 million, including 2.5 million shares for $133 million in the first quarter of 2017 and an additional 1.1 million shares for $60 million subsequent to the end of the quarter. Outlook The Company currently expects 2017 adjusted diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $3.80 to $4.00, consistent with its previous guidance and based on current exchange rate levels. Adjusted diluted earnings per share for the 2017 second quarter are expected to be in the range of $1.05 to $1.15. The effective income tax rate for the full year of 2017 is expected to be approximately 26%, although it may vary from quarter to quarter. Cash provided by operating activities is currently expected to be approximately $875 million and management currently forecasts 2017 capital expenditures of approximately $450 million. Non-GAAP Measures Segment income, adjusted free cash flow, adjusted net income, the adjusted effective tax rate, adjusted diluted earnings per share, and the information presented excluding the impact of currency translation are not defined terms under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (non-GAAP measures). Non-GAAP measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for income from operations, net income, diluted earnings per share or cash flow data prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP and may not be comparable to calculations of similarly titled measures by other companies. The Company views segment income as the principal measure of the performance of its operations and adjusted free cash flow as the principal measure of its liquidity. The Company considers both of these measures in the allocation of resources. Adjusted free cash flow has certain limitations, however, including that it does not represent the residual cash flow available for discretionary expenditures since other non-discretionary expenditures, such as mandatory debt service requirements, are not deducted from the measure. The amount of mandatory versus discretionary expenditures can vary significantly between periods. The Company believes that adjusted net income, the adjusted effective tax rate, adjusted diluted earnings per share, and information excluding the impact of currency translation are useful in evaluating the Company's operations as these measures are adjusted for items that affect comparability between periods. Reconciliations of estimated adjusted diluted earnings per share for the second quarter and full year of 2017 to estimated diluted earnings per share on a GAAP basis are not provided in this release due to the unavailability of estimates of the following, the timing and magnitude of which the Company is unable to reliably forecast without unreasonable efforts, which are excluded from estimated adjusted diluted earnings per share and could have a significant impact on earnings per share on a GAAP basis: gains or losses on the sale of businesses or other assets, restructuring costs, asset impairment charges, acquisition related costs including fair value adjustments to inventory, asbestos-related charges, losses from early extinguishment of debt, the tax impact of the items above, and the impact of tax law changes or other tax matters. The Company believes that adjusted free cash flow provides a meaningful measure of liquidity and a useful basis for assessing the Company's ability to fund its activities, including the financing of acquisitions, debt repayments, share repurchases or possible future dividends. Segment income, adjusted free cash flow, the adjusted effective tax rate, adjusted net income, adjusted diluted earnings per share and information excluding the impact of currency translation are derived from the Company's Consolidated Statements of Operations and Cash Flows and Consolidated Balance Sheets, as applicable, and reconciliations to segment income, adjusted free cash flow, the adjusted effective tax rate, adjusted net income, adjusted diluted earnings per share and information unadjusted for currency translation can be found within this release. Conference Call The Company will hold a conference call tomorrow, April 20, 2017 at 9:00 a.m. (EDT) to discuss this news release. Forward-looking and other material information may be discussed on the conference call. The dial-in numbers for the conference call are (630) 395-0227 or toll-free (888) 606-8412 and the access password is "packaging." A live webcast of the call will be made available to the public on the internet at the Company's website, www.crowncork.com. A replay of the conference call will be available for a one-week period ending at midnight on April 27. The telephone numbers for the replay are (203) 369-1490 or toll free (866) 470-8790. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Except for historical information, all other information in this press release consists of forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors, including the future impact of currency translation; the continuation of performance trends in 2017; the Company's ability to successfully complete and begin production at capacity expansion projects within expected timelines and budgets in New York, France, Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar and Mexico that may cause actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause the statements made in this press release or the actual results of operations or financial condition of the Company to differ are discussed under the caption "Forward Looking Statements" in the Company's Form 10-K Annual Report for the year ended December 31, 2016 and in subsequent filings made prior to or after the date hereof. The Company does not intend to review or revise any particular forward-looking statement in light of future events. Crown Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, is a leading supplier of packaging products to consumer marketing companies around the world. World headquarters are located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For more information, contact: Thomas A. Kelly, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, (215) 698-5341 Thomas T. Fischer, Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Affairs, (215) 552-3720 Edward Bisno, Bisno Communications, (212) 717-7578 Unaudited Consolidated Statements of Operations, Balance Sheets, Statements of Cash Flows, Segment Information and Supplemental Data follow. Consolidated Statements of Operations (Unaudited) (in millions, except share and per share data) Three Months Ended March 31, 2017 2016 Net sales $1,901 $1,893 Cost of products sold 1,519 1,521 Depreciation and amortization 59 60 Selling and administrative expense 90 91 Restructuring and other (4) 2 Income from operations (1) 237 219 Foreign exchange (1) (6) Interest expense 62 64 Interest income (3) (3) Loss from early extinguishment of debt 27 Income before income taxes 179 137 Provision for income taxes 46 38 Net income 133 99 Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests (26) (20) Net income attributable to Crown Holdings $107 $79 Earnings per share attributable to Crown Holdings common shareholders: Basic $0.77 $0.57 Diluted $0.77 $0.57 Weighted average common shares outstanding: Basic 138,475,013 138,105,319 Diluted 138,956,825 138,992,630 Actual common shares outstanding at quarter end 137,758,282 139,430,490 (1) A reconciliation from income from operations to segment income follows. Consolidated Supplemental Financial Data (Unaudited) (in millions) Reconciliation from Income from Operations to Segment Income The Company views segment income, as defined below, as a principal measure of performance of its operations and for the allocation of resources. Segment income is defined by the Company as income from operations adjusted to add back provisions for asbestos and restructuring and other, the impact of fair value adjustments to inventory acquired in an acquisition, and the timing impact of hedge ineffectiveness. Three Months Ended March 31, 2017 2016 Income from operations $ 237 $ 219 Provision for restructuring and other (4) 2 Impact of hedge ineffectiveness (1) (5) Segment Income 228 221 Foreign currency translation (2) 6 Constant currency segment income $ 234 $ 221 (1) Included in cost of products sold Segment Information Three Months Ended March 31, Net Sales 2017 2017 at 2016 Actual 2016 rates (2) Actual Americas Beverage $ 674 $ 688 $ 643 North America Food 153 154 146 European Beverage 303 316 315 European Food 379 397 398 Asia Pacific 278 281 277 Total reportable segments 1,787 1,836 1,779 Non-reportable segments 114 119 114 Total net sales $ 1,901 $ 1,955 $ 1,893 Segment Income Americas Beverage $ 105 $ 107 $ 104 North America Food 16 16 12 European Beverage 51 52 46 European Food 47 49 49 Asia Pacific 39 39 35 Total reportable segments 258 263 246 Non-reportable segments 15 16 13 Corporate and other unallocated items (45) (45) (38) Total segment income $ 228 $ 234 $ 221 (2) Information presented for 2017 at 2016 rates represents financial results assuming constant foreign currency exchange rates used for translation based on the rates in effect for the comparable prior year period. In order to compute constant currency results, we multiply or divide, as appropriate, our current year U.S. dollar results by the current year average foreign exchange rates and then multiply or divide, as appropriate, those amounts by the applicable prior year average foreign exchange rates. Consolidated Supplemental Data (Unaudited) (in millions, except per share data) Reconciliation from Net Income and Diluted Earnings Per Share to Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share The following table reconciles reported net income and diluted earnings per share attributable to the Company to adjusted net income and adjusted diluted earnings per share, as used elsewhere in this release. Three Months Ended March 31, 2017 2016 Net income/diluted earnings per share attributable to Crown Holdings, as reported $107 $0.77 $79 $0.57 Impact of hedge ineffectiveness (1) (5) (.04) Restructuring and other (2) (4) (.03) 2 .01 Loss from early extinguishment of debt (3) 27 .19 Income taxes (4) 2 .02 (12) (.08) Adjusted net income/diluted earnings per share $100 $0.72 $96 $0.69 Effective tax rate as reported 25.7% 27.7% Adjusted effective tax rate 25.9% 30.1% Adjusted net income, adjusted diluted earnings per share and the adjusted effective tax rate are non-GAAP measures and are not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for net income, diluted earnings per share and effective tax rates determined in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. The Company believes these non-GAAP measures provide useful information to evaluate the performance of the Company's ongoing business. (1) In the first quarter of 2017, the Company recorded a benefit of $5 million ($4 million net of tax) in cost of products sold related to hedge ineffectiveness caused primarily by volatility in the metal premium component of aluminum prices. (2) In the first quarter of 2017, the Company recorded restructuring and other charges of $2 million ($2 million net of tax) related to previously announced restructuring projects. In the first quarter of 2016, the Company recorded restructuring and other charges of $4 million ($2 million net of tax) primarily for pension settlement charges. In the first quarter of 2017, the Company recorded net gains of $6 million ($5 million net of tax) for asset sales and impairments. In the first quarter of 2016, the Company recorded gains of $2 million ($2 million net of tax) for asset sales and impairments. (3) In the first quarter of 2016, the Company recorded a charge of $27 million ($17 million net of tax) for premiums paid and the write off of deferred financing fees in connection with the redemption of its outstanding $700 million notes due 2021. (4) In the first quarter of 2017, the Company recorded income tax charges of $2 million related to the items described above. In the first quarter of 2016, the Company recorded income tax benefits of $12 million related to the items described above. Consolidated Balance Sheets (Condensed & Unaudited) (in millions) March 31, 2017 2016 (1) Assets Current assets Cash and cash equivalents $ 338 $ 257 Receivables, net 899 980 Inventories 1,417 1,413 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 234 254 Total current assets 2,888 2,904 Goodwill and intangible assets 3,357 3,627 Property, plant and equipment, net 2,898 2,727 Other non-current assets 727 712 Total $ 9,870 $ 9,970 Liabilities and equity Current liabilities Short-term debt $ 37 $ 67 Current maturities of long-term debt 57 239 Accounts payable and accrued liabilities 2,402 2,412 Total current liabilities 2,496 2,718 Long-term debt, excluding current maturities 5,206 5,293 Other non-current liabilities 1,309 1,456 Noncontrolling interests 316 304 Crown Holdings shareholders' equity 543 199 Total equity 859 503 Total $ 9,870 $ 9,970 (1) At December 31, 2016, prior period balance sheets were revised from previously reported amounts to correct how the Company calculates its estimated asbestos liability. Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (Condensed & Unaudited) (in millions) Three months ended March 31, 2017 2016 Cash flows from operating activities Net income $ 133 $ 99 Depreciation and amortization 59 60 Restructuring and other (4) 2 Pension expense 5 7 Pension contributions (13) (25) Stock-based compensation 4 6 Working capital changes and other (504) (557) Net cash used for operating activities (1) (320) (408) Cash flows from investing activities Capital expenditures (107) (51) Proceeds from sale of assets 3 4 Other (1) Net cash used for investing activities (104) (48) Cash flows from financing activities Net change in debt 343 (23) Dividends paid to noncontrolling interests (13) (8) Common stock repurchased (133) (4) Other, net 2 31 Net cash provided by/(used for) financing activities 199 (4) Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents 4 Net change in cash and cash equivalents (221) (460) Cash and cash equivalents at January 1 559 717 Cash and cash equivalents at March 31 $ 338 $ 257 (1) Adjusted free cash flow is defined by the Company as net cash used for operating activities less capital expenditures and certain other items. A reconciliation from net cash used for operating activities to adjusted free cash flow for the three months ended March 31, 2017 and 2016 follows: Three months ended March 31, 2017 2016 Net cash used for operating activities ($320) ($408) Capital expenditures (107) (51) Free cash flow (427) (459) Premiums paid to retire debt early 22 Adjusted free cash flow ($427) ($437) SOURCE Crown Holdings, Inc. Related Links http://www.crowncork.com Making connections and building relationships are among the most beneficial aspects of networking with other small businesses, according to more than half of the respondents in a survey by The UPS Store . This is especially true among younger business owners, who are more likely than their older counterparts to take advantage of networking opportunities with fellow small business owners. Not only do they crave these connections, 61 percent of small business owners say they want to establish in-person relationships. Attending networking and meetup events is a great way for entrepreneurs to form new relationships, share experiences and celebrate their hard work. In honor of National Small Business Week, The UPS Store will offer several networking events to facilitate small business connections. The following tips can help small business owners make the most of networking events. Practice your "elevator pitch." When introducing yourself, be prepared to give a brief explanation of your business, boiled down to a couple of sentences. Be sure to include your business name, the solution you provide and anything that makes you unique. The key is to deliver enough context that others can engage in meaningful conversation, while keeping it succinct enough that you have plenty of time to listen. If you think your elevator pitch is perfected, submit a 90-second video describing the business or idea to enter The UPS Store national Pitch Off contest at theupsstore.com/pitchoff for a chance to win $10,000. Be prepared to participate. Successful networking is as much about giving as it is receiving. Ask open-ended questions and be prepared to listen to what others are saying. Actively participating not only leads to more productive conversations, it helps build stronger relationships. Embrace the competition. It may feel counterintuitive to forge a relationship with a direct competitor, but there's some obvious benefit to trading notes with someone who is operating in your market from a similar vantage point. Remember, while neither of you is going to give up proprietary information, a respectful dialogue may get your wheels turning to think about solving a problem in a new way. Represent your brand well. A networking event is intended to be social, but it shouldn't be treated casually. You are every bit the face of your business in this setting as you are within your business walls. Dress the part and present yourself as you would to potential customers. Make sure you have updated business cards, as 75 percent of survey respondents said they are the most common marketing tool used to promote their business, and any other printed materials such as brochures or fliers that showcase your business. Retain your newfound knowledge. After meeting a handful (or more) of new people, all the faces and names can run together. When you get back to your desk, take some time to make notes on everyone you met. Include pertinent contact information and details of your conversation, areas where the connection may be fruitful in the future and any immediate follow-up. Find networking opportunities and more ideas to grow your small business at theupsstore.com/smallbizsalute. Michael French [email protected] 1-888-824-3337 editors.familyfeatures.com About Family Features Editorial Syndicate Established in 1974, Family Features is a leading provider of free food and lifestyle content for print and online publications. Our articles, photos, videos and web content solutions save you time, money and help create advertising opportunities. Registration is fast and free with absolutely no obligation. Visit editors.familyfeatures.com for more information. SOURCE Family Features Editorial Syndicate Related Links http://www.familyfeatures.com SHANGHAI, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Dana Incorporated (NYSE: DAN) today introduced the company's Spicer SmartConnect disconnecting all-wheel-drive (AWD) technology for the first time at Auto Shanghai 2017, the largest automotive trade show in the world. Improving the fuel efficiency of SUVs, crossovers, and passenger vehicles, Spicer SmartConnect technology helps global vehicle manufacturers address evolving emissions regulations while maintaining the safety and control that are key advantages for AWD vehicles. The Spicer SmartConnect system configures the drivetrain to work in fuel-efficient front-wheel-drive mode for the vast majority of driving conditions. It automatically and seamlessly converts to AWD when it detects slipping at the wheel, such as during rapid acceleration or in icy conditions. The introduction of this technology in China illustrates how Dana is addressing its enterprise strategy called "Shifting into Overdrive" across two dimensions. The Spicer SmartConnect system helps to expand global markets by driving disproportionate growth in the rapidly growing Asia-Pacific region while commercializing new technologies that address customer and market needs. Spicer SmartConnect technology is currently in pre-production testing, with production expected to begin in late 2018. "Sales of SUVs grew by 45 percent in China last year, while the production of all-wheel-drive vehicles is expected to double in size to two million units a year by 2019," said Bob Pyle, president of Dana Light Vehicle Driveline Technologies. "Spicer SmartConnect technology reinforces Dana's position in China as a leader in innovations that deliver the performance and efficiency features in highest demand." Dana offers complete driveline solutions for China's fast-growing SUV market, including compact power transfer units, hang-on rear axle drive units, beam axles, propshafts, and independent rear-axle/front-axle drive units. To support Chinese off-roading enthusiasts, Dana offers The Ultimate Dana 44 and The Ultimate Dana 60 axles, direct bolt-in replacement upgrades specifically engineered for Jeep Wranglers. The Ultimate Dana 44 axle was recently recognized with the "2017 SUV Technology" award by FBlife, the leading Chinese media portal for off-road enthusiasts and service suppliers. China is one of the largest markets for Jeep Wrangler sales outside of the U.S. Dana serves numerous light-vehicle manufacturers in China, including Beijing Jeep Corporation, BMW, Daimler, Dongfeng Motor, Ford, Great Wall, Jinbei, SAIC, SGM, Southeast Motor Corporation, Toyota, VW Group. Auto Shanghai attendees may visit hall 4.2, stand 4BF001 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center to see Dana's full suite of driveline solutions for passenger vehicles and light trucks this week. About Dana Incorporated Dana is a world leader in highly engineered solutions for improving the efficiency, performance, and sustainability of powered vehicles and machinery. Dana supports the passenger vehicle, commercial truck, and off-highway markets, as well as industrial and stationary equipment applications. Founded in 1904, Dana employs approximately 27,000 people in 34 countries on six continents who are committed to delivering long-term value to customers. The company reported sales of more than $5.8 billion in 2016. For more information, please visit dana.com. SOURCE Dana Incorporated Related Links http://www.dana.com SHANGHAI, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- At Auto Shanghai 2017, Dana Incorporated (NYSE: DAN) is showcasing select technologies from its Spicer Electrified portfolio of fully integrated motor, control, and e-drive technologies, as well as thermal-management products for electric and hybrid vehicles. On display is Dana's new Spicer electric motor-driven gearbox, which is specifically engineered to deliver better acceleration and higher torque in high-speed battery electric vehicles (BEV). Additionally, Dana's new Spicer Electrified e-axles for electric transit buses and city delivery vehicles feature a fully integrated motor and gear box and leverage the company's vast experience in chassis drivetrain applications. These e-axles are planned for launch in 2018. Dana is also collaborating with automotive manufacturers to develop all-wheel-drive (AWD) e-axles that deliver superior performance, packaging, and reliability, while meeting customer demand for AWD functionality paired with traditional front-wheel-drive hybrids. The company also offers an extensive range of highly engineered Long thermal-management products for electric and hybrid vehicles, including aluminum integrated cooling plates that ensure the performance and reliability of insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) switches. These advanced technologies demonstrate the importance Dana places on developing vehicle solutions that promote sustainability. This emphasis is also reflected in the prioritization of hybridization and electrification in the company's enterprise strategy, "Shifting into Overdrive." "Chinese auto buyers purchased almost half of all the plug-in electric vehicles sold in the world last year, and Chinese officials have set ambitious goals for the further adoption of hybrid- and electric-powered vehicles in the decades ahead," said Bob Pyle, president of Dana Light Vehicle Driveline Technologies and the leader of Dana's company-wide electrification and hybridization strategy. "With over 25 years of supplying innovations to the Chinese vehicle industry and a proven range of advanced technologies that improve fuel-efficiency and reduce emissions, Dana is ideally positioned to help OEMs as they design vehicle programs for the future." Electric and hybrid vehicle technology is a main tenet of the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's "Made in China 2025" initiative. Government authorities currently support the commercialization of new energy vehicles through subsidies for vehicle manufacturers and plans for a nationwide charging-station network. Chinese officials expect automakers to produce two million electric and hybrid vehicles annually by 2020 a 500 percent increase over 2015. Dana has been recognized by the China Decision Makers Consultancy (CDMC) over the past three years for its electric and hybrid vehicle solutions. Earlier this month, Dana was named the "Outstanding Power Electronics Solution Provider of the Year," while Dana earned the "Best Battery Solution Provider of the Year" award in 2015 and 2016. Additionally, Dana's Long-brand two-sided chip cooling technology was a 2016 Automotive News PACE Award finalist. Visitors may learn more about Dana's industry-leading solutions for electric and hybrid vehicles at Auto Shanghai this week in hall 4.2, stand 4BF001 of the National Exhibition and Convention Center. About Dana Incorporated Dana is a world leader in highly engineered solutions for improving the efficiency, performance, and sustainability of powered vehicles and machinery. Dana supports the passenger vehicle, commercial truck, and off-highway markets, as well as industrial and stationary equipment applications. Founded in 1904, Dana employs approximately 27,000 people in 34 countries on six continents who are committed to delivering long-term value to customers. The company reported sales of more than $5.8 billion in 2016. For more information, please visit dana.com. SOURCE Dana Incorporated Related Links http://www.dana.com NEW YORK, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SintecMedia, the world's leading provider of advertising management software, today announced that, along with a consortium of data and technology experts, the company has created an advanced machine learning algorithm to more accurately forecast future viewership of television programs. SintecMedia is part of a consortium started by the Israeli Science Ministry and includes government, academic and business experts in data science and technology. In a test pilot with a major global TV media network, the team bested the results from current manual processes, and feels confident that results will continue to significantly improve as testing continues. Currently, major television companies lose up to 10% of their advertising revenue to inaccurate ratings projections. This new data-driven breakthrough could not only help companies regain lost revenue, but increase their ability to join TV and digital forecasting to better optimize delivery across channels. As part of the 5 year, $25 million initiative, the consortium devised a form of deep neural network called a long short memory network to predict GRP ratings, which relies on a variety of cutting edge methodologies including neural networks and natural language processing. The initial pilot compared manual results of a single network to the algorithm, which slightly improved upon the company's manual error rate (RMSE) of .22. "We are very encouraged by the success of our initial tests. This project has the very real potential to save media companies millions in lost advertising revenue, while significantly improving their current advertising operational efficiency," said Roy Gelbard, Professor of Information and Knowledge Systems at Bar-Ilan University. "This breakthrough will not only help media companies sell more accurately on TV, but takes them much closer to selling at scale across TV and digital media." The novel process uses thousands of disparate types of information to create a rich forecast, from historical performance data, performance of similar programming, social media data from sites such as Twitter and Facebook, trending topics on search, and even the weather and holiday data. This formula not only predicts the success and size of viewership of upcoming, advertised shows, it can be used to predict the future success of similar programming. This breakthrough can significantly improve the accuracy and efficiency of current advertising markets for media companies, who currently rely on manual forecasts that cannot account for a rich array of important external variables. Inaccurate forecasting regularly costs media companies and advertisers millions of dollars in the form of under-delivered campaigns and makegoods. "We are thrilled to be part of such an important initiative within the media industry, one that will help drive a data-driven future for television companies," said Amotz Yarden, CEO of SintecMedia. "These findings show the important link between TV and digital media, one that media companies must embrace in order to remain competitive as linear and digital come together." About SintecMedia SintecMedia is the preferred broadcast management for linear and digital, and a software partner for over 300 of the world's top media brands, including NBCU, CBS, ABC, AT&T, STARZ, Star India, Seven Australia and Sky. No other software company brings a comparable depth of experience to create truly innovative software that performs across all platforms, revenue models, and business units. Since 2000, SintecMedia has grown to over 1300 employees in 14 offices around the world and processes more than $40 billion in linear and digital advertising revenue for the best-known companies in the industry. For more information, visit www.sintecmedia.com. SOURCE SintecMedia Related Links http://www.sintecmedia.com LE CENTER, Minn., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Dianne's Fine Desserts will be recognized for excellence in workplace safety and health at the Governor's Safety Awards luncheon on May 18 at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Dianne's Fine Desserts is one of 266 employers to be honored through the awards program, coordinated by the Minnesota Safety Council. "We thank Dianne's Fine Desserts for its commitment to safety," said Paul Aasen, president of the Minnesota Safety Council. "These efforts protect workers, strengthen the organization and benefit the community as a whole." Mike Knowles, CEO of Dianne's Fine Desserts, commented, "Since our company's founding, there has been no greater priority than the safety of our employees. We are proud to accept this award on behalf of our entire team. We'd like to thank the Minnesota Safety Council for everything it does to encourage safety in the workplace." Since 1934, the annual Governor's Safety Awards program has honored Minnesota employers with exceptional safety performance. Applicants are judged on several years of injury data as it compares with their industry's national statistics, and on their progress in implementing a comprehensive safety program. Winners are recognized at three levels: Meritorious Achievement (115 winners): Incidence rates that are better than the industry average for at least three years, and a score between 50 and 74 on a 100-point safety program evaluation scale. Outstanding Achievement (108 winners): Continuing improvement and/or a continuing outstanding record with incident rates that are 51%-90% better than the industry average, and a score between 75 and 90 on the safety program evaluation scale. Award of Honor (43 winners): Incidence rates at least 91% better than the industry average, and a score between 91 and 100 on the safety program evaluation scale. Dianne's Fine Desserts received the Meritorious Achievement Award. The Governor's Safety Awards luncheon is part of the 83rd Minnesota Safety & Health Conference, coordinated by the Minnesota Safety Council. The conference is the oldest and largest gathering of workplace safety and health professionals in the region. The Minnesota Safety Council, founded in 1928, is a non-governmental, not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life in Minnesota by preventing unintentional injuries ("accidents"). About Dianne's Fine Desserts A leading provider of premium frozen thaw-and-serve desserts to the foodservice and in-store retail industries, Dianne's Fine Desserts has been serving up inspiring, mouth-watering and memorable desserts for over 35 years. The Company's product line includes cheesecakes, layer cakes, pies and tarts, brownies/bars and individual minis and specialty desserts; all created at three state of the art GFSI certified manufacturing facilities, including the Company's private label in-store bakery provider, Daystar Desserts, creator of the World's Best Cheesecakes. Dianne's Fine Desserts has strong core markets, an established customer base and product lines that anticipate consumer demand and support customer initiatives and goals. SOURCE Diannes Fine Desserts LITTLETON, Colo., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Dorsey Pictures is looking for a dynamic team of renovators who specialize in transforming old, dilapidated farmhouses into rustically-remodeled home masterpieces! This farmhouse renovation project is currently in the research phase with the possibility of selling to a major national cable TV network. Dorsey Pictures is specifically targeting the Midwest for this search. Dorsey Pictures is seeking gregarious, passionate and highly skilled builders who have particular expertise in this space. The farmhouse renovation project is in the open casting process, pursuing general contractors, build companies, designers, architects, and remodelers. Dorsey Pictures is searching for a busy team of builders who have multiple farmhouse renovation projects going on (or have the ability to take on multiple projects) and think they have what it takes to be on TV. Dorsey's Emmy winning production company staff has contributed to a variety of television networks including The History Channel, CNN, ESPN, ESPN2, Spike, TNN, HGTV, DIY, National Geographic, Nat Geo Wild, Travel, Discovery, Destination America, and Velocity as well as print properties ranging from Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, National Geographic, Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, and American Hunter. We continually look to create innovative broadcast solutions that help bring brands to life. Interested farmhouse renovation experts and other affiliated contractors can email Whitney Hayes (see contact info below) the following information to apply: Photos of the build crew A company bio A brief description of the crew A link to the company's website Links to videos or social media sites Information on current or past farmhouse renovations Whitney Hayes Dorsey Pictures 720-259-4281 [email protected] http://www.dorseypictures.tv/about SOURCE Dorsey Pictures Related Links http://www.dorseypictures.tv ROWAYTON, Conn., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Eaton Partners, one of the world's largest placement agents and a wholly owned subsidiary of Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE: SF), announced today the formation of a dedicated team within the firm that will raise capital for direct investment opportunities globally. Widely regarded as a pioneer of the fund placement industry, Eaton Partners is now increasingly working with management teams, independent sponsors and general partners to raise capital for pre-specified, singular investments. "When Charlie Eaton founded the firm 34 years ago, alternative investments were a new frontier for institutional investors. Today, those institutions have grown in sophistication to the point where they are complementing and, in some cases, replacing their commingled fund investments with direct investments into private companies and other tangible assets," said Chrystalle Anstett, Managing Director at Eaton Partners. "We expect this evolution to continue and are excited to bring differentiated deal flow to investors from our unique vantage point in the market." In the past six months, Eaton Partners has raised nearly $500 million for four direct investment opportunities in the financial services, power and energy sectors. The firm is seeking new mandates to raise at least $50 million for direct and co-investment opportunities. Eaton Partners also has a dedicated secondary advisory team that works with both general partners and limited partners to provide bespoke services in the form of fund restructurings, recapitalizations, GP interest sales and secondary LP interest purchases and sales. "As a solutions provider, we raise all forms of capital across all industries and sectors," said Peter Martenson, Partner at Eaton Partners. "By formalizing our directs practice, we look forward to enhancing the range of services we can bring our clients and continuing the Eaton reputation of representing innovative, high-quality investment opportunities." About Eaton Partners, LLC Eaton Partners is widely recognized as one of the largest and most experienced global placement agents. Since 1983, the firm has participated in raising over $75 billion of institutional capital across more than 95 highly differentiated alternative investment funds and offerings, including limited partnership interests, general partner interests, co-investments and direct investment opportunities. In January 2016, Eaton Partners became a wholly owned subsidiary and affiliate of Stifel Financial Corp., a leading middle-market investment bank, to further ensure Eaton's success at the highest level of the global placement business. Eaton Partners, LLC, is a registered broker-dealer and a member of FINRA. It is registered as an Introducing Broker with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and is a member of the National Futures Association (NFA). Eaton Partners (UK) LLP is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Eaton Partners Advisors (HK) Limited is approved as a Type 1 License company under the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) in Hong Kong. Eaton Partners and the Eaton partners logo are trademarks of Eaton Partners, LLC, a limited liability company Eaton Partners, LLC, 2016. Eaton Partners, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary and affiliate of Stifel Financial Corp. To learn more, please visit www.eatonpartnersllc.com. Stifel Company Information Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE: SF) is a financial services holding company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, that conducts its banking, securities, and financial services business through several wholly owned subsidiaries. Stifel's broker-dealer clients are served in the United States through Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated; Keefe Bruyette & Woods, Inc.; Miller Buckfire & Co., LLC; Century Securities Associates, Inc.; and Eaton Partners, LLC, and in the United Kingdom and Europe through Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited. The Company's broker-dealer affiliates provide securities brokerage, investment banking, trading, investment advisory, and related financial services to individual investors, professional money managers, businesses, and municipalities. Stifel Bank & Trust offers a full range of consumer and commercial lending solutions. Stifel Trust Company, N.A. and Stifel Trust Company Delaware, N.A. offer trust and related services. To learn more about Stifel, please visit the Company's web site at www.stifel.com. Media contact: Dukas Linden Public Relations [email protected] 212-704-7385 SOURCE Eaton Partners, LLC Related Links http://www.eatonpartnersllc.com WASHINGTON, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- EngageHRnow, an innovative leader in providing strategic HR outsourcing and consulting for small and mid-sized organizations, today announced it is working with a well-known and respected financial organization to offer complimentary financial well-being programs and educational resources to its clients. The interactive educational sessions are designed to offer small and mid-sized companies access to higher-end employee benefits seminars that are typically only present in large organizations with much more resources. Dawn Cacciotti "Research shows that employees are under an extreme amount of stress and a number of those stressors negatively impact an employee's financial future. Offering the well-being programs to my clients will help promote the health of their organizations through increased productivity and retention, improved employee engagement, and ultimately a positive impact on their bottom line," said Dawn Cacciotti, SPHR SHRM-SCP, the visionary president of the Alexandria, VA based EngageHRnow. On an average 70 percent of large organizations are engaged in providing well-being programs to their team members as compared to only 25 percent of small organizations as shown in the findings of the 2015 Merrill Lynch Workplace Benefits survey. "Well-being programs are no longer a nice-to-have option; they are a must-have for any organization that wishes to reach the level of becoming an Employer of Choice," said Cacciotti who started EngageHRnow 2 years ago, to collaborate with small and mid-size companies and as her vision statement states, "Get Them to Great." "The collaboration offers all of my clients complimentary financial well-being sessions and additional financial educational resources," said Cacciotti whose passion and understanding of the impact of well-being started 10 years ago, while working with a growing and innovative Boston-based food manufacturing company, Signature Breads Inc. She went on to work as the SVP for a non-profit association in Washington, D.C. and helped them be recognized as one of Washington Post's Top Workplaces and won a national award from Employee Benefits News for her well-being program. The complimentary financial well-being offerings are based on the findings of the 2015 Merrill Lynch Workplace Benefits survey that showed employees are looking for assistance from their employers on two levels: a combination of personal assistance and access to digital information. In fact, a near-identical percentage of employees say they want online tools (54 percent) as those who want access to a one-on-one relationship with a financial professional (52 percent). EngageHRnow clients will have access to complimentary offering of lunch and learn sessions on varied quarterly topics. The one-hour sessions are conducted at the client's offices. EngageHRnow knows that it isn't always possible for clients to conduct onsite lunch and learn sessions so they are creating online webinars for each of the topic areas that all employees will have access to. Employees can also opt in to receive additional educational resources for the topic areas. "The educational sessions are designed to help team members get answers to their financial questions and assist them in gaining a positive financial mindset," she said. "When organizations don't offer these kinds of benefits, they potentially miss out on attracting and retaining top talent," Cacciotti said. "Small and mid-size business are just beginning to understand the profound impact well-being programs can have to their organizations as a whole. These complimentary programs are a true value-added service." EngageHRnow provides many other value-added offerings to their clients, including complimentary access to: Reward and benefit programs Discounts from national and regional retailers Dental programs and pet discount programs Lunch and learn programs on a variety of other topic areas "It's important for small and mid-sized organizations to have the ability to offer these benefits to their team members. It levels the playing field and something that they weren't able to provide before," she said. These programs and offerings are just the start of the vision that EngageHRnow has to advance the cultures and organizational health of each of their clients. "Getting my client organizations to become Employers of Choice and positively impacting the lives of their employees is the exact reason I started EngageHRnow." About Dawn Cacciotti, SPHR SHRM-SCP and EngageHRnow Dawn Cacciotti, SPHR SHRM-SCP, founder of EngageHRnow, has over 25 years of strategic HR experience. As a human resources strategist, author, and passionate speaker, Dawn is an advocate for the importance of strategic HR to the success of all organizations. EngageHRnow, founded in 2014 is a human resources consulting firm specializing in employee engagement, organizational culture, and human capital solutions for small to mid-size associations and for-profit business. She holds certifications as a Senior Professional of Human Resources (SPHR, SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP) and Human Capital Strategist (HCS) and has her Bachelors of Science in Human Resources Management. To learn more about Dawn and EngageHRnow: www.engagehrnow.com Contact: Dawn Cacciotti, SPHR SHRM-SCP 571-458-7890 [email protected] SOURCE EngageHRnow Related Links http://www.engagehrnow.com DOWNERS GROVE, Ill., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Ensono, a leading hybrid IT services provider, partnered with TRUSTe, the leading global data privacy management company, to support its compliance with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Through this partnership, TRUSTe will perform data inventory and mapping one of the critical activities in Ensono's GDPR compliance roadmap. The EU GDPR is a comprehensive regulatory framework whose objective is to protect the "fundamental rights and freedoms of natural persons, and in particular, their right to the protection of personal data," according to the European Council. It outlines the requirements that organizations who process the personal data of EU individuals must apply in order to safeguard such data, regardless of the organization's location. Ensono's partnership with TRUSTe further strengthens its global data protection program, demonstrating Ensono's commitment to safeguarding sensitive information and assuring conformity with European standards on data protection. "Compliance with the GDPR is very important to our business," notes Pete Bazil, Ensono's chief legal officer. "Over the last year, Ensono has experienced significant growth and transformation as a global company. Our strategic partnership with TRUSTe to achieve GDPR compliance reflects our commitment to our European clients and global partners and the safeguarding of their sensitive information. This will remain an important priority and focus for the company over time." Ensono launched its GDPR compliance initiative in March 2017, and adopted a phased approach that positions it to align with the GDPR prior to the May 25, 2018 effective date. For more information about Ensono, please visit https://www.ensono.com. About Ensono For business leaders managing lots of complexity or disrupting the status quo, Ensono delivers complete Hybrid IT solutions and governance, from cloud to mainframe, tailored to each client's journey. Whether you're leveraging the power of the cloud or modernizing legacy technologies, you'll be on track to operate for today and optimize for tomorrow. Some of the world's most successful companies rely on us to help them be great at what they do. We've been recognized in Gartner Magic Quadrants for Data Center Outsourcing in North America, Cloud Managed Hosting in Europe as well as acknowledged by the Uptime Institute for 100% availability. We have over 1,000 associates across North America and Europe and are headquartered in greater Chicago, IL. Visit us at www.ensono.com About TRUSTe TRUSTe powers privacy compliance and trust by enabling businesses to use data across their customer, employee and vendor channels. We have nearly 20 years' experience and a team of over 150 professionals dedicated to providing data privacy management solutions and services, including assessments, certifications and our SaaS-based Platform. The Data Privacy Management Platform provides control over all phases of privacy; from conducting assessments and implementing compliance controls to managing ongoing monitoring. Companies worldwide rely on TRUSTe to minimize compliance risk and protect their brand. For further information see www.truste.com. Media Contact Beth Burghgraef 312-648- 6017 [email protected] SOURCE Ensono Related Links https://www.ensono.com AUSTIN, Texas, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Epicor Software Corporation, a global provider of industry-specific enterprise software to promote business growth, announced today that CRN, a brand of The Channel Company, has given Epicor a 5-Star rating in its 2017 Partner Program Guide. This annual guide is the definitive listing of partner programs from technology vendors that provide products and services through the IT channel. Epicor works with hundreds of highly qualified partners to deliver unequaled value to customers around the world. Our customer-first philosophy guides all that we doincluding our relationships with partnersand leads to continued success and competitive advantage for our customers and partners, says Lisa Pope, EVP, Sales, Americas, Epicor Software. The Epicor Channel Partner Network is a comprehensive sales, marketing, and support program that offers Epicor Channel Partners significant opportunities to grow their businesses with award winning products, training, and support in a highly competitive, dynamic marketplace. It was selected by CRN for providing more than 40 years of quality service to its customers' unique business processes and operational requirements. The 5-Star Partner Program Guide rating recognizes an elite subset of companies that offer solution providers the best partnering elements in their channel programs. To determine the 2017 5-Star ratings, The Channel Company's research team assessed each vendor's partner program based on investments in program offerings, partner profitability, partner training, education and support, marketing programs and resources, sales support and communication. "For solution providers, finding the right technology vendors to partner with is crucial to the health of their business, and the vast array of choices can be overwhelming," said Robert Faletra, CEO, The Channel Company. "Our annual Partner Program Guide and 5-Star ratings help them narrow the field, identifying the most rewarding partner programs and outlining their strengths and benefits." "We are honored to be recognized by CRN in the 2017 Partner Program Guide," said Lisa Pope, executive vice president, sales, Americas, Epicor Software. "Epicor works with hundreds of highly qualified partners to deliver unequaled value to customers around the world. Our customer-first philosophy guides all that we doincluding our relationships with partnersand leads to continued success and competitive advantage for our customers and partners." The 2017 Partner Program Guide will be featured in the April issue of CRN and online at www.CRN.com/ppg. About The Channel Company The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequaled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelco.com About Epicor Software Corporation Epicor Software Corporation drives business growth. We provide flexible, industry-specific software designed around the needs of our manufacturing, distribution, retail, and service industry customers. More than 40 years of experience with our customers' unique business processes and operational requirements are built into every solutionin the cloud or on premises. With this deep understanding of your industry, Epicor solutions manage complexity, increase efficiency, and free up resources so you can focus on growth. For more information, connect with Epicor or visit www.epicor.com. Epicor and the Epicor logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Epicor Software Corporation, registered in the United States and other countries. Other trademarks referenced are the property of their respective owners. The product and service offerings depicted in this document are produced by Epicor Software Corporation. Contact: Lindsay Ortega Senior Specialist, Public Relations Epicor Software Corporation +1 952 417 5022 [email protected] Melanie Turpin The Channel Company (508) 416-1195 [email protected] SOURCE Epicor Software Corporation Related Links http://www.epicor.com LONDON, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Oracle today recognised Evosys, the one-stop partner for Oracle Cloud solutions, with its 2017 UK & Ireland Partner of the Year Awards in ERP Cloud. Evosys is a platinum-level member of Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN). Oracle Partner of the Year Awards - UK & Ireland 2017 Partner Announcement Evosys was presented the 2017 UK & Ireland Partner of the Year Award in ERP Cloud for demonstrating excellence in ERP Cloud solutions. Evosys, an Oracle Platinum partner with 10 years experience focuses exclusively on Oracle implementation and consultancy services to cater to the needs of a market which demands high quality and future-proof solutions. UK & Ireland Partner of the Year Awards encourage innovation by OPN members, who use Oracle's products and technology to create value for customers. The award reflects Evosys' success in adopting OPN's specialised approach, which is aimed at enabling partners to establish industry recognition by following a formal process to become specialized in key Oracle solution areas. "Oracle Cloud Applications, including Enterprise Resource Planning and Performance Management, are facilitating the achievement of unprecedented levels of ROI across both the public and private sectors. These are incredibly exciting times and as a dedicated Oracle Platinum Partner, committed to ensuring that our customers make the very best use of this technology, we are delighted to be the recipient of this most prestigious award. Our sincere thanks go to our customers and Oracle alike"- Gary Barnes, Evosys Global Senior Vice President. "Evosys has demonstrated an outstanding level of innovation in delivering proven, Oracle-based solutions that solve our joint customers' most critical business challenges," said Simon Hill, Head of UKI Alliances & Channels."We congratulate Evosys in achieving the 2017 UK & Ireland Partner of the Year Awards in ERP Cloud. This achievement is a testament to its dedication to excellence and to providing customers solutions and services that drive real business value and results." Evosys being an Oracle Platinum Partner, are one of the partners who deliver every Oracle application and have an experience of doing so with over 150 Cloud references. We have offices all over the world enabling global rollouts of the Oracle products. About Evosys Evosys, an Oracle Platinum partner with 10 years' experience focuses exclusively on Oracle Cloud implementation and consultancy to cater to the needs of a market which demands high quality and future proof solutions. Evosys is one of the fastest-growing Oracle Cloud partners, with customers who have adopted all Oracle SaaS solutions including ERP, HCM, SCM, CRM, Hyperion (PBCS) BI and PaaS. We are a process-centric organisation that believes in specialised solutions and have demonstrated an exceptional record in implementation for different verticals such as Healthcare, Finance, Logistics, Manufacturing & Distribution across both public and private sectors. Evosys is experiencing tremendous growth and is expanding its global operations. It is already present in 18 countries including Europe, North America, Middle East Australia and Asia. To accommodate such fast paced growth, Evosys has also expanded its capacity to execute over 280 projects simultaneously with a dedicated Oracle Centre of Excellence, which is host to over 850 experienced Oracle consultants. To find out more visit: http://www.evosysglobal.com About Oracle PartnerNetwork Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) Specialized is the latest version of Oracle's partner program that provides partners with tools to better develop, sell and implement Oracle solutions. OPN Specialized offers resources to train and support specialized knowledge of Oracle products and solutions and has evolved to recognize Oracle's growing product portfolio, partner base and business opportunity. Key to the latest enhancements to OPN is the ability for partners to differentiate through Specializations. Specializations are achieved through competency development, business results, expertise and proven success. To find out more visit: http://www.oracle.com/partners. Trademarks Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Related Links http://www.evosysglobal.com/oracle-cloud-partner-global http://www.evosysglobal.com/ This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com SOURCE Evosys HOKKAIDO, Japan, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Farmnote Holdings, Inc. (hereinafter, "Farmnote"), an IoT solution provider for dairy and livestock farming, has procured a total of 500 million yen in funding from four companies Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations (hereinafter, "ZEN-NOH"), the Norinchukin Bank and Sumitomo Corporation in order to strengthen its business, bringing the overall total of funding procured to 1.1 billion yen. Farmnote has endeavored to expand sales and to enhance the functions of its pre-existing "Farmnote" cloud-based cattle management system, and develop and market its "Farmnote Color"; wearable device which collects real-time data of cattle activities. Sales have grown by nearly 30 times over the past three years, with the number of users rising to 1,600 farms for a contracted number of 160,000 heads of cattle. Farmnote will be using this latest procurement of funds to pursue greater investment in R&D and to enhance its business infrastructure. This should help improving the productivity and competitiveness of domestic agriculture, inclusive of dairy and livestock farming. Purposes of fund procurement 1. Global deployment of ICT for livestock and agricultural IT platforms through collaboration with Sumitomo Corporation Sumitomo Corporation will take on the responsibility of extending "Farmnote" and "Farmnote Color" overseas. Farmnote will utilize Sumitomo Corporation's extensive overseas network to deploy Japan's highly competitive dairy and livestock cattle management systems to the rest of the world and thereby contribute to the global livestock industry. Farmnote will also look beyond dairy and livestock farming in working with Sumitomo Corporation to develop a platform for tillage that can extend agricultural ICT fostered in Japan globally. 2. Nationwide deployment of ICT for livestock through collaboration with ZEN-NOH and NTT DOCOMO ZEN-NOH and Farmnote have concluded a capital/business tie-up for joint development and dissemination of system platforms and sensor devices to improve the incomes of farm producers through the use of ICT. A business partnership was also concluded recently with NTT DOCOMO, which will assist the efforts of ZEN-NOH and Farmnote by promoting sales. 3. Further R&D on AI and IoT applications in agriculture Farmnote will be further promoting Farmnote Lab, its existing organization for researching AI and IoT applications in agriculture, extending "Farmnote Connect" (an integrated API for agricultural data) already in use at Farmnote to the wider agricultural sector beyond cattle, and constructing an integrated platform to optimize agriculture. SOURCE Sumitomo Corporation; Farmnote BOCA RATON, Fla., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Florida Atlantic University College of Business has launched a new Center for Forensic Accounting, which will develop and disseminate knowledge on this growing area of study to students, government and the business community. The Center is one of the first in the country and the only one in Florida to focus on forensic accounting, a field that generally employs a mix of accounting, auditing and investigation to scrutinize financial information and other forms of evidence to provide analysis to courts of law, corporations and others. Michael Crain, D.B.A., is the Center's director and an FAU faculty member since 2008. He has more than 30 years of experience as a practicing certified public accountant specializing in forensic accounting, economic damages and business valuation. "In addition to education and outreach, one of the missions of the Center is to develop knowledge in forensic accounting and fraud detection and prevention," said Crain. "We're engaging with people who are directly responsible for regulating, detecting and reducing financial fraud and misrepresentation." The Center recently held a joint two-day conference with the U.S. Treasury Department on the "Forensic Accounting and the Bank Secrecy Act," which attracted participants from the banking industry, forensic accounting, certified fraud examiners and law enforcement from the federal, state and local levels. FAU has the oldest forensic accounting concentration within a Master of Accounting degree program in the United States. The College of Business currently offers a Masters of Accounting with three different concentrations related to forensic accounting, including in digital accounting forensics and data analytics first offered in fall 2016, and a concentration in business valuation that was added several years earlier. FAU's School of Accounting Executive Programs offers these concentrations as two-year traditional in-person and online degree programs. "Our School of Accounting is one of the largest in Florida and we support the development in this vital area of accounting that can help so many people," said George Young, Ph.D., director of FAU's School of Accounting. The median compensation for forensic accountants with certification in the United States is $105,000, according to a 2015-16 global salary study by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. Forensic accounting and related fields in fraud and litigation support have been among the top niches in accounting firms in recent years, Crain said. SOURCE Florida Atlantic University College of Business Related Links http://fau.edu PHILADELPHIA, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Flackable, a national public relations and digital marketing agency, today announced its move to Philadelphia. The agency, originally headquartered in Wyomissing, Pa., will now operate out of Philadelphia's Rittenhouse district. Founded in 2014 by award-winning communications consultant Brian Hart, Flackable serves a national client base of financial and professional services firms. As president of the company, Hart says he will continue growing the agency's national financial public relations practice while developing a specialty practice for professional services firms throughout the Delaware Valley. "Three years ago, I founded Flackable as a modern alternative to the aging agencies that had served the financial services industry," said Hart. "Our tremendous growth over that short time shows just how hungry the market had been for an innovative, results-driven creative partner, and we're thrilled to bring our unique offering to professional services firms throughout the Philadelphia region and beyond." As an integrated PR agency, Flackable's core services include public relations, digital marketing, content development and website design. In 2016, Flackable was recognized by Lehigh Valley Business as one of six Emerging Business of the Year Finalists. Earlier that year, Hart was honored as one of the region's Forty Under 40. "I'm ever grateful for the kindness and support we received from the Lehigh Valley business community. Years from now, Berks County will remain a proud part of Flackable's history," said Hart. "With that said, we didn't move into the vast and competitive Philadelphia PR market for fun or vanity. Make no mistake about it we're here to compete." For media requests, please contact Brian Hart at (215) 429-8569 or [email protected]. Flackable is a national public relations and digital marketing agency serving financial and professional services firms. Headquartered in Philadelphia, the agency has set the standard for modern communications through its integrated approach to public relations, digital marketing, content development and website design. Learn more at www.flackable.com. Brian Hart Flackable 215-429-8569 [email protected] SOURCE Flackable Related Links http://www.flackable.com CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Freebird, a company dedicated to improving traveler experience, today announced additional funding from venture capital investors General Catalyst and Accomplice, as well as travel industry angel investors, to accelerate expansion in the corporate travel market. Freebird is a mobile solution that empowers travelers to skip the line and instantly book a new ticket after a flight disruption for free, on any airline, with only three taps on their mobile phone. Freebird helps business travelers and corporate travel managers save time and money by streamlining the rebooking process and improving traveler experience. Freebird is a mobile solution that empowers travelers to skip the line and instantly book a new ticket after a flight disruption - for free, on any airline, with only three taps on their mobile phone. Freebird empowers travelers Reflecting industry demand for better flight disruption solutions, Freebird also signed new partnerships with six Travel Management Companies (TMCs) Altour, Options Travel, Safe Harbors Business Travel, Short's Travel Management, Travel and Transport, and Upside Travel who join Casto Travel and Flight Centre Travel Group (USA) as official Freebird resellers. Freebird's partner TMCs collectively manage more than $6 billion in annual total travel spend for their respective corporate clients. "Travel and Transport is dedicated to staying ahead of the curve in terms of technology, customer care, and operational efficiency. Our corporate clients want mobile solutions like Freebird to help get them to where they need to be during flight disruptions," said Kevin O'Malley, President and CEO, Travel and Transport, Inc. Founded in 1946, Travel and Transport is one of the largest travel management companies in the U.S. This $5M round of funding is co-led by General Catalyst and Accomplice, venture capital firms with deep expertise in travel, bringing total funding to $8.5M. These two firms also led Freebird's initial $3.5M round in November 2015. Other travel investments at General Catalyst include Airbnb, ITA Software, Kayak, Lola, and Sabre; and at Accomplice include eDreams, Hopper, KDS, RocketMiles, and Secret Escapes. "Freebird is really onto something," said Joel Cutler, Managing Director at venture firm General Catalyst and a frequent investor in the travel space. "Interruptions in air travel are more common than any of us like. Freebird's ability to detect problems and create instant alternatives is gaining great traction with TMCs and their corporate clients. It's easy to see how the service becomes a must-have for anyone looking to take the hassle out of their travels." Freebird also received strategic angel investments from current advisors Scott Hintz, co-founder of TripIt, and Mitch Gross, former CEO of Mondee, former Global President of Travelex Insurance Services, and former President of Galileo Americas; as well as from new advisor Ellen Keszler, former President of Travelocity Business, former President of GetThere, and current board member at PROS, Routehappy, Sojern, and Travel and Transport. Kurt Ekert, CEO of Carlson Wagonlit and former CCO of Travelport, will continue to serve as a Freebird advisor. "As corporate travel programs adopt more traveler-centric mobile tools, Freebird provides an attractive solution to the multi-billion dollar pain point of flight disruptions by integrating directly into TMCs systems, providing turn-key solutions to corporations, and significantly improving the traveler experience during disruptions," said Ellen Keszler, Freebird investor and advisor. "I am excited to bring my corporate travel expertise to Freebird as a formal advisor." "We are thrilled to announce both a new round of funding from existing investors and six partnerships with world-class TMCs to make flight disruptions less painful for everyone in corporate travel," said Ethan Bernstein, Freebird co-founder and CEO. "My co-founder Sam Zimmerman and I are excited to grow our already strong team in Boston and unlock the value of Freebird across the corporate travel market." Freebird for Corporate Travel Freebird integrations require no development work and leverage existing TMC workflows and systems to make it easy for TMCs to offer corporate clients a seamless flight rebooking experience. Freebird enables TMC partners to streamline center operations, increase supply economics, and be more consultative to clients. Freebird protection is applied automatically to specific travelers, travel groups, trip types, or geographies, as selected by the corporate travel manager, and does not rely on employee adoption. Rebooked flights can be made from specific inventory via the TMC, so duty of care is maintained and negotiated rates and supplier credits are applied. About Freebird Freebird is a simple mobile solution that empowers travelers to skip the line and instantly book a new ticket after a flight cancellation, significant delay, or missed connection on any airline, for free, with only three taps on their phone. Flight disruptions increase the cost of air travel by 5-10% for corporations, decrease service quality and agent efficiency for TMCs, and are stressful, unproductive, and frustrating for travelers. Freebird helps corporations, TMCs, and travelers save time and money, while streamlining operations, maintaining duty of care, and improving traveler experience. Visit www.getfreebird.com. Contact: Matt Burke (603) 315-0618 [email protected] Social: LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/10108031 Facebook: www.facebook.com/getfreebird Twitter: www.twitter.com/getfreebird AngelList: www.angel.co/getfreebird SOURCE Freebird Related Links http://www.getfreebird.com PETALUMA, Calif., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- San Francisco Bay Area-based FrontRowTM announces a new Smart Microphone and software for schools using its networked classroom and campus communication products. The second-generation Smart Microphone (ITM-02), available starting April 19, 2017, is more powerful and more intelligent than its precursor and than similar products in the industry: with one touch of a button, it lets teachers send emergency alerts and supports a chain of automated silent, visual, and verbal communications between the teacher and the team responding to the help call. The new school microphone is compatible with all FrontRow wireless infrared systems, but offers its fullest capabilities to customers using the ezRoom product line with the ICR-01 Smart Receiver and FrontRow's paging and bells platform: Conductor. "In a crisis, it's not enough to be aware of a problem; we need to give schools ways to quickly respond to that problem," says FrontRow's Director of Product Management Sean Penn. "What we're launching is really a recipe for successfully overcoming a panic situation." FrontRow's system can be customized to fit individual schools' emergency preparedness plans, for example: A teacher can alert staff to a problem by holding down the easy-to-find button on the mic (FrontRow can also provide fixed-location buttons for the same purpose for example, under a desk, on the wall, or in software). Instantly, an alert would flash on school emergency response team's computers and other visual and auditory alerts strobes and attention tones could activate in the front office as well. Optionally, signal beacons in neighboring teachers' rooms would flash to give a silent "heads-up" that a fellow teacher is asking for help. The response team would talk to or listen in on the room to determine the trouble. If the emergency warranted a full-scale campus alert, the team could trigger any of these from the Conductor console: A lockdown Medical alert Other emergency scenario These can combine a cascading series of automated actions including pre-recorded audio announcements, activation of digital displays to show evacuation routes, locking doors, and more. "We want school leaders to know that technology can support their goals, whether it's in student achievement, daily operations, or safety," says Penn. "We've created a platform that helps them do all three without compromise." With G3 wireless technology, the new mic is immune to the interference, pairing, and privacy issues, easily recovering a voice or an alert signal in scenarios that would defeat other systems. Image Link https://goo.gl/UPnoLb About FrontRow FrontRow's technology helps schools communicate effortlessly with students, groups, and devices. Schools choose FrontRow for its easy-to-use products, better academic outcomes, and a safer, more efficient campus. FrontRow is part of the William Demant Group, which is listed on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange (CSE3247); through 45 Group companies located in over 20 countries, its consolidated sales exceed US$1.4 billion. SOURCE FrontRow Related Links http://www.GoFrontRow.com VANCOUVER, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - GoldMining Inc. (the "Company" or "GoldMining") (TSX-V: GOLD; OTCQX: GLDLF) is pleased to announce new appointments to its Technical Advisory Board (the "Advisory Board" or "Board") to assist GoldMinings management team in the evaluation and advancement of our gold projects in the Americas. Appointments to this board include Dr. Paul Zweng, Dr. Ross Sherlock, PGeo and Mr. Curtis Clarke, Mining Engineer, all of whom have extensive experience in gold exploration, development and production throughout the world. Management welcomes Paul, Ross and Curtis to GoldMinings Advisory Board. Duties of the Board will include providing insight and guidance to management and existing board members on advancing GoldMinings portfolio of resource stage gold and gold-copper projects based on their industry and academic experience. In addition, they will help identify and evaluate potential new acquisition in regions or deposit types where they have extensive experience. Garnet Dawson, CEO of GoldMining, commented: "We are fortunate to have Paul, Ross and Curtis agree to join our Advisory Board. Collectively, they bring decades of exploration and development experience that will extend managements reach significantly in advancing our portfolio of gold-copper porphyry and mesothermal gold projects, and in identifying additional opportunities for potential acquisition in the Americas." Paul Zweng, PhD Dr. Zweng has blended a technical and financial background in exploration and mining over the past 30 years. Dr. Zweng is CEO of Bellhaven Copper & Gold and co-founder of Sand & Gold, LLC, the general partner to The Toquepala Fund, LP, a private investment partnership designed to invest in early-stage exploration companies. Prior to this, he co-founded Antares Minerals and was CEO of QGX Ltd. before they were acquired by First Quantum and Kerry Group for $650 million and $265 million, respectively. Paul was a Research Analyst and Partner at Palo Alto Investors, a hedge fund based in California from 1999 to 2002. Dr. Zweng led BHP Coppers new business development efforts in the Copper Belt of Africa and was Manager of Exploration & Geology for the Tintaya mine in Peru from 1995 to 1999. He received a PhD from Stanford University, United States, MSc degree from Queens University, Canada and two BSc degrees with distinction in Geology and Applied Earth Sciences from Stanford University. Paul has founded and led exploration companies that have discovered several significant mineral deposits including Haquira, Coroccohuayco and Antapaccay copper deposits in Peru, Baruun Naran metallurgical-thermal coal deposit and Golden Hills copper deposit in Mongolia and La Garrucha gold-copper deposit in Colombia; the Golden Hills deposit is currently in production. Ross Sherlock, PhD, PGeo Dr. Sherlock is a professional geologist with over 28 years of experience in the mining industry and academic research. He has held senior positions with major mining companies including Vice President, Geoscience at Kinross Gold Corp., Exploration Manager, North America at Gold Fields and Project Manager, Senior Research Geologist at Miramar Mining Corporation/Newmont Mining Corporation. Prior to this, he was a Research Geoscientist at the Geological Survey of Canada and Senior Geologist at SRK Consulting Engineers. Dr. Sherlock completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the University of British Columbias Mineral Deposits Research Unit, PhD at the University of Waterloo, MSc at Lakehead University, and BSc (Honours) at McMaster University, Canada. He is a member of the Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of BC and Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario (APGO). He was awarded the William Gross award in 2003, which is bestowed annually by the Mineral Deposits Division of the Geological Association of Canada, to a geoscientist less than 40 years of age, who has made a significant contribution to the field of economic geology within Canada. Ross has extensive world-wide experience in several gold deposit types including orogenic gold, epithermal gold and gold-copper porphyry deposits. He led teams that are responsible for a number of new discoveries and significant reserve and resource addition while working with Kinross Gold Corp., Gold Fields and Miramar Mining Corporation. Curtis Clarke, BSc, MMSA Mr. Clarke in a mining engineer with over 30 years experience in the mining industry. He started his career as an underground miner, which was followed by mining equipment sales and managing international engineering companies. His areas of expertise include business strategies and management, feasibility studies, underground mining methods and equipment, public reporting and mining valuations. Curtis completed a Certificate in International Trade at York University, Canada, BSc (Mining Engineering) at Michigan Technological University, USA, and Mine Engineering Technologist Diploma at the Haileybury School of Mines, Canada. He is a qualified professional licensed with the Mining & Metallurgical Society of America. Mr. Clarke has extensive international experience managing technical studies from resource estimation through to feasibility studies for both open pit and underground mines for a range of commodities. He has advised investors, financiers and project developers throughout the various stages of project development. About GoldMining Inc. GoldMining Inc. is a public mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition and development of gold projects in Brazil, Colombia and other regions of the Americas. GoldMining Inc. is advancing its Titiribi Gold-Copper Project located in the Department of Antioquia, Colombia, its Cachoeira and Sao Jorge Gold Projects located in the State of Para, northeastern Brazil, its Whistler Gold-Copper Project located in the State of Alaska, United States of America, and its Rea Uranium Project in the western Athabasca Basin in northeast Alberta, Canada. Forward-looking Statements This news release contains certain forward-looking statements that reflect the current views and/or expectations of the Company with respect to its performance, business and future events, including statements regarding the Company's acquisition strategy. Forward-looking statements are based on the then-current expectations, beliefs, assumptions, estimates and forecasts about the business and the industry and markets in which the Company operates, including that: the current price of and demand for minerals being targeted by the Company will be sustained or will improve; general business and economic conditions will not change in a material adverse manner; financing will be available if and when needed on reasonable terms; and the Company will be able to identify and acquire additional mineral interests on reasonable terms or at all. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions which are difficult to predict. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including: that resource exploration and development is a speculative business; that the Company may lose or abandon its property interests or may fail to receive necessary licenses and permits; that the Company's properties are in the exploration stage and are without known bodies of commercial ore; that the Company may not be able to raise additional funds when necessary; potential defects in title to the Company's properties; fluctuations in currency exchange rates; fluctuating prices of commodities; competition; potential inability to find suitable acquisition opportunities and/or complete additional acquisitions on acceptable terms or at all; and other risks and uncertainties listed in the Company's public filings. These risks, as well as others, could cause actual results and events to vary significantly. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information, which are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information, or the material factors or assumptions used to develop such forward-looking information, will prove to be accurate. The Company does not undertake any obligations to release publicly any revisions for updating any voluntary forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable securities law. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange, the Toronto Stock Exchange nor their Regulation Services Providers (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. SOURCE GoldMining Inc. SALISBURY, Md., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Education resource hub Great Value Colleges (GVC) published its 2017-2018 ranking of the 30 most affordable colleges with the best study abroad programs in America. The ranking was posted on the organization's website in April. The top three schools on this college ranking of study abroad programs are the University of Washington (#1), Georgetown University (#2) and West Virginia University (#3). GVC developed this ranking by starting with a list of 100 accredited colleges and universities collected from various rankings and sources, including U.S. News & World Report's 2015 list of schools with the highest percentage of students studying abroad. The organization then narrowed down the list to the 50 cheapest colleges before ranking the top 30, using a point-based methodology that awarded schools for affordability, study abroad popularity among enrolled students, available college-managed program types, the variety of opportunities offered, the depth and extent of these programs, the abroad trip length, the number of school-funded scholarships for study abroad and additional awards or recognition the school has received for its programs in the past. "When developing this article's methodology, I had to ask, 'What makes one study abroad program better than others?' said Gabrielle Kratsas, GVC editor and the article's author." After talking to a few students and researching what some of the top schools on this list have to offer, I found that the university is the backbone of every program. It doesn't take much to link up with one of the hundreds of external organizations offering study, intern and volunteer abroad opportunities. "But it takes a cohesive unit and motivated individuals to create, direct, maintain and build upon international academic and professional excursions, especially while competing against those third-party institutions who already know how to run the best study abroad programs." The article mentions the disconnect between today's desire for global employees and the unfortunately low 10 percent of students who are actually taking advantage of international experiences before graduating. Fortunately, the numbers have been on the rise, according to the Institute of International Education. The ranked list of colleges and link to the full article is below: http://www.greatvaluecolleges.net/affordable/best-study-abroad-programs/ 1. University of Washington in Seattle, WA 2. Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. 3. West Virginia University in Morgantown, WV 4. University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, AR 5. St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN 6. Middlebury College in Middlebury, VT 7. Trinity College in Hartford, CT 8. Connecticut College in New London, CT 9. University of Delaware in Newark, DE 10. Duke University in Durham, NC 11. Juniata College in Huntingdon, PA 12. College of Charleston in Charleston, SC 13. Emory & Henry College in Emory, VA 14. Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH 15. Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, PA 16. Colorado College in Colorado Springs, CO 17. Millsaps College in Jackson, MS 18. Earlham College in Richmond, IN 19. Texas Woman's University in Denton, TX 20. University of Richmond in Richmond, VA 21. University of Evansville in Evansville, IN 22. Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, IL 23. Lee University in Cleveland, TN 24. Centre College in Danville, KY 25. Guilford College in Greensboro, NC 26. University of Dallas in Irving, TX 27. Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, MI 28. Soka University of America in Aliso Viejo, CA 29. Bates College in Lewiston, ME 30. Goshen College in Goshen, IN About Great Value Colleges GVC is a premier website that assists students in finding the best degree, school, career options and resources for a chosen major and profession. From program rankings to degree offerings by state, GVC helps students get the best possible education for their money. The site addresses relevant topics, answers frequently asked questions and offers tips and information related to the entire process. For more information, contact: Gabrielle Kratsas 410-713-4748 [email protected] SOURCE Great Value Colleges Related Links http://www.greatvaluecolleges.net PETALUMA, Calif., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Heffernan Insurance Brokers, one of the largest full-service, independent insurance brokerage firms in the United States, announced that Allison Redding has joined the company as Assistant Vice President in the benefits department of the Petaluma, Calif. office. Redding comes to Heffernan with extensive sales experience, having previously held positions at Ricoh USA and most recently Paychex. She consistently surpassed sales goals and helped expand territories by providing exceptional service to her clients. She also served as a United Way ambassador for Ricoh to increase donations and create charity awareness, demonstrating a commitment to community that aligns well with Heffernan's own philanthropic efforts. "We are very excited to have Allison join the Heffernan Petaluma team," said Liz Bishop, Managing Senior Vice President at Heffernan. "She is excited to be working closely with human resources directors and specialists to solve health care compliance issues." Redding looks forward to helping grow Heffernan's presence in the employee benefits sector in Northern California while providing innovative solutions to clients as the benefits industry continues to change. Allison Redding Assistant Vice President, Employee Benefits [email protected] direct: 707.789.3048 About Heffernan Insurance Brokers Heffernan Insurance Brokers, formed in 1988, is one of the largest independent insurance brokerage firms in the United States. Heffernan provides insurance and financial services products to a range of businesses and individuals. Headquartered in Walnut Creek, Calif., Heffernan has offices in San Francisco, Petaluma, Menlo Park, Los Angeles and Irvine, CA; Phoenix, AZ; Portland, OR; and St. Louis, MO. Employee-owned, Heffernan Insurance Brokers was named the Top Mid-Sized Broker in the United States to work for in 2009 by Business Insurance Magazine. The firm has been among the Top Greater Bay Area Philanthropists since 2003, donating more than 11 percent of profits to charity in 2016. For more information, visit www.heffins.com. License #0564249 SOURCE Heffernan Insurance Brokers Related Links http://www.heffins.com HOUSTON, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyperdynamics Corporation (OTCQX: HDYN) today announced that Sergey Alexeev has been promoted to Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the Company. In this role, he will oversee all financial, accounting and commercial aspects of Hyperdynamics' activities. Mr. Alexeev joined Hyperdynamics in September 2016 as Vice President-Commercial Development on a consulting basis. "I'm very pleased to name Sergey to an expanded role as CFO," said Ray Leonard, President and Chief Executive Officer. "Since he joined us about seven months ago he has done an outstanding job of identifying and negotiating with prospective partners in our Guinea project and investors in our Company. As we make our final preparations to drill an exploration well this spring offshore the Republic of Guinea, he will play an increasingly important role in the overall financial and business development activities of the Company." Prior to joining Hyperdynamics last year, Mr. Alexeev was Chief Operating Officer for Soyuzneftegaz, a Russian oil and gas company and earlier was Chief Financial Officer and First Vice President for Rosneft, Russia's largest oil and gas producer, in charge of economics, finance and business development. Earlier, he held executive positions with ABN AMRO Bank and Coopers & Lybrand, both in Moscow. He has extensive experience in banking and finance, mergers and acquisitions and international negotiations. Mr. Alexeev holds a Diploma in International Financial Relations from the Moscow Institute of International Relations and a Master's degree in International Economics (MSc.Ec.) from the London School of Economics. About Hyperdynamics Hyperdynamics is an emerging independent oil and gas exploration company that is exploring for oil and gas offshore the Republic of Guinea in West Africa. To find out more, visit our website at www.hyperdynamics.com. Forward-Looking Statements This News Release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27 A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21 E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, expectations, future events or performance and underlying assumptions and other statements which are other than statements of historical facts. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "will," "expect," "plan," "project," "anticipate," "estimate," "believe," or "think." Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. We assume no duty to update or revise our forward-looking statements based on changes in plans or expectations or otherwise. Contacts: Ray Leonard President and Chief Executive Officer 713-353-9445 Anne Pearson / Jack Lascar Dennard-Lascar Associates 713-529-6600 SOURCE Hyperdynamics Related Links http://www.hyperdynamics.com ARMONK, N.Y., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) will host a technical seminar for Women in Cybersecurity in Dallas, TX on April 23, 2017. This event will provide students in post-secondary educational institutions the opportunity to engage with IBM cybersecurity experts and learn more about career paths in this industry. As security has evolved into a core issue for business and society, the demand for skilled professionals in this field continues to grow, with recent studies predicting a shortfall of 1.8 million open and unfilled cybersecurity positions by 2022.[1] Bringing more women into the security industry continues to be a missed opportunity to address the growing skills gap, with women representing only 11% of the current global information security workforce.[2] This full-day seminar will provide opportunities for women to participate in workshops to learn skills needed for security careers, engage in panel discussions, hear from keynote speakers and network with industry professionals. Location: Hilton Dallas Lincoln Centre, 5410 Lyndon B Johnson Fwy, Dallas, TX, 75240 Timing: Sunday, April 23rd, 2017 8:30 a.m. 3:15 p.m. This event is open to a limited number of attendees based on an application process. Seats are nearly full. Those interested in attending should email [email protected] for more details on the requirements and to apply. About IBM Security IBM Security offers one of the most advanced and integrated portfolios of enterprise security products and services. The portfolio, supported by world-renowned IBM X-Force research, enables organizations to effectively manage risk and defend against emerging threats. IBM operates one of the world's broadest security research, development and delivery organizations, monitors 35 billion security events per day in more than 130 countries, and holds more than 3,000 security patents. For more information, please visit www.ibm.com/security, follow @IBMSecurity on Twitter or visit the IBM Security Intelligence blog. Media Contact: Cassy Lalan IBM Security, Media Relations [email protected] 319-230-2232 [1] Source: Global Information Security Workforce Study: Women in Cybersecurity report [2] Source: Global Information Security Workforce Study SOURCE IBM Related Links http://www.ibm.com/security CHICAGO and ATLANTA, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In the midst of ongoing debate around immigration, U.S. employers plan to reach beyond borders to help fill U.S. jobs. According to a new CareerBuilder survey, a third of employers (33 percent) say they plan to hire immigrant workers in 2017, with 16 percent planning to do so in the second quarter. While 35 percent of workers voiced concern about immigrants taking U.S. jobs in general, the vast majority of workers (90 percent) don't have any concerns about immigrant workers taking their own jobs. CareerBuilder's latest study on immigration was conducted online by Harris Poll from February 16 to March 9, 2017 and included representative samples of 2,380 full-time employers and 3,215 full-time workers across industries and company sizes in the private sector. Compensation for Immigrant Workers There has been much discourse around how much immigrants earn compared to other workers, but from the employer's perspective, they don't see much of a difference, if at all. Of employers who hire immigrant workers, the vast majority (80 percent) say that they pay the same to both U.S. born workers and immigrants working in the same roles. Twelve percent of these employers reported that they pay immigrants less while 9 percent reported that they pay immigrants more. Job Functions for Immigrant Workers The types of functional positons non-U.S. born workers are being recruited to fill varies from industry to industry. Among employers who are hiring immigrant workers this year, this includes: Technical (42 percent) Administrative (31 percent) Manual labor (31 percent) Sales (30 percent) Creative (29 percent) Financial (25 percent) Managerial (23 percent) "Immigrant workers continue to play an integral part in the U.S. workforce and economy," said Rosemary Haefner, chief human resources officer for CareerBuilder. "A significant number of U.S. employers are hiring workers from other countries in an effort to navigate around the growing skills gap and fill increasingly complex and rapidly evolving roles." Top Industries Hiring Foreign Born Workers Immigrant workers looking for employment can expect to find opportunities across multiple industries, with IT housing the largest percentage of employers who plan to hire them this year: IT (50 percent) Financial Services (38 percent) Professional & Business Services (37 percent) Manufacturing (30 percent) Transportation 1 (30 percent) (30 percent) Health care (21 percent) Retail (18 percent) Immigrant Hiring by Company Size Plans to hire immigrant workers in 2017 are consistent across companies of all sizes, and especially with larger companies, which tend to have more job openings in general: 1-50 employees: 16 percent 51-250 employees: 35 percent 251-500 employees: 46 percent 501+ employees: 42 percent Survey Methodology This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder among 2,380 hiring and human resource managers (employed full-time, not self-employed, non-government) and 3,215 employees (employed full-time, not self-employed, non-government) between February 16 and March 9, 2017 (percentages for some questions are based on a subset, based on their responses to certain questions). With pure probability samples of 2,380 and 3,215, one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have sampling errors of +/- 2.01 and +/- 1.73 percentage points, respectively. Sampling error for data from sub-samples is higher and varies. About CareerBuilder CareerBuilder is a global, end-to-end human capital solutions company focused on helping employers find, hire and manage great talent. Combining advertising, software and services, CareerBuilder leads the industry in recruiting solutions, employment screening and human capital management. It also operates top job sites around the world. Owned by TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA), Tribune Media (NYSE:TRCO) and McClatchy (NYSE:MNI), CareerBuilder and its subsidiaries operate in the United States, Europe, South America, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit www.careerbuilder.com. Media Contact Michael Erwin 773-527-3637 [email protected] http://www.twitter.com/CareerBuilderPR 1Base size less than 100 SOURCE CareerBuilder Related Links http://www.careerbuilder.com In a world vastly underrepresented by female business leaders, Incorporate Massage is on a mission to fill the ranks of organizations everywhere with valuable female perspectives. And challenging students to submit an essay is another way Wilcox's company is taking on the challenge. In addition to helping women students, Wilcox dedicates her efforts towards helping other female CEOs build and grow their businesses. And she hopes she'll be mentoring these essay winners in the same capacity soon. "Female business students become female leaders," she says. "They're trailblazers, and if we can support them financially today, all of us will benefit in the future." Each selected essay winner will receive a $2,000 scholarship used for tuition and books. The scholarship will be awarded once per year during fall semester. To be eligible, applicants must be female business majors currently enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program at an accredited United States college or university. To enter, students must submit a 2,000-word essay on one of four topics. Applicants can apply for the Winning Woman Scholarship online at https://www.incorporatemassage.com/winning-woman-scholarship. The essay submission deadline is 11:59 pm EDT August 30th. Essays will then be reviewed by the Incorporate Massage Scholarship Committee. Winners will be announced on the company website on September 30th for fall semester. Winners will also be notified via email. About Incorporate Massage Incorporate Massage offers on-site massage therapy to businesses across the U.S. and Canada to lower stress, improve morale, and strengthen corporate culture. As the #1 chair massage choice of businesses, Incorporate Massage knows how important massage therapy is to overall health and wellness. Contact information Name: Amelia Wilcox Email: [email protected] Phone: 800.556.2950x2 SOURCE Incorporate Massage Related Links https://www.incorporatemassage.com SOUTH DEERFIELD, Mass., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Yankee Candle Company, Inc. today announced the launch of its new line of fragrances for summer 2017. The world's largest manufacturer of premium scented candles invites its customers to immerse in the relaxing Tahitian culture with five luscious fragrances. Whether savoring sweet bites of exotic fruits, taking in a pristine sunset, or feeling the cool mist of tropical waters, Yankee Candle's new collection captures the pleasures and sophistication of the jewel of the southern seas. The summer fragrances are available for purchase now at Yankee Candle's more than 500 retail stores, www.yankeecandle.com, and select specialty retailers, department stores and gift shops while supplies last. "With the warm summer months just around the corner, our customers are eager to celebrate and relax with family and friends," said Nancy Sacco, director of brand marketing at the Yankee Candle Company, Inc. "The bright colors and enchanting scents of the new line will bring a luxurious island feel to every party and get together this season." SUMMER 2017 NEW FRAGRANCES Five new fragrances embrace the beauty of Tahitian culture, bringing bold colors and exotic scents to summer decor. Price: $27.99 MSRP Large Tumbler Candle or Jar Candle; $24.99 MSRP Medium Jar Candle; $15.99 MSRP Regular Tumbler Candle; $10.99 MSRP Small Jar Candle; $4.99 MSRP Scenterpiece Easy MeltCup; $1.99 MSRP Tarts Wax Melt or Samplers Votive Candle Coconut Beach A taste of the tropicswarm coconut blended with pineapple and Tahitian vanilla. Guava Coconut Fusion A bright tropical concoction that blends tangy and sweet into something very refreshing. Island Waterfall A cooling mist of tropical waters, tinged with freesia and waterlily. Black Sand Beach As striking as a stretch of black volcanic sandblack orchid, jasmine and patchouli create a strong, clean scent. Tahitian Nights Just like a stroll along the sand at the romantic dusk of Tahititouched with sea salt, driftwood and a gentle breeze of lavender. To learn more about Yankee Candle and its new spring fragrances, visit www.yankeecandle.com, the brand's Instagram (@TheYankeeCandle) and Pinterest (TheYankeeCandle) pages, or join the conversation on Facebook at facebook.com/TheYankeeCandleCompany or on Twitter (@theyankeecandle). About The Yankee Candle Company The Yankee Candle Company, Inc. is a leading designer, manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer of premium scented candles. Yankee Candle has over a 40-year history of offering distinctive products and marketing them as affordable luxuries and consumable gifts. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Newell Brands and sells its products through a North American wholesale customer network of approximately 35,000 store locations, a growing base of more than 500 Company owned and operated retail stores, direct mail catalogs, and its Internet website www.yankeecandle.com. Outside of North America, the Company sells its products primarily through its subsidiary, Yankee Candle Company (Europe), Ltd., which has an international wholesale customer network. About Newell Brands Newell Brands (NYSE: NWL) is a leading global consumer goods company with a strong portfolio of well-known brands, including Paper Mate, Sharpie, Dymo, EXPO, Parker, Elmer's, Coleman, Jostens, Marmot, Rawlings, Oster, Sunbeam, FoodSaver, Mr. Coffee, Rubbermaid Commercial Products, Graco, Baby Jogger, NUK, Calphalon, Rubbermaid, Contigo, First Alert, Waddington and Yankee Candle. For hundreds of millions of consumers, Newell Brands makes life better every day, where they live, learn, work and play. This press release and additional information about Newell Brands are available on the company's website, www.newellbrands.com. SOURCE Yankee Candle Related Links http://www.yankeecandle.com SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. and LONG BEACH, Calif., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- A new INFINITI Technician Training Academy (ITTA) celebrated its grand opening today at Universal Technical Institute's (UTI) campus in Long Beach, Calif. This advanced training program is the first of its kind for INFINITI and is exclusive to UTI. Graduates of UTI's core automotive technology program can apply for the 18-week ITTA program. If they are selected and commit to working with an INFINITI USA retailer once they graduate, INFINITI will pay their tuition for the ITTA program in full. Graduates will hold numerous INFINITIspecific credentials and have 95 percent of the requirements needed to be an INFINITI KEI Master Technician. "We worked with UTI to create a comprehensive training program that will prepare graduates for a promising career as a master technician with our national network of retailers," said Andrew Speaker, director aftersales at INFINITI USA. "UTI graduates have a strong reputation for being well-trained, careerready workers. This partnership ensures that our retailers will have access to the top talent entering the automotive industry." The U.S. Department of Labor reports there will be more than 1.2 million jobs in the diesel, automotive, motorcycle and marine industries in the United States by the year 2024. To reach that total, the transportation industry will have to fill more than 37,000 technician job openings on average every year.1 INFINITI estimates that it will need to fill nearly 400 service technician positions this year alone. "With demand for skilled transportation service technicians still on the rise, forward-thinking manufacturers like INFINITI are partnering with us to help build their technician workforce," said Walt Langley, vice president industry alliances at Universal Technical Institute. "UTI's close ties with our industry manufacturer partners and the advanced training that we provide make graduates more attractive to employers and can accelerate their career advancement. ITTA graduates who go to work for an authorized INFINITI retailer can achieve a master-level certification within a year, and significantly increase their earning potential in a field that already pays well and offers real career opportunities." ITTA gives students the latest technology in web-based learning as well as high-tech, handson instruction in INFINITI vehicle diagnostics, maintenance and repairs, customer service and dealership operations. The inaugural ITTA class began on March 27 with 10 students. At full capacity, the ITTA program will graduate 96 INFINITI technicians annually and become a valuable recruitment resource for INFINITI retailers across the country. ITTA is one of more than a dozen manufacturer-specific programs UTI offers in partnership with the leading automotive and diesel brands in the country. On average, graduates of these programs are hired more quickly, earn higher starting salaries and are employed at a higher rate.2 About Universal Technical Institute, Inc.: Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, Universal Technical Institute, Inc. (NYSE: UTI) is the leading provider of post-secondary education for students seeking careers as professional automotive, diesel, collision repair, motorcycle and marine technicians. With more than 200,000 graduates in its 52-year history, UTI offers undergraduate degree and diploma programs at 12 campuses across the United States, as well as manufacturer-specific training programs at dedicated training centers. Through its campus-based school system, UTI provides specialized post-secondary education programs under the banner of several well-known brands, including Universal Technical Institute (UTI), Motorcycle Mechanics Institute and Marine Mechanics Institute (MMI) and NASCAR Technical Institute (NASCAR Tech). For more information visit www.uti.edu. For more information, visit www.uti.edu. Like UTI on www.facebook.com/UTI or follow UTI on Twitter @UTITweet, @MMITweet and @NASCARTechUTI. For information about our graduation rates, the median debt of students who completed the program and other important information, visit our website at www.uti.edu/disclosure. About INFINITI INFINITI Motor Company Ltd. is headquartered in Hong Kong with sales operations in over 50 countries. The INFINITI brand was launched in 1989. Its range of premium automobiles is currently built in manufacturing facilities in Japan, the United States, United Kingdom and China. INFINITI plans to also expand manufacturing into Mexico by 2017. INFINITI design studios are located in Atsugi-Shi near Yokohama, London, San Diego and Beijing. INFINITI is in the middle of a major product offensive. The brand has been widely acclaimed for its daring design and innovative driver-assistance technologies. From the 2016 season, INFINITI is a technical partner of the Renault Sport Formula 1 team, contributing its expertise in hybrid performance. More information about INFINITI and its industry leading technologies can be found at http://www.INFINITI.com/. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and see all our latest videos on YouTube. 1 Based on data compiled from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2014-2024), www.bls.gov, viewed December 8, 2015. 2 Based on comparison with graduates from core programs between October 1, 2007, and September 30, 2012. Contact: Kelly Koehler Westbound Communications 951.462.1106 [email protected] Alexandra Amelang INFINITI USA 615.725.1455 [email protected] SOURCE Universal Technical Institute, Inc. Related Links http://www.uti.edu LONDON, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Last year, the insulin-delivery services market reached $10.4 billion, according to a report from Axis Research Mind. The report highlights that Pumps and syringes are the most common delivery method US. Food and Drug Administration and Health Canada approve new insulin pump Pumps and Syringes dominate the market The most common insulin delivery devices are pumps and syringes, dominating half the market, a position that is expected to continue. A recent survey conducted by TD1 Exchanged and published by Diabetes Care, found that 66% of type 1 diabetes patients wear insulin pumps. New Insulin Pump Enters U.S. and Canadian Market Growth in the insulin delivery service market is fueled by new products becoming available to diabetes patients.In North America, a new insulin pump recently received U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Health Canada approval. The product, called OneTouch Vibe Plus Insulin Pump and Continuous Glucose Monitoring System, was approved for patients at least two years old. The device allows users to access their glucose numbers through the pump and to transmit them to a mobile app where they can be accessed by up to five caregivers. The numbers also are used to deliver the specific amount of insulin the patient needs. OneTouch diabetes products are used by 15 million patients globally and it's the top brand in the U.S. Asia-Pacific is the fastest growing region Between 2014 and 2021, Asia-Pacific is forecasted to be the largest region in the invasive devices segment, growing at a CAGR of 9.2%. The region is followed by the Middle East and Africa, both growing at a CAGR of 8.6%. To see the report summary on ReportBuyer's blog click here. Intissar Guettou [email protected] T: +1 347 903 1913 About ReportBuyer Today: ReportBuyer Today highlights the main findings of top quality reports written by leading publishers.These reports focus on several industries including Agribusiness, Life Science, Consumer Goods & Services, IT & Media and Heavy Industries. For more information, please visit https://www.reportbuyer.com/today/ SOURCE ReportBuyer Related Links http://www.reportbuyer.com The PFF Summit invites medical professionals, researchers, industry representatives, patients, caregivers, transplant recipients and those who have lost a loved one to join informative and collaborative sessions highlighting the most current developments in the research and treatment of PF. The conference will take place from November 9-11 at the Omni Nashville Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. The PFF Summit 2017 is sponsored in part by Boehringer Ingelheim and Genentech, a Roche company. "This year's conference offers our community an extraordinary opportunity to engage directly with leading researchers and physicians," said Gregory P. Cosgrove, M.D., Chief Medical Officer at the PFF. "Our goal is to foster a collaborative environment to improve education and awareness of pulmonary fibrosis and to identify new approaches to treat, and ultimately cure, this disease." For the first time, the Summit will feature dedicated sessions for newly diagnosed patients and family members, those who have been living with PF and those who have lost a loved one to the disease and lung transplant recipients. Sessions will address the genetics of pulmonary fibrosis, stem cell and cell-based therapy, symptom management, tips on living with oxygen therapy, understanding the processes for research and clinical trials, and more. A peer-supported roundtable discussion will cover financial topics such as Medicare/Medicaid, estate planning and insurance issues, preparing for an effective doctor visit and dealing with caregiver burnout. The full program is available at pffsummit.org/program.html. The PFF Summit 2017 presents a three-day Continuing Medical Education (CME) and Continuing Education (CE) program for physicians, researchers, registered nurses, respiratory therapists, pharmacists and allied health professionals. Concentrating on the science and disease mechanisms of PF, these sessions will examine genetics, environmental influences, and advances in diagnosis and therapeutics. Plenary sessions for all attendees will include presentations on the promise of genetics and personalized medicine in PF and maximizing the impact of available therapies in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Academic and industry researchers are invited to submit abstracts of their scientific research which will be presented during the welcome reception on Thursday, November 9. The call for abstracts opens June 15 with a deadline of August 1. All abstracts must be submitted through the online application system, proposalCENTRAL, which is available at https://proposalcentral.altum.com/. To register for the PFF Summit 2017, visit pffsummit.org. For sponsorship opportunities, contact Heather Kundert, 312.224.9832, [email protected]. About the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation The Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation mobilizes people and resources to provide access to high quality care and leads research for a cure so people with pulmonary fibrosis will live longer, healthier lives. The PFF collaborates with physicians, organizations, patients, and caregivers worldwide. The Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation has a four-star rating from Charity Navigator and is a Better Business Bureau accredited charity. The PFF Summit 2017, its fourth biennial international health care conference will be held from November 9-11, 2017 in Nashville, Tennessee. For more information, visit pulmonaryfibrosis.org or call 844.TalkPFF (844.825.5733) or 312.587.9272 from outside of the US. CONTACT: Dorothy Coyle 773-332-6201 SOURCE The Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation Related Links http://www.pulmonaryfibrosis.org STATESBORO, Ga., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The farmland, packing and storage facilities and other assets formerly used by Gerrald's Vidalia Sweet Onions will be sold at a bank-ordered auction May 25 and May 26, with Weeks Auction Group marketing the assets and conducting the auction. The auction will include 323 acres of cropland, approximately 150 acres of which is irrigated. The land is suitable for onions, carrots, watermelons, cotton, peanuts and other crops. Approximately 27 acres are used for a pecan orchard. The land also includes ponds, established hayfields and pasture. "This is a rare opportunity to own a state-of-the-art, fully integrated Vidalia operation, with irrigated cropland and packing facilities such as an 85,000-square-foot packing facility with 40,000 square feet of cooler area, 100,000-pound underground truck scales, grain storage for 47,000 bushels, ponds, irrigation wells, and equipment," said Mark Manley, president of Weeks Auction Group. "The auction is the result of an lengthy bankruptcy proceeding and subsequent foreclosure which occurred in December," he said. The land is in Bulloch County, which is included in the tightly defined area where growers are allowed to grow Vidalia sweet onions and market them under the Vidalia onion brand. "Vidalia sweet onions used to be mainly a southern phenomenon, but today they are in demand by discerning chefs nationwide," said Manley. Also selling will be late model John Deere equipment and row crop implements, packing equipment and more than 3,500 produce field bins. Online bidding on the real estate and equipment will begin on May 11, with the real estate bidding closing May 25 and the equipment bidding closing May 26. Any announcement made on the date of the sale will supersede any previously announced terms and conditions. Weeks Auction Group representatives will be onsite at the packing facility, 5591 Clito Road, Statesboro, Georgia the week prior to the auction. Individuals seeking additional information may visit WeeksAuctionGroup.com or call 229-890-2437. Weeks Auction Group, based in Moultrie, Georgia, has specialized in the sale of agricultural assets since 1948. For more information: Carl Carter, 205-823-3273 SOURCE Weeks Auction Group NEW YORK, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- iStar (NYSE: STAR) announced today that it will release its financial results for the first quarter 2017 on Thursday, May 4, 2017, prior to the opening of the market. The Company will host an earnings conference call reviewing these results and its operations beginning at 10:00 a.m. ET. This conference call will be broadcast live over the internet and can be accessed by all interested parties through iStar's website, www.istar.com, in the "Investors" section. To listen to the live call, please go to the website at least 15 minutes prior to the start of the call to register and download any necessary audio software. For those who are not able to listen to the live broadcast, a replay will be available shortly after the call on the website. * * * iStar (NYSE: STAR) finances, invests in and develops real estate and real estate related projects as part of its fully-integrated investment platform. Building on over two decades of experience and more than $35 billion of transactions, iStar brings uncommon capabilities and new ways of thinking to commercial real estate and adapts its investment strategy to changing market conditions. The Company is structured as a real estate investment trust ("REIT"), with a diversified portfolio focused on larger assets located in major metropolitan markets. Additional information on iStar is available on its website at www.istar.com. SOURCE iStar Related Links http://www.istarfinancial.com SALT LAKE CITY, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Ivanti, a leader in integrating and automating critical IT tasks, today announced that it has successfully completed the Service Organization Control (SOC) 2 Type II audit for its world-class ITSM cloud offering. Conducted by Armanino, one of the top ten fastest-growing large accounting firms in the nation, this comprehensive audit and certification verifies Ivanti's strong security protocol and validates the company as a leading cloud provider. SOC 2 keeps a company's information security measures in line with today's specific cloud requirements. As companies increasingly use the cloud to store sensitive data, SOC 2 compliance is vital to organizations in a wide array of industries. Ivanti is well-positioned in on-premise, cloud and hybrid ITSM delivery, and is continuing to produce forward-thinking, innovative cloud offerings. The SOC 2 Type II certification exhibits Ivanti's ability to constantly mature its cloud delivery, a feat not all vendors have been able to demonstrate. The audit also certifies that Ivanti's cloud security practices, policies and procedures meet SOC 2's high standards for security, availability and confidentiality. As a one-stop-shop for companies in any industry seeking robust cloud capabilities, Ivanti achieved this certification using entirely its own cloud technologies. "Primary barriers for companies to adopt the cloud are concerns surrounding security and data privacy," said Tom Davis, CTO of Ivanti. "SOC 2 Type II certification helps assure our customers that, with Ivanti, their data is secured and with an established vendor who has implemented data privacy and security controls. Receiving this confirmation from an independent source further solidifies us as the leader in ITSM cloud delivery." SOC 2 certification is part of Ivanti's multipronged cloud security plan. As a true SaaS company, Ivanti employs a cloud-first strategy, optimizing all web design, leveraging secure data centers that are scalable and guaranteeing all its cloud offerings have high availability, full redundancy and are completely secured. This better cloud design provides companies with the ability to use Ivanti's ITSM cloud solutions as part of their core business operations and strategy, with the added assurance that the cloud service is safe. "We count on Ivanti to deliver secure and reliable ITSM services and ensure their integrity. By achieving the SOC2 compliance the team demonstrates its commitment to ensuring the security of our data," said Wendell Bobst, assistant vice president of information technology customer services at Adventist Health. Specifically geared toward SaaS and other technology companies with a focus on security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality and privacy, the SOC 2 standard best meets the demands of the information security and SaaS marketplace. This extensive reporting standard provides independent validation that Ivanti's internal control environment operates in accordance with the selected American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) trust services principles and criteria. The SOC 2 certification comes at the same time that TRUSTe has certified HEAT Software USA Inc. privacy practices and statement for EU-US Privacy Shield. The EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Frameworks were designed by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the European Commission to offer companies a way in which to comply with data protection requirements when transferring personal data from the European Union to the United States in support of transatlantic commerce. HEAT Software USA Inc., a company that recently merged with LANDESK into Ivanti, is an active participant in the Privacy Shield list. This certification further positions Ivanti as a global player in all things security. For more information on Ivanti's cloud capabilities, please visit http://www.ivanti.com/en-US/. About Ivanti Ivanti is IT evolved. By integrating and automating critical IT tasks, Ivanti is helping IT organizations secure the digital workplace. For more than three decades, Ivanti has helped IT professionals address security threats, manage devices and optimize their user experience. From traditional PCs, to mobile devices, virtual machines and the data center, Ivanti helps discover and manage your IT assets wherever they are located, improving IT service delivery and reducing risk. Ivanti also ensures that supply chain and warehouse teams are effectively leveraging the most up-to-date technology to improve productivity throughout their operation. Ivanti is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, and has offices all over the world. For more information, visit www.ivanti.com. Press Contacts Leslie Bonsteel Ivanti Director of Public Relations +1 (801) 208-1773 [email protected] Amberly Asay Method Communications +1 801-461-9776 [email protected] Copyright 2017, Ivanti. All rights reserved. SOURCE Ivanti Related Links http://www.ivanti.com TOKYO, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Japan's struggle continues to overcome linguistic and cultural barriers for the increasing number of tourists. Unsurprisingly, one of the top complaints from the tourists is the communication difficulty with the locals, especially outside the major cities. To respond to such challenges, Tokyo-based Bespoke, Inc. is launching Japan's first artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot concierge BEBOT in two historical hotels of the Aomori prefecture: Tsuta Onsen and Hotel Jogakura. The innovative chatbot works through a combination of human chat services and AI that presents information for all of Japan from its many exclusive databases. This way, tourists needing help or inspiration are never left completely to their own devices. Inspiration for such services came while traveling to Bespoke, Inc.'s founder and CEO Akemi Tsunagawa. Her travel experiences differed dramatically whether she had a local friend or not. "BEBOT can act like your friend in Japan," she says. Perhaps as close to a virtual friend as you can get. When the AI cannot answer, an English-speaking human is available to answer the question in real time. From the hotel side, however, BEBOT is a never resting multilingual employee. On top of the local recommendations, BEBOT is uniquely tailored to each of the exclusive hotels to answer frequently asked questions (FAQ) e.g. check out time or make simple requests to the front desk. All one needs to do is check in at one of the select hotels, and receive the token to activate the personalized concierge. BEBOT is on the leading edge among the increasingly popular hotel chatbots. It is neither a human-only or purely text-messaging app, and does not require constant human support. Benefits are felt for both users - access via existing Facebook accounts, option to leave quick reviews - and hotels alike - quickly customizable for each establishment within an hour, sourcing Bespoke databases, and collecting valuable user data for cross-sales opportunities. Any size of hotel is eligible. After inaugural launch in Aomori, BEBOT is scheduled for release in major hotel chains from the US and Singapore. The new BEBOT concierge offers a more care-free experience exploring local areas to travelers. With BEBOT, Bespoke, Inc. aims to enable authentic local experiences by bringing people the top recommendations as rated by locals, or hidden-gems only those living nearby would know. With options such as getting directions, checking restaurant reviews and immediately booking restaurants without ever leaving the chat screen, BEBOT takes the planning and communication hassle away. This way both travelers and hotels can spend more time on what truly matters enjoying the amazing local experiences and providing services that only humans can. Tokyo-based Bespoke Inc. provides data and AI-driven services for travel. Having raised seed capital from Archetype Ventures in September 2016, Bespoke Inc. has also been selected by IBM as one of five companies inducted into the third phase of the IBM BlueHub Incubation program that aims to support Japan's long-term growth and competitiveness. Current products include BEBOT, the AI chat concierge and LEVART travel site with users from over 100 countries. To learn more about the chat concierge, contact Maya Takahashi at [email protected], or visit the website. Related Files Bebot Services.png How to Access.png Related Images image1.jpg image2.png image3.png image4.png Related Links Bespoke, Inc. Bebot - AI Chatbot Related Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-TYkJmB-1w This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com SOURCE Bespoke Inc. Related Links http://www.be-spoke.io WASHINGTON, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- On April 7, 2017, the American-Lithuania Business Council announced the appointment of Jeff Nelson, Vice President at Strategic Staffing Solutions, as chair of the board of directors. The American-Lithuanian Business Council is a Washington, DC based non-profit organization that promotes commercial relations between the United States and Lithuania. The mission of the Council is to enhance American-Lithuanian trade and investment, advance the American-Lithuanian bilateral relationship, and educate the public about its importance. As the leading business association in the United States focused on Lithuania, the Council ensures that American executives and key Lithuania and US Government decision makers have a forum to advocate for further trade and investment opportunities in Lithuania and amicably resolve issues that might prevent future growth. ALBC has been a leading proponent of reforms to labor laws, which were approved by the Lithuanian government this year that will encourage more job creation and investment by employers. Nelson, who has served as honorary consul for Lithuania in Virginia since 2014, has a legacy of raising the profile of Lithuania globally and helping promote new foreign investment. In addition to co-leading numerous business delegations, Nelson worked in Lithuania from 2006 to 2008 and has managed start-up projects for several leading shared service centers there. Strategic Staffing Solutions has hired more than 5,000 people in Lithuania to work in the country for its U.S. and U.K based clients. S3 was among the first American companies to invest in rebuilding Lithuania's democracy and economic climate after the fall of communism in 1999. The capital city, Vilnius, also serves as our base of international operations. Additionally, S3 recently added Argentina to its' international portfolio. "It's an honor to serve as chair of ALBC," said Nelson. "We just completed our fifth, and largest, annual U.S. business delegation to Lithuania. And next year, as Lithuania celebrates the 100th anniversary of its first independence, ALBC will play an even bigger role in broadening the connection between the U.S. and Lithuania." Nelson's new role adds to Strategic Staffing Solutions portfolio of industry and international business association leadership positions, which includes the British Chamber of Commerce, Project Management Institute International, the Lithuanian Minister of Economy's Investor's Advisory Council, and Staffing Industry Analysts. Strategic Staffing Solutions (S3) is an international, woman-owned, $350 million IT and business services corporation based in Detroit. With a composite average annual growth rate of 21%, S3 is fiscally sound and debt free. S3 has had $2.4 Billion in sales since its inception with $1.2 billion of those sales occurring in the last 5 years. It is ranked 17th among the largest staffing firms in the US by Staffing Industry Report and is one of three companies nationally certified as a Charter Partner with Staffing Industry Analysts. S3 is also ranked as the sixth largest diversity staffing firm in the US by Staffing Industry Analysts and one of the top 25 among woman-owned business in the nation by Women's Enterprise USA Magazine. S3 provides staff augmentation, direct hire recruiting, workforce programs, and outsourced solutions with global industry expertise in energy/utility, healthcare services, insurance, communications, and financial services. It has more than 3,000 direct consultants in 49 out of 50 states in the U.S. and 11 countries Europe and the Americas. SOURCE Strategic Staffing Solutions LISLE, Ill., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Navistar International Corporation (NYSE: NAV) today announced that Jeffrey A. Dokho has been named to its board of directors, effective immediately. Dokho, 42, replaces Dennis D. Williams, president of the United Auto Workers (UAW), who is retiring from the Navistar board after serving nearly 11 years as a director. Since 1993, one non-elected seat on the Navistar board has been filled by a person appointed by the UAW. Dokho is currently the assistant director of the UAW's Research Department, where he directs a group of financial analysts and oversees the union's financial research and analysis. He has worked on many high-profile contract negotiations between the UAW and large, multinational companies. He also plays a leading role in the development and implementation of profit sharing plans, including those currently in place for UAW members at General Motors Company, Ford Motor Company and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. "We look forward to Jeff's contributions joining the Navistar board of directors. His manufacturing and automotive experience and knowledge will be of great value to our board and Navistar management," said Troy A. Clarke, Navistar chairman, president and chief executive officer. "I also want to personally thank Dennis for his many years of distinguished service to our company. His knowledge, dedication and expertise have been invaluable to Navistar." Before joining the UAW in 2006, Dokho was a Senior Analyst at Lear Corporation, a Tier 1 supplier to the automotive industry. While at Lear, he focused largely in the areas of mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures. From 2000 to 2002, Dokho was at Ernst & Young, a global public accounting firm, providing both audit and business risk consulting to clients in a wide range of industries, including defense and manufacturing. Prior to that, Dokho worked at the National Futures Association, the self-regulatory organization for the U.S. derivatives industry. Dokho received a B.A. in Accounting from Michigan State University and is a licensed CPA in the state of Michigan. Dokho has been appointed to the board's finance and audit committees. About Navistar Navistar International Corporation (NYSE: NAV) is a holding company whose subsidiaries and affiliates produce International brand commercial and military trucks, proprietary diesel engines, and IC Bus brand school and commercial buses. An affiliate also provides truck and diesel engine service parts. Another affiliate offers financing services. Additional information is available at www.Navistar.com. Web site: www.Navistar.com/newsroom SOURCE Navistar International Corporation Related Links http://www.navistar.com DALLAS, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- JRjr33, Inc., doing business as JRJR Networks [NYSE MKT: JRJR] today announced that on April 18, 2017, it received a letter from the NYSE notifying it that the Company was not in compliance with Section 802.01E of the NYSE Listed Company Manual as a result of its failure to timely file its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The filing of such report is a condition for the Company's continued listing on the NYSE MKT as required by Sections 134 and 1101 of the NYSE Company Guide. The Company attributes the delay to fieldwork beginning later than planned as a result of its decision to change auditors and other professionals involved in assisting it with its filing process. The Company intends to file the Form 10-K as soon as reasonably practicable after completion of the audit. The Company must submit a plan to the NYSE by May 18, 2017 advising of actions it has taken or will take to regain compliance with the continued listed standards. The Company can regain compliance with the NYSE listing standards before October 18, 2017 by filing the Form 10-K with the SEC prior to that date. If the Company fails to file the Form 10-K by the NYSE's compliance deadline, the NYSE may grant, at its sole discretion, an extension of up to six additional months for the Company to regain compliance, depending on the specific circumstances. The letter from the NYSE also notes that the NYSE may nevertheless commence delisting proceedings at any time if it deems that the circumstances warrant. The Company intends to file the Form 10-K as soon as reasonably practicable after completion of the audit. Until the Company files the Form 10-K, the Company's common stock will remain listed on the NYSE under the symbol "JRJR," but will be assigned a late filer ("LF") indicator to signify late filing status and the Company will be posted to the late filers list on the Listing Standards Filing Status page on the NYSE website. About JRJR Networks (www.jrjrnetworks.com) JRJR Networks is a growing platform of direct-to-consumer brands. Within JRJR Networks, each company retains its separate identity, sales force, product line and compensation plan, while JRJR Networks seeks synergies and efficiencies in operational areas. JRJR Networks companies currently include The Longaberger Company, a 42-year old maker of hand-crafted baskets and other home decor items; Your Inspiration At Home, an award-winning maker of hand-crafted spices and other gourmet food items from around the world; Tomboy Tools, a direct seller of tools designed for women; Agel Enterprises, a global seller of nutritional products in gel form as well as a skin care line, operating in 50 countries; Paperly, which offers a line of custom stationery and other personalized products; Uppercase Living, which offers a line of customizable vinyl expressions for display on walls in the home; Kleeneze, a 95-year old UK-based catalog seller of cleaning, health, beauty, home, outdoor and a variety of other products, and Betterware, a UK-based home catalog seller. JRJR Networks also includes Happenings, a lifestyle publication and marketing company. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "anticipate," "believe," "can," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," or "will" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology and include statements regarding expected timing of the filing of the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016.. These forward-looking statements are based on management's expectations and assumptions as of the date of this press release and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations and assumptions from those set forth or implied by any forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, among others, our ability to expand leadership activities in support of our sales, our ability to continue to grow, our ability to integrate the entities that we have acquired, our ability to strengthen our internal controls and the other risks outlined under "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for our fiscal year ended December 31, 2015 and our other filings with the SEC, including subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K. The information in this release is provided only as of the date of this release, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release on account of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law. Contact : Investor Relations: Tucker Gagen ([email protected]) Media Contact: Brenton Baker ([email protected]) SOURCE JRJR Networks Related Links http://www.jrjrnetworks.com Recently, Rogers, Jr. was selected to join the Inner Circle of Advocates, a prestigious invitation-only national organization filled with 100 of the best plaintiff lawyers in the United States. It was formed in 1972 with the goal of giving the best plaintiff attorneys in the nation a forum to exchange information and ideas in order to better serve their clients. As the organization expanded from 50 to 100 members, so too has the collaborative tradition, with members sharing knowledge, trial strategies, suggestions and ideas with each other, as well as potential problems they may face. "Larry Rogers Jr.'s admission into the Inner Circle of Advocates is certainly a well-deserved honor," said Power, Jr. "He has obtained many million and multi million dollars verdicts and settlements for clients in a wide variety of challenging cases. He has proven himself to be one of the top 100 plaintiff lawyers in the country." "The Inner Circle represents the best of the best Plaintiff's trial lawyers in the country," said Rogers, Jr. "It is an extraordinary honor to have been admitted to this distinguished group of lawyers devoted to the pursuit of justice for everyday working people." Website: http://www.prslaw.com/ SOURCE Power Rogers & Smith, L.L.P. Related Links http://www.prslaw.com CHICAGO, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Law Offices of Jeffery M. Leving, Ltd. hosts the next Arthur S. Kallow Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Seminar on April 19, 2017, at 6 p.m. at 19 S. LaSalle St. in Chicago. This Seminar will be moderated by internationally renowned family law attorney Jeffery M. Leving and coordinated by Attorney of the Year Misty Gamino. The seminar will feature family law attorneys Michael Ochoa and Rafael Albarran. Ochoa will present on the complexities in counseling and representing lawyers in divorce. He has represented clients pro hac vice in Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, Wisconsin, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Texas, California, Kansas, Florida and Minnesota. Ochoa has successfully litigated and settled many cases involving complex financial, child custody and removal issues. Ochoa was awarded the "Top Litigator Award" in 2008 and the "Best International Custody Award" in 2010. His highly successful trials and settlements are testaments to his commitment to his clients throughout America. Ralph Albarran will present on how to navigate the complexities of pre-nuptial agreements and retirement plans governed by ERISA. Albarran will discuss some of his significant and memorable case victories. He served in the United States Marine Corps and was deployed to and served honorably in Iraq. The seminar will conclude with an open discussion. The Kallow CLE Seminar Series has had great success since its inception in 2014. Please make reservations for future Kallow CLE events by emailing Jennifer Whiteside ([email protected]), as this program is close to its capacity. About the Law Offices of Jeffery M. Leving, Ltd. Attorney Jeffery M. Leving is nationally known as one of the foremost family law lawyers in the country. He is the creator of the concept of Fathers' Rights. Leving's many professional achievements and accomplishments have been recognized by government leaders (including three US Presidents and the Illinois House of Representatives), private industry, his peers, and social service and other nonprofit agencies. Attorney Leving has dedicated more than 30 years to strengthening families. Leving's latest book, How to be a Good Divorced Dad, received praise from President Barack Obama, and was endorsed by Cardinal Francis George. Follow future seminars on Twitter @fathersmatter and Facebook. CONTACT: Jennifer Whiteside [email protected] 312.296.3666 SOURCE Law Offices of Jeffery Leving, Ltd. ALPINE, Utah, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Loveland Innovations, the leader in drone inspection solutions specifically for the Insurance industry, will exhibit at the upcoming Contractor Connection Conference and Expo to be held at America's Center Convention Complex June 6 8 in St. Louis, Missouri in booth #433. Loveland Innovations will be showcasing how autonomous drone technology can improve property inspections by changing how contractors gather information for restoration and repair bids after an insurance claim has been made. This will include a demo of IMGING, a fully-autonomous drone solution for property and roof inspections. Loveland Innovations will also be conducting training sessions to help attendees understand regulations around commercial drone use, including an overview and explanation of the Part 107 exam. What: Contractor Connection Conference and Expo Where: Booth #433, America's Center Convention Complex, St. Louis, Missouri When: June 6 8 About Loveland Innovations Loveland Innovations is the first company in the world to develop an autonomous drone inspection solution specifically forand only forproperty inspections. Loveland Innovations was built on 150+ years of combined experience in insurance technology solutions with the goal of making insurance claims and underwriting simpler and faster. With our patents-pending technology in the hands of contractors, and insurance carriers, claims, underwriting, or roof inspections can be done safely and in just a matter of minutes. www.lovelandinnovations.com Contact Justin Strong, VP of Marketing [email protected] SOURCE Loveland Innovations Related Links http://www.lovelandinnovations.com TOANO, Va., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Lumber Liquidators (NYSE: LL), the largest specialty retailer of hardwood flooring in North America, recently donated nearly 800 square feet of Rustic Acacia Vinyl Wood Plank flooring to Pal-O-Mine Equestrian for its on-site classroom. Pal-O-Mine Equestrian founded in 1995 and located in Islandia, N.Y. is a comprehensive non-profit equine center where horses are used to facilitate growth, learning and healing. The organization works with children and adults with disabilities, those who have been abused or neglected, military members and the economically disadvantaged. "Our facilities are an integral part of our visitors' healing process," said Lisa Gatti, CEO and Founder. "We rely on community support from local businesses to enhance our mission. Thanks to Lumber Liquidators, our renovated facilities will better serve all those that come here to thrive." Lumber Liquidators' support of Pal-O-Mine was administered through its philanthropic program, Lay It Forward, which supports organizations that benefit generations to come. This principle also inspires the lasting quality and sustainability of Lumber Liquidators' products. About Lumber Liquidators With more than 380 locations, Lumber Liquidators is North America's largest specialty retailer of hardwood flooring. The Company features more than 400 top quality flooring varieties, including solid and engineered hardwood, bamboo, cork, laminate, tile, resilient vinyl and engineered vinyl plank. Additionally, Lumber Liquidators provides a wide selection of flooring enhancements and accessories to complement, install and maintain your new floor. Every location is staffed with flooring experts who can provide advice and installation options for all of Lumber Liquidators' products, much of which is in stock and ready for delivery. With premier brands including Bellawood and Morning Star Bamboo, Lumber Liquidators' flooring is often featured on popular television shows such as HGTV's Dream Home and This Old House. For more information, please visit www.LumberLiquidators.com or call 1.800.HARDWOOD. Lumber Liquidators aims to be the industry leader in sustainability. For more information, please visit www.LumberLiquidators.com/Sustainability. Learn more about our corporate giving program at LayItForward.LumberLiquidators.com. You can also follow Lumber Liquidators on Facebook and Twitter. For further information contact: John Feld One Simple Plan Tel: 612.677.2248 SOURCE Lumber Liquidators, Inc. Related Links http://www.lumberliquidators.com SANTA ROSA, Calif., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Sonoma County based M. A. Silva USA has received the 2017 Best Cork Supplier award by Vineyard & Winery Management Magazine, 2017 Best Cork & Bottle Supplier award and 2017 Excellence Award for Sustainable Manufacturing by Trade Monthly Magazine. More than 700 wine industry professionals from across the nation participated in Vineyard & Winery Management Magazine's survey this year. Voters like that it's a "green company" with "consistent, great-quality corks," "quick turnaround" and "excellent customer service." Trade Monthly Magazine recognizes companies in the food and drink industry whose devotion, innovative thinking and tireless efforts have led to outstanding results. "We are thrilled to have won four prestigious awards, confirming our status as a leader in the cork and bottle manufacturing industry," said Neil Foster, President of M. A. Silva USA. "Our commitment to quality and sustainability combined with our unparalleled customer service are clearly pivotal to our success. We continually invest in technical innovation, take great pride in creating partnerships with our customers and are gratified by the loyalty of our clients." About M. A. Silva USA: Based in Sonoma County, California, M. A. Silva USA is a leading manufacturer of premium natural corks, glass and packaging for North American markets. Its quality-assurance program ensures unmatched visual, mechanical and sensory characteristics of its products. The company operates on solar power and is committed to sustainability and eco-friendly operations. M. A. Silva earned both Sonoma Green Business Program and ClimateSmart certifications and received the Excellence Award for Sustainable Manufacturing by Trade Monthly Magazine. The company has been named Best Cork Supplier 2013, 2015 & 2016, Best Glass Supplier 2016 and 2016 North Bay Maker by the North Bay Business Journal, Best Cork Supplier 2013, 2015, 2016 & 2017 and Best Bottle Supplier 2013 & 2015 by Vineyard & Winery Management magazine and 2017 Best Cork & Bottle Supplier by Trade Monthly Magazine. It is a six-time winner of the North Bay Business Journal's Best Places to Work. For more information, visit www.masilva.com or call 707.636.2530. SOURCE M.A. Silva USA Related Links http://www.masilva.com KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) is providing the Malaysian Mental Health Association (MMHA) with a grant of the company's time and talent to develop a strategy for using social media to engage at-risk youth suffering from mental health issues. This project underscored the recent findings of the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2015 by Malaysia's Ministry of Health that showed 29.2% of Malaysians aged 16-years-old and above (4.2 million out of 14.4 million) are suffering from mental health problems. The survey found that highest prevalence was recorded among 16 to 19 years old. The project is also timely, as the theme for this year's World Health Day is "Depression, Let's Talk." Applying its social media know-how, IBM will work with MMHA to develop social media strategies to harness the potential of the digital world as a powerful tool for change. The strategies will be aimed at enhancing public awareness on mental health and its related issues, by enabling an alternative method to approaching individuals with worrisome symptoms or providing information to those looking for help. This effort is part of IBM's Impact Grant program a pro bono initiative that provides consulting expertise and technologies such as cognitive, mobile and social to support non-profit organizations in serving society more effectively. "In teaming up with IBM for this project, MMHA will be able to use social media and the digital environment in an innovative way in managing mental health issues," said MMHA president Mr. See Cheng Siang. "The aim of the social media approach is to enable MMHA to disarm mental health stigmas, raise awareness on correct health information from reputable sources and aggregate conversations and connections, especially between young people, with others who are experiencing similar challenges." The project builds on a grant the MMHA received in 2016 to utilize IBM Social Media Analytics - a powerful monitoring tool that captures and consolidates insights from social media to analyze the opinions, interactions and conversation patterns expressed on Facebook, Twitter, online communities, forums and blogs to survey public perception surrounding mental health issues. This analysis uncovered the potential of social media in de-stigmatizing mental health and consequently, encourage those with questions or symptoms to reach out for help. The findings spurred MMHA to strengthen its social media platform as a means to engage and share critical information on mental health with people who may not be inclined to openly seek help. "At IBM, we aim to make a sustainable impact in our communities and we find this possible for the critical area of mental health by continuing to contribute our talent and expertise to enable MMHA to increase its social media engagement," said IBM Malaysia managing director Ms. Chong Chye Neo. "With this grant, we would have committed the equivalent of $33,000 in technology and expertise as part of our commitment to make an impact in the proactive management of this health issue. The outcome will enable MMHA to better understand the social media behaviours of youth at risk and effectively increase engagement outreach." As part of the Social Media Strategy & Planning Impact Grant for MMHA, IBM will use design thinking to visualize new approaches to social media campaigns related to mental health as well as formulate social media strategies that will be effective in engaging on mental health issues. Following this, IBM will employ expertise within its social media practice to create an actionable roadmap to improve MMHA's engagement on social media. The roadmap will be implemented jointly in this first year by MMHA and IBM employee volunteers. MMHA is a non-profit organization represented at the Mental Health Promotion Advisory Council to the Minister of Health. Contact(s) information Ari Fishkind IBM Media Relations (914) 499-6420 [email protected] SOURCE IBM IRVINE, Calif., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Alleged sexual assault victims of Dr. Larry Nassar are asking United States District Court Judge Janet Neff to invalidate successive gag orders issued by Ingham County Circuit Judge Rosemarie Aquilina and guarantee their first amendment rights to free speech. Plaintiffs include Jamie Dantzscher, Rachael Denhollander, Lindsey Lemke and more than 80 alleged victims of sexual abuse by Lawrence Gerard Nassar in various civil actions, as well as the law firms that represent the victims. On March 29, Judge Aquilina issued a gag order that was challenged in Federal District Court by the plaintiffs. Their lawsuit argued that the victims and their attorneys were denied notice and an opportunity to be heard before the gag order was issued. It further argued that the gag order is so broad and vague as to prevent victims from speaking to law enforcement, legislative bodies, therapists, family and friends about their abuse. The gag order was issued the day after plaintiff Jamie Dantzscher, an Olympic medalist, and other alleged Nassar victims received national media coverage for testifying before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee in support of bipartisan legislation to strengthen reporting requirements for child sexual abuse in Olympic sports. United States District Judge Janet T. Neff issued a temporary restraining order on April 7, 2017 prohibiting enforcement of the first gag order on constitutional grounds. Judge Aquilina rescinded her first gag order on April 12, 2017 and issued a second gag order which is now being challenged by Dr. Nassar's alleged victims and their attorneys. Click here for order. Judge Neff has ordered Judge Aquilina and Dr. Nassar to respond to the challenge no later than May 2. Reacting to the latest gag order, Jamie Dantzscher said, "The order restricts my right to speak along with the other victims but it allows those at Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics to speak publicly and promote themselves and their half-truths about Dr. Nassar. I will have to hire an attorney in Michigan, and fly or drive, at my own expense, more than two thousand miles to Michigan. Then, I will have to file a brief and appear before a judge in the presence of my childhood doctor, who sexually assaulted me under the guise of medical treatment, and his hostile lawyers, then beg to get their collective permission to talk about the fact that Dr. Larry Nassar repeatedly molested me throughout my childhood, even when I was competing at the Olympic Games for our country. Apparently, that would be my obligation, and that of every other victim of Dr. Nassar under the new gag order." "Even more frightening, if I do speak out in any public place, I could be arrested and held in contempt of court by Judge Aquilina," Dantzscher said. Rachael Denhollander, the first gymnast to file a criminal complaint against Dr. Nassar said, "This new order is equally disturbing. It states that the restriction on my speech will remain in effect until the Criminal Case has ended and all direct appeals have concluded. As such, it could be several years potentially, even over a decade before I am able to speak freely about my case without fear of violating the Court's order. Because there is no way of knowing for how many years my freedom of speech will be restricted by this order, the order is extremely overbroad and oppressive. "Sexual assault victims need to know that their rights and freedoms will be protected if they participate in the criminal process to bring their abuser to justice. No one should be required to become revictimized and relinquish fundamental liberties to participate in our judicial system. "17 years ago Larry Nassar's ability to control the narrative kept me from fighting back to defend my body. And in an effort to bring him to justice, the court is requiring me to relinquish another fundamental right my right to a voice. 17 years ago I could not defend myself. Today I can." Manly, Stewart & Finaldi is California's leading law firm representing child victims of sexual abuse. The firm has represented more than 150 victims of clergy sexual abuse in California and hundreds of others throughout the United States. The firm also represented plaintiffs in the $140,000,000 settlement against LAUSD in the Miramonte case, the largest sex abuse settlement against a School District in the US. SOURCE Manly, Stewart & Finaldi Related Links http://www.californiasexualabusefirm.com/ SAN MATEO, Calif., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Marketo, Inc., the leading provider of engagement marketing software and solutions, today announced that Mark Miller is joining the company as chief financial officer (CFO), effective immediately. In addition, Marketo has appointed Reggie Aggarwal, founder and chief executive officer of Cvent, to its board of directors. Current CFO Brian Kinion has decided to leave Marketo to pursue other opportunities. Miller brings with him more than 20 years of experience as a finance leader at technology companies, most recently as CFO of ACTIVE Network. Prior to ACTIVE, Miller held the position of executive vice president and CFO of LHP Hospital Group, Inc., and EVP and CFO of Sabre Holdings. During his 10 years with Sabre, he also served as the company's controller. Miller was previously CFO and vice president of finance at GetThere, which is part of Sabre Travel Network. Over the course of his career, he has led multiple business transformation initiatives, completed more than 20 mergers and acquisitions, and consistently driven operational and financial excellence. "With Marketo's goal of becoming a billion-dollar software company, we are investing heavily in our leadership, especially in areas like finance, to support our next phase of growth," said Steve Lucas, chief executive officer, Marketo. "I am thrilled to welcome Mark to the organization and want to thank Brian for all of his exceptional contributions to Marketo since joining Marketo in 2013. Brian has been instrumental in leading the company through a seamless transition from public to private under our new Vista leadership, and I wish him all the best in his future endeavors." At Marketo, Miller will manage the company's global financial operations, human resources, accounting, and tax functions, reporting into Lucas. He holds a master of business administration from Rice University and began his career as an auditor at Ernst & Young. "Additionally, I am excited to welcome Reggie to Marketo's board," said Lucas. "Reggie has had an incredible journey creating a successful, high-growth SaaS company that enables corporate marketers to drive real business impact through events. Cvent, like Marketo, is on a trajectory of innovation and expansion, and adding Reggie to our board brings new dimension as we drive success in the Engagement Economy." Aggarwal has nearly 20 years of technology leadership and entrepreneurial experience, having built Cvent from a two-person startup to a more than 2,500-person global software company. Now the world's largest event management technology provider, Cvent has more than 200,000 users. "Marketo is the clear leader in marketing and engagement," said Aggarwal. "They have built an incredibly dynamic and progressive platform that is giving unbelievable insights to marketers to help their customers achieve better return on investment. I have been following Marketo's success and innovations for nearly a dozen years, and it is a privilege to sit on their board." Aggarwal was named CEO of the Year and the Most Admired CEO in Washington, D.C., by the Washington Business Journal, and has received technology and leadership distinctions from Ernst & Young, Forbes, and Washingtonian Magazine. He holds a B.S. degree from the University of Virginia, a J.D. from Washington and Lee University Law School, and an LL.M. (post-law degree) from Georgetown University Law School. He has also received an Honorary Doctorate from Southeastern University for his contribution to the community. About Marketo Marketo, Inc., offers the leading Engagement Platform that empowers marketers to create lasting relationships and grow revenue. Consistently recognized as the industry's innovation pioneer, Marketo is the trusted platform for thousands of CMOs thanks to its scalability, reliability, and openness. Marketo is headquartered in San Mateo, CA, with offices around the world, and serves as a strategic partner to large enterprise and fast-growing organizations across a wide variety of industries. To learn more about the Marketo Engagement Platform, LaunchPoint partner ecosystem, and the vast community that is the Marketing Nation, visit www.marketo.com. SOURCE Marketo, Inc. MORRISTOWN, N.J., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Massey Quick & Co., LLC a wealth management and investment consulting firm, and William E. Simon & Sons, LLC (WESS), a family office, announced the merger of the two firms. The new entity, Massey Quick Simon & Co., LLC combines Massey Quick's long standing experience in financial planning and their extensive investment capabilities with William E. Simon and Sons' highly regarded family office services. Founded in 1988, by the late William E. Simon, former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, WESS today is led by Peter Simon and William E. Simon, Jr. Since its inception, WESS has overseen all aspects of the financial affairs for the Simon family and its heirs through a full suite of family office services. "For the past 29 years, our family has entrusted us with preserving its financial health and legacy for generations," said Peter Simon, co-chairman of William E. Simon & Sons. "With the growth of our extended family, we have looked to partner with a firm that shares our approach and world view. Massey Quick's investment capabilities and stellar reputation makes them an obvious choice as we begin a new era for our family." Wall Street veterans Stewart Massey and Les Quick founded Massey Quick in 2004. The firm has grown to employ a staff of 28 people and delivers financial planning and sophisticated investment advice to high-net worth families, endowments and foundations. "Peter and Bill's expertise in capital markets, real estate, private equity and venture capital, in addition to their hands-on operating experience, will be a tremendous asset to our business and to our clients, whose needs are often complex," said Les Quick, Founding Partner. "The Simon's reputation as wise stewards of their family's wealth, their financial expertise and valued service as board members of non-profits and endowments will help to position us as the advisory firm of choice by the people we serve," said Stewart Massey, Founding Partner. Massey Quick Simon will be led by a committee of six managing partners, including Stewart Massey, Les Quick, Peter Simon, Joe Belfatto, Chief Investment Officer Christopher Moore, CFP, and Chief Operating Officer Mark DeLotto, who also serves as Chief Compliance Officer. Bill Simon will oversee the expansion of Massey Quick Simon's presence on the west coast and will continue to be based out of Los Angeles. Massey Quick Simon will be headquartered in Morristown, New Jersey and continue to serve clients out of their offices in New York City. For more information about firm, go to www.MQSAdvisors.com. ABOUT MASSEY QUICK Based in Morristown, New Jersey, Massey Quick is a wealth management and investment consulting firm that advises high net worth families, single family offices, foundations and endowments. Founded by Wall Street veterans Stewart Massey and Les Quick in 2004, the firm provides investment advice, portfolio management, and financial planning services to its clients. Massey Quick has earned a place on numerous top registered investment advisor lists including Barron's Top 100 Independent Financial Advisors and The Financial Times 300. For more information, please visit www.MQSAdvisors.com. ABOUT WILLIAM E. SIMON AND SONS William E Simon & Sons was founded in 1988 by former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, William E. Simon, and his sons William E. Simon, Jr. and J. Peter Simon. The family office manages all aspects of the financial affairs for the Simon family, including tax, bill paying, financial planning and investment management. Since its inception, William E. Simon & Sons has managed a diversified portfolio of public and private investments, as well as direct investments in companies, real estate and distressed debt. The family has served as a cornerstone investor in third party funds in all three areas. The firm has offices in Morristown, New Jersey, and Los Angeles. DISCLAIMER Massey Quick Simon & Co., LLC ("MQS") is an SEC registered investment advisor with offices in Morristown, New Jersey, Los Angeles, California, and New York, New York. A copy of our written disclosure brochure discussing services and fees is available upon request. Barron's specifically awarded Stewart Massey, Founding Partner and Chief Investment Strategist a ranking for the seventh consecutive year; five times as one of the nation's top 100 independent advisors (2010-2014), and three times as one of the Top Financial Advisors ranked by state (2015-2017). The rankings are based on data provided by individual advisors and their firms. Advisor data is confirmed via regulatory databases, cross-checks with securities firms and conversations with individual advisors. The formula Barron's uses to rank advisors is proprietary. It has three major components: assets managed, revenue produced and quality of practice. Investment returns are not a component of the rankings because an advisor's returns are dictated largely by the risk tolerance of clients. Individuals/advisory firms did not pay a fee to be considered or placed on the final list of "Barron's Top 100 Independent Financial Advisors." The quality-of-practice component includes an evaluation of each advisor's regulatory record. For additional information visit www.barrons.com. The rankings are not indicative of future performance. Massey, Quick & Co., LLC was named Financial Times Top 300 ("FT 300") Registered Investment Advisors in 2014 and 2015. The Financial Times Top 300 Registered Investment Advisors is an independent listing produced by Financial Times. The listing is based on data gathered from RIA firms, regulatory disclosures, and the FT's research. As identified by the FT, the listing reflects each practices' performance in six primary areas, including assets under management, asset growth, compliance record, years in existence, credentials and accessibility. Neither the RIA firms nor their employees pay a fee in exchange for inclusion in the FT 300. MEDIA CONTACT: Jessica Taylor Impact Communications 913-649-5009 [email protected] This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com SOURCE Massey Quick Simon & Co. Related Links http://www.MQSAdvisors.com "We are excited by this vote of confidence. DTRA's recognition of our work further positions MeMed as a world leader in immune-based diagnostics of infectious diseases," said Eran Eden, PhD, MeMed's CEO. "This joint effort, and our growing collaboration with other international stakeholders from industry and government, will facilitate the global availability of our tests aimed at combating antimicrobial resistance." In the past eight years, company co-founders Kfir Oved, MD/PhD and Eran Eden, PhD collaborated with leading researchers and clinicians from around the globe to study the changes that take place in the human immune system when it is fighting infections, in order to develop a human immune signature that accurately recognizes the difference between bacterial and viral infections. ImmunoXpert, the first generation of this novel test, is already in use and has been validated in thousands of patients*. The second generation of the test involved development of a new point of care platform that is easy to use and takes only 15 minutes. "This collaboration will allow us to expedite completion of our point of care platform program," said Kfir Oved, MD/PhD, MeMed's CTO. "In addition to allowing measurements of our bacterial versus viral test within minutes, the new platform also opens the way to a variety of rapid multiplex-protein measurements at the point of care with lab-quality precision, which has broad applications." "The project will also evaluate and expand our test menu to detect early infections, even at the pre-symptomatic stage of a disease currently a major challenge in our ability to control infections and epidemics," said Tanya Gottlieb, PhD, MeMed's VP Scientific Affairs. *Oved et al. Plos One, 2015; Eden et al. Journal of Infection, 2016; van Houten et el. Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2016. About the Defense Threat Reduction Agency The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) was founded in 1998 to integrate and focus the capabilities of the Department of Defense (DoD) that address the threat by weapons of mass destruction (WMD). DTRA's mission is to safeguard the United States and its allies from global weapons of mass destruction and improvised threats by integrating, synchronizing and by providing expertise, technologies and capabilities. For more information on DTRA, visit www.dtra.mil. About MeMed MeMed is dedicated to improving patient lives through research, development and commercialization of pioneering tests that monitor the body's immune state. Its tests decode the immune system's distinct responses to different health and disease states. The company focuses on providing rapid, accurate and actionable diagnostic solutions for acute infectious diseases and inflammatory disorders in the hospital and community. Its first-generation test, ImmunoXpert, has demonstrated the ability to accurately detect whether a patient has a bacterial or viral infection, with the aim of empowering physicians to make better informed antibiotic treatment decisions. ImmunoXpert is cleared for clinical use in the European Union, Switzerland and Israel. It is currently in pilot distribution in these territories with a broader commercial roll-out underway. MeMed's second-generation test for rapid (within minutes) point-of-care testing is under development. For additional information, please visit http://www.me-med.com. Media and Business Development Contact: Asi Cohen-Dotan, PhD Phone: +972-4-8500302 [email protected] SOURCE MeMed Related Links http://www.me-med.com/ MeMed Ltd. announced today that it has been awarded a contract by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), a branch of the US Department of Defense (DoD). The contract, totaling up to $9.2M, will fund the completion of MeMed's pioneering point of care platform for distinguishing bacterial from viral infections. (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/451805/MeMed_Ltd_Logo.jpg ) (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/491163/MeMed_second_generation_test.jpg ) "We are excited by this vote of confidence. DTRA's recognition of our work further positions MeMed as a world leader in immune-based diagnostics of infectious diseases," said Eran Eden, PhD, MeMed's CEO. "This joint effort, and our growing collaboration with other international stakeholders from industry and government, will facilitate the global availability of our tests aimed at combating antimicrobial resistance." In the past eight years, company co-founders Kfir Oved, MD/PhD and Eran Eden, PhD collaborated with leading researchers and clinicians from around the globe to study the changes that take place in the human immune system when it is fighting infections, in order to develop a human immune signature that accurately recognizes the difference between bacterial and viral infections. ImmunoXpert(TM), the first generation of this novel test, is already in use and has been validated in thousands of patients*. The second generation of the test involved development of a new point of care platform that is easy to use and takes only 15 minutes. "This collaboration will allow us to expedite completion of our point of care platform program," said Kfir Oved, MD/PhD, MeMed's CTO. "In addition to allowing measurements of our bacterial versus viral test within minutes, the new platform also opens the way to a variety of rapid multiplex-protein measurements at the point of care with lab-quality precision, which has broad applications." "The project will also evaluate and expand our test menu to detect early infections, even at the pre-symptomatic stage of a disease - currently a major challenge in our ability to control infections and epidemics", said Tanya Gottlieb, PhD, MeMed's VP Scientific Affairs. *Oved et al. Plos One, 2015; Eden et al. Journal of Infection, 2016; van Houten et el. Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2016. About the Defense Threat Reduction Agency The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) was founded in 1998 to integrate and focus the capabilities of the Department of Defense (DoD) that address the threat by weapons of mass destruction (WMD). DTRA's mission is to safeguard the United States and its allies from global weapons of mass destruction and improvised threats by integrating, synchronizing and by providing expertise, technologies and capabilities. For more information on DTRA, visit http://www.dtra.mil. About MeMed MeMed is dedicated to improving patient lives through research, development and commercialization of pioneering tests that monitor the body's immune state. Its tests decode the immune system's distinct responses to different health and disease states. The company focuses on providing rapid, accurate and actionable diagnostic solutions for acute infectious diseases and inflammatory disorders in the hospital and community. Its first-generation test, ImmunoXpert(TM), has demonstrated the ability to accurately detect whether a patient has a bacterial or viral infection, with the aim of empowering physicians to make better informed antibiotic treatment decisions. ImmunoXpert is cleared for clinical use in the European Union, Switzerland and Israel. It is currently in pilot distribution in these territories with a broader commercial roll-out underway. MeMed's second-generation test for rapid (within minutes) point-of-care testing is under development. For additional information, please visit http://www.me-med.com. Media and Business Development Contact: Asi Cohen-Dotan, PhD Phone: +972-4-8500302 [email protected] SOURCE MeMed NEW YORK, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Mesothelioma Compensation Center says, "We are urging any current or former water works worker or a public utility employee who has recently been diagnosed with mesothelioma to call us anytime at 800-714-0303. We want to make certain that people like this get the very best possible financial compensation for mesothelioma. We would also like to educate a person in this situation or their family about why it is so incredibly vital they hire one of the nation's most skilled and experienced mesothelioma attorneys to assist with a financial compensation claim. Water Works Worker Asbestos Warning Sign "If you are a person who has recently been diagnosed with mesothelioma and your exposure to asbestos occurred at a water district/public utility we want you to know that hiring a highly skilled and capable national caliber full-time mesothelioma attorney who has personally represented water district/public utility workers and plumbers around the nation is a must. Don't shortchange yourself with mesothelioma compensation if you have a confirmed diagnosis. http://MesotheliomaCompensationCenter.Com For more information on water works or public utility district employees contact the Mesothelioma Compensation Center anytime at 800-714-0303. http://CorporateWhistleblowerCenter.Com For a listing of public utility districts by state please refer to the following website: http://www.bestenergynews.com/solar/utility_co/utility_companies.php. In June 2016 a community newspaper in Naples, Florida ran a news story that discussed asbestos plumbing pipe used by the local water district. http://www.naplesnews.com/news/local/collier-water-utilitys-14m-project-to-include-10k-feet-of-asbestos-pipes-in-east-naples-3465a20c-0e4-381900131.html. The average age for a diagnosed victim of mesothelioma is about 70 years old. This year between 2500, and 3000 US citizens will be diagnosed with mesothelioma. The Mesothelioma Compensation Center says, "Based on our experience frequently mesothelioma is initially misdiagnosed as pneumonia." The Mesothelioma Compensation Center is the only group in the nation that specializes in assisting specific types of people who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma. These people include the US Navy Veterans, oil refinery workers, power plant workers, nuclear power plant workers, public utility workers, hydro-electric workers, chemical plant workers, or oil and gas production workers. In most instances these people were exposed to asbestos in the 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, or 1980's. http://MesotheliomaCompensationCenter.Com The states with the highest incidence of mesothelioma include Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Louisiana, Washington, and Oregon. However, a current or former water worker or public utility worker with diagnosed mesothelioma could live in any state including California, New York, Florida, Texas, Illinois, Ohio, Iowa, Indiana, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, Nebraska, North Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Idaho, or Alaska. The Mesothelioma Compensation Center says, "If you call us at 800-714-0303, we will see to it that you have instant and direct access to the nation's most experienced, and skilled mesothelioma attorneys who typically obtain the best possible financial compensation settlements for their clients-nationwide." http://MesotheliomaCompensationCenter.Com For more information about mesothelioma please refer to the National Institutes of Health's web site related to this rare form of cancer: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/mesothelioma.html Media Contact: Michael Thomas [email protected] 800-714-0303 SOURCE Mesothelioma Compensation Center Related Links http://mesotheliomacompensationcenter.com ATLANTA, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Mike Harris joins Secretariat International as a Director in Denver, CO. Mike is a licensed Professional Engineer and has more than 30 years of experience on large infrastructure and government contracting projects. He is a seasoned testifying expert with a focus on Delay & Disruption Analysis. "I've known Mike for more than 20 years and his unwavering commitment to integrity and quality aligns with the corporate culture at Secretariat International. We welcome him to the team." Don Harvey, Managing Director http://secretariat-intl.com/member/michael-harris/ SOURCE Secretariat International Related Links http://www.secretariat-intl.com WALTHAM, Mass., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. today announced that results from the multi-center Procalcitonin MOnitoring SEpsis (MOSES) Study have been published in the May 2017 print issue of Critical Care Medicine. Researchers from the study, titled "Serial Procalcitonin Predicts Mortality in Severe Sepsis Patients: Results From the Multicenter Procalcitonin MOnitoring SEpsis (MOSES) Study," investigated the use of the BRAHMS PCT (procalcitonin) assay to assess risk for 28 day all-cause mortality for patients diagnosed with severe sepsis or septic shock in 13 U.S. investigational sites. Results from the multi-center study showed that patients with a decrease in PCT less than or equal to 80 percent during the first four days following diagnosis of severe sepsis or septic shock had a two-fold increased risk of death as compared to those who experienced a decrease in PCT greater than 80 percent1. The study also found that a baseline PCT measurement greater than 2.0 ng/mL is an additional mortality risk factor when evaluating PCT measurements on subsequent days1. "Given the significant amount of sepsis-related deaths in the United States, there is a need for a more rigorous and effective approach to monitoring the progression of this syndrome in patients," said lead principal investigator, Nathan I. Shapiro, M.D., MPH, attending physician at the department of emergency medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. "Through the MOSES study, my fellow investigators and I have gained a better understanding of how serial PCT levels can be measured in a hospital setting to further risk-stratify mortality risk." "We are proud to partner with Dr. Nathan Shapiro, Dr. Philipp Schuetz, and all the investigators of the MOSES trial, and support their initiatives in securing publication of this study," said Lonnie Shoff, President of the Clinical Diagnostics Division at Thermo Fisher Scientific. "These clinical results further validate and help shed light on the critical role PCT plays in the risk assessment for patients diagnosed with severe sepsis or septic shock. We look forward to continuing the conversation around the importance of sepsis awareness and the impact PCT can have in septic patient management." As a result of the MOSES study, Thermo Fisher Scientific received expanded FDA clearance for its BRAHMS PCT biomarker assay for sepsis risk assessment. Under the expanded clearance, PCT measurements can be obtained in emergency departments and hospital wards prior to admission to the intensive care unit. Additionally, the clearance helped the Thermo Fisher Scientific license partners, Roche Diagnostics USA and bioMerieux to achieve FDA clearance for the Roche ELECSYS BRAHMS PCT and bioMerieux VIDAS BRAHMS PCT assays in just 90 days, further expanding access to PCT in the United States. Physicians can assess the decrease in PCT levels using the online calculator at www.brahms-pct-calculator.com. About Sepsis Sepsis is a systemic inflammatory response to infection with some degree of organ dysfunction that can progress to organ failure and death. Each year, more than 266,000 deaths in the U.S. are attributed to sepsis (2009). It is the sixth most common principal diagnosis in the U.S., accounting for more than 1.6 million hospital stays. It is the most costly inpatient diagnosis, with aggregate annual hospital costs totaling over $23 billion (2013). Early identification and intervention are crucial to improving sepsis outcomes, making rapid, more reliable detection a national, if not global, imperative. To learn more about sepsis, please visit: www.thermofisher.com/aboutsepsis. About Procalcitonin (PCT) In healthy people, Procalcitonin (PCT) is produced in thyroid cells as a precursor for the hormone calcitonin and is nearly undetectable in human blood. However, bacterial infections cause PCT to be produced by almost every organ of the body, resulting in a rapid rise of PCT levels in the blood. Viral infections very rarely, and not to the same level, cause this increase in PCT blood levels. The level of PCT in the blood is a reflection of the severity of bacterial infection, ranging from slightly elevated concentrations in infections with minor systemic inflammatory response to very high values in cases of severe sepsis and septic shock. Once an infection is under control, PCT levels decrease rapidly. PCT is intended for use in conjunction with other laboratory findings and clinical assessments to aid in the risk assessment of critically ill patients on their first day of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admission for progression to severe sepsis and septic shock. About Thermo Fisher Scientific Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is the world leader in serving science, with revenues of $18 billion and more than 55,000 employees globally. Our mission is to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. We help our customers accelerate life sciences research, solve complex analytical challenges, improve patient diagnostics and increase laboratory productivity. Through our premier brands Thermo Scientific, Applied Biosystems, Invitrogen, Fisher Scientific and Unity Lab Services we offer an unmatched combination of innovative technologies, purchasing convenience and comprehensive support. For more information, please visit www.thermofisher.com. 1 MOSES Clinical Trial Data. On file Thermo Fisher Scientific. SOURCE Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. Related Links http://www.thermofisher.com HOUSTON, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Murray Resources, a leading Houston-based recruiting firm and staffing agency, announced that it has been named a 2017 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For by the National Association for Business Resources (NABR). Hundreds of companies throughout the country vie for the Best and Brightest designation, but only companies with the highest quality workplace culture and initiatives are recognized as a Best and Brightest Companies to Work For. "As a company whose mission, for almost three decades, has been to help other organizations build their teams, our being recognized for developing our own workplace into one that our employees enjoy and value is extremely satisfying. We recognize that employees, like our customers, have a choice. We do not take for granted their decision to spend a significant part of their day at Murray Resources and we appreciate their hard work and consistent dedication to the company, each other, and our clients," said Marsha Murray, president of Murray Resources. The 2017 winning companies were assessed by an independent research firm which reviewed a number of key measures including Compensation, Benefits and Employee Solutions; Employee Enrichment, Engagement and Retention; Employee Education and Development; Recruitment, Selection and Orientation; Employee Achievement and Recognition; Communication and Shared Vision; Diversity and Inclusion; Work-Life Balance; Community Initiatives; Strategic Company Performance. With more than 15 years of experience conducting Best and Brightest Company competitions, the NABR have identified numerous best HR practices and provided benchmarking for companies that continue to be leaders in employment standards. About Murray Resources Founded in 1988, Murray Resources is a leading Houston recruiting firm and staffing agency. The company has repeatedly been named by the Houston Business Journal as one of Houston's 15 largest direct hire firms. In 2013, 2015, and 2016 the firm was named to the Inc. 500/5000 list of fastest growing private companies in America. The company serves a base of over 800 client companies, including numerous Fortune 1000 companies and high-growth small and medium-sized organizations, in the areas of administrative, accounting, customer service, engineering, finance, human resources, IT, light industrial, manufacturing, marketing, operations, and sales. The company has been named a "Best Places to Work" and the #1 Fastest Growing Woman Owned Business in the Personnel Category by the Houston Business Journal. For more information, contact Murray Resources at 713.935.0009 or visit www.murrayresources.com. SOURCE Murray Resources Related Links http://www.murrayresources.com WASHINGTON, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA scientists from across the agency will present their latest findings and perspectives on topics ranging from the origins and evolution of life on Earth to the search for habitable environments and life in our solar system and beyond during the 2017 Astrobiology Science Conference, April 24-28 in Mesa, Arizona. Among the scientists scheduled to present at the conference are: Giada Arney from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland , will discuss organic haze on Earthlike planets as a possible biosignatures from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in , will discuss organic haze on Earthlike planets as a possible biosignatures Morgan Cable at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California , will talk about mechanisms for enrichment of organics in Enceladus plumes at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in , will talk about mechanisms for enrichment of organics in Enceladus plumes John Grunsfeld , former NASA astronaut and associate administrator for science, will deliver a presentation on next-generation space telescopes for terrestrial exoplanet characterization and the search for biosignatures , former NASA astronaut and associate administrator for science, will deliver a presentation on next-generation space telescopes for terrestrial exoplanet characterization and the search for biosignatures Michael Mumma from Goddard will discuss methane as a possible messenger in the search for life on Mars from Goddard will discuss methane as a possible messenger in the search for life on Mars Andrew Pohorille at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley will talk about the origin and evolution of information transfer in biological systems On Sunday, April 23, NASA will hold a town hall meeting from 12:30 to 6 p.m. PDT at the Phoenix Marriott Mesa Hotel to solicit feedback from the astrobiology community on the Europa Lander Science Definition Team report. For more information on this town hall, contact Curt Niebur at [email protected]. The Roadmaps to Ocean Worlds (ROW) team, chartered to identify science objectives and exploration roadmaps for ocean worlds, will hold a town hall from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. on Monday, April 24, to share its progress and gather input from the astrobiology community. Arizona State University (ASU), host of the conference, will hold two free public events at the Phoenix Marriott Mesa Hotel. The ASU Beyond Center will sponsor a program from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 25 titled "Where a Second Example of Life Might be Discovered in the Next Century." On Thursday, April 26, the ASU Origins Project will sponsor a program from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on "How Astrobiology and Planetary Science Inform a Perspective of Planetary Stewardship." The conference will take place at the Mesa Convention Center, located at 263 N. Center Street, and the Phoenix Marriott Mesa Hotel, at 200 North Centennial Way. The Lunar and Planetary Institute is responsible for conference logistics. Media may register to attend. For more information, including links to the program, media advisories and contact information, visit: https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/abscicon2017/registration/registration/ Select events will be live streamed, and schedules are available at: http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/livestream For information about NASA astrobiology visit: https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/ Dwayne Brown / Laurie Cantillo Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1726 / 202-358-1077 [email protected] / [email protected] SOURCE NASA Related Links http://www.nasa.gov FORT WASHINGTON, Pa, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Oncology community professionals are concerned about the ability of their patients to access cancer screening and treatment under the proposed American Health Care Act, according to a survey conducted March 2324, 2017 at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) 22nd Annual Conference: Improving the Quality, Effectiveness, and Efficiency of Cancer Care at the Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, Florida. In addition, a majority of those surveyed believed that anticipated health policy changes would have negative impacts on their practices and on cancer research. More than 70 percent surveyed noted that patients have voiced concern about the anticipated repeal and replacement of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), nearly two-thirds of whom have demonstrated increased levels of distress. The survey was conducted during the period of congressional debate over the American Health Care Act (AHCA), which was withdrawn the afternoon of March 24 when it became clear there were not enough votes to pass the legislation. Responding to the survey were 76 oncology professionals, including physicians, academic and community; nurses; physician assistants; pharmacists; industry professionals; payers and patient advocates. "The American Health Care Act is tabled and the ACA remains in place, but concerns about access to cancer screening, care, and research funding remain. Today, patients are in limbo, not knowing what action the federal and state governments will take," said Robert W. Carlson, MD, Chief Executive Officer of NCCN. "NCCN agrees there are ways to improve the current health care system for Americans with cancer, the clinical professionals who care for them, and payers. However, we are concerned for Americans with cancer that affordability, coverage of products and services in cancer treatment, and overall access will be impeded by allowing health insurers to set their own rates, or by providing states the ability to experiment with Medicaid coverage, without appropriate patient protections." The NCCN Trends survey found: Fifty-five percent of respondents reported that the anticipated large-scale changes to federal health care policy would likely have a negative impact on their practice, research programs or patient outcomes. Eleven percent anticipated a positive impact, and 34 percent anticipated a neutral, or mixed impact. When asked to select from a list of outcomes they anticipated would occur with changes to health care policy, those who anticipated a negative impact (55%) indicated: Fewer patients will have access to health insurance (71%) High deductibles will limit patient access to care (69%) Cancer screening rates will decline due to higher co-pays and deductibles (63%) Patients' pre-existing conditions could be excluded from coverage (57%) Federal funding for cancer research will decline (56%) There will be less support for mental health services (50%) Those who expected a positive impact (11%) indicated: With increased competition for insurers operating across state lines, health insurance premiums and co-pays will go down for more patients, leading to improved access to care (50%) Allowing medications to be imported will create more competition and reduced drug prices (50%) Patient health savings accounts will lead to increased price transparency for medical procedures and medications, causing health care costs to drop (38%) When asked, "What kind of impact do you believe changes in federal health care policy will have on your patients' ability to afford cancer care?" 66 percent of respondents said the impact would be negative; nine percent said positive; and 25 percent said the impact would be neutral. And, to the question, "To your knowledge, are your patients affected by health insurance policy and the possible repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act?" respondents answered: Yes, patients have expressed concern and demonstrated greater levels of distress (50%) Yes, patients have expressed concern but no evidence of health impact (21%) No, I have not seen any effects (29%) "President Trump included three key elements in his approach to health coverage reform: repairing necessary aspects of the ACA, ensuring greater access, and lowering the total cost of care," Dr. Carlson said. "We are ready to share our Network's expertise with lawmakers to deliver a value-based health policy to ensure that all Americans with cancer have access to high-quality, effective, and efficient cancer care." Below is a link to Dr. Carlson's March 21, 2017 letter to Congress outlining NCCN's concerns about the health policy proposal and patient access to care: https://www.nccn.org/professionals/meetings/oncology_policy_program/pdf/2017_NCCN_AHCA_Letter_Walden_03-22-2017.pdf For more information about NCCN's health care policy initiatives, visit NCCN.org/policy. About the National Comprehensive Cancer Network The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), a not-for-profit alliance of 27 of the world's leading cancer centers devoted to patient care, research, and education, is dedicated to improving the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of cancer care so that patients can live better lives. Through the leadership and expertise of clinical professionals at NCCN Member Institutions, NCCN develops resources that present valuable information to the numerous stakeholders in the health care delivery system. As the arbiter of high-quality cancer care, NCCN promotes the importance of continuous quality improvement and recognizes the significance of creating clinical practice guidelines appropriate for use by patients, clinicians, and other health care decision-makers. The NCCN Member Institutions are: Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, Omaha, NE; Case Comprehensive Cancer Center/University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center and Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland, OH; City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, CA; Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center | Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Boston, MA; Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, NC; Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA; Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT; Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center/Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Seattle, WA; The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD; Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, Chicago, IL; Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Phoenix/Scottsdale, AZ, Jacksonville, FL, and Rochester, MN; Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY; Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL; The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, Columbus, OH; Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY; Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO; St. Jude Children's Research Hospital/The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN; Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford, CA; University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center, Birmingham, AL; UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, La Jolla, CA; UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, San Francisco, CA; University of Colorado Cancer Center, Aurora, CO; University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ann Arbor, MI; The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX; University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, Madison, WI; Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, TN; and Yale Cancer Center/Smilow Cancer Hospital, New Haven, CT. Clinicians, visit NCCN.org. Patients and caregivers, visit NCCN.org/patients. Media, visit NCCN.org/news. Media Contact: Katie Kiley Brown, NCCN 215-690-0238 [email protected] SOURCE National Comprehensive Cancer Network Related Links http://www.nccn.org DELIVERANCE features six previously unreleased tracks: "Deliverance," "Man Opera," which includes a four-movement medley: "I Am," "Touch Me," "Sunrise Sunset," "No One Else;" and an extended version of "I Am." The songs were written and recorded when Prince was an independent artist, protesting what he saw as an unjust music industry. In the spirit of that independence, and in supporting Prince's opinion of major label contracts, DELIVERANCE is being released independently via RMA, a Vancouver, WA based record company. The majority of all sales of DELIVERANCE will benefit Prince's estate. Prince, and Ian Boxill (2Pac, Gladys Knight, Janet Jackson, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, multiple award winning Prince albums), co-wrote and co-produced all of the tracks beginning in 2006. After Prince's untimely passing, Boxill continued their work by spending the past year completing the compositions and arrangements, finishing the production and mixing the songs. Says Boxill, "I believe 'Deliverance' is a timely release with everything going on in the world today, and in light of the one-year anniversary of his passing. I hope when people hear Prince singing these songs it will bring comfort to many." He continues, "Prince once told me that he would go to bed every night thinking of ways to bypass major labels and get his music directly to the public. When considering how to release this important work, we decided to go independent because that's what Prince would have wanted." Prince is regarded one as of the most prolific and groundbreaking artists in modern music history. A worldwide Multi-Platinum selling artist, Prince was also a multiple time GRAMMY Award winner, American Music Award winner, Billboard Music Award winner, Academy Award winner, Golden Globe Award winner, BET Award winner, Soul Train Music Award winner, Brit Award winner, GRAMMY Hall of Fame winner, MTV Music Award winner, NAACP Image Award winner, and ASCAP Award winner, and more. About RMA: RMA (Rogue Music Alliance) is the brainchild of Gabriel Wilson and David Staley. As a production/marketing duo, Wilson and Staley have brought to market five Top 40 Billboard 200 Albums and several Billboard genre #1's (John Mark McMillan, Steffany Gretzinger, Lindy Conant, Bethel Music). Exhausted by many years of witnessing the old "record deal" model and its share-cropping ethos, Staley and Wilson formed RMA bent on creating a business model which provides "Equity for Artists." RMA's vision is to provide label-like services in a model which doesn't acquire, lock up, and own the work of artists, forever keeping them from owning the rights to their creative property, but rather seeks to create literal partnerships with artists in the joint venture of their work. RMA is a model in which the record label never makes more money from the artist's work than the artist does. RMA operates as a hub of label-esque services partnering with artists to form their own micro label, seeking to inspire other artists to step outside the status quo. For more information check out: Official website www.princerogersnelson.com Smartlink to purchase/stream -- https://rma.lnk.to/deliverancePR SOURCE RMA (Rogue Music Alliance) AURORA, Colo., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The testing of the Launch and Checkout System for the Global Positioning System Next-Generation Operational Control System, known as GPS OCX, scored high with a pass rate of 97.7 percent and is now transitioning from the Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) factory to Schriever Air Force Base. The LCS, which performs early orbit checkout, will next go through complete site-specific qualification and acceptance testing, including qualification and verification of the system's external interfaces and performance on the OCX hardware already installed at Schriever. Final cybersecurity checks and configuration audits will also be conducted. "This achievement moves the system a step closer to delivering enhanced GPS for millions of users worldwide," said Dave Wajsgras, president of Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services. "We remain confident in our path forward." The U.S. Air Force-led GPS Modernization Program will yield new positioning, navigation and timing capabilities for U.S. military and civilian users across the globe. Developed by Raytheon under contract to the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, GPS OCX is replacing the current GPS operational control system and will support the launch of the GPS III satellites. The new system will provide enhanced performance, the effective use of modern civil and military signals and secure information-sharing with unprecedented cyber protection. About Raytheon Raytheon Company, with 2016 sales of $24 billion and 63,000 employees, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government and cybersecurity solutions. With a history of innovation spanning 95 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration, C5I products and services, sensing, effects, and mission support for customers in more than 80 countries. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. Follow us on Twitter. Media Contacts Raytheon Michelle Lammers +1.720.858.5777 [email protected] SOURCE Raytheon Company Related Links http://www.raytheon.com EAST HANOVER, N.J., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Novartis today announced the publication of a study conducted by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) demonstrating that 58% of patients with treatment-naive severe aplastic anemia (SAA) achieved complete response at six months when treated with eltrombopag at the initiation of and concurrently with standard immunosuppressive treatment1. The study evaluated three sequential treatment groups, or cohorts. Cohort 3 added eltrombopag at the initiation of immunosuppressive therapy and showed a higher complete response rate than cohorts 1 and 2, where eltrombopag was initiated on day 14. The data is published in the latest issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. SAA is a rare and serious blood disorder in which a patient's bone marrow fails to make enough red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets2. As a result, people living with SAA may experience debilitating symptoms and complications, such as fatigue, trouble breathing, recurring infections and abnormal bruising or bleeding that can limit their daily activities2. The current standard of care includes immunosuppressive therapy (IST) or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. However, one-quarter to one-third of patients will not respond to IST and 30-40% of responders will relapse, causing symptoms to return3. "Our research in NEJM shows that eltrombopag plus standard immunosuppressive therapy appeared to increase the overall response rate and substantially increase the frequency, speed and robustness of hematologic recovery in patients with SAA compared to historical controls," said the study's lead author, Danielle Townsley, MD, researcher in the NHLBI. In the NIH study, the primary efficacy endpoint of complete response rate with eltrombopag plus standard immunosuppressive treatment at six months exceeded the historic rate (10%) across all three treatment cohorts (cohorts differed in length of eltrombopag administration; dose adjusted by age)1. Patients in cohort 1 received eltrombopag from day 14 to six months and achieved a complete response rate of 33%. The complete response was lowest in cohort 2 (26%), in which eltrombopag exposure was shortest (day 14 to three months). Furthermore, overall increases in platelet and neutrophil blood level counts were higher in comparison to the historic cohort, which is a key treatment goal for SAA1,4. The overall survival rate at a median follow-up of two years was 97% (95% CI, 94-100%) for all cohorts1. "We are committed to improving the care of people living with serious conditions over the long term, particularly those with few options and great unmet need," said Vasant Narasimhan, Global Head, Drug Development and Chief Medical Officer, Novartis. "Eltrombopag is the only thrombopoietin receptor agonist to be used in the second-line treatment of SAA, and these results from the NIH study now show its potential as a first-line treatment, which we look forward to discussing with health authorities." The study also looked at clonal evolution, which is a major complication of SAA (with potential for development of myelodysplastic syndrome and acute myeloid leukemia)1. As of May 25, 2016, the addition of eltrombopag did not increase the rate of clonal evolution and was not higher compared to historical data1,5,6,7. Clonal cytogenetic evolution occurred in 7 patients at 2 years (95% CI, 1-14%)1. The safety profile was consistent with the known safety profile of eltrombopag. Eltrombopag was briefly discontinued during the first two weeks in 7 patients who experienced transient liver enzyme elevations. Two severe adverse events, grade 2-3 cutaneous eruptions, were attributed to eltrombopag and required discontinuation of the drug. Adverse events not attributed to eltrombopag were due to neutropenic infections and known toxicities from immunosuppressive therapy7. One death occurred on study in a non-responding patient with thymoma three months following treatment, due to paraneoplastic encephalopathy1. NIH Study Design The Phase I-II, non-randomized study is being conducted by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. The primary analysis included 92 patients with treatment-naive severe aplastic anemia in three treatment cohorts, and nearly 80% of patients were over the age of 18. Eltrombopag was administered at 150 mg daily for patients 12 years or older, 75 mg daily for those 6 to 11 years, and 2.5 mg/kg/day for children 2 to 5 years. Duration of treatment with eltrombopag varied per cohort (cohort 1: day 14 to six months; cohort 2: day 14 to three months; cohort 3: day one to six months). ATG and cyclosporine were administered as standard immunosuppression therapy1. The study's primary efficacy endpoint was hematologic complete response at six months defined by absolute neutrophil count 1,000/l, hemoglobin 10 gm/dL, and platelets 100,000/l. Secondary endpoints included partial and overall hematologic responses at three months, six months, and yearly; survival; self-reported health outcomes; relapse, paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) and clonal evolution as defined by a new clonal cytogenetic abnormality or characteristic dysplastic or leukemic changes in marrow consistent with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) or acute myeloid leukemia (AML)1. About Eltrombopag Eltrombopag, marketed as Promacta in the US and Revolade in countries outside the US, is approved in more than 100 countries worldwide for the treatment of thrombocytopenia in adult patients with chronic immune (idiopathic) thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) who have had an inadequate response or are intolerant to other treatments, in over 45 countries worldwide for the treatment of patients with severe aplastic anemia (SAA) who are refractory to other treatments, and in more than 50 countries for the treatment of thrombocytopenia in patients with chronic hepatitis C to allow them to initiate and maintain interferon-based therapy. Eltrombopag is approved in the United States and in the European Union for the treatment of thrombocytopenia in pediatric patients 1 year and older with chronic immune (idiopathic) thrombocytopenia (ITP) who have had an insufficient response to corticosteroids, immunoglobulins, or splenectomy. Important Safety Information for Promacta (eltrombopag) Promacta can cause serious side effects, including liver problems, abnormal liver function tests, high platelet counts and higher risk for blood clots, and new or worsened cataracts (a clouding of the lens in the eye). For patients who have chronic hepatitis C virus and take Promacta with interferon and ribavirin treatment, Promacta may increase the risk of liver problems. Patients should tell a healthcare provider right away if they have any of these signs and symptoms of liver problems including yellowing of the skin or the whites of the eyes (jaundice), unusual darkening of the urine, unusual tiredness, right upper stomach area pain, confusion, swelling of the stomach area (abdomen). A healthcare provider will order blood tests to check the liver before starting Promacta and during Promacta treatment. In some cases, treatment with Promacta may need to be stopped due to changes in liver function tests. The risk of getting a blood clot is increased if the platelet count is too high during treatment with Promacta. The risk of getting a blood clot may also be increased during treatment with Promacta if platelet counts are normal or low. Some forms of blood clots, such as clots that travel to the lungs or that cause heart attacks or strokes can cause severe problems or death. A healthcare provider will check blood platelet counts, and change the dose of Promacta or stop Promacta, if platelet counts get too high. Patients should tell a healthcare provider right away if they have signs and symptoms of a blood clot in the leg, such as swelling, pain, or tenderness in the leg. People with chronic liver disease may be at risk for a type of blood clot in the stomach area. Patients should tell a healthcare provider right away if they have stomach area pain that may be a symptom of this type of blood clot. New or worsened cataracts have happened in people taking Promacta. A healthcare provider will check the patient's eyes before and during treatment with Promacta. Patients should tell a healthcare provider about any changes in eyesight while taking Promacta. Patients should tell a healthcare provider about all the medicines they take, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. Promacta may affect the way certain medicines work. Certain medicines may keep Promacta from working correctly. Patients should take Promacta at least 2 hours before or 4 hours after taking products such as antacids used to treat stomach ulcers or heartburn and multivitamins or products that contain iron, calcium, aluminum, magnesium, selenium, and zinc, which may be found in mineral supplements. Patients should ask a healthcare provider if they are not sure if the medicine is one that is listed above. Patients should avoid situations and medications that may increase the risk of bleeding while taking Promacta. The most common side effects of Promacta when used to treat chronic ITP in adults are: nausea; diarrhea; upper respiratory tract infection (symptoms may include runny nose, stuffy nose, and sneezing); vomiting; muscle aches; urinary tract infection (symptoms may include frequent or urgent need to urinate, low fever in some people, pain or burning with urination); pain or swelling (inflammation) in the throat or mouth (oropharyngeal pain and pharyngitis); abnormal liver function tests; back pain; flu-like symptoms (influenza), including fever, headache, tiredness, cough, sore throat, and body aches; skin tingling, itching, or burning; and rash. The most common side effects of Promacta in children 1 year and older when used to treat chronic ITP are: upper respiratory tract infections (symptoms may include runny nose, stuffy nose, and sneezing); pain or swelling (inflammation) in the nose and throat (nasopharyngitis); cough; diarrhea; pyrexia; runny, stuffy nose (rhinitis); stomach (abdominal) pain; pain or swelling (inflammation) in the throat or mouth; toothache; abnormal liver function tests; rash; runny nose (rhinorrhea). The most common side effects when Promacta is used in combination with other medicines to treat chronic HCV are: low red blood cell count (anemia); fever; tiredness; headache; nausea; diarrhea; decreased appetite; flu-like symptoms (influenza), including fever, headache, tiredness, cough, sore throat, and body aches; feeling weak; trouble sleeping; cough; itching; chills; muscle aches; hair loss; and swelling in the ankles, feet, and legs. The most common side effects of Promacta when used to treat severe aplastic anemia are: nausea, feeling tired, cough, diarrhea, headache, pain in arms, legs, hands or feet, shortness of breath, fever, dizziness, pain in nose or throat, abdominal pain, bruising, muscle spasms, abnormal liver function tests, joint pain, and runny nose. Laboratory tests may show abnormal changes to the cells in bone marrow. Please see full Prescribing Information, including Boxed WARNING and Medication Guide, for Promacta. Disclaimer The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified by words such as "will," "committed," "over the long term," "potential," "look forward," or similar terms, or by express or implied discussions regarding potential new indications or labeling for eltrombopag, or regarding potential future revenues from eltrombopag. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on the current beliefs and expectations of management regarding future events, and are subject to significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. There can be no guarantee that eltrombopag will be submitted or approved for any additional indications or labeling in any market, or at any particular time. Nor can there be any guarantee that eltrombopag will be commercially successful in the future. In particular, management's expectations regarding eltrombopag could be affected by, among other things, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, including clinical trial results and additional analysis of existing clinical data; regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; the company's ability to obtain or maintain proprietary intellectual property protection; general economic and industry conditions; global trends toward health care cost containment, including ongoing pricing pressures; safety, quality or manufacturing issues, and other risks and factors referred to in Novartis AG's current Form 20-F on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Novartis is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. About Novartis Located in East Hanover, NJ Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation is an affiliate of Novartis which provides innovative healthcare solutions that address the evolving needs of patients and societies. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis offers a diversified portfolio to best meet these needs: innovative medicines, cost-saving generic and biosimilar pharmaceuticals and eye care. Novartis has leading positions globally in each of these areas. In 2016, the Group achieved net sales of USD 48.5 billion, while R&D throughout the Group amounted to approximately USD 9.0 billion. Novartis Group companies employ approximately 118,000 full-time-equivalent associates. Novartis products are sold in approximately 155 countries around the world. For more information, please visit http://www.novartis.com. Novartis is on Twitter. Sign up to follow @Novartis at http://twitter.com/novartis and @NovartisCancer at http://twitter.com/novartiscancer For Novartis multimedia content, please visit www.novartis.com/news/media-library For questions about the site or required registration, please contact [email protected] References Townsley, D et al. Eltrombopag added to standard immunosuppression for aplastic anemia. The New England Journal of Medicine. 2017;376(16):1540-1550. Aplastic Anemia. U.S. National Institutes of Health website. U.S. National Institutes of Health. Web. 16 Feb 2017 . Townsley DM, Desmond R, Dunbar CE, et al. Pathophysiology and management of thrombocytopenia in bone marrow failure: possible clinical applications of TPO receptor agonists in aplastic anemia and myelodysplastic syndromes. Int J Hematology. 2013;98(1):48-55. Your Guide to Understanding Aplastic Anemia. Aplastic Anemia & MDS International Foundation. Web. 17 Feb 2017 . Kulasekararaj AG et al. Somatic mutations identify a subgroup of aplastic anemia patients who progress to myelodysplastic syndrome. Blood. 2014.124:2698-2704. Scheinberg P, Young NS. How I treat acquired aplastic anemia. Blood. 2012;120:1185-96. Townsley, D et al. Myeloid neoplasm gene somatic mutations in patients with severe aplastic anemia treated with eltrombopag and standard immunosuppression. Blood. 2016;128:727. Novartis Media Relations Central media line: +41 61 324 2200 E-mail: [email protected] SOURCE Novartis Sixteen nonprofit winners were invited to a celebration event at WCA. For one organization in particular, a surprise was in store. When Melissa Byrd found out she would receive the check for her foundation on April 7th, it was a bitter sweet moment. April 7th was also her son Jensen's birthday, who passed away in 2010 after battling a rare cancer known as neuroblastoma. After her son's passing, Melissa founded Jensen's Heart of a Gold to help provide financial relief to families whose children have been diagnosed with cancer. She and her family members have continued to gather and celebrate his birthday every year, but this year was going to be a little different. When they learned about the importance of the day, Wind Creek Atmore (WCA) team members decided to honor Jensen's memory in a huge way. "We were greeted by an amazing staff who had no doubt who we were. They had a table set up with balloons, decor and the biggest cake Jensen has ever had," Byrd said. "I am not sure any of these people can truly know what this means to me - to us!" Following the event, Jensen's family and friends along with WCA team members wrote birthday wishes to Jensen on paper lanterns and released them into in the night sky from the amphitheater. The celebration continued in Montgomery where Wind Creek Montgomery and Wind Creek Wetumpka presented nine winning nonprofits with $5,000 each. For Elmore County 4-H, the money guarantees new programs and resources such as an outdoor classroom and career exploration field trips. The mission of 4-H is to help "young people from rural and urban areas explore their interests and expand their awareness of our world while providing opportunities to develop a greater sense of who they are and who they can become" While its most popular programs teach outdoor skills like archery and sportsmanship, other programs focus on S.T.E.A.M. fields (science, technology, engineering, art and math). Programs also teach leadership, goal-setting and healthy living. Laurie Weldon, Regional Extension Agent, is working with the group to launch a new in-school yoga class for students. "It has been proven that yoga helps youth make clearer decisions and learn how to deal with their emotions," Weldon said. Through activities and experiences Elmore County 4-H equips students from all backgrounds to dream more and achieve more. County Extension Coordinator, Katrina Mitchell explained, "[4-H] is more than cows, sows and plows. We try to bring the youth in to things they are interested in so they can make a difference for the future." For each of the winning nonprofits, a share of $125,000 means more lives will be changed for the better. Some lives will be changed through education and awareness; others will be changed through services and programs. A common link between each of Wind Creek's $125k Giveaway winners is that, no matter the method, they make communities a better place to live today and tomorrow. To see the full list of nonprofit winners along with their video entries and photos, visit: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/51a54pijb5e1tqp/AABoP5H3lJps3iknYnQFCAkFa?dl=0 About Wind Creek Hospitality Wind Creek Hospitality is an authority of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians. Wind Creek Hospitality manages the Tribe's gaming facilities including: Wind Creek Atmore, Wind Creek Wetumpka, Wind Creek Montgomery, and WaSheShu Casino, Reno, Nevada as well as multiple racetracks in Alabama and Florida. The Poarch Creek Indians are descendants of a segment of the original Creek Nation, which once covered almost all of Alabama and Georgia. Unlike many eastern Indian tribes, the Poarch Creeks were not removed from their tribal lands and have lived together for almost 200 years in and around the reservation in Poarch, Alabama. The reservation is located eight miles northwest of Atmore, Alabama, in rural Escambia County, and 57 miles east of Mobile. The Poarch Band of Creek Indians is the only federally recognized Indian Tribe in the state of Alabama, operating as a sovereign nation with its own system of government and bylaws. The Tribe operates a variety of economic enterprises, which employ hundreds of area residents. SOURCE Wind Creek Hospitality Related Links http://www.windcreekhospitality.com PASSAIC, N.J., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, the Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters (NRCC) will officially endorse Passaic Mayor Hector C. Lora and the members of Team Passaic in the May 9th election. Team Passaic includes: Mayor Lora, Horacio Carrera, Arthur Soto, Christina Shratz and Danny Rodriguez. The endorsement event will be held on Wednesday April 19th at 4:30 PM at the campaign headquarters in Passaic (920 Main Street, Passaic, New Jersey). Attendees include leaders and members of the NRCC, Team Passaic and the general public. John Ballantyne, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the NRCC, stands by Lora as he runs for Mayor. "The NRCC is proudly supporting Lora and Team Passaic during the campaign because of their continued fight for project labor agreements, ensuring area standard wages and upholding the Davis Bacon Act, which are all key issues that remain important to union workers," said Ballantyne. "Now more than ever, we need political leaders who will defend the middle class and its workers." We know that Mayor-elect Lora will fight for the community." About the NRCC: The Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters (NRCC) represents thousands of hard-working men and women throughout the states of Delaware and New Jersey, plus regions in Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania, making it one of the largest trade unions on the East Coast. The NRCC equips professional craftsmen with the skills that are demanded in today's construction industry. Its regional structure ensures that the organization can work cooperatively with contractors and maintain the superior quality of workmanship that contractors have come to expect from union carpenters. For more information about the NRCC please visit: http://www.northeastcarpenters.org SOURCE Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters (NRCC) Related Links http://www.northeastcarpenters.org WASHINGTON, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Arizona House of Representatives issued a Proclamation urging the U.S. Government to "confront the main source of international terrorism sponsored by the Government of Iran and designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization." The Organization of Iranian American Communities U.S. (OIAC), particularly its members in Arizona, welcome and applaud the Proclamation issued by the House of Representatives in Arizona. The Proclamation outlines the bloody history of IRGC and its crimes against the people of Iran, its role behind the "Chain Killings" during the 1990's and its extensive terror training centers and network across Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Lebanon based on "detailed information released by the Iranian opposition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran in February 2017." Moreover, OAIC calls out the Proclamation's reference to the IRGC's role in "continued engagement in terrorism has had a direct impact on undermining international efforts to promote peace, economic stability in the Persian Gulf, and the growth of democracythe ongoing slaughter of the people of Syria as it maintains support for, and seeks to preserve, the regime of Bashar al-Assad, which is responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of displaced citizens of Syria." We fully support the position of Senator John McCain, Chairman of Senate Armed Services Committee who said the Iranian regime, Bashar Al-Assad and ISIS were all interrelated and could not be dealt with separately. He underscored the need to remove Assad from power and to confront the Iranian regime's destructive role in Syria and Iraq. Members of OIAC in Arizona and across the nation view the Proclamation by Arizona's House of Representatives as the stepping stone for the right policy on Iran and the entire region. OIAC-US is the largest, most active, all volunteers, and enduring grass root organization of Iranian-Americans with local chapters in 40 states. Its members have a range of political and party affiliations but unified in the belief that democracy and human rights in Iran, are imperative to the national security of America and peace in the Middle East and beyond. SOURCE Organization of Iranian American Communities - U.S. (OIAC) NEW YORK, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- OnDeck (NYSE:ONDK), the leader in online lending for small business, announced today that it will report financial results for the first quarter of 2017 on Monday, May 8, 2017, at approximately 7:00 a.m. ET. The company will host a conference call to discuss the results at 8:00 a.m. ET that same day. The event will be webcast live on the company's Investor Relations website or can be accessed toll free by dialing (877) 201-0168 for calls within the U.S., or by dialing (647) 788-4901 for international calls, and using conference ID 10769600. A replay of the conference call will be available via webcast on the company's Investor Relations website for 90 days following the event. About OnDeck OnDeck (NYSE: ONDK) is the leader in online small business lending. Since 2007, the company has powered Main Street's growth through advanced lending technology and a constant dedication to customer service. OnDeck's proprietary credit scoring system - the OnDeck Score - leverages advanced analytics, enabling OnDeck to make real-time lending decisions and deliver capital to small businesses in as little as 24 hours. OnDeck offers business owners a complete financing solution, including the online lending industry's widest range of term loans and lines of credit. To date, the company has deployed over $6 billion to more than 60,000 customers in 700 different industries across the United States, Canada and Australia. OnDeck has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and operates the educational small business financing website BusinessLoans.com. For more information, please visit www.ondeck.com. Investor Contact Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher Tim Lynch, Ed Trissel, Matthew Gross 212.355.4449 [email protected] Media Contact: Jim Larkin 646.553.2498 [email protected] OnDeck, the OnDeck logo and OnDeck Score are trademarks of On Deck Capital, Inc. SOURCE On Deck Capital, Inc. A selection of the Oregrown harvest will be available exclusively in select stores across Oregon, including the Oregrown flagship store in Bend, TJ's Dispensaries and Eugene OG in Eugene, Alternative Remedies in Portland, and Hotbox Farms in Huntington. Oregrown co-founder and head cultivator Justin Crawn has been collecting the company's cannabis genetics lineup for years. "We can never keep up with demand for our flower," Crawn said. "It's an incredible feeling to see our passion shine through in these beautiful plants." Oregrown's 4/20 event will be bigger and better than ever this year, Hadar said. "4/20 events are gaining importance globally, and especially in states like Oregon as we move further away from the failed policies of prohibition," Hadar said. "It's a time to reflect on how far we have come, and to celebrate the bounty of the legal, regulated market we now enjoy." Thursday's 21-and-over event kicks off in the morning at the Oregrown store at 1199 NW Wall Street with music, games, prizes and special discounts all day, along with special appearances from Oregrown athletes. Vendor exhibits and booths from Lunchbox Alchemy, Deschutes Growery, O.PenVape and SunGod Medicinals will be on display alongside Oregrown's own event booths and famed Prize Wheel. Dump City Dumplings -- a favorite local food cart -- will be on site serving up goodies. Mocktails and other catered food will be available as well. In the evening, the party moves up the street to Crow's Feet Commons at 875 NW Brooks where Oregrown will present a free, all-ages performance by local funk heroes Elektrapod at 7p.m. PFriem Family Brewers will be on site with four taps of beer, along with Dump City Dumplings and more delicious food. "Bring your dancing shoes!" Hadar said. Hadar and Crawn said the party is Oregrown's way of saying "Thank you." "We are so grateful for the continued love and support from our community in Bend and beyond," Hadar said. "Growing world-class cannabis right here in Bend, and sharing it with our friends and neighbors is our American Dream come true." Oregrown is Oregon's premier farm-to-table cannabis company, garnering back-to-back awards for Central Oregon's Best Dispensary at its flagship store at 1199 NW Wall Street in beautiful downtown Bend. Offering an upscale retail experience with an amazing staff and high-end products including solventless extractions and one-of-a-kind cultivars, Oregrown continues to innovate, develop and release world-class offerings, delivery methods and applications for medical and recreational marijuana customers. Contact: Karynn Fish, Oregrown Industries (971) 264-9067 [email protected] SOURCE Oregrown Industries Related Links http://oregrown.com BOCA RATON, Fla., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- PartsBase, the world's largest and most comprehensive online aviation, aerospace and defense marketplace, announces today the launch of a new tradeshow aimed at expanding relationships between buyers and sellers in the aviation parts procurement industry, while incorporating ecommerce and technology business related solutions. PBExpo (PBX) will be held May 16 17, 2018 at the Greater Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, FL. PBExpo is an open venue to all companies who buy, sell, manufacture or repair aircraft parts, or those involved in B2B or B2C ecommerce and technology solutions. The event begins May 16, 2018 with a keynote presentation focusing on emerging industry trends. For two days, attendees will have the opportunity to visit the PBExpo exhibit hall featuring buyers, sellers, repair facilities, manufacturers and other ecommerce and IT solution companies. Educational seminars will be a highlight both days of the show featuring several tracks, including Industry, IT/Ecommerce and PartsBase User presentations. In addition, several networking events will give exhibitors and attendees valuable opportunities to meet face-to-face. PBExpo will also feature seminars and exhibitors focused on IT and ecommerce business solutions. The addition of these exhibitors and seminars will give the traditional PartsBase online reseller attendees advanced knowledge and insights to improve their current business practices and resources to build their online marketplaces. IT and ecommerce seminar topics will include payment options, escrow services, merchant services, website building and enhancement, ecommerce solutions, and web-based communication tools. "PBExpo is an exciting addition to the PartsBase product portfolio and the aviation parts procurement industry," said Robert Ross, Vice President of Sales for PartsBase. "At PartsBase, we constantly focus on creating the maximum value and highest return for our members on all of our products. While the current online platform provides a virtual resource for buying and selling aircraft parts, we understand face-to-face business interaction is absolutely vital for building long-term business relationships. Creating an industry-wide tradeshow, unsegregated by niche or specialty audience, is a tremendous benefit for our members and the industry. Incorporating ecommerce and technology solutions will offer additional ways our members can maximize their online investment and provide new resources to expand their business enterprise." PartsBase members will have the opportunity to participate in several members-only educational seminars, aimed at providing a deeper look into the platform and educating current members on additional investment maximizing features. PartsBase delegates will be available throughout the event for members to provide feedback on the current site, offer suggestions for future improvements and get a first-look at new features. For more information, please contact: Jenni Rosenthal, Director of Events [email protected] www.pbexpo.org About PartsBase, Inc. PartsBase is the world's leader in internet-based part locator services. Our online community includes more than 7,500 companies and 30,000 end-users in the aviation, defense, and aerospace industries. Our service provides the perfect opportunity for suppliers, distributors, and service providers to reach the most targeted audience in the industry. PartsBase offers complete marketing and digital advertising opportunities to reach aviation and aerospace professionals and enthusiasts while they're in buy and search mode. Access to members in all facets of the aviation parts business, including major airlines, FBOs, OEMs, distributors, surplus dealers, brokers, military defense centers, charter operations, and MRO stations. In addition, our online community is continually growing as new members join the PartsBase family of aviation and aerospace professionals each day. For more information, please visit www.partsbase.com Socialize with PartsBase. Twitter. Follow @Partsbase Facebook. Like PartsBase LinkedIn. Follow PartsBase About PBExpo PBExpo is the only interactive environment that integrates the aviation, aerospace and defense industries with technology and ecommerce solutions. PBExpo will be hosted May 16 17, 2018 at the Greater Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, FL. For more information, please visit www.pbexpo.org Socialize with PBExpo. Twitter. Follow @PBExpo18 Facebook. Like PBExpo LinkedIn. Follow PBExpo SOURCE PartsBase Related Links http://www.partsbase.com PHILADELPHIA, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- TechPats, the world's leading full-service IP consulting firm, has announced that it has hired William (Will) O'Donnell to the newly created position of Vice President of Corporate Strategy. Based in the company's Philadelphia headquarters, Mr. O'Donnell will be focusing on the continued expansion of client services which includes providing market research and financial valuations for use in patent licensing and litigations. In addition, Mr. O'Donnell will be assisting in providing strategic advisory services, including M&A consulting, portfolio valuations, and other transactional based IP services. "Will joins TechPats at a very exciting time for our company," states Chris Wichser, CEO of TechPats. "The growth trajectory of our company will be further enhanced with the addition of Will and the deep level of IP management experience he brings to our team and our clients. We view his appointment as a sign of our continued commitment to being a leader in our industry." Most recently, Will served as the Director of Corporate Strategy at Newracom, a leading developer of next generation wireless technology. Prior to that, he served as Director of Business and Market Research at Conversant IP Management and led patent licensing valuations and competitive intelligence for InterDigital Communications. "I have always had high level of admiration for TechPats and the deep level of patent expertise the company brings to its clients," commented Mr. O'Donnell. "I look forward to working with the TechPats team to further develop their already extensive suite of IP services and in continuing to support the company's 200+ clients in their continued growth and success." About TechPats TechPats is the world's leading full-service IP consulting firm. We bring together patent expertise, technical excellence, and business acumen across a wide range of markets and technologies. We form strong partnerships with our clients, empowering them to grow their businesses, protect and profit from their IP assets, and strategically position themselves for the future. With veteran IP talent and reverse engineering specialists, we have helped countless operating companies and law firms maximize all phases of their IP endeavors. Founded in 1998, we have nearly 20 years' experience analyzing global trends in innovation. With offices in Philadelphia, Ottawa, San Francisco, Tokyo, and Taipei, we are well positioned to assist our clients to develop, protect, and monetize patent portfolios with efficiency & precision. SOURCE TechPats WASHINGTON, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Abram's Bed LLC, doing business as The Safety Sleeper, has been named Small Business Exporter of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration. The Pittsburgh-based company will be officially recognized during National Small Business Week, an annual event honoring the accomplishments and contributions of the best small businesses in the nation. The award will be presented by SBA Administrator Linda McMahon on May 1, during a luncheon held at the U.S. Institute of Peace, in Washington, D.C. Rose Morris, Abram's Bed LLC's president and inventor of The Safety Sleeper, will receive the award on behalf of her company. A mother of three, Morris struggled with finding solutions to protect her middle son Abram, who is on the autism spectrum, as he faced nights of fitful and erratic sleep. Her determination to help her then toddler-aged son lead a healthy life was the inspiration to invent The Safety Sleeper, a lightweight tent-like structure that is placed on top of the bed, and includes padding and an air mattress. Morris established Abram's Bed LLC in 2009. The business grew, thanks to counseling from the local SCORE and the Small Business Development Center at Duquesne University. The Safety Sleeper underwent design modifications done by engineering students at the University of Pittsburgh, and now offers additional features such as an extra safety zipper system, an enclosed mattress to protect against entrapment, fire retardant material, stabilizing straps to prevent tipping, and frame pads. By 2016, the company had reached the $1 million sales mark. The Safety Sleeper is now exported to 12 countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. U.S. exports are important to the nation's economy, and 98 percent of all exporters are small businesses. The SBA's export loan programs help American small businesses reach customers in the global market and compete on an equal footing in countries around the world. During fiscal year 2016, the SBA had another record year guaranteeing more than 1,800 loans to small business exporters, resulting in more than $1.5 billion in financing and over $3 billion in U.S. exports. Each year since 1963, the president has issued a proclamation calling for the celebration of National Small Business Week. This year National Small Business Week will be recognized April 30 May 6, with events planned in Washington, D.C., New York City, Indianapolis, Dallas and Fresno, California. For more information on the national events, visit www.sba.gov/nsbw. About the U.S. Small Business Administration The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) was created in 1953 and since January 13, 2012, has served as a Cabinet-level agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns, to preserve free competitive enterprise and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy of our nation. The SBA helps Americans start, build and grow businesses. Through an extensive network of field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations, the SBA delivers its services to people throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam. Visit the website at www.sba.gov. Contact: Carol Chastang (202) 205-6987 Internet Address: http://www.sba.gov/news Follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Blogs Release Number: 17-22 SOURCE U.S. Small Business Administration Related Links http://www.sba.gov TAMPA, Fla., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Patients in need of immediate response to their healthcare needs now have a much-needed option. The Habana Ambulatory Surgery Center, owned by Physician Partners of America, hosted the Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce for a ribbon cutting ceremony on March 15. The state-of-the-art facility is equipped with surgical and diagnostic equipment that can be utilized for a wide variety of patient procedures. Surgeons are now able to perform various outpatient procedures such as general surgery, interventional pain, orthopedics and more. The neighboring Florida Pain Relief Group clinic provides patients the option of same day appointments providing convenience and immediate relief of many forms of pain. Habana Ambulatory Surgery Center works closely with pain management physicians and other specialties in order to provide patient education, high-quality health care, and a positive patient experience. For more information or to schedule an appointment: Please visit www.FloridaPainReliefGroup.com or call 1-844-542-5724 (844-KICK-PAIN) to schedule an appointment. About PPOA: Physician Partners of America (PPOA) is a national healthcare organization focused on strengthening the doctor-patient relationship and improving patient outcomes. PPOA, and their affiliates; Florida Pain Relief Group, Texas Pain Relief Group, Texas Foot and Ankle Group, Urgent Care of Florida, Texas Orthopedic Group, Florida Orthopedic Group, and National Medical Practices, all share a common vision to ensure the well-being of patients and provide their physician partners the opportunity to focus on the practice of medicine. This model allows physicians to be physicians, caring about patients and their needs versus the ever complex administrative requirements. For more information about Physician Partners of America, visit http://physicianpartnersofamerica.com/florida-pain-relief-group/. For more information, contact: Diana Petrik, Universal Media Group 214.347.7803 [email protected] This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com SOURCE Florida Pain Relief Group Related Links http://www.FloridaPainReliefGroup.com (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/491831/PolyU_Research_Facility_3D_Printing.jpg ) With an area of 620 square metres and more than 50 sets of 3D printers for different functions and materials, the URF in 3D Printing provides state-of-the-art 3D printing facilities which will help the followings: Teaching and learning: enabling students to realise ideas and concepts into physical models Research and development: developing new structures, new materials, devices and sensors Knowledge transfer: collaborating with a wide variety of industries for product innovation Innovation and creativity: personalizing designs, materializing concepts and designs The U3DP is expected to help faculty members and students excel in their teaching and learning, research and innovation with the aid of 3D printing technologies. With the full range of technologies from 3D scanning, computer aided-design modelling to printing, and the full range of materials including metal, plastic, biocompatible resin, silver ink and graphene, resulting in multi-material and multi-colour output, the imagination of faculty members and students can be unleashed, with their innovations, designs and prototypes materialized easily. At the Opening Ceremony today, Mr Chan Tze-ching, PolyU Council Chairman remarked, "The U3DP will provide an innovative and inspirational environment for faculty members and students to make the best use of their capability in innovation and creativity. It will also help strengthen industry-PolyU collaboration through research and consultancy." Officiating at the Opening Ceremony, Professor John Leong Chi-yan, Chairman of Hospital Authority said the collaboration between the PolyU and Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) is a good example of how local talents get together to improve the quality of medical care in Hong Kong. "We are proud to see the Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) Simulation Model unveiled today, it is a made-in-Hong Kong technology that benefits our patients and help train our doctors. PolyU is one of the pioneers in developing 3D printing technology on health care, while the QEH simulation training experts and cardiologists have made much effort and contribution over the years in training doctors with ultra-high operative skills before they walk in the operation theater to conduct complicated surgical procedures. It is encouraging to see the two great teams work together, I look forward to seeing more collaboration of such kind in the future," Professor Leong said. The Queen Elizabeth Hospital has teamed up with PolyU to support the training for medical staff through the collaborative development of a 3D printed simulation training model mimicking the real clinical procedure, with a view to enhancing the quality of healthcare service for the community. As the Government pledges to support the development of Industry 4.0, the U3DP in 3D printing will certainly be a key player in the process, enabling and facilitating the research of many new initiatives. Press Contact Professor Hau-chung Man Director of University Research Facility in 3D Printing, PolyU Telephone : +852-2766-6629 E-mail : [email protected] SOURCE The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) CHICAGO, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Susan G. Komen Chicago is announcing its More than Pink Heroes who are being honored for their bravery and compassion, in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Mother's Day Race for the Cure Presented by Presence Health: where cancer treatment becomes cancer care. The iconic 5K Fun Run/Walk will be held May 14 and has been moved to a new lakefront location, Montrose Harbor, for the grand anniversary celebration. Melinda Linas, 41, is a mother of two young children and a Sergeant in the Chicago Police Department who is currently fighting breast cancer. She is being honored as a More than Pink Hero in Komen Chicago's Mother's Day Race for the Cure Presented by Presence Health, which takes place May 14 at Montrose Harbor. Komen Chicago is honoring Heroes for their bravery and compassion, in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Race for the Cure. Komen Chicago is thrilled to have Jon Seda, formerly a star of NBC's "Chicago PD" and currently on "Chicago Justice," as the celebrity guest of honor and a More than Pink Hero. "He's the perfect choice, as he plays a hero on TV and is Komen's real-life hero, thanks to his commitment to Race for the Cure," says Bonnie Gordon, Komen Chicago executive director. Seda is being recognized along with other activists, caregivers and those who have lost loved ones or faced the disease themselves. This includes Chicago Police Lieutenant Jessica Jones, 39, and Chicago Police Sergeant Melinda Linas, 41. Both are mothers of young children and are fighting breast cancer. As real-life police heroes, Jones and Linas are thrilled to join TV police hero Seda to help Komen achieve its goal of reducing breast cancer deaths by 50 percent in the U.S. by 2026. Another Hero being honored is Kathy Webb, founder of Komen Chicago 20 years ago and now a breast cancer survivor. The More than Pink Heroes, this year sponsored by Presence Health for the first time, will be honored on Race Day during the Survivor Parade. Gordon says she's thankful and excited about the significant presenting sponsorship support from Presence Health, which will help Komen Chicago provide screenings for those who can't otherwise afford them and empower people with knowledge. "More than 1,000 Chicago-area women and men die each year from breast cancer, and there's a large disparity in the city, with the mortality rate of African-American women being 40 percent higher than white women," she says. "Funds raised through Race for the Cure will help close this gap." "Komen Chicago shares the Presence Health mission of compassionate care to save lives, and many of our patients at Presence Saints Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center have benefitted from health services made possible by Komen grants. This wonderful event also creates further awareness regarding the new Cancer and Specialty Care Center at Presence Saints Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center, serving many in need of cancer care and treatment on Chicago's West and North sides where previously there was a cancer care desert," says Michael Englehart, president and CEO of Presence Health. "We are proud to partner with Komen and sponsor Race for the Cure and the More than Pink Heroes, helping to make this one of the most successful events ever and to have a truly positive impact on the lives of many." At the event's Presence Health tent, public and participants will have the opportunity to learn more about Presence Health's oncological care and treatment programs, and how they can sign up for mammography testing. Presence Health physical therapists also will be available to provide information on injury prevention and orthopedic care. Registration is open at www.KomenChicago.org. Participants are asked to raise at least $180, the average mammogram cost. Participants who donate a minimum of $180 will be part of the national Pink Cape Campaign and receive a cape for the Race, plus enjoy brunch at the Hero Cafe. Registration fees are adults $40, survivors $35 and kids $25 (four/under free). The Run/Walk starts at 9 a.m., program begins at 8. This year's Race includes an optional Shades of Pink Powder Path. About Presence Health Presence Health is the largest Catholic health system in Illinois, serving over 4 million people in 11 counties. With over 150 sites of compassionate care including 12 hospitals, over 17,000 associates and more than 4,000 medical professionals, Presence Health has annual revenue of $2.6 billion. MEDIA CONTACT: MICHELLE MEKKY, [email protected], 312-305-0181 WWW.KOMENCHICAGO.ORG PRESENCE HEALTH CONTACT: ROBERT SCAROLA, [email protected], 312-308-3373 WWW.PRESENCEHEALTH.ORG SOURCE Komen Chicago Related Links http://www.KomenChicago.org NEW YORK, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Below are experts from the ProfNet network who are available to discuss timely issues in your coverage area. You can also submit a query to the hundreds of thousands of experts in our network it's easy and free! Just fill out the query form to get started: http://prn.to/queryform EXPERT ALERTS Dispute Over 'Fearless Girl' and 'Charging Bull' Statues Supreme Court: Trinity Lutheran v. Pauley Relationship-Building Between Law Enforcement and the Community The Increased Strain on Law Enforcement The Future of Learning is Personal Preparing College Students for Life After Graduation Liberal Arts Education in the World of STEM MEDIA JOBS Reporter, Energy Policy / EPA The Wall Street Journal Market Reporter ICIS Reporter The Bond Buyer OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES How to Create Viral Content That Wants to Be Shared in 6 Steps Freelancers: Don't Make These Five Mistakes That Kill Your Credibility Blog Profiles: Librarian Blogs ------------------------------------------------------------------- EXPERT ALERTS: Dispute Over 'Fearless Girl' and 'Charging Bull' Statues Kevin L Smith Dean of Libraries, University of Kansas University of Kansas Smith can discuss the dispute over the "Fearless Girl" and "Charging Bull" statues in New York, the associated copyrights for each, copyright law and intellectual property: "This case is especially interesting since it involves a relatively new provision of the copyright act, the Visual Artists' Rights Act of 1990, which secures some specific 'moral rights' for a limited group of visual artists. Interpretation of VARA has been difficult for the courts, and this case could really push on the issue of what a right of integrity, not recognized in any other part of U.S. copyright law, really entails. How much, we might ask, should an artist be able to control the meaning of his or her own work?" Contact: Mike Krings, [email protected] Supreme Court: Trinity Lutheran v. Pauley Daniel Conkle Professor Indiana University's Maurer School of Law "The Supreme Court in recent decades has moved steadily toward a 'neutrality' understanding of the First Amendment's Establishment Clauses. Under this approach, the government generally is free to include religious organizations in otherwise general programs of funding, for example, through voucher programs for private schools. At the same time, in the interest of federalism, the Court has permitted states, applying state constitutional law, to enforce a stricter separation of church and state. Missouri has denied funding for the church playground based upon a state constitutional provision. But by denying the funding the state has effectively discriminated against church-sponsored daycares, presenting the question of whether the state constitutional provision itself violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment," says Conkle. "The question is whether the First Amendment requires neutrality between religious and nonreligious organizations, and if so, then the state constitutional provision will have to give way. Many state constitutions include provisions similar to Missouri's, so as a result, the Court's decision could have broad implications." Conkle is available to comment on the oral arguments in Trinity Lutheran v. Pauley (4/19). According to Conkle, the case raises important issues, not only about church-state separation, but also about federalism and the intersection of state and federal constitutional law. An expert on the intersection of constitutional law and religion, Conkle is the author of Constitutional Law: The Religion Clauses, which provides a theoretical and conceptual framework for understanding and evaluating the components of the Supreme Court's constitutional doctrine. His research addresses constitutional law and theory, religious liberty and the role of religion in American law, politics and public life. Conkle is also a Nelson Poynter Scholar at the Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions. Bio: http://www.law.indiana.edu/about/people/bio.php?name=conkle-daniel-o Website: http://www.law.indiana.edu Contact: Kemba Neptune, [email protected] Relationship-Building Between Law Enforcement and the Community Bill Cassell Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice Campbellsville University Campbellsville, KY The importance of fostering understanding between police departments and the communities they serve through pro-active education and relationship building has never been more apparent. Says Cassell: "Community policing is an essential step in building trust between local departments and the communities they serve. In light of today's divisive political environment pro-active outreach is a necessary relationship building step. Unfortunately, race relations and secure communities have been in the spotlight lately. No strategy that encourages officers to target certain racial or ethnic groups is going to turn out to be positive in today's culture. Local cooperation, mutual respect and education about use of force policies are key to increasing understanding of not only police work but of each other." Cassell is a retired law enforcement and chief of police, with over two decades of experience, most of which spent teaching others. In his role as manager at the Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice he planned, implemented and managed instructors for all law enforcement officer trainings across the state. Cassell has numerous certifications, in topics such as situational leadership, ethics, and community vulnerability assessment methodology. In addition to these topics he is available to discuss ethics in policing, leadership and communications training, and the role of social media and technology in police departments. Contact: Jessica Brown, [email protected] The Increased Strain on Law Enforcement Dr. Walter E. Stroupe Chair & Graduate Coordinator, Criminal Justice Department at West Virginia State University West Virginia State University Charleston, WV The current challenges and controversies surrounding law enforcement departments include issues related to officer shortage, inadequate agency budgets, and public policy impacting state and local police departments. Says Dr. Stroupe: "Lost in our national conversation over policing is that America's social services are coming under an enormous amount of stress. We are seeing increased burnout and retirements across the spectrum, from child protective service workers and teachers to emergency responders, and it has been up to law enforcement to pick up the slack without increased budgets and staff. These new roles in policing are leading to departments stretched thin, funding shortages, and an overall inability to improve services. What law enforcement agencies across the country need now are more dedicated funds so that they can effectively adjust to new responsibilities, recruit better officers, and implement long-term strategies for their communities." Dr. Stroupe has over 20 years of law enforcement experience, including as a state Field Trooper, First Lieutenant, and retiring as the Assistant Director of Training at the West Virginia State Police Academy. He has been involved in developing and instructing criminal justice curriculum, including classes in race and gendered issues, domestic terrorism, sex crimes, and community oriented policing. Contact: Michael Timberlake, [email protected] The Future of Learning is Personal Dr. Mickey Blackwell Assistant Professor and Graduate Program Coordinator, Department of Education West Virginia State University Charleston, WV With advancements in the use of technology and student data in the classroom, personalized education initiatives are the future. Says Dr. Blackwell "Personalized learning is where we are all headed. Soon every child will have their own plans, tailored tests, and teachers will know in real-time how that student is performing. It will be up to teachers, with the help of their administrators, to craft new materials, exercises, and tasks that can bring out the best in their students. Plus with the right support, states and districts can that embrace this learning revolution and will be better equipped to understand the strengths and weaknesses of their students and what teachers need to be successful in the classroom. This is an immense challenge for the education system, but it will pay endless dividends if fully supported by teachers, policymakers, and parents." Dr. Blackwell has over 30 years of experience in teaching and school administration, including serving as superintendent and principal at multiple schools, and currently is the executive director for the West Virginia Association for Elementary and Middle School Principals. Dr. Blackwell can speak to developing district-based curriculum goals and related staff development and staff, as well as the impact of public policy on state public school educators and school administrators. Contact: Michael Timberlake, [email protected] Preparing College Students for Life After Graduation Marjorie Silverman Chair and Associate Professor, Department of Internship Studies FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) State University of New York New York, NY The transition of college students to the working world can be extremely challenging and stressful. Says Silverman: "The pressure on college students is at a dangerous level. Student debt, academic demands and a highly competitive job market leave college students overwhelmed, overstressed and exhausted. It has never been more urgent for higher education institutions to provide real-life experiential education that prepares the student for life after graduation." Working with leading employers in multiple industries, her areas of concentration include engaging students in an increasingly distracted world, expanding opportunities and commitments for non-traditional age students and innovative experiential educational programming. Silverman holds an M.A.in Organizational Psychology/Leadership from Columbia University. Contact: Ken Ferber, [email protected] Liberal Arts Education in the World of STEM David Harrity English Professor, School of Arts and Sciences Campbellsville University Campbellsville, KY "We continually hear about the important role STEM education plays in regards to job opportunities. I argue that the movement toward pragmatic STEM education is creating a loss in the way people approach debate, communication and creativity. I see STEM degrees and liberal arts degrees as equally important. The ability to express differing opinions and take part in active listening is becoming an increasingly important skill needed to be effective in our deeply divided communities today. The philosophy behind a liberal arts education is for students to be exposed to challenging and thought provoking ideas. If we are truly committed to seeing the next generation succeed, we need to place equal value on both STEM and liberal arts education." An established writer, Professor Harrity has authored a number of books focused on poetry and imagination's connection to theology. In addition to the creative writing process, Harrity can discuss the positive and negative links between social media and human connection as well as the cultural shift toward enhanced self-selection which means people are no longer forced to process information that is difficult, emotional or uncomfortable. Contact: Jessica Brown, [email protected] **************** MEDIA JOBS: Following are links to job listings for staff and freelance writers, editors and producers. You can view these and more job listings on our Job Board: https://prnmedia.prnewswire.com/community/jobs/ Reporter, Energy Policy / EPA The Wall Street Journal Market Reporter ICIS Reporter The Bond Buyer ***************** OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES: Following are links to other news and resources we think you might find useful. If you have an item you think other reporters would be interested in and would like us to include in a future alert, please drop us a line at [email protected] HOW TO CREATE VIRAL CONTENT THAT WANTS TO BE SHARED IN 6 STEPS. You know the feeling: You see something on Facebook, Twitter, or Snapchat that you must share with friends. But what if you're on the other side of the coin, figuring out how to create content that people will want to share? How do you make something readers will want to put on their timelines? http://bit.ly/2pqS9Ao FREELANCERS: DON'T MAKE THESE 5 MISTAKES THAT KILL YOUR CREDIBILITY. The life of a freelancer can be exhilarating and full of surprises, but this career path is not without challenges. It's important to be aware and prepared once these challenges present themselves. Here are five credibility killers, and the steps you should take to tackle them: http://bit.ly/2pd9kT8 BLOG PROFILES: LIBRARIAN BLOGS. Each week, PR Newswire's Audience Relations team selects an industry/subject and looks at a handful of sites that do a good job with promoting and contributing to the topic. This week, the team looks at librarian blogs: http://bit.ly/2pJv8F9 **************** PROFNET is an exclusive service of PR Newswire. SOURCE ProfNet Related Links http://www.profnet.com BOSTON and LOS ANGELES, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Southeastern Spine Institute, LLC (SSI) has completed a recapitalization with Candescent Partners, LLC (Candescent). SSI is the largest medical practice in South Carolina exclusively specializing in spine care. Provident Healthcare Partners (Provident) served as exclusive financial advisor to SSI. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. "Candescent has a strong track record of being a first mover in leading consolidation efforts in sub-specialties within physician services. With the leadership at SSI, we expect this partnership to experience tremendous growth in the orthopedic and spine market within South Carolina and beyond," noted Robert Aprill, Analyst at Provident. "Southeastern Spine Institute is a true market leader within the spinal care industry, evidenced by the vast geography their patient population covers, and stands as a true center for excellence. We believe partnering that reputation with a proven developer of specialty healthcare practices in Candescent, will lead to tremendous growth and the development of a leading regional platform," stated Scott Davis, Senior Associate at Provident. About Southeastern Spine Institute SSI's medical campus occupies over 41,000 square feet on three acres of land in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. The Company has state-of-the-art spine MRIs, digital X-ray and most forms of diagnostic equipment. The medical facility has multiple non-surgical treatment rooms and block suites, as well as an in-house pharmacy and physical therapy center dedicated exclusively to treat spinal related problems. For more information, visit www.southeasternspine.com. About Candescent Partners Candescent is a Boston-based private equity firm that invests in the acquisition, growth, and recapitalization of lower middle market companies in healthcare services, business services, software and consumer products and services. Steve Jenks and Sandy McGrath founded Candescent in 2008. Steve Sahlman joined the partnership in 2009. Candescent invests in businesses with annual EBITDA between $2 and $8 million and enterprise values between $10 and $75 million. For more information, visit www.candescentpartners.com About Provident Healthcare Partners Provident is the leading investment banking firm specializing in merger and acquisition advisory, strategic planning, and capital formation for middle-market and emerging growth healthcare companies. The firm has a vast network of high-level, senior industry contacts, comprehensive knowledge of market sectors and specialties, and unsurpassed experience and insight into the M&A process. Provident uncovers value and opportunities that others often overlook to create transaction premiums for its clients. For more information, visit www.providenthp.com. Contact: Provident Healthcare Partners Gina Casiello, Senior Analyst 877-742-9800 SOURCE Provident Healthcare Partners Related Links http://www.providenthp.com SAN FRANCISCO, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Reflektive, the performance management and talent development platform, has been recognized as a winner of the 2017 Bay Area Best Places to Work, an awards program presented by the San Francisco Business Times and the Silicon Valley Business Journal. The company was ranked No. 16 among Bay Area companies with a score of 92.17. Announced April 18, 2017, winning organizations were honored for having exceptional workplaces that their employees value highly. Award applicants were evaluated and ranked across five categories according to the number of Bay Area employees. Best Places to Work ranked companies in the region based on employee ratings in categories such as work atmosphere, collaborative culture, solid compensation and benefits offerings, management practices and more. The recognition comes on the heels of a record growth year for Reflektive, with the demand for modern performance management solutions continuing to grow at a rapid pace. Founded in 2014, the company has raised $42M in funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners and Andreessen Horowitz, and has grown to more than 100 employees with over 300 customers globally. "Reflektive is dedicated to employee growth and success -- this is equally important for our customers and our own employees," said Rachel Ernst, Head of Employee Success at Reflektive. "The core values that employees assess in the survey to determine the winners and rankings for Best Places to Work include trust in leadership, team dynamics, personal engagement and satisfaction of individual needs through great perks and benefits. It is an honor to be recognized by our employees and The San Francisco Business Times for creating a best place to work centered on employee development, ongoing appreciation, and a continuous learning culture." Reflektive is hiring and continues to grow to support market demand for modern performance management solutions. For more information on career opportunities at Reflektive, please visit www.reflektive.com/careers. About Reflektive Reflektive, the real-time performance management company, is dedicated to helping companies evolve their performance management processes with real-time feedback, a patent-pending plugin for Gmail and Outlook, and seamlessly integrated talent development solutions including Check-Ins, Performance Reviews, 1x1 Collaboration and Goal Management. Backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Andreessen Horowitz, Reflektive has raised $42M in funding and serves over 300 companies worldwide including MEC Global, Nutanix, Protective Life, Pinterest, Ubisoft, Instacart, and numerous F100 firms across healthcare, financial services, retail, education, hospitality and telecommunications. Reflektive was founded in 2014 and is based in San Francisco, California. For more information, visit www.reflektive.com. About 2017 Bay Area Best Places to Work Best Places to Work is an innovative publication and awards program produced by the San Francisco Business Times and the Silicon Valley Business Journal. The rankings were determined by surveys that went directly to employees who answered a series of questions. The survey was administered online by the employers and through a service provided by Quantum Workplace, our research partner. The rankings are numeric based on Quantum's scoring process. By ranking companies and sharing best practices we facilitate idea sharing and help other companies learn from the best. SOURCE Reflektive Related Links https://www.reflektive.com CHICAGO, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- To examine the latest scientific evidence related to non-caloric sweeteners, focused on stevia, the Global Stevia Institute is hosting a sponsored symposium on Saturday, April 22 from Noon 3:00 PM at the American Society for Nutrition (ASN) Scientific Sessions, taking place at the annual Experimental Biology conference in Chicago. "The symposium features leading researchers from around the globe who will present the latest scientific evidence related to the health benefits, safety and innovations in low/zero calorie sweeteners, with a focus on the newest natural-origin sweetener, stevia," said symposium chair and Global Stevia Institute director, Dr. Priscilla Samuel. Stevia is plant based, zero calorie, and sustainable sweetening ingredient for foods and beverages. It is a new kind of sweetener because stevia is neither like sugar as it has no calories nor an artificial sweetener, as it is a natural plant extract, making it ideal for people who want zero calorie sweetness from a natural source. Stevia Leaf to Stevia Sweetener: Exploring its Science, Benefits & Future Potential The symposium is open to all registered attendees of the Experimental Biology conference. Featured speakers and topics include: Keith Ayoob, EdD, RD, FADA of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY and co-chair of the symposium, provides a historical perspective on the development of stevia as a sweetener. The stevia plant was discovered more than 200 years ago in South America Japan was the first to commercialize stevia in 1971. High-purity stevia leaf extract received U.S. GRAS status in in 2008, followed by approvals by Codex Alimentarius and the European Commission. To date, all major global regulatory organizations have approved the use of high purity stevia leaf extracts in food and beverages. Ursula Wolwer-Rieck, PhD, of the University of Bonn, Germany highlights the naturality of stevia leaf extract and emerging innovations. Findings from a recent study showed that steviol glycosides are not altered during the extraction and purification process, providing evidence for the naturality of high purity stevia leaf extract sweeteners. Discussion of new innovations being explored for steviol glycosides from the stevia leaf and other sources. Berna Magnuson, PhD, of Health Science Consultants, Canada, reviews the metabolic fate and safety of stevia leaf extract. All steviol glycosides follow a similar metabolic pathway, demonstrating that toxicology studies conducted on one glycoside are relevant to the safety assessment of others. Regulatory authorities around the globe have determined consumption of high-purity stevia leaf extract at or below the ADI, is safe for all, including children, pregnant women and people with diabetes. Per Bendix Jeppesen, PhD, University of Aarhus, Denmark delves into stevia's impact on blood glucose, diabetes and overall health. Reviews research on the beneficial health effects of steviol glycosides versus other sweeteners and their effect on blood glucose and insulin resistance particularly in type-2 diabetics. Peter Rogers, PhD, University of Bristol, UK addresses the debate of whether low/no-calorie sweeteners help or hurt appetite and weight management. Reviews intervention studies that show consuming low/no-calorie sweeteners (LNCS) help reduce energy intake and body weight, and examines recent evidence that contradicts claims that consumption of LNCS increase desire for sweetness, and disrupt appetite control by confusing the relationship between sweet taste and calories. Ian Rowland, PhD, University of Reading, UK looks at the influence of low/no-calorie sweeteners on gut microbiota and interactions. Discusses the effect of low/no calorie sweeteners (LNCS) on the gut microbiome. While most LNCS are not metabolized by gut bacteria, steviol glycosides (such as rebaudioside A and stevioside) are a notable exception. The effects of the gut microbiota on stevia and vice versa are discussed. The symposium concludes with a summary and consumer and stevia market insights by chair and Global Stevia Institute director, Priscilla Samuel, Ph.D. Consumer demand for a zero- calorie sweetener from a natural source continues to drive the growth of stevia. Since 2008, more than 12,000 products have launched with stevia. In 2016 alone, close to 3,000 products launched globally with stevia. PureCircle proprietary research shows that 70% of U.S. consumers are aware of stevia as a sweetener, a significant increase from the 40% aided awareness levels in 2010. Consumers also recognize that stevia is a naturally-sourced ingredient from the stevia plant. About the Global Stevia Institute The Global Stevia Institute (GSI) provides science-based information about stevia, a plant-based, zero calorie sustainable sweetener of natural origin. The GSI was founded in June 2010, to advance and share scientific research and provide education on stevia for health professionals, scientists, public affairs leaders, consumers and food and beverage manufacturers internationally. GSI is advised by an international board of leading scientists and health professionals. GSI is supported by PureCircle, Ltd., a global leader in purified stevia leaf extract ingredients. For more information, and to sign up to be part of the Stevia Community, visit www.globalsteviainstitute.com. SOURCE The Global Stevia Institute Related Links http://www.globalsteviainstitute.com PHILADELPHIA, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Google Shopping ads captured more than half of retail marketers' AdWords budgets for the first time, according to new research from Sidecar. The company's statisticians analyzed 19.1 billion user sessions from retailers' e-commerce sites to produce the industry's first definitive account of the state of Google Shopping ads. The full report is available now: The 2017 Google Shopping Benchmarks Report. The report examines performance data from 2016, and compares it to year-over-year data from 2015 and 2014. Highlights from the report include: 1. 2016 was a tipping point in the battle between Shopping ads and text ads. While text ads have long been synonymous with marketing on Google, Shopping ads are now retailers' preferred tool for selling products on the world's most popular search engine. In 2016, retailers spent more on Shopping ads than they did on text ads, devoting, on average, 53% of their AdWords budgets to Shopping ads. 2. Google Shopping ads accounted for 16.1% of e-commerce sales in 2016. This was a marked jump from 2015, when Google Shopping ads drove just 9% of total sitewide sales. The 78% year-over-year increase in 2016 cements Google Shopping ads' status as a mission-critical revenue driver for e-commerce marketers. 3. Retailers are embracing Google Shopping ads to convert mobile consumers. Google Shopping ads enjoy top billing on the mobile SERPand their prominence is paying off. Mobile devices drove 29% of total Google Shopping revenues in 2016, up from 17% in 2015. "Google Shopping has earned its place in retail," said Andre Golsorkhi, founder and CEO of Sidecar. "That's because the channel bridges the mega trends that define e-commerce todayvisual content, mobile optimization, relevancy. This perfect storm is unseating the mighty text ad, which begs the question: What ad format will Google Shopping upend next? As more retailers expand their Google Shopping efforts, the typical e-commerce marketing mix could look dramatically different in the next 12 months." Sidecar's 2017 Google Shopping Benchmarks Report compares the most critical Google Shopping KPIs, highlighting the variances in channel performance across industries. Also featured are recommendations from Sidecar's Google Shopping experts for optimizing mobile ROI and boosting channel revenues during periods of peak demand. Other data covered in the report includes Google Shopping results during Holiday 2016as well as the impact of AdWords' tablet bid modifiers, released in August 2016, on channel performance. The report is available here: http://go.getsidecar.com/l/127301/2017-04-18/2gkh7z This infographic includes highlights from the report and can be republished by media and bloggers: http://go.getsidecar.com/l/127301/2017-04-18/2gkjpl About Sidecar Sidecar is an e-commerce marketing company that builds the advanced technology retailers need to optimize cross-channel online shopping campaigns. With a team of data science and e-commerce experts, our state-of-the-art machine learning engine, and a massive volume of data, Sidecar is the magic behind retail's most efficient and powerful online shopping campaigns. Press Contact [email protected] SOURCE Sidecar Related Links http://www.getsidecar.com TSX -NYSE: RIC TORONTO, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Richmont Mines Inc. (TSX: RIC) (NYSE: RIC) ("Richmont" or the "Corporation"), announces the release of its first quarter 2017 financial results, followed by a conference call and webcast, before the markets open on Thursday, May 4, 2017. On the same morning at 10:30 a.m. E.T., the Corporation will hold its Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders. 2017 First Quarter Results Webcast and Conference Call Senior management will discuss the first quarter financial results in a webcast and conference call to be held on Thursday, May 4, 2017 starting at 8:30 a.m. E.T. Webcast access: http://event.on24.com/r.htm?e=1405031&s=1&k=2945B7DDFBDA291E4DB85CDEFA27826D Telephone access: Toll free ( Canada & U.S.): 1-888-390-0546 & U.S.): 1-888-390-0546 Toronto local & International: 1-416-764-8688 A replay will be available until May 18, 2017 by dialing 1-416-764-8677 (Toronto local and international) or 1-888-390-0541 (toll free in Canada and U.S.), using pass code 134044#. The webcast and presentation slides will be archived on the Corporation's website at www.richmont-mines.com. Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders Richmont's Annual and Special Meeting will be held on Thursday, May 4, 2017 at 10:30 a.m. E.T. at the St. Andrew's Club & Conference Centre (27th Floor, Caledonia Room) at 150 King Street West in Toronto. About Richmont Mines Inc. Richmont Mines currently produces gold from the Island Gold Mine in Ontario, and the Beaufor Mine in Quebec. The Corporation is also advancing development of the significant high-grade resource extension at depth of the Island Gold Mine in Ontario. With 35 years of experience in gold production, exploration and development, and prudent financial management, the Corporation is well-positioned to cost-effectively build its Canadian reserve base and to successfully enter its next phase of growth. SOURCE Richmont Mines Related Links http://www.richmont-mines.com NEW YORK, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Rioja USA is today introducing a dynamic resource tool for the beverage trade industry and a comprehensive virtual destination that will complement and reinforce the region's current U.S. program: www.RiojaTrade.com. The Rioja Trade Portal is a first-of-its-kind information resource developed for the wine industry to discover, learn about, obtain tools and connect with various facets of Rioja. An exclusive epicenter for the trade, the development of the portal was a serious investment by Rioja DOCa in the U.S. market and a natural progression for the campaign. It also symbolizes Rioja's commitment to strengthen and expand their presence in the region. One of the primary objectives of the Trade Portal is to provide better access to a greater number of on and off-premise accounts, wholesalers, distributors, industry experts and beyond. The Rioja Trade Team will have the ability to expand their current geographic program reach, strengthen and create new relationships. The Trade Portal will better connect wine brands with their target markets and share information with each other, as well as provide them with deeper support and opportunities to engage with the program directly no matter their size. The Trade Portal is also a destination for media and passionate members of the community with innovative content, up-to-date information and exciting promotions for Wines from Rioja. "The more Rioja wines grew in volume and value in the United States, the quicker our team realized the need for a tool like the Rioja Trade Portal. We wanted a way to better serve the entire beverage trade and it was clear that it needed to be done virtually," said Ana Fabiano, North American Trade Director and Brand Ambassador for Rioja USA. "The development of the Rioja Trade Portal further reinforces a deep commitment to the American trade, as it is of the utmost of importance to the DOCa and our team. RiojaTrade.com is the perfect visual representation of the new era of Rioja, and it truly brings to life why this completely authentic wine region is so special." Some of the most exciting features of the www.RiojaTrade.com include: Educational materials, like downloadable maps, Rioja 101 brochures and the Rioja Annual Report An area to easily download and customize exciting new creative templates and signage, as well as ways to order Point of Sale materials Inspiring new video footage of the region and a place to request fresh b-roll A guest blogger section where visitors of the portal can hear directly from iconic Rioja winemakers and trailblazing thought leaders in their own words In August 2016, Rioja DOCa hired Finn Partners as their agency of record, largely based on their expert digital capabilities and 360-degree integrated approach. It was at that time, significant efforts were dedicated to evolving the campaign digitally. Together with the Rioja USA Trade team, the website was envisioned and then built in-house by Finn Partners. For more information and to join the Rioja community, please visit: http://www.riojatrade.com/ Or contact: Cindy Coppola Partner and Campaign Director, Finn Partners [email protected] 212.593.6493 Melanie Klausner Vice President, Finn Partners [email protected] 646.307.6310 About the Rioja Consejo Regulador The Rioja "Control Board" is an institution founded in 1926 with a primary purpose to supervise quality control from vineyard through bottling to promoting the region and defending the interests of the regions wine sector. The quality controls systems in Rioja are one of the most stringent in the world of wine. Rioja is one of the few that requires that all of its production be bottled at source and is the hallmark region for tradition, trust and quality that has equipped Rioja to attain its current leading position on the market. Located in north central Spain, Rioja is considered one of the greatest red wine regions in the world. Rioja wines are protected by the oldest Designation of Origin in Spain, officially recognized in 1926. Since 1991, it is the first and one of only two regions in Spain to be awarded the highest category Calificada where all wines must be bottled at origin. The institution administers highly sophisticated and stringent quality control in the vineyard and winemaking, from viticulture to bottling more than 63,500 hectares (approximately 140,850 acres) yielding 300 million liters of wine annually, of which 90% is red. SOURCE Rioja USA Related Links http://www.riojatrade.com BOCA RATON, Fla., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Seeman Holtz Property and Casualty, Inc. is pleased to announce the acquisition of A & J Insurance Agency Inc., headquartered in San Gabriel, California. Serving all of California for almost two decades, Adel Francis and his team have been offering a combination of high quality products and excellent customer service throughout Southern California. Their proven success will strengthen Seeman Holtz Property & Casualty's foothold in the heart of Los Angeles. Seeman Holtz Property and Casualty, Inc. continues to target high-quality independent agencies for geographic expansion and continued growth. With the addition of A & J Insurance Agency Inc., Seeman Holtz Property & Casualty, Inc. will continue to reach new and current clients by helping them protect their most important valuables with not only the right insurance, but with the right service for each client. SHP&C offers: Homeowner's Policy Automobile Insurance Renter's Policy Private Client Umbrella Coverage Commercial and Employee Coverage Personal Liability Coverage Marshal Seeman, President of Seeman Holtz Property and Casualty stated, "We look forward to acquiring quality agencies throughout Southern California. A & J Insurance Agency is a perfect fit for us." Brett Williams, Vice President added, "We are very happy to have Adel and his team on board. They have built a strong business with an emphasis on quality and we couldn't be happier to add them to the Seeman Holtz Property & Casualty family." About Our Company: The Seeman Holtz family of companies provides comprehensive financial and insurance advice to clients across the country. Contact: Eric Holtz Seeman Holtz Property & Casualty 844.255.6639 [email protected] SOURCE Seeman Holtz Property and Casualty, Inc. WASHINGTON, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Right Honourable The Baroness Cox of Queensbury, senior member of the British Parliament, who was recently in Aleppo meeting with aid organizations and political groups while the city was being bombed, will discuss her efforts to bring humanitarian relief to Syria at a National Press Club Newsmaker news conference at 10 a.m., May 9, in the club's Bloomberg Room. During her time in Syria, the Baroness met with civilians who had been attacked. As a member of the House of Lords and as a Lecturer at the Royal College of Defence Studies, Baroness Cox was one of the first politicians to raise the issues of Radical Islamism and its terrorist threat long before 9/11. Lady Caroline, a 79-year-old grandmother, has literally dodged sniper fire, land mines and bombs to bring humanitarian aid to people cut off from humanitarian aid in Syria and elsewhere. Earlier in her career, she served as a Baroness-in-Waiting to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. She also worked closely with the late Diana, Princess of Wales at a children's charity. The National Press Club is located on the 13th Floor of the National Press Building at 529 14th St., NW, Washington, D.C. This news conference is open to credentialed media and NPC members, free of charge. Press Contact: Lindsay Underwood [email protected] (202) 662-7561 SOURCE National Press Club NEW YORK, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Eli Lilly and Company ("Eli Lilly" or the "Company") (NYSE: LLY). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at [email protected] or 888-476-6529, ext. 9980. The investigation concerns whether Eli Lilly and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices. [Click here to join a class action] On April 14, 2017, Eli Lilly announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") had rejected the Company's new drug application for baricitinib, Eli Lilly's once-daily rheumatoid arthritis treatment developed in collaboration with Incyte Corporation. Eli Lilly advised investors that the FDA cited the need for additional data to "characterize safety concerns across treatment arms" and to determine "the most appropriate doses." On this news, Eli Lilly's share price fell $3.50, or 4.08%, to close at $82.38 on April 17, 2017. The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Florida, and Los Angeles, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com CONTACT: Robert S. Willoughby Pomerantz LLP [email protected] SOURCE Pomerantz LLP Related Links http://www.pomerantzlaw.com NEW YORK, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Purcell Julie & Lefkowitz LLP, a class action law firm dedicated to representing shareholders nationwide, is investigating a potential breach of fiduciary duty claim involving the board of directors of Auxilio, Inc. (NYSE MKT: AUXO). If you are a shareholder of Auxilio, Inc. and are interested in obtaining additional information regarding this investigation, free of charge, please visit us at: http://pjlfirm.com/auxilio-inc/ You may also contact Robert H. Lefkowitz, Esq. either via email at [email protected] or by telephone at 212-725-1000. One of our attorneys will personally speak with you about the case at no cost or obligation. Purcell Julie & Lefkowitz LLP is a law firm exclusively committed to representing shareholders nationwide who are victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty and other types of corporate misconduct. For more information about the firm and its attorneys, please visit http://pjlfirm.com. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. SOURCE Purcell Julie & Lefkowitz LLP Related Links http://www.pjlfirm.com LONDON, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The following documents (the "Documents") are available for viewing: Prospectus Supplement dated 11 April 2017 Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE: RDS.A) (NYSE: RDS.B) Annual Report and Form 20-F for the year ended 31 December 2016 The Documents must be read in conjunction with the Information Memorandum dated 9 August 2016, as supplemented by the first supplement dated 24 August 2016, the second supplement dated 7 November 2016 and the third supplement dated 13 February 2017, relating to the Programme. The Information Memorandum constitutes a base prospectus for the purposes of Article 5.4 of Directive 2003/71/EC as amended. Full information on Shell International Finance B.V. and Royal Dutch Shell plc is only available on the basis of the Information Memorandum. The Documents are available for viewing at the 'Financial Publications' section of Shell's website. To view the Documents, please paste the following URLs into the address bar of your browser. Prospectus Supplement dated 11 April 2017 http://www.shell.com/investors/financial-reporting/euro-medium-term-note-programme.html Royal Dutch Shell plc Annual Report and Form 20-F for the year ended 31 December 2016 http://www.shell.com/investors/financial-reporting/annual-publications.html Other content available on Shell's website and the content of any other website accessible from hyperlinks on Shell's website is not incorporated into, and does not forms part of, this announcement. The Documents have also been submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will shortly be available for inspection at http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/nsm. DISCLAIMER - INTENDED ADDRESSEES Please note that the information contained in the Information Memorandum may be addressed to and/or targeted at persons who are residents of particular countries (specified in the Information Memorandum) only and is not intended for use and should not be relied upon by any person outside these countries and/or to whom the offer contained in the Information Memorandum is not addressed. Prior to relying on the information contained in the Information Memorandum, you must ascertain from the Information Memorandum whether or not you are part of the intended addressees of the information contained therein. This publication does not constitute an offering of the securities described in the Information Memorandum for sale in the United States. This is not for distribution in the United States. The securities have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act") or under any relevant securities laws of any state of the United States and are subject to U.S. tax law requirements. Subject to certain exceptions, the securities may not be offered or sold within the United States or to or for the account or benefit of U.S. persons, as such terms are defined in Regulation S under the Securities Act. There will be no public offering of the securities in the United States. Your right to access this service is conditional upon complying with the above requirement. Enquiries: Shell Media Relations International, UK, European Press: +44(0)207-934-5550 Shell Investor Relations Europe: + 31(0)70-377-3996 SOURCE Shell International Finance B.V. and Royal Dutch Shell plc RAPID CITY, S.D., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- On Saturday, April 22, Rapid City-based Liv Hospitality will host the 10th annual Liv to Give, donating 100% of the day's proceeds from WaTiki Indoor Waterpark, La Quinta Inn & Suites, Fairfield Inn & Suites, and Sliders Bar to local non-profit organizations. The newest addition to the Liv to Give event in 2017 is Marcos Pizza, located at the WaTiki Indoor Waterpark Complex. Marcos Pizza will also be donating all proceeds from the day to Liv to Give. "It's our favorite day of the year. We are incredibly grateful to be able to give back to this wonderful community that gives so much to us," says Caleb Arceneaux, CEO of Liv Hospitality LLC. All area non-profits benefitting children are encouraged to apply for the 2017 Liv to Give fund at any time throughout the year. The application can be found on the Liv to Give event page. The event on April 22nd is open to the public. "I'd love it if everyone in the Hills showed up. It's such a fun way to benefit the community," Arceneaux says. "Every room sold and meal and waterpark wristband purchased helps kids all around the area." The annual fundraiser started in 2007 as Kevin Morsching Day. It raised $30,000 for the family of the young man who lost his life in a tragic accident that first year. Since then, the benefit has raised more than $250,000 for non-profit organizations across the Black Hills. For More Information Caleb Arceneaux, CEO Liv Hospitality LLC [email protected] (605) 341-0500 About Liv Hospitality LLC A long standing Black Hills South Dakota company, Liv Hospitality operates the WaTiki Waterpark Resort, including La Quinta Inn & Suites, Fairfield Inn & Suites, Residence Inn by Marriott, Home2 Suites by Hilton and Sliders Bar. Liv manages other properties in the area; AmericInn Lodge & Suites, Country Inn & Suites and Hotel Alex Johnson a Curio Collection by Hilton. Deadwood properties include Tin Lizzie Gaming Resort featuring Hampton by Hilton and Cadillac Jack's Gaming Resort and SpringHill Suites by Marriott. Related Links Liv Hospitality This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com. SOURCE Liv Hospitality, LLC Related Links http://www.livhotelgroup.com WICHITA, Kan., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. [NYSE: SPR] will release its first quarter 2017 financial results at 6:30 a.m. Central Time Wednesday, May 3, 2017. Spirit AeroSystems President and Chief Executive Officer Tom Gentile will be joined by Spirit's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Sanjay Kapoor on a conference call presentation to securities analysts about first quarter 2017 results and company outlook at 10 a.m. Central Time. That presentation will be broadcast online. It will include charts and a question-and-answer session. The company's news release detailing the results will also be available. The live audio stream and slide presentation can be accessed May 3, 2017, at http://investor.spiritaero.com/. Individuals are urged to check the web site in advance to ensure their computers are configured for the audio stream and slide presentation. About Spirit AeroSystems Inc. Spirit AeroSystems designs and builds aerostructures for both commercial and defense customers. With headquarters in Wichita, Kansas, Spirit operates sites in the U.S., U.K., France and Malaysia. The company's core products include fuselages, pylons, nacelles and wing components for the world's premier aircraft. Spirit AeroSystems focuses on affordable, innovative composite and aluminum manufacturing solutions to support customers around the globe. More information is available at www.SpiritAero.com. SOURCE Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. Related Links http://www.SpiritAero.com As chairman of the board, Fiveash will work closely with Discover New England leadership and the board of directors to further the organization's mission to: Increase international awareness of New England as a memorable, high-quality, four-season destination. Assist New England hospitality businesses reach a global audience and generate new business from international markets. Expand international tour operators' knowledge of New England attractions and ensure they have the resources needed to showcase the best the region has to offer. "New England is one of the world's premier destinations and attracts millions of international visitors every year," said Fiveash. "I am honored to serve as the chairman of Discover New England and work with the organization to ensure international travelers are keenly aware of our rich history, fascinating cities, charming towns and exciting outdoor adventures." According to Discover New England data: The number of overseas visitors to New England has increased by 25 percent since 2012, reaching 2.2 million in 2015. Overseas visitors spent $2.1 billion in total direct spending in New England in 2015. in total direct spending in New England in 2015. The top five overseas visitor markets for New England in 2015 were: United Kingdom , China , Germany , France and India. "As the Director of Tourism for the State of Connecticut, our partnership with Discover New England has been key to helping us grow Connecticut's $14.7 billion tourism industry sector," said Fiveash. "Randy has been a champion of Discover New England's mission for years, and we're very pleased to have him as board chair," said Lori Harnois, executive director of Discover New England. "It's an exciting time for international tourism in New England, with many new route developments and opportunities on the horizon." One of the new route developments into New England include nonstop flights between Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut and Dublin, Ireland, offered by Aer Lingus. The service's launch last September was jointly promoted by the Connecticut Office of Tourism, Discover New England and Bradley International Airport. "Strong partnerships with the state and organizations like Discover New England will continue to help us attract even greater investment from the international community, and create more jobs and opportunities for Connecticut and New England," said Kevin A. Dillon, A.A.E., executive director of the Connecticut Airport Authority. During his term as Discover New England chairman, Fiveash will continue to lead the Connecticut Office of Tourism where he is responsible for the state's marketing, strategic planning and development efforts to build tourism as a significant economic driver. Prior to becoming Connecticut's director of tourism in 2008, Fiveash served as commissioner of tourism for the commonwealth of Kentucky's department of tourism, and served on various other leadership committees in the tourism, convention and visitors bureau industries. Additional information about Discover New England is available at www.DiscoverNewEngland.org. About Discover New England Discover New England, founded in 1992, is a nonprofit cooperative destination marketing organization that promotes New England tourism internationally. In partnership with the state tourism offices of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, Discover New England enables New England's travel and tourism industry to reach the global market and attract more international visitors. It works directly with travel trade professionals to promote the New England tourism product while providing regional suppliers with the tools they need to competitively market themselves internationally. By connecting the industry with the latest research, educational tools and travel trends, it also helps ensure that New England's tourism offerings remain appealing to international consumers, and travel planners have the resources they need to showcase the best New England has to offer. About the Connecticut Office of Tourism The Connecticut Office of Tourism, a division of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD), is dedicated to enhancing the economic growth of Connecticut's tourism industry. Together with its many state and industry partners, the Office of Tourism works to bolster the state's reputation as a destination that offers a diverse mix of activities and attractions, all in close proximity to each other from the exciting and relaxing to the historic and innovative to the culture and nature-focused. For more information about Connecticut tourism, or to plan your next trip to Connecticut, visit the CTvisit.com or join the social media community on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube. SOURCE Connecticut Office of Tourism Related Links http://www.CTvisit.com DUBAI, UAE, Apr. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Yesterday afternoon, with temperatures close to 40o C, the MR tanker Stena Imagination was named in the Port Rashid Terminal in the heart of Dubai. Some 100 guests from near and far attended the solemn ceremony and godmother Lourdes Torgersen who, as tradition dictates, wished the vessel, her captain and his crew fortune and prosperity on the seven seas. All the guests were also given the opportunity, led by Captain Alexander Vasko, to inspect the vessel from her engine room all the way up to the bridge. On Sunday, the Stena Imaginationwill leave for East Africa with a cargo of diesel oil. "Naming the Stena Imagination in Dubai is very much a strategic choice. Stena Bulk recently opened an office here together with Stena Weco and Golden Stena Weco. We already had a presence in the market in the region but wanted to get even closer to our customers. The naming ceremony gives us the opportunity to further reinforce our image and forge more contacts with customers, partners and suppliers in the region", says Erik Hanell, President & CEO of Stena Bulk and CEO of Stena Weco. Dubai is an important meeting-place for the oil industry in the Middle East. Stena's tanker business already has a presence in the area with contacts in the neighbouring region. For Stena Bulk and Stena Weco, which, with their IMOIIMAX fleet, are focusing increasingly on trade in chemicals, Dubai is an important hub. Here, the oil industry is building several refineries closer to the oil wells in the region. Stena Weco is now wholly owned by Stena Bulk while Golden Stena Weco is a joint venture between Stena Weco and Golden Agri Resources (GAR). With its new office in Dubai, Stena Bulk now does business in six countries. In addition to Dubai, it has offices in Houston, Copenhagen, Singapore and Shanghai while its head office is located in Gothenburg. The Stena Imagination was built at the Chinese shipyard GSI (Guangzhou Shipbuilding International) like all the 13 IMOIIMAX tankers ordered by Stena Bulk both delivered and under construction. The vessel is jointly owned on a 50-50 basis by Stena Bulk and Indonesian Golden Agri Resources (GAR). The Stena Imagination is operated by Stena Weco and sails in the company's global logistics system, which currently employs more than 60 vessels. Deliveries of IMOIIMAX tankers 2016: Stena Imperative, Stenaweco Impulse, Stena Imagination, Stena Immortal, Stena Immaculate and Stena Impeccable. The remaining three vessels will be delivered by 2018. Five of the 13 IMOIIMAX tankers are wholly owned by Stena Bulk, four together with GAR (Golden Agri Resources), two by Stena Bulk's sister company Concordia Maritime and two by Stena Weco. Facts - the IMOIIMAX concept The chemical and product tanker has a length of 183 metres, a beam of 32 metres and a deadweight of 50,000 tons. IMOIIMAX is a further development of an already well-established concept and the innovative technical design was developed by Stena Teknik together with the Chinese shipyard GSI. It offers several advantages such as extra large cargo flexibility, a high level of safety and economical fuel consumption 10-20% lower than that of equivalent vessels when sailing at service speed. Technical data: length: 183 metres, beam: 32 metres, deadweight: 50,000 tons. CONTACT: For further information, please contact: Erik Hanell President & CEO Stena Bulk AB Mobile: +46-704-855-002 [email protected] With offices in six countries, Stena Bulk is one of the world's leading tanker shipping companies. The company controls a combined fleet of around 100 vessels. Stena Bulk is part of the Stena Sphere, which has more than 20,000 employees and sales of SEK 60 billion. www.stenabulk.com This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com http://news.cision.com/stena-bulk/r/stena-imagination-named-in-dubai,c2242482 The following files are available for download: http://mb.cision.com/Main/2249/2242482/659638.pdf Stena Imagination named in Dubai http://news.cision.com/stena-bulk/i/mrs-lourdes-torgersen--a-proud-godmother,c2122764 Mrs Lourdes Torgersen, a proud godmother http://news.cision.com/stena-bulk/i/newly-named-stena-imagination-together-with-all-the-naming-ceremony-guests-,c2122765 Newly named Stena Imagination together with all the naming ceremony guests. http://news.cision.com/stena-bulk/i/carl-johan-hagman--chairman-of-the-board--stena-bulk--mr--jin-lichao--vice-president--gci--godmother,c2122766 Carl-Johan Hagman, Chairman of the Board, Stena Bulk; Mr. Jin Lichao, Vice President, GCI; Godmother Lourdes Torgersen; Jan Torgerson, Spouse Lourdes Torgerson; Zhang Dalei, Deputy Director of Europea http://news.cision.com/stena-bulk/i/the-imoiimax-stena-imagination-with-colourful-flags-and-dressed-for-naming-,c2122767 The IMOIIMAX Stena Imagination with colourful flags and dressed for naming. SOURCE Stena Bulk YORBA LINDA, Calif., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SurvivorEyes, an innovative new beauty product dedicated to providing an easy brow solution for those who struggle with hair loss, is pleased to announce the introduction of its BrowStyle kits to Costco members through the online beauty store Costco.com, available now. The BrowStyle Kits from SurvivorEyes include high quality, professional-grade cosmetics from Sorme Cosmetics of Valencia, CA. The SurvivorEyes BrowStyle Kits which are revolutionary to the category allow women to apply high-fashion brows with ease. Created by a breast cancer survivor, SurvivorEyes is designed to promote self-confidence and beauty, with an all-day formula that appeals to all women looking for a quality beauty product that also gives back. Each kit contains 10 unique brow templates that will complement any face shape, a dual-sided cosmetic applicator, and premium-quality Sorme Cosmetics, in three shade pallets that are ideal for all skin tones. Every kit purchase supports charities that help those who struggle with hair loss through its five percent annual "giveback" program. "We listen to our customers, whether they be brides, athletes, business professionals, stay-at-home-moms or students wanting to look great by using the best beauty tools available," said Lisa Brambilla, Founder and Creator of SurvivorEyes. "We're so excited to make this fabulous beauty product available to Costco members online. There has already been a lot of interest in the BrowStyle Kits throughout the industry, as they appeal to so many consumers, giving them exactly what they want all in one kit. At SurvivorEyes Inc., both high quality and great value is important to us and to our customers." Each BrowStyle Kit Contains: 10 Unique Brow templates in a variety of shapes from conservative to dramatic Dual-sided cosmetic applicator Mini Shaping/Spiral Brushes Dual-tone Sorme cosmetic available in three shade pallets and brow wax to set color, in a purse size, mirrored compact Instructions for care and use Drawstring bag for storage Features Templates carry an affirmation designed to identify a preferred shape and boost spirits Sorme is professional-grade cosmetic with all-day wear Sorme is cruelty-, fragrance- and silicone-free Choice of thee shade pallets to compliment any skin tone: (Soft Blonde, recommended for fair skin, gray, ash or blonde hair; Brunette, recommended for fair to medium skin, auburn, brunette or red hair; and Deep Brown, recommended for olive or dark skin, rich brown or black hair) Endorsed by some of the biggest names in women's healthcare, SurvivorEyes Inc. is a proud member of the Personal Care Products Council (PCPC). Through this membership, a donation of 500 Brow Stencil Kits are included in the beauty kits that are available at the "Look Good Feel Better" workshops, administered nationally by the American Cancer Society. SurvivorEyes was also named the "Spotlight Product" by the National Alopecia Areata Foundation of North America, and is offered on its online marketplace. SurvivorEyes Inc. will be launching two new products, "Forever Brows" and "Brows for Bros" at the Cosmoprof North America convention in the "Emerging Beauty" section, booth #28150. Forever Brows is a waterproof, sweat-proof pomade formulation of the product, while Brows for Bros is the same pomade, with masculine-shaped brow templates designed specifically for men. The event is being held July 9-12 in Las Vegas, NV. For more information, images or for a SurvivorEyes sample, please contact Lisa Brambilla at 714.337.4453 or [email protected]. To access the BrowStyle kits on Costco.com, please visit https://www.costco.com/SurvivorEyes-BrowStyle-Kit.product.100353656.html. About SurvivorEyes Created by a breast cancer survivor, SurvivorEyes is a BrowStyle Kit that offers a simple and easy way to have perfect, long lasting, stylish brows. Looking and feeling good is important, and the driving force behind this great product is providing women with a boost of beauty and the self-confidence that it brings. Besides the "all-day wear" feature of Sorme Cosmetics, the added benefit of SurvivorEyes is that every purchase supports charities that help women who struggle with hair loss. SurvivorEyes is "Beauty with a Purpose" a high-quality beauty product that gives back! For more information, please visit http://www.survivoreyes.com/ or connect with Lisa Brambilla on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. About Lisa Brambilla and the Creation of SurvivorEyes Two years ago, Lisa Brambilla, Founder of SurvivorEyes Inc., realized a need for a beauty product after helping a dear friend through the effects of her chemotherapy treatments. Her friend's desire to "look normal" and feel beautiful reminded Lisa of how she herself felt while battling the disease, and how important it is to look strong and feel confident, when fighting for one's life. It was at that moment that she realized there was a need for a beauty product that offers high fashion with ease of application, and with her background in beauty, she set out to create this solution, which she named "SurvivorEyes." The kits quickly became the "go-to" brow solution for every woman wanting shapely brows with all-day wear especially one that offers a beneficial give-back proposition. In addition to her involvement with the Alopecia Areata Foundation of North America, Look Good Feel Better, Young Survival Coalition, and the Personal Care Products Council, Ms. Brambilla has made a commitment to donate five percent of her annual profits to charities that support those who struggle with hair loss. About Sorme Cosmetics Sorme is a brand that approaches makeup from a skin care point of view. A sophisticated, multi-tasking line of makeup, Sorme is formulated with clinically proven anti-aging peptides, natural antioxidant botanicals, sunscreens, and the finest color pigments available. An award-winning makeup line and a regular on the pages of both beauty trades and women's magazines, Sorme products are known and used by celebrity makeup artists and stylists as their "secret weapon," to create their vision of a captivating, high-fashion look. About Costco.com Costco is a membership warehouse club, dedicated to bringing their members the best possible prices on quality, brand-name merchandise. With hundreds of locations worldwide, Costco provides a wide selection of merchandise, plus the convenience of specialty departments and exclusive member services, all designed to make your shopping experience a pleasurable one. For more information, visit: https://www.costco.com. SOURCE SurvivorEyes Related Links http://www.survivoreyes.com ROCKVILLE, Md., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Synthetic Biologics, Inc. (NYSE MKT: SYN), a late-stage clinical company developing therapeutics that preserve the microbiome to protect and restore the health of patients, today announced positive data for SYN-005, the Company's orphan drug program for the prevention and treatment of pertussis (whooping cough). SYN-005 combines two highly synergistic humanized monoclonal antibodies (hu1B7 and hu11E6) to target and potentially inactivate the life-threatening pertussis toxin that causes disease symptoms. To assess the potential of SYN-005 to prevent pertussis, a non-human primate study was designed to determine if administration of hu1B7, one component of SYN-005, at two days of age could protect animals from a subsequent pertussis infection. Control animals (n=6), infected with Bordetella pertussis (B. pertussis) at five weeks of age, demonstrated marked elevations in white blood cell counts and most exhibited behavioral signs of pertussis, including coughing and diminished activity. In contrast, the experimental animals (n=7), who were treated with hu1B7 at two days of age and then infected five weeks later, had significantly lower peak white blood cell counts (p=0.004) that remained within the normal range or were only slightly elevated. Importantly, all seven of the animals that received prophylactic hu1B7 appeared healthy and none exhibited any behavioral signs of pertussis. An additional animal received hu1B7 at two days of age; however, infection with B. pertussis was delayed to a time point when hu1B7 was no longer detectable in the blood. As expected, in the absence of hu1B7, the animal developed a high white blood cell count and behavioral signs of pertussis. These data further support that protection from pertussis was, in fact, due to hu1B7. Building on this early success, the Company has initiated preclinical testing of a modified version of hu1B7 that has the potential to extend the plasma half-life and substantially reduce the required dose of SYN-005. The Company previously reported that SYN-005 was highly efficacious as a therapeutic in non-human primates infected with B. pertussis. The current study expands the potential clinical utility beyond therapy to also include prophylaxis. Pertussis, more commonly known as whooping cough, is a highly contagious disease caused by the bacteria Bordetella pertussis (B. pertussis). The disease can prove fatal in infants and children, with symptoms of infection including chronic coughing and subsequent breathing difficulties. According to the World Health Organization, there are approximately 50 million worldwide cases of whooping cough each year, leading to an estimated 300,000 deaths, primarily among young, unvaccinated infants. Antibiotic use does not have a major effect on the course of pertussis because, while antibiotics may eliminate the B. pertussis bacteria from the respiratory tract, they do not neutralize the pathogenic pertussis toxin, a key virulence factor. "There is a pressing need for new and innovative agents to address the re-emergence of pertussis as a rising global health concern, particularly in the developing world where the mortality rate for at-risk newborns is highest," said Jeffrey Riley, President and Chief Executive Officer. "Positive results from this non-human primate study suggest that SYN-005 may be able meet this need by preventing pertussis infection among high risk individuals. These data, along with those from our earlier therapeutic studies, provide strong support for advancing SYN-005 to clinical trials for both the prevention and treatment of pertussis, especially in newborns." Synthetic Biologics is developing SYN-005 through its Exclusive Channel Collaboration with Intrexon Corporation (NYSE: XON) and academic researchers led by Dr. Jennifer Maynard, associate professor in the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, to prevent the development of pertussis in at-risk newborns and to target and neutralize the pertussis toxin in order to reduce morbidity and mortality in infected infants. In 2015, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded a grant to UT Austin to generate preclinical proof-of-concept data to test the hypothesis that antibody administration at birth may have a role in the prevention of pertussis. Dr. Maynard is principal investigator of The Gates Foundation grant and this prophylaxis study. "We are greatly encouraged by these results, which clearly demonstrate hu1B7, a humanized anti-pertussis toxin monoclonal antibody, protected neonatal primates from developing pertussis for at least five weeks," said Dr. Jennifer Maynard. "These data give us increased confidence that pertussis prophylaxis using hu1B7 may be a viable option to protect newborns for several months after birth when the risk of pertussis mortality is highest." Synthetic Biologics also announced that two abstracts have been accepted for presentation at ECCMID 2017 and ESPID 2017. Dr. Jennifer Maynard will present a poster at ECCMID and a talk at ESPID. European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) April 22, 2017 from 15:30 p.m. 16:30 p.m. CEST Poster: 0464 Title: Monoclonal Antibody Administration Provides Five Weeks of Prophylaxis in Newborn Baboons: PoC for Passive Immunization to Protect Infants in the Developing World Authors: J.A. Maynard1, A. Nguyen1, R.F. Wolf2, J.F. Papin2, S. Connelly3, M. Kaleko3; 1University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 2University of Oklahoma Health Science Center, Oklahoma City, OK, 3Synthetic Biologics, Inc., Rockville, MD, USA European Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID) May 25, 2017 from 14:40 p.m. 16:10 p.m. CEST ESPID Symposium 2: Prevention of Pertussis in Infants The Ongoing Challenge Title: Antibody Administration Effectively Treats Pertussis in a Baboon Disease Model and Provides Five Weeks of Pertussis Prophylaxis in Newborn Baboons Authors: J.A. Maynard1, A. Nguyen1, R.F. Wolf2, J.F. Papin2, S. Connelly3, M. Kaleko3; 1University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 2University of Oklahoma Health Science Center, Oklahoma City, OK, 3Synthetic Biologics, Inc., Rockville, MD, USA About SYN-005 SYN-005 combines two highly synergistic humanized monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to target and potentially inactivate the life-threatening pertussis toxin. In preclinical therapeutic and prophylactic studies, SYN-005 was associated with significant reductions in white blood cell count and bacterial loads in non-human primate and murine animal models. Synthetic Biologics further strengthened its intellectual property position around pertussis antibodies with additional patent filings, including the granting of a U.S. Composition of Matter patent for SYN-005. In September 2014, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Orphan Drug designation for SYN-005 for the treatment of pertussis. About Synthetic Biologics, Inc. Synthetic Biologics, Inc. (NYSE MKT: SYN) is a late-stage clinical company developing therapeutics designed to preserve the microbiome to protect and restore the health of patients. The Company's lead candidates poised for Phase 3 development are: (1) SYN-010 which is intended to reduce the impact of methane producing organisms in the gut microbiome to treat an underlying cause of irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C), and (2) SYN-004 (ribaxamase) which is designed to protect the gut microbiome from the effects of certain commonly used intravenous (IV) beta-lactam antibiotics for the prevention of C. difficile infection (CDI), antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD) and the emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The Company is also developing preclinical stage monoclonal antibody therapies for the prevention and treatment of pertussis and novel discovery stage biotherapeutics for the treatment of phenylketonuria (PKU). For more information, please visit Synthetic Biologics' website at www.syntheticbiologics.com. This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "may," "should," "potential," "continue," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," and similar expressions, and include statements regarding positive results from the non-human primate study suggesting that SYN-005 may be able meet a pressing need by preventing the development of pertussis in high risk individuals, the confidence that pertussis prophylaxis using hu1B7 may be a viable option to protect newborns for several months after birth when the risk of pertussis mortality is highest, the size of the market, and the potential benefits of SYN-004 and SYN-010. These forward-looking statements are based on management's expectations and assumptions as of the date of this press release and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations and assumptions from those set forth or implied by any forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, among others, Synthetic Biologics' product candidates demonstrating safety and effectiveness, as well as results that are consistent with prior results, Synthetic Biologics' ability to initiate clinical trials and if initiated, to complete them on time and achieve desired results and benefits, Synthetic Biologics' ability to successfully design a protocol and a corresponding statistical analysis plan to support the execution of its pivotal clinical trials, Synthetic Biologics' clinical trials continuing enrollment as expected, Synthetic Biologics' ability to obtain regulatory approvals for commercialization of product candidates or to comply with ongoing regulatory requirements, regulatory limitations relating to Synthetic Biologics' ability to promote or commercialize its product candidates for specific indications, acceptance of its product candidates in the marketplace and the successful development, marketing or sale of Synthetic Biologics' products by competitors that render Synthetic Biologics' products obsolete or non-competitive, Synthetic Biologics' ability to maintain its license agreements, the continued maintenance and growth of Synthetic Biologics' patent estate, Synthetic Biologics becoming and remaining profitable, Synthetic Biologics' ability to establish and maintain collaborations, Synthetic Biologics' ability to obtain or maintain the capital or grants necessary to fund its research and development activities, a loss of any of Synthetic Biologics' key scientists or management personnel, and other factors described in Synthetic Biologics' Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016 and its other filings with the SEC. The information in this release is provided only as of the date of this release, and Synthetic Biologics undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release on account of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law. SOURCE Synthetic Biologics, Inc. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Tahoe Resources Inc. ("Tahoe") (TSX: THO; NYSE: TAHO) today announced that the Company will hold its Annual General Meeting ("AGM") on Wednesday, May 3, 2017 at 9:00 am PT at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia, located at 801 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, British Columbia. In addition, the Company plans to release its financial and operating results for the first quarter of 2017 after the market close on Tuesday, May 2, 2017 and will then host a conference call to review the results on Wednesday May 3, 2017 at 7:00 am PT (10:00 am ET). Those wishing to join the call can do so using the telephone numbers listed below. The call will also be webcast and available on the Company's website at www.tahoeresources.com. Participant call-in numbers: 1-800-319-4610 (toll free from Canada and the U.S.) +1-604-638-5340 (from outside Canada and the U.S.) About Tahoe Resources Inc. Tahoe's strategy is to responsibly operate precious metals mines, to pay significant shareholder dividends and to grow by developing long-term, low-cost assets in the Americas. Tahoe is a member of the S&P/TSX Composite and TSX Global Mining indices and the GDX and Russell 3000 on the NYSE. The Company is listed on the TSX as THO and on the NYSE as TAHO. For further information, please contact: Tahoe Resources Inc. Mark Utting, Vice President, Investor Relations [email protected] Tel: 416-703-6298 SOURCE Tahoe Resources Inc. Related Links http://www.tahoeresourcesinc.com SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Taylor Morrison Home Corporation ("Taylor Morrison,"NYSE: TMHC), a leading national homebuilder and developer, today announced that President and CEO, Sheryl Palmer, has been named Chairman of the company's Board of Directors, succeeding Timothy R. Eller who has shared his plans to retire from the Board at the conclusion of his current term ending May 31, 2017. In addition, current director of five years, Peter Lane, has been appointed as the Board's lead independent director. "I am grateful to Tim for the successful foundation he has built leading the Board through these momentous years for the company, and I am honored to follow in his footsteps and serve as Chair of the Board of Directors," said Palmer. "In partnership with Pete in his new lead role, I'm confident that we will drive an efficient execution of our strategic plan, deliver on our vision for the future and generate significant value for our stockholders." Palmer has successfully led the organization through several large-scale transformations including the company's initial public offering, the sale of its Canadian operations and four sizable homebuilding acquisitions. Under Palmer's leadership, the company's total U.S. revenue, gross margin dollars and earnings before taxes have more than tripled in the last five years. Palmer's elevation to Chairman of the Board represents a significant development for the homebuilding industry, as she becomes the only female board chair among the top 20 homebuilders in the country. "Having participated on the Board since 2012, I'm excited to continue to partner with Sheryl and her management team in this prominent role," said Lane. "On behalf of the Board of Directors, I also want to extend a sincere and heartfelt thanks to Tim for his leadership and service. His contributions have allowed the organization to focus on strengthening its U.S. operations in highly sought-after markets, while putting the customer at the center of everything it does. Taylor Morrison is a company I have long admired and one that I expect will be recognized as an industry leader for many years to come." The appointment of Palmer to Chairman and Lane as lead independent director was unanimously approved by the Board of Directors with the full support of Taylor Morrison's controlling shareholders, TPG and Oaktree Capital. About Taylor Morrison Taylor Morrison Home Corporation (NYSE: TMHC) is a leading national homebuilder and developer that has been recognized as the 2016 and 2017 America's Most Trusted Home Builder by Lifestory Research. Based in Scottsdale, Arizona we operate under two well-established brands, Taylor Morrison and Darling Homes. We serve a wide array of consumer groups from coast to coast, including first-time, move-up, luxury, and 55 plus buyers. In Texas, Darling Homes builds communities with a focus on individuality and custom detail while delivering on the Taylor Morrison standard of excellence. For more information about Taylor Morrison and Darling Homes, please visit www.taylormorrison.com or www.darlinghomes.com. CONTACT: Stephanie McCarty Corporate Communications (480) 376-0661 [email protected] SOURCE Taylor Morrison Related Links http://www.taylormorrison.com/ContactUs IRVINE, Calif. and SILICON VALLEY, Calif., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Ten-X, the nation's leading online real estate marketplace, today released its latest U.S. Industrial Market Outlook, including the top five "Buy" and "Sell" markets for industrial real estate assets. The Spring 2017 analysis finds that technological shifts in the overall economy have been steadily delivering benefits to the industrial sector and have helped drive vacancy rates to their lowest levels in nearly two decades. The forecast indicates that Nashville, Phoenix, Oakland, San Diego and Seattle are the top markets in which investors should consider buying industrial assets. Notably, the western region lays claim to four out of the top five "Buy" markets, with Southern California benefiting in particular from trade flows with China, as Trans-Pacific commerce is driving absorption in the region. The report cautions, however, that the current political environment casts some uncertainty over the region's recent trade benefits. Ten-X also pinpointed Houston, San Antonio, Indianapolis, Dallas and Fort Worth as the five markets where conditions are most likely to motivate investors to sell industrial properties. Four of the country's top five "Sell" markets are situated in Texas, where depressed oil prices are weighing down absorption, while a steady stream of supply additions puts upward pressure on vacancy rates. Nationally, Ten-X Research found that robust absorption has helped drive industrial vacancies down to just above 8 percent -- their lowest levels since 2000. With a narrowing supply pipeline, these vacancies appear poised to run as low as the mid-7-percent range by the end of next year, a level below their 1990's cyclical lows. The two principal tech-propelled drivers of industrial absorption are the acceleration in e-commerce -- triggering the need for more distribution and warehouse space -- and the rising demand for cloud server farms. With oil prices trending near $50 a barrel, the energy sector is no longer contributing to growth in industrial real estate as in past eras. Marching parallel to oil prices, capacity utilization has remained stalled for several months, hovering around 75 percent. The analysis also cited stalled trade flows, owing to a global economy that appears to be "stuck in a rut." And while Southern California reaps the benefits of trade with China, that country has also been experiencing inconsistent growth. Other impediments on the trade front are attributable to stagnation in Japan and political uncertainty in the European Union. Moreover, here in America, Ten-X Research notes that the new administration has shown hostility towards trade. "Technology is steadily deepening its impact on the American economy, and it's doing so in a way that benefits industrial real estate in a meaningful way," said Ten-X Chief Economist Peter Muoio. "In fact, our forecast indicates that technology's positive impacts on this asset class, at least for now, are proving strong enough to offset damage caused by weak oil prices and an uninspired global economy. While the industrial sector still seems to be in good health, one of the biggest question marks facing it arises from potential shifts in U.S. public policy that could one day come to suppress trade flow." The study anticipates that effective rent growth will average over 3 percent annually through 2018 amidst the tightening market. While industrial market vacancy is expected to tumble from 8.2 percent in 2016 to 7.5 percent in 2018, the analysis projects a 2019-2020 recessionary model that would send vacancy levels up to 9.2 percent in 2020. 2016 2020 INDUSTRIAL PROJECTIONS Top 5 Buy Markets 2016 Final Effective Rents (psf) 2020 Forecast Effective Rents (psf) Change in Effective Rents (%) 2016 Final Vacancies (%) 2020 Forecast Vacancies (%) Change in Vacancies (bps) Nashville, TN 3.55 3.94 11.0% 4.5 5.8 130 bps Phoenix, AZ 4.74 5.14 8.4% 10.2 11.2 100 bps Oakland, CA 5.24 5.68 8.4% 7.4 9.0 160 bps San Diego, CA 6.64 7.21 8.6% 6.1 6.5 40 bps Seattle, WA 5.05 5.46 8.1% 4.5 6.6 210 bps Top 5 Sell Markets 2015 Final Effective Rents (psf) 2020 Forecast Effective Rents (psf) Change in Effective Rents (%) 2015 Final Vacancies (%) 2020 Forecast Vacancies (%) Change in Vacancies (bps) Houston, TX 4.20 4.17 -0.7% 8.3 10.6 230 bps San Antonio, TX 4.27 4.40 3.0% 7.2 9.5 230 bps Indianapolis, IN 3.69 3.86 4.6% 9.5 10.4 90 bps Dallas, TX 3.87 3.93 1.6% 11.6 13.6 200 bps Fort Worth, TX 3.51 3.63 3.4% 10 11.1 110 bps U.S. 4.67 4.92 5.4% 8.2 9.2 100 bps The Industrial Sector's Top Five "Buy" Markets: Nashville Favorable demographics help drive Nashville's appeal as a first-class industrial market. Metropolitan area employment stands at an all-time peak at a level 21-percent higher than the prior peak, driven in part by the mining/construction sector, which witnessed a surge in job growth last year. Nashville's population growth has been accelerating steadily for the past five years. Industrial vacancies stand well below national levels, and will fall to the mid-3-percent level by next year, as robust demand outpaces supply additions. With industrial availability tightening, effective rent growth will accelerate, averaging nearly 4.6 percent through 2018. Ten-X Research expects Nashville to enjoy America's best net operating income (NOI) growth among all major metro areas as rents climb and vacancies decline, projecting average annual NOI growth of 3.5 percent through 2020. Phoenix Strong population and employment dynamics contribute to Phoenix's favorable investment outlook. The metro area population grew by 2 percent in 2015, double the national rate -- which the region has outpaced for 25 years running. Metro Phoenix employment currently stands at an all-time high, driven in part by a transportation/utilities sector that has witnessed annual growth in the 5- to 6-percent range since 2015. As the supply pipeline lightens in 2018, industrial vacancies are expected to decline to 9 percent, but the vacancy rate will tick over 11 percent by 2020. Ten-X Research anticipates an average 3.8-percent increase in effective rents through 2018, and an average NOI growth of 2.9 percent annually through 2020. Oakland Oakland has demonstrated consistent job expansion throughout the recovery, with jobs growing annually at a mid-2 percent to mid-3-percent rate. The area's leisure/hospitality sector has been particularly strong, growing at a 4- to 6-percent rate since 2012, while Oakland's population growth has outpaced that of the U.S. since 2008. The analysis anticipates strong effective rent growth that will trigger NOI gains of approximately 2.8 percent per year through 2019. Ten-X Research predicts a slight decline in industrial vacancies through 2018, while rents rise at a rate of 4.1 percent in the same period. Under the expected downturn scenario, however, the report predicts that vacancies will increase and absorption will decline in 2019-2020. San Diego Employment growth in San Diego has continued to measure between 2 and 3 percent, with a significant surge in the leisure/hospitality sector, which has grown by more than 25 percent through the recovery. The city's unemployment stands slightly below national levels, and despite a slowdown in population growth in 2015, San Diego still outpaces the U.S. rate. Ten-X expects tight availability and healthy rent growth to support solid gains in NOI, which should see average annual growth of 2.7 percent through 2020. With a weak supply pipeline and strong absorption, vacancies are expected to fall to the mid-5-percent range by the end of 2018 before climbing by 100 bps through 2020. Seattle Seattle's employment is at an all-time peak and still growing, with annual gains that have exceeded 3 percent since 2015. Metro unemployment is in steady decline, with construction/mining jobs standing 50 percent above their cyclical trough. Ten-X Research expects industrial demand to easily outpace new supply through next year, with vacancies falling to the mid-3-percent level. The downturn scenario, however, sees vacancies rising to about 6 percent by 2020. Robust demand and strong rent growth will push NOI growth to an average of 2.7 percent annually through 2020. The Industrial Sector's Top Five "Sell" Markets: Houston Low oil prices are taking a toll on the Houston economy. Though employment growth has been positive, it has slowed to less than 1 percent annually since the end of 2014. The construction/mining and manufacturing sectors have been damaged most by the oil fallout, with notable payroll declines over the past two years. Houston's industrial market is grappling with heavy supply and reduced demand owing to lower oil prices, and vacancies are expected to reach the mid-10-percent range by 2020. Ten-X Research does not expect NOI gains to exceed 0.5 percent through the same period. San Antonio Though San Antonio's demographics do not ring alarm bells, the city's industrial market is far from favorable. While metro employment growth has slowed, it still posted gains in the mid-2-percent range in 2016, and unemployment is well below the national average, with the education/healthcare services sector serving as a primary driver of new jobs. But despite few expected completions ahead, Ten-X Research expects San Antonio vacancies to decline only modestly by next year. By 2020, it foresees vacancies rising to the mid-9-percent range, surpassing the national average. Effective rents will climb at a mid-2-percent rate through next year, and the area's NOI growth will average only 1.2 percent annually through 2020. Indianapolis Indianapolis employment growth has been fairly solid, with annual gains in the mid-2-percent range over the past two years. Metro-area unemployment, now in the high-3-percent range, is below the national rate, and the area's population growth has outstripped the U.S. average for more than 25 years. But the industrial market is troubled by weak demand, despite few anticipated supply additions. Under the projected downturn scenario, availability will rise to the mid-10-percent range by 2020. High availability will be a drag on NOI growth, which will average only 1.5 percent annually through 2020. Dallas Despite a diverse and flourishing economy, weak industrial dynamics are affecting the health of Dallas industrial real estate. Dallas has seen annual employment growth ranging between the mid-3 and high-4-percent range since 2013, and the city's unemployment is lower than the U.S. average. Weak oil prices have boosted the wholesale trade sector, which witnessed double-digit annual growth through most of 2016. And with a drop-off in completions, vacancies will decline to the mid-10-percent range over the next two years. But Ten-X Research's recession model predicts vacancies will climb to the mid-13-percent range by 2020. NOI growth will average nearly 4 percent through 2018, but decline sharply by 2020. Fort Worth While Fort Worth has been fending off damage attributable to low oil prices, its industrial market is burdened by poor fundamentals and weak rent growth. The area's economy accelerated through 2016, and its unemployment rate though unchanging is lower than that of the U.S. as a whole. Population growth also exceeds the national rate. Ten-X Research projects Fort Worth's industrial vacancy rate declining modestly through 2018, before climbing to the low-11-percent range. Rent growth will average in the high-2-percent range through 2018, but then decline by 1.1 percent annually in the Ten-X Research model's 2019-2020 downturn scenario. NOI growth will average only 1.6 percent per year through 2020 due to weak rent increases and stalling fundamentals. About Ten-X Ten-X is the nation's leading online real estate transaction marketplace and the parent to Ten-X Homes, Ten-X Commercial and Auction.com. To date, the company has sold 275,000+ residential and commercial properties totaling more than $46 billion. Leveraging desktop and mobile technology, Ten-X allows people to safely and easily complete real estate transactions online. Ten-X is headquartered in Irvine and Silicon Valley, Calif., and has offices in key markets nationwide. Investors in the company include CapitalG (formerly Google Capital) and Stone Point Capital. For more information, visit Ten-X.com. SOURCE Ten-X Related Links http://www.auction.com The weekly challenges range in difficulty from beginner to advanced and introduce students to the coding and problem-solving skills NASA employees, including astronauts, use in their jobs every day. From cracking a code using TI's basic programming language to calculating the travel time between Earth and Mars, students will put their STEM skills to the test. "The future of space exploration lies in the hands of students in today's classrooms," said Peggy Whitson, a NASA astronaut who has been to outer space three times and is currently living and working on the International Space Station. "By creating opportunities to encourage teamwork, creativity and problem-solving, we can make learning fun and set students on a course to become the next generation of explorers." Students who accept the mission will automatically be entered to win TI's new Galaxy Gray TI-84 Plus CE, one of the coolest STEM tools on planet Earth. Students are also invited along on weekly virtual field trips, offering exclusive, behind-the-scenes access to NASA's headquarters. Student teams can check out where they stand, in relation to their classmates and other competing teams from around the country, by following real-time updates to the "Search for STEMnauts" leaderboard on the contest website: STEMnauts.com. "We've added a high-tech, interactive twist to the traditional scavenger hunt that will appeal to all students," said Peter Balyta, Ph.D, President of Texas Instruments Education Technology. "By making a game out of learning important skills, like coding and problem-solving, we hope to foster a life-long love of STEM and open students up to a variety of exciting career opportunities." To view the official contest rules and to accept the mission, visit: www.STEMnauts.com. About Texas Instruments: Education Technology, a business of Texas Instruments, provides a wide range of tools connecting the classroom experience with real-world applications, helping students and teachers to explore mathematics and science interactively. TI's products and services are tested vigorously against recognized third-party research, which shows that the effective use of graphing calculators improves the mathematical skills of students and their attitudes toward mathematics. For more information, visit www.education.ti.com. Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is a global semiconductor design and manufacturing company that develops analog ICs and embedded processors. By employing the world's brightest minds, TI creates innovations that shape the future of technology. TI is helping more than 100,000 customers transform the future, today. Learn more at www.ti.com. SOURCE Texas Instruments Related Links http://www.ti.com NEW YORK, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Estate of Aileen Mehle, known to her fans worldwide as the society columnist Suzy, will be sold in two landmark auctions at Doyle Auctioneers & Appraisers. Her extraordinary collection of stunning jewelry will be offered as a special section of the April 27 sale of Important Jewelry. Her elegant furniture, decorations, paintings, couture, costume jewelry, accessories, photographs, and memorabilia will be offered on May 24. Aileen Mehle, known as the legendary society columnist Suzy. Credit: Doyle New York During a career spanning over fifty years, Aileen Mehle lived a life as glamorous and exciting as any of the society figures, film stars, and celebrities whose lives she chronicled in her columns. She was married twice and was linked romantically with five-and-dime heir Woolworth Donahue, Hollywood producer Walter Wanger, and Frank Sinatra. In the 1960s, she was a regular panelist on the television program What's My Line? and even had a cameo role in a 1967 episode of Batman. Writing under the nom-de-plume Suzy, Aileen entertained straphangers, housewives, and the ladies who lunch from 1951 until 2005 with her unique take on society's comings and goings. Alex Hitz described her in a recent tribute for Town and Country as "the undisputed arbiter and Queen of who-was-who in the richest uber-echelon of the rarefied world of that 'high society' or 'beau monde.' She was gossip's grande dame." When Aileen moved to New York in 1957, she settled into an elegant pre-War building on Park Avenue and made the Upper East Side her home for the rest of her life. She eventually moved into a lavish ballroom apartment in a 1903 mansion designed by Horace Trumbauer, which Aileen's close friend Mario Buatta decorated in the style of the ancien regime. Aileen Mehle's collection of jewelry reflects her exquisite taste, her vibrant personality, and her fondness for bold, colorful pieces by such designers as David Webb and Andrew Clunn. These were the pieces that she wore to glamorous events around the world during her remarkable life. Her collection is as unique as the charming, beautiful, and intelligent woman herself. Sale information and the April 27 and May 24 auction catalogues may be viewed at www.Doyle.com. SOURCE Doyle New York Related Links http://www.Doyle.com Mr. Thaman, 53, currently serves as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Owens Corning, a Toledo, Ohio based world leader in composite solutions and building materials systems and a market-leading innovator of glass fiber technology. Mr. Thaman joined Owens Corning's Board of Directors in 2002. "We are delighted to welcome Mike to our Board of Directors," said John Morikis, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sherwin-Williams. "Mike has demonstrated strong leadership for 25 years at Owens Corning, and his broad financial and international experience will serve the Board and our shareholders well. We look forward to his contributions to Sherwin-Williams for many years." Mr. Thaman has held a variety of senior leadership positions over the course of his career with Owens Corning. He has served as President and Chief Executive Officer since 2007 and Chairman since 2002. In addition to his current roles, Mr. Thaman served as Chief Financial Officer from 2000 to 2007, President of Exterior Systems from 1999 to 2000 and President of Engineered Pipe Solutions from 1997 to 1998. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Kohler Company, a private manufacturing company, and previously served as a member of the Board of Directors of NextEra Energy, Inc., a public company and clean energy leader in North America. About Sherwin-Williams Founded in 1866, The Sherwin-Williams Company is a global leader in the manufacture, development, distribution, and sale of coatings and related products to professional, industrial, commercial, and retail customers. The company manufactures products under well-known brands such as Sherwin-Williams, HGTV HOME by Sherwin-Williams, Dutch Boy, Krylon, Minwax, Thompson's Water Seal, and many more. With global headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio, Sherwin-Williams branded products are sold exclusively through a chain of more than 4,100 company-operated stores and facilities, while the company's other brands are sold through leading mass merchandisers, home centers, independent paint dealers, hardware stores, automotive retailers, and industrial distributors. The Sherwin-Williams Global Finishes Group distributes a wide range of products in more than 115 countries around the world. For more information, visit www.sherwin.com. Investor Relations Contact: Bob Wells Senior Vice President Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Direct: 216.566.2244 [email protected] Media Contact: Mike Conway Director Corporate Communications Direct: 216.515.4393 [email protected] SOURCE The Sherwin-Williams Company Related Links http://www.sherwin.com NEW YORK, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Taiwan Fund, Inc. (TWN) (the "Fund") announced today the results of its Annual Stockholders Meeting held on April 18, 2017 (the "Meeting"). The Fund's stockholders elected four individuals to the Board of Directors (the "Board"). William C. Kirby, Anthony Kai Yiu Lo, Shelley E. Rigger and Anthony S. Clark were elected by stockholders for one-year terms, expiring in 2018. Michael F. Holland was not re-elected by stockholders. Director Votes Cast for Votes Against/Withheld William C. Kirby 7,214,316 157,823 Michael F. Holland 3,292,494 4,079,645 Anthony Kai Yiu Lo 3,720,043 3,652,096 Shelley E. Rigger 7,127,817 244,322 Anthony S. Clark 3,790,439 3,581,700 Pursuant to the Fund's by-laws, Michael F. Holland is deemed to have tendered to the Board his resignation as a Director, with such resignation to take effect 30 days after the date of the Meeting unless the Board unanimously decides to reject that Director's tender of resignation, in which case the Director shall continue in office until his death, resignation or removal or until his successor shall have been elected and shall have been qualified. Michael F. Holland has been designated as an Audit Committee Financial Expert for the Fund. After considering the implications of the failure of Michael F. Holland to be re-elected by stockholders, the Board unanimously decided that, in view of the need to identify a person having the qualifications to be designated as an Audit Committee Financial Expert to replace Mr. Holland, it would decline the deemed tender of resignation by Mr. Holland with the understanding that Mr. Holland would tender his resignation once the Board has designated another Board member as an Audit Committee Financial Expert. The Board immediately began the process of actively seeking to identify a Board candidate who would have the qualifications to be designated as an Audit Committee Financial Expert for the Fund. Any determinations made by the Board as a result of this search will be communicated to stockholders. The Fund is a diversified closed-end, investment company, which seeks long term capital appreciation primarily through investments in equity securities listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Shares of the Fund are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "TWN." For additional information on the Fund, including information on the Fund's holdings, visit the Fund's website at www.thetaiwanfund.com or call 1-877-864-5056. SOURCE The Taiwan Fund, Inc. Related Links http://www.thetaiwanfund.com NEW YORK, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Third Street Music School Settlement, the nation's longest running community school, has announced that this year's Spring Gala will honor Grammy-Award-winning hip-hop group The Roots, Clarfeld Financial Advisors, and Beverly Harper, Third Street Safety Director of nearly two decades. The Roots to Be Honored at Third Street Music School Settlements Annual Spring Gala The gala, to be held on May 8th, pays tribute to honorees for their philanthropic contributions and leadership in supporting the arts and music education. The event raises funds to support Third Street's mission to transform lives through music and the arts. Comedian, actress, and Saturday Night Live alumna, Rachel Dratch, will serve as master of ceremonies and celebrity auctioneer, C.K. Swett, will be hosting the live auction. As long-time benefactors of music education and activists for the creative arts, The Roots will receive Third Street's Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Arts. Past honorees of the award include, Sting, Yoko Ono, Philip Glass, and Audra McDonald. "I started my artistic journey at a performing arts school where I met Tariq. Being able to share my story, bring music back into the lives of young people and do it with the longest running community music school in the country is a honor for me," said Questlove, co-founding and original member of The Roots. "Before Ahmir and I formed the Roots we were busking on street corners drumming on buckets. The love of hip-hop and how music bridges gaps kept us going. I am so proud to have the opportunity to give back to future generations of music-makers and lovers at Third Street Music School," said Black Thought, co-founding and original member of the Roots. "We are proud to celebrate our 122nd anniversary by acknowledging The Roots, Clarfeld Financial Advisors, and Beverly Harper for their advocacy of the arts and for fostering foster artistic creativity in their communities and beyond," said Third Street Music School's Anna-Maria Kellen Executive Director, Valerie G. Lewis. "The funds raised from the gala help to further support our long-standing commitment to providing access and quality arts and music education for all those who seek its enrichment." The Gala Co-chairs are Alexandra Romero and Costas Constantinides, Katie and Matt Sperling, Felipe Toews and Yuu Fujita. Anniversary Co-chairs include Margaret Crotty and Rory Riggs, Peter Flint Jr., Anna-Maria Kellen Foundation, Jeannie Park and Larry Hackett, Tatiana Serafin and Mick Kalishman. Honorary Co-chairs comprise of Barbara E. Field, Philip Glass and Harold Prince. Taking place at Capitale (130 Bowery in Lower Manhattan), the evening begins with a cocktail reception at 6:00pm, followed by dinner and an awards program at 7:00pm. This event will bring together hundreds of luminaries from the worlds of arts, culture, education, media, business, finance and philanthropy for a night of celebration and giving back. Support through attendance, live and silent auction participation and donations will help raise funds that will go towards scholarships and financial aid services for our students at Third Street. In attendance will be representatives from the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, Clarfeld Financial Services, Ernst & Young, Steinway & Sons, Putney, Twombly Hall & Hirson LLP, TD Bank and Westerman Construction Co., Inc. Tickets to the event start at $500 per person and $5,000 per table. For more information about the Third Street Music School Spring Gala, please contact Katherine Nemeth at 212-777-3240 ext. 26 or email [email protected]. For updates, please visit thirdstreetmusicschool.org/gala. Media Contact: Tess O'Brien [email protected] 2126275766 SOURCE Third Street Music School Settlement SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The proposed Huntington Beach desalination project received a significant boost today as two of the country's top environmental leaders called on state regulators to approve the project, which would provide Orange County with 50 million gallons of fresh drinking water per day from the Pacific Ocean. Former Senator Barbara Boxer (D), considered to be one of the strongest champions of environmental protection in the history of the US Senate, along with former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D), the author of California's landmark legislation to curb climate change, are asking state leaders to finally approve the Huntington Beach project, which began the state's permitting process in 2002. Boxer and Nunez both serve as consultants on the project, stemming from their long-standing support for desalination. "The Huntington Beach desalination project is a positive and critical response to the severe impacts of climate change in California," said Boxer. "The five-year drought that we experienced between 2012 and 2016 caused great suffering and I saw it first hand; it turned our farmers against our fishermen and caused anxiety for all our families. We should and must respond in an environmentally sound way, not with damaging large dams or importing more water." "As a long time proponent of desalination, who wrote the desalination provisions in the last federal water bill in 2016, I urge all the state administrative agencies to move forward on the Huntington Beach proposal that has been languishing for over a decade, resulting in nearly 220 billion gallons of lost water," said Boxer. "One year of good rainfall doesn't mean we can sit back and not prepare for our future, climate change, and the next drought," said Nunez. "The Huntington Beach desalination project will be the most technologically-advanced, environmentally-friendly desalination plant in the world. This is what makes California beautiful we use our ingenuity and innovation to solve problems and protect our planet." While the Huntington Beach project has long been supported by labor unions, the business community, civil rights groups, and some environmentalists, the endorsements from Boxer and Nunez are the strongest environmental credentials the project has received to date. Boxer, who retired from the US Senate earlier this year, has an impeccable environmental record. She led the 2003 Senate floor battle to block oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and she authored the National Oceans Protection Act (NOPA) of 2005. She has been honored by the California League of Conservation Voters with a Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as by the National Resources Defense Council and the Environmental Working Group. Nunez is considered one of the top Latino leaders in the nation and authored AB 32 (California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006), the precedent setting climate change legislation that has become a blueprint for other states and the U.S. Congress in addressing environmental challenges. Since its passage, the landmark law has allowed the state to cut pollution by nearly 24 million metric tons, and low-carbon alternative fuels have displaced 2 billion gallons of gasoline in the past two years alone. The proposed Huntington Beach Project will be the first large-scale desalination facility in the world to include 1mm (1/25th inch, approximately the thickness of a credit card) slot width seawater intake screens and have a through-screen water velocity of less than 0.5 feet per second in an open-ocean setting. The plant will also include state-of-the-art diffuser technology that will ensure that the salinity level in the plant's seawater discharge meets the State Water Board's stringent new receiving water quality requirements. These technologies will ensure the protection of marine life. In addition, the Huntington Beach plant will be the first large-scale water treatment plant in California to be 100% carbon neutral. Poseidon Water, the plant's developer, has also proposed a plan to offer funding to restore and maintain the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, providing much needed funding for the restoration and maintenance of one of California's last remaining large-scale wetlands. The project will produce 56,000 acre feet per year (50 million gallons per day) of locally controlled, drought-proof drinking water that will reduce Orange County's need to import water from Northern California and the Colorado River. The next step in the approval process will be at the California State Lands Commission in August, followed by a hearing at the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board, and finally, the California Coastal Commission. "As someone who has always fought to protect the environment, I urge the state to quickly approve this project," said Nunez. "Not only do we need to find new sources of locally controlled water, we need to show our residents that we want projects that make sense, like the Huntington Beach desalination facility." "I am proud to team up with Fabian, the co-author of California's climate change legislation, to encourage a smart, state-of-the-art plant that responds to one of the most pressing issues of our time," said Boxer. "Combined with the fact that it is carbon neutral and ensures the continued beauty of the Bolsa Chica wetlands, support of this project should be a no-brainer." SOURCE Offices of former Senator Barbara Boxer and Speaker Emeritus Fabian Nunez Recently, 11 Health expanded and entered the U.S. Upon arrival, 11 Health set up base in ROC's Irvine office before growing and moving locations. We caught up with Michael Seres, CEO of 11 Health, to discuss their transition from the UK, as well as the early days at ROC. Can you say a little about 11 Health's recent expansion into the U.S.? 11 Health was given FDA clearance for its medical device in 2015 and established its US operation in early 2016. Since then our US office has grown to become our R&D centre and where we develop all our technology. We now have a team of 12 people based here and are looking forward to continuing to grow over the coming years. What were some of the major challenges for the expansion? Opening an office in any foreign country is challenging especially when you are not used to the new environment. From banking, company set up, hiring new people and finding the right office space it takes time. I learned from my mistakes but I also had the help from the United Kingdom Trade and Industry team in southern California, so that was great. Although the UK and US share many things in common there were still cultural differences to learn. For example, working hours are slightly different. What role did ROC play during this transition, and how was the experience working with ROC? ROC became our first home. I found the offices at Irvine to be very welcoming. Kristen is a great office manager and made us feel at home very quickly. I liked the fact that you could scale up or down very quickly and that there was a lot of space and light within the offices. Perhaps the greatest part was the outdoor area which made coming to work feel more like sitting outside at home. In the end we felt we outgrew ROC which is why we moved but I would encourage anyone starting out to try the offices as a Launchpad. You will be greeting by warm and friendly people and a community that is very easy to integrate with. For more information about 11 Health's ostom-i and other connected medical devices, check out their website here, or visit the ostom-i Facebook page. Real Office Centers, an executive suite company, provides professional support services, educational events, and a stimulating environment to help your company grow. Real Office Centers - [email protected] SOURCE Real Office Centers Related Links http://realofficecenters.com WASHINGTON, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- EDENS, a leading national retail real estate developer, hosted Union Market Talks last week at Union Market's Dock 5 with Richard Florida to celebrate the launch of his new book, The New Urban Crisis. EDENS partnered with the Urban Land Institute, the Economic Innovation Group and CityLab to bring together nearly four hundred D.C. thought leaders and community advocates. "Discussing inclusive prosperity in an open forum helps us come together and appreciate our communities' rich diversity," EDENS CEO Jodie W. McLean said. "EDENS' purpose has always been about enriching community, and engaging with community leaders, urbanists, neighborhood activists and businesses. It is essential in DC and throughout the country that we all work together to create opportunities for all." Speakers included Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, former mayor of Pittsburgh Tom Murphy, The Atlantic's Ron Brownstein, Economic Innovation Group's Steve Glickman, EDENS' CEO Jodie W. McLean, CityLab's Rob Bole and author and urbanist Richard Florida. The program began with the first public discussion of the New Urban Crisis between author Florida and The Atlantic's Brownstein. "We need to shift more power to the cities and public and private partners need to work together, now more than ever, to tackle our inequality and geographic divides to create a better way of life for all." Following panels included robust discussions exploring the purpose and impact of inclusive prosperity in growing cities like Washington, DC, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Detroit. "Access to opportunity is the key to inclusivity," explained EIG's Glickman. D.C. Mayor Bowser closed out the day's program stating, "to be inclusive we have to increase the incomes of local residents, we have to make affordability in housing a focus for everybody, and we have to be aggressive in holding everybody accountable." Union Market, renowned for its efforts to cultivate ideas, launch and scale businesses and celebrate its neighborhood, provided the platform for city and business leaders to address the challenges facing our urban communities. Event Photos Here: https://edens.app.box.com/s/crbejy01hglk8rnqusc6cjtdfgs38db7 Photo credit: Joy Asico What People Are Saying About The New Urban Crisis "Richard Florida is the great pioneer thinker who first explained how the influx of creative people was reviving cities. Now he takes the next step: looking for ways to make this urbanism more inclusive. Florida takes a hard look at the problems and, as usual, comes up with some smart new policies. Making cities work for all residents is one of the great economic, political, and moral issues of our time." - Walter Isaacson, President and CEO, the Aspen Institute, author of Steve Jobs "This is the book we have been waiting for. Richard Florida is the greatest American urbanist of our time. In this book, he thoughtfully and forcefully confronts how Americans' return to our cities has brought incredible cultural and economic renewal but without careful and thoughtful land use, infrastructure, and economic justice initiatives, this renewal is leaving a disappearing middle class in its wake. This is an indispensable read for policy makers, students, educators, and all urban dwellers alike. Florida sketches an urgent roadmap to ensure that America's urban revival brings prosperity to everyone, not just a few." - Eric Garcetti, Mayor of Los Angeles ABOUT EDENS EDENS develops, owns and operates community-oriented shopping places in primary markets across the country. Our expertise covers a broad range of areas including pioneering concepts, creating the right merchandise mix, delivering seamless construction projects and maintaining ownership and management. EDENS has regional headquarters in Boston; Washington, D.C.; Atlanta; Miami; Houston; and Columbia, S.C. For additional information about the company and its retail real estate portfolio, visit www.edens.com. ABOUT UNION MARKET The Union Market District is a 45-acre district in NE that is one of DC's most vibrant, diverse and thriving neighborhoods a living laboratory for a sustainable urban community and place for creative minds and businesses to connect, thrive, launch and make DC their own. Since opening in September 2012, The Market at Union Market, the acclaimed food market with more than 40 local scalable businesses, averages 15,000 visitors per weekend and has hosted 400+ community and private events. For more information about Union Market, please visit www.unionmarketdc.com. SOURCE EDENS Related Links http://www.edens.com RESTON, Va., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Leidos (NYSE: LDOS), a global science and technology company, was awarded a prime contract by the U.S. Army to provide Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems (TUAS) technical services and field support. The multiple-award indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract has a three-year base period of performance, two one-year options, and a total contract value of $900 million for all awardees. Leidos is one of three contractors eligible to compete for work under the contract. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) employs TUAS across all echelons to support tactical, operational, and strategic operations. Under the contract, Leidos will provide worldwide technical services and field support of TUAS, Universal Ground Control Stations, and Universal Ground Data Terminals including non-repetitive development, integration, investigation, inspection, analysis and corrective action, testing, and evaluation efforts. The work will enable the U.S. Army to identify and rapidly integrate cutting-edge technologies and capabilities to deliver capability to U.S. Armed Forces and its allies, reduce command stress on U.S. Armed Forces by relieving them of several operational requirements, and decrease the number of military personnel the DoD must deploy and sustain overseas. "Leidos' expertise and success in integrating difficult aviation technical solutions, as well as our sustained excellence in delivering product and field support in austere overseas environments, enables us to support the U.S. Army in their mission to employ Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems in support of our warfighters," said Leidos President of Defense & Intelligence Tim Reardon. About Leidos Leidos is a global science and technology solutions and services leader working to solve the world's toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, homeland security, civil, and health markets. The company's 32,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $7.04 billion for the fiscal year ended December 30, 2016. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com. Statements in this announcement, other than historical data and information, constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause our actual results, performance, achievements, or industry results to be very different from the results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Some of these factors include, but are not limited to, the risk factors set forth in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 30, 2016, and other such filings that Leidos makes with the SEC from time to time. Due to such uncertainties and risks, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. SOURCE Leidos Related Links http://www.leidos.com The legal petition, filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Humane Society International, The Humane Society of the United States, International Fund for Animal Welfare and Natural Resources Defense Council, seeks "endangered" status for the species. Facing mounting threats from habitat loss, being hunted for their meat, and the international trade in bone carvings and trophies, Africa's giraffe population has plunged almost 40 percent in the past 30 years and now stands at just over 97,000 individuals. "Giraffes have been dying off silently for decades, and we have to act quickly before they disappear forever," said Tanya Sanerib, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. "There are now fewer giraffes than elephants in Africa. It's time for the United States to step up and protect these extraordinary creatures." New research recently prompted the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to elevate the threat level of giraffes from ""least concern" to "vulnerable" on the "IUCN Red List of Threatened Species". Yet giraffes have no protection under U.S. law. Species designated as "endangered" under the U.S. Endangered Species Act receive strict protections, including a ban on most imports and sales. The United States plays a major role in the giraffe trade, importing more than 21,400 bone carving, 3,000 skin pieces and 3,700 hunting trophies over the past decade. Limiting U.S. import and trade will give giraffes important protections. "Previously, the public was largely unaware that trophy hunters were targeting these majestic animals for trophies and selfies. In the past few years, several gruesome images of trophy hunters next to slain giraffe bodies have caused outrage, bringing this senseless killing to light," said Masha Kalinina, international trade policy specialist with the wildlife department of Humane Society International. "Currently, no U.S. or international law protects giraffes against overexploitation for trade. It is clearly time to change this. As the largest importer of trophies in the world, the role of the United States in the decline of this species is undeniable, and we must do our part to protect these animals." Known for their six-foot-long necks, distinctive patterning and long eyelashes, giraffes have long captured the human imagination. New research recently revealed that giraffes live in complex societies, much like elephants, and have unique physiological traits, like the highest blood pressure of any land mammal. "I was lucky enough to study giraffes in the wild in Kenya many years ago. Back then, they seemed plentiful, and we all just assumed that it would stay that way," said Jeff Flocken, North American regional director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). "Giraffes are facing a crisis. We cannot let these amazing, regal and unique creatures go extinct it would be a dramatic loss of diversity and beauty for our planet. This listing petition is rallying the world to help save the giraffe." The IUCN currently recognizes one species of giraffes and nine subspecies: West African, Kordofan, Nubian, reticulated, Masai, Thornicroft's, Rothchild's, Angolan and South African. Today's petition seeks an endangered listing for the whole species. "I can't and won't imagine Africa's landscape without giraffes," said Elly Pepper, deputy director of NRDC's wildlife trade initiative. "Losing one of the continent's iconic species would be an absolute travesty. Giving giraffes Endangered Species Act protections would be a giant step in the fight to save them from extinction." The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has 90 days to review and respond to the petition and determine whether a listing may be warranted. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.2 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. Humane Society International and its partner organizations together constitute one of the world's largest animal protection organizations. For more than 20 25 years, HSI has been working for the protection of all animals through the use of science, advocacy, education and hands on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty worldwide on the Web at hsi.org. The Humane Society of the United States is the most effective animal protection organization, as rated by our peers. For more than 60 years, we have celebrated the protection of all animals and confronted all forms of cruelty. We and our affiliates are the nation's largest provider of hands-on services for animals, caring for more than 150,000 animals each year, and we prevent cruelty to millions more through our advocacy campaigns. Read more about our more than 60 years of transformational change for animals and people. HumaneSociety.org. 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 Facebook/IFAW and Twitter @action4ifaw. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 2 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC. SOURCE International Fund for Animal Welfare Related Links http://www.ifaw.org "The 100 schools being recognized today are investing time and energy in real-world life skills that are essential to achieving financial security in the future," Harrell said. "Students that participated in this programming during the 2015-2016 school year had an 80 percent pass rate, and the knowledge they've gained will benefit them far beyond graduation. We're thrilled to support w!se in its efforts to develop financially resilient students, who have the skills they need to make sound financial decisions throughout their lives." w!se is a leading educational nonprofit based in New York City with a mission to improve the lives of young people and at-risk adults through programs that develop financial literacy and readiness for college and the workforce. The organization's award-winning personal finance education program provides teachers with a curriculum and resources to teach and measure financial literacy through the w!se Certification Test. This year, schools in 46 states participated in the certification program, up from 36 five years ago. The 100 Best w!se High Schools Teaching Personal Finance ranking seeks to highlight the importance of personal finance education. 2017 marks the third year that Voya has sponsored the annual ranking ceremony. "Support from Voya Financial and other members of the business community has enabled us to consistently expand the reach of our program, year over year," said Phyllis F. Perillo, Founding President and CEO, Working in Support of Education. "In total, we have provided nearly 6 million hours of personal finance instruction to children across the country. This is a milestone, not only for our students, but for our partners in the business community and the economy overall." Voya Foundation accepts grants that align with its new focus on financial resilience, which is defined as an individual's ability to make educated financial decisions, take advantage of growth and development opportunities as they appear, as well as weather difficult times. Financial resilience programming includes science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education, financial literacy and higher education support through the Voya Scholars program. Media Contact: Nicole Vasile Voya Financial Cell: (860) 839-1589 [email protected] About Voya Foundation Voya Foundation's mission is to improve the quality of life in communities where Voya Financial operates and its employees and customers live. Voya Foundation provides grants and establishes signature partnerships in the areas of financial literacy and children's education and fosters employee engagement to deepen our positive impact on the community. For more information, visit www.voyafoundation.com. About Voya Financial Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), helps Americans plan, invest and protect their savings to get ready to retire better. Serving the financial needs of approximately 13.6 million individual and institutional customers in the United States, Voya is a Fortune 500 company that had $11 billion in revenue in 2016. The company had $484 billion in total assets under management and administration as of Dec. 31, 2016. With a clear mission to make a secure financial future possible one person, one family, one institution at a time Voya's vision is to be America's Retirement Company. Certified as a "Great Place to Work" by the Great Place to Work Institute, Voya is equally committed to conducting business in a way that is socially, environmentally, economically and ethically responsible and has been recognized as one of the 2017 World's Most Ethical Companies by the Ethisphere Institute, as well as one of the Top Green Companies in the U.S., by Newsweek magazine. For more information, visit voya.com. Follow Voya Financial on Facebook and Twitter @Voya. SOURCE Voya Financial, Inc. Related Links http://www.voya.com COLUMBUS, Ohio, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- White Castle once again puts its slider prowess on full display with bold new combinations including Dr. Praeger's Black Bean Slider and the Bacon Jam with Smoked Cheddar Slider. Returning with the new slider line-up are the Craver-favorite, Mac & Cheese Nibblers. These tasty limited-time menu items will be available at most White Castle restaurants through June 1st, or while supplies last. White Castle once again puts its slider prowess on full display with bold new combinations including Dr. Praegers Black Bean Slider and the Bacon Jam with Smoked Cheddar Slider. Returning with the new slider line-up are the Craver-favorite, Mac & Cheese Nibblers. These tasty limited-time menu items will be available at most White Castle restaurants through June 1st, or while supplies last. "At White Castle, every day is a slider-bration! Only a true slider innovator can create experiences that keep customers craving for 96 years and counting," said Jamie Richardson, vice president of White Castle. "Don't miss out on these bold new sliders, especially a vegetarian option that's Craver-tarian approved. Heck, it's everyone approved." Dr. Praeger's Black Bean Slider, along with the acclaimed Veggie Slider, bolsters the vegetarian offering at White Castle. Made with delicious black beans, red peppers and corn, the new Dr. Preager's patty is served on the signature White Castle slider bun. Customers can choose from a selection of sauces on the side, including Ranch, Sweet Thai, and Honey Mustard sauces. "And what could be more bold than taking the perfection of The Original Slider to a whole new, bacon-y level?" said Richardson. "This new slider is my jam!" The mixture of bacon, onions, brown sugar and spices, cooked to perfection, joins a slice of smoked cheddar cheese on The Original Slider to create the unforgettable experience of the .99 Bacon Jam with Smoked Cheddar Slider. The limited-time slider is available at all Castle locations, except in the Chicagoland area. In Chicago only, a limited-time Brisket Slider takes the spotlight with smoky-licious brisket, Bull's-Eye BBQ sauce and crispy onion crisps. Bull's-Eye is a registered trademark of Kraft Foods. As if the new, bold slider flavors aren't enough, Mac & Cheese Nibblers are back! The golden triangles of cheddar cheese goodness are the ultimate slider accompaniment. For a limited time, Cravers can enjoy a Cheesy 10 Sack (any 10 cheese sliders with your choice of New Smoked Cheddar, American or Jalapeno cheese) for $5.99 with any purchase online or in the app. Visit whitecastle.com for more information about White Castle's newest menu items. About White Castle White Castle, America's first fast-food hamburger chain based in Columbus, Ohio, has been making Bold Moves as a family-owned business for more than 95 years. The company was founded in Wichita, Kansas, in 1921 serving The Original Slider which was named the most influential burger of all time in 2014 by Time. Today White Castle owns and operates nearly 400 restaurants in 13 states. All White Castle Sliders are made from 100 percent USDA inspected beef. White Castle's commitment to maintaining the highest quality products extends to the company owning and operating its own meat processing plants and bakeries as well as three frozen food processing plants. The retail division markets White Castle signature products in grocery, club stores, convenience stores, vending operations and concessions across the United States and in a growing number of international locations, including military base exchanges around the world. Cravers on-the-go can access sweet deals and place a pick-up order any time in the official White Castle app. Download the app today from the iTunes App Store or Google Play. For more information on White Castle visit www.whitecastle.com. SOURCE White Castle Related Links http://www.whitecastle.com LOS ANGELES, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- On Monday, April 3, 2017, Bobby Saadian and Daniel Miller of Wilshire Law Firm filed a proposed class action suit in federal court on behalf of their client, Sophano Van, against Uber Technologies, Inc. and its subsidiaries Rasier, LLC and Rasier-CA, LLC. The complaint alleges that Uber, intentionally, manipulates the route data reported to customers and drivers by using one route in determining its upfront pricing and then transmitting different navigation instructions to drivers. This creates a discrepancy in the price that Uber is charging customers and the amount that Uber is reporting to drivers; allowing Uber to pocket extra money, in addition to the booking fees and percentages permitted under its agreement with drivers. Uber started utilizing upfront pricing in various cities across the United States in mid-2016 and switched over to the current upfront pricing model in California around September 2016. Uber's upfront pricing requires customers to select their pickup location and destination, in advance, and then charges them a fixed price for the transportation. However, when an Uber driver arrives to pick up the customer, Uber provides the driver with a different route that results in less compensation to the driver. When the trip is completed, Uber sends the driver a breakdown of the total fare, Uber's fees, and the payout to the driver. However, the total fare reported to the driver is not the total fare collected by Uber from the customers. The proposed class action has been filed to put an end to this misconduct by Uber and to obtain fair compensation for the drivers, who have been underpaid by Uber's misleading fare reporting. Wilshire Law Firm was founded in 2007 by Bobby Saadian, Esq. The firm exclusively represents victims of catastrophic accidents, environmental contamination, dangerous pharmaceuticals and defective products. Wilshire Law Firm, also, represents individuals and families in their battles against insurance companies and big business. www.wilshirelawfirm.com SOURCE Wilshire Law Firm NEW YORK, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Yext, Inc. (NYSE: YEXT), the Knowledge Engine provider, today closed its previously announced initial public offering of 10,500,000 shares of its common stock at a public offering price of $11.00 per share. All of the common stock was offered by Yext. The shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on April 13, 2017, under the ticker symbol "YEXT." In connection with the initial public offering, the underwriters exercised in full their option to purchase an additional 1,575,000 shares of common stock from the company. Yext received gross proceeds of approximately $133 million from the offering, including the exercise of the overallotment option, before underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses. Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan and RBC Capital Markets acted as the bookrunners for the offering. Pacific Crest Securities, a division of KeyBanc Capital Markets, and Piper Jaffray acted as co-managers. A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with, and declared effective by, the Securities and Exchange Commission. Copies of the registration statement can be accessed through the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction. The offering was made only by means of a prospectus. Copies of the final prospectus related to the offering may be obtained from the offices of Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Attention: Prospectus Department, 180 Varick Street, 2nd Floor, New York, New York 10014; J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Attention: Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, telephone: 1-866- 803-9204, or email: [email protected]; or RBC Capital Markets, LLC, Attention Equity Syndicate, 200 Vesey Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10281-8098, or by telephone at (877) 822-4089 or by email at [email protected]. ABOUT YEXT Yext puts business on the map. The Yext Knowledge Engine lets companies manage their digital knowledge in the cloud and sync it to over 100 services in the PowerListings Network. Yext Listings, Pages, and Reviews help businesses around the globe facilitate face-to-face and digital interactions that boost brand awareness, drive foot traffic, and increase sales. SOURCE Yext Related Links http://www.yext.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fedora Update Notification FEDORA-2017-c6f424c3ff 2017-04-19 03:08:24.316658 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Name : proftpd Product : Fedora 25 Version : 1.3.5e Release : 1.fc25 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 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 San Francisco, April 14 : Aiming to secure a stable supply of memory chips for its iPhones, US tech giant Apple may invest billions of dollars to obtain a substantial stake in struggling Japanese conglomerate Toshiba's chip business, media reported on Friday. Apple executives are also considering joining hands with chip manufacturer Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision, for taking a big stake in Toshiba's semiconductor business. "Japanese government officials have expressed concerns about Toshiba selling critical technologies to overseas buyers. Apple would have Toshiba keep some shares so the Japanese and US firms combined will have a majority stake," Japan's public broadcaster NHK reported. Last month, Apple suppliers Foxconn and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) announced their intention to bid for a stake in Toshiba's memory chip unit. Later, TSMC dropped out of the bid, leaving Foxconn as the highest bidder at $27 billion. Early this year, Foxconn announced that it is teaming up with Apple to set up a display-panel manufacturing facility in the US at an investment of $7 billion. The facility could create between 30,000 and 50,000 new jobs and could include the production of TV screens in addition to smartphone displays. Foxconn has most of its factories in China where it assembles Apple's iPhones. Brasilia, April 16 : Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht paid a total of $3.37 billion in bribes to government officials from 2006 to 2014, according to a report. The detailed report submitted on Saturday to prosecutors by Hilberto Mascarenhas, a former executive, says bribes gradually grew from $60 million in 2006 to $730 million in both 2012 and 2013, Xinhua news agency reported. Mascarenhas used to head a special department specifically established to pay officials for lucrative public works contracts. The department continued to function until 2015, even after federal police launched Operation Car Wash, a wide-ranging investigation into government corruption. Mascarenhas said that payments were made with suitcases full of cash delivered to middlemen working for the politicians, or through companies expressly created and registered in offshore tax havens for the purpose of making the transactions. Odebrecht, once Latin America's most successful engineering firm, negotiated a far-reaching plea agreement with Brazilian investigators last year, according to testimony by about 80 company executives and employees. It also agreed to pay at least $3.5 billion to investigators in the US and Switzerland for international charges related to the scandal. On Saturday, Estado de S. Paulo, a leading daily, reported that Brazilian authorities were investigating if any of the foreign kickbacks the company has already admitted to violated Brazilian law. So far, the investigation has incriminated about 200 political figures, including former presidents, current cabinet members, and speakers of both houses of Congress. Bhubaneswar, April 16 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday offered prayers at the 11th century Lingaraj Temple here, officials said. The Prime Minister spent around 25 minutes in the temple premises. He offered flowers, bel leaves, milk, coconut water and water to the deity. Modi also visited the temple of Goddess Bhubaneswari and Parbati, said Manoranjan Panigrahy, CEO of the Lingaraj Temple Administration. "The Prime Minister was so enthusiastic to know about Lingaraj temple. He prayed for the welfare of the nation and 'Swachh Bharat'," said chief priest of the temple. The 'seveyats' or temple priests did not miss a chance to take selfies with the Prime Minister. The 54-metre high temple is spread over a 25,000 sq.ft area and has over 150 small and big subsidiary temples in its premises. Before his visit to the temple, Modi met the families of freedom fighters who were part of the Paika rebellion against the British East India Company in 1817. He felicitated them at the Raj Bhawan. Modi arrived here on Saturday to attend the two-day BJP National Executive meeting that began later in the day. He also held a roadshow ahead of the meet. The Prime Minister will address the concluding session on Sunday. New Delhi, April 16 : Three unidentified armed bike-borne robbers stole over 26 lakh from a cash van here, police said on Sunday. Police said the incident took place on Saturday evening when three men on two bikes targeted the cash van, parked before the ATM belonged to Bank of Baroda near Rajendra Nagar Metro Station in central Delhi. "They, on gun point, stole a cash box containing over Rs 26 lakh from the van while snatching the weapon of the gunman with it before escaping," a senior police officer told IANS. "We have not identified the accused yet... all CCTV cameras of the spot and adjoining areas are being examined to trace them. Security guard and the cash van staff are being questioned in this connection," the officer said. Police was informed about the theft by Jitender Singh, a cash custodian after the accused escaped with cash box near Bada Bazar area. Singh told police that they, after filling cash in two ATMs in Karol Bagh area, were to go to Connaught Place. The van belonged to CMS Securitys. New Delhi, April 16 : A day after Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel's purported disinterest in expanding business to "poor countries" like India created controversy in social media, parent company Snap Inc denied the allegation, saying no such remark was made, reports said on Sunday. US-based news website Variety on Saturday quoted Snapchat's ex-employee Anthony Pompliano as saying that Spiegel in September 2015 told him that "the app is only for rich people. I don't want to expand into poor countries like India and Spain". But the company denied the remarks reports of which had resulted in the rating of the popular app dropping to a "single star" from an apparent "five star" on the App Store. "The simple fact is that he (Pompliano) knows exactly nothing about Snap's current metrics. He and his lawyers are -- not to put too fine a point on matters -- just making things up," Variety reported Snap's attorneys as saying. Denying the claims of Snapchat being termed as a 'rich people's app', the attorneys termed Pompliano a "disgruntled employee fired for poor performance". The portal YourStory published an official statement from Snap that said: "This is ridiculous. Obviously Snapchat is for everyone! It's available worldwide to download for free." Meanwhile, the rating of the popular app dropped to a "single star" from "five star" on the App Store. According to the app info on App Store, the "Customer Ratings" of the current version of the app was "single star" (based on 6,099 ratings) and all versions' rating was "one and half star" (based on 9,527 ratings) as on Sunday morning. The rating for the app on Android Play Store was "four star" (based on 11,932,996 ratings). Indians did not take the comment lightly and took to social media to lash out at the statement from the CEO. As the ratings of the app dropped, the criticism of the CEO and the app increased. "First of all, I didn't even want to give any freakin' star to this app. Evan (CEO of Snapchat) shows how stupid he is by saying this. I bet 3/4th of his company is run by Indian employees. If he didn't want to expand it to poor countries, then why is this app free? Why didn't he put any charges on it?" a user wrote on App Store, condemning the CEO. Some users wrote, "Poor India & Spain need better than Snapchat", "Good bye, My Snapchat Account and Snap Inc. You'll be product of gone by era and derision", and "Poor Evan Spiegel". The app was also trolled on Twitter. #boycottsnapchat became the most trending hashtag on Twitter overnight. "I haven't seen any Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians etc Tweets yet. Thanks @Snapchat for Uniting us," a user tweeted. "I was addicted to @Snapchat but I love my country more than this app. Let's see how you earn without Indians. @evanspiegel #boycottsnapchat," another user wrote on twitter. Some users even flagged the app for hateful content and left a message, "Dear @snapchatsupport, flagged you for hateful content. #boycottsnapchat". According to a report in Forbes on Thursday, Facebook's photo-sharing app Instagram surpassed Snapchat in daily active users of "Stories" feature, though the format was first launched by Snapchat in 2013. Instagram's "Stories" feature was now used by more than 200 million people every day -- an increase of 50 million since January. On the other hand, Snapchat which launched the "Stories" format in October 2013, had 161 million daily active users in February. "Stories" feature is an ephemeral chain of photo and video clips with filters and special effects. More recently, Facebook and WhatsApp also introduced the feature, imitating Snapchat. Snapchat has more than four million users in India. Ankara, April 17 : Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has claimed victory in a Sunday referendum on granting him sweeping new powers, saying it was won by a clear majority. The Turkish Election Commission has yet to release its official results and the two main opposition parties are challenging the results, but according to the state-run Anadolu Agency, with more than 99 per cent of the ballots counted, "Yes" was on 51.36 per cent and "No" on 48.64 per cent. "Today... Turkey has taken a historic decision," BBC quoted him saying in a briefing at his official Istanbul residence, the Huber Palace. "With the people, we have realised the most important reform in our history." Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak said the results were not what they expected. "The 'yes' votes are lower than what we expected, but still they are ahead," Xinhua news agency quoted him as saying. But declaring victory for Edogan, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the Turkish nation gave its final word by voting "Yes" in the country's constitutional referendum. Speaking at the Ankara headquarters of the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, that Erdogan founded, Yildirim said: "I thank and express my gratitude to all our citizens who went to the ballot box with a high turnout, and who protected our democracy." "We have said different things in (rally) squares; we have voiced different things to the nation but the nation gave its final world by saying 'Yes'," Anadolu agency quoted him as saying. Saying that Turkey's new government system would be put into practice in the 2019 general elections, Yildirim said: "Our nation made its choice, and it confirmed the presidential system." The leader of Turkey's Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Devlet Bahceli, who supported the "Yes" campaign, said the outcome of the referendum was an "undeniably successful achievement" and should be respected. "The Turkish people have gone to the polls with a great dignity and decided on shifting to the presidential system of their own free will. "This is a very significant achievement and cannot be ignored or rejected," Anadolu quoted Devlet Bahceli as saying in a statement. Bahceli said everybody "should respect and approve" the result in which Turkish citizens voted "Yes" to moving to an executive presidency. However, Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) said they would challenge the results of the referendum due to claims of irregularities and demand a recount of up to 60 per cent of votes. The main opposition party also said they will object decision of the Supreme Election Board (YSK) that it would accept unsealed ballot papers, Xinhua news agency reported. It received many complaints that the voters were given envelopes without stamps from officials, the board said in a written statement while people were casting their votes on Sunday. The pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) suggested "an indication of a three-four percentage point manipulation of the vote". The new administrative system will take effect after the elections in 2019 when Erdogan's current term ends, yet immediate changes are enabled for the President to head the AKP while serving as the President, and make high-level appointments including members of Turkey's top judicial body without the parliament's approval. The charter change will abolish the office of the Prime Minister and hand all executive power to the President, According to the amendments, the President is enabled to select, without the approval of parliament, as many government ministers and Vice Presidents as he likes. Parliament's oral questioning duty and authority to acquire information from the executive body will be lifted with the amendments. The President is given the authority to annul parliament and declare an election, according to the charter change. The charter change introduces accountability before law for the President, but makes it more difficult for the President to be referred to the Constitutional Court for trial. The number of lawmakers at the parliament will be increased from 550 to 660 and the minimum age to be elected will be reduced to 18 from 25. New Delhi, April 17 : Almost three weeks after its initial launch in the US, South Korean giant Samsung will launch its flagship device Galaxy S8 in India on April 19. Samsung launched S8 and S8 Plus on March 29 in the US. The devices come in two variants with different screen sizes -- the 5.8-inch Galaxy S8 and 6.2-inch Galaxy S8 Plus. On Monday, the company said in an invitation: "Samsung India cordially invites you to the launch of its next Galaxy series". Samsung revealed Bixby, a smart voice assistant to rival Apple's Siri and Google's Assistant at the US event. The device has a bezel-less curved edge "infinity display" covered with pristine glass and a 12MP rear camera with multi-frame processing and optical image stabilisation. It has an 8MP auto-focus front shooter. The device is IP68 rated, meaning it is water and dust resistant. The company has also upped the security feature with iris scanner, face recognition and fingerprint scanner - moved to the back of the device - to unlock the device. The home button has been shifted beneath the "infinity display". Samsung S8 and S8 plus devices has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 Octa core (2.35 GHz Quad + 1.7 GHZ Quad) processor. For models that will be available in countries other than the US, Samsung will use Exynos 9 (8895) Octa core (2.35 GHz Quad + 1.9 GHZ Quad) processor. Galaxy S8 comes with a 3,000 mAh battery, the Galaxy S8 Plus is fitted with 3,500 mAh battery pack. The devices run on Android 7.0 Nougat and have USB-C and 3.5mm headphone jacks. Its up to East Helena voters now. Do they really want a new high school of their own in the future? Gov. Steve Bullock signed Senate Bill 139 Tuesday morning, which gives large K-8 school districts the option to vote to expand to become a K-12 district. The East Helena, Lockwood and Hellgate elementary districts all qualify. East Helena and Lockwood are the most likely to be the first ones that would ask their voters if they want to form a high school district. No ballot question on a high school district is going to East Helena voters this year, said East Helena School Superintendent Ron Whitmoyer. Part of this is because of the uncertainty about whether SB139 would pass, he said. Similar bills died during the previous two sessions. This session, it was a lot better bill, Whitmoyer said, and he put in a lot of work to make that happen. The only decisions East Helena voters will have to make during the May 2 election are whether to approve a $12 million elementary school bond and who to elect to three school board seats. Right now our focus is the bond election for the elementary, said Whitmoyer, which deals with overcrowding. Asking voters to form a high school district will be a year or two process, he said. If East Helena voters approve forming a high school district, they would later be asked to vote on a building bond. If the voters say no at either step, the five-year clock starts over, said the bill's co-sponsor Rep. Sue Vinton, R-Billings. If voters approved both, there would still be a transition period. High school students from East Helena currently attend Helena's high schools. The East Helena district has an agreement with Helena Public Schools to move one class at a time, or approximately 125 students per year, to the new East Helena high school if it is built. This would allow Helena Public Schools time to address staffing changes through attrition. The district would also have to find a site for the new high school, Whitmoyer said, because Dartman Field, which is 50 acres, is too small. Unlike previous attempts to pass this legislation, this time it sailed through both houses. The school districts all found middle ground, said bill sponsor Sen. Duane Ankney, R-Colstrip. What do we all have in common? We all want to educate young men and women. You start there and move out. Its been a long process, said Vinton. She was involved in the legislation the last two sessions as a Lockwood School Board trustee and this time carried the bill in the House. This session, all of the Billings legislators were in favor of the bill, she said. Ultimately its up to the taxpayers and voters, Vinton said. Its not going to be a quick process. It will take a lot of research and discussion. The decision is in the hands of the voters of the East Helena Community, said Helena Public Schools Superintendent Jack Copps. Copps testified in favor of the bill during the bills Senate hearing Feb. 1, saying he believes that taxpayers in larger districts should be able to decide if they want their own high school. Its a decision that rightfully belongs with the voters," he said. If the Helena district loses East Helena high schoolers, the projected tax impact on a Helena school district taxpayer would be an additional $0.79 per month on a home valued at $100,000, or $1.58 on a home valued at $200,000, according to Copps. I see this as a minimal impact, said Copps. This bill is as fair as we could make it. SB139 gives Helena Public Schools some resolution, he said. It needs to make decisions in the near future about renovating Helena High School or building a new high school. We desperately need to resolve this," he said. If East Helena students left the district, the Helena High School District would still have adequate bonding capacity to build two new high schools if needed, he said. Billings School District estimated it would lose $1.6 million in budget authority in its current budget, according to district Chief Financial Officer Mike Arnold. Projections show a 2.65 mill increase in the school year budget for Billings taxpayers, which was considered a modest increase. Billings School Superintendent Terry Nelsen Bouck was not available for comment for this story Tuesday afternoon. Last session it was highly contentious between the larger districts and the smaller districts, said Lockwood School Superintendent Tobin Novasio. We did a lot of legwork in between to try and address what their concerns were, while still giving us local control for our communities to make those decisions. I truly think this could be a win-win, he said, adding that Billings has some overcrowding at the high schools and this could help. The school board pushed for the district to have local control, he said, but now its waiting to hear from the community. We dont want it to be something the school district is pushing. We want it to be something the community wants," he said. There is a huge amount of support right now for a Lockwood High School, he said. More than I have ever seen. However, Lockwood School District built a new middle school in 2007, and it could wait for more of that 20-year bond to be paid off. Reporter Matt Hoffman contributed to this story. Beijing, April 17 : Ten people were killed and five injured when a bus plunged into a river in China's Guizhou province on Monday, an official said. The 19-seat bus en route from Kaiyang to Weng'an county and fell into the river in Kaiyang, Xinhua news agency reported. Beijing, April 17 : At least 13 persons were killed and six injured when a bus plunged into a river in China's Guizhou province on Monday, an official said. The 19-seater bus, en route from Kaiyang to Weng'an county, fell into the river in Kaiyang, Xinhua news agency reported. An investigation has been launched into the incident. Malappuram (Kerala), April 17 : IUML legislator P.K. Kunhalikutty was on Monday elected to the Lok Sabha from Malappuram in Kerala by a margin of 171,023 lakh votes. The winner called it a victory for "secular politics". The Indian Union Muslim League strongman won by 171,023 votes. He got 515,330 lakh votes, the highest anyone has secured in the constituency in northern Kerala. M.B. Faisal of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) got 344,307 votes. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate N. Sreeprakash finished a distant third with 65,675 votes. As Kunhalikutty came out of his home, jubilant supporters shouted slogans hailing him and lifted him on their shoulders. Kunhalikutty said his party led even in village councils controlled by the Left. "This is because the electorate has placed faith in me as I spoke about the need for a secular outlook. Also, the unity (in the Congress-led) UDF helped us." The IUML leader added: "Literate Kerala has voted for secular politics. Kerala's vote has never been on communal lines." He said the BJP was the biggest loser in the contest while the IUML bounced back strongly in the assembly segments Perinthalmanna and Mankada where it had performed poorly in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Kunhalikutty remained far ahead of his nearest rival -- the young Faisal -- throughout the counting process. The April 12 election was necessitated by the death of IUML MP and former central minister E. Ahamed. Malappuram is an IUML citadel and Ahamed won in 2014 with a record margin of 1.94 lakh votes. Kunhalikutty secured 55.04 per cent of all votes, compared to Ahamed's 51.28 per cent. The Left's vote share went up from 28.47 per cent in 2014 to 36.77 per cent. The Bharatiya Janata Party's vote share dipped from 7.59 per cent to 7.01 per cent. The IUML is the second biggest partner in the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), which was ousted from power in Kerala last year. New Delhi, April 17 : State-run oil marketer Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) on Monday announced its decision to resume work on its Rajasthan oil refinery. "Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. Board at its meeting held on April 17, 2017 has approved resumption of Rajasthan Refinery Project and signing of revised MoU with the Government of Rajasthan for implementation of the project," the company said in a stock exchange filing, without providing further details. In March 2013, the HPCL board had approved setting up of the complex at a cost of Rs 37,320 crore, and the company had signed an MoU with the Rajasthan government for setting up the refinery-cum-petrochemical complex in the Thar desert. Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had announced earlier this month that the fiscal incentives for the project had been revised. "The fiscal package negotiated by the previous (Congress) government had put a big burden on Rajasthan. Now, that has been balanced," he had said. Canberra, April 18 : The government of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has adopted a new "Australians first" approach to skilled migration, announcing it will abolish the controversial 457 visa programme for temporary skilled migrants. The 457 visa programme is used mainly to hire foreign workers in the restaurant, IT and medical industries and the majority of such visa holders came from India, Britain and China, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on Tuesday. According to government statistics, 95,758 people were living in Australia on 457 visas last year, with the highest proportion coming from India (24.6 per cent), followed by Britain (19.5 per cent) and China (5.8 per cent). Prime Minister Turnbull said it would be abolished to prioritise the recruitment of Australian nationals. "We are putting jobs first, we are putting Australians first," he said. "We are an immigration nation, but the fact remains that Australian workers must have priority for Australian jobs." Stating that Australian workers must have priority for Australian jobs, he said: "We will no longer allow 457 visas to be passports to jobs that could and should go to Australians." The scheme will be replaced by two temporary visas that will impose tougher English language tests, stricter labour market testing, at least two years of work experience and a mandatory police check. The numbers of jobs eligible for the two-year and four-year visa streams will be slashed, with 216 occupations ranging from antique dealer to fisheries officer to shoe maker, cut from a list of 651 professions on the list. Accounting giant KPMG criticised the decision, saying "there is no evidence the current system is not working". However, Turnbull dismissed that claim, arguing the abolition of the 457 visa was "a decision of my government... this has been a careful exercise in policy development". People currently on a 457 visa, which lasts for four years, will be exempt from the new regulations. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said that for the two-year stream, which could be renewed for two years, "there won't be permanent residency outcomes at the end of that". "In relation to the medium-term stream which, as the Prime Minister pointed out, is targeted at higher skills, (there will be) a much shorter skills list". He said the government would work with companies to ensure they met labour market testing requirements, and warned "there will be a particular focus on companies that have an unnecessarily high proportion of 457 or foreign workers in jobs as well. There will be a number of ways in which we can clamp down". The 457 programme was introduced by the former John Howard government in 1996-97. Turnbull said that it had failed under Labour and would therefore be abolished. Bhubaneswar, April 18 : A servitor of Sri Jagannath Temple in Odisha's Puri city was on Tuesday detained by the police for opposing the visit of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to the temple. The Singhadwara police detained Somanath Khuntia, a secretary of Shri Jagannath Sevayat Sammilani (SJSS), ahead of the West Bengal Chief Minister's visit to Odisha. SJSS has warned that Banerjee's visit to the Puri temple would hurt the sentiments of lakhs of devotees of Lord Jagannath because she has made controversial statements favouring consumption of beef. "We came to know from media reports that she supports cow-slaughter. In July 2016, she said consumption of beef is nothing wrong. We will not allow her to enter Jagannath temple," said Khuntia. "Non-Hindus and people consuming beef are not allowed into the temple. We will decide whether to allow the Chief Minister or not for darshan of the trinity only after she publicly makes her stand clear on the issue," Khuntia added. On the other hand, senior Puri temple servitor Jagannath Das Mohapatra welcomed Banerjee's visit to the temple. "West Bengal is Odisha's next-door neighbour and our brotherhood is age-old. As she is the Chief Minister of West Bengal, we'll try our level best to accord her utmost respect and cordial welcome. Disruptive elements have vested interests. By opposing her and resorting to such activities, tourism here is going to be adversely affected," said Mohapatra. Banerjee, who will be on a three-day visit to Odisha from Tuesday, is scheduled to arrive in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday evening. She will proceed to Puri and stay there. On Wednesday morning, she will visit Sri Mandir to pay obeisance to Lord Jagannath, returning to Kolkata on Thursday morning. New Delhi, April 18 : The Delhi High Court on Tuesday declined Aam Aadmi Party's request to use second-generation EVMs with paper trail in the April 23 civic polls in the national capital. Justice A.K. Pathak refused immediate relief to the ruling party, saying that "nothing can be done at the eleventh hour". "We cannot stay the election nor pass an order to use electronic voting machines which are not there," the court said while seeking a response from the Election Commission of India and the Delhi State Election Commission by Friday, the next date of hearing. The AAP and its candidate Mohammad Tahir Hussain have approached the High Court for using second-generation EVMs attached with Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) in the elections to the capital's three municipal corporations. The court's order came after State Election Commission counsel Sumeet Pushkarna opposed the plea on the ground that the MCD elections are slated for April 23 and changing all EVMs with VVPAT is not feasible in four days. The counsel said the EVMs to be used in the civic polls are the same that were used in 2015 assembly elections, after which the AAP came to power. "But now they have speculation that these machines are tampered with. There are three judgements that elections at this stage cannot be stalled," he added. Senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for the AAP and Hussain, contended that the poll panel was duty-bound to use the VVPAT-linked EVMs, adding that the Supreme Court in 2013 termed the second-generation EVMs as the "safest". Jaising said the EVMs compatible with VVPATs were used in Uttar Pradesh and Goa polls and the Election Commission of India has 13,000, apart from additional 3,000, second-generation EVMs with them. Raising concern over the EVM security, Jaising said: "There is a demonstrable problem in Dholpur in Rajasthan -- no matter what button you press, the vote will go to the BJP." The VVPAT is connected with EVMs and dispenses paper proof so that voters can verify that their vote has been cast correctly. The AAP and the Congress say that the EVMs without VVPAT can be tampered with. London, April 18 : After liquor baron Vijay Mallya, wanted in India for defaulting on bank loans of over Rs 8,000 crore, was arrested and granted bail in London on Tuesday, the Indian government said the legal process for his extradition is underway in Britain. Responding to a query, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay said Mallya's arrest in London was in connection with the request by India to British authorities for his extradition "Legal process in this regard is underway in the UK," Baglay said. "The two governments are in touch in this context." Metropolitan Police said Mallya, 61, was taken into custody after attending a central London police station. The Westminster Magistrates' Court later gave him bail on a 650,000-pound bond. The next hearing of the case will be on May 17. A Metropolitan Police statement said officers from the Extradition Unit arrested Mallya on an extradition warrant from India. "Mallya was arrested on behalf of the Indian authorities in relation to accusations of fraud," the statement said. After getting bail, Mallya tweeted: "Usual Indian media hype. Extradition hearing in court started today as expected." Mallya fled to Britain in March 2016 after being pursued in courts by Indian banks seeking to recover Rs 8,191 crore owed by his now defunct Kingfisher Airline. The banks had been able to recover only Rs 155 crore. Despite multiple injunctions, Mallya failed to appear before investigators -- and then flew out of India. In February, the Indian government handed over to British authorities a formal request for Mallya's extradition, saying it had a legitimate case against him on charges of financial irregularities and loan default. New Delhi, April 18 : After Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced that he will be abolishing the existing 457 Visa programme, currently used by temporary foreign workers to gain employment in the country, India on Tuesday said it is examining the matter and consulting all stakeholders. Responding to a query, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay said that the government was examining consequences of the new policy in consultation with all stakeholders. "This is also a matter we will be looking at in the context of CECA (Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement) negotiations (with Australia)," Baglay said. The 457 Visa programme is used mainly to hire foreign workers in the restaurant, IT and medical industries and the majority of such visa holders came from India, Britain and China, reported the Sydney Morning Herald on Tuesday. According to government statistics, 95,758 people were living in Australia under 457 Visa programme last year, with the highest proportion coming from India (24.6 per cent), followed by Britain (19.5 per cent) and China (5.8 per cent). Turnbull used Facebook to announce the policy, which he said would "put jobs first" and "Australians first", signalling a reduction in the occupations available to skilled foreign workers and raising the threshold to qualify. "We are putting jobs first, we are putting Australians first," he said. "We are an immigration nation, but the fact remains that Australian workers must have priority for Australian jobs." Stating that Australian workers must have priority for Australian jobs, he said: "We will no longer allow 457 Visa system to be passports to jobs that could and should go to Australians." At a press conference in Canberra, Turnbull said the 457 Visa system needed to be replaced because it had "lost its credibility". The scheme will be replaced by two temporary visas that will impose tougher English language tests, stricter labour market testing, at least two years of work experience and a mandatory police check. The numbers of jobs eligible for the two-year and four-year visa streams will be slashed, with 216 occupations ranging from antique dealer to fisheries officer to shoe-maker, axed from a list of 651 professions on the list. Accounting giant KPMG criticised the decision, saying "there is no evidence the current system is not working". However, Turnbull dismissed that claim, arguing the abolition of the 457 Visa regime was "a decision of my government... this has been a careful exercise in policy development", reported the daily. People currently on a 457 Visa, which lasts for four years, will be exempt from the new regulations. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said that for the two-year stream, which could be renewed for two years, "there won't be permanent residency outcomes at the end of that". "In relation to the medium-term stream which, as the Prime Minister pointed out, is targeted at higher skills, (there will be) a much shorter skills list." He said the government would work with companies to ensure they met labour market testing requirements, and warned "there will be a particular focus on companies that have an unnecessarily high proportion of 457 or foreign workers in jobs as well". The 457 Visa programme was introduced by the former John Howard government in 1996-97. New Delhi, April 18 : Liquor baron Vijay Mallya defaulted on Rs 8,191 crore he had borrowed from a consortium of 17 public sector banks, which have so far recovered Rs 155 crore through auction of his seized properties. The 61-year-old business tycoon fled to Britain in March 2016 after being pursued in courts by the Indian banks, led by the State Bank of India, seeking to recover the loans owed by his now-defunct Kingfisher Airline. The Enforcement Directorate, which is probing the matter after it registered a money laundering case in January 2016, said it has attached properties of Mallya and his companies having market value more than Rs 8,000 crore. Mallya's airline was granted loan in September 2004 and it was reviewed in February 2008. The Central Bureau of Investigation initiated criminal investigation against Mallya in July 2015 and later the Enforcement Directorate also filed a case in the matter with regard to financial fraud. The agencies registered cases against Mallya, his Kingfisher Airline, UB Group company United Breweries Holdings Limited and others following a complaint filed by the banks. Despite multiple injunctions, Mallya failed to appear before investigators -- and then flew out of India in March 2016. He was on Tuesday arrested by Metropolitan Police in London, following the Indian government's February 8 request to the UK government for his extradition. He later secured bail from Westminster Magistrates' Court. Under a new department leader in Helena, an adviser on state land management issues is receiving double the hourly rate paid for similar positions and nearly $40 more than his boss. Patrick H. Beddow is receiving $90 an hour to advise Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen on issues related to the Board of Land Commissioners, according to the state salary website. The board, which consists of Montana's top five elected officials, meets monthly to determine how to generate revenue for public schools through measures such as grazing and farming leases or fees at recreation sites. The other advisers to members of the land board have primary duties that help determine their pay, such as Melissa Schlichting, an attorney who also advises Attorney General Tim Fox and is paid $41.46 an hour. But Beddows sole responsibility is to advise Arntzen on land board issues. Dylan Klapmeier, media assistant to Arntzen, said working fewer hours justifies a pay rate higher than what other advisers receive. Because hes working so few hours on very specific issues for the land board, its not uncommon for the hourly rate to be higher for employees like that, Klapmeier said. Its really important for her position to have someone with a lot of experience. Klapmeier said Beddow has worked an average of 40 hours a month since January, and Arntzen plans to move him to 25 to 30 hours a month. The governors office said one of its advisers, Adam Schafer, spends approximately four hours a month on land board issues. By far, Beddow receives more per hour than any other OPI employee or land board adviser. According to the state website, Arntzen makes $50.31 an hour to head the Office of Public Instruction and Gov. Steve Bullock is paid an hourly rate of $53.64. Ann Gilkey, the adviser for former Superintendent Denise Juneau, was paid $41.46 an hour for similar work. In a Dec. 26 email announcing her staff appointments, Arntzen said Beddow is a consultant from Billings and has been involved with oil, gas, hard minerals, coal and land-title related issues for 38 years. His professional interfacing with land and mineral owners, energy companies, and all levels of government will be of great importance to land board matters, the email said. Beddows resume says hes been conducting mineral and land title services since 1978 and has performed contract land work for private companies. He told the Independent Record he has 40 years of experience and said people in his industry receive a considerable amount for their expertise. "It's substantially more than what I'm being paid by the state," he said, noting that he pays all of his own expenses except lodging in his role with the state. "Most people with 40 years of experience in anything are retired," he added. Numerous other state employees make more per hour than Beddow. They are typically employees who head a state agency or have completed a rigorous education to be qualified for their position. Clay Christian, the highest paid employee in the state, makes $146 per hour as Commissioner of Higher Education. Virginia Hill makes $112 per hour as a psychiatrist with the Department of Public Health and Human Services. Jaipur, April 18 : An MoU was signed on Tuesday between the Hindustan Petroelum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) and the Rajasthan government to establish a refinery-cum-petrochemical complex in Barmer. This revised MoU was signed in the presence of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Union Petroleum Minister Dharamendra Pradhan. Earlier, a MoU was signed with HPCL to establish a refinery-cum-petrochemical complex in Barmer in 2013 by the then Ashok Gehlot government. However the present Vasundhara Raje government considered it to be a loss-making agreement for the state government. As per the Gehlot government's MoU, Rajasthan was given 26 percent partnership in the project with the viability gap funding (VGF) payment worth Rs 60,000 crore. The present state government claims that it re-negotiated the agreement, which resulted into the burden of setting-up the refinery on Rajasthan government. "On the other hand, the earlier 2 pc return of investment for the state government was now estimated to be almost 12 percent," claimed state government officials. "This would be the biggest ever investment project in Rajasthan amounting to Rs 43,129 crore. Another Business Transfer Agreement was signed between Rajasthan State Gas Ltd (RSGL) and GAIL Gas Ltd for distribution of piped domestic gas in Kota City," said a statement issued by the state government. "Efforts would now be made to ensure that the work on refinery gets started as soon as the monsoon season ended," Raje said. The Chief Minister said that Rajasthan was producing one-fourth of the total crude production in India and thus establishment of this refinery would be beneficial for the state. This project would act as an anchor industry for the entire state and particularly western Rajasthan, she added. Pradhan said that as per the agreement, total investment worth Rs 43,129 crore would be made in establishing this refinery. On the other hand, Cairn Energy would make investment of another Rs 27,000 crore in next four years to increase oil production. "After securing all approvals and clearances, the work to set-up the refinery would start within this financial year," he added. United Nations, April 19 : Northeast Africa is in the grip of a "very fast-moving crisis" that is putting both Somalia and South Sudan "in peril" of severe food shortage, a top UN official said on Tuesday. While Somalia was managing for the moment, South Sudan was not, John Ging, director of the Operational Division of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said. He has just returned from an emergency tour of the famine-threatened region and briefed reporters at UN headquarters in New York, Xinhua news agency reported. "This is a very fast-moving crisis," Ging said, referring to Somalia. "Both Somalia and South Sudan are part of a group of countries that are in peril of famine and in the case of South Sudan famine has already been declared," Ging added. There is a catastrophic food insecurity situation in both of these countries and 6.2 million people in Somalia are "in need of humanitarian assistance. There is also an outbreak of cholera where more than 25,000 cases are being reported. "We also have threat of measles and 571,000 people displaced since last November, due to the drought and their needing to move from where they are to gain assistance," Ging said. Ging noted that Somalia is a very dangerous environment for the population because of conflict and humanitarian workers are have problems gaining access to victims, "particularly in and to the al-Shabab controlled areas." "It is surely a race again time," Ging said, complimenting government participation, but warning, "This crisis is going to continue to grow." In South Sudan, "we have already declared famine, 100,000 people are already suffering from famine in two counties and another 1 million people very close to being declared as affected by famine," he said. While Ging said that there already has been a large humanitarian operation in the world's youngest country for a number of years, it is "one of the most dangerous places for humanitarian aid workers," with 24 of them killed this year, nine of them last month. He said 7.5 million people across South Sudan are now in need of humanitarian assistance while 3.6 million people have been displaced. "So, in the one country where we already have famine we don't have resources," Ging said. San Francisco, April 19 : In an apparent reaction to Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel's purported disinterest in expanding business to "poor countries" like India, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook is for everyone and not just for "the high end". In a subtle jab at Spiegel, Zuckerberg told TechCrunch on the sidelines of the annual Facebook F8 developer conference in San Jose on Tuesday: "I think one thing that people probably don't think about as much as we do is innovation to serve everyone in the community, not just the high end, right? So we focus on a lot of things like Facebook Lite. It's up to 200 million people in like a year". Last week, US-based news website Variety quoted Snapchat's ex-employee Anthony Pompliano as saying that Spiegel in September 2015 told him that "the app is only for rich people. I don't want to expand into poor countries like India and Spain". Indians did not take the comment lightly and took to social media to lash out at the statement from the CEO. As the ratings of the app dropped, the criticism of the CEO and the app increased. The controversy also resulted in the rating of the popular app dropping to a "single star" from an apparent "five star" on the App Store. Snapchat's parent company Snap Inc later denied the allegation, saying no such remark was made by CEO Spiegel. "The simple fact is that he (Pompliano) knows exactly nothing about Snap's current metrics. He and his lawyers are -- not to put too fine a point on matters -- just making things up," Variety reported Snap's attorneys as saying in another report. Denying the claims of Snapchat being termed as a "rich people's app", the attorneys termed Pompliano a "disgruntled employee fired for poor performance". Some users wrote, "Poor India & Spain need better than Snapchat", "Good bye, My Snapchat Account and Snap Inc. You'll be product of gone by era and derision", and "Poor Evan Spiegel". The app was also trolled on Twitter. #boycottsnapchat became the most trending hashtag on Twitter overnight. "I haven't seen any Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians etc Tweets yet. Thanks @Snapchat for uniting us," a user tweeted. Some users even flagged the app for hateful content and left a message, "Dear @snapchatsupport, flagged you for hateful content. #boycottsnapchat". Snapchat has more than four million users in India. New Delhi : At Khan el Khalili, Cairo's main souk in the crowded Islamic district, shopowners seek out Indian tourists with friendly hails of "Amitabh Bachchan! Shah Rukh Khan! Welcome!!" These two actors are by far the most popular Indians in Egypt, a testament to the enormous soft power of Bollywood. When Bachchan came to Cairo in April 2015 for the Indian Culture Festival, he was mobbed like a rockstar wherever he went. And when he met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, he reportedly remarked in jest that he was so overwhelmed by his fan following in the country he might even think of contesting a presidential election -- and perhaps win it! With so much goodwill in Egypt for Indians one often wonders why the two countries are not closer partners and why friendship with Egypt is not talked about in India in the same vein as other countries with which New Delhi shares close political, economic and cultural ties. With the ascent in both countries of two strong leaders, Narendra Modi and Sisi, came a change in the strategic calculus through a series of quick meetings between them -- in New York and New Delhi. The New York meeting, where something evidently clicked between Modi and Sisi, acknowledged historical bonds, found common ground in counter-terrorism cooperation and investment opportunities, and set the ground for future meetings. It was quickly followed by a visit by Sisi to New Delhi for the India Africa Forum Summit and then, within a year, with a state visit where the two leaders talked of working towards "robust security cooperation" following a "major convergence" of views on regional and global issues. India and Egypt shared strong chemistry in the 1950s and 1960s, with close personal and political ties between their independence leaders Jawaharlal Nehru and Gamal Abdel Nasser, founders of the Non-Aligned Movement. But after their deaths, ties slumped with President Hosni Mubarak, who ruled for 40 years, not having the same comfort level with the Indian leadership. Although Mubarak did make a visit to New Delhi in his later years, the turning point in perceptions in many ways came during the short-lived rule of the democratically-elected Muslim Brotherhood and the visit to New Delhi in May 2013 by President Mohammed Morsi. Although Morsi was ousted -- and arrested -- within a month of his return to Cairo, and the visit was criticised by many as ill-timed with New Delhi seen as being a little out of touch with the region's political realities, the growing importance of India for Egypt was beginning to be realised by its policymakers. With the Middle East in upheaval and relations with the US looking uncertain, Cairo, that was used to putting all its strategic and economic eggs in the Western and Arab baskets, is looking, like other regional powers, at Asia and, more particularly, China and India. While China is a source of expanding investment in the region, India's salience as a major economic and geopolitical power has increased in Egyptian eyes after the recent high-level visits and close strategic ties forged by New Delhi with key powers like the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia. India has been holding a major multi-city cultural exposition in Egypt, called imaginatively 'India by the Nile', bringing in musicians, dancers, artists, street performers, not to mention Bollywood stars, that enhanced significantly the image of India in the Egyptian consciousness. Indian companies have found Egypt a good destination for business. Over 50 Indian companies are present in Egypt with an investment of $3 billion, providing employment to about 35,000 Egyptians. And Egypt's recent discovery of gas, its upward looking economy following a currency float and growing foreign investment have added impetus to growing ties. Companies like Kirloskar with their water pumps and Dabur and Monginis with their personal care and confectionery products are household names in Egypt, and many firms recognise the Suez Canal area as a potential hub of future expansion because of the country's economic arrangements in the Arab world, Africa and the European Union. Even though there are only three Egyptian companies in India, bilateral trade has grown 60 percent over the last five years to touch almost $5 billion. The current thinking in New Delhi is that if Cairo plays its cards right, a stronger Egypt could play a more moderating role and help in restoring regional stability and security. India is therefore investing a lot more in Egypt not only to shore up its profile but also to use the goodwill it builds up in projecting a larger role for itself in North Africa and the Arab world. "With a political foundation of friendship from the sixties India has the ability to tap into popular sentiment and cultural affinity, an advantage that few countries enjoy in Egypt," remarks Sanjay Bhattacharyya, India's Ambassador in Cairo. "And the 'India by the Nile' show is by far the largest such exposition in Egypt by any country here in recent times." Despite recent terror attacks, India is demonstrating a major vote of confidence in the Egyptian government's ability to deal with Islamist extremism by not cancelling music and dance shows as part of the festival in Alexandria, one of the two cities where minority Coptic Christian churches were targets last week. The future of bilateral ties look promising and there is much expectation in Prime Minister Modi, who has shown personal interest in shoring up ties, making a visit there later this year. (Tarun Basu is a veteran journalist and commentator. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at tarun.basu@ians.in) Canberra, April 19 : The Australian government has not ruled out a shark cull in response to another surfer's death off the coast of Western Australia, the Environment Minister said on Wednesday. Laeticia Brouwer, 17, died on Monday when a great white shark mauled her near Esperance city. She is Western Australia's 15th victim of a great white shark attack in the last 20 years, Xinhua news agency reported. In response to the death, Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg said protecting human life had to come "first and foremost". According to him, the government would "welcome" any plan that members of the public have to lower the risk of injury or death while in the surf. "In light of the recent shark attack the (federal government) would welcome any proposal to protect human life first and foremost." The minister said options include culling the sharks responsible for ending human life, introducing hooked drumline technology or any "other measures which Western Australia sees fit". However, Western Australia government said it would not deploy drum lines following Brouwer's death. "They don't actually make our beaches any safer," BBC quoted Western Australia Fisheries Minister Dave Kelly as saying. Western Australia has previously employed drumline technology to cull sharks. In 2014, a controversial, 200-km drumline was introduced along a stretch of coastline often used by humans. A drum line is a trap consisting of large baited hook attached to a floating object, which is anchored to the sea floor. The plan came under fire from environmentalists and marine conservationists as they were deemed to be cruel. Western Australia is one of the nation's biggest hot spots for fatal shark attacks. New Delhi, April 19 : Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Katiyar on Wednesday said there was no criminal conspiracy in the Babri Mosque demolition as the Supreme Court on Wednesday revived the conspiracy charges against senior BJP leaders including him, L.K. Advani and Uma Bharti among others. The Bharatiya Janata Party leader who is also Founder-President of Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of the Hindu organisation Vishwa Hindu Parishad, said he was ready to go to jail for the Ram temple in Ayodhya. "There was no conspiracy, there is nothing of that nature," Katiyar said in response to a question by Times Now news channel on the revival of conspiracy charges. "It is a conspiracy, but we will follow the orders... If I have to go to jail for Ram temple, I will," Katiyar said, who was in the Bajrang Dal at the time of demolition of the mosque in 1992. Asked if he will resign from his seat in the Rajya Sabha, he said: "Why would I resign, there is nothing in it that I should resign." The Supreme Court on Wednesday revived the conspiracy charge in Babri Masjid demolition case against senior BJP leaders L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh, Union Minister Uma Bharti, among others. The CBI had petitioned the court for restoring criminal conspiracy charges. The Allahabad High Court had earlier dropped the criminal conspiracy charges. Shillong, April 19 : The BJP will lodge a police complaint against "vested interest" groups labeling it on social media as an "anti-Christian party", a leader from the BJP's Meghalaya unit said on Wednesday. "We will see that false propaganda will not be allowed. We will submit complaints to the state police department and central intelligence agencies and demand action against the vested interest groups," state BJP Vice President John Antonious Lyngdoh said. The Bharatiya Janata Party leaders on Tuesday took stock of the propaganda circulated on the social media by "vested interest" groups, which they said was tarnishing the party's image before the Christian minorities. "In the past few days, some vested interest groups have been circulating misinformation on social media that the BJP is anti-Christian, and if it comes to power, churches will be dismantled and Christians will not be allowed to worship freely," Lyngdoh, who is also an active church leader, said. With its ambitious "Mission 40" for the elections to the 60-member Meghalaya assembly, the BJP has decided to go it alone for the 2018 assembly polls in this Christian-majority state. "We will appeal to the voters to allow the BJP to prove itself as a party that works against corruption and provides good governance. I can assure you that there will be no discrimination. India is a secular country. Therefore, we appeal to the people to give us a chance," Lyngdoh added. New Delhi, April 19 : The Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave its nod to the Election Commission's proposal to buy paper trail machines for the EVMs, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said. Talking to reporters after the Cabinet meeting here, Jaitley said a total of 16,15,000 Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) units would be needed for Elecronic Voting Machines (EVMs) as per Election Commission estimates. This would cost around Rs 3,173.47 crore, he said. "If we place the order in April, the whole supply would come by September 2018... Hence VVPAT machines would be available on all polling booths in the subsequent elections," Jaitley said. He added the expenses on the procurement of these machines would be spread over two financial years. "The Election Commission had been consistently demanding VVPAT machines to hold elections and now the Cabinet has approved the demand today (Wednesday)." Jaitley said the move would bring more transparency in the voting process. "Voters have a right to know if their votes are correctly registered or not," he said. The Union Cabinet's decision on VVPAT machines is important in view of allegations by several parties, including the Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party and Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that EVMs can be tampered with. Lhasa, April 19 : A stone lion of the height of a man was recently unearthed near a former ministerial office in Tibet capital city Lhasa, authorities said on Wednesday. The 169-cm tall and 104.7-cm wide lion was excavated on March 22 by a team of construction workers on Dosengge road in Lhasa's city centre, Xinhua news agency quoted the Tibet region cultural heritage bureau as saying in a statement. It said that experts from the bureau and Tibet's regional museum had spent weeks doing research before concluding that the statue dated back to the 18th century. The site was at the former office of grand ministers stationed in Tibet by emperors of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) to supervise local governance on behalf of central authorities. "Dosengge" means "stone lion" in Tibetan. "The road was named after the two stone lions that sat at the entrance of the grand minister's office," said Professor Tseten Tashi, Tibet University historian. The ministerial office was inaugurated on Dosengge Road in 1728, a year after the first grand minister was stationed in Lhasa, according to the professor. The unearthed statue was intact with traces of colour and paint still visible, and is believed to be one of a pair. The cultural heritage authorities are organising an excavation of the area for the other lion. The area is off-limits to visitors for protection purposes. Ankara, April 19 : Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said his plans to assume sweeping new powers do not make him a dictator. Erdogan, in an interview to CNN on Tuesday, said a constitutional reform package -- backed by a narrow majority of Turkey's voters in a referendum earlier this week -- was not about him. Turkish voters on Sunday passed an 18-article constitutional reform package that will transform the country's parliamentary system into a powerful executive presidency. The plan, put forward by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), gives Erdogan sweeping and largely unchecked powers, including appointing members of the top judicial body, top public officials, ministers and assign one or several Vice Presidents. Under the revised constitution, Erdogan will also be able to abolish the post of Prime Minister and will have authority to annul Parliament and declare an election. "I am a mortal really, I could die at any time," Erdogan said during the interview. He rejected accusations that he supported the new powers out of a desire to empower himself rather than improve Turkey's political system. "The system represents a change, a transformation in the democratic history of Turkey," he said. Erdogan denied claims that the new reforms were a step towards dictatorship. "Where dictatorships exist, you don't have to have a presidential system," he said. "Here we have a ballot box... the democracy gets its power from the people. It's what we call national will." The margin of victory for the "Yes" vote was razor-thin. Despite a state of emergency and a widespread crackdown on dissent, Erdogan succeeded in persuading only 51.4 per cent of voters to back the constitutional reforms, reported CNN. Despite the narrow margin, Erdogan said "a win was a win". On Monday, international election monitors delivered a scathing verdict on the conduct of the referendum. Representatives from a coalition of international bodies said the vote took place on an "unlevel playing field", with the "yes" campaign dominating media coverage. Addressing Turkey's long-stalled bid to join the European Union (EU), Erdogan accused member states of the regional grouping of failing to keep their side of the bargain. The EU had "made us wait at its door for 54 years", Erdogan said. "If they do keep their promises, we can sit down. We can see which steps are to be taken," he said. Unlike European leaders who expressed reservations about the referendum, US President Donald Trump telephoned Erdogan to congratulate him. The call was well received by Erdogan, who suggested taking things further. "It would be better to have (a) face-to-face meeting and take our relationship forward," he said. HAMILTON Republican congressional candidate Greg Gianforte celebrated his 56th birthday at a meeting hosted by a constitutional Christian group in Hamilton Monday night. About 70 people turned out for the monthly Advancing Conservatism Society meeting that featured a speech by Corvallis High School orator Michael McKay on the U.S. Constitution, as well as prayers and birthday cake for the candidate. The meeting marked the first of three visits Gianforte has planned for Hamilton over the next couple of weeks. He's on the ballot with Democrat Rob Quist and Libertarian Mark Wicks in the race for the congressional seat vacated when Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke joined Donald Trump's cabinet as Interior Secretary. The special election is set for May 25. On Friday, Gianforte will join the presidents son, Donald Trump Jr., and Republican Sen. Steve Daines of Montana for an afternoon fundraising rally at Ravalli County Fairgrounds. The rally is one of several that will be held in the state that day. We know that we have so many great conservative supporters down here, Gianforte told the crowd Monday night. We wanted to make sure that we got to Hamilton. But the trip west wont be all about work for Donald Trump Jr. You know what were going to do over the weekend? Gianforte said. Donald Trump Jr. wanted bad to shoot prairie dogs. So were going to help him scratch that itch a little bit. The announcement was met with laughter and applause. Gianforte will return on May 6 for the Ravalli County Womens Republican Luncheon. Gianfortes support trailed President Trumps in Ravalli County during the November election. Overall, Trump received 2,097 more votes than Gianforte in the general election, but the spread was larger in the individual races. Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in Ravalli County by 8,587 votes. Gianforte received 3,258 more votes than Gov. Bullock in the county, but lost statewide. Echoing Trump's own campaign slogan, Gianforte said hes ready to go to work with Donald Trump to drain the swamp. Specifically, we need to put term limits in place. We also need to make it illegal for congressmen to become lobbyists after theyre done. And, during questions at the end of his talk, Gianforte took one from a man who said: Our biggest enemy is the news media. How can we rein in the news media? The man then looked at the Ravalli Republic reporter sitting next to him and raised his hands as if he would like to wring his neck. Gianforte smiled and pointed at the reporter. We have someone right here, the candidate said. It seems like there is more of us than there is of him. I dont have a simple solution for you. I will say that doing town hall meetings and getting out and visiting with people is very important. *** During his 30-minute speech Monday, Gianforte talked about his long love affair with the state. I got introduced to Montana originally over 40 years ago, he said. I had a junior high school science teacher back in Pennsylvania where I grew up who flew P-51s in WWII. He trained at Malmstrom Air Force Base and fell in love with Montana. The only way he could get back here on a teachers salary was to bring 18 ninth-graders with him in a van, actually two vans. We drove from Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, where I lived, all the way to Red Lodge. Four people who took that trip ended up moving to Montana. Its interesting when you talk about the impact a teacher can have, Gianforte said. A couple of years later, Gianforte took a solo train trip from Philadelphia to West Glacier in an effort to see more of the state. I tried to get a backcountry permit in Glacier National Park, but I couldnt, he said. They said there was this other place called the Bob. So a buddy and I that I met in West Glacier hit the trail at Spotted Bear and then we hiked all the way to Lincoln. I knew at the end of that trip that I was going to make a life here, he said. Gianforte and his wife, Susan, have lived in Montana for 24 years. They founded Right Now Technologies in 1997, which went public in 2004 and sold to Oracle Corp. in 2011 for a reported $1.5 billion. Gianforte said he and his wife have lived the American Dream. My wife is the daughter of two German immigrants that came here to the U.S. after WWII, he said. Unfortunately, her dad died when she was 1 year old. Her mom, with no high school diploma, was in New York City. She spoke German and no English. As a single mom, they lived in a three-floor walkup in Queens, one bedroom, Gianforte said. Her mom was determined to stay here. She got a job in the mail room of a bank delivering messages. She worked there 38 years and retired as an officer of that bank. She got her little girl that she raised by herself in that third-floor walkup into Cornell engineering school. Now shes retired and fully independent. She has lived the American Dream, Gianforte said. Susan and I have lived the American Dream. And its not complicated, but it involves hard work and frugality and being able to keep the fruits of your labor. We risk losing the American dream if we dont understand the ingredients to make it happen. Three of Gianfortes children have followed in their parents footsteps to become engineers. The fourth, Adam, is finding his own way. On the year that he graduated from college, Gianforte said his son decided to ride his unicycle from Banff to Mexico to raise money for the International Justice Mission. It took two and a half months. He raised $16,000. Hes quite a young man of faith, Gianforte said. On Friday, he quit his job and he moved under a bridge in Chicago because he has a heart for the homeless. He wanted to be with them. I just talked with him on the phone today. He had his second night under the bridge last night. Hes going to do that for a few months, he said. Hes a cool kid. *** Just before the crowd sang 'Happy Birthday' to the candidate, the societys Hollis Poe presented Gianforte with a 1-ounce silver eagle coin. Poe said the coin was in recognition that Gianforte and the society were like-minded. Should you go on to victory, I would appreciate that you would carry this in your pocket as an everyday coin so that when youre having those conversations with those lobbyists chasing after you in D.C, you can reach in and feel this coin and be reminded that there are folks back home that you care more about than them, Poe said. That our issues trump their issues, literally. This is a token to remind you that you work for us and we stand behind you. Gianforte said he and his wife are ready to serve. We have an amazing thing going on in Washington, D.C., right now, Gianforte said. A politician is actually doing what he said he was going to do. You dont know how refreshing that is. Kolkata, April 19 : A fire broke out on Wednesday in a fast food shop in Kolkata killing one person and severely injuring two others, officials said. "A fire broke out due to a leaking LPG cylinder in a fast food shop in Kolkata's Jadavpur area at around 11.25 a.m. One of the employees in the shop died in the fire while two others were severely injured," a fire brigade official said. Three fire tenders were pressed into service to control the blaze. "The two injured persons were rushed to the KPC Hospital and MR Bangur Hospital, respectively," he added. The fire was put out now but the shop was partially gutted in the incident. "Forensic tests need to be done to ascertain the cause of the fire," the official said. Shimla, April 19 : At least 44 passengers were killed when a private bus fell into a river in Himachal Pradesh's Shimla district on Wednesday, police said. Two people, including the bus conductor, managed to escape by jumping off the bus even as it skidded off the road. The bus, with 46 people on board, was on its way to Tuini from Vikas Nagar town (both in Uttarakhand), via the state, when the bus skidded off the mountain road and fell into Tons river, more than 250 metres below the road. Deputy Commissioner Rohan Thakur confirmed the toll. "So far, 17 bodies have been identified. Ten of the victims belonged to Uttarakhand and the remaining were from Himachal Pradesh," Thakur told IANS over phone from the spot. He said the cause of the accident was yet to be ascertained. The victims included 11 women and three girls, the official said. The accident occurred near Rohana in Nerva tehsil, some 190 km from the state capital. It is one of the remotest places in the state, bordering Uttarakhand. Eyewitnesses said the administration had a tough time in extracting the bodies of the victims from the bus, though villagers began the rescue operation even before the authorities could reach the accident spot. New Delhi, April 19 : The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Election Commission's proposal to buy paper trail machines for electronic voting machines (EVMs), Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said. Talking to reporters after the Cabinet meeting, Jaitley said a total of 16,15,000 Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) units would be needed for the EVMs as per the Election Commission estimates. "The Election Commission had been consistently demanding VVPAT machines to hold elections. The Cabinet approved the demand today." This would cost Rs 3,173.47 crore, he said. "If we place the order in April, the whole supply would come by September 2018... Hence, VVPAT machines would be available in all polling booths in the subsequent elections," Jaitley said. He added that the expenses on the procurement of these machines would be spread over two financial years. Jaitley said the government would immediately provide Rs 1,600 crore to the poll panel and the rest in the next financial year. "There has been a controversy over EVMs after the latest assembly poll results. The Prime Minister said it was an unnecessary controversy... It has no importance. EVMs have been tried and tested over the years." Jaitley said the move would bring more transparency in the voting process. "Voters have a right to know if their votes are correctly registered or not." The VVPAT units will be manufactured by the Bharat Electronics Ltd and Electronics Corp of India Ltd, the two public sector companies which also manufacture EVMs. The Cabinet decision on VVPAT is important in view of allegations by several parties, including the Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party and Aam Aadmi Party that EVMs can be tampered with. The Election Commission has refuted the charges. The poll panel wrote at least a dozen letters seeking Rs 3,100 crore for procuring VVPAT units. Chandigarh, April 19 : The Punjab Cabinet on Wednesday decided to scrap a controversial law passed by the earlier SAD-BJP government to facilitate the setting up of a new university on the Khalsa College campus in Amritsar. The cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh decided to scrap the Khalsa University Act, 2016, in order to "save the historic 125-year-old Khalsa College from losing its heritage status by falling prey to privatisation". Amarinder Singh had earlier promised to protect the heritage status of the Khalsa College at Amritsar, one of the oldest educational institutions in the country. The Khalsa University at Amritsar was established vide the Khalsa University Act, 2016, despite huge criticism from not only city residents but also college alumni and intellectuals, the cabinet noted. A government spokesperson said the cabinet dubbed as "appalling" the move by the Khalsa College Society to "destroy its rich heritage status by converting this prestigious institution into a university". The cabinet decided there was no point in establishing an additional university in Amritsar, which already had several reputed institutions of higher learning. These include the Guru Nanak Dev University, Sri Guru Ram Dass University of Health Sciences, and the Indian Institute of Management. The previous Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP government had approved the act, paving the way for setting up the new private university. The Khalsa College management is dominated by the Majitha family, to which former Punjab Cabinet Minister Bikram Singh Majithia and her elder sister and Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Badal belong. Harsimrat is the wife of former Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal. The cabinet expressed concern that "taking away a chunk of land from the Khalsa College to set up the university will adversely affect the former's existence". It also said that the unique identity of the Khalsa College building will also be diminished if the university was allowed to be set up there. Ghaziabad, April 19 : One man was arrested and the police are looking for the other who is on the run, for the gang rape of a married woman here, a police official said on Wednesday. The incident occurred around 6 a.m. on Wednesday on the outskirts of Nandgram locality of Ghaziabad, when the two men, who had positioned themselves outside the woman's house, barged in as her husband left for work and raped her. After they left, the woman phoned her husband and the police. On the description provided by the woman, the police nabbed one, who was identified as Arif, a neighbour. His accomplice could not be caught as he fled. "The woman has been taken for medical examination and to record her statement. Raids are being conducted to nab the missing other accused person," said Inspector Dal Chand of Sihani Gate police station. Kathmandu, April 19 : Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandaris visit to India has been very fruitful and significant, Foreign Affairs Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat said here on Wednesday. "This visit has been fruitful in enhancing the relations and goodwill between the two countries," said Mahat, who was a member of the high-level delegation accompanying President Bhandari during her state visit to India. The Minister, who returned to Kathmandu on Wednesday, was speaking to media persons at Tribhuvan International Airport here. He said India's President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leaders of various political parties, during their meetings with President Bhandari, highlighted the significance of Nepal-India ties and extended best wishes to Nepal in its efforts towards implementing the Constitution and holding of local elections. "They have also expressed the commitment to support Nepal in its development endeavours," Mahat was cited by Himalayan Times as saying. To a query on President Bhandari being received at the airport by an Indian Minister of State, Mahat made it clear that there was nothing lacking in the honour the Government of India accorded to Nepal's President. "The Guard of Honour that India gave to Nepal's President at Rashtrapati Bhawan is an important thing. The Indian President, Prime Minister and distinguished personalities were present on the occasion," he said. Mahat explained that President Bhandari went to the airport when Indian President Pranab Mukherjee arrived on a state visit to Nepal as Nepal has the tradition of presenting the Guard of Honour at the airport itself. The Minister for Foreign Affairs returned home on Wednesday after the formal programmes and high-level meetings scheduled for the President on the first two days of her visit in New Delhi concluded on Tuesday night. Meanwhile, President Bhandari, who is on a five-day state visit to India, wrapped up her meetings and programmes in the Indian Capital and left for Rajkot, the fourth-largest city in the state of Gujarat on Wednesday. In Gujarat, the President will pay homage at the Somnath Temple and other pilgrimage sites. She will also attend a luncheon to be hosted by Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani in her honour. President Bhandari is scheduled to visit Odisha on Thursday. New Delhi, April 19 : A digital microscope to see cells in 3-D, a helmet whose strap tightens with the click of a button and components which make buildings earthquake resistant -- are among the many projects IIT-Delhi has put on display on Wednesday, three days ahead of its 13th Open House. The innovative projects on show are near completion and some of them have even been patented and are now being used by the industries. "Our goal has always been to make IIT conducive for research for students... We have executed 40 projects since last year," S. Basu, Assistant Dean, Research and Development, Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi, said at the event. To make research a continuous affair, the IIT-D has launched a plan that "involves students from all four years" so that the research doesn't die with the passing out of the student, but makes itself available to be taken over by the juniors, he said. Basu apprised the media about the institute's collaboration with Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO), wherein the former will receive Rs 230 crore over five years to build technologies to thwart mine attacks, assess their impact, and to build a "spy-balloon" -- conceptualized as a drone -- among others. He also said the institute last year received a funding of Rs 170-180 crore, a marked improvement from a usual Rs 100-120 crore. "We are proud to step into another edition of Open House and like every year we look forward to provide opportunity to our visitors to experience the state-of-the-art innovations of our students and faculty at IIT-Delhi," IIT-D Director Ramgopal Rao said in a statement. The Open House will be held on the IIT-D campus on April 22 where a wide array of projects and innovations will be shown to public. A mobile application -- Open House App -- will also be launched on the same day, which will be a repository of all the cutting edge technologies the institute has produced. Washington, April 19 : A US aircraft carrier and other warships, which President Donald Trump said were sent to the Korean Peninsula last week as a warning, did not sail towards North Korea -- but went in the opposite direction, it has emerged. USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier was even farther away over the weekend, moving through the Sunda Strait and then into the Indian Ocean, as North Korea displayed new missiles and staged a failed missile test, CNN reported. The US military's Pacific Command explained on Tuesday that the Carl Vinson strike group first had to complete a previously scheduled training with Australia off its northwest coast. But it was now "proceeding to the Western Pacific as ordered". The US Navy said on April 8 that the strike group was travelling to the Korean peninsula amid tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. Last week President Trump said an "armada" was being sent. Following the announcement, President Donald Trump and his aides highlighted the deployment as part of the administration's response to Pyongyang's recent missile tests. "We are sending an armada. Very powerful. We have submarines, very powerful, far more powerful than the aircraft carrier, that I can tell you," Trump had said. The move increased tensions with Pyongyang, with its official Korean Central News Agency calling the carrier's deployment "nothing but a reckless action of aggression to aggravate the tensions in the region". A senior administration official blamed a miscommunication between the Pentagon and the White House when the aircraft carrier did not make its way to the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, as an expected show of force to North Korea. The official blamed the mixup on a lack of follow-up with commanders overseeing the movements of the aircraft carrier. However, US Vice President Mike Pence was undeterred as he spoke aboard the USS Ronald Reagan -- an aircraft carrier docked in Japan -- during his tour of the region, vowing to "defeat any attack and meet any use of conventional or nuclear weapons with an overwhelming and effective American response". Pyongyang and Washington have ratcheted up tensions in recent weeks and the movement of the strike group had raised the question of a pre-emptive strike by the US. New Delhi, April 19 : BSF trooper Tej Bahadur Yadav -- who triggered a political uproar when his video clip on "substandard food" served to BSF men went viral in January -- was on Wednesday dismissed from service, an official said. Yadav said he will approach the government and move the court if he fails to get justice. He has the option to appeal his dismissal, which came after a BSF court found him guilty of indiscipline, in a higher court within three months. The video clip had triggered an uproar across the country, with the Prime Minister's Office and the Home Ministry seeking detailed reports from the Border Security Force (BSF). A BSF Summary Security Force Court (SSFC) in Jammu found the constable, serving in the 29th Battalion, guilty of indiscipline. "Yadav has been found guilty of all charges and awarded dismissal from service today (Wednesday) as per the provisions of the BSF Act and rules. The individual (Yadav) has options to appeal to higher court against the verdict within three months," an SSFC statement said. The SSFC, which commenced from April 13 and concluded on Wednesday, found Yadav "made false allegations on the social media regarding the quality of food and did not adhere to formal grievance redressal mechanism in the force". "(He) neglected to obey the general orders of the force in which he carried two mobile phones while on operational duty, (which goes) against the SOP (Standard Operation Procedure), and also posted photographs in uniform on social media in contravention of instructions," it said in its order. The BSF court said Yadav was given all opportunities for defence during its proceedings. In his first reactions, Yadav said "I was punished for telling the truth". "I will first approach the central government for justice and if I am denied justice there, then I will go to the court," he told some media persons in Jammu. Yadav's wife Sharmila also expressed dissatisfaction over the BSF court's order and took to social media to protest the decision. In a video message, she asked the authorities and the government whether a mother will send her child in force after the episode. She said, "The court has given its decision. He (Yadav) has been dismissed. He had raised his voice in the interest of soldiers. What is his crime? He has been dismissed after his 20 years' service for complaining about bad food served to BSF troopers. Will any mother send her child in the force in future?" Sharmila said that the government has done wrong with her husband. "He should have sent him home with honour." Yadav, wearing a camouflage uniform and carrying a rifle, posted a video clip on a social media website in January to complain about the quality of food served to security personnel and accused unnamed officers of illegally selling food supplies meant for troopers. Since then, the trooper was facing the inquiry on various charges, including indiscipline, and his plea for voluntary retirement was rejected by authorities. Malappuram, April 19 : The muslim league (IUML) leadership has called for LDF minister Kadakampally Surendran to step down over the latters alleged comments that Malappuram is a minority communal region. IUML leader and lok sabha MP E T Mohammed Basheer on Wednesday sought Kadakampally Surendrans resignation, charging the latter with having violated the oath of office by making communal remarks. The party was contemplating taking legal recourse against the CPI(M) minister, he said. The CPI(M) must explain whether it subscribed to Mr. Surendrans views on Malappuram, Mr. Basheer demanded. The CPI(M) was playing a dangerous political game, he warned. Mr. Basheer also called for the CPI(M) to take disciplinary action against Mr. Surendran. Earlier, newly-elected MP from Malappuram lok sabha constituency, P K Kunhalikutty had also come out against Kadakampallys alleged negative comments on Malappuram. It did not behove the LDF to say that communal polarisation took place in Malappuram, Kunhalikutty said, adding that Surendrans comments to that effect was erroneous. The electoral contest in Malappuram was political in nature, Kunhalikutty asserted. Weighing in on the issue, KPCC interim chief M M Hassan said that Kadakampally Surendran insulted the secular voters of Malappuram and called for the CPI(M) minister to tender an apology for his controversial remarks. Vernacular news channels had reported that Mr. Surendran, while speaking at a function, termed Malappuram as a minority communal area. However, with the issue snowballing into a controversy, Surendran denied having made the controversial comments. The CPI(M) minister accused the media of taking his words out of context and unleashing a false propaganda. In a facebook post later on Wednesday, Surendran wrote that a news channel was spreading falsehoods that he had termed Malappuram a communal region. He clarified that all he said was that Malappuram constituency was a region where consolidation of minority votes happened. Dana Redding Jr., 23, and Kevannah Grace George, 21, were arrested after taking the girl to the Hardin hospital. Medical staff told law enforcement the child had suffered a "massive amount of bruising" on her entire body, as well as an open wound on the back of her head, according to charging documents. The girl was prounounced dead a short time later. Rome, April 19 : The Islamic State jihadist group has taken credit for a deadly ambush at an Egyptian police checkpoint near the iconic Saint Catherine's Monastery in Sinai late Tuesday, US terrorist-tracking organisation SITE reports. IS claimed the attack in a message published by its Amaq news agency, SITE said. The attack - the first IS has staged against a monastery - comes ahead of a visit to Egypt by Pope Francis later this month. An Egyptian policeman was killed and four were injured during the firefight with IS gunmen, several hundred metres from the monastery's entrance, Egypt's Interior Ministry said in a statement. The remote 6th-century monastery is located in the desert at the foot of Mount Sinai in the southern part of the volatile Sinai Peninsula. St Catherine's is one of the oldest Christian monasteries in the world and a Unesco world heritage site. Egyptian President Abdul-Fattah al-Sisi declared a three-month state of emergency after 45 people died in Palm Sunday attacks against Christian churches in the Nile Delta city of Tanta and the coastal city of Alexandria on April 9. The Sinai Province Egyptian branch of IS claimed the Palm Sunday attacks and the group has vowed further attacks against Egypt's Coptic Christian minority, which makes up 10 percent of the population. Chennai, April 19 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday announced that it has attached movable assets worth Rs 12 crore belonging to two persons in a demonetised currency conversion case. In a statement here, the ED said it had attached moveable assets belonging to Ashok M. Jain and Mahaveer Hirani alias Mahaveer Jain alias Mahaveer Kumar in connection with the case. According to the Directorate, the Income Tax (IT) Department seized new currency notes to the tune of Rs 34 crore, 177 kg of gold and Rs 94.51 crore of old Rs 500/1,000 notes from various premises linked to businessman Sekar Reddy and his associates. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case against Reddy and his associates for cheating and conspiracy in conversion of the old notes to the new ones to the tune of Rs 34 crore. On its part, the ED initiated probe for money laundering against Reddy and his associates. During the follow-up action, the IT Department seized demonetised currencies (old 500 and 1,000 rupee notes) to the tune of Rs 7 crore and about 6.5 kg gold valued at Rs 1.80 crore from the possession of Jain and about Rs 3.25 crore from the premises of Hirani, the proprietor of Deepak Traders. The ED said the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) investigations revealed Reddy getting around Rs 6-7 crore of new currency notes by using persons like Hirani and Jain through a person Parasmal Lodha. Lodha had already been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a different case. The ED said its investigations under the PMLA revealed that the moveable assets seized by the IT Department from Jain and Deepak Traders were proceeds of crime and hence Rs 10.25 crore of cash, 6.5 kg gold (valued Rs.1.80 crore) were attached provisionally under the PMLA. Berlin, April 19 : Bayern Munich submitted a formal complaint to UEFA on Wednesday regarding the behaviour of the Spanish police against their fans during the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals at Santiago Bernabeu a day earlier. The German club said in a statement that during the half-time break of Bayern Munich's Champions League match against Real Madrid on Tuesday, there were partly violent attacks by the Spanish police against FC Bayern Munich fans, reports Efe. Bayern also believed the police's actions were inappropriate and excessive, and a complaint has already been filed to UEFA. The Bavarian giant also asked for an explanation for the incidents from Spanish security forces. Skirmishes took place after the end of the first half of the quarter-finals second leg that ended 4-2 for the Spanish hosts. Islamabad, April 19 : Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Wednesday signed execution orders of 30 hardcore terrorists who were awarded death sentence by military courts of the country, the military said. "These terrorists were involved in committing heinous offences relating to terrorism," an army statement said. They were behind the attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar, kidnapping and slaughtering soldiers of security officials, attack on an airport in Swat Valley, killing innocent civilians, attacking armed forces' law enforcement agencies, the statement said. It is the first time the army chief has approved death penalty of 30 convicts on a single day. The army said the process of execution has been expedited during the ongoing anti-terror major operation codenamed "Radd-ul-Fasaa" or "reject discord" in English. Pakistan's Parliament recently extended the period of military courts for two more years after their two-year term expired earlier this year. Mumbai, April 19 : Shortly after the Central government's decision to scrap red beacons for VVIPs vehicles, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said he has stopped using it with immediate effect. Welcoming the centre's decision, Fadnavis removed the red beacon on his official vehicle while on a tour of Pune. "Maharashtra welcomes Prime Minister Narendra Modiji's step towards ending VIP culture by stopping the use of red beacon atop their vehicles. And to celebrate such an epic step for strengthening our democracy, I have stopped using the red beacon atop my car," he said. With Fadnavis taking the lead, officials said other ministers and bureaucrats using red beacon on their vehicles are likely to follow suit shortly. Kolkata, April 19 : A city-based private hospital, which is already under the state administration's scanner since a patient's death in February, was once again accused of negligence in treatment following an infant's death on Wednesday. Four-month-old Kuheli Chakraborty, who was admitted to the city's Apollo Gleneagles Hospital last Saturday for a colonoscopy, allegedly died of anaesthetic overdose on Wednesday morning, the patient's kin alleged. According to the kid's father, the baby was left unattended for a whole day when she was admitted and was not given any food for more than 12 hours before conducting the test. "The doctors advised to keep her in fasting on April 17 before the colonoscopy but decided not to go ahead with the test after 3 p.m. She was not given any food till afternoon next day. My daughter became weak and dehydrated. She could not be brought back to consciousness after the test," the father alleged. The mother, visibly heartbroken after the baby's death, accused the doctors of negligence and demanded that the wrongdoers be punished. "My daughter was okay. She died solely due to the doctor's negligence. I want punishment to the doctors concerned, especially the anaesthetist, whom we repeatedly requested to be careful as the kid was already starving for a long time," the bereaved mother said. The parents said they have registered a complaint against the hospital at Phoolbagan Police Station. Following the incident of child's death, a mob vandalised the hospital premises. A glass door inside the hospital was shattered, the hospital sources said. Refuting the allegations of negligence, the Apollo hospital authorities said the kid suffered "cardiac arrest in the recovery room" and regretted that the kid could not be saved despite "best efforts by the doctors concerned". "We offer deepest condolences to the family of the child and regret that despite our best efforts, the child could not be saved," hospital CEO Rana Dasgupta said in a statement. Further, he said, the hospital authority constituted a three-member expert team to internally probe the incident. "As per our administrative protocol, a three-member medical committee would investigate the reason of the child's demise and submit its report," Dasgupta added. Washington, April 19 : Indian-American hotelier Vikram Chatwal, who was found guilty of trying to torch two dogs has been ordered by a Manhattan judge to do five days of community service after he agreed to a plea deal. Chatwal, the founder of the Dream Hotels, was found guilty for trying to burn a pair of Jack Russell terriers last year. The 45-year-old hotelier pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors -- aggravated animal cruelty and animal cruelty violation, the New York Post reported on Tuesday. When Manhattan Judge Gerianne Abriano asked Chatwal whether he "attempted to cause serious physical injury to two dogs using an aerosol can and lighter to set fire to them", Chatwal answered in the affirmative. In addition to the five-day community service that he agreed to do, Chatwal also agreed to pay $1,000 in restitution to the American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which took care of the dogs that Chatwal tried to put on flame. Chatwal's lawyers said he suffers from bipolar disorder, reported the New York Post. He was also asked to continue his mental-health treatment, submit to random drug testing and still live with his parents under the deal. According to the ruling, if Chatwal complies with the terms and conditions, the misdemeanor charge of aggravated animal cruelty will be dropped in one year. "We're pleased that the DA's office realised all of the mitigating factors and is offering this disposition," Arthur Aidala, Chatwal's attorney, said after the plea. Assistant District Attorney Tanisha Palvia said that "given the defendant's mental health history and lack of criminal history and minimal injury to the dogs, we are offering a no-jail deal". Chatwal was arrested by the police in October last year after he attacked two Jack Russell dogs on Wooster Street in Soho, Manhattan, near his condominium. Isabell Suquilanda, the dog walker, filed a lawsuit against Chatwal citing that the incident deeply traumatised her. Chatwal's name also will be added to the animal abuse registry, and he is barred from owning or caring for a pet for five years. He would appear in the court again on July 19. Bhubaneswar, April 19 : Two Bajrang Dal activists and two BJP workers were detained while they were trying to show black flags to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during her visit to Jagannath temple in Puri, police here said on Wednesday. The activists were protesting a statement of Banerjee in which she allegedly supported consumption of beef. The police detained a servitor of the Jagannath Temple on Tuesday for allegedly threatening to oppose the West Bengal Chief Minister's visit to the 12th-century shrine. Meanwhile, amid tight security, Banerjee went to the Sri Jagannath temple and paid her obeisance to the deities. "I am a Hindu and my family is religiously connected with lord Jagannath and I offer prayer in my house. In my state, every person worships Lord Jagannath with much reverence and ensures visiting Puri at least six times a year. For us, Kali Ghat, Dakhineswari Mandir or Jagannath Mandir, are all the same. In Digha or Puri, the beaches are equally captivating," she had earlier told reporters on Wednesday. New Delhi, April 19 : With complaints from residents of Delhi about the monkey menace and problem of stray dogs, the AAP in its manifesto for civic elections has said that it will tackle the twin problems using existing laws. "AAP will solve the dog and monkey menace in Delhi within the existing legal and statutory framework, if it come to power in the municipal corporations," Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said in its manifesto released on Wednesday. Residents of several areas in Delhi have complained to municipal authorities about presence of monkeys, noting that it restricts their movement and causes a scare among children. They also complained of monkeys tearing up clothes and fiddling with pipes and cable wires. The city's hospitals also receive regular cases of dog bites. Municipal authorities had last year estimated that the number of stray dogs in south Delhi itself was about 1.89 lakh. Delhi will vote on Sunday to elect a new South Delhi, an East Delhi and a North Delhi Municipal Corporation. All three bodies were earlier one single entity: Municipal Corporation of Delhi. The results of the civic body elections will be known on April 26. New Delhi, April 19 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday revived the conspiracy charge in the Babri Masjid demolition case against BJP and VHP leaders including L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, triggering calls for the resignation of Kalyan Singh and Uma Bharti. After the court vedict, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting at his official residence with senior cabinet colleagues including Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Information and Broadcasting Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu and Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari where they are understood to have discussed the issue. A senior party leader said that the several issues figured in the meeting including the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. However, Jaitley had earlier indicated that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the government would not act against any of the leaders. "This case is going on since 1993. Today, no new situation has arisen." Advani and Joshi were among the top contenders for the post of President after Pranab Mukherjee retires in July. Uma Bharti is a union minister and Kalyan Singh is the Rajasthan Governor. Hours after the verdict, Joshi and Advani held a brief meeting. Later, the BJP core group led by party Chief Amit Shah also met to discuss the further strategy of the party. Shah is learnt to have assured Advani and other leaders the party stands with them. Sources said that Shah also convinced Uma Bharti to cancel her proposed Ayodhya visit, which she had announced earlier in the day. All four along with Vinay Katiyar, Sadhvi Rithambara, Acharya Giriraj Kishore, Ashok Singhal and Vishnu Hari Dalmia were facing trial for making inflammatory speeches before the 16th-century mosque was razed in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya town on December 6, 1992. Giriraj Kishore and Singhal, who were key members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), have since died. Katiyar is a Rajya Sabha member of the BJP. Restoring the conspiracy charge, Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman transferred the trial from Rae Bareli to Lucknow. Justice Nariman said since Kalyan Singh had constitutional immunity from prosecution, the trial court would proceed against him when he ceases to be Governor. The verdict followed a Central Bureau of Investigation plea challenging the May 2010 Allahabad High Court order quashing the conspiracy charge against Advani and others. The Congress demanded a speedy trial while the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) sought action against Uma Bharti and Kalyan Singh. "The law of the land has prevailed. We hope there will be a speedy trial and all the guilty will be punished and face the consequences," Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha told IANS. "It is a known fact that the Babri demolition as a spontaneous reaction has been proven wrong and it was indeed a political conspiracy," Jha said. The CPI said Uma Bharti and Kalyan Singh should step down on moral grounds. The IUML said Kalyan Singh should not cling to technicalities by speaking of immunity, adding Uma Bharti too should quit. RJD chief Lalu Prasad said Advani's dream of becoming the President of India had now been dashed. Blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the twist in the case, he said: "Advani is now out of race for the President's post." He added that Advani was a "scapegoat" (bali ka bakra) in the demolition case. Uma Bharti refused to resign, saying the charges of conspiracy had not yet been proved. She said there was no conspiracy behind the mosque razing. Katiyar took a similar line. "Why would I resign? There is nothing in it that I should resign." On December 6, 1992, all these leaders were present in Ayodhya when hundreds of mostly VHP activists storied the three-domed Babri mosque and brought it down, triggering communal violence in the country. The Supreme Court also said the trial court in Lucknow would frame additional charges against Advani and others and proceed against them. It said there would be no de-novo trial and the trial court judge would not be transferred until the trial got over. The trial should end in two years, the top court said, without adjournments. Amritsar, April 19 : Amidst the controversy over his being labelled as a "Khalistani sympathiser" by Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan arrived in the Sikh holy city of Amritsar. Sajjan arrived at the Sri Guru Ram Das Jee international airport here from New Delhi and was received by district administration officers. Members of some radical groups were present outside the airport terminal with banners to welcome the first Sikh to become the Defence Minister of another country. Sajjan's family hails from Bambeli village, 15 km from Hoshiarpur. His family had migrated to Canada in mid-1970s, when Sajjan was around five years old. Sajjan will visit the Golden Temple complex and offer prayers at 'Harmandir Sahib' on Thursday. He is likely to visit his native village and then arrive in Chandigarh. Amarinder Singh had stirred a controversy last weekl when he said that he will not meet the visiting Canadian Minister due to his (Sajjan's) links to radical elements linked to the demand for a separate Sikh state, Khalistan. In New Delhi, Sajjan sought to play down the controversy on Tuesday saying that he did not want the breakup of any country. New Delhi, April 19 : The Congress, which has been critical of both the Centre and the PDP-BJP coalition government over their handling of the Jammu and Kashmir situation, set up a policy-planning group led by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the state on Wednesday. The group includes senior leaders Karan Singh, P. Chidambaram, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ambika Soni, Ghulam Ahmed Mir, Rigzin Zora, Tariq Hameed Karra, and Shyam Lal Sharma. "Congress President Sonia Gandhi has constituted a policy-planning group for Jammu and Kashmir under the chairmanship of Manmohan Singh," said a statement released by party General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi. The move comes after a delegation of the Congress and National Conference leaders from Jammu and Kashmir met party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi. Rahul Gandhi also accepted the delegation members' invitation to visit Kashmir and talk to the people and other stakeholders in the Valley. The delegation led by PCC President Ghulam Ahmed Mir later called on President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan and apprised him of the situation in the Kashmir Valley and submitted a memorandum to him. Gandhi earlier said on his official Twitter account: "Met a delegation of Congress and NC leaders, who will call on the President later today (Wednesday) to express our concern over the situation in Kashmir." "We briefed Rahul ji about the situation in Kashmir. He was concerned about the situation. He said the good work done by the earlier United Progressive Alliance government to restore peace in the state has been destroyed by the present PDP-BJP government in three years," said state Congress chief Ghulam Ahmed Mir. "He said he is with the people of Kashmir and accepted our invitation to visit the Valley, as and when we want him to. He said he'll talk to the people and the other stakeholders in the Valley and also hold political meetings," Mir added. Voting in the Srinagar-Budgam parliamentary constituency on April 9 saw large-scale violence and death of eight civilians in clashes, besides a record low turnout of seven per cent voters. Re-polling on April 13 at 38 polling stations in Budgam district recorded a mere two per cent balloting. Widespread protests by students and clashes with police in Srinagar, Bandipora, Baramulla, Anantnag, Pulwama, Kupwara, Kulgam and Shopian districts have also rocked the valley. Ankara, April 19 : Turkey's Supreme Election Board (YSK) rejected on Wednesday main opposition parties' appeals to annul the constitutional referendum results. The board agreed to reject the petitions submitted by the Republican People's Party (CHP), the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and the Patriotic Party to annul the April 16 constitutional reform referendum, the YSK announced in a written statement. The three parties objected to the decision, and deemed ballot papers without official seals invalid. "The CHP will use all its democratic rights to ensure the referendum would rerun," party spokesperson Selin Sayek Boke said on Wednesday, private channel NTV reported. She vowed that her party will "not recognise" the referendum result, arguing that the referendum process was fraudulent and the results were manipulated. Bulent Tezcan, the CHP Deputy Chairman, said during a televised interview that there is a crisis of legitimacy of the referendum. According to unofficial results of the April 16 constitutional referendum, the "Yes" campaign won with 51.41 per cent, while the "No" votes stood at 48.59 per cent. However, the CHP challenged the result. Its leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu slammed on Tuesday YSK's decision to count unsealed ballots in the referendum. Lucknow, April 19 : A bank security guard was on Wednesday shot dead by unidentified assailants outside a bank in Uttar Pradesh's Pratapgarh as they tried to loot the cash, police said. Anil Kumar was unloading cash outside the Pariyava branch of the State Bank of India, when robbers, trying to rob the cash trunk, shot him six times from close range. The robbers had to however flee empty-handed as passersby and bank employees rushed to the spot after hearing the gunshots. The guard was rushed to a community health centre where he was pronounced dead. Police said they were trying to apprehend the criminals and the area has been sealed. No arrests however have been made so far. Jerusalem, April 20 : Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet his US counterpart Donald Trump at the White House on May 3, a senior Palestinian official announced on Wednesday. "During the upcoming meeting with Trump, President Abbas will express his commitment to a just and comprehensive peace," Xinhua news agency quoted Abbas' aide, Nabil Abu Rdineh, as saying. "President Abbas is to tell President Trump that a just and comprehensive peace would contribute to achieving peace and security in the region and the entire world," according to Abu Rdineh. Ahead of Abbas's visit to Washington, a high-ranking Palestinian delegation is scheduled to arrive in US to prepare for the visit. On March 10, Abbas received a first ever phone call from Trump since the latter took office as US President. Disabled Veteran Scholarship The Nashville personal injury lawyers at Whitfield, Bryson & Mason LLP are proud to announce the creation of an educational scholarship fund to benefit disabled veterans. This $1,000 scholarship will be in the form of tuition assistance to help offset the cost of higher education. The scholarship will be awarded to two applicants selected by Whitfield, Bryson & Mason LLP. The entire legal team at WBM LLP has the utmost respect for the men and women who serve in our armed forces. We understand these individuals often serve at the expense of acquiring a higher education. Returning to civilian life and attending college can be incredibly difficult, particularly for disabled veterans. WBM LLP would like to ease the financial burden associated with higher education by awarding this scholarship to two deserving recipients. Veterans of all branches of our U.S. Armed Forces with a 30% disability rating or higher are encouraged to apply. To learn more about the scholarship and our law firm or to apply for the scholarship, please visit our website. While applicants are not required to be currently enrolled at the time of application, the scholarship must be used within one year of the award. The scholarship can be used in pursuit of any undergraduate or graduate degree at an accredited university or college. All applications are due no later than January 26th, 2018. Anyone with questions regarding the scholarship program or the application may contact Whitfield, Bryson & Mason LLP, preferably by email, at: Whitfield, Bryson & Mason LLP 1205 4th Avenue North Nashville, TN 37208 615-921-6500 caroline(at)wbmllp(dot)com Our partnership with Tru Optik delivers an entirely new level of reach and accuracy for marketers that want to take full advantage of OTTs targeting and measurement capabilities. Tru Optik, the only audience measurement and data management platform built for over-the-top (OTT) television, today announced a partnership with NinthDecimal, the marketing platform powered by location data, that will allow marketers to leverage consumers physical-world shopping, dining and lifestyle behaviors for OTT television ad targeting and campaign performance assessment. Powering NinthDecimals suite of products are trillions of data points generated every month from over 135 million unique devices. As the industrys leading marketing platform, NinthDecimal creates an average of 10,000 custom segments annually for major brands, built on the signals that deliver the best campaign reach, accuracy and performance. By accumulating exact property boundaries across the U.S., NinthDecimal maps locations with the precision needed to reliably distinguish between consumers entering a store versus those simply walking by or standing in the parking lot. Using Tru Optiks recently launched OTT Marketing Cloud, marketers now have the unique ability to use NinthDecimals audience intelligence in conjunction with other CRM data to activate cross-device, programmatic and direct OTT television campaigns. Brands can also use NinthDecimals audience intelligence for retargeting on Connected TV. For example, if a prospective customer visits a department store, that store or a nearby competitor, marketers can reach that person in a privacy-compliant environment with TV ads on their Roku, Apple TV, PlayStation or other OTT device. Our partnership with Tru Optik delivers an entirely new level of reach and accuracy for marketers that want to take full advantage of OTTs targeting and measurement capabilities, said Brian Slitt, chief revenue officer at NinthDecimal. With specific consumer profiles and preferences based on physical-world behavior, including their affinity to specific brands, marketers can more accurately reach OTT audiences that align with their media campaigns. Were excited about what both companies can deliver to the market under this new partnership. According to Tru Optik chief strategist David Wiesenfeld, Most shopping, purchasing and everyday activities play out in the physical world, which makes location-based behavior a powerful way to understand and reach consumers. Its the real-world analog of targeting based on website visitation or search." In addition, the Tru Optik and NinthDecimal partnership allows marketers to link OTT ad exposure with subsequent visits to designated commercial establishments using NinthDecimals offline attribution solution, Location Conversion Index (LCI). Combining the two sources of data enables brands to prove the effectiveness of mid-funnel and lower-funnel OTT marketing campaigns. The ability to use consumer location data to prove OTT campaign effectiveness in driving traffic to stores, restaurants, auto dealerships and other commercial locations has become essential for advertisers eager to shift marketing dollars to OTT, said Michelle Swanston, SVP of operations for Tru Optik. Our partnership with NinthDecimal gives brands and advertisers another critical tool to power their data driven OTT marketing efforts across both connected TV and mobile. About Tru Optik: Tru Optik is a digital media intelligence company providing audience insight and advertising solutions that empower brand marketers and media companies to fully monetize audience and consumer demand. Armed with advanced technology, the largest census-level dataset of global over-the-top (OTT) media consumption, and unmatched focus, Tru Optik has built the only audience measurement and data-management platform that works across the entire OTT ecosystem, including Connected TV. Tru Optik is the preferred partner of many of the worlds largest media companies, brands, and agencies as they navigate the millennial-led shift to OTT. About NinthDecimal: NinthDecimal is the marketing platform powered by location data. It harnesses this data to build a precise understanding of consumers physical world behavior. Fortune 500 companies and marquee brands, including Microsoft, Target, Kraft, Comcast, American Express, Starbucks and Toyota, activate this customer intelligence through audience targeting, measurement, insights and data licensing solutions. By filling the massive gap in understanding how consumers spend the majority of their time, NinthDecimal provides marketers a comprehensive new model of the customer journey for impactful engagement. Specialty Technical Consultants Specialty Technical Publishers (STP) and Specialty Technical Consultants (STC) announce the availability of the newly updated International Audit Protocol Consortium (IAPC) EHS audit protocol for the Netherlands. Leading companies around the world use IAPC EHS audit protocols to understand the scope of their EHS regulatory obligations and rapidly collect, share, archive, and export audit findings in a cost effective manner. IAPC EHS audit protocols are now prepared by STC in partnership with STP and continue to focus on those national (plus, in some cases, regional or provincial) EHS requirements that have site-specific application for manufacturing operations. As a leading EHS management consulting firm with a global network of experienced EHS teaming partners, STC has indepth knowledge and technical expertise of local/regional EHS requirements. STP and STC maintain leading-edge EHS audit protocols for more than 30 jurisdictions. The protocol documents are written in English and are available in MS Word, Adobe Acrobat and Excel formats, as well as through STPs web-based portal or can be integrated into an existing company platform. Using the protocols custom templates and advanced functionality features, auditors can easily track audit findings and manage data over time to improve compliance, risk management and safety performance. In addition, STPs formatting is compatible with leading risk management and sustainability platform providers. Highlights of selected legislation covered in the newly updated protocol include: References to "Regulation (EC) No 842/2006 were updated to Regulation (EU) No 517/2014," which is the new legislation for systems and equipment that contain fluorinated gases. There are some changes to the requirements. The "Ministerial Decision Regarding the Separation and Maintaining the Separation of Hazardous Waste Substances" was repealed and incorporation of its requirements largely brought under the Environmental Activities Regulations (Activities Rules). Legislation regarding LPG at LPG fueling stations, and delivery of liquid fuels and natural gas was significantly amended. The "Decree on Organic Halogen Content of Fuels" was added to this update to set out limitations on the PCB and other organic halogen content of fuels. The "Tobacco and Smoking Products Law" and "Tobacco and Smoking Products Decree" were added to include requirements/prohibition on smoking in workplaces. "Food/Commodities Act Decree on Pressure Vessels of a Simple Form 2016" repealed and replaced the 1992 version of the Decree to transpose "Directive 2014/29/EU on Simple Pressure Vessels." "Food/Commodities Act Decree on Explosion-Safe Equipment 2016" repealed and replaced the 1995 version of the Decree. "Food/Commodities Act Decree on Elevators 2016" repealed and replaced the 1996 version of the Decree to transpose "Directive 2014/33/EU" on lifts. Significant amendments were made due to the "Decree on Risk of Severe Accidents 1999" being replaced by the "Decree on Major Accident Hazardous 2015." For more information on all International EHS audit protocols offered by STP and STC click here. About Specialty Technical Publishers Specialty Technical Publishers (STP) produces technical resource guides covering environmental, health & safety, transportation, accounting, business practices, standards and law, offering comprehensive guidance on key compliance and regulatory issues. STP is a division of Glacier Media Inc., a Canadian information communications company that provides primary and essential information in print, electronic and online media. Glaciers Business and Professional Information Group publishes directories, technical manuals, research and development materials, medical education, electronic databases, investment information and specialty websites. About Specialty Technical Consultants Specialty Technical Consultants, Inc. (STC) is a specialized management consulting firm working to enhance environmental health and safety (EHS) performance. Through its consulting services, STC partners with clients to strengthen management systems' design and implementation, and identifies needs and implements solutions to meet business objectives. Services provided include: EHS compliance support; risk assessment; EHS auditing; corporate responsibility and sustainability; EHS management systems development and implementation; EHS regulatory information tools; and EHS training. STC is certified as a Woman-Owned Business Enterprise (WBE) by the Womens Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) and the Supplier Clearinghouse for the California Public Utilities Commission, and as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program. Team Kalynn from left, Lan Vuong, Yuhan Mao, Sherry Xu, and Chelsea Stone There are so many inspiring stories of skilled and compassionate nurses making a difference every day. The National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF) and the DAISY Foundation have announced the recipients of the 2017 National Patient Safety Foundation DAISY Awards for Extraordinary Nurses. Peggy Kattenberg, BSN, RN, CMSRN, of PenroseSt. Francis Health Services in Colorado, was chosen to receive the individual award. The 2017 team award will go to the Medical Intensive Care Unit at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, part of UCLA Health. The awards will be conferred during the 19th Annual NPSF Patient Safety Congress, which takes place May 17-19, 2017, in Orlando, FL. This award program derives from the DAISY Foundations signature program, The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses. The DAISY Award is given to nurses in more than 2,600 health care facilities in all 50 states and in 14 other countries. Nurses who received The DAISY Award within their organizations between January 2015 and June 2016 were eligible for the 2017 international award, which places special emphasis on patient and workforce safety. We consider this partnership with The DAISY Foundation to be very special because it provides a way to recognize and honor the nursing profession and exceptional contributions to patient safety, said Patricia McGaffigan, RN, MS, CPPS, senior vice president and chief operating officer, NPSF. We congratulate all of this years nominees for their dedication to their patients and to providing safe health care. Ms. Kattenberg is known at PenroseSt. Francis for her passion for nursing, education, and advocating for her patients. She is being honored in part for an initiative she led into risks associated with nurse interruptions during medication administration. Peggy designed a study in which she discovered the astounding number of phone calls nurses receive during specific times when medications are administered on the floor. Her goal was to find a way to decrease the amount of distractions nurses incur during medication administration, said Cynthia Latney, MSN, BSN, chief nursing officer at PenroseSt. Francis. The study ultimately led to practices that now prohibit nurses from being interrupted when they are in the medication room. The Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center was chosen to receive the team award for Team Kalynn, a patient-centered effort to optimize the safety and quality of care provided to a young woman who spent 11 months in the MICU awaiting a lung transplant. Care planning and coordination of staff necessary to ensure this patients physical safety while caring for her emotional and social needs was challenging, particularly over such a period of time. A core group of staffTeam Kalynnwere responsible for her direct care while also communicating and receiving support from the full MICU team. This effort assured both safe handoffs at shift changes and continuity of care, which resulted in the patients comfort and kept her safe from complications, said Karen A. Grimley, PhD, MBA, RN, FACHE, chief nurse executive, UCLA Health. Although Kalynn sadly did not survive her disease, she lives on in the changes that the staff has made in care planning and the provision of that care. This is the third year that NPSF and The DAISY Foundation have partnered to confer these international awards. Choosing the honorees is always so difficult because there are so many inspiring stories of skilled and compassionate nurses making a difference every day, said Bonnie Barnes, FAAN, co-founder and president of the DAISY Foundation. The DAISY Foundation is delighted to partner with NPSF to honor their efforts. The National Patient Safety Foundation DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses was made possible by a generous three-year grant from Hill-Rom, a global provider of clinical technology and patient safety solutions. For updates about the award and the NPSF Patient Safety Congress, visit http://www.npsf.org/congress. About the National Patient Safety Foundation The National Patient Safety Foundations vision is to create a world where patients and those who care for them are free from harm. A central voice for patient safety since 1997, NPSF partners with patients and families, the health care community, and key stakeholders to advance patient safety and health care workforce safety and disseminate strategies to prevent harm. NPSF is an independent, not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Visit http://www.npsf.org. About The DAISY Foundation(TM) The DAISY Foundation was created in 1999 by the family of J. Patrick Barnes who died at age 33 of complications of an auto-immune disease (hence the name, an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System.) Patrick received extraordinary care from his nurses, and his family felt compelled to express their profound gratitude for the compassion and skill nurses bring to patients and families every day. The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses celebrates nurses in over 2,600 healthcare facilities around the world. For more information about The DAISY Award and The DAISY Foundations work visit http://www.DAISYfoundation.org. Witness A Young Chinese Genius Artist Manhattan's Montserrat Contemporary Art Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of Jialu Mimi Gaos first U.S. solo show which will feature a highly anticipated series of 19 new oil paintings, the recent portfolio of 2017 includes Shanghai Lady, Dignity, Esther, Dancing and Tender Heart . Jialu Mimi Gao: Solo Exhibition April 19, 2017 - May 4, 2017 Opening Reception: Thursday, April 20, 2017 (6:00 PM - 8:00PM) Montserrat Contemporary Art Gallery 547 West 27th Street, #516, New York, NY 10001 Born in Shanghai in 1997, Miss Gao began painting with oils at the age of 6 after having created her own form of calligraphy at just 3 years old. For the next decade, she received recognition from renowned artists and calligraphers throughout China, leading to multiple gallery shows, museum acquisitions of her work, and major media appearances. In 2013, Gao was invited to Taiwan to help raise money for the Taiwan Autistic Foundation with the sales of her paintings. In late 2016, she donated all proceeds from her show at the prestigious Poly Auction House to charity, in which all 12 of her art works immediately sold. Hailed as one of the top emerging contemporary Chinese artists today, Miss Gao is just 20 years old. She currently lives in New York City. Upon moving to the United States at age 17, she developed a love of Western classical music, opera, as well as studying the many sights and sounds of her new city. A devout Christian, Ms. Gao feels she is simply the instrument while the divine does the painting. In this sense, creating art is a peaceful process for me. No stress, no ego. Im very laid back, she remarks. Jialu Mimi Gaos Solo Exhibition at the Montserrat Contemporary Art Gallery is a continuation of the painting style which has already brought her immense success in China. As I looked through her art portfolio, I was captivated by the confident brushstrokes, bold application of color, her limitless creativity and incredible potential, notes the critically acclaimed artist Cai Guo-Qiang, who has recently offered her an internship in his Manhattan studioan opportunity almost exclusively reserved for ivy-league MFA candidates. Montserrat Contemporary Art Gallery presents a diverse group of highly selected artists from around the world. Frequently reviewed in the art press, with its varied international roster of artists and an equal number of established and emerging artists from the United States, the gallery continues to develop talents who will make a difference in the decades to come. For more information about the artist and the solo exhibition, please contact Montserrat Contemporary Art Gallery, or Catherine Jin at catherinejinPE(at)gmail(dot)com. We are expanding our relationship with Datum to ensure we have the technological capacity to successfully achieve our future growth plans. Datum Technologies announced today that it has signed a three-year contract to provide outsourced IT services for IMCMV Holdings, the operator of 20 restaurants in the USA (including 15 Margaritaville Restaurants, 2 Landshark Bar & Grills, an Air Margaritaville, a Pollo Tropical and a Viena Pizza). Datum will manage IMCMVs IT infrastructure for its five brands at both its corporate headquarters and its restaurants. Datum began working with IMCMV in 2016 as supplemental POS support resource. The relationship with Datum has quickly grown from needs-based support, to a fully integrated IT department for IMCMV and its Orlando-based corporate office. Like many of our clients, IMCMV called us in to help with restaurant support and they were so impressed by our work, they outsourced their entire IT department to us. This allows IMCMV to focus on running their restaurants while Datum ensures the reliability and security of every IT system they have in place, said Rafael Alfonzo, Datums CEO. Datum has already proven their ability to support our existing operations, IMCMV Chief Executive Officer David Crabtree said. We are expanding our relationship with Datum to ensure we have the technological capacity to successfully achieve our future growth plans. In addition to routine and ongoing IT services at IMCMV, Datum has also completed numerous projects and will be assisting with new store openings in the future. About Datum Technologies: Datum Technologies manages both restaurant and corporate-level technology for multi-unit restaurant companies. Datum implements IT solutions that lower labor costs, ensure network reliability and security, and ultimately maximize profits. Datum can consult with, augment, or fully outsource a restaurant companys IT department. About IMCMV Holdings: IMCMV Holdings, Inc, a U.S. subsidiary of Brazilian listed company IMC Alimentacao S.A. (MEAL3 BZ) International Meal Company who own and operate Margaritaville and Land Shark Bar & Grill destination restaurants throughout the United States and over fifteen brands throughout the U.S., Brazil and Panama. Recent development projects include Air Margaritaville at Miami International Airport and Margaritaville Restaurants in San Antonio, TX, Mall of America (MN), Destin, FL, and Pigeon Forge, TN. International Meal Company owns over 250 casual and quick-service restaurants in Brazil and the Caribbean, emphasizing units in airports, shopping malls and along major highways. RehabsChicago.com can help individuals directly or indirectly struggling with substance use disorder find the right kind of addiction treatment program. RehabsChicago.com today announced that it has launched its flagship website to offer information to residents of Chicago and the surrounding areas about substance use disorder, and addiction treatment programs including drug detox, inpatient drug rehab and addiction therapy. Visitors to RehabsChicago.com can learn about how addiction affects the brain, the different options to seek for treating a substance use disorder, and what to expect from various treatment programs. A February 2014 report from the National Institute on Drug Abuse on drug use patterns and trends in Chicago reported that there was an increase in heroin-related deaths from 2011 until 2012 in suburban counties around Chicago. The most commonly used illicit substances in Chicago were heroin, cocaine, and marijuana. In addition, the Illinois Department of Human Services states that of the more than 5,500 deaths among Illinois residents each year, more than 5 percent are attributed directly or indirectly to the use of alcohol and other drugs, and the annual economic costs statewide associated with alcohol, drugs, and tobacco-related mortality is more than $3.5 billion. Substance abuse also impacts Illinois employers, according to a recent article in the Chicago Tribune, which stated that a 150-worker construction company in Illinois could face annual costs of $57,387 from substance abuse due to lost time, expenses related to health care and turnover. RehabsChicago.com can help individuals directly or indirectly struggling with substance use disorder find the right kind of addiction treatment program. The most effective addiction treatment programs are those that are comprehensive and personalized, tailoring recovery plans to an individuals specific needs. To learn more about options to treat substance use disorder visit https://rehabschicago.com/ or call 855-204-7422 today. About RehabsChicago.com Addiction among Chicago residents comes in many forms. RehabsChicago.com provides information on various types of addiction and treatment options for substance use disorders. The website offers information on drug detox programs, inpatient addiction treatment, and sober living homes. In addition, visitors can learn about how addiction affects the brain, the long-term impact of addiction, and factors that can contribute to developing a substance use disorder. Learn more at https://rehabschicago.com/. Geli ESyst System Savings Page Geli has created the industrys first end-to-end software platform that encompasses system design, automation, monitoring, and fleet management. Today, Geli, a provider of energy storage control and monitoring software, launched Geli ESyst - a free web-based design tool to aid project developers in right-sizing and selecting energy storage and solar-plus-storage systems for commercial and industrial facilities. With the release of ESyst, Geli has created the industrys first end-to-end software platform that encompasses system design, automation, monitoring, and fleet management. Geli ESyst is a direct response to the overwhelming number of project analysis requests that the Geli team has received from solar developers and other partners in the past few years. We found that our data scientists were spending more time producing site analysis reports than working on our machine-learning algorithms, so we had to find a way to enable our partners with the same analytic capabilities that we possessed in-house, said Andrew Tanner, VP of Business Development at Geli. Though the analytic processes that underpin Geli ESyst are quite complex, ESyst users can now size energy storage systems in just minutes he added. Using a beta version of the tool, in the past 12 months 500-plus select Geli developer partners have analyzed more than 1,000 facilities and generated more than 150 MWh of energy storage project proposals. Unlike other energy storage sizing calculators, Geli ESyst is built with the entirety of a projects lifecycle in mind, connecting analytics to hardware automation. Key features of Geli ESyst include: 75 different hardware solution combinations, ranging in size from 30 kilowatts to more than a megawatt, from leading suppliers such as Delta Electronics, Dynapower, Lockheed Martin, Princeton Power, Ideal Power, and LG Chem 10,000+ tariffs in 1,300 U.S. utility territories with which users can model commercial and industrial energy storage and solar-plus-storage systems Detailed site analysis that presents energy and demand charges pre- and post-installation of energy storage or solar-plus-storage systems Downloadable project pro formas and PDF reports that detail optimal savings to be achieved with an energy storage or solar-plus-storage system Gelis goal is to enable all energy project developers with the tools necessary to design and deploy intelligent energy storage systems, said Ryan Wartena, co-founder and President of Geli. A robust analytics and design platform is key to providing a seamless, transparent process for development that can be tied with project performance once a system is operating. Geli ESyst is free for Geli developer partners, and new users can request an account at esyst.geli.net About Geli Geli, which stands for Growing Energy Labs, Inc., provides software and business solutions to design, automate, and manage energy storage and solar-plus-storage systems. Gelis suite of products creates an ecosystem where project developers, OEMs, financiers, and project operators can deploy advanced energy projects using a seamless hardware-agnostic software platform. Geli is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and has offices in Melbourne, Australia and New York, New York. Individuals suffering from ringing in the ears now can seek relief with the music of their choice when using the Tinnitus Alleviator from Neuromonics, Inc., maker and distributor of patented and clinically proven medical devices designed for tinnitus relief. The new feature is available with the Tinnitus Alleviators downloadable product for iOS-enabled mobile devices. When consumers download the Tinnitus Alleviator, they can add music from their personal music libraries to the music that Neuromonics provides. Neuromonics is offering a 14-day free trial for consumers to test out the Tinnitus Alleviator. Tinnitus Alleviator uses a proven, effective treatment protocol. Consumers listen to spectrally modified music designed to retrain the brain to ignore the ringing sounds and stop reacting negatively to them. The added ability to use ones own music library comes in response to requests from users who have been very happy with Tinnitus Alleviator, says Eula Adams, CEO of Neuromonics. The opportunity for users to listen to their own music will only improve their experience, and potentially enhance the benefits of Neuromonics proven treatment. Since its release last year, Neuromonics has seen more than 25,000 downloads of the Tinnitus Alleviator. The Tinnitus Alleviator is proving to be an effective tool for people with ringing in the ears to ease symptoms at an affordable cost, says Adams. The base product works with iOS-enabled devices, as well as most Android-enabled devices. Neuromonics plans to add the personal-music feature to the Tinnitus Alleviator for Android-enabled devices at a future date. More than 50 million people in the United States suffer from the sound of ringing in the ears, when no external sounds are present. Usually brought on by exposure to loud noise, the problem is especially significant in the military, with more than 34 percent of returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from the condition. For many sufferers, the ringing noise causes fatigue, depression, anxiety, and problems with memory and concentration. Neuromonics, Inc. (http://www.neuromonics.com) Based in Westminster, Colo., Neuromonics, Inc., manufactures and distributes clinically proven medical devices to treat tinnitus. The patented and clinically proven Neuromonics Oasis provides long-term treatment and significant relief for those with severe tinnitus. The Haven, with the ability to program and individualize hearing profiles, is a management tool offering situational relief for tinnitus symptoms. The Sanctuary, also a management tool, works with pre-programmed profiles for on-demand relief. The Tinnitus Alleviators downloadable product for iOS- and Android-enabled mobile devices offers help for those suffering from ringing in the ears. With research and development beginning in the early 1990s, Neuromonics has helped thousands of tinnitus sufferers improve their quality of life and overcome the daily life challenges associated with tinnitus. Today, Neuromonics provides its devices to nearly 2,000 hearing professionals on four continents, through direct relationships and reseller partners. Neuromonics news includes segments on national media including The Doctors and CNN. The Jefferson Awards honor unsung heroes in the community, who spot a need and then make a difference without any expectation of fame or wealth. The Award is a high civil honor founded in 1972 by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Samuel Beard and Senator Robert Taft. Recipients of the national award include Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, astronaut John Glenn and many others. At the local level, we are proud to say that Charleston, South Carolina has a group of extraordinary volunteers who make South Carolina a better place to be. George Sink, P.A. Injury Lawyers is proud to partner with ABC News 4 to celebrate those who have done so much to help South Carolina and the nation with their service. With these news broadcasts and awards, they hope to bring more good news to the world and help inspire more charitable acts. What have they done to win a Jefferson Award?: An 11-year-old boy helped feed 21,000 hungry children after creating I Heart Hungry Kids; Bringing truckloads of water to those in Flint, Michigan, whose water has been poisoned by lead Combatting Veteran PTSD with an innovative treatment - Surfing, The Warrior Surf Foundation Creating Fresh Future Farms, organization that provides jobs and affordable, organic, and healthy food, inspiring hundreds of new community gardens A staffing company that helps people work their way out of difficulty and homelessness, In Every Story Staffing, Don and Isabelle Oswald, a couple who brings music and ministry to senior citizens; and Alana Simmons, who started the Hate Wont Win movement after the horrific Emanuel 9 shooting in downtown Charleston, SC The National Awards Ceremony in Washington, DC, will be held on Friday, June 23rd, where many unsung heroes from across the nation will be recognized for their contributions to the community. Since the start of the program, the Jefferson Awards have identified and honored more than 50,000 people with outstanding and selfless public service. It is one of the countrys longest standing and most prestigious awards. More details, video and photos are available at the George Sink, P.A. Personal Injury Lawyers website bit.ly/gsjeffersonawards George Sink, P.A. Injury Lawyers is a full-service law firm that serves residents throughout South Carolina in the areas of personal injury, Social Security disability, and workers' compensation. In addition to helping injured South Carolinians and their families, the firm also supports a number of charitable organizations. More information about the firm can be found at: http://www.sinklaw.com. Ban-Koe Companies is pleased to announce a Strategic Alliance Partnership with Global Cash Card, the premier cash card company for employers. GCC Pay Cards can help companies go completely Green by replacing any Paper Checks associated with Payroll. GCC Pay Cards are great for regular Payroll, On Boarding, a New Hire, Termination Pay and Off Cycle Pay. Employers can also electronically post all Pay Stubs and W2s for the entire Company to go completely digital and experience an immediate savings depending on the size of the Company, how many Employees they have and the number of locations. Having options to paper checks seemed a natural selection to us as a labor-tracking organization, states Richard L. Metcalf, Sr. Director of Sales, Partner & OEM Channel for Ban-Koe Companies. Although Global Cash Card is typically offered only to enterprise-size companies, Ban-Koe was able to negotiate the opportunity for all Ban-Koe dealers and distributors to access the GCC benefits via the very successful Ban-Koe Strategic Partner program. All Ban-Koe customers can now experience the benefits of working with a world-class pay card provider Global Cash Card provides a seamless transition from paper checks to GCC Pay Cards, adds Joe Purcell, CEO President / Owner of Global Cash Card. GCC provides 24-7-365 United States-based support for our pay card holders. Global Cash Card has a 98% retention rate of every client since our inception in 2002. GCC provides bank-sponsored FDIC-insured, Zero Liability protected by E File Visa/MC Pay Cards and is a Platinum Sponsor to the American Payroll Association (APA). About Ban-Koe Companies Ban-Koe Companies bring over 36 years experience in software development for labor-tracking, scheduling, security and critical communications. We provide innovative Workforce Management and Workplace Security solutions to thousands of organizations worldwide to meet todays challenge of streamlining, human resources, critical communications and security. For further information please contact Richard Metcalf at 612-900-4717, Richard(dot)Metcalf(at)Bankoe(dot)com About Global Cash Card Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Irvine, CA, Global Cash Card offers payroll, incentive, gift, travel and per diem prepaid cards to its customers through a proprietary software the company developed and owns. Global Cash Card strives to lead in the creation, development, and implementation of the industrys most advanced financial transaction processing and information technology systems. The team translates these advanced technologies into value for its customers through professional solutions and services worldwide. Certified as a direct processor on multiple financial networks, Global Cash Card operates in Visa/MasterCard certified operation centers with a primary network operations center in San Diego, CA and a secondary data center in Las Vegas, NV. For more information, visit GlobalCashCard.com or contact Gary Renteria at 888-220-4477 ext 253 or grenteria(at)globalcashcard(dot)com The American Heart Association Central Valley division and Tesoro Viejo announced today that Tesoro Viejo will host the Central Valley Heart & Stroke Walk at the site of the upcoming master-planned community in 2017, 2018 and 2019 as part of a three-year agreement. We had so much fun last year as the presenting sponsor of the Central Valley Heart Walk while raising awareness and funds for this important cause, said Karen McCaffrey, vice president of Tesoro Viejo Development. Tesoro Viejo has been thoughtfully planned as a healthy, sustainable community where residents can enjoy an enhanced quality of life focusing on health, wellness and vitality. As this event promotes physical activity and heart-healthy living, we are proud and excited to host it for the next three years. The annual Heart & Stroke Walk is the largest local event for the association and usually draws over 2,500 walkers and runners who help raise funds to fight heart disease and stroke. All proceeds go toward the American Heart Associations overall goal of funding research to find better ways to treat and prevent cardiovascular diseases and stroke while providing educational health resources to the local region. We are thrilled to be taking the Heart Walk back to Tesoro Viejo for the next three years as we heard a lot of great things about the site from participants who came out for the walk last year, said Shannon MacAdam, executive director for the American Heart Association Central Valley division. With the master-planned community focusing on health and wellness, it fits in perfectly with our Healthy For Good movement which really focuses on moving more, eating smart and achieving overall wellness. It aligns with the mission of the association, plus its a beautiful location thats a great place to walk. According to the American Heart Association, walking is the simplest positive change individuals can make to effectively improve their heart health because its free, easy and has the lowest dropout rate of any exercise. The benefits of walking and moderate physical activity for as little as 30 minutes each day can help reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke - the number 1 and number 5 killers of Americans, respectively. For information on participating or to make a donation, visit http://www.centralvalleyheartwalk.org or call (559) 650-4010. Media Contact: Michael Castillo 916-431-2382 O 916-719-5390 C Michael.castillo(at)heart(dot)org About the American Heart Association The American Heart Association is devoted to saving people from heart disease and stroke Americas No. 1 and No. 5 killers. We team with millions of volunteers to fund innovative research, fight for stronger public health policies, and provide lifesaving tools and information to prevent and treat these diseases. The Dallas-based association is the nations oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. To learn more or to get involved, call 1-800-AHA-USA1, visit http://www.heart.org or call any of our offices around the country. The Heart & Stroke Walk is sponsored nationally by Subway and locally presented by Tesoro Viejo. For a complete list of sponsors, visit http://www.centralvalleyheartwalk.org. About Tesoro Viejo Situated at the foot of Little Table Mountain, Tesoro Viejo is an upcoming 1,600-acre master-planned community located off Highway 41 in Madera. A model of innovative design and sustainable living, the award-winning community will be a vibrant hub for southeast Madera County where residents can live, work, and play with housing and business opportunities, a walkable town center, green living, thriving industry, and neighborhood parks and schools. The community will feature more than 15 miles of scenic nature trails to foster healthy living, outdoor activities and family-friendly fun. Carlos Galvan, CEO & Partner Midco I will focus on continuing to create strategic alliances for Midco with companies that bring high value content that we can distribute in all types of media thus achieving optimum monetization via different platforms such as carrier billing, Midco Advertising announced today the appointment of Carlos Galvan as new Chief Executive Officer and Partner, acquiring a percentage of the company for an undisclosed amount. Co-Founder Fabian Vega steps down as CEO and stays as board member along with Co-Founder Patricio Molina, who continues as CCO of the company. Both Patricio and myself are very excited with this new and stronger Midco. Carlos is one of the most respected figures of the business in Latin America and complements our vision for the upcoming years, said Vega, who will focus on other businesses of the conglomerate such as Merka, where he remains CEO of its global business, Endeavour Co-Working Spaces based in Aventura, FL, and a new exciting startup in the wine industry. Galvan, an Executive MBA graduate of renowned business school IPADE, brings over 15 years of financial, commercial and mobile industry experience to Midco. He serves as Partner and Board Member of Naranya, a leader in the Latin-American mobile media marketing industry, and as Founder of CyKadas, a mobile commerce company based in Miami, FL. Under Galvans leadership Midco will continue to focus on its international growth as well as its main objective of making the digital agency the number one company in the distribution of high quality products for emerging markets. I will focus on continuing to create strategic alliances for Midco with companies that bring high value content that we can distribute in all types of media thus achieving optimum monetization via different platforms such as carrier billing, said Galvan. Midcorp has a great team as well as a systems platform within the world of digital advertising. Today we have contracts with the best platforms for monetization, advertising, distribution and above all the best products to distribute. We will focus on these points to achieve greater participation in the market. With this vision we will be a totally unique company with a totally new value offer for the final customer. Midco is a digital agency with extensive experience in mobile. Midco combines media, technology and services to optimize the performance of each campaign and achieve their goals. Clients range from large and medium agencies to brands and mobile content aggregators. MyWebGrocer (MWG,) the leading provider of eCommerce and digital marketing solutions to the grocery and Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industries, today announced that in collaboration with, Partners + Napier, the lead creative and integrated advertising agency, based in Rochester, NY, has received an Effie Award for Shopper Marketing in the Single-Retailer Program for Supermarkets, on behalf of their work with Friendship Dairies cottage cheese brand. The Effie Awards were started in 1968 in the United States by the New York American Marketing Association and are awarded annually to honor the effectiveness in marketing communications, spotlighting marketing ideas that work and encouraging thoughtful dialogue about the drivers of marketing effectiveness. Effie Awards are known by advertisers and agencies globally as the pre-eminent award in the industry and a standard by which marketers base the impact of their work on their clients. For the Single-Retailer Program for Supermarkets award, MWG was presented with the challenge of supporting a sweepstakes campaign for Friendship Dairies, while driving data for future success and add-to-list conversion metrics to ShopRite.com, the digital banner of this Wakefern Food Corporation, wholly owned subsidiary. In order to achieve these results and aid in the collaboration between Friendship Dairies and ShopRite, MWG created a new format of recipe and circular display, email display, mobile display, and tactics around consumer tips - each designed by Partners + Napier to provide recommendations and deeper connections with the CPG brand website and its products. Over the past three years, MWG has worked with Partners + Napier to provide similar, digitally enabled solutions in support of this Friendship Dairies and Wakefern partnership. Given the success of this campaign with Friendship Dairies and Wakefern Food Corporation, The North American Shopper Marketing Effie Awards committee selected MWG and Partners + Napier as winners based on the combined value and impact of digital technology, service and the demonstrated amplification of the in-store experience through the online channel. This award was formally presented at the Path to Purchase Institutes Shopper Marketing Summit in March 2017. This award is a fantastic representation of how CPG brands, retailers, agencies, technology and service providers, such as MWG, can collaborate to create unique, actionable and impactful campaigns with a consumer-first approach across digital grocery environments. We are extremely proud of the hard work by our team and collaboration with innovative agencies like Partners + Napier, to drive new levels of digital engagement for Friendship Dairies, said Eric Healy, President at MWG. MWG made it easy for us to tell our story to Shoprite shoppers, due to the quality of their products and amazing services. Their entire team worked to make this campaign a success and we were proud to drive it for Friendship Dairies. said Jennifer Piper of Partners + Napier. If you would like to learn more about MWGs insights into the Dairy Industry, please visit: (http://go.mywebgrocer.com/Insights-Dairy-Products). To learn more about Partners + Napier, please visit; http://www.partnersandnapier.com. About MyWebGrocer: MyWebGrocer (MWG) offers the only complete Digital Experience Platform for grocers and Consumer Packaged Goods brands. The platform powers every interaction to attract, engage, transact with and retain grocery shoppers through digital offerings ranging from planning and shopping platforms to mobile and social tools. The company also offers opportunities for Consumer Packaged Goods brands looking to reach consumers with relevant advertising, promotions and offers throughout their grocery path to purchase. Founded in 1999, MWG manages digital solutions for more than 130 retailers across the globe, representing more than 10,000 stores, and 500+ major Consumer Packaged Goods brands. About Friendship Dairies: Saputo produces, markets, and distributes a wide array of dairy products of the utmost quality, including cheese, fluid milk, extended shelf-life milk and cream products, cultured products and dairy ingredients. Saputo is one of the top ten dairy processors in the world, the largest cheese manufacturer and the leading fluid milk and cream processor in Canada, the third largest dairy processor in Argentina, and the fourth largest in Australia. In the US, Saputo ranks among the top three cheese producers and is one of the largest producers of extended shelf-life and cultured dairy products. Saputos products are sold in several countries under well-known brand names such as Saputo, Alexis de Portneuf, Armstrong, COON, Cracker Barrel*, Dairyland, DairyStar, Friendship Dairies, Frigo Cheese Heads, La Paulina, Milk2Go/Laits Go, Neilson, Nutrilait, Scotsburn*, Stella, Sungold, Treasure Cave and Woolwich Dairy. About Partners + Napier: Partners + Napier is an integrated advertising agency based in Rochester, NY. With a 125-person team, were an agency for people and brands with something to prove. For 13 years, we've been proving that resisting the status quo is the path to incredible return on marketing investment. Weve done great work for clients like Constellation Brands, BMW and MINI Financial Services, Highmark, Mederma, ConAgra Foods, Keurig Green Mountain, Delta Vacations, Friendship Dairies and Gannett. As the first creative agency to join Project, an independent network in service of creativity, we collaborate closely with like-minded agencies around the world to deliver scale, resources, and ROI for brands like Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Tribe Hummus, AT&T, Salesforce.com and Jeep. To learn more, visit: http://www.partnersandnapier.com. Were thrilled that the hard work, dedication and collaboration that went into creating the reimagined HelloJetBlue has been selected as a finalist for the 2017 MITX Awards! Imarc announces that the redesigned and reimagined HelloJetBlue has been selected as a finalist for the 21st Annual MITX Awards in the Innovation in Connecting People category. Held annually by the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange, the awards celebrate the innovation and creativity thriving here in New England. Since 1996, the MITX Awards have grown to become the largest and most prestigious awards competition in the country, showcasing the best creative and innovative accomplishments in the area. This year over 100 senior leaders from Boston businesses judged entries for the MITX award categories. For 21 years, MITX has been celebrating the people, ideas and companies that fuel this thriving technology and innovation hub, said MITX President Amy Quigley. This years finalists are incredibly impressive. We are thrilled to honor their achievements! HelloJetBlue is a valuable tool designed to engage, educate and connect JetBlues global staff or Crewmembers to inform them about key news and resources. This mobile optimized intranet is designed for JetBlues remote staff, and is an integral component to the organization, which is designed to build a sense of community. HelloJetBlue features news, tools, alerts and resources to support the day-to-day operations for the airline. Imarc reimagined JetBlues previous intranet, with users in mind, to craft a tool that employees would want to engage with. HelloJetBlue incorporates the iconic brands identity through animation, tone and even its use of puns, such as Thats Fly when a user likes content featured on the site. The new HelloJetBlue gives Crewmembers a means to connect in ways that they couldnt before by communicating important company news, personal travel experiences and mentioning and sharing content with fellow Crewmembers. Were thrilled that the hard work, dedication and collaboration that went into creating the reimagined HelloJetBlue has been selected as a finalist for the 2017 MITX Awards! Weve got a talented team and amazing clients that allow us to push the digital limits, deliver amazing results and help make our clients more successful. - Nick Grant, Imarc CEO To learn more about the HelloJetBlue redesign, visit https://www.imarc.com/work/jetblue. Imarc will be recognized with the other finalists in the Technology category of Innovation in Connecting People at the 21st Annual MITX Awards Ceremony traditionally attended by hundreds of the regions top marketing, technology and design professionals. Winners will be announced at the ceremony on May 25th at Royale Boston. This years ceremony will include host, Kelly MacFarland, dinner and drinks, networking, and of course, the presentation of the prestigious MITX Awards. Tickets can be purchased at http://www.mitxawards.org. About Imarc Imarc (http://www.imarc.com) is an adaptive, full-service digital agency with a strong focus on web, mobile and custom application solutions. Since 1997, the agencys team of experienced engineers, UX engineers, designers, strategists and business and marketing experts has been helping over 300 clients do business better. The award-winning, 29-person, nationwide agency has sustained steady growth since its inception and is proud of its many long-term client relationships across different industries. Today Imarc continues to be a premier digital agency that attracts top talent and creates smart solutions for forward-thinking brands. For more information, contact Imarc at hello(at)imarc.com. About MITX Inspire. Connect. Provoke. For the restless companies that comprise the Massachusetts technology and innovation eco-system, MITX is the ultimate resource: inspiring members with progressive thinking, meaningful connections and provocative conversation. Celebrating 21 years of connecting tech and innovation professionals in New England, MITX is a dynamic community of more than 7,500 thought leaders and collaborators in search of insight, education and opportunity. MITX is headquartered in Boston, MA. For more information, visit http://www.mitx.org/. Contacts: Imarc Ashley Langlands, 978-462-8848, ashley(at)imarc(dot)com Digital Marketing Manager MITX Brianna Allard, 617-871-2155 x703, ballard(at)mitx(dot)org Director of Marketing & Community Engagement ### Gentle Dental Partners With Great Hill Dental Partners joining Gentle Dental Partners, it allows us to further our shared mission of providing exceptional clinical care and an outstanding patient experience. Gentle Dental Partners (gentledental.com) has closed an affiliation with Great Hill Dental Partners LLC (greathilldental.com), adding 5 multi-specialty practices in the Greater Boston area. Great Hill Dental Partners practices will continue to operate under the name Great Hill Dental Partners, now one of 5 affiliated brands in the Gentle Dental Partners portfolio. With this partnership, Gentle Dental Partners firmly secures its foothold as a leading dental service provider in New England. Gentle Dental Partners will add additional resources to support Great Hill Dental Partners business and administrative functions, allowing the Great Hill Dental Partners team additional time to focus on providing quality patient care. Dr. Michael Scialabba, the CEO of Great Hill Dental Partners and a practicing dentist in the organization, will remain in his current position while also joining the Gentle Dental Partners Clinical Management Team. In this expanded role, he takes a leadership position at Gentle Dental Partners and will work to leverage clinical best practices between the two organizations. Gentle Dental Partners CEO Geoff Ligibel says With Great Hill Dental Partners joining Gentle Dental Partners, it allows us to further our shared mission of providing exceptional clinical care and an outstanding patient experience. It is important for us to partner with practices that put patients first, and we are excited to welcome these great practices to our organization. Dr. Michael Scialabba echoed Ligibels sentiments, We feel confident joining forces with a company that, like us, is rooted in New England and shares our passion for quality dentistry and seeing our patients achieve optimal health. We are focused on providing patients with an exceptional patient experience and this partnership will allow our doctors to fully focus on their patients with full support for the administrative aspects of a dental practice. Gentle Dental Partners offers dentists the clinical and financial advantages of group affiliation including clinical autonomy, peer support, equity investment opportunities and freedom from the business challenges associated with running a practice. Through focus on patient care and best patient outcomes rather than daily administrative burdens, doctors at Gentle Dental Partners have the opportunity to earn more and have a better work/life balance. Gentle Dental Partners has a powerful value proposition for doctors and clinical staff. The combination of Gentle Dental Partners and Great Hill Dental Partners ensures more opportunities for career growth at both organizations through training and education, mentoring programs and investments in technology. Dental professionals enjoy the peer support and camaraderie of being part of a larger network of dentists. Attracting and retaining top talent is what sets Gentle Dental Partners apart. Adds Ligibel "We are excited to share best practices with the talented doctors and clinical staff at Great Hill Dental Partners. This partnership is very important and allows us to further our shared commitment to patients and our vision of giving every person in New England a healthy, confident smile. Great Hill Dental Partners was advised by MORR Dental Solutions, and its legal counsel was Choate, Hall & Stewart. Gentle Dental Partners was represented by Ropes & Gray and Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis. ### ABOUT GENTLE DENTAL PARTNERS: Gentle Dental Partners is a leading regional provider of high-quality, affordable dental services in the Northeast United States. For over 40 years, Gentle Dental Partners has been delivering comprehensive general dental services as well as specialty services including oral surgery, orthodontics, periodontics, endodontics, and cosmetic dentistry. Our dedicated doctors, hygienists, and dental professionals have a deep commitment to the communities they serve and a relentless focus on patient care. Gentle Dental Partners has a strong value proposition for dentists allowing the company to attract and retain an industry-leading team of clinicians and affiliate with high-quality solo and group dental practices. With 46 Gentle Dental Partners locations and affiliated practices across the region, quality affordable dental care is right around the corner. ABOUT GREAT HILL DENTAL PARTNERS Great Hill Dental Partners, LLC provides restorative dentistry, implant therapy, oral surgery, root canal therapy, periodontics, orthodontics, Invisalign, pediatric dentistry, and prosthodontics, all within a multi-specialty, multi-site practice. Among the first to offer "Whole Health Dentistry" in the Boston area, Great Hill Dental Partners focuses on the medically proven connection between a patient's oral health and their overall health. Great Hill Dental Partners operates 5 practices in the Greater Boston area. The League for Innovation in the Community College Board of Directors is pleased to welcome Austin Community College District to its membership. This U.S.-based institution will be represented on the Board by President and CEO Richard Rhodes. Austin Community College District is addressing some of higher educations most important challenges from a data-informed perspective, with student success as its focus, and in a way that distinguishes itself as one of the most innovative community colleges in the country, said Board Chair Dr. Anne Kress. Whether partnering with K-12 to address college readiness or redesigning developmental education to improve student success rates, ACC and President Richard Rhodes are changing the higher education narrative in Texas and across the country. Its a pleasure to welcome them to the Leagues Board of Directors. Founded in 1968 by B. Lamar Johnson and a dozen U.S. community and technical college presidents, the League has proudly served community college institutions for almost five decades. The Board colleges are joined by almost 500 institutions that hold membership in the League Alliance. With this core of powerful and innovative community colleges and 100 corporate partners, the League fulfills its mission to cultivate innovation in the community college environment through conferences and institutes; online resources; research; and projects and initiatives with member colleges, corporate partners, government agencies, and private foundations. As the League approaches its 50th year, the Board of Directors made the decision to expand in an effort to include additional outstanding community colleges. CEOs from the most influential, resourceful, and dynamic community colleges and districts in the world currently comprise the Leagues Board. The Leagues President and CEO Rufus Glasper welcomes Austin Community College and President Richard Rhodes to the League Board, stating, ACC models the tenets of leadership and governance needed in the 21st century while fostering a culture of engagement which leads to transformational, scalable, and sustainable systems. We look forward to courageous conversations seeded by innovation. According to the district website, since joining Austin Community College District as the President and CEO in 2011, Richard Rhodes has worked to improve pathways into higher education, strengthen awareness of the community college mission, and give students the tools to accomplish their educational, professional, and personal goals. The Leagues mission mirrors ACCs own commitment to promoting individual success and strong communities through educational excellence and innovation, said Dr. Rhodes. Im honored and delighted at the opportunity to work with this team of thought leaders to develop practices that will impact students here in Texas and nationwide. About the League for Innovation in the Community College The League for Innovation in the Community College (League) is an international nonprofit organization with a mission to cultivate innovation in the community college environment. The League hosts conferences and institutes, develops print and digital resources, and leads projects and initiatives with almost 500 member colleges, 100 corporate partners, and a host of other government and nonprofit agencies in a continuing effort to advance the community college field and make a positive difference for students and communities. Information about the League and its activities is available at http://www.league.org. Rosanne Haggerty, an internationally recognized social entrepreneur dedicated to ending homelessness, will deliver Emmanuel College's 2017 Commencement address. We look forward to welcoming our distinguished honorees to campus as we celebrate the achievements of the Emmanuel College Class of 2017. Rosanne Haggerty, an internationally recognized social entrepreneur dedicated to ending homelessness, will deliver the Commencement address and receive an honorary degree at Emmanuel College's 95th Commencement Exercises on Saturday, May 13, 2017. The College will also confer honorary degrees on Wayne Budd, Senior Counsel at Goodwin Procter LLP and former U.S Attorney for Massachusetts, and Emmanuel Trustee Dr. Elaine El-Khawas, Professor Emerita of Education Policy at George Washington University. "We look forward to welcoming our distinguished honorees to campus as we celebrate the achievements of the Emmanuel College Class of 2017," said President Sister Janet Eisner, SND. "All three individuals exemplify Emmanuel's mission and values by their superb contributions to their professions and to society. They will serve as great role models as our new graduates prepare to translate their talents and training into meaningful careers in the Boston area and around the world." Rosanne Haggerty Rosanne Haggerty is the founder and President of New York-based Community Solutions, which is dedicated to ending homelessness, strengthening communities and changing the conditions that perpetuate poverty. She is widely known for her leadership of innovations such as the 100,000 Homes Campaign, a movement of 186 U.S. communities that collectively found permanent homes for more than 105,000 vulnerable and chronically homeless Americans between 2010 and 2014, and Built for Zero, a national effort that has already helped six communities end veteran homelessness outright. In addition to being featured twice on "60 Minutes," Ms. Haggerty has received a MacArthur "Genius" grant, and was among 31 social entrepreneurs from 25 different countries awarded attendance to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, part of her designation as a Schwab Social Entrepreneur. She earned her bachelor's degree from Amherst College, where she is a Life Trustee. In addition, she holds a master's degree in architecture from Columbia University and is a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at New York University. Wayne Budd, Esq. Wayne Budd, Esq., is an attorney with over 40 years of legal experience in the public and private sectors. From 1989 to 1992, he served as U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, acting as the Commonwealth's chief federal prosecutor and representing the federal government in all matters involving civil litigation. In 1992, he was appointed by then- President George H.W. Bush to serve as an Associate Attorney General, overseeing the Civil Rights, Environmental, Tax, Civil and Anti-Trust Divisions at the Department of Justice, as well as the Bureau of Prisons. He was later appointed by then-President Bill Clinton to serve as a member of the Sentencing Commission. Currently, Mr. Budd is Senior Counsel at Goodwin Procter LLP, where he was a partner from 1993 to 1996. Prior to rejoining Goodwin in 2004, he served as a Senior Executive Vice President and General Counsel and a Director of John Hancock and as Group President-New England of Bell Atlantic. He formerly served as President of the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association and in 1979 became the first African-American President of a state bar when he assumed the presidency of the Massachusetts Bar Association. He holds a A.B. from Boston College and a J.D. from Wayne State University School of Law. Elaine El-Khawas, Ph.D. Elaine El-Khawas, Ph.D., is a research sociologist and Professor Emerita of Education Policy at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Dr. El-Khawas's areas of expertise include higher education policy at both the state and federal level, and comparative policy and practice in higher education. She has published widely on trends and policies affecting higher education, including issues in accreditation and quality assurance, organizational change, faculty and governance. Previously she served as Professor of Higher Education at the University of California, Los Angeles. She also served as Vice President for Policy Analysis and Research at the American Council on Education (ACE) for 14 years. She was a member of United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) scientific committee for Europe and North America and served on the boards of several international journals, including Quality in Higher Education. She has been a consultant and advisor to the World Bank, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Association of African Universities. Dr. El-Khawas has served as a Trustee of Emmanuel College for three decades and serves as the Chair of the Board's Committee on Academic Affairs. She received her B.A. from George Washington and her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Chicago. For more details on Emmanuel College's 2017 Commencement Exercises, click here. About Emmanuel College A dynamic co-ed, residential Catholic college in the heart of Boston, Emmanuel inspires students to dream big and work hard as they discover and begin to fulfill their lifes purpose. Home to more than 2,200 undergraduate and graduate students from across the nation and around the world, the College provides boundless opportunities for students to expand their worldview through rigorous coursework, collaborations with distinguished and dedicated faculty, participation in a vibrant campus community, and countless internship and career opportunities throughout the Boston area and beyond. Emmanuels more than 50 programs in the sciences and liberal arts foster spirited discourse and substantive learning experiences that honor the Colleges commitment to educate the whole person and provide an ethical and relevant 21st-century education. For more information, visit http://www.emmanuel.edu. The work of the SPSC is invaluable to the industry and consumers alike, and I look forward to becoming part of the process and lending my insight to the group. The International Sleep Products Association (ISPA) welcomes Scott Tinsley, vice president of sales at Serta International to the ISPA Board of Trustees. I am honored and humbled to have been selected by Serta to represent our company as a trustee on the ISPA Board, said Tinsley. The International Sleep Products Association does great work supporting our industry and has done so for many years. I look forward to working with our ISPA team leaders, our board members and many other industry professionals who represent some of the finest manufacturers and suppliers in our business. The Better Sleep Council welcomes four new committee members; Guy Eckert, executive vice president at Outlast Technologies, Jill Farnsworth Bibo, vice president of retail sales at McRoskey Mattress Company, Kenny Parrish, country manager at Devan US Inc., and Susan Mathes, vice president of brand relations at Therapedic International. Roxanne Wimberly, director of compliance at Innocor Inc., is the newest addition to The Sleep Products Safety Committee. I am honored to join ISPAs Sleep Products Safety Committee and excited to begin working with the team to advance the safety of sleep products, said Wimberly. The work of the SPSC is invaluable to the industry and consumers alike, and I look forward to becoming part of the process and lending my insight to the group. The Statistics Committee also welcomed Tim Meade, marketing director at Milliken and Company, to the team. I thank our new trustee and committee members for volunteering their time, talents and energy to these positions, noted ISPA President Ryan Trainer. Their leadership, industry knowledge, insights and creativity drives the important services that ISPA provides our members. I look forward to working with them all in the coming year and beyond. Established in 1915, the International Sleep Products Association (ISPA) is dedicated to protecting and enhancing the growth, profitability and stature of the mattress industry. As the industrys trade organization, ISPA represents mattress manufacturers and suppliers throughout the world. ISPA provides a wide range of services that benefit its membership. These include exclusive industry surveys and statistics, government advocacy support, educational offerings, the industrys ISPA EXPO trade show, safety research through its Sleep Products Safety Council, consumer research and education through its Better Sleep Council, BedTimes and Sleep Savvy publications. To learn more, visit http://www.sleepproducts.org or contact info(at)sleepproducts(dot)org. One of our most important goals with the brand transformation was to create a wow experience that would have an immediate impact on domestic franchising and growing Tony Romas US store base, and the global prototype has clearly had that impact April 19, 2017 Romacorp, Inc., the parent company of Tony Romas, announces the signing of a new development agreement with experienced restauranteurs T&J Food Groups I, Inc., bringing Tony Romas world-famous ribs to fans in Tennessee. This is the second new US agreement for Tony Romas in a week and reflects the strong momentum Tony Romas has seen in discussions with new and existing franchisees since the October 2016 grand opening of the new global prototype restaurant in Orlando, Florida. Following extensive consumer research, the new global prototype is a brand transformation for Tony Romas and includes a complete overhaul of the restaurant environment, service approach and food and beverage offerings to meet the demands of todays consumer. One of our most important goals with the brand transformation was to create a wow experience that would have an immediate impact on domestic franchising and growing Tony Romas US store base, and the global prototype has clearly had that impact, said Stephen K. Judge, President and Chief Executive Officer of Romacorp, Inc. Add to that incredible new franchisees like Timothy and Jeanette Farris, who bring a high level of passion for the Tony Romas brand and belief in our new direction, and I believe that Tony Romas is just beginning to reach its full potential. This development agreement follows closely on the heels of last weeks announcement of a new US franchise agreement for West Palm Beach, Florida, marking the addition of Tony Romas first new US franchisee since 2011. Romacorp also recently announced the signing of a development agreement that will bring Tony Romas world famous ribs to Nicaragua for the first time. Additional new domestic and international development agreements are in the works and will be announced in the near future. As we were looking to expand our franchise footprint, Tony Romas truly stood out among them all, and we are incredibly excited to bring Tony Romas to Tennessee, said Timothy Farris, President of T&J Food Groups I, Inc. After visiting the new global prototype in Orlando, we were completely wowed by the redesigned concept, delectable food and outstanding service. We cant wait to help Tennessee fans get their rib faces on! This string of landmark growth announcements come as Tony Romas celebrates its 45th birthday, an incredible milestone unmatched by any American casual dining restaurant chain. Since first opening its doors in Miami, Florida in 1972, Tony Romas has become one of the most globally recognized brands in the restaurant industry. With restaurants in more than 30 countries around the world, Tony Romas continued growth has established the brand as the largest casual dining chain in the world specializing in ribs. About Romacorp, Inc. Romacorp, Inc., is the parent company of Tony Roma's restaurants, the world's largest casual dining concept specializing in ribs. Headquartered in Orlando, Florida, Romacorp, Inc. has more than 150 restaurant locations in more than 30 countries and is one of the most globally recognizable names in the industry. The first Tony Roma's restaurant opened 45 years ago in North Miami, Florida. Tony Roma's is also proud to partner with the Make-A-Wish Foundation (http://www.cnfl.wish.org), one of the world's leading children's charities, in an effort to help grant the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses across Central and Northern Florida. For more information about Romacorp, Inc. and Tony Roma's, visit http://www.tonyromas.com. Please visit http://www.tonyromasfranchise.com or call (866) 981-0586 for information about Tony Roma's franchising opportunities. www.aspirehr.com We are honored to be part of the WBENC-Certified Womens Business Enterprise community. This certification places AspireHR in good company with other women-owned corporations and businesses that represent trusted and valued brands. - Melissa Hillesheim AspireHR, a leading consulting, implementation and software development expert for the SAP ERP Human Capital Management (SAP ERP HCM) and SAP SuccessFactors HCM Suite solutions for HR, is proud to announce it has received national certification as a Womens Business Enterprise by the Womens Business Council Southwest, a regional certifying partner of the Womens Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). We are honored to be part of the WBENC-Certified Womens Business Enterprise community. This certification places AspireHR in good company with other women-owned corporations and businesses that represent trusted and valued brands, said Melissa Hillesheim, Chairman, CEO and General Counsel for AspireHR. WBENCs national standard of certification implemented by the Womens Business Council Southwest is a meticulous process which includes a multi-faceted application process, an in-depth review of the business and a site inspection. The certification process is designed to confirm the business is at least 51% owned, operated and controlled by a woman or women. By including women-owned businesses among their suppliers, corporations and government agencies demonstrate their commitment to fostering diversity and the continued development of their supplier diversity programs. To learn more about AspireHR, please visit http://www.aspirehr.com. About AspireHR: Founded in 1998, Aspire HR, Inc. is a U.S.-based SAP partner focused exclusively on the unique needs of the HR marketplace. AspireHRs experienced and knowledgeable team implements the technology that enables todays leading organizations to recruit, retain and develop, pay and administer, manage, and report on their most valuable asset their people. We deliver technology consulting and implementation services that leverage SAP and SAP SuccessFactors solutions, and our proprietary, world-class HR software solutions that are tailored for our clients specific needs. AspireHRs services for SAP solutions include implementations, upgrades and support of the SAP ERP HCM solution, including payroll, benefits, time management, HR renewal, development and data conversions. AspireHR also offers services for solutions including SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central, SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll, SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting, SAP SuccessFactors Onboarding, SAP SuccessFactors Learning, SAP SuccessFactors Compensation, the SAP Jam social software platform, SAP SuccessFactors Succession & Development, and support and integration with SAP ERP HCM. About WBENC: Founded in 1997, WBENC is the nations leader in womens business development and the leading third-party certifier of businesses owned and operated by women, with more than 13,000 certified Womens Business Enterprises, 14 national Regional Partner Organizations, and over 300 Corporate Members. More than 1,000 corporations representing Americas most prestigious brands as well as many states, cities, and other entities accept WBENC Certification. For more information, visit http://www.wbenc.org. ### SAP, SuccessFactors, Jam and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE (or an SAP affiliate company) in Germany and other countries. See http://www.sap.com/corporate-en/legal/copyright/index.epx for additional trademark information and notices. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Carena, a leading virtual care provider, announced today it will present a joint session with Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS) Medical Group titled Turning the Consumer into the Patient: Marketing for Health Systems to Drive Virtual Clinic Utilization at the American Telemedicine Associations 2017 Telehealth 2.0 Conference, taking place April 23-25 in Orlando. When: Tuesday, April 25, 2017 from 12:45 1:45 p.m. Where: W224 CD What: Turning the Consumer into the Patient: Marketing for Health Systems to Drive Virtual Clinic Utilization This session led by Naila Lalani, vice president of client services for Carena, will explore how proper implementation, strategic partnership and the right set of digital marketing tactics will empower health systems to drive virtual care awareness and utilization through web and mobile experiences. Session attendees will hear expert insight from Jeaneene Gesell, Anytime Care service line manager at HSHS, about the system's experience in partnering with Carena to relaunch its virtual clinic, which resulted in the system experiencing an increase in virtual visits up to 50 percent month over month. Key insights for session attendees include: How strategic partnerships and a digital marketing strategy can help health systems drive virtual care utilization. Best practices to implement a virtual care digital marketing strategy within a health system. Why it is crucial to meet consumers at their mobile devices in the current on-demand landscape. Who: Naila Lalani, vice president of client services, Carena Naila works with health systems to market their virtual care clinics and extend their brand to reach online health care consumers. Before joining Carena in 2014, Naila worked as an associate director at The Advisory Board Company, where she where she developed macro level solutions that aligned with hospitals yearly strategic plans related to mergers and acquisitions, service line growth, market share expansion, and hospital quality metrics. Jeaneene Gesell, Anytime Care service line manager, HSHS Medical Group Jeaneene Gesell, PMP, joined HSHS Medical Group in 2015. Currently a project manager for the patient-first organization, she is responsible for the ongoing development of the Anytime Care service line and other new business development projects, helping HSHS Medical Group become a leader of innovation. Jeaneene drives growth of the program by analyzing data to drive marketing communications which includes social media, traditional media and grass roots community promotion. Prior to her work at HSHS Medical Group, Jeaneene worked for 33 years in the insurance industry, most recently as Assistant Vice President of the Life Insurance Operations. About Carena Carena designs and operates virtual clinics for health systems. We combine technology and new care delivery methods to provide healthcare for the way consumers live and work today. Carena has offered on-demand care since 2000, informing our telemedicine solution with industry-leading expertise in clinical quality and consumer preferences. Today, our virtual care model and configurable technology platform make it possible for health systems to offer care to consumers anytime, anywhere as a natural extension of each systems brand, mission, and service. We now partner with over 120 hospitals, offering virtual care access to over 18 million consumers. To learn more, please visit carenamd.com. About Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS) Medical Group HSHS Medical Group is the physician organization of Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS). Launched in 2008, HSHS Medical Group is a critical component of the HSHS Care Integration strategy, which focuses on bringing physicians, technology, and patients together to improve the overall health of local communities. Today, HSHS Medical Group comprises more than 1,000 colleagues in locations throughout central and southern Illinois. HSHS Medical Group is powered by the Franciscan history of the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis, and their faith-based identity led them to the single most important tenet of the HSHS Medical Group philosophy: patient-first care. TRAFFICBRIDGE: The little box that will change the way cities, municipalities, communities and organizations everywhere manage their entire traffic program. By delivering vendor-agnostic connectivity to our TraffiCloud traffic management ecosystem with TrafficBridge, organizations are no longer locked into specific hardware and can maximize their TraffiCloud investment. CEO Jim Weaver All Traffic Solutions, the innovation leader in cloud-based traffic management solutions for law enforcement, intelligent transportation and smart cities announces today the launch of TrafficBridge, a customizable cellular gateway that allows connectivity and manufacturer-neutral integration of traffic devices and sensors to TraffiCloud. TrafficBridge makes it possible for cities, municipalities, communities and organizations to now build and operate their integrated traffic environment in one place, for total traffic management both today and into the future. Until now, agencies, municipalities and organizations that manage traffic safety have been limited in their ability to connect their devices and data, according to All Traffic Solutions CEO Jim Weaver. By delivering vendor-agnostic connectivity to our TraffiCloud traffic management ecosystem with TrafficBridge, organizations are no longer locked into specific hardware and can maximize their TraffiCloud investment. Powered by a small box attached to each piece of traffic equipment, TrafficBridge allows users to seamlessly manage all their devices and data in TraffiCloud, regardless of manufacturer, from any Internet-ready device. TrafficBridge managed devices connected to TraffiCloud deliver a complete picture of any traffic program as well as fast retrieval of data analytics for efficient prioritization, more informed decision-making, faster program execution and the most precise measurement. TrafficBridge is an open, extensible, flexible platform that is fully scalable. TrafficBridge gives teams simple yet powerful tools that allow them to manage their traffic programs remotely from any Internet connection, just like in organizations 10 times their size, says Andy Souders, All Traffic Solutions CTO and Vice President of Engineering. As an innovator in cloud-based traffic management solutions, All Traffic Solutions has fully leveraged the IoT (Internet of Things) to change the way organizations everywhere manage their traffic programs for the future. For more information on TrafficBridge, visit http://www.alltrafficsolutions.com. To learn more about TraffiCloudTM, All Traffic Solutions cloud-based ecosystem that allows users to remotely manage traffic and parking devices as well as data from anywhere, go to http://www.alltrafficsolutions.com/solutions/trafficloud. Request a personal demo of TraffiCloud here. ## About All Traffic Solutions Located outside Washington D.C. in Herndon, Virginia, All Traffic Solutions is consistently recognized as a leading innovator in the traffic safety industry for radar speed and variable message displays, imaging products and intelligent transportation systems, delivering groundbreaking levels of service and product capability. By integrating cloud technology into all of its products, All Traffic Solutions allows customers to manage all their equipment and data remotely through a browser, resulting in better traffic safety outcomes and more effective initiatives related to vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) solutions and smart cities. For more information, visit http://www.AllTrafficSolutions.com. DECATUR A new partnership will give Decatur and Macon County firms easy access to business development opportunities at home and abroad. On Wednesday, the Economic Development Corporation of Decatur and Macon County announced it has forged an alliance with the Champaign County Economic Development Corp., which hosts the Illinois Small Business Development Center and the International Trade Center. The Small Business Development Center, funded by federal, state and county dollars, offers a vast array of advice, consulting, staff training and other services for businesses. The International Trade Center, based at the Champaign EDC, assists companies to find overseas customers, access export funding resources and attend foreign trade shows. All the services are free, and the development center and the trade center will now hold regular appointment sessions at the Decatur EDC office. We're excited to announce an amazing strategic partnership and cooperation with our friends in the Champaign County Economic Development Corp., said Ryan McCrady, president of the Economic Development Corporation of Decatur and Macon County. You might find that surprising, to hear that economic development organizations see each other as partners and not competitors, but that's the vision that we have for Central Illinois and for the state of Illinois, said McCrady, speaking at a news conference at the Decatur Club. We all need to work together to utilize the unique assets that exist both in Decatur and Macon County, but also in Champaign County. Kara Demirjian Huss, vice president and global marketing director for Decatur-based firm T/CCI, said access to expert advice on cracking foreign export markets is crucial. Her company, which makes commercial vehicle air conditioning compressors, has previously had to send staff as far as Wisconsin to attend export training seminars. Having access to seminars and training right here in Central Illinois has a huge impact on our company, Demirjian Huss said. Many of our customers and suppliers are all around the world. The Decatur EDC and the Decatur-based Midwest Inland Port, a key intermodal resource for imports and exports, will contribute funding to the new partnership. Craig Rost, executive director of the Champaign EDC, said everybody stands to benefit from closer cooperation. Our local economies are already interlinked with each other, and this is a fantastic opportunity to take advantage of that and strengthen the whole Central Illinois economic climate to attract more business, Rost said. And the Midwest Inland Port piece of this is hugely important for us because everyone underestimates the impact and the significance of the port until you've seen it and understand how many businesses are using it. HAND Logo HAND Enterprise Solutions, a leading global SAP solutions provider based out of Shanghai, China, has expanded offices to grow in North America. HAND Enterprise Solutions continues to aggressively grow in the USA through increased marketing initiatives, SAP new business, and the addition of industry sales and leadership executives. As an SAP Silver Partner, the HAND US-based team continues to effectively deploy, develop, and support this market-leading software through new business opportunities In the USA. This is a very exciting time to be onboard the HAND team, said HAND-USAs Marketing Director, Amanda Pensack. We look forward to continuing to establish ourselves in the United States as a leading software implementation service provider. Over the past six months, HAND Enterprise Solutions has secured several high-level partnerships with SAP-focused companies to bring additional value to their customers. HAND has partnered with DSI, a digital supply chain platform company that creates mobile-first and cloud supply chain solutions for the digital economy. DSI is very pleased and excited about HAND Enterprise Solutions becoming a DSI Solution Partner, said DSIs Director of Alliances, Charles Daniels. As an SAP ISV Partner and Global Company, DSI looks forward to collaborating with HAND, one of SAPs Top Performing APAC System Integrators, on mutual SAP S/4HANA, ECC and All-in-One opportunities in both North America and APAC. The US-divisions website launched on Tuesday, April 18showcasing the companys services, abilities, news and events, and high-leveled SAP partnerships. HANDs website can be found by visiting: http://www.hand-usa.com. About HAND Enterprise Solutions HAND Enterprise Solutions is a leading global software solutions provider working to deliver IT strategy, ERP solution implementations, and global technical support. As the number one ERP consulting company in China and offices throughout the Asia-Pacific region and the US, HAND Enterprise Solutions leverages offshore and onshore teams from around the world to provide customers with the most competitive, convenient, and reliable experience. For more information on HAND Enterprise Solutions, please contact: Amanda Pensack, Marketing Director HAND Enterprise Solutions 1900 McCarthy Blvd. STE #445 Milpitas, CA, 95035 Email: amanda.pensack(at)hand-usa(dot)com Website: http://www.hand-usa.com PeerWell PeerWell, whose PreHab mobile platform helps patients prepare both physically and mentally for surgery so they can recover faster, announced a new partnership with Arkansas Surgical Hospital, one of the top centers of excellence for joint replacement surgery in the United States. The hospital will use PeerWell to help optimize the health of hip and knee replacement patients. Patients who schedule surgery with select Arkansas Surgical Hospital orthopedic surgeons have the option to use PeerWells mobile app on their phone. PeerWell PreHab helps hip and knee replacement candidates optimize their health before surgery. Leveraging evidence-based health science, the PeerWell app delivers patients customized daily lessons that are proven to improve the results of surgery and speed-up recovery. Patients will receive a daily checklists of items to complete to prepare for surgery, including proper pre-surgical nutrition, exercise, meditation and home preparation. Being prepared for surgery is key to having great outcomes, but much of this preparation happens outside our doors. Using technology to expand our reach beyond the hospital walls is a natural step forward as we strive to improve patient care, said Carrie Helm, CEO of Arkansas Surgical Hospital. The physician-owned Arkansas Surgical Hospital has been independently ranked as the #1 highest quality center for joint replacements in the state, and is known for providing best in class patient care. In 2016 the hospital earned a 5-star Hospital Quality Rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), placing it among the top 2% of hospitals in the country. Surgeons who have started to use PeerWell have also started expressing enthusiasm. Dr. Kenneth Martin from Martin Orthopedics, an affiliate of Arkansas Surgical Hospital, observed, "We are always looking for new ways to engage patients, especially to get them fully prepared for surgery. Patient preparation is key to having successful outcomes. We are excited to partner with PeerWell and Arkansas Surgical Hospital on this initiative." When patients go in for joint surgery, theyre given 50+ pages of preparation instructions, said Manish Shah, CEO of PeerWell. Its an outdated method, and most patients simply dont have the time or patience to peruse all of that information on paper. PeerWell gives them an easy, convenient way to prepare for surgery. And physicians can breathe a little easier, too, knowing that their patients are physically and mentally fit for the procedure. About PeerWell PeerWell is a healthcare technology company that helps patients prepare for and recover from major episodes of care with its PreHab mobile platform. Every year 50 million people undergo major procedures like joint replacement surgery, coronary bypass surgery and chemotherapy. Using PeerWell, patients complete personalized 4-5 item daily checklists that help them prepare mentally, physically and environmentally. Learn more about PeerWell's fully automated perioperative patient solution at https://www.peerwell.co/. About Arkansas Surgical Hospital Arkansas Surgical Hospital, a leader in hip and knee replacement surgeries, is a physician-owned specialty hospital located in North Little Rock, Arkansas, that provides excellent surgical outcomes for their patients. Because the hospitals owners are surgeons, there is a disciplined focus on safety and a total commitment to the care and comfort of patients and their families. Media Contact Theresa Masnik PeerWell(at)shiftcomm.com 617-779-1871 Chad and Michelle bring impressive credentials and experience to the Zaloni team from a global perspective, and we couldnt be happier to welcome them. - Ben Sharma, Zalonis co-founder and CEO Zaloni, the data lake company, today announced two hires in key leadership positions: Chad Olds as vice president of worldwide sales, and Michelle Strader as chief people officer, further expanding the companys leadership team of industry veterans, building on Zalonis impressive success to-date and supporting the companys considerable future growth potential. Chad Olds is responsible for Zalonis global sales organization, which spans the US, Europe, and regions in the Middle East and North Africa. Most recently, Olds was head of global sales for IBMs Cloud Data Platform, and he also has held various sales leadership roles at IBM and Red Hat. Olds experience in global sales will support Zalonis continued growth in existing markets and expansion into new ones. "I'm excited to join Zaloni at such a hot time in the market -- so many enterprises are searching for ways to govern big data so they can effectively use it for competitive advantage," said Olds. "Zaloni has the only proven solution at the enterprise level, with a track record of helping clients implement production-ready data lakes since 2009. Their experience, combined with the software platforms market advantage in data governance and data cataloging, creates a perfect catalyst for the companys growth." As Chief People Officer, Michelle Strader is responsible for developing Zalonis human resources strategies to enable Zaloni to continue to address the needs of its global workforce. Michelle will focus on aggressive global recruitment, development and retention strategies for all Zaloni teams. Strader joins Zaloni from Validant, a global healthcare consulting and services company, where she bolstered internal HR operations and supported a global network of consultants. Previous experience also includes HR leadership roles at FinTech powerhouse Cardlytics and cloud-based digital marketing platform Silverpop, an IBM company. Im thrilled to join the Zaloni team and look forward to guiding and executing people and talent strategies for this high-growth company, said Strader. Attracting and cultivating the right talent is critical to helping Zaloni maintain its leadership position in data lake management, particularly as the company expands its product offerings and grows in new markets. These two new leadership roles are very important in supporting Zalonis rapid growth and continuing to set our people up for success, said Zaloni CEO and co-founder Ben Sharma. Chad and Michelle bring impressive credentials and experience to the Zaloni team from a global perspective, and we couldnt be happier to welcome them. About Zaloni Zaloni, the data lake company, enables data-powered business by helping companies build agile, scalable modern data platforms. Our Bedrock Data Lake Management Platform is an integrated management and governance IT hub for data, ensuring control from ingestion through analytics. Our self-service data platform, Mica, provides business users with direct, controlled access to data with an intuitive data catalog and data preparation capabilities. We have worked with our customers to build successful production implementations at many of the worlds leading companies. To learn more, visit http://www.zaloni.com. 2017 Waterford Cum Laude Society inductees. "This group of students is truly remarkable -- they have proven themselves to be serious and accomplished intellectuals across many disciplines." Harmony Button, Waterford Academic Dean The Waterford School is pleased to announce the 2017 student members of the Cum Laude Society. The Waterford School became a charter member of the Cum Laude Society early in 2012, and is currently the only Cum Laude member school in the State of Utah. The inductees were chosen by a selection committee consisting of four faculty members, the Head of School, Assistant Head of School and the Academic Dean. The students who were selected demonstrated exceptional academic performance across all academic subject areas during their time in the Upper School. "Cum Laude is the highest academic honor we bestow on our students. This group of students is truly remarkable -- they have proven themselves to be serious and accomplished intellectuals across many disciplines," said Waterford Academic Dean Harmony Button. The 2017 Cum Laude student inductees: Lucas Briggs Georgie Chandler Talbot Child Randy Chou Sophie Gauthier Randy Quarles David Shen Craig Wilcox Founded in 1906, the Cum Laude Society is dedicated to honoring scholastic achievement in secondary schools. The founders of the society modeled Cum Laude after Phi Beta Kappa and in the years since its founding, Cum Laude has grown to 382 chapters, approximately two dozen of which are located in public schools and the rest in private or independent schools. Membership is predominantly in the United States, but chapters also are located in Canada, England, France, Spain, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. The Waterford School is a private, college-preparatory school located in Sandy, Utah, for students in preschool through grade 12. For more information visit http://www.waterfordschool.org For more information about the Cum Laude Society visit http://www.cumlaudesociety.org. Priasoft Migration Suite for Microsoft Exchange Without this enhanced Microsoft AADC functionality that is part of Priasofts already advanced toolset for migrating to Exchange, our migration project would have lacked in data confidence. Commented Edward Santos, Executive Dir. Point Solutions at UoM Priasoft, the experts in proven Microsoft Exchange migrations, deliver first third-party migration solution that offers a no-change approach for migrations to Microsoft Office 365. The newly enhanced Priasoft Migration Suite for Exchange (PMSE) enables customers that use the Microsoft Azure AD Connect (AADC) to seamlessly integrate the migration and directory synchronization. This industry-first ability allows for an expedited migration experience to Office 365 without compromising their Enterprise Microsoft Support License Agreement (SLA). Our emphasis on engineering is the very root of why weve been in the migration trenches with Microsoft for close to 20 years now and will continue to ensure our tools are the proven, and most advanced methodology to their platforms. Commented Eriq VanBibber, chief technology officer at Priasoft. Enterprise organizations are looking to engage the Microsoft Cloud and its facilities to reduce their hardware/software footprint, maximize on investments and to lessen the cost of support and its impact on IT. Microsoft delivered a way to synchronize directory and address-book details via the AADC, from on-premises Exchange to Office 365, as a way to expedite the journey there. However, it presents issues for other migration vendors whose technologies may be unable to overcome challenges introduced by the AADC, thus forcing them to find workarounds such as disabling or making modifications to the AADC which impact the migration results and support agreement. By enabling those charged with migrations to execute in concert with Microsofts AADC, via our progressive and integrated methodology, it allows administrators to synchronize all aspects of their directory while expediting the mailbox migration, with no concern for breaching their Microsoft SLA. Added VanBibber As was the recent experience of the University of Miami, whose IT team was tasked with getting their student and faculty mailboxes to Office 365 and discovered that disabling AADC impacted the migration speed and directory synchronization. This new functionality allowed the school to keep AADC enabled for an expedited migration experience that both sustained the validity of directory data and their support agreement with Microsoft. Commented Edward Santos, executive director for Point Solutions at the University of Miami, Without this enhanced Microsoft AADC functionality that is part of Priasofts already advanced toolset for migrating to Exchange, our migration project would have lacked in data confidence, migration speed and most importantly the potential for loss of support of our new investments, a risk that no enterprise organization can take. Priasofts inherent way of leveraging Microsofts AADC is both forward thinking and the only method in the market that ensures the most efficient and successful migration, without disruption to your customers support agreement. For more information on this new release of Priasofts Migration Suite for Exchange simply download their Free Trial, or visit their website at http://www.priasoft.com to learn more about their migration leadership and extensive network of partners. About Priasoft With a North America headquarters situated in sunny Tempe, Arizona, and a practiced network of partners that extends their reach globally, Priasofts innovative technology is at the forefront of several of the worlds most notable Fortune 500 migration projects. Established in 1999, Priasoft was first to market a trusted toolset to expertly migrate customer emails to and from messaging platforms. Since then, their solutions have continued to set the standard for proven migration practices and have resulted in the successful migration of over 30,000,000 Microsoft Exchange Mailboxes and Public Folders worldwide. For more information on Priasoft and their network of partners, please visit their website at http://www.priasoft.com. ### We are thrilled to have been named to this prestigious list and consider this an enormous compliment to the hard work of the entire team here at ITelagen. ITelagen, LLC is a leading provider of healthcare IT support, system administration and support services, including professional services, training, and hosting for various industries. CRN, a brand of The Channel Company, has named ITelagen to its 2017 Managed Service Provider (MSP) 500 list in the Pioneer 250 category. This annual list recognizes North American solution providers with cutting-edge approaches to delivering managed services. Their offerings help companies navigate the complex and ever-changing landscape of IT, improve operational efficiencies, and maximize their return on IT investments. In todays fast-paced business environments, MSPs, like ITelagen, play an important role in helping medical practices leverage new technologies without straining their budgets or losing focus on their core business. CRNs MSP 500 list shines a light on the most forward-thinking and innovative of these key organizations. The list is divided into three categories: the MSP Pioneer 250, recognizing companies with business models weighted toward managed services and largely focused on the SMB market; the MSP Elite 150, recognizing large, data center-focused MSPs with a strong mix of on-premise and off-premise services; and the Managed Security 100, recognizing MSPs focused primarily on off-premise, cloud-based security services. ITelagen is a leading provider of IT services, EHR support and EHR cloud-based hosting for healthcare. ITelagen provides unlimited onsite and remote technical support for businesses, and monitors the activity of servers 24/7, to ensure the security of client applications. Its cloud-based system supports and manages patients EHRs, assists with coding and billing records, medical and insurance claims, and categorizing insurance collections. ITelagen also provides disaster recovery and related services to update and back-up data. Managed service providers play an increasingly important role in the day-to-day operations of businesses across North America, said Robert Faletra, CEO of The Channel Company. MSPs help organizations streamline their spending, effectively allocate limited resources, and benefit from advanced expertise in the latest technologies. We congratulate the service providers on CRNs 2017 MSP500 list, who have continually succeeded in meeting their customers changing needs and help them get the most out of their IT investments. "ITelagen has and will continue to maintain focus, both for the success of our organization and the ongoing support and success of our clients. We have remained true to our philosophy of being a One-Stop Shop and will continue to be everything a business or practice needs for IT, EHR and Hosting support services, commented ITelagen CEO, John OKeefe, on this accomplishment. We are thrilled to have been named to this prestigious list and consider this an enormous compliment to the hard work of the entire team here at ITelagen. The MSP500 list can be found online at http://www.CRN.com/msp500. About ITelagen: ITelagen redefines Healthcare IT for medical practices by providing electronic health records (EHR) as part of an entire back-office solution that includes unlimited onsite & remote technical support for all of your staff and secure hosting of your patient data. We are more than just desktop technicians, but a complete healthcare technology team made up of CIO's, engineers, and healthcare EHR experts. With ITelagen, you can have all the benefits of your very own fully-staffed IT Department, without the expense of an in-house staff. By combining certified EHR experts with IT and hosting, ITelagen becomes the single point of contact and One-Stop Shop for EHR, all for a flat monthly subscription fee. For more information, visit ITelagen on the Web at http://www.itelagen.com. Follow ITelagen on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ITELAGEN, Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itelagen, or LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/company/itelagen. Contact: Stephanie Schlosser ITelagen LLC 201-239-8419 press(at)itelagen.com The Channel Company Contact: Melanie Turpin The Channel Company 508.416.1195 mturpin(at)thechannelco.com We are very excited to partner with Urban College of Boston, to assist in bringing affordable degrees to students who had to overcome economic hardships and social and language barriers in the Boston area and beyond. StraighterLine, the fastest-growing provider of alternative academic credit, has partnered with Urban College of Boston to further their mission to provide a college degree and professional advancement to all students regardless of their economic, social, and language barriers. Of the partnership, StraighterLine founder and CEO Burck Smith says, We are very excited to partner with Urban College of Boston, to assist in bringing affordable degrees to students who had to overcome economic hardships and social and language barriers in the Boston area and beyond. The Urban College community is enthusiastic about our partnership with StraighterLine. We believe it will be a tremendous asset to our students. In accordance with its mission and vision, UCB offers many non-traditional opportunities for its students to facilitate degree completion for those that have historically not been afforded the opportunity. The institution offers alternative locations outside of Boston, multilingual tutorials and classes in Spanish, Mandarin, and Cantonese. This model has resonated with the exact students UCB is trying to reach. Lower income students make up 76% of their student body, and 67% speak English as a second language. *** About Urban College Boston The Urban College of Boston (UCB) is an independent, non-profit 501(c)3 co-educational two-year college established to provide the opportunity for post-secondary education and professional advancement to those in the urban community traditionally underserved by higher education. Urban College grants an Associate of Arts degree in three areas of study: Early Childhood Education, Human Services Administration, and General Studies. The College also offers Certificate programs in 11 areas. The Urban College began as the Urban College Program within Action for Boston Community Development, Inc. over thirty years ago. In 1993, the College was chartered and is the only institution established by an anti-poverty agency. About StraighterLine StraighterLine is an innovative higher education model that provides high quality online general education courses that colleges recognize for credit. StraighterLines low-cost online courses are offered to students for a $99-a-month subscription. StraighterLine is among a select few online course providers to be invited to participate in the Department of Educations EQUIP (Educational Quality through Innovation Partnerships) Program, which allows students to access federal financial aid for the chosen programs. StraighterLine has developed a network of over 100 leading adult-serving colleges and universities that guarantee acceptance of StraighterLine courses. Having been evaluated and recommended by the American Council on Educations College Credit Recommendation Service (ACE CREDIT), StraighterLine courses will also be considered by more than 2,000 other colleges and universities for transfer to their degree programs upon request. StraighterLine currently serves 20,000 individual students a year. Visit http://www.straighterline.com for more information. "Think Realty truly brings together every possible avenue of real estate investing. Because of that diversity, I know that attendees will leave with a better understanding of their investment options" -Julie Ziglar Norman Think Realty will hold a National Conference & Expo, April 29 at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel in Dallas. Hundreds of real estate investors and professionals will connect with and learn tips and trends from the best in the industry. Dozens of notable speakers will be featured. Realtor, motivational speaker and author Julie Ziglar will co-host a Women in Real Estate panel, featuring women to watch in real estate. Blake Johnson from HGTVs Flipping Texas will sit on the Dallas Market Insights panel, which will include five other successful Dallas area investors from all sectors of the industry. Andy Williams, Think Realty's 2016 Humanitarian of the Year and star of HGTVs Flip or Flop: Ft. Worth, will host a rally for area military veterans who want to learn about real estate investing. Attendees of the conference will access support resources, and continuing education courses will be available for licensed real estate agents. Lyndzie Birch of Investing Sisters will emcee the event. More information and a complete list of speakers can be found at https://thinkrealty.com/events/dallas/. Online registration is $75 at https://thinkrealtydallas.eventbrite.com. Julie Ziglar Norman said, "I am thrilled to be a part of such an exciting and forward moving real estate investment event. Think Realty truly brings together every possible avenue of real estate investing. Because of that diversity, I know that attendees will leave with a better understanding of their investment options, from DO-IT-YOURSELF to the TURN-KEY real estate investments that I am proud to help investors with through Prime Properties Realty." Through our conferences, attendees gain more knowledge, are more energized and motivated to improve their lives through real estate investing, said Eddie Wilson, President of Affinity Enterprise Group, Think Realtys parent company. The conferences provide a unique opportunity for real estate professionals and investors to learn from the brightest in the industry, connect with us, and then stay connected throughout the year with our monthly national publication, Think Realty Magazine. We look forward to being in Dallas. ABOUT THINK REALTY: Think Realty is a central education and information resource for new real estate investors of all levels of experience, providing members with valuable tools that help them optimize their competitive advantage, succeed in the industry, achieve wealth-building goals and live a life of purpose. WeVideo cloud-based video editing transforms the Google Chromebook into a high performance digital storytelling platform for the modern classroom. WeVideo, the collaborative digital video storytelling choice of more than 6,500 schools worldwide, recently announced that it has joined with Google to expand availability of the Creative Apps for Chromebooks offering to the UK and Nordic countries. WeVideo has been the exclusive video partner for the Google program since its inception in June 2016. The expansion provides a specially priced package including WeVideos cloud-based video editing, green screen, screencasting and more to new Chromebooks purchased for education through resellers XMA (UK), Lin Education (Sweden), and Avalon Solutions (Sweden, Norway, Denmark). WeVideo offers a comprehensive digital storytelling toolset that addresses the entire range of video project requirements in todays digital classroom and is a catalyst for learning, collaboration, creativity and expression. Robust Google G Suite for Education integration ensures privacy, security and makes it easy for administrators to provision and manage users, groups, schools and districts. Flexible work modes ensures that WeVideo adapts to the differentiated learning needs of students of varying ages, skillsets and rates of progress. WeVideo is entirely cloud-based so it always up-to-date and accessible anytime, anywhere, from any mobile device, laptop, desktop, or Chromebook. Powered by the Cloud, WeVideo provides significant and scalable video processing to Chromebooks, enabling them to match or even exceed the performance of much more expensive hardware. With its exclusive new WeVideo JumpStart feature, WeVideo is even faster and more practical in the classroom. JumpStart leverages technology developed by WeVideo that enables people to instantly begin editing using locally stored media files without waiting for the files to upload to the Cloud. This enables students to be productive throughout class time by eliminating disruptions from bandwidth limits and unreliability. More about the new feature is available at https://www.wevideo.com/news/WeVideo-JumpStart-Transforms-Video-Editing-Landscape WeVideo CEO Krishna Menon said, Thanks to the Creative Bundle, the focus can be put on learning, collaboration and creativity rather than the minutiae of software purchases. The program has been tremendously popular in the US and we are thrilled with Googles move to extend these benefits to students and teachers in Europe. WeVideo also provides affordable, standalone digital storytelling packages to suit any educational requirement, from individual classrooms to state-level deployments. Educators can explore WeVideo for themselves at http://www.wevideo.com/education. About WeVideo WeVideo is a powerful, easy to use, cloud-based collaborative video creation platform that is the digital storytelling choice of more than 6,500 schools worldwide. With more than 18 million accounts created to date, WeVideo is also the first choice of consumers and businesses, as well as the video backbone for many third-party solutions. WeVideo is a Google for Education partner and is the exclusive digital storytelling solution for Googles Education Creative Bundle for Chromebooks. WeVideo is also a Microsoft Education Partner. Anyone can access WeVideo, from any computer or device at school, home, work, or on the go to capture, edit, view and share videos with secure storage of their content in the Cloud. WeVideo provides extensive support resources including a global network of WeVideo Education Ambassadors, training aids through WeVideo Academy, and professional development options. For more information about WeVideo Education solutions, please visit http://www.wevideo.com, follow us on Twitter at @wevideo or visit us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/wevideo/ Media Contact: Evan Sirof, 845-883-2109, evan(at)wevideo(dot)com Cafe Sebastienne Executive Chef David Ford Cafe Sebastienne has long been a culinary staple in this community," said Chef Ford. "I am excited and honored to continue and add to that tradition. After a national search and a process that included consultation with culinary experts from across the region, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Arts Board of Trustees and Museum leadership have selected David Ford as the new Executive Chef of Cafe Sebastienne. Fords first day at Cafe Sebastienne will be Monday, May 8. We are delighted to welcome Chef David Ford to the team at Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, said Barbara O'Brien, executive director. He brings an incredible wealth of experience and creativity to Cafe Sebastienne that builds on a powerful history and legacy of excellence. I am confident that our visitors will grow to know and appreciate David and his approach to New American cuisine with every dining experience. Prior to joining the award winning team at Cafe Sebastienne, Chef Ford most recently served as the Chef de Cuisine under the tutelage of James Beard Award finalist Chef Patrick Ryan at Port Fonda in Kansas City, Missouri. In all, nearly 20 years of restaurant experience and a passion for Midwestern flavors have contributed to Chef Fords development of his signature, flavorful cuisine. I look forward to putting my skills to work at the Museum, said Chef Ford. Cafe Sebastienne has long been a culinary staple in this community and I am excited and honored to continue and add to that tradition. Food is creative, and what could be better than sourcing the Museums artwork and architecture for inspiration when imagining new dishes? A restaurant career that began in Lincoln, Nebraska, Ford traveled and cooked in multiple regions of the Midwest, sampling regional flavors along the way. He found his niche in Chicagos culinary scene working in a medley of notable independently owned and chef-operated Chicago restaurants including Avec, C-House, Telegraph and Bluebird, before moving to Kansas City. In 2015, FEAST magazine listed Ford as one of 12 up-and-coming Chefs on the Brink, specifically calling out the Chefs mastery and creative manipulation of Midwestern flavors. I am thrilled to have David bring his culinary viewpoint to Cafe Sebastienne, says Tony Glamcevski, Director of Food & Beverage, Special Events. His experience has included a wide breadth of culinary styles and kitchens, while working for some of the most respected chefs in Chicago and Kansas City. I look forward to working with David and together leading our culinary team as we continue to stay true to our core values while pushing forth the standards of excellence in food and hospitality we have come to be known for. Haivision is an original charter licensee of the x265 project and has made significant contributions to the x265 initiative through tight technology collaboration with MulticoreWare. At the 2017 NAB Show, Haivision will demonstrate a breakthrough in live 4Kp60 HEVC software-only performance video streaming, leveraging the unparalleled quality of x265 software encoding, while running at a performance level that was previously only possible with dedicated hardware. This demonstration will be presented by Haivisions HaiGear Labs, the companys technologies research group, at the Renaissance Hotel (suite Ren Deluxe - B) next to the Las Vegas Convention Center. Through the use of commodity off-the-shelf processing capabilities, Haivision will showcase how x265 software encoding, running on readily available dual-socket servers from the Intel Xeon Processor E5-2600 v4 product family, addresses the growing demand for high-quality 4K video streaming. This development brings down the costs associated with encoding live 4K video and enables 4K video streaming on ubiquitous Intel cloud compute architectures. The foundation for these video streaming innovations comes from the companys four years of active involvement in the x265 open source project, a commercially backed initiative founded with the goal of producing the highest performance, most efficient HEVC/H.265 video encoder software implementation. Haivision is an original charter licensee of the x265 project and has made significant contributions to the x265 initiative through tight technology collaboration with MulticoreWare, the primary developer of the widely adopted open-source codec. Haivisions quality-to-performance in its live 4K HEVC demonstration leverages UHDKit, MulticoreWares extended encoding library built on top of the x265 HEVC encoder. By heavily investing in advancing the UHDKit for low-latency live encoding, Haivision has been able to push the boundaries on what has been possible in HEVC software encoding. Haivision has been an active contributor to x265 and UHDKit and has helped MulticoreWare push the envelope with regard to live encoding performance, said Tom Vaughan, vice president, general manager for video, MulticoreWare. Haivisions numerous contributions are invaluable to every user of x265. Haivisions long-term association with MulticoreWares x265 project and our tuning of the UHDKit for high performance streaming on the Intel platform has enabled our customers to benefit from software-only or CPU/GPU balanced performance, said Mahmoud Al-Daccak, chief technology officer, Haivision. We will continue to pioneer and contribute to these development communities that rely on open-source initiatives to move the streaming video industry forward. As a pioneer in high performance streaming solutions, Haivision innovates in the areas of live hardware and software encoding/decoding, video stream transport and management. The company is dedicated to pushing the technology envelope, and fostering partnerships and collaboration within the industry to expand the ecosystems of performance video that its customers depend on. To learn more or book a demonstration, visit http://www.haivision.com/NAB. About Haivision Haivision, a private company founded in 2004, provides media management and video streaming solutions that help the worlds leading organizations communicate, collaborate and educate. Haivision is recognized as one of the most influential companies in video by Streaming Media and one of the fastest growing companies by Deloittes Technology Fast 500. Haivision is headquartered in Montreal and Chicago, with regional offices located throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and South America. Learn more at haivision.com. Consumers expect organic farms to adhere to strong and consistent standards, including high standards for animal welfare. That includes letting chickens outdoors where they can move around freely, rather than continually cooped up indoors. Consumer Reports released a survey today that found that the vast majority 86 percent of consumers who often or always buy organic food say its highly important that animals used to produce these foods are raised on farms with high standards for animal welfare. The survey found that 83 percent of these consumers think its highly important that organic eggs come from hens that were able to go outdoors, and have enough space to move around freely. The Consumer Reports survey was released at the same time that agribusiness interests are pressuring the U.S. Department of Agriculture to abandon its rules requiring organic producers to abide by strong animal welfare standards. The rules were set to go into effect in March but have been delayed. Consumer Reports urged the USDA to enact the new rules without further delay. Consumers expect organic farms to adhere to strong and consistent standards, including high standards for animal welfare, said Charlotte Vallaeys, Senior Policy Analyst with Consumer Reports, testifying at a meeting of the USDAs National Organic Standards Board in Denver today. That includes letting chickens outdoors where they can move around freely, rather than continually cooped up indoors. An outdoor space that is large enough to accommodate all chickens is not currently required by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) standards for organic producers. The organic standards only state that farmers have to provide animals with access to the outdoors, and some large-scale producers meet this requirement with a small, entirely enclosed, concrete or dirt-covered porch. To address this inconsistency, and to ensure that all organic farms adhere to high standards for animal welfare, the USDA developed a new rule. Published earlier this year after nearly a decade of public participation in the organic rulemaking process, the new rule includes minimum outdoor space requirements for chickens. Powerful agricultural interests, especially organic egg producers who raise hens in indoor confinement with no meaningful outdoor space, oppose the rule. It is unclear whether the incoming Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, will support issuing the rule once he is confirmed. Even if the rule goes into effect, Congress could revoke it under the Congressional Review Act. The USDA should make the organic animal welfare rule effective without further delay, said Vallaeys. Producers shouldn't be allowed to pick and choose which organic requirements they will meet. This new rule for organics makes clear that outdoor access for animals is not negotiable. The Consumer Reports National Research Center conducted a nationally representative phone survey to assess the opinion of Americans regarding standards for the organic label. Opinion Research Corporation (ORC) of Princeton, New Jersey administered the survey to a nationally representative sample of 1,018 adult U.S. residents through its CARAVAN Omnibus Survey. Respondents were selected by means of random-digit dialing and were interviewed via phone. The survey fielded from March 23-26, 2017. The margin of error is +/- 3.1 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. The data were statistically weighted so that respondents in the survey are demographically and geographically representative of the U.S. population. About Consumer Reports Consumer Reports is an independent, nonprofit organization that works side by side with consumers to create a fairer, safer, and healthier world. For 80 years, CR has provided evidence-based product testing and ratings, rigorous research, hard-hitting investigative journalism, public education, and steadfast policy action on behalf of consumers interests. Unconstrained by advertising or other commercial influences, CR has exposed landmark public health and safety issues and strives to be a catalyst for pro-consumer changes in the marketplace. From championing responsible auto safety standards, to winning food and water protections, to enhancing healthcare quality, to fighting back against predatory lenders in the financial markets, Consumer Reports has always been on the front lines, raising the voices of consumers. __________ 2017 Consumer Reports. The material above is intended for legitimate news entities only; it may not be used for advertising or promotional purposes. Consumer Reports is an expert, independent, nonprofit organization whose mission is to work side by side with consumers to create a fairer, safer, and healthier world. We accept no advertising and pay for all the products we test. We are not beholden to any commercial interest. Our income is derived from the sale of Consumer Reports magazine, ConsumerReports.org and our other publications and information products, services, fees, and noncommercial contributions and grants. Our Ratings and reports are intended solely for the use of our readers. Neither the Ratings nor the reports may be used in advertising or for any other commercial purpose without our prior written permission. Consumer Reports will take all steps open to it to prevent unauthorized commercial use of its content and trademarks. PLF Logo WHO: Peggy Lillis Foundation, the preeminent organization working to combat Clostridium difficile (C. diff) infections through education and advocacy. Founded in 2010 in memory of a single-parent mom and kindergarten teacher who lost her life to a C. diff infection, the foundation has become the most-consulted source for patient-focused information on C. diff infections in the nation. WHAT: The 2017 C. diff Advocates Summit & National Strategy Meeting, which will feature panel discussions on strategies to minimize the harm caused by C. diff. Topics include C. diff Advocacy Across Sectors, Antibiotic Stewardship Across The Healthcare Spectrum, and C. diff and Patient Rights. The discussion will draw from the expertise of speakers and panelists from various public health, healthcare, and infection control-focused organizations, including: Antibiotics Working Group Centers for Disease Control & Prevention Electronic Hand hygiene Compliance Organization Georgia Southern University Infonaut Infection Control Consulting Services Infectious Disease Society of America Johns Hopkins Medicine Merck & Co, Inc. Montefiore Medical Center Northwell Health Pew Charitable Trusts Progressive Victory Sepsis Alliance Sanofi Pasteur Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America Symbiotic Health Synthetic Biologics Trust for Americas Health The Fecal Transplant Foundation Washington University WHY: The Summit will bring C. diff survivors and caregivers together with leaders in C. diff prevention and treatment, healthcare policy, patient advocacy, and grassroots organizing to examine one of our nations most urgent public health threats and identify ways to increase awareness of and minimize harm caused by C. diff. WHERE: 25 Broadway, 12th Floor New York, NY 10004 OR Online via Facebook Live | http://www.facebook.com/PeggyFoundation WHEN: Thursday, April 27, 2017 | 1:00 pm 6:00 pm CONTACT: For more information about the Summit or to register to attend, please contact Christian John Lillis at 917.364.4658 or christian(at)peggyfoundation(dot)org The Summit is generously sponsored by Cepheid, Crestovo, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and Sanofi Pasteur. Four attorneys from Atlanta-based Hill, Kertscher & Wharton, LLP were recently recognized for excellence in the practice of law in the Georgia edition of Super Lawyers Magazine. Steve Hill, Doug Kertscher and John North were named to the list of Super Lawyers, an honor reserved for 5% of the states practicing attorneys. Martha Decker was selected to the list of Rising Stars for the 4th consecutive year, an honor given to only 2.5% of lawyers under the age of forty or practicing for less than ten years. Super Lawyers awards are some of the most respected among attorneys due to the rigorous selection process. Lawyers are first nominated by their peers, and then researched by the Thompson Reuters editorial team in areas related to peer recognition and professional achievements. The final selection criterion includes review by a panel of highly-credentialed attorneys practicing in the same area of law. HKWs Co-founding partner, Doug Kertscher, believes the honor represents more than the skill and commitment of these four firm members. Our success on behalf of clients is due in large part to the team concept weve implemented at the firm, said Kertscher. Its common for us to have several attorneys working on one matter, alongside very experienced support staff. Legal representation is taken to the next level when you can draw on exceptional resources, and its even better when those resources are right down the hallway. This has been a strong year for Hill, Kertscher & Wharton, LLP with respect to third party recognition of their work. In December, all three named partners were recognized as the states Legal Elite by Georgia Trend Magazine, an honor based entirely on the voting of other members of the Bar. Earlier in 2017, partners Steve Hill and John North were selected to the Intellectual Asset Management Patent 1000, a list of the worlds leading patent law attorneys, and North and Kertscher were included in the current years list of Best Lawyers in America. About Hill, Kertscher & Wharton, LLP: Nationally recognized for its work on behalf of businesses and individuals, the AV Rated law firm of Hill, Kertscher & Wharton, LLP provides top tier legal representation in business litigation, intellectual property, corporate law, and employment matters. The firm is also considered a pioneer in outsourced corporate counsel services and flexible fee arrangements for businesses that seek a more cost effective way to handle their legal matters. Autism Guardian Angels to honor Matt Asner at Autfest VIP Reception on Sunday, April 23, L to R: ASA Matt Asner, AGA Liz H Kelly, AGA Founder David M Luber, Autism Advocate Dani Bowman Were honored to recognize Matt Asner with a Golden Goody Award for dedicating over 20 years to raising autism awareness, helping millions impacted by autism, and as a parent of six autistic children..~AGA Founder David Luber Matt Asner, Autism Advocate and VP of Development at Autism Society of America, will be honored with a Golden Goody Award (top humanitarian award) this Sunday, April 23, 2017 during the VIP Reception at Autfest in Orange, California. This lifetime achievement award will be presented to Matt Asner by Autism Guardian Angels Founder David Luber and Matts father Actor Ed Asner. Were honored to recognize Matt Asner with a Golden Goody Award for dedicating over 20 years to raising autism awareness, helping millions impacted by autism, and as a parent of six autistic children," shared Autism Guardian Angels ("AGA") Founder David Luber. As a Gold Sponsor of this event, AGA is also running an Autism Awareness Campaign focused on Autfest through digital media and an iPad Mini Sweepstakes. Autism Society of America ("ASA") President and CEO Scott Badesch sent cheers to Matt, We are so honored that Autism Guardian Angels is recognizing one of our great staff members Matt Asner. Matt is awesome in what he does, and his commitment to helping every person with autism shows each and every day. After a successful TV and Film production career for decades, Matt Asner chose to apply his skills to where they could really make a difference. In 2012, Matt Asner became the Executive Director of Autism Speaks for Southern California, and later became the Director of Corporate Development. Through Matts leadership, he helped Autism Speaks raise the bar of awareness with the Light It Up Blue campaign, organizing Autism Speaks walks, fundraising and more marketing initiatives. In September 2016, Matt joined the Autism Society of America as the National VP of Development, with a mission to help families with loved ones on the spectrum. During Autism Awareness Month (April 2017), Matt is hosting ASA's First Ever Annual Autfest with films about autistic people, along with films made by autistic filmmakers. To help raise autism awareness across the US, Matt also just released a 2017 Autism Society of America PSA by Autism Advocate and Animator Dani Bowman in over 4,000 AMC Movie Theaters across the US. Goody Awards Founder and Autism Guardian Angels Board Member Liz H Kelly shared, We started the Goody Awards five years ago with an autism awareness campaign, and our board felt strongly about honoring Matt Asner with our top award at Autfest. This lifetime achievement award is usually presented at live events to raise awareness of social impact leaders and great causes. Previous Golden Goody Award winners have included Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Sir Nicholas Winton, Amma The Hugging Saint, UN Goodwill Ambassador and Vampire Diaries star Ian Somerhalder (Ian Somerhalder Foundation), Unlikely Heroes Founder Erica Greve (who travels globally to rehabilitate women), Louie Psihoyos (Director of Academy Award Winning Documentary, The Cove) and more. Media Contact: Liz Kelly 310-987-7207 ABOUT AUTFEST: AutFest International Film Festivals mission is to further advance the wellbeing of all with an autism diagnosis, as well as to educate our nation about autism and the important need to fully respect and value each person with autism. We wish to celebrate films that promote autism awareness and that have the power to enhance the lives of our community. We also wish to honor and support Autistic filmmakers and artists that have chosen film as their profession. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit http://autfestasa.com ABOUT THE AUTISM SOCIETY OF AMERICA: Founded in 1965, the Autism Society is the nations leading grassroots autism organization, and exists to improve the lives of all affected by autism. We do this by increasing public awareness about the day-to-day issues faced by people on the autism spectrum, advocation for appropriate services for individuals across the lifespan, and providing the latest information regarding treatment, education and research. The Society maintains a strong nationwide network of affiliates to provide support and grassroots advocacy at local, state and federal levels. http://www.autism-society.org ABOUT GOODY AWARDS: Goody Awards mission is to inspire positive change by recognizing and promoting the good in the world in four Eco Social areas: Environment, Education, Health and Women Empowerment. A Golden Goody Award is their top humanitarian award. The Goody Awards has an international Advisory Board, and fans tweet @GoodyAwards from 30+ countries to recognize good daily 24x7 using 20 different award categories with hashtags (ex. #HeroGoody). http://goodyawards.com ABOUT AUTISM GUARDIAN ANGELS Autism Guardian Angels is an investment group focused on raising autism awareness and funding behavioral therapy products and services for autistic children that are ready for the market. With 1 in 68 U.S. children estimated now to be born on the autism spectrum (CDC 2014), Autism Guardian Angels mission is to bring out the brilliance in exceptional children with autism by investing in tools that increase their smiles, confidence and independence. To enter the AGA iPad Mini Sweepstakes (1 winner April 1 May 15, 2017 online and 1 winner at Autfest thru a door prize drawing), visit the Autism Guardian Angels Facebook or http://autismguardianangels.com Proceed Innovative is a full service digital marketing agency based in Schaumburg, IL and a certified Google Partner. On May 4, 2017, Proceed Innovative is hosting a marketing seminar promoted by Google that is focused on helping small businesses improve their online presence and boost the traffic to their website. This seminar takes place during National Small Business Week (April 30 May 6) and will cover proven SEO, web design, and online advertising strategies that will help businesses get the most out of their website. The workshop will include a presentation by Proceed Innovative covering effective online marketing strategies with brand new tutorials from Google as well as various resources that Google has available for businesses. The topics will cover the creation and management of Google listings, effective website optimization for desktops and mobile devices, online advertising for website promotion, and other useful tools from Google. Business owners and marketers who attend will gain a better understanding of how to attract local search traffic as well as how to be found through online advertising on any type of device. This seminar is at 11:00 am on Thursday, May 4, 2017 at the Schaumburg Corporate Center in Schaumburg, IL. Registration starts at 10:30 am and lunch will be provided before a brief training session. Attendance is free but prior registration is required. Visit the event page on Proceed Innovatives website to learn more and to register. About National Small Business Week National Small Business Week is dedicated to celebrating small businesses in the United States and recognizing their critical contributions. The President of the United States has announced the start of Small Business Week each year since 1963. About Proceed Innovative Proceed Innovative is an internet marketing agency and Google Partner that provides a range of SEO and web design services to help companies improve their online presence. Their digital marketing services include full web design and search engine optimization (SEO) as well as local SEO, lead generation, pay-per-click (PPC) training and management, and web analytics consulting among others. Proceed Innovative was named one of the top 50 Most Powerful Google Tech Providers in 2016 by CIO Story and their experts are always up to date on the latest industry trends to provide effective results for their clients. Contact Proceed Innovative at (800) 933-2402 to learn more. Gregg Whittecar and Arron Rimpley- Gallery of Amazing Things Co-Owners The concept of combing art with both social and corporate events has been a huge success" Whittecar says. (PRWEB) April 19, 2017 -- Two of South Florida's most acclaimed event venues have just joined forces to create one delicious concept--spectacular events infused with exquisite art and exceptional cuisine. This exciting partnership is the brainchild of Chef Brian Roland and his wife Nicole (owners of Venue Naples) and Gallery of Amazing Things co-owners, Arron Rimpley and Gregg Whittecar. Since opening its doors to the public in 2012, the Gallery of Amazing Things--located in Dania Beach, Florida--has been synonymous with extraordinary events where traditional party decor is replaced with one-of-a-kind art and sculptures from around the world; a place where guests at private and corporate functions alike can mingle among 50 million year old fossils, vintage military binoculars, larger than life natural formations and other astounding treasures while sipping cocktails, networking or celebrating a special occasion. It is this signature aesthetic that has attracted such discerning clients as Lexus, Red Bull and Pandora Music. The concept of combining art with both social and corporate events has been a huge success" Whittecar says. "It's been so successful that over the years the venue has evolved into a cultural destination, which now includes a retail gallery space, a world-renowned museum and art-driven events that are open to the public." Across the state, Chef Brian Roland, a former contestant on CNBC's "Restaurant Startup", opened Venue Naples on Florida's Gulf Coast in January of 2016 as a multi-functional event space where guests could come and savor his delicious culinary creations-- everything from hors doeuvres at private galas to four-course, public pop-up dinners. Because we're a chef-driven company and we have experience with restaurants, we are attracted to events that incorporate a full culinary experience" explains Roland. Galas, charities, fundraisers are a big part. We work with a lot of destination management companies right now, and they provide activities, venues, programs and outings for huge corporate groups that come to town." Roland and Rimpley met at an industry function and knew right away that there was potential for both of their businesses to create something "amazing" together despite the miles between them. As part of their new joint venture, Venue Naples will feature some of the stunning collections that were once only accessible exclusively at the Gallery of Amazing Things. These pieces will be available for visitors to purchase and will rotate regularly. We are very excited to be taking our concept to Naples" exclaims Rimpley. "Chef Roland is already working on creating exciting events that will showcase the art with his creative culinary style. In return, east-coasters will now have the opportunity to have their events catered by Roland at the Gallery of Amazing Things in Dania Beach--an option that wasn't available until now. Gallery of Amazing Things 481 South Federal Highway Dania Beach, FL 33004 galleryamazing.com | 954-654-7739 Venue Naples 13240 Tamiami Trail N #205 Naples, FL 34110 venuenaples.com | (239) 292-1529 Greenberg Traurig, with the support of Americas Society/Council of the Americas (AS/COA), brought together a group of successful female and male executives in Miami on Feb. 17 for a conversation on how to fill the womens leadership gap in the Americas. AS/COAs Fourth Annual Womens Hemispheric Network Miami Foruma half-day conference and networking sessionassembled an outstanding lineup of corporate leaders and entrepreneurs who shared personal stories, viewpoints, and advice with more than 150 female professionals from across the region. In her remarks, AS/COA President and CEO Susan Segal highlighted the importance of giving young professional women the opportunity to build their networks. Connecting with female leaders and having the opportunity to learn from their personal stories provides critical support for these rising professionals at very important junctures in their careers, she said. The AS/COA Womens Hemispheric Network (WHN) seeks to build productive mentoring connections between senior female leaders with up-and-coming professionals. Currently in its fifth year, the Network has held conferences and roundtable discussions in several major cities across the continent including Bogota, Buenos Aires, Lima, Mexico City, Miami, New York, Panama City, Santiago, and Sao Paulo. Thank you to all the women and men who participated at this years forum. Year after year, this event demonstrates that gender parity initiatives make a real difference toward the advancement of women across industries, which, in turn, benefits companies bottom line, highlighted Patricia Menendez-Cambo, vice chair of Greenberg Traurig. However, despite the progress weve made toward gender diversity, many industries are still struggling to ensure women are represented in top management positions. Therefore, it is imperative that we expand support for this cause to include more men, encourage the breakdown of implicit biases and integrate diversity at all levels of our organizations. To this end, Im thrilled to see more and more men participating at our diversity events each year. Panelists at the AS/COAs Miami forum conversed about mentorship and sponsorship, as well as initiatives and policies to bring more women to the top of the corporate ladder. Citi Latin America CEO Jane Fraser suggested that companies should work on setting targets when it comes to the number of women they hire. Not quotas because quotas are tough, but what targets we are putting in and how do we get to a critical mass quickly, she said. For UPS International Americas Region President Romaine Seguin, informal mentorship plays a critical role in advancing the careers of both women and men. If someone asks you to meet to take 15 or 20 minutes time out, whether it is a 16-year-old, a military veteran, a female struggling with her boss, whatever it may be, you have so much good advice and experience to share! she said. The conversation included Antonio Ferreira, international vice president of Janssen Latin America at Johnson & Johnson, and Co-Managing Shareholder of Greenberg Traurigs Miami office Yosbel A. Ibarra, who also serves as co-chair of the firms Latin American and Iberian Practice. Microsoft Latin America Consumers and Devices Group General Manager Fabricia Degiovanni moderated a panel that discussed how mentorship, networking, and advocacy are essential tools for professional advancement. If you don't have a structured mentor-mentee program [at your organization], go on and find one for yourself, advised Bulltick Capital Markets Macro Research and Emerging Markets Strategy Head Kathryn Rooney Vera. The more you give, the more you get back, so start by thinking how you can help other women, said SheWorks! and Yandiki Founder and CEO Silvina Moschini. Royal Caribbeans Celebrity Cruises Vice President of Finance and Strategy Elizabeth Oates completed the panel. AS/COA Womens Hemispheric Network is sponsored by HSBC. Americas Society is the premier organization dedicated to education, debate, and dialogue in the Americas. Established by David Rockefeller in 1965, our mission is to foster an understanding of the contemporary political, social, and economic issues confronting Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada, and to increase public awareness and appreciation of the diverse cultural heritage of the Americas and the importance of the inter-American relationship. Council of the Americas is the premier international business organization whose members share a common commitment to economic and social development, open markets, the rule of law, and democracy throughout the Western Hemisphere. About Greenberg Traurigs Womens Initiative Greenberg Traurig is committed to its women lawyers success, which includes a firmwide womens affinity group encompassing recruiting, retention, and business development. The firm regularly collaborates with like-minded organizations to address these issues on a broader scale in a variety of industries and communities. Greenberg Traurig also takes thoughtful action to address issues such as maintaining a healthy work-life balance, breaking the glass ceiling, mentoring, taking charge of your health, and giving back to the community. About Greenberg Traurig, LLP Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GTLaw) has more than 2,000 attorneys in 38 offices in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East and is celebrating its 50th anniversary. One firm worldwide, GTLaw has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, was named the second largest firm in the U.S. by Law360 in 2016, and among the Top 20 on the 2016 Am Law Global 100. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com Twitter: @GT_Law. Harold Crye,Tom Kimbrough, Jeanne Arthur, and Dick Leike The economic impact of the finished greenway will pale by comparison to the huge difference it will make in the lives of our citizens. Past News Releases RSS Crye-Leike REALTORS Names Jeanne... Realtor Jeanne Arthur, of Crye-Leike Real Estate Services, is raising awareness of the Wolf River Conservancy and its developing Wolf River Greenway, which will run through Memphis along the banks of the river beginning at the eastern city limit at Germantown and extending west to the Mississippi River just north of Mud Island. Imagine being able to ride or walk the entire route, said Arthur, who is the immediate past president and currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Wolf River Conservancy. You will see land and water and wildlife you have never noticed before. The paved and meandering greenway is a connector of utmost importance to Memphians in many neighborhoods, as a splendid place to enjoy recreation and as a beautiful way to conserve land and water. With the recent announcement that the TVA is drilling 5 water wells into lands above our aquifer near the new TVA plant by the river in south Memphis, I think Memphians are finally realizing the importance of protecting our wonderful, inexpensive, and great-tasting water, added Arthur. Realtors always say beneath all is the land; in Memphis we say, beneath that land is the best water in the country. Wolf River Conservancy has been around for thirty-one years and was started by forward-thinkers, including members of the Memphis Board of Realtors (now MAAR). The greenway was suggested thirty-one years ago but only recently has the plan come to life. Alta Design and Planning, under the direction of Chuck Flink, was selected to design the greenway, which is slated for completion in 2020. The land selection was changed to have a northerly route along the rivers edges of Bartlett, Raleigh and Frayser. Additionally, three major parks in those communities will be improved to help prevent flooding and turned into gorgeous paved trails. The economic impact of the finished greenway will pale by comparison to the huge difference it will make in the lives of our citizens, concluded Arthur. None of this would be possible without the dedicated Wolf River Conservancy staff and the many foundations, companies and organizations involved. About Jeanne Arthur, Crye-Leike Realtors - East Memphis office Jeanne Arthur works with both buyers and sellers, and is a Certified Residential Specialist and Life-Member of the Multi-Million Dollar Club. She is licensed in Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas. Crye-Leike, a full-service real estate company for 40 years, is the nations sixth largest residential real estate brokerage firm and the largest serving Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and the Mid-South. For more information, call Jeanne at (901) 634-2800, fax (901) 653-2287, or visit http://jarthur.crye-leike.com/. Crye-Leike Realtors - East Memphis office is located at 585 S. Perkins Road. For media inquiries, please call the NALA at 805.650.6121, ext. 361. Attorney Lauren Laundis My hope in defending DUI cases is that clients are found not guilty and that officers begin to better follow their training protocols and procedures. Past News Releases RSS Attorney Lauren Laundis Hosts... Attorney Lauren Laundis Helps... Attorney Lauren Laundis, founder of The Law Office of Lauren Laundis, recently obtained certification from the American Association of Premier DUI Attorneys to defend DUI cases in order to better serve her community. Members of the American Association of Premier DUI Attorneys have received advanced-level training on the strategies that win the most DUI cases at trial and are also used to get DUI cases successfully resolved for the defense prior to trial. One of the biggest misconceptions is that if you failed a field sobriety test or your drug/alcohol levels come back as above the legal limits, you will automatically lose your case, said Laundis. My hope in defending DUI cases is that clients are found not guilty and that officers begin to better follow their training protocols and procedures. Good attorneys who challenge messy police work lead to officers who are more likely to follow procedures, which were instituted for a reason in the first place. In fact, one of the main reasons Laundis obtained certification was to make police officers more accountable. DUIs are more complicated than most people think, and outcomes are dependent upon police officers following protocol, added Laundis. About Lauren Laundis, The Law Office of Lauren Laundis Lauren Laundis is committed to helping other people and providing excellent legal care. Lauren offers a free consultation to discuss your case particulars, and she works with each client on an individual basis to create unique solutions. In addition to Criminal Law, The Law Office of Lauren Laundis specializes in Family Law and Employment Law. For more information, please call (909) 363-4734, or visit http://www.laundislaw.com. The law office is located at 1255 West Colton Avenue, Redlands, CA 92374. About the NALA The NALA offers small and medium-sized businesses effective ways to reach customers through new media. As a single-agency source, the NALA helps businesses flourish in their local community. The NALAs mission is to promote a business relevant and newsworthy events and achievements, both online and through traditional media. For media inquiries, please call 805.650.6121, ext. 361. Factors considered include thoroughness of resources, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) training for faculty, availability of distance learning accommodations, and the variety of services provided. SR Education Group, an education research publisher founded in 2004, just released the 2017 Top Online Schools for Students with Disabilities, a list of online colleges that provide the highest level of support, the widest breadth of accommodations, and the most comprehensive resources for students with disabilities. In order to be considered, colleges were required to offer 4 or more fully online degrees or 10 or more online programs including certificates. For the 1,265 schools that met the criteria for inclusion, SR Education Group researched a wide variety of factors indicative of a schools level of support for students with disabilities and calculated a Disability-Friendly Score using an internal algorithm. Factors considered include thoroughness of resources, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) training for faculty, availability of distance learning accommodations, and the variety of services provided. Forty-seven colleges made the list, each receiving a score greater than 50 out of 100. The colleges with the highest Disability-Friendly Scores are featured in the Top 15 Online Schools for Students with Disabilities. Each of these exceptional schools earned a Disability-Friendly Score above 77. Stanford University, with a score of 96.67, earned the number one spot. Stanford provides support and accommodations for students with disabilities in a variety of ways; for example, the Stanford Online Accessibility Program (SOAP) is an extensive program that helps staff members create disability-friendly online content. The Top 15 ranking, available on GuidetoOnlineSchools.com, provides additional details about each school's unique efforts to provide support for students with disabilities. In addition to researching available resources, accommodations, and training programs, SR Education Group also collected tuition data for the 47 Top Online Schools for Students with Disabilities. The 25 with the lowest annual tuition rates were ranked as the 2017 Most Affordable Online Colleges for Students with Disabilities. The list, available on OnlineU.org, highlights schools providing high levels of support as well as low tuition costs. The average annual tuition rate of the ranked schools is just $11,964. Cleveland State University, with a Disability-Friendly Score of 69.33 and an annual tuition rate of $4,374, is ranked #1 for most affordable. The University of Connecticut, ranked #2 on our top list and #12 on our affordability list, received the highest Disability-Friendly Score out of all schools on the affordability ranking, with an 89.89. Texas Tech University, University of Montana, Carnegie Mellon, and 4 other colleges are featured on both the top and most affordable online colleges lists. About SR Education Group Headquartered in Kirkland, WA, SR Education Group was founded in 2004 by CEO Sung Rhee. The companys mission is to create authoritative online resources for students seeking an online education program that best suits their budget and career aspirations. SR Education Group is passionate about making quality education attainable for everyone and believes that objective information about education, careers, and educational financing should be free and easily accessible. For more information, please visit http://www.sreducationgroup.org/. We are seeing a new wave of cloud adoption as on-premises solutions continue to fall way and security is now top of mind particularly in areas like financial services and healthcare where contact centers are growing. Creating a new position on its leadership team to demonstrate its commitment to security and compliance, Serenova, a leading contact center-as-a-service (CCaaS) provider, today announced that it has hired Stuart Clark as the company's Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). In this role, Clark will oversee Serenovas IT and security organization and have responsibility for driving IT strategy and innovation to scale the companys information and security system capabilities in support of Serenovas continued rapid business expansion. A seasoned information security executive, Clark joins Serenova at a pivotal time in the companys growth trajectory. Given the companys release of CxEngage last year and the growing adoption of CCaaS solutions, Clark will make information security a top priority at Serenova while driving IT initiatives to further enhance the company as a go to customer experience solution provider. We are seeing a new wave of cloud adoption as on-premises solutions continue to fall way and security is now top of mind particularly in areas like financial services and healthcare where contact centers are growing, said Vasili Triant, CEO of Serenova. Creating the role of CISO and bringing on someone of Stuarts caliber demonstrates our unwavering commitment to protecting our customers information assets as the make this move to cloud as well as assets of our entire company. Stuarts expertise, track record, and breadth of experience across the information technology landscape means he is the right leader to join our world-class executive team. With more than 25 years of leadership in IT and information security, Clark brings a deep knowledge of information security in the cloud for a variety of vertical markets including a special focus on the financial industry where a profound understanding of compliance and regulatory standards is vital. Most recently, Clark was CISO at Neverfail, a cloud infrastructure and software provider named to the 2015 Inc. 500 list of America's Fastest Growing Companies. In that role, Clark was responsible for the creation and execution of the companys global security strategy. Ensuring customer data is protected and secure is more critical than ever before, which means that all our technology decisions made within the company need to be made with a security mindset, said Clark. My background in fintech will help me set a strategy to take our security and compliance to the next level for our company, which will ultimately benefit our customers. I am thrilled to join such an innovative and growing company as Serenova, where I know I can have an impact by delivering the highest standards for our employees, customers and partners. Prior to Neverfail, Clark held leadership roles at a wide range of Austin-based companies. He was Director of Security for Socialware, a fintech cloud startup providing SaaS software and services to more than 165 leading investment banks including Morgan Stanley, where he where he led the strategy and vision for all information security-related initiatives. was responsible for the creation and execution of the companys successful security strategy. Before that, Clark held IT and security leadership and consulting roles at Solis Security, American Bank of Texas, and FundsXpress Financial Network, which was acquired by First Data. Before pivoting to the corporate world full time, he was a police officer serving in multiple leadership roles as a corporal, crime victim liaison officer, and crime prevention officer for both the West Lake Hills and Rollingwood Police Department. He maintains his Texas law enforcement commission and continues to serve the community in a reserve capacity. About Serenova Serenova simplifies every aspect of the customer experience, from front office to back, to make life easier for you, your customers and your employees. The worlds most passionate, customer-focused brands achieve brighter interactions, deeper insights, and more meaningful outcomes with Serenovas always-on, highly secure, true multi-tenant and instantly scalable Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) platform, CxEngage. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Serenova has operations in California, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. Learn more at http://www.serenova.com. For live updates, follow @SerenovaShine. CIndy Skocik, COO of Veritas Collaborative I feel incredibly honored to lead the team of professionals responsible for ensuring our patients and families receive the quality care they deserve. Veritas Collaborative, a specialty hospital system for the treatment of eating disorders, today announced the appointment of Cindy Skocik as chief operating officer. Cindy has been an integral member of our executive team for the past several years, stated Stacie McEntyre, founder, president and CEO of Veritas Collaborative. Her transition into the COO role will not only help build the infrastructure we need to reach operational maturity, but also ensure that we continue to provide premier care as we expand to new locations. After serving as the organizations CFO for almost four years, Skocik officially transitioned to the COO role April 3. During her time as CFO, Skocik played a key role in positioning Veritas for significant growth. Within the last 14 months, Veritas transitioned from a one-hospital entity to a hospital system with four facilities spanning Durham, Atlanta, and Richmond, Virginia. Skocik now oversees all facility operations, human resources, and information technology for the hospital system. Being a part of this organization has been the most meaningful work of my career, said Skocik. I feel incredibly honored to lead the team of professionals responsible for ensuring our patients and families receive the quality care they deserve. Prior to joining Veritas, Skocik served as CFO -- and acting CEO -- of Castle Worldwide, where she managed a team of 120 employees. She also served as CFO for Southern Assisted Living, Inc., a health care company that grew from one facility to 24 facilities under her leadership. Skocik attended West Virginia University where she graduated summa cum laude with a bachelors degree in accounting. LINCOLN Guided nature walks, a free native plant giveaway, live music and children's activities will all be part of Saturday's Earth Day Celebration at Lincoln College's environmental center. The college also will take the opportunity to official rename the center in honor of professor Dennis Campbell, a driving force behind the center who has taught at Lincoln College for more than two decades. It's not only appropriate that the Creekside Center be named in honor of Dr. Campbell, but it is especially appropriate that we have scheduled the renaming ceremony for Earth Day, Lincoln College President David Gerlach said. To be known as the Dennis Campbell Creekside Outdoor Center for Environmental Education, the facility includes the restored Gossett Tall Grass Prairie, the Peoples of the Past Boardwalk, an insectarium, greenhouse and native plants. The boardwalk includes a log cabin that was moved to the site last year from behind Jefferson Elementary School. The first phase covers 800 years of history, going back in time from the pioneers to the Kickapoo and Mississippian American Indian cultures. Nature trails lead to points of interest, including the place along Sugar Creek where Illinois' largest woolly mammoth fossil was found in 2005. That find helped trigger Campbell's interest in developing a site where he not only could bring students to do research, but also where young children to retirees could learn of the area's archaeological, biological and geographical importance. In addition to the mammoth fossil, American Indian artifacts also have been found in the area. The Earth Day celebration will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The renaming ceremony will start the day's activities. There will be a children's story time in the forest, games, crafts and a science of ice cream making demonstration that will include free tasting. Local craft vendors will be present, along with tables displaying rocks, fossils and artifacts. Gerlach noted that Campbell has worked with the community, Lincoln Rotarians, students, faculty, staff and others on the four-acre site, located about five miles north of Lincoln at 1234 County Road 2000N. Online Newsletter Sign up for our newsletter to receive the latest news and information from publics.bg Ten days before Independent Bookstore Day, two upstart Minnesota bookstores have made public their plans to expand. Moon Palace Books in Minneapolis, which was founded in 2012, is expanding for a second time, and Content Books in Northfield, founded in 2014, is jumping from 1,300 square feet to 1,800 square feet. This fall, Moon Palace will relocate from a 1,700-square-foot space to a 3,300-square-foot space at a major intersection, Lake Street and Minnehaha Avenue. The new location is two blocks away from its current location in South Minneapolis. The new space will include a 2,400-square-foot retail area with a 25-seat cafe, and a separate 900-square-foot event space. Last July, Moon Palace expanded from a 900-square-foot space in the back of its building to its current space in the front of the building. Despite construction outside the store at the time, sales immediately spiked by 30% after its first expansion. By the end of the year, revenues were double the previous year, exceeding the stores projections. Part of that is being in a larger space and part of it was a mild winter, Moon Palaces co-owner, Angela Schwesnedl told PW. She disclosed that she and the stores co-owner, Jamie Schwesnedl, had planned the move to Lake and Minnehaha even before the move last summer from their original space. Content Books, which was opened by Jessica Peterson White, is expanding by 30%. Content will officially open in its new space, across the hall from its current space, on April 29, which is Independent Bookstore Day. The historic building housing Content used to be a department store. Content will beef up its events programming after the move, but the number of employees, one full-time and five part-time, will stay the same. When we opened the shop, we knew this was a community that would enthusiastically support an indie bookstore," White said, We didnt quite know how enthusiastic our customers would be. Content, which was previously known as Monkey See, Monkey Read, is, according to White, the "main indie" in Northfield; she noted that Barnes & Noble cut back on trade titles after taking over Carlton Colleges bookstore, and St. Olaf Colleges bookstore has always had a limited selection of trade titles. A book that teaches children about communism has caused an outcry from a faction of conservatives. Communism for Kids, released in March, is billed by publisher MIT Press as a fable with illustrations of lovable little revolutionaries experiencing their political awakening. But vocal critics have called the book's publication, at best, in poor taste and, at worst, dangerous. The response to the book, which was originally published in German and translated into English, has come as a surprise to its publisher. MIT Press director Amy Brand acknowledged that she expected a range of feedback" to the title, but added that she "did not anticipate the extent and tone of the response." OneNewsNow, which is a wing of the Christian American Family News Network, decried the book as an attempt to sell children a new brand of the failed economic and social system of government. In a lengthy review, Breitbart News said, snarkily, that a book about communism should not be sold, but distributed free by its publisher. National Review described the book's artwork as propagandistic and creepy. On Twitter, some detractors went so far as to call for the book to be burned and banned. For Brand, who joined MIT Press in 2015, the book's publication has proven "a revealing experience." It has highlighted "the polarizing power of ideas and words," reminded her "about the swarm mentality fueled by social media," and driven home "the serious responsibility of being in a profession dedicated to protecting fundamental freedoms of expression. The press is not bearing the brunt of the anger the book has caused alone, either. According to Brand the book's author, Bini Adamczak, has received hateful communications," some of which have been blatantly anti-Semitic. That people would misunderstand the press's intent in publishing the book is, for Brand, another surprise; she said she was shocked by the notion that the press's intent is "to indoctrinate small children. MIT Press publishes widely in the areas of political science, public policy and philosophy. To Brand this book "builds on a European intellectual tradition," that fits squarely with the mission of the press. That mission, she elaborated, is to "help build bridges between ideas and people--to inform, to encourage conversation, and to develop greater worldwide understanding." Since the start of the controversy, sales of the book have remained steady, with no significant decrease or uptick. Trade and museum accounts have accounted for most of the sales, along with wholesalers and Amazon. The book is currently #2 on the Amazon bestseller list for Communism & Socialism. The controversy, Brand noted, has not been without some positives. A stream of supportive comments have come in from readers, publishers, and librarians. Despite the uproar, Brand said the press does not intend to make any changes to the book. If anything, the experience has taught her to be mindful not just of what you publish, but how you publish it. In hindsight, she quipped, a better title for the book might have been Communist Ideals for People of All Ages. Internet privacy is among the latest hot-button debates, in part, because of a likely rollback of Obama-era privacy protections that were supposed to take place later this year. That got the attention of some Illinois lawmakers who are looking to implement internet safeguards at the state level, including one that would allow people to find out what companies like Google and Facebook have collected on them and which third parties they share it with. We think that is a good idea. Most people don't understand how a lot of this works, but just about everyone recoils at the thought of their privacy being invaded. With the internet, it is happening more and more frequently. Surveillance of one kind or another has become the business model of the internet. Last fall, the Federal Communications Commission ruled that if internet service providers want to collect and sell personal information, like your browsing history, they needed to get your permission first that is, ask you to "opt-in" to their data-sharing programs. But the GOP-led Congress voted to revoke the opt-in provision and President Trump signed the resolution last week. Supporters of protections like Illinois is considering -- a House committee has endorsed the measure say they are needed because of what is going on in D.C. The federal regulations would place restrictions on what companies such as Comcast and Verizon can do with information, including user search histories, but not websites. Privacy advocates say the move sends a clear signal that it's up to individual states to step into this "right to know" debate and try to correct it. Not surprisingly, the tech industry is largely against the proposed requirements, saying they would burden companies with an unnecessary layer of regulation and compliance costs, while stifling innovation. Supporters of the Illinois bill disagree, contending that similar requirements in the European Union and in California, which enacted a similar measure in 2000, have not hurt business. It's no surprise that the American Civil Liberties Union's Illinois chapter is backing the bill, telling the Associated Press that such legislation is needed to address the now "razor-thin" division between government and private entities that can sell data to federal agencies. In the end, maybe this ship has sailed. Maybe there is no good way to protect our basic privacy because the internet has become such a pervasive part of our everyday lives. But efforts like the one in Illinois is worth it, if for no other reason than to initiate a dialogue over our threatened right to privacy. DAVENPORT Ald. Bill Boom, Ward 3, resigned on Tuesday after admitting he made false statements before a grand jury last year. First elected to the Davenport City Council in 2007, Mr. Boom, 65, on Tuesday pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court, Davenport, to false declaration before a grand jury, according to court documents. On April 6, 2016, Gage Allen Wenthe, 26, was arrested at Mr. Boom's residence in the 400 block of West 7th Street, Davenport, when the Scott County Sheriff's Office Special Operations Unit executed a search warrant on the home. Mr. Wenthe, who had been living with Mr. Boom, was charged with two counts of felony possession with intent to deliver, felony conspiracy and a misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia. Mr. Boom was out of the area at the time of the arrest and was never charged with any drug offenses. On July 19, 2016, Mr. Boom appeared as a witness under oath as part of a grand jury investigation to determine whether conspiracy to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine had been committed at the address, according to court documents. The grand jury sought to determine if Mr. Boom knew about Mr. Wenthe's methamphetamine use and if Mr. Boom ever had paid money to Joe Terry, another suspect of the investigation. In response to questioning, Mr. Boom told the assistant U.S. attorney: "I wasn't aware that he used methamphetamine. There was a time when I found a syringe in his room, but he told me that that was from one of his friends who had diabetes. But every time that I suspected something, I would give him holy hell." Mr. Boom also indicated to the grand jury that he had never given money to Mr. Terry. In his plea agreement Tuesday, Mr. Boom said that, at the time he made those statements, he knew they were false. A sentencing hearing for Mr. Boom has been set for Aug. 24. The maximum sentence for making false declarations before a grand jury is five years in prison. On June 20, 2016, Mr. Wenthe pleaded guilty in Scott County District Court to two counts of controlled substance violation and two counts of probation violation. He is serving a 15-year prison sentence. Mr. Boom's city council term was to expire in January 2018. Mr. Boom also is a co-owner of the Davenport bar Mary's on 2nd. According to the State of Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division, a convicted felon cannot hold a liquor license within five years of a conviction. On Tuesday, Bobby Stansberry, a co-owner of Mary's on 2nd, posted on Facebook that the bar's liquor license is in his name and the business will continue to be open. SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) The campaign to restore the governor's mansion in Illinois is getting close to its $15 million goal less than two years after private fundraising began as an alternative to traditional appropriations for state construction. Gov. Bruce Rauner says private donors have raised about $14 million for the Illinois Executive Mansion. "We'll be there ($15 million) in the next couple of weeks," Rauner said. "The renovation will take a little over a year. We're going to do the whole inside of the mansion, as well as the landscaping and the grounds." Rauner said he and his wife, Diana Rauner, expect to live in the director's house at the state fairgrounds for about 14 months. The goal is to complete restoration of the 162-year-old mansion in time for the August 2018 bicentennial of Illinois statehood, The State Journal-Register (http://bit.ly/2pC35LL ) reported. The Illinois Executive Mansion Association launched the fundraising campaign in May 2015 after the historic home suffered significant interior and exterior deterioration due to years of neglect. Roof repairs to prevent further interior water damage were an early priority for work that was repeatedly delayed over the years because of chronic state budget issues. Association officials said in a statement Tuesday that fundraising will continue after the $15 million goal is met. "All funds raised over the major restoration $15 million goal will go to the Illinois Executive Mansion Association, which will continue to fulfill its mission, and ensure that the Executive Mansion never falls into disrepair again." Association spokesman Max Bever said in an email that a donor list will be released at the end of the campaign. The Rock Island County Board on Tuesday took the first step toward possibly hosting a preschool program at Hope Creek Care Center where children ages 3 to 5 would interact with elderly residents. The board approved creating a partnership with the Rock Island County Regional Office of Education so that regional superintendent Tammy Muerhoff can apply for a grant to fund the project. A decision to implement the program has not been made, but with the board's decision Ms. Muerhoff said she will be further exploring how similar programs work elsewhere. Specifically, it's called an intergenerational preschool program, and it would operate like other preschool programs that operate in collaboration with the regional office, Ms. Muerhoff said. Licensed teachers and paraprofessionals would guide 20 children ages 3 to 5 though a curriculum with assessment. With this program, however, the children also would get time with elderly Hope Creek residents. "The concept behind an intergenerational program is to have specific times throughout a day or week that there would be activities such as painting, reading, shared learning experiences, cooking, etc." with elderly residents, Ms. Muerhoff said. The idea came, she said, after she viewed part of a feature-length documentary film, to be released soon, called "Present Perfect," that documents an intergenerational preschool program in the Seattle area that has been operating successfully for more than 20 years. "It prompted me to take a step back and say, 'Well, why couldn't we investigate that option, if it could be potentially doable in Rock Island County,'" she said. The process now moves to an "exploration phase, if you will, of determining if this is potentially an option, and reaching out to other programs that have utilized this concept and determining what are the challenges that they encountered, what are the successes and what type of advice would they provide to individuals interested in starting their own similar program." Rock Island County administrator Dave Ross said the county also will do "due diligence" in investigating the program, such as determining liability issues. There also will need to be a determination on where to put the program. "They'd basically be renting space from us," Mr. Ross said. "It won't cost us anything, other than there's a liability risk that we have to weigh. It would be a revenue stream." Hope Creek recently closed a 35-bed unit because of a decline in the number of residents and also a shortage of nurses in the area. That has brought down Hope Creek's resident capacity from 245 to 210. A couple of other options for using the space that has opened up are being weighed, Mr. Ross said. One possibility is to use it for a private-pay Alzheimer's unit for day use, and another is to create a dedicated hospice unit. "Both have significant advantages to them, not only for Hope Creek and our finances, but for the public in need of those services," Mr. Ross said. "So we are going to do our due diligence of determining which of those we might want to implement." EAST CHICAGO, Ind. (AP) The head of the Environmental Protection Agency toured an Indiana public-housing complex on Wednesday where roughly 1,000 people were ordered evacuated because of lead contamination, his first visit to a Superfund site that some environmental advocates called a major leadership test. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt joined Indiana leaders including Gov. Eric Holcomb, U.S. Sens. Joe Donnelly and Todd Young, and the mayor of East Chicago for closed-door meetings in an industrial corridor of Indiana roughly 25 miles from downtown Chicago. Pruitt is the first EPA administrator to visit the site, according to EPA officials. He met with residents and toured the complex where evacuations began last year. "The reason I'm here is because it's important that we restore confidence to the people here in this community that we're going to get it right," he said in a roughly 90-second statement to reporters. "They can have the confidence that their land, their health is going to be secure in the long-term." He said next steps were discussed, but he did not provide details and refused to take questions. The visit, while praised by elected officials of both parties, drew protests. Local residents and activists questioned Pruitt's motives. They called for reassurance of a thorough cleanup, additional testing and long-term support of residents. Pruitt has criticized the EPA for overreach and President Donald Trump's administration has taken steps to roll back stricter environmental regulations put in place over the past eight years. Also, Trump has proposed cutting the EPA's budget by 31 percent, almost one-third, and eliminating more than 3,200 jobs, about 20 percent of the agency's workforce of 15,000. An EPA employees union criticized Pruitt for the proposed cuts, saying they would threaten public health. Union leaders called for a Wednesday meeting with Pruitt, who as Oklahoma's attorney general sued the EPA more than a dozen times to challenge regulations opposed by the fossil fuels industry. The meeting between Pruitt and residents was "intense," with people providing emotional first-person accounts, according to Robert Kaplan, acting regional administrator for EPA's Region 5 office in Chicago. "They made pleas for assistance, for help," he said. "You really could have heard a pin drop in that room." Cleanup efforts are underway. The EPA has set up shop at a now-empty school. Crews are replacing underground lead water pipelines. Environmental groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, want government officials to look at water quality citywide. Two dozen families remain at the West Calumet Housing Complex, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Some 330 were living there when the mayor called last summer for residents to be relocated. Officials began evacuating the 45-year-old complex, built on a site previously occupied by a lead-products factory, after soil tests found some yards with lead levels over 70 times the U.S. safety standard. Lead exposure, even at low levels, can cause nervous system damage and lowered IQs. "We can't drink the water. The land we walk upon is contaminated. And we air we breathe is contaminated," said Thomas Frank, a resident of the community of roughly 30,000 who lives near the Superfund site. Protesters snaked through streets of the largely black and Latino community where more than one-third of the residents live in poverty. They chanted and held signs reading, "East Chicago Demands Clean Water." Eleven of the remaining families have found new homes and are in the process of moving, according to HUD. Thirteen other families are appealing their relocation offers from the city housing authority or have been given notice to move. Housing officials said their goal is to move out all families by May. Resident Demetra Turner, 44, who left Chicago a decade ago for public housing in Indiana, said she was trying to find safe housing for the two children who live with her. "We are truly in the fight of our lives," she said. Grandfathers usually had some pretty good wisdom, based on their years of experience, and more likely during times when agricultural economics had ten-fold fewer factors to push and pull on market prices. One of their old saws that U.S. farmers are battling today was that high prices cure high prices. Remember back to the 2012 drought when commodity prices rose as yields declined. High-priced corn and soybeans caused farmers in other nations to expand their production, and the global grain bin today is packed full, with some of the bolts popping out because of the stress. High prices in 2012 and 2013 were certainly cured with increased production, and the low corn and soybean prices we have today are the tail from that 2012 high water mark of grain prices. And just like the laws of physics, there is an equal and opposite force, which Grandpa also recounted. Low prices cures low prices. And that is exactly happening right now south of the equator. Brazilian farmers are scratching their collective head and rhetorically asking what we have done to ourselves? They should have listened to Grandpa Sergio and then anticipated the result from the El Nino-driven drought late in 2015 and early 2016. After the Brazilian corn and soybean crops were diminished in that growing season, market prices spiked upward and a bushel of Brazilian corn was selling last summer for nearly $6. Last September planters were launched full of seed corn and Brazil was off to a record crop in terms of acreage, and thanks to Mother Nature, a phenomenal yield produced more corn than Brazil and all of its typical trading partners needed and wanted. Today, Brazils national average price for corn is $3.55 per bushel, and a national agricultural consulting organization is projecting a 5 percent to 10 percent cut in corn acreage when planters go to the field in another five months. Low prices have cured the low prices for corn in Brazil. But does that mean those fields will be planted with more soybeans, instead of corn? Likely not. Brazil is more of a cash economy than is the United States and many times commodities are sold just to raise cash to buy the inputs for the next years crop. And a 40 percent cut in corn prices will not go as far in planting next years soybean crop. And, in fact, watch for the Brazilian soybean crop to take a dive in acreage also next year. The 2015-16 El Nino drought also did a number on soybean yields, and the resulting high prices spurred more production for the 2016-17 crop year. Brazilian farmers are completing their harvest on their largest-ever soybean crop and prices have tumbled. Their soybean prices are determined by the Chicago Board of Trade, but Brazilian currency values have inflated to the point that it takes more cash to buy inputs for their next crop. And with soybean prices losing a $1 per bushel in the past month, Brazilian farmers have had about as fun as they can stand. At this point, Brazilian farmers are storing half of their crop, hoping prices will increase. The Brazilian consulting group says that has happened four of the last seven years, but will not happen this year, and prices will continue to decline. Expectations for a large U.S. soybean crop in 2017 are the reason. Like Grandpa said, high prices cure high prices. Grain prices behave the same in Brazil and the Corn Belt. Irans foreign minister has acknowledged for the first time that his country has supplied Russia with drones, insisting the transfer came before Moscows war on Ukraine. The comments on Saturday by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian come after months of confusing messaging from Iran about the weapons shipment, as Russia sends the drones slamming into Ukrainian energy infrastructure and civilian targets. Previously Iranian officials had denied arming Russia in its war on Ukraine. Even so, Irans paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has vaguely boasted of providing drones to the worlds top powers. Amirabdollahian told reporters: We gave a limited number of drones to Russia months before the Ukraine war." He said Iran remained committed to stopping the conflict. ISTANBUL (AP) Turkey's electoral board on Wednesday rejected petitions by opposition parties to annul the outcome of the weekend's referendum on expanding presidential powers because of voting irregularities. The decision led protesters in Istanbul to call for the resignation of board members while the main opposition party said it would take the decision to Turkey's top court. The High Electoral Board announced in a written statement its decision by a 10-1 vote to reject three requests by the opposition. Mehmet Hadimi Yakupoglu, the main opposition Republican People's Party's representative at the board, said they would take the decision to the constitutional court and then to the European Court of Human Rights if necessary. "We will demand the rights of the voters until the end," he said. Opposition parties have complained of a series of irregularities, particularly an electoral board decision to accept ballots without official stamps, as required by Turkish law. The board, however, published past rulings on the validity of unstamped ballots. The Istanbul Bar Association on Wednesday filed a criminal complaint against electoral board head Sadi Guven for "wrongful conduct" and "altering the result of the election." A prosecutor will now consider whether to press charges against Guven. Before the electoral board's announcement, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the opposition had the right to file objections, but warned that calling for street protests was unacceptable. He said that "the path to seek rights" should be limited to the courts. "Calling people to the street is wrong and is outside the line of legitimacy," Yildirim said, adding, "we expect the main opposition party's leader to act more responsibly." However, thousands continued to protest Sunday's referendum, which has set into motion the transformation of Turkey's system of government from a parliamentary to a presidential one that would give more power to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Some 2,000 protesters in Istanbul Wednesday evening demanded the resignation of the electoral board and chanted "Don't be silent, shout out, 'no' to the presidency." Earlier, 19 people were detained for allegedly using the results of a constitutional referendum as an "excuse" to organize "unauthorized demonstrations," official Anadolu news agency reported. Unofficial results show a narrow win for Erdogan's "yes" campaign, which garnered 51.4 percent of the vote. International election monitors, including from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, noted a series of irregularities, and said the decision to accept as valid ballots without official stamps undermined safeguards against fraud and was contrary to Turkish law. Germany also expressed concern. "The German government takes the report by the OSCE and the Council of Europe very seriously, and we expect Turkey to do so," government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer told reporters in Berlin. "We will follow closely how Turkey behaves on this. From the German government's point of view, Turkey must ... clear up the questions that have been raised." Erdogan has dismissed the criticism from the observers, telling the monitors to "know your place." "That the Turkish leadership didn't like the criticism by the OSCE's election observer mission isn't a surprise to anyone," German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said. "What matters for us is not so much the first reaction from whomever in Turkey, directed more at domestic politics, but whether the responsible Turkish authorities really deal seriously with the criticism voiced publicly by the OSCE election observer mission, which was meant seriously and researched seriously." The U.S. response has been different, with President Donald Trump calling Erdogan shortly after the referendum to congratulate him on his win. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Erdogan and Trump would meet in person next month, before a NATO summit. Red, white, and blue whipped riotously against the dark gray sky above the National Cemetery of the Rock Island Arsenal on the somber March day we buried the stories. I remember feeling disheartened in 2004 when I heard 1,100 World War II veterans were dying each day, but am brokenhearted to see the death rate for WWII vets is 372 per day now. The decrease in daily deaths is due to the fact so many of our veterans from WWII have already left us. Only 620,000 of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II were alive in 2016, according to US Department of Veterans Affairs statistics. In March we buried my favorite WWII veteran, my father, Lt. James Padesky of the U.S. Army Air Corps. He was full of stories which he shared with us; he told horrific stories which would make our stomachs turn, about his units mission to the recently liberated Buchenwald, endearing stories of the dog his unit adopted, and amusing stories of leave in Paris. He shared historic photographs of Generals Omar Bradley, Dwight Eisenhower, and George S. Patton who had an impromptu meeting in the middle of the airstrip where he was stationed as a liaison pilot for Gen. Patton. He showed us letters written home, to his parents in Wisconsin, with blanks in the sentences because important words had been censored out of his mail. We, his family and friends, were regaled with these firsthand accounts of a time period worthy of great books and movies. When I think of all the untold stories which are going to graveyards across the nation, it makes me want to find veterans and pry into their memories to learn their stories before we can no longer ask questions of the men and women who served our country. I want to hear about the families, schools, and work they left behind when they entered the service. I want to hear about their lovers who remained true to marry them when they came marching home, and the Dear John letters they read while eating K-rations on foreign soil. I want to feel the music of Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, and The Andrews sisters swaying inside me as I hear tales of dancing at the U.SO. I want to understand their struggle of coming home to live ordinary lives with extraordinary memories in their heads and hearts. If you are fortunate enough to have a veteran in your life, learn their stories. Encourage them to open up their memories to you. Some of them might have trouble with recent memory, yet remember details of a day long ago. You might hear that as you danced upon your fathers shoes at a dad-daughter date night, your adoring eyes reminded him of a little girl with whom he once shared a chocolate bar on the other side of an ocean in the rubble which her hometown had become, or you might learn the country your grandson is doing his school report on once bestowed a medal of honor to your father. I think what you will learn more than anything is that these men and women whose bodies and minds are becoming frail, are strong, resilient, fiercely independent, proud men and women who are a part of Americas Greatest Generation. Justin McDowell was 17 when he and a confederate shotgunned their way into a downstate Allendale, Ill., home, held a couple and their infant daughter at gunpoint and stole $300 and the keys to the family's black Chevy Impala. Like so many youth felonies, it was a stupid, tragic act. When McDowell was arrested a year later in 2002, he was working episodically for little money, laying foundations beneath double-wide trailer homes. He had no plans to return to school. The judge gave him 36 years. By the time McDowell is eligible for parole in 2020, having served half his sentence, he will have cost Illinois taxpayers more than $396,000 the cumulative price of his incarceration. Will it prove an efficient investment for a state experiencing a severe budget crisis? It ought to, given McDowell's evolving eagerness over the past seven years to pursue an education and turn his life around. But for the Centralia Correctional Center inmate, now 33, the question remains open, as it does for most of the roughly 41,000 men and women currently incarcerated in Illinois prisons. Last March, McDowell lost an important building block toward reconfiguring his life when Kaskaskia College summarily, indefinitely and reluctantly suspended the in-prison degree program it had administered at Centralia since 1983, and in which McDowell was enrolled. At the time, McDowell was more than halfway toward earning an associate's degree in general education. He previously had completed a six-month vocational tech program in construction management, earning straight A's. "He'd been on a waiting list for almost two years, trying to get into that course," Steve Mandrell, his Kaskaskia professor, recalled. Mandrell found him so impressive, he later hired McDowell as a teacher's aide. Kaskaskia ended its program because the Illinois Department of Corrections, as a result of the state's ongoing budget crisis, had stopped payment on its three-year, roughly $1.2 million contract with the school. According to George Evans, Kaskaskia's dean of career and technical education, McDowell was one of approximately 1,400 prisoners the school has educated over the years. The rehabilitative cost of ending post-secondary education opportunities for prisoners such as McDowell is substantial. But there is an accompanying, steep price the rest of us pay. As of July 2015, McDowell and his fellow inmates in Illinois correctional centers were costing state taxpayers close to $1 billion annually. According to a 2015 Illinois Sentencing Policy Advisory Council study, about 97 percent ultimately will be released, through parole or completion of sentence including those convicted of violent crimes. It is not unusual for a murderer to get 40 years and win parole after serving 20. The same study found that 19 percent of those released recidivate within a year, 48 percent in three years. IDOC paroled about 30,000 prisoners in 2013, according to an NBC report. That means roughly 14,400 could possibly return to prison. The cost of housing, feeding and caring for a single prisoner varies among the state's 25 correctional centers, but averaged around $23,000 a year in the 2013-2014 fiscal year. Based on all those figures, the taxpayer cost of housing people who recidivate, alone, is more than $331 million annually. Factor in court costs, law enforcement costs and the social and economic losses suffered by new victims of parolees' crimes, and the Illinois Sentencing Policy Advisory Council study estimated in 2015 that the total cost of recidivism in Illinois over the next five years would be $16.7 billion. The best chance to break the recidivism cycle, a 2013 Rand Corp. study commissioned by the Justice Department found, is by offering prisoners access to a college-level education. According to the study, those who took classes while incarcerated were 43 percent less likely to recidivate. Yet Illinois' in-prison college programs are disappearing at an alarming rate. Around the time Kaskaskia ended its program, and for the identical reason, Richland Community College did the same. Danville Area Community College eliminated its vocational offerings. Evans, the Kaskaskia dean, can't find the logic in it. "Over a three-year study, the highest recidivism rate we had was 10 percent in our culinary program," he said. "The lowest was 6 percent in the electronics program. Compare that to the 51.2 percent of those receiving no training whatsoever. Look at the [potential] savings. That has been presented numerous times to the DOC. It has fallen on deaf ears." As the community college programs neared their end, the students prisoners began a letter-writing campaign, to the IDOC, to their state legislators, to the governor. "The governor's office was flooded with letters from inmates," Evans said. "The inmates filed grievances. We had gang members who came in and said, 'I got kids. I was a punk [when I was arrested], and my goal here is to make sure I never come back here.' It did no good. They (state and prison officials) just do not take education seriously. They may say that they do, but don't when it comes down to it." A year has passed since Mandrell last taught at Centralia. He still worries about the effect the program's dissolution has had on McDowell. "My class was the first college course he took," Mandrell said. "About halfway through, it's like he softened up. Before, he was very negative 'You know, I'm never going to be able to get a very good job, because I've got this on my rap sheet.' Then he started talking positive. 'If I can do this, then I know I can make a living. I know I can go back into society and be productive.'" Go To The Polls And Pull The Lever We hope everyone turns out to pull the lever next Tuesday (Nov. 8). Actually, new voters wont know what we are talking about, as the... Letters To The Editor Street Closure Dangers Neighbors, Friends, Citizens of NYC/QUEENS: Many may not know that NYC has decided to close off miles of streets to cars in... G'day! It's Murray here. I've put together a little quiz to test your musical knowledge. Think you can score top marks in Murray's Magic Music Quiz? Give it a go now! WALKING through the new stations of the Second Avenue Subway, which opened on January 1 in New York City, is a rewarding experience for Mr Ken Griffin. Griffin was the chief architect for the project, which finally delivered on a near century-old promise to extend the citys Subway network to the upper east side of Manhattan. Around 155,000 weekday passengers are now using the four stations on the 4km extension, which runs from an expanded Lexington Avenue and 63rd Street station to 96th Street and Second Avenue via 72nd and 86th Streets. As an architect, I have worked on projects like this for over 40 years, Griffin says. Since they opened, I have often walked through the stations by myself, observing what is going on. People dont know who I am and what I do but it is personally very rewarding and reassuring to hear how the stations have been received and the positive things being said; how comfortable people feel using the stations; how well-lit they are; and the fact that there is an escalator at every entrance. Project manager Mr Michael Trabold says he has had a similar experience. He recalls how people have approached him as he has walked through the site wearing high-visibility clothing to thank him for the work that has taken place. You realise you have created something that is having an impact on peoples lives, Trabold says. And a positive impact. Once it is open the people forget how long it took and how much it cost. Griffin is a vice president and Trabold an associate president at Aecom, which was appointed in April 2006 by Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in a joint venture partnership with Arup to provide full engineering and architectural services for the $US 4.451bn project. The JV design team had previously completed conceptual and preliminary engineering for the project. Ground was broken in April 2007, and while the project schedule and budget was revised in 2009, it was delivered on-time and on-budget according to these revisions. Bringing together expertise from different companies, according to Trabold, was a major advantage for the project due to the varying experiences of the people involved. However, differences in philosophies and approaches when it actually came to do the work was a potential early stumbling block. Griffin says that in order to foster shared thinking and objectives, the emphasis from day one was not whether employees were from Aecom or Arup, but that they were from the Second Avenue Subway. We learned to leave our company in our old office, Griffin says. We didnt have Aecom or Arup mugs, but Second Avenue Subway mugs, and Second Avenue Subway hard hats. The client sat among us as well and we were all part of the Second Avenue Subway team. In fact, if you brought in something or wore the branding of your employer, that was frowned upon. Innovative solutions Pooling expertise in this way helped the project to deliver a number of innovative solutions not previously seen on New York Citys subway. This includes altering acoustics in order to limit noise. Working with recordings taken at existing subway stations, Arup acousticians created digital models of the environment using the companys SoundLab technology. This was subsequently analysed to identify ways to mitigate the effects. Solutions included utilising continuous-welded track with sleepers encased in concrete-covered rubber, ceilings lined with perforated metal panels backed with sound-absorbing fibreglass, and a carefully-positioned public address system, part of the lines audio system that is optimised for intelligibility. Optimal temperature control is another area where new solutions were deployed. Air tempering was used for the first time in stations, which is typically 10 degrees below the outside ambient and offers gradual temperature control to the exit. Griffin says the project emphasised improving conditions for passengers by promoting a sense of calmness in the environment. This consideration is readily apparent in the open but simple station design. He says the design team wanted to make passengers feel less claustrophobic than in typical cut-and-cover New York subway stations, which are often criticised for feeling cramped and dingy, and were afforded this flexibility through the use of mining and TBM excavation. With a width of 17-19.5m and a length of up to 485m, the Second Avenue Subway stations are some of the largest caverns excavated in North America, and according to New York governor, Mr Andrew Cuomo, have marked a new age for how stations are designed and built in New York. The new stations are column-free at both the mezzanine and platform-level, and incorporate what Griffin describes as timeless but simple design features, evident in the white tiling, stainless steel and granite surfaces. Art displays are also a major element of each station, and collectively the Second Avenue Subway is now the largest public art display in New York state. A new approach to lighting and illumination is another distinctive feature, with surfaces from the floor to the concrete ceiling lit in different ways. Griffin says this provides a more pleasant but safe passenger environment while promoting smooth passenger flow between the platforms and the stations two exits. This is a key departure from the previous mandate for New York subway stations, which have four exits, and Griffin says are sometimes difficult to identify on the surface. He says that two larger entrances at either end, helped to reduce costs, and their location in plazas and at key interchanges has improved visibility at street level. Griffin adds that while the station is an interesting passenger environment, specific elements were designed with the future in mind. One of our major priorities was to introduce things that would enable the station to adapt to changes in technology, Griffin says. We have left space in the areas above and behind the architectural finishes. We also left room for additional capacity in the service carriers, which house the electrical and communication conduit and devices at the platform and mezzanine level. We designed spare conduits for future upgrades so new conduits would not be required, and left space in electrical panels for future expansion of communication systems. Passenger use of the stations is also not left to chance. The Second Avenue Subway team also worked alongside the Operations Planning team at New York City Transit on pedestrian modelling for each station. Simulations of 3000 uptown and downtown train arrival combinations fed into the development of dynamic pedestrian model simulations for all stations during the morning rush hour. These simulations were subsequently used as a design tool to inform the optimal circulation paths for moving passengers between trains and street level. In particular, they took into account the complex movements associated with transfer passengers at 63rd Street, and the use of elevators at 86th and 72nd Streets. My personal observations of the 72nd Street station and the southeast entrance when the station gets busy is that it is a very comfortable experience for the passengers, Griffin says. We have planned with 2030-35 in mind, so we can accommodate a high circulation of passengers, and as ridership increases, we can introduce measures to facilitate this growth. It is a modular station design. For example, where we have concrete stairs at present, these are designed in such a way that it is straightforward to introduce an escalator directly in this space in the future. Designing an architecturally-pleasing environment that is adaptable to future need has not come at the cost of sustainability. Green materials were used throughout the project, including environmentally-friendly concrete, the primary building material. The granite panels were sourced from quarries in Pennsylvania and Virginia and were used in combination with terra cotta and porcelain ceramic wall panels. Glass was also used for entrance canopies and in entrances located inside buildings to maximise the use of natural light. Energy is saved through the use of escalators with a sleep mode and maintenance is minimised by not having any painted surfaces. Preparing materials off-site ahead of installation was an approach used throughout the project in order to overcome the most significant challenge facing the Second Avenue Subway: minimising disruption to residents and businesses in the city that never sleeps. Trabold says that while the projects main work zones were on Second Avenue, the team was required to retain four lanes of operating traffic. In a 30m-wide right-of-way, with 2m reserved for the sidewalk compared with 6m previously, he says this left the subway project with around 9-12m to work in, which inevitably increased costs and implementation time. Typically, subway entrances are located on sidewalks, which results in congestion and pedestrian choke points. He says that the team overcame this problem for the new line by using entrances located inside buildings and plaza areas where possible. But there will still issues. Following complaints at 72nd Street, work on entrance in the building had to move onto the street level. Another difficulty was posed by restrictions on blasting, particularly at the 86th Street cavern. We had up until 22.00 initially, Trabold says. However, the community objected to that so the cut-off point became 20.00. This made it much more difficult to do the work, and to arrange spoil removal through the night. Working in the confines of densely-populated neighbourhoods led MTA to engage in a significant amount of community outreach work. This began with meetings with local residents in the initial stages of the project and continued with the establishment of a community information centre where people could get information on what was happening, and were able to voice concerns. Site visits were also arranged at weekends where hundreds of residents were able to see first-hand how the project was progressing. These tours were led by Dr Michael Horodniceanu, president of MTA Capital Construction, who Trabold says referred to residents as constituents, an important distinction as it reflected the importance to MTA of keeping its neighbours onside throughout the project process. The project was very disruptive to peoples lives. They were having to put up with this for seven to 10 years, Trabold says. MTA was very receptive to peoples concerns and treated them with sensitivity and respect. In addition, the project looked to promote social sustainability in the local community wherever possible; whether this was employing local electricians, carpenters and labourers, or engaging with local schools and colleges to use the site for educational purposes and to inspire the next-generation of engineers. Local college students regularly spent a day on the site where Aecom, Arup and the contractors could present the project to the students and other aspiring architectural engineers, Griffin says. One particular elementary school teacher would often walk the site with their students at street level so they could get a feel for what was going on. At an open-house for the 96th Street station just before the new line opened, some of the first people allowed to walk the station were those local school children and their teacher. Excavation When it came to the excavation work, the Second Avenue Subway team was faced with tunnelling beneath some of the most congested urban infrastructure in the world: telecommunications, sewers, electrical lines, gas, steam and water pipes litter the ground below Manhattans streets, and all could pose big problems for a major project. Thankfully Trabold reports that when excavation got underway there were no huge surprises. Intensive studies meant that the utilities engineers expected to be there were there, apart from differences of a few feet in some cases. Yet there were a few notable unexpected items, including the wall of an old brewery at 96th Street, which was not mapped. Excavation teams also located foundations from the old Second Avenue tram line, and an existing sewer, the external structure of which was incorporated into the 96th Street station, a move which Griffin says saved a lot of money. Great care and attention was also paid to preserving existing buildings during the excavation process. Trabold says in some cases the foundations for the structures, including timber piles, dated from the early 1900s. While in surprisingly good condition, they were showing signs of some deterioration and were reinforced. In one case an entire building had to be evacuated while it was rehabilitated to guarantee resident safety. Ground conditions also posed some complications for the tunnelling work. A recent article in the New York Times showed a map of what is now New York City from the 1730-40s. The Hudson River is clearly visible, but Manhattan is dotted with areas of wet swampland as well as rivers and streams. Inevitably this makes tunnelling in the area a lot more problematic than it might appear on the streets of modern-day New York. TBMs were used to excavate two parallel running tubes, and in a first for New York City, reinforcing steel fibres rather than steel rods were used between sections. Trabold says that the rock line is particularly high between 72nd and 86th streets. However, at around 92nd Street the rock line drops dramatically, and here the TBM excavating the eastern tube encountered a problem with weak fractured rock. Ground freezing was required to overcome the problem, which took a few months to carry out. However, with work able to progress on the western tube during this process, it did not delay tunnelling. Teams also faced the challenge of integrating the new infrastructure with an existing cut-and-cover tunnel from the 1970s Second Avenue project which runs between 99th and 105th street. Trabold says they were not obliged to use this infrastructure but the decision was made to utilise what was a significant investment at the time. Adjustments were subsequently made to integrate with the alignment, and the tunnel is now in use to store trains for the 96th Street station, and is available to use as part of the next stage of the project. Inevitably other cities have been keeping a close eye on what New York has been doing in the last 10 years, and it is very likely that the lessons of the Second Avenue Subway will be felt around the country. Griffin says that in particular transit schemes in Washington, Boston, Los Angeles, and Chicago could soon benefit from what was achieved. The project is also serving as a confidence booster to New York. While challenging and certainly not cheap, Griffin and Trabold agree that the Second Avenue Subway shows that it is still possible to deliver large infrastructure projects in the city on time and on budget. And with this positive experience behind it, it is unlikely that New Yorkers will have to wait another 60 years for another extension to their subway network. The last two or three years have been very challenging, Trabold says. There has been a lot of pressure to complete a lot of work in a short period of time. Every day it seemed like there was a new problem to be solved. But when January 1 came around and we opened, we had time for a breather, and little bit of reflection. We could look back at what we had done and had achieved over the past 10 years with a great deal of pride. Among the last words you want associated with your governmental body are surprise decision. Yet that's precisely what happened Tuesday night in a contentious meeting of the Decatur Township Cemetery Board. The surpise, apparently not revealed until 2 p.m. Tuesday, was the unanimous vote to eliminate the position of cemetery director. Lynn Dixon was given just short of two weeks notice that his position would be eliminated, effective May. 1. The recently formed cemetery board says the decision is part of a larger reorganization. It also suggested it was looking for a working superintendent to oversee the townships three cemeteries, and that the decision was made for financial and not personal reasons. Those reasons weren't good enough for some, whether they were among the number of voters who attended the meeting to speak on Dixon's behalf, or Decatur Townships board of trustees member Amy Rueff. She said the township controls the tax levy for the cemetery and her board has not asked the cemetery board to make any cuts. There's also the unsavory fashion of the execution of the decision. At least two Decatur Township officials said Tuesday's announcement was and here's that word again a surprise to them. There's also a question of whether the meeting was a violation of the Illinois Open Meetings Act. That act requires an agenda to be posted at least 48 hours before the meeting starts. The response that the agenda was posted on the townships bulletin board on Sunday was countered by the office being closed that day. Full disclosure: The Herald & Review has asked the state Attorney Generals Office to examine whether a violation occurred. There's no accusation of anything nerfarious happening here. The reorganization plans could be money-savers. The absence of an agenda could be an oversight. (Given that the agenda also didn't appear on the township's website, officials need to be more diligent about their duties.) The issue becomes the matter of surprise, and the apparent unwillingness to answer direct questions. Transparency is a policy that cures and prevents plenty of potential problems. Preparation for a long-anticipated second bridge across Lake Pend Oreille at Sandpoint, Idaho, has been given the go-ahead by BNSF Railway. Stretching roughly 3/4-mile in length, the new bridge will stand parallel to an existing single-track bridge built in 1904. By double-tracking its crossing of the lake, BNSF will alleviate a chokepoint where BNSF and Montana Rail Link main lines converge at the east end of whats often referred to as the Spokane-Sandpoint Funnel. Its a vital component in BNSFs Northern Corridor connecting Chicago, Texas, and the Midwest with cities and seaports in the Pacific Northwest. BNSF initially announced in 2014 its intention to add a second bridge, but the project was put on hold the following year due to declining freight traffic. Traffic surged in 2016 on the export grain harvest, along with increases in other commodity groups. The current single-track bridge handles 50 to 60 trains per day. That figure can swell to nearly 70 trains per day during the end-of-year peak traffic season. West of the existing bridge, BNSFs route toward Spokane largely comprises two main tracks. East of the bridge, BNSFs Kootenai River Subdivision into northern Montana and MRLs 4th Sub into southern Montana are mostly single track with intermittent sidings or short segments of two main tracks. When trains from two or more of these lines approach the bridge simultaneously, the higher-priority train gets to cross first. Grain, coal, and manifest trains off of MRL are often delayed at Sandpoint Junction because the higher percentage of the areas traffic, including the vast majority of time-sensitive intermodals, travel via BNSFs Kootenai River Sub. Adding a second bridge over Lake Pend Oreille should help resolve that. And with BNSF installing approximately one mile of second main track between the east end of the new bridge and Sandpoint Junction (requiring an additional bridge over the mouth of Sand Creek), BNSF and MRL trains will move to and from their respective routes more freely. Having a second bridge in service over Lake Pend Oreille would also allow BNSF to perform periodic maintenance on its existing bridge with minimal impact to traffic flow. In 2008, at the bridges railroad east (geographically northwest) end, BNSF replaced 12 of the existing concrete piers with steel piers. In 2009, the same was done to 16 piers at the railroad west (southeast) end. Both projects included installation of new deck spans. Additional work was performed on the bridge as recently as 2016. Lake Pend Oreille ranks as Americas fifth-deepest lake, at a maximum depth of more than 1,100 feet and nearly 95,000 acres of surface area. During World War II, the Navy operated a training center near the lakes south end. Today, the Navys Acoustic Research Detachment uses the lake to test sonar-evading technology on scaled-down submarines and surface vessels. Where BNSF crosses Lake Pend Oreille, near its outlet into the Pend Oreille River, water depth is only in the 10- to 20-foot range, varying seasonally. Predecessor Northern Pacific Railway initially crossed the lake on a mile-long wooden trestle built in the 1880s. Two decades later, NP replaced it with the steel-on-concrete bridge thats in service today. Those concrete piers have stood on timber pilings driven roughly 50 feet into the lakebed. NP later refitted several of the piers to have longer steel piles beneath them. The new piers, which BNSF installed during 2008-09, are supported by steel piles driven more than 100 feet below the lakebed. BNSF plans to drive two test piles at the site and perform load testing in May and June. Beyond that, BNSF said the project must still go through the appropriate permitting and review process before moving forward. No construction is scheduled for this year. WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff has made two appointments in its New Jersey and Michigan offices. Dennis Martin has been appointed vice president in Parsons Lawrenceville, N.J., office. Martin serves as director of multimodal planning for the global engineering and professional services organizations Northeast region, responsible for intermodal facilities, bus rapid transit, light rail and rail operations. He is currently a leader of Parsons planning work for the replacement of the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City. Martin joined the firm in March after a 33-year career with NJ Transit. From 2015-16, he served as interim executive director, leading the successful negotiations for expired bus and rail labor contracts, and directed the development of the $3 billion fiscal 2017 capital and operating budgets. He most recently served as vice president and general manager, light rail & contract services, overseeing the operations and contract management of the agencys Hudson-Bergen, Newark, and River Line light rail systems, and Access Link, the statewide paratransit system. Parsons also announced that Greg Johnson has been appointed Michigan area manager. Johnson, a vice president, is responsible for managing operations, establishing strong client relationships and maintaining a focus on business development and marketing for new and existing clients in the Detroit area and statewide. Some of the firms projects in the area include design of the Rosa Parks Transit Center in downtown Detroit; construction management for the Detroit Windsor Tunnel ceiling slab replacement; owners representative for the 18-mile reconstruction of Interstate 75; on-call consultant for the Michigan Department of Transportation connected vehicle program; designer of the seven-mile rebuild of Interstate 96 known as the 96fix project, and owners engineer for the Detroit streetlights project. Previously, Johnson was administrator of the Maryland State Highway Administration. From 1997-2015 he held a variety of senior positions with the MDOT, most recently serving as deputy director/chief engineer/chief operations officer, responsible for design, construction, materials and technology, maintenance, and operations. The financial crisis of the late 2000s wreaked havoc in many American institutions, and state courts were not left unscathed. Throughout the country, state courts saw their resources pulled in the wake of the financial meltdown, forcing many of them to stretch themselves too thin. For some state courts, the long-term effect of these forced austerity measures is not known; the short-term results, on the other hand, were immediateand many are still reeling from them. The RAND Corporation, in conjunction with the UCLA School of Law, hosted a conference that brought together judicial and research experts to delve into this juridical-financial crisis, with surprising results. Budget cuts at the state court level mean more than judges not receiving salary increases for a year or two. Budget cuts at this level can mean courthouse closures, hiring freezes and layoffs. One panelist at the conference pointed out that Los Angeles used to handle small claims matters in more than two dozen locations; that number has since dwindled to fewer than 10. In the short-term, these kinds of austerity measures can yield longer courthouse wait times for the public. At best, this is frustrating and inconvenient; at worst, it could be dangerous. As one panelist pointed out, reduced access and system resources could present public safety concerns, as when a strained court system results in the reversal of felony convictions for lack of ability to meet trial demands. While some state courts have been able to rebound since the Great Recession, there is still work to be done, not the least of which involves working to prevent such severe austerity measures from being implemented again. In looking for solutions to this dilemma, multiple panelists came to the same conclusion: education is keyspecifically, the education of the public. The public needs to be educated as to the role, and importance, of the state courts. Though it may not appear to be among the hottest or most timely topics of discussion today, it should be. This topic is particularly ripe for discussion now precisely because the nation is in the midst of a recovery and the best time to plan for the next emergency is before it happens. Nobody is hoping for another recession, of course, but history suggests that it could happen, and there is no time like the present to acknowledge the mistakes of the past to avoid repeating them in the future. In addition to the practicality of preparing state courts for the possibility of another financial disaster, there is another overarching reason educating the public should be high on the docket: It is crucial to the success of American democracy. Without the judiciary to interpret laws, they become, in effect, meaningless. Educating the public about the role and importance of the judiciary is, therefore, fundamentally important to the nation as a whole. Kathryn Kuznitsky is a policy analyst at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation. This commentary originally appeared on Inside Sources on April 18, 2017. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis. Cyber threats have metastasized worldwide. In the U.S., they have presented as security issues for critical infrastructure, such as industrial sites, and cast doubt on the integrity of crucial information technology systems used for elections including many vulnerable voting machines ( PDF ) themselves that are employed and managed at the state level. Technological approaches to curbing or countering these cyber threats are proliferating, but they alone cannot offer adequate protection. What is needed is manpower: hundreds of thousands of information security professionals working in the private and public sectors to actively defend the cyber terrain on which America's national security, prosperity, and democracy depend. Like many private companies and public agencies in the U.S., the Department of Defense struggles with a shortage of information security professionals. But RAND research suggests that the armed forces, and the nation more broadly, might already have some of the personnel resources it needs in the ranks of its Reserves and National Guard. RAND researchers studying the skills of personnel in the Army National Guard and the U.S. Army Reserve in 2015 estimated, conservatively, that more than 100,000 of these men and women have some degree of cyber competence, including thousands with deep or mid-level cyber expertise. Many of these soldiers, like their counterparts in the reserve components of other military services, perform information security functions in their civilian careers, often in high-tech sectors. Some are serving in newly created reserve component cyber formations. A growing proportion of reservists are digital natives who want to leverage their tech skills as part of their military duties. A growing proportion of service members in the reserve components are also digital natives part of the younger generations who grew up using a wide variety of technologies. Many want to leverage their tech skills as part of their military duties. The Department of Defense and individual states across the country would do well to tap into this pool of trained, vetted, and often combat-experienced men and women available to extend the labor pool of information security professionals personnel who could provide support to federal and state civilian authorities during times of crisis. For example, the reserve component could be mobilized to help the Department of Homeland Security defend the industrial control systems of critical infrastructure experiencing an attack, especially the newest addition to the DHS list of critical infrastructure, the election system itself. Other countries have begun to leverage civilian-acquired skills in their defense against cyber threats. In the wake of cyber attacks against its public and private Internet infrastructure in 2007, Estonia announced plans to develop the Estonian Defence League, a collection of volunteers now numbering in the hundreds who are prepared to help the country respond to emerging cyber crises and attacks. The U.S. has different options for filling shortfalls in its arsenal of information security professionals. In March, for example, Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) proposed the creation of a cyber national guard to attract talented civilians who do not want to serve in the military, but are willing to contribute to the nation's cyber defense. The reserve components of the U.S. military are uniquely positioned to attract, train, and manage a cadre of information security professionals who are able to operate both with the active components of the U.S. armed forces and with civilian authorities. Innovative approaches to recruiting, tracking readiness, and career planning of these professionals will be required, and new models of reserve component participation and training might prove necessary. There is every reason to believe that nefarious actors, including powerful nation-states, will continue to target critical infrastructure, the U.S. election system as a whole and information technology systems in general. This threat to American democracy and cyber way of life demands hands-on attention to the underlying machines and devices. Mitigating this threat with human resources will require the cyber equivalent of boots on the ground. The state of Ohio has already tapped its National Guard to defend its election system from hackers. Time is running out to build an adequate nationwide defense for the next presidential election cycle, but many of the necessary personnel resources are right here in the form of the Guard and the Reserves that are ready and willing to be called up to perform the mission. Isaac Porche is a senior engineer and Brian Wisniewski is an adjunct researcher at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation. This commentary originally appeared on TechCrunch on April 18, 2017. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis. 1. Chinese air base attack Closer to Mainland China Taiwan Scenario Farther from Mainland China Spratly Islands Scenario 1996 2003 2010 2017 1996 2003 2010 2017 1. Chinese air base attack Major U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage Approximate Parity Chinese advantage Major U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage Approximate Parity Year Closer to Mainland China Taiwan Scenario Farther from Mainland China Spratly Islands Scenario 1996 Major U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage 2003 Major U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage 2010 Approximate Parity Major U.S. advantage 2017 Chinese advantage Approximate Parity Given the importance of airpower in America's recent wars, it is not surprising that China has sought ways of neutralizing U.S. capabilities in this area. Of greatest significance, the PLA has developed ballistic and cruise missiles that threaten forward U.S. air bases. From a handful of conventionally armed ballistic missiles in 1996, China's inventory now numbers roughly 1,400 ballistic missiles and hundreds of cruise missiles. Although most are short-range systems, they include a growing number of intermediate-range ballistic missiles that can reach U.S. bases in Japan. Importantly, accuracy has also improved. Circular error probabilities have decreased from hundreds of meters in the 1990s to as little as five or ten meters today. Weapon ranges have increased from short (less than 1,000 km) to medium (1,0003,000 km). RAND models of attacks by these ballistic missiles on Kadena Air Base, the closest U.S. air base to the Taiwan Strait, suggest that even a relatively small number of accurate missiles could shut the base to flight operations for critical days at the outset of hostilities, and focused, committed attacks might close a single base for weeks. U.S. countermeasuressuch as improved defenses, hardened shelters for aircraft, faster runway repair methods, or the dispersion of aircraftcan potentially mitigate the threat. But barring a major U.S. defensive technological breakthrough, the growing number and variety of Chinese missiles will almost certainly challenge the U.S. ability to operate from forward bases. As a larger proportion of U.S. aircraft are forced to fly from bases that are either susceptible to attack or farther from the scene of conflict, basing issues will pose greater challenges for U.S. efforts to gain air superiority over the battlefield. Read the full report 2. U.S. vs. Chinese air superiority Closer to Mainland China Taiwan Scenario Farther from Mainland China Spratly Islands Scenario 1996 2003 2010 2017 1996 2003 2010 2017 2. U.S. vs. Chinese air superiority Major U.S. advantage U.S. advantage U.S. advantage Approximate Parity Major U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage U.S. advantage U.S. advantage Year Closer to Mainland China Taiwan Scenario Farther from Mainland China Spratly Islands Scenario 1996 Major U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage 2003 U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage 2010 U.S. advantage U.S. advantage 2017 Approximate Parity U.S. advantage In virtually any East Asian scenario, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy aircraft would play a critical role in blunting Chinese attacks. Since 1996, the United States has improved existing aircraft and introduced so-called fifth-generation aircraft, including the F-22 and F-35. China, meanwhile, has replaced many of its obsolete second-generation aircraft, which made up an overwhelming proportion of its force in 1996, with modern fourth-generation designs. These fourth-generation aircraft now constitute roughly half of the PLA Air Force's fighter inventory. The net effect of these changes has been to narrow, but not close, the qualitative gap between the U.S. and Chinese air forces. To evaluate the impact of this change on the two scenarios considered, we employed tactical and operational air combat models, using the appropriate basing, flight distances, and force structure data. The models evaluate the number of fighter aircraft that the United States would need to maintain in the Western Pacific to defeat a Chinese air campaign. The results suggest that U.S. requirements have increased by several hundred percent since 1996. In the 2017 Taiwan case, U.S. commanders would probably be unable to find the basing required for U.S. forces to prevail in a seven-day campaign. They could relax their time requirement and prevail in a more extended campaign, but this would entail leaving ground and naval forces vulnerable to Chinese air operations for a correspondingly longer period. The Spratly Islands scenario would be easier, requiring roughly half the forces of the Taiwan scenario. Read the research brief 3. U.S. airspace penetration Closer to Mainland China Taiwan Scenario Farther from Mainland China Spratly Islands Scenario 1996 2003 2010 2017 1996 2003 2010 2017 3. U.S. airspace penetration U.S. advantage Approximate Parity Approximate Parity Approximate Parity Major U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage U.S. advantage Year Closer to Mainland China Taiwan Scenario Farther from Mainland China Spratly Islands Scenario 1996 U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage 2003 Approximate Parity Major U.S. advantage 2010 Approximate Parity Major U.S. advantage 2017 Approximate Parity U.S. advantage U.S. commanders are equally concerned by the development of Chinese air defenses, which would make it more difficult to operate in or near Chinese airspace in the event of a conflict. In 1996, the vast majority of China's 500+ long-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems were Chinese duplicates of the obsolete Russian SA-2 missile (with a range of roughly 35 km). By 2010, China had deployed roughly 200 launchers for double-digit SAMs. The newer missiles have more sophisticated seekers and ranges of up to 200 km. Combined with more capable fighter aircraft and the addition of new airborne warning and control systemequipped aircraft, the Chinese integrated air defense system (IADS) has become a formidable obstacle. At the same time, however, U.S. air forces have made improvements to their penetration capabilities, with the addition of stealth aircraft and new SEAD (suppression of enemy air defenses) aircraft. We used a target coverage model to evaluate the ability of U.S. strike aircraft to penetrate Chinese defenses in the Taiwan and Spratly scenarios. The results show net gains for China, with its improved IADS reducing the ability of even the improved U.S. forces to penetrate Chinese airspace at moderate risk. Our airspace penetration model shows that although standoff attack capabilities, stealth, and SEAD mitigate the impact of Chinese defenses, the ability to penetrate and strike targets opposite Taiwan with minimal risk to the U.S. aircraft involved declines significantly between 1996 and 2017. However, the U.S. ability to penetrate to targets in the Spratly scenario remains far more robust. This is partly because the same number of critical but scarce U.S. assets (such as standoff weapons and stealth aircraft) can be allocated to attack a much smaller target set, but also because the relevant target set is, on balance, closer to the coast. Read the full report 4. U.S. air base attack Closer to Mainland China Taiwan Scenario Farther from Mainland China Spratly Islands Scenario 1996 2003 2010 2017 1996 2003 2010 2017 4. U.S. air base attack Approximate Parity Major U.S. advantage U.S. advantage U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage Year Closer to Mainland China Taiwan Scenario Farther from Mainland China Spratly Islands Scenario 1996 Approximate Parity Major U.S. advantage 2003 Major U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage 2010 U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage 2017 U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage While penetrating Chinese airspace has become more hazardous, especially in the high-threat environment opposite Taiwan, the development of new generations of precision weapons since 1996 gives the United States new options and greater punch. Virtually all of the iron bombs used by U.S. forces today are equipped with guidance packages, such as the Joint Direct Attack Munition, which have turned them into all-weather, precision weapons. At longer ranges, U.S. forces can utilize an array of stand-off weapons, which are capable of hitting their targets from hundreds of kilometers away and can be deployed from a growing variety of platforms. This larger and more varied inventory of precision and standoff weapons enables U.S. air forces to attack more targets and cause more damage with each attack. To assess the net impact of improvements to both U.S. offensive and Chinese defensive capabilities, we modeled attacks on the 40 Chinese air bases within unrefueled fighter range of Taiwan, and, separately, on the smaller number from which Chinese aircraft could range the Spratly Islands. Runway attack models suggest that, in 1996, U.S. air attacks could close Chinese runways for an average of eight hours. This figure had increased to between two and three days by 2010, and it remained roughly similar through 2017. In all four snapshot years, U.S. air forces could effectively close all of China's air bases opposite the Spratly Islands for the first week of operations. While ground attack represents a rare bright spot for relative U.S. performance, it is important to note that the inventory of standoff weapons is finite, and performance in a longer conflict would depend on a wider range of factors. Read the research brief 5. Chinese anti-surface warfare Closer to Mainland China Taiwan Scenario Farther from Mainland China Spratly Islands Scenario 1996 2003 2010 2017 1996 2003 2010 2017 5. Chinese anti-surface warfare Major U.S. advantage U.S. advantage Approximate Parity Chinese advantage Major U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage U.S. advantage Approximate Parity Year Closer to Mainland China Taiwan Scenario Farther from Mainland China Spratly Islands Scenario 1996 Major U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage 2003 U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage 2010 Approximate Parity U.S. advantage 2017 Chinese advantage Approximate Parity The PLA has placed as much emphasis on putting U.S. aircraft carrier strike groups (CSGs) at risk as it has into efforts to neutralize U.S. ground-based airpower. China has developed a credible and increasingly robust over-the-horizon (OTH) intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capability. It launched its first operational military imaging satellites in 2000 and deployed its first OTH skywave radar system in 2007. The skywave system can detect targets and provide a general, though not precise, location out to 2,000 km beyond China's coastline. The development of China's space and electronics sectors has enabled it to increase the pace of satellite launches and deploy a wider range of sophisticated ISR satellites. China's development of anti-ship ballistic missilesthe first of their kind anywhere in the worldpresents a new threat dimension for U.S. naval commanders. That said, the kill chain for these missiles will pose great difficulties for the PLA, and the United States will make every effort to develop countermeasures. Anti-ship ballistic missiles therefore may not pose the kind of one-shot, one-kill threat sometimes supposed in the popular media. At the same time, however, the ongoing modernization of Chinese air and, especially, submarine capabilities represents a more certain and challenging threat to CSGs. Between 1996 and 2015, the number of modern diesel submarines in China's inventory rose from two to 41, and all but four of theses boats are armed with cruise missiles (as well as torpedoes). RAND modeling suggests that the effectiveness of the Chinese submarine fleet (as measured by the number of attack opportunities it might achieve against carriers) rose by roughly an order of magnitude between 1996 and 2010, and that it will continue to improve its relative capabilities through 2017. Chinese submarines would present a credible threat to U.S. surface ships in a conflict over Taiwan or the South China Sea. Read the research brief 6. U.S. anti-surface warfare Closer to Mainland China Taiwan Scenario Farther from Mainland China Spratly Islands Scenario 1996 2003 2010 2017 1996 2003 2010 2017 6. U.S. anti-surface warfare Major U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage U.S. advantage U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage Year Closer to Mainland China Taiwan Scenario Farther from Mainland China Spratly Islands Scenario 1996 Major U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage 2003 Major U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage 2010 U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage 2017 U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage We also assessed Chinese amphibious capabilities and the ability of U.S. submarine, air, and surface forces to sink Chinese amphibious ships. We found that the U.S. ability to destroy Chinese amphibious forces has declined since 1996 but nevertheless remains formidable. China's total amphibious ship capacity is on track to double between 1996 and 2017. China has also deployed larger numbers of more sophisticated anti-submarine warfare helicopters and ships. Largely as a function of the greater number of target ships, RAND modeling suggests that the expected damage that U.S. submarines might inflict has declined since 1996. Even by 2017, however, U.S. submarines alone would be able to destroy almost 40 percent of Chinese amphibious shipping during a seven-day campaign, losses that would likely wreak havoc on the organizational integrity of a landing force. U.S. aircraft and surface ships armed with cruise missiles would likely also participate in anti-surface warfare. The development and deployment of new classes of U.S. anti-ship cruise missiles remained a relatively low priority for some years after the end of the Cold War, and U.S. advances in this area did not keep pace with those elsewhere in the world. Over the past several years, however, the U.S. military has refocused on developing missiles better suited to the high-threat environment. Although U.S. capability against Chinese amphibious forces has declined somewhat, a combination of submarine, air, and surface attacks would nevertheless pose a serious threat to Chinese amphibious forces and their ability to conduct or sustain an amphibious invasion. Read the full report 7. U.S. counterspace Closer to Mainland China Taiwan Scenario Farther from Mainland China Spratly Islands Scenario 1996 2003 2010 2017 1996 2003 2010 2017 7. U.S. counterspace Chinese advantage Chinese advantage Approximate Parity Approximate Parity Chinese advantage Chinese advantage Approximate Parity Approximate Parity Year Closer to Mainland China Taiwan Scenario Farther from Mainland China Spratly Islands Scenario 1996 Chinese advantage Chinese advantage 2003 Chinese advantage Chinese advantage 2010 Approximate Parity Approximate Parity 2017 Approximate Parity Approximate Parity The United States, with 526 operational satellites, has a far more extensive orbital infrastructure than does China, with 132 satellites (as of January 2015). However, China has been accelerating its space efforts. Its average rate of satellite launches in 20092014 was more than double that of 2003-2008, and more than triple that in 19972002. The United States has historically been hesitant to deploy operational counterspace capabilities, in part because it fears legitimating such deployments by others and because of its own dependence on space support for other types of military operations. In 2002, however, Washington changed course and approved funding for selective counterspace capabilities. In 2004, the Counter Communications System, designed to jam enemy communication satellites, reached initial operational capability. The U.S. military could also potentially utilize experimental or dual-use systems. Laser ranging stations could provide accurate position data to other counterspace systems. More powerful lasers, such as the High-Energy Laser system, could potentially be used to dazzle Chinese satellites' optical sensors. Finally, the U.S. military could potentially use improved ballistic missile interceptors as kinetic weapons, though practical and political considerations would weigh strongly against such destructive attacks. Overall, although the United States leads in the use of space to support terrestrial operations, its counterspace capabilities remain relatively underdeveloped. Read the full report 8. Chinese counterspace Closer to Mainland China Taiwan Scenario Farther from Mainland China Spratly Islands Scenario 1996 2003 2010 2017 1996 2003 2010 2017 8. Chinese counterspace Major U.S. advantage U.S. advantage Approximate Parity Approximate Parity Major U.S. advantage U.S. advantage Approximate Parity Approximate Parity Year Closer to Mainland China Taiwan Scenario Farther from Mainland China Spratly Islands Scenario 1996 Major U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage 2003 U.S. advantage U.S. advantage 2010 Approximate Parity Approximate Parity 2017 Approximate Parity Approximate Parity China has pursued an extensive range of counterspace capabilities. It demonstrated a kinetic anti-satellite capability in 2007 with a missile test against a nonoperational Chinese weather satellite at an altitude of 850 km. At that altitude, many U.S. satellites in low earth orbit (LEO) would be vulnerable. China has also announced three tests of ballistic missile defense interceptors, the latest in July 2014. These tests apparently took place at similar altitudes to the ASAT test and almost certainly employed technologies that could also be employed in anti-satellite weapons or roles. Ultimately, political considerations, the fear of escalation, and the vulnerability of Chinese systems to debris may deter the PLA from employing kinetic attacks. Arguably more worrisome are the PLA's Russian-made jamming systems and high-powered dual-use radio transmitters, which might be used against U.S. communication and ISR satellites. Like the United States, China operates laser-ranging stations, which might be able to dazzle U.S. satellites or track their orbits to facilitate other forms of attack. In addition to Chinese offensive capabilities, the degree of threat posed to specific U.S. satellite constellations depends on the altitude, number, and orbit of satellites in those constellations and the ability of U.S. systems to maintain functionality in the face of attack. We evaluated threats posed to seven distinct U.S. space-based functions. The degree of threat to most of them is increasing. Threats to communication satellites (which are subject to jamming) and imaging systems (which are small in number, with four in LEO) are particularly severe. In two cases, the U.S. Global Positioning System and missile warning systems, upgrades or improvements to satellite function and numbers may mitigate risk substantially. Read the full report 9. U.S. vs. China cyberwar Closer to Mainland China Taiwan Scenario Farther from Mainland China Spratly Islands Scenario 1996 2003 2010 2017 1996 2003 2010 2017 9. U.S. vs. China cyberwar Major U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage U.S. advantage U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage U.S. advantage U.S. advantage Year Closer to Mainland China Taiwan Scenario Farther from Mainland China Spratly Islands Scenario 1996 Major U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage 2003 Major U.S. advantage Major U.S. advantage 2010 U.S. advantage U.S. advantage 2017 U.S. advantage U.S. advantage China's cyber activities have become a major source of concern in the United States and allied countries. There is strong evidence that many of the hostile cyber espionage activities emanating from China are tied to the PLA. The PLA has maintained organized cyber units since at least the late-1990s, while the U.S. Cyber Command was only formed in 2009. Nevertheless, under wartime conditions, the United States might not fare as poorly in the cyber domain as many assume. Cyber Command works closely with the National Security Agency and can draw heavily on the latter's sophisticated toolkit. Moreover, in evaluating the likely relative impact of cyber attacks, the target user's skills, network management, and general resiliency are at least as important as the attacker's capabilities. In all of these areas, the United States enjoys substantial advantages, though Chinese performance is improving. Chinese cyber security is suspect, and its civilian computers suffer from the world's highest rate of infection by malware. Both sides might nevertheless face significant surprises in the cyber domain during a conflict, and U.S. logistical efforts are particularly vulnerable, since they rely on unclassified networks that are connected to the Internet. Read the full report Supreme Court dismisses Sakhalin ex-governors appeal against asset forfeiture MOSCOW, April 19 (RAPSI) The Supreme Court of Russia has refused to review an appeal filed by Sakhalins ex-governor Alexander Khoroshavin against forfeiture of his and his familys assets amounting to 1.8 billion rubles (about $32.1 million), the Sakhalin Regional Courts press-service announced on Wednesday. On May 20, 2016, the Yuzno-Sakhalinsk court confiscated the property belonging to Khoroshavin, his wife and son. Expensive apartments, fancy cars, money, jewelry were taken to the state based upon the facts of corruption established by investigation, according to investigators statement. In August 2015, Russias Prosecutor Generals Office filed a motion to confiscate the assets registered to Khoroshavin, his wife and son. In September of the same year, Irina Khoroshavina filed for divorce and division of property. Investigators announced in March 2015 that Khoroshavin and several other officials were arrested for allegedly taking a $5.6 million bribe to secure a contract to build a power unit for the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk thermal plant. President Vladimir Putin dismissed Khoroshavin from his post due to loss of trust in March 2015. In April 2015, Khoroshavin was charged in another criminal case with taking a bribe of at least 15 million rubles ($226,500) for providing credits on advantageous terms to one of the local businessmen. He pleaded not guilty. In January 2016, the third criminal case was opened against Khoroshavin. According to investigators, he took 27 million rubles ($407,800) in bribes from candidates for the positions in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk City Duma in 2014. Ex-police officer charged with taking bribe from gang denies guilt MOSCOW, April 19 (RAPSI) Former police officer from the Moscow Region Vadim Shavlokhov, charged with receiving $100,000 bribe and abuse of office, denies guilt, RAPSI has learnt in the courtroom. On Wednesday, the Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow began hearings in the criminal case against Shavlokhov with prosecutor reading out the indictment. The defendant said that it is all fabricated and that his whole life he was working against all criminal groups. According to investigation, in 2013, Shavlokhov, then major case detective of the Interior Ministrys Criminal Investigation Department, gave an alleged leader of the organized-crime syndicate, a document containing information on his criminal gang for $100,000. Switzerland ruled to be more appropriate for civil lawsuit against Yves Bouvier report MOSCOW, April 19 (RAPSI) A civil court of appeal in Singapore ruled on Wednesday that Switzerland is a more appropriate choice for a country to hold hearings in a lawsuit filed by Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev against Swiss entrepreneur Yves Bouvier, The Art Newspaper ruled on Wednesday. In March 2015, Rybolovlev filed a lawsuit against Bouvier with a court in Singapore. The defendant owns tax-free free storage facilities for art pieces, including paintings and furniture owned by Rybolovlev. However, a court of appeals ruled that Switzerland is "distinctly a more appropriate forum than Singapore for the determination of the parties dispute." The contract signed between the billionaire and the art dealer was written in accordance with the Swiss laws. Rybolovlev has purchased 38 masterpieces including the Da Vinci painting Salvator Mundi from Bouvier. Later Rybolovlev accused Bouvier of inflating the prices of some works, namely a Modigliani piece obtained for US $118 million. Rybolovlev claims that Bouvier received 1 billion worth of undue advantage from their deal. According to Bouvier, Rybolovlev is upset over a failed purchase of a Rothko painting. Criminal complaints against Bouvier were filed in January 2015 in Monaco. In February, the art dealer was detained on charges of fraud and money laundering. In March of the same year, Bouvier's assets were frozen by a court in Singapore. In the summer of 2015, the High Court of Singapore unfroze the assets. Ex-FSB officer to remain detained in bribery case MOSCOW, April 19 (RAPSI, Yevgeniya Sokolova) The Moscow District Military Court has upheld a lower courts ruling to extend detention of Vlad Novikov, former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), who stands charged with taking a 5-million-ruble bribe ($77,000), attorney Dagir Khasavov told RAPSI on Wednesday. Novikov will stay in jail until June 6, 2017. Earlier, investigation into the case against Novikov and Karen Krayukhin, an officer still in FSB service, has been also extended until June 6. As previously reported, Novikov and Krayukhin have been arrested on suspicion of taking a bribe from the Turkish construction firm Esta Construction. Esta Construction lawyer Valerian Kochergin, who has been recognized as victim in the case, has filed a 10-million-ruble civil lawsuit against defendants. He seeks 5 million rubles ($77,000) in compensation for property damage and 5 million rubles in moral damages. Investigators claim that Esta Construction has been fined over 37 million rubles ($570,000) for violation of migration legislation. The companys lawyer in order to avoid payment of the fine asked the defendants for help in the termination of the case for 5 million rubles ($77,000). Esta Construction is a contracting company established by Bahattin Demirbilek in Moscow in 2006 and operating as a general contractor and project designer in international construction market, the firms website says. President Donald Trump brought a big dose of his economic populism to Wisconsin Tuesday, where he signed an executive order that would rein in a popular foreign worker program and encourage federal agencies to buy American. Trump is on the right track. The H-1B visa program is widely used by technology companies but critics contend its being abused at the expense of American labor. And why shouldnt federal agencies buy American products? They should whenever possible. The order, by itself, may have a limited impact but the theater is perhaps as important as the actual act. Trump is keeping a campaign promise, and, after a week of flip-flops on the Export-Import Bank and Chinas alleged currency manipulation, sending a message to his working class supporters in places such as Wisconsin that he hasnt forgotten them. That he chose Wisconsin, where he won a key victory last fall, shows that the state remains a critical player in presidential politics. Trump visited Kenosha toolmaker Snap-on Inc., which is in House Speaker Paul Ryans district and is the hometown of White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus. The H-1B visa program has its place helping companies around the country, but particularly in Silicon Valley, fill jobs for which the supply of American workers is thin. But an H-1B review is overdue. Critics of the program claim staffing companies are undercutting American wages by using the visas to recruit foreign labor and then contracting those workers to large companies. The Associated Press reports that employers as diverse as Walt Disney World and the University of California at San Francisco have furloughed tech employees and replaced them with H-1B workers. Thats not the intent of the program and should not be allowed. Trumps order asks federal agencies to review the program and propose new rules to prevent fraud. The agencies also would propose changes so that the visas are only given to most-skilled or highest-paid applicants, an administration official told the AP. In all, about 85,000 of the visas are awarded each year; in recent years, there have been several times that many applicants. Trump also wants to toughen up the requirement that American-made goods be used in certain federal construction projects or in highway projects that are paid for with federal grants. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will review how to close loopholes in the current rules and report back to Trump, especially on waivers to the buy-American rules in the nations trade deals. Trumps own record as a businessman is mixed on these issues. Many Trump products are produced overseas, and he has hired foreign workers at his properties including at Mar-a-Lago, his club in Palm Beach, Fla., which has become his frequent base of operations on weekends. No matter, hes right on the overall thrust of this executive order. After the agency review, Congress may need to act, though, to ensure that Buy American, Hire American actually means something. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ICJ grants Ukraines motion for provisional measures against Russia in part MOSCOW, April 19 (RAPSI) - The International Court of Justice on Wednesday granted in part a request to impose provisional measures against Russia, accused by Ukraine of terrorism financing and facilitation of racial discrimination. The Hague court held that Ukraine failed to prove the necessity of provisional measures concerning alleged violation of the Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism as opposed to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Therefore, the ICJ ordered Russia to make education in Ukrainian language available in Crimea and refrain from limiting Crimean Tatars efforts to save their representative institutions including Majlis, an organization declared extremist in Russia. Moreover, the Court called on the parties not to make the situation worse. However, the Court found that both parties took steps to resolve the disputable issues. According to the ICJ, procedural requirements have been followed and the dispute may be considered in The Hague. In January, the ICJ confirmed that it had received Ukraines lawsuit over alleged violation of two international conventions by Russia. Ukraine claims that Russia violated the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. According to the lawsuit, since 2014 Russia has increased its interference in Ukraines affairs to hazardous levels by financing terrorist acts and violating rights of millions of Ukrainian nationals. Ukraine insists that Russia violated fundamental principles of international law. Hearings on the motion were held on February 6-9. Kievs representatives accused Russia of escalation in the conflict in South-Eastern Ukraine, supplies of arms and financing of terrorism. Ukraine demanded to find Russia guilty of the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight 17 (MH17) in the Donetsk region, gunfire against civilians and claimed that rights of Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars had been violated. Ukraine asked the ICJ for provisional measures including among others compelling Russia to take specific steps to avoid aggravation of the situation. Russia in turn claimed the dispute initiated by Ukraine is politically motivated. According to Moscow, Kiev refuses to have a meaningful dialogue. Representatives of the Russian delegation led by the Foreign Ministrys Legal Department Director Roman Kolodkin said during the hearings that Ukraine misled the international court by misrepresenting facts and statistical data. In April 2014, the Ukrainian authorities began a military operation in Donbas against the local residents who objected to the coup. According to the UNs latest data, over 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict. Ukrainian officials and some Western states have repeatedly accused Russia of interfering in Ukraines domestic issues. Moscow has repeatedly claimed that it has had absolutely no part in the events in southeastern Ukraine and does not supply the self-defense forces with military equipment and ammunition; that it is not a party to the domestic Ukrainian conflict and is interested in Ukraine overcoming the political and economic crisis. State Duma MPs propose to strip terrorism convicts of Russian citizenship MOSCOW, April 19 (RAPSI) A group of lawmakers submitted to the State Duma a bill stipulating that people convicted of committing terrorism-related crimes could be stripped of Russian citizenship, according to the database of the lower house of parliament. Amendments are proposed to the Federal Law On Russian Citizenship. Current legislation does not provide for revoking decisions on acquisition of Russian citizenship in relation to people committed crimes of a terrorist nature, an explanatory note to the document reads. Under the bill, sentencing of a person for terrorism offences would constitute the grounds for reversal of decisions to grant citizenship of the Russian Federation. The draft law would not apply to Russian nationals, who received citizenship by birth. This week, Vice President Mike Pence heads to Indonesia. There, he will discuss the U.S.-Indonesia Strategic Partnership to advance cooperation between the worlds second and third largest democracies, to deepen economic engagement and to more aggressively fight terrorism. Because tackling difficult subjects is an important part of diplomacy, a productive visit by the vice president must also include a discussion of the illegal trading and importation of Indonesian biodiesel into the United States. For the record, biodiesel produced in America is a clean, renewable alternative to petroleum diesel made from a variety of animal fats and vegetable oils, including used cooking, soybean and canola oils. Indonesia is currently violating international trade laws by flooding the U.S. market with dumped and subsidized biodiesel being sold at prices substantially below the costs of production. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, there is evidence that dumping margins could be as high as 28.11 percent for Indonesia. (The dumping margin is the difference between the price, or cost, in the foreign market and the price in the U.S. market.) As a result, imported biodiesel from Indonesia (and Argentina) surged by 464 percent from 2014 to 2016. By selling their biodiesel at such low costs, the Indonesian government is materially harming Americas domestic biodiesel industry. NBBs research also found that imports primarily from Indonesia and Argentina have taken 18.3 percentage points of market share from U.S. manufacturers. This is not an insignificant statistic that can just be ignoredespecially considering the size, scope and impact of the domestic biodiesel industry on our nation. Just last year in the United States, we saw record markets 2.9 billion gallons of biodiesel and renewable diesel. That outpaced the previous record by almost 40 percent, supporting more than 50,000 U.S. jobs and $11.42 billion in economic benefits. Vice President Pences visit to Indonesia also coincides with an antidumping and countervailing duty petition filed in late March with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). The petition was filed by the National Biodiesel Board Fair Trade Coalition, which is made up of the NBB and domestic biodiesel producers. Both agencies will review the claims made by the NBB Fair Trade Coalition during the next several months. This is not the first time that Indonesian biodiesel producers have been charged with violating international trade laws. In 2013, the European Union imposed 8.8 to 23.3 percent duties on Indonesia. As a result, exporters in Indonesia have focused their attention on the United States, which is now the most attractive biodiesel market in the world for Indonesian producers. Clearly, this is an ongoing problem that must be addressed. Ultimately, the NBB Fair Trade Coalition was forced to bring Indonesias unfair biodiesel dumping strategies before the ITC and the Commerce Department because Indonesias policies are costing American jobs and putting our nation at an unfair competitive disadvantage. The loss of market share has left the domestic industry with substantial unused capacity totaling in the millions (potentially billions) of gallons a year. Simply put, the artificially low prices at which these Indonesian imports are sold leave American biodiesel producers unable to get a fair return for their product. This is not a reasonable situation for the United States, and something has to be done. President Donald Trump said: I believe strongly in free trade, but it also has to be fair trade. NBB and the U.S. biodiesel industry could not agree more. We are committed to fair trade, and we support the right of producers and workers to compete on a level playing field. Right now, Indonesian companies are getting advantages that cheat U.S. trade laws and are counter to fair competition. Domestic biodiesel producers are counting on the vice president to bring this issue up with Indonesias leaders and to stand up for American workers. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale Buy real estate. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale in US and Canada. Search Real Estate , We're sorry, this article is not currently available By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 04/19/2017 ADVERTISEMENT Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade. bachelors Robby Hayes Chase McNary and Jef Holm are now roommates.Robby and Chase -- who both competed for JoJo Fletcher on 's 12th season and then moved into a house in Denver, CO, together -- recently moved into Jef's home in Venice Beach, CA, Us Weekly reported.Robby and Chase, both 28, moved out of their self-proclaimed "Bachelor bungalow" in Colorado and into the ultimate Bachelor beach house.Jef, 32, previously competed on 's eighth season starring Emily Maynard . He won Emily's heart in 2012 and proposed marriage, but the couple eventually called off their engagement.Jef was reportedly introduced to model Robby and medical sales representative Chase while the three guys attended the taping of Nick Viall 's The Bachelor: The Women Tell All special earlier this year. According to Robby, it didn't take long for the trio to hit it off and become buds."We ended up after partying at his house," Robby told Us. "[Jef] said his two roommates were moving out and gave us the opportunity to move in."Robby, a former competitive swimmer originally from Florida, explained there are more business opportunities awaiting the guys in Los Angeles."It's like the stars were aligning," said Robby, who is currently single. "You only live once, so why not go for it? We're striking while the iron is hot."Robby had moved to Colorado -- where Chase was already living -- in January right before he signed a modeling contract with Wilhelmina Denver.Although he finished as the seemingly heartbroken runner-up on 's Spring 2016 edition, Robby is now ready to live it up in his new bachelor pad with his bros. (Chase was eliminated by JoJo right in the middle of their overnight Fantasy Suite date)."You can literally see Venice Beach Pier from my window," Robby gushed. "That's how close we are to the beach. It's incredible!"The trio also have a fourth roommate, Jef's best friend from Utah, where the People Water founder was born and raised.In terms of what's next for Robby, a stint on Season 4 of Bachelor in Paradise this summer may be in the cards."It's something I'm interested in, but my family might not be," Robby said of potentially looking for love on TV again considering he was accused of dumping ex -girlfriend Hope Higginbotham to compete on ."They're catching all the flak and dealing with rumors while I'm cut off from the world with no phone and Internet. My mom stresses out. I don't know how they would deal with me being back on TV. But it's a bridge I'll cross if and when producers ask me to go on."Robby also told the magazine he'd love to end up back in Colorado one day. Porterville, CA (93257) Today Cloudy. Some light rain will fall throughout the day. High 52F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Locally heavy rainfall possible.. Tonight Rain likely. Low 47F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Upon request, the press office for U.S. Rep. Jody Hice (R-Georgia) has released a statement on Hice's proposed House Resolution 586. The resolution, nicknamed the Sanctity of Human Life Act, defines human life as beginning at fertilization, "defending the inalienable right to life protected by the Constitution," according to the statement. Ryan McArdle owes an estimated $20,000 in student loans at 21 years old. This is an amount accumulated over the last four years while enrolled The UGA Poultry Science building uses typical processes to provide poultry for the state. Georgia ranks as one of the top states of poultry production. (Photo/Devon L Tucker dtucker1@uga.edu) 'As engineers, as alumni and as Indians, we should be concerned about today's leadership that is making tomorrow's leaders at our IITs,' says Air Marshal P V Athawale PVSM, AVSM, VSM (Retd). IMAGE: President Pranab Mukherjee, the chief guest, at IIT-Kanpur's 45th convocation presents a degree to an IIT topper, July 5, 2013. (Image only published for representational purposes.) Photograph: Kind courtesy IIT-Kanpur A side-note in history has it that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had wished to convert the oldest engineering institute in the country, the University of Roorkee, into the first IIT. However, Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant, then the Uttar Pradesh chief minister, declined to give away 'a jewel in the crown' of UP and the honour went to Kharagpur. I have had the privilege to have studied at the University of Roorkee (now IIT-Roorkee) and at IIT-Kharagpur for my graduate and postgraduate degrees respectively. I recall our deans and heads of departments as the leading lights of their departments and functions; 'commanders in their own right', whose authority and leadership steered academic and administrative functioning of these institutes. The wheels of each department moved with an inherent, independent energy and yet spun together in a way that drove the IIT chariot forward -- a simple top-down flow of authority. In the four-and-a-half decades since I graduated from Roorkee, I served in the Indian Air Force for about 38 of those years and retired as Commander-in-Chief of its Maintenance Command. Even though I held the IITs in great esteem all these years, I only got a chance to re-engage deeply with the IITs again after my retirement. This time, my balding pate, my experience in the armed forces and indeed in life afforded me access to the intricate workings of the IIT machinery and camaraderie with the IIT faculty, who are now my contemporaries, college mates and friends. It also allowed interactions with students, young professors and retired, senior academics, who helped me gain new insights into these institutions that shaped my life. A return to my alma maters brought back the fervour and the sense of belonging that I had felt in these hallowed buildings decades ago. With utmost gratitude and integrity then, allow me to share my analysis on a disturbing trend in the leadership succession at the IITs. The IITs, being institutes of national importance, have held a distinct edge over the other institutes. An IIT gets substantial budgetary allocation, which is well beyond the reach of other government aided or private institutes. The IITs make huge additional funding through research projects provided by government establishments as captive clients. It is undisputed that the IITs get the best student intake as most Indians aim to see their children in IITs -- an entry point to a glorious future. And it is undeniable that the IITs' faculty is the most capable and committed, arguably the best in the country. Even so, are the IITs contributing significantly to 'Make in India'? Why is it that we hear so little about research/design/development from the IITs creating global or even national brands? It is a paradox that the country's best academicians and researchers are constrained to routinely produce only a stream of graduates, who in all likelihood, will do well despite the system. I propose that a critical reason is the leadership structures and team environments that the system IIT has come to propagate. An organisation where individual payoffs are prized more than institutional values is gradually but surely taking shape. Poor leadership is only a symptom that may be traced down to two systemic flaws: Criteria for appointments of Directors, Deans and Heads of Department. Non-effective Board of Governors -- autonomy leading to autocracy. Appointments In the enthusiasm to embrace the new corporate culture and not be tied down by what I have heard termed 'seniority-inertia', the IITs appoint young academicians to the top post of director. In the hope that a younger person will inject energy into the system, the senior-most appointment, it turns out, is often junior to the deputy director and many senior professors by decades. Even when such an appointment is imposed on the organisational structure, s/he does not enjoy the acceptance of her/his senior colleagues in real terms. A majority of senior and illustrious professors tend to isolate themselves and continue without their hearts and minds serving the larger goal. The IIT system is different from a private corporation that may fare well with a young CEO. Political leadership picking up a significantly junior professor to be director damages the existing value system. Isn't it strange that among hundreds senior to her/him, they can't find anyone who they deem suitable to be director? In the absence of confidence from senior colleagues, the young director prefers to appoint a team of deans and HoDs who are junior to her.him, turning the strata of key organisational leadership into an army of the directors 'yes men' and the leadership fails to percolate down from the director to all levels in the organisation. With loss of leadership comes loss of initiative, accountability and responsibility. In such a system, the director is the only leader and his chosen 'inner circle' of yes men tows his line without dispute or discussion. All those kept outside the inner circle and thus deemed inconsequential follow perceived goals, there being no commonly accepted goals or leadership to guide them. In the 1970s and 1980s, most HoDs appointed on the basis of seniority could stay HoDs for decades until they reached retirement. Justifiably therefore, the system of rotational appointments was brought in to provide academicians with administrative experience while relieving their predecessors to return their focus on research and academics. However, the argument against seniority has been taken too far to routinely appoint those who are way down in the seniority sequence. The same is true for the appointment of deans whose number has unfortunately proliferated with many functions trespassing into the registrar's administrative domains. IMAGE: Smriti Irani, left, then the Union HRD minister and the chief guest at IIT- Bhubaneswar's 4th convocation, accompanied by Sushil Kumar Roongta, Chairman, Board of Governors, IIT-Bhubaneswar, right, and Professor. Ratnam V Raja Kumar, Director, IIT- Bhubaneswar, September 12, 2015. (Image only published for representational purposes.) Photograph: Kind courtesy IIT-Bhubaneswar Board of Governors and Autonomy It may be argued that the director is not the final authority and there are checks and balances on that senior-most appointment in the form of the Board of Governors, BoG. The BoG is an honorary body comprising professionals from different fields whose job is not to exercise close supervision on the IITs. As such, they are only mandated to meet periodically, approve proposals and leave the functioning to the autonomous director. Even members from industry, including chairmen with the most genuine intentions, are unable to contribute or address key issues because they remain distant from the day-to-day workings. The dictum of 'autonomy promotes creativity' that is cited in the director's appointment results in one man's autocracy while the 'senate' system gives an illusion of democracy. Only on paper does the BoG exercise its authority. A Comparison For the sake of exposition, let me contrast the current IIT system with another that I have come to know well -- the Indian armed forces. The average civilian citizen often views the armed forces as verging on autocratic, where discipline is enforced by dictatorship. An army commander or an equivalent commander-in-chief of a naval or air command has the last word for the tens of thousands of troops under his command. It may come as a surprise that the four most coercive HR functions -- employment, promotion, appointment and re-employment on retirement -- are not in his control. One: Employments are undertaken by Service Selection Boards, not under the C-in-C's purview. Two: The C-in-C is only a member of the promotion board along with the service chief and several other C-in-Cs of equivalent rank. Three: The C-in-C leads a given team; appointments are made centrally by the service headquarters' personnel branch. And four: The C-in-C has no say in re-employments, except a distant recommendation. In stark contrast, all the four functions are predominantly in the hands of an IIT director! A system that breeds sycophancy will not breed leadership. The Way Ahead The leadership of today's IITs has challenges beyond measure. The directors are thrown into a system where they are not natural leaders. They are good; they can be great if brought in at the right time to infuse leadership down the levels. A great majority of IIT academics have integrity embedded in their character. That keeps the IITs flying (if not high) despite constraints. However, individual strengths will synergise if systemic values improve. Instead of expecting only the director to call the shots, we must restore the glory of the department heads and the deans. A reform in the two fundamental areas can do wonders: Revisit the norms for appointment of directors, deans and HoDs. Consider candidates only within a 3-year seniority band. The BoG must have no place for guest artists. Appoint such academicians/technocrats as full-time members who will stay committed to the cause of the IITs. One BoG can be asked to supervise the functioning of three to four IITs within a region. Uncannily, the overarching and undisputed goal is the one that goes out of sight and ever so often it is useful to state the obvious. Why should we be disturbed by poor leadership at our leading institutions? It is because leadership affects the very outcomes for which the IITs exist -- i. R&D to shape the innovations of tomorrow and ii. well-rounded, ethically grounded and technically sound engineers for future generations. As engineers, as alumni and as Indians, we should be concerned about today's leadership that is making tomorrow's leaders at our IITs. A third of FMCG sales and half of motorcycle sales come from the hinterlands The forecast of a normal monsoon this year has brought cheer to firms that have significant exposure to rural areas. This includes auto, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), durables and seed majors. A third of FMCG sales come from the hinterlands, while one in every two motorcycles sold in India is in the countryside. In the case of durables, 20-25 per cent of sales for companies comes from rural, while tractor and seed majors depend completely on the farm sector. Ajay S Shriram, chairman & senior MD of fertiliser major DCM Shriram, said, "Good rabi output for 2016-17 has led to an improvement in cash flow for companies. The mood of the farming community is also buoyant. The news, therefore, of a normal monsoon will further brighten the prospects of agriculture and should lead to healthy consumption of agri inputs like fertilisers." Normal rainfall would help in driving up rural consumption and accelerating overall growth, said Sunil Kataria, business head, India and Saarc, Godrej Consumer Products. The forecast of a normal monsoon is positive for us. Rural India is a key driver of FMCG growth and rural sales depend on monsoon as it is linked to farm output and income. C M Singh, chief operating officer, Videocon Industries, said, he was relieved with this piece of news. "For those riding the summer season with compressor-led products such as air conditioners and refrigerators, the summer is turning out to be good one with heat rising across the country. Now, a projection from IMD that the monsoon will be normal will mean that Diwali could be good, too, because rural consumers shop during the festive season. S Ravikumar, president (business development), Bajaj Auto, said, We had good rainfall last year. Another year of normal monsoon will mean good news for the industry, as an agrarian economy brings a large chunk of sales. Tractor makers are also upbeat. News of normal monsoon with fair distribution across India is a sure sentiment booster and will have positive impact on farm income and rural economy, said Ravi Menon, CEO, Escorts Agri Machinery. Niranjan Kumar, chief executive officer of Hyderabad-based GARC Seeds, said, "Apart from creating healthy demand for seeds of various crops in the kharif season, good rainfall will also increase the groundwater table, thereby helping farmers cultivate crops well under irrigation." The IMD has said the monsoon would be 96 per cent of the long-period average (LPA), one percentage point below last year's rainfall, and would be fairly distributed across the country. While El Nino conditions could set in, it said that was likely to happen in the latter half of the rainy season, around August-September. Photograph: Mukesh Gupta/Reuters New Braunfels, TX (78130) Today Overcast. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 67F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Overcast. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 67F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. 'The men in black suits and hair dye in Beijing have not only completely blown the cover story of "peaceful rise," but have managed to antagonise the regional powers in the Indo-Pacific,' says Nitin Pai. The central argument of the first innings of this column (September 2010 to October 2015) was a simple one: India should recognise that East Asia is a part of its extended neighbourhood and that it is in our national interest to invest in the stability and security of the Indo-Pacific region. Why? Because by the mid-2000s, China under Hu Jintao was shedding the facade of 'peaceful rise' and beginning to take assertive positions on its territorial disputes and claims in the waters off East and South-East Asia, causing the countries of the region to look towards India for support. In their strategic calculus, if they fail to bring the United States, China and India into a balance, they had little choice but to hop onto the Beijing bandwagon. Month after month, your columnist exhorted New Delhi to exploit the geopolitical and geoeconomic opportunities that Beijing had unintentionally created. That prescription is just as valid today as it was seven years ago. Chinese foreign policy under Xi Jinping has moved from assertive to aggressive, always arrogant and increasingly adventurous. The men in black suits and hair dye in Beijing have not only completely blown the cover story of 'peaceful rise,' but have managed to antagonise the regional powers in the Indo-Pacific. Even as Beijing pushes Chinese hegemony under clever phrases such as 'One Belt, One Road' (OBOR), Maritime Silk Road and 'China Pakistan Economic Corridor' (CPEC), it does so in the absence of the regional goodwill that enabled its entry into the ASEAN-centred economic and security architectures in the early 2000s. Southeast Asian countries watch with increasing anxiety as more of their Asean counterparts are attracted or coerced onto China's camp. The divide that your columnist had predicted within ASEAN is now gaping wide. President Xi appears to have moved beyond merely maintaining China's claim in a dispute to pressing it. He might have calculated that Beijing is now strong enough to negotiate where it cannot just coerce the other side into caving in. In November last year, Hong Kong authorities seized military vehicles belonging to the Singapore armed forces on their way back from routine exercises in Taiwan. Given that the Singaporean armed forces have been training in Taiwan since the 1970s with China's tacit non-disapproval, it is clear that Mr Xi deliberately upped the ante. Similarly, Beijing coerced Mongolia into submission after the latter allowed the Dalai Lama to visit the Gandan monastery in Ulaanbaatar the same month. Since the Dalai Lama had visited Mongolia at least eight times earlier, Beijing's reaction this time stands out as extraordinary. As much as there is a regional demand for India to play a stronger role in regional security, it has become harder and riskier for New Delhi to do so. The Narendra Modi government is reportedly considering selling medium-range surface-to-air missiles to Vietnam. Both New Delhi and Hanoi will come under Chinese pressure and possible retaliation if the deal goes through. It would be imprudent for New Delhi or Hanoi to back down under pressure. It is in Beijing's interest to create a perception that India is unreliable as a partner, whose promise falls short of delivery. Chinese commentators suggested as much after Beijing arm-twisted Mongolia over the Dalai Lama's visit, drawing attention to the fact that New Delhi's promised $1 billion line of credit failed to save Ulaanbaatar from China's economic coercion. New Delhi should thus be scrupulously careful about the commitments that it makes, implies, or might be construed. Once made, it should not hesitate to keep them in the face of China's opposition. With rising risks and emerging uncertainties, credibility is the new currency in the Indo-Pacific. This is by no means an argument to deliberately antagonise China: It is in India's interests to nurture a close relationship with its northern neighbour. To be an effective swing power, we must enjoy better relations with China and the United States than they have with each other. This will not come by wishing for it, especially if the wishing is one sided. Nor will it come by succumbing to Chinese hegemony. To the extent New Delhi accumulates economic strength and demonstrates foreign policy credibility, Beijing is likely to reciprocate India's desire for amicable bilateral relations. Nitin Pai is co-founder and director of the Takshashila Institution, an independent centre for research and education in public policy. IMAGE: Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan with US President Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump at the start of the Xi-Trump summit in West Palm Beach, Florida. Photograph: Carlos Barria/Reuters 'The domination of American foreign policy by the military poses some hidden dangers for us.' 'We must factor in that the Pakistani military and the US military have close ties going back three generations.' 'Pakistan will find sympathetic ears in the Pentagon against India as the bogey man.' 'This will be further milked to the maximum by raising the ante in Kashmir through its proxies,' warns Colonel Anil A Athale. IMAGE: US National Security Adviser Lieutenant General H R McMaster meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, April 18, 2017. Photograph: Press Information Bureau In the early 1950s when the United States had a monopoly on nuclear weapons, the late Bertrand Russell, the famous philosopher and peace activist, wanted the US to use that power and initiate a 'World Government' on its own. Lord Russell was against American policies in Vietnam and in the Third World, yet expressed a view that if there has to be a single power dominated world, then the US was the preferred candidate. Coming from a trenchant critic of the US, this represents high praise as well as the world reality of the latter part of the 20th century and the first two decades of the 21st! Indeed, American power has been largely responsible for preventing the world from descending into anarchy and spinning out of control. Donald Trump came to power on the explicit promise of reducing American commitments to the Allies and retreat into the 'isolationism' of the 1920s. While this appealed to the generally ignorant constituency that elected him, America's allies and US experts were aghast. The 21st century is NOT the 1920s as factors like the global spread of nuclear weapons, an interlinked world economy and trade and travel has transformed the world into a global village. No major country today can think of isolating itself from the world, survive and thrive. In the early days of the Trump presidency, there was an expectation that he would reverse his campaign rhetoric and realise the world's reality. It is still early days, but Trump seems to have packed his cabinet with people of a business background, giving short shrift to experts in foreign policy. The only exception he made was in the case of military personnel. His government, on the verge of completing its first 100 days, is not even fully staffed. The twin effect of this on the rest of the world was that many rogue regimes and terror organisations felt emboldened to carry out their agenda without caring for the American reaction. It appears that the Syrian use of chemical weapons and North Korean belligerency were the result of this expected American retreat from the rest of the world. The feeling that Trump was serious in implementing his agenda was reinforced with his 'visa ban' on certain countries and attempt to roll back Obama Care, the prevailing American healthcare system. This expectation of the retreat of American power from the global arena also prompted China and Russia to move aggressively to fill in the power vacuum. The Russian and Chinese actions of the last fortnight seem to be in that direction. One victim of this was the Chinese reaction to the Dalai Lama's visit to Tawang. But it appears that the Trump administration has seen the dangers of this move and a course correction seems to be on. On April 7, the US launched 59 Tomahawk missiles against Syria for its alleged use of gas against the civilian population. This was swiftly followed by the use of largest non-nuclear bomb on April 13 against an ISIS base in Afghanistan. Trump has thereby signalled that he is prone to use American military power as the 'first' option. The proliferation of military men in his administration makes this to be not just a one off event, but may well indicate a trend for the future. Purely from an Indian perspective, this is not a bad thing as India can expect a robust American response to ISIS and other terrorist organisations. But the domination of American foreign policy by the military poses some hidden dangers for us. We must factor in that the Pakistani military and the US military have close ties going back three generations. Pakistan will find sympathetic ears in the Pentagon against India as the bogey man. This will be further milked to the maximum by raising the ante in Kashmir through its proxies. The signs are already ominous for India as the new administration has enhanced military aid to Pakistan. Given the Chinese hostility to India, the US may well conclude that India has no real option but to lean on the US for support. The price for this support, as historically been demanded by the US, is to accommodate Pakistan on Kashmir. America's ambassador to the UN has already spelt out that the US wants to mediate on Kashmir. The twin tasks before India are cut out. We have to manage the perception battle on events in the Kashmir valley and gird up for a tough bargain with the US on Kashmir. In a far weaker state in the wake of the military defeat at the hands of the Chinese in 1962, we managed it. There is no reason why a much more powerful India cannot withstand American pressure on this issue. But for this we have to set our house in order. At the very least, can we have a full time defence minister? Colonel (Dr) Anil A Athale is a military historian. 'Narendra Modi said, "No criminal accused will dare to fight polls. Who says that the cleaning cannot happen? I have come to cleanse politics".' 'Yogi Adityanath was bodily lifted from Parliament and airdropped into Lucknow as chief minister of UP. The great saint had admitted to facing several criminal charges in his own affidavit for his candidature in the 2014 Parliamentary election,' says Vir Sanghvi. One of the more ironic passages in Milan Vaishnav's When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics is about Narendra Modi's campaign during the last parliamentary election. At rally after rally, in state after state, Modi repeated the same theme. In Rajasthan, the putative prime minister told a crowd, 'There is a lot of discussion these days on how to stop criminals from entering politics. I have a cure and I have vowed to clean Indian politics.' The following week, Modi was in Uttar Pradesh. 'We need to rid Parliament of criminals,' he declared. 'I won't let them off the hook if I am elected to power.' The next day, at a rally in Etah, Modi repeated this message. 'We must do away with the criminalisation of politics. Giving more lectures won't help.' But there was, in fact, another lecture, still to be delivered. In Mathura, Modi said 'No criminal accused will dare to fight polls. Who says that the cleaning cannot happen? I have come to cleanse politics.' After Yogi Adityanath was bodily lifted from Parliament and airdropped into Lucknow as chief minister of UP, Vaishnav updated the information contained in his book by tweeting about the Yogi's own affidavit from his candidature in the 2014 Parliamentary election. The great saint had admitted to facing several criminal charges. These included two cases under Section 153 of the Indian Penal Code for promoting enmity between religious groups; two cases for defiling places of worship; one charge of attempted murder; one case of criminal intimidation; three cases of rioting; two cases of rioting with deadly weapons; a case of endangering life under Section 336; and one case under Section 453 of 'mischief by fire or explosive substance.' There were others, too, but I fear I will run out of space if I list them all. Remember that crucial question that Modi posed to the voters of Mathura: Who says that the cleansing cannot happen? The prime minister has just answered it himself. Should we be surprised? Probably not. As Vaishnav points out in this important book, a full third of all Bharatiya Janata Party candidates contesting the 2014 Parliamentary election faced criminal charges. And 21 per cent faced charges of a serious nature. In some instances, it is fair to say that the candidates may well have been victims of false cases filed against them by vengeful political opponents. But some of the candidates were not exactly innocent victims. What of Vithalbhai Radadiya, famous for the widely screened television footage of him brandishing a gun at a toll plaza when he was asked to pay the standard toll? When the footage made it to the national television channels, Radadiya was unapologetic. What business does 'a man who earns Rs 100' have stopping an MP, Radadiya asked the press. What's significant is that Radadiya was not a BJP member when this incident took place. But despite the notoriety that this case earned him and the ten criminal cases that were pending against him, the BJP lured him away, and not only made him a member of its party but gave him a ticket to fight the 2014 election. Radadiya's was not an isolated case. Even as the new prime minister compared the entry of bad governance into politics to diabetes infiltrating the human body, 35 per cent of the 2014 BJP Parliamentary Party consisted of MPs who faced criminal charges. And 13 of these MPs found their way into Modi's first ministry. I mention Yogi Adityanath, Radadiya and the BJP's poor record of fighting criminalisation in politics only because these cases are topical and because the prime minister's rhetoric now sounds almost comically overblown. But the truth is that the BJP is no worse than any other Indian political party. As Vaishnav points out, even Nitish Kumar, often lauded by the media for cleaning up Bihar politics, has an extremely patchy record. In 2010, his Janata Dal-United won re-election even though 35 per cent of its candidates faced serious criminal charges. Men like Anant Singh (described by Vaishnav as resembling a Hindi film villain), who is profiled in the book, have been involved in shoot-outs with the police and accused of rape, but have nevertheless been given tickets by Nitish. So why does Nitish back Singh? 'There are certain compulsions in politics,' he has been quoted as saying. Vaishnav argues persuasively that the criminalisation of Indian politics has many causes. In rural India, parties need organisations. It is easier to co-opt local dadas and their gangs than to build new party organisations. Many of the criminals also have money. Parties are happy letting them finance their own elections and grateful for whatever money they donate to the larger campaign. But there is also a fundamental failure of Indian democracy. The reality is that as loathsome as these criminals may be, people do vote for them. They continue to win elections. Even if the likes of Modi and Nitish are sincere about ridding politics of criminals, they need the goondas because we, the voters, like them enough to keep voting for them. Why do we vote for them? Essentially, it is because the system has failed many poor Indians. Like the impoverished Italian immigrants to America who would beg Don Vito Corleone for favours in Mario Puzo's The Godfather, India's poor look for justice outside the system. They have so little hope of getting fair treatment from the police or the administration that they count on these local godfathers to get them even the little that they are legitimately entitled to. Sometimes, the godfathers operate on the basis of caste (just as Don Corleone operated on ethnicity, helping Italians). Singh's clout comes from the Bhumihars who look to him to protect them from the Yadavs and other castes. Sometimes, it is religion. The late Haji Mastaan, the best-known smuggler of the 1970s, eventually entered politics. He did so many favours for poor Muslims, he once told me, that he thought he might as well join politics and get them to vote for him. The depressing conclusion of this excellent book is that no matter how much the likes of Modi brag about cleaning up politics, the goondas and the godfathers will flourish until India can deliver justice to its poor and the system can work to the benefit of ordinary Indians. Sadly, that is not going to happen any time in the near future. When Crime Pays Money and Muscle in Indian Politics Author: Milan Vaishnav Publisher: Harper Collins India Pages: 434 Price: Rs 799 IMAGE: Yogi Adityanath's supporters celebrate his elevation as UP CM. Photograph: PTI Photo 'Tying somebody to the jeep is not the military way, but the officer was able to come out of the situation without any bloodshed.' 'I am not supporting him, but I am also not criticising him.' 'He had to use some mechanism to save the uniformed personnel, many of whom were Kashmiri boys of the J&K police,' points out Lieutenant General D B Shekatkar (retd), who was instrumental in the surrender of a record 1,267 terrorists in Kashmir. IMAGE: Jammu and Kashmiri policewomen confront lady students at a protest in Srinagar. Photographs: Umar Ganie for Rediff.com Lieutenant General D B Shekatkar (retired) has studied 1,127 terrorists across the world to understand how they lead and control terrorist organisations. A few months ago, then defence minister Manohar Parrikar asked the general to head a committee to recommend ways to enhance the combat potential of the armed forces. The Shekatkar Committee has submitted 120 recommendations on defence reforms. The cerebral general served four decades in the Indian Army, serving extensively in the north-east combating insurgency. He was instrumental in the surrender of a record 1,267 terrorists in Kashmir. A prominent speaker on defence affairs and author of several books, the general's third PhD thesis will discuss psychological warfare in the 21st century and the role of the media. Speaking to Rediff.com's Archana Masih from Pune, General Shekatkar says Kashmir needs moderate Internet imams, points out to the hypocrisy of secessionist leaders who keep their own children away from terrorism while encouraging Kashmiri youth to take to the streets and reiterates his belief that Pakistan will be divided again. You have served in Kashmir and have seen both sides -- the army and civilian population -- why do you think the young Kashmiri is so angry? It is the ideological mindset. Anger has been artificially created. Their minds have been subverted. With reasonable confidence I can tell you that less than 2% of the young are active in this, the rest have joined them. I refuse to buy this theory that there is so much anger. It is the human rights activists, politicians, media who are saying it is anger. The government has to be tough and improve the administrative machinery. Nowhere in the world has the gun been the final solution to controlling subverted minds. These minds have to be subverted back into thinking about peace. The army has its limitations. The army did not create this problem and it cannot be the solution. The problem has been created by politicians. Should the army officer have tied the Kashmiri to the jeep? It was the ingenuity of that young officer's mind. Nobody told him to do that. He had to resort to this. The ITBP (Indo Tibetan Border Police), CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) and J&K police were escorting the poll party. They could have been killed. Otherwise, there would have been dead bodies. He did not kill them or beat them (the stone-pelters). He put the man in front of the jeep. He (the army officer) must be a young man, 25 or 26 years of age, and must have thought this is the best way of escorting the poll party safely. But that has been blown out of proportion. Does it not affect the Indian Army's image? Some former generals have said that this is not militarily correct. The Indian Army is not so weak. The Indian Army is always militarily correct. Tying somebody to the jeep is not the military way, but he was able to come out of the situation without any bloodshed. I am not supporting the officer, but I am not also criticising him. He had to use some mechanism to save the uniformed personnel, many of whom were Kashmiri boys of the J&K police. An FIR has been lodged by the J&K police and the video has gone viral. It can go viral or anywhere and they can lodge an FIR. If this starts getting picked upon, tomorrow the CRPF, police will refuse to act. The police, CRPF and BSF (Border Security Force) had given up in Punjab and that is why the Indian Army had to be called in for Operation Blue Star. The army dealt with it militarily. As a result, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and army chief (General Arun S Vaidya, Mahavir Chakra bar, under whose tenure Blue Star occurred) were killed. Do we want that situation in Kashmir? The Indian Army has been working in Kashmir with its hands tied, it is a challenging task. The Indian Army is the only army in the world which has adopted the use of minimum force as the guiding principle for operations because we are operating within our own people. The Indian Army has not allowed Kashmir to secede since 1947 despite Pakistan trying its level best and will not allow it in the future. Look at the Pakistan army in the NWFP (North West Frontier Province). They use every weapon in the world on their own people. The Americans dropped 52 Tomahawk missiles in Syria. Each missile is a deadly weapon. Nobody questions them and here the Indian Army is being attacked in articles and TV debates. IMAGE: Soldiers cordon off an area after an army convoy was attacked by terrorists in Srinagar, April 1. You meet a lot of young officers at your lectures. What advice do you give officers serving in the Kashmir valley who may be frustrated with the situation they encounter? We tell them not to get frustrated and lose heart because this stage will pass over. I also tell them that Pakistan will be divided once again very soon. Pakistan will face a revolt like it did in Bangladesh. Kashmir is a battle of the mind. No gun or missile can change the mind. And the battle of the mind has to be fought on the negotiating table, not in an akhada. Negotiations at multiple levels? Yes, including school and college students. The Government of India should involve the common people in the dialogue, the real stakeholders -- not the Hurriyat or Opposition parties. The Hurriyat Conference will never allow normalcy to return to Kashmir because it will then lose its relevance. It is surviving on anti-India sentiment to get money from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia. There was a time when some Western countries also used to encourage them. Worst of all, the Government of India is showing a soft corner to them (Hurriyat leaders). Who allows them to get visas and go abroad? Who provides them security despite being traitors? Who provides them monetary assistance? Who allows them treatment in AIIMS (the All India Institute of Medical Sciences) at government cost? Tomorrow when normalcy prevails, will they get these facilities? The central and state governments are equally responsible for this. In Kashmir, our energies are being tested, but things will improve, I am 200% sure. We must not give up. If something happens in Kashmir, the north-east is just waiting. Don't forget the Greater Tamil Eelam included Tamil Nadu. What can be done to contain stone pelting in Kashmir? This is a new phenomenon. They are brainwashed. Parallels are drawn with the Haj ritual when pebbles are thrown which means 'shaitan ko marna hai.' These youngsters are told by the so-called mullahs and the Hurriyat Conference that India is the bigger shaitan, therefore you need to throw bigger stones. This is the misinterpretation of that philosophy and ritual. This poison has been put into their minds. There are no stones in Srinagar, so they are collected. Boys are paid Rs 500 for 3 hours (of stone pelting). They are paid 10,000 for snatching one rifle. It is a commercial venture, not because of ideology. The army and police cannot be allowed to throw stones back at them. The army and police have weapons, but those weapons are not to kill, therefore they have to shoot in the air and use small calibre weapons which do not kill. IMAGE: A Jammu and Kashmir policeman fires a tear gas shell to control protesting students. The security forces use pellet guns which cause many injuries. Training is given to shoot below the waist. Pellet guns were brought when Omar Abdullah was the chief minister. Now the same people are crying hoarse that it is inflicting injuries in the eyes and face. You have to bend to pick a stone, and in that process people get hurt in the face. Otherwise, the troops are told not to shoot above the waist. The pellet guns are used by the BSF, CRPF and police. The army doesn't use them. These are bought by the state government and used by the police and paramilitary. What is the way out in Kashmir? When I was in Kashmir, I was ruthlessly rude to the Hurriyat. I told them if you create a problem in Kashmir, then you are not safe. We used to tell them not to use the Friday prayers to fan communal violence because when hate speeches are given, people get charged. The battle is of winning the hearts and minds of the people. We used this in the north-east and Punjab and I did this in Kashmir with great success. That is how Operation Sadhbhavna started. I was there when terrorism started in Kashmir in the 1990s. They destroyed school buildings and targeted administrative buildings. Once you stop education, you produce a madarsa culture. Those who went to the madarsas then are now 15, 20 years old. They are thoroughly brainwashed. Those who were young in the 1990s have taken over the leadership. The cycle is complete. When you say 'battle of hearts and minds,' you can open the brain and do brain surgery. Twelve inches below is the heart and you can open that too and do open heart surgery, but between the brain and heart -- which is linked to both -- is the mind. A mindset is built over a period of time. Once that is formed, you cannot fire any bomb or nuclear missile to destroy the mindset -- and that is keeping terrorism alive in Kashmir. Those that started the terrorism have mostly died. The middle rung leadership is at the top now and those deprived of an education are the youngsters picking up stones. The cycle is going on. How can the hearts and minds be won then? How do you tame the mind? The mindset has to be countered by a counter mindset. My belief is that you need moderate Internet imams to tell the young people not to get misguided, not to endanger their lives and destroy their future. It is time we take the intellectual boys and girls out of Kashmir. When you are confined to that area, you do get influenced. They should be given moderate education and sent back to the valley. 90% don't want to go back because they get good jobs, but unless they go and work there, the intellectual vacuum will be filled in by goons and this is going on for 20 years. Thirdly, if (Hizbul Mujahideen leader) Syed Salahuddin's son can study in Kashmir and become a doctor in Kashmir -- if his son can be kept away from terrorism, why can't other children? (Dukhtaran-e-Millat's) Asiya Andrabi's daughter is in Singapore. The government and media need to highlight these points about these people who claim to be fighting for the Kashmiris. Why don't they ask their children to join the movement? Why this hypocrisy? The government should also stop too many development projects in Kashmir. Why? That has also become a way to make money because that money is siphoned out by politicians, bureaucrats, contractors and the common man remains poor. Funding must be controlled. The local contractor should be paid directly from the GoI. I did a study and presented it to Farooq Abdullah that the amount of money that the GoI had spent from 1989 to 1996 -- if you place the Rs 100 notes (2.5 inches by 3.5 inch), you could cover the entire Kashmir valley. The money that is being siphoned off from government projects is being used to pay the stone pelters. A continuous flow of money becomes an incentive for the continuance of terrorism. There are 246 influential families in the five districts who have made terrorism a cottage industry to make money from the government, extortion and money in the name of fighting terrorism. Even the local bureaucracy has developed interest in keeping terrorism alive. The local politicians themselves don't want terrorism wiped out from Kashmir, irrespective of which party. In the name of terrorism you can spend any amount of money and there is no accountability. From 2001 to 2016, the Americans have spent 21 billion dollars. The government of Pakistan will be foolish not to continue terrorism in Afghanistan because there is a constant flow of money. Pakistan is bluffing when it says it is supporting Kashmir's demand for self determination. Their problem are the rivers that sustain the economy of Pakistan -- the Indus, Beas, Jhelum, Ravi, Chenab -- which originate from China and Kashmir. If India controls or diverts the flow of water, Pakistan can become registan (a desert) because Pakistan's economy is agricultural based. It is for this fear that they want to control Kashmir. China on Wednesday announced that it has "standardised" official names for six places in Arunachal Pradesh and termed the provocative move as a "legitimate action", days after Beijing lodged strong protests with India over the Dalai Lama's visit to the frontier state. The state media in Beijing said the move was aimed at reaffirming China's claim over Arunachal Pradesh. China claims the state as 'South Tibet'. "China's ministry of civil affairs announced on April 14 that it had standardised in Chinese characters, Tibetan and Roman alphabet the names of six places in 'South Tibet', which India calls 'Arunachal Pradesh', in accordance with the regulations of the central government," state-run Global Times reported on Wednesday. The official names of the six places using the Roman alphabet are Wo'gyainling, Mila Ri, Qoidengarbo Ri, Mainquka, Bumo La and Namkapub Ri. "These names reflect...China's territorial claim over South Tibet (Arunachal Pradesh) is supported by clear evidence in terms of history, culture and administration," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters. Defending the action to standardise the names, Lu said, "to issue these names is actually carried out in accordance with the regulations about the names of the localities and it is a legitimate action by the Chinese government". "Let me stress that about the Indian government's indulgence of (the) Dalai Lama activities in disputed eastern section of the India-China boundary and also about his anti-China activities, this is something we are firmly against. These activities are also against the Indian government's commitments to China," Lu said when asked about the significance of standardisation of names. Asked why it took China so long to standardise the names and whether the sudden move was in retaliation to the Dalai Lama's recent visit to Arunachal Pradesh, Lu said, China chose this time to announce the standardisation as it was now doing a second census of names of localities and an important part of it was to standardise names in ethnic languages. He said more standardised names will be announced later. "In the next step, we will also step up our study of those names in Tibetan ethnic languages and in the next step we will announce more standardisation of these names," he said. Reiterating that China's claims over the east section of India-China boundary in Arunachal Pradesh were clear and consistent, Lu said, "these names have been passed on from generation to generation by people who have lived there for generations, the Tibetan ethnic and Monpa ethnic groups." "It is also an example that shows China has clear administration over these areas and there are many activities by the Chinese people in that area," he said. China's move comes just days after the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, which was seventh since the 81-year-old spiritual leader fled from Tibet through Tawang and sought refuge in India. During the Dalai Lama's Arunachal Pradesh visit, China had warned India that it will take "necessary measures" to defend its territorial sovereignty and interests. The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488 km-long Line of Actual Control. While China claims Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet, India asserts that the dispute covers Aksai Chin area which was occupied by China during the 1962 war. The two sides have so far held 19 rounds of Special Representatives talks to resolve the boundary dispute. Commenting on the standardisation of the names of six places, Chinese experts said that it was a move to "reaffirm the country's territorial sovereignty to the disputed region", according to the Global Times. "The standardisation came amid China's growing understanding and recognition of the geography in South Tibet. Naming the places is a step to reaffirm China's territorial sovereignty to South Tibet," Xiong Kunxin, a professor of ethnic studies at Beijing's Minzu University of China, was quoted as saying. Xiong said that the legalisation of the regions' names is a part of the rule of law. "These names have existed since ancient times, but had never been standardised before. Therefore, announcing the names is like a remediation," Guo Kefan, a research fellow at the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences, said. Standardising the names from the angles of culture and geography could serve as a reference or leverage when China and India negotiate border issues in future, Guo said. "The South Tibet region is located alongside China's southwestern border and India's north-eastern border where Sino-Indian border disputes are cantered," the report said. It claimed that India "abruptly announced that it was officially designating the region as 'Arunachal Pradesh' but the Chinese government has neither recognised India's occupation of the region, nor the legitimacy of the province". During the Dalai Lama's Arunachal Pradesh visit, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju, who accompanied the Tibetan spiritual leader, had asserted that that Arunachal Pradesh is "an inseparable part of India". China had lodged a diplomatic protest with India over the visit and warned that it would have a negative impact on the efforts to resolve the border dispute. After the nine-day visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu had said that India should not use the Tibetan spiritual leader to undermine China's interests. Representative image. Photograph: Reuters The Delhi high court on Wednesday refused to direct the government to approach the International Court of Justice for the release of death row convict Kulbhushan Jadhav from jail in Pakistan, saying the government was taking necessary steps. A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Anu Malhotra said the government was best placed to take a decision and safeguard the life and liberty of its citizens. "All steps are being taken by the government. There cannot be any intervention by this court," the bench said, adding that it does not want to interfere in the government's measures to secure the release of 46-year-old Jadhav from the Pakistani prison. The court accepted the stand of Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain that Union of India was making every possible endeavour to get Jadhav back. Observing that it would be "inappropriate" to openly discuss the "sensitive issue", the bench said "revelation in open court about steps being taken by the government may jeopardise the sensitive efforts to secure his release." The high court also rejected the petitioner's prayer for issuance of protocol to release Indians abducted/kidnapped in other countries, saying "there cannot be a straight-jacket formula that may be adopted for different situations." The court had reserved its verdict after the ASG said it was "not a public interest litigation". The ASG had also said the issue should be left to Parliament and its members as it was a rare occasion that members of both the Houses, cutting across party lines, have condemned the act of the Pakistan military court. The court was hearing a petition filed by social activist Rahul Sharma who sought direction to the ministry of external affairs and the ministry of home affairs to approach the Hague-based ICJ to provide consular access to Jadhav, saying the former naval officer has not only been illegally detained but also wrongly awarded capital punishment. The Pakistan army chief had on April 10 confirmed the death sentence awarded to Jadhav, a former Naval officer, by a Pakistani military court after he was convicted of "espionage". Delhi Police has issued a lookout notice against All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader T T V Dinakaran, accused of bribing an Election Commission official to get the coveted two-leaves symbol for his faction. The action comes in the wake of inputs that Dinakaran was an NRI and could try to flee, police said. Praveer Ranjan, Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) confirmed that the lookout notice has been issued and said that it was a preventive action. Immigration officials have been alerted, police said. Dinakaran, meanwhile, virtually questioned the need for the lookout notice, asking how could he flee the country when his passport is in court for 20 years. My passport is in court for 20 years. How can I escape from India, he told reporters in Chennai. He was apparently referring to the pending The Foreign Exchange Regulation Act cases against him in a court in Chennai in connection with which he has surrendered his passport. Earlier the Crime Branch had arrested an alleged middleman, Sukesh Chandrashekhar here in connection with the matter. He claimed that he had told Dinakaran that he will get a favourable verdict from the Election Commission of India in the party symbol case, he said. The 27-year-old had told Dinakaran that he has contacts in the Election Commission and his contacts will help the Sasikala faction get the AIADMKs poll symbol of two leaves in a by-election to the RK Nagar assembly seat in Tamil Nadu. Police got on Chadrashekhars trail after they received a tip-off from an informer about certain Election Commission officials being approached. It has been learnt that he had struck a deal for Rs 50 crore for helping the AIADMK faction keep the two leaves symbol, said an officer privy to the probe. Till now, the middleman had allegedly got Rs 10 crore of the deal amount and the remaining amount was to be given to him in a time-bound manner. He had allegedly received money through some Chandni Chowk based hawala operators and police is probing the hawala link. On Tuesday, Sukesh was taken to Chandni Chowk by Crime Branch officers to identify the hawala operators. There are chances he might be taken to Chennai to uncover the money trail. IMAGE: T T V Dinakaran. Photograph: @AIADMKOfficial/Twitter Unfazed by the apex court order that she be tried for conspiracy in the Babri mosque demolition case, Union minister Uma Bharti on Wednesday said she is ready to sacrifice her life for construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya. "Grand Ram temple in Ayodhya is my dream. Ready to go to prison or be hanged for India and Ram Mandir," the senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader told reporters in New Delhi. The firebrand leader, who had earlier today announced her plan to visit Ayodhya on Thursday to seek Lord Ram's blessings for the construction of a temple, later said she has postponed the visit by a few days. She said that the visit was postponed as it could have turned into a "political event" given the "media hype" surrounding the issue. According to sources in the BJP, Bharti cancelled the plan on the advice of party president Amit Shah. Asserting she was proud, unapologetic and does not repent her role in the Ram Janmabhoomi campaign, Bharti said she is ready to face whatever punishments come her way as she fights for the construction of Ram temple. The Water Resources Minister was speaking after the Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the Central Bureau of Investigations plea seeking trail under conspiracy charges against BJP leaders L K Advani, M M Joshi and her in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case. She dismissed the conspiracy charges. "There was no conspiracy. Everything was in the open. I took part in Ram temple campaign with pride and confidence. I had given up the post of chief minister for the sake of the tri-colour. "I will do whatever it takes to see the Ram temple is constructed...Ram temple will be built, koi maai ka laal use rok nahi sakta (no one has the power to stop it from being built), Bharti said, adding she was present at the mosque site on December 6, 1992. The Babri mosque was demolished on the day by a rampaging mob. On the Congress party, Bharti said she will not reply to any of its allegations on the issue. "Sonia Gandhi was at Rajiv Gandhis home when the 1984 Sikh riots happened. Does this mean Soniaji was part of conspiracy? she asked. Jaitley rules out Bhartis resignation Union minister Arun Jaitley virtually ruled out resignation of Uma Bharti from the cabinetfollowing the Supreme Court order in Babri Masjid demolitioncase and described as hypothetical the possibility of theruling having any bearing in selection of candidates forpresidential and vice presidential polls. This case is going on since 1993. Somehow it is going onand no new situation has arisen. So the situation which wasprevailing will continue, he told reporters. He was asked whether the ruling would mean resignation ofBharti from the Union cabinet and Kalyan Singh as Rajasthan governor. "There have been ministers, there have been deputy prime ministers... If chargesheet is the rule (to resign), then just calculate, how many Congress chief ministers will (have to go), he said. When asked whether Wednesdays apex court ruling will impact selection of candidates for the posts of president and vice president, Jaitley merely said it is hypothetical. PM used CBI to get Advani out of Prez race: Lalu Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Yadav alleged that the Supreme Court order was a well-thought-out politics of the prime minister to remove L K Advanis name from the Presidential race. "The CBI is under the influence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It stood in the Supreme Court and sought permission to run trial against Advani and others in the Babri Masjid demolition case, Yadav alleged. "Since Advani's name was in circulation as a probable for the post of President, Modi through well-thought-out politics struck out his (Advanis) name, he alleged. "It is well known that the CBI does what the government desires, the RJD chief claimed. "The BJP makes no difference between itself and others while playing dangerous politics against anyone considered opposed to Modi, he claimed. The RJD chief also sought to turn the tables on the BJP, claiming if Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and other National Democratic Alliance leaders did not attend Mondays programme in Patna to honour freedom fighters due to the presence of convict Lalu, then how could they make Kalyan Singh a Governor? On one hand, they garland Gandhiji's statue, on the other they salute his killer Nathuram Godse, he claimed. Guilty will be punished, says Congress The Congress said the law of the land should prevail and the guilty should be punished. In an initial reaction to the Supreme Court order, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, The Supreme Court has spoken. Let law of the land take its own course without fear or favour. Let justice be done and guilty punished. Law of the land is equal for everyone irrespective of stature, caste, creed, religion or region, he said. Will study order in detail before reacting: BJP The BJP said it will studythe verdict in detail before offering comments. Senior party leader and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, however, asserted that his party highly respects its leaders like Advani and Joshi, the two veterans, along with Bharti and others to be tried now following the apex courts decision. NCP welcomes SC ruling The Nationalist Congress Party welcomed the Supreme Courts ruling and demanded that Bharti be sacked from the cabinet. We welcome the decision of the Supreme Court. In the wake of it, Uma Bharti must be sacked from the (Union) ministry, NCP national spokesperson Nawab Malik said. Even Kalyan Singh has no moral right to continue on a constitutional position like that of a Governor and he must step down to face the charges, said Malik. I am person who is uncompromisingly black and unapologetically gay. Deal with it. I am person who is uncompromisingly black and unapologetically gay. Deal with it. Alvin McEwen [image: 652837 origin 1] Published by Taste of Country At her induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Saturday night (Nov. 5), Dolly Parton round... Why are Black queer men still deeply invested in casual sex and hooking up? Black queer sex may be more accessible, but it doesn't absolve us of hang-ups a... As voters head to the polls today, a right-wing campaign to sow doubt in the 2022 midterms is underway. Since former President Donald Trump lost the 2020... It's very much giving "I'm sorry you feel that way." [image: Daniel Murphy] Daniel Murphy | Elsa/Getty Images The player, a devout Christian, says he supports gays in baseball even though he thinks homosexu... Finally! Its Election Day. Not that Republicans care. They are still insisting that the whole process is rigged and that the results cant be trusted. The... CNN reports: The House select committee investigating January 6 on Monday interviewed the driver of then-President Donald Trumps presidential vehicle on... Voting on Tuesday? Check here to get the information you need Villagers in western Cambodias Battambang province said Wednesday that the governments decision to cancel a contract with a unit of the U.S. Navy for millions of dollars of humanitarian work last month has left them without access to adequate maternal health care facilities. In late March, Prime Minister Hun Sens government notified the U.S. Embassy that it had decided to indefinitely postpone a humanitarian assistance program with the U.S. Navy Mobile Construction Battalionbetter known as the Seabeesafter nine years of work in Cambodia. The decision canceled 20 planned projects across several provinces, the U.S. Embassy said in an April 3 statement posted on its Facebook page. U.S. Embassy spokesman Jay Raman told RFAs Khmer Service at the time that Cambodias defense ministry offered no reason for the decision, which scrapped six bathroom facilities for schools and two new maternity wards in 2017, at a cost U.S. $265,000, and an additional U.S. $550,000 in projects planned for 2018-2019. The embassy has referred requests for information about the status of the projects to the Cambodian government. Cambodias defense ministry has denied canceling the contract, which has seen the Seabees deliver more than U.S. $5 million in service projects since 2008, working with the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces and local communities to build hospital and school improvements in 11 provinces. On Wednesday, villagers from Battambangs Maung district praised the work of the Seabees in upgrading a health center in Kor Koh commune in 2015, saying the facility has provided critical medical services to residents. Mean Rumchang, a 23-year-old pregnant woman from Kor Koh, said she depends on the health center and expressed frustration that the governments decision to cancel the contract had thrown plans for a new maternity ward into flux. My house is close to the center and I dont have money for medical treatment at places further away than here, she said. If [the Seabees] come to help construct a maternity ward near here, it would be much more convenient for us. Without their support, we must travel far for treatment, affecting our livelihood. One of several patients lined up to receive medical treatment from the Kor Koh health center on Wednesday told RFA the facility was affordable and convenient. Poor people, such as myself, can come to this health center from far away for care, said the patient, who spoke to RFA anonymously. I would be much happier if they continued their help. Vann Kim Orn, who runs the Kor Koh health center, told RFA that she had hoped the Seabees would add a new maternity ward and a clean water well for the use of residents and her staff members. [But] if the U.S. has concluded its mission, it will affect the residents, she said. My goal was to oversee the building of a maternity ward, so we can accommodate additional residents for medical treatmentparticularly women and children, she said, noting that Kor Koh commune consists of eight villages, which are home to 14,869 people, or around 3,160 families. Vann Kim Orn said she had already submitted a request to the Seabees for assistance in constructing the maternity ward and well, but has yet to receive a reply. Shifting loyalties Cambodias decision to expel the Seabees comes after its defense ministry earlier this year suspended annual Angkor Sentinel joint exercises with the U.S. military and abandoned counter-terrorism training exercises with the Australian military. The government has claimed it is too busy preparing security for June commune elections to take part in the exercises, but observers say the moves indicate Cambodia is pivoting away from Western influence in favor of better relations with other countries on the rise in Asia, such as China. Last year marked the first joint naval drill between China and Cambodia, after Beijing provided Phnom Penh with military aid, including weapons and training. After reports emerged that the Seabees contract had been suspended, the Phnom Penh Post quoted government spokesman Phay Siphan denying that Cambodia was shifting away from Washington and improving its relationship with Beijing. We respect the mutual interests of both countries, he said, referring further questions to the defense ministry. Trade between Cambodia and China is expected to surpass U.S. $5 billion in 2017. Reported by Hour Hum for RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Sovannarith Keo. Written in English by Joshua Lipes. Cambodias Interior Ministry has banned future visits to political opposition officials and activists held in Prey Sar Prison, saying that a group of lawmakers had improperly allowed an RFA Khmer Service reporter to accompany them to the prison on Wednesday. The announcement by ministry spokesperson Khieu Sopheak said that the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) had cheated prison authorities by including Vuthy Hout, Khmer service deputy director, in their party after he had earlier been turned away. Vuthy Huot, also known as Chun Chanboth, said he had gone at first to the prison on his own to visit jailed political and social commentator Kim Sok. But I was not allowed to see him, as I was told I would need a court order unless I was a member of his immediate family, he said. I then left the prisons security checkpoint. But by a coincidence the [CNRP] officials arrived, and I asked them if I could enter along with them, he said. The reporter had not attempted to disguise himself on entry, he said. The prison guards knew me well, and addressed me directly as Chun Chanboth, he said, adding, I even registered in my real name. 'Entered on his own' Speaking to RFAs Khmer Service April 19 after the groups visit to 16 jailed CNRP officials and activists, CNRP vice president Mu Sochua said that Vuthy Huot had entered the prison on his own. We have no idea why he was allowed in, she said. The opposition party members held at Prey Sar are relying on Cambodian voters to seek justice for them by voting for their party in local commune elections scheduled in June, Mu Sochua said. In the meantime, they do not want to serve as political bargaining chips, she said. The CNRP is one of 12 political parties competing for 1,646 commune council seats on the June 4 ballot that many see as a bellwether for general elections in 2018. Observers believe that the CNRP could give the Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP), which has ruled Cambodia for more than 35 years, a run for its money in the June elections. Calls for change Also speaking to RFA, CPP spokesperson Sok Ey San questioned the CNRPs chances for electoral wins, saying the party has lost support in recent months. Previously, when their forces were united, they got only 55 seats. So what about now, when they are politically divided? It may be enough for them to win 10 seats this time. There are now strong calls for change in Cambodia, though, and the CNRP may win if fair elections are held, political commentator So Chantha told RFA. If there are no more threats, if there is no more vote buying or intimidation, representatives will be elected according to the peoples will, he said. And then, the courts will no longer be influenced by politicians or by any political party, he said. Reported by Thai Tha for RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Sovannarith Keo. Written in English by Richard Finney. Local Chinese officials meet with members of the family of Zhao Xin, a 14-year-old schoolboy who was the victim of a bullying homicide in Luzhou county, southwestern China's Sichuan province, April 2017. China has vowed to crack down on campus bullying following the death of a 14-year-old schoolboy in the southwestern province of Sichuan this month, while insisting that he killed himself as opposed to being the victim of a bullying homicide. "Campus safety concerns the healthy development of millions of students and the happiness of their families," Premier Li Keqiang told a meeting of China's cabinet, the State Council, earlier this week. "Schools ... should also be the most secure places when it comes to safety," he said. Li said schools must employ the "necessary personnel" and use closed-circuit TV to keep a close watch on potential dangers and safeguard students' safety. He called for an effective mechanism to be established to curb bullying, especially acts of violence, by disclosure, intervention and prevention, saying officials should respond to public concerns by disclosing the results of investigations in a timely manner. Official media linked his comments to "a number of incidents of campus violence and bullying," including the April 1 death of Zhao Xin, whose bruised body was found at the foot of his dorm building at Taifu Middle School in Sichuan's Luzhou county. "The incident aroused suspicions among members of the public that the boy had been beaten to death by five other students, who were believed to have bullied him," the China Daily newspaper reported on Tuesday. Local police have flung a tight security cordon around Taifu since Zhao's death, which has drawn repeated protests local residents said at the time were spontaneous. "There is a lot of anger about this incident," a Luzhou resident surnamed Lin said. "But the police will detain anyone who looks particularly determined to protest." He said "hundreds, perhaps thousands" of armed police had been deployed to the town to quell the protests, and that hundreds of people have been detained. "These are spontaneous protests from people who want justice, who want their views known on the matter, but the police threaten them, saying they are inciting crowds to disrupt public orderthat's how they deal with them," he said. "They have detained hundreds of people in all ... the authorities are suppressing us by force, even though local people aren't causing trouble and have mostly stayed around the vicinity of the school," he said. Township under lockdown Zhao's death follows a string of deaths in recent years linked to the offspring of powerful figures in China, many of whom have gone unpunished amid widespread public anger over the behavior of the children of officials. In Luzhou township, more than 100 police officers were dispatched to the funeral home to remove Zhao's body in a bid to cover up any dissenting narratives soon after his death, residents said. "Anyone who saw the body has now been detained or placed under close surveillance," a resident surnamed Yi told RFA. "The whole township is under security lockdown, with military vehicles dispatched here." "Nobody can get in now," Yi said. "Anyone who won't subscribe to their version of events will be beaten up and locked up, so nobody dares to try and find out the truth now." Yi said local controls on the internet have been stepped up, with the town's connection frequently cut off or interrupted, and social media users blocked from sending any updates. "The police now has full control of the internet, and they have imposed an information blackout," Yi said. "We can't send anything, text or video." "I have tried to call a number of journalists from various newspapers, but none of them will touch it," he said. "If the government has the story right, then why not put out its version, rather than preventing any news from getting out?" Police said Zhao had likely committed suicide, saying there was no evidence to indicate homicide, but online posts said Zhao had been bullied to death by five classmates including the children of high-ranking local figures. The reports sparked mass protests after they alleged the bullying had previously been reported to police, who did nothing to stop it. China's powerful propaganda machine swung into action on April 2, ordering all media to delete any reports around Zhao's death, while state news agency Xinhua said it had faced huge obstacles when trying to get to the bottom of the story. A motorcyclist rides past Taifu Middle School in Luzhou county, southwestern China's Sichuan province, in an undated photo. Photo courtesy of rights activists Tight surveillance Local sources have told RFA that many of Zhao's immediate family are being held under tight surveillance or house arrest amid continuing anger that the children of powerful people are often seen as above the law. Four people have been detained by Lu county police on suspicion of "incitement to severe disruption of public order," and face punishment for spreading what police say is "fake news" about Zhao's death. Local residents said that three of the five alleged bullies have yet to be identified publicly. "Out of the five murder suspects, they have identified three of them," an anonymous resident told RFA on Wednesday. "They are the son of the township mayor, the son of the head of the local police station, surnamed Tian, and the son of the school principal." The source said local authorities have waged a campaign to prevent anyone from speaking out about the circumstances surrounding Zhao's death, insisting that everyone say it was a suicide. An official who answered the phone at the Luzhou municipal government declined to comment in the wake of the incident. "Please rely on the formal announcements on the Luzhou municipal government website," the official said. "The police are currently in charge of the matter, so you can call and ask them." "The information you have is just hearsay," he said. While the propaganda ministry directive leaked online and translated by the U.S.-based China Digital News website ordered all websites to run only official news items on the incident, journalists backed by the ruling Chinese Communist Party said they were denied access to the story too. The information blackout has resulted in some unusually outspoken reporting from state media. Articles from Xinhua and party mouthpiece the People's Daily have criticized local officials for preventing official media from speaking to Zhao's family, saying that police ruled out murder just a day after his death. In October 2015, the chief of police in the northern city of Taiyuan came under fire amid allegations by a whistle-blowing blogger that his son beat up a traffic cop in front of onlookers, and that local authorities stopped the news from getting out. In the best-known case outside China, a court in northern Hebei province sentenced the son of a high-ranking police officer involved in a hit-and-run road accident to six years in prison in January 2011, despite calls for a much harsher punishment after he caused the death of a female student. Li Qiming's case brought him nationwide notoriety because of his defiant outburst to officials and angry witnesses to the incident: "Go ahead, sue me. My father is Li Gang!" he reportedly told them. Reported by Wen Yuqing for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Yang Fan for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. China said on Wednesday that an Interpol "red notice" has been issued for the arrest of billionaire and critic of the ruling Chinese Communist Party Guo Wengui, in a move critics say is aimed at preventing him from revealing embarrassing details linking the country's leaders to a corruption case. Guo, who is also known as Miles Kwok, is named as a suspect by the notice, which requests that the police forces of member states "locate and provisionally arrest an individual pending extradition." "It is our understanding that Interpol has issued a 'red notice' for criminal suspect Guo Wengui," foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regular news briefing in Beijing on Wednesday. Hong Kong's South China Morning Post newspaper had earlier reported that Guo is suspected of paying 60 million yuan (U.S.$8.72 million) in bribes to disgraced former state security vice-minister Ma Jian, with whom he has been linked. But Guo, who has lived overseas for the past two years, said the move is linked to fears that he will act as a whistle-blower on corruption among the highest echelons of China's leadership. "This is suicidal behavior coming from truly corrupt officials who fear that I will expose their crimes," Guo said on Wednesday via his Twitter account. "This will only strengthen my determination to fight these bad guys until the end. Everything is just getting started!" he said. Guo said he hasn't held Chinese travel documents for many years now. Interpol red notice aren't legally binding on member states, so individual jurisdictions have total discretion over whether or not to enforce them. Aimed to silence A source told RFA on Wednesday that the order is aimed at silencing Guo before he reveals any evidence of corruption. The move to detain Guo comes after a former vice minister of China's public security ministry was elected head of Interpol last November, sparking concern that Beijing will use international law enforcement mechanisms to pursue peaceful critics and political asylum-seekers overseas. Online commentators in China seemed to think this was relevant. "Everyone is watching this, because Guo Wengui could lift the lid on the whole system," one commentator wrote. "Everyone knows this is happening because the head of Interpol is a former vice minister of police." Current Interpol president Meng Hongwei is a former vice minister of public security. Guo has repeatedly claimed to hold damning information about party elites, which could damage the government amid behind-the-scenes political infighting in the run-up to the 19th Party Congress later this year. Chinese constitutional scholar and historian Zhang Lifan said China's announcement last December that it will prosecute former spy chief Ma Jian for bribery and abuse of power was likely aimed at warning Guo off going public with any concrete evidence of corruption. "This is all about protecting their grip on power," Zhang told RFA. "I think they are clearly going after Ma Jian to send a message to Guo." Ma, former head of counterespionage operations at the state security police, is accused of "seriously violating political discipline and political rules," in a likely reference to a set of disciplinary rules for party members published last year. Ma reportedly "confronted investigations by the commission and tried to transfer and hide financial possessions involved in his case," according to the party's disciplinary arm. Pin Ho, editor of New York-based Chinese news magazine Mingjing News, agreed, calling Ma Jian a minor character in a case that also has links to "missing" billionaire Xiao Jianhua. Abducted at home Xiao was reportedly abducted by mainland Chinese state security police from his apartment in Hong Kong, a separate legal jurisdiction under the terms of the 1997 handover agreement. The Financial Times reported that Xiao was "accosted" in his waterfront apartment in the Four Seasons resort at around 1.00 a.m. on Friday by "five or six plain-clothed Chinese public security agents," who took him to mainland China along with his bodyguards. "Out of all the leaders who might be implicated by Xiao Jianhua, Ma Jian is a relatively minor character," Ho told RFA in a recent interview. "The current power struggle is generating a lot of shocks behind the scenes, and some people will inevitably become scapegoats." "If there is no way for the Chinese Communist Party to find an equilibrium with this round of power struggle, it will implode," he predicted. Since taking power in 2012, Chinese president Xi Jinping has launched an ongoing anti-corruption campaign targeting high-ranking "tigers" along with low-ranking "flies." However, the party's internal investigative arm, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), has been slammed by rights groups as unaccountable and lacking in legal representation for those accused, as well as resorting to torture and other abuses to elicit forced confessions. And political commentators say that the anti-corruption campaign is highly selective, with members of factions other than Xi's most likely to be targeted. Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. The map shows the regions of Myanmar controlled by the United Wa State Army. Seven of Myanmars ethnic armed groups formed a new committee on Wednesday to hold collective talks with the government in anticipation of the next round of nationwide peace negotiations. Representatives from the Kachin Independence Organization/Kachin Independence Army (KIO/KIA), Arakan Army (AA), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA), National Democratic Alliance Army-Eastern Shan State (NDAA-ESS), and United Wa State Army (UWSA) attended the meeting in Pangkham, the administrative capital of the UWSA-controlled territory in Myanmar. The militias changed the name of the Political Dialogue Committee they had formed to hold talks with the government to the Union Political Negotiation Dialogue Committee, according to a statement issued by the groups after their five-day meeting. The ethnic armed groups also agreed not to hold individual talks with the government, but rather to hold them through the new committee. The statement also said that the militias had approved a general policy and position on peace negotiations during the meeting. The UWSAthe largest nonstate army in Myanmarsubmitted a report at the meeting on resolving difficulties in the peace process, the statement said. The Union Political Negotiation Dialogue Committee will send the report, which all seven militias approved, to the central government, it said. The government under de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi held the first round of nationwide peace talks, known as the 21st-century Panglong Conference, late last August in an effort to end decades of ethnic separatist civil wars. But the government has twice postponed the second round of talks originally scheduled for February as fighting between ethnic militias and the national army continue in the northern and eastern parts of the country. Eight other ethnic armed groups have already signed a nationwide cease-fire agreement with the government, which wants all ethnic militias to sign the pact in order to participate in political dialogue. Reported by RFAs Myanmar service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Police in western Chinas Sichuan province detained five Tibetans following the April 15 self-immolation of a 39 year-old father of four, severely beating at least three suspected of close ties to the protest, Tibetan sources say. Three of those taken into custody were identified as Konchok Gyaltsen, Nyima Tsering, and Tsering Gyatso, a local source told RFAs Tibetan Service. They were detained on an allegation that they had possession of the mobile phone of Wangchuk Tseten, who self-immolated on April 15, RFAs source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. All three were severely beaten during questioning, the source said. Before staging his protest, Tseten had called the three to tell them where his phone could be found, the source said. Two of them were later released, but the third is still being held, he said, adding, The police took the phone away, and they never learned what information was contained on it. Two other Tibetans, still unidentified, were also detained on suspicion of having filmed video of Tsetens protest, the source said. 'Engulfed in flames' Tseten, a native of Nyagrong (in Chinese, Xinlong) county in Sichuans Kardze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, set himself ablaze at about 7:00 a.m. in a public square of the main town of the prefecture's Kardze county, sources told RFA in earlier reports. It seems that he drank a large quantity of kerosene before he lit himself on fire, and also poured it over his body, another local source said. His body was completely engulfed in flames, so it seems there is little chance that he survived. As he burned, Tseten called out for the long life of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, RFAs source said. His body was taken away by the police, he said. Security forces were quickly sent to question Tsetens relatives, raising tensions in his home town, the source said. Tsetens 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 Kunsang Tenzin and Sangye Dorjee for RFAs Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney. An ethnic Uyghur cadre in northwestern Chinas Xinjiang region has been fired from her post for holding her wedding ceremony at home according to Islamic traditions instead of at a government-sanctioned venue, local officials and residents said. Salamet Memetimin, the communist party secretary for Chaka townships Bekchan village, in Hotan (in Chinese, Hetian) prefectures Chira (Cele) county, was among 97 officials recently charged with disciplinary violations, according to an April 10 report by the state-run Hotan Daily newspaper. Memetimin was demoted on March 23, the report said, without providing details. But according to a Uyghur farmer from the area, who recently spoke with RFAs Uyghur Service on condition of anonymity, Memetimin was relieved of her duties for undertaking her marriage vowsknown as nikah in Muslim cultureat her own home. These days, practices such as holding ones wedding vows at ones home are becoming a thing of the past, and everything is done according to the law, she said. Weddings are currently held under the supervision of our village chiefsthey are the ones who get the marriage certificates from the police station on our behalf. The wedding ceremonies even need to be held in the village [government] offices. The farmer said that local officials had been requiring wedding ceremonies to be held in village offices or in other venues provided by the township government for a year or so. I was married three years ago, but at that time my husband was not a party member yet, so we were able to hold our nikah [at home], she said. A Han Chinese official from Bekchan village confirmed to RFA that weddings cannot be held in homes in the southern Uyghur region. It is very clearly written in the government directiveyou cannot have your vows at your own house, so that is why they were charged, said the official, who also asked not to be named. In attendance at a wedding should be the village party branch secretary and a specially-appointed religious leader. You can take your vows, as long as it is under the close supervision of those two people. According to the official, if wedding vows are taken at home, unsanctioned religious leaders might promote deviant views that contradict ethnic unity and the sovereignty of the county. Three days prior to the wedding, couples must submit an application to the township government and, if permission is granted, the event can be hosted by the local party chief at the village service home, he said. Its like that in every part of Hotan these days. Security measures Several county governments in Hotan have bolstered anti-terror security measures since February, when authorities shot dead three Uyghurs who attacked passersby with knives in Guma (Pishan) county, killing five and injuring five others. Sources have told RFA that the three attackers appear to have been motivated by anger at threats by local officials to punish them for praying with their families. Other residents of Bekchan village told RFA that important cultural traditions such as nikah ceremonies are viewed with suspicion by local officials and have been all but wiped out in many parts of Xinjiang. If you want to undergo marriage vows, you must do it according to lawconducted by an approved person, such as a government-designated religious figure, one resident said. If you invite unsanctioned officiants on your own, its deemed illegal and will be punished. Another resident said that while some of the cultural traditions remain, holding wedding ceremonies at village offices has made the events less joyful. The reception and celebrationwith singing and dancingis held in village office, but then afterwards, everyone returns to their homes, the resident said. Most of the cultural costumes [and other traditions] associated with marriages have been eliminated, and very few remain. China has vowed to crack down on what it calls religious extremism in Xinjiang, and regularly conducts strike hard campaigns including police raids on Uyghur households, restrictions on Islamic practices, and curbs on the culture and language of the Uyghur people, including videos and other material. While China blames Uyghur extremists for terrorist attacks, experts outside China say Beijing has exaggerated the threat from the Uyghurs and that repressive domestic policies are responsible for an upsurge in violence there that has left hundreds dead since 2009. Reported by Mihray Abdilim for RFAs Uyghur Service. Translated by Mamatjan Juma. Written in English by Joshua Lipes. Vietnamese Hoa Hao Buddhists stage a protest against local authorities in Phuoc Hung village, Phuoc Hoa commune, of An Phu district in southwestern Vietnam's An Giang province, April 19, 2017. Scores of Hoa Hao Buddhists in a village in southwestern Vietnams An Giang province protested on Wednesday against local authorities for harassing and beating them when they gathered to pray at the home of a former prisoner of conscience. Police in Phuoc Hung village, Phuoc Hoa commune, in the provinces An Phu district followed a group of Hoa Hao motorbikers as they were leaving the home of Bui Van Trung, who served a four-year jail sentence for four years for resisting officials carrying out state deeds. He was released in October 2016. Five policemen followed Hoa Nam, also known as Teo, to a deserted place and beat him, Trung told RFAs Vietnamese Service. Teo was among the group of 11 motorbikers leaving my house after the prayers. Trung said that the harassment began on the night of April 18 when traffic police stopped fellow Hoa Hao Buddhists going to his house. They confiscated their motorbike registration papers and did not return them, he said. When the harassment continued, Trung and scores of fellow Hoa Hao Buddhist followers raised a banner to protest against local authorities for preventing them from worshipping. The Hoa Hao Buddhists in An Giang province are among those who do not obey the officially sanctioned Hoa Hao Church Committee by Hanois communist government. Vietnams government officially recognizes the Hoa Hao religion, which has some two million followers across the country, but imposes harsh controls on dissenting Hoa Hao groups, including the sect in An Giang province, that do not follow the state-sanctioned branch. Rights groups say that authorities in An Giang routinely harass followers of the unapproved groups, prohibiting public readings of the Hoa Hao founders writings and discouraging worshipers from visiting Hoa Hao pagodas in An Giang and other provinces. Reported and translated by Gia Minh for RFAs Vietnamese Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. UPDATED at 2:10 P.M. EDT on 2017-04-19 The mayor of Vietnams capital Hanoi has been assigned to end a standoff over a land dispute between farmers and authorities, now in its fifth day, and secure the release of 20 police officers and local officials the farmers detained during a clash over the weekend. Speaking to reporters late on Tuesday, deputy secretary of the Hanoi Communist Party Office Dao Duc Toan said Hanoi mayor Nguyen Duc Chung had been ordered to hold a dialogue with the farmers from Dong Tam commune, in the citys My Duc district, to resolve the ongoing stalemate. Toan did not provide details of what Chung will discuss with the farmers or when the meeting is expected to take place. The deputy secretary acknowledged that the land situation in Dong Tam had been complicated for years because of "lax management," and said authorities of Hanoi and My Duc district had removed one official from his post and reprimanded 10 officials in the commune. He told reporters the authorities are pursuing talks to resolve the problem, but said their first priority was to ensure the safety of those detained by the farmers. The two sides have been locked in a standoff since the morning of April 15, when police clashed with the Dong Tam farmers, who say the government is seizing 47 hectares (116 acres) of their farmland for the military-run Viettel Groupthe countrys largest mobile phone operatorwithout compensating them. Police had arrested four farmers for allegedly causing social unrest, and other farmers responded by detaining 38 police officers and local officials, and threatening to kill them if security personnel attack again. The farmers who were arrested have since been released. By Tuesday afternoon, 15 police officers had been freed by the villagers, while three other detainees managed to escape by themselves. Twenty people are still being held in Dong Tam and authorities have said that those responsible for detaining them will be dealt with according to the law. Lawyer Tran Vu Hai, who is advising the farmers, initially told RFAs Vietnamese Service that mayor Chung had spoken with the Dong Tam farmers by phone and pledged to visit the commune on Tuesday, but later said Chung had denied promising to do so. On Wednesday, lawmakers Duong Trung Quoc and Le Thanh Van joined a growing number of observers who have called for the two sides to hold dialogue and settle the conflict peacefully. Negotiations Meanwhile, blogger Dung Vova, who grew up near Dong Tam, told RFA that negotiations were underway Wednesday to release six more detainees. At this point, the farmers continue to detain the remaining [20], and among those the Hanoi authorities have asked for the release of six riot police who belong to the City Unit, he said. Villagers responded by asking City Unit representatives to come and sign papers certifying the number released, in order to prevent losses or any legal issues in the future. But [as of 6:00 p.m. in Hanoi] no representatives have shown up. Vova told RFA that he had streamed a live video calling on Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to consider the proposal, lest we end up with prolonged tensions. The villagers need to work to earn a living, he said, suggesting that a quick resolution to the standoff would be to the benefit of all stakeholders. Media coverage Over the past five days, Vietnams state media reports have largely cited statements from the Hanoi Communist Partys Propaganda Unit, which claim that the farmers illegally occupied land reserved to build a military airfield in 1980 that was recently awarded to Viettel to build a defense-related project. Only the online Vietnamese news service VnExpress quoted the farmers as saying that they want the dispute settled in accordance with the law and to avoid creating social disorder. On Tuesday, Ha Noi Moi newspaper reported that outside forces, including lawyers and civil society workers, were working to incite the Dong Tam farmers by posting information about the standoff on social media in the name of democracy. Blogger Vova dismissed the claims, saying netizens should have the right to post updates about the situation and discuss it without having to worry about being accused of provoking unrest. Those who go online to socialize [such as myself] are often called pro-democracy activists, he said, adding that authorities had also labeled him a member of Viet Tan, a U.S.-based pro-democracy organization banned by the Vietnamese government. Vova said local officials have also accused him of stirring up trouble in the commune because of his online activities. The elders there tell me that local authorities are even putting out propaganda that I am a member of reactionary forces, he said. Land conflicts While all land in Vietnam is ultimately held by the state, land confiscations have become a flashpoint as residents accuse the government of pushing small landowners aside in favor of lucrative real estate projects, and of paying too little in compensation to those whose land is taken. Many petitioners who seek justice and demand adequate compensation for their land have been beaten and imprisoned by authorities on allegations of causing public disorder under Article 245 of Vietnams Penal Code. Reported by RFAs Vietnam Service. Translated by An Nguyen. Written in English by Joshua Lipes. Ethnic Mongolian women are often found at the forefront of land protests and petitioning campaigns in the northern Chinese region of Inner Mongolia, where the takeover of vast areas of traditional grazing lands by Chinese companies has sparked widespread social tensions. Sichinchimurg, the daughter of activist Urgumulaa, Alatengdabchi and Otogungerel arrived this week in the Inner Mongolian regional capital Hohhot on a petitioning campaign for fellow residents of their hometowns in the county-like divisions of Urad Middle Banner and Otog Banner and Ordos city. "There are 18 herders who came here from Ordos," Urgumulaa's daughter told RFA, saying she is now petitioning on behalf of her parents who have lost their livelihood with the loss of access to 2,500 mu of grassland. "There are also people from Hulunbuir league and Bayanuur league," she said, referring to prefectural-level regional divisions. "We have been going around various government offices in Hohhot for more than a month now, and I haven't heard of a single person who has managed to get a meeting with an official," she said. Land held by Urgumulaa's family and neighbors was "allocated" to the Molinhe Stock Breeding Farm in and again in July last year, prompting clashes with local demolition gangs and the collapse of an elderly farmer with a heart attack. A local court has ruled a "land use permit" produced by the government to justify the move invalid, but this has had little effect on the ground. Meanwhile, the herders have had to make huge efforts to evade police trying to stop them from petitioning. "We have been petitioning about this for many years now, and they put me under surveillance," Urgumulaa's daughter, who apparently shares her mother's name, said. "I managed to leave via [a different route], and they called up the school where I work and said I had headed east, what's happening?" "More herders are going to petition again, to try to protect our rights, because our grasslands were illegally occupied [by Molinhe and the government]," she said. Fellow petitioner Alatengdabchi from Hanggin Banner said her family's land has now been leased out illegally three times since 2009. "In 2009 it was leased by a guy surnamed Zhang on a 20-year lease, but then he transferred the lease to a third party, and it has now been transferred three times in all," she told RFA. "Our family holds 800 mu of immature and 1,500 mu of mature forest, and now the current leaseholders have destroyed the forest," she said. "There are only about 300 mature trees left now." "They are also farming illegally on the grasslands, destroying the indigenous environment," she said, adding that the leaseholders had breached the terms of their lease. And Otogungerel, who hails from Otog Banner, said her family has lost 4,500 mu of grazing lands to illegal to the Ordos Mengtai Co. "This happened in 2003, but the most infuriating thing is that I had build 80 square meters of housing on my own land," she said. "They detained me for five days with no paperwork, and then Mengtai put up 490 square meters of buildings on our family land with no paperwork whatsoever, and nobody would do anything about it." She said she still hopes to find a government department in Hohhot that will accept her formal complaint. And Sichinchimurg from Urad Middle Banner said her family has lost some 11,600 mu of grassland to illegal leasing. "Our family holds 11,600 mu or more, and all of this was taken over by a guy surnamed Shi back in 2002, who took it fraudulently, paying 10,000 yuan for a 26-year lease." "Then, in 2004, this guy Shi forged my father's signature and transferred the grasslands illegally," she said. Ethnic Mongolians, who make up almost 20 percent of Inner Mongolia's population of 23 million, increasingly complain of widespread environmental destruction and unfair development policies in the region. Clashes between Chinese state-backed mining or forestry companies and herding communities are common in the region, which borders the independent country of Mongolia. Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. With one statement this week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pretty much summed up Moscow's attitude toward its neighbors. Speaking on the eve of a provocative visit to Georgia's Russian-occupied region of Abkhazia, Lavrov said the following: "The situation in the region remains tense. Georgia still claims the territory of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, refuses to make nonuse of force agreements with them, and emphasizes its intention to join NATO." OK, let's take this one piece at a time, shall we. First: The situation in the South Caucasus region remains tense. Well, yes it does. Lavrov is right about this. But why is it tense? It is tense because Russia continues to occupy 20 percent of Georgian territory -- and has proceeded to militarize that territory. Second: Georgia continues to claim the territory of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Well, yeah, because according to international law, Abkhazia and South Ossetia are Georgian territory. Period. Third, Georgia refuses to pledge not to use force in the region. Right again. Because doing so as Moscow builds up its forces in Abkhazia and South Ossetia would amount to unilateral disarmament as well as Georgia's tacit acceptance of Russia's occupation of its territory. And finally, yes, Georgia has stressed its desire to join NATO. Well, they've sure got nerve thinking that as a sovereign state they can aspire to join any alliance they choose. Lavrov's comments this week illustrate, yet again, that Moscow's attitude toward its neighbors is that of a protection racket toward its victims. It's geopolitical extortion that says: do as we say or we'll burn down your house and blame it on you. Keep telling me what you think on The Power Vertical's Twitter feed and on our Facebook page. In reaching an agreement to purchase gas from Azerbaijan, Georgia has both obviated the need to purchase any additional Russian gas in 2017 and temporarily deflected criticism of a recent deal with Gazprom. The new agreement with Azerbaijan was announced on April 7 by Georgian Energy Minister Kakha Kaladze, who had incurred harsh criticism and faced claims he sold out his country's energy security after signing a two-year agreement with Russia's gas giant in January. That deal entailed a phased shift from payment in kind to payment in cash of the tariffs Georgia receives for the transit of Russian gas across its territory to Armenia. Critics of that deal ignore the fact that the volume of gas Georgia has hitherto received from Russia accounts for just under 10 percent of the total 2.4 billion cubic meters it imports annually; the remaining 90 percent comes from Azerbaijan. In that respect, allegations by the opposition that the deal will result in a budget shortfall and threaten Georgia's energy security are misleading, especially considering that the amount of imported gas in question is consistent with figures from previous years. By comparison, in 2015, Slovakia and the Czech Republic depended on Russia for over 90 percent of imports; Germany receives some 30 percent of its gas from Russia. Cash Payment Kaladze is quoted as saying that, during the first three months of 2017, Georgia received 100 million cubic meters of gas from Russia. That is the equivalent of 10 percent of the first 1 billion cubic meters supplied via Georgia to Armenia, for which, according to Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetian, Georgia was to be reimbursed in kind, with the option of purchasing additional gas at the price of $185 per 1,000 cubic meters. This year at least, however, Tbilisi will not have to do so. Instead, it has reached agreement with Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR and with the international consortium currently developing the Shakh Deniz offshore Caspian gas field to supply a total of 2.347 billion cubic meters of gas, adequate to cover its domestic requirements. The price of that gas has not been divulged. Meanwhile, Gazprom will pay in cash for the transit of the remaining 1.2 billion cubic meters it is contractually obliged to supply Armenia with in 2017, and for the entire sum due in 2018. Kaladze has repeatedly declined to disclose the actual tariff, angering the opposition and NGOs that fear unwarranted concessions to Moscow. Opposition Initiatives The Georgian parliament majority has rejected two opposition bids to force disclosure of the terms of the treaty with Gazprom. The first was a draft legal initiative by the two opposition factions into which the former ruling United National Movement split in January to amend the parliament statutes to permit the creation of an interfactional group that would have access to agreements that constitute a commercial secret. The second was a demand by one of those two factions to establish a parliamentary investigative commission to evaluate the agreement with Gazprom, the website Civil.ge reported on February 23. It is not only opposition parties that are alarmed by the possibility that the agreement is detrimental to Georgia's interests. A poll conducted by the International Republican Institute between February 22 and March 8 reportedly found that 58 percent of the 1,501 respondents took a negative view of the agreement, even without knowing the precise terms, InterPressNews reported on April 5. Only 11 percent expressed approval. It is still unclear whether, as veteran parliamentarian Gia Volsky has implied, the Georgian government was strong-armed into making concessions in the face of a threat by Gazprom to suspend gas supplies to Armenia via Georgia altogether and instead supply Armenia through an alternative pipeline via Iran. The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL. A Russian court has rejected a lawsuit filed by an Aeroflot flight attendant who accused the national airline of discrimination based on body size. Moscow's Tushino District Court said on April 18 that there were "no grounds" to rule in favor of the plaintiff, Irina Iyerusalimskaya. Iyerusalimskaya was seeking to force Aeroflot to to drop what she said were rules for the weight, height, and clothing size of flight attendants, as well as more than 1 million rubles ($18,000) in compensation for docked pay and moral damages. She was one of several Aeroflot flight attendants who claimed in February that they were being barred from working on international flights -- and thus from higher pay -- because of their physical attributes. They jokingly dubbed themselves STS -- abbreviated Russian for "old, fat, and ugly." Aeroflot has denied it discriminates. A different Moscow court is expected to hear a lawsuit by another flight attendant, Yevgenia Magurina. With reporting by Current Time TV, TASS, Interfax, Heatstreet, and RIA Novosti The massive U.S. bomb dropped on an Islamic State cave complex in Afghanistan last week killed militant fighters from Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Russia, India, and other countries, an Afghan official said. "Most militants killed in the attack were from Pakistan, India, Philippines, and Bangladesh," Mohammad Radmanish, a spokesman for the Afghan defense ministry, said on April 18. The GBU-43 bomb, nicknamed MOAB for "massive ordnance air blast" or "mother of all bombs," killed 96 Islamic State militants, including four key IS leaders on April 13, the Pentagon and Afghan officials have said. They said it also destroyed a 300-meter long cave system, along with large amounts of light and heavy weapons and munition. Based on reporting by dpa and Radio Azadi The European Union warned Moldova on April 19 to honor its trade accord with the bloc in the face of President Igor Dodon's turn toward Russia. Earlier in April, Moldova signed a cooperation agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), where it now has observer status. The bloc -- which is composed of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan -- has been touted by the pro-Russia Dodon as an alternative to the 28-nation EU. EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy spokeswoman Nabila Massrali said on April 19 that it is "first and foremost up to the Moldovan authorities to define the relations" between Moldova and the Russia-led EAEU. But Massrali said the EU expects that Moldova, "like all countries which have undertaken legal commitments with the EU, will fully comply with its obligations" under its EU Association Agreement and its Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area arrangements. Moldovan Prime Minister Pavel Filip has harshly criticized the signing of the EAEU cooperation memorandum, saying that it is aimed at undermining his government's efforts to forge closer ties with the EU. Russian President Vladimir Putin has tried to use the EAEU to bolster Moscow's influence in the former Soviet Union and counter the EU and NATO. About half of Moldovas trade is with the EU. Thanks to rising oil prices and a sense that the industry is on the mend, shares of energy stocks have been on a tear as of late. The energy industry was one of the best-performing asset classes in 2016. Three companies that have done particularly well over the past year are coal miner Cloud Peak Energy (NYSE: CLD), oil and gas transportation and logistics provider Energy Transfer Equity (NYSE: ETE), and industrial sand supplier U.S. Silica Holdings (NYSE: SLCA). Over the past year, all three of these stocks were up more than 100%. After such a spectacular run, it's worth asking whether these stocks are now overvalued or if they are at the start of something big in the future. Let's take a quick look at each business and why its stock has gained so much recently, as well as whether there is any juice left to squeeze out of shares in these respective companies. Cleaning up its act? You do have to give credit where it's due: The management team at Cloud Peak Energy has done quite a bit to make the company a more worthwhile investment lately. Thanks to a modest jump in coal prices in 2016, it was able to turn a profit for the year, put some free cash flow toward paying down debt, and secure an export contract in Asia for 1.9 million tons in the first half of 2017. Those three were some of the driving factors that led to a 152% rise in its stock over the past year. Whether Cloud Peak is a buy today largely depends on your investment time horizon. If you are looking for that multidecade investment that you don't have to think about, then this isn't the stock to watch. That said, there are some reasons to think Could Peak could do modestly well over the next couple of years. Coal is undoubtedly on the decline in the U.S. Even coal producers -- who paint the rosiest picture possible in investor presentations -- estimate that an additional 50 GW of coal plants will retire between now and 2021, with no new coal plants coming on line. Even with these reductions in demand, though, coal use at power plants will still represents a decent chunk of power production in the U.S. Offsetting those domestic declines is growing demand from places such as India and Southeast Asia. If Cloud Peak and other U.S. producers can capitalize on exporting to these new demand centers, then it has the potential to maintain decent production and generate a return for investors. That return will likely be muted, though, as the company recently announced it was issuing 13.5 million shares to pay down some debts. That's a 22% increase in total share count and will significantly reduce per-share returns for investors. Cloud Peak is slowly clawing its way back from a tough few years, and it could have a couple of good years ahead of it. For investors, however, there are other investments with higher rates of return out there with better prospects for a long-term future. Restructured for success? It's not that often that a $20 billion energy company doubles its market cap in less than a year, especially one in the humdrum oil transportation business. Yet here we have shares of Energy Transfer Equity up 121% over the past year. There are two primary reasons Energy Transfer Equity's stock was able to post such a significant gain. The first is that the company's stock was suffering mightily up until about a year ago from its proposed merger with Williams Companies. Investors were souring on the proposed deal as it was looking to be a massive overpay for the natural gas transportation and logistics provider. Also, the large debt loads at both entities made creditors nervous. So much so that Williams' credit rating was downgraded to junk status and Energy Transfer was at risk of a similar fate. Fortunately, Energy Transfer was able to walk away from the deal mostly unscathed. The second reason for this investor optimism is that it has orchestrated several restructuring moves at its subsidiary master limited partnerships to ensure its longer-term health. Last November, subsidiary Sunoco Logistics Partners (NYSE: SXL) announced it would buy its sister company Energy Transfer Partners (NYSE: ETP) in an all-stock deal. The restructuring not only simplifies the complex web of subsidiaries Energy Transfer Equity owns, but it will also help improve its credit rating as Energy Transfer Partners can unload its onerous debt load onto Sunoco Logistics' balance sheet. The largest beneficiary of these deals is Energy Transfer Equity. Energy Transfer Partners' shareholders will see a payout cut when converted to Sunoco Logistics shares, and Sunoco Logistics will have to saddle the burden of Energy Transfer Partners. Energy Transfer Equity, on the other hand, will ensure that payments to it are more secure over the longer term. Energy Transfer Equity looks like it is on more stable ground today thanks to this move, but investors looking at owning stocks for extended periods of time have to question all of the corporate reshufflings in which Energy Transfer Equity and its subsidiaries engage. Until we can see that these most recent moves are paying off for the entire Energy Transfer universe, this may be a stay-away stock. Riding a large tailwind Of the three companies in this group, U.S. Silica Holdings seems to have the most going for it right now. Just about every company that provides frack sand to the oil and gas industry was hit hard when prices started to crash, but U.S. Silica fared better than most others because it was in a better financial position. In fact, the company was able to use its financial strength during the downturn to make two acquisitions: a sand mine in Texas that will better serve the Permian Basin and a frack sand logistics specialist that reduces loading and unloading times. These two deals should better position U.S. Silica to provide for the increasingly important West Texas market and provide last-mile logistics that few of its peers can replicate. What is also encouraging about the sand business today is that there have been some changes to drilling techniques that favor sand producers. The amount of sand used per fracked well in every shale basin across the country has more than doubled and, in some cases, more than tripled. With so much additional sand injected into a single well, it will take much less overall drilling activity for total sand proppant demand to get back to pre-crash levels or even more. U.S. Silica has already said it has been spending a little extra to get its formerly idle mines back up and running, so the coming quarters we could see a strong rebound. Supplying sand to the oil and gas business will be a cyclical one, but U.S. Silica has shown to be a better operator than most of its peers and should be able to handle the ups and downs well. Today's stock price still represents a hefty discount to pre-cash days, the industry has a strong tailwind, and U.S. Silica is probably an investor's best bet for the future of this industry. That makes U.S. Silica's stock the most interesting of the bunch today. 10 stocks we like better than Energy Transfer Equity 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 Energy Transfer Equity 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 Tyler Crowe 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. Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on a referendum that will expand his powers, the Kremlin and Turkish state media said on April 18. The Kremlin said that Putin phoned Erdogan and congratulated him on the "successful conduct" the referendum. A day earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump congratulated Erdogan on his "victory" in the referendum, which is being challenged by the opposition and has been greeted coolly by the European Union. Turkish media said Putin and Erdogan emphasized the importance of normalizing ties and maintaining a cease-fire in Syria that was jointly brokered by Ankara and Moscow earlier this year. The Kremlin said that the cease-fire and Syrian peace talks need to be reinforced. It also said both sides called for an unprejudiced investigation into the suspected chemical attack in Syria earlier this month that killed more than 80 people. Ankara accuses President Bashar al-Assad's government of carrying out the attack with the deadly nerve agent sarin. Russia and Assad's government have alleged government bombs could have hit rebel chemical weapons stocks or that the suspected attack was staged -- claims that the United States and other countries have dismissed. Based on reporting by AFP, TASS, Interfax, and Reuters A gay rights group in Russia has filed a defamation suit against the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta over its reports on the persecution of homosexuals in the North Caucasus region of Chechnya. GayRussia founder Nikolai Alekseyev said on April 19 that the group wants Novaya Gazeta to formally retract reports that suggested efforts by the group to organize public events in Chechnya advocating gay rights led to a wave of abuses against gay men there. The lawsuit was filed with Moscows Basmanny District Court. The activists want the newspaper to pay them 1 million rubles ($17,800) in moral damages, which they say would be given to charities in Chechnya. Alekseyev also said that he plans to ask the state Investigative Committee to open an investigation on suspicion of libel. Novaya Gazeta's reports alleging mass arrests, torture, and killings of gay men in Chechnya have sparked concern worldwide. With reporting by tjournal.ru Want to avoid the censor's wrath for offending the Russian Orthodox faithful? Don't suggest Russia's last tsar preferred a ballerina with a face like a "rat" to the "classic European" beauty of his tsarina. That's a conclusion endorsed by a Russian lawmaker trying to quash the release of an upcoming biopic focused on a love affair between the future Tsar Nicholas II and a teenaged ballet dancer. Natalya Poklonskaya, a former Moscow-installed prosecutor-general in Crimea and current member of parliament, escalated her battle this week, saying she has handed prosecutors an analysis by four "experts" who denounce the film, Matilda, as a sordid smear against Nicholas and Russian Orthodoxy. Among the myriad complaints levied against the film by the authors of the report is that the ballerina at the center of the story, Matilda Kshesinskaya, was too ugly for the tsar. Directed by Aleksei Uchitel, the film is slated to be released in October but has already stirred outrage among conservatives in Russia over trailers featuring steamy scenes between the characters of Nicholas and Kshesinskaya. WATCH: Trailer For Matilda (In Russian, No Subtitles) Poklonskaya, a member of President Vladimir Putin's ruling United Russia party, has said the film "scorns our saints," a reference to the canonization of Nicholas and his family as Russian Orthodox saints in 2000, eight decades after they were executed by the Bolsheviks. She has also said it "clearly" stokes religious hatred and has asked Russia's prosecutor-general to investigate whether the film violates a controversial law allowing the imprisonment of those convicted of offending the sensibilities of religious believers. 'Utterly Homely' Poklonskaya, who was hit with U.S. sanctions in 2014 in connection with Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, said that she submitted the analysis of the trailers and the screenplay by three academics to the Prosecutor-General's Office, and she has posted a copy of the report online. The 39-page document concludes that public showings of the film would be "completely unacceptable," alleging that it disparages "the human dignity of Russian Orthodox believers" and "deeply insults their religious sensibilities." Among the numerous complaints in the report, the four authors say the film portrays Nicholas as a dullard and criticize the choice of German actor Lars Eidinger to play the tsar, citing his previous work in the 2012 Peter Greenaway film Goltzius and the Pelican Company, which they call "pornographic." They also say the film perpetuates the "myth" of "passionate romantic relations and (repeatedly consummated) sexual relations" between Kshesinskaya and Nicholas, who in 1894 married the German princess who became Empress Aleksandra. The authors, all men who claim decades-long careers in academia, appear to be baffled that Nicholas could have embarked on an affair with Kshesinskaya, at one point veering off into a dissection of her appearance. They write that the film builds a "negative image" of the tsar by having his character choose "an utterly homely" woman, qualifying this assessment by saying it is based on "classic European and, in part, Russian perceptions of female beauty." The authors write that old photographs show Kshesinskaya, who had a Polish father, with "protruding, crooked teeth," an "ungainly figure," and a face that "resembled a mouse or a rat." This, they write, "contrasts with the objectively classic, vibrant European beauty" of Empress Aleksandra. For good measure, the report adds that the choice of Polish actress Michalina Olszanska to play Kshesinskaya does not mitigate this alleged smear of Nicholas. While Olszanska has "satisfactory looks," audiences will associate the tsar with the real Kshesinskaya, the authors write. The report is kinder to future viewers of the film. Noting that the analysis is based on the trailers and a copy of the screenplay for Matilda, the authors note throughout the document that they are avoiding revealing spoilers. 'Hysterical Sectarianism' Commenting on the document, Uchitel, the film's director, told Current Time TV in an interview this week that "there's something terribly feeble-minded and obscurantist when a love story is considered shameful." "As if romantic relationships are banned by some religion," he told the Russian-language network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA. "You know, all of this resembles some kind of hysterical sectarianism, and it seems to me there's nothing to discuss here." Addressing Poklonskaya's beef with Matilda, Uchitel said not even he was in a position to offer a final judgement on the film given that it hasn't been released. "I haven't seen the film. She hasn't either," he said. That echoed a comment by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who noted on April 17 that Matilda had not yet been released, "as far as I understand the situation." "And trying to judge a film that isn't finished is strange, to say the least," Peskov said. On April 19, Uchitel filed a complaint with the ethics committee of Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, where Poklonskaya has served as a deputy since October 2016, the RBK news agency reported. He wrote in the complaint that Poklonskaya, who was widely mocked last month for claiming that a bust of Nicholas in Crimea was seen weeping on the centennial of his abdication, had "potentially" violated parliamentary ethics with her "baseless" accusations against him, RBC said. A prominent Russian journalist known for articles criticizing the country's government and President Vladimir Putin has died in St. Petersburg after being beaten up, his lawyer was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying. Nikolai Andrushchenko, a 73-year-old co-founder of the weekly newspaper Novy Peterburg, was found unconscious with what colleagues described as head trauma on March 9. Andrushchenkos colleagues and his lawyer, Konstantin Kuzminyka, say he underwent brain surgery and initially had been connected to a ventilator, but later was able to breathe on his own. However, they said he never regained consciousness and died on April 19. Novy Peterburg editor Denis Usov said Andrushchenko had been attacked previously, incidents he linked to articles that the newspaper has written about corruption in the city. Those articles reported extensively on connections between St. Petersburg city officials and organized criminal syndicates. Dunja Mijatovic, the representative for freedom of the press with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), said in a Twitter message on April 19 that Andrushchenkos death was the result of a "brutal beating." Mijatovic has said that "journalists in Russia are far too often subject to acts of intimidation, threats, and attacks." Andrushchenko had been a member of the St. Petersburg city council from 1990 until 1993. He became a renowned journalist as a result of his investigative reporting about human rights issues in Russia, organized crime, and police brutality. Andrushchenko began to express concerns about Putin after he came to power in 2000, writing that the secret services were taking control over Russia. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) noted that Andrushchenko had been arrested and imprisoned in 2007 on charges of defamation and obstruction of justice after he reported on a murder investigation and trial in St. Petersburg. The CPJ also noted that Andrushchenko had been beaten by unidentified attackers in November 2007. At the time, Andrushchenko's colleagues said they thought his beating and detention by authorities were attempts to intimidate him over Novy Peterburg's critical coverage of local authorities ahead of parliamentary elections. Andrushchenko later claimed he was tortured in custody. In 2009, a court in St. Petersburg found him guilty of libel and extremism and fined him. The Memorial Human Rights Center had recognized Andrushchenko as a political prisoner when he was in custody. With reporting by Interfax, Current Time TV, Reuters, and the Moscow Times **CORRECTION: This article has been corrected to identify the lawyer as the source of the statement that Andrushchenko had been beaten, and to correct the transliteration of the newspaper's name to Novy Peterburg. Russia, China, and Kazakhstan were among the nations that opposed a move by the United States on April 18 to make a link between human rights abuses and conflicts at the United Nations. U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, who this month is the rotating president of the UN Security Council, called the council's first meeting on human rights and said more such meetings should occur, but met with strong resistance led by Russia. Haley said that human rights violations have triggered conflict and stifled dissent in countries around the world and, citing Syria and North Korea, argued that rights abuses are "one of the clearest possible indicators that instability and violence may follow." Russian deputy UN envoy Yevgeny Zagainov said human rights issues should be brought before the UN's Human Rights Council, which Washington accuses of being anti-Israel and has threatened to quit. The Security Council has a different mission, he said, and is "vested with unique powers to make decisions, including the use of force, in situations that constitute a threat to peace." But Zagainov said Iraq and Syria were examples of nations where interfering under the pretext of protecting human rights caused the destabilization of entire regions and created "vast areas of chaos and violence, where even the basic right for life cannot be ensured." Based on reporting by AP, TASS, and Reuters Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has promised not to raise taxes in 2017 and vowed to consider indexing retirement payments for working pensioners, delivering a moderately upbeat annual report on the troubled economy. Addressing the lower house of parliament on April 19, Medvedev said the Russian economy had avoided "catastrophe" despite low world oil prices and Western sanctions over Moscow's interference in Ukraine. Russian officials predict the economy will show moderate growth in 2017 after more than two years in recession. Medvedev, in his second stint as President Vladimir Putin's prime minister, is under scrutiny following a report by Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny that accused him of corruption and fueled large street protests on March 26. Openly challenged by a Communist lawmaker about the allegations, Medvedev said he would not comment on the "false statements of political adventurers." Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov criticized Medvedev ahead of the address in the State Duma, saying his government is incapable of "efficiently handling financial, economic and social matters." Life has improved only for "the rich, millionaires, and billionaires whose income grew by 20-30 percent over the year," Zyuganov said. With reporting by Interfax A construction worker who is carrying out a hunger strike in Russia's Siberian region of Khakassia has been hospitalized and is listed in serious condition. Natalia Dobrovolskaya, a woman who also is part of a group that is carrying out the protest fast in attempt to receive unpaid wages, said on April 19 that fellow protester Maksim Lekantsev was rushed to hospital early in the morning after his nose started bleeding. Dobrovolskaya said five other hunger strikers will continue their protest over their overdue salaries are paid in full. The workers started their protest on April 6 -- demanding that local authorities and a construction firm pay some 2 million rubles ($35,500) in delayed salaries that are owed to more than 60 construction workers. The workers have been involved in a state-supported program to rebuild hundreds of buildings in Khakassia that had been damaged by a massive fire in April 2015. The fire killed 32 people and destroyed 1,215 houses in 32 villages and towns across the Khakassia region. Some 4,700 people lost their homes in the fire. Based on reporting by Rosbalt and TASS Russia's media regulator says Twitter has agreed to store some of its users' data inside Russia, a move that would comply with domestic law but stoke further fears about user privacy and surveillance. The agency, known as Roskomnadzor, said on April 19 that Twitter is in the process of determining "what information about Russian citizens and organizations in commercial relations with Twitter in Russia can be stored in the Russian Federation." "We expect we will be able to send this commercial data to Russia by the middle of 2018 and notify you of this at that time," the agency quoted a Twitter public policy and communications official, Sinead McSweeney, as saying. The California-based company refused to comment. The reported decision by Twitter comes two years after a law took effect requiring Russian and foreign companies to store data for customers who are Russian citizens on servers housed on Russian territory. The law has sparked wide concerns among privacy advocates who feared it would further restrict speech in Russia, where the Internet has served as a freewheeling and largely unhindered forum for public debate, particularly compared with traditional media outlets that are state controlled. The measure reflected a marked tightening of control over media and the Internet by the Kremlin. President Vladimir Putin has publicly called the Internet a "CIA project." Regulators have also adopted increasingly strict regulations on bloggers, requiring them to register if they reach a certain threshold of readerships or followers. Companies that don't comply with the new Russian law are to be included in a blacklist, under court order by Roskomnadzor, and subject to a fine of up to 300,000 rubles, or about $5,000. Blocking Violators Roskomnadzor can also order Internet providers to block access to violators. Many of the world's biggest and best known Internet companies have taken a quiet approach in determining whether to comply with the law. But Roskomnadzor in November ordered the professional social networking site, LinkedIn, to be blocked from Russian Internet service providers for not complying with the new regulations. In Russia, authorities have also moved to outright censor some material deemed politically sensitive. Late in March, the Russian Prosecutor-General's Office asked Roskomnadzor to block access to webpages and videos posted on YouTube, the popular blogging site Live Journal, and the social networking site VKontakte, that were promoting unauthorized political demonstrations tied to anticorruption crusader Aleksei Navalny. ON MY MIND Truckers protesting a new road tax are continuing. Wage arrears are on the rise leading to protests in the regions. Some two-thirds of Russians hold Vladimir Putin responsible for official corruption. And yet, somehow, Putin's approval rating remains stratospheric at well over 80 percent. How do you explain this paradox? In an insightful piece in Republic.ru featured below, political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya offers an answer. Stanovaya notes that support for Putin has "become ritualistic" and reflects not an "active and positive attitude toward him" but rather "passive acquiescence toward what is happening and fear that it will be worse." If this is accurate, it is reminiscent of the late Soviet period when support for the regime became nothing more than an empty ritual. And that would be a very dangerous sign for the Putin regime because once the spell is broken, once the bubble bursts, the regime would have nothing to sustain it. It is especially dangerous as Aleksei Navalny successfully harnesses the issue of official corruption in an effort to disrupt the ritual and turn passive acquiescence into active resistance. The Kremlin appears acutely aware of the threat Navalny poses. As Dozhd TV reports (in a piece featured below), the Kremlin is preparing a new campaign to discredit the opposition leader as he gears up to lead a new round of nationwide protests in June. Apparently we're in for a hot summer. IN THE NEWS The International Court of Justice is due to issue a ruling today on Kyivs bid to block Russia from sending money, weapons, and troops to eastern Ukraine. Rescuers are searching for nine crew members missing at sea after a cargo ship sank off Russia's Black Sea coast. Russia, China, and Kazakhstan were among the nations that opposed a move by the United States on April 18 to make a link between human rights abuses and conflicts at the United Nations. A pair of Russian nuclear-capable bombers flew near Alaska, the Pentagon said, coming as close as 100 miles from Kodiak Island. Vladimir Putin has congratulated Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on a referendum that will expand his powers, the Kremlin and Turkish state media said. A senior Russian lawmaker has called RFE/RL, Voice Of America, and CNN part of an American system of pressure targeting Russia. A court in Moscow has ordered the pretrial detention of a ninth suspect in connection with the April 3 suicide bombing of a St. Petersburg subway train that killed 15 people and injured 45 people. WHAT I'M READING New Report: Russia's Criminal International Power Vertical regular Mark Galeotti of the Institute of International Relations in Prague has a new report out for The European Council on Foreign Relations: Crimintern: How the Kremlin uses Russias criminal networks in Europe. Wage Arrears And Protests Oxford Analytica takes a look at the relationship between wage arrears and protests in Russia's regions. Paying For Crimea A new poll by the Levada Center shows that Russians still strongly support Russia's annexation of Crimea, but are less enthusiastic about Moscow's financial support for the peninsula. Russia And The French Election In her column for The Guardian, Natalie Nougayrede argues that surging leftist French presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon is "anti-German, soft on Putin," and "no savior of the left." In The New York Times, Andrew Higgins explains why it is now France's turn to worry about Russian election meddling. The Info War In The Baltics A new piece in re:baltica looks at Russia's "small-time propagandists" in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The Info War In Georgia The Media Development Fund has a new report out on anti-Western propaganda in Georgia. Sex And Russian Propaganda In Europe Andrew Rettman has an investigative piece in EUObserver on how Russia's propagandists have been seeking to incite sexual revulsion toward asylum seekers in Europe. The Kremlin And The American Fringe In Intersection magazine, Casey Michel explains how Putin is courting the American fringe on both the left and right. Goodbye California, Hello Russia CalExit movement leader Louis Marinelli has announced that he is abandoning his campaign to make California independent and plans to settle in Russia The Paradox Of Russian Public Opinion In her column for Republic.ru, political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya explains the paradox of Russians' irritation with official corruption and Putin's high approval rating. The Plot Against Navalny Dozhd TV is reporting, citing multiple Kremlin sources, that Putin's regime is preparing a new campaign to discredit Aleksei Navalny The Nemtsov Assassination Kommersant has published a video and transcript of the initial interrogation of Zaur Dadaev, the alleged triggerman in the February 2015 assassination of Boris Nemtsov. Russia's Zapad Exercises Defense analyst Kyle Mizokami has a piece in The National Interest on why Russia's Zapad exercises are a cause for concern. The West Vs. The West In a piece for The American Interest, Andrew Michta argues that "the greatest threat to the liberal international order comes not from Russia, China, or jihadist terror but from the self-induced deconstruction of Western culture." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called for an extension of the Black Sea grain export deal that has allowed exports from three major Ukrainian ports, easing a global food crisis. "We maintain the line that the initiative must continue regardless of whether the Russian Federation is willing," Zelenskiy told U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who made a one-day visit to Kyiv on November 8. 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. Zelenskiy emphasized that despite the full-scale Russian invasion, Ukraine is ready to remain the "guarantor of global food security," a reference to his country's status as one of the world's top grain producers. The grain export accord with Russia, brokered by Turkey and the United Nations in July, expires on November 19. It appeared in jeopardy last month when Moscow briefly suspended its participation. Kyiv wants the grain export deal expanded to include more ports and other goods, Ukraine's deputy infrastructure minister told Reuters on November 8. Ukraine also hopes the pact will be renewed for at least a year. Thomas-Greenfield said global food security depends on extending the grain export deal, and that this is a priority for the UN. She said she considers Ukraine the breadbasket of the world" and said the war "really has had an impact on the entire global food market. Russias deputy foreign minister, Andrey Rudenko, said on November 8 that the Kremlin has not yet decided whether to extend the agreement. We still have time. We are looking at how this deal is being implemented following the restoration of our participation, Rudenko said. We are very dissatisfied with how the Russian part is being implemented." During his meetings with Thomas-Greenfield, Zelenskiy emphasized the need for the United Nations to take a number of immediate steps, including the urgent referral to Ukraine of UN experts to investigate the issue of Iran supplying drones to Russia, his press office said. Zelenskiy also told Thomas-Greenfield that Ukraine wants the UN to send representatives to assess damage to critical infrastructure in Ukraine and requests the maximum involvement of the UN in the restoration of Ukrainian energy. He also called for the UN to "limit the membership and privileges of Russia in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Among other topics reportedly covered in the talks were limiting Russia's ability to abuse its membership in the UN and launching a special tribunal against Russia. Thomas-Greenfield tweeted a photo of herself visiting a forensic lab in Kyiv where she said technicians are "meticulously examining war crime evidence to hold Russia accountable." She added: "If Russian forces think they are going to get away with their atrocities, they are in for a rude awakening." Thomas-Greenfield also announced an additional $25 million to help Ukrainians survive the coming winter. "Attacks by Russian forces have damaged housing and critical infrastructure across Ukraine," Thomas-Greenfield said on Twitter. "Today, while in Kyiv, I announced the United States, through @USAID, will provide $25 million in winterization assistance to help vulnerable people in Ukraine survive the winter ahead." With reporting by Reuters and AP The U.S. national security adviser during his first visit to Pakistan urged Islamabad to fight all terrorist groups equally and stop using some of them as proxies in Afghanistan. H.R. McMaster held meetings with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and military chief Qamar Javed Bajwa at which he "stressed the need to confront terrorism in all its forms," the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan said on April 18. "The U.S. hopes Pakistani leaders will understand that it is in their interest to go after terrorist groups less selectively than they have in the past," McMaster told Afghanistan's Tolonews before his visit to the south Asia region. "The best way to pursue their interest in the country and elsewhere is through diplomacy, not through the use of proxies and engaging violence," McMaster said. McMaster's visit was the first high-level interaction between the United States and Pakistan since U.S. President Donald Trump took office. Sharif said he welcomed Trump's willingness to help India and Pakistan resolve their differences, particularly over the disputed Kashmir region. While in India, McMaster discussed the situation in Afghanistan, where the White House is considering sending additional troops to help fight the Taliban. Based on reporting by dpa and Radio Azadi Deco at CNB, an apartment building in downtown Richmond, and CoStar Group Inc.s lease in the WestRock Co. building, also in downtown Richmond, won top honors Tuesday at the 15th annual awards ceremony presented by the Greater Richmond Association for Commercial Real Estate. Deco at CNB, an adaptive reuse and historic tax credit project in the former Central National Bank building at 219 E. Broad St., won the 2017 GRACRE Project of the Year. The 23-story building, one of the finest examples of art deco in the area and erected during the Great Depression, was once one of Richmonds tallest skyscrapers. The $40 million project has 200 apartments 112 units in the tower and 88 units in an annex. It is owned by Washington-based Douglas Development Corp. The general contractor was Newport News-based W.M. Jordan Co. and the architect was Commonwealth Architects in Richmond. Its not an easy task to pick one; there are so many incredible projects, said Danny Meyer, president of GRACRE and president of Dallan Construction in Richmond. A selection committee takes into consideration criteria including value and complexity. CoStars seven-year, seven-month lease of 99,075 square feet valued at $19.5 million in the top floors of the WestRock building at 501 S. Fifth St. won the GRACRE Transaction of the Year. The Washington-based research and analytics firm for the commercial real estate industry announced in October that it would move its global research center to Richmond, creating 730 jobs here. It was a multi-faceted transaction, Meyer said about the WestRock/CoStar deal. To land a group like CoStar and bring employment to the region offers a lot to the region. It was hard again to make a choice. "We have been working to better understand the facts of these situations and, importantly, both the intent and impact of these events on members of our community," the provost says. A Dinwiddie County sheriffs deputy was arrested Wednesday on charges of sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl in 2015. A Dinwiddie Circuit Court grand jury handed up indictments Tuesday charging Hector David Jimenez, 45, with aggravated sexual battery and taking indecent liberties with a minor, both felonies, between June 1, 2015, and Sept. 30, 2015, according to copies of the indictments. The charges allege that Jimenez, of the 4200 block of Tower Court in Dinwiddie, sexually abused a girl by force or intimidation and propositioned her to perform a sex act. Authorities said he is acquainted with the victim. Jimenez, who had been employed as a Dinwiddie deputy for about one year, was arrested about 11 a.m. Wednesday after being fired from the department, said Dinwiddie Commonwealths Attorney Ann Cabell Baskervill. Dinwiddie Maj. William Knott confirmed Jimenezs termination, adding that the former deputy had been employed with the department just over a year. The offenses for which Jimenez is charged occurred before he was hired in Dinwiddie. Jimenez was a law enforcement officer in another locality at the time of the offense, but it couldnt immediately be determined where. He was previously employed as a deputy in Richmond and Petersburg, Baskervill said. Baskervill said the victim was 13 at the time of the offense. The prosecutor added that Jimenez represented himself as a law enforcement officer to the victim, and his position of authority is an element of intimidation that establishes the offense of sexual battery. Everyone is equal under the law, Baskervill said in a statement. The very concept of the rule of law means that the law applies to everyone, including law enforcers, lawmakers, everyone. Seeking justice, including by respecting the rule of law, is the highest priority and obligation of every prosecutor. In learning of these indictments, I hope citizens will see these principles in action, Baskervill added. I hope news of these indictments will affirm that citizens can and should trust and have confidence in the systems they rely upon for protection, public safety and justice. Unfortunately, as here, we cannot always prevent tragedy and wrongdoing. But we can, and we do, and we will, work and fight for what is right and for justice to prevail. Jimenez is being held in the Meherrin River Regional Jail pending a hearing in Dinwiddie Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court. The night before the General Assembly returned to Richmond earlier this month, Gov. Terry McAuliffe had Democratic lawmakers to the Executive Mansion to discuss strategy. The conversation wasnt just about legislation, as Sen. Creigh Deeds of Bath County discovered. Deeds was nursing a Jameson on the rocks when McAuliffe sidled up to him, talking about a gubernatorial primary eight years ago in which they, and then-Del. Brian Moran of Alexandria, were opponents. McAuliffe, a national big-foot new to Virginia politics, had parachuted into the race, confident he could win on a slew of celebrity endorsements, including one that former President Bill Clinton delivered twice in person. According to Deeds, McAuliffe said, Those out-of-state endorsements did me a lot of good in 09, didnt they? So we laughed about it, said Deeds, who helped by a Washington Post editorial endorsement crucial in vote-rich Northern Virginia won the primary only to lose the general election to Bob McDonnell in a landslide triggered by Republican backlash to President Barack Obama. Wonder who the joke will be on in the 2017 Democratic primary for governor? Tom Perriello, who won, then lost a congressional seat after a single term and hasnt held office in seven years, is relying on endorsements from U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and other national political headliners, many of them in the Obama and Sanders orbits, to give his surprise candidacy visibility beyond his home base of Charlottesville. For a guy who talks and talks and talks about people-powered politics, Perriello is dependent on a handful of deep-pocketed people, most of them from outside Virginia, to power his campaign. More than half of the $2.2 million that Perriello has raised since declaring in January comes from four donors three individuals and a foundation that he helped start. Most have New York addresses. It is dramatic contrast with Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, the presumed nominee until Perriellos unexpected entry. Northam collected only $1.4 million since the start of the year but was prohibited by law from fundraising during the 46-day General Assembly session. Still, Northam drew from more than 12,000 donors, according to his staff. That is supplying his candidacy with people power less plentiful in Perriellos campaign. He had about 5,200 donors. Perriellos candidacy, much like McAuliffes losing bid in 2009, is top-down. It is a lot of drama, magnified by millennial-specific social media and cable news breathlessness, intended to capture the votes of Virginians not necessarily active in Democratic politics but absolutely agitated by Donald Trump. Northams candidacy, much like McAuliffes winning bid in 2013, is bottom-up. It is a lot of drudgery, unfolding largely off-stage, that emphasizes candidate-to-voter contact over several years at chicken dinners, local campaign and community events that are magnets for Democratic regulars. Perriellos initial success in fundraising Northam still leads in the overall cash harvest with $3.1 million on-hand, compared with $1.7 million for Perriello nonetheless generates buzz. So does Perriellos competitive performance in notoriously unreliable pre-primary polls that also suggest more than half of Democratic voters are undecided. This can shape expectations. And that can erode the confidence of Northam supporters. It probably doesnt help that their candidate who is low-key most days, laconic on others rarely projects the energy and excitement that is becoming Perriellos signature. And there are the troubling lessons of history: In the three Democratic gubernatorial primaries since 1969, the winner lost the general election. Deeds followed in the footsteps of Bill Battle in 1969 and Henry Howell in 1977. But the prediction business pretty much went out of business last year, failing to anticipate Trumps victory over Hillary Clinton. Because Virginia held for the Democrats it was their third consecutive win here for president since 2008 the gubernatorial campaign is not just a measure of the partys Trump trauma but a laboratory for testing themes and technology for a national comeback. Still, there is much about the Perriello and Northam campaigns that is imitative. Perriello, a la Sanders, is traveling from campus to campus, trying to mobilize college students who felt the Bern. Many of them couldnt or wouldnt vote for Clinton in November. And what assurance has Perriello, pitching a Sanders-like proposal of two years of free community college, that these students will vote for him in June after their classes have concluded and their summer jobs or travel are underway? Perhaps some of George Soros money will underwrite an early-absentee voting program. This is where Northams establishment edge is supposed to kick in. Twice elected to the Virginia Senate and victorious in the primary and general election for lieutenant governor in 2013, Northam has amassed since 2007 a voter file that will be supplemented by those of the issue organizations and many elective officials backing him, such as McAuliffe and Deeds. In Northams behalf, they can contact again and again and again by direct mail, email and telephone voters conditioned to go into a late-spring primary: Teachers, abortion-rights activists, government employees, environmentalists and unionists. And then there is Northams money advantage, one presumably that will manifest itself soon in the form of television advertising, including a commercial already in the can featuring the fellow whom most Democrats agree is the partys best salesman: Terry McAuliffe. Politics is a team sport, so it has always required a certain flexibility on matters of principle. But two recent studies suggest that, for many Americans, only one principle really matters: following the leader. And the Trump administration is proving it in spades. An idealized account of how we reach our political loyalties might look something like this: First, we study the issues, weighing the facts and the applicable ethical standards liberty, justice, equality, fairness, etc. Having thought long and hard, we then reach a set of conclusions about the correct public policy. Then we look around to see who shares our conclusions. Finally, we align ourselves with them. In fact, a great deal of research on the psychology of political affiliation says we do pretty much the exact opposite: First, we decide what team were on. Then we learn what our teams collective view on a given issue is. Then we look at the principles and the facts, cherry-picking those that support our teams view and rejecting the rest as somehow flawed. In one well-known experiment, political scientist Brendan Nyhan presented political partisans with news stories that contained incorrect information e.g., that the Bush administration had banned stem-cell research. Nyhan also included a correction pointing out the inaccuracy. Partisans were actually more likely to believe the inaccuracy after reading the correction a phenomenon called the backlash effect. People seem to be hard-wired to act this way. Using brain scans, Emory University researcher Drew Westen found that the reward centers of the brain light up when partisans reject information that contradicts their political preferences, in the same way the reward centers of a drug addicts brain light up when he uses drugs. This would be troubling enough if people were consistent in their beliefs. But they arent. Far from it. For instance: Four years ago, during the Obama presidency, a Washington Post-ABC News poll found that just 22 percent of Republicans supported a missile strike to stop Syrian president Bashar al-Assads use of chemical weapons against his own people. But a poll taken after Donald Trump ordered air strikes for the same reason found that 86 percent of Republicans supported it. The same phenomenon has played out with regard to Russia. Republicans used to view Vladimir Putin with hostility, and ridiculed efforts at rapprochement such as Hillary Clintons reset button. Since Trump took office Republicans view Russia more favorably than Democrats do. Democrats exhibit similar changes of heart. Although their views are more consistent on Syria, Democrats positions on a host of other issues have shifted markedly. The anti-war movement that had bedeviled George W. Bush largely disappeared when Obama took office, as did concerns about the dangers of the national-security state even though Obama ratcheted up both the war in Afghanistan and warrantless electronic surveillance. As one research paper put it, Democrats, who had been motivated to participate by anti-Republican sentiments, withdrew from antiwar protests when the Democratic Party achieved electoral success. Even political identity itself is undergoing a shift. The Atlantic reports on recent findings by two political scientists examining the views of the conservative base. Grassroots activists now judge senators with very conservative voting records such as Jeff Flake of Arizona and Ben Sasse of Nebraska as moderate, while deeming others with moderate records more conservative. The researchers posit that this is because Flake and Sasse have sharply criticized Trump never mind that Trump himself deviates from traditional conservatism on a whole host of issues, from free trade to eminent domain. If theyre right, then many people now define conservatism not by a particular set of principles or a coherent political philosophy. Instead, they define it by the identity of the leader of the Republican Party. Since Trump is president, what he does is ipso facto conservative. Therefore, anyone who criticizes him even from the right becomes liberal. The phenomenon even extends to issues of morality. A recent poll by the Deseret News finds that Republicans and Democrats have largely switched places on adultery by public officials: Today, 57 percent of Republicans say it wouldnt affect their vote if a presidential candidate had an extramarital affair in the past, compared to 47 percent of Democrats. In January 2016, the figures were nearly reversed, with 48 percent of Republicans and 64 percent of Democrats saying it wouldnt matter, the survey reported. Thats quite a change in less than 18 months and quite a change from the Bill Clinton era. Virginia needs Medicaid expansion Editor, Times-Dispatch: What we need to close our coverage gap is a General Assembly majority more engaged with actual facts and reality, but some of the statements in your recent editorial McAulifee and Northam call on GOP to expand Medicaid. Good luck with that, fellas werent helpful. The growth in Virginias existing Medicaid budget is partly due to rising costs for the elderly and disabled recipients who require the most care. But it is also because the Assemblys piecemeal eligibility enhancements qualify for much smaller federal reimbursement than full expansion. Closing the gap with hospital support requires no state contribution and would actually save Virginia hundreds of millions. While the editorial noted that Kentuckys Medicaid program was larger than expected, public health and economic benefits werent mentioned, nor estimates that the expansion has produced millions in net savings for Kentuckys budget. It is not a fact that Medicaid does not improve health outcomes for able-bodied childless adults. The link you provided was to a 2013 Oregon study that tracked three narrow measures: blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar control. Other studies show a substantial reduction in mortality rates due to coverage expansion. Virginians with illnesses would undoubtedly benefit from treatment and medicine that Medicaid would provide. The nonpartisan Kaiser Foundation is clear: having Medicaid is much better than being uninsured. Partisan obstruction has cost Virginia more than $10 billion in federal funds, hundreds of millions in state budget savings, and thousands of jobs. It has starved many Virginia communities of mental health and addiction treatment resources, and left hundreds of thousands without coverage. Uninsured Virginians continue to die needlessly and prematurely for want of it. That is this Assemblys legacy. Jim Lindsay. Erik Kjelland, left, of Madison's the Mascot Theory reached out to the ex-Madisonian and famous music producer Butch Vig, right, to help compile the Wisconsin Vinyl Collective, Vol. 1. RICHMOND The Virginia Supreme Court heard two cases Wednesday challenging a controversial state law that allows surveyors to enter private property without the owners consent to study their land for a possible natural gas pipeline route. The law has stirred fierce opposition along the routes in Virginia of two separate but similar interstate pipeline projects: the Mountain Valley Pipeline and the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Each project would build and bury a steel pipeline that would transport natural gas at high pressure. Both of the cases heard Wednesday stemmed from appeals of earlier circuit court decisions one in Augusta County and one in Buckingham County along the route of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Foes of the law and the pipelines contend that the survey statute violates constitutional protections of private property and fails to clearly spell out how landowners should be informed about when surveyors will be on their property. The pipeline companies and the state counter that the law is constitutional and similar to right-of-entry laws in all 50 states. One case argued Wednesday focused on constitutional issues raised by the lawyer for an 83-year-old widow in Augusta County who initially resisted the Atlantic Coast Pipelines efforts to survey her property, which has been in her family since 1880. In that case, Henry Howell argued or attempted to argue that the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a Delaware limited liability corporation, is a foreign corporation and thus not entitled to protection from trespass laws granted by the survey statute. The other case centered on controversy about how notice was given in 2015 to Buckingham County landowners about when surveyors would be on their property. Isak Howell, a Roanoke-based lawyer for Appalachian Mountain Advocates, represented several landowners in the appeal of a circuit court case that found the notice provided by the company was adequate. The justices did not rule Wednesday on either case. Their questions and comments gave no indication they agree that the survey law violates the state constitution. Separately, at least one justice found fault with how Atlantic Coast Pipeline had notified landowners about when surveyors would be on their property. The two projects need approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission before construction can begin. FERC plans to release in June separate final environmental impact statements for the two pipelines. If FERC approves the projects, they will have access to eminent domain to acquire easements across private property. Henry Howells argument ran into problems right away when Justice William Mims observed that he had not sufficiently raised the foreign corporation issue during the initial circuit court trial in Augusta County or in a subsequent court brief. Separately, Henry Howell and others have alleged that the statute violates the state constitutions limits on the use of eminent domain to take private property except for public use because the surveying without an owners permission represents a taking. Pipeline foes have argued too that the primary beneficiaries of the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley projects will be stockholders and not the public. The companies have countered that the natural gas transported by the pipelines will serve important markets and emerging needs for natural gas for power generation and manufacturing. A 2013 amendment to the Virginia Constitution specified that no private property shall be damaged or taken for public use without just compensation. Justice Arthur Kelsey asked Benjamin Hatch, a lawyer representing the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, whether property owners should be compensated for surveying activities. Hatch responded that surveying is not a taking, a position both Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast have articulated before, noting that surveyors simply visit a property temporarily to collect information about a possible route. Earlier, during the hearing of the Buckingham County case, Kelsey had asked Hatch why Atlantic Coast continued to assert that proper notice about surveying could be as ambiguous as saying the activity would occur on or after a certain date a range that essentially allows for infinite possibilities, Kelsey said. Hatch said Atlantic Coast still believes that language is adequate but had changed both policy and practice to provide more detailed dates. Ultimately, Isak Howell acknowledged that the revised procedures adopted by Atlantic Coast were reasonable. But he objected to the companys continued refusal to agree that on or after is insufficient notice. The hearing occurred at a time when most surveying along the pipeline routes has been completed. Aaron Ruby, a spokesman for Atlantic Coast Pipeline, said the company has completed about 98 percent of route surveying. Natalie Cox, a spokeswoman for Mountain Valley Pipeline, said about 97 percent of its centerline surveying is completed. Carolyn Reilly, a co-owner of a farm in Franklin County that is on the pipelines route, attended Wednesdays court session. She said afterward that it is sobering that private corporations can run roughshod over property rights and be protected by the government and courts. This is eminent domain for private gain, she said. How can this be? While the four-inch gash on Emily Schaeffers leg oozes blood, Bethany Lloyd jumps into action. She grabs splints and starts tying them in place with long strips of gauze. Schaeffer sits calmly, unfazed. The blood covering her leg isnt real; the wound is staged with makeup. The whole situation is simulated, a chance for the teens to practice the skills theyve learned in their emergency medical technician class at the Burton Center for Arts and Technology. The pair, juniors at Northside High School, come to the Burton Center every other day as part of Roanoke County Schools inaugural EMT program. The class is part of a push by school and public safety officials to give students early exposure to careers as first responders. Their city counterparts plan to begin offering a similar program next school year. Both school districts programs lean heavily on partnerships with the fire departments, which are providing teaching materials and staff to work with students. In the county, faculty from the Jefferson College of Health Science also are involved. Those partnerships give students an up-close view of what careers in the field look like, said Steven Simon, Roanoke Countys fire and rescue chief. You can talk about theory, but when you have firefighter-paramedics coming into the classrooms, when you have students coming to the fire station, theyre getting real-life exposure, Simon said. The idea for Roanoke Countys program came about two years ago, when Simon, newly hired as chief, approached the schools. The school district was surveying students to gauge their interest in potential new programs; the vast majority picked health-related studies and firefighter/EMT classes in particular. With the fire departments interest, it was a natural fit. It rose to the top, said Jason Suhr, the countys director of career and technical education. When the class started enrolling last spring, the 40 slots filled up quickly. (A few students have since dropped it, something Suhr said is typical.) Lloyd developed an early interest in medicine after her grandparents gave her a book about bones. I figured that if I didnt like it, this would give me some input before I make the jump to college, Lloyd said. But I ended up absolutely loving it. Across Virginia, there are 29 school districts with EMT programs, including Franklin County. The state education and health departments jointly establish guidelines to ensure curriculum is standard and in line with professional expectations. At the end of the year-long program, students become eligible to sit for their EMT certification, which can open doors to employment at fire and rescue departments. B.J. Joyce, the Jefferson College faculty member who teaches Burtons classes, said he didnt know what to expect when he shifted from teaching adults to teens. He was surprised by how much hes enjoyed it. Joyce instructs the classes with help from county firefighters and paramedics. The county department donated an old ambulance that students in Burtons automotive classes repaired, giving the EMT students the chance to practice with the equipment used by professionals. On weekends, students are assigned shifts at the countys stations, where they respond to calls with paramedics and, with supervision, perform basic tasks like checking for vital signs. Even when shifts are slow, students are still learning, Simon said. Fire stations have a family environment and students seem to enjoy being a part of it, he said. Its just not running the call. Being at the fire station, you might just be sitting down for lunch. They enjoy that camaraderie, Simon said. I think its been eye-opening for them, and I think its been eye-opening for our people hey, this is our next work force. On-site training When the citys program starts next fall, students from Patrick Henry and William Fleming high schools will travel to Roanoke Fire-EMS Station 1 for their classes. Roanoke Fire-EMS Chief David Hoback said his department wanted to host the classes on-site so that its values and policies would be on display all the time. We decided that to hold the classes anywhere other than a fire station would not produce that environment of them wanting to work here or understanding what were all about, he said. About a decade ago, Roanoke discontinued similar classes. Hoback and Kathy Duncan, whos now the city schools director of career and technical education, said the old program didnt have the partnership with fire-EMS that this new class will utilize. The citys program will be smaller than the countys, with spots for at least 12 students next year. Thats intentional, so students can get one-on-one mentoring from professionals, Duncan said. So many students have expressed interest since the city announced the program that theyre considering opening a few more slots, Hoback said. He said his department wants to make sure students who complete the program have a chance for employment. The countys fire and rescue department also sees the classes as a de facto recruiting program. Both Hoback and Simon got their start in the field as volunteers, but not as many people follow that path these days, they said. The volunteer group is aging out, Simon said. A lot of high school students do not realize that fire and rescue is a career, Simon said. And its a very good career but its really not talked about that much. Roanoke Countys hiring age is 21. Roanokes was 21 until recently, when it dropped to 18 to make it easier for students who complete the school districts EMT program to transition to professional jobs with the department. Hoback said he wants the transition to be seamless but doesnt want students to stop their education after they graduate high school. The expectation is that students who are hired will go on to complete their associate or bachelors degrees, he said. Simon said thats important to his department, too. Some of the county students have realized already that the career isnt for them. But a few described the class as life-changing, saying it gave them focus and direction they didnt have before. Blooming interests Joyce said watching students find passion in learning has been one of the best parts of his new gig. In particular, he watched a student just bloom up during the class course . Ethan Sweeney, a senior at William Byrd High School, said that describes his experience, also. He signed up for the class on a whim, mostly because it promised to be hands-on. He had no plans to go to college and no idea what he wanted to do after high school. Burtons EMT classes, and Joyce in particular, changed that. I didnt have a prior interest in medicine really but hes fast-tracked me, Sweeney said. He now plans to go attend Jefferson College in the fall to get his EMT/paramedic certification. On his weekend field rotations, Sweeney needed just 10 patient contacts, but he has enjoyed the experience so much that he signed up for weekend shifts even after he reached the courses required number. When you get into it, you just want to keep doing it, he said. CHRISTIANSBURG Town council officially made Randy Wingfield Christiansburgs interim town manager Tuesday night, a move that concluded one of the localitys most turbulent weeks in recent times. Wingfield, previously the assistant town manager, stepped into the town manager role after Steve Biggs shot himself in the head following a standoff with police during the early morning hours of April 11. Biggs, who had been on the job for about nine months, died the following day. Before their regular meeting Tuesday night, all members of town council spent part of the day in Clayton, North Carolina, where a public memorial service for Biggs took place. Biggs had served nearly two decades as Claytons town manager before taking the Christiansburg position. Christiansburg Town Council on Tuesday night preceded the start of its meeting with a moment of silence. While a moment of silence occurs before every council meeting, Mayor Mike Barber told those in attendance that they could use the moment to reflect on their own lives and the past weeks events. Council appointed Wingfield on a 6-0 vote following a closed session. Wingfields salary will be boosted to $130,000 a year, up from the approximately $113,000 he earned as assistant town manager. Council didnt decide Tuesday whether it will conduct a search for a permanent town manager. Barber, however, said a search is definitely worth consideration. Asked about whether he wanted to give any more comments on recent events, Barber said absolutely no comment. Wingfield voiced confidence about taking on new duties, but also expressed gratitude for a supportive town staff and council. I think I am prepared, he said. Wingfield said hes open to taking the job on a more permanent basis, if thats the direction council takes later. I would certainly entertain it ... but certainly its councils decision, he said. Council members were given the opportunity to make remarks before they went into closed session. Council usually reserves a remark period before the end of each meeting. Im proud to work with all you folks, in light of all the events that have happened, said Councilman Harry Collins. Councilman Brad Stipes asked that the faith community keep the Biggs family in their prayers. They are absolutely devastated, Stipes said. Among other remarks, Barber commended town police chief Mark Sisson and town spokeswoman Melissa Powell for their handling of the events. Federal authorities are investigating a suspended Giles County doctor following the drug overdose deaths of 20 of his patients. Patients saw David Lee Morgan at Ace Medical in Pembroke for aching backs, necks, knees and hips, paid a fee of $75 to $150 and left with prescriptions for powerful drugs with addictive side effects, according to federal court records. From January 2011 to late August 2016, 20 of Morgans patients died, according to investigators filings in U.S. District Court. Four months ago, the Virginia Board of Medicine suspended Morgans state physicians license indefinitely, saying his practice posed a danger to public health and safety. He has not been charged with any crime but is the subject of a criminal investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Virginia State Police, West Virginia State Police and other agencies, the federal court records said. DEA investigator Mark Armstrong wrote in an application for an April 3 search warrant that Morgan unlawfully issued numerous controlled substance prescriptions without a legitimate medical purpose and suggested investigators seek to know if that conduct resulted in the deaths. Morgan, licensed as a doctor for at least 15 years, denies the allegation, his attorney said. We strongly dispute any allegation that his actions caused or contributed to patient deaths, Roanoke lawyer Thomas Cullen said Tuesday afternoon. Prosecutors declined to comment on the investigation. Documents posted to the online federal case management system for several hours Monday and then removed revealed details of the investigation, a raid on Morgans former office and the seizure of two Audi vehicles and a Honda ATV. Cullen said neither he nor Morgan had had access to Armstrongs statement and the other documents, though Morgan is cooperating with authorities. Cullen said he thought that the records were sealed from public view because of the investigation. Morgan, 47, who was an osteopathic physician, seemed surprised Monday when asked about federal action. Ive been aware of some deaths, yes. That happens to every physician, said Morgan, who lives in West Virginia. I dont know that there were 20 deaths. A federal affidavit listed the names of 20 people who, investigators said, died of drug intoxication, toxicity or abuse three each in 2011, 2012 and 2013, four in 2014, five in 2015 and two in 2016. The drug responsible in each of the 20 cases was the painkiller oxycodone or a similar drug, alone or with tranquilizers, investigators said. Medical examiners typically classify fatal drug overdoses as accidental deaths, but some are suicides. One person described as a deceased patient of Morgans committed suicide by ingesting the drugs, according to court records. Armstrong wrote that all 20 patients had received one or more prescriptions from Morgan shortly before they died, some less than a day and others about a month before their deaths. Armstrong said he gleaned the information from Virginia and West Virginia death records and investigative files of the Virginia Board of Medicine, which has sanctioned Morgan three times in more than eight years. Board actions against Morgan include a 2008 reprimand for failing to refer a drug-abusing patient to substance abuse treatment. The doctor was ordered to complete remedial training in addiction and pain management. In 2014, the board again reprimanded Morgan, who failed to manage the medication treatment of eight patients, and ordered he complete training in pain management, proper prescribing and record-keeping. The board also restricted his prescribing privileges for two months in 2014. When it suspended his license Dec. 15, the state medical board said Morgan routinely failed to adequately monitor medication usages by his patients. In addition, the board found, he kept records that were not only incomplete, but often illegible. Routine steps, such as ordering drug screens, were ignored. Morgan also failed to retest patients to confirm their original medical diagnoses. In one case, he relied on an MRI scan that was 13 years old, records said. He also failed to respond appropriately to such red flags as patients using multiple pharmacies. Thats one way drug-abusing patients avoid detection, according to law enforcement. While Morgan told patients they were required to use one pharmacy, a West Virginia woman used 11 in three states, the court record said. New prescriptions were written even when Morgan was away from the office, federal court records said. A former employee told investigators that Morgan would sometimes visit the office briefly in the morning, write prescriptions for patients expected that day and leave his office staff to hand out the prescriptions, according to the records. During a six-day hospitalization in 2012 when Morgan was diagnosed with acute alcoholic hepatitis, his DEA number was used to issue 310 prescriptions to 115 patients, investigators wrote. Morgan consented to the suspension of his medical license but neither admitted nor denied the board findings against him, according to board records. In the search warrant application, investigators told a federal judge they had probable cause to believe Morgan illegally distributed controlled substances, engaged in drug conspiracy and participated in the misuse of a DEA license. The 20 people were found dead in most cases at home. Some were clutching or surrounded by empty pill bottles, court records said. Share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less. CHARLOTTESVILLE Gov. Terry McAuliffe was at the University of Virginia on Tuesday to ceremoniously cut the ribbon for the solar panel array on top of Clemons Library as the university celebrates Earth Week. The event in Newcomb Hall also featured speeches from others invested in the solar project and UVas new greenhouse-gas action plan. The event, though, was briefly interrupted by protesters who oppose the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and pressured McAuliffe on the subject. As the governor began speaking to the full house at Newcomb Hall Ballroom, protesters started chanting, Climate leaders dont push pipelines, at McAuliffe. McAuliffe said he doesnt have the authority as governor to stop the 600-mile pipeline that would cut through parts of Virginia. He first praised the protesters for coming and speaking out, asking the audience to clap for them every now and then, but he grew impatient as they continued to speak and ask questions over him. Kendall King, a third-year student at UVa, was one of five students who protested during the ribbon-cutting event. We thought it was funny and not totally appropriate to have a politician who supports natural gas at a ribbon-cutting for solar panels, she said. It felt like him not answering the question directly was cowardly, King added. And then telling us we need to have manners it shows his goal was not addressing our question but trying to silence us. Brian Coy, spokesman for McAuliffe, said in an email that the governor is a passionate supporter of Virginias clean-energy industry and that he will work to expand it. He agrees with these Virginians that a project as significant as the Atlantic Coast Pipeline should be subject to the highest standard of environmental review, Coy said. Thats why he supports the Virginia Department of Environmental Qualitys decision to move forward with an individual water quality permit. After the protesters left the event, McAuliffe and the other speakers turned their attention back to the solar panel array at Clemons Library and the future of renewable energy at UVa. I do want to thank UVa for once again being up front, for being a leader on the issue of renewable energy, McAuliffe said. UVa has added 324 solar panels to the librarys roof since mid-February, totaling about 7,530 square feet. The panel array is expected to generate 15 percent of Clemons Librarys energy. UVa worked with two companies based in Charlottesville Sun Tribe Solar and Martin Horn contracting services. McAuliffe was joined on stage for remarks and afterward for the ribbon-cutting by Pat Hogan, the executive vice president and chief operating officer at UVa; Angela Navarro, deputy secretary of natural resources in the governors office; Taylor Brown, co-founder of Sun Tribe Solar; and Suchita Chharia, student representative for the universitys Committee on Sustainability. In order to encourage more projects throughout the state, Brown said it is important to showcase the work that is being done. These systems not only provide for a cleaner environment, they reduce energy costs and also provide jobs for the local workforce, he said. Chharia closed out the remarks portion of the event by thanking UVa for taking a step in the right direction in terms of renewable energy. However, do not mistake our pride for content, she said. We acknowledge the progress that has been made at this university, but we are not content yet and we demand more. We demand more from the university and from our elected officials and will continue to demand more until we can leave our children with a planet that were proud of. UVa also announced its greenhouse-gas action plan, which focuses on actions such as increasing renewable-energy production, alternative-energy technologies and more awareness. Were looking at a number of different things, Hogan said. Were looking at solar projects both on Grounds and off Grounds, were exploring wind power, as well but I think that were keeping our minds and options open to exploring any sorts of renewables. Since 2011, the university has been working toward lowering its 2009 greenhouse-gas emissions levels by 25 percent by 2025. Hogan said UVa has been able to work toward that goal even with student enrollment increasing. From fall of 2009 to 2016, enrollment has increased by nearly 1,500, according to UVa data. Despite all that, were committed to reducing our footprint 25 percent below the 09 levels, which is a very ambitious goal. Hogan said. Daily Progress staff writer Derek Quizon contributed to this report. 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. Business News Harbert Management To Pay New York 40 Million In Tax Settlement | RobinsPost News & Noticias New York state is mailing out around $475 million this week. About 1.8 million New Yorkers will be receiving tax relief checks. Eligible taxpayers for this round of checks are people who have ... Read More Tax relief on the way for about 1.8 million New Yorkers Tax relief on the way for about 1.8 million New Yorkers 00:24 NEW YORK-- Tax relief is on the way for about 1.8 million New Yorkers. Read More People living in New ... income tax payments by the end of this month as a means to combat rising inflation. It is estimated that 1.75 million New York residents will receive this payment. Read More TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The family business of former US president Donald Trump is facing potential fines of over $1.5 million if found guilty of fraud and tax evasion during a New York trial set to ... Read More A Paoli man was sentenced to three and a half years in prison Tuesday in connection with a scheme to use his cash and his employers business ... pay $5 million in restitution in federal court in ... Read More Business Tax Climate Index ranks New York second-worst in the country, ahead of only New Jersey.October 27, 2022 ... Read More Up to one-quarter of small business founders, especially new ... management tools for small businesses The mechanics are especially important given that 26% of small business owners dont pay ... Read More New York will provide pay increases for more than 6,500 nurses across over 15 state agencies, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Oct. 14. The new starting salaries for registered nurses will jump to $ ... Read More The settlement resulted in the USSF signing collective bargaining agreements in order to give both the men's and women's teams equal pay. However, Solo cites that $7.9 million of that settlement ... Read More French prosecutors say Credit Suisse has agreed to pay 238 million ... to French tax authorities. Credit Suisse says it doesn't acknowledge criminal liability in the settlement. Read More The Trump Organization could face up to $1.6 million in fines for the three tax ... Rutgers Business School in Newark, New Jersey. Reporting by Luc Cohen and Karen Freifeld in New York; Editing ... Read More If you get a raise, you may not end up in a higher tax bracket. But more of your income may be subject to Social Security taxes. And youll probably pay more ... at the wealth management firm ... Read More Business News Harbert Reaches 40 Million Tax Settlement With New York | RobinsPost News & Noticias A New York woman was arrested in a counterfeit goods scheme allegedly making millions of dollars from manufacturing fake designer items out of the boutique she owns, according to police. Read More Tax relief on the way for about 1.8 million New Yorkers Tax relief on the way for about 1.8 million New Yorkers 00:24 NEW YORK-- Tax relief is on the way for about 1.8 million New Yorkers. Read More New York state is mailing out around $475 million this week. About 1.8 million New Yorkers will be receiving tax relief checks. Eligible taxpayers for this round of checks are people who have ... Read More The Door ultimately agreed to pay the federal government $2.7 million and the state government $10.2 million as part of the settlement ... for New York Daily News) Aside from its business dealings ... Read More TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The family business of former US president Donald Trump is facing potential fines of over $1.5 million if found guilty of fraud and tax evasion during a New York trial set to ... Read More New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a motion to block Donald Trump and his business from moving assets to evade liability after her office launched a blockbuster lawsuit alleging ... Read More A New York court has dismissed a $40 million civil lawsuit against actor ... In a statement to news agency AFP, the accuser's attorney Peter Saghir said that his client told his truth in ... Read More If you don't know who Robert Moses was, this picture of a scowling giant straddling New York City's vast sprawl ... power Moses had for more than 40 years to shape it. Moses (Ralph Fiennes ... Read More New York will bolster spending on the citys subway system, deploying more police officers and removing severely mentally ill homeless people amid a series of high-profile killings and other ... Read More Powerball players will have the chance to play for the seventh-largest jackpot in history on Wednesday, estimated at $700 million. The cash value is approximately $335.7 million. The jackpot ... Read More 24 (UPI) --Credit Suisse has agreed to pay $234 million to settle a French criminal investigation into whether the Swiss bank helped its clients launder tax ... new Omicron subvariants. World News ... Read More In a statement, Racines office said the $10 million payout would ... At a Thursday news conference, D.C. officials welcomed the settlement as a victory for low-income families and fair housing ... Read More Business News Nova Chemicals To Buy Ethane Cracker In Louisiana | RobinsPost News & Noticias Nova Chemicals Corp. (Calgary, AB, Canada) today announced that it has completed the previously announced acquisition of Williams Partners L.P.s indirect 88.46% ownership interest in the Geismar, LA, ... Read More Plastics are valuable materials that make our modern lives healthier, easier and safer, said John Thayer, Senior Vice President, Polyethylene Business at Nova Chemicals. We also recognize the need ... Read More For more information on NOVA Chemicals polyethylene business, click here. About NOVA Chemicals Corporation NOVA Chemicals is guided by a singular purpose to shape a world where the plastic ... Read More NOVA Chemicals launches ASTUTE, a new family of high-performance sealant resins CALGARY, AB, Oct. 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NOVA Chemicals Corporation (NOVA Chemicals) today announced the ... Read More For more information on NOVA Chemicals polyethylene business, click here. About NOVA Chemicals Corporation NOVA Chemicals is guided by a singular purpose to shape a world where the plastic ... Read More CALGARY, AB, Oct. 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NOVA Chemicals Corporation (NOVA Chemicals) today announced the launch of a new family of high-performance plastomer resins under the brand ... Read More CALGARY, AB, Oct. 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NOVA Chemicals Corporation (NOVA Chemicals), a leading producer of polyethylene resins, announced the launch of its new, mechanically recycled ... Read More Business News Nebraska Farmers Could Be The Last Line Of Defense In The Battle Against The Dakota Access Pipeline | RobinsPost News & Noticias Harvest results in Nebraska are understandably disappointing ... but irrigated corn is only off about 20-bushels from last year. Ebberson says, "Our irrigated corn were getting some 250s ... Read More In many of those battles, Braun came up against ... the pipeline, like Ed Fischbach, a South Dakota farmer. Farmers have long supported oil pipelines, Fischbach told NBC News, because ... Read More "Through no fault of their own, our nation's farmers and ranchers have faced incredibly tough circumstances over the last few years ... insure the farmers stay in business or re-enter farming. Read More IN LESS THAN A MONTH, NEBRASKA VOTERS WILL GET THE FINAL SAY. THE LAST TIME THEY ... LINCOLN INDEPENDENT BUSINESS ASSOCIATE. THEY WERE THE ONLY ORGANIZATION TO SPEAK AGAINST THE INITIATIVE. Read More It blew up the financial stability of the nation through inflationary tax cuts and defense spending. It aids and abets domestic terrorist groups. No more. Democrats are the last line of defense ... Read More Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska has land in Iowa The Winnebago ... when opponents of the Dakota Access crude oil pipeline sought a state-level environmental impact study. Regulators said then that ... Read More Retailers are mounting a last-ditch ... a lobbying battle in the nations capital between two closely intertwined sectors. Financial services companies are warning that the bill could spell ... Read More Their involvement suggests a big battle ... director of Bold Nebraska and a founder of the Bold Alliance. Kleeb helped lead the decade-long campaign against the Keystone XL pipeline, which would ... Read More A body found in the trunk of a car that was chased by authorities in Nebraska last week has been identified as that of a missing Texas woman who is the mother of the vehicle's teenage driver ... Read More A wastewater spill from a pipeline break last year in the northwestern North Dakota oil patch was 20 times greater than first reported, the state Department of Environmental Quality said Wednesday. Read More Business U.S. audit inspection of Chinese companies in Hong Kong ends - sources, article with image November 4, 2022 Pipelines & Transport Enbridge greenlights C$3.6 billion gas pipeline expansion ... Read More Automotive News China Gets Its Chevy Volt In A Buick Wrapper | RobinsPost News & Noticias General Motors China sales gained ... for gasoline cars in early June. Buicks third-quarter deliveries advanced 11 percent to top 185,000 while Chevrolet sales jumped 14 percent to top ... Read More Chevy ranked fourth overall in the J.D Power 2022 China Vehicle Dependability Study with a score that outperformed the segment average. With a PP100 (problems per 100 vehicles) of 171, Chevy was ... Read More Flash forward 30 years and GM's Chevy brand is practically revamping its ... the Volt quite a bit. It was relatively quick for a small car and economical for short excursions. CBS News reports ... Read More But one surprise benefit Honda will get ... its supplier LG Energy Solution as well as pouring money into existing plants so it can build EVs and EV components for its Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac and ... Read More But Tesla has regularly adjusted prices of its cars in ... BYD Motor and SAIC-GM-Wuling, and is the only foreign player in the top 15 list published by the China Passenger Car Association. Read More At the forefront of news coverage ... departed Chevrolet Volt. An obituary buried in corporate euphemisms is a whimper of an end for what was once their technological flagship car of the future. Read More BEIJING -- Toyota Motor Corp. will launch a small electric sedan, powered by BYD Co. batteries and produced and sold in China. The Japanese automaker said the car would be called the Toyota bZ3. Read More Automotive News has added two retail reporters in Detroit. Gail Kachadourian Howe will cover the finance and insurance industry and other retail topics. Howe, 50, has been a freelance reporter for ... Read More Buick confirmed the Electra name was returning to the U.S. for a line of new EVs but hasn't elaborated on what they'll look like or when exactly they're coming. Read More Hummer was GM's first EV built off its Ultium battery platform ... few years away but would compete directly with startup Rivian Automotive Inc.'s R1T pickup truck, which is smaller than the ... Read More "This all allows us to move into a new white space that's being created by energy management," Travis Hester, vice president of GM EV growth operations, told Automotive News. The availability of ... Read More Health News California Again Leads List With 6 Of The Top 10 Most Polluted U S Cities | RobinsPost News & Noticias Fuel is most expensive in California. Prices there have been hovering around $6 a gallon. That's about $2 above the national ... I'm Raquel Maria Dillon, NPR News, Martinez, Calif. Read More The California cities of San Bernardino, Oakland and Los Angeles have been ranked among the states most dangerous ... to WalletHub, the top five safest cities in the U.S. were Columbia ... Read More It found San Francisco, L.A. and New York were the most expensive cities ... top 10. The U.S. city with the least expensive burger combos was Tulsa, Oklahoma where diners are only paying an ... Read More In September, Neighbor.com unveiled its list of America's 25 most neighborly cities ... top spot it held in 2021. According to Neighbor.com's research, Madison is the second happiest city in the U ... Read More Thereafter, specialists in the field of health ... News survey was careful to focus mainly on factors that existed even before the pandemic. Let's take a look at which U.S. counties made the top ... Read More Alexandria came in with a top ranking for its access to exercise classes and gyms, too. The eighth best city in the U.S. for mental health? Irvine, California ... most well-rested city on ... Read More NEW YORK (AP) Here's the Nielsen company's list of the 20 most ... ESPN, 10.86 million. 4. The OT, Fox, 10.46 million. 5. Football Night in America," NBC, 8.96 million. 6. Read More Between 1855 and 1856, 10 lighthouses were established, two more than were first authorized. You can find a list of all Californias lighthouses past and present at lighthousefriends.com. Read More And while Philadelphia, according to 6 ABC News ... s list, this year it climbed the rattiest ladder to the number six spot. The top five cities that sat about Philadelphia with the most rats ... Read More Politics News Georgia Race Gop Hits Ossoff For Living Outside District In Final Stretch | RobinsPost News & Noticias The results of a new survey of the Georgia Senate electiona crucial race that could determine which party controls the Senateare nearly unchanged from previous polls showing Warnock with a slight ... Read More Democrats this weekend are bracing for potentially steep losses in the House and scrambling to retain control of the Senate and governorships around the country as a midterm election season that bore ... Read More Big money continues to roll into Georgia's governor's race even as Republican incumbent Brian Kemp and Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams have already blown through the records they set in 2018. Read More Politics News Georgia Special Election Results Hang In Suspense | RobinsPost News & Noticias Problems with voting machines and systems were sporadic as millions of Americans went to the polls, although glitches in some places, including Arizonas largest county, produced unsubstantiated ... Read More Problems with voting machines and systems were sporadic as millions of Americans went to the polls, although glitches in some places, including Arizonas largest county, produced unsubstantiated ... Read More Instead of having to wait till 7 p.m. on election night for the larger counties, especially, to begin shutting down and printing the advanced voting scanner tapes that take ... Read More Voting locations are open across Georgia, and election officials predict high turnout driven by tight races for the U.S. Senate and governor. Read More Still, while millions of ballot totals will pour in, the winners might not be known on election night if races are close. Turnout could exceed 4 million, and competitive races might turn on a small ... Read More Politics News Uss Carl Vinson Carrier Was Not On Way To North Korea Reports Say | RobinsPost News & Noticias A U.S. aircraft carrier strike group has concluded several days of drills alongside Japan and South Korean warships that drew heavy protest from an increasingly bellicose North Korea. The USS ... Read More SEOUL, South Korea North Korea ... between its rivals. The North Korean Defense Ministry statement came a day after the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan began a new round ... Read More A nuclear-powered aircraft carrier launched a new round of naval drills with South Korea Friday, one day after North Korea ... is a Reporter at Fox News Digital covering Politics, U.S. and World ... Read More Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile North Korea warned Saturday the ... after the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan began a new round of ... Read More SEOUL, South Korea (AP ... drills between its rivals. The North Korean Defense Ministry statement came a day after the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan began a new round ... Read More Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SEOUL, South Korea (AP ... The North Korean Defense Ministry statement came a day after the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan ... Read More Politics News U S Says Iran Is Sticking With The Nuclear Deal Here S Why It S Ordering A Review On Lifting Sanctions | RobinsPost News & Noticias The U.S. envoy to Iran said Monday that the Biden administration will not "waste time" on reviving Iran's 2015 nuclear deal amid Tehran's crackdown on protesters and its support of Russia. Read More U.S. Says Iran Nuclear Deal Is 'Not Our Focus Right Now' WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday said that reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal is "not our focus right now," saying ... Read More Special Envoy to Iran Robert Malley said that a military option will not be ruled out as a last resort as the Biden administration pursues diplomatic options. Read More Iran is seeking Russia's help to bolster its nuclear program, US intelligence officials believe, as Tehran looks for a backup plan should a lasting nuclear deal with world powers fail to materialize. Read More The Iran nuclear deal is not our focus right now, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Wednesday, noting the administration was instead focusing on supporting the protesters in ... Read More Then-U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the nuclear deal between Iran and six major powers in 2018 and unilaterally reimposed economic sanctions that have hobbled Iran's economy by curbing its ... Read More Try refreshing your browser, or tap here ... Then-U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the nuclear deal between Iran and six major powers in 2018 and unilaterally reimposed economic sanctions ... Read More FILE PHOTO: U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price speaks during a news conference in Washington, U.S. March 10, 2022. Manuel Balce Ceneta/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo WASHINGTON (Reuters ... Read More Politics News Ex Cia Officer Says She S Being Forced To Testify In Italy On Rendition | RobinsPost News & Noticias Its not my fault, if people dont look up ... New York Posts story exposing the Hunter Biden laptop scandal, says. In a Fox News interview with Bret Baier Tuesday, Former CIA officer David Priess ... Read More Former Central Intelligence Agency officer David Priess defended being ... to say that the arrival on the US political scene of emails purportedly belonging to Vice President Bidens son Hunter ... Read More WASHINGTON An ex-police officer "betrayed" his sworn oath by warning a fellow Donald Trump supporter who entered the U.S ... political issues and advised that he "Take down the part about ... Read More Watters and other panelists on "The Five" criticized one signatory, ex-CIA intel officer and Lawfare blogger David Priess, for being a ... covers media, politics and breaking news, and has covered ... Read More A former CIA officer who spied on Qatars rivals to help the tiny Arab country land this years World Cup is now under FBI scrutiny and newly obtained documents show he offered spy services that went ... Read More Tulsi Gabbard, the former 2020 presidential candidate and current Fox News ... Shes railed against trans rights, and not only did she support Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Dont Say ... Read More I can no longer remain in todays Democratic Party ... across the country after she spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference. The former congresswoman did not indicate ... Read More Former CIA officer David Priess joined 'Special Report' to weigh in on President Biden's 'Armageddon' remarks and why he signed on to a letter in 2020 claiming Hunter Biden's emails were part of a ... Read More One is Matteo Salvini, a former ... say, conservativism for the 21st century. She might bear some far-back connection to the post-fascist legacy, but clearly thats not the core of her political ... Read More Her working-class roots and political ambition have defined her ascent to power. In her teenage years, Meloni was an activist in the Italian Social Movement or MSI, and she became Italy's youngest ... Read More Potus News Stakes High For Trump Democrats In Georgia House Race | RobinsPost News & Noticias Millions across the country vote while Florida state department tells DoJ that federal election monitors wont be permitted follow all the latest news ... Read More A recent University of Georgia poll found 66% of registered voters in the state believe the condition of the country is on the wrong track. Read More Deep-red Oklahoma is in play for Democrats. New York and Oregon are within reach for Republicans. And several swing states have tight races with high stakes on abortion, elections and other issues. Read More The Libertarian candidate, Shane Hazel, was disqualified from the debate for not meeting the required 10 percent polling threshold. Read More Democrats turned to former President Barack Obama on Friday to rally Georgia voters in a tight U.S. Senate race that could determine whether the party keeps control of the chamber after the upcoming ... Read More Another woman has come forward with allegations that Georgia Republican Senate nominee Herschel Walker paid for her abortion after engaging in an affair. Walker told reporters Wednesday that the ... Read More Search RobinsPost News & Noticias Potus News Canada Trump Is Wrong When He Says Dairy Practices Unfair | RobinsPost News & Noticias Potus News The Fbi Used The Bombshell Trump Russia Dossier To Get Permission To Surveil A Former Trump Adviser | RobinsPost News & Noticias when it was trying to verify information in a dossier detailing Trumps alleged ties to Russia that was compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele. The FBI used the largely ... Read More (Bloomberg) -- A Russian analyst who unearthed dubious claims about former ... Trump administration to probe why the FBI secretly investigated the Republican candidate and his ties to Russia. The ... Read More A jury on Tuesday acquitted on all counts a think tank analyst accused of lying to the FBI about his role in the creation of a discredited dossier about former ... Trump derided the dossier as ... Read More referring to the wiretaps of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. The FBI affidavits used to secure those surveillance warrants included material that came from the Trump-Russia dossier. Read More The FBI offered former British spy Christopher Steele up to $1 million to verify allegations in his dossier about former President Donald Trump's ties to Russia, The Times of London reported. Read More The largely unsubstantiated dossier was used by the FBI to support its surveillance of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. Danchenko, 44, had told the FBI he received some of the information ... Read More State Debate: 'Resistance' needs to be more than just anti-Trump, blogger Chris Walker maintains Potus News Trump Administration Orders Review Of Iran Nuclear Deal Sanctions Tillerson | RobinsPost News & Noticias The U.S. envoy to Iran said Monday that the Biden administration will not "waste time" on reviving Iran's 2015 nuclear deal amid Tehran's crackdown on protesters and its support of Russia. Read More Iran is seeking Russia's help to bolster its nuclear program, US intelligence officials believe, as Tehran looks for a backup plan should a lasting nuclear deal with world powers fail to materialize. Read More The Biden administration imposed Iran-related sanctions Thursday targeting a large international smuggling network that's accused of aiding Hezbollah and the IRGC's Quds Force. Read More Potus News Trump Administration Says Iran Complying With Nuclear Deal | RobinsPost News & Noticias The U.S. envoy to Iran said Monday that the Biden administration will not "waste time" on reviving Iran's 2015 nuclear deal amid Tehran's crackdown on protesters and its support of Russia. Read More Iran is seeking Russia's help to bolster its nuclear program, US intelligence officials believe, as Tehran looks for a backup plan should a lasting nuclear deal with world powers fail to materialize. Read More The US Special Envoy for Iran on Monday said the United States is focused on matters on Iran "where we can be useful," and is not currently going to "waste our time" on the nuclear deal "if nothing's ... Read More Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers "has no future and is not in line with reality", a senior official in Germany's Free Democrats (FDP), junior partner in the ruling coalition, told two online ... Read More Another woman has come forward with allegations that Georgia Republican Senate nominee Herschel Walker paid for her abortion after engaging in an affair. Walker told reporters Wednesday that the ... Read More Potus News Australia New Zealand Back Trump On Possible Wto Action On Canada Dairy | RobinsPost News & Noticias Australia's next match is against Sri Lanka in Perth on Tuesday (12pm UK time), with New Zealand in action against Afghanistan in Melbourne on Wednesday (9am UK time). Read More (Commonwealth of Australia) The publication of the first part of New Zealand's new defence review has been pushed back to March 2023 a delay of almost six months. Under the Terms of Reference ... Read More 3. Sit back and enjoy the action. Head to Sky Sports or another service and watch the T20 contest. The Australia vs New Zealand live stream will be shown live in the U.K. on Sky Sports (opens in ... Read More McCullum had unfinished business against Australia ... kept swinging it back over his head. Allen, in his astonishing onslaught, hit 42 runs off only 16 balls, after New Zealand had been sent ... Read More MELBOURNE, Oct 25 (Reuters) - New Zealand have tried to move on from thrashing champions Australia in their World Cup opener but are keen to keep the good times rolling against Afghanistan ... Read More The Australians took the lead in the fifth minute when Iliseva Batibasaga gathered the ball at the back of ... the win. Australia join New Zealand as well as England and Canada in booking their ... Read More Sign up to our free sport newsletter for all the latest news on everything from cycling to boxing Sign up to our free sport email for all the latest news Please enter ... Read More New Zealand have brought Commonwealth Games gold medal winners Australia down to earth with a 56-48 opening Constellation Cup win in Auckland. Returning to action for the first time since ... Read More We are excited to strengthen our brand in Australia and New Zealand with feature-rich solutions, personable customer and technical support, and a continued investment in innovation. [AV Network's top ... Read More SYDNEY, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Devon Conway scored a brilliant unbeaten 92 as New Zealand thrashed ... off his pad and bat and went back into his stumps -- kept Australia on the back foot. Read More Third-ranked Canada conceded a try in less than ... Im pretty happy with the way the team bounced back from last week, New Zealand captain Ruahei Demant said. To come out here and ... Read More New Zealand have thrashed hosts and defending champions Australia by 89 runs to start the Twenty20 World Cup Super 12 in style while also avenging defeat in last years final. Devon Conway ... Read More Potus News Mother Of Four Deported To Mexico As Lawyer Decries Trump S Heartless Policy | RobinsPost News & Noticias Just nine, she saw her mother, Alejandra, the wife of a decorated US marine, deported to Mexico ... Trump policy of deporting undocumented residents without impunity even if, as in Alejandras ... Read More An Ohio mother of four children who was deported last year to Mexico scored a vital appeals victory on Wednesday ... Customs Enforcement agents arrested her outside her sister-in-laws home and moved ... Read More One Oct. 4 Facebook post claims one of former President Donald Trump's lawyers revealed evidence of election fraud in front of Congress. Fight Breaks (sic) as Trump's Lawyer Plays Video ... Read More Lawyers for the Trump Organization have claimed the Manhattan district attorney's case is a "selective prosecution" based on animosity toward Trump's political views, though the judge overseeing ... Read More Cipollones and Philbins roles as White House lawyers raise complicated legal questions about whether Trump can claim confidentiality ... Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most ... Read More Another mother searching for her disappeared child has been killed in Mexico, the fifth murder of a volunteer search activist in Mexico since the start of 2021 ... Read More Lawyers for mother of George Floyd's child share intent to sue Kanye West for $250M 00:42 (CNN) --Roxie Washington, acting on behalf of her daughter with the late George Floyd, has retained ... Read More The revelation from U.S. District Judge David O. Carter came as part of an ongoing legal battle between Eastman, a conservative lawyer ... four, the judge said, "demonstrate an effort by President ... Read More Despite his boss demand, one of ex-President Donald Trumps lawyers reportedly knew better than to claim in early 2022 that Trump had given back all the government records hed unlawfully ... Read More The former One America News personality ... Melanias ransacked closet at Mar-a-Lago is becoming almost as infamous as her murdered rose garden She also claimed another Trump lawyer, Boris ... Read More Science News Watch Live Rare Two Man Crew Headed For International Space Station | RobinsPost News & Noticias SpaceX returned its fourth operational crew mission from the International Space Station on Friday ... government missions and two private ones. Got a confidential news tip? Read More Crew-4's Dragon ... Florida following an International Space Station (ISS) mission, reaching the Atlantic Ocean safely on Friday (Oct. 14). The successful return followed two weather-related ... Read More You can watch the lecture live ... station (meaning "heavenly palace"), as China looks to utilize its new orbital outpost for inspiring interest in space and science domestically and for ... Read More A spacecraft en route to deliver thousands of pounds of supplies to the International Space Station is operating with half of its power. Read More RELATED SpaceX launches two Intelsat Galaxy satellites after aborted mission Crew-4 had been expected ... early Monday for the International Space Station. Science News // 3 days ago Chinese ... Read More NASAs International Space Station (ISS ... NASA alerted ISS crew members on November 15, including two Cosmonauts, to take cover in the ship's escape pods and be prepared to depart. Read More Update: Splashdown of the Crew-4 mission at 4:55 p.m. EDT! This completes the crew's six-month ISS mission. Read the full post-landing story here. Watch live above as NASA's SpaceX Crew-4 mission ... Read More The International Space Station is hosting two American astronauts, a Japanese astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut. who traveled onboard SpaceX's Endurance Crew Dragon's Crew-5 mission Oct. 5. Read More (CNN) Four astronauts are expected to board a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule and return home from the International Space Station on Friday ... the astronauts conducted science experiments ... Read More American space agency NASA is planning to launch the next resupply services mission to the International Space Station (ISS) next month. The Cygnus spacecraft carrying scientific investigations of ... Read More Science News Iran S Stealth Fighter Is A Total Joke | RobinsPost News & Noticias Even regime stalwarts are criticizing Khamenei, which hasnt happened during previous revolts. Read More though the semiofficial Tasnim news agency described the incident as a salary dispute. Iran is one of the world's top natural gas suppliers, just after the U.S. and Russia. In Abadan, a city once ... Read More Large numbers of Irans elite Revolutionary Guards have been participating in the crackdown in addition to local police, say activists in Sanandaj, who accuse authorities of lashing back ... Read More They show up at the first signs of protest in Iran men in black, riding motorcycles, often wielding guns, or batons. They are members of whats known as the Basij, paramilitary volunteers ... Read More With the jet's introduction, China became the second country after the United States to operate a stealth fighter capable of supersonic cruising speeds. The design of the J-20 is comparable to the ... Read More As the students finished school and filed out chanting again for the death of Irans supreme leader Ayatollah ... think they live in. We believe news can and should expand a sense of ... Read More told Fox News Digital, "The timing of all of this couldnt be more worrisome for both Irans regime and the United States as OPEC has announced production cuts, putting more weight on Irans ... Read More Perhaps the most important aspect to the current uprising is the major role played by Irans ethnic minorities. According to BBC News, security forces have targeted and killed a disproportionate ... Read More EXCLUSIVE: Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley is calling for President Biden to demand the removal of Iran ... s rights has always been a joke," Haley said in a statement to Fox News Digital. Read More Jones said the judgement didnt matter any way because I dont have $10 million in cash, its a total joke. If they think theyre going to get $900-plus million theyre mistaken, he said. Guess ... Read More U.S. prisoner Emad Shargi was recently being held in Ward 7, CBS News has learned. Shargi, an American-Iranian dual citizen , has been wrongfully detained in Iran since 2018. His family provided ... Read More Rights groups have long accused Iran ... s 290-seat, hard-liner-led parliament made the request to the judiciary, according to a statement from deputies quoted by state media. The activist HRANA ... Read More Internet News Thailand Tells Internet Users To Unfollow Junta Critics On Social Media Or Face Consequences | RobinsPost News & Noticias Authorities began looking into the incident after a Thai reporter posted an image on social media of two members ... The image prompted criticism from the Foreign Correspondents Club of ... Read More Internet users have a long list of social media platforms to choose ... as an "outspoken anti-Communist" and "vehement critic of the mainstream media and Big Tech companies for suppressing ... Read More Social media users say today's angel number 1010 represents ... house numbers and clocks - they could be trying to tell you something. And each set of numbers conveys a different meaning ... Read More Furious Amanda Holden took to Instagram on Wednesday to slam a 'nut jobs' pretending to be her on social media ... doing this sort of thing so please unfollow if you are following.' ... Read More This is in contrast with many other social media ... get news there, higher than in 2021 and 2020. This compares with 10% of those ages 30 to 49, 4% of those 50 to 64 and just 1% of those 65 and older ... Read More She holds degrees in law and communications, and currently oversees the CNET breaking news desk for the West Coast. Corinne covers everything from phones, social media and security to movies ... Read More In Britain, regulators want to fine the social media app ... the internet and smartphones, and will be used against VR if ever widely adopted. In the 1890s, some critics even diagnosed societal ... Read More Internet freedom around the world has fallen for the 12th year in a row, according to new research. The latest edition of Freedom House's Freedom on the Net report finds that human rights online ... Read More Paweenuch Supholwong sits on her mothers lap and fidgets with her pigtails as her mother tells the remarkable story of how the 3-year-old wisp of a girl survived Thailands worst mass killing ... Read More You dont tell TikTok what you want to see. It tells you. And the internet ... that TikTok users engaged with the app about 10 times a minute, twice as often as its social media peers. Read More Internet News Facebook Is Testing High Speed Wireless Internet Service In California | RobinsPost News & Noticias Network and Tower Expansion Bridges Digital Divide Providing Allendale and Vacaville Customers Reliable Broadband Services As a value-added service for their customer base and in partnership with ... Read More Construction began Thursday near Poway on the first leg of a 10,000-mile-long broadband network intended to provide high-speed internet service ... local news and weather in Southern California. Read More In our Starlink review, we were thoroughly impressed by the new satellite internet service but there are ... get everyone in the world connected to high speed internet. Starlink officially exited ... Read More With Starlink, passengers will be able to access high-speed ... California by JSX, which in April announced it would be one of the first air carriers to adopt the inflight internet service. Read More Construction began Oct. 13 in Poway on the first leg of a 10,000-mile-long broadband network intended to provide high-speed internet service options to everyone in the state. California is now ... Read More Uplink Internet, LLC. is a Mississippi-based internet service provider working to bring fixed wireless internet to Clarksdale and the Mississippi Delta area residents. They strive to provide you ... Read More Oct. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Cal.net Inc., a leading fixed Wireless Internet Service ... California, communities. The additional towers allow Cal.net to reach more customers with their high-speed ... Read More Travel News Experts To Discuss Business Travel Risks At Viajescorp Americas 2017 Conference In Panama | RobinsPost News & Noticias Kenley says her business is picking up with many first time clients. Its kind of crazy. Everybody is calling and the thing I hear the most is I didnt know there were still travel agents ... Read More Travel management companies World Travel and Clarity Business Travel in October announced that they had created a new joint venture the companies said would be capable of servicing clients with global ... Read More Around 1.3 million business ... news is, Hilton has a tool for that. Innovative Approaches for Tracking Environmental Impact With an urgent call to act and mitigate climate change risks, the ... Read More Business travel ... of business travel as travel restrictions have been loosened. To gain comfort, experts predict that travel will be recovered by 2025, which is good news for patient investors. Read More This might spell trouble for traditional conference centers and hotels that depend on a steady drumbeat of business travel. Yet it has created a new small-business ecosystem geared at helping ... Read More SAN DIEGO A panel of experts discussed the ... trucking industrys emerging safety risks during American Trucking Associations 2022 Management Conference & Exhibition. Read More A TRAVEL expert has revealed the two days of the week ... He said Tuesday and Wednesday flights are also much quieter, as business travellers often fly at the start of the week while holidaymakers ... Read More DENVER (KDVR) Millions are preparing to travel for the Thanksgiving holiday but travel experts recommend making reservations early for end-of-the-year holidays. AAA of Colorado told FOX31 that ... Read More Executive Travel has appointed Jon Behner as VP of business development, a position in which he is responsible for acquiring mid- to large-market corporate business on a regional, national and global ... Read More Here are five tips from travel experts to help you get the most out ... hand sanitizer and Clorox wipes to help reduce the risk of contamination. While most travelers might not wear a mask ... Read More Tech experts say 2023 is likely to be another ... Members of Forbes Technology Council discuss tech trends coming to business in 2023. Read More This might spell trouble for traditional conference centers and hotels that depend on a steady drumbeat of business travel. Yet it has created a new small-business ecosystem geared at helping ... Read More Us News Legal Hurdles Loom Large In Arkansas Plan For Executions | RobinsPost News & Noticias ATLANTA -- Georgia is one of several states where voters will face new hurdles casting a ballot during ... or in some cases not yet applicable. In Arkansas, the legality of four election measures ... Read More (Bloomberg) -- US banks that have been talking up the strength ... and what they say about the financial cushions of American households or expansion plans by corporate leaders, after months ... Read More The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented 155 subpoena and legal orders filed to news organizations since the media freedom coalition started documenting such requests in 2017. In 2021 ... Read More US freight railroads rejected a new sick leave proposal from a union of track maintenance workers that is threatening to go on strike in less than 30 days without a new labor deal. The Brotherhood ... Read More While it could be too soon to tell how widespread a potential recession will be, some players in the legal tech ... steps to plan for a potential downturn. The Legaltech News Technology Survey ... Read More We have a huge problem with skyrocketing crime, insisted the US senator for Wisconsin ... firm Public Opinion Strategies for NBC News found that 90% of voters would prefer Republican ... Read More It is important to keep in mind that this column presents a summary of the law, and is not to be treated or considered legal advice, let alone a substitute for actual consultation with a qualified ... Read More Having started last week with its best two-day rally since April 2020, a gauge of world equities finished the period with a gain of just 1.7% as Fridays solid US jobs figures sent shares ... Read More Yet just 45.2% said they planned to vote with the Democratic Party in the midterms, and 44.3% said they plan ... news. As part of this free service you may receive occasional offers from us ... Read More Five players scored in double figures for the University of Arkansas women as the Razorbacks knocked off Arkansas-Fort Smith 92-62 in an exhibition game Wednesday night at Walton Arena. Read More As the November 8 elections near in the U.S., both major parties are pushing opposing stances on abortion. On Tuesday, President Joe Biden said if his Democratic Party wins a legislative majority ... Read More Amy Schulz and Paula Rogge: Military spending is not way to get value for our tax dollar Us News Rattlesnake Season Begins With A Vengeance In Southern California | RobinsPost News & Noticias Four areas in Louisiana and two in Texas should be protected as critical habitat for a rare snake that eats pocket gophers and takes over the rodents' burrows, the federal government says. Louisiana ... Read More Following Southern Californias usual mid-July to September monsoon season, the area generally ... Noah Goldberg covers breaking news for the Los Angeles Times. He worked previously in New ... Read More The unusual amount of rain weve had means we could be in for a massive snake season, he said. When it rains the activity of small mammals, other reptiles and birds can increase and ... Read More LOS ANGELES (AP) The first Santa Ana wind event of the season brought gusts to parts of Southern California on Monday, but forecasters said it would be quick and weak. The combination of warm ... Read More Flu is being detected at increased levels for this time of year in Southern California, a trend that officials say could foreshadow a difficult season ... in most of the United States, with ... Read More Two suspects were arrested Monday in connection with a weekend shooting that wounded four people in Southern California, authorities said. Deputies responding Sunday evening found four victims ... Read More Metrolink and Amtrak train services could be suspended through December during repairs due to shifting ground beneath a stretch of seaside track in Southern California, transit officials said. Read More the California Secretary of State. The vote-by-mail ballot voting period begins as soon as ballots are in the mail, which begins Tuesday. "We're urging all Californians to vote early this year. Read More MIKE: RIGHT NOW, LET THE VOTING BEGIN ... US. ALL THE SUDDEN, A CAR DRIVES UP, DROPS OFF A BALLOT IS VALID DROPBOX. WHY? TODAY IS THE DATA EARLY VOTING OFFICIALLY BEGINS IN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA. Read More As a result, local builders cut their monthly pace of pulling building permits in July and August by 21% compared to the years first half, the busiest start of a year since 2007. Ali Wolf ... Read More World News At Un Us Warns On Human Rights In Iran Cuba N Korea | RobinsPost News & Noticias Amnesty International and 42 other organizations called on the UN Human Rights Council to hold a special session on Iran as a matter ... the UN to defend us and the protesters. I, too, can condemn ... Read More EU Slaps Human Rights Sanctions on Iran, Warns of More Over Ukraine By Sabine ... drone transfers should be seen as a violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution. The EU could move towards ... Read More The United States announced Wednesday it will seek to oust Iran from the U.N.s premiere global body fighting for gender equality because of its violation of the rights of women and girls and its ... Read More The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC ... Neuer is the groups executive director. The U.N. Human Rights Office told Fox News Digital that "all speaking opportunities at the [HRC ... Read More (Reuters) -Canada imposed new sanctions on Iran on Thursday in response to the government's human rights abuses and destabilizing ... speak for themselves the world has watched for years ... Read More Newly appointed United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) Volker Turk gives a statement during a news conference at Palais Wilson in Geneva, Switzerland 2, 2022. REUTERS/Denis ... Read More deter and confront Irans provision of these munitions against the Ukrainian people." Caitlin McFall is a Reporter at Fox News Digital covering Politics, U.S. and World news. Get all the stories ... Read More The United Nations Human Rights ... in Iran. The father of Milan Haghigi, a 21-year-old man killed by security forces on 21 September, said: People expect the UN to defend us and the protesters. Read More Francois Walschaerts/Pool via The European Union prepared to slap sanctions on Iran on Monday over a human rights crackdown and ... a resolution by the U.N. Security Council. Read More We are gathering evidence and we will be ready to react with the tools at our disposal," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told a news conference ... 10:53 AM UTC World Iran acknowledges ... Read More (Reuters) - The European Union prepared to slap sanctions on Iran on Monday over a human rights crackdown and several ... violated a resolution by the U.N. Security Council. The EU could decide ... Read More Several European Union foreign ministers on Monday (Oct 17) called for sanctions against Iran over the transfer ... should be seen as a violation of a UN Security Council resolution. Read More World News Turkey S Erdogan Lashes Out At West After Disappointingly Narrow Victory | RobinsPost News & Noticias In this case, a news ... to warn Erdogan that if any harm comes to Bozkurt, it will be yet another reason the West might consider treating Turkey as a pariah, notwithstanding Turkeys membership ... Read More Swedens new prime minister has vowed to fulfill his countrys obligations toward countering the threat of terrorism to Turkey. Ulf Kristersson made the pledge Tuesday after a meeting with Turkish ... Read More Politicians and trade unionists question presidents pledge to improve safety after blast kills at least ... for hours has sparked public outrage in Turkey, with simmering anger at President ... Read More Turkeys political opposition has a public responsibility to challenge Erdogan and provide voters with an alternate vision, but it has refused to do so. Turkey is rapidly declining as a ... Read More "Among other things, countering terrorism will be a priority for Sweden before and after our accession to NATO," he said. Erdogan has said Turkey's parliament would not approve the Nordic ... Read More between Turkey and Armenia, are interdependent," Erdogan said on a visit to Azerbaijan's Zangilan district. "We must seize the opportunity which has opened," he told a news conference alongside ... Read More Israeli President Isaac Herzog established a warm relationship with Erdogan earlier this year during his official visit to Ankara. Read More Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has signed up to Russian President Vladimir Putin's plan to turn Turkey into ... come as the West's patience may be running out, warned Maria Shangina ... Read More Erdogan announced plans to develop the agreement on exportinggrainand fertilizer from Russia through Turkey to supply "developing countries." How NATO partners have reacted to Turkey's relations ... Read More Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan addresses the audience at Century of Turkey meeting in Ankara, Turke 28, 2022. REUTERS/Umit Bektas ... Read More World News Nigeria Reopens Abuja Airport After Six Week Closure | RobinsPost News & Noticias Construction giant, Julius Berger, tuesday expressed its preparedness to ensure the completion of the repair of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport runway, Abuja ... closure of the runway for six ... Read More One of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport's runways reopened on Monday after a six-week restoration project. The Metropolitan Airports Commission announced that Runway 17/35 is back in ... Read More MANILA, Philippines Philippine authorities allowed a major airport to partially reopen to international ... stuck in the grass near the runway after a near-tragic accident over the weekend. Read More Nigeria on Friday said it had beefed up security and called for the public to be vigilant but calm after the United States and Britain warned of a high ... Read More US and UK Warn of Possible Attack in Nigeria's Capital LAGOS (Reuters) - The United States and Britain on Sunday warned of a possible terrorist attack in Nigeria's federal capital Abuja ... Read More The upper-level roadway has partially reopened after being ... The road will reopen during the day for passenger drop-off and pick-up. Closure times will vary, according to the airport, which ... Read More Seventy-six people have died as their boat capsized ... Kogi is located around 200 kilometers from Nigerias capital, Abuja. Kogis capital, Lokoja, is the meeting point for West Africa ... Read More Members of the Nigeria Labour Congress protest during a rally on closure of Nigerian Universities at the National Assembly complex in Abuja ... a budget speech last week said the government ... Read More The death toll from floods in 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. ... Read More Last week, 76 people died by drowning in the southeastern state of Anambra when their boat capsized as they tried to escape high floodwaters. Earlier, six people ... I call on World Bank and ... Read More Vehicles are seen on a flooded road in Lokoja, Nigeria ... Abuja. Cameroonian power company Eneo said last month it would release water from the dam in September and October after its reservoir ... Read More The widespread flooding, which has affected 27 of Nigeria ... World News // 19 hours ago Commercial plane crash in Lake Victoria, Tanzania kills 19 Nov. 6 (UPI) -- A commercial flight to Bukoba ... Read More World News How Germany Used Islam During World War I | RobinsPost News & Noticias Vladimir Putin has made reference to the US's nuclear strikes on Japan during World War Two in veiled a nuclear threat to Ukraine. In his latest telephone conversation with French President Emmanuel ... Read More A Faux Paris Was Built to Fool German Bombers During World War I When Paris was the target ... During night raids, pilots used topography to locate targets, and the city wasn't all that difficult ... Read More The companys actions occurred before it merged with Swiss company Holcim to form the worlds largest ... start of the Syrian civil war. The money was to be used to protect employees and ... Read More Polish demands for trillions in World War II reparations for damages are a non-starter, said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, during a ... Still, Germany stands by its historical ... Read More The ship first served as a German fishing trawler and was requisitioned by the German Navy during World ... used to develop a decision-making tool to asses the potential environmental risk a war ... Read More A New York City man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the killing of an 81-year-old World War I Veteran several decades ago, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a press release on ... Read More "The Islamic ... used energy and hunger as weapons. "The brutal war in Ukraine, Putin's ruthless use of hunger and energy as a weapon, the enormous price increases here in Germany and around the ... Read More Germany's Lindner: Ukraine Can Rely on G7 Finance Support in Times of War ... a news conference in Washington on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World ... Read More The building that houses a German consulate in Kyiv was hit during Russian missile strikes, though it has not been in use since war broke out ... spokesperson said Germany expected to deliver ... Read More Mr Trump said the Biden administration should be pushing Russia and Ukraine to sue for peace warning the conflict could be heading toward World War III ... he said during a rally ... Read More World News Us Woman Released From Egypt Prison After 3 Years Detention | RobinsPost News & Noticias A US woman who grew up on a farm in Kansas, converted to Islam and joined ISIS in Syria where she led an all-female military battalion is to be sentenced Tuesday for providing support to a foreign ... Read More NPR's Leila Fadel talks to Sanaa Seif, who's attending the climate summit in Egypt. She's pressuring authorities to release her brother, a voice of Egypt's 2011 uprising, before he dies in prison. Read More By Zeena Saifi, Allegra Goodwin and Tara John, CNN The sister of jailed British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah is concerned for his life, telling a news conference on the sidelines of COP27 that ... Read More A group of current and former detainees at the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay have signed an open letter calling on US President ... the prison at Guantanamo Bay. But almost two years into ... Read More Her family thought they had received justice when her confessed killer, Gary Troutman, was sentenced to 30 years behind bars. This week, however, they learned hell be released after serving ... Read More A group of winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature urged world leaders on Wednesday to raise human rights issues as they visit Egypt for the COP27 climate change conference. Read More Emmanuel Macron said he wouldn't disclose details of the discussion because in his experience, that's 'more efficient' for obtaining the release of activists imprisoned in some authoritarian countries ... Read More The U.S. is seeking the release of an American citizen sentenced to 16 years in prison ... after midterm elections. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news ... Read More LIMA A Lima woman will spend three years in prison for improperly discharging a firearm into a habitation, a second-degree felony, with a firearm specification. Shapria Daniel, 26, shot a gun ... Read More Egyptian authorities have announced the release of a prominent human rights lawyer CAIRO -- Egyptian authorities announced Monday the release of a former parliamentarian and lawyer from prison ... Read More A US citizen on temporary release ... after hopes for his permanent freedom. Siamak Namazi, 51, was returned to Tehran's Evin prison, a day before the seventh anniversary of his detention on ... Read More By Chris Lefkow An American woman who converted to Islam and joined the Islamic State in Syria, leading an all-female ... Read More World News Un Court Rejects Provisional Measures On Russia Over Ukraine | RobinsPost News & Noticias 12 (UPI) --The United Nations ... for the Supreme Court in the Donetsk region of Ukraine was hospitalized Friday after he was shot in an alleged assassination attempt. World News // 1 day ago ... Read More Russias initial allegation of secret American biological warfare labs in Ukraine in March has been disputed by independent scientists, Ukrainian leaders and officials at the White House and ... Read More While the resolution again won significantly more than the required two-thirds majority of the United Nations ... occupied by Russia across Ukraines south and east. But over the past 10 ... Read More United Nations Ambassador from United States, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, address the U.N. General Assembly, before it voted on a resolution condemning Russias illegal referendum in Ukraine ... Read More It means that in the eyes of the world and the United Nations, Ukraine ... approach to Russia with its vote in the assembly. He painted Moscow as the victim of fake news when all it is ... Read More Ukraine and allies have denounced the votes as illegal and coercive. The draft UN General Assembly resolution calls on states not to recognize Russia's move and reaffirms the sovereignty and ... Read More United Nations The ... Assembly in September. "Russia can stop the fighting, pull back its troops to Ukraine's borders, and the war will be over." Supreme Court hears Andy Warhol copyright ... Read More The moves at the United Nations mirror what happened in 2014 after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea. At the Security Council Russia vetoed a draft resolution that opposed a referendum on the status ... Read More World News Story Malaysia Airlines First To Track Fleet With Satellites | RobinsPost News & Noticias In years gone by, Malaysia Airlines ... for the post-COVID world. Today, we examine the 2022 fleet of Southeast Asian carrier Malaysia Airlines. Let's first take a look at the composition of ... Read More Amazon will send the first ... satellites to orbit for Starlink. This will provide low-latency, high-speed broadband connectivity to unserved and underserved communities around the world ... Read More Illustration: United Launch Alliance Amazon is preparing to launch its first two Project Kuiper ... Amazon is planning to launch a fleet of 3,236 satellites for the Project Kuiper constellation ... Read More 11 (UPI) --A little more than a year after being named Malaysia's prime minister ... country mobilizes troops amid the war in Ukraine. World News // 8 hours ago Nightclub fire leaves 13 dead ... Read More In a shocking incident, a Turkish Airlines flight to the Indonesian capital ... was forced to divert to Kuala Lampur in Malaysia. It landed at Kualanamu International Airport, Medan. Read More Parliamentary candidates will have to file their nominations on Nov. 5, commission chairman Abdul Ghani Salleh told a news conference ... won for the first time in Malaysia's history due to ... Read More KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob dissolved parliament on Monday, paving the way for national elections to be held in the coming weeks. The election date will ... Read More Malaysia -- Malaysias leader says he's dissolving Parliament on Monday, paving the way for early general elections. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events ... Read More Malaysia has been under political turmoil since ... a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry said Monday. World News // 43 minutes ago China's imports, exports shrink in October as demand from ... Read More Malaysia Elections: Malaysia Prime Minister ... commission chairman Abdul Ghani Salleh told a news conference. The polls come earlier than the September 2023 deadline and during the annual monsoon ... Read More In the 2018 election, the opposition won for the first time in Malaysia's history due ... article with gallery 3:46 AM UTC World at Work Analysis: Airlines reboot as COVID sparks a revolution ... Read More World News Story Israel Syria S Assad Still Has Up To Three Tons Of Chemical Weapons | RobinsPost News & Noticias Send any friend a story ... to the three officials, Russia has now removed the S-300 system from Syria to bolster its flagging invasion of Ukraine reducing Russian leverage over Israel in ... Read More So began Dr. Amnon Sofrin, the head of the Mossads intelligence division in the mid-2000s, as he retold the story of Israels discovery that Syria ... give up his plans for nuclear weapons ... Read More Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah announced the end of his armed groups mobilization on Thursday, following the completion of a maritime demarcation agreement brokered by the U.S. Read More (photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON UNIT) The Israeli Air Force works to fight new and developing threats across the region The Israeli military has destroyed about 90 ... Read More The meeting [with Assad] signals the relaunching of joint Palestinian-Syrian action, he told reporters in Damascus. We are proud of Syria, which has supported and embraced the Palestinian ... Read More Analysts say the shift pushes Hamas deeper into the fold of the Iran-led "axis of resistance" against Israel that includes Syria as ... which have both fought on Assad's side in the civil war ... Read More Hamas leaders publicly endorsed the 2011 Sunni street uprising against Assad's rule ... which they have used to fight Israel. It has eased into reconciliation with Syria more slowly, fearing ... Read More As Syrias bloodstained ... in the Arab world. Since leaving Damascus, the groups leaders have drifted mainly between Turkey and Qatar. But Turkey is mending fences with Israel, Qatar with ... Read More Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem made the comments in an interview with Sawt al-Aqsa Radio, following a high-level meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ... with Syria, which "has been ... Read More Hamas leaders publicly endorsed the 2011 street uprising against Assad's dynastic rule and vacated their Syria ... up their Gaza arsenal of longer-range rockets, which they have used in fighting ... Read More Plain Talk: Our macho ways mean no war will ever end all wars JUNEAU Jared Spencer was a 17-year-old high school student when he shot an assistant manager at Mills Fleet Farm, 1815 N. Spring St., Beaver Dam, on July 15, 2015. He is now a convicted felon after being found guilty Tuesday of committing the crime by Dodge County Circuit Court Judge Joseph Sciasia. A sentencing hearing is set for July 21. Spencer, 19, entered a no contest plea to a charge of attempted first-degree intentional homicide. Several other counts, including reckless injury and endangerment were dismissed but were read into the court record. Spencer had pleaded not guilty twice, once by reason of mental disease or defect. Spencer was committed for psychiatric treatment Feb. 2., 2016, and was determined to be competent to stand trial six months later. According to the criminal complaint, police were called to Fleet Farm, July 15, 2015, after an assistant manager had been shot while standing in the parking lot and the suspect fled in a vehicle. The assistant manager, a member of loss prevention, and an off-duty DeForest police officer were nearby at the time of the shooting. Andrew J. Kruse, 31, was shot in the shoulder area and the right wrist after he and other staff spoke to Spencer about the ammunition that was in his pocket. They asked Spencer to go back into the store, but it was clear Spencer was not going to stop so Kruse started to call 911. Spencer got into his car and was told by the off-duty police officer not to leave before he fired a gun at Kruse. The police officer helped Kruse as Spencer left the scene. Columbus Police stopped the vehicle Spencer was driving a short time later and found the ammunition in his pocket and the handgun in the vehicle. Spencer acknowledged that he was at Fleet Farm and shoplifted some ammunition while there. Spencer requested an attorney when asked about the shooting. A sentencing hearing is scheduled on July 21. CCTV of the incident BURGLARS stole a safe from an e-cigarette shop and escaped on a quad and off-road bikes. They caused extensive damage to doors and windows at Vape HQ on Harris Hawk Way, Manvers. Police released CCTV images showing the incident, which was reported shortly before 1am on March 30. A spokesman said: A number of enquiries are still ongoing, however, police are appealing for anyone with any information to please come forward. Anyone with information is asked to call 101 quoting incident 29 of March 30 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. KENOSHA Using Tax Day as a backdrop, hundreds of people protesting President Donald Trumps visit to a Wisconsin manufacturing company urged him to release his returns, admonishing the president with signs, chants and even an inflated chicken. Trump had his own crowd of supporters outside Snap-on Inc. in Kenosha on Tuesday, where he signed an executive order to tighten the rules for technology companies seeking to bring highly skilled foreign workers to the U.S. Before his arrival at the tool-making company, protesters gathered at a park and lined nearby streets with signs criticisizing several of Trumps policies. But the presidents refusal to release his taxes was at the center of the protest. Protester Tom Gilding, a retired high school teacher, said Trumps decision not to release his taxes shows a lack of transparency in his administration. Gilding helped hold up an inflated chicken that was about 10 feet tall and meant to serve as an effigy of Trump. Gilding, 65, had a sign that read What are you afraid of, Donald? Release your taxes. Chris Manoyan, 54, was among about 100 Trump supporters. I think hes done a lot in a short period of time, she said. Pictured (from left to right) - Rotarians John Ridsdale, Melanie Hughes, president Ann Ogley and Howard Hughes THE Rotary Club of Rotherham Sitwell has been honoured by The Duke of Yorks Community Initiative. The royal reward scheme is presented to projects across the county which contribute to their area and inspire others. The Rotary club works to develop links in the community, including hands-on help at schools and charities as well as the annual Chiristmas sleigh run. Four members travelled to St Pauls Church at the University of Huddersfield last Wednesday (12) to receive the award from the Lord Lieutenant of South Yorkshire, Andrew Coombe. Rotarian Melanie Hughes said: We are honoured to be receiving this award. Our members try very hard to help and support the community, but if it wasnt for the community the club couldnt do what it does. So really, the club is receiving this award on behalf of the community that comes and supports all the events and activities we do, so thank you, people of Rotherham, we hope you feel we are making a difference too. For more information, visit www.sitwellrotary.org.uk. The Palace of Westminster BRITAIN will go to the polls for a snap general election after MPs backed Prime Minister Theresa Mays plan. The poll will be held on June 8 after MPs voted by 522 to 13 votes in favour of the motion in the House of Commons this afternoon (Wednesday). Mrs May said she wanted to secure the backing of the British people for her Brexit negotiations. MPs approve motion for an early general election by 522 to 13. The two-thirds of all MPs required for this motion to pass has been reached. pic.twitter.com/kVEdHXkP2R House of Commons (@HouseofCommons) April 19, 2017 The next general election had been expected in 2020, but the Fixed Term Parliaments Act allows for one to be held earlier if two-thirds of MPs back the move. See this weeks Advertiser to find out if the boroughs three Rotherham MPs are standing again. (Interfax.ru) - ALROSA may consolidate ALROSA-Nyurba after the buyout of 10% of the latter's shares which now belong to the Yakutia Republic. That is according to the head of the republic Egor Borisov cited by the press service of the government of Yakutia. "ALROSA may decide to consolidate its assets with the aim of optimization, and if the company becomes stronger because of that, we will support it," he said. ALROSA-Nyurba may also simply be liquidated, he said. "Alrosa-Nyurba employs several dozen people today, they do not produce anything, they did not produce a single carat of diamonds (lately)," Borisov added. "Papers, office and license is all they've got," he noted. Yakutia is considering selling a 10% stake in ALROSA-Nyurba. In case ALROSA purchases this stake in ALROSA-Nyurba from Yakutia, its overall stake in the company will rise to 97.47% of the shares. According to the law on joint-stock companies, ALROSA will need to make an offer to redeem securities from minority shareholders. Borisov specified that Yakutia expects to sell its stake in ALROSA-Nyurba not later than this autumn. "We plan to implement (our plans on sale) closer to the annual meeting by autumn, when shares price may rise on the results of the company's activities for the year." The head of Yakutia said that selling a stake in ALROSA-Nyurba "from the point of view of economics and finance is beneficial for the republic." "We must understand that shares are losing value, and that we can lose this enterprise altogether," he added. The risks to ALROSA-Nyurba are huge, according to him. The current value of a 10% stake in ALROSA-Nyurba on the Moscow Stock Exchange is 12.8 billion rubles. Namibia Diamond Trading Company (NDTC) said diamond sales recovered last year following a dip in 2015. Company chief executive Sihaleni Ndjaba was quoted by The Namibian newspaper as saying that a rise in diamond prices would continue this year. It is looking very healthy with a high demand, he said without providing figures. NDTC sales and marketing manager Brent Eiseb also said that the impact of international economies on the diamond market was key. He said the United States market represents between 40 and 45 percent of the global total demand. Eiseb said the US market had picked up by 4 percent since 2015. China, he said, had also shown positive developments as challenges in India continue. Eiseb said 2015's downturn saw a lot of their customers inventory swelling and this meant that they failed to purchase rough diamonds regularly from NDTC as they had excess stock. In 2016, we saw a lot more stability coming through, both in terms of rough and polished diamonds. It was a record year in terms of beneficiation sales, he said. We expect 2017 also to be a stable year in terms of demand. NDTC was said to have sold about N$26 billion of rough diamonds to local cut and polishing companies since the advent of beneficiation sales in 2007. Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished Rockwell Diamonds said the Master of the High Court in South Africa has appointed interim liquidators who will, however, not take control of Rockwell Resources RSA, HC van Wyk Diamonds and Saxendrift Mine. The three companies remain in operation by the companys personnel, it said. Rockwell had filed a motion with the court in Kimberley, South Africa late last month, on an urgent basis to bring the date forward to consider the merits of the liquidation case brought by C-Rock Mining on which an interim liquidation order was issued on 23 March 2017. The date for the final hearing was originally scheduled for June 22, 2017, however based on an application for the matter to be brought forward on an urgent basis, a motion was set down for a hearing on April 12, 2017. The hearing, however, was postponed to today (April 19) due to the fact that the Kimberley High Court was currently in recess. Meanwhile, Rockwell said it had also filed for business rescue. The effect of a business rescue filing is that any liquidation order is automatically stayed, it said. If successful in its application for business rescue, a business rescue practitioner will be appointed to work with company management to restructure the affairs of the company, seeking input and consent from creditors and well as considering strategic alternatives. Rockwell Diamonds stocks were suspended on the TSX pending a delisting review. It also voluntarily applied to the JSE to have the trading of its equity halted. The company was told by TSX that it would consider the delisting review following the outcome of the final hearing for a liquidation application. Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG) said the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) does not have the capacity to mine kimberlitic diamonds. It said the wholly owned state company, which was set up early last year had no equipment of its own and would likely court foreign investors to partner it in Tsvingwe (Penhalonga), which was believed to hold kimberlitic diamonds. A 50/50 joint venture is likely to be negotiated between ZCDC and its partner. This will most probably follow the Marange model where the ruling elites identified some obscure companies with whom they made secret deals that prejudiced the country of more than $15 billion, it said. Given the unceremonious cancellation of mining licenses of Marange diamond firms, serious diamond mining companies are unlikely going to take the Tsvingwe offer. Most probably the partner will still come from China or Russia. ZCDC disclosed early 2017 that it was in discussions with local banks to secure up to $300 million worth of credit to finance the purchase of mining gear and expansion of its operations. If the Tsvingwe find is confirmed then the project is going to be capital intensive given that it will involve sinking shafts to depths of about 300-500 metres, CNRG said. Currently ZCDC has failed to engage in large scale diamond mining in Marange, resulting in the influx of thousands of artisanal miners who are taking advantage of the vacuum created by the companies that were pushed out. Meanwhile, the Penhalonga area had always been known for its rich gold deposits which were mined since pre-historic times. CNRG said hundreds of artisanal miners were doing gold panning throughout Penhalonga, Tsvingwe and the surrounding estates and yet none had ever stumbled on a diamond. This has led some to speculate that it is gold they want to mine but for some unknown reasons they do not want to reveal it now, it said. Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished Jewelers Mutual Insurance Co. is hosting a webinar this month to help jewelry businesses increase their security, National Jeweler reported. Its important to trust your gut when it comes to assessing the risk an individual might pose. Close observation and consistently following sound security guidelines can go a long way in keeping your store secure, said Jewelers Mutual Vice President of Loss Prevention David Sexton. The online seminar will cover topics such as security guards, showcases, surveillance cameras, safes, alarm systems and locked door buzzers and mantraps. It will also focus on tips to be able to identify a potential thief. According to Jewelers Mutual, jewelry thieves often display behaviors that give them away, and retailers who know what to look for have a better chance of identifying a thief and anticipating their behavior. The security webinar will take place on Thursday, April 20. Theodor Lisovoy, Rough&Polished, Moscow Russias Ministry of Finance will propose to allocate half of net profit earned by ALROSA for dividends 19 april 2017 News (INTERFAX.RU) Russias Ministry of Finance will recommend using one half of ALROSA's net profit earned last year to pay dividends for 2016, said Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, who is Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the diamond mining monopoly. "Fifty percent," he told journalists in reply to the question about what part of ALROSA's profits will be proposed for dividend payments by the Ministry of Finance. The dividend policy of ALROSA provides for 35% of the companys net profit to be used for dividends, but last year ALROSA transferred 50% of its net profit to shareholders for the first time in accordance with the government directive, which established this threshold for all state-owned companies in terms of dividend payments for 2015. On the eve of the SPO held in July 2016, the company's management and government officials said it was possible to continue the practice of paying 50% of net profit as dividends. ALROSA's net profit in 2016 calculated in line with the IFRS amounted to 133.471 billion rubles, which is 4 times higher than a year earlier. The diamond miners net cash flow grew 2.7 times, reaching 111.4 billion rubles. Russia, represented by the Federal Property Management Agency, holds a 33% stake in ALROSA, Yakutia owns 25% plus one share. Another 8% of shares belong to the Yakut uluses (municipalities). ALROSAs free float is about 34%. The group of major minority shareholders of ALROSA include some of U.S. funds - Lazard, Oppenheimer and Capital Group. ALROSA continues to discuss with Federal Property Management Agency a change in its dividend policy and a possibility to calculate dividends not from its net profit under the IFRS, but from its cash flow, Igor Kulichik, the companys Vice President and CFO said in April. The Swiss stock market ended Wednesday's session with a very small increase, but was little changed overall. After early losses drove the market below the 8,500 point level, it stage a bit of a recovery but remained in negative territory. The market only managed to inch into the green just before the closing bell. Most of Europe was in recovery mode Wednesday, following yesterday's weak performance. The pullback in shares of index heavyweight Nestle hindered the recovery efforts of the Swiss market. British Prime Minister Theresa May's surprise call for holding an early election on June 8 won MPs approval on Wednesday. Traders are also keeping a close eye on France ahead of its upcoming presidential election. The Swiss Market Index increased by 0.04 percent Wednesday and finished at 8,532.27. The Swiss Leader Index climbed 0.24 percent and the Swiss Performance Index added 0.23 percent. Nestle dropped 0.9 percent ahead of its earnings report Thursday. Quarterly figures from French cosmetics group L'Oreal, in which Nestle holds a stake, came in slightly below expectations today. Shares of ABB declined 2.0 percent as the stock began trading on an ex-dividend basis. The company is also due to report earnings on Thursday. Kuehne + Nagel slipped 0.3 percent, while Richemont surrendered 0.9 percent and Swiss Life lost 0.6 percent. The bank stocks were among the top performers Wednesday. Julius Baer climbed 1.8 percent, while Credit Suisse UBS gained 1.5 percent each. Adecco rose 1.5 percent and Galenica added 1.2 percent. Swisscom increased by 0.7 percent. Barclays confirmed its "Underweight" rating on the stock and reduced its price target. Index heavyweight Roche finished higher by 0.7 percent and Novartis added 0.3 percent. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Market Analysis A Middleton company that makes customized heavy-duty computers for manufacturers and the military plans to move into the city of Madison and grow with the help of tax incentives from the city. Extreme Engineering Solutions (X-ES) is proposing to build a 120,000-square-foot building on 13.6 acres in the Silicon Prairie Business Park, near Mineral Point and South Point roads, on the Far West Side. The project would cost $15.4 million and would nearly triple the 44,000 square feet the company now leases at 3225 Deming Way, Middleton. Extreme Engineering was founded in 2002 and started with 10 employees. Since then, weve just continually grown, said CEO and co-founder Rob Scidmore. The company makes the type of rugged computer that can withstand heavy vibrations, being dropped and weather conditions ranging from the frozen Arctic to the hottest deserts. Scidmore, a Madison native, and about a dozen employees had worked at Artesyn Communication Products, a Madison company that made circuit boards for the telecommunications industry. Artesyn was purchased by Emerson Corp. in 2006. A year later, the circuit board assembly was moved to the Philippines. Extreme Engineering caters to several industries such as medical, aerospace and military, for use in flight simulators to X-ray lithography to industrial controls. Research, engineering, quality control and sales are handled in the Madison area while parts assembly is contracted out to a company in the Fox Valley. Now 15 years in business, Extreme Engineering had $56 million in revenue in 2016 and has 170 full-time employees. The company also hires 50 to 60 college students a year in a nine-month cooperative program with UW-Madison and several other universities, in which the students earn school credit for their paid employment. Were recruiting out of Michigan Technological University and Marquette University to find qualified engineering students, Scidmore said. To help pay for its new building and land, Extreme Engineering is asking for $595,000 in tax incremental financing. According to the project description by city staff, it would take eight years for the city to recoup the investment through taxes generated by the project. As a condition for receiving the funds, the company would have to retain 170 positions for five years. If it falls below that level, it would have to pay the city $25,700 per lost job. Scidmore said Extreme Engineering has been adding about 10 to 20 employees a year, but he said he was not ready to project how many people will be added to the staff within five years. Our plan is to continue doing the right things and, hopefully, that translates into additional growth, he said. Former City Council President Mike Verveer said he is comfortable with the TIF request even though it doesnt specify adding jobs because tax dollars will be generated quickly to reimburse the payment. Compared to some other TIF deals, its considered a relatively quick payback, he said. I certainly hope that they grow the number of jobs, he said. Theres no denying that theyre all good-paying jobs. Madison economic development director Matthew Mikolajewski said he supports the proposal, too. We have a great regional employer thats looking to expand, Mikolajewski said. Were thrilled that they picked the Silicon Prairie Business Park. Were happy to welcome them to Madison. Mikolajewski said the project will require creating a new TIF district in the city of Madison. This is a business park that has had vacant parcels for a long time. Its going to be a great way to attract businesses, he said. KEE Architecture designed the building and Newcomb Construction is the general contractor. Scidmore said he hopes the building will be ready to occupy by late summer 2018. The proposal was introduced to the City Council on Tuesday, with a vote expected on May 2. President Donald Trump pledged to stand up for dairy farmers during a visit to Kenosha Tuesday, saying he will work to solve a trade dispute with Canada that has left some farmers in Wisconsin and other states without buyers for their milk. Trump said the U.S. must have fair trade with all trade partners, including Canada. In Canada, some very unfair things have happened to our dairy farmers and others, and were going to start working on that, Trump said. Its another typical one-sided deal against the U.S., and its not going to be happening for long. U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R- Oshkosh, who was in Kenosha for the presidents visit, said he likely will be making a call to the Canadian ambassador. Johnson said he is optimistic the ambassador will have an open mind to the situation. What they (Canada) are doing is clearly protectionist and obviously is hurting Wisconsin dairy farmers, Johnson said. So well start those discussions. Gov. Scott Walker and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo sent a joint letter to Trump on Tuesday urging him to address Canadas dairy trade policies. Wisconsins more than 9,000 dairy farms employ nearly 80,000 jobs and generate $43.4 billion in annual economic impact. Immediate problem More than four dozen dairy farmers, industry representatives and others gathered in Beaver Dam on Friday to discuss solutions for milk producers affected by a recent decision from Grassland Dairy Products Inc., of Greenwood, which informed several dozen dairy farms, most from Wisconsin and some from Minnesota, it no longer would accept their milk after May 1. Grasslands move was driven by recent Canadian action imposing import taxes on ultra- filtered milk, a product used to make cheese. This meant more than 1.3 million pounds of milk being produced daily from 67 farms need new buyers. Members of the Dairy Girl Network, a national all-womens group of about 4,200 dairy farmers, along with the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, were eager to assist and helped organized Fridays meeting in Beaver Dam. Laura Daniels is a network member and dairy farmer from Cobb, about an hour west of Madison. The Grassland decision did not impact her dairy farm, but she believes consumers can drive a short-term solution. Theres so much cheese in storage now, if we could just create more demand to clear out some of that storage, then cheese companies could go back to manufacturing and refill that storage area, Daniels said. Consumers also could purchase five blocks of cheese, then donate it to a food pantry or an organization that provides meals. Anything that can move inventory would encourage more production, Daniels said. Mullins Cheese in Mosinee came forward Monday and said it would absorb about 100,000 pounds of milk from eight of the dairy farms affected by Grasslands action. Mullins was the first company to step up, said Karen Gefvert, director of government relations at the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation. Another suggestion at Fridays meeting was to urge some of the states 400 dairy companies to absorb some of the states excess milk. Daniels estimated there are more than 100 cheese producers in eastern and southern Wisconsin. If each were to take milk from up to five of the affected dairy farmers, it would provide a short-term solution. Too much milk Gefvert said Fridays meeting also helped to clarify information to dairy farmers. Of the 67 dairy farms affected by the Grassland decision, it was learned three had forward contracts with the company, which meant Grassland would continue to take their milk even after May 1. Gefvert said one of those three was a very large dairy farm and combined with the other two took a large percentage of the available milk off the market. It is getting better but it isnt fast enough, she said. Canadas action made it too expensive for that countrys dairy companies to continue purchasing ultra-filtered milk from the U.S., which had been entering Canada duty-free. Canada stopped buying it because they could get it at the same cost domestically, so Grassland had nowhere else to go with this product and with their processing facility set up the way it is, they couldnt easily change it over to make another product, Gefvert said. Canadas dairy industry has been critical of where Wisconsin has placed blame. In a letter to the Wisconsin State Journal, Andrea Genereaux, communications manager of the Dairy Processors Association of Canada, wrote, Blame Canada! That seems to be the prevailing message we hear these days to explain the challenges the American dairy industry is experiencing. She said Canada understands the American dairy industrys frustration, because to be competitive in the Canadian market it needs to adjust its prices to reflect the domestic environment. Notwithstanding, we do hold some hope that officials can go beyond blaming Canada as they consider solutions to address these structural problems, Genereaux wrote. Gefvert said the states dairy industry may be at fault for the over supply of milk in Wisconsin. Wisconsin always has been a milk deficit state, she said. For a time, Wisconsin dairy producers were bringing in milk from other states to keep up with demand for a variety of dairy products. What had happened is our producers were asking farmers to add cows, so they could make more milk, Gefvert said. But now were hitting a perfect storm with the Canadian pricing structure, the spring flush and theres so much milk being produced nationwide and being shipped to Wisconsin that we have more milk that our processing facilities can handle. State Journal reporter Mark Sommerhauser contributed to this report. An H&M store, Flix Brewhouse and Luckys 13 Pub arent the only additions this year at East Towne Mall. CBL & Associates announced Wednesday that the interior mall corridors will undergo a multimillion-dollar renovation that will include new flooring, lighting, soft seating areas, color schemes and new furniture in the food court. Work on the three-phase project will be done after hours meaning construction crews will work from about 9 p.m. to 8 a.m. and be completed in time for the holiday shopping season that kicks off in earnest in November. The project, unveiled to about 30 managers and employees of mall retailers, will also include new skylights; upgrades to some restrooms, the roof and parking lots; new entrance doors and a new Santas Workshop, said Tammy Rozek, general manager of the 800,000-square-foot shopping center. Were ever-changing, and this is making it fresh and new, said Rozek, who has been at East Towne since 2001. Retail is always evolving and changing. In February, officials with East Towne announced that H&M, a clothing retailer for men, women and children, will open a 21,000-square-foot store in late October or early November that will take the place of six empty store fronts. Four restaurant spaces in the food court will also be replaced with a Luckys 13 Pub, a national chain based in Minnesota. The East Towne location, scheduled to open in November, will be its first entry into Wisconsin and include entrances from the food court and the malls exterior. In July, officials announced plans for a 39,000-square-foot Flix Brewhouse facility that will include nine movie theaters and a 134-seat restaurant. The facility, which will be built where Steinhafels had been located, was initially scheduled to open this fall, but the opening has been pushed back to next April, said Tiffany Schultz, the malls marketing director. Steinhafels is moving to remodeled space in the former American TV location, 5215 High Crossing Blvd., while its old building will be removed to make way for Flix, Schultz said. The mall most recently underwent a renovation in 2003. Since that time, internet sales by retailers have continued to grow while more shopping opportunities have blossomed in the area, including the Shoppes at Prairie Lakes in Sun Prairie, home to major retailers Cabelas, Costco, Target and Woodmans Food Market. East Towne opened in 1971 and, other than department stores such as JC Penney and Sears, Spencers is the only remaining original tenant, Rozek said. There are no plans for a similar project at CBL-owned West Towne, Schultz said. Paula Butina, a district manager for the 2,500-square-foot Hallmark store in East Towne, said the improvements to the mall will help sales and help keep the mall more relevant in the highly competitive retail sector. Were thrilled about the new remodel, Butina said. I think it will be really advantageous to attracting new tenants and increasing traffic. One of the biggest challenges is traffic for brick-and-mortar stores, so this will absolutely, with these new tenants, bring additional foot traffic. A Madison West High School senior is the winner of a corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarship, one of 22 Wisconsin students to win scholarships in the first of three scholarship award categories this spring. Hancheng Wu won the National Merit Citizen Watch Scholarship, sponsored by the New Jersey-based timepiece company. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation said by news release on Wednesday that over 1,000 high school seniors won corporate-sponsored scholarships, with the scholarships ranging from $500 to $10,000 per year, most renewable for up to four years of undergraduate study. The corporate-sponsored scholarships are awarded to children of employees of those companies, are residents in communities where the companies are located, or plan to pursue careers or majors the sponsor wants to encourage. Three more rounds of National Merit Scholarship announcements are still to come. The $2,500 scholarship winners will be announced May 10, and the college-sponsored scholarships will be announced on June 7 and July 17. Saline County to illuminate buildings in support of veterans Saline County Commission approved a measure that will illuminate its buildings green in support of military veterans. The town of Middleton voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to stay in Dane County zoning authority, while the town of Westport chose to leave. Town of Middleton residents voted 352-29 against withdrawing from shared zoning responsibilities with the county government. Residents of the town of Westport voted 34-0 in favor of opting out of county oversight. Dane County has historically used its zoning authority to limit suburban sprawl and preserve the countys rural areas. The towns of Berry, Black Earth and Springfield were also set to vote on whether to withdraw from county zoning at their annual meetings on Tuesday. Results of those votes were not available late Tuesday. The town of Bristol has a vote scheduled on Wednesday, the town of Blue Mounds on April 24 and the town of Sun Prairie on April 25. Cynthia Richson, one of two write-in candidates opposed to withdrawal who defeated town of Middleton board incumbents in the April 4 spring election, said she was overjoyed at the residents decision. I have to applaud the citizens of the town of Middleton. They took this seriously, said Richson, who was sworn-in as Town Board chair Tuesday. Supporters of withdrawal argue it would give the town more control on development and would be less burdensome for residents, but opponents argue the move is unnecessary and could be most costly to town residents. Of the countys 33 towns, eight moved forward with the withdrawal process this year. An analysis by the countys Planning and Development Department released last week said the eight towns considering withdrawing could see an increase in property tax for residents to cover the cost of conducting their own zoning. The Dane County Towns Association has argued fees to residents to fund the function would stay the same if they leave county oversight. The option to withdraw became possible after a law was passed last year allowing Dane County towns to opt out during a one-year window every three years, 2017 being the first time. The next time will be in 2020. The state Assembly passed a bill earlier this month modifying the law to make it easier for towns to withdraw. The bill drew heavy criticism initially as it would have removed the requirement that residents vote on withdrawal, but that change was taken out of the bill. Dreams will not materialise unless you work. For Merita Faivalu, she has so many dreams for her family, which is why she is looking for a job. Merita, 22, is from the village of Falefa. Yesterday, she told the Village Voice that without a job, life is very complicated. My husband is a fisherman, she said. Sometimes we get good money from it, sometimes we dont and sometimes we just dont get anything at all. Our family is a developing family and I want to work to make life easier and to make our dreams come true. But even getting a job is not an easy thing to do anymore. Merita is a mother of four children. One remains in school. Merita said that they dont have their own water nor do they have their own power, which is why at the moment, they are living off their uncles power lines, which they also have to pay for. We fetch our water from the villages spring water and its a long way from our place. As you can see, were still trying to develop our house. As a mother, I need to make things happen for my own family. I dont want us to depend on anyone. This is why Ive been looking for jobs because now I have my husband to look after my children but Im still searching. No luck yet. I need to finance things such as my childrens needs, get our own water, get our own electricity and trying to make our home look more like a home. As you can see, its not cemented. Nowadays, money talks. If you dont work; youre going to be in the same place forever. I need a job because I dream about the good things that I want for my family and I need to work to make that happen. Merita said shes capable of any work. If shes not, shes willing to learn if shes given an opportunity. We all know that most of the things we need today, we have to pay for it. And one must work to earn money. Samoa, if you want to help out Merita or offer her a job, please contact her, on numbers 7729598 or 7748732. Even a can of tinned fish is expensive. So says Silupe Mataafa of Fusi Saoluafata. He is a man dedicated to help his sister care for the family. The 53-year-old says the greatest happiness is being able to help someone who is worth your time and energy and that is family. I tell you everything is so expensive these days, he said. Even a can of elegi is unaffordable sometimes. Silupe said he is thankful that in Samoa, the family and values is alive and well. An important part of living a happy and fulfilling life includes being part of a family where you can share, help and support people you care about, he said. Without that network, I think Samoa would be a very sad place to live in. True happiness is when you put your family first and the rest later. For me, my family is my very first priority in life and I will do whatever it takes to help them. Silupe says the government needs to reconsider the cost of goods, especially food items. To be honest the hardest thing is the cost of goods at the shops. I know this is one thing that is making life hard for a lot of people in our country. Most of us are struggling trying to budget the little money that we have to take care of our families. I know there are some families who are not going through the same, but I know there is struggle and hardship in Samoa for most people. My only hope is for the government to help us out, by reconsidering the cost of living. Aside from that, Silupe is happy about life. We live together here because my sister wants me to help her husband with our plantation while she goes to work, he said. Right now we have a plantation for our basic need because the truth is, what my sisters earning goes straight to water bills, electricity and other expenses. When he has the time, Silupe goes fishing. Its mostly for our food, he said. The way I see things, whenever you try to take care of your family there will always be struggles but we must always give it our all. Dear Editor, I cannot see any difference between church and politics. When I read about Kasiano Leauapepe and your front page Sunday paper about one Elder from E.K.F.S. Samatau against Pastor Oetis feuds I thought omg, I wonder if church should be included as another government department, because they play more corrupt practices and they are bad examples and worse just like H.R.P.P. see how the congregation in a church saw what their Pastor is doing is absolutely OK. I remembered just last new years loku vaiaso, one former Pastor from one mainline church went on and exposed the corruption of one theological college when he was there. The sad story after his lauga was that the poor retired Pastor was banned to enter this church somewhere in town by Matais and former Pastor of this church until now. I was told that they also warned another church not to allow this man in, kalofa e, brother ex faifeau, why you look for another loku, why cant you just stay home enjoy yourself, pray in your own corner and do the right thing, because you are now a threat to those hypocrites right? Maybe you will also have some of your money for your kids future, because going to church today is like going to a nightclub, they demand cover charge. See what Mr. Leaupepe thinks, he needs to be educated. People have wrong motives for becoming Pastors and nothing done, the only advice is if in case you want to go to church, join the Mormons or Seventh Day Adventist, they practice love and peace, joy, and mostly lend a big hand to the people of Samoa. I keep saying they do not represent God, they are greedy for Power and makapeapea gao le magao ai afu. The Pastors are resting more and relaxing. As you said they never stop praying for our country, what is the result just corrupt, corrupt, corrupt? So if churches were brought from outside, why do we believe such when we dont understand them. The whites have been running us like slaves and you still want to follow and believe and please. Many well educated people now know what those whites did to us, stole our land, killed our people, including epidemic influenza, so please dont try to fool us. We are not going to listen to you, you are not God, cant you see this corruption going on, ua leai gi kupe a le akuguu talk to your church members. F.I Faleata A 19-year-old girl has told the Court about how her mother allegedly stood by while another man forced himself upon her in a sexual manner. The details emerged in the Supreme Court yesterday where the man is facing charges of attempted sexual violation and indecent assault. He has pleaded not guilty. The victims mother is charged as a party to the offense. Supreme Court Justice Vui Clarence Nelson, who is presiding, has issued a suppression order on the defendants name, to protect the identity of the victim. The mother is represented by lawyer, Diana Roma, while Masoe Charlie Vaai, is representing the male defendant. Prosecutor Lucy Sio intends to call four other witnesses aside from the victim who testified yesterday morning. The girl was 15-years-old back in October 2014 when the alleged incident happened. Speaking in Samoan, the girl said she was sleeping with her younger siblings when her mother woke her up, telling her to go and sit next to a man on a chair. The victim obliged, got up and sat next to the male defendant. The mother proceeded by telling her to move closer to him (male defendant) and she did. The victim alleged the mother then instructed her to go with the male defendant to the back kitchen and again she did as she was told. She said while she went to the kitchen, her mother continued conversing with the man and after a while the man came to where she was sitting on the dining table and kissed her. At the time, she called out to her mother asking why she was letting this happen. I cant believe that you don't love me, she said to her mother. The Court heard from the victims testimony the mother was sitting on a chair playing with her phone. According to the victim, not long after, her mother came to the kitchen and instructed the male defendant to stop and he did. The victim stated that afterwards, the man left with her mother while she was crying. Not long after her mother returned and went straight to bed and did not say anything to her about what had allegedly occurred. The victim testified that she had moved to live with her step-fathers cousin whom she called her grandparents and while she was there, her mother paid her a visit. The mother asked the grandparents if she could take the victim to her (mother) sisters house. The mother along with the victim was dropped off at the market to wait for a bus, and they waited for a long time before the male defendant showed up. The victim testified that the man wanted to take her (victim) to Savaii, but she didnt want to go. Not long after the man gave the mother $100 and the mother again asked the victim to go to Savaii with the male defendant. The victim refused. Its alleged that another $50 was given to the mother. The victim informed the court that the man left for Savaii and she didn't go. Prosecutor Sio, asked the victim if she had told anyone about the incident and the victim said yes. She said she spoke to her stepfathers sister the day after the incident. According to the victim, she was visiting her aunt who asked her as to why the male defendant was at their house the night before. The victim told her aunt of the incident. Not long after the mother showed and the auntie confronted the mother. The victim said when they returned home, her mother beat her up and asked her why she spoke about what happened. During cross examination, Masoe put it to the victim that her written statement does not match what she was saying. The hearing continues. A single mother who was wrongly accused for being a O le Palemia is remaining silent about being arrested and detained last week. The woman who is identified as Stoira was apparently held in custody for five days; two in Apia and three at Tafaigata Prison last week. The womans lawyer, Unasa Iuni Sapolu, confirmed her arrest saying the Police have got the wrong person. Unasa and her son who is also a lawyer, Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, have offered to take on the case. She was released from prison yesterday (Monday) and we are now looking into the matter, Unasa said. In this case, a character posted a blog up by the name of O LE PALEMIA OLP. I dont know who he is but I think my client was held in custody because they thought it was her. Unasa said they are trying to find what charges her client was held over for. The thing is while she was still inside (police custody) OLP was still posting, Unasa said. She didnt have her phone (with her at the time) but they basically arrested her. They (police) mistakenly arrested and accused her of being OLP or O LE PALEMIA but shes not. The villagers of Tiavea are the grateful recipients of $30,000 worth of farming tools and equipment presented to them by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (M.N.R.E.) yesterday. The equipment was presented as part of the Strengthening Multi Sectoral Management Critical Landscaping (S.M.S.M.C.L) project being funded by the United Nations Development Programme (U.N.D.P.). The project is designed to encourage sustainable agriculture farms and to make sure farmers in Samoa have the right skills and equipment to develop their farms. A.C.E.O of the Land Management Division, Manuleleuga Filisita Heather, said the government recognises the importance of farming to the development of families and village communities. She said Ti'avea is not the only village to benefit from the donation. While Ti'avea is the first village, the Ministry will also be looking at helping other villages throughout the country. Some 126 villages stand to benefit as a result of the project. Prior to the donation, a workshop was held at the village where villagers learned about ways to develop their farms and land. Project Manager, Seumaloisalafai Afele Failagi, said the Ministry has been impressed by what the people of Tiavea have done. Among the donation presented yesterday were seeds, wheelbarrows, shovels and other farming equipment. Ti'aveas Mayor, Tuiavii Poloma Eteuati, expressed their gratitude for the donation. We want to thank the Ministry for this equipment given to us, he said. We know very well these are expensive. This is very helpful for us. Interested in learning about stem cell science and medicine and what it means to you? A public meeting will be held Thursday from noon to 1 p.m. at the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine in La Jolla. Heres more details from my earlier story. Not only will researchers and a patient advocate with Parkinsons disease discuss the state of stem cell treatments, the public will be able to ask questions. Advertisement The Sanford Consortium building is located across the street from the Salk Institute. For those seeking a bite to eat before or after the event, the building also hosts a bistro, the Bella Vista Social Club and Cafe. The video with this story shows Sandra Dillon describing how she regained stamina and energy after an experimental treatment that blocked cancer stem cells. While not a cure, the treatment reversed what appeared to be an inevitable downward progression. Dillions doctor, physician-researcher Catriona Jamieson, will be one of the speakers at tomorrows event. Ill be on site at the event, and will have a report(s) up tomorrow afternoon. Science Playlist On Now In a first, scientists rid human embryos of a potentially fatal gene mutation by editing their DNA On Now Space station flyovers visible from San Diego this week 0:55 On Now UCSD's 'ghost drivers' begin testing people's reaction seemingly empty cars 1:29 On Now 10 interesting facts about Mars On Now Kids can add years to your life On Now LA 90: SpaceX launches recycled rocket On Now Big passions, big giving: Malin Burnham 2:30 On Now Big passions, big giving: Darlene Shiley 2:40 On Now Big passions, big giving: Joan and Irwin Jacobs 2:45 On Now Ocean temperatures warming at rapid rate, study finds bradley.fikes@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1020 More than three years after opening downtown, The Headquarters at Seaport development is still experiencing growing pains, with two key tenants exiting the downtown center in the last month. Flour & Barley, a pizzeria that originated in Las Vegas, closed earlier this month just a year after opening, and original tenant Venissimo, a gourmet cheese shop that has other San Diego County locations, shuttered a couple of weeks earlier. Since opening in late 2013, the redeveloped police headquarters complex has seen a number of smaller retailers close, along with a celebrity-chef-helmed restaurant, while there are other tenants who are seeing sales growth. Advertisement Not so for Venissimo, a popular homegrown chain that wasnt able to attract the kind of traffic it needed to stay afloat. While its cheese plates and grilled cheese paninis were popular with customers, its core gourmet cheese business wasnt as big a hit. It was completely a business economics decision, Venissimo owner Gina Freize said of the departure. The rent is definitely the highest of all our locations and the traffic was the lowest of all our locations. It makes me sad, because I live downtown and I had such high hopes. We just couldnt rely on tourism traffic for our cheese. A new fast casual eatery, Hi Poke, will be taking over the 848-square-foot Venissimo space next month and assuming the last 19 months of Freizes lease. Sushi chef Scotty Brennan said he feels fortunate to have landed the spot at the Headquarters, although he confesses he was initially a little worried about the financials, given the turnover at the center. He and his wife, Jihyun Brennan, are expecting to invest about $60,000 in new kitchen equipment and renovations to transform the space into his Pacific-style seafood bar. Customized rice and seafood bowls will sell for $9.95 to $10.95. The rent was a little higher than we hoped for but they take care of the common areas and have 24-hour security, Brennan said. I think Venissimo, because its more a fine cheese place, didnt quite fit the area because its mostly tourists. Because the location is right near the bay and people want to do things that pertain to the area and there arent many seafood places in Seaport Village, we think were a better fit than a burger or pizza place. Flour & Barley, a brick-oven pizza restaurant with locations in Las Vegas and Waikiki, Hawaii, came into the Headquarters as a replacement for Pizzeria Mozza, conceived by revered Los Angeles restaurateur Nancy Silverton. The restaurant, though, failed to gain traction and closed a year after making its debut. Block 16 Hospitality, the parent company of Flour & Barley, said the closure, like that of Venissimos, was due to poor traffic. Business decisions are rarely ever easy to make, and the decision to close Flour & Barley San Diego was no exception, a company spokesperson said. We enjoyed every minute of getting to know (and love) San Diego, but unfortunately, the challenges we faced with spotty traffic and accessibility eventually became prohibitive of sustained business at The Headquarters. The Headquarters center, a $65 million redevelopment of the historic police headquarters building north of Seaport Village, is anchored by well-known restaurants like the Cheesecake Factory, Eddie Vs, Seasons 52 and locally based Puesto. But a number of boutiques and specialty stores, including Verde, Kitson, Seaside Papery, PreFab and Simply Local, have long since departed. Executives with TRC, formerly known as Terramar Retail Centers, which is the project developer, declined to comment on the turnover at the center and plans for the future. Last year, total revenues paid by TRC to its landlord, the Port of San Diego, were nearly $5.4 million, up 7 percent over 2015, according to documents provided by the port. Brian Miller, owner of the San Diego-based Geppettos Toys, said he is seeing his sales continue to grow following a slow start, although revenues are not as robust as those at his other San Diego County locations. Last year, we were up by a double-digits percentage so were hopeful about the progression, Miller said. I was surprised by those closures.The sense I was getting was traffic was better, and I dont think we were alone in having a decent percentage increase. Business lori.weisberg@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-2251 Twitter: @loriweisberg This year, Juniper & Ivy is one of just two San Diego entries on OpenTables list of Top 100 Hot Spots in America for 2017 (Ironside Fish & Oyster is the other). But the Little Italy fine-dining spot known for serving exclusively West Coast ingredients has something else to celebrate. On Jan. 1, Anthony Wells was promoted to the position of executive chef. If you havent heard of Wells, youre not alone. Mike Rosens perennially packed 235-seat restaurant is better known for its supervising chef-partner, Richard Blais of Top Chef fame. Blais is at ease working the dining room and posing for fans selfies. But the soft-spoken, publicity-shy Wells figures hes been out to mingle with diners just three times since the restaurant opened in March 2014. The 30-year-old San Diegan prefers to let his food do the talking. Advertisement Up to 50 diners every night order his tuna Wellington, a fish filet ingeniously cooked inside a puff pastry. A dozen more snap up his $67 whole duck plate (legs braised then fried in duckfat, roasted wings and breast on the bone). Hes quite proud of his in-house butchering and charcuterie program, which includes sausages and a play on the childhood favorite pigs in a blanket. And hes recently developed a foie gras tart made with pickled green strawberries. Shortly after Wells took the lead at Juniper & Ivy in January, Blais said he believes the food being served there now is the best its ever been. Hes a much better craftsman than I am for sure and an incredibly talented hands-on chef, Blais said of Wells. With Anthony, I know I can throw out an idea and he can always take it one step further. Wells spent his 20s cooking and training at some of Americas best kitchens, but, like Blais, he grew up on simple homestyle foods like spaghetti and meatloaf. His left shoulder bears a tattoo of the grape cluster from the Smuckers jam jar, honoring the PB&Js his grandpa still eats after every meal. Wells grew up a multisport athlete in small-town West Virginia. His father worked in a steel mill, his mom was in sales for Philip Morris. He earned an academic scholarship to a college in the next town over, but he had a restless spirit. After one semester he dropped out, then surprised his family by announcing hed taken out a loan to attend the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco. I wasnt really a great cook or anything, but I was always the one making food for the guys I hung out with, he said. It was about the time when the Food Network was really becoming popular and I just had a knack for it. Through a school internship, Wells spent five winters learning classic French techniques from Chef John Farnsworth at a country club in Vero Beach, Fla. Then at 24, he interned at a bistro in Nantucket where he learned to experiment and collaborate. After that, he felt ready for New York, where he spent a year at Thomas Kellers Per Se, then two years as the opening butcher at Jonathan Bennos Lincoln Ristorante. While Lincolns a success now, it got off to a rocky start, which Wells said taught him to trust his gut (not critics reviews) and kitchen management skills. I learned about working clean, being organized, communicating well and how to keep my head down and work efficiently, Wells said. But then he got a call from home that his beloved grandmother, whod been battling breast cancer for years, was dying. He rushed back to West Virginia to nurse her and then grieve for her and over the next few months realized he didnt want to go back to New York. About that time, Blais won Top Chef All-Stars and was preparing to open a fine-dining restaurant in Atlanta. Wells had never met the star chef, but thought theyd get along, so he took a chance and sent Blais an email asking for a job. I liked Richards whimsical approach to food, Wells said. He always had the most interesting combinations of flavors that intrigued me. Blais describes meeting Wells as a gift from the culinary gods. Its like in the movies when someone delivers a beautiful baby on your doorstep and its a blessing, said Blais, who brought Wells into The Spence restaurant as a prep cook and promoted him to sous chef within three weeks. Wells stayed a year at The Spence, then in June 2013 he followed his girlfriend, Nicole Holmstrom, to Napa Valley, where shed been hired to manage a hotel. He cooked around town for a year at Meadowood, Redd, Morimoto and the French Laundry. Then, when he heard about the Juniper & Ivy project in San Diego, he sent Blais another email. He was hired as sous chef under executive chef Jon Sloan and was eventually promoted to chef de cuisine. Juniper & Ivy owner Mike Rosen said it took him a long time to crack through Wells protective exterior and figure out what made him tick. The young chef seemed moody and unhappy at first, but Rosen said he eventually realized that Wells felt the kitchen staff wasnt working at its full potential. We realized that he was a quiet leader, Rosen said. He just gets pleasure out of growth, his own growth and other peoples growth. When Sloan moved over last fall to supervise the expansion of Rosens Crack Shack restaurant company, Wells was the obvious choice for promotion. Anthonys leadership and ability gets people to think outside the box, Rosen said. Hes very collaborative and nonthreatening. Wells, who lives with Homstrom in Normal Heights, arrives at the restaurant every morning around 9 a.m. and leaves about 10 each night. Hes a hands-on leader and enthusiastic teacher of his 30-member kitchen staff. He butchers his own lambs, pigs, poultry and seafood, makes his own charcuterie, oversees the in-house prep of breads, butters and pastries and when things get really busy he moves station to station, lending a hand where needed. I like to float around to help, he said. For the younger cooks to have the chef cooking next to them goes a long way. Two years ago, Wells developed a high-end chefs tasting menu at Juniper & Ivy that allowed him to spread his culinary wings and mentor young chefs. But it was too labor-intensive at a time when they were trying to open the first Crack Shack, so it was discontinued. Now, with Wells promotion, the Chefs Counter Tasting Menu is back. The Thursday night menu, served to just eight guests seated along the kitchen counter, includes eight courses for $150. Wells said hes excited to have a new, and constantly changing, outlet for his imagination. Blais said some chefs are motivated by money and some by fancy titles, but Wells is driven purely by his curiosity. With Anthony, its just can I come and do what I want to do, Blais said. Hes constantly thinking about food, traveling to faraway places and hes immersed, full in. Getting to watch him, for me, has been one of the best things thats happened to us. Its fun seeing him get the opportunity to shine on a bigger stage. Anthony Wells, the new executive chef at Juniper & Ivy restaurant in Little Italy, butchers all his own meat at the restaurant. Here he inspects lambs at Teralta Farm in Poway. (John Gastaldo / San Diego Union-Tribune) pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com A proposal in Congress would impose a new $2,400 fee on troops who want to sign up to get the GI Bill after discharge. The idea is being considered by the House Veterans Affairs Committee next Wednesday at a hearing. (See update below.) The nations veterans groups appear to be steaming about the proposed change. Advertisement We are still a nation at war. We have troops actively engaged in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and now in Syria, said leader of Veterans of Foreign Wars, Brian Duffy, in an issued statement. Welcome to The Intel, a blog examining the hot military news of the day The war on terrorism is not over! Congress focus should be on defeating our enemies and ending the war, not cutting the benefits of those who are fighting it. The VFW has proposed a hashtag campaign: #NoTaxOnTroops The folks over at Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America who are enjoying the current version of the generous post-9/11 GI Bill are equally irate. Yep. Just when you thought things in DC couldnt get any stupider! #IAVA will again fight like hell to #DefendTheGIBill, wrote Paul Reickhoff, chief executive of the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans group, on his Facebook page. Especially in a time of war. Join us and spread the word. This is shameful, he added. Prior to 2009, troops had the option of paying into the Montgomery GI Bill, a benefit created during peacetime that came with a $1,200 non-reimbursable enrollment fee. The new proposal would offset taxpayer cost for the GI Bill by about $3.1 billion over the next 10 years, according to news reports. As is, the GI Bill is expensive: The U.S. government paid out an estimated $42 billion between 2009 and 2014. Update, April 21: According to a VFW spokesman, this bill does not yet have a sponsor. Today, the House veterans committee announced that it postponed the April 26 subcommittee hearing where this proposal was scheduled to be discussed. Military Videos On Now D-Day paratrooper from Coronado jumps again in France at age 96 On Now Remembering war's fallen, one name at a time On Now In Ramona, an airplane and an aviator provide living lessons on World War II 1:43 On Now Video: Navy's newest vessel sails into San Diego and a new future in surface warfare On Now Video: U.S. Navy files homicide charges over warship collisions On Now Stopping Marine hazing On Now Video: U.S. Navy Air Crew Grounded After Creating Vulgar Sky Drawing On Now Navy says Asia Pacific ship collisions were avoidable On Now Hundreds of recruits get sick at Marine boot camp On Now Cutler Dawson Talks Navy Federal jen.steele@sduniontribune.com Facebook: U-T Military Twitter: @jensteeley Migrant activist Hugo Castro remained at a hospital outside Mexico City on Wednesday, receiving treatment for injuries suffered after he mysteriously went missing last week. Castro, a member of the San Diego-based group Border Angels, was recovering at a Red Cross Hospital in the municipality of Naucalpan where Dr. Gerardo Vargas, the medical director, said in a telephone interview that Castro had arrived with brain swelling, multiple bruises all over his body and a fracture in his left foot. Castros case has drawn widespread attention on both sides of the border. Mexicos health minister, Jose Ramon Narro Robles, has ordered Castros transfer to a government-run hospital on Thursday, Vargas said, but he was unsure of exactly which hospital. Advertisement Vargas declined to discuss the possible causes of Castros injuries, saying it was not his role to do so. Meanwhile in San Diego, Border Angels leader Enrique Morones said were working to get him transported from Mexico City to San Diego so Castro can receive medical care in a U.S. hospital. Morones said he remained uncertain as to the reasons for Castros disappearance. Castro had been traveling in central Mexico to meet up with the Refugee Caravan, a group aiming to highlight the plight of Central Americans seeking asylum in the United States. Authorities found Castro on Tuesday in the municipality of Tlanepantla outside Mexico City. An anonymous tip led them to his location on Avenida San Rafael, according the Mexican Attorney Generals Office. The statement said that authorities opened an investigation into the incident, which involved Castros illegal deprivation of liberty. But aside from stating that Castro had suffered various blows and was taken to a nearby hospital for medical care, the agencys news bulletin on Tuesday offered no details as to what might have happened. I dont know what caused his injuries whether he got hit by a car, he got assaulted, he was kidnapped or whatever, Morones said. Castro, a 45-year-old U.S. citizen who lives in Tijuana, in recent months has been working to support shelters in the city who help Haitian migrants. A search for his whereabouts came after Castro pleaded for help on Thursday through a Facebook live posting that showed him on the side of a highway outside Mexico City. Castro said he was being followed by people who wanted harm him, and that taxis and buses wouldnt accept his dollars. On Friday, Castro apparently made a call to his partner, Gaba Cortes, from a phone lent by a taxi driver in Mexico City. Castro was gone by the time she called back and the driver said Castro had boarded a bus, Morones said. A poster from the Attorney Generals Office stated that Castro had last been spotted near the Aquiles Serdan metro stop in Mexico City on Saturday. Cortes, who is the mother of Castros child, has been at his side since he was found. On Tuesday, Castro also received a visit from Wilner Metelus, a Haitian activist based in Mexico City. Castro could not move his body, Metelus said, and could barely talk, but recognized him. Methelus is calling for the Mexican government to release security videos that would show Castros transit through Mexico, and could shed light as to what happened. Hugo is a great human being, Metelus said. Were going to wait to talk to him, and find out what happened to have him injured this way. sandra.dibble@sduniontribune.com @sandradibble UPDATES: 8:30 p.m.: This story has been updated with additional details about his medical condition. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine), get ready to meet Duncan Thumper, a giant rabbit. With two cute ears, a pair of beady eyes and a little white tail, Thumper is the anthropomorphic personification of Hunters pet rabbit the one that took a cross-country flight paid for by the congressmans political campaign. Thumper will be the image of a political action committee, Bunny PAC, dedicated to focusing on the campaign finance issues that have dogged Hunter for the last year. Thumper also has a Facebook page, Twitter account and website. Advertisement The guerrilla project is the work of Shawn VanDiver, a San Diego political activist, consultant and adjunct professor in San Diego State Universitys national security program. Its an androgynous rabbit. Hell be making an appearance at some point in the future, VanDiver said. The bunny wont speak. Ill probably be the bunnys translator. Hunters campaign did not respond to a request for comment about this new adversary. VanDiver created Bunny PAC amid questions about Hunters campaign spending that triggered a federal criminal investigation. About $60,000 of the lawmakers campaign funds were used to pay for personal expenses including tuition at his childrens schools, a purchase at a jewelry store during trip to Italy, and $600 to bring his familys pet rabbit on the cross-country flight. Hunter said the charges were honest mistakes that happened when his campaign credit card was mixed up with his a personal credit card. He said he has done nothing intentionally wrong and has paid back any misspent campaign funds. The Justice Department is investigating. Federal Election Commission documents show the Bunny PAC was created in late March and can accept contributions. VanDiver declined to say how much it has raised so far. joshua.stewart@sduniontribune.com Stewart writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune The Los Angeles City Ethics Commission imposed a $17,000 fine Tuesday on a real estate investor who wrote checks through more than a dozen different companies to help elect Councilman Mitch OFarrell. The checks, signed four years ago by investor Leeor Maciborski, came from limited liability companies tied to apartment buildings in East Hollywood and Los Feliz, a number of which shared the same majority members. City investigators found that the donations ran afoul of campaign finance restrictions that limit how much each contributor can give to each candidate, exceeding city restrictions by a total of $3,000. Advertisement The Times had previously highlighted the donations as an example of how hard it is to tell who is behind campaign contributions from business entities. At the Tuesday meeting, city investigators said it had taken a good amount of investigative effort to uncover who was behind the limited liability companies. Many business entities particularly small, privately held LLCs dont have to publicly report who owns them, making it harder to tell who is giving donations and whether rules are followed. Im troubled by the use of LLCs as, essentially, illegal pass-throughs, said commission President Jessica Levinson, adding that she feared donations from such entities could threaten the fairness of campaigns. Levinson voted against the fine because she was concerned about whether $17,000 was appropriate for $3,000 in excess donations, but the proposed penalty passed 4 to 1. OFarrell spokesman Tony Arranaga said the councilman was not aware that any of those donations might have come from the same sources before the Ethics Commission examined them, adding that campaign staff had handled the fundraising and donor documentation four years ago. Neither Maciborski nor Jane Leiderman, who served as treasurer for OFarrell during that campaign, responded to requests for comment. The Ethics Commission also fined lobbyist and former City Hall aide Jimmy Blackman $22,500 for breaking revolving door rules that restrict how and when former city officials can try to sway city decisions. Blackman had been paid to advocate for the firefighters union and had repeatedly reached out to city officials to tell them where the union stood on budget issues, according to city investigators. That violated city rules because it happened within one year of Blackman leaving his city position. After more than two years of dealing with overzealous Ethics Commission staff regarding five emails that I sent advocating for firefighter and community safety, I am grateful to put this matter behind me, Blackman said in an email. The commission also fined Dr. Feliciano Serrano, owner of the Serrano Kidney and Vascular Access Center in Huntington Park, $15,000 for failing to maintain proper records, include legally required disclaimers and file mandatory documents for political ads backing then-mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel four years ago. emily.alpert@latimes.com Twitter: @LATimesEmily A young man who may be the first dreamer to be deported under the Trump administration filed a lawsuit in San Diego federal court Tuesday asking the government to release information about his case. Juan Manuel Montes Bojorquez, 23, was deported after being stopped by a border officer on a bike in Calexico the night of Feb. 17, according to the lawsuit. He came to the U.S. when he was 9 years old and since 2014 has been able to legally live and work in the country under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program, his attorneys said. But in a statement Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security said his DACA status had expired. An illegal entry into the U.S. a day after his deportation and a prior conviction for theft further put his status in the program into question. Advertisement When he was detained in February, Montes did not have his identification on him, was not given an opportunity to see an immigration judge or ask for help from an attorney, and was escorted across the border into Mexicali without copies of the papers he signed that gave reason for his removal, his attorneys said in the lawsuit. Juan Manuel was funneled across the border without so much as a piece of paper to explain why or how, Nora Preciado, a staff attorney at the National Immigration Law Center, said in a statement. The government shouldnt treat anyone this way much less someone who has DACA. No one should have to file a lawsuit to find out what happened to them. Im disturbed about reports that a Dreamer with DACA protection has been deported, the Senates No. 2 Democrat Dick Durbin said in a statement. Ive contacted DHS to demand an explanation. Just last month Secretary Kelly promised me that no one with DACA would lose this protection unless they violated the terms of DACA. I intend to hold him to this commitment. Reports about the deportation triggered swift reaction on Capitol Hill. Another promise cruelly broken by President Trump, this one with heartbreaking consequences for brave young DREAMers across the nation, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, said in a statement. Instead of honoring the protections of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals initiative, President Trump has unleashed an indiscriminate deportation dragnet of appalling inhumanity. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said he was disturbed that a dreamer with DACA protection has been deported. He said he contacted the Department of Homeland Security to demand an explanation. The deportation was cheered in some quarters. One supporter of the move, though, was hardliner Rep. Steve King, a Republican from Iowa who supports vastly restricting the flow of immigration into the US and has a history of controversial statements about immigrants. First non-valedictorian DREAMer deported. Border Patrol, this ones for you, Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said in a Twitter post. The lawsuit claims Montes was confused by the questioning of agents and the documents he signed. A traumatic brain injury as a child left Montes cognitively disabled, according to the lawsuit. He was enrolled in special education programs throughout his schooling and graduated high school in 2013. He pursued a welding degree in community college but also had been working as farm laborer in California and Arizona to help support his family, his lawyers said. Montes was granted DACA status in 2014, two years after the program was established under President Barack Obama. The program permits dreamers those brought into the country illegally as children to remain in the U.S. to get an education and work as long as they meet certain criteria. They must reapply every two years to keep their legal status, something his attorneys said he has done. He is eligible to work through 2018, his attorneys said. But the Department of Homeland Security said that his DACA status expired in August 2015 and that he was notified at that time. His record minor traffic offenses and one misdemeanor offense should not have disqualified him from the DACA program, according to the lawsuit. However, conviction of a felony, significant misdemeanor or three or more misdemeanors would be disqualifying, as well as anything deemed to pose a threat to national security or public safety. Homeland Security said Montes criminal record includes a theft conviction for which he received probation. Under the DACA guidelines, a theft does not appear to meet the significant misdemeanor threshold, although specifics on his case were not immediately available. On the night he was detained, Montes had left a friends house in Calexico and was walking to a taxi stand about 10 p.m. when he was approached by a border officer, possibly with Customs and Border Protection. The officer aggressively questioned him about his identity, and Montes realized hed left his wallet as well as his legal working permit in his friends car, the lawsuit says. A second officer arrived and drove Montes to the port of entry, where he was detained, questioned and asked to sign documents, the lawsuit says. He was then walked to the border and removed to Mexico. I was forced out because I was nervous and didnt know what to do or say, but my home is there, Montes said in a statement released by the law center. I miss my job. I miss school. And I want to continue to work toward better opportunities. But most of all, I miss my family, and I have hope that I will be able to go back so I can be with them again. After he was removed to Mexico, Montes was robbed in Mexicali at knifepoint of a suitcase of clothing that friends had brought him, the lawsuit claims. Montes sneaked back into the U.S. the next day with his wallet this time but got scared and turned himself in to CBP, the lawsuit says. He again was detained, questioned and asked to sign documents before being returned to Mexico. Homeland Security said Montes was apprehended by the Calexico Station Border Patrol after illegally entering the U.S. by climbing over the fence in downtown Calexico. He was arrested by (Border Patrol) just minutes after he made his illegal entry and admitted under oath during the arrest interview that he had entered illegally. Montes has been living with family in Mexico since. His attorneys asked CBP and Border Patrol for documents relating to his detention and removal and were told to file a Freedom of Information Act request. At one point, an assistant port director told the lawyers that he was having trouble finding the case, the lawsuit states. Montes attorneys filed the lawsuit 20 days after filing the FOIA request, which has not been fulfilled. The future of the DACA program has been uncertain under Trump, who has both criticized the immigration policies of Obama and promised to find a way to allow the participants to stay. More than 750,000 people have been granted DACA status since 2012, according to U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services. Other DACA recipients have been detained by immigration authorities in recent months, putting increased attention on the administrations handling of the program. A young Seattle man was detained in March after the government said he admitted to gang ties, while an Argentinian woman was detained and later released after she spoke out about Trumps immigration policies at a news conference in Mississippi. Her DACA renewal applications had expired, officials said. RELATED Trump has increasingly indicated he will not end the program, both at Thursdays news conference and in private conversations over the last three months. kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @kristinadavis Homeless advocates from across the state on Tuesday voiced general support for a Republican package of bills intended to reduce homelessness in Wisconsin. But advocates and a representative for Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele said theres much more to do and suggested the state increase attention on affordable housing, case management and preventing homelessness. Wisconsin is very much behind other states, said Joe Volk, executive director of the Wisconsin Coalition Against Homelessness, who said little has happened at the state Capitol on the issue since 1994. Wisconsin doesnt really even have a plan. Carrie Poser, director for the Wisconsin Balance of State Continuim of Care, one of four COCs serving the state, offered detailed insight into the states challenges and supported the bills, but stressed, We need to do more. It cant be a partisan issue because its a human issue. Last week, state Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke, R-Kaukauna, and others unveiled the package of four bills that would restructure state efforts to reduce and end homelessness, adjust some current programs and test new approaches. The centerpiece would create an Interagency Council on Homelessness to be chaired by the governors designee initially Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and include the secretaries of eight agencies and others. The other bills largely echo fiscal proposals in Gov. Scott Walkers proposed 2017-19 budget, now under review by the Legislature. The package got an initially cool reception from Senate and Assembly Democrats, who described it as feel-good, cosmetic solutions that wont change the lives of families on the street right now. At Tuesdays Assembly Committee on Public Benefit Reforms hearing, Steineke said the proposed legislation is a meaningful first step and that were not going to solve the homelessness problem overnight. Rep. Lisa Subeck, D-Madison, said shes frustrated the bills are limited, particularly on new funding, and called for investment in proven strategies such as Housing First, Rapid Re-housing, and prevention. These bills are not enough, she said later. But Subeck said shes co-sponsoring the bill to create the interagency council and may support others with changes. Im certain we will be coming forward with some amendments ... that would bring some additional resources to these bills, she said. Michael Luckey, policy advisor for the state Assembly, later said he was pleased by the reception the proposed legislation received on Tuesday and that sponsors are open to improvements. The proposed interagency council, which would include the secretaries of the departments of Administration, Health Services, Children and Families, Workforce Development, Veterans Affairs, Corrections, Public Instruction and the four COCs, can lead a dynamic effort to end homelessness, supporters said. If were going to end homelessness in Wisconsin, youve got to have the right people at the table for a common purpose, Poser said. The bill designates a new director of the council who will be well-positioned to explore opportunities suggested by advocates, such as social impact bonding, in which the private sector works with governments and charities to fund critical programs, Luckey said. Andrew Disch, executive director of the Apartment Association of South Central Wisconsin, also voiced general support for the legislation, but suggested housing providers be added to the council. The other bills: Give the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority the ability to pilot a program to prioritize chronically homeless people on the waiting list now about about 4,900 for federal Housing Choice Vouchers, also known as Section 8. Free up underused, previously allocated state money about $300,000 for transitional housing, to be used for additional types of housing models, and free separate homelessness prevention funds to be used where there is the greatest need statewide. Create a grant program for a municipality that meets certain criteria to receive $75,000 annually to pilot a program for two years that connects homeless people to jobs and workforce training. This grant would require a match of at least $50,000. Advocates said the state needs a conversation on creating affordable housing, that chronically homeless receiving Section 8 vouchers need case management, and that the state is well-served moving to Housing First and Rapid Re-housing. A police practices expert hired by the family of a man fatally shot by San Diego police in 2015 concluded 75 percent of officer shootings over a three-year period were avoidable and unnecessary uses of force. Roger Clark, a nationally recognized authority on policing and use of force issues, based his conclusions on a review of thousands of pages of internal police records for 20 officer involved shootings between 2013 and 2015. Clark did the review on behalf of the family of Fridoon Nehad, an unarmed man who was shot to death by San Diego Police Officer Neal Browder in an alley in the Midway district near midnight on April 30, 2015. The family filed a civil rights suit against the city alleging the shooting was unnecessary and also contending the city has a longstanding practice of whitewashing police shootings and not disciplining officers. Advertisement In court motions filed over the past several weeks the city has sought to throw out portions of the case and also is trying to prevent Clark from testifying about his review of the prior shootings at a trial. They say hes unqualified to talk about how shooting investigations are conducted, and that his method for reviewing the prior shootings was insufficient and unreliable. The court filings provide a glimpse into the evidence and some of the testimony that could come out as the high-profile case moves forward. No trial date has been set yet, but it could happen some time later this year. Clark was hired by the Nehad family lawyers to review police shootings and how the city investigated them. He ended up reviewing thousands of pages of records from 20 shootings. He concluded that in 15 of the incidents the use of lethal force was avoidable and thus not necessary, he wrote in a court declaration. He called the rate unacceptably high. Moreover, Clark said that the investigations into those shootings by both homicide detectives and Internal Affairs were inadequate, with an evident bias in favor of the shooting officer. The city is vigorously challenging that conclusion. City lawyers argued Clark only had limited experience investigating officer involved shootings when he was working, and was not involved in Internal Affairs work. They also argued he hastily reviewed over 15,000 pages of documents relating to the 20 shootings spending an average of 20 minutes per case file. Clark, a Santee resident, has consulted on more than 1,250 use of force cases in his career as a consultant. Among them was for the family of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy carrying a toy gun who was shot to death by Cleveland police in 2014. Clark concluded that shooting was an unreasonable use of force. The integrity of our criminal-justice system requires far higher standards than the junk science offered by this witness, who has no expertise in these kinds of investigations, said Gerry Braun, chief of staff for City Attorney Mara Elliott. For a court to require that evidence be scientifically valid does not favor one side or another; it favors the interest of justice. But lawyers for the Nehad family said that Clarks conclusions should be allowed, and that the city is simply trying to keep embarrassing and damaging information out of the case. The way that SDPD and the chief of police have handled this shooting, and prior officer-involved shootings, is very disturbing, said Dan Miller, one of the family lawyers. Nehad, who had a troubled history of mental illness that came to light after the shooting, was shot in an alley behind an adult bookstore. Browder was responding to a call about a man with a knife threatening people. When he pulled into the alley, Nehad was walking toward the car, which did not have its light bars flashing. Two witnesses said when Browder got out of the car he ordered Nehad to stop, but he did not. He held a shiny object in his right hand. Within seconds after exiting the car, as Nehad appeared to slow down but not stop, Browder fired a single fatal round. Browder later said he believed Nehad had a knife. It turned out to be a metallic pen. The sequence was captured on the security camera of a nearby business, but not on Browders body-worn camera because he did not turn it on. A federal judge later ordered the security video released to the public. District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis later concluded the shooting was justified because Nehad didnt obey commands to stop and Browder considered him an imminent threat. The lawsuit contends that the department has a culture of whitewashing investigations into officer shootings and not disciplining officers. That culture emboldens officers to use lethal force knowing they wont be held accountable, the suit contends. Other information in the filings includes: Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman said in a deposition that she has not disciplined a single officer in any of the 18 shootings that have occurred while she has been chief since 2014. Zimmerman also said the city changed its policy regarding whether officers can review videos taken by third parties before being interviewed by investigators. Browder was allowed to review the security camera video for nearly a half hour with his lawyer before making a statement to investigators, five days after the shooting. Zimmerman testified that the policy changed after the Nehad shooting, and that officers are not allowed to view video from any source beside body-worn cameras. Twitter: @gregmoran greg.moran@sduniontribune.com A Superior Court jury has been asked to decide whether Petco should pay damages to the father of a 10-year-old San Diego County boy who died from a bacterial infection he contracted from a pet rat he bought at a local store. Aidan Pankey died of an ailment known as rat bite fever in June 2013, about two weeks after he and his grandmother went the pet supply store in Carmel Mountain Ranch and picked out a male rodent the boy named Alex. Corporations should not subject their customers to needless harm, said John Gomez, the attorney representing Aidans father Andrew Pankey in the lawsuit against the corporation and the wholesaler that supplied rats to Petcos West Coast stores. Advertisement In his closing arguments Tuesday, Gomez told the jury that Petco knew long before Aidan died that some people including its own employees had gotten sick after handling rodents sold in its stores, but didnt do enough to warn of the hidden danger. He asked the jury to award the father $20 million in compensatory damages for the loss of his child. Petco knew that Alex the rat, in particular, was likely to carry rat bite fever, said Gomez, adding that rats at the supplier, Barneys Pets, had tested positive for the bacteria just a few weeks before the boys death. Petco contends it did all it could to warn customers about rat bite fever, by posting warnings on the animal habitats in the stores and providing information at the time of purchase about how to properly handle rats so as to avoid getting sick. Lawyer Kimberly Oberrecht argued that the pet supply retailer had developed a test to check for the presence of the bacteria that causes rat bite fever, but even that isnt fail safe. She said streptobacillus moniliformis occurs naturally in rats and cant be bred out of them. All of this is in an effort to try and reduce the instances of rat bite fever, Oberrecht said. They warn about it because they know they cant get rid of it. A lawyer for Barneys Pets, Christopher Faenza, argued that the plaintiffs presented no evidence throughout the two-week trial that the business, or its owner, had caused Aidans death. According to the testimony in trial, Aidan already owned a female rat named Oreo, and he wanted a male so he could breed them. He and his grandmother bought Alex the rat on May 27, 2013. Two weeks later, the boy fell ill, with symptoms including an upset stomach, chills and a fever. His family took him to a doctor, who diagnosed him with the flu. According to court documents, he was told to rest, drink a lot of liquids and to return for a follow-up visit a few days later . The next night, Aidans condition worsened so his family called paramedics. He was taken the emergency room at Rady Childrens Hospital, but by then it was too late to save him. He died early the next morning on June 12, 2013 as a result of of streptobacillus moniliformis infection. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the bacterium is part of the normal respiratory flora of rodents, and animals that carry it do not show any outward signs of disease or infection. It can be transmitted from animals to humans through bites or scratches, or just by handling a rodent that carries it. Once the bacteria gets in the body, its just devastating, said Gomez, the plaintiffs attorney. He quoted an infectious disease expert who testified that he would not recommend having a rat as a pet. The attorney said there had been at least 64 confirmed cases of rat bite fever contracted by customers since Petco began selling rats in 2001, but that the actual numbers, including Petco employees, were likely much higher. If theyre unable to provide rat bite fever-free rats, they should have stopped selling them, Gomez said. The lawyer for Petco strongly disagreed. She counted about 45 claims of rat bite fever, most of which were reported after Aidans death, and asked the jury to consider that number against the roughly 5 million rats the company sold between 2001 and 2013. This is not an epidemic, Oberrecht said. Its extraordinarily rare. The jury is expected to continue deliberations Wednesday morning. dana.littlefield@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @danalittlefield Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and Attorney General Jeff Sessions will visit the border in San Diego and El Paso this week. The officials from the administration of President Donald Trump will come to San Diego on Friday to see both the border and immigration detention operations after observing operations at the Southwest border in Texas on Thursday, according to a news release from the Department of Homeland Security. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, will join the pair in San Diego. Advertisement Sessions recently visited the border in Nogales, Ariz., where he made a speech describing border communities as a war zone. Immigrants rights advocates in San Diego have criticized officials from the Trump administration for visiting border communities without meeting with local leaders to learn about different perspectives on life by the border. Information released about Kellys and Sessions schedules does not include meetings with local leaders. The release says Sessions and Kelly will meet with Department of Justice and Homeland Security personnel in El Paso. In February, Kelly visited San Diego, receiving feedback on border wall proposals and talking tough about so-called sanctuary cities, which dont cooperate with federal immigration enforcement efforts. He met with local law-enforcement leaders. Follow me on Facebook for live updates about immigration news kate.morrissey@sduniontribune.com, @bgirledukate on Twitter The Supreme Court on Wednesday appeared ready to break down at least part of the longstanding church-state barrier that has prevented religious schools from receiving public funds. The justices gave a skeptical hearing to a Missouri lawyer who was defending the states decision to reject a grant request from a Lutheran preschool seeking to participate in a state program that provides money to schools to rubberize the surface of their playgrounds. Missouris constitution, like those in at least 36 other states, bars sending tax money to churches and church schools. Advertisement But most of the justices signaled they will rule for the church on the grounds that the refusal to fund the playground amounts to unconstitutional discrimination based on religion. The justices did not sound sharply split along the usual conservative and liberal lines. Seven of them all but Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburgspoke in favor of the churchs position. Justice Stephen G. Breyer said cities routinely provide police protection for churches, send firefighters if a religious building catches fire and dispatch crossing guards at busy corners near a church school. If so, he said, why can Missouri deny money for helping children not fall in the playground, cut their knees, get tetanus [or] break a leg. If the money is spent for health and safety, church schools should be allowed to seek their share, he added. Justice Elena Kagan said she was troubled by what she saw as the states discrimination against religion. Essentially this is a program open to everyone, yet the preschool was rejected for the playground funds just because it was run by a church. She said that appears to violate a pretty strong principle in our constitutional law against discrimination based on religion. New Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, whose recent arrival restored the courts conservative majority, was quiet through most of the hour, except to agree with the others that the states decision was discrimination on the basis of status of religion. We know thats happened in this case, right?, he told James Layton, the states lawyer. What was unclear from the argument was whether the justices would rule broadly in favor of church schools, or focus narrowly on the playground because it had nothing to do with worshiping or teaching religion. The churchs lawyer, David Cortman of the Alliance Defending Freedom, said the court in the past has prohibited using government money to pay for religious activities, and he said he was not challenging those limits. The justices wondered whether church schools could seek public money for computers and textbooks. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy asked whether religious schools and colleges in California could see state funds on an equal basis to make their buildings earthquake proof. The questions suggested the justices were inclined to be cautious. In the 1970s, the justices decided a series of cases that blocked states from giving tax money to parochial schools for textbooks, maps and other educational materials. Now the court seems ready to tell a state it must provide at least some public money to church schools. Sotomayor said she did not see how the states refusal to fund a playground violates the 1st Amendment and its protection for the free exercise of religion. No one is asking the church to change its beliefs, she said. If the issue is discrimination based on religion, what about the benefits that go to churches, she asked? Theres plenty of people who would think the tax exemption goes too far, she said, adding she was not one of them. The case, Trinity Lutheran Church vs. Comer, could lead to a major shift in the law on church schools and public funding. Lawmakers in many states have been pressing for tuition vouchers, scholarships and similar proposals that would allow public funds to flow to support religious schools and their students. But they sometimes confront a barrier written into their state constitution. These provisions forbid the use of any tax money to support churches or church schools. They are sometimes called Blaine amendments because they were adopted in the late 19th century after Rep. James G. Blaine tried but failed to add a similarly strict ban to the U.S. Constitution. The playground dispute gives the justices a chance to strike down those limits as unconstitutional. Last week, it looked as though the case might fizzle because Missouris new Republican governor, Eric Greitens, announced a change in policy. The state would no longer deny grants to church schools, he said. In response, lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State said the justices should dismiss the case as moot. But the justices showed little or no interest in that option during Wednesdays argument. david.savage@latimes.com On Twitter: DavidGSavage UPDATES: 1:25 p.m.: This article was updated after the arguments. This article was originally published at 3 a.m. A local nonprofit says it can end homelessness on the streets of downtown San Diego by building an intake center that would include 500 shelter beds, up to 700 permanent housing slots and comprehensive social services. The proposed center is in response to a request from the city for a central hub where homeless people could immediately get off the street, get the services they need and be directed to permanent housing that could help solve their problem. The Alpha Project, which ran the citys winter homeless shelter from 2002 to 2015, says it would combine $12.5 million in federal funds pledged by the city with other public money and private donations to build the center just east of downtown in Golden Hill. Advertisement Some local business leaders have pledged $3 million to support the proposed center, which they call crucial to stemming the tide of rising homelessness in San Diego and putting the city on the right track. But a leading homeless advocate says the proposal would just add more of the homeless services the city already has, and that such projects have failed in San Diego and other cities. He and other critics of adding shelter beds say virtually all resources spent solving homelessness should focus on constructing as many permanent housing slots as possible. Alpha Project submitted its 56-page proposal just before last Fridays deadline. City officials declined this week to say how many proposals they received or comment on any of them. Father Joes Villages, which operates the year-round city shelter that replaced Alphas winter shelter, also submitted a proposal based on a plan the nonprofit unveiled last month to spend $531 million over the next five years creating 2,000 permanent housing units. More than 400 of those units would be built at 14th and Commercial streets downtown and serve as the centerpiece of Father Joes intake center proposal. The nonprofits adjacent homelessness campus and a planned assessment center nearby would fulfill the rest of the citys request. The proposal also includes 160 shelter beds at the 14th and Commercial site. San Diego has the fourth largest homeless population in the nation after New York, Los Angeles and Seattle. A count in January 2016 found about 5,000 homeless people in the city, with 2,750 of those living unsheltered on the street. Alphas submission proposes a three-phase plan beginning with 250 indoor and tented shelter beds, adding 250 more shelter beds the second year and then adding somewhere between 400 and 700 permanent housing slots in year three and beyond. With the completion of all three phases of this plan, the city of San Diego will have addressed the current, critical homeless situation and developed a long-term plan which provides a solution for ending homelessness on the streets of downtown San Diego, Alphas two leading officials, Bob McElroy and Amy Gonyeau, wrote in the proposal. That seems to be what Mayor Kevin Faulconer had in mind when he first proposed creating a comprehensive homeless intake center in his State of the City speech in January. Its about creating a central hub where any man or woman on the street can go to start the path to a better life and be directed to one of our regions service providers, which will give them care thats tailored to their unique situation, Faulconer said then. Its a totally new approach that will take time to build. On Tuesday, McElroy said an intake center run by Alpha would play a key role in getting people off the streets. People need someplace to go while theyre waiting for the decades-long development of permanent supportive housing, he said. Right now theres no alternative to being homeless theres no place for people to go. Local businessmen David Malcolm and Tom Sudberry agree with McElroy and have pledged $3 million. Without this first step, we can never succeed in addressing the homelessness situation, Malcolm said on Tuesday. You need a major intake facility that can assess people and allow them to start the process with dignity and get their lives back together. This is one of the critical components thats missing in San Diego. Malcolm said he hopes San Diegos center can be a model copied by other cities in the county and in other states. He said the goal of the $3 million pledge, which he expects to raise from the business community, was to boost the credibility of the project and increase the chances Mayor Faulconer and the City Council will pursue it. We didnt want the mayor and the council to have any excuses of not having the funding, Malcolm said. He said providing a way to get the homeless off the streets quickly will also help the city deal with people who dont want help. When this thing is all built out, we then can enforce our vagrancy law, he said, referring to court rulings that prohibit the city from removing homeless from the streets because adequate beds and services arent available. Well be able to clean up a big portion of San Diegos problem with this one project. Homeless advocate Michael McConnell said, however, that the center wouldnt do anything more than the homeless services campus that Father Joes operates in downtowns East Village. He also said similar centers have struggled in Phoenix and Salt Lake City, with thousands of homeless people living on the streets nearby similar to the homeless who congregate near Father Joes. Why would we think they could do it better than Father Joes and why in San Diego would we think we can do it better than other communities that have done it? McConnell said. He said the goal should be building as much permanent supportive housing for the homeless as quickly as possible. Wed have a lot more money for that if we didnt keep wasting it on these fairy tale ideas and promises of taking everybody off the street in some way thats never been proven to work, said McConnell, while also praising the Alpha proposal. It was really well thought out. I wish those models worked, but they havent in the past. McElroy said the site Alpha is proposing is ideal. Its nearly seven acres of city-owned land on the edge of Balboa Park near Pershing Drive, 20th Street and B Street. Its an underutilized piece of dirt thats for sure, he said, noting that city maintenance work conducted there has been dwindling. Its on the very margins of downtown and were not in anybodys neighborhood. The citys request, however, stipulated that proposals not include city-owned land. McElroy said city officials told him that was an error, but said on Tuesday that hes still concerned that could jeopardize his proposal. Its the most logical site, but the challenge is whether there is the political will to do it on a city-owned site, he said. McElroy said he doesnt want the citys decision to become a battle between nonprofits. But he also said Alpha did a better job running the city shelter than Father Joes. We dont want people out in the neighborhood all day because thats where bad stuff happens, so we run our facilities 24/7, he said, blaming the large homeless street population near Father Joes on the nonprofit shutting its shelter during the day. Theres a difference in operators there. Deacon Jim Vargas, chief executive of Father Joes, disagreed. They are a transient population and they arent sequestered so they can go out during the day, he said. Thats a phenomenon in general, so it doesnt just relate to us. Vargas also said his groups proposed intake center would be superior to Alphas. We are the only service provider out there that does exactly what the city requested, he said. We are known for doing it well and we do it effectively. A city spokeswoman said San Diego plans to notify groups who submitted proposals whether they are eligible to submit a more detailed version later this year. The citys evaluation period is scheduled to end May 5. david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrick An Atlanta woman has dropped her excessive force lawsuit against San Diego police without receiving any financial compensation, a spokesman for City Attorney Mara Elliott said. Cassandra Harris filed a federal civil rights suit in October alleging police officers showed reckless disregard for her rights in November 2014 when she was allegedly pepper sprayed and placed in handcuffs that she claims were too tight. Harris was charged with battery on an officer and resisting arrest during the incident, but those charges were quickly dropped and Harris subsequently sued the city and four officers. Advertisement Harris and her attorney, Thomas Robertson, filed a motion on Monday to dismiss the lawsuit. Elliott spokesman Gerry Braun said on Wednesday that Harris will receive no settlement from the city, and he called the complaint meritless. Robertson declined to comment. Harris had been seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages and attorneys fees. She claims to have head injuries and nerve damage in one of her wrists as a result of the incident. The lawsuit claims Harris, 28, was an innocent bystander to two women attacking a third woman with large sticks at an undisclosed location. The suit says police handcuffed Harris instead of pursuing the two suspects, who fled shortly after police arrived at the scene. She then claims her frustration that the handcuffs were too tight prompted her to begin banging her head against the front divider in the passenger compartment of a patrol car. The suit alleges that police responded to that by pulling her out of the patrol car, pinning her to the ground and dousing her face with pepper spray. They then allegedly placed her in maximum restraints that she also claims were too tight. The suit says the officers violated Harris rights by ignoring repeated pleas to check the tightness of the handcuffs and restraints, and by not administering medical aid after the use of pepper spray. It also claims that Harris was detained without any evidence that she had committed a crime. Harris also claims in the suit that officials at Las Colinas Detention Facility in Santee declared her medically unfit for booking based on her injuries. The case was handled by Deputy City Attorney Keith Phillips. The City Council was informed of the cases dismissal during a session closed to the public on Tuesday. david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrick A former Dane County supervisor who created a flap when she refused to say the Pledge of Allegiance at County Board meetings is running unopposed for the vacant District 16 seat. Jamie Kuhn, a former Milwaukee County Board lobbyist and Dane County supervisor from 1998 to 2000, is the only person who registered to run for the seat that will be decided in a June 13 special election, Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell said. In 1999, Kuhn and fellow supervisor Echnaton Vedder were characterized as unpatriotic when they chose not to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at County Board meetings. Kuhn, who was representing the 23rd District, responded in an op-ed piece in the Wisconsin State Journal that if saying the Pledge of Allegiance is the only requirement for being a patriot, then we have much to be concerned about for our future. She said actions, not standing before the flag and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, determine whether a person is a patriot. At the time, Kuhn was a legislative aide to State Rep. Sarah Waukau, D-Antigo, and fellow supervisor Don Heiliger wrote letters to veterans in Waukaus district informing them of the anti-Pledge behavior. Shortly thereafter Kuhn quit her job for a position with the Assembly Democratic Caucus. She said she left of her own volition but acknowledged Heiliger was trying to get her fired. Kuhn went on to become chief of staff for state Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona, before becoming a lobbyist for the Milwaukee County Board in 2012. She left the Dane County Board at the end of her term in 2000. The Rev. John Dolan, a veteran parish priest, has been named auxiliary bishop for the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego. Hell assist Bishop Robert McElroy or, as one observer said, become Vice Disruptor to the prelate, an outspoken critic of President Trumps policies. Both McElroy and Dolan downplayed the political significance of the appointment, which was made by the Vatican on Wednesday at noon, Rome time. Advertisement Its not particularly related to that, said McElroy, 63, who has been San Diegos bishop since 2015. It will provide an additional level of episcopal leadership in the life of the diocese. The sprawling diocese serves 1.3 million Catholics in San Diego and Imperial counties. Dolans promotion reflects Pope Francis desire to appoint pastoral leaders, McElroy said, rather than theologians, canon lawyers, Vatican insiders or seminary rectors. Less abstraction, McElroy said, and more knowledge of the nitty, gritty of life. Dolan, 54, is a native San Diegan who grew up in Clairemonts Catholic gulch between St. Mary Magdalene Church and the University of San Diego, A graduate of that university and St. Francis Seminary, Dolan has been a San Diego diocesan priest for 27 years. Among other assignments, hes been pastor of St. Rose of Lima in Chula Vista and St. Mary Star of the Sea in Oceanside. Now the diocesan Vicar for Clergy, overseeing priests assignments, Dolan is also pastor of St. John the Evangelist in Hillcrest and St. Vincent de Paul in Mission Hills. One of nine children, Dolan was praised by McElroy for his great warmth, great faith, great joyfulness. He also has a reputation for modesty. Preparing to hear confessions on April 8, he glanced at his cell phone and saw he had missed a call from the nuncio, the popes ambassador, in Washington, D.C. Then I heard, Bless me, Father, for I have sinned, Dolan said, reciting the penitents opening prayer. Let me just say, that was the longest hour of confessions Ive ever had. When Dolan finally left the confessional to call Washington, the nuncio congratulated him on his appointment. Dolan, who will be ordained auxiliary bishop June 8 at St. Terese of Carmel, assumes this role at a time of renewed activism in the diocese. During a February meeting of community organizers and social justice activists in Modesto, McElroy noted that Trump had campaigned as a disruptor. Well now, McElroy said, we must all become disruptors. His 20-minute speech encouraged opposition to the administrations immigration, refugee and health care policies, as well proposed cuts to the food stamp program and a temporary travel ban on visitors from six primarily Muslim nations. On Wednesday night, McElroy was scheduled to tackle many of those same issues at a Faith Not Fear summit called by the San Diego Organizing Project. Reporting on Dolans appointment, blogger Rocco Palmo dubbed the auxiliary bishop the Vice Disruptor. In his Whispers in the Loggia blog, Palmo also noted that Dolan is now pastor of a welcoming parish in the citys gay and lesbian district, referring to Hillcrests St. John the Evangelist. Dolan said he had been unfamiliar with the local LGBT community before arriving at St. Johns last year. It was an eye-opening experience, he said, but also a joyful experience. Dolan will become the dioceses fifth auxiliary bishop, a position that was inaugurated by Richard Ackerman, who served from 1956 until 1960. He was succeeded by John R. Quinn (1967-71); Gilbert Chavez (1974-2007); and Salvatore Cordileone (2002-09). McElroy himself was an auxiliary bishop, serving under Cordileone in the San Francisco diocese. San Diegos previous auxiliary bishops all became full-fledged bishops, with the exception of Chavez, who retired in 2007. Clearly frustrated Poway City Council members made it crystal clear to staff members Tuesday night that making improvements to Espola Road is a top priority and all the necessary construction-related ducks need to be lined up and ready to go, so that work can start as soon as possible. Taryn Kjolsing, the citys project manager, spent nearly an hour on an increasingly warm seat as all five councilmembers grilled her on why it was taking so long to obtain permanent and temporary construction easements from property owners who would be impacted by the undergrounding of utility lines along a 4,300-foot section of the busy road. Can you tell me why we are falling behind on our high-priority project? Mayor Steve Vaus asked her. Later he asked her, Are you absolutely certain youve got your arms around it? Kjolsing, an associate civic engineer with the city, said the project had not fallen behind schedule but that its scope had changed over time. She said property owners are been fully informed and have a clear picture of what is being proposed. The project, in the planning stages for over two years, calls for the undergrounding of overhead San Diego Gas & Electric, Cox Communications and AT&T lines from Mountain Road to Northcrest Lane. A 6-foot-wide decomposed granite pathway, intended largely to protect students walking to and from schools, will stretch from the existing sidewalk south of Mountain Road to the one south of Willow Ranch Road. A split rail fence will run alongside the pathway. An expected construction start date of mid-2017 has been pushed back to next January, councilmembers were advised in a staff report. To proceed, the city needs to acquire permanent and temporary construction easements from 16 property owners. So far, only three have complied, the report said. Kjolsing said Tuesday a four easement was just completed. Kjolising said all property owners have been contacted and that staff has met onsite with all but three of them. Two of those will participate in a meeting on Friday, she said. Property owner Dave Haessig spoke at Tuesday nights meeting, saying that while he supported the project, he had several unanswered questions regarding how it would affect his property. Councilman Dave Grosch, a retired project manager, repeatedly stressed that a construction timeframe cant be set until all easements are in order. He advanced the idea of the city hiring a right-of-way specialist. While the other councilmembers endorsed the idea as an option, they decided to leave that up to City Manager Tina White. The idea of the city setting a drop-dead date for collection of the easements was advanced by Councilman Jim Cunningham but tempered by Councilman Barry Leonard, who stressed that he felt all that was needed was a better effort by staff to communicate with the property owners. Vaus agreed, saying providing information in clear, concise language would help the easement process move along. Email: editor@pomeradonews.com Longtime Rancho Bernardo resident John Cantor will be celebrating his 100th birthday with 100 relatives and friends on Saturday during a private party. Cantor, who officially will reach the century mark on April 26, said he partially attributes his longevity to his genetics since his mother lived to 98 and father to 88. Its also my faith in the Lord, he said. I read scripture every morning. I was never a cigarette smoker, though being a sailor I did have a drink every so often, but not heavy (drinking). Its also my having a good attitude, he said. I love everybody and hate nobody. The St. Paul, Minnesota native grew up during the Great Depression in Detroit. It was not the Detroit of today, he added. In June 1934, a month after graduating from high school, Cantor said he enlisted in the Navy, but was not called to serve until December 1935. He said the delay was due to the Depression, which was the reason he wanted to join the military. My dad worked in a factory, but had been laid off for four years (due to the Depression that started in 1929), he said. While Cantor said he looked into factory work after graduation, he was told there were 10,000 applicants ahead of him, so he decided to join the military. It was very different then, he said. You had to have perfect eyesight and perfect teeth. Because so many men looked to military service as an employment opportunity there were more applicants than the military could take and it had its choice to pick from, he said. Cantor said while waiting to be called for active duty he joined the Navy Reserve, which he enjoyed. As for why the Navy instead of another branch, he said, because I did not want to dig foxholes. Cantor said he refers to himself as a Depression sailor. When called to active duty Cantor became a storekeeper, which he said is the one who handles a ships supplies. Soon after basic training he was assigned to the USS Altair, a destroyer tender based in San Diego. By January 1940 he was on the USS Moffett, based on the East Coast. While he was aboard it joined the South Atlantic Neutrality Patrol in the spring of 1941, tasked with maintaining the peace off the coast of Brazil. It also escorted President Franklin Roosevelt to a historic meeting with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Newfoundland. The meeting led to the framing of the Atlantic Charter and cemented their alliance. Cantor said during the U.S. involvement in World War II he was based in Newfoundland, supporting the U.S., British and Canadian fleets. After the war he was assigned to the Pacific, sent to Naval Air Base Marcus Island off New Guinea and later to Guam. During the Korean conflict he was assigned to the USS Midway, which at the time was on the East Coast. He made the military his career, reached the rank of chief warrant officer W-4 and retired in 1965 after 30 years service. His last duty station was back in San Diego, this time at North Island. Of all his duty stations, Cantor said his two years in Naples, Italy (1957-59) with his family were the most interesting as they got to travel throughout Europe. Following retirement, Cantor said he worked for the state Division of Highways for four years before his last career, handling exhibits for the County of San Diego Superior Court (1969-79). Cantor said many interesting items came through, especially guns, knives, drugs, big maps, parts of cars and axes. Cantor said he remembers most the drugs, recalling how bales of marijuana had to be stored until the trials in which they were evidence concluded. Sometimes we had them for nine months and they had to be sprayed for bugs, he said. After living in Clairemont for several years, Cantor and his wife, Lois, moved to Rancho Bernardo on July 4, 1971. They have lived in the same Seven Oaks home for the past 45 years. The couple, married for 74 years, has two daughters, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Cantor said he loves Big Band music and he was an elder at Lifebridge Church (formerly Rancho Bernardo Baptist Church). He said his birthday party will be held at the church. He has also been very involved with veterans organizations. He has been in the Fleet Reserve Association for 54 years, Military Order for World Wars for 33 years and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7766 for 27 years. On Wednesday, the VFW post hosted a birthday party for him. Email: rbnews@pomeradonews.com Another county this one in rural northern Wisconsin is taking a stand against the Legislatures rigged process for drawing legislative and congressional districts. The Lincoln County Board recently voted 18-4 for a resolution demanding an end to partisan gerrymandering, in which top state lawmakers use powerful computer software and voting data to shape districts to their political advantage after each major census. Supervisors in Lincoln County, about 160 miles north of Madison, correctly fault Wisconsins current legislative and congressional maps for putting the desires of politicians ahead of the electoral prerogative of the people, and for costing taxpayers millions of dollars in legal bills. The Lincoln County Board also highlighted in its resolution that a panel of federal judges has ruled the maps are unconstitutional. The judges faulted the Republican majority for gerrymandering maps to favor GOP candidates in swing seats while packing Democratic voters into a minority of seats Democratic candidates were likely to win anyway. Redistricting to achieve partisan gains is improper, whether it is done by Republicans or Democrats, the county resolution reads. It then points to the obvious solution: a nonpartisan process that promotes more accountability and transparency while prohibiting the map makers from considering voting patterns, party information or the fate of incumbents when shaping districts to account for population changes. The Dane County Board has similarly criticized partisan redistricting at the state level and is leading by example. The board last year adopted a new process in which County Board members will no longer be drawing supervisory districts. Milwaukee County has acted, too, by approving a panel of judges to draw its supervisory districts following the 2020 census. Both of those urban counties are dominated by liberals. In contrast, Lincoln County is rural and favored Republicans Donald Trump for president last year and Scott Walker for governor three times (though in 2012 it narrowly favored Barack Obamas re-election). That helps show the push for a fair system enjoys broad and bipartisan support. Unfortunately, that isnt true in the Legislature, where Rep. Todd Novak, R-Dodgeville, is the only Republican to press for reform. Novak and most Democrats (some of whom failed to change the system when they were in power) have sponsored a bill mirroring Iowas model for neutral map-making. In Iowa, a nonpartisan agency draws districts with strict rules forbidding political favors. Wisconsin should adopt Iowas proven method, which respects voters of all stripes and encourages more competition for seats. The Lincoln County Board just added some bipartisan momentum to this good-government cause. Cooler today than Sunday, but right where we should be for early November. Seasonable temperatures tonight as well. What temperatures are expected for Election Day? Any chance of rain? Find out here. By Peggy Kelly Santa Paula News A dramatic midday pursuit through the historic Downtown turned heads following a shooting on East Main Street, an incident that resulted in the arrest of two men involved in a love triangle. According to Santa Paula Police Sgt. Cody Madison, officers responded to the March 20 incident about 1:07 p.m. to the report of shots fired to the rear of a business in the 600 block of East Main Street. While speaking to witnesses, officers observed a grey sedan exiting a business at a high rate of speed with, noted Madison, Complete disregard to public safety. An officer attempted to conduct a traffic stop on the vehicle as it traveled eastbound on Main Street but the driver of the vehicle would not pull over. Madison said a pursuit was initiated that included SPPD patrol cars and a motorcycle officer and the driver finally yielded and stopped at the intersection of 10th and Main streets. The driver, Xavier Servin, 19, of Santa Paula, was taken into custody without further incident. During the pursuit witnesses reported a subject, who matched the description of the subject who fled from the rear of the business on Main Street, was attempting to hide behind houses also in the 600 block of E. Main Street. That subject, later identified as 21-year-old Emiliano Castillo, of Santa Paula, was taken into custody without incident. Madison said a search of the area where Castillo was reported to be was conducted and a loaded 9mm pistol was recovered. VCSO preliminary report: Rendon charged SPPD Officer with raised knife By Peggy Kelly The Santa Paula man killed in an officer involved shooting on April 9 was armed with a knife when he charged a woman motorist and later sprinted toward the officers who responded with the knife raised. According to Sgt. Ron Chips of the Ventura County Sheriffs Office, that is when Santa Paula Police Sr. Officer Matt Alonzo shot Jose Rendon Rendon, 36, at close range, who fell within feet of the officer. According to the preliminary report released by the VCSO Tuesday, the incident began about 6:21 a.m. when the SPPD received an anonymous 911 call of a suspicious subject in the 100 block of East Ventura Street. According to Chips statement, The female reporting party stated that a Hispanic male armed with a knife had charged at her vehicle as she drove on East Ventura Street. The reporting party provided a description of the male and requested that officers respond because she was concerned about the safety of other residents of the densely-populated apartment complex located in the area. At about 6:36 a.m., Alonzo, Officer John Coffelt, and Officer Frank Huerta arrived in the area and began to look for the male. Less than a minute later, Sr. Officer Alonzo observed a male matching the description of the suspicious subject standing near the end of a long driveway armed with a large kitchen-style knife, and about a minute later the officer involved shooting occurred. Rendon was struck several times; Santa Paula Fire and an ambulance paramedic responded to the scene where Rendon was declared deceased. According to Chips, Rendon was believed to have been living in the apartment complex at the time of this incident. The SPPD requested the Ventura County Sheriffs Office take over the investigation and its Major Crimes Bureau is currently handling the investigation. Results of the preliminary investigation have revealed that about 20 minutes prior to the 911 call Rendon, for unknown reasons, was involved in an altercation with roommates in his apartment before arming himself with two kitchen knives and leaving. Additional witnesses reported seeing Rendon walking around the apartment complex and along nearby streets while holding at least one knife. One witness also reported seeing Rendon involved in a physical altercation with an unidentified male subject within the apartment complex. Upon observing Rendon, Chips stated Alonzo Stopped his patrol unit in the middle of East Ventura Street and exited, taking a position standing near the rear of his patrol car. Simultaneously, Rendon began to sprint toward the officer with the knife held up in a threatening manner. Despite multiple commands to drop the knife made by Sr. Officer Alonzo, Rendon continued to advance, at a running pace. As Rendon came to within close proximity, of Alonzo he fired six shots from his duty firearm. Five of the six shots struck Rendon, causing him to fall to the ground in the middle of East Ventura Street within several feet of Alonzo. A second knife was located in the area where Alonzo initially observed Rendon. Chips noted that, As of yet, Major Crimes detectives have been unable to identify the male subject that was reported to have been involved in the altercation with Rendon. Detectives are asking that anyone with information about this person or anyone who may have witnessed Rendons actions prior to the officer-involved shooting, to contact him at the Major Crimes Bureau. Santa Paula Police have body worn cameras but Chips said they were not activated during the incident. Chips can be reached at 805-384-4737 or by email, ron.chips@ventura.org When Expo 67 opened in Montreal 50 years ago, millions flocked to the fair to learn about computers, see a geodesic dome built by Buckminster Fuller, and visit 90 different pavilions. Weekly Newsletter The best of The Saturday Evening Post in your inbox! Join When it came to the future, people had a lot to be excited about in 1967. New trends in the arts and in technology particularly computers promised to make life more rewarding and interesting. A lot of those changes would be on display in Montreal when Expo 67 opened during the Summer of Love. When Post reporter Anne Chamberlain visited in mid-winter, Expo 67 was just starting to rise from an island in the St. Lawrence Seaway. Every day, trucks hauled more dirt onto the island to build the 1,000-acre park where 60 countries would eventually create their exhibits. Subscribe and get unlimited access to our online magazine archive. Subscribe Today Post readers got a preview of the strange new buildings in the April 22, 1967, issue of the Post. In Expo 67: The Big Blast Up North, Chamberlain told of the massive effort required to build the next world exposition. The telephone system alone, for example, required 5,300 phones be installed along with 55,000 miles of new wire and cable. Fortunately, computers helped to direct the construction. Even before spring temperatures had thawed the Expo grounds for heavy construction, programmers had fed 250,000 IBM cards into computers and generated 192 miles of reports. Construction proceeded even though the Exposition was expected to lose money. Backers hoped to recoup the losses by commercializing the Expo buildings afterward. In fact, Expo 67 proved to be the most successful Worlds Fair of the 20th century, losing only $210 million. Before it closed in October, it had welcomed 50 million visitors not a bad turnout for a country whose entire population was only 20 million. In August, Anne Chamberlain returned to Montreal and then reported her experiences as an Expo 67 visitor in our August 26, 1967, issue. One of the first things to impress her was the use of computers. One actually helped her find a hotel room after a long wait. The other, at the IBM exhibit, gave mathematics lessons to visitors. (GOOD, said the machine, YOU HAVE JUST COMMUNICATED WITH THE COMPUTER.) She was even more impressed by the lines. At the U.S. exhibit, she had to wait in line 70 minutes to enter. The Russian exhibits line was much shorter, and there were many vacant chairs inside. Visitors were willing to read posters about Soviet fertilizer production and thoughts on Lenin while they gratefully rested their feet. A much longer line led to the Cuban exhibit. There, visitors might stand in line for two-and-a-half hours to eat at the Cuban restaurant. The mother of all lines, she concluded, was for the Czech exhibit, where the line stretched back so far that visitors who joined the line didnt even know what they were waiting for. A Worlds Fair has been held every few years since 1851, when the first of these events took place in Londons Crystal Palace. Except for a wartime halt between 1940 and 1949, there has never been more than a six-year gap between these events. The next Worlds Fair opens June 10, 2017, in Kazakhstan. Its theme will be Future Energy, and it hopes to encourage conversation about finding safe, sustainable energy for all while reducing carbon dioxide emissions. In spite of Americas ongoing internal debates on this topic, the U.S. will be represented. Featured image: The 1967 Montreal Expo (Laurent Belanger, Wikimedia Commons via Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license) NY, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/19/2017 -- Synopsis In real terms, the Egyptian construction industry registered positive growth during the review period (20112015) and is expected to continue to expand over the forecast period (20162020), with investments in residential, infrastructure, and energy and utilities construction projects. Forecast-period growth will be driven by government efforts to develop the country's rail and road infrastructure and meet its energy targets by 2022. GET SAMPLE REPORT @ https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/605229-construction-in-egypt-key-trends-and-opportunities-to-2020 The growing number of public-private partnership (PPP) projects and the increasing pace of foreign investment will also drive industry growth over the forecast period. In July 2016, the government signed 20 economic agreements with the Chinese government. The agreements, worth EGP111.7 billion (US$15.0 billion), will include investments in the country's housing, transport and energy sectors. Government flagship programs such as the October Oasis, Sustainable Development Strategy 2030, Local Development for Upper Egypt governorates and development of Cairo Metro Line 6 projects, are expected to support industry growth over the forecast period. In real terms, the industry's output value recorded a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.32% during the review period, and is expected to register a forecast-period CAGR of 8.24%. Summary Construction in Egypt Key Trends and Opportunities to 2020 report provides detailed market analysis, information and insights into the Egyptian construction industry including: - The Egyptian construction industry's growth prospects by market, project type and construction activity - Analysis of equipment, material and service costs for each project type in Egypt - Critical insight into the impact of industry trends and issues, and the risks and opportunities they present to participants in the Egyptian construction industry - Profiles of the leading operators in the Egyptian construction industry - Data highlights of the largest construction projects in Egypt Scope This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the construction industry in Egypt. It provides: - Historical (2011-2015) and forecast (2016-2020) valuations of the construction industry in Egypt using construction output and value-add methods - Segmentation by sector (commercial, industrial, infrastructure, energy and utilities, institutional and residential) and by project type - Breakdown of values within each project type, by type of activity (new construction, repair and maintenance, refurbishment and demolition) and by type of cost (materials, equipment and services) - Analysis of key construction industry issues, including regulation, cost management, funding and pricing - Detailed profiles of the leading construction companies in Egypt Reasons to Buy - Identify and evaluate market opportunities using Timetric's standardized valuation and forecasting methodologies. - Assess market growth potential at a micro-level with over 600 time-series data forecasts. - Understand the latest industry and market trends. - Formulate and validate strategy using Timetric's critical and actionable insight. - Assess business risks, including cost, regulatory and competitive pressures. - Evaluate competitive risk and success factors. Key Highlights - In March 2015, the government announced plans to build a new capital city to the east of Cairo near the Red Sea, in an aim to promote economic growth. The project was suspended temporarily following lack of consensus on the project's tenure and cost. However, the government re-announced the commencement of the project in February 2016. The new capital city will include 1.1 million housing units, 663 healthcare facilities, 700 kindergartens, 40,000 hotel rooms, 1,250 religious buildings, and retail malls on a 1.8 million m2 area, theme parks and an airport. - Egypt's strategic geographical location and availability of cheap and competitive workforce is increasing the pace of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)'s 2015 World Investment Report, the oil sector represented the highest recipient of FDI with a share of 71.7% during 20142015, followed by the construction and manufacturing sectors with 2.2% and 2.0% shares respectively. - In a bid to minimize traffic congestion in Cairo, the Egyptian Ministry of Transport announced plans to construct Cairo Metro Line 6. Accordingly, the Ministry of Transport signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the China Railway Construction Corporation worth EGP26.1 billion (US$3.5 billion) in December 2015. The 30km-long metro line project will connect northern Al-Khosos and the southern suburb of Maadi. - In 2015, the government signed a MoU with Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation of Russia to construct a nuclear power station in El Dabaa region. With a total investment of EGP186.2 billion (US$25.0 billion), the plant will be developed with a capacity to generate 4,800MW of electricity. The plant is expected to be completed in 2022. - The government is accelerating the pace of investment under the public-private partnership (PPP) model. In February 2016, the Egyptian Ministry of Housing signed four PPP contracts with major real estate companies which include Mountain View-Sisban Holding alliance, Arabia Group and Palm Hills. The total value of these PPP projects is EGP200.0 billion (US$26.8 billion) and includes developments such as the Mountain View iCity residential project in the New Cairo city which will cover a 2.1km2 area with 18,000 housing units, and a resort. Table of Content: Key Points 1 Executive Summary 2 Industry Outlook 3 Key Issues and Developments 4 Market Data Analysis Continued ACCESS REPORT @ https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/1175246-global-aircraft-seat-materials-sales-market-report-2017 Get in touch: LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/4828928 Twitter: https://twitter.com/WiseGuyReports Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Wiseguyreports-1009007869213183/?fref=ts Measles, mumps, and pertussis are considered to be vaccine-preventable diseases, however, in the United States and Europe; resurgences have been recorded. Other bacterial infections such as tuberculosis are reappearing in multidrug-resistant forms. According to Medical News Today, there are 26 infectious global diseases that are vaccine-preventable. Some of these diseases recently made a comeback. In the United States as well as in some countries, measles, mumps, pertussis, and tuberculosis are key infections that must be reported to local and national public health authorities. Measles, one of the vaccine-preventable diseases was declared to be eliminated in the United States in 2000. However, in 2014, peaks of 667 cases were reported including outbreaks of 50 to 100 cases yearly. The reintroduction and re-establishment of measles in the US are caused by the parent's rejection of their children's immunization as stated by Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventative medicine and infectious diseases. Mumps, on the other hand, is another vaccine-preventable disease since 1967 wherein cases dropped by 99 percent. Mumps is still endemic worldwide despite the emergence of the vaccine. In the United Sates, 5, 748 mumps cases were reported in 2016. Pertussis, the third vaccine-preventable disease in the list has been one of the threatening infections of children in the Unites States before a vaccine came out. However, in 2012, cases of 48,277 were reported. Pertussis is also termed as a whooping cough wherein it is very recognizable in children but milder and more persistent in adults. The most common cause of antibiotic resistance is multi-drug resistant (MDR) tuberculosis. TB has resurfaced in the line due to the evolution of MDR strains of the causative agent "Mycobacterium tuberculosis". In 2013, cases of MDR-TB have increased at around 3 cases in 100,000 people. On the other hand, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), getting MMR vaccine is much safer compared to getting measles, mumps, or rubella. Common side effect of MMR vaccine includes; sore arm from the shot, fever, mild rash, and temporary pain and stiffness in the joints. Both CDC and Food and Drugs Administration continuously monitor the safety of vaccines after they will be available commercially. Vaccines provide safe, cost-effective, and prevention of illness, disability, and death from viral and bacterial diseases. Shikine-Jima is located more than a hundred kilometers from Tokyo. It is known to be a volcanic island found in the Philippine Sea. Many people know this place as a paradise - great for scenic getaways and relaxing vacations. However, what many people don't know is the impact and importance of this small island to the future of pretty much all marine life not only Japan but all over the world. Based on a report from Phys Org, this particular island of Shikine has some special and unique characteristics that can help marine biologists in finding ways to protect not only coral reefs but also marine life. According to the article, underwater volcanoes in the island create the abundance of Carbon dioxide in the water and sand under the sea. Scientists are trying to figure out how marine life, including the tiniest plankton, will survive in such unique waters. This is a great simulation of the increasing Carbon dioxide production in the Earth to date and if further climate change occurs world's oceans might have this much abundance of natural CO2. According to a report from Japan Times, a group of scientists has tried to find the relationship between the increase of CO2 and the acidity of water in the oceans, including that of Shikine. They have found that as acidity increases, it will disrupt the growth and abundance of marine organisms. If such a thing happens, it will significantly affect not only the coral reefs but also the food chain. With the coral reef crisis happening in the recent years off the coasts of the Caribbean to the coasts of Australia, scientists are on the fastest pace to look for ways to save what is left of famous reefs all over the world. Most scientists blame only two culprits - severe climate change and human intervention. With almost half of the world's reefs about to die out, it is a constant race for scientists to look for trends and projections of marine life. They need to learn how climate change can further help or damage life under the sea. Scientists study the impact of climate change on snowpack. In the recent findings from NASA, the snowpack levels in Sierra Nevada mountains range in California is much bigger than four years combined. However, according to the international team of scientists, there is 20 percent of loss in the Western United States mountain in the last three decades as reported by Phys.org. The snowpack, which contained the annual maximum amount of water has decreased due to human influences. The observation from the research team showed a consistent result in the correlation between the combined changes in natural factors and human influences to the snowpack loss from the 1980's to 2000's. The natural factors that affect the loss including solar irradiance and volcanic aerosols. While human influences are greenhouse gasses, aerosols, ozone and land use. At the current rate, the scientists predicted that within the next 30 years, there will be more loss of up to 60 percent of the snowpack. The team observed the phenomenon, analyze the land surface and create a model for climate simulations to characterize the combined influences of the variable in the reduced of the snowpack level. The team is led by a senior research scientist at the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis of Environment and Climate Change Canada, John Fyfe. Following the research, the team has published its result in the Nature Communication journal in this April edition. However, new data from NASA shows a complete opposite of the result. Based on the measurement on April 1 from its Airborne Snow Observatory, NASA has found the snowpack levels in Tuolumne Basin snowpack has doubled its volume from last year. The current volume is at 1.2 million acre-feet, as reported by CNBC, which also 21 times larger than the 2015 levels. The snowpack levels in 2015 is the lowest on record of in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. Watch the report regarding the impact of climate change to snowpack in California below: "Magic islands," as the bright anomalies on Saturn's moon are known, may actually be streams of bubbles, new study suggests. These bubbles, which are more than an inch wide, are unlike those that can be found on Earth and may actually complicate any future missions to Titan. The Cassini spacecraft was able to peer through Titan's thick and hazy atmosphere in 2013, where scientists found that despite the seas and lakes usually appearing dark, bright anomalies that mysteriously disappeared were found on Ligeia Mare, Titan's second-largest sea. Daniel Cordier, a planetary scientist at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne in France, told Space.com that the physical process of the strange behavior is still not understood by the scientific community. Previous research suggested that the "magic islands," as they were called, were not actually islands, alien creatures or spacecraft but were gas bubbles or floating solids. However, Cordier and his colleagues suggest that the anomalies were actually due to Titan's unstable seas, which may be fizzing. The researchers also suggested that winds, tides or the effects of heating and cooling in Titan's seas may force surface mixtures to flow downward, releasing nitrogen gas bubbles as liquids separate and then rise back to the surface. Because bubbles are highly reflective to radio waves, they look brighter under radar scans. CNN noted that Titan is the only moon with clouds and a dense atmosphere, giving it its weird appearance. It is also known to have Earth-like bodies of water on its surface. However, its lakes and seas are comprised of liquid ethane and methane. These then form clouds and cause liquid gas to rain down from the sky. Despite its atmosphere and Earth-like qualities, Titan is still not hospitable for human life. Nonetheless, its mystery makes it particularly attractive to researchers like Cordier, who wants to investigate how waves are generated on Titan's seas, among other things. FLORENCE, S.C. In November, Lance Cpl. Kenneth Small of the South Carolina Highway Patrol performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on a 5-year-old girl to save her life. It was 6 p.m. on Nov. 10. Small was at a work zone in the northbound lane on U.S. 501 near Regal Swamp Fox Theater. Small said there was construction going on in the area; the number two lane was closed and lane one was open. I stopped a car coming through the work zone, Small said. Small said he explained to the people in the car why he had stopped them and as he headed back to his car that dark evening, someone wanted his attention. As I walked to my patrol car, a car came up to me blaring their horn, Small said. A woman came to me saying her child was in the car unresponsive and did not have a heartbeat or breathing. The woman said she had tried calling to get an ambulance, but the lines were tied up. Small said he immediately called the patrol station to see if it could get an ambulance to their location. Small said the womans 15-year-old daughter was holding the little girl in the rear. The woman said they were coming back from Myrtle Beach and her 5-year-old daughter had been asleep. She said her daughter had woken up, but a few minutes later she was slumped over in the car seat. Small used what he learned from CPR training to help the 5-year-old. I laid the girl down on the back seat of the vehicle, and called the station again for EMS, Small said. I noticed the girl did not have a heartbeat; she was blue, gray and clammy. I started CPR. He said he only did CPR for a few minutes but it seemed like forever. He still was not getting a response from the child. Meanwhile, the mother was still on the phone trying to get an ambulance. He said as he continued to give chest compressions and mouth to mouth, he kept praying to the Lord. He said her chest started to rise and fall, but she was still not coming back. He said all of a sudden she had a faint cough. Small continued to give CPR. All I could think is shes 5-years-old, and she does not need to leave this world like this, Small said. Then the girl gave a stronger cough. He said instantly she came back after that stronger cough. It looked like she flipped back, just like a light switch, Small said. The color was coming to her face, she was catching her breath. She was catching her breath, but according to Small, not long after, she had a seizure that lasted for two minutes. He said she started crying. I knew if she was crying, she was OK, Small said. The ambulance came to take her to the hospital. Small learned later that the girl has a history of seizures. It is believed that she had a seizure that night. He still stays in contact with the family, at least once a month. The mother tells me that her daughter now says when she gets married, she wants to marry a cop, Small said. He laughed. Small said the CPR training he has taken over the years allowed him to save the girl, with the grace of the Lord. Absorb all the training you can receive as a public officer because you never know when you have to use it, Small said. He said he knows that people think they will never have to use what they learn in training, but if they do, they are prepared. It was a great feeling knowing that I helped, Small said. You feel like you won the lottery, especially when you see the child responding and coming back. No one can take that away from you. That was the Lord. Earlier this month, Small was honored as South Carolina's Trooper of the Year for 2016. The award was presented in recognition of his quick thinking in helping the child. He also received a Director's Medal for Valor "for his persistence and calm that no doubt saved this child's life." Small is from Dillon and graduated from Dillon High School. He joined the Marine Corps in 1978 with the rank of sergeant, and he was honorably discharged in 1983. I was interested in the Marine Corps because my brother was in Vietnam with the Marine Corps, and I thought it was the finest, Small said. I knew training through the Marine Corps will help me become law enforcement. He joined the S.C. Highway Patrol in 1984. He retired from the patrol in 2009, but that was also the year that the patrol began having retirees coming back to work. He returned in 2009, and this year makes 34 years he has been with S.C. Highway Patrol. I enjoy the freedom of patrolling large areas because it keeps me out of the office and it allows me to help people, Small said. Small lives in Florence. He has three grandchildren, and for fun he attends car shows, goes hunting and goes fishing. Working for S.C. Highway Patrol motivates me and the uniform excites me and I still feel excited when I put on my uniform, just like I did when I first started in 1984, Small said. BENNETTSVILLE, S.C. -- Marlboro County Sheriff's deputies have arrested a third person in connection with the Feb. 5 shooting at Kelly's Night Club on Old Wire Road in Wallace. Michael Lavon Powe, 31, old of 764 Smithville Church Road, Cheraw, is charged with third-degree assault by a mob, according to a release issued by the Marlboro County Sheriff's Office. "Maurice Brown and Andrew Burnette were arrested previously in the investigation on other charges," Lt. Jamie Seals wrote in a release on the incident. Powe was arrested without incident in Cheraw with assistance from Cheraw Police officers, Chesterfield County Sheriff's deputies and South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division agents, according to the release. MARION, S.C. Members of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. recently celebrated Finer Womanhood week in Marion County. Mu Kappa Zeta Chapter planned and initiated a very aggressive and active week of projects, organizer Victoria Belin said. Pre-week activities began with the placing of the Zeta Week Banner. During the week the Zetas worked with the Senior Connection at St. James AMEC on completing their individual quilt projects and serving lunch, presented a monetary donation to Marion Intermediate School, visited their Lunch Buddies at Gordon Elementary where the character trait Fairness was discussed, tutored at the RISE Mentoring School and HOPE Center Afterschool program, donated toiletries items and cleaning supplies to Street Reach Ministries in Myrtle Beach and volunteered at the St. Patrick Day party for the residents of the Mullins Nursing Center. The celebration of giving and service ended with Sunday Church worship service at St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church, Mullins where the sorority presented their awards, she said. Belin said the goals of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority are service, scholarship, sisterhood and finer womanhood. The following persons were recognized for 2017: The Community Person of the Year is Rev. Dr. Mack T. Hines; the Scholarship Person of the Year is Linda Neal; the Sisterhood Person of the Year is Timika Chestnut; and the Zeta of the Year (Finer Womanhood) is Tonya McKenzie. HARTSVILLE, S.C. Coker College will host a panel discussion on sustainable energy from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday. The discussion will deepen the dialogue regarding this critical aspect of sustainability. Topics addressed will include renewable energy, biomass, climate change, biodiversity, fracking and environmental justice. Speakers include: >> Imtiaz Haque, a Clemson engineer who will address wind power. >> Jim Fredrick, a Clemson biologist who will address biomass research. >> Hector Flores, the president of the S.C. Governor's School for Science & Mathematics, who will address climate change and biodiversity. >> Mal Hyman, a Coker professor and sociologist, who will address climate change and national security. >> Reverend Leo Woodbury, a community activist from Kingdom Living Church in Florence, who will address environmental justice. >> Alina Tashjian, a Coker College honor student, who will address fracking. DSME and its bondholders and main creditor Korea Development Bank (KDB) have agreed on Tuesday to a KRW2.9trn ($2.5bn) bailout scheme, which requires a debt-for-equity swap on half of DSMEs receivables and postponing paying the remainder for three years, the local media reported. The bonds, worth around KRW500bn to be redeemed in June and November this year, are held by major corporations including the National Pension Service (NPS), the Korea Teachers Pension, Korea Post and the National Credit Union Federation of Korea. KDB, together with the Export-Import Bank of Korea, had said earlier that they will make their loans available to DSME once the majority of the corporate bondholders agree to the government-drawn debt rescheduling plan. KDB and Korea Eximbank are expected to make the fresh loan to DSME next month at the earliest, it was reported. And with bondholders agreeing to roll over payments of their receivables for three years, DSME has averted a liquidity crisis for the time being. The shipbuilder, however, continues to face severe challenges ahead, including implementing corporate downsizing, restructuring its business portfolio and winning new orders to generate revenue. KDB has set DSME a target to reduce its payroll to KRW640bn this year, down 25% from 2016. The shipbuilder is also trying to cut down its workforce to 9,000 in the first half of 2018 from more than 13,000 in 2015. KDB said DSME is anticipated to restructure into a smaller but still strong shipbuilder, specialising in the construction of LNG carriers and other special purpose containerships. DSME is one of Koreas big three shipbuilders, including Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI). The protracted downturn of the global shipbuilding market and recession of the offshore industry has hit the Korean yards hard, forcing the big three yards to undergo painful restructurings bearing the risk of bankruptcy. The statutory demand was issued by the solicitors of Hai Jiang 1401, a special purpose vehicle fully controlled by ICBC, against the charterer Lewek Champion Shipping, wholly-owned by EOL, which in turn is a subsidiary of bankrupt Ezra. Ezra has acted as the guarantor for EOL over the sale and leaseback arrangement of the pipe-lay vessel Lewek Champion with ICBC, entered into in February 2014. Last month, ICBC has already made a claim of the same amount against the charterer, after the Chinese financial institution terminated the vessel charter on 9 March. The owner [Hai Jiang 1401] stated in its statutory demand that if payment for the sum demanded is not paid within 21 days after the date of the statutory demand [12 April], the owner may apply for the charterer to be wound up on the ground that the charterer is unable to pay its debts (), EOL stated. Singapore-listed Ezra has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on 18 March in the hope of facilitating a financial restructuring, leaving its subsidiary EOL, also listed in Singapore, suspended from trading. Ezra is also facing statutory demands and claims from Serimax North America, VT Halter Marine (VTH) and Forland Subsea, all of which are due to the groups status as a guarantor for a 40%-owned joint venture EMAS Chiyoda Subsea (ECS), which has also filed for bankruptcy protection. I have learned the hard way not to put my personal life on the Internet. But suffice it to say that, God willing, things should be pretty much back to norm... 3 weeks ago Brad and Megan Perry are moving home this summer. Photo courtesy of Brad and Megan Perry Novelist Thomas Wolfe once wrote "you can't go home again," but Brad and Megan Perry, both 27 and currently residing in Phoenix, Ariz., would disagree. The Perrys, Port Huron natives, are the first 2017 recipients of the Come Home reverse scholarship, courtesy of the Community Foundation of St. Clair County and its donors. The foundation awards recent graduates with STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) degrees up to $10,000 to move back to St. Clair County to live and work. The Perrys moved to Arizona in 2012. "We graduated college, got married, and hit the open road," says Brad. For the past five years, they have been teaching near Phoenix and living in the suburb Gilbert. They enjoyed living in Arizona, but are happy to be returning to Michigan. "There's a lot that we both love about the Bluewater area," says Brad. "It's our home, full of family and friends." The pair has been going on job interviews locally during spring break and hope to have jobs situated by the time they move back to St. Clair County this summer. We'll hopefully land teaching gigs and start helping out with the community," says Brad. Megan plans to use her master's degree in biological sciences to find a way to affect change with an environmental conservation job. She wants to start a school club about conservation that will partner with the environmental education network, environmental services, or parks and recreation. Brad hopes to work with any local theater group, such as the Port Huron Civic Theater, and perhaps start a creative writing group in the area. He has published stories online, and a book titled "Strawberry Hill" is about to be released by GenZ Publishing. The Perrys first met at Fort Gratiot Middle School, and started dating during their senior year at Port Huron Northern High School. They then went on to Central Michigan University, where they both received teaching degrees. Brad graduated magna cum laude, and Megan graduated summa cum laude. They are nostalgic for many places and people in St. Clair County. "Driving under a Port Huron' highway sign meant I was home," says Megan. "St. Clair County was a great place to grow up and has always held a special place in my heart." "We are both foodies," says Brad. "Some of our favorite restaurants are Coney Island (both Ted's and Mama Vicky's), Cavis' Pioneer Pizza, Fuel, Freighters, Casey's, the Red Pepper, and more." They are also looking forward to hanging out in community venues like Sperry's Moviehouse, Studio 1219, The Raven, and the Port Huron Library. Nostalgia aside," says Megan, "I see St. Clair County as a place of opportunity." The Community Foundation of St. Clair County has had an overwhelming response to its introduction of the Reverse Scholarship in 2016. They currently have a budget of $30,000. This year, we are focused on getting to $60,000, and annually all the way to $100,00--eventually," says Jackie Hanton, vice president of the Community Foundation of St. Clair County. For more information on the foundation and how to apply for the reverse scholarship, visit http://www.stclairfoundation.org/funds/more/reverse_scholarship_fund. After making Arizona home for five years, the call to return to Port Huron was hard to resist.. It is home, simple as that," says Brad. A retired Los Angeles police detective hired by San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon for his new unit probing police officer-involved shootings was arrested on suspicion of public drunkenness last week while attending a training session for D.A. investigators near Sacramento, authorities say. The trouble started for Roger Guzman when he and another man were picked up by an Uber driver outside a Roseville bar at about 2:14 a.m. Thursday, according to police in the Placer County city. After driving the two men about a mile and a half, the driver stopped and ordered both of them out. They were creating a disturbance, so (the driver) kicked them out of his car and called us, said Roseville police spokeswoman Dee Dee Gunther. Both men were arrested for allegedly being drunk in public and were taken to the county jail in Auburn to dry out. Inebriates arrested in such cases typically are released without charges after several hours once theyve sobered up, Gunther said. That appears to be what happened here. A spokeswoman for the Placer County D.A.s office said no charges were filed against either man. San Francisco Hall of Justice sources say Guzman, who earns $116,000 a year, was attending a two-week training course mandated for D.A. investigators by the state Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training when he was arrested. The district attorneys office said it couldnt comment on Guzmans arrest because it was a personnel matter. However, the D.A. takes these matters very seriously, said spokesman Alex Bastian. Guzman did not return our calls seeking comment. He was hired as part of the citys move to make the district attorneys office the primary investigator in police-involved shootings, supplanting Police Department inspectors. Just last week, Gascon announced that his office would not file charges against two police officers who killed a knife-wielding man, Amilcar Perez-Lopez, in the Mission District more than two years ago. It was the first ruling that Gascon has made in a fatal police shooting in nearly 26 months, and leaves his department still dealing with a backlog of 10 fatal shootings by police in San Francisco. San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or email matierandross@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matierandross Rallies and protest events are a part of political life in the Bay Area. Heres a roundup of whats happening. Thursday Peace vigil: A weekly vigil for peace supporters. The event is from noon-1 p.m. at the corner of Golden Gate Avenue and Larkin Street, 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 through April 29. The opening reception is Thursday from 6-10 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. Science panel: A discussion on why science matters and the importance of the Science March that is happening nationwide on Saturday. The panel is from 7 to 9 p.m. at Revolution Books, 2444 Durant Ave., Berkeley. For information: www.revolutionbooks.org/2017/04/science-why-it-matters-and-importance.html. Immigration workshop: A panel discussion featuring lawyers and immigration experts on how to navigate immigration policies. The event begins 7 p.m. at Grace Cathedral, 1100 California St., San Francisco. The event is free. Attendees must register: https://www.gracecathedral.org/events/immigration-now-what-you-need-to-know-what-you-need-to-do/. 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, Dublin. State Sen. Scott Wiener and Assemblymen David Chiu and Phil Ting are hosting a town hall, Californias Role in the Resistance, at 2 p.m. at the Mission High School Auditorium, 3750 18th St., San Francisco. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/town-hall-with-san-franciscos-state-legislators-tickets-32926946383 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.-3 p.m. Details to be confirmed. For information: http://bit.ly/2oV8oSu. In Walnut Creek, a march from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. will start at Civic Park, 1375 Civic Drive. A Hayward march from 10 a.m.-noon begins at the Hayward Shoreline Interpretive Center, 4901 Breakwater Ave. For information: http://bit.ly/2n7oonY. Sunday Town hall: Hosted by Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Fremont, at 1 p.m. at Newark Memorial High School, 39375 Cedar Blvd., 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 6-8 p.m. at 507 55th St., Oakland. Tickets are $10 at the door. For information, contact info@loosidity.com. Wednesday 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., 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, San Francisco. For tickets: www.iibayarea.org/comedy-night-event. April 29 Climate change march: Marchesd throughout the country to demand action on climate change. In Oakland, a march will begin at 11 a.m. at the Lake Merritt Amphitheater, between 12th Street and First Avenue. In Kentfield, a march will start at 11 a.m. at the College of Marin, 1001 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. In San Rafael, a march will begin 11 a.m. outside San Rafael City Hall, 1400 Fifth Ave. In San Jose, a march starts at 10 a.m. outside City Hall, 200 E. Santa Clara St. For information on all marches: https://peoplesclimate.org. Hyderabad: A documentary film focusing on the historical Osmania University has been announced.University authorities roped in Nagabala Suresh to direct the film on the occasion of the institutes centenary celebrations starting April 26.OUs vice-chancellor. Prof. S. Ramachandram has already launched the shoot of the film in Telugu and English at the Arts College building. The film is expected to be released across theatres on April 25 a day before the centenary celebrations.The documentary focuses on the universitys extensive history; from its establishment in 1917 thanks to Nizam VII, Mir Osman Ali Khan; the growth of various departments over the years and the alumni settled across the world; to other crucial milestones. Vice-chancellor Ramachandram said Osmania University has rolled out thousands of students over the years and some occupy top positions in India and abroad. We will present the Universitys entire history in the film he said.Mr Suresh, the documentarys director, said the Osmania University was an inspiration.There are scores of Osmania students living abroad. This small film is like seven oceans confined to a box and will be like the Sankranti, Ugadi, and Bathukama festival for Telugus, he said. Authorities were searching Wednesday in the Sierra Nevada for a Sonoma County-bound airplane missing since Monday. Relatives of the pilot of the single-engine Socata TB20 reported the plane missing Monday evening when it didnt land as scheduled at Petaluma Municipal Airport, said Ian Gregor, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman. The pilot and a passenger were set to fly to Petaluma after taking off from the Truckee-Tahoe Airport just after 4 p.m. The plane, owned by William Sherlock of Santa Rosa, was equipped with an emergency locator transmitter, but satellite hits had not come from the beacon, officials said Wednesday. However, the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center conducted analysis of radar and cell-phone signals to narrow the search to a rugged section of the Sierra range northwest of Truckee, officials said. Crews with the California Highway Patrol and the Civil Air Patrol were performing aerial searches for the plane in Sierra County between Webber and Jackson Meadows lakes. Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno If Supervisor Jeff Sheehy really wanted to find a way to rile Supervisor Aaron Peskin, he couldnt have done better. Sheehys newest aide is a bow-tie-wearing agitator whom Peskin cant stand. Justin Jones may not be well known, but he is the lightning rod behind the former Robert F. Kennedy Democratic Club, a political committee that took more than $900,000 from tech and real estate groups to support moderate candidates and measures in Novembers election. Jones request to change the committees name in February caused one of the most vicious meetings to date at the Democratic County Central Committee. Jones sought the name change after the Kennedy family asked it to and because Robert F. Kennedy Jr. believes in the discredited theory that vaccines cause autism. Peskin unsuccessfully tried to deny the name change and compared the group to the Koch brothers, the billionaire brothers who are major backers of conservative candidates and causes. Peskin accused Jones committee of playing fast and loose with campaign finance rules and not revealing all its donors. As for having Jones as his new neighbor Peskins and Sheehys offices are next door to each other Peskin said: I have no comment. Sheehy said Jones political activity didnt play into his decision to hire him. Instead, he said it was Jones work as a communication specialist at the pharmaceutical company McKesson Corp. I was interested because of his deep, deep background in health care, which is one of my signature issues, Sheehy said. Jones couldnt be reached for comment. Emily Green More Mission development talk: The so-called Axis of Evil will live to see another day. The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted to postpone a final decision on 2675 Folsom St., a 117-unit housing development that Axis Development Group has proposed in the Mission District. In asking for a three-week continuance, until May 9, Supervisor Hillary Ronen said the additional time would allow the developer to finalize a deal with appellants, who have argued the environmental study for the development failed to adequately address the impacts of the market-rate project. We are close to an agreement, but there are details that need to be worked out, said Ronen, whose office is mediating negotiations. Sources close to the talks say they center on getting the developer to commit to using 100 percent union labor and to making an additional financial commitment to help preserve affordable housing in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood. While we had hoped to have reached a resolution, we remain committed to working with Supervisor Ronen and the community to come to an agreement that will bring much-needed jobs and housing to the Mission, said Muhammad Nadhiri, managing partner at Axis Development. The continuance allowed the Board of Supervisors to avoid a vote that could have confusing ramifications for other market-rate developments around town. While activists opposed to market-rate housing have long argued that gentrification and displacement should be considered in environmental studies under the California Environmental Quality Act, the Planning Department (along with most CEQA experts) has rejected that argument. If the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday had sided with the appellants it could have set a precedent. The development is one of four large housing projects in the Mission that activists opposed to market-rate housing have targeted. Opposition to two of the projects 2000 Bryant St. and 1515 S. Van Ness Ave. was withdrawn after the developers committed to additional affordable housing and space that would support blue-collar jobs. The fourth and largest, the Monster in the Mission at 1979 Mission St., remains highly controversial four years after it was proposed. J.K. Dineen Email: cityinsider@sfchronicle.com, egreen@sfchronicle.com, jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfcityinsider, @emilytgreen @sfjkdineen This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The University of California regents will pay $1.7 million over 10 years to settle the lawsuit of a UC Berkeley employee who claimed that her boss then dean of the law school persistently hugged, kissed and touched her during 2014 and 2015, and that the campus did nothing to stop it. The amount may be a record settlement for sexual harassment at UC, topping the $1.15 million won in January by a UC Santa Cruz student to settle her claim that a professor raped her when she was his student in 2015. Under the new settlement, released Tuesday by the regents in response to The Chronicles Public Records Act request, the employee, Tyann Sorrell, will receive $8,048 a month from UC for a decade. In addition, the university will pay two lump sums: $250,000 to Sorrell, and $600,000 to Sorrell and her attorney, Leslie Levy of Levy, Vinick, Burrell LLP in Oakland. UC will also forgive Sorrells $12,000 student-housing debt. Sorrell worked as an assistant to Sujit Choudhry, who was forced out of his position as dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law in March 2016 when Sorrell sued him and the university in Alameda Superior Court. The suit shed light on what appeared to be UC Berkeleys soft treatment of the dean after campus investigators determined, 10 months earlier, that he had sexually harassed Sorrell. As discipline, Choudhry received a temporary dock in pay but was allowed to remain dean of the law school. At the same time, Sorrell felt unable to continue working for the man who had harassed her and remained out of work for a year and a half. Under the settlement, UC admits no fault. Spokespersons for the regents and UC Berkeley declined to comment. This has been a long and challenging road for herself, her family and the campus community, Levy said of Sorrell, whose job with the law school was restored last fall. The settlement prohibits Levy from discussing the contents of the settlement. However, she said: Behavior doesnt stop until there are real consequences for those who engage in sexual harassment. A separate settlement between Sorrell and Choudhry requires that the former dean pay $50,000 to charities that fight sexual harassment and $50,000 to Sorrells attorneys. Under that settlement, Choudhry, who has been given no classes to teach since his demotion from dean, will remain as a tenured law professor earning $288,500 1.6 percent more than last years $284,000 until the end of this spring term. He will then begin a years unpaid sabbatical and be eligible to receive $97,210 in research funds and up to $10,000 in travel expenses. He will resign in good standing on May 31, 2018. Nanette Asimov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: nasimov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @NanetteAsimov With pressure mounting to deal with San Franciscos swelling tent encampments, Mayor Ed Lee is moving to turn a Mission District warehouse into a pop-up 120-bed homeless shelter. The goal is to try and ramp up and get as many people off the streets as possible, said Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru, who is helping in the shelter setup and whose aggressive cleanups of tent camps have drawn the wrath of advocates for homeless people. The Mission shelter would be in a warehouse at 1515 S. Van Ness Ave., and be open for seven or eight months starting in early June. The center is expected to cost about $2.5 million and be open around the clock, with some counseling and support services on site. It would be a scaled-down version of the citys two Navigation Centers, which have larger staffs to help homeless people find jobs and deal with issues such as substance abuse and mental problems. Like the Navigation Centers, the goal at the Mission shelter would be to get at least some homeless people into permanent housing. Courtesy of Google Maps Since the start of the year, outreach workers have managed to transition four large homeless camps each with 40 or more residents into Navigation Centers and other shelters, along with five smaller camps. There are plenty more: Sam Dodge of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing estimates there are 19 camps in the city with at least six people. Public Works puts the number of camps at 37 though its definition of a camp is one where at least two people are living. The planned Mission Center would be limited to campers in the Mission, where homeless-aid officials estimate that 150 people are living on the streets. At first, plans called for making the South Van Ness shelter a full-scale Navigation Center. But officials feared it would take too long to get one of those up and running, given the burgeoning camp problem in the neighborhood. The mayor is moving aggressively because he realizes there is an issue with the encampments in the Mission, said Lee spokeswoman Deirdre Hussey, and he is working closely with (district) Supervisor Hillary Ronen. Ronen, who took office in January, told us Tuesday that the tent encampment crisis in the Mission is completely out of control. In my view, its a public health crisis. The South Van Ness site became available when Ronen brokered a deal with developer Lennar Multifamily Communities for an apartment project. Lennar is letting the warehouse be used as a shelter until the firm breaks ground next year. The shelter will give Lee political cover for Public Works camp cleanups by providing a place where displaced residents can go. Those cleanups have become a source of friction at City Hall. Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing officials have complained that the Public Works sweeps are undermining their efforts to build trust among those living in the camps and get them off the streets. But Public Works says the camps where workers have found rats and thousands of used needles have become a public health hazard. Bad night: A retired Los Angeles police detective hired by San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon for his new unit probing police officer-involved shootings was arrested on suspicion of public drunkenness last week while attending a training session for D.A. investigators near Sacramento, authorities say. The trouble started for Roger Guzman when he and another man were picked up by an Uber driver outside a Roseville bar at 2:14 a.m. Thursday, according to police in the Placer County city. After driving the two men about a mile and a half, the driver stopped and ordered both of them out. They were creating a disturbance, so (the driver) kicked them out of his car and called us, said Roseville police spokeswoman Dee Dee Gunther. Both men were arrested for allegedly being drunk in public and were taken to the county jail in Auburn to dry out. Inebriates arrested in such cases typically are released without charges after several hours once theyve sobered up, Gunther said. That appears to be what happened in this case. A spokeswoman for the Placer County D.A.s office said no charges were filed against either man. 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. San Francisco Hall of Justice sources say Guzman, who earns $116,000 a year, was attending a two-week training course mandated for D.A. investigators by the state Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training when he was arrested. The district attorneys office said it couldnt comment on Guzmans arrest because it was a personnel matter. However, the D.A. takes these matters very seriously, said spokesman Alex Bastian. Guzman did not return our calls seeking comment. He was hired as part of the citys move to make the district attorneys office the primary investigator in police-involved shootings, supplanting Police Department inspectors. Just last week, Gascon said his office would not file charges against two police officers who killed a knife-wielding man, Amilcar Perez-Lopez, in the Mission District more than two years ago. It was the first ruling that Gascon has made in a fatal police shooting in nearly 26 months, and leaves his department still dealing with a backlog of 10 fatal shootings by police in San Francisco. San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Monday through Friday. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or email matierandross@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @matierandross Cork Dork, by Bianca Bosker, is a memoir about taste the physical faculty, not the sense of decorum. Its a tricky subject. How to write about taste? Flavors, textures, aromas, when translated into words, produce the kind of absurd language that makes wine tasters sound like ostentatious pedants to the rest of the world. An elegant nose, notes of cassis, the aroma of oyster-shell kelp yogurt: Its this type of inane wine-speak that puts off so many civilians from the world of wine in the first place. Initially, Bosker is one of those incredulous civilians. Then she becomes fascinated with wine tasters to the point of obsession, and quits her job as technology editor at the Huffington Post in order to immerse herself in the community of sommeliers at New Yorks temples of fine dining. The fascination seems part anthropological exotic sommelier creatures who debate the classifications of jamon versus prosciutto in their free time and part desire to improve her own life. Bosker longs to know what these somms know, that to taste better is to live better, and to know ourselves more deeply. She sets a goal: pass the Certified Sommelier exam, and get a job serving wine in a restaurant. As she discovers what the oyster-shell kelp yogurt fuss is all about, and gains fluency in that language, she never ceases to poke fun at the languages absurdity. That approach serves two purposes: It aligns Bosker with her incredulous-civilian readers, and it also allows the author to be very funny: Its drinking really well right now, murmured the sommelier, employing the sort of nonsense phrase thats only credible to people who use summer as a verb. Her journey to sommelier-hood meanders. Though its bookended by stints working at restaurants her second post more advanced than the first the path leads to several other corners of the wine-loving world, each offering a distinct window into tasting better/living better. A chapter spent with olfaction scientists in Dresden seems to suggest that wine experts arent making up the notes of cassis, after all: When you train, you can get super senses, confirms the scientist. Other portraits of wine tasters are less flattering to their subjects. One brilliantly realized chapter, called The Orgy, frenetically documents the sickening excess of the wine party to end all wine parties: La Paulee, where the worlds wealthiest oenophiles congregate to glug thousand-dollar bottles of Burgundy at New Yorks Restaurant Daniel. Its a feeding frenzy! cries an auctioneer, possessed by a state of glutted mania. We are destroying a ton of wine! Its so wonderful! And its so sad! The waste-conscious reader will cringe. Shell cringe, too, to hear Boskers accounts of the behind-the-scenes at high-stakes New York restaurants like Marea and Eleven Madison Park, what Bosker calls Disneylands for moguls: Yes, they did Google you, and yes, they are trying to upsell you. Its these types of salacious revelations that have prompted comparisons of Boskers book to Anthony Bourdains Kitchen Confidential. The books protagonist is Bosker herself. (A major player, however, is Morgan Harris, a sommelier who may deserve his own anthropological study. His response to why a wine costs $1,200: Why dont we have some goddamn mystery left in the world?) We live inside her head and on her tongue, experiencing her successes and blunders, the sweet and the salty, as she gradually realizes her full capacity to taste. By the end of the book, shes sharpened her palate to a fine blind-tasting machine. Shes also honed her writing, by then, to a persuasive treatise: Give wine a chance. Her journey maintains that spiritual dimension to know ourselves more deeply that is promised in the beginning. Bosker finds religion, learns the sacred texts and comes to drink, so to speak, the Kool-Aid. I became one of those people who sipped wine and then, instead of swallowing it like a respectable human being, gnashed at the liquid, inhaled it, and even in public, produced a wet, hollow gurgling, as if drowning on dry land, she writes, once she has become a sommelier. While Bosker never abandons her own skepticism completely she has enough self-awareness to recognize herself as one of those people her identification with the cynical reader is a useful device for proselytizing. Gently, by the end, she prods skeptics to convert. So when, in the epilogue, Bosker goes under an fMRI to learn that all that practice and training had actually trained my brain the scans show her brain to respond more sensitively to flavor stimuli than the average layperson it feels unnecessary, a little didactic. For a wine book, Cork Dork is remarkably entertaining. Bosker is a talented writer, a thorough reporter and is unfailingly funny. Still, the books later chapters lack the momentum of the earlier ones. And despite its apparent breadth olfaction scientists, the aroma wheel, mass-market winemaking it mainly keeps its gaze on a single segment of the wine supply chain: those who blind-taste as blood sport, the highest-stakes sommeliers. Often, as Bosker portrays them, these wine professionals obsessions with winning contests and earning certifications can seem more about belt notches than about knowing oneself more deeply. Which is why its a good thing were in Boskers head, not theirs. We dont need an fMRI to understand that shes changed, to believe that honing the sense is a prerequisite to fuller, deeper experience, as she discovers. Cultivating the senses, Bosker finds, engages the very part of us that elevates our reactions, endows our lives with meaning, and makes us human. Ill drink to that. Esther Mobley is The San Francisco Chronicles wine, beer and spirits writer. Email: emobley@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Esther_mobley Instagram: @esthermob Cork Dork A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste By Bianca Bosker (Penguin; 329 pages; $17 paperback) Two days after a gruesome killing was broadcast on Facebook for millions to see, the man suspected of slaying a Cleveland grandfather shot himself dead in Pennsylvania. Thousands of miles away, at Facebooks biggest event of the year, Mark Zuckerberg walked out onto a stage. The CEO paused between extolling Facebooks role as a virtual community and introducing the platforms new augmented reality features to address the Easter homicide. Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Robert Godwin Sr., Zuckerberg said of the 74-year-old Cleveland man who was shot to death in a video that was viewed millions of times over almost three hours. We have a lot of work to do, and we will keep doing all we can to prevent tragedies like this from happening. The auditorium was quiet for a moment, devoid of applause or murmurs. Then Zuckerberg, addressing the companys developer conference in San Jose, demonstrated how users could use Facebook to turn a house into a virtual Hogwarts, the castle from Harry Potter. The transition was jarring. And, some critics said, indicative of Facebooks refusal to address abuses head-on a reticence that has once again thrust Facebook into the center of a debate over how technology can be used to broadcast injustices, propagate violence and immortalize acts of hate. Did they not anticipate that some bad people somewhere in the world would take Facebook and put bad things on it? said Michael Connor, the executive director of Open MIC, a nonprofit that organizes shareholders to advocate for corporate policy changes. Give me a break. Facebook has addressed violent videos and live-streamed crimes by shifting the blame, Connor said. Similarly, when people brought up fake news, the company pointed to its originators people who sought to gin up reactions to turn a profit or sow discord and confusion rather than the social network on which those false or misleading stories spread. On Tuesday, the company made a public about-face. We know that people dont want to be lied to or deceived on our platform, and that is a role we take 100 percent responsibility for, Chris Cox, Facebooks chief product officer, said during a presentation on Facebooks relationship with the media. Weve put a lot of our teams up against this problem: How do we make sure people cant spread false news and disinformation on our platform? As the company looks to lean more heavily on video, which will be augmented with animated tools, enhanced by artificial intelligence and made more immersive using 360-degree cameras and virtual-reality techniques, the risk of abuse only grows, critics said. Yet so does the danger of shutting down the expression it hopes to foster. Social media companies need to think very carefully about what next steps theyre going to take, said Malkia Cyril, executive director for the Center for Media Justice. Its a fine line to walk between maintaining safety and maintaining freedom of speech. Facebooks terms of use bar offensive and gratuitously violent imagery. But the mechanisms for removing content that violates the rules remain murky. And there is no appeals process. Transparency would help allay peoples fears, Connor and Cyril said, adding it also could restore trust between Facebook and its users. For its part, Facebook in recent months has engaged journalists, fact-checkers and media watchdogs to address propagators of fake news, trying to halt the spread of false information. That, Connor said, is a start. This problem is going to be with them forever, he said. Tech platforms like Facebook are brokers of content and truth on a global scale. Its good that theyre waking up. Some media experts have suggested the spread of video may help combat fake news, because its a lot harder to fake a video than a written article. But the medium brings its own problems in spreading graphic images of violence and crime. Justin Osofsky, Facebooks vice president of global operations and media partnerships, reacted to the Easter slaying on Monday by saying the company needs to do better in stopping videos like that from appearing in the first place. It was a horrific crime, Osofsky wrote. It has no place on Facebook, and goes against our policies and everything we stand for. Facebook is not the only tech company to struggle with monitoring for hateful, violent and otherwise offensive content. Twitter has for years been criticized for not effectively addressing hate speech. YouTube, which is owned by Google, has recently been criticized for running ads over racist videos. Neither governments nor corporations should inhibit speech, but there are lines around that meant to protect peoples safety; you cant just cry fire in a crowded theater, Cyril said. Those lines need to be adapted for the technological age, and we need to have clear, agreed-upon guidelines. Its difficult. Its a tightrope. But tech companies need to learn how to walk it for all our sakes. Marissa Lang is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mlang@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @marissa_jae President Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that aims to rein in H-1B visas the first action taken as part of his promised overhaul of a work-visa program heavily used by Silicon Valley. Before signing the Buy American, Hire American order in Kenosha, Wis., Trump said in a speech that he will change how the visas, which allow foreigners to work in the U.S. for up to six years, are allocated. But the order itself was scant on details, ordering a federal review of the program as soon as practicable. With this action, we are sending a powerful signal to the world: Were going to defend our workers, protect our jobs, and finally put America first, Trump said at the headquarters of Snap-on, a manufacturing company. Critics believe companies use H-1B visas to squeeze out American workers in favor of foreigners willing to work for less. Startups and larger tech companies like Microsoft and Google say they use the visas to staff high-skilled engineering positions they could not otherwise fill. Since Trump has taken office, federal officials have changed some of the programs rules, sometimes with little notice. There are 85,000 visas a year allocated through a lottery to for-profit companies. (Nonprofits, including universities and hospitals, are exempt from the cap.) Trump said Tuesday that he wants to do away with that system. Right now, H-1B visas are awarded in a totally random lottery and thats wrong, Trump said. Instead, they should be given to the most-skilled and highest-paid applicants, and they should never, ever be used to replace Americans. Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation of American Immigration Reform, said doing away with the lottery system would reset the program back to its original intent of providing American employers with people with truly unique skills. Since some aspects of the H-1B program are enshrined in law such as the number of visas made available each year and the requirements for an H-1B applicant Trump does not have authority to overhaul much of the program without congressional approval, said Ann Cun, a Bay Area immigration attorney at Accel Visa. This executive order is all about optics, she said. He is trying to placate a voter base that is upset about the perceived narrative of foreigners being hired over American workers. However, Trump could order changes made to the lottery. While the law establishing the program requires the government to grant visas in the order in which they are filed, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency has interpreted filing to include random selection by a computer. In March, an Oregon federal court ruled in favor of the government in a lawsuit challenging the lottery, saying the agency had latitude to interpret the statute to include random selection. Cun said the lottery is an efficient way for federal immigration officials to sort through the thousands of applications they receive a year because there is no other fair way to divvy up the petitions. Otherwise, it would have to review petitions one by one, a time-consuming process. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, a former immigration lawyer, said Trumps order does nothing. Lofgren proposed a bill this year that would also get rid of the lottery system and prioritize high-skilled employees and those employers that will pay more than $130,000 a year. I do think that the H-1B program needs reform, and needs to be more oriented toward the best and brightest and away from entry-level positions but it is not clear what the president intends to do about it, she said. The problem with the lottery system, critics say, is it does not take into account the background, skill level or amount the worker will be paid. The number of applications has exceeded the number of H-1Bs available to for-profit companies since 2004; and since 2013, the immigration agency has run a lottery. A recent Chronicle analysis found that large American tech companies Google, Facebook and Apple paid H-1B employees significantly more than firms that often use H-1B visas to staff contracts where they run technology functions for other companies. Indian outsourcing firms Tata, Infosys and Wipro are regularly among the top sponsors for H-1B workers. On Monday, the government revealed that, for the first time in years, the number of H-1B visa applications decreased a signal that Trumps America First rhetoric may already be deterring employers from hiring foreign workers. The Citizenship and Immigration Services said it had received 199,000 H-1B applications for the next fiscal year, a 16 percent drop from last year. Adams Nager, an economic policy analyst at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, said the order is a positive step of President Trumps campaign. He said the decrease in applications and a change to the lottery system may actually benefit high-paying tech companies by giving their prospective employees a higher chance of landing a visa. But others worry the decline in applications is a sign that Trumps actions to protect American jobs may have the opposite effect: Companies that cant place workers in the U.S. could decide to offshore their operations to other countries. We are seeing a shift in employers responding to how they are developing and strategizing around hiring, said Cun. Maybe they are not hiring in the U.S., and instead moving to Canada or to other countries that are more friendly to foreign companies. Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani An elementary school student in Pleasanton who went missing Tuesday afternoon soon after the bell rang turned up in Dublin, police said. Daniel Romero, 11, standing 5-feet-tall and weighing 80 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes, was last seen at Lydiksen Elementary School at 2:55 p.m., police said. He was found on the Iron Horse Regional Trail in Dublin in the evening, police said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Residents, friends and admirers of the Mission District gathered at the well-renovated Grand Theater on Mission Street on Thursday night, April 13, to celebrate the publication of Dick Evans new book, The Mission. As described by John McMurtrie in a recent books section, Evans, a freelance photographer, self-published San Francisco and the Bay Area: The Haight-Ashbury Edition, about four years ago. This book, on which he collaborated with the Precita Eyes Muralists Association, is published by Heyday, which focuses on California subjects. Talking for a few minutes before the program began, Evans said hed started on the Mission project six months after the Haight book which came out of a series of postcards he was shooting for his daughter, Booksmith co-owner Christin Evans was published. Being aware of gentrification issues, I knew the Mission would be more political, he said, and also that pictures of the copyrighted murals would need permissions. I felt I needed an inside partner. With Haight book in hand, he approached Susan Cervantes at Precita Eyes to ask that group to partner with him; then the two approached Heyday. Leah Garchik/San Francisco Chronicle There are 178 photos in the book. Most of the mural shots include neighborhood residents visible in front of them, juxtaposing traditional neighborhood themes and real-life neighborhood residents. Many of them were at Thursdays party, enjoying drinks and Mexican food by El Buen Comer, an exhibition of some of the images in the book, and then a presentation that included dance, poetry, talk from muralists and by Evans. The program started with a ceremonial Ohlone blessing by Carla and Desiree Munoz, who explained that the Ohlone way of expressing approval was not applause, but rather the saying aloud of a long-o ooooo. In keeping with what Evans had said to me at the reception before the performance, the tone of the talk was extremely political: We are struggling, due to gentrification, said Roberto Hernandez, born and raised in the Mission, and described in a handout as king of the neighborhood. Ten thousand people have been evicted. But there are a lot of warriors fighting. We are fighting to save the Mission as a Latino barrio. The gentrification of the Mission District has been aggressive and violent, said poet Alejandro Murguia, moving from that point to the big picture. I will not accept, obey or follow any order coming from the current illegal occupiers of the White House. In addition to vigorous applause, the sound of ooooo was heard throughout the old theater. P.S.: The Grand Theater space, I learned the next day, is administered by the Gray Area Foundation for the Arts, which, according to its website, aims to create social and civic impact through education, incubation and public events. Renovators didnt seem to have a knock-your-eyes-out architectural showpiece in mind; rather, what they created is a low-key, tasteful and flexible large open space, in which folding chairs had been set for an audience to suit this occasion. Every neighborhood in the city would benefit from such a space, I thought. Too late for the Harding? In other news from the Mission, the latest movie-counter snack: Roxie Road, sold at the Roxie, makes use of the theaters rescued popcorn, which is up-cycled into the ice cream. This 16th Street treat is made by Salt & Straw, a Portland, Ore., company with a newish San Francisco presence. The popcorn, coffee flour and caramel-coated pecans are stirred into ice cream offered in single-serving containers. And another addition this one of particular local relevance to the collection of mentions of the pre-presidential Donald Trump. Tim Lynch was going through some saved column clippings and discovered that on March 28, 1996, Herb Caen, the sage of San Francisco, had written: While the Giants were coming up winners Tues., Donald Trump Himself was hosting a lunch at the Mandarin Hotel, hoping to cadge a few million bucks from 25 local investment counselors for his N.Y. and Atlantic City operations. I hope he struck out. San Francisco First! To put this into historical context, heres Mark Bowden writing last year in Vanity Fair about meeting Trump that year: Hed had a rough 10 years. He had just turned 50 and wasnt happy about it. ... As a businessman he had crashed and burned, rescued only by creditors who had to bail him out lest they be dragged down with him. His enterprises were being run by court-appointed managers. Leah Garchik is open for business in San Francisco, (415) 777-8426. Email: lgarchik@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @leahgarchik Public Eavesdropping Woman 1: Im so looking forward to the end of Lent. Woman 2: What did you give up? Woman 1: Pez! Conversation overheard in downtown Santa Rosa by Marya Glass and Geof Syphers Graduation is the latest film by Cristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days), a Romanian director of originality and genuine power, though how he achieves his effects is difficult to pinpoint. He makes the kind of movies that thousands of others try to make personal films that take their time and deal with the concerns of average people. Mungiu will show you a scene of a guy eating dinner by himself, but when Mungiu does it, theres no impulse to doze off or leap for the remote control. When other filmmakers try the same thing, their films dont even get released. So what is it that Mungiu is doing that other filmmakers arent? The first true answer has to be Who knows? because ultimately theres an alchemy here that eludes analysis. But an approximate stab at the truth might go something like this: With Mungiu, you never are just watching a guy eating dinner by himself. Rather, you are watching someone who is going through something, and he just happens to be eating dinner. But its more than that. With Mungiu, a scene thats seemingly static is in fact active, because not only do we know that the guy having dinner is going through something, but we can see, just in the way that hes eating dinner, how hes feeling and how hes seeing his life. So Mungiu is always giving us information, and not random information, but information that adds to the atmosphere of the story and to the story itself. As for how Mungiu accomplishes this, maybe hes just a lucky person whose consciousness somehow imprints itself on every scene he shoots. Or maybe he works and works until he gets everything to the point where it looks as if hes doing nothing, while hes doing everything. Considering that he makes a new movie every four years, not every four months, the second interpretation is probably closer to the truth. But there is a certain amount of luck going on with Mungiu, too, because his characters command our attention even before we know anything about them. Thats the mysterious part of this, what you might call the mystery of talent. In Graduation, Mungiu takes a scalpel and dissects life in modern Romania. He shows whats wrong with the government and the impact this has on peoples relationships. He shows how some people become cynical and others despairing and others frightened. And he shows peoples mechanisms for emotional survival, including sex, corruption and psychotherapy. OK, so thats what he shows us. But the actual story through which he shows us this is small, just something about a few days in the life of a doctor (Adrian Titieni) who desperately wants his daughter (Maria-Victoria Dragus) to qualify for a scholarship to go to school in London. In fact, she already has the scholarship, but its contingent upon her getting high grades in her final exams. She seems poised to do just that shes an excellent student but on the day before the first test, some maniac jumps her and tries to rape her, and so she is understandably rattled for the next days exam. And from there, the story unfolds. As in 4 Months, there are things people know they legally should do, and other things, illegal things, that they know they can probably get away with. Doing what you should do gives you a life you dont want. But trying to get away with something risks everything. As played by Titieni and directed by Mungiu, the doctor is a commanding personality whose natural dignity barely conceals an almost frantic anxiety: His daughter must escape Romania. She must start a new life in London. If he never sees her again, well, that would be too bad, but she has to get out. That in itself tells you everything you need to know about the character and reveals plenty about the state of Mungius country. Mick LaSalle is The San Francisco Chronicles movie critic. Email: mlasalle@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MickLaSalle Graduation Drama. Starring Adrian Titieni and Maria-Victoria Dragus. Directed by Cristian Mungiu. In Romanian with English subtitles. (R. 128 minutes.) To see a trailer: https://tinyurl.com/luw6sl5 Last week I wrote about a woman carrying the fear of deportation around with her as if it were something to toss into her backpack next to her immigration paperwork. As she told an immigration attorney the story of how she fled Guatemala for the United States, she remained poised until she talked about her children. She wondered what would happen to them if she or her husband were detained and removed from the country. Would her children be safe in America? As I watched her dab her eyes with a tissue, I realized that when I ponder the plight of people without documentation, I typically think about the adults struggling to make ends meet as they dodge Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Lately, Ive been thinking about the children. According to Kidsdata.org, which uses data to raise visibility on issues affecting Californias children, 54.5 percent of children in Alameda County are living with at least one parent who was born outside of the United States. In Contra Costa County, 44 percent of children have at least one foreign-born parent. Looking at the entire state, 49.5 percent of children in California live with at least one immigrant parent. Of course, theres a spectrum of immigration status. But for the people among us living in the country without authorization, fear of tougher enforcement trickles down to children who might not understand whats happening. For some immigrants, family plans now include a list of things their children should do if their parents disappear. According to Amy Weiss, the director of refugee and immigrant services for Jewish Family & Childrens Services East Bay, family instability stifles childhood development. Because of what we know about brain development, its very, very important that we pay attention to children and their needs, and make sure that theyre getting back on track developmentally after going through an extremely stressful experience in their life, Weiss said. Its important that the systems address the whole family, not just the adults. Thats why more than 150 nonprofit childrens service providers and advocates are gathering Thursday for a strategy session on how to protect immigrant children and families in Contra Costa County. According to the events organizer, First 5 Contra Costa, an organization that focuses on the first five years of child development, there are 5 million to 6 million children who are U.S. citizens and have at least one parent who is an immigrant without documentation. In terms of their mental health needs, theyre often overlooked because they dont have a voice, Weiss, who will be speaking at the forum, said about children. The agencies in attendance will hear about concrete ideas and methods for serving families in these situations. The event, which will be held at a Concord hotel, has surpassed capacity. Were not experts on immigration, but we need to think about whats the effect on children, Sean Casey, First 5s executive director, told me. In all great moments of social upheaval, children are often the unnamed victim. We need to be stepping back and thinking about how the children are doing when things like this go down. An executive order signed by the president in January expanded the group of immigrants prioritized for deportation, including people whose only crime was related to falsifying identifications to work. Immigration raids around the country have stoked fear locally, where rumors have spread on social media about ICE checkpoints. Immigrants have heard stories like that of a father who was detained by ICE after he dropped his 12-year-old daughter off at her Los Angeles school. His other daughter, age 13, cried as her father was taken to an unmarked vehicle. She recorded the incident on her cell phone. Stories like that had scared the Guatemalan woman who was worried about her upcoming appointment with ICE. She didnt want to leave her children behind if she was detained. (She wasnt.) Veronica Guinto, the immigration attorney the woman met with, told me thats a cold reality immigrants who try to fix their status must face. They cant fix their status without attending the interview, and thats the problem, Guinto said. Theyre trying to move forward, and youre basically not allowing them to do so. In some cases, theyre leaving kids behind, leaving them traumatized. Thats something we can no longer overlook. Its important that we stand up for refugees and immigrants to show were a welcoming community, even if the federal government is sending a different message, Weiss said. San Francisco Chronicle columnist Otis R. Taylor Jr. appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Email: otaylor@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @otisrtaylorjr At this point, the Bay Areas need for new housing has become a mantra. The past several years of displacement, historically high rents and grinding traffic congestion have brought on a realization by even the most change-averse local government officials that things need to change. But the draft of Plan Bay Area 2040, a regional plan released this month from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments, makes it clear just how much is at stake. Failure to establish regional consensus and take concerted action (to increase the areas housing supply) will put the regions historic economic, environmental and transportation accomplishments at risk, the plan warns. It describes housing as the Bay Areas single greatest immediate challenge. Continued inaction will shape the regions future, every single bit as much as the establishment of excellent public universities in the area shaped the regions past. While lower- and middle-income families suffer the most during housing crises, the lack of affordable housing in the Bay Area will create environmental degradation (thanks to longer commutes and development pressure in farther-flung regions) and limit the areas economic growth and future as an innovation capital. The new draft projects that the strain on the Bay Areas less-wealthy residents will climb significantly in coming years, with the amount of family income needed for housing and transportation reaching a whopping 67 percent of family income. Also grim? Too many Bay Area residents, businesses and government officials seem to think these thorny matters are someone elses problem. Thus far, the Bay Areas residents and communities have not made the ... commitment to solve the housing crisis. This was also the case several years ago, when the original Plan Bay Area was announced. At the time, many local groups opposed the plan everyone from local Tea Party activists to the Sierra Club. There were fears that local control of housing development might be on the wane. If this years draft, which takes pains to emphasize the continued importance of local control for housing policy, is less of a lightning rod, it may be because its grown more clear that the Bay Areas future depends on regional strategy, too. Theres also a stick: the fact that if the Bay Area doesnt face this issue, Sacramento will. Gov. Jerry Browns plan to ease the states housing crunch by making it easier for developers to build housing near transit corridors couldnt get traction in the Legislature last year, but it laid the groundwork for future attempts. This year, state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, is pushing SB35, a narrower by-right housing plan that would accomplish similar goals. The Bay Areas housing crisis is increasingly the states housing crisis. If the Bay Area wont take the lead in fixing it, other people will. Chances are youve seen Benny Bufanos art, but youve never heard much about the artist. I certainly hadnt heard of Bufano when I was a kid whose favorite part about visiting the Hillsdale mall in San Mateo was seeing his animal sculptures spread across the shopping center. The memory of these visits sent me to The Chronicles archive in search of old photos and stories about Bufanos sculptures, and I was amazed at the abundance of images we had of the classic San Franciscan and his work. Bufano was an interesting man who relished his art being free for all to see. As he became better known, a portrait of a complicated artist arose. Chronicle art critic Alfred Frankenstein wrote: Bufano never could decide if he wanted to be an artist or a town character. ... He was very good at both roles, but his performance in the second of these assignments would get in the way of the performance of the first. Bufano was born in Italy and raised in New York City, and came to San Francisco in 1913 to work on the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915. He traveled around the world after the fair, and returned to San Francisco in 1923 for a short-lived term as an art teacher. According to a Chronicle article from May 23, 1923, Bufanos dismissal was a skirmish in the battle between modernism and old-school methods. Following the teaching dustup, Bufano went to France for several years, working on a statue titled Peace, which he planned to present to San Francisco as a gift. The statue would languish in a French warehouse for nearly 20 years, as he attempted to raise funds to bring his gift back to San Francisco. In 1955 it would be placed in front of what was then the St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church. Parishioners quickly started a parade of complaints about the placement, and it was moved a few times before landing at a park near Fishermans Wharf. Bufano returned to San Francisco for good in the 1930s to work for the Federal Arts Project. This job gave him the space to create the first of his highly popular animal figures, some of which still reside at Aquatic Park, with others scattered around the city and the Bay Area. During this period, Bufano proposed a 180-foot statue of St. Francis to be placed on Twin Peaks to welcome visitors to the city. It never got past the planning stages. Kim Komenich/SFC St. Francis of the Guns, which many consider Bufanos most famous statue, did become a reality. He created it from firearms that had been turned in after the assassination of Robert Kennedy in 1968, and at the base of the 9-foot-tall statue was a mosaic that included the likeness of Robert Kennedy, President John F. Kennedy, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and President Abraham Lincoln. The statue stands in front of the entrance to the City College of San Franciscos science building. Bufano died in 1970, and the one-and-only Herb Caen dedicated his column from Aug. 21, 1970, to stories about the artist, who had become a friend. Particularly illuminating was an item on Bufanos relationship with Trader Vic Bergeron. The restauranteur paid the rent on Bufanos studio for 10 years, and told the artist that he could eat at his Trader Vics spot any time. Meat and potatoes were OK, but when he started going for nothing but caviar, pate and Champagne, that was too much. ... Still, he was a magnificent artist, a giant, the finest sculptor of the age, and the biggest pain in the neck I ever met. Bufano was often at odds with the the city of San Francisco, but former Mayor George Christopher and then-Mayor Joe Alioto attended his funeral. Alioto said: San Francisco was enriched by Bennys talent, his spirit, his character. ... We need a thousand Benny Bufanos. ... Ciao, Benny. Ciao. ... You are a part of our lives from here on in. Bill Van Niekerken is the library director of The San Francisco Chronicle, where he has worked since 1985. In his weekly column, From the Archive, he explores the depths of The Chronicles vast photography archive in search of interesting historical tales related to the city by the bay. The news that 22,000 people a day may be illegally riding BART for free and depriving the transit system of as much as $25 million a year has passengers angry and directors ready to crack down on the scofflaws. Cheats who jump fare gates, sneak in behind paying passengers or simply stroll through swing gates without paying are costing BART somewhere between $15 million and $25 million a year, Paul Oversier, assistant general manager for operations, told a BART committee Tuesday. Riders at Embarcadero Station, one of the systems hotspots for fare evasion, expressed astonishment Wednesday when informed of the losses. Wow. Thats a lot, said Angela Dee, 28, a photographer who lives in Oakland, adding that she supports a crackdown on scofflaws. Maz Bijan, 36, an engineer who commutes from Fremont, regularly sees people jump low walls or walk nonchalantly through swinging gates, mostly at Embarcadero Station. Its too easy to sneak in or out of BART, he said. I ride BART every day, and Ive seen a lot of people do it, he said. Everybody should pay. Thats the goal of a $3 million enforcement plan that BART officials hope the Board of Directors will agree to include in the budget for the fiscal year that starts on July 1. Details of the plan were released Tuesday afternoon at a meeting of BARTs Operations and Safety Committee. Oversier said the agency has solid evidence, collected by video and direct observation, of about $6 million in losses due to riders who dont pay their fares. But officials know the problem is larger, he said by somewhere between $9 million and $19 million a year. BART officials believe about 4 to 5 percent of riders as many as 22,000 a day skip paying their fares. Thats an astounding number, said Joel Keller, a director from Brentwood. The $3 million plan to crack down has two approaches: Teams of fare enforcement officers would roam the system, randomly checking tickets or Clipper cards and issuing warnings or citations to those who havent paid. BART would also create physical deterrents by raising the heights of fare gates and walls around areas of stations for customers whove paid. They will also close swing gates that are not adjacent to station agent booths. Those efforts, Oversier predicted, could bring in $8 million to $11 million a year in otherwise lost fares. Directors Lateefah Simon and Rebecca Saltzman, both of Oakland, said they were concerned that deploying fare enforcement officers could lead to uneven enforcement, with teens, minorities or homeless people being targeted. Simon said she also feared that confrontations with fare enforcement officers could lead to chases or even use of force. We dont want to create more problems than we solve, she said. Simon, who admits to fare evasion as a teen, said she nevertheless understands the need to stop the cheating. But she believes the emphasis should be on infrastructure higher fare gates and walls, for instance rather than on deploying fare enforcement officers. Director Debora Allen of Clayton agrees that making it harder to sneak in and out of BART without paying would be more cost-effective than hiring a handful of enforcement officers. But it would be worthwhile, she said. This is an issue where we will probably recover more than we spend, she said. This is a priority of mine. Keller, however, believes enforcement is necessary to let riders know that riders evading fares is not something BART is willing to accept. You leave a kid alone in a candy store long enough and eventually hes going to take a piece, he said. If we have a system that allows people to fare evade, people are going to eventually get it, and more will stop paying. As for concerns about uneven enforcement, Jeffrey Jennings, BARTs acting police chief, said the department had developed a plan that will be fair and equitable and make it very clear that we are trying to change the culture at BART toward fare evasion. The full Board of Directors is expected to discuss the issue at a meeting Thursday at 5 p.m.. But it will consider funding the fare evasion efforts as part of the budget process, which concludes in June. An ordinance allowing fare enforcement is expected to be considered in May. Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was first published on April 19, 2017. Charles Manson died in prison on Nov. 19, 2017. Of all the notorious crimes of 20th-century America, perhaps the most sensational as well as creepiest were the Manson Family murders. On Aug. 8, 1969, Charles Manson, the charismatic, Svengali-like leader of a mostly female band known as the Manson Family, sent five of his acolytes to murder the residents of 10050 Cielo Drive, the rented home of actress Sharon Tate and director Roman Polanski in Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles. A day later, he ordered another home-invasion murder, this one at the home of grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, near Beverly Hills. On both nights, bloody words were scrawled on the walls. Even today behind bars in the Central Valley, Manson remains a magnetic figure and a living symbol of evil despite his 82 years and a recent near-death health scare. None of the imprisoned young followers now well into their '60s involved in the murders has ever been granted parole. Manson's purported goal was to provoke what he called "Helter Skelter," a race war between blacks and whites. Influenced by the Beatle's song "Piggies," he had his followers write "Death to Pigs" in their victims' blood. In the case of the LaBianca murders, the victims were stabbed with a fork as well as knives in a reference to the lyric "Clutching forks and knives to eat their bacon." According to one of the second-night killers, Leslie Van Houten, Manson wanted the LaBianca killings to be more gruesome than the Tate murders, which he said had not caused enough panic in the victims. While Charles Manson's infamy has not faded over the decades he's been locked away, few are aware that his "family" got its start during the Summer of Love in San Francisco 50 years ago. Even fewer are aware that Manson's top disciple worked for some time as a stripper in North Beach. In the above gallery, we explore the Bay Area's connections to the Manson murders as well as offer few examples of Manson's bizarre behavior: This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate UC Berkeley administrators canceled a scheduled speech by right-wing pundit Ann Coulter, saying they cant protect participants from rioting if it goes ahead but the students who invited her, and Coulter herself, said Wednesday that shell come anyway, and speak on or off campus. If she does show up next Thursday, We will continue to do what is necessary to provide safety and security for the campus community and our neighbors, said Dan Mogulof, a campus spokesman. He would not elaborate. The standoff began Wednesday after vice chancellors Scott Biddy and Stephen Sutton emailed the student groups co-hosting the event the Berkeley College Republicans and BridgeUSA, which gets students with political differences to listen to each other to say the event was off until September at the earliest. We have been unable to find a safe and suitable venue for your planned April 27 event featuring Ann Coulter, the administrators wrote. In the wake of events surrounding the planned appearance by (right-wing speaker) Milo Yiannopoulos in February, as well as several riots which have occurred in recent weeks in the city of Berkeley, we have increased our scrutiny regarding the time and location of high-profile speakers so that these events can go forward unimpeded. Students said the cancellation made them angry because they had cooperated with administrators previous insistence that high-profile speakers end their talks by 3 p.m. And while they had negotiated to win an extra half hour, theyd also gotten Coulter to take an earlier flight. Now, they said, they wont accept the cancellation. No matter what, shes coming to Berkeley despite UC Berkeleys attempts to silence and suppress her right to come to campus, said Naweed Tahmas, 20, of the Berkeley College Republicans. We are preparing with attorneys on how to proceed. Coulter tweeted her reactions Wednesday: No school accepting public funds can ban free speech. And: Instructing Berkeley student group to spare no expense in renting my speaking venue part of my legal damages. And: I acceded to Berkeleys every silly demand (never made of lib speakers). Called their bluff & they canceled anyway. Spencer Brown, spokesman for Young Americas Foundation, which sponsors conservative speakers on college campuses and is paying $17,000 of Coulters $20,000 speakers fee, said the event will go forward whether Berkeley likes it or not. Asked where the speech would take place, Brown said, We are pursuing all remedies available. Campus spaces are free, but all filled up, according to administrators; and off-campus sites would probably charge a fee. Young Americas Foundation accused UC Berkeley of anti-conservative bias. This is as clear-cut a case as it gets that public universities are using taxpayer dollars to shut down conservative speech, while allowing liberal speech only, the group declared. The accusation comes as state lawmakers debate a Republican-sponsored bill that would ban colleges and universities from taking actions that stifle students expression. On Wednesday, the bill, SB472, passed the Senate Education Committee with a 7-0 vote. It heads to a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee next week. Since President Trumps inauguration in January, a debate about free speech has emerged at UC Berkeley in a way that hasnt happened since the campus Free Speech Movement of the 1960s. Left-leaning student protesters say they have a right to shut down hate speech of the kind they say Yiannopoulos and Coulter engage in that targets individuals or groups of people. Both specialize in making people squirm with insulting talk. This month, Coulter tweeted: N Korea will make nuke capable of hitting Seattle! Situation will be dire as soon as they can hit a city worth saving. She told conservative talk-show host Tucker Carlson recently that she was puzzled at the U.S. missile retaliation against Syrian President Bashar Assad for his chemical weapons attack on Syrian children and other citizens. She said, For that region of the world, Assad is one of the better leaders theres probably only one or two that are better than he. Hes not even like a Saddam Hussein murderous thug. On Feb. 1, as students protested the Yiannopoulos talk, masked agitators caused $100,000 of damage on campus smashing windows and setting police equipment ablaze to stop the speaker from delivering an anti-immigration, pro-Trump talk. Conservative students say the speakers they invite have a right to express themselves without being muzzled by critics. Pranav Jandhyala, 19, co-founder of the group BridgeUSA, which is co-sponsoring Coulter and has invited liberal and libertarian speakers on other occasions, is also frustrated at administrators attempt to cancel the event. It seems clear that theyre stalling until next semester, but nothing is going to change between now and next semester, he said. My personal opinion is that this is unconstitutional and is a form of (illegal) prior restraint. But Mogulof, the campus spokesman, denied accusations that UC Berkeley is infringing on free speech, saying administrators fear the same violent groups would target Coulters speech. He said its all about safety. The universitys commitment to the safety and security of our students is non-negotiatable, he said. We simply cant have an event at a time when our law enforcement professionals dont feel capable of providing that. Chronicle staff writer Melody Gutierrez contributed to this report. Nanette Asimov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: nasimov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @NanetteAsimov While many other U.S. metropolitan regions might be known as more obvious beer meccas than the greater San Francisco Bay Area, there's one section of the craft beer landscape where one of our cities apparently thrives: microbreweries. A researcher named Russell Goldenberg with a visual data website called The Pudding scoured some data from RateBeer.com, a beer rating site, as well as census and map information, and deduced the city with with the best microbrewing culture in the United States: Santa Rosa, California. Santa Rosa beat out such high profile beer hubs as San Diego, Denver, Portland, and Chicago, primarily due to the quality of Santa Rosa area breweries Russian River Brewing, Bear Republic Brewing Co., Shady Oak Barrel House, Moonlight Brewing Company and Cooperage Brewing Company, as scored by RateBeer.com users. Ten years after Steve Jobs held up the original iPhone to a gushing San Francisco crowd, Apple is planning its most extensive iPhone lineup to date. Apple is preparing three iPhones for release this fall, including upgraded versions of the two current models and a new top-of-the-line handset with an overhauled look, according to people familiar with the matter. For the redesigned phone, Apple is testing a new type of screen, curved glass and stainless steel materials, and more advanced cameras, the people said. Those anxiously awaiting the redesigned iPhone, however, may have to wait, because supply constraints could mean the device isnt readily available until one or two months after the typical fall introduction. The iPhone is Apples most important product, representing about two-thirds of sales. It also leads customers to buy other Apple devices like the iPad and Apple Watch, and serves as a home for lucrative services like the App Store. This years new iPhone lineup comes at a critical time. Last year, Apple broke its typical upgrade cycle by retaining the same iPhone shape for a third year in a row, and it saw sales slide. Samsungs new S8 lineup has been thus far well received after last years Note7 battery debacle. For the premium model, Apple is testing a screen that covers almost the entire front of the device, according to people familiar with the matter. That results in a display slightly larger than that of the iPhone 7 Plus but an overall size closer to the iPhone 7, the people said. Apple is also moving to reduce the overall size of the handset by integrating the home button into the screen itself with software similar to that in Samsungs S8, the people said. The overhauled iPhone will use an OLED display that more accurately shows colors, while the other two phones will continue to use liquid crystal display technology and come in the same 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screen sizes as last years iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, according to people familiar with the matter. But Apples iPhone feature and design plans might change, they added. The people asked not to be identified discussing Apples private testing and design plans. Apple has tested prototypes of its redesigned phone with manufacturing partners in Asia, including some versions that use curved glass and stainless steel, one of them said. One of the latest prototype designs includes symmetrical, slightly curved glass on the front and the back. The curves are similar to those on the front of the iPhone 7. The new OLED screen itself is flat, while the cover glass curves into a steel frame. The design is similar conceptually to the iPhone 4 from 2010. An earlier prototype design had a thinner steel band, leaving more noticeable curved glass on the sides. Apple also tested a more ambitious prototype with the same slightly curved front and steel frame, but with a glass back with more dramatic curves on the top and bottom like the original iPhone design from 2007, one of the people said. Apple suppliers have so far struggled to reliably produce heavily curved glass in mass quantities, so the company is more likely to ship the version with more subdued curves, the person added. The company is also testing a simpler design that has an aluminum back, rather than a glass one, and slightly larger dimensions, one of the people said. Because of its early lead in mobile OLED display, Samsung will enjoy a rare upper hand in this years high-end smartphone contest. Initially, Apple will exclusively use Samsung Display OLED panels for the redesigned iPhone, because other vendors wont be ready to supply mass quantities until later. Apple has ordered 100 million panels from Samsung, the people said. This fall, it would be three years since we had a remarkable shift in iPhone hardware. This raises expectations for this years phone having a material change in functionality and look, said Gene Munster, co-founder of Loup Ventures and a veteran Apple analyst. The Samsung Galaxy S8 raises the bar for Apple to hit a home run. Apple and Samsung declined to comment. Apple has also experimented with integrating the iPhones fingerprint scanner into the screen of the OLED version, which would be technically challenging, the people said. Its currently unclear if that feature will make it into the final product. Samsung also tried this approach for the S8, but ended up installing a more standard fingerprint reader on the back of its phone due to the challenges, another person said. Significant camera changes are also in testing for Apples overhauled iPhone. For the back of the phone, Apple is testing versions of the phone with the dual-camera system positioned vertically, instead of horizontally like on the iPhone 7 Plus, which could result in improved photos, according to people familiar with the matter. Some prototypes in testing continue to include the slight camera bump found on current iPhones, rather than having them flush with the back surface, the people said. For the front camera, Apple is testing dual lenses, one of the people said. The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus have single front cameras. As it has done in the past, Apple is using camera components from Sony. Apple has explored adding augmented reality-based features and depth-of-field enhancements to its iPhone camera system. Company engineers in the past have also experimented with integrating cameras into screens, another person said. All the new iPhones will run iOS 11, a mobile operating system that will include a refreshed user-interface and will be announced in June at the companys annual developer conference, according to a person familiar with the matter. Apple has been testing faster processors based on a smaller 10-nanometer production process for all three new models, a person familiar with Apples chip plans said. Thats down from 16 nanometers for existing iPhones. The smaller processors are more efficient, allowing Apple to retain its battery life standards while adding more advanced features. Mark Gurman and Min Jeong Lee are Bloomberg writers. Email: mgurman1@bloomberg.net, mlee754@bloomberg.net Top tweet How bad is @comcast service? I'd rather have Obama back as President than have Comcast. T witter hath no fury like a Huckabee scorned. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee wasnt exactly thrilled when Comcast missed an appointment Monday, so he unleashed a tweetstorm criticizing the company. And it succeeded, as tweetstorms often do for those who have more than 600,000 followers. Comcast apologized and fixed Huckabees problem by Monday night. Hire American (or use H-1Bs) Snap-on, the Wisconsin manufacturer that President Trump visited as part of touting his Buy American, Hire American executive order Tuesday, has itself filed for H-1B visas to attract skilled foreign workers. The company applied for 69 H-1Bs between fiscal years 2009 and 2017, according to a review of its Labor Condition Applications on the Department of Labors website. Juicero may feel a squeeze One of the most lavishly funded gadget startups in the Bay Area last year was Juicero, as tech investors were drawn to the idea of an Internet-connected device that transforms single-serving packets of chopped fruits and vegetables into a refreshing and healthy beverage. But after the $400 machine hit the market, some investors were surprised to discover a much cheaper alternative: You can squeeze Juicero bags with your hands and get nearly the same amount of juice. Juicero declined to comment. Daily Briefing is compiled from San Francisco Chronicle staff and news services. See more items and links at www.sfgate.com. Twitter: @techchronicle This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The Wisconsin manufacturer where President Trump signed his Buy American, Hire American executive order Tuesday, has itself filed for a number of foreign work visas over the past few years. The company, Snap-on, applied for nearly 70 H-1B visas between fiscal years 2009 and 2017, according to a review of the companys labor condition applications on a U.S. Department of Labor website. Snap-on has an office in San Jose; 115 people in the Bay Area list themselves as working for the company on LinkedIn. A labor condition application is the first step an employer must take to sponsor a foreign worker for an H-1B visa, which allows foreigners to work in the U.S. for up to six years. Filing a labor condition application does not mean the company will receive one of the 85,000 H-1Bs given annually to for-profit companies. The Washington Post reported, citing the companys applications, that Snap-on sought to hire a computer programmer at $75,000 a year and a systems analyst at $94,000 a year. Those wages, while above the prevailing or minimum wage set by the Department of Labor for H-1B workers in those positions, are lower than the average wages for comparable work in Santa Clara County. Thats legal under the H-1B program. Trump criticized the use of H-1B visas to replace American jobs at the Tuesday speech at Snap-on. The foreign work visas should never, ever be used to replace Americans, he said. No one can compete with American workers when they're given a fair and level playing field, which has not happened for decades. A spokesman for Snap-on said the company employs a handful of associates under the H-1B visa program, and the majority of them hold advanced degrees. To qualify for an H-1B visa, the foreign worker must hold at least a bachelors degree. The best way to make America successful in this environment is to provide the technical capabilities that enable workers to win what is now a global contest for prosperity, Richard Secor, a Snap-on spokesman, said in an email. Critics of the H-1B program believe companies use the visas to squeeze out American workers in favor of foreigners willing to work for less, while proponents say the visas are used to staff highly skilled engineering positions they could not otherwise fill. Regarding his executive order, Trump said Tuesday that he could not think of a better place to make this announcement than at Snap-on. A White House spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment. The number of H-1Bs that Snap-on has filed for is small compared to other companies. For example, Indian consulting company Infosys filed for about 700 H-1B visas in Wisconsin for fiscal year 2017 alone, according to myvisajobs.com, which uses Department of Labor data. H-1B visas are most heavily used in Northern California, at companies ranging from startups to Google, Facebook and Apple. Trumps executive order called for a review of the H-1B program as soon as practicable. It was otherwise scant on details of how the president plans to overhaul the program. The order also aims to enforce rules that bar foreign contractors from bidding on federal projects. Nicholas Pinchuk, CEO of Snap-on, said in a statement Tuesday that the company employs 6,700 hard-working Americans. Its encouraging to know that our elected officials at the highest levels of government recognize the importance of American manufacturing and American workers and have chosen Snap-on to highlight this vital focus, he said. Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Police arrested one woman and are searching for another in connection with cosmetics robberies at Walgreens stores in Northern California last month, authorities said Tuesday. Kymeshia Parker, a 23-year-old Sacramento resident, was taken into custody after surveillance footage showed her stealing makeup at Walgreens stores in Vacaville and Concord, officials said. Police are still looking for Syerra Mathis, a 23-year-old Sacramento resident, who is wanted for felony robbery. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Chef Carlos Altamirano has been active in the East Bay this year. Just two months after announcing Paradita, his fast-casual concept opening in Emeryville later this month, Altamirano has a new project in the works: Barranco, a full-service Peruvian restaurant launching this summer in Lafayette's commercial district. Barranco, which will push Altamirano's Bay Area restaurant total to seven, is named after a district in Lima, Peru, known for its beaches and seafood. The Barranco menu will feature seafood dishes, including a small plate of Scallops Carlitos and Langostinos Crocantes (prawns), as well as family-style tapas, and a handful of main dishes. Connecting the recent Altamirano Restaurant Group movements means drawing a line from Parada in Walnut Creek, to sister restaurant Paradita in Emeryville, then out to Lafayette for the new Barranco. And although it's not a sibling concept, Barranco does reflect what made the chef's other projects popular over the years. The Lafayette space will serve up the Peruvian sandwiches, grilled meat skewers and Peruvian rotisserie chicken (pollo a la brass) that will be found at Paradita when it opens soon. And while Barranco is going to have a more traditional, full-service dining format, a to-go menu of pollo a la brasa and empanadas will be available. Pisco, Peru's traditional spirit, will be featured heavily on the beverage side, along with bottled and draft beers, and California and South American wines by the glass. Barranco: 3596 Mount Diablo Boulevard in Lafayette; opens early summer. Hours will be 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily; brunch on Saturday and Sunday starting at 10:30 a.m.; www.barrancokitchen.com. Justin Phillips is a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email jphillips@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JustMrPhillips This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate ERIE, Pa. The man who randomly gunned down a Cleveland retiree and posted video of the crime on Facebook killed himself Tuesday during a police chase in Pennsylvania that began when a McDonalds drive-thru attendant recognized him, authorities said. It marked a violent end to the nearly 48-hour multistate manhunt for Steve Stephens, whose case brought another round of criticism down on Facebook over how responsibly it polices objectionable material posted by users. Acting on a tip from the McDonalds, state troopers spotted Stephens leaving the restaurant in Erie and went after him, bumping his car to try to get it to stop, authorities said. He shot himself in the head after the car spun and came to a stop, police said. This started with one tragedy and ended with another person taking their own life, said Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams. We would have liked to have brought Steve in peacefully and really talked to him about why this happened. Stephens, a 37-year-old job counselor who worked with young people, was wanted on murder charges in the killing of Robert Godwin Sr., 74, a former foundry worker and father of 10 who was picking up aluminum cans Sunday when he was shot. The chilling video was on Facebook for three hours before it was taken down. It was just the latest instance of crime footage being shared on social media. At a Silicon Valley conference Tuesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg briefly addressed the Cleveland case, saying Facebook has a lot of work to do and we will keep doing all we can to prevent tragedies like this. Police would not speculate on what triggered the killing, but in the video and other footage he posted, Stephens talked about having trouble with his girlfriend and losing everything he had to gambling. He said he just snapped. One of Godwins daughters, Debbie Godwin, said she wished Stephens had been captured. Im not happy hes dead at all, not at all. If you did it, you have to face your crime, she said. The break in the case came when police received a tip that Stephens was at the McDonalds in Erie, in far western Pennsylvania about 100 miles east of Cleveland, where he ordered a 20-piece Chicken McNuggets and fries. The drive-thru attendant thought she recognized Stephens and called state police, restaurant owner Thomas DuCharme Jr. told the Erie Times-News. State Police Maj. William Teper Jr. said only that the tip came from a concerned citizen. The McDonalds employees tried to buy some time for the cops by telling Stephens his fries were delayed, but he said he had no time to wait and drove off, according to DuCharme. Police picked up the trail in a chase that lasted 2 miles before Stephens took his own life, authorities said. Police said that it wasnt clear whether Stephens had any help while he was on the run or where he had been and that investigators will try to retrace his steps. Stephens cell phone had been tracked Sunday afternoon to near Erie, officials said Monday. Facebook said it removed the video of the shooting 23 minutes after learning of it. The company has since announced it is launching a review of its handling of reports of harmful content. This is something that should not have been shared around the world. Period, Williams, the Cleveland police chief, said. In the video, Stephens told Godwin the name of his girlfriend and said, Shes the reason that this is about to happen to you. Godwin did not seem to recognize the name. The woman, Joy Lane, told WJW-TV in Cleveland that she last talked with Stephens on Saturday night, when he told her he had quit his job and was moving out of state. Investigators said that Godwin was the only victim so far linked to Stephens, despite his claim on Facebook that he had killed more than a dozen people. Detectives spoke with the suspect Sunday by cell phone and tried to persuade him to surrender, police said. Within a day, authorities expanded the search nationwide and offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to his capture. Mike Householder and Mark Gillispie are Associated Press writers. LAS VEGAS Las Vegas is preparing to be the first city in the nation with vending machines dispensing clean needles in an effort to help combat the spread of hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV, while also possibly leading some drug users into treatment. Three machines will be available for users starting in May. The pilot program is a coordinated effort between Trac-B Exchange, the Southern Nevada Health District and the Nevada AIDS Research and Education Society to discourage the sharing of needles among users. Trac-B Exchange program director Rick Reich said that to participate in the vending machine program, users would have to fill out a form for the sponsoring groups and obtain an eight-digit identification number to ensure confidentiality and track their use. Each kit will contain sterile syringes and needles along with a compartment for used needles that can be disposed of safely at the machines. But unlike snack, soda or movie rental machines left in open spaces, these $15,000 machines will be located inside the three facilities and would be accessed only during the hours the buildings are open for business. Reich said the cost of each kit was under $10, but they would be free for users. Reich said putting one of the vending machines inside the Community Counseling Center of Southern Nevada was designed to allow some drug abusers to interact with trained counselors if they decided they wanted to get help. Patrick Bozarth, executive director of the counseling center, said his staff had been undergoing training in anticipation of reaching drug abusers who may use the vending machine and learn about treatment options. Needle exchange programs have been used successfully throughout the world, with several nations adopting vending machine technology into their mix to curb the spread of blood-borne pathogens. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported the effectiveness of needle exchange programs, and the North American Needle Exchange Network counts 228 syringe service programs in 35 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The CDC reported on a study that looked at the effects of New Yorks exchange program on the prevalence of hepatitis C infection between 1990 and 2001, and found the needle exchange program reduced the diseases prevalence from 80 percent to 59 percent among intravenous drug users. Needle and syringe possession was illegal in Nevada up until 2013, when the state Legislature repealed the law. Pharmacies can sell needles and syringes but have discretion about who can purchase them. David Montero is a Los Angeles Times writer. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Former Mexican President Vicente Fox called President Trump a crazy guy Wednesday while offering a spirited defense of the open trade policies between Mexico and the United States that Trump has said he wants to scrap. In an an hour-long speech before the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, Fox extolled the benefits of free trade while also deriding, sometimes with irony, Trumps attack on undocumented immigrants in the United States. Im not for open borders. Im for an orderly border, Fox said. We need it in Mexico. We dont want an invasion of gringos again. ALSO UC Berkeley orders cancellation of Ann Coulter speech A former Coca-Cola executive, Fox served as president of Mexico from 2000 to 2006, representing the center-right National Action Party, or PAN. His victory marked the first time in 76 years that a candidate outside the Institutional Revolutionary Party was elected president. Fox has embraced Twitter nearly as completely as Trump. In the run-up to the 2016 election and in the months after, Fox has used the social media platform to troll the presidential candidate. Among other things, he has called Trump a traitor to America and everything good it stands for, a liar, and an embarrassment with an ugly gringo attitude. Fox has also repeatedly declared that there is no way Mexico will pay for a border wall between the two countries although he used more colorful language. Despite his own expletive-filled tweets, Fox said Wednesday that if he had one word of advice to Trump, it would be to act more presidential. You need to stop being selfish, Fox said he would tell Trump. Now you represent 300 million-plus citizens. Now opening your mouth or sending out Twitter or sending your executive order you could be affecting 8 billion people. So calm down. Calm down, be quiet and be presidential. Among other things, Fox said he worried about the threat of nuclear war under Trump: Imagine the guy in North Korea and the guy in the United States. One day they wake up with a hangover and boom! But Fox spent much of his time throwing out statistics and talking about the benefits of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Trump said he wants to scrap if major changes arent made to it. Fox said NAFTA, which was enacted in 1994, has led to higher wages for Mexicans, which he said in turn helped slow illegal migration from Mexico into the United States. Thats why NAFTA is so important that we keep it going, Fox said. Because its narrowing that gap. However, illegal immigration picked up strongly after NAFTA for a mix of reasons, including a loss of agricultural jobs in Mexico. Mexican migration into the United States peaked in 2007 before it began to decline, according to the Pew Research Center. Mexicans comprise roughly half of the countrys 1.1 million unauthorized immigrants, Pew says. Fox also derided Trumps proposed border tax, which would tax imported product goods at about 20 percent. The goal is to encourage American companies to make their products in the United States and raise up to $1 trillion in revenue over 10 years. An unusual coalition of big-box retailers and progressive Democrats has come out against the tax because they say it will drive up costs and hurt the economy. Fox cautioned that the tax would cause a trade war, one that would prove especially harmful to the American agricultural sector. Mexico purchased around $18 billion of U.S. agricultural products in 2015, including $2.3 billion of corn, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative. Attacking yourself in a trade war is crazy, Fox said. Only a crazy guy can come up with that idea. Emily Green is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: egreen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @emilytgreen WASHINGTON The Supreme Court seemed ready to chip away at the wall separating church and state on Wednesday, with several justices suggesting that states must sometimes provide aid to religious groups. The case concerned a Missouri program to make playgrounds safer that excluded ones affiliated with churches, but it had implications for all kinds of government aid to religious institutions. This is a clear burden on a constitutional right, Justice Elena Kagan said of the exclusion in the playground program. Justice Neil Gorsuch, the courts newest member, said the program amounted to discrimination on the basis of status of religion. We know thats happened in this case, right? he asked, leaving no doubt that he thought the answer was yes. Justice Sonia Sotomayor was the most consistent voice on the other side, though she seemed to be in the minority. Theyre just saying, she said of the state, we dont want to be involved with a church. The question in the case, Trinity Lutheran Church vs. Comer, No. 15-577, is whether officials in Missouri were entitled to reject an application from a Lutheran church for a grant to use recycled tires to resurface a playground. Answering that question required the justices to consider doctrinal crosscurrents, including what earlier cases have called the play in the joints between two clauses of the First Amendment, which bar government establishment of religion and guarantee its free exercise. Its a hard issue, Kagan said. Its an issue in which states have their own very long-standing law. Its an issue on which I guess Im going to say nobody is completely sure that they have it right. The Missouri Constitution bars spending public money directly or indirectly, in aid of any church, and the state Supreme Court has called for a very high wall between church and state. Thirty-nine states have constitutional provisions limiting state aid to religious groups, Sotomayor noted. We dont want, as a country well, the vast majority of states to fund houses of worship, she said. David Cortman, a lawyer for the church, said it sought only to protect children of all faiths from injury and could not use the rubber in its religious work. He argued that the state Constitution violated equal protection principles and the First Amendments guarantee of free exercise of religion. All were talking about is a safer surface on the playground for when kids play, he said. Sotomayor said that Missouri was not interfering with the church. You have a playground, she said. No one is taking the playground away from you. The argument was Gorsuchs first in a major constitutional case. On the federal appeals court in Denver, he was receptive to claims from religious groups, and he was thought to be a likely vote for the church in Wednesdays case. Adam Liptak is a New York Times writer. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Lake Tahoe's Squaw Valley Resort is considering what other local ski destinations wouldn't dare attempt: staying open for skiers and snowboarders through this year's summer and fall seasons. In an interview with Truckee Tahoe Radio KTKE, Squaw Valley's CEO Andy Wirth says he's looking into the possibility of keeping the slopes in operation well past the previously noted July 4 date. "I'm actually considering staying open through the summer and fall so it becomes the '16-'17-'18 season," Wirth told the radio station. "We're taking a hard look at that. Maybe we spin Shirley (chairlift) through the summer. There's so much snow up there." Related: Summer skiing? Squaw Valley says it plans to stay open until July 4 As the Sacramento Bee notes, the park has never been open past July 4, and unfortunately, the prospects for keeping it open into August appear grim; even a snowstorm as late as May likely wouldn't keep the slopes blanketed through the warm weather. Best case scenario, the resort would need to strategically disperse snow to certain favorable and less sunny runs. Nevertheless, the idea "has been discussed," as resort spokesperson Liesl Kenney told the newspaper. "Because our operations are so dependent on snow and weather conditions," she added, "it's impossible to speculate about what the future will bring, but there is no doubt that this season has been extraordinary." If Squaw Valley is successful in keeping the park open all year, they would be the only resort in California to do so. Alyssa Pereira is a SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira. While Juan Manuel Montes Bojorquez, 23, was walking to a taxi station in Calexico, California, a Border Patrol agent on a bicycle stopped him, asking him for identification. Having accidentally left his wallet in a friend's car, Montes claims he had no identification on him, and no way of proving his status as a "dreamer" allowing him to live in the United States legally. Another officer was called to the scene and took Montes into custody that night, Feb. 17, driving him to a station near the border. Hours later, at about 1 a.m., immigration officials walked Montes across the border, physically removing him from the U.S. and leaving him in Mexico near Mexicali, Baja California. Montes, immigration advocates and lawyers say, is believed to be the first "dreamer"- a beneficiary of President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program - to be deported. They say he has an active work permit. The Department of Homeland Security disputes these claims and has provided no record of the incident. Officials only confirmed that Montes was deported when he tried to re-enter the country on or about Feb. 19, which he admits. Attorneys on behalf of Montes filed a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act on Tuesday demanding that the federal government turn over all information about his sudden removal. The conflicting accounts surrounding the case leave many questions unanswered, but the allegations heightened existing concerns that DACA recipients are now being targeted for deportation, despite President Donald Trump's pledges to "show great heart" toward the immigrant youth. "We have through the last few weeks attempted to get the records or any explanation about what happened to Juan Manuel," said Nora Preciado, a Los Angeles attorney with the National Immigration Law Center and one of the lawyers who filed the lawsuit. The lawyers on March 15 requested all records of Montes' interactions with immigration authorities, but DHS has not yet provided them. "We're trying to get answers," Preciado told The Washington Post. A DHS spokeswoman said Montes was apprehended by Border Patrol officers after he illegally entered the country by climbing over the border fence in downtown Calexico, according to a statement provided to reporters. He was arrested minutes later for illegal entry, the spokeswoman said, adding that Montes' DACA status expired in August 2015. The DHS spokeswoman also noted that Montes had a previous conviction for theft that resulted in probation. The lawsuit admits this fact, but argued that the conviction would not disqualify him from DACA, which requires a background check. Montes' lawyers claim he was granted DACA protection in 2014 and successfully renewed his status in 2016 for another two years, expiring in 2018. They say he also obtained an employment authorization document, a type only granted to DACA recipients. Montes, who worked picking fruits and vegetables in California fields and was pursuing a degree in welding, claims he was assaulted a few days after he was deported to Mexicali in February. One man wrapped his arm around Montes' neck and held a blade to his back while another grabbed a suitcase Montes was carrying. Montes tried to run away, but he fell, and the two men began kicking his back and legs while he was on the ground, he claims in the lawsuit. Shaken by the alleged assault and fearing for his safety, Montes then attempted to return to the United States. After hiding on the north side of the border for about a half-hour, he came across immigration officers and decided to turn himself in. Hours later he was once again removed to Mexico. Though Montes claims this was his second deportation, this is the only removal DHS has confirmed. "The really important questions come up after the first time," Preciado said. "The government doesn't want to focus on that. It doesn't want to answer those hard questions." Montes, who was brought to the United States when he was 9, suffered a traumatic brain injury as a child and has a cognitive disability, the lawsuit alleges. He was enrolled in special education classes through high school, and has been employed as a farmworker for about two years. He was attending a local community college and hoped to finish his degree to become a welder. He is now living with relatives in Mexico, his lawyers said. "I was forced out because I was nervous and didn't know what to do or say, but my home is there," Montes said in a statement. "I miss my job. I miss school. And I want to continue to work toward better opportunities. But most of all, I miss my family, and I have hope that I will be able to go back so I can be with them again." The first time he was deported, Montes alleges, he was not provided the opportunity to see an immigration judge, seek the assistance of counsel, or otherwise present his DACA paperwork or work authorization before he was removed. The Trump administration has ramped up deportations under sweeping new enforcement guidelines, but has not yet overturned the DACA program, which granted renewable, two-year work permits to more than 750,000 immigrants who came to the country illegally as children. On a number of occasions, Trump has expressed his interest in showing sympathy to DACA recipients. In February, Trump said: "We're going to show great heart. DACA is a very, very difficult subject for me, I will tell you. To me, it's one of the most difficult subjects I have because you have these incredible kids." In March, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement tweeted: "DACA is not a protected legal status, but active DACA recipients are typically a lower level of enforcement priority." Still, many DACA beneficiaries now feel they have reason to fear deportation. On Feb. 10, "dreamer" Daniel Ramirez Medina was detained in Seattle, drawing national attention. He was released more than a month later. In late March, Daniela Vargas, 22, was detained after speaking at a news conference in Mississippi. She was also later released. At least 10 DACA recipients are currently in federal custody, United We Dream, an advocacy organization made up of DACA enrollees and other young immigrants, told USA Today. "The federal government made a promise to Juan Manuel and all DACA recipients," Preciado told The Post. "Unfortunately, Juan Manuel's case proves that promise has been broken." Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement Tuesday that instead of honoring the protections of DACA, "President Trump has unleashed an indiscriminate deportation dragnet of appalling inhumanity." Greisa Martinez, advocacy director at United We Dream and a DACA beneficiary herself, said in a Facebook live video on Tuesday that "this is the moment of truth where we hold those people accountable." "In these moments of uncertainty," she said, "there's a lot of questions. What does this mean for us? Where do we go?" This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Holly Tarquinis top 10 triple-F-rated movies These are films written by, directed by and starring women. The F-Rated founders current favorite picks: Girlhood (France, 2014) Written and directed by Celine Sciamma, a coming-of-age drama with an African-French lead. Rotten Tomatoes rating: 95. Speed Sisters (West Bank/United States/others, 2015) Documentary about an all-female Palestinian racing team. RT: 91. Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015) San Francisco-set drama about a girls sexual awakening, with an enthusiastically received performance by lead Bel Powley. RT: 93. Adult Life Skills (2016) Jodie Whittaker (Venus) in a belated coming-of-age comedy. RT: 80. Prevenge (2016) Written by, directed by and starring Alice Lowe, a macabre black comedy in which a pregnant womans fetus may be driving her to murder. Lowe was actually pregnant during filming. RT: 95. Dukhtar (Pakistan, 2014) A mother and young daughter (10 years old) flee the girls arranged marriage. RT: 92. Whip It (2009) Drew Barrymores directorial debut stars Ellen Page in a roller-derby comedy-drama. RT: 84. Suffragette (2015) Dramatizes the fight for the right to vote for women in England fight being the operative word. The cast includes Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter and Meryl Streep. RT: 73. Sonita (Iran, 2015) Documentary about an Afghan rapper who made the music video Brides for Sale at age 16 in an effort to escape an arranged marriage. RT: 100 (only 18 reviews thus far). In a World (2013) Lake Bell wrote, directed and stars in this comedic look at the voice-over industry. RT: 92. Michael Ordona This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate For the last five years, Californians have adjusted to a new reality when it comes to water usage. Not much will change now that the drought emergency is officially over. After unprecedented rainfall and the development of a robust Sierra-Cascades snowpack, Gov. Jerry Brown declared an end to the drought emergency on April 7. Read the Chronicle's full coverage here. Brown spoke with caution, stressing that "the next drought could be around the corner." Many of the restrictions put into place during the dry years will remain, including those set forth in a May 2016 executive order, which determined permanent water use standards for municipalities, businesses and individuals. According to B-37-16, permanent statewide restrictions include: Hosing off sidewalks, driveways, and other hardscapes; Washing automobiles with hoses not equipped with a shut-off Using non-recirculated water in a fountain or other decorative water feature. Watering lawns in a manner that causes runoff, or within 48 hours after measurable precipitation; and Irrigating ornamental turf on public street medians. Story continues below. San Francisco set specific restrictions within city limits during the drought, and many of these prohibitions will remain in place on top of the statewide order. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) states that the following prohibitions, specific to San Francisco residents, will remain indefinitely: Using a hose, without a shut-off nozzle, for any purpose; Washing sidewalks, driveways, plazas, and other outdoor hardscapes for reasons other than health, safety, or to meet City of San Francisco standards for sidewalk cleanliness and in a manner that causes runoff to storm drains and sewer catch basins; Using drinking water for soil compaction, dust control, or other non-essential construction purposes if non-potable water is available; Watering outdoor landscapes with potable water during and within 48 hours after a rain event; Watering with potable water of ornamental turf on public street medians; Irrigation of landscapes outside of new homes and buildings in a non-efficient manner; Using drinking water in non-recirculating fountains or decorative water devices; Serving water at restaurants without customer request; and Not providing hotel guests the option to reuse towels and linens. The agency is no longer asking for a 10 percent voluntary water use reduction. Mandatory reductions for dedicated irrigation customers, such as parks, have been lifted as well. SFPUC takes a "progressive education" approach when it comes to enforcement of restrictions, says SFPUC's water conservation manager Julie Ortiz. "Our first interest is to make sure we inform our customers and teach them alternative practices," she said. Ortiz explained that most reports of violations arrive through the agency's 311 hotline, while a team of field inspectors consistently have their "ears and eyes open." Those suspected of violating the restrictions will typically be sent a courtesy notice followed by a warning letters. In some cases, a field inspector is dispatched. SFPUC has the ability to fine perpetrators, but Ortiz says they have yet to do so as part of their belief that "informing people can correct their behavior." "I think it's worked pretty well to date," she said. While the emergency is over for now except in Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Tuolomne counties the future must be considered in times of plenty. The order predicts that climate change will lead to "more frequent and persistent" California droughts as warm winters lead to reduced snowpack in the Sierra Nevadas. The emerald hills and wildflowers erupting across the state may signal a quenched California, but that shouldn't stop people from preparing for a future drought. "The next drought could be as soon as next year," said SFPUC spokesperson Suzanne Gautier, who has experienced five droughts since moving to California in 1978. "Rather than reinvent the wheel when that happens, it makes good policy sense to maintain our water conservation practices." Read Michelle Robertsons latest stories and send her news tips at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com. BEIJING It was supposed to be steaming toward North Korea more than a week ago, an armada signaling American resolve. Then it wasnt. Now, it seems the Carl Vinson may finally be heading north. Our deployment has been extended 30 days to provide a persistent presence in the waters off the Korean Peninsula, Rear Adm. Jim Kilby, the commander of Carrier Strike Group One, said in a message posted on the Carl Vinsons Facebook page addressed to families and loved ones of the personnel on board. The Carl Vinson, accompanied by a carrier air wing, two guided-missile destroyers and a cruiser, was supposed to have been ordered to sail north after leaving Singapore on April 8. But a week later, the Navy published photos showing it was actually sailing the opposite direction through the Sunda Strait between the Indonesia islands of Sumatra and Java, more than 3,000 miles southwest of the Korean Peninsula and more than 500 miles southeast of Singapore. The White House is now facing questions about why it was not clear about the carrier groups whereabouts. Several times over the the last two weeks, the Trump administration said the ships were heading north. On April 9, Adm. Harry Harris said the carrier strike group was headed north to the Western Pacific after departing Singapore on April 8. A spokesperson for U.S. Pacific Command linked the move directly to North Koreas reckless, irresponsible and destabilizing program of missile tests and pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability. Days later, Defense Secretary James Mattis told reporters the Carl Vinson was on her way up there. In an interview that aired April 12, President Trump said the U.S. was sending ships. An armada, very powerful, he said. It is not clear why the carrier strike group never left Southeast Asia, or why the Trump administration did not clarify where she was. On Tuesday, Pacific Command said only that the strike group completed military exercises and would now head north. Both U.S. and South Korean media have reported that the Vinson is now expected to arrive in waters off the Korean peninsula by Tuesday. Simon Denyer and Emily Rauhala are Washington Post writers. JAKARTA, Indonesia Jakartas first Christian governor in generations lost his re-election bid Wednesday, according to unofficial results, after a heated sectarian campaign that underscored the influence of hard-line Islamists in the worlds most populous Muslim nation. Although the results were not final, early counts showed a decisive victory for Anies Baswedan, a Muslim candidate whose supporters portrayed the race as a referendum on the power of Islam in shaping the politics of Indonesias capital. The outcome also raised questions about whether moderate Muslim political factions could face increasing pressure from hard-line groups energized by the Jakarta victory. The incumbent governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, was known for tough anticorruption drives and challenges to hard-line Muslim groups that have taken on an increasingly central role in Indonesian politics. Comments he made last year led to charges of blasphemy that hung over the campaign. His blasphemy trial is scheduled to resume Thursday; if convicted, he faces up to five years in prison. You wont see a governor as clean as Ahok again, said Tsamara Amany, a university student and activist, referring to the governor by his nickname. He called Purnama a symbol of tolerance. But Indonesias Islamist groups waged powerful opposition, holding rallies that brought out hundreds of thousands of people. Baswedans apparent large margin of victory 58 percent to 42 percent in an unofficial tally contrasted with some polls pointing to a far closer race. Purnama won the first round of voting for governor in February in a three-way race. Official results of Wednesdays voting are to be announced in early May. The election also underscored the countrys political rifts on the eve of a visit by Vice President Mike Pence, who is scheduled on Thursday to visit Jakartas Istiqlal Mosque, the largest in Southeast Asia. While the election sloganeering was mainly expressed in religious terms, the vote also reflected class tensions in a country with some of the starkest income inequalities in the world, analysts said. Purnama was overwhelmingly supported by the middle and upper class, but he alienated poorer constituencies with his harsh eviction policies in the north of the city. Jon Emont is a Washington Post writer. 1 Bus accident: Bus passengers were screaming in horror as the driver repeatedly stepped on the apparently malfunctioning brakes before plunging into a deep ravine in the northern Philippines, leaving at least 29 people dead Tuesday. The rest of the more than 50 passengers were retrieved by rescuers who struggled with ropes to descend down the 80-foot-deep ravine to reach the wreckage in Nueva Ecija provinces Carranglan town. Poorly maintained passenger buses, inadequate road safety features and weak enforcement of local transport laws have been blamed for many vehicular accidents in the Philippines. 2 Syria air strike: Activists said an air strike on a village in northwestern Syria killed 10 people a woman and nine children. Britains Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said those killed in Maaret Harmeh on Tuesday were all relatives. The strike came a day after at least 10 people died in an air strike likely carried out by the U.S.-led coalition on the eastern Syrian town of Boukamal. The U.S. has accused the Syrian government of being behind the attack and fired missiles at a Syrian army base. Syria denies the charges. 1 Election approval: The British Parliament on Wednesday approved Prime Minister Theresa Mays call for an early general election, setting the stage for a contest that will help define the terms of the countrys withdrawal from the European Union. The overwhelming vote, 522 to 13, easily cleared the two-thirds threshold May needed to call a snap election, which is scheduled for June 8. Last month, May formally triggered the two-year procedure for leaving the European Union, setting a March 2019 deadline for departure. The talks are expected to be difficult. 2 Manhunt ends: Ugandas military said Wednesday that it is ending its pursuit of internationally known warlord Joseph Kony, saying its mission has now been successfully achieved even though the rebel leader remains at large. The decision means the manhunt for one of the worlds most notorious fugitives is effectively over. Uganda has started pulling its forces from Central African Republic, which for years had been the base for troops chasing the rebels. The news comes shortly after the United States decision last month to pull out of the manhunt for Kony, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, saying the active membership of his Lords Resistance Army is now less than 100. BEIRUT The evacuation of thousands of Syrians from four besieged areas resumed Wednesday, state media and activists said, days after a bombing killed more than 120 evacuees and delayed the widely criticized population transfer. The Central Military Media said 3,000 residents of two pro-government villages, Foua and Kfarya, left Wednesday in 45 buses bound for government-controlled Aleppo. Another 11 buses carrying some 500 people, including opposition fighters, left Madaya and Zabadani, near Damascus, heading toward the northern rebel-held Idlib province. The opposition-run Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported the transfer, which it says includes 800 armed men from both sides. Some 160, mostly gunmen, had remained in Zabadani. Soon after the buses left Zabadani, state TV declared the town free of gunmen. The government-controlled Central Military Media later said an area of about 19 square miles has become clear of all opposition fighters. After repeated delays, the first phase of the deal began on Friday. Some thirty hours after the first two batches reached exchange points, a massive explosion struck near buses carrying evacuees from the pro-government areas, killing more than 120, mostly women and children. Many of the rebel fighters who guarded the buses were also killed. No one claimed responsibility for the attack, which the government blamed on the rebels. Reflecting fears of further violence, Amer Burhan, a medical worker from Zabadani, said buses carrying residents from the pro-government areas were held in the opposition areas until the buses carrying rebels had departed. Hussein al-Ragheb, a member of the Syrian parliament, told state TV that an additional 8,000 residents have yet to be evacuated from Foua and Kfarya. Rami Abdurrahman, the head of the Observatory, said more evacuations from rebel-held areas south of Damascus are also expected. The transfer deal is not overseen by the United Nations. Critics say the string of evacuations, which could see some 30,000 people moved across battle lines over the next 60 days, rewards siege tactics and amounts to forced displacement along political and sectarian lines. All four areas have been under siege for years, their fate linked through a series of reciprocal agreements that the U.N. says have hindered aid deliveries. Residents of Madaya and Zabadani, formerly summer resorts, joined the 2011 uprising against President Bashar Assad. Both came under government siege in the ensuing civil war. Residents of Foua and Kfarya, besieged by the rebels, have lived under a steady hail of rockets and mortars for years, but were supplied with food and medicine through military airdrops. Also Wednesday, Israeli defense officials said Syria still has up to 3 tons of chemical weapons in the first specific intelligence assessment of President Bashar Assads weapons capabilities since a deadly chemical attack earlier this month. Endorsement, April 12: Vote No in the Soda War Feelin Guilty This isn't about supporting "big soda" (Coca-Cola in Santa Fe happens to be a family-run business). This tax is being led by guilt and misinformation. The mayor and his pre-K posse pushed for this bill to go to special election ... using children as their platform to guilt the people into passing this regressive tax. This tax will negatively affect middle class and the poor more than any other demographic. ... It won't only cause grocery/restaurant prices to go up, it'll also hurt local businesses resulting in closures. This tax will ruin the economy in Santa Fe, don't be guilted into throwing away your vote! Amanda Apodaca via Facebook Siding with Monsanto? By supporting Big Soda, not only are you contributing to many health problems, but you also supporting the growth of GMO corn and the pesticides used in growing it to make high fructose corn syrup. ... So yes, SFR, you are supporting Monsanto, the increase in diabetes in children and their parents, the decline in pollinators, soil damage and huge healthcare costs, from pesticides and sugar-related illnesses. Vote YES! Elisa Bernardez Boyles via Facebook Soda = Way of Life? Isn't the proposed tax on all sugared drinks, from fruit punch to Red Bull? If yes, then 2 cents an ounce on a 64-ounce fruit punch is an additional $1.28 per bottle. That's a huge increase for low-income people. And for those who say "just drink water:" Well, can you stop drinking beer, smoking cigarettes, eating meat? Probably not, it's just a way of life. Tax if you must, but reduce the amount. Judy Walker via Facebook Half-Baked You're on target in opposing this tax. Mismanagement, divisiveness and a failed program are the likely results of this half-baked [tax], if this passes. And taking public money and doling it out so people can go to private schools sure looks like a voucher system. Supporters of more pre-K should be putting pressure on it (and finding funding) through the pubic school system. And as for outside groups dumping money into this election, don't forget reports that former NYC Mayor Bloomberg has spent $180,000 (so far) in support of this tax. Berl Brechner Santa Fe Nope Worried about your ad revenues from the soda companies, eh? Scott Phillips via Facebook Editor's Note: Advertising sales do not influence our editorial coverage, nor does SFR currently recieve any revenue from any soda company or from any of the PACs that are collecting and spending money on either side in the election. Web Extra, April 12: SFUAD to Close Please and Thank You About two years ago, I attended a very good performance at [Santa Fe University of Art and Design's] Garson Theatre. I wrote the school a complimentary letter and said the theatre was alive and well at the university. I did not receive even a thank-you letter or anythingnot even a request to join in "giving to the school." The death of the school comes as no surprise. In this day and age you must be political even in an academic atmosphere. This closure is a great loss. Andrew Ritch Santa Fe But We Like Aspens Incredibly sad for our historic art community and our artists. What are we becoming if we don't provide on this very fundamental level? Enter Texan Oil money for overpriced food, clothing and paintings of aspens. What a disgrace. Marissa Sutfin via Facebook Yikes Anyone that can't get and keep an art school going here is either a moron or a con artist. Follow the money to see which. Paul Schmolke via Facebook Feelin For Ya Our family is devastated by the closing of SFUAD. My husband is a professor at the School of Film. Our devastation is not for the loss of his job, but for the students he teaches and mentors. These students, many of whom come from across the United States and from many other countries, made great sacrifices to be here and attend SFUAD. I cannot imagine the stress and disappointment these students are feeling right now. Rachael Sewards via Facebook Cover, April 12: Everybody Loves (Hates) Steve More Stories If you've already seen some sort of media piece about [Steve] Jobs, then I encourage you to instead invest your time learning about literally anyone else who impacted the current state of technology. For instance, the other Steve of Apple, who contributed equal or more "revolution" to the company. Or Dennis Ritchie, who passed the same week as Steve Jobs, whose contributions to the computing world dwarf anything from Apple. Or Tim Berners-Lee, who pioneered the web. Kevn Bergam via Facebook News, April 5: In Defense of Books Love Your Libraries I'm a librarian at the Southside branch library in Santa Fe. I came from Texas five years ago to work at the State Library because library jobs in Texas were scarce. ... Libraries in New Mexico (and throughout the world) do a vital job of providing access to information to the public. They truly are the universities of the common man. ... It is a statistical fact that whenever the economy sours and library funding is cut, public demand for library services increases. I've lived through it. I've seen it, and we do our best to help those in need when the keepers of the public coffers deem library service to be "non- essential." I encourage every citizen to use their local library. Let us know where we fall short. Encourage us where we have done well and let your fellow citizens know of the value of the resources we do our best to provide to everyone. If I'm not mistaken, that's what all Americans aspire to, and hold up as part of the American Dream. Bruce Mergele SFReporter.com SFR will correct factual errors online and in print. Please let us know if we make a mistake, editor@sfreporter.com or 988-7530. Mail letters to PO Box 2306, Santa Fe, NM 87504, deliver to 132 E Marcy St., or email them to editor@sfreporter.com. Letters (no more than 200 words) should refer to specic articles in the Reporter. Letters will be edited for space and clarity. Santa Fe Reporter Alleging that Santa Fe Public Schools Superintendent Veronica Garcia is acting without considering all the facts, the New Mexico Public Education Department accused Garcia of choosing to create fear by discussing the possible closure of two elementary schools. Garcia told SFR before Tuesday's school board meeting that the characterization was "insulting" and that the facts show increased funding from the state barely gets the school district back to the funding levels it had before going into the current school year. She said Santa Fe schools are in a funding crisis, just like other districts across the state that have decided to cut programs, positions or pay. "Are we all lying? Are we all trying to create fear? I don't think so," Garcia said. "What value would there be for us in doing that?" The district is currently studying the possibility of closing EJ Martinez and Nava elementary schools in the 2017-18 school year. Nava would be repurposed as an alternative high school campus. EJ Martinez, which sits near the Christus St. Vincent Medical Center at Galisteo Street and San Mateo Road, is a property that could likely earn the district a pretty penny if it were sold. Students who attend the schools would be redistricted into other elementary schools that have space. Last week, the state told districts it expected to be able to provide more money through a 1.86 percent boost to a key number used to calculate district funding. Garcia told SFR from the PED-sponsored budget briefing that the increase might replace some of the money the district lost as lawmakers twice adjusted that numbercalled "unit value"downward in an effort to balance the budget as the economy faltered. Tuesday night, the superintendent said that after running the numbers with SFPS financial staff, the district's best-case scenario was a $300,000 gain. But on Wednesday, district staff clarified that the gain was only compared to the funding cuts made in last fall's special session. When held up against the cuts from the recent legislative session and against the rest of the district's proposed budget, that gain evaporates, and the best-case scenario becomes a $2.74 million shortfall. In addition to closing schools, which might save $1.3 million, the district has looked at potential savings such as cutting administrative expenses, the number of coaches and meals allowed for athletics programs, and salaries for principals. Even with a $2.74 million budget hole to dig itself out of, the district's current plan continues a policy of picking up increases in insurance premiums instead of passing them on to teachers. "There are no good choices," Garcia said of the budget scenarios on Tuesday. Much of the planning can't be solidified until after a legislative special session officially sets funding levels. That session has been promised by the governor but not yet scheduled. "I don't care how many different ways they want to change this with smoke and mirrors," she said. "We'll stick to the facts." But the Public Education Department stuck by its assessment that the district's discussion of closing Nava and EJ Martinez was premature. "Instead of carefully considering the facts, Superintendent Garcia is choosing to create fear," said PED spokeswoman Amy Hasenberg in a statement emailed to SFR. "The district is failing to take into account added revenues for the 2017-2018 school year. We encourage the district to reevaluate based on these numbers before closing schools. As a former Secretary of Education, we expect Superintendent Garcia to understand this process and to not take closing a school lightly. Her decision, as it currently stands, is not fully formed and New Mexican students deserve better." The SFPS Board of Education was set to discuss the school closures at its regular board meeting Tuesday night. Meetings at each of the elementary schools are planned this week as well. The board will consider redistricting plans next week and could decide on final action by early May. This article has been updated with further details about SFPS budget projections. Santa Fe Reporter NEW DELHI: Mobile subscribers cannot pay more than Rs 20,000 in one tranche to buy a service or download content by using their pre-paid account balance or through post-paid bills, the Department of Telecom said today. "The subscribers can download all paid digital contents through their mobile phones and the payments for such contents can be made using their mobile pre-paid account balance or post-paid bill payment methodology with a maximum value not exceeding Rs 20,000 each time," a DoT order said. Many subscribers pay for downloading digital contents like mobile application, ebooks, movies etc through their pre-paid balance or post-paid bill system option. The system is helpful for those subscribers who do not have access to debit, credit cards or net banking system. The DoT said that payment made by using mobile balance or bill will not be deducted from telecom operators total revenue to calculate adjusted gross revenue (AGR). "Such purchase of digital content shall not be treated as pass-through revenue for the purpose of computing AGR for licence fee and spectrum usage charge," the note said. Telecom operators in the country are required to pay a percentage of adjusted gross revenue to the government as it is net amount earned by them from sale of telecom services. Read Also: U.S. Reaffirms India's Designation As Major Defence Partner 'Indian Services Should Profit From Industrial Revolution 4.0' NEW DELHI: A top UN climate official today expressed interest in "engaging" with Indian institutions working in the field of climate change while acknowledging India as an "important" partner in tackling the global issue. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa met Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave, who stressed the importance of adopting sustainable lifestyles to address the issue of climate change. Espinosa is on a two-day visit to India and this is her first visit to the country as the UNFCCC Executive Secretary. During the meeting, Dave highlighted India's Science Express Climate Action Special (SECAS) train being run as an ongoing climate change awareness programme for various sections of society, especially students. "The Environment Minister also emphasised the importance of sustainable lifestyles in addressing climate change issues," it said. Earlier, in a meeting with Environment secretary Ajay Narayan Jha, Espinosa acknowledged India as an important partner in pursuing the agenda of climate change. "She expressed interest in engaging with Indian institutions playing a major role in climate action in India. She dwelt upon the synergy between the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and climate actions," the official statement said. She praised India's actions as an example for many other countries and emphasised the need to showcase these efforts on international platforms. Meanwhile, Jha highlighted India's actions to address climate change, including the goals to reduce the emission intensity of its GDP by 33-35 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030, increasing the share of non-fossil fuel sources in the electricity mix, afforestation efforts and the world's largest renewable energy programme being pursued in India. He also underlined the climate change governance structure to monitor climate change actions in India, which includes the Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change chaired by the Prime Minister and Executive Committee on Climate Change, chaired by the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister. The issues of adequate means of implementation including climate finance, capacity building and technological support to developing countries were also flagged during the meeting. "It was also highlighted that the core principles of equity and CBDR-RC (Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities) need to be operationalised in the Paris Rule Book," the statement said. Read Also: U.S. Reaffirms India's Designation As Major Defence Partner 'Indian Services Should Profit From Industrial Revolution 4.0' NEW DELHI: Artificial intelligence startup Innefu Labs today said it has raised USD 2 million (over 12 crore) in funding from IndiaNivesh Venture Capital Fund. The series A funding will see IndiaNivesh acquiring a minority stake in the company, Innefu Labs said in a statement. The transaction was facilitated by Sweat Equity Partners. The funds raised will be primarily used to enhance the AI platform that supports various law enforcement agencies for predictive intelligence and facial biometrics. It will also invest in talent acquisition and expansion into markets like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, it said. The city-based startup was founded in 2011 by Tarun Wig and Abhishek Sharma. The company works with government agencies, corporates and law enforcement agencies. Its clients include DRDO, Border Security Force (BSF) and CRPF as well as corporates like Mahindra and Mahindra. "We are a completely 'Made in India' company providing indigenous product solutions to our customers in India and abroad. We have the right blend of domain expertise with tech know-how to compete with the best in the world," Sharma said. IndiaNivesh Venture Capital is a 150 crore fund that has invested in 5 businesses so far. Read Also: HackerEarth Raises $4.5 Mn Funding From DHI Group, Others AnyTimeLoan Wins 'Get In The Ring Hyderabad' 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 And on the second-season finale of "The Expanse" (11 p.m., Syfy): The crew of the Rocinante have just averted disaster is faced with an unexpected attack and has to battle to save their ship. Meanwhile Avasarala is in grave danger, and only Bobbie Draper can save her. Best Canadian Blog 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 About Kate Why this blog? Until this moment I have been forced to listen while media and politicians alike have told me "what Canadians think". In all that time they never once asked. This is just the voice of an ordinary Canadian yelling back at the radio - "You don't speak for me." (goes to a private mailserver in Europe) I can't answer or use every tip, but all are appreciated! Katewerk Art Support SDA I am not a registered charity. I cannot issue tax receipts. Poor Richard's Retirement Economics for the Disinterested Montrose County Trump The Establishment "I enjoyed these poems immensely." - William Peter Blatty, author of The Exorcist Want lies? Hire a regular consultant. Want truth? Hire an asshole. Weather Shop Click to inquire about rates. Dow Jones What They Say About SDA "Smalldeadanimals doesn't speak for the people of Saskatchewan" Former Sask Premier Lorne Calvert "I got so much traffic after your post my web host asked me to buy a larger traffic allowance." Dr.Ross McKitrick Holy hell, woman. When you send someone traffic, you send someone TRAFFIC. My hosting provider thought I was being DDoSed. - Sean McCormick "The New York Times link to me yesterday [...] generated one-fifth of the traffic I normally get from a link from Small Dead Animals." Kathy Shaidle "Thank you for your link. A wave of your Canadian readers came to my blog! Really impressive." Juan Giner - INNOVATION International Media Consulting Group I got links from the Weekly Standard, Hot Air and Instapundit yesterday - but SDA was running at least equal to those in visitors clicking through to my blog. Jeff Dobbs "You may be a nasty right winger, but you're not nasty all the time!" Warren Kinsella "Go back to collecting your welfare livelihood."Michael E. Zilkowsky Intelliweather Seismic Map Comments Policy Read this Best Of SDA Hide The Decline The Bottle Genie (ClimateGate links) You Might Be A Liberal Uncrossing The Line Bob Fife: Knuckledragger A Modest Proposal (NP) Settled Science Series Y2Kyoto Series SDA: Reader Occupation Survey Brett Lamb Sheltered Workshop Flakes On A Plane All Your Weather Are Belong To Us Song Of The Sled The Raise A Flag Debacle (Now on Youtube!) (.mwv Video) Abuse Ruins Life Of Girl Trudeaupiate Kleptocrat Jeans Child Labour I Concede Small Dead Feminist Protein Hoser: THK Interview The Werewolf Extinction Dear Laura (VRWC) We Wait Blogging The Oscars Jackson Converts To Islam Just Shut The HELL Up Manipulating Condi Gay Equality Rights A residential college at the Australian National University has banned students from playing Daddy Cool hit Eagle Rock at certain events in a bid to prevent an associated tradition in which male students join arms, encircle women and drop their pants. ANU student and Burton and Garran Hall resident Emily Jones wrote an article on her Eagle Rock experience in university publication Woroni last year and, in a follow-up piece published this week, outlined the response. Daddy Cool band members Wayne Duncan, Ross Wilson, Ross Hannaford and Gary Young. Credit:Simon Schluter "I was told that it was all 'just a bit of fun' and that I was attacking a much-loved B&G 'tradition' that was central to college culture," she wrote. "The backlash continued to escalate ... with some residents blasting the Eagle Rock song down the hallways in protest. The final year of her twenties was a rough one for Rebecca Rosengrave. Living in Belconnen at the time, she left both a high-flying career and an unhealthy relationship, and in an attempt to do some soul searching, sold all of her belongings and moved to the UK. Three months into her new life, she received a call that her father had died. Author Rebecca Rosengrave. "I was actually boarding a flight for a fun weekend away in Norway and my sister called me and said 'mum's found dad. I think you'd better come home'," said Rosengrave. "I'd cleared customs and was literally at the boarding gate, it was just horrendous. So I ended up coming back to Australia." Canberra Now: News in 90 seconds for Thursday April 20, 2017 Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. Were working to restore it. Please try again later. Dismiss The big banks have pledged to overhaul bonuses paid to their retail staff to try to get better outcomes for customers, but the move has already drawn criticism for not going far enough. The Sedgwick Retail Banking Remuneration Review, commissioned by the peak body for Australia's banks, the Australian Bankers' Association, recommended on Wednesday that staff should no longer receive bonuses for simply hitting sales targets and the sales commissions given to third party mortgage brokers be replaced with a fee for service model. The review, by former Australian public service commissioner Stephen Sedgwick, follows a string of scandals in the banking sector linked to staff commissions, including inappropriate financial advice, aggressive loan marketing tactics and insurance policy switching. It also comes amid calls for a royal commission into the sector by the ALP and the Greens over bad banking behaviour. A Queensland company is seeking council approval to build what it says would be Australia's largest solar farm, with hopes it could power more than 300,000 homes. Solar Q lodged a development application with Gympie Regional Council on Tuesday for a 350-megawatt site, to be located about 30km northwest of Gympie, in the first of three development stages. South of Canberra, the Royalla is one of the largest operational solar farms in Australia. Credit:Matthew Bedford Managing director Scott Armstrong said, if approved, the $2 billion solar farm and battery storage facility would aim to source labour from Gympie, and would not take up prime agricultural land. Mr Armstrong said the project's "ultimate design" would result in the facility increasing to 800-megawatts - which translates into electricity for about 315,000 homes - and plugging directly into the Lower Wonga substation. On the one-year anniversary of 18-year-old son Joshua Park-Fing's death, his parents are still waiting for answers to how it happened on a Work for the Dole site. Josh died on April 19 last year after falling from a flatbed trailer towed by a tractor on a Work for the Dole site in Toowoomba. Josh Park-Fing died after falling from a flatbed trailer. His father, Iain Park, told Fairfax Media he has been struggling to come to terms with his son's death and hopes that safety lessons can be learned to help prevent the same thing from happening again. "At the end of the day, I would just like the answers and the truth and God willing, it will lead to it never happening again," Mr Park said. The federal government will impose dumping duties on paper exported from four countries including China and Indonesia in a crackdown on a practice that was causing "material injury" to Australia's sole copy paper manufacturer. The anti-dumping duty the Australian government is enforcing is a protectionist tariff imposed on foreign imports that it believes are priced below fair market value. Craig Laundy is concerned about "unfair dumping". Credit:Janie Barrett The decision will be celebrated at Australian Paper's mill at Maryvale, where jobs are at risk from imports sold below the cost of production. It will also be a huge relief for the Latrobe Valley, already reeling after the closure of the Hazelwood coal-fired power plant. However, it comes at a sensitive time in free-trade negotiations with Indonesia. The first component already exists and involves prisoners wearing electronic ankle bracelets that monitor their location and alert authorities if the prisoners breach the geographical areas to which they are confined. Electronic monitoring is not, however, an effective substitute to imprisonment because if offenders are required to remain within a geographical area (such as their residence or immediate neighbourhood), they could commit offences within this space or breach the prescribed area and commit offences in the immediate vicinity. A new system could be adapted to overcome this shortcoming of electronic monitoring. It involves monitoring offenders' every activity in real time. While it is possible to install surveillance cameras and engage people to constantly monitor the footage, this process would be prohibitively expensive. Fortunately, computer monitoring is now so advanced that this monitoring can be fully automated. Software can be developed to detect suspicious human activity and trigger an alarm. It would activate live video footage of the activity that could then be viewed by a corrections officer. The technology would be similar to that used in driverless cars. It would be so sensitive that it could tell the difference between an offender picking up a bread knife and a steak knife or performing rapid movements, such a punches or kicks. The last component of technological imprisonment involves using conduct energy devices to immobilise remotely and safely offenders who are in the process of committing serious criminal acts or attempting to escape the confines of their designated zone. The device would ensure that offenders could be immediately be immobilised and tracked until corrections staff or police attended. Conduct energy devices, in the form of tasers, have been operational for several decades. Technology could be developed whereby a conduct energy devise was activated by remote control, as opposed to requiring a trigger to be pulled by an officer within close physical proximity to the offender. With some refinements of existing technological systems, technological incarceration could be developed and employed to achieve all of the advantages of conventional imprisonment and yield additional, incalculable benefits. The community would save billions of dollars. Offenders would suffer less brutality and almost certainly reoffend at a lower rate than at present, thereby increasing public safety. Implemented properly, technological incarceration could result in the total closure of all but a fraction of existing prisons. The only offenders who would continue to be accommodated in conventional prisons would be offenders who breach the conditions of technological confinement for example, by attempting to escape or commit a serious offence and offenders who have committed the most serious offences, in the form of murder and rape. Last week, I told my dad I was going to speak outside the Indian high commission at an anti-Adani rally against the proposed Carmichael mine. Soon after, he called me up and he was not happy. My parents are Indian migrants and I am a young, second-generation, Indian-Australian woman. My father reminded me that there are 300 million people living without electricity in India, and of the times we ourselves were without power in our ancestral village and our home in the coastal city of Visakhapatnam. Adani has parted ways with construction contractor Downer. Credit:AAP He's right: energy poverty is an obstacle to inclusive development in India, and difficult to empathise with here in Australia, where we generally have the privilege of energy security. But the coal from Adani's Carmichael mine is not the answer for those living without electricity. It will further pollute the air they breathe and the water they drink. It will cause dangerous climate change and extreme weather that always affects the poorest first. Australia's coal will make their lives harder in the long run. Mother's Day has always been a gimmick (C8) writes Meri Will, Dee Why. "I find the efforts large retailers now go to commercialise Anzac Day of greater concern. Sweet oat biscuits are a given, but promoted with them are damper-inspired rolls, so-called old-fashioned lemonade, little digger backpacks and chocolate coins for two-up. Makes a mockery of the values of Anzac Day, really." Yatra Sherwood (C8, Mother's Day) apart from two cafes, two corner shops, a hairdresser and mechanic's workshop, Ashbury has no other sign of a 'business life'. You have to leave the suburb to track any Mother's Day paraphernalia." Con Vaitsas, Ashbury. Somebody at Australia Post has a macabre sense of humour. On the magazine subscriptions page of their Mothers' Day Gift Catalogue, the sample cover of That's Life magazine bears the headline, 'DAD KILLED MUM THEN MARRIED HER SISTER'. Happy Aunties' Day?" Adrian Knights, Mittagong. "I was intrigued by Anne Burton's comment (C8) about a 'newly opened' legal casino operating in Hobart in 1944. In my four-year, 50,000 word study Blueprint for the casino industry: Federal Hotels and Wrest Point, I found no evidence that such a legal casino operated around that time in Hobart. After lengthy Tasmanian parliamentary debates, Federal Hotels was granted a licence to build and operate the casino, at Wrest Point that opened February 10, 1973. My research indicates Wrest Point was the first legal casino to operate in Australia." Thanks Keith Sutton, Leichhardt. "Not only no pies (C8). Imagine going to a footy ground called Lottoland?" Patrick McMahon, Beverley Park. The push to decentralise public service agencies rooted in Canberra has built enough momentum for the government to begin treating a wayward policy as received wisdom. From its beginnings when Barnaby Joyce plucked the national pesticides authority from the ACT for Armidale, a small city in his New England electorate, decentralisation has taken on a life of its own in a nationwide public debate growing more attuned to regional grievances. When a Senate inquiry into the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority's troubled move north started, regions flooded its submissions webpage with calls to bring an agency to their patch too. It was an early sign that decentralisation, regardless of its problems, could touch other agencies. By announcing it will expand its effort to move the public service into the bush, the Coalition has decided to turn one ill-advised relocation into an all-out attack on Canberra. The most disappointing thing about Malcolm Turnbull's desperate "Australian jobs for Australians first" is that it is so out of touch with the reality of modern Australia. Who are these "Australians" that our PM suddenly cares so much about. Are they the bronze Anglo-Celtic lifesafers who were seen on posters outside Sydney hotels in the 1930s? Look around, Malcolm, that Australia (if it ever existed) has long gone. Walk down the streets of Bankstown or Civic and count how many people of southern European, Asian, and African heritage populate our cities. These people are just as much Australian as those who can trace their ancestry back to a convict or squatter in the nineteenth century. Just like Pauline Hanson's call to ban Muslims, the Australians first rhetoric only serves to divide and weaken us. Mike Reddy, Curtin Little has changed Mr Modi must be really miffed. The Indian PM requested a lowering of the immigration bar, particularly for temporary workers, and Malcolm Turnbull moves to restrict 457 visa eligibility and change the name of the scheme. It remains to be seen just how significant the changes are. For instance nurses and cooks "will remain eligible for a visa under the new scheme". ("Malcolm Turnbull to abolish 457 immigration work visas", canberratimes.com.au, April 18). Both jobs are chronically understaffed and have been for decades. That's because the pay is so lousy. A kitchen hand can take home more than a chef but only because it takes longer to clean up after service has closed. A student nurse had to work two double shifts a week to make a liveable wage. I see no evidence that things have really changed. Gary J. Wilson, Macgregor Nuclear ignorance In attempting to destroy Professor Gareth Evans, Dr Zankin (letters, April 17) shows his own ignorance of nuclear matters, and thereby destroys his own argument. I suggest he learns the difference between nuclear propulsion and nuclear weapons. Professor Evans was supporting the construction of nuclear powered (propulsion) submarines for Australia they have nothing to do with nuclear non-proliferation unless they also carry nuclear weapons, and being Australian that would not be likely. The advantage of nuclear powered submarines is that they can stay underwater forlonger than the diesel counterparts. So Professor Evans is quite right to support the construction of nuclear powered submarines while also supporting the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. There is no conflict between the two stances. Alan Parkinson, Weetangera Billion dollar idea Instead of giving a billion dollar soft loan for the development of Carmichael Coal Mine project in Queensland, the Australian government could invest that amount in a nuclear powered power station in India by supplying free the first billion dollar worth of uranium. The project should be fully installed, run and supervised by the International Atomic Energy Commission. In this way we can reduce global warming and save Australia to combat the harmful effects of open cut coal mining. It would be a good investment for Australia for a long time to come. Sankar Kumar Chatterjee, Evatt Democratic failures The problem with so-called democracies is that the populace cannot be relied upon to believe in their own ability to choose. They would rather believe in a strong man who can make decisions for them. They are willing to set aside safeguards against tyranny in order to secure "stability". Turkey is a prime example of how so-called democracy can deliver tyranny. It shrieks of the fallacy of our Western systems that democracy is our protector against fascism. The election of Donald Trump is another example of where so-called democracy has failed to deliver the goods. Here is a man who is willing to use unprovoked aggression to secure his version of stability even though he pledged his non-interventionist stance prior to the election. The Western press is so happy to forget these pledges because they support the use of pre-emptive strikes against nations which do not fall into line with their version of reasonable behaviour. The old adage of live and let live is a thing of the past. Erdogan and Trump are peas out of the same pod. The greatest shame is that so-called democracy gave them false legitimacy. Adam Bonner, Brogo NSW Trump's conflict It has been alleged Donald Trump owns shares in the company that manufactures Tomahawk missiles, the ones he used recently in Syria. He's apparently aiming missiles from the same company at North Korea. It would be a grave conflict of interest for a president to use global instability for personal profit. Should defence industries be removed from the stock market? Laurelle Atkinson, St.Helens, Tasmania AOC's independence fight State-supported doping regimes have no place in sport; neither does the use of sportspeople as political pawns. The Malcolm Fraser driven boycott denying the right of our Olympians to compete in the 1980 Moscow-held Olympic Games has scarred Australian sport to this day. All this is relevant to the ongoing battle to secure the prestigious position of President of the Australian Olympic Committee next month. Incumbent Coates has successfully spearheaded the importance of independence from successive governments to avoid the repeat of 1980 while at the same time spearheading global anti-doping efforts. Challenger Roche has had her own successes as an Olympian and many consider her a welcome addition to the presidential race. The pinnacle of her success was Olympic Gold in Atlanta in 1996, a feat not possible in 1980. She would be wise to distance herself from the glowing orchestrated support of prime ministers and politicians past and present lest she be viewed a political puppet by those she aspires to represent. Stephen Haynes, Jerrabomberra NSW Our refugee shame The violence perpetrated by local citizens on Manus Island against detainees and guards illustrates the desperate situation faced by refugees there. Bullet holes in the rooms of refugees bear witness to the violence. The resentment expressed by local residents reveals an intolerable situation. It is probable that not all of the refugees will ultimately be accepted by the USA and certainly not by Australia. One wonders what solution the Australian government hopes to offer to those rejected for resettlement elsewhere. The government is responsible for the safety of those incarcerated. While Mr Dutton has boasted of the success of his policy of turning back the boats, clearly no solution has been found for the dilemma. The government seems unaware that the Australian public is increasingly ashamed of the living conditions provided for the refugees. In a recent Morgan Poll of 1800 Australians, 50 per cent supported the call to "Bring them here". In the ACT 74 per cent supported this call. It is time the Australian government listened. Helen Reid, New Acton South A political truth More than a century and a half ago the "great thinker, writer, scholar" and friend of Charles Dickens, English historian Henry Thomas Buckle, wrote: "They may talk as they will about reforms which Government has introduced and improvements to be expected from legislation, but whoever will take a wider and more commanding view of human affairs, will soon discover that such hopes are chimerical. They will learn that lawgivers are nearly always the obstructors of society instead of its helpers, and that in the extremely few cases where their measures have turned out well their success has been owing to the fact that, contrary to their usual custom, they have implicitly obeyed the spirit of their time, and have been as they always should be the mere servants of the people, to whose wishes they are bound to give a public and legal sanction..." It could have been written yesterday, particularly about politicians from the major governing parties who continue to preside over the transfer of public wealth, land, systems, and resources into private hands for far less than their true worth. Jon Stirzaker, Latham Telcos need to share At least banks allow customers to cross-transact with most rival ATMs in a variety of locations in the nation, albeit with varying fees to do so. Why can't telcos "piggy back" in areas where one or more have a signal where a competitor does not? Perhaps a small fee might apply to customers to utilise their service? The major player may kick and scream, but it used to be owned by all Australians. Greg Simmons, Lyons Orwellian scripting Re: "Public servants given scripts" (April 19, p3) and the double speak provided by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority. I would suggest the following commentary: "I lost my job because of Barnaby's pork barrelling", "The government's own cost/benefit analysis showed the net cost of the move", "Your jobs could be next if the narrowly based representative group Regional Australia's recommendations are accepted". Unfortunately, this sort of amateur Orwellian scripting was also in use during various unsuccessful enterprise bargaining in the APS more broadly. Rohan Goyne, Evatt Marking Earth Day Earth Day is on this Saturday, and we should feel ashamed about the way we treat our natural world. Logging of old-growth forests, soil salinity and acidity, invasive species and weeds, air pollution in cities, pesticide and herbicide over-use, species extinction, erosion, overgrazing, and climate change are combining to cause catastrophic degradation. And now the Great Barrier Reef is dying. This is the second mass bleaching in a row, following the devastating mass bleaching last year. The reef needs about 10 years between mass bleaching events to recover, so this puts the reef in its terminal stage. It's listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, along with the Tasmanian Wilderness and Kakadu National Park. Are they going to be next to start dying? The leaders of today and yesterday should explain to the upcoming generation why too little too late was the path they chose to follow. Stuart Walkley, Lyneham What values exactly? I hear Malcolm Turnbull talk about "Australian values" in relation to the abolition of 457 visas and I immediately think of Manus and Nauru. Please explain? Jeff Bradley, Isaacs Australian workers vote, 457 visa holders don't. Glenys Hammer, Narrabundah Calendar classic In April, May called a June election. J. Beeay, Canberra On the lookout See you up there, Ken. ("There is no point hiding they know exactly where to find us", letters, April 18). I suppose they've got a nice bar? Barrie Smillie, Duffy No moves on attack Anti-government forces in Syria killed more than 120 people being evacuated from al-Foua and Kfraya into government-controlled areas. Why was this abhorrent attack not a "line crossing" event and why did it not prompt an international outcry condemning these anti-government forces? Double standards anyone? Khizar Rana, Walkerville, SA Roadblock Robert Frost wrote a great poem, The Road Not Taken, which ends with the lines: "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference." It is not surprising that this poem's title is regularly misquoted as The Road Not Travelled (Bernice Chen, letters, April 18), or The Road Less Travelled. Michael McCarthy, Deakin Light rail pros, cons Unlike John Blount (letters, April 15) I would find it most surprising if Jack Palmer would be both uninterested and disinterested in the increase in property values and rents on the light rail corridor and the advantages of a subsidised (by the rest of the ACT) tram system passing in proximity to the suburb he lives in. Ric Hingee, Duffy Spirited defence I am sorry Anne Prendergast and Rosemary De Bear (letters, April 18) were offended by Pope's "Easter Spirit" cartoon. I have two genuine questions. Do they believe in freedom of the press? Are they equally offended by anti-Islam cartoons? Eric Hunter, Cook Strife fear Given the parlous state of world affairs I compare the actions of Donald Trump and Theresa May to Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher all over again. Dumb and even dumber with much more at stake. If the Soviets and China don't play ball this time we are in deep strife. Linus Cole, Palmerston Email: letters.editor@canberratimes.com.au. Send from the message eld, not as an attached le. Fax: 6280 2282. Mail: Letters to the Editor, The Canberra Times, PO Box 7155, Canberra Mail Centre, ACT 2610. Contradicting expectations and her own explicit promises, British Prime Minister Theresa May has called a snap election. May is committed to the most misguided policy of any British government in memory - the foolish experiment in deglobalisation known as Brexit. Yet such is the splintering of British politics, and the implosion of the opposition Labour Party under the non-leadership of a far-left nonentity, that May will probably win in a landslide. For Britain's immediate prospects, this may be a good thing: If the country is going to leave the European Union, it might as well have a prime minister who can negotiate from strength. But as a barometer of politics in Europe, the triumph of a deglobaliser is depressing. Meanwhile, across a narrow sea channel, another political drama makes the British one seem tame. That other drama is in France. In the first round of its presidential election, to be held on Sunday, some three-quarters of the French electorate are expected to back candidates who stand variously for corruption, a 100 per cent top tax rate, Islamophobia, Russophilia, Holocaust denial, the undermining of NATO and the traumatic breakup of Europe's political and monetary union. France was once the cradle of the Western Enlightenment. Now it threatens to become a spectacle of decadent collapse. French candidates from left: Francois Fillon, Emmanuel Macron, Jean-Luc Melenchon, Marine Le Pen and Benoit Hamon. Credit:AP Fortunately, France chooses its presidents in stages, so all is not quite lost. Emmanuel Macron, a fresh and vaguely pro-market ex-investment banker, will probably win about a quarter of the votes Sunday, perhaps placing him among the two candidates who make it to the runoff on May 7. If that happens, French voters may prefer him to whichever version of crazy he is up against. But there are no guarantees here. And the crazies are truly bad. Start with the strongest of them, the far-right immigration-hater, Marine Le Pen. It was she who recently denied any French responsibility for the deportation of Jews to Auschwitz, a claim as shameful and post-truthy as any populist fable. Le Pen has endorsed Russia's swallowing of Crimea. Her party has accepted a large loan from a Kremlin-linked bank. And she wants to pull France out of NATO's military command and out of the European Union and the bloc's common currency. "The European Union will die!" she says, to rapturous screams from her supporters. It could have been satire. It should have been satire. The PM was up early to boast of his move to scrap the 457 visa to replace it with two other visas that do exactly the same thing. Asked by the host of ABC radio's AM program how many Australian jobs this sweeping and courageous repackaging of existing policy would create, Malcolm Turnbull flicked the switch to full-on Aussie. "The reality is," he began, "that we have to make sure that Australian jobs are for Australians first and foremost. This is about putting Australians first, Australian jobs first, Australian values first." Where were you the night Bob Hawke abolished unemployment benefits? I was taking notes, stunned. Then I kept listening and heard he was planning a replacement; something called Newstart. It would be similar, but with different conditions. Malcolm Turnbull just pulled the same trick. "Today we are announcing that we are abolishing the 457 visas," he began on Tuesday. "We are ensuring that Australian jobs and Australian values are placed first." Only several moments later did he reveal that he would be replacing 457 visas with two new types of visa that would do pretty much the same thing. He isn't abolishing temporary worker visas at all. (That's what 457 visas are.) He is refining the conditions and changing the name. The Turnbull government's alleged crackdown on temporary skilled migrants through abolition of the 457 visa scheme has been coming for years, with at least some justification. The 457 system was gamed by employers who wanted cheaper non-union labour, and by workers who wanted a backdoor pathway to permanent residency. The classification of jobs with supposed skills shortages was too wide and not targeted towards those where demand exceeded supply. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton unveil details of the 457 visa shake-up in April. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Other reasons for the Turnbull government's move this week are less convincing. It is not clear whether replacing the 457s with new two-year and four-year visa classes will fix other flaws in the old scheme. What is clear, though, is the intent behind the Trumpesque "Australian jobs first" rhetoric used to unveil the changes and the follow-up "Australian values" pitch he made for broader immigration reform. I'll be among the many non-scientists participating in the inaugural March for Science, which is taking place worldwide on Saturday. None of us is untouched by science. We owe much of our prosperity to scientific progress. And many of the greatest issues facing humanity require us to get behind evidence-based research. Intelligent and more patient capital that appreciates over the longer-term is more appropriate for deep technologies that often have an incubation period of upwards of six or seven years. Credit:iStock Take antibiotic resistance, for example. The more antibiotics we use the more we promote antibiotic resistance. The World Health Organisation has listed 12 bacteria including a strain of E.coli for which new antibiotics are urgently needed. Fixing this problem, considered a major threat to global security, isn't just the job of people in laboratories. The main cause of resistance is inappropriate use. Antibiotics are ineffective at treating colds and flu, caused by viruses. Yet Australian research shows most people believe antibiotics will help them recover more quickly from these ailments. And almost 60 per cent of GPs would prescribe antibiotics to meet patient expectations. "The lesson, and it's a wonderful one, is to be brave," business journalist and educator Micheline Maynard told me. And the world is suddenly a different place for women who've experienced sexual harassment in their workplaces. The New York Times reported that Fox and O'Reilly paid five women a total of $US13 million to settle harassment claims. Credit:AP Less than 10 months later, two of the most powerful men in media, Roger Ailes and Bill O'Reilly, have been knocked off lofty perches at Fox News. "As women, we are taught not to speak out, not to ruffle feathers, to just be good and work harder," she said. "I wish we weren't as hesitant, and now maybe we won't be." Carlson, whose nondisclosure agreement prevented her from commenting for this column, said in an interview last summer that her decision to go up against Roger Ailes was frightening, and that she had no idea how it would turn out. "I thought I would be fighting this all by myself," she told me. Her claim was that Ailes had repeatedly propositioned her. ("You'd be good and better, and I'd be good and better," were his immortal words.) And when she turned him down, she said, he retaliated by demoting and disparaging her. Ailes vehemently denied the charges, but Carlson, who reportedly had tape-recorded evidence on her side, eventually got a $20 million settlement and a public apology. As it turned out, she was far from alone. It's the key question for universities grappling with the Turnbull government's abolition of 457 visas: can they still bring in the big brains they often need from overseas? As part of the changes ushered in by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Tuesday, applicants will be required to show they have at least two years of work experience in their field to be eligible for a temporary work visa. But confusion reigns in the higher education sector over whether university qualifications such as a doctorate (PhD) or high-level research will count as work experience. The powerful Group of Eight universities wrote to Mr Turnbull on Wednesday complaining the new rules could be "extremely damaging" to academic recruitment. Soon after, she heard what she described as "the sickening thud of someone's head hitting the concrete." He had said he felt faint before he passed out and toppled off his seat. The man started complaining that he wasn't feel well, and Draa, a former CPR instructor, could tell he didn't look good. He asked her to find him some ibuprofen, even offering to hold her sign, which read: "Trump, Who Are You In Bed With Because It Sure Ain't Melania. Show Your Taxes!!!" Draa, a 53-year-old stay-at-home mom and self-described passionate advocate for women's reproductive rights, joined a pack of protesters and supporters outside the Wisconsin manufacturing company where President Donald Trump spoke Tuesday afternoon. In the mass of people, she found herself standing next to a seated older man holding a defund Planned Parenthood sign. For Ana Draa, a Trump protester, the most shocking part of her coming to the aid of a fallen Trump supporter, was that others were shocked. As he lay on the ground, Draa held his hand, assuring him that he would be fine, that the ambulance would be there soon to take care of him. She tried to keep him calm as another anti-Trump activist, who happened to be a nurse, also stayed by his side until emergency workers arrived. After he was taken away in the ambulance, Draa said a local reporter asked her why she helped him. "Why? Wouldn't you?" Draa said she responded. "He's an old man. He felt the power of his convictions and he was very respectful. We need to respect and value the humanity in each other. Just because we have different opinions it doesn't make them evil. I was really taken aback that they were shocked." Earlier at the event, Draa said another Trump supporter was screaming obscenities at her and the other protesters. When she held up her sign in front of her face to block him from her view, she said he punched the sign. She's still shaken by that man's behaviour, but said if he had been the one who had fallen, she would have helped him, too. "It's what my faith calls me to do," she said. Draa, who lives in Libertyville, Illinois, said she has always been politically minded, but the first time she was inspired to take her beliefs to the street was after Trump's election. In January, she flew to Houston to participate in the Women's March there. As a half-Mexican woman, Draa said there were many things about the Trump candidacy that offended her personally. Google maps Mumbai, Apr 19 (IBNS): Reliance has announced completion of its Ethane Project, including commissioning of its ethane receipt and handling facilities and ethane cracking, at its Dahej Manufacturing Facility in Gujarat in a "record time" of less than three years. "Reliance is the first company to globally conceptualize large-scale imports of ethane from North America as feedstock for its cracker portfolio in India," the company said in a statement. The project involved integration of several elements across a complex infrastructure value chain. This includes securing ethane refrigeration capacity in the US Gulf coast; delivery of dedicated Very Large Ethane Carriers (VLECs) to carry ethane from the US Gulf Coast to the West Coast of India; construction of ethane receipt and handling facilities; laying pipelines and upgrading crackers (to receive ethane) at Dahej, Hazira and Nagothane Manufacturing Facilities. "This start-up underlines ours ability to build world-scale capacities and infrastructure using complex technologies, such as marine transportation of cryogenic ethane, handling of ethane at (-) 90 deg.C, supply of ethane to the crackers in an energy efficient way and pump ethane from Dahej to other locations. The execution of this project at this scale and magnitude is a first in the world," a Reliance statement claimed. The Shale Gas industry in North America has grown exponentially in the past 5 years. Consequently ethane has become one of the most competitively priced feedstock for US crackers. "The supply of Ethane to our crackers at Dahej, Hazira and Nagothane will provide feedstock security and flexibility, enabling us to select the most optimal feed mix based on market conditions. This will improve the cost competitiveness of our existing crackers and enable us to optimize the portfolio in a volatile market environment," the statement said. A bit of digging, and voila it turns out my late grandmother Laura Landsbeck nice Indian name, that! - came from Luso-Indian stock courtesy of the Portuguese colonialisation of the south coast of India in the early 16th century. Laura's mother Jane Andrade had Portuguese ancestry, and her father, Joseph Landsbeck, had some German and Portuguese blood up the line as well, mum says. This mixed heritage has manifested itself through our maternal family tree in unexpected ways. Grandma Laura was light-skinned. Her children's complexions a varied. My mother, too, has seen interesting colour variations in her own four daughters. We range from creamy to olive to brown; only one of us is regularly picked as Indian. Like Markle, we are an advertisement for ethnic ambiguity. I did a quick poll of my sisters the other day, asking them what racial background people think they are. The eldest, born with fair skin and eyes so alarmingly light (blue-grey) that my parents called in an eye specialist when she was a week old, cites everything from Spanish to French. Her mixed-race son is regularly picked as Iranian (on a recent holiday to Morocco, he was also taken for a native). Second sister gets the Mediterranean label too. Her mixed-race twins (dad is of white English ancestry) comprise one "white"-looking child and a more olive sibling. My youngest sister looks like something out of an South Indian temple carving, and is picked, correctly, as of Indian ancestry. Me? I get everything from Indian to Pacific Islander to East Asian, curiously, to Italian to, yes, Spanish. On a trip to Peru, I was assumed everywhere to be a local. Hola! My twins were of different shades when they were born one more Anglo-looking after his dad, my daughter a little brown mini-me (interestingly I was once mistaken for their nanny when we lived in New York; my white Australian friend was picked as their mother). As they've grown older, skin shades have converged, but there are still differences. It continues with my mother's Canadian family my cousins have Anglo-Indian blood from other branches of the clan, and have bi-racial children with Mexican and German ancestry. So again, there is a rainbow of shades and hues. All Australian states and territories have now abandoned a trial of online NAPLAN tests this year due to technical glitches that could disadvantage students. Students who were set to take part in the online trial next month will now sit pen and paper tests. Online NAPLAN tests were supposed to begin this year, but the states and territories pulled out, citing concerns about technological glitches. The roll out of the online literacy and numeracy test is in disarray, with the Victorian, Western Australian and ACT governments announcing on Wednesday that they would withdraw from the trial, and South Australian and Queensland ditching it earlier this month. NSW, Tasmania and the Northern Territory had always planned to roll it out at a later stage. Australian students are twice as likely to say they expect to go to university as students in Finland, nearly 35 per cent more likely to say they want to be one of the best in their class, and three times as likely to have a paid job while they're at school, a global study into student wellbeing has found. They are also placed far higher than the OECD average in these areas, according to a new report released worldwide on Wednesday night, which is based on the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results. The findings suggest Australian students are more motivated to do well during and after high school than students in countries such as Finland, which has long been viewed as having the optimal education system. The report also provides a different view of Australian students after recent concerns about Australia's declining academic results in international and national assessments. A woman identified as Patient A was 13 years old in 1993 when her mother took her to see Dr Cheng regarding lumps in her breasts and moles on her back. The decision comes 12 years after the Lidcombe-based GP was reprimanded for inappropriate physical and sexual misconduct with a patient in 2005. A doctor who was struck off the medical registrar is now fighting not to be struck out of court. Credit:AFR The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal found Elvin Suet Pang Cheng guilty of professional misconduct of a sexual nature "of the most serious kind" concerning a series of consultations he had with the five patients between 1993 and 2003. A Sydney GP has been found guilty of professional misconduct for inappropriately touching five female patients for sexual gratification including two young teenage girls. After her mother left the consultation room, Dr Cheng asked the teenager to take off her clothes, Patient A told the tribunal. He then stood behind her, reached around her and grabbed her breasts. The patient, now in her 30s, said it seemed like he was fondling her breasts in a squeezing and massaging motion. "She felt uncomfortable and frozen and too scared to say anything or move she rotated her hips to look at the respondent and noticed that he had an erection," according to the patient's evidence detailed in the tribunal decision. The woman said she did not want to tell her mother, feeling "sick and dirty and the shame and guilt". She saw Dr Cheng again when she had been vomiting and feverish. She said Dr Cheng asked her to take her clothes off including her underwear. Dr Cheng again massaged her breasts, then moved his hands down her abdomen, to her groin, asked her to open her legs and palpated her labia. When she became sexually active at 17 and was concerned about bleeding, pain and whether she had contracted a sexually transmitted infection, Dr Cheng put gloves on and inserted his fingers into her vagina, she told the tribunal. The Coalition government is trying to open the way for a mass clear-out of Commonwealth departments and the public servants who work there from the national capital. The government announced a policy on Wednesday that would force all federal departments to justify their continued presence and that of their portfolio agencies in Canberra and other capital cities or else face a forced move to rural or regional Australia. The dual citizenship debacle tearing apart the nationals has spread to Deputy Leader Fiona Nash who has told parliament she is a dual British citizen. Credit:AAP If the Nationals make good on their rhetoric, the policy could result in the most serious assault on the economic fabric of the national capital since its establishment 104 years ago. As the controversy surrounding the compulsory relocation of the pesticides authority out of the capital continued on Wednesday, Nationals deputy leader Fiona Nash announced that all departments in the 155,000-strong Australian Public Service were to be assessed for "decentralisation" from Canberra and other cities. The Canberra public servants who were given "talking points" to use on family and friends at Easter barbeques have now been warned of the "consequences" of leaking any more orders from their bosses. The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority's head has defended its guide for "BBQ conversations" about the agency's controversial move to Armidale between employees and their friends and family, which was distributed to staff before the Easter break. Authority chief executive Kareena Arthy said the talking points were "standard internal communication practice" and were just one of a number of ways staff were being kept "in the loop" about the forced move to northern NSW. But the "substantive issue" of Ms Arthy's Wednesday morning message to staff, which in turn was promptly leaked, was her concern that "an internal document provided to staff has been disclosed to a media outlet". A man who denies murdering a woman more than three decades ago has consistently maintained his dead father-in-law was the culprit, a Sydney judge had been told. Rodney Lawrence, 66, appeared via video link in the NSW Supreme Court on Wednesday when his lawyer Chris Bruce applied for bail, saying "this is not a strong crown case". Police at the murder scene of Elizabeth Dixon in East Maitland in April 1982 Credit:Allan Jolly Lawrence is charged with the stabbing murder of Elizabeth Dixon, 31, whose body was discovered in her car in bushland at Ashtonfield, near Newcastle, in April 1982. As well as having pleaded not guilty to the murder, he has denied an alternative charge of being an accessory after the fact. A man secretly filmed more than 200 people, including a girl and boy, in Sydney public toilets for his own "sexual gratification," a court has been told. Benjamin Moorhouse allegedly placed secret cameras under the sink of toilets at Parramatta and North Sydney train stations, and at a disabled toilet at Westfield Parramatta shopping centre, in February and March. The 40-year-old, who was arrested on March 22, appeared at Parramatta Local Court on Wednesday, where his lawyer indicated he would plead guilty to all charges. Moorhouse is charged with five counts of filming a person in a private act for the purpose of "sexual arousal or sexual gratification". Almost 2 years after the Lindt Cafe siege, the promised permanent memorial to victims is in limbo, with its exact location impacted by coming major infrastructure works in Martin Place for the new Sydney Metro station and the government still refusing to announce an installation date. A spokesman for the Premier's department could not even guarantee the memorial would be built before the new station, which is set to be operational in seven years. In the days that followed the December 2014 siege that claimed the lives of lawyer Katrina Dawson and cafe manager Tori Johnson, grieving Sydneysiders laid an impromptu memorial of flowers that filled a block of Martin Place. Former premier Mike Baird promised survivors and families of victims in January 2015 a permanent memorial would be installed before the first anniversary of the siege by gunman Man Haron Monis. Salim Mehajer gave "implausible evidence" and swore a false affidavit as he attempted to avoid paying $25,000 to a cleaner for work done in a western Sydney apartment block, a court has found. The controversial former deputy mayor of Auburn has been ordered to pay Anping Yan the outstanding debt as well as costs and interest after the cleaner successfully sued him. Salim Mehajer gave "implausible evidence", a court has found. Credit:Ben Rushton Mr Yan sued Mr Mehajer in the Downing Centre Local Court, claiming he was not paid for cleaning the apartment block on John Street, Lidcombe, between September 2013 and July 2014. Mr Mehajer argued he was not liable for the debt because, in September 2011, his company SM Project Developments subcontracted out the cleaning work to Downtown Project Developments, run by his sister Fatima Mehajer. Washington, Apr 19 (IBNS): Radar images of asteroid 2014 JO25 were obtained in the early morning hours on Tuesday, with NASA's 70-meter (230-foot) antenna at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in California. The images reveal a peanut-shaped asteroid that rotates about once every five hours. The images have resolutions as fine as 25 feet (7.5 meters) per pixel. Asteroid 2014 JO25 was discovered in May 2014 by astronomers at the Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson, Arizona -- a project of NASA's Near-Earth Objects Observations Program in collaboration with the University of Arizona. The asteroid will fly safely past Earth on Wednesday at a distance of about 1.1 million miles (1.8 million kilometers), or about 4.6 times the distance from Earth to the moon. The encounter is the closest the object will have come to Earth in 400 years and will be its closest approach for at least the next 500 years. The asteroid has a contact binary structure two lobes connected by a neck-like region, said Shantanu Naidu, a scientist from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, who led the Goldstone observations. The images show flat facets, concavities and angular topography. The largest of the asteroids two lobes is estimated to be 2,000 feet (620 meters) across. Radar observations of the asteroid also have been conducted at the National Science Foundation's Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. Additional radar observations are being conducted at both Goldstone and Arecibo on April 19 20, and 21, and could provide images with even higher resolution. Radar has been used to observe hundreds of asteroids. When these small, natural remnants of the formation of the solar system pass relatively close to Earth, deep space radar is a powerful technique for studying their sizes, shapes, rotation, surface features, and roughness, and for more precise determination of their orbital path. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, manages and operates NASA's Deep Space Network, including the Goldstone Solar System Radar, and hosts the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies for NASA's Near-Earth Object Observations Program within the agency's Science Mission Directorate. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSSR Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says the opening of the Sunshine Coast University Hospital has been marred by a lack of federal government support for medical training positions at the facility. The new $1.8 billion hospital started taking patients last month after a decade-long development process that spanned four premiers and six health ministers. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said there has been a lack of federal government support for medical training positions at the facility. The opening on Wednesday means around 10,000 patients from the Sunshine Coast will no longer have to travel to Brisbane for medical treatment, with the new hospital boasting world-class medical facilities, as well as training capacity for 1000 medical students. However, Ms Palaszczuk said they currently only have 35 spaces allocated by the federal government, 15 places short of the required 50 necessary to start classes. Bose knows what you're listening to. At least that's the claim of a class-action lawsuit filed late Tuesday in Illinois that accuses the high-end audio equipment maker of spying on its users and selling information about their listening habits without permission. The lawsuit alleges that Bose is collecting and sharing information of users. The main plaintiff in the case is Kyle Zak, who bought a US$350 pair of wireless Bose headphones last month. He registered the headphones, giving the company his name and email address, as well as the headphone serial number. And he download the Bose Connect app, which the company said would make the headphones more useful by adding functions such as the ability to customize the level of noise cancellation in the headphones. But it turns out the app was also telling Bose a lot more about Zak than he bargained for. A huge asteroid travelling at 33 kilometres a second will sail past the Earth on Thursday morning, reminding us all that the universe is a very dynamic and potentially dangerous place. "This tells us how active space is - it's not static," said Brad Tucker, an astronomer at the Australian National University. "We are so used to hearing astronomers describing objects as light years away. Close encounters with asteroids are things that happen on a real timescale." Asteroid 2014-JO25 is a kilometre across and will come closer to the Earth than any asteroid of its size in 13 years. Shortly after Christmas, 2011, Ruby Nealon sold the Nintendo Wii games console his mother had bought him so he could fund a British Open University course. He was 11 and it was the start of his unconventional education as a computer prodigy, which led him to drop out of school and start a full-time degree at 14. Two years later, in 2016, in the second year of his computer science degree, he made international news for hacking into a gaming platform. The guy hunting for hackers might be just 10 years old. The incident caught the attention of the cyber security world and he was soon approached by the chief executive of a US company called HackerOne, which specialises in breaking into the computer systems of major companies, including Uber, Facebook, Google, Dyson, Microsoft and MasterCard. It does this through "bug bounty" programs, where companies invite hackers to attack them to find critical problems in their software in return for a reward. A baby has been born by emergency caesarean section after the mother suffered life-threatening injuries in a crash in Melbourne's outer east on Wednesday afternoon. Doctors worked to deliver the baby and to protect the mother, after the crash in Hallam between a car and a truck shortly before 3pm. The baby was born with non-life threatening injuries. The 24-year-old mother, from Hallam, was a passenger in the car when the crash occurred at the intersection of the Princes Highway and Princes Domain Drive. The woman was transported to hospital with life-threatening injuries. According to police the woman is now in a stable condition. Police said a 52-year-old Hallam woman who was driving the car was also injured, and was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Armed thieves have targeted Garry Holloway's jewellery stores three times already this year. He guesses he has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars and says his badly traumatised staff have nightmares and are startled every time a car backfires or something is dropped on the floor. Holloway Diamonds is just one of what is believed to be a dozen jewellery stores burgled by armed thieves this year. "It's gotten totally out of control," Mr Holloway says while surveying the damage to his Brighton store, which suffered an armed robbery attempt on Tuesday. Victoria's second children's hospital has opened at Clayton to its first 130 patients, but it does not include an emergency department. Instead, people in Melbourne's growing south-east seeking dedicated emergency services for children will have to wait until 2021, with the Andrews government to spend $63.2 million in next month's budget to expand the neighbouring Monash Health emergency department. Daniel Andrews says he is 'very troubled' by the safe spaces proposal. Credit:Justin McManus The expansion will include dedicated and segregated areas for child patients. The expansion comes amid rising demand with the number of paediatric patients presenting to emergency set to rise to 135,000 a year by 2031-32, up from 86,000 in 2015-16. A chain of suburban hairdressing salons has been caught under-paying dozens of employees almost $300,000 following an investigation by the Fair Work Ombudsman. Siajj Pty Limited, which operates seven salons, branded as 'What's Up Hair' or 'Best Cuts and Colour', failed to pay correct minimum wages, casual loading and penalty rates. The company's director and owner Zena Suleiman was also found to have routinely breached record-keeping laws, which hampered the ombudsman's investigation. At one salon in Wantirna South, almost 50 staff were underpaid $88,000 between January 2015 and July 2016, with one woman denied $9,680 in entitlements over the 18-month period. A passenger on a Qantas flight from Port Hedland has been charged after allegedly grabbing and pushing a female crew member. Police will allege the 46-year-old Queensland man became involved in an argument with a crew member, reportedly because his friend was being kicked off the flight for being intoxicated. A man has been kicked off a flight in Port Hedland. Credit:Michele Mossop "At around 1.15pm, the man was boarding a flight departing Port Hedland International Airport when he became involved in a verbal altercation with airline staff," a police spokeswoman said. "It will be alleged he grabbed a female staff member by the hand before pushing her into the wall of the galley area. Music is high on the countryas cultural agenda but Western Classical music has somehow missed the bus in the current scenario. Surangama Guha reports Divine music by geniuses like Bach, Beethoven, Mozart etc. has enthralled the world for generations. But in India somehow Western classical music has remained at an esoteric level, perceived as confined to the elite westernised gentry for appreciation, right or wrong. But are things changing? First, a peek into its sporadic history in India. In fact, Western classical music began touching lives as early as in 1542. Catechism i.e. religious conversion, through music, was prevalent in Goa, Bombay (Mumbai) in the Middle Ages particularly after Vasco da Gama opened te sea route to the country from Europe. However, it was only in 1922 after the British made a strong toehold that the first permanent symphony orchestra of the country arrived in then Bombay. The Calcutta School of Music (CSM) was set up in 1915, one of the first of its kind in India. The Bombay Chamber Orchestra was established in 1962. In 2006, the Mumbai-based National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) started the Symphony Orchestra of India. Currently, there are just a few schools of music with dedicated Western Classical Music courses in Kolkata, Bangaluru, New Delhi and Shillong. In Chennai, maestro A.R. Rahman founded the KM College of Music and Technology (#KMMC), a one of a kind music conservatoire offering higher education in instrumental music, music theory and technology, that includes both Hindustani and Western classical music. KM is affiliated to Middlesex University, UK. St. Anthonys College, the North-Eastern Hill University, and Martin Luther Christian University, Shillong, provide bachelors degree and diploma level courses in Western classical music. In 2013, Goa University added Western Music to their syllabus. In Nagaland, Patkai Christian College offers courses focusing on the theory and performance of Western classical, among others. But is it just within the formal curriculum that the music is getting some level of recognition? According to Sebanti Chatterjee, research scholar at Delhi School of Economics, who is studying the history of Western classical music in India, There have been numerous intervention programmes from different education boards and individual music educators from Europe and the USA. But its the festivals across the cities that keep the enthusiasm going. The International Classical Guitar Festival in Kolkata, the Goa Monte and Ketevan World Sacred Music Festivals, Con Brio Piano Competition in Mumbai etc. keep the western classical appeal alive across the country. In 2015, the country got Serenade Magazine, the first online portal on Western classical music, a venture that is both imaginative and optimistic. Says Adam Greig, academic coordinator at KM Conservatory, Students do tend to be very enthusiastic but they usually have very poor knowledge of what formal music study entails. They seem to think that they will be trained to be the next superstars. The reality of having to study on a degree-style course complete with theory, history, writing etc. comes as quite a shock to them. The preparatory Pre-degree Foundation course at KM attracts about 70 to100 applications per year in which applicants have little prior training in formal music. Greig also pointed out a large predisposition amongst students towards popular genres, even within Western music, and towards Indian film music, with majority of entrants harbouring the ambition of landing up in the commercial film industry. This is corroborated by Karthik Manickavaskam, first year Diploma student at KM conservatory, who feels that the inclination towards Hindustani classical music quite surpasses its Western counterpart. To survive in the Indian popular music industry, you need to be able to sing Indian classical, he feels. Karthik also thinks that the idea of developing a career solely in Western music is still far-fetched in India. So is Western classical music growing in India simply as an accessory to the popular music industry, with most students of the music treating it as a necessary evil to becoming the next A. R. Rahman? Samarjit Guha, CEO, Calcutta School of Music, feels that students cannot be blamed for trying to make inroads into the popular music industry. The growth of Western classical in India is one of slow process. Students have to find opportunities to perform. According to him, they tend to automatically look towards commercial music for platforms to showcase themselves. It seems then, that opportunities to flourish solely as an educationist and practitioner of Western classical music in the country are still few and far between. So what does the future look like? Abraham Mazumdar, principal -founder of the Kolkata Music Academy, and a leading proponent of Western classical music in this part of the country, appears pessimistic: There can be no future for Western classical music in our country without help from the government. While that possibility still seems far-fetched, Mazumdar feels that the standard of music education in the country could also be improved. The foundation for this kind of music cannot be strong unless we produce highly qualified teachers, who specialise in western instruments, and can inculcate correct technique as well as interest in harmony music among children. Both Mazumdar and Guha, agree that only a minuscule percentage of the students actually take up Western music as a profession. It is possible, however, that innovative ideas are gradually seeping into the otherwise sluggish teaching methods of our country. Teaching for Artistic Innovation (TFAI) by Sublime Galleria (#Sublimegalleria) is an innovative platform for promotion and exploration of the arts and artists, based in Bangaluru. In association with the Prestige Foundation (#PrestigeHomes), TFAI music is set to introduce a ground-breaking curriculum in schools both in India and abroad, integrating both Eastern and Western music. The different levels of the programme aim to include a coherent music education, including music theory, music history, choir, percussion and instrumental lessons. TFAI is collaborating with an impressive array of music educators in India, Europe and the USA for this ambitious project. Their chief programme designer for music, Jeremy Woodruff, says that parts of the music curriculum will probably be made available and tested this as early as this summer. Image: Free Wallpapers/Calcutta School of Music Police officers called to break-up a party in Perth's south have been pelted with bottles and bricks. The officers were called to a home on Murchison Road in Waikiki around 11.25pm on Tuesday night after receiving reports of several men fighting. It will be alleged as police went to assist one group of people, bottles, bricks and wooden stakes were thrown at them. Several police cars received minor damage as an out of control gathering was declared. Cairo: Gunmen attacked security forces near St Catherine's Monastery in Egypt's south Sinai on Tuesday, killing at least one police officer and injuring four others, the Health Ministry said, just a week after two deadly church bombings killed 45. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack on a police checkpoint about 800 metres from the entrance to the monastery, one of the world's most important Christian sites. The UNESCO World Heritage-listed St Catherine's Monastery in Sinai, Egypt. The attack comes just 10 days before Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Egypt and just over a week after two deadly suicide bombings on Christian churches, also claimed by IS, plunged the country into mourning and marked one of the bloodiest days for the country's Christian minority in decades. St Catherine's, founded in the 6th century and located at the foot of Mount Sinai, is one of the oldest Christian monasteries in the world and a UNESCO world heritage site. It is part of the Eastern Orthodox church. London: British Prime Minister Theresa May won parliament's backing for an early election on Wednesday, a vote she said would strengthen her hand in divorce talks with the European Union (EU) and help heal divisions within the UK. May surprised allies and opponents on Tuesday when she announced her plan to bring forward an election that was not due until 2020, saying she needed to avoid a clash of priorities in the sensitive final stages of the two-year Brexit talks. After addressing a rowdy session of the House of Commons, May won the support of 522 legislators in the 650-seat parliament for an election on June 8, an easy victory for the Prime Minister who could see her majority increase by at least 100 seats in the poll. "I believe that at this moment of enormous national significance there should be unity here in Westminster, not division," May told parliament. THE SAVANNA:---The 15th edition of the annual St. Martin Book Fair will take place at new venues throughout the island from June 1 3, 2017, said Shujah Reiph, director of the literary festival. The opening ceremony at Cite Scolaire Robert Weinum in The Savannathe area between Rambaud and Grand Casewill reflect the art theme of the anniversary year. The auditorium of the new high school/jr. high school complex will be turned into a giant art studio and gallery, said Reiph. The main exhibition by international artist/author Bruce Clarke is in the works, said Reiph, who is also president of Conscious Lyrics Foundation. Art students and aspiring artists will also be invited to set up their easels and draw the live scene of book fair guests arriving, socializing, buying books, getting autographs, and meeting authors from around the world. The Book Fair Committee coordinates the festival. St. Martin writers that have published books will be the mantra of the book fairs 15th birthday bash, said Jacqueline Sample, president of House of Nehesi Publishers. From 1988 to when the first St. Martin Book Fair was organized in 2003, barely 10 book authors from St. Martin could be found, said Sample. Fifteen years later, from first-time authors like Joselyne Arnell to senior authors like Gerard van Veen, over 30 St. Martin writers that have been published in one or more books can be identified, said Sample. At the 2017 book fair a larger than usual number of the islands authors will conduct workshops, participate in roundtable discussions and public readings, and visit schools said Sample. The opening ceremony of the St. Martin Book Fair alternates each year between both parts of the island as a celebration of the historical and cultural unity of the islands people. The main book fair day takes place at the University of St. Martin, the festivals campus home since 2003. The St. Maarten Tourist Bureau has been the dedicated and strategic partner of the literary festival since 2004, said Sample. There are a number of other key activities that take the book fair to different districts every year, said Reiph: the visits by authors to schools, homes for the elderly, and the prison; the popular literary evening of writers from around the world reading from their newest books; and the closing ceremony, highlighted with the main book launch and presentation of the president's award. Conscious Lyrics Foundation and House of Nehesi Publishers organize the annual St. Martin Book Fair in collaboration with the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau, University of St. Martin, and LC Fleming Foundation. Peridot Foundation and SOS radio are leading sponsors of visits by a selected author and media promotions; and Mr. K Cigar Lounge has become a unique book fair discussion venue for business, social, and political leaders of the island, said Reiph. PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten The Central Committee will meet in a session on April 19, 2017. The members of the Council of Ministers will be present. The Central Committee meeting which was adjourned on Tuesday, April 18, 2017, will resume on Wednesday, April 19 at 14.00 hrs in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelminastraat #1 in Philipsburg. The agenda points are: 1. Presentation on Governing Program 2016-2020 and Year plans ministries (IS/628/2016-2017 dated April 11, 2017) 2. Approval composition delegation and provisions for Members of Parliament to participate in Committee meetings of Parlatino (IS/610/2016-2017 dated April 5, 2017, IS/611/2016-2017 dated April 5, 2017, IS/625/2016-2017 dated April 11, 2017, IS/631/2016-2017 dated April 12, 2017, and IS/632/2016-2017 dated April 12, 2017) Members of the public are invited to the House of Parliament to attend parliamentary deliberations. The House of Parliament is located across from the Court House in Philipsburg. The parliamentary session will be carried live on St. Maarten Cable TV Channel 120, via Pearl Radio FM 98.1, the audio via the Internet www.pearlfmradio.sx and via www.sxmparliament.org. PHILIPSBURG:--- The Minister of VSA Emil Lee on Wednesday lashed out at the media, specifically SMN News for publishing an article whereby he promises Sunwing Airlines $200K while in the Bahamas attending the CHA marketplace. Minister Lee campaigned on good governance, openness, and transparency which he said other politicians lacked, yet the Minister is upset that the email that was sent out by Sunwing got in the hands of the media and suddenly he is concerned about internal documents being leaked to the media, while the Minister has his own cabinet staff leaking internal documents to those that he thinks will benefit him. In the long statement addressing how he feels the media should operate the Minister calls on media houses to have guidelines, he said the media in the Netherlands have guidelines, while failing to mention that the media in the Netherlands are being financed by the State, while the government of St. Maarten does not support media houses and on many occasions refused to divulge truthful information. The Minister went on about his concern on how internal documents gets out while failing to mention that his own cabinet leaks documents, while they are busy micro-managing the various departments while not knowing the laws on health care and labor. The Minister in his statement said persons should be given the opportunity to respond, exactly what he did two weeks ago in a press release where he stated that no gag- order was issued to the Inspectorate, a release SMN News published even though it was loaded with false information. The Minister went on to say that the information on Sunwing was false yet he did not contact SMN News to give the correct information but instead called a civil servant to express his anger about the email he said was leaked. While the Minister vented his anger and frustration on the empty promise he made to Sunwing Airlines, he later read from an old email and not the email SMN News managed to obtain from hoteliers on St. Maarten that are quite upset with the Minister for several reasons, one being the NHI that all stakeholders on St. Maarten dumped aside by giving negative advice on the NHI for St. Maarten. Besides the Sunwing empty promise the Minister did not mention anything about his planned trip to the Bahamas where he had bought a ticket to attend the event on behalf of his business while being a Minister. Minister Lee also did not touch on the vacation days he was requesting to go the Bahamas and when he was asked to represent St. Maarten. The article SMN News published while the Minister was abroad touched on several aspects and while the Minister claims that he is upset about the leaked email he did not touch on the other parts because he knows that SMN News reporter confronted him on this matter before and he admitted to having bought a ticket when he thought he was not going to a Minister since the NA and UPP had an agreement. He also admitted he did not cancel the ticket even after becoming a Minister but said he wanted to stay up to date with the tourism industry. Since Minister Lee chose to use the wrong email to lecture the media and to continue fooling the people of St. Maarten SMN News chose to make the content of the email available for its readers. SMN News did not confront or insult the Minister when he lied to the people of St. Maarten on Wednesday but chose to make the contents of the email public for its readers.Minister Lee thinks that the people of St. Maarten do not know how Sunwing Airline operates. It should be noted that Sunwing Airlines does not only sell airline tickets but they also sell hotel accommodation packages and while his attendance at the CHA marketplace while being a Minister was to solely promote his hotel and making promises to Sunwing was his way of getting Sunwing to sell his hotel more than the others. PHILIPSBURG:--- The Minister of VSA Emil Lee who recently returned to the island after visiting the Dutch Government to seek financing for the New Hospital said that he met with several elected officials. He said while the meetings did not conclude, he felt the meetings on the financing for the New Hospital was fruitful. The Minister said should the Netherlands decide to provide a loan for the New Hospital then St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) will save between NAF3 to 5M per year in interest.He said so far the CFT has agreed to send a positive advice to the Kingdom Council of Ministers regarding borrowing for St. Maarten to construct the New Hospital. While the Minister spent the tax payers monies to travel to the Netherlands to discuss a loan for the construction of the New Hospital, Minister Lee did not consider the current government is a demissionary government and Minister Edith Schippers (Minister of Health) is the formateur and she is also in a demissionary positon. He said he met with MP Andre Bosman and Minister Ronald Plasterk, the Minister is fully aware that Minister Plasterk informed him officially by email on May 11th, 2016 that the Dutch Government will not provide financing for the hospital. VAMED agreement Asked by SMN News if the agreement between VAMED and SZV is finalized and if the monies SZV agrees to pay VAMED as a settlement has been paid and which entity paid the settlement. Minister Lee said he is not updated with the finalization of the agreement since he was off island he further clarified that it is SZV that has to pay the settlement since VAMED had taken SZV to court. He said while the settlement is a bitter pill for him to swallow he still believes that settling with VAMED was the best thing to do since the construction of the hospital can now move forward. Minister Lee continues to say that despite the settlement the cost of the New Hospital will be about $40M less than what VAMED would charge. The Minister said while t in the Netherlands those he met with supported the project because it was done through a bidding process. Minister Lee went on to say having a New General Hospital would provide better care for St. Maarten patients, he said the least the hospital on St. Maarten could do is diagnose patients rather than St. Maarten having to send its patients abroad for diagnosis. IVSA and IGZ audit SMN News further asked the Minister if he knows that the New Hospital is just a building but in order to provide proper medical care on St. Maarten the country must have qualified doctors and specialists working at St. Maartens General Hospital and SMMC. Asked when would the audit he Minister Lee called for will be conducted by IVSA and IGZ the Minister said that audit is in the hands of the inspectorate and that auditors from Everard van Kemenade is currently on the island conducting audits of the entire healthcare chain, starting with the General Practitioners, to the referral department at SZV. However, the only audit/ baseline study that is ongoing at the moment is the one commissioned by the Minister through a consultant Everard van Kemenade that has absolutely no knowledge on healthcare. Just last week SMMC sent out a press release that they welcome the audit by the independent person. The other two departments the consultant has to audit is the department of Health and the Inspectorate. PHILIPSBURG:--- Some people wonder why my writings deal mostly with the Parliament of Sint Maarten. This is because our Parliament is a new constitutional institution. During the last campaign, leading up to the September 26th, 2016 elections, the Sint Maarten Christian Party (SMCP) observed that the majority of the people knew and understood very little about our Parliament and about the role and function of the parliamentarians they were about to elect. The people generally equated the role of a parliamentarian with that of a minister. SMCPS role during the campaign was to constantly inform the people about the role and function of parliament because, after all, it was a parliamentary election. We also committed ourselves to continue to inform and educate the people whether we were elected or not. The other reason for focusing on our parliament is my belief that change starts at the top. Parliament is the supreme oversight institution in Sint Maarten and as such is the leader institution in the country. It sets the tone, the pace and is the face of Sint Maarten. I believe that if Parliament is functioning well the rest of government (Council of Ministers and civil service) would also fall in line. I am reminded of the quote by well-known leadership guru, John Maxwell: Everything rises and falls on leadership. This means that parliament, as the leader institution in our society, has the awesome responsibility to set the tone and the pace in terms of good governance. The reason why, the government, the civil service, the economy, the justice system etc. are not functioning as they should, is because our countrys leading institution is not functioning as it should. It is my belief that if the functioning of parliament improves we will see improvement in every other sector of our society. We, the people of Sint Maarten, must realize that, if Parliament is functioning poorly, we can do something about it. For six years, our parliament has gotten away with poor governance, because we were too focused on government and on the ministers. We must accept, the fact that we cannot do much about the government and the ministers because we did not put them there. We did not appoint them. The ones who we must hold accountable, for their own functioning as well as for the poor performance and decisions of government and the ministers are the fifteen parliamentarians that we elected to parliament. We can demand that they do their jobs. We can demand that they control and supervise the government and the ministers. We can demand that our elected parliamentarians control the expenditures and revenues of the country better. We can demand that our parliament passes legislation that would promote the common good and ensure a good quality of life for all the people in this country. And..., if our elected parliamentarians do not perform to our satisfaction, we can remove them by voting them out of office when the time comes. We cannot remove the government or a minister. It is the parliament who hired them and put them there. Therefore, parliament is the only body that can fire them. So, if we have questions and criticism regarding government, let us voice our concerns to our representatives in parliament and let them work on our behalf. I believe that we, the people, have not done a good job at holding our parliamentarians accountable. We have not set high standards for them to govern by. We have accepted, that it is okay, for our parliamentarians to receive a very high salary and deliver mediocre to poor work. We have accepted, that it is okay, for parliamentarians to debate on the floor of parliament, without having read the documents at hand. We have accepted, that our parliamentarians can be members of a committee without ever having to meet to discuss issues relevant to that committee. We have accepted, that in six years of parliamentary existence not one initiative legislation has been approved. We have accepted, that it is okay, for parliament to pass motions but never to follow up on them. We have accepted, that it is okay, that parliament does not follow up on the advice submitted by the high councils of state. We have accepted, that it is okay, that parliament has not yet had a debate concerning good governance as presented in the various integrity reports. On a scale of 1 to 10, Transparency International (TI) has given our parliament a grade of 2.5, for each of the following items: integrity, executive oversight, transparency, and accountability. For TI, our parliament is considered weak. In my grading system, this is definitely a failing grade. Our parliament has failed and fooled us and it appears that we are okay with it. We, the people, must realize that our job is to monitor and control parliament and that the job of parliament is to monitor and control the government! If government is not performing well then it is parliaments job to make sure that governments functioning improves. If this does not happen then parliament has the right and the authority to send the government home, via a vote of non-confidence. On the other hand, if our parliamentarians are not functioning then we, the people, we the voters, have the right and the authority to send them home at the end of their term. If we do what we have to do, we can help turn our weak parliament into a strong institution? Wycliffe Smith Leader of the Sint Maarten Christian Party KALEAO Brings its True Converged Platform to IP Expo Manchester CHARLOTTE, NC and CAMBRIDGE, UNITED KINGDOM (Marketwired) 04/18/17 , a technologically innovative server solutions company, announced today that its flagship compute, storage, and networking solution, KMAX will be on display at , to be held April 26th and 27th at Manchester Central. KALEAO will be located at stand L230. After introducing our KMAX platform at IP Expo in London last year, we are looking forward to attending the event in Manchester, said Giampietro Tecchiolli, CEO, KALEAO. KMAX has been widely recognized as a significant player in the hyperconverged market, poised to provide to the marketplace more operational efficiency, better service and lower TCO. We are truly looking forward to the near future as KMAX delivers its unique value across the server and hyperconverged markets. KMAX is available in two editions; a Server Edition, that includes KALEAO hardware and essential software for an open, tightly converged platform, or the Appliance Edition, built on the KMAX server with full true hyperconverged functionality in an integrated, turn-key, appliance-based solution. With six top IT events under one roof, 100+ exhibitors and 100+ free to attend seminar sessions, IP EXPO Manchester touts itself as being the must-attend Manchester IT event of the year for CIOs, heads of IT, security specialists, heads of insight and tech experts. The event showcases brand new exclusive content and senior level insights from across the IT industry, and will feature the latest technological developments in IT. IP EXPO Manchester incorporates six events under one roof including: Cloud, Cyber Security, Networks & Infrastructure, AI, Analytics & IOT, DevOps and Open Source. : KALEAO is spearheading the new generation of enterprise and cloud computing by natively converging computation, storage, networking and virtualization into compact, energy efficient, transparent, integrated hardware and software solutions. Its flagship product, KMAX, offers true converged infrastructure in an extremely compact, scalable and low power platform. KMAX provides all of the benefits of hyperconvergence with advanced software defined hardware and integrated appliance level web-scale application delivery and management platform. KMAX delivers more for less, enabling the effortless deployment and management of the services required across the cloud and modern business. Find out more about KMAX and KALEAO at For more information: Joanne Hogue Smart Connections PR (410) 658-8246 Google maps Guwahati, Apr 19 (IBNS): Eyeing the polls of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has engaged its 34 MLAs and leaders as in-charge of the 26 constituencies under council. During a crucial meeting held at Brahmaputra state guest house in Guwahati on Wednesday in presence of Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, state minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, BJPs state unit president Ranjit Das and its several legislators, the saffron party has engaged its MLAs and leaders for each council constituency. A top source of Assam BJP said that, the party has given charge to senior leader Harekrishna Bharali for overall management of the council poll. The top source further said that, party candidate selection procedures for the council election had also discussed in the meeting. Meanwhile, Assam CM Sonowal and state BJP president Ranjit Das asked its MLAs and leaders to make a road map for the poll. On the other hand, the party source said that, the saffron party would likely to finalize its candidates next week. Besides corruption charged present council members, BJP will choose clean image figures to field its candidate, the source said. Recently, few Executive Members of the council led by a senior leader had sent a letter to the Assam CM and BJPs state unit president against the present Chief Executive Member Tuliram Ronghang for his various corruption scams. The state election commission is all set to hold the council poll in next month and likely to announce the poll dates this week. (Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath) SoftBank Leads $16.5 Million Strategic Investment in Dome9 Security MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA (Marketwired) 04/19/17 , the leader in cloud infrastructure security, today announced the close of $16.5 million in Series C funding, led by a new investor, , a subsidiary of (TSE: 9984). Existing investors also participated in this round, bringing the total funding in Dome9 to $29 million. Per the terms of the agreement, SoftBank will be the leading distributor of the in the Japanese market, enabling organizations running workloads in cloud environments to efficiently manage security, compliance and governance. The Dome9 Arc SaaS platform allows customers to simplify security operations and speed up compliance in their public and multi-cloud environments. Dome9 Arc is the only cloud security solution to offer native, API-enabled integration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) as well as an agent-based approach that extends the Dome9 platform to other public clouds and on-premises cloud deployments. Dome9 offers a full range of cloud security orchestration capabilities, from powerful security visualization and remediation, to active enforcement and protection. As enterprise adoption of the cloud continues to accelerate, there is a growing need for cloud-native solutions that simplify security operations and compliance. Dome9s strong traction in the enterprise market attests to the value the technology delivers, and led to our decision to invest. Dome9 gives enterprise customers the confidence that their workloads are secure in the cloud. Im confident that together SoftBank and Dome9 will help Japanese organizations maximize the benefit they get from migrating to the cloud, said Masayuki Motoshima, Director of Cyber Security Business Development at SoftBank Corp. Dome9 has seen phenomenal growth over the past few years, fueled by strong traction in the enterprise market with customers such as Pacific Life and Proofpoint, said Zohar Alon, CEO and Co-founder of Dome9 Security. Businesses are realizing that securing cloud environments requires a fundamentally different approach from datacenter security. This funding round will allow us to capitalize on the business momentum by investing in R&D as well as sales and marketing. Partnering with a visionary technology leader such as SoftBank allows us to tap into global demand for better cloud security. Dome9s recent technology advancements and business growth have resulted in multiple industry acknowledgements, including being named as a CRN Emerging Vendor for 2016, winning the Best Cloud Security Product in the 2017 Cybersecurity Excellence Awards, and being recognized as the 2017 Editors Choice in Cloud Security Solutions for the Cyber Defense Magazine Awards. SoftBank Corp., a subsidiary of SoftBank Group Corp. (TSE: 9984), provides mobile communication, fixed-line communication and Internet connection services to customers in Japan. Leveraging synergies with other companies in the SoftBank Group, SoftBank Corp. aims to transform lifestyles through ICT and expand into other business areas including IoT, robotics and energy. Dome9 delivers verifiable cloud infrastructure security and compliance to organizations across every public cloud. The Dome9 Arc SaaS platform leverages cloud-native security capabilities and cloud-agnostic policy automation to bring comprehensive network security, advanced IAM protection, and continuous compliance to public cloud environments. Dome9 offers technologies to assess security posture, detect misconfigurations, model gold standard policies, protect against attacks and identity theft, and conform to security best practices in the cloud. Enterprises use Dome9 Arc for faster and more effective cloud security operations, pain-free compliance and governance, and rugged DevOps practices. Learn more at . 925-271-8227 Newforma Congratulates AIA Georgia Design Winners MANCHESTER, NH (Marketwired) 04/19/17 Newforma congratulates winners and finalists of the 2017 Design and Honor Awards of the Georgia chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Winners by category are: Built: Excellence award: Heery International (University of Cincinnati Nippert Stadium) Excellence award: Perkins+Will (Atlanta office relocation) Honor award: Perkins+Will (Site Operations Center at BMW) Honor award: Perkins+Will (Camp Southern Ground Peterson Dining Hall) Merit award: BLDGS (Georgia Institute of Technology Caddell Building) Merit award: Perkins+Will (Clemson University Watt Family Innovation Center) Restoration/Adaptive Re-Use: Honor award: Perkins+Will (Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School) Merit award: Smith Dalia Architects (Defoor Hills Warehouse renovation) Merit award: Robert M. Cain, Architect (Mid-century Remix) Interiors: Merit award: Perkins+Will (101 Marietta: Lobby Renovation & Rebranding) Residential Over $1 million: Honor award: Surber Barber Choate + Hertlein Architects (House near El Cerro de Chipinque) Residential Under $1 million: Merit award: Bach Design Studio (Mountain Retreat) For a complete list, which includes special and peoples choice awards, contact . Newforma customers are among the winners and finalists. Newforma customers among the winners are Perkins+Will and Surber Barber Choate + Hertlein Architects. Newforma customers among finalists were HOK and Randall-Paulson Architects. Design and construction play vital roles in the health of the economy and the well-being of people who live and work in the built environment, said Newforma Chief Executive Officer . Its a privilege for Newforma to play a part in this endeavor. We are delighted that some of our customers were among those recognized for their achievements, and congratulate everyone who participated in the 2017 AIA Georgia Design and Honor Awards. The American Institute of Architects is the voice of the architectural profession and a resource for its members in service to society. is committed to providing the necessary leadership and resources to help inform and educate our membership so that they can fully embrace their role in creating a sustainable built environment and consequently empower them to inspire their clients and the entire construction industry. The AIA pursues a vision of driving positive change through the power of design. To date, more than 1,350 architecture, engineering, and construction companies have used Newforma software to manage information on more than 2.5 million building and infrastructure projects around the world. Newforma apps and desktop software slash time spent on administrative tasks. As a result, Newformas customers have more time to improve quality, avoid mistakes, and meet demands for faster responses and tighter schedules. More about the company is available at and on social media , , and . 2017 Newforma, Inc. Newforma is a registered trademark of Newforma, Inc., in the United States and in other countries. All other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and should be treated as such. Peak Indicators Recognised With Prestigious Oracle UK & Ireland Partner of the Year Awards in Cloud Analytics Oracle today recognised Peak Indicators with its 2017 UK & Ireland Partner of the Year Awards in Cloud Analytics. Peak Indicators is a Gold level member of Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN). Peak Indicators was presented the 2017 UK & Ireland Partner of the Year Award in Cloud Analytics for demonstrating excellence and thought leadership in the delivery of cloud analytics solutions across a variety of industry verticals including HR, Finance and Retail. Peak Indicators have put the cloud at the heart of their strategy, their visionary approach has led to streamlined and simplified analytics deployments that deliver value faster and increase capability whilst reducing operational costs. UK & Ireland Partner of the Year Awards encourage innovation by OPN members, who use Oracles products and technology to create value for customers. The award reflects Peak Indicators success in adopting OPNs specialised approach, which is aimed at enabling partners to establish industry recognition by following a formal process to become specialized in key Oracle solution areas. Upon receiving the award, Kenneth Neilson, Managing Director of Peak Indicators said We are delighted for both our staff and our customers, this is a reflection of the effort and progress made in delivering real value and positive change using Oracle technologies. We would like to thank Oracle for recognising our achievements and we look forward to another year of close partnership and collaboration. Peak Indicators has demonstrated an outstanding level of innovation in delivering proven, Oracle-based solutions that solve our joint customers most critical business challenges, said Simon Hill, Head of UKI Alliances & Channels. We congratulate Peak Indicators in achieving the 2017 UK & Ireland Partner of the Year Awards in Cloud Analytics. This achievement is a testament to its dedication to excellence and to providing customers solutions and services that drive real business value and results. The award compliments a successful 12 months for Peak Indicators, as they were also winners of the Oracle EMEA Master of Oracle Data Visualization award. Healthcare IT / Digital Health Q1 2017 VC Funding Strong with $1.6 Billion, Reports Mercom Capital Group AUSTIN, TX (Marketwired) 04/19/17 , llc, a global communications and research firm, released its report on funding and (M&A) activity for the Healthcare Information Technology (IT) / Digital Health sector for the first quarter of 2017. Mercoms comprehensive report covers deals of all sizes from across the globe. (VC) funding, including private equity and corporate VC, in the sector almost doubled quarter-over-quarter, coming in at $1.6 billion (B) in 165 deals compared to $845 million (M) in 159 deals in Q42016. VC funding in Q12017 was also up compared to Q12016 when nearly $1.4B was raised in 146 deals. The Digital Health sector has now received $20B in VC funding since 2010. Total corporate funding in Health IT including VC, debt and public market financing was $1.8B compared to $1B in Q42016. VC funding in Healthcare IT has crossed $20B (2010-Q12017). Digital Health funding is off to a fast start this year and there was no visible Trump effect on investments in the sector, at least in the first quarter, and publicly-traded Digital Health companies actually fared much better in Q1 than last year, commented Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group. Healthcare practice-centric companies raised $574M in 50 deals versus $261M in 42 deals Q42016. Consumer-centric companies saw $1 billion in 115 deals compared to $584M in 117 deals in Q42016. Top categories Q12017: Appointment Booking $315M, Mobile Wireless $230M, Data Analytics $193M, Population Health Management $115M, Telemedicine $112M, Social Health Network $102M. There were 65 early round deals; 14 Accelerator and Incubator deals. Top VC deals included: $200M Haodaifu, $115M Alignment Healthcare, $100M PatientsLikeMe, $90M Nuna, $85M PointClickCare. 306 investors (including four accelerators/incubators) participated in Q12017 funding versus 340 investors in Q42016 (two accelerators/incubators). 19 countries saw Health IT VC funding in Q12017. 49 M&A transactions (seven disclosed) occurred in Q12017 versus 42 transactions (11 disclosed) Q42016. Top disclosed M&A transactions: $1.1B acquisition of CoverMyMeds by McKesson, Eliza Corporations $170M acquisition from Parthenon Capital Partners by HMS Holdings, Jiffs $134M for Castlight Health, HCI Group for $110M by Tech Mahindra. 573 companies and investors were covered in this report. Mercoms comprehensive report covers deals of all sizes across the globe. Mercom Capital Group is a global and firm focused on , and financial communications. Mercom advises companies on new market entry, custom market intelligence and strategic decision-making. Visit: . To get our market intelligence reports, visit: . Get The Best Newcastle NSW SEO Services For Your Engineering Company Zac Dillon SEO Newcastle, a SEO and digital marketing agency based in Newcastle, Australia, launched a wide range of SEO services for clients in telecommunications, engineering, manufacturing, construction and other related industries. More information can be found at https://zacdillon.com.au/engineering-firm-seo. Online marketing has seen a tremendous growth in recent years. More and more businesses look for effective strategies to leverage the immense marketing potential of the internet, as surveys indicate that an overwhelming majority of the public more than 90% use online reviews and Google searches before making a consumer choice. Search engine optimization (SEO) is essential for overall business success. Google is often the first point of contact between clients and businesses, and the large majority of all keyword-specific traffic goes to the top three search results. Traffic analysis indicates that roughly two thirds of all traffic for any keyword go to the top three search results, with more than 95% going to first page results. Ranking competition is, therefore, extremely fierce. Zac Dillon SEO Newcastle is a professional SEO and digital marketing agency providing a variety of services for clients looking to optimize their online presence. The company has recently announced a full range of specialized [SEO services for businesses in engineering, manufacturing, telecommunications](https://sites.google.com/view/seoformanufacturers) and other industries. Professional service firms such as architects and surveyors can also benefit from this service. The company works exclusively with professional SEO and digital marketing experts to provide effective services in complete accordance with the latest Google algorithm updates. The company provides both on-page and off-page optimization for companies looking to improve their websites Google ranking and attract more clients. Zac Dillon SEO Newcastle also offers complete reputation management services. Businesses without a solid online reputation have been shown to lose various growth opportunities. Zac Dillon SEO helps engineering, manufacturing, construction and other businesses optimize their online reputation by managing negative reviews and responding to all Google reputation challenges. Interested parties can find more information by visiting the above-mentioned website. Guwahati, Apr 19 (IBNS): Following allege payoffs to CID officials in connection with the multi-crore rupees scam in Assam agriculture department, the investigation agency has decided to probe against its officials. ADGP of Assam police CID YK Gautam on Wednesday said that, following the directive by Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, the investigation agency has decided to probe against its officials who had allegedly taken bribes from some contractors in connection with the multi-crore rupees scam in agriculture department. Earlier, a contractor Dipul Barman, who was arrested with two others by the sleuths of CID said that, some CID officials have taken bribes from some contractors and agriculture department officials in connection with the scam. Most of CID officials have been managed. I appeal to the Assam CM to make CID corruption free, the arrested contractor said before media. After allegations against the CID officials emerged, Sonowal had directed the CID to initiate a probe against the officials who have taken bribes. The investigation agency on Tuesday arrested three contractors allegedly involved in the scam. The sleuths of CID also arrested seven other officials of agriculture department. (Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath) We have more newsletters 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 A woman and her pet dog were rescued from a cliff top in Cheddar Gorge this afternoon, (Wednesday, April 19). Devon and Somerset Fire Service were alerted by police at 2.35pm following reports of a woman being stuck in the Gorge. Police had closed the B3371 Cliff Road, which currently remains cordoned off. Crews from Cheddar, Wells and a specialist crew from Bridgwater took part in the rescue. As well as specialist advisors, officers from Avon Fire Service were also on hand. A fire service spokesman said officers located the woman who was uninjured, but her pet dog had suffered some injuries. The woman was rescued by the specialist team using a harness and was assessed by an ambulance crew. The team then successfully rescued the dog from the cliff face and managed to get it safely down so the owner could alert a local vet. The spokesman added: "The road will remain closed at the base of the gorge, safety officers still remain in place." *We'll bring you more details as soon as we can on when the road is due to reopen. 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 A care worker stole thousands of pounds from an elderly woman with Alzheimer's, going as far as to convince the woman that she was her grand-daughter. Kisella Hillman committed the offences over the course of about three months while she was being paid to look after the victim, who lived near Frome, and used the money to pay for time in a recording studio and to help support an orphanage in Kenya. The 27-year-old defendant, of Little Keyford Lane, Frome, had denied charges of stealing 4,000 cash belonging to Kathleen Brindle at Frome between November 27, 2013, and December 17, 2013 by abuse of position. She also denied a theft of 15,500 and a second theft of 32,000, but was found guilty of all three charges following a six-day trial at Taunton Crown Court. She was acquitted of one charge of theft of 2,000 by abuse of position. During the trial, prosecutor Nikki Coombe told Taunton Crown Court Hillman had been employed to look after Mrs Brindle when she moved to live with her family in Mells, following the death of her son. With her mental health deteriorating, Hillman had been supposed to help insure her quality of life, making sure she was eating and drinking and taking her out for shopping, lunch and social occasions. But Hillman had been syphoning off money from the woman's bank account, Mrs Coombe said, before progressing to help herself to 32,000. The court heard that members of staff at her bank had become concerned when Hillman bought Mrs Brindle to the bank saying she wanted to withdraw the money and move it to another one. "Staff were worried," Mrs Coombe said. "They said she seemed less confident, less aware of her financial situation and they were concerned she was being taken advantage of. "They asked her why she was taking out the money, why she wanted to close the account, and she turned her head to the defendant and said 'why are we doing this?' "The defendant - who is no relation to Mrs Brindle - replied 'It's OK, Grandma. It's written down at home.'" Staff at the bank had been so upset by what was happening that one member of staff cried when the transfer was approved. The money was withdrawn and transferred to an account with a building society, before it was withdrawn via cheques made payable to Mrs Brindle. Hillman then took her to the Money Shop in Bath with her passport and utility bill to cash the cheques. When staff at that shop became concerned, Mrs Brindle told them she wanted the money to put in safety deposit boxes for her grandchildren. The money was handed over in 50 notes and put into a rucksack carried by Hillman, who told staff there was a bodyguard waiting outside to escort them home. The transactions and withdrawals were spotted by an employee of the Brindle family after Hillman had been dismissed from her role for poor timekeeping. When arrested and interviewed by police, Hillman told them the money had been given to her as a gift. Giving evidence in her defence, Hillman said she had originally started work as a nanny for the family, before being asked to take on the role of caring for the woman, who had moved from Buckinghamshire following the death of her son. She said she did not know the woman suffered from Alzheimer's and had not seen any symptoms of the illness while she was looking after her. "I was employed to take her wherever she wanted to go, to accompany her," she said. "I asked if she had any particular health problems and I was told no." She also said she had never been given the woman's pin for her bank card or had any dealings with her finances. "She was a very private person," she said. "She always handled her own money." Hillman claimed she had spent some of the money on time in a recording studio and had donated the rest to an orphanage in Kenya. Adjourning the case until May 19 for sentencing, Recorder Jonathan Barnes told Hillman: You have been convicted by a jury on the plainest of evidence of serious crimes against a vulnerable old lady. He released on her on bail but only after freezing her assets and confiscating her passport telling her: In granting you bail, I do not want you to be under any illusions there is very little alternative but to pass a custodial sentence and you cannot buy yourself out of the trouble you have found yourself in. He told her barrister he wanted to see a "proper paper trail" showing where the money had gone before she was sentenced. The court also heard Hillman will be subject to a hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act in an attempt to claw back some of the money she took. We have more newsletters 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 Funeral details following the sudden death of the Beales store manager have been released. Andrew Oakley died suddenly on Tuesday, April 4, of natural causes, according to Somerset Coroner Tony Williams. His funeral will be held at Yeovil Crematorium on Monday, April 24 at 2.40pm. Mr Oakleys family has requested that any donations be made directly to the Sidmouth Donkey Sanctuary, where he sponsored a donkey. The Donkey Sanctuary can be contacted at 01395-578222 or donations can be made online in Andrews memory. President of Yeovil Chamber of Commerce, David Woan, paid tribute to Mr Oakley's following his death. Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will auto-play soon 8 Cancel Play now He said: "I worked closely with Andrew on several town centre regeneration projects, and he was well known to many retailers and key town centre figures. "My own experience of Andrew was a unique personality; a force of nature, whose drive, positivity, energy and passion for life touched the lives of everyone who knew him. "Andrew always liked to be considered as 'just part of the team', but clearly led and inspired the team at Beales. "Andrew's death leaves a massive hole in the town centre business community. Andrew was instrumental in devising and delivering the regular Chamber BA20 Retail Forum , held at Beales restaurant, and was Chamber representative on the Yeovil Crime & Safety Team. "In addition, his presence on the Love Yeovil and Yeovil Vision groups made a real difference, and contributed greatly to putting the retail sector in the driving seat in Yeovil Town centre." 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 The big picture argument about Brexit looks likely to dominate the general election in Somerset, according to a possible Liberal Democrat candidate. Mark Blackburn is listed online as the partys candidate to take on sitting Conservative MP David Warburton in Somerton and Frome. Parliament voted to agree with Prime Minister Theresa May about an election on June 8. But Mr Blackburn told Somerset Live on Tuesday (April 18) he was not officially the Lib Dem candidate yet. I was selected for a period and thats up, so its up to the local party now whether to stick with me or make a change, he said. However hes involved in the election, Mr Blackburn plans to argue against the Conservatives on the basis of Brexit. He said: Obviously for us Brexit is being made into a key issue and it would suit the Conservatives to portray the Lib Dems as trying to wind back the clock. I dont think thats true or fair. What its about is getting the best possible outcome from the Brexit negotiations. We need to look at Britains place in the world and make sure were not reliant on the unpredictable states out there. Even local issues in towns like Frome, Wincanton, Bruton, Castle Cary and Somerton in the constituency will be affected by the outcome of Brexit talks. Mr Blackburn added NHS horror stories, housing shortages and the problems facing the local economy would all get worse with a bad Brexit deal. While Mr Blackburn accepts the Brexit result, its clear he and the Lib Dems will be targeting those who voted remain in Somerset. This could be a risky strategy in Somerton and Frome which is made of some towns in the Mendip region and others in south Somerset. While Mendip voted remain, it was only narrowly with 33,427 supporting EU membership and 32,028 wanting to leave. The south Somerset area was strongly in favour of leaving the EU, with 56,940 voting leave and 42,527 choosing to remain in 2016. (Image: Harriet Warburton) The current MP, David Warburton, supported Brexit and will be confident about his popularity with voters. He said after Theresa Mays announcement yesterday (April 18): I must admit it's a bit of a shock but an election is always exciting and a great opportunity to get people engaged in what's going on. It certainly hasn't been an uneventful first two years in Westminster and this is just another example. But, seriously, I'm certainly keen to get going - and very much looking forward to the next few weeks. There are so many important things underway for the country at the moment and these must be seen through properly if we're to secure our future. 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 A learner driver who led police on a chase through streets in Yeovil while not insured and with no MoT, ignored their blue lights and sirens when they tried to pull him over. Teenager Karl Michael Lawrence put his foot down and sped off, weaving in and out of other vehicles and crossing the central white lines. It wasnt until he was pursued down a no through street and came to a dead end that he came to a halt and the police discovered he only had a provisional licence and wasnt displaying L plates. Lawrence, 18, of Woburn Road, Yeovil, pleaded guilty to failing to stop his vehicle when directed by a police constable in uniform in Allingham Road, Yeovil, on February 9. He also admitted driving without a licence, insurance or a valid MoT when he appeared in the dock before Somerset Magistrates. Emma Lenanton, prosecuting, said that police were on patrol at midday when they saw an MGZR vehicle in Monmouth Road which was stationary at the junction with Rosebery Avenue. They saw two other people get in and it was then driven off but due to intelligence received the officers caught up with it and illuminated their blue lights and sirens and indicated for it to stop, she said. However it didnt stop and instead increased its speed and was weaving in and out of other vehicles and crossing the white lines. A pursuit was initiated and the car sped off at speeds of 40mph in a 30mph zone but it ended when the defendant came to a dead end in Allingham Road. The police approached the car and Lawrence was identified as the driver and found out he only had a provisional licence and there was no insurance or MoT on the vehicle. The passenger was also only a provisional licence holder and was not able to supervise the defendant, and he had no L Plates displayed. The defendant told the magistrates that he had just bought the car and was sorry for what happened. For having no insurance they disqualified him from driving for six months and fined him 120 with 85 costs and a 30 victim surcharge. No separate penalty was imposed for the other three offences. DISCLAIMER:All opinions expressed below are solely those of Marcus Fysh, and do not reflect the views of the authors of articles referenced, Somerset Live or any related publications. Yeovil MP, Marcus Fysh has penned his weekly column for the Western Gazette. He says: "At the time of writing the Prime Minister has just announced that she will seek Parliamentary approval to hold a General Election on June 8. Although not wholly unexpected this is certainly been a lively welcome back to MPs after the Easter break! I have been privileged to be the Member of Parliament for the Yeovil constituency for nearly two years now. It is hard to think of a more eventful two years in recent political history. "This is the right thing to do. Since triggering Article 50, we have entered a very important period for our country. To get the best possible result from negotiating with the EU we need strong leadership able to pursue a constructive deal. Theresa May has proved herself to be a positive and sensible Prime Minister. The process, enacting the result of the Referendum last year, is under threat from those who would seek to overrule the peoples vote. Opposition political parties and unelected Lords are trying to confuse the issue with notions or hard or soft Brexit but the reality is this is a process where getting a good deal depends on negotiating strength and not division. Be in no doubt, their aim is to stop us leaving the EU, as if the voters didnt know what they were doing. Not only is this nonsense but it is an attempt to undermine our democratic process. I am sure I will be forgiven for quoting one of my own constituents, Lord Ashdown, who said I will forgive no one who does not respect the sovereign voice of the British people once it has spoken. () Either you believe in democracy or you dont. I agree with that sentiment. "I am looking forward to the election campaign. I welcome the chance to spend more time in South Somerset, to hear more views from our residents about what they want for their future and to take part in, I hope, civilised debate on the big issues of the day. Locally a Conservative Government will continue to deliver on our plan for major investment to upgrade our roads and railways, innovation and funding for our NHS, social care and schools, skilled jobs and apprenticeships and rejuvenation of our town centres. We will continue to rollout superfast broadband in hard to reach areas to make sure every home and business has this vital link. We will support and build on our skilled engineering and aerospace heritage and develop new related areas of expertise. At local and national levels Conservative administrations will remember that there is no such thing as public money its taxpayer money, your money. "Id like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support in the last two years. I love our part of the world and it is an honour to represent it in Westminster. Our future as a region and as a country is bright if we take our opportunities." Do you agree with Marcus Fysh? Let us know in the comments below. We have more newsletters 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 Avon and Somerset Police are appealing for more information over a burglary in Wells. It happened at the Renaissance Hair Design Salon on Princes Road on Friday, April 7 between 8pm and 6am the following morning. Numerous hair products are understood to have been taken in the raid. Anyone who may know anything that can help police with their inquiries is advised to contact PC Adam Mellor on 101, quoting log number 5217077562. Something went wrong, please try again later. Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. A judge has said an arrogant teenager from Taunton with a perverted interest in young girls could be one of the most dangerous people to appear before him. The 16-year-old boy who cannot be named for legal reasons had been found guilty of a single charge of sexual touching following a trial. But the jury at Taunton Crown Court cleared him of 12 charges of sexual offences and rape - a decision branded "bizarre" by the judge. Prosecutor Sean Brunton said the teenager had been found guilty of groping a schoolgirl after telling her his father was dead. His dad was in fact alive and supported him during the trial. In her victim impact statement, the girl said she had been suffering from anxiety and her emotional well-being had suffered as a result of his actions. Sentencing the boy to a two year youth rehabilitation order, Judge David Ticehurst said: I think that you are potentially one of the most dangerous men who has ever appeared before me. Your perverted interest in young girls is a matter of grave concern. He said the verdict reached by the jury in the trial had been "bizarre" and told him: You are extremely fortunate you were not convicted of any of the other charges against you. You were looking at a lengthy prison sentence and some of the girls who gave evidence against you during the trial would no doubt believe it is exactly what you deserve. You gave your evidence in an arrogant, selfish fashion and gave no account to the feelings of others, including your own father. At 16 years old, you are now of an age when you can say: I have narrowly avoided going away for a very long time. "The way that you have been behaving suggests there is something not quite right, and you need to resolve that. If you dont, I have no doubt that you will be going to prison for a very long time." The judge paid tribute to the boys father, saying he had watched the anguish on his face as evidence was given against his son. I can only hope that he will learn from you how to behave decently and properly, the judge said. The teenager's defence barrister Rebecca Bradberry said the defendant had difficulties in his background and as a result of the trial his whole life had been uprooted. She said: He has been prevented from going into full-time education and has lost the last two years of his life, She said the boy had to be sentenced as a youth and that sentencing must not impinge on his life. The boys father also addressed the judge, telling him he would be diligent and enforce the sentence handed down by the court. As well as the two year youth rehabilitation order, the teeager was also ordered to carry out an activity requirement and made to sign the sex offenders register. He was also made the subject of a two year sexual harm prevention order which controls his use of the internet and social media, and a restraining order preventing him from contacting any of the complainants in the trial. Guwahati, Apr 19 (IBNS): Assam Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday said that Assamese will be made a mandatory subject in all educational institutions in the state till class 10. The Assam minister said that, in this regard a legislation will be passed in the state assembly in August next. Assamese will be mandatory in all schools till class 10. But if someone not interested to take up Assamese he or she can opt Bengali or Bodo subject. Bengali subject will be mandatory for Barak Valley schools and Bodo to all Bodo medium schools, Himanta Biswa Sarma said. The Assam minister further said that, the state government will appoint nearly 16,000 elementary teachers by next year. At present 14,331 teachers post are vacant in that state and another 2000-3000 new vacancies will come up. We have 19709 TET passed candidates, who still wait for appointment. Out of these TET passed candidates, nearly 80 percent will be appointed by 2018, the Assam education minister said. The minister said that, an additional of Rs 600 crore will be required annually to fill up these posts. Sarma further said that, the Centre has relaxed the norms of Diploma in Elementary Education (DlEd) and Bachelor in Education (BEd) for appointing teachers specially for Assam. (Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath) 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 Doctors were seen rushing out of Yeovil Hospital on Monday evening (April 17) after they were alerted to a woman in distress in the new multi-storey car park. Several people posted on social media that evening to say they had seen staff from the hospital were seen running towards the car park with gloves on. The hospital has now confirmed the reason why staff were seen carrying out these actions. A spokesman said: On Monday evening members of our staff were alerted to a person in distress within our multi-storey car park. Our staff quickly attended the person and they were taken to the Emergency Department for treatment. One such post on social media suggested that an area of the hospital was on lockdown but the hospital has not confirmed whether this was the case. There are also suggestions that security guards were involved in the incident. Did you see anything? Get in touch with me via email at josh.fordham@westgaz.co.uk . 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 A ward at Yeovil Hospital remains under restricted access following the recent norovirus outbreak. The public is being asked to not visit ward 6B unless absolutely essential as the virus is still circulating in the community. On April 4 ward 7B at the hospital was closed to new admissions after 16 patients and three members of staff were struck down with norovirus. A second ward was then shut following a further outbreak. Yeovil Hospital has confirmed that Ward 8B and Jasmine ward are back to normal access. A spokesman for the hospital said: Ward 6B continues to be under restricted access for visitors. Ward 8B and Jasmine are back to normal access. Norovirus is still circulating in the community so it is important you don't visit the hospital if you have had vomiting, diarrhoea or both in the last 72 hours. Do not visit ward 6B unless absolutely essential. Children of 12 years old or under are not allowed on ward 6B as they are particularly vulnerable to infection and effective at spreading the virus. The hospital has also issued advice for people who think they may have norovirus. The spokesman added: If you have vomiting, diarrhoea or both do not come to the hospital. Stay at home, rest up and keep hydrated. Norovirus is very unpleasant but will usually run its course in 48 hours. If you are concerned by your symptoms please call NHS 111 for free by dialling 111 from your mobile or landline. Please do not visit the hospital until you have been symptom free for 72 hours. We ask everyone to be really diligent when washing their hands. Especially when entering and leaving wards, and when preparing and eating food and drink. Thank you for your continued help and support during this outbreak. The Salvation Army of Metro Detroit is currently accepting applications for Christmas assistance from residents of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb Counties at all metro Detroit Salvation Army corps community centers. A culture of giving and a celebration of Canadian values will dominate this years mammoth Vaisakhi parade in Surrey, which is expected to draw around 300,000 people from the Pacific Northwest. Held annually to commemorate one of the most important religious events on the Sikh calendar, the Surrey celebration is one of the largest Vaisakhi or Khalsa Day parade in the world outside of India. For Surrey, where one-third of its residents are of South Asian descent and where the immigrant population is increasing by 1,000 people each month, the Vaisakhi celebration is an opportunity to showcase the citys diversity. This years event will attract top BC politicians who are in the midst of campaigning for the May elections. For many, Vaisakhi marks the beginning of a new year. Its a time for families, friends, and neighbours to celebrate together - and we can be proud that B.C. is home to some of the largest celebrations in North America said Premier Christy Clark. To all those celebrating Vaisakhi, may you enjoy it to the fullest with your loved ones. Lakh Lakh Vadai! "The Sikh community in Canada has had a long journey to peace, justice, freedom and prosperity over the past 100 years. Gurudwaras are the spirit of the Sikh community that keeps Sikh culture alive and thriving. Our province is enriched by the generosity and philanthropy of gurudwaras and organizations in our communities, said BC NDP leader John Horgan B.C. Sikhs community is front and centre when it comes to community service, supporting charitable causes and providing relief aid and their efforts will be on full display this Saturday. At this years parade, organisers expect over 2500 participants representing 20 community organizations to participate in the events with thousands more celebrating the spirit of Vaisakhi The Surrey parade, which will begin and end at the Gurdwara Sahib Dasmesh Darbar on 85th Ave., flows with the float carrying the Guru Granth Sahib, the religious text of Sikhism. Along the route there will also be live music and dancers, If Surrey boasts one of the biggest Vaisakhi parades outside of India, Vancouver has the distinction of being the oldest such event in B.C. Malkiat Dhami, president of the Khalsa Diwan Society, said organizers are noticing more non-Indo-Canadian people revelling in its festival atmosphere and tasty food in the Vancouver event. Dhami couldnt confirm attendance but said it felt like this years crowd in Vancouver was even bigger than the approximately 125,000-150,000 people who showed up last year. In Surrey an economic study based on the 2014 Surrey Vaisaskhi Parade showed the event generated close to $30 million in spending by visitors from out of town. The study which was commissioned by Harbinder Singh Sewak, publisher of The South Asian Post, has also found that the 2014 parade is estimated to have contributed between $6.6 million and $12.3 million in GDP for the provincial economy, supported between 116 and 215 Full Time Equivalent jobs, and contributed between $2.3 million and $4.4 million in tax revenues for federal, provincial and municipal governments. Based on the estimates of the parade, between $2.6 million to $4.5 million worth of food and beverages were served; The average length of stay was 7 days for visitors from the rest of BC, 15 days for visitors from the rest of Canada, 15 days for visitors from the US, and 30 days for other international visitors. Vaisakhi Q&A Q: What are the origins of Vaisakhi? A: Although Vaisakhi has traditionally been a harvest festival in Punjab and across South Asia for centuries, the day has a very special significance for Sikhs. On Vaisakhi Day in 1699, Guru Gobind Singh created the Order of the Khalsa. The Khalsa are those Sikhs who have accepted the Sikh initiation or khande kee paahul and commit to live their lives in the service of humanity and the spirit of equality and compassion. The founding of the Khalsa was a seminal event in Sikh history which gave the Sikh faith its final form. Q: What is a Nagar Kirtan? A: The word nagar means town and kirtan is singing of hymns. A nagar kirtan refers to a Sikh parade that is led by the Punj Pyare (the five beloved ones, who represent the first five Sikh to have been initiated) and the Sri Guru Granth Sahib or the Sikh scripture, which is placed in a decorated float. The congregation follows the parade while singing hymns and verses from the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, along with displays of the Sikh martial art gatka and distributing free food (langar). The nagar kirtan begins and concludes with a religious service and the serving of langar. Q: What is the significance of the orange and yellow colours? A: Yellow and orange are the traditional colours of Vaisakhi. They represent the spirit of rebirth and sacrifice of the Punj Pyare but are also a colour of joy and celebration. When Vaisakhi is celebrated in Punjab, the golden yellow wheat fields are ready to be harvested. Q: Who can participate in Vaisakhi celebrations? A: Everyone. The Sikh faith considers all persons to be equal, regardless of gender, race, nationality or class. Sikh gurdwaras are open to all people. The langar or community meal is also offered to both Sikhs and non-Sikhs alike. Q: Is there any special dress I should wear? A: The only requirements to visit a Sikh gurdwara are that visitors take off their shoes and cover their heads. Any intoxicants such as tobacco products or liquor are also not permitted on the premises. World Sikh Organisation of Canada New Portage Manor may go at current site or near Clay Township Park New York, Apr 19 (IBNS): Militant group Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack near St. Catherineas Monastery in south Sinai of Egypt, media reports said. US terrorist-tracking organisation SITE reports said on its website: "The Islamic States (IS) Amaq News Agency reported that the group is responsible for the attack near St. Catherines Monastery in south Sinai." Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has declared a state of emergency in the country following attacks on Coptic Christians on Sunday, reports said. The attacks, which took place on two Coptic churches in Tanta and Alexandria, killed at least 44 people, the BBC reported. Image:Googlemaps New York, Apr 19(Just Earth News): The United Nations envoy for the Middle East peace process on Wednesday called on authorities in Gaza to work together with the international community to resolve a new energy crisis after the area's only power station shut down, saying the consequences of the crisis ashould not be underestimated.a All in Gaza must share the burden by paying their bills. It is the poorest Palestinians in Gaza who pay the price for exceptions and privileges that others enjoy, said Nickolay Mladenov, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. He urged the defacto authorities in Gaza to ensure that collection rates are improved and that revenue collected in Gaza is returned to the legitimate Palestinian authorities in order to keep fuel and electricity supply flowing. According to media reports, the two factions have been fighting over unpaid bills and taxes, forcing the local energy authority to shut down power. Mladenov noted that Palestinians in Gaza have lived in a protracted humanitarian crisis and should not be held hostage by disagreements, divisions and closures. The social, economic and political consequences of this impending energy crisis should not be underestimated, he stressed. The UN envoy said the international community can finance and support investment in upgrading the electrical grid but it cannot do it alone. He urged the Palestinian Government to facilitate buying fuel for the Gaza Power plant, and voiced support for reforming the Gaza Electricity Distribution Company. He also called on Israeli authorities to facilitate the entry of materials for repairs and maintenance of the power grid and plant, and noted the need to also upgrade Egyptian power lines. Photo: World Bank/Natalia Cieslik (file) Source: www.justearthnews.com New York, Apr 19(Just Earth News): Raising alarm over increasing reports of serious human rights violations in the Kasai Central and Kasai Oriental provinces of Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Nations human rights chief underscored that the scale and nature of the allegations could warrant an investigation by an international mechanism, such as the International Criminal Court (ICC). According the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), between 5-7 April, a team of UN human rights and police officials found 17 further mass graves in the Kasai Central province, which had been the location of clashes between security forces and the Kamuina Nsapu, a local militia. The discovery of yet more mass graves and the reports of continued violations and abuses highlight the horror that has been unfolding in the Kasais over the last nine months, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said in a news release, highlighting the need to monitor the situation closely. Should there be no effective national investigation, I will not hesitate to urge the international community to support an investigation by an international mechanism, including the International Criminal Court, he added. Fifteen of the recently discovered mass graves were in a cemetery in the town of Tshimbulu and two in the locality of Tshienke. According to information received by the UN investigators, soldiers from the Forces armees de la Republique democratique du Congo (FARDC) had reportedly dug the graves, after clashing with presumed elements of the Kamuina Nsapu between 26-28 March. At least 74 people, including 30 children, were reported to have been killed by soldiers as a result of these clashes. The militia, loyal to a local customary chief who was killed in August last year, has been accused of a number of crimes and human rights abuses, including killings and abduction, recruitment of children, and targeting schools, hospitals and churches. It is absolutely vital that the Government takes meaningful steps, which to date have been lacking, to ensure that there is a prompt, transparent, and independent investigation to establish the facts and circumstances of alleged human rights violations and abuses perpetrated by all parties, underscored the UN rights chief. The UN team also visited Kananga, a town in Kasai Central, where between 28-30 March, FARDC soldiers were reported to have shot dead at least 40 people, including 11 children and 12 women, in the town's Nganza commune, and injured at least 21 others. There are also allegations that at least two women and three girls had been raped by the soldiers during that operation. The UN investigators were also informed of the killing of three individuals, including a 17-year-old boy and a one-month-old baby during search operations by the Police Nationale Congolaise. Also in the statement, High Commissioner Zeid offered his Office's assistance in conducting a credible investigation into the reports and allegations but underscored that it must be provided with unfettered access. We reiterate our request for access to all sites of mass graves, as well as to all witnesses, including those in detention, and other relevant information necessary to determine responsibility at all levels, he added. Photo: MONUSCO/Biliaminou Alao Source: www.justearthnews.com Colombo, Apr 19 (IBNS) The Sri Lankan government has announced that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive in the island nation to participate in the UN Vesak Day celebrations on May 12. Following an official request from the Sri Lankan government, the UN Vesak Day committee met at the previous UN Vesak Day held in Thailand, had agreed to host it in 2017 in Sri Lanka. "Vesak", the Day of the Full Moon in the month of May, is the most sacred day to millions of Buddhists around the world since it was on the Day of Vesak two and a half millennia ago, in the year 623 B.C., that the Buddha was born. It was also on the Day of Vesak that the Buddha attained enlightenment, and it was on the Day of Vesak that the Buddha in his eightieth year passed away. Justice and Buddhasasana Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe told the media that the Indian government had officially informed about Premier Modis participation at the 14th UN Vesak Day celebration. He will be here for the inauguration ceremony on May 12, Minister Rajapaksa said, The UN Vesak Day festival will be held from 12 to 14 in Colombo. The inauguration ceremony in Colombo will be attended by Sri Lankas President Maithripala Sirisena, Modi and a host of other national and international delegates. He said that over 2,000 delegates including Buddhist and political leaders from several countries will attend the event and a special Vesak zone will also be declared near the countrys parliamentary complex. In 1990, the UN General Assembly declared an International Day of Observance for Vesak following a request made by the then Sri Lankas Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, who was later killed by the LTTE terrorists. Minister Rajapaksa said that Nepali President Bidhya Devi Bhandari has also confirmed her participation for the closing ceremony which will be held in Kandy. Georgetown, SC (29440) Today Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 49F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 49F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph. The landscape of Mars is predominantly shaped by winds these days, as its volcanoes appear dormant and the atmosphere is too thin to let water easily flow on the surface. But what sort of a risk would these winds pose to missions on the Red Planet if discarded hardware happens to be near a lander? It's common for Mars missions such as the 2012 Curiosity rover and the upcoming Mars 2020 rover to have separate entry, descent, and landing (EDL) systems from the surface hardware. A rover that makes it through the atmosphere and lands safely on the surface would have no further need of a heat shield or parachute or similar items to accomplish its mission, so such features are typically ditched. Just before the Curiosity rover landed on Mars in 2012, for example, it jettisoned its parachute and its descent stage and used a "sky crane" to lower itself to the surface. Then the connecting cord was cut and the descent stage flew far away from Curiosity. It was designed to impact at least 150 meters away, but managed to make it several times farther, a total of roughly 650 meters. But a new paper appearing in the journal Acta Astronautica says that may not be far enough, especially for sample return missions. RELATED: Forget About Terraforming Mars. Here's Why. "Currently available landing systems, using heat shield and parachutes, might be problematic because jettisoned hardware from these landers normally land within a few hundred meters of the lander," said lead author Mark Paton, a planetary scientist at the Finnish Meterological Institute, in an e-mail to Seeker. "I would imagine a sample return mission would not jettison its parachute in close vicinity of the target sample or the cached sample," he continued. "The parachute might cover the sample, making its retrieval a problem. Landers using large parachutes or other large devices probably pose the greatest risk as these could be easily blown onto equipment on the surface, damaging or covering it." A proposed Martian sample return mission is shown in an artist's conception. A new paper says that the entry, descent and landing system should be located several kilometers away from the surface mission to avoid the possibility of interfering with operations. (Image credit: NASA) Paton's paper prototyped several NASA lander system concepts in a space flight simulator called Orbiter. This involved creating 3D models of the spacecraft to make a visualization. "It was an important step as I was able to check if the parachute or other devices would collide with the lander after separation," he said. "It also enabled me to understand the powered descent procedure to properly calculate the propellant requirements." Next, Paton built a simple trajectory model outside of Orbiter and ran it thousands of times for each landing system. This allowed him to map out various wind speeds and directions that could cause jettisoned spacecraft hardware to impact a crewed Mars base. He calculated probability using a probability density function to represent the distribution of wind speeds on Mars. RELATED: Volcanic Activity on Ancient Mars May Have Produced Organic Life Paton pointed out that since the Phoenix mission of 2008, Martian landers have been able to move sideways to get away from the descending parachute, so it's very possible that future landing missions could extend that capability to move at least a kilometer horizontally before landing. "For new landing systems, a detailed trade-off analysis would be required to determine the best way to mitigate this problem," Paton said. "To be sure that the wind is blowing away from any landed assets, the winds in the lower few kilometers of the atmosphere would ideally need to be measured close to the time of the landers expected arrival." His paper noted that better characterization of Martian winds is needed to calculate impact probabilities. While high-resolution atmospheric models provide a statistical sense of the winds, he said better accuracy would come from an instrument on Mars that could "measure the winds aloft continuously over a long time period." NASA's lunar module was used for six human landing missions on the moon in the 1960s and 1970s, including 1969's Apollo 12 (pictured). IT used propulsion to get astronauts down to the surface. A propulsion-only landing would reduce the amount of debris for a Martian mission, but requires a lot of propellant or a more efficient engine than what currently exists. (Image credit: NASA) Future human missions to Mars would also have to contend with the debris problem. One possible method is to dispense with parachutes altogether and use a "fully propulsive" method to land on Mars, similarly to how the Apollo astronauts landed on the moon in the 1960s and 1970s. "This fully propulsive option has been studied for Mars by NASA and others," Paton noted. "It has some significant benefits as the crew probably would experience very gentle g-levels. This would be beneficial if the crew are required to get to work, setting up the base, soon after they have landed." But this type of system in Mars' atmosphere would either require a large amount of propellant, or a very efficient engine more efficient than those that already exist, Paton said. To get around this, propellant could be mined from the asteroid belt and delivered to Martian orbit as propellant depots, at which visiting spacecraft could refuel before descending to the surface. Originally published on Seeker. NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson floats through the Unity module aboard the International Space Station during the Expedition 50 mission in this photo taken on November 28, 2016. President Donald Trump will make an out-of-this-world call Monday (April 24) to congratulate NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson on her record-breaking mission to the International Space Station. Trump, first daughter Ivanka Trump and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins will make a 20-minute call to Whitson from the Oval Office at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) on Monday, NASA officials announced today (April 18). The callers will personally congratulate Whitson for her epic achievements in space, they added. "Commander of the station's Expedition 51 crew, Whitson will officially set the U.S. record Monday for most cumulative days in space, surpassing NASA astronaut Jeff Williams' record of 534 days," NASA officials said in the statement. "Additionally, she is the first woman to command the space station twice, and holds the record for most spacewalks conducted by a female astronaut." [NASA's Record-Breaking Astronaut Peggy Whitson in Photos] NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson floats through the Unity module aboard the International Space Station during the Expedition 50 mission in this photo taken on November 28, 2016. (Image credit: NASA) Whitson first flew to space in 2002 as part of the station's Expedition 5 mission and returned in 2007 during the Expedition 16 mission. It was during Expedition 16 that Whitson first took command of the International Space Station a first for a female astronaut. She has also served as NASA's first female chief astronaut and has performed eight spacewalks during her career. You can watch Trump's Earth-to-space call to Whitson live online. NASA TV will broadcast video of the call online, which you can also see here on Space.com, and the agency will also make the video available to schools, museums and other groups across the United States and around the world, NASA officials said. "The Department of Education and NASA are working together, on behalf of the White House, to encourage classrooms throughout America to tune-in to this historic event," NASA officials wrote in the statement. "They also are making available for voluntary use STEM on Station educational materials that may be helpful to further engage students in the classroom. STEM on Station is comprised of education activities that follow astronauts as they demonstrate STEM concepts such as Newtons Laws of Motion, surface tension and advances in technology." Whitson is currently the commander of the space station's Expedition 51 crew, which also includes Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy and French astronaut Thomas Pesquet. She arrived at the station in November 2016 as part of the then-Expedition 50 crew. The Expedition 50/51 mission is Whitson's third spaceflight, all of which have been long-duration missions to the space station. On Thursday (April 20), two new crewmembers Jack Fischer of NASA and Fyodor Yurchikhin of Russia are scheduled to arrive at the station. Fischer is expected to join Whitson during the call from Trump. Whitson, 57, hails from Beaconsfield, Iowa, and has degrees in biology and biochemistry. She first joined NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston as a research biochemist in 1989 and was selected for the astronaut corps in 1996. Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. Toronto, Apr 19 (IBNS): Consulate General of India, Toronto, Dinesh Bhatia has set a June deadline for all members of Indo-Canadian community, still holding Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) cards, to convert to Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) at the earliest so as to avoid any complications during their travel to India, an official statement said. Bhatia informed that the deadline for the conversion process of PIO to OCI is June 30, 2017. Bhatia further clarified that conversion of PIO to OCI cards requires only the photocopies of the Canadian passport and existing PIO card. The process does not require any extra scrutiny or additional documents. For further details, Bhatia stated that one should visit the Consulate website www.cgitoronto.ca. (Reporting by Asha Bajaj) "America's extreme attractiveness to foreign portfolio investments is a product of its economic and political importance to the global economy in addition to the role of the U.S. dollar as the leading international currency," the paper's authors stress. In other words, for as long as the U.S. plays the role of global power, it will attract foreign capital, which likewise means that it will import more goods than it will export. 'Comparative Advantages' Trade imbalances of the kind the new U.S. administration is constantly lamenting, the German government experts reassure, aren't a bad thing. Rather, they are "normal in an open economy." Indeed, "they are the expression of diverse comparative advantages held by different national economies and their associated specialties." Each country does what it can do best. Another cause for the comparatively high volume of savings that Germans hold abroad, the paper claims, is retirement provisions. "Various estimates assume that between one and three percentage points of the current account balance is caused by demographic factors," the paper reads. That means that the more Germans reach retirement age, the more they will begin to tap into their savings and the German current account surplus will fall as a result. The authors of the paper do not dispute that the extreme imbalance could "justify economic policy intervention." But Schauble and Zypries believe that Germany has already taken significant steps to reduce the surplus. One example listed in the paper is the minimum wage that was introduced in 2015 and was increased at the start of 2017. During the same period, tax cuts worth 11 billion euros have been introduced. "These measures increase domestic demand." Plus, the government has increased public investment by 45 percent and introduced measures to increase private investment. "The current rate of investment is likely to increase slightly this year from 20 to 20.2 percent in relation to gross domestic product." The paper also vehemently rejects accusations from the U.S. that Germany is using unfair measures to create an advantage. "Germany has no influence on the exchange rate and applies no protectionist measures," the paper notes. EU member states and the European Commission, the document instructs, have no influence on the monetary policy pursued by the European Central Bank. 'A Degree of Certainty' Such sentences make it clear that Germany is worried that the U.S. could accuse it of currency manipulation. Trump has already indicated that he would do so in the case of China, before surprisingly pulling a step back last week. The most recent currency report by the U.S. Treasury Department likewise makes no accusations of manipulation, which the German Finance Ministry has noted with relief. The formulation used in the Treasury report, according to a senior German official, is very similar to that used before Trump's presidency, which speaks to "a certain degree of continuity." From a global perspective, the German paper sums up, the country's current account surplus is not particularly meaningful. In the global comparison, the eurozone's trade balance with the rest of the world is decisive. "California's trade balance with China is just as insignificant in the debate as Germany's with the U.S. should be." Whether such comparisons will truly convince Trump's people is unclear. The comparison with California is one that Wolfgang Schauble already jokingly made in mid-March in his initial meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. The American, however, did not look amused. Paris , Apr 19, 2017 (SPS) - About thirty Sahrawis and French activists supporting the Sahrawi cause participated in a rally at Les Invalides in Paris on Tuesday afternoon to demand the immediate and unconditioned release of the Sahrawi political prisoners held in Morocco. The rally, staged 100m from the headquarters of the French ministry of Foreign Affairs, has been initiated by the Association of Sahrawi Community in France (ACSF), the Association of Sahrawis in France (ASF), the League of Sahrawi Students in France and the Platform for Solidarity with the People of Western Sahara. The protesters chanted "One Solution, Stop Occupation" and "Morocco Killer, France Accomplice" and claimed the immediate and unconditioned release of Sahrawi political prisoners and halt to suppression in the occupied Sahrawi territories. They also called for the urgent holding of a referendum on self-determination, to allow the Sahrawi people decide freely their future, and the extension of the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) to human rights monitoring in the occupied Sahrawi territories, as well as the enforcement of the ruling of the European Union Court of Justice of 21 December 2016. SPS 125/090/700 This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate HARTFORD A new assessment of Connecticuts natural environment paints a gloomy picture of declining oxygen in Long Island Sound and less state enforcement of air, water and pollution regulations. The Connecticut Council on Environmental Quality on Wednesday said 81 percent of the Sound had acceptable oxygen levels last year the second worst percentage in 10 years the result of climate change and polluted runoff entering streams and rivers that empty into the waterway. The CEQ pointed out the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection inspected 69 percent fewer potential violators between 2008 and 2016 a troubling trend given President Donald Trumps plan to gut the federal Environmental Protection Agency and eliminate billions of dollars for cleanups and green initiatives. Connecticut still has major environmental challenges and we are apprehensive about receiving any help going forward from the federal government, said state Rep. Mike Demico, D-Farmington, and co-chairman of the Legislatures environment committee. That makes it more important to take the lead here in Connecticut, Demico said. Susan Merrow, CEQ chairwoman, said other challenges facing the state include continuing bad-air days due to smog from the Midwest, an uptick in gasoline consumption that is fueling greenhouse gas emissions and a dwindling focus on conserving land. More Information Connecticut's environment Connecticut Council on Environmental Quality's assessment of the state's environment. Modest reduction in air pollution as the number of "bad-air days" remained at 31 during 2016 - one less than 10 year average Inspections to enforce air, water and pollution regulations dropped from 8,314 in 2008 to 2,599 last year The percentage of Long island Sound with adequate oxygen levels dropped to 81 percent, the second-worst in ten years Cities and towns discharged less nitrogen pollution into the Sound Turtles, ruffed grouse and bats are all declining, due to less habitat Water quality in rivers and streams declined Connecticut is not preserving enough land to meet targets Connecticut drivers used more fuel due to cheaper gas prices and a return to less fuel efficient SUVs See More Collapse We always assume Connecticut residents will not choose to go backwards, Merrow said. However, the potential changes in federal policies are so severe that Connecticut residents could actually see things get worse. The CEQ, a modest state agency charged with monitoring environmental trends, is endangered as well. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy again cut the agencys $175,000 annual budget from the state spending plan now before the Legislature, although in past years lawmakers restored the funds. DEEP enforcement The CEQ report highlights a substantial drop in DEEP inspections of companies which could be violating air, water and pollution regulations. The report shows inspections dropped to 2,599 in 2016, from 8,314 in 2008. DEEP officials said the 2008 total includes 1,962 inspections conducted by the state Department of Consumer Protection on gas-pump vapor-recovery systems. The largest reduction involved companies that sell, make or use pesticides, which was half as many as normally conducted by the agency, the CEQ said. Karl Wagener, CEQs executive director, said 800 violations were issued by DEEP in 2016, but added the number could have been much higher had DEEP run a more robust enforcement program. Its inconceivable that compliance is way up, Wagener said. If there were more inspections, more violations would have been found. DEEP placed the number of informal notices of violations at 832, as well as a steady issuance of 94 formal actions to reach compliance. Wagener attributed fewer inspections to budget cuts that have reduced DEEPs staff from 1,012 employees in 2008 to 785 this fiscal year a reduction of 227 workers. Dennis Schain, a DEEP spokesman, acknowledged budget cuts have affected the agency. With state budget challenges over the past several years, we have faced reductions in staff through attrition, which has had some impact on our presence in the field, Schain said. We have worked to compensate for this by prioritizing our activities to make certain the most significant and serious threats to the environment and public health are addressed in a timely and effective manner, Schain said He said DEEP is strengthening its ability to monitor compliance through electronic data submitted to the agency. State Sen. Jonathan Steinberg, D-Westport, said he is concerned about DEEPs ability to do its job. DEEP is at a tipping point, he said. We are at a point where we have to be concerned if DEEP can do its job. Its like death by a thousand cuts. Less oxygen The CEQs conclusion that less of the Sound contained acceptable oxygen levels in 2016 is a dire warning and means dead zones areas with little marine life are spreading. For decades, the Sound has battled hypoxia, a low-oxygen condition that chokes off life. After billions of dollars were spent to upgrade sewage treatment plants and undertake other initiatives, the waterways overall health improved although a portion of the western Sound remained a large dead zone. The CEQ report noted in 2016 towns and cities along the Sound discharged less nitrogen than ever into the waterway. The problem, the CEQ and other environmentalists said, is a two-pronged assault from warming water due to global climate change and increased nitrogen entering the Sound from rivers polluted by inadequate septic systems and fertilizers. CEQs reports have shown Connecticuts investment in upgrading our sewage treatment plants have been paying off by significantly reducing the amount of nitrogen entering our rivers and Long Island Sound, said Donald Sutherland, government relations director for The Nature Conservancy. Unfortunately, we still see too much nitrogen from septic systems and fertilizers polluting our local bays along the Sound, harming salt marches, sea grass and other fish habitats, Sutherland said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate STAMFORD The citys Arts and Culture Commission was signed into being Wednesday, following a yearlong effort by the Board of Representatives. The nine-member commission to be comprised of six members from the arts community and three citizens will act as a driver of economic development with the help of nearly 80 cultural organizations in the city. In a rare bit of fanfare, Mayor David Martin, Board of Representatives President Randy Skigen and Clerk of the Board Annie Summerville gathered with leaders in the arts community at the Palace Theatre to sign the ordinance. Its particularly important for a town like Stamford, whose arts communityI thinkis a rival to at least any other community in the state of Connecticut. But we need to get the word out to people, Skigen said. Creation of the commission garnered support from some of the citys biggest cultural organizations, with the list of interested groups - at nearly 80 - far exceeding expectations. The city is home to cultural hubs like Curtain Call, Franklin Street Works, Loft Artists Association and the Stamford Symphonywhich together spend millions and employ dozens of people. Working with the citys Office of Economic Development, the new agency will manage an events calendar on the government website, oversee the citys art collection and apply for appropriate grants. But Martin said fostering Stamfords arts community is more than just an economic driver for the city. This is part of making (Stamford) a place where people want to live, he said. It brings life to our city. With the ordinance creating the commission signed, the next step for the city will be filling the nine seats on the board. Anyone interested in joining the Arts and Culture Commission should contact the Mayors Office at mayorsoffice@stamfordct.gov or (203) 977-4150. Includes prior reporting by Liz Skalka Youve just started your business, your website is finished, your SEO is lined up, your products are ready to ship, and youve got a hungry team eager to seize the moment. All you need to do now is get the word out about that amazing product. Right? Maybe, but maybe not. When speaking to budding entrepreneurs, I sometimes find myself giving advice that you wouldn't expect from a PR professional. I tell them that, for a lot of brands, hiring a PR pro isn't worth the cost. Don't get me wrong, a great PR team is one of best brand-building tools a business can employ. But if your brand isn't positioned to benefit from a well-executed PR strategy, you could end up wasting your time and money. Related: Getting the Right Press Coverage for Your Business Here are a few tips to help you decide whether PR is right for you. Do you really understand what PR is and how it can benefit you? When brands work with PR agencies, they're usually looking for editorial media placements above all else. They might also want help with their launch strategy, marketing efforts, social media presence, content creation and even reputation management. But most of the time, PR agencies are hired to deliver media placements that highlight the best elements of a brand in outlets catering to potential consumers. Theres real value in this approach when compared to advertising, which anyone can do if they have money; editorial placements are earned. Reporters and editors are under no obligation to care about your origin story or your latest product launch, so when you land a great editorial placement, it signals to the world that your story is worth paying attention to. The grim reality is not every brand has a story that can be told consistently over time, and not every brand needs to. In fact, a lot of brands don't have a story worth telling at all, or looking at it a different way, telling their story wont provide enough value to justify the expense. PR agencies will always be happy to take your money. It's up to you to decide whether you need the kind of attention they can bring to your brand. Related: 7 Ways to Get PR Before You Can Afford to Hire a PR Manager As an entrepreneur, there is nobody alive who understands your brand better than you do. A committed and creative PR team can certainly help tell your brand's story, but there's a real chance -- with a little practice and research -- that you can do a better job than whatever mid-tier agency you're thinking of hiring. Every entrepreneur should do his or her best to get a feel for the media world and develop an understanding of what stories outlets are looking for in their coverage. When you start to experience diminishing returns from your efforts, or you want to look at a more involved strategy, you should turn to a pro. Even then, you should remain as involved as possible. Content matters more than contacts. Without question, a rolodex of contacts is the single most overrated selling point for professional PR. This is also the primary reason companies think they need to bring in an agency. Good media relationships will help get your emails read by reporters and producers, and may even give you a small edge over a cold-caller. But PR folks rarely have more than a handful of good contacts. And just because those contacts worked with a past client, it doesn't mean that they'll give your brand special treatment. If you can tell a compelling story to the right journalist at the right time, they will engage with you because you are helping them. But they won't put you on the cover of Entrepreneur because your publicist bought the editor-in-chief a steak four years ago. Sometimes an open, honest appeal from a business owner is far more powerful than the slickest pitch from a PR guy. There, I said it. Youve already sold your partners, your investors, and even yourself, so if you can sell your story to them, you can sell it to journalists. After all, reporters are people too. As long as you're willing to invest the time, going it alone can pay dividends. Dont be afraid to dream big, but be realistic. I regularly receive RFPs outlining a companys PR goals in detail. This type of agenda-setting is important, but too often, a brand's ambitions are simply unrealistic. If you're asking for a New York Times think-piece on your new line of ladies hair care products, you're setting yourself up for disappointment. You're also ruining any chance of forging a productive, long-term relationship with your agency. And if you think you are going to achieve even your realistic goals in a few months, think again. Good PR takes time, and it's not fair to your agency to put that type of pressure on them. Related: 5 Moves to Get Your Startup Featured in Major Media Publications Something else to keep in mind -- solid media placements don't always lead to increased sales, especially in today's fragmented media environment. Media placement isn't about conversion; it's about building a meaningful, layered brand that is poised for years of sustainable growth. The ROI is there, but not on your terms or timeline. With that in mind, youll want to consider what your immediate goals are. Will strong media presence absent immediate ROI still be a win for you? Related: How to Communicate Effectively During a Crisis When to Spend on PR and When to do It Yourself (or Not at All) 5 Leadership Failures That Contributed to the United Fiasco Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved T he UK property arm of billionaire Zara founder Amancio Ortega on Wednesday shrugged off Britains vote to leave the EU, as it revealed the value of its empire here rose to nearly 1.9 billion last year. Pontegadea UK, which owns sites across the capital, also revealed it carried on spending after the June referendum, entering into a near-100 million deal to buy another property, according to accounts. The company does not expect Brexit to have a significant impact on its operations as it is a long-term investor in prime locations, the companys annual accounts said. The value of its property portfolio, which includes buildings on Oxford Street and office block Devonshire House opposite the Ritz, increased 5% to 1.88 billion in 2016 from 1.79 billion a year earlier. The growth was helped by its rental income jumping by more than 5 million to 65.6 million. Purchases in 2016 included forking out around 225 million for office building Almack House in St Jamess from Grosvenor. Notoriously secretive, Europes richest man Ortega does not discuss his real-estate empire. He has grown the Inditex group behind Zara into a fashion retail giant with stores around the world. Its brands include Pull & Bear and Bershka. U S private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice, funds Fidelity, First Pacific, T Rowe Price and Abu Dhabi investor Mubadala today cashed out of turbulent FTSE 250 lab-testing firm Exova as it accepted a 620 million offer from a rival. The buyer was Element Materials, majority owned by a division of buyout-house Bridgepoint. CDR, which counts former Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy as one of its advisers, owns 54% of the testing company after first buying it in 2008. It floated the oil and gas specialist for 550 million three years ago and then watched Exovas value crumble as the crude market collapsed. Element is paying Exova shareholders 240p per share in cash, about 10% more than the stocks last unaffected share price, plus a final dividend of 2.35p a share. Exova employs more than 4500 people in 32 countries, including 1200 in the UK. Takeover talk has seen shares in the firm which has diversified since the oil crash into areas including testing the London Underground for fire safety rise 40% over the past year. The shares are now back at their original 220p float pricing. The banks raking in fees for the deal are HSBC and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, joint advisers to Element and Bridgepoint, plus Goldman Sachs and Investex, who worked for Exova. H e was famous for shunning possessions and materialism, but a strip of stamps featuring Gandhis portrait was today sold for a record 500,000 by listed stamp dealer Stanley Gibbons. Its the highest sum ever paid for a single Indian philatelic item, Gibbons said, with the strip of four 1948 Gandhi 10-rupee Purple-Brown and Lake Service stamps sold to a private collector in Australia. The dealer, founded in 1856, sold one of these single stamps to a Uruguayan client last year for 160,000. The Queen owns another strip of four in her Royal Philatelic Collection, the worlds largest, most valuable private stamp collection. Keith Heddle, Stanley Gibbons managing director of investments, said:The market for high-quality Indian rarities has been strong for several years and is supported by the on-going desire of the wealthy Indian diaspora and savvy international clients to own these historic assets. Shares in AIM-listed Stanley Gibbons rose in response to the sale, shooting up 9%, albeit just 0.8p, to 9.4p. Its a much-needed boost as the firm slumped to a 29 million annual pre-tax loss last year and detailed its woes after finding fundamental errors in the companys accounts. W e should have worked out that TM the PM was serious about brewing up an instant election when she spent part of her Easter holiday in the full hairdresser experience. No leader aiming to win a vote so focused on competence in the top job is going to go into a short campaign looking anything other than battle-sleek. We saw it yesterday in the eyes cosmetically enhanced to an ice-grey glint, purposeful dark lipstick. It is slightly scary, in the Elizabeth I sense. Leadership tough, uncompromising and yes, opportunistic too is her offer. We like our royals, and Queen May after less than a year is at ease with regality. I have just chaired a meeting of the Cabinet, began the election-revving statement outside No 10. It prompted the thought that perhaps none of the Justines, Sajids, Gregs or Karens had the remotest input. One of the reasons she has acted so decisively is that she is aware that, at 60, there is a limit to her political longevity and the daunting task ahead to make sense of the Brexit negotiations let alone anything as elusive as a satisfactory outcome. Since 1997, when I remember her arriving at Westminster as a slightly stiff but determined Tory backbencher, she has watched power from Blair to Cameron appear absolute and then melt away in a single miscalculation. She feels that she contributed more to the electability of modern conservatism than was fairly acknowledged. In short, she is not going to hang around continually at the mercy of her tiny majority, particularly with the likes of Nicola Sturgeon threatening a referendum if EU negotiations do not meet SNP approval. I really think shed rather hand over to Boris than put up with that, says a close colleague. That is why she is upending the spirit of the agreement to stick to fixed-term parliaments while riding rough-shod over the expectation that a change to them would be gradual rather than abrupt, just as she is eschewing TV debates. The latter short-changes us as voters: the real complaint in this cut-and-run saga. But seeing as neither Lib-Dems nor Labour oppose her, she has already won that case by default. Mayology is a strange study, because its subject, while reliably small-c conservative in many ways, can lurch from one shift in position to the next very fast when it suits her (not even experts in Mayan archeology can follow her logic on whether to fight or accept the European Court of Justice). Sticklers for consistency might carp on about why a women who was so persuaded by Brexit that she was against it having written down the pros and cons in a ledger of arguments then embraced the rock-hard variety of abandoning links with the single market completely. But survival in top-tier politics is always about seeing a small gap and squeezing through it. It takes chutzpah, of the leopard-print welly-wearing variety, to gain immediate cross-party acceptance for a snap vote only she can win all in a single day. Let no one ever claim nothing exciting ever happens in the greige May era. Harrys game is a sight to behold A welcome glut of Tom Stoppard is around for the playwrights 80th year, with Tom Hollander in the evergreen Travesties at the Apollo and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern at the Old Vic. I confess I went along to this one in spite of Daniel Radcliffe, fearful of having to fight through crowds of latter-day Potterites. Radcliffe is a competent Rosencrantz but theyre all outclassed by David Haig as the raddled actor-manager and one of the comic treats of this theatre season: Were actors, he snaps at the audience. Were the opposite of people. Its also a treat to see rows full of earnest young theatregoers fathoming out the Hamlet plot in order to follow Harrys role. Is it a sequel or part of a series? asked one puzzled viewer. Stardust is bringing a new generation of groundlings to the serious stage. Both Big Will and Sir Tom should raise a glass to that. The Prince is so totally down wiv duh kids Praised for speaking out about his own mental suffering after the death of his mother, Prince Harry has also demonstrated fluency in Millennialese, the language of those born between 1980 and 2000-ish. Harry assures us he is in a good place now, which elders should note does not mean Mahiki or the Maldives, just feeling OK. Mil-speak is creeping up the age scale (Harry is 32, OMG), so anyone with thirty-something colleagues needs basic mastery. Include exclamation marks in any unsurprising sentence. Like this! You can progress to inserting totally in the wrong place, as in you should totally do that. Addressing a younger person should be nursery-school enthusiastic: Good job, Jordan! or just LOVES! Everything is shortened, so speeches in what will become the roy-fam will sound like this, as long as the olds chill, King Wills is on fleek, and Harry remains, like, epic. * I arrive in St Petersburg to hear the news that Britain, having passed nine months without a major vote, has resumed the habit. Well-informed Petersburgians I talk to have no idea of the news and one cant remember who the PM is, but admired Tony Blair and the one after that. He uses the marvellous Russian phrase previous people, which originates with the writer Maxim Gorky and is a more elegant way of saying has-beens. It is the perfect description of those who used to be something important and are still around in some unspecified guise, part-respected, part-pitied but better than being ignored all along. An update from the Russian news agency Tass tells me that the Kremlin has no reaction to news of our new excitement at Westminster, but is monitoring it as part of the global situation. Has Blighty become nothing more than just a bit of the global situation?. Its such a sly put-down that Gorky would surely have had a phrase for it. T he election is not just about Brexit but it was the Prime Ministers stated reason for calling it, and will be the single issue dominating the campaign. Even before the parties manifestos are written, the difficulties in deciding how to vote are already apparent. Those Londoners who voted against leaving the EU the majority for Remain here was roughly 60:40 must decide whether their feelings about Brexit trump normal party loyalties. And if that is the decisive issue, on either side, how should people vote? On the face of it, the obvious home for Remainers is the Lib-Dems; they are united in their antipathy to Brexit and have been consistent on the issue. But if voters want to shore up the Prime Ministers position as we enter the negotiations, a large Tory majority would free her from dependence on any one wing of her party. With a significant majority she could afford to call the bluff of the most hardline Brexiteers as well as Remainers. Other EU leaders, most of whom have welcomed the announcement of the election, have in mind that a leader with a strong mandate is a better negotiating partner than one who is hostage to their party. The case for voting Labour is outlined here by the Mayor, Sadiq Khan. He argues that a vote for Labour is a vote for a soft Brexit with a commitment to retaining access to the single market and membership of the customs union. This was certainly what the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, suggested this morning. Yet it is by no means clear that it would be possible to keep access to the single market without compromising on the crucial issue which outweighed most others in the referendum: free movement of people within the market. Mr McDonnell suggested that it would be possible for the country to manage its own migration policy in these circumstances, but that is probably wishful thinking. Yet any rational Brexit policy from any party would almost certainly involve some preferential deal for EU workers coming here; without them the economy would not work. In other words, deciding how to vote is not a simple matter for those for whom Europe is the overriding issue. There are, of course, other matters which will loom large. For instance, Labour is forging a distinctive policy on taxation, whereby executives would be paid a limited multiple of the workers rate: it would amount to a pay ceiling. That is a move of a piece with Mrs Mays agenda of greater fairness in business; corporate leaders themselves have recognised the appeal of pay restraint. The Prime Minister has the opportunity with the Conservative manifesto to set her own stamp on the party. With the real prospect of a working majority she could get rid of policy commitments that cramp her style: for instance the refusal to entertain any increase in income tax or VAT or National Insurance; or the fixed proportion of the Budget devoted to overseas aid. She can also obtain a mandate for grammar school expansion. This is not a re-run of the referendum. Instead of one clear issue, voters will weigh several considerations Europe, first, but the NHS, schools, aid and defence too. London voters are intelligent but this is a taxing choice. A brave new stage Nick Hytner and Nick Starr, who formerly worked together at the National Theatre, are launching a new venture in October with their new Bridge Theatre outside the West End. Their first production is an original work, Young Marx, with Rory Kinnear in the title role. The two Nicks say Londoners appetite for high-quality stage drama makes their new theatre, near Tower Bridge, commercially viable and they may open more venues. Encore indeed. W hat is the American Government up to with all the sabre-rattling against North Korea? Perhaps it should remember that the US, France, Australia and Britain all tested and stored nuclear weapons in the Fifties and Sixties. Yet when North Korea chooses to test its rockets the US is outraged, demanding appropriate action must be taken. I wonder what the Trump administration deems to be appropriate action, after it recently dropped what is termed the mother of all bombs in Afghanistan? Almost 100 Islamic State militants may have been killed in the attack, according to Afghan officials, but was it really worth the expense? By threatening to attack North Korea, President Trump risks starting another war like that in Vietnam. Leave North Korea alone and stop trying to be the worlds policeman. Edward Mitchell Join the conversation: #esnewsviews B e it his blistering study of a woman trying to get through rehab (People Places and Things, with a star turn from Denise Gough), his one-man show about a son trying to support his mother with depression (Every Brilliant Thing, created with Jonny Donahoe), or his multimedia extravaganza collaboration with 59 Productions on The Forbidden Zone, Duncan Macmillan is a writer unafraid of a challenge. He teams up 59 Productions again for a stage adaptation of City of Glass by Paul Auster, opening at the Lyric Hammersmith this week. What was the first play to make you want to write plays? I'd seen a lot of classic plays and I think Id assumed that all playwrights were dead. It wasnt until I saw Blasted in the mid-90s that I realised that people still wrote plays. After that I started watching and reading as much new work as I could. I think Far Away by Caryl Churchill is the play that made me want to try writing I hadnt seen it produced but it was so complete on the page, I wanted to try to do that. Thats what I still aspire to. Whats the hardest play youve ever written? They've all been a challenge in different ways. On the first morning of rehearsal for The Forbidden Zone we decided to scrap the text Id written and start again. The play was based on research and incorporated texts from about thirty different sources, the story crossed continents and time-zones and was written in five different languages. It was a live film with an enormous production team and if I wrote too slowly the whole thing would grind to a halt. Members of the Schaubuhne company had to fly-off every other day to perform a different play in a different city so we had to work around an ever-changing ensemble. And during rehearsals I became a father. So that was a challenging one. City of Glass - in pictures 1 /5 City of Glass - in pictures Which brought you the most joy? I really enjoy watching Jonny Donahoe perform Every Brilliant Thing, Denise Gough in People, Places and Things and Jenny Konig and Christoph Gawenda in Atmen. Which playwrights have influenced you the most? Caryl Churchill, Wallace Shawn, Robert Holman, Martin Crimp, Arthur Miller, Beckett, Brecht, Chekhov, Shakespeare, as well as the work of Katie Mitchell, Complicite and Pina Bausch. Perhaps more than reading and watching plays, Ive been influenced by conversations and friendships with writers like Mike Bartlett, Simon Stephens and Annie Baker. Playwrights are, in my experience, generous, thoughtful and fun people to be around. What is your favourite scene from any play? The 'seasons' sequence from Tanztheater Wuppertal's Nelken. The opening scene of Rafts and Dreams. Prior and Harpers meeting in Angels in America while hes dreaming and shes hallucinating. The thermometer scene in The Cherry Orchard. The ladder scene in Annie Bakers The Aliens. The closing monologues of Uncle Vanya and Far Away. Whats been the biggest surprise to you since youve had your writing performed by actors? However much I've worked on a play before rehearsal, I'll still need to cut and rewrite almost everything. And the hardest lesson youve had to learn? Dramatic writing is fundamentally about characters making decisions under time pressure with consequences. If you don't have that none of the other stuff you want to write about matters. What do you think is the best thing about theatre? And the worst? At its best its a workout for our imaginations and our compassion, and it happens collectively which is increasingly rare and important. At its worst its boring, indulgent, smug and irrelevant. Whats your best piece of advice for writers who are starting out? Write loads. Watch loads. Read loads. Focus on making the work good. Everything else is beyond your control. Why did you write City of Glass? I was on a train back from Salzburg with Leo Warner after wed opened The Forbidden Zone. He asked if I wanted to work on something else with him and suggested City of Glass - the first book in Paul Auster's New York Trilogy. I loved Auster's work and was keen to work with Leo again so I said yes before re-reading it. Going back to that book as a father gave it a new context. It also seemed entirely impossible to adapt so I couldnt resist trying. Whats the best play youve seen this year? I loved Escaped Alone and The Children at the Court. I loved Robert Ickes productions of Mary Stuart and Hamlet at the Almeida. And Beware of Pity at the Barbican. Whats your favourite place to watch theatre in London? The Royal Court, both upstairs and down. The Barbican. April's unmissable theatre openings 1 /10 April's unmissable theatre openings Angels in America From April 11, National Theatre The Ferryman April 24 - May 20, Royal Court Theatre The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui April 20 - June 17, Donmar Warehouse The Treatment April 24 - June 10, Almeida Theatre The Philanthropist April 3 - July 22, Trafalgar Studios City of Glass April 20 - May 20, Lyric Hammersmith Junkyard April 19 - 30, Rose Theatre Kingston Romeo and Juliet April 22 - July 9, Shakespeares Globe All The Things I Lied About April 18 - May 6, Soho Theatre Cock and Bull April 25-30, Southbank Centre If the Prime Minister said they were abolishing the theatre tomorrow, what would you do? When I was asked this question a couple of years ago I think I gave quite a glib answer. The freedom (and funding) afforded to writers is an indication of the health of a countrys democracy. Throughout the world, writers, journalists and artists are threatened, censored, exiled, imprisoned, tortured and executed. In the UK we have a comparatively high degree of freedom. We need to defend that freedom, to speak for those who cant and to make work which doesnt just maintain the status quo. City of Glass runs at the Lyric Hammersmith from 21 April to 20 May; lyric.co.uk, cityofglass.org A lusciously thick, one-pot dal, this family favourite is cooked in under 30 minutes with heaps of healthy vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, beans, peas and tomatoes. This dal steeped in goodness is just what the doctor ordered as the weather turns and lurgies rear their ugly heads. Interestingly, this dal does not need a separate tadka or spice tempering. It gets its bowlfuls of flavour from the fresh vegetables cooked in it and the sprinkling of garam masala, chilli powder or flakes and fresh coriander at the end. I love dotting this with ghee and squirting some lemon on it before tucking in with rotis, but I can tell you that its just as good with steamed rice and papad. Ingredients Serves 4 250 gm yellow moong dal (skinless split mung beans) 1 inch ginger 3 cloves garlic Half tsp turmeric powder 1 large bay leaf 1 medium tomato 1 medium onion 3 cups of mixed raw vegetables, your choice from the above list 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice Half tsp chilli powder/chilli flakes Half tsp garam masala 12 gm fresh coriander, chopped roughly Method In a large pot, wash the lentils thoroughly in a sieve until the water runs clean underneath. Fill the pot half way with clean water and bring the lentils to boil over a high flame. Finely mince the ginger and garlic. In about 10 minutes, the lentils will start losing their shape and combining with the water. Now add the ginger, garlic, turmeric and bay leaf. Continue cooking for 10 minutes until you cant smell the raw ginger and garlic. The water in the pot will start drying up, add water a cup at a time when it does. While the dal is bubbling, roughly chop the tomato and onion. Next, chuck in the tomato, onion and all the vegetables adding them in order of how long they will take to cook. Keep cooking the dal on high for another 10 minutes until the vegetables are soft. By this time, the dal will have a thick and smooth soup-like consistency. To finish, stir in the lemon juice, garam masala, chilli flakes and fresh coriander. Mallika is an Indian food writer with a regular recipe column. Her new cook book, Masala: Indian Cooking for Modern Living is available here. S leep is hard, especially in a world where people spend their time busy and stressed. But not sleeping, in addition to making you less efficient and more stressed, is terrible for your health. Fatigue leads to short and long term problems with mental and physical health. Here's what the best research out there has to say about what you can do to help yourself fall asleep. 1. Dim the lights in your room This might seem obvious, but it bears repeating: One of the worst things you can do for yourself at night is keep the lights on. Bright light especially blue-ish light tells your brain that it's still daytime and prevents the release of chemicals critical for sleep, like melatonin. Harvard Medical School recommends using dim red lights in the evenings and, conversely, exposing yourself to bright lights during the day to help regulate your sleep schedule. Sources: The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, Harvard Medical School 2. Put your phone away you monster We're getting to the surprises, we promise. But if we don't get through these none of the other tips will work. Study after study has shown that watching a screen before bedtime is terrible for your sleep whether it's a TV screen, tablet, or phone. So if you want to fall asleep, step away from the pixels. Sources: Pediatrics, Chronobiology International, Scientific American Mind, Sleep and Biological Rhythms 3. Kick your coffee habit / Shutterstock / Africa Studio Coffee may help you deal with the symptoms of your sleep problems, but it also plays a role in causing them. Caffeine alters the melatonin levels in your brain, makes it take longer to fall asleep, and makes you sleep less even if you aren't drinking right before bed time. Sources: Sleep Medicine, Brain Research 4. Next, kick your alcohol habit It's time to get real: Alcohol is the worst, particularly for insomniacs. A National Institutes of Health review of decades of research shows that study after study demonstrates the ill effects drinking has on your sleep. Even light drinkers take longer to fall asleep, sleep less well, and sleep for less time than their sober neighbors. And alcohol even increases the odds of sleep illnesses like apnea. Sources: NIH, The American Journal of Medicine Shutterstock / grafvision 5. Stop sleeping with awful people Another way to say this would be: Make sure the person you go to bed with makes you happy. While researchers say there's still a lot to learn on how couples sleep in the same bed, the bulk of the evidence collected in a review suggests happy couples sleep better together and that people who sleep well together turn out to be happier couples. Source: Sleep Medicine Reviews 6. Develop a bedtime routine We already know that habits play an outsize role in many different aspects of your life. So it makes sense that they would also play a role in helping you fall asleep and many doctors do recommend developing a consistent routine. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be a ton of research on the impact of bedtime habits in adults, but research in children shows they can be very helpful. Source: Sleep 7. Warm your feet and hands... Research shows that a warm water bottle against your feet and/or hands as you lay in bed makes a measurable difference in the speed at which you fall asleep. Don't have one handy? Wear socks to bed. (And note that this doesn't apply to everyone: Some people prefer the opposite cold feet.) Source: Nature The best sleeping aids- in pictures 1 /14 The best sleeping aids- in pictures Sleep soundly with our pick of the best sleeping aids... This Works Deep Sleep Pillow Spray Smells can affect your mood, making you feel more relaxed and calmer; lavender has this effect. This pillow spray is clinically proven to help you fall asleep faster and wake feeling more refreshed with the aroma-therapeautic super-blend of lavender, vertivert and chamomile which sooths you to sleep. 18, This Works, Buy it now Lumie Bodyclock Starter 30 If you find it difficult to wake up in the mornings, this is the gadget for you. This is a dawn stimulator, which wakes you up gradually with increasing natural light, which is a signal to your body to ease production of sleep hormones such as melatonin and increase those that help you get up and go such as cortisol. 59.95, Lumie, Buy it now T2 Sleep Tight Tea Bags These tea bags make the perfect night time brew, with a delicate sweet flavour and calming aroma thanks to the lemon-balm, lavender, jasmine blossoms and rose petals to help you wind down. 7.50, T2, Buy it now Hush Pyjamas All-natural fabric will guarantee you a better nights sleep compared to manmade fibres. Cotton is lightweight and soft to the touch, as well as being breathable, which is great if you overheat easily. Most importantly you need to find them comfortable. These pyjamas from Hush are affordable and gorgeous. 49.50, Hush, Buy it now Drift Mattress Theres a lot of great mattresses on the market at the moment, but this one is the only one thats got 4,000 micro-pocket springs, as well as an all-natural wool layer sleep surface which is temperature regulating allowing air to circulate, and wicking moisture away for a deep sleep. 49.50, Hush, Buy it now Magic Blackout Blind This is an ingenious invention; a temporary blackout blind window covering, which you can cut to size and reuse. Keeping your room completely dark is vital, as this triggers the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin which is extremely light-sensitive and may not be produced optimally until completely dark. 29.99, Magic White Board, Buy it now Tranquillity Neom Scented Candle Specially formulated with the natural fragrance of 19 soothing essential oils, including lavender, sweet basil and jasmine, which smell wonderful but also have a relaxing effect on mind & body, helping you prepare for sleep. They recommend burning for 2 hours prior to sleep. 30, Neom, Buy it now Draper London linen This is some seriously luxurious bedding, but worth every penny, as its the lightest Percale in 300 thread count Egyptian cotton, so incredibly cool and airy to the touch. The better your body temperature is regulated, the less youll wake up, resulting in much deeper sleep. From 92.50, Draper London, Buy it now Kikki K 3am notebook Scientists have found a direct link between anxiety and rhythm of sleep, when you have anxious thoughts, your heart rate goes up and your mind starts to race. A great way to over come this is to write these thoughts down, and Kikki K has designed a lovely little notebook just for these3am thoughts. 10, Kikki. K, Buy it now Foot Warmer Hot Water Bottle Slipper Studies have found that cold hands and feet are associated with sleeplessness. The Sleep Council recommends increasing the temperature of your cold feet by using a hot water bottle, rather than bed socks, and this inspired creation makes nice and easy. 22.95, Heat Treats, Buy it now 8. ...but cool down your room Your brain might prefer some warm extremities as you doze off, but it also does best in an atmosphere a bit cooler than what we typically think of as "room temperature." The Harvard's sleep lab recommends setting your thermostat a bit down to as low as 60 degrees, but really whatever you find is most comfortable. Source: Harvard Medical School 9. Try to stay awake The science on this one is a little thin there's only been one study that's tested it. But when researchers tested the cognitive trick of paradoxical intention basically, reverse psychology on patients it improved their speediness in falling asleep. If you find yourself unable to fall asleep, it might be worth a try. Source: Behavioral and Cognitive Psychotherapy 10. Take a warm bath This one also doesn't have a huge number of studies behind it, but it makes intuitive sense and the research behind it is good. Before you go to sleep, take a warm bath it seems to make it easier to pass out and make you sleep deeper once you are asleep. Source: Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology 11. Find the happy place in your head Many people with insomnia complain that unwanted thoughts or images keep them awake. Research has shown that focusing on and envisioning pleasant images while you lay in bed can bring the calm necessary for sleep. There are apps that can help you with this. Source: Behavioral Research and Therapy Teas to help you sleep - in pictures 1 /10 Teas to help you sleep - in pictures Scroll to see our pick of the best teas to help you sleep... Shutterstock Twinings Camomile & Honey Tea Known for its soothing and relaxing properties, camomile has long been a reliable sleep aid and also helps tame anxiety. This calming blend is made with honey, which has detoxifying benefits, and a hint of vanilla. Its all-natural flavours create a creamy aroma and make it ideal for those with a sweet tooth. 1.70, Ocado, Buy it now Whittard Sleepy Tea With a wide range of exotic and traditional English blends, Whittard of Chelsea has been providing premium tea and coffee for more than 130 years. Its aptly-named Sleepy Tea contains three effective sleep aids, which include camomile, lavender and linden flowers. Drink after a long day to ease tension and doze off in no time. 5, Whittard, Buy it now Pukka Night Time Tea Pukka has crafted an organic herbal tea with ingredients that help settle the mind and prepare you for a restful slumber. One of its main ingredients is Valerian, a flowering plant that has been used to ease insomnia, anxiety and restlessness for hundreds of years. Other ingredients include calming oat flower, lavender and limeflower. Infuse for 5 minutes. 2.45, Holland and Barrett, Buy it now Aveda Comforting Tea Bags This comforting blend delivers a subtle flavour of peppermint, which is proven to relax the muscles and relive indigestion. Thanks to the addition of liquorice root, it has a smooth and sweet taste that makes up for the lack of sugar and can be drank hot or iced. Pour yourself a cup to de-stress at the end of the day or to settle your stomach after a late-night meal. 10, Aveda, Buy it now Clipper Snore & Peace This fragrant blend is the perfect tipple for accompany a night time reading session. Calming chamomile and lavender is combined with refreshing lemon balm, which has been used since the medieval times for sleep problems and stress. Each box contains 20 tea bags. 2.05, Ocado, Buy it now Yogi Tea Bedtime Tea If you like a bit of a kick to your tea, then this flavoursome blend of camomile, cardamom and liquorice ought to impress you. Its relaxing benefits are enhanced by Valerian, fennel and passionflower. Brew for at least 3 minutes and drink an hour before sleep for best effect. 2.35, Holland and Barrett, Buy it now Cowshed Sleepy Cow Tea Bags Treat yourself to some blissful beauty sleep with Cowsheds uplifting tea blend. Made from organic ingredients, it offers a sweet and aromatic flavour of camomile, lemon and marjoram a perennial herb that is known to cure snoring and insomnia. The elegant fuso tea bags make the experience all the more indulging. Brew for 5-6 minutes. 4.95, Joe's Tea Company, Buy it now 12. Listen to music A study showed that listening to classical music helped relax students and improve their sleep quality, while listening to an audiobook or nothing at all did not. The trick here likely isn't classical music in particular, but music that you find calming. Source: Journal of Advanced Nursing 13. Fill your room with a lavender scent A study of healthy sleepers showed that lavender scents helped young men and women sleep more deeply and wake up feeling more refreshed. Interestingly, men and women seemed to have somewhat different kinds of sleep in lavender-scented rooms. But both groups benefited. Source: Chronobiology International 14. Blow bubbles Blow bubbles, really. It's not as crazy as it sounds. Rachel Marie E. Salas, a professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, recommends the technique as a kind of simple deep-breathing exercise that you can do without any practice. Another benefit? Blowing bubbles is "silly" and distracting, which should help you clear your mind as you get read for bed. Source: The New York Post 15. Try some melatonin Melatonin is a hormone your body secretes on its own, believed to be involved in regulating your circadian rhythms. There's some debate in scientific circles about exactly how effective it is as a supplement, but research suggests it can be helpful and many doctors recommend it to their patients. Plus, it can be picked up relatively cheaply without a prescription at any drug store and it's harmless. Consult with a doctor or pharmacist, and start with a low dose and work your way up until you find one that works for you. Source: University of Maryland Medical Center The best sleep masks - in pictures 1 /8 The best sleep masks - in pictures Browse our pick of the best sleep masks Sundays London Lilac Leopard Bamboo Silk Eye Mask 40, Sundays London, Buy it now Yolke Silk Eye Mask in Clementine Fuchsia 25, Yolke, Buy it now Olivia Von Halle Patience Eyemask 45, Olivia Von Halle, Buy it now After Party Tombstone Black Silk Sleep Eye Mask 25, After Party, Buy it now Aromatherapy Associates Relax Holistic Silk Eye Mask 47.50, Space.NK Apothecary, Buy it now 16. Figure out what works for you You've likely noticed that many of the suggestions on this list center on finding and creating calming, sleep-promoting conditions. Every person is unique, and the specific tricks that work for you may vary. In addition to the big, important tips (stop drinking and looking at your phone late at night) try the others one or two at a time. Keep track of what makes a difference and stick with that. 17. If all else fails, go to your doctor Some people have insomnia that won't shake on its own, no matter what they do. It might be tied to other health conditions, or might simply be an unfortunate problem that stands alone. In either case, missing sleep is bad for your health, lifespan, happiness, and well-being. A doctor should be able to diagnose the underlying issue. Harvard Medical School has a helpful page on its website with more information on when to seek treatment. S ometimes, it's just time to move on from your job. You could be unhappy with your work or company. You could just want something more out of your career. Either way, there's no sense in sticking with something that's become a bad fit. You don't have to quit right away, but it's probably time to start looking for something else. Or, if you're not sure whether or not it's time to go, you could learn from the real life experiences of others. Business Insider spoke with people from a variety of fields who have all, in the past, decided to leave their jobs and move on to something new. Here's what they had to say about quitting and pursuing a different path: 1. 'I wasn't going to learn anything further' If your job feels way too easy, you might see that as a good thing at first. However, if you're really not learning anything new at work, then you're job is definitely not enough for you anymore. Stagnation is more insidious than an obvious issue, like having a bad boss. Still, it can hamper your career over time if you don't do anything to combat it. "When I started my career, I worked for a large, well-known company," said talent management solutions provider Cornerstone OnDemand's COO Kirsten Helvey. "At around the five-year mark, I had a gut feeling that no matter how long I stayed, I wasn't going to learn anything further. That realization left me feeling extremely insecure, but I forced myself to find confidence by making a drastic decision: I quit, packed my bags, and moved across the country to California. It was one of the scariest and most insecure moments of my life." Helvey said that she went from working in a management position to serving food and drinks and running errands. However, the risk eventually paid off. She ultimately joined a tech start-up as employee number 30 and said that she has "never doubted that decision" she made to shake things up. 2. 'My body would physically react, my stomach churning' Amber Sutton, a former NASA employee, said that she would finish a project and find herself bored. However, she was still reluctant to quit, so she decided to transfer to DC for a change of pace. "After switching departments and cities, the first major sign hit when I'd engage in conversation regarding retirement with my coworkers," Sutton said. "My body would physically react, my stomach churning, at the thought of being in my current position until retirement. As amazing as NASA was, I was dissatisfied, which was a huge sign that I needed to figure out what I wanted to, not just how to pay the bills. I was in a new city with no friends and had to build my life from here. I wasn't getting excited to wake up and go work at NASA every day because my passions didn't align with what I was doing there." She said she finally realized that she really wanted to be around animals, which led her to ultimately leave her job to open two canine daycare Dogtopia franchises. "I don't get sick thinking about retirement and I go to work smiling every day, surrounded by lovable pups," Sutton said. 3. 'I was bored' "I held my last position for eight years," said Anna Burke, vice president of marketing at employee engagement platform HighGround. "I loved the company, the culture, and the professional experiences it afforded me. But, there came a time when I was feeling stagnant. I was bored more often than not and started to feel drained by an increasing amount of internal politics. I had outgrown my position and there wasn't an opportunity for advancement. I knew it was time to move on. I tried not to let emotions get in the way and focus on the potential opportunities that lay ahead of me." 4. 'It sounds cliche, but life is short' In many cases, quitting your job isn't about leaving a bad situation. In fact, your current role might be ideal in almost every way. Still, that doesn't mean you should hang on if you're unsatisfied. "It sounds cliche, but life is short," said Kira Karbocus, head of finance at Fingerpaint Marketing. "The hardest decision to leave an employer, for me personally, came when I had everything most employees wish for. I had a supportive boss, colleagues I learned from, indefinite job stability, and excellent benefits. Above all, I worked for a very well-respected company. How could I be unfulfilled? Was I crazy? I had to ask myself what was most important to me in my career. The answer, above all else, was opportunity for growth." 5. 'There is the opportunity to be your own boss' Adele Ankers, a freelance reporter and member of freelance management system Work Market, said that she enjoyed her previous role in the marketing sector, but ultimately wanted more freedom in choosing her projects. "As a freelancer, there is the opportunity to be your own boss, manage your own schedule, and have increased flexibility in a distraction-free environment without expenses," Ankers said. "You also have the opportunity to receive higher rates of pay for varied projects that you are genuinely passionate about." 6. 'It was a vicious cycle' Stacy Bennett, a former director on a corporate customer team, said that she knew she had to switch jobs when her personal relationships began to take a hit due to her schedule. "In many ways, I was successful in the eyes of others, but I worked at my career constantly and consistently fell short of giving attention to those I loved most," said Bennett, who left to open a Big Frog custom t-shirt franchise. "It was a vicious cycle. I worked relentlessly to be successful, judging myself mostly as career and monetary success, and I failed miserably on a personal level." In February of 2009, she decided to switch things up. "I created a mission statement in order to live my life moving forward with a purpose: 'Help everyday people do everyday things every day,'" she said. "Trying to live my purpose statement in the corporate environment left me very unfulfilled. I wasn't making an impact on people at all and frankly, my quality of work was as good as it had ever been. So what was the problem? The issue wasn't that I was failing to live out the statement, it was that I was becoming more and more disenchanted with corporate culture and needed a career where I could flourish both professionally and personally." 7. 'I would be left at the station' If you're only really getting excited about things outside of your company or field, consider making a big shift. "I was constantly reading about startups and internet companies, and their speed and culture was extremely appealing to someone spending a lot of time navigating corporate bureaucracy (not my strength)," said president and CEO of fashion and lifestyle brand Coveteur Warren Webster. "I also started to feel like the digital train was speeding ahead, and if I didn't jump on, I would be left at the station with my handful of magazines." 8. 'I was eager to get back to the 'other side'' Jodi Slater spent most of her career working at startups as a software designer. However, before she decided to go out and found tech accessory brand Bytten, she was working in a different capacity. "I was in a role where I was advising, not building brands, and I was eager to get back to the 'other side,'" she said. "For others that are considering taking a leap, my advice would be to leave your job when you have the three C's: confidence, connections, and capital." 9. 'If you consistently dread Mondays, you're probably not in the right job' In Jake Saper's experience, the feeling of boredom and the Sunday night blues have both been sure signs that it's time to leave for something new. "The best way to know a job has run its course is when you stop learning from the people around you,"said Saper, the principal at venture capital firm Emergence Capital. "When the learning curve flattens, so does personal growth. And job performance typically follows. One other simple test: How do you feel on Sunday night? If you consistently dread Mondays, youre probably not in the right job." R elationships are hard, and a sentence worth of wisdom won't change that. But it can help. Over on Reddit, thousands of people have answered the question, "What's the best relationship advice you have ever heard?" with insights that relate to everything from conflict to commitment. Below, we've rounded up some of the best advice on that thread, so you can navigate your next first date or the next decade of your marriage with confidence. Don't let other people make or break your self-image Writes cameronbates1: "Confidence isn't 'I know she likes me', confidence is 'I'll be okay whether she likes me or not.' That wisdom is just as important once you're in a relationship. PM_ME_YOUR_PARTYPICS writes: "Don't go into a relationship expecting to be made happy. You have to be able to be happy on your own first." Love isn't enough for a solid relationship "Just because you love each other does not mean that you're good together long-term," writes abqkat. "I love pizza, I loved my high school sweetheart - both make my stomach feel bad and I should have no part in either." Meanwhile, ItAllBeganWithaBurst shares wisdom from their mom: "The problem is that love isn't enough. You both have to be committed. There may be times you don't feel like you love each other, like you're so hurt or angry that you can't stand the sight of the other. "But if you're both committed to the relationship, to the promises you made, then you'll work through it and you'll become stronger. Love without commitment just isn't enough." 9 break up signs you should know 1 /12 9 break up signs you should know Youre arguing all the time You try and try, but you keep fighting over the same things. Or one big thing. Either way, you never resolve it so the arguing continues. If you cant get past your problems, then maybe its time to part ways before things get worse. Copyright (c) 2015 Rex Features. No use without permission. You dont want to make sacrifices Compromise is a major part of being in a relationship, but if youre growing resentful about the amount of time, effort and money youre putting into a relationship, chances are youre not invested in the long-haul. If a night out with friends consistently takes priority over spending the weekend at your partners parents house, it might be a sign that youre yearning for your independence. Copyright (c) 2015 Rex Features. No use without permission. You dont make time for each other anymore In the early stages of the relationship youd message each other all the time. Now you can barely be bothered to text them back, let alone spare some time for a call. If youve reached the point where youre actively ignoring their attempts to contact you, its time to have the talk. Copyright (c) 2013 Rex Features. No use without permission. The reasons to stay together are trivial Hes financially stable. Shes good at cooking. These might be nice additions to a relationship, but they shouldnt be the reason why you're still together. The same applies to the I'm scared I wont meet anyone else excuse. Copyright (c) 2016 Rex Features. No use without permission. Everything your partner does bothers you Remember how you used to find their strange laugh endearing? Or his stubborn nature cute? Now you they just drive to despair. Copyright (c) 2015 Rex Features. No use without permission. Youve stopped having sex Theres no normal to the amount of sex you should be having, but theres a difference between cooling down after the initial honeymoon period, and cooling off all together. If youve swapped orgasms for a DVD box set of Downton Abbey, it might be time to reassess. Copyright (c) 2013 Rex Features. No use without permission. You want different things Kids. Jobs. Mortgages. These are big decisions to make as a couple that will only work if both of your lives are heading towards the same goal. Perhaps you want to travel for a year, or take an opportunity abroad? Before you go any further, make sure youre both on the same path. Otherwise, it might mean its time to move on. Copyright (c) 2015 Rex Features. No use without permission. The people closest to you express concern Youre friends, family and co-workers have an objective view of your relationship. If several people sound the alarm about how your relationship is negatively affecting you, its time to listen up. Copyright (c) 2015 Rex Features. No use without permission. Youre thinking about what else might be out there It used to be that you wanted to spend every night and waking moment together, but now youre daydreaming about bachelorhood, romanticising past relationships or even making contact with old flames. Either way, you already have one foot out of the door. Copyright (c) 2016 Rex Features. No use without permission. Focus on your own relationship not your friend's "Practically everyone has a relationship that looks perfect from the outside looking in," writes BrawndoTTM. "Unless you are EXTREMELY intimate with your friends, you will never have any idea what that couple's actual problems are until they break up and spill the beans." Indeed, research suggests that people are notoriously poor judges of what others are thinking and feeling. That finding may extend to relationships if you assume your friend and her husband are completely happy in their marriage, you're probably wrong. Conflict is inevitable Dummystupid says: "No relationship is perfect and there will be conflict. What matters is the desire to solve the problem." And bamber79 writes: "When you and your SO are arguing, remember- it's you and them VS the problem. Not you VS them. This has helped me tremendously in how I approach disagreements." John Gottman, a psychologist and cofounder of the Gottman Institute, previously told Business Insider that the No. 1 commonality in successful relationships is the ability to repair the partnership after a conflict. In other words, conflict itself isn't the problem. "In really good relationships, people are very gentle with the way they come on about a conflict," Gottman told Business Insider. "They don't bare their fangs and leap in there; they're very considered." Pick and choose your battles An anonymous user shares another piece of conflict-related advice, based on a strategy they use in their marriage: "My wife and I have a 24 hour rule. I'd there's a problem, you have 24 hours to bring it to the person's attention. If you don't within the 24 hour period, you're not allowed to bring it up. "Reason being, it keeps us from sitting on something till it blows up. And if you don't bring it up in 1 day, it's obviously not important enough to fight over." You need to work to keep the spark alive "Once you're in a long-term relationship/marriage, never stop dating your SO," writes BandofDonkeys. "There needs to be some sort of constant courtship to make them feel you still want them, even after all these months/years." Research supports this Redditor's observation: A 2012 study from the University of Kentucky and West Virginia University found that "flirting" is important for married couples, too. Of the 164 couples the researchers studied, most flirted by playing "footsies" or whispering in their partner's ear, for example in order to maintain intimacy. Another Redditor, ckernan2, shared the way they stay close to their wife: "On our wedding night, I told my wife that we now had a 2/2/2 rule. It goes like this: Every 2 weeks, we go out for the evening. Every 2 months, we go out for the weekend. Every 2 years, we go out for a week. We've stuck to it, and it really has made things awesome." T heresa May has called for a snap election to be held this summer - three years earlier than scheduled. The PM will today lead a vote in the House of Commons to authorise the move. If MPs vote for an early election by a two thirds majority, the UKs polls will open in June. With both Jeremy Corbyn and Lib Dem leader Tim Farron welcoming the idea, Britain looks likely to head for another general election - leaving party leaders just seven weeks to spread their campaign messages and secure voters ahead of the proposed date. Wondering how you can get your vote in? Heres everything you need to know. When is the election? Theresa May is calling for the election to be held on June 8, 2017. Why has it been held? The PMs official reason for holding an election is to strengthen her hand in the upcoming Brexit negotiations. Can the PM call for an early election? Yes. British Prime Ministers could previously hold a general election whenever they felt it necessary - but new laws passed by David Cameron changed that. Under the 2011 Fixed Term Parliaments Act, a general election is supposed to take place every five years on the first Thursday in May. The next general election was scheduled for May 2020. However, an election can be still called ahead of schedule if there is a vote of no confidence in the current government, or if MPs vote for an early election by a two thirds majority. Theresa May is vying for the second option, which will require MPs to vote in favour of having an early election. Politicans react to Theresa May's call for a general election Am I eligible to vote? You can vote if youre registered and are 18 or over on the day of June 8. To vote, you must be one of the following: A British citizen living in the UK A Commonwealth citizen living in the UK who has leave to remain in the UK or who does not require leave to remain in the UK A British citizen living overseas who has been registered to vote in the UK in the last 15 years An Irish citizen living overseas who was born in Northern Ireland and who has been registered to vote in Northern Ireland in the last 15 years Theresa May's finest footwear - in pictures 1 /40 Theresa May's finest footwear - in pictures November 4, 2014 Wearing leopard print kitten-heel courts as she leaves Downing Street after attending cabinet Peter Macdiarmid/Getty October 5, 2009 Wearing red and black snakeskin courts on the stage as they address delegates at the Conservative Party Conference Christopher Furlong/Getty October 5, 2004 Wearing powder blue and black floral patterned ballet pumps as she arrives at the Bournemouth International Conference Center Jim Watson/AFP/Getty December 9, 2010 Wearing knee-high red suede boot as she leaves a cabinet meeting in Downing Street Matthew Lloyd/Getty November 5, 2013 Wearing over-the-knee patent boots as she arrives on Horse Guards in central London during the visit of South Korean President Park Geun-Hye Sean Dempsey/AFP/Getty June 27, 2016 Wearing pointed leopard print courts to a cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street Leon Neal/AFP/Getty May 3, 2011 Wearing patent powder blue court shoes as she arrives in Downing Street to attend a Cabinet meeting Oli Scarff/Getty October 9, 2012 Wearing pointed leopard print courts with a burgundy print insert to deliver her speech to delegates during the third day of the annual Conservative Party Conference Andrew Yates/AFP/Getty October 16, 2012 Wearing pointed leopard print courts as she arrives at Number 10 Downing Street to attend the weekly Cabinet meeting Oli Scarff/Getty February 5, 2013 Wearing over-the-knee patent boots as she walks into Downing Street to attend a security meeting with US Vice President Joe Biden Peter Macdiarmid/Getty March 17, 2014 Wearing black lace up patent brogues with diamond studs as she launches HMC Protector Peter Macdiarmid/Getty June 5, 2013 Wearing pointed black patent sling backs as she attends the preview party for The Royal Academy Of Arts Summer Exhibition Tim P. Whitby/Getty June 23, 2013 Wearing Union Jack emblazoned trainers as she presents medals during the third day of the 2013 Samsung World Rowing Cup II at Eton Dorney September 30, 2013 Wearing black lace up patent brogues with diamond studs as she delivers her speech in the main hall on the second day of the Conservative Party Conference Oli Scarff/Getty June 10, 2014 Wearing snakeskin kitten-heel courts as she arrives for a cabinet meeting in Downing Street Carl Court/AFP/Getty June 11, 2014 Wearing patent red flats with pink bow detailing as she leaves the Royal United Services Institute Peter Macdiarmid/Getty September 30, 2014 Wearing navy suede courts with a chunky heel as she addresses the Conservative Party Conference Matt Cardy/Getty March 3, 2015 Wearing over-the-knee patent boots as she arrives for a Ceremonial Welcome for the President of Mexico Leon Neal/AFP/Getty May 21, 2015 Wearing gold studded black flats as she and David Cameron are accompanied by immigration enforcement officers into a home in Southall in London following an early morning raid on the property that yielded three arrests of illegal immigrants Richard Pohle - WPA Pool/Getty July 8, 2015 Wearing black pointed flats with a red and pink kiss print as she leaves 10 Downing Street Peter Macdiarmid/Getty October 6, 2015 Wearing black suede courts with a chunky heel on the third day of the annual Conservative party conference Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty October 7, 2015 Wearing red, yellow and turquoise printed courts as she arrives for the fourth and final day of the Conservative Party Conference Christopher Furlong/Getty March 22, 2016 Wearing black suede shoe boots with a leopard print insert as she leaves 10 Downing Street Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty July 12, 2016 Wearing leopard print pointed flats as she leaves after attending a Cabinet meeting at Downing Street Carl Court/Getty December 15, 2004 Wearing calf-length suede boots in plum as she arrives at the 'Woman's Own Children Of Courage Award' at Westminster Abbey MJ Kim/Getty September 30, 2007 Wearing yellow and black patterned wellies during the 124th annual Conservative Party Conference at the Winter Gardens Christopher Furlong/Getty November 8, 2007 Wearing black pointed courts with silver ankle strap as she arrives at the Woman Of The Future Awards Jo Hale/Getty April 26, 2009 Wearing open-toe leopard print flats to speak at the Conservative Party Spring Forum Matt Cardy/Getty June 15, 2010 Wearing a patent red wedge as she arrives for the weekly cabinet meeting in Downing Street Peter Macdiarmid/Getty July 6, 2010 Wearing rainbow striped pointed pumps as she arrives in Downing Street Peter Macdiarmid/Getty How do I register to vote? You can register to vote by visiting gov.uk/register-to-vote. You will need to provide your name, address, National Insurance number and then decide whether you want to vote by post or at a polling station. The process takes around three minutes in total to complete. You can still register to vote even if you do not have a fixed address. This may be because you are: A hospital patient Homeless A merchant seaman Part of the gypsy or travelling community Living on a boat or other moveable residence A person remanded in custody If the above is applicable, you can register at an address where you spend a substantial part of your time. This could be a previously permanent address, shelter or similar place. To register, you need to fill in a form called a 'Declaration of local connection', which can be downloaded here. early general election kate proctor explains How do I know if Im already registered to vote? Local authorities hold the electoral registers for their area. You can find the contact details of your local office by entering your postcode here. You will then need to contact your local registration office to find out if you are currently registered. If youve moved home since the last time you voted, then you will need to re-register at your new property. How can I vote? You should receive a polling card in the post. The card will provide details about the name and address of the polling station thats closest to your house. If your polling card has not arrived by vote, you can contact your local authority to find out where your allocated polling station is. How long do I have to get my postal vote in? The closing date for registering for the June 8 election has not yet been confirmed - check back with the Electoral Commission website for details. The Electoral Commission says that registration for the election is currently open, meaning you should sign up now if youre wanting to get your vote in by post. Theresa May calls general election for June 8 Can someone else vote for me? People who are unable to vote in person can arrange postal votes or a proxy - which is the process of nominating someone to vote on your behalf. Anyone who is registered to vote can apply for either of these voting methods. Instructions to arrange a postal or proxy vote can be found on on the Your Vote Matters website. T iming is everything. Yesterday morning, when Theresa May announced plans to call a snap general election, pundits and pollsters were first winded and then furious that they hadnt predicted it. They shouldnt be: the Prime Minister plays her cards close to her chest, and many members of her own team were shocked to hear the news while waiting in an anteroom before a Cabinet meeting. The story runs that May made her decision during a walking holiday with her husband in Snowdonia over the Easter weekend. The PM had snapped tired of critics questioning her mandate, and pundits speculating about her health. Certainly, it seems unexpected. But if you pore over her actions in recent months, there may be clues: has May been running a submarine campaign? Her talk has always been fighting. She was not, technically, elected as Prime Minister and therefore has been on the defensive since she moved into No 10 last July. Arguably, this stealth campaign kicked off as soon as she faced off against Andrea Leadsom for the Conservative leadership. She is concertedly cool and inscrutable. The lesson she learned from David Camerons bluster is that the best way to appear in control is to adopt a controlled manner. Then there are the long-running visual clues like the Vogue shoot. The reaction to the Prime Ministers pictures in the April issue of the magazine was frenzied where were the kitten heels? How much did those trousers cost? that drowned out the mechanics of why she had arranged it. The shoot was successful because it presented the world with images of the PM that suggested power and authority. Magazines work months in advance: this was not a snap decision but a calculated one. Indeed, image is a convincing part of any PMs battle. Look at the red suit she wore to meet President Trump at the White House in January: Republican red is sartorial diplomacy but it is also a strong visual statement. Her hair has been restyled and she has been working out with a trainer based in Reading. Lee Carnaby charges 45 an hour and specialises in Crossfit, the notoriously tough strength training program. Even the Snowdonia trip with precisely choreographed photocalls of May and her husband in hiking gear connotes stability. Though theres more to it than vanity: the PM has type 1 diabetes and had been accused recently of looking wan and pale. She has quietly been showing that she is election-fit. Theresa May calls general election for June 8 Then there were the meetings. By yesterday afternoon it had been reported that Lynton Crosby, who helped Cameron to victory in 2015, had agreed to work on the Conservatives 2017 campaign. Crosby was seen at Conservative HQ in March, and it is unlikely the electioneer was signed up in a matter of hours. Finally, May inherited the EU referendum, meaning her legacy is now tied inextricably to Brexit. But May campaigned to Remain meaning her feelings run contrary to those of the majority of her electorate. So she has been making overtures to them in other ways: read her interjection into the Cadbury Easter Egg wrangle as an olive branch to the traditional Middle and Little Englanders. And over the weekend she served as a marshal at an Easter fun run in her Maidenhead constituency: there is a picture of her guiding a runner dressed up, ridiculously, as a rhinoceros. Certainly, it might have been a snap decision but the Prime Ministers schedule is more tightly run than that. May has had her eye on the clock for a while. Follow Phoebe Luckhurst on Twitter: @phoebeluckhurst A man is fighting for life in hospital and three police officers have been injured following a townhouse explosion during an armed stand-off with bailiffs. The blast took place just before 11.50am, following claims residents were being threatened by a man armed with an axe and knife in Finsbury Park. Bailiffs and emergency services turned up at the home, with an explosion taking place inside shortly after police arrived. Seventy-two fire fighters tackled the resulting blaze, which saw the entire Stapleton Hall Road property's basement go up in flames. Explosion: An air ambulance lands at the scene / LAS The Met Police said the armed man inside the property, aged in his mid-50s, was taken to hospital with serious burns. He is said to be in a life-threatening condition. Three officers - a man and two women - were also hurt in the blast. Fire: The blaze broke out after an explosion at the property / London Fire Brigade They are currently in hospital but their injuries are not thought to be serious. Police said one of the officers suffered an injry to their arm. A witness told the Standard: "When the bailiffs came the man chased them around with an axe and knife. "The police were called and came to try and calm him down. "He ran into the basement and the police were trying to talk him round. That's when the explosion happened. I think it was with gas." Lauren Packham, 21, said she was half asleep in a neighbouring house when she heard shouting. Fire: Paramedics were called to the scene Miss Packham, of Cambridge, who was visiting a friend, said: "I got up and looked out the window and I saw a man in his fifties running up and down with a large kitchen knife, about six inches long. "He seemed to be chasing someone. I went to sit back down and I heard what sounded like fireworks. The man went to run back inside." She said she could smell smoke and then looked out and saw "a big fire going up". The London Air Ambulance was scrambled to the scene and the property was evacuated. One person had managed to get out the house before the Fire Brigade arrived. No neighbouring properties are thought to have been affected by the blaze. A Scotland Yard spokesman said on Wednesday afternoon: "Enquiries into the cause of the explosion are ongoing. Fire: The leafy north London street has been engulfed in smoke / LAS "This incident is not being treated as terrorism related." "The address has been evacuated as a precaution but no neighbouring properties are affected," he said. "Emergency services are working together to make the scene safe and to begin a thorough investigation into the circumstances." A spokesman for the London Fire Brigade said the blaze was under control by 3.30pm. The incident has also been referred to the Met's Directorate of Professional Standards and the IPCC as a matter of course. Haringey Borough Commander Chief Superintendent Helen Millichap said: This is a serious incident where several of my officers have been injured as well as a man at the property who remains in a critical condition. "We are still investigating what happened and exactly how the explosion occurred. The officers who responded to this call faced a dangerous situation and I am proud of the courage they showed. T he brother of a young man who was stabbed to death in south London has told of his devastation as a 20,000 reward was offered for information. Lewis Elwin, 20, was attacked and stabbed in the back near a primary school in Tooting on the afternoon of April 16 last year. He was knifed in Penwortham Road shortly before 3.40pm and staggered along the street before he collapsed in front of horrified parents picking up their children just school. Medics fought to save him but he was pronounced dead at the scene. Plea: knife victim Lewis Elwin, right, with his mother Sandra and older brother Byron A 20,000 reward has now been offered for information that would lead to solving the case and police have released CCTV footage of a suspect vehicle seen in the area at the time of the murder. The killing took place yards from the home of London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who attended Mr Elwins funeral which involved a procession of mourners carrying power placards against knife crime. United: Placards were held up during the procession Mr Elwins widowed mother and five elder siblings had got together at the family home in Southfields just two days before he was killed to warn him he was mixing with the wrong crowd. Speaking a year on from the death, his older brother Byron Douglas-Letts said: Lewis having his life cut short in this terrible manner devastated our family and deprived us of a much loved brother, son and uncle. A year later, we still miss him terribly and we are all still suffering from the lasting knock-on effects this has caused. Please help the police to find out who did this and get justice for Lewis. Please come forward." Appeal: A suspect vehicle seen in the area at the time of the attack / Metropolitan Police Detectives have pieced together a timeline of the moments leading up to Mr Elwins death and know that he was last seen walking towards Mitcham Lane from Ribblesdale Road at about 3.30pm after being dropped off there by a family member. He called a friend at 3.36pm and they arranged to meet. Minutes later, he was stabbed and managed to run along Penwortham Road in the direction of Moyser Road. He collapsed near the junction with Thrale Road in front of parents who were collecting their children from the nearby Penwortham Primary School. The car was found burnt out by police / Metropolitan Police CCTV images of the suspect vehicle, registration KP03 ZTD, shows the car in the minutes after the murder. The Peugeot was first spotted around 1.30pm in the area of Thrale Road and Penwortham Road. It made a circuit around the school and then left along Ullathorne Road where it was captured on camera. It was later found burnt out by police. Detective Inspector Will Reynolds, from the Homicide and Major Crime Command, said: "We believe this vehicle is connected to Lewis's murder and are appealing for anyone with knowledge of it and in particular who was inside it that day to come forward. We need to find out who was using it at the time, where it was before the murder and where it went afterwards before finally being burnt out. "We also urgently need to speak to people picking up their children at Penwortham Primary School as we know pupils would have been leaving with their parents or carers around the time of the attack at 3.30-3.40pm. Lewis was only stabbed once and it may be what you saw didn't appear to be a stabbing but a punch or a push. Anyone with information can speak to officers at the incident room at Sutton on 0208 721 4005 or alternatively they can pass information anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. A rogue landlord who rented filthy illegal east London bedsits likened to Rio slums has been ordered to pay out nearly 250,000 . Zoofshan Malik was ordered to pay a massive 235,000 after pleading guilty to renting the illegal extension on one of her homes. She rented the Barking flats at a rate of 2,850 per month. Malik was handed the huge fine after her case was brought before Snaresbrook Crown Court by Barking and Dagenham Council last Wednesday. The flats were compared to Rio slums / Barking and Dagenham Council Barking and Dagenham council officers raided the property after they received an anonymous allegation about the 37ft extension. They discovered the four flats in filthy conditions, which Ms Malik rented out through her company Emerson Knight Estates Ltd. Councillor Laila Butt, the local authoritys cabinet member for community safety and enforcement, compared them to Rio favelas. Malik was fined hundreds of thousands of pounds for illegally renting the rooms / Barking and Dagenham Council She said: This illegal extension and filthy flats would not have looked out of place in a Rio slum. Through our tough enforcement action they have been demolished so no one else has to suffer such bad living conditions. What makes matters worse is her connection to the estate agency - she knew the law and was intentionally exploiting people who find it hard enough to find property to rent at affordable prices. The 47-year-old, of Upney Lane, Barking, was ordered to pay a 222,000 Confiscation Order in three months or face two years imprisonment. Malik was also fined 2,000 for the illegal extension with three months to pay or face 30 days in jail and ordered Malik to pay 11,649 in costs. D etectives are appealing for witnesses after a teenage girl allegedly punched a member of staff in an attack at Denmark Hill station. The incident happened at approximately 5.30pm on Saturday 15 April when a girl attempted to travel without a ticket, police say. When challenged by a member of staff, the 17-year-old became verbally abusive, it is claimed. Police say she then punched the male member of staff in the face who needed hospital treatment for a facial injury. Officers are now appealing for any witnesses to come forward as soon as possible. In connection with this assault, a 17-year-old girl from Lambeth was arrested on suspicion of common assault. You can contact BTP by sending a text to 61016 or by calling 0800 40 50 40 quoting reference 209 of 19/04/2017. Alternatively, call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. A round 200 people fled to safety after a fire broke out on the 27th floor of an iconic tower block in north-west London. More than 50 firefighters tackled the blaze in Trellick Tower in Kensal Town on Wednesday night. The London Fire Brigade said it received 40 calls to the fire on the 27th floor of the famous Brutalist building by about 9.20pm. A woman and two children escaped the blaze unharmed before fire crews arrived at the scene, London Fire Brigade say. The fire broke out at about 9.20pm on Wednesday night / @karenspencer_/Twitter In statement, the brigade said: Eight fire engines and 58 firefighters and officers are tackling a flat blaze on Golborne Road in Kensal Town. The whole of a flat on the 27th floor is alight. "The Brigades 999 control centre has taken over forty calls about the blaze. Trellick Tower Fire crews from North Kensington and surrounding fire stations are at the scene. "The cause of the fire is not known at this stage. A spokesman for the brigade later added: "In total, about 200 people were evacuated from the building." The 31-storey high rise was designed in the famous Brutalist style by architect Erno Goldfinger. J ohn Bercow today revealed he will stand for another term as Speaker, scotching rumours he would take the chance of the snap general election to retire. Conservative Mr Bercow is widely believed by MPs to be planning to step down in the next parliament. His Labour deputy Lindsay Hoyle is the favourite to take over the Commons chair but that could change if there is a big Tory majority. His spokeswoman said: The Speaker is planning to, and has every intention of, standing in the forthcoming general election. T heresa May today won the overwhelming backing of MPs in her call for a snap election during a vote in Parliament. The Prime Minister needed a two-thirds majority in the Commons to trigger the poll. The House voted in favour of the early general election by 522 to 13 - a majority of 509. The normal weekly session of Prime Ministers Questions began in the Commons at midday before MPs debated the motion from 12.30pm and then voted shortly before 3pm. The Fixed Term Parliaments Act, brought in after the Coalition government was formed in 2010, meant Mrs May needed to win the backing of MPs to bring the election forward from 2020. The Standard covered the events in the Commons live as they happened. T heresa May today urged voters to put their trust in me as she denied she was planning compromises on Brexit. The Prime Minister was challenged over remarks made by Home Secretary Amber Rudd that appeared to suggest a big Tory majority could mean a softer exit from the European Union. Ms Rudd hinted on BBC Newsnight that a large majority would give Mrs May the opportunity to arrive at potential compromises within the EU. But Mrs May insisted on BBC radio this morning that she would keep promises to end free movement and recover sovereignty over laws. Politicans react to Theresa May's call for a general election She said: I trust the British public. Im asking them to put their trust in me and if they do that, if they give me a mandate for these negotiations for the plan for Brexit that the Government has, the plan for a stronger Britain beyond Brexit that we have, then I think that will strengthen our hand. In key events today: MPs looked set to approve a historic motion for the election to be held on June 8 by the required two-thirds majority. The Prime Minister was making a statement in the House to make the case for going to the country three years earlier than the Fixed-term Parliaments Act permits. Shadow chancellor John McDonnell sparked a tax row by suggesting Labour would hike tax bills for people earning more than 70,000 to 80,000. Senior City figures urged Mrs May to use the wiggle room of a big majority to soften Brexit commitments on curbing immigration and leaving the single market. In her interview on Today, Mrs May said she wanted sustainable levels of immigration but would not be drawn on numbers. Downing Street declined to confirm or deny whether the manifesto would repeat David Camerons target of cutting net immigration to the tens of thousands. Radio interview: Theresa May / PA But the Prime Minister denied that she would compromise on ending free movement or the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. When people voted to leave the European Union, they did vote to end free movement. I have been very clear: people want control of our borders. They did vote for us to have control over our law, so that we are not subject to the European Court of Justice. Mrs May confirmed that changing the date of the 2020 election would prevent it clashing with what she called the most crucial part of the negotiations. On immigration, she said: What people want is for us to have control of our borders. I am very clear that we want migration at sustainable levels. Election battle: Jeremy Corbyn / Getty Images What we will now have when we leave the European Union is the ability to have control in relation to people moving to the UK from the European Union. The Prime Minister refused to be drawn on whether free movement of labour would end as soon as the UK withdrew from the EU, which is scheduled to take place in 2019. On the early election, she said: I genuinely came to this decision reluctantly, having looked at the circumstances, and having looked ahead at the process of negotiation. Its about asking the people to trust me, to trust us in government, to give us that mandate to go and get that really good deal for the UK. She also claimed Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the SNP were intent on frustrating the Brexit process. While Mrs May reaffirmed her commitment to give Parliament a vote on any deal with the EU, she flatly ruled out a second referendum. There will be no second referendum. The British people voted last year to leave the European Union. We have taken that key step of triggering Article 50. The process is in motion. There can be no turning back. Labour MP Gisela Stuart admitted her party would probably not win. It is unlikely if I look at the figures, that I will have a Labour government, she said. So what I want is actually a very strong representation of the Labour Party in the House of Commons. T heresa May has praised MPs for making the right decision in the national interest after they backed her call for a General Election on June 8. The Prime Minister easily cleared the hurdle needed under the Fixed Term Parliament Act to bring the poll forward from the scheduled date of 2020. With Mrs May needing the support of 434 MPs - two thirds of all seats in the House of Commons - some 522 voted for the early election, with just 13 against. Praising MPs for backing her during a stump speech in the north-west of England, the PM said: "It's great to be here in Bolton, fresh from the House of Commons, fresh from winning a vote in the House of Commons, which has approved my decision to hold a general election on June 8. "It's the right decision, it's in the national interest, and that's what this election is about. "It's about providing the strong and stable leadership this country needs to take Britain through Brexit and beyond, it's about strengthening our hand in the negotiations that lie ahead. "And it's about sticking to our plan for a stronger Britain that will enable us to secure that more stable and secure future for this country and take the right long-term decisions for the future." There was never any real doubt about Mrs May securing the backing needed to go to the country, with both Labour's Jeremy Corbyn and Liberal Democrat Tim Farron saying they welcomed the election - though Scottish National Party MPs abstained in the vote. While promising to run a "positive and optimistic campaign", she said the choice at the election was between her "strong and stable leadership" or a "coalition of chaos" led by Mr Corbyn. Rallying call: Jeremy Corbyn in Croydon / PA Jeremy Corbyn hit the general election campaign trail within hours of MPs approving Theresa May's plan. The Labour leader rallied activists in key target seat Croydon Central with a speech in which he highlighted a string of recent policy promises to build council houses, help carers and boost the minimum wage. He said: "This election is about the future of all of us - the future of our children, the future of social justice, the future of our jobs," he told cheering activists. "Are we going to be a country that gives riches and makes riches for all of us or are we going to be a country that works only to make the richest even richer? I know which side I'm on, you know which side you are on. "This election is going to be fought on the streets of this country. Up and down. In town halls, in streets, on beaches, on sea fronts, we are taking that message of the kind of country and kind of society we want to be." Highlighting policies which will be at the heart of the party's manifesto, Mr Corbyn said: "I want a Labour government that builds council housing," he said. "I want a Labour government that makes sure that 10 an hour is the living wage and is paid to all workers all over the country. "I want a Labour government that ensures that carers are properly supported when they are caring for loved ones. I want a Labour government that ensures that people don't wait for hours in A&E departments to get treatment. I want a Labour government that isn't closing hospitals, that isn't underfunding schools... That is the difference between Labour and the Tories." Mr Corbyn said that a Labour government would conduct "responsible" Brexit negotiations to ensure future trading relations with the remaining EU. And he said it would invest in the economy through a national investment bank. Additional reporting by the Press Association. L iberal Democrat leader Tim Farron today vowed to park his partys tanks on Tory lawns as he launched their general election campaign in south-west London. The pro-EU party is aiming to snatch back two more of their former seats in the area from the Conservatives after successfully taking Richmond Park from Zac Goldsmith in last Decembers by-election. Sources shied away from putting a number on how many seats they could win but the party believes their strongest chance of revival is in the capital where near electoral wipe-out in 2015 left them with just one seat. Lining up to lead the charge is ex-Business Secretary Sir Vince Cable who is standing in Twickenham, which he held from 1997 to 2015, and former Energy Secretary Sir Ed Davey, who is challenging Tory James Berrys slim majority in Kingston and Surbiton, having been its MP from 1997 to 2015. Mr Farron told the Evening Standard that London will be a key electoral battleground and warned MPs from all parties we are coming for you. Politicans react to Theresa May's call for a general election However launching his campaign in Richmond Park rather than one of their key battleground areas could be seen as a defensive opening move and a sign they are fighting to hold existing seats as well as make gains. Mr Farron said: We intend to park our tanks on Tory lawns. London will be a key electoral battleground. It voted overwhelmingly to remain part of the European Union at the referendum yet the vast majority of Londoners have been betrayed by their MP, be that MP Conservative or Labour. Those two parties have conspired together to push through a hard Brexit that London didnt vote for. He said Londoners deserve a party that is fighting to keep Britain in the EU and in the single market. There are a number of former held seats and a large number of other seats where suddenly we are in with a real shout and intend to give it a damned good go. There will be a lot of Tory MPs, and no doubt a few Labour ones, who will be sweating today as they see the Liberal Democrat fightback, he said. Sir Vince, 73, said it would be a happy reunion if he and other party grandees came back into politics, with a third knighted Lib Dem, Sir Simon Hughes, standing in his old Bermondsey seat, which he lost in 2015 to Labours Neil Coyle. He said: We are good friends so it will be a happy reunion if we all get back in. Ive got plenty of energy, stamina and commitment for the next five years. He ruled out a coalition with Labour, claiming the two partys views are too different. P eople earning more than 70,000-a-year could be forced to pay more tax if Labour wins power, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell hinted today. He stressed Labour wanted a fair taxation system which would see corporations and the rich pay their way more. Asked to define rich, Mr McDonnell said they would be people earning above 70,000 to 80,000 a year. Pressed on whether that would mean people in that income bracket paying more, Mr McDonnell appeared to contradict himself, telling BBC radio: Thats not what weve said. However, he seemed to suggest tax bills could go up by clamping down on tax giveways for the wealthy, as well as tax avoidance. He explained: Theres a general view...that middle and low earners are being hit very hard with a combination...of both income tax rises but also in terms of the burden placed upon them by stealth taxes. We want to get a system that is fair, so the corporations and the rich pay their way more and that means ending the tax giveaways to the corporations and also those in inheritance tax, capital gains tax and the bankers levy. Mr McDonnell, MP for Hayes and Harlington, continued: The rich will be above 70,000 to 80,000-a-year. Politicans react to Theresa May's call for a general election However, his stance sparked an immediate backlash. Mark Field, Conservative MP for the Cities of London and Westminster, accepted that such a salary was a multiple of national wages but that the cost of living in the capital was cripplingly expensive. So people earning 70,000 in London were not by any stretch of the imagination rich. He added: They will be aghast at the idea that Labour feels that they could be fleeced by large increases in tax when they are already struggling to keep their head above water. Labour is vowing to cap pay on senior executives, with no bosses able to pay themselves above a certain multiple of lower-paid employees. Mr McDonnell also accused Theresa May of breaking her pledge not to hold an early election because she realised the economy is starting to turn with a looming living standards squeeze. Labours approach to Brexit talks would aim to secure tariff-free access to the single market, a managed and fair immigration system, and to maximise benefits that the UK currently get from the customs union. A south London police officer who wowed judges with his dance moves on Britains Got Talent made an off-duty arrest just hours after the show aired, the Standard can reveal. PC Dan Graham, nicknamed Dancing Dan, won a place in the next round of the hugely popular talent contest after impressing all four judges in Saturday nights show. But less than 12 hours later the 33-year-old jumped back into action while celebrating his success with friends in Epsom, Surrey. After hearing what sounded like a car crash on Sunday, he rushed around the corner to discover a vehicle had collided with a bollard. The Kingston Police officer checked the driver and quickly realised he might have been under the influence of drink or drugs. PC Graham detained the driver and called for on-duty officers from Surrey Police to assist. They arrested him for driving while unfit and took him to a nearby custody suite for questioning. Kingston Police spokesman Sebastian Ellis told the Standard: Its another piece of great work by Dan, not just dancing! It shows that our officers are always there for the public whether on duty or not. Police: PC Graham was in Epsom with friends when he jumped into action / Kingston Police A Surrey Police spokesperson said: We would like to thank Dan for intervening while off duty, his actions demonstrated the core values of policing and we really appreciate him apprehending a suspected offender in our area. We would like to wish him the best of luck with Britains Got Talent. PC Graham first found fame through his dancing when a video of him busting impressive moves while in uniform went viral last May, receiving more than 1.5 million views. Moves: the officer first found fame when a video of him dancing went viral last May / PA The officer, who is part of Kingston Polices 999 response team, drew in more views after a follow-up video caught him performing in a dance-off with a pig for charity. Many admirers urged him to apply for Britains Got Talent and ahead of Saturday nights show he told the Standard: "I auditioned for BGT in the hope that I can show a human side to the police and try to break down some barriers. PC Dan Graham's dance moves "I love dancing and since my viral videos last year I got some great feedback. It showed that there is a lot of support for us out there which I think police don't always realise. "I can't wait for tonight and I hope everyone enjoys seeing my audition." His performance turned out to be a hit with judge Simon Cowell, who described it as "smart", while Alesha Dixon said she "loved" the audition. PC Graham will now be entered into the next round of the competition and could perform in a live semi-final. A n armada of US warships President Donald Trump claimed he had deployed into waters near the Korean Peninsula was actually heading in the opposite direction, it was revealed today. The move was designed as a show of force against North Koreas nuclear threat and prompted fears of an imminent war. We are sending an armada. Very powerful. We have submarines. Very powerful, far more powerful than the aircraft carrier, that I can tell you, Mr Trump said last week. But the fleet, headed by the supercarrier USS Carl Vinson, was in fact steaming the other way to take part in military exercises with the Australian Navy in the Indian Ocean. It was about 3,500 miles away from North Korea as leader Kim Jong-Un led a huge show of military strength at the weekend. It came as US Vice President Mike Pence addressed the crew of USS nuclear-powered carrier Ronald Reagan in its home-port Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo. Pence is on a tour visit to South Korea, Japan and China amid tensions over nuclear issues in the Korean Peninsula. The location of the flotilla was revealed by the US Navy itself, which posted a photo online of the aircraft carrier passing through the Sundra Strait between Sumatra and Java in Indonesia. The US militarys Pacific Command explained that it had to complete the training with Australia, and that the strike group was now proceeding to the Western Pacific as ordered and should arrive near the Korean Peninsula early next week. S ecurity around French presidential candidate Francois Fillon and his British-born wife Penelope was doubled today after an image of him appeared on an Islamic State video threatening to kill a would-be head of state. The conservative Republicans candidate was surrounded by weapons and ammunition in the photo montage put together by two terrorist suspects arrested in Marseille yesterday. They had pledged to murder a politician running in the election that begins with a first round on Sunday. Mr Fillon is a fierce critic of radical Islam, and has pledged to punish anyone who takes up arms against their country by stripping them of their nationality. He was due to speak in the northern city of Lille this evening, where police sources confirmed that security had doubled around the candidate. This will mean more officers, including snipers, standing guard and increased security checks on all those attending the rally in the Grand Palais. Mr Fillon and those closest to him, including Mrs Fillon, will be surrounded by up to 12 officers at a time, said the source. It has been a difficult campaign for the pair, who have both been indicted in a fake jobs scandal that could end up with them being imprisoned. Mrs Fillon, who is from Wales, is not guaranteed to be in Lille today. She has given only one newspaper interview and severely limited her public appearances since the so-called Penelopegate affair broke in January. Despite this, the couple remain confident that they have a chance of becoming President and First Lady following one of the closest elections for years. British intelligence officers helped foil the Day of the Jackal-style plot by suspected Islamic State fanatics Clement Baur, 23, and Mahiedine Merabet, 29, to kill a candidate. Their rented Marseille apartment was full of weapons and so-called Mother of Satan TATP explosives when it was raided yesterday. French Interior Ministry sources confirmed that UK officers tipped us off about Baur and Merabet, but there has been no confirmation that their specific target was Mr Fillon. The pair were detained under arrest warrants for terrorist criminal association, according to a police document. Far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen was due to speak in Marseille today, and security will be extremely tight for her visit too. Polls suggest she will win through to the second round of the election where she will be defeated by independent candidate Emmanuel Macron on May 7. A father of two young children was today identified as one of three victims of a racist shooter in California who police say wanted to kill as many white people as he could. Kori Ali Muhammad, 39, who is black, was caught shortly after going an alleged rampage that left three white men dead in the city of Fresno on Tuesday morning. During his arrest, Muhammad was reported to have shouted Allahu Akbar - God is great in Arabic - but Fresno police chief Jerry Dyer said the shootings had nothing to do with terrorism in spite of the statement he made. This is solely based on race, he said, adding: He wanted to kill as many people as he could and thats what he set out to do. This was a random act of violence. These were unprovoked attacks by an individual who was intent on carrying out homicides today. Shooting suspect: Kori Ali Muhammad / EPA/FRESNO POLICE DEPARTMENT Muhammad, who was born Cory McDonald, is alleged to have fired 16 rounds in a shooting spree lasting less than two minutes. The first victim has been identified as Zackary Randalls, 34, who was shot dead while riding in the passengers seat of a Pacific Gas & Electric truck. Mr Randalls, who lived locally with his two preschool children and primary school teacher wife Katie, had recently started the job. Shooting victim: Zackary Randalls Muhammad then shot at another person and missed, police said. He aimed at a third, named by family as Mark Gassett, killing the 37-year-old on the pavement as he walked with a bag of groceries. The final victim, 58, was shot dead in the car park of a charity building. Mr Dyer said Muhammad approached a vehicle in between the shootings, but he spared the lives of two women who were in the car with a child. The women were Latinas, he said. Mr Muhammads father told the Los Angeles Times that his son believed he was part of an ongoing war between whites and blacks and that a battle was about to take place. He also went by the nickname Black Jesus. A ustralia is set to introduce stricter visa requirements for skilled overseas workers in a move which could affect thousands of Britons. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced this week plans to abolish the 457 visa programme, which is used to hire foreign workers in the restaurant, IT and medical industries. The Australian PM hopes scrapping the visas will help prioritise its own nationals for jobs. The visa programme is largely used by Indian, British and Chinese nationals, totaling about 170,000 people and their families. About 20 per cent, 34,000, are British nationals living in Australia. The scheme has been criticised by some for being too accessible to foreign nationals, having been originally designed to fill gaps in the skilled market. Mr Turnbull, echoing the policy of US President Donald Trump, hailed the policy as putting Australians first. He said: We are an immigration nation, but the fact remains Australian workers must have priority for Australian jobs. We'll no longer allow 457 visas to be passports to jobs that could and should go to Australians." A new temporary visa will replace the programme and last between two or four years, which Mr Turnbull said will better target skilled workers. More than 200 jobs will be removed from an existing list of about 650 eligible professions. The measures will be introduced immediately, but those already holding 457 visas will be exempt from any changes. Some businesses and workers have criticised scrapping the visas. Benjamin Williams, who was about to be sponsored for a 457 visa, told the BBC: "I'm absolutely devastated and don't know what to do or where to go from here. How can the government make such massive changes in one afternoon?" N ature photographers have flocked to a small town in Eastern Canada after a huge iceberg drifted just off the coast. The towering iceberg floated into waters just next to Ferryland, Newfoundland, causing bumper-to-bumper traffic as tourists try to get a glimpse of it. The area is known as iceberg alley due to the arctic blocks that float down every spring. This particularly huge one is expected to linger off the coast for some time because it looks grounded, Ferryland Mayor Adrian Kavanagh told CTV. Magnificent: Tourists have flocked to photograph the towering iceberg / REUTERS It's a huge iceberg and it's in so close that people can get a good photograph of it," he said. "It's the biggest one I ever seen around here." Canadian press reported that there had already been more icebergs than normal with 616 already having moved into the North Atlantic shipping lanes compared to 687 by the late-September season's end last year. Experts said it could be because of uncommonly strong winds and possibly global warming. Does Illinois Want to be Like Colorado? Contact: David E. Smith, Illinois Family Institute , 773-858-6602, s.david@illinoisfamily.org CHICAGO, April 19, 2017 / Standard Newswire / -- Illinois Family Institute (IFI) stands in strong opposition to the legalization of marijuana. For decades, authorities within our cultural institutions have recognized the many harms of marijuana use for "recreation" and intoxication. Medical, scientific, education, law enforcement and clergy professionals worked together to warn society, especially our young people, of the dangers associated with getting high, of addiction and of life-changing consequences. These warnings have not expired."We are alarmed that certain state lawmakers from Chicago want to legalize marijuana in Illinois despite the overwhelming evidence of adverse outcomes in Colorado and Washington state," said David E. Smith, IFI Executive Director."There are so many reasons to be concerned about marijuana legalization. Colorado is now ranked first in the nation for 'past month' use for children between the ages of 12-17. This is 74 percent higher than the national average. Do we really want some of our children to be among these numbers?""There are also good reasons to be concerned about Illinois highway safety if marijuana is legalized. In the two years after Colorado's legalization, marijuana-related traffic deaths increased 62 percent. A staggering 21 percent of drivers involved in all traffic fatalities in Colorado tested positive for marijuana. Do we really want this in Illinois?""In 2014, the year Colorado's retail marijuana businesses began operating, marijuana-related hospitalizations increased 20 percent and emergency room visits increased 25 percent. The costs to taxpayers, as first responders and medical responses increase, are dramatic.""And we can't ignore the relationship between marijuana use and psychotic incidents. The news has been filled with these tragedies."Smith concluded by asking lawmakers to seriously consider these questions. Does Illinois really want to legalize a product which will only lead to a more stoned, distracted, apathetic and violent population? This policy will lead to more people buzzed at home, at construction sites, in operating rooms, in classrooms, and on our roads. By Press Trust of India: From Anisur Rahman Dhaka, Apr 19 (PTI) Two Bangladesh war crimes convicts were today sentenced to death by a special tribunal for committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan. Moslem Prodhan and Syed Mohammad Hussain, who is absconding, were sentenced to death by the three-member International Crimes Tribunal for committing atrocities like "genocide, rape and extermination" committed during the war for freedom. advertisement The tribunal led by Justice Anwarul Haque ordered to carry out the execution either hanging by the neck or shooting by a firing squad, whichever the government decides. The tribunal described as "system crimes" the offences committed by the two convicts, both in their mid 60s. They were held guilty of six charges, including abductions, tortures, mass murders and genocide, levelled by the prosecution. Moslem was arrested in July 2015 from Kishoreganj after a warrant was out for him. The court today instructed the home minister and the Bangladesh Police chief to initiate measures to arrest Hussain. It asked officials concerned to apprehend Hussain with the help of the Interpol if necessary as he is believed to be hiding in Malaysia. Both the convicts hailed from northern Kishorganj, where Husain served as local commander of Rajakar Bahini, a Bengali-manned auxiliary force of Pakistani troops, while Prodhan was a member of the local unit. Describing the courts decision to recognise wartime rapes equivalent as genocide as a "extraordinary achievement", Prosecutor Turin Afroze said this is the first instance, where the mass rape in 1971 has been recognised as "genocidal rape" and the highest punishment has been handed for it. Defence counsel Abdus Sattar Palwan refrained from commenting saying they respect the law and the tribunal. "The matter of appeal will be decided after discussing it with the client," he said. The convicts can appeal against the tribunals decision within a month of the verdict. Bangladesh launched the belated process of trying 1971 war criminals in 2010. All the accused who were tried until now were civilians and mostly belonged to fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami, which was opposed to the independence. The International Crimes Tribunal, set up for the trying the war criminals, have so far convicted 48 persons, of whom 30 received the death sentence. The country has so far executed six war crimes convicts, five of them being Jamaat leaders and one of BNP, the main opposition outside parliament. PTI AR PMS AKJ PMS --- ENDS --- Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Catch the latest in Opinion Get opinion pieces, letters and editorials sent directly to your inbox weekly! Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy GERING Bob Evnen made a stop at the Monument Grill in Gering Tuesday, after the Monday announcement of his candidacy for Nebraska Secretary of State in 2018. Evnen was co-founder and leader of Nebraskans for the Death Penalty, the group that secured a referendum to get the death penalty reinstated. The ballot initiative to put capital punishment back into law was passed overwhelmingly by voters last November. He is a former State Board of Education member and Lincoln-based labor and employment lawyer. Evnen said hes been close to incumbent Secretary of State John Gale, and familiarized himself with the operations of the office in the event Gale chose not to run for re-election, an announcement he made last month. I served on the State Board of Education for almost eight years, and public service is very rewarding, Evnen said. It seemed like a really good opportunity for me to offer further service to the state. Evnen said his experience as an attorney would give him an advantage, especially as the chair of the real estate commission. Thats a commission that holds administrative hearings, so to have a chair that understands the hearing process and is an attorney is a real help for that board, I believe, he said. His experience also gives him an advantage in his role as the repository of corporate records, and helps him keep everything straight. But there are a number of other duties hes eager to take on, including voting security. The great breakthrough of the country is that were not ruled by a monarch or a king we rule ourselves, he said. Were a representative democracy and we have self governance. The only way that works is if people have confidence that their elections are fair and secure, and if people feel like the elections are fraudulent, then they dont have confidence that their elected officials are legitimately elected. They wont have confidence that their laws are legitimate either. Evnen said there are two things he thinks are important to him: voter ID and voting being an exclusive right of citizens. (Voter ID) is just a matter of common sense, particularly in the more urbanized areas of the state as our population grows, he said. It helps poll workers identify that the person before them is the person they claim to be. Evnen said he understands legitimate concerns that registered voters who lack access to a photo ID could be disenfranchised, but that those concerns can be addressed in a number of ways and should not be used to end the conversation about voter ID. If someone goes to a polling place where theyve voted for 30 or 40 years, and you have poll workers whove been there for years that recognize this person, they can verify thats that person and they can give them a ballot, he said. Evnen said provisional ballots are also an option to verify the persons identity in the absence of a photo ID. His second point is that only citizens should be allowed to vote. Not everyone believes that today, but I believe only citizens should vote, he said. Theres no mechanism to confirm that someone is a U.S. citizen when they register to vote. Evnen said there is not a wide-spread voter fraud issue in Nebraska, but that it does happen, citing the felony charges against two Somali-speaking men in Lexington 37-year-old Ali Abdullahi and 26-year-old Shueb Ali who both allegedly voted more than once on election day in November. The two cases represent 0.00023 percent of the total 860,000 votes cast in the election. He also criticized Nebraska Democrat party officials for including voter registration forms in welcome baskets for refugees. (The baskets) were a good thing to do, a nice thing to do, a kind thing to do for refugees, Evnen said. But refugees arent eligible to vote, so this is something we need to pay attention to. He said it would be easier to root-out voter fraud through voter ID and confirming the citizenship status of those who are registering. Economic development is also a big piece of the pie that Evnen hopes to tackle if elected. When foreign dignitaries come to Nebraska, they view the Secretary of State as the interface with the world, he said. I want to use that position as protocol officer a goodwill ambassador to partner with the governor and the executive branch offices to support the expansion of international trade for Nebraska. Evnen said his push is to bring more leadership to the team and support those efforts better. As an elected official, you can be in a representative capacity where people feel like they can talk to you and that you can make a difference, he said. West Nebraska Arts Center (WNAC) was awarded a $1,500 grant from The Questers, an organization dedicated to preservation, restoration, and education of historic building and sites. The grant will help cover the costs of painting and glazing the windows on the outside of the building. Jan Van Newkirk, member of Scotts Bluff Questers chapter 1346, said that its one of three chapters in the area. Cher Maybee wrote the grant from Scotts Bluff Questers with the support of the other two chapters, and Van Newkirk presented the grant at the state Questers convention, where it came in second by one vote to a restoration project at the Corps of Discovery Center near Crofton. The West Nebraska Arts Center building sits on the site of the old Campbellite Church. The land was sold to the City Library in 1921 by St. Andrews Episcopal Church. The Scottsbluff Carnegie Library was constructed with a grant from the Carnegie Corporation. The building is a representation of the neo-classical revival style. With a building thats nearly 100 years old, the upkeep is a constant challenge, WNAC Executive Director Donna Thompson said. We really appreciate the Questers support for this project. The nonprofit organization Questers was started by Elizabeth Bess Bardens in 1944. With a strong desire to see that American Heritage is preserved for future generations, Questers seek to educate by research and study of antiques and to donate funds to the preservation and restoration of artifacts, existing memorials, historic buildings, landmarks, and educational purposes. There are two types of grants awarded: state and international. Questers also sponsor graduate-level scholarships at Columbia University as well as a fellowship at Winterthur/University of Delaware. Chapters come together to form their State and Provincial Quester Organizations. The combined chapter membership for the international organization is 697 Chapters and approximately 11,000 members. For more information, visit www.questers1933.org. SCOTTSBLUFF The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is offering its mandatory boating safety course in Scottsbluff beginning in April. Nebraska law requires any motorboat operator, including drivers of personal watercraft such as Jet Skis, born after Dec. 31, 1985, to complete one of the two types of boating safety courses and be in possession of a course certificate. Operators must be 14 years old to drive motorboats and personal watercraft in Nebraska. Home-study format, in which participants study materials online before attending a three-hour review and test-out session will be offered in Scottsbluff April 22. Scott Eveland, boating safety officer for the Commission, said the course covers a wide range of topics including equipment requirements, safe boat operation and accident prevention valuable information for both new and experienced boaters. Boat owners who complete the class may qualify for insurance discounts. Parents are encouraged to attend with their children and boaters of all ages are welcome. Students must be at least 14, or turning 14 this calendar year to be certified. There is a $10 fee for most courses. Preregistration is required and the courses must have a certain number of students to avoid cancellation. Participants may register for the classes by contacting Eveland at scott.eveland@nebraska.gov or 308-289-0017. Courses are available at other locations across the region. For the most updated listing and for classes at other locations in Nebraska, visit the Boating Education calendar at www.BoatSafeNebraska.org. The site also has other information about boating safety. LINCOLN The Nebraska Public Service Commission has scheduled a May 3 public meeting in York on the Keystone XL pipeline. Members of the public are invited to provide input on the controversial pipeline, which would carry heavy crude from western Canada to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast. TransCanada Corp., the company building the pipeline, has submitted an application seeking approval of a roughly 275-mile route through the state. The meeting will be from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Holthus Convention Center just north of the York interchange on Interstate 80. Doors open at 8 a.m., and speakers will have up to five minutes to share their comments on a first-come basis. The PSC has not yet announced whether additional public meetings will be held at other locations. In addition, the commission will hold a formal public hearing on the pipeline application the week of Aug. 7 in Lincoln. By Press Trust of India: Muzaffarpur, Apr 19 (PTI) The Excise department today seized 240 cartons of liqour and arrested three persons in this connection from a locality under Saraiya police station area in Bihars Muzaffarpur district. Acting on a tip off, a team of excise officers intercepted a container and seized 240 cartons of Indian Made Foreign Liqour (IMFL) from the vehicle, Excise Superintendent Deenbandhu said. advertisement The seized consignment of liqour, valued at Rs 50 lakh, was brought from Haryana by a local liqour trader Pramod Rai who has been arrested, he said. The containers driver and helper too were arrested and booked for illegal transporation of liqour into Bihar where manufacturing, marketing and consumption of alcohol are banned since April last year, the Excise official said. PTI COR KDK PR ADMINISTRATOR PR --- ENDS --- Blog Archive Apr 2010 (22) May 2010 (25) Jun 2010 (8) Jul 2010 (12) Aug 2010 (18) Sep 2010 (19) Oct 2010 (29) Nov 2010 (30) Dec 2010 (18) Jan 2011 (13) Feb 2011 (21) Mar 2011 (23) Apr 2011 (19) May 2011 (31) Jun 2011 (36) Jul 2011 (46) Aug 2011 (26) Sep 2011 (12) Oct 2011 (15) Nov 2011 (17) Dec 2011 (7) Jan 2012 (18) Feb 2012 (4) Mar 2012 (12) Apr 2012 (18) May 2012 (10) Jun 2012 (21) Jul 2012 (8) Aug 2012 (15) Sep 2012 (7) Oct 2012 (17) Nov 2012 (20) Dec 2012 (10) Jan 2013 (58) Feb 2013 (59) Mar 2013 (60) Apr 2013 (98) May 2013 (134) Jun 2013 (204) Jul 2013 (293) Aug 2013 (351) Sep 2013 (363) Oct 2013 (347) Nov 2013 (374) Dec 2013 (440) Jan 2014 (544) Feb 2014 (475) Mar 2014 (525) Apr 2014 (527) May 2014 (470) Jun 2014 (408) Jul 2014 (472) Aug 2014 (522) Sep 2014 (441) Oct 2014 (471) Nov 2014 (496) Dec 2014 (535) Jan 2015 (535) Feb 2015 (520) Mar 2015 (579) Apr 2015 (657) May 2015 (679) Jun 2015 (673) Jul 2015 (728) Aug 2015 (803) Sep 2015 (923) Oct 2015 (921) Nov 2015 (801) Dec 2015 (791) Jan 2016 (782) Feb 2016 (835) Mar 2016 (929) Apr 2016 (864) May 2016 (946) Jun 2016 (1044) Jul 2016 (882) Aug 2016 (1035) Sep 2016 (966) Oct 2016 (918) Nov 2016 (854) Dec 2016 (885) Jan 2017 (879) Feb 2017 (777) Mar 2017 (896) Apr 2017 (872) May 2017 (850) Jun 2017 (851) Jul 2017 (971) Aug 2017 (1040) Sep 2017 (998) Oct 2017 (1144) Nov 2017 (1046) Dec 2017 (838) Jan 2018 (873) Feb 2018 (769) Mar 2018 (885) Apr 2018 (808) May 2018 (827) Jun 2018 (820) Jul 2018 (840) Aug 2018 (854) Sep 2018 (844) Oct 2018 (851) Nov 2018 (870) Dec 2018 (912) Jan 2019 (919) Feb 2019 (827) Mar 2019 (957) Apr 2019 (913) May 2019 (1007) Jun 2019 (934) Jul 2019 (949) Aug 2019 (936) Sep 2019 (910) Oct 2019 (920) Nov 2019 (874) Dec 2019 (908) Jan 2020 (941) Feb 2020 (848) Mar 2020 (898) Apr 2020 (848) May 2020 (822) Jun 2020 (787) Jul 2020 (819) Aug 2020 (858) Sep 2020 (841) Oct 2020 (873) Nov 2020 (811) Dec 2020 (780) Jan 2021 (765) Feb 2021 (716) Mar 2021 (819) Apr 2021 (805) May 2021 (815) Jun 2021 (824) Jul 2021 (830) Aug 2021 (832) Sep 2021 (791) Oct 2021 (754) Nov 2021 (683) Dec 2021 (693) Jan 2022 (694) Feb 2022 (654) Mar 2022 (740) Apr 2022 (745) May 2022 (748) Jun 2022 (701) Jul 2022 (704) Aug 2022 (702) Sep 2022 (699) Oct 2022 (737) Nov 2022 (182) Justice Minister Tudorel Toader stated on Tuesday evening that Sebastian Ghita was identified and detained by authorities in Serbia based on the warrants issued in Romania. "Sebastian Ghita was identified and detained based on the arrest warrants issued in Romania. If they detained him, you realize that the detention cannot be done without an indictment, an analysis, without a case, which means that the moment he was detained, subsequently arrested for 18 days, there was a judicial basis, a judicial and factual ground for enforcing these serious measures," Tudorel Toader told Antena 3 private television station. He added that on Wednesday the Justice Ministry might receive the final decisions regarding the legality of the arrest warrants issued on the name of Sebastian Ghita. "At 17:30 hrs we didn't have a final verification closure in respect to the legality of the two warrants which the extradition request is based on. Probably tomorrow we will receive them and from that point on the mission goes to the Justice Ministry to request the extradition. But one doesn't request the extradition as a first thing after the closure is received because the Justice Ministry, in its turn, through its specialized directorate must conduct a verification of the international regularity, the collaboration requirement, the requirement of the international convention. [...] After the verification, this international regularization, the compliance with international acts, immediately, right away, we set in motion the extradition request, but [...] at the Justice Ministry we don't receive [...] the closure of the first court, but the final closure," Justice Minister stated. agerpres. A summit meeting dealing with current challenges against good governance in a global context will be held in Romania, May 4-5, by the Strategikon think tank, according to a press statement released on Wednesday by the organisation. The summit is designed to discuss essential aspects affecting global governance and put forth solutions to political and business leaders as well as their teams. Strategikon honorary Chairman MEP Ioan Mircea Pascu says governance performance makes the difference in a global context that is complex and uncertain. "Good governance is an umbrella concept with an impact on all the domestic and external instruments any modern state uses in order to meet an increasing number of global challenges. We can say that in such a complex and uncertain context governance performance is what makes the difference; there lies the key that makes the difference between a functional and a failed state. Both the capability of drawing foreign funds, for instance, and resilience to security threats depend on good governance," says Pascu. Strategikon board official Harlan Ullman argues that the Islamic State, global terrorism, climate change or the prospect for a new Cold War in Europe or a thawed war in the Korea Peninsula are not as great threats against peace as failed states or states about to fail are. "In its first major conference, Strategikon aims to analyse the good governance deficits and explore ways to settle or minimise excesses or threats that such states poses to the global order. We believe this is just one of the many opportunities for us to leave a positive imprint on improving the life quality of those affected by the absence of good governance," Ulmann is quoted as saying. As far as the lay of the land is concerned in Romania, Strategikon Deputy Chairs Cornel Visoianu and Radu Magdin remark that Romania is a regional player that has not reached its full potential. "Romania is a regional player that, despite a successful transition toward democracy and joining the EU and NATO more than one decade ago, has not lived up to its full potential yet. This can change in the context of Romania holding the rotating presidency of the European Council in 2019. It is important that steps are already being taken for an image and thinking offensive that will consolidate Romania's global profile. Our conference is designed to contribute to the global idea market by discussing models for good governance that can be successfully applied in various regions of the world," according to the two senior officials. The statement says that addressing the Good Governance summit will be former CIA Director General David Petraeus; former Commander, US Supreme Allied Command Europe Philip Breedlove; former Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz; former US Permanent Representative to NATO Kurt Volker; former Speaker of the UK House of Lords Robert Salisbury; UAE ambassador to the US Yousef Al Otaiba; former Chief of the UK Defence Staff David Richards; entrepreneur, financier and a former adviser to Donald Trump's presidential campaign Anthony Scaramucci; Director of the Institute for US and Canadian Studies Sergey Rogov, as well as Kuwaiti former Minister for Planning and Development Rola Dashti. Joining them will be prestigious Romanian officials and foreign experts. agerpres. Amanatullah Khan alleged that three bike-borne men approached him outside the Aam Aadmi Party office in Okhla and opened fire. By Alok Ranjan: Ahead of the MCD election, Aam Aadmi Party MLA Amanatullah Khan alleged that he was attacked by Congress workers on Tuesday night. Three gunshots were reportedly fired outside the Aam Aadmi Party office in Okhla. According to Amanatullah Khan, an argument broke out between Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers at Jamia Nagar area. He alleged that while he was talking to police, three bike-borne men approached him and opened fire. advertisement WHO IS AMANATULLAH KHAN Amanatullah Khan represents the Okhla Assembly constituency of Delhi. The Aam Aadmi Party MLA, who belongs to Meerut, dropped out of Jamia Millia Islamia. In March 2016, he was appointed the chairman of the Delhi Waqf Board. In September, he resigned from the post after anti-corruption bureau raided the Delhi Waqf Board office. Amanatullah Khan, however, claimed that he was being "framed in false cases". AMANATULLAH KHAN AND THE CONTROVERSIES March 2016: A video surfaced showing Amanatullah Khan hurling abuses against the Narendra Modi government. The video, dating back to February 16, shows Khan hitting out at the Central government for arresting cleric Maulana Syed Anzar Shah Qasmi without any proper proof. July 2016: The Delhi Police arrested Amanatullah Khan after a woman alleged that he threatened her with rape and murder when she visited his residence with a complaint about power cuts a few days ago. He was later granted bail. September 2016: The Delhi Police booked the AAP legislator on charges of sexual harassment of his brother-in-law's wife. The woman alleged that Amanatullah forced her into having sexual relations with him. She also alleged that she was tortured by her in-laws for dowry. October 14, 2016: Amanatullah Khan was questioned by the anti-corruption bureau in connection with an alleged recruitment scam in Delhi Waqf Board. October 26, 2016: Delhi Police registered an FIR against Amanatullah Khan and his supporters for allegedly threatening a group of protesters who were staging a demonstration over civic problems in his constituency. November 2016: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case against him in connection with an alleged recruitment scam in the Delhi Waqf Board. In October, then Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung had dissolved the Delhi Waqf Board. ALSO READ: BJP leader Shazia Ilmi files harassment case against AAP supporters Delhi civic polls: They offered Kejriwal help, AAP pays back with party tickets ALSO WATCH --- ENDS --- JEFFERSON CITY A federal judge kept on Wednesday his promise to block two state laws in Missouri that have kept clinics outside of the Planned Parenthood in St. Louis from performing abortions. U.S. District Judge Howard Sachs said earlier this month that he planned to grant a preliminary injunction invalidating requirements for the states abortion clinics to meet standards for surgical centers and for their doctors to have hospital privileges. Sachs said abortion rights of Missouri women were guaranteed by the U.S. Supreme Court in last years landmark decision in Whole Womans Health v. Hellerstedt that struck down similar restrictions in Texas. Relief should be prompt, given the needs of women seeking abortions and the need for available clinics to serve their needs, wrote Sachs, of the Western District of Missouri in Kansas City. The state laws are at the center of an ongoing legal challenge brought by Planned Parenthood affiliates in Missouri. Missouris GOP-led Legislature has long pushed initiatives to limit access to abortion in the Show-Me State. On Wednesday, House lawmakers advanced legislation that would mandate state inspections of abortion clinics, lay out rules for fetal tissue disposal and require that two parents be notified when a minor seeks an abortion. Supporters argue that the restrictions challenged in this lawsuit protect the health of women by ensuring that abortions are performed in safe, clean facilities. Abortion rights advocates contend that the restrictions in Missouri have become so stringent that few providers can meet them. Planned Parenthood plaintiffs Laura A. McQuade and Mary M. Kogut called the ruling a resounding affirmation weve long awaited. Together, we are excited to end Missouris shameful one-provider status, and soon be offering four more locations where women can access safe, legal abortion without facing geographical obstacles, they said in a joint statement. But Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, a Republican, vowed to appeal. Today a federal court struck down large portions of Missouri law that protect the health and safety of women who seek to obtain an abortion, Hawley said. Missouri has an obligation to do everything possible to ensure the health and safety of women undergoing medical procedures in state-licensed medical facilities. Planned Parenthood said the organization would begin the process of restoring abortion services at health centers in Columbia and Kansas City and would begin performing them in Joplin and Springfield, Mo. JEFFERSON CITY Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway said she had issued a subpoena to the state Department of Revenue to force the department turn over information about its management of income tax refunds. Galloway said the subpoena was issued six weeks after she first requested the information as part of an audit to ensure Missouri taxpayers get refunds within the time period required by law. There is a lack of transparency that has fallen over state government at the direction of the governor, Galloway said Wednesday. This isnt the first wall that weve run into, so were finding a trend here. She said her staff had communicated with Gov. Eric Greitens legal counsel and chiefs of staff, saying they havent been cooperative with routine audits. Galloway is the sole Democrat in office in Jefferson City after Novembers GOP landslide brought in Greitens, a Republican. A spokesman for Greitens was not immediately able to comment. Galloway said this was the first time she had to issue a subpoena to any government agency or department. State law requires that income tax refunds be paid out within 45 days of filing, or the state must pay with interest. Galloway argued Wednesday that in a tight budget year, the Legislature needed to know if the state could issue refunds on time, as interest payments could affect the states spending plan. She said the revenue department had refused to provide the number of people waiting on refunds or the number of days theyve spent waiting. The department also refuses to say whether any refunds have exceeded the 45-day limit, and if so, whether interest has been paid, she alleged. A copy of the subpoena obtained by the Post-Dispatch details repeated requests for 2017 tax refund information as well as requests to set up a mutually agreeable date for the department to provide the information. Department of Revenue director Joel Walters wrote to Galloways general counsel on Monday, arguing that the objectives of the audit could be met only by reviewing confidential taxpayer data. Several objectives of your audit can only be met by obtaining and reviewing personal and confidential taxpayer data, Walters wrote in a letter obtained by the Post-Dispatch. The people of Missouri expect us to protect their privacy and security. Walters, who just started his new role on April 3, said the agency would be willing to provide tax refund data from former Gov. Jay Nixons tenure only. Galloway dismissed privacy concerns while speaking to reporters on Wednesday. Im not asking for personally identifiable information, Galloway said. If the department doesnt provide the information sought through the subpoena in a meeting on April 28, Galloway said her next step would be to turn to the Cole County Circuit Court to compel it. The department struggled to make a 45-day deadline last year the Legislature reduced the threshold from 90 days in 2015 and had to shell out $315,487 in late fees to nearly 84,000 people whod waited for an income tax refund. House Minority Leader Gail McCann Beatty contends that Democrats and Republicans both voted for that change two years ago, with lawmakers wanting to ensure that the state returned money owed to taxpayers in a timely manner. If the revenue department is violating the law, Missourians need to know about it, McCann Beatty, D-Kansas City, said in a statement. ST. LOUIS Police are investigating after a 6-year-old boy was found with a loaded handgun in his desk at an elementary school on Tuesday. The gun, a .25-caliber pistol, was found by a school administrator at KIPP Victory Academy, a charter school at 955 Arcade Avenue, police said. The firearm was turned over to police. The boy's parent or guardian was informed of the incident and a report was made to the Missouri State Children's Division, police said. Kelly Garrett, executive director at KIPP, said a letter went out to parents alerting them of what happened. He said no one was injured in the incident. "Our staff was immediately on the situation and secured the weapon and everyone was safe," Garrett said. The school has pupils in kindergarten through third grade. A woman who accused state Rep. Steven Roberts Jr. of sexually assaulting her in a downtown bar two years ago has filed a lawsuit over the incident. The woman, Amy Harms, says the incident happened on April 16, 2015, at the now-closed Side Bar on Washington Avenue. She claims that Roberts, then an assistant city prosecutor, penned her in a corner of the bar with his chair and fondled her under a table. Roberts was never charged in the incident, which at the time was investigated by the St. Charles County prosecutors office because of potential conflicts with the St. Louis circuit attorneys office. The Post-Dispatch typically doesnt name people making sexual assault claims, but Harms, 29, came forward last year after another woman accused Roberts of raping her after a night out. The other woman who alleged that she was assaulted by Roberts was Cora Faith Walker. At the time of that alleged incident, both she and Roberts were running in separate districts for the state House of Representatives. Roberts denied Walkers allegations and said the sex between them was consensual. After an investigation, prosecutors declined to bring criminal charges against Roberts. Roberts then filed a defamation suit against Walker, who like him won her race for the state House. Roberts represents a St. Louis district; Walker represents a district that includes Ferguson. Walker countersued Roberts in January for battery and infliction of emotional distress, specifically accusing him of giving her a date-rape drug the night of the alleged incident. Harms suit, filed by Harms herself on Friday in St. Louis Circuit Court, is seeking more than $25,000 from Roberts for emotional distress. Roberts attorney, Jeremy Hollingshead, denies the allegations. Steven has denied this since day one, he said. Obviously the prosecuting attorneys office looked into it and didnt file charges which means there isnt even probable cause it took place. Hollingshead called the timing of the lawsuit suspect. Its been two years, he said. Shes seen the press eat up the story about Cora Faith Walker and she guessed that if she filed her own suit shed get press. And she is. By India Today Web Desk: Aditya Roy Kapur is quite the charmer now, but there was a time when he was just a mischievous kid. In an interview with Filmfare, Aditya revealed that his maternal grandparents were instrumental in bringing Latin American dancing to India. His mother, Salome Roy Kapur, too has been a dance enthusiast and has performed and taught Western and Indian classical dance all her life. But while his brothers were sincere students, Adi was up to no good. advertisement "I was the stupid one who'd attend her class and look up the skirts of girls. The other day I was at an event when a girl came up to me. She told me that 25 years ago I was this irritating boy five-year-old in the class who'd pinch her a** and run," he said. On the work front, Aditya was last seen opposite Shraddha Kapoor in Shaad Ali's OK Jaanu, which released earlier this year. The actor has not announced his next film, as of now. ALSO READ: Did Farhan have a nasty spat with Aditya over his closeness with Shraddha? PHOTOS: Aditya-Shraddha get temperatures soaring during OK Jaanu promotions EXCLUSIVE: Aditya Roy Kapur spills OK Jaanu co-star Shraddha Kapoor's secrets --- ENDS --- Lyda Krewson on Tuesday became the 46th St. Louis mayor in the almost 200 years the office has existed and the first woman in that office with a call for continued urban revival and a warning that todays federal government may not be there to help. We are at an urgent and worrisome moment in our country, an urgent moment in our state, and that translates into an especially urgent moment in our cities, Krewson told an audience packed into the central rotunda that included four former St. Louis mayors and the current mayor of Kansas City. Federal and state funding for programs that we depend on for law enforcement, health services, housing and real estate redevelopment are on the chopping block, Krewson said. If those funds disappear, progress wont be easy. In a roughly 10-minute inauguration speech, Krewson rattled off city success stories of the past two decades, including the revival of Cherokee Street, the Grove, the Loop and Forest Park and the retention of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agencys headquarters in St. Louis. We have a lot to be proud of, St. Louis, she said. But she added that this success has not reached everyone, noting the citys 30 percent poverty rate. In her speech long on principles and goals but without specific new policy proposals Krewson vowed to work with allies in the city to find the will and the resources for more summer jobs and recreation programs, to rebuild the frayed relationships between law enforcement and our community, and to continue building safe, efficient and reliable public transportation. We will focus renewed energy on delivering efficient and reliable city services to every neighborhood, said Krewson an apparent nod to complaints that the city has neglected outlying neighborhoods, especially in north St. Louis, while focusing redevelopment efforts on the central corridor. We will look at processes, track complaints and measure outcomes, Krewson said. She also vowed to tackle the vacant building problem. Krewson didnt mention President Donald Trump by name in her speech, but she raised some of the same issues that have led urban advocates around the country to view his administration as hostile to the nations cities. Among other issues, Trumps proposed federal budget would include a $6 billion cut to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the elimination of Community Development Block Grants, the four-decade-old local infrastructure program administered by HUD. I hope it doesnt turn out to be as bad as what we read in the paper, but that will be very challenging for cities, Krewson said in an interview in her office following the speech. Everything falls to the city level. We need to make sure that our governments, both state and federal, know how important they are to the people. Attendees at the inauguration included former St. Louis mayors James Conway, Vincent Schoemehl, Freeman Bosley Jr. and coming off a record four terms Francis Slay. Among speakers was Kansas City Mayor Sly James, who called Krewson the real deal and said the two cities need to work together to address economic and social issues. He noted that St. Louis and Kansas City together comprise 15 percent of Missouris population but about 30 percent of its tax base, and urged residents of both cities to shake off that horrible tendency to get comfortable with the status quo. Krewson, in her speech, also called for more cooperation and unity between St. Louis and the adjoining St. Louis County. But in the speech and afterward she didnt specify whether she will seek an official unification of the two unaffiliated governments as Slay sought for years or something less formal. St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger was among inaugural guests, and Krewson confirmed in an interview that she, Stenger, Mayor James and others had dinner together in St. Louis Monday night. She said they didnt discuss if or how a reunification should happen, but that she expects such talks in the future. In order for St. Louis to be competitive and by St. Louis I mean the region, the larger St. Louis we do need to think regionally and act regionally, Krewson said after her speech. As for what form that kind of reunification might take, she said, That all has to be figured out. JEFFERSON CITY A Washington-based government watchdog group has asked a federal prosecutor to investigate whether the leader of the Missouri Senate engaged in illegal pay-to-play politics. The Campaign for Accountability filed a complaint Wednesday with Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri Tom Larson requesting an investigation into whether Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard violated federal law by accepting a $100,000 campaign contribution in return for legislative assistance. Richard accepted the contribution from TAMKO Building Products CEO and President David Humphrey six days after introducing legislation that could derail a class action lawsuit against the roofing products company. Its a crime for elected officials to accept benefits in exchange for official action, and we believe that the circumstances surrounding this monetary exchange warrants an investigation, the organization said in a statement. Richard, R-Joplin, dismissed the allegations. Its unfortunate, but its getting all too common for these types of baseless allegations to spread in this building. These allegations are reckless and not true, and they will not deter me from doing the work of the people, he said in a statement. Previously, when asked about a Democratic legislators assertion that Richard was engaging in pay-to-play politics, Richard said the lawmaker could kiss my ass. He also defended himself as an ethical politician who has run a clean ship as the lone Missourian to serve as both Senate president and speaker of the Missouri House. The groups complaint comes a week after Sen. Ryan Silvey, R-Kansas City, suggested that the Richard-Humphreys connection may be illegal. There are law enforcement agencies in the state or federal government, and if any of them have taken notice, Im sure they would do their job, Silvey said in an interview on KCUR. An attorney for Humphreys also earlier dismissed accusations about the legislation and the contribution. The attorney, Joe Rebein, with Shook, Hardy & Bacon, said in a letter to the Kansas City Star that pay-to-play accusations against Humphreys were false and defamatory. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney confirmed the letter had been received but said it would be inappropriate to make further comment on the matter. The Campaign for Accountability has filed complaints in numerous cases across the nation, including questioning deals with solar power companies in Oregon, the investment practices of Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and a political dispute in New Jersey. By Press Trust of India: From M Zulqernain Lahore, Apr 19 (PTI) A professor belonging to the persecuted Ahmadi community was found murdered at her residence here, in the third such attack on the religious minority in the last three weeks. Punjab Universitys Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics professor Tahira Parveen Malik (61) was living alone at her official residence in the varsity campus. advertisement "Prof Malik was found murdered in her house yesterday morning when police and a varsity official reached there. Her daughter informed the varsity administration that her mother was not picking up her phone since the previous night," Punjab University spokesperson Khurram Shahzad told PTI. When police broke into the house, they found her lying in pool of blood with multiple stab wounds, the spokesperson added. Khurram said Maliks daughter resided in Karachi. "The university officials have not found evidence of robbery," he said. The spokesperson for the Jamaat Ahmadia Pakistan, Saleemuddin, said it appeared Malik was killed because of her faith as she had no enmity with anyone. "Some extremist groups are active in targeting Ahmadis," he said. Senior police officer Haider Ashraf said, "We are investigating this case from all aspects including faith- driven." Tahira Malik had joined the PU Centre for Applied Molecular Biology in 1984 as research scholar. She did her MS (equivalent to M Phil) from California University Riverside, USA in 1990. She later joined Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics in 2004 and retired on August 15, 2016 and later rejoined it on contract. Early this month, Ahmadi doctor Ashfaq Ahmed, 68, was killed by unidentified men in the city. Late last month, well-known advocate Malik Saleem Latif, the cousin of Nobel laureate scientist Dr Abdus Salam and president of Jamaat-e-Ahmadiya Nankana Sahib district, was shot dead by unidentified attackers. IS-linked militant organisation Lashkar-e-Jhanghvi had claimed the killing, saying it has sent another "infidel" to hell. Saleemuddin said the government has failed to rein in elements spreading hate openly against the Ahmadi community. PTI MZ BSA --- ENDS --- Around the world, the concept of democracy seems to be receiving a resounding meh from voters, as if government by and for the people really isnt such a big deal. Dictatorships are digging in. Principled American presidents of the past have taken firm stands against anti-democratic global trends. By his actions, President Donald Trump appears to applaud democracys retreat. That should frighten everyone. Turkey is only the latest example of voters openly deciding to grant greater authoritarian powers to a leader with an already dictatorial bent. Turkey on Sunday approved a series of measures to give President Recep Tayyip Erdogan unprecedented powers to bypass parliament and the judiciary. Trumps reaction? He phoned Erdogan on Monday to offer congratulations. Russians emerged from seven decades of communist dictatorship to embrace democracy in 1991, only to give President Vladimir Putin unquestioned power to jail and even assassinate his critics. Trump has openly praised Putin and shrugged his shoulders at Putins egregious human rights violations. Egyptians, who endured decades of military dictatorship, briefly experimented with democracy following the Arab Spring revolts. The military launched a coup in 2013 to oust democratically elected President Mohammed Morsi. And with minimal public outcry, Gen. Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi installed himself as the new dictator. Al-Sisi has jailed journalists, civil rights activists and even an American charity worker who ran a child welfare clinic. This month, Trump received the dictator at the White House, praising him for doing a fantastic job. Around Europe, voters continue to toy with the idea of putting right-wing nationalists into power, including in France, where rightist Marine Le Pen could be headed to victory in Sundays first round of presidential elections. Le Pen originally embraced Trump as part of her nationalist campaign. Trump accepted a phone call from her shortly after his Nov. 8 victory, anointing her as the first foreign politician to congratulate the new president-elect. Nationalism is not inherently anti-democratic, but Europes history with fascist dictatorships in Germany, Italy and Spain would seem to serve as a strong reminder to citizens that this is a road best left untraveled. Yet Trump seems oblivious to the implications when he aligns himself with politicians like Le Pen. His shallow grasp of recent world history becomes painfully obvious when he receives dictators like al-Sisi even though his own State Department condemns Egypts government for extrajudicial killings, torture, warrantless arrests and bans on press freedoms and public gatherings. Trump also seems oblivious to Erdogans nefarious recent history. Erdogan, an Islamist, initially enabled the influx of Islamic State fighters into Iraq and Syria. After a failed July coup, Erdogan used a state of emergency to order mass arrests of 45,000, including journalists, government workers, military officers and members of the judiciary. Globally, democracy is in crisis. And Trump joins the chorus of meh. What has happened to our powers of discernment and our ability to see these people for what they are, which is that they care nothing for us? Rajya Sabha MP and BJP in-charge in Bihar, Bhupender Yadav, on Tuesday replaced Dinesh Sharma as in charge of Gujarat "with immediate effect". By Kumar Shakti Shekhar: From Uttar Pradesh, BJP's focus now shifts to Gujarat - the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah. With Assembly elections in the state due later this year, the ruling BJP, without taking any chances, has already started making moves in that direction. On Tuesday, Amit Shah appointed party's national general secretary Bhupender Yadav as in charge of Gujarat "with immediate effect". Yadav replaces Dinesh Sharma, who has become deputy chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. advertisement Bhupender Yadav is a Rajya Sabha MP and party's in charge also of Bihar. Besides coming from the OBC community, Yadav hails from neighbouring Rajasthan. He has been a key organisation leader in the ruling party, playing an important role in most of the recent elections, including UP. ORGANISATIONAL OVERHAULING Earlier on April 5, BJP formed its new state parliamentary board and various other committees. The state parliamentary board comprises 14 members, including state party chief Jitubhai Vaghani, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and his deputy Nitin Patel. Former chief minister Anandiben Patel, Union Minister Parshottam Rupala, former state party chief RC Faldu and Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama are also members of the board which would scrutinise and shortlist probable candidates for the Assembly elections. BJP's election manifesto committee consisting of 14 members has also been constituted. It includes Minister of State for Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja, Health Minister Shankar Chaudhary, party spokesperson Bharat Pandya and former Cabinet minister Jaynarayan Vyas. CHANGES IN GOVERNMENT In fact, the party's preparations for elections in Gujarat had started a year back when it replaced Anandiben Patel with Rupani as the state chief minister. Under Anandiben, who had succeeded Narendra Modi as the chief minister, Gujarat became unstable. Power seemed to be slipping out of BJP's hands. First it was the violent Patidar agitation led by 23-year-old Hardik Patel in 2015. Despite being a Patel herself, Anandiben failed to win over her community people who comprise BJP's strongest votebank. Anandiben also could not wield the same grip on bureaucracy which Narendra Modi as chief minister was known for doing. Her rule also saw internal squabble in the party, which was under control during Modi's rule. In July 2016, brutal thrashing of four Dalits in Una for skinning a dead cow led to a strong and widespread protest. Anandiben failed to contain the Dalit agitation as well. Amidst this scenario, she was replaced by Rupani on August 7 with Nnitin Patel as the deputy chief minister. WINNING OVER PATIDARS Besides the organisational changes, BJP has also got down to winning back the Patidars. In a symbolic gesture to win back the Patidars, PM Narendra Modi took a sought to woo back the community which constitutes 12 per cent of the state's population. He inaugurated Kiran Multi-Speciality Hospital constructed by a trust dominated by the Patidars in Surat on April 17. advertisement In the days to come, BJP is likely to take more steps to wean back the Patidars who have been demanding reservation in government jobs and educational institutions. With these moves, BJP seeks to retain power in the crucial state for the fifth consecutive term since 1998. Also Read PM Modi in Surat: BJP seeks to win back sulking Patel-Patidars ahead of 2017 Gujarat Assembly elections --- ENDS --- By Press Trust of India: Kolkata, Apr 19 (PTI) With the family of a baby, who died today, alleging medical negligence by Apollo Gleneagles West Bengal health department has sought the treatment report from it. "We have asked for a preliminary report regarding the treatment of the baby from the hospital authorities. They have been asked to submit the report by tomorrow," Director of Health Services Biswaranjan Satpathy told PTI today. advertisement Baby Kuheli Chakraborty, who was transferred to Apollo Gleneagles Hospital on Saturday last, died this morning and her family members alleged that medical negligence on the part of the hospital was responsible for it. "Our baby was brought here for colonoscopy ... She was not ill. But the doctors have murdered her. We want justice," Shalu Chakraborty, mother of the deceased baby, said. The babys family lodged a complaint at the Phoolbagan police station against three doctors and the hospital authorities alleging medical negligence, a senior officer of Kolkata Police said. "As per the complaint of the family members a case has been initiated under IPC Section 304A (causing death by negligence)," he said. The newly set-up West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) will take up the matter if the babys family lodge a complaint with it, Satpaty said. "If the family members of the baby lodge a complaint to the Commission it will take up the matter," he said. Describing the death of the baby as "extremely unfortunate", Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals today said that a committee will probe into the incident. "We offer deepest condolences to the family of the child and regret that despite our best efforts the child could not be saved. As per our administrative protocol, a 3 member medical committee and submit its report," CEO Dr Rana Dasgupta said. The hospital had been under the scanner for medical negligence and malpractices following the death of a patient in February and Apollo Groups Managing Director Preetha Reddy, who met Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after the incident, had admitted to lapses in the hospitals healthcare delivery in the past few months. PTI SCH KK KK --- ENDS --- Biographical Information Anthony Burokas Principal, IEBA Communications Anthony Burokas is a 20+ year broadcast TV video producer currently based in Dallas, TX. He has produced an extensive body of event, corporate, special interest, and broadcast TV. His website is IEBA.com. His new studio space, Frisco Studios, makes the latest live streaming and VR technologies available to his clients. Articles for Anthony Burokas Everybodys Streaming While you were busy streaming, what you think of as "streaming" evolved into many different things. Today, what you do when "streaming" is but one small piece of the streaming world. YoloLiv YoloBox Mini In this review, I am going to be taking a look at YoloLiv's latest little streaming box, the YoloBox Mini The Three Tiers of Virtual Events So, whether it's a quarterly meeting, an annual marketing show, or an industry event like CES or the International Auto Show, we still need in-person events. But how these events recognize and incorporate remote presenters and remote audiences will have to change from what was done pre-COVID. The future of events is hybrid, although these hybrid events will take different forms, depending on the event size, budget, and nature and complexity of the off-site elements. There are what I call "Three Tiers of Hybrid," which represent three different ways to bring local and remote presenters and attendees together. Tech Check Checklist for Remote Production Stream4us' Anthony Burokas discusses the importance of putting remote guests for pro productions through a detailed tech check before show day, to make sure they look and sound their best and can identify and address any issues well in advance of going live. Going Pro with Remote Production You're here. The guests are there. The audience is everywhere else. Here is an article that's chock-full of tips, tricks, and links for making it all come together in your latest remote production. How to Maximize Reach with Multistreaming Solutions If you want to maximize your reach without overtaxing your gear, then utilizing some cloud technologies to send your one upload to multiple destinations can multiply the reach of your content. Camera Upgrades for Remote Streaming Production As Zoom and other videoconferencing applications dominate our professional interactions, and remote productions and presentations remain a necessary alternative in-person conferences and other events, webcam video is often the weakest link in our remote connections. Anthony Burokas recommends alternative camera sources--smartphones, DSLRs, and better webcams--and explains how to make them work. Elevating Remote Production in the Cloud What's the best way to handle a multiday conference with one remote panel event after another, with about 5 minutes between them, maybe less? What if you add video playback, remote slide presentations, and the inevitable last-minute changes? Virtual Audio Cables for Multi-Source Remote Streaming Production Stream4us' Anthony Burokas explains how to use "virtual audio cables" from vb-audio.com to connect multiple audio sources when using a laptop for live streaming production with multiple remote guests. First Look: BirdDog Flex 4K NDI Converters An exclusive first-look review of the new BirdDog Flex NDI Converter, a tiny device that delivers tally, audio, video, PTZ control, audio intercom, and power via a single Ethernet cable. Tutorial: Remote Live Production in the Age of COVID-19 With social distancing making in-person live production difficult-to-impossible, Anthony Burokas demonstrates how to produce a professional live show using multiple remote video feeds using vMix Call. How to Manage Client Expectations A large portion of my time is spent educating clients on what I do, what I can do, and what I can't do. In particular, what I can't do is key to managing client expectations. By making sure we're both working toward the same goals, we have a better chance of avoiding potential conflicts down the road. All In On NDI Many people have gone all in on NDI. But how they use it can be very different from how you might want to use it. Best Practices for Live Audio Mixing When it comes to live audio for streaming, there are a few additional wrinkles to consider that don't come into play with audio recording when you aren't streaming live. Review: Cinamaker 2.0 iOS Live-Switched Streaming Solution Cinamaker 2.0 is really coming together to a solid iOS-based production solution. Standout features include loading and saving projects, the built-in editor, and dedicated chroma key on each channel. Review: Teradek VidiU Go I found the VidiU Go to be up to the Teradek standard of professional production gear, now for the mobile, bonded streaming audience. iOS Multicam Streaming Recording Video Quality Showdown With the addition of Cinamaker to the field of contestants I discussed in my July 2018 iOS Head to Head article-Switcher Studio and Teradek Live:Air ActionI set out to determine which app would deliver the best video quality for live streaming and live recording. Review: Teradek Link Pro Backpack and Core Teradek's Link Pro Backpack offers enhanced MIMO cellular connectivity, plus the reliability of bonded cellular, connected to Teradek's powerful Link WiFi Access Point, and all rolled together in a backpack powered by your choice of V-Lock or 3-stud battery. Review: Teradek Link Pro Backpack and Core Teradek's Link Pro Backpack offers enhanced MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) cellular connectivity, plus the reliability of bonded cellular, connected to Teradek's powerful Link WiFi Access Point, and all rolled together in a backpack powered by your choice of V-Lock or 3-stud battery. Head-to-Head: Switcher Studio vs. Teradek Live:Air Action Today, producers can direct a professional multicamera live video event using just a few smartphones. Two apps stand out for multicamera live switching, so we put them to the test. How to Become an iOS-Based Broadcaster Looking to do professional work for clients on location without having to disassemble a TriCaster studio, one producer found apps for iPad and iPhone that let him connect everything wirelessly and stream it to the web via a cell phone. NAB 2018: Harmonic Talks SaaS-Based UHD/HDR Live Sports Streaming Streaming Media's Anthony Burokas interviews Harmonic Director, Market Development Jean Macher in the Harmonic booth at NAB 2018. NAB 2018: VDMS Talks End-to-End Live Event Managed Services Streaming Media's Anthony Burokas interviews Verizon Digital Media Services CMO Mary Kay Evans in the Verizon booth an NAB 2018. NAB 2018: Akamai Talks OTT, Hacking, and DDoS Protection Streaming Media's Anthony Burokas interviews Akamai Director, Industry Marketing Shane Keats in the Akamai booth at NAB 2018. NAB 2018: Lightcast Talks Cloud Media Management and Delivery Streaming Media's Anthony Burokas interviews Lightcast's Andreas Kisslinger in the Lightcast's booth at NAB 2018. NAB 2018: Magewell Talks UltraStream Standalone Encoders Streaming Media's Anthony Burokas interviews Magewell's Mike Nann in the Magewell booth at NAB 2018. NAB 2018: Zype Talks Social Media Multicasting Streaming Media's Anthony Burokas interviews Zype's Ed Laczynski at NAB 2018. NAB 2018: Tulix Talks Quality Live Streaming at Optimal Cost Streaming Media's Anthony Burokas interviews Tulix's George Bokuchava at NAB 2018. Tutorial: Previewing and Reviewing Client Videos This tutorial will look at online previewing and reviewing client videos with Frame.io through the lens of a 29-video series produced with a remotely located editor and a client reviewing the videos in development. Case Study: Mobile, iOS-based, Live-Switched Streaming Live production and streaming with mobile devicesfrom capture to deliveryisn't just for hobbyists anymore. But if you're looking to use your iOS device for professional production you'll need to gear up right, and this article will show you how. Review: Panasonic AG-UX180 4K Professional Camcorder With its 1" sensor, 20x optical zoom, and extensive array of image controls, Panasonic's AG-UX180 strikes a balance well-suited to the prosumer camera market. A Buyer's Guide to Cameras and Camcorders for Online Video New technologies are bringing more options for online video creation. Here are the questions to consider when shopping for a camera. A Buyer's Guide to Lighting Kits Learn about the five types of lighting commonly used in video productions, as well as the best uses for each. Ambassador of Oman Sheikh Mohammed Omer Ahmed Al Marhoon lauded the literary services of 12-year-old Pakistani student Asia Arif. The ambassador invited her to his office, and showed his appreciation for her efforts to teach children Arabic. She has written two books in Arabic which she presented to the ambassador during the meeting. The books have recently been published by an Omani Publisher and were launched during Muscat International Book Festival. In additon to this, the gold medalist Asia Arif had completed diplomas in Arabic from two Pakistani Universities. Online An asteroid nick-named "The Rock" is passing by Earth and it's closer than any asteroid has ever come to Earth in the last 13 years. By India Today Web Desk: Asteroid 2014-JO25, nick-named "The Rock", is a 650-metre asteroid that will be passing by Earth and The Rock will be the first asteroid to come so close to our planet in the last 13 years. The Rock is expected to be the closest on April 19, 2017. The Rock's orbit will take it about 1.8 million km away from Earth and that's almost four times the distance from Earth to the moon. advertisement 2014-JO25 was discovered in May 2014 as part of the Catalina Sky Survey near Tuscon, Ariz. The survey, a part of NASA's Center of near-Earth object studies program, constantly searches asteroids that could be dangerous to Earth. Visibility: The Rock can be seen from Earth using a small telescope. It will be visible for two days before it vanishes. The last asteroid of similar or larger size to pass this close to Earth was Toutatis in September 2004. The asteroid was 5-km wide and passed within four lunar orbits. What will happen if it hits the Earth? Professor Tim Bedding, head of the School of Physics at the University of Sydney claims that if a similar-sized asteroid hits the Earth, it will be catastrophic. If it hit an ocean, Tsunamis will ruin the coastal cities. If it hits land, it will be different scenario, but in both cases he thinks our planet will suffer. We dodged this one but it is definite that Earth WILL be hit by one of the asteroids, eventually: Brad Tucker, an astronomer at the Australian National University claims that the Earth will be hit by one of these asteroids, eventually. Why? Tucker said: "Our real worry is not something a kilometer long, that's easy to spot. We know where most of these are. Something much smaller, such as the one that exploded over Chelyabinsk in Russia three years ago is more of a threat. That could come out of nowhere. That was about 10 or 20 metres - and that can cause enough damage if it hits the right place. Those we know only a very few per cent." Tucker said, "We are going to have something that hits the Earth eventually. That is inevitable. But the planet has been around for 4.5 billion years and we only know of a few rare instances of very large impacts, so they are not common." Planetary Defence Exercise: NASA is holding a "Planetary Defence Exercise" in Japan next month, simulating how agencies would react to the approach of an asteroid between 100 and 250 mts wide. The simulation will assume a possible impact 10 years later, in 2027. "Every 100 million years or so you could expect one of these kilometre-sized asteroids to hit and release 10,000 megatons worth of energy - that's about half a million atom bombs the size of which destroyed Hiroshima in 1945.", Tucker said. The asteroid that triggered the mass dinosaur extinction events 66 million years ago was 10 times the size of "The Rock". advertisement Can't asteroids be deflected? "Breaking it up into pieces like in Armageddon won't help as the pieces all come and hit the Earth anyway", Professor Bedding said. But, these asteroids can be deflected using nuclear weapons, ion thrusters or lasers over time to push off a collision course. Estimated Impact: NASA tracks asteroids as part of its Near Earth Object program. The object that poses the greatest impact threat to Earth is asteroid 29075, which is 1.3 kilometers long. NASA estimates it will come close to Earth on March 16, 2880. The probability of impact is one chance in 8300. This means there is a 99.988 per cent chance the asteroid will miss the Earth. --- ENDS --- Immigration experts feel that this could be a temporary phase and the country, known as a nation of immigrants, may not go the US way. By Anand Patel: The announcement by Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull today to scrap its popular 457 work visa used by foreign nationals - mostly Indians - led to a lot of speculation among the aspirants. But immigration experts feel that this could be a temporary phase and the country, known as a nation of immigrants, may not go the US way which has tightened its popular H1-B visa norms mostly utilised by Indian IT professionals to work there. advertisement The 457 visa programme allowed foreign nationals to work in Australia for up to four years in skilled jobs where workers were tough to find locally. Raj Shekhar, proprietor of Tropical Education and Migration Consultants Ltd in Janakpuri is optimistic about the change in visa norms by the Turnbull government. "The 457 visa programme was being misused by agents to twist norms to push migrants in Australia who didn't deserve. It had become more of a scam there, so the government had to scrap it," Shekhar said. "I am sure the new visa norms will help skilled visa seekers but for the time being uncertainty prevails. Hope this is just a temporary phase," he added. DIFFERENT FROM CHANGES MADE BY TRUMP ADMINISTRATION? A Noida-based IT professional Dheeraj Khanna, who worked as a project manager for a leading tech firm in Australia, believes it is more of a political decision. "This looks more like a political decision to me. One should not compare the changes made by the Trump administration in the US with those done by Australians," said Khanna. At the moment there are enough skilled immigrants in Australia and they can manage with what they have, but they will certainly need IT professionals from countries like India and China. "It took some time for me to understand what the changes were and the impact it would have on aspirants like me applying for the 457 work visa," said Upasana Kapoor. "I am sure the new norms will shorten the queue for genuine applicants like me," she added. According to the Australian Department of Immigration Data, there were 95,758 primary 457 visa holders in the country in September 2016. Developer programmers were among the top three beneficiaries of the visa programme. Bulk of the applicants in this category came from India with 26.6 per cent of the total applicants followed by United Kingdom and People's Republic of China. ALSO READ | H1-B visa: Donald Trump signs 'buy American, hire American' order, may impact Indian workers ALSO READ | Australia abolishes visa programme used largely by Indians --- ENDS --- Pro-Kannada groups have called for a Karnataka bandh on the release date of Baahubali 2, April 28, to protest the screening of the film. By Rohini Swamy: As the nation is gearing up for the release of SS Rajamouli's magnum opus Baahubali: The Conclusion, the film has landed in a soup. Pro-Kannada groups had threatened to stall the release of Baahubali 2 following actor Sathyaraj's controversial remarks during the Cauvery row. Now, they have called for a Karnataka bandh on April 28, to protest against the screening of the film. advertisement The pro-Kannada groups had demanded that Sathyaraj, who plays the role of Katappa in Baahubali 2, apologise to Kannadigas before the release of the film. Speaking about the issue, SS Rajamouli, in an exclusive interview with India Today, had said, "It is a sad thing and we were shocked to see that on social media." The filmmaker added, "Whatever comments Mr Sathyaraj made, it was nine years back. And after that, about 30 films of his were released in Karnataka. Baahubali 1 released. No one had problems with that. And suddenly, raking up the issue at this point in time is not right." ALSO READ: Baahubali 2 will not release in Karnataka after Katappa's controversial speech ALSO WATCH: SS Rajamouli, Rana Daggubati react to Baahubali 2 Karnataka issue --- ENDS --- The Supreme Court today ruled that LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti, among other BJP leaders, will have to stand trial over charges of criminally conspiring to demolish the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. By Anusha Soni, India Today Web Desk: The Supreme Court today ruled that Lal Krishna Advani and several other senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders will face conspiracy charges in the Babri Masjid demolition case. The court also ordered a time-bound trial, ordering that the judge hearing the case shall not be transferred until a judgement is delivered and that there shall be adjournments during the trial except under exceptional circumstances. advertisement The Allahabad High Court had earlier ruled in favour of the conspiracy charges being dropped against the veteran BJP leaders, including Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Union minister Uma Bharti. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is prosecuting the Babri demolition cases, had appealed against the high court's order. The Supreme Court today allowed the CBI's appeal and also ordered the clubbing of two trials that are currently going on in the Babri demolition case. The case against Advani, Joshi and Bharti was being heard in a Raebareli court while a Lucknow court was hearing a case against unnamed karsevaks who are accused to actually demolishing the Babri masjid on December 6, 1992. However, the apex court has now ordered the clubbing of the two cases, ruling that the Lucknow court will also rule on the conspiracy charges against Advani, Joshi, Bharti and others. The bench of Justices PC Ghose and RF Nariman also ruled that the trial judge hearing the Babri case will not be transferred until the judgement in the case is delivered. The bench also ruled that Kalyan Singh, currently the governor of Rajasthan, enjoys constitutional immunity and won't be tried right now. Singh, who was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh at the time of the demolition, will be tried once he relinquishes the post of governor. HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: There were two sets of cases relating to the Babri Masjid demolition on December 6, 1992. The first involved unnamed 'karsevaks', the trial of which is taking place in a Lucknow court, while the second set of cases relate to the BJP leaders, including LK Advani, MM Joshi and Uma Bharti, in a Raebareli court. The Lucknow court is hearing the case against unknown 'karsevaks' who were in and around the Babri Masjid when it was pulled down. On April 6, the Supreme Court bench had indicated that they may order holding of joint trial of the two sets of cases by transferring the trial from Raebareli to the Lucknow court. The bench had also said since 25 years have already passed, in the interest of justice, it would consider ordering a time-bound trial on day-to-day basis, to be completed preferably within two years. Senior advocate K K Venugopal, appearing for Advani and Joshi, had vociferously opposed the proposal for holding joint trial and transferring their case from Raebareli to Lucknow. The clubbing of two FIRs was opposed by the counsel for the accused on the ground that there were different sets of persons named as accused in the two cases, the trial of which were at an advanced stage at two different places. They were of the view that joint trial would lead to the beginning of de novo (afresh) proceedings. The Central Bureau of Investigation, which is prosecuting the cases, had clarified that it was not making any submission on the issue of the trial of the BJP leaders accused in the case but restricting itself to restoration of the charge of conspiracy against them. The conspiracy charge against the 13 accused including Advani, Joshi and Bharti, was dropped by the Raebareli court. The appeals were filed by one Haji Mahboob Ahmad (since dead) and the CBI against dropping of conspiracy charges against 21 accused including the top BJP leaders. Eight of the accused have since died. A supplementary charge sheet was filed against eight persons but not the 13 who were discharged for plotting the demolition. Besides BJP leaders Advani, Joshi and Bharti, conspiracy charges were dropped against Kalyan Singh (currently the Governor of Rajasthan), Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray and VHP leader Acharya Giriraj Kishore, the latter two have since died. The others against whom the conspiracy charge was dropped include Vinay Katiyar, Vishnu Hari Dalmiya, Satish Pradhan, C R Bansal, Ashok Singhal (now deceased), Sadhvi Ritambhara, Mahant Avaidhynath (now deceased), R V Vedanti, Paramhans Ram Chandra Das (now deceased), Jagdish Muni Maharaj, B L Sharma, Nritya Gopal Das, Dharam Das, Satish Nagar and Moreshwar Save (now deceased). The appeals have sought setting aside the Allahabad High Court's order of May 20, 2010, dropping section 120B (criminal conspiracy) under the Indian Penal Code while upholding a special court's decision. CBI had charge-sheeted Advani and 20 others under sections 153A (promoting enmity between classes), 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) and 505 (false statements, rumours etc circulated with the intent to cause mutiny or disturb public peace) of the IPC. It had subsequently invoked charges under section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC which was quashed by the special court whose decision was upheld by the high court. While upholding the special court's order, the Allahabad High Court had said CBI at no point of time, either during the trial at Rae Bareily or in its revision petition, ever stated that there was offence of criminal conspiracy against the leaders. advertisement (With inputs from PTI) advertisement ALSO READ| The Babri Masjid timeline: What happened and when advertisement ALSO READ | Ayodhya, December 6, 1992: A nation's shame ALSO READ | Babri Masjid demolition case is a drag? These 5 examples will tell you the list is long IN PICTURES | December 6, 1992: That day, that year ALSO WATCH | Supreme Court on Ram Mandir-Babri dispute: Settle case outside court --- ENDS --- A simple act of generosity shown by Pacific Toyota recently has left the Bay of Plenty District Health Board feeling immensely grateful. The dealership loaned five Hilux 4WD trucks to the district health board so its emergency response team staff could deliver essential services in flood-affected areas of the Bay of Plenty over Easter. Mental Health and Addiction Services clinical director Dr Sue Mackersey, who acted as the BOPDHB Emergency Operations Centres psychosocial coordinator over the weekend, explains the trucks were essential for staff to carry out their jobs in both the Eastern and Western Bay. There was concern about the safety of travel for staff heading over to support the Eastern Bay of Plenty response, and at the time, there was also concern about being able to deliver our normal, day-to-day services in the Western Bay due to the predicted severity of Cyclone Cook. So when we arrived at Tauranga Hospital on Thursday morning and found these trucks had been donated for us to use, it was quite exciting. Sue says over the weekend the DHB emergency response team made a number of trips carting staff and supplies between Whakatane, Edgecumbe, Kawerau and other outlying centres. Thursday was a particularly busy day for them, and while people across the region were being warned to head home early before Cyclone Cook made landfall, the team ended leaving the Eastern Bay late in the afternoon because they had been rushed off of their feet. As we were arriving back into Tauranga the storm hit and the rain was coming down really heavily, but the trucks were fantastic. We felt really safe, all our gear stayed dried, and we also had enough room to bring back an elderly lady who wanted to stay with her family in Tauranga. The next day, because the road was closed, we had to go around through the lakes and there was lots of storm debris, slush, and surface flooding, but the trucks made it that much more comfortable and safer. They were absolutely excellent. The trucks have since been returned to Pacific Toyota and Sue admits it was very sad to say goodbye to the vehicles, which were very dirty, but had been very well used, on Tuesday morning. We are incredibly grateful to Toyota, it was incredibly generous because they were brand new trucks, so we really want to thank them. Its this sort of thoughtfulness and generosity that has made this whole emergency response work so effectively. Three of the Hilux trucks were loaned from Pacific Toyotas Tauranga branch, while the remaining two were from the Whakatane branch. Pacific Toyota CEO Mark Mills says when the BOPDHB contacted him asking if he would consider lending them vehicles to use as part of their emergency response, he had been driving back from Whakatane along the expressway and it was just hosing down. We closed the Whakatane dealership early on the Thursday the week before last because we had staff with homes affected by the flooding, plus it was Easter Weekend so we would be closed for a couple of days, so I told the DHB that it was no problem. It was something small we could do in our own community, and its worked out okay. We had a fleet of demonstrator vehicles and rather than using them for test drives, its better theyre out there helping people. At the end of the day thats what theyre designed to do, it was a no brainer. Twinkle twinkle little Earth, you floating ball of sea and dirt, lit up brightly in the night, arent you just a pretty sight. Twinkle little Earth of ours, I like you more than I like Mars. NASA says a new, high-resolution map the space agency released last week showing the Earth at night, as seen in 2016, provides the clearest composite view of human settlement across our planet to date. As youd expect, Europe, Asia and North America are lit up like Christmas trees in the space agencys map. South of the equator, but at the centre of the world, little ole New Zealand seems to be much in the dark with Auckland our biggest, brightest, shining light (but dont tell them that). Satellite images of Earth at night often referred to as night lights have been a gee-whiz curiosity for the public and a tool for fundamental research for nearly 25 years, reads a post on the space agencys website. They have provided a broad, beautiful picture, showing how humans have shaped the planet and lit up the darkness. Produced every decade or so, such maps have spawned hundreds of pop-culture uses and dozens of economic, social science and environmental research projects. Images, which combined form the global composite map of night lights, were captured by the NASA-NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite, which they launched in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 2011. Suomi NPP observes nearly every location on Earth at roughly 1:30pm and 1:30am (local time) each day, observing the planet in vertical 3000-kilometer strips from pole to pole. VIIRS includes a special day-night band, a low-light sensor that can distinguish night lights with six times better spatial resolution and 250 times better resolution of lighting levels (dynamic range) than previous night-observing satellites. And because Suomi NPP is a civilian science satellite, the data are freely available to scientists within minutes to hours of acquisition. The Supreme Court's ruling in Babri demolition case is certain to have far reaching political consequences. Here's what the top court's latest verdict means for top BJP leaders. By India Today Web Desk: The Supreme Court today ruled that veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Union Minister Uma Bharti along with other party leaders would stand trial for criminal conspiracy in Babri Masjid demolition case. The Supreme Court bench of justices P C Ghose and Rohinton Nariman also offered some relief to Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh, who was Uttar Pradesh's chief minister when the 16th Century mosque was razed by thousands of karsewaks on December 6, 1992 . Kalyan Singh has constitutional immunity being the Governor of Rajasthan. However, as soon as he completes his term, additional charges shall be filed against him, the top court said. advertisement The apex court's verdict is certain to have far reaching political ramifications. Pictures: 25 years of Babri demolition case Lal Krishna Advani Rumours are rife that the BJP has finalised Lal Krishna Advani's name for President's chair. Advani, whom the BJP has already sidelined by installing him as the leader of the Margdarshak Mandal, has so far maintained a silence over his name being projected as the next President of India. The Supreme Court's latest ruling in the Babri case could deal a huge blow to Advani's chances. The Opposition headed by the Congress in all likelihood would oppose the BJP's move to install Advani as the new President. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has charged Advani under sections 153A (promoting enmity between classes), 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) and 505 (false statements, rumours etc. circulated with the intent to cause mutiny or disturb public peace) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Murli Manohar Joshi Murli Manohar Joshi is another veteran BJP leader who is now the member of party's 'retirement home' - Mardarshak Mandal. Some reports claimed Joshi was also in the list of names the BJP has finalised for President's post. That Joshi and Advani have been miffed with their own party for projecting Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate in 2014 is an open secret. The Modi government conferred Murli Manohar Joshi with Padma Vibhushan in March. The 83-year-old also attended BJP's National Executive meeting in Bhubaneswar on party president Amit Shah's special invitation. The latest Supreme Court ruling in the Babri demolition case would certainly make the BJP and the RSS think twice before giving their approval for Joshi's name for President's post. Uma Bharti Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti is likely face the Opposition's fire following the Supreme Court's decision that she along with LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi will face criminal conspiracy charges in the Babri demolition case. The Modi government is likely to face strong demand for her removal from the Cabinet. However, according to the law there is no compulsion that for Uma Bharti to step down. Under the Representation of People's Act, 1951, a person can be barred from contesting elections or holding a public office of a legislator upon conviction for an offence for more than two years. advertisement WATCH: Babri case: LK Advani to be tried for criminal conspiracy, rules Supreme Court ALSO READ: Babri Masjid demolition: Supreme Court restores conspiracy charges against LK Advani, MM Joshi, Uma Bharti The Babri Masjid timeline: What happened and when Ayodhya, December 6, 1992: A nation's shame --- ENDS --- Countdown customers can show their love for flood-effected by donating to the New Zealand Red Cross Bay of Plenty Floods Appeal 2017. Donations can be made in specially-marked donation boxes at the checkout, or you can make a donation during your supermarket shop at the EFTPOS terminal. All funds raised go to the Red Cross for their work to support communities affected by the recent terrible floods. Countdown stores have kick-started their fundraising by donating $10,000 to the appeal, and team members at support office will also taking part in mufti days to collect additional donations. Managing director Dave Chambers says supporting the Red Cross Appeal is a simple way for Kiwis to help, no matter where they live in New Zealand. The Edgecumbe community has a huge task ahead of them and there are many people who are yet to get back to their homes to see what damage they will need to face. Both Edgecumbe and the surrounding Bay of Plenty are now bracing themselves for another storm. We have team members and customers in the affected areas and we want to ensure that the community gets the additional support they need. New Zealand Red Cross National Disaster Management officer Andrew McKie says for many people the disaster is just beginning as the impact of the flood on their homes and livelihoods becomes clear, and as they brace for Cyclone Cook. This was a significant flood and combined with the impact of the incoming cyclone, people are going to need our help. The disaster isnt over when the floodwaters recede or when the cyclone has passed, for many this will just be the start of a really tough time. We also need public support to help people get back on their feet and into their homes. At this stage, funds raised will be used to provide clean-up materials for homes and psychological support, but that will be just the start, there is going to be a lot of ongoing need. Countdown Whakatane has also donated food to Edgecumbes fire station to help support the local volunteers assisting with the cleanup. To learn more. Visit www.redcross.org.nz Te Tumu Paeroa, in partnership with Quayside Holdings, today announces a $30 million investment programme to build 10 kiwifruit orchards on Maori land in the Bay of Plenty and Gisborne over the next 18 months. This will be the single largest kiwifruit investment ever made on Maori land. More than 90 hectares of semi- and unproductive land will be converted into successful grower businesses for the long-term benefit of owners and their community. Te Tumu Paeroa has developed a unique model to establish new enterprises on Maori land. The model allows full ownership of the orchards to transfer to land owners in an estimated 12 17 years, after achieving a targeted rate of return on capital invested. In the interim, the land will be leased and Te Tumu Paeroa will build and operate the high-performing businesses, carrying the financial risk. Our programme allows land owners to participate in developing a successful kiwifruit orchard on their land and see the ownership of the business transfer to them by 2030, creating a legacy for generations to come, says Jamie Tuuta, Maori Trustee and Chief Executive Officer of Te Tumu Paeroa. A core part of our programme is building the capability of land owners to successfully govern the business when it comes time to transfer ownership to them. We want to see Maori land owners involved in the whole process developing skills and hands-on experience in running kiwifruit orchards on the ground as well as in the boardroom. The signing of the agreement. By 2030, based on todays return, the orchards are expected to generate over $80,000 per hectare per annum or $7.1m by growing a mixture of premium gold kiwifruit and traditional green kiwifruit. In the 2015/16 season the average return for green kiwifruit was a record $56,673 per hectare. Its difficult for Maori land owners to develop businesses on their land unless they have access to capital from other means, because many dont want to use the land as security on a loan. "As a result, owners usually contract out the land to businesses who do have access to capital and can reap the financial rewards for taking the entrepreneurial risk. Maori land owners are missing out. Our programme addresses that, putting businesses in the hands of land owners. Te Tumu Paeroa has successfully piloted the approach, building two new orchards in the Bay of Plenty over the past three years. Nine hectares of kiwifruit vines were planted in 2016 and the first fruit will be harvested from the orchards next year. The properties are managed by professional kiwifruit management companies Southern Cross Horticulture and OPAC. The benefits of this programme are more than just financial. It will enable owners to reconnect with their whenua and support them to achieve their long-term aspirations for their land. For example, as part of the redevelopment of their land and the building of the orchard, owners of Whai Orchards, established on Te Uretureture, Matakana, have set up a Maori reservation to restore historic pa sites and established an Urupa (cemetery). Kiwifruit is a thriving industry with a very positive, long-term growth projectory. Its also a fruit for which growers can delegate the services for production and marketing to others, which is critical for owners who are not kiwifruit growers already. Planting on Matakana Island. Te Tumu Paeroa has identified 10 blocks of land in the Bay of Plenty and Gisborne, which have the characteristics that would make it a successful kiwifruit orchard, including a suitable climate, high quality soils, flat land and access to water and supporting services. Te Tumu Paeroa is currently engaging with trustees and land owners to ensure they have the knowledge needed to make an informed decision about participating in the programme. We expect to be able to name the land blocks in a few months time when building is set to begin. Te Tumu Paeroa is an independent, professional trustee organisation providing services to Maori land owners. It manages 100,000 hectares of Maori land, 2000 trusts, and over $100m in client funds on behalf of 85,000 owners. Its vision is to support owners to use their land to its fullest potential creating a legacy for this generation and the generations that follow. Quayside Holdingsis the investment arm of the Bay of Plenty Regional Council established in 1991. It is, via a subsidiary, the majority shareholder of the Port of Tauranga Limited and an issuer of securities on the New Zealand Exchange. Quayside has a diversified investment portfolio which includes property, shares and kiwifruit orchards. Quayside continues to seek new regional opportunities for investment with which to further diversify its income base. BJP leader Uma Bharti on Wednesday said she would not resign as Union Minister since the charges of conspiracy in the Babri Masjid demolition case have not yet been proven against her. By Brijesh Pandey: A defiant Uma Bharti today said she will not resign from her post as a Union Minister in the wake of the Supreme Court reviving conspiracy charges against her and other BJP leaders in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case. "I am ready to sacrifice my life for Ram Mandir. I have always been unapologetic about being part of the Ayodhya movement and unrepentant of what happened on December 6. Why shouldn't I smile?" said Bharti, who is the Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. advertisement She said she will not resign since the charges of conspiracy in the Babri Masjid demolition case have not yet been proven against her. "The party which was behind the Emergency and the 1984 riots has no right to demand my resignation," she added, responding to the Congress demand of her resignation after the Supreme Court today allowed the CBI's plea to restore criminal conspiracy charge against her and other top BJP leaders including LK Advani, MM Joshi and Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh. Bharti denied there was any conspiracy behind the demolition of the mosque. "Koi saazish nahi thhi, sab khullam khulla thha. Mann mein aisa kuchh nahi thha. Ayodhya keliye, Ganga keliye aur Tirange keliye main koi bhi saza bhugatne ko taiyyar hoon (There was no conspiracy, it was all out in the open. There was nothing in our minds. I am ready to face any punishment for Ayodhya, Ganga and the Tricolour)," the 57-year-old leader said. "I am not one of those who is greedy for power. I resigned as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh after a case was registered against me in the Tiranga (national flag) case," Bharti, Union Water Resources Minister, told reporters. Bharti said she will go to Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh today to express her "satisfaction and pride" for the "honour" that the Supreme Court's verdict has been for her. She also said she has "nothing to say" about Advani calling the Babri demolition his biggest regret in life. ALSO READ| The Babri Masjid case timeline: What happened and when ALSO READ| Babri demolition: Advani, MM Joshi, Uma Bharti to face conspiracy charges, rules Supreme Court ALSO READ | Ayodhya, December 6, 1992: A nation's shame ALSO READ | Babri Masjid demolition case is a drag? These 5 examples will tell you the list is long IN PICTURES | Pictures: 25 years of Babri demolition case ALSO WATCH | Supreme Court on Ram Mandir-Babri dispute: Settle case outside court --- ENDS --- The Supreme Court today ruled that Lal Krishna Advani and several other senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders will face conspiracy charges in the Babri Masjid demolition case. Here's a timeline of the case. By India Today Web Desk: Demolished in 1992, Babri mosque situated in Ayodhya has always been a controversial dilemma that no one has been able to solve yet. Timeline of events: 1528: Babri mosque was built on a site which few Hindus claimed that was the birth place of Lord Ram. 1853: First recorded incidents of religious violence at the site. 1859: British colonial administration built a fence to separate the places of worship, allowing the inner court to be used by Muslims and the outer court by Hindus. advertisement 1949: Idols of Lord Ram appeared inside the mosque, allegedly placed there by Hindus. Muslims protested against the act and both parties file civil suits. The government marked it as a disputed area and locked it up. 1984: A committee was formed lead by Vishwa Hindu Parishad(VHP) to build a temple in his honour. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lal Krishna Advani, headed the campaign. 1986: District judge ordered the gates of the disputed area to be opened in order to allow Hindus to worship there. Muslims set up Babri Mosque Action Committee in protest. 1989: VHP laid the foundation of a Ram temple on land adjacent to the disputed mosque. 1990: VHP volunteers partially damaged the mosque. Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar tried to resolve the dispute through negotiations, which failed the next year.1991: BJP came to power in Uttar Pradesh state, where Ayodhya was located. 1992: Babri mosque was torn down by VHP supporters, the Shiv Sena party and BJP which resulted in riots leading to 2,000 deaths. 1998: BJP formed coalition government under Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. 2001: Tensions arose on the anniversary of the demolition of the mosque. VHP pledged again to build Hindu temple at the site.Jan 2002: Atal Bihari Vajpayee set up an Ayodhya cell in his office and appointed a senior official, Shatrughna Singh, to negotiate with Hindu and Muslim leaders.Feb 2002: BJP backed out from the construction of a temple in its election manifesto for Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. VHP confirmed deadline of 15 March to begin construction. Hundreds of volunteers converged on site. A train returning from Ayodhya carrying Hindu activists was attacked in Godhra and 58 people were killed. Mar 2002: Between 1,000 and 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, died in riots in Gujarat following the train attack. Apr 2002: Three High Court judges began hearings to decide who owned the religious site. Jan 2003: Archaeologists began a court-ordered survey to find out whether a temple to Lord Ram existed on the site.Aug 2003: The survey said there was an evidence of a temple beneath the mosque, but Muslims disputed the findings. Mr. Vajpayee, at the funeral of Hindu activist Ramchandra Das Paramhans said that he will fulfill the dying man's wishes and build a temple at Ayodhya. However, he hoped the courts and negotiations will solve the issue. advertisement Sept 2003: A court ruled that seven Hindu leaders should stand trial for inciting the destruction of the Babri Mosque, but no charges were brought against Mr. Advani, now deputy prime minister, who was also at the site in 1992. Oct 2004: Mr. Advani said his party still had commitment to build a temple at Ayodhya.Nov 2004: Uttar Pradesh court ruled that an earlier order which exonerated Mr. Advani for his role in the destruction of the mosque should be reviewed. July 2005: Suspected Islamic militants attacked the disputed site, using a jeep laden with explosives to blow a hole in the wall of the complex. Security forces killed five people they say are militants, and a sixth who was not immediately identified. June 2009: The Liberhan commission investigated events leading up to the mosque's demolition submitted its report - 17 years after it began its inquiry.Nov 2009: There was uproar in parliament as the Liberhan commission's report is published and it blamed leading politicians from the Hindu nationalist BJP for a role in the mosque's razing.Sept 2010: Allahabad High Court ruled that the site should be divided, with the Muslim community getting control of a third, Hindus another third and the Nirmohi Akhara sect the remainder. Control of the main disputed section, where the mosque was torn down, was given to Hindus. A lawyer for the Muslim community said he will appeal. advertisement May 2011: Supreme Court suspended High Court ruling after Hindu and Muslim groups appeal against the 2010 verdict. December, 2014: Mohammad Farooq, the oldest litigant in the case, died. He was one of the seven main Muslim litigants in the 1949 Babri Masjid case. February 26, 2016: The Supreme Court permitted BJP leader Subramanian Swamy to intervene in the pending matters related to the Ayodhya dispute with his plea seeking construction of Ram temple at the site of the demolished disputed structure. March 6, 2017: The apex court with a bench of Justices, Nariman and PC Ghose heard a CBI plea to invoke conspiracy charges against the top politicians but the court indicated that the charges won't be dropped. ALSO READ| Babri demolition: Advani, MM Joshi, Uma Bharti to face conspiracy charges, rules Supreme Court advertisement ALSO READ | Ayodhya, December 6, 1992: A nation's shame ALSO READ | Babri Masjid demolition case is a drag? These 5 examples will tell you the list is long IN PICTURES | Pictures: 25 years of Babri demolition case ALSO WATCH | Supreme Court on Ram Mandir-Babri dispute: Settle case outside court --- ENDS --- After less than two years on the job, Wythe County schools Superintendent Jeff Perry has been named the Region 7 School Superintendent of the Year. Region 7 encompasses 19 school divisions in Southwest Virginia, beginning in Bristol and running to the city of Radford. Perry, who took the helm of the school system on July 1, 2015, was selected for the honor by a Virginia Association of School Superintendents committee of his peers. He will formally be recognized at the VASS Spring Conference in Roanoke next month. He is among eight regional Superintendents of the Year who will be considered for Virginia Superintendent of the Year. This was an incredible honor, and I am extremely humbled to have received this recognition, Perry said. I am very fortunate to work in Region 7 because we have created such a strong and positive working relationship among our various school divisions. In other places, I believe the focus of many superintendents may be self-promotion and a constant endeavor to out-perform everyone else. In Region 7, we have developed a unique respect for each other and have created a culture of cooperation, collegiality, and friendship. We tend to look out for each other and to constantly search for ways to help our colleagues. We share information, time and resources and take pride in helping each other experience success. Each superintendent in our region adds considerable value to our organization and clearly there were several other superintendents deserving of this award. Perry was recognized was several contributions. He has been instrumental in creating a regional curriculum project that is used by all school divisions in the region and 11 other divisions throughout the commonwealth. He also was recognized for his efforts to positively impact legislative initiatives affecting public school education. Perry and several of his fellow superintendents worked to create a coalition of small rural school divisions that helped create a stronger political voice. Perry has a strong record of academic success in his career as a school superintendent. During his tenure as superintendent in Wise County, the school division was ranked as the fourth top producing academic school in the commonwealth. In Wythe County, the school division moved from 59th in the state to 14th. Perry said that any success the division has enjoyed has been a direct result of the hard work and dedication of his leadership team, administration staff, teachers, support staff and students. I have been proud of the instructional and academic focus we have created in the division and the academic progress we have made, Perry said. We have the best teachers in the commonwealth, and I am proud to work with them. Perry said his is extremely proud of the work Beth Cochran, director of elementary instruction, has accomplished with the school systems preschool initiative. Developing a quality and universal preschool experience for all 4-year olds is a tremendous asset to this community and will make a huge difference for all children, he said. School Board Chairman Stephen Sage said it is a great honor to have Perry chosen by his peers as the Region 7 Superintendent of the Year. When the school board hired Dr. Perry our main directive to him was to improve the academic achievement of all Wythe County students. We did not want our teachers and students to be satisfied with just meeting the minimum state standards, Sage said. In Dr. Perry we found someone who was able to provide the leadership necessary to move our students to a higher level of achievement. He always uses the term we when talking about the accomplishments of our staff and students, and I am sure he will again say this recognition is based on what we have done to move Wythe County forward. However, I am sure the other superintendents understand what role he has played in our advancement and that is why they have given him this honor. It is well deserved and we congratulate him. Perry currently serves as chairman of the Region 7 Superintendents Study Group, is a member of the State Superintendents Leadership Council, and is the superintendents representative on the Linwood-Holton Governors School. He serves on the executive board for the Southwest Education and the Western Virginia Education Consortiums. He serves on the board of directors for the Virginia Association of School Superintendents and is active with the development of new graduation requirements and accreditation standards for public schools. He is vice-chair for the Wythe-Wytheville-Bland Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Wytheville Rotary Club. To reach Millie Rothrock, call 276-228-6611, ext. 35, or email mrothrock@wythenews.com The Floyd Town Council's second meeting for April, which was set for Thursday, has been cancelled. There will be no make up date for this meeting. Army and Vietnam veteran Keith E. Harman of Ohio currently serves as senior vice commander-in-chief for the Veterans of Foreign Wars and in July will be sworn in as commander-in-chief. He will then take his message of ending the federal law of sequestration to the U.S. House of Representatives Veterans Affairs Committee. While this law is currently on hold, said Harman, it is still on the books and could be implemented at any time. In that case, it would once more be devastating to the U.S. military budget. Wednesday evening Harman was in Marion visiting Francis Marion VFW Post 4667, where he and representatives of VFW at the state level were welcomed by Commander Sam Rosenbaum, Mayor David Helms, and other members of the post and community. Harman told those present that when sequestration was implemented in 2012, the military took a bigger hit than any other department, cut by 20 percent. While traveling in Europe last year, visiting military bases and NATO, he was told that the effects of sequestration were being felt and that without the National Guard units rotating in and out that these military units could not function. Some career military personnel were wondering if they would make it to their 20th year to retire and some were planning to retire early because, Harman said they told him, they were tired of fighting without resources and worrying about cutbacks and poor equipment. I have not talked to a legislator who thinks sequestration is a good idea so why not put this issue to bed, he said. I cant do this by myself. Harman said he will testify on this issue before Congress and continue to carry his message to every VFW post and department he visits hoping for support and assistance. Harman said the current commander-in-chief is focusing on mental health awareness so he is asking people to learn the signs of potential suicidal behavior, not just for veterans but also for others in the community suffering from illness, depression or PTSD and their families who are struggling to cope. Mayor Helms presented Harman with a framed resolution of appreciation from the town of Marion and a key to the city. Its a feel good thing for me and an honor whenever I can get with this veterans group, said Helms, praising Post 4667 for its many contributions to the community. This post and the communitys patriotism are part of what makes Marion so special, he said. ROSEDALE, Va. Even at 83, Adda Leah Davis slows few signs of slowing down. She brags about two recent books, The Whisperer (The Curious Janie Query Mysteries) and A Heaven Sent Wife (The Priory Heritage Series). Davis will also anxiously share Jasons Journey, one of her earlier novels, set in the rugged mountains of her former home in West Virginia. The Lord gave me a gift to write. Writing to me is just like breathing. If I dont, I feel very depressed. Its therapeutic for me, said Davis, of Rosedale, Virginia. Whats more, this woman hears voices. I get a character in my head, and then they start talking to me, Davis said. And I just write what they tell me to do ... I have no idea what the characters are going to do on the way. Thats what happened with A Heaven Sent Wife (Christian Faith Publishing, $15.95, 2017), released as part of what she calls her Priory Heritage Series. The priory was the home place, and it had once been a convent, Davis said. And when the land was bequeathed to Lord Langford, it was no longer in use for that. But his wife has turned it unknowingly, into a school for the tenants on the farm. And they had three children. And the oldest son would be the heir. Hold on, folks. Thats just the beginning, Davis said. The mother and his grandmother on his fathers side had been sending him all these pretty girls and saying, These fit into our class. Only, those pretty girls didnt fit him: He said, I dont want any of these trim misses, the holier-than-thou, Davis said. Next came the mans maternal grandmother, saying, You just wait. When the Lord wants you to have a bride, Hell send you one. Davis calls this a very amusing story but a very thoughtful story, as well. As for The Whisperer (Hoot Books, $9, 2017), Davis said, I wanted to do a series of books like the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys for young people. And, so, the character that I came up with was Janie Query and, too, she was very curious about everything. In this book, Janie hangs out with a very nervous friend who gets her into all kinds of problems, Davis said. So, one night, she heard there were lights in the cemetery. So she sneaked out of the house and took her friend to the cemetery to see what caused the lights. And, in doing this, she unraveled a mystery that had been troubling her town for a long time. Davis now has 16 books on the market. But she could have more: who knows how many more? My early writing got burned, she said. I had a big, brown suitcase full of my early writing - short stories and poems, even about World War II. Back then, during times of war, paper was scarce. So Davis wrote notes on whatever she could find old calendars or paper sacks. One day, while Davis was out of town, her mother stopped to clean house. Unfortunately, her mother found that suitcase. And she thought it was just a bunch of trash. Prime Minster Narendra Modi today called for a meeting of the core group of the BJP over the recent Kashmir unrest and the Supreme Court's Babri ruling. PM Modi today called a meeting of the BJP core group (Picture for representation) By Reema Parashar, India Today Web Desk: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today called for a Bharatiya Janata Party core group meeting at this residence. The meeting began at around 3 pm today and saw attendance by senior Union ministers Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari and Venkaiah Naidu. According to sources, the top issues on the agenda of the meeting included current unrest in Kashmir and the Supreme Court ruling that LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti, among others, must stand trial on charges of criminal conspiracy in the Babri demolition case. advertisement TENSION IN KASHMIR The Kashmir Valley has seen violent clashes between civilians and security forces, especially since the recent Srinagar Parliamentary by-poll. Eight people died in clashes on the day of the by-election and the violence prompted the Election Commission to postpone the Anantnag by-poll. Farooq Abdullah won the Srinagar by-election, which saw extremely low turnout. The situation in the Valley has been particularly tensed since a few videos purportedly showing security forces using extreme force to quell protesters. One video of an Indian Army unit using a civilian as a human shield particularly generated mass outrage in Kashmir. ADVANI TO FACE CONSPIRACY CHARGES The Supreme Court today ruled in favour of a Central Bureau of Investigation's appeal that sought the restoration of criminal conspiracy charges against veteran BJP leaders LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti, among others. The apex court also ordered a time-bound trial, ruling that the Lucknow judge who will hear the case shall not be transferred until the judgement is delivered. ALSO READ | The Babri Masjid case timeline: What happened and when ALSO WATCH | I'm not even a stone-pelter, says Kashmiri man tied to jeep --- ENDS --- DAMASCUS, Va. Tiny trout fingerlings swam from cups held by the students who raised them in the classroom into Laurel Creek at Damascus Town Park on April 20. The trout project, in which students raise trout from eggs, is part of Trout in the Classroom, a conservation-oriented environmental education program that Washington County schools participate in every year. More than a hundred students from Rhea Valley Elementary and Damascus Middle schools gathered at the park to release the rainbow and brook trout into the creek, which runs through town and feeds into the South Fork Holston River. Its going to be sad going back to the classroom and not seeing the little fish swimming around in the tank, said 10-year-old Emily Campbell, a student at Rhea Valley. The local program is sponsored by the Mountain Empire Chapter of Trout Unlimited, which places 14 tanks in classrooms from Galax to Bristol. The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries supplies 100 to 150 eggs to each participating school. The program brings live fish into classrooms starting at the elementary level and expanding to the high schools, where fish are raised and sold by FFA students. Jeremiah Eskridge, science teacher at Rhea Valley, and Donna Musick, science teacher at Damascus Middle, agree that caring for the fish fosters a greater awareness of conservation among their students. The young students learn about fish habitat, food sources and some details about water chemistry, said Eskridge. We actually get to watch them hatch in the tanks in the classroom, and then start feeding them. Isabelle Sullivan, a fifth-grader at Rhea Valley, learned not all juvenile fish, commonly referred to as fry, survive. Its really hard to raise fish. Small ones sometimes dont make it. They are living, breathing creatures. Its good to let them go, she said. Eleven-year-old Boone Thomas said, I really like nature and aquatic life. This has been really fun. I really like fish and nature being in its natural habitat. The fish are swimming free now and doing what they want. Michael Ratliff, a physical education teacher at the middle school, said the project comes full circle for his sixth-grade students. After they raise the trout from eggs, we take a fishing field trip at the end of the school year, said Ratliff, who teaches fly fishing at the school. This project brings the students into the community. During the school year, the teacher discovered a good way to improve survival rates with the fish. Instead of filling the tanks at the middle school with chlorinated water, Ratliff used fresh river water. We had no loss of fish this year, said Musick. We also began feeding dried meal worms, and added watercress to the tanks of water. We started out with tiny fry fish and now we have some huge fingerlings, and I think its because of the river water. According to Deborah Anderson, principal at Rhea Valley, the Trout in the Classroom program not only teaches youth the fundamentals of biology, it helps them develop stronger connections in the community. In the Damascus area, our students have opportunities to fish and be part of nature more so than in other parts of the county, Anderson said. Our students are learning to give back to these natural resources. A three-member International Crimes Tribunal jury lead by Justice Anwarul Haque declared the verdict on the basis of majority. By Sahidul Hasan Khokon: A special court has given death sentence to two members of Razakar Bahini, Moslem Pradhan and Syed Mohammad Hossain of Kishoreganj district for crimes committed during Bangladesh's 1971 war of liberation. According to prosecutor Tureen Afroz, they were also convicted of rape, torture and other forms of crimes. A three-member International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) jury lead by Justice Anwarul Haque declared the verdict on the basis of majority. advertisement Out of the two accused, Mohammad Hossain is now a fugitive. Home minister and police chief have ordered to arrest the fugitive and the authority has also been advised to get help from the INTERPOL. They received death penalties by the tribunal only for killing 26 villagers of Gurui village under Nikli upazila. The criminal Hossain was being accused for the 4th time on which the verdict came up for committing rape of Hindu women. According to the charge sheet, the two war criminals stood against the liberation of Bangladesh during the war of liberation in 1971. Out of them, Hossain was named and known as Razakar Daroga in Nikli thana area and Moslem Pradhan was as Razakar Commander in Nikli union area. The tribunal found that they committed mass crimes at the different areas of the then Kishoreganj Mahokuma personally or jointly. The tribunal issued death sentence to Husain's elder brother Mohammad Hasan alias Hasen Ali also for committing crimes against humanity in liberation war who is also a fugitive at present. Tribunal's prosecutor Turin Afroz, in a quick statement on the verdict, said, "We are happy on the judgment. We have worked successfully. Two death sentences, one life imprisonment and another one for 22 years imprisonment over three accusations have been pronounced." In a statement over the success of the tribunal, she further said," The rape has been recognized as genocide. The mass rape in '71 has been recognized as genocidal rape, on which followed the death sentence." On the other hand, lawyer of the criminals Abdus Satter Paloan said, "We respect the tribunal and the law. We shall decide for the later decision over the appeal procedure against the verdict." Appeal can be filed in the tribunal within a month, according to the rules. But fugitive Mohammad Hossain will have to surrender to the court if he wishes to take the opportunity of the appeal. So far, 30 war criminals have received highest punishment, out of 48 accused in 28 cases. Also read: Bdesh to put ex-Pak army officer on trial for 1971 war crimes advertisement Bangladesh HC upholds death penalty of 2 Islamists --- ENDS --- The National Green Tribunal has given one month's time to the authorities to free the lake of all pollutant. By Indo-Asian News Service: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Wednesday ordered all industries around Bellandur Lake in Bengaluru to be shut and imposed Rs 5 lakh fine on anyone found dumping waste in and around the lake. The NGT gave the state authorities one month's time to free the lake of all pollutants. A bench headed by NGT Chief Justice Swatantar Kumar said the industries violating directions should be sealed by the State Pollution Control Board. advertisement The highly polluted Bellandur Lake on February 17 caught fire due to toxic effluents in it. According to reports, the fire could be seen for three hours. "All the industries located in the vicinity of Bellandur Lake and discharging effluent, either treated or untreated, are hereby directed to be closed," the bench said. "No industry is permitted to operate unless inspection by a joint inspection team is conducted and analysis of effluent is found to be within the permissible limit," it said. The bench added that no waste of any kind, either municipal solid waste or domestic waste, is to be dumped at the buffer zone of the lake. "If anyone is found violating this, he or she shall be liable to pay Rs 5 lakh fine." The tribunal asked the Karnataka state government, the State Pollution Control Board, Lake Development Authority and Bengaluru Development Authority to start cleaning the lake immediately and report back in one month. Bellandur Lake, the largest of the 262 lakes and tanks in Bengaluru, receives about 40 per cent of the city's sewage. Previously, in May 2015 and August 2016, froth over the Bellandur Lake had caught fire due to formation of flammable methane gas. Also read: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's Art of Living destroyed Yamuna floodplains, venue of World Culture Festival: NGT panel Also read: Girl, 9, sues government over inaction on climate change in 52-page petition ALSO WATCH | Bengaluru: NGT slaps notice on municipal officials over frothing Bellandur Lake --- ENDS --- Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. By India Today Web Desk: Isn't it strange how little girls are taught to guard their safety, while boys are taught to be strong? For any person who knows the basics of English language already knows that safety and strength are not opposites for each other. So why are women always advised to stay cautious from eve-teasing, rapes and stalkers while men are barely ever given lessons on how not to contribute to those things? Well, the answers to those questions might remain unanswered for a long time, but a recent video has decided to do its bit in starting this long-overdue conversation. advertisement Advertising company FCB Ulka's new video features a set of young boys asking their parents for help--mind you, parents, not just their mothers. What kind of help, you ask? Well, help to make them see women as equals and not as tangible entities ready to be exploited. Also Read: 4 outfits Indian women should wear to prevent PCOD, eve-teasing and rapes And it only makes sense for this point to come forth right? If the root cause of eve teasing, harassment and sexual assault is the lack of awareness instilled in boys from a young age, then why shouldn't this conversation become mainstream? Also Read: How sexual assault affects its survivors and what you can do to help It's no surprise that most women grow up to be cautious instead of being free. They're taught to be aware and alert at all times, carry pepper sprays, wear certain kinds of clothes, be polite--whereas men grow up into individuals who're meant to take charge, be strong and not indulge in emotional conquests. This video is a hard hitting commentary on how both, women and men should shoulder the responsibility of making the world a safer place for the female gender and that it is the duty of both the parents to set the right kind of examples while their children are growing up. Watch it here. --- ENDS --- Steve Stephens, the man accused of shooting 74-year-old, Robert Godwin on Sunday then posting a video of the killing on Facebook, is now dead. A tweet by the Pennsylvania State Police indicated that Stephens killed himself after being pursued by authorities. The pursuit began after the PSP received a tip that Stephens' car was spotted in a McDonald's parking lot in Erie County, Pennsylvania. State police chased him only for a short way before the fugitive turned a gun on himself. According to the Verge, Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams said in a press conference, "We are grateful that this has ended. [Although] we would prefer that it not have ended this way." The manhunt for Stephens began after he stated in a separate video, "I'm about to keep killing until they catch me, f--- it. I'm telling them to catch me," reported the New York Post. When Cleveland authorities determined that he may have fled the state, the search for the fugitive went nationwide. The Cleveland Police offered a $50,000 reward for any information leading to his arrest. Stephens had no previous criminal record, and the killing was apparently random. His long time girlfriend had recently broken up with him, and he appeared to be blaming her for his act in the video. He also claimed to have killed another dozen people, but Chief Williams said that they have not had any reports of other shootings and cannot tie him to any other murders. Facebook was criticized for not taking the video down for over an hour after it was flagged. The social media giant issued an apology in a statement on Monday. Although justice was not officially served, hopefully, the Godwin family can have closure now that Stephens is no longer at large. Top image by New York Post The Galaxy S8 gets its worldwide release this Friday, and reviews for the device are excellent. Barring the mysterious red tint issue experienced by some South Korean early owners, it looks to be Samsung's most impressive smartphone to date, with many calling it the best Android device you can buy. As is the tradition with new gadgets, iFixit has performed one of its famous teardowns on both the S8 and S8+. Much like the handsets' predecessor, the S7 Edge, the flagship phones may be fantastic devices but repairing them is no easy feat. Both get a repairability score of 4/10; a small improvement over the S7 Edge's 3/10. The only positive point iFixit could find with both phones is that they contain many components that are modular and can be replaced independently. The battery, however, is not one of them. Considering what happened with the Note 7, it's somewhat surprising that technicians would find it difficult to remove the S8/S8+'s batteries due to the strong adhesive and glued-on rear panel. The iFixit team also discovered that the battery in the S8 Plus uses almost the same design as the one found in the Note 7, though it will have doubtlessly gone through extensive, improved testing procedures. It even has the same capacity of 3,500 mAh at 3.85 V (13.48 Wh). With strong adhesive used on both the front and back of both phones, getting inside them is far from simple. Additionally, because the front screen is curved, replacing the glass is extremely difficult without destroying the display. Check out the full teardown of the Galaxy S8 and S8+ on iFixit. After addressing a rowdy session of the House of Commons, May won the support of 522 lawmakers in the 650-seat parliament for an election on June 8. By Reuters: Prime Minister Theresa May won parliament's backing for an early election on Wednesday; a vote she said would strengthen her hand in divorce talks with the European Union and help heal divisions in Britain. May surprised allies and opponents on Tuesday when she announced her plan to bring forward an election that was not due until 2020, saying she needed to avoid a clash of priorities in the sensitive final stages of the two-year Brexit talks. advertisement After addressing a rowdy session of the House of Commons, May won the support of 522 lawmakers in the 650-seat parliament for an election on June 8, an easy victory for the prime minister who could see her majority increase by at least 100 seats in the poll. "I believe that at this moment of enormous national significance there should be unity here in Westminster, not division", May told parliament. "A general election will provide the country with five years of strong and stable leadership to see us through the negotiations and ensure we are able to go on to make a success as a result, and that is crucial". The former interior minister, who became prime minister without an election when her predecessor David Cameron quit after last year's referendum vote for Brexit, enjoys a runaway lead over the main opposition Labour Party in opinion polls. She has also played up the strength of the British economy, which has so far defied predictions of a slowdown, a key campaign theme that her Conservative Party will use to try to undermine Labour in the election. A victory would give May a powerful mandate extending until 2022, long enough to cover the Brexit negotiations plus a possible transition period into new trading arrangements with the European Union (EU), a prospect that has strengthened the pound. The Sun, Britain's top-selling newspaper, splashed the headline "Blue Murder", a reference to the Conservatives colour branding and the prospect of Labour losing dozens of seats. RELUCTANT May formally notified the European Union on March 29 of Britain's intention to leave and has said she is confident of reaching a deal on the terms of withdrawal in the two years available. She said on Tuesday she had "reluctantly" come to the decision to call for an early election because of political division in Westminster, criticising opposition parties for trying to thwart her plans for leaving the EU. "What do we know that the leader of the Labour Party, the leader of the Liberal Democrats and the leader of the Scottish nationalists have in common?" she asked parliament. advertisement "They want to unite together to divide our country and we will not let them do it". But for Scotland's first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, the move was a "huge political miscalculation" that could help the Scottish National Party's efforts to hold an independence vote. "If the Scottish National Party (SNP) wins this election in Scotland and the Tories (Conservatives) don't, then Theresa May's attempt to block our mandate to give the people of Scotland a choice over their own future when the time is right will crumble to dust", said Sturgeon, who heads Scotland's devolved government. May, who has described herself as "not a showy politician", also said she would not take part in any television debates before the election, preferring to talk directly to voters. "I will be debating these issues publicly across the country", she told parliament. "We will be taking a proud record of a Conservative government, but more than that we will be taking our plans for the future of this country". ALSO READ: British PM Theresa May calls for early election on June 8 British PM Theresa May to file formal Brexit divorce papers today UK Prime Minister Theresa May defeated as lawmakers demand power to reject final Brexit terms --- ENDS --- advertisement It looks like the Galaxy Note 7 debacle all over again as Samsung Galaxy S8 phone users begin seeing red and not just figuratively. Some users in South Korea have reported that the displays of their Galaxy S8 units are a little red than normal. Samsung has responded that this is not unusual given the technology it used for the OLED panels, and the issue can be fixed easily. Samsung released the Galaxy S8 on March 29. So far, last year's controversy regarding the Galaxy Note 7's exploding batteries has not affected the success of the new flagship, but this red tint display issue can get out of hand if Samsung does not act fast. Galaxy S8 Users See Red As reported in one Korean news site, early adopters have raised complaints about their phones having red displays. Some even uploaded photos in online communities to show the phone with the reddish screen side-by-side a regular one. "After I read articles that there are many reddish panels, I checked mine. I was also unlucky. Should I change it?" posted one user. Others asked to check if his phone was really red. Samsung responded by saying that it is an easy problem to address as it can be fixed on the phone itself. If the display is still reddish, the company encouraged the users to go to service centers. The company even offered a refund or a device exchange if the problem is on the hardware itself. "To offer a variety of color options for our users, we have added the display color optimization mode to the devices, allowing them to change the tone to their own preferences," a Samsung Electronics official said. However, the users said the screens remained red even after correcting the display settings. According to an industry watcher, the reddish tint could be caused by an imbalance in the color configuration. The Galaxy S8's OLED screen uses two subpixels: one red-green and one blue-green (unlike other LCDs that use red, green, and blue subpixels). This configuration is more prone to having color imbalance problems because there are two greens, so Samsung used a deeper red to counterbalance this and improve the color. The glitch in this process may explain the reddish tint that users are having. Samsung Galaxy S8 Preorders Close To 1 Million Samsung's latest flagship Galaxy S8 is reportedly closing in on 1 million in preorders in Korea, setting a record in the domestic market. The most recent official number as of April 12 is 728,000 phones. A Samsung official said that while it is hard to reveal the specific figure, the company is almost there. If it happens, Samsung will reach the 1-million preorder target in South Korea that it set earlier. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A recent study reveals depression and anxiety are on the rise in the United States, as more people than ever currently exhibit symptoms of mental illness. According to this analysis, roughly 3.4 percent of American adults, or 8.3 million people, are affected by a form of mental illness called psychological distress. Based on data from the National Health Interview Survey conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention between 2006 and 2014, the research also points out a serious lack of access to proper treatment for people with psychological symptoms. To raise awareness on how important mental well-being is and to promote the spirit of education for mental health, this year's World Health Day, celebrated earlier this month, was themed around depression - how to recognize it and what the available treatment options are. What Is Psychological Distress? Psychological distress is a general term used to describe unpleasant feelings or emotions that impact one's level of functioning. In other words, it is psychological discomfort that interferes with daily activities and can result in a negative perspective on life and on the self. Serious psychological distress refers to mental health problems that are severe enough to require treatment, because it substantially hinders one's social and professional life, shows the CDC analysis. In the study, researchers describe PD as a disorder resulting in "feelings of sadness, worthlessness, and restlessness that are hazardous enough to impair people's physical well-being." PD manifests itself through anguish, anxiety, lack of happiness, difficulty in staying focused, as well as symptoms of mental illness. The experience is highly subjective, meaning each person goes through a different process and exhibits distinct manifestations of PD. Experts point out "the severity of psychological distress is dependent upon the situation" and how each affected person perceives it. PD Causes And Symptoms Psychological distress can be triggered by a number of causes that range from traumatic experiences and struggling with difficult situations to poor stress management. According to experts, PD "occurs when external events or stressors place demands upon us that we are unable to cope with," and can be brought about either by major life transitions (such as moving to a new state or graduating from college), sudden unexpected events (losing one's job or a loved one), or even everyday stressors (such as traffic jams). Symptoms of psychological distress include: Sleep disturbances: sleeping more or less than usual, difficulty falling asleep, or waking up after just a few hours of rest without being able to go back to sleep Dramatic weight fluctuations and changes in eating patterns Physical symptoms that can't be explained by a medical condition Problems with anger management or controlling one's temper Compulsive or obsessive thoughts or behaviors Chronic fatigue, tiredness, and lack of energy Memory problems Avoiding social activities Mood swings and erratic behavior, such as impulsive shopping sprees Decreased pleasure in sexual activities and lowered libido The CDC study also uncovered that psychological distress takes its toll on physical health as well. The research suggests people dealing with PD are more likely to be affected by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease, and diabetes. Treatment Options For PD As with any other type of illness, the most important step in combating PD is to seek help. Both the World Health Organization and the British Royal House have started public campaigns in an effort to prioritize mental health and promote openness and dialog. Called "Depression: let's talk" and, respectively, "Heads Together," the campaigns encourage people struggling with psychological symptoms to open up and discuss their problems. Their message supports talking therapy as a means of managing anxiety, depression, stress, and other related issues that lead to PD. When it comes to treatment options, specialists typically recommend a combination of non-drug therapies and antidepressant medication, depending on each case. Although antidepressants may be required for some people, these drugs do not however get rid of the mental illness problem altogether. This explains why psychological therapies have gained more importance over the years, as they provide "small but significant improvements" in combating depression and anxiety. The types of psychological therapies listed as effective in the management of PD are: Cognitive behavior therapy - based on identifying and changing damaging thoughts and behaviors in order to improve emotional well-being. Psychodynamic therapy - promotes a better understanding of the self and helps patients forge healthier relationships with themselves and others by developing more productive interpersonal patterns. Narrative therapy - explores the dominant and alternative stories of the individual's life, deconstructing powerful stories that impacted the patient and externalizing the issue. Relaxation therapy - includes an array of stress-reducing strategies, such meditation, breathing exercises, visualization activities, progressive muscle relaxation, tai chi, and mindfulness exercises. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The web and Android versions of Google Earth just received a massive update that launched several new features on the 3D mapping service. Voyager, one of the new features on Google Earth, offers curated digital journeys around the world, allowing users to catch a glimpse of various interesting locations. Google Earth Introduces Voyager Google Earth users who wanted to explore the locations mapped by the service previously had to randomly click on spots on the planet or look for places that they already previously visited. The new Voyager feature upgrades the digital planetary exploration experience by offering curated adventures that revolve around certain themes. For example, there is a voyage entitled Museums Around the World, where the journey will include Street Views of 28 museums from all over the world, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid, Spain. There is also a voyage entitled Earth View, which will show users "the most striking and enigmatic landscapes" that can be seen in Google Earth. Some of the other voyages offered by Google Earth include UNESCO World Heritage Sites, The Hidden Worlds of the National Parks, and Trek: Galapagos Islands. As users continue their journey, landmarks that appear on their screens will come with descriptions and information regarding them. Some locations also offer additional media such as 360-degree content and embedded YouTube videos, which enhance the voyage. Google Earth currently has over 50 tours under Voyager, with more to be added on a weekly basis. Other New Google Earth Features The update to Google Earth also introduces an "I'm Feeling Lucky" feature, which can also be found in Google's search engine to check out random websites under a given search term. When the feature is used in Google Earth, users will be shown one out of 20,000 pre-selected landmarks or locations in the world, along with the accompanying description of the place from Wikipedia. Google Earth now also offers the option to share postcards of certain views on the service, with the sent images containing a link to where the sender is virtually standing. Users can also now begin utilizing Google Earth to prepare their itineraries when visiting popular cities such as London, Tokyo, and Mexico City. The virtual reality component of Google Earth, previously only compatible with the HTC Vive, now also supports the Oculus Rift and the Oculus Touch controllers. All users in virtual reality are now also offered the option to search for locations through a virtual keyboard. In addition, Google Earth is no longer a program that requires to be downloaded. The service can now be accessed on any computer through Google Chrome, with support for other browsers to soon arrive. The revamped Google Earth will also come to the iOS. However, no specific dates have been released. With these changes, Google Earth now has much more functionality in addition to timelapses and spotting aliens. Users who are interested in seeing what the fuss is all about are welcome to try out what Google Earth has to offer, though you will have to do so in the Chrome browser. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) honored the legendary astronaut and national hero, John Glenn, by launching a cargo ship named after him into space on Tuesday, April 18. Who Was John Glenn? Glenn was a Marine-trained pilot who fought during World War II and the Korean War. He was a part of the first group of astronauts drafted by NASA in 1959. Dubbed the Mercury Seven, Glenn was one of the seven men sent into space via the Mercury spacecraft. Here are other amazing things you should know about Glenn: In 1957, the Ohio native set a speed record when he flew from Los Angeles to New York in less than three and a half hours. In 1962, Glenn was hailed the first American to orbit the Earth completing three orbits around our home planet and spending five hours in space. Glenn was elected as a U.S. senator for the state of Ohio and was in office for 25 years. In 1998, Glenn became the oldest person to fly in space on his second flight, aboard space shuttle Discovery. The iconic astronaut died in Columbus, Ohio, on Dec. 8, 2016, at the age of 95. SS John Glenn After his unfortunate death last year, Annie Glenn, Glenn's widow, granted Orbital ATK, one of NASA's accredited delivery services, along with SpaceX, the permission to use his name for a space supply ship set to replenish the International Space Station. "It is clearly a chance one more time to show John Glenn's name emblazoned in space," said Frank Culbertson, a former astronaut who now heads Orbital ATK's space systems group. Supplies For The ISS The commercial ship, which took off from complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, is reportedly carrying 3,500 kilograms of food and other critical supplies for the astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the ISS, including water, clothing, equipment, and research. Aside from supplies, the space capsule also brought a banner showing Glenn in his orange space shuttle launch suit. This will be the first thing the station astronauts will see when they open the spacecraft. SS John Glenn is expected to arrive at the ISS on Saturday, April 22, morning. Space Station Commander Peggy Whitson and European Space Agency's Thomas Pesquet are in charge to grapple it with the use of the big Canada 2 arm. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Three years after one of the worst aviation disasters in history, Malaysia Airlines is banking on technology to prevent another one from happening. Malaysia Airlines has inked an agreement with Aireon LLC, SITAONAIR and FlightAware LLC to use a space-based satellite technology to monitor its fleet. The technology is targeted for a 2018 completion. On March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 lost communications and disappeared in the Indian Ocean together with all 239 people onboard. The plane remains missing to this day. Space-Based Monitoring According to a press release by Aireon LLC, its forthcoming satellite technology will allow it to track the flight paths of any aircraft around the world, including areas over polar regions and remote oceans. Aireon is working with Iridium Communications Inc. in this new technology. "Real-time global aircraft tracking has long been a goal of the aviation community," said Malaysia Airlines Chief Operating Officer Izham Ismail. "We are proud to be the first airline to adopt this solution." Aireon LLC is a Virginia-based company that designs, develops and deploys space-based technology for the surveillance of global air traffic of commercial airlines based in Europe, Australia and North America. It is a subsidiary of Iridium Satellite LLC. Most commercial airlines transmit their global position using a technology called Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, or ADS-B. It relies on a network of GPS satellites and ground stations to process data transmitted by aircrafts. Malaysia Airlines will be the first airline to monitor its own aircrafts. All of its aircrafts will have 100 percent minute-by-minute access to Aireon's tracking data. Using this data, Malaysia Airlines's operations centers will receive real-time position updates of its fleet all over the globe. However, as one report noted, it remains to be seen whether the satellite technology can prevent disasters like MH370 from happening again. The ill-fated aircraft suffered communications blackout; the location transmitter went dead thus rendering it invisible from the satellite network. Malaysia Airlines: Averting Another Airline Disaster The flag carrier of Malaysia figured in two of the worst aviation disasters in history. One is the infamous Flight MH370, which disappeared without major trace in the Indian Ocean on March 8, 2014. The aircraft was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew onboard. The incident launched the biggest and most expensive multinational search effort in history. Several pieces of debris confirmed to be part of MH370 have been gathered, but the bulk of the aircraft remains to be found. The other disaster is Flight MH17, where a Malaysia Airlines plane was shot down in Ukraine by insurgents on July 17, 2014; all 298 people onboard were killed. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Yadav was dismissed by the Summary Security Force Court (SSFC), which found that he had damaged the "image of the BSF", when he uploaded a video clip on the substandard food. By Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu: Hours after the Border Security Force (BSF) sacked constable Tej Bahadur Yadav after a three-month long proceeding at a summary court martial held in Jammu and Kashmir's Samba district, he said he will now appeal in the High Court. According to a BSF press release, Bahadur has the option to appeal against the verdict within three months. advertisement "Hope I get justice. I have full faith in the judiciary. This is what happens when you say the truth. This has been happening for years now," Tej Bahadur said while speaking to ANI. Yadav was dismissed by the Summary Security Force Court (SSFC), a court of inquiry which found that he had damaged the "image of the BSF" when he uploaded a video clip on the "substandard food" on social media, triggering an uproar. COMMANDANT BACK TO HOLDING SENIOR POST The trooper was facing the inquiry on various charges under provision of BSF Act and rules, including indiscipline. His plea for voluntary retirement was also rejected by the BSF authorities. The constable had made the video after seeking for voluntary retirement, which was put on hold pending enquiry. The BSF, which had transferred Tej Bahadur's supervising officer Pravin Kumar from 29 Battalion in Poonch to a remote location in Tripura managed to get command of a unit near Kolkata few days ago. The officer was put on staff job as commandant under the supervision of a senior officer at Bagafa in sector Udaipur of Tripura for barely three months. According to a highly-placed source, while Bahadur's services have been dismissed, the commandant is back to holding a senior post. As reported earlier, a DIG-level officer had given an adverse report on Kumar in the officer's annual confidential report but, according to a high-level source, he managed to get away allegedly because of political clout. In the BSF release, there is no mention of Kumar. The release states, "the enquiry conducted by Special Security Force Command (SSFC) commenced on April 13 and concluded today, where the soldier was given enough opportunity to defend himself." STATEMENTS FROM THE BSF PRESS RELEASE (a) An act prejudicial to good order and discipline of the force in which he made false allegations on social media regarding quality of food and did not adhere to formal grievance redressal mechanism of the force. (b) Neglect to obey general orders of the force in which he carried two mobile phones while on operational duty against the SOP and also posted photographs in uniform on social media in contravention of instructions. Meanwhile, Bahadur's wife Sharmila Devi said, "The whistleblower was paying the price of exposing corruption." Crying foul over what she called an unfair trial and dismissal, Sharmila said," In the future, no one would want to send her husband or son to the paramilitary force." advertisement In the video, Bahadur had appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to look into "corruption" in force, prompting the PMO to demand a report. While the MHA said it received a report from BSF DG, it had no mention that the constable was being dismissed from service. It however backed the force saying, "if so, the dismissal would be on valid grounds." The court of inquiry conducted by the DIG-level officer also mentioned that no other soldier made claims of poor quality food served to them. ALSO READ | BSF sacks constable Tej Bahadur Yadav who had posted video on poor quality of food for jawans ALSO READ | BSF quietly transfers jawan Tej Bahadur's supervising officer ALSO WATCH | Whistleblower soldier Tej Bahadur Yadav dismissed from BSF --- ENDS --- The world's largest forest must be protected through a coordinated, efficient, and active process, President Nicolas Maduro stressed. | Read More By Press Trust of India: New Delhi, Apr 19 (PTI) The Union Cabinet today approved signing of the protocol amending the convention between India and Portugal for avoidance of double taxation. "The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval for signing of a Protocol amending the convention between India and Portugal for avoidance of double taxation. advertisement "The Protocol will also ensure prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income," an official statement said. It further said that once the protocol enters into force, both India and Portugal would be able to exchange tax related information, which will help tax authorities of both countries to curb tax evasion. PTI BKS ABM --- ENDS --- By India Today Web Desk: Hailing from Kanpur, Dilpreet Kaur, the Calculator girl who dreams of becoming an IAS officer, can solve multiple calculations within a minute. Yes, a minute. Dilpreet Kaur is a Class 10 student and has, by now, set 13 records in Limca Book of Records in just a year. She has a record of solving mathematical equations under one minute as well. advertisement Dilpreet also made 11 records by solving 11 mathematical problems in record time ranging from 15.83 seconds to 1.36 minutes last August. Also read: 11-year-old Hyderabad boy cracks Class 12 examination According to a member of Limca Book of Records team, Anant Kasibhatla, Dilpreet has become the first person to achieve bagging a maximum of 13 records in one year, a rare feat in the history of the Limca Book of Records. In 2016, she met FM Arun Jaitley and solved mathematical problems for him. @juhiesingh dilpreet Kaur world faster girl in mathematics 12 national 2 world records no award for UP government pic.twitter.com/LNot1kXmD2- Manjeet Singh (@456644264b1547c) December 20, 2016 Manjeet Singh, Dilpreet's father, used to make her follow Abacus theory for multiplication, division, addition, subtraction, square root and cube root in order to improve her skills. The district magistrate has already made recommendations to the CM to acknowledge her talent. Also watch: Bollywood rises for child prodigy to help fulfil her dreams --- ENDS --- James Murdoch, Chief Executive Officer of 21st Century Fox, will deliver a keynote address at the RTS Cambridge Convention 2017. Other speakers will include: Andy Harries, Chief Executive of Left Bank Pictures; The Grand Tour executive producer, Andy Wilman; Michelle Guthrie, Managing Director of Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Sharon White, Chief Executive of Ofcom with more names to be announced. The biennial event, which takes place in Cambridge from 13-15 September, is this year entitled A World of Opportunity. In a year in which the UK will start to forge its own new wider relationships, the convention will explore how the television industry can make the most of this and other opportunities at home and abroad; in particular creating great content, growing the right skills and fielding the right people for the job. Global leaders will also discuss how policymakers can best enable the industry to succeed. Theresa Wise, Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Television Society, says: James Murdochs knowledge of the international broadcasting industry is second-to-none having worked across Asia, Europe and North America. He also leads one of the leading creative, commercial and consumer powerhouses. His keynote will offer a unique insight from a company that has played a big part in shaping the media landscape of today and who are known to challenge convention. He will be joined by a stellar line-up of senior industry figures and future leaders to discuss the challenges of a shifting TV landscape. The Principal Sponsor for RTS Cambridge Convention 2017 is Sky and it is co-chaired by Andrew Griffith, Group Chief Operating Officer at Sky and Gary Davey, Managing Director, Content at Sky. Share this story By Reuters: A gunman who went by the nickname Black Jesus killed three white men in downtown Fresno, California, on Tuesday, and fired at another before he was taken into custody while shouting "Allahu Akbar," police said. The suspect, 39-year-old Kori Ali Muhammad, was also wanted in connection with the fatal shooting last week of an unarmed security guard at a Motel 6 in Fresno, Police Chief Jerry Dyer told reporters at a press conference. advertisement Dyer said Muhammad fired at least 16 rounds from a large-caliber handgun in less than a minute at four downtown Fresno locations at about 10:45 AM local time before he was spotted running through the streets by a police officer. "Immediately upon the individual seeing the officer he literally dove onto the ground and was taken into custody and as he was taken into custody he yelled out 'Allahu Akbar,'" Dyer said. The term means "God is great" in Arabic. "He does not like white people," Dyer said, citing the suspect's statements after being arrested and his Facebook postings. The chief said Muhammad, who is African American, used the nickname Black Jesus. WHAT HAPPENED All four of the men killed on Tuesday were white, as was the security guard and the other man Mohammad shot at but missed. Dyer said it was too early to rule out terrorism and that his department had contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate, but portrayed the incident as "a random act of violence." "These individuals who were chosen today did not do anything to deserve what they got," he said. "These were unprovoked attacks by an individual who was intent on carrying out homicides today, and he did that." Dyer said Muhammad had been identified quickly as the prime suspect in the Motel 6 shooting on April 13 and that police had been urgently seeking him across the Fresno area since then. Fresno is an agricultural hub in California's central valley, about 170 miles southeast of San Francisco. Muhammad has a criminal history that includes weapons and drug charges and had spent time in state prison, Dyer said. County government buildings were placed on lockdown during the shooting spree and residents were urged to shelter in place. Local television images showed what appeared to be a body covered in a yellow tarp in a street near where police tape marked off several crime scenes. Also Read Pak: 10 terrorists involved in Lahore suicide attack killed in shootout with police Was happy to risk life: American who intervened in Kansas shooting that killed Indian engineer --- ENDS --- advertisement The main challenge for CBI would be to ensure that Vijay Mallya is not successful in claiming that he is a victim of political prosecution. By Atir Khan: Experts believe Vijay Mallya's extradition could be successful if the doctrine of reciprocity and corresponding laws are underlined. While the CBI is preparing its team to go to UK for the extradition, there is a view it will be a long drawn process and may even take years. Efforts will however be made to press for his deportation but his lawyers will certainly give a tough fight. advertisement Vijay Mallya after his arrest by Scotland Yard was granted conditional bail in Westminster Court on Tuesday. Sources said a CBI team is being prepared for sending to UK for following up on Mallya's extradition in Westminster Court for hearing next month. Generally senior officers of the rank of Joint Director along with the concerned SP and investigating officer are sent for such purposes. However CBI has not opened its cards yet but sources say a team of "competent officers" will be sent. The team members are not only collecting details of CBI's own case of fraud, criminal conspiracy and bank loan default but they are also collecting details of cases registered against him by Enforcement Directorate for money laundering and other cases. CBI will lead the team since it had first registered a case against Mallya and it is also a nodal agency for extradition of offenders from foreign countries. However CBI officials will also be consulting officers of other agencies which have registered cases against Mallya. ED CASE CRUCIAL Although Mallya has been arrested under provisions of extradition between UK and India in CBI case, the ED case of money laundering against him has more weightage as it corresponds to UK laws (Proceeds of Crime Act) and it has global implication and the laws have been ratified with UN Resolution. For extradition the offence should have punishment for more than one year. Money laundering as per UK laws has a provision of punishment for more than one year. The extradition is possible under UK Extradition Act 2003, which has been passed by the UK Parliament. The Act says UK can extradite accused persons to countries with which it has extradition treaty.India already has extradition treaty with UK. However so far only one person Samirbhai Vinu Bhai Patel has been extradited through this arrangement so far. Experts believe extradition is a time taking process and may even take years. At first there will be extradition hearing in the Westminster Court. Crown Prince Prosecution Department will look into the matter. Even though trials are faster in UK it may take up to even one year for this hearing to complete. But even after the hearing is complete Mallya has an option to appeal against the order. And if he claims the move to extradite him is politically motivated then it may take even longer. advertisement First the court has to be convinced that Mallya is wanted in at least nine cases in India. The sections under which he has been booked should have corresponding laws in the UK. Besides Indian agencies will have to convince the court that proper legal procedures for his prosecution in India have been followed. This involves a lot of paper work. Senior advocate KTS Tulsi says a lot will depend on the papers India has provided to the UK authorities. "Indian agencies should collectively make a strong case against him and should try to press for deportation under Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, which is binding on both the countries," says Dr Shamsuddin, former additional director of Enforcement Directorate. Normally an accused is deported if he is detained but Westminster Court could pass a judicial order for deportation as well. Under the MLAT a process is laid down in Section 3 and 4 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act for return of an accused to India. Therefore Section 57 of PMLA Act needs to be highlighted. However the main challenge for agencies would be to ensure that Mallya is not successful in taking the plea that he is a victim of political prosecution. advertisement Also read: Vijay Mallya arrested: Why does India want him back? Extradite Vijay Mallya, India tells UK. But the process is long: All you need to know Vijay Mallya arrested in London, gets bail; usual Indian media hype, he says Also watch: Bail to Vijay Mallya within hours of arrest triggers political war --- ENDS --- On the 100th anniversary of Champaran Satyagraha, India's first civil disobedience agitation, let us see what exactly had happened. By India Today Web Desk: You might be reading this in an air-conditioned room or car, shying away from the summer sun behind your pair of shades. A hundred years ago, on a day very much like this, Mohandas Gandhi travelled in a train with no AC to reach Champaran, to hold India's first civil disobedience movement. Under the British rule, many farmers in the Champaran district of Bihar were forced to grow indigo in their lands, much to their dismay. To fight this, a money lender named Raj Kumar Shukla reached out to Gandhiji and requested him to come and help them. advertisement As Gandhi wrote in his autobiography, he did not even know of Champaran before this. Nonetheless, he came down to this district on April 10 of 1917 with a band of lawyers, including Dr Rajendra Prasad, to fight it out with the British. There had been the Indigo Riots in 1859-60, but this was a new struggle altogether. Preparations began. Gandhi and his lawyers travelled across the district to different villages, meeting farmers and taking note of their sufferings and complaints against the forced indigo cultivation. Ever since Gandhi arrived in Champaran, the British rulers started keeping a close eye on his moves. Finally, on April 15, he was given an ultimatum at Motihari by the commissioner to leave Champaran. To that, Gandhi responded that he wouldn't leave, but was ready to bear "the penalty of civil disobedience". It was apparent now that Gandhi would be taken to jail for this resistance. As a response, scores of Champaran tenants turned up in protest outside the jail, police stations and courts. In the end, troubled by this unusual form of resistance that spilled no violence, the government was forced to let go of Gandhi. "The country, thus, had its first direct object-lesson in Civil Disobedience," Gandhi wrote in his autobiography. The struggle against forced indigo cultivation continued. Now, however, the possibility of Gandhi's arrest was more eminent. But he put together a plan, a chain of people who would take over the work if he, or anyone after him, was arrested. This way, the struggle would go on, with or without him. The struggle went on, the civil disobedience continued. The protests and hunger strikes ultimately ended with the abolishing of the cultivation of Indigo, or as it was known then, the tinkathia system. The landlords under the British government were made to sign an agreement that granted the farmers more control over what they wanted to grow on their own lands, among other benefits. It was during this movement when Gandhi was first referred to as Bapu and Mahatma, or so goes the legend. advertisement And that was the story of India's first civil disobedience movement, Champaran Satyagraha, which completes 100 years this month. Also read: 100 years of Champaran Satyagraha: Gandhiji's arrival at Motihari re-enacted On centenary of Champaran Satyagraha, Government to launch digital exhibition 'Bapu ko Karyanjali' on April 10 Bihar govt to celebrate centenary of "Champaran satyagraha" Bihar plans progs to celebrate Champaran Satyagraha centenary PM Modi pays tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 147 birth anniversary Also watch: --- ENDS --- Purchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commission A decade to the day from when an East Baton Rouge Parish jury convicted Anthony Johnson of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Daniel Magee, a district judge sentenced him for a second time to life in prison without possibility of parole. Judge Richard Anderson handed down the sentence in a brief hearing Wednesday morning that came a month after prosecutors and Johnson's attorney presented arguments over whether the convicted killer should be given an opportunity at release after 35 years in prison. Citing Johnson's behavior at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola which prison officials said last month included 39 disciplinary reports the judge said Johnson appeared to have shown little promise of redemption during his decade at the prison. "It doesn't appear the defendant has changed a whole lot," Anderson said just before reimposing a life-without-parole sentence. "He was ungovernable then, he's ungovernable now and always puts himself first." Johnson, now 28, was quickly hustled out of the courtroom after the roughly two-minute proceeding. Appearing in shackles and sporting a Mohawk haircut and full beard, Johnson said nothing during his brief appearance other than to state his former address in Baton Rouge for the court record. Johnson's new life-without-parole sentence comes as state lawmakers, prodded by a pair of U.S. Supreme Court rulings and a broad push to reform the state's criminal justice system, consider changes to life sentences for teenagers. +2 At sentencing rehearing, mother tells son's convicted killer: 'Our loss is permanent' The mother of a Baton Rouge man shot to death by a 17-year-old boy in 2005 told a judge Tues A bill sponsored by Baton Rouge Republican Sen. Dan Claitor would give all people convicted of second-degree murder for crimes committed as a juvenile including Johnson parole eligibility after serving at least 30 years. On Dec. 11, 2005, Magee was shot while driving his vehicle, and his body was left along River Road. Johnson, who prosecutors said was in the front seat when he shot Magee, originally tried to blame another 17 year old in the car, Robert Louis Edwards, for the killing. Edwards pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact to second-degree murder and was sentenced to five years in prison. All but 18 months of that sentence were suspended. Magee's parents, Mary and Steve Magee, said Wednesday their son was working two jobs at a home security company and at an Albertson's supermarket at the time of his killing. They called Anderson's decision to reimpose a life-without-parole sentence an act of justice for their son, but said the latest round of hearings ripped away a sense of partial relief they had felt after Johnson's conviction. "I don't think there's ever going to be the sense of closure we felt on that day," Mary Magee said, referring to the day exactly 10 years earlier when a jury found Johnson guilty. As she spoke with reporters, Magee pulled out an old calendar page on which she'd marked the day of the verdict April 19, 2007 by writing "JUSTICE FOR DAN" in red block letters. Johnson appealed his original sentence after the U.S. Supreme Court declared automatic prison terms of life without parole for juvenile murderers unconstitutional. U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2012 in an Alabama case that automatic life terms for juvenile killers unconstitutional and said they are entitled to hearings to determine whether they are capable of reform. Last year, in the case of an East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff's deputy fatally shot by a 17-year-old boy in 1963, the nation's highest court overturned Louisiana courts and ruled that its 2012 decision should apply retroactively. The court ruled that a sentence of life without parole the harshest penalty possible for a juvenile defendant, and until 2013 the only possible sentence in Louisiana for a juvenile charged with murder should only be applied to the worst offenders who show little possibility of reform. Dana Cummings, the East Baton Rouge assistant district attorney who prosecuted Johnson at trial, argued at a March hearing to reconsider Johnson's sentence that the label should apply to Johnson in light of his conduct behind bars. "He continues to be (among) the worst of the worst at Angola," she told Anderson at the March hearing, when Magee's family also presented emotional pleas to the judge to re-impose the same sentence. "There are no mitigating factors here." Johnson's attorney, Bob Tucker, argued that the teenager who killed Magee on Dec. 11, 2005 Johnson turned 17 four days earlier cannot be compared to an adult, pointing to differences in maturity among other factors. That apparently did little to sway Anderson, who on Wednesday highlighted testimony from Gary Stagg, a former Angola assistant warden and current deputy secretary at the state Department of Corrections, before again issuing Johnson the same sentence he handed down following Johnson's 2007 trial. Stagg told the court in March that Johnson's infractions at Angola included masturbating in front of a female correctional officer, being caught with contraband, and battery on a corrections officer. But outside the courthouse Wednesday, Johnson's family said they've seen a changed man on their visits to Angola. Johnson has expressed remorse and regret for his actions and hoped for an opportunity albeit decades in the future to appeal for release, his mother and older brother said, but has also been shaped by the environment inside the prison. "You put a juvenile in the belly of the beast," said Jeremy Johnson, Anthony's older brother. "He's not at the YMCA, he's in Angola." "Angola is raising him because I didn't get a chance to finish raising my child," said Delane Jones, Johnson's mother. She stood outside the downtown courthouse but said she couldn't bring herself to attend the hearing itself, saying she had no hope for a different sentence. Jones added that her son dealt with undiagnosed autism and attention-deficit disorder as a child. Magee's parents, though, said their lives have been unalterably shaped by Daniel's murder. For almost two years, the couple said, they lived on a steady diet of hot dogs and little else because, in the wake of grief, they found themselves listlessly wandering grocery store aisles, unable to pick other foods off the shelves or plan a meal. Mary Magee said her surviving son born two years before Daniel and now a police officer just named his new baby boy after Daniel. "It's hard not to think about what his children would've been like," she said. The state media said the move was aimed at reaffirming China's claim over Arunachal Pradesh. By Press Trust of India: China today announced that it has "standardised" official names for six places in Arunachal Pradesh and termed the provocative move as a "legitimate action", days after Beijing lodged strong protests with India over the Dalai Lama's visit to the frontier state. The state media here said the move was aimed at reaffirming China's claim over Arunachal Pradesh. China claims the state as South Tibet. advertisement "China's Ministry of Civil Affairs announced on April 14 that it had standardised in Chinese characters, Tibetan and Roman alphabet the names of six places in South Tibet, which India calls Arunachal Pradesh, in accordance with the regulations of the central government," state-run Global Times reported today. The official names of the six places using the Roman alphabet are Wogyainling, Mila Ri, Qoidengarbo Ri, Mainquka, Bumo La and Namkapub Ri. "These names reflect China's territorial claim over South Tibet (Arunachal Pradesh), which is supported by clear evidence in terms of history, culture and administration," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters here. Defending the action to standardise the names, Lu said, "to issue these names is actually carried out in accordance with the regulations about the names of the localities and it is a legitimate action by the Chinese government". "Let me stress that about the Indian government's indulgence of the Dalai Lama activities in disputed eastern section of the India-China boundary and also about his anti- China activities, this is something we are firmly against. These activities are also against the Indian government's commitments to China," Lu said when asked about the significance of standardisation of names. Asked why it took China so long to standardise the names and whether the sudden move was in retaliation to the Dalai Lamas recent visit to Arunachal Pradesh, Lu said, China chose this time to announce the standardisation as it was now doing a second census of names of localities and an important part of it was to standardise names in ethnic languages. He said more standardised names will be announced later. THESE AREAS BELONG TO CHINA: CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTER "In the next step, we will also step up our study of those names in Tibetan ethnic languages and in the next step we will announce more standardisation of these names," he said. Reiterating that Chinas claims over the east section of India-China boundary in Arunachal Pradesh were clear and consistent, Lu said, "these names have been passed on from generation to generation by people who have lived there for generations, the Tibetan ethnic and Monpa ethnic groups." advertisement "It is also an example that shows China has clear administration over these areas and there are many activities by the Chinese people in that area," he said. Chinas move comes just days after the Dalai Lamas visit to Arunachal Pradesh, which was seventh since the 81-year-old spiritual leader fled from Tibet through Tawang and sought refuge in India. During the Dalai Lamas Arunachal Pradesh visit, China had warned India that it will take "necessary measures" to defend its territorial sovereignty and interests. The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488 km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC). While China claims Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet, India asserts that the dispute covers Aksai Chin area which was occupied by China during the 1962 war. The two sides have so far held 19 rounds of Special Representatives talks to resolve the boundary dispute. Commenting on the standardisation of the names of six places, Chinese experts said that it was a move to "reaffirm the country's territorial sovereignty to the disputed region", according to the Global Times. advertisement "The standardisation came amid Chinas growing understanding and recognition of the geography in South Tibet. Naming the places is a step to reaffirm Chinas territorial sovereignty to South Tibet," Xiong Kunxin, a professor of ethnic studies at Beijings Minzu University of China, was quoted as saying. Xiong said that the legalisation of the regions names is a part of the rule of law. "These names have existed since ancient times, but had never been standardised before. Therefore, announcing the names is like a remediation," Guo Kefan, a research fellow at the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences, said. Standardising the names from the angles of culture and geography could serve as a reference or leverage when China and India negotiate border issues in future, Guo said. "The South Tibet region is located alongside Chinas southwestern border and Indias north-eastern border where Sino-Indian border disputes are cantered," the report said. It claimed that India "abruptly announced that it was officially designating the region as Arunachal Pradesh but the Chinese government has neither recognised Indias occupation of the region, nor the legitimacy of the province". During the Dalai Lamas Arunachal Pradesh visit, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju, who accompanied the Tibetan spiritual leader, had asserted that that Arunachal Pradesh is "an inseparable part of India". advertisement China had lodged a diplomatic protest with India over the visit and warned that it would have a negative impact on the efforts to resolve the border dispute. After the nine-day visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu had said that India should not use the Tibetan spiritual leader to undermine Chinas interests. --- ENDS --- Perhaps it sounds a little odd, but people both in Louisiana and elsewhere are sometimes fuzzy about the differences between the Affordable Care and Patient Protection Act, expanded Medicaid, and Obamacare the politically charged term that involves the whole of the parts. Further, the definition of a government program, or the name of its agencies, or the moniker of the law creating a specific benefit often can be obscure. For those reasons, were not at all surprised at what might be at first glance inconsistent views held by state voters polled in the 2017 Louisiana Survey about health care. The survey, conducted by the LSU Public Policy Lab, found that Louisiana residents approve of the states decision to expand its Medicaid program last year under the auspices of the Affordable Care Act, or ACA but respondents to the survey remain deeply divided over the ACA itself. In good news for the backer of Medicaid expansion, Gov. John Bel Edwards, 72 percent approved of the idea. Republicans were less enthusiastic about the policy than Democrats or independents, but the governors plan was still backed by 51 percent of GOP respondents. But at the same time, the ACA or Obamacare had only 42 percent favorable, perhaps not so surprising given that the programs namesake was rejected twice by large margins by Louisiana voters. Of Republicans asked, 80 percent were against it and among Democrats, three out of four were for it. Approval of the ACA was in fact up, being as low as 31 percent three years ago. Edwards was thus probably right to highlight Medicaid expansion in his address to the opening session of the 2017 Legislature. Many GOP members of House and Senate balked at Medicaid expansion when it was a party litmus test during the terms of former Gov. Bobby Jindal; now, though, the governors actions have provided a significant financial lifeline for working people in low-wage jobs who had no meaningful access to health care before. As for the confusion about nomenclature, is that surprising? Most normal human beings have busy lives and while were grateful that they read the newspaper and keep up with public affairs as citizens, the details of even heavily covered policy disputes may not be top-of-mind. For all the confusion about the legislative provenance of Medicaid expansion, voters seem to approve of it, and as that is Edwards signature accomplishment of 2016, hes got to be happy with its poll numbers. China's foreign ministry on Wednesday called its decision to issue standardised Chinese names for six Arunachal Pradesh towns "legitimate" and said that the move was not linked to the Dalai Lama's recent visit to the state. By Ananth Krishnan: China on Wednesday defended its April 14 order to issue "standardised" Chinese names for six towns in Arunachal Pradesh - seen as a move to reaffirm its territorial claims - and claimed it was not with its official protest on April 5 against the Dalai Lama's visit to the state. The Ministry of Civil Affairs in Beijing issued "standardised [names] in Chinese characters, Tibetan and Roman alphabet the names of six places in South Tibet, which India calls Arunachal Pradesh, in accordance with the regulations of the State Council", reported the Party-run Global Times, which quoted experts as saying it was aimed at "reaffirming sovereignty". advertisement Asked if the move, barely nine days after China summoned India's envoy in Beijing Vijay Gokhale to protest the Dalai Lama's visit, was a retaliatory measure, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang told reporters: "About why we choose this time to announce standardisation of names, China is now doing the second census of names of localities and an important part of it is to standardise names in ethnic languages. In the next step we will also step up our study of those names in Tibeten ethnic languages and in the next step we will announce more standardisation of these names." At the same time, Lu said the naming had "supported" China's territorial claims. "These names reflect from another side that China's territorial claim over South Tibet is supported by clear evidence in terms of history, culture and administration," he said. 'LEGITIMATE MOVE' Lu defended the renaming as "legitimate", saying that the names "have been passed on from generation to generation by people who have lived there for generations, the Tibetan ethnic and Monpa ethnic groups". "To issue these names it is actually carried out in accordance with our regulations about the names of localities and it is a legitimate action by the Chinese government," he said. Lu also reiterated China's opposition to the Dalai Lama's visit. "Let me stress that about the Indian government's indulgence of Dalai Lama activities in disputed eastern section of the India China boundary and also about his anti-China activities, this is something we are firmly against.These activities are also against the Indian government's commitments to China." "China's position on the eastern section of our boundary is consistent and clear," he added. Chinese experts said the move was aimed to "reaffirm Chinese sovereignty" and "could serve as a reference or leverage when China and India negotiate border issues in future". "The official names of the six places using the Roman alphabet are Wo'gyainling, Mila Ri, Qoidengarbo Ri, Mainquka, Bumo La and Namkapub Ri," the order said. Xiong Kunxin, a professor of ethnic studies at the Minzu University of China in Beijing, told the Global Times: "The standardization came amid China's growing understanding and recognition of the geography in South Tibet. Naming the places is a step to reaffirm China's territorial sovereignty to South Tibet." advertisement "These names have existed since ancient times, but had never been standardised before. Therefore, announcing the names is like a remediation," added Guo Kefan, a research fellow at the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences. ALSO READ | Arunachal Pradesh residents unhappy with India's illegal rule, want to return: Chinese state media ALSO READ | Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal may force Beijing to 'interfere' in Kashmir issue: Chinese media ALSO WATCH | China shouldn't interfere in India's internal matters: Rijiju on Dalai Lama's Arunachal visit --- ENDS --- Grown-up Lego fans are spitting bricks after being banned from visiting Melbourne's new construction toy mecca. Chadstone shopping centre's Legoland Discovery Centre, the first of its kind in the southern hemisphere, opened on Tuesday. But some adult fans who had been eagerly awaiting opening day were left disappointed when they discovered they would not be let in unless accompanied by a child. The centre is designed for children aged between 3 and 10, and management says it is simply not suitable for adults. But some blockheads are fuming that their pre-purchased annual tickets are now worthless. Fountain, Gravox and Saxa could be under new ownership by the end of the year after their Japanese owner put the famous brands up for sale with an expected pricetag of about $300 million. Suntory Beverage and Food said on Wednesday it was looking to offload its Cerebos Australia and Cerebos Gregg's New Zealand operations following a strategic review. The products up for grabs include sauces, gravies, herbs, spices, salt and many more. The Japanese soft drink giant will retain its fast-growing fresh coffee business that includes Toby's Estate. The products up for grabs include sauces, gravies, herbs, spices, salt, condiments, Asian sauces, desserts and cooking ingredients, with investment bank UBS appointed to advise on the sale. Australia's technology and start-up sector has expressed alarm over the government tearing up the 457 visa program, warning it could leave the industry short of the workers it needs to compete globally. Tech is one of the biggest users of 457 visas, with industry darling Atlassian saying that about a quarter of its 1000 Australian workers are on the visa. The industry has not been immune from the government's skilled-migration overhaul, with web developers, support and test engineers, and support technicians unable to work in Australia under the government's replacement scheme. "The whole thing is going to grind the ecosystem into a halt," said Karen Lawson, chief executive of Australia's largest corporate start-up accelerator Slingshot. New York: Fox News has decided to part ways with star host Bill O'Reilly following allegations of sexual harassment, 21st Century Fox confirmed in a statement on Wednesday. O'Reilly, the arguably the biggest star on the conservative network, said in an April 1 statement that he had been unfairly targeted because of his public prominence. Marc Kasowitz, O'Reilly's lawyer, said in a statement on Tuesday that the television host "has been subjected to a brutal campaign of character assassination that is unprecedented in post-McCarthyist America." The confirmation came after reports in two major news organisations, New York and The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that the network was preparing to cut ties with O'Reilly. "After a thorough and careful review of the allegations, the company and Bill O'Reilly have agreed that Bill O'Reilly will not be returning to the Fox News Channel," 21st Century Fox said in a statement. The temporary worker visa system clearly needs reform. Unscrupulous employers have been falsely claiming to be unable to source workers locally. They then bring in foreign labour, whom they pay significantly less than they would legally have to pay residents. The Turnbull government's axing of the 457 visa, introduced about two decades ago by the then Howard government to plug holes in the labour market, comes after a 2014 review triggered by widespread concerns about such rorting and exploitation. But many people on 457 visas bring sorely needed skills for example in tech, where there is high demand across the start-up sector, an established corporate sector constantly digitally retooling and a public sector needing to deliver better services to more people, and on tight budgets. So, the government's task is to balance the need for employers private sector and public sector to have access to foreign employees, while not creating barriers to employment for residents, and not unduly downgrading the long-running role immigration has played in our economic and social strength. Would-be Australians will face tough new hurdles including a new English language and "Australian values" test and have to wait several more years before being eligible for citizenship, under a major shake-up of the migration program. Migrants could be asked whether they support female genital mutilation and forced marriages, or whether it's acceptable to strike a spouse at home, under proposed values-based citizenship test questions to be put to the public for feedback. Applicants will also have to demonstrate they have attempted to integrate into Australian society, providing evidence of a job, the enrolment of their children in school, and even membership of community organisations. Under the current system, migrants enter Australia on a range of visas. They can then become permanent residents but have to wait a further year before applying for citizenship. The one-year wait will rise to four years under the redesigned scheme. Close on the heels of the Dalai Lama visiting Arunachal Pradesh, China has issued an order to 'standardise' the names of six places in the Indian state. China has issued an order to standardise the names of six places in Arunachal Pradesh By Ananth Krishnan: China has issued an official order to "standardise" the Chinese language names of six towns in Arunachal Pradesh, in what officials described was a move to "reaffirm" Chinese claims. The order to issue standardised Chinese names for towns in Arunachal Pradesh is seen as a move to reaffirm Chinese territorial claims, even if the move is purely symbolic. advertisement State media reported on Wednesday the order was issued by the Ministry of Civil Affairs on April 14. The move came nine days after China summoned the Indian envoy in Beijing Vijay Gokhale and issued a demarche to protest the Dalai Lama's week-long visit to Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims as "South Tibet". China then warned of repercussions. Chinese experts said the move to standardise the names of six places on the Arunachal Pradesh map was aimed to "reaffirm Chinese sovereignty" and "could serve as a reference or leverage when China and India negotiate border issues in future". The Ministry of Civil Affairs in Beijing issued "standardised [names] in Chinese characters, Tibetan and Roman alphabet the names of six places in South Tibet, which India calls Arunachal Pradesh, in accordance with the regulations of the State Council", reported the Communist Party of China-run Global Times. "The official names of the six places using the Roman alphabet are Wo'gyainling, Mila Ri, Qoidengarbo Ri, Mainquka, Bumo La and Namkapub Ri," the order said. Xiong Kunxin, a professor of ethnic studies at the Minzu University of China in Beijing, told the Global Times: "The standardization came amid China's growing understanding and recognition of the geography in South Tibet. Naming the places is a step to reaffirm China's territorial sovereignty to South Tibet." "These names have existed since ancient times, but had never been standardised before. Therefore, announcing the names is like a remediation," added Guo Kefan, a research fellow at the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences. ALSO READ | Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal may force Beijing to 'interfere' in Kashmir issue: Chinese media ALSO READ | Arunachal Pradesh residents unhappy with India's illegal rule, want to return: Chinese state media ALSO WATCH | China shouldn't interfere in India's internal matters: Rijiju on Dalai Lama's Arunachal visit --- ENDS --- Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisasale has called for public funding of council campaigns as he faced a grilling at a Crime and Corruption Commission hearing into alleged corruption during the 2016 Queensland local government elections. The CCC's investigation into funding and disclosure allegations against independent candidates in the 2016 Ipswich, Gold Coast and Moreton Bay council elections entered its second day in Brisbane on Tuesday. Cr Pisasale, who was re-elected with 83.45 per cent of the vote at last year's council election, said local government campaigns were expensive to run. His own campaign cost $220,000, Cr Pisasale said, with that money coming by 76 donors, "about 15 per cent" of which came from developers. The 41-year-old was shot after he left lunchtime prayers at the Coburg mosque. Credit:Penny Stephens The car used by the shooter was a BMW X5, stolen from Laura Grove, Avondale Heights, earlier that morning, police said. Oueida, one of Australia's most influential organised crime figures when he was arrested in 2011, has been described in court as the "new Tony Mokbel". The silver BMW - captured here on CCTV - was used by the gunmen in the Coburg shooting. Credit:Victoria Police Police describe him as highly charismatic, intelligent and influential. At the time of his arrest, police alleged he had $6 million in a Swiss bank account, a light plane, a $2.8 million mansion, a Ferrari, and suspected property and business interests in Lebanon, the Solomon Islands, Abu Dhabi and Pakistan. Senior police had feared the release of Oueida a Comanchero bikie associate with ties to Middle Eastern organised crime would disrupt the delicate balance of power between warring factions in the city's north-west, the volatile epicentre of Melbourne's gun crime. Oueida was shot outside this home on Moore Street in Coburg. Credit:Penny Stephens Police believe there will be reprisals, potentially escalating the brutal wrestle for control of the drug trade after key players were jailed. And shooting the 41-year-old outside a mosque where he prayed regularly broke what little was left of an unwritten code between the factions, whose loyalties change at the drop of a hat. Bullets went into the fences of two homes in Monday's shooting. Credit:Penny Stephens "These people shoot each other over nothing, brothers shoot brothers," an underworld source said. "There is no code." Acting Inspector Stuart Bailey called for calm, asking anyone seeking revenge to "let Victoria Police investigate it". Bullet holes can be seen in the fence of the two homes next door to the mosque. Credit:Penny Stephens "It's a concern for Victoria Police that there could be some retaliatory actions taken by his victim," acting Inspector Bailey said. "He's well-connected in the criminal fraternity so that is a concern. What we'd ask is let Victoria Police investigate it, don't take it into your own hands." Acting Inspector Bailey said it was a targeted attack. "We think they knew the victim was going to be in the area at the time," he said. "There were kids riding bikes in the street and some of the rounds have penetrated a fence where people were home...It's extremely concerning for Victoria Police that we've had this and other incidences of firearm violence where members of the public have been placed a great risk." Monday's incident adds to the growing number of shootings in public places that have put bystanders at risk. There were two shootings in the car park of the Campbellfield shopping centre late last year that killed Kadir Ors and, in the second, injured Omar Tiba. The Tiba shooting led to a daylight drive-by at a Glenroy tattoo parlour. His brother, Mohammed Tiba, was charged over it. The parlour was formerly owned by Nabil Maghnie, who was shot in the head and survived last September. But the shootings go back to April 2015, when Khaled Abouhasna was gunned down in his driveway in Altona Meadows. It remains unsolved, but police believe the target was actually his front-seat passenger, a powerful and violent drug trafficker who is now in prison and cannot be named. Police said it was too early to say if Monday's shooting was connected to the others. Though the anti-bikie taskforce Echo is leading the investigation, it's believed they will look for a motive in Oueida's links to Middle Eastern Organised Crime, rather than current tensions between bikie clubs. Detectives appealed for anyone with information about the shooting to come forward, particularly two men believed to be in their 20s who witnessed the incident and spoke to police at the scene, but left without providing their details. Police also wish to hear from another man who was at the scene a short time after the incident who may have been wearing dark, full-length cultural attire. Oueida wields such significant power that he was twice leaked sensitive police information, in 2008 and 2011, in intelligence breaches that remain unsolved. In May 2015, while Oueida was in the Acacia Unit of Barwon Prison, he was heard speaking in code on telephone intercepts about the suspected killing or maiming of someone who owed him money, a court heard last year. He was talking to another two other significant underworld figures, one of whom was the subject of telephone intercepts as they were being monitored while on parole. That underworld figure - who has since been charged with an unrelated murder - had his parole cancelled after the Adult Parole Board found he had spoken to Oueida. A woman has died in hospital after a two-car head-on crash on the Princes Highway in Cann River, East Gippsland, on Wednesday afternoon. Police say two cars, containing two occupants each, collided between Box Ridge Track and Butter Track on the Princes Highway about 2.45pm. Two passengers, a man and a woman, were flown to hospital with life-threatening injuries. The woman, aged in her 60s, suffered extensive injuries, including head injuries. She was taken to The Alfred hospital in a critical condition, where she later died. The man, aged in his 70s, suffered pelvis, leg and internal injuries and was taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital in a serious condition. Two other men were taken by road to Bairnsdale Hospital. One was in a serious but stable condition, while a third man, the driver of the second car, suffered suffered non-life threatening injuries. Police are investigating the cause of the crash. Highly respected former policeman Ron Iddles will come out of retirement to become the state's inaugural Community Safety Trustee, a new law and order watchdog type role. Mr Iddles told The Age on Wednesday night he was passionate about community safety, and passionate about making sure Victoria Police had a more visible presence on the frontline. Ron Iddles. Credit:Simon Schluter "I've been offered jobs on boards, I've been offered jobs within the media - but they don't appeal to me. This is something that I've been passionate about for forty-something years," Mr Iddles said. "I'm independent, I'm apolitical, no-one knows my political persuasion, and I'll do it without fear or favour." Melbourne tram passengers are being left stranded as the network operator tries to avoid huge fines for missing its punctuality targets. Yarra Trams short shunted almost 11,000 tram services to get back on time last month, more than 350 times a day on average, leaked figures show. Trams bank up along Swanston Street. Credit:Joe Armao March was Yarra Trams' worst month in more than a year, with 78.5 per cent of the city's trams running on schedule according to PTV monitoring, which counts a tram as on-time when it is less than five minutes late or one minute early. But that official figure does not take into account the thousands of times when a tram failed to even reach the end of the line before reversing direction. Jakarta: Anies Baswedan is poised to become the next governor of Jakarta in October after one of the most bitter and polarising elections in the history of Indonesia's nascent democracy. Two hours after voting closed Mr Anies had an unassailable lead over the incumbent, Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, who is ethnically Chinese and Christian, following a peaceful polling day. The election has been portrayed as a test of Indonesia's much vaunted pluralism and an ominous presage of the role sectarian politics could play in the 2019 national election. Mr Anies' victory is also a fillip for former army strongman Prabowo Subianto, whose Gerindra party endorsed Mr Anies and his multimillionaire running mate, Sandiaga Uno. Richard Spencer, white nationalist and 'alt-right' leader. Credit:Washington Post "Thanks for demonstrating why your race needs to be collectively ovened," one email read. On December 16, Anglin published a post on Daily Stormer, providing his followers with phone numbers, email addresses and links to social media profiles for Gersh and her immediate family members, friends and colleagues. "Let's Hit Em Up," he urged. Andrew Anglin Credit:BFG101/WikiCommons In that post, Anglin referred to Gersh's son using homophobic and anti-Semitic terms. He also published his Twitter handle, encouraging readers to "hit him up" and "tell them what you think of his whore mother's vicious attack on the community of Whitefish." "NO VIOLENCE OR THREATS OF VIOLENCE OR ANYTHING EVEN CLOSE TO THAT," the website qualified. "Just make your opinions known. Tell them you are sickened by their Jew agenda to attack and harm the mother of someone whom they disagree with." "This was so far beyond harassment. This was really terrorism," Gersh said, noting she was no longer working, had lost hair and was attending trauma therapy meetings twice a week. "My life is forever changed." The suit, filed in US District Court in Missoula, seeks compensatory and punitive damages. Attorneys would not specify a dollar amount being sought. "In the old days, Andrew Anglin would have burned a cross on Tanya's front lawn," Southern Poverty Law centre President Richard Cohen said. "In the digital age, he launched a troll storm against her." The Alabama-based centre has a long track record of filing litigation against extremist groups. In 1999, the group brought a case on behalf of a Native American woman and her son who were chased and shot at by white supremacist Aryan Nations security guards. Two men were sentenced to prison in the attack, and in 2000 an Idaho jury returned a $US6.3 million civil judgment against Aryan Nations and its founder. In 2000, the centre sued Jeff Berry, the leader of the American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, winning a $US120,000 judgment after Berry detained two journalists covering a story about a planned Klan rally. After ordering his followers to block the exits, one Klansman pumped a shotgun. Only one of its previous cases focused on online threats - and that was nearly 20 years ago. In 1998, the centre filed a suit on behalf of Bonnie Jouhari, a fair-housing advocate in Pennsylvania, against a neo-Nazi group, Alpha HQ, after it posted her address and photo on an online bulletin board. As a result of a barrage of threats from white supremacists, Jouhari changed her name and fled with her daughter to another state. In 2000, she was awarded a $US1 million judgment. "Putting people in fear is a form of assault," Cohen said, noting that even in the case of the Aryan Nations lawsuit, his clients were not physically hurt, but they suffered emotional and psychological injuries. "The legal principles are tried and true, but this is the first time we've applied it in a digital context to a troll storm." "It's going to be a precedent-setting case," he added. Even though there has been an uptick in online trolling in the last decade, lawsuits are rare, said Danielle Citron, a law professor at the University of Maryland and author of the book Hate Crimes in Cyberspace. "You mostly see people just pray it goes away," she said. "You just don't see a lot of cases like this because they're expensive, and it's easier to hide." "What this lawsuit is aiming to do is send the message that there are real consequences here," Citron added. "If you're going to target someone in ways that then lead to death threats, reputational-harming lies and you're inspiring your troll army ... there are consequences for this incredibly destructive, threatening, inciting-violence behaviour. So often this alt-right movement is like, 'There's no stopping us. We have free speech on our side.' Of course there are limits. ... It's not a free-for-all." Anglin did not respond Tuesday to an email seeking comment. In a follow-up post in December, Anglin accused "the lying Jew media" of falsely claiming the Daily Stormer "threatened" anyone in Whitefish. "I have made it explicitly clear that I am not calling for threats or harassment or anything else against the people who are threatening and harassing (and extorting) the Spencers," he wrote. In the early 1920s a provocative play depicting two women in a romantic relationship came to a Broadway stage, the first time anything like that had taken place on the Great White Way. That relationship, made more controversial by the fact that one of the characters portrayed in the scene was a prostitute, led to the arrest of the cast and producers on charges of obscenity. The women share an intimate kiss in the second act of the unexpurgated text of The God of Vengeance, the first play of Yiddish writer Sholem Asch. The God of Vengeance was largely forgotten until Paula Vogel made it the focus of her marvelous play Indecent, now at the Cort Theatre after an off-Broadway run at the Vineyard Theatre last year. Under Rebecca Taichman's confident and inspired direction, Indecent has been polished to a lustrous shine for this staging, with an achingly poetic majesty that makes it one of the season's unique and essential Broadway events. Indecent deals with the worldwide journey of The God of Vengeance from its beginnings to its later years of near oblivion. In the early 20th century, Sholem Asch (Max Gordon Moore) penned the play about a Jewish brothel owner whose daughter, Rifkele, falls in love with one of his prostitutes, Menke. Steeped in Freud and the intellectual ideas of the day, Asch's wife, Madje (Adina Verson), reads the play and sees in it the hallmarks of genius. But when it receives its first reading, the play is criticized by a group of indignant theater folks for presenting Jews as greedy and carnal, and for depicting an explicit love scene between two women. Loading... Not everyone dislikes the play, though. The immigrant Lemml (played with poignant grace by Richard Topol) champions the Yiddish play as a masterpiece and makes it his life's work to bring it to audiences around the world with a loyal troupe of actors. It is an enormous success, but when the play eventually makes it to Broadway, the vice squad shuts it down. Years later, many of the actors have returned to Europe as the Third Reich rises to power. Despite the threat to their lives, they continue to perform the play in attics or wherever they can fit a small audience, until there are no safe places left. Vogel has created a work that brings The God of Vengeance into the consciousness of modern audiences while tapping into topics such as religious views on homosexual love, religiosity used for selfish ends, and the harsh treatment of immigrants in America. But more than that, Indecent is a sumptuous theatrical experience, from its mysterious beginning to its heartrending, unforgettable end. The off-Broadway cast is present in this production, and the exceptional performances have matured and deepened with the transfer. Most of the actors play several roles, all but the exceptional Topol as the stage manager Lemml. His performance is at once tender and full of anguish, showing us the pain and passion of a hopeful immigrant who has come to America only to find that the country is not truly a land of opportunity for everyone. Katrina Lenk also shines brilliantly in her role as the actor who portrays the prostitute Menke. Moore offers a dramatic transformation of Asch from an eager young writer to an embittered man who has witnessed the atrocities of war. Mimi Lieber also dazzles in the role of Esther and several others. The opening scene, which shows the actors rising from the ashes in Emily Rebholz's hauntingly drab period costumes, might have presaged characters who are ghostly abstractions, but in this Broadway incarnation, they are complex, sympathetic humans. That's due largely to the production finding its lighter side, as when that stodgy group of theater people (Tom Nelis and Steven Rattazzi are stellar in their roles) react with comical outrage while reading through The God of Vengeance for the first time. That humor gets the lifeblood of this serious-minded play pumping. So does John Miller's marvelous klezmer songs. Indecent, which is categorized as a play with music, features instrumentalists Matt Darriau, Lisa Gutkin, and Aaron Halva on clarinet, violin, and accordion dancing with the actors in several scenes depicting the acting troupe's travels (exciting choreography by David Dorfman). Riccardo Hernandez's set design and Tal Yarden's projections make clear that we are seeing theater as theater, with a simple stagelike platform and a proscenium arch rising in the background. The actors' deeply humane portrayals, however, make their characters seem not like ghostly figures on a stage, but like people we know and have known. While the sight of two women showing romantic affection onstage does not shock audiences as it once did, there are, of course, places where Rifkele and Menke's kiss is still considered indecent, despite their play having traveled the world, but happily it has finally found its way to Broadway and to audiences who have a larger view of love. Xi Jinping has asked the PLA to conduct more combat exercises and give priority to building "new-type" fighting capabilities. By India Today Web Desk: China's President Xi Jinping has asked the PLA's newly-formed 84 large military units to prepare themselves for combat and give priority to building "new-type" fighting capabilities in electronic, information and space warfare. The President asked the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to improve their joint operation capabilities and technology level. Xi asked the units of the PLA to keep themselves ready for combat and study wars. advertisement In PLA terminology, "new-type" fighting capabilities generally refers to capabilities of engaging in electronic, information and space operations. Xi has asked the PLA to conduct more combat exercises and give priority to building "new-type" fighting capabilities, according to state-run China Daily. The President, also the Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), spoke to the commanders of the new units on Tuesday. This development comes in the background of Beijing preparing to counter the US deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) interceptor missiles in South Korea, whose powerful radars could see through most of the part of China, including its missile development programme. FLEXING MILITARY MIGHT As it expanded strategic influence, China is also flexing its military might, especially in the neighbourhood over the territorial disputes with India, Japan and countries in the South China Sea. All 84 of the new units are at combined corps level, which means their commanders have or soon will be promoted to a rank of either major general in the Ground Force, Air Force and Rocket Force or rear admiral in the Navy. Though the PLA has not disclosed how these units were set up, it is likely that they were created through the regrouping of existing forces rather than recruiting new personnel, because the 2.3 million-strong Chinese military is still engaged in cutting its troops by three lakhs. At a CMC conference in December, Xi ordered the military's structure to be adjusted and optimised, calling for a smaller but capable and flexible military, the Daily reported. PLA REFORM The establishment of the units is the latest move in a massive reform the PLA is undergoing. The unprecedented reform began in November 2015, when the Central Military Commission unveiled a blueprint for the PLA's development. The commission pledged to establish a leaner and more efficient command chain to reduce the number of non-combatant personnel and departments and to build the PLA into a mightier force capable of winning modern wars. Since then, the PLA has set up a headquarters for its Ground Force, founded a Strategic Support Force dedicated to electronic, information and space operations, and established a Rocket Force to replace the former Second Artillery Corps. advertisement The previous four top PLA departments-staff, politics, logistics and armaments-were dismantled, the report said. Also read: The new red army Also read: China defends move to name six Arunachal Pradesh towns, denies Dalai Lama link --- ENDS --- Refreshed 2018 Lexus NX Bows at Shanghai Auto Show with a Sharper Look, Enhanced Performance New look is an evolution of the NXs sporty, dynamic styling Offers sharper handling performance, with smoother overall ride Lexus Safety System + now standard equipment SHANGHAI April 19, 2017: When the Lexus NX was introduced in 2014, it offered crossover-luxury-vehicle customers exactly what they had long been desiring: a stylish and spacious compact with exciting driving dynamics and excellent fuel efficiency. But not even Lexus could have predicted that it would become a worldwide sensation, outperforming sales forecasts in every one of its markets around the worldincluding North America, Europe and China. For the 2018 model, Lexus intends to keep the proverbial wheel rolling with a refreshed model introduced today at the Shanghai Motor Show. Bold New Exterior Styling Refinements For the 2018 NX, the entire front fascia of the new NX has been refreshed, with the upper portion of the grille and the front bumpers redesigned to more fluidly blend into the hood and front doors, resulting in a sleeker overall shape and excellent aerodynamics. The new NXs available headlamps with triple projectors are similar to those equipped on the LC luxury coupe and impart the car with a sportier look. Also of note, satin and smoked chrome trim pieces have been applied to the grille treatment in addition to new vertical elements added to the grilles inner portion. Starting at the spindle grille, the way the front edges connect to the front fenders results in a much bolder expression than before, clearly highlighting the NXs style design architecture, said the NXs Exterior Designer, Shin Kamiura from the Lexus Design Division. Weve also changed the shape of the lower front bumper to better support the spindle grille, as well as relocated the fog lamps to the corner of the front bumpers, separating them from the ducts. The result is a front fascia with a stronger and more aggressive presence. The 2018 NX rear end has also been refreshed. The lower rear bumper cover now involves elements of the grilles spindle motif, and has been broadened to enhance the vehicles wide stance and low-center-of-gravity look. In addition, the NXs revised taillights have been elongated, and the black garnish has been revised to better emphasize the L-shaped lenses. Also, the new NX features larger chrome-tipped exhaust tips that are integrated into the vehicles revised bumper cover design and new rear underbody spoiler. For the NX Hybrid, a slotted sectional piece with an L-shaped satin chrome border blends flawlessly into the underbody spoiler. For the wheels, a new aluminum 18-inch wheel has been added to the mix, and the other available options are equally eye-catching, combining a bright machined-finish with dark metallic paint to express a three-dimensional design with an increased sense of depth. The Interior: A True Drivers Environment with Added Convenience The interior of the new NX has also been slightly reworked to exude a sportier nature, a more luxurious feel, and with enhanced control interfaces. Immediately noticeable is the larger available display on the center dashboard, which has grown from seven inches to 10.3 inches. Also, the design of the HVAC control panel has been dramatically simplified by replacing the small section of buttons with four easy-to-operate toggle switches adorned with a tiny L on their surface. The analog clock features a cleaner, simpler design than before with an outer ring thats more pronounced. It has also been slightly enlarged for better readability and now includes satellite control, which automatically adjusts the time in different time zones. Nearly all the controls and switches inside the new NX, including the drive mode selector, shift knob and door handles, now have a metallic satin finish, enhancing the premium look and feel of the cabin. On the center console, the remote touch interface pad has been enlarged and redesigned for easier operation, and the palm rest has been reshaped for maximum wrist comfort. The wireless charger tray has also grown in size to accommodate larger smart phones. In addition, the USB ports have been more optimally positioned in the center console, and their amperage has been increased for faster charging. The 2018 NX adds the convenience of a foot-operated rear hatch; Placing or kicking up a foot toward a sensor beneath the rear-bumper cover will open or close the electrically actuated rear door. World-Renown Takumi Craftsmanship Lexus has become known for its high level of artful craftsmanship through its TAKUMI masters. For all 2018 NXs, their skill and attention to detail is showcased in the revised needlework on the vehicles leather surfaces, which are stitched perfectly straight. This intricate pattern can only be executed with the help of hand-operated machinery equipped with special needles that are resistant to overheating and thread breakage. Even if it cant be immediately seen, an acute attention to detail, such as the way the stitching of materials create a subtle pattern, can be felt spiritually to make a difference to the customer. That is the essence of the TAKUMI way that elevates the entire construction of a Lexus, said Takeaki Kato, the Chief Engineer of the NX. Superb Performance with Enhanced Handling and Added Safety Powering the NX 300formerly called the NX 200twill be Lexus powerful and fuel-efficient turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-4, while the NX 300hs hybrid drivetrain will continue with a 2.5-liter inline-4 combined with a pair of electric motors, offering customers class-leading power and fuel economy. Both drivetrains offer customers a richer, sportier engine sound and exhaust note that is reproduced through the speakers by Lexus Active Sound Control (ASC). While the NXs straight-line performance will essentially remain the same, significant improvements have been made to the vehicles suspension tuning to enhance ride and handling. The springs, stabilizer bars and bushings have been retuned for improved turn-in response and steady-state cornering. Also, new shock absorbers improve the quality of the NXs already smooth ride. But the biggest new change to the NXs chassis is the Adaptive Variable Suspension (AVS), now based on the advanced system found in the LC 500, which offers a range of up to 650 instantaneous compression and damping adjustments (up from 30) for enhanced control and overall handling stability. The 2018 NX features reduced noise, vibration and harshness (NVH), thanks to a combination of suspension tuning and the addition of strategically placed sound deadening within the vehicles body. The new NX will include the brands innovative Lexus Safety System + as standard, which integrates active safety technologies, such as the Pre-Collision System (PCS), Dynamic Radar Cruise Control System, Lane Departure Alert (LDA) and Automatic High Beam (AHB). The NX F SPORT The performance-minded NX F SPORT will continue to be distinguished by its pronounced mesh grille with jet-black plating and exclusive wheels that feature a bright machined finish with black solid paint. Inside, it will feature Metallic Sport interior trim ornamentation, another example of TAKUMI craftsmanship. For the new NX, we made bold refinements to the design, elevated its performance and added new features to enhance its comfort and convenience. The new NX still possesses the same elements that have made it popular in the pasta sharp design, everyday convenience and driving pleasure that will satisfy all enthusiastsbut the vehicle as a whole has evolved dramatically, as youre bound to see and feel when you first experience it, Kato said. Dunkin' Donuts Hot Coffee Now Available On Board Amtrak Acela Express CANTON, MA and WASHINGTON, DC - April 19, 2017: Dunkin' Donuts and Amtrak today announced that Dunkin' Donuts Original Blend and Dunkin' Decaf hot coffee varieties are now available on board Amtrak Acela Express high-speed trains throughout the Northeast Corridor. With the new agreement, Dunkin' Donuts' signature hot coffee is now available to the 3.4 million customers who ride Acela Express trains each year. Dunkin' Donuts coffee will be served all day in First Class and Cafe Acela, and will be brewed using the same equipment featured in Dunkin' Donuts restaurants to ensure the same high quality and great taste enjoyed by millions of Dunkin' guests each and every day. Dunkin' Donuts has an established presence at locations geared toward serving travelers, with restaurants at airports and train stations throughout the country. According to Chris Fuqua, Senior Vice President, Dunkin' Donuts Brand Marketing, Global Consumer Insights & Product Innovation, "Both Amtrak and Dunkin' Donuts share a long heritage of serving on-the-go Americans, and we are thrilled for the opportunity to help keep Acela Express passengers energized with Dunkin' Donuts hot coffee whenever and wherever they are traveling. As the brand that keeps America running, we are excited that Acela Express now runs on Dunkin'." According to Thomas Hall, Amtrak Vice President, Passenger Experience, "Amtrak takes pride in enriching the customer experience with premium services and brands, and offering Dunkin' Donuts hot coffee aboard all of our Acela Express trains is just the latest example of this on-going commitment. No matter where our customers are traveling, providing a high-quality coffee experience on board is another reason why Amtrak is the smarter way to travel." Acela Express is the premium service on the nation's busiest passenger rail corridor, offering hourly service between New York City, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia and other intermediate cities, as well as many convenient round-trips between New York City and Boston. Acela Express customers enjoy more legroom, spacious seats, and recently announced Wi-Fi speeds up to six times faster, for more reliable connectivity at no extra charge. Amtrak's Acela Express has led a significant growth in revenue and market share in the Northeast, increasing from 2.4 million customers in Fiscal Year 2002 to 3.4 million customers in Fiscal Year 2016. Later this year, Dunkin' Donuts hot coffees are scheduled to be served aboard Amtrak's Northeast Regional trains that operate throughout the Northeast Corridor. To learn more about Dunkin' Donuts, visit www.DunkinDonuts.com, or subscribe to the Dunkin' Donuts blog to receive notifications at https://news.dunkindonuts.com/blog. About Dunkin' Donuts Founded in 1950, Dunkin' Donuts is America's favorite all-day, everyday stop for coffee and baked goods. Dunkin' Donuts is a market leader in the hot regular/decaf/flavored coffee, iced coffee, donut, bagel and muffin categories. Dunkin' Donuts has earned a No. 1 ranking for customer loyalty in the coffee category by Brand Keys for 11 years running. The company has more than 12,200 restaurants in 45 countries worldwide. Based in Canton, Mass., Dunkin' Donuts is part of the Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc. family of companies. For more information, visit www.DunkinDonuts.com. Criticising both the Centre and the PDP-BJP coalition government for their handling of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress on Wednesday set up a policy-planning group led by former PM Manmohan Singh. By Indo-Asian News Service: The Congress, which has been critical of both the Centre and the Peoples Democratic Party( PDP)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition government over their handling of the Jammu and Kashmir situation, set up a policy-planning group led by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the state on Wednesday. The group includes senior leaders Karan Singh, P. Chidambaram, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ambika Soni, Ghulam Ahmed Mir, Rigzin Zora, Tariq Hameed Karra, and Shyam Lal Sharma as well. advertisement "Congress President Sonia Gandhi has constituted a policy-planning group for Jammu and Kashmir under the chairmanship of Manmohan Singh", said a statement released by party General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi. ABOUT THE POLICE-PLANNING GROUP The move comes after a delegation of the Congress and National Conference leaders from Jammu and Kashmir met party Vice President Rahul Gandhi. The delegation led by Pradesh Congress Commitee (PCC) President Ghulam Ahmed Mir later called on President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan and apprised him of the situation in the Kashmir Valley. Rahul earlier said on his official twitter account: "Met a delegation of Congress and NC leaders, who will call on the President later today (Wednesday) to express our concern over the situation in Kashmir". Voting in the Srinagar-Budgam parliamentary constitguency on April 9 saw large scale violence and death of eight civilians in clashes, besides a record low turnout of seven per cent voters. Re-polling on April 13 at 38 polling stations in Budgam district recorded a mere two per cent balloting. Widespread protests by students and clashes with police in Srinagar, Bandipora, Baramulla, Anantnag, Pulwama, Kupwara, Kulgam and Shopian districts have also rocked the valley. ALSO READ: AMU delegation on J&K visit to promote national integration Omar questions J&K govts handling of students protests --- ENDS --- By Press Trust of India: shops Indore, Apr 19 (PTI) A day after seven persons were charred to death in Ranipura fire incident in city, the district administration today conducted raids and seized illegally stored firecrackers from a godown and four shops, an official said. "Godown of Dilip Patakha House was raided and 10 boxes of crackers were seized. This is the same firm which had illegally stored firecrackers at its shop in Ranipura where the fire had broken out, in which seven persons lost their life," Sub-Divisional Magistrate Bihari Singh said. advertisement Besides the godown, the illegal stock of crackers was recovered from four shops in this area, he said. "Though the firecracker license of Dilip Patakha House was cancelled last year, the shop owner had stored the crackers illegally," the SDM added. The incident occurred last afternoon, when the blaze started at the cracker shop and spread to the adjoining shop selling polythene bags and five other outlets. Cracking the whip, Indore DIG Harinarayanchari Mishra today withdrew five police personnel, including a police station in-charge, from their field duties for dereliction of duty, in the wake of the incident. "Central Kotwali police station in-charge CS Chadhar and four other police personnel from the same police station were line-attached (withdrawn from the field duty) due to carelessness (in monitoring the illegal storage of crackers)," the DIG said. District Collector P Narhari has already ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced aid of Rs two lakh each for the kin of deceased. PTI HWP ADU MAS NSK RDS --- ENDS --- In 1974, Paula Vogel, then a 22-year-old graduate student at Cornell University, read Sholem Aschs 1907 play Got fun Nekome (God of Vengeance) at the suggestion of her professor. Today, 43 years later, her play Indecent based on Aschs play premieres on Broadway, directed by Rebecca Taichman who wrote her Yale thesis on the 1923 New York City obscenity trial that Aschs play endured. Indecent, which has four Lucille Lortel Award nominations (including for Best Play and Best Director) is as layered as this genesis suggests. It examines and extrapolates from the original iteration of Aschs play94 years after God of Vengeance premiered on Broadway at the Apollo Theaterand what made it so controversial: a lesbian kiss decried as indecent at the time. The play, for Vogel and Taichman who created it together, is an interrogation of the many definitions and interpretations of indecency. It is about the indecent attacks on free expression, and it is about the horrific indecency of fascism, as those performing the play in the Polish ghetto in the 1940s are rounded up and sent to concentration camps. Indecent reaches Broadway after productions at Yale Repertory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, and the Vineyard Theatre off-Broadway last year. Throughout Indecent blinks in time both freeze the action, and link it to another moment. The actors on stage play many roles, and all do so with aplomb. Only one, Richard Topol as Lemml, the loyal and idealistic stage manager of the original 1907 production, stays static in our eyes. Matt Darriau, Lisa Gutkin, and Aaron Halva play a variety of instrumentsamong them the clarinet, violin, and accordionand weave around the actors, underscoring how central music has been to Jewish history and its telling. This is a piece of theater about theater. Vogel was amazed, she writes in Indecents Playbill program, that such a play with a positive lesbian love theme existed at all. The key scene in God of Vengeance features two women marrying (one of them adopting the guise of the groom, this so long before the vista of marriage equality) and a lovely kiss in refreshing rain. The pulp novels of lesbian life Vogel had found as a young woman featured protagonists crying to heaven: why cant I be normal? Or women returning to husbands, or killing themselves. Picking up God of Vengeance, I couldnt put the play down. A young married man, Sholem Asch, wrote this love scene between two women in 1907? The wonder of that moment, and then the wonder of performing that moment, becomes a central moment of Indecent. We see how Asch is rejected by his artistic fellows for wanting to make such a controversial play. He is resolute that art should be challenging, but I.L. Peretz, the founding father of modern Jewish literature, tells him: You are pouring petrol on the flames of anti-Semitism. This is not the time. He says Asch should not take the play into the wider world, but for Asch that is the whole point of art. Peretz tells the playwright to burn this hateful play. Asch dissents. How do we as artists question our sins in front of a greater audience? he asks. How do we as Jews show ourselves as flawed and complex human beings? The play is performed way outside the tent in St. Petersburg, Berlin, Moscowand many other places besides, like Constantinople and Bratislavaand Taichman has a lot of fun remounting over and over again the key scene of Yankl, the father in Aschs play, discovering his daughter Rifkeles illicit secret, and threatening to bring a Torah down upon her head. We also see Rifkele and Manke, one of the prostitutes in the brothel that Yankl owns (indecent can also refer to his hypocrisy over sexual propriety), fall in love with each other. Aschs wife, Madj, stands square behind him as he struggles to get the play produced. Its all in there, she says, having read the play. The roots of all evil: the money, the subjugation of women, the false piety the terrifying violence of that father and then oh Sholem, the two girls in the rain scene! My god, the poetry in itwhat is it about your writing that makes me hold my breath? You make me feel the desire between these two women is the purest, most chaste, most spiritual Indecent can feel a little cluttered in its staging. Actors scurry this way and that. It is not always clear who is who, and who is speaking. Yiddish when spoken and sung has a translation projected on to the back wall. This uneven structure and pace can feel a little like casting an eye over a dense thesis with too many footnotes. But Indecents roving eye, its busy-ness, its insistence to be about everythinghomophobia, censorship, freedom of expression, tyrannyis as fascinating and genuine as it can be frustrating to watch. In New York in the early 1920s, the lesbian themes of the play migrate to a real-life affair between the actresses playing themwith not even one of them suffering a bed-bug infestation dampening their ardor. GOVs prosecution in New York is too-briefly captured: that much-repeated, excitable scene of the father holding the Torah above the daughters head, is interrupted by a policeman patiently waiting to stop proceedings. That the play was prosecuted at all is never fully explained: Its producers in New York had stripped it of its overtly lesbian content, and instead made both women prostitutes (one the pimp of the other). Even without the lesbian content, this was presumably enough to have it prosecuted, and eventually found guilty, of presenting an immoral performance. The increase in anti-Jewish prejudice in the U.S. at that time made the producers meeker in their intention to shock. Asch, living quietly on Staten Island, signed the contract with the same hand that cashed the check. The blunting of Aschs radicalism is not made clearperhaps it came through his own immigrants fear of being targeted or attacked. As one character says, Among the intelligentsia lesbians sell tickets. Uptown, for Mr. and Mrs. Smith, prostitutes in a brothel is all the excitement they can take. Indecents program is one of the most fascinating Playbills about a current production, charting the history, through the 1920s, of a rise in immigration panic (with laws such as the National Origins Act and Asian Exclusion Act), alongside greater censorious legislation, such as the Wales Padlock Law in 1926, prohibiting plays dealing with the subject of sex degeneracy or perversion. That law would not be declared unconstitutional until 1976. Indecents own darting focus doesnt take time to illustrate such specificsand it might benefit from doing so, because unless your specialism is the history that is so familiar to Vogel and Taichman you may find yourself a little lost. The characters are too much tellers of direct history, or voices of glancing opinion, rather than characters we really get to know. Asch stays in America, and in a moving sequence Vogel imagines him at his desk, as actors in the Lodz Ghetto in Poland in the early 1940s, terrified of being discovered yet determined to perform the play, do so surreptitiously, scared of every sound from outside. We also hear their letters to him, and others, asking for help, and full of their own plans for desperate escape. The last performance we see of Aschs play is in an attic: the performance of art the last defiant statement of strength against fear and persecution. As those same actors stand in line at what we assume to be a concentration camp, we hear a lullaby. It is not made clear to the audience, but in the plays script we learn that Wiegala was written by Ilse Weber, a childrens hospital nurse. She sang this lullaby for the children in the wards. When it came time for the children to be transported to Auschwitz, Ilse Weber volunteered to go with them. It is said she sang this song in line to the chambers. Vogel imagines an audacious and successful escape by the two women who play Rifkele and Manke, or perhaps it is what Lemml, making a last wish, imagines for the characters themselves. Indecent continues in the 1950sand Asch steadfastly refusing for his play to be performed in an America, now under McCarthys culture-squashing boot. Asch, a battered figure by now, wants the play to burn as he was once instructed to burn it. But it lives on, both in its original form, and in Vogels play. Indecents final scene, using a stunning, showery piece of stage-craft also used in plays including Sam Golds production of The Glass Menagerie, imagines God of Vengeances final rain scenewhich has not been performed yet in Indecentplayed out joyously, and in Yiddish, for Rifkele and Manke. This reporter, reminded of what Vogel had said in the program of that relentless litany of fictional lesbians killing themselves or being unhappy, wondered if she had imagined a resolutely un-deathly end for Aschs lesbian couple. That defiance and belief Asch had when he wrote God of Vengeance, of the confrontational nourishment of art, of same-sex love portrayed at its most natural, is also held by Vogel. At a time, she writes in the program, of increasing xenophobia, homophobia, and anti-Semitism, it is important to not only reclaim the importance of our arts and culture, but also for theater to wound our memory so we can remember Theatre is living memory. Indecent is at the Cort Theatre, 138 West 48th St., NYC. Book tickets, to Sept. 10, here. I was seeing my own patients in my New York office when I read the news that elsewhere in the United States, another woman physician, Dr. Jumana Nagarwala, was charged in federal court for performing female genital mutilation on two girls as young as 7 in a medical clinic in Livonia, Michigan, outside Detroit. Authorities suspect the Henry Ford Hospital emergency physician had been secretly performing these brutal procedures since 2005, impacting many more children. Henry Ford Hospital has placed the physician on administrative leave while she is on bail. (She is alleged to have performed these procedures at a clinic, not at a Ford facility.) As a physician in whom my patients place their trust, I am sickened. More importantly, I am enraged, and you should be too. The United States designates female genital mutilation a federal crime (the literal butchering of a woman or girls female genitalia) for good reason. Tragically Michigan is one of 26 states that have failed to enact laws against the practice. Around the world, more than 200 million infants and girls are mutilated by female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C). Most are cut between infancy and age 15, but women up to age 49 have been thus mutilated. The World Health Organization defines four categories of (FGM/C): 1. clitirodectomy alone; 2. excision (of a considerably wide variation of female genital tissue); 3. infibulationliterally a form of sealing (excising the entire clitoris and labia and stitching together the edges of the vulva to prevent sexual intercourse). The fourth category is for those FGM/C victims who are mutilated beyond even the above classifications. Because most Americans reading this will have no knowledge or experience of FGM, let me make it clear: The most severe forms of FGM/C seal shut the introitus. All menstruation, sexual penetration, and childbirth becomes painful and rife with major complications. Women are left with urinary and fecal incontinence, and humiliating fistulas connecting the bowel to the urogenital system. Feces and urine emerge from the vagina, leaving the young woman or girl with a future permanently defined by pain, a sense of being unclean, lethal infections, even death. Its all the more shocking that a female doctor would engage in such practices. As an American female physician myself and as a human rights defender, I demand that, if guilty, the doctor be prosecuted to the fullest extent with the harshest punishments, though a federal imprisonment of five years (the current maximum sentence) seems paltry in comparison to the crime. Without question, if found guilty the doctor in question must be stripped of her license to practice medicine permanently and be rendered a felon. Her alleged longstanding deception of parents (who claim they did not know, some reports suggest) and of the local medical community should also influence the severity of her punishment. Around the world, FGM/C procedures are universally performed for cultural reasons, and though they predate Islam, they have been tragically adopted by some Muslim communities. FGM/C is seen mostly among ethnic groups in over 30 African nations. Nine out of 10 women in Dijibouti, Egypt, Guinea, Mali, Northern Sudan, Sierra Leone, and Somalia have undergone FGM/C. Recently Indonesia has been found to have high prevalence of FGM despite a 2006 ban. Diaspora communities migrating to Western nations continue the practice where we encounter it for the first time. FGM/C is rising among migrants of Norway, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Britain, and the United States. Migrants, traveling with daughters on summer vacations to their native countries have the procedure performed at grave risk of infection, bleeding, and death when non-clinicians perform this procedure. School holidays thus become The Cutting Season. Among Muslim diaspora communities here in the U.S.particularly in the Pacific Northwest among the Somali migrant communityFGM/C is performed in the name of Islam, disregarding the complete absence of a Quranic mandate on FGM/C. For the moment it seems the little girls involved in this case were taken from Minnesota to Michigan and therefore may be part of the Somali-American diaspora. Combating FGM/C in Muslim communities therefore is not an act of anti-Muslim xenophobia or Islamophobia: It is a defense of human rights and the duty of every American to stop. The practice of FGM/C is not religious freedom. It is child abuse and criminal physical assault nothing short of dismemberment. Tragically, these gruesome FGM/C assaults performed at the insistence of culturally indoctrinated mothers and grandmothers on their daughters impacting millions globally. Thus, women (often themselves victims of FGM/C) perpetuate violence on women and girls. Families demand mutilation of girls and women for the preservation of familial honor. The 2014 documentary Honor Diaries (for which I was interviewed) examined honor violence directed against women whereby women are maimed and/or killed for the preservation of familial honor in cultures where women are mere empty vessels for containment of familial honor. Female genital mutilation is a form of honor violence. These girls can never be made whole again. At age 7, years away from their own sexual knowledge, denied an intact clitoris, they will never experience sexual gratification as consenting women. Yes, they may be able to have babies, but their pregnancies, labor, and deliveries will be high-risk because of the profound anatomic destruction to the birth canal. And this is not even accounting for the incredible psychological injury they will come to experience. Fortunately, in the United States we have the law on our side. This case is the first of its kind ever prosecuted since FGM/C was first criminalized in 1996 in the United States. In 2013, the Transport for Female Genital Mutilation Act amended this law to forbid Vacation Cutting, the practice of taking a girl overseas for FGM/C. We must now modify this to include domestic travel for the same criminal purpose. Though federal law is overarching, all states must also criminalize this practice and its related activities enabling both state and federal governments to target both medical institutions and practitioners with heavy penalties for such activities including permanent rescinding of any and all medical licenses and, I believe, any access to children. Tell them plainly: When it comes to FGM/C, as Americans we say, cut it the hell out. Anyone old enough to remember the height of the Iraq-War carnage of the early Bush years can recall images and audio of Ann Coultera right-wing columnist and longtime cable-news fixtureappointing herself one of the countrys loudest, most flamboyant war defenders and cheerleaders in national media. Coulters 2003 bestselling book was, after all, titled, Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism, and in November 2005 bashed the Democrats as gutless traitors. But just two short administrations later, Coulters Iraq-occupation fandom has melted into an America First aversion to further military meddling in the Middle East. Its a tone and posturing that would make her onetime neoconservative allies and fanboys wince and side-eye. But only until fairly recently, she had yet to alter her tune on the war in Iraq. I think Iraq was a crucial part of the war on terrorismif you had to choose between Iraq and Afghanistan, Id take Iraq over Afghanistan, Coulter said on a Fox Business panel, debating anti-war libertarians, in late 2011. PATRIOT Act, fantastic, Gitmo, fantastic, waterboarding, not bad, though [even harsher] torture wouldve been better. Coulter went on to tell a bewildered John Stossel and Matt Welch that [Iraq] is a fantastic country for regime change, that torture works beautifully, and that position regarding potential blowback or unintended negative consequences to the war were merely a crazy ACLU argument. Read a syndicated Coulter column from President George W. Bushs first term, you will more than likely find her chiding treasonous Democratic politicians and liberals for being soft on terror and dictatorshipDemocrats werent interested in liberating Afghanistan and Iraq from woman-hating Islamicist fanatics, she wrote, bashing John Kerry and boosting Bush, in July 2004 at the tail end of the Democratic National Convention. As the war raged on into the closing years of the Bush presidency, Coulter was still calling for more bombing, bigger war, and much less regard for civilian life. Maybe we could fight the [Iraq] war a little harder, she said on MSNBC in June 2007. [We should be] a little less worried about civilian casualtiesId rather have their civilians die than our civilians die. You stop [fanatics] by bombing their society, Coulter emphasizedindiscriminately, even. Flash-forward a little over a decade later, and she couldnt be less enthused about overseas bombing. Coulter was one of the earliest and most vociferous supporters of Trumps insurgent presidential campaign, campaigning for him and regularly trying to drum up support for him, even in Hollywood. She sharply broke with the president specifically on his decision to launch 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian-military airfield earlier this month. Glad hes not sending troops! [Trump] should fire Nikki Haley and Gen. McMaster, Coulter told The Daily Beast in an email exchange on Tuesday. Constant war was not the platform he ran on. To the contrary, he promised no more disastrous and expensive Middle East wars. Having those two loons ranting and raving about Assad and Putin would be like hiring Luis Gutierrez to run his immigration office. Asked about her past, big-league support for what she might now call constant war or disastrous and expensive incursions, and if she regrets past support for these wars, she hedged a bit and pointed to her track record of opposing other military interventions. I am well on the record as opposing most recent wars, Coulter wrote back. I was against Bush 1s Gulf War (in law school so no one knew, other than my friends), against Clinton meddling in the Balkans, against Obamas intervention in Libya and Egypt, FOR Afghanistan, but against [Obama] escalating in Afghanistan (what the fuck is the point of that?). So it was only the Iraq War I staunchly supported and my only regret about that was that this country then elected Barack Obama, who gave our victory away. President Obama, while dropping support for Egypts former dictator Hosni Mubarak during the 2011 uprising, did not intervene militarily in Egypt. These positions are all overI dont have time to look them up for you, Coulter said, before pointing to past columns and speeches. Im all over in 2002-2003 supporting the Iraq War, but NOT because of WMDsthat was just to taunt The New York Times. The Daily Beast asked Ann if this all means she now agrees that the war in Iraqwhich not too long ago she was still touting as a crucial part of the war on terrorismshould never have been waged in the first place. YES! But not for the reason liberals say, she emailed. Its true that no one should mistake Coulters selective anti-intervention positions or motivations as a defection to the anti-war leftism that she has spent years railing against as a fifth column in American society. On Tuesday, for instance, Coulter (who has been very active on social media this month opposing Trumps anti-Assad missile strikes) retweeted a tweet from VDare asking Evan McMullin: why are you so eager to send Americans to fight in Syria? VDare is a white-nationalist, anti-immigration websitenot exactly the stuff of lefty anti-war dreams. Still, some of Coulters recent pieces can soundif you isolated certain sentenceslike the musings of an activist college kid who just picked up her first copy of Howard Zinn. War is like crack for presidents, she wrote in her column, published at Breitbart and The Daily Caller, last week. It confers instant gravitas, catapulting them to respectability, bypassing all station stops. They get to make macho pronouncements on a topic where every utterance is seen as august Trumps Syrian misadventure is immoral, violates every promise he ran on, and could sink his presidency. Our enemiesboth foreign and domesticwould be delighted to see our broken country further weaken itself with pointless wars, she continued, referring to at least one of the pointless wars to which she once devoted her praise and efforts. Was America strengthened by the Iraq War? The apparently never-ending Afghanistan War? Vietnam? This is how great powers die, which is exactly what the left wants. Coulter isnt done making the media rounds just yet, with regards to railing against more war in Syria. On Tuesday morning, Fox News host Sean Hannity emailed The Daily Beast that I have her on [my radio show] tomorrow about this topic if you want to tune in. For Coulter, itll just be another day fighting the good fight against those she dubs the generals straight out of Dr. Strangelove trying to manipulate Donald Trump into starting World War III and toppling brutal dictators. Someone get Ann Coulter 2004 on the line. Hopefully Pope Francis keeps hand sanitizer on him. While on his now permanent vacation, Bill OReilly had a chance to meet the Pope. The visit comes in the middlenow possibly the endof OReillys battle with a flood of sexual assault accusations. The New York Times reports, the papal meet-and-greet occurred in St. Peters Square at the Vatican during the weekly general audience. OReilly has been on a curiously timed vacation in Italy the past week. Of course, he received V.I.P. treatment at the audience. Who wouldnt give priority seating to a heavily accused sexual harasser? A photographer for the official Vatican newspaper captured the blessed moment. Last week, the Vatican said there was no official audience scheduled with OReilly. During the general audience, Pope Francis said, God makes the most beautiful flowers bloom amid the most arid rocks. The pontiff then addressed English-speaking audience members, including OReilly, saying, I invoke upon you and your families the loving mercy of God our Father. Bill OReilly is done at Fox News. The reign of the most-watched host on the right-wing cable news network is coming to an end after two full decades, brought down by a perfect storm of newly unearthed sexual-harassment accusations, a massive advertiser boycott, and the absence of Roger Ailes, a fellow serial harasser of women, to protect him. 21st Century Fox confirmed the end of OReillys tenure in a Wednesday statement: After a thorough and careful review of the allegations, the Company and Bill OReilly have agreed that Bill OReilly will not be returning to the Fox News Channel. Even though this latest spate of accusations were what led to his on-air demise, OReilly has had a long, troubling history with women in both the workplace and at home. In October 2004, the OReilly Factor star was hit with possibly the greatest lawsuit in the history of cable news: then-associate producer Andrea Mackris accused OReilly of sexual harassment, quoting the famed gasbag verbatim from phone calls she surreptitiously recorded. According to the suit, the at-times tyrannical and menacing OReilly would masturbate while on the phone with Mackris, at other points suggesting she purchase a vibrator; engage in phone sex or a threesome with him; and listen to lurid details of his alleged sexual encounters with a cabana masseuse, airline stewardesses, and Thai sex-show workers. Perhaps most famously, OReilly fantasized to Mackris how hed like to shower with her and fondle her with a loofah, which he mistakenly called a falafel thing later in the call, according to a transcript. Mackris also alleged that the then-married OReilly threatened to make any woman who complains about his behavior pay so dearly that shell wish shed never been born. Two weeks later, he settled the case with a payout around $9 million. Two years earlier OReilly settled with a junior producer named Rachel Witlieb Bernstein, according to the New York Times. Bernstein accused him not of sexual harassment but of belligerent, bullying behavior, including storming into the newsroom to scream at her. At home, OReillys temper was no less a problem. According to court documents from his vicious custody battle with ex-wife Maureen McPhilmy, OReilly may have engaged in domestic violence. As Gawker reported at the time, the ex-couples teenage daughter told a court-appointed forensic examiner that she witnessed OReilly choking her mom as he dragged her down some stairs by the neck. OReilly had told his daughter that her mother was an adulterer, according to court transcripts, and that he struggled to stop himself from going ballistic around his family. Meanwhile, the sexual-harassment allegations from co-workers continued to pour in. As the Times unearthed last month, former Fox Business Network anchor Rebecca Gomez Diamond had also secretly recorded phone calls in which OReilly made unwanted advances on her. When Fox News decided not to renew her contract in 2011, Diamond and her lawyers outlined their case against OReilly and he reportedly paid out an undisclosed amount to settle it. In 2016, after Fox News chief Ailes was ousted for his own alleged sexual-harassment of women, former anchor Laurie Dhue outline sexual-harassment complaints against both OReilly and Ailes. Dhue walked away with a reported settlement from 21st Century Fox worth more than $1 million. Around the same time, former regular Factor guest Juliet Huddy received a $1.6-million settlement, over complaints that OReilly had pursued a sexual relationship with her in 2011 while in control of her airtime, according to the Times. Her lawyers told Fox News that at one point the OReilly tried to kiss her, and when she pulled away and fell to the ground, he refused to assist her. He then allegedly worked to blunt her career prospects, the Times added. Another former regular guest, Wendy Walsh, recently accused OReilly of propositioning her in 2013 to come up to his Los Angeles hotel suite after a dinner in which he promised to help her obtain a contributor deal with Fox News. After Walsh said she rebuffed his advances, OReilly allegedly became irate, threatening her career, and even insulting her black leather purse. Though she continued to appear on the show for several more months, Walsh recalled feeling her Fox News career prospects slipping away. She never became a Fox News contributor. On Monday, another accuser, represented by lawyer Lisa Bloom claimed OReilly called her hot chocolate (she is black) and would grunt and leer at her in the workplace. Additionally, former Fox News commentator Andrea Tantaros, who is in the middle of a legal battle with the network over alleged Ailes harassment, claimed in her lawsuit that OReilly had made unwanted advances on her, including inviting her out to his Long Island home where he said it would be very private. The conservative pundits therapist backed the claims, recalling a number of occasions when Andrea complained to me about recurring unwanted advances from Bill OReilly. OReilly has vociferously denied all of the accusations made against him, with his lawyer often issuing overwrought statements about how the volcanic host has been subjected to a brutal campaign of character assassination that is unprecedented in post-McCarthyist America. But with Ailes gone and the younger sons of News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch asserting greater control of the company, OReilly has no one left to protect him. Bill-O can rest easy, however, knowing he has one defender: President Donald Trump, who said, I dont think Bill did anything wrong. Oh God, is that all? Elizabeth Warren asked, exasperatedly, on The View Wednesday morning when she was informed that President Donald Trump has been in office for 90 days. Its like dog years or something, the Democratic senator joked. Conservative co-host Jedediah Bila wanted to know what Trump has done right so far, prompting a heavy sigh from Warren. Putting aside the things Trump says and tweets, she pushed him to keep his promise to fight for working people, which just happens to be the prevailing theme of her newest book, This Fight Is Our Fight: The Battle to Save America's Middle Class. I just keep watching what hes actually doing, she said. Instead of finding something right in those actions, she criticized the president for signing laws that, among other things, make it easier for employers to steal their employees wages. But to her, Trumpcare represents the whole thing in one microcosm, because anyone who would knock 24 million people off their health care coverage, raise the cost for a lot of middle class families so that we can produce a tax cut for a handful of millionaires and billionaires, doesnt care about working people. What hes doing is delivering on gut punch after another and he needs to be called on it. Given how bad things have gotten less than 100 days into the Trump administration, co-host Sunny Hostin wanted to know if Warren regrets her decision not to run for president in 2016. We all have a lot of regrets, the senator said, not quite willing to go there, but my biggest regret is that Donald Trump is president of the United States, period. Warren also pushed back on the criticism that she and Bernie Sanders could have prevented Trump from getting elected by backing Hillary Clinton earlier in the process. I dont actually understand that, we had a real primary going on in the Democratic Party, she said. And Bernie offered a vision, Hillary offered a somewhat different vision, they gave their different arguments for it. And to take Bernie out of that race early, are you kidding me? Bernie has shown where the progressive energy of this party is. Once it became clear that Clinton would be the nominee, Warren said, I got in and busted my tail to try to get her elected and I wish it had worked. God dang, I wish it had worked! Fox News may have just rid itself of a serially sexist and racist blowhard by ousting Bill OReilly, but the network promoted two racist clowns to help fill the void: Eric Bolling and Jesse Watters. As part of Foxs primetime lineup reshuffling, its 5 p.m. roundtable gabfest The Five will move to the 9 p.m. slot vacated by Tucker Carlson, who will take over OReillys highly coveted 8 oclock hour. Bolling will depart The Five to get his own 5 p.m. show, starting May 1. Replacing him on The Five will be Watters, OReillys long-time protege and henchman. Both of those smirking dudebros have histories of race-baiting that stretch as far back as allegations of OReillys serial sexual-harassing. Plucked from Wall Street to give trading analysis for Fox Business Network, Bolling has become one of the networks most shameless attention-grabbers over the past near-decade. While manning ostensibly business-related shows for FBN (first Money Rocks, then Follow the Money), Bolling frequently played host to early racist birther conspiracies. On one occasion, he brought on infamous anti-Muslim bigot and birther Pamela Geller to inspect a cardboard cutout of President Obamas long-form birth certificate. His commentary on the matter echoed that of your racist uncles chain emails, circa 2011. Theres a green border around it that had to be Photoshopped in, he remarked to Geller while pointing at the certificate with a green laser-pointer. Bolling also claimed that New Jersey Muslims knew about 9/11 in advance. When Obama met with the president of Gambia in 2011, Bolling declared on his show: Its not the first time hes had a hoodlum in the hizzouse, referring to rapper Commons appearance at a prior White House event. So whats with all the hoods in the hizzie? he added. Earlier that same year, Bolling said Obama was too busy chugging forties to visit tornado-ravaged Joplin, Missouri. How does increasing taxes count as spending cuts in your world, Mr. Obama? Bolling said another night, when the president released his tax plan. Maybe in Kenya, but certainly not here. In 2012, after Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters, who is black, used fiery rhetoric to decry Republican leadership, Bolling responded, Congresswoman, you saw what happened to Whitney Houston. Step away from the crack pipe. Following in the footsteps of a habitual fail-upper like Bolling is Watters, who will now co-host Foxs 9 p.m. show after years of training under OReilly. Watterss biggest claim to fame was a segment last fall in which he took his perpetual shit-eating grin to the streets of New Yorks Chinatown to openly mock Asians. For five minutes, he asked the localssome of whom didnt speak Englishif they do karate, where he can buy some homeopathic herbs for sexual performance, or whether hes supposed to bow to say hello. Kung Fu Fighting, featuring a stereotypical Oriental riff, played throughout the pre-taped package. Even right-wing outlets decried the dumb segment as a crime against comedy. I regret if anyone found offense, was Watterss supremely Fox-like non-apology after the outcry reached fever pitch. As I wrote back then, Watters will get off with a slap on the wrist and [he] will always win. And he will continue to rise at Fox News. I even cited the meteoric rise of fellow race-baiting clown Bolling as an example of how Fox News has historically rewarded cheap, often ugly bullshit. With OReillys firing, its clear Fox News is attempting to revamp its internal reputation as a den of sexism and sexual harassment. But in those promoted following his exit, its clear the network has no desire to change its on-air reputation when it comes to casual race-baiting. Immigration attorneys are criticizing the newly minted head of the Democratic National Committee for recent attacks on the Trump administration over a deportation, arguing he was silent on the issue during Obamas presidency. Tom Perez, the new DNC chair who was Obamas labor secretary from 2013 to 2017, ripped into Trump on April 20 over a USA Today report about the deportation of a man who reportedly should have been shielded from deportation by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. But immigration lawyers who spoke to The Daily Beast said the deportation at issue probably would have played out the same way if Barack Obama were presidentand that Democratic political operatives, including Perez, were silent when DACA recipients were deported under his administration. At issue is the deportation of Juan Manuel Montes, whose lawyers said he came to the U.S. illegally when he was 9. He received temporary protection from deportation through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that President Barack Obama rolled out in 2014, but was deported in February of this year. There are two versions of the story of Montes deportation: his version, and DHSs. Montes told USA Today that a Customs and Border Protection official approached him in Calexico, Calif. one evening in February, didnt let him show him his DACA card, and thenthree hours laterhad him deported to Mexico. Montes said he was later mugged and beaten in Mexico, and that he then climbed over the border fence and back into the U.S. After climbing the fence, he said immigration agents caught him, questioned him, and deported him a second time. DHS spokesman David Lapan said in a statement that the agency has no record of that first encounter Montes described, and only has records of his being arrested and then deported after climbing over the fence. National Democrats, including Perez, have seized on Montes story to criticize Trump. Trumps mass deportation force has taken Juan Manuel Montes. Trump and Republicans promise that no DREAMer would be targeted? Lies, he tweeted a few hours after the story was published. This is an attack on all of us. Juan must be reunited with his family, and we all play a role in his safe return. Demand #JusticeForJuan, he added. But immigration attorneys who spoke to The Daily Beast said Montes deportation could also have happened under Obama, and wasnt the result of a crackdown. Customs and Border Protection has always been above the law, said Bryan Johnson, an immigration attorney based in Long Island, N.Y. who frequently defends children brought into the U.S. illegally. Democrats are going to jump on this and exploit it for all its worth regardless of the underlying merits, one way or another, he said. They might have a point, but at the same time theyre overplaying their hand. This isnt evidence itself that Trump is going after DREAMers. Customs and Border Protection encountered him, so the original fact that he was deported outside the U.S. is not evidence of a change. And Matthew Kolken, an immigration attorney based in Buffalo, N.Y., said Montes could have been treated even more harshly than he was. Based on the statistics, 52 percent of all federal criminal prosecutions under Obama were for people who did just what that individual did, coming back to the U.S. without permission after being deported, Kolken said. Its likely under Obama he would have been federally criminally prosecuted for unlawful reentry and then had his previous deportation order reinstated without ever getting the chance to go before an immigration judge. Im curious to know where his statements were when 3 million people were deported under the Obama administration, he added of Perez. It is as cynical as it is hypocritical. Obama put DACA in place to provide temporary protection from deportation and work permits to people brought to the U.S. illegally as children who didnt otherwise break the law and who have jobs or are in school. Trump promised to rescind DACA during the presidential campaign, but he has yet to follow through on that promise. The program is still in place and still processing new DACA applications. And at a press conference on Feb. 16, Trump said the issue was a very difficult thing for me as I love these kids. USA Today reported on April 19 that 365 people who had at one point received DACA protection were deported during Obamas presidency, and that 43 people who had formerly been in the program were deported during Trumps first month as president. The Daily Beast asked the DNC if there is any record of Perez or other prior DNC chairs characterizing the DACA deportations that happened under Obama as an attack on all of us. The DNC didnt provide any examples. Obama didnt just deport hundreds of DACA recipients; Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained or deported more than 4,000 U.S. citizens in 2010, according to the Virginia Journal of Social Policy & the Law. Deporting people who should be able to stay in the U.S.as was with the case with Montes, assuming his version of the story is accurateis nothing new. The boy was sleeping near the door when the gas cylinder slipped from the delivery boy's hands and fell on his head resulting in his death instantly. By Saurabh Vaktania: In a tragic incident, a seven-year-old boy died on the spot after a gas cylinder fell on him in Dharavi. The boy was sleeping near the door when the gas cylinder slipped from the delivery boy's hands and fell on his head resulting in his death instantly. Identified as Mohammad Bilal Shaikh, the boy was a resident of Dharavi and was studying first standard in a local school. advertisement Bilal's father and delivery boy rushed him to Sion Hospital where doctors declared him dead before admission. The delivery boy has been identified as Magha Krishnan Nadar, 25. A neighbour said, "The cylinder directly fell on the head of the boy and he died on the spot. It is very saddening and tragic incident, the boy used to play here itself." The cops have filed a case against Nadar for negligence. --- ENDS --- The nine lives of Fox News host Bill OReilly, who has survived a series of embarrassing scandals over more than a decade while beating the competition in both ratings and revenue, appeared to have run out on Tuesday night. According to multiple reportsnotably by Fox Newss corporate sibling, The Wall Street JournalOReilly seems to be on his way out of the right-leaning cable network that he helped make a commercial success. Fox News is preparing to cut ties with star anchor Bill OReilly, according to people close to the situation, after revelations that he and Fox parent 21st Century Fox settled multiple sexual-harassment complaints led to an exodus of advertisers from his show and mounting pressure on the network, the Journal reported about OReilly, who was one of the cable networks original anchors when it launched in 1996. The Journal added that the fate of OReilly, who made a surprise announcement on his top-rated prime-time program The OReilly Factor last Tuesday that he was taking a vacation, will be decided on Thursday at a board meeting of 21st Century Fox, Fox Newss parent company. The vacationing OReilly was spotted last week visiting the Vatican in Rome. Despite speculation even then that the star would not actually be returning to the airwaves on the previously announced date of April 24, OReillys crisis-communications consultant, former Clinton White House scandal manager Mark Fabiani, insisted that the television personality was simply on a long-scheduled spring-break holiday with his two teenage children. The vacation was planned last October. Its planned with a group of people, Fabiani told The Daily Beast last week. He generally takes time off during his childrens spring break around Easter. And anything to the contrary is just complete fabrication. A voicemail message left for Fabiani Tuesday night was not returned. In a development that once might have been unthinkable, OReilly is widely expected to join his friend and former boss, Fox News founder Roger Ailes, in a forced resignation. Ailes left the cable channel after a sensational sexual-harassment and retaliation lawsuit filed by fired anchor Gretchen Carlson, along with multiple allegations of sexual misconduct by more than a dozen female coworkers and underlings. OReilly had publicly defended the disgraced Ailes and freely criticized his accusers, Fox News rival Megyn Kelly, and Carlson, who filed the lawsuit last July that resulted in Ailess abrupt and ignominious departure a mere two weeks later (albeit with a $40 million golden parachute). Like Ailes, OReillywho was recently given a new contract despite the accumulating allegationsis not expected to leave empty-handed. Industry insiders predicted that 21st Century Fox will pay out the tens of millions of dollars remaining on OReillys contract in order to avoid an ugly lawsuit and uglier headlines, while achieving the semblance of an amicable separation. Last November, after Kelly published a memoir that included details of Ailess unwelcome attempts to hug and kiss her, OReilly declared on his program: If somebody is paying you a wage, you owe that person or company allegiance. You dont like whats happening in the workplace, go to human resources or leave But dont run down the concern that supports you by trying to undermine it. OReilly had previously praised Ailes, on NBCs Late Night With Seth Meyers, as the best boss Ive ever had. But with Ailes gone, OReilly lacks a protector who in the past has helped him navigate mushrooming scandals involving not only allegations of workplace misconduct but also multiple instances of journalistic fabrication. My reaction is that hes got to go, Los Angeles sexual-harassment attorney Lisa Bloom told The Daily Beast on Tuesday night. We are not giving up. My phone is ringing off the hook with women who are considering coming forward. Bloom represents Los Angeles radio personality and former OReilly Factor regular Wendy Walsh, who claims the anchor retaliated against her by blocking her from obtaining a promised contributor contract when she rebuffed his sexual advance in 2013; Bloom also is the lawyer for an anonymous Fox News employee, a black woman who filed suit against OReilly earlier Tuesday, claiming he repeatedly leered and grunted at her in the office and called her Hot Chocolate. Thats really offensive, Bloom said about the racially and sexually charged harassment with which OReilly allegedly targeted the woman. When hes the big dog who has all the power and she is a lowly clerical worker just trying to get through the day, shes not only terrified, but you think, how dare he say things like that? Sources at Fox News said Rupert Murdoch and his sons Lachlan and Jameswho run 21st Century Foxare reaching the conclusion that their top cable star has become too much of a liability, scaring away dozens of advertisers and inflicting serious damage on the corporate brand in the past 2 1/2 weeks since the Times published a sensational expose of OReillys alleged misconduct dating back at least to 2004, while lawsuits against OReilly, Ailes, and Fox News continue to snowball. The Times reported that OReilly and Fox News had paid out about $13 million to half a dozen female coworkers who complained about his behavior, even as OReilly denied the allegations. The most graphic lawsuit was filed in 2004 by one of OReillys producers, Andrea Mackris, who taped sexually explicit phone calls her boss made to her cellphoneforever enshrining the words loofah and falafel in the popular culture; Mackris ended up receiving, according to the Times, around $9 million to settle the case. Also weighing on the Murdochs decision is 21st Century Foxs long-pending quest to acquire all of Sky PLC, the highly profitable European television and online platform that Fox has been trying to purchase whole since 2011. That year, the acquisition was thwarted by revelations that reporters for Murdochs News of the World tabloid had illegally hacked the voicemail messages of a murdered girls cellphoneresulting in criminal prosecutions, the shutdown of the newspaper, and widespread public disgust that made the acquisition politically untenable. It was an expensive and painful defeat for the Murdochs. Last week, however, Britains OfCom, the communications industry regulators, met for an hour with opponents of Foxs application to increase its share of Sky from 39 to 100 percent in a $14.1 billion transaction. Prominent in the arguments against the sale were the allegations of OReillys misconducta factor that clearly would hurt the star with the Murdochs, if approval of the sale is denied. We were arguing that 21st Century Fox, Fox News, and the companies in general have shown a pattern of defiant non-compliance, and therefore should not not be given the green light, said Alex Wilks, who is directing the campaign against the acquisition on behalf of Avaaz, a global citizens advocacy organization. The meeting went well. The officials were very much in listening mode. They were scribbling notes and taking it very seriously. Wilks told The Daily Beast he urged the regulators to investigate the allegations before making their recommendation, expected on May 16, to Tory MP Karen Bradley, Britains secretary of state for culture, media, and sport, who will make the final call. Since the Times blockbuster was posted April 1, nearly 80 advertisers have joined an exodus from OReillys show, which has been unable to monetize a spike in ratings since the latest scandal broke. Meanwhile, as they did last week, sign-waving protesters gathered in front of Fox Newss Manhattan headquarters Tuesday afternoon and loudly called for OReillys sacking. OReillys bleak future was predicted early Tuesday when the Drudge Reports Matt Drudge, who is extremely well-connected in the Murdoch media empire, tweeted what amounted to OReillys professional obituary. O'Reilly has had tremendous run, Drudge wrote. Very few in the business get to decide when and how things end. Media is most brutal of all industries... MOSCOWThis week the Kremlin showed symbolically its not about to back away from its imperial ambitions in the so-called near abroad, which is to say the old Russian empire. And if its measures flout international law or the laws of its pro-Western neighbors, so be it. On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced plans to attend the official opening ceremony of a new complex at the Russian embassy in Georgias breakaway region of Abkhazia, a home for thousands of Russian troops. In the republic of Georgia, which views Abkhazia as territory under Russian occupation, the gesture was seen as a mockery of Georgian lawsand a direct challenge aimed at U.S. President Donald Trump. At a time when the new U.S. president is trying to assert American power around the globe, these are the kinds of little incidents that chip away at Washingtons credibility before many people there even know whats happening. From a technical standpoint, members of parliament in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, noted that Lavrovs visit would violate Georgias Law of Occupied Territories, which bans travel to Abkhazia without the Georgian governments prior consent. The law obliges all perpetrators to pay an administrative fine of 400 Georgian lari ($169). Mr. Lavrov did not ask us for a permit to travel to occupied Abkhazia. The minister is violating both Georgian legislation and our constitutional sovereignty, Georgian MP Georgi Kandelaki told The Daily Beast. It is time for the Georgian prime minister to take a minute of his time and call President Donald Trump, says Kandelaki, so Washington could articulate its attitude for this mockery of international lawsit would give a very important message to our people. Only last week, people in Georgia proudly toasted the European Parliaments decision to grant Georgians visa-free travel to countries in the European Union. NATO and United Nations flags flew over Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisis main street, to symbolize the countrys westward-looking future. This is the kind of thing that infuriates Putin. But amid the toasts, there was also ample cynicism. I was in the crowd on the square when we showed our love for George W. Bush, local businessman Shota Kutalia told The Daily Beast. We even named a street after Bush, but Bush did not help us bring back Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and neither will Trump. Georgia and its 4.4 million people have paid a high price for the countrys pro-Western stance, losing swathes of land and many lives as their sovereignty has come under assault. In 2008 the Russian Federation closed its embassy in Tbilisi, and Lavrovs visit to Abkhazia is seen as one more bit of payback for Georgias pro-American, pro-European policies. Relations were spoiled further last week when Georgia decided to stop buying Russian gas, the deputy head of Moscows Center for Political Technologies, Vladimir Makarkin, told The Daily Beast. So Moscow sees Georgia as if it were amputated, gone from its influence. Yet NATO, in which Georgia has put so much faith, has done little to help the country and its thousands of internally displaced people return home to South Ossetia and Abkhazia. No EU leader has made any serious effort to compel Russian officials to stop violating Georgian laws. The situation on Georgias border with the breakaway regions has been tense since its five-day war with Russia in 2008. In the past two years, Georgia has reported human rights violations on its soil by Russian and pro-Russian militants. Local politicians have grown bitter about the West ignoring Georgias geopolitical troubles: When the president of the United States and the chancellor of Germany, the two main leaders of the free world, meet, and both mention Ukraine while neither mentions Georgia, this is a problem, the vice speaker of Georgias parliament, Sergi Kapanadze, told reporters earlier this month. When the U.S. secretary of state visits Moscow and presents a list of demands to Russia that does not include Georgia, this is a problem, said Kapanadze. Trump himself ought to be well informed about Georgias long-lasting conflict with Russia and the countrys struggle for democratic reform. Five years ago Trump visited the ancient mountain nation, praised its amazing leadership, and noted that he was proud to build a partnership with the No. 1 reforming country in the world. Mr. Trump learned a lot about the Russian-Georgian conflict in his previous life, before the presidency, Kandelaki told The Daily Beast. Back then, foreign investor Donald Trump and the Trump Organization signed $250 million deals for the Silk Road complex that included Trump Tbilisi Tower on Rose Revolution Square and the Trump Riviera Tower, a casino, an exhibition hall, and a marina in the resort city of Batumi, which Trump reportedly referred to as the Monte Carlo of the region on his visit back in 2011. But in January of this year, the Trump Organization pulled out of the real estate project to avoid a potential conflict with Donald Trumps role as president, Trumps business partner told Reuters. Moscow, for its part, does not seem worried about criticism from abroad. When asked, Makarkin could not think of a Western political leader who would initiate more economic sanctions to punish Russia for Lavrovs visit to Abkhazia. The Kremlin does not pay attention to what the West has to say about our relationship with Georgia, Makarkin told The Daily Beast. Since Moscow and Tbilisi have no diplomatic relations, it seems that Sergei Lavrov has no plans to travel to Georgia anytime soon, and it is unlikely that President Trump is going to argue with President Putin over Georgia. This story was updated to amend a quote. The only eggs you should have near your face on Wilton Drive are Benedict. But over the last two weeks, the police department in Wilton Manors, Floridaa Fort Lauderdale suburb proud to be known as the second gayest city in Americahas received reports of several incidents of individuals throwing eggs from passing vehicles at victims as they walked along [Wilton Drive] and adjoining roadways, according to a press release issued last Friday. Wilton Drive is a mile-long stretch lined with LGBT-friendly restaurants, shops, and clubs, stretching from the burger bar Rosies on the north end to the newly-opened lesbian bar G Spotwith the motto, If youre here, you found iton the south. Because the surrounding city has 140 gay couples per 1,000 households, the road has become a major draw for locals and visitors looking for an accepting atmosphere in which to dance, eat decadent grilled cheese sandwiches, or preferably both. The Wilton Manors Police Department wants to be sure the Drive stays that way. Weve had extra patrols throughout our citymainly in the area where these incidents have been occurringbecause we dont tolerate any type of crime, especially crimes of this nature that could be targeting the LGBT community here within our city, WMPD Public Information Officer Jennifer Bickhardt told The Daily Beast. Since April 2, there have been over five instances of an individual throwing eggs from vehicles WMPD Commander Gary Blocker told WSVN, noting that they want to determine whether or not these crimes are motivated by a dislike of our LGBT community. Pointing in that direction is a report from Alex Haywood, the owner of the restaurant Mind Your Manors, who told WSVN that an anti-homosexual slur [was] yelled during one egging incident at his establishment. Haywood was not available for comment Tuesday. Police reports obtained by The Daily Beast describe some of the incidents. On April 2, shortly before one in the morning, a man reported being struck in the face with an egg thrown from a moving vehicle near the country western gay bar Scandals Saloon. Later that same day, a man sitting outside Mind Your Manors reported being struck in the back with an egg, accompanied by the shout "f**king homo." On April 8, a man outside the Greek restaurant Ethos next door to Mind Your Manors reported being egged from a moving vehicle and "had a small cut on the back of his neck from the broken egg shell." And on April 13, along the busiest stretch of Wilton Manors, two friends said they "saw an egg land next to them" and then "a black car proceeding thru the area." Most of the reports mention a gray or black vehicle. Officer Bickhardt confirmed to The Daily Beast that the reported anti-gay slur was being taken into consideration as the police try determine the reason behind these incidents, adding that they are seeking more information from anyone who was involved. Jose Vazquez, manager of the Out of the Closet thrift store located a few doors north of Mind Your Manors, told The Daily Beast that his assistant manager discovered their front windows had been egged on April 3. At first, he didnt think anything of it. I just thought it was some kids not having anything to do, said Vazquez. The storefront has remained egg-free since then, Vazquez told The Daily Beast, but in light of the other reports, he believes the situation might be more serious than high schoolers with too much time on their hands. Indeed, Haywood told WSVN that two of his customers have been directly hit with eggs one standing at the bar, one just walking down the streetand that other establishments have been hit as well. The Daily Beast phoned several other businesses along Wilton Drive; some employees and managers were aware of the egging incidents near Mind Your Manors, others were only just finding out about them. If the individuals responsible for the egging attacks are apprehended, they could face serious charges. The WMPD noted in the press release that crimes of this nature can be considered a 2nd degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Throwing any type of object [at someone] is a serious crime, Officer Bickhardt told The Daily Beast, noting that it could hit them in the face or the head, potentially causing serious injury. Indeed, egging incidents can be charged as felonies in some jurisdictions depending on the damage done. And as Time Inc.s breakfast website Extra Crispy reported in a detailed post on the potential legal penalties of egging, the crime can cause both property damage and serious physical damageas proved by a 2005 Long Island case in which a 13-year-old boy was left blinded in one eye by an egging prank. Fortunately, as Commander Blocker told the Sun Sentinel, no one has been seriously injured in this string of drive-by egging incidents, although people have been hit directly. But whether its upping security after the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando last June or increasing patrols after a Facebook account made violent threats to clean up Wilton Manors from all you AIDS infested losers last August in a case that the federal government has since dropped, the WMPD takes any potential threat to their city seriously. We take pride in our community and in protecting the residents, visitors, employees, and everyone who comes into Wilton Manors, said Officer Bickhardt. We do take it seriously. 4/19/17: This story was updated with new information from WMPD police reports. Forget the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier that President Donald Trump claimed, wrongly, was steaming toward North Korea to punish Kim Jong Uns regime for apparently testing a nuclear-capable ballistic missile last Saturday. Forget the U.S. Marine Corps F-35 stealth fighters that practiced bombing runs on the Korean Peninsula in late March. Forget the contingent of U.S. Army soldierspart of the 29,000-strong American ground force in South Koreathat Vice President Mike Pence visited Sunday, just a day after Pyongyangs latest missile test failed. No, if the United States seriously intends to punish North Korea for continuing to develop nuclear warheads and the rockets to deliver them, then the punitive blow will likely come from Missouri. That is, in the form of stealth bombers carrying Americas biggest non-nuclear bombs. Not the 11-ton Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) fuel-air bomb that U.S. forces dropped on suspected ISIS positions in eastern Afghanistan on April 13. Rather, an even bigger munition. Since the 1990s, the U.S. government has been preparing to attack North Koreas most heavily protected military facilities, specifically in order to slow or halt Pyongyangs nuclear program. The American plan involves long-range, radar-evading stealth bombers hauling gigantic, earth-penetrating bombs. The scheme began in the mid-1990s, as President Bill Clinton and hawkish Republican lawmakers sparred over a nascent nuclear pact with the reclusive North Korean regime. The plan advanced further in the early 2000s under President George W. Bushs policy of pre-emptive military strikesthe same policy that mired the United States in Iraq for, so far, 14 years of grinding warfare. In the early 1990s, North Korea was not yet a nuclear powerbut it certainly possessed the potential to become one. The Clinton administration aimed to head off Pyongyangs atomic ambitions and by some accounts an attack was imminent, at the risk of an enormous casualty count, until former President Jimmy Carter stepped in and offered another remedy by diplomatic means. In early 1994, the U.S. State Department signed the Agreed Framework with North Korea. The deal was simple. Pyongyang would suspend development of weapons-grade nuclear reactors if, in exchange, Washington helped the impoverished country build nuclear reactors that werent weapons-grade. The Bush administration labeled the framework appeasement and, by 2004, had abandoned it. Two years later, North Korea triggered its first nuclear test blast. Under Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, the Pentagon hewed to a policy of preemption. In November 2001, just a few weeks after the 9/11 terror attacks, Cheney announced that if there was even a 1 percent chance that a threat was real, we have to treat it as a certainty in terms of our response. Cheneys 1-percent doctrine drove the United States to war with Iraq over that countrys purportedand to this day unsubstantiatedefforts to field weapons of mass destruction. The doctrine shaped Americas approach to North Korea, as well. In mid-2002, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld directed the Pentagon to rewrite its plan for war with North KoreaOPLAN 5027to allow for preemptive air raids on Pyongyangs nuclear facilities. But the North Korean regime had been busily burying its most important military sites. Starting in the 1960s, Pyongyang constructed as many as 8,000 underground facilities, Maj. Park Sung-man, a South Korean military officer, told wire service UPI in 2015. Park claimed he got those numbers from a U.S. source. Under Bush, the U.S. armed forces lacked the means to destroy the deepest facilities. During the 1991 Gulf War, the military had rushed production of 5,000-pound bunker-busting bombs capable of punching through 100 feet of earth or 20 feet or concrete. A few years later, the Pentagon developed 2,000-pound bombs that it concluded were 25 percent more effective against underground sites. More than a decade later, these two munitions remained Americas best weapons for destroying North Koreas underground military infrastructure. They werent enough. Neutralization of an underground facility... is a formidable task, Air Force Col. Russell Hart wrote in a 2012 paper. To collapse the most hardened subterranean facilities, the Defense Department determined that it would need to skip a 10- to 15-ton bomb into a tunnel entrance in order to blow through the door and send a shock wave into the site. The Bush administration considered fielding a Robust Nuclear Earth Penetratorin essence, a tactical nuclear weapon with a harder-than-usual shell that could burrow deeper into the ground than other atomic bombs. The Union of Concerned Scientists concluded that the RNEP could produce tremendous radioactive fallout. Congress balked at preemptively nuking North Koreas nukes. Lawmakers wanted a non-nuclear alternative. In 2004, the Pentagon began development of the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, a 15-ton conventional bomb specifically designed to collapse all but the deepest buried facilities in Iran and North Korea. MOP was ready for combat in 2011. Each of the Air Forces 20 B-2 stealth bombers based at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri can carry two of the 21-foot-long munitions. So, forget carriers, stealth fighters, and ground troops. The B-2s and the massive bombs are, at present, Americas only non-nuclear options for destroying Pyongyangs best-protected weapons sites. Also ignore Trump when he threatens to send a naval armada toward Pyongyang. Disregard Pence as he inspects Army formations along the Korean Demilitarized Zone. If you want to know if, and when, the United States intends to attack North Korea, look to Missouriand stealth bombers hauling massive, ground-penetrating bombs. The Election Commission today said it is working on a September 2018 deadline to acquire the new EVMs. By Sanjay Sharma: The 2019 Lok Sabha election will be conducted using 16 lakh new Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), the acquisition of which was approved by the Union Cabinet today through a Rs 3000 crore grant. The Election Commission today said it is working on a September 2018 deadline to acquire the new EVMs, which will be manufactured by the Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and the Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL). advertisement "The Commission shall closely monitor production of VVPATs for timely delivery well before the general elections of 2019. The commission will ensure total compliance of the Supreme Court orders and its committment to use VVPATs with every EVM at all poll stations in 2019," the poll panel said. A number of Opposition parties have questioned the use of EVMs without paper trail and even alleged rigging after the recent Assembly elections in five states, including Uttar Pradesh. Sixteen parties had recently petitioned the Election Commission to revert to paper ballot system for greater transparency. A 2013 Supreme Court order says the Election Commission must introduce new EVM machines, called VVPATs (Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail), in phases. Since June 2014, the Commission has given at least 11 reminders to the government seeking funds for the VVPAT machines. The funds were finally released today by the Union Cabinet which cleared a proposal of the Election Commission to procure paper trail machines for use during future elections. WHAT IS VVPAT MACHINE? The 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 voters see voter-verifiable paper audit trail slip for seven seconds, which would be an acknowledgement receipt for the party they voted for in the election. Also Read: Cabinet clears Rs 3,173 crore for Election Commission to buy new EVMs with paper trail Plea in HC to use VVPAT equipped EVMs for MCD polls --- ENDS --- The Cabinet today cleared Rs 3,000 crore for the Election Commission to buy new Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines. By India Today Web Desk: The Cabinet today cleared the Election Commission's proposal of the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines. For Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), the Cabinet has so far cleared Rs 3,173 crore for the Election Commission to buy new voting machines. The decision comes in the wake of growing demands from opposition parties for holding all future elections using paper trail machines along with EVMs, to clear doubts about votes cast. advertisement The clearance was given by the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the proposal of "procurement of VVPAT units" after a brief discussion. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, "Amount of Rs 3173 crores have been approved to acquire 16.15 lakh VVPAT machines". Since June, 2014, the Commission has given at least 11 reminders to the government seeking funds for VVPAT machines.Last year, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi drawing his attention to the funds needed for the machines. The Supreme Court has asked the Commission to give a tentative timeframe by which it can use VVPAT machines in all polling stations. The EC says two PSUs -- ECIL and BEL -- need 30 months to produce the over 16 lakh VVPATs. The Bahujan Samaj Party, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress had attacked the Election Commission for allegedly using "tampered" EVMs. The 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 voters see voter-verifiable paper audit trail slip for seven seconds, which would be an acknowledgement receipt for the party they voted for in the election. ALSO READ: Nothing can be done at eleventh hour: Delhi High Court refuses AAP plea on EVM use with paper trail Electronic Voting Machine: Here's all you wanted to know about India's EVMs Opposition meets EC officials over EVM tampering, demand restoration of paper ballot Arvind Kejriwal calls Delhi Election Commission 'spineless', after UP poll panel demands new EVMs for civic polls Local body polls on ballot paper in UP? State Election Commission demands new EVMs --- ENDS --- Highland Park releases commemorative Rebus30 Edrington Group brand, Highland Park, has announced its collaboration with British crime author Ian Rankin and The Orion Publishing Group. The collaboration will mark the 30th anniversary of John Rebus, one of Rankin's most notable creations. To start the collaboration, a special edition of Highland Park is being produced Rebus30, a 10 year old single malt Scotch whisky, that will be available to buy exclusively from Highland Park. Jason R Craig, Highland Park, brand director, says: We are delighted to have been asked to produce this exclusive bottle to celebrate the 30th anniversary of a great crime icon. This is a very special partnership for the brand as we were involved 10 years ago when Ian celebrated the 20th anniversary of the publication of the first Inspector Rebus novel Knots and Crosses. At that time, Ian was invited to visit the distillery on Orkney where he chose a special single cask. The whiskys flavour profile was chosen according to what Ian felt Rebus would prefer cask no 3272, was dark, complex and with a long finish. To celebrate Rebus30, our brief was to craft a 10 year old single malt fit for an iconic detective who truly stands apart. The result is stunning single malt created by Gordon Motion, our master whisky maker and a tribute to those with a strong independent spirit and those who know their own mind. Best shared with friends or when enjoying a dark crime novel! Sarah Benton, group marketing director at Orion says: Working with Highland Park on this partnership for Rebus30 and RebusFest has been a total delight. What better way to celebrate Rebus 30th birthday! We know his fans are going to snap up these exclusive bottles fast. In addition to the Highland Park Rebus30 10 year old single malt, we will be auctioning a few limited edition Highland Park 30 year old single malt also specially created for Rebus30, throughout the years celebration watch out for these! Rebus and Highland Park fans will be able to buy this commemorative bottling for 30 (70cl) and it will be delivered in time for the launch of RebusFest at the end of June 2017. It will only be available for those who join the brands Inner Circle. Registration of interest for this bottle is open now. In addition for those who will be in Edinburgh for the RebusFest, Highland Parks senior brand ambassador Martin Markvardsen will be hosting two whisky Master Classes on Friday 30 June and Saturday 1 July at the Waldorf Astoria Edinburgh The Caledonian. 19 April 2017 - Sam Coyne The Drinks Report, news editor The FBI offered up to USD 100,000 for any information that leads to the arrest of Bhadreshkumar Chetanbhai Patel, the Indian who went missing after killing his wife inside Dunkin Donuts restaurant in the US. By Press Trust of India: The FBI on Tuesday put a 26-year-old Indian national on its top 10 "Most Wanted List", two years after he went missing after allegedly killing his wife inside the kitchen of a Dunkin Donuts restaurant in the US. The FBI offered up to USD 100,000 for any information that leads to the arrest of Bhadreshkumar Chetanbhai Patel. advertisement The agency warned that Patel, who stabbed his 21-year-old wife Palak Bhadreskumar Patel multiple times with a large knife, should be considered armed and extremely dangerous. Palak was found beaten to death inside the restaurant kitchen in Hanover, Maryland on April 12, 2015. Both the husband and wife were Dunkin Donuts employees. "The extremely violent nature of the crimes allegedly committed by Bhadreshkumar Patel earned him a place on the FBI's Top Ten List," Gordon B Johnson, the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Baltimore Field Office, said in a statement. The valuable assistance of the public cannot be overstated, as shown by the ongoing success locating fugitives placed on the Top Ten list, the official said. "The ongoing efforts of our investigators, coupled with the public s assistance, will lead to the capture of Bhadreshkumar Patel. We will never forget, and will not rest until he is located, captured and brought to justice." Bhadreshkumar Chetanbhai Patel's name figues on FBI's 'Ten Most Wanted Fugitive' list. (Photo: fbi.gov) FBI RELEASES VIDEO A video released by the FBI shows both Bhadreshkumar and his wife working on the day of her death, walking off screen behind some racks in the kitchen together. He then re-emerges back on camera without his wife, turning off an oven and leaving the scene, The Capital Gazette reported. Bhadreshkumar's been charged with first- and second- degree murder, first- and second-degree assault, and a weapons offence in connection with her death. A federal arrest warrant was issued a week after Palak's death as Bhadreshkumar was charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. Investigators said he was last seen taking a hotel shuttle to Newark Penn Station in New Jersey on April 13, 2015 around 10 AM. Police said Bhadreshkumar, originally from Kantrodi Ta Viramgam, Gujarat, India, had a visa to be in the US, but it had expired and there was no indication he was able to legally leave the country, the report said. More details about Bhadreshkumar Chetanbhai Patel Investigators believe that Palak wanted to return to India, though her husband was against the idea. Patel has ties to New Jersey, Kentucky, Georgia, Illinois and India. "Palak Patel was murdered in a depraved act of domestic violence," Anne Arundel County police Chief Tim Altomare said in a statement. advertisement "Numerous and overwhelming efforts have been made in attempts to locate Bhadreshkumar and none of the efforts to date have been met with success," the official said. "In cooperation with the FBI the Anne Arundel County police believe we will certainly locate Bhadreshkumar and provide justice for Palak that her family desperately seeks in order to find closure," the official added. Also Read: How more and more Indian couples are live streaming sex to earn quick money Hate crime in US: Sikh cabbie attacked by passengers in New York, turban snatched WATCH | Sikh man shooting in US: Kent police terms incident a hate crime --- ENDS --- Dear Lisa: I'm compiling a family recipe book and want to include as much nutrition information as I can for each recipe. Do you know of a source for nutrition information on unlabeled foods such as produce and other ordinary staple items? Thank you. -- Jennifer F. Dear Jennifer: The United States Department of Agriculture has published Food Composition Databases for decades. Once published as The Nutritive Value of Foods booklet, the information is now available online at ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/ or simply search for "USDA food composition database." The site also includes a comprehensive database for national and regional food brands. On the site you will find "food reports," which list nutrient values for a specified food and "nutrient reports," which provide lists of foods and their nutrient values for a specified set of nutrients. You can search by food item, food group or manufacturer's name to find the nutrient information. You can also generate lists of foods sorted by nutrient content. For example, typing "avocado" into the search will produce nutrition information on fresh Florida and California avocados, as well as salad dressings, guacamole, avocado oil, salsa and dozens of other products containing avocados. The USDA food composition data is in the public domain. There is no copyright, and no permission is needed for its use. It's also a good resource for developers wishing to incorporate nutrient information into apps or websites. Lisa Fritz, a longtime Bryan food and nutrition educator, answers readers' questions about food, cooking and recipes. Her email address is cheflisa525@yahoo.com. Brazos County Sheriff Chris Kirk released Tuesday two composite images of a suspect in the nearly 36-year-old cold case involving the killing of a 40-year-old College Station real estate agent. Were here to give you a look at the face of the killer, Kirk told the reporters gathered at the Brazos County Sheriffs Office Tuesday afternoon. Virginia Freeman, known to her friends as Ginger, was killed around 3:30 in the afternoon on Dec. 1, 1981, in a rural part of College Station on Greens Prarie Road. A man had called the Real Estate Mart in Bryan, where Freeman worked, and told the office he had $73,000 in cash to pay for the house in the then-secluded area, an offer Freeman couldnt pass up, since cash payments generally offer a quicker pay. Freeman was stabbed 11 times in the neck and hit with a blunt object in her head. An autopsy revealed she died as a result of strangulation around 3:30 p.m., a half hour after the call. Her killer has never been found. That was a very traumatic day for the Freeman family, and it was traumatic for the whole community of Brazos County, Kirk said. The Brazos County Sheriffs Office enlisted the help of Snapshot DNA Phenotyping, a DNA analysis tool, that creates composite sketches of a persons facial structure. The sheriffs office entered into an agreement with National Geographic Explorers, who agreed to pay for the $3,600 analysis in exchange for permission to create a television documentary about the investigation. Using DNA found under Freemans fingernails, the Snapshot results revealed a portrait of the possible killers face. The two sketches released Tuesday show a man at 25 and 70 years old. Kirk explained that the mans age was unknown at the time of the murder, but the two sketches show him at different ages of his life, in the hopes it will lead to a break in the case and bring Freemans killer to justice. Were doing everything possible to solve this crime, said Kirk, though he acknowledged that it was possible the killer had died in the 35 years since Freemans murder. Multiple sheriffs in the Brazos County Sheriffs Office have worked on this case, from Bobby Yeager in 1981 to Chris Kirk in 2017. Investigators have traveled across the country to follow leads and question potential suspects about the crime, the most recent trip being to Kentucky last fall. Theyve questioned serial killers, including Coral Eugene Watts, a 28-year-old who killed more than 10 women in the Houston-Galveston area, and Henry Lee Lucas, who murdered more than 100 women over eight years, but all have been excluded as suspects. Theyve put potential witnesses under hypnosis and questioned them about their memories of that day. And theyve sent the case to the Department of Public Safety and Texas Rangers. The killer remains a free man. The case has special resonance for Kirk; it was the first murder hed worked for the sheriffs office, after having joined the department in 1980. I am the only deputy that remains at the sheriffs office who was at the scene that day, he said. I remember vividly the crime scene. I could tell she struggled and put up a fight. It would be a great pleasure to put handcuffs on the man who committed this crime, he said. Anyone who can offer information about the suspect is asked to call 361-4986 or 775-TIPS. The Texas Crime Stoppers is offering up to $6,000 for tips that help solve the case. A federal judge's ruling last week that Texas' stringent voter ID requirements are discriminatory has led a statewide nonpartisan group to ask Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to stop appealing decisions on the law. U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos issued a ruling on April 10 that when state lawmakers passed Senate Bill 14 in 2011, they intentionally discriminated against black and Hispanic voters. The ruling was Ramos' second against what has been called the toughest voter ID law in the U.S. Marc Rylander, a spokesman for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, told The Texas Tribune that his office was "disappointed and will seek review of this ruling at the appropriate time." Paxton's first deputy assistant, Brantley Starr, told the House Committee on Elections that he believes an appeals court will overturn Ramos' ruling because of the state's effort this year to pass a new ID law, the Tribune reported. The League of Women Voters of Texas -- a nonpartisan organization that has been "educating and agitating" members of all political parties since 1919 -- issued a statement last week urging the state not to appeal Ramos's ruling. "We expect the Texas attorney general will continue to appeal this order," said League of Women Voters of Texas President Elaine Wiant. "But the League strongly believes it an inappropriate use of taxpayer funds and only seeks to continue the discriminatory effects of the voter ID requirement." Senate Bill 14 required voters to present a photo ID -- a Texas driver's license or ID card, election identification certificate, military ID card, citizenship certificate, passport or concealed-carry license -- to cast an election ballot. Those who have one of those forms of identification but don't have them at the polls can cast a provisional ballot, which counts so long as they bring one of the accepted forms of ID within six days. The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in July 2016 that minority groups are less likely to have these forms of IDs than white voters. Tina Hanna, a seven-year elections and alternate judge and president of Texas Democratic Women of the Brazos Valley from 2014 to 2016, said the ID requirement disproportionately affects poorer Brazos County residents. "It discriminates, because a lot of people don't have transportation. The public transportation here is not real good. You have to be able to get there to register," Hanna said of the process of getting to the DMV to get a state-issued driver's license. Ramos' ruling referenced two instances of voter fraud out of 20 million ballots cast in the decade leading up to SB14's passage. According to a News21 study, 104 instances of voter fraud were found in the state between 2000 and 2012 -- almost a quarter of which were because of absentee ballot fraud, which Ramos pointed out is not protected against by State Bill 14. "I do not believe that asking for photo ID to vote is discriminatory, and everyone who votes should be more than willing to show ID if there is nothing to hide," local state Rep. John Raney said in a written statement to The Eagle. "Now that being said, man has never written a perfect law, and it sounds like the Texas Legislature will need to go back and tweak some of the language to ensure constitutionality." State Rep. Kyle Kacal said he'll continue to work so that Texas residents have faith in the system.. In a written statement provided to The Eagle, Kacal said "it is imperative for the voters of Texas to have confidence in the integrity of our elections process," and that he will "continue to work with my colleagues in the House to ensure that our citizens will always have faith in the validity of these fundamental rights." Trudy Hancock, Brazos County elections administrator, said that of the 101,000 registered voters in the county, around 68,000 voted in the November elections. "As far as I know, we did not have anything to report as far as voter fraud to the authorities," said Hancock, adding that she does not think the voter ID requirements hampered Election Day voter turnout. An exception to the voter ID requirements was allowed in November elections, where potential voters could cast a ballot by providing easily obtainable documents such as a bank statement or a utility bill. They also need to sign an affidavit, known as a "reasonable impediment declaration." Hancock said 143 people used the reasonable impediment declarations in the November 2016 election; once the declaration was signed, Hancock said her office did not follow up to verify the voters' residency statuses. Senate Bill 5, which is in committee in the state legislature, would make the reasonable impediment form permanent. Should a voter lie and sign the declaration when they possess an acceptable form of identification, they will be charged with a third-degree felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. State Sen. Charles Schwertner was one of SB 5's co-authors, which his chief of staff, Tom Holloway, said in an email "follows the guidance offered by Fifth Court of Appeals and seeks to address concerns over the existing law." "Senator Schwertner has consistently supported a strong photo voter ID law in order to protect the integrity of our elections and ensure that all votes are legal and valid," Holloway wrote. Vasquez said she was not aware of anyone she helped to vote who was given the option of signing the declaration, but even if they were, she was not in favor of the option. "We're supposed to be making voting fast and easy. Filling out the impediment form is not fast and easy. People get discouraged by that," she said. Lance Parr, former president of the Brazos County chapter of the League of Women Voters of Texas before it was disbanded, said that "at the root of the League of Women Voters' mission is encouraging voting by everybody, and the League is opposed to anything that would form any kind of impediment to that." Parr said that it would be "hard to articulate" how voter ID laws have affected turnout in Brazos County, but given the "very large minority population in our area" -- more than 11 percent of residents are African-American and almost a quarter are Hispanic, according to the 2015 census -- it's not inconceivable to think the stringent voter ID requirements have discouraged -- or prevented -- many minority residents from voting. Celina Vasquez, a bilingual volunteer deputy registrar for more than a decade, disagrees. She says the voter ID requirements "absolutely" lessened the number of Hispanic residents who voted in November. "People are intimidated. They're scared," she said. "They would rather stay home and not be bothered instead of be intimidated and questioned." President George H.W. Bush has been admitted to a Houston hospital, according to spokesman Jim McGrath. Bush is being treated at Houston Methodist Hospital for observation because of a persistent cough, his spokesman said. He was diagnosed with a mild case of pneumonia, which was treated and has been resolved. McGrath said the former president is in "very good spirits" and is being held for further observation. Bush was admitted to Houston Methodist Hospital on Jan. 14 for breathing difficulties blamed on pneumonia. He later was moved to intensive care when doctors inserted a breathing tube. That hospital stay lasted for more than two weeks. The former president and his wife, Barbara, performed the coin toss for Super Bowl LI in Houston in February. Amid discussing topics ranging from immigration to climate change to Russian involvement in the presidential election, one of the easier questions U.S. Rep. Bill Flores fielded during his tele-town hall Tuesday came from a caller who asked, "Why aren't you here?" Cheers were audible in the background of the call from the Texas A&M Hillel Center, where members of the TX-17 Indivisible Bryan/College Station group had gathered. The problem with the Republican congressman's decision to hold a town hall via telephone, the caller said, is that Flores wouldn't get a good idea of where constituents stand without being in the room with them. Flores, taking questions from callers and Facebook from behind a desk, replied that 2,348 people were on the line at that moment. He found the new format for a series of town hall meetings this week --- a call-in radio town hall will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday on WTAW-AM -- to be the best way to "reach across the breadth" of his 17th Congressional District. On Facebook Live, where the town hall was broadcast, a flurry of angry response emojis floated across the screen. But in one of the poll questions typical of Flores' public meetings, 53 percent of those who participated said they prefer tele-town halls to in-person meetings. Flores said he answered both "layup" questions and tougher ones, even occasionally reading negative comments -- "Somebody says I'm lying. Sorry, I'm not" -- that peppered Facebook during the live broadcast. Climate change was ranked highest in a poll question that asked participants what they think is the most important issue facing the United States. A caller from Austin asked Flores what steps he would take to protect Texas from the "very real dangers" of climate change. "I agree we all want to protect the environment, we all want to protect the country for our kids and our grandkids from climate change," Flores said. "The questions are, how you go about doing it? And two, what impact does it have? And three, what are the economic implications of what you're doing?" Flores described himself as "kind of a geek about this stuff," even saying he's the largest producer of residential solar power in Brazos County and saved the environment from 2.7 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. And while Flores said he does his part because he has the interest and financial ability, he doesn't think those costs ought to be put on the "entire economy." Though he didn't give any specific suggestions on how to handle climate change, Flores said the country should avoid taking a "hyper-aggressive" approach that could cause economic disruptions. Several questions related to President Donald Trump, including the Tax Day-specific query of whether Flores thinks the president should release his tax returns (he won't be asking for it) and his thoughts as a fiscal conservative on Trump's Mar-a-Lago trips (if they're "very expensive," it's up to "people like me" to ask him to reconsider). Also in response to a Facebook user who said they were "scared our country's been infiltrated by Russians," Flores touched on investigations into Russian hacking in the presidential election. "I'm quite frankly chapped that they ... have been involved in this activity," Flores said. Though Flores said information he could share from reports he's read indicates Russia had no impact on the outcome of the election, he's upset the federal government did not find out about the hacking sooner and has several questions he hopes can be answered by the House and Senate intelligence committees' reports. In response to a caller's question about immigration policy and a potential path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, Flores said he's against Trump's plans to build a border wall. "In some cases, my party and I are not necessarily on the same page on this," Flores said. On immigration issues, Flores said he's against sanctuary cities and in favor of cutting off their federal funding. But when it comes to immigration more broadly, Flores said securing the border can be done without a wall via aerial assets, "boots on the ground" and various technologies. The visa tracking and enforcement system also needs to be fixed, Flores said, suggesting a demand-based system for certain labor sectors be set up. Flores added that there are some different policy options he thinks could be used to address people who are already residing in the country illegally, such as a registration process that could involve a potential visa for adults, who could eventually earn a permanent visa after meeting certain provisions, and a path to permanent legal status for their children. Another popular topic was health care, with one caller asking if Flores would commit to supporting all Americans having access to affordable and adequate-quality healthcare. Flores, who is in favor of repealing the Affordable Care Act , said he does want America have an environment and infrastructure in place where all citizens have access to high-quality health care, but whether they choose to take it or not is up to them. Flores circled back to healthcare on questions related to tax reform, saying healthcare form has to be done first. Flores said he thinks theres about a 50 percent chance repeal and replacement of the ACA can be accomplished using reconciliation, a legislative process. To watch the full video of Flores tele-town hall, visit his Facebook page, www.facebook.com/RepBillFlores. Brazos County Sheriff Chris Kirk told a room of reporters Tuesday afternoon that he was about to "reveal the face of the killer" who strangled a 40-year-old real estate agent at a then-secluded home on College Station's Greens Prairie Road in 1981. Virginia Freeman -- known to her friends as Ginger -- was a married mother of two who volunteered for the Girl Scouts and the American Red Cross and helped international students from Texas A&M University adjust to the life in the United States. She was killed on the afternoon of Dec. 1, 1981, after a man with a "country-sounding accent," according to stories in The Eagle's archives, had called the Real Estate Mart in Bryan, where she worked. The man told the office he had $73,000 in cash to pay for a house in the then-secluded area, an offer Freeman couldn't pass up, since cash payments generally mean quicker pay. Freeman's husband, with the help of one of her co-workers, found his wife's body behind the still-locked home. Freeman had been struck in the back of the head by a blunt object, possibly a slab of concrete, stabbed repeatedly in the neck and shoulders and had suffered a broken neck as a result of strangulation. Authorities later determined she also had been sexually assaulted. An autopsy later revealed she had died as a result of strangulation around 3:30 p.m., a half-hour after the killer placed the call to the Real Estate Mart. Her killer has never been found. "That was a very traumatic day for the Freeman family, and it was traumatic for the whole community of Brazos County," Kirk said. The Brazos County Sheriff's Office enlisted the help of Snapshot DNA Phenotyping, a cutting-edge DNA analysis tool that creates composite sketches of a person's facial structure. The sheriff's office entered into an agreement with National Geographic Explorers, who agreed to pay for the $3,600 analysis in exchange for permission to create a television show documentary about the sheriff's office's investigation. Using DNA found under Freeman's fingernails, the Snapshot results revealed a portrait of the possible killer's face. The two sketches released Tuesday show a man at 25 and 70 years old. Kirk explained that the man's age was unknown at the time of the slaying, but the two sketches show him at different ages of his life, in the hopes it will lead to a break in the case and bring the killer to justice. "We're doing everything possible to solve this crime," Kirk said, though he acknowledged it was possible the killer had died in the 35 years since Freeman's death. Multiple sheriffs in the Brazos County Sheriff's Office have worked on this case, from Bobby Yeager in 1981 to Kirk. Investigators have traveled across the country to follow leads and question potential suspects about the crime, the most recent trip being to Kentucky in fall 2016. They've questioned serial killers such as Coral Eugene Watts, a 28-year-old who killed more than 10 women in the Houston-Galveston area, and Henry Lee Lucas, who claimed to have killed more than 100 women over eight years, but all have been ruled out as suspects. Officials have put potential witnesses under hypnosis and questioned them about their memories of that day, and they've sent the case to the Department of Public Safety and the Texas Rangers. The case has special resonance for Kirk; it was the first slaying he'd worked for the sheriff's office after joining the department in 1980. "I am the only deputy that remains at the sheriff's office who was at the scene that day," he said. "I remember vividly the crime scene. I could tell she struggled and put up a fight." "It would be a great pleasure to put handcuffs on the man who committed this crime," he said. Anyone who can offer any helpful information about the suspect depicted in the composite sketches is asked to call 979-361-4986 or 979-775-TIPS. The Texas Crime Stoppers is offering up to $6,000 for tips that help break open the case. The MHA order has listed a six-point violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) accusing the leading NGO of misusing foreign funding by working with the anti-tobacco lobby. By Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu: In a major setback to an NGO, the Union home ministry has cancelled the FCRA registration of Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), barring it from receiving foreign funds. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is one of the biggest donors to the NGO. The MHA order has listed a six-point violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) accusing the leading NGO of misusing foreign funding by working with the anti-tobacco lobby. advertisement The home ministry has alleged PHFI had opened multiple accounts without disclosing it to the ministry, possessing two PAN cards and also under reporting of its foreign donation by nearly Rs 200 crore in three years. Meanwhile, PHFI chief K Srinath Reddy told news agency PTI that the NGO has got in touch with the ministry on the issue with a request for early resolution of the matter. "We have submitted all relevant documents and information to the ministry and are now waiting for a response," he said. Notably, the PHFI has been collaborating with a range of institutions including the ministry of health and Bill and Melinda Gates foundation to improve public health in India and improve global public health . According to the website, PHFI was inaugurated by PM Manmohan Singh in 2006. Even the Union ministry of health and family welfare are said to its founder member. PHFI has worked with several state governments in the recent past including Gujarat, Telangana, Odisha, Meghalaya, Karnataka and Delhi. NGOs receiving foreign fund have been of foreigner division in MHA with FCRA licences being cancelled. But MHA say either NGOs are not confirming to law or the NGOs are in violation of law. Also read: 11,319 NGOs barred from receiving foreign funds: govt New guidelines for regulating NGOs formulated: Centre tells SC --- ENDS --- November 6, 1927 - April 16, 2017 Milford Niemeyer, 89, passed away Sunday, April 16 at Hospice Brazos Valley Inpatient Facility. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 2:00 p.m. Thursday, April 20 at St. Anthony's Catholic Church. Interment will follow at Rest-Ever Memorial Park Cemetery. Visitation will be Wednesday from 5 7 p.m. with a 7:00 p.m. rosary service at Memorial Funeral Chapel in Bryan. Milford was born November 6, 1927 in Washington County, Texas the son of Henry and Emma (Debe) Niemeyer. He proudly served our country in the U.S. Army during the Korean War and had received the bronze star; he was a member of the American Legion Earl Graham Post 159. After returning from the service, Milford was a Baker for Allen Academy for 20 years and then worked for and retired from Duncan Dinning Hall at Texas A&M University. Family was very important to Milford; he cherished his time with family especially on Saturday nights when the family got together to play poker. He taught his grandchildren at a young age how to play poker. Milford enjoyed playing cards, going on casino trips and cooking. He was a member of St. Anthony's Catholic Church, Golden Years, Men's Club and the Knights of Columbus. Milford is preceded in death by his parents; brother, Clarence Niemeyer; sister, Leona Grebe. He is survived by his wife of 45 years, Lucille Niemeyer; sons and daughters-in-law, Gary and Connie Niemeyer, Michael and Frances Niemeyer; grandchildren, Neill Niemeyer and wife Lindsey, Kathy Savell, Karl Niemeyer, Jennifer Lemons and husband Bick; great-grandchildren, Randy Savell, Carley Savell, Benjamin Lemons, Mason Seymour and Paityn Seymour; nephew, Larry Grebe and wife Valisia. Memorials may be made to Hospice Brazos Valley, 502 W 26th St, Bryan, TX 77803. May 31, 1949 - April 16, 2017 Janis L. Wiman, 67, of Bryan, passed away on Resurrection Sunday, April 16, 2017. Janis was born on May 31, 1949 in Graham, TX to Thomas and Mary Robertson. She graduated from Sweetwater High School, attended Hardin Simmons University, and received a BA degree in music education with a concentration in organ from Texas Christian University. Janis married Bill J. Wiman on June 27, 1970 in Sweetwater. They served in Christian ministry together in Duncanville; Dublin; Abilene; Wichita, KS; Marshall. They have made their home in Bryan for the past 32 years, serving together in ministry at First Baptist Church, Bryan. Janis had great passion for both children and music. She was a music/choral teacher for Bryan ISD from 1989-2000, and was very active in leading children's Sunday School and children's choirs. She also served faithfully in the music ministry of churches where she was a member and most recently as Organist for First Baptist Bryan. Survivors include her husband, Bill; daughters, Aimee Thompson (Greg) and Anne Wiman; grandsons, Nathan and Justin; her mother, Mary Robertson; sisters: Becky Hays (Wes), Gayle Hamilton (Gary), Peggy Clark (David). She is also survived by many cousins, nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her Father, Thomas B. Robertson. Family visitation will be from 5:00pm to 7:00pm on Thursday, April 20, 2017, at Callaway Jones Funeral Center, 3001 S. College Ave., Bryan. Interment will be at College Station Memorial Cemetery at 11:00am on Friday, April 21, 2017. A Celebration of Life service will be held on Friday, April 21, 2017, at 2:00pm at First Baptist Church, Bryan. Family and friends will remember Janis for her love and dedication to family, her passion for music and meaningful worship, and for her private ministry of prayer for family and others. Memorials may be given to the Music Ministry of the First Baptist Church of Bryan, 3100 Cambridge Drive, Bryan, TX 77802. Express condolences at CallawayJones.com The Town of Boones Mill is celebrating a big step in its revitalization efforts this week as it cut the ribbon on a home for new businesses. The 50,000-square-foot industrial facility located at the new Village Park at Boones Mill, is the former site of the North American Housing manufacturing complex and sat empty since closing after the housing crash of 2007 and 2008, according to Boones Mill Town Manager Matt Lawless. The town purchased the complex in 2011 for $400,000 and began construction in September 2016. Renovations included all new siding and a glass front for the building. Its a big day for Boones Mill, Lawless said. This is a project that was years in the making, so it feels really good for us and the whole town to get to the ribbon cutting and to welcome two new businesses. Filling the ground floor of the two-story facility are those new businesses Titan Trains and Liquid Performance bringing with them about 25 employees. They are both existing businesses moving here from other places, Lawless said. Theyre losing their existing facilities, so this renovation comes at a very good time for them. We now have a more diversified economic base, and it feels really good to have the manufacturing back in and sporting stuff that says made in Boones Mill. Titan Trains makes 1/8-scale trains and sells them to collectors and parks. Owner Jim Humphrey lives in Franklin County and said he is happy to be moving his business to Boones Mill. This is a great leap forward for us in business and production capability and were very glad to be here, he said. Liquid Performance makes vehicle cleaners and engine additives. Its owner, Sam Pearce, also lives in Franklin County and is hoping to get his operations up by the end of the month. Theres quite an energy going on in the Boones Mill area, he said. The town is doing a great job and we appreciate them making us a part of that. The upper half of the facility remains available to other potential businesses. Its always good to see the results of something youve worked on and to see things come to fruition, said Del. Charles Poindexter, R-Franklin County. The town received several grants to help with funding the project, including $600,000 from Virginias Department of Housing and Community Development. We are very excited to be a part of this project and very excited to be a part of the future of Boones Mill, said Joy Rumley, the departments community revitalization specialist. The states funding, along with grants from the Tobacco Commission, provided over $1 million for the project, and the Town took out about $750,000 in loans from Virginia Community Capital. The Tobacco Commission also presented a $10,000 Tobacco Region Opportunity Fund grant to help support the Liquid Performance outfit. Our sole focus is to diversify the economy in southern and southwestern Virginia, said Chris Piper, deputy director of the Tobacco Commission. I cant think of a better project to exemplify that mission. Were glad to support this and were looking forward to supporting more projects in Boones Mill as they come about. This is a big deal for a small town, Lawless said. Small businesses make a big difference here. Richmond and the governors office understand that. In a letter read during the ceremony, Lt. Governor Ralph Northam congratulated Boones Mill for this occasion. Small business owners are the backbone of the Virginia economy and I know the services you provide are an integral part of your local communities, Northam said. Boones Mill Mayor Ben Flora was optimistic about the economic future of the town. This is the beginning of the development of this property, Flora said. The depot was a wonderful step forward to act as a keystone and now weve got quite a redevelopment project here. It will help us economically in terms of viability regarding any future development we do here and, thankfully, we didnt have to raise tax dollars at all. PAUL SCHNEIDEREIT: Treatment centre for PTSD in first responders, military opens in Nova Scotia Imagine its your job, every day, to be ready to rush to scenes where men, women or even children had been killed or badly injured, often in horrific circumstances. Really, consider what that might be like. If youre like most of us, the thought ... The sessions court judge in Bengaluru said there was not enough evidence to convict Pascal in the 2012 case. By Nolan Pinto: Five years after ex-French diplomat Pascal Mazurier was accused of raping his three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, a sessions court in Bengaluru has acquitted him. The judgment was delivered in the presence of Pascal Mazurier (44). His former wife Suja Jones (42) had complained in June 2012, that Pascal had raped their child. While pronouncing the judgment, the sessions court judge said there was not enough evidence to convict Pascal in the case. advertisement An FIR was filed under Section 376 of the IPC at the High Grounds police station against Mazurier in June 2012, and Pascal who was the deputy head of chancery at the French Consulate in Bangalore at that time, was arrested on June 15. The arrest came four days after the complaint was filed by Suja Jones Mazurier (42), a native of Kerala. Suja had submitted a medical report from the Collaborative Child Response Unit (CCRU) of the Baptist Hospital to the police on June 14 confirming the child had been raped on June 13. Suja and Pascal were married in France in 2001 and have three kids. The family moved to Bangalore in 2008 and was staying at an apartment in Vasanthnagar. Also read: Out on bail, French diplomat Pascal Mazurier writes to Bangalore police seeking justice for sexually abused daughter CBFC bans Raveena Tandon's Maatr for scenes of graphic, gruesome violence against women --- ENDS --- Meanwhile after ED, NIA will soon be knocking on court door's seeking non-bailable warrant (NBW) for Zakir Naik, the head of Islamic Research Foundation (IRF). By Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu: In what could spell double trouble for Zakir Naik is that at least one close aide of the controversial preacher has given a confessional statement under section 164 of CrPC spilling beans on Naik's benami property worth Rs 100 crore. Top sources in National Investigation Agency said that another key aide has also agreed to give a statement which will nail Naik. But the aide suffered a fracture recently, throwing spanner in the legal process. However, the agency says they have enough evidence to nail Naik. advertisement Meanwhile after Enforcement Director, NIA will soon be knocking on court's door seeking non-bailable warrant against Zakir Naik, head of Islamic Research Foundation (IRF). This, after the controversial preacher cum televangelist gave a hatrick miss to NIA's summons to him. The NIA issued fresh summons to Naik for appearance before it on April 17 for questioning after he had failed to appear the last time on March 30 as well. Top sources say that after the NBW, agency will move application to declare Naik a "proclaimed offender". The proclamation under section 82 of Criminal procedure code (CrPC), a section which was used in Mallya's case as well. This will also imply that his properties, approximately valued at Rs 100 crore would be attached, though top sources have said that ED, in a separate case, has already attached some property. A person is declared as a proclaimed offender in a criminal investigation if the court believes that the accused has absconded or is concealing himself so that a warrant cannot be executed. Under section 83 of CrPC the proclaimed offender is required to appear before the investigating agency within 30 days. The agency has also been seeking a Red Corner Notice from Interpol after Naik had defied repeated summons to join in the probe. Also read: Book Zakir Naik under anti-terror law: Solicitor General advises govt Also read: Now dubbed a threat, Zakir Naik was once provided security by Mumbai Police Also read: Zakir Naik to India Today: I back Modi's quest to improve relations between Hindus, Muslims --- ENDS --- This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The governors race is starting to resemble Interstate 95 at rush hour. On Wednesday, a former federal prosecutor who won a conviction in the campaign fraud case of incarcerated ex-Gov. John Rowland announced that he had filed exploratory papers for the states highest office. We must embrace a new kind of politics, a politics of engagement and openness, a politics that rejects the backroom deals and influence-peddling, which only hold us back, a politics that lifts up every voice, Hartford Democrat Chris Mattei said in a YouTube video released by his exploratory committee. Mattei, 38, has never before run for public office. But he is certainly no stranger to the political scene in the state, having been exposed to its unseemly side as former chief of the Financial Fraud and Public Corruption Unit in the U.S. Attorneys Office for Connecticut. His breakthrough came in 2014, when he won a jury conviction against Rowland for working as on off-the-books campaign operative for GOP congressional hopeful Lisa Wilson-Foley. As federal corruption prosecutor, I prosecuted John Rowland and many others who had abused their positions of power and we brought criminal cases against Wall Street financiers who had pocketed illegal profits by rigging the market against average people, Mattei said in his video opening argument. Within an hour of Matteis debut, Donald Trump die-hard Joe Visconti announced that he will be mounting another candidacy for governor. The former West Hartford town councilor said he will bypass the state Republican convention and collect signatures from registered party members to try to go straight to a GOP primary next August. I am Trump in Connecticut, Visconti told Hearst Connecticut Media. The 60-year-old Trump operative is a flamboyant and controversial figure in GOP politics, packing a Beretta .380-caliber handgun in its holster on the campaign trail for governor in 2014. That year, he resorted to running as a petition candidate after he failed to qualify for the GOP primary. I am an armed candidate, Visconti said Wednesday. In hasty accord with Republican nominee Tom Foley, Visconti withdrew from the race in early November, but it was too late to remove his name from the ballot. He and his running mate received 11,456 votes. Visconti said he will try to raise $250,000 in $100 increments to qualify for public campaign financing under the states clean elections program. There will be a little showbiz, but all and all its about the money right now, Visconti said. nvigdor@hearstmediact.com; 203-625-4436; http://twitter.com/gettinviggy This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Students from Norwalk and Stamford recently joined a mission to give back to disadvantaged children in Peru. Norwalk-based non-profit organization Ready for School Inc. organized the trip to Peru on April 10. Eleven volunteers and four local students, from 8 to 13 years old, delivered backpacks, shoes and clothing to schools in Cajabamba, one of the poorest areas of the county. The organization said they made their largest donation on this trip, benefitting 332 students from five schools. More Information To make a donation to Ready for School Inc. Email info@readyforschoolinc.org or call 203-570-2259 See More Collapse "We brought 16 luggage bags full of donations," said Yessenia Martinez, president of Ready for School Inc. The goal of the nonprofit is to provide necessities needed for these poor children to thrive in their environment. The children that received the donations ranged from 6 to 12 years old. "About thirty percent of students at the schools we donated to have never owner a pair of shoes," Martinez said. The trip not only benefited children in need, but created a wonderful experience for the young student volunteers. "They said it was one thing hearing about the non-profit and how it helps the important mission, but seeing it with their own eyes, they saw how much these kids need," she said. "One of the 8-year-olds said he was going to take better care of his toys so he can donate them." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate NORWALK Aleksander Rotner has always had an eye for the unusual. So its not surprising that one day, while walking through SoNo, the curved gallery wall at the corner of South Main and Haviland streets caught his eye. I was walking down the street one day and I saw pictures hanging in the windows so as a photographer, naturally I was interested, Rotner said. The gallery, which is meant to be viewed from the sidewalk at night, is the Sidewalk Gallery at Press Proof Studio, which features rotating exhibits of artists from throughout the region. Now, several months after stumbling upon the unusual gallery, an exhibit of Rotners work, titled Point of View, is on display at Sidewalk Gallery at Press Proof Studio in SoNo. The exhibit opened April 9, and will run through April 30. It is the 18th exhibit by Sidewalk Gallery since it opened in 2014, but only the second exhibit which features a photographer rather than a fine artist. Jennifer Hunter, associate director of the Sidewalk Gallery, said she was excited to feature a local artist in the gallery. Rotner, originally from Poland, has lived in Norwalk for more than 25 years. I think that it fits well now at this specific time partially because were liking how local Mr. Rotner is, Hunter said. He happened by and found us and we liked that. We liked that he saw another exhibit, he knocked showed his interest, followed up, and weve been building a relationship ever since. Rotner has an enormous collection of images spanning everything from people, animals, nature, architecture, still life, and everything in between. He said he considers roughly 300 of the images complete out of the thousands hes started. Point Of View features only a small sample of Rotners work. All of Rotners pieces begin with a photograph hes taken, but very few end there. Rotner alters the images to create dramatic, surreal images. One photo, of a woman with back to the camera overlooking the sea, for example, has been altered to appear as though shes looking out over the Earth from space. I loved the pose and I wanted to make something more dramatic, Rotner said of the image. I take the pictures but I use that as a starting point to develop into a difference scene. Rotner immigrated to the U.S. from Poland, and has earned a living as a video producer and filmmaker here since 1975. He recently retired to return to still photography, a skill he first picked up as a teenager in Poland. Rotner continues to live and work mostly in Norwalk, while being exhibited at prestigious places such as the Louvre in Paris. Rotner has work in the permanent collection of our Norwalk Mayors Gallery. Pro-active to share his Point of View with the world, he has exhibited in over 25 venues in the last three years. I few years ago I retired and went back to my first true love, which is photography, Rotner said. I can spend hours working on this and not get tired of it. kkrasselt@scni.com; 203-354-1021; @kaitlynkrasselt NORWALK The citys public school district may be forced to fire 75 employees or more if it is not able to switch its workers over to the Connecticut Partnership Plan 2.0, the states collective health insurance program, district officials said Tuesday. The terminations would be needed to help the district plug a $6.65 million deficit that officials said the district would face if it stayed on its current self-insured program, given the citys recently approved operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year. ... Its painful, said Bryan Meek, a Board of Education member and chairman of the boards Finance Committee. Its over a school building full of personnel. Erik Anderson, a Board of Education and Finance Committee member, said the cuts represent a route he does not even want to think about. The details surrounding the health care program were made public Tuesday afternoon at City Hall as the main topic of discussion at the Board of Educations Finance Committee meeting. Tom Hamilton, the school districts chief financial officer, said making the switch to the states 2.0 plan could save the district more than $3 million annually. The need for a change in the way the school finances its employees health insurance, officials say, stems from a spike in anticipated health insurance claim costs that was identified in the first several months of this school year in combination with a one-time reduction made to the districts insurance fund after a surplus in the fund built up in prior years which was transferred to cover the Special Education Development Fund for the 2017-18 school year. Luckily, health insurance claims within the last several months have slowed, Hamilton said, shrinking the anticipated $8.6 million deficit by nearly $2 million, but still leaving that $6.65 million hole. Making the switch to the states health insurance program would still leave the district with a $4 million deficit, but would allow the district to draw down its current insurance fund balance by $3.9 million as it would no longer be self-insured and need that fund to leave only a $100,000 deficit. Thats why getting to the state 2.0 is so important, Hamilton said. The alternative of having to find $6.5 million elsewhere in the budget is not a prospect we look forward to. We still believe the state partnership program is the best way forward for us. Resistance to the change could come from the districts unions, which represent most employees including teachers, administrators and custodians. Union leaders could not be reached for comment by the time of this storys publication. Hamilton said district officials would be in discussion with employee unions over the terms of the switch in the health insurance plan. He said the district would be looking to go into the plan as soon as July 1, which stands as the start of the new fiscal year. The change in health plans would, for the most part, represent a savings to employees, Hamilton said, presenting documents that outlined price comparisons between the plans. In-network deductibles for employees would decrease from $2,000 for a single employee and $4,000 per family to $350 for singles and $1,400 per family in the switch to the state plan. However, all of those deductibles would be waived entirely in the new plan if employees enroll in the state health plans Health Enhancement Program, which requires regular screenings such as eye exams and dental cleanings. In-network medical office exams costs would also change from being the cost of the deductible to the cost of the deductible plus a $15 copay in the new plan. Prescription drug costs, after deductibles are accounted for, would see a $5 dollar reduction in copay across all three tier levels, including prices of $5, $10 and $15. Generally, said Mike Barbis, Board of Education and Finance Committee member, the change from the current plan would mean a typical insured district employee with a family would see about $2,450 savings per year, with about half of that amount of savings per year for a single employee. The prices represented in the states plan, officials said, are universal as the program is not personalized for each school district. Other nearby school districts such as in Greenwich, Trumbull and Fairfield have all made the switch to the states program, with marked savings, officials noted. Its not like were the first ones to do it and its not like other teachers arent on it, Barbis said. This is nothing cutting edge its something that is well established. KSchultz@thehour.com; 203-354-1049; @kevinedschultz WESTPORTWhen Mark Mathias took his kids to a Maker Faire in New York City he was astounded by both the excitement the event brought but also how much they benefited intellectually from it. My kids had so much fun that they didnt even know they were learning, Mathias said. That transformative experience prompted him to bring a version of the Maker Faire to Westport just a year later in 2012, which exploded with enthusiasm from the outset. In what was the first Maker Faire event in the state, the Westport Library hosted over 2,000 creative mindsranging from interested attendees to artists and scientistswho learned and shared their ideas and work. It was pretty much a party for geeks, Mathias said. We planned it for 800 people max and we were astounded when 2,200 showed up. Saturday will mark the sixth annual Maker Faire in Westport and for the first time will shed the mini title. This year, because of the amount that weve grown over the years were a Maker Faire instead of a Mini Maker Faire, Alex Giannini, co-chair of the Maker Faire, said. Were going to have more than 120 makers and were expecting 10,000 attendees, he added. More Information Westport Maker Faire Where: Westport Library and Bedford Square in Westport When: Saturday April 22 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Price: Free See More Collapse Because of the largest crowd in the events history anticipated, this year will also mark the first time it stretches beyond the library grounds and into the newly completed Bedford Square development downtown. There will be four different virtual reality technologies participants can experience, one of which will allow them to simulate the flying of a plane. Were also going to have a virtual reality flight simulator. They can fly an airplane from sitting in a chair in Bedford Square, Mathias said. Also at Bedford Square, fairgoers will be able to test out Microsoft HoloLens which creates realistic holograms through a headset using both augmented and virtual reality, Giannini said. Skiorsky will bring a wind tunnel for people to fly paper planes in. This is completely unexpected and every year Im amazed at what I see every year. And every year we have something new that people have never seen or heard of, Mathias said. The Maker Faire is free and is April 22 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. @chrismmarquette; cmarquette@bcnnew.com Arshad Warsi turned 49 today. On his birthday, we look back at some of the best performances of the actor. By India Today Web Desk: Arshad Warsi, one of Bollywood's finest and underrated, actors turned 49 today. Since his debut in the 1996 film Tere Mere Sapne, which seems pre-historical today, he has acted in countless films - good, bad and ugly. Some of these films have gone on to become timeless cult-classics and his roles in them, today, are the stuff of iconography and parody. Even in his lesser-known films, Arshad Warsi is often the best performer amidst a sea of actors. advertisement On his 49th birthday, we look back at Arshad Warsi's finest on-screen performances in a career covering more than two decades. Circuit in Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003) It was this film that made Arshad Warsi and his role, 'Circuit', a household name all across India. Earlier to this, Arshad tried his luck as the main hero starring in mediocre and sub-par comercial vehicles but Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. provided Arshad a great platform to showcase his talent as a first-rate character actor and boy, did he deliver. SSP Ajay Kumar in Sehar (2005) Sehar is not only one of the best Bollywood crime dramas made in the last two decades but also one of Arshad Warsi's best films. Arshad Warsi plays a tough, honest cop trying to fight organised crime in late '90s Uttar Pradesh. As Ajay Kumar, Arshad Warsi gives a heartfelt and serious performance but sadly the film and his work went unnoticed. Jai Kapoor in Kabul Express (2006) Much before Kabir Khan became the blockbuster director responsible for Salman Khan's biggest hits, he made his Bollywood debut with this gritty adventure film that revolved around two journalists stuck in post-Taliban Afghanistan. Arshad Warsi stars as Jai Kapoor, one of the two journalists in this unique, one-of-a-kind movie. Babban in Ishqiya (2010) Arshad Warsi embrached his raunchy side, his comic side and his gangster side, all in one, together in Abhishek Chaubey's Ishqiya. Together with Naseeruddin Shah and Vidya Balan, Arshad Warsi really became an integral part of the ensemble and wowed one and all with his character, Babban. Mahendra Fauji Baisla in Zila Ghaziabad (2013) Arshad Warsi came around in Zila Ghaziabad with a more vicious version of Babban in Zila Ghaziabad. In a film that was panned by both critics and audiences, Arshad Warsi was the only actor worth watching in this ill-fated UP-based gangster drama. Jagdish Tyagi a.k.a Jolly in Jolly LLB (2013) Arshad Warsi starred as the bumbling, inept lawyer Jolly who goes on to grow a conscience in the face of indomitable odds. The film became a sleeper hit, won two National Awards and once again reminded people of how fantastic Arshad is as a performer. advertisement Arjun Mishra in Irada (2017) Arshad Warsi shines as a National Investigation Agency (NIA) officer in this small-town noir film where the mystery revolves around an ecological disaster. Hard-hitting, gritty and realistic, Irada gets its points across and Arshad Warsi's investigator-act is first-rate pulp-fiction stuff. ALSO READ: Arshad Warsi hits out at Modi for demonetisation, gets trolled WATCH: Arshad Warsi is a jolly good lawyer --- ENDS --- As history demonstrates, in France as elsewhere, the Church is always rising from the dead because the gates of Hell cannot prevail against her Christianity has died many times and risen again; for it had a God who knew the way out of the grave. G.K.Chesterton, The Everlasting Man In a recent essay, Is the West Lost Forever?, I wrote the following: What will be left when the secularist West is dead will be the Permanent Things. Christianity is alive and well, and thriving and growing, in Africa, Asia, Chinaand yes, even in resurrected embryonic form in Europe and other parts of the West. Europe and the West might be committing collective suicide, but Christendom is always new, as it is always old, because it is the Permanent Thing. In light of these words, a recent essay in America about the rise and renewal of Christianity in France illustrates all too clearly the resurrected embryonic form of the Christian revival in Europe. A few years ago, writes the essays author, Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry, I started to realize something. Whenever I was less than five minutes early for Mass, I had to go to the overflow room, and I would typically have to step over people sitting on the floor to get there. The church was filled to the gills every Sunday, with young families and children most of the time. Mr. Gobry, who lives in Paris, experienced the same thing when he moved to a different part of the city. The church was packed. There were wealthy and elderly Parisians but also many immigrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa and Indian Ocean countries, as well as the kinds of hipsters you might not expect to be religious. Also, and significantly, Mr. Gobry tells us that there are children everywhere. Mr. Gobry makes a point of attending other, random parishes on Sundays, just to see if this is a real trend and has found that Sunday high Mass is packed in most parishes in Paris and that the same is true in Lyon, the second largest city in France. Surprisingly perhaps, at least for those of a neo-atheist persuasion who consider religion the preserve of the ignorant, the Catholic revival in France is a phenomenon most marked among the highly educated in the large cities. It is not the remnant of a disappearing past or a disappearing peasantry but the manifestation of a revitalized present promising a revivalist future. But now I have seen something I never expected, continues Mr. Gobry. I think that in my entire life I had never seen more than a dozen people in the church in the village that my family hails from on any day other than Christmas and Easter. When I returned recently, it was about two-thirds full. There are also more activities outside of weekly Mass than I remember; the parish is now caring for a family of Iraqi Christians, and local teenagers have started a project with a local crafts school to beautify the church. This religious revival was first felt fleetingly by Mr. Gobry when he began to notice how some of his lukewarm Catholic friends from college, who had previously only gone to church at Christmas and Easter, had begun to post things on Facebook about their going to church, or raising money for persecuted Christians in the Middle East, or becoming involved in Catholic charities working with the homeless. Meanwhile, two of his previously irreligious friends surprised everyone when they suddenly abandoned their high-flying careers to walk the road to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, one of the most ancient pilgrimage destinations in the world, having a religious experience when they got there and changing their lives when they returned. The seeds of this Catholic revival in France might have been planted as far back as the 1980s when the Socialist Government tried unsuccessfully to merge private and public schools but it can be said to have begun to blossom in 2013 with the widespread populist uprising against the imposition of same-sex marriage. It now appears to be opening into full bloom, even as the decadent weeds of secularism, les fleurs du mal, begin to sicken and wither. For those who know a little history, this latest Catholic revival in France is but the latest of several, each of which signified the resurrection of the Faith after the experts had solemnly pronounced it dead. In the 1790s, after the secular fundamentalists of the French Revolution launched its Reign of Terror against the Church, it was widely believed that the Church in France was now well and truly dead, snuffed out by progress. Then, against all modernist expectations, under the influence of Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand and others, France experienced a Catholic revival, largely as a healthy reaction against the murderous excesses of the Revolution and the Napoleonic imperialism which followed in the Revolutions wake. After the establishment of the French Second Republic, following the Revolution of 1848, many believed that this second effort at secularism would succeed in destroying the power of the Church, even though its progenitor had failed. In the event, a new Catholic revival followed. From the Marian apparitions at Lourdes in 1858, the story of which would be told so evocatively and dramatically by Franz Werfel almost a century later in The Song of Bernadette, to the witness of great saints, such as Jean Marie Vianney and St. Therese of Lisieux, the Church proved herself to be alive and well in nineteenth century France. Even the leaders of the French Decadence, those who had drifted furthest from the Faith in the narcissistic pursuit of sin, fell under her spell, Baudelaire being received into the Church in his final illness, Verlaine converting in prison, and Huysmans becoming, post-conversion, a frequent visitor to monasteries, and even an Oblate of St. Benedict. Secularism reared its ugly head again in 1905, with the passing of the law establishing the laicism, or secularism, which has characterized French politics ever since, but this triumph was followed by a further Catholic revival, particularly in philosophy and the arts. Giants of this revival include Jacques Maritain, Etienne Gilson, Charles Peguy, Leon Bloy, Paul Claudel, Francois Mauriac, and Georges Bernanos. The next blow for secularism was struck by the student uprising in Paris in May 1968, Frances equivalent of the so-called Summer of Love in San Francisco, the latter of which had brought the hippies to the worlds attention in the previous year. Although the Parisien students shared many of the same goals as their American brothers and sisters, they set about achieving those goals in the time-honoured French fashion, using revolutionary violence, believing that a molotov cocktail in the hand is worth more than any number of flowers in the hair. And yet the spirit of 1968 did not represent the final triumph of secularism over the spirit of Christendom, any more than any of Frances previous secularist uprisings had done. Indeed, Mr. Gobry sees the new Christian Revival as representing the reversal of May 1968. Its not that secularism is dead as a political force. It isnt (like the poor it is always with us). It is simply that it does not have the power to defeat the forces of Christendom. Although it is always proclaiming the Christian Faith to be dead or dying, secularism does not have the power to kill it; or, rather, if it does have the power to kill it, as it indubitably has the power to kill its disciples, it does not have the power to keep it killed. Christendom, like the God of whom it is the Mystical Body, always has the power to find its way out of the graves being dug for it. As history demonstrates, in France as elsewhere, the Church is always rising from the dead because the gates of hell cannot prevail against her. She is always rising from the dead because her God is Risen indeed. The Imaginative Conservative applies the principle of appreciation to the discussion of culture and politicswe approach dialogue with magnanimity rather than with mere civility. Will you help us remain a refreshing oasis in the increasingly contentious arena of modern discourse? Please consider donating now. Editors note: The featured image is by iankelsall1 from Pixabay. BROKEN BOW A communications company in Blair has chosen Broken Bow for this years Impact Program. The program will launch at a meeting from 6 to 7 p.m. Thursday at Cobblestone Hotel & Suites, 2750 S. 27th Ave. in Broken Bow. At the meeting, charitable organizations will receive resources to implement projects and help the community, according to a Great Plains Communications press release. The Impact Program aims to help communities and residents take charge and make a difference by identifying projects that truly matter to area residents, according to the release. The charities then receive funds to begin and continue the projects. In the release, Casey Garrigan, marketing and sales relations manager for Great Plains Communications, said Broken Bow was chosen because it makes positive changes in its community while also preserving its history. Broken Bow has worked on its downtown renovation project throughout the year and has also seen an increase of business development in recent years. Garrigan noted Broken Bows motto: Rooted but not standing still. That says it all, he said. Headquartered in Blair, Great Plains Communications is the largest privately owned telecommunications company in Nebraska. The first convictions for human trafficking in Hall County were upheld last month by the Nebraska Court of Appeals. Marcuiece L. Johnson of Omaha was found guilty of labor/sex trafficking and first-offense pandering, both Class 3 felonies, in Hall County District Court. Johnson, who is now 29, is serving a four-year sentence at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln. In imposing the sentences in September 2016, District Judge Teresa Luther made the two sentences concurrent with each other. Johnson was given credit for 266 days served. He was arrested in December 2015 at the Motel 6 in Grand Island. According to the Hall County attorneys office, he was offering the sexual services of two women who were traveling with him. Johnson was charged with labor/sex trafficking because he was in complete control of those womens actions. He traveled with the two women to other states as well as Nebraska. The entire purpose of his travels was to offer the sexual services of those women in exchange for money. He was advertising the womens services on a website called Backpage. One of the women working for Johnson, Katie Brandt, was found guilty of soliciting prostitution and attempt of a Class 4 felony. Brandt, 22, is from Crete. She was placed on one years probation for each. The other woman was not charged. Johnson will be under post-release supervision for 24 months after hes released from jail. The lead investigator on the case was deputy Frank Bergmark of the Hall County Sheriffs Department. The prosecutor was Deputy Hall County Attorney Nancy Berger-Schneider. KEARNEY Central Community College has announced the sale of its current Kearney Center building for $1.5 million to a Kearney-based business. The Kearney Center 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 last 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 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. Hindu Maha Sabha has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking registration of case against senior Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) leaders for demolition of Mandir in Ayodhya. By Atir Khan: On a day when Supreme Court has given a ruling L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti should face trial over the demolition of a mosque quarter of a century ago, Hindu Maha Sabha have come up with a shocker. It has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking registration of case against senior Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) leaders for demolition of a temple in Ayodhya. advertisement Hindu Maha Sabha National President, Swami Chakrapani has written a letter to PM seeking registration of cases against L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti saying they are responsible for demolition of a temple dome at Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya. He says they were responsible for demolition of the dome at Ram Janmabhoomi on 6th December 1992 due to political gains. Further this had fallout in foreign countries in the form of attacks on temples. More over this led to country's enemy Dawood Ibrahim who carried out bomb attacks in Mumbai. Swami Chakrapani says the temple was visited by devotees for prayers but today it is under police custody and is in a dilapidated state under a tent. This is very disturbing for Hindus in India and world-wide. "A case should be registered against the leaders and government should undertake construction of the temple. Allahabad High Court triple bench has also observed that "ramlala's site" is a temple" he added. ALSO READ: Uma Bharti cancels Ayodhya visit after Babri Masjid order but remains unapologetic Babri Masjid order: Worst-case scenario for LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti is five years in jail The Babri Masjid case timeline: What happened and when --- ENDS --- By Press Trust of India: Chennai, Apr 19 (PTI) The Income Tax department today conducted searches at about 80 locations in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala in connection with its tax evasion probe against a group involved in chit fund operations. Officials said a number of documents have been seized during the raids and bank lockers and accounts identified even as the searches on the group, identified as Gokulam, and its associates are still continuing. advertisement Efforts to reach the company, based here, over phone or email did not fructify. No cash seizures have been made so far, they said. The raids were conducted at about 43 locations in Tamil Nadu, 29 in Kerala and six in Karnataka apart from few others. They added that the department was acting on some "vital" inputs on alleged generation of black money by chit fund or ponzi route and hence the operations were launched early this morning. The firm is said to be involved in various sectors like education, health care and film production, they said. Officials made it clear that the action had no political connection within Tamil Nadu or outside it. The department here had conducted multiple searches few days back and had raided the premises belonging to Tamil Nadu Health Minister C Vijayabaskar and others, days before the April 12 bypolls at RK Nagar Assembly constituency, which have now been postponed by the EC after reports of illegal money power being allegedly used to influence the polls. PTI NES KIS --- ENDS --- The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Business celebrated 100 scholarship recipients at the 13th Annual School of Business Scholarships and Awards Program held Wednesday, March 22 in the Morris University Centers Meridian Ballroom. The School recognized record donor support with scholarships worth approximately $175,000 for its best and brightest students pursuing degrees in accounting, business administration, computer management and information systems, economics and finance, and marketing. Thank you for your investment, SIUE Chancellor Randy Pembrook said. I hope that you see that your investment is paying off and realize the significant impact youre making on the future. One of the things that is unique about a university is that we get to shape a changing world, an action that is the core of SIUEs mission. The ==young people in this room will surely change this community, state and beyond in the coming decades. In fact, many are already doing so. School of Business Interim Dean Tim Schoenecker expressed his appreciation to the generous donors who play a crucial role in student success. He gave the scholarship recipients two assignments. First, try to form a relationship with the donors here today, he told the students. Keep in touch. Allow them to see how their investment has made a tangible difference in your life. Second, reflect on the personal meaning of the scholarship you are receiving. Hopefully, in the future, youll see fit to pay it forward and invest in SIUE. Ryan Price, BS 13, MS 14, a quantitative analyst with Aggio LLC and lecturer in the Department of Economics and Finance, provided alumnus remarks. Price emphasized the impact of scholarship recognition and the success that can be attained through the continuous pursuit of knowledge. "Youre all here today because knowledge means more to you than just going through the motions of getting a college degree, Price said. You put in your best effort, not because you have to, but because you want to. The best students, both in and out of school, are not necessarily those with the best grades, but those with the biggest appetites for new knowledge. I believe you can all make a difference with the drive you possess. Annually Enterprise Holdings provides an award to the top School of Business Student Organization of the Year. For the first time there was a tie, and the company awarded $1,000 each to Beta Alpha Psi and Delta Sigma Pi. A new award this year was the William E. Baker Memorial Scholarship for Business, sponsored by Sherry Baker. Five students were honored with the award, including Patricia Bourbon, of Roxana, Whitney Cates, of Mount Vernon, Amanda Endicott, of Highland, Adam Gaxiola, of Swansea, and Heather Grieve, of Collinsville. The Rotary Club of Edwardsville Scholarship was presented to Maggie Doolin, of Edwardsville. This marked the Clubs 10th year providing an award. Additionally, four students earned the Delta Sigma Pi Key Award for achieving a 4.0 GPA, including Katie Finnigan, of Waynesville, Kristina Ingold, of East Peoria, Tanner Ridings, of Morton, and Lucas Whitehead, of Flora. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin EDITORIAL (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 19, 2017 10:00 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9bb829 2 Editorial editorial,#Editorial Free The plan to withdraw the free-visa facility for citizens of dozens of countries is the latest display of not only inconsistency but also lack of prior study on the governments part when it comes to policy-making. Consider this. In a bid to meet its target of 20 million tourist arrivals by 2019 the government generously offered in 2015 the free-visa privilege to many countries without taking into account reciprocity. Lesser-known countries were granted the same privilege awarded to countries that have consistently contributed greatly to tourist arrivals. The more countries, the bigger the revenue Indonesia would earn from foreign tourists spending during their stay in our tourist destinations, ran the theory. That was the reason and hope behind the policy. Now nationals from a total of 169 countries enjoy the privilege; they may enter free of charge and roam around the country for a maximum of 30 days. It has made Indonesia probably the most open country in the world. After more than one year of implementation, the facility has failed to live up to expectations. The Tourism Ministry, for example, found that 49 free-visa recipient countries only contributed 100 tourist arrivals in the first six months since the inception of the policy. The Law and Human Rights Ministry discovered further that 82 countries on the list contributed fewer than 1,000 tourist arrivals each last year. Similarly, the Foreign Ministry called for a review of the policy as some of the countries listed did not reciprocate Indonesias gesture. Such a demand from the government institutions should come as no surprise. They should have anticipated the findings before the launch of the facility. There were no clear parameters as to why a certain country deserved free-visa status, nor adequate consultation with tourism sector players, either at home or overseas. An obvious lack of research, which commonly happens in the policy-making process in this country, is the lesson that we must learn from the flip-flop visa policy. The ambitious target of boosting foreign tourist arrivals to 20 million in the next two years is not impossible given the countrys huge potential and the governments commitment, as reflected in the plan to develop 10 destinations such as Lake Toba in North Sumatra, Bromo in East Java, Mandalika in West Nusa Tenggara, Tanjung Lesung in Banten, Morotai in Maluku, Jakartas Thousand Islands and Yogyakarta. As we cannot always rely on commodities and natural resources as major revenue sources, tourism is a precious asset that unfortunately remains inadequately explored. One by one more tourist sites outside Bali and other traditional destinations have come into the public spotlight thanks in part to internet and telecommunications advances. Undoubtedly the government must evaluate its visa policy. If we stick to the goal of developing tourism, there is no need to revoke the free-visa facility simply because of a disappointing number of tourist arrivals. Such a move will not rapidly increase non-tax revenues, but much more promotion would in all likelihood help. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 19, 2017 11:06 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9c0ee3 1 Art & Culture National-Police,film-festival,film,festival,#film,#NationalPolice,#festival Free The Police Movie Festival, a part of the National Polices program to increase the publics trust in the institution, is returning for the fourth time with Unity in Diversity as its theme. The public is invited to participate in the festival by submitting short films and animations, as well as criticism and input related to the National Police. Festival chairman AKP Ardila Amry said the theme was chosen due to current issues in Indonesia. The aftereffects of SARA [ethnicity, religion and race] issues could divide the nation, he said, as quoted by Antara. Read also: Feasting on Tamil performing arts The event also aims to show sides of the police that people may not know about. Because the publics perception of the police is still limited to traffic ticketing," the National Police said on the festival's website. Registration for the festival is open until June 1. The finalists will be announced on June 5, followed by the announcement of the winner at the Gandaria City shopping mall in South Jakarta on June 10, who will receive a Rp 90 million (US$6,772) cash prize. There will be 10 short and three animation films screened during the ceremony to announce the winner. (mas/kes) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 19, 2017 12:10 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9c4b85 1 Lifestyle Nigeria,dollar,netizens,viral,#viral Free Thanks to a whistle-blower, Nigerias Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) found $43.4 million in US dollar notes in an apartment in the countrys largest city, Lagos. As per usual, the internet is having a field day. It was not lost on Twitter users that the event took place in Nigeria the country named in many spam emails from a Nigerian prince, in which a scammer poses as royalty to get a victims bank account details and/or money through transfers. Read also: Watch AirAsia flight attendant nail Britney Spears Toxic video Most of the said spam emails begin like this: I've gotten a lot of spam, but Ive never actually received an email claiming to be from a Nigerian prince, until now pic.twitter.com/7HmirOZdHG Alex Gill (@thealexgill) April 1, 2015 So of course, everyone made the same joke. @ctvedmonton The guy must've email a thousand people asking for help transferring that money. Was even willing to pay. No one wanted to help. #Sad! Patrick McDevitt (@pfmcdevitt) April 15, 2017 @CNN Maybe I should email that Nigerian prince back, after all Kristina Montesano (@ohthatkristina) April 14, 2017 @CNN Sorry to inform you but 9 million of that is mine. Left me by a unknown relative that wanted me to take care of their estate. John Conley (@johnrconley) April 14, 2017 @ctvedmonton Okay, okay, my credit card number is 4053 2311 3441 2211, so please do go ahead and release the funds to my bank account. The Ottawa Ross (@ottaross) April 16, 2017 Read also: Netizens distracted with Jokowi's jacket As for the actual incident, an investigation is ongoing, and Nigerias EFCC has said that along with the USD, $75,000 worth of Nigerian currency and $35,000 in British pound sterling were also found hidden in the apartment, "neatly arranged. (sul/kes) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ni Nyoman Wira (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 19, 2017 17:19 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9d50d7 1 Art & Culture triyadi-guntur-wiratmo,between-the-lines,exhibition,art Free As a realist artist and apprentice of Indonesias King of Realism, Dullah, Triyadi Guntur Wiratmo utilizes more than just a pencil in his work. He often combines his favored medium with acrylic paint, old stamps and, in his latest collection, red yarn. Those who want to marvel at Gunturs latest creations, along with his other works, can visit his fourth solo exhibition Between the Lines which is being held until April 23 at Galeri Nasional Indonesia, Central Jakarta. Presented by Galeri Nasional Indonesia and Rachel Gallery, the exhibition is composed of fifteen artworks displayed across three sections; his latest collection Menjunjung Sejarah (Acknowledging History), in which he stitches red yarn into his drawings, Lost in Fiction where he incorporates historical stamps in his artwork and Emo Ergo Sum (I shop, therefore I am), which derives inspiration from the father of modern philosophy Rene Descartess statement Cogito ergo sum (I think, therefore I am). The majority of his artworks feature historical figures, from Adolf Hitler to R.A. Kartini. In Lost in Fiction: Getting Pretty, Dear Kamerad (2017), for instance, he portrays Karl Marx receiving a hair cut from Mao Zedong. Meanwhile, in Perjuangan adalah Pelaksanaan dari Kata-kata (Struggle is the Implementation of Words) (2017), he depicts poet Chairil Anwar alongside a fragment of his poem Persetujuan dengan Bung Karno (An Agreement with Bung Karno). Having held an interest in history since he was little, Guntur said he wants to question historical narratives through his artworks. History is written from the writer's point of view, he stated, adding that this makes history subjective. Thus, history is not a closed project, but an open project that needs to be interpreted further, so it can be more complete and meaningful. Triyadi Guntur Wiratmo (left) with the curator of his 'Between the Lines' exhibition, Rizki A. Zaelani (right).(JP/I Gede Dharma JS) Read also: Dance groups blast the stage With Menjunjung Sejarah, Guntur explained that he wants to merge both masculine and feminine elements by using both pencil and yarn, respectively. Many Indonesian artifacts are made from those components, such as our National Flag and keris (traditional daggers), so we cannot be set apart from them, he said. Guntur advises visitors to begin with his latest collection, Menjunjung Sejarah. After that, they can continue to my other works, which convey ideas I have previously explored and redeveloped, such as Lost in Fiction and Emo Ergo Sum, so there will be some kind of journey (napak tilas), he explained. The exhibitions curator Rizki A. Zaelani praised Gunturs creative process. Whats interesting [about Gunturs works] is how he draws, because he does it in a particular way, he said. [] Guntur is very consistent as he likes to draw by making lines. His paintings are made from the lines that are stacked together. At this exhibition, I encourage the visitors to see between the lines, to examine what is behind Gunturs paintings, Rizki stated. Aside from working as a lecturer at the Bandung Institute of Technology, Guntur has held a number of solo exhibitions, among them are Emo Ergo Sum in Singapore in 2012 and Historypia Project at Rachel Gallery, Jakarta, in 2011. He was also the winner of the 2002 Recommended Illustrator Award at the 2002 Bratislava International Illustration Biennale. (asw) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Michael Liedtke and Barbara Ortutay (Associated Press) San Jose, California, United States Wed, April 19, 2017 17:54 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9d75f6 2 Science & Tech Facebook,augmented-reality,#facebook,#augmentedreality Free Facebook wants you to sit in your bedroom wearing a headset and take a virtual vacation with faraway friends and family. Or use your smartphone's camera to spruce up your dinky apartment, at least virtually. The promise of augmented and virtual reality was a big focus of Facebook's annual conference for developers on Tuesday. CEO Mark Zuckerberg kicked off the gathering of programmers and other tech folks by talking about augmented reality tools he envisions on Facebook. Augmented reality involves the overlay of computer-generated images into real-world surroundings. Zuckerberg said new phone-based applications might let you create a three-dimensional scene from a single two-dimensional photo or splatter the walls of your house with colorful digital art. (You'd see the digital additions by looking "through" your phone at the augmented physical world.) MAKING CHORES MORE INTERESTING Facebook executives stressed that the technology is still in its early stages, and that the "journey to the future of augmented reality is just 1 percent finished," as Deb Liu, vice president of platform and marketplaces, put it. Zuckerberg envisions the marriage of augmented reality and Facebook's camera feature enabling people to make even mundane chores, like doing the dishes, look entertaining with digital effects. Of course, it could also result in people staring into their smartphones even more intently as they marvel at an alternate reality instead of their actual surroundings. "Over time, I think this is going to be a really important technology that changes how we use our phones," Zuckerberg predicted. Facebook also launched a virtual world, called Facebook Spaces, designed to let users of its Oculus Rift VR headset hang out with avatar versions of their friends in a virtual world. It's the first time the company has connected the Rift to its social network in a meaningful way, though it's a development Zuckerberg hinted at when the company bought Oculus back in 2014 for $2 billion. Read also: Indonesian man broadcast his suicide on Facebook shocking netizens COMING YOUR WAY ... EVENTUALLY While the new tools and features are impressive, analyst Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research cautioned that that "most of them won't be in users' hands anytime soon." That's especially true for the Spaces app, since relatively few of Facebook's 1.9 billion members are using Oculus's VR headset, which sells for about $500 and requires an expensive computer to make it work. But Facebook could still have the edge on rivals such as Snapchat, which also launched some augmented reality features on Tuesday, likely to coincide with Facebook's news. "Facebook has the resources to move fast in this area and the audience to spread those features much more widely than Snapchat," Dawson wrote in a brief research note. Snap representatives did not immediately respond to an email for comment on Tuesday afternoon. Facebook's focus on smartphones over high-tech glasses or headsets makes sense given how familiar they are, said Gartner analyst Brian Blau. "People already have cameras and are used to having fun and being creative with them," he said. "This will give people a chance to experience augmented reality in a way that isn't so scary or off-putting." Until the past year or so, it seemed like it would be at least another decade before augmented reality would have a chance to become a widely used technology, said Ficus Kirkpatrick, Facebook's director of engineering. But advances in image and object recognition, along with the ubiquity of smartphone cameras, "has put us on the course to bring augmented reality," Kirkpatrick said in an interview. Read also: Pedophiles find haven on Facebook CHATTING WITH COMPANIES Facebook also announced a bevy of updates to Messenger, its increasingly independent messaging app. Messenger head David Marcus claims the app has become the de facto "white pages" of messaging, since people can find and chat with friends without knowing their phone number. Now, Messenger wants to do the same for businesses, creating a "yellow pages" of sorts that let companies communicate with their customers. Messenger will also let people chat with outside businesses as a group. That would, for instance, allow groups of friends to share Spotify playlists or to make a restaurant reservation through OpenTable that keeps everyone on the same page. The idea is simplify what might otherwise require a flurry of texts and sharing of links. CLEVELAND MURDER Zuckerberg also briefly addressed a tragedy that took place Monday, when a man posted video of a murder on Facebook. That raised questions about Facebook's ability to monitor gruesome material on its site. The Facebook founder said his company has "a lot of work" to do on this front. ___ Ortutay reported from New York. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Anick Jesdanun (Associated Press) New York, United States Wed, April 19, 2017 15:49 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9d1dbb 2 Science & Tech Google,#Google,Google-Earth Free Google Earth is getting a revival, as the 3-D mapping service reorients itself to become more of a tool for adventure and exploration. A central feature in the new Google Earth is Voyager. Google has partnered with such groups as the BBC and NASA to add video clips, photos and text narratives to three-dimensional representations of particular locations. The Jane Goodall Institute, for instance, lets you journey to spots in Tanzania that inspired its founding chimpanzee expert. You can also get overlays of chimpanzee ranges and compare imagery from 2005 and 2014 to see the effects of forest restoration efforts. The producers of "Sesame Street" show off Muppets from co-productions around the world; the map shows where the Muppets live and offer stories about the region and its culture. Separately, a new "I'm Feeling Lucky" feature takes you to a location selected at random. Google Earth is highlighting some 20,000 lesser-known destinations the kinds of places locals might frequent or know about, such as the Indonesian island of Bunaken, part of a national marine park. Read also: Google Earth spots 'sea monster near Antarctica Google Earth used to be the place to go to for satellite views and 3-D images stitched together from aerial fly-bys. A software download was required, limiting its use. Google Maps has incorporated many of those features, making Google Earth even less necessary. Tuesday's update is about giving you a reason to use Google Earth again. Google says that while Maps is about getting you to a destination, Earth is about immersing you there, or "getting lost." With the update, Google Earth now works on Google's Chrome browsers for desktops. It still requires an app for phones and tablets because of the heavy graphics involved; Google is rolling out updates for Android, but there's no Google Earth app for iPhones or iPads yet. Some older features will still require a software download on desktops. That includes maps of Mars and the moon through a partnership with NASA. Google also announced an update to a virtual-reality version of Google Earth. It now works with Facebook's Oculus Rift, not just the HTC Vive. But it won't work with cheaper, phone-based VR systems, such as Google's Daydream and Samsung's Gear VR. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Jessicha Valentina (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 19, 2017 14:28 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9cdbdb 1 Art & Culture art,art-auction,#art,art-and-culture,#ArtsandCulture,#artworks,floating-hospital,doctorSHARE,charity,#Charity Free A fundraising event was held at The Dharmawangsa hotel, South Jakarta, on Tuesday to support the construction and operation of the Nusa Waluya II floating hospital by the doctorSHARE Foundation. Supported by Lions Club Jakarta and Pusat Jayakarta Jaya in collaboration with clubs under the auspices of Lions Clubs International District 307-A1, the charity event featured an art auction and a concert. Organized by ISA Art Advisory and Cans Gallery, the art auction showcased artwork from local talents Andy Dewantoro, Ay Tjoe Christine, Entang Wiharso, Oky Rey Montha and Sinta Tantra. These pieces of art are from the major contemporary painters in Indonesia, Nusa Waluya II project head Julia Windasari Tan told The Jakarta Post, adding that the artworks had been selected by professional art curator Deborah Iskandar. Meanwhile, the concert featured a performance by piano maestro Ananda Sukarlan. In addition to the art auction and concert, the fundraising event also hosted a limited edition Stellarissa x doctorSHARE scarf sale. The event raised 5.16 billion (US$387,928), which will be used for the construction of the Nusa Waluya II floating hospital. Read also: Art charity to benefit floating hospital in Jakarta Prior to the [art auction and charity concert] event, we had raised 60 percent of our target [Rp 10.8 billion for the construction of the floating hospital and Rp 5 billion for its first six months of operations] through several programs, shared Julia. The Nusa Waluya II is planned to be bigger than two existing floating hospitals. The facilities are highly similar to a type-D hospital, said Julia. The Nusa Waluya II vessel is set to sail around Maluku for three to six months, providing health care services and education for residents in remote areas. The doctorSHARE Foundation still welcomes anyone wishing to participate in the charity program. Founded in 2009 by Dr. Lie Dharmawan, the doctorSHARE Foundation operates hospital boats in remote areas across the archipelago. (asw) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 19, 2017 13:55 2029 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9c8384 1 Art & Culture wayang-kulit,culture,Hungary,#culture,festival,#festival Free An international festival featuring wayang kulit (shadow puppets) dubbed "Karakulit 2017" is currently being held in Pecs, an ancient city in southern Hungary, until May 10. The event was initiated by MarkusZinhaz, a non-profit foundation that has many wayang enthusiasts from all over the world as its members, which has held similar events in the city of Pecs several times before. Indonesian Ambassador to Hungary, Wening Esthyprobo Fatandari, highlighted in a press release that Indonesias wayang kulit was officially recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage masterpiece on Nov. 7, 2003. "Wayang kulit has been performed in Indonesia since the 9th century. According to the Galigi Mawayang inscription that is estimated to have been written in 930 A.D., the most popular wayang story at the time was the tale of Bima, a fierce warrior. Since then, wayang has become an art form strongly embedded in our culture," said Wening during the opening ceremony on April 10. Read also: Wayang klitik serves to spread Islamic teachings The Indonesian Embassy for Hungary (KBRI) in Budapest is showcasing several wayang kulit collections at the festival, including Arjuna, Srikandi, Krisna, Nakula and Sadewa. The Indonesian heritage items will be displayed alongside wayang collections from Hungary, China, Turkey and India in museums across Pecs for one month. According to Antara news agency, the foundation also borrowed several Indonesian wayang kulits from Dus Polett, a dalang (puppet master) who is a Hungarian citizen. Polett reportedly fell in love with wayang during his time studying in Indonesia after receiving a scholarship from the Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry, Darmasiswa, dedicated to helping foreigners learn about local Indonesian culture for two semesters. (vod/kes)